Tuesday, June 30, 2020
My Review of Doom Patrol's 2x01: "Fun Size Patrol"
Written by Jeremy Carver & Shoshana Sachi
Directed by Christopher Manley
Dorothy: "It's time for bed. We have to go to sleep. All of us."
It's been such a long time since the end of the first season for me that I have to admit to forgetting the fact that our main characters (minus Larry) were shrunk and yeah, that made up the majority of this second season premiere.
From where we left our band of misfits, things were certainly boiling over as Larry wasn't yielding results in restoring his friends to normal size while everyone else was either at each others throats, getting restless, killing rats and then there's Dorothy Spinner to add into the mix.
Nicely played by Abigail Shapiro, Dorothy seems to be the main focus of the second season and in particular with this episode as we learned a bit of her backstory and saw how the Chief, Cliff and Jane mainly interacted with her.
It can be weary adding cutesy precocious children into the mix and the affected English accent that Shapiro uses for Dorothy could've easily sent the character into the land of annoying but so far, I think we're onto a winner here. She might physically appear to be an eleven year old but she's actually in her nineties played by an actress in her twenties.
Dorothy's story opened with a flashback where she was kept as a circus freak and one of her imaginary friends came to life and killed all the cruel people who were jeering at her. In this episode, she seemed to genuinely care for her father while also trying to connect with Jane and Cliff. In the case of the latter, that also lead to Dorothy being freaked out when a mother rat ate the weakest of her litter.
As for the gang themselves, there were plenty of nice moments, particularly with Cliff and Jane and Rita and Victor as one of our main character now wants to be an actual hero. Of course, amusing as the shrunken antics were to watch, this episode also made the wise decision to bring back Constantine wannabe Willoughby and have the gang back to their normal size while a cryptic plot surrounding the Chief's imminent demise could be the thing to send Dorothy over the edge as the season progresses.
- The title sequence has remained the same but the HBO Max logo now appears instead of the DC Universe one.
- Dorothy's imaginary friends include Herschel and Darling as well as a mysterious voice. Larry also had flashbacks to his son Gary, who has recently died.
- Victor left the manor at the end of this episode, which didn't seem to faze Rita while Jane's personalities banded together as a change was needed.
- Chronology: 1927 London for the Dorothy flashback and I assume 2019 or 2020 for the present day scenes.
Fun Size Patrol kicked things off in a rather low key but delightful fashion. I've missed the quirkiness of this show (it could sometimes give Legends Of Tomorrow a run for it's money in that respect) but also the heart and humanity of these characters. Dorothy's an intriguing addition to the series as well and I'm interested in seeing where her story goes this season.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Friday, June 26, 2020
My Review of Harley Quinn's 2x13: "The Runaway Bridesmaid"
Written by Sarah Peters
Directed by Tom Derosier & Juan Meza-Leon
Harley: "I love you, Ive."
Ivy: "I love you too, Harls."
Two seasons, 26 episodes and the moment everyone hoped would finally happen actually did. Or 27 years since the pairing originally met back in the classic Batman: The Animated Series episode, Harley & Ivy if you really want to be dramatic about the whole thing.
Either way this second season ended with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy together, the latter having abandoned her wedding day after the groom dumped her and Jim Gordon wrecked the would be nuptials by being a stupid oaf.
I love that this show built towards the pairing slowly but when it actually happened, it made sense for both characters and while it was predictable to leave it it until the finale to get them both on the same page, at least it happened. Just as good, I liked that Kite Man wasn't vilified either and that he realised Ivy wasn't in love with him and called the wedding off. I think that was a smart decision from a character point of view.
As for Gordon, his stupidity really got the better of him this time but it means should the show come back for a third season, Harley and Ivy have their dumbest antagonist to deal with. Seriously, you're a very stupid cop, Jim Gordon. Thankfully Barbara doesn't seem to have inherited your dumbness.
As for the wedding itself, it looked elegant, there were some interesting guests and returns like Catwoman, Jennifer and Nora and even though Two Face was absolutely using her for his own ends, at least he got Harley to go after Ivy for this finale. Oh and Clayface certainly didn't let the carnage get in the way of a powerhouse performance. Someone give the guy more wedding gigs.
- Ivy got Frank to eat Condiment King in order to snag Kite Man's dream venue.
- Characters spotted in this episode included Space Cabbie, Cheetah, Killer Frost, Bane and some who looked like Tim Burton with Catwoman.
- Dr Psycho and Riddler were both returned to Arkham. No doubt to be back next season though.
- Chronology: Not long from previous episode and we got a title card saying The End? Let's hope not.
The Runaway Bridesmaid certainly wrapped this second season up on a rather satisfying. In some way the Thelma & Louise style last scene could serve as an end to this show but I'd rather look at it as a potential beginning for another season. Don't leave us in the dark for too long on this show's fate, DC Universe.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Your Vote Counts
Yes, another TV Jumble blog as I've been catching up with some more shows over the last fortnight.
