Batman 66 - Episodes 45-48 Reviews

Into another slew of episodes and this time around, both the dilemma of time and eggs play a part with our baddies in question.

2x11: The Clock King's Crazy Crimes

Ah, the Clock King. A man who is a stickler for timing and can often be something of a mixed bag, baddie wise. Here he is played by Walter Slezak who does a pretty good job in making the character interesting enough as the Clock King uses the guise of a pop up artist to fool the Dynamic Duo in one rather interesting scene. Another and keeping with the theme of this baddie was having both Batman and Robin trapped within an hourglass as part of the cliffhanger for this one, which I found pretty great. There's also a rather nice cameo from Sammy Davis, Jr in this one too. 7/10

2x12: The Clock King Gets Crowned

With the Dynamic Duo out of the hourglass pretty sharpish, the second half of this story focuses on the Clock King's attempts to rob Wayne Manor and even try to take poor Aunt Harriet as a hostage before being outwitted by Bruce and Dick. It's a bit of a letdown after the first part being the stronger of the two. This is the only time we see the Clock King and while Slezak is good in the role, the story does peter out a little in this part. 6/10

2x13: An Egg Grows In Gotham

After King Tut, my favourite original villain for this series is Egghead and with Vincent Price in the role and fully mebracing the silliness of his eggscellent punning character, it's hard not to have love Egghead here. In this story he kidnaps Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and two other billionaires and quickly deduces through his own instincts that Bruce must be Batman. There's also a subplot with an Indian Chief that's amusing enough and Egghead's own batches of eggs seem to range from the acidic to the infectious laughter kind. An eggscellent debut for this baddie. 8/10

2x14: The Yegg Foes In Gotham

Thanks to his alliance with Egghead, Screaming Chicken is now the owner of Gotham and it's not long before he's betrayed by the latter and the city has gone into some mini-chaos due to Egghead's control over things. This also included trying to get the Dynamic Duo banned from the city before Egghead literally ended up with egg on his face following a fun confrontation with Batman and Robin in Old MacDonald's coop. There's also another moment where it looks like Gordon is addressing the audience when talking to Mayor Linseed over the city needing the Caped Crusaders as well. 8/10

Next blog I'll delve into The Devil's Fingers/The Dead Ringers and Hizzonner the Penguin/Dizzoner the Penguin

Superman: The Animated Series - Episodes 1-4 Reviews

It's been overdue and I would've started this a bit earlier in the month but got distracted with real life for a while. Without a further ado, it's time to dive into this animated show, which opens with a three parter and has a creepy Toyman in the mix.

Episode 1: The Last Son Of Krypton, Part 1

Like I said, this series opened with a three parter and the first part of that one is set during Krypton's final day. Jor El (Christopher McDonald) is worried about his planet's destruction and despite not being initially believed by his wife, Lara (Finola Hughes), he soon discovers that Brainiac (Corey Burton) is aware of the planet's imminent demise and is more interested in saving himself than figuring out a solution to save Krypton. As the planet begins it's final moments, there's only enough time for Jor El and Lara to put their son in a pod and send him to Earth. 7/10

Episode 2: The Last Son Of Krypton, Part 2

Speeding things up a bit here, we open with Jonathan (Mike Farrell) and Martha Kent (Shelley Faberes) finding baby Kal El's pod, adopting the child inside it and calling him Clark Kent. as a teenager we also see Clark (Jason Marsden) develop his powers in front of his best friend and crush, Lana Lang (Kelly Schmidt) before learning of his heritage and moving to Metropolis and getting himself a job at the Daily Planet. There our adult Clark (Tim Daly) becomes Superman and develops a fun rivarly with fellow reporter Lois Lane (Dana Delany) while a media event with Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown) ends in disaster. 8/10

Episode 3: The Last Son Of Krypton, Part 3

Ending this three parter, the focus shifts onto Lex's own corruption as he happily admits to Superman that he's played a huge role in building Metropolis while Lois herself ends up in danger when she uncovered  Lex's plot to sell the LEXO-SKEL SUIT 5000 to Kaznian terrorists, via their agent John Corben. This won't be the first time in the series where Lois winds up in danger but already I am loving the rapport with her and Clark and even the added rivalry between herself and fellow reporter, Angela Chen (Lauren Tom). The episode also ends on the note of an escaped Brainiac looking for Clark as well, which should be interesting to see unfold throughout the series. 8/10

Episode 4: Fun And Games

After a three part opening story to debut the series, it was time to see what the show could do with something more standalone and the result are rather creepy. Toyman is a villain I'm a little lukewarm on but here, thanks to a chilling design and voice performance from Bud Cort. This Toyman goes out of his way to get revenge on a mobster while also dressing up Lois in a creepy doll costume and forcing her to report what he wants her to before Superman arrives to save the day. It's a pretty strong episode and surprisingly a little dark in parts. 8/10

Next blog I will look into A Little Piece Of Home, Feeding Time, The Way Of All Flesh and Stolen Memories.

My Review of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987)

Written by Christopher Reeve & Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal
Directed by Sidney J. Furie

Lex Luthor (to Superman): "Goodnight, sweet prince. Parting is... inevitable."

Going by this line, a part of me wonders if there's some UST between the Man of Steel and his most popular adversary. It certainly would explain a lot about Lex's obsession with Superman but at the same time, it's this movie.

The very movie that despite actor Christopher Reeve had some story involvement in was also the same one where he'd tell co-star Jon Cryer that they were basically filming a turkey. Is Reeve right on that matter? Let's face it, this movie is far from loved, even if it has the bonuses of a third outing for Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor and Margot Kidder back in a far bigger role as Lois Lane.

Unfortunately though, this movie is also another reason as to why these superhero movies are better off expanding on other prominent baddies though. You would've thought by this time someone would've attempted to have used the likes of Bizarro, Doomsday or Darkseid for one of these movies instead of having Lex coming back for another round.

This time around, he's sprung from prison by his dimwitted (but we're supposed to believe he's an actual genius) nephew Lenny (Jon Cryer) and by stealing a strand of Superman's hair that the latter donated to a museum (bit of a reckless thing to do there, Clark), Lex then creates his own super soldier unimaginatively called Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow).

Nuclear Man is another baddie specifically made for the movies and he's not a very engaging baddie. Namely he's a mindless drone for Luthor, even copying his 'father's' speech pattern at various points in the movie but there is a decent enough battle between Nuclear Man and Superman in space before Lex is sent to prison yet again and Lenny is sent to an all boys school where hopefully he's never seen again either.

In terms of threats, the quest for peace had the potential to be interesting but it just didn't come together that well. On the other hand, we also had Perry White (Jackie Cooper) temporarily lose control of the Daily Planet to David Warfield (Sam Wanamaker) and his daughter, Lacy (Mariel Hemingway) - the latter with an overt interest in Clark and who actually a far better written character than her father was in the whole movie. Needless to say though, Perry did get control of the Daily Planet before the very movie did end.

