Pilot
Andre (Anthony Anderson) feels like he is losing after (a) his promotion to Senior Vice President comes with the subtitle of Urban Affairs and (b) he learns that his older son wants to play field hockey and convert to Judaism.
This started a little slow. I smiled a few times but didn't really laugh for the first time until about halfway through the show. I'm definitely interested in watching more and seeing where exactly the show goes. Granted it is a standard sitcom on one level but from what I've heard it is also more than that.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Friday, December 30, 2016
Star Trek: The Next Generation 6.01
Time's Arrow Part Two
Several members of the Enterprise crew are pulled back in time along the same path that Data took. They wind up in late 19th century San Francisco, as did he. They are there not just to find him but also to learn more about the aliens from Devidia II who are killing humans from that time period. They are hampered a bit in their quest by Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain and helped by Guinan's earlier self who is meeting Picard for the first time.
There are a few too many things in this episode happening off stage and without explanation to satisfy me. It seems like they tried to pack a little too much into this story. On the whole I am not impressed by it. Time travel stories often get more attention than other ones. If that is the case with this one then I feel than it is not deserved of this sort of a response. If you are going to make a story epic then it needs to feel it. This one felt slapped together. I do wonder if it was originally supposed to be a three-part story and it got chopped down to two parts. I'm not sure that the story would be better told in three parts but the potential would certainly be there.
Several members of the Enterprise crew are pulled back in time along the same path that Data took. They wind up in late 19th century San Francisco, as did he. They are there not just to find him but also to learn more about the aliens from Devidia II who are killing humans from that time period. They are hampered a bit in their quest by Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain and helped by Guinan's earlier self who is meeting Picard for the first time.
There are a few too many things in this episode happening off stage and without explanation to satisfy me. It seems like they tried to pack a little too much into this story. On the whole I am not impressed by it. Time travel stories often get more attention than other ones. If that is the case with this one then I feel than it is not deserved of this sort of a response. If you are going to make a story epic then it needs to feel it. This one felt slapped together. I do wonder if it was originally supposed to be a three-part story and it got chopped down to two parts. I'm not sure that the story would be better told in three parts but the potential would certainly be there.
Justice League Unlimited 3.06
Dead Reckoning
A detachment of villains from the Legion of Doom, including Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Tala, and Devil Ray along with a few squads of their heretofore unseen shock troops invade Nanda Parbat. They overpower the monks and take a mystic object, the Heart of Nanda Parbat. Deadman is in the city at the time but his efforts are countered by Tala's magic and he loses that fight.
After the super-villains have left Deadman goes to the Justice League for help. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman respond to his plea. They reach out to Solivar in Gorilla City only to discover that the Legion of Doom has started an assault on Gorilla City with a strike force similar to the one used on Nanda Parbat. The heroes rush to Gorilla City but they get there just a little too late. Grodd is able to put his plan into action. Using the Heart of Nanda Parbat and a high tech gadget found in Gorilla City Grodd transforms all humans, around the world into apes.
Grodd's victory is short lived. Superman quickly destroys the machine. The souls of the monks trapped in the Heart are released and everyone who was turned into an ape turns reverts back to human form.
Epilogue 1: Deadman learns from Rama Kushna, the Goddess of Nanda Parbat, that because his actions lead to the death of Devil Ray the scales are now out of balance. As a result he must remain a ghost for the present and will not be allowed to crossover to the land of the dead for now.
Epilogue 2: A change in leadership occurs at Legion of Doom HQ after the strike force has returned. Luthor loses his cool and violently ousts Grodd, in large part because of the ineptitude of his plan.
Over the course of the episode Deadman possesses the three heroes and two villains. Superman doesn't realize what happened to him. Wonder Woman is angry with Deadman, after the fact, because he did so without acting permission. Batman hides his anger well but is livid because while Deadman had control of his body he shot and killed a villain, Devil Ray, who was about to kill Wonder Woman. Batman has a thing against using guns because his parents were killed by a gun-wielding thief.
Overall this is not a prefect episode but it is a lot of fun and helps to advance the overall season-long plot. There are some funny moments, many of which involve Lex Luthor's deadpan style of humor. The 2nd 3rd, and 5th episodes of this season all left me a bit cold but the 1st, 4th, and 6th episodes are all required viewing by my standards.
A detachment of villains from the Legion of Doom, including Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Tala, and Devil Ray along with a few squads of their heretofore unseen shock troops invade Nanda Parbat. They overpower the monks and take a mystic object, the Heart of Nanda Parbat. Deadman is in the city at the time but his efforts are countered by Tala's magic and he loses that fight.
After the super-villains have left Deadman goes to the Justice League for help. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman respond to his plea. They reach out to Solivar in Gorilla City only to discover that the Legion of Doom has started an assault on Gorilla City with a strike force similar to the one used on Nanda Parbat. The heroes rush to Gorilla City but they get there just a little too late. Grodd is able to put his plan into action. Using the Heart of Nanda Parbat and a high tech gadget found in Gorilla City Grodd transforms all humans, around the world into apes.
Grodd's victory is short lived. Superman quickly destroys the machine. The souls of the monks trapped in the Heart are released and everyone who was turned into an ape turns reverts back to human form.
Epilogue 1: Deadman learns from Rama Kushna, the Goddess of Nanda Parbat, that because his actions lead to the death of Devil Ray the scales are now out of balance. As a result he must remain a ghost for the present and will not be allowed to crossover to the land of the dead for now.
Epilogue 2: A change in leadership occurs at Legion of Doom HQ after the strike force has returned. Luthor loses his cool and violently ousts Grodd, in large part because of the ineptitude of his plan.
Over the course of the episode Deadman possesses the three heroes and two villains. Superman doesn't realize what happened to him. Wonder Woman is angry with Deadman, after the fact, because he did so without acting permission. Batman hides his anger well but is livid because while Deadman had control of his body he shot and killed a villain, Devil Ray, who was about to kill Wonder Woman. Batman has a thing against using guns because his parents were killed by a gun-wielding thief.
Overall this is not a prefect episode but it is a lot of fun and helps to advance the overall season-long plot. There are some funny moments, many of which involve Lex Luthor's deadpan style of humor. The 2nd 3rd, and 5th episodes of this season all left me a bit cold but the 1st, 4th, and 6th episodes are all required viewing by my standards.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Public Enemy: Prophets of Rage (2011)
This is a BBC documentary that tracks the history of Public Enemy from their roots in the late 1970s into the 21st century. There is quite a bit of focus on what the group was trying to achieve, how they interacted with one another, and how the group was covered by the press. There are lots of musical clips from their albums and video clips from video features about them.
My awareness of the group probably predates Do the Right Thing (1989) but seeing that movie and a few years later buying Fear of a Black Planet (1990), one of their albums, cemented their place in my memory and heart. I was working the graveyard shift at a diner in DC the summer that movie came out. The diner was one of the only places open in town after the bars closed. Everyone, or at least it seemed that way to me some nights even though the diner was in a predominantly white neighborhood, kept telling one another, mostly guys, and I want to say mostly black guys, "Do the Right Thing." I don't think I had seen the movie yet. I saw it for the first time at the Hoff Theater at the University of Maryland in the fall of that year. I got kind of sick of hearing people repeat that phrase over and over again. The phrase meant something but it was also a fad and eventually I began to hear it less and less. I'll never forget that summer for many reasons, Do the Right Thing being one of them. I still enjoy listening to Fear of Black Planet.
I ran across this documentary on YouTube when I went looking for some PE videos after watching He Got Game. The documentary is great and informative but it doesn't compare to the episode of Combat Jack Show from a couple years back that featured Chuck D and Keith Shocklee, two of the members of the group. The podcast episode is much longer than the movie as well as much rawer and unfiltered.
Combat Jack: The Chuck D Episode Featuring Keith Shocklee
https://soundcloud.com/thecombatjackshow/the-chuck-d-episode-featuring-keith-shocklee
My awareness of the group probably predates Do the Right Thing (1989) but seeing that movie and a few years later buying Fear of a Black Planet (1990), one of their albums, cemented their place in my memory and heart. I was working the graveyard shift at a diner in DC the summer that movie came out. The diner was one of the only places open in town after the bars closed. Everyone, or at least it seemed that way to me some nights even though the diner was in a predominantly white neighborhood, kept telling one another, mostly guys, and I want to say mostly black guys, "Do the Right Thing." I don't think I had seen the movie yet. I saw it for the first time at the Hoff Theater at the University of Maryland in the fall of that year. I got kind of sick of hearing people repeat that phrase over and over again. The phrase meant something but it was also a fad and eventually I began to hear it less and less. I'll never forget that summer for many reasons, Do the Right Thing being one of them. I still enjoy listening to Fear of Black Planet.
I ran across this documentary on YouTube when I went looking for some PE videos after watching He Got Game. The documentary is great and informative but it doesn't compare to the episode of Combat Jack Show from a couple years back that featured Chuck D and Keith Shocklee, two of the members of the group. The podcast episode is much longer than the movie as well as much rawer and unfiltered.
Combat Jack: The Chuck D Episode Featuring Keith Shocklee
https://soundcloud.com/thecombatjackshow/the-chuck-d-episode-featuring-keith-shocklee
Rick and Morty 2.09
Look Who's Purging Now
Rick and Morty stop for wiper fluid on a planet where a purge is about to happen. Rick wants to hang out and watch, Morty doesn't. After their spacecraft gets stolen by someone they try to help they are stuck and have to defend themselves in order to survive the night.
Not my favorite episode. Not bad but it just didn't make me laugh like some of the other episodes do.
Rick and Morty stop for wiper fluid on a planet where a purge is about to happen. Rick wants to hang out and watch, Morty doesn't. After their spacecraft gets stolen by someone they try to help they are stuck and have to defend themselves in order to survive the night.
Not my favorite episode. Not bad but it just didn't make me laugh like some of the other episodes do.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Flash 1.09
The Man in the Yellow Suit
The Christmas episode, hence the title. Ronnie Raymond returns plus the Reverse Flash makes his first appearance.
The man in the yellow suit appears. The man who Joe and Barry believe killed his mother. Like Barry he is a speedster but he is faster than Barry. In his first encounter with the guy Barry gets beaten up. After procuring a gadget from another high tech firm, Mercury Labs, Dr. Wells' crew sets a trap to catch the Reverse Flash. It seems to work but then he breaks out and starts beating up Dr. Wells. He takes down most of the other policemen on hand but hesitates once Joe and Eddie are the only two left standing. It looks like I was wrong about Eddie being the Reverse Flash, at least for now. The Flash shows up and fights the Reverse Flash.
Caitlin has a brief encounter with Ronnie Raymond, her fiancee, who was killed in the explosion that gave Barry and a number of other people their powers. He manifests some sort of flame based powers. She gets Cisco's help finding him but he refuses their help and seems to have forgotten who he once was. He shows up one final time near the end of the episode and breaks up the fight between Flash and Reverse Flash. At the moment Reverse Flash was winning the fight but runs off after Ronnie hits him with flames. Before flying away Ronnie tells them to call him Firestorm.
Eddie asks Iris to move in with him. Iris is excited but Barry not so much. Eddie thinks that Barry may still be carrying a torch for Iris. He lets her know, she thinks it is a silly idea but after having a chat with Caitlin she asks him if he has romantic feelings for her. He lies and tells her that he doesn't. It isn't until after he visits his father in prison that he decides he has to tell her the truth.
The final scene is of Dr. Wells in his secret chamber at STAR Labs. He has a ring with a Flash logo on it. He uses it to unlock another secret room which holds a Reverse Flash costume. I guess this means that Dr. Wells was the Reverse Flash? I'm a little confused. I'm sure there's an explanation, reasonable or otherwise, but I'm having trouble putting two and two together and coming up with four.
Far from perfect but it was far better than the last episode and introduced some new elements that at least for the moment are intriguing.
The Christmas episode, hence the title. Ronnie Raymond returns plus the Reverse Flash makes his first appearance.
The man in the yellow suit appears. The man who Joe and Barry believe killed his mother. Like Barry he is a speedster but he is faster than Barry. In his first encounter with the guy Barry gets beaten up. After procuring a gadget from another high tech firm, Mercury Labs, Dr. Wells' crew sets a trap to catch the Reverse Flash. It seems to work but then he breaks out and starts beating up Dr. Wells. He takes down most of the other policemen on hand but hesitates once Joe and Eddie are the only two left standing. It looks like I was wrong about Eddie being the Reverse Flash, at least for now. The Flash shows up and fights the Reverse Flash.
