Tag Archives: writing

EYG Comic Cavalcade #225

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October 19

It is that time of the week again. I had had hopes that I could get this done on Sunday, but it just did not work out. So I am back on Monday with the EYC Comic Cavalcade. It is post #225 too, another of those comic benchmarks that usually requires some kind of anniversary celebration. I am waiting for 250 before we do.

I was able to pick up the original four-issues of Hour of the Wolf from Mad Cave and the 12-issue Camelot 3000 series from DC back in the day. I am currently doing a Daily Read on the Hour of the Wolf and I intend on doing Camelot 3000 next.

Comic of the Week

Hammer Head #1

This is a great horror book out from Mad Cave. Brand new this week. The main protagonist, Julie McCormick, was the sole survivor of the immortal slasher Henry “Hammer Head” Elgin killing spree.

Twenty years later, Julie is arrested and finds herself in a mysterious, high security prison.

I enjoyed this book very much and I love this variant cover even though it did not quite make the Medalists this week.

Books this Week:

Amazing Spider-Man #1001. Written by Joe Kelly and art by Pepe Larraz. Cover art was done by Federico Blee. I also picked up Cover B by Todd Nauck. This continues the story from ASM #1000 with Aunt May and her son Cormac Crane. Crane is the villain Ravage, but it does not seem as if he and Peter are going to mend their fences.

Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #1. Written by Jude Ellison S. Doyle with art by Fran Galan. Cover art was done by Patricio Delpeche. With the DC Studios movie Clayface coming out this coming weekend, this series may be picking up some steam.

Mark Spears: Graveyard Shift #1. Written, illustrated and cover art by Mark Spears. The new book from Mark Spears debuted this week. The art is still the highlight to me as Mark Spears is just spectacular. The story featuring the Boss gathering together a crew for the “graveyard shift” to take care of business. I liked this, but it did feel like the same as we usually got from him. Love the art though.

Sicko #3. Written by Tini Howard and illustrated and cover art by Amilcar Pinna. Valentine returned to OMELAS, but she has discovered that this was a mistake. Valentine discovered that several other patients with Breton’s Disease had mutations giving them powers much like Valentine. This has been a solid book so far from Ignition Press.

Lion King #6. Written by Edwin Galmon with art by George Kambadais. Cover art was done by Edwin Galmon. After the first five story arc that included Simba, we now have a new story with Timbon and Pumbaa, and it was a fun start. It felt like a small little issue with a fun story dealing with Pumbaa seeing things that were not there… or were they. It was another fun issue form this unexpectedly good book.

Legion of Super-Heroes #2. “No Escape.” Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Hayden Sherman. Cover art was done by Hayden Sherman & Tamra Bonvillain. Brainiac 1 of 5 and Matter-Eater Lad are trying to solve the case of the murder of R.J. Brande. Garth Ranzz is looking for a new trainer so he can become a super hero. I have liked this new version of Legion.

The Doom Patrol #2. “That’s the Spirit!” Written by Darcy Van Poelgeest with art and cover art was done by Niko Henrichon. While I have never been a fan of Doom Patrol before, I have been loving the first two issues of this new version from DC. I have found the characters to be extremely compelling and I am happy to be learning about them. This has been excellent so far.

Teen Titans #2. “AFK” Written by Kyle Higgins and art and cover art by Danielle Di Nicuolo. I have liked this new Teen Titans book, and the idea of kind of setting them opposite of Nightwing feels fun. I have to say that I am struggling with learning the characters. In Doom Patrol, there is only three characters for me to learn about, but Teen Titans has multiple ones and only the Red Hood is the only one that I know well. I do like this and I am into the book.

Iron Man #10. “Who is Citizen V?” Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art was done by Ryan Stegman & Frank Martin. Happy Hogan is back alive as Citizen V, which was revealed last issue. This gives us background on how he is alive and why he did not tell Tony about his truth.

Nova: Return of the Rings #1. “Return of the Rings” Written by Josh Trujillo and Rafael Loureiro with art by Bruno Abdias. “Shining Light” Written by Juan Ponce and art by Andy Pereira. Cover art was done by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. Sam Alexander is back in the helmet. This is a one-shot and the comic indicated that Sam will be back in the pages of Iron Man. Iron Man? That is a weird tie-in. I am anxious to see what that is like.

