Black Monday S2 Ep 3: Idiot Inside

 from Meaww.com
https://meaww.com/black-monday-season-2-episode-3-don-cheadle-narcos-ozark-deadpool-violence-421434

'Black Monday' Season 2 Episode 3 goes from 'Narcos' to 'Ozark' to more in a very bloody 30-minute span

The episode, despite being just the third one of the season, has a kind of finality to it. Intense violence, loose ends tied, a bit of sentimentality, and Mo looking like he was finally at peace

By Pathikrit Sanyal
Published on : 18:00 PST, Mar 22, 2020

     

Tags :Netflix

(Showtime)

Showtime’s ‘Black Monday’ is always on point with its dark humor. But Episode 3 of the second season, ‘Idiot Inside’, takes it to a whole other level — a decidedly bloody level.

The episode starts with Mo (Don Cheadle) helping Keith (Paul Scheer) out with his cartel troubles. In Episode 2, Keith, who was now a cocaine dealer in Miami, lost a million dollars worth of the white powder to the sea. Obviously, he now owed the Colombian cartel boss in Miami a million dollars, which he did not have. Mo had then promised to help him.

How a show about the historical Wall Street crash turned into a ‘Narcos’ episode is unclear, but it is safe to say this was definitely a good thing. But it did not remain a ‘Narcos’ episode for long. As Mo pays the cartel bosses the $800,000 he got from Dawn (Regina Hall) in return for his shares in the Jammer group, things go topsy turvy.

When the bosses realized that the money was $200,00 short, they ordered the henchmen to kill Mo and Keith. Before they could do that, however, the episode turned from ‘Narcos’ to yet another Netflix crime drama. Mo, in a very Marty Byrde-caught-in-a-bad-situation manner, begins to explain to the bosses how he could earn them more money by laundering their money better. In true ‘Ozark’ fashion, of course, Mo promised more than he could chew. 

As the chaos ensued, ‘Ozark’ turned into something altogether unexpected. In what can only be compared to the very slow-motion ‘Deadpool’ violent scene in the opening credits of the film, ‘Black Monday’ sees a massacre. And it was masterful. People died in that once long scene in the most spectacular manner. 

Ultimately, both Mo and Keith get out unscathed, but Mo backstabs Keith because the latter had backstabbed him in the Jammer group, and leaves with his money.

The episode, despite being just the third one of the season, had a kind of finality to it. Intense violence, loose ends tied, a bit of sentimentality, and Mo looking like he was finally at peace. Lord only knows what ‘Black Monday’ intends to pull off in the episodes to come because it would be very difficult to top this.

‘Black Monday’ airs Sundays on Showtime at 10 pm ET.

Disclaimer : The views expressed in this article belong to the writer and are not necessarily shared by MEAWW.

from Vulture.com
 https://www.vulture.com/article/the-umbrella-academy-season-2-episode-1-recap-right-back-where-we-started.html

Umbrella Academy S2 Ep 1: Right Back Where We Started

*****

The Umbrella Academy Season Premiere Recap: Apocalypse Soon
By Scott Meslow



Photo: Netflix/CHRISTOS KALOHORIDIS/NETFLIX

Few TV shows have cleared the deck as thoroughly as Umbrella Academy did at the end of its first season. With the arrival of the apocalypse sparked by Vanya’s transition to a supervillain, Five managed to use his time-travel powers to send his siblings to … well, to somewhere, because that’s how cliff-hangers work. The rest of the world, and all of the 7 billion-plus people in it, went down in flames.

In theory, that mystery time jump was also a unique opportunity. Umbrella Academy could have started season two pretty much anywhere, and done pretty much anything with its few surviving characters. Which is why I’m a little disappointed that — after beginning with the very promising setting of Dallas in the early 1960s — the rest of the premiere busies itself with establishing a setup that’s basically just a carbon copy of season one.

In rapid succession, each member of the Umbrella Academy is dumped into an alleyway in Dallas. Time travel is inconsistent, so no one arrives at the exact same time; the dates range from February 1960 to November 1963. The last to arrive is Five, who is instantly greeted by planes dropping bombs and tanks rolling through the streets. In this time line, the Soviet Union has apparently attacked Dallas. As Five watches his superpowered siblings fight back, fellow time-traveler Hazel — now sporting a trim suit and a bushy white Santa Claus beard — pops in and pulls Five to the (relative) safety of ten days earlier.

