Tag Archives: television

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #21

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“Dream of a Thousand Cats”; “Calliope”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The X-Files S9 E12, E13, E14, E15, E16

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I watched a series of X-Files episodes during the ninth season this afternoon. I’m hoping to wrap up the rewatch of the X-Files this summer, and this was a big step in that direction.

“Underneath”

I found this episode was similar to many other episodes this season. I realized this watching this episode. This season, Doggett, Reyes and Scully rarely actually investigated an X-Files. The cases that they were investigating coincidentally become X-Files, but they were not brought in because of their expertise in the X-Files. This episode did have a neat story about a serial killer who had a different personality.

“Improbable”

And as soon as I was coming up with my theory about cases not being X-Files, episode 13 had Scully come into the X-Files office and Monica laid out the case on the overhead projector just like Mulder used to do. Burt Reynolds guest starred in this episode as, I guess, God. I found this to be a silly episode involving some numerology. This serial killer was killing people based on this numerology, though that was never really explained.

“Scary Monsters”

I think this was my favorite of the run of episodes, although there were plenty of weirdness and silliness here too. A boy who can project some kind of images, making people believe they were seeing or feeling things that they were not. Agent Leyla Harrison returned from an episode from a previous season trying to recruit Scully first and then Doggett and Reyes to look at a case that she claimed was an X-File. Scully’s end of the case was particularly enjoyable as she was given the comedic aspects of the episode, including an autopsy that she wound up performing on a cat. There were a bunch of allusions made by Agent Harrison to previous X-Files episodes, which were fun little tidbits.

“Jump the Shark”

This felt like a final wrap up of the Lone Gunmen spin-off series that lasted 13-episodes on FOX. The show brought back former Man in Black, Morris Fletcher, played by Michael McKeon, from episode “Dreamland” from season six. This led to the Lone Gunmen sacrificing their lives to prevent a release of a virus. I remember being shocked and angry when the Lone Gunmen died in this episode.

I do hate the term “Jump the Shark” which this episode was named after. The term is based after a Happy Days episode where the Fonz legitimately jumped a shark on water skis. The term has come to mean when a TV show has peaked and is in decline. The reason I hated the term was that people started to use it any time that they did not like something that was on a show. It was one of the first comments that would lead to such a negative discourse on the internet.

If this would be the end of the Lone Gunman, there should have been more Scully in the episode. She only had a small bit at the funeral at the end. She said how important they were to her, and I would have liked to have seen more of that during this episode.

“William”

This episode was directed by David Duchovny and dealt with the baby of Scully, William. There was a burnt man who was captured and Doggett believed that this was Mulder. The show made it seem like this burnt man was Mulder, but Scully never believed that was the truth. It turned out that it was Jeffrey Spender, Mulder’s half-brother and the son of Cigarette Smoking Man who was supposedly killed by CSM. That was a good twist. It was all about getting to William and make him human. That was a bizarre storyline element that did not make much sense.

However, I do think that the idea that Scully put William up for adoption to keep him safe from the aliens and anyone else makes a lot of sense and it put a period on the William story for now. I know William returns later in the newer seasons, but this worked well for this season.

The Last of Us S2 E7

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“Convergence”

“You wasted it!”

What an end to the second season of The Last of Us. Abby comes face to face with Ellie and it sure seemed as if Abby shoots Ellie.

Ellie killed a couple of Abby’s group earlier, including Mel, a pregnant woman, and it was clear that it hit Ellie hard. Mel became collateral damage in this revenge and that shook Ellie to her core.

With the screen going to black when the shots are fired, we have no idea what happened to Ellie. Most series I would say that it was obvious that she would be fine, that it was someone else’s gun going off, but about a month ago, the show killed Joel so I would not put anything past it.

It did end the season with the idea that the show was going to switch POV to Abby as the episode ended with a chyron stating “Seattle Day One” on the screen after we saw Abby in the Wolves’ stadium. I do not know how excited I am in seeing the POV of Abby in this whole thing. I hate this character of Abby and I do not want to have my opinion changed on her. I am not interested in a redemption arc for her, seeing everything that she has been through. She killed Joel and she killed Jesse. I am sad for the loss of Jesse, by the way. I should have known earlier in the episode when Jesse said that he was not dying that it was just foreshadowing the end.

