Outlander S6 Ep 6: 
The World Turned Upside Down

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from EW: https://ew.com/tv/recaps/outlander-season-6-episode-6/

By Lincee RayApril 10, 2022 at 10:16 PM EDT

Things are not good on the Ridge, people. Pretty much all hell is breaking loose, and the war hasn't even arrived yet. Death is everywhere, and all fingers point to Claire (Caitriona Balfe) by the episode's end.

It all starts with the McNeills missing the Sunday church service. When Lizzie (Caitlin O'Ryan), Brianna (Sophie Skelton), and Claire check in on the family, they find half of them dead from dysentery, which I didn't even know happened unless you were playing Oregon Trail in the '90s on a Macintosh in computer class. Within minutes, the entire family has perished.

Claire figures out that the water is contaminated. She's on a mission to help everyone, since there is no cure for this particular ailment. Unfortunately, Claire falls ill herself, and fights the disease for about a week. Malva (Jessica Reynolds) watches over her, casually flirting with Jamie (Sam Heughan) in the process. It's innocent enough that Jamie has no clue she's attempting charm, but I don't like it.

After some hazy, confusing dreams about snakes and hearts, Claire wakes up with a pounding headache and a new haircut that rivals Jimmy Fallon's. Mrs. Bug and Lizzie have cut off Claire's bountiful curly locks to ward off the fever. They genuinely thought they were saving Claire's life. Here's hoping Mr. Bug made some good money selling that on his next trip into town. Perhaps he traded for some flour or sugar? Jamie is relieved Claire is still alive and requests that she cover her masculine hair by wearing a bonnet in public. #Rude.

Jamie listens dutifully as she wonders out loud why she would be dreaming of snakes in the house and storm clouds. (Hint: It's Malva. She's the snake in the house! Cut off her head, Jamie!) After reprimanding Claire for almost dying, Jamie shares news from the Ridge. A dead elk in the river caused the water to be tainted. Although the sickness has run its course, many died. Several were very ill but much better now, including Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones).
A weak body and raggedy hair doesn't give Claire pause as she makes her way down to the fisher-folk campsite. Tom invites Claire to come inside his home, and it is revealed that he didn't have the same ailments as the other people in town. He had headaches, fever, and unpleasant dreams. The exact same symptoms as Claire! This means they must have suffered from the same sickness.

This is weird because typically, these things pass from person to person, and Claire hasn't seen Tom in a while. So she asks what any good doctor would in this scenario. Please, sir, may I have a sample of your fecal matter in this handy jar I brought from the big house?

Hard pass. Tom escorts her home, where Jamie puts her straight into bed. Then they share compliments. Claire thinks Jamie's calloused hands are erotic. He thinks her hair is horrific, but more than anything else, Claire is fiercely faithful, which comes in handy when Tom shows up with his two children several weeks later, requesting a private audience with the Frasers.

Malva has found herself with child. And Jamie is the father.

We see flashbacks of Claire in her feverish state, watching a blurry Malva reach to a drunken Jamie and comfort him as he is sick with worry over Claire. According to Malva, he took her right there with Claire in the bed, fighting against death.

This is when Claire slaps Malva across the face, and I fist pump the air.

While Claire escapes the room for some air, Malva provides intimate details regarding scars on Jamie's back and a crescent-shaped moon on his inner thigh. How else could she know the specific shapes of markings that should never see the light of day?

Remember when Malva peeked in on Claire and Jamie making out in the barn? It all makes sense. The question remains, is this premeditated? Has she been planning to trap Jamie all along? And who is the real father? Is it that guy Roger found her with in the church? Because it's not Jamie.

Claire agrees with me, but must sift through her emotions to land in a logical spot. Jamie refuses to apologize for something he didn't do. But the fact remains that Claire saw what she saw. Malva did come on to Jamie. Jamie did not partake in the invitation.

The bottom line is simple. Claire can't admit that everything she's done, and everything she's sacrificed, is a lie. She doesn't belong in this timeline. Neither do Brianna, Roger, and Jimmy. Because she loved Jamie more than everything else, she's here. And she believes he loves her with the same amount of conviction. True or false?

Of course, it's true.

Oddly enough, Jamie confesses to sleeping with Mary MacNab when Claire was back in her own timeline. It was the night he gave himself up to the redcoats. Random, but I'll allow it.

Claire knows that Jamie would not have slept with Malva. Moreover, if he did, and Malva was pregnant, he would never turn his back on a child of his blood. No matter how that child came into the world. That sad part of this entire ordeal is the aftermath Claire must face. Which side will the townsfolk take? The young girl? Or the likely witch with terrible hair?

Malva is a question mark, for sure. We don't know her end game. Claire tries to reason with her, but it's no use. For a moment, I thought Malva would break under Claire's generosity, especially when she claims Malva is full of curiosity and enthusiasm. But her brother Allan (Alexander Vlahos) interrupts the moment, and Claire leaves when Malva claims she's a witch who can bring people back from the dead.

Claire hisses to the Christie siblings, warning them to stay away from her family. That includes Young Ian (John Bell), who we later find out slept with Malva. So we officially have another name on the list of potential baby daddies. Before you wonder if Ian is doing this to protect Jamie, the answer is no. He slept with Malva once and felt guilty afterward. But if she's carrying his child, he will do the right thing and marry her.

Claire's voiceover informs the audience that the Frasers soon lived under a cloud of darkness. As the months passed along, and Jamie was away in New Bern at the Continental Congress with Roger, the settlers wouldn't even look at her. The Ridge was mounting a rebellion of its own.

One day, Claire hallucinates Lionel in her surgical room. She peers out the window and spies Malva heading up to the house. In a moment of panic, she takes out her trusty ether to escape the drama of her current life.

She wakes up to Malva staring down at her sleeping body. Malva claims Claire is the devil, and then she chastises her for being beautiful once. Now she's old, veiny, and dried up inside. No wonder Jamie would turn to her in his time of need. Ouch!

Malva promises that she will have Jamie's child and his house in due time. Claire grabs a scalpel and swears she will kill Malva if she comes near again.

Don't worry. It's all a dream. Claire isn't threatening to murder people — yet. She hoists herself from the bed, walks outside to pick through her herb garden, and slowly turns her head back toward the house. The camera pans to Malva, lying on the ground, with her throat cut. Dead.

The redcoats will soon be arriving. But not before the pitchforks and fiery torches.

Black Sails S3 Ep 9

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from Den of Geek: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/black-sails-xxvii-review/

By TS Rhodes|March 20, 2016|

Rackham is not only unusually well-spoken, as it turns out he’s a bit of a poet. Poetry, however, now makes me wonder if there is, in fact, anything material in the chest at all. Locking it and throwing away the key certainly leaves that issue open.

We segue to humor. Eleanor wants Charles Vane to sign a confession in order to be given a more dignified hanging. HA! Vane, ever tied by the bonds of love to a young woman who has pretty blonde hair and doesn’t deserve him, is already in too much pain. And Eleanor has never grasped the fact that her former love is a die-hard revolutionary.

Vane’s immediate growth from Bad Boy to fully-realized person has been the best thing about Black Sails, and now he tells it like it is. Eleanor is yearning after a father who abused her. Vane knows it, and speaks forthrightly as he usually does. Eleanor has a hissy fit, as she usually does.

Eleanor’s support of Woodes Rogers pits her against the traditional bounds of her sex. The establishment that her new lover represents does not want to see her out of her place. Eleanor is comfortable with this, but the English establishment is even less forgiving than the pirates. Pirates are – or should be – a pragmatic lot. The English have proprieties.

And, of course, Rogers is now incapacitated by fever.

There’s always good detail in Black Sails, and this episode is no different. The bare stone cell where Vane sits, darkness shot through with beautiful with shafts of sunlight. And the room where Woodes Rogers lies ill is less light and dark, more evenly lit. Roger’s head lies on expensive, embroidered sheets.

And out at sea, the ship scenes, with anchors dragging along the bottom of the sea, is just so wonderful. It’s almost unbelievable that a TV show has effects like this. Beautifully put together, and a great addition to the storytelling. It almost makes up for a full episode of talking heads.

What I don’t like about Silver’s tactic is that it gives away the presence of the Maroons. How much better it would have been if Hornigold had indeed sent a force ashore, only to have it swallowed by the forest? And how easy would it then have been for this force to “return” to Hornigold’s ship, and capture it?

But then, I’ve always been a better tactician than Flint. I think most people are.

Next comes a strange talk between Flint and Silver. Silver is, yes, responsible for the reprisal beating of his own man. He “sorted it” and didn’t bother to tell Flint. It is, by any measure, a reasonable response – a beating for a beating. The whole matter is neatly tied up, and now Flint has to natter on about “darkness” and how Silver is now flirting with it.

