Teen Titans Go! "The Cape" Review (Spoilers)
Also reviews for the latest episode of DC Super Hero Girls, the first two episodes of the season of Supergirl, the latest episodes of The Flash and Arrow, the season premiere of DC's Legends Of Tomorrow, the latest episodes of Lucifer, Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ultimate Spider-Man Vs. The Sinister 6, Marvel's Avengers: Ultron Revolution, Star Wars Rebels, Once Upon A Time, Girl Meets World, and Power Rangers Dino Super Charge, The Simpsons Halloween Special, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine / New Girl crossover, and the latest episodes of The Good Place, Son Of Zorn, The Last Man On Earth, Family Guy, Scream Queens, Van Helsing, The Blacklist, and Blindspot.
Teen Titans Go! "The Cape"
If the show did 64 more episodes like this, I wouldn't complain. Imagine if Marvel Mash-Up actually put in a legit effort and was funny. That is how awesome this was. We actually saw it done with a show with great animation using the original cast, although I scowled that they didn't get back Ron Perlman for Slade. Here's something many fans of the original Teen Titans like to pretend isn't true but is: the original series is very easy to make fun of. The reboot is definitely worse in practically every respect, but I've never felt embarrassed watching it, which I totally have for the original series. And I felt that way a lot and quite often.
I love Cyborg's moustache simply being animation lighting. I thought it was brilliant they set that line up earlier in the episode. The rock paper scissors game at the end was similarly funny.
This show's clip shows have always bummed me out because the show is already so low-budget and cheap looking. But if they do clip shows redubbing the Original Series from now on, they have a money in the bank way to keep the series going long past its sell-by date. I'm just a little bit mad this happened all the way at the beginning of season four. I would have liked it if we had already gotten a ton of episodes like this. I am a bit saddened to realize that if the show had come up with this idea earlier, we'd probably be halfway through the Terra arc by now.
I want to see badly dubbed "Sisters" next. *****.
DC Super Hero Girls "The Cheetah Who Cried Wolf"
I really don't think the series should be playing around with the idea that characters that are villains in the comic books are dabbling in villainy on the series. Once they decided to make Harley and Cheetah superheroes, they should really be sticking with that. **.
Supergirl "The Adventures Of Supergirl"
Calista Flockhart is no longer a series regular? Hmmm.
"She went to Yale." "So did George Bush." Excellent burn from Ms. Grant.
Love Supergirl telling the kids she used to change Superman's diapers. Because we all want to know that.
For the first time I'm glad they didn't cast Tom Welling as Clark. Why? They did the slow-mo unbuttoning the shirt and revealing the S thing, and it actually worked. It totally did not in the last episode of Smallville. Welling totally botched it. This new guy did not.
Superman smells amazing? Weirdest guy virtue ever.
Superman and J'onn don't like each other! J'onn discovered Kryptonite! That explains a lot. And Superman's right to be nervous. What happens when J'onn isn't in power anymore? Or if Madame President (!) gives him a bad order? This also hints that Superman would probably hate Batman if they met, if they haven't already.
Metallo!
Clark has an in with Cat Grant! She's hot for him!
Don't know what to make of Lena Luthor yet.
"That's it. We're moving back to Gotham." That one line right there states how dangerous National City is. Gotham is a pit.
Can't help but feel they are jerking us around with Kara and James.
Did Flashpoint push Supergirl into the Arrowverse? They never answered that.
They seem to be hinting Cat is going to leave already just based on her behavior.
I laughed at Superman's joke that he was offended that Kara got most of the press. Superman isn't usually shown to possess a snarky sense of humor.
Great premiere. ****.
Supergirl "The Last Children Of Krypton"
Love that they did the Superman CRISIS cover.
Snapper Carr is the least Snapper Carr Snapper Carr ever. They probably should have just given him a different name.
Kara is such an idiot. "I chose this job." Snapper's reaction being offense to that is the proper one. She also is too dumb to realize how much Alex is hurting over her selfish behavior. As Alex noted, Superman DID abandon her. I think it's amazing and admirable that Kara doesn't blame him for that, but maybe she should.
But as Winn also said, families shouldn't keep score. Both of the Danvers sisters were doing wrong by each other this episode.
I do not believe Cat can be in close-up scenes with both Supergirl and Kara and not know who she is. They should have just revealed Cat figured it out. It's not like she's going to be a steady presence on the show anymore.
Evil Mary Alice is evil. Brenda Strong has an annoying voice, but it is MUCH less annoying when you see her face too. Don't know why that is, but Desperate Housewives absolutely cast the wrong person for the Narrator.
Love that J'onn was the little girl.
Return of Alex's Supersuit. Should she get a superhero codename now too?
Pretty good. ***1/2.
The Flash "Monster"
Super worried for Caitlin, but there's a possibility it might not wind up being so bad. We'll see. It's possible Earth 2 Killer Frost is alive again and SHE'S the big bad of the season.
Hating Tom Felton will never get old. Except, unlike Malfoy, I sort of like him too. Malfoy was an idiot and this guy seems pretty on the ball. Also, Felton is kind of a hunk now. And even if Malfoy broke the hearts of teenage girls, I never saw the appeal when he was a kid. I now do.
So happy to see John Wesley Shipp again so soon, and I squealed in delight that Dawson's Creek was playing on the TV in 1998. What a great gag.
I'd be madder about Sara becoming John if our Sara hadn't come back to life. I love that Felicity was the first and only person Barry told right when he got back. That feels right to me. They have a VERY different type of friendship than any other male / female characters in this continuity and I love the idea that he went to her first.
I didn't expect to like last week's premiere and I did. I also didn't expect to like this week's fall-out and I did. I'm starting to learn to trust this show. This is the kind of show that can end Barry's story on a kiss. I'm going to try and accept that this isn't Arrow. And that's a good thing. ****.
Arrow "The Recruits"
Prometheus huh? He'll be a good Big Bad this year.
I think the bell exercise sucked. But before I get into why, can I just say that after seeing every genre show I have that I immediately knew the point was team building and getting everyone to work together? I kind of have a hard time believing that a geek like Curtis wouldn't have immediately figured it out before he had his @$$ kicked even once. He's the kind of guy who's watched his share of Kung Fu movies.
But the reason the bell test sucks so much and why Oliver sucks so much for using it, is because it had a tragic outcome in the past. The outcome did NOT build teamwork, and Oliver using something that caused three people to die is not a wise lesson he needs to be imparting. Oliver should NOT be thinking his lessons from the Bratva are good things. Because they aren't.
I honestly only think they used to bell test to give the stuff in the present symmetry with the flashbacks. But this is no equivalence or symmetry between the scenarios, so Oliver would have done better by picking a different training exercise.
I think Quentin being deputy mayor is a stretch, but it's pretty much the only way they can believably keep Paul Blackthorne on the show. I'll take it.
Don't like Dig's story simply because I hate seeing the bad guys win.
My favorite thing is that Felicity doesn't wear the mask. Oliver tells her it isn't up for debate, and she doesn't further argue the point. She just shows up without it, proving Oliver right. It's not up for debate. She was never gonna wear it, and Oliver is a moron if he thought she would.
Love Wilddog talking smack about Oliver without ever realizing he's the Arrow. As Arrow goes on and on, I think the Oliver Queen reveal keeps getting cooler and cooler. Oliver keeps doing stuff that is totally against being a vigilante, like running for and then becoming mayor. It makes the Queen persona a better beard than if he had kept a more believably low profile. Nobody expects the Mayor is the Arrow. Because it's dumb. Which makes Oliver's secret ID perfect.
I think everyone pointing out the original team left and blaming Oliver is an example of the show telling me something that not only isn't true, but something I KNOW isn't true because I witnessed it last year. While it is true that Thea refused to re-up after putting on the Speedy costume again due to Oliver's actions last week, he wasn't the reason she quit the first time. That was due to her own actions and her fears of turning into her father. Similarly John quit for his own reasons too (i.e. guilt over killing his brother). Roy didn't quit because he stopped trusting Oliver, but because he trusted him so much he was protecting him. The only original teammate you can argue is no longer on the team due to Oliver is Laurel, and that had nothing to do with Oliver being a jerk. The show is saying Oliver chased away his entire team. But I saw season four with my own eyes. Why is the show trying to get me to believe I didn't?
