Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Fallout S2 E3

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“The Profligate”

We get more partnership this week from Maximus and Xander, a bonding trip as it were. They were able to team up inside their own giant robot suits and to take out a robot. Since I am not a fan of the video game, I was unaware that the robot was a big time cameo named Victor. Victor came across Ghoul earlier, but I was unaware of the video game connection until I did the research afterwards. Maximus and Xander were able to destroy Victor, apparently bringing his story to an end.

However, the group of kids (some ghouls, some normal) led to Maximus taking out Xander to protect the kids. This will mostly likely lead to war between the Brotherhood and the Commonwealth, which has been showing problems throughout the episode. Kumail Nanjiani, we hardly knew ye!

Macaulay Culkin appeared as part of the Legion, what seemed to be the right hand man of Caesar. Lucy came across them first and they hung her on a cross. The Ghoul arrived later, after cutting the venom from the scorpion sting from last episode out of his leg. The Ghoul made a deal with the men for her release, but seemingly betrayed them. The Ghoul, taking to his dog, said that he did not like Lucy, but they would need her later.

I do have a tough time following the story. I should pay a closer attention to the episode when I am watching it because I do not have a deep knowledge of the video game. Still, I catch the larger parts of the show and I am progressing with it, slowly.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S2 E5

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“We Check In to C.C.’s Spa and Resort“

The fifth episode was a solid episode. Percy and Annabeth had to face Circe, the witch. However, I liked the way they confronted Circe. It was more psychological than physical.

We also got to see Polyphemus the cyclops for the first time as Clarisse met up with Grover and Polyphemus showed us that he was not the bumbling idiot that cyclopes are usually portrayed.

Percy and Annabeth having to sail past the sirens in order to make it past the Sea of Monsters, and Annabeth has to overcome their spell.

This was a lot of fun and worked well with the characters in the story. Tyson’s disappearance from last episode’s storm is still a mystery, but I will not buy that he is dead by seeing it off-screen.

It had a ton of great visuals. The sirens looked great. The cameo from Blackbeard was funny.

With Percy and Annabeth approaching the island, the confrontation with Polyphemus is clearly on the horizon (literally).

Stranger Things 5 E8

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“The Rightside Up”

Happy New Year to everyone.

My New Year’s Eve routine is out of whack this year because they decided to drop the series finale for Stranger Things tonight. I usually watch Infinity War and Endgame until midnight. I have done that the last five years, but with Stranger Things tossing a curveball, I decided that tonight would be different.

I am going to address the hatred part two has received online, but just for a minute. I thought the last three episodes were really strong and helped set up what is happening tonight. You have the right to hate the show if you so choose. I hope you have more reasons to feel the way you feel beside the fact that Will came out to his friends and family.

Moving onto the finale, the plan to prevent Vecna from crashing the Abyss into the earth kicks off, but it never works out the way things are planned.

Here are some random thoughts:

  • The way they dealt with the Eleven “death” was great. I really liked how Mike ended up explaining the possible way Eleven survived, but we really do not know. It was a nice way to end the show.
  • Linda Hamilton was never used to her full potential. She was never really a character outside of a villain. Then, I wanted her to be dead, bigtime, but she did not die.
  • The Mindflayer showdown was just awesome. It reminded me of the fireworks in the mall in season (two?).
  • Joyce chopping the head off Vecna? Yes, please.
  • There were some really tense moments. When Henry overcame his fears and struggled his way into the cave, surprising those kids… man, oh, man.
  • I think there may have been too much falling action in the episode. Did I really need a graduation ceremony turned into chaos by Dustin? Fun? Sure. But necessary? No.
  • Murray’s homemade bomb that took out the helicopter? Perfecto.
  • I was also happy with the fate of Eight, especially with the potential way she helped Eleven.
  • Eleven is truly a bad ass. The way she dispatched those soldiers was just nothing short of brutal.
  • The special effects in this episode was just amazing. That gigantic monster in the Abyss looked epic.

Stranger Things is going to go down as one of the most successful Netflix shows of all time. I saw that the finale was being shown in movie theaters across the nation, including in the Cinemark that I usually attend. I was curious (although I was never planning on watching this anywhere but my room) so I went to the Cinemark website to find that the 7 PM show was completely sold out, as was several other showings that they were having. A few of them had just one or two seats available. Even the showing that is scheduled to start at 11:50 PM had just the very front row of seats available. This was in the Quad Cities. I wonder what it would be like in a bigger city like LA or New York.

