Tag Archives: tv

Doctor Who S2 E3

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“The Well”

One of the wonderful things about the Disney + series, Doctor Who, is that this character can be in any kind of type of story needed. Last week we had the meta episode with the animated character. This week there was a space sci-fi/horror story with a lot of tension and mystery. Doctor Who can do whatever you need.

This week was tremendous. The Doctor and Belinda showed up in a space military operation on an unknown planet in the distant future. They encounter a mysterious force that stands behind a person. It is connected to a story that Doctor Who had told previous when David Tennent was the Doctor. It was fun when Ncuti Gatwa said, in character, that he had been on this planet before, and we get a flash from that episode with Tennent.

I truly did not know what was going to happen with this story as there were just a bunch of characters on edge. The show also did a great job of building these side characters quickly so I felt something for them when they were in jeopardy. It was not just a bunch of cannon fodder (though there were some of those here too).

The episode continued to build the overarching mystery of the season with the question about why the Tardis can not return to earth in 2025. These people in the distant future had never heard of the earth or the human race even though The Doctor indicated that the earth should have been known in the time. I do like how they keep planting those seeds even if it is not the main thrust of the episode. Oh and Mrs. Flood is there again, just taunting us with her continual presence.

I am such a fan of this version of the Doctor so far. Ncuti Gatwa is such a strong performer and seems to have chemistry with everyone. He is emotional and powerful, oozing a confidence that is shaken over and again. I have not seen many other versions of Doctor Who, but this one had made me a fan.

The Last of Us S2 E2

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“Through the Valley”

I can’t believe it.

I was aware of Joel’s fate in general from the video game, but I knew no specifics. So as this was being set up, I was in denial. I was sure that they had planned on extending Pedro Pascal’s part longer into season two because of how huge of a star he had become.

Nope. Episode two and Joel is dead.

Honestly, right up until the end, before Abby drove that broken golf club into Joel’s neck, I thought he was getting out of it, somehow. I never played the game so I was unaware that this was setting up a scene that was straight out of the game.

Ellie held on the ground, screaming for mercy for the man who was like a father to her was heartbreaking, and I know that there are extenuating circumstances behind the vengeance of Abby, but I want her dead… just so dead.

Joel had saved her life earlier in the episode as she had been chased by the Infected and was about to be caught when Joel appeared from nowhere to stop it. The whole chase scene with Abby and the Infected, as well as the crawling beneath the collapsing fence, was just suspenseful.

Before this tragic event, the Infected crashing into the city and causing such a tremendous amount of loss. The standoff with Tommy and the Bloater was intense as you get on TV. I thought Tommy was a goner, but he was able to make it through, thankfully.

Bella Ramsey was amazing in this episode. They are absolutely setting up Ellie and Abby as similar characters for future face off. Historically, heroes and villains are like the other side of the same coin. This feels like the show is building a hero/villain archetype.

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.

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.

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 +).

The White Lotus S3 E1

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“Same Spirits, New Forms”

I wanted to have season one and two pf The White Lotus completed before season three kicked off, but I found out that the first episode had debuted last week and I was still in season two. So this week, I made it a goal to get through season two so I could follow along with season three as a weekly show.

I did complete the second season earlier this week so today I watched the first episode of season three.

The White Lotus for this season is set in Thailand and the exteriors and the surroundings are absolutely stunning. They have always looked great, but there is something both beautiful and mysterious about the set up for this season.

The opening of the season is as dramatic as always, with gunfire breaking up a young African-American’s one-on-one meditation session. We learn that he was at The White Lotus with his mother, but we do not have any ideas whom that is. However, I did have an idea whom that MIGHT be. I knew coming in that Natasha Rothwell would be resuming her role as Belinda Lindsay from season one, and so I could assume that this was her son. Maybe I am wrong, but I am fairly certain that is the case.

I do have more of a connection to this new group of characters in the first episode than I did in the season two introduction. That’s not to say that these characters aren’t rotten jerks, because clearly they are, but I have more of a connection to these. Why? I am not sure.

Actors in this season, along with Natasha Rothwell, include Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola, Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Aimee Lou Wood, Nicholas Duvernay, Lalisa Manobal, Tayme Thapthimthong, Lek Patravadi, Christian Friedel, Shalini Peiris, and Jon Gries.

New episodes are on MAX every Sunday night at 8 PM CST.

Yellowjackets S3 E3

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“Them’s the Brakes”

The Showtime series continues to ramp up the strangeness and the tension in both time frames with some weird events (a talking llama?) in the cave that the Coach had been living as well as the troubles between the survivors back in the present day.

The wild and psychedelic events in the cave caused by some poisonous gas (maybe?) was one of the weirdest segments this show has sprung on us in any of the three seasons, and that is saying something. In the end, the girls were able to capture Coach despite going through some bizarre situations (again.. a talking llama?)

