Category Archives: Sunday Morning Sidewalk

{Sunday} Friday Morning Sidewalk

Posted on by

SPOILERS

“Jig-A-Bobo”

Yes, I know it is not Sunday. I am going to the SiouxperCon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota this weekend and I will not have access to HBO Max Sunday morning. I did not know what I wanted to do about that. I considered skipping a week and just resuming next Sunday, but instead, I decided to make this one time exception and make it a Friday Morning Sidewalk instead. So this Friday Morning Sidewalk is episode 8 of Lovecraft Country.

In “Jig-A-Bobo”, Lovecraft Country tackled the grief and loss brought about by the real world murder of Emmet Till, lovingly nicknamed Bobo. The show had revealed that Till was best friends with Diana, and his brutal murder struck her hard.

However, in Lovecraft Country style, the grief takes on a whole different manner, supernaturally speaking.

Diana is pursued by some demons that looked like Topsys, the character from Uncle Tom’s Cabin… and they were spooky as hell. Jada Harris does a remarkable job showing Diana’s grief and her fear, both transgressing through.

Then, the ending sequence where the police get their comeuppance is so awesome. The protection spell Atticus and Montrose cast came into being in a different way than any of them anticipated. That monster that just ripped through the cops was utterly crazy. When that one cop went flying through the air, it was damn satisfying.

I’m not sure what the scene where Christina hires someone to attack her just like Emmet Till was meant to show. It really felt like a major weak spot in an otherwise strong episode.

I do like Ruby’s development through this episode. Her face off with Leti, who has her own little interaction with Christina this episode that made her invulnerable, felt like it was way overdue.

The arrival of Ji-ah seemed to be unimportant too. Not sure why she arrived and I am not sure why that was important. Leti’s anger felt misplaced.

Only two more episodes remaining. I hope everyone has a great Sunday morning on a Friday day!

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #34

Posted on by

Spoilers

“I Am”

 “I am Hippolyta.”

This week’s Lovecraft Country focuses on that comment, and we get an episode centered around Hippolyta.

This was a wild, sci-fi romp through alternate dimensions and spiritual encounters. Hippolyta finds herself dancing on a stage with Josephine Baker in Paris, a warrior woman training in what appeared to be Africa (reminded me very much of the movie, The Woman King) and back in bed with George (with Courtney B. Vance returning to the role).

It was a journey of self-discovery for Hippolyta as she is able to work through her grief and anger over the events that she had gone through in the series.

Of course, before she had been pulled into the portal by this strange machine, she had shot and killed a police officer who was going to kill her after catching her in this place. Atticus showed up and helped out, sending another officer through the portal. However, the dead officer’s body was lying on top of Diana’s comic book, leading us to think bad things are coming for the young girl.

We also discover that Atticus had gone through a portal as well. We do not know where he had gone, but he returned with a paperback book entitled Lovecraft Country written by George Freeman.

Other items from this episode:

  • The show has been implying that Leti is pregnant. I am curious to see how that will play into the narrative.
  • Emmet Till is referenced in this episode as a friend of Diana.
  • Atticus learns the truth that his father Montrose was gay. He did not take it well. In fact, Atticus’s response using the f-slur was one of the most shocking moments of the episode. It is a term that we don’t hear much anymore, but would have been more common during this time frame. It was still very hard to hear coming from our protagonist’s mouth.
  • Ruby and her relationship with Christina is bizarre and could lead to Ruby betraying her sister.

This was a strong episode of Lovecraft Country, which built on the idea of the power of women, much like last week’s episode featuring Ji-ah.

There are just three more episodes of Lovecraft Country remaining. Because next weekend I am going to attend SiouxperCon 2025 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the Sunday Morning Sidewalk will be poster this coming Friday, September 19th.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #33

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Meet Me in Daegu”

Whereas I was a little own after last episode, “Meet Me in Daegu” was one of my favorite episodes of the series so far. We find ourselves in Korea in 1949.

