SATISFACTION Season 2, Episode 1
“…Through Release”
AIR DATE: October 16, 2015
GRADE: D+
“Ohhai,” says Satisfaction, which has returned to USA starting today. “Remember me?” After watching the premiere, I’m really not quite sure I do. The show, an exploration of a happy, middle-aged marriage gone haywire, has seemingly ditched its meditative trappings in order to give us something along the lines of Silk Stalkings without the cop schlock.
It doesn’t help that it has a less than auspicious start, beginning right where the end of the first year started — with Neil and Grace making up inside their empty swimming pool. That is until Daniel, Mallory’s angry husband (Michael Reilly Burke), comes calling so that he can shoot Neil for sleeping with his wife. After practically going through the initial motions of raping Grace in front of Neil at gunpoint, Neil confesses to his affair with Mallory, Grace tearfully admits to hers with Simon — and Daniel ends up dead after Neil successfully disarms him and tackles him into the empty pool. Does Neil dial 911? Nope. They call Adrianna instead because when you’re on the line for homicide as a result of self-defense (I mean Grace was a goddamn witness here), call the woman who runs the escort service that got you to this point.
All of this, for some reason, drives Grace right back into the arms of Simon who has to help her remove her bra and panties so she can shower. D’awwwww. But after all the chivalry, Grace leaves him again two minutes later after he divulges his master plan: he’s selling a bunch of paintings he stole from his rich father in order to run away with Grace. Does she return to Neil with the intent on making amends? Wait a second…I forgot something because I’m getting ahead of myself: Anika (their daughter) ran off last season with Mateo to play at a local music festival. Neil, who no longer gives one fuck since Grace ran off, goes to find her only to get apprehended by the festival’s security squad and ends up screwing the stage manager because he’s a guy, she’s a chick and we haven’t had any sex to keep the audience interested in any of this. After Anika catches her father in bed with the woman, Neil admits that Grace left him — then forks over all the money she needs to “follow her dreams”.
Grace, meanwhile, has put her bra and panties back on (along with the rest of her clothing) and she didn’t even need Simon’s help! I know, right? After all they’ve been through, she decides that it’s time for she and Neil to get on the same page in a scene which gives us one of the most nonsensical exchanges of dialogue since MTV’s Scream:
“Look at us, Neil!”
“I’m still hoping we can find our way back, Grace…”
“That’s all I ever wanted. Simon was…just…a door for me to try and…and find this…this part of myself that was lost so I could come back into our marriage and…and fight for it! But now it’s over, so…”
(They kiss, then make out, then really make out. Grace breaks the kiss.)
“Let’s not make this messier than it is!”
(Grace grabs packed suitcase and leaves.)
Am I the only viewer who thinks that none of the above makes sense? Grace cheated on Neil to start this whole thing. Neil, out of anger, cheated as well. Both of them owned up to their mistakes and took steps to improve their relationship — except Grace doesn’t want to improve because it’s “over”? And she goes to live with Adrianna, the big wedge between the two of them, at the end of the episode?
The first year of this show started silly but got better as it went along, diving deep into the emotional fabric that makes up a marriage. It seems to me that USA and the series’ showrunners have decided to forgo the structure they built in order to bring us a series that is in no way meant for USA. Watching “…Through Release” was like watching an episode which was rejected by HBO and AMC and handed down to network executives who wanted an insipid soap opera where Neil and Grace just do “things” for shock value. There are no more characters or believable situations on this show. We’re given actors who are just doing what the script says, even if it includes saying things that betray who they were shown to be the prior year. Even the “zen” portion of the show is gone: the Buddhist therapist Neil is seeing has been reduced to being a businessman named “Frank” (Tzi Ma) who visits corporate offices for meditation sessions.
As of right now, USA has put the entire second season of this show up on their website for binge-watching. While it’s a bit early to assess whether or not this is a bad sign, the first episode of the season does not promise us a bright future.
“Things are gonna be different now because you got a new name. With a color. Green Arrow. Catchy.”
Season 4, Episode 2: “The Candidate” Original Air Date: October 14th, 2015 Grade: C+
Alright, Arrow, that’s a little bit better than last week. However, I’m still finding it hard to take Arrow seriously. Something about the show feels off. It’s trying too hard to be intense and complicated and instead it comes off as over-compensation. “The Candidate” was better than the season premiere but I still struggle with a lot of the plot and character development. I’m hoping it pans out over the course of the season but I’m a green glass half-full kinda gal.
Team Arrow is still struggling against Darhk’s Ghosts, unable to nab even a shred of evidence that might tell them more about what they’re up against. On top of that, Diggle still hasn’t told Oliver about H.I.V.E. and I’ll be frank, that whole connection is weak to me. I mean, if someone mentioned a group of heroes out avenging death, would Diggle go, “AW SHIT IT’S THE AVENGERS.” No, because that’s an absurd parallel to draw. Anyway, Diggle breaks down and tells Laurel about his brother and the possible connections to H.I.V.E. because it’s Sharing Day at school and those two characters haven’t said three words to one another but now we’re supposed to believe everyone is best friends with Laurel. I don’t buy it. Her relationship with anyone in Team Arrow feels forced, at best.
Meanwhile, Oliver and Thea have breakfast with an old friend of the family, Jessica Danforth, and it’s delicious because that plebe Felicity didn’t cook the eggs. Jessica tells the siblings that she was inspired by the *sigh* Green Arrow and now she wants to put her face in the cross-hairs and run for mayor. It’s Sebastian Blood all over again except this time around it’s glaringly obvious Jessica isn’t going to become a permanent character. In a shocking turn of events, Jessica is attacked at her mayoral announcement (where she already has a “detail”), but have no fear! Oliver and Thea conveniently come to her rescue with the aid of “self-defense” classes.
This is one of those moments where I’m frustrated with the story. Oliver barrels down the stairs after our baddie, hurdles over railings and into a semi truck. He has one of the most recognizable faces in all of Star City and he’s acting like it’s perfectly normal for a rich playboy to be speeding after armed criminals. Eventually a deus ex Honda shows up to halt his chase, even though we get no glimpse of the driver or the knowledge if they hit Oliver intentionally or not.
Thea’s still slowly losing her cool when it comes to handling bad guys and she and Oliver get into a fight reminiscent of ones I used to have with my sisters growing up. I don’t know why everyone looks so appalled. They’re siblings. Siblings totally fight with pots and pans and bows and arrows, right? For some inexplicable reason, Thea is only just now starting to show side effects from the Lazarus Pit, six months after the fact. Siiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
The best part of the episode, for me, came from Felicity’s stint as CEO of Palmer Technologies. I miss Ray. I miss him desperately. He was a beacon of light in an otherwise dark and serious show and now that position, once again, rests solely on Felicity’s shoulders. Palmer Tech isn’t doing so well when it comes to money, so Felicity is forced to reduce the workforce. However, adorably charming Michael Holt is there to help her save the day (in a clever fashion) and if the wiki is to be believed, he might become yet another addition to Team Arrow.
Later on we see our baddie of the week, Lonnie Machin, also known as Anarky in the DC comics, speaking with homeboy Damien Darhk. At first, Darhk lectures Anarky on getting the job done. He doesn’t know how those plebes down in gangville do their job but with H.I.V.E., shit gets done, so stop Jessica from running for mayor, alright?
Kids.
(An aside, I totally think that Damien gives nicknames to all his cronies, but they all rhyme with “Darhk.” Like…Clarhk.)
Darhk then has to go back on his own words and criticizes Anarky’s kidnapping of Jessica’s daughter. In a high and mighty tone he says that sometimes there are lines we don’t cross as bad guys and god, Marhk–can I call you Marhk?–learn the rules of engagement. Damien, dear, I don’t think those rules apply once you start killing your own men and fail a train job. You don’t get less classier than that. Also, why doesn’t Darhk just, oh, I don’t know, kill Anarky at this point? It seems like Marhk’s left alive only to further the plot. Tsk tsk, writers.
Eventually, Team Arrow learns the location of Anarky’s hideout (from the *ahem* traitor Captain Lance) and they rescue Jessica’s daughter. Anarky is sufficiently creepy and over-the-top, just like one expects from a DC villain. Thea almost incapacitates him without too much harm done but the lure of the stun baton is too strong and Anarky–oopsie–catches on fire. Frustratingly, Captain Lance blames Oliver and I sigh, not because Oliver is in “trouble” but because Lance has become an annoying caricature with unreasonable expectations. I know he’s taking out his own inner turmoil on Oliver because that’s the easy way out of things, but I expected so much more from his character.
Laurel and Thea share a moment discussing feelings and shit and Laurel gets a crazy idea. The pair should go to the spa, and by spa I mean, Nanda Parbat, and instead of helping Thea, they should definitely resurrect Sara who’s been dead for over a year. God, Laurel, you’re so good at ideas.
Speaking of crazy ideas, Oliver decides to run for mayor of Star City because that totally, definitely won’t back fire.
Meanwhile in the past on Lian Yu, Oliver is sent to infiltrate the island’s new captors and he learns that they’re using people as slaves. Oliver makes use of his rich playboy background and gets rid of the Shaggy Doo haircut in favor of something more…militaristic.
Thoughts:
Felicity and Diggle definitely need code names, though at this point it seems irrelevant. Anyone with eyeballs can GUESS who’s on Team Arrow.
This episode suffered from a lack of Diggle and Lyla.
So…we can assume that Diggle’s brother isn’t really dead, right? Basically that Lazarus Pit has just made death impossible. Hooray.
What a long setup to have Oliver run for mayor. The pacing of it didn’t feel right. Nothing about Oliver’s thought process this season makes sense to me. He’s always been an internal character but this seems too forced.
iZombie Season 2, Episode 2: “Zombie Bro” Air Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2015 Grade: B+
This Week on iZombie: Blaine starts rebuilding his Utopium empire, Ravi and Major get high and a frat brother is killed by a blue furry mascot named Captain Woozle from a Swedish kids show.
I was not a huge fan of this Frat Bro storyline, it just felt way to over the top. I don’t sit down to iZombie expecting a totally realistic representation of life, but this was ridiculous. When Liv and Clive arrive at the house, the brothers are just chilling in the living room, unfazed that their friend and fraternity brother was just murdered in that same house. Their friend is dead, and they most likely spent the rest of the night talking to the cops, and they are all just like “Bro, yeah that stabbing last night of our best friend was weird huh? Want a beer?”
Human beings in college can’t be this dumb right? It would be one thing if they were all high, but I don’t even think that is the case! The brothers explain that Chad was their hero (read: a huge douchebag) who pulled asshole pranks such as making one of his pledges streak outside of an elementary school. This resulted in the kid getting arrested and forced to register as a SEX OFFENDER! What! The! Fuck! How is this frat still allowed on campus? How has it not be disbanded for documented incidences of hazing! The sex offender’s alibi for the murder is that he was talking to a girl while wearing a shower curtain costume. I am going to give this kid a tip, wearing a costume where a girl can step into it, and you can close that curtain, is not the best idea when you are a registered sex offender.
When Liv gets back to the morgue, her frat bro brains convinces her to prank a sleeping Ravi by giving him a glittery makeover. Liv’s experience with this brain feels a little on the head, usually the tendencies she adopts from the victim are more subtle than this. As Ravi begins to reprimand her she has another flashback to Chad, being the stand-up college student that he was, impersonated another student named Chad Wolkoff, and gave a tutorial of how to get away with drunk driving to a room full of high school seniors. While drunk off his ass.
I did not think that I could hate these fraternity brothers any more than I already did, but rest assured they figured out how. Liv and her new roomie Gilda head to Chad’s memorial ABC party and learn about the Dog Fight. Apparently Chad was last years winner of the ZBT “Dog Fight” a party where all the brothers bring “the homeliest girl they can find, and then the champion is the one whose date is the last dog you want to throw a bone.”I really have no words for this. I know they are using this as an example of how horrible and misogynistic frat culture can be, but just thinking about this party makes me physically sick. The fact that someone would first come up with this idea, second actually throw the party, third create trophies for the winners and fourth made it an annual tradition is beyond my comprehension. And now, this poor girl who was unknowingly victimized by Chad is now a possible suspect. Clive brings in Chad’s date, Paulette, from the Dog Fight for questioning and this scene is heartbreaking. She has no idea that she was the butt of these assholes cruel jokes, and when Clive has to break this news to her she breaks down.
To quickly wrap up this murder, since the crime has no real consequence to the story line, what happened is this: non frat bro Chad Wolkoff killed a man while drunk driving. That kid grew up resenting him and after searching his name, thought frat brother Chad was the killer. Next the kid started dating a furry, and killed the wrong Chad while wearing the Captain Woozle costume her rented for his girlfriend’s fetish.
Ravi and Major’s are by far the best part of this episode. First, their friendship is magical. Ravi decides that he is going to use Utopium strictly for field research purposes. How is he supposed to study a drug that he doesn’t know the effects of and hasn’t been properly researched! He recruits Major as his tripsetter and the two head to the club to score some drugs. When they get to the club, Ravi finds Major’s ability to purchase illegal firearms does not translate to the ability to buy illegal substances. The two have difficulty finding a dealer, but this may partially be due to Ravi drinking red wine at a nightclub. They finally find a dealer, and Ravi gets high. And it is amazing. He is just standing in the middle of the night club, high as a kite, talking into his phone to document his high.
Major turns out to be the worst trip sitter ever because next thing you know Major is high and the two are their little butts off. Major ends up getting so fucked up that Liv has leave her frat party and come to Major’s rescue. Even though the two bond as Liv takes care of Major, it is short lived because when she stops by the next day to follow-up with him, Major will not let Liv see him. Instead he is locked in his room with some more U. Cue Major’s impending battle with drugs.
Lastly, there is the Blaine storyline, which was bizarre yet eventful. Blaine is starting to rebuild his Utopium empire, and is hiring rich trust fund kids whose dads cut them off to be his dealers. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I still am not sure what Blaine’s game plan is) all of his dealers are killed by the the current kingpin, Mr. Stacey Boss. His new goal is to take down this Mr. Boss, and to do so he needs some money from his pops. The father who he despises and turned into a zombie as soon possible. Blaine literally says that his life goal is to destroy his father and take away everything he owns.
Thoughts/ Questions
I keep forgetting that Clive doesn’t know about the Zombie thing. When will they let him into the fold so he stops referring to Liv as a box of chocolates?!?
Eight minutes into the episode the word “Bro” was uttered EIGHT TIMES. That is one “bro” per minute!
So Blaine purposely hired rich white kids as drug dealers because he knew they would get murdered right? Was that his plan all along or did he just think on his feet about how to deal with the death of white drug dealers?
What is going on with this Blaine’s dad storyline? Do you think that he is actually Mr. Boss but Blaine doesn’t know?