In present day, Shauna had a blow up with Misty when her brakes go out on her mini van. Shauna blamed Misty, but it seems clear that someone else is stalking Shauna. Shauna also blew up at Lottie. While Van’s cancer seems to be in remission, Taissa thinks it is because the restaurant worker died chasing them… you know, as a sacrifice to “It.”

I have to say that there are still a ton of moments where this feels like LOST. This episode had a big one as we heard Mama Cass’s song  “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” which played in one of the most iconic scenes in LOST’s second season with the Desmond reveal. Add to that the potential connection of The Wilderness in Yellowjackets to The Island on LOST, well, it is clear that the creators of this show were inspired by LOST.

The Man with no Eyes made a couple of appearances this episode too, including a potential explanation of where he came from. The show continues to give two potential explanations, one supernatural and one normal for the main mysteries of the show. I’m not sure which one I prefer.

Invincible S3 E1, E2, E3

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I did not finish season two of Invincible. I was not loving the show at that time. It felt to me that the show was just falling back on the blood splatter as the story. It was going too far for my taste. To be fair, I did not see the second half of the season so I do not know what it was like.

I had considered not watching season three either. It kicked off with three episodes dropping and they were longer episodes, so I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to get back into it. I decided that i would give it a chance.

I found these first three episodes of season three pretty good. There was still blood, but it did not feel as over-the-top as the last episodes that I watched.

I am not much of a fan of Mark’s new costume. I preferred the first one, but perhaps the new one will grow on me. The whole Invinci-Boy stuff was funny. Oliver is an interesting hero and kind of plays with Mark’s hypocrisy. His conflict with Cecil was based on basically the same idea, especially with Oliver killing the Mauler Twins.

The conflict between Mark and Cecil was rough and we saw how Cecil came to be with a backstory. I am not sure if any of them are in the right with this. Mark does seem to be overly erratic at times, but Cecil is totally condescending. We’ll see where this goes from here.

I did enjoy the arc of the Guardians over these first three episodes, with the conflict between Mark and Cecil splitting the team in half. I found this Guardians storyline to be a worthy addition to the stories going on.

I also liked the Mark-Eve relationship and how they have started to date. Admittedly, date might be a bit of a relative term, but I do like them together.

After watching the first three episodes, I feel as if I will keep giving the show another episode until I find myself feeling as I did during season two. So far, I would say, so good.

Dexter: Original Sin S1 E9

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“Blood Drive”

I was more impressed with this episode of Dexter: Original Blood than I had been for a few episodes. Then Dexter did something so stupid that it defies explanation.

In the last few minutes, he captured Captain Spencer and wrapped him up on his table. He taunted him for awhile and then decided to let him escape. I understand he was doing it so he could follow Spencer to where he had the missing Nicky hidden away, but there are so many things that could go wrong with that idea that it is shocking. I mean, just off the top of my head, the police captain could decide to turn Dexter in and frame him for the death of the kids. I can’t believe that would be hard to do… especially since Dexter had already cut off Spencer’s little finger, something that everyone knows the killer had done.

Spencer’s motive for kidnapping Nicky (and the kid before whom he killed) was fairly week too. I mean, just to get back at his ex-wife, he was going to torture and kill his own son? That felt so bizarre. I assume the other kid was taken and killed as a way to throw off the investigation, but that was so out there that I just do not accept that any of this made sense.

The flashbacks this episode were more engaging, which was not typical for this show. They featured the two traumatized brothers, Brian and Dexter, being adopted by Harry and Doris and having Brian be psychotic. It feels like it was a bit of a stretch from Brian and Dexter seeing everyone killed to Brian trying to suffocate baby Deb with a pillow to make her stop crying. The time frame seemed rushed.

I do think making the serial killer involved in this season Dexter’s separated brother is a good twist. I’m just not sure that this is done well either. Brian did not show much emotion about being separated from Dexter as a child, so having the separation be the driving force behind Brian’s murder spree did not feel right. Maybe it was just his excuse to unleash his own Dark Passenger, which makes more sense to me.

I believe there is only one more episode remaining for this season so we’ll see how things get wrapped up. The Brian storyline does not feel like it can be finished up in one episode, especially an episode where the Dexter-Spencer story is still a high priority. Still, we’ll see what happens.

The White Lotus S1 E4, E5, E6

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“Recentering”

“The Lotus-Eaters”

“Departures”

I finished off the first season of The White Lotus with some mixed feelings. The show is amazing, beautifully shot with gorgeous imagery of the Hawaiian Islands. However, the characters, while intriguing and deep as well as wonderfully acted, are just the worst people around.

Even those characters that I think we were meant to connect with as an audience are just the worst examples of people.

Armond is the perfect example. I am both sorry for and disgusted by Armond. He took so much grief and unnecessary strife, particularly from Shane, but he made so many choices that led to his own downfall. The scene of him pooping in Shane’s luggage was gruesome, shocking, and downright disturbing (albeit really funny). Of course, this “feud” with Shane sure seemed as if Shane came out on top and I am not sure how I felt about that. Shane was one of the biggest jerks on the show. Just losing his wife did not seem to be enough Karma for him.