Caitlin has a brief encounter with Ronnie Raymond, her fiancee, who was killed in the explosion that gave Barry and a number of other people their powers. He manifests some sort of flame based powers. She gets Cisco's help finding him but he refuses their help and seems to have forgotten who he once was. He shows up one final time near the end of the episode and breaks up the fight between Flash and Reverse Flash. At the moment Reverse Flash was winning the fight but runs off after Ronnie hits him with flames. Before flying away Ronnie tells them to call him Firestorm.
Eddie asks Iris to move in with him. Iris is excited but Barry not so much. Eddie thinks that Barry may still be carrying a torch for Iris. He lets her know, she thinks it is a silly idea but after having a chat with Caitlin she asks him if he has romantic feelings for her. He lies and tells her that he doesn't. It isn't until after he visits his father in prison that he decides he has to tell her the truth.
The final scene is of Dr. Wells in his secret chamber at STAR Labs. He has a ring with a Flash logo on it. He uses it to unlock another secret room which holds a Reverse Flash costume. I guess this means that Dr. Wells was the Reverse Flash? I'm a little confused. I'm sure there's an explanation, reasonable or otherwise, but I'm having trouble putting two and two together and coming up with four.
Far from perfect but it was far better than the last episode and introduced some new elements that at least for the moment are intriguing.
NewsRadio 2.12
X-Mas Story
The employees all chip in to buy Mr. James a real nice gift, a baseball jersey that was worn and signed by his favorite baseball player. His gifts to them seem very impersonal so he does his best to make up for it by buying them all sports cars, except Matthew who gets cassettes of an old radio show.
Bill gets harassed by a bell ringing Santa Claus in the lobby of the WNYX building. It turns out all to be a prank or does it.
Not great. A few smiles and possibly laughs but this is not the best that NewsRadio has to offer. Tone Loc and Toby Huss make their second and final appearances playing security guards.
The employees all chip in to buy Mr. James a real nice gift, a baseball jersey that was worn and signed by his favorite baseball player. His gifts to them seem very impersonal so he does his best to make up for it by buying them all sports cars, except Matthew who gets cassettes of an old radio show.
Bill gets harassed by a bell ringing Santa Claus in the lobby of the WNYX building. It turns out all to be a prank or does it.
Not great. A few smiles and possibly laughs but this is not the best that NewsRadio has to offer. Tone Loc and Toby Huss make their second and final appearances playing security guards.
Monday, December 26, 2016
Halt and Catch Fire 2.10
Heaven Is a Place
Joe and Sarah are over and done. He signs the divorce papers. Sarah's father is out at West Group. The virus that disrupted the demonstration in episode 9 spread throughout the network. Gordon feels bad, feels guilty so he gives Joe the antidote to the virus he created back in episode 3 which Cameron used in the last episode on West Group's network of computers.
Everything is not good for Gordon. Donna finds out about some of the shenanigans that happened when he took their daughters to see his brother's family in California back in episode 6. She also catches him not taking his therapy sessions seriously. Then their oldest daughter runs away. They find her hiding in the backyard but Gordon was unable to manage that task himself. By this time Donna has already formulated a plan to try and make things better for their marriage and for Mutiny.
Cameron wants to buy a big mainframe setup. The most reasonably priced one she can find is in California. At first she suggests they could buy it and get it shipped to Dallas but then Donna suggests that they move the company to California. She talks Gordon into paying for it, with what is left from the money he got from the dissolution of Cardiff, and coming to work for Mutiny. He doesn't like it but he probably doesn't feel like he has a choice.
Boz left Mutiny last episode. In this episode he quits his new job to return to Mutiny, near the end of the episode. Boz is one of the lead characters on this show. They really need to do a better job of integrating his character moments into stories that involve other lead characters. Of all the lead characters he is the one that has felt the most detached from the rest of the gang.
Joe takes the antidote provided by Gordon and comes up with the idea of selling protection against attacks on computers and networks to a venture capital firm. He tries to get Gordon to join him but by then Gordon has agreed to Donna's plan and the wheels are in motion to move Mutiny to the west coast.
The episode ends with Donna, Gordon, Cameron, Boz and the rest of the gang from Mutiny boarding an airplane to San Francisco. Cameron asked Tom to come with them, even bought him a ticket but when the door to the plane is shut Tom is not on board. Gordon is reading a magazine as the plane is getting ready to take off and spots an article about Joe selling the antivirus idea for $10 million. Donna is in the airplane's bathroom crying after Gordon suggested that maybe they could have another kid once they get settled in California. He doesn't know about her abortion. She never told him even though she gave him a hard time for withholding information about his health and what happened on the trip to California in episode 6.
Probably not my favorite episode. There's a fair amount of setup for the next season. I will probably stick with this show whenever the third season drops on Netflix.
Joe and Sarah are over and done. He signs the divorce papers. Sarah's father is out at West Group. The virus that disrupted the demonstration in episode 9 spread throughout the network. Gordon feels bad, feels guilty so he gives Joe the antidote to the virus he created back in episode 3 which Cameron used in the last episode on West Group's network of computers.
Everything is not good for Gordon. Donna finds out about some of the shenanigans that happened when he took their daughters to see his brother's family in California back in episode 6. She also catches him not taking his therapy sessions seriously. Then their oldest daughter runs away. They find her hiding in the backyard but Gordon was unable to manage that task himself. By this time Donna has already formulated a plan to try and make things better for their marriage and for Mutiny.
Cameron wants to buy a big mainframe setup. The most reasonably priced one she can find is in California. At first she suggests they could buy it and get it shipped to Dallas but then Donna suggests that they move the company to California. She talks Gordon into paying for it, with what is left from the money he got from the dissolution of Cardiff, and coming to work for Mutiny. He doesn't like it but he probably doesn't feel like he has a choice.
Boz left Mutiny last episode. In this episode he quits his new job to return to Mutiny, near the end of the episode. Boz is one of the lead characters on this show. They really need to do a better job of integrating his character moments into stories that involve other lead characters. Of all the lead characters he is the one that has felt the most detached from the rest of the gang.
Joe takes the antidote provided by Gordon and comes up with the idea of selling protection against attacks on computers and networks to a venture capital firm. He tries to get Gordon to join him but by then Gordon has agreed to Donna's plan and the wheels are in motion to move Mutiny to the west coast.
The episode ends with Donna, Gordon, Cameron, Boz and the rest of the gang from Mutiny boarding an airplane to San Francisco. Cameron asked Tom to come with them, even bought him a ticket but when the door to the plane is shut Tom is not on board. Gordon is reading a magazine as the plane is getting ready to take off and spots an article about Joe selling the antivirus idea for $10 million. Donna is in the airplane's bathroom crying after Gordon suggested that maybe they could have another kid once they get settled in California. He doesn't know about her abortion. She never told him even though she gave him a hard time for withholding information about his health and what happened on the trip to California in episode 6.
Probably not my favorite episode. There's a fair amount of setup for the next season. I will probably stick with this show whenever the third season drops on Netflix.
Black Mirror 3.04
San Junipero
Yorkie (Mackenzie Davis) and Kelly (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) meet in Tuckers, a night club. Kelly looks like she belongs there, Yorkie does not. Kelly comes on to Yorkie but Yorkie doesn't know how to respond and runs off. She later regrets the way she reacted to Kelly, seeks her out, and eventually finds her.
What isn't readily apparent from the beginning of this story is that San Junipero is a virtual world. As it progresses, it becomes clear that things aren't exactly as they appear to be. The story starts in the 1980s but then jumps backwards and then forwards in time without the characters aging. It is over halfway into the episode before the story pulls back from San Junipero and the real world is shown on screen. Kelly and Yorkie aren't young in the real world. Yorkie isn't able to communicate in the real world and has been a quadriplegic for most of her life.
This is the first full episode I have watched of this anthology series. I watched it because they talked about it on one podcast I listen to (Deathcast) and the hosts of another podcast I listen to (Movie Bears Podcast) said they were planning to talk about it on a future episode. I have held off on listening to the San Junipero episode of Deathcast which dropped early in December 2016. I'm still waiting for the San Junipero episode of Movie Bears Podcast to drop.
The story has a couple themes that run through it: the right to love who you want and the right to die. There is a twist or two towards the end that really added a dimension to the story and made the story that much more poignant. Both actresses were excellent. I have seen Mackenzie David before on Halt and Catch Fire where she plays Cameron. I have seen Gugu Mbatha-Raw before on Doctor Who where she played Martha Jones' sister, but it has been several years since I saw those episodes.
I am very happy that I decided to watch this episode of Black Mirror. I tried watching Black Mirror once before and was completely turned off by the premise of the first episode 1.01. I never finished watching it.
Yorkie (Mackenzie Davis) and Kelly (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) meet in Tuckers, a night club. Kelly looks like she belongs there, Yorkie does not. Kelly comes on to Yorkie but Yorkie doesn't know how to respond and runs off. She later regrets the way she reacted to Kelly, seeks her out, and eventually finds her.
What isn't readily apparent from the beginning of this story is that San Junipero is a virtual world. As it progresses, it becomes clear that things aren't exactly as they appear to be. The story starts in the 1980s but then jumps backwards and then forwards in time without the characters aging. It is over halfway into the episode before the story pulls back from San Junipero and the real world is shown on screen. Kelly and Yorkie aren't young in the real world. Yorkie isn't able to communicate in the real world and has been a quadriplegic for most of her life.
This is the first full episode I have watched of this anthology series. I watched it because they talked about it on one podcast I listen to (Deathcast) and the hosts of another podcast I listen to (Movie Bears Podcast) said they were planning to talk about it on a future episode. I have held off on listening to the San Junipero episode of Deathcast which dropped early in December 2016. I'm still waiting for the San Junipero episode of Movie Bears Podcast to drop.
The story has a couple themes that run through it: the right to love who you want and the right to die. There is a twist or two towards the end that really added a dimension to the story and made the story that much more poignant. Both actresses were excellent. I have seen Mackenzie David before on Halt and Catch Fire where she plays Cameron. I have seen Gugu Mbatha-Raw before on Doctor Who where she played Martha Jones' sister, but it has been several years since I saw those episodes.
I am very happy that I decided to watch this episode of Black Mirror. I tried watching Black Mirror once before and was completely turned off by the premise of the first episode 1.01. I never finished watching it.
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Gravity Falls 1.01
Tourist Trapped
Dipper and Mabel, twin brother and sister, are sent to Gravity Falls, OR for the summer. There they live with their Great Uncle Stan who runs a local tourist museum. Dipper finds a journal that warns him about things in and around Gravity Falls, like zombies and gnomes. Mabel starts dating a guy who Dipper thinks is a zombie. It turns out that he is actually five gnomes who want to kidnap Mabel and make her their Gnome Queen.
I like the animation and the sense of humor of this show. I heard about it on Pop Culture Happy Hour. I will be back for more.
Dipper and Mabel, twin brother and sister, are sent to Gravity Falls, OR for the summer. There they live with their Great Uncle Stan who runs a local tourist museum. Dipper finds a journal that warns him about things in and around Gravity Falls, like zombies and gnomes. Mabel starts dating a guy who Dipper thinks is a zombie. It turns out that he is actually five gnomes who want to kidnap Mabel and make her their Gnome Queen.
I like the animation and the sense of humor of this show. I heard about it on Pop Culture Happy Hour. I will be back for more.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures 1.01
Iron, Forged in Fire, Part 1
Young Tony Stark invents a suit of armor. He wants to show it to his father but there is other more pressing business. The father and son go on a trip in the company jet. The jet crashes. Tony survives but his father does not.
Six months later, after recovering from the crash Tony's life begins anew. He now lives with his best friend Rhodey's family. At the time of the crash Tony's father was concerned about on e of his underlings, Obadiah Stane who was urging him to redesign an earth-mover machine so that it could be used as a weapon and sell it to the military. Now, Tony suspects Stane is up to something.
Using the suit of armor he invented six months before Tony starts investigating Stane.
I watched this once before, I believe this episode was available for free on iTunes when it first aired in 2009. I think I liked it then. I enjoyed it now. Not great or perfect but I'm curious to see where they take this story and what they do with the character and the world he lives in. I'm not crazy about the style of animation but it might grow on me.
Young Tony Stark invents a suit of armor. He wants to show it to his father but there is other more pressing business. The father and son go on a trip in the company jet. The jet crashes. Tony survives but his father does not.