Shadowhunters arrived at New York Comic-Con in full force with the main cast attending along with director McG, showrunner Ed Decter, and author Cassandra Clare. The show will be premiering on ABC Family/Freeform on January 12, 2016 with a special “Making of Shadowhunters” episode airing beforehand on December 6.
The Workprint chatted with series stars Dominic Sherwood and Katherine McNamara who play Jace Wayland and Clary Fray. Jace is a bit of a wunderkind and is considered one of the best young Shadowhunters in The Mortal Instruments universe. Clary in the meantime is an artist thrust into a warrior’s world that’s full of supernatural creatures. The two characters unexpectedly meet and the pairing known to fans as Clace is born. Sherwood and McNamara certainly have great chemistry and were both excited to talk about the the upcoming show.
Who in the cast is most like the character they’re playing?
Dominic Sherwood: All the characters change and kind of evolve within their own worlds so I think from like day one, I’m gonna go episode one Alberto has some pretty similar traits to Simon. He’s much more popular, much more cooler than Simon is uhm but I say he is the most similar at that point in episode one cuz I mean I don’t have any angel blood so I’m not that similar to Jace, I don’t use swords and have never seen a demon before and so I am not that similar to him in that way. But I think Alberto is probably the closest.
Katherine McNamara: I’m gonna say though that everybody is extremely well casted in their characters. Everybody has embodied, whether or not they did from the beginning everybody has come to embody their characters and I see it in everyone just hanging out. It makes it fun to read the books now because I read the books and I see Dom as Jace, I see Harry as Magnus and Matt as Alec and all the rest of the characters.
For your characters this season what would you say is the biggest internal conflict?
Dominic Sherwood: Conflict…
Katherine McNamara: There’s so many!
Dominic Sherwood: They’re a few yeah…uhm parentage is a big one…
Katherine McNamara: For the both of us.
Dominic Sherwood: Jace goes through ahh, I think it’s Clary’s fault completely! But Jace goes through…
Katherine McNamara: Everything is Clary’s fault!
Dominic Sherwood: Everything was fine before Clary turned up. But Jace was a very good place in his life, he was good at his job, he was a good Shadowhunter, respected within the world uhm he had best friends, he had a family, he had people who loved him and he was happy where he was and then Clary turns up and his world, the carpet it pulled out under from who he is and everything changes for him. So this very quickly you start to see that this arrogance and confidence he has is shaken at its core. So for me it was like character traits that started to change with Jace and who Jace was as a person or as a Nephilim or whatever quickly became kind of changed because he had this new thing in his world that was completely unknown.
Katherine McNamara: And Clary from the beginning has everything taken away from her from the first ten to fifteen minutes of the show everything she knows, everything she loves, her entire world is turned upside down and changed. And from that point she really has to fight her way back from the ashes and find some kind of strength in her to overcome everything that’s happened but she’s lucky to have people like Jace and Simon and all of the other Shadowhunters around her to show her the way and to guide her through all of the internal conflicts she’s in.
Can you describe your characters in five words?
Dominic Sherwood: Five words, the last time I was here it was three words. Even that was tough to do. Jace is ah confident, arrogant, snarky, uhm vulnerable and vicious at times.
Katherine McNamara: Clary is ah strong, vulnerable, selfish, loving, and stubborn.
Season 5 Episode 7: “The Big Reveal” Air Date: Monday, October 12, 2015
This Week on Awkward: VAL IS BACK!
“The Big Reveal” begins as Jenna ponders what to do with her new post-Sex and the City dream revelation that she loves Matty . She is sharply jolted out of lala land when her parents barge into her room with an important envelope. Jenna got into an Ivy League college so she can stop bringing up how not getting into SCU ruined her life. Ha, just kidding! The envelope in Lacey’s hands contains the sex of her impending bundle of joy.
Lacey doesn’t want to open the envelope yet, but instead wants to follow the new trendy trend of finding out if she is having a boy or a girl via a “reveal party.” Jenna will be responsible for planning the party since Val is still off finding herself, and Ally is always drunk. When Lacey expresses her excitement of doing her pregnancy right this time around, Jenna responds by whining “I’m sorry I was so UNSPECIAL.” God Jenna, this is NOT about you. Her wanting to make this pregnancy special doesn’t make you less special. Lacey hands Jenna the envelope and asks her not to open it, and to guard it with her life. Two seconds later Jenna goes into the bathroom, drops the letter into the toilet and like magic the envelope reads “It’s a girl” revealing the sex of the baby.
Jenna spends half a second feeling guilty about fucking up her party hosting duties (about the same amount of time it took for her to fuck said duties) and immediately starts talking to her mom about Matty. Lacey starts to get uncomfortable (because she is still holding the guilt of telling Matty to leave Jenna alone last season) but when she tries to change the subject Jenna just says “sorry my boy problems are not as important as this new baby.” Ugh, Jenna is acting like a four-year old.
Good thing that T is there to give Jenna a sassy reality check
Tamara: “Dial back your green monster Elphaba. Her last pregnancy was bleak, this one was chic.”
Even though there are only 25 days left until graduation neither Matty nor Jake have made a final collegiate decision. Seriously, when are college deadlines now a days? Jenna tries to pull tell Matty him her true feelings but just as the words start to come out he gets a call from Berkley telling him Matty he got the last spot on the team. If Matty feels so inclined, he could have a full athletic scholarship to Berkeley.
Because Jenna was unable to do the deed the first time, and this girl lives in her head 90% of the time, Jenna has an imaginary love reveal to Matty in the cafeteria which ends with the two making out while the entire student body cheers them on. That is so Jenna, wanting the entire school to applaud her making out with Matty. Once Sadie pulls Jenna out from her dream state, Jenna awkwardly asks Matty if they can hang out alone so she can tell him this super secret thing that she is going to keep super secret until they are alone together in private on Saturday.
Right before the reveal party, Lacey finally reveals that she told Matty to stay away from Jenna after Spring Break due to Matty treating her daughter like shit. Also due to the fact that Jenna had already started dating a new dude. As expected Jenna gets mad, overreacts, and tells her mom that she ruins everything. Cue everyone in baby party mode and Jenna whining some more about losing her only child status. While Tamara is not front and center this episode, when she is on-screen she is priceless:
Tamara: “Your baby mamma drama has to retire!”
Next she tells Jenna to get over Matty since that ship has totally sailed. Oh Tamara, I absolutely love you this episode and always.
It is finally time to reveal the sex of the baby to the world (basically just to Lacey because everybody else knows) and then…. VAL BURSTS THROUGH THE DOOR! VAL IS BACK GUYS! I have missed my home girl so much. As she tells everyone about her “Eat, Play, Love” adventures (which all occurred at Epcot) Lacey starts getting sad that she is no longer the center of attention. Turns out Val didn’t actually travel the world, she just went to Epcot. Jenna needs this party to end so she can declare her undying love to Matty so she decides to let loose on her mom:
“For someone who wants to control every little thing, including who can and can’t talk to me, there’s one thing you can’t seem to get a grasp on… birth control.”
Jenna knows that she went to far, and after the two make up, Lacey tells Jenna to follow her heart. When the time finally comes for Jenna to open up to Matty, he starts talking about how he is thinking about bypassing his full ride to Berkeley to go to a small school close to Jenna so the two can go on ski trips. Jenna realizes that she can’t be the reason that Matty does not follow his dreams, so she decides not to tell Matty how she feels. I don’t know if I am annoyed that I sat through an entire episodes of her blabbing about her Matty love to have her not even say anything to him or happy that Jenna decided to think of someone besides herself for once.
Val Quote of the Week: YAY VAL IS BACK!!
Lacey: Epcot? That’s where you did your world travel?
Val: Yeah, I find it more realistic than Vegas.
Shadowhunters arrived at New York Comic-Con in full force with the main cast attending along with director McG, showrunner Ed Decter, and author Cassandra Clare. The series will be premiering on ABC Family/Freeform on January 12, 2016 with a special “Making of Shadowhunters” episode airing beforehand on December 6.
The Workprint caught up with Harry Shum Jr. and Matthew Daddario to chat about the upcoming show, how they prepared for their roles, the crazy stunt work they had to do and vampire Camille Belcourt (Kaitlyn Leeb). Shum plays High Warlock of Brooklyn Magnus Bane while Daddario is Alec Lightwood, a Shadowhunter and parabatai to Jace Wayland (Dominic Sherwood).
Do you guys have a favorite scene that you’ve shot over the whole course, is there one that you’re like yes that’s the one I love the most, or excited, or frightened to do?
Matthew Daddario: There are some stunts scenes that were very fun that sort of stick out because they require the most preparation obviously there’s a lot of the physicality of it. But yea you know I don’t know, I just…
Harry Shum Jr: You guys have a lot of really cool fight scenes.
Matthew Daddario: There’s one really great scene that happens, I can’t say anything about it.
Harry Shum Jr: That’s the hard part! You guys are asking us about it and….blaagh….
Matthew Daddario: It’s really good!
Can you tell us who’s involved….
Matthew Daddario: I can’t!
Harry Shum Jr: How this show is the relationships are a huge part, if this interaction happens it foreshadows a lot of what happens after that so as much as we want to it’s really difficult because you know you might notice at the end of the book and some things have shifted a little bit as well makes a huge difference. But I think it was always fun for me when the whole crew is there, when the whole crew is shooting scenes together cuz a lot of times I have scenes with him and I have scenes with Kat and I never see Isaiah.
In doing the whole season you’ve done so far, if you could be a different character who would you be?
Matthew Daddario: I know who I’d be. I’d be Magnus of Valentine for sure. Magnus is you know, that’s a lot of fun to work with, I mean you’ve got a lot of stuff to work with there. And Valentine’s the same way he’s evil as all hell and that’s fun, that’s real fun.
Harry Shum Jr: I would probably…you know what’s cool, we see Camille.
Matthew Daddario: Oh Camille’s great!
Harry Shum Jr: She’s as snark as, I think even snarkier than Magnus. She has the power over him uhm and she’s so much fun cuz she’s a vampire. You kind of live a lavish life.
Matthew Daddario: She’s sadistic as well.
Harry Shum Jr: Very sadistic.
Matthew Daddario: And also kind of goes between this evil to kind oh you know…
Harry Shum Jr: And you can’t help but be attracted to that but also I need to stay away. Which I’m assuming a lot of people in relationships can relate.
Speaking of Camille are we going to see a little bit of sort of the triangle between your three characters this season or can’t talk about it?
Harry Shum Jr: No, I think if fans of the book that have read it you know they’ll see that there is some interaction, yea I think go to the book and you know we do take some of that. A lot of that will stay true.
Can you give us a character description in five words?
Matthew Daddario: Conflicted, rigid, leader…that’s three….I would say caring brother.
Harry Shum Jr: Snarky, sassy, cat-like, uhm and he’s compassionate…
Just because it’s a different life doesn’t mean it’s a worse one.
Season 2, Episode 2: “Flash of Two Worlds” Original Air Date: October 13th, 2015 Grade: B
I want to chalk last week’s episode up to sophomore jitters because this week, “Flash of Two Worlds” is a return to The Flash we all know and love. The show is not without its issues, but Jay Garrick’s introduction has proven to be a big help to the Scarlet Speedster, in more ways than one.
Last week ended on Jay’s introduction and this week we’re treated to a bit of his back story, you know, with Joe’s gun pointed at his head. When Barry opened up the Singularity, he inadvertently opened up a breech between alternate universes, allowing Atom Smasher, the new Sand-Demon, and Jay the ability to travel to their world. If you thought the time travel arcs were confusing, things are about to get hella complicated. Because of this, there could be an infinite number of Barry Allens, Flashes, and even, more Harrison Wells.
Cisco and Daddy Warbucks Martin team up to locate the breech and put a stop to it, to keep more metahumans from escaping into their world and trying to kill Barry. It’s a clever ruse to be able to reuse baddies from last season but I hope the writers don’t take it too far and just repeat arcs.
On top of this, Barry is dealing with trust issues, namely with Jay Garrick, another Flash character who dares to try to step into the role of teacher. I actually like distrusting Barry more than loner Barry from last episode. It makes more sense for him to be wary of trusting new people in his life after Harrison Wells threw a giant, yellow, daddy-shaped wrench into things. Jay inadvertently attempts to fill that role and Barry shuts that shit down faster than Republicans shut down women’s healthcare. For the less astute viewers who didn’t catch on to that comparison, Iris is there to act as translator and to tell Barry when he’s being a bit too dramatic. Apparently Iris isn’t a journalist anymore; her new job is giving pep talks to Barry when he’s being un-Barry-ble. (Heyo!)
Meanwhile, Joe West is dealing with his own teacher/pupil issues with the introduction of gung-ho Patty Spivot. Spivot is a police force noob who wants nothing more than to be a part of Joe’s Metahuman Task Force, even though the task force isn’t really a thing anymore since everyone who joins gets struck with the Defense Against the Dark Arts curse and then “leaves.” She’s an adorable Hermione Granger-esque character who Barry immediately warms up to. (I guess he doesn’t have trust issues when it comes to pretty, nerdy girls, eh?) Spivot goes all swimfan on Joe and Barry, reading all of Barry’s forensic reports, doing her own print analyses, and even tailing Joe while he’s chasing a potential metahuman. She also manages to get herself caught by said metahuman and why Sand-Demon takes her over Joe is beyond me. Female, I guess.
Speaking of the metahuman, Sand-Demon, he’s not actually made of sand, but rather, he can break his body down into pieces so he looks like sand. There’s some more confusing scientific mumbo jumbo associated with all that, but I’m just gonna say it’s sand. Team Flash treats him as such anyway, and Jay teaches Barry to throw lightning because lightning into “sand” makes “glass.” SCIENCE.
Throughout the episode we also see the growth of Cisco’s powers and I have to say that Cisco is quickly becoming my favorite character on the show. He consistently gets the best lines (even insulting “Green Arrow’s” name!) and his inner turmoil with the revelation of Wells’ evil nature is much more palpable than Barry’s struggle. Cisco “sees” into the past through a strange connection with metahumans, which allows him and Team Flash to catch the Sand-Demon. Martin notices the change in Cisco, however, Cisco doesn’t want anyone to know about it because he thinks Wells gave him the power and he’s afraid it might be connected to something more devious.
At the end of the episode we see a vision of Earth-2, the place of Jay’s origin, and S.T.A.R. Labs is home to metahuman study and school tours for children. Just before the scene ends, Harrison Wells (or Eobard Thawne?) makes an appearance.
THOUGHTS:
We were introduced to three new characters in this episode: Jay Garrick, Patty Spivot, and Iris’ mother, Francine West. Of the three, Jay made the biggest impact and I hope he sticks around for much of the season. I’m intrigued by the other two but I’m willing to wait to make a final judgment. They are really pushing that Barry/Patty romance hard from the get-go, aren’t they?