So yes, here we are, at the precipice of the apocalypse once again, with Five attempting to team up with his siblings and stop it. At least Umbrella Academy seems to have a sense of ironic self-awareness that it’s repeating itself. You don’t set a montage to Maxine Nightingale’s “Right Back Where We Started From” — and name the episode after it! — if you’re not aware, on some level, that you’re self-cannibalizing.

With the stakes established, Umbrella Academy spends the rest of the episode catching us up on where the Hargreeves children have landed since arriving in Dallas. Klaus, with ghostly brother Ben in tow, is strutting around making enemies at dive bars. Diego has been committed to an asylum and befriended a fellow patient named Lila (Ritu Arya). Luther is working as a barroom brawler and all-around enforcer for a local nightclub owner named, uh, Jack Ruby.

On the outskirts of town — and fresh off the brief heel turn that resulted in the end of the world — Vanya has amnesia, from either the stress of her superpowers or the car that hits her when she lands in Dallas. How convenient! With her identity and superpowers gone (at least for now), Vanya has taken a gig as nanny to a young boy named Harlan and befriended his mother Sissy (Marin Ireland). Meanwhile, Allison has somehow recovered her voice. How convenient! After stumbling into a whites-only diner shortly after her arrival in Dallas, she has embraced a new life of political activism and married another activist named Ray (Yusuf Gatewood).

But while the Hargreeves siblings have been scattered to the winds, fate (and Five) are already conspiring to bring them all back together again, and soon. A trio of mysterious Swedish assassins pop in and kill Hazel — and while they subsequently fail to kill Diego as he escapes the asylum, they’re clearly not planning to give up anytime soon. Meanwhile, Five tracks down Luther; given his particular set of skills, the rest of the family can’t be far behind.

In short: It’s a lot of setup without much forward momentum — but you can see the trouble on the horizon for everybody. With yet another obstacle to their (gross sibling) love story, there’s surely an awkward conversation to come for Luther and Allison. Everyone will need to make peace with Vanya for killing Pogo and then, less directly, everyone else in the world. And Klaus will surely do something to alienate and annoy the whole family again.

But for all the stylish wackiness this premiere episode promises, I have to admit, I’m a little worried about where this series might be going. What’s missing here is growth. Apart from Allison, there’s no real sense that any of these characters grew or changed from the events of season one. You can only threaten the fate of the world so many times before the fate of the world starts to feel trivial. And then there’s the danger of any time-travel story: When everything can at least theoretically be undone, how do you know what matters? I suppose Umbrella Academy will have the rest of season two to tell us.

Raindrops:

• Umbrella Academy has already deviated pretty far from its comic-book origins — but if you’re looking for hints on where this season might be going, you can grab a trade paperback of the second major arc, Dallas.

• The season one finale showed Hazel and Agnes escaping the apocalypse at the last second, which seemed like it might be setting them up for a sizable role in season two. Instead, we just get the brief little cameo from Hazel, who saves Five (and reveals Agnes has died of cancer) before he also dies in a hail of bullets. Then again, time travel, so who knows?

• Just before he died, Hazel slipped something into Five’s coat pocket. It’s not like Five to miss a step, so I assume he’ll find it before long.

• Allison can speak normally again, so apparently the damage to her vocal cords was reversed by … going backward in time? Umbrella Academy will probably cover this in more detail later, but it’s weird that such a major character beat being reversed goes totally unremarked upon.

• Also abandoned, apparently, is the implication from the season one finale that time travel might revert the rest of the Hargreeves children into their child bodies (à la Five).

• Umbrella Academy hasn’t lost its taste for brutally overplayed needle drops. In addition to “Right Back Where We Started From,” the episode squeezes in Bobby Darin’s “Beyond the Sea,” Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” and a minor-key cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” which plays — where else? — in the asylum.

• The movie theater marquee is a B-horror junkie’s dream, with Curse of the Undead, Curse of the Werewolf, and Kiss of the Vampire playing in successive years.

