Doctor Who "Kerblam!" Review (Spoilers)
Nov. 19th, 2018 05:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the latest episodes of Supergirl, DC Super Hero Girls, DuckTales, Mickey Mouse, Marvel's Avengers: Black Panther's Quest, Star Wars Resistance, LEGO Star Wars All-Stars, Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers: Cyberverse, The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, Riverdale, The Good Place, Blindspot, and Van Helsing.
Doctor Who “Kerblam!”
I loved every inch of that. With every single plot twist I swooned in pleasure. What would happen if a writer like Russell T Davies, so invested in creating drama and pathos, actually knew what they doing? I don’t know anything about Pete McTighe, but he is definitely a writer to watch. He could be the next Mark Gatiss.
Where to start? The mystery was SO freaking good and unpredictable. The culprit being Charlie was genius because he was literally my last suspect. It also destroyed all previous Doctor Who tropes, so that was another reason to be surprised. I love Thirteen talking about calling the robots creepy robophobic. Some of her best friends are robots. Which distinguishes her from Ten, who only liked robots if they were dogs. And I love that she is allowed to love Kerblam and not actually be wrong about its value. Yeah, Slade’s a jerk of a boss, but he’s innocent, and Judy is actually the real deal. And to learn that it was the system who sent the distress signal, and the episode just turned everything I thought I knew about Doctor Who on its head.
And I think the thing about the episode I loved the most is the thing I also disliked the most. Which sounds weird, but it’s true. But I was upset at Kira’s death. But if every single death on this show of a character I liked was this well set-up, I would never have had the problem with Russell T Davies I did. Everything spelled her eventual doom, especially in hindsight learning the man who loved her was the killer. She’s only received a single gift in her life. Nobody compliments her. So when she is afforded a gift for doing her job well, it is the perfect amount of tension because we know what’s coming. And making the weapon the bubble wrap is great too because people instinctively want to pop it. Even Graham looks back at it at the end of the episode. And for someone who doesn’t receive gifts, Kira desperately wants to pop it more than most people. It was a brilliant death because she always doomed. It was always coming, which made it a great death.
Speaking of Graham, he is seriously competent at his job of Companioning. True, he doesn’t quite figure out that Charlie is the bad guy, but he gets the information the right way without raising his suspicions. He’s friendly and his wants and asks are reasonable and make sense. The last Companion I felt was such a total natural at this was Rory Williams, and before that Rose Tyler. He gets what makes a good Companion better than most.
I’m glad Ryan’s lack of coordination was brought up again, but I think if he DOES have it, that means he should be able to successfully jump platforms. In his first episode, I thought it was interesting to give him that particular disability, but it seems less brave if the show is going to pretend he can just randomly overcome it when the plot suits it.
I love that Thirteen received Eleven’s fez, and actually put it on! Big smiles from me. I miss Eleven very much, and it’s clear Thirteen does too. She will always remember when the Doctor was him.
I found the Doctor referring to the wasps and Agatha Christie interesting because it was true, and it hints that a lot of her other namedropping of famous people like Elvis were probably legit too, and we just missed those adventures. Still Thirteen DOES strike me as the sort of Doctor who tells Tall Tales.
I like how the Doctor handled Slade’s rudeness by telling him what being a good boss entails, and asking him to pass that test. That way she isn’t threatening him, she’s empowering him. God, I love that about her. I always thought that Eleven was the “Man of the People” Doctor, but Thirteen seems even better at making friends than he was. Simply because she gets people who AREN’T very nice to listen to her too. Eleven brought out the best in good people. Thirteen tries to bring out the best in everyone.
This was an amazing episode and shows that this era of the show is gonna handle the space stuff just as well as the history stuff. I was a skeptic of Chris Chibnall being made showrunner, but the excellent results speak for themselves. *****.
Supergirl “Call To Action”
For the life of me, I can’t really pick out anything the episode did wrong. But I can’t really see what it did right either. It was thoroughly average. Not objectionable to my sensibilities, but not good either.
I hate the stuff with Lena and James. They are making this a bigger deal than it needs to be. Couples disagree all the time. They even fight. And sometimes they do horrible stuff that the other person doesn’t like. That doesn’t mean they automatically think about breaking up or ending the relationship. If we were only allowed to hook up with people who never cheesed us off, every single person on the face of the Earth would be celibate. You’re allowed to be mad at each other, guys. It’s emo that you think it’s unusual.
The Manchester Black stuff was technically good, but I felt like it didn’t direct anything major in the episode like the way it could have. He’s a magnetic, gamechanger of a character. And they pretty much have him in the background for a subplot. And since he didn’t bring J’onn in after all, I think the torture scenes probably happened a few episodes too early. There is no actual conflict with the heroes with him doing that as long as nobody knows. Black is an interesting character because he disagrees with other heroes on what the line should be. As long as they aren’t debating it, they aren’t writing the character properly.
In fairness, it’s possible the show is using a light touch with his interactions with the other characters right now, so that when they DO see him cross the line, it will effect and trouble them more since they’ve grown to like him. But that’s not a sure thing, and goes back to the fact that while the episode didn’t do anything bad, it also didn’t really do anything good.
Speaking of which, the dragon felt random, and didn’t fit into anything else. I imagine crime-fighting is a job where random stuff pops up all the time. But as far as fiction goes, I am more comfortable watching television if I know what I’m getting into. On the plus side, now I know dragons are on the table, and can plan accordingly. Did I mention this episode was neither good nor bad?
Is he named Spike after the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic dragon? I’ve never seen that show, because the male fandom creeps me out, but I own one of the stuffed animals of the dragon. He’s super cute. If that’s what they were referencing (his owner IS a little girl) that’s fabulous.
I liked Brainy’s fight scene although it was a bit insufferable with the slow-mo. Similarly Brainy misunderstanding what Alex wanted was amusing, but I can’t imagine it will be amusing for all that much longer. It’s already starting to get old.
I found the idea that Haley knew Alex was disobeying her the entire time, half impressive, and half disappointing. Because it’s good if she’s smart enough to know when she’s being b.s.-ed. What’s not good is that it would probably have been in her best interest to keep that to herself, and not spill those particular beans. Now Alex will be much more careful than she’s been, which makes her job of Umbridging harder. Forgive me for suggesting ways for Umbridge to be a better Umbridge, but that’s the kind of night it’s been.