As for Lois, this was a better movie for her than the third one but even still aside from an odd quadrangle involving herself, Lacy and both Clark/Superman and realising that she cares for Clark, her role still isn't hugely satisfying though. There was even a brief moment when it felt like she was going to remember Clark and Superman being the same person but that came to nothing though.

- Aside from appearing in all four of these movies, Marc McClure (Jimmy Olsen) also appeared in Supergirl, which was released between the third and fourth movies. I will be reviewing that one too.
- There was tension between both Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder during filming of this one.
- Apparently this film was meant to be 134 minutes but was scaled down to 90 minutes. It was also a box office failure.
- There was nice opening scenes set in Smallville where Clark talked to Lara before talking about not selling his parents farm.

Superman IV: The Quest For Peace like Batman & Robin a decade later brought something of halt to a disappointing end to an overall great movie saga. Despite the behind the scenes chaos, Reeve does try his best but compared to even the third movie, it does feel like he's going through the motions a bit at times and the results of this movie are seriously undercooked at best.

Rating: 5 out of 10

My Review of The Sword In The Stone (1963)

Written by Bill Peet
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman

Arthur:"Knowledge and wisdom is the real power."
Merlin: "Right you are,Wart, so stick to your schooling, boy."

I really do have an unbridled love for this movie. Adaptations of Merlin and Arthur are ten a penny with some obviously being better than others and this lovely little movie from Disney is definitely in the category of one of my favourites.

Following the death of Uther Pendragon, England is in disarray with no heir in sight, which means there's competition to be seated on the throne. This is where Sir Ector (Sebastian Cabot) comes in, determined that his boorish son, Sir Kay (Norman Alden) could be the next king, while at the same time, the former's foster kid, or Kay's squire known as Wart (Rickie Sorenson) comes into wizened wizard Merlin (Karl Swenson) who is determined to educate the boy along with his snarky owl, Archimedes (Junius Matthews).

Wart's education seems to be mostly changing him into different animals and putting him into a series of dangers. As a fish, Wart has to avoid a crocodile from trying to eat him while as a squirrel, he's forced to fight off the affections of a female squirrel as well as a hungry and malnourished looking wolf. Then he's turned into a little bird and soon finds himself in danger of Madam Mim (Martha Wentworth), the closest to a proper antagonist that the movies seems to have.

Madam Mim is a fun baddie to watch as she revels in human suffering with a song in her heart and an ability to change into various animals. This leads to a brilliant battle of wits between Mim and Merlin as the two try to outdo each other on the animal front before the latter comes up with an underhanded way to deal with Mim. Unlike some other Disney baddies, Mim actually managed to survive this movie.

As for the rest of the movie, there's a bit of a falling out between Merlin and Arthur when the latter shows an interest in being Sir Kay's squire but given what this is based on, it's not long before Arthur discovers his true destiny and removes a sword from a certain stone and ends the movie by becoming England's newest King.

For an adaptation, this one is a lot of fun with Arthur, Merlin and Archimedes making for a joyful trio. There's a few allusions to Merlin's abilities to travel into the future and one hilarious moment where Archimedes takes satisfaction in Merlin being wrong about humans being able to fly.

- This movie is based on T.H White's book of the same title. The book was released a few years before this movie's release.
- There's a few obvious riffs to Sleeping Beauty in this movie.
- Bill Peet largely drew on Disney himself in his depiction of Merlin for this movie.
- The movie is also getting a live action version.

The Sword In The Stone is probably one of the more underrated Disney movies but it's a lot of fun. I really loved this one as a kid and even now having watched it again recently, it still holds up pretty well for an animated take on the Arthurian legend.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Batman 66 - Episodes 41-44 Reviews

In the batch of episodes I'm looking at now, a sinister Pharaoh has resurfaced and we meet a crime family with a deadly matriarch.

2x07: The Spell Of Tut

My favourite original villain returns for his second story and thankfully, it's as enjoyable as his first one. Last time we saw Tut, he kidnapped Bruce Wayne, so this time around, it seems that he's taking his talents and minions in order to revive Scarabs while his Cleopatra is posing as Gordon's secretary and drugging him. There's an amusing cameo from both the Green Hornet (Van Williams) and Kato (Jackie Chan) that now seems like a precursor for the crossover two parter later in the season but here is just a rather pleasant moment. Things also got a little choppy for Robin as his attempts to infiltrate Tut's lair resulted in him nearly being fed to the mad Pharoah's crocodiles. 8/10

2x08: Tut's Case Is Shut

Well, needless to say Robin survived nearly being din dins for the crocodiles but that didn't stop Tut from getting both O'Hara and Gordon under his control as well as Batman during the second half of this episode. Again we had the cliche of Cleo Patrick not wanting any harm to come to the Caped Crusader and unabashedly fancying him but Tut's scheme to basically turn everyone in Gotham into his mind controlled puppet more or less backfired on him. Second time around, Victor Buono delivered a fabulous guest performance and the episode ends on an odd note with Commissioner Gordon directly talking to the audience. It's not a bad way to end the two parter but a little odd though. 8/10

2x09: The Greatest Mother Of The All

And now for something a little maternal. The family that commits crime together also stays together ... in prison. For any other crime family, that might be the end of their reign of terror but for Ma Parker (Shelley Winters) and her children - Legs, Pretty Boy, Machine Gun and Mad Dog, it was only the beginning. The fact that she was able to trick the Dynamite Duo into getting her family into the prison and the meticulous way she took over the joint, much to Criton's horror was absolutely brilliant. As for the little bit of dynamite left in the Batmobile, that felt like an afterthought compared to all the excellent scheming beforehand. Good cliffhanger moment though. 8/10

2x10: Ma Parker

With the criminals running Gotham State Penitentiary, you have to hand it to Ma Parker for having the most genius of plans. I love that she's so much of a force to be reckoned with that she can even get the Joker and Penguin thrown into solitary confinement for not falling in line with her while Catwoman briefly pops up to show some support. It's a shame that Catwoman isn't actually utilised in the episode or that she didn't try to undermine Parker but either way, it's a nice but too brief use of the character. As for Ma herself, she did let her mistreatment of Legs play a role into her downfall when Batman and Robin were able to trick the latter but it still doesn't detract from the fact that Shelley Winters is a delight in the role. It's a shame that Ma and her motley kids were a one off set of baddies. I would've loved to have seen them in another story. 8/10

Next blog I'll delve into The Clock King's Crazy Crimes/The Clock King Gets Crowned and An Egg Grows In Gotham/The Yegg Foes In Gotham.

My Review of Superman III (1983)

Written by David Newman & Leslie Newman
Directed by Richard Lester

Ross Webster: "I ask you to kill Superman, and you're telling me you couldn't even do that one, simple thing."

With the first movie being an undeniable classic and the second being a pretty strong sequel, there are reasons why this movie and it's next one are looked on less favourably. It's not that the Man of Steel's third outing is awful but at the same time, there's a lot that's somewhat lacking too.

