The second season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters concluded on Apple TV + this past Friday with a big titan slugfest between Kong and Titan X and the official switch from Cate to Kentaro of the stupidest Randa sibling.
It can’t be that Cate is the standout character on this show now, can it?
A few episodes ago, I would have celebrated had the show killed Cate off. Now, she feels like the true heart of the show, certainly moving forward into a potential season three.
What a character arc she has had this season.
The face off of Kurt Russel and Wyatt Russell in the opened rift felt as if it were a true goodbye for the flashback characters as they had been used less in the last few episodes this season. This feels like the correct moment to end those flashbacks as the show apparently is taking a new step in any potential season 4.
Keiko was such a bad ass driving her jeep around the gigantic Kaiju fight going on around her, but… girlfriend… where did you learn to park? As soon as she stopped that jeep and hopped out, I knew it was a goner. Why park it there? Geez.
The final shot of the season showed Lee looking out at a volcano and seeing Rodan sitting atop of it as the lava flowed around it. Rodan was last seen in Godzilla: King of the Monsters leaving a ton of questions about this Rodan.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters was a hit and miss season for me. There were several moments where I considered dropping this show from my viewing schedule because I was just not enjoying it. I am happy that I maintained through the middle because the ending was much stronger than I expected. It ended strongly enough for me to watch the next season, if it is renewed by Apple TV.
We started off with a few fleeting moments of a brutal battle, but Duncan takes a lance to his side and a blow to his head, sending him into an unconscious state and us into a flashback to Dunk as a kid.
At first, I did not want to go into the past and leave the Trial of Seven, but it did not take long before I was engaged with the story they were telling in the flashback. We met young Dunk and a girl named Rafe, stealing from a nearly dead knight whose horse had fallen on him. We learn that they are thieves, surviving by their wits. Dunk had been deserted by his mother, either from choice or by death.
I assumed that Rafe was going to meet with some kind of horrible fate since we have not mentioned her before, and, sure enough, she has her throat slashed by a crooked guard who had stolen the silver that they had “earned.” Rafe snuck the knife from the guard’s scabbard and it cost her her life.
This was where we see how Dunk meets Ser Arlan of Pennytree, who saved Dunk from the same fate as Rafe. Dunk is injured in the scrum and follows Arlan. Arlan ends up helping Dunk.
Then, the flashbacks were over as suddenly as they began, and we were right back to the Trial of Seven, where Ser Duncan fought his way through what seemed to be multiple horrific blows to force Aerion to rescind the charges and thus win the Trial of Seven.
When Baelor came into the tent to see Duncan, I knew what was going to happen. I had been spoiled about Baelor’s death last week thanks to a Wikipedia page I was using for research. The head wound was brutal and I have no idea what will happen to Duncan in the finale.
The battle between them was brutal and hard to watch at times but unbelievably choreographed and full of emotion.
There is one more episode of the show and I am sure it will deal with the fallout of the Trial of Seven. I have really enjoyed this series so far. I hope it hits the landing.
Released: As a theme song for his 1997 Saturday morning children’s TV show.
Album: Running With Scissors
Genre: pop/rock
This fell into the top 20 of the previous list, Top 100 TV Show Themes. When I first was creating that list, I almost didn’t think about it as a theme because it was more of a song than theme. Al has used this as an intro to his concerts since.
Lyrics
Oh, this is a story ’bout a guy named Al And he lived in a sewer with his hamster pal But the sanitation workers really didn’t approve So he packed up his accordion and had to move
To a city in Ohio where he lived in a tree And he worked in a nasal decongestant factory And he played on the company bowling team And every single night he had a strange, recurring dream
Where he was wearing leiderhosen in a vat of sour cream But that’s really not important to the story
Well, the very next year he met a dental hygenist With a spatula tattoed on her arm (on her arm) But he didn’t keep in touch, then he lost her number Then he got himself a job on a tater tot farm
And he spent his life savings on a split-level cave 20 miles below the surface of the Earth (of the Earth) And he really makes a mighty fine jelly bean and pickle sandwich For what it’s worth
Then one day Al was in the forest, trying to get a tan When he heard the tortured screaming of a funny little man He was caught in a bear trap and Al set him free And the guy that he rescued was as grateful as can be
And it turns out he’s a big-shot producer on TV So he gave Al a contract and what do you know? Now he’s got his own very Weird Al Show!
