World's End (But It Might Be Reversed)

Last blog for the month and with some of the shows I've been watching (and others I do need to catch up on), here's a rundown of them.

Arrow: Ah, a difference a showrunner can make to a series as Beth Schwartz has mostly proven since taking over the show this year. Yeah, we're still stuck with Olicity and Mia being their kid and massively annoying in the flashforwards might not be the greatest of all things but at least the stories have picked up dramatically this year. Going down the baddie route with Emiko oddly works for the character and it's nice to see the team actually banded together and finally ridding the show off Diaz has also helped matters. With five episodes left to go and a reduced eighth and final season of ten episodes, it'll be interesting to see how this show will end.

Pose: And the category is .... nine months later on BBC2. Seriously guys, you didn't take this long with either American Crime Story or Feud (oh wait, you did with the latter too). Oh well, better late than never and the first two episodes watched (you can watch the whole first season on iplayer), I really do like this show. The 80's nostalgia, bitchy one liners, great dynamics with the various characters (Blanca vs. Elektra, Angel's clandestine relationship with Stan, etc), this is yet another triumph of a series for Ryan Murphy and company.

Supergirl: To think, all it took was casting Jon Cryer as Lex Luthor and within two episodes, the writing for this show has significantly upped it's game. No more heavy handed politicking but actual intelligent storytelling and a reminder of how much of a magnificent bastard Lena's older brother can be when written correctly and cast with an appropriate actor in the role. Not to mention the wonderful heel turn from Eve, surprisingly welcomed return of Otis, good introduction of Jimmy's sister Kelly, some neat flashbacks even predating the show itself and the Kasnian Supergirl plot actually moving forward. Now this is what the fourth season should've been like to begin with.

The Flash: Okay, I'll say it - I am bored of the Cicada storyline and that's despite the fact that we've seen Orlin retire from the role and Grace assume the mantle and proven herself to be far nastier than her uncle as the metahuman serial killer. It started well but it's just petered out and it feels like a distraction now that Barry and company are aware of Nora working with Eobard, who I assume will be the main antagonist for the remaining five episodes of the season. Other than aside from giving Cisco a girlfriend and bringing Joe back, not really much else has happened that's been overly exciting this season.

The Umbrella Academy: This has been a great series from Netflix (and one that's gotten a second season too). Vanya's dark descent into tapping into her powers and the gang slowly coming together and failing to prevent the end of the world - well, it's a good job that we've got a second season to see how this all plays out. I do want to see the family get a little closer and trust each other more and I don't want Vanya to be the only antagonist for next season as well.

- Now Apocalypse (which I'll be covering in some capacity soon here) has been rumoured to be renewed for a second season.
- Supernatural will end after 15 seasons. Yup, I can't believe we're actually getting an ending to this show.
- Gotham's series finale will air on April 25th and FOX have released a poster showcasing what their Batman will look like in the last episode.
- Esai Morales, Chella Man and Chelsea Zhang have been cast as Deathstroke, Jericho and Ravager respectively for Titans second season, which will air on DC Universe in late 2019.
- Swamp Thing will premiere on DC Universe from May 31st while Stargirl will air in 2020.
- Miranda Richardson, John Simm, John Heffernan, Josh Whitehouse, Naomi Ackie, Denise Gough, Jamie Campbell Bower, Sheila Atim, Ivanno Jeremiah, Georgie Henley, Alex Sharp and Toby Regbo are among the cast for the untitled Game Of Thrones prequel series, due to begin filming this summer.
- Lucy Hale has been cast in the title role for Katy Keene, the upcoming Riverdale spin-off.
- Law & Order: SVU has been renewed for a record breaking 21st season on NBC.
- Sex And The City will be getting a sequel series on Paramount.
- Pose's second season has added Patti LuPone to it's cast.
- Ryan Murphy's The Politician will be released on Netflix from September 27th. The cast includes Ben Platt, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Lange to name a few.
- Shadowhunters final episode will be an epic two and a half hours long.

My Review of Doom Patrol's 1x07: "Therapy Patrol"

Written by Neil Reynolds
Directed by Rob Hardy

Crazy Jane (to everyone): "You all need more therapy than I do and I'm the crazy one."

An alternative title for this mid series slightly filler episode could've been A Rat's Revenge. Yes, the reason why most of the shit that went down in this episode was because Mr Nobody managed to manipulate a rat named Admiral Whiskers into getting revenge on Cliff as the latter ran over it's mother back in the first episode by accident. As if rats weren't intimidating enough, huh?

Playing havoc with Cliff's system saw the latter having the mother of all epic meltdowns and nearly killing Cyborg while at the same time trying to get his teammates to open up about their own anxieties with mixed results. I mean, it kind of helped Rita and Larry a little and Jane did open up about another threatening future event but mostly, it saw them squabbling at one another and getting no closer to actually finding the Chief though.

The prophecy that Jane showed does make me wonder what else Mr Nobody has revealed to her and what else is she holding out on with the gang. We certainly got hints of Cliff being a potential danger to the gang and I do wonder if Admiral Whiskers will leave their vengeance with that brief moment or will they come back for some more?

As for the rest of the characters - it was nice to tap into Victor's relationship with his parents. We know that he's got a frosty one with Silas and had a far better one with Elinore, who seemed to have his best interests at heart. It was also amusing to see Victor looking into his dating app history, even if that scene did overrun a little.

Then there was Rita, Cliff and Larry's little flashbacks. Rita meeting her idol as a kid was interesting enough along with her present day struggle to keep her form (and the furnace comments were brilliant) while Cliff dealt with a poor role model for a father, a love rival in his hallucinations as Larry confronted his own internalised homophobia and past relationship with John. I'm all for seeing more of John in Larry's flashbacks and I did love Cliff trying to get Larry to open up about his sexuality, even if he didn't go about it in the best of ways.

As for Nobody, at some point we do need to see the character actually come back and show a more direct threat to the gang. What has he been doing for the last few episodes and where the hell is the Chief actually at? Hopefully those answers will be coming sooner than later.

- I don't think we met any new personalities of Jane's in this episode, although when she adopted a British accent, it took me a bit to realise it was just Hammerhead being an asshole to Rita.
- This show's version of Tinder seems to be something called Cazh and Victor had 267 unread messages, in case the show didn't emphasize enough that Silas is a total dick.
- Standout music: Nice use of Hank Williams for the Larry and John scenes.
- Chronology: We were jumping from the early 1930s to the present day for various character flashbacks this week.

Therapy Patrol started off feeling a little too fillerish for it's own good before the second half really ramped things up a little. While I do think we're past the point where the show needs to get on with Mr Nobody's overall scheme, the character moments in this episode were pretty strong and it was nice to see our gang members get some things off their chest.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Doom Patrol's 1x06: "Doom Patrol Patrol"

Written by Tamara Becher-Wilkinson
Directed by Christopher Manley

Steve: "Folks are going to start to forget who the Doom Patrol is."

After this episode, it should be safe to assume that the current team (minus Cyborg and Robotman) are unlikely to forget what happened to the original team. This episode somewhat begs the question - should the team even bother to look for Niles? Maybe him being away from them is the best thing for them after all.

In the 1950s, we saw the original members - Steve Dayton/Mento (Will Kemp), Arani Desei/Celcius (Jasmine Kaur) and Rhea (Lesa Wilson) work with Niles in order to go up against Mr Nobody with absolutely disastrous results for them and  with only metahuman, Joshua Clay (Alimi Ballard) to try and keep them in a place where they were still suffering the aftereffects of their defeat.

I did like in flashbacks that we saw Mento's brief love affair with Rita and how it played a role in her general guarded behaviour which she has been letting go of in the last few episodes. Their romance started off well before Steve's ability to read Rita's mind revealed something shameful from her past and the two of them subsequently broke up.