In the first two movies, you had the familiarity of villains such as Lex Luthor and Zod/Ursa/Non. Instead of tackling another prominent baddie from Superman's gallery, this movie went for an original foe in Robert Vaughn's corrupt businessman, Ross Webster aided by his ditzy girlfriend, Lorelei Ambrosia (Pamela Stephenson) and just as ruthless sister, Vera Webster (Annie Ross).

The trio's not so great scheme seemed to involved taking Superman (Christopher Reeve) out of the picture by blackmailing hapless and down on his luck loser, Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) into giving our hero that would bring out his less noble side and the results are somewhat interesting. There's also the classic villain plot of wanting to rule the world but it's not done as well as other movies though.

Reeves has certainly captured both Superman and Clark Kent's sense of innocence, duty and all round kindness in previous movies and here he gets to revel a little in being something of a bad boy as Superman's self streak includes that infamous bar scene, ignoring a kid, being cavalier about saving people and even an interesting battle between both the good and bad versions resulting in the former regaining his senses and saving the day from Webster's big scheme.

As villains, Webster and company are just not gripping baddies to watch. I don't want to make unfair comparisons but if you compare Ross to both Lex and Zod, then he really does come across rather poorly to be honest. Robert Vaughn does a decent job but it's a rather poor role and neither Lorelei or Vera far much better either, even if the latter is given a rather grisly fate.

There are some bright enough spots though in the movie. Richard Pryor is a decent enough foil turned ally in Gorman and I really liked Annette O'Toole's take on Lana Lang as Clark got reacquainted with his old high school sweetheart and her son for a good portion of the movie. Even the lack of Lois wasn't so bad with Lana being a nice contrast and I did like seeing the pair of them meet up at the end of the movie. Not to mention the fact that we got a bit of a Clark and Jimmy team up earlier in the movie, even if the latter ended up being injured and yet again, Perry White had very little to do.

- We almost didn't get Reeve for this movie, given that he protested Richard Donner being sacked and that he hated the script. Without him, this film probably would've been much worse.
- Both Martha and Jonathan are now dead. I had forgotten about Martha being dead until Lana actually mentioned. Annette O'Toole would go on to play Martha Kent in Smallville.
- Actually it turns out that the movie originally was going to have Mister Mxyzptlk with Dudley Moore in the role. Now that they should've gone through with.
- The first movie where Christopher Reeve gets top billing.

Superman III is definitely not a classic. It's got the weakest villains going and lacks the magic of the first two movies but the brief bad spell of the titular hero, an okay supporting character in Gus and a nice use for Smallville and I guess it could've been a lot worse though.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Finale Rundown

So, I've got a few shows I seriously need to catch up with but before I do, here's a rundown of some of the recent genre finales I've watched.

Arrow: This season has been very hit and miss in parts but on the plus side, at least we're finally rid of Guggenheim and Mericle and with any luck, a sense of cohesion and back to basics will benefit the next season. Finale wise, it was nice to see Sara back briefly, Laurel continuing her potential to being redeeming and even the newbies stepping up a bit to help Oliver and company. Less pleasant was Oliver heading to jail, being outed as the Green Arrow and the ridiculous to keep Ricardo alive for next season. Kill him off early in Season Seven please.

Once Upon A Time: I don't think it's a controversial opinion to say that this show probably should've ended in 2017. Season Seven tried its best to breathe new life into it but the reboot was too little too late for most fans and the central romance with Henry and Jacinda ultimately left viewers cold. It's not surprising then in the last few episodes, the romance with Alice and Robyn generated more focus as both Gothel and Facilier's storylines came to middling conclusions while a Wish Realm Rumple was wheeled out one last time. The best moment though was seeing Emma, Hook, Snow, Charming and Zelena back in the series finale where Regina got her happy ending. Truthfully, it was a better series finale than I expected it to be.

Supergirl: Like Arrow, this season has been largely hit and miss and the last few episodes seem to have been slowly dragging out the Reign storyline where Sam rather predictably survived and left town with Ruby for good measure. Actually the finale really was a clearing of the decks with Winn, Mon El, J'onn, M'yrnn all exited while more conflict between Lena and Kara was being set up for next season along with a clear adaptation of the Red Son arc as well.  Alex's storyline about wanting to be a mother has been somewhat boring to watch and Alura's return while nice, should've felt bigger along with Argo's survival as well. Hopefully next season will be better focused.

The Flash: Somewhat a better season than either Arrow or Supergirl but not without it's problems as well. Still though, the Thinker turned out to be the most engaging main antagonist since Reverse Flash in the first season and his defeat with the team relying on Marlize for help was pretty satisfying. It was also nice to see Wally reappear for the finale and I even didn't mind Ralph being saved as well. As for Nora, well she's going to be an interesting addition next season. How are Barry and Iris going to deal with their grown up future daughter and how long will we have to wait before Caitlin becomes Killer Frost again?

- Despite FOX cancelling both shows, both Brooklyn Nine Nine and Lucifer will return for both sixth and fourth season respectively. The former being snapped up by NBC and the latter by Netflix.
- Jeremy Jordan will be recurring in Supergirl's fourth season as Winn while Chris Wood and Odette Annable will not be returning for the time being. Jesse Rath will be a regular as Brainiac 5 while new characters such as Nia Nal (the show's first trans character), Chester Green, Ben and Colonel Hadley are being added to the new season.
- Danielle Nicolet, Hartley Sawyer and Jessica Parker Kennedy will be returning as regulars for Season 5 of The Flash.
- Keiynan Lonsdale will not be a regular for either The Flash or Legends Of Tomorrow next season. The latter show will be introducing Nate's father and a new female character named Ali.
-  Richard Flood will be a regular for the ninth season of Shameless US.
- Andrew Lincoln will be departing The Walking Dead during it's ninth season.
- The Murder House/Coven crossover will be happening in this season of American Horror Story with some old favourites returning as well.
- Gotham's final season will begin filming next season, now rumoured to be 10 episodes, though FOX have yet to confirm that.
- Tyler Posey will be playing a love interest for Avan Jogia's character in upcoming Starz series, Now Apocalypse.
- While Star Trek: Discovery is going through another showrunner change, there are now rumours that more spin-offs are on the way.

My Review of Superman II (1980)

Written by Mario Puzo & David Newman & Leslie Newman
Directed by Richard Lester & Richard Donner

Superman: "We'd better talk."
Lois Lane: "I'm in love with you."
Superman: "We'd really better talk."

I really like this movie and as a sequel, it's actually a pretty strong one. Saying that, it also commits the one cardinal sin that I absolutely hate with anything sc-fi/fantasy/superhero/comic related and that's having an important character find out something and then undoing it towards the end.

I've preferred for Lois to only go so long in not knowing that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person and when she does find out, I usually prefer for it to stick. In a four movie series, having Lois realise that Clark and Superman are the same in the second movie seemed the right time to do it and the way she figured out felt true to the character. It's why the kiss at the end to reset the status quo between Clark and Lois bugs me in a movie I otherwise enjoy.