The penultimate episode of season two of Daredevil: Born Again dropped on Disney + tonight and, oh was an ending.
Prior to that ending, I legitimately pumped my fist when Matt Murdock walked into the courtroom to be a co-defense attorney for the trial of Karen Page.
Last week when Karen was at the gunpoint of AVTF goon Officer Powell, I worried about how she was going to escape that predicament without being killed. Imagine my surprise when she is walked into the cop precinct and fingerprinted, booked and placed in jail. I actually said, “They arrested her?”
It made a lot of sense when they talked about it. Fisk wanted to do everything by the book, above board, so they could put her on trial with their vigilante court… which, again led to Matt Murdock strolling into the court displaying his gigantic balls.
When Matt spoke with Karen, I had the move figured out, especially when the “previously on” segment reminded us that Matt Murdock as a “hero” according to Wilson Fisk. Even though I had it figured out, I still popped like crazy.
I wish Matt had more to do in the court. I wanted extended scenes of Matt cross-examining Powell or any other AVTF agent on the stand ( I see you Cole). Even with the limited time we got in court, I loved the Matt Murdock stuff.
Meanwhile, Daniel was preparing to deliver BB to Buck. BB figured out what he was doing and was able to convince him to let her go. Daniel went to approach Buck without BB and Buck brutally beat him to try and get him to reveal where she was. Daniel honestly did not know and he spoke to Buck, trying to get him to turn away from Fisk. It looked like he was going to convince him of it.
And then Buck shot him.
Screen to black. I sat here with my mouth agape for a good thirty seconds. I couldn’t believe what had happened. Watching Buck coldly readjust his suit and step over Daniel’s body was shocking. I suppose Daniel might not be dead, but it sure seemed as if it were a final blow to the young Gandolfini.
RIP Daniel.
Jessica Jones approaching Mr. Charles at the beginning was awesome. It is so great to see Krysten Ritter again. She is such a perfect casting of the role. Charles also dropped the name “Luke” during this conversation. Jessica told Matt about what she discovered (and met Cherry… who looks great after his recent heart attack. Great to see Cherry). Jessica is still basically out, needing to stay with her daughter Danielle.
Bullseye was given one good deed to do from Daredevil, and he took it. Bullseye saved the Governor from being strangled to death by an assassin sent by Fisk. However, he looked as if he left the assassin alive, which might be a great thing for getting Fisk. Prior to the attack, the Governor had decided it was time to get Fisk out of the New York mayor’s office. Here is something to help with that, perhaps.
Karen and Heather’s confrontation in the prison was epic. Karen showed how much of a bad ass she really was, not succumbing to Heather’s old true or false questionnaire that she screwed the Swordsman with. Karen got under Heather’s skin big time as Heather slapped Karen multiple times as Karen laughed at her. The image of Muse peering through the window was scary and certainly seems to be foreshadowing Heather’s own mental illness.
Next week’s finale is going to be huge. I hope the people who apparently aren’t watching this show come to their senses because this is wonderful.
I had heard a lot of positive things about the film, The Plague earlier in the year, but it never came around to the theaters in my area. So when I spotted it on AMC + on Prime, I decided to give this a watch.
The film is a psychological thriller/horror film directed by Charlie Polinger and starring Joel Edgerton and a cast of teenagers.
I think the theme of this movie is that middle school aged boys are horrible, cruel and just disgusting people.
According to IMDB, “A socially awkward tween endures the ruthless hierarchy at a water polo camp, his anxiety spiraling into psychological turmoil over the summer.”
This was not what I expected this film to be about. It was a rough watch, especially since I am a middle school teacher and seeing how cruel these kids were to each other, it is something I can relate to in my own life.
There were some questions I had, but I think those all require spoilers, so I will just have to say that I am not sure what I saw was really what I saw during a chunk of the movie.
The main protagonist of the film was Ben, played by Everett Blunck. The young teen Blunck does a really good job dealing with the pressures of trying to fit in with the crowd, while still feeling empathy for those that were being ostracized. It was a strong performance with plenty of layers for this young boy to play. The main antagonist for Ben was Jake, played by Kayo Martin. I swear that every time I saw Kayo Martin, I pictured Justin Shenkarow from Picket Fences. Kayo Martin could easily be his brother, though Shenkarow is much older now. I really disliked the character of Jake, so Kayo Martin did an excellent job of providing the conflict within this group of children. He felt real.