I did not know what the character of Ji-Ah was involved in this story. I knew there was some kind of connection to Atticus, but I had no idea that Ji-Ah was possessed by a spirit known as a kumiho, a nine-tailed fox that can transform into a beautiful woman. To be fair, how could I have guessed?

The one issue I had was the subtitles for the Korean was written in a yellow color and it was difficult to read.

After that, I was enthralled by the relationship between Ji-Ah and Atticus. The complication of Atticus being involved in the torture and death of Ji-Ah’s best friend was an intriguing addition. Yet, I believed that they were able to overcome the hatred and the vengeance.

The idea of a kumiho is fascinating and the execution of the sex scenes and the kumiho was shocking and scary. When those tails go into the men’s eyes, I jumped a little.

I am curious to see how Ji-Ah fits into this story moving forward.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #32

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Strange Case”

I’m not sure how I am feeling about Lovecraft Country after the first five episodes. We are half way through and I am not sure what this show’s overarching story is about.

This episode focused more on Ruby and Montrose than it did on anything else. I have to say that Ruby’s story was gross as it seemed to embrace some body horror (of which I am not a fan) as she gruesomely transforms between her natural self and that of a white woman. Blood and floppy skin everywhere.

Meanwhile, we learn that the hidden issue with Montrose is that he is gay and it is the 1950s where you simply cannot be out of the closet.

I started out confused as Atticus beat the crap out of Montrose at the beginning, because, fact is, I had not remembered the ending to episode four. I had to go back and re-read what I had written about it last week.

Another revelation fell into Ruby’s story this week as we discover William, who had taken Ruby last week for sex on the staircase, is actually Christiana, transformed into William just as Ruby had transformed into a white woman. Bizarre.

How does all this work together to further our story? Unclear at this point. Atticus, between sexual encounters with Leti, was working on a translation for some of the pages, and he deciphered one word at the end of the episode… “DIE.” This caused him to call his former flame, Ji-ah, and ask her how she knew. What does any of that mean?

The show continued to have scenes that were extremely uncomfortable to watch… and I am not just talking about the scenes of body horror or creatures. The scenes with the white people treating the blacks the way they did were just as difficult to watch as anything on the show. I do wish there was at least one white character that was not a total racist piece of garbage.

There are ten total episodes and we are currently half way through the one and only season. I hope things start to come together in the narrative soon. It does feel very disjointed.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #31

Posted on by

Spoilers

“A History of Violence”

Lovecraft Country took a trip to Boston and found themselves in an Indiana Jones movie. Or perhaps The goonies instead. I mean, that sure could have been One Eyed Willy’s ship at the end.

This series has been fascinating so far as it seems to be shifting each week, between horror genre tropes and, this week, action/adventure movies.

It ended with a shocking moment too with Montrose’s apparent murder of the mysterious woman/siren that they found in One Eyed Willy’s location. I am not sure the purpose of any of this, but I am definitely intrigued to see where it goes next.

Another wild moment is the seduction of Ruby by the not-dead henchman of Christina Braithwhite, William. He had seemed to be killed when the mansion was destroyed in episode two, but William obviously made it out.

The whole, what I was calling the ‘Leap of Faith’ section of the episode was tense and had some pretty funny quips from our three adventurers trying to get across the gigantic cavern by walking a teeny tiny little board. This board tends to disintegrate as they are on it. It also has a swinging axe (‘Only the penitent man shall pass…’) and a locked door that they needed to open. These seemed to come straight from Last Crusade, if not directly, at least in honor.

Episode 4 was nicely paced and kept me on guard. I am not sure what is next, but I am excited to see where the next step takes me.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk#30

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Holy Ghost”

Atticus, Leti and Montrose are back in Chicago after the death of George and things are stressed.

They have given a story about the cruel sheriff killing George, covering up the truth of his death.

Leti purchased a house that she wanted to fix up as a way to give a safe zone for other black people.