Six months later, after recovering from the crash Tony's life begins anew. He now lives with his best friend Rhodey's family. At the time of the crash Tony's father was concerned about on e of his underlings, Obadiah Stane who was urging him to redesign an earth-mover machine so that it could be used as a weapon and sell it to the military. Now, Tony suspects Stane is up to something.
Using the suit of armor he invented six months before Tony starts investigating Stane.
I watched this once before, I believe this episode was available for free on iTunes when it first aired in 2009. I think I liked it then. I enjoyed it now. Not great or perfect but I'm curious to see where they take this story and what they do with the character and the world he lives in. I'm not crazy about the style of animation but it might grow on me.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
I tried to stay away from reviews and spoilers and for the most part I was successful. I knew the gist of the story but I really didn't know any details or even the names of any of the new characters other than the main character, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones).
The story is told in five parts. The first part which introduces Jyn when she is just a child and sees her separated from her parents. The second part is where the gang or band of rebels and rogues that accompany Jyn are brought together by Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a rebellion spy. Most of the second part takes place on the planet Jedha. The third part focuses on an attempt by Jyn to reunite and rescue her father, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), a scientist who reluctantly works for the Empire on the design of the Death Star. Most of part three is takes place on the planet Eadu. The fourth part, the climax of the movie, is all about the suicide mission Jyn, Cassian, and a gang of rebel spied undertake to infiltrate the Imperial stronghold on Scarif to steal the plans to the Death Star. The final part is an epilogue which serves to bridge the gap between the end of the fourth act and Start Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.
This is a very different movie from the other seven. In many ways it is a war movie. In another way it is about a voyage of discovery for Jyn. Most of the other characters weren't as memorable. They had their moments but they didn't get fleshed out in the way she did.
I liked this movie a lot. I've always had a soft spot in heart for war films like this one. It bears some resemblance or has something in common with movies like the Seven Samurai, Sahara, Bridge on the River Kwai to name a few of my favorites.
What a ride. They crammed a lot into this movie. There are a lot of subtle callbacks to earlier Star Wars movies. There were a number of moving, emotional moments and which got me teared up. I want to see it again but I'm not sure if I will see if in the theater again or not any time soon. I almost certainly will buy it so that I can stream it at home.
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I started by writing a much longer more in depth summary of the movie. I hate to just delete my work so here's what remains of my first draft:
The story is about Jyn and it isn't. She is the main character but ultimately the movie is also about how the rebels got the plans to the Death Star. She is key to both story lines because Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), the scientist who built a defect into the Death Star, is her father. He originally worked for what became the Empire. He abandoned that life and took his wife and child and hid as a farmer. The movie opens with him being recaptured by the Empire. His wife is killed. Jyn, who can't be more than 5 or 6 years old, hides until Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), a friend of the family, comes for her.
The story then flashes forward 10-15 years. Jyn is a prisoner. She is rescued Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a rebellion spy, who believes she is the key to making contact with Gerrera. She goes along with Cassian despite not trusting him. They (Jyn and Cassian) travel with K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), a droid, to Jedha in search of a Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), a missing Imperial pilot, who it turns out was sent by Galen looking for Saw Gerrera.
Before they find Bodhi they get mixed up in a fight between stormtroopers and other Rebel forces. It is there that they meet sightless Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang) just before they are taken prisoner by Gerrera's troops. Despite Jyn's past with Gerrera it didn't end well as he abandoned her when she was 16. It is while they are briefly captives of Gerrera that they meet Bodhi and he joins their gang.
The Death Star is recently completed. Governor Tarkin (Guy Henry) orders Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) to test the Death Star's planet destroying capabilities on a small scale by destroying Jedha City. Gerrera's hideout is outside the city but shock waves destroy it just as Jyn, Cassian, Bodhi, Chirrut, Baze, and K-2SO escape. Gerrera stays behind and is presumably killed as his mountain hideout collapses.
The next part of the story involves the gang traveling to Eadu, where Galen works. They arrive just before Krennic, who is there to find the traitor who send Bodhi to the rebels. They try to rescue Galen, although it seems that Cassian had orders to kill him which he ultimately does not carry out. There is a fight. Krennic escapes. Jyn gets just enough time for a tearful farewell with her father before of he dies of his wounds.
After a brief meeting back at Rebel HQ Jyn, Cassian, the rest of the gang and a number of volunteers head to Scarif to retrieve the plans to the Death Star. They sneak in using a stolen Empire cargo ship which they acquired when they were on Eadu. Things quickly go wrong, an all out battle ensues. They get the plans but the Death Star shows up and destroys the planet before the surviving members of the strike force can escape.
I began this write up with all kinds of detail. Maybe I should trim that down, maybe I will in the future.
The story is told in five parts. The first part which introduces Jyn when she is just a child and sees her separated from her parents. The second part is where the gang or band of rebels and rogues that accompany Jyn are brought together by Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a rebellion spy. Most of the second part takes place on the planet Jedha. The third part focuses on an attempt by Jyn to reunite and rescue her father, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), a scientist who reluctantly works for the Empire on the design of the Death Star. Most of part three is takes place on the planet Eadu. The fourth part, the climax of the movie, is all about the suicide mission Jyn, Cassian, and a gang of rebel spied undertake to infiltrate the Imperial stronghold on Scarif to steal the plans to the Death Star. The final part is an epilogue which serves to bridge the gap between the end of the fourth act and Start Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.
This is a very different movie from the other seven. In many ways it is a war movie. In another way it is about a voyage of discovery for Jyn. Most of the other characters weren't as memorable. They had their moments but they didn't get fleshed out in the way she did.
I liked this movie a lot. I've always had a soft spot in heart for war films like this one. It bears some resemblance or has something in common with movies like the Seven Samurai, Sahara, Bridge on the River Kwai to name a few of my favorites.
What a ride. They crammed a lot into this movie. There are a lot of subtle callbacks to earlier Star Wars movies. There were a number of moving, emotional moments and which got me teared up. I want to see it again but I'm not sure if I will see if in the theater again or not any time soon. I almost certainly will buy it so that I can stream it at home.
---
I started by writing a much longer more in depth summary of the movie. I hate to just delete my work so here's what remains of my first draft:
The story is about Jyn and it isn't. She is the main character but ultimately the movie is also about how the rebels got the plans to the Death Star. She is key to both story lines because Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), the scientist who built a defect into the Death Star, is her father. He originally worked for what became the Empire. He abandoned that life and took his wife and child and hid as a farmer. The movie opens with him being recaptured by the Empire. His wife is killed. Jyn, who can't be more than 5 or 6 years old, hides until Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), a friend of the family, comes for her.
The story then flashes forward 10-15 years. Jyn is a prisoner. She is rescued Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a rebellion spy, who believes she is the key to making contact with Gerrera. She goes along with Cassian despite not trusting him. They (Jyn and Cassian) travel with K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), a droid, to Jedha in search of a Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), a missing Imperial pilot, who it turns out was sent by Galen looking for Saw Gerrera.
Before they find Bodhi they get mixed up in a fight between stormtroopers and other Rebel forces. It is there that they meet sightless Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang) just before they are taken prisoner by Gerrera's troops. Despite Jyn's past with Gerrera it didn't end well as he abandoned her when she was 16. It is while they are briefly captives of Gerrera that they meet Bodhi and he joins their gang.
The Death Star is recently completed. Governor Tarkin (Guy Henry) orders Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) to test the Death Star's planet destroying capabilities on a small scale by destroying Jedha City. Gerrera's hideout is outside the city but shock waves destroy it just as Jyn, Cassian, Bodhi, Chirrut, Baze, and K-2SO escape. Gerrera stays behind and is presumably killed as his mountain hideout collapses.
The next part of the story involves the gang traveling to Eadu, where Galen works. They arrive just before Krennic, who is there to find the traitor who send Bodhi to the rebels. They try to rescue Galen, although it seems that Cassian had orders to kill him which he ultimately does not carry out. There is a fight. Krennic escapes. Jyn gets just enough time for a tearful farewell with her father before of he dies of his wounds.
After a brief meeting back at Rebel HQ Jyn, Cassian, the rest of the gang and a number of volunteers head to Scarif to retrieve the plans to the Death Star. They sneak in using a stolen Empire cargo ship which they acquired when they were on Eadu. Things quickly go wrong, an all out battle ensues. They get the plans but the Death Star shows up and destroys the planet before the surviving members of the strike force can escape.
I began this write up with all kinds of detail. Maybe I should trim that down, maybe I will in the future.
Friday, December 23, 2016
Luke Cage 1.13
You Know My Steez
Luke finally has it out with Diamondback. The two fight in Pops Barber Shop and then the fight continues out into the street. A crowd gathers. The fight is broadcast live on TV. Candace and Claire see it. Claire tells Candace to stay with her mother while she goes to Pops to be there for Luke.
The two half-brothers fight to a standstill until Luke is able to figure out that much of Styker's strength is coming from him. The harder Luke hits him the stronger Stryker gets. Luke goes limp and lets Stryker use up all that energy he has amassed and then he knocks him out. The cops have arrived, by that point and are ready to open fire with Judas rounds but Misty steps into prevent them from doing so. Stryker is arrested and carted away. Everything that follows the end of the fight is epilogue and laying the groundwork for next season and possibly in part for part of season 1 of Iron Fist.
Misty arrests Mariah, who stuck around on purpose, after the fight is over. She reveals Luke's original name, Carl Lucas, to a reporter as she is interviewed on live television. Luke is not arrested but is brought in for questioning. Misty and Inspector Ridley do their best to sweat a confession out of Mariah.
Shades works behind the scenes while Mariah is in custody. In the confusion at the end of the previous episode Misty dropped her phone. Shades picked it up. It wasn't clear then whose phone it was. Shades uses the phone to text Candace, pretending to be Misty. Candace goes to meet Misty and is shot and killed by Shades. Her body is found. Her confession on tape drops in value immediately. Inspector Ridley drops all charges against Mariah. Misty in incensed but can't do anything to stop Mariah from walking free.
Two US Marshals show up for Luke. Based on Mariah's reveal of Luke's former identity he is arrested for breaking out of prison and not serving his full sentence. He goes with them peacefully. Claire promises to call her lawyer friend, a clear reference to Matt Murdock although she doesn't actually name him. The episode ends with a montage of scenes of the various players in the story as (the recently deceased) Sharon Jones performs 100 Days, 100 Nights at Harlem's Paradise.
I was ready for this. I was ready for this not to be fully resolved. I appreciate the fact that they didn't wait until the last 5-10 minutes but rather used more than half of this episode, as I mentioned above, to slowly reset the board for the next season. This season should probably be viewed not as a complete story, but as act 1 of a larger story.
I didn't binge watch this season. I don't like binge watching. I especially don't think it makes sense to binge watch a season like this. It should be savored and enjoyed at a leisurely pace. There are going to be slow moments in a 13 episode season like this. I'm amused by people who binge watch and also comment on how the show dragged in places. It didn't drag, it slowed down, which is natural. What isn't natural is binge watching.
On the whole I was very impressed with this season of Luke Cage. There were some episodes I liked more than others but I now feel confident saying that I don't think there were any major misteps in this season. Some things were handled or presented a little too directly, without enough nuance for my tastes, but overall I think the producers and directors did a marvelous job with the whole show in a way that was not done with any of the previous Marvel Netflix seasons. Whether this is what Harlem is really like or not they gave it, the neighborhood in which the story took place (for the most part) a personality which is something that I didn't get from either Daredevil or Jessica Jones.
It can be argued that both seasons of Daredevil are also about Foggy and Karen. Season 1 of Daredevil is also about Kingpin, Season 2 is also about Punisher and to a lesser degree, Elektra. Season 1 of Jessica Jones is mostly about Jessica and Killraven. None of those seasons embraced an environment in which they were set in quite the way Luke Cage did. Finally this season of Luke Cage was as much about Misty Knight (and occasionally Claire Temple) as it was about Luke.
This is by far my favorite season of Marvel Netflix series to date. There's a bit or irony in that appraisal considering that I wasn't very enthusiastic for the series until just before it was released*. My lack of enthusiasm was due to my lackluster response to Luke Cage in season 1 of Jessica Jones. He didn't intrigue me on that show. I didn't feel the need to learn more about him. I didn't realize then the extent to which the producers of Luke Cage were going to make the story about much more than just the main character.
I am eagerly looking forward to Season 2 of Luke Cage and am interested to see if and how elements from this season are carried forward into Iron Fist and the the other Marvel Netflix shows.