The film is a slow build and does feel longer than its 1:38 run time. Still, the performances are all great and the tension is top notch. There are things that are happening that I am confused by, which kept me on my toes. Maybe I was looking too deeply into it (the Wikipedia page did not make any references to my concepts), but I was glad it was a film I finally was able to see.
Episode two may not have been as creepy as the premiere, but it was still very disturbing and unsettling as this bizarre family comes together for a wedding. But who knows if the wedding will ever come to pass.
It is four days before the wedding and Rachel discovered that her wedding dress was missing. She was sure it had been brought, but it all felt like some kind of machinations among this family.
As Nicky went to Cleveland to see if he could find the dress, Rachel was involved in a fitting using Victoria’s old dress. This degenerated into a weird and wild event. Rachel wound up wandering through the house, hearing all kinds of strange whispers and discussions between the others about her and the situation. It was very creepy.
Rachel found the dress hung up in the woods over an effigy. Meanwhile, Dr. Cunningham was digging a grave. This, understandably freaked Rachel out and she started running from them. Nicky was returning as she was running away and she wanted to leave immediately, but, also understandably, Nicky wanted to speak with his family.
Turned out this all had to do with a tumor in Victoria’s brain that is killing her. The wedding came up as a surprise and they were going use it as a way to bring all the family together for one last celebration.
Jude, Jules’ son, apparently took the dress and put it on the effigy as a way to confuse the Sorry Man. Jude had discovered blood that Rachel had dripped on the floor the night before when she had her bloody nose, and he was trying to keep the Sorry Man from coming and killing Rachel. His father made Jude repeat that the Sorry Man was not real.
Of course, the silhouette in the woods that showed up at the end of the episode told a different story.
Two episodes in and there are so many weird things going on that I sure hope pay off. I am invested in the story so far and these characters are all so sus that I can not imagine what the real situation is. Good stuff on Netflix.
So it seemed that Kentaro has caught the stupidity gene from his sister Cate. Maybe it is genetic after all.
Kentaro has come up with a hairbrained idea that they can go back in time and save their father, and that is why he is doing everything that he has done with Isabel. Honestly, these two deserve each other. I used to not mind Kentaro that much and I was hating Cate, but now the roles have switched completely.
I’m not 100% sure what the motives of Isabel are. Why are they manipulating poor Titan X who just wants to take care of her egg baby? Is she planning on using her to open a rift to use as her personal time machine? That plan feels as if there are a few holes in it. Like gigantic, titan filled holes.
Lee and Keiko have come back together and found the rift on Skull Island where Billy had been sending messages to for years before his death. It kind of reminded me of LOST when messages were being sent in the tubes that wound up in one of the hatches. However, Billy was using the rifts to send a message to Keiko, making Billy’s remaining years really sad and maybe even a little pathetic. Romantic too , I guess.
We got both Godzilla and Kong cameos. Godzilla wrangled Titan X to Skull Island and was happy. Kong- not so much. Kong does not like people around his island. It sure seems that Kong is going to bring the hurt to the invaders in the finale next week.
The penultimate episode of this show brought some good action and some tense moments. It went back into the past once again with flashbacks which are always welcome. This show has consistently been more entertaining in the past than it has been in the present. It seemed that Kurt Russell’s Lee has come to his senses after a couple of episodes of lunacy. I guess it is understandable that you go a little cuckoo when you have spent time talking to past self.
I hope the finale next week brings it hard, because the second season has been up and down for me and I would love to end on a strong note.
That final few moments of DD vs. Kingpin and the standoff with the AVTF and Karen outside was unbelievable. When that screen went to black, I was not ready for it.
I loved the appearance of Jessica Jones. We get the first appearance of her daughter. That was cool. I assume this is more comic accurate and that the father is Luke Cage, and we’ll learn about that later in the series. It seems that Jessica has been having issues with her powers since the birth of her daughter. They come and go. Not good for someone like Jessica Jones.
Karen is going darker with every episode. The conflict between Karen and Matt over Bullseye in this episode was one of the most intense ones in the series so far. It was a stunning moment of acting from Deborah Ann Woll. It makes me wonder if this is leading toward the death of Karen, who is one of those characters from the comics who has had an iconic death.
Daniel sets up B.B. to see if she is the leak. He gave her info that was fake, to see if she would release it. B.B. nearly does it, but she ends up deleting the message.