Barbara Gordon: Breakout #6. “Old Friend.” Written by Mariko Tamaki with art by Pablo M. Collar. Cover art was done by Karl Kerschl. Barbara Gordon is still in prison, and the end of this issue brought about a huge arrival… Two-Face. Two-Face just had his own mini-series and now he is here to deal with Barbara Gordon.

Ice Cream Man: Chocolate/Vanilla Twist #1. “Raspberry Suprise” Written by W. Maxwell Prince with art by Martin Morazzo. Cover was done my Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran. A black & white story that reaffirmed that Ice Cream Man is the BEST of all the horror anthology of all time. So many other books have come out since Ice Cream Man to a various amount of success, but Ice Cream Man is consistently the best read of all of them. Plus, they are the most original and big-swinging horror book of them all. This special was a fabulous issue that I enjoyed tremendously.

12-Foot Skeleton #1. Written by Aaron Campbell & Tim Seeley with art and cover art by Ben Templesmith (Silver Medalist). Another cool new horror book with two kids at the heart of the book. The Halloween decorations in their yard is more than just a decoration. It is a fun concept and the first issue was solid. Ignition Press has been hitting on all cylinders over the last year or so, and they have earned my trust on reading new issues. More often than not, they are really good.

Wolverine: Paradise #1. Written, Drawn, and cover art by Dan Panosian. This book has a different feel than a lot of the other Marvel books “set in the past” that we have had so many recently. This one feels more special. Dazzler is making an appearance in the book, which is always great. I really love the look of the art from Dan Panosian. It had the great atmosphere for this throwback story.

DNX #3. Written by Jed MacKay with art by Federico Vicentini. Cover art was done by Kaare Andrews. The X-Men are desperately trying to prevent the crashing of their ship into Philadelphia after 3X escaped. How are they going to stop the metal missile? How about Magneto? Magneto makes his fully powered return thanks to the FF and he arrived at the end of the issue. DNX has been interesting so far.

X-Men #39. Written by Jed MacKay and art by Netho Diaz. Cover art was done by Tony S. Daniel & Jay David Ramos. While the action in Philadelphia is hot and heavy, the Factory in Alaska has been left … well, not quite defenseless. O*N*E* was going to make an attack on the factory. Xorn and John Greycrow have been left behind to protect it. However, it seemed that it was not just them… but also Glob.

Black Cat #15. “Dress for Success” Written by G. Willow Wilson and art by Gleb Melnikov. Cover art was done by Josemaria Casanova. Peter Parker asked for help from Black Cat, going undercover at the opera. So Felicia needed a new dress. Problem: the dress shop would not take cash. So Cat just chose to steal the dress. This brings Tombstone into the mix as well. Black Cat is such a fun book with some great writing by G. Willow Wilson.

Batman & Robin Year One- Dynamic Duos #3. Written by Mark Waid and art by Chris Samnee. Cover art was done by Chris Samnee and Mat Lopes. Robin’s undercover mission does not go well, as he is placed in the situation where he had to prove himself by shooting Catwoman. Dick was able to get out of that, but Catwoman followed him to his meet up with Batman. This has been a great series so far. Even though there are like three hundred Batman books.

Spawn ’77 #2. Written by Mark Spears & Todd McFarlane with art by Mark Spears. Variant cover B art was done by Shawn Crystal. Spawn works extremely well in the art style of Mark Spears. I think Spawn is much like the monsters that Spears is used to draw.

Cassie #1. Written by Sam Humphries and illustrated and cover art by Eleonora Carlini. This Boom! Studios book was a bizarre baseball book. I have had several strange baseball books over the last couple of years, but this one I just could not get through. It is only a one-shot, but I would not have been buying it had it been a series.

The Infernal Hulk vs. Fantastic Four #1. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Cian Tormey. Cover art was done by Nic Klein. The Infernal Hulk is trying to create a new age of monsters, and now it is up to the Fantastic Four to stand in his way. Unfortunately, they take quite a beating.

Venom #1. Written by Charles Soule with art by Tommaso Bianchi. Cover art was done by Davide Paratore. Charles Soule writing Venom is interesting. The book has reset Venom, with Eddie Brock back in the symbiote and in New York to save people. I am not sure if I want to continue with Venom, but this first issue was pretty solid. We’ll have to see.

Generation X-23 #9. “Have a Nice Trip” Written by Jody Hauser with art by Marco Renna. Variant cover B art was done by Partha Pratim. I have loved this book so far. I did not expect this book to be as enjoyable as it is. These young characters are all fabulous and I am hoping this book keeps going after issue 10 (although it seems most Marvel books do not any longer).

