Doctor Who "It Takes You Away" Review (Spoilers)

[matt_zimmer]

Also reviews for the latest episodes of Arrow, DC's Legends Of Tomorrow, The Flash, Black Lightning, Supergirl, Teen Titans Go!, DC Super Hero Girls, The Gifted, Marvel's Avengers: Black Panther's Quest, Big Hero 6: The Series, DuckTales, Star Wars Rebels, and LEGO Star Wars All-Star, the series premiere of Star Wars: Galaxy Of Adventures, the latest episode of Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest LEGO Jurassic World special, and the latest episodes of Transformers: Cyberverse, The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, Riverdale, Blindspot, and Van Helsing.



Doctor Who “It Takes You Away”

I am a little bit gobsmacked at the fact that the ratings have fallen so far this season, and it has been very poorly received by the fans. Honestly, the show hasn’t been this good in years. At least since Matt Smith’s first season. I do not get the complaints against Chibnall, especially since things are such a step up from both Stephen Moffat and Russell T Davies. I don’t understand the hatred. At all.

The Solitract is an amazing sci-fi idea. Amazing because it’s not only science fiction, it’s fantasy, specifically world-building mythology. Doctor Who has never strictly been a science fiction show, since science dictates so little of the logic of it. The Solitract is an excellent example of that.

LOL at One’s seventh grandmother telling him the second was an agent of the Zygons. That poor kid. No wonder he ran away.

I get the kid’s immediate disgust with Ryan. He is SO bad at Companioning, especially compared to Graham. Even if the father had just taken off because he was sick of the kid, you don’t say that to the kid. It’s also an unlikely answer because the TARDIS wouldn’t have brought them there if that were actually true. There is ALWAYS something for the Doctor to make better. And there wouldn’t be if their job was merely handing a blind kid over to a Norse orphanage.

The Doctor’s note on the wall was both insightful and scary at the same time.

I loved Graham saying to the image of Grace “Don’t do this to me,” upon seeing her. That line and that line reading tells me that particular senior romance is exactly as deep and epic as anything Stephanie Meyer will try to peddle you. That is not something someone says to his second rebound wife. This is deep and true epic love, and they loved each other more than she and Ryan’s father ever did.

And it’s cruel, and it hurts, and Graham realizes it can’t be Grace, because while Ryan was in danger, she’d want to get help to him. All throughout the season, I’ve been a little miffed at Ryan for refusing to call Graham Granddad. It’s because they were saving it for this. The first time Ryan says it isn’t when Graham wants him to say it. It’s when he absolutely NEEDS him to, and no other name will do. And it ties again into the show giving power to names and titles. No more so than that moment. And I freaking love that, and I freaking love this season. It gives the characters real human drama without making them suffering unending misery and torment because Davies and Moffat couldn’t think of any other ideas more interesting than the characters suffering. And Graham suffers. But there is light at the end of the tunnel for him, and a new beginning with his finally acknowledged grandson. I love it. I love everything about it.

I have a feeling that decades from now, this era of the show is going to be remembered as one of its best. And the thing most Whobies in the future will remember about the best season is how unpopular it was with audiences and fans as it was airing. I’ve been through this before in my fandom. Deep Space Nine is now universally considered the best Star Trek series, or at least the only one that still holds up in hindsight. And as it was going, I knew it was the best, while other Trekkies didn’t like it, and preferred Next Gen, and only the true Niners, and the cast and crew understood exactly how amazing and rare and wonderful a gift that show was while it was happening. It was the cult inside the cult. That is going to be Jodie Whittaker’s time on the TARDIS. 20 years from now she will be viewed as one of the greats, and future Whovians will look down at the current crop of Who fans the precise way I looked down on all the Trekkers who complained Deep Space Nine sucked at the time. History is going to vindicate both Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall. ****1/2.




Arrow “The Slabside Redemption”

That was full stop awesome. I do not need to equivocate or “Yeah, but” this specific review. All of my current problems with this show were irrelevant during this episode. It was full-stop amazing.

I am not all about the fight scenes on this show, but I think this was SO good. It’s everything everyone raves about the Daredevil fights scenes. But the Daredevil fights scenes don’t matter to me at all. As well-boarded and choreographed as Daredevil’s occasional one-shot fight scenes are, they don’t ultimately matter. He’s always fighting nameless thugs in those scenes. Arrow versus Diaz is actually personal. And his isn’t just about surviving. It’s also about saving the lives of the prison guards, and eventually the other prisoners. Add to that that this is the first step on Bronze Tiger’s redemption path, and it’s like the scene was just as action packed as a Daredevil fight, but with actual emotional stakes I was invested in. That was phenomenal. And honestly, if more fight scenes were like that, I’d be more about the fight scenes than I am. But I will recognize and enjoy what a rare gift this episode was for ANY superhero or genre show. It was amazing.

And how awesome was that last scene of the kiss between Oliver and Felicity as the camera pulled away to reveal the prison was on an island? I don’t know how Stanley expected to escape from that, but I doubt he died because we will not be that lucky.

He turned out to be a far more evil and worse person than I ever suspected. And he GOT Oliver good at one point in the episode, so Ollie has no choice but to humor his delusions, while he’s tied up. But he’s a monster.

They have been showing some nuance for Brick these past few weeks (and Turner notes things are not black and white in here) but in the end, Brick is a monster too. He cannot help himself.

I love that before Oliver locks Diaz in the cell, he takes the ripped photo for himself, and the book to give to Turner. The guy who plays the prison guard Oliver saved plays the lovable character of ex-vampire Julius on Van Helsing, and I love that by the end of the episode he is exactly as grateful to not only Oliver, but to Turner, as he should be. It felt like a turning point, and that Oliver left at least two people in that prison better than he found them. And I freaking love that.

The series is easier to love when there are no flashforwards in the episode. Another reason I resent them.

Kirk Acevedo has a bad rap for overacting on this show, but I tend to like Diaz’s over-the-top antics. And I found his scene on the phone in the visitor’s room quite personal and riveting. That being said, he probably over-emoted at several points in the episode past where he should have. It was an extreme episode and situation, so I get why he was so frayed, but I hope this isn’t the new normal for Acevedo and Diaz. It didn’t quite work for me, for the first time ever.

