Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Goosebumps: The Vanishing S1 E1, E2

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“Stay Out of the Basement Part I”

“Stay Out of the Basement Part II”

I was not that interested in the new Goosebumps series on Disney +. I had watched the previous one a couple of years ago, and I liked it enough, but it did not blow me away. It was clear that this was going to be a new cast in what appeared to be an anthology type show starring David Schwimmer of friends fame. I had a moment to watch episode one Sunday night so I gave it a shot.

Holy cow! I was knocked over with the show. I was able to watch episode two tonight and things only got creepier as the show seemed to go full Audrey II.

I loved these first two episodes. I was completely invested with the new characters and the new scary story.

It kicked off with a flashback to a group of kids who disappeared and were assumed to be dead years before. One of those kids turned out to be the brother of David Schwimmer’s character, Anthony. It is a family mystery that is still very relevant for them.

Anthony’s twin children, Devin and Cece, came to visit him for the summer, kicking off plenty of weirdness and wild encounters. Devin has had several issues immediately, trying to impress an old friend/flame, Frankie. She was dating Trey, a real jerk of a guy who lived across the street from Anthony’s place and kept parking his car in his driveway. It was a deal he had made with Anthony’s mom while she was there. Unfortunately, she has been taken to a home with dementia.

The family element was stronger than I expected with the actors involved playing things deeper than a show like this would normal have. Schwimmer was excellent with the sadness and the confusion on how to deal with the problems he is facing.

Anthony is a botanist and that leads him to find a spore (or so he thought) on his brother’s clothes, which had just now been released by the police. That spore turned out to be an animal and a carnivore. So Anthony did his best Seymour Krelborn imitation and started feeding it dead mice from the pet store. Guess what… it started growing. Feed Me Seymour.

Trey gets eaten too… or transformed… or something.

All of the episodes are currently on Disney +, but I do not have the time to binge the rest. Maybe some time in the next week I will get to the remainder of this show, and I am excited because I really liked the first couple.

The X-Files S7 E14

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“Theef”

There were a lot of controversial themes hidden in this X-Files episode. Okay, maybe not that hidden, but when the story swings on the choice of a doctor to end the suffering of a patient who could not be saved, it can create a lot of intrigue.

Picket Fences dealt with the concept of Euthanasia several times, but one would not expect it to appear on an X-Files episode.

The episode also featured “hexing” which seemed to be a backwoods form of voodoo, including the voodoo doll, called a poppet which was how the episode villain was using this pwoer.

The villain, Orell Peattie, was played by Billy Drago, and he was excessively creepy. He played the father of the girl who had been given the excess morphine by the doctor, Robert Wieder, played by James Morrison. Both of these actors did a great job in the episode.

The only issue could see was making Orell Peattie apparently not very highly educated, making the whole character a stereotype. The misspelling of the word “thief” being the title of the episode and something written after his victims.

I do not remember watching this episode when it first aired in 2000, but I did enjoy this one now. As I said, there were several themes in this episode that could be looked at deeper yet including not only Euthanasia but also modern medicine vs. practical magic.

Scully keeping Mulder on his toes is a fun moment in this overall creepy entry.

Battlestar Galactica S4 E3

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“The Ties That Bind”

It is pretty clear that they are into the final season of Battlestar Galactica because major stuff is going down.

The Cylons are fighting within themselves and it sure seemed as if John Cavil (Dean Stockwell) set up the whole group of his opposition to be killed. I’m not sure how that will go over, but it sure looked that way.

Cally discovered the truth about Tyrol. She thought he was having an affair with Tory Foster, but she discovered that they, along with Tigh were Cylons. What did she get for her trouble? A trip out the space vent. Of course, this was after Cally was preparing to kill herself and her son by doing the exact same thing.

Cally had really lost herself the last several episodes and this was the final straw.

Is the show trying to make us dislike Laura Roslin? The show seems to be making her less like a president and more like a tyrant lately. And she is anything but forgiving.

