Two Boston Legal episodes, one that I thought was a typically strong one, and one that I found ridiculous.
“Witches of Mass Destruction” had two main story arcs. One was about the death of a young man in the military whose sister brought a case against the government that during recruitment, the recruiters committed fraud by what the told him. Alan stepped up to take the case despite Denny’s objections and direct orders to drop it. The other arc on this episode was a Christian couple and a Wiccan couple joining forces to sue to stop a Halloween pageant at a public school. This tale, though bizarre, at the heart is about religious freedom and schools keeping religion out. Both of these stories were solid and the military one in particular was extremely emotional.
“Truly, Madly, Deeply,” on the other hand, had two silly arcs and one of Denny Crane. Alan and Brad defended a station manager who fired their clown who was talking about global warming on air. The thing is, the man was attending the court in his clown makeup and Alan was afraid of clowns. It made Alan look bad as he could not do cross or even look in the clown’s direction. The second arc featured Michael McKeon, who I love as an actor, trying to prevent his wife from getting an annulment on grounds that he had sex with a cow. If one of these to stories had been opposed by something more solid, I don’t think that I would have felt as… icky. Then, Denny Crane decided to shoot his client that he had been assigned to defend by the judge in the knees. The client was a child rapist and murderer and Denny did not want to defend him. He tried many other tricks to get off the case and then he ended up shooting him, claiming to be defending himself.
To be fair, all three of these storylines had positive resolutions, but by that time, I had checked out on them.
To me, the second of these episodes only served to make some of the lawyers at Crane, Poole & Schmidt look foolish, in particular Alan and Shirley (who couldn’t defend the cow lover). Denny always looked that way so it was no big deal for his character.
Oh, and the first episode was the one where Denny and Alan famously dressed as flamingos for their firm’s Halloween party (which is an image on the banner above the post).
Boston Legal has shown the ability to go from deadly serious to over-the-top absurdity in a blink of an eye. Episode seven just did not work for me.
I have to say that the Muppet Show truly got some of the biggest stars of the time to guest star on their show. Bob Hope, Cloris Leachman, Peter Sellers, John Cleese and Julie Andrews were iconic names that, even today, would be recognized by the public as superstars. Sure there was Cleo Lane, who I swear I have never heard of before, but most of this list was remarkable.
That was the power of Jim Henson and the Muppets. Everyone wanted to appear on the show and the entire second season was littered with amazing superstars as guests.
Even with the ton of superstar celebrities, it seemed that Rowlf had plenty of time to play the piano. Rowlf was given time to play a variety of musical pieces, even if they had to speed a few of them up because of time. My favorite one during this block of episodes was when he and Fozzie played the piano. I laughed out loud when Rowlf said to Fozzie that he didn’t know Fozzie played the piano, and Fozzie replied that he did not know it either.
The final episode of season two with Cloris Leachman featured the Muppet Show being taken over by pigs. They locked Kermit, Gonzo and Fozzie in the boiler room and they replaced all the main acts with pigs. Kermit the Pig took over the emceeing, there was a Swedish Chef-pig, Vegetarian’s Hospital among others. Miss Piggy was angry about Kermit being taken away until she found out that she was being featured in the opening number. The call of the stage was just too great for Miss Piggy.
It was nice to see Jaye P. Morgan on the show. I used to love her on the Gong Show, hosted by Chuck Barris, and she was funny. Jay P. Morgan passed away this year, so it was a nice way to honor her. RIP.
The Bob Hope episode was funny as Bob Hope was shown as so busy that he had to go between other gigs and kept returning to the Muppet Show. His “Don’t Fence Me In” song with a sarcastic horse was a highlight of the season.
This is an interesting show that has set up some compelling interactions between its main characters. I am not really sure about the true thoughts of Hal Jordan or John Stewart, because they have both had others try to manipulate them into certain actions, and it feels as if they only tell the other pieces and parts of the truth.
Sinestro was trying to manipulate Hal into believing that John was the most dangerous foe he would face, moreso than the potential Manhunter in the little town. Lianna tried to manipulate John into just taking the ring from Hal. She told him to recite the Lantern oath the next time Hal let John use the ring in a practice session. There was something suspicious about Lianna this week, and I am not sure she is the Guardian that she claimed.