This finale was a lot of fun for me. It had a lot of excitement and uncertainty. I enjoyed it a great deal and I feel like the Duffer Brothers brought their show to a definitive conclusion, even if I did not get Linda Hamilton killed.

Agents of Shield S1 E4, E5, E6

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Three more episodes of Agent of Shield, and, if I am being honest, I do not remember any of these. I know I watched this show religiously when it was on ABC, but I do not remember much of anything in them.

I remember Raina, but more during the Inhumans run when she got turned into a cat-like being.

I know I have not watched these episodes multiple times, but, even still, I should have more memory of them than what I do.

The whole Agent Ward leaping out of the Bus with a parachute to save Jemma Simmons was cool, but it made me wonder about his statis as a Hydra agent, which we know will come about soon.

I did not remember Skye’s betrayal of the team because of a former boyfriend from the Rising Tide, but I think I do remember her confession about not knowing her parents or her backstory.

There are plenty of intriguing hints being dropped for these different characters including Coulson’s time dead, May’s traumatic event, and especially Skye.

It was fun seeing Titus Welliver, the Man in Black from LOST, as one of Coulson’s superiors in Agent Blake. I don’t remember what happened to him as a character, whether he died, was Hydra or is out there somewhere.

I guess it is a good thing that I am starting this rewatch because I do not remember much about this series, outside of how much I loved these characters. I am reminded how awesome Fitz and Simmons are, how bad ass May is, and how downright cool Skye (eventually Daisy Johnson) is. I do remember how Ward was the one I liked the least of the crew, and that is still the case.

Of course, above them all was Phil Coulson, who I still state is one of the best characters to come out of the phase 1 MCU.

Sha Na Na S2 E1, E2, E3

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I wondered what differences there might be to the show now that we have reached season two. There are a couple small things, but most of the show was fairly consistent with season one.

The changes included after the opening number on the stage, a member of Sha Na Na would come up to the microphone and do three or four jokes. These three episodes saw Jocko, Bowser and Chico take the mike. Most of the jokes turned out to be self-derogatory and not that funny.

The other thing I noticed was the show started putting the name of certain members on the screen with a jokey comment beneath their name such as “Jocko: Has a season ticket to the Ballet.” These were cute and could pop up at any time.

Otherwise, they had the same structure. It felt like Avery Schreiber was gone as the cabbie since they did not have him bringing the guest stars in like last season. Interestingly enough, two of the three episodes had Johnny pretend to do an imitation of the celebs, The Shirells and Little Anthony.

Episode two had Screamin’ Scott singing When the Saints Go Marching In during the comedy routine song. They actually had him sing the entire song before they paused for the joke. There were some other “heaven/angel” songs to go with the Saints one.

Episode three had Soupy Sales show up as a cop and a stage director. He was the “director” of the stage show, which was the comedy bit in episode three where Sha Na Na all dressed up as women to sing “I Enjoy Being a Girl.” It was slightly disturbing.

They had some of my favorite songs from Sha Na Na on these three episodes including “Baby, That is Rock ‘N Roll,” “Pretty Little Angel Eyes,” and “Teenager in Love.” In that last one, one of my favorite parts of that song is when Chico almost cracks himself up when he says “ax” instead of “ask” during the song. You can hear him giggle slightly.

They continue to get the musical acts, which really helps the show. These musical acts are acts from the 50/60s era that were probably happy to get a call to be on Sha Na Na. Bobby Rydell couldn’t have been too busy in the late 70s/early 80s.

Agents of Shield S1 E1, E2, E3

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“Pilot”

“0-8-4”

“The Asset”

I began my Agents of Shield rewatch this afternoon with the first three episodes, bringing the team together.

These first three episodes reminded me why I loved this show so much. One of the biggest reasons was Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson. He is so charming and funny and a joy to watch. They set up the mystery of Tahiti (it’s a magical place) right away and they do a fine job of teasing that something was going on.

I love Melinda May, aka The Calvary. She is such a bad ass in this show and her chemistry with Coulson and everyone in the cast is spectacular.

Fitz and Simmons are such cool characters. They are not the type of characters that you would expect in a spy show like this, but their presence is extremely awesome.