If John Silver is not acquainted with darkness after hanging out with pirates for two years, when, pray tell, was he supposed find it? If he did not know darkness after having his leg hacked off with an ax, after walking around on a rotting stump, when was he supposed to find it? And why would he not embrace it? He’s a pirate now, after all.

I still don’t understand why Max didn’t side with the pirates. Pirates are good for business when you run a whorehouse, and better when you run a tavern. Honest sailors don’t tip the waitress the 18th century equivalent of a hundred dollars for a drink, and they don’t generally pay to take the whores out to dinner. Historic pirates were know to do both these things, regularly.

Furthermore, as a woman of color, Max is twice damned in the eyes of the establishment. But, a story needs conflict, and Max’s choices have drawn the lines in Nassau the way the show needed them drawn. However, by the end of this episode, it looks like she may be changing her mind.

Billy Bones went off with so much confidence, it’s really rather surprising to see things get out of hand. This is another place where the show is really fudging with reality. I have no idea how Rogers and company is supposed to have come up with an actual judge on short notice. Maybe, maybe, a judge could be called in from another colony. But judges aren’t elected, they’re appointed. Rogers’ – or shall I say Eleanor’s – court is in fact a lynching. It can be nothing else.

I like the scene between Vane and he minister – right down to the downturned holier-than-thou expression on the minister’s face. The one thing that was lacking was a wig on the minister’s head. It was traditional, and would have been an appropriate signal of the authority of the Church and the solemnity of the occasion.

Vane’s reply seemed gentle to me. He’s reasoning with the minister. I suppose the purpose being to show how very much in sound mind he was. In fact, historical pirates were much harder on the established religion, citing it as one more method used by the establishment to keep down the common man.

Historically, the word for Vane’s attitude is “die hard.” The trophy for this among real pirates goes to William Fly, who took the noose away from the hangman, retied it for him, and bitched him out for not knowing his business. Fly was then asked if he regretted anything, and informed the crowd that he regretted not doing more damage than he had done. He then damned everyone in the crowd and jumped to his death.

Vane’s end… God, I can’t believe I’m saying Vane’s end… is not as angry. An anti-climax. Horribly realistic.

I didn’t expect it. Pirates saved from the gallows at the last minute is such a standard in fiction that I didn’t see how things could end any other way. Even in history, hanging a pirate was a big deal, which was sometimes stopped by secret deals, bribery, or angry mobs. I just didn’t think it was going to happen.

God, help us. I hope Rackham steps up as he believes he will be able to. Otherwise, we’ve got Flint running the war.

Evil S2 Ep 5: Z is for Zombie

Evil S2 Ep 5: Z is for Zombie

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from Den of Geek: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/evil-season-2-episode-5-review-z-is-for-zombie/

By Tony Sokol|July 19, 2021|

We stumble right into the action on Evil season 2, episode 5, “Z Is for Zombie.” Grainy film footage captures tattered young people fleeing slow-moving zombies, the kind which annoy the younger generation of the genre’s fans. Kristen’s (Katja Herbers) daughter Lila (Skylar Gray) is under the covers sharing a virtual movie night with her friend Alex who is watching next door, and has no idea the life she is about to reanimate, but the imaginary fiend leaves blood on her shoe.

The Pop-Up Book of Terrifying Things MMXXI, which opens each episode, usually never gets past the first pop-up, in this case “The Hairbrained Butcher,” but we can imagine their chapter on Zombies will be filled with useful tidbits on living dead things. The book actually makes an appearance in the episode, as it was probably used for quick reference. The opening discussion about 28 Days Later versus The Walking Dead rings very true, especially coming from the jaded children. This also darkens whatever foreshadowing it portends. Most of which will be more zombie movie nights, but it also follows Lila’s dark descent into her ultimate fate: becoming her mother.

Lila and Alex’s adventures in “Zombieland” follow the traditions of the Frog Brothers in Lost Boys, and are almost as much fun. They are convinced they can scare off hungry flesh-eaters with flashlights because “zombies are afraid of bright lights.” They follow the mythology to its source by going to a botanica, and credit the blue and green tinctures with corresponding events. It is their belief which sells the scenario, but also makes us wonder if Alex’s father, Brandon, is now a new kind of zombie, but with Mr. Hamlin’s salary.

The episode also shows how easy it is for the characters to infuse real situations with supernatural importance. Alex’s dad is staring at walls, he’s got a cut on his hand, he’s dead inside. He is not the same man he used to be. Is he a working stiff or just another pod left over from Invasion of the Body Snatchers? A bite from a zombie turns you into a zombie. A salary bump from corporate turns you into a slave driver. The curse which spawns the CongoRun zombie conspiracy may not fit with true Haitian spiritual practices, but it is only masquerading as allegory. The practice is truer than Evil makes it sound. Rumors of zombie workers enslaved by the lies of their oppressors are as real as the demonization of union labor, and the very real possibility that Alex actually infects her father with a corporate demon adds a delicious spice of conspiracy.

The idea of blurring lines is the same with Kristen’s online profile. Is she leaving more than a virtual trail when she pops out at night to tempt fate? Targeted marketing may be more frightening than demonic possession, but a bookie’s enforcer really is the scariest of the evening’s gallery of rogues. We have to give Ben (Aasif Mandvi) a lot of credit for getting an extension on the payback, but hope the father doesn’t get crucified on the vig.

Kristen is called in as the first line of defense for the Parish’s resident exorcist. As Kristen’s daughter lays traps for the undead during sleepovers with her friend Alex, the mother frees Father Joe Mulvehill from the trappings of his mind. The father confided to David Acosta (Mike Colter) that he fears he is under some kind of spiritual attack. He is reluctant to seek help because it isn’t proper for exorcists to wear their demons on their sleeves, or spontaneously spout blood from their backs. It doesn’t sit well with the higher ups on the clergy or the lay people whose faith is tested enough.

“Secular professionals love priests when we open food kitchens and protest nuclear weapons,” Father Joe tells Kristen during her officially unofficial appraisal. “We unnerve them when we start talking about demons and angels and true evil.” He worries that even she might be unnerved. Of course, the even-keeled forensic psychologist has been trained to take all of this in stride, so when the word “mania” comes out of her mouth as she reports back to the team, it comes as a buried punchline.

The diagnosis also can be interpreted in two ways, and because the priest is also covering up a gambling addiction, the odds are with the house. David believes the underlying root of the problem is the residual effect of Father Joe’s experience during Leland Townshend’s (Michael Emerson) exorcism. He makes a good point that this is only one of many, and who knows how many entities have left their mark on the man with the turned around collar who shoos them away. Kristen lays his relapse on trauma.

This brings up Ben’s elevator nightmare. Not everything has to do with demons and angels, fire, brimstone and eternal damnation, he implies, while the rest of the team tell him to take a time out. David tells Ben he’s earned the time off because he came close to death. Kristen micromanages Ben into corners. So, when he throws all that off, tells them he wants to get lost in his work, and comes up with the code to the evil algorithm which brings temptation to the world, we are more than relieved.

The assessments highlight each character’s main drive and preconceptions. David looks for a supernatural source he can study. Kristen would like to be able to write off the paranormal as psychological. Ben is practical. When he was a carpenter, he used a hammer. To find a demon card dealer on the internet, he’s got a hack.

We only truly find how insidious the tracking devil is when Kristen starts getting ads asking if her husband is boring her. It’s enough to trigger her own fiery flashbacks. Both the Jinn of a few episodes ago and Ben’s elevator experience make a deep impact on this installment. In some ways, the past informs the present, but it also clouds issues. The main concern is the very problem both Father Joe and the zombie kids are facing. Superstitions become very real for those who are immersed in them. They follow them home, and they can’t always be cleaned out of the cache.

While we are waiting for a tour de force from Leland tonight, we only get the choicest bits. The Sisters of Mercy sure clean up well. Andrea Martin is superb and sublime as she takes over the very atmosphere of any room she is in. “I don’t trust you,” Sister Andrea says by way of introduction to the exorcist who sands his leather kit to make it look weathered. We knew from her very introduction Sister Andrea was something special, especially from her own truly unaffected air of cynical humility, so getting such a visceral payoff is exhilarating. It takes David’s breath away. It sends Leland running off crying. Kristen loses the ability to close her mouth. The audience feels sorry for Ben, who misses it.

There is a lot which you might miss in “Z Is for Zombie.” The episode ties so many things together, from the shared trauma the team is experiencing separately, to how the work and their lives are on a collision course. Ben taps into Leland’s computer to find he’s the devil betting on Father Mulvehill’s soul. Lila channels Kristen to break a case but busts a union. David finds something to believe in, Sister Andrea. And the botanica which specializes in zombie cures and hair-braiding carries a book on stem cells; this could tie everything back to RSM Fertility.