Matthew Lillard has some great scenes in this episode too, including one with the mayor. It feels as if there will be some big stuff with Mr. Charles moving forward.
The death of Vanessa devastated Fisk, and I was never sure what he was going to do. I did know that the doctor should not have come in to speak to Fisk. That giant Kingpin bearhug snapped the poor doctor’s back was brutal. Then the big Daredevil/Kingpin fight at the end of the episode was awesome.
There are two more episodes to go. I am not sure what else there can be. This season has been so great so far. I can not imaging where this is heading.
It is Wrestlemania Sunday, but I am going to try to squeeze out the 199th episode of EYG Comic Cavalcade. I am excited to celebrate the big 200th post next week.
This week, we had a bunch of solid comics. Some fun new books. The continuation of storylines such as Death Spiral. Boobies! And an unexpected comic book of the week.
Comic of the Week
Nightwing #137
While Nightwing is a consistently solid book, the Comic of the Week has been those new, hot books. However, this week, the Comic of the Week was picked because of the story. This whole story going into the history of Bludhaven, plays right into the doubts and concerns of Dick Grayson and the relationship between Nightwing and Batman. Oh, yeah, Batman is here too.
One of the best Nightwing books since Tom Taylor departed.
Books this Week:
The Hab #1. Written by Joshua Dysart with art by David Lapham, Jacob Phillips & Bill Sienkiewicz. Cover art was done by Charlie Adlard (Gold Medalist). The newest Bad Idea book is one of the hottest books of the week. This idea definitely feels like an awesome amalgam of Hulu TV’s show Paradise or Apple TV’s sci-fi show, Silo. Bad Idea has been very strong over the last year and this one seems to be every bit as exciting.
Mad Magazine #49. Mad Magazine came out this week, one issue away from 50. This issue featured Mad’s typical comedic bits surrounding and involving Late Night TV shows. They did satire about the Late Show, The Daily Show, The Tonight Show, Letterman, as well as some classic older late night programs. There is also a wonderfully funny and poignant letter to Stephen Colbert for his final episode of The late Show with Stephen Colbert, which will be ending in May.
The Monster and the Wolf #3. “Chapter 3: Silence” Written, drawn, and cover art (Cover A: Silver Medalist). I picked up all four main covers of this issue. And this issue was completely done in visual storytelling No words. The fight between Wolfman and Frankenstein’s Monster is done beautifully by Mark Spears.
Jessica Jones: Alias-Red Band #2. Written by Sam Humphries with art done by Geraldo Borges. The cover art was done by David Mack. Who knew that the team-up between Jessica Jones and Typhoid Mary would make the most engaging pair in comics. Admittedly it did not look like the partnership was going to last into the third issue. I love Jessica Jones and it seems like I love books lead by this character.
Venom #257. Written by Charles Soule and art by Javier Pina. Cover art was done by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Frank Martin. The whole Torment and Carnage team-up only lasted an issue. Now, the Carnage symbiote has found a new host… Peter Parker? Are you kidding me? Talk about the Odd Couple. The penultimate issue of the Death Spiral story is another banger.
X-Men United #2. “Open Wounds” Written by Eve L. Ewing and art was done by Tiago Palma. Cover art was done by Stefano Caselli & Federico Blee. The new combination of the X-Men teams at a new Graymatter Lane school. Cyclops is not a fan of the idea. And this issue sees Captain America checking things out too.
Ice Cream Man #45. “The Window in the Back of the Apartment” Written by W. Maxwell Prince with art by Martin Morazzo. Cover art was done by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran. One of my favorite books of the week. It has been awhile since we had an Ice Cream Man issue and this one is a homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. However, it is anything but a copy. There are surprises in this story that I did not expect,and that is awesome.
Nectar #2. Written by Jeremy Robinson with art by Annapaola Martello. Cover art was done by Chris Shehan. The dangerous butterflies return to continue to spread whatever virus that is across Misery Island. And what does the dancing mean? This story has been awesome so far from Vault Comics.
Redcoat #17. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Bryan Hitch. Cover art was done by Bryan Hitch and Brad Anderson. Simon Pure and Albert Einstein are unsure about how much they can trust Benedict Arnold. Benedict sounds like a changed man, but can they really believe him? Redcoat continues to be one of the best Ghost Machine books every month.
