Day 8: 6:00 – 8:00pm Wow! Well, this is a bit more like it. After a good opening couple of episodes that were slow yet steady, mainly placing the starting pieces on the board, episodes three and four ramped up the action significantly, and a whole slew of signature 24-isms took centre stage. In just two hours we’ve had shootings, bombs, hostage taking, torture, the return of an old flame and a couple of shock moments, culminating in the creative use of a circular saw… Quite a ride....

With the clue in the episode title, you might already have guessed that Jennifer Aniston guest stars in this episode with a wannabe Sex In The City scenario. Luckily for 30 Rock fans, that’s not going to be possible because, as we’ve seen before, Liz and clubbing nightlife are like milk and orange juice. They just don’t mix and bad things happen when they’re combined. Liz would prefer on-the-town torture to what does happen, though, as Claire takes a liking to Jack and turns all her manic attentions in his direction....

After A Touch Of Cloth, Brooker and Maier’s two-part spoof on the clichés of modern homicide procedural shows, it’s hard to imagine ever watching another rooftop denouement or rain-soaked, blue-flashing-lights monologue without giggling. Ditto for sexually tense police partnerships and fast-edit close ups of dismembered cadavers… any, in fact, of the many spot-on observations made by the programme, which wore the skin of a modern crime drama so efficiently (thanks in great part to Jim O’Hanlon’s savvy direction) that some viewers must have tuned in not knowing it was a comedy....

I am going to mea culpa all over the place here; I really thought Bakshi and the character played by Kyle MacLachlan was the same dude. Chalk that up tn working three jobs, and all you guys that yelled at me in the comments get a No Prize and an apology. This season has felt like what a SHIELD series should feel like with gadgets, action, some super powered hijinx to keep things firmly in the Marvel universe, and now, with the added bonus of a whole season under our belt, we actually give a damn about most of the players....

We first meet Max Vatan parachuting into German-controlled Morocco, trudging across Tatooine-y vistas. Vatan, a sepia-toned spy, has been dropped behind enemy lines, tasked to meet up with deep-cover agent, Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard), and assassinate the Nazi ambassador. Beausejour relishes in her fictional cover, schmoozing the superficial and inserting herself into the most esteemed company. Vatan is less comfortable, less able to integrate, and is saved by his ‘wife’, the “life of the party”....

2.7 Gods And Monsters But as good as Gods and Monsters was, it only served to highlight a problem that the show runs into almost continually: what to do with characters. Every week can’t have a person who needs pushing, or an electromagnetic signal that needs intercepting, or whatever. And that means problems for individual Alphas who stand around waiting to do their stuff, where an obvious opportunity eludes them....

So, in short, it’s a rare thing for a comic to reach its 500th issue – so here I take a look at the other few Marvel titles that made it. The first part of the controversial “Avengers Disassembled” storyline saw Brian Bendis take over the writing on Avengers, specifically so that he could bring the current era to a close. A series of devastating events befall the Avengers, and the group is shaken to its very core – Ant-Man dies, She-Hulk goes nuts and rips the Vision in half, killing him, and Iron Man appears to relapse into alcoholism right in front of the UN....

Now, most people are aware of the Punisher in some form or another, whether from the films with Dolph Lundgren, his guest appearances in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon, or from the critically acclaimed NES computer game. However, very few people outside the mainstream have taken the time to read the Punisher’s comics, so if you’re interested in catching up on the character ahead of “Punisher: War Zone” here are a few classic issues that’ll help you get in touch with who he really is....

American Crime Story: Season 1 Episode 7 At best, conspiracy theories are diverting fun, an exercise in coming up with an outlandish explanation for a seemingly straightforward situation. At worst, they can derail investigation of the truth, and overshadow the hard evidence that’s simply less interesting. “But who else could have done it?” a desperate Robert Kardashian asks A.C. Cowlings. That’s the point we keep coming back to: There is no other suspect who makes as much sense as O....

1.6 Piggy Piggy Mom’s nowhere to be found, but fortunately good old Constance from next door is there, and she’s got a friend named Billie Dean Howard (Sarah Paulson), a psychic medium with a knowledge of ghosts. Billie Dean explains that some ghosts are vengeful and some ghosts just don’t know they’re dead. As it happens, Tate is the second kind of ghost and Constance wants Violet to help her help Tate cross over to the other side....