• Hazel’s “If you want to live, come with me” is a minor inversion of a line from the Terminator franchise.

• Diego’s plan to go back and kill Hitler after saving JFK. sure sounds like a pitch for Umbrella Academy season three.

• “There once was a young buck from Dallas, who sported a miniature phallus.” Now accepting any and all submissions for an ending to Klaus’s limerick.

Immortal Hulk #32-36: Hulk is Hulk

HULK IS HULK

Written by Al Ewing

Penciled by Joe Bennett and Butch Guice

Published Mar-Aug 2020

   As Doc Samson and Bruce aka Robert Banner continue to try and figure out the Hulk, everyone now remembers something they used to not remember:  Xemnu. The lovable fuzzy white creature that is in everybody's head. Eventually though, Hulk tears free and is forced to fight the mythical monster who's apparently been forced into pop culture by Hulk's old enemy, the Leader...

   More great writing out of Bennet and Ewing - in fact, better than recently. I was getting a little irritated with whatever they were trying to say with the green door, and Hulk being in hell and all this. Now it's still a little vague - the Leader is Rick Jones who is, I don't know. Still on some plane. But either way, the Xemnu stuff was cool.

I give this one a 9/10.

Doom Patrol S1 Ep 11: Frances Patrol

from Den Of Geek:
https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/doom-patrol-episode-11-review-frances-patrol/

Doom Patrol Episode 11 Review: Frances Patrol

Doom Patrol heads down to Florida for a confrontation with an alligator...and a certain robot-man's feelings.

By Aaron Sagers|April 26, 2019|

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This Doom Patrol review contains spoilers.

Doom Patrol Episode 11 Review

Doom Patrol is something really quite special. More than any other superhero show on television, this series manages to elicit some sort of reaction from me each week. And with “Frances Patrol,” the series now offers up a beautiful story about moving on, and letting go of a loved one – and it involved a giant friggin’ robot-eating alligator. How’s that for variety?

When this series began, I was concerned if Matt Bomer and Brendan Fraser would be relegated to cameos and voice work, but that has thankfully not been the case. Especially with Bomer’s Larry Trainor, the series has allowed him and Matthew Zuk (who plays the bandaged Trainor) to be a tormented self-loathing gay man slowly coming to terms with the negative energy inside him, and with his own sexuality.

It is not too spoilery to mention that in Avengers: Endgame a character says to a hero it is important to let go of the illusion of who we are “supposed” to be, and embrace who we are. That’s something Larry wasn’t able to do before, and even in the highlight episode “Danny Patrol,” he dreamt of being a man who could sing on stage, and feel joy. But it was just that: a dream.

This week, his vision of a life with John – his lover he emotionally abandoned even before Larry sent him away after his accident with the negative spirit – appears to be another dream. Even within that apparent dreamscape, he cannot fully admit who he is, but he does tell John he loves him. But instead of a dream, this is shared fantasy with the real John, on his deathbed in Erie, Pennsylvania (hence why, in the opening scene in the motel, John questions if he is a fever dream, or is dead).

From that tender love scene to the post-coital meal of steak sandwiches, right through to the end where Larry reunites with the older John, the episode is a wonderful love story about people prevented from being together by the time they lived in, but also kept apart by Larry’s own inability to love, and be loved.


Time again was an enemy as it passed over six decades, with Larry forcing himself to be alone while John moved on, and made a fulfilling life for himself. The Negative Man’s arc has been heartbreaking, but also now heartwarming to see him reconnect, and reconcile, with John (and perhaps finally come to terms with the spirit inside). And I am so happy Larry’s tale this season didn’t end in tragedy.

Meanwhile, Cliff and Rita head down to the Sunshine State after the racecar driver’s former pit crew boss Bump became a Florida Man, and died at the jaws of an alligator named Frances.



Cliff’s evolution has also had some fits and stops. He has tried to become a better father via (oftentimes unwanted) attempts to protect his surrogate daughter Jane. But Cliff is also incredibly immature. He says his desire to reconnect with birth daughter Clara, raised by Bump, is about providing her comfort. But it has more to do with him winning his old life back. Like Larry, he hasn’t processed his past, and moved on. And so he trudges into the heart of darkness of the Florida swamp to slay a dragon, and win back the heart of his little princess.


