Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

The Daily Zone: The Twilight Zone (1959) S1 E1

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May 28, 2023- number 1

“Where is Everybody?“

Spoilers

Welcome to the first post under the new initiative of EYG for the summer, The Daily Zone, which will take a deep dive into the episodes of the EYG Hall of Fame TV series, The Twilight Zone, from the creative mind of writer Rod Serling.

I will be talking about the episodes in detail, so expect that there will be spoilers involved in these posts. If you are mad about a spoiler from a 1959 TV series, then you have been warned.

I will be watching these daily episodes on Amazon Prime where all five seasons of the original series as well as the 2019-20 remake by Jordan Peele exist.

First episode up is episode 1 from 1959, entitled “Where is Everybody.”

The episode kicks off with Earl Holliman’s character walking into a town where there are no people anywhere to be found and the man has no idea who he is. Amnesia, he assumes as he tries actively to find someone who could help him with his plight. With each passing failure at the diner, the police station, movie theater and such, the man becomes increasingly frustrated and agitated.

Eventually the man realized that he had been a part of the Air Force and that lead to the audience having the curtain pulled aside and revealed the truth of what was happening to the man. He ended up desperately pressing a button which was revealed as a ‘panic button’ signaling to the Air Force that the man, who turned out to be Sgt. Mike Ferris, who had spent 484 hours in an isolation chamber in preparation for a trip to the moon.

Ferris’s mind had created the delusion of the empty town where he seemed to be the last man alive as a way to deal with the loneliness and the isolation he was experiencing. The hallucination was brought about by sensory deprivation.

To be honest, this episode did not include much science fiction. It was more of a psychological study, dealing with the effects of loneliness and isolation on the mind of human beings. The idea of space travel was the little bit of sci-fi in the episode and that came at the very end. The end was sudden and felt almost tacked on. Watching Earl Holliman decent into anxiety over the lack of human contact and his desperation to find anyone to interact with was interesting. Admittedly, the ending was not as interesting as what preceded it.

The Daily Zone

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“You’re traveling through another dimension — a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone!

You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into… the Twilight Zone.

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call ‘The Twilight Zone’.” -ROD SERLING

Welcome to The Daily Zone. This is one of the summer’s big initiatives at EYG, along with the second annual June Swoon. This will fall under the TV G[eek] category and it will be a deep dive into the episodes of the EYG Hall of Fame member, the TV show The Twilight Zone.

This idea formed after I completed reading a graphic novel that I had recently purchased b Koren Shadmi entitled The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television. It was a fascinating read about the life and times of the creator of the classic TV series that ran from 1959-1964.

The Twilight Zone was an anthology series where every episode dealt with a new story and different characters. It was a science fiction series despite Rod Serling not being an expert in the genre. According to The Twilight Man graphic novel, Serling decided on science fiction because much of what he was trying to do was being censored because it was too current and controversial. Being able to set the story in a sci-fi world, he found he could get away with the concepts without the censorship that he fought against for much of his career.

With summer vacation approaching, I knew I had some time available for something new. Even with the June Swoon 2 already planned, I figured that there would still be plenty of time to start up what I called The Daily Zone.

Every day, starting today, I will watch at least one episode of the original Twilight Zone and do a write up on them. There may be several episodes on each post, to save writing. During the summer months, I anticipate watching several episodes in a single day. There were five seasons and 156 episodes of the series, which ran about a half hour each. All of the seasons are currently available on Amazon Prime. There is also a 2019-2020 series from producer Jordan Peele which I may include in the Daily Zone when I work my way through the original series from Rod Serling.

I am not sure if I am setting a time frame for completion of this project. I would ideally be done before school resumes in mid-August, but I have not sat down and planned that out.

I have seen a few episodes of the series but I have not seen very many. The graphic novel made me intrigued to see the work of Rod Serling.

I may yet revisit this summer the 1983 film, Twilight Zone: The Movie in the Doc Classic Movies Reviewed section of the site. I know some of the sections of that film were remakes of the series. I have seen that film, but it has been a very long time.

The Twilight Zone is a member of the EYG Hall of Fame, being inducted in the Class of 2010.

The rankings of each episode will fall into the following five categories.

The best episodes will receive…

Followed by…

Then…

Followed by…

And the lowest of the rankings get the…

Schmigadoon

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Schmigadoon is one of my newest favs.