I do think this movie did speed up Lois and Clark's friendly rivalry to romance a little quickly but there's no denying that both Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder are still bringing the chemistry in this movie in spades that Clark's brief decision to renounce his abilities so he can live a human life with Lois does feel a tad believable, even if it's another trope that I don't particularly care for.

Thankfully the main villains of the piece though spur Clark to get his powers back. Bringing in Zod (Terrance Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas) and Non (Jack O'Halloran) into the mix along with a fraught alliance with an escaped Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) was a good move for this movie.

Zod and his gang had promise in their brief appearance in the first movie. Here they're given the chance to shine, show their menace and even excitement at the fact that being on Earth has increased their powers (something which Ursa especially took the most delight in) while Lex does try his damndest to use Zod and company for his own gains.

The battles between Zod, Ursa and Non with Superman and Lois both in/around the Daily Planet and the Fortress of Solitude make up some of the best scenes of the movie along with Zod's eventual defeat at the exact moment Lex also tried to get out of going back to prison. As for Lex, I really don't think this movie actually needed him at all, though he's better served here than he will be in his next one, which I think we can all agree on.

- Gene Hackman actually didn't film anything for this movie, with footage used from previous filming, hence the Richard Donner credit for this movie.
- There wasn't a huge amount for either Jimmy Olsen or Perry White in this movie but I did like seeing Eve Teschmacher again as she helped Lex escape from prison. Also no scenes in Smallville as well.
- Otis really didn't fare well in this movie. Ladders are clearly not a strong suit with the guy.
- Chronology: I don't think much time passed since the first movie, though this movie was released several months in Europe before the US.

Superman II makes for a strong enough sequel. Despite two rather annoying tropes on display, neither of them hamper what essentially is a worthwhile sequel. Zod, Ursa and Non make for great villains and both Reeve and Kidder excel in their second outing as well. As for the next two entries in this particular universe, they're going to be interesting to review.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Sense8 - Amor Vincit Omnia

Written by Lana Wachowski & David Mitchell & Aleksandar Hemon
Directed by Lana Wachowski

Rajan (to Kala and the Clusters): "My God, I didn't think such things were possible."

Last year after a trailblazing second season, Netflix unfortunately bore the bad news of cancelling this show. A month later, fans got a brief reprieve when Netflix also announced a two hour series finale to wrap up the show. Add an extra thirty minutes into the mix and they made good on their promise.

Yup, this was one hell of an extended series finale but it certainly didn't waste any time though. First of all, the gang had kidnapped both Whispers and Jonas the last time we saw them and they were determined to rescue Wolfgang. While it took over half of this special to do that, the journey to getting to that point was something else altogether.

We got a better insight into Wolfgang's childhood and it was certainly messier than previously thought but more importantly, we did see him trying to save himself before the exchange for Whispers went predictably awry with Lila in a nightclub. Speaking of Lila, she somewhat stepped up a little as an antagonist here with Whispers mostly reduced to be a pathetic nonentity of a baddie. I mean, there was a moment where he nearly got away from Amanita and Daniella but other than that, he wasn't quite the villain of the piece.

Lila stepped into that role a little better, managing to strong arm the Chairman (who despite some focus on did lack a little as a baddie too) into getting her own way but as this episode needed to wrap things up, the Chairman, Whispers and Lila were all disposed off rather quickly. Normally this would be something to complain about but I found there was more than enough to keep this episode going and their deaths did happen at the end of Jonas and Angelica's long game plan coming to fruition though.

The highlight of this finale wasn't just seeing all the Clusters working together to stop the BPO. It was seeing them bringing everyone else into the mix as well. This show has done wonders with it's supporting cast and it was fantastic to see Hernando, Amanita, Daniella, Rajan, Bug, Mun, Felix and Diego all step into the fray to help save the day along with the Old Man of Hoy, Puck and his Clusters and even new BPO lady River promising a better era for the shady organisation as well as Zakia popping as well afterwards.

Then there was Nomi and Amanita's wedding in Paris. It was a beautiful way to end things, except for the fact that following both Demons and Happy Fucking New Year, one more orgy had to take place and it was as tastefully done and as sexy as the previous two we've seen and with a certain final image, it's really timely this special came out in the month of Pride.

- The title aptly means Love Conquers All. If that isn't a perfect title for this show's finale, I don't know what else would've been.
- The show featured Linda Perry in a brief scene and also had a For The Fans dedication to it.
- Standout music: Clean Bandit's Rather Be and Experience by Ludovico Einaudi during a certain scene.
- Chronology: From where You Want A War more or less left off.

It's felt like so much ground has been covered and it's felt like it's too soon for this show to be ending. Conflicting feelings no doubt but for a final episode, Amor Vincit Omnia certainly was a tribute to this breathtaking show. An exquisite ending for an exquisite show. Will, Riley, Nomi, Lito, Capheus, Sun, Wolfgang, Kala and all of your friends and lovers will be missed. It's a shame that Netflix didn't see this through for the five season plan it was meant to be but at least we got this beautiful finale.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Anthony Perkins/Tab Hunter's Romance To Get A Movie

It was a love story in old Hollywood when the latter place had some actual mystique and now it seems that it's going to be a movie.

Thanks to Zachary Quinto (Heroes, American Horror Story, Star Trek) and JJ Abrams (Alias, Lost, Star Trek), it seems the love affair between Hollywood hunks Anthony Perkins and Tab Hunter is going to become a movie. Made by Abrams production company, Bad Robot, produced by Quinto and Hunter's real life partner, Allan Glaser as well as Neil Koenigsberg, a legendary publicist who is the founding “K” in the PR firm PMK. The film will be written by Doug Wright, who has previously penned I Am My Own Wife and Quills.

The romance between Anthony Perkins best known for his role as Norman Bates in Psycho and it's three sequels and Tab Hunter, whose roles have included Grease 2 and his own sitcom, The Tab Hunter Show was one of Hollywood's badly kept secrets should be interesting to see played out on the big screen. A director has yet to be confirmed as well as casting for both Anthony and Tab but you can already imagine the fancasting for this movie though. I've seen people suggest Andrew Garfield for Perkins and I really like that casting idea. As for Hunter, even I'm drawing a blank for now. The film will be based on Hunter’s 2005 memoir, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star.

More Information: http://www.towleroad.com/2018/06/anthony-perkins-tab-hunter/

So guys, who would you cast for these roles?

My Review of Gotham By Gaslight (2018)

Written by Jim Krieg
Directed by Sam Liu

Selina Kyle: "Gone, all gone."
Batman: "And the hope of Gotham with it."
Dickie: "It was all phony anyway. We'll make somethin' new, somethin' better."

And now for something a little different. Taking another comic series, this time it's a case of some Victorian murder mystery as Bruce Wayne/Batman (Bruce Greenwood) and stage actress Selina Kyle (Jennifer Carpenter) finds themselves teaming up to stop Jack The Ripper and his spate of killings on defenseless women and the destitute.