911: It took them somewhat longer than usual, but SkyWitness are finally airing the third season and having watched the first six episodes, this season has been pretty enjoyable so far. The first three episodes took in a natural disaster as Buck falling out with the station, nearly suing them and then getting his job back. We also had a rather timely episode concerning Athena's ex husband and of course, the Halloween episode took some interesting turns involving a flock of birds, Maddie getting involved in a domestic case and a body stuck in the front of a car. It's nice to see this show hasn't lost it's touch.
Big Brother: It's hard to believe it's been 20 years since the debut of this iconic reality show and one of the few I will watch on a near regular basis. Yup, a show that made and ruined several peoples careers, transitioned from Channel 4 to Channel 5 and now back to E4 for this Zoom fest of classic episodes as hosted by Davina McCall, Dermot O'Leary, Rylan Clark-Neal and Emma Willis. It's been fun seeing some of the past glories like Nasty Nick getting outed for his gaming tactics and so on. It also feels that maybe just maybe the waters are being tested again to eventually revive this series. Should it happen? I think it's very likely that it will.
Derry Girls: Yeah, I really did leave this one for the longest of times but with RTE1 finally airing this show, I no longer had any excuses. Three episodes in and I can see why there's so much hype for this show. It's genuinely funny and the 90's setting with the main characters - Erin, Michelle, Claire, Orla and the wee English lad James definitely hits the right level of nostalgia as well. So far, we've seen nuns dying after reading Erin's diary, the lot of them getting banned from the chippers and of course, the not miracle surrounding Toto. I can only hope that RTE1 don't delay airing Series 2.
The Politician: Another day, another Ryan Murphy show and one I needed to catch up with as Netflix already have released the second season and the third will be it's last one. Binging the first five episodes of Season 1, the show isn't perfect, tonally doesn't feel that different to Glee and has a very polarising set of characters, especially with it's main protagonist Payton Hobart (and a disappointing shortlived romance with River) but I'm also enjoying the larger than life moments in this series, even if all the main characters look too old to be running for a school election.
- Lucifer has been officially confirmed for a sixth and final season on Netflix. The first part of the fifth season will be released on August 21st.
- Brooklyn Nine Nine will be scrapping some of it's upcoming episodes for it's eighth season due to the BLM protests.
- Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels will air on SkyAtlantic from July 1st.
- Season 4 of The Handmaid's Tale will be delayed.
- American Horror Stories will air on FX on Hulu instead of FX when it's released next year.
- Shows like Riverdale and The Flash could begin filming their new seasons from August onwards.
- HBO Max and DC Universe will release the first three episodes of Doom Patrol Season 2 from June 25th. This season will comprise of nine episodes.
- Shayan Siobhan has been promoted to a regular for the sixth season of Legends Of Tomorrow.
- Manifest has been renewed for a third season by NBC.
- HBO Max have renewed Love Life for a second season.
911: It took them somewhat longer than usual, but SkyWitness are finally airing the third season and having watched the first six episodes, this season has been pretty enjoyable so far. The first three episodes took in a natural disaster as Buck falling out with the station, nearly suing them and then getting his job back. We also had a rather timely episode concerning Athena's ex husband and of course, the Halloween episode took some interesting turns involving a flock of birds, Maddie getting involved in a domestic case and a body stuck in the front of a car. It's nice to see this show hasn't lost it's touch.
Big Brother: It's hard to believe it's been 20 years since the debut of this iconic reality show and one of the few I will watch on a near regular basis. Yup, a show that made and ruined several peoples careers, transitioned from Channel 4 to Channel 5 and now back to E4 for this Zoom fest of classic episodes as hosted by Davina McCall, Dermot O'Leary, Rylan Clark-Neal and Emma Willis. It's been fun seeing some of the past glories like Nasty Nick getting outed for his gaming tactics and so on. It also feels that maybe just maybe the waters are being tested again to eventually revive this series. Should it happen? I think it's very likely that it will.
Derry Girls: Yeah, I really did leave this one for the longest of times but with RTE1 finally airing this show, I no longer had any excuses. Three episodes in and I can see why there's so much hype for this show. It's genuinely funny and the 90's setting with the main characters - Erin, Michelle, Claire, Orla and the wee English lad James definitely hits the right level of nostalgia as well. So far, we've seen nuns dying after reading Erin's diary, the lot of them getting banned from the chippers and of course, the not miracle surrounding Toto. I can only hope that RTE1 don't delay airing Series 2.
The Politician: Another day, another Ryan Murphy show and one I needed to catch up with as Netflix already have released the second season and the third will be it's last one. Binging the first five episodes of Season 1, the show isn't perfect, tonally doesn't feel that different to Glee and has a very polarising set of characters, especially with it's main protagonist Payton Hobart (and a disappointing shortlived romance with River) but I'm also enjoying the larger than life moments in this series, even if all the main characters look too old to be running for a school election.
- Lucifer has been officially confirmed for a sixth and final season on Netflix. The first part of the fifth season will be released on August 21st.
- Brooklyn Nine Nine will be scrapping some of it's upcoming episodes for it's eighth season due to the BLM protests.
- Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels will air on SkyAtlantic from July 1st.
- Season 4 of The Handmaid's Tale will be delayed.
- American Horror Stories will air on FX on Hulu instead of FX when it's released next year.
- Shows like Riverdale and The Flash could begin filming their new seasons from August onwards.
- HBO Max and DC Universe will release the first three episodes of Doom Patrol Season 2 from June 25th. This season will comprise of nine episodes.
- Shayan Siobhan has been promoted to a regular for the sixth season of Legends Of Tomorrow.
- Manifest has been renewed for a third season by NBC.
- HBO Max have renewed Love Life for a second season.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
DC News: DCFanDome Event for August, Michael Keaton is Back and more
Yeah, I am really trying to hold off on the DC stuff with this blog (no, really, I am) and I was going to wait until a couple of weeks but too much stuff has come out that needs to be talked about, so let's get on with it, shall we?
The biggest headline first would be the fact that Michael Keaton is coming back to the DC universe. Yup, while he might have been playing Vulture in the MCU (as well as upcoming Morbius movie for Sony), he's also in talks to reprise his role of Bruce Wayne for the upcoming movie, The Flash, which will take on the Multiverse and a certain classic comic book as Ezra Miller's Barry Allen tries to prevent his mother's death and winds up creating another universe where Keaton's much older Bruce Wayne appears. To say I didn't see this development coming would be an understatement of the highest order.
After years of development hell, The Flash is finally coming to the big screen and while there were rumours before that Jeffrey Dean Morgan was going to play the Thomas Wayne version of Batman, it's now good as confirmed that Keaton will be an older Bruce Wayne, serving as a mentor to superheroes and may be popping up in other movies as well. This movie, written by Birds Of Prey Christina Hodson and directed by IT's Andy Muschietti is also rumored to be featuring Ray Fisher's Cyborg and a potentially recast Iris West. It also seems for now that Ezra Miller will remain in the lead role (despite an incident earlier in the year) but seeing as we're delving into the Multiverse, maybe there's a chance for a Grant Gustin cameo too? After all, we did see Ezra pop up earlier this year in Crisis On Infinite Earths for the Arrowverse, so why the hell not?
However with the arrival of Keaton's older Bruce for The Flash and fans getting the chance to see Ben Affleck in Zack Snyder's Justice League, the question remains - where does that leave Robert Pattinson? Right now, it seems that Pattinson and Matt Reeves The Batman will be in it's own universe and not affected by anything but seeing as we're in the Multiverse now, I wouldn't rule out Robert's Batman popping up at some point. Either way, it's all good and in better news, The Batman will now resume filming from July 6th, so some new information will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.
In further exciting news - if you haven't already, then mark August 22nd from 10am onwards in your diaries. On that day, we will get DCFanDome - a 24 hour event that will have many live panels for virtually every upcoming DCEU movie and current TV/streaming series as well as news on upcoming comics and games. There's even a site set up so fans can get creative with their fandoms and explore plenty of virtual content on the day itself. Needless to say, this event will generate a few blogs as I'll do my best to cover all the big hitting moments.
On a sad note, it was also announced yesterday that Joel Schumacher passed away at the age of 80. The director who had quite an amazing career with movies like The Lost Boys, The Client, Phone Booth and also his involvement with the Caped Crusader with the likes of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin left an amazing impression on Hollywood with many people who worked with him in the past speaking out about his passing.
Michael Keaton News: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/michael-keaton-talks-reprise-batman-role-hamilton-trailer-more-thr-news-1299746
Joel Schumacher: https://entertainment.ie/cinema/movie-news/joel-schumacher-tributes-456036/
DCFanDome Site: https://dcfandome.talenthouse.com/
The Flash will begin filming in the first quarter of 2021 with a June 3rd 2022 release date. The Batman will now be released on October 1st 2021 and DCFanDome will stream from August 22nd online from 10am.
The biggest headline first would be the fact that Michael Keaton is coming back to the DC universe. Yup, while he might have been playing Vulture in the MCU (as well as upcoming Morbius movie for Sony), he's also in talks to reprise his role of Bruce Wayne for the upcoming movie, The Flash, which will take on the Multiverse and a certain classic comic book as Ezra Miller's Barry Allen tries to prevent his mother's death and winds up creating another universe where Keaton's much older Bruce Wayne appears. To say I didn't see this development coming would be an understatement of the highest order.
After years of development hell, The Flash is finally coming to the big screen and while there were rumours before that Jeffrey Dean Morgan was going to play the Thomas Wayne version of Batman, it's now good as confirmed that Keaton will be an older Bruce Wayne, serving as a mentor to superheroes and may be popping up in other movies as well. This movie, written by Birds Of Prey Christina Hodson and directed by IT's Andy Muschietti is also rumored to be featuring Ray Fisher's Cyborg and a potentially recast Iris West. It also seems for now that Ezra Miller will remain in the lead role (despite an incident earlier in the year) but seeing as we're delving into the Multiverse, maybe there's a chance for a Grant Gustin cameo too? After all, we did see Ezra pop up earlier this year in Crisis On Infinite Earths for the Arrowverse, so why the hell not?
