Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Pluribus S1 E9

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“La Chica o El Mundo”

It really feels as if Pluribus has only just started its season. It’s hard to believe that the show is already up to its first season finale already, but that is the case. Apple TV + dropped the finale a couple of days early (before Christmas).

And what a finale this was. In some ways, it was smaller, quieter than I might have expected. But then again…

There was an A-Bomb!

Carol and Manousos come face to face in this episode and some of the early scenes between these two were truly hilarious. I loved the use of the umbrella to block out the chance of the drones spying on them, reading their lips.

The mistrust between Carol and Manousos was on display as they tried to communicate via cell phone translation programs. There was some high comedy with that translation program as well. When the phone was in the sewer, but still translating, well, that was the height of funny.

Carol seemed to believe that Manousos had taken it too far with his “experimentation” on the Others. Carol’s close relationship with Zosia was coloring her perspective and she joined Zosia on another isolation attempt. This time, however, it seemed clear that Manousos was not going to fold like Carol did. He seemed like a type of guy who does not mind some isolation.

Carol never really understood the relationship she shared with Zosia. Carol looked at it like it was a typical, normal relationship, but that was not the case. Carol looked to be in denial about a lot of what was going down. When Carol learned that The Others had her frozen eggs (that Carol and Helen had decided to harvest years ago) and that they could change that into stem cells, the same stem cells the Others needed to turn Carol into another member of the hivemind, things crashed around her. Carol had Zosia return her to her home and decided to join with Manousos after all.

And the atomic bomb reveal at the end was insane. Maybe it was not literally an A-bomb… though Carol had asked about it earlier in the season…

Pluribus’s first season was sensational. I know the series has been renewed for a second season. I hope we do not have to wait three years to get the next episodes.

The Pitt S1 E8

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“2:00 PM”

I’m not crying… you’re crying!

Okay, I am crying.

This episode hit hard. It was a one-two punch and that did not even take into account Dr. Collins and the miscarriage. That was pushed back by the character and the moment.

We get a young girl who was a drowning victim, who the staff desperately tried to warm up so they could get her heart started. The little girl who, as we find out, saved her little sister from drowning in the pool.

Oh my god, this was heartbreaking. Every minute of this story on screen ripped at the heart. If there ever was a story that demanded a happy ending, it was this one, but that would not be coming.

Then, as the grief over the loss of this little girl was sitting with us, they held an honor walk for Nick Bradley, the young man whose story has been going on for most of the show. His parents finally decided to allow the organ donation to proceed and the wheeled him out of the ER past friends and staff.

The show had to counterbalance the anguish of the episode with a man who arrived with a malfunctioning pacemaker, who was named Willie, and he turned out to be a member of the Freedom House Ambulance Service, which was the very first U.S. emergency service staffed by paramedics with medical training that went beyond basic first aid. 

There was also a nice moment with Dr. Javadi, a patient and a corpse of a black widow spider.

But all of the loss floating around the ER was palatable and just emotionally stunning. This may have been the best episode the series so far.

The Pitt S1 E6, E7

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“12:00 P.M.”

“1:00 PM”

Okay, there were a couple of moments during these two episodes that we rough on me. There was a heart attack scene that was just about more than I could handle.

I do like how the show has been, for the most part, more about the characters than with the illnesses. Whether it be the staff of the ER or the patients, the characters are the driving force behind story.

The abortion arc is really good. There is a father abuse storyline that did not work for me. One comment was made that the doctors and nurses were mandatory reporters but couldn’t report without evidence. As a mandatory reporter, that is patently incorrect. That pulled me out of the scene.

Then, it took a dramatic twist with Trinity Santos, who was a character that I have not been a fan of so far in the series, and a vicious confrontation with the child abuser in question. It was fairly unrealistic, but very kick ass. It helped that storyline.

The end of episode seven was horrific, as Dr. Collins went into the restroom, with tears, seeing blood in her underwear. There had been subtle hints through the last couple of episodes that Collins, who was pregnant, was going to have something terrible happen to the baby. While it is unconfirmed as of yet, this ending scene did not make things look good.

This pair of episodes started to show Doctor Robby was acting unlike he normally would do. I had a bit of a problem with that too because up until here, he seemed like he was great. I had no idea that he was acting differently than normal. The show had told us about his struggles on the anniversary of his mentor’s death, but I still thought he was doing a great job. When Collins called him out on his behavior, I was surprised. Some of these scenes with Robby felt out of place from the rest of the season. Of course, we did not know Robby before this series, and all of the episodes have been the same day, so it is hard to see the changes.