Is it just me or are they also being pretty heavy-handed with a Caitlin/Jay romance? She gets all “humminah humminah” pretty quickly after his arrival.
I love Harrison Wells. I know I’ve said before that as a villain he’s spectacular because his motivation was simply to get home, but by any means necessary. His return is expected and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he’s actually Zoom, but I’m worried about too much of an overlap in stories from the previous season. That being said, Tom Cavanagh is phenomenal in the role.
The Leftovers Season 2, Episode 2: “A Matter of Geography” Original Airdate: October 11th, 2015 Grade: B
After The Leftovers’ ambitious season opener that began building up the new world of Jarden, it felt like a bit of a let down to jump back to Mapleton. While “A Matter of Geography” continues to examine the themes of desperation, spiritual starvation and mental stability that have grounded The Leftovers from its start, the writers are forced to reset the season’s energy in order to set up the character arcs and conflicts that will drive them for the next eight episodes.
Roughly the first half of “A Matter of Geography” is devoted to reintroducing the Garvey’s and explaining their sojourn to Miracle. We pick up where Season 1 left off, with Kevin, Nora and Jill discussing how to move forward and what to do with the baby, Lilly, that prodigal son Tom has left on their doorstep. Oddly enough, there’s a fun moment here when the audience is reminded of just how disturbed and emotionally numb these characters are. Kevin discloses his sleepwalking problems and part in Patti’s death, while Nora divulges her proclivity for getting shot by prostitutes, prompting an apt rejoinder from Jill, “Do I have to say something crazy now?” The scene is light-hearted and weirdly hopeful.
Fast forward two months later and we see immediately that the luster on this new family has dimmed a bit. In a direct callback to the first scene of the pilot episode – where a hurried mother ignores the cries of her baby shortly before he departs – Kevin drowns out the world around him through his phone and ignores Lilly’s cries for attention. This scene is our first hint that not only does the departure event (and Patti Levin suicide) still haunt Kevin, but also that another departure may in fact happen. This idea is more explicitly developed as Nora meets with MIT researchers who make a generous bid on her house and convey their theory that the departures could be “a matter of geography,” with no reasonable expectation that it was a one-time event. The meeting gives Nora the means and motivation to get the hell out of dodge. Inspired, in part, by his father’s ability to move past (or at least accept) his mental troubles and start over abroad, Kevin sets in motion the family’s move to explore something new.
The establishing shots of Miracle are sweeping, and are juxtaposed against a desperate community surrounding its outskirts that is some weird mix of folk festival, revival and refugee camp. The visitors’ center builds upon the commoditization of Miracle’s privileged departure-less status that we saw in “Axis Mundi”, with souvenir shops, auctions and educational propaganda about the town. While taking all this in, Kevin is approached by a mysterious man (the same older gentleman Michael Murphy asks to pray with in last weeks episode) who offers help with “his situation.” Given the parallels between the Murphys and Garveys, I’m guessing this is John Murphy’s father and counterpart to Kevin’s own dad, a hermit with potentially otherworldly vision.
Things immediately go off the rails when it’s revealed the housing rental they were meant to occupy was destroyed in a fire. Nora’s desperation to protect her new family and avoid another wrenching personal loss becomes clear here. She’s so ready to believe in the promise of safety Jarden ostensibly provides that she drops all of her money to make an immediate bid on a house, site unseen. Not to mention she let’s that poor dog go to quarantine without much resistance.
The remainder of the episode explores the events established last week, but from the Garvey’s perspective. We learn that the cut on Kevin’s head came as a result of another haunting from Patti and see his frustrations from the context of his new living situation boil over. Most importantly, we see that Kevin was present at the site of Evie Murphy’s disappearance, as he awakens tied to a cinderblock in the now drained river.
Overall, I found myself a little frustrated by this episode. The first season was compelling because it took a high concept like the rapture and seriously explored what the consequences of such an event would pose for, well, the leftovers. Between some wooden dialogue like Patti’s summation of The Murphys – “hard to tell if they’re part of your story or you’re part of theirs” – or Tom’s refusal to let his father know he’s okay – “because nobody’s okay” – I’m slightly afraid this season could seriously overplay its hand on both the mystery and the drama. Having said that, we’re only two episodes in, and the whole this story will hopefully be greater than the sum of its parts.
Parting thoughts:
The music Kevin is using to drown out his thoughts is a little on the nose, particularly the use of The Pixies “Where is My Mind?” (on the other hand it’s a great song so who cares).
Caught a quick Trading Places reference between Jill and Tom. Not sure it means anything, other than these two have a better taste in movies than I would have guessed.
The Walking Dead Season 6, Episode 1 – “First Time Again” Air Date – October 11, 2015
Over the course of The Walking Dead’s first five seasons, we’ve seen our heroes forged into hardened survivors. Their encounter last season with the Alexandria community and its sheltered, naive populace showed just how far Rick and the others have come. Deanna and the other Alexandrians learned some hard lessons last season, and “First Time Again” finds Rick now calling the shots. As the title suggests, the premiere carries many echoes from earlier seasons, as the characters deal with the aftermath of the events in “Conquer” and the citizens of Alexandria must come to terms with the realities of survival in the zombie apocalypse. It’s the ceaseless cycle of human misery and trauma The Walking Dead is best known for–as Rick goes through the motions for the first time, again, one has to wonder whether anything will change.
“First Time Again” is structured much like the film Memento, where black and white flashbacks are juxtaposed with current, full-color scenes. Unlike Memento, however, there isn’t much of a narrative twist–while the structure provides opportunities for a creative bit of plot and pacing, it mostly feels like an unnecessary complication for the episode. While the flashbacks focus on the aftermath of Reg’s murder and Pete’s execution, the present scenes show the group hastily implementing a plan to draw a large group of trapped zombies out of a quarry and away from Alexandria. The constant interjection of flashbacks proves more confusing and disruptive than novel, but helps to somewhat mitigate the tedium of “aftermath-centric” exposition and the surprisingly monotonous task of wrangling zombies.
In standard The Walking Dead fashion, “First Time Again” injects a whole mess of new faces to stir up trouble or kill off for some easy pathos later. Heath, Scott, and Annie are a supply run team that conveniently returns after having missed all the drama of last season, while other background characters are brought into sharper focus. Notably, Carter handily checks off all these new character boxes in the premiere, from a cowardly citizen of Alexandria, to potential mutineer, to finally a reformed team player who nevertheless pays for his original doubt and weakness. The only surprise his arc provided was in its concision. Similarly, Pete’s son Ron is being set up as the resentful teen troublemaker, having witnessed Rick execute his father and spotting Carl holding hands with Enid.
One pleasant surprise was Nicholas, Aiden’s cowardly friend who got Noah killed and then tried to murder Glen in “Conquer.” Glen elects not to reveal any of this information to the rest of the group, and Nicholas spends much of the premiere attempting redeem himself and contribute to the group’s efforts. There’s a great deal of natural tension that arises from Glen’s (and the audience’s) distrust, and the only thing rarer than forgiveness on The Walking Dead is genuine redemption. It’s a good basis for a strong arc; hopefully his character won’t get wasted with another clumsy, cowardly death.
The title of “First Time Again” refers specifically to Rick’s reacquaintance with Morgan, and having to learn about the people they’ve become since they last met. Morgan has very much become a sort of “all life is precious” warrior monk, while Rick perhaps sums himself up best when he tells Morgan, “Listen… I don’t take chances anymore.” It sets the stage for the same sort of high-minded philosophical musings we’ve seen from the show before (Morgan joins the ranks of previous moral bastions Dale, Hershel, Bob, Gabriel, et al in their objection to Rick’s methods), only we have to see it for the first time, again. Maybe Morgan will be able to provide a unique perspective on this never-ending debate, or maybe none of it will matter because Rick will keep doing what he does best–surviving.
Tara, to Eugene: “Thank God… Nothing happened to your hair.”
Michael Cudlitz deserves credit for Abraham’s unnerving flash of lunacy, and Sonequa Martin-Green for Sasha’s perfect reaction of terror and concern. They’ve both been circling the death wish drain for some time and there was a lot of great, dark chemistry there.
Eugene, to Heath: “Hey, it’s good to see someone like me. I fully respect the hair game.”
Michonne, to Morgan: “That’s how it is, isn’t it… You always think there’s one more peanut butter left.”
Hiccup, Toothless, and the denizens of the Isle of Berk are headed to Dark Horse.
Announced at New York Comic Con, the hit DreamWorks animation franchise How to Train Your Dragon will be expanding its mythology by making a jump to graphic novels. Debuting in 2016, How to Train Your Dragon: The Serpent’s Heir will pick up moments after the ending of How to Train Your Dragon 2, where Hiccup and Toothless are thrust into their new roles of chief and alpha.
“The great thing about comics is they engage your imagination. Movies tend to spoon feed you, but I think the great thing about the medium of comic books is that you can lose yourself in the panels,” co-writer Dean DeBlois, writer/director of How to Train Your Dragon films, told The Workprint. “Each picture sort of tells its own story. You can spend the amount of time you want with it as opposed to being ushered along by the impatience of the film medium.”
The Workprint sat down with The Serpent’s Heir writers DeBlois and Richard Hamilton, writer on Dragons: Race to the Edge, to discuss how the project came to fruition and what fans can expect from the upcoming stories from the Isle of Berk.
What brought about the idea of doing a graphic novel instead of jumping in another TV series or movie?
Richard Hamilton – It came from a couple of different sources. It was a real concerted effort in DreamWorks part to think about… I think they identified the How to Train Your Dragon has this incredible lore and there is just so much material in there that can’t be possibly contained in movies and television shows. So what were other outlets? Comics were a very natural part of that conversation especially when Dark Horse became part of the conversation. They have such a great storied of doing really quality-licensed projects that are not just retelling the stories, but are very additive and expand on the storytelling of the characters of the world. It was really crucial for us and I think it is also in the process of hearing Dean’s plan for the movies and hearing the art and showrunner of the TV show’s plans, there are just all these great little bits and springboards for all new stories.
What was the decision behind starting the story of the graphic novel minutes after the end of How to Train Your Dragon 2?
Dean DeBlois – The touchy thing we need to be aware of while expanding the universe and working in different mediums, is not to step on each other’s toes. I will meet with the showrunners of the TV series occasionally and say “Hey what are you guys doing? Here’s what I’m doing.” We afford each other space and with the graphic novel it is the same thing. What is a time zone we can explore that is not going to foretell what’s going to happen in the third and final installation of the Dragon trilogy, but at the same time leave enough room for it to be its own thing and explore its own storylines. This seemed like a good opportunity to do it. If we were to jump ahead then we would be ahead of the third movie, which would mean the third movie would have already happened. In a sense some of that storytelling would be alluded to. It’s just finding a pocket of timeline to mine.
Richard Hamilton – Honestly the period right after the events of the second movie is filled with tremendous amounts of drama and conflict. Hiccup is now the chief. Toothless is now the Alpha. Berk is now a war-torn land and there is are just so many stories that just spring out of that. It would be crazy to skip over all of that.
What can readers expect from Hiccup in terms of the challenges he’ll face especially after such a devastating war?
Richard Hamilton – In the first graphic novel he will sort of in an interesting way get a glimpse of what it would be like if he had abdicated the throne and decided if he ever decided to give up being the chief of Berk what that could portend for the people and dragons of Berk. That’s one way. Also he’s going to lean on his friends. Astrid’s really a capable leader in her own right and tactical thinker. Gobber has been an advisor to Stoick in the past and now will serve that function for Hiccup. He’s got his mom who has a whole wealth of knowledge. Eret, son of Eret, comes from a very different perspective of dragon trappers. I think the cool thing in the comics is seeing Hiccup interact with those characters and learn from them and how that informs his role as the chief.
What will the graphic novel allow you to explore more of that the films and TV series didn’t allow for?
Dean DeBlois – We always have a screen time problem with animated films because we’re spending over a million dollars a minute for screen time. We have to be efficient. There are so many subplots and ideas that we end up having to shelve indefinitely when we’re working on these films. The graphic novels give us a chance to indulge other storylines, to develop characters further who get robbed of screen time in the films. It’s a great moment to get into the character’s heads as well. We can use thought balloons, take some pages to spend time with the thoughts of a character instead of show everything visually as the film medium demands.
What can readers expect in terms of exploration?
Richard Hamilton – Every new graphic novel will have at least one new dragon, land, and human character – some of them are friendly and some of them are not so friendly. We are going to see, not just across the archipelago, we’re going to go under it in some of the adventures. We are also going to see some interesting things above the archipelago.
What’s the process behind creating new dragons?
Dean DeBlois – We try to challenge ourselves to redefine every time what is a dragon. We’ve gone down some roads where we have been unsuccessful before. For example, we tried at one point to have a dragon that was furry and the moment there is hair on a dragon, it just doesn’t work – less possibly the exception of Never Ending Story. There is sort of a require that the dragon in some way remind you of a real creature that we would know from the animal kingdom. We are always trying to pair.. Toothless for example is the combination of a salamander and a black panther. So he has mammalian qualities, but is also of the dragon world. With every one of our characters we are trying to channel something that is recognizable whether it is a grumpy walrus, a curious bird of prey, or in case of Valka’s dragon, an owl. We’ll try to combine a cool looking dragon and a different shape and horns, eyes to mouth, stuff like that, but also how do we let the animal reference inspire some of those decisions.
What can readers expect from the art style of the graphic novel?
Richard Hamilton – The artist announcement will be forthcoming, but without giving that away, we are really fortunate that our production designer on Dragon 2 and 3 Pierre-Olivier Vincent is doing the covers for the books and they are really outstanding. We want to be true to the look of the films and that level of quality and have the characters be recognizable, but we also understand that these are comics and want the comics to be represented in a very different 2D-fashion that can exist in their own right on the pages of the graphic novels. It’s really just striking that balance. The artwork is beautiful and you’ll love it when you see it.
What has the writing process been like going from screenplays to graphic novels?
Dean DeBlois – It started with comic books. Both Richard and I just love the medium. I both learned to write and draw from studying my favorite comic books. I never got to write professionally in the comic book medium and really I only started writing screenplays because the writing was so poor on the films I was working on. I’ve been finding my way forward. Richard and I worked together on How to Train Your Dragon 2 and he was the script assistant, but he was also generating a lot of ideas and bringing that into the actual screenplay. I think it is a natural back and forth. He’s a lot more comfortable with comic book writing than I am and so I tend to be around for the idea portion of it and as far as implementing it, a lot of that falls onto Richard’s expertise.
