Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

The X-Files S3 E6

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“2Shy”

This was an X-Files horror episode at its finest.

I seemed to like this more than some of the other online critics that I have seen. I thought this villain, Virgil Incanto, was very scary and rather creepy. His “fat-sucking vampire” character was pretty horrific.

Is he too much like a little brother to Eugene Tooms? Maybe. There are definitely similarities to the characters, but as a monster-of-the-week on the X-Files, I found Incanto to be very successful.

I liked how it was Scully, along with one of Incanto’s intended victims, who brought him down. Especially after the local detective Alan Cross dropped some “old fashion” values on Scully, implying that he did not think that women should be in this position. Cross wound up dead in the bathtub and Scully stood tall at the end. I would have preferred her to be a little more responsible for the monster’s capture than his intended victim, who shot him with Scully’s gun that she just left on the floor.

Still, I was fully engaged with the story and I was happy that they did capture the villain at the end and he just did not slither off to continue his spree of fat-sucking.

True Detective: Night Country S4 E4

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“Part Four”

Night Country continues to be a creepy and, at times, devastating look at both mental illness and the effects of isolation and the lack of daylight.

This week, Navarro’s sister, diagnosed with several mental illnesses, leaves the clinic and walks into the water, drowning herself. To say that Navarro does not respond positively to the news is an understatement. She flies off the handle at the clinic and then picks a fight with a group of men who leave her bloodied and battered.

Meanwhile, things aren’t great for Danvers. Her step-daughter leaves, Danvers spends Christmas Eve alone and drunk.

Navarro is seeing some horrors and she is afraid that the mental illness ran through her family. Ghosts are everywhere here apparently.

The supernatural element of this show has really started kicking into high gear. When Otis Heiss said that they were in the “night country” now, it really felt like something creepy.

And I really feel for Navarro.

The show has been firing on all cylinders for me and, with just two episodes left, I’m excited to see the mystery of the Tsalal murder solved.

Death and Other Details S1 E3

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“Troublesome”

I watched the third episode of Death and Other Details on Hulu tonight titled “Troublesome.” I have to say that I have not quite been absorbed by the series so far.

I really do enjoy Mandy Patinkin in the lead role as Rufus. He is awesome and he certainly carries himself like a star. 

However, I have struggled getting to know the rest of the characters involved in the story. Most of them have not been characters that I have been engaged with and I am having a difficult time knowing who they are.

I don’t know if I needed more introductions to these people or if I did not give the show enough attention, but it has been okay for me at best.

There is a new detective on board, Agent Hilde Eriksen, whom I find kind of intriguing. I like ho she has played off Rufus so far and I hope things will continue to improve over the next several episodes.

Moonlighting S4 E3, E4, E5, E6, E7

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“Take a Left at the Altar”

“A Tale of Two Cities”

“Cool Hand Dave Part I”

“Cool Hand Dave Part II”

“Father Knows Last”

A Sunday afternoon spent with the fourth season of Moonlighting is an enjoyable thing. Even with the fourth season being quite a step down, including much of the time where Dave and Maddie were separated between two cities.

Cybill Shepherd’s pregnancy caused some of these issues, but there were other problems that led to this season.

In retrospect, the fourth season was better than I remembered but so many of the things that happened that just did not work for Moonlighting. A lot of it was fine for any other network show, but for Moonlighting, it was just not the same.

This is a stretch of time when Bert Viola became practically unbearable. Prior to these episodes, he had been okay. During this time, he was obnoxious, taking over for Dave in the office, and being overbearing. I think part of my dislike of the character came from Dave’s reaction to him. He was snarling at Bert, rolling his eyes and wishing him leave. That made me think Bert wasn’t worth the time.

There was only one case during this time and it included Terry O’Quinn (John Locke from LOST). It was a typical Moonlighting case, but the chemistry with Dave and Bert during the chase scene just was not the same without Maddie.

The biggest issue with these episodes is that there is such an undercurrent of meanness to it. These characters who we love so much have such an anger and a bitterness to them that it just feels wrong.

In the Cool Hand Dave two part episode, Dave winds up in prison in one of the most convoluted manners possible. There is no way that it could have possibly worked this way, but there was a really fun musical number during it and Bob the Goon (Tracey Walter) from Batman ’89 was Dave’s cellmate.