Euphoria S2 Ep 7:
The Theater And It's Double

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2022/02/22/euphoria-season-2-episode-7-recap-lexis-passive-aggressive-masterpiece/

Dani Di Placido
Feb 22, 2022,06:17pm EST

“The Theater And It’s Double” finally sees Lexi’s big play come into fruition, which she’s been writing in the shadows for this entire season, and seemingly, thinking about for much of her teenage life.

It proves an interesting, unexpected direction for the penultimate episode of the season, proving to be much more than a pretty highlights reel, featuring a few plot twists, dream sequences, and small character moments, here and there.

Fiction blends seamlessly with reality in a series of scenes that keep us on our toes, constantly questioning if what we’re watching is real, an exaggeration, Lexi’s opinion, or all of the above.

A few missing pieces prove illuminating, such as the conflict between Maddy and Cassie, showing Maddy’s fiery temper slowly fading into sadness and disappointment. There’s also a brutally honest moment with Rue and her mother, as the latter explains that Gia needs to be mothered now - Rue has used and abused every ounce of empathy, and there’s not enough left for both of them.

Lexi’s intimate moments with Rue and Maddy show the unexpected depth to their relationship; surrounded by hard-partying extroverts, Lexi has always struggled to stand out, being more of an observer than a participant. As we see backstage, the sudden rush of power has gone straight to Lexi’s head, as she seems oddly comfortable in the role of tyrannical director.

But the play proves to be less of a coherent story, and more of a soapbox from which Lexi can blast her opinions about her friends and family to the entire school - she certainly makes no attempts to be subtle.


The moment where the cast and characters are revealed to be near-identical matches for their “inspirations” is hilarious, as the girls realize their dirty laundry is about to be aired in front of the whole school; of course, Cassie has more reason to fear than most.

It proves to be a hell of a show, a high school play with a Broadway budget, highlighting Cassie’s daddy issues, the speech outlining her intense dedication to Nate being the stuff that misogynists dream of. Did it really happen, or did Lexi put the words in Cassie’s mouth? It’s unsettlingly accurate, either way.

Amusingly, Lexi put a tremendous amount of effort into a homoerotic musical number created with the sole intention of humiliating Nate - and it works. Keeping up the appearance of being aggressively straight seems to be the way Nate maintains control over his life (just like his daddy), and Lexi shatters that image, humiliating him in a way no other character has really managed to do.

Indeed, Nate gets so unsettled by his portrayal that he storms out and blames Cassie, telling her to move her stuff out of his room - did Lexi just magically resolve Cassie’s toxic relationship? Or did she magnify the problem by shining a spotlight on it?

While Euphoria often leaves a lot of room for ambiguity (not a bad thing!), I’m curious as to what series creator Sam Levinson really thinks about Lexi’s gossipy play, and how he wants the audience to feel about it. Against Nate, the play feels like a victory; in the eyes of Cassie, it’s a devastating humiliation. Maybe Cassie wasn’t always the best sister, but did she really deserve this?

Lexi’s hand-wringing over the morality of her play rings pretty hollow, as she is seemingly seeking validation from Fez rather than seriously questioning her actions. As Fez in his infinite wisdom observes, the level of “inspiration” a writer can mine from their personal life really depends on the play. Sure, fiction can shine a light on reality, give a little context to chaos, but Lexi is just plucking immensely personal stories and airing them out to the public, with no effort to conceal their origin at all.

Of course, Fex doesn’t get to see the play; his side-story with Faye and Ash provides the tension in this episode, as the ever-suspicious Ash seems to smell trouble, while Faye appears morally conflicted.

We’ll have to wait for the finale to know the fate of Fez, as well as the ending to the play, which seems destined to be disrupted by Cassie, who is ready to erupt in an explosion of fermented hormones and hot tears - which is pretty much what she’s done this entire season.

The finale is approaching, and Lexi just threw a cluster bomb into a group of unstable, melodramatic teens, which seems almost suicidal - surely, it was more fun to observe from a distance?

from Collider: https://collider.com/picard-season-2-episode-2-review-star-trek-patrick-stewart-paramount-plus/#:~:text=Elnor%20(Evan%20Evagora)%20wakes%20up,the%20Confederation%20can%20kill%20him.

Star Trek Picard S1 Ep 2: Penance

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

BY MAGGIE LOVITT
PUBLISHED MAR 10, 2022


The crew of the U.S.S. Stargazer awakens in a world where the Confederation—not the Federation—reigns as merciless conquerors.

Following the cataclysmic events of the premiere, Picard (Patrick Stewart) goes toe-to-toe with Q (John de Lancie) to get to the bottom of what happened and, in typical Q fashion, Picard is left with more questions than answers. Though Q does shed a little light on why the second episode of Star Trek: Picard is entitled “Penance.” Picard isn’t being forced to learn a lesson, he’s being forced to pay penance for his actions and inactions at the behest of Q, or maybe something bigger than Q.

Picard is horrified to discover that the cruel version of himself that exists in this timeline not only has a room full of trophies from the victims that he has conquered, but he owns Vulcans as slaves who fear him. In this reality, the Federation never set out to peacefully explore space, the Confederation sought out to conquer, enslave, and control anyone they saw as their lessers—which unfortunately is anyone who isn’t human. There is a lot of very blatant Third Reich imagery used throughout the episode, not just in Picard’s very authoritarian garb, but also in the starkly brutalist architecture in San Francisco.


Picard is not the only one to wake up in a strange new world. Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) wakes up to discover that in this reality the Borg never assimilated her and she is President Annika Hansen, a ruthless leader within the Confederation’s cruel rule. More alarmingly, she also discovers she is married to another official in the Confederation who is quite suspicious of her odd behavior.

Seven—or rather Annika—requests a private com channel to be opened up between her and Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabrera) who has awoken in the midst of a heated battle with the Vulcans. He cautiously accepts the hail from the president and they both carefully broach the topic of their current predicament. It’s truly remarkable how quickly everyone is on their feet—few people could jump straight into a discombobulating firefight.

Elnor (Evan Evagora) wakes up in the middle of Okinawa where he and several other resistance fighters have staged a fruitless attack against the Confederation, aiming to find vengeance for their attacks against Romulans. Fortunately for Elnor, Raffi (Michelle Hurd) finds him before the Confederation can kill him.

Back in San Francisco, Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) wakes up in an unfamiliar laboratory with a digital feline companion, and before she can get her bearings the president and her husband arrive to check on the prisoner they plan to execute. While Seven and Rios may be quick on their feet, Agnes is not and her fumbling causes Seven’s husband to grow a little more suspicious about the situation. The prisoner is revealed to be the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) who explains that the time has been broken. The Borg have the innate ability to feel echoes of themselves across all timelines, which gives Seven and Agnes a clue as to what might be going on.

The crew of the Stargazer converges at the Confederation campus in San Francisco with Picard arriving right as Raffi and Elnor get into a bit of trouble. The trio heads off to meet with Seven, though her pesky Confederation husband poses a challenge for them. They are able to get the magistrate to leave them alone long enough for them to exchange what information they have gleaned from their new situation, though they still don’t have much of a plan for what they can do to fix it.

In Agnes’ lab, Picard questions the Borg Mother about what Q did to the past to create the converging timeline. She reveals that Los Angeles, 2024 is the when and where Q made a change and implores them to find “The Watcher.” They attempt to have Rios beam them aboard La Sirena, but security protocols prevent them from leaving San Francisco.

The final act of the episode is a race against time as the crew has to find a way to prevent the Borg Queen from being killed on stage during the Eradication Day event. While Agnes, Raffi, Elnor, and Rios try to concoct a plan to get all of them out of the Confederation safely, Seven and Picard have to go on stage to follow through with bringing an end to the Borg in front of a jubilant crowd of onlookers, anxious to watch the Confederation bring an end to yet another race of people.

Just when they think they’re going to be able to escape, Seven’s Confederation husband shows up, shoots Elnor in the chest, and holds the crew at blaster-point in a heart-racing cliffhanger.

Grade: A+

from the Dexter wiki: https://dexter.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_205:_The_Dark_Defender

Dexter S2 Ep 5: The Dark Defender

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

While drinking coffee with his sister Debra, Dexter is called to a murder scene at a comic book store. Talking to a witness about the victim, a shopkeeper who had been bludgeoned to the head with a snow globe, he sees a poster of The Dark Defender, a vigilante killer based on the Bay Harbor Butcher. Later, at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, Dexter falls asleep and dreams about the death of his mother, Laura Moser. In the dream, he enters the cargo container where she was killed, dressed in The Dark Defender's cloak, and beats his mother's murderers to the ground, saving her. When he tells his sponsor Lila about his dream, she tells him that he must confront them to seek closure.