I wish we had gotten face time with Brendan Fraser as Cliff in the episode, but his voice acting is still great as he stumbles, rages, roars, and eventually lets out a moan (or “Om”) of acceptance. But he has to kill that damn gator anyhow, but this time because it tries to eat him.

In a story that already had a lot of heart, Clara’s “Carpe the fucking Diem-ing” eulogy about Bump taking her in, and teaching her not to waste life (like Larry had) is touching. And, despite the quirk of the swamp folk setting, Cliff’s slow realization that best thing he can now as a father is perhaps walk away, is an honest moment.


Doom Patrol handles the fish out of water stuff (and fish in the swamp) stuff with Rita Farr/Gertrude Cramp and Cliff quite effectively. I continue to appreciate how people Average Joes perceive Cliff to be an oddity, but since this is the DC Universe – already populated by gods and monsters — they don’t typically seem so entirely shocked to encounter a rusty robot. And it’s fun seeing Rita, who only a couple episodes ago might be appalled to be hit on by a bubba like Big D, lean into the moment with a G&T, and a whole lotta chicken. The old, petty Rita is still there, though, as we saw when she pestered Jane for an apology for Karen’s actions.

Finally, I’m interested to see how this new Jane works out, with her acting as a leader, and trying to contain the alters in the Underground. The team-up with her and Vic makes sense as he struggles with Grid, a personality within he cannot control – and which is slowly taking control of him with “upgrades.” It will be curious to see how the Bureau of Normalcy toys with Cyborg, and how the elder Silas Stone may be involved.


Again, for the Larry plot alone, this episode is a beautiful one for Doom Patrol.

Raised By Wolves S1 Ep 10: The Beginning

from Meaww.com
https://meaww.com/raised-by-wolves-season-1-episode-10-review-the-beginning-mother-new-child-hbo-max

 

'Raised by Wolves' Episode 10 Review: Mother's new child changes the nature of the entire series

The events of the season finale offer no resolution to the show's many mysteries and instead sets up larger things for Season 2

By Armaan Babu
Published on : 23:00 PST, Sep 30, 2020

     

(HBO Max)

Spoilers for 'Raised by Wolves' Season 1 Episode 10 'The Beginning'

'Raised by Wolves' began with a simple hook — androids raising a family on a near-barren planet. It was a show that explored family, faith and feelings from two beings firmly outside the realm of all three — androids Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim).

Even when the Mithraic came, causing Mother to unleach her Necromancer powers, the show still held on to that core when Mother kidnapped the children from the Mithraic ark and began raising them as her own. Everything changed, however, when the Mithraic took charge of the settlement and ended that familial experiment. Since then, it's become almost an entirely different show — one that may not appeal to those who were hooked by its original premise.

One thing that's especially frustrating about the finale of Season 1 is how little work it does resolving stories and how much work it does setting up a larger, grander Season 2 instead. Instead of answering any of the show's many mysteries, it raises even more, with the revelation that there's a secret history to Keppler-22b that lies at the heart of all the show's seemingly supernatural circumstances.

Given how, even before the pandemic, big budget HBO series could have year-long gaps between seasons, there's no telling how long it's going to be before the show's return or if we'll even remember what it's all about without an episode that's just pure recap.

There were glimpses this episode of what the show used to be as Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim) have the polite, android version of "Tell me his name!" when Father discovers that Mother has gotten pregnant by another man. The pair's strange approximation of human affection has time and again given rise to familiar human emotional patterns, and though Mother and Father were never married, Father still remains consumed with jealousy.

Androids processing human emotions in their own unique ways is one of the best parts of the show, and one we've seen too little of — especially given how brilliantly it is performed.

Sadly, this conversation is soon interrupted by an alien attack as we discover the shocking fact that there was once a civilization on Keppler-22b and that the planet's population has slowly been devolving. There's not enough time to process the implications of this revelation, however, as Mother's pregnancy reaches a crucial point, and she gives birth to a bizarre and terrifying creature whose existence changes the show completely.

