The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House 1.03

Taboo

Yoshino, a former maiko returns to the house. Yoshino's outgoing and rule breaking nature disrupts the household's gentle balance.

Thoughts

Kiyo doesn't play as big a role in this episode as she did in the first two. There doesn't seem to be any more question as to her role in the house. A fair amount of this episode seems to revolve around Yoshino and her antics.

Once again I had to pause the the show a few times to look up words.

I kept waiting for someone to put Yoshino in her place but the maiko were all too polite to say anything.

Better Call Saul 6.09

Fun and Games

The episode opens with a montage showing Jimmy and Kim moving on with their lives and Mike and his men cleaning up the messy apartment to remove all evidence of what happened there.

Gus meets with Don Eladio, Don Bolsa, and Don Hector, and the twins. Hector claims that Lalo survived the attack on his home in Mexico and that he talked to him. The evidence says otherwise. The twins didn't overhear the conversation with Lalo so they cannot corroborate Hector's version of the truth. Don Eladio assumes that Hector just wants to blame someone and lets Gus leave.

The Six Million Dollar Man 1.07

Eyewitness to Murder

Steve is waiting for a taxi cab when someone nearby is shot and killed by a sniper. He goes after the sniper but the sniper gets away. Steve turns to Oscar for help. Oscar is a little put out that Steve woke him up in the middle of the night until he learns that the intended target wasn't the man who was killed but Mr. Sandusky, an important attorney in the district attorney's office who is about to bring charges against a bit time mobster.

Oscar and Steve offer assistance where they can. Oscar stays close to Mr. Sandusky while Steve goes looking for the sniper. He catches up to Hopper, the sniper, and the police bring him in for questioning but they are forced to release him when it turns out that Hopper has an airtight alibi. He was on a live broadcast television program on the night that the attempt was made on Sandusky's life.

Doctor Who (1963) 8.05.01

The Daemons - Part One

The Doctor gets very interested in the happenings at the Devil's Hump, the site of an archaeological dig.  He learns of it thanks to the coverage of the dig by a news team from BBC3. The Doctor suspects that Professor Horner, who is in charge of the dig, may unearth something that might cause quite a bit of trouble. The fact that the professor has chosen to do said unearthing on Beltane (May 1) seems to increase the Doctor's anxiety. He rushes with Jo Grant to get to the site of the dig before midnight, when Professor Horner plans to break through a wall that has remained intact for thousands of years.

Miss Hawthorne, a local white witch, also fears that the Horner might cause problems with his stunt. She turns to the local vicar for help. The Master, disguised as the vicar, tries to hypnotize her but her abilities prevent him from succeeding in that venture.

Kraft Suspense Theater 1.10

The Hunt

starring Mickey Rooney, James Caan

directed by William A. Graham, Robert Altman

Surfer Rick Peterson (James Caan) is driving cross country when his car breaks down in a rural area. Sheriff Mac Williams (Mickey Rooney) is in the midst of a manhunt for an escaped prisoner when he and Peterson cross paths. Peterson witnesses the sheriff's dogs tearing the escapee to pieces.

It quickly becomes clear that Peterson isn't a local. Williams gives Mac a hard time but seems content to leave him alone until Mac's car has been repaired. Peterson tries to leave town but Williams comes after him. The sheriff finds a rifle that belongs to Maynard, the mechanic who fixed Peterson's car, when he searches Peterson's vehicle.

The Phil Silvers Show 4.29

Bilko's Small Car

Bilko is sent into town to pick up Colonel Hall's new car. The car gets impounded by the police when they find gambling equipment in the trunk. Bilko has his men throw together a substitute car. It fools the Colonel but then Bilko gets the idea of going into business making cars. The catch is that they will use parts from jeeps in the manufacture of the cars. Eventually the Colonel catches on to what Bilko is doing and calls in the MPs.

