The 2020 Emmy Nominations were released on July 28th.  This list was originally shown on EW.com.

Outstanding Drama Series

Outstanding Comedy Series

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Outstanding Reality-Competition Program

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Outstanding Variety Talk Series

Outstanding Variety Sketch Series

Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Outstanding Limited Series

I have recently been watching clips on YouTube from one of my favorite TV programs of all-time that ran for 8 seasons on the USA Network, Monk.

I loved Monk.  The defective detective.  Adrian Monk, one of the most tragic main characters on TV.  Monk was played brilliantly by Tony Shalhoub, who won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for the role.

The show was about a former police detective, Adrian Monk, who had OCD and just about every fear and obsession known to man.  When Monk’s beloved wife Trudy was killed in a car bomb, Monk’s obsessive compulsions went into overdrive.  He lost his job as a police officer.

Eventually, with help of his assistant, Sharona (Bitty Schram), Adrian Monk became a consultant to the police, solving crimes despite his problems.

Monk was a genius.  His power of observation was Sherlockian in practice.  He could look at a crime scene and see things that no one else could see.  Tiny little clues that would form together into a picture and Monk would utter that phrase, “Here’s what happened.”  And he was always right.

After a few years, Sharona left and she was replaced by Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard).  Despite loving Sharona and being upset when she let, I actually think I grew to like Natalie even more.

Monk had friends at the police station.  Captain Leland Stottlemeyer, played by Buffalo Bill himself- Ted Levine, and Lieutenant Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) make up the crew of four that the series focused on.  They had a ton of chemistry with each other and really worked as an ensemble.

Adrian Monk was perhaps the most tragic television character ever.  The loss of Trudy was never far from Adrian, who was sad and depressed, down on himself.  Yet this was countered by his brilliance, his unbelievable intelligence.

Most of the time, Monk’s problems were played as a joke, but the show was best when the humor came from the situation and the OCD was played with sadness and irony.  My least favorite times on the show was when Monk’s fears were made to make Monk look like an idiot.  He was never an idiot.  He just could not help himself.

The mysteries on Monk were the type where we knew who the killer was, but we did not know how they did it.  The fun was watching how Monk would figure out the crime and catch the “guy.”

There were some amazing episodes over the ten years.  One of my favorites was when Monk’s absentee father came back and Adrian and he went in his truck.  The episodes with Dale the Whale provided Monk with an adversary.  There was an episode where Monk met a cabbie who received an eye transplant from Trudy.  Adrian had amnesia.  We met Adrian’s agoraphobic brother.  He went on an airplane.  He went on the run.  They put him in so many situations and Adrian always found a way to solve the crime.

This show was as clever as you will find, with writing to match.  Throw in some wonderful performances with characters that you grow to love… well, Monk is a show unlike any other.  I do miss it.

Spoilers

It has been a long time since I watched The Flash on the CW.  The seasons got too long for me and the episodes felt as if they were all the same.

As the Arrowverse shows continued to grow, I never got into them any more than the little bit of The Flash that I watched.

However, the crossover of CW shows, Crisis on Infinite Earths, based on one of the greatest maxi-series in the history of DC Comics, got my attention.

It started tonight on Supergirl and I was excited to watch.  I must say that there were plenty of things that I was trying to decipher, since I am not a regular viewer of these shows.  I do have more background knowledge of DC Comics than most other viewers so I am recognizing the names and guessing how they fit together.  I can imagine this is like those people who had not watched the entire MCU films but only watched Infinity War and Endgame.

Green Arrow’s death at the end of the first hour of the crossover was a surprise, but I know this is the final season of that show so it is not totally shocking.  Honestly, the death was a bit cheesy to me.  I am still waiting to see if that death sticks because, you know, it is a comic book show.

There were some cool cameos, including Burt Ward from Batman ’66 on one of the earths.  “Holy crimson skies of death!”   We saw Robert Wuhl as Alexander Knox from 1989’s Batman.

There was a nice homage to Superman: The Movie too, but that one felt like a throwaway part considering there was no other reason for it.  Baby Jonathan was sent off by his parents Clark and Lois in his own little rocket ship (they also used the same dialogue from the movie) but it turned out to be an unimportant twist (at least at this point).

We see the Monitor, Harbinger and Pariah, all faces that the shows have had before.

I kind of enjoyed the little bit I got of Batwoman.

I thought this was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the story.

The future is now.

Disney + kicked off in the early hours of the morning today and I logged on to my account (that I had ordered last month) prior to school.  Unfortunately, I could not spend all day watching.

Sure, there are a few bugs out there.  I had some problems with my Roku TV at first, but when I finally got back from work, most of them were worked out.

