Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Shogun S1 E10

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“A Dream of a Dream”

That last moment of the penultimate ninth episode was the most shocking, unexpected scene I have seen on a TV show in a long time. The death of Lady Mariko shook the series dramatically, and the repercussions were felt of that death throughout a beautiful finale of Shogun.

In fact, the death of Mariko was the point of Crimson Sky, the main concept behind the plan of Toranaga in his attempt to regain power and bring a lasting peace to Japan.

We see John Blackthorne in a distant future, old and most likely on his deathbed, showing that he would survive the situation in Japan.

I thought the death of Mariko would trigger some serious violence and I was wrong. Her death actually triggered the change of alliances in the potential war. She negotiated for the life of John. Mariko’s ghost was all over this episode.

Her death also brought the guilt out of Yabushige and led to his committing seppuku with Toranaga acting as his second. The scene between these two on a cliff overlooking the sea was strong as Toranaga confessed his entire plan to Yabushige before his death.

There was a beautiful scene with Blackthorne and Fuji scattering her husband and baby’s ashes in the water before she would depart to become a nun.

Of course, the scene where Blackthorne threatened to kill himself was undercut by the fact that we saw old man Blackthorne at the beginning of the episode, but the acting was so good in this scene that you could excuse the structure.

I expect that this is the end of Shogun. It was ten fantastic episodes. If they decided to extend this to a second season, I would watch, but without Mariko, I am not sure it would have the same power. The acting was tremendous and the shocks were plentiful.

Man from Atlantis S1 E15

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“Imp”

Pat Morita guest starred as a strange little man named Moby, a being from another world whose touch causes people to regress to a childhood state and laugh without a care in the world. While that sounds like fun, the humans wind up in dangerous situations.

In fact, Moby told some of the crew of the submarine that discovered him to go swimming and they happily climbed into the air lock and drowned. We did not see their eventual fates, but that is absolutely what happened.

The idea behind Moby is clearly someone like Mr. Mxyzptlk from DC Comics or a story similar to “Naked Time” from the original Star Trek series. However, this was a little annoying at times.

The ending where Mark shows Moby the dangers of his actions was a solid ending to this story. Mark continues to be the most noblest character on the show.

It was interesting that Moby’s powers did not work on Mark and that Moby knew that they would not because Moby recognized Mark as from “down there.” This was never explored but it was a intriguing nod to the differences of the character of Mark Harris.

This is the final episode of the series for Belinda Montgomery, who played Elizabeth. To be fair, the character of Elizabeth neve really got her due from this series. I am sure that she will be missed over the final couple of episodes.

Chernobyl S1 E3

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“Open Wide, O Earth”

This has been such a compelling story of such a horrific tragedy. The drama is so tense and suspenseful and every moment brings more shocking revelations. So many people wound up sick or dead because of their efforts to stop the exposure from spreading into the land or the water, it truly speaks to the heroic nature of the human spirit, no matter the country.

The group of miners they recruited to dig beneath the core to prevent the contamination of the water supply have become my favorite characters immediately. Their no nonsense approach to the initial order was awesome, as was their patting of the coal minister (messing up his suit and his face with coal dust). Their response to not being allowed to have fans in the tunnels they dug was unexpected and a great bit of humor inside a serious moment.

Seeing some of the first people who had been exposed and the fates that they faced was difficult. The firefighter whose wife told him she was pregnant was heart-breaking. The final scene of the episode where they placed a series of metal coffins in a large grave and covered it with concrete was a brutal blow. It was truly a difficult scene to watch.

Valery Legasov presenting the plan for what had to happen next to Gorbachev was a tense scene. When Valery approached the KGB Director, I had everything clenched. I know he survived because of the opening scene of the show, but it still did not make this easier to watch.

This has been such a powerful show with so much amazing acting. I find this very emotional and I am glad that I have gotten around to seeing it.

American Horror Story: Delicate S12 E8

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“Little Gold Man”

Since Delicate return from hiatus a few weeks ago, I have been very down on this series. Even the first half of the season was not as gripping as some of the past seasons.

The eighth episode of the season was better than recent ones. It still is not in the upper tier of AHS seasons, but at least I am not cringing every scene like I have been the last few weeks.

The whole Oscar plot is strange. She found out she was nominated and won the award all in the same basic time frame and that does not happen.

Anna got that Oscar, but what did she have to sacrifice in order to hear her name called? Sure seemed like she just said she would give up her unborn child to win that award. Hm. Anna was never going to be mother-of-the-year, but that was really crappy of her.

