Tag Archives: television

Stick S1 E3, E4

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“Daddy Issues”

“Zero Sum Game”

Episodes three and four of Apple TV’s new series, Stick, starring Owen Wilson were really great. I have to say though I am a little disappointed with Pryce and his weaknesses that are coming through. He does feel manipulative in his involvement with Santi and he is clearly also a problem with betting. These will both come back to haunt him later in the season, I am sure.

I do like the first few steps between Mitts and Elena. The whole “Mitts is trapped beneath the bed” part of episode three was fun and was a good way to learn about who these characters are.

We learned specifically what happened to Pryce’s son as Mitts told Elena about it after she had made an off-hand comment about Pryce not knowing about kids because he doesn’t have any. The little boy died at 4 from cancer, which is way too horrible to even think about. Elena immediately made the connection between the loss of his son and the meltdown Pryce had on the golf course that ruined his career. I had inferred this as well, but knowing the details make it even more painful and allow us to understand where Pryce is coming from.

We are introduced to Zero, played by Lilli Kay. I had seen her on the IMDB page and I did not know who she was, but she has been added as a “love interest” for Santi. Not sure I loved this character at this point, as she was portrayed as a far left idealist with big words for the society around them.

I did not think that the deal made by Zero and Pryce was a good idea. It will absolutely explode on them later in the season. Why they don’t just stick to the truth? It is such a better choice.

Stick has been solid so far and I am looking forward to see these seeds that the show is planting grow as the season progresses.

Smoke S1 E1, E2

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“Pilot”

“Your Happy Makes Me Sad”

Since I currently do not have any active TV shows going, and having finished off the X-Files recently, I started to look for some new programs to watch. Yes, I am doing the season binges of What We Do in the Shadows, but I needed something to spread out over a few weeks to a month. I have started Stick on Apple TV, which was great. I then started another Apple TV + show called Smoke.

Apple TV + has had some great shows such as Ted Lasso, Shrinking, Silo, The Studio and Dark Matter. There have been a bunch of Apple TV + shows that I have not watched, but are fairly well liked.

Smoke caught my attention from the show synopsis: “When an arson investigator begrudgingly teams up with a police detective, their race to stop two arsonists ignites a twisted game of secrets and suspicions.”- from Apple TV + website.

I will say that after the pilot episode of the show, I was not sure how I felt about it. It was a slow burn for sure and I was just not sure if I was engaged enough to commit to it. However, by the end of the second episode, I was fully in. This show is currently active, with, I believe 5 episodes out. A new episode comes out on Fridays, so it would be nice to get caught up before the next episode is released.

Taron Egerton starred as the arson investigator who has his share of troubles and he is working with former marine and current police detective Michelle Calderon (Jurnee Smollett). Egerton is excellent so far in the show and the two leads have great chemistry. Egerton was probably the main reason why I kept going after episode one.

I do like the mystery aspect of this show, even though it seems that one of the arsonists is not much of a mystery. The second one has a massive reveal at the end of the second episode that makes me wonder what exactly was going on.

Stick S1 E1, E2

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Spoilers

“Pilot”

“Grossweiner’s Law”

Owen Wilson starred in a new series on Apple TV + called Stick and it had been on my radar recently. With my TV shows currently lacking, I decided to get a few new ones to watch over the next few weeks or so. Stick was the first one to try.

I really love Owen Wilson. Well, to be fair, I was not that familiar with Wilson until he took on the role as Mobius on Loki, Owen Wilson has been one of my favorite actors. And after watching the first two episodes of this series, you can tell that he has found another awesome role to play.

There is an absolute feel to this series, and, although it is early, I can say that the show Stick gave me Ted Lasso vibes. I really enjoyed the first two episodes. Owen Wilson is utterly charming in the role, again making a comparison to Jason Sudeikis’s Ted Lasso.

The plot is Owen Wilson played Pryce Cahill, a former pro golfer who had a meltdown on a course and sent his life spiraling into chaos. The show has not specifically told us what caused the meltdown, but it certainly implied heavily and I feel as if I have a clear idea of what happened without even going into specifics.

Pryce is on the course to give gold lessons when he hears a 17-year old boy driving the golf ball on the driving range. Pryce was unbelievably impressed with the boy’s swing and tries to convince the boy to allow Pryce to take him on the circuit.

The Boy, Santi, had that natural swing that told Pryce that he was special. Santi was not excited about it and worried that Pryce was simply a stalker. Pryce went to see Santi’s mother, Elena (Mariana Treviño) and tried to convince her to let him take Santi on the road.

The show also featured Marc Maron, as Pryce’s friend ad former caddie, and Judy Greer as Pryce’s ex-wife Amber-Lynn.

I really liked the set up of these characters. There are life details that we will be learning as the show progresses that will make these characters deep and well developed. There is something that happened with Santi’s father. Something happened to Pryce and Amber-Lynn’s child. I’m excited to see more of this show.

What We Do in the Shadows S3

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So I dove into the third season of What We Do in the Shadows this morning, planning another binge watch of the ten episodes. I do like this model of taking some time and binging this series. I pulled it up on Disney +.