So who is the Manhunter? It sure seemed like the show was pointing to Zoe, who was apparently killed by a laser beam from a satellite in space. It was after she had slept with John again, and told him that it would be the last time. She wanted him to leave town. He refused. She then blew up in her car. However, perhaps she sent that laser herself, and she was able to escape the blast because of that. John, we find out later, did not believe that she had been killed.
Hal and John’s trip into the compound of William Macon was not very successful as they got captured with some darkness tech that prevented the use of the ring. Macon kept mentioning his “Benefactor” and Hal and John speculated that the Benefactor was the Manhunter. I am not convinced that is the case. I still think we have something coming in the series to shock us.
We had the mention of Hector Hammond, who was a classic Green Lantern villain, but I am not sure if this Hector Hammond was the real one .
The banter between Hal and John was strong this week and I have been missing the chemistry between these two the last few weeks. This episode was much more of the “buddy cop” type episode that we expected from the show. There are plenty of mysteries going on in the show, including some that we have not touched upon since the first episode.
I was excited for this movie. Honestly, I did not immediately recognize the original film from the title of the sequel, because the title Fall was so generic. However, once I refreshed my memory, I remembered how tense and thrilling that first film was and how it had a really great twist. I was excited to hear that it was getting a sequel.
After seeing Fall 2: Deadpoint, I’m at a mid level for it. There were moments where the film was tense and filled me with anxiety, but, unfortunately, there seemed to be more moments that were just so stupid and that they tried to force a twist in the movie at the end that really did not work for me.
According to IMDB, “Grieving her sister Shiloh’s death, Jax Hunter bonds with Shiloh’s bold friend Luce. Together they tackle dangerous Mount Kwan in Thailand. When a rockslide traps them on a narrow plank 4,000 feet up, Jax must face her fears to survive.”
I did like how they tied this movie to the original, by giving Shiloh (played by Virginia Gardner) a younger sister. This is part of the plot that worked as her sister Jax had to deal with her grief and her own fear.
I did like the new setting for the situation the girls found themselves in and there were some really tense and scary moments. If the film would have been happy just to build suspense in that manner, this would have been an acceptable film and a decent sequel. Unfortunately, you could tell that they were trying to one up the surprise twist of Fall, and that was where this film fell flat.
Because the fact is that the third act of this film was easily my least favorite part of this film. It felt added on that damaged the film dramatically.
Some of the images shot for the film was fine, but nowhere near as well done in the first movie. It felt like there were more shots that were obviously green screen compared to the first one.
This film has its positives, but the stupid stuff really hurt this movie for me. I didn’t hate watching Fall 2: Deadpoint, but there were enough issues with the film that made me disappointed.
Onslaught is a new movie this weekend that had some elements about it that I liked, but it was not a film that I would want to watch again. There were too many times where I rolled my eyes or found myself thinking that it was just too stupid for its own good.
According to IMDB, “When a rogue squad of genetically engineered super soldiers break loose in the desert, a badass Army sniper must unleash hell to protect her young daughter.”
Adria Arjona, who is rumored to be the next DC Wonder Woman (though unconfirmed), is the lead role of the film, the badass sniper whose daughter gets dropped off with her without warning. Then, a bunch of murderous super soldiers attack her for… you know.. reasons, and one of them turned out to be the most coincidental character ever in cinema history.
That might be hyperbole, or it may not. The plot of this movie, as it was, was lacking. It was really dumb and had really no reason to happen as it did. It all felt too unbelievable across the whole movie.
The film does have a fine cast, led by Arjona, who I liked as the protagonist. There were also roles for Dan Stevens (though nowhere as used as I anticipated), Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Rebecca Hall (who was on screen less than Stevens), and young actress Blake Kennedy. At the beginning of the film as the names were flashing across the screen, I thought that this had a great cast. I then realized that the cast was, for the most part, wasted.
There were some fun kills along the way and Arjona was definitely a bad ass, but this is one of those films that really did not have much to it. It was paper thin, and it depended on the blood and gore. That’s fine for some movies, but this one felt like it should have been more.
The new Ryan Reynolds film debuted on Apple TV + this weekend, called Mayday. One wondered why this was not released theatrically. That did not make me optimistic about the quality of the film. However, those fears were squashed after I watched Mayday.