Speaking of emoting, I regret that Oliver is going to lose the full beard. Because it covers he face, Stephen Amell has taken extra care to emote with his eyes in an amazing way that he doesn’t do when the rest of his expressions are easier to read with less facial hair. It’s the same thing with Tom Hanks, and Amell does the same kind of nuances Hanks did in Cast Away. For some reason, after seeing that, I think the most perfect movie ever made (The Shawshank Redemption) would have been even MORE perfect had Tim Robbins had a full beard when he escaped. But the beard makes Amell’s eyes sad, and world-weary, and even gives his face a surprising amount of innocence. And I’m going to miss that.

I cannot say enough great things about this episode. The best episode the show has done in years. *****.

DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow “Tender Is The Nate”

Shocker of the night: Arrow was actually better than Legends. Didn’t see that coming.

Honestly, the whole episode was corny. There were three things I liked, but everything else made me roll my eyes.

1. I like that Ray was stuck in the letter the entire time, and heard everything. Were I Nora, I’d be mortified.

2. Caty Loitz is SUPER sexy in lingerie. I wished I was Ava in that moment. Also funny was how she instantly vanished, and was able to cover her tracks when Hank showed up.

3. Constantine was used the way I had been hoping he’d be used once he settled in on the ship. I wanted him to sort of become a background player like Rory whose reactions to everyone else’s drama were the funny thing, without being the person who caused the drama. Rory is funny because he’s an impartial observer. And I had hoped the same for John and it happened. He is much more appealing to me if he appears rarely, and isn’t the focus. It’s the same reason Creed was one of the most popular characters on The Office. No matter how much we loved him, and wanted to see more of him, the writers stubbornly (and wisely) refused our wish. 30 Rock did the opposite with Kenneth, and we wound up sick of him. Bill Murray has also made a career of using a small, memorable parts to be the best thing in the entire movie, and making you wish for more. I don’t want this show to turn into Constantine 2: With Timeships. It’s better for the health of the show if he’s merely part of the ensemble.

Unfortunately this particular bit of wisdom did not strike the producers to do with Mona. This is only her third appearance, right? The writers seem to be pushing her awfully hard on the viewer for being such an unimportant character. Felicity Smoak started off in a small role too, but they gauged audience reaction before finding more for her to do. Mona isn’t a terrible character but any means, but she NOT is the type of character that should be driving the main focus of one major plotline in her third episode ever. It borders on the surreal.

The rest of the episode was cheesy and predictable, and not as fun as most weeks. But I’m less mad than I should be since Arrow weirdly made up for it. **1/2.

The Flash “O Come, All Ye Thankful”

That was fine. No real complaints.

I mean, I suppose I could gripe about how unlikely is was that the mission lined up with the personal drama between Barry and Nora so perfectly, but that’s ALL television. And to be blunt, even if that is a bit clumsily written, and maybe Nora’s forgiveness at the end is a bit random and trite, that is not actually a trope I object to. I have always preferred wrap-up to realism in my stories, so I’ll take a corny, unearned, happy ending over everyone ending the episode sullen and miserable any day of the week. Every time. It’s why this show is better than Arrow in the first place.

The special effects in the climax were amazing. It’s been awhile since the show has done stuff like that, but I think back at how amazed I was at the action scenes every week in season 1, and am a little disappointed how relatively rare they became after that. They seemed to have a huge budget in season 1, and had to scale back in every season past that. Ralph Dibney is NOT the only character and concept who has suffered for it. Not by a longshot. Still, it was fun to just watch a scene and say, “Neat!” again.

I love that when Caitlin called Joss “Weather Witch” Cisco’s exact words are, “I’ll allow it.” I don’t know WHY I thought that was so fabulous and funny, but it was.

And yeah, Thanksgiving isn’t actually about giving thanks. It’s about eating good food and spending time with people you hopefully care about. Killer Frost is right that those suckers were over(or rather under)thinking it. And yeah, eating too much food is not just a holiday thing for Americans. We eat to excess EVERY day. Insightful line from Sherloque there.

What do I think of Cicada’s backstory? Honestly, it makes me LESS sympathetic if anything. He was always sort of a scumbag, and him not being so for one year of his life doesn’t justify anything he’s done. I’d believe he was doing it all for Gracie easier if he hadn’t said “I don’t want this kid,” (which she heard, that monster) the first day she arrived after her parents died, and then he immediately proceeded to feed her days old Chinese food for breakfast and made her cry. He sucks.

For the record, when everybody is held to account for Cicada’s crimes, that doctor who is covering for him deserves to spend the rest of her life in prison for multiple first degree murders. She literally knows he’s a serial killer, and is covering for him because she believes he’s killing the right people.

Also, it’s refreshing that they figured out who Cicada is already. Because he went unidentified in the original timeline, so this means changing the future for the better is not as hard as Savitar was making it seem.

Next week looks to be a killer episode. All in.

Good week. ****.

Black Lightning “The Book Of Blood: Chapter Three: The Sange”

That kind of didn’t all feel like the same episode to me. Out of the 45 minutes (sans commercials), the first half hour was about Looker and the Sange and was quite good. But the last 15 minutes was wrap-up with Gambi and Jen and Kahlil. And it was far longer than an epilogue should be.

But the Looker stuff was great. I love that Jefferson immediately says “You’re a racist!” upon seeing the Confederate flag. And instead of trying to disabuse him of this notion, even though she’s actually trying to handle and flatter him, the first place her mind goes is “minority privilege” which just proves his point. It’s a clear example of the fact that racists are quite dimwitted and that their rhetoric and buzzwords actually hurt and work against them.

Another hint racists are stupid: “I don’t get my power from the suit. But thanks for the recharge.” Idiots.

I love Jefferson punching the dude at the exact same moment he’s comforting the baby. I laughed at him saying “He was a bad man,” in that deep baby electronic voice of his. That was SO funny.

I like the woman who is helping Jennifer (I don’t recall her name). She’s good at her job. Why? Because even though the actual moral is that Jennifer is so powerful her parents should fear her, she uses the idea that it’s BECAUSE she’s so powerful that her parents should stand by her for the sake of her and world. That’s sage advice, and frankly it’s the great kind of advice Jefferson would give another parent of a troubled kid as a principle, which just shows Jefferson chooses his friends very wisely. I loved that idea.

Wasn’t crazy about the ending of Jennifer and Kahlil taking off, but as is most of television’s philosophy about any given boneheaded decision by the characters: “That’s a next week problem.” Other than that, I really enjoyed the episode. ****.

Supergirl “Bunker Hill”

That was a great episode if you want to get down to it. The superheroics were great, the pathos and stakes were real, and it had a killer cliffhanger. I will admit that right off the bat.

