True Detective Season 1 Episode 2 True Detective gets mired in police procedural in the “Seeing Things” episode, but it’s their mess, not the viewers. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are at odds with each other and the department, which wants to replace them with a special task force. The Lange murder has become something of a big deal in their parish and all eyes are on the two detectives. Rust Cohle is at odds with the chief, Major Ken Quesada (Kevin Dunn)....

3.5 Case Files Though we’re getting a lot of silly stuff with Cooper still doddering around as Dougie, we’ve also got a shocking smash-cut to the corpse of the beheaded man from Buckhorn, the brutal beating of the casino owner, the sudden violence in the Bang Bang Bar, and another brilliant and creepy scene with Cooper’s doppelganger. Grisly bits aside, however, most of episode five is concerned with slow-dripping us information about established plots and bringing in new characters with new ones....

Van Helsing Episode 8 There was a time during the first six episodes of SyFy’s Van Helsing that I thought Neil LaBute and Simon Barry might be trying to do too much with their unique take on the classic vampire tale. I admit it; I was wrong. “Little Thing,” the season’s eighth episode, deftly builds on last week’s brilliantly depicted revelation that these desperate individuals are grasping at their last shreds of humanity while the world outside goes to hell....

Veep Season 6 Episode 6 There is no getting around bad public relations when you’re as scrutinized as an ex-POTUS. Every photo op is a call for another pose with a fake smile and withered flowers. Sadly, the president’s roving reputation is being stitched together on the fly by her former press secretary Mike McClintock (Matt Walsh). He’s hanging around now waiting to get paid for waiting to help Selina write her memoirs....

Vikings Season 4 episode 3 These frustrations hit the Lothbrok men harder than anyone as Rollo makes an abbreviated attempt to learn the language of his new home, and it’s impossible to ignore his humiliation when he gives up, tears pages from a book, and tosses his tutor to the floor. How much more of Gisela’s poor treatment can he be expected to endure before lashing out against Charles’ kingdom?...

Vikings Season 4 Episode 4 That he possesses a wandering eye continues to complicate things for Ragnar, and now it’s his wife’s slave girl Yidu that captivates him enough that he frees her without Aslaug’s knowledge and sets her up in a secret bachelor pad only he has occupied. To ease the emotional pain she senses still plagues Ragnar, Yidu shares a medicinal concoction, and the two experience a hallucinogenic trip replete with fire and dancing....

Voltron Season 7 Episode 5 Ah, that’s more like it. If you’ve been reading my reviews you know I’m all in for Galra politics and although we only get a little here it’s more than enough to fill in the blanks. The Galra civil war turned extremely violent. They all tried to seize power and where the hell are my Voltron novels filling in these gaps? Come on DreamWorks, you’re sitting on a gold mine here....

And it is glorious. We’re reminded why we love and want to protect each and every one of these characters while also learning new things about them. We see character matchups that haven’t been seen since the early days of the show. We return to plotlines that were long thought abandoned. The character development people have been hoping for with certain Paladins finally comes into focus. Romelle also gets some time to shine as the newest member of the main cast....

Like Rogue One before it, Solo: A Star Wars Story is another prequel to the Original Trilogy. It tells the story of Han Solo’s evolution, from Corellian street rat to legendary smuggler, and bridges the gap further between the Prequel and Original Trilogies. More importantly, it fleshes out more of the story of what happened after Emperor Palpatine rose to power and the Empire ruled unopposed. Fans of the Rebels animated series know that the Cloud-Riders are only one such group fighting the Empire....

“I don’t think there is any question that SpaceX is going to get there before anybody else,” author Stephen Petranek told Den of Geek. Patranek is editor of Breakthrough Technology Alert and author of the book How We’ll Live on Mars, which was adapted into National Geographic Channel’s MARS series. “NASA has the capability with a rocket, but doesn’t quite have the right vehicle to go onto the rocket, and they are not committed to actually landing on Mars,” Petranek continued....