By the way, the short time that Ellie was on Scar Island with the Seraphites was utterly frightening. I was not sure how Ellie was getting out of that situation as the noose was around her neck and she was just about dangling off the ground. She was seconds away from being gutted like a deer by the Seraphites. Thankfully, an alarm goes off, preventing the scarred psychos from completing their ritual. Ellie has that luck roll working for her.

The shots of Ellie on the water in the thunderstorm was amazing scenes. The power of the storm was clear and the danger that Ellie was willing to put herself in to satisfy her own selfish vengeance is fully realized.

I was not sure that this was the finale of the season, and it left off at a horrible moment. Then, Abby seemingly the focus of the third season, at least at first does not make me anxious for the show to return. It is absolutely a quality show, but I worry that it may push some viewers, particularly those that are not the game players, away.

The Last of Us S2 E6

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When Joel died in episode two, I knew that we would be getting a flashback at some point. There were just too many mysteries that we needed to see play out. In particular, what had happened with Eugene and why did Joel kill him? I saw that Joe Pantoliano was listed in the credits as Eugene so I expected we would see what happened.

I did not expect an entire episode of flashbacks. A whole episode of flashbacks that were amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.

Focusing in on Ellie’s birthdays during the years Joel and Ellie lived in Jackson, we saw how Joel tried to make each day something special for Ellie. Making her happy was a major goal for Joel. The guitar and song. The space shuttle. The dinosaur. All ways to try and make Ellie’s life a little better.

It also showed us how Joel and Ellie’s relationship was weakening. The whole situation stemmed from Joel’s lie at the end of season one involving the Fireflies. Deep down, even when Ellie was happy, she knew the truth. She just did not know the details. The scene on the porch where Ellie finally confronted Joel and he gave her the truth was tough, but had hope surrounding it as well, since Ellie said that she wanted to try to forgive Joel, even though she didn’t think she could.

That scene is made even more powerful as we know that this is the last words between the two of them ever. It is going to be the way that Ellie always remembers Joel.

The whole Eugene storyline was rough too. Joe Pantoliano delivered a great performance despite only being on screen for a few minutes. You really felt his devastation and his deep desire to see his wife one last time. Of course, it was a trigger for Ellie to solidify her thoughts about Joel. It was the look in his eyes when he lied to her.

Ellie was brutal when she outed Joel’s lies to Gail. It was a punishment for Joel by Ellie. She did not take Gail’s pain into consideration.

Next week is the season finale and I am not sure where this will go from here. For sure, the pain of losing Joel is only going to be worse now after we got the opportunity to spend a little bit more time with him and Ellie.

The Last of Us S2 E5

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“Feel Her Love”

Another strong episode of the video game adaptation on MAX. The Last of Us gave us the brutality of Ellie as well as seeing the group who were called the Scars and how horrendous they are.

Jesse made his way to Seattle (apparently with Tommy, though we haven’t seen him yet) and came in clutch as Ellie was about to be ripped apart by the Stalkers, the intelligent infected. Ellie and Dina were making their way to the hospital, and their trip through the big warehouse led them to these smart infected. Dina was able to lock herself inside a cage and Ellie was nearly killed, but Jesse arrived at the perfect time.

Of course, Jesse was pissed at them for leaving Jackson, and they had to run to escape the Wolves. They ran into the forest where they came across the Scars, also know as the Seraphites. They watched them hang a man and disembowel him, as Ellie and Dina had come across earlier. Dina gets an arrow in her leg and Jesse takes her while Ellie distracts the Seraphites.

Ellie winds up in the hospital and she comes across Nora, who had been the one to hold Ellie down while Abby killed Joel. Ellie chased Nora through the hospital and into an elevator shaft. They wound up in a basement area where Ellie sees a group of people connected to the plants, breathing spores. Nora was infected from the spores but Nora realizes that Ellie is the rumored girl who was immune.

Nora asked Ellie if she knew what Joel had done and then proceeded to tell her the things he had done. Ellie said that she knew.

Ellie took it even further as she was beating Nora with a weapon, trying to get her to tell her where Abby was.

The episode ends with Ellie waking up and Joel walking in to see how she was. HUH?