However with the arrival of Keaton's older Bruce for The Flash and fans getting the chance to see Ben Affleck in Zack Snyder's Justice League, the question remains - where does that leave Robert Pattinson? Right now, it seems that Pattinson and Matt Reeves The Batman will be in it's own universe and not affected by anything but seeing as we're in the Multiverse now, I wouldn't rule out Robert's Batman popping up at some point. Either way, it's all good and in better news, The Batman will now resume filming from July 6th, so some new information will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.
In further exciting news - if you haven't already, then mark August 22nd from 10am onwards in your diaries. On that day, we will get DCFanDome - a 24 hour event that will have many live panels for virtually every upcoming DCEU movie and current TV/streaming series as well as news on upcoming comics and games. There's even a site set up so fans can get creative with their fandoms and explore plenty of virtual content on the day itself. Needless to say, this event will generate a few blogs as I'll do my best to cover all the big hitting moments.
On a sad note, it was also announced yesterday that Joel Schumacher passed away at the age of 80. The director who had quite an amazing career with movies like The Lost Boys, The Client, Phone Booth and also his involvement with the Caped Crusader with the likes of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin left an amazing impression on Hollywood with many people who worked with him in the past speaking out about his passing.
Michael Keaton News: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/michael-keaton-talks-reprise-batman-role-hamilton-trailer-more-thr-news-1299746
Joel Schumacher: https://entertainment.ie/cinema/movie-news/joel-schumacher-tributes-456036/
DCFanDome Site: https://dcfandome.talenthouse.com/
The Flash will begin filming in the first quarter of 2021 with a June 3rd 2022 release date. The Batman will now be released on October 1st 2021 and DCFanDome will stream from August 22nd online from 10am.
My Review of Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020)
Written by Mairghread Scott & Christina Sotta & Ernie Altbacker
Directed by Matt Peters & Christina Sotta
John Constantine: "You know what you have to do, mate. Clear the board. Start again."
The Flash: "Another Flashpoint. I promised Iris, before she... I can't."
John Constantine: "Yeah, I figured you'd say that."
The Flash: "Everything will change. Again."
With news of the DCEU going full Multiverse and a Flashpoint movie coming in 2022, let's take stock and remember that this particular animated universe started off with the same idea and with this animated movie are now ending with the same idea. An idea desperately needed as things really went to shit here for everyone involved.
Superman (Jerry O'Connell) decided to take the fight to Darkseid (Tony Todd) on Apokolips instead of wanting for the latter to attack Earth yet again. Despite both the Flash (Christopher Gorham) and John Constantine (Matt Ryan) having reservations about this plan, Superman was determined to go ahead and unfortunately for everyone involved, Darkseid was more than prepared for this particular attack.
The DC animated movies have not exactly been shy about the gore and violence and it feels like because this would be the last film in this particular animated universe, the writers decided to really up the violence and gore big time. Several characters are brutally slaughtered by Darkseid and his race of Paradooms while others such as Batman (Jason O'Mara), Flash, Cyborg (Shemar Moore) and Wonder Woman (Rosario Dawson) are given fates almost worse than death as Darkseid finds a way of keeping them alive but useful to him.
As for the survivors - time moved forward to a year and we had Constantine mourning Zatanna's death (Camilla Luddington) with an equally mopey Etrigan (Ray Chase) while a depowered Superman along with Raven (Taissa Farmiga) manage to get the two on side along with Damien Wayne (Stuart Allen) and the Suicide Squad as led by Harley Quinn (Hynden Walsh) in order to stop Darkseid from ruling the entire universe.
With the build of this animated movie universe for the last seven years (and something which the DCEU have done in a more scattered way), it's glorious to see all of these characters working together in order to save the day. Darkseid was the logical choice for a big universal threat and considering how previous movies used the character, his dominion gets played out rather well.
Especially when the second fight gets taken to Apokolips and we see the devastating effect that Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg and Flash have all suffered. Having both Constantine and Raven band together along with the release of Trigon (John DiMaggio) really did add to the scale of the battle as it really did take everyone (including the likes of Lois Lane and Lex Luthor working together) in order to take Darkseid out.
But then there's the end of the movie. Despite not wanting, the Flash will now create another Flashpoint event, following Constantine's advice. This obviously means that when the next animated universe starts up again, they can really start from scratch while at the same time referencing anything from this universe if needs be. It's an interesting but somewhat expected ending to probably the darkest animated DC film we've had since The Dark Knight Returns two parter.
- Both King Shark and Etrigan were dead in previous movies and yet they appeared here with no explanation at all. Continuity slip or were the writers not that bothered?
- It's nice that while this movie explored the Constantine/Zatanna romance, they also acknowledged the former's bisexuality, even if it was played for laughs with King Shark being an ex-lover of John's.
- If you get this on DVD or BluRay, you get either a short film for Adam Strange or a preview for the next animated movie, Man Of Tomorrow.