However it was Rita who managed to help out her former lover and his team mates when Mento's own mind became part of the problem in this episode. I felt sorry for the original team here, especially Celcius who genuinely seemed to believe that she was married to Niles as well and given that he was ready to wash his hands off this team for Joshua to pick up the pieces, perhaps Jane (who took a leadership role this week) should be prepared for Niles doing the same with her team as well.

When we weren't delving more into the past of Caulder's questionable leadership skills, the present also had Cyborg and Robotman dealing with Silas Stone as the latter helped his son while also telling Cliff a bit more about his real relationship with Niles, which again wasn't strictly positive. This episode did a little better in making Silas come across as better.

As for Victor and Cliff - their rivalry probably isn't going to go away anytime soon but I did like that the former attempt to help the latter connect with his daughter through social media, even if Cliff got one hell of a harsh wake up call at the end of it though.

- We got a rather embarrassing update on Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man as he rather unsuccessfully attempted to rob a convenience story.
- Mr Nobody is apparently not a good enough threat to worry about for the JL. Also no snarky commentary from him this week, which I actually missed.
- Standout music: Perfect Day was used pretty well during the bittersweet last moments of this episode.
- Chronology: 1958 for the Doom Manor scenes and a little earlier for the opening scene where Rita accidentally killed a sleazy casting director.

Doom Patrol Patrol really did give us an insight into the original members and their tragic defeat but aside from reminding us that Mr Nobody is a right bastard, it didn't do much to advance the plot. Saying that, I did enjoy this a little more than the cult two parter and next week's episode will probably be anything but therapeutic.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Gotham's 5x10: "I Am Bane"

Written by James Stoteraux & Chad Fiveash
Directed by Kenneth Fink

Bane (to Gordon): "If the world is full of monsters, the only way to defeat them is to become one yourself."

With two extra episodes we were delayed the inevitable but after months of trailers, cast shot and generally getting my head around the idea, Shane West is our Bane and it's something of a mixed bag if we're being perfectly honest here.

The positives first though - the voice is thankfully clear and intimidating enough and the backstory is similar to both the comics and what The Dark Knight Rises also did with the character and unlike Batman & Robin, this is also an iteration of the character that understands his intelligence and calculating persona. Also acting wise, credit where it's due, Shane West does do a decent job here.

As for the negatives, they're not many but they're still noticeable - the costume is not great and looks a bit cheap, West doesn't look physically intimidating enough as Bane and that's in spite of the fact that his mission to kill Barbara resulted in Alfred getting the back breaking treatment usually reserved for Bruce, not to mention that once again, he's not the actual baddie of the season but more the henchmen of the real villain of the piece.

Had I not gone onto Reddit weeks ago, then the reveal of Theresa Walker actually being Nyssa Al Ghul might have had more impact but eh, I did, so the reveal while decently done didn't quite deliver as well as it could. On the other hand, it was nice to see Jaime Murray go at it as she upped her revenge for both Bruce and Barbara given their role in her father's death last season.

The last scene in particular following Barbara having given birth to a little girl (gee, I wonder what she's going to be called) saw Nyssa make her own introduction at the Sirens and I do wonder with two episodes left and a lot of heavy handed scenes between Barbara and Leslie during the episode if we're going to end up losing the character as part of Nyssa's final revenge along with this episode ending on the city getting fire bombed.

Of course when the city wasn't getting a fiery vengeance at the behest of Nyssa, we did have both Selina and Alfred working well together as a team while Oswald and Edward were preoccupied with trying to leave, coming up with a temporary way of distracting Bane to save Barbara and generally adding a lot of humour to what should've been a very serious situation.

Even with Edward getting back the vital component for the submarine, I don't see either of them getting the chance to leave as things have royally gone to hell. Not to mention that in spite of being villains, both Oswald and Edward have been somewhat forced into anti-villain roles this season and there's still the issue of the opening flash forward to be realised in the next episode.

- Nice to have some continuity on both Leslie and Edward stabbing one another along with Alfred's plans to get Wayne Manor rebuilt.
- If last episode was the last appearances for Poison Ivy and Victor Zsasz, then I guess this one was the last for Hugo Strange who nearly came close to putting a chip in Gordon's head on Nyssa's orders.
- There will be a four week break before the show returns for it's last two episodes. The amount of breaks in this season has been a bit much at this rate.
- Chronology: It's Day 369 of this whole event so at least five months has passed since the events of The Trial Of Jim Gordon.

I Am Bane marks a decent outing for the titular baddie of the bunch while also revealing Nyssa's true motives all along. I do think had we seen more of Walker in action before the reveal, it would've made the thing more impacting but given that this No Man's Land storyline will be wrapped up next episode, here's hoping both Nyssa and Bane aren't randomly killed off though I suspect one of them will be.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Doom Patrol's 1x05: "Paw Patrol"

Written by Shoshana Sachi
Directed by Larry Teng

Jane (to herself): "What the fuck is the Doom Patrol?"

Now, isn't that the eternal question. If we're going by the trailer for the next episode, then it's clearly the original team who Nobody wants Jane to find/probably kill or whatever. As for the current team, well they were busy trying to stop the world ending as this cult storyline came to a swift-ish conclusion.

Obviously feeling left out from his two episode absence, Nobody decided to team up with Caulder in order to manipulate one of Jane's personalities into becoming a cult leader influential enough to become a strong enough counter to the Decreator's reign of terror. It's an interesting idea fairly executed as we got to spend time in Jane's past and met up with the chillingly charismatic Dr Harrison who succeeded in fulfilling Caulder and Nobody's overall scheme.

The use of a Recreator and a pug to effectively undo the damage from the previous episode did seem like a rather convenient way of resolving things but it did manage to work reasonably enough. Of course there was still the stinger of Nobody proving to be a bad apple by taking the Chief away from the disenfranchised gang once things went back to normal as well as doing some damage to Cyborg at the same time.

I do hope that the Chief does escape fairly soon even though I do think the gang do somewhat work a little better without him for the most part. We did get some nice scenes with the Chief concerning his interactions with Jane, Larry and Willoughby and while Rita might have failed in her effort to keep Elliot safe, this episode did show her turning a corner in relation to stepping up towards being a hero, which was nice to see.

Unfortunately if there was a negative to this episode, I do think it was Willoughby. He was great in the start of this two parter but he kind of petered out a little here though, especially with Caulder, Nobody and Dr Harrison being the ones to really resolve the Decreator situation. Still though, I don't doubt we'll be seeing him again before the season concludes.

As for Jane - this was a great episode for Diane Guerrero to really shine. We're used to Hammerhead and the caustic relationship she's developed with Cliff but I did like seeing Penny Farthing grow a bit of a backbone and Guerrero did give a suitably calm and chilling performance as Harrison as well. It was also nice that we got to see the exact moment when Jane and Caulder met for the first time as well.

- Some of the flashbacks in this episode (mainly the beginning ones) gave me some Constantine flashbacks that for a moment, I thought it was going to be Willoughby and not Jane we saw in 1977 New Jersey.
- The cockroach, rat, the blue nailed horse and the pug. Yup, definitely an episode for talking animals and ones responsible for saving the world.
- Outside of Jane flashbacks, we did have Larry show more guilt over his former wife as well. Hoping we see John again soon.
- Chronology: From where Cult Patrol left off but also 1976-1978 when dealing with Jane's flashbacks.