This is really getting dark and I do not know where it is heading. I am trying to keep any spoilers for what’s coming up next away to ty and keep the suspense up.

Dexter: Original Sin S1 E6

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“The Joy of Killing”

I have been disappointed with the new Dexter show since the first couple episodes. This new one, episode six, was the best one since the first two.

The show limited the amount of silly Dexter action, though there was some of that as he was getting his first blow job. Still, it was kept to a minimum and the cases were compelling.

The captain’s son was snatched much like the judge’s son earlier in the season. We met the captain’s son recently as he spoke with Dexter. That made this more powerful than just a kid who we had never met. The tension of the cop shop during this episode was at an all-time high.

I am not in love with the flashbacks, but these were fairly significant. We see the birth of Debra and Harry’s wife told him no more affair. Another awkward moment.

Dexter set himself up as a serial killer (officially killing his third victim). The alligator dumping was not going to work any longer as the police have discovered the arm floating in the swamp that we saw a few episodes ago. I figured that was coming back, and I am glad it made it.

Of course, Dexter is not going to be caught or even implicated because we know he does not get caught or implicated for years. The dangers of a prequel.

I hope the remainder of this season is able to match this quality more than it has been lately.

Silo S2 E9

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“The Safeguard”

Wow. This was an intense episode of Silo. It was easily my favorite episode of season two so far. Everything is coming together into major events setting up for the season finale next week.

If I am being honest, some of this season has not caught my attention. I have always been in on everything Juliette is doing, but a lot of the political stuff from the original silo has gone over my head. However, as things ratchet up, every scenes has grown in intensity.

Silo had a LOST moment too as Juliette comes across the Others. Okay, that is not their names, but she found this handful of young adults as she was searching for Solo. The inclusion of these characters brought a anxiety level that ramped things up. Rick and Audrey are angry and spiteful… at least Audrey is. She is very much like kill first and figure it out later. We see how she was behind a lot of the missteps that happened to Juliette earlier in the series (another LOST like trope that saw the same scene from different POV).

Juliette tried to figure out the combination to the vault for Rick and Audrey. Audrey had told her that she would kill Solo when her baby cried again because the baby was hungry. This all led to the reveal of Solo’s backstory and the tragic events that led up to him being stuck in that vault on his own. The whole scene of Juliette trying to convince Solo to give her the combination was effective and suspenseful.

Lukas winding up in front of the giant AI was amazing too. What is the Safeguard? I don’t know, but I think it is safe to assume that it is a way to protect the secrets by destroying the silo. We know there are 51 other silos out there and, according to the AI, only three other people had ever gotten the instructions it was going to give to Lukas.

What side is Sims and his wife going to end up on? I don’t know but all I know is that Bernard needs to face some justice. He is such a horrible character at this point, just concerned with his own power. Unless, that is, there is something that the show has not shown us yet, which is absolutely possible. I think Bernard is going to get his because of Knox. I think Know knows that Walker is the “traitor” and that he was setting up Bernard with a fake story. Maybe I am wrong about that, but the way he spoke to Walker about the possible traitor, it really seemed as if he had figured out the truth.

The finale looks to be a huge episode. This one was easily my favorite of the year so far as every story grasped my attention and made me anxious.

Creature Commandos S1 E7

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“A Very Funny Monster”

Creature Commandos finished its first season on HBO Max this week with a finale that might have been my favorite episode of the season. It was a Nina-centric episode and it ended with a shocking death (or two).

I would start with the one part I did not like was how Frankenstein was dealt with. He was such an afterthought in this episode after being built up for the whole season. I know it was meant to be a joke, but I did not like that.

However, everything with Nina, her flashback to her tragic backstory and the current world death at the hand of the Princess, was excellent. I have a slight complaint on how Nina’s father dies, but other than that, everything worked so well.

They definitely are setting this up for a second season and I think, even if I have been up and down about the show, I will continue to watch it.