Wade Wilson: Deadpool #9. “Big Guns Part 3 of 4” Written by Benjamin Percy with art by Geoff Shaw. Cover art was done by Geoff Shaw & Alex Sinclair. The sort of team-up between Deadpool and the Punisher moves along into the third part as Bullseye joins the conflict. One more issue with the crossover in the next Punisher.

Other Books this Week: The Seasons #12, 100 Bullets: The US of Anger #4, Blood & Thunder #18, X-Men ’97 Season 2 #5, Star Crossed #3, DC Studios Clayface #1, Planet Atmos: Exordium #6, Avengers: Meals to Astonish #1, Horror Comics: Dead Man’s Party #1, Bludwire #4, and Jinx & Stitches: The Great Revenge #1.

Quick Hits: Mad #602 is out this week with a look at the world of art. It is nice that it is still being released at a semi-regular rate. There is a cool and lovely black & white version of the Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #1. I’ll pick up the rest of the series from Image. There are a series of art from Lee Bermejo in the Amazing Spider-Man: Amazing Visions #1. There is an interview inside this book with Bermejo along with his art of some of the greatest Spider-Man moments of the history of Marvel. This was also the bronze medalist for the week. I grabbed the foil version of Archie vs. the Terminator #1 from Dynamite. It is a cool cover, and the Archie renaissance continues. Captain Britain: 50th Anniversary Special #1 dropped from Marvel this week as there are several past Captain Britain stories. Pancho Villa: Monster Hunter #2 keeps sending our Mexican hero after monsters. This Amp book has been entertaining so far. Babylon Cove #5 brings this story to a conclusion. It was a decent book, but maybe not as great as I had hoped. We look at Mrs. Hyde in the Accessories #3, which is the third of four issues. They have just now introduced all of the members of the Accessories and there is only one issue left. I wonder if this should have been more issues than four. Batman-Bad Seeds: Streets of Gotham #1 was the gold medalist for the Favorite Comic Cover of the Week for the B variant cover. The Nice House By the Sea #12 wrapped up the new series this week from Vertigo. Of course, this series was not from Vertigo when it started. We focus on Elita Prime in Transformers #37 on Cybertron in the war. Elita learns a lesson. New ID book You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive #1 arrived on the stands this week. This is one that I am going to need to see a little bit more before I decide if I like it. The Omega Book #3 continues to be wild and bizarre. Love the swing this series took. I am shocked at some of the scenes from Chachu #3, because Iman Vellani is such a sweetheart that I did not expect a blowjob scene. Speaking of sex stuff, Lilith: Blood & Burlesque #1 had a cover by Garth Graham that is very sexy. Then, I received this in the mail from eBay today: Watson v. Holmes #1. What an interesting book. It is a twelve-issue series. I have #2 coming from eBay as well and I have added it to my pull list.

Boston Legal S2 E11, E12, E13

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“The Cancer Man Can”

“Helping Hands”

“Too Much Information”

Boston Legal has always had some wonderful guest stars over the years who played some extremely memorable characters. The three episodes of season two had several examples of some of the best.

Catherine Piper- played by Betty White. She had been on previous episodes as well as on The Practice. She starts robbing convenience stores to get Alan’s attention.

Jerry Espenson- played by Christian Clemenson, who would eventually become a series regular… at this point was just an eccentric lawyer who would not take his hands off his thighs. He also held a knife to Shirley’s neck when he found out that he was not making partner.

Daniel Post- played by Michael J. Fox, who was a young CEO who had terminal cancer, but becomes involved with Denise. Daniel was very spoiled and used his money to try and take advantage of a special cancer trial.

Bev Bridge- played by Joanna Cassidy, had sex with Denny the night they met… the the coat check room. Denny and Bev planned to marry, and the firm worried about the influence she would have over Denny. She does fire the sandwich guy.

This is not just guest stars, but these roles are being played by big name stars. They all would appear in several episodes, if not many more.

These episodes start to show that Alan Shore is more than just a lawyer with questionable ethics. They are showing Alan as a man who is willing to fight for what he believes and for his clients. He might still do what it takes (like bribe a witness with a new car), but I might go as far as to say that Alan is beginning to become the heart and soul of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. He’s always been a good man deep down, but much of these episodes show him being a good man outwardly.

Other Mommy

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It has been a great year for horror. I spoke about it in a review just a few weeks ago after watching Resident Evil.