But I still didn’t like it. How could I? It was such a bummer on every level. Donald Trump does not actually run the Arrowverse. There is no reason Supergirl has to be as unpleasant a show as it is this season. It simply chooses to be. That’s not why I watch superhero shows. At all. Again I strongly considered ducking out of this season entirely, but Donald Trump only has the power to ruin this show if the producers let him.

The Brainy and Nia stuff was really strong. I thought his and Supergirl’s fight against the kidnappers was boss on every level. And he’s an Ed Wood nerd (as is Kara). And do you know what? From 3000 years in the future, it’s possible The Purge is considered a “Classic” movie. Ed Wood’s movies are technically classics too, but they still suck. It’s possible Brainy sees a similar history course for the torture porn fad. It can’t burn out soon enough for my liking.

Honestly, I thought a LOT less of Agent Liberty after this episode. Maybe my expectations should have ALWAYS been muted, but he’s the Big Bad of a superhero show. Just how easily Manchester completely and repeatedly punked him told me he’s got nothing. He doesn’t appear ex-military, and is not a superior fighter. Which tells me without his followers willing to die for him, and the secret ID he’s got nothing. The show has called him a terrorist before, but this is the first episode I’ve actually taken that notion at face value. He’s not a supervillain, he’s an everyday terrorist. Osama Bin Laden was a pretty frightening guy to me. But he certainly would be no match for Supergirl, and it’s weird the show is saying this continuity version of him actually is. And he’s not. He’s a punk.

All throughout the episode I was worried Manchester was gonna kill the wife. Or if I took Nia’s visions at face value, maybe Lockwood would himself to protect the secret. In hindsight, her chanting “Liberty! Liberty!” at the end actually makes me ambivalent over the heroes’ actual victory of saving her. The Universe is truly not better off for it, and it strikes me there are far more deserving people to be saved by Supergirl. Yeah, I know heroes don’t focus on WHO to save. But her specific save was the entire case of the episode. And it’s like after all that I wondered why they even bothered.

Baker concerns me. He is obviously the Trump stand-in on some level. He strikes me as a little bit more stable and professional that Trump, but he’s also erratic, a bit of a nationalist, and not particularly smart. Him worrying so much about his poll numbers also shows he values the wrong things. I think the biggest damage Trump did to this show by “winning” the election was that the producers felt they had to write out Lynda Carter’s awesome character in response. I LOVED that President. And I’m POed Trump took her away from me.

I was very fearful when he showed up at the end the series would go full Trump with him, and simply have him pardon Lockwood. It would have pushed the correct buttons, and made the focus of evil this season something entirely else, but I AM actually glad they went with him demanding Kara’s identity instead. You know, it’s not an unreasonable ask, all things considered. Except the guy who posited the question in the first place was utterly full of cr*p. He didn’t reveal himself to the world. He was freaking caught red-handed. Maybe if Supergirl were dumber, some of the Agents of Liberty would be able to out her themselves. But he’s acting like she’s operating under an unfair playbook that he only decries AFTER losing the game. And the fact that Baker is worried about that question coming from that specific person says he DOES value the wrong things. A strong President would send out a strong statement about WHY Agent Liberty was wrong to demand that after everything he was responsible for, and after all the good Supergirl has done, but Baker is both weak and a little bit dumb. He won’t stand by her against her critics because he’s a coward. But I will respect the fact that he only dismissed her instead of trying to take her into custody. I am convinced Trump would have tried the latter (and late pardoned Liberty).

And the “human rights activist thing” rankles me too. It’s like an American President calling Bin Laden a Muslim rights activist. Lockwood is a literal, first degree murderer and terrorist, they have dead to rights for myriad homicides. He ain’t no freaking activist.

And finally, the Elseworlds tease. And this is the entire problem with the Arrowverse in a nutshell. I should be elated to see John Wesley Shipp as the Flash. Except, apparently, every single person but him on his Earth was killed. Basically they brought back the continuity of the original Flash series just to kill off the entire cast in hindsight. And that’s infuriating. I was never a watcher of the original series. For most of its run it came on at the same time as The Simpsons, and I watched that instead. But if I WERE a fan of that show, I’d be POed. Big time. They better undo that at the end of this mess.

Sheesh. Once again the show delivers an excellent episode that I didn’t enjoy in the least. ***.




Teen Titans Go! “Justice League: America’s Next Top Talent Idol Star: Second Greatest Team Edition: Part 2, Alternate Ending”

On the one hand, it ALWAYS should have been B-E-R. On the other hand, if it WAS always B-E-R, there would be absolutely no wrap-up to the no-stakes prophecy thing. That was awesome, but I’m actually torn as to which ending I like better. ****.

DC Super Hero Girls “For The Girl Who Has Everything”

Wow, Supergirl is a small dreamer.

Your pop culture task for today. I want someone to tie up Alan Moore, wherever he may be. Put a camera on him a la Two Girls One Cup, and tape his entire reaction as he watches this episode. Then post the footage online. I guarantee it will a 100 times more entertaining than what we just saw. 0.




The Gifted “the dreaM”

Lorna stuff = Amazing. Everything else = Meh.

So her father IS Magneto after all. Makes sense. The end appears to be the birth of Polaris.

I love her sending Marcus the picture of Dawn at the end, and saying she was loved. That was a great moment, as was Lorna telling her Aunt she didn’t grow up with her to be protected from her father, but that her father sent her there to protect her from the world. That was everything coming around full circle.

That doctor seems nice, but her brother founding the Purifiers doesn’t sit right with me, nor does her goal of wiping out all Mutants powers. I don’t think the rest of the Struckers will like either of those two things either.

A solid week due to the Lorna stuff. ***1/2.




Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest “Descent Of The Shadow”

So, yeah, that just happened. I feel the need to destroy that now. Buckle up.

The show has a new savvy showrunner, it no longer has horrible dialogue, and the animation had been noticeably spiffed up. But at the end of the day, when all is said and done, it’s STILL “Avengers Assemble” and it still sucks.

Do you know the worst thing about the Zemo “twist”? The writers actually think I should be impressed by that, and think I never saw it coming. They are basically the slow six year old who takes a dump on his parents’ floor, and smears feces all over the wall, and looks proudly at his mommy and daddy when they come home to show them what HE just did. It’s the exact same mindset. Not feeding into it. This show sucks.

For the record, I knew in the back of my head it would happen, because the show DOES suck, and when a failing show does a marked improvement in such a short space of time, it never actually lasts. The fourth season of The Batman is hands down one of the very best seasons in all of DC animation. But it didn’t stop season five from going right back to sucking. But just because I knew it would happen, doesn’t make my disappointment in the show lessened, or my disgust a non-factor because I saw this coming. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether it was predictable or not to me personally. It was a cr*p twist if I had seen it coming or not.