Overall, while not as strong as the first few episodes, I do think that Paw Patrol did have a decent conclusion to the Decreator storyline. I am looking forward to meeting the original gang members in the episode but we do need to see Nobody's overall scheme move a little forward into the main storyline though.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Doom Patrol's 1x04: "Cult Patrol"

Written by Marcus Dalzine & Chris Dingess
Directed by Stefan Pleszczynski

Rita (re Decreator): "We're too late."
Willoughby: "Maybe I should've done A Hard Day's Night."

There's probably an unwritten rule somewhere where something isn't a genre show until a certain actor appears in it. In this case, the actor in question would be Mark Sheppard and low and behold, he appears in this episode playing a character who might be a recurring presence throughout this season. Hard to tell as DC Universe are annoyingly spoiler phobic with their shows but for now, let's assume he is, yeah?

Sheppard in this episode guest starred as occult detective (no, not that one), Willoughby Kipling, an old ally of Caulder's and a member of the Knights Templar and wasted no time in insulting the Patrol members (especially Cyborg) while also bringing some trouble to their door when tasked with taking care of a walking doomsday book named Elliot (Ted Sutherland). Kipling wanted to kill Elliot, but the rest of the gang didn't share his enthusiasm for that particular idea.

Elliot's story does play out rather well as we see him being prepared for his prophetic doom by his parents until turning 18 made his father change his mind and his mother even more determined into playing her role to seeing her son bring about the Decreator's goal. She's rather zealous about that and even seemed to take a little too much pleasure in also deconstructing both Cliff and Jane when her acolytes also get a hold of them as well.

Breaking away from Nobody's overall machinations, the Cult of the Unwritten Book are not the most original of doomsday laden baddies but they are a rather addition. My only surprise is that they're being introduced a bit early into the show but I did like the look of the Decreator and next week's episode should give viewers a good measure of what his world will actually look like considering that Elliot was read by the end of this one.

Cult stuff aside - I do think the dynamics are coming along nicely enough. Larry got a bit more insight into one of his past conversations with the Chief while Rita was the only one who really came the closest to keeping Elliot safe until the cult got him in the end. I'm liking that Rita is stepping up more and more as a hero, even if she and Larry are reluctant to embrace that term.

Then there's the dynamics between Cliff and in particular, Jane's persona of Hammerhead. Hammerhead might have made some points about Cliff but it's hard not to find her stance on him a tad hypocritical as well and I'm glad that we got to see Cliff call her out on that as well. At some point though, I'm sure Hammerhead's perception of Cliff will hopefully change for the better as the series progresses.

- We got to see a more passive personality of Jane's this week with Penny Farthing, who is probably not the most useful of people to have around when trying to stop a doomsday cult.
- Like that other occult detective, Kipling has some rather unusual items on his person including Janis Joplin's floss of all things.
- Singing blue horse with a nail in it's head. I think that might have been a bit more striking than the giant eye in the sky at the end of this one.
- Chronology: Not long from where Puppet Patrol left off.

I'll admit that Cult Patrol isn't my favourite episode so far but I did like a lot of the characters, found Elliot sympathetic enough and there was something rather Wonderland-ish about the lost city of Nurnheim along with Kipling proving to be an interesting if morally grey ally to the gang. It'll be interesting to see how the next episode resolves this doomsday cult.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Gotham's 5x09: "The Trial Of Jim Gordon"

Written by Benjamin McKenzie
Directed by Erin Richards

Gordon (re himself): "The issue here is not how many people have died because of Jim Gordon but how many more must die in order to satisfy his need to be a hero."

Last week's "extra" episode gave us a brief medley of Ventriloquist/Scarface, Jane Doe and the closest we'll get to a Killer Croc on this show while this week's episode sees a rather delightful team up of Poison Ivy and Victor Zsasz, both of whom (mostly Ivy) want to kill James Gordon and turn the city into a botanical paradise.

Yeah, it's not a shocker that Ivy is leading the machinations here with Zsasz carrying out a hit on Gordon, just when the latter was making an unsuccessful appeal to all the gangs to back down so the city would get it's reunification. Of course being shot didn't help matters as Jim hovered between life and death and mused over a lot of his failings, mostly recent ones.

His guilt over the Haven incident, the way his need to be a hero has cost people along with his own reluctance towards fatherhood were the beats played out her as Lee worked to bring him back to the land of the living. Of course while most of these issues were explored rather predictably in Jim's subconscious, the reality of waking up did prompt him into making one big decision by the end of this episode.

I'm not shocked that Jim and Lee got married but I did think it would've been something that might have been saved for the series finale, which we're not far off from now. Still though, it's a beautiful moment (if somewhat rushed) and let's be honest, Bullock should be allowed to officiate every wedding that the city will have from now on.

Of course, Jim and Lee weren't the only couple this week. Who would've thought of Ivy and Zsasz being an "item". Of course it was mostly down to Zsasz being Ivy's right hand man but their one scene together was pretty fun as she tried to finish off the job with Gordon. Still though, much as I enjoyed the character's return, even for Ivy she seemed unnecessarily spiteful towards both Selina and Leslie, with the latter even getting to shoot her. On the other hand, if this is her last appearance on the show, it might not be her best one but at least it's something to the end.

As for Bruce and Selina - this episode felt like a right Bat/Cat fest. We had their date with canned foods interrupted by Ivy before a fight scene was the very thing needed to snap Bruce out of Ivy's spell before they shared a kiss at the wedding. Anyone who is a fan of this particular pairing certainly got enough to go on this week.

- Congrats to Benjamin McKenzie for writing this episode and for Erin Richards for directing it. Both did a fantastic job here.
- Penguin needled Barbara about her feelings towards Gordon while at the same time, she gave him an underlying reminder that her vendetta with him isn't done with yet.
- We got some clear body doubles of Scarecrow, Pyg and Kathryn from Court of Owls. Nygma was also kept to a brief cameo this week as well.
- Not long from where Nothing's Shocking left off, until the last two scenes brought things forward by a month.

The Trial Of Jim Gordon reminded me a little of a certain Batman: The Animated Series episode and while I definitely wouldn't have minded a few more cameos (even as body doubles), this was a perfectly strong episode that while not hugely plotting advancing, didn't feel like a waste of time either. That said, it's time to wrap this No Man's Land plot up and introduce Bane already.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Doom Patrol's 1x03: "Puppet Patrol"

Written by Tamara Becher-Wilkinson & Tom Farrell
Directed by Rachel Talalay

Rita (to everyone): "Are we really the best people to hunt a super villain?"

The answer is perhaps not, but at the same time, we wouldn't have much of a show if you guys  and we can't have that, now can we? Still though, while you can make criticisms for the reluctant/unwilling superhero trope, this show is still pulling things off rather smoothly as the action takes place in Paraguay in order to find the Chief.

The journey getting there was hilariously done with both Cyborg and Robotman clearly wanting to assume leadership and bickering at the other for doing so while Rita dealt with her daily ablutions to everyone else's impatiences and Crazy Jane managed to invoke her Flit personality in order to teleport herself, Cliff and Larry to where the main action would be this week.

The main action of course, being Paraguay where we found out that the nutjob responsible for Mr Nobody - Von Fuchs (Julian Richings) is still alive, controlling a shit load of human puppets (which is where the title of this episode is relevant) and will bore you to death with a three hour orientation that at least gave us an insight into the Chief and Morden's history together.

With Cliff being surrounded by human puppets that he's forced to kill and Larry struggling to free himself of his Negative self (and of course, failing to do), it was pretty much up to Jane this week to take out Fuchs. It was nice to see her a bit more in control compared to her first two episodes and the use of Silvertongue to kill Fuchs was done pretty well too.

As for Cyborg and Rita, they were somewhat taken out of the action for a portion of the episode but their downtime was a good way to explore Rita's reluctance to take action as well as Victor's own issues with his father. Speaking of Silas, while he's still somewhat harsh enough as a character, he did at least come through for Victor during one scene here.