Then came Other Mommy.

They can’t all be winners.

Other Mommy was a huge disappointment because the initial trailer for this movie was so good. How could a trailer be so intense, creepy and disturbing while the movie it is from is dull, stupid and downright pathetic.

According to IMDB, “Bela, an 8-year-old girl living in a home with marital problems, confronts a sinister entity which comes out of her closet. The presence, whom she calls “Other Mommy,” becomes increasingly threatening to her and her family.”

Jessica Chastain committed to the role, but I was underwhelmed by the performance. It was funny at times, and that is not what the film wanted.

I will say that the young debuting actor Arabella Olivia Clark as Bela did a good job. She handled a lot of the heavy lifting in the story as she had most of the story on her shoulders.

The problem is the story itself was lacking in too many ways. There is no specific plot involved. What is Other Mommy’s motive? Not really sure. There are moments when the tone of the film is all over the place. It felt like they tried to infuse some humor into the story that just never worked and only served to pull me out of the film.

The biggest problem of Other Mommy is that, outside of the great jump scare that they showed in the trailer, this movie was just not scary. It was nowhere near as creepy or intense for almost the entire run time of the film. The trailer made me think this would be a tense and anxious film. Nope. I actually laughed at several of the scenes that were supposed to be scary.

I thought the acting was fine, but there are just too many problems with the film to add to the list of great 2026 horror films.

1.2 stars

Lanterns S1 E8

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“Dirt and Stars”

The finale of Lanterns was really good, in my opinion, but I have a feeling that it may not be as well received as it should be.

The mystery of who killed Hal Jordan was wrapped up with an interesting twist when it was revealed that Sheriff Kerry did indeed shoot him in the head.

Motive? She was protecting her son, Noah, who was revealed as a Manhunter. Noah knew he was a Manhunter and had healed Hal when Hal got stuck in a burning building. Noah had confessed to John that he had killed Hal, in order to protect his mom. Noah was the one who freed Sinestro and convinced him to forge him a lantern in exchange. Noah got the drop on John and got ahold of the ring, but he and John had a powerful conversation inside a car.

I say that I do not think the finale will be as well received because there was not much action in the episode, and there was a lot of talking. I like that kind of writing, but I know there has already been criticism about the use of the Lantern powers in this show.

I do think the episode was strong for the character element though, and watching John Stewart claim the ring and use the forged lantern to charge his ring with his own distinct oath.

In Brightest Day
In Darkest Night
I’ll embrace my fear…
I’ll do what’s right
I choose this ring,
I choose this fight…
In service to this lanterns light

Guy Gardner made another appearance and John told him what it was going to be. It was great to see John become what he was destined to be, but taking it in his own way.

Great series. I am sad that Hal Jordan seems to be done for good, but, even still, this was very entertaining.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #89

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DTF St. Louis

“The Go Getter”

The theme of this episode: Floyd was wonderful.

I mean, the character of Floyd, as brilliantly played by David Harbour, is one of the best character/people on TV. Everything about him was awesome, personality wise.

That all came through during the interrogation between Clark and Detective Plumb and Homer, after Plumb discovered that Carol had lied about the Go Getter drink.

The way Clark spoke about Floyd was as loving as you could and the descriptions of the way Floyd handled his life, from his step-son to a chance encounter, was so above board that one wonders why anyone would want him dead.

This episode revealed that Floyd was not a closeted gay. He had misinterpreted a picture on the DTF St. Louis site as a woman (didn’t have his spectacles on) when it was a picture of David Bowie, and his chance encounter with a man. Floyd lets him kiss him in the parking lot to avoid hurting the man’s feelings, even though he was not into him in that way.

This episode spent a chunk of time setting up Carol as the obvious suspect in the murder. Since it is episode three, I think she is also a red herring. We saw Carol riding one of the recumbent bikes like Clark does, plus she spent a bunch of time trying to get Clark to help her get life insurance for Floyd.

There is no doubt after this episode that Clark did not kill Floyd. The key that the police showed him clammed him up. I think it probably leads to some life insurance that would point the finger at Carol, and Clark was trying to protect her. I have a suspicion that he believes she killed Floyd.

Their sex life encounters… weird.

By the way, the gymnastics routine from Floyd on the hostile architecture was epic. Floyd was really out of breath after it. Is that a clue?

I am intrigued with this case, and I really want to know what happened to the wonderful Floyd.

Ted Lasso S4 E9

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“Mae Rides the Bus”

I had a bad feeling about this.

