Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Doctor Who (1963) 8.05.05

The Daemons - Part Five

The Master laughs at Jo's protestations and orders his followers to prepare her to be sacrificed. Sergeant Osgood finally gets his act together and the Brigadier has him use the device he built using the Doctor's instructions. It allows them to get through the heat barrier that surrounds the village but it blows up not long after they have passed through the barrier.

Bok threatens the Doctor and the others outside the church. The Brigadier and his men distract Bok while the Doctor runs into the caverns below the church. The Doctor confronts the Master and Azal. He gets the Master's followers to release Jo. Azal offers to convey his power on the Doctor whom he considers to be more worthy than the Master. The Doctor refuses the offer which leads Azal to try and destroy him. Jo offers herself up for destruction in the Doctor's place. Azal is confused and self-destructs, taking the church and the caverns with him but not until after the Doctor, the Master, Jo, and the Master's followers have hightailed it out of there.

Tout en haut du monde (2015)

Tout en haut du monde (2015)
aka Long Way North

starring Christa Théret, Féodor Atkine, Thomas Sagols
directed by Rémi Chayé

81 minutes

in French with English subtitles

Fifteen year old Sacha (Christa Théret) takes desperate measures when no one will help her try to find Oloukine (Féodor Atkine), her grandfather the explorer who disappeared searching for the North Pole. She leaves home and takes trains north from St. Petersburg to a town on the coast of the Artic Ocean. There she buys passage on the Norge, whose captain hopes to claim the reward for finding the Daval, Oloukine's ship.

Four Star Playhouse 1.09

The Man on the Train

starring David Niven
directed by Robert Florey

William Langford (David Niven) takes the train to see family. He shares a compartment on the train with John Dwerrihouse, who tells him about a business deal that he is about to close for the railroad company. Langford mentions the encounter to a few friends when gets to where he is going. Everyone is astounded to hear about the encounter because Dwerrihouse disappeared months ago with a large sum of money.

Langford insists that he met Dwerrihouse on the train. Jeff Pender, a friend of Langford's looks into the matter with Langford but no one who is on the train recalls seeing Dwerrihouse.

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 2.10

Sanctuary

A group of people come through the wormhole in a badly damaged ship. Commander Sisko orders them beamed off their ship and aboard the space station. They are Skrreeans. The universal translator has some trouble with their language. Sisko and Major Kira learn, once the translator issue has been resolved, that the four people they rescued are just the tip of the iceberg. There are another three million Skrreeans hoping to come through the wormhole and get away from something known as the Dominion.

Deep Space Nine helps more Skrreeans make their way through the wormhole. Haneek, the leader of the first small group to come through the wormhole educates Sisko and Kira about their ways. The Skrreeans are farmers. Their society is run by women. They are looking for a new home, a planet that they call Kentanna.

Monday, March 16, 2026

The Good Place 1.02

Flying

Chidi agrees to help Eleanor learn to be a good person. She does something that makes him reconsider his decision but before the episode is over she convinces him (once again) to help her by doing a good deed. The episode ends with Eleanor receiving an anonymous message that reads "You Don't Belong Here".

Thoughts

This episode is peppered with a few flashbacks to Eleanor's life before she died.

The title of the episode is a reference to the activity that almost everyone take part in. Eleanor is one of those people who doesn't get to participate because she is too busy helping Chidi and several other volunteers pick up trash.

This episode was as funny as the first one. It made me laugh several times. I'm eager to see where this goes next.

The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House 1.05

Choice

Yoshino told everyone she was divorced but then her husband comes looking for her. It turns out that she returned to the Maiko House while her husband was away on business. She found living with her mother-in-law unbearable.

Momoko puzzles over whether to stay in Kyoto or follow a man to Tokyo. Some of the Maiko remark on how Kiyo and Sumire seem like an old couple. Sumire learn that she is no longer to be an apprentice but become a Maiko.

Thoughts

There wasn't much in the way of cooking in this episode. I enjoyed it but I'm just past the halfway point and it feels in some ways like things are moving extremely fast for Sumire and Kiyo. Has Momoko come to a decision? I'm not sure.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.31

Bilko's Casino

Bilko finds an exception to the law prohibiting gambling in California. He tries to exploit it but finds out that someone else is going to exploit him if he does. He comes up with a scheme to turn the tables on them and abandons his plan to open a casino.

Thoughts

This episode was okay but the ending did not satisfy me. Bilko turns the tables on the crooks and then abandons his plans. I don't get it.

Notes

Al Lewis played one of the guys trying to strongarm Bilko in this episode. This is the second of three episodes of this show in which he appeared. The first was 4.18 Bilko's Credit Card. I've also seen him recently in The Night Strangler (1973). He is best known to me for playing the part of Grandpa on The Munsters.