A few hours ago in an Orange Country far, far away…
STAR WARS!
One of the film world’s most beloved franchises continued to prove it’s power this weekend in Anaheim, California with the four day event known as Star Wars Celebration, which (as the name suggests) celebrates everything Star Wars. The convention got off to a big start on Thursday, April 16 with the release of that stunning trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens but the fun carried on for an additional three days. So with a press pass around my neck and a pair of friends at my side I hit the convention floor to get a fan’s eye view of what all the fuss was about…
In general you’re surrounded by your favorite props, vehicles, and characters every where you look.
Some are convincing…
But others require a little imagination…
And there was definitely no shortage of these guys…
No, seriously. There were hundreds of them.
Some of the displays were conventional…
While others were downright bizarre…
Cars were given a Star Wars makeover…
And so were children!
Celebrity chef Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes whipped up some intergalactic treats in a replica of the famous cantina scene from A New Hope!
…but let’s not forget to talk about Chef Darth Vader serving up Jar Jar Bink’s head on a platter. Literally.
But fans looking for a taste of what’s to come in The Force Awakens would not go home disappointed…
Even the newly styled Stormtroopers made an appearance!
And when you found yourself shut out of panel discussions and cast member meet-and-greets due to long lines and full rooms you could always just recreate the classic films in some truly awesome photo opportunities!
Fancy some holographic chess? You got it!
Need a quick dose of healing bacta fluid? You can get that!
Want to prove your worth against the dreaded Rancor? You can do that too!
Just beware of roaming Playboy Bunnies…
…and the disturbing revelations of movie magic…
But all in all it’s worth the peril to stand in the replicated hallways that Han Solo and Chewbacca called “home”…
But keep your damn nerf-herding hands to yourself!
When we left Outlander last week, things were pretty dire for Claire and Geillis. Laoghaire had accused both of being witches and given the time period, that’s no slight accusation. With Jamie off to do Colum’s bidding and babysitting Dougal, there wasn’t much help for the pair on the outside of their prison cell. (Not much help from the rats on the inside, either.)
“The Devil’s Mark” is an episode that epitomizes what I enjoy about Outlander. Was it a fantastic episode with heart-pounding moments and top-notch writing? Well, no. In fact, I have quite a few issues with the episode. HOW-TO-THE-EVER, it was concise, developed the characters well, and moved the story forward. I counted at least three moments in the episode where the writers could have stretched out the episode a wee bit more to end on a cliffhanger. Thankfully, the gods were with us and no such thing happened.
I’m always fascinated by representations of witch hunts from the 17th-18th centuries. Not because they’re insane and over-the-top (though that is enjoyable), but because of how easily our own culture falls into the same mindset. We like to think that we have grown as a people, and we have, what with all that science nonsense, but mob mentality still runs strong in our blood and the internet is total proof of that. It’s easy to look upon the people of Cranesmuir and judge them for being simple-minded and rash because we know Claire and Geillis, we know they aren’t terrible people who deserve to be burned alive. (Well, Geillis DID murder her husband, but she totally did it for love.)
The trial was nicely done, loud and chaotic, intercut with quiet, desperate scenes of Claire and Geillis in their cold, underground prison cell. It’s nice to see how different these two women are and to notice just how much Claire has grown. She trusts no one to save her except herself, which leads her to shouting back at the rabid townsfolk because like my young son, Claire knows that shouting always gets you what you want. Geillis, however, is almost serene, convinced Dougal will save the day. In the end, it is neither Claire or Dougal who comes to the rescue, but the unlikely hero in Ned Gowan.
Ned Gowan is an unassuming old man, significantly more bookish than brute. And yet, he walks into the trial with all the confidence of a–well, a Jamie–convinced he can save the girls from these false accusations. After the first witness, it’s clear how intelligent Ned Gowan truly is. He knows how to play each witness, either preying on their superstitions or their past as a means to discredit each testimony. Even with his splendid show, I was torn from the trial scenes once Claire started narrating. I don’t need to be told that Ned Gowan is a wordsmith who uses his meek persona to his advantage. That much is already made plain. The narration by Claire (and Jamie in the ninth episode) has only hindered the otherwise good show. I really wish they’d cut that out.
Nevertheless, Ned seems to get the job done. That is, until Father Bain takes the stand. He puts on a convincing display of a broken man, one who has lost his faith because of the selfless actions performed by Claire to save a young boy’s life. It almost seems sincere and for a moment, I thought this would be an interesting change, to see the pious man set free the accused witches. But then his purpose is made clear–he never intended to help Claire or Geillis, but to instead further the belief they are able to bewitch others, including driving a man of God away from his faith. And then the courtroom goes insane.
There’s no witty remark for Ned to make that can save the girls. Their fate is sealed unless one will admit the other is the real witch. Naturally, Ned wants to save Claire, as Geillis isn’t on many people’s Christmas card lists. Claire feigns nobility and this was one of the few moments in the show when I didn’t buy Caitriona Balfe’s acting. Claire was stilted, obviously torn between saving her own life and loyalty to her friend, but it was a flat delivery. It’s a stupid and noble act, and Claire’s not given many options, but something still felt off about it all. In the end, Claire chooses friendship and gets lashed for it. Just when things seem to hit their breaking point, Jamie bursts through the doors and somewhere in the background a trumpet plays his hero theme.
This was the worst part of the episode for me. I understand the situation Claire, Geillis, and Ned are in. I know it looks hopeless, but to have Jamie show up as the hero last minute with no explanation as to why or how he is there completely shatters all of the good things the trio did prior to his arrival. Geillis then (finally, amirite?)takes it upon herself to draw attention away from Claire so she can escape. And in doing so, she shows off her scandalous vaccination scar. Instead of Jamie rushing in to save the day, I think the scene would have played out better without the dashing hero and instead with Ned and Claire ducking out of sight. Alas, it doesn’t happen that way, and I don’t know what happened to Ned; I just know Geillis met an unfortunate fate and Jamie and Claire fled into the woods.
And that was just over half the episode.
See what I mean? There is a lot of meat to each Outlander episode, so much so that these reviews could go on for much longer. (Only I’m told to have less bodice-ripping. Silly, prude overlords.)
After saving Claire, Jamie sits down with her to calmly ask if she’s a witch, as one does. In a conversation that I assume took several hours, Claire divulges to Jamie the truth about how she came to be in 18th century Scotland. In all that time, she never manages to fix her dress and bring it up over her shoulders, but hey, if this were Game of Thrones, she’d have been fully topless, so…small miracles? (I realize the open dress was because of the wounds from her lashing, it just looked a wee bit ridiculous.)
Jamie accepts Claire’s story, admitting he doesn’t understand it (to which Claire scoffs, “Neither do I.”), but he believes she is telling the truth. They ride off into the sunset, share another female-approved sex scene, and then Jamie drops her off at Craigh na Dun.
After a lot of deliberation and a black screen that I was CERTAIN meant cliffhanger, Claire returns to Jamie and the world Jen rejoices. I can’t help but love those two crazy kids together. And now, off to Lallybroch!
Outlander airs Saturdays on Starz at 9pm EST.
Photos courtesy of Starz.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is about as incestuous as a Targaryen dinner party, so when a film as large as Avengers: Age of Ultron comes around it can be difficult to remember which face goes with which butt suit.
That’s where we come in. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until the release of the film, we’ll be giving you primers on all the major players.
Also, this primer (and all the others) will contain spoilers from the last several Marvel films. You’ve been warned. So, don’t whine. At least not at us…
Iron Man?! i love that song! Duh, duh, DUH-DUH-DUH! DUH-NUH-Nuh-NUH-NUH-NUH-NUH-DUNH-DUNH-DUNH-DUNH!!!
No. Stahp. Not that one. Iron Man is a man who dons an incredible suit made of iron which is partially assisted by artificial intelligence, powered by an incredible miniaturized electromagnetic reactor and is packed to the brim with advanced weaponry.
Iron Man is played by Robert Downey, Jr..
so…he’s kinda like an iron batman?
Not entirely, though Iron Man is pretty much the closest one can get to being Batman without being Batman. His not-so-secret identity is Tony Stark, a billionaire, playboy, genius weapons engineer who uses his vast wealth and knowledge to contribute to the betterment of mankind whether it’s through his Iron Man persona or by designing technology that’s both incredibly efficient and clean.
“stark”? any relation to that stark guy from captain america?
Yup. Tony is the son of the late Howard Stark who, you may recall, was one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D. and also provided major assists to the United States government in the form of transportation and advanced technology and weaponry during World War II. Howard (with scientist Anton Vanko) was the original designer of the Arc Reactor and would, posthumously, save his son’s life. In fact, it’s probably fair to say that Steve Rogers wouldn’t even be who he is today without Howard. The elder Stark created the Vita-Ray Machine that, along with a “Super Soldier Serum” (invented by his colleague, Dr. Abraham Erskine), successfully transformed the wimpy Rogers into Magic Mike: ‘Murica Edition AKA Captain America. The ensuing research of the Super Soldier program even lead to General Ross’s “Weapon One” program, so one could even argue that Howard might have been indirectly responsible for the origin of The Hulk.
All right. I’ve got a headache now. Just tell me more about tony.
In Iron Man, following a weapons demonstration in a Middle Eastern desert, the U.S.Military convoy escorting Tony back to a local U.S. Military base was ambushed by the Ten Rings, a radical terrorist group. They captured Tony and offered him a deal: either he created the very same advanced missile systems so they could shift the balance of power in the area or they’d kill Stark. Being that Stark couldn’t go anywhere (he had a piece of shrapnel embedded in his chest near his heart due to the attack), he knew he’d have to perform a miracle to survive and escape. With the help of Ho Yinsen, a former surgeon captured by the Ten Rings years prior during a raid on his local village, Stark would construct a miniaturized version of the very same Arc Reactor which would not only keep him away from death’s doorstep, it would also power the various Iron Man suits Stark would create and–.
TL;DR
Ok, fine. Tony’s Arc Reactor solved his health issues, he escaped the cave utilizing a very crude and bulky iron suit and returned to America where created a brand-new, more streamlined Iron Man suit, while ending his company’s involvement with weapons manufacturing. That last bit didn’t sit well with long-time, close family friend and colleague, Obadiah Stane. (By the way, yes, that’s his actual name, not a Harry Potter villain or an alien from the Star Wars universe). It turns out that Stane was not only supplying our military, he had been selling Stark weaponry to the Ten Rings as well. His ultimate goal was to take Stark Industries from Tony by force. When his initial attempts failed and the truth was revealed, Stark went after Stane who had hijacked and made improvements to Tony’s original cave suit, The Mark I. After the two fought, Stane met his end by falling through the roof of the L.A. offices and electrocuting himself on a giant, prototype of the Arc Reactor that Tony had originally built, years prior, as an experiment.
Damn. That’s insane.
Oh, totally! But, there’s more. In Iron Man 2, Senator Stern (yes, the corrupt Senator from Winter Soldier) and the Senate Armed Forces Committee was breathing down Tony’s neck: they didn’t like that Tony had quit supplying weapons to them and they wanted his Iron Man technology under the false pretense that the Iron Man program was “a possible threat”. In reality, Justin Hammer, a dude they hired to replicate Stark’s stuff, was producing technology that was about as reliable as Windows Vista and that wasn’t flying with the Government. Stark defeated the SAFC after showing hearing attendees Hammer’s technology test footage, featuring his clone robot suits going haywire. Out of anger and frustration, Hammer hired Ivan Vanko, the son of Anton Vanko, to help clone Stark’s tech and, at the same time, destroy Stark physically and mentally. As it turns out, Ivan already had a bone to pick with Tony because, years earlier, Howard deported his father, Anton, back to Russia based on espionage charges born out of greed. Whereas Howard wanted to develop the Arc Reactor as a form of clean energy, Anton only wanted money and fame. Ivan wanted revenge.
Well, that’s not such a big deal. It’s only some industrial flunky and his goofy sidekick…
Yes, but what Hammer (and the rest of the world) didn’t know was that the small Reactor that Yinsen and Stark built had an unfortunate side effect: the Palladium (the element used to power the device) was poisoning Stark’s bloodstream and there was no cure. As a result, Stark was forced to make the incredibly difficult decision to hand his company over to his long-time assistant, Pepper Potts, in case of his demise. He would replace Potts with a new assistant in the form of Natasha Rushman, a notary he met days prior. Tony began sinking into a deep depression and, while he managed to defeat both Vanko and Hammer, he very nearly ended up losing his best friend, James Rhodes in the process. Not only did Rhodes have to subdue Stark (Stark drunkenly entertained his birthday party guests by goofing around with his Iron Man suits, recklessly shooting random objects with his eye beams), he ended up stealing Stark’s Mark II prototype suit and delivering it to the U.S. Military, which ended up being heavily re-built into a suit known as “War Machine: Mark I”. At this point, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. stepped in to help out as they deemed Tony too important to lose. Fury, tired of dealing with Stark’s shit, forked over a box of Howard Stark’s old stuff, in the hopes that Tony would be able to mine it for a cure. It was because of Howard’s past research, hidden in outtakes for an introduction video for the annual “Stark Expo”, that Tony was able to create a new plot device element that was not only compatible and more powerful than the original Arc, it also was a Deus Ex Machina cured his palladium poisoning.
is there anything stark can’t do?! why isn’t he president?
I’d assume it’s his reckless attitude. And his womanizing. Which should make him a good candidate.
So, then he was in the battle of New york?
Well, originally, S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t even want him because they deemed him to be too irresponsible to be part of the actual Avengers Initiative due to his actions in Iron Man 2. They offered him a “consultant” position instead, which Stark accepted — if they forced Senator Stern to award him and James Rhodes bravery medals. S.H.I.E.L.D. accepted and, for one of his first “missions”, he was sent to a bar, by Agent Coulson, to prevent General Ross from releasing Emil Blonsky (AKA “The Abomination”) to S.H.I.E.L.D. custody because, as it turns out, S.H.I.E.L.D. was gonna try to tame him and bring him into the Avengers Initiative.
That makes no goddamn sense.