Thing was, I did not have the time I wanted to watch tonight, having to catch up on the Movie Trivia Schmoedown.  Still, I was excited to get a dose of Plus.

The Mandalorian was very fun.  You could taste the talents of Jon Favreau throughout the episode.  The series was very promising, but the ending was mind-blowing.  This is one that I am looking forward to following along.

However, let’s not sleep on the real TV treasure here. The World According to Jeff Goldblum was hilarious.  I never thought I needed to see Jeff Goldblum running in sneakers (or shall I say bopping in sneakers), but it was clearly the greatest thing ever.  That may be a little bit of hyperbole, but this is so entertaining.  I can’t wait for the next episode. Wow…wowie wow wow.

I am anxiously awaiting the Marvel series as well.  I should get some chance to get some movies watched too.  I should do a Disney Plus binge soon for the Doc’s Classic Movies Reviewed section.

Lead Actor Limited Series or Movie

Mahershala Ali, “True Detective”
Benicio del Toro, “Escape at Dannemora”
Hugh Grant, “A Very English Scandal”
Jared Harris, “Chernobyl”
Jharrel Jerome, “When They See Us”
Sam Rockwell, “Fosse/Verdon”

Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie 

Amy Adams, “Sharp Objects”
Patricia Arquette, “Escape at Dannemora”
Aunjanue Ellis, “When They See Us”
Joey King, “The Act”
Niecy Nash, “When They See Us”
Michelle Williams, “Fosse/Verdon”

Best Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Anderson, “Black-ish”
Don Cheadle, “Black Monday,”
Ted Danson, “The Good Place”
Michael Douglas, “The Kominksy Method”
Bill Hader, “Barry”
Eugene Levy, “Schitt’s Creek”

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Christina Applegate, “Dead to Me”
Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Julia-Louis Dreyfus, “Veep”
Natasha Lyonne, “Russian Doll”
Catherine O’Hara, “Schitt’s Creek”
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, “Fleabag”

Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Jason Bateman, “Ozark”
Sterling K. Brown, “This is Us”
Kit Harrington, “Game of Thrones”
Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”
Billy Porter, “Pose”
Milo Ventimiglia, “This Is Us”

Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Emilia Clarke, “Game of Thrones”
Jodie Comer, “Killing Eve”
Viola Davis, “How to Get Away With Murder”
Laura Linney, “Ozark”
Mandy Moore, “This Is Us”
Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”
Robin Wright, “House of Cards”

Reality-Competition Program

“The Amazing Race” (CBS)
“American Ninja Warrior” (NBC)
“Nailed It” (Netflix)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” (VH1)
“Top Chef” (Bravo)
“The Voice” (NBC)

Variety Talk Series

“The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” (Comedy Central)
“Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” (TBS)
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC)
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO)
“The Late Late Show with James Corden” (CBS)
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS)

Outstanding Limited Series

“Chernobyl” (HBO)
“Escape at Dannemora” (Showtime)
“Fosse Verdon” (FX)
“Sharp Objects” (HBO)
“When They See Us” (Netflix)

Outstanding Television Movie

“Bandersnatch,” (Netflix)
“Brexit,” (HBO)
“Deadwood: The Movie,” (HBO)
“King Lear,” (Amazon)
“My Dinner with Herve,” (HBO)

Comedy Series

“Barry” (HBO)
“Fleabag” (Amazon)
“The Good Place” (NBC)
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon)
“Russian Doll” (Netflix)
“Schitt’s Creek” (Pop)
“Veep” (HBO)

Drama Series

“Better Call Saul” (AMC)
“Bodyguard” (Netflix)
“Game of Thrones” (HBO)
“Killing Eve” (BBC America)
“Ozark” (Netflix)
“Pose” (FX)
“Succession” (HBO)
“This Is Us” (NBC)

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Gwendoline Christie (“Game of Thrones”)
Julia Garner (“Ozark”)
Lena Headey (“Game of Thrones”)
Fiona Shaw (“Killing Eve”)
Sophie Turner (“Game of Thrones”)
Maisie Williams (“Game of Thrones”)

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Alfie Allen (“Game of Thrones”)
Jonathan Banks (“Better Call Saul”)
Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau (“Game of Thrones”)
Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”)
Giancarlo Esposito (“Better Call Saul”)
Michael Kelly (“House of Cards”)
Chris Sullivan (“This Is Us”)

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Alex Borstein (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Anna Chlumsky (“Veep”)
Sian Clifford (“Fleabag”)
Olivia Colman (“Fleabag”)
Betty Gilpin (“GLOW”)
Sarah Goldberg (“Barry”)
Marin Hinkle (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live”)

