from Vulture.com
https://www.vulture.com/2014/05/fargo-recap-season-1-lester-jail-torture.html

Fargo S1 Ep 5: The Six Ungraspables

Fargo Recap: Parable for the Course
By Kenny Herzog



Photo: Chris Large/FX

For a show with such flare for the gloomy and grotesque, this week’s Fargo sure missed a golden opportunity for Lester’s oozing hand to reap some serious Requiem for a Dream­–worthy tragedy. Or, at the very least, justify a couple more close-ups of what’d been festering underneath all that lamely applied gauze and Neosporin. After all, we’d already witnessed canine bloodletting and hammered-in brains, among other macabre and mischievous gore, so why the tease?

Speaking of that ball-peen Lester used to pull an Unfaithful on poor, nagging Pearl (welcome back, Kelly Holden Bashar!), Deputy Solverson came oh-so-close to finding its original hiding spot behind that blasted washing machine. We’re not entirely sure what tipped her off, besides a delirious Lester — en route to the hospital to drain and clean out his shrapnel wound — rattling on about Pearl washing towels and assorted peripheral details of that fateful day.

“The Six Ungraspables” was, mostly, about brushing up against breakthroughs and bad fortunes. Molly nearly got her man (though she’d have some ’splainin’ to do with Chief Bob, even if his skepticism about her theories has thawed a bit); Lester almost lost five digits; Dmitri’s attempt at demystifying Stavros’ paranoia was stonewalled by Milos’ Chief Bob–esque stubborn certainty; and Gus’s neighbor, Ari Ziskind (Byron Noble, another of the cast’s many theater actors), is lucky to be alive after confronting a stalking Lorne and calling him a “nudnik,” no less.

In fact, Malvo’s about the only Bemidji regular who gets what he wants by episode’s end. Namely, a million smackers from Stavros, who’s so shaken from getting the Magnolia treatment that he not only fails to question Lorne’s futility (let alone suspiciousness), but pays him fully for services un-rendered.

But something suggests that the tide’s about to change. As we round the corner into Fargo’s back half, Lorne’s been I.D.’d by everyone but Milos, including Mr. Numbers and Señor Wrench, who squeeze a confession from Lester in their snug overnight jail cell by clenching his deformed hand and gagging him with Wrench’s sweaty sock to muffle the screams. If the Witches of Eastwick analogy from last week’s recap follows, meddling Mr. Malvo may have underestimated this sleepy community’s resolve. (A newborn baby that smells delicious, in this case, Bernadette Thurman, daughter of late Chief Vern and widow Ida, is the surest sign that evil has an uphill battle.) They may yet rally, as Ziskind warns. Lorne can only hope his fate is less epic than that of Eastwick’s devilish Daryl.

Maybe the question is what bumbling Mr. Nygaard deserves. A flashback to Lester purchasing his 12-gauge (thrown in with three pairs of mismatched socks for $55 total) triggers plenty to consider. For one, was it only a matter of time till he snapped and plugged Pearl with the bullet that eventually found its way inside Vern (and Lester’s telltale hand), Lorne or no Lorne? Moreover, shouldn’t Lester have taken agency over his life long ago, or is his rut such a commonplace one that it makes for the stuff of terrific, outrageous, violent television fantasies?

Perhaps Lester should consult with Ziskind, who kibitzes with Gus in the wee hours (Lorne is keeping Gus awake, while the good rabbi doesn’t get much quiet time to think), relating a cryptic (read: meaningless) parable about some mysterious, wealthy man whose philanthropic urges led to a literal, fatal self-offering. Then again, maybe he shouldn’t. But Lester certainly has fewer friendly faces and places to turn, and he’s just about beaten down enough to where Molly can eke out his truth.

Hopefully, Deputy Grimly won’t get himself Malvo-ed in the meanwhile. He and cross-county colleague Molly have a nice little thing going on, and there’s a happy ending to be had where the two merge lives and precincts and become Northwest Minnesota’s most charming husband-wife crime-solvers. That, and catching Vern’s (and, sure, Pearl and Sam’s) killer, would mean something rose-colored came from the crimson mess Lorne left on Lester’s floor. Gus is also Fargo’s most relatable figure in many ways, and you really root for his confidence and capability. This show is populated by a collection of individuals who either squandered their potential (i.e., Lester, Stavros and maybe even dumb Don) or, à la Molly, are fully realizing it. Gus is right to be in awe of her, and we’re compelled to be in awwww toward him.