Another thing to state this show sucks. It has Shuri torturing Klaw for information. The writers are asking us to think her hardcore and scary for that, but I just thinks she’s horrible instead. I’m pretty pro-the troops, but I ain’t Team Abu Graib and I never was. It’s weird the show wants me to actually like her for that.

The worst thing about the Zemo fake-out is that it makes T’Challa look stupid for trusting him. I hate that. I hate that so much.

Oh, and don’t you just LOVE that “shocker” ending of Cap getting killed off and Widow framing T’Challa for his “murder”? I will take back every bad thing I ever said about this show if it actually kills Steve off and he never returns. But I’m not actually stupid. 0.

Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest “The Last Avenger”

This show is off the rails. I’d say the quality was nice while it lasted, but truly, it did not last very long. And it truthfully wasn’t THAT great. Unlike The Batman’s amazing fourth season, this was just notable because it was the first Marvel cartoon in years to cross the threshold of “pretty good”. That is not quite the achievement people praising this season actually think it is.

Let me see if I’ve gotten this straight. Widow is NOT the shapeshifting chick, and is sticking by her story of T’Challa murdering Steve to get the crown? That is absolutely lunacy on every storytelling level you can possibly imagine. The last episode ended with T’Challa painfully screaming Steve’s name as he promises to not leave him behind, after Steve shouts for him to save himself. Apparently, Natasha just missed all that yelling and drama? And if she couldn’t hear what they were saying, why is she so certain of her interpretation of events? How could she “know what she saw” if she clearly did not hear the proper context for it?

And everybody in the theater cheered at that. But I didn’t cheer. I stood up in that theater and I yelled “That isn’t what happened the last time!”

I think the least satisfying thing to me was T’Challa closing Wakanda’s borders. That was a purely political act, and the show doesn’t bother exploring the fall-out and ramifications of that. There will be Wakandans stranded in our world outside of that border, and even if they were allowed back in, they would have to leave any loved ones they made in the outside world behind. It’s T’Challa starting the process of family separation at the US border. And this is supposedly the hero of the show. And what about any economic deals his people were assured they would be allowed to make with the borders open? He’s destroying the Wakandan economy by doing that. Why didn’t we even see a scene of T’Challa speaking to his people as king to make assurances that their livelihoods that they may have created for themselves in the outside world will not actually be obliterated? T’Challa speaks of what a king is and isn’t expected to do with the Avengers. He’s all “I don’t take orders” and that’s fine if he decides to be a King. But a King should also be looking out for the larger ramifications of their actions to everybody in their kingdom, instead of making such a unilateral decision for everyone else without them knowing beforehand. It’s messy, and the show thinks the Wakandan stuff only effects T’Challa and Shuri. And it’s the fact that they are working out their personal dramas at the expense of the rest of the kingdom which is why I’m mad. And I’m madder at the fact that the rest of the kingdom doesn’t seem to matter to the producers either.

And while I’m bringing up politics, T’Challa is throwing around the “Act of war” accusation far more heavily than someone in his position should. Were I him, I would be REAL careful about that. The King and ruler of the sovereign nation of Wakanda is being accused of murdering Captain Freaking America, the literal symbol of America in the Marvel Universe. Basically, if an act of war was declared, it was that T’Challa thought he didn’t actually have to answer for that any further. And it’s like the writers aren’t thinking about the actual implications of blowing up the Avengers if it’s T’Challa blowing them up. You can do that with Hulk or Tony. And the MCU proved you can even do that with Cap. But as long as T’Challa rules a country, it is the worst plot turn you can possibly imagine, especially if the writers don’t even THINK to address all of the bad things that will happen due to it.

Tony said something interesting. That T’Challa building all of those secret jets all over the city means he never trusted them. That has to be true, and that means T’Challa sucks. He’s talking about how Tony doesn’t trust him, but this is a recent problem. T’Challa had those jets lying around all along. Not to mention building a weapon that could take down Thor specifically. Maybe T’Challa didn’t actually murder Cap. But what his actions in this episode have revealed about the way he secretly worked against the team, it’s not like he’s giving them any plausible reason to believe he’s innocent.

Hulk was noticeably absent in the season premiere, and he didn’t show up in either part either. Is there some sort of rights issues involved? Because the thing I DO love about this show (which goes for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes too) is that Hulk is the most sensible and rational Avenger. It’s not even a contest. He’s a big picture thinker, and more moral than the other members of the team save Steve Rogers. I kind of feel like if he were here, he could have talked things down a bit the way Miss Marvel tried to, but failed because she’s a rookie, and no-one listens to rookies. Maybe that’s the real reason he isn’t.

Man, I am unhappy. What happened, Geoffrey Thorne? I thought you were cool. 0.




Big Chibi 6: The Shorts “Snoring”

I like that this round of shorts aren’t focusing exclusively on Baymax and are giving the rest of the cast something to do. ****.

DuckTales “Last Christmas!”

Ooh, boy. This is gonna be a long review. Buckle up.

First off, the episode is amazing. Should just mention that straight off the bat. I have so much to get to, and I wanted to make it a PROMINENT part of the review. It was an excellent episode that I loved. It’s the reasons I loved it that are gonna take awhile to get off my chest.

It struck me as beyond weird that the original show didn’t have a Christmas episode like TaleSpin and Darkwing Duck did. But I’m almost glad to have waited this long. Because the old show had gotten pretty long in the tooth by the third season (both Gizmoduck and Bubba Duck EQUALLY sucked, and no-one can convince me differently), and I know they would have just ignored Donald. By saving it for the reboot, Donald isn’t only present, he’s an intregal part of the adventure.

And just like that we see why they didn’t use the Mickey’s Christmas Carol Ghosts. Jiminy Cricket cannot turn evil. And that was a great twist, especially with the redemption at the end. Although I will admit total disappointment that the Wendigos are not actually Peewegahs.

Or are they? This show keeps giving fans stuff we asked about and clarifies them. Dumbella and Della are the same person. Dumbella is just an affectionate nickname Donald has for her, that she eventually grows fond of. That is this show answering a question that didn’t even need to be asked. But the show does it anyways.

And Russi Taylor as Young Donald was genius casting. I wonder why Dewey doesn’t correctly point out he is easier to understand as a youth. Taylor puts a LOT more duck effect in her voice than she used for the nephews on the original series. It’s a passable combination of both. A lot of people will be geeked out she said “Quackaroonie!” like the nephews used to. Not me. That was one of the things the old show did that I did not enjoy at all. So it means less to me than most.