He and Lila travel to Naples, Florida where one of the three men, Santos Jimenez, is alive and running a tavern. Having been warned by his girlfriend Rita's mother, Gail, to leave Rita and her children alone, Dexter tells Rita that he is going away while Gail is visiting. Leaving Lila in their motel room, he goes to Jimenez's bar and waits until all of the patrons have left. Dexter tries to explain to Jimenez how he feels, but Jimenez takes out a baseball bat and threatens to beat him. In response, Dexter disarms and brutally beats him, revealing his past to Jimenez as one of the boys he left in his mother's blood. Jimenez tells Dexter that his mother was killed because she was not only a narcotics informant to Harry, Dexter's adoptive father and a police officer, but also his lover. Dexter punches Jimenez and is close to killing him when Lila phones and he tells her that he is about to "use." Thinking that he is about to use drugs, she urges him not to go any further. He returns to the motel, leaving Jimenez unconscious in the bar, and falls asleep in Lila's lap. The next morning, Lila reveals that she had burned down a house with her ex-boyfriend inside.

Debra is insecure in her relationship with her new boyfriend, Gabriel, because her ex-fiancé Brian Moser, the "Ice Truck Killer," had kidnapped and tried to kill her. When she looks through Gabriel's e-mail, she sees that he has sent a book titled The Ice Princess to a number of publishers. Debra assumes that Gabriel is using her to write a book about her engagement to "The Ice Truck Killer" and angrily breaks up with him. Discussing the break-up with FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy, he gives her the background check that he had run on Gabriel, revealing that Gabriel is a children's writer, and Debra realizes that The Ice Princess is a children's book.

When Dexter visits Rita the next morning, Gail, who believes that Dexter is drug-addict —announces that she will be staying in Miami and will live with Rita. Dexter realizes that he must protect his true secrets, so he begins by cleaning his boat that night with a black light to detect any blood. He is unaware that Coral Cove Marina is being videotaped by the Miami Metro Police, who believe that the Bay Harbor Butcher may be keeping his boat at that marina.

from Ready Steady Cut: https://readysteadycut.com/2022/04/28/the-offer-season-1-episode-2-recap-warning-shots/

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

The Offer S1 Ep 2: Warning Shots

Joe Colombo is holding a press conference saying it’s everyone against the Italian Civil Rights League. The Godfather book is a fraud and so is every single politician around. The crowd goes WILD in support of Colombo’s words. I can see this being a problem for the filming of the movie. The FBI arrives to ask Albert and Bettye questions about what transpired.

Francis and Mario are sitting around talking about the movie and we find out both of these men have Marlon Brando in mind for the lead role of The Godfather. Francis has a vision for the film and knows they will have to potentially go to war with the studio. I love they have these two cut off from what is going on between Albert and Bettye without knowing their battle will be bigger than the studio.

Albert and Bettye are talking about what happened. Albert tells Bettye a story that ends with him making her understand that he can’t go back to the cubical and if she needs to leave, he gets it. Like we really thought she was going to walk away? Please. What an anti-climatic moment that we didn’t need. Then we see Robert Evans is throwing a party at his house. My man knows how to PARTY! I mean, another useless scene? What was the point of this? Sigh.

Albert and Francoise are chatting it up about his struggles with getting financing for the film. He brings up Mickey Cohen, who is giving him some problems and Francoise tells a story about Mickey and where he can find him. Albert sits with Mickey (this takes balls) and wonders what he can do to stop the pressure.

Make a different movie – Mickey

Francis and Mario meet with Robert to talk about the film, casting, money, script, etc. Francis is excited as a kid at Chuck-E-Cheese to talk about how he wants to lay out the film. However, as the back and forth ensues, Barry and Jack walk in to let them know they can’t shoot the movie in New York and Francis is freaking out. Albert shows up late and when he does, Francis storms out of the meeting and lays into Albert because Robert sat there and let Barry and Jack tell him how it would be.

Albert confronts Robert, but Robert reminds him that sometimes you have to let the big dogs think they win one over on you to get what you want. He tells him to go to New York, where Francis intends to film and make deals with people to show them they can film this within the budget needed. Matthew Goode as Robert Evans is easily the best part of this show.

A conversation happens with Albert and the crew over the casting of Marlon Brando. Brando’s known to be hard to deal with, and the last few movies have bombed. They don’t think they can get him, but Francis isn’t settling for anything less. So they transition to meet with Vic Damone to play the “not Frank Sinatra” role. Frank Sinatra calls Joe to confront him on why this hasn’t been shut down yet. Joe promises him that he will shut it down.

Joe meets with Carlo, who isn’t happy about the Italian Civil Rights League. He thinks it’s bringing too much noise to the table. He lets him know to SHUT IT DOWN and stay in the shadows. Joe marches to the beat of his own drum and I don’t expect him to remain in the shadows like Batman.

As Vic Damone’s set comes to a close on the stage, someone stands up to ask him if he is a big movie star once the performance is over. He says, “We heard you took the role of Joey in The Godfather movie,” and Damone responds, “No, they approached me and I turned it down.” LIAR. Francis is visibly upset and says this won’t get made, but Albert lets him know that he will make things happen to trust him.

Bettye and Francoise are meeting for a smoke. Francoise doesn’t know that the shooting happened yet and it’ll be interesting to see if Bettye exposes it. Francoise lays down the law and tells stories about how vindicatively she likes to hold grudges against people who don’t see eye to eye with her. Finally, she confronts her by asking, “What is going on with Albert?” Bettye won’t budge, which earns a little respect from Francoise.

Back to the casting table, Francis mentions that he wants Al Pacino in the film as Michael. She doesn’t think that the studio will go for him, but Albert asks Francis if that’s who he wants, that’s who he will get. Next, Robert goes to visit Charles, who is out of town. Before he goes, he pays a visit to Barry and reminds him to call before showing up at his lot again.

Francis and Mario are talking about the script laying the groundwork for certain scenes. Dan Fogler and Patrick Gallo have great chemistry that makes this relationship work. Francis is one of the greatest directors of all time. While I am not sure how he is behind the scenes, Fogler is killing it in this role. I love seeing a comedy actor do an about-face into a serious role.

The ending of “Warning Shots”

Before leaving New York, Albert meets with the congressman about shooting in the town. First, Albert breaks down what the film will be about, including how it’s not the anti-Italian film everyone thinks it will be. Then, he lets Albert know they won’t be filming the movie in New York. Finally, he calls Mario Puzo a traitor and if it were up to him, he would never make the movie.

Albert meets with Al Pacino (Anthony Ippolito) to sell him on the idea of playing Michael in the movie. Pacino is shy, reserved and doesn’t think he can pull off the role. Albert lets him know that Francis handpicked him for the part and wants NO ONE else but him to play Michael.

I am going to order three deserts and then I’ll agree to read for you. – Pacino

Robert Evans is doing what he does best, drinking in his mansion until he goes over to his bed to see a copy of The Godfather on his bed. He opens the book and there is a dead rat inside of it. He gets a call and lets him know that “he knows what to do.”

Francoise and Albert are back at the hotel, where she calls him out about being so secretive about what happened. He promises her that it won’t happen again. So they proceed to get it on until the phone rings and although Francoise won’t get off, Albert makes his way to the phone and realizes it’s Robert. He wants to meet with him ASAP. He tells him that if he doesn’t handle it, he will shut down the movie.

The following day, Robert gets handed the newspaper where it says, ‘Evans Out at Par’ plastered on the front page. He is pissed. Francoise wants Albert to grab him a bagel from the food cart downstairs. Albert walks down to grab it and he is met with a guy and a gun telling him to get in the car. As they pull away, the show fades to the credits.

from the Expanse Wiki: https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/New_Terra_(episode)#:~:text=With%201300%20new%20worlds%20within,gatekeeper%20to%20humanity's%20new%20frontier.

The Expanse S4 Ep 1: New Terra

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

Blockade running

At the Ring Gate, a group of desperate Belter ships try to run the UN blockade preventing entrance into the Ring Network, in order to find a habitable planet to settle in. Many are destroyed but a small cluster of ships makes it through.


The Barbapiccola, full of Belter refugees, receives warnings from the UN blockade to stop and surrender or be shot at and, when the Belters refuse, the UN starts chasing after them. A young girl, strapped to her seat, tells her parents that she is scared, but her mother decisively tells her that they will make it, and her father concurs, holding hands tightly and stating that they will do it together.

