Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Percy Jackson and the Olympians S2 E1, E2

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“I Play Dodgeball with Cannibals”

“Demon Pigeons Attack”

The first two episodes of the second season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians dropped on Disney + this past week. Last season, Percy Jackson was a surprise show for me. I had only intended on watching the first episode or so but it was such a good time that I looked forward to it every week.

Now, season two is here with a two-episode premiere.

Following the basic structure of the book The Sea of Monsters (although there are some apparent differences from the book), season two kicked off with some solid drama. Percy and Annabelle made it back to camp, Percy brought along Tyson, a cyclops, he had met at his school (turns out to be another child of Poseidon), and they started on a quest for the Golden Fleece.

Grover is in trouble, connected to the location of the Fleece. The dreams between him and Percy were important.

New head of the camp, Tantalus, was a big jerk. He was played by Timothy Simons, who I recognized, but could not place. He has been in several things including Veep. It was nice to see Lin-Manuel Miranda back in episode two as Hermes.

The confrontation with Percy and Tantalus at the end of episode two was exciting and it will set up the story moving forward.

Glad this one is back before Walker Scobell is too much of an adult to play this role. He sure grew a ton from season one. Like the Stranger Things kids…

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E7

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“The Black Spot”

What a horrific episode.

I can honestly say that it nearly made me turn it off.

Rich died in the horrendous fire set at the Black Spot. I have not felt this empty after a scene on TV in a long time. It had that same feeling the night Negan killed Glen on the Walking Dead. I understand stakes, but some times the stakes are just too high.

Plus, to have Rich go out saving Marge, sacrificing himself.. I’m sorry, I just can’t handle it.

I have a terrible feeling that the racist bastards that set that fire at the Black Spot will not get their comeuppance. That radio report the next morning was absolutely sickening.

I was satisfied by IT killing Kersh. Chopping the top of his head off was great, though the clown taking a few bites from the head was gross.

Outside of the fire, we get some real background on Pennywise… specifically the original clown before IT took his form. IT realized that children were attracted to Pennywise, and that is why the monster took the form of a clown.

The army jumped into the horrible aspect too as they found and destroyed one of the pillars. Because the nation needs to be afraid… to have fear.

Pennywise showing up at Will’s house at the end will lead into the finale next week.

That fire nearly wiped me out. That was a nightmare.

Pluribus S1 E6

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“HDP”

John Cena???

The last thing I expected was to see John Cena on a TV screen during Pluribus, E6. I guess it makes sense since he was not one of the survivors. It gave me that Bill Murray in Zombieland vibe.

It was also weird when the shocking revelation from the end of last week’s episode, was wrapped up in just a few minutes.

It was human parts being stored in the warehouse that Carol found, but they were those who had already died, and we being used as HDP, Human-Derived Protein, something they need to survive.

All told to us by John Cena. That still blows my mind.

Carol heads off to Vegas with this shocking tape to find Koumba Diabaté. He showed her the Cena tape. He also tells her the only way they would be turned into the Hive-mind was via use of their individual stem cells and the would require permission to access them.

Big piece of info there, but the HDP reveal felt a touch flat for as wild as the ending to last week was. However, the John Cena cameo was awesome.

The guy from Paraguay found Carol’s tape and got into his car. I knew he would be playing a bigger role moving forward. I wonder if he plans on driving to New Mexico?

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #46

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“Screaming Meemies”

I am not sure I was ready for that.

This episode, entitled “Screaming Meemies,” which was a slang term meaning a “heightened sense of panic or anxiety,” showed us the events of the night when Hugh took the kids and left the Hill House in the middle of the night. It was all from the perspective of Olivia, whose entire life had seemingly become a dream that she could not awake from.

I had not expected for the house to have driven her as mad as it did that she would try to awaken the twins (and Luke’s not-so-imaginary friend, Abigail) by having a middle of the night, surprise tea party, with tea laced with rat poison.

Poor little Abigail saved the day, in a sense, by sipping on her poisoned tea before the twins could, and she promptly died.

Much of this had been influenced by the ghost known as Poppy Hill, who showed up at the end of episode 7 to grab adult Luke when he tried to burn the house down. This Poppy was a nasty ghost who was planting the seeds of evil in the mind of the mentally ill Olivia, leading to this act of horror.

With this bit, in the penultimate episode no less, the last thing we need to discover from the past flashbacks, would be what happened when Hugh went back to the Hill House after he dropped his kids off at the motel. I am sure that will be included in the 70+ minute finale in episode 10.

We got to see the truth behind several of the odd things we had seen previously from Olivia, like the screwdriver she held at Hugh’s neck or breaking the mirror on the vanity that Steven had fixed up for her. Everything fit in nicely as we see the descent of Olivia into this house induced madness. We also see her “suicide”, aided by the push of Poppy Hill.

I expect that next week’s big finale will deliver big time, as this show has been truly firing on all cylinders the last four-five episodes.

Sha Na Na S1 E17, E18

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I noticed some differences in these two episodes than I did int he previous ones. First, it seemed as if they got control of the laugh track. It was still there, but it was much more in control. It was not as loud as it was in the previous 16 episodes and I actually did not notice it for awhile. That was a HUGE item for the show.

Then, the comedy, which was always real bad in most of the first 16 episodes, wasn’t that bad here. It was still not the greatest comedy I ever heard, but it was considerably better. I did not cringe as much as I did in the first part of the season.