In the end, these episodes are not great in comparison to the past seasons of Moonlighting, but watchable over all.

The X-Files S3 E5

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“The List”

The X-Files meets The Green Mile.

Or maybe Marv from Sin City.

Any depiction of the electric chair is somewhat disturbing for me so this episode started off with me on edge. When the prisoner stated that he had a list of those he wanted to exact his revenge upon, returning from the beyond to kill them all, well, the show made it really creepy.

Yet, it turned out to be strangely satisfying despite being unresolved for Mulder and Scully.

J.T. Walsh had a sufficiently rotten turn as Warden Brodeur, a character that clearly had little redeeming qualities. His final fate, in a cool action sequence for the show, was worthwhile.

Written and directed by series creator Chris Carter, this episode is a solid stand-alone, monster-of-the-week episode that definitely had its place among the X-Files oeuvre. 

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S1 E8

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“The Prophecy Comes True”

I was unaware that this would be the season one finale of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I had it in my head that the show would be 10 episodes. I don’t know why, but I did not anticipate that tonight was the final episode on Disney +.

Of course, it made everything happening during the last seven episodes make more sense. I did think that some of the episodes were rushing through their stories, but with this being the finale, I understood that more.

I also did not anticipate the late , great Lance Reddick showing up as Zeus in one of his final TV appearances before his way-too-soon death last year.

Percy stepped up big time in this episode. When he had his showdown with Adam Copeland’s Ares, I thought that was cool, but as he marched himself off to Mt. Olympus to go face to face with Zeus, well, that took some guts. 

I really think Walker Scobell showed some serious progression of his skills over this season. You could see the confidence in the young actor as the character became more his with each episode. To the point where he was absolutely a leader and a hero by the finale.

Season one was a lot of fun and I was surprised how much I looked forward to a new episode every Tuesday night. I did not miss a Tuesday night and I sure do hope that this will receive another season promptly. 

Oh, and the tag at the end of the episode….gold!

True Detective: Night Country S4 E3

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“Part Three”

Holy crap.

Okay, I was thinking that this episode was slow and there was not too much going down. I mean there was some minimal advancement on the case and there was some good character development, especially for Navarro.

Then, the last fifteen minutes or so, shit went crazy.

So much so that when the episode went to black, I was feeling uneasy and downright disturbed from the video on Annie’s phone and the unnatural warning from the injured  Dr. Anders Lundt, with his legs amputated. This supernatural twist was creepy as all hell and really punctuated the scene, with him making a comment about Navarro’s mom. Coincidentally, we found out earlier this episode what had happened to her.

We also discovered the fact that the six dead, frozen bodies most likely had not died of being frozen, that they were dead before they were frozen. 

I also found out that the season is now half over, which was shocking to me. There is so much going on right now that I hope they are able to nail the landing on this series because it is truly compelling at this point.

Moonlighting S4 E1, E2

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“A Trip to the Moon”

“Come Back Little Shiksa”

After the end of season three, with David and Maddie making love, season four went in a dark and downer direction with Maddie not sure where the relationship was going. So she ran off to Chicago.

This show just never worked well when it did not have David AND Maddie front and center.

I know part of it was Cybill Shepherd’s real life pregnancy as Maddie was hiding behind just about anything she could in these two episodes to hide her belly. Still, the way the story went, you just felt so bad for David, who was trying everything, and it was hard to understand what was going through Maddie’s head.

The two episodes had some fun things. There was a Honeymooners parody in a dream sequence with David as Ralph, Maddie as Alice, DiPesto as Trixie and Richie (David’s brother, played by Charles Rocket) as Norton. There was an appearance by Ray Charles singing in a dream sequence for David (“Hit the Road, Dave”). Episode two had a Claymation argument between Dave and Maddie, and Dave gets turned into a horny toad. John Goodman had a guest starring role. Dr. Joyce Brothers appeared to Maddie in the mirror too. 

There was just the magic missing. 

I know the fourth season is really a tough one. I hope on second watch, it will be better than I remember.

Masters of the Universe: Revolution

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The sequel to the Masters of the Universe: Revelations from filmmaker Kevin Smith dropped on Netflix this weekend with five-episodes that ran around a half hour each. This made the series a simple binge and satisfying story with some classic characters if the 1980s.