Ordained: The Machine #0. Written by Robert Venditti and art by Trevor Hairsine. Cover art by Jorge Fornes. The Machine is here. We get some background on the big character from The Ordained book. This #0 has been pushed back and it was one of those kind of books that you wondered if they’d ever be released. It has been and it is a great addition to the Ordained story.
Narco #2. Written by Doug Wagner and art by Daniel Hillyard. Cover art was done by Daniel Hillyard & Dave Stewart (Bronze Medalist). Marcus wakes up from one of his attacks with the girl he had feeling for, laying dead beside him. Narco has been one of the best new books from Image and the story is progressing nicely.
Dead Teenagers #2. Written by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and art done by Caitlin Yarsky. Cover art was done by Naomi Franq. The new Oni Press series has been a fascinating story so far. I have to honest that I am not sure what is actually happening in this series. These characters seem to die and then resurrect. I am curious where it is taking us. I will be there with it.
Planet of the Apes Versus Fantastic Four #3. Written by Josh Trujillo and art by Andrea Di Vito. Cover art was done by Greg Land & Rachelle Rosenberg. Who knew that a combination of the Planet of the Apes and the Fantastic Four would work this well? The Red Ghost and Doctor Doom join in with the troubles.
G.I. Joe #21. Written by Joshua Williamson with art and cover art by Tom Reilly. We get the debut of one of the most iconic G.I. Joe characters of all time. Joining in with Scarlett making her return, we get Storm Shadow. This is also a nearly zero word issue as the imagery of the story takes its place.
Imperial Guardians #2. Written by Dan Abnett with pencils by Marcelo Ferreira. Cover art was done by Sean Izaakse & Nolan Woodard. I have been surprised how much I enjoy this new book. I am not a fan of the Cosmic Ghost Rider, but this is a character that I have been enjoying. I also love the way we have been seeing Darkhawk and Captain Marvel.
Absolute Batman #19. “The Straw Man” Written by Scott Snyder with art by Nick Dragotta. Cover art was done by Nick Dragotta and Frank Martin. A shocking issue of Absolute Batman with the arrival of the Robins and the death of James Gordon.
Fireborn #1. Written by Curt Pires and art and cover art by Patrick Mulholland. One of the surprise books of the week. I did not think that I was going to be into the Fireborn series, and yet I thought it was pretty good. A combo of fantasy and superheroes, Fireborn has given us a big start.
Other Books this week: Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant #3, Magik & Colossus #3, Inglorious X-Force #4, Ghost Pepper #10, Lost Fantasy #9, Mumm-Ra: The Ever-Living #1, End of Life #3, Where Does the Rainbow End?#4, Malevolent #3, and The Thing on the Doorstep #3.
Quick Hits: This week there was a showdown between the Titans and the New Titans in New Titans #34. I picked up a black bag NSFW, 2nd printing Suspiria Vilchez polybag variant. It has boobies on the cover. *SMILE*. Speaking of smile, Smile: For the Camera #2 came out this week too. It has done a nice job of catching the creepiness factor of the movie. More vampires showing up in Bloodland #3. I think I enjoyed Tigris Island #2 more than I did the first issue. Racer X #6 had some dark times inside. The final issue of Ultimate Wolverine #16 saw Logan get his revenge on Illyana. The Netflix animated series around Kong continues with Escape from Skull Island #3. Speaking of Skull Island, Godzilla is still running around the Marvel Universe in Godzilla Infinity Roar #3. I saw Snow Monkey #3 on the stands, and I had missed #2. So I went to the back issues at In This Issue and I found Snow Monkey #2.
This was a movie that I had no idea about until just this past week. I had never seen a trailer. I went into the film as blind as I could. I thought this was sensational… a deft mixture of Fargo with Hell or High Water.
Bob Odenkirk co-wrote, produced and starred in Normal, as a interim sheriff taking over for a sheriff in the little town of Normal, Minnesota who recently died. It does not take long to realize that there is something really weird going in with the town.
This is a dark comedy and it was very effective. I was laughing out loud multiple times during the film, especially with some of the clever violence that is included with the film. I was engaged from the start with the mystery of what was going on in the town. There were moments throughout the beginning of the film that was just subtle enough to make you wonder if you were thinking too deeply. Maybe you were seeing things that were not actually there. No that was not the case.