I know. But let’s move on: Coulson finally brings Stark into the fold after a godly object called The Tesseract was stolen from a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in New Mexico by Loki, the brother of Thor. As it happens, the Tesseract is an “Infinity Stone”, something that will be covered in an upcoming primer. Once owned by Loki and Thor’s father, Odin, it has unlimited power and potential, which S.H.I.E.L.D. was hoping to exploit in order to bring free, unlimited energy to the planet. In the wrong hands, it can be used as an extremely dangerous weapon. It turns out that Stark and Bruce Banner are, virtually, the only two people on the planet who can track the thing — which is a must since Loki wanted to use it to open a portal for a bunch of hostile aliens so that they he could take over the planet. Luckily, Coulson and Fury were able to re-start The Avengers Initiative, uniting Captain America, The Hulk (Banner), Thor, The Black Widow (Agent Natasha Romanoff), Hawkeye (Agent Clint Barton) and Stark to fight and cut the menace off in New York before they could get to the rest of the planet.
What’s in store for Stark in AGE OF ULT–?
Not so fast. There was an Iron Man 3.
Oh, come on…look, I got things to do…
Dude. This universe is huge. Plus, this was kinduva fun one. Stark’s experiencing a bit of post-traumatic stress from the Battle of New York and can’t sleep. He stays up for days at a time creating several new versions of the Iron Man suit. It isn’t until a series of terror attacks occur on U.S. soil that Stark snaps back into action. Remember the Ten Rings? Well, they had a new leader called “The Mandarin”, a weird, pseudo-enigmatic man who looked like a Middle Eastern Fu Man Chu. He had a personal vendetta, it seems, against anything that represented America. After the Ten Rings hit the Chinese Theater in Hollywood, critically injuring his old friend and former bodyguard, Happy Hogan, Stark publicly threatens The Mandarin on live television out of blind anger, causing the Mandarin to send some troops to Stark’s Malibu mansion, via fully-loaded gunships.
LET ME GUESS: he lives?
Yeah. Well, he nearly perishes in the attack. Stark manages to use his brand-new Mark XLII (That’s “42” for those of you who live in modern times — and, yes, he created 42 different suits) to take out two of the three gunships before the third sent Stark and a most of his mansion into the Pacific Ocean. Stark barely survives the attack but ends up getting knocked out. J.A.R.V.I.S., his A.I., flies the suit out of the water (containing the unconscious Stark) and halfway across the country before they run out of energy and crash-land in Tennessee. It’s here that Stark realizes that The Mandarin’s people believe him to be dead — so he goes undercover in a nearby town to investigate a similar attack and eventually discovers that the attacks are being instigated by a man named Aldridge Killian — and they aren’t “attacks”. It seems Killian has been experimenting with “Extremis”, an experimental drug capable of healing any wound and regenerating limbs in minutes. The problem? Two-fold: he’s been testing it on amputee war veterans and the drug doesn’t meld with many of them. The ones who can’t handle the drug are like walking bombs and explode if they panic. He even makes it personal by kidnapping Pepper Potts with the stuff.
Ok. Even I want this guy dead now! tell me he dies a terrible death…MAKE WITH THE DEATH!
Well, essentially, Stark uncovers Killian’s plot: The Mandarin is an actor, a complete fake, the “face of fear” as it were, and Killian intends to do away with the current President, which will allow the corrupt Vice-President to step in (Killian promised to cure his daughter with Extremis) and become Killian’s puppet. With control of both the President and the Mandarin persona, Killian would be able to manipulate global conflict for profit. That’s why Rhodes and Stark utilize all 42 Iron Man suits against Killian and his Extremis goons. When the fight comes down to Stark and Killian, Killian ends up killing Pepper…only to see Extremis work its magic and bring her back from the dead. She ends up destroying Killian. She panics about what she’s become — but Stark, being the genius he is, figures out the chemistry of Extremis and manages to stabilize Pepper’s condition — then uses Extremis to finally remove the shrapnel nearing his heart, as well as the Arc Reactor…
What? Wait…why would he do that?
I have no idea. That’s where we’re currently at.
So what’s next in age of ultron?
Welp…whereas Stark is a genius, the “reckless” part of him is what causes the crisis the Avengers battle through in the new film. Stark feels as though the Avengers are weary from battle and, in order to give them all a break, he invents a legion of remote-controlled robots — except one of them becomes self-aware — and he’s not happy with the team. This will obviously put Iron Man at odds with an already fed-up Captain America, which will obviously lead to the events in the next Captain America installment.
Relevant people:
Pepper Potts: Tony’s never-fail assistant who puts up with Tony’s shenanigans, rain or shine, better or worse.
Howard Stark: Tony’s father who, despite his genius, had a very strained relationship with his son.
Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes: Tony’s BFF and main connection to the American military mind. Rhodes is also “War Machine”, donning a modified version of Tony’s Mark II suit.
J.A.R.V.I.S.: The name of the A.I. who assists Tony where ever he goes. J.A.R.V.I.S. is available in nearly every piece of hardware Tony has including his car, his phone and his suits. He’s based on the Stark Family butler, Edwin Jarvis.
Ho Yinsen: A brilliant surgeon who Tony first met at a New Year’s Eve tech conference in 1999. Tony, who was too drunk at the time to remember it, would meet him again, years later, in Afghanistan under unfortunate circumstances. Yinsen was instrumental in keeping Tony alive after his capture and helping him to build the mini-version of the Arc Reactor. He died during Tony’s successful escape attempt.
Ivan Vanko/Whiplash: Disgruntled son of the late Anton Vanko, who helped Howard construct the original Arc Reactor during the beginning of the Cold War before Howard had him deported on suspicion of espionage. Vanko wanted revenge against Tony for Howard’s perceived misdeeds against his father, Anton.
Maya Hansen: The inventor of “Extremis”, the experimental drug that can heal wounds and regenerate severed limbs. Hansen met her demise at the hands of Aldridge Killian but it’s assumed that her work on the drug has been improved upon by Tony Stark. The drug is a fairly large plot point in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Want more than movies? Need to pump some artistic iron? Check out these comics:
Say, ‘member when we reported that the Batman v Superman trailer would be premiering Monday at select IMAX Theaters nationwide?
Never underestimate the shifty (yet ballsy) guy with the camcorder that nobody ever seems to catch.
The trailer has yet to launch online or anywhere else, but we have it in all its dark, dirty, sinful, BitTorrenty glory.
The mood of the trailer is the same dark, gritty tone Snyder established in Watchmen. You can clearly hear that the media is hellbent on smearing Superman while Batman is fed up with him for some reason. Also, Batman sounds like Dr. Claw and…personally, the trailer left me feeling severely underwhelmed.
That isn’t a good feeling to have with a film with so much hype and expectations that are sky-high.
You might feel differently.
We’d advise you to hurry and view it, though. These kinds of things never last more than a few hours at most.
Louie Season 5, Episode 2, “À la Carte” Air date: April 16, 2015 Grade: B-
Louie hosts an open mic night, asks Pamela to move in, and has to poop really, really badly. The episode title references both Louie’s conversation with Pamela and the episode’s loose structure of unrelated storylines. One could argue that the three subplots are vaguely connected by ideas about choice (or the refusal thereof)–Louie won’t poop in public restrooms, aspiring comedian Bart Folding stubbornly pursues stand up despite not being funny, and Pamela makes an argument for an open-ended relationship. Overall though, “À la Carte” isn’t particularly cohesive, but there are plenty of laughs and we get a bit more insight into Louie’s ongoing relationship with Pamela.
The cold opening with Louie’s unexpected bathroom emergency might be the single most tragic scene ever depicted on television. What starts as a simple trip to the grocery store turns into a tense race home to use the bathroom (he refuses to use a public bathroom). His plight is painful and pathetic–his children first snicker behind him, but they too are soon swept up in his desperation as his suffering grows more apparent. Jane in particular is great here as she escalates the scene into a life or death struggle; first seeking help from a police officer and then being dragged away crying by Lily when Louie realizes that he isn’t going to make it. Louie deserves an award for taking toilet humor to such a sad, tragically hilarious place.
Louie also goes on a date with Pamela and brings up the idea of moving in together, which she immediately dismisses. The logical “next step of the relationship” conversation is common in many sitcoms, but it’s subverted in a way here, since Pamela’s appeal for fun and freedom without following the “natural” course of relationships leads instead to them agreeing to an open relationship. Pamela’s has the best reactions and one-liners as always; after making a long argument, Louie asks whether she’s been sleeping with someone else, and she delivers in perfect deadpan: “… That’s what he hears.” Later on Louie also has a fantasy of a woman at another table having cheese grated on her cleavage, which is both amusing and pathetic in its banality.
Pamela has always been a fantastic foil for Louie, and their relationship has been one of the show’s strongest storylines. They’re in a similar position in their lives–middle-aged, divorced, parents–but have two somewhat opposed viewpoints on their relationship, despite undeniably loving each other. Louie seeks comfort in the certainty and stability of a more traditional relationship, while Pamela revels in the simplicity and fun of merely spending time together. Both are natural and equally compelling desires for anyone hurt by past relationships, and Louie provides a nuanced, grounded depiction of their relationship without offering any clear answers.
“Don’t look at me! I love you!”
“What’s funny to you?” “Buster Keaton, Lucille Ball.”
There’s a bit of humor that references last season’s extended flashback arc: Louie starts telling a story about his childhood, but the flashback is quickly dismissed by a bored and impatient Pamela.
“Didn’t we learn anything? … There’s more than one way to be together. Do all roads need to lead to ruin?”
“You’re going to find somebody else and I’m going to lose you.” ”But stupid, you don’t have me. We’re just closer than we were before. I’m not yours and you’re not mine.”
After months of tiny reveals, such as WWE’s Roman Reigns Jason Momoa being cast as Aquaman and Jen being all like:
And Keith learning that Ben Affleck was cast as Batman and being all like:
We finally got ourselves a teaser trailer for Zack Snyder’s upcoming Batman v Superman – Dawn of Justice.
Kind of.
At around 7 PM PST / 10 PM EST (and, hell, 4 PM Hawaii Time, since they don’t get much play when it comes to articles that drop time zones like Cronkite), Director Zack Snyder reported that theater venues featuring IMAX auditoriums would be allowing groups of fans to see the official trailer on Monday.
He also included a teaser…for the trailer. Yes, the latest thing Hollywood expects us to be OK with: the cinematic equivalent of your Mom allowing you to lick brownie batter off her mixing whisk and then telling you to get the hell out of the kitchen.
As you can see, it’s only twenty seconds long and features two images…but we’re lucky we got anything — and that it was in color and not run through Snyder’s endless Instagram filter like all the other publicity shots we’ve gotten.
But, now you can join me in being all like:
Batman v Superman – Dawn of Justice is scheduled to be released March 25, 2016.
This is the question that’s been rattling around in my mind since watching the most recent episode, and I’m wondering what y’all think? Does Philip (Matthew Rhys) really trust her enough to show her his real appearance or is it some kind of romantic goodbye gesture since she’s clearly falling apart under the pressure at the FBI?
I’m not sure when or how I became so attached to silly little Martha (I suspect it’s her sweet cluelessness and loyalty – she’s like a puppy) but if he kills her it’s going to kill me. And I suspect push Philip over the edge, as well.
A lot of plotlines are making their way to the proverbial fan this week in the buildup for the finale, which is going to have to really focus in order to bring Season 3 to a satisfying conclusion. We know already that Stan (Noah Emmerich) is starting to suspect that Martha (Alison Wright) is the one who put the bugged pen into their boss’s office, and when he visits her at home – unannounced and without real purpose – Martha starts to believe everyone knows what she did. There’s no way she’s going to be able to hold it together at the office going forward and after a tearful call to her parents, decides to take her vacation days.
Worst decision ever, but the scenes this week serve as potent reminds for us (and the other characters) that Martha isn’t a spy. She’s not trained, she’s not battle-tested, and she’s about to blow their entire operation.
There are two other operations that move slightly forward this week, as well. The Northrup angle Elizabeth (Keri Russell) has been running with Lisa, her pal from AA, ramps up as her jackass husband inserts his controlling nose into their business. Lisa (Karen Pittman) has a high clearance at a plant that has a government aviation contract and Elizabeth has been looking to gain access to blueprints, photos, and anything else they can regarding developing stealth technology. Things took a quick (and advantageous) turn last week when Lisa’s husband said his wife would start spying in return for cold, hard cash. This week she took photos, but when her husband showed up to turn them over to Elizabeth, I definitely sensed trouble a-brewing. He’s one character I’ll happily watch her dismember, because he really sucks as a person.
A few weeks ago, Gabriel (Frank Langella) asked the Jennings’s to find a way into the Afghani delegation that was sent to the US to engage in diplomatic negotiations. In this episode, they found an avenue to get to one of the three men (the one who is apparently a crazy mofo who embraces jihad and enjoys disemboweling Russian boys that remind Philip of his son), and convince him to murder the other two men in his party. I’m not exactly sure yet what the end game is of this operation, but I’m guessing that if Philip has anything to say about it, crazy murderer man will get what’s coming to him. To be honest, I’m not going to feel all that bad about it, either.
At home, the situation with Paige (Holly Taylor) is also starting to spiral out of control. She’s coming unraveled as fast as Martha and putting everyone on edge with his she refuses to keep her voice down when she’s pitching a fit about how nothing in her life is real. I appreciate the fact that she’s acting like a normal teenager in response to the information about her parents and obviously they’re not going to kill HER, but sheesh. The girl needs to work on reigning it in and regaining some common sense.
Elizabeth has decided she is going to try to sneak home to Russia in order to see her mother one last time and invited Paige to go with her. I wonder if, when they return, she’ll be ready to jump into the KGB with both feet. Somehow, that seems doubtful.
Next week is the finale, so I’m guessing we’ll be getting a few answers and a whole slew of new questions to tide us over until next fall (gah! so far away!) but for now, I really want to know what YOU think about Philip killing Martha…will he or won’t he? Take the poll below!