Ironically, perhaps they could use Flashpoint as an excuse here, but I wouldn't buy that for a second, and think it would be the cop-out to end all cop-outs. Oliver isn't a bad leader. He's an amazing one, and him sucking so much tonight was the thing that was out of character.
Good episode otherwise though. ***1/2.
DC's Legends Of Tomorrow "Out Of Time"
I didn't much like this version of Einstein, simply because the writer of the episode didn't seem to know too much about astrophysics and simply pinned Einstein down to a couple of his famous phrases and cliches. The move he pulled with the women and "equal and opposite reactions" is a appalling move that Donald Trump would use, not one of the smartest men who ever lived. There are plenty of ways to show Einstein is a pig without making him a complete moron to do it.
The more I think about it, the angrier it makes me. While it is true current real life events make it MUCH more appalling than it might have been a few months ago, it's the fact that I'm supposed to find that behavior cute and funny which is exactly why it's appalling. And it pisses me off that the writers think it's a funny character quirk and a way to say Einstein is lesser than his reputation. It sucks. It's degrading and it is sexual assault. And I guess I didn't notice how much pop culture engaged in cr*p like that until very recently. And I feel a little ashamed that I didn't notice it before. But I do now.
I did like something about him. He's smart enough to realize that they're time travelers. That should happen sometimes, especially when meeting some of history's greats.
Justice Society looks interesting. Probably why we saw so many new cast members in the opening titles. Eobard is a regular? Interesting.
I love Oliver being smart enough to see through the historian's protests about merely being a historian. This is what he's always dreamed of and he's not fooling anybody.
I had no idea Damian Dahrk was Immortal, but since he used to be League of Assassins, that makes sense. Although I previously thought the Pit was only for Ra's and his loved ones. It's kind of interesting they won't be retconning his death to bring him back. This is merely an earlier version of him. That will make the stakes for Sara higher than usual.
Speaking of Sara, I am disappointed in this series and this episode. The Arrowverse was pretty much one of those rare genre continuities that didn't try to titillate the audience members with lesbian love scenes. Sara's bisexuality was always respected before tonight, but this episode is treating it as a big joke. Maybe I'm overreacting. Because this IS standard genre fare. But it's precisely BECAUSE Sara had never been standard genre fare before now which is the reason I am so unhappy.
I didn't care for this. *1/2.
Gotham "Mad City: New Day Rising"
Prediction: Barnes is Clayface. Because Michael Chiklis used to be the Thing.
I love that Barnes is supportive of Jim privately and that Harvey is supportive of him publicly. Jim might get Bullock killed. But until that day he always has his back.
"Thank Selina for the kiss." That one line shows that Five is a scumbag. Hilariously, it's the one thing that disturbs Bruce about the adventure. And it's probably the least disturbing thing to everybody else.
I love that Selina realizes it isn't Bruce because of the scars. It's not like she's seen Bruce without his shirt on, but she knows a kid like Bruce wouldn't have them. Selina is a pretty smart kid.
I am amazed it never occurred to Jim that Lee should not have waited for him longer than she did. She had a freaking miscarriage and had to cry herself to sleep every night and he STILL didn't show up? And he just realizes NOW that Lee isn't the bad guy here? Gotham's version of Jim Gordon is an outright dirtbag.
That mess was entirely of Butch's making. I understand that's how things are done in Gotham, but he could have saved himself a ton of grief if he had just seen the obvious and known Penguin was going to win. Penguin was becoming beloved and Aubrey James was tolerated at best. Of course he was gonna win. And because he did fairly, he now is happy. Butch could have had that if he had seen the obvious coming. Honestly, I think Ed is the best friend ever for doing that. Because if he had been wrong, Penguin would have killed him. Riddler literally risked his life to make Oswald feel better. There is no better kind of friend.
I like that Harvey got stuck interrogating the mute Tweedle. But he knew exactly how to make him talk.
One of my biggest regrets now about the concept of the series is we will never get a chance to see Batman beat Jervis Tetch silly. And I pretty much want to see that more than anything. He raped his own sister? Sicko. I don't think Gordon did wrong by accidentally killing her. Her living situation wasn't much better than death.
I loved this episode and am remorseful that we'll never see the Batman kick the Mad Hatter's @$$. ****1/2.
Gotham "Mad City: Anything For You"
Why is it I feel that even though Butch and Riddler played the exact same scam, that what Riddler did was far worse? I have no idea why, especially since they're hinting that he revealed his whole plan to Penguin after all. But for some reason it strikes me as less bad that Butch did what he did, because he initially refused Ed's offer. Maybe Ed is secretly on Penguin's side throughout the bad parts of the episode. But Butch is OPENLY on Penguin's side.
If Ed HAD betrayed Penguin after all, do you know what would have been messed up about that? Butch's actions would have been righteous. The only reason Penguin sees Butch as the villain instead of Ed is because Ed made him see him that way first.
Love that Lee punches Ed for Kristen's sake. Do you know why else she should have punched him? His frame-job of Gordon caused her so much stress she had a miscarriage. I'm surprised she didn't bring that up. Maybe the writers actually forgot.
If they are going to bring back as great a character as Victor Zsasz, and even give his actor a special guest star credit and everything, I want them to do something interesting with him. He's one of the most magnetic characters on the show. They should have given him more to do.
Another disappointment: I am amazed that the series didn't completely play up Bruce meeting Penguin. Yeah, technically they've met before when Penguin saved his life, but this is literally Batman's first conversation with the Penguin, and they don't act like it's the momentous moment it is. Remember in season one where Penguin and Bruce missed each other on the street, and Penguin acted as if a ghost had walked over his grave? That scene two seasons ago meant we deserved something better.
If Ed and Penguin had kissed at the end of that moment at the end, I would not have objected. In fact, it feels a bit weird that they didn't. Possibly Penguin is asexual after all. But I truly think Ed digs hm. Especially after all that.
One thing I hated: Bruce, Harvey, and Jim discuss the idea that Ivy was potentially sexually violated by a dirty cop in the same tone as if they were discussing the weather. Bruce actually KNOWS Ivy. Even if he doesn't like her, that notion should truly upset him. But him being a clinical detective in that moment made me hate him far more than I should have had the writers given him the appropriate response to that situation. And that angers me.
Interesting week. I haven't seen an outright bad episode yet this year and that is rare. Five good episodes in a row is also unprecedented. Can the show keep it up? We'll see. ***1/2.
Lucifer "Sin-Eater"
Robin Givens still looks pretty good.
I like that the episode explored reasons WHY the characters were punishing the wicked, and Lucifer comes to the conclusion that it's not altruism or justice he seeks. He just likes it. What is interesting is he claims Ray became a part of the problem for the exact same reason. I liked his mother asking WHY he was still punishing, and him getting angry without knowing why he's getting angry. It's because at that point, he doesn't know himself.
It is the liking punishing people thing which explains Charlotte's smile upon killing the mugger as a song about old habits plays. Maybe Lucifer's mother's role in Heaven was similar to his, or at least became similar, which would explain why she was sent to Hell.
Amendiel is still drinking and sinning without ever being smart enough to realize that's why he's probably losing the wings.
Judgment Day is not for a couple of years. And just like that, I want to see Season Four.
Interesting episode. ****.
Lucifer "Lady Parts"
I'll tell you why I didn't like that: I think the series is doing very wrong by Linda.
Linda started off the series making a huge professional mistake by trading Lucifer's body for therapy. A better series would not only have had her call off the arrangement (which they thankfully did), but have her both learn from it and try to show some growth in the meantime.
