Samurai Jack 2.03

XVI: Jack and the Smackback

- Jack is captured and forced to fight in the Dome of Doom

- not a whole lot I can think to say about this one; the story isn't very complex and is somewhat repetitive but on the whole it is a fun gladiator type episode
- most of the fun and originality is found in the champions that Jack must fight
- the fight choreography is also good
- love the look and sound of the Dome's announcer
- love the name the announcer gives Jack: Two Sandals the Treacherous

UnREAL 1.06

Fly

- This episode revolves around Mary; there was ground work laid in previous episodes, mostly in the one immediately preceding this one, and it all paid off here
- Mary's daughter, sister, niece, nephew come to visit her on the set in advance of her date that night with Adam; everything goes wrong for Mary; there are a number of contributing factors: (a) Shia replaced Mary's med with something else last episode, (b) Mary has started drinking again, (c) Quinn and Chet have a bet as to whether Mary will make it beyond the date which leads them both to get other to do things that impact Mary's fragile state of mind, (d) Chet has Anna interrupt Adam's visit with Mary and her daughter, (e) Quinn has Rachel invite Mary's ex on the set without telling her he is coming
- in the end it all blows up in Mary's face and she takes very drastic measures; it wasn't the end I was expecting and totally made up for what I thought was an okay episode but not great at the halfway point; I'm not sure if I would say it was great now but it was pretty damn good
- I can't wait to see what this does to the cast and crew of Everlasting

Mad Men 7.11

Time & Life

- Word comes down that McCann Erickson is going to absorb Sterling Cooper
- before meeting with their corporate overlords and after getting bummed out about it, Dom suggests they move to the west coast office
- so they drum up some new business to pitch to McCann Erickson only to discover that McCann Erickson doesn't want to discuss it and they promise all the top people (Roger, Don, Pete, Ted) top accounts; Joan is overlooked in this pitch
- Pete tells Peggy about the impending move to absorb Sterling Cooper; Peggy stews over Pete's news for a while; at first she thinks about leaving but a headhunter advises her that her best move is to stay for a few years and after mulling it over that's what she decides to do
- Peggy tells Stan about what Pete told her; she and Stan have an interesting chat in which she reveals that she had a baby who she gave away
- at first the top management at Sterling Cooper are knocked for a loop by McCann Erickson's statement, then they celebrate but then rumors start flying around the office and they have to say something to the staff, who don't take the news very well, which is where the episode ends

- another damn good episode
- I think this may have been the first time Peggy has admitted that she had a baby on screen; I found it to be very moving
- I noticed this one was directed by Jared Harris who was part of the cast for 35 episodes from 2009 to 2012 and played the part of the British CFO, Lane Pryce; not only is this the only episode of Mad Men he directed, according to IMdb it is his only directorial credit

Community 1.21

Contemporary American Poultry

- Abed temporarily usurps Jeff and becomes leader of the study group as they infiltrate the school cafeteria and start an operation distributing chicken fingers (the only decent thing the cafeteria serves) to the masses in return for favors
- all the characters get their moments but Jeff and Abed are at the center of it all
- I loved the commitment to the joke; it felt like a parody of a gangster film and I really liked that
- possibly my favorite episode up to this point

Casual 2.08

The Magpie

- reality sets in or at least the honeymoon is over
- Alex has sex with Sarah, again, but it comes at a cost: Jordan finds out and promises to dismantle Snooger after building it up; the episode ends with Alex in bed with Sarah once again
- Laura and Aubrey want different things; Laura wants sex; Aubrey wants more than sex; Laura plans another threesome with Aubrey and Spencer but after thinking about it cuts Aubrey out of the triangle
- Val flails about until Jack returns; Jennifer is no help; Val needs more stability in a relationship than Jack seems to offer but she goes back to him anyway

- this episode felt a little more in line with what I want to see
- all three leads look like they are headed for heartbreak or maybe I'm misreading the map I see before me but it won't be much of a season if they all get what they want

Samurai Jack 2.02

XV: Jack Tales

Tale 1
- Jack encounters a double-headed, wish-granting sea serpent; after attempting to answer its questions correctly he gets swallowed by the beast; the episode ends with Jack in the belly of the beast, surrounded by a large group of scraggly looking old men

Tale 2
- Jack is approached and then attacked by a family of 4; they are drawn to his sword; eventually they turn on one another as they are revealed to be robots in disguise

Tale 3
- Jack seeks a fairy that grants wishes; the fairy is the prisoner of a gargoyle; Jack unsuccessfully attempts to take the fairy when the gargoyle is sleeping; he defeats the gargoyle but then has to use his wish on something other than a doorway back to the past

- love the use of panels in this one

- love how Jack thinks he knows better and by not listening to the fairy only make the situation worse
- love the bittersweet ending

- Unusual approach to an episode, although I think it may have been done on a couple more occasions
- nice episode but not even close to being my favorite

UnREAL 1.05

Truth

- Once again, three tracks

- On one track we have Rachel and Jeremy tagging along as Adam goes home to Mississippi with Faith to visit her grandmother; Rachel is encouraged to get Faith to give up her virginity to Adam while on the trip; instead she winds up coming out and admitting that she is in love with her best friend, Amy; some of her confession is caught on camera; Rachel tries to intercept the recording but is unable to do so; she turns to Jay for help but he is too busy trying to please Chet to help Rachel and Faith
- there is a lot of tension in this one over whether Faith's on camera confession will go live or not; at first Rachel is happy with herself for getting Faith to come out but then she gets nervous that Faith will ruin it by coming out in front of the whole town, who very likely won't be anywhere near as understanding as Rachel or Amy; then there's the tension over what will happen to the footage of her confession
- Rachel's still not over Jeremy as is demonstrated in two scenes, one with him, and the other where she is in bed alone getting off to their sex tape; Jeremy on the other hand doesn't feel the same magnetic pull; in the hot and heavy scene they have together he starts to make out with her but then he has second thoughts before things get too far and walks off

- on the second track Quinn presses forward with a lawsuit against Chet; after her lawyer advises her that she doesn't have a strong case against Chet she decides to pursue a different angle and goes after him for palimony; in the end, after a bit of back and forth maneuvering, Chet gives in and gives Quinn what she wants, a 40% share in the show; Quinn seems satisfied

- on the third track Mary gets pushed by a few people to stand up for herself; first it is Shia who starts off by pushing her to start drinking and then sneaks into Mary's room and messes with her medication; after that Mary gets a visit from Quinn who has been drinking and is still in the middle of her legal tussle with Chet; Mary ends up confessing on camera in a very bold way to Adam about her past; which seems to play in her favor because Adam picks her for the next home date; at the end of the episode we see her drinking; between the alcohol and the spiked medication I don't envision this ending well for Mary

- Another solid episode; I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and maybe it will before this is all over but so far I am still very impressed by this show

- I've got no idea how this will all end; probably not well; I have trouble imagining how season two could measure up to this one