Thoughts

This was an okay episode. I thought the story drifted a little too much. Not a favorite of mine but I guess I've see worse.

Bleach 39 / 2.19

The Immortal Man

Time freezes and Zangetsu (the spirit of his zanpakutō) appears before Ichigo. He takes the injured Ichigo into his world and makes Ichigo fight his shadow self before he will allow Ichigo to wield him once again. Zangetsu explains that they are linked. It rains in Zangetsu's world when Ichigo is distressed. Zangetsu doesn't like rain.

Ichigo bests his shadow self and then with Zangetsu's help he returns to the Seireitei. Zaraki is stunned to see that Ichigo has recovered. Their fight continues but it quickly becomes clear that Ichigo is much stronger and more capable now. Zaraki understands that at last he need not hold back. He removes his eyepatch, which keeps his power in check.

Together, Ichigo and Zangetsu fight with Zaraki and nameless sword. Buildings around them come crashing down but the fight goes on.

The Twilight Zone 1.12

What You Need

starring Steve Cochrane, Ernest Truex

directed by Alvin Ganzer

Fred Renard (Steve Cochrane) notices that wandering salesman (Ernest Truex) seems to know exactly what people need. All the salesman has are knickknacks but he always seems to pull out of his box exactly what people need. Renard decides he's going to capitalize on this. The first thing he gets from Renard is a pair of scissors. He takes them but he's highly doubtful until later his scarf gets caught in an elevator door and he needs the scissors to cut his scarf before it strangles him.

Schitt's Creek 5.05

Housewarming

Patrick throws a housewarming party. David, Stevie, Alexis, Ted, and a dozen or so other people make it. Things get a little weird during a game of spin the bottle when Ted kisses David. It irks both Alexis and Patrick.

Johnny volunteers to look after Roland Junior while Roland and Jocelyn go for a couples massage. Moira was planning to go out but winds up staying home. She lets Johnny take care of the baby.

Thoughts

This was a fun episode. It wasn't my favorite but I laughed a few times.

Star Trek: Lower Decks 2.06

The Spy Humongous

Captain Freeman and Shaxs attempt to negotiate a treaty with the Packleds but the Pakleds don't seem to understand a thing that the two Starfleet officers are saying. The Pakleds repeatedly refer to Freeman as Captain Janeway.

Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford wind up on anomaly cleanup duty. They encounter all sorts of weird stuff and almost die on multiple occasions.

The Red Shirts, a group of aspiring junior officers, invite Boimler to join their ranks. They want to know all about what he learned while serving under Captain Riker aboard the Titan. They encourage him to act more inspiring. He decides in the end that he doesn't like hanging with them because they look down on his friends.

Four Star Playhouse 1.07

The Officer and the Lady

starring Charles Boyer

directed by George Jenkins

Andre, a pickpocket, runs into Fingers, an old friend. Andre wants to go straight. Fingers has other ideas. Andre meets Sidonie, a young woman. Fingers steals her purse while she is talking to Andre.

Andre (Charles Boyer) wants to return the purse, which doesn't hold any money. He changes clothes and pretends to be a soldier home on leave. He then goes to Sidonie's apartment and introduces himself to Jean, Sidonie's young son who has less than a month to live and has never met his father. He says that he is Jean's father. Sidonie is grateful.

The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House 1.02

Guardian Spirit

Kiyo is told that she isn't doing well enough in her efforts to become a maiko. It looks like she will have to leave but once everyone takes notice of her cooking skills that problem is pushed aside and she is made the Makanai, the cook for the house.

Thoughts

Once again I found myself pausing the show to look up terms that are not explained. The terms I looked up were all dishes that including Oyakodon, Tamago Kake Gohan, Omurice, and Senjyu Senbei.

I get the impression that this episode and the previous one might originally have been broadcast as one episode or intended to be broadcast that way.