Camina Drummer intervenes and warns the UN that they are not authorized to fire within the Gate Network, but she also sternly tells the Barbapiccola to comply. Carol Chiwewe, the leader of the Belters, announces that they have not been allowed to port anywhere since the destruction of Ganymede, and that they are not going to comply. The Belters all chant "go!" at the pilot as the UN starts to shoot, destroying all the Belter ships except for the Barbapiccola, which makes it past one of the rings.

The next clue to the case

Eight months later, Holden is home in Montana, enjoying a campfire with Elise, where they talk about Holden's family meeting Naomi. Elise would have liked to meet Naomi in person, but Holden explains that it's difficult for her Belter body to withstand gravity, and the drugs required to do such a thing have brutal effects, which he wouldn't have asked her to go through. Elise gifts Holden an old paper-print copy of Don Quixote for his next journey, and asks him what it is that he saw out there in space. Holden replies that it's difficult to explain. After Elise leaves to close up the house for an incoming storm, The Investigator appears and cajoles Holden to transport him through the Sol gate, but it is difficult due to the UN barricade. Holden appears to enjoy spending time with what appears to be Miller, talking about Holden's childhood and how beautiful Earth is, but, when the Investigator begins to mechanically repeat sentences like a robot, Holden's smile fades.

Later, Holden's family has a video call with Naomi, who is on the Rocinante with Alex and Amos. Holden ends the video call when one of his dads tries to speak Belter to Naomi, which they both agree was agonizing, though Naomi is smiling warmly.

A call from Peaches

Amos and Alex are repairing the Roci, when Amos receives a video call from Clarissa, who is serving life in prison. She thanks him for the time they spent together while heading back to Earth. She asks him about one time that he left her to work alone in an unsecured airlock, during which she could have easily spaced herself, and he offers that he'd like to have the option if he was facing a life sentence. Clarissa thanks him again, but remarks that Anna was right and that she doesn't deserve the easy way out after what she has done. Amos interrupts her, telling her to stop, and gives her some advice: "You breathe in, you breathe out, eat, shit, sleep, you take what they give you and you give nothing in return". Clarissa looks thoughtfully at Amos and nods, before she has to end the call and go to therapy. She asks Amos if she can call again, to which he replies "Sure thing, Peaches".

The Investigator gets his wish

In New York, Secretary-General of the UN Chrisjen Avasarala orders the continuation of the Sol gate blockade against opposition from UN Home Secretary Nancy Gao. Avasarala believes the risks are too high until the unknown is explored and wants to prevent reckless settlers from dying, while Gao sees a solution to Earth's massive homelessness and unemployment, adding that sooner or later people will try to run the blockade and they will have to shoot their own citizens. Avasarala receives a message that Holden has arrived, and rudely shuts Gao's ideas down before telling everyone to just do what she tells them to and then leaving the room.

Holden and Avasarala convene in her office, where she shows him that the Barbapiccola landed on a planet they've named "Ilus", the only one on which the settlers survived, and that they have started mining lithium. Holden is not very impressed until Avasarala shows him some strange, towering structures on the planet that look to be protomolecule created. Holden notes that the structures appear inactive, but Avasarala retorts that for hundreds of years humanity considered Phoebe a simple ball of ice. She is very worried about Holden's visions of mass annihilation, and asks him to go to Ilus to evaluate the risk that the structures present and to investigate if another Eros incident is developing. If that is the case, she tells him to evacuate the Belters, destroy the protomolecule if he can, and "get the hell out of there".

Back on the Rocinante, Holden brings Avasarala's information to the crew and they discuss what they will do. Holden feels responsible for opening the gate, but Naomi points out that every decision they have made, they have made together as a group, with which Amos and Alex agree. They make plans to go to Ilus, and for Holden and Amos, who are more used to gravity, to land and begin the investigation while Alex and Naomi stay in orbit. Naomi declares that she will go to the surface too, and reassures a worried Holden that she will have enough time on the trip there to adjust to the gravity drugs, adding that with so many new systems to see, she wants to experience them herself and not just from orbit. She kisses Holden, saying that whatever happens, they will deal with it together.

Bobbie tries to settle in

On Mars, Bobbie Draper is forced to dismantle decommissioned MCRN warships for a living, discontented with her plight. She returns home on public transit, where she notices a man staring at her, before she gets off and heads home. She's in the process of finding her own apartment, so she is temporarily staying with her brother Ben and her nephew David. Bobbie meets David's new girlfriend, Leelee, when she comes to pick him up for a study date, and she recognizes Bobbie, saying that David calls her a war hero. Bobbie replies that he is a nice kid, before the two of them leave. Alone in the house, she receives a call from Alex and they talk about their current lives and the Roci's trip to Ilus. Alex says Bobbie can't understand what it feels like, because she has never been scared of anything in her life. Bobbie disagrees, saying that she has a trick to deal with her fear: It can't control you if you feel like what you're doing truly matters. They are forced to say goodbye when the communication delay starts getting very bad and interfering with their conversation, leaving Bobbie alone once more.[8]
A pirate's perspective

With a truce between Earth, Mars, and the Belt in effect, Ashford commands the OPA Navy Tynan, which is a peacekeeper, tracking down and neutralizing pirates. When the pirate ship he is chasing refuses to comply, Ashford is forced to fire at it, leaving it incapacitated. One of the pirates survived, though wounded, and he is brought on board, asking Ashford if it "pays well to kill your own for the Inners". Ashford is trying to uphold the truce and ensure that peace remains, but the pirate accuses him of being a traitor to the Belt, content for the Inner Planets' table scraps. The pirate believes that Earth and Mars are keeping the Belters out of the ring so they can colonize the new worlds first and take control of those resources as well, and he tells Ashford that he is also complicit in the Belt's oppression. Ashford watches in silence as the pirate dies of blood loss.

Belter determination

As the Roci approaches the blockade, Naomi undergoes a painful treatment to develop a tolerance to gravity similar to Earth's. She needs multiple, ongoing injections to increase her bone density, muscle mass and lung capacity, but the injections are extremely painful. Holden asks her if she needs a break, but Naomi sees news coverage of the Barbapiccola settlers talking about all the death and suffering inflicted on Belters by Earth and Mars's wars, and how Ilus is their land now, and she tells Holden to keep going.
The Roci flies by Medina Station

Drummer commands the former Behemoth, now renamed Medina Station, which controls the Ring Space and oversees transit within. She has a video chat with Naomi, where they talk about the strangeness of working alongside the Inner Planets as equals, Drummer's efforts to set up communications throughout the Ring Space, and her healing spine, which is regrowing its nerves with implants after her injury during the Slow Zone Incident. Drummer figures out that they are going to Ilus and she and Naomi disagree on the Belters' settling attempt: Drummer thinks it was foolish and dangerous for them to attempt to settle on a planet whose gravity is killing them slowly, and that Belters belong in space as a culture, while Naomi admires their drive and believes they are justified in wanting free air, water and land for themselves and their families. Drummer ponders that, in one or two generations, they will have turned into Inners and will have forgotten their culture and roots. Naomi retorts that everyone has a right to decide for themselves and, while Drummer says "of course", it's obvious that she disagrees. They stare at each other in tense silence for a moment, before a concerned Naomi bids Drummer farewell and ends the transmission. As the Roci goes through the Ring, The Investigator appears to Holden and thanks him for the ride.

Trading war stories

In a bar on Mars, Bobbie notices the same man from before staring at her again, so she confronts him about it. He offers to buy her another beer and they start talking. It turns out that he is also an MCRN veteran, named Thomas. He admires Bobbie's integrity, as she stood by her actions in front of the Martian Court, and lost her position for it. Thomas is passionate and upset at the way veterans are treated, especially with the high numbers of unemployment recently, while Bobbie is more jaded and is fine doing a regular job and moving on without complaining. He asks her what she saw in the Ring Station, and she replies that all she saw was people killing each other to control something they didn't even understand. She tells him he should keep his uniform in good shape, as there are definitely more wars coming.
My friend had a boyfriend with an imaginary friend

Ashford's ship receives a message from an OPA faction rejecting Fred Johnson and Anderson Dawes' leadership, and declaring that those obeying the peace treaty are traitors to the Belt. He crosses the ring, waiting until the last moment to send the UN his authorization code as a way to irritate them, and arrives at Medina Station, where Drummer chastizes him. Ashford brings up his misgivings during the Slow Zone Incident, but Drummer reassures him that she doesn't judge him and that the only reason she reacted more calmly than he did was because her "friend had a boyfriend with an imaginary friend" who told them how to power down the station. He says he thought Holden was a madman, when in truth he was a prophet. Drummer replies that it's possible to be both.

