DCEU Blog - DC's Future, The Penguin Casting, Stargirl Cancelled And More

Another busy month for DC fans and following the appointment of James Gunn and Peter Safran as heads of DC Studios, things are certainly moving along.

James Gunn and Peter Safran have made it crystal clear that only they and David Zaslav know what the full plan for DC will be.

However Gunn has stated we'll start to learn stuff about this upcoming plan over the next few months while Zaslav has stated there won't be four Batmen in the DC Universe. Take what you will from that.

Joker: Folie A Deux has officially gone into production and hopefully we'll get a look of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga fairly soon.

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods will apparently be two hours and ten minutes long. The cast will be writing a tie in comic book, due for release early next year to coincide with the movie.

Cristin Milioti has been cast as Sofia Falcone for The Penguin HBO Max series and will be Oswald's main antagonist as she gets out of Arkham after serving a decade long sentence. Filming begins in January for the series.

Other characters who'll factor into the series will be Alberto Falcone, Mike Stone, Francis Cobblepot and Victor Aguilar. The latter is an original character for the series.

Warner Brothers Television Studios are close to striking an animation deal with Amazon for DC branded content.

Quick reminder the first half of the fourth season of Doom Patrol will stream on HBO Max from December 8th.

Stargirl has officially been cancelled after three seasons. 

DC will be factoring into this week's CCXP event after all with booths for Shazam! Fury Of The Gods, The Flash and Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom. 

Batman: The Animated Series star Kevin Conroy passed away earlier in the month at the age of 66. 

DC Comics will have another major comic event in 2023 titled Dawn Of The DCU, spanning multiple titles and serving as another jumping on point for readers.

The Sandman was renewed by Netflix for a second season earlier in  the month.

That's it for the month. Let's see what the last month of 2022 brings for the brand.

My Review of The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special (2022)

 

Written And Directed by James Gunn

Drax (to Mantis): "We've ruined Christmas worse than Yondu."

2022 has certainly been the year for James Gunn. From a critical and successful hit for HBO Max with Peacemaker to getting the keys to DC Studios with Peter Safran, the guy has had quite the career boost. Of course before Gunn fully gets on board with mapping out the future of DC, there's still his work for Marvel and here's the first of two projects surrounding the Guardians Of The Galaxy.

It's Christmas time and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) doesn't seem to be in the festive cheer mode. Animated flashbacks point to a previous experience ruined by Yondu (Michael Roooker) half told by Kraglin (Sean Gunn). As a result, both Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax (Dave Bautista) take it upon themselves to bring Christmas spirit to Peter.

Their great idea of course was to go to Earth and bring Kevin Bacon to Peter, which turned out to be a bit of a challenge. Not that a challenge deterred either Mantis or Drax. Nope, they got drunk with locals at a bars, chased Kevin Bacon out of his house and even managed to take out some cops at the same time before succeeding in their mission.

Then as they made their way back to Peter, both Mantis and Drax found themselves disappointed upon realising that Kevin Bacon was an actor and that the events of movies such as Footloose and Friday The 13th really didn't happen after all. Once they got past their disgust of Kevin being an actor, they did bring him to Peter, who freaked out a bit over his crew members kidnapping a real life person.

I have to admit it was rather funny watching Kevin Bacon sending himself up a bit and his scenes with the Guardians in question were nothing short of delightful. We even got a rather lovely singing moment too with him, which made Kevin endearing to Nebula (Karen Gillan) who also doesn't have a very high opinion of actors.

However I think the best moment of the entire special was the lovely final scene where Mantis revealed that she was Peter's half-sister and he completely embraced that. It was a lovely touching moment along with the full reveal of the animated Christmas flashback with Yondu's real reaction to Christmas with Peter. 

- New crew member Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova) appeared here and even factored in the post credit sequence with Groot (Vin Diesel) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper). Both Flula Borg and Mark Hamill had cameo appearances here too.

- Yes, we got a Bat,an reference here and the discourse surrounding it has been amusing to watch over the last few days.

- Standout music: The Pogue's & Kirsty McColl's Fairytale Of New York, Kevin Bacon and Old 97's Here It Is Christmastime and Fountains Of Wayne's I Want An Alien For Christmas.

- Chronology: Effectively this felt like a prelude to Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3.

The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special was an absolute delight to watch. A fun, breezy 40 minute special that was genuinely funny, genuinely heartfelt and touching and very Christmassy to boot. Excellent performances from Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Chris Pratt and Kevin Bacon. Disney+ really should do more of these specials for the MCU.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Titans 4x05: "Inside Man"

 

Written by Joshua Levy And Prathi Srinivasan

Directed by Jen McGowan

Sebastian: "Thank you for being so kind to me, Rachel."

Last week we left off with Conner throwing up a snake and the gang turning STAR Labs into a sanctuary for Sebastian. This week, Conner puked up another snake and protecting Sebastian from his destiny predictably went south. There are some things that just cannot be avoided.

Joshua Orpin can do possessive/evil pretty decently and he did a rather good job as Conner spent most of the episode under the influence of Mother Mayhem's control. He nearly took out Dick during his attempts to get Sebastian out of STAR Labs, only for Jinx to knock him out with some magic. Then he spent a good portion of the episode tied up with Kryptonite as Dick and the gang worked on a way to get Conner back.

I have to admit having Gar go into Conner's boy as a virus had the makings of a right disaster to the point where even Jinx began to pray for things to go right. Fortunately for everyone, Gar managed to succeed in getting the possession out of Conner and seemed rather pleased with the latest development of his powers. Nice to see that plotline got resolved quickly enough.

As for Sebastian, he really wanted to avoid his destiny as best as he could and he had some lovely bonding scenes with Rachel. Yes, this episode went to town emphasizing their similarities with even Kory and Zadira arguing over what to do about Sebastian. Ultimately Kory resisted in killing Sebastian, only for the latter to surrender himself to Mother Mayhem instead.

Sebastian becoming Brother Blood or at the very least making his moves to doing it were inevitable but handled well. Now that we've had him as a sympathetic figure for a good portion of the season, it'll be interesting to see how he will fare once he's in full villain mode. Something tells me that Mother Mayhem will go the same way as Gina did in this episode too.

Last but not least, there were some nice moments for two couples in this episode. Kory got to see the same fantasy of Dick and their future child that he saw last season and after some awkward flirting, Tim and Bernard actually kissed in this episode. Fans of both couples should be happy with these side plots overall.

- Again, this was the third episode in a row to mention John Constantine. I don't want to presume anything but it feels a bit too coincidental or possible trolling at this point.