A lot of this episode was exposition and explanations for what was going on. Then, it is never easy to figure out what is in Anna’s head or what’s actually happening to her.

Then, the episode was over before you knew it. Just around 35 minutes run time is surprisingly short for the show.

The X-Files S4 E11

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“El Mundo Gira”

The X-Files goes into illegal aliens this episode, blending it with the legend of El Chupacabra and a strange, deadly fungus, that was killing people.

This episode took the idea of El Chupacabra and turned it into something different, something unexplained, and I have to say that I enjoyed the manipulation of the legend.

It was based on the Mexican Soap Operas too as a love requited story was at the center of it. Some of the acting felt like it was over the top like you might find in some of the soap operas/telenovela of the culture.

The ending was a lesson in POV as we saw what happened in the ending from two distinctly differing points of view. This is something that the show has done on several occasions, including in such classic episodes as Jose Chung’s From Outer Space.

This was a fun episode, but I still would wish that Mulder and Scully would be able to capture their prey once in a while.

Chernobyl S1 E1, E2

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“1:23:45”

“Please Remain Calm”

With the rewatches of Twin Peaks and Moonlighting finishing, the end of the Fallout first season, and the nearing of the completion of Man from Atlantis, I was ready for a new watch, whether it be a rewatch or a new show. I had made a list and one that jumped out at me was a five-episode mini-series that had aired on HBO in 2019 based on the story of the disaster that occurred at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union.

I had heard amazing things about this mini-series and so I wanted to get this into the rotation. I have to say, after watching the first two episodes, I had to really stress myself into not continuing and binging the entire series. It was that good.

About two-thirds of the way through the second episode, I was thinking that everyone that I saw in the first episode was now dead or in the process of dying, which was a dramatic thought.

Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgård we meet, mostly, in the second episode, and they bring some of the best acting I have seen in a long time. The realization of what their jobs will cost them is absolutely screaming beneath their performances.

This historical recreation (which does have its share of discrepancies) is extremely stressful and intense. It had me yelling at my screen for characters to get out of there, in reference to the power plant. How the radiation affected these men was an unbelievable example of the power of nuclear energy.

Kicking the series off with a scene of Valery Legasov, played by Jared Harris, hanging himself after recording memoirs of the events of Chernobyl really started things off with a desperation that the series maintained. Legasov had said to Skarsgård’s Boris Shcherbina in episode two that they would both be dead in five years. Perhaps this was his way of taking control of his life. Or maybe, he knew he would be killed for putting his words on tape. Either way, it made for quite an impact at the beginning of this show.

Man from Atlantis S1 E14

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“Scavenger Hunt”

Muldoon makes a return to the Man from Atlantis series and they even referenced the last time he was on. Continuity! This is the first time in the series that there has been an allusion back to an earlier episode. For example, Mister Schubert has made multiple appearances and none of them make connections to previous encounters, outside of a knowledge of Mark Harris and the rest.

I try my best to remember that this series came out in 1977 and special effects were limited. Even still, the inclusion in this episode of the creature named Oscar was stretching the acceptability of special effects. It was a guy in a rubber suit and it was pretty obvious. I was able to look past this two-headed creature from a different world, but why did it have to sound like a horse whining every time it made a sound? That was a poor choice and something that could have been done better at the time.

The acting from the side characters of this series has never been great. It is continuing to be so with the natives of this island who just did not sound like they were doing anything but reading off a page. Again, I can understand the budget of hiring real actors for the minor background characters.

Mark’s heroic and honorable nature continues to be the highlight of the show. There were plenty of time Mark could use his super strength to fight or to respond with violence, but he does not do so. He responds with respect and with words and the fact that he does not have to do so, that he would be perfectly capable of surviving the situation by his strength alone, makes him all the more of a hero.

Even Muldoon, who is selfish and greedy, can’t help but to be a better person when he is around Mark. Once again though, the show sticks it to Muldoon as he has to pay the price because of his previous actions at the end of the show, even though he helped save everyone at the end. Poor Muldoon.

Fallout S1 E7, E8

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“The Radio”

“The Beginning”

I ended the first season of Fallout with the final two episodes of this video game adaptation. The first season, which absolutely ended with a set-up for season two, was great, and I would be excited to see a second season and spend more time with these characters.

Lucy arrived to rescue her father, Hank, but she was not too happy to discover the truth. Hank was the driving force of destroying the city of Shady Sands. The confrontation between Lucy and Hank was intense and tough to watch, mainly because I did not want to be rooting against Kyle MacLachlan.

