Tag Archives: reviews

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #42

Posted on by

#42

The Walking Dead

After the ending of LOST, I had a huge gap in my heart and I was not interested in replacing it with another TV show. I did not watch much TV after LOST left. I did not watch The Walking Dead’s first season because of that. I had heard some good word of mouth about the comic book adaptation, so I decided I would catch up on the first, short season.

It was so wonderful, it helped in the recovery from post-LOST life.

Few shows have generated the anguish that The Walking Dead has over its eleven seasons. I will be honest, I did not watch much of the last few years of the show. There was onlky so much pain one could take.

I remember the spot that began my end with this show. It was Glen. I am not sure that any TV death has ever been as emptying as when Negan smashed Lucille, his baseball bat, into Glen’s skull, as he did in the comics, it was horrific and left me feeling hollow. I knew it was done brilliantly well and created all kinds of story, but the fact was that Glen’s death was the slow end for me.

Before that though, The Walking Dead was so amazing. It had so many unbelievable moments. Shane and his craziness. Carol telling Lizzie to look at the flowers before shooting her in the head. Daryl Dixon and his overall awesomeness. Rick screaming for Carl.

One of the best additions in the later part of the show was Michonne, played by Danai Gurira. Michonne and her katana was so bad ass. I also enjoyed her eventual relationship with Rick, which I saw more of in the spin of featuring those two characters, The Ones Who Lived.

The Walking Dead took advantage of the resurgence of zombies, leading the way among pop culture in presenting some of the most frightening moments featuring the monsters. However, the show never justbecame about the zombies, or Walkers as they dubbed them. The show was about the relationships between and the choices made by the survivors, and proved consistently that the humans might be the real monsters in a zombie apocalypse.

IT: Welcome to Derry S1 E1

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The Pilot”

I loved IT. I loved the original TV show miniseries starring Tim Curry and the 2017 movie. The second part of the movie was not as strong, but I am a fan of Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

So when I heard that there was a series in the works for HBO Max set in Derry in prior years when Pennywise would terrorize the children of Derry, I was all in.

While we did not see Pennywise in this first episode, it was anything but lacking. In fact, I found it shocking and, somewhat, upsetting.

They set up a group of kids, much like the “losers” from the film, and gave them a mission. Find Matty, the boy who we meet at the beginning who wound up with a weird family in an attempt to leave Derry.

These kids included Teddy, Phil, Lilly, Phil’s little sister Susie and Veronica. They were trying to solve the mystery of Matty’s disappearance after Lilly heard him speaking to her out of her pipes in her bathtub.

Shockingly, Lilly and Veronica were the only two to survive the encounter at the end of the episode. I couldn’t believe it because it sure seemed as of Teddy and Phil were being set up as the main characters of this show. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and I was sure something would happen to save them, even after seeing their blood splatter and Teddy actually being slammed face first into the projector room glass.

I am sad that they are gone, because I really liked them. I saw an interview with director Andy Muschietti who said they wanted to show that no one was safe in this setting. He did that for sure.

We’ll see where this goes from here. I thought this pilot episode was really good and it definitely defied what I expected to see.

The Devil’s Candy (2015)

Posted on by

6 of The October 13

I had never heard of this movie before, but after seeing Dangerous Animals, directed by Sean Byrne, I saw on his IMDB page that he had done another horror film called The Devil’s Candy. I was impressed enough with the Dangerous Animals movie, that I looked into this movie. It had a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and was available on Shudder.

With the positives, I added it to the possible films for the October 13 this year. I just watched it and it was a frightening thriller with some solid performances.

According to IMDB, “Metal music, paint, and family are the passions of struggling painter, Jesse, who lives a happy life with his wife, and daughter. Things look brighter when Jesse finds a huge old house, in rural Texas, selling at a very low price, due to its mysterious past. They move in and Jesse converts the barn into a studio. But soon, his work starts taking on a new, darker flavour – and things get even more ominous when the hulking, unbalanced son of the former owners appears on the doorstep. Jesse’s family won’t be safe until they find a way to quiet the Devil himself.“

Pruitt Taylor Vince played Ray Smilie, who lived in the house before. His presence in the film was disturbing every second he was on screen. You felt for him at first, but that does not last long as he begins to do some horrendous things.