Overall, I have to say that I think season three was not as entertaining as season two, which has been my favorite so far. However, season two was more of a bunch of individual episodes whereas season three has a running throughline of the season. Although you may not know about it at the start, it does all pay off in spades by the end.

I was finding myself liking Colin Robinson more each episode this year, so the death of this character was tough. Seeing him as a Colin-faced baby at the end of episode 10 was rough too. I did enjoy how Laszlo was bonding with Colin Robinson through the season, with the knowledge that at 100 years old, energy vampires die.

Nandor’s eternal-life crisis was another storyline that progressed through the season, and came to a head at the end. He tried to join a cult, take the Super Slumber and, eventually, choosing to take a trip across the world. It was a sad ending for him too as he expected Guillermo to accompany him on the trip and he promised the familiar/bodyguard that he would turn him into a vampire at the end. Of course. Guillermo would face yet another trouble.

Poor Guillermo had a tough season as well, as he felt rejected and afraid of winding up alone. As the vampires all were ready to make their away out of the house and on adventures, Guillermo did not know what he was to do. Of course, his skills as a vampire killer was shown off several times during the season, including a cool final battle with Nandor. I was shocked when Laszlo, who was preparing for Nadja and his trip to England, flipped Guillermo into the coffin that was meant to be for Laszlo and sent him in his place. It was all because Laszlo needed to stay behind and look after baby Colin Robinson.

Even though I may not have considered this my favorite of the seasons, it continued to be extremely funny, even if some of the situations turn out to be silly. It is consistently one of the funniest shows on TV.

2025 Emmy Nominations

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Here are the nominees for the EMMY Awards. These were given out this morning with some sad omissions. For me, I was hoping for Kathryn Hahn to be nominated for Agatha All Along. I would have liked for Patti LaPone to get a nom too, as her episode was one of the best of the year. I am thrilled that Agatha All Along received a nomination for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics with “The Ballad of the Witches Road.” That should really win. There was no song that was more intricate to the plot than this one.

Nothing for Squid Game is shocking, despite season 2 being a lesser season. And despite getting 14 nominations, there was nothing for Diego Luna or Stellan Skarsgård in acting categories.

Way too man nominations for The White Lotus, which was, at best, an average show this season. That show dominated the acting categories and should probably only should have had about half of the noms it got.

I love Martin Short, but I really thought Steve Martin had a better season on Only Murders in the Building this year with all the stuff he had to do with Jane Lynch’s character Sazz Pataki’s murder.

Outstanding drama series

  • “Andor” (Disney+)
  • “The Diplomat” (Netflix)
  • “The Last of Us” (HBO Max)
  • “Paradise” (Hulu)
  • “The Pitt” (HBO Max)
  • “Severance” (Apple TV+)
  • “Slow Horses” (Apple TV+)
  • “The White Lotus” (HBO Max)

Outstanding comedy series

  • “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)
  • “The Bear” (FX)
  • “Hacks” (HBO Max)
  • “Nobody Wants This” (Netflix)
  • “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu)
  • “Shrinking” (Apple TV+)
  • “The Studio” (Apple TV+)
  • “What We Do in the Shadows” (FX)

Outstanding limited or anthology series

  • “Adolescence” (Netflix)
  • “Black Mirror” (Netflix)
  • “Dying for Sex” (FX)
  • “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” (Netflix)
  • “The Penguin” (HBO Max)

Outstanding television movie

  • “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” (Peacock)
  • “The Gorge” (Apple TV+)
  • “Mountainhead” (HBO Max)
  • “Nonnas” (Netflix)
  • “Rebel Ridge” (Netflix)

Outstanding reality competition program

  • “The Amazing Race” (CBS)
  • “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (MTV)
  • “Survivor” (CBS)
  • “Top Chef” (Bravo)
  • “The Traitors” (Peacock)

Outstanding talk series

  • “The Daily Show” (Comedy Central)
  • “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (ABC)
  • “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS)

Outstanding scripted variety series

  • “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO Max)
  • “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)

Outstanding variety special (live)

  • “The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar” (Fox)
  • “Beyoncé Bowl” (Netflix)
  • “The Oscars” (ABC)
  • “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” (NBC)
  • “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert” (Peacock)

Outstanding variety special (pre-recorded)

  • “Adam Sandler: Love You” (Netflix)
  • “Ali Wong: Single Lady” (Netflix)
  • “Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years” (Hulu)
  • “Conan O’Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize For American Humor” (Netflix)
  • “Sarah Silverman: Postmortem” (Netflix)
  • “Your Friend, Nate Bargatze” (Netflix)

Outstanding game show

  • “Celebrity Family Feud” (ABC)
  • “Jeopardy” (ABC)
  • “The Price is Right” (CBS)
  • “Wheel of Fortune” (ABC)
  • “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (ABC)

Outstanding lead actress in a drama series

  • Kathy Bates, “Matlock”
  • Sharon Horgan, “Bad Sisters”
  • Britt Lower, “Severance”
  • Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”
  • Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”