I'm not going to lie, I've never read the original comic that came out thirty years ago but I am aware some changes were made for this movie (just like The Killing Joke) and for an Elseworlds type of story, it's not a bad one but certainly not the strongest we could've had as well.

I do like the Victorian setting and teaming up of Batman and Selina, the latter who doesn't get to become Catwoman but certainly has enough of her alter-ego motifs throughout the animated film so it doesn't feel like people are missing out as such. Here we see Selina taking on something of a protector role for the downtrodden, a role also taken on by Sister Leslie (Grey Griffin) as well.

Then there's the Ripper's victims. Four of them are of significance - the first being an exotic dancer version of Poison Ivy (Kari Wuhrer) who only gets about three minutes of screen time before she's gutted by the Ripper. There's also a failed attempt on Selina before Sister Leslie is murdered by the Ripper along with Arkham Asylum owner Hugo Strange (William Salyers) and of course, a drunken old woman named Marleen Maloney (Tara Strong), who blatantly was meant to be an older version of another member of the Rogues Gallery.

We get a bit in the movie where Bruce is framed for the Ripper's crimes and we see a rather vindictive side to Harvey Dent (Yuri Lowenthal), who didn't seem to take to Selina connecting with Bruce more than him. However, while it might have appeared that he could be the Ripper of this particular yarn, it was in fact someone else.

Yup, Commissioner Gordon (Scott Patterson) turned out to be the baddie of the piece and I'll admit, it was a satisfying reveal, especially when we learned that even his own wife wasn't spared his misogyny and bigotry. The confrontation scenes that the Ripper had with both Batman and Selina prior to his fiery death certainly added more to proceedings even if the movie itself ended on a somewhat abrupt note.

- We got to see a group of street urchin named Dickie, Jason and Timmy whom Bruce, Alfred and Selina took in at the end. There was also Grundy cameo during the Blackgate scenes.
- Selina used her own blood in order to make a makeshift Batsignal while Batman got his own Victorian version of the Batcycle.
- Standout music: Selina's version of You Can't Tame A Wild Wimmen.
- Selina Kyle, Hugo Strange, (Mrs.) Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, Harvey Bullock, Pamela Isley (as Ivy the Plant Lady) and Cyrus Gold (future Solomon Grundy) were added to the movie and not featured in the original comic.

Gotham By Gaslight is nicely filmed, has a decent enough story and utilizes it's Victorian setting and infamous killer well enough. Saying that while it is mostly enjoyable and there's good voice acting all round, it's just not quite as gripping as it could've been. Not bad but not amazing either.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Superman (1978)

Written by Mario Puzo & David Newman & Leslie Newman & Robert Benton
Directed by Richard Donner

Superman: "I'm here to fight for truth, and justice, and the American way."
Lois Lane: "You're gonna end up fighting every elected official in this country!"

I'd resist the urge to say the world needs a Superman right now but it's true nonetheless. It's been forty years since the release of this iconic movie and it's a film that has aged beautifully. Despite some great successors in the role (and some great predecessors to it as well), it's safe to say that Christopher Reeve quite simply is Superman.

Some actors just embody a role (recently Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman) and in this movie and it's following three sequels, regardless of their quality, Reeve truly captures this role like no-one else. I could gush about how amazing he was as Superman and it would be fitting for this review and the next three I have planned as well.

The movie starts off with the Krypton in it's final days backstory and it's beautifully told out as both Jor-El (Marlon Brando) and his wife, Lara (Susanna York) send their only born in a pod to safety from their planet's destruction while the villainous, General Zod (Terrance Stamp) along with his co-horts, Non (Jack O'Halloran) and Ursa (Sarah Douglas) are banished to the Phantom Zone but don't worry, we'll get more of those three in the next movie.

From Krypton's destruction onwards, we get to see a young Clark taken in by Jonathan (Glenn Ford) and Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter), living a normal life in Kansas before heading to the big city of Metropolis to become a reporter for the Daily Planet, run by Perry White (Jackie Cooper) and a friendly rival and friend for budding journalist, Lois Lane (Margot Kidder).

With Reeve being the iconic Superman/Clark Kent, the same accolade can also be give to Margot Kidder. Lois is without a doubt one of the best female characters of all time and I do think from a big screen perspective a lot of that is down to Kidder's performance. The chemistry between Christopher and Margot, whether it's Lois and Clark's general sparring or the former getting her scoop with the Man of Steel, is positively electric. You cannot fake that sort of chemistry and both Reeve and Kidder had it in spades.

In terms of villains, with Zod and company put on the back burner, it's up to the scheming Lex Luthor to bring the menace here. This is probably the best use of Gene Hackman's version of Lex and he's certainly on fine form here, battling with Reeve's beautiful sense of right as Lex schemed to one of the missiles to detonate in the San Andreas Fault, sinking California and leaving Lex's desert as the new West Coast, though before subjecting Superman to some Kryptonite.

For a movie little over two hours, a lot of ground is covered and a lot of mythos are revealed too. Superman's solution for stopping Lex's great plan is something revisited in later movies as his love for the planet he's adopted is evidently shown. It's a great moment in a movie filled with many of them, including some great support scenes from the likes of Jimmy Olsen (Marc McClure) and Eve Teschmacher (Valerie Perrine), both of whom I loved as characters.

- Some of the actors from this movie would later appear in Smallville, Supergirl and Justice League. Meanwhile Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill appeared as Lois's parents.
- Donner himself did make a cameo in this movie. There's also cameos from Larry Hagman and Rex Reed too.
- This was the first movie to make use of the new Dolby stereo 70 mm split stereo surrounds.
- This was the second highest grossing movie of 1978, after Grease of course.

Superman is a triumph of a superhero movie. It's been forty years and it's legacy remains intact. Everything you'd want in a superhero movie is exemplified in this one with Reeve being utterly sublime in the title role and backed with Kidder, Hackman, Stamp etc, performance wise. This movie really will make you believe that a man can fly.

Rating: 10 out of 10

My Review of Constantine: City Of Demons (2018)

Written by J. M. DeMatteis
Directed by Doug Murphy

Constantine (to Chas): "If there's one thing I've learned over the years is that there are no happy endings."

Keeping with the animated Arrow verse shows, it's time for something more occult like as I managed to catch the first five episodes of Constantine: City Of Demons. With our bisexual occult specialist now about to be a regular on Legends Of Tomorrow, this series is a good way to brush up on his past as it's coming back to get him in a way.

First of all, there's flashbacks to the infamous Newcastle Incident where we saw John and Chas (Damien O'Hare) attempts to save Astra from her occultist father result in Nergal slaughtering everyone before damning the child to hell and messing up both John and Chas's lives in the process.