Atticus is trying to find purpose in his life, not sure what he should do.

The white neighbors are causing trouble, setting up their cars to honk their horns consistently.

This episode felt like a self-contained episode featuring a haunted house, and I enjoyed this one more than I did the crammed in feeling from last week. Plus, there were some really creepy moments with the ghosts in the cellar. And that elevator moment with the white neighbor… brutal.

This felt like a pause within the story and it is going to pick back up to the story as Christina Braithwhite is back and in Chicago, showing off her control of Atticus.

Good episode for week three of Lovecraft Country, the thirtieth installment of Sunday Morning Sidewalk.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #29

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Whitey’s On the Moon”

I really enjoyed episode one last week for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk featuring Lovecraft Country. Unfortunately, this week’s episode felt like I was watching the show in fast forward. So much happened and there was a super ton of exposition and it felt like the flow of this was way off whack.

I am not sure exactly was was real and what had happened. There is a secret society based on Adam from the Garden of Eden. Leti died, but comes back. Atticus turned out to be a descendent of the founder of this secret society. Leti and George forgot everything about the night before and then a little bit later, remembered everything that had happened. They all had weird delusions in their rooms with people from their past although Leti’s delusion was having sex with Atticus who turned out to have a snake as his penis. Tony Goldwyn showed up having what looked like parts of his liver removed to serve for dinner. Then he turned to stone and got crushed in the last act of the episode. The castle collapsed into the ground. They found Montrose but the episode ended with George succumbing to his gunshot wound he got from Tony Goldwyn.

As I said, this was insane.

It all felt so rushed that it diluted what should have been a powerful moment at the end of the episode… the death of George. I am not sure if this is a final death or if he will be coming back like Leti did. Montrose’s arrival was also bizarre as he just dragged himself out of the ground in handcuffs.

Oh and it kicked off with the theme song from The Jeffersons.

I found this episodes too packed with stuff that could have been spread out over several episodes. I am not sure what is coming next, but the pacing was just such a problem for me. I do like the characters and the setting, but everything was just flying at such a pace that I was not able to engage as much as I would have liked.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #28

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Sundown”

Oh, I am in!

What a kick off to the next show for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. The only problem is I now have to wait until next Sunday to watch the next episode.

Lovecraft Country was a series that was on HBO, a horror, historical fantasy, drama that centered around the writings of author H.P. Lovecraft.

Starring Jurnee Smollett, Courtney B. Vance and Jonathan Majors, the show had one heck of a debut episode.

Majors played Atticus “Tic” Freeman, a young man who had served in the Korean War. He returned to his home in Chicago when he found out that his father had gone missing.

Going by his uncle George Freeman’s home, Atticus shared a letter that his father had sent him about Ardham, Massachusetts. With a little investiagtion, Atticus discovered this city was in the middle of Devon County, which was an area where H.P. Lovecraft had supposedly set many of his horror tales.

George writes for a black guide book (much like the movie Green Book) so Atticus, George and Letitia “Leti” Lewis, an old friend who was hitching a ride to her brother’s home, took off to this county.

They stopped for some food, only to be chased away by gun toting yokels who did not want black people eating in their diner. This was a tense and anxiety-filled scene as the locals shot at them with rifles. It is amazing that such hatred exists in the United States that there are people who think this kind of behavior was ever okay.

A mysterious silver sedan caused the yokel’s car to flip over and a enigmatic white woman came out from the car. Atticus had heard that his father had left Chicago in a silver sedan, so everything seemed to be tying together.

In Devon County, the trio was in the woods looking for an access road, when the racist sheriff came upon them. He told them that they were in a sundown county where any blacks out after sundown would be considered dangerous and he would have to do something about it. What followed was a real tense, horrific scene where Atticus desperately tried to get their car across the county line before the sun went down, unable to speed because the sheriff followed behind, waiting to pull them over for any infraction.