Chloe Bennett, who played Skye (at least Skye at this point…. one day to become Daisy Johnson) is another great character who is so easy to root for. There is just enough of uncertainty about Skye to make you wonder what is going to happen.

Grant Ward, on the other hand, is more difficult because I know where his character goes. Watching him in these first episodes, knowing that he was in Hydra, was much more difficult. I wonder when they knew, as a creative team, that Ward would be betraying the team as a Hydra agent. There does not seem to be any signs or hints at this point.

These first episodes are used to bring these characters together in a team, something that did not seem likely to happen in the early part of the show. They were arguing and fighting and did not trust each other, but their plan to sabotage the Shield plane bonded them together.

The Samuel L. Jackson cameo as Nick Fury was awesome too as he yelled at Coulson. Fury’s question about Lola, Coulson’s flying car, was both funny and telling.

I know that this show winds up having to slosh along until the Hydra reveal in Captain America: Winter Soldier, but it has started off strong. I wish that the show had more continuity to the MCU as I would love to see Melinda May appear in MCU films or shows.

Sha Na Na S1 E22, E23, E24

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I finished up Sha Na Na’s first season on YouTube this morning with three pretty good episodes. I do believe that some of the errors that the show did in the first half of their first season were addressed midway through and it did seem better.

Episode 22 kicked off with Blue Moon, which was strange because I am almost certain that that song has already been done on the show. I don’t think that it was just the pilot episode either. I didn’t go back through my reviews to see, but it felt very familiar. The last song of the season was sung by Dirty Dan, and it was Dream Lover, which, again, I thought I had already heard this season. I’m not sure it was a good sign if they were repeating songs just during their first season.

They continued with the musical acts as guest stars instead of comedians or actors. Dion, Marth Reeves and the Vandellas and Bobby Vee all were able to perform and added so much to each episode. The poor comedy was kept to a minimum and the show became more of a musical variety show.

Martha Reeves stuck around after her song and did some jokes with Bowzer and Lennie, both of which were funny. You can do that if it is written well.

Sha Na Na does a fantastic job of finding the right voices to blend together. They had the song Charlie Brown sung by Screamin’ Scott and Jocko, and they sounded great together. Then, they had their best singers< Johnny, Bowzer, Donny, Santini and Denny doing Remember Then, which is sensational.

In episode 23, they did one of the comedy bits where they all dress up and they called it Swine Lake. At first, I thought to myself, “What am I watching?” but as it went on, I started picturing it as an act on the Muppet Show. Had this been the pigs from the Muppets doing this “ballet” I wouldn’t have blinked at it. So, by making Sha Na Na human Muppets, I found much more enjoyment in the skit than I would have before.

Avery Schreiber, who has been a cabbie all season long, came into the diner and did a skit/song where he danced like a robot. It was a bizarre moment. It was another that kind of grew on me and I liked the effort of him doing something different than just drive his cab onto the set and bring the guest star. Apparently, the song was called Mechanical Man and it was a song Avery Schreiber wrote the song as a way to express his unhappiness over how he was being seen as an actor.

Dirty Dan had several songs in this block of three including Dream Lover, Da Do Run Run, and part of the Mexican skit in episode 22.

The comedy bit song in the 24th episode was Ahab the Arab, which was a song b Ray Stevens. I was surprised, since I thought this was too recent for Sha Na Na to do it. However, I did a quick Google search and it said that the song was released in 1962, meaning it fell right into Sha Na Na’s wheelhouse.

This brings to a close season one of the variety show. I am curious to see if there are any changes from season one to two or if the changes they made in the middle of season one will just continue.

The Pitt S1 E14, E15

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“8:00 PM”

“9:00 PM”

The final two episodes of The Pitt were great, making this one of my favorite, if not my favorite, medical dramas ever. Admittedly, medical dramas and me do not necessarily mix. However, this was worth the moments of being uncomfortable.

The mass shooting patients slowed down in the fourteenth episode. Things were unbelievable with this show during this mass shooting story arc. I am also happy that David turned out to not be the shooter. Admittedly, he did make the eliminate list, and I liked the fallout from that.

Robby was discovered by Whittaker on the floor. He did a nice job handling Robby, but Robby was still very off-balanced. He seemed to be so angry over the last several episodes. His confrontation with Langdon in the parking lot was tense and sharp.