Will Philip kill Martha in the Season 3 finale of The Americans?
Season 3, Episode 12 of The Americans, “I am Abassin Zadran” aired Wednesday April 15th, 2015 at 10/9c.
In 2010, Nicholas Sparks did an interview with USAToday in which he declared that he does not write romance novels. While this is technically true (for those of you not in the biz, as they say, a romance novel has a specific formula that MUST include a happily-ever-after, which we all know Sparks’s characters rarely get), the condescending tone in which the statement came across angered many people – mostly writers, specifically romance writers. Obviously his career hasn’t exactly taken a hit, and at this point I doubt he cares whether he’s ostracized from the community, but HOLD THE PRESSES BECAUSE I FINALLY SAW THE LONGEST RIDE.
Sparks may need to amend that statement, because the film version (and I googled to make sure they hadn’t altered from the source material on the salient points) is not only a solid romance novel, but a textbook one.
Here’s a brief rundown: Boy meets girl. Boy and girl spend a little time worrying about how wrong they are for each other/how bad the timing is/that they’ll probably get hurt or hurt the other person but can’t help falling in love. There’s a secret on at least one of their parts. The barriers to a lasting relationship rear their ugly head in the form of a “black moment” that tests the character’s relationship in a big way before the reconcile for the requisite HEA (Happily-Ever-After).
Which brings me to this regrettably delayed review of the movie, which was, I have to admit, a pleasant surprise.
Sophia Danko is a few months away from college graduation and has scored the internship she’s always dreamed of at a major art gallery in New York City. She’s from New Jersey and has always dreamed of working in the art world, so leaving the quiet beauty of North Carolina seems like a no-brainer.
Until she meets Luke Collins at a bar after a bull-riding event her sorority sisters dragged her to earlier in the night. The two of them hit it off, have the requisite Southern boy-Northern girl banter, he calls, she avoids it because, in her words, “what’s the point?”
The point, as her roommate articulates, is to have a fling with a hot cowboy. God Bless America.
They go on a date, sparks fly, and by the end of the night they’re both sorry when she tells him about her plans to leave the state in a few short weeks. He’s a professional bull rider, one of the best on the circuit, and has his mother and their failing ranch to think about, to boot.
Luke’s driving Sophia home when they spot a car that’s gone off the road and pull over to help – an act of goodwill that changes both of their lives (and the story) forever. They pull Ira Levinson from the wreckage along with a mysterious box he’s attached to and take him to the hospital. Sophia decides to wait and see how he is and ends up snooping, finding letter after letter written from the elderly Ira to a woman named Ruth.
Sophia and Ira strike up a friendship and she begins to visit, reading letters that chronicle their life together. It’s never actually explained WHY he writes these letters but it’s a small quibble overall, since they work as a plot device very well.
We meet a young Ira and Ruth during a time in their lives that mirrors Luke and Sophia – meeting, realizing there’s something special between them, falling in love – and follow their relationship through the euphoric highs as the Sophia and Luke start seeing each other despite the coming potholes. They’re always together, they’re constantly naked and staring at each other, Sophia tries her best to fit into his ranch/bull riding lifestyle with varying success.
They hit a minor stumble when he attends a gallery showing and it becomes painfully clear that no matter how much he loves her, Luke is never going to fit into a fancy Manhattan life.
The letters from ira to Ruth turn sad. He goes to war, comes back changed in a way that affects them both (no spoilers) and they begin to ask themselves if the love they have for each other is enough. If it’s worth it.
Luke, like all good romance heroes, has a secret. He was badly injured bull riding the previous year and has been warned by doctors (repeatedly) to quit or die. Bull riding is dangerous on a good day, but for Luke, continuing means certain death at some point in the not-too-far-away future. He blames continuing on his need to support his widowed mother, but she’s begged him to stop every day.
I think it’s more a matter of taking a look at something that’s been a part of your life for as long as you can remember and figuring out how to live without it.
Luke’s not willing to do that, not even when Sophia gives up her internship in NYC to figure out where things could go with her boyfriend, since (duh!) she’s never felt this way about anyone. The two of them breakup, and when Sophia goes to Ira, he tells her the bittersweet ending of his own love story with Ruth. Ira comes to the central point of the movie, which is that “Love requires sacrifice. Always.”
Sophia has done her part, has sacrificed, but Luke doesn’t come to his senses until after Ira has passed. The two of them end up at his estate auction, which includes priceless artwork that he and his wife collected all of their lives.
I won’t spoil the ending except to tell you that if you’re worried this is another Sparks Sobfest because of a tragic ending, it’s not. There is a HEA for Luke and Sophia (not as hard-earned as it might be).
There are tears. I am a sucker for old people and Alan Alda is fantastic as the aged Ira. The actors who play the young Ira (Jack Huston) and Ruth (Oona Chaplin) are downright adorable and dove straight into my heart. Britt Robertson and Scott Eastwood have equally good chemistry in the lead roles, and despite some rough moments on Eastwood’s part as far as craft, I bought into the two of them and their love story without hesitation.
The Longest Ride is predictable, it’s overly sweet, there are plot points that aren’t explained when they should be, but like I said above, none of that is worth quibbling over. At this point, we all know what we’re getting when we sit down to watch a Nicholas Sparks adaptation and this one delivers on its promises and then some.
Last week I ranked Nicholas Sparks’s films from worst to best, and would definitely put this one solidly in the middle (between Nights in Rodanthe and Safe Haven) – it’s the best one he’s done since Dear John, no contest, and if you’re a fan of romance, happy endings, hot guys with killer abs (did I not mention that earlier?), and a few well placed tears, The Longest Ride isn’t going to disappoint.
Well, kids, here we are in Week 5 of everyone’s favorite Mirror-Ball Trophy Cheese-fest, and this week is the ever-annoying (I mean …. wonderful) Disney week. Each couple gets assigned a famous Disney song and characters, and then they dance with animated live characters as part of their weird acid-trip routines. To start things off, the show chose THE most obnoxious and annoying Disney song of all-time to get into our heads forever and ever – “It’s A Small World After All.” Yes, the pro dancers and animated figures, plus Tinkerbell, did a lovely ballroom dance to this classic, which I still have nightmares about from when I was around 12 years old and got STUCK inside the “It’s a Small World” ride at Disney World in Florida, and this song played on repeat about 173 times in a row – in the dark. It was a good 20 minutes or so before they fixed the ride and it began moving again, but now I’m 43 and I still think about the horrors of that terrible day. nobody should have to hear that creepy song that many times in one sitting – or one lifetime. Anyway, maybe it’s just me. Here we go with the Disney madness from this week’s festivities ….
Suzanne / Tony: They danced Jazz to a number from Lady and the Tramp. During rehearsal footage, Suzanne doesn’t think she can do this anymore. She tells Tony that it’s too hard and that she isn’t any good at it. She is really down on herself and he gives her a great pep talk, telling her that what she is doing is amazing and not to compare herself to the other dancers on the show. Their routine is great, and her black shiny dress is gorgeous. There was a moment where her heel got caught on her dress, but she kept up the timing of the number and didn’t seem to let it affect things. Julianne: “Your best dance.” Bruno had lobster-red face (what the hell happened to his face???) as he stood up and screamed his usual nonsense into the air. And then this funny exchange happened:
Carrie Anne: So your heel got caught in your dress. It’s happened to all of us.
Tom Bergeron: It happened to Bruno!
Scores were all sevens, which I felt was a bit low. It wasn’t her fault that her heel got caught. Why take points off for that? I do feel as if they score this pair a bit too low at times. Last week she deserved eights after their praise in comments and she still got all sevens.
Robert / Kym: So how long until these two officially hook up and become a couple? They are pretty damn cute together, and the camera keeps catching these little moments of them being pretty intimate – lots of holding each other and hugging , and him calling her “baby.” Hmmmm …. They danced the Quickstep, to “Step In Time” from Mary Poppins. Kym glided in from the sky with her umbrella in true Poppins fashino, and he danced the entire thing with that silly slapped on “Guy Smiley” face that he has. The judges were quite harsh with their comments. Julianne: “Your steps were not so in time.” Carrie Ann tried to make a joke with the lyrics from a Poppins song, and failed miserably. She just isn’t funny at all, except when she isn’t trying to be. “Chim chim a ree, chim chim a ree, chim chim cha BOO!!!!” Nobody laughed. Crickets. Bruno’s comment was the funniest, as he tried his best to keep things positive. “In your own world, you were in time, and everybody else was off!” Scores were low at 6/6/6/6.
Farmer Snooze / Witney: Oh boy. This was bound to happen sooner or later. The “Bachelor’ is finally starting to go off the rails and show his true colors, how he acts when extremely out of his element (the stupid farm, which is pretty much his only element) and extremely stressed. During rehearsal footage, when Witney was trying to teach a new series of steps to Corn-Husk-for Brains, he couldn’t handle it and freaked out on her. When she insisted that he could do it and was trying to pep-talk him in a positive way, he snapped: “Don’t argue with me. I’m telling you what it is, and I can’t do any better. It’s not new to you. Clearly. Youre a professional. I cant do it your way. So stop it. Stop it.” Witney went in the other room and began crying, saying that he made her feel like she “is a bad coach.” When she came back out, he apologized in the most lame and non-sincere way possible, with a weak and half-assed, one word “Sorry.” Who’s taking bets on how many weeks it will be until the other Whitney, the one who is in the audience and has agreed to marry this doofus, changes her mind and says: “Wait – I was gonna live on a farm in Bumf**k, Iowa for my life??? I don’t think so!!!” Look, I realize that everyone has bad days and sometimes under the stress of this show, the dancers snap at one another. But something about this felt like “underlying red flag” to me – like this is the real dude that is hiding underneath the blandness. The way he said it, it had such a tone of disrespect toward her, and such a “me man – you woman – stay in your place” type vibe. If he can act that way with cameras rolling, how will he be to live with on some random out of nowhere farm in Iowa where there are NO OTHER HUMANS besides him and Whitney with an H? Anyway …
They danced the Quickstep, and he played the role of Hercules, ironically enough. But before all that, and after the rehearsal theatrics, we then got to see what a bad actor this dude is too. It was like bonus comedy! When they were rehearsing on the dance floor itself, hours before the show aired, Tractor Brain “fell” on his ankle or his foot or his toe, or something …. it was hard to say , what with all the over-acting that was happening. “Ow! Oh no! Ow!!! Oh god! Oh gosh!!! Ouch!!!” He whined and whined, and then told Witney he wasnt sure if he could do it. Dude, man up! Noah has ONE LEG, and you don’t hear him whining – ever. Get off your ass and dance, Farmboy. So he did. And the judges liked him, other than pretty much everyone telling him that he has zero musicality and can’t even clap to the music like a human. Scores were 7/6/7/7.
Patti / Artem: Now, Patti also has an ongoing injury in her knee, and this week it was really bothering her. She didn’t whine about it though – but she was really worried that it would maybe give out on her during the dance. She iced it, she stayed off it, and her partner was so loving in how he dealt with her and her injury. She was crying during rehearsals because she didn’t want to let her partner down, and he told her that wasn’t possible. They did a Waltz to “When You Wish Upon A Star” and it was very pretty. Nice to see Patti slow down some and do a gorgeous dance. Her yellow dress was one of my favorite costumes of the night also. Carrie Anne called it a “soft smooth lullabye”, and Bruno said it was “warm and lovely.” When Erin Andrews asked her about her knee injury backstage, her response was awesome and just made Farmer Zzzzz look even more lame. “Let’s get real”, she said. “Noah has one leg, okay? The knee thing is no big deal. It really isn’t. ” I love Patti and her attitude and dedication. Scores were 7/6/7/7.
Willow / Mark: Their Foxtrot was to Alice in Wonderland, and Mark played perhaps the creepiest rabbit I have ever seen in my life. Now my “It’s a Small World” nightmares are going to be replaced with his awful and scary rabbit costume. Despite that, it was a super fun dance and I really like her. Len said “you went from Hunger Games to Fun and Games!”, whatever that means. Take your meds, Len. Julianne said it had “great execution.” Scores were 8/8/9/9.
Noah / Sharna: They did a Foxtrot to Aladdin “A Whole New World.” He entered the dance floor from the sky also, on the magic carpet. She is so good at creating choreography that works best with his challenges, and HE is so good at accepting those challenges and going out and kicking ass anyway. He is a pretty awesome, inspirational dude. During rehearsals, he was worried and a bit down on himself because of his limitations with bending for this dance. He was afraid that because he can’t bend at the knee with the prosthetic, it would affect the rise and fall of a Foxtrot. I loved Sharna’s response to him, which was basically “stop looking at your lower half. You can’t change that. You can’t do anything about that. Focus on what you’re doing with your frame and the rest of the dance, and everyone else will focus there too.” Then she added: “I’m supposed to be the princess in this dance, not you. Suck it up, princess.” He laughed, and they had a nice moment. Their dance was beautifully done. Scores were 7/7/7/7.
Riker / Allison: They did the Paso Doble to PIrates of the Caribbean, which of course, just happens to be Riker’s favorite movie and he knows every line by heart and is in love with being Jack Sparrow. He talked like Sparrow through the whole rehearsal, and even backstage afterwards. It was a little bit weird. He did a great dance and the judges loved it, so there goes my hopes of him going home next week. But hopefully Farmer Douchebag will go home instead. Horny Carrie Anne completely flipped out at the dance. “That was the best, ever, ever, ever, EVER!!!!! That was BEAST!!!!” And then she just kept yammering on and on as Bergeron moved on to the next comment. Bruno called it “mad and wonderful!”, and Len fell asleep head-first into his bowl of Cream of Wheat. Scores were 10/9/9/10.
Rumer / Val: They got assigned The Little Mermaid but Rumer requested to play Ursula, the villian, instead of the mermaid. So she did, and it was awesome. Her skin was dyed all purple-ish and Val’s was all green since he was the eel – they both looked freaky as hell and it was effective. Bruce and Demi were once again in the crowd, although not ever sitting together. Their dance to the great powerful song “Poor Unfortunate Souls” was fierce, fast, and wonderful. Horny Carrie Anne said “It turned me on!!!” Ummm … WHAT??? Relax, lady. Len called Rumer a fantastic dancer, then pooped his Depends. Scores were 10/9/10/10.