The Night Strangler (1973)

The Night Strangler (1973)

starring Darren McGavin, Jo Ann Pflug, Simon Oakland

directed by Dan Curtis

Reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) moves to Seattle where he runs a familiar face from Las Vegas, Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland). Tony is now working as an editor for a Seattle newspaper. He hires Kolchak and assigns him to cover a recent murder. The killer strangled an exotic dancer while she walking home late at night.

Researcher Titus Berry helps Kolchak establish a supernatural angle to the crime. Vincenzo refuses to buy the angle so Kolchak digs deeper (with a lot of help from Berry) and finds a pattern: every 21 years (going back to at least 1889) six women have been murdered in the same way (strangulation) within an eighteen day period. Vincenzo refuses to accept that the murders from decades ago have anything to do with the current string of murders.

Adventure Time 5.10

Little Dude

A wizard accidentally transforms Finn's hat into a sentient being. Finn names it Little Dude and it goes on a bit of a tear first through Finn and Jake's House and then the Candy Kingdom. Finn, Jake, and wizard attempt to prevent it from wrecking any more harm than it already has.

Thoughts

This was a fun episode although seeing inanimate objects come to life can be a bit scary, especially as depicted in this episode.

Steven Universe 1.37

Alone Together

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl try to teach Steven some dance moves in the hopes that it will help him to fuse with one or more of them. Nothing seems to generate any fusion.

Steven teaches Connie how to dance and they wind up fusing into Stevonnie, accidentally. They love it. They show the Crystal Gems, who are a bit stunned that Steven merged with a human. Stevonnie leaves the house and runs around by themself. They get invited to rave where everyone is astounded by Stevonnie's dancing. The attention they get eventually proves to be a little too much and they split back into their individual selves.

Thoughts

This was a really neat episode. It wasn't exactly what I expected. There were no fights. All the action was of the dance variety.

Better Call Saul 6.08

Point and Shoot

The episode opens by the beach. Howard's shoes are there along with a few other belongings and his car. There is no sign of Howard's body

Lalo tells Saul and Kim to sit down, calm down, and listen to him. Lalo wants to send Saul to kill someone. Someone with dark skin and who wears glasses. He wants him to take pictures of the dead body and then return. He gives him one hour to do it. Saul begs and pleads and ultimately convinces Lalo to send Kim instead. Kim is horrified by the idea, she protests but Lalo agrees that she would look less suspicious than Saul.

Star Trek (1966) 1.29

Operation -- Annihilate!

The Enterprise arrives at Deneva where Captain Kirk's brother Sam lives with his family and where a generalized madness has stricken the inhabitants. Deneva isn't the first planet to afflicted by the bout of insanity. The source of the problem is unknown. A number of other colonies on other planets have been destroyed by the madness.

Kirk beams down with Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and two other crew members. They try contacting the colony before hand without much luck. They find Sam, Kirk's brother, dead. Aurelan, Sam's wife, and Peter, Sam's son, are still alive. Kirk and McCoy take them back to the Enterprise. Kirk tries questioning Aurelan, she responds but only with great difficulty and then she dies.

Bleach 38 / 2.18

Desperation! The Broken Zangetsu

Sado is down for the count and almost dead. Eighth Squad Captain Shunsui Kyōraku decides to leave Sado there and orders Nanao Ise, Eighth Squad's lieutenant, to have him transported to a jail cell.

Ichigo runs from 11th Squad Captain Kenpachi Zaraki in fear. He tries stopping to fight but each time he stops and fights he feels the fear return. It isn't until he senses that Sado is near death that he remembers why he is there and how he has people counting on him. It is only then that he finds the strength to stand and fight.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents 1.14

A Bullet for Baldwin

starring John Qualen, Sebastain Cabot, Phillip Reed

directed by Justus Addiss

A file clerk named Stepp shoots and kills Nathaniel Baldwin, his boss, after Baldwin fires him. They are the only ones in the office at the time. Stepp closes up the office and goes home. He expects that he will get arrested. The next day at 10:30 AM he gets a call from the office asking him why he isn't in yet. He is surprised but rushes into the office. Baldwin is there and looks very much alive.