As for the Chief, well they've got him but he's a puppet, so I guess the next episode will be focusing on undoing that one I guess. Then there was the introduction of the seemingly harmless Steve (Alec Mapa) who by the end of this episode has become Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man - a character who has been both a villain and hero in different iterations. I'm not sure what version the show is planning for the character, but I'm a little intrigued to see more of Steve nonetheless.

- The flashbacks with Larry's relationships with both Cheryl and John were some of the best moments in this episode. Is there any way we could get John outside of flashbacks? Probably not.
- Victor's flashbacks included scenes with his mother before the accident. He also has a privacy mode that Silas is able to hack.
- Standout music: Home Part 2 by Robert La Salle.
- Chronology: From where Donkey Patrol more or less left off.

Puppet Patrol continues a strong trend with this show. The antics at Von Fuchs lair were great to watch, it was nice to see Jane take control this week and the Larry/Victor flashbacks were a highlight of the episode. Episodes like this (as well as the previous one) do show that the team can actually function pretty well without the Chief.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of How To Get Away With Murder's 5x15: "Please Say No One Else Is Dead"

Written by Joe Fazzio
Directed by Stephen Cragg

Laurel: "Annalise, you’ve done so much to protect me, so I just wanna say thank you."

And with that ending, I guess the full focus on the Castillos really will be even more prominent than it was in the fourth season. On the other hand, while Xavier is a nasty piece of work, he is rather nice to look at, so he's got that going for him as well as being someone both Miller and Annalise in flashbacks and the present day chose to underestimate.

I did like that Miller was proved to be a good man who tried to save Nate's father even if Frank forced the guard to tell Bonnie that her boyfriend was in fact involved in Nate Sr being killed after all. There's no way that's not going to come back to bite Frank in the backside next season, even if he was trying to help both Bonnie and Nate live with the fact that they killed an innocent man.

Speaking of Nate - he's now in prison too for assault. Why do I get the feeling the show is trying to tell us that he might have similar mental health problems to his father and why do I get the feeling that he's a potential casualty next season? Then again, maybe he should as I'm not sure what else the show can really do with the character these days.

Getting back to Xavier though - I think he was telling the truth to Laurel about not being involved in Sandrine's disappearance, which hopefully is not something that will be dragged out next season but at the same time, he's definitely working with the Governor and their Plan B also coincided with Emmett being under fire and subsequently poisoned in this episode, even after Tegan had thrown him a brief life line of sorts. Although I don't really want Emmett to die, his death would also not be a big loss to the show either.

As for Laurel's disappearance though with Christopher - it seems to me that she's doing something misguided in order to protect everyone else rather than being another victim of her family yet again. Then again with the twists and turns of this show, perhaps Xavier feeling slighted from his encounter with Annalise and clear daddy issues maybe did do something to her after all. Hopefully next season won't drag that one out.

As for Gabriel - I was kind of hoping this episode would write him out but due to Telesco's insistence on dragging his mother into things and the show's desire to explore a Gabriel/Michaela pairing, it looks like Rome Flynn will be sticking around for another year. Character wise, I don't really think Gabriel has added a lot to the show but maybe next season can improve on him a little, writing wise.

- I think it's obvious they're going to explore a baby/adoption storyline with Connor and Oliver next season. Story wise, I'd rather not but it felt like it was being set up here.
- Michaela's biological father, Dwight is someone that Annalise used to know. I assume we'll be seeing both Dwight and Gabriel's mother next season.
- Asher to say the episode title this week when he didn't play a role in Telesco getting fired from the FBI. He does need some better material next season.
- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Please Say No One Else Is Dead is probably the weakest finale we've had and while there were some decent twists here and there, it didn't quite have the punch that previous finales have had. I do personally think that the sixth season probably should be the show's last one, and it's quite possible that it will be.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Gotham's 5x08: "Nothing's Shocking"

Written by Seth Boston
Directed by Kenneth Fink

Scarface (to Oswald): "Applesauce, you're a liar and a thief. All you do is take. Take."
Ventriloquist: "Take and you never give anything. You worked me to the bone. Forced me to be your puppet. Well, no more."

Originally we were only to get 10 episodes for the show's final season but thanks to FOX clearly wanting to end the series with 100 episodes, we were given an extra two episodes and because of that, a previously abandoned storyline was thankfully brought to the surface with a returning actor nonetheless.

It's been no secret that actor Andrew Sellon was keen on playing Arnold Wesker aka, Ventriloquist/Scarface and with Penn's personality so befitting of Wesker himself, it actually made perfect sense for Gotham to go and do their own variation of the underrated but enjoyable Rogue Gallery member and this was certainly a great live action depiction of the character(s), except with one obvious caveat.

The caveat of course being that we had to see Penn getting shot yet again as the show went to town on both Oswald and Edward solidifying their friendship while also being forced to entertain Penn's desire to get Oswald's gold and out of town on the yet to be built submarine. On one hand - yay for Edward finally embracing Oswald for who he is but at the same time, I could've done without seeing Penn die a second time this season.

Other than that though, Sellon did a great job selling both Ventriloquist and Scarface and given that the latter himself was discovered in a magic shop, could there be some hope that maybe we'll see him in about a decade or so time? One can only hope.

Of course this episode didn't just boast two Rogue Gallery members, but rather four of them. Going with the more recent to comics but generally obscure Jane Doe (Sarah Pidgeon) first - well, she made quite an impression, certainly a better one than Magpie did a fortnight ago. Her story seemed to fuse elements of Clayface (who was mentioned) and Calendar Girl from The New Batman Adventures while also reintroducing Dix from the first season and dealing with a shameful part of Bullock's past.

I did like that Bullock got a decent amount of focus in this episode and while I hated that Gordon was a bit too self righteous at the end of the episode by not giving Harvey some absolution, at least we do know they'll be on good terms seeing as we still have another flashforward to look forward to. Plus if Gordon is willing to be nicer to Barbara these days, then that should extend to Harvey as well.

As for the last Rogue member this week - Killer Croc, anyone? Or someone with a very similar skin condition and razor sharp teeth living in the sewers. He was the contributing to Bruce and Alfred's scenes this week as the latter was also looking for absolution and Bruce giving it to him as well. Their plot did feel a bit more filler compared to the other big stories in this episode but still fairly engaging nonetheless.

- Where is Edward the dog? Oswald's latest minion Dale didn't even last an episode when Scarface shot him.
- Killer Croc here is also down to Jeremiah poisoning the waters and Jane Doe's shape shifting abilities are another consequence of Hugo Strange's experiments at Indian Hill.
- No Leslie, Selina or Lucius in this episode but at least the show is remembering that Walker is an ongoing threat.
- Chronology: It does seem like a fair chunk of time has passed since Ace Chemicals. Barbara was even showing in this episode.

Nothing's Shocking doesn't do much to advance the ongoing plot but given that it was a late entry, I can forgive that. Especially given it's great uses of Ventriloquist/Scarface, Jane Doe and Killer Croc as well as the various scenes with most of our main players this week. I also see the show is determined to put Barbara on the path back to being good, which I'm fine with even if she is more entertaining as a baddie. Next week though, more Poison Ivy and Zsasz.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Children Behave

Last blog for the month of February and a look into some of the show I've been recently catching up on as well.

Arrow: 150th episodes are not as big a deal as other monumental episodes but they're still a good mark for a show to make and for this show, we were treated to a documentary style adventure with so many returning faces that it easily made this episode the best of the season. Actually the last few episodes have been pretty great with Stanley popping up and proving to be a chilling serial killer while the flashforwards revealed the most obvious outcome for Maya as well as confirming that William is in fact gay. Then there was Curtis's low key departure and Fauxcide Squad with the Ghost Initiative, both of which are decent-ish development.

Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina: The remaining five episodes (including Christmas) certainly elevated the first season. I'm so glad that this has been a successful reboot and it's great that we've got more to look forward to when the remaining nine episodes drop in April. While it was a little too convenient to break up Sabrina and Harvey, I did like both Roz and Susie's own growing prominence in the supernatural stories while Madam Satan's reveal was also delightfully creepy. As for the Christmas episode - it might not have advanced many stories but it's definitely one of the better festive episodes I've watched over the last few months.

Daredevil: While the show has now been sadly cancelled, I am really glad that I bothered to watch the third season. Having Fisk back second time around as a baddie worked surprisingly well as did the Bullseye storyline and the backstories for both Karen and Sister Maggie. The last few scenes of the finale felt like a set up for a potential fourth season which we're probably unlikely to see now but at least we got three seasons and while the Marvel Netflix era is coming to an end, this was the show that started a fun journey.

Supergirl: A mixed bag of episodes here. On one hand, Nia's Dreamer storyline and her budding romance with Brainy is actually the strongest components of the recent stories we've had while everything else has fallen rather flat. We're back to the uninspired Children of Liberty story, Alex's memory wipe of Kara being Supergirl is annoying and the less said about the chemistry free on and off pairing of James and Lena the better to be honest. Right now, the show seriously needs to get itself together. Hopefully Lex's imminent arrival and Manchester Black's return will help turn things around.

The Flash: While the season is still better than another CW show I could mention, I'm already losing interest in the Cicada plot. Plot wise, it greatly hasn't advanced anything and it's feeling like a holding pattern for Nora's unwise alliance with Eobard to inevitably go bad as well. There has been some nice moments though with the gang, even if Barry himself has felt a little short served at times and some of the beats with Nora have felt a little repetitive. With some major cast changes rumoured to be happening though, things should hopefully pick up for the remainder of the season.

The Good Place: I absolutely loved the first season of this wonderful show and the last two episodes have certainly made me want to catch up with the second and third seasons pretty soon. I guess the twist surrounding Michael maybe should've been obvious in retrospect but it was a rather nice game changing moment as Eleanor realised exactly what was going on before things were shifted once again. I am going to make the effort to play catch up sooner rather than later, unless E4 starting the next season pretty soon. Overall though, while I was a little late in the game with this show, I am glad I did get into it nonetheless.

The Umbrella Academy: Recently released and already renewed for a second season, I've never read a single issue of Gerard Way's comic book series, but after watching the first four episodes, it's clearly something I should look into. While the series itself isn't exactly subverting any superhero tropes as such, the main seven characters (including dead Ben) are certainly a dynamic and messed up bunch of people with the likes of Klaus, Allison, Diego, Luther, Vanya and the Boy all managing to maintain interest while an apocalypse is looming in the background. Overall, it's a fun series and I've got another six episodes to savour over the next few weeks.

- Tyler Posey, Dakata Shapiro, Kiele Sanchez and Medalion Rahimi will star in the CW's adaptation of The Lost Boys. The pilot begins films next month.
- Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends Of Tomorrow and Black Lightning all have been renewed for further seasons.
- Netflix have (unsurprisingly) confirmed that both The Punisher and Jessica Jones have been cancelled.
- Jussie Smollett has been suspended from the last two episodes of Empire's fifth season.
- Natalie Dormer and Nathan Lane have joined the cast of Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels for Showtime.
- Cameron Monaghan will rejoin Shameless for it's tenth season.
- Robin Lord Taylor has bagged a recurring role in the second season of You while Cory Michael Smith will be a regular in the US version of Utopia.
- Joshua Orpin has joined the cast of Titans as Superboy for it's second season. The show will also be adding Deathstroke, Rose and Jericho as well.
- Stephen Fry is rumoured to be guest starring in an episode of Doctor Who's twelfth series, due to air on BBC1 in 2020.
- Brooklyn Nine Nine has been renewed for a seventh season on NBC.

My Review of Doom Patrol's 1x02: "Donkey Patrol"

Written by Neil Reynolds & Shoshana Sachi
Directed by Dermot Downs

Chief: "Who are you talking to?"
Nobody: "Grant Morrison fans, Reddit trolls with DC subscriptions, and the three new fans who stuck around after the donkey farts."

Dayum, has there ever been a DC TV baddie as scathingly bitchy as Mr Nobody? Probably but he's certainly taking the cake this week as he gloated about our heroes being utter duds before a donkey managed to suck an entire town in Ohio into a vortex with the Chief and Crazy Jane also getting swallowed up for good measure.

Although with Crazy Jane, she's quickly brought back to us when Robotman and Cyborg (Jovian Wade) uneasily worked together in order to nab that farting, black hole causing donkey continued to make itself known. So, who do I talk about first here - Cyborg or Jane? Okay, I'll go with Cyborg then.

Normally you'd expect him to be on Titans (and I wouldn't rule him appearing in the second season of that show) but here he's throwing his lot in with our gang of misfits as flashbacks give us a summation of his accident, mother's death, father's controlling ways and Caulder being something of a positive-ish influence on him. Needless to say, Jovian Wade adds a sense of fun to the character that the DCEU's version whilst enjoyable didn't quite have.

Cyborg also throughout most of the episode manages to clash with Robotman even though they do work together to get Elastiwoman, Negative Man and Cyborg inside the donkey in order to try and find the Chief but mainly to fix the epic damage from the previous episode as well. It's during those scenes that Nobody proves himself to be an utter bastard with the way he tries to decimate the gang, in particular Cyborg - whom he clearly views as a potential threat.

Overall though, Cyborg helps to save the day, earns himself a place with the gang while also rejecting Silas (Phil Morris) offer to make him into something more Godlike. I don't know if we'll spend too much time in the season looking for the Chief, but I guess for now it does give the gang a bit more of an incentive to go up against Mr Nobody as well as wanting to save the world.

As for Jane though - this episode certainly gave Diane Guerrero a lot more to do than the opening as we met both Baby Doll and Katie persona, one being of childlike innocence while the other a somewhat more lethal personality that nearly incinerated Robotman. Cliff does so far seem to be the one bearing the worst of Jane's personalities and we got a comprehensive list of most of them as Cliff looked a little more into her personal history.

As for Rita and Larry - they didn't have as much to do this week but we did get a nice look into their insecurities and despite Rita not wanting to do anything heroic, it was her who went into the donkey when the chips were down while Larry tried to set up some ground rules with his other self as the latter side of him seemed determined to stop Larry from leaving town in a pretty hilarious scene.

- The talking cockroach goes by the name of Ezekiel while Nobody took some pot shots at Reddit fans to name a few of his barbs this week.
- We got some references to both Bruce Wayne and the Justice League in the episode, though I suspect we'll be seeing neither in the show.
- Loved the scene where one of Jane's personas actually made words attack Robotman. You can tell this has been given more of a budget than Titans was.
- Chronology: From where the first episode left off.

Donkey Patrol served as a good introduction for Cyborg and certainly helped to solidify Nobody as a more direct threat to the gang as well. I do hope the show doesn't drag out Chief's disappearance for the most part while at the same time, it is more fun seeing the gang deal with things without him as well. Two episodes in, I'm definitely sold on this show.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of How To Get Away With Murder's 5x14: "Make Me The Enemy"

Written by Erika Harrison & Matthew Cruz
Directed by Mike Smith

Emmett (to Annalise, re Nate Sr): "I didn't kill that man."

And thanks to that last scene, we know that Emmett is telling the truth. However going by the trailer for next week's finale, it does however appear that Emmett might end up taking the fall nonetheless. On the other hand, how great was Timothy Hutton this episode?