The show brought up the kid with the “hit list” again, but it is a story arc that feels like it will come back hard later in the season.

I was so happy that Whittaker made it through episode 7 without having to change his scrubs!

The Pitt S1 E5

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“11:00 AM”

I have to say that I have really enjoyed the first five episodes of HBO Max’s series, The Pitt. I am in on the characters and the intelligent writing that is going along with them.

Even the medical stuff, which usually bothers me with a medical show, has not been too bad generally speaking.

Noah Wylie has been awesome so far as Doctor Robbie, although I expect there will be some problems coming up with this abortion that he falsified. Especially since the woman who brought the girl was not her mother, but her aunt… and Mommy’s here.

I feel bad for poor Whitaker, who has had to change his scrubs multiple times already. Is this a running joke with him getting blood spat on him this episode after getting peed on last time. He has been splattered with bodily fluids a whole bunch, and I feel for the kid.

Some of the stories that have running through the first four episodes were not seen or just barely mentioned in this episode. The new ones that have jumped into the rotation are engaging too. I do want to know more about the kid with the hit list, as that was one that grabbed my attention.

Good stuff. I sense more problems ahead.

Sha Na Na S1 E19, E20, E21

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Sha Na Na was one of my favorite shows as a kid so I am enjoying the trip down memory lane with the boys. I have to say that I still believe that the show is so much better when you have guest stars on the show with musical abilities.

These three episodes featured: Chuck Berry, Bobby Rydell and Leslie Gore. If I were them, I would have had Chuck Berry do a second song on the actual stage set. They had him do “Roll Over Beethoven” in the road set, which was great, but he could have done another one on the actual stage with the live audience.

They did brink Leslie Gore out to the stage to the audience when she was on episode 21. It just felt more special than the others, even though Chuck Berry knocked the performance out of the park.

In episode 20, Sha Na Na performed “Unchained Melody, which may be their best performance ever on the stage. The song was at a quicker pace and the background choreography was spot on. A lot of times, Sha Na Na look a touch out of step with the background dancing. I mean, they are singers and not necessarily dancers. However, this performance was fire. Unchained Melody, which was more well known as by the Righteous Brothers, was originally performed as a doo wop song by Vito and the Salutations in 1963. This is the version Sha Na Na was doing.

We also got some great vocalization with Bowzer and Johnny in Lovers Never Say Goodbye, in episode 21. This group have some great singers that compliment each other really well. Bowzer and Johnny work perfectly together in this song.

Alley Oop was one of the most distinct memories I have of the comedy skit songs the group would do. They would break in the song to do some silly joke. Most of the jokes were cringy, but I did love the song performed by Dirty Dan and Screamin’ Scott.

They still overuse the crowd noise/laugh track, but it is not as distracting as it was in the first half of season one.

The Pitt S1 E1, E2, E3, E4

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So this was a series that I have wanted to watch for awhile now. The time was just never right, but with Christmas break upon me, plus the second season debuting in January on HBO Max, I thought I would give The Pitt a try.

See, I am a hypochondriac… well, sort of. Medical shows have bothered me in the past. I am bothered by things that can go wrong in the human body. While it does not make me feel as if I am having the same symptoms, it does bother me. That being said, the idea of each episode being an hour at a time in an emergency room made me think of 24 and I was intrigued.

I almost stopped at the first episode. A couple of scenes in that first show nearly finished me off. I was in on some of the storylines though so I decided to stick with it. After four episodes, I am fully in and will hopefully not have any further issues.

The storylines were coming hard and fast in the first four episodes. I was working on the EYG Comic Cavalcade as I was watching so the number of episodes just kept rolling as I worked. Perhaps I shouldn’t work as I watched, because I was being distracted by the show.

Noah Wylie led this cast of actors that I mostly did not recognize. Yet, they all did a great job with their roles. The short term stories with the patients were all very engaging and ranged from deadly serious to a good laugh.

One that especially caught my attention was a mother who faked an illness to get some help with her son. She found a list of girls to eliminate in his room, causing some serious tension of the story. That one is still percolating away. There was one that seemed to fly by faster with a brother and sister who desperately tried to keep their father alive, despite his wishes not to be on life-saving equipment. That story felt like it played out over a longer time than what it actually did, since the four episodes were designed to be only four hours total.