For the record, both Kid Donald and Kid Della are amazing at the adventure stuff. Frankly, Donald is better and smarter at it than all three nephews, and while maybe Della isn’t quite as amazing as Webby (at least as a kid) I can see why Webby idolizes her so much.

Square eggs reference. Also the Dippy Sea Captain (Captain Foghorn) from the original series makes a cameo at Scrooge’s first Christmas party.

For the record, Jack MacBrayer is a good kids cartoon voice over actor. It’s just, I’m STILL so freaking sick to death of Kenneth. I tried not to let that transfer to this, but that’s my entire baggage with the actor. He’s good in other stuff, but I was so fed up with his most famous role by the end of 30 Rock, that I kind of feel that way about ALL of his characters. Not his fault. That is squarely on Tina Fey. Maybe she’s not as perfect as everyone thinks she is.

I’m a little disappointed “Christmas On Bear Mountain” is a fictional movie in this Duckverse, but the same disappointment held for Darkwing Duck, so this is not new.

I love the notion that Scrooge secretly loves Christmas. When Webby is amazed that “He said it!” she knows exactly who he supposed to be. That is the proper geek moment. I like that the Ghosts were looking to haunt a different Scrooge, got the wrong one, and stuck around because this one was way more fun. Can you blame them? Eventual redemption or not, Ebenezer Scrooge was a total drag.

I like the Ghost of Christmas Present using his present gimmick to hit on a younger Mrs. Beakly, and her only having eyes for Christmas Future. Don’t sneer at the casual hook-ups. It IS a Christmas party.

The old Beagle is not actually named, but that is certainly Blackheart Beagle, the worst of them all. After what Don Rosa had him do in the 50th Anniversary Scrooge story, Blackheart wound up the most detestable villain Scrooge ever faced. And it’s not even a contest from anybody else (although the Black Knight is pretty morally indefensible too). Even Magica was concerned about how nuts Blackheart’s plan to destroy Duckburg was. He was the Comics Duckverse version of Osama Bin Laden. And that’s not hyperbole. I suspect if that particular story HAD been written after 9/11, it would have been simply scrapped by the editors. But I see those parallels in hindsight. Boy, do I ever.

Kid Donald and Della are very firm about their time travel rules. Another reason they are better at this than our kids.

The last shot of Della on the moon was a good reminder of what the stakes of the season are. But to be perfectly honest, it didn’t actually add anything. We didn’t get any new information. The best that it said was that the writers knew we were thinking about her, and that they’ll get to her eventually.

Speaking of which, the biggest misfire of the episode is not learning why Scrooge so personally hates Santa Claus. It’s the one part of Christmas he’s legitimately humbug about. Santa also existed in Carl Barks’ continuity, but he clearly did not have the same epic backstory he does here. Theory: Scrooge probably has a good reason for hating him. In fact, it’s more than likely this continuity’s Santa is a total jerk. I’m miffed we don’t get any real clues. I suppose they are setting it up for a future Christmas episode, but will we REALLY be that lucky? Scripted shows I like seem to be being canceled left and right, and while I know this show has a third season coming, if there isn’t a Christmas episode, that’s probably it. I hope there’s a Christmas episode next year detailing how and why Santa Claus is a secret scumbag. And if it IS a proper Christmas episode for kids, Santa will be redeemed. Me looking forward to that is all I really want next Christmas.

I like that the end titles were done up like Mickey’s Christmas Carol. Unfortunately Disney Channel shrunk them during the original airing. I going to watch that again On Demand where Disney always keeps the end credits. I’m thinking Disney Channel should have had a heads up about this and kept them for the original airing, but some wires may have been crossed.

The Menorah on the sweater says Launchpad is Jewish. The fact that he doesn’t know the words to 12 Days of Christmas might be another clue to that, although that might simply be because almost nobody remembers all of the words to that. The sweater got me thinking though.

I like that Scrooge correctly points out that having Christmas lights is not a good idea while he employs a pilot who always crashes his plan into LANDING lights. A similarly good Donald reaction was him slowly walking away when Scrooge starts pitching a fit about Santa.

Is it over? Is my review done? I’m sure I missed a ton of points, but those are the ones that most jumped out at me. This is probably my favorite episode so far. *****.




Muppet Babies “A Very Muppet Babies Christmas / Summer’s Super Fabulous Holiday Surprise”

A Very Muppet Babies Christmas:

I love the “Dun dun dun!” that played when Kermit realized Fozzie gave him his gift.

I agree with him. It wasn’t such a bad present after all.

LOL at Miss Nanny’s new tights! She is SO easy to shop for.

Cute cartoon. ***1/2.

Summer’s Super Fabulous Holiday Surprise:

As I recall this isn’t the first time Piggy’s narcissism has ruined somebody else’s party. Girl is a menace and why we aren’t allowed to have nice things.

Funniest bit was when Summer and Animal were playing the drums, she suggests to Animal to get everyone else to play with them. He simply says “No,” and she brightly says “Okay!” It doesn’t take much to please Summer.

I am amused by the notion that Summer flies South for the Holiday on an airline. I didn’t know they traveled to the South Pole. To be honest, it makes sense because Penguins can’t actually fly, but it was still funny.

Piggy sucks. ***.

Episode Overall: ***1/2.




Star Wars Resistance “Secrets And Holograms”

You know, at the end of the day, Kaz is just a kid. And all kids really want to do is play videogames. Bonus points for him realizing how it helped his mission too.

Buggles is a good name for a gross pet. I like that the Droid is a little bit OCD around him, and talks in a scary male voice at intruders. Her also noting that Ball Droids are untrustworthy suggests there is definitely a class system among the Droids. It’s brushed by, but I noticed it.

Here’s something about Doza Kaz may not realize. But just because you used to be in the Empire, doesn’t mean you are a bad guy. Agent Kallus proved that on Rebels. The problem is the fact that he kept the uniform for 30 years. THAT is actually alarming. That’s something Nazis do.

But I don’t see Doza’s motives as ultimately harmful. Just because he doesn’t seem to understand the First Order intends to make itself The New Normal. He expects to go on a cruise with Torri when this is all over, without realizing his complicity means it will never end. He strikes as a bit clueless but ultimately, harmless outside of his dress-up fetish. We’ll see.