The show then went ahead and did it.

Mae.

The juxtaposition of the excitement of the Richmond Lady Greyhounds winning their match in comeback fashion and earning the promotion against the sudden and shocking death of Mae Green.

Now, the show, technically, never uttered the words that Mae was dead, but it was not difficult to tell with the painfully emotional moments and body language of both Rebecca, who was told initially, and Ted, who was told by Rebecca. We did not hear the words, but seeing Ted’s head slouch was obvious.

It was a serious gut punch in an episode that was such a joyous celebration.

We also got Keeley discovering that she was pregnant and her own health issues kept her from attending the game. However, Roy’s sweetness helping her stay calm during the televised game, not even knowing that Keeley was pregnant. He thought she had fainted at the previous game because of high blood pressure.

After the wonderful victory, Keeley whispered the truth in Roy’s ear and he responded with such a happiness that you hoped he would. It was another wonderful moment in an episode that was determined to make you feel anguish at the end.

It was revealed that it was not Rupert trying to buy shares of Richmond from under Rebecca, but instead was eccentric billionaire and sports entrepreneur Zelda Southport, played by Tracey Ullman. This was not a surprise as Zelda has been a questionable person all season long.

Then, the progression of the character of Coach Alice has been tremendous this season as she has taken some serious steps in becoming the coach that she could be.

However, the penultimate episode ended with a crushing feel and sets up some real questions for next week.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #87

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DTF St. Louis

“Cornhole”

An Emmy winning limited series from HBO Max is the next show for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk and I am a little disappointed. Not with the show, I thought it was a compelling and gripping first episode that I am excited to continue. I am disappointed because I knew the premise of the show before I watched episode one.

I knew that there would be a surprising murder in episode one… truthfully, it was what attracted me to the show… but I really wish I had not known this fact because the surprise would have been monumental.

We got some hints at the non-linear storytelling techniques in the first episode as we did see David Harbour’s character Floyd Smernitch in flashbacks after his body had been discovered dead. I do enjoy the non-linear structure as the use of flashbacks can help tell the story extremely effectively.

Jason Bateman’s weatherman character Clark Forrest feels like the classic red herring, as he was arrested in the first episode. Linda Cardellini, who was Floyd’s wife, Carol, was purposefully made to look sinister at times in the episode.

It’s really early to try to make a judgment on whom the killer is, because there could be any number of factors that played into it that we do not know yet. The manner in which Floyd was killed does seem to limit the number of possibilities.

I love a good mystery and a major character being offed in the first episode is great. It reminded me of when Laura Palmer was found wrapped in plastic, though I do not expect any sort of weirdness like I got in Twin Peaks in DTF St. Louis.

I do love the dynamic between Richard Jennings (who played Detective Donoghue Homer) and Joy Sunday (who played Detective Jodie Plumb). They will be a fun pair to follow as the facts of the case are laid out before the audience.

Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini and David Harbour are awesome actors that I love in just about everything I have seen them in, so I expect this seven-episode limited series to be a fantastic ride. It already dropped a bunch of shocking reveals that I can’t wait to see play out.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #86

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Spoilers

Black Bird

“You Promised”

The finale of Black Bird on Apple TV + was satisfying. It was also sad. I had been cautious to look at any reports about the case, since this is based on a true story of Jimmy Keene and Larry Hall, so I would not know how it turned out. This episode saw Larry draw a map and carve a little bird for each of the girls that he murdered. He sent the map to his brother. I was not sure the reasoning behind that, but Jimmy was able to get a look at the map.

Sadly, the map was not specific enough for Jimmy to get any details outside of a general location and, in the end, none of the girl’s bodies had been recovered.

The final scene between Jimmy and Larry was powerful, as Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser just knocked this scene out of the park. Jimmy tried to convince Larry to let the parents of the victims know where their daughters were buried and Larry did not understand why he would do that. You could see Jimmy slowly reaching the point of breaking from the horrors that Larry was laying out in front of him.

Watching Larry’s face as his evil continued to shine out was a frightening occurrence and showed what kind of actor Paul Walter Hauser could be.

In a fictional tale, ,they would have found the graves of the victims, but, with the true story, those remain a mystery.

I am very pleased with the way Jimmy Keene’s life played out both on screen and in real life. The show added “boxed text” at the end to give us some falling action for this story, including what happened to Jimmy, to his father, Larry and Larry’s brother Gary.