This bit got told to us when Nightmare Nurse (Laura Bailey) compelled Chas's estranged wife, Renee (Emily O'Brien) into revealing the history of the one event that Constantine doesn't like to brag about while also watching over Chas and Renee's daughter, Trish - whose soul is being held prisoner by the main baddie of the piece - Beroul (Jim Meskimen).

Beroul is introduced in the last few moments and he's already a baddie I want to see more of. By the end of this series, he's displaced Chas on the top of a roof of a building while also strongarming John into helping him take out some competition so he can set a Hell based on Earth. The fact that he also told John to bugger off so he could watch a certain US soap as well ended this on a rather amusing note to be honest.

For five episodes, I did feel like a lot got covered here. We got John and Chas's complicated past dished out and despite things being dire, it was hard not to find Chas's attempts of optimism rather endearing. I also liked the snarky back and forth between John and Nightmare Nurse and the latter's interaction with Renee over what humans don't see also added to proceedings. Not to mention that the Newcastle Incident was gruesomely on display here too,

- This series is based on the comic saga, All His Engines.
- Nothing that was actually shown from the trailer from last year actually appeared in the first five episodes. There are seven episodes that will make up the next season though.
- Damien O'Hare who voices Chas here actually voices Constantine in Justice League Action.
- This series continuity ties into the Justice League Dark movie from 2017 rather than the 2014-2015 TV series.

Constantine: City Of Demons is off to a promising start. The opening scene with John literally facing his demons to the macabre meeting with Beroul and everything else in between. I can't wait to see what the remaining episodes will bring to this series.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Freedom Fighters: The Ray (2017)

Written by Emilio Ortega Aldrich & Lauren Certo & Marc Guggenheim & Sarah Hernandez & Elizabeth Kim & Sarah Tarkoff
Directed by Ethan Spaulding

Ray (to a bank robber): "I prefer The Ray."

I know it's been a while since this was actually released but I've finally caught up with this animated series and having watched the first six episodes, I definitely want more of Raymond Terril. I loved the character's live action appearance in the Crisis On Earth X crossover last year and Russell Tovey's casting for the role was nothing short of sublime.

In last year's crossover event, we quickly learned that The Ray was actually from Earth 1 but starting off this mini-series, we meet the Earth X version, teamed with his allies, Black Condor (Jason Mitchell), Phantom Lady (Dilshad Vadsaria), Dollman (Matthew Mercer) and Red Tornado (Iddo Goldberg) as they spend the first segment of this story doing battle with Overgirl (Melissa Benoist), Dark Archer (Mathew Mercer) and Blitzkrieg/Evil Flash (Scott Whyte).

Let's be blunt - things mostly end badly for our Earth X heroes as the terrible trio quickly best them and Vibe (Carlos Valdes) has to get Earth X Ray out of them, only for the latter to die and transfer his powers to his civilian Earth 1 counterpart.

It's in the middle of this story that we're given some scope on our version of Raymond Terril. He's a guy wanting to do good but is scuppered by his bosses, has a rather ship worthy friendship with his also non powered version of Black Condor aka John Trujillo and still hasn't come out to his parents, who he seems to have a slightly strained relationship with.

There's also a rather adorable sequence where our Ray also starts to get romantically involved with a guy named Jacob (Sunil Malhotra) but between settling into his new found role as the Ray and then being kidnapped by the end of the sixth episode, it seems our golden boy has a few pressing problems as the Earth X trio have decided to pay our Earth a visit.

- Both Cisco and Caitlin from our Earth briefly appear in this story. We're also meant to be getting Mari in the second batch of episodes.
- I'm surprised they didn't get Stephen Amell and Grant Gustin to voice their Earth X counterparts but both Matthew Mercer and Scott Whyte did a good job here.
- Civilian Ray doesn't look too much like Russell Tovey but his awkwardness is beautifully captured throughout this series though.
- Chronology: I'm guessing maybe a year or slightly less before the big Crisis On Earth X crossover event.

Freedom Fighters: The Ray might have gotten a lot of unfair flack (as did last year's crossover event) for the subject matter that it uses but as an animated series, I really enjoyed it. I loved Ray in live action form and this batch of episodes has made me want him back once again. I can't wait to see what the remaining episodes will be like.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Empire's 4x18: "The Empire Unpossess'd"

Written by Brett Mahoney & Joshua Allen#
Directed by Craig Bewer

Rhonda (to Anika): "Karma is a bitch."

Now that was delicious! After a rather underwhelming previous episode, this was a finale that delivered in a few major, failed in at least one but also set up enough for next season. I actually cannot believe the show has finally killed Anika off.

It's one of those things I was hoping for a while the show would do but didn't think the show would do. Anika has been pretty tired as a character and this season exhausted her, so having Andre avenge his wife's death and drug Anika while 'Rhonda' haunted before Anika fell to her death was more than fine by me.

I'm sure Grace Byers is a lovely person in real life and I hope she gets more TV gigs but getting rid of Anika is absolutely the right thing to do. Every season she has tried to screw the Lyons over and when she killed both Andre's unborn child and Rhonda, she went too far. Killing the character off was overdue at this point (she should've died last season) and at least she got a rather memorable exit though.

Not that Anika was the only death in this episode. We might have had Lucious and Cookie threatening to kill Eddie but the other big death here was poor Tory, who I was a bit sad to see go. I liked the character and her rapport with Jamal but sadly she fell back into her addiction and her passing also resulted in Jamal deciding to be a bit less known by heading to London. I'm sure he'll be back early next season.

Then there was the cliffhanger of Hakeem, Bella, Tiana and Blake being shot at by the latter's racist father. I'm going to be honest - only Blake will be dead. Bella will be fine and either Hakeem and/or Tiana might be injured but none of those three will actually die. Then there's also Tiana being pregnant, adding another complication to the show. Do we really need to see Hakeem with another kid next season?

However with everything else being pretty great, plotting wise my major gripe with this episode was Eddie actually getting the Empire off the Lyons. I really do think they should've written him out of this episode. On the plus side, despite losing their business, at least we got to see Lucious and Cookie get married by the end of this one.

- Renee's scenes with Lucious were fantastic. I cracked up when she referred to him as Old Yeller. I hope we see more of Alfre Woodard next season.
- Lucious finally accepting Andre was nice. Let's hope they can retain that next season.
- Standout music: Has to be the use of Ain't No Mountain High Enough, doesn't it?
- Chronology: Not long from where the previous episode left off.

The Empire Unpossess'd marks an ending for this season and a rather strong one to boot. While I am a little frustrated that the Eddie storyline will continue next season, at least we know Anika has finally left the building and hopefully it won't be too long before the Lyons seize back their company.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Empire's 4x17: "Bloody Noses And Crack'd Crowns"

Written by Carlito Rodriguez
Directed by Howard Deutch

Eddie (to Lucious): "I'm going to give you one last chance to save yourself."

Well, there's one more episode until the finale and for a penultimate episode, this was simply okay. Not strictly a bad episode as such but the back and forth between Lucious and Eddie trying to outdo each other in order to hold onto Empire was fairly predictable.