I liked the moment with Torri correctly guessed Kaz was a spy and he half-heartedly denied it. Both of them knew the truth in that moment, but didn’t push it any further than that, because it could have made things difficult if either had. And I like that in a franchise where adults do nothing but complicate the lives of everybody else, the kids in this franchise tend to keep it pretty simple. Which is how it should be.

This show is really growing on me. ****.

LEGO Star Wars All-Stars “Scouting For Leia / A Mission With Maz”

Scouting For Leia:

We don’t actually learn the Freemakers fates here, but it sounds like it wasn’t terrible.

Glad Grabala the Hutt made it to The Force Awakens era. He was was right about something. Darth Vader does NOT seem the family type. Ren namedropping him that way would probably make him very unhappy.

Good cartoon. ****.

A Mission With Maz:

I am fascinated by the idea that Roger can be controlled, but still be completely lucid, and able to communicate with his friends. That is a VERY interesting notion to me, especially considering how much I hate mind control.

Return of the word “poodoo”. Let’s just say I didn’t miss it.

Weird that they left us on a cliffhanger. It was a good episode though. ****.

Episode Overall: ****.

Star Wars: Galaxy Of Adventures “Luke Skywalker: The Journey Begins”

Dear God, the animation in this is absolutely gorgeous. *****.

Star Wars: Galaxy Of Adventures “Darth Vader: Power Of The Dark Side”

Whoa! Intense! Don’t see Disney XD greenlighting THAT! *****.

Star Wars: Galaxy Of Adventures “Luke Vs. The Wampa: Caravan Escape”

Pretty cool. ****.

Star Wars: Galaxy Of Adventures “R2-D2: A Loyal Droid”

Wow, Carrie Fisher’s voice sounded a lot different when she was younger.

Did Threepio have a silver right leg in the first movie? I don’t remember that. ****.

Star Wars: Galaxy Of Adventures “Chewbacca: The Trusty Co-Pilot”

It’s good to hear Harrison Ford’s voice, but Han’s character design is off. ***1/2.

Star Wars: Galaxy Of Adventures “Darth Vader: Might Of An Empire”

Not much happens in this short besides Vader walking into a room, but it’s still riveting. ****1/2.




Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “Al Be Back”

Wow, that was dark and cynical. I’d almost accuse it of being too much so, but the truth is this is what I’ve come to expect from this specific show. I’ll allow it.

But this version of the Turtles will never be heroes, not because they are incompetent like the 2012 versions. It’s because they simply don’t care. All that mayhem and destruction disturbs them mostly because their first musical gig was ruined. They are incredibly self-involved, and the show seems to be a taking a specific shot at the YouTube generation because of them. But man, having the music be so bad that all of the robots committed suicide in response is freaking grim. That bear dropping himself into the dunk tank to electrify himself was hilarious and horrific at the same time. And when the Cajun Bear finally is able to speak English properly, and wants to reform and live a normal life, the show is sadistic enough to simply knock his head off instead. Any other franchise I would be in conniptions. But this has ALWAYS been this specific show, even if it was never this harsh before.

Donnie can’t think of any reason why their music soothing a crowd of rampaging robots wouldn’t work. Remember, Donnie is supposed to be the scientist among them.

I love Leo’s line reading of “Doesn’t ring s a bell? Hmmm?” And equally funny was Donnie saying right back, “No, that doesn’t sound like me.”

I laughed out loud at Splinter singing opera. In reality, it turns out he’s the only one of them with any real talent. Also great was Raph’s soul voice. Which tells me his actor is a legit voice actor, and is either effecting a voice for Raph or for Soul Raph. I haven’t heard his regular voice so I don’t know which. But he’s a legit cartoon actor. They did not just grab a random tough guy off the street.

Man, that was SUCH a bummer. That I probably shouldn’t have enjoyed as much as I did. ***1/2.




LEGO Jurassic World: The Secret Exhibit: Parts 1 & 2

I was almost going to say I was disappointed. But how could I be? I have no investment in LEGO Jurassic World, and I knew going in the special would probably suck. What alarms me is that it sucks as much as does. It does not need to be this bad. The Lego DC, Star Wars, and Marvel stuff all have their various charms, and sort of poke at their franchises in a fun way. But the Jurassic World canon only extends to five movies (so far). There is literally nothing in them to geek out to. Maybe the special thought I’d think it was cool Denny Neidermeyer was Denys Nedry’s nephew, but there was really nobody else it could be.

For the record, this special got Nedry’s mission wrong. He wasn’t evil and looking to cause chaos. He was greedy and looking to get a payday. It’s a bit appalling his nephew is portraying him as an agent of evil when he simply wanted to get paid for selling everyone else out.

And the special didn’t really get what makes the Jurassic World franchise work. The Raptors in the special are all good and friendly to Owen. That’s not what the franchise has ever been. Every single dinosaur in Jurassic Park and World is actually morally neutral. Sometimes they’ll help the heroes, sometimes they’ll eat them. They aren’t domesticated pets that Owens knows how to treat right, and the domineering guy is getting wrong. In reality, Owen is flying by the seat of his pants with those creatures every time he interacts with them. They are not his pets, they are the creatures in his care who only sometimes do what he says.

Speaking of Owen, that is a terrible soundalike to Chris Pratt. Lego specials in general have terrible soundalikes to famous people. By why couldn’t they do what the Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon did and hired a guy (Will Friedle) who while sounding nothing like Pratt, got the performance of Pratt down pat? I would not even objected if the special got Friedle himself. But with that voice, Owen is a macho man’s man adventurer which was never his deal while Pratt played him.

To be honest, all of these complaints are secondary to the fact that the special isn’t the least bit funny. Every single joke is obvious and telegraphed a million miles away. That often goes for some of the DC and Marvel projects too, but those always have other cool things in them to recommend. Because there is nothing else nerdy going on (not even Nedry) there is nothing to distract me from how much this outright sucks. *.




Transformers: Cyberverse “Siloed”

Best episode so far.

I groaned at the end. I kind of wanted Windblade to escape that on her own. She was more than capable of it. Stupid male-centric toyline, always gotta get Bee in, even when the episode don’t even need him to work.

Acid Storm seems to have a slight bit of a conscience. Who knew?

Thundercracker seems to be the Decepticon office dolt. He’s Jerry from Parks and Rec. And if we want to mix up out Office Mockumentary characters, Slipstream seems to be Michael Scott in the boss being secretly dumb and having no control over the situation. And Shockwave is Jan. Of course. The crazy and scary guy everyone fears who only shows up when you mess up. And like Michael and Jan, Slipstream and his sexual tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Or maybe not. Because as stupid as Jan thought Michael was, I can’t ever picture her telling him that they’d need a competent office drone to fix the bridge, or at least instructions for dummies... which he is transmitting for her. That struck me as my favorite moment on the show so far.