Making the county line, they came to a police roadblock, realizing that the race to the border was irrelevant. As they were face down and about to be lynched, monsters came from the woods and began attacking the cops. These creatures were shoggoths, monsters found in Lovecraft work.

In the end, Atticus, George and Leti found themselves at a mansion in the woods, where they are greeted kindly by a white at the door.

The scene with the shoggoths and the cops was really intense and bloody. You had no idea what was going to happen, although it was awesome to see that racist piece of crap sheriff get his during the scene.

The episode started with a dream Atticus was having involving UFOs, monsters and what looked like Cthulhu. Of course, there was also Jackie Robinson(?). I was in immediately. I love the air of mystery and the unexpected nature of the show. I can’t wait to see where this goes from here.

Building the horrors of segregation into a story with J.P. Lovecraft’s work at the center is ironic, considering Lovecraft was known to be a racist himself. Tying that all together creates a powerful dynamic that will help drive this story, hopefully through the rest of the series. There are plenty of secrets floating around (who was that that Atticus called in South Korea?) and these add such a great color to the plot.

Next Sunday can’t get here soon enough. I was a little nervous about committing to Lovecraft Country for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk as there were ten episodes, which will encompass over two months to finish. At this point, I am thrilled with the choice.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #27

Posted on by

SPOILERS

Part Two

The A & E documentary KISStory Part two is the story of the rock band Kiss, in the second part of their careers.

I still feel as if there are some things missing without Ace Frehley and Peter Criss’s actual involvement in the documentary. Any time Peter or Ace is heard in the doc, it is from archival footage or interviews and the doc started off with a message saying that they chose not to participate and they “do not endorse the views of this program.” That meant that this doc was from the POV of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. I am truly curious how the story might differ.

This part of the doc started off with the band in some internal trouble, though they tried to force their way through it.

HOT TAKE: The Elder is my favorite Kiss album.

However, I may be the only one as the concept album seemed to be mentioned as one of the big mistakes of the group.

Peter Criss left the band, apparently after a concert where he was messing with the timing of the songs. That is one of the main functions of the drummer, and I could understand the feeling of betrayal that would bring up.

Ace Frehley was gone too, not long after Peter, leaving Kiss struggling with new musicians and characters from the band. They no longer had the Catman or the Spaceman in the group.

The doc showed the historic moment on MTV where KISS, for the first time, revealed themselves without the make-up and followed the band as it became another 1980s hair band.

The MTV Unplugged series was the first place where Peter and Ace returned for some songs, giving the idea that there could be a reunion at some point. The reunion tour was huge business and seemed to be a success at the start. However, the same demons that had pulled them apart in the late 70s apparently remained at this time. It was portrayed that Peter was upset over money and the perceived secondary status in the band behind Gene and Paul. I wish I had his official POV to see how accurate that was. Ace appeared to not be one who could handle the fame at the level KISS had reached.

I found myself with so much more respect for guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer, who were in the band and were removed when Ace and Peter returned. That felt tough, but they were total professionals. Tommy was even brought back in to help Peter and Ace get back to their levels of performance, and he wound up doing much of the tour manager duties.

It was a tough section involving the drummer who had replaced Peter in Kiss came up. Eric Carr came into the group and wound up dying form cancer. Paul and Gene told the story of Eric begging them to play on the song “God Gave Rock ‘N Roll To You” for the video, a song they recorded for the Bill & Ted Bogus Journey film. Paul’s description of Eric playing on that video was heartbreaking.

Both weeks of this doc ended really quickly, as it felt like something was being cut off.

I enjoyed this as I was always a fan of KISS, especially when I was younger. I was never an obsessed fan and I would be curious to hear what a deep fan thought of this documentary.

With this two-part doc series done, next week we start with a new show for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. I think the series that will be next is the HBO show, Lovecraft Country.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #26

Posted on by

Spoilers

Week twenty-six of the Sunday Morning Sidewalk takes a bit of a turn as we start our first documentary series, a two-part show originally on A & E (which I watched on Disney +) featuring the EYG Hall of Fame rock band known as KISS.