Richard Hamilton– It’s a good thing that animation and comic books share a lot of characteristics. There is a real emphasis on visual storytelling and also an economy of storytelling. Comics are kind of a more extreme form of that because you have such limited real estate on the page, but it is a great challenge because it really forces us to dial in on what is that specific moment or what is that specific emotion or idea on the page that we need to convey. What’s the best way to do that through not just the dialogue and not just the art, but when you marry the two of them together. What’s the larger meaning that you get in the panel or on the page? It’s a really fun process to be able to go back and forth and talk about not just the content of the page, but the way that it will be disseminated on the page.
Last night in the season premiere of Jane the Virgin, Jane’s child, Mateo, is kidnapped. Thankfully, the ordeal is over quickly and soon after he’s returned to his mother, but Jane is scarred by the act. It haunts her every action, afraid that now they’re damaged goods, afraid that she can’t be a good mother. There are some things the show portrays in an over-the-top manner but last night, Jane the Virgin got something right: the guilt of motherhood.
When I gave birth to my son, it was a difficult labor. Hours and hours of pushing to no avail ended in one last ditch effort in the form of what was basically a reverse plunger on my kid’s head to pull him out. Relief washed over me the first time I heard my son cry. It was done and now we could start our lives together, happy and healthy.
The doctors did their doctor-y things and still under the influence of drugs and exhaustion, I couldn’t quite make out their muffled conversations. There was worry laced in their voice but they wouldn’t look at me. Then a nurse turned and slapped a big smile on her face: “We have to take him down to the NICU, but nothing to worry! He’ll be just fine.”
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I didn’t believe her bullshit for one second. All I had heard was, “You couldn’t properly deliver your child and now we have to fix your screw up.” My kid was minutes old and already I had failed him. Still too weak from a day in labor, I couldn’t spend my first night as a parent with my son. I didn’t get to breastfeed but instead pumped milk using the cold, angry machine given to me by the hospital, sobbing both from the pain of it and the paltry amount of milk I’d made after 20 minutes. It wasn’t enough and they’d have to supplement with formula, which I knew was bad because all of the pamphlets said the said thing: “Breast is best.” But he’d already lost so much weight as it was, so who was I to deny him nutrients? Even more, because he was in the NICU, my husband and I didn’t get to have skin-to-skin contact like they said we should have done in all the books but instead gently rubbed his tiny hand locked inside a plastic cage of wires. None of this was how it was supposed to happen.
The nurses did their best to make me feel better, telling me that he was taken care of and I could sleep without worry. I don’t fault them. Those nurses were the best I’ve ever had. But the guilt inside me had built up so much that when they told me I had to leave the hospital while he stayed, I hit my knees in despair. My care was done. I wasn’t a patient anymore but my son was. I felt like I had messed up this whole motherhood thing so much on the first day that I’d ruined all of our lives. I can’t begin to describe to you the awful feeling of going home childless after giving birth. I wandered into the newly painted nursery, numbly staring at the stuffed animals in his unused crib. Every colorful piece in his room was a loud reminder of my failure.
I couldn’t protect my son.
Last night, Jane the Virgin perfectly encapsulated that grief, that guilt, that anger in a single moment. Jane, sitting on the bed tries to breastfeed Mateo, but he’s not getting enough to eat. Through tears she cries to her mother, Xo, “I just want to do this one good thing.” Wanting nothing more than to be a good mother, Jane pleads with her body to just work so that she can do what should be such a simple, instinctual thing: breastfeed.
Jane’s adamant that things be as a normal as possible, even after something as abnormal as her infant being kidnapped. The guilt piles on the more Mateo struggles to eat. She asks the lactation consultant if “trauma” can cause problems in making milk. Of course it can so Jane immediately puts more blame on herself. She should have known something was wrong and she didn’t, so now she’s being punished by not being able to breastfeed. It’s not a rational response. As Xo tells her, “How could you have possibly known?” And the truth is, she couldn’t have known, but that doesn’t stop the guilt from blossoming into a monster of uncontrollable proportions.
Jane the Virgin doesn’t fill an entire episode with drama. It perfectly blends the sadness and humor in such a way that one doesn’t overpower the other, making it real and at the same time still entertaining. I’m glad that I didn’t have to sit through an entire episode of a tear-soaked Jane, but I did appreciate the little moments that added a sense of reality to her peril.
Even after bringing my son home, I wasn’t out of the woods. After weeks of bottle-feeding, I couldn’t just put him on the boob and expect things to work. Pumping breast milk at all hours became my new normal, but like Jane, I found ways to make things work. I don’t imagine this is the last of the guilt for Jane as a new parent, but I appreciated the realism of her plight in last night’s season premiere. The guilt isn’t rational and it certainly doesn’t make sense, but it’s there.
Bridge of Spies Directed by: Steven Spielberg Written by: Matt Charman, Joel Coen, and Ethan Coen Starring: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, and Austin Sowell
GRADE: B+
Steven Spielberg’s latest piece of work, Bridge of Spies, can best be described as “nice.” It doesn’t ruffle any feathers. It doesn’t try any splashy new techniques. And it doesn’t seek to make any bold statements about anything. Instead, it is just a well told and beautifully made piece of history that is tense when it wants to be, funny when it needs to be, and leaves you completely satisfied when the end credits start to roll.
Set during the height of the Cold War in 1957, the story follows James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks), an affable middle-aged lawyer who is asked to do the unthinkable: defend an accused Soviet spy named Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) in court. Abel’s guilt is never truly called into question, which makes him the most hated man in America but Donovan accepts the job just the same out of a sense of duty and patriotism.
And although everyone expected Donovan to simply do the bare minimum to defend Abel, he actually gave it his all and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court despite the disapproval of the nation and those who he held most dear. It is only later that he is given a chance to redeem himself to naysayers by acting as the nation’s negotiator to trade Abel for a captured CIA pilot, Francis Gary Powers (Austin Sowell), who was shot down over the Soviet Union while on a mission.
Donovan obviously accepts the mission and travels to Berlin, Germany in the early days of the Berlin Wall where he faces stiff CIA men, sneaky Russians, angry Germans, street toughs, and some bitterly cold weather. And as if that wasn’t enough for the average American man to take on, he also gets word of a young American college student who was recently imprisoned for being a suspected spy and takes it upon himself to free him as well.
This is a true story but I’ll avoid spoiling any further details other than to say that Spielberg wraps the story up very pleasantly and with the typical swelling of music as titles give us happy anecdotes about what became of the film’s main characters in real life. You know, typical Spielberg stuff.
And even though the film is rife with traits of Spielberg’s films from over the last couple decades, it also feels very much like a film from the era in which it is based. From the cinematography to the sometimes overtly obvious score by Thomas Newman, Bridge of Spies is a sort of tribute to the great films of the 1950s. Hell, it’s almost hard not to imagine Jimmy Stewart in the role of James B. Donovan. This isn’t the first time that Hanks has been compared to the great Jimmy Stewart and certainly won’t be the last, but it continues to speak to his ongoing strength as a leading man unlike any other working today.
What I really enjoyed about the film though was how Spielberg surrounded Hanks with a wonderful collection of largely unknown character actors to fill out the supporting roles beyond Amy Ryan and Alan Alda. Other directors might have easily filled any number of these roles with familiar faces simply for the sake of marketability but Spielberg seems genuinely dedicated to showcasing the best possible person for each role and it pays off in spades. Special kudos go to Rylance who plays the Soviet spy with a light twinkle in his eye that makes his relationship with Donovan truly click.
As with all Spielberg productions, it is impeccably made on all levels and never feels flat. It just doesn’t have that special little something that makes a really good movie into a memorably GREAT movie. People interested in history, espionage, and classic-style filmmaking will find a lot to enjoy here, but this may have trouble finding a wider audience in a world of media consumers seeking something more innovative and more overtly dramatic. But no matter what your viewing preference is, it would be hard for anyone to deny the reliably steady hand of Spielberg to deliver a solidly made film with an impressive cast and a feel-good ending. It may not be the flashiest car on the road, but it’ll get there every time.
Season 2, Episode 1: “Chapter Twenty-Three” Original Air Date: October 12th, 2015 Grade: A
JANE. IS. BACK. Y’ALL.
Of all the shows returning for the fall season, I was most excited for Jane the Virgin. Why? Well, I could tell you why, or you could just get on your butt and head to Netflix to watch the first season, because it’s hard for me to believe that anyone can watch this show and not fall head over ass in love.
Jane the Virgin‘s writers must be Sith because they left viewers with the worst possible cliffhanger: Mateo kidnapped by Sin Rostro. Thankfully, the season premiere doesn’t pull a Flash and slowly drag out the events that transpired immediately after the cliffhanger. Within minutes, Jane realizes Mateo has been kidnapped and she, along with Rafael and Michael, set out to rescue him.
Sin Rostro isn’t interested in Mateo, but rather using him as a bargaining chip to retrieve a dragonfly brooch the police had collected into evidence. After tracking down Luisa (who somehow managed to steal the brooch from police custody) and going for a swim through Rose and Luisa’s belongings, the trio finds the brooch. Michael takes it inside the church where Nadine is holding Mateo and Nadine warns him that this is what Sin Rostro does, this is how she gets her claws into people, by threatening the ones they love. Nadine then informs Michael that on the chip in the brooch are the before and after faces of everyone in Sin Rostro’s employ. It’s a big piece of evidence for the police department and I can’t say that Michael’s boss will be too pleased to learn of its absence, but Michael trades the brooch for Mateo anyway, and there’s a beautiful family reunion.
One of the things I love about this show is its pacing and the use of a narrator. 99% of the time, I’m vehemently against using a narrator in any kind of visual media because a good writer should be able to tell their story without that crutch. Claire’s narration in Outlander comes to mind as being a bit absurd and unnecessary. That being said, because of the show’s telenovela roots, the narrator is a character in his own right, adding a dash of warmth to a scene that would be far too dramatic on its own. Jane’s reunion with Mateo, holding him with Michael and Rafael at her side was one such example. We know that its only the first episode of the season and there is more danger in store for our characters, but in that moment, I chose to listen to the narrator and fall into the happiness these people must have felt in that moment.
I just want to say I am so, so grateful the writers didn’t drag out Mateo’s kidnapping an entire episode. It would have been easy, almost expected for them to do so and instead it was over in ten minutes. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t repercussions of the act throughout the episode, however. Jane, as any person would, feels guilty, like she should have had more motherly instincts when it came to protecting her child. She blames herself and thinks that the trauma is keeping her milk from coming, making her an even worse parent because not only can she not protect her child, but she can’t feed him either. For anyone who doesn’t know, mothers are absolutely FANTASTIC at heaping on self-guilt.
On top of these woes, Jane is back to being a famous virgin and Mateo has been labeled as the Second Coming. Paparazzi surrounds her house at all hours and poor Rogelio feels guilty for bringing all the attention to his daughter. Rogelio isn’t the smart tool in the shed but dammit if he isn’t the most sincere. He wears his emotions on his sleeve it seems like he wants nothing more than to have a family. I love Rogelio.
Also interested in keeping his family is Rafael. After screwing up a lot last season, Rafael turns to Michael for advice on how to interact with the Villanueva women. It’s a scene that lets viewers play their favorite game, “What’s Michael Really Thinking?” Michael, being a good guy, gives Rafael sound advice by telling him to stop being such a damn pretty boy and go read a book. (But let’s not get crazy and stop taking off your shirt, Rafael. People all over the world need that view.)
Meanwhile, Petra is busy being Petra, toting Rafael’s sperm all over the Marbella Hotel. “Look, sweetie! That’s where your Daddy and I argued about the last time I tried to make you without his consent. Oh, and look, your grandpa is buried in that foundation over there! Hi, Grandpa!” HOW Rafael doesn’t notice the metal jar of sperm is beyond me (thankfully, Scott DOES notice), and Petra goes forward with her insanity.
I have to say that one of the things the show does well is finding ways to show all the characters in likable situations. Petra, most of the time, is the WORST. She’s selfish, a liar, and generally not a nice person, but then we see flashbacks of her life with Rafael before things got bad and you know, I feel for her. Dammit.
By the end of the episode we learn that there isn’t actually anything wrong with Jane’s milk supply and Rafael was correct in his “cluster feeding” assessment. Mateo is doing well, gaining weight, and happy. Jane and Alba learn that Xo and Rogelio got married but their relationship seems to be going strong regardless.
Also still going strong is the ever-present love triangle between Jane, Rafael, and Michael. I waffle on this triangle more than I have any other relationship because one moment, I’m all-in on #TeamMichael and then two minutes later, Rafael shows up and does some adorable skin-to-skin time with Mateo and generally tries to be a good dad and dammit if I don’t want #TeamRafael to happen, too. Shit, love is hard. All I know is, I’m with Rogelio on this one: I will hands down, 100% always be #TeamJane.
The episode ends with an ominous scene of Sin Rostro telling a man to go after Jane. But she just got the baby back! No!
Shadowhunters arrived at New York Comic-Con in full force with the main cast attending along with director McG, showrunner Ed Decter, and author Cassandra Clare. The series will be premiering on ABC Family/Freeform on January 12, 2016 with a special “Making of Shadowhunters” episode airing beforehand on December 6.
The Workprint chatted with stars Alberto Rosende (Simon Lewis) and Emeraude Toubia (Isabelle Lightwood) to talk all things Sizzy, food, whips, and so much more during press roundtables.
Watch the full interview now (warning: you will get hardcore Sizzy feels):
What was your most fun scene to film so far?
Emeraude Toubia: Omg I love…
Alberto Rosende: The first Sizzy scene, that was a lot of fun. Cuz it’s a very ah, Simon’s not very good with girls.
Emeraude Toubia: And Isabelle doesn’t know how to cook and she cooks for Simon. So not a good move.
Alberto Rosende: And in the books that’s a thing! So then you have the gorgeous Emeraude walking over and Simon is just kind of like…girl.
Emeraude Toubia: And it…can I say where? (Looks at Rosende) No right? Can I say where it was done? Where the first scene…no I can’t! It was a very intimidating place where we have our first encounter.
Alberto Rosende: A place where Simon’s not at all comfortable.
Emeraude Toubia: Ya! Where boys shouldn’t be in! I don’t know, it’s up to you guys to take it from there.
Can you guys talk a little bit about familial relationships, like I know they cast your mom, your dad, Max and even for Simon’s family as well. Is that going to feature prominently this season?
Emeraude Toubia: Yes it is. Our families is going to be featured a lot in there and Isabelle’s relationship with her mom is different in the series, it’s not like its written in the books because we want to take it to places we don’t want everything to just be there we want to grow that relationship. So Isabelle’s relationship with her mom is different but her relationship with her brothers you know is the same, she loves him, she’s willing to die for him. It shows how selfless Shadowhunters are that they’re willing to risk their lives to save others. So I love that relationship between my brother and my little brother Max, my big brother Alec and my little brother Max, so my relationship, I love that family relationship.