---
* Some credit for getting me excited about this show is due to the conversation Cheo Hodari Coker, the show runner, had with Combat Jack on the Sep 27, 2016 episode of the Combat Jack Show.
https://soundcloud.com/thecombatjackshow/the-cheo-hodari-coker-episode
Luke finally has it out with Diamondback. The two fight in Pops Barber Shop and then the fight continues out into the street. A crowd gathers. The fight is broadcast live on TV. Candace and Claire see it. Claire tells Candace to stay with her mother while she goes to Pops to be there for Luke.
The two half-brothers fight to a standstill until Luke is able to figure out that much of Styker's strength is coming from him. The harder Luke hits him the stronger Stryker gets. Luke goes limp and lets Stryker use up all that energy he has amassed and then he knocks him out. The cops have arrived, by that point and are ready to open fire with Judas rounds but Misty steps into prevent them from doing so. Stryker is arrested and carted away. Everything that follows the end of the fight is epilogue and laying the groundwork for next season and possibly in part for part of season 1 of Iron Fist.
Misty arrests Mariah, who stuck around on purpose, after the fight is over. She reveals Luke's original name, Carl Lucas, to a reporter as she is interviewed on live television. Luke is not arrested but is brought in for questioning. Misty and Inspector Ridley do their best to sweat a confession out of Mariah.
Shades works behind the scenes while Mariah is in custody. In the confusion at the end of the previous episode Misty dropped her phone. Shades picked it up. It wasn't clear then whose phone it was. Shades uses the phone to text Candace, pretending to be Misty. Candace goes to meet Misty and is shot and killed by Shades. Her body is found. Her confession on tape drops in value immediately. Inspector Ridley drops all charges against Mariah. Misty in incensed but can't do anything to stop Mariah from walking free.
Two US Marshals show up for Luke. Based on Mariah's reveal of Luke's former identity he is arrested for breaking out of prison and not serving his full sentence. He goes with them peacefully. Claire promises to call her lawyer friend, a clear reference to Matt Murdock although she doesn't actually name him. The episode ends with a montage of scenes of the various players in the story as (the recently deceased) Sharon Jones performs 100 Days, 100 Nights at Harlem's Paradise.
I was ready for this. I was ready for this not to be fully resolved. I appreciate the fact that they didn't wait until the last 5-10 minutes but rather used more than half of this episode, as I mentioned above, to slowly reset the board for the next season. This season should probably be viewed not as a complete story, but as act 1 of a larger story.
I didn't binge watch this season. I don't like binge watching. I especially don't think it makes sense to binge watch a season like this. It should be savored and enjoyed at a leisurely pace. There are going to be slow moments in a 13 episode season like this. I'm amused by people who binge watch and also comment on how the show dragged in places. It didn't drag, it slowed down, which is natural. What isn't natural is binge watching.
On the whole I was very impressed with this season of Luke Cage. There were some episodes I liked more than others but I now feel confident saying that I don't think there were any major misteps in this season. Some things were handled or presented a little too directly, without enough nuance for my tastes, but overall I think the producers and directors did a marvelous job with the whole show in a way that was not done with any of the previous Marvel Netflix seasons. Whether this is what Harlem is really like or not they gave it, the neighborhood in which the story took place (for the most part) a personality which is something that I didn't get from either Daredevil or Jessica Jones.
It can be argued that both seasons of Daredevil are also about Foggy and Karen. Season 1 of Daredevil is also about Kingpin, Season 2 is also about Punisher and to a lesser degree, Elektra. Season 1 of Jessica Jones is mostly about Jessica and Killraven. None of those seasons embraced an environment in which they were set in quite the way Luke Cage did. Finally this season of Luke Cage was as much about Misty Knight (and occasionally Claire Temple) as it was about Luke.
This is by far my favorite season of Marvel Netflix series to date. There's a bit or irony in that appraisal considering that I wasn't very enthusiastic for the series until just before it was released*. My lack of enthusiasm was due to my lackluster response to Luke Cage in season 1 of Jessica Jones. He didn't intrigue me on that show. I didn't feel the need to learn more about him. I didn't realize then the extent to which the producers of Luke Cage were going to make the story about much more than just the main character.
I am eagerly looking forward to Season 2 of Luke Cage and am interested to see if and how elements from this season are carried forward into Iron Fist and the the other Marvel Netflix shows.
---
* Some credit for getting me excited about this show is due to the conversation Cheo Hodari Coker, the show runner, had with Combat Jack on the Sep 27, 2016 episode of the Combat Jack Show.
https://soundcloud.com/thecombatjackshow/the-cheo-hodari-coker-episode
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Justice League Unlimited 3.05
Flash and Substance
Central City honors Flash with a museum. Some villains (Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Trickster, Captain Boomerang) decide to rain on Flash's parade. Batman and Orion show up for the celebration but end having to help Flash fight the bad guys.
On the plus side there were lots of cameo appearances by various supervillains.
Wally's nameless boss looked a lot like Barry Allen from the comic books.
The mirror dimension was probably the coolest part of the episode.
Not my favorite episode. Not much in the way of good character moments and the plot didn't amount to much.
Central City honors Flash with a museum. Some villains (Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Trickster, Captain Boomerang) decide to rain on Flash's parade. Batman and Orion show up for the celebration but end having to help Flash fight the bad guys.
On the plus side there were lots of cameo appearances by various supervillains.
Wally's nameless boss looked a lot like Barry Allen from the comic books.
The mirror dimension was probably the coolest part of the episode.
Not my favorite episode. Not much in the way of good character moments and the plot didn't amount to much.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Flash 1.08
Flash vs. Arrow
Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle come to town. They are looking for a villain who uses boomerangs. Barry suggests that he and Oliver team up. Barry's villain of this week is a metahuman whose power is glowing eyes that cause people to become homicidal. Early in the episode he uses it to help cause a distraction while he robs a bank. Ollie isn't interested in teaming up, at first.
Eventually they do team up but then Dr. Wells and Detective West try to talk Barry out of hanging with the vigilante of Starling City. Ollie tries to train Barry, who doesn't take kindly to Oliver's training methods, which include shooting him in the back with arrows. Barry decides to go it alone when he gets a tip on the location of the metahuman. He gets zapped by the glowing eyes but it doesn't seem to affect him until later when he goes from disgruntled to homicidal.
Eddie has now accepted the existence of the Flash and decided that the Flash is a menace. This happens before the Flash becomes homicidal. Eddie tries to convince Captain Singh of the need to create a task force to stop the Flash. At first that idea goes nowhere but after the Flash beats up Eddie and Arrow is spotted around town, Captain Singh decides to go ahead with Eddie's idea.
The end of this episode was disappointing to say the least. Out of nowhere Dr. Wells figures out that what they need are flashing colored lights to cure the Flash of his homicidal rage. That was kind of silly. The other disappointing aspect to the end was how they jumped from Barry and Ollie chatting about catching the metahuman to them locking him up with nothing in between. No fight, no nothing. One minute they are talking about finding this guy and the next minute they are locking him up. Very disappointing.
Felicity had things to do, like bond with Caitlin and advise Oliver that he was acting stupid. Diggle did not really, he just stood around and made inconsequential comments every now and then. Diggle is a man of action. I don't mind the quippy dialogue but if they are going to include him in the episode they should have him doing more than they did here.
On the whole not a great episode. Much of the drama seemed staged. The best part of the episode was the continuing evolution of Eddie. It was also interesting to see Iris turn on the Flash after he beat up Eddie. She was there when it happened and she tried to talk him down but he wouldn't listen and then the Arrow showed up. So Iris seems to have lost fascination with the Flash. My guess is that before it comes back Eddie will become the Reverse Flash and she will discover that Barry is actually the Flash.
The final scene of the episode reveals that Ronnie Raymond is still alive. I'm eager to see where that goes.
Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle come to town. They are looking for a villain who uses boomerangs. Barry suggests that he and Oliver team up. Barry's villain of this week is a metahuman whose power is glowing eyes that cause people to become homicidal. Early in the episode he uses it to help cause a distraction while he robs a bank. Ollie isn't interested in teaming up, at first.
Eventually they do team up but then Dr. Wells and Detective West try to talk Barry out of hanging with the vigilante of Starling City. Ollie tries to train Barry, who doesn't take kindly to Oliver's training methods, which include shooting him in the back with arrows. Barry decides to go it alone when he gets a tip on the location of the metahuman. He gets zapped by the glowing eyes but it doesn't seem to affect him until later when he goes from disgruntled to homicidal.
Eddie has now accepted the existence of the Flash and decided that the Flash is a menace. This happens before the Flash becomes homicidal. Eddie tries to convince Captain Singh of the need to create a task force to stop the Flash. At first that idea goes nowhere but after the Flash beats up Eddie and Arrow is spotted around town, Captain Singh decides to go ahead with Eddie's idea.
The end of this episode was disappointing to say the least. Out of nowhere Dr. Wells figures out that what they need are flashing colored lights to cure the Flash of his homicidal rage. That was kind of silly. The other disappointing aspect to the end was how they jumped from Barry and Ollie chatting about catching the metahuman to them locking him up with nothing in between. No fight, no nothing. One minute they are talking about finding this guy and the next minute they are locking him up. Very disappointing.
Felicity had things to do, like bond with Caitlin and advise Oliver that he was acting stupid. Diggle did not really, he just stood around and made inconsequential comments every now and then. Diggle is a man of action. I don't mind the quippy dialogue but if they are going to include him in the episode they should have him doing more than they did here.
On the whole not a great episode. Much of the drama seemed staged. The best part of the episode was the continuing evolution of Eddie. It was also interesting to see Iris turn on the Flash after he beat up Eddie. She was there when it happened and she tried to talk him down but he wouldn't listen and then the Arrow showed up. So Iris seems to have lost fascination with the Flash. My guess is that before it comes back Eddie will become the Reverse Flash and she will discover that Barry is actually the Flash.
The final scene of the episode reveals that Ronnie Raymond is still alive. I'm eager to see where that goes.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Rick and Morty 2.08
Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate
Jerry is taken to an alien hospital for emergency surgery after he accidentally ate one of Rick's science experiments. While in the hospital he is asked to donate his penis in order to save the life of Shrimpy Pibbles, a great alien leader who sounds just like Werner Herzog. According to the doctors his penis will be molded into a new heart for Shrimpy.
Jerry goes back and forth: at first he's okay with it, then he isn't, then asks Beth what she thinks. She is against the idea until she sees some of the prosthetic devices that they are offering to replace his penis and then she's all for it. Jerry waffles some more as to whether to donate his penis or not and then gets outraged when they decide not to take his penis and instead give Shrimpy an artificial heart.
Rick, Morty, and Summer spend most of the episode watching all sorts of weird tv shows. Some of them were funny but lots of them left me scratching my head.
Overall a very funny episode but almost entirely for Jerry's story and not for the titular interdimensional cable tv.
Jerry is taken to an alien hospital for emergency surgery after he accidentally ate one of Rick's science experiments. While in the hospital he is asked to donate his penis in order to save the life of Shrimpy Pibbles, a great alien leader who sounds just like Werner Herzog. According to the doctors his penis will be molded into a new heart for Shrimpy.
Jerry goes back and forth: at first he's okay with it, then he isn't, then asks Beth what she thinks. She is against the idea until she sees some of the prosthetic devices that they are offering to replace his penis and then she's all for it. Jerry waffles some more as to whether to donate his penis or not and then gets outraged when they decide not to take his penis and instead give Shrimpy an artificial heart.
Rick, Morty, and Summer spend most of the episode watching all sorts of weird tv shows. Some of them were funny but lots of them left me scratching my head.
Overall a very funny episode but almost entirely for Jerry's story and not for the titular interdimensional cable tv.
Monday, December 19, 2016
Halt and Catch Fire 2.09
Kali
Donna and Cameron try to pick up the pieces after West Group stole their idea. Donna tries playing hardball with Jessie, Joe's replacement at West Group, but doesn't get very far with that tactic. About the only thing she walks away with is the notion that maybe Joe didn't have anything to do with the theft.
Gordon spends most of the episode, after getting out of jail, looking for his car in a parking garage. He wanders the floors several times without any success. Things turn from bad to worse when he falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his foot. He yells for help but no one is around. Eventually he finds someone and is taken to the hospital. As he is being driven out of the garage he spots his vehicle.
Joe is pissed at Jacob, his father-in-law and the owner of West Group, for stealing Mutiny's idea and messaging platform. He lets Jacob know how he feels, but Jacob doesn't seem to care. He even encourages Joe to come to the upcoming shareholders meeting where they will be demonstrating the new software.