Nastia / Derek: Another great dance. This one was just beyond adorable, to the song “Love is An Open Door” from Frozen. It was a jazz routine, and the choreography included hand movements and some very modern hip-hop type stuff. Total blast to watch, as these two always are. Scores were 9/9/10/10.
GOING HOME: Suzanne and Tony. A bit disappointing, as I liked her and thought she did a really good job, and maybe deserved to stay a bit longer than a couple of the others. Suzanne praised Tony as a coach and person, and left America with this message: “I think all older women should be on hormones!!!”
Well alrighty then.
NEXT WEEK: Witney gets a hold of Suzanne’s hormones and takes too many, then screams at Farmer Boy, putting him in his place. All the world rejoices. Len takes a nap.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is about as incestuous as a Targaryen dinner party, so when a film as large as Avengers: Age of Ultron comes around it can be difficult to remember which face goes with which butt suit.
That’s where we come in. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until the release of the film, we’ll be giving you primers on all the major players.
First up: Captain America
Obviously this post is going to have spoilers from Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Captain America: Who’s he again?
I think this should be obvious but just in case, he’s the one bedazzled in red, white, and blue. You know, like America.
Born Steve Rogers, Captain America was originally a skinny little nobody. With the ferocity (and size) of a chihuahua, Steve repeatedly tried to join the war efforts during World War II, but unsurprisingly was turned down because of his size. Seeing Steve’s tenacity and need to save others, Dr. Abraham Erskine recruited Steve into the Strategic Scientific Reserve. Long story short, Steve was injected a serum of Dr. Erskine’s creation and then dosed by Howard Stark’s (yep, that smarmy dude’s dad) vita-rays and voila! He became all big and bad. (Or a “super-soldier” as they say.) With the help of Peggy Carter and the Howling Commandos, Captain America fought Red Skull and his terrorist friends at Hydra, who wanted to take away freedom and ice cream. Eventually, Cap foils their anti-dairy plot and removes the powerful Tesseract from Red Skull’s hands, but has to go down with the ship, miraculously landing in the Arctic where he was frozen for 70 years. At the end of First Avenger, Steve is in modern day New York city.
Okay, cool. Zero to hero, saved the world from nazis, blah blah, got it. What next?
In The Avengers, Captain America reluctantly joins S.H.I.E.L.D. with the likes of Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye–basically all those people we’re trying to cover to give you a head start. Things go awry, the Avengers can’t get along, and Loki (the dude with the horns) releases an army of Chitauri (aliens) on New York City. After nearly leveling the city to the ground (the Avengers are more destructive than the bad guys), the group is victorious and later eat at a shawarma restaurant. Good times had by all. Well, except the people who actually lived in NYC at the time.
Alright, saved the world from aliens and fights for truth, justice, and all that jazz. Anything else?
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Cap is still skeptical of his relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. because of their secrets, and secrets get people killed. In a shocking turn of events that is not at all foreshadowed by Cap’s earlier judgment of the agency, S.H.I.E.L.D. gets fooled by Hydra’s long con and is infiltrated, leaving Cap, Black Widow, Nick Fury, and newbie Falcon to weed out the bad guys and stop them from using the fancy new helicarriers to kill millions of people. New to the game is the Winter Soldier, a creepy-looking guy with a robotic arm, and the only person able to stop Cap’s shield. All of this is orchestrated by Arnim Zola, a scientist who worked for Red Skull back in Cap’s original time. A few smashed computers and broken wings later, Cap and Co. stop the helicarriers from all that murderin’ and Cap yet again goes down with the ship. He is saved by the Winter Soldier who is actually his thought-to-be-dead best friend, Bucky Barnes.
What’s in store for Cap in Age of Ultron and beyond?
Tony Stark and Steve Rogers don’t exactly have the most touchy-feely relationship of the bunch. They argue as much as humanly possible and this will have consequences. Cap, as we saw in Winter Soldier wants transparency and Iron Man just wants to keep the world safe, by any means necessary. The latter’s ideals are what creates Ultron, throwing the world into chaos. After that, Tony and Steve just aren’t the same, which leads us to Civil, civil war, y’all. It isn’t known yet what plot Civil War will follow, if it will be solely about the events from Age of Ultron or if more of the politics from the comics will come into play. Either way, Captain America and Iron Man are gonna throw down.
Relevant people:
Peggy Carter: British army agent, love interest, founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. (She can also be found on ABC’s Agent Carter.)
Red Skull: Gruesome WWII baddie who tries to the steal the Tesseract and use it’s powers to recreate the world into one of his liking. He fails.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Started the whole she-bang with Steve, recruiting him into the SSR, and creating the super-serum.
Howard Stark: Tony’s daddy and creator the vita-rays that turned Steve into Cap.
Arnim Zola: Weasel of a scientist who serves Hydra and is responsible for the infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s security in Winter Soldier.
Bucky Barnes: BFF turned mechanized enemy. He’s not really a bad guy, even though he kills a lot of people.
Sam Wilson (Falcon): Slow runner, uses Red Bull to give himself wings, and is loyal to Cap. See in Winter Soldier.
Want more than movies to sate your Captain needs? Check out these comics:
Filming is currently underway in New York City for Marvel’s next Netflix series A.K.A. Jessica Jones and set pictures are popping up of Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), David Tennant (Zebediah Killgrave/The Purple Man) and Mike Colter (Luke Cage).
While there is no release date yet, here’s Netflix’s official synopsis:
Working as a private investigator in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, a troubled ex-superhero’s past comes back to haunt her in the live-action series, “Marvel’s A.K.A. Jessica Jones.”
Coming off the binge-watch high of Daredevil we can hardly wait for this series to come out!
Ever since our first introduction to Melinda May in last year’s Agents of SHIELD pilot, the character has been somewhat of an enigma — a person we’ve struggled to peel back the layers of and figure out. Even though “Melinda” only showed us a small fragment of May’s personal life (albeit one that had a huge impact) we know there’s still more we can learn. But this episode shone a light onto the character in a way that we haven’t previously seen, and thanks to the amazing talents of Ming-Na and the writing staff, it delivered.
For starters, seven years ago, May was a very different person. She was happily married. (Hi, Andrew!) She was enjoying life. She was looking forward (and trying) to starting a family. She had a close working relationship with Coulson. (The timeline for this is unclear – if the Marvel Cinematic Universe happens in real time, which is how it’s been more or less explained, then 2015 would mark around three-ish years since the events of Avengers and Coulson’s death. This could and is probably well before that, but Coulson talks about Fury wanting to start a team — a “new initiative,” which makes it sound like he wants to start what Coulson assembles as his primary team. It’s possible that this was in the works before New York, and then it picked up again after everything happened and after he came back to life. But there’s really no clarification on how these events match up to what we know has happened in the shows and movies.)
In any case, we’ll put the timeline rant aside for a bit, because May joins Coulson on a mission that involves a “gifted individual.” The index candidate is a Russian woman named Eva Belyakov, who possesses enhanced strength, and S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to take her in. Only problem is, they want to do it stealthily, for obvious reasons. Coulson is briefed about making sure she cooperates. If she doesn’t? “Call in the Cavalry.” We now know “The Cavalry” to be Agent May, but in this case, it’s an entire team of agents. Chew on that. Also?
Welcome to Bahrain.
Coulson and May arrive at a black market and find that their target is already meeting with someone. Coulson starts his pitch to bring her in, which goes just about as well as you’d expect. (Maybe he needs to take some lessons from a certain ex-carnie archer.) May manages to catch both a child running and a man coming at the child with a gun and everything goes to chaos. The child is taken hostage, and Eva disappears.
Coulson and his team figure out where the man is hiding out and when things start to go south, Coulson wants to send May in, despite not being authorized. May ends up going in anyway, but not before getting some advice from Andrew, when she calls him asking how to deal with what she knows is probably the scared child she probably has to save. I loved this scene, and I really love the chemistry of these two actors together. I’m so glad we got Andrew back for a bit.
Back in the present, Bobbi and May have a chat about powered people, and about Coulson’s true motives. May wants to take charge of the base and agrees to talk to Coulson, but wants to do it her way — and peacefully. Bobbi at least agrees to that, and it’s nice to have more evidence of Bobbi truly being on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s good side. Bobbi calls May out for being hurt about not knowing that Coulson was working with Peterson, and the two have an amicable chat about their loyalties. Bobbi does want to build S.H.I.E.L.D. back up, but May feels frustrated. “You’re worried I don’t understand your choice,” she tells Bobbi of picking Gonzales’ side over Coulson’s. “Sometimes the price of doing the right thing is that no one will understand.” Bahrain, much? At least we’re starting to understand where she’s coming from. The episode really did a wonderful job at bridging the important parts of May’s flashbacks to her decisions in the present, giving us a clearer understanding of her thoughts.
At “afterlife,” Gordon is trying to help Raina as best he can. She’s not being very compliant, though. She hates her face, she’s tired of being chained and hidden away, and feels spiteful for Skye, who got the better end of the deal with her powers and changes. Meanwhile, Skye and her mom (though she’s not yet aware that’s who Jiaying is) talk about her time as S.H.I.E.L.D., and her powers. Jiaying encourages her to try controlling them again, and not to be afraid of what can happen if she pushes too far. You know the saying “you can move mountains?” Well, Skye literally moves a mountain (okay, she makes an avalanche happen, but close enough) with her mom’s help.
Skye ends up asking Lincoln about Jiaying’s role, but all Lincoln will tell her is that she’s “in charge” and that she’s never trained people before — Skye’s the first person to get that honor. It’s enough at least to convince Skye to continue her lessons, this time using glasses filled with water that she tries to make vibrate. (She pretty much almost gets it, and it still earns her praise, so points for Skye!) Everything is going well — too well, essentially. Because Skye’s never really had a home before, except for S.H.I.E.L.D., and everyone has always shipped her off every time she’s gotten comfortable somewhere. What follows is basically an open letter of Skye’s emotional state over never belonging to anyone…she doesn’t even know her own birthday.
And then: “You were born on July 2.” It’s a nice way for Skye’s mom to reveal herself, before she tells her daughter that she hadn’t said anything because she wanted it to be Skye’s choice to go through the mist and accept her destiny. Skye is obviously overwhelmed, though shocked and happy, but Jiaying tells her they have to keep her identity a secret. Skye tries to understand why her mother runs things here the way she does, which leads Jiaying to tell her the story of Melinda May. And this is a really awesome sequence, where the past and present kind of collide in a way that absolutely fuels the story. I give kudos to whatever writer or director decided to frame the narrative in this way, because it absolutely truly worked.
Of course, Skye recognizes Bahrain and makes the connection the moment Jiaying starts telling her about the woman who fled after stealing the terrigan crystals. Between interspersed flashbacks, Skye struggles to comprehend this information, and we see May going in after Eva, who is apparently too powerful for her own good. The agents that have vanished, it turns out, are brainwashed by Eva’s powers. The two end up in an intense fight, which ends up with May getting shot in the leg, and damn, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on point with all these fight scenes this season. May eventually gets the upper hand, though, and kills Eva — though she clearly doesn’t want to.
Via Jiaying’s narrative, we also learn that even though Eva was dead, the brainwashed soldiers weren’t snapping out of their trance — because Eva hadn’t stolen those crystals for herself. She had stolen them for her daughter, Katya, the little girl that May was trying to save. And once May realizes who the source of her conflict is, she knows she has no choice but to kill her.
The show could have made this moment simply about May killing a child, but instead, it went further, with Katya – clearly stuck in a mindset she wasn’t in control over – killing her mother. She tries to reach out to May as her new mother, and considering May’s thoughts and feelings about having a child, she’s not doing too well with this. May tries to talk the child down like Andrew told her, but to no avail. It was a profound, intense moment sold by Ming-Na Wen, as well as Clark Gregg, especially in the aftermath of the entire situation, and when Coulson finally makes it inside and finds May holding the dead girl in her arms.
It was “The Cavalry” that saved the agents that day, as the story goes, but really, it was just Agent May — one person who took down an entire army, a powered human, and a child. The aftermath of it shakes her to the core, and not only does she break down, but it’s the start of her descent into a very different person…the person we saw at the beginning of the series, who seemed emotionless. Indeed, the scene that we end on in May’s flashback is a mirror of how we began, right down to the morning routine, but entirely different. There’s no fun banter with Andrew this time, there’s no hope and no levity. There’s just pain and sadness.
As Skye’s mom finishes up her story, she eventually gets to her point: she runs things at “afterlife” this way because of the fact that a mother would do anything to protect her daughter. In that vein, she tries to get Skye to agree to one dinner with Cal, after which she promises she never has to see him again. Surprisingly, Skye accepts, and we get to see Cal’s attempt again as a father. (Don’t worry, he cleaned up nice.) He also tells her what her birthday is (1988, she’s 26, everyone!) and as they sit down together, Lincoln brings them dinner. And takes in the scene around him: Cal bringing Skye daisies, a happy family talking. He realizes it’s exactly the same thing Raina had said to him earlier in the episode. Seems like Raina didn’t just get thorns – she got the power to see the future, as well. And something tells me that’s going to be a very important and significant detail going forward.
Back to the other present timeline of our story: When May comes to Simmons, she alerts her that the thing she’s working on is actually Deathlok’s battery pack. Yeah, we didn’t know either. May is still trying desperately to believe in Coulson, but both she and Simmons are finding it incredibly hard to feel trustworthy, knowing what Coulson has been hiding. And Simmons is afraid of what else they’re going to find if they keep digging. There’s too much that they’re coming across — a secret life, secret files, secret meetings, even money stealing. Not to mention, apparently Coulson and Andrew have been consulting behind May’s back. May realizes that there’s a chance Coulson is building another base for powered people, that he wants to them them on the frontlines, but he wants to do it without telling anyone. She asks Simmons to open the toolbox. And, well…
As we know, that toolbox is with Fitz, who we see in our tag. He opens it in the bathroom, and it appears to be a bunch of holograms with information. So what does he do? He calls Hunter and Coulson, of course. “Would it still be okay if I came and hung out with you?”