Co-starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh and written/directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who also directed Dungeons and Dragons, Mayday was just a lot of fun. I thought this movie was really funny and had some really good action. I’m not sure why this was not released in the theater, but it would have certainly been a worthwhile addition to the big screen.
Navy Pilot Lieutenant Troy Brennan (Ryan Reynolds) was recruited for a top secret surveillance mission over the Soviet Union. The mission led to the plane being shot down and Brennan being injured after falling through trees in a forest. Nikolai “Nick” Ustinov found the injured pilot and took him to his cabin to nurse him back to health. Nick was an American-loving Russian who was more than what he seemed. The buddies tried to find a way to get Troy home.
Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh had a tremendous chemistry and they carried the film. The friendship developing during the movie was one of the standout keys to the film. Reynolds’ one-liner quips were very clever and funny.
The action was fun, if not silly at times. There is a chase scene that takes place in Moscow that is one of the most original and ridiculous chase scenes I have seen, and yet, somehow, this bizarre scene worked.
The film had a surprising heart to it. There were some wonderful moments between Nick and his daughter Anna (Maria Bakalova).
The film is highly entertaining and I enjoyed watching this film. Is it perfect? No, of course not, but it is definitely worth watching. Mayday is streaming on Apple TV +.
“Spoiler: Dexy’s Midnight Runners Get a Royalty Payment”
I have not been much of a fan of the last couple of weeks of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. It had felt lacking of any real story beats and, despite the enjoyable cast, I was not pleased with what they had given us. The episodes felt too short to have any sort of a developed story.
Then episode seven was dropped on HBO Max and I was back in, full bear.
In this episode, the crew wind up in a universe where everyone has telepathy, which is a great hook for some funny comedy bits. It also has one of the best defenses to the power ever imagined… singing Come On Eileen in your head.
Also, one of the funniest lines came from Bert wondering why Kripke’s mind has a lisp.
But the episode had more than that. It had a sudden twist as Stuart and the group run into another Stuart and the group with their own machine. Then a military version of the group showed up. Suddenly, the mystery of the show was slapping us in the face.
I loved this idea that there may be countless Stuarts jumping around the multiverse, all trying to figure out what is happening.
Who started this whole thing going? Why did alternate Stuart come to see Big Bang Stuart only to do the same thing again?
I’m intrigued and excited. There are only three more episodes of the show, and I hope that means that we get some of the mysteries answered. However, since the show has been renewed for a season two, I’m worried that it will be spread out over the years.
Bernadette made a memorable appearance in the Telepathy universe as a tap dance instructor with a bunch of foul-minded little kids.
It’s Monday and this is what I was afraid of. With school starting, the time I had over the summer was gone and I was unable to get the Comic Cavalcade finished simply because I had too many comics to get everything read on time. It will be a challenge every week, and I did not even go to a movie at Cinemark this week.
Comic of the Week
Void Rivals #33
Void Rivals had been a successful series that I had gotten somewhat tired of over the run of the last 30+ issues. Since the first ten or so of this book, I have not been a huge fan. I would still buy the book and it did have some positives here and there.
Then, they have added the Spaceknight Rom to the roster.
Suddenly, I love this book and the story is fascinating… all because there is Rom. I like the adjustments they have made to Rom’s character and the introduction of Carpet is interesting. It is great that a book can reinvent itself and freshen up its own tale.
Books this Week:
Amazing Spider-Man #35 (LGY ASM #999). Written by Joe Kelly with art by Francesco Manna. Cover art was done by d McGuinness. Peter and May have a heart to heart about Peter’s current feelings and Spider-Gwen goes crazy, forcing the Web Slinger to try and prevent Damage Control from taking her away. This issue ends with a massive reveal that will lead into Amazing Spider-Man #1000 in a couple of weeks.
X-Men #36. “A Theft” Written by Jed MacKay with pencils by Netho Diaz. Cover art was done by Netho Diaz, Sean Parsons & Arthur Hesli. The Chairman (aka alternate version of Hank McCoy) approached Magneto with an offer to cure him of the problems he has been having with his powers if he would join the 3K. Magneto told him to go pack sand. Thus, Chairman nearly killed the Master of Magnetism. The X-Men are ready to face off with 3K once and for all. This will be kicking off the DNX crossover.