The Making of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' (1970)

The Making of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' (1970)

narrated by George Roy Hill

directed by Robert Crawford Jr.

42 minutes

George Roy Hill, director of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, goes over the process of making the movie. Paul Newman and Paul Newman were also interviewed for this feature but for the most part it is Hill that does the talking. All of the images in the film are either taken from the movie or footage show on location of the while someone is talking over it. There are no shots of people talking directly into the camera.

Hill talks about the casting, the music, the cinematography, the stunts, and other challenges that he, the cast, and the crew encountered while making the movie. It isn't as polished as documentaries are today but I found it to be very informative. I really enjoyed getting to see how some of the scenes and stunts were shot.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford

directed by George Roy Hill

Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford), robbers of banks and trains, find themselves on the run from a posse hired by the owner of the Union Pacific railway. Their only refuge is the home of Etta Place, Sundance's gal. They decide, after a long chase during which they were doggedly pursued by the posse, to move to Bolivia. Etta goes with them.

They try to make a living robbing banks in Bolivia. Etta, the only one of the three who speaks Spanish, functions as their translator in everything including bank robberies. News of their exploits spreads.

The Outer Limits (1963) 1.11

It Crawled Out of the Woodwork

starring Scott Marlowe, Kent Smith

directed by Gerd Oswald

Professor Stuart Peters goes to work for NORCO, a west coast research lab. He is killed and then later revived during his first day on the job. The killing is done by an unknown energy source over which the scientists at the lab have some degree of control. He is revived and kept alive with a pacemaker. Everyone else at the lab is in the same condition, alive but only thanks to a pacemaker.

Star Trek: Lower Decks 2.05

An Embarrassment of Dooplers

The Cerritos is tasked with taking a Doopler emissary to Star Base 25. Dooplers have a tendency to duplicate when they get embarrassed. Everything goes fine until Captain Freeman says something negative about the emissary not realizing that he is standing nearby. He starts duplicating and pretty soon there are Doopler emissaries everywhere. The Cerritos is barred from docking at Starbase 25 until the situation with the Dooplers is resolved.

Mariner and Boimler secretly beam over to Starbase 25 in the hopes of sneaking into the legendary Captains After-Party. They get side tracked when Malvus an old acquaintance of Beckett's recognizes her.

Steven Universe 1.36

Warp Tour

Steven thinks he sees comething while he and the other Crystal Gems are warping back to their house in Beach City. They try to convince him that he didn't but he persists. He can't sleep the night after they get back. He fears that whatever he saw is going to come and attack him.

The next night Steven sees an orb crash through the roof of the house. He tries to stop it but it does something to the warp pad and then uses it. Steven and the orb disappear via the warp pad. Steven gets tossed out of the warp stream.

Steven is rescued by the others. They no longer doubt him. They arrive in Galaxy Warp and then hide when they see someone come through the Homeworld Warp, which was broken until the orb and dozens more like it fixed it.

Adventure Time 5.09

All Your Fault

Finn and Jake travel to the Earldom of Lemongrab on behalf of Princess Bubblegum. They find things in disarray as there is no food. Lemongrab and Lemongrab 2 have used some information Princess Bubblegum left behind to make all their food into sentient beings. Finn and Jake give them the seeds that they brought with them but the Lemongrabs mash the seeds together and then turn that into a sentient being.

Thoughts

I enjoyed this episode but it was another weird one. There were all sorts of really strange characters in the Earldom of Lemongrab.

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

starring Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Matthew McConaughey

directed by Travis Knight

102 minutes

Kubo (Art Parkinson), a one-eyed, 10-year-old, street performer with magical abilities that are linked to his shamisen (Japanese stringed instrument) goes on a quest with talking monkey (Charlize Theron) and a human-sized samurai beetle (Matthew McConaughey) after his mother is killed by her sisters. He seeks his deceased father's armor, helmet, and sword but his aunts and the Moon King (his maternal grandfather) do everything in their power to stop him.