Maximus may have finally won me over. He has taken a serious journey this season and, since leaving the vault, Maximus has done some awesome things. Plus, we learn that he did not sabotage the shoes of his friend. I liked how he and Lucy’s relationship developed. It felt earned and helped me feel more for Maximus.

The Ghoul and his back story continued as he discovered that his wife was behind a bunch of the original issues 200 years before. But in the present, he still does not know what has happened to his family.

Norm is on his way to discovering the truth about his father as well as he has manipulated his way into Vault 31 and discovered a weird brain in a mobile jar. It speaks too in a slightly funny tone. This was an odd set of scenes with Norm in Vault 31. It was not what I was expecting.

Still not sure what Betty wants with sending a group of the people to Vault 32. I hope that is another story to build in the second season.

X-Men ’97 S1 e6

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“Lifedeath Part 2”

It was inevitable that episode six of the new animated series X-Men ’97 had to be a step down from last week’s episode, which some have called the best episode of Marvel TV ever. While that is hyperbole, the fact was episode 5 was absolutely a large hurdle to follow.

The second part of Lifedeath, a classic X-Men story arc involving Ororo, was a solid episode that might have suffered from placement in the series.

However, it was not only Storm and Forge whose story continued in this episode. We go into space and pick up with Charles Xavier and the Shi’ar Empire. I will admit that the Shi’ar has never been my favorite X-Men story arcs. I do like Deathbird, who is front and center here, and Gladiator has always been cool, but the rest of the Imperial Guard have been lesser to me.

It was also a surprise to see Ronan the Accuser make an early episode appearance with the Kree.

The events of episode five were felt in both stories, as the terrible news from Genosha inspired both of them. Xavier to decide that he must return to earth and Storm to choose to return to the X-Men after she was able to regain her powers.

The end bit showed us that Mister Sinister was behind the unleashing of the Sentinels onto Genosha, leading into the remainder of the season.

Interestingly enough, Nightcrawler has been added to the intro, despite the fact that he did not appear in this episode. That is okay with me as Nightcrawler has always been one of my favorite X-Men and the idea of more of the ‘fuzzy elf’ is very pleasing for me.

Man from Atlantis S1 E13

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“C.W. Hyde”

Last episode, it was William Shakespeare. This episode was Robert Louis Stevenson. The episode took the character of C.W. and made him into a Mister Hyde-type like the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

While I enjoyed the idea of using C.W. as the head of an episode and giving him more to do than he normally gets on the show, this was terrible.

I disliked just about everything of this episode. From the moment that C.W. accidentally drank some coffee with an enzyme from the ocean floor, things went downhill on the show.

Starting with the ridiculous eyebrows and hairy hands that C.W. had and going to the absolutely ridiculous, almost comical, music that played through every scene where he was “Hyde,” this was poorly written and silly.

C.W. got involved with some gangster and his moll and this led to a stupid confrontation with the crooks, Mark, C.W. and his secretary, Sara, who we had never seen before at C.W.’s office. It was legitimately some of the worst written scenes from this series.

While this series has never been remarkably deep, it has been fun in its own manner. This was hard to watch and easily the worst episode of Man from Atlantis up to this point.

Shogun S1 E9

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“Crimson Sky”

Holy crap.

I can’t believe what I just saw.

This is absolutely mind-blowing and I have a pit in my stomach. I thought Mariko was gone twice during the episode, and, when I felt as if she was safe, she was not.

The fight she had at the front gate was unbelievable and I was worried that Mariko was going to die at this point. She did not. Then, the whole seppuku scene with her, I was sure that she was a goner (especially after the death from episode eight) and when Ishido came and prevented it, I was relieved. I was sure she was safe.

Then the relationship between John and Mariko was made clearer. I have never felt like Mariko had the feelings toward John, but this was obvious with the actions and the slight looks.

All leading to the dramatic ending, starting off with a betrayal from Yabushige. I was confused at first what was happening, because I wondered if this were men from Toranaga that Yabushige let into the castle. However, when they started going after John and Mariko, I did not understand. And Yabushige was there with them at the end.

If I was correct, I think I was able to determine the shinobi were sent by Lord Ishido because he did not want these women to be able to leave and this would safe face for him.

This was a heavy Mariko episode, with Yoko Shimada, and it reminded me of a LOST episode when a major character would die. It always seemed like it was an episode that was centric to that character. This was very much that way. We even saw a flashback to when she was pregnant, which I did not know she had given birth. Her son comes to see her and does not treat her well.

I have not have had a reaction to a scene like the ending in a long time. I was totally shocked at the explosive death and it hit hard.

The finale is next week. What a powerful penultimate episode this was.