Alberto Rosende: And then for me for Simon it’s really interesting because in the books Simon’s mother doesn’t really come in until the fourth book and you don’t really find out about his sister till the fifth book and then it’s one of those things that it’s going to be really fun to explore that now that they’re bringing her in right away. So when Simon starts to go through those changes that we all kinda know about I’m interested to see how that affects him cuz you know he’s very much a family person. So it’s going to be really cool.
The cast and showrunner of Syfy’s 12 Monkeys took New York Comic Con by storm Thursday afternoon as the series previewed its upcoming second season on the Main Stage. Premiering in April 2016, the cast revealed that the time traveling sci-fi drama will venture into new eras, face bigger threats, and promises to answer some of season one’s biggest questions.
The Workprint caught up with series stars Barbara Sukowa and Todd Stashwick to discuss the challenges of dealing with “The 12” in season two of 12 Monkeys during a press roundtable.
The full interview can be found in the video below:
There has been a lot of power dynamic switching from season one to season two. How are we going to see these things come to fruition next season?
Barbara – Jones in the last season got pretty humbled. Her intellectual bravado doesn’t help her much when the brutal force comes in. She has to deal with that in the second season. She is confronting more personal issues, such as issues regarding the plague and time travel gets more important. It’s personal issues that come up really strongly for her. She really has to go to the bottom of why she is doing this mission.
Todd – The apocalypse makes for strange bedfellows. For Deacon he ended season one going into it and I think halfway into the season finale he realized “maybe I’m backing the weird horse. Maybe that’s not the horse to back.” I think he’s starting to see, “I may be nuts, but those guys are crazy.” I think he’s got to choose a side, he’s an opportunist and I think he puts more faith in humanity than he does in clay-faced people. I think he sees and opportunity to maximize the situation and he aligns himself with…… I’m trying to be so cautious. You’ll see him be just not an antagonist in season two. He’ll find himself more of an ally at times. It doesn’t mean they have declawed him. Certainly there is a lot of baggage between him, Cole, and Ramse. There is also a lot to be seen with Railly. She brings out a different side of him. He feels like he’s going to help her survive in this environment. His relationship to Jones is different – well it evolves because it wasn’t anything in the beginning. I was just something outside of the facility.
Barbara – For Jones he was a necessary evil. It’s like an arranged marriage. They have to deal with each other and sometimes something quite good and interesting reveals itself.
Todd – I think it really allows us to explore the characters differently than they were in season one.
What is the relationship with the 12 that arrive at the end of season one?
Todd – Deacon, when he got into bed with them, which is a great visual… When Deacon got into bed with them, I don’t think he had any clue. All he knew was “these guys are going to get into the facility and then I’m going to get it for my men.” I don’t think he had any idea. He didn’t understand. He wasn’t even involved with time travel or knew it existed. Suddenly when he discovers how crazy their plot is he sees them for what they are and possibly wants to have no part in that. What you do learn in season two is that the plague was just the beginning of what their problems were. In many ways it was a small part to what they really are trying to achieve. There is something rotten in the state of Denmark. There is much to be learned about the true nature of the Witness and the true nature of the 12.
Do you know who the Witness is?
Todd – *Shouting off table* Hey Terry! Hey Terry! Do we learn who the Witness is?
Terry Matalas – This season.
Barbara – Yea at the end.
Todd – I just had to clear.
Barbara – There are such interesting concepts of time and time interacting humans that it will blow your mind.
Todd – And that is what I think makes this show so special. It also has this weird psycho-spiritual side to it that is kind of hallucinogenic, strange cult side to it and not just badasses running around with guns.
The first look at Daredevil Season 2 has hit the internet, offering a tease of the upcoming season.
The video, which debuted Saturday night at New York Comic Con during the Daredevil and Jessica Jones panel, starts off with a highlight reel of season one (including a quote from The Workprint!).
The last 30-seconds of the the clip finds Matt Murdock in church seeking guidance from Father Lantom.
Matt – Father why do I still feel guilty?
Lantom – Guilt can be a good thing. The soul is called to action, indication that your work is not yet finished.
The teaser cuts between scenes of returning characters – Matt, Karen, Foggy, and Claire – while introducing us to new faces such as Elektra and Frank Castle aka the Punisher.
The scenes include a look at a crime scene, someone picking up a bullet casing with a pen, and Karen looking at an x-ray of a skull that is shaped like the Punisher’s logo. It all culminates in a scene with the Punisher himself walking down a hallway saying “Beg.”
The cast and showrunner of Syfy’s 12 Monkeys took New York Comic Con by storm Thursday afternoon as the series previewed its upcoming second season on the Main Stage. Premiering in April 2016, the cast revealed that the time traveling sci-fi drama will venture into new eras, face bigger threats, and promises to answer some of season one’s biggest questions.
The Workprint caught up with series stars Emily Hampshire and Amanda Schull to discuss a saner Jennifer and Cassie’s relationship with time and Cole in season two of 12 Monkeys during a press roundtable.
The full interview can be found in the video below:
Both of your characters ended season one with big steps that are dramatically changing your worlds. Can you talk about what’s coming up for them going into season two?
Emily – This season you will see a sane Jennifer. I cant say how that is going to happen or why, but enough to say that you will see an entirely different side of her. Also, this season I play Old Jennifer a lot more, which we touched upon last season, but this season we spend a lot of time with Old Jennifer and I’ve come to really love that girl.
Is that 2043 Jennifer?
Emily – Yea, yea.
Is she sane there or….
Amanda – Oooo! Sneaky, sneaky!
Emily – The thing about sane is that it is pretty subjective, you know. I never thought Jennifer is crazy.
Amanda – Also Jennifer has lived a life. What she’s heard, seen, and done, what’s she is saying to someone may sound insane, but it’s true.
Emily – Yea! I always felt that about Jennifer, that she knows the truth about things.
She’s not mental. She’s misunderstood.
Emily – I feel that about most crazy people in general, that people call crazy. It’s a fact that a lot of people with any kind of mental illness sometimes are less inhibitive than we are and will say the truth about things, like children go to the heart of something. I think it’s kind of crazy sometimes to call them crazy.
In the season two preview we see Cassie and Cole standoff at gunpoint at one another. They’ve had their differences in season one and have butted heads. What can we expect from their relationship in season two?
Amanda – They spend time together being partners as well as adversaries, which I think is safe to say because they now have a different perspective. Cole has seen a different side of humanity and Cassie has seen the worst side of humanity now. They approach things differently than they did before. They’re not the people they were when they first met, but at the same time they are really good partners when they work together. We see them go on this journey that is misunderstood at times, but also really compatible at other times.
Both of your characters have dealt with time in very different ways. How would you describe your characters relationship to time?
Amanda – I think that with Cassie in particular to the episode that we are filming right now in 2008, she has a very contemptuous relationship with time, but she also learns how to play it. She learns how to use time in her favor although it takes a few tries before she understands how she can manipulate time. When you see episode 2×08, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
Emily – Jennifer’s relationship with time is a very intimate one.
12 Monkeys returns to Syfy for its second season in April 2016.
“Beirut is not safe for you. Someone wants you dead.”
Season 5, Episode 2: “The Tradition of Hospitality” Original Air Date: October 11th, 2015 Grade: A
Taking Carrie out of the CIA has been Homeland’s best move for the future. The excitement and pacing from the first episode carried over into the second, “The Tradition of Hospitality” and I have to say, this has been my favorite episode of Homeland in a long time.
The episode begins with Carrie and Düring in Beirut and the former is already securing safe passage throughout the camp for the foundation. Things at the camp are understandably dire, with the UN representative telling Carrie that Düring won’t be able to walk freely throughout the camp. Carrie has that covered though and makes a deal with Al-Amin, the Hezbollah leader at General Alladia, offering him $40,000 for Düring’s safety. They agree but caution Carrie that even Hezbollah cannot keep the Düring Foundation safe for longer than one hour.
Back in Germany, Laura Sutton, the journalist who published some of the CIA’s leaked documents is on TV denouncing the German government for spying on its people. She pledges anonymity to whomever passed along the files and our friend, Gabe H. Coud is interested in giving her the rest of the stolen files. His 4chan friend disagrees and thinks they should sell them to the Russian government but Gabe says something that appeals to my bleeding heart liberal mindset, “Information should be free.”
Laura doesn’t have long to recover from her high-profile TV stint as the German government picks her up for questioning. Under fire, she remains strong and dedicated to her cause. Working for the German government, Astrid remains just as stoic, slapping down legislation that allows her to hold Laura for up to 18 months. Jonas, Carrie’s lawyer boyfriend, comes to the rescue and vilifies Astrid’s behavior.
Both the CIA and the German government want someone on the chopping block for the information leaks, someone high up, and unfortunately, it’s station chief Allison who gets the boot back to the States. Girlfriend is furious about the decision and calls out Saul on his bullshit. Would he have fought for Carrie Mathison to stay? (We all know damn right he would have.)
The weakest part of the episode for me was Quinn’s arc. He’s a glorified bounty hunter at this point, acting as Saul’s “contingency plan” and his target of the week is a woman who recruits lost kids to blow themselves up in Syria. Quinn tails her for much of the episode, not-so-subtly watching her interactions with the young girls. As the girls leave for the airport, Quinn follows the woman. Just before he shoots her in the head, she is shocked and mutters, “Peter?” (EDIT: It’s been brought to my attention that she actually says, “Bitte” which is German for “please.” I stand corrected. Thanks, commenters!) Without even a hint of emotion, Quinn pulls the trigger. Look how dark our man has become. He then gets his next assignment and the name of the week is “Mathison.”
Even darker are the things happening at General Alladia Camp. Düring makes his speech and mingles with refugees, promising aid and being completely oblivious to the danger around him. Sensing a threat, Carrie wrests him from the arms of a mother pleading for more education and throws his rich butt into a truck, but they aren’t out of the woods as a bomb explodes in front of them. The driver panics and Carrie being Carrie takes charge, getting Düring to safety. But Carrie also being Carrie can’t let the attack go because her gut says something is wrong so she stays in Beirut while the others fly back to Germany. It turns out Carrie is right but with one caveat: it wasn’t Hezbollah who attacked and Düring wasn’t the target. At the end of the episode when Quinn writes down Carrie’s name as his next target, we can only assume that “hit” was put out by the CIA, but the bigger question is, “Why?”
Needless to say, I can’t wait for next week.
Thoughts:
There are so many little scenes in this episode that stand out to me as just really good writing: Carrie and Düring on the balcony at his party; Carrie’s adorable (but not gag-worthy) conversation with Jonas showed a side a Carrie we don’t often get the see; the humor in Laura mentioning that the Germans are likely searching her apartment and asks them not to let out her cat and Astrid’s subsequent oh-shit face. Chief among these scenes, however, is after Carrie returns to the hotel room following the attack and she breaks down, sobbing and praying. Don’t get me wrong, I love when Carrie takes control of a situation. Jumping in the driver seat and remaining calm for the sake of herself and everyone around in a crisis is one of the reasons I love Carrie so much but that moment of pure vulnerability was spot on and something we as viewers needed to see. Carrie isn’t crazed and sobbing because she’s off her meds; she’s just Carrie in a fucked up situation and sometimes, they’re too hard to handle.
Do we really think Quinn will go through with killing CARRIE? I mean, he was pretty cold-blooded about that murder this episode and he seems to have distanced himself from any sort of emotional relationship but even he hesitated while writing down her name. Possibly spoiler-ish thoughts (highlight to read): I noticed something in the opening sequence, an image that is awfully similar to Quinn’s kill to tonight. It’s a blurry screenshot, I know, but that’s Carrie, right? And the same phone that Quinn used earlier. Either he’s faking her death or there are some serious spoilers in that opening cinematic.
ABC Family’s (soon to be Freeform) Shadowhunters made a big splash at New York Comic Con as cast and creators took to the Empire Stage. The panel unveiled a new six-minute clip that showed Clary’s first encounter with the Nephilim at the Pandemonium club.
Panel-goers got to see all their favorite characters: Clary, Simon, Isabelle, Alec, Jace, and Magnus interact on screen at last! The fight sequence between the Shadowhunters and the demons was well executed and the seraph blades looked badass. Notably, Isabelle was sexy and lethal (fun fact: Emeraude Toubia did all her own whip stunts!), Jace was snarky and dangerous, and Magnus was fierce and calculating.
The Workprint caught up with McG, Ed Decter, Cassandra Clare and cast members Katherine McNamara, Dominic Sherwood, Harry Shum Jr., Alberto Rosende, Emeraude Toubia, Isaiah Mustafa, and Matthew Daddario to talk all things Shadowhunters and what’s in store for fans in the show’s first season, which premieres January 12, 2016.
Here’s the most interesting bits we discovered:
The first season is going to take a little bit from all the books, not just City of Bones
The TV series is also going to places that wasn’t seen in the books or the film
Simon and Izzy’s first meeting with be interesting because it takes place where boys aren’t supposed to be (girl’s bathroom?)
Izzy will cook for Simon! But it will not go well.
We will see a lot of focus on family relationships, Izzy’s relationship with Maryse will be different from the books and we’ll see Simon’s mom early in the season
We will see some interesting interactions between Alec, Magnus, and Camille
Jace will play with his stele a lot as a nervous tick and actor Dominic Sherwood has broken 13 of them on set
The way runes are used on the show, at first they are like wounds (which they use prosthetics for) and then eventually they fade
The season will cover more than just City of Bones and explore more characters including Meliorn
Fans will bond with the actors and we will see interesting dynamics between the characters
Jace and Alec will have an intense storyline in season one
We will see Luke’s history early on and we’ll see him from a young man to the detective he is in the present. Ed Decter says that we should especially pay attention to episode 6 for this.
Episodes 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 will get very intense, passionate, and romantic
According to Ed Decter the cast got a lot more ripped after seeing Isaiah Mustafa working out
Katherine McNamara is the fastest runner amongst the cast
The entire cast had great chemistry and they were very excited to share what they could about the show. Rosende and Toubia in particular were adorable and I was already imagining future Sizzy scenes in my head.
Alberto Rosende (Simon Lewis) and Emeraude Toubia (Isabelle Lightwood) at New York Comic Con 2015, aren’t they just adorable??
Based on The Mortal Instruments series by Clare, Shadowhunters is set to air on ABC Family/Freeform on January 12, 2016. Decter promises that it’s going to be sexy, dark, romantic, mysterious and exciting. We can’t wait!
NEW YORK COMIC CON -- "The Magicians Press Room" -- Pictured: (l-r) Hale Appleman, Summer Bishil, Arjun Gupta, Stella Maeve, Jason Ralph, Olivia Taylor Dudley -- (Photo by: Mike Coppola/Syfy)
While numerous shows have done the magical school trope, Syfy’s The Magicians is bringing a darker, more grown-up version to the television landscape and it looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Adapted from the best-selling books by Lev Grossman, the story follows a group of graduate students at Brakebill University (an educational institution for the magically gifted) as they discover how dangerous magic can be.