I haven't really talked about his acting a lot this season and I've been a little back and forth on the character but I have to admit that with this episode alone, he put in a season performance as both him and Viola Davis played off each other so well during that confrontation scene in Annalise's apartment during the final few minutes of this episode.

All episode long, we had Tegan (who I do want to believe is on Annalise's side) encouraging Annalise to use her "gifts" in order to extract a confession of guilty from Emmett and Annalise did exactly that with dressing up at work and the dinner scene with Emmett as well. I do think Emmett's feelings are genuinely real and while I don't want a pairing with him and Annalise, I did actually feel bad for the guy as he realised that Annalise thought he was a murder suspect.

I think during their argument, both Annalise and Emmett made some rather harsh if fair points about the other's foibles and while I am a little relieved that Emmett is not a killer, it does mean that once again, we're having things tie back to Laurel's family as Nate Sr's mystery lawyer has been revealed to her older brother, Xavier and with a certain gift given to Laurel, you can see where the next season will be going for problems with Annalise and the Keating 5.

Going to be honest, I'm not really thrilled with revisiting Laurel's family yet again, though I'm not entirely shocked it's happening there. There was always going to be consequence to sending her father down and with her mother being missing for most of this season, it does make sense to revisit it. I just hope it doesn't eat up much of next season like it did in the fourth season though.

As for the rest of the episode - after this one, Gabriel can definitely be on the next bus out of here and soon. All season long, he's failed to really add anything to the show and while he does have a right to know what happened to Sam, the show killed any chance of rooting for him and Michaela when he projected his own issues onto her. On the other hand, I did like getting a little more insight into Michaela's past.

As for the laptop subplot - Oliver's methods of getting his laptop by essentially guilt tripping a judge were pretty damn effective and it's nice to see one of his less shady plans go off smoothly as well. It also bought the gang some time and clued them in on the fact that Telesco (who despite being suspended is still predictably a thorn in their side) had quite the profile on the lot of them. Then again, I can see Telesco going the same way Sinclair did next week.

- Nice to see Bonnie apologising to Laurel while Frank really does prove how much he cares for Christopher with his scenes.
- Emmett mentioned plans of running for DA and considering what happened to the previous two, you'd think that would put anyone off the job.
- Asher had some good moments, being supportive to both Michaela and Bonnie but next season, the show does need to give him a decent storyline.
- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Make Me The Enemy is a strong penultimate episode. While I still do have reservations about Laurel's family reemerging as antagonists for next season, at least we can rule out Emmett as Nate Sr's killer and I'm sure by next week, we'll have a few cast changes as well for the next season to boot.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Gotham's 5x07: "Ace Chemicals"

Written by Tze Chun
Directed by John Stephens

Jeremiah (to Bruce): "Why don't you understand? You need me. I'm the answer to your life's questions. Without me, you're just a joke without a punchline."

All season long, this is an event that has been hyped to the rafters and for some fans, there was always the possibility that it might not have lived up to the hype while for others, it would be one of the show's greatest victories. Now spoilers pictures of Jeremiah, post chemical bath have been doing the rounds and let's just say, his final look certainly rings true with Cameron Monaghan's warning of it being "nightmare fuel" but what about the episode itself?

Well, things began with Bruce desperately looking for Alfred, who has been missing for nearly a week since getting nabbed by Jeremiah. Bruce during his search for his best friend, finds two unfortunate people who have been surgically made to look like his parents while being lured back to Wayne Manor so Jeremiah can force him to relive the worst day of his life in order to connect the pair together.

As gestures of friendship go, it's a pretty twisted one from Jeremiah but that doesn't stop him from making Bruce eat a snack and go to see The Mark Of Zorro again before we cut to the big event and find that it's actually Jim and Leslie assuming the roles of Thomas and Martha instead (the extras got their scenes cut off screen) before Selina managed to appear in order to save the pair while Bruce and Jeremiah take a trip a certain chemical plant.

Now we've seen this scene between in the likes of The Killing Joke, Batman 89 etc to name a few examples but this is the first time we've had the civilian version of it with Bruce and Jeremiah going fully at it before the latter took a dip in a chemical vat. While the scenes played off well, I do think the episode slightly spoiled things by having a later scene with Bruce and Selina at the hospital observing a "brain dead" Jeremiah and unwisely assessing that he no longer posed a threat to them. If I were Bruce, I'd keep an eye on him for the next decade to be sure of that one.

Onto the non related Jeremiah stuff (kind of) with this episode - we also had the uncomfortable Jim, Leslie and Barbara dynamic to deal with this week. Barbara could've went for another OBGYN but clearly chose Leslie in order to piss Jim off and I think Leslie might have accepted for different reasons. However, it still didn't stop Barbara from getting herself an invite into Oswald and Edward (after the former's alliance with Selina went south) trying to get a submarine out of Gotham. Ending this dark episode on a rather comedic note with those three was an interesting story choice here.

Then there's Jim and Leslie. She's clearly not pleased with Jim getting Barbara pregnant and in spite slapping him (which in this case, he actually didn't deserve), it didn't stop Leslie from rekindling her relationship with Gordon. They also did make for a good team when investigating Narrows deaths and winding up as hostages for Ecco and Jervis Tetch's roles in Jeremiah's overall scheme this week, which also resulted in the city's hopes for reunification being shattered by the water also getting poisoned this week.

- I did have to laugh about how quickly Edward realised that Barbara was actually pregnant and though it's cliched, her pregnancy also is serving as a means for her not to try and murder Oswald for now.
- Ecco added another aspect of her Harley-esque mantra with the roller blades this week. I take it she'll also be keeping an eye on Jeremiah from a distance then.
- Was this episode the last time we'll see Wayne Manor? It did blow up here but given the series finale will be a 10 year jump, it can't be, right?
- Chronology: Five days since the events of 13 Stitches.

Ace Chemicals certainly had a lot riding on it and while I do think one scene from this episode should've been cut, the rest of it was absolutely fantastic. In the space of five seasons and with Cameron Monaghan pulling double duty as both Jerome and Jeremiah. we have gotten a rather unique but still recognisable take on the Joker's origins for the show. This episode was a wonderful culmination of that event and with it complete, we've still got a few more treats to look forward to before the series ends for good.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Doom Patrol's 1x01: "Pilot"

Written by Jeremy Carver
Directed by Glen Winter

Mr Nobody (to Niles): "I think we're going to do something different this time. You were right in one respect, however. They are quite doomed."

Right, so I originally had no intention of actually reviewing this show but then Titans gave us an episode earlier into it's first season that served as a backdoor pilot and the weeks building up to DC Universe's my not really strong resolve just floundered and I decided to review this show for the next 15 weeks, so there's that.

Opening up with a delightfully snarky commentary from Mr Nobody (Alan Tudyk) himself, this pilot episode spent over half it's time giving us the rundown on our main heroes but not before we found out that Nobody (a former low level henchman) decided that he wanted to be a someday and willingly subjected himself to some rather life changing experiments in order to achieve his goal. He also pops up at the end to tell the Chief (Timothy Dalton) that the gang are doomed, but does it in a rather charming manner.

Now getting back to the gang themselves - first of all, there's Robotman himself. Now played by Brendan Fraser, we're given quite the insight into Clifford Steele's race car driving career, habitual cheating and his fracturing marriage before things took a far more dramatic turn for the worst. He struggled for a long time with his current body but as the episode progressed, he was coming to terms with who he was as he found something of a heroic streak in wanting to save a town from damage that the gang partially attracted to it.