Cameron, Donna, and Boz do what they can to try and sell their only real asset, Extract and Defend, Mutiny's latest game. Things aren't going well until Boz picks up on something and manages to work some magic. He a company, which might be a subsidiary of Nintendo, into buying their game for $50,000. The sale gives Mutiny some breathing room and new hope.
The whole process, not just the sale but also the experience with West Group, has a real impact on Cameron. She really seems to have changed. She isn't just happy to program. She also seems to be looking at things from the mind of a business person. Things are start to deteriorate between Cameron and Tom. It turns out he was the one that convinced the Nintendo subsidiary to meet with them but he can't deal with the changes in Cameron. He loved who she was but not who she is becoming.
Joe decides to go to the shareholders meeting. Before the meeting he gets a visit from Cameron. She is there for something but what she says she is there for and what she is actually there for are not one and the same. She distracts Joe enough by bringing up their past that he doesn't catch on to what she is really up to until it is too late. Joe does his presentation for the shareholders and press but something snaps within him and goes off script and credits Cameron for West Group's new platform before walking off stage. Minutes later, the computer demonstration crashes, apparently due Cameron's action when she saw Joe before the big meeting.
Joe's marriage falls apart, or at least looks like it does. Sarah is convinced that Joe still loves Cameron more than he loves her and storms out.
It is a bit ironic that Joe credits Cameron and she alone for West Group's new platform considering that Donna is the one who developed and championed the message board long before Cameron saw any utility in it.
The parallel of Cameron losing Tom at the same time that Joe was losing Sarah was interesting. Joe and Sarah's breakup was much more fiery and spontaneous than Cameron's and Tom's was. Similar to Sarah, Tom questions whether Cameron is truly over Joe.
Overall a great episode. Lots going on. Fascinating to watch all the interactions. It wasn't hard to foresee how somethings would wind up but the exact path to those points wasn't always apparent.
Donna and Cameron try to pick up the pieces after West Group stole their idea. Donna tries playing hardball with Jessie, Joe's replacement at West Group, but doesn't get very far with that tactic. About the only thing she walks away with is the notion that maybe Joe didn't have anything to do with the theft.
Gordon spends most of the episode, after getting out of jail, looking for his car in a parking garage. He wanders the floors several times without any success. Things turn from bad to worse when he falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his foot. He yells for help but no one is around. Eventually he finds someone and is taken to the hospital. As he is being driven out of the garage he spots his vehicle.
Joe is pissed at Jacob, his father-in-law and the owner of West Group, for stealing Mutiny's idea and messaging platform. He lets Jacob know how he feels, but Jacob doesn't seem to care. He even encourages Joe to come to the upcoming shareholders meeting where they will be demonstrating the new software.
Cameron, Donna, and Boz do what they can to try and sell their only real asset, Extract and Defend, Mutiny's latest game. Things aren't going well until Boz picks up on something and manages to work some magic. He a company, which might be a subsidiary of Nintendo, into buying their game for $50,000. The sale gives Mutiny some breathing room and new hope.
The whole process, not just the sale but also the experience with West Group, has a real impact on Cameron. She really seems to have changed. She isn't just happy to program. She also seems to be looking at things from the mind of a business person. Things are start to deteriorate between Cameron and Tom. It turns out he was the one that convinced the Nintendo subsidiary to meet with them but he can't deal with the changes in Cameron. He loved who she was but not who she is becoming.
Joe decides to go to the shareholders meeting. Before the meeting he gets a visit from Cameron. She is there for something but what she says she is there for and what she is actually there for are not one and the same. She distracts Joe enough by bringing up their past that he doesn't catch on to what she is really up to until it is too late. Joe does his presentation for the shareholders and press but something snaps within him and goes off script and credits Cameron for West Group's new platform before walking off stage. Minutes later, the computer demonstration crashes, apparently due Cameron's action when she saw Joe before the big meeting.
Joe's marriage falls apart, or at least looks like it does. Sarah is convinced that Joe still loves Cameron more than he loves her and storms out.
It is a bit ironic that Joe credits Cameron and she alone for West Group's new platform considering that Donna is the one who developed and championed the message board long before Cameron saw any utility in it.
The parallel of Cameron losing Tom at the same time that Joe was losing Sarah was interesting. Joe and Sarah's breakup was much more fiery and spontaneous than Cameron's and Tom's was. Similar to Sarah, Tom questions whether Cameron is truly over Joe.
Overall a great episode. Lots going on. Fascinating to watch all the interactions. It wasn't hard to foresee how somethings would wind up but the exact path to those points wasn't always apparent.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Star Trek: The Next Generation 5.26
Time's Arrow
The Enterprise is recalled to Earth. Captain Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data are shown some artifacts that date back to the 19th century and were found beneath San Francisco including Data's severed head. Everyone except Data seems very disturbed by the discovery. He is at peace with it and explains why on more than one occasion.
After analyzing the artifacts they find traces of a micro-organism which is traced to the planet Devidia II. After arriving at the planet an away team is sent down. Picard doesn't let Data go with the team initially. Counselor Troi detects sentient life forms on the planet but they can't find them or contact them despite the fact that Troi asserts that she senses them nearby. Picard reluctantly allows Data to join the team on the planet to assist them in contacting the inhabitants of the planet.
Data attempts something that causes him to disappear from Devidia II and reappear in 19th century earth. He sets himself up as an inventor after winning some money at cards. He meets Guinan five centuries years before she joined the Enterprise. Even in this era she is nonplussed by the notion of space travel.
In the 24th century Guinan counsels Captain Picard that he needs to join the away team. She says something cryptic about their first meeting, implying that if he doesn't join the away team on the planet they may never meet.
This episode has gone to some interesting places but it is only half the story. It doesn't work well as a season ending cliffhanger in my opinion. I'm interested to see what happens next. I wasn't on the edge of my seat when the episode ended but maybe that's just me.
The Enterprise is recalled to Earth. Captain Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data are shown some artifacts that date back to the 19th century and were found beneath San Francisco including Data's severed head. Everyone except Data seems very disturbed by the discovery. He is at peace with it and explains why on more than one occasion.
After analyzing the artifacts they find traces of a micro-organism which is traced to the planet Devidia II. After arriving at the planet an away team is sent down. Picard doesn't let Data go with the team initially. Counselor Troi detects sentient life forms on the planet but they can't find them or contact them despite the fact that Troi asserts that she senses them nearby. Picard reluctantly allows Data to join the team on the planet to assist them in contacting the inhabitants of the planet.
Data attempts something that causes him to disappear from Devidia II and reappear in 19th century earth. He sets himself up as an inventor after winning some money at cards. He meets Guinan five centuries years before she joined the Enterprise. Even in this era she is nonplussed by the notion of space travel.
In the 24th century Guinan counsels Captain Picard that he needs to join the away team. She says something cryptic about their first meeting, implying that if he doesn't join the away team on the planet they may never meet.
This episode has gone to some interesting places but it is only half the story. It doesn't work well as a season ending cliffhanger in my opinion. I'm interested to see what happens next. I wasn't on the edge of my seat when the episode ended but maybe that's just me.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
He Got Game (1998)
Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington), an inmate at Attica, is secretly let out of prison temporarily so he can try to convince his son to attend Big State University, the governor's alma mater. Time is running out for Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen), Jake's son and the top high school basketball player in the country. Jesus has yet to pick a university and he less than a week to decide.
The relationship between father and son is complicated by their shared past. Before he went to prison, Jake pushed and bullied Jesus to improve his basketball game. He is in prison for accidentally killing his wife when she tried to stop him from harassing their son.
Jake is promised by the warden that the governor will grant him early parole if he can get his son to attend Big State U. Jake does what he can to talk his son in to attending Big State but he is just one of many people whispering in Jesus' ear. Many people (family, friends, strangers) are trying to push him one way or another: his girlfriend, his uncle, his coach, an agent who wants to represent him.
There are two story lines running concurrently through this movie. The first consists of the attempts by Jake to repair his relationship with his Jesus. The second is how Jesus deals with the pressure of being the number one high school basketball player. When I first saw the movie, when it was originally released in 1998, I was much more focused on the second story line, possibly because I was very much interested in men's college basketball at that time. My interests in watching college and professional sports have diminished greatly since then and this time around it was the first story line that loomed larger for me.
There are a number of familiar faces in the movie, some are regulars in Spike Lee movies, some are not. Rosario Dawson, in one of her first roles on the big screen, plays Lala, Jesus' girlfriend who introduces him to an agent. Bill Nunn plays his uncle who is very interested in getting paid for helping to look after Jesus and his sister since their mother died and their father went to prison. There are a few professional ballplayers (John Wallace, Rick Fox) mixed in the cast and several college basketball coaches playing themselves. Milla Jovovich plays a prostitute who lives in the apartment next to the one where Jake is staying. John Turturro plays the head coach at Big State U.
I had completely forgotten about the score for the movie which mostly consists of music of Aaron Copeland. The juxtaposition that music with this story were truly inspired. Spike Lee, in all fairness, does a great job with the music selections he makes for his movies.
I am glad I chose to watch this movie again. It probably isn't everyone's cup of tea but it also isn't run of the mill.
The relationship between father and son is complicated by their shared past. Before he went to prison, Jake pushed and bullied Jesus to improve his basketball game. He is in prison for accidentally killing his wife when she tried to stop him from harassing their son.
Jake is promised by the warden that the governor will grant him early parole if he can get his son to attend Big State U. Jake does what he can to talk his son in to attending Big State but he is just one of many people whispering in Jesus' ear. Many people (family, friends, strangers) are trying to push him one way or another: his girlfriend, his uncle, his coach, an agent who wants to represent him.
There are two story lines running concurrently through this movie. The first consists of the attempts by Jake to repair his relationship with his Jesus. The second is how Jesus deals with the pressure of being the number one high school basketball player. When I first saw the movie, when it was originally released in 1998, I was much more focused on the second story line, possibly because I was very much interested in men's college basketball at that time. My interests in watching college and professional sports have diminished greatly since then and this time around it was the first story line that loomed larger for me.
There are a number of familiar faces in the movie, some are regulars in Spike Lee movies, some are not. Rosario Dawson, in one of her first roles on the big screen, plays Lala, Jesus' girlfriend who introduces him to an agent. Bill Nunn plays his uncle who is very interested in getting paid for helping to look after Jesus and his sister since their mother died and their father went to prison. There are a few professional ballplayers (John Wallace, Rick Fox) mixed in the cast and several college basketball coaches playing themselves. Milla Jovovich plays a prostitute who lives in the apartment next to the one where Jake is staying. John Turturro plays the head coach at Big State U.
I had completely forgotten about the score for the movie which mostly consists of music of Aaron Copeland. The juxtaposition that music with this story were truly inspired. Spike Lee, in all fairness, does a great job with the music selections he makes for his movies.
I am glad I chose to watch this movie again. It probably isn't everyone's cup of tea but it also isn't run of the mill.
Luke Cage 1.12
Soliloquy of Chaos
Like the last one, this episode picks up where the previous one left off. This time Luke is in chains after surrendering himself to the police. Just before they load him in a paddy wagon, Misty surreptitiously encourages Luke to make a run for it. When the vehicle is stopped at a light Luke breaks free and takes off running. He gets stopped by a cop who remembers him from Pop's Barber Shop. For a second it looks like the cop is either going to shoot him, with Judas rounds, or call for backup but he let's Luke go.
What doesn't make sense is why the paddy wagon stopped for the red light. If they have an important prisoner in the back then I would think they should have the lights and siren on and be going through red lights. I guess the reason they stopped could be because the two officers in the front seat were too engaged in conversation to remember to follow protocol.
Early the next morning Luke stops a hold up at a small convenience store. Method Man, who later talks and raps about the experience on a radio program, is in the shop when Luke walks in and stops the attempted robbery. He helps Luke out by switching hoodies with him and spreading the word about Luke's actions. Soon black men all over Harlem are wearing hoodies with holes in them which helps to confuse the cops. The Larry Davis reference was appropriate but went over my head until I did a Google search.
Shades is in police custody but Misty and Inspector Ridley can't get anything out of him. Eventually Stryker sends a lawyer to bail Shades out of jail. Zip and a couple of Styker's thugs pick up Shades. It looks like they are taking him to meet Styker but then Zip tries to kill him while the other two stand around and watch. Shades manages to get his hands on a gun and kills all three.