It made sense for Eddie to gain the upper hand and having proof of Lucious's murder of Shyne was something that even the latter should've seen coming. I think by doing that, Eddie has probably set himself up for a similar fate in the next episode or possibly next season. Either way, Lucious and Cookie should've seen this coming.

On the other hand, at least they were willing to fight Eddie at every corner. Andre being sent in to work with Eddie, Anika and Patel might not have been initially successful, but they did gain something of an upper hand and their latest media event also managed to pull at some heartstrings and get a few celebrity backers, even if Eddie managed to undo all of that with the last scene.

Aside from that, not really much else of consequence really happened in this episode. I guess there was Hakeem sort of getting serious with Haven before the latter kind of blew him off for her boyfriend as well as Jamal and Tory briefly having a spat over their 'Collective' suddenly being outed at a public event but none of those things really made huge waves here.

There was a few more Cookie/Lucious flashbacks to the early days but they were archived footage, too brief and weren't needed in order to convey the former considering a back to basics approach in order to oust Eddie though.

- I liked that Becky was keen on putting Tiana's ego in check. Tiana really has become insufferable the last few episodes.
- Not a shock that Eddie has a thing for Anika. I did like that Blake stood up to his racist father on live television.
- Standout music: Good Foot and Emotions by Jamal and his Collective group.
Standout music: Not long from where Fair Terms left off.

Bloody Noses And Crack'd Crowns is a solid though not spectacular penultimate episode. I did like most of it but it felt very by the numbers at times and while Eddie has been a decent baddie for this second half, I won't be too sorry to see him leave now.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Batman 66 - Episodes 37-40 Reviews

Still into the early days of the second season and there's a welcomed return of a feline femme fatale and another new villain for the show.

2x03: Hot Off The Griddle

It might be a bias of mine and I really don't care but if there's an episode that factors Catwoman into things, then I'm unable to dislike it. Returning for her second two parter in the role, this story has our Princess of Plunder setting up her own school for burglary with a new crew of willing blokes to help her with her latest scheming. Cue an alliance with a dodgy gossip reporter named Jack O'Shea and Catwoman herself having both Batman and Robin about to bake on top of a roof and there's no doubt that this story is telling us that she means business. 8/10

2x04: The Cat And The Fiddle

Things take an interesting turn in this one. I think this was the first time we actually saw Catwoman disguise herself as an old woman (something she did in her comics debut) and it was rather funny having her pose as Minerva Matthews while also getting fooled by Robin posing as Zubin Zucchini for good measure. It's a thrilling conclusion to the story with Catwoman's near escape by rocket foiled and of course, more hints of her not so subtle attraction to Batman (and of course, his to her as well). 8/10

2x05: The Minstrel's Shakedown

Ah, time for another lyrical baddie. This time around, a bloke calling himself the Minstrel, played by actor/singer Van Johnson and like the Archer before him, someone who supposedly wants to do but is willing to commit a crime in order to do it such as a little bit of blackmail. Of course when he slips up a little, the Dynamic Duo nearly have him caught before the pair of them end this one by nearly being barbecued as a result. 6/10

2x06: Barbecued Batman?

A better conclusion to an alright story. I did like that the Minstrel actually disguised himself to witness the city succumbing to his demands before he was foiled and while we had the right hand woman turned ally trope again with Amanda, it was done reasonably well enough. There's even an interesting moment where O'Hara expressed some doubt over the Dynamic Duo's secret identities before's he reprimanded by Gordon. It's not the best two parter we'll get in this season but it's watchable enough. 6/10

Next blog I'll delve into The Spell Of Tut/Tut's Case Is Shut and The Greatest Mother of Them All/Ma Parker

Gotham - Season 5: A Wishlist (Also some Batverse related spoilers)

Last week, FOX announced that Gotham had been renewed for a fifth and final season, comprising of thirteen episodes, due to air in 2019. On another forum and Twitter, I made a list of things I'd like to see in the show's final year. Here is the list in question with a few additions as well for good measure.

1: Final episodes to be a two parter that shows Bruce and Selina as Batman and Catwoman respectively, with glimpses to as many Rogue Gallery members as possible.

2: Oswald to get a male love interest this season. Seeing as we haven't seen Oswald in a relationship of any kind, now is the perfect time to do this and let it last more than two or three episodes. It can a new character or a comic character whose sexuality isn't too set, but either way, let's do this one already.

3: Origin stories for the likes of Two Face, ManBat, Bane, Talia, Ventriloquist, Killer Croc and/or Clayface and another Poison Ivy arc would be nice. It seems that No Man's Land has introduced both ManBat and Mother and Orphan while the fifth season will add Lady Shiva and Scarface/Ventriloquist to the roster.

4: Wake Sofia out of her coma, do the Hangman story and kill her off.  A whole Hangman versus Two Face arc could actually be a lot of fun to be honest for an episode or two.

5: Updates on the likes of Montoya, Allen, the Graysons and Barnes/Executioner. Some kind of backstory on Harper would be nice too. I like her but we know nothing about the character. You could also allude to the Maroni crime family, even though Titans are rumoured to be using them in their first season.

6: Have a media presence on the show. Shouldn't we be meeting the likes of Vicki Vale and/or Jack Ryder by now? You could make them a few years (2 or 3 at minimum) older than Bruce and Selina.

7: Don't overwhelm the last season with Jeremiah/Joker. Use him sparingly. Ideally the first episode, a mid season episode and the last two. Let other baddies shine too. I feel with the last few episodes of the fourth season, we've had quite a bit of this proto Joker, so I don't want the last season to go overboard with him. Of course, also bring back Ecco too.

8: Some characters deaths that properly stick, no more reviving them, though I suspect both Ra's and Butch/Grundy will resurface in some capacity in the last season. Characters such as Barbara and Tabitha shouldn't be too bulletproof though.

9: Allude to the likes of Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon even if they don't actually appear on the show. The latter on this show could be Gordon's niece, seeing as that's something even the comics have done as well.

10: More of the batshit craziness we've been having since the show's beginning. This show thrives on being nuts, so keep with it. Show us the true madness of the city's criminal underworld as Bruce heads towards getting his cape and cowl.

11: Given his clear writing and directing talents, if the show wants to get Benjamin McKenzie to do either once again, then fine by me. He's clearly skilled at both.

12: Personal indulgence and because we haven't had any as of yet - but I'd love either a Halloween or a Christmas episode. Heck, even another musical sequence would be nice.

13: I do think we need a bit of a time jump when we get to the last batch of episodes for the show.

However with Gotham on the verge of ending, it seems that EPIX will be stepping in to do a 10 episode prequel titled, Pennyworth. Yup, Alfred will be getting his own spin-off that while having the producers from Gotham will not be connected to the show or starring Sean Pertwee at all. It is however being framed as a 1960's spy thriller, focusing on a younger Alfred and the beginnings of his friendship with Thomas Wayne. Much as I love the character to bits, I genuinely am clueless as to why this was seen as a viable (then again, it didn't stop SyFy from commissioning a series about Superman's granddad) option when they could've pitched for a Batman Beyond show instead. I will be interested to see who they cast as both Alfred and Thomas alone.