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Alan Arkin (“The Kominsky Method”)
Anthony Carrigan (“Barry”)
Tony Hale (“Veep”)
Stephen Root (“Barry”)
Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Henry Winkler (“Barry”)

Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Patricia Arquette (“The Act”)
Marsha Stephanie Blake (“When They See Us”)
Patricia Clarkson (“Sharp Objects”)
Vera Farmiga (“When They See Us”)
Margaret Qualley (“Fosse/Verdon”)
Emily Watson (“Chernobyl”)

Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Asante Blackk (“When They See Us”)
Paul Dano (“Escape at Dannemora”)
John Leguizamo (“When They See Us”)
Stellan Skarsgård (“Chernobyl”)
Ben Whishaw (“A Very English Scandal”)
Michael K. Williams (“When They See Us”)

Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Laverne Cox (“Orange Is the New Black”)
Cherry Jones (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Jessica Lange (“American Horror Story: Apocalypse”)
Phylicia Rashad (“This Is Us”)
Cicely Tyson (“How to Get Away With Murder”)
Carice van Houten (“Game of Thrones”)

Guest Actor in a Drama Series

Michael Angarano (“This Is Us”)
Ron Cephas Jones (“This Is Us”)
Michael McKean (“Better Call Saul”)
Kumail Nanjiani (“The Twilight Zone”)
Glynn Turman (“How to Get Away With Murder”)
Bradley Whitford (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)

Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Jane Lynch (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Sandra Oh (“Saturday Night Live”)
Maya Rudolph (“The Good Place”)
Kristin Scott Thomas (“Fleabag”)
Fiona Shaw (“Fleabag”)
Emma Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”)

Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Matt Damon (“Saturday Night Live”)
Robert De Niro (“Saturday Night Live”)
Luke Kirby (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Peter MacNicol (“Veep”)
John Mulaney (“Saturday Night Live”)
Adam Sandler (“Saturday Night Live”)
Rufus Sewell (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)

Structured Reality Program

“Antiques Roadshow” (PBS)
“Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives” (Food Network)
“Queer Eye” (Netflix)
“Shark Tank” (ABC)
“Tidying Up With Marie Kondo” (Netflix)
“Who Do You Think You Are?” (TLC)

Unstructured Reality Program

“Born This Way” (A&E)
“Deadliest Catch” (Discovery Channel)
“Life Below Zero” (National Geographic)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked” (VH1)
“Somebody Feed Phil” (Netflix)
“United Shades Of America With W. Kamau
Bell” (CNN)

Host for a Reality or Competition Program

James Corden (“The World’s Best”)
Ellen DeGeneres (“Ellen’s Game Of Games”)
Marie Kondo (“Tidying Up With Marie Kondo”)
Amy Poehler & Nick Offerman (“Making It”)
RuPaul (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”)

SPOILERS. I plan on talking about the third season of Stranger Things in this post so if you have been unable to watch the entire series, you may want to avoid this post until you finish it.  SPOILERS AHEAD…

You have been warned…

Final chance to leave before SPOILERS start dropping….

Okay….

I binge watched the third season of Stranger Things as my Fourth of July binge fest and I have to say that it was a fun time.  Only having 8 episodes in season three made the show a quick binge and never felt as if it dragged.  Some Netflix series seem to have filler episodes because of the number of episodes, but Stranger Things does not have that problem.

There were some fantastic performances throughout the entire run.  Millie Bobby Brown brings the goodness as Eleven, aka “Elle”.  She has really shown that she knows exactly what this character is like and how she would react.  The relationship between Elle and Mike, as played by Finn Wolfhard, is sweet and believable after the previous two seasons of them together.  Starting the season off with the kissy-face between the two of them showed where the characters have gone.

I also liked how they took Elle and gave her a female friend in Max, played by Sadie Sink.  This showed us something that Elle never had, a friend who was a girl.  The scenes of them at the mall are wonderful and so real to life.

The show follows one of the tried and true ideas in storytelling.  The entire group splits into sections, all dealing with pieces of the over-arching storyline, and slowly come together to share what they know.  It can be frustrating at times, but every show from LOST to The Walking Dead have used this trope.  There is a satisfaction when the group finally get back together.

Looking at the episodes:

Episode One:  “Suzie, Do You Copy?“

We are re-introduced to the characters from Hawkins, Indiana, including Dustin returning from a vacation where he claims to have met a girl and they have become a couple.  He sets up “Cerebro” a communication device to talk with her in her home in Utah, but he cannot connect.   His friends wonder if there truly is a Suzie.  However, he does eventually pick up a surprising message in Russian.  Will and Lucas are becoming frustrated with Mike and Eleven’s relationship.  Their relationship is also causing stress for Hopper as well.  He seeks council from Joyce.  Max’s brother Billy winds up crashing his car and being dragged into the steel mill by some creature.