The end was wonderful, filled with hope and light among the darkness and depression. Robby looked as if he was going to make it through and they show did a nice job of tying up the different dangling threads that were out there. Some of them were simple mentions, but I do believe everything that the show had set up or hinted at was covered.

This show was really strong and became epic during the mass shooting event. The show did a great job with characterization and giving us specifics on the different characters. With a large cast, the show was great at giving each individual something specific about them. I feel like I know most of these characters now, and not just the main two or three.

Season two will start on HBO Max on January 8 and I will be watching it weekly after that instead of the way I watched this first season.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #49

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“Part 2”

Interestingly, Billy Joel: And So It Goes Part 1 ended with a cliffhanger of sorts. Billy Joel had just had a motorcycle wreck and the doc made us think this was a huge event to Billy Joel.

Then, the second part of the doc started and the motorcycle accident was brushed aside with a mention about how his hand did not bend like it used to. That was it.

Even with that little sideline, I thought I enjoyed Part Two more than I did Part One. There were more about this that I did not know. There were more personal information than just details about the songs and why he wrote it.

The doc interviewed Christie Brinkley, famously Joel’s second wife, who was a huge inspiration with a lot of the hits of the 1980s. Hearing about the marriage and eventual divorce was very interesting.

It also spoke about the time when Billy was not active. There was a large stretch of time when he wasn’t making anything new and hearing about that time was fascinating.

The doc has a ton of individuals speaking about Billy Joel. We saw Paul McCartney, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Pink, Garth Brooks, Nas, and Jackson Browne.

This was a really strong doc, even if it was too long. It was comprehensive and covered most of his biggest hits. This was amazing.

The Pitt S1 E11, E12, E13

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“5:00 PM”

“6:00 PM”

“7:00 PM”

Dr. Robby kept saying in episode 11 that there was only two hours left in the shift, but I knew there were still multiple hours of episodes remaining. I did not know what was going to happen.

And then all hell broke loose.

Some of the most unbelievably intense, stressful stretches of television that I have ever seen. The whole active shooter storyline came back around and slammed everyone at the ER in one massive blast.

I get the feeling that David, the boy who had the hit list back at the beginning of the day was not the culprit of this shooting. It may seem a bit contrived, but I believe it is all coincidence. When David strolled back to the hospital to pick up his mom, he did not seem like someone who just shot dozens of people.

Either way, this series of episodes was amazing, in the most difficult and painstakingly horrendous ways possible.

Who would have thought that the high pressure baby delivery in episode 11, with Dr. Collins working it after suffering her own miscarriage, would be the low stress scene of these three episodes. That whole baby thing was just anxiety-filled and I was begging the screen to save the baby.

Then, it went crazy.

Watching the hospital prepare for the mass shooting before the victims arrived was fascinating. I wonder if that is the way most/all hospitals respond to an emergency like that? They knew what had to happen and they turned their ER into a MASH unit. I have never quite seen anything like it.

Then, Robby cracking at the end of episode 13 brought one more scene for Noah Wylie’s Emmy roll, with all the weight of the deaths of the day, compounded by this horrible triage situation, and trying to explain to his step-son (of sorts) how he could not save the girlfriend.

I can’t imagine what would be going through the minds of those doctors and interns who were having their first day on the job before everything went to crap. They all were having their moments during the chaos.

The first season is down to just two episodes remaining, which does not seem to be enough to manage everything that the show has set up. This makes me feel that there will be plenty of things dangling at the end of the season, when this day finally comes to a close.

Fallout S2 E2

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“The Golden Rule”

I got around to episode two of Fallout tonight.

We got back to the Brotherhood of Steel, while Maximus (Aaron Moten) had some major problems, from both inside himself and outside, where he must fight for his life.

Hey, there is Kumail Nanjiani strolling into the Brotherhood at the end, after Maximus killed his opponent. I will be curious to see where he takes us.

The Ghoul and Lucy are distracted on their way to Vegas. They have to fight some kind of scorpion/facehugger type monster. The Ghoul is stung and paralyzed, but Lucy gave her final injection to the human that they found here. She told him she would come back. I’m not sure that is the case since the human that Lucy saved is sketchy as can be.