Fargo’s characters are its best asset, lead by the iconic Lorne. Despite Billy Bob Thornton’s star presence, and him having personified such a fun villain, Malvo’s inserted into things just the right amount. (Especially when somehow duping Don into essentially locking himself in his own pantry closet.) Lorne stirs the pot, but the contents are plenty rich. Now, if only they’d avoid the odd contrivance or cliché, or if the occasional aside were better distinguished as satire or standard beats. It’s one thing to cheekily drop in on Molly as she happens to be watching a nature special on predatory pythons, but you have to scratch your head at Dexter­­-like adventures in archaic search engines, Lester babbling about his crimes in his sleep, and even Molly muttering “or someone” in a clear voice (and then shaking it off as nothing) when the doctor surmises Lester’s bullet fragments traveled through “something” first. Or perhaps Allison Tolman’s sitcom timing is just off.

As in prior weeks, those deviations can ultimately be summed up as quirks of a quirky show, particularly when so much other minutiae (like Bob associating Lorne’s name with Bonanza) are situated so well. Now, if only Lester could get everyone to gloss over some of his transgressions and acknowledge a life otherwise lived in obedience of moral law. Unfortunately, once you let a wolf like Lorne in the door, the saints don’t often march in with him, and you may just get burned alive.

Apart from all that:

It’s all Uli’s fault!

Love the description of Leroy’s Motor Inn owner Lorraine Babbit as a “severe woman with hard hair.”

Was that a Pussy Riot poster on Greta’s wall?

Lorne’s black-market dealer is the best. (A toy truck?) I hope he lives.

I wonder if Lorne’s bosses know about all his action on the side (something tells me all those keepsake recordings of his victims might live on to tell his legend).

Ziskind has to be A Serious Man–inspired.

Brilliant of Lorne to play the anti-Semite card (although coincidental that, while in the car with Stavros, he referenced actual noted anti-Semite Roald Dahl?).

Great writing (and delivery): “We don’t need a man in a dark car, doing things.”

In case you were wondering, the opening tune was the Carter Family’s country gem “Wildwood Flower.”

from Ready Steady Cut:
https://readysteadycut.com/2020/12/07/his-dark-materials-season-2-episode-5-the-scholar-recap/ 

His Dark Materials S1 Ep 5: The Scholar

HBO TV Recaps 

His Dark Materials season 2, episode 5 recap – “The Scholar”cut and run

 December 7, 2020  Jonathon Wilson  0 Comments 2020, Adventure, His Dark Materials Season 2

4

    

    

Summary

“The Scholar” helps to upend Mrs. Coulter’s worldview as Lyra and Will plot a daring heist to retrieve the alethiometer.

This recap of His Dark Materials season 2, episode 5, “The Scholar”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.

---

“The Scholar” is an exercise in giving fans what they want, or at least what they should want, which in this case is lengthy scenes of Mrs Coulter in various classy outfits getting increasingly annoyed at subjects that include but aren’t limited to institutional sexism, the Lighthouse Family, and Lord Boreal’s weaselly efforts to impress her with all the artefacts in his bachelor pad. I know I spend a lot of time reiterating how good Ruth Wilson is in this, but it’s always doubly fun when the show realizes it and gives her plenty of chance to show off.

AD

To this end, there’s no Jopari or Lee Scoresby or bears or witches this week, or at least not enough of any of those things to notice, and attention is instead devoted to two threads that eventually overlap in the climactic sequence. In the first, Lyra and Will plan to use the subtle knife to break into Lord Boreal’s home and steal back the alethiometer, and in the second, Mrs Coulter examines how her own world and its systems have limited her brilliance and probably in large part led to her becoming whatever she is today – which remains inscrutable, even now.

Will and Lyra’s stuff is good fun in “The Scholar”, a classic riff on the heist formula with fantastical tweaks thanks to the presence of a reality-slicing shank that Will spends a good chunk of the episode figuring out how to use properly. As it turns out he has a real knack for cleaving open dimensions, and as it also turns out, Cittàgazze and Oxford are laid atop each other almost exactly, meaning they should, theoretically, be able to open a portal right into Boreal’s treasure room, swipe the alethiometer, and then escape the way they came without attracting any attention.

Ha! No such luck. It’s obvious from basically the beginning that this isn’t going to go to plan, since Mrs Coulter and Lord Boreal are sat right there for a good chunk of the episode. But part of the enjoyment is in waiting for the two worlds to literally collide. Wondering how long Mrs Coulter can tolerate Lord Boreal’s offhanded sexism makes for a fun secondary guessing game, too, especially since an encounter with Mary Malone, the titular scholar, radically alters Mrs Coulter’s perception of her position in the world – and of her world’s perception of her position.