The first episode was a bit slow and was probably the weakest of the season.  It included some weird storyline with Mike’s mom Karen Wheeler, who was at the swimming pool ogling lifeguard Billy.  Billy wants some of that too as he invites her to some private swimming lessons at a local hotel.  This was a creepy way to start the show and included a storyline that went absolutely nowhere.  I loved the X-Men reference with Cerebro though.  As always, Stranger Things is more than happy to remind you that this is set in the 1980s and to beat you over the head with nostalgia if you forget it.

Episode Two:  “The Mall Rats”

Hopper fails to have the heart-to-heart with Elle and Mike that was recommended to him by Joyce and instead threatens Mike.  A fearful Mike lies to Elle about his grandma being sick.  Max takes Elle to the mall and they have a fun and engaging shopping trip.  Mike, Lucas and Will also go to the mall looking to purchase an “I’m sorry” gift for Elle.  Elle and Max find them there and, mad about being lied to, Elle “dumps his ass.”  Meanwhile, Dustin has gone to see Steven at Steven’s job at Scoops Ahoy at the mall to try and get help with the Russian message.  He recruits Steven’s co-worker Robin to help.  They are able to determine that the message originated from Hawkins.  Finally, Joyce, ever paranoid, believes something weird is happening to make the magnets in her home not stick to her refrigerator.  She winds up standing up Hopper on their date to go see science teacher Mr. Clarke.  Nancy and Jonathan, who are working as interns at the newspaper, go to an elderly woman’s home following up a lead on a story about hyperactive/crazed rats.

Robin is one of the great new characters of season two.  The relationship between her and Steve is one of my favorite parts of the season.  They start off typically berating one another, but their connection is obvious right away.  They are funny as scene partners almost every time they are together.  As a recurring theme of the season, the Russian stuff is fairly ridiculous, but, if you take it in that manner, it works.

Episode Three:  “The Case of the Missing Lifeguard”

Billy has kidnapped on of his co-workers from the swimming pool and Eleven is able to see him doing it with her super spying power.  This sends Max and Eleven out to try and help the girl and find out what exactly was going on.  Will, Lucas and Mike are together and Will wants things to get back to normal…aka D & D.  However, Mike and Lucas are more interested in the girl drama, causing Will to storm off.  He winds up at “Castle Byers” tree house that he destroys in a fit of anger.  After this, Will’s Will Sense tells him that the monster from the Upside Down was back.  Robin breaks the Russian code down and realizes that someone is bringing something to the mall that night, and Dustin, Steven and she go to spy on it.  Nancy gets made fun of over her story idea by the douchebag newspaper men so she and Jonathan go back to Mrs. Driscoll’s place only to find her crazed herself, eating fertilizer.

The whole Mrs. Driscoll stuff was wild and made me sad.  In the little screen time that actress Peggy Miley had received, I really liked the little old lady.  The Will reaction was great and very understandable.  Of all people, Will would want to get back to what he was used to, but the others moved on with their love lives.  Will storming out of the D & D session made me think of my friend Frank, who once tried to storm out of a D & D session we were playing in only to be tackled by my friend Darin.  I actually said to Mike, “Tackle him!”  

Oh, and by the way, I absolutely hated the characters of the newspaper men.  They were nothing but rotten men who were one-dimensional.

Episode Four:  “The Sauna Test”

The boys and girls reunite and share information.  With Will’s proclamation that the mindflayer was still in the universe, they determined that the mindflayer had been trapped in this universe when Eleven closed the door between dimensions in season two.  They also began to speculate about someone that might be possessed.  They immediately placed Billy front and center and set him up in a trap at the swimming pool to find out for sure.  Trapping him in the sauna room, they knew that the mindflayer wanted to stay cool and this showed that Billy was indeed possessed. Showing incredible strength, Billy broke free and had his first confrontation with Eleven.  As Billy was showing his transformation, so was Mrs. Driscoll and Nancy happened to be witnessing this in her hospital room after she and Jonathan had been fired for pushing the case after their boss Tom (who is also now possessed) told them not to.  While this is happening, Steve, Robin, and Dustin have enlisted Lucas’s sister Erica to crawl through air ducts to get them into the warehouse so they can find out what was in the secret deliveries to the Russians.  The four of them wind up trapped in the tunnels beneath the mall, a Russian stronghold.