Down the well

The Edward Israel, a ship owned by the corporation Royal Charter Energy (RCE), is sent on an expedition to Ilus, backed by Earth and Mars. A shuttle is sent to the surface, full of personnel, including scientists Elvi Okoye and Fayez Sarkis. Okoye is extremely excited about the historical privilege of being the first scientists to explore and analyze an entirely new planet, while Sarkis is less enthusiastic. Meanwhile, Security chief Adolphus Murtry is complaining to the mission's commander about a group of Belters he once had to deal with when the company wanted platinum that was inside an asteroid in the Belters' possession. The company gave the Belters a percentage of their gains and filled their water tanks and then were free to mine the platinum, but Murtry seems displeased that they had to settle with the Belters. Suddenly, holes begin to blow into the shuttle and it starts to spin out of control, and it is ultimately destroyed during its landing. Sarkis, Okoye and Murtry are injured but survive, and they are assisted by the Belter settlers.

The Roci crew watch a news report sent to them by Avasarala, informing them that the RCE expedition lost many of its personnel, including the commander, and almost all of their supplies. Murtry refused to evacuate the survivors and took control of the mission. The reason for the crash remains unknown. In the message, Avasarala tells them that the Belters are helping the survivors but also insist that the company had no right to land in the first place, and that they don't know if the crash was an accident or sabotage. She emphasizes that the Belters will try to enlist their help against RCE, but that they should remain impartial and focus on the reason she sent them, adding "Holden, do not put your dick in it, it's fucked enough already". Amos remarks that it's good advice.

Traitors or saviors

The Rocinante lands on Ilus, and it is an intense experience for Naomi, as it is her very first time walking on a planet's surface, with its own gravity, under an open sky. Their crew make their way to the Belter settlement named First Landing, arriving amid tensions between the surviving shuttle passengers and the Belter settlers that escalates into an armed standoff. Holden tries to mediate and calm things down to no avail, but the standoff is interrupted when a strange floating swarm passes through the settlement, cutting people's skin and crashing against the structures. When the swarm is gone, Holden picks up one of its fallen units and looks at it: a sharp, metallic thing that looks like a bug.

Yellowstone S1 Ep 4: The Long Black Train

from Showbiz Junkies: https://www.showbizjunkies.com/tv/yellowstone-season-1-episode-4-recap/

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

By Rebecca Murray
-July 18, 2018

The Yellowstone Ranch springs to life just before dawn as Paramount Network’s Yellowstone season one episode four begins. The morning’s brisk and quiet, and John Dutton (Kevin Costner) enjoys a cup of coffee before the craziness of the day sets in.

Elsewhere, Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) is on the scene as the grave Kayce (Luke Grimes) dug is investigated. Ashes and bones are uncovered, and the construction crew that came upon the freshly dug grave is shut down. The foreman complains, but Thomas breaks one of the bones to prove the bodies are fresh. They seal off the area, causing a work stoppage for the crew.

(In case you’ve lost track, Kayce has now killed four people just four episodes into season one.)

Back on the ranch, the men are hard at work herding the cattle after John signals in from the helicopter there are stragglers in the woods. The helicopter spooks Jimmy’s horse and he’s tossed to the ground. The hard landing causes Jimmy (Jefferson White) to admit he’s not cut out for this work. One of his fellow ranch hands advises him to find his hat before he reunites with the group. Otherwise, he’ll be in for a hard time with the men.

Jimmy’s behind the rest of the crew searching for his hat when he hears a calf. He finds it alone next to a tree, caught up in some bushes.

Kayce watches over the boys as his wife cleans up the blood and other mess left from her sister-in-law’s suicide. She notices there’s nothing in the refrigerator and no food in the cabinets. When Kayce offers to help her clean, Monica (Kelsey Asbille) explains that although it looked like a suicide, Samantha actually killed herself so that her children would be taken care of. The only people with enough money to do so were her parents, but they haven’t spoken in years. Her death might move them to take in the children. “It wasn’t a suicide; it was a sacrifice,” says Monica.

Kayce and Monica wait for Samantha’s parents on the step outside the trailer. She wants Kayce to take Tate somewhere so he doesn’t have to watch his cousins leave.

The cattle have been rounded up and some are being herded onto trucks. John’s in the corral working the cattle when his horse acts up. Micky, one of the men standing around outside the corral watching John get his horse back under control, reveals that John’s not even supposed to be riding. He’s got colon cancer and just had two feet of his colon removed last week.

The man who just learned John’s secret confronts John and wants to know if he’s fit to be the commissioner. It’s a difficult job and could be too stressful for someone who’s dealing with a serious health problem. John assures him he’s fine and that the cancer was removed. He warns the man not to speak to anyone else about his health.

Kayce arrives at the ranch with Tate, wondering if his dad has any ideas for entertaining the kid. Tate wants to go to the river and John, happy to be included in his grandson’s life, agrees to take him.

Kayce’s not home when Thomas Rainwater arrives with his men to question him. Monica answers the door and Thomas reveals he believes all these deaths are not random but instead are connected. He tells Monica to have Kayce see him when he returns.

Out at the river, Tate prepares a fire pit with stones and then fetches some wood. Tate’s doing all the work while John rests and supervises. John suddenly realizes he can’t see Tate anywhere and races to the river. He retrieves the boy, who’s now soaked and cold, from the river and quickly starts a fire to warm him up. Tate’s shivering, but safe.

Kayce grabs a horse and heads out to look for his dad and Tate.

John and Tate are getting warm next to the fire when Tate notices John’s scar from the colon cancer operation. He makes up a story about getting in a sword fight in the forest with a goblin. He then gets sentimental and says he’ll miss Tate when he grows up. Tate reminds him they always have today.

Grandfather and grandson head back to the ranch, with John explaining that Kayce’s going to be upset about what happened. John’s right and Kayce barely looks at his dad after he fetches Tate off his dad’s horse.

Monica arrives at the hospital as Tate’s getting stitched up from his fall in the river. Tate’s handling the injury better than either his mom or his dad.

Back at Yellowstone Ranch, John’s having a rough time dealing with the fact he almost lost Tate.

Jimmy finally makes it back to the ranch. He’s carrying the rescued calf across his saddle, looking like a true cowboy. He even breaks into a smile.

Jimmy’s good mood is short-lived as he gets into a fight with Fred, another cowboy. Fred’s larger and stronger, but Jimmy won’t stay down. Rip (Cole Hauser) comes upon the fight, lifts Fred off the ground, and slams him back into the dirt. There’s a rule against fighting and Rip warns Fred if he ever hits a branded man again, he’ll kill him. He then tells Jimmy, “These guys, they just work here, Jimmy. You’ll see a thousand of them come and go. But, not us. We die here. This is your family. We’re your family.”

Fred’s booted off the ranch and John instructs Rip to give the ranch hand a ride to the “train station.” It turns out that’s code for take him out to a cliff, shoot him in the head, and push him over the edge. Bye, bye, Fred.

Catching up with Beth (Kelly Reilly), she’s sitting in a restaurant doing two of her favorite things: drinking and smoking. She doesn’t care in the least bit that there’s a no-smoking policy. After getting the best of two men who attempt to get her to put out her cigarette, one man finally fetches the gentleman she’s been asking for, Dan Jenkins.

Dan Jenkins (Danny Huston) is surprised to see Beth, and she reminds him he came up to her at the bar. He’s a little worried because his family lives at the resort and Beth suggests they go somewhere else. Dan immediately agrees, and they head outside.

The flirty twosome end up at a bar with live music and lots of cowboys. Dan stands up to a man who hits on Beth and earns a punch to the throat for his efforts. Beth chases the stranger away by revealing her last name. Another man walks by and Beth instigates another fight. Dan’s now taken two punches to the face, and Beth taunts him that she thought he’d be tougher. He leaves, telling her to stay with “her” people.

Kayce and Monica are pulled over on their drive home from the hospital. Kayce’s ordered to get out of the vehicle with his hands up. He tells Monica he loves her before being cuffed by the police.

The final scene of the episode takes place at the bar. Beth’s having fun dancing, drinking, and smoking. She takes a seat and Rip arrives, chasing away the man seated next to her. Rip makes her smile by telling her she looks good. The episode ends with the two on the dance floor, kissing.

The Morning Show S2 Ep 3: Laura

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from NPR: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/01/1041832227/the-morning-show-recap-season-2-episode-3-featuring-kissing-and-lying



by LINDA HOLMES

The basics: Bradley and Alex are preparing for their reunion, which Cory wants to promote to the ends of the earth. Mitch is still all bummed out in Italy, and Paola is ready to help. And Daniel is in China, where he thinks this coronavirus situation might be important.