The debate over who should get powers might be fascinating to the writers, but I don’t really think it’s a debate. If you have to have a committee to decide which people do and don’t get powers, that probably means the whole project is needlessly complicated, and not worth pursuing. I’d take a debate over the right to play God a lot easier if they didn’t make it sound like God’s job actually sucks. Usually the people who want to play God don’t have to debate the paperwork and minutia with people affected by their Godplaying. And I think that’s usually the right storytelling decision. Because this was just dumb.
Nia having narcolepsy is interesting and bad at the same time. Interesting because I don’t know any other main TV character who suffers from that, so it’s getting attention to an illness that many people don’t known much, if anything about. The problem is that in the specific job she has, it should have come up LONG before now. That specific thing in that specific job is not something a person should be able to keep hidden for half a dozen episodes. Maybe in a less stressful job where she isn’t around the office so much, I’d accept her being caught in Episode 6. Otherwise people should have freaking noticed.
I didn’t much like this week. But I didn’t much hate it either. **1/2.
DC Super Hero Girls “Target Practice”
I like Starfire’s new costume.
Aaah! Kryptomites! Irksome creatures! Prepare for Starfire’s Wrath Of The Fun!
I was surprised at how much I liked this. ****1/2.
DuckTales “Storkules In Duckburg!”
That was SOOOO good. It was cunning. It was insightful. And it was in a show aimed at 10-year-olds! And I loved every second of it.
The cleverest thing about the episode is the meta it uses to describe what business actually is. Louie is convinced that the problem cannot be the solution, and the end of the episode proves him wrong (sort of). But when Louie is going on about how businesses needs problems, and if the business fixes all the problems there is no business, I thought that was smart. I was super happy to see that explored on a children’s cartoon. I think kids should be questioning those sorts of things right off the bat, and if Louie is actually a bad role model, the kids will learn the proper lesson from that. The proper lesson: Listen to Webby. She knows what she is doing,.
For the record I would pay money to be hugged by Webby. Her ideas SOUND stupid, but they aren’t.
I love that Scrooge respects the fact that Donald is industrious enough to rent to a tenant on the houseboat. Scrooge’s relationship to Donald is a lot more adult on this show than it is in the Barks and Rosa comics, and I like that about it. Barks and Rosa are perfection, but it’s interesting this show can translate those relationships to a modern era, with a more real-world sensibility. If Donald IS actually the responsible parent Barks and Rosa suggested he is, Scrooge should be treating him better. And on this show he does. I like that.
I love Storkules, and Donald’s frustration with him. Storkules is a lot like Forrest Gump, and I hate Forrest Gump for the same reason Donald hates Storkules: I’m not actually SUPPOSED to hate him. He’s too kind and decent and lovable. And that gets on a fella’s nerves. Especially if he was one of the only people in 1994 who recognized that movie sucked. The difference is that Storkules has some redeeming virtues for being in Donald’s life. There is no part of me that wishes I had ever seen that horrible movie. Ugh. Life is like a box of Harpies.
Interesting they used Harpies instead of Larkies from the comics. I’m not sure why they did that, unless a Golden Fleece adventure is in our future, and the show is saving the name for that. But I somehow doubt it.
Cape Suzette shout-out. Also “Business opportunity” screams Shere Khan to me. For the record, Rebecca Cunningham is also a businesswoman in TaleSpin, but I think if Rebecca and Higher For Hire are going to be a thing, they are going to be need to be set up down the road on their own. Shere Khan strikes me as an omnipresent shadow that’s ALWAYS been over Cape Suzette. We’ll see what happens.
I am so angry at the fact that the show does so many great episodes like this one, and yet completely botched last season’s finale by making the characters violent. This episode is how the problems are supposed to be fixed. By using their heads instead of their fists. It kills me that an episode this great is what we got this week instead of last year’s finale. This is what the show should be.
I appreciate the show using domestic situations in Duckburg. Because that means they can use Donald more. In fact, Donald has been a bigger presence so far this year than he was in season 1. And it’s not because he suddenly loves going on the adventures. It’s that the writers are finally figuring out how to use him and the houseboat, and remember that it IS a part of the show and shouldn’t just be in the background.
I love that the show paid Ben Schwartz real money just to say the word “What”? The Simpsons has done similar meta jokes contracting Joe Mantegna for Fat Tony’s grunts, and this is a similar joke that only people who understand the production side of things will find funny. But I thought it was a hoot.
One of my favorite episodes so far this season. *****.
Mickey Mouse “Surprise!”
Bill Farmer killin’ it again as Goofy.
Why does Mickey go to the dentist on his birthday?
Love the “We’ve got to lose some weight!” thing.
Cute anniversary short. The whole gang showed up. ****.
Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest “The Good Son”
I actually question Cap’s intelligence after that. I was not happy with the White Wolf betrayal, but I wasn’t surprised it wasn’t Zemo. Because that was a terrible plan if it was. Zemo is smarter than that. I mean, if Zemo was going to betray T’Challa he wouldn’t do it when Cap was present because everyone would be on their guard for it. If Zemo does betray Black Panther it will be during a point he doesn’t expect it. Having Steve be all “Zemo’s gonna turn on you,” means this was the wrong episode for him to do it.
I hope he doesn’t turn. Just because I love the idea of Cap being proven wrong, and the fact that as long as he is, he’s be extremely discomforted. And that makes a good character dynamic.
Kind of figure T’Challa should have taken Steve aside ahead of time instead of confronting him with Zemo the way he did.
I was actually a bit aggravated by this week. ***.
Star Wars Resistance “Synara’s Score”
Jim Rash’s voice sounds exactly right coming out of that specific weird looking character.
I like Tam saying she saw what Kaz was trying to handle, and that he wasn’t handling it all that well. Very insightful.
The biggest flaw in Synara’s plan is she didn’t expect to make friends. She’s in deep now.
I like Yeager’s “Get off my lift!”. Also cool that he’s smart enough to point out that Kaz was never the only spy on the station.
Neeku’s tale of bravery is even more pathetic than you could ever imagine. I am truly coming to loath the character.
But it was a decent episode. The climax was exciting at any rate. ***1/2.
LEGO Star Wars All-Stars “The Chase With Han / Escape With Chewbacca”
The Chase With Han:
I would think that at this point Star Wars would just want to FORGET Solo, but this was perhaps made too far into production to cancel.
The chase in traffic was exciting.
Love Grabala the Hutt. He is so Master Shake. Why didn’t his flunkies think to grab him?