The whole Russian thing was not a personal favorite of mine.  It all felt too cartoonish and the fact that these four kids were able to be so successful in compromising the secret headquarters was stretching credibility too much for me at times.  What saved the whole situation was how great the four characters were together.  Robin and Steve were fun and the introduction of Erica was a hoot.  She played very well off of Dustin.  We also get evil mayor The Dread Pirate Roberts!   The city’s mayor was played by Cary Elwes, who has some underhanded dealing with the Russians.

Episode 5:  “The Flayed”

Joyce and Hopper investigate the Lab, finding a pair of Russians.  They capture one of them, Alexei and Hopper takes him to Murray Bauman because he can speak Russian.  Murray is much more entertaining this season than he was last year as the conspiracy theorist.  Nancy and Jonathan meet up with the kids, bringing another group together.  They decide to try and find the possessed people by going to the hospital and letting Mrs. Driscoll lead them there.  Unfortunately, this was a bad idea as Tom and Bruce, the douchebags from the paper, were there waiting for them and have killed a bunch of hospital staff members. Jonathan and Nancy are able to kill the possessed pair, but they dissolved into a red ooze and combined to form a bigger monster.  Meanwhile, Steve, Dustin, Erica and Robin found that the Russians were trying to open the door to the Upside Down using some big machinery powered by this green liquid that was in the boxes that had been delivered to the mall.

Things are heating up here as the hospital fight was insane.  It also gave the kids a chance to start healing from their break-ups earlier.  Mike and Eleven have a nice scene and Eleven helps with the vending machine, which was funny.  The whole Hopper, Murray, Joyce and Alexei stuff was classic.

Episode Six: “E Pluribus Unum”

The Mindflayer chases after Nancy and Jonathan in the hospital in some of the most dramatic scenes of the series so far.  Thankfully, the Will sense had warned him that the Mindflayer was here and Eleven was able to arrive in the nick of time to save Nancy.  Steve and Robin get captured by the Russians as Dustin and Erica get away.  Steve and Robin are given truth serum which drugs them up and they are interrogated by the Russians.  Meanwhile, Alexei has decided to cooperate with Hopper and tells them about the “keys” that were used to start the machines to open the doorway to the Upside Down.  Dustin and Erica are able to rescue Steve and Robin, but they are so drugged out that they seem to be drunk.  Trying to find out where Billy is using her powers, Eleven winds up reading his mind and finding out some info from his childhood.  Unfortunately, he finds out she is doing this and then knows where she is.  The possessed people start melting together to form one giant monster.

This was a great episode.  I have to say though that the Russians are just too much of a joke for me.  As I said, the whole thing is saved by Steve and Robin and their dialogue, which is absolutely fantastic.  The scene where these people wind up melting into goo and forming the new giant Mindflayer is one of total horror.  The body count of this series is tremendously high.  So sad to see Mrs. Driscoll go.

Episode 7: “The Bite”

The Mindflayer arrives at the cabin and the kids have to fight it off.  It gets a bite on Eleven’s leg.  She is able to use her power to tear it apart, giving the kids the chance to retreat.  They wind up at a hardware store and they hear from Dustin over a walkie.  Dustin, Erica, Steve and Robin are hiding at the movie, Back to the Future.  Unfortunately, the walkie-talkie has a battery that is too low and eventually gives out.  As this is going on, Hopper, Joyce, Murray, and Alexei head to the July 4th carnival trying to find the kids because they realized that the danger that they are in.  Alexei gets shot and killed by the evil Russian agent that had been stalking them.  The three flee the fairgrounds, heading to the mall.  At the mall, Eleven saved Dustin’s group from the Russians who were about to shoot them by smashing them with a display car.  Afterwards, Eleven collapses as her bite mark throbs with something inside it.

God this was great.  The confrontation at the cabin was the bomb and full of tension and that was just the start.  You knew that the bite mark would cause trouble later as the episode was named that.  I was so sad that Alexei got murdered.  I had grown to like him in a short time.  He and Murray had shown the possibilities of covering the chasm between countries and were becoming friends.  His death made me think of Sean Astin’s death last season.  When Hopper shot the Russian agent multiple times and he went down, I yelled out, “shoot him in the head.”  Of course, he did not and the agent had a bullet proof vest on.  I knew it!  The whole Back to the Future stuff was awesome too and Steve and Robin continue their epicness.  And they discover that they are not becoming a pair because Robin is gay even though Steve was falling for her.  That was handled so well that it was truly beautiful.  And speaking of beautiful, Eleven crushing those Russians with the car had me shouting out loud.

