Cue, then, the early morning call (they always looks surprised to get this?), and it was off to the Science Museum in London. A tenuous link to the task, perhaps? The battle for the project management role this time came down to Jamie and a keen-to-try-again Melissa. Given how rubbish Melissa had been last week, oddly she lost the vote unanimously. The other side? Chris, someone who I hadn’t even noticed was a contestant until now, stepped forward....
I’ve been rumbled. For the past couple of years, my family have believed that I’ve been writing deathly important articles, of great national importance. It’s a façade I’ve been keeping up well, until my mother happened to chance upon one of these Apprentice reviews. Why, she was wondering, do I sit on a sofa drinking cheap wine, blabbing on about The Apprentice? Do I have a drink problem? Why is Den Of Geek reviewing The Apprentice anyway?...
7.21 The Anything Can Happen Recurrence Reflection and self-examination is both the plot and the theme of this episode. Leonard and Penny suggest re-instating ‘Anything Can Happen Thursday’ to take Sheldon’s mind off his dilemma over what area of research to devote himself to in the future. Once out in the world contemplating Asian fusion restaurants, they discover that Amy and Bernadette have lied to them and gone out with each other because they are tired of listening to Sheldon worry about what to do next and Penny complain about the terrible ape-based horror movie she’s been making (apparently the director insists that, “It’s important to the story that my boobs be the last things to turn ape” to which Leonard replies, “It’s sweet that he thinks there’s a story”)....
In a small cottage in rural Devon, self-confessed tech geek Gray (frequent Ben Wheatley collaborator Robin Hill) busily straps cameras to both himself and just about every room in the quaint little building. He’s soon joined by Deacon (Gordon Kennedy) and Mark (Aidan McArdle), a pair of paranormal investigators working on behalf of the Vatican. They’ve come together to investigate the claims of Father Crellick (Luke Neal), who believes that a malevolent spirit is roaming about in his 12th century church....
That said, although The Cape is an original idea, the shadow of dark vigilantes like Batman and Spawn loom large over the pilot episode, in which Vince Faraday (apparently the city’s last remaining good cop) is framed for murder and ‘killed’, only to assume the identity of The Cape, his son’s favourite superhero, to bring his enemies to justice. Kicking off the series with a double-header, the pilot episode gives us the ‘origin’ story, introduces Faraday’s family, friends and nemesis (the traditional Evil Brit archetype, Chess) while episode two, Tarot, shows us how he plans to continue his war on crime, and how his family rebuilds their lives now he’s gone....
Michael Fassbender is on suave form as the Counsellor of the title, a well-dressed lawyer who dabbles in drug running to help pay for his lavish lifestyle and the hugely expensive diamond he’s just purchased for the new love of his life, Laura (Penelope Cruz). But even as the Counsellor sweeps Laura off her feet with that sparkly new rock, his friend Reiner (Javier Bardem, with stunning hair as usual) warns of the potential consequences....
So said Rowlf the Dog in the liner notes accompanying his 1993 debut, Ol’ Brown Ears is Back. Unfortunately, our favourite piano-pounding hound will probably never get a take two. Jim Henson, the man who brought Rowlf to life, has been dead for over a decade. Although Henson’s other characters have lived on through different voice actors, Rowlf, who many feel was the most accurate reflection of his creator’s true personality, has remained generally dormant out of respect....
Season Two began with the confirmation of Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) having survived the lighthouse explosion. The second episode begins with Joe living in a trailer park in Arkansas, posing as a bearded country simpleton named Darryl. Joe has moved in with a redneck prostitute named Judy—Carrie Preston in a role not too far removed from her portrayal of Arlene in True Blood. It is later revealed that Judy was a Joe Carroll fanatic who wrote letters to him while he was in jail....
1.6 The Fall The story of The Following thus far has been one of squandered potential. After a pretty good pilot that set a lot of interesting things into motion, the show hasn’t really followed up on that in any really satisfactory way. However, this week, everything seemed to click into place for the programme. Indeed, this might be the best episode since the season opener. That may or may not be high praise depending on what you feel about the show, but I’m still kind of on board with it, and this week was a really good continuation of last week’s instalment....