This is, really, the meat of the episode. We’ve seen flashes of Mrs Coulter’s maternal instincts before, but always in a faintly entitled context, whereas here we see Lyra as just one more thing in a litany that has been denied to her. The revelation of Mary being a respected academic hits Mrs Coulter differently because all she has ever really known is the rigid institutional sexism enforced by the Magisterium; her own scholarship has been attributed to men, and she was denied a doctorate. It’s a pretty powerful character-building detail that ever-glamourous Mrs Coulter is deeply envious of someone like Mary Malone.

Lyra also experiences a revelation of her own – she at least has the capacity for the kind of rage and cruelty that her mother has terrified her with in the past. We see this in the high-stakes raid on Lord Boreal’s home, during which, having teleported right into a conversation between their nemeses, Lyra and Will fight back the adults and retrieve the alethiometer. But in the process, Lyra sics Pan on Mrs Coulter’s awful monkey and lets the attack go on for a really long time. It’s uncomfortable not just for the animal-on-animal violence – even if one of the participants deserves a beating – but for how much Lyra is clearly relishing finally having some power concentrated in her hands.

It’s a slippery slope, power. We’ll have to wait and see how Lyra’s succumbing to it, even in this small way, affects her going forwards into the dimensionally fluid climes of the rest of Pullman’s source material. Even with the subtle knife and the alethiometer together, there’s still everything to play for.

---

Thanks for reading our recap of His Dark Materials season 2, episode 5, “The Scholar”. For more recaps, reviews, and original features covering the world of entertainment, why not follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page?

Guardians of the Galaxy #1-5: Now It's Us

NOW IT'S US

Written by Al Ewing
Penciled by Juan Cabal, Belen Ortega, Chris Sprouse, et al.

Published Jan-Aug 2020

   After a very short rest, Nova shows up begging the Guardians for help again. Unfortunately half of them are only up for it. So Quill, Rocket, Phyla and Moondragon are in. Sadly for them, it ends in only a half success.. Peter Quill is lost in a planetary explosion. 

   So the rest of the Guardians continue on, this group lead by Gamora. They take a job “supposedly” to kill Rocket from a gigantic beaver. Obviously they choose against it in the end, but the story concludes with Moondragon from this universe fighting with one from a parallel universe. They end up merging... I think. BUt what comes next for these 2 teams? We’re gonna have to wait to find out.

   So we all know that StarLord can’t be dead, right? I’m gonna just assume that’s not the case and we’ll wait to see what comes down the road. Meanwhile, the GOTG gang wastes no time jumping right back into the action and I’m glad to have them back. 9/10.

 from Meaww.com
https://meaww.com/black-monday-season-2-episode-9-at-that-time-review-blair-andrew-rannells-showtime

Black Monday S2 Ep 9: In That Time

‘Black Monday’ Season 2 Episode 9 Review: Blair's ice-cold avatar is darker than anything we have seen yet

But what catches you off-guard in this episode is not Blair, but Mo's conniving mind and how he makes a comeback with a plan

By Pathikrit Sanyal
Published on : 16:30 PST, Jul 12, 2020

     

Andrew Rannells (Showtime)

Spoilers for ‘Black Monday’ Season 2 Episode 9 ‘At That Time’

In the aftermath of Season 2 Episode 8, it seemed impossible that Showtime’s Wall Street comedy series ‘Black Monday’ could get any darker. In the episode, Keith (Paul Scheer) revealed to all that Mo (Don Cheadle) was an FBI snitch, that Dawn (Regina Hall) wanted to use Marcus’ (Dulé Hill) African-American Scholarship Fund to make the illegal Yen trade. And he finally revealed that Connie (Xosha Roquemore) was an FBI agent.

On the other side, after Congressman Roger Harris (Tuc Watkins) won the election, things got the wrong kind of heated up between him and Blair (Andrew Rannells). When Blair asked him when he would bail out the banks, Harris said it would not be any time soon. An angry Blair threatened to release their sex tape to the media. When Harris left, Blair had a meeting with the Congressman’s notoriously homophobic father-in-law, Pastor Newell (Michael Hitchcock), the rich and powerful televangelist.

He blackmailed the pastor to have Harris bail out the banks. He also handed him a copy of the tape. But what he did not foresee was that the Pastor himself would release the tape to the press. When Blair found out on the news, he ran to the Congressman’s home. There he found him hanging from the ceiling. Harris had died of suicide. Dark, right?