Odenkirk, as we have seen in the Nobody franchise, works extremely well as an action hero. His laid back performance was quite the juxtaposition with the situation that his character, Ulysses, finds himself in. He is an easy to cheer for protagonist and extremely likable.
As I said, this movie is surprisingly violent and much of the violence is designed as the funny parts of the film. There were some clever scenes that a lot of horror movies would be jealous of.
At 90 minutes, Normal has the perfect length. It does not push things too far and has just enough time to dive into the story of the film and of this little Minnesota town.
There were fun scenes with Henry Winkler, Ryan Allen, Lena Headey, Reena Jolly, Brendan Fletcher, Jess McLeod, and Bill MacLellan.
Without knowing anything about this film, I enjoyed this one a great deal. I would venture to say that I liked this more than the Nobody franchise films from Odenkirk’s oeuvre.
The newest Keanu Reeves movie debuted this weekend on Apple TV + instead of in theaters. Is there a reason for that?
According to IMDB, “Follows Hollywood star Reef as he is forced to confront his problems and atone for his past after being threatened by a bizarre video footage from his past.“
This was listed as a comedy on Apple TV, but there was not a lot of laughter in the film. Keanu Reeves’s character was sad and depressing for much of the run time. He was playing a huge Hollywood star who had dropped out of the limelight for the past five years. Some of the details of his past are hinted at but never really gone into deep detail about, but he is on an apology tour, claiming to be sober.
Matt Bomer and Cameron Diaz play his best friends who have supported him from the beginning, but who are feeling taken advantage of by their friend.
There is a strong cast besides Reeves, Diaz and Bomer. Others appearing in the film include Susan Lucci, Jonah Hill (who also directed the film), Martin Scorsese, David Spade, Van Jones, Laverne Cox, Roy Wood, Jr, Drew Barrymore, Welker White, and Asante Jones.
I am not sure much about the story, and I could’ve used more humor in the dark comedy. Jonah Hill was over the top again, although there were some moments among the ridiculousness where we see some real character in his role. My favorite scenes involved Martin Scorsese, surprisingly.
Much like the other movie I watched today (Thrash), this is not the worst thing on TV, but I did find it a little boring. It is a fine film to play if you have nothing else to do. It is not going to be a great viewing though.
I swear I saw this movie, but it was with killer alligators instead of a pack of sharks.
That movie was called Crawl, and, to be fair, was much better than the new film called Thrash, which debuted on Netflix this weekend.
We will never be done with shark movies. There is something about sharks that make them horrifying, and the perfect killing machines, specifically on film.
There are fewer shark movies that are awesome than those that are garbage, but every once in awhile, there are some good ones made. Which category does Thrash fall into?
According to IMDB, “When a Category 5 hurricane decimates a coastal town, the storm surge brings devastation, chaos and something far more frightening: hungry sharks.“
Thrash has some decent moments, but there are some really dumb scenes that stretch plausibility to a level that just pulls you out of the film.
Phoebe Dynevor played Lisa, who gets stuck in her car as the flood came in. Lisa was pregnant. Whitney Peak played Dakota, a young lady who saved Lisa from her car. These two characters were placed in some ridiculous places in an attempt to survive. However, these two were more believable than the other main story.
Three kids, who were in a unloving foster home situation with a horrible couple, have to survive when the bull sharks make it into their house. The kids are played by Stacy Clausen, Alyla Brown and Dante Ubaldi. They were fine, but some of the situations that they were placed in were out there.
There were some questions I had about time as the darkness came and went very quickly.
Having said that, Thrash was not the worst shark movie that I have seen. I would consider it somewhere in the mid area of shark movies. Certainly it is no Jaws, but it is much better than stuff like 47 Meters Down or Into the Deep. I compared it to Crawl earlier in this review, but that movie was so much better.
I think Thrash would be a passable movie to watch on Netflix if you do not have much else to do. I would not say it does not completely suck, but that is hardly high praise.
It is the penultimate episode of The Pitt and Robby is having an existential crisis and his buddy Duke saw it and called him out. Dana seemed to be able to sense what Robby was feeling. He comment about being afraid that she wasn’t going to see him any more.
Robby is clearly losing his patience. His chewing out of a couple of paramedics over their failure for gender bias in cardiac care was anything but kind hearted. Of course, they deserved the cut down.
Going back to Robby and Duke, Robby actually admits that he was feeling as if he did not want to keep going. This stripped away the question about whether or not Robby was feeling suicidal and places our concerns over what is going to happen to Robby. Noah Wylie is the star of the show, but does that guarantee that he will be safe.