Skeleton Crew S1 E7

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“We’re Gonna Be in So Much Trouble”

Whoa. Skeleton Crew went hard this week in the penultimate episode. Jod is a downright horrendous person and the kids make it back to At Attin. But that final shot was frightening.

The final shot of the episode was Jod extending a lightsaber out in front of the four kids and their parents seconds after their reunion. The way he extended the lightsaber was reminiscent of the way Anakin extended his lightsaber when he slaughtered the younglings during Order 66 in Revenge of the Sith. This was after Jod had threatened to slice the kids’ parents up earlier in the episode if they did not behave.

What an a-hole. He decapitated 33 a little while after the droid had turned on him and went to aid the kids in regaining control of their ship (as he expectantly hit Jod in the face in one of the biggest cheer moments of the series).

There was so much drama on this episode and Jod had become such a bad guy that you have to admire the skill of Jude Law. At one point, Jod seemed like a bad guy with a heart of gold. I am not sure you could say that any longer.

This was one of the most exciting episodes of the series and I was glued to the screen the whole time. One final episode which I hope brings this story to a satisfying conclusion.

Silo S2 E8

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“The Book of Quinn”

Apple TV +’s sci-fi series Silo is marching along this season with plenty of tense and anxiety-filled moments.

My favorite section is those including Rebecca Ferguson. She is an awesome actress and her character, Juliette, is one bad ass. Just this episode, she gets shot by an arrow, pulls it out, treats the wound, while suffering from the bends, and continues on in her search for the person who took Solo. She needs her suit back to make it back to her own silo and only Solo knows where it is.

At the end, though, Juliette comes across three others, one of which had that bow trained back on her for a second time.

Bernard is a real dirtbag. His quest for power is just non-stop as he manipulates poor Walker into becoming his snitch. He placed her former spouse’s life in danger in order to blackmail her. He truly is an epically horrible man. He is also going to be taking advantage of Lukas until he gets the message translated. Sims told Lukas that Bernard will dump him immediately after he gets what he needed from him, and I believe that fully.

More details on the mysterious and apparently awful Salvador Quinn are revealed as Lukas found the book that he was looking for, a copy of the Pact.

Two more episodes remain in season two of Silo and I see big things preparing to happen.

Dexter: Original Sin S1 E5

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“F is for F*ck Up”

Okay, the last couple of episodes of Dexter have been a bit lacking for my tastes. This episode, Dexter gets stoned eating some of Deb’s pot brownies. That whole section of the episode felt like it came out of nowhere and did not mean anything to the story. Outside of trying to build some connection between Dexter and Debra, there was not much more for it to be included in this episode.

Harry’s arc through the episode was inconsistent too. I am not sure I enjoyed either the flashbacks with Harry or his incompetence at the trial of Dexter’s soon to be next victim.

Having Harry end up on Dexter’s table, wrapped in plastic, did not convince me that the cop would accept this as a possibility from his step-son.

Dexter trapped with the horse was another silly moment in the episode, as was him tucking the horse’s hair behind its ear.

The best part of the episode continues to be Debra, and her attempts to have some relationship with her father and brother. After letting her down again, Deb went to her mother’s gravesite on her own, with a ride from her new boyfriend. They have sex in his car later in the episode as he seems very kind and loving toward her. I have a feeling that won’t stay that way very long. I hope I am wrong about that, but it feels like the cliched manner in which this story will go.

I have not been a fan of this show as much as I thought I would after the first couple of episodes. I hope it starts to improve soon.

Battlestar Galactica S3 E19, E20, S4 E1, E2

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“Crossover Part 1”

“Crossover Part 2”

“He That Believeth in Me”

“Six of One”

The finale two episodes of Battlestar Galactica season three and the first two episodes of season four were wild.

They revealed four of the Final Five Cylons and I found it difficult to believe. Sam, Chief Tyrol, Tory Foster and, of all people, Colonel Tigh were revealed to be Cylons in disguise. They were understandably confused, but seemed to have more free will than I thought they would.