As a fan of musicals, I had always wanted to watch the Apple TV + series, but I never had gotten around to it. However, recently, I found some time and I figured that I could give this a try.

After the very first episode, I was in.

I did not binge the whole series, spreading out the two season, 6-episode seasons over about a week, which worked extremely well.

I have always been a fan of Keegan-Michael Key, who stars as Dr. Josh Skinner. To be fair, Keegan-Michael Key is not the best singer of the cast, but the show keeps his songs to a minimum and, truthfully, his song in season 1 was one of the most emotional moments of the first season.

Dr. Josh Skinner’s girlfriend in season 1 and wife in season 2 is Dr. Melissa Gimble, played by Cecily Strong, who has a strong comedic presence and great timing. She makes a effective team with Key. Even when I was not sure about what the show intended, I was always rooting for this couple to be together.

Season 1 was based on musicals such as Oklahoma, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and the 1947 musical Brigadoon.

Season 2 takes several musical inspirations/parodies including obviously Chicago, Sweeny Todd, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and Annie.

There is some remarkably clever writing in the series and the music is both enjoyable and extremely funny. You can hear the homage to the classic music from the different musicals that Schmigadoon parodies in the score for the show.

The ensemble cast included some heavy hitters like Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Ariana DeBose, Tituss Burgess, Aaron Tveit, Dove Cameron, Kristin Chenoweth, Jaime Camil and Michelle Rios.

That cast played different characters in the two seasons, highlighting different styles of musicals and some great work. Alan Cumming was especially brilliant in season 2 as the Sweeney Todd-inspired butcher, Dooley Flint. His unbalanced performance was spectacular.

Season two’s inclusion of the Narrator character, played by Tituss Burgess was a stroke of genius. It kept the meta aspects of the series in place.

I hope there will be more Schmigadoon on Apple TV in the future. This was a lot of fun and entertaining as could be.

“It’s a doggity-dog world”

The Muppets Mayhem Season 1

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SPOILERS

I was not anticipating the new Muppet series on Disney +. Fact was that a series with Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem as the lead characters that did not include Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie or other classic Muppet characters did not appeal to me as much.

I am so glad that I watched this series, because I thought this was just epic.

The Muppet Mayhem was ten-episodes on Disney +, all dropping at once and I have spent the last few days watching a few of the episodes, completing it tonight. Through the 10 episodes, we got such amazing character development from this underutilized crew of Muppets, some great music, human characters that I cared about and some truly laugh out loud moments.

Although Animal typically is the standout of the Electric Mayhem, this series gave us an origin of Dr. Teeth, a ton more about Floyd Pepper and Janice, a cool photo gimmick for Zoot, and more about Lips, the trumpet player, than we ever knew before.

And as with any Muppet project, celebrities were lining up to cameo. Some of the best cameos included “Weird Al” Yankovic (in probably my favorite episode of the season), Kevin Smith, Morgan Freeman (attempting to get the role of ‘Zoot’ in the documentary of the band- inspired!), Paula Abdul, Rachel Bloom, Chris Stapleton, Tommy Lee, Billy Corgan, Cheech and Chong, Ziggy Marley, Ke$ha, Susana Hoffs, Peter Jackson, Charlamagne Tha God, Kristen Schaal, Ryan Seacrest, Danny Trejo, Zedd, and Ben Schwartz (to name a few).

I loved the episode that the Electric Mayhem was struck with writer’s block and they had to go into the desert to be inspired by sitting under the stars (as Floyd spoke to a Lion King inspired Weird Al), the episode that was a parody of the documentary Get Back (of the Beatles) that included director Kevin Smith, the amazing problems with the Mayhem becoming addicted to their new phones, and the reunion of the band after the nicest break up of all time.

I also fell in love with the new Muppet character, Penny Waxman, the record executive who was a one time and once again flame of Dr. Teeth. I found the design of that new character to be just amazing.

This series was so much fun that it just convinces me all the more that Disney + needs to do more with the Muppets IP. They have such an untapped potential that you could take a group of secondary Muppets and make them relevant and such a hoot.

Can you picture that?

Sweet Tooth Season 2

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SPOILERS

It had been quite a while since the first season of Sweet Tooth on Netflix dropped. It was so long ago that I simply hadn’t remembered a second season was coming, and I was shocked when I saw that season two of Sweet Tooth, the show based on a comic from writer Jeff Lemire, showed up on the streamer service.