Fitz, I think you’re going to get back in the field just fine.
Odds & Ends:
“S.H.I.E.L.D.’s putting every dime into the Triskellion.” I love when these little easter eggs are dropped.
Cal giving Skye daisies (Daisy Johnson, of course) was a nice touch.
Three championships in five years? I’m still buzzin’.
Anyhow, me and Danielle, we had a helluva party this afternoon. Great BBQ and beer and snacks.
Helluva thing.
Let’s get moving…
We are LIVE(!!!) from the O2 Arena in London, England for WWE RAW!!!
JBL, Booker and…MICHAEL FUCKING COLE?!? What the actual fuck? Can somebody tell me the name of the doctor he’s got?
JBL wants to know how his neck is and Cole says he’ll “get to that later” which is wrestling speak for “don’t you worry your pretty little head”.
He shows us a Mac OS X slideshow of London as if Big Ben and the Parliament are right outside.
John Cena starts us out. London hates him. So Cena does his best to suck up. He says that London deserves WrestleMania. “London” agrees. He tells everyone that it’s The Authority’s choice. They chose to make everyone wait. He puts out another challenge for the United States Championship and…it’s Bad News Barrett out to a huge pop.
Barrett thanks London for their support and says it’s nice of them to cheer, but that he hasn’t done anything yet. He says, ideally, he should face Daniel Bryan for the IC Title, but he wants to beat Cena…TONIGHT!!!
THIS IMPORTANT TITLE DEFENSE IS COMING UP…uh…next, after Popeye’s introduces you to Ghost Pepper Lip Balm or something.
MATCH #1: John Cena (champion) vs. Bad News Barrett (challenger) for the WWE United States Championship Cena applies a headlock. Barrett breaks and kicks him out of the ring. Another Cena headlock. Barrett breaks and hits a big boot to the head. Two count. Cena hits Move #1 but misses #2. Barrett takes over, kneeing him in the gut, then booting him out of the ring. Barrett hits an elbow drop off the mat, then tosses Cena into the ring for two. Cena comes back with a dropkick and goes top rope with a Crossbody for two. He hits #3 and goes for the 5Ks…but Barrett rolls out of the ring. Cena chases but Barrett makes him eat the steel steps, then rolls him into the ring. Two count. Cena hits #3 and the 5Ks. He goes for the AA but Barrett kicks out and hits Winds of Change for a close fall. He puts Cena on the buckle. Cena goes for the Tornado DDT but Barrett lands on his feet and hits a suplex. Two count. Barrett hits a high kick. Two count. The two men get up and exchange BOO/YAY shots because it’s been SEVEN WHOLE GRUELING MINUTES. Barrett hits the AA and NEARLY gets a fall. He sets up the Bullhammer but Cena catches him and hits an AA — but only gets two. Cena goes for another AA but Barrett breaks and hits a Bullhammer and nearly gets a fall. Barrett tries another but misses and eats a Springboard Stunner and AA for the loss at 9:39. WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: John Cena via AA
RATING: **. Once again, nobody believes Cena is gonna lose any of these matches. And, now, Barrett loses. In England. So, what makes us think anyone will beat Cena for the next few weeks?
Post-match, Lana comes out to say shit to Cena. Rusev attacks Cena, knocking him out, and the match at Extreme Rules will now be a “Russian Chain Match” which is Russian for “No-DQ with a chain”, I’m guessing.
TONIGHT: Randy Orton faces Cesaro while Dolph Ziggler jobs to faces Seth Rollins.
The Bella Twins are out for a match. We go to commercial.
NEXT WEEK: Triple H is gonna make a huge announcement about Tough Enough, a show nobody really cares about!
MATCH #2: Alicia Fox, Naomi, Summer Rae, Emma, Rosa Mendes, Cameron, Natalya & Paige in a Divas Battle Royal to determine the #1 Contender for the WWE Divas Championship Fuck, this is actually happening. And the Bellas are on commentary. I thought last week was a half-joke. Summer and Natalya are out first which makes no sense as Summer outlasts her. Anyhow, she gets dumped along with Rosa a few seconds later. Alicia fights with Summer and hits a lame Enzuguri to boot Summer. Fox and Cameron beat up Paige and try to dump her but Paige resists that. Naomi hits a Rear View on both women and they’re gone, too. Paige tries to eliminate Naomi but Naomi blocks and hits a high kick. Both end up near the ropes but Paige knees Naomi in the face/boobs/stomach from the outside ropes, which makes so much sense in a match where you’re supposed to avoid that area. Paige eventually just kinda boots Naomi out of the ring at 3:55 to win this “Battle Royal” and we’re done. WINNER: Paige
RATING: DUD. #StopPretendingWWEIsGivingDivasAChance
TONIGHT: Roman Reigns will talk about stuff for the first time since WrestleMania.
When we come back from break, Paige is still in the ring. Byron “I Announced RAW One Time” Saxton is with her. Paige is happy to have won in front of her home audience. Naomi attacks her and, suddenly, she’s a heel.
Bray Wyatt yacks about love and how fear is strong than love.
MATCH #3: The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) vs. Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara & Kalisto) The Ascension beat up on the hapless Sin Cara with tags back and forth. Sin Cara tries to escape Viktor and eventually makes a tag because Viktor and Konnor can’t keep Sin Cara in the corner. Kalisto comes in, does flippy shit and hits Salina Del Sol on Viktor while Sin Cara does a Flipping Reverse Senton to finish it at 2:17. WINNER: Lucha Dragons
RATING: n/a – Squash
MATCH #4: Randy Orton vs. Cesaro (w/ Tyson Kidd & Natalya) Orton and Cesaro exchange headlocks after exchanging pedestrian moves. Cesaro breaks. Orton nearly hits the Elevated DDT but Tyson interferes and Orton wins at 2:25. Exciting, huh? WINNER: Randy Orton via DQ
RATING: DUD.
But hold on a second, player! Kane appears, post-match, and says that The Authority isn’t here tonight, ensuring that nobody’s gonna continue to tune in. He’s in charge and he can’t end the last match in a DQ. This match will re-start as a 2 on 1 Handicap Match.
MATCH #5: Randy Orton vs. WWE Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Tyson Kidd (w/ Natalya) (non-title) The two guys beat up Orton and we go to break because this match is pivotal, ya’ know? When we come back, Orton nearly hits a DDT but Tyson hits a NECKBREAKER OUTTA NOWHERE for two. The two team up on Orton and it’s a mean uppercut by Cesaro for Tyson for two. Tyson tags in but finally eats Orton’s VINTAGE DDT. He goes for an RKO but Cesaro pulls Tyson out of the ring. Orton chases them out of the ring but the two men gang up on him and Tyson knees him in the face. Orton gets rolled back into the ring. Tyson takes over after a two count. He tries a legdrop and misses. Cesaro runs in and attacks but Orton hits a powerslam in stride. Tyson flies at Orton from the top rope and he gets an RKO for his troubles. Orton wins at 9:15. WINNER: Randy Orton via RKO
RATING: DUD. Why didn’t they do this in the first place? We saw all of four minutes of this thing and it was disjointed and boring with two interruptions.
NEXT: Reigns talks!
Booker is running this interview, apparently. The London crowd hates him as Booker demands to know about his mental state. Reigns says he’s cool. He went to Suplex City, he felts it and survived it. He said he’d hit The Beast in the mouth and he did that. He says he could have beaten Brock if it wasn’t for Seth Rollins. He says that Big Show cost him a re-match at Extreme Rules because he’s Seth’s “giant bitch”. Big Show appears on the Jumbotron and says that Reigns is making excuses for his failures and then says that he’ll knock Reigns out himself. Reigns says he’s being threatened by “The Jumbotron” and he isn’t scared because Show can’t even come out to the ring. He says Show has no balls and he will be beaten. Reigns leaves and goes to the entrance ramp — and Show finally shows up to kick the crap out of him, tossing him into the electric signage and into the car sitting on the ramp. The beating takes forever as Show Chokeslams him on top of the car. Can’t wait to see this at Extreme Rules. Yaaaaay.
Backstage, Seth’s not happy because he’s Seth. He says that he isn’t facing Ziggler tonight. He wants to face Jamie Noble and Noble will lie down. Noble says that it’s not his fault that everything’s gone wrong. It’s Kane’s. Rollins realizes that Noble’s onto something. Rollins tells Kane that Kane will lay down for him tonight. He doesn’t disagree because Kane only selectively has balls.
MATCH #6: Adam Rose (w/ Exotic Express) vs. Dean Ambrose From chasing the MITB contender to Bray Wyatt to United States title…to Adam “I Haven’t Been Relevant in Weeks” Rose. Way to go, Creative. Ambrose chops at Rose who comes back with a Spinebuster and quick elbows. He drops a fist and locks in a headlock but Ambrose fights out. Ambrose hits lariats and a bulldog, then goes top rope but Rose bails. So Ambrose hits a Flying Psycho to the outside. Back in the ring, Ambrose hits the Rebound Clothesline and Dirty Deeds for the win at 2:11. WINNER: Dean Ambrose via Dirty Deeds
RATING: n/a – Squash
Kane is backstage. Show finds him and asks if he remembers Survivor Series. He says that Kane needs to do WHAT’S BEST FOR BUSINESS™.
MATCH #7: Fandango (w/ Rosa Mendes) vs. Stardust Holy shit, what a card. Stardust hits a falling reverse suplex but Fandango comes back with a heel kick. Legdrop misses. Dust hits the Disaster Kick for the win at 1:07. Yawn. WINNER: Stardust
RATING: n/a – Squash — but it’s a DUD, no matter what.
Post-match, Fandango actually gets a mic spot. He says he realizes what the problem is. He’s been sharing his “gift of dance with Rosa” when he should have been sharing it with everyone else. Then his old music hits. Everyone does the Fandango.
Kane is STILL BACKSTAGE. Daniel Bryan shows up. Kane asks him to go away. Bryan asks what happened to Kane. He says that Kane shouldn’t lay down. He needs to be a man. Kane yells LEAVE real loud. Daniel Bryan does.
Earlier tonight. John Cena challenged people. #CENAWONLOL, surprise, surprise. Rusev attacked him. So, at Extreme Rules, he’ll face Rusev in a Russian Chain Match.
Seth Rollins is out for his match.
MATCH #8: WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins w/ Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury vs. Kane (non-title) Kane strips out of his jacket, shirt and tie for the first minute, then it’s yacking with Rollins for the next 30 seconds. Kane goes to lay down. Rollins comes over and pins and it’s a two count. J&J comes into the ring. Kane grabs them by the throat and tosses them both out. Rollins isn’t happy and Kane jacks his jaw. He sets up for a Chokeslam and Rollins begs off with all the power he has in him and tells Rollins to lay down. Kane gets on one knee…then gets up and hits a Chokeslam. He starts to call for the Tombstone…but stops, lays down, and pulls Rollins on top of him for the pin at 4:35. WINNER: Seth Rollins
RATING: DUD.
So, now, both guys pick their “stipulations” for the match? Why didn’t they just have them fight one another?
Damien Miz-dow is walking backstage.
We get flashbacks from Miz-dow’s fight with Miz.
MATCH #9: The Miz vs. Damien Miz-dow (w/ Summer Rae) Miz takes half a minute to take his sunglasses off. Miz-dow does the same. Then they take match time to remove their jackets. WHAT IS THIS, MAGIC MIKE?! WRESTLE ALREADY.The two trade the same moves and Sandow rolls up Miz at just over 2:00. WINNER: Damien Miz-dow
RATING: DUD. This is an awful fucking night.
The Prime Time Players mock Los Matadores. WWE Creative supplies audio of crickets chirping which is fitting since nobody in the arena responds either.
MATCH #10: Ryback vs. Luke Harper Scrum in the corner and Harper kicks Ryback in the face — but only gets two, which is surprising given the tonight’s booking. Harper hits a Gator Roll which serves to “disorient opponents” according to Cole. Ryback picks up Harper by the neck and drops him. He goes for a Meathook but Harper ditches the ring. Ryback follows and Harper uses the announce booth to clock him in the face — and we’re done?! Fuuuuuuck. WINNER: Ryback via DQ at 1:47
RATING: DUD.
Ambrose comes out, post-match, and beats up Harper cuz’, ‘member? Ambrose got beat up by him.
EARLIER TONIGHT: Naomi beat up Paige.
Byron is backstage with Naomi. She says she lost her cool, then laughs and calls Byron an idiot. She says this whole thing is about her. Naomi doesn’t even know why we had a Divas Battle Royal tonight. This is surreal as fuck.
Dolph is out here and criticizes Kane for laying down and calls him “The Devil’s Favorite Dumbass”. Ziggler wants ANY SUPERSTAR IN THE BACK since Seth has already done his thing tonight. Neville responds because who wants a United States Title?
MATCH #11: Dolph Ziggler vs. Neville Neville escapes an armbar and applies one on Ziggler. Neville flips around after the break and hits a standing moonsault as the crowd finally starts to wake up. Ziggler comes back with a quick DDT and gets two. After commercial, Neville fights out of a headlock and tosses Ziggler up into the air and to the mat. The two roll out of the ring. Neville hits a flipping moonsault outside, then rolls back into the ring. He goes back outside, walks along the edge of the crowd barrier and does a Flipping Senton on top of Ziggler. Back in the ring, it’s a two count. The two counter each other’s moves and Ziggler gets hit with an Enzuguri for two. Ziggler comes back with a BIG Superkick and he gets two. Both men get up. Ziggler tries an elbow but misses. Neville tries the Red Arrow but Ziggler moves. Neville lands on his feet and lunches at Ziggler. Ziggler sidesteps and Neville hits the post. Ziggler hits the Zigg Zagg for the win at 9:08. WINNER: Dolph Ziggler via Zigg Zagg
RATING: **1/4. Not a bad match. Could have been longer and should have been the main feature. But, the booking staff has their heads up their asses tonight, so what can you do?