The strength of this series was absolutely the performances of its two lead stars, both who had been nominated for Emmy Awards with Hauser winning Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series.

Next week, we start a new series for the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. I decided to watch another limited series that won some Emmys, this time on HBO Max entitled DFT St. Louis featuring Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, and David Harbour.

Ted Lasso S4 E6

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Spoilers

“Don’t Jump Around Much Anymore“

Be careful when “Jump Around” comes on… especially when you have a bad knee.

Roy went down at a New Year’s Eve party as the House of Pain hit played. He and Jamie Tartt, who was back guest starring, joined in the dance and Roy’s knee let out. It led to Keeley to meet Roy’s new doctor girlfriend, which was crushing to her.

Then a supremely doped up Roy ends up telling the doctor that he loves….Keeley. Roy did not realize he was talking to the doctor… and Keeley heard him, but only up to the point where he said “I love you”. Of course she thought Roy was meaning the doctor. It was an old misunderstanding trope of sitcoms, but there is a reason why it has been used as often as it has. It worked here too.

It did feel weird that we got a New Year’s Eve episode in September, but I forgive that too because it was a solid character episode. We had important moments for not only Roy & Keeley, but also Ted & Ted’s ex-wife, Michelle, Beard, Jamie, and Rebecca and Matthijs. Then, Alice seemed to take some huge steps, but then took giant leaps backward.

Oh, and Tracy Ulman’s character is amazingly weird and downright psychotic.

Some of the episode’s arcs were heartbreaking while other arcs help move the characters forward. The scenes between Ted and Michelle were really sweet. I was afraid they were going to do some alcohol related sex between them, but they stuck with the friendship and Ted feels able to ask someone out on a date.

Rebecca and Matthijs made up in time for midnight as Matthijs arrived at the hospital where Rebecca was hanging out with Jamie after bringing Roy here for his knee. It was a nice resolution, but there was not really much of a story this way. Still, with the other flops of relationships, it was nice to have someone happy.

Boston Legal S2 E6, E7

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Spoilers

“Witches of Mass Destruction”

“Truly, Madly, Deeply”

Two Boston Legal episodes, one that I thought was a typically strong one, and one that I found ridiculous.

“Witches of Mass Destruction” had two main story arcs. One was about the death of a young man in the military whose sister brought a case against the government that during recruitment, the recruiters committed fraud by what the told him. Alan stepped up to take the case despite Denny’s objections and direct orders to drop it. The other arc on this episode was a Christian couple and a Wiccan couple joining forces to sue to stop a Halloween pageant at a public school. This tale, though bizarre, at the heart is about religious freedom and schools keeping religion out. Both of these stories were solid and the military one in particular was extremely emotional.

“Truly, Madly, Deeply,” on the other hand, had two silly arcs and one of Denny Crane. Alan and Brad defended a station manager who fired their clown who was talking about global warming on air. The thing is, the man was attending the court in his clown makeup and Alan was afraid of clowns. It made Alan look bad as he could not do cross or even look in the clown’s direction. The second arc featured Michael McKeon, who I love as an actor, trying to prevent his wife from getting an annulment on grounds that he had sex with a cow. If one of these to stories had been opposed by something more solid, I don’t think that I would have felt as… icky. Then, Denny Crane decided to shoot his client that he had been assigned to defend by the judge in the knees. The client was a child rapist and murderer and Denny did not want to defend him. He tried many other tricks to get off the case and then he ended up shooting him, claiming to be defending himself.

To be fair, all three of these storylines had positive resolutions, but by that time, I had checked out on them.

To me, the second of these episodes only served to make some of the lawyers at Crane, Poole & Schmidt look foolish, in particular Alan and Shirley (who couldn’t defend the cow lover). Denny always looked that way so it was no big deal for his character.

Oh, and the first episode was the one where Denny and Alan famously dressed as flamingos for their firm’s Halloween party (which is an image on the banner above the post).

Boston Legal has shown the ability to go from deadly serious to over-the-top absurdity in a blink of an eye. Episode seven just did not work for me.

Silo S3 E10

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Spoilers

“Troy”

During this awesome season finale, my first thought was… I don’t know the time frame happening in this show. I originally thought that the Juliette timeline was really a long way into the future. But… now…

We saw Victor, who was the doctor who helped Daniel back in the flashback timeline, watching the events of Silo 18. Turned out that Victor was the voice of the Algorithm. We see Daniel wake up from a cryogenic sleep, only to be called Troy and not remember anything about his past. We see Daniel’s sister Charlotte, now called Susan, and neither Troy or Susan recognized each other.