Fun cartoon. ***1/2.
Escape With Chewbacca:
I was a little lost. I couldn’t tell if events were running parallel with the first cartoon, or if it was a different mission entirely. Sort of annoyed we were sacked with a cliffhanger too.
Why is that lizard monkey green?
I love Grabala expressing doubt over Lena’s claims that she didn’t see him there. “I’m a petite guy” shows Grabala is a total smart@$$.
All right. ***.
Episode Overall: ***.
Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “Bug Busters”
Love the Honey Nut Cheerios reference.
Also really insightful that Donnie points out the persnickety guy was mutated into the clumsy bull. I like the the mutations have subtext, and I like Donnie pointing out the specific irony.
I love the notion of Yokai. It is awesome.
Also awesome to see the Battle Nexus. It’s not as epic as the one from the other cartoons and the comics, but it’s rare to see this show acknowledge other Turtle media at ALL.
An added indignity is that the Turtles were not about to be become forced participants. They were gonna be the rodeo clowns. Burn!
I love that Draxum’s demons talk like bored white college students. Also handy to give us a bit of a random recap about Draxum at the beginning. It’s been awhile and we may have forgotten some stuff.
I love that Raph boils Leo’s plan down to being afraid of spiders. Leo is the smart one.
Leo is SUCH a sore winner. With his last breath he will scream I told you so. He’ll pretend those are a T-shirt. The rest of the guys owe him for this.
Yup, that’s a Gus. You don’t start a game of fetch you can’t finish. Baddest @$$ Good Dog line ever!
That will teach her to give Donnie positive reinforcement! The nerve!
Great week. So happy. *****.
Transformers: Cyberverse “Teletraan-X”
That was fun! It was exciting and had an unpredictable cliffhanger ending.
I think the most memorable thing was the teaser with the kid being all “I wanna see THAT movie!” Oh, kid. I’ve seen those movies. It never ends well. ****1/2.
The Simpsons “Werking Mom”
I probably liked that more than I actually should have. But I’m not going to deny I liked it.
I hate it when the show does a parody of a movie I haven’t seen! I imagine if I HAD seen Amelie I would have loved Lisa’s subplot. And I already thought it was pretty good.
Her way to get Luanne closer to Kirk was actually quite clever.
I love Julio asking Marge if she just high-fived the Tupperware, and Kevin Michael Richardson telling her to be cool. Have I mentioned lately how great it is that the show now hires black actors to do black voices instead of Hank Azaria offensively speaking in Ebonics? Azaria as Julio is still a problem, but I’ll take the victories where I can get them.
I love Mr. Largo talking about wanting a tub of butter, and his elderly passive-aggressive boyfriend telling him to look in the mirror.
Marge’s look didn’t sit right with me. Yeah, it was ghoulish, but that sort of implies drag queens are ghoulish. And most of them aren’t.
Ha! The Crazy Old Man is a Bernie Bro! Grandpa doesn’t sound any happier about who is President than anyone else.
I love that Bart has a key and floorplan to Skinner’s house. Take the tuna. He’s making Skinner’s cat fat. Bit laugh seeing Agnes with the fat cat in the next scene.
Isn’t it nice that Bart is helping Lisa make people feel better with no prodding or drama whatsoever? I dislike the character but I like that he’ll do what Lisa tells him to do without much resistance.
Tribute card to Stan Lee! “Raaagh! Aw! I really did it once!” I totally believed him.
Was wondering why Smithers and Mel didn’t out Marge, but the resolution that half of them already knew made more sense.
I was very unhappy with Marge saying the hurtful things about Homer she did at the end of the episode. Because they were all untrue. And Homer proved that by showing up in drag. Aw! All the good ones are either married or Homer.
I didn’t get most of the Amelie jokes but I liked most of the episode anyways. ***1/2.
Bob’s Burgers “I Bob Your Pardon”
Every Bob’s Burgers review I seem to say either “Good episode” or “I liked that”. This is not the week I’m going to be changing that up.
I like Gene telling Tina he didn’t see a ring on the turkey’s finger. Gene is so funny.
I love the shape of cranberry sauce in a can. And truthfully is DOES taste better than regular cranberry sauce because it’s mostly sugar. But I love Bob’s euphoria in the cranberry bog at the end because it seemed to make all of the hassle he was put through in the episode worth it.
For the record, I am not a person who believes a person needs to wear a suit and tie to Thanksgiving dinner. But as the head of the household, Bob should be wearing more than an undershirt and drawstring sweatpants. That is not too much to ask on a special occasion.
I like Bob’s questioning the wisdom of treating turkeys like people in the way he did. Because his “friend” made him a bit self-aware of his reality by the way he was doing that.
I love that Linda is all “Aw! Little fingers!” over the baby who supposedly gave them the finger.
I was really hoping we’d meet the mayor and see his body wave, but no such luck. I picture himself wearing a big sash that says “Mayor” on it at all times and you can’t stop me.
Good episode. I liked that. ****.
Family Guy “The Griffin Winter Games”
Oh, man. I wish I loved that more. It was SO funny in places. But outside of the Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir stuff, all of the voice-over gags didn’t work. Why? Because they didn’t get the actual voices. They may have hired someone who SOUNDED like Lacey Chabert, but since her name wasn’t in the credits, it obviously wasn’t her. Similarly I love the meta joke of the Morgan Freeman impersonator saying his real name (for which he WAS credited) and saying he worked for scale. But the joke would have been funnier and more authentic if they HAD gotten Ron Howard or Kristen Bell. Kristen Bell is NOT an impossible get, and if Howard is, they should have simply used Daniel Stern. It was SUCH a great observational moment about voice acting made worse simply for being fake. Same with the Lacey Chabert.
I have never seen GoldenEye parodied in popular culture before. It was funny.
But the funniest joke was this specific on-screen subtitle joke:
“The person who wrote this script is 31 years old. How old are you? Six? You’ve got some cool parents, man!! Maybe too cool. Penis. See what I mean? You shouldn’t be seeing that.”
That joke was a Star Trek II, edited for goats-style belly laugh for me.
Man this was so funny. It’s too bad the funniest stuff wasn’t real. ***1/2.
Riverdale “Chapter Forty: The Great Escape”
How do I put this delicately? I am concerned.