The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House 1.01

Change

Kiyo and Sumire, friends, both 16 years old, move to Kyoto where they hope to become maiko, apprentice geishas. Sumire takes to the training very well. Kiyo does not. She instead finds herself applying her cooking skills when the middle-aged woman who usually cooks for the house (where they live with several Maiko and Maiko hopefuls) cannot do her job.

Thoughts

This show is based on a manga called Kiyo in Kyoto: From the Maiko House. There was also an anime series based on the manga. The anime series has the same name as the manga and consisted of 12 episodes. This live-action series consists of 9 episodes.

True Detective 1.08

Form and Void

Marty interrogates Steve Geraci, after showing him the videotape that he showed Marty in the previous episode. They learn from him that his predecessor, Sheriff Childress, is the one who buried the Fontenot case.

Rust and Marty continue to work the case. Their work leads them to an old house in the middle of nowhere. Marty checks the house. The only person inside is a woman. He wants to use their phone but it doesn't work.

Rust looks around the grounds. He spots the man with the scarred face. The man takes off running. Rust follows him into a building buried by nature. Rust eventually catches up to him but the scarred face man gets the drop on Rust, almost kills him. Marty who by then has gone looking for Rust, shows up, distracts the man with the scarred face. Marty almost gets killed but Rust recovers in time  to shoot the man in the head.

Heavy Metal (1981)

Heavy Metal (1981)

90 minutes

This animated anthology consists of seven stories. They all have to do with the Loc-Nar, a sentient, glowing, green orb. In the first story a man brings it home with him from a trip in space. He wants to show it to his daughter but when he takes it out of the case it kills him. It then proceeds to tell her stories  about itself.

Harry Canyon - A taxi driver (Harry Canyon) tries to help a woman who is being pursued by gangsters who want the Loc-Nar and know that she is the only one who knows where to find it.

Star Trek (1966) 1.28

The City on the Edge of Forever

Doctor McCoy accidentally injects himself with a heavy dose of cordrazine. The effects of the drug drive him a little crazy. He starts screaming, accusing those around him of being killers and assassins. He escapes from the bridge of the Enterprise and makes his way to the transporter room. He knocks out the transporter chief and beams himself down to the surface of the planet around which the Enterprise is orbiting.

Kirk, Spock, Scottie, Uhura, and a two man security detail beam down. They find a roundish gateway that calls itself the Guardian of Forever. It shows them scenes from Earth's past. Kirk and Spock's conversation with the Guardian is interrupted by McCoy who is located by a couple members of the landing team. He still has yet to recover from the madness that has gripped him. He continues to scream about killers and assassins and then jumps through the gateway and vanishes.

Schitt's Creek 5.04

The Dress

Moira spends $3,700 on a dress for the red carpet premiere of The Crowening. Johnny is stunned by how much she spent on it. Meanwhile he discovers that the motel needs a new hot water heater and he will have to pay big bucks to get it and get it installed.

David and Stevie go to Elm Valley to visit the botanical gardens but it turns that Stevie had an ulterior motive. She wants to hook up with Emir again. David is hurt.

Alexis makes friends with Shannon, who works with Ted and hooked up with him once after Alexis left him at the altar.

Suspense 3.03

Edge of Panic

starring Louisa Horton, Patrick McVey, Haila Stoddard

directed by Robert Stevens

Alice Martin (Louisa Horton), convinced that her husband Harry (Patrick McVey) has been framed for murder, steps up to prove him innocent. The evidence seems to be pretty convincing until Alice does some sleuthing of her own and discovers that Jean Mulligan (Haila Stoddard), the woman with whom Harry was boozing it up on the night of the murder, isn't the victim but the murderer.