Keeping with the Batman related stuff, it seems that both Batwoman and Gotham City will be playing a big role in this year's Arrowverse crossover. Announced last week by Stephen Amell, the Kate Kane version of the popular character (around since 2006) will be appearing. Although casting has yet to be confirmed for the character or more details for this year's crossover event, following the successes of both Invasion! and Crisis On Earth X, it was mentioned that it will air in December. I'm wary about the Arrow universe using both Kate and Gotham City as much as I enjoy the shows, I still have flashbacks of their poor handling of Ra's Al Ghul but given the CW's DC shows impressive track record with LGBT characters, I do think they're going to do Kate Kane justice. The character has previously appeared in animated form in the 2016 movie, Batman: Bad Blood voiced by Yvonne Strahovski.

Pennyworth News: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/gotham-boss-sets-new-batman-prequel-series-at-epix-1112339
Batwoman News: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/batwoman-make-arrow-verse-debut-next-crossover-1112799

So, what would you like to see happen in Gotham's final season? Are you excited for Batwoman to make her live action debut and is an Alfred spin-off really needed? Let me know your thoughts.

My Review of Gotham's 4x22: "No Man's Land"

Written by John Stephens & Seth Boston
Directed by Nathan Hope

Bruce: "I remember the night we met, you told me the world may seem dark."
Gordon: "There is light."

Now, wasn't that a hell of a call back to the opening episode of the series or what? We came so close to this being the last ever episode of the show and fortunately for us, FOX managed to do one solid by renewing the show for a fifth and final season. As brilliant as this episode is, it would've been wrong for this to have been the last ever episode for the series.

The last scene beautifully set up both James and Bruce's respectively role. Gotham has officially become a No Man's Land and while we've had this particular storyline done on the big screen with Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy and Arrow doing their own variation in two of their own finales, Gotham really only showed us the tip of this particular event.

By the end of this episode, the city had been cut, some had evacuated (Alfred and an injured Selina) but mostly everyone else was still here, marking their territory while both Bruce and Gordon banded together against the ensuing chaos.

The groups for now seem to be Barbara/Tabitha with the Sirens taking their misandry to a new level, Oswald, who has instructed Strange to revive both Leslie and Nygma (more on that in a bit), Firefly who wants to burn everything, Mr Freeze who wants to cool the city, the Scarecrow determined to create hell as well as the briefest glimpses of ManBat and Mother and Orphan, who genuinely look terrifying for the small bit of screen time we've seen.

As for Jeremiah, he played his part well enough but he really wasn't as big an attraction as the previous episode. I mean he succeeded in needling Bruce about Selina's injuries, kidnapped him and brought him to Ra's but even the latter himself was outsmarted by Barbara and killed off once again. Right now, Jeremiah is on the loose and ready to pop up but I am hoping with the episode reduction next season that too much time isn't dedicated to the show's version of the Joker at the expense of other villains.

Speaking of villains, Oswald played a blinder with this episode. The moment Butch and Tabitha looked like they were going to have a happy with the former being cured was the same one Oswald wrecked by killing Butch and vowing to finish Tabitha off when he felt she's suffered enough. Oswald's waited a long time to avenge his mother but that was stunningly cold, even for him. Tabitha will definitely be a dead woman by next season.

As for Nygma, Gordon and Leslie, that triangle came to a violent-ish end as well. Nygma might have failed in crushing Jim but he succeeded in stabbing Leslie after she did it to him first. I have to admit, I love that Leslie got the move in first and let's be honest, Ed completely deserved it as well. That said, what the hell is Strange going to do with them both next season aside from reviving them?

- Why didn't see Ivy carve out some territory in this episode given that she has a prominent role in the comics? And Sofia is still stuck in her coma? I really do think she could've been paired with Jeremiah and Ra's these last few episodes.
- It's been confirmed this show will get a fifth and final season of 13 episodes to air in 2019. I'll be doing a blog on that soon.
- So who do we think Mother and Orphan will be? I know the latter is meant to be Cassandra Cain but Orphan looked like a boy in that brief scene and ManBat was still partially humanoid.
- Chronology: From where One Bad Day left off.

No Man's Land came close to being a series finale and fortunately it wasn't. It's undeniably a brilliant episode, easily one of the show's best and possibly, it's best finale yet but a series finale wouldn't have been right. The hints for Bruce's journey have been hammered home all season long but we really needed another season to see the actual results and fortunately that's what we're getting.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Empire's 4x16: "Fair Terms"

Written by Dianne Houston & Jamie Rosengard
Directed by Jussie Smollett

Eddie (to Lucious): "This is all you'll ever be."

Last episode saw Lucious take out Shyne rather gloriously and this week saw Eddie really stick the knife in at the 20 for 20 launch with his public outing of Blake's racist past and instilling more reason for the board to back him over the Lyons. With two episodes left, I do wonder Eddie is about to get a similarly gruesome fate that Shyne did last week.

Speaking of Shyne, there was something audacious in having Lucious give the speech he did at the former's wake but it also felt very in character as well. Even more audacious was Lucious being the one to convince Nessa to throw her lot in with the Lyons family with the promise of him getting justice for Shyne's murder. I can only wonder what that will come back to haunt Lucious.

Eddie and Anika certainly were working over time to undermine the Lyons at every turn and we even had Tiana do her best to undermine Cookie as well. As for the Blake reveal, I did believe his story about his father making him take that photo but at the same time, everyone had a right to be pissed off with that. Saying that, he can't be the only 20 for 20 artist with a skeleton in his closet. What else did Anika uncover?

As for the rest of the episode, the scenes with Cookie, her sisters and her mother were good. Not quite as good as the scenes with Poundcake and Maya from the previous episode but I did like the dinner scene and ensuing tension between Cookie and Renee felt realistic enough.

If the show could get a lot out of Leah, then they better do the same with Renee as well. The scene where Renee met her grandsons for the first time added a nice bit of poignancy to things as well. Plus we really do need a scene with Renee and Lucious within the next two episodes as well as he doesn't seem that enthused that Cookie is talking to her mother again.

- Hakeem's subplot with the whitesplaining movie director was a bit boring, with Haven predictably getting with him as well.
- Becky made it clear that she knew Jamal was uploading music online with his Collective. Jussie Smollett also directed this episode.
- Standout music: Jamal/Hakeem/Tiana's The Big 20 as well as some familiar favourites.
- Chronology: From where A Lean And Hungry Look left off.

Fair Terms was a bit of a letdown compared to the brilliance of the previous episode. Not strictly a bad episode as such and Jussie Smollett was fine on directing duties but it could've a bit more livelier than it was. The last scene though certainly did end things on an interesting note.

Rating: 7 out of 10