The Langdon scene with the man with the spinal injury was absolutely suspenseful and tense. Langdon had every pressure in the world in this scene and he crushes it. I hope that this is something that can get Robby to give Langdon his flowers. That scene with this victim was my favorite moment of the episode.
My least favorite… the tug of war rope imbedded in the man’s hand. Ugh… HATE IT! I loved that character, but every time they showed his hand with the rope in it… I had to grimace.
If that was not enough… Dr. Al-Hashimi brought Robby in to a room asking his opinion on a case, which turned out to be her… and we find out that she has a seizure disorder paired with viral meningitis and altered mental status. How is this going to affect things?
Title: “Theme from Rocky XIII (The Rye or the Kaiser)”
Album: Weird Al Yankovic In 3D
Release: 1982
Written: Jim Peterik/Frankie Sullivan/Al Yankovic
Parody: “The Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor
Style: Rock/Movie Songs
One of the more unknown Al parodies from his second major album. This is one of the early songs to show how clever Al could be with his lyrics and yet one more song that he wrote involving food.
Lyrics
Fat and weak, what a disgrace Guess the champ got too lazy Ain’t gonna fly now, he’s just takin’ up space Sold his gloves, threw his eggs down the drain
But he’s no bum, he works down the street He bought the neighborhood deli Back on his feet, now he’s choppin’ up meat Come inside, maybe you’ll hear him say
Try the rye or the kaiser They’re on special tonight If you want, you can have an appetizer You might like our salami, and the liver’s all right And they’d really go well with the rye Or the kaiser
Never eats while on the job He heard it’s good to stay hungry But he makes a pretty mean shish kabob Have a taste, they were made fresh today
Try the rye or the kaiser or the wheat or the white Maybe I can suggest an appetizer Stay away from the tuna, it smells funny tonight But you just can’t go wrong with the rye Or the kaiser
So today, his deli comes first Still he dreams of his past days of glory Goes in the back and beats up on the liverwurst All the while you can still hear him say
It’s the rye or the kaiser, it’s the thrill of one bite Let me please be your catering advisor If you want substitutions, I won’t put up a fight You can have your roast beef on the rye Or the kaiser
…All greased up and ready to sing their brains out….
I finished off the final season of Sha Na Na this afternoon with the six remaining episodes I had to see in season 4. I have to say that it was a really fun last few months as I worked my way through the playlist from Pattyoc01 on YouTube. While they were not always the best of quality, they were always fun and gave me flashes of nostalgia from when I was a young boy watching these in syndication. Sha Na Na was technically the first concert I ever attended (with my Dad at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, Iowa) so I am very happy to have had a chance to watch these again.
Again, as I mentioned in the last post, some of the songs were songs that I had not heard before (or at least did not recognize). They did repeat a couple of songs in these episodes, including Runaway, Hand Jive, and Under the Boardwalk. We got to hear Chico sing again. He has not been a featured singer in the final season. Sure he was one of the lesser used voices overall in the show, but he got more than he has this year. I wonder if that was because of the absence of Dirty Dan.
We got quite a few Screamin’ Scott performances in this last handful of episodes. It was funny, but he wore that green suit in three episodes consecutively, and they were all on the street songs. I wonder if they recorded those all on the same day.
It is also interesting how many different outfits Screamin’ Scott wore. I mean, most of the group had one or two basic outfit that they wore, but Scott is always all over the place with jump suits and bright colors. And not just in the comedy skits either.
Of the guests, the one I liked the best of this group was Scatman Cruthers. I did not know what he was going to do, but he ended up singing and he was great. He played a ukulele and sang the blues. I know he sang the theme song to Hong Kong Phooey, but I did not expect him to do it here, but he was tremendous.
Other guests in these episodes included Mary Wells, The Spinners, Billie Davis Jr & Marilyn Macoo, Peaches and Herb, and Kim Carnes.
Another surprise was Pamela Meyers singing “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To”. While Meyers had sung songs before, she was out on the street all by her self. We could hear the background vocals of Sha Na Na, but there was no sign of any of them. I wonder if that was the first time someone sang a song without any sight of any of the group?
Sha Na Na was inducted into the EYG Hall of Fame this year in the April 1 Legends class. I had a lot of fun with the boys over these four seasons.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 