Christian Convery played Gus, aka Sweet Tooth, after appearing in the big screen movie Cocaine Bear (as one of the biggest scene stealers in the show). Convery does a fantastic job as the titular character in this series and he brings such a solid emotional feel for the character and a more mature and powerful presence.

I was a little disappointed that the show kept Gus and “Big Man” Jepp, as played by Nonso Anozie, apart for such a length of time this season. It made me think of the old days back when LOST would go out of their way to keep Jin and Sun away from each other. However, this show picked up dramatically when Gus and Jepp reunited. The interaction between the two is one of the most vital parts of Sweet Tooth.

The villains of this season were very compelling and menacing. General Abbot, played by Neil Sandilands, easily advanced this character into a horrible person with selfish plans. But even worse is Dr. Aditya Singh, played by Adeel Akhtar, whose scientific research into a potential ‘cure’ for the Sick took him to some dark places and, even if his motives are pure, his actions are much like many of the mad scientists we have seen before. He has lost plenty this season and he seems to be even more obsessed in Gus and the other hybrids.

The secondary hybrid characters were cute and had their moments during the season, but they were definitely in the background. There were some shockingly cringy special effects during the season, especially with the arrival of an alligator-hybrid child named Peter. Some of these effects were a drawback to the story and pulled me out of it.

The show effectively used flashbacks to further the story, especially the origin of Gus and what had happened to his mother Birdie (Amy Seimetz)

The finale for this season did have a cruel misdirect that I did not appreciate much. When they made it look as if Gus had been shot and killed by Abbot, only to reveal that the funeral they were having was for Aimee (Dania Ramirez), who had contracted the Sick, was a cruel trick.

Season three is clearly set up as the group is headed off to Alaska to try and find Birdie. Hopefully, it won’t be as long of a wait between seasons this time.

Season two of Sweet Tooth is on Netflix.

Shrinking Season 1

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Harrison Ford’s name attracted me to start watching Apple TV +’s series, Shrinking. I knew practically nothing about it going in except that Ford was on it and that he had said some great things about the scripts that he had read.

It was a few episodes into the season before I started watching, but once I started, it became my Thursday night go to show. I loved how funny, heartwarming and emotional the show was.

Shrinking starred Jason Segal as Jimmy Laird, who was in the process of grieving the loss of his wife. Jimmy was a therapist in the practice run by Ford’s character, Dr. Paul Rhoades. Jimmy was a mess through most of the season, trying to deal with his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell), his patients like Sean (Luke Tennie), his neighbors Liz and Derek (Christa Miller and Ted McGinley), his best friend Brian (Michael Urie) and his co-worker and wife’s best friend Gaby (Jessica Williams).

I thought these characters were outstanding. It was brilliantly written and was always funny, outrageous and thoughtful.

Not only was the series about dealing with grief, it also focused on Harrison Ford’s character and his Parkinson’s diagnosis. This side storyline was one of the bests on the show because Harrison Ford was epic in the role. Dr. Paul Rhoades was grumpy, mean, and completely uncomfortable… meaning Harrison Ford was perfectly cast. If Harrison Ford does not receive an Emmy nomination for this series, it will be a crime.

I have seem some criticism of the show by people claiming that the therapy shown on the show is not accurate and that these characters would never be effective psychiatrists. None of that bothered me. The therapy helped us dive into characters and give us an insight into Jason Segal’s character. I have never had therapy nor have I studied anything about it, but it did not give me any problems. He was certainly unconventional about therapy and he does get called out about some of the things he does, especially with Sean.

Along with Ford, Jessica Williams played a therapist at Paul’s practice and she was absolutely awesome. She was funny and brought an attitude that helped carry several moments throughout the season. She had lost her best friend when Jimmy’s wife died and she had her own arc of grief to go through.

The show was ten episodes and the season finale aired tonight. I feel that Apple TV + has now a second excellent comedy (dramady) to go along with Ted Lasso. If you have not watched Shrinking, give it a try. It is a lot of fun.