There were also a bunch of deaths in that four hour period. It truly showed the anguish the doctors and nurses have to deal with in their daily job.

The characters are introduced really well as there is not a ton of time to spend with them. Their minutes on screen are maximized extremely effectively.

I was not sure I was going to continue to watch this during episode one because of my own issues, but I am glad I pushed on. This is a strong series so far and my goal is to finish season one before the arrival of season two in January.

Pluribus S1 E8

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“Charm Offensive”

Episode eight is the penultimate episode of season one of Pluribus. It feels as if I have only begun to watch it. Having the first season on the brink of being over is odd.

The episode started off with Manousos getting medical attention from his trouble in the jungle last week. He refused to stay to recover though, as he discovered that he was in Panama. There was not much from him this week, but it is clear that he is on the way to Carol’s soon.

Meanwhile, Carol has reunited with Zosia, which she seems very pleased about after her forced isolation by the hivemind. Carol was bonding with Zosia, though also picking her for information. Carol wrote on her dry erase board that the hivemind was planning on creating an antenna to send message (virus?) to other planets.

The show revealed an answer to a mystery. Specifically, are animals a part of the hivemind. We meet a nice dog at the hivemind’s sleepover that proved that animals are not a part of the hivemind.

Carol took her relationship with Zosia to another level after an emotional confrontation with her after a weird trip to a diner from Carol’s past. They had sex and Carol started to write afterwards again. She does feel like she is becoming more connected to Zosia. I wonder what will happen when Manousos gets there.

One more episode to go for Pluribus. It has been a wonderful show so far on Apple TV +. Vince Gilligan seems to have another hit on his hands.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #48

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This week for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, we start a two episode documentary on HBO Max about Billy Joel called Billy Joel: And So It Goes. This is truly a first for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk because the first episode is almost 2 and a half hours long. Next week’s is about the same. We have never had an episode for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk as long as this was.

Honestly, I love Billy Joel, but, when the show first came out on HBO Max, the runtime of the documentary was something that put me off. However, the timing of this worked out perfectly as The Haunting of Hill House ended last week, and the next series would start over Christmas break from school. I have two weeks off from teaching and so anything that I did not get to watch on a Sunday because of the length of the documentary could easily be watched during the week. It was perfect.

I watched Part 1 today, and the doc was fascinating. It reveled a ton of details that I was unaware of pertaining to Billy Joel. The early career depression that led him to attempt suicide a couple of times was truly unexpected.

Many rock documentaries do not feature some of the worst times of the performer. They may gloss over things that they do not want to explore. I did not get that feeling about Billy Joel: And So It Goes. The cliché phrase “warts and all” seems to fit as the first episode talked about Billy’s drinking, his depression and suicide attempts, his attitude toward the record companies, just to mention a few. All of this came together to show us a cool portrait of this musician.

There were plenty of talking heads in the film including comments form Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, John Mellencamp, as well as people closer to Billy. His wife/manager Elizabeth Weber was an essential character in the narrative of Billy Joel’s early successes, and she appeared through the entire episode. Of course, we also heard directly from Billy Joel in multiple settings and time periods.

The first episode ended just after the motorcycle accident that Billy survived and the split of his marriage with Elizabeth.

We will finish episode 2 next Sunday.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S2 E3

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“We Board the Princess Andromeda”

The third episode of Percy Jackson’s second season dropped recently on Disney +, and it continues to be a fun ride, filled with a lot of Green mythological goodness.

Based on the Sea of Monsters book, this episode brings Percy face to face with Luke once again. The ship that Hermes sent Percy aboard last episode, turned out to be Luke’s very own vessel. Thanks a lot Lin-Manuel.

We got a return for Adam Copeland (formerly Edge in the WWE, now Cope in AEW) as Ares. Ares backed Clarisse, who decided to head after the Golden Fleece on her own. Ares provided her with a crew of undead seamen, who were in no rush to accept Clarisse as captain… that is… until they were. She gave a speech and turned all of their thoughts around. It felt a little weird.

The Great Prophecy has been weighing down Annabeth, but Percy has been letting her keep the secret. He told her he did not need to know. Of course, she ended up telling him that he could be the demi-god that destroys the age of the Gods.

Big news. This was a solid episode with the interactions between Percy and Luke and Annabeth.

Fallout S2 E1

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“The Innovator”

I am pleased to have Fallout back on Amazon Prime, but this first episode had the old Return of the King flavor… I thought it was over about three times before it actually came to end.