That was an unexpected moment. I always thought that Joel would be back in some kind of flashback sooner rather than later, but this was the weirdest placement for such a moment. There are a bunch of questions from this show and I can’t wait to see what the answers are.

The Last of Us S2 E1

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“Future Days”

Season two of the tense and traumatic HBO Max show, The Last of Us, just debuted and the relationship between Joel and Ellie was shaken and on the edge. And it clearly is related to the lie Joel told at the end of last season, to hide the brutality that he committed against the fireflies in order to save Ellie’s life. It has been five years later and there have been issues since that lie, bringing them to the point where they are now.

The show kicked off and ended with the same group of people, the surviving Fireflies that Joel did not murder at the hospital. They, particularly a woman named Abby, swear that they will find and kill Joel, no matter how long it takes. Apparently, how long it will take is five years as they show up at the end of the episode again.

It looks as if the choices made by Joel is the driving force of the drama for this season, whether it be from the group looking for vengeance to Ellie knowing that he has been lying to her for years. I think it is obvious that Ellie knows that Joel lied to her. You can see it in her face.

Catharine O’Hara is a member of the cast this season as Gail, who is a therapist that has been working with Joel. Joel has not been wanting to admit to anything and even after Gail mentioned her husband Eugene, who apparently Joel had to kill, he does not go into specifics (I just saw that Eugene will be played by Joe Pantoliano, so… flashbacks I assume!). He does not seem to be good at hiding it, because it sure seems as if everyone could tell that he had something he was keeping inside.

There is a new type of infected too. It was an infected that did not just run right at you, but who stalked you, hid from you, and positioned itself into proper spot. It was a creepy scene where the infected stalked Ellie.

This episode built the characters and started to place them into position to where they will face the trouble this season. The distance between Joel and Ellie is hard to watch considering how close they had become by the end of the first season.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #12

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“Imperfect Hosts”

The Sunday Morning Sidewalk continued this week with the second episode of Netflix’s The Sandman. I was somewhat disappointed with last week’s episode and I was worried that the commitment I have made, watching an episode a week for eleven weeks, was going to be a toil.

Thankfully, I thought episode two was a considerable step up from last week’s fare and I have a renewed vigor for the series.

One strength of this week’s episode is that it featured more of a spotlight on Morpheus himself. Sure there were other characters involved, but it felt as if they were all contributing toward the story of The Sandman, and not their own tales. Last week there was so little of Dream that it did not feel right.

I loved the introduction of Cain and Abel in the Sandman world. First, with Gregory, the dragon that Morpheus had given to them right out of the nightmare, and then with the fact that Cain continued to kill his brother, these two characters presented a neat contrast to Morpheus. Abel’s confession to Irving, the gargoyle, that he understood the roles they must play, Cain the first murderer and Abel the first victim, was profound and was a cool way to incorporate them into the dream world.

The show built some antagonists more this week, with an increased look at The Corinthian and the introduction of Ethel Cripps, an art dealer who may have sold Morpheus’s tools along the way. This allows Morpheus a group of McGuffins to chase after this season.

They also introduced a Constantine, though not the one I was familiar with. Her name was Johanna Constantine, supposedly a descendent of John. I look forward to the interaction between these characters moving forward.

Again, I am approaching this without much knowledge of the comics so this is an all-new world for me. I did a little research after the episode an discovered that the character of John that we got at the end of the episode is a major villain, Dr. Destiny. I was unaware of that and it provides a neat little Easter egg for me.

The X-Files S8 E21

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“Existence”

After so many years of me screaming for Mulder to shoot Cigarette Smoking Man in the head and not getting it, it was incredibly satisfying to have Skinner shoot Krychek in the head. Finally! This character was long overdue to meet his maker, and the fact that it was Skinner who got to do it really paid off the torture that Krychek put him through recently.

Baby William was born in this finale of season 8, and, after a lengthy chase and dangerous situation after situation, the Billy Miles led group let the baby alone and left without him. I suppose the baby did not come out like an alien as we had seen in some other births over the last season.

The final scene with Mulder and Scully sharing a kiss with the baby in her arms was excellent and felt very much like an ending. I know there is much more with these two, even if they are stepping back in season 9, but had they not come back, this would have made a very welcome close to the pair.