No, instead the writers decide she used to be a phone sex operator and she sucks so bad at her job that she calls strangers "b*tches" and gets into bar fights. I am constantly upset at how badly this series degrades her. It was funny what she did in the Pilot, but now the series is just making her pathetic. And I'm not okay with that.
Here's something interesting: I don't really blame Lucifer for not understanding Chloe's feelings of betrayal over girls night. Who would have EVER thought she would have bonded with those women and actually have a good time? Lucifer knows her better than almost anyone. Can you blame him for being surprised that she was willing to stop being such a freaking martyr for a night?
But seriously, this episode sucked. *.
Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Uprising"
Yoyo has lousy friends. Good riddance.
Do you know what I REALLY like about Director Mace? He is able to mend fences and get everyone on the same page. I think he's a born politician and I'm going to guess that is what his ultimate role is going to be.
Poor dumb kid. Doesn't realize his brother is ten times worse than Daisy. To her credit, she kept Ghost Rider's secret. I might not have were I in her place and in that much physical pain.
Loved Fitz coming up with low tech solutions. Nobody else knew about home-made compasses?
I think killing May to reboot her was a smart idea. And I also knew the power would go off exactly when it did. Mutant Enemy is no longer able to surprise me. Ever. It bums me out. I'm the kid who is spending his first Christmas not believing in Santa Claus. On some level Joss Whedon's company's predictability makes me feel old and sad. I wish I didn't know how the magic tricks were done. But I've seen too much Buffy to NOT know. And Joss is never able to come up with new ones.
Pretty good. ****.
Ultimate Spider-Man Vs. The Sinister 6 "Spider-Slayers, Part 1"
The bad: Making Mary Jane a Spider just seems like an incredibly badly written idea. The good: The show gets that and sort of plays it as Mary Jane having no interest in being a superhero. As she notes the responsibilities she values may not be the same ones Peter does. And I'm glad about that. Because the idea is dumb otherwise. ***1/2.
Marvel's Avengers: Utron Revolution "The House Of Zemo"
Are they actually trying to reform Zemo the younger? Because, I'm kind of not cool with that. At all. Whatever else Zemo is, he's a Nazi. I kind of don't think we should be normalizing his behavior or justifying his beliefs for any reason. But maybe that's just me. **.
Star Wars Rebels "The Antilles Extraction"
I am still amazed as the amount of unambiguous death this show gets away with on a TV-Y7 rating. Even more shocking is that it's Disney XD, i.e. the former Toon Disney, which is famous for butchering syndicated cartoons for censor reasons. I'm not complaining, but death is definitely a huge part of Star Wars, especially in the space battles, and I'm glad Disney XD isn't trying to get them to water down the situation.
The episode was pretty good too. Loved Kallus helping Sabine as a favor to Zeb. That felt right and cool. Maybe Kallus is not beyond redemption. Maybe he is, but that says he might not be. ****.
Once Upon A Time "Strange Case"
I was expecting Hyde to be the Big Bad of the season. I'm a little disappointed he won't be. Sam Witwer is fantastic. And I never expected that from him. He usually plays brooding, mopey hunks and I didn't know he had a performance that arch and hammy in him.
I love the idea that Dr. Jeckyll is the bad guy. And it makes sense that Mary is disgusted with him. Dude thinks passion is bad thing. I am not as big a believer of sexual chemistry being necessary for a successful relationship as some people, but anyone who is seeking to rid themselves of passion and animal urges would be better off alone. They would undoubtedly make their other half miserable, and I like that Mary instantly recognizes that Jeckyll is the quintessential "nice guy" who actually isn't.
I am not interested in Snow teaching, and I'm amazed the show thinks I should be.
Gold's haircut is going to take some getting used to. It looks GOOD, and he's definitely handsome enough to pull it off, but it also looks WRONG, you know? If they were going to do that, maybe it should have been three or four seasons ago.
I am going to wind up giving the episode a low grade. Because not only was Gold stupid, but he was so stupid he didn't even bother remembering the rules the episode set up. He CAN'T kill Hyde. So why is he dipping the Dark One dagger (of all things) in the formula and doing the task himself? Because of that curse he can't. And by using that dagger all he does is give Hyde a perfect opportunity to take it from him and control him. Back in season two and three I was willing to overlook Once's plot discrepancies regarding curses and superpowers. I'm not anymore. Besides, I'm especially not going to overlook a character ignoring the crystal clear rules set up in this very episode. The show often tries to make me forget Emma is a lie detector. Well, I'm not going to forget Rumple knows he cannot kill Hyde when that fact is actually established earlier in the same freaking episode. *1/2.
Girl Meets World "Girl Meets World Of Terror 3"
This show wants me to care about this episode more than I do. And yet, here we are. *.
Power Rangers Dino Super Charge "Wings Of Danger"
I really liked the last five minutes.
The Halloween show seems to have been aired out of order. This picks up right after the episode from two weeks ago.
I think Zenowing had a very interesting alien Morph and I really liked the special effects at the end. I don't care that they were cheap looking. They were also both pretty and cool which is all that matters. I don't demand realism from genre shows especially kiddie ones. I demand coolness. And this show almost never delivers. I won't dismiss the one time they do.
Also cool was learning Hekyll's backstory. Is it possible he is now going to team up with the Rangers? Because I would love that more than anything.
The first fifteen minutes of this episode was as pedestrian as usual but the ep had a MUCH stronger ending than normal. ****.
The Simpsons "Treehouse Of Horror XXVI"
Opening: Loved seeing Homer dressed as Bender and Maggie dressed as Alex from A Clockwork Orange. This episode is already out of date. Not only will Ivanka Trump never be President, but after the damage to the Trump brand she'll probably have to change her last name. I wouldn't be surprised if she winds up broke and homeless due to all of the pending lawsuits against her father. Seeing Grimey get abused never gets old either. And the 600th episode is a Halloween show! Yay! ***1/2.
Planet Of The Couches: Boring. **
Dry Hard: They can make fun of Haymitch's alcoholism, but the truth is it is very true to life. Because by the end of the story he relapses and he never stops being a drunk. If Haymitch had stopped drinking for good when he did, the series would be right to call b.s. on that. But he never did.
BFF R.I.P.: Are Sherri and Terri's family canon? I hope not, because they are super creepy. I loved Homer eating his imaginary friend. This is the second week in a row Homer has used a microwave as a giant bowl. It's a hilarious gag.
Moefinger: The Kingsman / James Bond stuff wasn't so hot, but I kind of resented the song "600" at the end. The shots at both The Critic and Futurama were gratuitous. I think it's important to have a sense of humor about yourself. But this show acting like Drexel's Class and Babes are equivalent to Futurama means they are taking a rap for something that isn't true at all. Also, even though we KNOW Seth MacFarlane is gonna get a new show canceled in 2017, it doesn't make it any less rude to point that out. I loved Bart getting agitated that it was STILL the beginning of the Steely Dan song. I hate songs like that. **.
Halloween Special Overall: ***1/2.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine "The Night Shift"
This was a really poorly thought out crossover, but since the Brooklyn Nine-Nine part was actually good, and the New Girl characters were barely in it, I'll describe the ways both shows failed each other in the New Girl review.
I feel so bad for Rosa and I hate that Amy is so dumb she couldn't figure out what was going on. I wish Amy were less Aspie.
I love Jake being mad at rejecting the Night Bros. It literally was the only good title we heard.
Crossover with Jess was funny.
Good Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode. Crossover event? Not so much. ****.
New Girl "Homecoming"
This is the first time I've seen a full episode of this show, and I kind of wish it wasn't. I think Damon Wayans Jr.'s surprise appearance at the end would have meant more to me and been funnier if I were familiar with the characters.
But there's only one reason I'm watching this week (and reviewing): The Brooklyn Nine-Nine crossover. Seriously ineptly handled on both shows. If I were a worse person, I'd put the blame entirely on New Girl but the truth is both shows got their wires crossed and that is on both of them.