Another fun tidbit for the series was hearing the voice talents of Mark Hamill and William Shatner working together. Having Luke and Kirk together in any manner is a Geek dream.

The story basically continues from the Revelations series as the characters were dealing with fall-out of everything that happened there when Prince Adam’s father fell ill, so badly sick that he was not long for the world.

There were some solid emotional bits in the story and some good character arcs, especially for Evil-Lynn. Her eventual redemption was one of the most satisfying of the entire series. The show also went into the origin of Skeletor, tying him to Adam in an unexpected way.

There were a lot of voices on the internet that spewed out venom and hatred over the Revelations series when it first came out on Netflix. It got so bad that it was pretty clear that Kevin Smith had been discouraged over it. You could hear the change come over him during his podcast Fatman Beyond. 

However, it seemed as if this time there are many more voices of positivity with this series. I hope Kevin takes in the well-deserved love and it makes him feel better. I really enjoyed Revelations, perhaps more so than Revolution. 

This series feels much more like a love letter to the original series than the previous one had. Revelations felt like he took the characters from the series and made them into deeper characters and put them on some arcs that may not have been popular, but were very interesting and thrilling. Here, it felt as if it were more about the story with the characters taking a bit of a back seat. With the fewer number of episodes, I think that was a wise choice.

The music/score of the animated show was sensational. Some of the music swelled with energy and passion, creating the perfect tone for most of the scenes. 

The animation was very good too. There are some truly beautiful shots of the action and the imagery of the surroundings.

The biggest drawback for me is another thing that connects it to the original series. I did not watch the He-Man show back in the 80’s and the weird, quippy dialogue/patter was cringey at times. When Lynn started to sing the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song, I could almost hear my eyes rolling into the back of my head. I understand that is the tone of the series and that it did have a place, but it was fairly annoying at times.

Otherwise, I think this was a satisfactory entry into the Master of the Universe mythos and longtime fans should find a lot here to praise instead of taking to the internet to rip down. 

Death and Other Details S1 E2

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“Sordid”

I got a chance to watch episode two of the new Hulu series, Death and Other Details featuring Mandy Patinkin as one of the world’s great gentlemen detectives, Rufus Cotesworth. 

Rufus goes about interviewing all of the passengers on the ship about the murder of Keith, Rufus’s friend and assistant who was on the ship undercover. Keith had been playing a role as such a jerk on the ship and wound up being murdered. Or was it because of his jerk-ness or was it tied to the old case of the murder of Imogene’s mother?

Mandy Patinkin is always great and he is, at this point, the reason to be watching this. I am still feeling my way along on this show, hoping to get more enthralled with the mystery than what I have so far.

Rufus certainly has shaken up the rest of the passengers, looking to see what he can find.

The X-Files S3 E4

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“Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”

This is one of the best X-Files episodes of the entire run. Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose starred Peter Boyle as a grumpy man who has the psychic ability to see how individuals are going to die and he finds himself stuck in a murder investigation of a serial killer who is targeting psychics.

One of the greatest lines of the entire series was in this episode. 

From IMDB:

  • Clyde Bruckman: You know, there are worse ways to go, but I can’t think of a more undignified way than autoerotic asphyxiation.
  • Fox Mulder: Why are you telling me that?
  • Clyde Bruckman: Look, forget I mentioned it. It’s none of my business.

Peter Boyle was absolutely perfect in this role, a down-on-his-luck insurance salesman who has been beaten down by life and by the visions of death that he sees. His sarcastic and snide remarks were extremely funny and were delivered beautifully. His chemistry with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson was tremendous. 

Though there was some wonderful humor in this episode, it was also one of the darker episodes of the season. It blended the two tones together seamlessly. 

Oh, and Bruckman indicated that Scully was not going to die, a quip he made that was carried through the series.

Definitely this is one of the best episodes of the show and one of the best episodes of TV of all time. 

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S1 E7

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“We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of”

I have really enjoyed this new series of the Percy Jackson shows on Disney +. Episode 7 has found Percy, Annabeth and Grover entering the Underworld, and in search of Hades in order to find the Master Bolt and save Percy’s mother.

It wasn’t going to be as easy as it sounded.