Rocketeer: Infiltrator #2. Written by Gabriel Hardman with art by Dean Kotz. Cover art was done by Dean Kotz. We have more Rocketeer action with Nazis and movie makers. I have liked this short series so far and it might have me looking into future versions of The Rocketeer moving forward.
Detective Comics #1112. “Flight, Finale” Written by Tom Taylor with art and cover art by Mikel Janin. The story featuring Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary and their old friend Prion ended as the heroes tried to help Arabella find the closure she needed. I liked this story as it sets up from the past and the future both. Tom Taylor does a fabulous job of weaving everything together in a sweet arc.
Flash #36. “The Speed Was Power, and the Speed Was Joy- Part VI” Written by Ryan North and illustrated by Gavin Guidry. Cover art was done by Gavin Guidry and Adriano Lucas. Flash is putting his new Flashes of Insight to the test by heading over to Metropolis. However, it seemed as if a trip to see Green Arrow may have not been Wally’s best choice. Oliver was less than enthused with the way Wally has been going about his work lately and he called in the Justice League. Trouble for Flash.
Operation: Iron Coffin #2. Written by Kenny Porter with art and cover art by Tyrell Cannon. I also picked up a B cover with art by Juan Ferreyra. Dracula is on the Nazi train and making his way to the children who he sired. Things are very bloody and not going very well for Dracula. There is one more book in this series set for next month.
Hammerfist #1. Written by Rick Remender with art and cover art by Steve Epting. Here is a great, new crime/action/supernatural series with a main character that is anything but likeable. Mike Denton is a deadbeat father, a drug addict and a hitman. Yet he winds up with a weapon that ends up with him that requires him to put aside his selfishness to save his daughter. Great first issue, and I almost gave this the Comic of the Week.
Universal Monsters: Blood of the Wolfman #3. Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Leomacs. Cover art was done by Leomacs & Pip Martin. Adam turned himself in when he was feeling as if he was responsible for the slaughter at the college dorm. Oh, he was responsible and that would not be the only slaughter in this book. Look out police department.
Denver #1. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray with art by Pier Brito. Cover art was done by Amanda Conner. Variant cover D art was done by Dave Johnson. Water is rising, and the planet is being overwhelmed. Max Flynn is here to protect his family at any cost. This was originally a Kickstarter back in 2014 and now it has found its way to Mad Cave.
The Greatest American Hero #2. Written by Don Handfield & Joshua Malkin with art by Alper Geçgel. Cover art was done by Erwin Arroza. Variant cover B art was done by Eranga Devasurendra (Gold Medalist). Variant cover C art was done by Rafael Loueriro (Bronze medalist). Ralph Hinkley is back and he is right in the middle of trouble once again. Now, he is not only struggling to be able to control his suit, but he is an old man too. This has been an epic series so far from Amp Comics and I am excited to see it continue.
Black Tower: The Raven Conspiracy #1. Written by Ram V and art and cover art by Mike Perkins. The new comic from DC’s Vertigo imprint was released this week. Rookie psychic Daniel Burroughs joined Division 9 and they must stop someone from stealing the head of a giant-king, which would break an ancient ward protecting Britain from invaders.
Wolverine #26. “Savage Journey” Written by Saladin Ahmed with art by Julius Ohta. C0ver art was done by Dan Panosian. The Savage Champions have made a return to get Logan’s help. I am unfamiliar with the characters of the Savage Champions, but they were very intriguing.
Batman: Bad Seeds-Sunset #1. Written by Matt Fraction & G. Willow Wilson with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Cliff Rathburn. Cover art was done by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cliff Rathburn & Tomeu Morey. The new big Batman crossover featured Gotham getting overwhelmed by prehistoric plants. Pamela Isley aka Poison Ivy, is the new Gotham Mayor and it does not seem as if it was a wise vote.
Fall of the House of Slaughter #4. Written by Tate Brombal and illustrated by Adriano Turtulici. Cover art was done by Sam Wolfe Connelly. This is the final issue of this four-issue mini series that is going to lead directly into Eric Slaughter’s return in Something is Killing the Children #50.