- Elko is a diner chain with one being in Metropolis for Kory, Rachel and Sebastian to hide in.

- This episode also mentioned the Red during Gar and Jinx's conversation as well. 

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Inside Man took that idea a bit too literally but this was easily the best episode of the season. There was so many great character moments and I'm looking forward to seeing how the mid season finale moves the story along even further.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Welcome To Chippendales: "Four Geniuses"

 

Written by Robert Siegel

Directed by Matt Shakman

Irene (to Steve/Nick/Denise): "This is it. This is the team."

Well, this didn't waste time in getting things to move alone. Following the brutal deaths of Paul and Dorothy at the end of the first episode, this one added two new players into the mix and both of them didn't waste time in making their impacts on both Steve and Nick.

First of all, there was accountant Irene (Annaleigh Ashford) who Steve tried to chat up with. At first it seemed like Irene wasn't interested in him, only for her to then reveal her money saving ways for Steve's business and the two of them to bond over things such as Wonder Woman and wanting to make Chippendales into a more profitable business.

It's hard not to watch Irene's scenes with Steve and not see why he fell in love with her instantly. The two of them certainly paired up rather quickly to the point where merchandise was being sold, gents could come in after the show and both Steve and Irene had desks facing each other. Yup, we got our central love here but seeing as this episode was called Four Geniuses, where were the other two?

Well, there was Nick who played coy with Steve at first before accepting a full time choreography gig, including the hiring and firing. Out with most of the dancers from the first episode and in with largely new ones, with a particular emphasis on the rather gorgeous and ambitious Otis (Quentin Plair). Nick didn't seem to like the fact that Otis had aspirations beyond dancing though.

The last genius in the mix then would be Denise (Juliette Lewis). At first she seemed to be an overzealous fangirl constantly getting into Nick's personal space. Then when she actually managed to get Nick's attention, she revealed she was a costume design who proved her worth pretty fast with the breakaway pants for the dancers. Naturally Nick wanted to hire her on the spot but it wasn't until Irene pointed out the merits of an in house designer that Steve agreed to Denise's addition to the team.

Speaking of the team, while Irene and Denise showed a bit of sisterly solidarity, tensions were already brewing between Steve and Nick. Going by the trailer for the rest of the season, they are clearly going to get worse and worse the more their joint venture takes off beyond one nightclub.

- We got a rather nice title sequence with both Annaleigh Ashford and Juliette Lewis's names added to the opening credits.

- Steve drinks a lot of cola as does Irene while we also saw Nick divorcing his wife and copping up with one of her lawyers at the start of the episode. Otis didn't like being kissed by the customers (he has a wife and kids) while his co-workers were doing a lot more than that.

- Standout music: Blondie's Call Me, which was also used in American Horror Story: NYC last month.

- Chronology: From where the first episode left off. 

Four Geniuses did a great job in setting up the status quo for the season and it certainly moved things along too. The pacing for this episode alone felt much quicker. Both Annaleigh Ashford and Juliette Lewis are great additions to the series.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Welcome To Chippendales: "An Elegant, Exclusive Atmosphere"

 

Written by Robert Siegel

Directed by Matt Shakman

Steve (to Paul): "There are a million strip clubs for men in Los Angeles and yet not a single one for women."

Hulu seem to be on fire with their miniseries this year and after a successful enough venture with Pam & Tommy at the start of the year, Welcome To Chippdenales seems to be something of an interesting way to end the year. 

Based on the book Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders, this opening episode of an eight part miniseries certainly got the ball rolling with giving us a rundown of Chippendales creator Somen 'Steve' Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani). Steve was a man who didn't want to own a garage. He had bigger ideas and over $44,000 to name but not all great ideas come at once.

Nope, instead Steve started off with several bad ideas that nearly brought him to ruin and collaborating with night club promoter Paul Snider (Dan Stevens)and his Playboy bunny wife Dorothy Stratton (Nicola Peltz) definitely proved to be something of a mixed bag for Steve. Fortunately a night out in a gay bar actually provided a good idea for Steve.

As Steve was right to point out, men have plenty of strip clubs to get their rocks off but women do not and with Dorothy affirming that women like to look at attractive men with barely anything on. As a result, the Chippendales was born and Steve had a success story for the ages. Thongs for Paul and Dorothy on the other hand took a very dark turn by the end of this episode alone.

Throughout the episode, Paul's jealousy towards other men desiring Dorothy led to Paul fatally killing both of them in a brutal act largely shown offscreen as Steve reveled in his success with the Chippendales. I'm surprised they did this so early in the miniseries but I don't doubt there's bigger stuff to be covered in the remaining episodes.

Notably Steve's other partnership with Emmy winning choreographer Nick De Noia (Murray Bartlett) of Unicorn Tales fame. Nick was quick to whip Steve's men in shape when Dorothy wasn't suggesting their signature look and he certainly got theses guys into shape as well. That cowboy routine alone certainly cemented a success for both Steve and Nick and given what's ahead, it's going to be interesting to see how this partnership will go very badly for both men.

- Steve talked about the name coming from an inventor when explaining it to Paul. 

- Other businesses we saw were backgammon, mud wrestling and oyster eating, all of which were a disaster.

- Standout music: Hot Stuff, I Was Made For Loving You and More, More, More to name a few.

- Chronology: 1980 for the majority of this episode.

An Elegant, Exclusive Atmosphere did a strong job opening up this miniseries. Some strong performances from Kumail Nanjiani, Dan Stevens, Nicola Peltz and Murray Bartlett. Yup, this certainly got things off to a good start.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Spider-Man 2 (2004)

 

Written by Alfred Gough And Miles Millar And Michael Chabon

Directed by Sam Raimi

Peter: "You once spoke to me about intelligence. You said it was a gift to be used for the greater good."

Doctor Octopus: "A privilege."

Peter: "These things have turned you into something else ... don't listen to them."

What a difference two years can make both in terms of releases for this sequel and in terms of what actually transpired in this sequel itself. The first movie had the perfect blend of setting up Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) becoming Spider-Man and dealing with life's hurtles and this movie really went to town with providing a lot more of them.

Since the first movie, Peter has struggled to get on top of everything else. J. Jonah Jameson (JK Simmons) has made the webslinger into a media villain with Harry Osborn (James Franco) holding him responsible for his father's death while Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) has become tired of Peter not making time for them. In fact, in this movie alone she only went and got engaged to Jameson's more likable son, John (Daniel Gillies) much to Peter's anguish.