Dynamite episode. *****.




The Simpsons “Daddicus Finch”

Dear Al Jean,

Thank you very much for not ONCE referencing Go Set A Watchman. It would have been the easiest way out of the dilemma. But Go Set A Watchman is the precise reason we aren’t allowed to have nice things. Thank you for the nice episode instead.

Gratefully yours,
Matt Zimmer.

And when I say it would have been the easiest way out of the episode, I’m not kidding. Because they didn’t use it, the ending felt a little soft and mushy. But I’d prefer soft and mushy over Lisa being traumatized in that specific fashion.

And it WAS nice episode. But to be blunt, I felt a few of the political jabs missed the mark. First off, Trump voters LOVE to be interviewed. They are literal camera hogs. The show pretending differently is a funny, unexpected joke, but as far as things going wrong in this country are concerned, they are an equal part of the problem.

Secondly, I disliked the shot at the South Homer takes about racism existing there back when the book was written, but now it exists everywhere. It’s a funny way to point out how bad things currently are, but Homer is wrong. It’s ALWAYS been bad everywhere. I say this as someone who grew up in Massachusetts, one of the most liberal states in the country, and one of the only two states Ronald Reagan didn’t carry in his second term. But it’s everywhere here, usually by people who would never say it to a black person’s face, but consider the fact that I’m white means that I’m cool with it. And the fact that on more than one occasion I have held my tongue to keep the peace, that means I’m a part of it too, whether I want to be or not. Pretending racism started in the South is misremembering why it was and IS so insidious. It wasn’t just a localized thing that a group of backwards people believed and engaged in. It effects and STILLS effects everyone. I already know Al Jean is white, and he’s also a male liberal. But only a white male liberal would make that specific joke. It is not true to anyone else’s real-world experiences.

We learned that Superintendent Chalmers is Jewish and that Shauna is his daughter. I wouldn’t have guessed either thing before tonight.

Grandpa thinking he’s still got it for the reason he does, means he really doesn’t.

Speaking of which, I love the notion that Lisa can beat up Bart. That should be true. Lisa is a fighter in every sense of the word, and Bart avoids and backs down to bullies at every turn. He’s very lucky that because she isn’t a bully herself, that he’s never landed in her crosshairs before. This and the thunder punch she landed on him in The Simpsons Movie says he should be treating her better.

More roles for JK Simmons please. He knocks it out of the park every time.

Speaking of which, for once Jon Lovitz was tolerable. For the record, it amuses me that Llewellyn Sinclair is down to slumming in school plays. That is just a perfect ending to a guy that ridiculous, who considers bringing cupcakes to school as investing in the production. Is his sister in jail yet? She should be.

Speaking of unanswered questions, it sounds again like Lenny has a really interesting backstory.

While it is true Netflix has some amazing stuff, that is mostly due to the fact that they will literally air anything. Just by the matter of random luck, some of it is bound to be good, and even great. But lord, they stream a LOT of cr*p too. That Duffman thing is barely an exaggeration of a joke.

The live-action footage works and doesn’t work at the same time. Because it’s black and white, you can’t prove Gregory Peck doesn’t have yellow skin in this Universe. And yet, he clearly has five fingers and no overbite, so it DOES break the reality a little.

It was a nice little episode. ****.




Bob’s Burgers “UFO No You Didn’t”

The past couple of seasons have said something to me about Tina. Tina does not have any friends. She has kids she hangs out with, but that’s because they go to school together, or are in the general area. As far as friendships go, she doesn’t have any. Why?

Because she can’t be bothered to make the freaking board. After a week’s notice on the last freaking day. When push comes to shove, Tina has no friends because she isn’t a friend worth having. I’m impressed her nice little speech at the end changed Henry’s mind, but his opinion was the correct one all along. It was more or less Stephen Hawking’s precise feeling about the subject. If aliens knew we existed, they’d be so far above us they’d simply consider us a resource to exploit. And that is a common sense and rational response. We would actually do the same to them.

That being said, Henry going through all that trouble to disrupt the message was pointless. That barn door has already been opened. Earth has ALREADY sent out similar messages of greeting (albiet not as lame as Tina’s) in the 50’s and 60’s, and if aliens DO exist and heard it, they are already coming for us, and there’s nothing we can do about it now. Henry’s warning would have maybe worked better 60 years ago.

I love that Linda is so dumb she doesn’t understand Mike the mailman’s sarcasm, and thinks he actually LIKES carrying packages. She’s so dumb.

So is her husband. Who buys 5 kids’ coat racks on sale on the internet, without finding out whether or not they could be returned and refunded? If Bob really wanted to decide with coat rack he wanted better, he could actually put in a little effort and have done some freaking research. Most people aren’t as lazy as he is about something like this. And maybe he should have laughed at Teddy’s sneezy joke when he made it. Too late now.

The ending of the customers coming over to their restaurant because they had coat racks and Jimmy Pesto didn’t was unearned simply because there wasn’t really polishing any of the turd that was Bob’s stupid mistake. But the shot of them hugging at the end shows that it IS a moral victory, which is the only real kind left open for them to claim, so it’s kind of nice at the same time.

I was annoyed by the characters in this. **1/2.




Family Guy “Con Heiress”

It was close. The Simpsons had a really good week, but in the end, I’m going to say Family Guy won the night. A rare occurrence, especially on weeks The Simpsons delivers the goods. But I definitely enjoyed this more.

It did everything right. I didn’t even LIKE the premise of the episode. But the show did something it never bothers to do in episodes where Brian is horrible. It gave me multiple excuses not to actually be mad at all. They never bother to do that. All throughout the episode I’m like “It’s out of character for Stewie to not be trying to shut this down, and is actually IN on the con,” but ultimately it doesn’t matter because he and Brian were both being scammed. By Meg all along. And suddenly instead of being reprehensible, and me hating Brian and Stewie, I laugh instead. Meg scamming them made everything all right. It amazes me the show doesn’t usually bother to do something like that.

I would never bash Family Guy if this were simply a normal week. If Family Guy were a better show this would and SHOULD be an average week. Because it isn’t, I’m frustrated we don’t get this in non-gimmick episodes more than we do. If Family Guy were a great show, I would love to consider this episode average. Because it’s been on such a suck-tear for the past few seasons, I love it instead.