The Lion King #5. Written, art and cover art by Edwin Galmon. Simba and Nala are able to find the missing elephant and return them to their family. I have loved this series featuring these characters. I thought it might be the final issue of the series, but it looked as if the book will start a new arc next month featuring Timon and Pumbaa. Cool.
Excommunicated #4. Written by Jeremy Robinson and art by Tiago Palma. Cover art was done by Flaviano Armentaro. Josephine is now a saint and her power is dominant as she is taking on the demons. I liked this short series that feels like it could be more to the story.
The Ring: The Man Who Beat the Man #3. Written by Gail Simone and art by Elisa Romboli. Cover art was done by Oliver Barrett. In this issue, we get Wei “The Great Wall” Zhang vs. Ramon “The Lion” Valdez. I did love the way the comic followed the story of Ramon, seeing all of the troubles he had and his attmept to overcome it. This has been an excellent book so far.
Black Cat #13. “XIII: Fatalism” Written by G. Willow Wilson and art by Andrew Genolet. Cover art was done by Josemaria Casanovas. Black Cat and the Punisher have to team up to take on a monster escaped from the Negative Zone. Singularity showed up to lend a hand. Then, Punisher’s dog is okay and forgives Felicia. Black Cat has been an awesome book.
Justice League Unlimited #22. “Escape from Powers Planet: Part Three” Written by Mark Waid and art by Dan Mora & Fico Ossio. Cover art was done by Dan Mora. Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and Mister Terrific are on the planet Dronnda trying to recapture the JL Power Bank. However, Amazo showed up to make thing bad. Mister Terrific takes all of the powers and kicks some butt.
What If…? X-Men #1. “What If Cassandra Nova Killed Charles Xavier?” Written by Ashley Allen and art by Sumit Kumar. Cover art was done by Lucas Werneck. Cassandra Nova kills Professor X in the womb in this book, but, again, it feels like just half of a story. It was an interesting story but I could tell as the book was coming to an end that they were going to not fully conclude the book again. That is a little annoying.
Tomb of Apocalypse #1. Written by Ashley Allen and art by Domenico Carbone. Cover art was done by Rod Reis. I have to say, when I saw a book with the title Tomb of Apocalypse, I did not think that the main protagonist of the book would be Jubliee. It was a solid book though.
Other Books this Week: X-Men Outback #3, Hidden Springs #4, Ghost Pepper #14, Terrorbytes #9, Star Crossed #2, Predator Versus Planet of the Apes #2, Dog Tag #4, Conan the Barbarian #34, and Pretty Hate Machine #5.
Quick Hits: Two books this week came out that I already had gotten out of MASK blind bags. MASK: Origins #1 and Rom #1 were both in blind bags (technically I ordered the ROM #1 off eBay), and out before. However, the Rom #1 was a die-cut cover, so there is that. I am happy to have the Rom cover. Terminal #2 dropped this week as the new universe of these heroes continue. It is horror anthology week too with Hello Darkness #24 and the R.L. Stein book Stuff of Darkness #1. Hello Darkness has multiple short stories and “The Cat in the Coffin” is the story behind Stuff of Darkness, which felt kind of childish to me. Wanda is out there challenging multiversal powers in Sorcerer Supreme #9. The only Queen in Black comic this week is Queen in Black: Venom Unchained #2, focused on Eddie Brock combining with Sleeper. This felt like it should have dropped before Queen in Black #3 as it occurred before that issue. Gambit Wanted #2 sees Gambit taking on Bullseye in New Orleans in a flashback story. Final Boss #9 is on the level of Invincible bloody this week as Tommy takes a serious beating. Kingdom of Earth #2 sees a character named Virago (nicknamed “Guilly the Guillotine”) decide to not kill Frankie, who chooses to follow him. Land of Never #3 gets truly brutal as Peter really goes off the deep end. I was actually scared a bit from the brutality of Peter. The Eye Collector #3 continues to be the weirdest book of the month. I really am not 100% sure I know what is happening, but it is awesome to look at. Corpse Knight #5 felt like it took a different path for Foy as a truth is revealed. Another Ignition Press book that has been pretty good is Bloodland #6, with yet another vampire tale. More monsters are around in Minotaur #2 with photographer Gloria Monday after the story. Black Star #2 featured a time jump as the questions around Dashiell’s control over his powers deepen. There were two Absolute books this week as Absolute Wonder Woman #23, kicking off a new arc for the Amazon, and Catwoman #3 were released. Bad Thoughts #3 was the silver medalist for the EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week.