I have to say, the people looking generally the same age in the present timeline threw me for a loop. I was not expecting it. I assume they all have some time in cryo to account for it, but it took me a good deal of time trying to decipher the answer.

Big swerve. Camille helped the rebels in silo 18 as she delayed the failsafe just long enough for the crew to cap the pipe that would have delivered the poisonous gas into silo 18. I did not see Camille’s turn coming at all.

Another big swerve. After the failed failsafe attempt, Victor ordered Troy awakened. Before that could happen, Victor ends his own life with a handgun he had hidden in his desk. He left a message for Troy, answering a question Troy had been asking… about a woman he had been seeing in visions as he is awaken. Victor told him her name was Helen.

I did not mention that we saw the massacre of the people of silo 17, and that Troy was the person who ordered the deaths. In one of the hardest scenes of the series, we saw the poison released after the people had left their silo and how the drones would mow them down with weapons.

After all the drama, Juliette led a small group of people including Camille to the door. It was here when Troy spoke using the Algorithm voice and offered Juliette a deal. There would be no further failsafe attempts if the people of silo 18 promise to not try to contact other silos. Juliette accepted, but it was part of her rouse. Juliette has a better idea, something that the people of silo 1 would not expect. Juliette wanted to have an all out assault on silo 1.

So many questions still up in the air. I believe the creators of the show hinted at a connection between Troy/Daniel and Juliette. Could she be the descendent of Daniel and Helen’s baby?

I love how everyone in silo 18 now seems to be working together instead of against each other. About damn time.

I do think an actual timeline of events would help picture all that there is. It seemed as if the massacre that Troy led in this finale was the same one that Solo (Steve Zahn) experienced as a child.

We learned that season four will be the final season of the show and that we do not have to wait long for Silo to return. It showed us clips from season four at the end of the episode and told us that it would release in the summer of 2027. We are under a year away from the final season. I found this season of Silo to be filled with surprises and fantastic character work. Even when it was frustratingly slow at times, it always felt like they had a destination in mind, and the end of season three paid off dramatically.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe S1 E7

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“Spoiler: Dexy’s Midnight Runners Get a Royalty Payment”

I have not been much of a fan of the last couple of weeks of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe. It had felt lacking of any real story beats and, despite the enjoyable cast, I was not pleased with what they had given us. The episodes felt too short to have any sort of a developed story.

Then episode seven was dropped on HBO Max and I was back in, full bear.

In this episode, the crew wind up in a universe where everyone has telepathy, which is a great hook for some funny comedy bits. It also has one of the best defenses to the power ever imagined… singing Come On Eileen in your head.

Also, one of the funniest lines came from Bert wondering why Kripke’s mind has a lisp.

But the episode had more than that. It had a sudden twist as Stuart and the group run into another Stuart and the group with their own machine. Then a military version of the group showed up. Suddenly, the mystery of the show was slapping us in the face.

I loved this idea that there may be countless Stuarts jumping around the multiverse, all trying to figure out what is happening.

Who started this whole thing going? Why did alternate Stuart come to see Big Bang Stuart only to do the same thing again?

I’m intrigued and excited. There are only three more episodes of the show, and I hope that means that we get some of the mysteries answered. However, since the show has been renewed for a season two, I’m worried that it will be spread out over the years.

Bernadette made a memorable appearance in the Telepathy universe as a tap dance instructor with a bunch of foul-minded little kids.

Ted Lasso S4 E5

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“Riches of Embarrassment”

A fabulous episode of Ted Lasso with a return to form for Ted and the others.

And some Ted Lasso quotes to add to it…

My favorite… “There’s a reason the rearview mirror is smaller than the windshield.” That was a classic Ted Lasso-ism.

I do hate what the show is doing with Keeley and Roy. Having Roy find another woman after Keeley insisted he go on a series of dates is just too cruel. I don’t know if this is leading to a Keeley-Rebecca pairing, but I still want Roy-Keeley to be together. I hope that is the endgame of this relationship section.

Ted and Beard realized that they have a “coach problem,” as Alice’s negativity is isolating her and making her an outcast among the team. There is a definite story here that is unresolved and I am here for it. I was shocked when Ted told Alice that he was suspending her for a game so she could figure out what was going on with her. He made a reference to Nate without mentioning his name.