The 99 is currently on the night shift. And this entire episode takes place in the day when they inexplicably are not. Usually when a show does a crossover, both parts are tailor made to fit each other like a seamless actual two-part episode. But exactly right after Brooklyn Nine Nine's credits rolled I seemed to be watching the same timeframe from an entirely different continuity.
Even worse was the fact that when Jake commandeers Jess's car, they use different joke and lines. That is so stupid. I JUST saw the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode. I JUST saw Jess stating her car was a crossover. I have NEVER seen a crossover done this sloppily and without each show knowing what the other was doing. To be fair, New Girl is Fox and Brooklyn Nine-Nine is Universal, so it's possible it's the fact that they are different studios as to the reason they didn't work together, but I don't think it should be completely unreasonable for both shows to be allowed to compare scripts and current storylines to best figure out when the crossover should take place. It's not even Sweeps, so neither show can argue they were in a rush.
Disappointing. **1/2.
The Good Place "What We Owe To Each Other"
Michael is turning out to be much less sinister than I guessed. I'm not sure how I feel about that. The Good Place is still a b.s. and horrible idea, so the idea of Michael as an innocent goofball sort of strikes me as wrong. But that's how King Richard was portrayed as on Galavant too, and he wound up being the best character. Just because somebody does something reprehensible, doesn't mean they are automatically evil. Perhaps part of the struggle is Michael coming to grips not only with humanity, but human suffering. '
And the biggest question a deity would ask of the show Friends is how can they afford the apartment. Dude needs to see and compare Superman: The Movie to see that Lois Lane lives similarly and inexplicably lavishly above her means.
I love the idea of taking your cousin to the prom being an example of helping somebody and NOT helping somebody at the same time. If this show is going to explore the big themes, it is imperative it comes up with decent examples for what it is trying to say. And that's pretty much a perfect example for the reason Eleanor states.
Chiti and Tahini are not soul-mates. It's actually Chiti and Eleanor who are.
I have to say, making a dog fat is literally the least worst consequence I could think of for what Eleanor did. I think the writers just want us to be able to forgive her, but the truth is in that situation the dog would have actually died.
Good episode. ****.
Son Of Zorn "The Weekend Warrior"
It's sad. Once you see Cameron Monaghan play the best version of the proto-Joker EVER on Gotham, you will never accept him going back to a teenage high school bully. I don't buy it. At all.
Do you know why I love Zorn? Because he's trying. Really hard. More than he gets credit for. More than he probably even needs to. Most of the bad things that happened tonight happened because he took Edie's stupid advice. When he tells her he's a better parent than she is, he isn't just being an ahole. He's being correct.
Pretty good but I want to see Monaghan in another role that knocks my socks off. ***1/2.
The Last Man On Earth "You Are All Going To Diet"
I have to say I have never been more in love with January Jones. Crazy Melissa is SUPER hot! That thing with the axe made my stomach lurch and it's not only because I was frightened.
I appreciate Lewis making an effort after his deplorable behavior last week, but I still don't trust him at all. I think he's playing nice for a sinister reason. I hope he's not in league with Pat. But I don't think he has the group's best interests at heart.
For the record "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night is an amazing song. If I had to pick one song to put on a never-ending loop, it would be a contender.
Not an amazing week, but a good one. And since this show is so good, that means I feel satisfied. ****.
Family Guy "American Gigg-olo"
I had never actually heard the Donald Trump tape before. It was horrific. And for the record, Billy Bush is a complete @$$. Good for Peter for pointing out that Donald Trump uses the cheapest breath mint. Somehow I think if Hillary pointed that out that's the thing that would bother him the most.
Cleveland trolling for prostitutes shows Seth MacFarlane has NEVER cared about The Cleveland Show, and is rubbing in it's former fans' faces that they just wasted four seasons of their lives.
Loved the end credits coming early and then Stewie interrupting them to say "Nope. Can't do it."
Poor Who Else But Quagmire Guy.
I haven't seen SNL in forever, but I believe the women are funnier than the men, and have been since Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
Not bad. ***.
Scream Queens "Handidates"
At first glance, killing off Chad seems like the dumbest of moves. He's the funniest person on the show, and its biggest selling point after Hester. But... it's obvious his actor wasn't a series regular this year, because he's SO amazing, a show this mediocre wasn't able to lock him down for a full second season. Better to give the character a really gruesome and memorable death.
Do you know the messed up thing? That wasn't even the most memorable death in the episode. After that knife flew across the room at Org@$m Woman, I think I'm going to see that visual in my nightmares. The show isn't usually legitimately scary or disturbing. That one moment was.
We learned a lot about Chad before he died. He is the dumbest person Dean Munsch has ever known, and the worst lay she's ever had. He's saving one of his brothers to be his best man at his second wedding, which is the one that always sticks. And he and Stamos' w@ngs are the exact same size. But I think the most interesting facet of his personality is him handing Chanel a pre-nup the size of a phonebook on one knee and her acting as if he had put the Wh0re Diamond on her finger right then and there. These are horrible people. The fact that Chanel expects Chanel #5 to act like a dog when she is ring-bearer clinches that idea.
I think the evil hand idea is not what is going on, and I similarly think that other doctor is crazy, and not dead. There is another medical condition he suffers from. Why do I believe these things? Because season one was VERY careful not to introduce supernatural elements into the show, and I kind of feel like if the show isn't poking fun of those tropes, and instead indulging in them, that they not only aren't playing fair with the audience, but making the show lose a large part of its appeal. The show did inexplicable stuff in the first season too. And it explained it the next week. It's about as bad an idea as those Scooby Doo DTV movies that have the characters dealing with actual aliens and ghosts. The fakery is a part of the appeal.
Farewell, Chad. You will be missed. Maybe not by Dean Munsch though. ****.
Van Helsing "Fear Her"
The stuff at the compound proves that no good deed goes unpunished. Why do I get the feeling it's gonna have to be Vanessa who fixes it?
Good thing about Mohammed being kicked out: now he can find his sister.
I know the killer is Sam. That is what he was discussing with Mohammed before the kid took the fall.
John is a moron. I can't believe he didn't see that coming.
Pretty good week after a dull episode last week. ***1/2.
The Blacklist "Gaia"
I kind of love Aram being horrible to Navabi. She has been treating him like garbage all season for things that are not his fault and I kind of think even if he doesn't really mean it, enough is enough. What I love most about it is that I thought they were going to go the other way and have him be a gentleman as he always is. But I'm glad he's reached his tipping point. It's long overdue.
Kaplan is in a bad way. There is no part of Leon Rippy that doesn't give me the willies. He's a Hollywood actor and he STILL can't fix his teeth? SUCH a creep.
Red described the video feed best: cruel. That's exactly what it was. Even if Tom "messed it up" that's almost a good thing. It was incredibly bad and hurting Liz more than helping her. It was cruel.
I liked Red with the sundaes because it goes back to his best quality, which I realize we haven't seen this season until that moment: Red is more inclined to use carrots than sticks, and THAT is why he's built up the number of alliances he has. The first few episodes this year have only shown him using sticks. Which makes his character much less appealing to me.
I have to applaud the show for pointing that that eco-terrorists suck at their job. Because they never raise the awareness for their goals they are hoping to, and the public just blames the terrorist and ignores the underlying problem. Normally that's what terrorism is, but eco-terrorists are supposedly going for a larger goal than religious extremists. Religious extremists want to provoke fear and overreaction. And they do. Eco-terrorists want to provoke awareness and public outcry towards their given cause. And they never, EVER do that. I love the idea of an eco-terrorist staging all of their disasters as accidents. Because if there is no-one else to blame, that would actually work. Gaia is the only smart eco-terrorist I ever heard of.
Still, he should have surrendered. Because he couldn't achieve his goal. Because everyone would have blamed the plant meltdown on his terrorist attack because he was found out. He wouldn't have generated the public outrage he wanted.