The Workprint caught up with cast members Jason Ralph (Quentin Coldwater), Stella Maeve (Julia), Olivia Taylor Dudley (Alice), Hale Appleman (Eliot), Arjun Gupta (Penny), and Summer Bishil (Margo) as well as executive producers Sera Gamble (Supernatural) and John McNamara (Aquarius) at New York Comic Con to talk about what fans can look forward to when the series premieres in January 2016.
“We’re following as closely as possible and I think people will be very happy how close we’re following the books,” said Ralph.
While the series isn’t strictly following book one (of three) for this first season, they are striving to achieve the novel’s tone. “They are using book two in what was originally a flashback. They’re using that as what they’re showing of Quentin in book one. That will be the driving ship,” Maeve explained.
Another interesting tidbit we learned was that the first episode’s opening scene will be inside a mental hospital.
Gamble praised Grossman on how there was so much depth and character to his story that they had a lot of great material to work with. The hard part was deciding what would fit into the show’s scope.
Regarding magic, the series is taking a more realistic approach to it as something that required extensive study and was incredibly difficult to master. It was intriguing to discover during the panel that they had created a new magical language in the form of hand gestures. The Brakebill University students would have to learn new ways to move their hands in order to cast spells. Gupta even did a quick demonstration to show how one would decapitate a person to the delight of attendees.
Summer Bishil (Margo) and Hale Appleman (Eliot)
What is also quite different and appealing is that audiences are getting very flawed characters that are trying to cope with their changing realities.
Bishil talked about how her character Margo suffered from loneliness and really saw her relationship with Eliot as her only bond. The two are inseparable and are essentially co-dependent so that when other people enter his life it threatens her sense of normalcy. Appleman adds that their characters have been brought together through their intense experiences at school. He further went to say that Eliot’s outward controlling demeanor and sophistication is a front to hide a much deeper level of loneliness and sadness as well.
Ralph described Quentin as existentially depressed, perpetually disappointed, and romantic, while Maeve’s Julia is intellectual, driven, passionate, intense, and human. There will be a notable contrast between the two characters’ experiences as his life becomes more extraordinary through magic and hers becomes more chaotic and uncertain. The panel even showed a quick clip demonstrating this as we saw the different paths Quentin and Julia take to arrive at Brakebill.
The Magicians is looking to be a promising new show that will explore a relatable side of magic, yet still maintain aspects of the fantastical that fans of the genre love.
With the latest James Bond thriller, SPECTRE, set to explode onto movie screens on November 6th, The Workprint is doing its due diligence to rank the characters of this longest running franchise in movie history.We kicked things off last week by ranking the leading Bond Girls and up next are the villains!
007 has gone up against a wide variety foes in his first 23 on screen adventures and this list accounts for all of them including every single rich old white guy. How does your favorite rank? Let’s get started…
21. Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbe – The Living Daylights)
Memorable Quote: “I’m sorry, James. For you I have great affection, but we have an old saying: duty has no sweethearts.”
Bond films often live and die based on the strength of their villain and as such The Living Daylights flounders in large part because of this two-timing Russian general who fakes a defection to set himself up for a drug and gun smuggling operation in Afghanistan. His plot is never particularly crystal clear and as such it’s hard to really care about him or want to see Bond take him down. His one redeeming factor toward being a decent villain: he’s a total douche bag.
20. Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric – Quantum of Solace)
Memorable Quote: “There is nothing that makes me more uncomfortable than friends talking behind my back. Feels like… ants under my skin.”
Dominic Greene can only – and I mean ONLY – be described as a human wiener. I’d say more but honestly, who can remember him?
19. Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens – Die Another Day)
Memorable Quote: “You only get one shot at life. Why waste it on sleep?”
Imagine the smarmiest person on the planet. Multiply him by ten. Now multiply THAT number by twenty and you have a rough idea how awful Gustav Graves is. To be fair, Toby Stephens clearly wanted to make him as unlikable as possible – this is a villain after all – but once you throw in the twist that he’s actually a maladjusted North Korean warlord with daddy issues and a ton of plastic surgery, he cements himself as one of the most eye-roll inducing Bond villains of all time.
18. Kristatos (Julian Glover – For Your Eyes Only)
Memorable Quote: “Bind that wound. We don’t want any blood in the water…not yet.”
Kristatos is one of the rare villains of the James Bond series who isn’t revealed to actually be the villain until much later in the film and normally this element of surprise and betrayal can make for a particularly juicy bad guy, but in this case he’s a pure vanilla villain in an otherwise satisfying Bond flick. And let’s be honest he definitely loses points for keeping Bibi, the ice skater, around.
17. Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens – The Spy Who Loved Me)
Memorable Quote: “Observe, Mr. Bond, the instruments of Armageddon.”
When it comes to Karl Stromberg I only have two words for you: Webbed. Fingers.
Read into that as you like.
16. Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale – Moonraker)
Memorable Quote: “Mr. Bond, you persist in defying my efforts to provide an amusing death for you.”
Hugo Drax is pretty much the epitome of the Older Rich White Guy Bond Villain. He gives a lot of stoic commands, never lifts a finger for himself, and constantly whines about how much Bond is a thorn in his side. And although his plot of creating a sort of Noah’s Ark in space with perfect human specimens before killing everyone else on Earth is pretty epic, his deadpan drollness hardly makes Drax a villain to get excited about.
15. Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce – Tomorrow Never Die)
Memorable Quote: “There’s no news, like bad news.”
In a lot of ways this 18th Bond film was ahead of it’s time for depicting a world at the mercy of a media baron manipulating events toward World War III for higher ratings and exclusive broadcasting rights in China. Luckily the real world hasn’t had to deal with someone as overtly nefarious as Elliot Carver, but the almost twenty years since the film’s release has certainly seen a rise in the media’s power to sway world events. Despite how prophetic this seems to be, Elliot Carver still falls into the Older Rich White Guy category of Bond villains who fail to pose any sort of physical threat and spend most of the movie lamenting Bond’s ability to survive. So even though he’s a captivating villain in theory, the final execution is less than inspired.
14. Kananga/Mr. Big (Yaphet Kotto – Live and Let Die)
Memorable Quote: “Names is for tombstones, baby. You all take this honky out and waste him, ok?”
The one and only Bond villain to utilize a secret identity, Kananga – a United Nations ambassador who also masquerades as a Harlem drug lord – certainly has a wide sphere of influence and a great collection of thugs to back him up, but his scheme of giving away free heroin to create more addicts and then monopolize the market lacks a little imagination to really rank up there with the greats. Bonus points for that alligator farm though.
13. Max Zorin (Christopher Walken – A View to a Kill)
Memorable Quote: (to be read in your best Christopher Walken voice) “More. More power. More. Do it!”
It goes without saying that Christopher Walken was born to play a Bond villain. It’s just a shame that he couldn’t have been a slightly better one. As a psychotic, genetically-modified, genius Nazi baby you might expect something a little more special, but the screenplay keeps him generally low key (as low key as Walken gets anyway) and thus deprives us of what could have been an epic Bond villain for the ages.
12. Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan – Octopussy)
Memorable Quote: “Mr. Bond is indeed of a very rare breed… soon to be made extinct.”
Louis Jourdan pretty much ranks this high on the list for the way he says the word “Octopussy” throughout the film. He literally purrs the word. It’s beautiful. But beyond his dainty way with words, Kamal Khan was also a worthwhile Bond villain for his ability to play equally nice with female smugglers and Russian generals alike. He cheats at backgammon though. That’s pretty lame.
11. Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya – From Russia With Love)
Memorable Quote: “You are very fortunate to have been chosen for such a simple, delightful duty. A real labor of love, as they say.”
It’s a bit hard to pinpoint exactly who is the main villain of From Russia With Love. Is it the faceless Blofeld? Kronsteen, the chess mastermind? Or is it the brawn of the operation, Red Grant? There are valid arguments for all of these contenders but at the end of the day it is the nefarious Rosa Klebb and her poison-tipped shoes that reign over the evil events of this second Bond film. You seriously can’t tell me you wouldn’t be creeped out to be alone in a room with this woman. It’s just not possible.
10. Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen – Casino Royale)
Memorable Quote: “You changed your shirt, Mr Bond. I hope our little game isn’t causing you to perspire.”
Obviously a villain played by Hannibal Lecter himself had to make the Top 10 of this list. As a classic Bond villain Le Chiffre really has it all: creepy facial scars, gorgeous suits, and a bevy of thugs at his beck and call. What keeps him from rising higher on this list though is how early on in the film he gets taken down due to his own insufficiency as a villain – a true heavyweight would have made it to the final reel.
9. Alec Trevelyan/006 (Sean Bean – Goldeneye)
Memorable Quote: “For England, James.”
Over the years Bond has gone up against all manner of enemy agents but Alec Trevelyan represents the only time that he’s had to face a fellow Double-O agent and the result is a legitimate battle of the titans. Sean Bean is a guy who could have easily played Bond himself back in the day, but since universal law demands that he die in everything he had to settle for the villain role. Luckily he does it with loads of wicked charm and some of the most physically threatening action from a main villain in the series’ history.
8. Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi – Licence to Kill)
Memorable Quote: “When it gets up to your ankles, you’re going to beg to tell me everything. When it gets up to your knees, you’ll kiss my ass to kill you.”
At first thought it seems that a drug kingpin would be a lesser villain to go up against 007, but in the hands of Robert Davi the concept became truly terrifying. Sanchez is the rare Bond villain that could easily exist in our world today and by seeing the way he treats his enemies I certainly have no desire to cross paths with such a person. Don’t believe me? Ask Bond’s best bud, Felix Leiter, if we should fear Sanchez…
7. Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman – Dr. No)
Memorable Quote: “Unfortunately, I misjudged you, you are just a stupid police man…whose luck has run out.”
The very first Bond villain may not have had the most compelling evil plot but he definitely holds a high rank on this list for introducing us to the notion of a criminal organization called S.P.E.C.T.R.E and his creepy ass way of talking. The metal hands are a nice touch too.
6. Largo (Adolfo Celi – Thunderball)
Memorable Quote: “You wish to put the evil eye on me, eh? We have a way to deal with that where I come from.”
Let’s not beat around the bush – Emilio Largo is an intimidating bastard. That smooth Italian voice, that lush lifestyle, and that eye patch all come together to form a perfect Bond villain. There’s a reason this guy was S.P.E.C.T.R.E’s “No. 2” man and it may or may not have anything to do with that pool of man-eating sharks.
5. Scaramanga (Christopher Lee – The Man With The Golden Gun)
Memorable Quote: “To us, Mr Bond. We are the best.”
The legendary Christopher Lee’s portrayal of Francisco Scaramanga is the perfect example of a great villain appearing in a slightly less than great Bond film. He sells himself in the film as Bond’s equal and in their climactic final duel on that beach in Thailand it’s easy to wonder if 007 has finally met his match. But no matter how the duel ended up, how can you not admire a skilled assassin who charges $1 Million to take out his victims with a golden gun?
4. Elektra King (Sophie Marceau – The World Is Not Enough)
Memorable Quote: “There’s no point in living if you can’t feel alive.”
The reason that The World Is Not Enough is my favorite of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films lies firmly in the hands of Sophie Marceau’s double-crossing oil heiress. Introduced to us as a stoic but innocent, former kidnap victim we get to see the real Elektra emerge as the film plays out. Her ultimate bad girl status stings even more thanks to the film’s subtle references to her reminding Bond of his one great love, Tracy.
3. Silva (Javier Bardem – Skyfall)
Memorable Quote: “She sent you off to me, knowing you’re not ready, knowing you’re likely die. Mommy was very bad.”
It isn’t often that we actually fear for James’ life or worry that he’ll be defeated but that’s exactly what happens in Skyfall when former MI6 agent, Silva, comes onto the scene. Masterfully played by Javier Bardem, Silva is slightly off his rocker but cunning enough to possibly be Bond’s most dangerous foe of all time. This point is only made more potent by the tragic ending of the film caused by his actions.
2. Goldfinger (Gert Frobe – Goldfinger)
Memorable Quote: “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!”
At first glance Auric Goldfinger may not appear to be much of a threat to the great 007 but this rotund German with a penchant for all things gold sticks in our memory for his nonchalant ruthlessness and the grand idea of blowing up Ft. Knox simply to make his own gold more valuable. That takes GIGANTIC balls.
But the greatest James Bond villain of all time is….
1. Blofeld (Donald Pleasence – You Only Live Twice, Telly Savalas – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Charles Grey – Diamonds Are Forever)
Memorable Quote: “You only live twice, Mr. Bond.”
How could I possibly list anyone other than the man who directly took on 007 in three separate films, pulled the power strings while stroking his cat in three other films, and was responsible for the death of Bond’s one true love? And while it’s unfortunate that we can’t associate this role with a single actor across all of the films in question (Savalas has been the best thus far in my humble opinion) it’s impressive that his evil translates so well through the interpretation of so many different performances. Will Christoph Waltz be joining the tradition in SPECTRE as the next Blofeld? I can’t wait to find out.
Come back next week to see a ranking of these villains’ henchmen!
NEW YORK COMIC CON -- "Hunters Panel" -- Pictured: (l-r) Gale Anne Hurd, Executive Producer; Whitley Strieber, Justin Dix, Prosthetics Creator; Natalie Chaidez, Executive Producer; Britne Oldford, Eric Goldman, Moderator -- (Photo by: Mike Coppola/Syfy)
Syfy’s upcoming series Hunters will show us what the world would be like if aliens were terrorists.
Based on the novel Alien Hunter by Whitley Strieber, the story follows Baltimore FBI agent Flynn (Nathan Phillips) who is trying to piece together his wife’s sudden disappearance. She was kidnapped by a group of aliens known as Hunters and meanwhile a secret government unit called the Exo Terrorism Unit (ETU) recruits Flynn to their ranks. There he meets Regan (Britne Oldford) as one of ETU’s best operatives with secrets of her own.
Executive producers Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead, The Terminator Series) and Natalie Chaidez (Heroes, 12 Monkeys) were on hand as well as Oldford, Strieber and special effects guru Justin Dix.
Dix excitedly discusses how the team really wanted to bring a sense of realism to the show by using practical special effects (along with new techniques and innovations) instead of solely relying on CGI. He talks passionately about how he and Chaidez have geeked out over the look and feel of the world they’ve been building in this new show.
“This is kind of not your typical sci-fi show. It definitely has horror elements, which is great because it’s something you haven’t seen before. A little bit gritty and gruesome,” said Dix.