The tone of this movie was so uneasy, filled with tension that you were never really sure where the film was heading next and whether or not this was going to turn out to be a positive ending. I like that kind of film and the mood was truly ramped up.

Byrne does a great job directing this and you can see where his storytelling highlights the important details in the film. He is one of our new voices in horror with a couple huge successes under his belt.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #38

Posted on by

Spoilers

The Haunting of Hill House

“Steven Sees a Ghost”

The ending of this first episode gave me chills.

We start a new series this week for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk, and, in honor of the creepy season, I chose The Haunting of Hill House.

What a great start to this series.

I have to say, I think this series does an admirable job of introducing these characters to the viewers. With so many major characters, it can be difficult to know who is who. Then, not only do we met these people in the present day, but also in flashbacks to the time they lived in Hill House. It could easily be very confusing, but I have to say that the show did a solid job of connecting the characters from the past and the present. It did require my attention though.

The show does an especially good job with Steven, as we see him both as a young boy, the oldest of the kids and his protective nature, and an older man, skeptical and struggling.

Then, Nell and the moment at the end was an amazing shock. When Nell stood in that apartment staring blankly at Steven, I knew what was going on (I mean, when you title the episode “Steven Sees a Ghost” and he hasn’t up to this point, well, it is not rocket science), but it did not make it any less impactful.

The middle two girls are the characters that I got the least from during this episode, and I hope they will come into focus more are the series progresses. Luke is a fascinating character and I feel like I have a good grasp on him even with the limited amount of screen time he received.

The father has clearly been affected dramatically and I feel as if we are going to dive deeper into the mother’s suicide in Hill House.

I am intrigued by the mysterious events that the show has introduced to us and, with the mind of writer-director Mike Flanagan, who also was the force behind Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game, and The Life of Chuck, I believe this could lead to something special.

This series is loosely based on the novel of the same name from 1959 by Shirley Jackson.

Tron: Ares

Posted on by

So there was probably few major blockbusters this year that I was looking forward to less than Tron: Ares. I was not a fan of either of the previous films, Tron and Tron: Legacy, though, to be fair, I would be hard pressed to tell you much of anything about those previous movies because it has been a long time since I watched them. I did walk into the movie with as open of a mind as I could, but I was not anticipating it.

I disliked this movie a lot.

There were two things that I thought were really great. First, the soundtrack/score of the film, done by Nine Inch Nails, was sensational and worked so well for the world of this movie. I had questioned the choice of Nine Inch Nails, but they absolutely ruled here.

The second thing that I can say positively about Tron: Ares is the visual effects are amazing. It looks great, although perhaps there were some scenes when the visual effects were too much because it overpowered what was happening in the scene. For the most part, the action with these effects were top notch.

That is where I draw the line for my positives.

The story of the movie was so basic that it was as if it weren’t even there. Jared Leto was fine, but he did not have to do anything really challenging. The rest of the actors felt as if they were not necessary. So many of the other actors had virtually nothing to do, including Greta Lee and Even Peters, who I usually love. Peters, especially, felt like nothing more than a one note villain that could have been so much more.

There were nothing that really tied this movie to anything that happened in previous films, outside of a forced cameo from Jeff Bridges. That is fine, but it felt as if it went out of the way to avoid the previous films.

I was bored for much of the film and, if I did not have the score to entertain me, I may have fallen asleep. There were no characters worth my time and the story was nothing more than searching for the latest MacGuffin.

I was anxious for this movie to get over with for much of the two hour run time. I did not enjoy my time in the theater with Tron: Ares.

2 stars

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #37

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Full Circle”

Our fifth series for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk ended today with the tenth and final episode of HBO’s Lovecraft Country.

I wonder what H.P. Lovecraft would have thought about this series?

I did not see the ending of this show coming. I was very surprised with the death of Atticus in that ceremony, and the victory at the end, bonding Christina from using magic… and all white people… was a cool end.

I especially liked the use of Ji-ah in the finale. I have been wondering the purpose of this character for much of the series and to have that pay off in such a meaningful way makes me feel positive.

Of course, we had the best scene of the series in this episode too. Atticus, Leti, Montrose, Ji-ah, Hippolyta, and Diana were in the car, driving to Ardham, when the song “Sh-Boom” comes on the radio. Diana starts to sing along with the song and, before too long, the entire carload was joining in. It was my favorite moment of the series, giving us a flash of innocence and joy before the final spell.