Outstanding lead actor in a drama series

  • Sterling K. Brown, “Paradise”
  • Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”
  • Pedro Pascal, “The Last of Us”
  • Adam Scott, “Severance”
  • Noah Wyle, “The Pitt”

Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series

  • Uzo Aduba, “The Residence”
  • Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”
  • Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
  • Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”
  • Jean Smart, “Hacks”

Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series

  • Adam Brody, “Nobody Wants This”
  • Seth Rogen, “The Studio”
  • Jason Segel, “Shrinking”
  • Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”
  • Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”

Outstanding lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie

  • Cate Blanchett, “Disclaimer”
  • Meghann Fahy, “Sirens”
  • Rashida Jones, “Black Mirror”
  • Cristin Milloti, “The Penguin”
  • Michelle Williams, “Dying for Sex”

Outstanding lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie

  • Colin Farrell, “The Penguin”
  • Stephen Graham, “Adolescence”
  • Jake Gyllenhaal, “Presumed Innocent”
  • Brian Tyree Henry, “Dope Thief”
  • Cooper Koch, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”

Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series

  • Patricia Arquette, “Severance”
  • Carrie Coon, “The White Lotus”
  • Katherine LaNasa, “The Pitt”
  • Julianne Nicholson, “Paradise”
  • Parker Posey, “The White Lotus”
  • Natasha Rothwell, “The White Lotus”
  • Aimee Lou Wood, “The White Lotus”

Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series

  • Zach Cherry, “Severance”
  • Walton Goggins, “The White Lotus”
  • Jason Isaacs, “The White Lotus”
  • James Marsden, “Paradise”
  • Sam Rockwell, “The White Lotus”
  • Tramell Tillman, “Severance”
  • John Turturro, “Severance”

Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series

  • Liza Colón-Zayas, “The Bear”
  • Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”
  • Kathryn Hahn, “The Studio”
  • Janelle James, “Abbott Elementary”
  • Catherine O’Hara, “The Studio”
  • Sheryl Lee Ralph, “Abbott Elementary”
  • Jessica Williams, “Shrinking”

Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series

  • Ike Barinholtz. “The Studio”
  • Colman Domingo, “The Four Seasons”
  • Harrison Ford, “Shrinking”
  • Jeff Hiller, “Somebody Somewhere”
  • Ebon Moss-Bachrach, “The Bear”
  • Michael Urie, “Shrinking”
  • Bowen Yang, “Saturday Night Live”

Outstanding supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie

  • Erin Doherty, “Adolescence”
  • Ruth Negga, “Presumed Innocent”
  • Deirdre O’Connell, “The Penguin”
  • Chloë Sevigny, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”
  • Jenny Slate, “Dying for Sex”
  • Christine Tremarco, “Adolescence”

Outstanding supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie

  • Javier Bardem, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”
  • Bill Camp, “Presumed Innocent”
  • Owen Cooper, “Adolescence”
  • Rob Delaney, “Dying for Sex”
  • Peter Sarsgaard, “Presumecd Innocent”
  • Ashley Walters, “Adolescence”

Outstanding guest actress in a drama series

  • Jane Alexander, “Severance”
  • Gwendoline Christie, “Severance”
  • Kaitlyn Dever, “The Last of Us”
  • Cherry Jones, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
  • Catherine O’Hara, “The Last of Us”
  • Merritt Wever, “Severance”

Outstanding guest actor in a drama series

  • Giancarlo Esposito, “The Boys”
  • Scott Glenn, “The White Lotus”
  • Shawn Hatosy, “The Pitt”
  • Joe Pantoliano, “The Last of Us”
  • Forest Whitaker, “Andor”
  • Jeffrey Wright, “The Last of Us”

Outstanding guest actress in a comedy series

  • Olivia Colman, “The Bear”
  • Jamie Lee Curtis, “The Bear”
  • Cynthia Erivo, “Poker Face”
  • Robby Hoffman, “Hacks”
  • Zoë Kravitz, “The Studio”
  • Julianne Nicholson, “Hacks”

Outstanding guest actor in a comedy series

  • Jon Bernthal, “The Bear”
  • Bryan Cranston, “The Studio”
  • Dave Franco, “The Studio”
  • Ron Howard, “The Studio”
  • Anthony Mackie, “The Studio”
  • Martin Scorsese, “The Studio”

Outstanding directing for a drama series

  • “Andor,” Janus Metz (“Who Are You?”)
  • “The Pitt,” Amanda Marsalis (“6 P.M.”)
  • “The Pitt,” John Wells (“7 A.M.”)
  • “Severance,” Jessica Lee Gagné (“Chikhai Bardo”)
  • “Severance,” Ben Stiller (“Gold Harbor)
  • “Slow Horses,” Adam Randall (“Hello Goodbye”)
  • “The White Lotus,” Mike White (“Amor Fati”)