- Chronology: Not long since the events of Reign Of The Supermen.
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War as a culmination of a 15 movie universe certainly hits more than it misses. It's quite a dark movie, but it's mostly earned the darkness considering the build up of previous years and the ending does mean a new animated universe can start anew, mostly unburdened by previous events.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Saturday, June 20, 2020
My Review of Harley Quinn's 2x12: "Lovers Quarrel"
Written by Adam Stein
Directed by Christina Sotta
Harley (to Ivy): "Take a risk. Take a leap of faith and be with me."
There was a whole lovely speech that Harley gave to Ivy and if we don't see these two become an item by series end, it will be disappointing. I think though the show will deliver on that front but the main event was of course, Ivy in full blown hypnotised mode.
While under Dr Psycho's influence, Ivy was a big threat. The Trinity themselves - Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman all tried to take Ivy down and had their backsides handed to them. Then it seemed like Ivy might have caused an offscreen threeway with them as well.
If anyone had to break Ivy out of Psycho's control, it was always going to be Harley and while I do feel bad for Kite Man, this episode should serve as a wake up call. Not only did his attempts to bring Ivy out of being mind controlled fail, but Psycho made sure that Kite Man was all too aware of Ivy and Harley's bachelorette hook up as well.
Keeping with Psycho's rotten behaviour, when he wasn't trying to get Ivy to kill Harley, he also had both Clayface and King Shark attack the League while Harley and Kite Man worked with Sy Borgman in a way to break Psycho's mind control as well.
As for Psycho, his general plan has seemingly failed for now and Darkseid might want to get revenge another day but overall, the show has decided that Harley is no longer a villain and now she's got a new identity to forge. The thing is, will Ivy be a part of that new chapter in her life?
- The Joker sat this episode out but again, I don't see him and Bethany lasting much longer. He'll want to properly go back to his usual ways.
- The reactions from everyone seeing Harley/Ivy were priceless, notably Batgirl and Gordon's. Oh and we learned King Shark accidentally killed his brother.
- I guess flying a kite can be easy as Harley perfected it pretty sharpish.
- Chronology: Exactly from where the previous episode left off.
Lovers Quarrel was a brilliant penultimate episode. Big on the action sequences, big on the emotional stakes and while the Riddler added nothing to the partnership, other than obsessing over his calves, Doctor Psycho really did emerge as the true nasty piece of work he was destined to be. I can't wait to see how this finale ends this season.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Thursday, June 18, 2020
My Review of Hollywood's: "A Hollywood Ending"
Written by Ian Brennan & Ryan Murphy
Directed by Jessica Yu
Jack (in character): "I'd like to go to Dreamland."
Rock: "I'll take you there."
Seven episodes and it's all been leading to this particular moment. After the cliffhanger of the penultimate episode saw Meg destroyed, it only turned out that the delightfully snarky editor who couldn't stand Henry had actually made a copy, and thus managed to save Raymond's bacon. Oh I wish I saw that one coming. Oh wait, I did.
The rest of this episode then led to the build up of Meg breaking box office records and of course, bagging some Academy Award nominations with the likes of Camille, Archie, Anna May and Raymond all scooping awards. Jack lost out to Santa Claus (more on that in a bit) but it's nice that he saw the funny side to that one, even if Ernie didn't.
There's been no getting away from the fact that the series has been a wish fulfillment and that's been divisive with audiences in that regard. This finale really ramped up that aspect with the award ceremony and the public outing of Archie and Rock's relationship, both met with boos/death threats but also support from the studio/Avis. Cheesy as it might be, I have really enjoyed the relationship with Archie/Rock while at the same time getting why the creative liberties taken with the latter have not been as well received.
As for Henry, his obnoxious side came out during Archie and Rock's public outing as a couple before a heel turn at the last minute saw him apologise for his predatory behaviour with Rock while offering the latter a lead in a gay themed movie with Jack. In terms of "beginnings", it was a nice note to end this series on I guess. I also don't blame Rock for not forgiving Henry even if the latter did seem surprisingly sincere with his apology.
As for Camille, there was a focus on her win and I really enjoyed her conversations with Hattie McDonald in this one. I wished the latter and Anna May Wong had been used a bit more in the series but they were excellent with the screentime they had as was Jeanne Crandall, who also returned to present Anna with her award.
In terms of Jack and Claire - they sped up the relationship, but it worked though. I thought the proposal was rather sweet and I also liked the pairing with Ellen and Ernie as well. Even Dick seemed to have a rather nice relationship with John but it seemed rather underdeveloped. I wasn't keen on Dick being dead in the flashforward but I am glad that Ernie survived and that Avis seemed committed to more diversity at Ace Studios.
- Jack lost out to Edmund Gwenn from Miracle On 34th Street. Of course Santa Claus was going to win this one.
- I noticed that Hedda Hopper appeared in this episode but alas a different actress so my hope of this miniseries existing in the same universe as Feud: Bette And Joan got dashed here.
- Standout music: Dinah Washington's A Slick Chick and Lee Wiley's You Do Something To Me.