The Last of Us (1 x 09)

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SPOILERS

“Look for the Light“

The HBO show, The Last of Us completed its first season run Sunday night and I am going to say that I do not think they had a weak episode among the nine. This show was consistently powerful and emotional every episode and built brilliantly on the week prior in such clever and well developed ways. I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the best video game adaptation in any format of all time. That may not be the highest bar to exceed, but The Last of Us has now set that aforementioned bar at a remarkably high level.

Sunday’s episode saw Joel and Ellie arrive at the Fireflies (although they were not as nice about it as you would have thought). Prior to the Fireflies’ attack, Ellie was showing some definite problems from her battle for survival with David last episode. Joel and Ellie seemingly switched places in their roles. Ellie was brooding and withdrawn and Joel was talkative and wanting more bad puns.

I had wondered if when they arrived at the hospital that they were heading to, if Ellie was going to be in danger. I thought maybe they would be trying to dissect her, but that wasn’t quite right. They were going to go into her brain and remove the part that was making her immune and mass produce it. It would be Ellie’s sacrifice. She was not told about it.

Joel was told though and that was a bad mistake for the Fireflies.

Joel went into murder-mode, coldly and without emotion, shooting everybody in his way to save Ellie. Even those who were laying down their weapons and surrendering wound up with a bullet in their head. It was brutal. It only cemented my comment from last week. If Joel was on The Walking Dead, he would be the villain that the survivors would be trying to protect themselves from.

Pedro Pascal completed his season with yet another spectacular episode. He has been on point as Joel in every episode, bringing his best work of his career. How he lied to Ellie at the end, to protect her from making a different decision about sacrificing herself to save the world was amazing. Joel knew that Ellie would choose to sacrifice herself if she was given a choice and he could not lose her too. So his saving of Ellie was really a selfish move, but he could not lose another daughter.

And… giraffes.

The episode started off with a pregnant woman and I was totally confused. She kind of looked like Ellie so I wondered if this was supposed to be a flash forward to a time when Ellie was pregnant. That was not making me happy. I did not want to see Ellie as a mother later because it felt as if it would mean that she was safe in any future storytelling. I figured it out soon though. It wasn’t Ellie pregnant in the future. It was Ellie’s mom, pregnant with Ellie in the past, giving us some indication on how Ellie wound up immune. As soon as I figured that out, it changed my opinions. Ellie’s mom was played by Ashley Johnson.

The Last of Us has been a spectacular series and I looked forward to it every Sunday night. I am going to miss it now that season one has come to a close. I will be looking forward to the second season when it arrives in the future.

Poker Face (1 x 10)

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SPOILERS

“The Hook”

Season one of Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne dropped its season finale on Peacock the other day, bringing to a close a very solid freshman season for the show. Poker Face has been confirmed to have been renewed for a season two, and we got a pretty good idea what the overarching storyline for that season would be in the finale.

I have been talking all season about the show’s general format and how, after the first half of the episodes, it began to be tinkered with by the creators. It was important to keep the show fresh and not become dull. The show did an excellent job of varying the concept and this episode was totally different while still feeling the same.

I was shocked when, as Charlie was involved with a discussion with Sterling Senior, played by the epic Ron Perlman, was shot dead. He turned into the murder victim that Charlie was involved in. He had been offering Charlie a job to use her BS radar (which showed that he had not intended on having her killed as she thought). Benjamin Bratt set Charlie up for the murder, sending her on the run during the episode.

Simon Helberg returned to the show as FBI Agent Luca. He had gotten a promotion because of his last interactions with Charlie and he provided her with an inside perspective of what the FBI was doing in the case. Luca and Charlie had a nice connection and it added to the show’s ambiance.

I also enjoyed how they kind of looked at Charlie and some of the bad choices that she had made in her life, especially in connection to her sister and her sister’s daughter. This show did not go out of its way to hide the negative results of Charlie’s choices for her sister and it made the character even more interesting.

As it was solved, we discovered the hook (no pun) for next year. It seems as if Charlie is back on the run to avoid another crime boss. However, she went into it with more confidence and bravado than she did at the beginning of season one.

Benjamin Bratt brought it by randomly speaking the rap section of ‘Hook’ by Blues Traveler.