Episode 8: “The Battle of Starcourt”

Looking at the bite mark on Eleven’s leg, they saw something crawling around inside her wound.  Jonathan tried cutting the thing out and tried reaching into the incision to grab it.  Eleven said he could do it, and she used her power to pull the creature out of her leg and flipped it away, just in time for Hopper to step on it and squish it.  The group, fully combined finally after the whole season, compare notes.  Hopper, Murray and Joyce head down to find the keys and shut off the machine opening the door to the Upside Down.  They are following instructions from Dustin and Erica, who went back to Cerebro for a stronger signal.  The Mindflayer arrived at the mall and the kids had to hide, trying to escape.  Eventually, the kids tossed fireworks at the monster, stalling it.  The Russian agent showed up to fight with Hopper.  Billy showed up.  Lots of stuff happened.  Joyce is able to turn the keys and close the door, blowing up the machines.  It appeared as if Hopper was caught in the explosion and died.  Billy turned on the mindflayer to save Eleven, also costing him his life.

Three months later, Joyce and her family (including Eleven) are moving.  Everyone says goodbye.  We wind up in Russia in a post credit scene where we see them feeding a prisoner to the demogorgon.

There was so much in this episode.  This was a great conclusion to the season.  Lots of conflict and dramatic tension.  The removal of the thing out of Eleven’s leg was unbelievably queasy.  It was really hard to watch, but you couldn’t take your eyes off of it. I did not even mention Steve arriving to crash his car into Billy’s car, who was trying to smash Nancy.  It was a brilliant moment.  I also did not mention the moment of the Neverending Story, where Dustin and Suzie sing the song together over Cerebro.  I am not sure how I feel about this.  My first thought is that this had no place in the story, but it did break some of the high tension of the episode and allowed for a funny joke later.  The Hopper stuff was emotional, but I believe that he is not dead.   In the post credit scene, the Russian guard makes a reference to a jail cell that contained an American.  Any bets that Hopper is inside that cell?  Billy’s sacrifice was tough to watch as well as his return to the good side was helped by Eleven and her flash to his past.  

These characters had been building to this moment throughout these episodes and everyone had their moment.  This season of Stranger Things was really great.  I think I would put it ahead of season two, but behind one.  I’m not sure where the show goes from here, but there is definitely plans for the Russians to continue as we saw that demogorgon at the end.

Season Three:  8.5/10

Best Moment:  Eleven crushing Russians with the car.  Love that.

Worst Moment:  The Russian interrogating Steve and Robin.  Was Boris Badenov too busy?

Most Horrific:  Cutting her leg and reaching into the wound.

We miss you moment:  A flashback featuring Bob (Sean Astin).

Best Acting:  Give it to Millie Bobby Brown.  Top notch.

A few years ago, on Collider TV Talk, they did a bit where Sinead de Vries, one of the wonderful panelists on the show, admitted that she had never seen Game of Thrones before and they had her watch the season it was on (maybe six?) without watching any prior episodes.  It was a great segment that they carried through the whole HBO season.

Well, I have never seen any episodes of Game of Thrones either and tonight begins their final season and it is a scant six episodes.  So, I decided to steal the bit and do the same thing that Sinead did.  Watch the final season through eyes that have never seen any GoT before.  Let’s see what will occur.  There are, of course, SPOILERS contain within, although I may not know what exactly I am spoiling.

Season 8 Episode 1

April 14, 2019

The final season countdown ends.

Previously on Game of Thrones.

There was a big dragon.  The Night King has an army.  Jon Snow is the true heir to the Iron Throne.

Season starts

There is a little kid running through the snow covered land.  He tiptoes through a small stream and come across a parade of soldiers returning.  Kid climbed a tree for a better look.

With the marching soldiers were Jon Snow (who I know) and a blonde (almost white) haired woman on horse back.  Lots of other people are on horse too.

We see a younger girl watching these people return.  I guess the boy in the tree is not important.

Peter Dinklage is in a carriage with another guy and makes a balls joke.  I guess the guy was a unic.

Jon Snow says that the people of Winterfall did not like outsiders but she brought two dragons.    The dragons fly overhead and the little girl smiles slightly.

A red head- Jean Grey from X-Men movies- come now and meets Jon Snow.  #DarkPhoenix   Snow jumps off his horse and kisses the head of some kid in a wheelchair.

Jean Grey =Lady Stark.

Apparently the Night King has her dragon and the dead march South.  #DeadWalking

Jon had a choice to make- give up his crown or protect the North and he chose the north. He said the Lannister Army was coming to join the cause.  This caused unrest among the people.

Lady Stark worries about the food it will take to feed all these people plus two dragons.