- Chronology: I'm guessing the years 1947-1949 here with the awards being during 1948.
A Hollywood Ending offered a nice, comfortable ending to this wish fulfillment miniseries. I really don't think it should come back for seconds but obviously most of these actors are people you want to (and will likely) see in future Ryan Murphy productions. Overall, a very fun series.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
My Review of Hollywood's: "Meg"
Written by Ian Brennan & Janet Mock & Reilly Smith
Directed by Janet Mock
Raymond: "Somebody get Ace Amberg on the phone. You can't do this."
Lon: "Go ahead and call him. Ace Amberg is dead."
Of course he is. The moment that Ace would appear to be the on the right side of things - wanting to make Avis co-president of the studio, taking Dick's threat of ruining him seriously and even admitting that Meg deserved a release. Well, it would also be the moment that Ace would die and his horrible lawyer would then take it into his hands to destroy Raymond's film for good measure.
The controversy surrounding Meg was prominent in this penultimate episode as all our main characters felt the backlash of angry racist America not wanting the film to go ahead and only Lon would ensure that it wouldn't. Or did he? I'm not convinced that somehow Meg has been destroyed forever.
Getting back into the movie itself, we got to see some of the rushes here - from the character's big breakdown to the moment leading towards it and of course, the moment where the titular character changed her mind. All the scenes were gloriously hammy to watch with Jack even giving an emotionally truthful performance at one point.
However something was lacking and in spite of not being a particularly pleasant person, it seemed that to his credit, Henry was actually trying to help the film rather than interfere with it. It does feel a bit late in the day to show this side to Henry but at the same time, his point about the main character's general motivations were on point.
As for the rest of the episode, it was also interesting to see Ernie come through for the lads and get the money for the budget that was overspent. I also liked that he managed to get a bit part in Meg and there was a certain spark between him and Ellen as well.
As for Dick, last time we saw, he had hooked up with a younger man and it seems that he's in love and confident enough to tell Ace that he's gay. It's a nice moment, albeit one that felt a tad bit rushed but still effective enough though.
- Archie and Rock have moved in together and Jack and Claire also seemed to be getting a lot closer with this episode.
- I had to laugh at Ernie taking part in a kidnap role play with a client.
- Standout music: The Keynoters The Way You Look Tonight and Doris Day;s Just Imagine.
- Chronology: Not long from where the previous episode left off.
Meg made for an interesting penultimate and while I definitely don't believe that all hope has been lost with this movie, that last scene certainly set up a lot for the finale. Hopefully the last episode will bring this enjoyable miniseries to a satisfying conclusion.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Friday, June 12, 2020
My Review of Harley Quinn's 2x11: "A Fight Worth Fighting For"
Written by Tom Hyndman
Directed by Tom Derosier
Harley: "I told you, I tried. Didn't work. Ivy said no."
Joker: "Are you prepared to live with that?"
Well, this I didn't see happening. The Joker might be back and he may be determined to do his usual bout of killing, maiming and so on but for this episode, we entered buddy cop mode with both Harley and her ex looking for a certain book. In other news, it turns out the Joker can give some decent advice.
In this one he told Harley to fight for Ivy and that in itself might possibly be the strangest thing the character has ever done in his 80 year history. Unfortunately for Harley, just as she was about to actually take the slightly changed Joker's advice, Dr Psycho put Ivy under his control to kill Harley.
Cliff hanger wise, it's a good moment as Ivy went from throwing herself into trying to marry Kite Man to falling into Psycho's latest trap. After all, if a Parademon can't kill Harley, then her best friend just might. Except we all know that Harley will probably snap Ivy out of it by next week.
As for the Joker, I really enjoyed his scenes with Harley and Batman during the mission to free the Justice League from Fables book. Even the romance plot with Bethany was surprisingly effective as he realised that he actually cared about her. I don't see it lasting but it was a nice story and the League are free too, which is a bonus.
As for Psycho, there's no going back for him. This episode pivoted on him being the big baddie for the last two episodes with Riddler as a side kick and we also have Darkseid somewhat added into the mix as well. This plot felt inevitable with Psycho, so here's to Harley and the gang giving him the much needed beatdown he deserves.
- This episode opened and ended with Frank and a stoner named Chad as the former bought everyone up to speed on events so far.
- So are Clayface and King Shark gone now? Even Darkseid seemed disgusted by Psycho's reputation.
- Zatanna freed the League. Can we get more of her next season?
- Chronology: From where previous episode left off, also six month for the Joker since meeting Bethany.
A Fight Worth Fighting For excelled with the best Joker/Harley content we've had in a long while, really went to town on Psycho being an evil little shit (along with a flashback to when he first enjoyed human suffering) and was just fun from start to finish.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Thursday, June 11, 2020
Walking Away
It's been slightly longer since my last TV Jumble Blog, I've not watched as much as I wanted to during lockdown but here's some of what I've finished up with in the last while.