Of course, that leaves one more Cylon of the five and the show is trying to make us think that it is Kara. Kara, who showed back up, not dead, came back with a story of finding earth. I do not think she turns out to be the Cylon. I think she is a red herring. I think there are some other possible suspects at this time:

Baltar: Another one what feels too obvious. With all of the interaction with Cylons, Baltar feels wrong. Plus, he is really buying into the one person/one god thing and the worshiping that the One-God crew was giving him.

Laura Roslin: With the cancer returning, I think this would be the shock that the show may be going for. She also has a connection to Number six through these visions. She shot at Starbuck at close range and missed. Maybe she can’t harm one of her own (or at least in his mind).

Admiral Adama: I think he has been really inconsistent as a character recently. He is up and down all over the place and this could explain that. It could also be that shock moment.

I am not sure what Lee Adama’s exit from Galactica meant this episode. Did he just leave the series or is he on a new arc into the political world?

Entering into the final season of the show, I expect things to be on a high level as the season progresses. I have questioned how uncertain I am of any of these characters, yet it feels very compelling.

Battlestar Galactica S3 E16, E17, E18

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“Dirty Hands”

“Maelstrom”

“The Son Also Rises”

I have not had the opportunity to watch many Battlestar Galactica episodes recently, so I decided to do a run of them tonight. I hope to try and wrap up season three tomorrow.

These were some wild episodes. “Dirty Hands” looked at the working class aboard the Galactica. Chief Tyrol was the intermediary in the episode as he was trying to help the people doing the horrible work keeping Galactica going. This was tough to watch because Roslin and Adama were brutal during the episode and they seemed really like the villains of the episode. When Adama told Chief Tyrol that he would have Cally executed if Chief did not call off the strike that he had initiated, I could not believe it. Of course, mere moments later, both Roslin and Adama were back all smiles and reasonable again. The whole story wrapped up in a third act switch, like it was a sitcom that had reached the end of the episode. It was a real whiplash effect.

Then was a shock. It was a Starbuck episode, featuring on the trauma in Kara’s past, including her relationship with her mother. The shock came at the end of the episode where it appeared that Kara flew her plane into a storm and it exploded into pieces, effectively killing her before the very eyes of Lee. LOST used to do this all the time, focus an episode on the back story of certain characters and then kill them off at the end. I do not know if this was the final episode for Katee Sackhoff and the character of Kara Thrace, but it sure seemed final. Kara had been in a downward spiral for quite awhile now and this felt like a fitting end to the character. I actually hope that there is no more sign of Kara Thrace outside of flashbacks. I have a feeling that we have not seen the last of Starbuck though.

Then, it seemed as if we focus in on Baltar’s lawyer. It was a weird episode where we have a new character named Romo Lampkin. Lee was assigned by Adama to protect him after the last lawyer for Baltar wound up dead from an explosion. The episode saw both Lee and Adama dealing with their grief over Starbuck in different manners. Of course, when Roslin was pulling random names out to form the tribunal for the trial of Baltar, Adama wound up on the panel, which was about as cliche as you are going to get. There is no reason why he should be anywhere near a tribunal in Baltar’s trial because, as we saw a couple of episodes ago, he was willing to shoot a woman as a “co-conspirator” to try and torment one of his friends into giving up a strike. He hid it under the guise of ‘following orders’ but it was a cruel use of extortion. I really get the feeling that Roslin just wants this trial over and I am not convinced that she will allow a truly fair trial to happen. Both Roslin and Adama are characters that I consider very much tainted since this season began, if not prior to it.

Season three has not been my favorite season so far. Perhaps it is because there is so much shade of grey in the storytelling, which I normally enjoy, but I would like to have a character or two that can rise above that. A character or two that I could really root for, knowing that they will always do what was right, and I do not thing that character exists currently on Battlestar Galactica.

Of course, the tension is always great and the acting is top notch, so there are still many reasons to love this show.