Which perhaps may be the biggest understatement I have ever made in one of these pretentious reviews. Season 1 of Riverdale was fun. The very definition of a guilty pleasure. This current season is all guilt, no pleasure. I feel a certain, weird kind of shame that I just watched something that terrible. Honestly, I don’t watch terrible television as a rule. Generally speaking, if I’m reviewing a show at all, that means I like it on some level. I literally do not review every single TV show like a TV critic does. I review the shows I watch as a fan. And to be blunt, I have seen some episodes of Power Rangers and the 2012 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this stupid and badly written. But those are the only two shows I watch off the top of my head that I can think of that are as bad as this. And at least those are kids shows. The sophomoric writing, and badly constructed plot twists, and frankly, some genuine bad acting on the part of Cole Sprouse, makes me, as I said, concerned.
Why? There are a ton of cr*ppy TV shows! Why does this bother me?
It’s the pedigree. It’s Berlanti. I watch a LOT of Berlanti shows. If Riverdale can go this badly off the rails, so can Arrow. So can Supergirl. So can Black Lightning. And I was already on thin ice with those three shows. But it shows that the producer has spread himself so thin that quality literally doesn’t matter. It is a non-factor in these shows, and I didn’t quite want to admit that to myself until I saw this.
I’m speaking in generalities here, which makes me sound like a loon, and I’m betting anyone reading this review thinks my voice sounds exactly like Comic Book Guy, so I’ll briefly review what is wrong with the actual episode. And there was so much wrong, I might not have gotten to it all. One of the reasons I knew I was not going to like writing this review is that it would have to be long to talk about all of my complaints. And as the episode went on, and got worse and worse, and had more things I’d have to comment on, I found the notion of writing this all a bit daunting. But God help me, I’ll try to be as brief as possible.
I think the first thing I need to call b.s. on is the radio announcement about Archie. The announcer describes Archie as a “Convicted Murderer”. He’s not. Aside from escaping from juvie rather than an adult prison, Archie was never convicted of anything. He took a plea. And the specific plea he took was for “manslaughter”. The announcer on the radio is actually slandering Archie by calling him a convicted murderer. He was convicted of no such thing. And this goes back to all the Berlanti courtroom stuff sucking.
Cole Sprouse’s performance was also surprisingly terrible. What shocks me is that I almost cannot fault the actor. Nobody, not even Ian McKellan, could deliver the crazy lines he was forced to deliver and sound even slightly credible. He’s supposed to be sounding a bit paranoid and off his rocker. Instead I think he sounds like a lame loser. I never thought of Jughead like that until this season. But he talks like a loser with no real friends or social skills. And Cole Sprouse does not sound like he’s delivering epic madness. He’s delivering epic lameness.
I also just want to smack whoever wrote the episode for sheer stupidity. It’s just nonstop inanity. Archie’s grand escape plan was to make a break for it while he was being watched in a crowded stadium with all of the guards present? And Veronica and her friends did nothing to disguise the fact that they threw smoke bombs into the pool? What is to stop her from being arrested for harboring a fugitive? Everybody actually knows it’s her. And I just about lost it that when all of those guards had their guns trained on Betty, she puts a can of mace up to the warden’s face, and he says to fall back. In real life, this is the point with Betty gets shot repeatedly and there is no more Betty. Prison guards do not just fall back as a group from a girl with a can of mace. It’s utter lunacy to believe I would ever accept that.
Of course the fact that she’s pretty and white offers her SOME protection. But not enough for the officers to actually fall back. And if they were using rubber bullets they’d be even MORE inclined to shoot her.
I find the idea that the Warden was involved in the game was far too pat. I’m glad he’s probably not the Gargoyle King, but it’s dumb enough he’s referring to Archie as a Paladin in the first place.
Was there anything I liked? I liked the Warden’s Last Supper scene with Archie just because you could start to tell he was a little bit bonkers even then. I did not like much of anything in the episode. But in an episode notable for lousy performances by not otherwise terrible actors, I felt the warden’s madness crescendoed properly throughout the entire episode. But that’s pretty much the only thing I liked.
This was REALLY bad. And it probably sounds like I’m a troll with all of the negative reviews I’ve been posting. But all of those reviews have been for Berlanti stuff. And they seemed to all go downhill almost all at once. If I really don’t want to be a troll wherever I post these reviews, I need to stop watching this show and the Arrowverse. And I’m at the point where I’m getting tempted. Berlanti has a TON of shows I watch. If I stopped watching them, I’d have a ton of extra free time on my hands. Berlanti seems to think that since we see these shows for free, quality is not an issue. Well, that only works if you believe your time is worth nothing. And after all of this mediocrity spread through all of these shows, I’m starting to realize I could probably cut back on my TV watching by several hours a week and not actually miss anything good. Will I have the guts to actually do that, or am I like every other internet troll everywhere, and all talk about that sort of thing? We’ll see. But I’m honestly not sure anymore. Which shocks me a little. 0.
The Good Place “Don’t Let The Good Life Pass You By”
That was amazing. The show at its best.
I think the biggest surprise for me was how quickly and unexpectedly the time on Earth ended. I was like “That was quick!”
Janet was SUCH a bad@$$ during the fight. I loved her thanking Jason for the save.
Jason was great. From his South Side pool, to his forgetting the coasters, to him saying evidence was a bad thing, I am reminded why I love him.
Doug is definitely a cautionary tale for Michael. Instead of proving to Michael that the point system works, he proves that it is meaningless and doesn’t work right. What a weird guy to be a celebrity in the Good Place.
This is the show I remembered and loved from the first two seasons. *****.
Blindspot “Ca-ca-candidate For Cri-cri-crime”
Weitz has really grown on me. I really love the guy now. His scene at the end with Reed was great. He is so much fun.
Speaking of which, I love that Rich is his Devil’s Advocate. Especially since he’s right.
Haven’t seen Smallville’s Callum Blue in anything in awhile. Dude could still be a leading man.
Jane is busted. No more happily ever after for her and Weller.
Looking forward to the next episode. This has been the best season so far. ****1/2.
Van Helsing “Hunted Down”
Ick on Mohammed and the mice. Sam’s “I kiss meeses to pieces,” was cringe too.
You know, Sam, you don’t actually HAVE to follow that imaginary woman’s orders. Mohammed killing Sam however seems MUCH more rational.
Loved the stuff with Axel “fixing the tire” at the rest stop. He is SO cool and DOES make everything sound cool.
I love that he’s amused with “Discussion over.”
Scab REALLY wanted to be made a sister. I doubt many of the other vampires at the end will be happy with that trade.