Well, Episode 9, ‘At That Time’, somehow ups the ante even further. Its story runs, uncharacteristically, in a nonlinear fashion. But by the end of it, everything becomes crystal clear. First, we see Blair request his wife Tiff (Casey Wilson) to put him on the air in Pastor Newell’s evangelical TV channel, where she had a guest show. While she reluctantly agrees, she was not prepared for what would happen next.

Blair goes on stage and confesses to his homosexuality (as a sin) in front of the audience. But then he blames everything on Harris, reading a fake suicide note from the now-dead Congressman. In the letter, Harris confessed to turning Blair gay with the Devil. And now that he was dead, Blair would be straight again.

Rannell’s ice-cold performance in the episode gives you the chills. But it’s nothing compared to what happens throughout the run. After he gives Newell his gay-conversion therapy, and the conversion therapist Dr Gabe Egon (a surprisingly hilarious pun for “gay be gone”) due credits for him becoming straight again, he announces that he and Tiff were about to become parents.

Tiff left the stage and told Blair that she wanted a divorce. But Blair had other things in mind. His stunt earned Newell more donations than he had ever received, and he subtly threatened the man again, asking him to use his connections with the governor to bail him out. On the other side, we see Dawn apologize to an angry Marcus, promising him that she could get rid of the FBI if he loaned her $3 million.

Then there was the drama between Keith and Larry Lehman (Ken Marino). In the previous episode, Keith accidentally discovered that Lenny Lehman (also played by Marino) was still alive, and Lenny told him that Larry was using him and would throw him in jail again. In this episode, we see Larry, after learning what Lenny did, go and apologize to Keith. They spent the day together, becoming friends again. But soon, Keith told him that not only was the Yen trade illegal but also that the FBI knew about it. Together they decided that they needed a patsy to blame this on.

And finally, the whole story is brought together by Mo. In the night of the all the previous episode’s drama, after everything went down, Mo hatched a plan that would require Blair to have the Pastor in his pocket, Keith to have Larry in his, and Dawn to have Marcus in hers. And suddenly it became clear that not one of these things was random — it was all part of Mo’s plan to save themselves. The final episode of Season 2 is going to be utterly explosive, that much is for sure.

New episodes of ‘Black Monday’ arrive every Sunday at 8 pm EST/PST only on Showtime.

If you have an entertainment scoop or a story for us, please reach out to us on (323) 421-7515

from Vulture.com
https://www.vulture.com/article/the-umbrella-academy-season-2-episode-7-recap-oga-for-oga.html

Umbrella Academy S2 Ep 7: Oga for Oga

The Umbrella Academy Recap: Tick-Tock on the Clock
By Scott Meslow



Photo: Christos Kalohordis/Netflix

If you’re looking to add tension to a TV show, there’s no greater shortcut than a ticking clock. There’s a reason that 24, which literally stuck a clock in the corner of the screen, ran for eight seasons: When you know time is always running out, the stakes in every scene get higher. As soon as we learn that Five has just 90 minutes to get all his siblings assembled so they can return to 2019 via a time-travel briefcase from the Commission, “Öga for Öga” cranks up the stress and doesn’t let up.

So I suppose I can’t blame Umbrella Academy for turning “Öga for Öga” into a race against the clock (complete with tick-tock sound effects at the end of numerous scenes). But I can blame Umbrella Academy for the thoughtless, tossed-off explanation for why Five has only has 90 minutes. The episode’s “answer,” more or less, is that The Handler likes screwing with people in strange and arbitrary ways — which is true to character, if not a particularly sturdy foundation on which to build an episode.

To even get to this point, Five needed to time-travel to Wisconsin in 1982 to assassinate The Commission’s executive board. Over the course of the series, Five has become more devoted to his family (and more heroic in general), which can make it easy to forget that he’s one of the deadliest and most amoral assassins of all time. The opening of “Öga for Öga” offers a reminder that’s honestly a little disturbing to watch, as Five crashes the meeting and uses a fire-axe to dismember no fewer than 11 people. I know these are theoretically the baddest of bad guys, and that Five isn’t exactly a good guy — but who are we supposed to be rooting for in this show, anyway?

Back in Dallas circa 1963, Five rationalizes the killings by insisting they were necessary to get his siblings back to 2019, which (for some reason?) will also save the world. But because The Handler has assigned that arbitrary 90-minute time limit before the briefcase will vanish, the fate of the world also depends on Five criss-crossing Dallas and wrangling all of his siblings to meet the deadline in time.