Misty gets a bigger role this time around. She bounces around trying to piece things together. She gets a call from Candace, who wants to come clean and testify against Mariah and Shades. Alex, Mariah's assistant, has been keeping an eye on Candace from a distance and reports back to Mariah on her meeting with Misty. Later Misty secretly meets with Luke to compare notes.
Domingo decides the time has come to take down Diamondback. He and a bunch of his boys go to Stryker's warehouse armed to the teeth. Despite having him outnumbered and outgunned, Domingo and his crew end up on the losing side of the fight.
The episode ends with most of the major players converging on Pop's Barber Shop: Luke, Misty, Mariah, Shades, Diamondback. Mariah and Shades want Luke to take down Stryker. They try to bribe Luke with a file on him that should help him to clear his name. Misty wants to arrest Shades and Mariah. Before the conversation gets very far Diamondback shows up in a new suit. Shades tries gunning him down but the suit seems to make him bulletproof. Diamondback says he is the angel of death just before he and Luke charge one another and the episode ends.
Claire did not appear in this episode. She was mentioned at least once. I assume that she will be back in the final episode of the season.
There is some evidence that Misty's arm was injured but by the end of the episode it is hardly apparent that she was injured badly in the prior episode. I suppose there is no telling what may happen to her in the final episode of the season. Maybe they're saving the injury that costs her an arm for the first season of Iron Fist.
There's a lot going on this episode. I'm not sure if everyone is going to survive the end of the season but I will be very disappointed if they don't resolve things between Luke and Stryker. There is some hint that they might be setting things up for the return of Mariah in season 2.
Once again I am very impressed by the music and the way it is used throughout the episode. I wasn't blown away by Method Man's performance at the radio station but it worked very well with the images that were used as he spit lyrics about Luke and Harlem.
Like the last one, this episode picks up where the previous one left off. This time Luke is in chains after surrendering himself to the police. Just before they load him in a paddy wagon, Misty surreptitiously encourages Luke to make a run for it. When the vehicle is stopped at a light Luke breaks free and takes off running. He gets stopped by a cop who remembers him from Pop's Barber Shop. For a second it looks like the cop is either going to shoot him, with Judas rounds, or call for backup but he let's Luke go.
What doesn't make sense is why the paddy wagon stopped for the red light. If they have an important prisoner in the back then I would think they should have the lights and siren on and be going through red lights. I guess the reason they stopped could be because the two officers in the front seat were too engaged in conversation to remember to follow protocol.
Early the next morning Luke stops a hold up at a small convenience store. Method Man, who later talks and raps about the experience on a radio program, is in the shop when Luke walks in and stops the attempted robbery. He helps Luke out by switching hoodies with him and spreading the word about Luke's actions. Soon black men all over Harlem are wearing hoodies with holes in them which helps to confuse the cops. The Larry Davis reference was appropriate but went over my head until I did a Google search.
Shades is in police custody but Misty and Inspector Ridley can't get anything out of him. Eventually Stryker sends a lawyer to bail Shades out of jail. Zip and a couple of Styker's thugs pick up Shades. It looks like they are taking him to meet Styker but then Zip tries to kill him while the other two stand around and watch. Shades manages to get his hands on a gun and kills all three.
Misty gets a bigger role this time around. She bounces around trying to piece things together. She gets a call from Candace, who wants to come clean and testify against Mariah and Shades. Alex, Mariah's assistant, has been keeping an eye on Candace from a distance and reports back to Mariah on her meeting with Misty. Later Misty secretly meets with Luke to compare notes.
Domingo decides the time has come to take down Diamondback. He and a bunch of his boys go to Stryker's warehouse armed to the teeth. Despite having him outnumbered and outgunned, Domingo and his crew end up on the losing side of the fight.
The episode ends with most of the major players converging on Pop's Barber Shop: Luke, Misty, Mariah, Shades, Diamondback. Mariah and Shades want Luke to take down Stryker. They try to bribe Luke with a file on him that should help him to clear his name. Misty wants to arrest Shades and Mariah. Before the conversation gets very far Diamondback shows up in a new suit. Shades tries gunning him down but the suit seems to make him bulletproof. Diamondback says he is the angel of death just before he and Luke charge one another and the episode ends.
Claire did not appear in this episode. She was mentioned at least once. I assume that she will be back in the final episode of the season.
There is some evidence that Misty's arm was injured but by the end of the episode it is hardly apparent that she was injured badly in the prior episode. I suppose there is no telling what may happen to her in the final episode of the season. Maybe they're saving the injury that costs her an arm for the first season of Iron Fist.
There's a lot going on this episode. I'm not sure if everyone is going to survive the end of the season but I will be very disappointed if they don't resolve things between Luke and Stryker. There is some hint that they might be setting things up for the return of Mariah in season 2.
Once again I am very impressed by the music and the way it is used throughout the episode. I wasn't blown away by Method Man's performance at the radio station but it worked very well with the images that were used as he spit lyrics about Luke and Harlem.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
NewsRadio 2.11
Station Sale
Mr. James announces his intention to sell WNYX to Robertson Communications. It turns out that his desire to sell is based primarily his interest in Jane Robertson, CEO of Robertson Communications. She is the latest target to Jimmy's desire.
The A story, described above was a little too sentimental for me. The B story, in which Matthew handcuffs himself to a chair in a misguided attempt to protest Mr. James plans to sell was moderately funny but not enough to make up for the schmaltz in the other story line.
Not my favorite episode by a long shot.
Mr. James announces his intention to sell WNYX to Robertson Communications. It turns out that his desire to sell is based primarily his interest in Jane Robertson, CEO of Robertson Communications. She is the latest target to Jimmy's desire.
The A story, described above was a little too sentimental for me. The B story, in which Matthew handcuffs himself to a chair in a misguided attempt to protest Mr. James plans to sell was moderately funny but not enough to make up for the schmaltz in the other story line.
Not my favorite episode by a long shot.
Monday, December 12, 2016
Halt and Catch Fire 2.08
Limbo
Just as everything is starting to look up for everyone (Joe, Cameron, Donna, Gordon) things come apart.
Mutiny throws a party for their customers/users. Cameron is reticent to come out and mingle but when she finally does she starts to see that it was the community and not the games that mean the most.
Joe and Sarah got married between the end of the last episode and the beginning of this one. They go on a honeymoon, which transpires off camera. Joe's father-in-law hires someone to take Joe's place. Joe tries to be helpful, he seems reluctant to leave. He and Sarah have plans to move to California. After a night of partying which ends with them having sex in the server room at Westgroup, Joe discovers what his replacement is up to, stealing Mutiny.
Gordon has problems of his own that for the most part don't involve the others. The guys working for him quit. Gordon starts to suspect that an former colleague from their days at Cardiff has stolen his idea about building his own computer. He breaks into the guy's garage. It turns out the guy didn't steal his idea, Joe is just a bit paranoid and gets arrested for breaking and entering.
Donna, Cameron, and the rest of the crew at Mutiny are devastated by the theft of their network by Westgroup. Joe tries to apologize and explain that it isn't his fault, but they don't want to hear it and kick him out of the house.
This was a riveting episode. I can't wait to see where the show goes from here
Just as everything is starting to look up for everyone (Joe, Cameron, Donna, Gordon) things come apart.
Mutiny throws a party for their customers/users. Cameron is reticent to come out and mingle but when she finally does she starts to see that it was the community and not the games that mean the most.
Joe and Sarah got married between the end of the last episode and the beginning of this one. They go on a honeymoon, which transpires off camera. Joe's father-in-law hires someone to take Joe's place. Joe tries to be helpful, he seems reluctant to leave. He and Sarah have plans to move to California. After a night of partying which ends with them having sex in the server room at Westgroup, Joe discovers what his replacement is up to, stealing Mutiny.
Gordon has problems of his own that for the most part don't involve the others. The guys working for him quit. Gordon starts to suspect that an former colleague from their days at Cardiff has stolen his idea about building his own computer. He breaks into the guy's garage. It turns out the guy didn't steal his idea, Joe is just a bit paranoid and gets arrested for breaking and entering.
Donna, Cameron, and the rest of the crew at Mutiny are devastated by the theft of their network by Westgroup. Joe tries to apologize and explain that it isn't his fault, but they don't want to hear it and kick him out of the house.
This was a riveting episode. I can't wait to see where the show goes from here
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Rick and Morty 2.07
Big Trouble in Little Sanchez
Rick takes Beth and Jerry to couples therapy on another planet. The couples therapy works but not really as Beth and Jerry inadvertently destroy the couples therapy business and solve the issues in their marriage in the process of preventing super-powered versions of themselves from killing the originals. The super-powered versions of Beth and Jerry were freaky looking.
Back on Earth, Summer convinces Rick to create a teenage version of himself to help them find an destroy a vampire. Tiny Rick, as he calls himself, gets the job done but then wants to stick around. Summer has to convince Morty, who likes having Tiny Rick around, to team up with her to convince Rick that Tiny Rick has to go.
Excellent episode but probably not my number one favorite from this season.
Rick takes Beth and Jerry to couples therapy on another planet. The couples therapy works but not really as Beth and Jerry inadvertently destroy the couples therapy business and solve the issues in their marriage in the process of preventing super-powered versions of themselves from killing the originals. The super-powered versions of Beth and Jerry were freaky looking.
Back on Earth, Summer convinces Rick to create a teenage version of himself to help them find an destroy a vampire. Tiny Rick, as he calls himself, gets the job done but then wants to stick around. Summer has to convince Morty, who likes having Tiny Rick around, to team up with her to convince Rick that Tiny Rick has to go.
Excellent episode but probably not my number one favorite from this season.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Ant-Man (2015)
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has just been released from prison. He tries to go straight but after getting fired because he is an ex-con he agrees to help Luis (Michael Pena) and his gang break into the home of a rich man. The house they break into belongs to Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), the inventor of Pym Particles, who was once the superhero known as Ant-Man. Lang breaks into the vault in Pym's basement but there isn't any money there, just the Ant-Man costume.
Pym and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) recruit Lang to become the new Ant-Man. They need his help to take on Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), Pym's evil protege, who is trying to replicate his mentor's technology and sell it to the highest bidder.
Overall a decent movie. The special effects were good. I liked the premise and the flashbacks to Pym's time as the original Ant-Man. My problem with the movie, mostly the ending, is that everything happened way too quickly.
If it wasn't for the humor I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the movie as much as I did. The humor was much better than the action. Both Rudd and Pena were very funny.
I had a hard time buying that Paxton (Bobby Carnivale), the cop who is married to Lang's ex-wife, would change his mind about Lang that quickly near the end of the movie without some hesitation.
I was disappointed that they teased us with the appearance of the original Wasp (Janet van Dyne) and then didn't have her show up again. According to Pym she is gone but I've got a feeling she will be back, probably in the next movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp, which isn't due to be released until 2018.
Pym and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) recruit Lang to become the new Ant-Man. They need his help to take on Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), Pym's evil protege, who is trying to replicate his mentor's technology and sell it to the highest bidder.
Overall a decent movie. The special effects were good. I liked the premise and the flashbacks to Pym's time as the original Ant-Man. My problem with the movie, mostly the ending, is that everything happened way too quickly.
If it wasn't for the humor I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the movie as much as I did. The humor was much better than the action. Both Rudd and Pena were very funny.
I had a hard time buying that Paxton (Bobby Carnivale), the cop who is married to Lang's ex-wife, would change his mind about Lang that quickly near the end of the movie without some hesitation.
I was disappointed that they teased us with the appearance of the original Wasp (Janet van Dyne) and then didn't have her show up again. According to Pym she is gone but I've got a feeling she will be back, probably in the next movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp, which isn't due to be released until 2018.
Friday, December 9, 2016
Luke Cage 1.11
Now You're Mine
This entire episode takes place inside the club, Harlem's Paradise. Picking up exactly where the previous one left off Luke and Misty escape from behind the bar. They barricade themselves in the kitchen. While Stryker is pulling his resources together, Luke takes them into the basement through a secret passage. For a while they are safe down there as Stryker blows up the kitchen with what looks like a 40mm grenade.
Claire is still upstairs and has become a hostage, one of many still in the club. She meets Candace, the hostess who used to work in the club and was coerced into saying she saw Luke kill Cottonmouth. Candace has a theory about where Luke and Misty have gotten to which she shares with Claire. Somehow Claire convinces the guards to let her go down to the basement to get Candace's medication. Claire takes down the guard who is sent to keep an eye on her and makes contact with Luke and Misty after he punches his way though a wall.