It has been a bit since season one was released, so I was needing that recap that kicked off this episode. The season is off to New Vegas.

My favorite parts of this episode was the scenes between Lucy and the Ghoul. Lucy bargaining with the bad guys as the Ghoul dangling by his neck was hilarious, and the results of the scene was awesome brutality. I have missed this show, even though I did not realize it.

Of course, the bowl of flea soup was gross. I am so glad that Lucy did not go for the crackers.

We met Mr. House in the cold open and he was great. Played by Justin Theroux, Mr. House is clearly going to be a major part of the Vegas arc.

Several heads exploded in the first episode.

It was great to see Kyle MacLachlan. I know he is not someone to necessarily root for in this series, but I do love him.

This was a fun kick off to season two.

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E8

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“Winter Fire”

What a finale!

Seriously, that was easily one of the best finales of the year.

The use of ghost Richie in the last scenes of the conflict on the ice and at his funeral had tears coming out of my eyes. It was a beautiful use of the character that we all fell in love with and mourned his loss last week.

I loved everything about this finale. It was suspenseful, anxiety-creating, and scary. There was also so many things that were satisfying about it.

Pennywise gave us a time travel rule, how he sees time all at once. He told Marge that she would be the mother of one of the kids who would kill him. Madge would later reference this and guessed that Pennywise might go into the past to try and make a change. It is a great set up for future seasons of this.

Dick Hallorann came through big time in this episode… as did Rose with her “voice in the head silencing” tea. The scene where he was coming out of his trance was unbelievable. When Rose offered Dick the tea to shut off the voices, she asked if he trusted her. I would be grabbing that tea immediately.

The dagger doing its best “ring of power” imitation as the girls tried to get it where it needed to go. All Lilly had to do was call it “my precious.”

Going back to Rich’s funeral, that was such a lovely moment and with ghost Rich invisibly comforting his parents and Will, it was emotionally powerful. Rich’s use in this episode is sensational.

What a fantastic season. It: Welcome to Derry truly was special.

Pluribus S1 E7

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“The Gap”

This was a fascinating episode of Pluribus, as there is very little dialogue from any of the characters. It had Carol humming and singing some classic songs as she went about her daily attempts to fill the time, isolated from everyone.

Then we saw Manousos in his attempt to make his way to find Carol.  Manousos is working on his English, repeating several simple phrases and eventually, “My name is Manousos Oviedo. I am not one of them. I wish to save the world.”

It is an episode about how a human being is not designed to be alone, and we see how Carol eventually breaks down, allowing a firework that she had set up, accidentally flipping right at her, to fire away. Carol had accepted death at that point, not willing to move or to stop the firework from going off. It missed her and is able to survive.

Meanwhile, Manousos is walking through the jungle, refusing any help from The Others, when he falls into a chunga palm tree and its bacteria-laden spines. He tried to save himself, but he collapsed in the jungle only to see a helicopter show up, I assume, to help him survive.

It was an interesting episode and these types of episodes standout as something different. Makes me think of episodes like Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “Hush.”

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #47

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“Silence Lay Steadily”

The latest Sunday Morning Sidewalk show wrapped up this morning with the finale of The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix.

Mike Flanigan’s 10-episode horror series was a great series with some complex ideas and original storytelling. The performances of the actors in the show were really great. Admittedly, I had some trouble over the first several episodes figuring out who was who, especially with the flashbacks being so prevalent. However, once that became clearer, the show really took off.

The finale was a beautiful end to the story, which was quite unexpected. There was healing and love through the Crain children and reunions of spirits within Hill House.

I had a definite vibe between Hill House in this series and Murder House from the first season of American Horror Story. In the end, Hill House had a less evil feel than Murder House, or at any time in the previous episodes of this series.

The episode focused around the Red Room and what it truly was… which seemed to be a chameleon type room, being whatever the person needed it to be. That was an intriguing concept.

The ending did reconstruct the idea around Hill House. I did not find it as evil of a location as the Crain children had made it seem. It just felt like a resting place for many ghosts.

Overall, I found this to be a very engaging and enjoyable show, with a few gaps and holes that didn’t keep me from enjoying it.

Next week, the next Sunday Morning Sidewalk will head over to HBO Max for a two-episode documentary on Bill Joel, called Billy Joel: And So it Goes. These two episodes will be the longest single episodes we have done in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, but it feels like a good one to end 2025 with.