I did enjoy Doggett standing up to Kersh. It was clear that Doggett and Reyes were going to be the next generation of the X-Files at the FBI and that Kersh will be a major antagonist for them. I am still not necessarily looking forward to the ninth season, but we’ll give it the same chance that I gave this season.

As I have said in previous season 8 write-ups, this turned out to be a better season than I remembered. I bonded more with Doggett than I did the first time around, and while I am still not fond of Agent Reyes, I am willing to give her a chance.

So there are one full season left and two shortened seasons in this rewatch. I believe the count was 36 remaining episodes of the X-Files. I may have to do rewatches of the two feature films from the franchise too before the end of this rewatch.

The X-Files S8 E18, E19, E20

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“Vienen”

“Alone”

“Essence”

With just a handful of episodes remaining in season 8 of The X-Files, I wanted to get them churned out. I have been doing this re-watch of the X-Files since September of 2023 and I am down to one more episode for this season, leaving just season 9, 10, & 11.

My memory of season 8 during its original run was that I did not like it much, but I have to say that this season was better than I had remembered. I have made this speculation before, but it seems obvious that my original thought on this season was the lack of Mulder and what seemed like a replacement in John Doggett. John Doggett has won me over during this re-watch as I was not angry at Mulder not being there.

Of these three episodes, they all had that old X-Files feel to them. With “Vienen” featuring the final appearance of the Black Oil and the ultimate firing of Mulder by Deputy Director Kersh, the whole alien conspiracy felt like it was back, even though it was different and no longer being directed by CSM.

“Alone” was a pretty decent monster-of-the-week tale that had Mulder truly put his trust in Doggett, in a life and death moment. It was a stress-inducing episode where I was reminded of Dr. Curt Connors, aka The Lizard, from Amazing Spider-Man. Oh, those pesky scientists.

“Essence” is a part one of the season finale where we focus in on those people trying to get to Scully’s baby. It reclaimed the old days of the conspiracy as we learn about a baby/alien cloning program and how Billy Miles is like the unstoppable Terminator (ironic since Robert Patrick is on the other end of that). This one was pulling in the old guard too as, of all people, Alex Krychek showed up to help out the good guys team. I still would have loved to see someone put a bullet in Krychek’s head, but I guess he did help things out.

I hope to finish off season 8 either tomorrow or some time early next week. Season 9 has 20 episodes. Season 10 has six episodes and season 11 has 10 episodes, meaning that I am down to 37 episodes remaining in this re-watch of the X-Files. As I said, it has been going since September 2023 so we will be done with this under two years.

Yellowjackets S3 E9

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“How the Story Ends”

Episode 9 ends with yet another tragic death, this time adult Van tastes death and ends up on the plane, flying away with her young self, much like we saw happen with Natalie. Van wound up having a knife stuck through her heart by Melissa after Van decided against sacrificing Melissa to the Wilderness as a sacrifice to fight her cancer.

There is no way around it, Shauna is totally bat-shit crazy. A few seasons ago, Shauna was one of my favorite characters on the show, but now, I see her as just a psychotic woman with murderous tendencies. Both as an adult and as a teen in the Wilderness, Shauna is just such a wild animal.

I do not think she killed Lottie though. She could have. She may have even wanted to, but I do not think she did. I wonder what was on Lottie’s clone phone that Misty manipulated out of Walter. That is clearly a huge piece of evidence that Misty will drop before the season ends next week.

I was shocked when Hannah drove that knife into Kodi’s face. I did not see that coming. Unfortunately, Kodi saw it coming way to closely. Ah, Joel McHale, we hardly knew ye. I mean, on the plus side, the Yellowjackets surely have plenty of meat for the winter now, right?

Hannah is heading into that spike pit that Travis built, isn’t she? We know she ain’t making it out of there. That seemed to clearly be her fate.

The Other One finally lost her grip on Tai after this whole incident. This was a bizarre thing, and it wound up costing Van her life. I hope that is the last we have seen of that storyline.

Congrats to Jeff! Getting a job by telling the people who you want to hire you that your wife is crazy… that is a new strategy. Whatever works I guess. However, it sure seems as if Jeff really believes in Shauna’s craziness.