On top of struggling with falling grades, paying the rent, keeping a pizza job and a very awkward conversation with Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) on what really happened to Uncle Ben, it seemed like something had to give and it did. For a brief period in the movie, Peter decided to give up being Spider-Man and opted for a less complicated life. Unfortunately for him, fate had a different idea.

The first movie hit the ground running with Willem Dafoe's take on the Green Goblin and for the second movie, it was Otto Octavius aka Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) to take the baddie reins and boy, did he do a hell of a job here. Otto started off sympathetically here, even with a loving wife named Rosalie (Donna Murphy) but things soon got out of hand.

Notably, Otto's experiments with Tritium saw his robotic arms taking a life of their own and it didn't take long (shortly after his wife's death) before he fully embraced his dark side and gave Spider-Man one hell pf a challenge. One of them being the alliance with a vengeance obsessed Harry while also kidnapping Mary Jane because that trope was a constant within this trilogy.

As a baddie, Molina absolutely delivered on every level with the fight scenes between both Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus being truly sublime, especially the train scene moment. Their final confrontation though took the most surprising of turns with one of the most emotional defeats and redemption of sorts for a baddie we've seen in movies. Out of this trilogy's buddies, Doctor Octopus was definitely my favourite of the bunch.

As for Peter's relationship with Harry. Having the latter know about Peter's true identity provided a stark contrast to Mary Jane knowing. While Peter and Mary Jane became much closer, to the point where she ditched her own wedding, it only served to drive a further wedge between Peter and Harry. The latter also discovering some of his late father's secrets didn't help matters either.

- Bruce Campbell got to be a rude usher in this movie stopping Peter from seeing Mary Jane's play at first. Hal Sparks was also rather amusing as that guy in the elevator with Spider-Man for one scene.

- Dr Curt Connors (Dylan Baker) also appeared in this movie as Peter's professor while Aunt May sold all of Peter's comics. 

- Standout music: Dashboard Confessional's Vindicated.

- Chronology: Two years since the events of the first movie.

Spider-Man 2 might be the middle part of this trilogy but it's without a doubt the best part. Some of the best acting, writing, emotional stakes, action sequences and my favourite villain in this particular continuity. Yup, it's a goddamn classic.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Titans 4x04: "Super Super Mart"

 

Written by Tom Pabst

Directed by Boris Mojsovski

Dick (to everyone): "Zombie Deathstroke?"

Well, he did show up, via a body double in zombie form and largely under the control of Mother Mayhem before new Titans team member Jinx took him out. Overall, not the most exciting of returns for Deathstroke but it is what it is.

However what this episode mostly was doing was making the most obvious of revelations known to all of the main characters. The Organization aka Trigon's Cult want Sebastian Sanger for their doom prophecy in spite of the fact that the prophecy was meant to be a girl (like we'd forget about Rachel's backstory) but Sebastian's mother had other plans.

Before doing the whole 'I thought Sebastian's mother died', we'l it turned out that May Bennett/Mother Mayhem is Sebastian's real mother but at the time of his birth, the Organization had deemed her a failure and kept her locked below the asylum. That was until the place burned to the ground as we witnessed back in the first season and became a Super Super Mart in the aftermath.

Of course it didn't stop the current Titans along with Jinx and Sebastian from exploring down below, coming around a creepy children's book with some doom laden prophecies that Dick kept dismissing to Kory's understandable annoyance before Tim filled everyone else in on Sebastian's backstory and about two hundred zombies tried to kill everyone. 

Apart from Jinx getting to use her powers to freeze them and that brief altercation with zombie Deathstroke, the show didn't really do anything too great with them. Well, apart from having Conner getting stabbed by Deathstroke and later puking up a snake in STAR Labs so you can tell where that's going to go as the gang try to keep Sebastian away from his witchy real mother.

This episode certainly succeeded in filling out May's backstory. From being unappreciated in jibs to an easy target for Trigon's cult to effectively forcing her own path and using her own extremes to get her son to fulfill his destiny. With Conner clearly under her control and two episodes to go before the season breaks, May will undoubtedly achieve her goal.

- This was the second episode in a row to mention Constantine. Is it too much to hope we see him (played by Matt Ryan) in at least one episode? Probably.

- Jinx really challenged Conner on his aversion to magic as well as Superman's own moral code. Tim's reaction to Rachel and Kory's past was amusing though. Gar also pointed out about the Blood Moon cycle and Bernard really wants to go on a date with Tim.

- Standout music: Season Of The Witch nicely used at the start of the episode. 

- Chronology: Flashbacks to 1996-1998 and 2019 to flesh out May's backstory and connection to Trigon and Sebastian.

Super Super Mart did a good job moving things along, even though most of the reveals were coming a mile off. This season does feel like it's slightly retreading the first one but so far in a good way. Only two episodes to go before Sebastian does go down a dark path.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Doctor Who - New Companion Revealed, Disney+ Deal And More (Spoilers Included)

It's been nearly a month since The Power Of The Doctor saw the end of a previous era. Now with a new one on the horizon, here's a rundown of what we know so far. 

First of all, the Doctor situation. It was confirmed last month that David Tennant will be the 14th Doctor while Ncuti Gatwa will be the 15th Doctor. David Tennant will lead the three episodes that will make up the 60th anniversary special along with returning actors Catherine Tate as Donna Temple-Noble, Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott (who sadly passed away after filming had been completed for the specials) as well as Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble and Karl Collins as Shaun Temple. Also featuring in these specials are Yasmin Finney as Rose Temple-Noble and Neil Patrick Harris as the main antagonist for the specials.

Beyond that Ncuti Gatwa's 15th Doctor will make his proper debut in a festive 2023 special and he wont be alone. Joining him for the special and Series 14 in 2024 will be former Coronation Street star Millie Gibson who has been cast as new companion Ruby Sunday. Gibson's casting was announced live on BBC1 last night during Children In Need with executive producer Russell T. Davies promising some big adventures for the Doctor and Ruby as filming will begin soon for the next series.

As for the future of the show, you can definitely tell that Russell T. Davies is well and truly back in action. A recent issue of Doctor Who Magazine not only had David Tennant's 14th Doctor adorn the cover but some details for the 60th anniversary and Series 14 also were revealed. The production team will comprise of Russell T. Davies as showrunner, Joel Collins, Phil Collinson, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter as executive producers, Vicki Delow and Chris Mays as producers, Ellen Marsh as co-producer and Scott Handcock as script editor.