Then there's Negative Man/Larry Trainor, this time around played by Matt Bomer. I'm a big fan of Bomer and he's great casting for this part as Larry seemed to be a voice of reason in this episode too. We got a good looking into his own accident, pilot career and the fact that he was living a double between being a devoted family man and having a secret affair with co-worker, John Bowers (Kyle Clements). The comics haven't massively alluded to what Larry's sexuality is from what I can tell so the show's decision to have him as a gay or bisexual character is an interesting move and nicely handled too.

The only cast member not to be recast from the Titans episode is of course, April Bowlby as Rita Farr/Elastiwoman, whose only folly in the movie business is nicely explored in flashbacks while a day trip to a diner saw her revert to a giant blob. Rita gets some brilliant lines, has a wonderful deadpan delivery on things but her flashbacks also showed her as rather flawed and her powers are the least enviable of the lot.

Come to think of it, none of the members have powers or abilities that are enviable in the slightest, which does seem to be a point to the series. Even Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero) who outwardly appears to the most normal has sixty four different personalities and they're something of a mixed bag. Hammerhead in particular is not someone whose company you'd want to spend a great deal of time around but it'll be interesting to see how the show utilizes the multiple personalities (and powers) of the character as the series progresses.

As for the main threat - the episode did establish that the Chief and Nobody have a history together and the latter having a thing for testing superheroes, but this time he wants to do something different. The bit with the farting donkey made me chuckle, even if it left a rather cryptic message ("the mind is the first") for our heroes to figure out.

- The title sequence is a thing of beauty. Seriously, go check them out on YouTube.
- Although a regular, Jovian Wade's Cyborg did not appear in this one. We'll see him soon though.
- Standout music: Echo & The Bunnyman's People Are Strange seemed appropriate for this show.
- Chronology: 1948 Paraguay for Nobody, 1955 Africa for Rita, 1961 California for Negative Man, 1988 Florida for Robotman but the show is currently set in 2019. Crazy Jane was picked up in the 1970s.

Now this is how you do an opening episode. While it's certainly long-ish, the tone was beautifully captured, you got a strong sense of each of the main characters (though Chief is still a bit too harsh at times) and the breezy way the show hinted at the overall baddie for the series was deftly done. I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I would but I did. Can't wait to see where the rest of the season goes.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of How To Get Away With Murder's 5x13: "Where Are Your Parents?"

Written by Maya Goldsmith & Daniel Robinson
Directed by DeMane Davis

Governor Birkhead (to Annalise): "I know who killed Nate Lahey Sr and you know him to."

Well, the answer might not be satisfying but assuming that Birkhead isn't actually playing Annalise here, then it seems that Emmett actually was the one to bump off Nate's dad. And just when I was starting to like the character as well. If he did it just because of his infatuation with Annalise, that makes it even far creepier than ever.

Speaking of crushes, while Emmett is willing to kill for one, Tegan is somewhat willing to seduce Telesco and get her discredited in order to buy Annalise some more time, which is interesting. Look, I'm not saying the show should have Annalise and Tegan become a couple next season but I'm also not saying they shouldn't either. The upside is this though - Tegan is more friend than foe for Annalise and that can only be a good thing.

Keeping with the Annalise side of things - this episode was a rather festive one with Ophelia appearing once and the show making sure to give us some genuinely meaty and heartfelt scenes with Viola Davis and Cicely Tyson as the latter gave Anna Mae some sound advice on how to deal with her latest legal woe while entertaining everyone else during the dinner.

I really do love that this show always managed to get Ophelia in a few episodes each season and every scene she's in never fails to be a delight to watch. Ophelia really does bring out the best in Annalise, even when the latter disagrees with her and seeing both Viola and Cicely in scenes together is just fantastic.

As for Nate, he can breathe a little easy for the time being as Annalise didn't have to say anything that could put him in the FBI's attention but as for Bonnie, well she spent most of the episode nearly cracking up while also worrying about being pregnant. She did tell Frank that she wasn't and hopefully she's not, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that is she is pregnant as we head towards the finale.

Then there was Christmas with the Keating 5 and Gabriel, which was also not full of merry cheer. We had Pam showing up and Connor having to tell her some of what happened when we weren't getting reminders of her hook up with Asher and Pam's own scathing commentary on everyone else not having a parent around. I did like a certain scene with Connor and his mother, but other than that, Pam kind of was in embarrassing mother mode in this one.

- Of course Laurel kept the blanket and made a phone call to Telesco. Gabriel also made a point about Michaela not wanting to look into her own biological family as well.
- I assume we're going to see Gabriel's mother soon enough. It does feel like we should be getting one confrontation scene with her and Annalise before the season ends.
- Pam actually let Connor as a teenager have sex with an adult in her house. This does explain some of her own boundary issues I guess.
- Chronology: Christmas time for the show. This is the second time they've had a Christmas episode on the show.

Where Are Your Parents will not go down as the most festive of Christmas episodes and it does feel a little jarring watching one of those in February, but it's easily the strongest episode we've had since the show's return last month. Some genuinely brilliant scenes, with the Annalise/Ophelia ones being the clear highlight and a nice twist at the end too. This should bode well for the last two.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Batman 66 - Episodes 117-120 Reviews

Well, it's the final blog for this particular side of the Batman universe (or is it?) and the moment has kind of been prepared for. Without further ado, my thoughts on the final four episodes of Batman 66.

3x23: I'll Be A Mummy's Uncle

Remember earlier in the season when it appeared that King Tut learned who the Dynamic Duo were? Well, let's revisit that thread again but before I do, I should point out that originally this episode along with The Unkindest Tut Of All were actually meant to be a two parter before they were separated as episodes. Here though, King Tut actually managed to get into the Batcave, worked out that Bruce and Dick were Batman and Robin and even came close to revealing all before a ceiling somewhat collapsed in on him and set him back to his more harmless alter ego. Oh well, Tut, you came closer than others did. 8/10

3x24: The Joker's Flying Saucer

If any Batman show could do something with aliens, it would be this one but alas, it's a hoax or more of a convoluted scheme on the Joker's part in his last main story for the series. It's not his greatest of schemes and there's a bit where Alfred is unconvincingly undercover as a mad scientist while Batgirl winds up being taken hostage by the Clown Prince of Crime. Cesar Romero does put in a good final performance but it's a disappointing story compared to his earlier efforts in the third season. 6/10

3x25: The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra

With two episodes left to go, I admire the show for deciding to give us three more original villains. In this one, we've got enchantress Cassandra Spellman (Ida Lupino) and her less focused on husband/right hand man, Cabala (Howard Duff) cooking up an interesting scheme involving invisibility pills and the use of six of the biggest baddies from the show - Catwoman, Penguin, Joker, Riddler, King Tut and Egghead. The only catch is that none of the actors behind these roles actually reprise them but instead it's body doubles at the ready while the Terrific Trio briefly experience a moment as cardboard cutouts before being restored by Alfred. It's also noteworthy for this episode being the first Batgirl got to appear in the Batcave while Robin showed signs of attraction towards her as well. Cassandra is a decent baddie too and while I would've preferred the original back, it was nice to get another glimpse of the six most popular foes in the series. 8/10

3x26: Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires

Last episode and while I like, it really doesn't feel like a finale. I mean, it's pretty enjoyable but overall, it's a bit mundane. There's a nice guest appearance from Zsa Zsa Gabor as final baddie/spa owner, Minerva who is stealing from millionaires by using one of her devices to read their minds and of course we nearly get the Dynamic Duo steamed to death while Batgirl and Alfred also play their role in Minerva's eventual downfall. There's also a brief team up with Freddy the Fence (he really does liking working with female baddies). For a final episode, it's nothing special but decent enough I guess. 6/10

I'll probably review Return To The Batcave: The Misadventures Of Adam And Burt at a later date. This series review was a lot of fun to do though.