Post-match, Sheamus comes in out of nowhere and hits a Brogue on Ziggler. Ziggler comes back fighting, getting some nice licks in, but Sheamus hits another Brogue and stands tall.
ON SMACKDOWN: Big Show WILL BE THERE!!!
NEXT: Randy and Seth make their match decisions!!!
Seth and J&J hit the ring and sit back in nice sofa seats. Rollins says that the crowd can boo him all they want but that doesn’t change the fact that he is the future of WWE. He’s also the greatest because he beat Reigns and Lesnar in the same night. He says that Kane has relieved himself of his duties as Director of Operations and, now, Rollins can make his stipulation. He invites Orton out.
Orton shows up and tells Rollins that everything is being needlessly complicated. He wants to clear out the chairs and he wants to fight right now. Rollins says that he loves “complicated”. He has power and he will wield it right now: the RKO is banned. Rollins tells him that The Authority always wins. Orton says that he was thinking along the same lines: his stipulation is fighting inside a steel cage “where nobody can help Rollins”. You know, because that’s always worked.
Orton says that’s that, then attacks Rollins and his stooges. Rollins escapes but the stooges absorb Orton’s wrath and Orton stands tall as we go off the air.
OVERALL: 1/2 a * tonight. This was a lazy, boring show with nothing going for it except a so-so beginning and a decent end match.
Community Season 6, Episode 6 – Basic Email Security Grade: B+
At this point in history, so much of the interactions in the Western World take place digitally. Behind our devices, we can have conversations and gossip to our heart’s content. If anything, we know that our friendly neighborhood study group, while loving, can also tear each other to shreds when the need arises. This need will obvious rear its ugly head as the group loses control of their private correspondences.
In what is probably the most realistic depiction of hacking on network TV (CSI’s 4 hands, 1 keyboard being the worst) Greendale gets hacked by a mysterious criminal known as “EliteFleet69” and threatens to leak the emails of everyone in the school, starting with the lunch lady. Although the screen shot of the lunch lady’s inbox is brief, it contains some great easter eggs. Apparently, Buzz Hickey passed away, Garrett has a monthly correspondence about his food allergies, and Magnitude sends out “POP POP” email blasts.
This is going to most likely be the most overt way that Community will address any hot topic issue. I suppose that it’s good that they’re killing two birds with one stone, right to privacy and terrorism. The right to privacy is obvious, but negotiating with terrorists part is actually kind of interesting. Yes, they don’t cave, but in the process, everyone suffers. It’s a very intriguing allegory that the show poses, in a way that only comedy can do.
Are we part of the problem when we read what’s leaked? Sure we are, but at a certain point, it’s all just news right? Britta again makes an impassioned plea to stand up against the demands of EliteFleet69, and if you dig beneath the hippie-dippy crap there’s sense in what she says. Leave it up to Britta, even when I agree with her, I don’t want to. Of course, then the activities committee/study group/Committee to Save Greendale is threatened with their own email leak. The group decides to remain bonded in solidarity to bring Gupta Goopi Gupta (the episode’s director Jay Chandresekar) to stage.
However, the study group having the impulse control of a 5-year-old with ADHD off his meds, reads the leaked emails, and the ensuing breakdown is glorious. Accusations and revelations fly left and right, I won’t go into details, but the best bits are the group’s pool on Frankie’s sexuality, Elroy’s fake family, and Chang’s 1 vs. 2 email chain. Despite it all, the group manages the rally and put Gupta Goopi Gupta onstage, only to realize that his show wasn’t offensive and funny, just offensive, and frankly, pretty damn terrible.
At the end of the ordeal, the entirety of Greendale has lost its privacy, and while the group stood the moral high ground, everyone else had to pay, a recurring theme. Chang is searching for some sort of meta-lesson and the gang is at a loss, until the police show up with EliteFleet69 aka FartMitzvah. Somehow, they pull “Crime Doesn’t Pay” out of their ass and call it a day. Again, the stinger scene at the end of the episode is somehow one of the best parts.
This foray into the study group proved to be a little more solid than the rest of the episodes this season so far, but it still misses some heart. I guess it just seems like it’s been out a while, but this is only episode 6. Next week will be the official halfway point, and hopefully it all trends up from here on out.
Veep Season 4, Episode 01 “Joint Session” Air date: April 12, 2015 10:30pm Grade: B
Veep is back, and Selina Meyer finds herself in the oval office after the former president resigned last season. If that sounds like a familiar premise, this is a far cry from the ruthless machinations of Frank Underwood in House of Cards. “Joint Session” is all chaos and folly as Selina settles into her new office and prepares for her first State of the Union speech with help from her loyal but incompetent staff. Things don’t quite reach the heights of frantic disarray that some of the best episodes have, but “Joint Session” still has all the ceaseless jokes, dysfunctional characters, and high-stakes political fumbling that Veep does best.
The episode opens with Selina’s first State of the Union address, but she’s stuck at the podium with a blank teleprompter. “Joint Session” then depicts the previous day’s series of minor disasters that lead up to Selina’s much larger disaster. Julia Louis-Dreyfus does wonderful work as always, alternating between Selina’s projected facade of calm professionalism and her withering hostility behind closed doors. Her frustration and impatience towards her ineffectual staff reaches new heights as the speech draws closer without any clear vision–Selina is eager to include her Families First bill, but she needs find a way to fund it through budget cuts. Selina, Kent, and Ben scramble to negotiate some spending cuts while the rest of the team works frantically to edit the speech after each turn of events. It’s a narrower focus that the show operates most comfortably in; the sort of minutiae that props up or topples the team’s best laid plans.
There are some minor storylines that are mostly just setup for future episodes, but don’t really contribute much to the main plot, which is a little deflating for the escalation of events. Bill Ericcson quits his position as Thornhill’s campaign manager and might be making a play for Amy’s position, while Gary finds himself increasingly unnecessary as Selina’s position makes her less accessible. Jonah pays a visit to the new vice president Andrew Doyle, only to be tasked with spying on Selina’s team. Patton Oswalt makes a guest appearance as Doyle’s chief of staff Teddy Sykes, who has a very hands on approach to threatening Jonah and asserting his dominance. The ridiculous physical comedy on display makes up for the rather abrupt and awkward ball grabbing, and the whole scene reads a bit like a parody on the hyper masculine power dynamics in House of Cards. Veep continues to add to its already large and incredible cast of comedic talent, and hopefully we’ll be seeing more of Teddy Sykes in the season to come.
Selina finally manages to squeeze some budget cuts from the joint chiefs in the form of an obsolete submarine program, only to upset multiple districts who threaten to kill her Families First bill if the cuts aren’t removed. All of this occurs right before the address, so the team scrambles to fix the speech right as Selina is left floundering at the podium. Although she manages to improvise her way through part of the speech to stall for time, she ultimately reads a draft of former President Hughes’ old plan, which promised an additional $10 billion to the submarine program. Selina’s veiled frustration during the speech and her simmering rage by the end of the episode are both great, and her presidency has barely even started. At the rate things are going, Selina Meyer might not be president for long.
I really enjoyed Ben and Dan’s use and explanation of the term “cock-thumb”, and Selina’s reactions throughout: “… commonly known as negotiating?”
“I booked the name using ‘Lazlo Whittaker.’” “Was ‘Vladimir Draw-Attention-to-Myself’ already taken?”
“The only unthinkable thing is that anything is unthinkable.” “Oh, Kent majored in fortune cookies.”
“Whole cities of children were going to be saved from poverty. Instead now, that money is going to fund obsolete… metal… giant… dildos.”
Know your worth. If you’re a hit that’s gonna make people a ton of money your life isn’t made – not yet anyway. After their stellar TechCrunch debut, Pied Piper is beset with a slew of new problems. Specifically, who’s money to take. Similar to it’s opening in the first season where Kid Rock performed at a modest get together, season two’s debut starts at AT&T Park where a smattering of people mingle on the diamond. There, Richard endures perhaps his two biggest fears; athletics and attention. His friend Javeed, the former renter of that mansion Mr. Rock sang at in the pilot, is also there. He’s considerably worse for wear, as his company was taken from him due to a down quarter which got his investors spooked; leaving him broke and alone. Javeed embodies the pitfalls that could happen to Richard if he’s not smart.
Unfortunately, reality dictated Peter Gregory’s death while on safari in the Serengeti. At the end of 2013, Christopher Evan Welch passed away from lung cancer leaving a noticeable absence in the second half of last season. His performance as a socially inept genius was original and hilarious. Peter Gregory’s successor, Laurie, continues this character trend as her staccato sentences and darting eye movements play up her character’s lack of charisma. Given recent events in San Francisco with the Ellen Pao case highlighting the gender gap in Venture Capital, it’s nice to see Silicon Valley casting a woman as Gregory’s successor. Not only is it a topical issue, but it helps to balance out a cast that last season only had Amanda Crew’s Monica as a main female character.
Speaking of Monica, she finds out from Laurie that her position as Associate Partner is in jeopardy if Pied Piper doesn’t sign with them. Uneasy with the possible shifting personnel at Raviga, Richard and Erlich meet with the various firms that have courted them only to find tepid responses. Realizing this to be a negotiation tactic, Erlich describes as “negging” – a manipulative sex strategy used by lonely chauvinists, he unleashes his brash demeanor to counteract the firms’ lowball strategy. It surprisingly works, as higher and higher offers roll in. It’s an example of how despite not being able to code he brings value to the Pied Piper team. To ensure that they stay with Raviga, Laurie gives them an offer well above all the other firms. Though this seems like the answer to their problems, Monica points out that it’s an overvaluation, suggesting he take the lowest offer. It was important to show Monica’s future at the company was at risk so that when she tells Richard to take a lower deal we know that she has the best intentions in mind, even if he doesn’t realize it. After running the hypothetical scenario of possibly taking less money past Javeed, and subsequently destroying his fragile psyche, Richard follows her advice and takes half of the proposal. Having quelled one problem they’re hit with another that will possibly run the length of this season; Hooli is suing them.
Silicon Valley’s strength comes in its ability to highlight the absurdity of start-up tech culture by adding slight embellishments. Peter Gregory’s funeral is an event in and of itself; blending eulogies with the tone of a Ted Talk. Attendees dressed in hoodies, is an examples of how Mike Judge exaggerates the world but only slightly keeping the tone believable. Silicon Valley continues to improve. While it’s always been funny, the characters and their relationships with one another are settling into a groove as Pied Piper continues to develop. While TJ Miller continues to channel his inner Michael Scott as the oblivious egomaniac Erlich, I find myself loving the growing adversarial relationship between Gilfoil and Dinesh. It’s also nice seeing Richard stand up for himself as he did in their first meeting, it makes him a more engaging protagonist.
I’m excited to see how this season unfolds. Its serial, as opposed to episodic, nature is something not normally seen in half hour comedies and, aside from the jokes, the company’s development creates weekly anticipation.
A photo posted by Bryan Singer (@bryanjaysinger) on
Munn joins Jennifer Lawrence (Raven/Mystique), James MacAvoy (Charlies Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Erik Lensherr/Magneto), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy/Beast), Evan Peters (Peter/Quicksilver), Oscar Isaac (En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse), Ben Hardy (Warren Worthington III/Angel), Tye Sheridan (Scott Summers/Cyclops), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler), Alexandra Shipp (Ororo Munroe/Storm), and Lana Condor (Jubilation Lee/Jubilee).
“X-Men: Apocalypse” is set to be released next year May 27, 2016. Singer will be directing again with Simon Kinberg, Dan Harris, and Michael Dougherty penning the script.
Munn is perhaps most known for her role as Sloan Sabbith on “The Newsroom,” has also co-hosted “Attack of the Show” on the now defunct G4 network. In addition, she was a correspondent on “The Daily Show” and has appeared in films like “Iron Man 2,” “Magic Mike,” “Unity,” “Deliver Us From Evil,” “Mortdecai”, and most recently “Ride Along 2.”
Last night Game of Thrones aired a first for the series–a flashback, something showrunners David and Dan said early on in their Thrones career they’d never do. However, this flashback was integral for a character’s development so I don’t begrudge them that early misstep. I do, however, have complaints about the omission of a character’s past that they wrote.
Cersei Lannister is character loathed by many. In the A Song of Ice and Fire books she is paranoid, cruel, and power hungry. However, HBO’s version of events has made Cersei a much more sympathetic character. I’ve already gone over the (biased) moments in the show when she was at her best, but last night HBO retconned one of Cersei’s most sympathetic moments on the show, acting as if it never happened.
During Cersei’s flashback in “The Wars to Come”, we met Maggy the Frog, a creepy soothsayer who divulged the future to the young Lannister. I won’t go into the specifics of the entire prophecy, but instead I want to focus on one part, the prediction about Cersei’s children.
The king will have twenty children. You will have three.
Three. Now, I know this is in keeping with the book canon prophecy, word for word, in fact. In the book, Cersei does have three children. However, in the show, Cersei gives birth to four children.
In the second episode of the first season, Cersei visits a distraught Catelyn Stark tending to the comatose Bran. In this scene Cersei and Catelyn display their many similarities, namely the fact that the love of their children comes before all else. Perhaps Cersei only visits Lady Stark out of guilt because she knows how Bran came to be as he is, and with her that is entirely plausible. Nonetheless, she does visit and it is an unexpected gesture of kindness. One to which Lady Stark does not know how to respond. Unprovoked, Cersei empathizes with the grieving mother.
I lost my first boy. A little black-haired beauty. He was a fighter too… tried to beat the fever that took him…It was years ago. Robert was crazed, beat his hands bloody on the wall, all the things men do to show you how much they care. The boy looked just like him. Such a little thing… a bird without feathers. They came to take his body away and Robert held me. I screamed and I battled, but he held me. That little bundle. They took him away and I never saw him again. Never have visited the crypt, never.
Note: click here to watch the scene between Cersei and Catelyn; begin at 1:36.