I like that Aram didn't want to kill the guy, and I think it's unreasonable for him to be thrust into that position with no advanced warning. This isn't what he signed up for. Maybe Navabi was right that he made the wrong call. But he never should have been forced to make it in the first place. That's not part of his job.
I really liked the episode. ****.
Blindspot "Condone Untidiest Thefts"
Honestly? Too violent. Too much shooting. The entire episode was an extended action sequence. That's not my jam and never has been. **1/2.
Teen Titans Go! "The Cape"
If the show did 64 more episodes like this, I wouldn't complain. Imagine if Marvel Mash-Up actually put in a legit effort and was funny. That is how awesome this was. We actually saw it done with a show with great animation using the original cast, although I scowled that they didn't get back Ron Perlman for Slade. Here's something many fans of the original Teen Titans like to pretend isn't true but is: the original series is very easy to make fun of. The reboot is definitely worse in practically every respect, but I've never felt embarrassed watching it, which I totally have for the original series. And I felt that way a lot and quite often.
I love Cyborg's moustache simply being animation lighting. I thought it was brilliant they set that line up earlier in the episode. The rock paper scissors game at the end was similarly funny.
This show's clip shows have always bummed me out because the show is already so low-budget and cheap looking. But if they do clip shows redubbing the Original Series from now on, they have a money in the bank way to keep the series going long past its sell-by date. I'm just a little bit mad this happened all the way at the beginning of season four. I would have liked it if we had already gotten a ton of episodes like this. I am a bit saddened to realize that if the show had come up with this idea earlier, we'd probably be halfway through the Terra arc by now.
I want to see badly dubbed "Sisters" next. *****.
DC Super Hero Girls "The Cheetah Who Cried Wolf"
I really don't think the series should be playing around with the idea that characters that are villains in the comic books are dabbling in villainy on the series. Once they decided to make Harley and Cheetah superheroes, they should really be sticking with that. **.
Supergirl "The Adventures Of Supergirl"
Calista Flockhart is no longer a series regular? Hmmm.
"She went to Yale." "So did George Bush." Excellent burn from Ms. Grant.
Love Supergirl telling the kids she used to change Superman's diapers. Because we all want to know that.
For the first time I'm glad they didn't cast Tom Welling as Clark. Why? They did the slow-mo unbuttoning the shirt and revealing the S thing, and it actually worked. It totally did not in the last episode of Smallville. Welling totally botched it. This new guy did not.
Superman smells amazing? Weirdest guy virtue ever.
Superman and J'onn don't like each other! J'onn discovered Kryptonite! That explains a lot. And Superman's right to be nervous. What happens when J'onn isn't in power anymore? Or if Madame President (!) gives him a bad order? This also hints that Superman would probably hate Batman if they met, if they haven't already.
Metallo!
Clark has an in with Cat Grant! She's hot for him!
Don't know what to make of Lena Luthor yet.
"That's it. We're moving back to Gotham." That one line right there states how dangerous National City is. Gotham is a pit.
Can't help but feel they are jerking us around with Kara and James.
Did Flashpoint push Supergirl into the Arrowverse? They never answered that.
They seem to be hinting Cat is going to leave already just based on her behavior.
I laughed at Superman's joke that he was offended that Kara got most of the press. Superman isn't usually shown to possess a snarky sense of humor.
Great premiere. ****.
Supergirl "The Last Children Of Krypton"
Love that they did the Superman CRISIS cover.
Snapper Carr is the least Snapper Carr Snapper Carr ever. They probably should have just given him a different name.
Kara is such an idiot. "I chose this job." Snapper's reaction being offense to that is the proper one. She also is too dumb to realize how much Alex is hurting over her selfish behavior. As Alex noted, Superman DID abandon her. I think it's amazing and admirable that Kara doesn't blame him for that, but maybe she should.
But as Winn also said, families shouldn't keep score. Both of the Danvers sisters were doing wrong by each other this episode.
I do not believe Cat can be in close-up scenes with both Supergirl and Kara and not know who she is. They should have just revealed Cat figured it out. It's not like she's going to be a steady presence on the show anymore.
Evil Mary Alice is evil. Brenda Strong has an annoying voice, but it is MUCH less annoying when you see her face too. Don't know why that is, but Desperate Housewives absolutely cast the wrong person for the Narrator.
Love that J'onn was the little girl.
Return of Alex's Supersuit. Should she get a superhero codename now too?
Pretty good. ***1/2.
The Flash "Monster"
Super worried for Caitlin, but there's a possibility it might not wind up being so bad. We'll see. It's possible Earth 2 Killer Frost is alive again and SHE'S the big bad of the season.
Hating Tom Felton will never get old. Except, unlike Malfoy, I sort of like him too. Malfoy was an idiot and this guy seems pretty on the ball. Also, Felton is kind of a hunk now. And even if Malfoy broke the hearts of teenage girls, I never saw the appeal when he was a kid. I now do.
So happy to see John Wesley Shipp again so soon, and I squealed in delight that Dawson's Creek was playing on the TV in 1998. What a great gag.
I'd be madder about Sara becoming John if our Sara hadn't come back to life. I love that Felicity was the first and only person Barry told right when he got back. That feels right to me. They have a VERY different type of friendship than any other male / female characters in this continuity and I love the idea that he went to her first.
I didn't expect to like last week's premiere and I did. I also didn't expect to like this week's fall-out and I did. I'm starting to learn to trust this show. This is the kind of show that can end Barry's story on a kiss. I'm going to try and accept that this isn't Arrow. And that's a good thing. ****.
Arrow "The Recruits"
Prometheus huh? He'll be a good Big Bad this year.
I think the bell exercise sucked. But before I get into why, can I just say that after seeing every genre show I have that I immediately knew the point was team building and getting everyone to work together? I kind of have a hard time believing that a geek like Curtis wouldn't have immediately figured it out before he had his @$$ kicked even once. He's the kind of guy who's watched his share of Kung Fu movies.
But the reason the bell test sucks so much and why Oliver sucks so much for using it, is because it had a tragic outcome in the past. The outcome did NOT build teamwork, and Oliver using something that caused three people to die is not a wise lesson he needs to be imparting. Oliver should NOT be thinking his lessons from the Bratva are good things. Because they aren't.
I honestly only think they used to bell test to give the stuff in the present symmetry with the flashbacks. But this is no equivalence or symmetry between the scenarios, so Oliver would have done better by picking a different training exercise.
I think Quentin being deputy mayor is a stretch, but it's pretty much the only way they can believably keep Paul Blackthorne on the show. I'll take it.
Don't like Dig's story simply because I hate seeing the bad guys win.
My favorite thing is that Felicity doesn't wear the mask. Oliver tells her it isn't up for debate, and she doesn't further argue the point. She just shows up without it, proving Oliver right. It's not up for debate. She was never gonna wear it, and Oliver is a moron if he thought she would.
Love Wilddog talking smack about Oliver without ever realizing he's the Arrow. As Arrow goes on and on, I think the Oliver Queen reveal keeps getting cooler and cooler. Oliver keeps doing stuff that is totally against being a vigilante, like running for and then becoming mayor. It makes the Queen persona a better beard than if he had kept a more believably low profile. Nobody expects the Mayor is the Arrow. Because it's dumb. Which makes Oliver's secret ID perfect.
I think everyone pointing out the original team left and blaming Oliver is an example of the show telling me something that not only isn't true, but something I KNOW isn't true because I witnessed it last year. While it is true that Thea refused to re-up after putting on the Speedy costume again due to Oliver's actions last week, he wasn't the reason she quit the first time. That was due to her own actions and her fears of turning into her father. Similarly John quit for his own reasons too (i.e. guilt over killing his brother). Roy didn't quit because he stopped trusting Oliver, but because he trusted him so much he was protecting him. The only original teammate you can argue is no longer on the team due to Oliver is Laurel, and that had nothing to do with Oliver being a jerk. The show is saying Oliver chased away his entire team. But I saw season four with my own eyes. Why is the show trying to get me to believe I didn't?