The magazine also revealed that the first seven episodes of Series 14 have been written while Dylan Holmes Williams has been confirmed as the first director for the new series. Meanwhile the tabloids have also seemingly confirmed that Miriam Margoyles will guest in one of the 60th specials. The first of the 60th anniversary specials will contain the words 'westerly', 'dreams' and 'pelican' while all four specials that will air in 2023 will be an hour long. The directors for the 60th anniversary specials are Rachel Talalay, Tom Kingsley and Chanya Button.

Meanwhile not only will be the budget for the next series get something of a massive increase but the show's exposure will too. Starting from the 60th anniversary specials onwards, the series will also stream on Disney+ for international viewers but will continue on BBC1 for UK and Irish viewers. The show even has a new logo with a diamond shape as it moves into an exciting new era. 

The 60th anniversary specials of Doctor Who will air and stream on BBC1 and Disney+ from November 2023. Filming for Series 14 begins next month. 

My Review of American Horror Story: NYC - Requiem 1981/1987 Part 2

 

Written by Ned Martel And Charlie Carver

Directed by Jennifer Lynch

Adam (to Kathy): "There's something new going around. Something deadly. I'm just trying to keep as many people as safe as I can."

I think this episode might have the record for being the shortest finale we've had in this show's eleven year history. It even ended on a rather abrupt note that made think perhaps another three minutes could've been added to give it a sense of completion. 

It's also the third finale in a row (remember last season gave us two very unsatisfying finales) in which the ending wasn't pleasant. However for the story this whole season was telling, this finale felt very much in line. If we're sticking to horror tropes, then Adam was the Final Boy but unlike previous seasons, being the last one standing wasn't really a victory here.

Adam started this season with his roommate going missing. There was no definitive resolution to that, so it can safely assumed that Sully died after all and Patrick called it when he said to Adam. Then Adam only went and fell in love with Theo and then he died too. Yes, we all know what from. Again, this episode reinforced that suspicion.

Adam didn't even get time to grieve for Theo when he learned that both Hannah and his unborn child also died from the same thing as well. However Hannah left recordings of her research and Adam found himself taking a more direct approach in getting his community to take note of the AIDS crisis as did Gino, following Patrick's death.

With the first chunk of this episode focusing on Adam, most of the second half redirected things towards Gino. The latter became more militant in waking people up about the AIDS, even challenging the government to help while also coming to the end of his life as well. Let's just the use of a certain song really elevated Gino's last few moments in this episode.

There was a part of me that thought Gino might have survived but alas he didn't. The build up to his final moments were harrowing in a different way to how Patrick's had been done in the first part with some truly disturbing visuals. This season was a horror story, but one that might have been too real and possibly too soon for some viewers. 

As for Adam, like I said he was the Final Boy and Charlie Carver really has proven to be a double threat this season. Along with showing great improvement as an actor, his writing for the series has been some of the best. The abrupt ending where we didn't get to hear Adam's eulogy for Gino might not have been the best note to end this season on but the guy clearly should be brought back next season or in another Ryan Murphy production.

- We didn't even get to see Hannah on screen but heard her on tape recordings for parts of the episode. Also her and Adam didn't sleep with each other to conceive a child.

- Fran, KK and Lita were nowhere to be seen in this episode at all while Kathy told Adam she was retiring before telling him to live. 

- Mr Whitely appeared to Gino during one of the latter's hallucinations. The scene she Gino kept imagining all the men jumping into the graves was really effective if very on the nose.

- This episode was 32 minutes long, making it the shortest episode of the series full stop.

- Standout music: Kraftwerk's Radioactivity during Gino's last moments in this episode before saw Patrick waiting for him.

- Chronology: We opened back to 1981 for the first half of the episode while the second half took in 1987 to 1991.

Requiem 1981/1987 Part 2, abrupt ending to one side really did end this show on a strong note. Some fantastic performances from Charlie Carver, Joe Mantello and Patti LuPone for her brief scene to boot. I know some fans of the show didn't like this season being male dominated but I genuinely loved the change of pace, thought the story largely worked. I'd even got as far as to say that this season would easily be a Top 5 season for me.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of American Horror Story: NYC - Requiem 1981/1987 Part 1

 

Written And Directed by Our Lady J

Henry (to Sam): "The darkness always wins. All we can ever do is transcend."

You know how at the start of the season we all made the comparisons to Cruising? Well with this two part finale, you can also add both Angels In America and The Normal Heart in the mix too. This episode was definitely something of a gut wrencher. 

We started with everyone in attendance for Theo's funeral. Adam being frustrated with not knowing how his boyfriend died and Patrick unable to give him the answers he needed. Then as Theo's coffin was about to be laid down, Sam fainted in front of everyone. You can guess the direction the rest of the episode was heading to with that scene alone.

Sam in the hospital at the end of his life, unloved and alone. Was it karmic for his actions throughout the season? Perhaps, but before the inevitable conclusion to his story we got something of a deep dive into his psyche. Not to mention a rather leather look for Henry in this BDSM take of A Christmas Carol. I have to admit, Henry made the look work pretty well.

Anyways, between shitty bosses, childhood abuse, Theo appearing as a doctor to point out a lot of Sam's mistreatment of past lovers and some biting observations on beauty, Sam found himself trying to outrun Big Daddy on the beach, only for Henry to point out the obvious. Death cannot be outran and in the end, Sam embraced the kiss of Big Daddy and died.

However Sam was not the only death in this episode. The second half of this episode took a six year time jump and Patrick found himself in the same position as Sam. However while Patrick might have lost his sight, he had Gino in his final moments. Just like Sam, Patrick also got his own A Christmas Carol style deep dive into his psyche.

This was a way to bring back characters such as Barbara and Whitely and use them in a rather straightforward but effective way. Barbara served to make Patrick to confront his past failings as did Whitely in his own fucked up way. Patrick certainly had his issues and yes, the episode ended in his death. I wasn't joking when I said this was a gut wrencher of an episode, especially for the haunting use of music courtesy of Kathy as Patrick died with Gino, Barbara and Big Daddy by his side. 

- Both Joe Mantello and Russell Tovey have been involved in productions of both The Normal Heart and Angels In America. This episode made it clear the disease was AIDS.

- Sam's past conquests included Billy, Danny and Stewart. They along with Theo and Freddy made up the guys wearing antlers at the beach.

- Big Daddy unmasked was a blond guy and not Matthew William Bishop who had played him all season long.

- I'm assuming that Henry died off screen shortly after Theo but before Sam did. 

- Standout music: Kathy Pizazz's haunting rendition of Calling You. 