Ted Lasso’s positivity is just off the charts and he does a whole halftime speech on embarrassment that is just so great that it carried the entire episode.

However, drunk Rebecca is right up there too.

The match against Chelsea was well done and Richmond’s defeat felt right. They fought back to tie after being down 2-0 at half when Ted’s inspirational message on embarrassment brought them out of the tizzy. However, the sudden defeat did feel like it was right for the overall narrative of the show.

This was an episode that reminded me of how much I wish I was like Ted Lasso. He is such an awesome model to inspire to.

Oh, and Beard is hilarious. What was up with that play?

Boston Legal S2 E1, E2, E3, E4, E5

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“The Black Widow”

“Schadenfreude”

“Finding Nemmo”

“A Whiff and a Prayer”

“Men to Boys”

The start of season two was a strange one. At the end of season one, they gave a preview for the next episode which dealt with Lori’s sexual harassment and an discomfort in the workplace. Then, in episode one there was no sign of these scenes and we do not see Lori again until a brief moment in episode four.

The scenes showed up in episode five, which was the end of Lori’s run on the show.

You could tell that Boston Legal had gone in a different direction. We had new characters such as Denise Bauer played by Julie Bowen, Sara Holt, played by Ryan Michelle Bathe, and Garrett Wells, played by Justin Mentell.

This season had one of my favorite episodes of the whole series, which was when Denny took Alan to Nemmo Bay in Canada to fly fish. Their interactions in the room after the day of fishing was hilarious. It had one of my favorite low-brow jokes of all time when Denny and Alan are going to sleep in their room and Denny says, “Don’t take this personal” and then lets out a fart. I am not a fart joke fan, but that was unbelievably funny.

We also have the storyline of Bernard come to a close at the end of a skillet by the hand of Betty White’s Katherine Piper. Katherine was afraid that Bernard, who had killed his mother and a neighbor at the end of the first season, was going to kill again. He had been talking about leaving clues for the police like the BTK Killer. She wound up hitting him with the skillet that he had used to kill his victims. In an allusion to Picket Fences (also a David E. Kelly show), she put the body of Bernard in a icebox.

Alan was able to get a “not guilty” verdict for Katherine, though she wound up getting “Schmidt-canned” because of the whole thing.

The Denny-Alan relationship was explored more in these first five episodes of season 2. They build the relationship more than they have last season and this central relationship is vital to the show. And we learn that Alan find the pig noises Denny makes when sleeping to be soothing.

Tara broke up with Alan and she left the firm, being one more of the changes to the cast.

This first five episodes were excellent and are going to build on a long season of 27 episodes.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #84

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Black Bird

“WhatsHerName“

What a great hour of television episode four of Black Bird was. There were two or three times when it literally gave me chills. Paul Walter Hauser was outstanding as Larry, reflecting back upon his childhood with Jimmy.

Both men had terrible childhoods, even though Jimmy’s started out looking great. Playing catch with his father in the park, looking forward to a great life, even to the NFL. It would not be.

The dialogue of this episode was outstanding and did so much of the heavy lifting for these two characters. Hauser’s delivery was spot on and I totally bought him as a unbalanced serial killer. However, there were so many moments where you almost related to or wanted to like Larry. Every time it got too close to feeling for him, Hauser would deliver a line that shocked you right back into the knowledge that this guy is a vicious killer.

The flashbacks were very effective, especially the ones with Larry. I was not as much of a fan of Jimmy’s flashbacks, especially with the time where his mother’s new boyfriend broke Jimmy’s ribs. The actor they cast for that young Jimmy just did not feel like someone who would grow into Taron Egerton. That pulled me out of that scene which does a lot to inform us on the man Jimmy would become and how he would think of women.

This dialogue-heavy episode followed on opening where there was a prison riot that was exceptionally violent. Larry had told Jimmy that it was “Riot Quiet” around the prison, foreshadowing the events of the violence. The riot led to Larry being placed in charge of the clean-up crew in the cafeteria section of the prison, where the main part of the riot took place. Larry showed his capabilities of cleaning, showing how knowledgeable he was in the area. He clearly knew how to remove blood stains and the such.

Again, every time you thought maybe Larry wasn’t as horrible as you thought, suddenly he was saying something or making a gesture that reminded you how evil this guy was.

Two more episodes of this compelling drama and I am anxious to find out what happens. I am trying to ignore my inclinations to look up the true story and see how things played out in real life. I am curious, but I am dedicating myself to no spoilers.