Couple of things: Ruby’s death off-screen was a bit of a waste, I think, just for the surprise twist of Christina being one step ahead. Then, I am not sure how I feel about Diana crushing Christina’s throat with her bionic arm at the very end.

There felt to be a bunch of dangling threads or things that happened over the course of the show that felt insignificant. Why did Hippolyta have to go on her adventure through time?

Lovecraft Country, for me, was very up and down. Some weeks the show was tremendous, but I do think it lacked a comprehensive vision of what story they wanted to tell. It had some real highs and some lows too, all capsulized in this final epsiode.

Next week, in honor of the month of Halloween, we start the sixth series in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. It will be Netflix’s series, The Haunting of Hill House.

Gen V S1 E1-E4

Posted on by

Spoilers

I am finally getting caught up with most of the TV shows and that meant that I got to Amazon Prime’s Gen V.

The spin-off of The Boys had a surprisingly good season one and this new season leads right into some of the major events going on in that series.

First of all, we had to deal with the real life loss of actor Chance Perdomo, who played Andre in season one, was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2024. Andre was a major character among the ensemble of Gen V so decisions had to be made. The show decided against recasting the role and decided instead to kill the character off-screen. While it was an uncomfortable idea, the death of Andre provided motivation for several of the characters to move forward.

We have a new Dean of Godolkin University and he is the new big bad of season two. Cypher is very mysterious and manipulative.

I do love how the group is kind of getting back together, even after the horrible things that they have done to each other. It sure looked like, after episode one, that Jordan had killed Cate. I am glad Cate survived as the entire event has led to a tentative reunion between Cate, Marie, Jordan, and Emma.

Gen V continues to have the same kind of shocking moments that are typical on The Boys, and the characters from The Boys are referenced constantly Starlight even made a cameo in one of the episodes, trying to recruit Marie to help her out. She mentioned one of the mysteries of the season, which was Odessa. It appeared as if Odessa was Marie, but that has all been questionable.

Episodes will release every Wednesday, so I will be watching them when I can. This kick off has been very enjoyable so far and I am deeply invested in the mysteries of the show. I am curious to see how this show will eventually play into the final season of The Boys.

Sha Na Na S2 E0, E1, E2

Posted on by

I was on Twitter/X a few days ago and I came across a Tweet by Jon “Bowzer” Bausman stating that the full episodes of the Sha Na Na TV series was going to be available on YouTube soon. I was excited to hear this as this was a big part of my childhood. I loved Sha Na Na and they turned out to be my first ever concert at Five Flags Center in Dubuque.

I have spent years watching musical clips from the show on YouTube and the news about the full episodes was great. I figured I could make this one of my rewatches here at EYG.

I went to YouTube and searched for Sha Na Na series and I found a playlist from pattyoc01, who had been one of the prolific posters of the Sha Na Na clips over the years. The playlist had all of the episodes on it.

I have a feeling this may not have been what Jon Bausman meant when he posted his tweet. I have a suspicion that a more clean and professional version may be coming in the future. However, I was excited to start the rewatch so I dove into the pilot (listed as episode 0) and the first two episodes of the series.

Sha Na Na consisted of the following group members on the show: Bowzer, Johnny, Screamin’ Scott, Santini, Denny, Lennie, Donny, Dirty Dan, Chico, and Jocko.

The musical numbers are far and away the best part of these first three episodes. The comedy on the show was, at best, iffy. Some of it was groan-inducing. I saw another tweet from Bausman stating that he knew the humor of the first season was not the beat, but he felt the following seasons got more clever.

I was always focused on whether they were lip synching the music. I know that they had done, at least for the stage songs, live singing with the instrumental and the back up singing being pre-taped. You could usually tell from the powerhouse vocals of Johnny Contardo. Some of the street songs or comedy sketch bits (such as the Monster Mash bit in the pilot) were clearly being lip synched. It was obvious that Bernadette Peters was not singing live in episode two either. It was not a major issue, but I am more impressed when they let their vocals come through.

A great example of this was in the third episode where five of the group’s best singers, Johnny, Bowzer, Donny, Lennie and Santini sang an a cappella doo wop version of “I Wonder Why.” This was an amazing performance with these five really blending their voices into a fantastic harmony.