Axel’s group really screwed over Denver by losing the woman who became a vampire. This is gonna be a tough season finale.
A little more gory than I like, but it was still a good episode. ***1/2.
Doctor Who “Kerblam!”
I loved every inch of that. With every single plot twist I swooned in pleasure. What would happen if a writer like Russell T Davies, so invested in creating drama and pathos, actually knew what they doing? I don’t know anything about Pete McTighe, but he is definitely a writer to watch. He could be the next Mark Gatiss.
Where to start? The mystery was SO freaking good and unpredictable. The culprit being Charlie was genius because he was literally my last suspect. It also destroyed all previous Doctor Who tropes, so that was another reason to be surprised. I love Thirteen talking about calling the robots creepy robophobic. Some of her best friends are robots. Which distinguishes her from Ten, who only liked robots if they were dogs. And I love that she is allowed to love Kerblam and not actually be wrong about its value. Yeah, Slade’s a jerk of a boss, but he’s innocent, and Judy is actually the real deal. And to learn that it was the system who sent the distress signal, and the episode just turned everything I thought I knew about Doctor Who on its head.
And I think the thing about the episode I loved the most is the thing I also disliked the most. Which sounds weird, but it’s true. But I was upset at Kira’s death. But if every single death on this show of a character I liked was this well set-up, I would never have had the problem with Russell T Davies I did. Everything spelled her eventual doom, especially in hindsight learning the man who loved her was the killer. She’s only received a single gift in her life. Nobody compliments her. So when she is afforded a gift for doing her job well, it is the perfect amount of tension because we know what’s coming. And making the weapon the bubble wrap is great too because people instinctively want to pop it. Even Graham looks back at it at the end of the episode. And for someone who doesn’t receive gifts, Kira desperately wants to pop it more than most people. It was a brilliant death because she always doomed. It was always coming, which made it a great death.
Speaking of Graham, he is seriously competent at his job of Companioning. True, he doesn’t quite figure out that Charlie is the bad guy, but he gets the information the right way without raising his suspicions. He’s friendly and his wants and asks are reasonable and make sense. The last Companion I felt was such a total natural at this was Rory Williams, and before that Rose Tyler. He gets what makes a good Companion better than most.
I’m glad Ryan’s lack of coordination was brought up again, but I think if he DOES have it, that means he should be able to successfully jump platforms. In his first episode, I thought it was interesting to give him that particular disability, but it seems less brave if the show is going to pretend he can just randomly overcome it when the plot suits it.
I love that Thirteen received Eleven’s fez, and actually put it on! Big smiles from me. I miss Eleven very much, and it’s clear Thirteen does too. She will always remember when the Doctor was him.
I found the Doctor referring to the wasps and Agatha Christie interesting because it was true, and it hints that a lot of her other namedropping of famous people like Elvis were probably legit too, and we just missed those adventures. Still Thirteen DOES strike me as the sort of Doctor who tells Tall Tales.
I like how the Doctor handled Slade’s rudeness by telling him what being a good boss entails, and asking him to pass that test. That way she isn’t threatening him, she’s empowering him. God, I love that about her. I always thought that Eleven was the “Man of the People” Doctor, but Thirteen seems even better at making friends than he was. Simply because she gets people who AREN’T very nice to listen to her too. Eleven brought out the best in good people. Thirteen tries to bring out the best in everyone.
This was an amazing episode and shows that this era of the show is gonna handle the space stuff just as well as the history stuff. I was a skeptic of Chris Chibnall being made showrunner, but the excellent results speak for themselves. *****.
Supergirl “Call To Action”
For the life of me, I can’t really pick out anything the episode did wrong. But I can’t really see what it did right either. It was thoroughly average. Not objectionable to my sensibilities, but not good either.
I hate the stuff with Lena and James. They are making this a bigger deal than it needs to be. Couples disagree all the time. They even fight. And sometimes they do horrible stuff that the other person doesn’t like. That doesn’t mean they automatically think about breaking up or ending the relationship. If we were only allowed to hook up with people who never cheesed us off, every single person on the face of the Earth would be celibate. You’re allowed to be mad at each other, guys. It’s emo that you think it’s unusual.
The Manchester Black stuff was technically good, but I felt like it didn’t direct anything major in the episode like the way it could have. He’s a magnetic, gamechanger of a character. And they pretty much have him in the background for a subplot. And since he didn’t bring J’onn in after all, I think the torture scenes probably happened a few episodes too early. There is no actual conflict with the heroes with him doing that as long as nobody knows. Black is an interesting character because he disagrees with other heroes on what the line should be. As long as they aren’t debating it, they aren’t writing the character properly.
In fairness, it’s possible the show is using a light touch with his interactions with the other characters right now, so that when they DO see him cross the line, it will effect and trouble them more since they’ve grown to like him. But that’s not a sure thing, and goes back to the fact that while the episode didn’t do anything bad, it also didn’t really do anything good.
Speaking of which, the dragon felt random, and didn’t fit into anything else. I imagine crime-fighting is a job where random stuff pops up all the time. But as far as fiction goes, I am more comfortable watching television if I know what I’m getting into. On the plus side, now I know dragons are on the table, and can plan accordingly. Did I mention this episode was neither good nor bad?
Is he named Spike after the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic dragon? I’ve never seen that show, because the male fandom creeps me out, but I own one of the stuffed animals of the dragon. He’s super cute. If that’s what they were referencing (his owner IS a little girl) that’s fabulous.
I liked Brainy’s fight scene although it was a bit insufferable with the slow-mo. Similarly Brainy misunderstanding what Alex wanted was amusing, but I can’t imagine it will be amusing for all that much longer. It’s already starting to get old.
I found the idea that Haley knew Alex was disobeying her the entire time, half impressive, and half disappointing. Because it’s good if she’s smart enough to know when she’s being b.s.-ed. What’s not good is that it would probably have been in her best interest to keep that to herself, and not spill those particular beans. Now Alex will be much more careful than she’s been, which makes her job of Umbridging harder. Forgive me for suggesting ways for Umbridge to be a better Umbridge, but that’s the kind of night it’s been.
The debate over who should get powers might be fascinating to the writers, but I don’t really think it’s a debate. If you have to have a committee to decide which people do and don’t get powers, that probably means the whole project is needlessly complicated, and not worth pursuing. I’d take a debate over the right to play God a lot easier if they didn’t make it sound like God’s job actually sucks. Usually the people who want to play God don’t have to debate the paperwork and minutia with people affected by their Godplaying. And I think that’s usually the right storytelling decision. Because this was just dumb.