Bleach 37 / 2.17

Motive of the Fist

Sado squares off against two different Shinigami. The first fight, against Tatsufusa Enjōji of 8th Squad doesn't last very long at all. Sado just slugs him and he goes flying off into the sky. The second fight,  against 8th squad captain Shunsui Kyōraku is a different story. Sado throws quite a bit at him with out much success. The fight goes on long enough that Sado takes a few minutes to recall one of his early adventures with Ichigo, before Rukia entered their lives, and what his life when he was sent to live with his grandfather in Mexico.

Crash Landing on You 1.08

Episode 8

Seo-dan tries talking Jeong-hyuk into forgetting about Se-ri, but he isn't ready to give up on Se-ri. Seo-dan similarly isn't ready to give up on Jeong-hyuk. She winds up talking to Seung-jun and levels with him that she knows who Se-ri really is. Seung-jun tells her he has a plan so that they can both get what they want.

Jeong-hyuk leaves the hospital early. He goes looking for Se-ri. He gets some help from a specialist in power lines who gives him an idea of where to look. He finds the house where Seung-jun and Se-ri are staying.

The Twilight Zone (1959) 1.11

And When the Sky Was Opened

starring Rod Taylor, Jim Hutton

directed by Douglas Heyes

Colonel Forbes (Rod Taylor) goes to visit Major Gart (Jim Hutton) in the hospital. Both were crew members aboard X-20, a spaceship. Everyone seems to believe that it was just the two of them aboard the X-20 but Forbes remembers that there was a third crew member, Colonel Harrington. Forbes recounts what he recalls about the past 24 hours to Gart but Gart doesn't recall Harrington. He's mystified by Forbes' story but then Forbes leaves the room and disappears and Gart is the only one who remembers him. Not long after that he's gone too.

Adventure Time 5.08

Mystery Dungeon

Tree Trunks, Lemongrab, Ice King, Shelby, and Neptr wake up in a dungeon. They face numerous challenges but eventually make their way out of it. They find out near the end of their trip through the dungeon that it was Ice King that brought them together. He needed some inspiration for his Fionna and Cake fanfic and hoped to get it on this trip with them.

Thoughts

Finn and Jake show up in the last minute or two of this episode. Ice King's beard gets singed off just before he and his companions exit the dungeon.

I enjoyed this episode very much. It is wacky. I love how they get from one room to the next and then out of the dungeon.

Steven Universe 1.35

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Steven discovers a portal within Lion into another world. He can't breathe in that world but he finds a video cassette that his mother made for him. He watches it with Sadie. The video was shot by his mother but is mostly of his father. Towards the end his mother turns the camera around and speaks directly to Steven.

Thoughts

I would say this is a good episode. I don't love it but once more is revealed, as I assume it will be, then I might appreciate this episode more.

Star Trek: Lower Decks 2.04

Mugato, Gumato

Rutherford and Boimler hear a rumor that Mariner is actually a spy and believe it. All three are sent with Shaxs on an animal control mission to deal with some Mugatos, uni-horned white apes. They uncover a clandestine Ferengi operation but Boimler and Rutherford lose their cool when they think they see Mariner kill Shaxs.

Tendi is given a mission by Doctor T'ana to get DNA samples from the last 10 crew members that have yet to provide samples. Captain Freeman deals with a merchant whose ship comes apart when the Cerritos tries to stop it from leaving the area.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

starring James Stewart, Doris Day

directed by Alfred Hitchcock

120 minutes

Ben (James Stewart) and Jo McKenna (Doris Day) are visiting French Morocco with their son when he is kidnapped by another couple. They learn that Hank, their son was kidnapped in order to keep them quiet about a plot to murder a prime minister who will be visiting London in the next couple days. Ben and Jo head to London. They say nothing when questioned by first the French authorities in Marakesh and then Scotland Yard in London about what's really going on.