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Little bit later, there is an awkward moment between Lady Stark and Peter Dinklage.  I guess they were married once.  She fled from someone’s wedding.  They don’t seem to be together any more.  #Awkward

Peter Dinklage fears his sister.  Lady Stark agrees and leaves.  Peter Dinklage looks sad.  I’ll have to find out what Peter Dinklage’s character name is.

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Jon Snow stands in front of a white tree with closed eyes and what looks like blood running from it.  The girl from the soldier’s parade arrives and hugs him.  Asks him how he could not die from a blade to the heart.  He said he couldn’t… must have been that time when Jon Snow was supposedly dead.

They compare swords.  They indicate that they are family of some sort.  Brother and sister?

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Now we meet another red head, this one with shorter hair.  She is told that the dead have broken through the wall and she responds, “Good.”  #WrongResponse

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Then there are ships.  And on the ship there is a dirty woman tied to a post.  The captain(?) talks to her.  She asks why he did not just kill her.  He would miss having someone to talk to because he has a crew of mutes.  Now though he is going to go “and fuck the queen”

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Soon, he is facing the short haired woman from earlier with a kid and another man.  It is not the kid from the tree earlier… I checked.  This kid is a king of a land who is bringing an army to fight.  The kid leaves.  The second man is Captain Strickland but he has no elephants.  She is disappointed.

Strickland leaves.  The other man (Captain?) indicates that he wanted to have sex with her, but she tells him to get a whore.  I guess she changed her mind because he went with her after looking at her scary looking guards.

Then there is three women getting naked to have sex with this older guy.  DENIED!  #Cockblocker.  Interrupted by this other old guy (who the naked women flirt with for a second) because the queen has a job for him.  Kill her brothers.  And here is a cool new crossbow to help.

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Short haired queen must have been finished with her sex with Captain(?).  He asks about sex with the fat king.  He’s dead. I guess.  He tells her he is going to put a prince in her belly.  How romantic!

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Back on the ship, arrows fly through the eyes of people on the ship.  They all die immediately.  Another man who looks important goes over and unties the dirty woman, who responds to him with a headbutt that knocked him down.  Then she helps him up.

I guess she is a queen too.  How many queens are there?

Her rescuer wants to go fight for the Starks.  She sends him.

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Seven Kingdoms.  Does that mean seven queens?  We see Jon and Daenerys (the blonde queen).  Jon’s sister does not like her, but will she respect her?  The dragons are barely eating.

Jon and Daenerys go to visit them.  She gets on the back of one of the dragons and taunts Jon to do the same.  Jon worries about dying.  The dialogue of this scene was terrible.  #Cringeworthy

Jon climbs on the dragon and they take off flying.  Jon holds on desperately.   They land somewhere isolated.  “You’ve completely ruined horses for me” said Jon.  LOL.  Good line. Jon and Daenerys kiss and the dragons watch.  Jon is nervous.  Daenerys says “Don’t be afraid” but Jon keeps an eye on the dragon which is staring him down something fierce. #DragonEye

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The little girl from earlier (Jon Snow’s sister, maybe) comes to a weapon maker.  They have a history, I’m guessing.  She does not want to be called Lady Stark.  She wants a weapon.  The one guy tells her she is a rich girl after all.

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Jon Stark and Sansa (Jean Grey) Stark argue.  #GetaRoom

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Some guy arrives to Daenerys and thanks her.  She tells him his father would not kneel before her so he died.  His brother too.  This guy starting to cry so he excuses himself.  Not as thankful now.  He meets up with the guy in the wheelchair and he tells this man that it was time that Jon knew the truth.

The man is apparently the one person Jon Snow trusts above all else.  He sneaks in to see Jon and tells him that he is the rightful ruler of the 7 Kingdoms because Jon’s true father is Rhaeger Targaryen and not Stark as he thought.  He was not a bastard.  He was the true heir to the Iron Throne.  He also tells Jon that Daenerys killed his father and brother because they would not kneel.  Jon tells him he gave up his crown (he told that to a bunch of people this episode).  Doesn’t matter.  He is still the true king.  Would Daenerys lay down her crown as well for the good of her people?  My guess is no.

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A group of men with swords drawn run into each other and they have blue eyes.  Not sure why that was important.  Code word maybe?  Any way, they find the kid from before who was a king dead, stuck to the wall with weird crab leg design around him.  It is a warning.  Then the kid comes to life screaming.  The set him on fire and the kid keeps screaming.

Zombie?

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A hooded figure rides into town and gets off the horse.  He spots Jon Snow’s bother in the wheelchair as dramatic music plays.

Episode ends.