- Chronology: Aside from 1981 and 1987, we also had scenes in 1980 when Patrick first met Gino, 1977 when Patrick kissed his partner Steve after a shooting gone wrong and earlier in his childhood with his father.

Requiem 1981/1987 Part 1 made for some brutal television. Russell Tovey, Zachary Quinto, Joe Mantello, Denis O'Hare and Leslie Grossman all brought their A game and then some. An absolutely incredible piece of television with Our Lady J doing a brilliant job on both fronts. Haunting stuff.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Titans 4x03: "Jinx"

 

Written by Jamie Gorenberg

Directed by Boris Mojsovski

Dick: "I hate magic."

And yet going down the supernatural route in a bigger way might end up being the best thing this series has actually done. Three episodes in and we've got a pretty formidable adversary in Mother Mayhem and a burgeoning one in Brother Blood. I'm quietly confident this season might actually stick the landing.

Following the Titans getting their asses handed to them by Mother Mayhem and Rachel seemingly losing her powers (which she seems oddly relaxed about), the gang quickly realise to fight magic they need some magic on their side. This would be where the rite character came into the mix.

Yup, Dick and Kory took a brief trip to Bludhaven to retrieve the mischievous Jinx (Lisa Ambalavanar), only for the latter to quickly evade them, get hold of a dark elf's heart and watch as Kory turned into stone, this taking the latter out of the mix for most of the episode. On the plus side, Dick and Jinx made a rather decent team.

Putting their former history to one side, Jinx made for a fun foil for Dick with the two of them working together. While Dick made some fancy moves fighting off Lironne and her men, Jinx had a five million debt she needed to pay off. Dick might have stopped one of her chances to get it of her debt but still managed to get her on side in order to help with their Mother Mayhem problem.

Speaking of Mother Mayhem, she doesn't waste time trying to get all her eggs in one basket, does she? More bloody deaths and setting Sebastian up for murder so she could get him at his most vulnerable in order to complete her ritual for him. She nearly had him, only for Conner to step in, and snag Sebastian away from her clutches. For now, that's a temporary victory for the Titans.

As for the rest of the gang, well Jinx freed Kory from being stoned while Tim and Conner worked on the former's training with Bernard. I liked the trio of Conner, Tim and Bernard as they made the link to Sebastian before Dick and Kory did. Conner also seemed to be going through the motions of being defeated by Mother Mayhem for most of the episode.

Last but not least, Gar told Rachel about his visions and we got a trippy enough sequence where the two of them spotted a tree covered with animal sacrifices. Skin walking was mentioned a lot in this episode, so I'm assuming that's the next step in the evolution of Gar's abilities. 

- We got mentions of both Two Face and John Constantine (pronounced the same way in The Sandman). It seems those figures are a reason why Dick and Jinx are at odds with one another.

- Kory's former mentor showed up in her subconscious to warn about more destiny related stuff. 

- A little bit more flirting with Tim and Bernard in this episode as well. 

- Chronology: Exactly where the previous episode left off.

Jinx did a good job with the title character's introduction while upping the supernatural content and pushing Mother Mayhem further along as a villain. Again, it's still early days but this season seems to be coming along rather nicely.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

 

Written by Ryan Coogler And Joe Cole

Directed by Ryan Coogler

M'Baku: "The Black Panther lives."

To get the elephant out of the room first. There was a part of me that thought when Chadwick Boseman tragically passed away in 2020 that the best thing the MCU could've done was to pull this sequel from the schedule. That maybe it could've been delayed for another phase and potentially the role of T'Challa might have been recast when enough time had passed.

However the MCU had a different idea and this sequel had a hell of a balancing act to perform. It needed to be a tribute to the hard work and legacy of both Chadwick Boseman as an actor and of course to T'Challa as a character. This was not a perfect sequel but make no mistake - both Chadwick Boseman and T'Challa are honoured and their respective legacies are treated with the utmost respect while also moving the story forward for the remaining characters and the MCU as a whole.

The movie opened with the death of T'Challa as well as Shuri's (Letitia Wright) anguish of being unable to duplicate the heart shaped herb, which Shuri had believed would've saved her brother's life. Then we cut to a year later and while Shuri was unable to let go over her grief, her mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) had to deal with the US government underestimating Wakanda's strength as a nation along with their own quest to access Vibranium for their own purposes.

Of course the US government would not be the biggest problem for Wakanda in this movie. Nope that would come in the form of underwater ruler, Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejia), who made it pretty clear to both Ramonda and Shuri if Wakanda didn't ally itself with his kingdom, Talokan, he'd take out Wakanda first in his war against the surface world.

The MCU have had their mixed bag of villains but I definitely think that Namor has quickly risen up the rank as one of the strongest. Huerta gave a charismatic performance with Namor given a very intriguing backstory stepped in South America lore while Talokan offered something of an interesting alternative to the DCU's depiction of Atlantis. 

Not to mention that Namor's actions and the unfortunate death of Ramonda definitely forced Shuri's hand into assuming her brother's former mantle, which I did have mixed feelings about. Saying that though, the fight scenes between the new Black Panther and Namor are handled well enough before the two of them come to something of impasse. While Shuri might have taken a while to find her footing as both a potential new ruler and hero, Namor seemed content to bide his time against a bigger future obstacle.

As for the rest of the movie, we did get an introduction to the future Ironheart, Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), who made a solid impression while characters such Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), Okoye (Danai Gurira), Ayo (Florence Kusuma) and Aneka (Michaela Cole) all had some great moments. It's a very female led movie and aside from Namor himself, the only male characters to really do anything were M'Baku (Winston Duke) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and even their roles are somewhat scaled back by comparison.

- The title sequence led the charge in being dedicated to Chadwick Boseman with various clips of T'Challa appearing in the movie.

- Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louise Dreyfuss) not only appeared in this movie, but she was revealed to be Everett's ex-wife and going by the events, it looks like she'll be setting up the Thunderbolts as a result.

- Both Okoye and Aneka became the Midnight Angels upon Shuri building them their suits. Aneke was also romantically involved with Ayo.

- The mid credit scene revealed that Nakia living in Haiti with a son named Toussaint, whose Wakandan named translated as T'Challa.

- Standout music: Rihanna's Lift Me Up. Some great score music as well.

- Chronology: Over six years since the events of the first movie.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever doesn't hit the same mark as the first movie but it's a sequel that had a hell of a task ahead of it. For the most part, I think Ryan Coogler managed to tackle as best he could and many would've faltered under the weight of it as well. The movie served as a touching tribute both Chadwick Boseman and T'Challa, while pushing the story forward in a respectful way. A worthy sequel in more ways than one.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of American Horror Story: NYC - Fire Island

 

Written by Ned Martel And Charlie Carver And Our Lady J

Directed by Jennifer Lynch

Theo: "I know you. I know all of you. I photographed you."