Suck it in, suck it in, suck it in
If you’re Rin Tin Tin or Anne Boleyn
Make a desperate move or else you’ll win
And then begin to see
What you’re doing to me
This MTV is not for free
It’s so PC it’s killing me

So desperately I sing to thee of love
Sure but also rage and hate and pain and fear of self
And I can’t keep these feeling on the shelf
I’ve tried, well no, in fact I lied
Could be financial suicide but I’ve got too much pride inside
To hide or slide
I’ll do as I’ll decide and let it ride till until I’ve died
And only then shall I abide by this tide
Of catchy little tunes
Of hip three minute diddies
I wanna bust all your balloons

I wanna burn of all your cities to the ground
But I’ve found, I will not mess around
Unless I play then hey
I will go on all day
Hear what I say
I have a prayer to pray
That’s really all this was
And when I’m feeling stuck and need a buck
I don’t rely on luck

Poker Face will be back on Peacock next season and I will be curious where it goers from there.

The Last of Us (1 x 08)

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SPOILERS

“When We are in Need“

The penultimate episode of the first season of HBO’s The Last of Us premiered on the streaming service tonight and it gave us an episode that could, quite possibly, change Ellie forever.

Joel is still recovering from his stab wound and Ellie is forced into surviving on her own while he is out. When she goes hunting for a deer, she comes across David and another man from a nearby community. Through a tense standoff, David agrees to give Ellie medicine in exchange for the deer.

Ellie is able to get away from them. She did not know that this was the group that included the man who had stabbed Joel and they were out for ‘justice.’

David was shown as a preacher, a leader, but I never believed that he was a just or kind man. As we find out, he had been serving his followers the cooked remains of their dead in a desperate attempt to stay alive.

David led a group to go back and find Ellie and Joel. He wanted Ellie brought back alive because he had intentions for her.

Ellie had been giving Joel some of the medicine and she decided to lead the men away from him. Unfortunately, this led to her being captured. However, Joel was able to capture a couple of the men who stayed to look for him and he tortured them to find out where they had taken Ellie.

This was the time in this episode that reminded me of The Walking Dead. Many times the humans of that show were the worst part of the show. I actually had Joel pictured as the dangerous man who would try and kill the heroes. Joel was anything but honorable in this situation, but you can’t help but understand why he killed those men.

Meanwhile, Ellie is fighting for her life as David has seemingly become obsessed with her. He is looking for a partner, someone who he can train as an equal and he is impressed with Ellie’s survival instincts and her darkness. He sees her as a worthy partner.

Ellie has to go through all kinds of struggles at David’s hands, including trying to avid being chopped into little pieces. The final showdown between Ellie and David inside a fiery building is tense and suspenseful. It shows Ellie with her violent side as she stabbed David repeatedly until he was dead (plenty dead too).

The reunion of Joel and Ellie was a nice moment as she seemed to be in shock over everything that had happened and did not realize that it was Joel at first. He had come up behind her and he was lucky that she did not have that cleaver still because I imagine that she would have just swung away. Joel’s referring to Ellie as ‘baby-girl’ was a powerful moment that was played very under-the-radar, but it meant a lot to the character of Joel.

Performances from Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were outstanding this week. Bella Ramsey showed her wild side of the character of Ellie and Pedro Pascal was very understated this week. Both provide us with amazing work.

We have one more episode in season one next week. I know there are some people who are disappointed at the lack of infected in some of these episodes, but I find every week to be filled with drama and emotionally-charged energy. This has been one of the best shows in a long time and I will be anxious to see where they leave it next week.

Poker Face (1 x 09)

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SPOILERS

“Escape from Shit Mountain”

Now that is more like it!

This may have been my favorite episode of Poker Face this entire season. It destroyed the formula that the show had followed and it was all the better for it.

To be fair, the show had been playing with the format of the show for the last few episodes after the first part of the season was starting to feel a little repetitive.

The show still had the big time guest star, this time being Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Instead of Charlie finding herself involved in the life of the victim, she got hit by a car driven by Gordon-Levitt during a snowstorm. Gordon-Levitt took her to a hole in the woods where he had buried an old girlfriend ten years ago and he threw Charlie in with the remains.

Charlie showed an amazing ability to survive. In this episode alone, she dug herself out of the grave with a human femur, survived being stabbed with a knife, and struggled to move around with a badly injured leg.

Charlie was truly amazing here and showed some ferocity that we had not seen this season. She also started talking about the year as a whole being dark and having been followed by death.

The show was also quite brutal as two of the secondary characters of the episode died in horrible ways, including a klepto friend of Charlie’s that she met at a convenience store.