My Review of Gotham's 5x06: "13 Stitches"

Written by Seth Boston
Directed by Benjamin McKenzie

Jeremiah (to Alfred): "Today's the big day."

Well, we're at the halfway point of this season and finally after weeks of voice cameos and whispers, Jaime Murray actually appeared on screen as Secretary Walker to try and put the rest of her plan into motion by collecting a fatally wounded Eduardo, who when we see him next will have something of an "upgrade" done to him, whether he likes it or not.

I'm still trying to wrack my brains as to whom Walker is actually an alias for. I've heard rumours that she might be Nyssa Al Ghul and given the Arrow universe's brilliant depiction of her, if that turns out to be true, then we're going to have a far more ruthless version of the character for Gordon and company to contend with for the remainder of the season.

With Eduardo being shipped off screen to become Bane, the other weapons in Walker's arsenal were of course her sleeper agents. We already saw Nygma this week trying to kill Gordon once again before the latter managed to get Lucius to remove his chip but everyone should've seen Leslie (who finally reappeared this week) as the second sleeper agent.

Because we've got so little episodes to go now, at least the show didn't waste time in having Leslie struggling to remember what happened to her after both her and Nygma stabbed each other before her own attempt to kill Gordon while under the influence failed. I'm going to assume that Lucius also removed Leslie's chip off screen as well.

Then there was the other bombshells of the episode - Barbara being pregnant, anyone? Yeah, I think everyone saw that coming but the way in which she dropped that little number was delightfully petty. I think Barbara was more stung by the potential of a Jim/Leslie reunion than Nygma, who seemed bitter but resigned to the idea. The scene was made all the better with Bullock's deadpan delivery of congratulations. I guess we'll be seeing future Batgirl in nine months time.

As for the last bit of the episode - Jeremiah really does have a habit of appearing when nobody wants him to. This week he popped up just to kidnap Alfred, bring him back to the Manor and complain about cleanliness before telling the tied up butler that a big day was coming. Going by the trailer for next week's episode, it's really hard not to be excited for the latest showdown with Bruce and Jeremiah.

Last but not least we got a nice team up with Selina and Oswald (both kept away from the main storylines this week) as the pair of them worked together to take out a feathery thief named Magpie. I'll admit the actress who played Magpie might have overplayed the quirkiness a bit too much but I did like the snarky banter with Selina and Oswald nonetheless.

- Third episode to be directed by Benjamin McKenzie in the series. He'll be writing another episode later in the season.
- I had to laugh at Nygma's attempts of distracting Angel while Bruce and company were trying to take back the GCPD and Bullock remembered some high school knowledge as well.
- This episode was the first live action depiction of Magpie, even if she didn't make it out of the episode alive.
- Chronology: Over three months since the events of No Man's Land of course.

13 Stitches marked a strong halfway point episode and with both Jeremiah and Bane's arcs coming to fruition along with Walker finally making her onscreen appearance, along with Leslie's return and that announcement from Barbara, the show is definitely not messing about for the next few episodes.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of How To Get Away With Murder's 5x12: "We Know Everything"

Written by Michael Russo & Sarah L. Thompson
Directed by Jennifer Getzinger

Frank (to Nate): "There's a world in where you're okay with what you did."

Another week, another good but not too exciting episode. This time around, it seems that Gabriel being arrested had something to do with his protesting past before quickly turning into the FBI's desperate attempts to get him to be a mole on Annalise. Predictable and also a little on the disappointing end of the scale.

The back and forth with Gabriel, Annalise and the Keating lot got a little tiresome in the episode, even if they all had points when it came to tearing lumps out of the others. The Keating do have the right not to trust Gabriel as does Annalise, given the way in which Gabriel confessed about being Sam's son.

Saying that, Gabriel himself is allowed to want answers about what happened to his father and given that no-one is willing to tell him the truth for obvious reasons, it's not surprising that he had been working with Miller. As for his double agent thing with the FBI, that can only go badly wrong for him in the remaining three episodes of the season.

Speaking of the FBI - that agent really does have it out for Annalise, huh? Well, she's hardly the first but this episode she did spend most of her time working both Gabriel and Tegan as sources to get something on Annalise with the latter only being too aware that both could pose a potential threat to her. I did like however that Annalise vouched for Tegan, even if it meant attracting Emmett's suspicions as well.

As for the rest of the episode, the gang almost thought they were free from suspicion until an Instagram photos courtesy of Connor's mother showed both Nate and Miller arguing with each other while the latter's body was finally found and Bonnie also had some quality time with Miller's mother. It did seem this week that Bonnie was handling things better, even if her and Annalise clashed over trusting Miller and Gabriel respectively.

- Looks like Michaela is going to go there with Gabriel again, while the show keeps alluding to both Emmett and Tegan being into Annalise.
- Nice that we got some bonding scenes with Nate and Frank in this episode but the moment where Annalise blew up at them and Bonnie felt a bit off to me.
- Standout music: Nice use of Placebo's version of Running Up That Hill.
- Chronology: From where the previous episode more or less left off.

We Know Everything was a decent enough episode but like last week, was lacking a little. At this rate, I'm not too bothered how this whole Miller death story is going to be resolved. I think compared to past fall outs from the big mystery death, this just hasn't been as compelling to watch.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of How To Get Away With Murder's 5x11: "Be The Martyr"

Written by Matthew Cruz
Directed by Alrick Riley

Annalise (to the Keating 5): "The governor killed Miller."

After two rather enjoyable episodes, this one left me a little cold. It's strange because while the episode actually did advance some plotlines, it also felt rather filler-ish to watch nonetheless but let's break it down into a few parts.

First of all, it looks like Nate's instincts about Miller were right enough as it found out that the latter messed about with evidence in relation to Nate Sr's case and while the FBI looked like they were about to actually arrest Nate at the end of this one, it seems they've got someone else in custody and that Nate might be able to work with them after all.

The person could either be Gabe or Bonnie. The former, due to his association with Miller now being known to the FBI while the latter's guilt in her role in her boyfriend's death was damaging her mental health. There was even one scene in the episode where Frank had to save Bonnie from ending it all in her car. No wait, it can only be Gabe given that this episode ended with Bonnie lying in Frank's bed.

Then there was Laurel, who was on the warpath over whether or not Christopher actually witnessed Ron's death. Laurel more or less spent this episode in serious mother hen with Michaela forced to be the one to calm her down while Connor only heightened Laurel's paranoia at one point here. Not that Laurel doesn't have a right to be concerned about her child witnessing a murder but even still, the scenes just dragged a little bit.

Speaking of the Keating  lot - Michaela once again managed to get herself on Tegan's shitlist over the handling of Nate and Asher spent a lot of the episode trying to defend Bonnie from everyone else with only Oliver offering him any kind of supporting. Then there was the sniping at Gabriel, which even now is starting to wear a little thin.

As for Annalise, when she wasn't trying to be there for both Nate and Bonnie and keeping the kids in line, she was also getting around to sorting out Emmett's own lawsuit as well. Subplot wise, it was okay enough and Emmett's ex-lover didn't seem that horrible either but other than that, it wasn't the most exciting of storylines either.

- It seems that Tegan is working for the FBI as we saw her contact that agent after reading up about Miller's disappearance.
- Emmett made a suggestive comment that makes me wonder if he's going to try it on with Annalise in a later episode this season.
- Are Connor and Oliver ever get going to go on their honeymoon before the season ends?
- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Be The Martyr had it's moments but just wasn't quite as dynamic for me as I wished it could've been. I did like the reveal about Tegan and I guess the Annalise/Emmett subplot broke up the Miller bits reasonably well but other than that, it did feel a bit too filler at times.

Rating: 6 out of 10