Big moves: The arrival of Julianna Margulies as Laura

We're following the second season of Apple TV+'s high-profile series set behind the scenes at a network morning show. Check back next week on Friday morning for Episode 4.

It's never clear exactly what the stakes are supposed to be on The Morning Show. Are we supposed to be invested in the two women at the center of the action, Bradley and Alex, finding their way forward together and forging some kind of professional trust? Are we supposed to be invested in each of them, individually, finding her own ethical North Star? Are we supposed to care who succeeds and fails among the on-air talent? Are things like Alex's new office supposed to be juicy details about how the media really operates? Am I supposed to be thinking about the plight of poor Mitch, isolated on Lake Como, drowning in money but sometimes faced with consequences of his actions?

Because right now, this show looks and behaves like a good show in certain ways, but it is not actually a good show. Pretty and glamorous, yes. It is well-lit! It is beautifully costumed! It is impeccably designed! But as a story, it is ... well-lit. This episode feels like table-setting for episodes that are yet to come, but (so?) there's a lack of momentum and tension about the events that are actually unfolding.

Bradley, Alex, Laura, and the big ego dance

The basics are these: Bradley and Alex are about to try to recapture their legendary three-week run as co-hosts. This means that the network is revving up a huge promotional push that includes prime-time interviews with both, conducted by one of its other journalists, a woman named Laura Peterson (Julianna Margulies).

Alex has to participate in that interview while also protecting her flank from the approach of Maggie's tell-all book; Bradley has to participate in it while also trying to burnish her own career, covering the Iowa caucuses and telling Cory she wants to moderate an upcoming presidential debate so people will take her seriously. Chip is back as Alex's producer, and Daniel is sweating out (fortunately not literally) some time in Beijing after narrowly escaping Wuhan, which is now in lockdown because of the arrival of a virus with which you may be familiar.

I am begging this show: Less of the stuff like Alex waiting out Laura at the interview, trying not to go out of her dressing room area first. There's a reason people call petty power moves petty! They are petty, in that they are trivial, in that they are not compelling, in that they lack meaning unless they are imbued with it from elsewhere! Even if they are true to life, they are not interesting. We already know Alex is a spoiled celebrity; this does not offer new information.

Sad Mitch, of whom it's safe to say we just cannot see enough

Meanwhile, Poor Mitch continues to wallow in his newly minted perfect self-awareness and the company of his new friend Paola, who wants him to participate in a documentary she's making about sexual assault. She's sort of also trying to be his friend and maybe date him, so that's certainly going to be a very reliable documentary vis-à-vis its treatment of Mitch.

Elsewhere in the great big world of ethical compromises, Alex freaks out when one of Laura's questions seems to carry an implication that perhaps she slept with Mitch at some point (reminder: she ... did). So Chip re-edits the footage of Alex's stammering and evasive response so that it doesn't look as incriminating (tired: lying for Mitch; wired: lying for Alex). Still, it's hard for Alex not to worry about where, exactly, Laura got that question, particularly because Laura has an excerpt from Maggie's upcoming book.

Making out! There's some new making out!

Laura is also spending some time in Iowa with Bradley (where the latter is covering the caucuses and seems to be terrible at it, from the little bit we see) for this promotional special. Cory asks Laura to do him a favor and maybe mentor Bradley a little, so perhaps in this world, it's not a big surprise that Bradley and Laura, who begin with a professional conversation, wind up making out in the back of a car.

Look, I'm as happy as anyone to see hot people make out with each other, and I'm even willing to overlook the fact that I sense a little bit of late-nineties-era "look, it's two women who are famous as heterosexual leading ladies, kissing" sensationalism to this bit, especially since it's the very first episode in which Laura is introduced. And it's not as if this mentorship request involved a grizzled veteran and a youngster just out of school: Margulies has about ten years on Witherspoon, and they're ten not particularly important years once everybody is over 40.

But nevertheless, this began as a professional thing, and as a professional thing in which mentoring was requested, and Laura was there as a journalist who was interviewing Bradley. Must we have an established female journalist sleep with her interviewee again? Really? No less a journalist than the great and good Audie Cornish has taught us that pop culture storytelling in which women journalists sleep with sources — and someone you're supposed to be interviewing does qualify, even if it's an internal puff piece — are tiresome. Another way to look at it: Laura is obviously trying to hold Alex's feet to the fire a little, so is it fair for her to be making out with Bradley?

Does everything have to be gross?

I am extremely here for a romance between Bradley and Laura, let me be clear. But did this have to be the way this started? Does everything that happens on this show have to be ... you know, gross? Alex covering up her relationship with Mitch, Chip helping her, Laura making out with her mentee/subject, Mitch being pure of heart all of a sudden ... and most concerning, are all the things these people do supposed to be gross (or at least gross-adjacent), or is it supposed to just be one of those It's Complicated situations? You can certainly make a show where everybody is terrible, but you have to know that about it as you're writing and casting and directing it, like Succession does. This, on the other hand, is a show where everybody is gross, but all the actors are ones who trade on your ability to like them.

Think about the actors who play the family on Succession: Jeremy Strong, Brian Cox, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck ... whatever you can say about those people, they're not trying to play those characters America's-Sweetheart-style. They're going to have to work hard to ever play anybody who's not a monstrous stain on humanity again. But then think about Aniston, Witherspoon, Carell, Margulies ... all of those people have pasts as "beloved" actors (which is not to say they haven't done other things and sometimes done them well, so don't email me, Tracy Flick). The show leans on their likability to protect the characters they're playing. There's an unwillingness to let practically all these characters be what they really are, which is mundanely disappointing rich and powerful people. Not villains, not dastardly monsters, just the kind of careless, oblivious, money-poached dodos who make the world a little bit worse.

And what's aggravating is that there are more interesting stories bubbling around the edges, but they feel like afterthoughts. Daniel's frustration about both his role on the show and the show's underplaying of early COVID is intriguing, and Mia's conflicted sense that she's supposed to be responsible for Daniel's career — that she's not allowed to just think about ambition and her own job the way everybody else does — is a very promising story direction and one that has resonances in environments other than media. But this is never going to be a show about Mia, or about Daniel, and everybody knows it.

Over and over, the show is sort of noncommittal about its central figures, not in the way that suggests nuance, but in the way that suggests a muddy quasi-moral point of view that's not fully thought through. But at least in addition to reliving COVID, we get to relive the most recent presidential election. Wheee!

from Den of Geek: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/moon-knight-episode-2-review/

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

Moon Knight S1 Ep 2: Summon the Suit

Moon Knight episode 2 allows Arthur Harrow to monologue a little about his evil plan, while Steven discovers that he too can summon the suit. Kinda.

By Kirsten Howard|April 6, 2022|

“Is Marc Spector just imagining all this?” has been a question that Marvel Comics has waltzed with before, and episode two of Moon Knight, “Summon the Suit”, also decides it’s fair game via his alternate identity. As such, we join Steven Grant after his encounter with the jackal while he attempts to figure out how much of the horrifying experience was caught on camera. The answer is none, bar Steven pelting it about the museum with the wind up his arse, but at the end of the footage we see Marc give the camera a surly look, and Steven is understandably upset.

The damage to the museum’s toilets is certainly very real. Steven is summarily fired for his part in their destruction while his HR manager offers him an opportunity to attend a mental health group. To his credit, Steven is starting to think it might be a good idea regardless of his current employment status, but he decides to seek further proof that Marc, Khonshu, and Harrow are all real nonetheless. After chatting to Crawley and using a storage locker key as a clue, Steven discovers the safe place where Marc stores his gun, money, and passport, and the disgusted way Steven discarded said gun absolutely slayed me; Isaac is doing some phenomenal physical comedy in this show.

Steven also finds the golden scarab he stole as Marc during episode one, and Marc and Steven finally have a heart-to-heart where “handsome” Marc finally explains that he serves the moon god Khonshu, and is his avatar on earth. Marc has been tasked with protecting the vulnerable and dealing out justice. Naturally, Steven believes this to be utter nonsense, so he takes Marc’s things and runs away, pursued by a terrifying vision of Khonshu.

Having featured as a disembodied voice in the previous episode, Layla has since tracked the flip phone. She is apparently Marc’s estranged wife who he abandoned some time ago. She is aware that he is the Moon Knight, and has seemingly processed that wild information long ago, but when Steven desperately tries to convince Layla that he isn’t Marc, she is confused.

In a reflection, Marc is distressed by Layla’s arrival, even as Steven expresses a love for French poetry and hieroglyphics – Layla’s own passions. It appears that Marc’s alternate identity has unwittingly embraced these things as a way to stay close to Layla. This is all quite heart-breaking, and I love all the subtle character work in this episode. I might be in the minority here, but I also appreciate the way the show uses reflective surfaces to underscore the conflict between Marc and Steven. The set design really helps; it’s been sublime so far.