Freddy: "You will be remembered."

Two episodes left for the finale and given that last episode managed to avoid killing off a regular, despite being very touch and go in that regard, this episode on the other hand did exactly that. In a very, very telegraphed way.

I don't know why but when this season started, I had Theo in my bingo card for the death and over the last few weeks I felt Sam was going to be involved in some way. That turned out to be mostly true but at the same time, this disease that has been creeping around also seemed to have caught up with Theo quicker than either Patrick and Gino.

Sam drugging Theo and getting his boy toys to string him up between trees while Henry lamented about wasted youth and Big Daddy appeared like a phantasm. Then we had the deer men, compiling of guys that Theo had photographed, including Freddy from earlier in this season. They seemed to be mercy though as the episode ended on a note of Theo being gently taken away to his death.

And yes, I do think he's absolutely dead. The finale trailer certainly made it clear and it's a shame because I really did like Theo and Adam as a couple, despite being certain Theo was going to be killed off. This episode did serve as an interesting way to exit the character but it also raised some questions too.

At the start of the season, it seemed like Big Daddy worked with Sam when it came to acquiring young men. Big Daddy being a death harbinger was speculated all season long and god, did this episode really drive the point home. Every single main character who appeared in this episode had some interaction with him. 

Also for fans who were desperately craving a supernatural element to offset the grounded nature of this season, well this episode didn't disappoint. Big Daddy tried and failed to get both Gino and Adam and Patrick shooting certainly did nothing to stop him. Not to mention Fran and her girls had their daytime encounter with him and it seems like even Sam won't be able to outrun Big Daddy when we get to the finale.

- Not only did Barbara appear to terrorise Patrick again but she looked more demonic this time around. Patrick's own guilt and denial really manifested here.

- Freddy and the other lads having antlers was a nice callback to some of the marketing for this season along with Hannah's earlier mission to kill all the deer on Fire Island.

- Theo got sea sick at the start of the episode as well as telling Adam the times he had various STDs to boot.

- In case the theme of death had not been hammered home enough, Fran brought out the Death card for every reading she did here.

- Henry admitted to sparing Gino due to having feeling for him. The latter didn't reciprocate at all.

- Chronology: Not long from the previous episode and entirely set on Fire Island.

Fire Island might have taken the action out of the city but it was still a rather brutal affair with a sad death for Theo. It was also the most unashamedly supernatural themed episode with ghostly appearances and talks of sacrifices. I cant wait to see how the final two episodes wrap up this season.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of American Horror Story: NYC - The Sentinel

 

Written by Our Lady J And Manny Coto

Directed by Paris Barclay

Gino: "This is our freedom. This is our way out. This is our pride. This is our sentinel."

Well, this episode almost felt like a finale. Only then I realised there are three remaining episodes left and a few other threads that need to be tied up. Still though, the Mai Tai Killer's story had to come to an end and in this show's style, there was no way he was simply going to end up in a prison cell.

For all of Mr Whitely's protestations that he was largely motivated by giving gay men a voice with his murders and plans for his own live sentinel, the guy was sick sadist through and through. In this episode as part of his final act, he popped off one of Henry's ears and saw a nobility in Patrick. A nobility that involved wanting to take his heart.

Yup, Patrick spent a good portion bound and gagged to a table listening to Whitely's final lament, leaving it up to both Gino and Henry to free themselves in the other room, rescue Patrick and get one over on Whitely. However it was Patrick who actually went ahead and shot Whitely point blank in the head and ended the killer on the spot.

Now this episode was short and we didn't even reach the halfway point before Whitely was taken out of the equation. Death wise, it was quick and clean and probably far more merciful than Whitely deserved. Again, kudos to Jeff Hiller for a killer final performance in the season. As for the Sentinel, aside from one imaginary sequence, the thing did not actually come to life.

However with the Mai Tai killer well and truly dead, the focus now has pivoted towards Big Daddy and a killer disease with convoluted symptoms. Hannah definitely seems to have been struck by it the worst given the vomiting and refusal to go to Fire Island with Adam. Patrick also clearly seems to be in the grips of it as well, given that he's now seeing Barbara in the street.

As for Gino, I'm not sure why he's skeptical of Adam wanting to investigate Big Daddy/the disease but I'm glad the latter wouldn't let the issue drop. I had forgotten about Sully from earlier in the season but given that he wasn't a part of the Mai Tai killings and Adam resumed his search for him, I think it's safe to assume we'll learn exactly what happened to Sully soon enough. Gino's op Ed monologue was a quietly chilling way to close out the episode.

- I'm not surprised that Henry has the hots for Gino. The previous episode was pretty blatant about it. Could've done without seeing Henry chop off his hand to free himself though.

- Hannah and Adam's symptoms are viral but KK's (Fran's girlfriend?) are bacterial. She looked uncomfortable during that scene in the diner.

- It was confirmed or at least speculated that Whitely murdered seven men for his sentinel. Patrick hallucinated seeing them before he shot Whitely.

- There was a few flashbacks to events in earlier episodes during Gino's final scene. 

- No Theo or Kathy in this episode and we saw Sam indulge in another drug fuelled party.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Sentinel was definitely the shortest episode but it did a good job in wrapping up the Mai Tai killer plot rather well while also highlighting the continued dangers out there for the main characters. Great performances from both Jeff Hiller and Russell Tovey.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Spider-Man (2002)

 

Written by David Koepp

Directed by Sam Raimi

Uncle Ben (to Peter Parker): "With great power comes great responsibility."

I did this all backwards in terms of rewatches and reviews for the infamous webslinger. Now it was overdue my looking into the Tobey Maguire era of Spider-Man and twenty years since it's release, this movie has aged pretty well.

What I love about this movie at the time wad it's sheer simplicity and I love that just as much. Here we've got high school nerd, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) - in love with neighbour Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), the object of scorn by jock bully Flash Thompson (Joe Manganiello) and friend of rich kid Harry Osborn (James Franco). Cue a school trip and getting bitten by a radioactive spider and the rest of this movie essentially wrote itself.

It really didn't take long for Peter to embrace his new powers and for his odd behaviour to cause conflict with his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson). One night after a wrestling match and Peter choosing to let a robber go free, he lost his uncle and as a result found Ben's infamous advice resonating with him. With power comes great responsibility and Spider-Man soon became a known presence in New York. 