But can you actually blame me due to the name thing? As Brian was first reciting it off I thought it was a dumb and random joke that was a little bit funny as it kept going and not stopping. Clever for what it was. And then Stewie repeats all that nonsense back to him verbatim and it is suddenly ten times funnier than Sideshow Bob and the neverending rakes ever were. That was genius. And then when they went back to it with the swing door, I’m roaring, and then to cap if off Quagmire says that was a well-greased hinge. And just to make things absolutely perfect Tom Tucker flatly refuses to repeat all that on the news.

What I love and appreciate most about that joke is that it did not need to be animated to work. It’s mostly a verbal joke, and the stuff with the swinging door would have worked fine in live-action. What I love about the joke is the thing I love most about Family Guy and its approach to humor. It considers animation a medium to the comedy, but not necessarily where the comedy comes from. And that’s how animation, and frankly comic books should be treated. Creators should be allowed to do long wordplay jokes in cartoons, or have long involved conversations with nothing else going on. Everybody treats the fact that animation can do anything as meaning that animation is a genre, and should only be used for certain things. But if it CAN do anything, that SHOULD mean anything. Family Guy correctly views it as a medium, and tells ALL kinds of jokes. And the observational ones always wind up my favorites. And as much smack as I give this show, and as bad as those first 50 episodes used to be, it’s the fact that Family Guy doesn’t act like a cartoon for every single joke it tells is its actual value to me. It makes it special, even when it is otherwise p*ssing me off. And I love when the show does stuff like that. I think all animation should be doing that to be honest, and the medium would be better for it.

Also, I must gently point out that this is the precise type of long joke the show SHOULD be doing if it finds itself with a too short runtime. I hate the Giant Chicken fights and Conway Twitty because the show isn’t bothering to actually be funny. This is the precise way the show should pad out a short episode.

And judging by the fact that Herbert got an (underwhelming) musical number, the episode was already short as heck.

I love the passive aggressive alarm clock, and hyenas ARE that pathetic in real life. I also love the parrot at the zoo lowering everyone’s expectations after Peter’s nonsense. That was random and funny.

It appears Quagmire can understand Stewie as long as he isn’t aware it’s Stewie when he first makes contact. I found his showing up at the house at the end a VERY gray area, but as far and Stewie and the adults understanding him go, the show ALWAYS wants us to question it. As we should.

The Herbert stuff was the weak point in the episode. The idea that the pedophile ALWAYS grows back is the correct moral. Except I do not like them referencing Groot to do it. I don’t like that one bit.

But everything else in the episode fired on all cylinders. Make this your New Normal, Family Guy. Your show will be better for it. ****.




Riverdale “Chapter Forty-One: Manhunter”

I’ve been grousing all season about the show, but do you know what? That did not actually suck. I was entertained. Mostly appalled at the ending with Jughead leaving Betty without telling her, and her winding up in the nuthouse.

Seriously. Is there an award for worst fictional mother? Because I think Alice Cooper may bypass Luanne Cartman, Norma Bates, and Lois Griffin. I mean she sends Betty to the same institution that abused her other daughter. And Polly probably okayed this too. Eff her too.

I cannot believe Jughead left when he did and didn’t say goodbye. I suppose he and Archie will have a road adventure next week, and when Jughead calls to check in and finds out where Alice put her they’ll race home to save her. Jeez, what it takes for those kids to experience even SLIGHT normalcy.

For the record? Archie leaving town? Smart play. After all that town put him through, screw them. I don’t actually want him to leave. But it was the right move that he did whether I liked it or not.

That last shot of all of the paintings in the nuthouse of the Gargoyle King was this show actually being good again. It’s been awhile, but I seem to recall several last closing shots in the first two seasons as awesome as that when I binged it over the summer. Granted, they didn’t make as much of an impression as cliffhangers because I could immediately watch the next episode, but this felt absolutely right.

Really good week. ****.




Blindspot “Case: Sun, Moon, And The Truth”

Well, that was significant. This was literally the first episode I ever liked Weller.

He’s usually a moron, but he was surprisingly insightful tonight. He correctly points out that he did every part of her plan right and fell in love with her. Remy’s problem is that Jane fell in love with HIM. That’s HER weakness, not his. I also really dug when she claimed Jane was a damsel in distress, that Weller says she didn’t understand them at all. Yeah, maybe the plan WAS for Weller to see her that way, but because of the muscle memory and the fact that she kicked so much butt means he never did. If anything Jane probably saw HIM that way.

Frowned upon Rich calling Arthur an anteater. He’s an aardvark. Normally this is minutia an adult wouldn’t care about. But it’s Rich. He should know that, especially since he works with the daughter of another PBS Kids legend. Still Rich was delightful in every other way this episode.

Speaking of which, I think Weitz’s line “I cannot wait to understand what you could possibly mean by that” may have been the greatest line ever uttered on the show. Chances are I’m wrong, and Rich has a few goodies to his credit I’m not remembering, but I cannot imagine a Rich line possibly being as layered as that. Rich himself maybe. His quips? No, the look on Aaron Abrams face said everything and nothing at the same time. It’s easy to see why Reed doesn’t trust him. He is impossible to read. Which is valuable. Let’s hope he’s on our side.

What a great episode. ****1/2.




Van Helsing “Loud Love”

I’m with Julius. I hate Scab. I can’t wait until he keeps his promise and kills him.

That poor party. They were regular Cassandras, weren’t they?

I liked Caitlin for what she was. For a blackmailer she was chipper. It’s amazing she never saw what Sarah did coming, which shows how isolated and cut off from the world they are. That would have been our characters’ Tuesday. Instead she’s actually surprised. Denver was always doomed.

More of the old Flesh returning. Remind me never to deny this guy. The first guy behind the counter stops thinking he’s funny the moment he plans his death. And him getting the information then and there says that guy’s a an ahole and that was strictly a power trip. I took special notice that Phil made sure to shoot the guy in the vest. Frankly that was NOT a courtesy he needed to offer to get what he wanted. If things hadn’t just gone to hell the way they did, I’d suggest that guy should later thank him.

I love that Julius doesn’t know the expression “p*ssed in your corn flakes” and has old-world values in asking Frankie to “Allow him” to ask her out. I regret Frankie getting turned because she also told Julius crossly there WOULD be a conversation in their future where he told her everything. Now that conversation seems very unlikely if not impossible. Maybe if Scarlet actually manages to undo the Vampire Apocalypse. Until then that was the show foreshadowing nothing.

That birth was as horrific as anything the show has done with vampires. And yeah, I won’t be back next season. Because of moments like that, and all of the kids getting killed.

Intense episode. ****.