Umbrella Academy is loaded with thwarted ambitions, so it’s no surprise that Five doesn’t even come close to making the deadline with everyone in tow. (For the record: Only Five, Luther, and Klaus/Ben make it before the timer expires.) And while the others have surprisingly good reasons for not making it, it’s worth noting that each failure is tied, in some way, to their love lives. “The only thing the Umbrella Academy knows about love is how to screw it up,” mocked Klaus earlier this season — and if that’s not exactly fair, it’s safe to say that the lovestruck Hargreeves children are finding themselves unexpectedly anchored to life in 1960s Dallas.

First comes Diego, who confronts Lila about her obvious betrayal, and ends up passing out when he takes a swig from her drugged flask. But Lila’s separation from Diego has also given her some time to think. When Diego wakes up again, he’s in The Handler’s office, where Lila — now her mother’s Head of Security — declares Diego to be her boyfriend. There’s something interesting about these two deadly, damaged people, who each grew up under the thumb of a bizarre and overbearing parent, coming together and forging a new union of their own. We’ll just have to see if Diego can forgive Lila for, you know, lying about everything from the moment they met.

Across town, Allison is forced to rush a major decision on Ray: Would he be willing to abandon the civil rights movement in 1963 to begin a new life with her in 2019? Even when Allison tells him, quite accurately, that the work is far from done in 2019, Ray decides not to go, concluding that the movement still needs him in 1963. And when Allison offers to use her superpower to erase his memory of her, he refuses, concluding that he’d rather live with the pain if it means he can keep their year together in his mind.

This is a powerful sequence, nicely written and beautifully played by both Emmy Raver-Lampman and Yusuf Gatewood. Which is why I was frustrated when the Swedish assassins busted in — complete with a soundtrack cue for “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” of all things — for yet another glossy, empty fight scene. At times, Umbrella Academy can feel like it’s allergic to human emotion — like the show is afraid the audience will get bored if they spend too much time with the characters before cutting to a brawl or a pop song. In another legitimately (and accidentally?) disturbing bit, Allison uses her power to make one of the Swedish assassins strangle his brother to death — but by the time the fight is over, it’s too late to join her family in the alley.

And then there’s Vanya, who flirts with the same destructiveness that led to the apocalypse in season one when Five insists she can’t bring Sissy and Harlan back with her to 2019. Vanya decides to do it anyway, but kindhearted Sissy decides she can’t abandon Carl without writing a Dear John letter, which gives Carl enough time to sic the cops on her. As Vanya, Sissy, and Harlan speed toward the alley, they’re interrupted by the police. With no choice but to fight or surrender, Vanya fights, unleashing her powers on the police until one of them manages to sneak up and knock her out. And with no clear way to get back to 2019, it’s certainly looking like there will be some major consequences for everyone to face in 1963.

Raindrops:

• Love must be in the air in Dallas, because another subplot sees Ben possess Klaus’ body to woo Jill, the girl he’s been crushing on from the afterlife. This is mostly just a goof, but it is kind of moving to see Ben enjoying all the sensory experiences he’s missed as a ghost: The taste of fruit, the feeling of dirt under your toes, the smell of a girl you like. The episode veers close to some seriously dicey territory when Jill tries to have sex with Ben (who she assumes is Klaus) — but Diego shows up before anything can happen, so I guess that’s a bullet dodged.

• I assume the Handler is keeping A.J. Carmichael alive in a fishbowl in her office for purely vindictive reasons, but something tells me he’ll find a way to get revenge before the season is over.

• Five’s tossed-off reference to the time the Umbrella Academy fought a sea monster is probably a nod to the one-off comic “… But the Past Ain’t Through With You,” which was released on Free Comic Book Day in 2007.

• Poor Olga Foroga, spending the rest of her life looking over her shoulder because Luther and Diego don’t speak Swedish.

• Klaus’ largely song lyric-based cult is called — what else? — Destiny’s Children.

• Klaus’ rules for occupying his body: no cutting his hair, no dairy, no looking at his dick. (Ben violates that last one almost immediately.)

• Another happy memory from the Hargreeves household: The time when the kids reprogrammed Allison’s Teddy Ruxpin doll to say, “Luther sniffs dad’s underwear.”

• Here’s a harrowing (and genuinely interesting!) history of the 1924 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak mentioned by Carl. I’ll leave you to contemplate this pull-quote in light of the times we’re living in: “The 1924 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak suggests two points that are relevant to other national crises. The first is that advance planning and preparation do pay off. […] The second is that neither then nor since are governments very effective in preventing and suppressing the rumors and panic that accompany a national crisis.”