The show has been on this path for a while, but this birth cemented it: from the moment a flying snake with miraculous powers appeared, 'Raised by Wolves' stopped being a show that explored themes of humanity and turned into a sci-fi blockbuster capitalizing on a love for complicated twists with staggering implications. It's the formula that made shows like 'Westworld' and 'Watchmen' so popular.

While this worked for 'Watchmen', it's because that series had one story in mind, one that was told by the series' end, with all its major mysteries laid to rest. 'Raised by Wolves', however, has veered distinctly into 'Westworld' territory, where each Season brings on increasingly complicated mysteries that forever change what the series is really about.

It's tragic, however, as 'Raised by Wolves' had such a unique heart. It's premise — equal parts fascinating and thrilling — made it unique among TV shows and that heart has been overshadowed by everything that has happened since.

The mystery presented by the voices and Keppler-22b's past is a fascinating one, but any fans looking for satisfaction from Season 1 are going to have to wait for a long while. The past few episodes have made it difficult to predict where the show was going, and now that we're here, the end result is somewhat disappointing and hollow.

This is in keeping with the show's aesthetic — it never promised clear cut, simply answers or a happy ending. However, any ending would have sufficed, and HBO's trend of sacrificing resolution for setup is one that's starting to wear thin. All episodes of 'Raised by Wolves' Season 1 are now available to stream on HBO Max.

Disclaimer : The views expressed in this article belong to the writer and are not necessarily shared by MEAWW.

 from Vulture.com
https://www.vulture.com/article/away-episode-5-season-1-recap-space-dogs.html

Away S1 E5: Space Dogs

***

Away Recap: The Bluest Christmas
By Maggie Fremont

Wow, wow, wow, how sad is space, you guys? I guess that’s sort of a given, what with it being infinite and desolate and full of ways to die. Still, with the one-two-three punch of space, PLUS the astronauts on the Atlas preparing to make their final video calls to family as communications get hairy, PLUS it being the holidays, we’re all really going to need a pick-me-up after “Space Dogs.” Something better than Misha’s homemade vodka, please.

Atlas I is halfway through its journey to the Red Planet, and visual communications will be lost. They can still text and email, but it could take up to an hour for those texts to go through (which, honestly, is still a miracle). Their visual communications won’t come back until they’re on their way home — if they make it home; yeah, yeah, I’m saying it — which means that it will be about two years before the astronauts will see their family. Not to mention that with everything that could go wrong between now and then, they all know it could be the last time they ever see their loved ones. So think of the most emotional phone call you’ve ever had and multiply the intensity and heaviness by, like, 1,000. And it’s all happening around Christmas. The holidays are rough, huh?

Emma is particularly on edge. She’s still icing out Ram after his post-mono heart-to-heart. He’s trying to figure out what he did wrong, since, for him, it felt nice to finally talk about his brother with someone. If he made Emma uncomfortable in any way, he asks that she remember he was coming off some major fever dreams and some blood loss. She very simply yet very coolly says that she keeps her work life and personal life separate. She doesn’t need any additional “complications” in her life. First of all, doesn’t it seem insane to try and keep your work and personal life separate when your “work” is living in space for three years with only four other people? Things are going to get personal. Second, I am very much Team Emma and Matt, but poor Ram! It’s not like he made a pass at Emma. He seems like a nice dude with perfect hair, and I feel for him. Perhaps Emma is trying to forcefully stomp out any flicker of that flame because she is feeling conflicted? Time will tell!

Anyway, all of those “complications” need to take a back seat because not only is she saying good-bye to her husband who is Going Through It, but she has to say good-bye to her teen daughter who is a freshman now and will be a senior the next time she sees her. Those are some formative years to miss out on. Just in case the emotions weren’t ramped up enough for you.

Emma splits up her final calls so that she can have some one-on-one time with Matt. Even her bold lip and mascara cannot mask how sad these two are on the call. Matt, too, has some extra heaviness weighing on him: He’s still adjusting to his new normal, which now includes ramps all over his house and a hospital bed in his living room. Emma has every intention of surviving this mission, but she still wants to tell Matt that he changed her. That he “made [her] believe that [she] was good.” That Lex is so lucky to have him as her dad. That she’s proud to be his wife. Then he plays her a song he wrote on the piano, and, honestly, thank goodness there’s gravity in the crew quarters, otherwise Emma’s pod would just be full of floating teardrops.