Some could argue that Cersei is lying in an attempt to make Catelyn Stark see her in a more sympathetic light, to throw her off the Lannister Lying Trail, and that there never was a black-haired baby. However, I don’t think Cersei is a liar. Crazy, evil, selfish, throw any of those adjectives in front of her name and they’d all be true, but dishonest she is not. When Bran Stark finally awakens her first thought is to silence him, not to lie about the event. It is Jaime who suggests lying. In the second season, when questioned about her relationship with Jaime, Cersei never denies the truth of it, and instead stays silent.
In later episodes, we learn from her conversation with Ned that Cersei did love Robert Baratheon and wanted to be a good and loving wife, one that would stand proud at his side. Of course, we know it all ends with three blonde children and a loveless marriage, but for a time, there was something between the two.
And then, in season one, episode five, Robert corroborates Cersei’s story to Catelyn Stark.
Robert Baratheon: “Do you want to know the horrible truth? I can’t even remember what she looked like….I only know she was the one thing I ever wanted…someone took her away from me…and seven kingdoms couldn’t fill the hole she left behind.”
Cersei Lannister: “I felt something for you once you know
Robert Baratheon: “I know.”
Cersei Lannister: “Even after we lost our first boy- for quite a while actually…was it ever possible for us? Was there ever a time ever a moment?”
Robert Baratheon: “No…does that make you feel better or worse?”
Cersei Lannister: “It doesn’t make me feel anything.”
What is the purpose for mentioning this lost boy if it was intended to have no purpose? Were the story not true, surely Robert would call her out on the lie. But he doesn’t, and even though that one line–even after we lost out first boy–lifts right out, it made it through the editing process. Because it has meaning.
What does all this mean? Why even bother nitpicking about something that to most viewers is a trivial moment in an unlikable character’s past? Well, one, because it’s sloppy writing. Someone in that writing room had to have remembered these scenes from the first season. This isn’t like the ASoIaF realm where there’s five years between seasons. Someone knew this occurred and either chose to ignore it or was overruled. If it was intended solely to solidify the difference between Robert’s true child and Cersei’s bastard children for the sake of the audience, then they must assume the viewers aren’t smart enough to pick up on all the other clues.
Two, and more importantly, Maggy the Frog’s prophecy about Cersei’s future is a intrinsic part of the character. It dictates much of what she does and explains–in most regards–why she acts in such a reckless manner. She clings to Joffrey despite his sadism because his demise means she is one step closer to confirming the prophecy. This moment in young Cersei’s life is so important that the creators chose to start the season with it. And yet, the prophecy remained the same. Three children.
Because the prophecy is worded as such in the show canon, once Cersei gave birth to Tommen she would have realized that Maggy the Frog was false and I have no doubt that such a thing would have changed her view. Or, to go back even further, Cersei’s first child was black-haired, which would have been an even earlier clue to the Queen that Maggy’s words meant nothing. Instead of becoming what many think is a self-fulfilling prophecy, it would have simply been the lies of a lunatic who lived in the forest, and Cersei would be a completely different character.
TURN is back for season two on AMC on April 13, both with a new air date (Mondays) and even a new title: TURN: Washington’s Spies. At the end of the tumultuous season, Mary Woodhull learned her husband, Abe, has been working covertly for the George Washington and the patriots. Through a deadly accident, she and her husband now share their own secrets.
To learn more about the upcoming season, I recently spoke with Mary’s portrayer, Meegan Warner, to get some hints on what fans can expect in the new season.
TURN: Washington’s Spies airs Mondays @ 10 pm ET starting April 20 on AMC; the second season will premiere with a two-hour episode on April 13 at 9 pm ET.
Hi Meegan—thanks so much for taking the time to chat today. TURN just got a new title going into the second seasons. It is now called TURN: Washington’s Spies. Is there anything else off the bat that will feel new about the show when the second season premieres in April?
No worries! Thanks for having me!
So we pick up the story around two months after the events of the season one finale. As the story starts unfolding, we’ll start seeing some new characters introduced into the equation and with them some cool new story lines. I also think the pacing of this season is a lot faster and more exciting.
You guys are going to be going on Monday nights—something that’s worked out quite well in the case of Better Call Saul. Do you guys think you’ll start to discover a new audience with the new time slot?
I hope so. Last season we aired at the same time as Game Of Thrones, which was quite intimidating! The show truly went under the radar during season one, but we attracted a really passionate core audience. TURN will also be on Netflix soon, which I think will help as well.
OK—let’s get into the show now. What’s it like working on a period drama? What do you think of some of the costumes?
It’s been fun to explore the time period and the costumes are amazing. Very beautiful and detailed, but it really isn’t fun to eat lunch in a tight corset! I was always quite enthusiastic to take the costume off at the end of the day!
Your character also has a young child on the show. Is it difficult at all working with such a young baby on the set?
I think we’ve been very lucky with Ellis and Cabell, the twins who play Thomas. There were some difficult days but for the most part they were very good. The boys were a lot more relaxed around the cast and crew this season. And they can now say my name, which I’m very excited about!
Before you got cast, did you ever get a chance to read the book the show is based on?
Well my manager actually owned the book, but the audition process was very quick. I only had a few days between hearing about the audition and going in to read for the role, so I didn’t have time. But the day I found out I’d booked the job, after the excitement and shock died down a bit, I started reading it and I loved it.
In the season finale, Mary discovered what Abe has been up to, but helped him cover up a murder with a last minute idea of arson. How will her discovery and their secrets impact their relationship in the second season?
Yeah that was a pretty awesome moment to play as Mary. Definitely my favorite scene to film in season one. Mary and Abe’s relationship becomes very interesting over the course of the second season. I wish I could say more but I’m afraid I’ll give something away!
Abe became a reluctant spy for Washington over the course of the season. Is there ever a chance that we might see Mary join her husband in the spy craft?
I can’t tell you that! You’ll have to watch and see…
For those that are “shipping” (hate to use that term) Anna and Abe, give us a few reasons why we should root for Mary and Abe to stay together?
Hahaha! Oh dear… I think it’s a little pointless to “ship” characters on TURN. What with the arranged marriages and all!!
We’re going to meet Benedict Arnold in the second season. Any other teases you can give us for the first few episodes of the season?
The first season was very much about the formation of the spy ring. This season is a lot more action packed and exciting. And the lovely Ksenia Solo joins the show as Peggy Shippen.
Where else can we see you this year besides TURN? I did a film called The Veil with Jessica Alba, Lily Rabe and Thomas Jane which I believe comes out later this year. An independent thriller called Portend may also surface this year. And I’m currently in Australia filming the new Cairnes brothers feature called Scare Campaign but that will probably be out next year.
Destiny‘s second expansion, House of Wolves, is slated to release on May 19, 2015, Activision announced on Monday. The new content will bring players up to the Reef to deal with the Fallen threat from the House of Wolves.
House of Wolves will explore the story around the Awoken and their Queen, while introducing 3 new Crucible maps and a brand new raid centered around the Fallen.
The Ant-Man trailer is finally here giving us our first real look at the super-powered suit as well as the first story beats.
The official story synopsis:
The next evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time with Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man.” Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.
Marvel’s “Ant-Man” stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang aka Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne, Corey Stoll as Darren Cross aka Yellowjacket, Bobby Cannavale as Paxton, Michael Peña as Luis, Judy Greer as Maggie, Tip “Ti” Harris as Dave, David Dastmalchian as Kurt, Wood Harris as Gale, Jordi Mollà as Castillo and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. Directed by Peyton Reed and produced by Kevin Feige, Marvel’s “Ant-Man” delivers a high-stakes, tension-filled adventure on July 17, 2015.
You know, like Winter has been coming for the past four seasons.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. That’s right, kiddies, Game of Thrones has returned and along with it all the gore, politics, and boobs you can handle. I’ll spare you the recap of where our Throne-y friends left off last season because there’s about a bajillion recap posts out there and me writing another would be about as useful as nipples on a breastplate. (…Eh? EH?!)
Much like the previous seasons, the first episode of season 5, “The Wars to Come,” is a slow affair. It spends most of the hour setting up all of the plots we’ll follow throughout the season and because of that, there isn’t much in the way of action. That doesn’t make it terrible because I’m all ’bout that character development, but aside from the final ten minutes, nothing jumps out as exciting.
King’s Landing
The episode begins with a (never before seen!) flashback to a young Cersei Lannister and I’m immediately struck by how well Nell Williams has managed to capture that “Cersei” look.
Along with her friend, Melara, the wee Cersei is on a mission to find Maggy the Frog, so that she can learn about her future. I admire the bravado in the young Lannister, but true to Cersei, she’s only interested in her status, and the answers are not the ones she wants. Note: it looks like Game of Thrones is retconning that scene from season 1 when Cersei told Catelyn about the black-haired baby she lost before Joffrey was born.
Back in the present, adult Cersei attends the memorial for her father, Tywin, and Jaime is in the sept when she gets there with that “We’ve got to stop meeting like this” look. I clutched my pearls for a moment, afraid that there might be a repeat of the rape from last season after Joffrey’s death. (I don’t care what the actors/showrunners say, that was a rape.) At the very least the twins should find a new location for date nights; there aren’t many show-important Lannisters left.
Jaime continues down this path where he is less likable than his book counterpart. Rather than Cersei being the one who is paranoid about losing power, it’s Jaime, and once again, Cersei is the more sympathetic of the pair. She *almost* respects Tyrion for what he did because at least he intended his actions, whereas Jaime hides behind his ignorance, taking no blame. As the scene ends, you can see the respect she once had for her brother/lover draining out of her.
Tywin, however, is looking fabulous.
Oh, heyyyyyy. There’s Lancel at the memorial, asking Cersei to spare a moment to talk about the Seven. Aaaaand look! Another Lannister funeral for Jaime and Cersei to attend is on the horizon, because Cersei is going to murder that dude if he doesn’t keep his Sparrow mouth shut.
Meanwhile, we see Loras for the first time in forever and I don’t think he’s left the bed the entire time. Nor has he put on clothes. Ten points from House HBO for the character assassination of Loras Tyrell. Margaery does not approve either.
The Eyrie
The sickly lord of the Eyrie, Robin Arryn, is learning to use a sword and spoiler alert: he’s terrible. Not much else occurs with Sansa and Littlefinger other than another Stark girl slipping right on by Brienne and Podrick. I wonder why this scene was included except to remind us that yes, they are all still alive and Sweet Robin is totes strong and not at all about to die from some crazy illness. Littlefinger is innocent, I swear.
On the other side of the hill, Brienne is fed up with Pod’s shit.
Pentos
Tyrion gets drunk and vomits. No, really. That’s basically all he does this episode. Oh, he and Varys have great verbal sparring matches, to be sure–they’re really the best duo on the show–but it’s only good for the laughs.
And then Varys continues to make grand speeches about the fate of Westeros, good rulers, blah blah. He uses the iconic line from the trailers, “Who said anything about him?” And somehow it isn’t as powerful. However, the point is made. Tyrion then decides to drink himself into a coma while Varys continues to pick up his poop all the way to Meereen.
Meereen
HBO, you gave me a start because for a moment there, I thought you had replaced Grey Wurm and I was going to be very upset.
Meereen begins with a depressing scene as we learn that the Unsullied go to brothels to be held. We also learn that the Meereen brothels are home to the worst cuddle partners ever. Oh, and hey, look. A naked woman.
Daenerys is, of course, not pleased by the news that her Unsullied are being killed, so she sends more Unsullied to patrol the streets. One guess as to how that goes down. Later, Dany seeks the bedroom advice of Daario, the guy who cut off the head of his last boss. So, you know, a wise dude. He tells her that she isn’t the Mother of Unsullied but the Mother of Dragons. Dany, being the rational type, then decides to see the “children” she put in time out months ago. Unfortunately for Dany, dragons don’t know what it means to “be cool” and instead they stomp around screaming that they have way more fun over at dad’s house.
The Wall
Jon Snow spars with the kid who killed Ygritte and proves that he at least knows how to show restraint and not murder the little git.
Just kidding. I’m sure he’s a sweet kid.
Sam and Gilly have an awkward conversation and Gilly puts him between a gravestone and a hard place. “Sam, don’t let them kick me out.” “I–I can’t. I’ll just go with you.” “They’ll kill you, idiot. Don’t let them kick me out.” “I…” -_-
Melisandre then takes Jon to see the Stannis the Buttheart, rightful King of Westeros. On the way, she reminisces about her time spent with another dark-haired young man and we get to see Jon Snow be super awkward about it.
Atop the wall, Stannis convinces Jon to convince Mance Rayder to convince his people to follow Stannis so he can “convince” the Boltons to leave Winterfell. Ya dig? Unfortunately for Jon, Mance Rayder decides to pull a Ned Stark and get all noble, telling the pretty boy that he has principles and won’t be seen as weak in front of his BFF Tormund. Besides, Jon’s track record about knowing things isn’t exactly squeaky clean, so the King Beyond the Wall decides to take his chances with the Red Woman.
It does not end well.
Not pictured in this episode:
Bran “Wah I can’t walk” Stark
Hodor “Hodor” Hodor
ANYONE from Dorne >:|
Jaime’s right hand
Jorah 🙁
Joffrey 🙂
The Boltons 😀
Arya “I’m going to kill everyone” Stark (what gives?)
Gendry “I’m still rowing” Baratheon
Benjen Stark
“I am the ill intent who set upon the traveler on a road that he should not have been on.” – Wilson Fisk
We’ve gone 12 hours without seeing the Daredevil costume. I will admit, when I first saw the reveal on Thursday, it was the first time I was ‘meh’ about anything from the show. So, I took with a grain of salt as we raced toward the finale.
Urich’s death came as a complete shock to me. I really expected Matt to burst in at the end and save his life. His funeral was punctuated by the absence of Foggy, who in the meantime has been pumping Marcy (figuratively and literally) for information on Fisk’s dealings, setting the stage for what could be the comeuppance of Fisk legally, and Matt getting ready to enforce justice in case that fails.
