The Glass Key (1942)

The Glass Key (1942)

starring Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, William Bendix

directed by Stuart Heisler

85 minutes

Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy) falls hard for Janet Henry (Veronica Lake). He supports her father's run for governor. Things get complicated when her brother turns up dead. Complicating things is the fact that he had a gambling problem and had been hanging around with Opal, Madvig's sister.

Paul quickly becomes the prime suspect. Ed Beaumont (Alan Ladd), Paul's righthand man does what he can to try and figure out what really happened. Paul doesn't make things easy for them by not playing nice with Nick Varna, the mob boss who owns one of the newspapers in town.

Ed takes a meeting with Varna, after he has a public falling out with Paul, but when Ed isn't willing to play nice Varna sicks Jeff (William Bendix) on him. Varna wants Ed to dish all the dirt about Paul. Ed declines despite his very public spat with Paul.

The Tick (2016) 1.12

The End of the Beginning (of the Dawn of the Age of Superheroes)

Arthur and the Tick execute their plan and return the VLM to normal size. Superian gets involved at the last second but doesn't get injured as they feared he would. The Terror is enraged and executes Plan B. He targets Arthur's mother but Arthur and the Tick get there in time to stop him. Superian shows up at the last minute and saves Arthur when it looks like he is about to kill Arthur.

Thoughts

There are all sorts of little details that my summary doesn't mention, like the roles that Dot, Overkill, Walter, and Ms. Lint play in this episode.

Doctor Who (1963) 11.05.05

Planet of the Spiders - Part Five

The Doctor is trussed up like Sarah Jane. The Doctor and Sarah talk for a little while but then she is taken away to see the giant spider that has been working with Lupton. The spider wants Sarah and the Doctor to retrieve the blue crystal from Earth.

The Doctor escapes from the stuff in which they have him tied up using a trick he learned from Harry Houdini. He goes looking for Sarah Jane but instead finds the Great One, whom he cannot see. She uses mental abilities to convince him that he needs to retrieve the blue crystal and bring it back to Metebelis III.

Mike convinces the guys who run the meditation center to let him help them to open the portal to Metebelis III. They do so in the hopes that they can get Lupton back. The ceremony they perform doesn't have the desired effect. Giant spiders come through the portal but not Lupton.

UFO Robo Grendizer 3.17

The Sacrifice of a Son to Save his Father

or Father Offers an Aurora of Love

or Tel père, tel fils (Like father, like son)

Zuril's ship is stuck on Earth. It lacks the fuel needed to return to Skull Moon Base. He requests that someone be sent with enough Vegatron fuel to get him and his crew back to the Moon. Gandal and Vega Daioh send Zuril's son, Zuril Junior.

Better Call Saul 4.04

Talk

The episode opens up with a flashback. Mike remembers a moment when Matty, his son, was still a boy. It is a good memory. The scene then shifts to the present. Mike is at a support meeting with Stacey.

Jimmy gets a job offer from a cell phone dealership. He turns it down. He later changes his mind when he needs something with which to distract Kim. He calls the place back and accepts the job. He is running a store in a strip mall by himself but it doesn't get any traffic.

Kim goes to the courthouse to listen to cases. The judge notices her and asks her to come see him during his lunch break. They talk. He tells her to beat it, in a nice way, but when court resumes she is still there, observing.

Abbott Elementary 2.01

Development Day

The teachers at Abbott Elementary prepare for the new school year. Jeanine is still adjusting to breaking up with Tariq. She has not been paying some of her bills (rent, parking tickets). She acts like everything is okay until one day she has a meltdown. Gregory is putting an extreme amount of preparation into getting ready for his first year as a non-substitute teacher. Barbara warns him that his plans will get upset.

Thoughts

This is a decent start to the season. There were a few laughs but it wasn't great. Hopefully there will be many episodes that are better than this one (and none that are worse) in Season 2.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

starring Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan

directed by Peter Yates

102 minutes

Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum) is an aging crook who has been convicted and is about to get sentenced for driving a truck full of stolen booze. He's can't afford to go to prison. He's got a wife and three kids. He's trying to play both ends off against the middle. On the one hand he is still doing shady things on the side, things that could get him more prison time than he already has coming to him. On the other he is trying to get a federal agent (Richard Jordan) to help him get his conviction thrown out.