Outstanding directing for a comedy series

  • “The Bear,” Ayo Edebiri (“Napkins”)
  • “Hacks,” Lucia Aniello (“A Slippery Slope”)
  • “Mid-Century Modern,” James Burrows (“Here’s To You, Mrs. Schneiderman”)
  • “The Rehearsal,” Nathan Fielder (“Pilot’s Code”)
  • “The Studio,” Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg (“The Oner”)

Outstanding directing for a limited or anthology series or movie

  • “Adolescence,” Philip Barantini
  • “Dying for Sex,” Shannon Murphy (“It’s Not That Serious”)
  • “The Penguin,” Helen Shaver (“Cent’anni”)
  • “The Penguin,” Jennifer Getzinger (“A Great or Little Thing”)
  • “Sirens,” Nicole Kassell (“Exile”)
  • “Zero Day,” Leslie Linka Glatter

Outstanding writing for a drama series

  • “Andor,” Dan Gilroy (“Welcome to the Rebellion”)
  • “The Pitt,” Joe Sachs (“2 P.M.”)
  • “The Pitt,” R. Scott Gemmill (“7 A.M.”)
  • “Severance,” Dan Erickson (“Cold Harbor”)
  • “Slow Horses,” Will Smith (“Hello Goodbye”)
  • “The White Lotus,” Mike White (“Full-Moon Party”)

Outstanding writing for a comedy series

  • “Abbott Elementary,” Quinta Brunson (“Back To School”)
  • “Hacks,” Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky (“A Slippery Slope”)
  • “The Rehearsal,” Nathan Fielder, Carrie Kemper, Adam Lock-Norton and Eric Notarnicola (“Pilot’s Code”)
  • “Somebody Somewhere,” Hanna Bos, Paul Thureen and Bridget Everett (“AGG”)
  • “The Studio,” Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory and Frida Perez (“The Promotion”)
  • “What We Do in the Shadows,” Sam Johnson, Sarah Naftalis and Paul Simms (“The Finale”)

Outstanding writing for a limited or anthology series or movie

  • “Adolescence,” Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham
  • “Black Mirror,” Charlie Brooker and Bisha K. Ali (“Common People”)
  • “Dying for Sex,” Kim Rosenstock and Elizabeth Meriwether (“Good Value Diet Soda”)
  • “The Penguin,” Lauren LeFranc (“A Great or Little Thing”)
  • “Say Nothing,” Joshua Zetumer (“The People in the Dirt”)

Outstanding writing for a variety series

  • “The Daily Show”
  • “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”
  • “Saturday Night Live”

List from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2025-primetime-emmy-nominations-full-list/

The Bear S4 E9, E10

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“Tonnato”

“Goodbye”

These final two episodes of season four show exactly why The Bear is constantly nominated for Best Comedy Series at the Emmys.

That is sarcasm. This is not a comedy series for me. It is a full on drama that might have some comedic aspects at times.

Nothing showed that more than these final two episodes which were full of amazing moments and performances that were off the charts.

First, in “Tonnato,” we get an amazing set of scenes with Carmy and his mother, Donna. Jamie Lee Curtis may as well make some room on her mantel for another Emmy because this was unbelievable. The performance was so raw and powerful and brought a tear to my eyes. She was as vulnerable as you could be in this scene while expressing her overwhelming guilt and regret over her behavior and choices. Jeremy Allen White was an exceptional scene partner as he pillowed her performance while not taking away from it. Both of these characters felt on the precipice of an emotional breakthrough, though at any second, it could fall apart. It was a tremendously powerful scene.

Then, in the finale of the season, Carmy, Sydney and Richie (with Natalie eventually joining) spent the episode out back of the restaurant screaming at each other over the impending departure of Carmy from The Bear. Carmy’s decision to “retire” has been forming over the last few episodes as he realized that he did not love what he was doing anymore and that he was only serving as a roadblock for the restaurant’s success.

With the backdrop of the ticking clock, Carmy’s decision may have felt like a betrayal to Sydney and Richie, but he seemingly was able to convince them that he was not just dropping them. The ownership agreement, half for Jimmy, half for Sydney, Natalie and Richie, was something that Sydney insisted on (including Richie).

Carmy’s confession that he had attended Michael’s funeral, even though everyone thought he had not gone, was massive for Richie. You can see why these three actors in particular have been so in demand lately for other projects. They are truly some fantastic performers (no pun intended as Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who played Richie will be Ben Grimm, the Thing, in Marvel’s Fantastic Four in a couple of weeks).

I thought the fourth season of The Bear was far superior to season three, which felt like a down year to me. I loved the way Carmy was going on the self-improvement trip. I really wanted to see the scene where he gave the green sweater (which he found at his mother’s in episode 9) back to Claire, but hopefully that scene will make it into a future seasson.

This season left plenty of plot threads dangling, as the ticking clock struck zero at the end of the final episode. Was that the end of the restaurant or will it be able to be saved as they were starting to put things together, albeit slowly.

The X-Files S11 E10

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“My Struggle IV”

Today marks the end of a journey that I started here at EYG in September 2023. I had just finished watching the five seasons of Twilight Zone and I needed something new to do as a rewatch. Despite being a little intimidated by eleven seasons of episodes, I decided to watch The X-Files, which was one of my favorite shows when it was on TV. Now with just about two months away from two years since starting, I watched the final episode of the series.