Tonight’s episode for instance is a send up of the Terminator flicks and other thrillers that focus on a post apocalyptic machine dominated future. Instead of the sunny, fluorescent lighting of the show that we are used to, we’re given the dark and grim look of an early 90s action movie. The episode is so fun to watch in a part because of how much fun the guys seem to be having....

As we continue to discuss all things BlizzCon, the subject of Blizzard’s foray into the magical world of eSports must inevitably be addressed. Between the recent popularity of Hearthstone’s tournament action, StarCraft II’s historical international success, and the hope of Heroes of the Storm perhaps scoring a spotlight in the competitive MOBA scene, Blizzard has their sights aimed high. What better way to get a little dose of competition without having to invest all the time into becoming super awesome in your favorite game?...

Last week, NBC Universal declined its right of first refusal on a new deal for SmackDown, instead focusing its efforts on retaining Monday Night Raw. Despite coming to terms with Fox, WWE reportedly had an offer with an even higher dollar amount from a third, unknown, network. What put Fox over the edge, despite the lesser dollar figure, was the network’s ability to co-promote the WWE product with its NFL and Major League Baseball broadcasts....

Wynonna Earp Season 3, Episode 10 Wynonna Earp has sacrificed a lot in her fight against supernatural evil: her father, her sister Willa, years with her mother, and a chance to watch Alice grow, but there is one cost that is too high even for the end of the world as we know it: Waverly Earp. This is why it’s so damn high-stakes when Kevin (aka the wonderful Anna Silk, who shows up in this episode to give some much-needed mythological context) tells Wynonna and Waverly that Waverly is the one person standing between Bulshar and the end of the world....

The scene earlier this season, with Doc caught in the airshaft with the zombie is a great example. Sure, it’s easy to roll your eyes at Doc getting the zombie stoned. But if you do that, you miss the opportunity to acknowledge the haunting moment when Doc realizes that he and this former-human were once probably fairly similar to each other. Powerful stuff. The weed, and also the moment in question....

Z Nation Season 3 Episode 11 Although Syfy’s Z Nation is never a show that demands to be taken seriously, every once in awhile, it takes a big swing for the fence. Many times throughout Season 3, these high-concept stories-of-the-week have failed to land, but “Doc’s Angels” is a welcomed exception. “Docs Angels” picks up where last week’s confusing outing left off, with Doc and Addy splitting up and the former on his way to explore a radio tower....

Z Nation Season 3 Episode 6 Say what you want about the campy Syfy series Z Nation, it’s having more fun with the zombie apocalypse trope than anyone else in the business. The show has put the zombie spin on nuclear disasters, aliens, postal workers, corporate retreats and the military surprisingly well, albeit with a bit of a tongue-in-cheek mentality. The latest episode, “Doc Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” added another creative zombie setting to the list, a mental institution....

Alternatively, you could purchase this album and listen to it on the move, grasping the handrail emanating from the bus’ roof as you journey onward, basking in the glory of the title music from Game Of Thrones like a boss (assuming your boss is a Machiavellian psychopath totally motivated by power. Mine prefers golf and pilates, so isn’t such a good example). Other things that could be achieved by purchasing this disc: make your short room-to-room journeys more exciting by playing the theme music to The Crystal Maze....

Some context: I think Michael Bay is great when he remembers to have a sense of humour. As recently as 2013 he made Pain & Gain, a sharp, hilarious satire on consumerism, cautioning that to cut corners on your way to the American Dream is to miss its point. The Rock, Armageddon: expert, self-aware blockbusters that hit you in all the right places. Our guy is Jack Silva (John Krasinski), who arrives in Libya and puts his wedding ring in a tin, a symbolic act of temporary separation as much as a tactic to prevent its use as leverage....

Anthropologists tell us there are two kinds of laughter. One’s a spontaneous, uncontrollable, tears and snot streaming belly laugh that happens when we find something funny, the other’s a snorting, grunting noise made when we laugh on purpose to ease social situations or show we understand and agree with someone. To use shorthand, it’s snot vs. snort. And while 30 Rock has delivered more than its fair share of snot moments over the years, Let’s Stay Together sticks firmly in snort territory....