The first episode of the series was about an hour and a half and outlined the early days of the band and their struggle to rise to the top of the record business, all the while struggling with their personal turmoil and behavior.

The doc heavily featured new interviews from Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, but only had archival footage or interviews with band members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. There was a disclaimer that appeared in the documentary stating that Ace and Peter refused to participate in KISStory and did not agree with the presentation. That really triggered my curiosity. I knew that there had been issues between the band for years, especially with Ace and Peter, and I wanted to know why they refused to participate. Online, what I could find was that Ace and Peter refused because the amount of money offered was insultingly low and that they wanted final editing rights. I don’t know where that came from. Apparently, Peter Criss also refused to allow the song “Beth” to be used in the doc so that was in my head the entire time they were discussing the success of that song and how it helped propel the group upwards.

Peter and Ace were shown to have their own problems, specifically with alcohol and drugs, but I do not think it was done to the exclusion of the others. Gene spoke of his own issues, trying to put his ego aside while Paul spoke about plenty of his own troubles, including his anxiety over a birth defect he had with his ear. It did not feel like the doc piled on Ace and Peter. They definitely included how important they were to the band. Heck, even Gene and Paul admitted that the band’s sound did not come into focus until Ace came in to audition.

The feelings of the band were being made clear as they became more successful and started doing things like “KISS Meets the Phantom” or going more disco with “I Was Made for Loving You.” They addressed how some fans felt as if the group sold out as the success came fast. You could tell from the way Paul and Gene spoke about it that they felt much the same way, but they could not refuse it.

The clips from the Tom Snyder interview where Ace was clearly drunk were amazing. The looks on the faces of Gene and Paul were unmistakable and were painful to watch. The anger in their eyes was so obvious that anyone should have been able to see it.

The first episode ended with Ace’s announcement that he wanted to do solo work, and the band was definitely falling apart.

I truly would wish to have had more than just Paul and Gene’s voices in the doc, reflecting back on the history of this band. Peter and Ace’s absence 100% put a cloud over the documentary, even if it felt as if the doc did a good job of being balanced despite of their absence.

Next week will be part two of KISStory for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk and we’ll see where the band went from there.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #25

Posted on by

Spoilers

“I Got It”

“Home”

Win or Lose’s final two episodes were the Sunday Morning Sidewalk this week and these episodes wrapped up the season long storyline.

Episode seven featured Kai and her overbearing dad who pushes her hard. Kai and her dad James moved into the neighborhood a year before and the softball team helped Kai become part of the community. She was really great at baseball, but the atmosphere of the Pickles made Kai want to play softball. James jumped in with both feet.

We see the drive of her father show itself in Kai as she was pushing herself to get better and wound up hurting her ankle, though she never told anyone she was hurt.

The episode ended with the championship game, getting a little further than we did last week. We see Kai at the plate after Laurie got hit by the pitch and Kai hit a big shot into the outfield, only to see that injured ankle become a problem again.

The final episode had to bring everything together that has been happening all year long and it does so really well. We focus in on Coach Dan for this episode and his own problems. Living out of his car, he spent his time at the field, grooming it for game time. There was a lot here that I could relate to as a former coach myself. As Coach Dan was watering the field, I remembered days doing the exact same thing.

Kai’s big hit split the outfield and Kai ran the bases, behind Laurie, who clearly had not done that before. Laurie scores to tie the game but Kai ends up in a run down and gets called out at home by Frank.

This set off a massive chaotic event as the crowd went wild, Coach Dan loses his temper and gets accidentally knocked into Frank the umpire. Frank throws Dan out of the game, which only caused Dan to lose it more. Dan was feeling the pressure of the parents who want to replace Dan with James next season.