The finale was the fourth piece of an over-arching storyline about the Cigarette Smoking Man trying to release an alien virus and cause a planet-wide pandemic. It was a pandemic that we all lived through in the finale of season 10. We started season 11 with taking the results of that episode and having it be a vision Scully saw of the future and part of the idea was this was a chance to stop it. In order to stop it, they needed to find William.

We met William earlier in the season, setting up his powers. We also learn that William is not Mulder’s son, but was created by CSM in a lab. This was a horrible truth that everyone hated.

We are back to trying to find William in the finale and I wonder why Mulder and Scully spent this whole season ignoring this arc and doing all those individual episodes instead.

This episode was basically Mulder chasing after William, trying to catch up with him. There was a lot of running, some driving and so on. Then, Mulder and Scully was too far apart for most of the movie. I liked this much more when they got back together at the end.

Mulder FINALLY shot the CSM. He did not shoot him in the head though. How much of the pain would have been prevented had Mulder just shot him in the head when he first had a chance? CSM was shot in this manner to allow him to pull another “I’m not dead” moment had the show returned. It was finally CSM’s shooting of William (in the head, btw) that pushed Mulder past the point.

Oh, and… did Skinner die? He got run over by CSM? What a bitch way to go out for one of our longest running characters. Jump up on that hood of the other car, Skinner. Skinner did shoot Monica in the head, which I truly appreciated. I never liked that character.

I did enjoy the final scene with Mulder and Scully where she told him that she was pregnant. However, Scully did not seem to react to William’s death in the way that she would have. I know she learned about William’s origin but would that have affected the way she perceived this boy for all of these years? It is nice to have Mulder and Scully together with a possible happy ending.

William returning to life out of the water was a tag that felt like they wanted to continue, but the series needed to be done.

I feel like this is an accomplishment finishing the series after such a long time. I do love David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson because of these characters and this show.

I want to believe.

The X-Files S11 E5, E6, E7

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I watched three more X-Files from season 11, leaving me with just three left to complete the entire series.

“Ghouli”

Episode 5 was a wild ride with Scully receiving a vision in a dream that led her to a case of two girls who seemingly did not know each other who had stabbed each other viciously.

The girls shared the same dream as Scully did, down to the last detail so Mulder and Scully were involved. Turned out that the only connection between the two girls was that they both were girlfriends for a boy named Jackson Van De Kamp.

When Scully and Mulder tried to find the boy, they arrived too late. They found the boy’s parents dead and the boy in his room, an apparent murder-suicide.

Van De Kamp was a name given to Scully a few episodes ago as a possible name used by William, her son. Scully was afraid that the boy who had killed himself was William and she tearfully spoke to his body before setting up a DNA test.

When the body was left alone, it unzipped the body bag and escaped from the morgue.

Turned out this was indeed William and he had some mental powers, specifically mental illusions that allow him to make people see things he wanted, such as himself dead on the floor.

The DOD was in pursuit of both Mulder and Scully and the boy as well. Mulder and Scully tried to find William, protecting him from a group of men trying to capture him. William used his abilities to escape.

The whole Jackson/William thread here created some strong scenes, but I did wonder why Scully thought this was her son. Maybe it was the connection to the visions that he had. She had talked to Jackson’s therapist and she confirmed that Jackson had seen the whole story from the end of season 10, with the virus and the collapse of the earth. Maybe it is just that mother’s feel.

The episode ended with William getting away, but he had approached Scully at a gas station making her see the form of Dr. Pierre Chang from LOST. Just kidding, the actor who played that role was in the episode.

This was a nice episode that left Mulder and Scully with the knowledge that there son was alive.

“Kitten”

We got an episode featuring Skinner, looking back at a time in his youth as he was in Vietnam.

In his platoon, a soldier nicknamed Kitten was accidentally exposed to a mysterious gas and it caused him to murder civilians.

Other members of Skinner’s troupe were being killed off too and Skinner disappeared. Kersh called for Mulder and Scully, expecting them to know what was going on with Skinner. When they did not, they started to investigate what was going on.

This episode featured Haley Joel Osment as the son of Kitten, Osment ended up being the killer as he had set several traps for the other veterans, including his own father.

People were having their teeth falling out in this town too. It is implied that this was because these people were also exposed to the gas. Perhaps in a small dose than what sent Kitten into a murderous rage.

Mulder and Scully seemed to be back on the trust train with Skinner, but he technically never told them about his current situation with CSM, so can they truly trust him?

“Rm9sbG93ZXJz”

What a bizarre episode this was.

The X-Files has had several episodes where they were involved with technology, such as artificial intelligence and typically those have been some of the worst of the episodes. This one is better than some of the other ones, but it all felt really odd.

The automation of all the technology of the episode made me think I was in a Ray Bradbury sci-fi story. I really pictured “April 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains.”