Another character that we were meant to support was Paula, but she was every bit as bad as Olivia. She totally corrupted Kai which led his his arrest. That arc was anything but satisfying as that character was sacrificed to the show. I kind of expected Kai to have given the jewels he stole back, maybe anonymously, because he was better than that and had felt the regret of his actions. I guess not as Armond just said he was caught and that was all we got from him.

If there was one character who was worth rooting for, it was Belinda, who got royally screwed over by Tanya. The whole storyline with Tanya and Greg did not work much for me. He just blew in, had sex with Tanya, and told her he was sick. This was so out of nowhere, it felt out of place. Plus, it led to Tanya turning away from Belinda, whose heartbreak over the rejection of her business plan, a plan that Tanya encouraged in the first place, was crushing. Actor Natasha Rothwell did some wonderful acting in the final episode, keeping much of her own disappointment and ache inside and expressing it through her eyes and face.

There are seven episodes of season two also on MAX and I expect that I will be jumping into them soon. This first season was really well done and acted, creating some definitive feelings for these people. They just may not have been a happy feeling.

Dexter: Original Sin S1 E7, E8

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“The Big Bad Body Problem”

“Business and Pleasure”

I just am not sure how I feel about this show.

Dexter: Original Sin came back with some new episodes on Prime, but they seem to be inconsistent. There are some solid scenes with good tension while there are too many scenes that felt in was in the wrong show. The tone just does not work throughout.

Dexter figured out that Captain Spencer was the kid killer and had kidnapped his own son. He did a classic “Batman Leap” to figure it out, too. A “Batman Leap” was something that my friends and I dubbed when you make a leap in logic that comes out of nowhere, like Batman would do on the old TV show (Glu Glutton’s Glue Factory…). There is no real logical way Dexter would think the Captain was the culprit.

Of course, he was right and I assume that the Captain is going to end up on Dexter’s table before the end of the season.

Deb’s storyline is one of those that do not seem to work very well for me. They took Deb’s boyfriend Gio and made him a total jerk after seeing nothing of this from him during the entire time. They just decided to make this guy an ass for reasons.

The flashbacks are another part of this show that does not work for me either. They put Dexter, his brother and mother in jeopardy in a ridiculous situation that, I supposed, is meant to show you where the Dark Passenger came from.

Harry and LaGuerta went to Tampa looking for leads for their serial killer, and Harry found something in a file. I am not sure what it was, but the character’s name was Brian. I wondered if that is going to be Dexter’s brother.

Episode eight was a little better and more consistent than seven, but so much of the show is questionable that I think it could be so much better with some better writing.

The X-Files S7 E19, E20, E21, E22

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“Hollywood A.D.”

“Fight Club”

“Je Souhaite”

“Requiem”

And with this, season 7 of The X-Files comes to a close. Perhaps one of the most inconsistent seasons of the show, with some real highs and some real lows.

The first three episodes on the list were all based in humor. One that really worked well, one that was so-so and one that was maybe the worst episode of the series.

“Hollywood A.D.” was ridiculous in all the best ways. Mulder and Scully being followed by a movie producer, who was full of puns and jokes, and a movie with Gary Shandling and Tea Leoni. This was written and directed by David Duchovny and had enough wink-winks to make the episode work.

“Je Souhaite” was the middle ground episode as it featured a Genie granting wishes. Honestly I got a lot of Twilight Zone vibes from this episode, which ended like the Disney movie Aladdin did. I found this silly too, but the humor worked more than it did not.

“Fight Club,” on the other hand, is one of the worst episodes I have ever seen of the X-Files, rivaling “First Person Shooter”. Kathy Griffin played two characters who were doppelgangers of each other and in love with a man who also had a doppelganger. Oh, and pro wrestler Rob Van Dam appeared. This was one where the humor did not work and the story was so stupid and incoherent that it seemed as if everyone was just going through the motions.

Then in “Requiem,” the season ended with the show going back to its roots, quite literally, as the show returned to the Oregon town that appeared in season one episode one. It also returned actors who had appeared in that episode. Returning as well was Smoking Man, Krychek, and Marita Covarrubias and Krychek apparently murdered a wheelchair-bound Smoking Man by pushing him down the stairs. It sure looked like he was dead this time, but I know he did not die here. Besides, it would not have been satisfying having Krychek be the one to knock off the a-hole.

Mulder then gets abducted by aliens in full view of Skinner, setting up Mulder’s absence moving forward. Scully tells Skinner that she was pregnant, even though she does not understand how (I mean, she knows how… but she was supposed to have been unable to become pregnant after her abduction).

“Requiem” set up the series with some real cliffhangers that allowed the series to continue into the 8th season. Many times during the 7th season, it really felt like it was going to be the final season and that the creative juices were gone. Part of that may have been the end of the conspiracy and wrapping things up, like Samantha Mulder’s disappearance, as they did.