One more episode of the season. My guess is that we discover who Lottie’s killer is… and see the fate of Hannah.

The Leftovers S1 E1

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“Pilot”

I needed some more TV shows to watch. Of course, I have a bunch of shows that I watch during the week, such as Daredevil: Born Again, The White Lotus and Yellowjackets. However, with the rewatch/new watch shows, I have finished Battlestar Galactica, Bates Motel, Dark Matter and others leaving me just The X-Files to watch. I decided it was time to dip into the queue and see what series I could add to the X-Files.

I have been interested in The Leftovers for awhile now. I have heard positive word of mouth about the series, and it did not hurt that it was from Damon Lindelof, one of the driving forces behind LOST, my favorite show of all time.

The Leftovers has been on my MAX list for awhile now and I thought this was the perfect time to start this show.

My first thoughts was that the Russo Brothers must have taken inspiration from this show for Avengers: Endgame, because there were so many early episode similarities. The disappearance of the people from the earth right down to the THREE YEARS LATER that came on the screen. (Yes, Endgame was FIVE YEARS LATER, but that is semantics).

The world we were being introduced to had that same grim feel that Endgame had in its first moments where we see the post blip. This was with only 2% of the population of earth disappearing. I can’t imagine how that would feel, when people you know were just gone, with no explanation. Avengers: Endgame could blame Thanos. Where were the answers for these people?

The pilot began to introduce us to characters, and getting to know a large ensemble is a challenging task. This show did it very well as I was engaged with everyone as the episode progressed. There were plenty of mysteries and untold stories that will be revealed, I’m sure. The trauma from everyone in this town was obvious.

There are three seasons of The Leftovers with 28 episodes overall. There were several moments in the pilot that caused me to shout out. I am sure that this will live up to the hype.

Adolescence TV Mini-Series E1-4

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Whoa.

The new Netflix series Adolescence was a British crime drama that really packed a punch.

It was a four episode limited series that explored the story of a 13-year old boy accused of murdering a female classmate and the effects that this had on the boy, his family and others at school.

The third episode was the most stunning of the four, as it featured the boy Jamie Miller and Psychologist Briony Ariston having a session where she was trying to assess Jamie’s understanding of the case. This hour of TV was as thrilling and anxiety-ridden as you will ever see, with two amazing performances from these two actors, who spent nearly the entire time alone in a room. Owen Cooper played Jamie, and Erin Doherty played Briony.

The four episodes are shot in a one take (although there are a few moments where there are hidden cuts in the filming). It was an amazing accomplishment of acting and staging of a TV program to make this one take even remotely possible.

The show was created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham. Graham also starred as Eddie Miller, the father of Jamie. His performance in episode four was all kinds of heartbreaking, ranging from anger to total rage to regret and grief. The show did not shy away from the after-effects on the family, showing how the parents were forever damaged by their son’s actions.

The show uses the term incel, which is a mostly online subculture of men who are unable to find a girlfriend and who use this as an excuse to blame women for it. It is a type of misogynistic tendency that has been more active in the last few years. The show name dropped Andrew Tate during one episode.

Owen Cooper was exceptional as the Jamie Miller. His performance was both emotional and chilling. I wanted to believe his denials right up until the fourth episode when he calls his dad, on his father’s 50th birthday, to tell him that he had decided to plead guilty. Even after Jamie nearly admitted that he had done it in episode three and the implication that they had him on CCTV footage actually stabbing the girl, I wanted to believe that there was going to be a twist. I wanted to believe that there was something else going on. In the end, it was exactly what it looked like the whole time.

This was a devastating four episodes of TV, with unbelievable performances from everybody and a plot that was absolutely gripping and crushingly real. It is not an easy watch, but it is a powerful one.

The X-Files S8 E10

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“Badlaa”

So I have mixed feelings about this episode of the X-Files.

On one hand, I really liked the way Scully responded in this episode. It has been one of the questions I have had about the season 8 episodes. Scully has been doing the believer part, replacing Mulder and Doggett took the role of skeptic. It felt as if Scully really switched places quickly, without any trouble. Here, two things finally happened.