Fallout S1 E6

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“The Trap”

This show has been very consistently solid every episode, and it has given us enough from the history of the world and the background of these characters, as well as the mystery surrounding the vaults to keep things really interesting.

The main thrust of this week’s episode was two pronged. One, we get to see more with Lucy and Maximus inside the new Vault that they quite literally stumbled into at the hospital at the end of episode five. Then, two, we get to see more about the background and life of the Ghoul, and start to get some idea about what is motivating him all the while continuing to see what a bad ass he is.

Maximus finding the vault-life to be appealing is a funny bit. Having him see all of the things that he had never seen before while living on the surface, such as a hot shower, a record player or oysters, was comedic while serving his character. And Maximus’s response to Lucy’s questioning him to see if he wanted to have sex was truly hilarious. “It gets hard and explodes like a pimple” is an appropriate manner to describe it.

There was some weird stuff happening in this vault too as there were a lot of surface dwellers who had been brought into the vault. We saw them carrying off some kind of cult-like ceremony involving blood. Never a positive sign.

It creeped Lucy out and she is anxious about what is happening in this vault. The episode ends with Lucy getting grabbed by people from the vault while Maximus is just living his best life, with popcorn in his new, white robe.

There was also an epic scene with the Ghoul and some guy he knew from before, who claimed to be president. The Ghoul is just an awesome character.

Fallout continues to be so good that I am looking forward to the final two episodes of the season. Video game adaptations are on a pretty good role.

Man from Atlantis S1 E12

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“The Naked Montague”

Man from Atlantis saved Romeo & Juliet?

Very Shakespearian. Mark finds another one of those weird undersea portals that sees him transported to Verona, with the very real blood feud between the Montagues and Capulets as seen in the tragedy of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.

Mark is still such a noble character. He is an unlikely action hero and, despite his super powers, he does not slip into violence easily and he treats everyone with respect.

We have seen Mark in the land of a giant, in the old West, and now 14th century Italy. As Mark is inserted into the classic tale, there is some swordplay, some Shakespearian language, and some epic family rivalries.

This was a weird episode, but I enjoyed the story. I think I just really enjoy the character of Mark Harris and any time you place him in a situation like this, you have a winning formula.

Part of it is the way Patrick Duffy plays Mark, so straightforward and almost monotone. It makes the character almost naive, and certainly heroic.

Fallout S1 E5

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“The Past”

I have to say that I am really enjoying the mystery aspect of the Vaults. I wonder if the mystery is as compelling to those people who have played the video game as it is to me. Either way, I am excited to know more about the machinations going on with the elections. Betty is surprisingly sinister. She has some kind of plot going on.

My thoughts about Norm being suspect seem to be gone from my mind now. He is the person

The interactions between Maximus and Lucy are great. Maximus has not been my favorite character, and I think that is by design. When he revealed his identity to his squire and the squire did not react well, Maximus had every intention of killing him. This makes me think that Maximus has a long way to go to be a decent guy.

The whole conflict on the bridge with the fiends was tense and surprisingly funny. It was really well written.

It also led to Maximus taking a bullet wound that he tried to brush off, but was worse than he let on. This led them to a hospital and they ended up in a vault. Which one? I do not know. But I can not wait to see where it goes.

We did not see the Ghoul in this episode, which dealt with some of the past history of the world. We did get a glance at the head of poor Ben Linus…

The X-Files S4 E10

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“Paper Hearts”

This was one of the creepiest and most unsettling episodes of the X-Files and it was a story that kept the paranormal stuff basically in the background. A little dream stuff, but other than that, this could be a real story.

It was a story about a serial killer who was responsible for multiple little girls’ disappearances. Mulder had captured him years before, but when Mulder’s dreams lead him to a fourteen victim that he was not aware of, the case suddenly became mor personal for Mulder.

This was another story to make a twist connecting to the disappearance of Samantha Mulder. The killer, John Lee Roche, played by Tom Noonan, was playing a mind game with Mulder, potentially claiming that Samantha was one of two unnamed victims just discovered.

Tom Noonan does a spectacular job portraying Roche in an understated and dark character. He is not your stereotypical serial killer you see on TV program. David Duchovny does a great job playing off Noonan.

I rally liked this concept for what happened to Samantha. The show basically proved that Roche had not kidnapped and killed her, but they left enough of a doubt that it still could have been the truth. I like this a lot better than any of the other possible solutions for the Samantha Mulder mystery. I especially prefer it over the Mudler’s father chose to give up Samantha. I still wonder if they ever knew for certain what happened to her?

Really great episode.