5.2 Chutes And Ladders We’re only two episodes into American Horror Story: Hotel, but it already seems like the show is going to aim more to be horrifying than horribly campy. Not that it’s not campy, and not that it’s completely abandoned its sense of humour for Grand Guignol shenanigans, but it seems as though the show is leaning really heavily on horror once again, which is a good sign for things to come for the series....

American Horror Story Season 7 Episode 4 Fear is a viable election campaign promise, but rage stuffs the ballot boxes on American Horror Story: Cult, season 7, episode 4, “11/9.” Candidates usually gather votes with a smile and a firm, but not creepy, handshake. In the old days, they’d kiss babies, and they still bring donuts for their supporters and home-made brownies for potential supporters. Everyone washes it down with at least a little Kool-Aid....

This review contains spoilers. Its performances absolutely deserve recognition. Emily Watson’s portrayal of Yvonne Carmichael has been detailed and nuanced. Mark Duggan too, who played husband Gary, is clearly much more than just a safe pair of acting hands. Alongside them, director Jessica Hobbs told a clear-headed and empathetic sad story. Best drama though? Not quite. Though the courtroom scenes made worthwhile points about the savagery and humiliation women, whether there as experts or defendants, can face on the dock, the last two episodes felt undermined by a central inconsistency....

1.1 Pilot A lot of different people will be coming to The CW’s newest superhero show in a lot of different ways. Some will be fans of Smallville, just last year ending its decade-long run and leaving a big hole in the network’s schedule; some will be fans of DC and the Green Arrow character; and some will be tuning in for the considerable emphasis on Stephen Amell’s body in previews and ads for the series....

Ash vs Evil Dead Season 3 Episode 2 One thing is highly apparent when watching the second episode of this tighter, more thoughtful third season of Ash vs Evil Dead: the show has finally realized how to properly utilize its cast of characters – and it’s about damn time. Now, Pablo and Kelly are the ones who get to do the heavy lifting for the plot while Ash does what he does best: serve as the Homer Simpson-style comic relief and get into silly, bloody brawls with undead rejects....

Atlanta Season 2 Episode 1 We’ve been told Robbin’ Season is going to do things pretty differently from Atlanta’s inaugural season. It’s meant to be a more linear, grounded experience with continuing storylines that, in full, should feel like one huge movie. With the first season, which seemingly indulged in any surreal flight of fancy it felt like, Donald Glover claimed he was trying to make Twin Peaks for rappers. Funnily enough, the limited series of Twin Peaks that came out last year was, unlike the original series, viewed by David Lynch as one huge movie, so, whether intentional or not, Atlanta is continuing to follow in that seminal series’ footsteps....

io9 co-founder and current Ars Technica Tech Culture Editor Annalee Newitz has broken into science fiction with a stirring, vital tale of robots, pirates, and what it means to be free in a future still shaped by capitalist forces. “Now we know there has been no one, great disaster—only the slow-motion disaster of capitalism converting every living thing and idea into property,” one Autonomous character writes in a “Freeculture” essay....

This review contains spoilers. 1.1 & 1.2: Pilot & The Little Guy Hearing that British actor Jason Isaacs would be starring in a sci-fi inflected crime drama in the US got a fair few people excited, and Awake‘s interesting concept contributed to making it one of the most anticipated new additions to this year’s mid-season schedules. Centred on a homicide detective, who, after being involved in a car accident, finds himself travelling between two opposing worlds (one where his son survives, the other his wife) as he sleeps/wakes up, the show has all the hallmarks of an intriguing mystery held together by a strong procedural structure....

2.9 The Box This is especially true of Norman, who spends most of this episode literally trapped in a small, damp box in the middle of the forest. His captors, agents of the nefarious Mr Ford have him there as collateral to ensure that his brother complies with the not-a-question, but the emergence of new information about his involvement with Blair makes it more personal still. The image of the box is a smart one, symbolising the claustrophobic dramatic atmosphere that is emerging as the varied plot strands weave ever tighter....