One aspect I had a bit of a problem with is how everyone stayed so far apart from one another. I would think that Diamondback would have his men looking high and low for Cage. I was also a little surprised when he didn't recognize Claire, at the time she became a hostage, although later on he remembers her.
Stryker does his best to convince the cops who have surrounded the club that Luke Cage is the one behind chaos in the club. Inspector Ridley is on the spot and in charge of the police response to what's going on inside Harlem's Paradise but they don't see any real action.
She isn't seen in this episode but behind the scenes Mariah has gone to the mayor and convinced him to arm the police with rounds that are effective against Luke, Judas rounds, which are similar to the ones that Diamondback shot him with a few episodes back. After killing one of the hostages with his power glove Stryker leaves Luke to face the cops. Luke turns himself in and is arrested despite Misty's protests that he is innocent.
It looks like Misty is going to lose the arm, despite Luke and Claire's best efforts. There were moments in this episode when Misty looked a little too fine for someone who has had one of her arms shot to pieces. I think that probably isn't the actor's fault as much as it is that of the team doing makeup for the show. I'll be disappointed if there isn't a brief appearance by Danny Rand, somewhere in the last two episodes, stepping in to offer her the resources of Rand Industries to replace her arm.
More is revealed about why Stryker is out for revenge against Luke. Maybe it isn't new information but they seemed to put it very succinctly this time around. It is now clear why Luke's half-brother hates him so. I get a definite Jacob and Esau type vibe from their relationship. Also revealed, first in an off-hand remark by Luke and then more explicitly by Diamondback, is that Luke served in the Marines and was in Force Recon,
Shades has a great line which is a call back to Different Strokes, although he delivers it very differently from how it was delivered on the classic sitcom.
The assistant ADA from the Season 2 of Daredevil, Blake Tower, shows up for the first time since that season. According to imdb, it looks like this is his one and only appearance in this season of Luke Cage. There was a Blake Tower in the comic books but he was white. He first appeared in Daredevil (1964) 129. He also had a few appearances in Power Man and Iron Fist, including the final issue of that series, 125. Most of his appearances in comic books were in the 1970s and 1980s.
Despite my nitpicks I really enjoyed this episode. I loved the tension, not knowing exactly how things would turn out.
This entire episode takes place inside the club, Harlem's Paradise. Picking up exactly where the previous one left off Luke and Misty escape from behind the bar. They barricade themselves in the kitchen. While Stryker is pulling his resources together, Luke takes them into the basement through a secret passage. For a while they are safe down there as Stryker blows up the kitchen with what looks like a 40mm grenade.
Claire is still upstairs and has become a hostage, one of many still in the club. She meets Candace, the hostess who used to work in the club and was coerced into saying she saw Luke kill Cottonmouth. Candace has a theory about where Luke and Misty have gotten to which she shares with Claire. Somehow Claire convinces the guards to let her go down to the basement to get Candace's medication. Claire takes down the guard who is sent to keep an eye on her and makes contact with Luke and Misty after he punches his way though a wall.
One aspect I had a bit of a problem with is how everyone stayed so far apart from one another. I would think that Diamondback would have his men looking high and low for Cage. I was also a little surprised when he didn't recognize Claire, at the time she became a hostage, although later on he remembers her.
Stryker does his best to convince the cops who have surrounded the club that Luke Cage is the one behind chaos in the club. Inspector Ridley is on the spot and in charge of the police response to what's going on inside Harlem's Paradise but they don't see any real action.
She isn't seen in this episode but behind the scenes Mariah has gone to the mayor and convinced him to arm the police with rounds that are effective against Luke, Judas rounds, which are similar to the ones that Diamondback shot him with a few episodes back. After killing one of the hostages with his power glove Stryker leaves Luke to face the cops. Luke turns himself in and is arrested despite Misty's protests that he is innocent.
It looks like Misty is going to lose the arm, despite Luke and Claire's best efforts. There were moments in this episode when Misty looked a little too fine for someone who has had one of her arms shot to pieces. I think that probably isn't the actor's fault as much as it is that of the team doing makeup for the show. I'll be disappointed if there isn't a brief appearance by Danny Rand, somewhere in the last two episodes, stepping in to offer her the resources of Rand Industries to replace her arm.
More is revealed about why Stryker is out for revenge against Luke. Maybe it isn't new information but they seemed to put it very succinctly this time around. It is now clear why Luke's half-brother hates him so. I get a definite Jacob and Esau type vibe from their relationship. Also revealed, first in an off-hand remark by Luke and then more explicitly by Diamondback, is that Luke served in the Marines and was in Force Recon,
Shades has a great line which is a call back to Different Strokes, although he delivers it very differently from how it was delivered on the classic sitcom.
The assistant ADA from the Season 2 of Daredevil, Blake Tower, shows up for the first time since that season. According to imdb, it looks like this is his one and only appearance in this season of Luke Cage. There was a Blake Tower in the comic books but he was white. He first appeared in Daredevil (1964) 129. He also had a few appearances in Power Man and Iron Fist, including the final issue of that series, 125. Most of his appearances in comic books were in the 1970s and 1980s.
Despite my nitpicks I really enjoyed this episode. I loved the tension, not knowing exactly how things would turn out.
Thursday, December 8, 2016
NewsRadio 2.10
The Negotiation
Matthew gets a meaningless promotion but he sees it differently. Bill has a lot of fun at Matthew's expense but Matthew is so into his new role that he doesn't notice the tricks that Bill is perpetrating.
Lisa is moved by Matthew's promotion to try out for a job in TV journalism. She takes a swing at being an MTV VJ and blows it big time when she's interviewing Anthrax.
Mr. James has decided that it is time to get married. He is attracted to the accountant he has hired to audit the books but gets all tongue-tied around her.
Best moment is the marriage negotiation scene. It isn't exactly the centerpiece of the episode so I'm not sure why that title was chosen for this episode. I wonder what if any alternate titles were rejected.
The pranks Bill plays on Matthew and the manner in which he does them were also great.
Matthew gets a meaningless promotion but he sees it differently. Bill has a lot of fun at Matthew's expense but Matthew is so into his new role that he doesn't notice the tricks that Bill is perpetrating.
Lisa is moved by Matthew's promotion to try out for a job in TV journalism. She takes a swing at being an MTV VJ and blows it big time when she's interviewing Anthrax.
Mr. James has decided that it is time to get married. He is attracted to the accountant he has hired to audit the books but gets all tongue-tied around her.
Best moment is the marriage negotiation scene. It isn't exactly the centerpiece of the episode so I'm not sure why that title was chosen for this episode. I wonder what if any alternate titles were rejected.
The pranks Bill plays on Matthew and the manner in which he does them were also great.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Flash 1.07
Power Outage
Barry loses his powers after he confronts a metahuman with electrical powers. Farouk, the metahuman, tracks down Barry and Dr. Wells at STAR Labs. He blames Dr, Wells for the death of his two friends who he accidentally killed on the fateful night when he gained his powers. Dr. Wells releases Tony, the bully from the previous episode, hoping that he can provide a distraction while the STAR Labs team tries to figure out how to restore Barry's powers.
The Clock King is being held at Central City Police Headquarters temporarily when he escapes from police custody. He takes some hostages including Joe and Iris West. Eddie isn't one of the hostages but he tries to take down the Clock King only to get badly wounded by the villain. In the end Iris saves the day although it isn't exactly clear how she took down the Clock King.
At STAR Labs, Tony is killed by Farouk. Barry regains his superpowers. Farouk is defeated by Barry when he tries again to drain Barry's powers. Farouk is killed in the process of doing so. It is the act of draining Barry's powers and not something that Barry does that defeats him. Afterwards it is explained that Barry's DNA has changed and that's what did Farouk in.
In the scene where Farouk confronts Dr. Wells, the doctor names a number of people who dies on the night that Barry and Farouk got their powers. A number of the names were familiar (from comic books) but the only ones that stuck with me are Ralph Dibney, Ronnie Raymond, and Al Rothstein.
In the final scene Dr. Wells is seen taking a blood sample from the body of Farouk. He says something about wanting to know what it is like to steal the powers of the Flash,
Over all a good but not great episode. I did like the twin stories. Neither of them was great but the way they unfolded kept me on the edge of my seat eager to see what happened in the end.
---
Two more thoughts:
Joe West didn't get to be much of a featured player in this episode. His one moment that I liked was the look on his face after Iris noticed that Barry's favorite mug was broken. Joe was the one who dropped it, on purpose, to test and see if Barry really had lost his speed.
Eddie has a second moment, the first being in the previous episode, when he sees Barry do something faster than should have been humanly possible. All of this has to be leading up to him discovering that Barry is the Flash and then getting super powers himself and becoming a super-villain.
Barry loses his powers after he confronts a metahuman with electrical powers. Farouk, the metahuman, tracks down Barry and Dr. Wells at STAR Labs. He blames Dr, Wells for the death of his two friends who he accidentally killed on the fateful night when he gained his powers. Dr. Wells releases Tony, the bully from the previous episode, hoping that he can provide a distraction while the STAR Labs team tries to figure out how to restore Barry's powers.
The Clock King is being held at Central City Police Headquarters temporarily when he escapes from police custody. He takes some hostages including Joe and Iris West. Eddie isn't one of the hostages but he tries to take down the Clock King only to get badly wounded by the villain. In the end Iris saves the day although it isn't exactly clear how she took down the Clock King.
At STAR Labs, Tony is killed by Farouk. Barry regains his superpowers. Farouk is defeated by Barry when he tries again to drain Barry's powers. Farouk is killed in the process of doing so. It is the act of draining Barry's powers and not something that Barry does that defeats him. Afterwards it is explained that Barry's DNA has changed and that's what did Farouk in.
In the scene where Farouk confronts Dr. Wells, the doctor names a number of people who dies on the night that Barry and Farouk got their powers. A number of the names were familiar (from comic books) but the only ones that stuck with me are Ralph Dibney, Ronnie Raymond, and Al Rothstein.
In the final scene Dr. Wells is seen taking a blood sample from the body of Farouk. He says something about wanting to know what it is like to steal the powers of the Flash,
Over all a good but not great episode. I did like the twin stories. Neither of them was great but the way they unfolded kept me on the edge of my seat eager to see what happened in the end.
---
Two more thoughts:
Joe West didn't get to be much of a featured player in this episode. His one moment that I liked was the look on his face after Iris noticed that Barry's favorite mug was broken. Joe was the one who dropped it, on purpose, to test and see if Barry really had lost his speed.
Eddie has a second moment, the first being in the previous episode, when he sees Barry do something faster than should have been humanly possible. All of this has to be leading up to him discovering that Barry is the Flash and then getting super powers himself and becoming a super-villain.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Frasier 1.10
Oops!
Frasier accidentally convinces Bulldog that he is about to get fired. Bulldog flips out and quits.
One of the lesser episodes to date. There were some chuckles but the humor didn't measure up to the high standard set by the previous episode.
Frasier accidentally convinces Bulldog that he is about to get fired. Bulldog flips out and quits.
One of the lesser episodes to date. There were some chuckles but the humor didn't measure up to the high standard set by the previous episode.
Monday, December 5, 2016
Halt and Catch Fire 2.07
Working for the Clampdown
Joe makes Mutiny an offer on behalf of his employer, his future father-in-law, who wants to buy Mutiny. Cameron isn't receptive to the offer even though Boz and Donna both want to hear Joe out. The past isn't just the past for Cameron, it shaped her and she still lives with it. She still bears a fair amount of acrimony towards Joe for the way things ended between them.
It is more complicated than that. Cameron built Mutiny from the ground up. It is her's. She isn't ready to and may never be ready to give it up. Joe tries to apply pressure by meeting with first Boz and then Tom separately. He gets to them. They are loyal to Cameron but when asked by her they can't repress their feelings completely. Even though they ultimately side with Cameron, it is clear from their words and facial expressions that they might have taken up Joe on his office if they were in charge.
Gordon starts a new project on a new product. He gets some former coworkers to pitch in and they build a machine much faster than they ever did before. This is after he finally levels with Donna and tells her about his health problem. She does not reciprocate, she does not tell him about her abortion. She begins to worry about Gordon and there is evidence that there is good reason to worry.
Joe's relationship with Sarah looks like it is ready to crash on the rocks. She wants him to leave her father's company and start his own. He is reluctant at first but after seeing how serious she is and how Mr. Wheeler plans to go back on some of the promises to Mutiny once they have signed he changes his mind. He levels with Cameron who at this point is wondering if she made the wrong call when she initially rejected the offer to buy Mutiny. It was a very emotional decision for her at that point. Joe gives her some very rational reasons why selling Mutiny to Wheeler is not a good idea.