Ironically, perhaps they could use Flashpoint as an excuse here, but I wouldn't buy that for a second, and think it would be the cop-out to end all cop-outs. Oliver isn't a bad leader. He's an amazing one, and him sucking so much tonight was the thing that was out of character.
Good episode otherwise though. ***1/2.
DC's Legends Of Tomorrow "Out Of Time"
I didn't much like this version of Einstein, simply because the writer of the episode didn't seem to know too much about astrophysics and simply pinned Einstein down to a couple of his famous phrases and cliches. The move he pulled with the women and "equal and opposite reactions" is a appalling move that Donald Trump would use, not one of the smartest men who ever lived. There are plenty of ways to show Einstein is a pig without making him a complete moron to do it.
The more I think about it, the angrier it makes me. While it is true current real life events make it MUCH more appalling than it might have been a few months ago, it's the fact that I'm supposed to find that behavior cute and funny which is exactly why it's appalling. And it pisses me off that the writers think it's a funny character quirk and a way to say Einstein is lesser than his reputation. It sucks. It's degrading and it is sexual assault. And I guess I didn't notice how much pop culture engaged in cr*p like that until very recently. And I feel a little ashamed that I didn't notice it before. But I do now.
I did like something about him. He's smart enough to realize that they're time travelers. That should happen sometimes, especially when meeting some of history's greats.
Justice Society looks interesting. Probably why we saw so many new cast members in the opening titles. Eobard is a regular? Interesting.
I love Oliver being smart enough to see through the historian's protests about merely being a historian. This is what he's always dreamed of and he's not fooling anybody.
I had no idea Damian Dahrk was Immortal, but since he used to be League of Assassins, that makes sense. Although I previously thought the Pit was only for Ra's and his loved ones. It's kind of interesting they won't be retconning his death to bring him back. This is merely an earlier version of him. That will make the stakes for Sara higher than usual.
Speaking of Sara, I am disappointed in this series and this episode. The Arrowverse was pretty much one of those rare genre continuities that didn't try to titillate the audience members with lesbian love scenes. Sara's bisexuality was always respected before tonight, but this episode is treating it as a big joke. Maybe I'm overreacting. Because this IS standard genre fare. But it's precisely BECAUSE Sara had never been standard genre fare before now which is the reason I am so unhappy.
I didn't care for this. *1/2.
Gotham "Mad City: New Day Rising"
Prediction: Barnes is Clayface. Because Michael Chiklis used to be the Thing.
I love that Barnes is supportive of Jim privately and that Harvey is supportive of him publicly. Jim might get Bullock killed. But until that day he always has his back.
"Thank Selina for the kiss." That one line shows that Five is a scumbag. Hilariously, it's the one thing that disturbs Bruce about the adventure. And it's probably the least disturbing thing to everybody else.
I love that Selina realizes it isn't Bruce because of the scars. It's not like she's seen Bruce without his shirt on, but she knows a kid like Bruce wouldn't have them. Selina is a pretty smart kid.
I am amazed it never occurred to Jim that Lee should not have waited for him longer than she did. She had a freaking miscarriage and had to cry herself to sleep every night and he STILL didn't show up? And he just realizes NOW that Lee isn't the bad guy here? Gotham's version of Jim Gordon is an outright dirtbag.
That mess was entirely of Butch's making. I understand that's how things are done in Gotham, but he could have saved himself a ton of grief if he had just seen the obvious and known Penguin was going to win. Penguin was becoming beloved and Aubrey James was tolerated at best. Of course he was gonna win. And because he did fairly, he now is happy. Butch could have had that if he had seen the obvious coming. Honestly, I think Ed is the best friend ever for doing that. Because if he had been wrong, Penguin would have killed him. Riddler literally risked his life to make Oswald feel better. There is no better kind of friend.
I like that Harvey got stuck interrogating the mute Tweedle. But he knew exactly how to make him talk.
One of my biggest regrets now about the concept of the series is we will never get a chance to see Batman beat Jervis Tetch silly. And I pretty much want to see that more than anything. He raped his own sister? Sicko. I don't think Gordon did wrong by accidentally killing her. Her living situation wasn't much better than death.
I loved this episode and am remorseful that we'll never see the Batman kick the Mad Hatter's @$$. ****1/2.
Gotham "Mad City: Anything For You"
Why is it I feel that even though Butch and Riddler played the exact same scam, that what Riddler did was far worse? I have no idea why, especially since they're hinting that he revealed his whole plan to Penguin after all. But for some reason it strikes me as less bad that Butch did what he did, because he initially refused Ed's offer. Maybe Ed is secretly on Penguin's side throughout the bad parts of the episode. But Butch is OPENLY on Penguin's side.
If Ed HAD betrayed Penguin after all, do you know what would have been messed up about that? Butch's actions would have been righteous. The only reason Penguin sees Butch as the villain instead of Ed is because Ed made him see him that way first.
Love that Lee punches Ed for Kristen's sake. Do you know why else she should have punched him? His frame-job of Gordon caused her so much stress she had a miscarriage. I'm surprised she didn't bring that up. Maybe the writers actually forgot.
If they are going to bring back as great a character as Victor Zsasz, and even give his actor a special guest star credit and everything, I want them to do something interesting with him. He's one of the most magnetic characters on the show. They should have given him more to do.
Another disappointment: I am amazed that the series didn't completely play up Bruce meeting Penguin. Yeah, technically they've met before when Penguin saved his life, but this is literally Batman's first conversation with the Penguin, and they don't act like it's the momentous moment it is. Remember in season one where Penguin and Bruce missed each other on the street, and Penguin acted as if a ghost had walked over his grave? That scene two seasons ago meant we deserved something better.
If Ed and Penguin had kissed at the end of that moment at the end, I would not have objected. In fact, it feels a bit weird that they didn't. Possibly Penguin is asexual after all. But I truly think Ed digs hm. Especially after all that.
One thing I hated: Bruce, Harvey, and Jim discuss the idea that Ivy was potentially sexually violated by a dirty cop in the same tone as if they were discussing the weather. Bruce actually KNOWS Ivy. Even if he doesn't like her, that notion should truly upset him. But him being a clinical detective in that moment made me hate him far more than I should have had the writers given him the appropriate response to that situation. And that angers me.
Interesting week. I haven't seen an outright bad episode yet this year and that is rare. Five good episodes in a row is also unprecedented. Can the show keep it up? We'll see. ***1/2.
Lucifer "Sin-Eater"
Robin Givens still looks pretty good.
I like that the episode explored reasons WHY the characters were punishing the wicked, and Lucifer comes to the conclusion that it's not altruism or justice he seeks. He just likes it. What is interesting is he claims Ray became a part of the problem for the exact same reason. I liked his mother asking WHY he was still punishing, and him getting angry without knowing why he's getting angry. It's because at that point, he doesn't know himself.
It is the liking punishing people thing which explains Charlotte's smile upon killing the mugger as a song about old habits plays. Maybe Lucifer's mother's role in Heaven was similar to his, or at least became similar, which would explain why she was sent to Hell.
Amendiel is still drinking and sinning without ever being smart enough to realize that's why he's probably losing the wings.
Judgment Day is not for a couple of years. And just like that, I want to see Season Four.
Interesting episode. ****.
Lucifer "Lady Parts"
I'll tell you why I didn't like that: I think the series is doing very wrong by Linda.
Linda started off the series making a huge professional mistake by trading Lucifer's body for therapy. A better series would not only have had her call off the arrangement (which they thankfully did), but have her both learn from it and try to show some growth in the meantime.
No, instead the writers decide she used to be a phone sex operator and she sucks so bad at her job that she calls strangers "b*tches" and gets into bar fights. I am constantly upset at how badly this series degrades her. It was funny what she did in the Pilot, but now the series is just making her pathetic. And I'm not okay with that.