Other songs performed in this first three episodes included Blue Moon, Teenager in Love, Yakkety Yak, Tell Laura I Love Her, Rama Lama Ding Dong, Personality, Little Darlin’, and Runaway.

Along with Bernadette Peters in episode two, Rita Moreno and Frank Gorshin guest starred in the other two episodes however whatever Gorshin did seemed to be cut from the episode on YouTube. This is another reason why I think this may not be the collection that Bausman was referring to in his tweet.

I have to say that this is a bizarre series as the show constantly tells you as an audience member that Sha Na Na is terrible. The show puts down their music, their intelligence and everything else. You would think that they shouldn’t be downgrading their stars, even if it is nothing more than a running joke. It is clear that these ten men are remarkably talented (although they may not have been the greatest dancers ever to grace the screen).

Seeing this show once again gives me a huge feeling of nostalgia. I forgot this show when compiling my Top 100 TV Shows list that I am currently counting down with the Daily Countdown on EYG. This should have probably had a spot on that list.

For the first three episodes… Goodnight sweetheart, well it’s time to go…

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.

The Long Walk

Posted on by

I am all stiff and tired after driving for 100 miles. I can’t imagine having to walk it.

A ensemble of characters have to do just that (and more) in the latest film based on a Stephen King novella called The Long Walk, and it is absolutely tremendous.

My first feeling was that this was a combination of Squid Game and Hunger Games, which made sense considering Francis Lawrence directed it and he had directed several of the Hunger Games movies.

In this dystopian future, a group of young men volunteers win a lottery drawing for the right to participate in the “Long Walk,” an annual event where the group start to walk and must continue to walk at a brisque speed or else they would be eliminated. The last man standing would be declared the winner and would earn a wish and prize money.

I tell you, The Long Walk is one of the most difficult, heart-wrenching, hard-to-watch movies of the year. It keeps you, as an audience member, off balance and uneasy, if not outrightly disturbed. There were some scenes in this movie that were totally unsettling, and I do not just mean the scene of the execution of the walkers.

I was extremely emotional during this movie because they did such an amazing job of setting up and developing the characters that I cared for them in a limited amount of time and I found myself tearing up on more than one occasion and felt gut-punched more than once.

The film really was a character piece, as the driving force of much of the movie was the dialogue that was going on between the actors. It was so expertly written that there were characters who only received minimal attention that I cared about so much. The interaction between these actors drove the story and only helped serve the shocking violence that would follow. Nothing was held back. The violence was brutal, crushing and significant.

Our main two fixtures among the characters were Raymond Garraty and Peter McVries, played brilliantly by Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, respectfully. The performances of these two actors really created a bond between the characters that carried you through a film where you knew that only one of the ensemble would survive. They became brothers-like and gave the film real heart.

Mark Hamill played the Major, the head of this activity who would show up throughout the Long Walk to be an a-hole and continue to harass and remind the walkers of what was going on. Mark Hamill is awesome as a villain, but to be fair, this Major is not the most developed character in the film as he was a bit too mustache-twirly. Hamill played him extremely well though as I had sufficient feeling of resentment toward him as the film progressed.

This is not a fun watch by any means. It gives us a depressing world with an even worse premise that will lead only to violent death and loss. As an allegory to the Vietnam War, which is was back in the 1960s when Stephen King wrote this novella, it works well. As a character piece, introducing us to these sad people through dialogue and death, it works even more. The Long Walk is a powerfully compelling, hard to watch film that gave me a lot of feelings and things to think about.

4.6 stars

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

Posted on by

I am a huge fan of This is Spinal Tap. It is not only a cult classic, but, for me, it is one of my all time favorite movies. So I was very excited when I saw that there would be a sequel bringing the boys back together.

Spinal Tap is David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls. These three, along with director of the film Marty Di Burgi, have been making the promotional rounds, talking about the movie. Of course, these characters are being portrayed in kayfabe by Michael McKeon, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and director Rob Reiner.

The new “mockumentary” follows the guys as they reunite after years to play one more contractually required concerts. The film is about Spinal Tap getting back together, dealing with their problems and rehearsing for the big show in New Orleans.

I love Spinal Tap and this was a lot of fun. It was great seeing these characters again, even if seeing them aged is a bit of a shock. The music is wonderful. The lines are funny. I assume they did the same kind of improv that they used in the first film.