The Good Place Season 2 Episode 12 The expectation that The Good Place set back in the season one finale is that almost nothing we were seeing could be trusted. That established a new paradigm for the show in which everything we’re seeing could be the work of omniscient demons or angels just outright fucking with our protagonists. That’s why I don’t blame our heroes in “The Burrito” for looking for theological loopholes wherever they can find them....
2.11 Holly June’s labour was just that. Alone, with a fire for warmth, and no playlists, pethidine or birth-partners, she was an animal giving birth. A she-wolf. The wolf June faced several times this episode was a mutable symbol. Yet another force against which June had to summon her strength to survive, it meant what wolves have always meant in fiction—menace and danger—but it was also primal and bestial, two things June needed to be to do the work of labour....
I have also been known to tell publishers that they should be ashamed of themselves for insulting their readers by producing vast amounts of pap. And that doesn’t make me too many friends in the industry either! In my youth, I was fast! There was a time when I was the ‘go to guy’ for editors who had artwork missing in the post and a deadline looming ominously! The myth that I can produce five pencilled pages in a day is only partly true....
A big part of the enjoyment of The Man In The High Castle is the mystery of what the films mean and why everyone wants them. Although the five episodes of season two reviewed for this article do not answer that question fully, the importance of the films’ contents is made more clear, especially with the appearance of the man in charge himself, played with mysterious intensity by Stephen Root....
From the beginning, though, things were a little weird. In stark contrast to the dignity of the ballroom of the Dorchester Hotel, the Goats conference was held in Screen 5 of the Vue West End, in London’s Leicester Square. This set up a bizarre situation of sitting in a cinema seat, staring at real-life actors, in front of a movie screen, while a bank of photographers and film crews (sitting in the audience) are furiously snapping and recording away....
1.9 Knight Takes Queen Principally a ‘seige’ episode, it’s a concept that should work well within The Musketeers world. France’s best, protecting the Queen against committed and skilful enemies appeals to everything that is good about The Musketeers. Action – tick. Good banter whilst facing death – tick. Cardinal being a git – double tick. Fighting nuns throwing beehives – err, tick. All the ingredients are there for a fun Sunday evening’s viewing....
After setting this scene with a cosy introductory montage – complete with a nursery rhyme-style narration, which garners the movie’s biggest laugh – The Night Before fast-forwards to the modern day. Ethan is pining for his ex. Isaac is on the verge of fatherhood. Chris has become a famous sportsman. The three bros mutually agree that this Christmas Eve will be their final festive night out, and the end of their tradition....
1.13 Crescent City An all-out war between the beings of New Orleans has been hinted at for weeks now but, with the vampires now just one entity that includes both Klaus, Marcel and the rest of the family, it took a while for us to identify the big bads of the first season. That’s the witches, then, led by Celeste with an endgame of resurrecting each of the young girls sacrificed during the Harvest....
2.12 Sanctuary Secrets are what keeps The Originals ticking – if we didn’t have secrets, we’d really have no where left to go. The thing is, with ancient bloodlines and immortal beings, it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to accept that characters we’ve been watching for six years would have new things to reveal, but it’s the relationships between those characters that are the endlessly fascinating part. Season two has so far made the most out of it’s newly completed Mikaelson family tree, resisting the urge to kill any of the siblings (well done show, I know that must have been difficult for you) and just wallowing in the opportunity to use their centuries-long bitterness and rivalry to aid the story along....
2.15 They All Asked For You This week we saw that happen with the revelation that Rebekah’s new body is actually that of Eva St. Claire – child murderer and general bad guy. This leaves her with several dilemmas, not least of which is the apparent night-time excursions she’s apparently been unaware of since she body-jumped. If I understood that final scene correctly, Eva St. Claire has been resurfacing while Rebekah sleeps, absorbing young witches’ powers while also inconveniently leaving dead bodies in her wake....
2.4 Live And Let Die Esther has Elijah and Mikael is presumably moments away from turning the tables on Klaus. This show never really did well with suspense, preferring to jump straight into the action, and I guess that’s one of the things we love most about it. But that was just the cliffhanger, and there was so much more to love about Live And Let Die. A returning Cami, for one, who has never been as dynamic and watchable as she was here....