At the heart of it though Chaidez explains that Hunters is an allegory for terrorism. “It does what science fiction does best, which is take on social issues, cultural issues and really explore it.”
Oldford also discusses her character Regan, who turns out to be a Hunter herself. She is a conflicted individual trying to determine if she belongs with the humans while struggling with self-acceptance for the abilities she has. In addition while most origin stories are usually slowly unveiled, Chaidez noted that viewers learn Regan’s background pretty early on.
The show is currently being filmed in Australia and also stars Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck) as McCarthy, an alien Hunter cell leader and junkie. From the trailer above McMahon is looking very silver foxish these days!
A little bit Homeland, a little bit X-Files, and a whole lot of action, Hunters looking to be a show that we can’t miss in 2016.
Marvel’s Head of Television, Jeph Loeb, took to the stage Friday night at New York Comic Con to moderate Marvel’s Agents of Primetime panel to a packed room. The panel, which focused on the two ABC series – Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter, lacked the casts from both series, but did feature a special appearance by Agent Coulson himself, Clark Gregg, and a video message from Agent Carter stars Hayley Atwell and James D’Arcy.
Little was revealed in regards to Agents of SHIELD, but Loeb did note that the series was now in production of it’s 50th episode. Luckily, Agent Carter had enough announcements to sate the crowd.
The first major announcement revealed stars Dominic Cooper and Bridget Regan will be returning to reprise their roles of Howard Stark and Dottie Underwood, respectively, in season two of Agent Carter. Cooper and Regan will be joining previously announced returning cast members Enver Gjokaj and Chad Michael Murray.
With the series switching locations from New York to Los Angeles, it would come as no shock that season two would introduce new faces. Joining the cast in season two will be Wynn Everett as Whitney Frost, a Hollywood actress and brilliant inventor, Reggie Austin as Dr. Jason Wilkes,a quirky yet charismatic scientist who instantly charms Peggy, Currie Graham as Calvin Chadwick,a high-powered businessman and husband of Hollywood actress Whitney Frost, and Lotte Verbeek as Ana Jarvis, the free-spirited wife of Edwin Jarvis, Ana Jarvis, who immediately befriends Peggy and helps her to adjust to life in Los Angeles.
Once the casting announcements wrapped, panel goers were treated to a clip from the first episode of season two of Agent Carter. The clip, featuring D’Arcy and Atwell, involved Jarvis showing Peggy the “intricacies” of Howard Stark’s “high-tech” car. With a flip of a switch a secret compartment opens from under the dashboard revealing a bottle of champagne and wine glasses. Jarvis explains to Peggy that the windows can be tinted to allow for more “privacy.” As Peggy aims to adjust the seat, it violently reclines to a flat position allowing for more “extracurricular” activities in the tiny space. The clip ended shortly after that. While the clip did not reveal much in terms of plot, it did capture roomful of laughs from the panel-goers.
The Agents of Primetime spent the remaining time screening next week’s Agents of SHIELD episode, which we won’t spoil.
Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD airs Tuesday nights on ABC at 9 PM. Marvel’s Agent Carter will return in 2016 for its second season on ABC.
The secrets of the Star Wars universe remain under lock and key even at yesterday’s Star Wars Rebels press conference where show creator Dave Filoni attended with cast members Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano), and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays a new inquisitor called the Seventh Sister. Still, the group was extremely excited about what’s in store for fans of the series.
Gellar was incredibly thrilled about joining the mega-franchise and it’s a family affair for the Buffy star since husband Freddie Prinze Jr. voices Jedi Master Kanan Jarrus in the animated series.
“I’m in Star Wars, I mean like come on and I don’t know that it necessarily hit me right away when I was hitting everybody up for a role on it but you know for the rest of my life I am now part of this family. I’m part of the legend, I’m part of the lore, I’m part of the story. As Ashley has proved you never know where somebody’s gonna pop up in that,” said Gellar.
Regarding her character, the actress adored that the Seventh Sister was so villainous. “She just doesn’t go in for the kill. She wants to play with you. She wants to have some fun torturing you and then she kills you.”
Another exciting point during the press conference was the discussion of Ahsoka’s return. Eckstein explains that she’s had to adjust her performance. “She’s changed from where we were. Her affiliation with the Jedi is not as direct as it used to be. She’s not convinced after walking away from the end of the Republic.”
Meanwhile when asked if the films affected the TV series and vice-versa, Filoni couldn’t say how exactly, but that he was kept in the loop and the Lucasfilm Story Group was heavily involved to make certain that all forms of storytelling (films, TV shows, books, video games, and comic books) were cohesive. “Because I’m working on Star Wars, it’s a well-defined universe, I try to make decisions that is good for Star Wars. I’ve never seen myself as someone who’s controlling of it or that it’s my thing. I’ve always sort of respected that I’m a shepherd of it,” he said.
Filoni also discussed how thrilled he was to be working with James Earl Jones who reprises his iconic role as the voice of Darth Vader.
“Some days you walk in and you just talk to Darth Vader. He’s there and we’ve piped him in Skywalker Sound and Matt Wood and I, sitting there recording him. And it’s one of those rare times when you kind of almost break your façade and be like this is so cool.”
Eckstein adds, “We’re all Star Wars fans, the fact that my voice gets to share the screen with James Earl Jones I just can’t even comprehend it quite honestly. So it’s amazing and several other actors have returned from the films.”
In addition, fans can also look forward to finding out about Ezra’s parents. According to Gray this storyline will be featured in the upcoming season.
Aside from the press conference and panel, a screening of two new episodes was also held where audiences were reunited with Captain Rex, Captain Gregor, and Commander Wolf from Star Wars Clone Wars.
HAWAII FIVE-0 Season 6, Episode 3
“Ua ‘o’oloku ke anu i na mauna”
(“The Chilling Storm is on the Mountains”)
AIR DATE: October 9, 2015
GRADE: B-
McGarrett’s finally got the ring in hand and he’s ready to propose to Catherine after five long years of waiting (and making us wait)…it’s just too bad Catherine’s taking private phone calls, speaking a Middle Eastern dialect with an unknown party on the other end again — and in the back of our minds, we all know what that means. But, first, Five-0 has to contend with some guy who got shot while snorkeling out in the coral reefs deep off the coast of Oahu. It’s a throwaway story until the writers link things up to Gabriel Waincroft because it really wouldn’t be wise to let the dead Yakuza seen at the end of last week’s episode (“Ashes to Ashes”) go without at least being mentioned or tied into today’s episode.
I don’t mean to be so unkind but an artist scavenging for junk among Hawaii’s coral reefs and then accidentally offing himself when his collection bag gets torn open causing the gun to fall and accidentally discharge just isn’t all that compelling (or realistic). We don’t know the guy (or the other guy murdered by the gun he found) and when we realize he was simply a plot device to move the overall story forward, everything leading up to the big reveal seems like an absolute waste. Yes, even the Jason Mewes cameo. Holy shit, I didn’t see that coming. Though, he was good. Honestly, Mewes could be a fantastic dramatic actor if the one scene he was in was any indication.
And speaking of guest stars, the showrunners have made a curious choice in resurrecting Danny’s Jersey Shore wannabe nephew Eric (Andrew Lawrence). You might recognize Eric from “Kapu”, the 12th episode of the 3rd season. No? Yeah, I don’t blame you. While his character might have been construed as “fun” (if you think Pauly D channeling Tony Danza on a sugar cube high is “fun”), he just serves to lower the grade on an already-average episode. That’s probably because nobody in their right mind can buy him as a “forensics expert”. But, hell with everything: there’s Eric and he’s a “forensics expert”. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. I mean, add this to the fact that the main story lacks any real bite (except that — surprise — it all leads back to Gabriel Waincroft at the end), and the only reason to watch is the sub-plot with McGarrett and Catherine.
But to hell with that: Catherine’s going away again right when we all thought she was here to stay. “I need to feel needed,” she explains to Steve, who had the big engagement ring ready to go in order to make Catherine and honest woman. You can why he’d be confused by her reasoning — but it turns out Catherine needs to be needed at a professional level. Even suggesting a comeback at Five-0 doesn’t do it for Catherine: “Five-0 is you,” she tells him. “It will always be your thing — and I need to build something on my own.” Just where Catherine’s going is the question. She tells McGarrett that she’s going to Nepal to help the Red Cross drop supplies (for the victims of very real-life earthquake that occurred a few months ago) — but a cell phone call to a mysterious party in a private car following the break-up suggests otherwise.
This sort of thing is obviously something we’ll learn about in the coming episodes but, at this point, I’m not longer looking forward to it. I don’t know why the writers are keeping Michelle Borth in the picture. Especially when she’s been severely misused for the last 25 episodes. The break-up at the end of this episode is cold as ice — but lacks true impact when it dives into a hokey video montage of Steve & Catherine’s Greatest Hits. I felt like shrugging — and I can say, with confidence, that my reaction is probably not what the writers intended and probably echoed the throngs of people who have stuck around watching this show. There are reports that Fallen Skies actress Sarah Carter is entering the show as McGarrett’s new love interest but I can’t help but think this move is nothing more than an unnecessary wedge in order to drum up this show’s poor ratings.
A group of Workprint writers was at New York Comic-Con today and we were lucky enough to be able to go see the Warner Brothers Television previews. They aired three pilots in their entirety: Supergirl (which isn’t terrible, admirable mix of rom-com/action); Containment (typical CW, very attractive people, doing very dumb things), and Lucifer.
Ladies and gentlemen, Lucifer is going to be a hit.
Yes, it’s only the pilot, but I can tell you that the show had the hundreds of people in the audience wrapped around its devilish fingers. Every single joke landed, and not one snarky comment was made by the peanut gallery.
It’s a high concept show for sure. The fallen angel Lucifer, who had been cast down by God to rule over hell, is taking a sabbatical. Of course, he ends up owning a swanky lounge on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, arguably the most soulless city in America. So yes, within the first 10 minutes, the Devil and an angel have an argument about what their father (God himself) wants Lucifer to do. Keep in mind that we’re completely buying into this. The charm of Tom Ellis as Lucifer is palpable. We hung on every word that came from his acidic tongue, loved every devilish grin, and relished in the ease with which he bullshitted his way through our mortal existence.
Of course, a friend of his is murdered in front of his eyes, and the attractive female detective assigned to this case is someone immune to his charms, something that’s never happened before. The show then veers into a police procedural, but the charisma of Lucifer really carries the show, and the chemistry between the two leads is real. It could very easily turn into a “will they, won’t they” type of thing, but I hope the showrunners stay away from that. It’s much more interesting to have a woman who’s immune to the devil. A devil who is trying to do good, much to the chagrin of heaven.
As we walked out of the preview, we were extremely surprised that there’s not more buzz around Lucifer, and how in the world this show didn’t get a full season pickup. Definitely keep tuned to the Workprint and we’ll update you on this fantastic new show.
Fans of How to Train Your Dragon franchise looking to return to the Isle of Berk are in for a treat!
Friday morning at New York Comic Con, DreamWorks Animation and Dark Horse Comics announced they will be releasing a comprehensive original graphic novel that will expand on the mythology of DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
Titled How to Train Your Dragon: The Serpent’s Heir, the graphic novel will pick up mere hours after the end of How to Train Your Dragon 2 as Hiccup and Toothless are “thrust into their new roles of chief and alpha.” The Serpent’s Heir will be the first look at the life of the dragon riders after the events of the second film.
The series will be co-written by Dean Deblois, writer/director of the How to Train Your Dragon films, and Richard Hamilton, writer on Dragons: Race to the Edge.
“How to Train Your Dragon was an instant animation classic,” said Dark Horse president and publisher Mike Richardson in a press release. “We couldn’t be more excited to work with Dean, Richard, and DreamWorks Animation to help continue the adventures of these great characters.”
“I am excited to be writing this next chapter in the How to Train Your Dragon universe,” said DeBlois. “Dark Horse is a perfect home for these new original stories and Richard and I are thrilled to know they will be in the hands of our incredible fans very soon.”
How to Train Your Dragon: The Serpent’s Heir will be available in 2016.
Date: October 8, 2015
Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Rich Brennan, Booker T., Jerry Lawler
Things look a bit different coming out of Raw as New Day got all aggressive and violent to end the show. They even left John Cena and a few others laying in their first real display of dominance. It should be interesting to see where they go from here as they’ve been so goofy but now they have a new edge. Let’s get to Smackdown…
Here’s New Day to brag about what they did on Monday. No one has ever dominated like they did. Not the Shield, the Wyatts, the NWO, the Dungeon of Doom or Los Boricuas. Philadelphia doesn’t know what it’s like to win and Eagles head coach Chip Kelly (Big E: “Chip?” Woods: “Yes. Grown man and his name is Chip.”) even called them for some tips after they lost to the Washington Redskins this past week. However, now they have to deal with the Dudleys, who have politicked their way into ANOTHER title shot at Hell in a Cell.
It’s time for the chants but here’s Ziggler (in trunks again) to interrupt. Normally Dolph would be out there one upping every single one of New Day’s jokes but tonight is about revenge. The Authority has allowed him a match against any member of New Day he wants so he picks Big E., who cost him a US Title shot on Monday. Dolph even has a way to guarantee it’s a fair fight: John and Juan Cena! Actually it’s just the Dudleyz. You think a star like Juan would work this show?
Big E. vs. Dolph Ziggler
Ziggler dropkicks him down and hits the running DDT as we take a quick break. Back with Big E. running him over with a clothesline (Woods: “TRICEP MEAT! WE TOLD YOU THE STOCK WAS RISING! HE IS THE CEO OF TRICEP MEAT INC.!”) before choking on the ropes. Woods of course gets an interview with Ziggler before throwing it back to Kofi in the studio. Ziggler fights back but his cross body is countered into a backbreaker for two. We hit that trombone with Woods playing Ziggler’s music and Big E. slaps on a chinlock.
It’s off to a bearhug instead before E. drops him face first onto the buckle. E.’s charge hits the post though and a Fameasser gets two. A belly to belly from E. sets up the Warrior splash for two but Dolph’s superkick gets the same. New Day and the Dudleyz get in a fight on the floor and Kofi snaps Ziggler’s neck across the top. That’s not enough though as he holds Ziggler’s foot down so Big E. can pin him at 9:51.
Rating: D+. Not a great match here but it was more about the New Day’s antics than anything else. I like the idea of the team having some singles success but I’m more interested in seeing how they write Cena off TV in just a few weeks. Unless they just go with “I’m going home for a few months”, something big is going to have to change.
Stills of Lesnar vs. Big Show on Saturday.
We recap Heyman’s promo and Lesnar beating up Show on Monday.
We look at Summer proposing to Rusev on Monday.
Summer is wedding planning but Rusev comes up and asks why she’s telling everyone about their engagement. You mean the one that was announced in front of millions on Monday? His Russian accent is almost completely gone at this point. Summer has gotten him a match with Ryback tonight and if he wins, he’ll probably be #1 contender to the Intercontinental Title.