The start of season two was a strange one. At the end of season one, they gave a preview for the next episode which dealt with Lori’s sexual harassment and an discomfort in the workplace. Then, in episode one there was no sign of these scenes and we do not see Lori again until a brief moment in episode four.
The scenes showed up in episode five, which was the end of Lori’s run on the show.
You could tell that Boston Legal had gone in a different direction. We had new characters such as Denise Bauer played by Julie Bowen, Sara Holt, played by Ryan Michelle Bathe, and Garrett Wells, played by Justin Mentell.
This season had one of my favorite episodes of the whole series, which was when Denny took Alan to Nemmo Bay in Canada to fly fish. Their interactions in the room after the day of fishing was hilarious. It had one of my favorite low-brow jokes of all time when Denny and Alan are going to sleep in their room and Denny says, “Don’t take this personal” and then lets out a fart. I am not a fart joke fan, but that was unbelievably funny.
We also have the storyline of Bernard come to a close at the end of a skillet by the hand of Betty White’s Katherine Piper. Katherine was afraid that Bernard, who had killed his mother and a neighbor at the end of the first season, was going to kill again. He had been talking about leaving clues for the police like the BTK Killer. She wound up hitting him with the skillet that he had used to kill his victims. In an allusion to Picket Fences (also a David E. Kelly show), she put the body of Bernard in a icebox.
Alan was able to get a “not guilty” verdict for Katherine, though she wound up getting “Schmidt-canned” because of the whole thing.
The Denny-Alan relationship was explored more in these first five episodes of season 2. They build the relationship more than they have last season and this central relationship is vital to the show. And we learn that Alan find the pig noises Denny makes when sleeping to be soothing.
Tara broke up with Alan and she left the firm, being one more of the changes to the cast.
This first five episodes were excellent and are going to build on a long season of 27 episodes.
What a great hour of television episode four of Black Bird was. There were two or three times when it literally gave me chills. Paul Walter Hauser was outstanding as Larry, reflecting back upon his childhood with Jimmy.
Both men had terrible childhoods, even though Jimmy’s started out looking great. Playing catch with his father in the park, looking forward to a great life, even to the NFL. It would not be.
The dialogue of this episode was outstanding and did so much of the heavy lifting for these two characters. Hauser’s delivery was spot on and I totally bought him as a unbalanced serial killer. However, there were so many moments where you almost related to or wanted to like Larry. Every time it got too close to feeling for him, Hauser would deliver a line that shocked you right back into the knowledge that this guy is a vicious killer.
The flashbacks were very effective, especially the ones with Larry. I was not as much of a fan of Jimmy’s flashbacks, especially with the time where his mother’s new boyfriend broke Jimmy’s ribs. The actor they cast for that young Jimmy just did not feel like someone who would grow into Taron Egerton. That pulled me out of that scene which does a lot to inform us on the man Jimmy would become and how he would think of women.
This dialogue-heavy episode followed on opening where there was a prison riot that was exceptionally violent. Larry had told Jimmy that it was “Riot Quiet” around the prison, foreshadowing the events of the violence. The riot led to Larry being placed in charge of the clean-up crew in the cafeteria section of the prison, where the main part of the riot took place. Larry showed his capabilities of cleaning, showing how knowledgeable he was in the area. He clearly knew how to remove blood stains and the such.
Again, every time you thought maybe Larry wasn’t as horrible as you thought, suddenly he was saying something or making a gesture that reminded you how evil this guy was.
Two more episodes of this compelling drama and I am anxious to find out what happens. I am trying to ignore my inclinations to look up the true story and see how things played out in real life. I am curious, but I am dedicating myself to no spoilers.
I knew something was going to happen, but I did not expect there to be a mushroom cloud.
And now I wonder… did the people behind the creation of the silos… know the bomb was going to be dropped. I even considered myself… did they set off the explosion themselves? Otherwise, it sure feels like a ton of coincidence happening here.
The penultimate episode of season three was explosive in many ways besides the huge nuclear bomb that goes off at the end.