Everything started to go to hell after Mulder did not tip at a fully automated sushi restaurant. Apparently, the technology took this poorly. When Mulder finally tipped on his phone, all the chaos ended.

This episode was told with the minimal amount of dialogue. Both Mulder and Scully had very few lines and only spoke when absolutely needed. It helped create quite the mood of the episode.

It was an episode that spoke to putting aside one’s phones at times and, I guess, to make sure to tip your waitresses (although Mulder finally only tipped 10%).

The Bear S4 E5, E6, E7

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Season four rolls along…

“Replicants”

I had a feeling that something was happening to Sydney’s father when he gave her that call at the beginning of the episode. A heart attack left Sydney shaken and all of us scared for Sydney.

Natalie bringing the baby to the restaurant brought all kinds of feels for everyone involved and there was nearly no other moment that was as sweet as Carmy holding his baby niece for the first time as Natalie left the room.

Neil trying to get as close to the baby as he could was hilarious, as was protective mother Natalie. When Neil asked to hold the baby, Natalie asked him when he last washed his hands. A couple days ago was probably the answer she was expecting.

It was cool to see Luca again. Will Poulter fit right into the cast perfectly after guest starring a couple of years ago.

Rob Reiner returned again to help with the business plan for Ebraheim.

“Sophie”

We get more on Sydney’s father’s heart attack and the episode is really showing how much everyone at The Bear loved her. Claire finds her at the hospital and comforts her as Sydney was waiting for word. The dialogue between them is one of the strengths of this show as everything is done so well.

Sydney’s father is going to recover and the rest of the episode was basically prep for the wedding with Tiff and Frank.


“Bears”

This was the best episode of the season so far and one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. It was the wedding of Tiff and Frank and the party afterwards where all of the family descended on each other.

All you can expect is yet another Berzattos crash and burn, and yet, this turned out to be a wonderful night with some remarkable scenes without the over-the-top drama that one would expect.

I absolutely loved the interactions between Richie and Frank. The tension was thick between them, but they were able to put anything side to help Eva, who was scared about doing a dance with Frank. All I could think of during this scene was “How big is that friggin’ table?” as more and more members of the Berzattos clan, both related and honorary, found their way underneath the table. It turned into a giant “What are you afraid of?” share time to help Eva feel better. I loved this scene even if it felt like there were enough people under the table.

Other awesome moments/scenes:

  • Donna and Sydney talking. Sydney got stuck with Donna as Carmy got taken off. The scene was both wonderfully caring and deeply sad at the same time. Jamie Lee Curtis is a tremendous actor and she conveyed multiple feelings with single looks.
  • The feud between Natalie and Francie went full boar as they yelled at each other but ended the day hugging as friends. Apparently they were a thing at one time.
  • The scene between Uncle Jimmy and Tiff was sweet and dealt with Tiff’s concerns that the divorce with Richie would lose her the Berzattos family.
  • As Carmy hid in the kitchen, Lee (Bob Odenkirk) showed up and they had a deep discussion over everything. The dialogue played it as if they were on the edge through the whole time, but that they both wanted to clear the air.
  • Sydney and Richie dance at the wedding and he asked her about the other thing she wanted to tell him. She said it was a decision she had to make. Richie asked if she had made it and she said she only really had one choice. Not sure what that meant.
  • Stevie, played by John Mulaney, was hilarious through the entire episode. His line about all of the Berzattos attending the wedding was laugh out loud funny.

There was so much wonder here and the amount of chaos was limited to a normal wedding, not a Berzattos meeting.

This was such a great episode.

The X-Files S11 E4

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“The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat”

The fourth episode of season eleven of The X-Files brought another excellent, comedic show that loosed its venom on itself.

What I mean is that this is clearly a parody of the X-Files as a TV program, poking fun at a lot of the tropes of the series.

Our new informant was named Reggie and the episode featured the Mandela Effect (or as Reggie would put it, the Mengele Effect). According to Wikipedia, the Mandela Effect is when “specific false memories can sometimes be shared by a large group of people.”

Besides the parody of the show, the episode also had some pointed comments about both the use of disinformation and Donald Trump. One of the conspiratorial characters, Dr. They, told Mulder that the days of hiding the truth were gone because the truth can be told and nobody will believe it.

There was an alien that Mulder, Scully and Reggie (who claimed that he had been their partner on the X-Files for years- which included a theme song for the show including his picture) met at the end. This alien spoke lines directly from Trump, talking about building a beautiful wall (invisible), around the galaxy because earth was not sending its best people into space. The Trump effect was in full swing with this episode.

There were clips from previous episodes of The X-Files with Reggie superimposed in them to illustrate his point. Episodes included “Home,” “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose,” and “Small Potatoes” to name a few.

The whole parallel universe argument that Mulder was making was really funny, as was Mulder’s own frustration on how silly the parallel universe argument was. When Mulder threw his pencil across the room in a fit of frustration, it was just hilarious.

The X-Files could do silly as well as any show and this was a very good example of that.