Here's something interesting: I don't really blame Lucifer for not understanding Chloe's feelings of betrayal over girls night. Who would have EVER thought she would have bonded with those women and actually have a good time? Lucifer knows her better than almost anyone. Can you blame him for being surprised that she was willing to stop being such a freaking martyr for a night?
But seriously, this episode sucked. *.
Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Uprising"
Yoyo has lousy friends. Good riddance.
Do you know what I REALLY like about Director Mace? He is able to mend fences and get everyone on the same page. I think he's a born politician and I'm going to guess that is what his ultimate role is going to be.
Poor dumb kid. Doesn't realize his brother is ten times worse than Daisy. To her credit, she kept Ghost Rider's secret. I might not have were I in her place and in that much physical pain.
Loved Fitz coming up with low tech solutions. Nobody else knew about home-made compasses?
I think killing May to reboot her was a smart idea. And I also knew the power would go off exactly when it did. Mutant Enemy is no longer able to surprise me. Ever. It bums me out. I'm the kid who is spending his first Christmas not believing in Santa Claus. On some level Joss Whedon's company's predictability makes me feel old and sad. I wish I didn't know how the magic tricks were done. But I've seen too much Buffy to NOT know. And Joss is never able to come up with new ones.
Pretty good. ****.
Ultimate Spider-Man Vs. The Sinister 6 "Spider-Slayers, Part 1"
The bad: Making Mary Jane a Spider just seems like an incredibly badly written idea. The good: The show gets that and sort of plays it as Mary Jane having no interest in being a superhero. As she notes the responsibilities she values may not be the same ones Peter does. And I'm glad about that. Because the idea is dumb otherwise. ***1/2.
Marvel's Avengers: Utron Revolution "The House Of Zemo"
Are they actually trying to reform Zemo the younger? Because, I'm kind of not cool with that. At all. Whatever else Zemo is, he's a Nazi. I kind of don't think we should be normalizing his behavior or justifying his beliefs for any reason. But maybe that's just me. **.
Star Wars Rebels "The Antilles Extraction"
I am still amazed as the amount of unambiguous death this show gets away with on a TV-Y7 rating. Even more shocking is that it's Disney XD, i.e. the former Toon Disney, which is famous for butchering syndicated cartoons for censor reasons. I'm not complaining, but death is definitely a huge part of Star Wars, especially in the space battles, and I'm glad Disney XD isn't trying to get them to water down the situation.
The episode was pretty good too. Loved Kallus helping Sabine as a favor to Zeb. That felt right and cool. Maybe Kallus is not beyond redemption. Maybe he is, but that says he might not be. ****.
Once Upon A Time "Strange Case"
I was expecting Hyde to be the Big Bad of the season. I'm a little disappointed he won't be. Sam Witwer is fantastic. And I never expected that from him. He usually plays brooding, mopey hunks and I didn't know he had a performance that arch and hammy in him.
I love the idea that Dr. Jeckyll is the bad guy. And it makes sense that Mary is disgusted with him. Dude thinks passion is bad thing. I am not as big a believer of sexual chemistry being necessary for a successful relationship as some people, but anyone who is seeking to rid themselves of passion and animal urges would be better off alone. They would undoubtedly make their other half miserable, and I like that Mary instantly recognizes that Jeckyll is the quintessential "nice guy" who actually isn't.
I am not interested in Snow teaching, and I'm amazed the show thinks I should be.
Gold's haircut is going to take some getting used to. It looks GOOD, and he's definitely handsome enough to pull it off, but it also looks WRONG, you know? If they were going to do that, maybe it should have been three or four seasons ago.
I am going to wind up giving the episode a low grade. Because not only was Gold stupid, but he was so stupid he didn't even bother remembering the rules the episode set up. He CAN'T kill Hyde. So why is he dipping the Dark One dagger (of all things) in the formula and doing the task himself? Because of that curse he can't. And by using that dagger all he does is give Hyde a perfect opportunity to take it from him and control him. Back in season two and three I was willing to overlook Once's plot discrepancies regarding curses and superpowers. I'm not anymore. Besides, I'm especially not going to overlook a character ignoring the crystal clear rules set up in this very episode. The show often tries to make me forget Emma is a lie detector. Well, I'm not going to forget Rumple knows he cannot kill Hyde when that fact is actually established earlier in the same freaking episode. *1/2.
Girl Meets World "Girl Meets World Of Terror 3"
This show wants me to care about this episode more than I do. And yet, here we are. *.
Power Rangers Dino Super Charge "Wings Of Danger"
I really liked the last five minutes.
The Halloween show seems to have been aired out of order. This picks up right after the episode from two weeks ago.
I think Zenowing had a very interesting alien Morph and I really liked the special effects at the end. I don't care that they were cheap looking. They were also both pretty and cool which is all that matters. I don't demand realism from genre shows especially kiddie ones. I demand coolness. And this show almost never delivers. I won't dismiss the one time they do.
Also cool was learning Hekyll's backstory. Is it possible he is now going to team up with the Rangers? Because I would love that more than anything.
The first fifteen minutes of this episode was as pedestrian as usual but the ep had a MUCH stronger ending than normal. ****.
The Simpsons "Treehouse Of Horror XXVI"
Opening: Loved seeing Homer dressed as Bender and Maggie dressed as Alex from A Clockwork Orange. This episode is already out of date. Not only will Ivanka Trump never be President, but after the damage to the Trump brand she'll probably have to change her last name. I wouldn't be surprised if she winds up broke and homeless due to all of the pending lawsuits against her father. Seeing Grimey get abused never gets old either. And the 600th episode is a Halloween show! Yay! ***1/2.
Planet Of The Couches: Boring. **
Dry Hard: They can make fun of Haymitch's alcoholism, but the truth is it is very true to life. Because by the end of the story he relapses and he never stops being a drunk. If Haymitch had stopped drinking for good when he did, the series would be right to call b.s. on that. But he never did.
BFF R.I.P.: Are Sherri and Terri's family canon? I hope not, because they are super creepy. I loved Homer eating his imaginary friend. This is the second week in a row Homer has used a microwave as a giant bowl. It's a hilarious gag.
Moefinger: The Kingsman / James Bond stuff wasn't so hot, but I kind of resented the song "600" at the end. The shots at both The Critic and Futurama were gratuitous. I think it's important to have a sense of humor about yourself. But this show acting like Drexel's Class and Babes are equivalent to Futurama means they are taking a rap for something that isn't true at all. Also, even though we KNOW Seth MacFarlane is gonna get a new show canceled in 2017, it doesn't make it any less rude to point that out. I loved Bart getting agitated that it was STILL the beginning of the Steely Dan song. I hate songs like that. **.
Halloween Special Overall: ***1/2.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine "The Night Shift"
This was a really poorly thought out crossover, but since the Brooklyn Nine-Nine part was actually good, and the New Girl characters were barely in it, I'll describe the ways both shows failed each other in the New Girl review.
I feel so bad for Rosa and I hate that Amy is so dumb she couldn't figure out what was going on. I wish Amy were less Aspie.
I love Jake being mad at rejecting the Night Bros. It literally was the only good title we heard.
Crossover with Jess was funny.
Good Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode. Crossover event? Not so much. ****.
New Girl "Homecoming"
This is the first time I've seen a full episode of this show, and I kind of wish it wasn't. I think Damon Wayans Jr.'s surprise appearance at the end would have meant more to me and been funnier if I were familiar with the characters.
But there's only one reason I'm watching this week (and reviewing): The Brooklyn Nine-Nine crossover. Seriously ineptly handled on both shows. If I were a worse person, I'd put the blame entirely on New Girl but the truth is both shows got their wires crossed and that is on both of them.
The 99 is currently on the night shift. And this entire episode takes place in the day when they inexplicably are not. Usually when a show does a crossover, both parts are tailor made to fit each other like a seamless actual two-part episode. But exactly right after Brooklyn Nine Nine's credits rolled I seemed to be watching the same timeframe from an entirely different continuity.