Watching Spider-Man become an instant figure of infamy much to the appreciation of the citizens and derision of the cops and Daily Bugle editor J Jonah Jameson (JK Simmons) was one thing but at the end of the day, every great hero needs a great villain and this movie absolutely excelled in that regard. For an opening baddie, this movie chose wisely.

Having Willem Dafoe suit as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin was the absolute highlight of the movie. He's one of the most compelling comic book baddies we've seen on the bug screen and not only does he compliment Tobey Maguire but also provided a gripping foil for both Peter Parker and Spider-Man alike. With some absolutely breath taking fight scenes, moral choices and a final defeat, the biggest strength of this movie was it's villain choice.

As for the rest of the movie, the love story between Peter and Mary Jane was a lovely slow burn with both Maguire and Dunst giving it their all. That upside down kiss alone remains one of the most iconic romantic scenes in movie history. Meanwhile we got a lovely look into Peter's relationship with his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris), not to mention the more toxic friendship between him and Harry, which will only worsen in later movies. 

- Bruce Campbell made his first appearance in this universe as a wrestling announcer. Other Raimi alumni such as Lucy Lawless and Ted Raimi had minor roles in this movie.

- Elizabeth Banks briefly appeared as Betty Brant. Peter unsuccessfully attempted to flirt with her.

- Stan Lee made a cameo appearance saving a girl during he big battle scene with Spider-Man and Green Goblin.

- Peter tried to take on the moniker of the Human Spider before a certain character coined his true identity. Jameson was the one to called Norman Osborn the Green Goblin.

- Standout music: Nickelback's Hero. We also had an appearance from Macy Gray.

- Chronology: The movie did come out in 2002, so I'm going to assume around that time as well.

Spider-Man (2002) kicked this trilogy off to a fantastic start. Tobey Maguire truly got off the from the ground as an excellent version of the webslinger and Willem Dafoe was a brilliant choice for the Green Goblin. Every single other cast member was also on fine form and some truly excellent fight sequences and character bits, this movie remains a classic.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Murders By Land Or At Sea

Okay, it's really been a long time since I've done this and some shows I'm holding back for next month and others I've already reviewed but here's a look at some I've recently completed.

Only Murders In The Building: I absolutely adored the first season of this show and I did have a minor concern that Season 2 might have suffered from difficult second album syndrome. Fortunately that wasn't the case at all. Not only were Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez on absolutely top form as Charles, Oliver and Mabel respectively but the mystery surrounding Bunny's death managed to take some very interesting twists and turns before the big finale reveal. Add in a slew of interesting new characters like Alice and a cliff hanger ending on the death of Paul Rudd's actor character and the stage for next season was set perfectly. 

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law: If you ever thought that the MCU needed it's own take on Ally McBeal with a lot of fourth wall breaking, then this show must have been a godsend for you. For me, it was partial'y a mixed bag that took too long to get the main plot moving along and when the main plot did move along, it was somewhat resolved in an odd way. There were plus sided to the series as Tatiana Maslany's performance as Jen Walters, an amusing side threat with Titania (Jameela Jamil) not to mention appearances from Hulk, Abomination, Wong and Daredevil to name a few. While it was one of the weaker MCU shows, it wasn't entirely without it's merits either.

The Watcher: After some of his previous efforts on Netflix being something of a mixed bag, Ryan Murphy seems to be the cat who got the cream. Dahmer alone has smashed records for the streamer and this seven part series also managed to pull in some big numbers. Based on an unsolved case, this show felt like a revisit of the first season of American Horror Story with Bobby Cannavale and Naomi Watts leading as average couple Dean and Nora who find that purchasing a nice house came with some hostile neighbours, an inept detective, an overzealous realtor played by Jennifer Coolidge trying to flip their place and a creepy 'watcher' who keeps sending them disturbing letters. Want to know who the 'Watcher' actually is? Well, you're not going to find out because it's an unsolved case after all. Other than that, it's a pretty decent miniseries.

Wreck: BBC3 has only been back for about nine months and for those hoping for shows that would be the next generation of Being Human/The Fades/In The Flesh, this very LGBT themed nautical horror series definitely could fill that void. With likable leads such as Jamie and Vivian, a nice romance story between Jamie and Olly, a murder mystery complete with a killer duck, some genuinely good twists and Ireland's own Panti Bliss popping up every so often, this show was a surprising delight. Such a delight that BBC3 only went and renewed it for a second series and given the way the first one ended, it's a good thing too. 

• Yahya Abdul Mateen II has been cast as Wonder Man for the upcoming Disney+ series with Bob Odenkirk in talks to play the character's manager.
• Joe Locke and Aubrey Plaza have been cast in undisclosed roles for Agatha: Coven Of Chaos. 
• Westworld has been cancelled after four seasons on HBO.
• Indira Varma and Shirley Henderson have been cast in leading roles for Dune: The Sisterhood series for HBO Max.
• Both Teen Wolf movie and the Wolf Pack series will premiere on Paramount+ from January 2023.
• Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin and Ghosts US will air on BBC3 this month.
• UK viewers can also see the second season of Chucky from November 28th on Sky TV.
• The Last Of Us will premiere on HBO from January 15th and the next day for UK viewers on SkyAtlantic.
• The first episode of the fifth season of Stranger Things will be titled The Crawl.
• Interview With A Vampire was renewed for a second season ahead of its series premiere.

My Review of Titans 4x02: "Mother Mayhem"

 

 

Written by Bryan Edward Hill 

Directed by Nick Copus

Dick (to little girl): "The good magic always wins."

Finishing off the double bill that HBO Max gave us to launch the fourth season, this episode definitely didn't waste any time. Either with Conner getting arrested for Lex and then him later getting exonerated for said murder too.

Conner's little downtime in a Kryptonite lit holding cell did get him into brooding mode over the way he's perceived and how much of his other father's son he really is. Of course, Conner was also determined to get the hell out of Metropolis, only for the main villain of the season to have some ideas for both Conner and the Titans.

Mother Mayhem in these two episodes so far has managed to live up to her name. She's collecting things for her cult, attacked the Titans with relative ease and even managed to give Rachel something of a white haired transformation. On top of that, she also seems to have Sebastian Sanger in her sights and set up various pieces in order to draw him to her cause.

Speaking of Sebastian, although we're still a bit off from him actually transforming into Brother Blood, the build up has been rather entertaining. We got to see him share a nice scene with his mother before her death as well as a disastrous business pitch. Sebastian might be determined to change the world but not in the way he's hoping to do.