Nia having narcolepsy is interesting and bad at the same time. Interesting because I don’t know any other main TV character who suffers from that, so it’s getting attention to an illness that many people don’t known much, if anything about. The problem is that in the specific job she has, it should have come up LONG before now. That specific thing in that specific job is not something a person should be able to keep hidden for half a dozen episodes. Maybe in a less stressful job where she isn’t around the office so much, I’d accept her being caught in Episode 6. Otherwise people should have freaking noticed.
I didn’t much like this week. But I didn’t much hate it either. **1/2.
DC Super Hero Girls “Target Practice”
I like Starfire’s new costume.
Aaah! Kryptomites! Irksome creatures! Prepare for Starfire’s Wrath Of The Fun!
I was surprised at how much I liked this. ****1/2.
DuckTales “Storkules In Duckburg!”
That was SOOOO good. It was cunning. It was insightful. And it was in a show aimed at 10-year-olds! And I loved every second of it.
The cleverest thing about the episode is the meta it uses to describe what business actually is. Louie is convinced that the problem cannot be the solution, and the end of the episode proves him wrong (sort of). But when Louie is going on about how businesses needs problems, and if the business fixes all the problems there is no business, I thought that was smart. I was super happy to see that explored on a children’s cartoon. I think kids should be questioning those sorts of things right off the bat, and if Louie is actually a bad role model, the kids will learn the proper lesson from that. The proper lesson: Listen to Webby. She knows what she is doing,.
For the record I would pay money to be hugged by Webby. Her ideas SOUND stupid, but they aren’t.
I love that Scrooge respects the fact that Donald is industrious enough to rent to a tenant on the houseboat. Scrooge’s relationship to Donald is a lot more adult on this show than it is in the Barks and Rosa comics, and I like that about it. Barks and Rosa are perfection, but it’s interesting this show can translate those relationships to a modern era, with a more real-world sensibility. If Donald IS actually the responsible parent Barks and Rosa suggested he is, Scrooge should be treating him better. And on this show he does. I like that.
I love Storkules, and Donald’s frustration with him. Storkules is a lot like Forrest Gump, and I hate Forrest Gump for the same reason Donald hates Storkules: I’m not actually SUPPOSED to hate him. He’s too kind and decent and lovable. And that gets on a fella’s nerves. Especially if he was one of the only people in 1994 who recognized that movie sucked. The difference is that Storkules has some redeeming virtues for being in Donald’s life. There is no part of me that wishes I had ever seen that horrible movie. Ugh. Life is like a box of Harpies.
Interesting they used Harpies instead of Larkies from the comics. I’m not sure why they did that, unless a Golden Fleece adventure is in our future, and the show is saving the name for that. But I somehow doubt it.
Cape Suzette shout-out. Also “Business opportunity” screams Shere Khan to me. For the record, Rebecca Cunningham is also a businesswoman in TaleSpin, but I think if Rebecca and Higher For Hire are going to be a thing, they are going to be need to be set up down the road on their own. Shere Khan strikes me as an omnipresent shadow that’s ALWAYS been over Cape Suzette. We’ll see what happens.
I am so angry at the fact that the show does so many great episodes like this one, and yet completely botched last season’s finale by making the characters violent. This episode is how the problems are supposed to be fixed. By using their heads instead of their fists. It kills me that an episode this great is what we got this week instead of last year’s finale. This is what the show should be.
I appreciate the show using domestic situations in Duckburg. Because that means they can use Donald more. In fact, Donald has been a bigger presence so far this year than he was in season 1. And it’s not because he suddenly loves going on the adventures. It’s that the writers are finally figuring out how to use him and the houseboat, and remember that it IS a part of the show and shouldn’t just be in the background.
I love that the show paid Ben Schwartz real money just to say the word “What”? The Simpsons has done similar meta jokes contracting Joe Mantegna for Fat Tony’s grunts, and this is a similar joke that only people who understand the production side of things will find funny. But I thought it was a hoot.
One of my favorite episodes so far this season. *****.
Mickey Mouse “Surprise!”
Bill Farmer killin’ it again as Goofy.
Why does Mickey go to the dentist on his birthday?
Love the “We’ve got to lose some weight!” thing.
Cute anniversary short. The whole gang showed up. ****.
Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest “The Good Son”
I actually question Cap’s intelligence after that. I was not happy with the White Wolf betrayal, but I wasn’t surprised it wasn’t Zemo. Because that was a terrible plan if it was. Zemo is smarter than that. I mean, if Zemo was going to betray T’Challa he wouldn’t do it when Cap was present because everyone would be on their guard for it. If Zemo does betray Black Panther it will be during a point he doesn’t expect it. Having Steve be all “Zemo’s gonna turn on you,” means this was the wrong episode for him to do it.
I hope he doesn’t turn. Just because I love the idea of Cap being proven wrong, and the fact that as long as he is, he’s be extremely discomforted. And that makes a good character dynamic.
Kind of figure T’Challa should have taken Steve aside ahead of time instead of confronting him with Zemo the way he did.
I was actually a bit aggravated by this week. ***.
Star Wars Resistance “Synara’s Score”
Jim Rash’s voice sounds exactly right coming out of that specific weird looking character.
I like Tam saying she saw what Kaz was trying to handle, and that he wasn’t handling it all that well. Very insightful.
The biggest flaw in Synara’s plan is she didn’t expect to make friends. She’s in deep now.
I like Yeager’s “Get off my lift!”. Also cool that he’s smart enough to point out that Kaz was never the only spy on the station.
Neeku’s tale of bravery is even more pathetic than you could ever imagine. I am truly coming to loath the character.
But it was a decent episode. The climax was exciting at any rate. ***1/2.
LEGO Star Wars All-Stars “The Chase With Han / Escape With Chewbacca”
The Chase With Han:
I would think that at this point Star Wars would just want to FORGET Solo, but this was perhaps made too far into production to cancel.
The chase in traffic was exciting.
Love Grabala the Hutt. He is so Master Shake. Why didn’t his flunkies think to grab him?
Fun cartoon. ***1/2.
Escape With Chewbacca:
I was a little lost. I couldn’t tell if events were running parallel with the first cartoon, or if it was a different mission entirely. Sort of annoyed we were sacked with a cliffhanger too.