Team Bella vs. Charlotte/Becky Lynch/Natalya
Becky armbars Fox down to start and it’s quickly off to Charlotte for a double elbow into a double nipup. It’s off to Natalya vs. Nikki, meaning Brie has to get in the first batch of “COME ON’s!”. Becky comes in but eats a middle rope dropkick from Brie as we take a break. Back with Fox chinlocking Banks as Booker talks about how beautiful they all look. Brie throws Becky away from her corner but the BRIE MODE (minus shouting BRIE MODE thank goodness) knee misses.
Nikki breaks up the tag but gets sent into the corner, allowing the tag off to Charlotte. The champ cleans house for a bit until Nikki comes back with a Disaster Kick for two. The Rack Attack is broken up though and a spear sets up the Figure Eight. Brie makes a save and helps Nikki roll it over but Becky switches it right back and Nikki taps at 11:07.
Rating: C-. Not bad if you ignore the fact that this is the Wyatts vs. the Shield Boys with Natalya currently playing the third man to help in the war. I’m hoping they add Sasha to this feud as it’s finally starting to get interesting. There’s really no wrong way to go with the title unless it’s back to the Bellas, but NXT can only have these awesome matches for so long before everyone realizes the Bellas are in way over their heads.
Paige thinks Natalya is trying to steal her spot.
Rusev vs. Ryback
Owens is on commentary and he’s officially defending against Ryback at the pay per view. Ryback takes him into the corner to start as Owens calls Lawler stupid. Owens: “With all due respect of course. Now that I said that you can’t be mad at me.” Rusev throws him through the ropes and Ryback gets his hand caught in the ropes to give Rusev a target.
The hand is rammed into the steps and post but amazingly enough that’s not enough for a pin. Rusev switches up to just going after the arm as Brennan asks Owens about Renee Young saying he isn’t a real Canadian. Owens: “Has anyone ever told you that you look like Millhouse from the Simpsons?” Brennan: “Only you Kevin.” Owens: “Well there you go.” Ryback’s comeback is quickly stopped and it’s off to an armbar. A belly to belly gets Ryback out of trouble and he stops a charging Rusev with a boot.
Rusev counters what looked to be a powerbomb and gets two off an Alabama Slam. Off to a sleeper of all things but Ryback escapes with an over the shoulder Stunner. Shell Shock is broken up and Rusev’s jumping superkick gets two (with Summer shoving the boot off the ropes). Back up and the Meat Hook and Shell Shock end Rusev at 8:25.
Rating: C-. You can see Rusev’s star falling from here as he’s now regular losing matches on Smackdown. There’s a chance that they’re going with Summer costing Rusev matches (not that she did but Rusev is the kind of guy who would blame her for his troubles) and they split as a result. Ryback doesn’t really gain anything here but a win is always helpful.
Recap of Kane attacking Rollins again on Raw.
Bray asks if he’ll be locked inside the Cell with Roman or will Roman be trapped inside with him. Not that it matters as the result is the same. Tonight, Reigns and Orton face the wrath of the black sheep. Strowman used to catch rabbits and then squeeze them until they crossed over. Run little rabbits.
Video on King Barrett.
King Barrett vs. Neville
Neville flips out of the corner to start but gets slammed into the mat via a hair pull. We take an early break and come back with Barrett tossing him into a boot to the chest for two. Barrett hooks a bow and arrow as the announcers give us a quick history of King of the Ring. An enziguri puts Barrett on the floor and a moonsault to the floor takes him down again. This is almost every match we’ve ever seen between these two. Neville gets two off the German suplex but Barrett gets away before he can launch the Red Arrow. The Bull Hammer gives Barrett the in at 8:32.
Rating: D+. Neville loses again and while I could usually get behind the idea of him putting someone else over, it’s Barrett. He’ll probably be losing to a mascot or an actor or the returning Hornswoggle soon enough. The match was watchable enough but Neville is really in need of some momentum.
Post match Stardust, wearing a card dealer’s hat, says it won’t be a king, a champion, or Stardust’s lady fair. He picks up another card and likes what he sees but doesn’t tell us what it is. Lawler’s easiest line in a month: “He’s not playing with a full deck.”
Breast cancer is bad moment of the week.
Roman Reigns/Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt/Braun Strowman
No Harper or Ambrose at ringside. Orton and Wyatt get things going with Bray being sent to the apron but escaping the hanging DDT. Back in and Bray hands it off to Strowman who runs Orton over like he’s not even there. It’s off to Reigns for the big showdown and a shoulder puts Roman down like he’s one of the Ding Dongs. Orton makes a blind tag but Strowman shoulders both opponents down with ease. It’s back to Bray to stomp away in the corner until Orton scores with his backbreaker. Braun misses a charge into the corner and there’s the tag to Reigns.
Roman slugs away and lifts Braun for a Samoan drop but can’t get it over. Instead Roman gets him in the ropes and kicks Strowman in the face, eventually Superman punching him to the floor. The camera zoomed in on Roman to make sure we couldn’t see Braun down on the floor though. That’s a very nice touch as they’ve done a great job of keeping Strowman looking like an unstoppable monster and he still hasn’t been down. Why waste that on Smackdown? Roman goes after Bray on the floor but Wyatt hits him in the ribs with a chair for the DQ at 7:50.
Rating: C-. Another average match here that felt like it was cut really short. I still love how they’re booking Strowman as he’s going to get beaten one day but they need to build him up as long as they can before finally having someone take him down. The match was just another step towards the Cell match and I’m assuming Ambrose and Harper will be in part of a tag match at the pay per view.
Post match Orton saves Roman from Wyatt but gets choked out, only to have Reigns score with a Superman punch. Bray can’t hit Sister Abigail and it’s an RKO to Wyatt, followed by the spear to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+. It was another worthless edition of Smackdown this week and those are getting more and more annoying to sit through. None of the matches felt important and the whole show felt like a way to kill two hours. I’ve been saying that WAY too often lately and it’s even worse when it’s something that could be remedied. If no one is watching, give us some nice long matches every week instead of the endless recaps and 8-10 minute matches that change nothing. It’s even less effort for the writers as all they have to do is let the wrestlers do their thing. Is that too much to ask for?
Results
Big E. b. Dolph Ziggler – Pin after Kofi Kingston guillotined Ziggler across the top rope
Charlotte/Becky Lynch/Natalya b. Team Bella – Figure Eight to Nikki
Ryback b. Rusev – Shell Shock
King Barrett b. Neville – Bull Hammer
Roman Reigns/Randy Orton b. Braun Strowman/Bray Wyatt via DQ when Wyatt used a chair
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Every Sunday, from now until February, my house will be filled with the sounds of football (not soccer, the real stuff). I love everything about it but I would be lying if I didn’t say the big, brutal hits are my favorite part. I also enjoy tactical, turn based games, as well–the mind games involved, in outplaying your opponent and setting up big plays, 2-3 turns away. Blood Bowl 2, developed by Cyanide Studios (based on the board game of the same name by Games Workshop), is a game that combines football and RTS, finished with a Warhammer paint job. Unfortunately, Blood Bowl 2 drops the ball just as often as it scores.
In the world of Blood Bowl 2, one team of 11 players attempts to carry the football to their respectful endzone while the opposing team attempts to stop them and retrieve the ball themselves. Each player has different skills that affect play, with some more likely to complete a pass, catch a pass, or make a tackle. Sounds familiar right?
Well, unlike a game of say, Madden, gameplay is similar to a turn-based strategy game. On each turn, you align your players to maximize your potential for success, keeping in mind that different positions have different attributes and movement allotments. Want to protect your “thrower” so he can complete a pass on the next turn? Bring your lineman in one by one to form a barrier. Want to run the ball but worried about defenders? Send your “blitzers” out to knock out the competition. Each decision you make has to be weighed against what your opponent could potential do.
Further separating Blood Bowl 2 from its usual comparisons is its use of the Warhammer license. The teams are comprised of the different races of that world, ranging from Dark Elves to violent Orcs. Each team excels in different circumstances, with Elves being great at passing and running, while Orcs prefer maiming and killing their opponents. (Editor’s Note: Wait… maiming and killing?) Why yes, Mr. Editor I did say maiming and killing.
Let me explain:
Remember earlier when I mentioned how much I love the big hits of the NFL? Well, Blood Bowl 2 takes that a step further. Instead of tackling the ball carrier, the defense has the ability to attack any player with a chance of taking that player out of the game for good. The hits are animated to show the painful impact and playful squirts of blood when an Orc decides to take out a puny human. The violence is so over the top that it results in cartoony, slapstick that I never got sick of.
Speaking of over-the-top and cartoony, each match is commentated by Jim and Bob of Cabalvision HD. The ogre and vampire duo, are perfectly voice-acted, even offering more insight than Cris Collinsworth. (He’s a sports guy, nerds!) Besides commentary on the game, they also fill in lore about the world and are the only threads of storytelling throughout the single player “campaign”.
I know what you must be thinking at this point: “Blood Bowl 2 sounds awesome so far.” It would be, if it was for its reliance of random dice rolls and god awful wait times. After positioning the players before but before taking an action, you’re required to roll digital dice (*see random number generator). Want to tackle someone? Roll the dice. Want to pick up the ball? Roll the dice. Want to throw the ball? Roll the dice. Want to catch… you get the point. Everything is governed by chance and even though you can maneuver players around to increase your odds, you never know what you’re going to get. This mechanic makes all the time spent planning out your moves feel useless.
Making matters worse is just how long each match takes. A complete match is 16 turns for each side. Most matches lasted anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. Not to mention that far too often the AI would pause and take an extra minute or 4 before making any move. The slow pace, and prolonged matches resulted in a strategy of taking the ball down the one yard line, protecting the runner and then ending my turn over and over again until the opposing team was close enough to threaten. At which point I would score and hope I’d only left them with a turn or two. Multiplayer helps relieve this frustration by introducing a human component which tends to play much faster, but also introduces its own issues.
The teams in Blood Bowl 2 are incredibly unbalanced, with some teams lacking crucial abilities such as throwing the ball. This results in matches usually featuring the usual suspects of over powered races. There’s a chance that as the game gains a community that players will figure out winning strategies for every team but for now it seems like a no brainer to pick the teams that allow you more options.
Finding matches is also a headaches. While, I applaud the inclusion of highly customizable leagues with up to 128 teams, the exclusion of a simple quick match is infuriating. If I want to get into an online multiplayer match, I have to first create a team, then join a league and hope that someone else in that league is online at the same time looking for a match. Needless to say, I wasn’t running into opponents at a frequency I’m accustomed to with an online game.
Blood Bowl 2 is a game that is full of potential, set in a world filled with character and humor. That potential is held back by the reliance on staying true to the board game experience with random dice rolls and painfully long matches. I went into Blood Bowl 2, hoping this game would go all the way. Sadly it fumbles far too often to call it a winner.
Final Score: 6.5 out of 10
Review copy played on a Playstation 4. Blood Bowl 2 is also available on Xbox One and PC.
The cast and showrunner of Syfy’s 12 Monkeys took New York Comic Con by stormThursday afternoon as the series previewed its upcoming second season on the Main Stage. Premiering in April 2016, the cast revealed that the time traveling sci-fi drama will venture into new eras, face bigger threats, and promises to answer some of season one’s biggest questions.
The Workprint caught up with series stars Aaron Stanford and Kirk Acevedo to discuss the broken rift between best friends and their journey in season two of 12 Monkeys during a press roundtable.
What’s the relationship between Cole and Ramse look like at the beginning of season two?
Aaron Stanford: They are in a somewhat nebulous place. As you know at the end of season one, they were at odds and everything sort of climaxed in this shootout sequence, Cole makes the decision to go against his fate and his destiny to save his friend. And so they basically decided that their relationship is more important than any differences they might have. They decide that they are brothers and so at the beginning of season two, you see that they’re together but their still of two separate minds trying to figure out how to find their way through that.
I had a question for Kirk, there was a shot in last season on your hands. They were peeling and I wanted to find out if that was a part of the time serum effects.
Kirk Acevedo: One of the side effects of going back in time is that if you are back in time for long periods, like for years, you tend to age and that was one of the effects because I was there for like 30, 40 years, you know better my hands than having to go get prosthetics for your face for three hours.
So there’s going to be a big dramatic shift between Cole and Cassandra where now the powers have kind of shifted since now she can time travel and he can’t. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Aaron Stanford: Yea it’s sort of true. Cole is stuck in one place, at the beginning of season two she is sort of stuck in another place. She’s in the future and he is in her time and they’ve both switched places in other ways as well. She goes to the future and she gets a glimpse of Cole’s world, of the apocalypse. She sees, you know, how bad it can be and how low humanity can sink and it changes her, it hardens her. And Cole having known her and having been in her time gets a different view of people than he ever had before. He values human life more than he ever has and that changes him. She becomes a bit more ruthless and he becomes a bit more careful with his morality.
Time is a difficult concept and it seemed the way season one turned out that everything was circular. It was all happening at the same time but we didn’t know it because your episodes are rolling out week by week so we couldn’t watch it all at once but it clicked along the way. It seemed like your relationship had a pattern, your relationship was bound to go somewhere, is it bound to follow a sort of similar puzzle piece, rubix cube path or is time going to make things different for you? Is each sort of timeline going to be different but eventually get to the same ending?
Kirk Acevedo: I think we’re always going to come to the same loggerhead, I think its always going to come to the same, you know we each have our, a different agenda. I just don’t see how…it’s always going to come to a head somehow. Do you know what I mean? Because their two different directions are just going to pull from the other. I don’t see how. Like I said we agree to disagree and right now we’re just working, it’s like we’re both a little like a burned toast, we’re both a little burnt. But the friendship, the bond is so strong that you know, you let things slide.
Aaron Stanford: It’s like family you know, you don’t really have a choice who your family is and I think Cole and he, their family. And even though they have their differences and things are going to heat up as in real life situations can blow up into very ugly situations – murder and what have you. So that’s where they’re at, they’re family but there’s a lot of turmoil there to and a lot of tension and who knows where it’s gonna go.
I have a question, I have a couple of fan theories I’d like you to weigh in if you don’t mind. Cole is the infected corpse.
Aaron Stanford: I mean I can neither confirm nor deny that. Do I know? I might have an idea about that I can’t tell you people about these things.
Ramse’s son Sam is actually the Pallid Man.
Kirk Acevedo: I think that’s something I tweeted and it just, you know what I mean, no because I said he’s my father. I was tweeting that last year and I think, see other people brought that up too and are we related somehow and I don’t know. I think it rolled into something else, but you never know with Terry’s mind.
12 Monkeys will return for a second season on Syfy in April 2016.