What We Do in the Shadows Season Two

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I decided that, since the show What We Do in the Shadow had ten episodes each around 24 minutes, it would be a good idea to go ahead and binge these seasons instead of spreading it out. I will be finishing the X-Files soon and my goal is to run through this total series before school starts again.

So I started the season two this morning and went through it. I think the second season was tremendous, and I think I liked it even more than I did season one.

There were some awesome guest stars/cameos during the season. This included an amazing performance from Mark Hammil, plus Benedict Wong, Haley Joel Osment, Craig Robinson, Greta Lee, James Frain, and Lucy Punch.

Some of the fish out of water things that the show threw Laszlo, Nadja and Nandor into some of the oddest situations. They had to attend a “Superb Owl” party at a neighbor’s house which was actually a Super Bowl party. They had to figure out their own laundry after Guillermo left them. The email curse, which everyone knows is BS, caused them massive concern. Colin Robinson’ promotion which led to his great power.

The show brought us a zombie (Haley Joel Osment who is killed by Guillermo accidentally), witches, ghosts (in a very clever episode), Black Peter- a talking goat and, of course, other vampires. There were vampire slayers too, or at least, a group of vampire slayer-wannabees, who get crushed by a house of vampires.

The story of Guillermo being a descendent of Van Helsing is a major driving force of story this year, as is Guillermo’s desire to be appreciated by his master. We see how vital Guillermo is to this group, even if they still do not necessarily see it. Even when Guillermo saved them from the Vampire Council by killing all of them, all Nandor could think of what his laundry.

Mark Hamill’s appearance as Jim the Vampire was so great and led to a solo story for Laszlo, who ran away from Jim the Vampire and hid out in Pennsylvania as a bartender named Jackie Daytona. Laszlo is able to hide his identity by having a toothpick in his mouth. This was a hilarious episode and one of the standout episodes of the season.

This was a great way to watch this season and I will continue to pick days to binge the remainder of the seasons of this show over the next six weeks or so before school. I have seasons 3 – 6 remaining, each season (except 6) have ten episodes.

The Bear S4 E3, E4

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“Scallop”

“Worms”

Two very solid episodes of The Bear are next in their season four on Hulu.

“Scallop” featured Carmy, dealing with a bunch of his own issues. There is a tremendous scene between Carmy and Marcus outside on a smoke break. Their dialogue between them was sharp and filled with evidence about how important they were to each other. Carmy is slowly straightening his life around by seeing the energy and effort given by the staff of the Bear.

Rob Reiner guest starred as Albert Schner, in the episode with Ebraheim, who had asked for his opinion as a mentor about the window for “The Beef” which had been doing great business as a window behind The Bear.

This episode finished with a long overdue confrontation with Carmy and Claire. I would be lying if I did not say that I was yelling at the screen about this scene, waiting for Carmy to just apologize. While it did not feel resolved, I think it is the first baby steps in getting these two back together. Splitting them apart was the start of Carmy’s downward spiral and getting them back together is so needed.

Then in “Worms,” we focus in on Sydney and her decision between staying at the Bear or moving over to Shapiro’s. She has been split over this choice dating back to the last season and she is reaching the point where she is needing to decide.

She goes over to her cousin’s place. Her cousin was played by Danielle Deadwyler, who had had some of the top performances over the last few years. If you have not seen her in Till, do yourself a favor, get some tissues, and watch it.

Sydney winds up watching her cousin’s daughter, TJ. TJ and Sydney have a really nice episode bonding and talking over their own troubles. Sydney tries to use an analogy to get TJ’s opinion about where she wanted to work. She pretended to talk about sleep overs, but, we find out in the end, TJ knew it was about a job.

Sydney called Shapiro and started to talk about paperwork, making us think that she was ready to make the choice to leave the Bear.

These episodes are just nice, calmer character episodes, keeping the craziness to a limit. I like the way this season is going so far, but I expect fireworks coming up soon.

The X-Files S10 E5, E6 & S11 E1

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I wrapped up season 10 and then I had to start season because of the cliffhanger they left us with.

“Babylon”

Homeland meets Californication.

The X-Files had a Muslim terrorist angle that did not put a very positive face on it. It had a definite feel of islamophobia to it as the terrorist organization they were pursuing was Muslim.

It seemed as if the episode was as interested in introducing mirror images of Mulder and Scully. We meet Agent Miller (Robbie Amell) and Agent Einstein (Lauren Ambrose). They were younger examples of Mulder and Scully. Miller was a believer in the paranormal and the weird aspects of the world and Einstein was a scientist who was a skeptic. She was even a red head.

At first it felt like they were just a joke, but they actually turn into characters that would play an important role in the next episode.

The bizarre hallucinations Mulder underwent (thanks to a placebo, apparently) were strange and included the Lone Gunmen (RIP).

“My Struggle II”

Why will they not just shoot him in the head?

I was just screaming at the TV again when Cigarette Smoking Man showed up, not dead again, and plotting to expose the world to a deadly alien virus. Mulder had a gun on him again and just refuses to shoot him in the head. Why won’t he shoot him in the head? Everything can be over if he would just shoot him in the head… several times. Empty the gun.