As for the rest of the episode, we learned that Lex was a little too interested in researching Kory before his death and the latter's attempts to get answers from Nelson only resulted in the latter dying the same way as every other Lexcorp worker did. 

Then we had the strange man in the mask and his fight scenes with Rachel, whom the latter nearly killed, only for the Nightmare Man to kill himself. Now with Rachel's new look, has she lost her powers as well? Or like Kory has she gained newer ones? Either way, this supernatural theme is working for the show this season.

- Gar fell unconscious at one point in the episode while in the woods with Tim. He also talked about the sound of animals dying.

- Sebastian's pitch seemed to be a much grander and community oriented take on Tetris. I get the feeling that tech company that rejected Sebastian will be killed next.

- Dick gave his leather jacket to the young girl who lost her mother at the start of the episode.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Mother Mayhem followed up the first episode pretty well and the title villain already feels like an improvement to Scarecrow from last season. It's early days but this season does feel more organised and hopefully it'll stay that way.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Titans 4x01: "Lex Luthor"

 

Written by Richard Hatam

Directed by Nick Copus

Mother Mayhem: "You see Mr Luthor, someone always pays."

Before I start this review, let's get two things out of the way first. First of all, this show has always been a mixed bag quality wise and I'll be surprised if this season turns out to be the one where they finally get their shit together and two, it's also very likely that this season will be the last one. It's also being split into two parts.

Going by the title of this episode, you've guessed it correctly. - Lex Luthor finally arrived on this show and to his credit, I think Titus Welliver did a good job here. Saying that, no point getting attached to Welliver's take on the character because after one meeting with Conner, he ended up dead. No, Conner didn't do the deed but predictably enough, he's been made to look like he did.

The person actually responsible for Lex's demise on the other hand happened to be one of our main season big bads. Mother Mayhem aka May Bennett (Franka Potente) warned Lex at the start of the episode after he tried to bin her off from their dark deal that someone would pay a price. Safe to assume that Lex didn't expect it to be him though.

With Lex dying, you could be forgiven for thinking he might have lasted longer than one episode and that he would've spent more time getting to know Conner. He certainly put up the charm and willingly answered all of Conner's questions. Lex also had some brilliant scenes with both Dick and Kory, so it's a pity the show runners couldn't have sorted out something longer than what we got with Lex here.

Of course Lex seemed to be focused on a dark magical plot. It's a plot clearly being lead by Mother Mayhem but also one that has pulled in Rachel. The latter of course having bloody visions and also a psychic attack at the same time that Lex was dying. Of course Rachel's not the only person connected to this dark magical plot.

There was also the introduction of Sebastian Sanger (Joseph Morgan). A reserved taxidermist who's invented something that could make people happy and also someone seeing the same visions as Rachel and experiencing the same stuff as Rachel. He's going to be Brother Blood fairly soon, but for now, Sebastian does seem to be struggling to figure out what's happening to him.

As for the Titans themselves, Lex Luthor and impending dark danger aside, this episode actually had them feel like an actual team. Having a smaller group this season could definitely work to the show's advantage, though I suspect certain characters will likely show up in the second half of the season when they're needed to.

- STAR Labs guy Bernard Fitzmartin (James Scully) wasted in time in giving Tim his number after the latter got his bo staff. Tim also seemed very keen on sending Bernard selfies.

- Gar got a suit of his own, Dick a fancy car while Kory has only accessed about 8% of her newly discovered powers.

- Nice trip into the Daily Planet archive section. The actual paper itself has been around since 1775.

- Chronology: About a week since the events of the previous season finale and es, we've traded Gotham for Metropolis this season.

Lex Luthor got the season off to a solid start with Titus Welliver doing a solid job as the scheming billionaire, only to be cut short. Still though, the team felt like a team, maybe for the first time since the show began and I'm intrigued by the supernatural threat as well. 

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of American Horror Story: NYC - The Body

 

Written by Brad Falchuk And Manny Coto And Our Lady J

Directed by John J. Gray

Gino (to Patrick): "The killer has Henry. I need you."

I think it is definitely safe to say that this week's double helping has definitely upped the ante of this season and this one definitely delivered more than a few surprises. Yup, this one might be my favourite one so far.

First of all, it's nice to know that Henry's more than an indifferent bar fly, he's a freaking hitman by the name of Velvet Touch and was revealed to be working for the mob. The mob also not being happy with Gino attracting the wrong kind of attention, so Henry had to make something of a point about Gino's big mouth.

I don't know why but was it me or did both Joe Mantello and Denis O'Hare radiate a lot of sexual chemistry? Why are we continuing this fracturing relationship with Gino and Patrick when in reality, the former actually has better chemistry with Henry? Not to mention that Patrick himself actually has better chemistry with Sam than Gino?

Earlier in the season, it was implied that Sam and Patrick shared a history and this episode bared it out pretty explicitly. Yup, these two previously hooked up at Sam's house on Fire Island and one of the sex and drug binges resulted in the death of a young twink named Billy. Both men at least had some decency to feel remorse for causing Billy's death, but this episode only added to this story in an interesting way.

Sam not only contacted Henry to get rid of the body but the latter himself also had Whitely on the pay roll to dismember. Then we had Gino and Henry confront Patrick and Sam over on how to get rid of the remains before Patrick realised that Whitely was the Mai Tai killer. Well, it only took you six episodes, Patrick.

With Patrick and Sam too busy getting rid of Billy's remains, it was up to Gino and Hwnry to take out Whitely and I gotta be honest, Gino is a terrible right hand man to have. I also think Henry was incredibly sloppy letting Whitely go the bathroom and get himself caught by the killer. At least Gino had the sense to call Patrick before storming into a killer's den. Now whether Gino and Patrick will able to stop Whitely remains to be seen.

- Needless to say, Billy ended up being killed while bound in a stock wearing a gimp mask. Whitely felt pity for him.

- Henry's mob guy Angelo was an amusing character. Whitely's mother also doesn't now her son is gay. I think she'd be more alarmed about him dismembering people tbh.

- Sam added to his garish collection while Patrick called him about Billy's body being found.

- Needless to say, both Daniel and Cameron are dead, though we did see one of their bodies which Whitely was working on when Henry called him. 

- No Adam, Theo, Hannah, Fran or Kathy this week. Barbara wasn't even mentioned. 

- Chronology: More times passed since the previous episode but also the flashback was set in 1979.

The Body might have had the name of another TV episode of a popular show that focused on a pivotal death but this was definitely a much more grisly affair. So many excellent scenes with certain characters in this one. I loved this episode.

Rating: 9 out of 10