The confrontation with Charlie and Gordon-Levitt was dramatic and tense. I loved every minute of it. The show even made me wonder what was going to happen. When he drove that knife into Charlie, my mouth went agape despite me knowing that they were not going to kill off the main character of the show.

Then, just when it seemed that Charlie was finally out of trouble, Benjamin Bratt arrived, ready to re-spark the story that kicked off the season.

Just a tremendous episode that surpassed the pilot and the episode starring Judith Light.

The Last of Us (1 x 07)

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SPOILERS

“Left Behind“

Sunday night and it is time to have your heart ripped out again by watching HBO Max’s amazing series The Last of Us.

Never fails.

This episode picks up with Ellie frantically trying to help Joel, who was stabbed in episode 6, but Joel tells her to leave, go north and find Tommy.

This triggered a flashback episode with Ellie at her military school and we get to meet her friend Riley, who had run off and joined the Fireflies, leaving Ellie behind. Riley comes back to give Ellie a night of fun at the mall before Riley has to leave on assignment.

Of course, as soon as we saw this flashback and the timing of it, it was clear that we were going to see the first time that Ellie was bitten and infected.

As I watched this episode, I kept thinking to myself that I knew the actor playing Riley and I was not sure where I had seen her before. I was racking my brain, but it wasn’t until they mentioned her name on the “Inside the Episode” bit that follows each week’s episode that I heard the name Storm Reid.

That name rang a bell. She was the lead protagonist in the film Missing, which came out in January of this year. I remember thinking that Storm Reid was going to be a star after such an exceptional performance leading her film. She and Bella Ramsey were excellent together. As Ellie, Ramsey showed the utter joy and childlike glee over little things at this mall, such as an escalator (aka ‘moving stairs’) or a Mortal Kombat II video game.

You knew that the episode was too happy and that some tragic circumstances were going to happen at this mall. It’s that kind of show.

Both girls wind up being infected. We know that Ellie was going to be immune, but we also knew that Riley was going to come to her end. Riley’s words of positivity, taking every second life gives you and making them count instead of giving up, lead to Ellie refusing to give up on Joel at the end of the show.

There are only two episodes remaining and it looks as if Joel is going to be in a bad way still next episode while Ellie is coming across some more humans.

Poker Face (1 x 07 &08)

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SPOILERS

“The Orpheus Syndrome“

The next episode of Poker Face came on Peacock today and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Two big time guest stars, Nick Nolte and Cherry Jones, brought the goodness to this episode.

I also enjoyed the set up this week as we had the first murder that Charlie was not connected to as she had been typically (only slightly tied to this one), but she was much more connected to another murder that happened during the show. I like how the show makes some adjustments to the formula in an attempt to keep things fresh.

Cherry Jones was outstanding as the killer in this episode. The end of this seems to be another potential trend that is starting to show up. The killer killing themselves. It has happened three times now (if I remember correctly).

It was fun seeing Nick Nolte involved in the story as well. I liked the way they incorporated this character into the story. It felt as if Charlie was more important in this episode than some of the others.

“The Future of the Sport”

As I was doing this, I realized that I missed last week’s episode 7. It was another departure from the formula as we did not even get a murder this week. The intended victim survived and the person who we initially thought was going to be the killer, Tim Blake Nelson, was flipped. He went from someone you were meant to hate to someone who showed he was more sympathetic than you thought.

Poker Face continues to be a very engaging and entertaining series with the guest stars on each episode really bringing the quality work. Natasha Lyonne is original and unique as a lead protagonist and is always a joy to watch.

The Last of Us (1 x 06)

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SPOILERS

“The Ties that Bind”

The Last of Us is currently the best show on TV. Without fail. There have been six episodes of the show and each one has been rough, emotionally powerful and filled with character development.

There was a ton of things that happened in this episode. They kicked it off with an older couple that Joel has by gunpoint to try and find information. This older couple was just an awesome pair. They were funny and brought a feeling of cheerfulness. They were so perfect with each other and their inclusion is just so great.

They find Tommy in his little town, Jackson, with his new wife, who is pregnant. They find the location of the Fireflies at the University in Colorado only to find it deserted. Joel gets stabbed and the episode ends on a cliffhanger with the unconscious and bleeding Joel.