Then we get:

  • Laurie trying to help calm her father down (with a remarkable imagery/metaphor)
  • Ira stops the Bleacher Creatures from stealing the cash box from the concessions. He does that by grabbing it and running away.
  • It was actually Ira’s calling for help that caused Taylor to leave the game, not the trouble with Yuwen
  • Rochelle and Vanessa finally got to the game in the middle of the chaos and jumped in to help.
  • Vanessa and Frank bond after Frank saved Vanessa’s baby from choking.
  • Taylor prevents the Bleacher Creatures from getting Ira and they return the cash box.
  • James found Kai, who was hiding after the play at home and they talk through their troubles.

After the baby was saved, this got back to reality and the chaos left the park. Dan had calmed down and apologized to Frank. Taylor, Kai and Yuwen all made up. The game moved on into extra innings.

After this we see a Pickles pizza party celebrating the end of the season. We do not know what the result of the championship game was and no one mentioned it again.

The show ended with Laurie telling her dad that she did not want to play softball any more.

This was such a wonderful show with so much heart. It gave us a ton of human emotion, wrapped within the concept of a softball game. The imagery of the show really spoke to me and the way certain emotions were displayed was remarkably creative.

This is truly some Pixar magic in a series where I did not expect that magic to be.

This ends Win or Lose for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. Next week, we start the two episode documentary series called Kisstory, about the band Kiss. It is two episodes, both about an hour and a half long. It can be found on Hulu or Disney +.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #24

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Steal”

“Mixed Signals“

The next two episodes of Win or Lose are this week’s Sunday Morning Sidewalk and we have two more bangers.

The show has been playing with perspective of the same week between a win by the softball team The Pickles and the championship game. We actually got the first flashes of the championship game with the “Mixed Signals” episode.

“Steal” followed Ira, the little brother of Taylor, who was anything but excited about softball. He just wanted to spend time with his older sister playing video games. His imagination was in full throttle as he pictured himself as a hero, saving the world from a comet. However, a new boyfriend for Taylor interrupted Ira’s life, and he wound up meeting and joining with The Bleacher Creatures (Brian, Rinna and Chicken-Kevin)

The Bleacher Creatures get Ira to help them steal candy from the concession stand by being the distraction. Ira’s imagination makes the Bleacher Creature appear to be the heroes of the story, even though they were anything but.

Ira was taken to the party where the Brian was involved with holding Rochelle, trying to get her keys to the concession stand. Ira goes to the championship game with his sister and leaves a note of apology for his part in stealing the snacks, but Brian showed up and apologized to him.

Meanwhile, in “Mixed Signals” we get a focus on Yuwen, the loud mouthed pitcher of the Pickles who used the obnoxious attitude as a front to hide the insecure and lonely kid on the inside. The show illustrates this with “Little Yuwen,” a paper craft diorama character.

Through a series of youthful taunts and barbs, Yuwen shouts out that he liked Taylor and she agreed to go out with him on a date. They get along great at first, and Yuwen shared his insecurities with Taylor. This was such a sweet scene of young love.

They get in a fight over Yuwen’s jealousy of Tom, who was asking for tutoring help from Taylor. The carefully constructed relationship of trust and care crumbled away quickly.

For the first time, we got a glimpse at things happening in the championship game as Rochelle is a no show and Taylor takes over as catcher. Yuwen let his anger get the better of him and refused to throw any pitch that Taylor called, leading to the go ahead run to score. Taylor stormed off in the middle of the game.

We have two more episodes for next week to complete this first season. I can’t wait to see where this championship game goes and how someone else’s POV of the situation may change.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #23

Posted on by

June 29

Spoilers

“Raspberry”

“Pickle”

This week we have two episodes of Win or Lose featured the mother-daughter duo of Vanessa and Rochelle. We get two completely different perspectives of Vanessa.

In the eyes of her daughter Rochelle, her mother seems to be self-indulgent person who is only ever on her phone, paying more attention to her followers than she is to her daughter. Because of that, Rochelle had to adopt a much more parent identity than she should have.