They had a new set, a diner where they could go for some of the backstage bits. It was much improved. We had way few of the ridiculous bits by some of the other members of the cast. I wonder if they let some of the others go.

These two episodes had the benefit of having guests that could sing. The first one was Johnny Ray, who I am not sure I knew, but who I was incredibly impressed with. He sang a song on the street set that was great. He was also singing it live. I was fascinated with the way he moved his mouth as he sang. No one would move their mouth like that if they were lip synching.

The second episode of the night had Chubby Checker, who sang Let’s Twist Again (Like We Did Last Summer). He was also clearly singing the song. Truthfully, there were some times he was screaming it. It brought a lot of energy to the show. There is no doubt that when the show has singers as guests, things just seem stronger.

They had a couple of comedy songs- first Rip Van Winkel and then My Baby Loves A Western Movie, and I have to say, I thought both were decent and had some funny moments. I really prefer the group on the stage or in the street set, but these comedy bits were fun too.

These episodes had some solid songs including All Shook Up, Poetry in Motion, Yakety Yak, and Earth Angel.

Things are looking up. Some of my biggest complaints from the first part of this season seems to have been addressed, and just turning that damn laugh track down is a major step in the right direction. Next episode looks to have Chuck Berry as a guest star so that means more music from the guest. That is the way to go.

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E6

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“In the Name of the Father”

This was another fantastic episode of IT: Welcome to Derry.

So much happened here.

  • Leroy slapped Will when Will defied him and said he would never let his friends die.
  • Ingrid is the daughter of Pennywise (The sequence in black and white flashback was as intense as we have had so far).
  • Marge stood up to the popular girls.
  • Marge and Rich had several cool moments.
  • Rich played the drums at the Black Spot.
  • What is up with that bartender serving liquor to Marge and Rich?
  • Dick is having serious problems since coming out of the sewer.
  • Hank and Ronnie are reunited at the Black Spot.
  • Ronnie refuses to be with the others and try to go and kill Pennywise.
  • The sheriff lost his job, but leads a armed group in masks to the Black Spot after Hank.
  • The flashback to Mabel in 1935 was frightening.
  • Charlotte tells Leroy she is taking Will out of Derry tomorrow, after helping Hank.
  • Ingrid was dressed as a clown and was the person photographed and who Will saw outside his window.

There was so much going down and yet it felt like the show flew by. This is a sign of a beautifully paced show.

Pennywise is absolutely terrifying this episode and him eating poor little Mabel was just a horrendous thing.

Will is a real hero. He is so brave and not afraid to stand up to anyone, including his father.

I love, love, love Rich and Marge. Their scenes were so wonderful this episode. The changing of the dressing on her eye, her standing up to the popular girls, them drinking and Marge dancing to Rich’s drumming. Such a cool group of scenes. I hope they survive.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #45

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“Witness Marks”

May have been the scariest jump scare I have ever seen.

I was so engaged with the angry conversation going on between Theo and Shirley that I never once even considered that there would be something scary happen.

And when the ghostly figure of Nell screeched from the back seat, I literally screamed out. That rarely happened. The show got me good.

Prior to that, I was thinking what a group of douchebags these Crain kids were. I would go as far as to say that I really have grown to dislike both Steven and Shirley and their obnoxiousness.

I knew immediately that Luke was heading to the house. I am not sure why no one else thought of that right away, especially considering the weirdness that had been going on around the funeral parlor (last episode).

The whole knocking and doorbell ringing at that funeral parlor was creepy too, and it only served to make me dislike Shirley more. Dismissing this impossibility as kids playing pranks is just so short sighted that she was more embracing her own anger and resentments than able to see what was going on.

Then, the monologue from Theo after the jump scare was heartbreaking. The whole “I felt nothing” stuff was tough to listen to and, seemingly, finally got through the exterior of her sister.

By the way, last week’s episode had Hugh’s flashback heading through the Red Door, but nothing was mentioned or shown about that this week. That did not upset me as what we got was so excellent. Our flashback was Steven fixing up an old vanity for his mom. This was an important memory for Steven because it was proof for him about his mother’s madness, instead of one more haunted item in the Hill House.

Luke at the Hill House failing to light it on fire, only to be confronted by a vision of his mother in a red dress at the top of the stairs and the arrival of Rotten Polly, the owner of the said vanity.

There are two more episodes remaining and this series is absolutely hitting its stride. After this episode ended, which was the shortest run time of the series, I really wanted more.

Pluribus S1 E5

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“Got Milk”

We are up to episode five already of Pluribus on Apple TV +. I have to say that number surprised me. It is moving right along.

Carol finds herself completely alone as the others in her city left, needing time apart from her. I guess even the hive mind grew tired of Carol’s shenanigans.

However, they were still available for things that Carol needed, though she had to leave a message on an answering machine to get any response. Then, she would have service from a drone.

Carol was making videos to send to the other survivors, and she had them delivered (and transcribed in whatever language the other survivors may speak) by the hive mind. I find it funny that she could send videos specifically designed to bring down the hivemind and they would just deliver it, no questions asked. Perhaps the nicest invading force ever.

However, Carol had other troubles, including hungry coyotes. Carol made a discovery of what the Others drink… some substance mixed together and placed in milk cartons like are served in schools. She also broadcast this info out to the other survivors via drone delivery.

This led her to a warehouse where she found something that made her gasp… leaving us with a very epic cliffhanger… one that was extremely annoying because I don’t want to have to wait until next week to know what it was.

This was a fun episode, with a lot of funny moments while Carol showed her capabilities for this investigation.