First, they mentioned Mulder’s name again. I am not sure when he was last mentioned, which felt weird for such an important character. Secondly, Scully admitted that she had been struggling to see things the way Mulder did and that she was not having much success. Both of these truths have been long time coming, and I assume it means that the writers are trying to put Mulder’s name back into the show because David Duchovny would be returning soon.

As for the other side of this episode, I have to say that the monster-of-the-week here, what was referenced as a fakir, was laughable in appearance and would climb into its victim’s body though his butt. Looking at the Wikipedia entry, the antagonist was being dubbed “Butt Munch” by a critic and “Butt Genie” by fans. Gurdeep Roy, aka Deep Roy, was a noted stuntman who wound up playing the fakir in the episode and he made me laugh immediately. Whereas I think it was intended to be creepy, the creature was silly.

That was a major drawback immediately, and the whole butt stuff did not help that out. I am not sure they ever really gave a motive for what the fakir was doing, or why he was killing those people that he was killing. Why he went after the boys in the end is unclear, unless it was just a response to them being able to see him.

The entire story, except for the Scully character parts, was a joke and lacked any real tension. Gillian Anderson brought her best in the episode and made some great material out of the weakness.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #7

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“The Breaking Point”

This was one of my favorite episodes of Band of Brothers so far. I’m not ready to anoint it as my favorite, but it is certainly in the argument.

There was so much character development throughout the entire episode, narrated by Lipton, that it provided me with more feeling toward some of these characters that, to be honest, blend together for me at times. Lipton. Speirs. Dyke. Compton. Malarky.

I have to say, there were two visceral moments for me in the episode. The first was when Joe Toye lost his leg in the shelling. It was such a shocking moment and the shell that then shredded Bill Guarnere, who had rushed out to help Joe, was unthinkable.

And the second moment was during this entire barrage, the soldiers kept jumping into their foxholes and I kept thinking how are these foxholes supposed to help against these shells? I mean, I understand how it can provide shelter to gunfire, but these shells were coming down from above, right? Then the show proved me right when it showed Corporal Penkala and Sgt. Skip Muck getting blown to bits while they were inside their foxhole, begging for George Lutz to get in it with them. I literally cried out when that happened.

The show dealt with the incompetent leadership provided by Dyke and continued to enhance the legend of Speirs. Buck Compton was not injured during this episode, but it showed that he had reached his own “breaking point” after seeing so many of the people he had been close with over his time with Easy Company dying. Part of the theme of this episode was that wounds were not all physical injuries and that the path of war took a toll on the soldiers’ minds as well.

The mood of the show was downtrodden, depressed. The cold weather played right into that as well. There was little joy in this episode. Even when the company felt safe and were singing, they were interrupted by a sniper.

There are three more episodes remaining in the first series of the Sunday Morning Sidewalk.

Paradise S1 E7

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“The Day”

Holy $%^$

Flashback episode and WHAT A FLASHBACK episode. Man this was tense. The show finally showed us the day when everything changed. We learned what happened to the earth that sent the Americans into the plan to go inside the Colorado mountain.

And man, was it powerful.

I mean, this was something else.

Not only the flashback, but the bookend scenes with Xavier and Sinatra was absolutely jaw-dropping. I found myself hating Sinatra almost as much as I used to hate the Cigarette Smoking Man on the X-Files. I was yelling for Xavier to put a bullet in her head, just like I used to want Mulder to do to CSM.

Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden are absolutely tremendous in this episode. Both of them gave amazing, Emmy-worthy performances in this episode as they dealt with the crisis of the earth’s downfall and the President’s drastic decisions prior to entering the mountain.

The tying of the events of The Day with the Cuban Missile Crisis is a stroke of genius and amazing writing. The determination of President Bradford in his decision to set off the huge EMP instead of launching the nuclear armory from the nuclear football is stunning. Could he have save the world with his choice?

Hearing Teri’s voice at the end was shocking and made me just hate Sinatra (aka Samantha all the more).

Plus, Sinatra told Xavier that the DNA found at the President’s murder site did not match anyone from inside the mountain, meaning that the murderer came from outside. I am not sure I believe her, but it is a massive twist if true.

This was the best episode of the season so far in a show that is chocked full of amazing episodes. Such a great hour of television on Hulu (or Disney +).