How does Bernard survive this time? Could it be that we finally saw the end of the road for Tim Robbins? Bernard, who turned himself in as part of the plan, is sent out of the silo to clean, without a suit. We see his nose start to bleed and he slumped next to the tree. I have no idea how he could have survived. I have a feeling Bernard is now gone.
Bernard’s cleaning was meant to be a distraction as bombs were going off in the silo in an attempt to pinch off the poison. We left the episode as Camille was running out of the cafeteria in an attempt to prevent the revolt.
I wondered last week what was next for Daniel and Helen. I did not know they were together and then Helen was pregnant. When the bomb went off, Daniel was pulled into silo 1 and Helen was taken into silo 17. Could Helen give birth to a baby that is a descendent of someone we know?
The Algorithm is being set up to being a real person and not a machine. I think there is a good chance that that voice is Daniel… though I have no idea how that would happen.
This was a great episode and it sets up next week’s season 3 finale beautifully.
This is the story of a movie that fought back against cancelation and low expectations to make a release date several years after being filmed.
Coyote vs. Acme is a live-action/animated mix in the vein of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but featuring the Looney Tunes. When Warner Brothers had the rights to the film, they decided that the movie would not make any money and they shelved it. Eventually, WB put the film up for sale but there were no takers. Everyone had the same fear… this would flop.
Finally, Ketchup Entertainment purchased Coyote vs. Acme and the film was going to be seen. While the film may eventually prove WB correct with its box office, at least the movie is able to be seen. The Looney Tunes are not as well known of an IP as they once were, and the struggle for the film is real. However, I can be happy to say that the film absolutely needed to be released because it is fabulous.
Rapscallion Wile E. Coyote, tired of Acme’s products constantly backfiring on him, saw an advertisement on TV from a lawyer named Kevin Avery (Will Forte) claiming to be able to get a settlement for any cartoon against Acme.
Actually, he was looking very low level, in the hundred dollars range. Kevin did not have the confidence that it would require to go up against a major corporation like Acme, with their top notch lawyer Buddy Crane (John Cena) and CEO of Acme, Foghorn Leghorn (Eric Bauza).
As they dive into their case, they discovered more than just a case of some misfiring rocket skates.
This was great. It was funny. I was laughing the entire time. Will Forte did an amazing job of playing against the animated Wile E. Coyote, as well as John Cena, who was in full cheese-mode as Acme’s lead lawyer.
There were a ton of jokes that would be considered either inside jokes or Easter eggs that would reward the longtime viewers of Looney Tunes. I do worry that people who were not fans of Looney Tunes would not appreciate the jokes as much as I did. The writing was extremely clever, but was, potentially, too insider for the general audience.
The animation was excellent and it was such a fun film with the returning characters of these iconic Looney Tunes. I really loved seeing the characters such as Road Runner, Taz, Tweety, Daffy Duck etc. It was so awesome to see them all back.
I am so glad that this movie had a chance to be seen on a big screen. In a perfect world, this would be a huge film at the box office. Coyote vs. Acme was such a good time and such a wonderfully written film.
I wrapped up season one of Boston Legal on Hulu this afternoon with some great episodes.
These episodes included:
“It Girls and Beyond”
“‘Til We Meet Again”
“Tortured Souls”
“Let Sales Ring”
“Death Be Not Proud”
Some amazing guest stars started to show up, as a couple of the regulars from the first half of the season were starting to be phased out. Some guest stars included Betty White, Carl Reiner, Courtney B. Vance, Chi McBride, Shelley Long, Kerry Washington, and Freddie Prinze Jr (resuming his role as Donny Crane).
“Death Be Not Proud” sent Alan to Texas to try and prevent an execution of a man with an IQ of 80, whose confession may have been coerced, and might be innocent. It was a powerful episode with an end sequence that was very difficult to watch. I think that was clearly the intention of the scene, even though we mostly focused on Alan and Kerry Washington’s character Chelina.
Bernard Ferrion returned from earlier in the season and Katherine (Betty White) took him under her wing, especially after Alan rejected him once again. I know this is leading to a big story in season two.
One of the funniest running gags in any episode was how uncomfortable Brad was with the word “lesbian,” and how the others around the Crane, Poole and Schmidt offices wouldn’t let him off the hook.