Why is that lizard monkey green?
I love Grabala expressing doubt over Lena’s claims that she didn’t see him there. “I’m a petite guy” shows Grabala is a total smart@$$.
All right. ***.
Episode Overall: ***.
Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “Bug Busters”
Love the Honey Nut Cheerios reference.
Also really insightful that Donnie points out the persnickety guy was mutated into the clumsy bull. I like the the mutations have subtext, and I like Donnie pointing out the specific irony.
I love the notion of Yokai. It is awesome.
Also awesome to see the Battle Nexus. It’s not as epic as the one from the other cartoons and the comics, but it’s rare to see this show acknowledge other Turtle media at ALL.
An added indignity is that the Turtles were not about to be become forced participants. They were gonna be the rodeo clowns. Burn!
I love that Draxum’s demons talk like bored white college students. Also handy to give us a bit of a random recap about Draxum at the beginning. It’s been awhile and we may have forgotten some stuff.
I love that Raph boils Leo’s plan down to being afraid of spiders. Leo is the smart one.
Leo is SUCH a sore winner. With his last breath he will scream I told you so. He’ll pretend those are a T-shirt. The rest of the guys owe him for this.
Yup, that’s a Gus. You don’t start a game of fetch you can’t finish. Baddest @$$ Good Dog line ever!
That will teach her to give Donnie positive reinforcement! The nerve!
Great week. So happy. *****.
Transformers: Cyberverse “Teletraan-X”
That was fun! It was exciting and had an unpredictable cliffhanger ending.
I think the most memorable thing was the teaser with the kid being all “I wanna see THAT movie!” Oh, kid. I’ve seen those movies. It never ends well. ****1/2.
The Simpsons “Werking Mom”
I probably liked that more than I actually should have. But I’m not going to deny I liked it.
I hate it when the show does a parody of a movie I haven’t seen! I imagine if I HAD seen Amelie I would have loved Lisa’s subplot. And I already thought it was pretty good.
Her way to get Luanne closer to Kirk was actually quite clever.
I love Julio asking Marge if she just high-fived the Tupperware, and Kevin Michael Richardson telling her to be cool. Have I mentioned lately how great it is that the show now hires black actors to do black voices instead of Hank Azaria offensively speaking in Ebonics? Azaria as Julio is still a problem, but I’ll take the victories where I can get them.
I love Mr. Largo talking about wanting a tub of butter, and his elderly passive-aggressive boyfriend telling him to look in the mirror.
Marge’s look didn’t sit right with me. Yeah, it was ghoulish, but that sort of implies drag queens are ghoulish. And most of them aren’t.
Ha! The Crazy Old Man is a Bernie Bro! Grandpa doesn’t sound any happier about who is President than anyone else.
I love that Bart has a key and floorplan to Skinner’s house. Take the tuna. He’s making Skinner’s cat fat. Bit laugh seeing Agnes with the fat cat in the next scene.
Isn’t it nice that Bart is helping Lisa make people feel better with no prodding or drama whatsoever? I dislike the character but I like that he’ll do what Lisa tells him to do without much resistance.
Tribute card to Stan Lee! “Raaagh! Aw! I really did it once!” I totally believed him.
Was wondering why Smithers and Mel didn’t out Marge, but the resolution that half of them already knew made more sense.
I was very unhappy with Marge saying the hurtful things about Homer she did at the end of the episode. Because they were all untrue. And Homer proved that by showing up in drag. Aw! All the good ones are either married or Homer.
I didn’t get most of the Amelie jokes but I liked most of the episode anyways. ***1/2.
Bob’s Burgers “I Bob Your Pardon”
Every Bob’s Burgers review I seem to say either “Good episode” or “I liked that”. This is not the week I’m going to be changing that up.
I like Gene telling Tina he didn’t see a ring on the turkey’s finger. Gene is so funny.
I love the shape of cranberry sauce in a can. And truthfully is DOES taste better than regular cranberry sauce because it’s mostly sugar. But I love Bob’s euphoria in the cranberry bog at the end because it seemed to make all of the hassle he was put through in the episode worth it.
For the record, I am not a person who believes a person needs to wear a suit and tie to Thanksgiving dinner. But as the head of the household, Bob should be wearing more than an undershirt and drawstring sweatpants. That is not too much to ask on a special occasion.
I like Bob’s questioning the wisdom of treating turkeys like people in the way he did. Because his “friend” made him a bit self-aware of his reality by the way he was doing that.
I love that Linda is all “Aw! Little fingers!” over the baby who supposedly gave them the finger.
I was really hoping we’d meet the mayor and see his body wave, but no such luck. I picture himself wearing a big sash that says “Mayor” on it at all times and you can’t stop me.
Good episode. I liked that. ****.
Family Guy “The Griffin Winter Games”
Oh, man. I wish I loved that more. It was SO funny in places. But outside of the Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir stuff, all of the voice-over gags didn’t work. Why? Because they didn’t get the actual voices. They may have hired someone who SOUNDED like Lacey Chabert, but since her name wasn’t in the credits, it obviously wasn’t her. Similarly I love the meta joke of the Morgan Freeman impersonator saying his real name (for which he WAS credited) and saying he worked for scale. But the joke would have been funnier and more authentic if they HAD gotten Ron Howard or Kristen Bell. Kristen Bell is NOT an impossible get, and if Howard is, they should have simply used Daniel Stern. It was SUCH a great observational moment about voice acting made worse simply for being fake. Same with the Lacey Chabert.
I have never seen GoldenEye parodied in popular culture before. It was funny.
But the funniest joke was this specific on-screen subtitle joke:
“The person who wrote this script is 31 years old. How old are you? Six? You’ve got some cool parents, man!! Maybe too cool. Penis. See what I mean? You shouldn’t be seeing that.”
That joke was a Star Trek II, edited for goats-style belly laugh for me.
Man this was so funny. It’s too bad the funniest stuff wasn’t real. ***1/2.
Riverdale “Chapter Forty: The Great Escape”
How do I put this delicately? I am concerned.