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Episode looked great, but honestly some of the dialogue sounded terrible.  Dragon stuff was cool, especially the first time I saw it in How to Train Your Dragon.  I thought it was good otherwise, but I have no idea who some of these people are and who they are supposed to be connected to.  Of course, I knew that would be the case so we’ll see if I can figure more out next week.

The Tick.

Ben Edlund’s big blue force for justice never fails to be amazing.  Truly, The Tick has been through multiple iterations over the years and each one improves upon the other and turns out to be way more than a simple satire of the super hero genre.  That is only the surface level of this character.

The Tick started out in 1986 as a newsletter mascot for New England comics.  New England Comics is a chain of comic book shops all around the Boston area.  In 1988, The Tick received his own comic book series published by New England Comics and created by Edlund.

The character was mysterious and his back story is never really explained.  He was shown as escaping from a mental institution, but we know nothing else.  And We do not need to know or want to know anything more about him.  The back story is not important.  Honestly, when we started learning all there was to know about Wolverine was when that character started becoming less cool.  The unknown is wonderful and the Tick is the perfect example.

After many years in comic book form, the Tick was ready for the next step.  The Tick starred in a TV animated series on the FOX Kids block of programming starting in 1994.  This series, which was inducted into the EYG Hall of Fame in the class of 2017, lasted three seasons and saw the Tick become more of a known commodity.  The series featured the perfect voice acting of Townsend Coleman as The Tick and introduced us to many key characters from the comic book, including the Tick’s sidekick Arthur, as well as a trio of new super heroes created for the series itself, Die Fledermaus, Sewer Urchin and American Maid.

Remarkably quotable, The Tick animated series was as funny as could be and was targeted at more than just the kids in the audience.  An adult could watch The Tick and find jokes directed for them as well.

I remember watching this every Saturday morning and just rolling with laughter.  I loved the big blue hero and his over dramatic sense of justice and destiny.  “Gravity is a harsh mistress” is a quote I use if someone has fallen and I don’t know how often I shout “Spooooon!”  The animated Tick series influenced me as much as any animated show has done.

So I was so excited when I found out that there was going to be a live-action Tick series on FOX.  It was also one of the most disappointing moments as well.  Not because of the series, which was, once again, brilliant.  They took a different route on the character, making it more like a super hero Seinfeld show.  It also introduced me to Bat Manuel, a character similar to Die Fledermaus and played by the awesome Nestor Carbonell (who would also star in personal favorite shows LOST and Bates Motel).  The disappointing part of the FOX live action series was the network treated the show like they were embarrassed by it.  Despite strong critical reaction, the network moved the show around, giving it near zero promotion and wound up cancelling it after nine funny episodes.  Patrick Warburton put his own stamp on the character of the Tick, a difficult task considering how brilliant Townsend Coleman was, and created something special in the oversized blue muscle suit.

Thankfully, Ben Edlund, who had become very successful in Hollywood writing such shows as Firefly, Angel, and Supernatural, never gave up on the Tick and his cohorts and he found another outlet.  Amazon Prime gave the Tick another series on its streaming platform and the show evolved once again.

This time, the Tick was a little darker, a little more centered on Arthur, but still managed to provide us all that we loved in the history of the Tick.  Peter Serafinowicz took over the role of the Tick and Griffin Newman was our new Arthur.  This show continued the spoof of the super hero genre but it went deeper yet.  The Tick from Amazon could be called a character study.  Arthur and his sister Dot needed to deal with the death of their father when they were children, killed by the villainous The Terror (Jackie Earle Haley).  Even though the Terror was believed to be dead, Arthur was convinced that he had faked his death and was still alive.  The show dealt with the potential delusions of Arthur and even hinted at the fact that the Tick was nothing more than an imaginary delusion of Arthur.

The show’s first season was promising, but it was nothing compared to how wonderful season two was.  I just finished this second season last night and I loved the entire thing.  Each character had reason, depth and motives that were understandable.  The show dived deep into each character’s world, including side characters such as Overkill, Kevin and even Dangerboat.  The season long Aegis arc was satisfying as was the continual loss of purpose faced by legendary super hero Superion.

And the show was funny!  There was a scene in episode eight with the Tick struggling to find a way to feed baby lobsters that had me in tears of laughter.

Season two set up a season three with two major scenes SPOILER (did they say Thrakazog?).  I certainly hope that Amazon Prime understands what they have on their hands here and renews The Tick for season three, and beyond.

The world needs more of the Tick.  His honesty and the way he faces his problems. determined to do what was right in the face of all adversity is a message that the world truly needs.  The Tick is the hero we need.

Spoooooooooooon!