Batwoman: It's nice to see that for a show that started off so ropy that post Crisis, it really showed genuine improvement. In spite of the chaos ahead of the second season (another blog on that soon), the final four episodes for Kate Kane really upped the ante. We saw Alice and Mouse take over Arkham, the latter die, the birth of Hush, an introduction of sorts for Bruce Wayne, Mary added into the mix, Jacob continuing to be the absolute worst, a Sophie/Julia pairing and the hints of next season baddie, Safiyah. Oh and some decent material for Luke. Season 2 really will have an uphill battle on it's hand after the show managed to turn things around after such an unpromising start.
Killing Eve: Yes, I watched the whole of Season 3 and the general consensus would be that it was mostly an improvement on it's second season but still lacking on the greatness of the first year. There's a part of me that thinks that the fourth season should be it's last one as the show feels in danger of running out of steam. None of the new characters really made a great impression, except Dasha and she got a rather anticlimactic exit. The male characters except Konstantin are poorly written and Carolyn needs something more to work with. Eve and Villanelle both keep the show afloat and it does seem like the show will eventually cave into shippers desire but the stuff with the Twelve is losing me as well.
Supergirl: A mixed bag of episodes for a mixed bag of a season. On the plus side, at least Lena came to her sense and both her and Kara are on the same team once again, but the Leviathan storyline was mostly a bore, Acrata poorly used, the Kara/William rather dull and while I do enjoy Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor, next season might want to break away from the character but given the cliffhanger of this finale, that will obviously not be the case. Perhaps the longer break will give the writers some better ideas.
The Flash: A widely uneven season with too much time of Iris being trapped in the Mirror universe and took long for Barry in figuring out that his wife was missing. On the other hand, though, Eva turned out to be a massive improvement in terms of baddies after the terrible use of Bloodwork in the show's first half. However given the real life situation, this finale really wasn't meant to be one but despite feeling rushed, it mostly works. Next season will have to quickly wrap up the Mirror Master storyline among other behind the scenes mayhem as well.
- Hartley Sawyer has been fired from The Flash and will not return for the show's upcoming seventh season. It has yet to be confirmed if his character will be written out or recast.
- Batwoman will have a major reboot of it's title character.
- American Horror Story's tenth season will now not air on FX until 2021. A spin off series, titled American Horror Stories will also debut next year.
- The second season of LA's Finest has been delayed.
- Evan Peters has joined the cast of WandaVision in an undisclosed role.
- It looks like Lucifer will get a sixth season on Netflix after all.
- The remaining seven episodes of Supernatural's final season will air in the autumn on the CW.
- UK viewers will be able to see Roswell: New Mexico on ITV2 from June 22nd.
- Maisie Richardson-Sellers will not be returning for the sixth season of Legends Of Tomorrow.
- Gal Gadot's Hedy Lamarr miniseries has now moved from Showtime to Apple.
Batwoman: It's nice to see that for a show that started off so ropy that post Crisis, it really showed genuine improvement. In spite of the chaos ahead of the second season (another blog on that soon), the final four episodes for Kate Kane really upped the ante. We saw Alice and Mouse take over Arkham, the latter die, the birth of Hush, an introduction of sorts for Bruce Wayne, Mary added into the mix, Jacob continuing to be the absolute worst, a Sophie/Julia pairing and the hints of next season baddie, Safiyah. Oh and some decent material for Luke. Season 2 really will have an uphill battle on it's hand after the show managed to turn things around after such an unpromising start.
Killing Eve: Yes, I watched the whole of Season 3 and the general consensus would be that it was mostly an improvement on it's second season but still lacking on the greatness of the first year. There's a part of me that thinks that the fourth season should be it's last one as the show feels in danger of running out of steam. None of the new characters really made a great impression, except Dasha and she got a rather anticlimactic exit. The male characters except Konstantin are poorly written and Carolyn needs something more to work with. Eve and Villanelle both keep the show afloat and it does seem like the show will eventually cave into shippers desire but the stuff with the Twelve is losing me as well.
Supergirl: A mixed bag of episodes for a mixed bag of a season. On the plus side, at least Lena came to her sense and both her and Kara are on the same team once again, but the Leviathan storyline was mostly a bore, Acrata poorly used, the Kara/William rather dull and while I do enjoy Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor, next season might want to break away from the character but given the cliffhanger of this finale, that will obviously not be the case. Perhaps the longer break will give the writers some better ideas.
The Flash: A widely uneven season with too much time of Iris being trapped in the Mirror universe and took long for Barry in figuring out that his wife was missing. On the other hand, though, Eva turned out to be a massive improvement in terms of baddies after the terrible use of Bloodwork in the show's first half. However given the real life situation, this finale really wasn't meant to be one but despite feeling rushed, it mostly works. Next season will have to quickly wrap up the Mirror Master storyline among other behind the scenes mayhem as well.
- Hartley Sawyer has been fired from The Flash and will not return for the show's upcoming seventh season. It has yet to be confirmed if his character will be written out or recast.
- Batwoman will have a major reboot of it's title character.
- American Horror Story's tenth season will now not air on FX until 2021. A spin off series, titled American Horror Stories will also debut next year.