However, Vanessa had a much more difficult and responsible life than Rochelle ever expected. It truly gives us the look at a character in two completely different ways.

I really enjoyed how this story came full circle over the two episodes. The show took the story first from Rochelle’s POV and wound up with her in a certain location and then we saw Vanessa’s POV of the same time frame and how they ended up together at the end. It was an outstanding way to show how even two people who love each other can see and react to different things in a different manner, as well as not see the struggles of the other person. In Rochelle’s episode, she saw her mom as very superficial way and Vanessa saw Rochelle in an idolized manner. Both were only partial what they were like.

This series so far has been just tremendously well written and entertaining. It has laughs and the depth of characterization is surprisingly great. We are halfway through the series so far with episodes 5 & 6 next week.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #22

Posted on by

Spoilers

Win or Lose

“Coach’s Kid”

“Blue”

The Sunday Morning Sidewalk starts its third series today. I have watched Band of Brothers and The Sandman so far and this week, the new show is on Disney + and is from Pixar. It is called Win or Lose.

This sets a precedent for Sunday Morning Sidewalk because this is the first time that I will be watching two episodes a week. I had looked at the run time on the episodes and they were all right in that 22 minute sweet spot, so I decided that I would do two a week.

I am very happy about that because the first episode was so good that I really wanted to watch a second one no matter the time.

The show’s concept is that every episode will center around a softball championship game and the lead up to it. Then, with each episode, we will see the perspective from a different character leading to the same point. First episode focuses on Laurie, the daughter of the coach of the Pickles, who is terrible at softball, but she desperately wants to do well. Second episode looks at the umpire of the game, a low self-imaged teacher named Mr. Brown.

I love this concept. What a wonderful idea for an 8-episode series and this show has some awesome Pixar magic throughout. In the first episode, Laurie has a little creature on her shoulder that was born from her self-doubt and who just kept growing as the week leading up to the championship game happened. Kind of an Inside Out-style creature that fed into Laurie’s doubts and anxiety.

Poor Mr. Brown. I related to this guy because it showed him as a teacher. The scene of the overbearing mother trying to prevent a punishment for her cheating daughter, well to say that I understand is an understatement. The magical armor that appears around Mr. Brown to deflect the slings and arrows of criticism and negative comments also keeps him isolated and lonely.

The animation is great. I mean, it is Pixar. That is kind of expected. I had no idea that this short little series on Disney + would be as poignant as it seems to be. I am excited to see who the next characters we focus on next week.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #21

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Dream of a Thousand Cats”; “Calliope”

The second round of Sunday Morning Sidewalk came to an end this morning with the final episode of season one on Netflix. It looks like there will be a second season of the show, despite the word of cancellations over the issues Neil Gaiman has had. Either way, the Sunday Morning Sidewalk comes to the end.

Last week’s episode sure felt like a finale, and when I saw this episode, it makes it even more so. This week, there are two separate stories in the hour of the show that are completely separate from almost everything that happened in that first season.

It started out with an animated section called “Dream of a Thousand Cats” and it brings all the cats in a certain area to come and hear the message of a Siamese cat whose story tells of different time of cats and humans.

The animation was great and it really kind of reminded me of a couple of comic books that I have purchased the last couple of year. One was called Feral and the other Animal Pound. Both of these comics are told from the POV of animals, in many cases specifically cats, in their voices.

“Calliope” is the second part of the episode and it is live action. It has a minor connection to the season as they mentioned how Morpheus had been captured, connecting it to the way that Calliope, a muse, was bonded to humans. Specially humans who are trying to write books.

I wonder if these were also based on a comic issue because it does feel as if it could have been one of those filler issues that turn out so good.

With this episode, The Sandman ends and requires that there will be a new Sunday Morning Sidewalk show next week. So far, we have done HBO’s Band of Brothers and Netflix’s The Sandman. Starting next Sunday, I will be doing Pixar’s Win or Lose on Disney +. These episodes are shorter, so I am doing two episodes a week.