Following that phone call, Matt heads out into the garage in the middle of the night to get more Christmas decorations, falls out of his chair, and proceeds to slam things against shelves, throw things, and snap his grabber claw in half. FINALLY. He’s been way too cool and calm through all of this — you knew he was trying to bury all of that emotion. Ugh, what a time.

Speaking of emotion, Emma’s final call with Lex is also pretty gutting. She’s trying to fit in as much parenting as she can: Don’t do anything you don’t want to do with boys; listen to your dad; you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. You know, typical “Mom’s gotta go to Mars” stuff. It is nice to see Lex admit how mad she is at her mom for leaving her like this. Lex seems pretty mature for a freshman in high school. For now.

Remember when I said that Lu and Emma probably wouldn’t be friends? Well, after the calls with her family, Emma can’t help but ask Lu for advice on how she copes with being away from her son and cut off from Mei. Lu always seems so together about the whole thing. Lu reminds Emma that just because she seems together doesn’t mean it’s the truth. And when she’s trying to fight that heartbreak, she reminds herself what they’re making this sacrifice for: They’re going to be the first motherfucking humans on Mars. Okay, Lu doesn’t use the expletive because Lu would never, but she’s right — they all need to be looking forward. People aren’t excited enough about going to Mars is what I’m saying. Mars, guys! Sure, there are 3,000 ways you could die before you get there and on your way home, but if not: Ooooh boy.

Emma doesn’t corner the market on emotional final phone calls with family, by the way. Misha’s puppet show for his grandkids, about a dog who has to leave his puppy son on Earth and never returns because he’s meant to be a space dog, is (a) very detailed! and (b) surprisingly moving for, again, a puppet show about a space dog. Of course, the emotion of it all stems from the fact that we can infer — and Misha explicitly tells his daughter — that Misha is the space dog who couldn’t return because he wasn’t meant to be on Earth. He has an honest conversation with his daughter and admits that the reason he abandoned her for space was because without his wife, it wasn’t the same world he knew. It drove him to drink and to suicidal thoughts and he realized that his daughter was better off without him, and he was better off in space. His daughter appreciates him admitting that but still cannot forgive him. And that’s his final call with his daughter. Oh, you guys thought this was a show about trying to get to Mars? That’s cute.

What makes Misha’s final call even more painful to watch is the fact that we know, thanks to an examination from Ram, he’s losing his eyesight rapidly because of his time in space. If all the people who, after each episode of Away, ask “What else could go wrong?” could just stop, that would be great. Because now we’ve got space blindness. SPACE BLINDNESS.

Mission Control

• Lu and Kwesi’s final calls to family don’t get much time (Ram, who you’ll recall isn’t close with his family, doesn’t have one), but they are nice, nonetheless: Lu gets to see some of her son’s drawings and encourages him to do what makes him happy, regardless of what his dad says. Kwesi prays and lights the menorah with his mother and then thanks her for everything she’s done for him. Can we get Kwesi’s background story already? I am ready!

• Plant Watch: Kwesi’s Hanukkah gift to his crewmates is the first batch of greens grown on the Atlas. Everyone is so delighted that it prompts Misha, jealous his homemade vodka hasn’t elicited the same response, to say: “This man brings arugula, you all have an orgasm.” Get that on a T-shirt or something.

• So, not to alarm anyone, but a huge chunk of skin on Kwesi’s heel falls off. Just falls off! Apparently, this kind of atrophy is normal for space, and since they’re going to be in space longer than anyone ever has, things like that could keep happening. Kwesi is only mildly placated when Ram assures him his penis won’t be next. The things you have to worry about in space!

• One time on a dirt bike with a boy and now Lex is sneaking out of the house. Okay, so she’s sneaking out to go to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve with Isaac and his family, but still.

• Matt waiting in the garage and having the garage door open just as Lex is trying to sneak back into the house is really the perfect dad move.

• Lu and Kwesi dancing together!!!

• When a show uses Joni Mitchell’s “River” for a holiday episode, you know it is begging you to Feel Some Things.