Malcolm has a romantic interest in a guy who with whom he is chatting online. Malcolm believes the other guy is similarly interested in him. Things turn out badly when he goes to meet the guy. It was a trap. The guy on the other end was baiting him and when he shows up he gets beat up pretty badly by a bunch of guys and winds up in the hospital. The meetup and the beating happen off camera. This incident is part of what sways Cameron to consider selling Mutiny before Joe pushes her back to her original position.
Joe tries to patch up things with Sarah. He tells her that he wants them to get married. She insists that it be right away. She wants him to run away with her and start his own company. He agrees to it but I've got a feeling that this relationship isn't going to last, primarily based on the fact that the actress who plays Sarah isn't part of the regular cast anymore following this season.
The juxtaposition of Joe and Sarah's relationship with that of Donna and Gordon was an interesting one. Both relationships are going through some turmoil but for different reasons.
A very good episode which shows things bursting at the seams for most of the main characters. Somethings have gotta give and I'm pretty sure that they will in more than one case before the end of the season.
Joe makes Mutiny an offer on behalf of his employer, his future father-in-law, who wants to buy Mutiny. Cameron isn't receptive to the offer even though Boz and Donna both want to hear Joe out. The past isn't just the past for Cameron, it shaped her and she still lives with it. She still bears a fair amount of acrimony towards Joe for the way things ended between them.
It is more complicated than that. Cameron built Mutiny from the ground up. It is her's. She isn't ready to and may never be ready to give it up. Joe tries to apply pressure by meeting with first Boz and then Tom separately. He gets to them. They are loyal to Cameron but when asked by her they can't repress their feelings completely. Even though they ultimately side with Cameron, it is clear from their words and facial expressions that they might have taken up Joe on his office if they were in charge.
Gordon starts a new project on a new product. He gets some former coworkers to pitch in and they build a machine much faster than they ever did before. This is after he finally levels with Donna and tells her about his health problem. She does not reciprocate, she does not tell him about her abortion. She begins to worry about Gordon and there is evidence that there is good reason to worry.
Joe's relationship with Sarah looks like it is ready to crash on the rocks. She wants him to leave her father's company and start his own. He is reluctant at first but after seeing how serious she is and how Mr. Wheeler plans to go back on some of the promises to Mutiny once they have signed he changes his mind. He levels with Cameron who at this point is wondering if she made the wrong call when she initially rejected the offer to buy Mutiny. It was a very emotional decision for her at that point. Joe gives her some very rational reasons why selling Mutiny to Wheeler is not a good idea.
Malcolm has a romantic interest in a guy who with whom he is chatting online. Malcolm believes the other guy is similarly interested in him. Things turn out badly when he goes to meet the guy. It was a trap. The guy on the other end was baiting him and when he shows up he gets beat up pretty badly by a bunch of guys and winds up in the hospital. The meetup and the beating happen off camera. This incident is part of what sways Cameron to consider selling Mutiny before Joe pushes her back to her original position.
Joe tries to patch up things with Sarah. He tells her that he wants them to get married. She insists that it be right away. She wants him to run away with her and start his own company. He agrees to it but I've got a feeling that this relationship isn't going to last, primarily based on the fact that the actress who plays Sarah isn't part of the regular cast anymore following this season.
The juxtaposition of Joe and Sarah's relationship with that of Donna and Gordon was an interesting one. Both relationships are going through some turmoil but for different reasons.
A very good episode which shows things bursting at the seams for most of the main characters. Somethings have gotta give and I'm pretty sure that they will in more than one case before the end of the season.
Saturday, December 3, 2016
Star Trek: The Next Generation 5.25
The Inner Light
The Enterprise encounters an alien probe which knocks Captain Picard unconscious with a beam. While he is unconscious Captain Picard dreams he is living on Kataan, the planet from which it is eventually determined the probe originated. He lives out the rest of his life, another 30+ years, on Kataan. He remembers his life before Kataan but slowly grows to accept that there is no going back. He is married, has children and grandchildren, and lives a happy life. This is of course all an illusion induced by the probe. The 30+ years transpire in just 25 minutes in the real world as Captain Picard learns once the probe releases him.
I wasn't terribly moved by this episode until the end. Up to that point I was getting a little bored with it. I didn't anticipate the reason why the probe did what it did or the heartfelt way in which it revealed it's reason to him.
The entire episode from the time Picard falls unconscious until the moment he wakes up is not just about him. There are also a number of scenes on the bridge of the Enterprise as the crew try to break the probe's hold on the captain. Each time the focus returned to Picard another 5 to 10 years seemed to passed in his life.
There was a moment towards the end of the episode where Picard reveals that he knows that Kataan is doomed. For about 30 seconds I wondered if he was going to be the Jor-El of Kataan, the scientist who knows that the planet is doomed but no one believes, but then it was revealed that the others agreed with his conclusion that the planet was doomed.
I may have seen this episode before. I'm not sure. I've certainly heard about it and it lived up to the hype. I doubt that I would call this my favorite episode but it got to me and that's definitely worth something.
The Enterprise encounters an alien probe which knocks Captain Picard unconscious with a beam. While he is unconscious Captain Picard dreams he is living on Kataan, the planet from which it is eventually determined the probe originated. He lives out the rest of his life, another 30+ years, on Kataan. He remembers his life before Kataan but slowly grows to accept that there is no going back. He is married, has children and grandchildren, and lives a happy life. This is of course all an illusion induced by the probe. The 30+ years transpire in just 25 minutes in the real world as Captain Picard learns once the probe releases him.
I wasn't terribly moved by this episode until the end. Up to that point I was getting a little bored with it. I didn't anticipate the reason why the probe did what it did or the heartfelt way in which it revealed it's reason to him.
The entire episode from the time Picard falls unconscious until the moment he wakes up is not just about him. There are also a number of scenes on the bridge of the Enterprise as the crew try to break the probe's hold on the captain. Each time the focus returned to Picard another 5 to 10 years seemed to passed in his life.
There was a moment towards the end of the episode where Picard reveals that he knows that Kataan is doomed. For about 30 seconds I wondered if he was going to be the Jor-El of Kataan, the scientist who knows that the planet is doomed but no one believes, but then it was revealed that the others agreed with his conclusion that the planet was doomed.
I may have seen this episode before. I'm not sure. I've certainly heard about it and it lived up to the hype. I doubt that I would call this my favorite episode but it got to me and that's definitely worth something.
Friday, December 2, 2016
Luke Cage 1.10
Take It Personal
Luke and Claire spend most of the episode in Georgia. The episode begins with Dr. Burtein and Claire trying to dig the shrapnel out of Luke. They have a hell of time opening him up to get at the shrapnel and almost kill him before they can start operating on him. Even after he has recovered he is haunted by memories of Reva, in part because of things Dr. Burstein says which lead him to question his memories of her.
Mariah and Diamondback stir things up in Harlem. Stryker frames Luke by killing a cop using a super-powered glove in front of several witnesses. The police department does not take kindly to this. Among the suspects brought in during the search for Cage is young boy in his early teens. He gets in a violent argument with a cop which ends with the kid going to the hospital. Mariah uses this incident to stir things up some more.
Luke and Claire travel to Savannah, where Luke grew up. Standing in the now rundown church that his grandfather founded he has a couple flashbacks to his youth. He understands now that Diamondback is his brother, same father different mother. He also understands now why Stryker hates him so, because their father hated Stryker and has transferred that hatred to Luke.
Misty remains unconvinced that Luke is the one who killed Cottonmouth or the cop.She sits on the sidelines for most of the episode. Towards the end she shows up at Harlem's Paradise at a rally organized by Mariah. Stryker is also in attendance. Luke shows up after the rally is already in full swing. Misty tries to arrest Stryker but he shoots her. Luke rushes in a saves her for the moment. The episode ends with the two of them crouched behind the bar at Harlem's paradise under fire from some of Stryker or Mariah's thugs.
Much better than the last episode, although Misty did sit around for much of this episode.The operation to extract the shrapnel from Luke went fast. I'm undecided as to whether it should have been stretched out but it seemed to go a little more smoothly than I am sure a similar operation on a non-super-powered being would go.
In the scene where Stryker shoots Misty it looks like the bullets hit her in the shoulder. I'm wondering if this is going to be the injury that is going to result in her losing her arm and getting it replaced with a bionic one. Hard to tell at this point.
Luke and Claire spend most of the episode in Georgia. The episode begins with Dr. Burtein and Claire trying to dig the shrapnel out of Luke. They have a hell of time opening him up to get at the shrapnel and almost kill him before they can start operating on him. Even after he has recovered he is haunted by memories of Reva, in part because of things Dr. Burstein says which lead him to question his memories of her.
Mariah and Diamondback stir things up in Harlem. Stryker frames Luke by killing a cop using a super-powered glove in front of several witnesses. The police department does not take kindly to this. Among the suspects brought in during the search for Cage is young boy in his early teens. He gets in a violent argument with a cop which ends with the kid going to the hospital. Mariah uses this incident to stir things up some more.
Luke and Claire travel to Savannah, where Luke grew up. Standing in the now rundown church that his grandfather founded he has a couple flashbacks to his youth. He understands now that Diamondback is his brother, same father different mother. He also understands now why Stryker hates him so, because their father hated Stryker and has transferred that hatred to Luke.
Misty remains unconvinced that Luke is the one who killed Cottonmouth or the cop.She sits on the sidelines for most of the episode. Towards the end she shows up at Harlem's Paradise at a rally organized by Mariah. Stryker is also in attendance. Luke shows up after the rally is already in full swing. Misty tries to arrest Stryker but he shoots her. Luke rushes in a saves her for the moment. The episode ends with the two of them crouched behind the bar at Harlem's paradise under fire from some of Stryker or Mariah's thugs.
Much better than the last episode, although Misty did sit around for much of this episode.The operation to extract the shrapnel from Luke went fast. I'm undecided as to whether it should have been stretched out but it seemed to go a little more smoothly than I am sure a similar operation on a non-super-powered being would go.
In the scene where Stryker shoots Misty it looks like the bullets hit her in the shoulder. I'm wondering if this is going to be the injury that is going to result in her losing her arm and getting it replaced with a bionic one. Hard to tell at this point.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
NewsRadio 2.09
Friends
- Dave hires Sandi, a temp, to help Beth reorganize the station's files; Sandi (Bebe Neuwirth) turns out to be an old friend of Beth's (or maybe frenemy would be a better way to put it, although I don't believe that term was in popular usage at the time this show first aired); Dave and Lisa don't believe Beth when she tells them about her past with Sandi so to prove her point Beth pretends to be romantically interested in Matthew which leads to Sandi also showing a romantic interest in Matthew; Matthew enjoys the amorous attention while it lasts is very confused when it suddenly ends after Beth and Sandi apologize to one another
- Bill has some trouble with the building's security guards when he forgets his ID on his desk; the security guards are played by Tone Loc and Toby Huss (Boz on Halt and Catch Fire)
- overall a very fun episode
- great group of guest stars; Bebe Neuwirth was wonderful as Sandi; I remembered Tone Loc played one of the security guards but I didn't recall Toby Huss and it took me a moment to recognize him under the beard; the pair of them appear in one more episode together in this season and Huss appears in one other episode in the final season playing a different character
- Dave hires Sandi, a temp, to help Beth reorganize the station's files; Sandi (Bebe Neuwirth) turns out to be an old friend of Beth's (or maybe frenemy would be a better way to put it, although I don't believe that term was in popular usage at the time this show first aired); Dave and Lisa don't believe Beth when she tells them about her past with Sandi so to prove her point Beth pretends to be romantically interested in Matthew which leads to Sandi also showing a romantic interest in Matthew; Matthew enjoys the amorous attention while it lasts is very confused when it suddenly ends after Beth and Sandi apologize to one another
- Bill has some trouble with the building's security guards when he forgets his ID on his desk; the security guards are played by Tone Loc and Toby Huss (Boz on Halt and Catch Fire)
- overall a very fun episode
- great group of guest stars; Bebe Neuwirth was wonderful as Sandi; I remembered Tone Loc played one of the security guards but I didn't recall Toby Huss and it took me a moment to recognize him under the beard; the pair of them appear in one more episode together in this season and Huss appears in one other episode in the final season playing a different character
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