Owlsley meets the coward’s death that he deserves. Did anyone really think Fisk was going to let him get away with poisoning Vanessa? In fact, I thought Owlsley was going to go by the Oberyn Martell way, dying by elevator shaft seemed a bit too clean. Of course, this means that the Kingpin has to tie up loose ends, the one being Hoffman, a witness who could blow the whole thing. Luckily, Matt gets to Hoffman in time and proceeds to blow the cover off of the whole thing.
Playing ‘Nessun Dorma’ while Fisk’s criminal empire crumbles around him is genius. Seeing so many of the series villains, both big and small, go down was fantastic. Obviously, this wasn’t the last that we’d be seeing of Fisk, but at this point, the flawlessly executed escape during prisoner transfer has been overdone (a la Dark Knight and Skyfall). However, this set up the final confrontation between Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk.
And finally, enter Daredevil. Seeing the first shot of the costume made whatever doubts I had disappear. Watching the suit in action was brilliant. Daredevil moved like he does in the comics, his suit didn’t constrain him at all, and the ricochet of the billy club made my inner fanboy squeal. This fight painted the two combatants perfectly. Daredevil, a perfectly honed and trained fighter reliant on speed, and Fisk, a brutal force of nature with no mind. However, those Murdocks have a bit of the devil in ‘em, so Matt ends up on top.
The series comes to close with scenes that wrap up the storylines, like Nelson & Murdock getting back on its feet. The two most haunting scenes though, have nothing to do with our heroes. Wilson Fisk, now clad in his iconic white, staring at the wall sent shivers up and down my spine. And finally Vanessa, slipping on the engagement ring, and staring out into the abyss. If Marvel and Netflix deliver a second season, seeing Vanessa reign as the Kingpin would be something we’d all want.
Have thoughts on the series? Share them below in the comments section!
Given the state of Hells Kitchen’s Police department, Karen made the wise decision to chuck Wesley’s gun into the river. For someone that may or may not have shot someone before, she’s clearly haunted by the act and terrified of the repercussions. Afraid to be alone, she reaches out to Foggy and Matt for support, but they’re still embroiled in their own quarrel to realize her turmoil. She presses Ben to get their story out, warning that she thinks they know they visited her mother. Many of us were probably yelling at the screen, wanting Karen to tell Ben definitively what happened. As morning breaks, Vanessa wakes and promptly calms a worried Fisk, who’s ready to whisk her out of the country for safety’s sake. He’s pulled away from her bedside to discover Wesley’s body, construing it as a continuation of Venessa’s poisoning. While gathering the details of Wesley’s actions, he reminds us that underneath his stylish Kevlar suits is an animal, as he pummels Francis with punches so laden with bass that they can almost be felt by the viewer.
Matt’s finally well enough – ok, not really well enough, but able – to venture out into the city and continue unraveling Fisk’s operation. With Ben’s assistance he goes after Gao’s heroin, hoping to hurt Fisk’s bank account and clean up his streets to boot. Next to Stone’s appearance, Madam Gao’s is perhaps the next biggest morsel in this series is Gao in this episode. After sending Daredevil sliding across a warehouse floor with a single punch, she informs Leland that she’s returning home which is “considerably further” than China. Presumably she’s another element in the impending war Stick mentioned to Matt. It’s another example of how Marvel tempers their audience. It’s a tactic they borrow from their comics, as the epilogues will typically foreshadow impending conflicts. A magical element is coming to the Marvel Universe, and the powers that be are getting us ready.
This episode’s opening foreshadows its tragic end. Fisk’s quiet patience to wait for Ben highlights his cunning tactics. He’s just about to expose the Kingpin (have we ever heard them utter this phrase?) but the timing was too perfect. We knew a major death was coming, in a show like this when good things are happening to good people, you just know tragedy is about to strike. The tragedy is a beautifully crafted example of a marriage, love expressed through a deep friendship, where the Urich’s truly know one another. All this sentiment solidified that Ben was clearly on the chopping block. However, we’ve seen our protagonists nearly die multiple times. Even though it’s stupid to think, there were moments where I thought the titular character (that’s Daredevil) might not make it. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. As his boots ceased to wiggle with life, Ben’s murder did another thing. It alienated the viewers from liking Wilson. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still fascinated by him but I’m not nearly as sympathetic to him as I was after he killed Anatoly.
The romance angle between Matt and Claire has been the weakest part of this entire series. Thankfully, we see it draw to a close here as she leaves with parting words, some advice for body armor, and a promise to be there when Matt really needs her. Seeing as Claire Temple is originally a Luke Cage character, I’m sure she’ll pop up sooner rather than later.
My favorite supporting character so far is Father Lantom, the priest to whom Matt confesses to and returns to for guidance. You see how the symbol of Daredevil becomes formed in Matt’s mind, and how he struggles with who he has to become and how to live with his thoughts and actions. Father Lantom hypothesizes that maybe the devil was god’s plan to scare us into “treading the path of the righteous”.
This episode really feels like a breather, both emotionally and plot-wise, which I think we all needed. The only real bit of action is the scene between Matt and Fisk’s tailor, Melvin Potter (who is Gladiator in the comics). The miracle tailor who works with Kevlar puts quite the beating on poor old Matt, but once he’s beaten, he breaks down to reveal he was coerced to work for Fisk all this time. Taking pity on the simple-minded man, Matt promises to protect Betsy, the woman Melvin cares about, and in return, if Melvin can make him something (THE SUIT!!!!!). God, I really hope that Matt can keep his promise.
Fisk spends his time at Vanessa’s bedside, seeing to her recovery. You can see the rage only barely kept in line by concern for his beloved. Wesley, as Fisk’s only true friend, sees this, and tries to find ways to give Fisk time to grieve. At this point, I think we all suspect that Owlsley is the snitch, and I hope he gets what’s coming to him.
Wesley, stupidly, goes to try to tie up the loose end that is Fisk’s mother BY HIMSELF. I cannot believe such an amazing character meets such a whimpering death. Death by accident, death by carelessness, worst of all, death by Karen, UGH. At least Wesley stayed true to his character, trying a bluff till the very end. He will be missed.
Wesley’s death is a huge game changer for the series. I felt that he held Wilson in check from his worst impulses, and genuinely tried to help his employer. With Wesley and Vanessa out of commission for the foreseeable future, we’re going to see the animal cut loose. A man with nothing to lose and nothing to hold him back is someone who should be feared. More and more, it seems like Fisk is the one with nothing to lose, and Matt is poised to lose everything.
People have been bagging on Foggy, and between the other writers and I, we’ve been having a lot of disagreements on whether he’s necessary as a character, or what his place is on the show. This episode explains all of that, and makes it integral to the series. From the very start, you get the sense that Foggy Nelson is a bit of doofus, but more importantly, he is a good man, and the better half of Nelson & Murdock.
This episode explores the relationship between Foggy and Matt. It’s not that they’re just friends, but they share the same deeply held convictions, convictions that set them apart from everyone else. You also see the two develop their friendship and trust on such a deep level starting from college (with a mention of a certain Greek girl). Foggy doesn’t treat Matt like a cripple, and Matt doesn’t dismiss Foggy because of his optimism, and that’s why Matt’s betrayal cuts so deeply. By the end of this episode, Nelson & Murdock no longer exists as we know it, and more importantly, the ties that bind them together have been damaged beyond what seems reparable. Matt not only has been destroyed physically, but emotionally as well.
Meanwhile, Karen dupes Ben into finding Wilson Fisk’s mother, and they extract the happenings of the fantastic episode eight from her, setting up a potential pitfall for the rising Kingpin. Wilson on the other hand, is being cautioned from Madame Gao about his priorities, and the fate that he chooses if he should keep Vanessa by his side. These circumstances are exacerbated as Vanessa sips from a glass of poisoned champagne. The safest place would be by the Fisk’s side, ugh. Please please please, keep Vanessa alive, she is amazing, and Wilson and she are an amazing power couple. Though, I am morbidly curious to see how Wilson would react if she died.
One of the things people always mention when describing Daredevil as a character is the conflicting ideals within him; lawyer/vigilante, Catholic/fighter, right/wrong. The ninth episode of Daredevil has Matt dealing especially with the repercussions of his most recent actions. He knows that he must face Fisk, and should he do so, he will kill him. As he visits the Catholic Church, Matt looks for guidance about what to do and ultimately the need for revenge wins out, putting him in the position of judge, jury, and executioner.
We know right from the beginning that Matt falls into a trap set by Fisk. We know that by the end he will have faced Nobu, the most challenging fight we’ve seen yet. And we know that things will end very, very badly. As soon as Matt, Foggy, and Karen let Mrs. Cardenas leave, I knew she was a goner. In my heart I didn’t want it to happen because dammit, I liked her, but something drastic had to occur to bait the man in the black mask and boy if Fisk didn’t bait that hook with a juicy worm.
However, by far the most tense scene of the episode is when Wilson Fisk and Matt Murdock finally meet. Matt is now aware of who Fisk is, but Fisk is none the wiser, and much like Karen, I find myself watching Fisk and thinking how likable he is, especially with Vanessa. He has the socially awkward persona down pat, and that in a way, makes him seem less dangerous. At least to those who are unaware of his record with car doors and Russians.
Angered at Fisk’s response to the death of Mrs. Cardenas, Matt charges in head first to the trap we’ve seen cut into scenes from the beginning of the episode. The man in the black mask wins, but by a thread, and then Fisk showed up to wreck up the joint. I wonder why in this moment Fisk didn’t rip off the mask, reveal the coward he’s publicly denounced and ruin his life right there? Ah, but he didn’t, and Daredevil got away, again, only to be found bleeding out by a horrified Foggy.
I’m just going to go ahead and say that this was my favorite episode of the series. There’s nothing I love more than a well-developed villain and Fisk, my friends? He is that villain. After spending seven episodes focusing on Matt Murdock’s history, we learn more about Wilson Fisk. Fisk is a man of quiet routine, but as we saw in the fourth episode, bubbling just under his skin is an animal just begging to be released. In “Shadows in the Glass” we start to learn why.
Fisk is haunted by his younger self. Chubby and bullied, Fisk is told by father to take what he wants in this world. When facing a bully, Fisk’s father, Bill, beats the other kid to the ground and then tells Fisk to “keep kicking.” A message Fisk eerily repeats after bashing in his father’s skull with a hammer in order to protect his mother from Bill’s constant abuse.
The eighth episode is a much quieter one, which sounds odd considering a boy murders his father and then his mother cuts him up and dumps him in the river. But it is. It’s focus is more on the silent moments, the looks shared by Fisk and Vanessa as he tells her about his past. And we start to understand why he bought the Rabbit in a Snowstorm painting–because it looked exactly like the plastered wall he was forced to stare at while his father beat his mother. That image is a haunting reminder of the horrors he’s faced and the rage he needs to maintain as a leader.
But Vanessa sees past all that, taking his hand and helping through subtle changes like the suit jacket and cuff links. I shouldn’t root for their relationship. My mind tells me that it’s insane to want good things for an insane man like Fisk, but then I see the way he looks at Vanessa with such vulnerability and she takes his hand, I melt. There, I said it. I’m shipping it.
The seventh episode of Daredevil answers the question, “How did Matt Murdock learn to fight?” And that answer is Stick, an old blind man with a bad attitude, who then comes back into Matt’s life without warning. Through flashbacks we learn that Stick approached Matt while he was in the orphanage, still struggling with the improvement in his senses. Stick has a no bullshit persona and even though Matt is a blind orphan, the old man shows him exactly zero sympathy. (I’m told he’s actually nicer in the show than in the comics.)
Stick shows up because he begrudgingly needs Matt’s help with stopping a weapon called Black Sky. Only, it’s not a weapon. It’s a child, and a line Matt refuses to cross. He delays Stick from killing the child, but ultimately fails. Back in Matt’s apartment, the pair fights, and ends with Stick saying, “I wanted a soldier and you wanted a father. Guess we were both left disappointed.”
It was nice seeing the dichotomy between Matt’s father Jack and Stick, and the influence both had over him. Being a boxer, you would expect Jack to teach Matt to fight, but instead it’s the blind man. However, compared to the two episodes that bookend this one, “Stick” just can’t compare.
Who was the mystery man that Stick was talking to at the end of the episode? Find out here.
A few hours ago in an Orange Country far, far away…
Some are convincing…
But others require a little imagination…
And there was definitely no shortage of these guys…
No, seriously. There were hundreds of them.
Some of the displays were conventional…
While others were downright bizarre…
Cars were given a Star Wars makeover…
And so were children!
…but let’s not forget to talk about Chef Darth Vader serving up Jar Jar Bink’s head on a platter. Literally.
But fans looking for a taste of what’s to come in The Force Awakens would not go home disappointed…
Even the newly styled Stormtroopers made an appearance!
And when you found yourself shut out of panel discussions and cast member meet-and-greets due to long lines and full rooms you could always just recreate the classic films in some truly awesome photo opportunities!
Fancy some holographic chess? You got it!
Need a quick dose of healing bacta fluid? You can get that!
Want to prove your worth against the dreaded Rancor? You can do that too!
Just beware of roaming Playboy Bunnies…
…and the disturbing revelations of movie magic…
But all in all it’s worth the peril to stand in the replicated hallways that Han Solo and Chewbacca called “home”…
But keep your damn nerf-herding hands to yourself!
May the Force be with you.
their secrets, and secrets get people killed. In a shocking turn of events that is not at all foreshadowed by Cap’s earlier judgment of the agency, S.H.I.E.L.D. gets fooled by Hydra’s long con and is infiltrated, leaving Cap, Black Widow, Nick Fury, and newbie Falcon to weed out the bad guys and stop them from using the fancy new helicarriers to kill millions of people. New to the game is the Winter Soldier, a creepy-looking guy with a robotic arm, and the only person able to stop Cap’s shield. All of this is orchestrated by Arnim Zola, a scientist who worked for Red Skull back in Cap’s original time. A few smashed computers and broken wings later, Cap and Co. stop the helicarriers from all that murderin’ and Cap yet again goes down with the ship. He is saved by the Winter Soldier who is actually his thought-to-be-dead best friend, Bucky Barnes.