We get an apocalyptic episode where the world is going to hell and Scully and Einstein race against time to try and find the cure for the virus. Meanwhile, Mulder is confronting CSM and NOT SHOOTING HIM IN THE HEAD!!!!

This episode did feel like a mess and wound up leaving on an insane cliffhanger. It was advertised as “This is the End” and it sure felt like it.

The show did bring back Monica Reyes and put her with CSM, which allowed me to freely hate her instead of trying to like her as I did in season 8 and 9.

“My Struggle III”

Nevermind.

Oh, that ending to season 10…. well, that was just a possible vision that Scully was having. Wink wink.

I wonder how much of the dislike for season 10 episode 6 there was in the world led to this changing of mythology in season 11.

I do not think that the revelation at the end of the episode would change the negative thoughts though as it was revealed that William was not Mulder’s son, but that he was artificially inseminated by CSM and that he was the father of Scully’s baby. Not sure why anyone would think that would be a well received idea.

It was hinted that William was the one sending these visions to Scully, which make little sense, but it definitely kicks off the storyline of finding William for season 11.

Oh, and Skinner won’t shoot CSM in the head either. Why don’t they just SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD? They have the opportunity to d it. Who would blame them. He is believed to be dead anyway. JUST DO IT!!!!

Oh and Jeffrey Spender is back this episode, but looking a lot better than he did the last time we saw him. Did it cost too much for the make up?

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #22

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Win or Lose

“Coach’s Kid”

“Blue”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The X-Files S9 E17, E18, E19, E20

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The final season of The X-Files in its original run was season nine. The show returned for two shortened seasons after that, but this was the final four episodes of The X-Files

“Release”

The show is clearly beginning to wrap things up for the original run and one of the dangling mysteries of the last few years was what had actually happened to Agent Doggett’s son. Well, this episode provided some closure to that story as we get the man who had killed him and the reason why the boy was killed. The only piece of the story that was left dangling was the fate of Brad Follmer, as played by Cary Elwes. We learn that Brad has been taking money from the mob and he wound up shooting the actual killer at the end. We never see Elwes again in the series so it is unclear what exactly happened to him.

“Sunshine Days”

Here’s the story, of a lovely lady, who was bringing up three very lovely girls…..

Yeah, this was a weird episode. Of course, Ben Linus was here. That always throws me off somewhat. Michael Emerson is an awesome actor, but he will always be Ben Linus to me. Then, the fascination with the Brady Bunch was a strange choice, right down to naming Emerson’s character Oliver Martin, in reference to Cousin Oliver.

The overall story of this episode was flat and I did not find it very compelling. I did like seeing Ben Linus again.

“The Truth Part 1 and Part 2”

This was the two part series finale, again of the original run of X-Files episodes and saw the return of David Duchovny as Fox Mulder. Duchovny had been gone the entire season and had agreed to return for this final wrap up.

The military had decided to put Mulder on trial for the murder of Knowle Rohrer, the “super soldier” who had been running around, surviving death several times over the last few seasons of the show. Of course, this was all part of the government conspiracy that the show had been investigating for the last nine seasons.

The military trial of Mulder was a sham, of course, as one of the men who sat in judgment was one of the aliens, The Toothpick Man (Alan Dale, also a LOST alum, playing Charles Widmore). These two episodes featured the return of multiple characters from the nine years, including  Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden), Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka) and Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens), all of whom testified in the trial. We also had a group of ghosts appear to Mulder in visions such as Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) and X (Steven Williams) as well as the Lone Gunmen.

Of course, the final return was that of the “Wise Man” who Mulder and Scully go to for answers at the end, and it turned out to be the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) himself. Seeing that rotten bastard again did not make things great and neither did seeing him burned to death as I know he returned in the later seasons of the show. I have no idea how he survived this time, but seeing him alive really was a smack to the face.

They dropped a date: December 22, 2012, which is supposedly the date of the alien invasion.

I do not know what was to become of Doggett and Reyes as they drove off into the distance. Reyes has never won my favor in this series, but her final repose after testifying just about won me over. Another plot line that was never dealt with was the supposed feelings that Doggett had for Reyes. A few episodes again, there was a huge deal about how much they loved each other, but it was never mentioned again.

Deputy Director Alvin Kersh was also a bizarre character, as he seemed to be leading the trial against Mulder, going as far as suppressing evidence that proved Mulder innocent. Kersh looked to be fully opposed t Mulder, though he does help Mulder and Scully escape from captivity when Skinner and Doggett break him out. This is yet another character that is unclear of his motives and weakens the story.

Mulder and Scully end up together, snuggling on a bed somewhere, still holding out hope.

I am not sure how I feel about the conclusion of the show. This finale did not really wrap anything up and only served to leave plenty of things dangling or unanswered. Every question does not have to be answered in a finale for me, but it felt as if they brought up a major storyline in the last episode. I know it is dealt with in the future episodes, but we did not know that at the time.

Season ten only has six episodes to it and it will be next.