- The second season of LA's Finest has been delayed.
- Evan Peters has joined the cast of WandaVision in an undisclosed role.
- It looks like Lucifer will get a sixth season on Netflix after all.
- The remaining seven episodes of Supernatural's final season will air in the autumn on the CW.
- UK viewers will be able to see Roswell: New Mexico on ITV2 from June 22nd.
- Maisie Richardson-Sellers will not be returning for the sixth season of Legends Of Tomorrow.
- Gal Gadot's Hedy Lamarr miniseries has now moved from Showtime to Apple.
Saturday, June 06, 2020
My Review of Harley Quinn's 2x10: "Dye Hard"
Written by Jamiesen Borak
Directed by Vinton Heuck
Harley (to Joker): "I'll be seeing you soon, Mister J."
It's amazing that the majority of this season has survived so well without the Joker but after meeting his normal self a few episodes back, this show was always going to have revive him in some way. Here, in a strange sense of symmetry, it's Harley who has recreate the man who helped create her in the first place.
To the episode's credit, Harley did her best to try and stop her evil ex-boyfriend from remembering his former self and that was in spite of them being bound together during a siege at Wayne Tower and the team up of Dr Psycho, a jacked up Riddler and some remaining Parademons.
However it was obvious from the moment that bartender guy wad struggling to remember where the book that had the Justice League trapped in it that Harley had to end this one by throwing him into a vat of chemicals yet again. With the Joker back in time for the final three episodes, Harley and her decreasing band of friends are somewhat done for.
Dr Psycho wasted no time in posing a challenge for Harley with his control of the Parademons and his team up with Riddler while amusing, also wasn't that surprising either. If someone had to turn on Harley from her gang, then it had to be Psycho.
Of course with Psycho gong full evil, it was Sy Borgman who sacrificed himself to get Harley out of a scrape while King Shark and Clayface were under the influence of Psycho's mind control. Things did not look good for them either but I'm not writing them off as casualties yet.
- Title and setting alone, this was an obvious nod to Die Hard. Harley even shot someone with a cancer ray while Joker unknowingly killed someone with a pencil.
- Batman still wants to resume crime fighting as he recovers but allowed Gordon to capture Parademons with the Batplane.
- No Poison Ivy or Kite Man this week but we did Harley confide in Joker of all people about her feelings for her best friend.
- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.
Dye Hard definitely found its own unique way to bring the Joker, have Harley assess her feelings while working with Gordon and also try and have her correct her own mistakes with her former alliance with Darkseid. I mean she mostly failed here but this was entertaining to watch unfold.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Wednesday, June 03, 2020
My Review of Legends Of Tomorrow's 5x14: "Swan Thong"
Written by Keto Shimizu & Morgan Faust
Directed by Kevin Mock
Charlie (to the Legends): "Actually guys I think this is the end of the line for me."
I think after the last few weeks, the exit of Charlie was to be expected and unlike with Amaya during the finale of the third season, this time, it's really it for Maisie Richardson-Sellers. It's been a fantastic four years since her play two very different roles with Amaya and Charlie but exit wise, this felt right.
It might have taken some sound advice from Lita but Charlie played her role in making sure that Lachesis would not mess around with free will again after second attempt came crashing down due to the Legends getting Gideon back on side.
With Atropos being killed off early in the episode and Sara regaining her sight/losing her powers, it up to the gang to go through the museum of bad stuff and engage in arguably the best fight sequence we've seen in the Arrow universe against some Encores one more time,
Encores out of the way, this was a satisfying way to end the story with the Fates and now we've gotten the Godlike out of the way, anyone care for some extraterrestrial next season? Going by the ending for this one, Sara's gotten herself into a new kind of trouble that her teammates will have to deal with next season.
Speaking of next season with Charlie gone and Sara snatched, this finale also resolved the situation with the two Zaris as well. Realising that she can't coexist along with Behrad, Zari Tomaz made the sacrifice to go back into the Totem while Zari Tarazi and Behrad will don the airbending powers for next season while Zari 2 and Constantine are now an item.
As for the rest of the team - Ava will be co-captain, Nate's a bit heartbroken over losing Zari again and Mick is happy being a father. Astra seems to have gotten past her own issues and has John's place for herself but I also think we'll be seeing her again next year. Mona and Gary just seemed to slip away but they're also likely returns next season.
- Some of the Encores included Marie Antoinette, Stalin, Vlad the Impaler and Charles Manson while bad ideas included cigarettes, pogo sticks, shake weights and a certain 2000 hit song.
- I still wish Ray and Nora appeared and what happened with Enchantress? I did laugh at Nate wanting to text Dion though.
- Standout music: Having an animatronic version of Sisqo singing Thong Song during that big fight scene was a stroke of genius.
- Chronology: 2020 but with a four month jump and in the 1970s for Charlie's exit.
Swan Thong might be a clever play on words for exits but both Charlie and Zari 1's departures packed a punch while the Fates story ended on a strong note. It's going to be a wait for the next season , especially with that cliffhanger to consider.
Rating: 8 out of 10