Creature Commandos S1 E6

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“Priyatel Skelet”

Dr. Phosphorus got the focus this week as we learn how Dr. Phosphorus came to be, within the city of Gotham. Not only do we get Dr. Phosphorus in Gotham, we get a cameo from Batman. I kind of expected that cameo after the show started off with a tone that felt like the Gotham from Batman: The Animated Series.

There rest of the Creature Commandos, who had been split apart, reunited on hill outside the castle as they are on the way to kill the Princess. The Bride and Nina had come through a brothel that they had hidden out in, Weasel had been playing fetch with a pack of wolves and, of course, Dr, Phosphorus went through his own mess.

Meanwhile, Rick Flag is not dead as I mentioned last week. However, he is in a coma, with a broken back and Amanda Waller staying by his bedside. Of course, she is not there in any sort of concern for Flag, but to see what he has to say about the situation.

Frankenstein chartered a plane, in his own way as he is in process of coming for the Bride.

This is the penultimate episode of the show, which has ended quickly. I liked this one a bit more, but the gory blood still feels like it is just there for shock value and not a part of the show.

Skeleton Crew S1 E6

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“Zero Friends Again”

Happy New Year!

I paused my annual tradition of watching Infinity War and Endgame New Years Eve until midnight to watch tonight new episode of Skeleton Crew. That should tell you how much I have been enjoying this show. It was a nice little break between the big Avengers movie (as of right now, Endgame has just started)

Our four young heroes went down a chute and slid away from Jod, who was in the process of betraying them last episode. This put Wim, Neel, Fern and KB tried to decide what they were going to do now. It led to them splitting apart into pairs after a bit of a childish argument. The show does a tremendous job of reminding us how these characters are kids.

Meanwhile, Jod is trying to avoid being sentenced and sent out the air lock by telling the story of At Attin. He tried to encourage the other pirates that he could provide an unending treasure.

The group of kids got back together and there was an exciting action scene to end the show as they flew their ship off the planet, with KB having the coordinates to At Attin in her head.

Skeleton Crew has been a great show with a ton of fun to it since episode one. We have our protagonists clearly shown for now and Jod is absolutely the antagonist. Two more episodes remain as they are on their way home.

Dexter: Original Sin E4

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“Fender Bender”

The next episode of the Dexter flashback series, Dexter: Original Sin found Dex on the trail of a hired assassin who had “retired” to the Miami area. “Mad Dog,” played by Joe Pantoliano turned out to be a little more tricky than this 20-year old expected.

Dexter was on scene when they discovered the body of the judge’s kid, who had been kidnapped and had his finger sent to his parents. This story feels like the throughline for the season, while these side quests like “Mad Dog” are just to fill episodes.

When Dexter saw the kid’s dead body, he was shaken. So much so that Harry sent him off to another body instead. I’m not sure how the cantaloupes were helpful in recreating the crime. That whole thing felt odd.

We also get a flashback to when Harry had to babysit for Laura’s kids Dexter and Brian as she had to go do her undercover stuff. Laura and Harry had sparks between them, and ended up hot and heavy on the couch. I guess I did not know that Dexter had a blood brother. I do not know if the series had brought this character up before or if this is new with this series.

I really dislike this Debra version. She is such a spoiled rotten child with a lot of selfish behavior. To be fair, she does get overlooked by Harry and Dexter, but she acts out in ways that are only going to cause trouble.

This was an okay episode of the show, but felt like there was a lot of filler material in it.

The X-Files S7 E13

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“First Person Shooter”

Arguably, “First Person Shooter” was the worst episode of the X-Files of the first seven seasons. I remember watching this episode when it first came out and finding it totally ridiculous, and not in the good X-Files ridiculous ways.

I guess you could compliment David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson for doing what they could. They seemed to be giving it their best despite the terrible plot.

It’s always fun to see the Lone Gunmen too.

After that, what can I say about this episode? According to Wikipedia, it did win two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Visual Effects for a Series… so I guess there is that.