I am going to say that there was no way this was going to match the first film. This is Spinal Tap is such a brilliant film, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues was never going to be able to reach the levels of the first one. However, this was still a lot of enjoyment. There was something missing in the story. Perhaps it was the tension between the band that was causing that feeling, but there was something that brought the story down a touch.

It does tell you how iconic Spinal Tap is when you can get Paul McCartney and Elton John to come to your film and sing with the band. There were a couple of other cool cameos here including Questlove, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Chad Smith, and Lars Ulrich (of Metallica).

A lot of the jokes are recycled, including clips from the original movie. There are a bunch of new songs, but none of them received the full song version in the film. We do get full versions of “Cups and Cakes,” “Stonehenge,” and “(Listen to the) Flower People.” I would have liked to hear a few of the new songs extended outside of the slight usage in rehearsal footage or band discussion.

These critiques are minor for me as I laughed and enjoyed the reunion film. Fans of the original movie are going to have a lot of fun with this new sequel, which would make a great double feature with the original.

4.4 stars

Peacemaker S2 E4

Posted on by

SPOILERS

“Need I Say Door”

This episode started out with a flashback showing how Chris wound up with the Quantum Unfolding Storage Area. Chris, his brother and father were out hunting (for what is not clear) and they find an alien (not a Xenomorph, that is Tuesdays).

We get more info with the rest of the ensemble as well. Economos is desperately trying to balance his friendship with Chris against his job with ARGUS. He was able to stop St Wild from killing Eagly by hitting him from behind as he was lining up his shot. He told St Wild that another eagle attacked him instead. St Wild decided that because of that, Eagly is the leader of all eagles, the Primal Eagle, and thus became his ultimate prize kill.

Listen…. you better not kill that eagle. Do you hear me, show?

Rick Flag Sr. approached Harcourt with the news she had been blackballed by Waller. However, Flag Sr. wants her to help capture Chris, so he offers to bring her back in. Not the happiest thing as Harcourt texted Chris and they set up a meeting. A meeting where Flag Sr. and his crew would be waiting. This is where the episode left off.

This felt like an insubstantial episode after last week. Sure there were some good moments, such as Chris vs. Judomaster, but it felt lesser. It felt like this was Economos’s episode.

I do like that Chris called Adebayo for help to escape from the ARGUS (which Economos tipped him off was coming). He told her everything and she tried to speak sense to him. Chris is really taken with that alternate universe and he is not thinking clearly. He truly is considering taking himself over to the other universe so he could have his dad and brother, as well as a potential relationship with Harcourt.

The whole Michael Rooker dance around a fire bit was as bizarre of a scene as you could expect. I am not sure this arc works well and Rooker feels like a character that has been thrown in to get Rooker a role.

Harcourt’s betrayal of Chris is going to really be a tough one to swallow, if that indeed is where the show goes. Next week’s episode could be an extremely powerful and difficult episode to watch. While this one was okay, it does provide a ton of excitement for the next episode.

Only Murders in the Building S5 E1, E2, E3

Posted on by

SPOILERS

“Nail in the Coffin”

“After You”

“Rigor”

I am so happy that Only Murders in the Building is back with their fifth season already. Where most streaming shows take 2-3 years in-between seasons, OMitB is back just over a year from season four.

The show n Hulu kicked off by dropping the first three episodes of the new season and I absolutely loved them.

Episode one had a lot of stuff going down as we started laying the breadcrumbs for the fifth season’s mystery. Longtime doorman Lester was found dead in the fountain at the Arconia. However, the police have dubbed it an accidental death, a fact that made Charles, Oliver and Mabel both unhappy and suspicious.

As it turned out, there are some really big questions about what happened to Lester.

  • Was it the mob? We know the wife of the missing mobster Nicky “The Neck” Caccimelio came to try and higher the crew last season to find her missing husband.
  • Nicky ends up dead at the local laundromat which begs the question… why are there never any employees at this laundromat?
  • There are corrupt cops involved as they are reporting Nicky’s death as they are told.
  • A finger showed up in the leftover shrimp from the wedding. We find out whose finger it is at the end of episode three. Jay Pflug, billionaire.
  • The mysterious speak easy room beneath the Arconia is where the three billionaires meet. Very curious for Logan Lerman, Christoph Waltz and Renée Zellweger, who play these billionaires.