Who knew, but the Master Bolt was inside Percy’s bag. However, it was not Percy’s bag, but Ares’s. Ares had some kind of manipulative reason that he needed Percy to bring the bolt to the Underworld. We don’t know why yet, but I always love to see Adam Copeland.

We see some flashbacks to Percy as a child with his mother trying to get him into schools. The schools kept turning her down because of the way Percy was. (I have to say… every time I have tried to type the word Percy, in my head, I think Harry. I wonder why…)

When Percy and Grover came face to face with Hades, they discovered Ares’s lies. Of course, Hades isn’t going to help them without something on the line. 

We get a cool sequence with Cerberus too. The three headed dog that guards the Underworld chased our heroes around. The CGI looked really good for a TV show.

Percy and Ares faced off at the very end of the episode, setting up a huge showdown next week.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been excellent all season long. It does feel as if the show is a touch rushed, but it is a lot of fun.

The X-Files S3 E3

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“D.P.O.”

Giovanni Ribisi and Jack Black showed up as guest appearances on the X-Files episode “D.P.O.” 

Ribisi is Electro, who loved video games at the arcade, attracted to his former special needs reading teacher.

Okay, he’s not actually Electro, but he may as well be. He was struck by lightning and survived and somehow gained some electrical powers. 

He was out to gain the love of his former teacher, played by Karen Witter. 

It was a pretty decent episode because you were never sure what Mulder and Scully could do against Ribisi. Because of that, the intensity of the episode was high.

True Detective: Night Country S4 E2

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“Part 2”

So, after the weird and supernatural feel of the first episode last week, this week’s True Detective is a lot of procedural investigations, questions (both the right and wrong questions) and interactions among characters.

At the end of last episode, a ghost had led his former wife to a group of bodies frozen in the ice. Turned out they were scientists working at a station out in the Alaskan night.

How they wound up in a frozen pile, naked, with their clothes folded neatly in piles nearby. 

I must say that when the hand broke off and the body screams, I jumped. One of them survived! 

And it looked as if the scientists have some kind of connection to the case of Annie’s murder from six years before. There is a spiral tattoo that plays a prominent part this the mystery. Danvers and Evangeline (and a throwback to season 1).

Raymond Clark was not among the mass of frozen bodies, indicating that he might still be alive and out there.

Another week and the mystery is becoming bigger as we go. I enjoyed the characters quite a bit and I look forward to seeing where this goes next.

The X-Files S2 E24, E25 and S3 E1, E2

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“Our Town”

“Anasazi”

“The Blessing Way”

“Paper Clip”

I wanted to finish off season two of the X-Files with the final two episodes. However, episode 25 “Anasazi” left off on a cliffhanger and dropped the old TO BE CONTINUED signal. So I decided to go ahead and watch season 3 episode 1. 

Then, that episode did the same thing. It was so tense and anxious, that I had to go on to epside 2.

“Our Town” was a creepy small town that were killing people and eating them to keep themselves young. This was a truly weird episode with some frightening ideas in it. The masked fellow with the giant axe. 

Meanwhile, the next three episodes all focused on the series’ underlying mythology and the governmental conspiracy about aliens and the projects that were being run on abductees. It was three episodes of intensity and a huge reminder how much I absolutely HATED Cigarette Smoking Man. Not just as hate him cause he is an awesome villain, but HATE him- please put a bullet in his head.

These three episodes saw the deaths of Mulder’s father and Scully’s sister. We also found out that Mulder’s father was involved in the projects from the 1950s. It is implied that he chose Mulder’s sister as an abductee. 

I did not enjoy the spiritual visits Mulder had in this few episodes as they felt very clichéd. Plus, they did not look very good. They reminded us all that this was a 90s show.

The conspiracy felt so gigantic in this episode, but there were some small victories, such as Skinner telling CSM to “pucker up and kiss my ass.” The return and subsequent attempted killing of Krycek was very good too.

One has to feel for the families of Mulder and Scully as they are constantly in the line of fire or into the troubles up to their ears.

There was also a scene that got downplayed here, but leads to big things. It was when Scully discovered the chip in her neck. If I remember correctly, the removal of that chip is what triggered Scully’s bout with cancer.

Lots of great stuff here as the X-Files heads into their third season.