Which perhaps may be the biggest understatement I have ever made in one of these pretentious reviews. Season 1 of Riverdale was fun. The very definition of a guilty pleasure. This current season is all guilt, no pleasure. I feel a certain, weird kind of shame that I just watched something that terrible. Honestly, I don’t watch terrible television as a rule. Generally speaking, if I’m reviewing a show at all, that means I like it on some level. I literally do not review every single TV show like a TV critic does. I review the shows I watch as a fan. And to be blunt, I have seen some episodes of Power Rangers and the 2012 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this stupid and badly written. But those are the only two shows I watch off the top of my head that I can think of that are as bad as this. And at least those are kids shows. The sophomoric writing, and badly constructed plot twists, and frankly, some genuine bad acting on the part of Cole Sprouse, makes me, as I said, concerned.
Why? There are a ton of cr*ppy TV shows! Why does this bother me?
It’s the pedigree. It’s Berlanti. I watch a LOT of Berlanti shows. If Riverdale can go this badly off the rails, so can Arrow. So can Supergirl. So can Black Lightning. And I was already on thin ice with those three shows. But it shows that the producer has spread himself so thin that quality literally doesn’t matter. It is a non-factor in these shows, and I didn’t quite want to admit that to myself until I saw this.
I’m speaking in generalities here, which makes me sound like a loon, and I’m betting anyone reading this review thinks my voice sounds exactly like Comic Book Guy, so I’ll briefly review what is wrong with the actual episode. And there was so much wrong, I might not have gotten to it all. One of the reasons I knew I was not going to like writing this review is that it would have to be long to talk about all of my complaints. And as the episode went on, and got worse and worse, and had more things I’d have to comment on, I found the notion of writing this all a bit daunting. But God help me, I’ll try to be as brief as possible.
I think the first thing I need to call b.s. on is the radio announcement about Archie. The announcer describes Archie as a “Convicted Murderer”. He’s not. Aside from escaping from juvie rather than an adult prison, Archie was never convicted of anything. He took a plea. And the specific plea he took was for “manslaughter”. The announcer on the radio is actually slandering Archie by calling him a convicted murderer. He was convicted of no such thing. And this goes back to all the Berlanti courtroom stuff sucking.
Cole Sprouse’s performance was also surprisingly terrible. What shocks me is that I almost cannot fault the actor. Nobody, not even Ian McKellan, could deliver the crazy lines he was forced to deliver and sound even slightly credible. He’s supposed to be sounding a bit paranoid and off his rocker. Instead I think he sounds like a lame loser. I never thought of Jughead like that until this season. But he talks like a loser with no real friends or social skills. And Cole Sprouse does not sound like he’s delivering epic madness. He’s delivering epic lameness.
I also just want to smack whoever wrote the episode for sheer stupidity. It’s just nonstop inanity. Archie’s grand escape plan was to make a break for it while he was being watched in a crowded stadium with all of the guards present? And Veronica and her friends did nothing to disguise the fact that they threw smoke bombs into the pool? What is to stop her from being arrested for harboring a fugitive? Everybody actually knows it’s her. And I just about lost it that when all of those guards had their guns trained on Betty, she puts a can of mace up to the warden’s face, and he says to fall back. In real life, this is the point with Betty gets shot repeatedly and there is no more Betty. Prison guards do not just fall back as a group from a girl with a can of mace. It’s utter lunacy to believe I would ever accept that.
Of course the fact that she’s pretty and white offers her SOME protection. But not enough for the officers to actually fall back. And if they were using rubber bullets they’d be even MORE inclined to shoot her.
I find the idea that the Warden was involved in the game was far too pat. I’m glad he’s probably not the Gargoyle King, but it’s dumb enough he’s referring to Archie as a Paladin in the first place.
Was there anything I liked? I liked the Warden’s Last Supper scene with Archie just because you could start to tell he was a little bit bonkers even then. I did not like much of anything in the episode. But in an episode notable for lousy performances by not otherwise terrible actors, I felt the warden’s madness crescendoed properly throughout the entire episode. But that’s pretty much the only thing I liked.
This was REALLY bad. And it probably sounds like I’m a troll with all of the negative reviews I’ve been posting. But all of those reviews have been for Berlanti stuff. And they seemed to all go downhill almost all at once. If I really don’t want to be a troll wherever I post these reviews, I need to stop watching this show and the Arrowverse. And I’m at the point where I’m getting tempted. Berlanti has a TON of shows I watch. If I stopped watching them, I’d have a ton of extra free time on my hands. Berlanti seems to think that since we see these shows for free, quality is not an issue. Well, that only works if you believe your time is worth nothing. And after all of this mediocrity spread through all of these shows, I’m starting to realize I could probably cut back on my TV watching by several hours a week and not actually miss anything good. Will I have the guts to actually do that, or am I like every other internet troll everywhere, and all talk about that sort of thing? We’ll see. But I’m honestly not sure anymore. Which shocks me a little. 0.
The Good Place “Don’t Let The Good Life Pass You By”
That was amazing. The show at its best.
I think the biggest surprise for me was how quickly and unexpectedly the time on Earth ended. I was like “That was quick!”
Janet was SUCH a bad@$$ during the fight. I loved her thanking Jason for the save.
Jason was great. From his South Side pool, to his forgetting the coasters, to him saying evidence was a bad thing, I am reminded why I love him.
Doug is definitely a cautionary tale for Michael. Instead of proving to Michael that the point system works, he proves that it is meaningless and doesn’t work right. What a weird guy to be a celebrity in the Good Place.
This is the show I remembered and loved from the first two seasons. *****.
Blindspot “Ca-ca-candidate For Cri-cri-crime”
Weitz has really grown on me. I really love the guy now. His scene at the end with Reed was great. He is so much fun.
Speaking of which, I love that Rich is his Devil’s Advocate. Especially since he’s right.
Haven’t seen Smallville’s Callum Blue in anything in awhile. Dude could still be a leading man.
Jane is busted. No more happily ever after for her and Weller.
Looking forward to the next episode. This has been the best season so far. ****1/2.
Van Helsing “Hunted Down”
Ick on Mohammed and the mice. Sam’s “I kiss meeses to pieces,” was cringe too.
You know, Sam, you don’t actually HAVE to follow that imaginary woman’s orders. Mohammed killing Sam however seems MUCH more rational.
Loved the stuff with Axel “fixing the tire” at the rest stop. He is SO cool and DOES make everything sound cool.
I love that he’s amused with “Discussion over.”
Scab REALLY wanted to be made a sister. I doubt many of the other vampires at the end will be happy with that trade.
Axel’s group really screwed over Denver by losing the woman who became a vampire. This is gonna be a tough season finale.
A little more gory than I like, but it was still a good episode. ***1/2.