Arthur Harrow’s followers arrive and take Steven to his base, where Harrow realizes that Marc is mentally unwell and decides to open up about his evil plan. This includes the first of two twists I was definitely not expecting: Harrow is one of Khonshu’s former avatars, and now despises him. He tells Steven he cannot trust the moon god; that his justice comes too late. Ammit can eliminate people before they’ve even done anything bad! Isn’t that better? No! No, it isn’t! Goddamn it, Harrow. Hawke is such a stellar actor that we almost buy into it, mind.

Anyway, Harrow wants to use the scarab to find Ammit’s tomb and free her (yikes), but Steven thinks his vision of a world purged of ‘potential’ evildoers is deeply flawed, and he’s right! Luckily, Layla arrives and distracts Harrow with the scarab before he can mess with Steven’s head any further, and he responds by summoning another jackal from the underworld. Get a new schtick, Harrow, jackals are played out now my dude.

At this point in the episode, Moon Knight is ready to upset some Marvel Comics fans, because as Steven and Layla try to escape, Steven manages to summon his own Moon Knight suit: the dapper Mr. Knight version created by Declan Shalvey and Warren Ellis for their iconic series. A few Moon Knight purists are bound to be pissed off that the flailing, hapless Grant is the one portraying the historically ice cool Mr. Knight, but eh, whatever. I’m fine with it. Besides, Steven might grow into it.

Regardless of the style, the suit protects Steven and he now has enhanced strength. It definitely doesn’t make him a great fighter, but he enjoys scrapping with Harrow’s creature and eventually manages to save both his own life and Layla’s by relinquishing control of his body to Marc, who dons the fully caped version of the costume and makes light work of the beast. It’s good fun, and there’s a ton of really appealing gothic framing in the sequence.

Turns out Steven and Marc have to take the L, though, as Harrow acquires the scarab after it is lost in battle, and Harrow’s mask slips when he kills a homeless man without Ammit’s judgement in play. Marc and Steven then have a heated discussion where Marc says that whoever is in their body now seems has the most strength and control over their mind. Marc says he plans to disappear and let Steven have his body after he has finished repaying his debt to Khonshu, but he is also worried that Khonshu plans to make Layla the next Moon Knight.

Steven hates all the danger and violence inherent to Marc’s life and gets upset, provoking Marc. Khonshu doesn’t help by acting like a Billy Big Bollocks about their agreement, having no time for Marc’s increasing mental health issues and inferring that since he saved Marc’s life, his body now belongs to him. As a result, Marc grumpily heads to Egypt to stop Harrow.

That’s it for this week, but can I just add that I love the show’s end credits? They’re really slick! Cracking score, too.

The Witcher S2 Ep 1: A Grain of Truth

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from PC Gamer: https://www.pcgamer.com/the-witcher-season-2-episode-1-recap/


By Lauren Aitken published December 17, 2021

The second season of The Witcher begins with death, misery, and hidden truths. Three travellers reach a small village seeking shelter from the winter's night, only to find it abandoned. The stench of rot and war is luring monsters out of hibernation, and our travellers meet a fate worse than death as an invisible beast ambushes them. The tone is set: Don't believe your eyes, and keep your wits about.

Finally united at the end of the first season, the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, now escorts Ciri, the princess of Cintra he swore to protect. Still wounded from the previous season, Geralt is now faced with the loss of his Djinn-tied lover, purple-eyed sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg. The North was successful, barely, in the Battle of Sodden against the Nilfgaardians, but losses have been catastrophic on both sides, with Yennefer seemingly lost. Triss, a fellow sorceress and friend of Geralt, survives, but she barely features in the opening episode, which is fine with me. #TeamYen.

Much of the episode takes place inside the keep of a lonely acquaintance of Geralt, Nivellen, who has been cursed with a boar-like form. Two themes run throughout the episode: loneliness and fear. "Fear is an illness which, left untreated, will consume you," Geralt sagely tells Ciri as she begins to contemplate her power and instability in wielding it. Fear drove humans to seek out the Witchers, despite their current hatred for them, and fear will accompany most of the characters through this episode. Elder sorceress Tissaia de Vries fears that Yen is gone. Nivellen fears the loneliness cursed upon him. And Geralt? Well, it seems that our emotionless Witcher fears harm will come to Ciri. Seems he's changed his tune and is taking this destiny lark pretty seriously, huh?

This episode doesn't have a lot of sword-swinging going on. It's more of a grief-filled recap with some excellent zingers from Yen—not dead after all—as she tears Nilfgaard sorceress Fringilla Vigo a new one. She utters a Geralt-esque "Fuck!" as she realises she's in Dimeritium restraints, captured behind enemy lines, but Nilfgaard is the least of her worries. As she and Fringilla's lackluster bunch of soldiers traverse the forest, an unknown enemy ambushes the group. Given that they're in a forest, we can safely assume this is the Elves at work. Who else would have spears on bungee ropes? And Fringilla has the audacity to call them "archers."

Meanwhile, in magic school Aretuza, Tissaia begins torturing captured Nilfgaardian Cahir to extract plans from his memory. She's torn by grief over the idea that Yennefer has been lost in the battle, and she takes it out on Cahir in a truly terrifying way. Using her magic, she taps into the deepest recesses of his mind and doesn't pay much mind to the idea that he'll be left with permanent injuries afterwards. The mages are pissed, and it won't be long before they aren't in the good graces of the courts.

The star performance of the episode goes to Kristofer Hivju, who plays Nivellen. His story is based on A Grain of Truth, which features in the book The Last Wish. It also happens to be the episode's title, again lending itself to the narrative that not everything is as it seems for each character.

Nivellen, as he tells Ciri and Geralt, was cursed by a priestess many years prior after ransacking a temple while high on some mushrooms. In retaliation, the priestess cursed him to live alone as a magical beast, with love and blood being the only route to lifting it. Nivellen is charming and welcoming to Ciri and Geralt as they seek lodgings for the night, conveniently giving the aforementioned abandoned town a miss en route. He entertains them, provides a sumptuous dinner, and has a good banter with his old pal Gerry of Rivia.

Scuttling in the ceiling is Vereena, which Nivellen says is a cat. But cats don't like Witchers, and he's destined to be always alone, so how come he has a feline pal? Nivellen plays it off and shows Cirilla a light show that foreshadows her own lineage while Geralt monologues at Roach. It isn't until Ciri retires to bed, stating that Nivellen is no more a monster than the Nilfgaardians who destroyed her home, that Vereena's true nature is revealed.

Vereena is a Bruxa, the same one that ambushed our travellers from the opening minutes. A Bruxa is a higher vampire who usually appears as a beautiful woman but can also transform into a terrifying winged beast. The sun doesn't affect them, and they have dozens of razor-sharp teeth and a banshee-like scream that can knock you off your feet, Aard-style. If a town suddenly starts experiencing terrifying nightmares—alongside a few unexplained deaths—you can bet you've got a Bruxa on your hands.

Vereena immediately recognises the Elder Blood within Ciri (the reason for her magic, yet to be revealed) and warms up to her, urging her to keep her identity a secret from Geralt. He is a monster slayer, after all, and Bruxa are monsters. Nivellen attempts to hide Vereena's presence from Geralt, but of course, it comes down to a nail-biting fight between the Witcher and the vampire.

Vereena can contort her body in all manner of ways, and the clicking sound she makes reminds me of the Clickers from The Last of Us—not a fan, it's pretty scary stuff. She attempts to use Ciri as a meat shield, but Nivellen stops her. Vereena confesses her love for Nivellen—maybe real, maybe just an effort to extend her life—but Geralt chops off her head, which then combusts, lifting Nivellen's curse. "All's well that ends well," you'd think, but it's here where Nivellen makes his final confession: He didn't just ransack the temple, he raped the priestess and then, once cursed, looked the other way when Vereena killed the nearby villagers. He begs for Geralt to end his life, who retorts, "You're mortal now—do it yourself." Brutal.

Nivellen's story is like a perverse version of Beauty and the Beast: He finds the injured beauty and nurses her back to health—in reverse of Belle caring for the beast after the wolf attack—before they fall in love with one another. As she's a monster, she can stick around because she doesn't count as making him less lonely, and because he can't die due to the curse, he's an easy meal. I mean, she was losing control and drinking his blood more and more, but what's true love without a little sacrifice, right?

And with that, we are grimly reminded that humans are, in fact, just as shitty as monsters, if not deliberately so. It's in a monster's nature to hunt, but humans can choose to be complete bastards to one another.