Even worse was the fact that when Jake commandeers Jess's car, they use different joke and lines. That is so stupid. I JUST saw the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode. I JUST saw Jess stating her car was a crossover. I have NEVER seen a crossover done this sloppily and without each show knowing what the other was doing. To be fair, New Girl is Fox and Brooklyn Nine-Nine is Universal, so it's possible it's the fact that they are different studios as to the reason they didn't work together, but I don't think it should be completely unreasonable for both shows to be allowed to compare scripts and current storylines to best figure out when the crossover should take place. It's not even Sweeps, so neither show can argue they were in a rush.
Disappointing. **1/2.
The Good Place "What We Owe To Each Other"
Michael is turning out to be much less sinister than I guessed. I'm not sure how I feel about that. The Good Place is still a b.s. and horrible idea, so the idea of Michael as an innocent goofball sort of strikes me as wrong. But that's how King Richard was portrayed as on Galavant too, and he wound up being the best character. Just because somebody does something reprehensible, doesn't mean they are automatically evil. Perhaps part of the struggle is Michael coming to grips not only with humanity, but human suffering. '
And the biggest question a deity would ask of the show Friends is how can they afford the apartment. Dude needs to see and compare Superman: The Movie to see that Lois Lane lives similarly and inexplicably lavishly above her means.
I love the idea of taking your cousin to the prom being an example of helping somebody and NOT helping somebody at the same time. If this show is going to explore the big themes, it is imperative it comes up with decent examples for what it is trying to say. And that's pretty much a perfect example for the reason Eleanor states.
Chiti and Tahini are not soul-mates. It's actually Chiti and Eleanor who are.
I have to say, making a dog fat is literally the least worst consequence I could think of for what Eleanor did. I think the writers just want us to be able to forgive her, but the truth is in that situation the dog would have actually died.
Good episode. ****.
Son Of Zorn "The Weekend Warrior"
It's sad. Once you see Cameron Monaghan play the best version of the proto-Joker EVER on Gotham, you will never accept him going back to a teenage high school bully. I don't buy it. At all.
Do you know why I love Zorn? Because he's trying. Really hard. More than he gets credit for. More than he probably even needs to. Most of the bad things that happened tonight happened because he took Edie's stupid advice. When he tells her he's a better parent than she is, he isn't just being an ahole. He's being correct.
Pretty good but I want to see Monaghan in another role that knocks my socks off. ***1/2.
The Last Man On Earth "You Are All Going To Diet"
I have to say I have never been more in love with January Jones. Crazy Melissa is SUPER hot! That thing with the axe made my stomach lurch and it's not only because I was frightened.
I appreciate Lewis making an effort after his deplorable behavior last week, but I still don't trust him at all. I think he's playing nice for a sinister reason. I hope he's not in league with Pat. But I don't think he has the group's best interests at heart.
For the record "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night is an amazing song. If I had to pick one song to put on a never-ending loop, it would be a contender.
Not an amazing week, but a good one. And since this show is so good, that means I feel satisfied. ****.
Family Guy "American Gigg-olo"
I had never actually heard the Donald Trump tape before. It was horrific. And for the record, Billy Bush is a complete @$$. Good for Peter for pointing out that Donald Trump uses the cheapest breath mint. Somehow I think if Hillary pointed that out that's the thing that would bother him the most.
Cleveland trolling for prostitutes shows Seth MacFarlane has NEVER cared about The Cleveland Show, and is rubbing in it's former fans' faces that they just wasted four seasons of their lives.
Loved the end credits coming early and then Stewie interrupting them to say "Nope. Can't do it."
Poor Who Else But Quagmire Guy.
I haven't seen SNL in forever, but I believe the women are funnier than the men, and have been since Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
Not bad. ***.
Scream Queens "Handidates"
At first glance, killing off Chad seems like the dumbest of moves. He's the funniest person on the show, and its biggest selling point after Hester. But... it's obvious his actor wasn't a series regular this year, because he's SO amazing, a show this mediocre wasn't able to lock him down for a full second season. Better to give the character a really gruesome and memorable death.
Do you know the messed up thing? That wasn't even the most memorable death in the episode. After that knife flew across the room at Org@$m Woman, I think I'm going to see that visual in my nightmares. The show isn't usually legitimately scary or disturbing. That one moment was.
We learned a lot about Chad before he died. He is the dumbest person Dean Munsch has ever known, and the worst lay she's ever had. He's saving one of his brothers to be his best man at his second wedding, which is the one that always sticks. And he and Stamos' w@ngs are the exact same size. But I think the most interesting facet of his personality is him handing Chanel a pre-nup the size of a phonebook on one knee and her acting as if he had put the Wh0re Diamond on her finger right then and there. These are horrible people. The fact that Chanel expects Chanel #5 to act like a dog when she is ring-bearer clinches that idea.
I think the evil hand idea is not what is going on, and I similarly think that other doctor is crazy, and not dead. There is another medical condition he suffers from. Why do I believe these things? Because season one was VERY careful not to introduce supernatural elements into the show, and I kind of feel like if the show isn't poking fun of those tropes, and instead indulging in them, that they not only aren't playing fair with the audience, but making the show lose a large part of its appeal. The show did inexplicable stuff in the first season too. And it explained it the next week. It's about as bad an idea as those Scooby Doo DTV movies that have the characters dealing with actual aliens and ghosts. The fakery is a part of the appeal.
Farewell, Chad. You will be missed. Maybe not by Dean Munsch though. ****.
Van Helsing "Fear Her"
The stuff at the compound proves that no good deed goes unpunished. Why do I get the feeling it's gonna have to be Vanessa who fixes it?
Good thing about Mohammed being kicked out: now he can find his sister.
I know the killer is Sam. That is what he was discussing with Mohammed before the kid took the fall.
John is a moron. I can't believe he didn't see that coming.
Pretty good week after a dull episode last week. ***1/2.
The Blacklist "Gaia"
I kind of love Aram being horrible to Navabi. She has been treating him like garbage all season for things that are not his fault and I kind of think even if he doesn't really mean it, enough is enough. What I love most about it is that I thought they were going to go the other way and have him be a gentleman as he always is. But I'm glad he's reached his tipping point. It's long overdue.
Kaplan is in a bad way. There is no part of Leon Rippy that doesn't give me the willies. He's a Hollywood actor and he STILL can't fix his teeth? SUCH a creep.
Red described the video feed best: cruel. That's exactly what it was. Even if Tom "messed it up" that's almost a good thing. It was incredibly bad and hurting Liz more than helping her. It was cruel.
I liked Red with the sundaes because it goes back to his best quality, which I realize we haven't seen this season until that moment: Red is more inclined to use carrots than sticks, and THAT is why he's built up the number of alliances he has. The first few episodes this year have only shown him using sticks. Which makes his character much less appealing to me.
I have to applaud the show for pointing that that eco-terrorists suck at their job. Because they never raise the awareness for their goals they are hoping to, and the public just blames the terrorist and ignores the underlying problem. Normally that's what terrorism is, but eco-terrorists are supposedly going for a larger goal than religious extremists. Religious extremists want to provoke fear and overreaction. And they do. Eco-terrorists want to provoke awareness and public outcry towards their given cause. And they never, EVER do that. I love the idea of an eco-terrorist staging all of their disasters as accidents. Because if there is no-one else to blame, that would actually work. Gaia is the only smart eco-terrorist I ever heard of.
Still, he should have surrendered. Because he couldn't achieve his goal. Because everyone would have blamed the plant meltdown on his terrorist attack because he was found out. He wouldn't have generated the public outrage he wanted.
I like that Aram didn't want to kill the guy, and I think it's unreasonable for him to be thrust into that position with no advanced warning. This isn't what he signed up for. Maybe Navabi was right that he made the wrong call. But he never should have been forced to make it in the first place. That's not part of his job.
I really liked the episode. ****.
Blindspot "Condone Untidiest Thefts"
Honestly? Too violent. Too much shooting. The entire episode was an extended action sequence. That's not my jam and never has been. **1/2.