It was fun seeing Hank blow up mice and then take the next step and start to blow up humans. Science experiments require that old saying, “if you first do not succeed, try, try again.” Truly a creepy sentiment considering the situation.

This episode was kind of slow for me, but there were some high points.

Stranger Things 5 vol. 2 E5, E6, E7

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“Shock Jock”

“Escape from Camazotz”

“The Bridge”

Christmas night saw the second volume of the final season of Strange Things came out with three episodes that will lead directly into the finale, next week on New Year’s Eve.

These three episodes do a tremendous job setting up that finale. We got plenty of answers about what has been going on these last five seasons, and they really fit together nicely. I am impressed with the writing of the Duffer Brothers.

I love the way that they worked the Wormhole into this story, recontextualizing the Upside-Down and what it actually is. The whole moment when Nancy shot the wormhole was so tense and scary with the vacuum outside of it. I loved how Dustin was on the outside of the situation and found the answers in Bremmer’s journal.

Speaking of Dustin, he and Steve went through it in these episodes. They dealt with the way they were treating each other in the first volume and it was extremely dramatic as they handled the deep pain that they were facing.

Jonathan and Nancy dealt with their relationship in a strong manner. The scene where they finally told each other the truth was a really great scene.

I do not like how they are setting up the ending of this with the implication that Eleven is going to need to die for everything to finally be over. I really dislike the sister.

I love how the group is basically back together in the seventh episode, preparing for the big finish. They have not all been back together in a long time, and seeing the team come back together was great.

Vecna truly is terrifying. The use of the redesigned Vecna is really well done and how they use it along with the Henry form. Henry was every bit as scary when dealing with his little cult-like kids. I needed more Dipshit Derek in these episodes.

Max coming back was very satisfying too, as was Will’s admitting about being gay. Both of these moments gave a strength to the ensemble and allowed these characters to show how important they were to each other. It was a lovely way to do this, especially with the Will reveal. Will was still very nervous and awkward during the entire time, hem-and-hawing around the topic. Watching the group embrace him was a beautiful moment.

And we are set up with a crazy plan to save the world and prevent the crashing together of two worlds via the wormhole. A final showdown certainly with Eleven and Vecna (hopefully with Will there too. He deserves to be in the final showdown).

They have actually made me reconsider my New Year’s Eve routine. I usually watch Infinity War and Endgame to midnight, but now, I might have to readjust my tradition.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S2 E4

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“Clarisse Blows Up Everything”

Into the Sea of Monsters… and what a cliffhanger.

Percy Jackson, Annabeth and Tyson were confronted by Clarisse and her crew of dead sailors from the Underworld. After a tense standoff, they decided to work together, with Clarisse taking the role of captain, since it is her quest.

Things do not go well for the quest as they have to face the choice of either Scylla and Charybdis in order to get past them and continue their search for the Golden Fleece.

Clarisse changes the plan in mid-execution, heading off to fight the monsters using her cool on board laser canons (that looked more like something on the Millennium Falcon).

The end of the episode saw the ship starting to tear apart and getting pulled into the vortex.

There are some good flashbacks to Annabeth’s past with Luke and where they met Grover.

There were some really strong special effects for this too. Very impressive for a Disney + show.

The Pitt S1 E9, E10

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“3:00 PM”

“4:00 PM”

Two more episodes from HBO Max’s The Pitt are in the tank now. This show has been exceptional. I do have to turn my head away a few times, including this episode with the burned man and the boy with the blood behind his eye, but the drama is just so intense it is worth a few wiggly feelings in my tum-tum.

When Dana took the punch to the face from a frustrated Doug Driscoll, I was shocked. I had seen a picture of her with a bloody nose when I was searching for pics on Google, but the cruelness of Driscoll was tough. I understand the frustration that he was feeling with the wait that he was having, but that does not excuse the violent response. I sure hope he gets what is coming to him.

Langdon was discovered for stealing medication. He had been leaning on Santos a lot, but she was noticing the discrepancies in some of his patients’ medication. Robby sent him packing at the end of episode 10. It feels as if this is just one more thing that is weighing down on Robby. Stresses are building on him.

We got back to the storyline with the boy and his “hit list.” McKay reported the boy to the police, who came to talk to his grandma. This arc has been slow, but feels like it is starting to build once again.

We are down to six episodes remaining of season one.