We did not see any infected, but I am not missing it because there are still a ton of tension. When the dog was approaching Ellie and Joel thought the dog would smell the infection in her was just a anxiety-driven moment.

Pedro Pascal has been such a great performer in the series, but this was a standout performance for him as there sere several moments where Joel was dealing with his PTSD and trying to talk Tommy into taking Ellie to Colorado in his place. The scene between Joel and Ellie when he was telling her they were splitting the next morning was exceptional. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are amazing together and they both bring a realness and a connection to Joel and Ellie.

Ellie finds out about Joel’s daughter Sarah and her fate. Joel admits that he cares for Ellie.

Perhaps the only criticism I may have for this show was that there were a lot of things that were sped over. There was a three month time jump and they make it to Jackson, make it to Colorado, make it out of the university, in no time and I think some of this could have been spaced out a little more. I understand there is only so much time available and they are hitting the big points.

I don’t know what could possibly happen next. I can only assume that Joel will not die, but how he is going to survive is anyone’s guess.

Great episode again.

The Last of Us (1 x 05)

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SPOILERS

“Endure and Survive”

Damn.

The Last of Us has consistently brought the quality to HBO Max every week. This week, the show arrived on a Friday night in order to avoid the scheduling conflict with the Super Bowl, which is airing during the shows normal release time frame. It was a very intelligent move and it brought something even more special for a Friday night.

This episode’s conclusion did not bring tears to my eyes. It was so far past that. I had an empty feeling, a hollow feeling in my gut. It was devastating.

Such an amazing roller coaster ride of emotions.

As I have mentioned before, I have not played The Last of Us video game so I am approaching this show without any prior knowledge of these characters and their eventual fates. So the introduction of Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard), brothers who were on the run from the crazy Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) for a reason we did not know, at first, felt like the expansion of our group. Henry and Sam, the young boy Sam who was deaf and had to use ASL), seemed to fit beautifully with Joel and Ellie. Which only made it more heart-breaking when they met their fates.

That scene where Henry shoots the infected Sam, with the blood pooling upon the floor, and then, in shock, kills himself, was beyond much of anything I can remember. The last time I remember feeling that anguish in my gut over a TV show was when Negan killed Glenn on the Walking Dead.

These two actors who played Henry and Sam, Lamar Johnson and Keivonn Woodard, did an amazing job of making us care about their characters in a very short time. They had a natural charm about them and I know I was rooting for their continuation in the series. Alas, it was not to be.

But the horrible ending was not the only epic part of this episode. We also got an unbeleivable zombie reveal as a ton of the infected came running out of a sinkhole to attack and brutalize Kathleen’s forces just as she was about to kill Henry. The little girl clicker was unbelievably frightening and The Bloated was massive and dominant.

Oh and… damn Joel… who knew you were such a great shot with a sniper rifle? He was picking off infected mere steps away from Ellie. I would have to question every shot, afraid that I might accidentally shoot Ellie.

The show has done a sensational job of creating the tone of anxiousness and the feel that something is about to happen around every corner. It really does an excellent job of giving the audience an insight into what it would be like to live in this Hellscape world. However, we still are able to find those little moments of humanity and joy even in this world. For example, the laughs of Sam as Ellie showed him the stupid pun book from last episode. Even Henry commented about not hearing that laugh in a long time. Ellie’s very existence provides the show with something that was lacking with The Walking Dead, hope.

Every episode has been absolutely stunning so far and, in five scant episodes, has taken its place at the very top of the list of video game adaptations.

Poker Face (1 x 06)

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SPOILERS

“Exit Stage Death”

A show about a woman who can tell when people are lying get involved with actors whose very job is to be false.

This episode may have been a touch over the top with Charlie running around trying to figure out what had happened while the play was actually being performed.

Kathleen Townsend and Tim Meadows are our murderous pair of actors, former TV show partners on a buddy cop show. They reunited to perform a play for one night only, and they set up a stage trap door to become a trap.

This whole episode was quite a departure from the other episodes. Charlie is not on screen a lot and the case was spent with more humor than past cases.

I am very happy that the show has been changing the formula up a bit. The general concept is still there, but it has switched up just enough to keep the show from feeling stale.

I would be ready to see Benjamin Bratt to make a reappearance and bring the story back to Charlie. I know that is happening this season so I would be anxious to see Charlie take the lead.