The second episode gives us a whole backstory for Lester the doorman and showed us how he got wrapped up in the mob. This wrapped the history of the Arconia with the entire cast. Lester did the actual narration as well, flashing back eerily to scenes from the first episode.

We got a glimpse into the personal issues of our main trio for this season. Mabel seemed happy with her life, but an old friend moving into the Arconia appeared to challenge her thoughts. Charles is afraid that he is going to die alone and it manifested itself as the dead body of Nicky talking to him. And Oliver has guilt over the way he treated Lester and is beginning to see his own negative traits.

I laughed out loud multiple times in episodes 1 and 3. The show is extremely funny and wonderfully written. Episode two had moments too but it was more of the intriguing backstory.

Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez are amazing together and they carry this show. The writing is so good too. This is one of the best shows around and I am so pleased that it is back.

Wednesday S2 E7, E8

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Woe Me the Money”

“This Means Woe”

Honestly, the last three of the four episodes of Wednesday season two were fantastic. I loved the final two episodes after one of the best uses of the Freaky Friday twist ever. I was not sure where it was going because it seemed as if the storylines were all ending quickly.

In episode 7, we dealt with the story of Principal Dort, revealing what he was always after. The third act of the episode at the gala was sensational. Particularly the dance routine with Enid and Agnes was amazing and I loved how it worked in to the downfall of Dort.

In episode 8, there was a great finale featuring one of the best reveal of all time with the origin of Thing. I never even thought that was possible even though they spent some time hinting about Thing’s past during the season. Making Thing the actual right hand of Isaac Night was so good.

Once again, the story is rooted in something that Morticia and Gomez did while they were at Nevermore. The secrets of the Addams Family seem to cause all kind of troubles.

The best part of the season was getting Wednesday and Enid back on the same page. The lack of these characters’ interaction in the first half of the season and the negativity between them was a poor choice. This is part of the reason why the last three episodes were so good. They were able to get back to the pair.

Hopefully Pugsley’s inclusion in season three will be considerably less. It looks as if season three will start off with a search for the Alpha Wolfed-Out Enid and eventually will include the mysterious Ophelia, who we see Grand-ma-ma has in a dungeon. They named dropped her all season long so I anticipated seeing her this season, but it’ll be next season.

Finishing strong, I am excited to see where this is heading.

Peacemaker S2 E3

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Another Rick Up My Sleeve”

Episode three brought us some awesome stuff and a couple of surprises.

Surprise number one kicked off the episode as Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag, who Peacemaker killed in The Suicide Squad film, made his return in a flashback, showing that he had a relationship with Harcourt before his death, and he appeared in the alternate universe where Chris found himself.

Then, unexpectedly, there was Michael Rooker, dressed like an outdoorsman (that really looked Native American) named Red St Wild. St. Wild is an expert eagle killer and he has been recruited by ARGUS to kill Eagly. I do not know if Red St Wild is a DC character or an original character created by James Gunn. Ihave never heard of him but I am not the expert in DC Comics.

John Cena got a chance to show off his skill set here. Not only does he have some really solid acting scenes, in particular opposite Jennifer Holland’s Harcourt, but he got to go full hardcore as Chris goes into a tense situation to prevent a massive bomb. Without his helmet or his outfit, Chris brutally kills a bunch of the Sons of Liberty terrorists who were setting up this bomb.

And Chris messes them up.

That sequence was awesome and it showed Peacemaker’s strength. While he is sometimes portrayed as a buffoon, there is no doubt that he was a killing machine in this scene and it was a welcomed moment for both the character and the audience.

The rest of the ensemble had some great moments this week too. The show felt as if it may have kicked into high gear with the temptation of the alternate universe calling to Chris. Could he actually go to that universe and take the place of the Chris he killed.

That Chris, by the way, sure looked to be a hot mess. While the Peacemaker identity was beloved and held as a hero, Chris Smith was shown to be a drunk with a drug problem. That universe’s Chris did not seem to be having a positive life outside of his alter ego. It is clearly the path this season’s story is taking.

Finally, what is up with Vigilante? Taking the pants off a drunken Economos with a tender kiss on his forehead was bizarre.

The episode flew by and felt shorter than the first two weeks. I love how the season is setting up characters with their personal relationships. I expect things to get crazy, but the show had better not kill off Eagly!