The idea of Denny Crane having Mad Cow Disease happened in these episodes. It would be Denny’s fall back stance against the potential Alzheimer’s that he had.
Alan continued to have terrible behavior in a lot of instances, while trying to do what he thought was right. Even though the others at Crane, Poole and Schmidt had troubles with Alan, it seemed as if they still took advantage of Alan and what he would be willing to do to get things done. Shirley actually went to Alan to co-chair a case where she did not want to do the closing because she did not want to go to the level she thought she would need to go. She knew Alan could do so, despite it being a case of police brutality/torture that Alan did not want to be a part of. There is a lot of hypocrisy when dealing with Alan.
Lori, who in these episodes had really seen her screen time diminish, had reached the end of the road with Denny’s constant sexual harassment. She told Shirley that she wanted to formally charge Denny with it.
I do believe that there is an episode that is missing from the season one list. I am not sure what is going on, but I am going to go investigate what has happened.
Following up my favorite episode of this show this week, we got a strange one with a tribe of people who share everything, all the time, and a completely peaceful.
With an injection of Kripke into the society, that does not last long.
Kripke immediately started warping things by showing the kind hearted people the idea of “mine.” It does not take long for the natural selfishness to come out, especially when Kripke made a Communist comment.
Meanwhile, Bert met a woman who asked him to share sex that night, but it turned out that they sleep with someone different every night. Bert introduced her to the concept of monogamy, and asked her to marry him, even though she does not understand the term.
Stuart realized that the machine was broken and he went in search of a message from the mysterious overlord that had been sending them messages. He found it at the bottom of a pile of bear poop.
Red quartz is what they needed to fix the machine, and there was only one bit around… on a necklace around the neck of the man who was jealous of Bert’s new relationship.
This episode continued what I think one of the biggest problems of this show is… it felt rushed. There is so much that can be discovered in these universes but are just brushed across most of the time. These episodes should be 45 minutes at least, but they are sticking with the half-hour focus, and there are just too many big ideas.
In the end, it all turned out to be just there and this episode did not blow my socks off. I am not a big fan of Kripke and I think they could have left that character off and still not have issues filling the time. There was no Big Bang Theory cameo this week and that was definitely missing.
One of my favorite quotes from Boston Legal happened in episode 11. It is a thought have many times in the restroom…
“I keep an extremely clean penis“
Alan Shore is in response to a woman who had entered the men’s restroom and had introduced herself, while Alan was at the urinal. He extended a hand to shake and she said that he is going to wash that.
Hence, the clean penis comment from Alan.
That woman was Shirley Schmidt, named partner in Crane, Poole & Schmidt, played brilliantly by Candice Bergen. Shirley Schmidt becomes one of my absolute favorite characters on this show over the next four and a half years. This was her first appearance and Candice Bergen immediately was placed as a powerhouse, keeping Denny Crane off balance.
In “Head Games,” Alan winds up getting held at gunpoint by a disgruntled father who had recently lost his children because of Alan. Yes, the father would take his children without permission to Peru over Christmas. The mother asked for help from Alan. I mean… it is kidnapping.
This whole situation led to another classic moment of the series. Denny Crane using his rifle to shoot the father. Denny had the gun in his desk and had Tara open the door when he yelled “Pull!” As Denny said, he was a Marine, “trained as a sniper… or was it a pilot?”
We also get the debut in episode 11 of Bernard Ferrion, a small man who killed his mother by hitting her on the head with a skillet. Alan was able to free Bernard on a technicality, and then gave him a kindly speech about being good. Then next episode, Bernard is back after killing his neighbor with a skillet as well. Alan was disappointed, and sent Bernard to Tara.
Bernard is a surprisingly complex character for the short arc that he appeared. You could tell how lonely he was, and how he had a kind heart, despite being, as Alan called him, evil.
Betty White arrived as Alan’s new assistant, Catherine Piper. White had played this role on The Practice and had come in contact with Alan then. Seeing her resume this role was an awesome thing.
The arrival of Shirley put a charge into this show and gave the show a foil to Denny that was every bit as formidable as he was. Certainly, she was more capable of standing up to Denny than Paul was. All Shirley had to do was whisper those two little words… “Denny Crane” and Denny would shiver.
