Before I get onto the Elton John salute, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I’d like to talk briefly about my review of The Garden Of Forking Paths, which elicited some strong responses in the comments. Yet, with all the vitriol that came my way, a good number of the points I made were never addressed. Nobody appeared smart enough to come up with the logic of how to get an undamaged brain out of a head without any visible surgery, for example....
KYTVIt’s hard to categorise KYTV, although it’s best described as a very potent spoof of the incoming world of satellite television at the point it was broadcast. Make just as Sky and British Satellite Broadcasting were filling dishes and squariels with the cheapest programmes they could fill them with, KYTV ran for three series, and has proven to be a scary forerunner of what’s pumped out on the hundreds of cable and satellite channels today....
In writing these reviews I’ve set myself some ground rules, and one is not to ruin a really good episode with overt spoilers if at all possible. For that reason I’m not going to talk about the plot in Northwest Passage, as I think this is easily one of the top three or four episodes the season. In many respects it has similarities with Johari Window, which, incidentally, was also directed by Joe Chappelle, where a chance encounter in a small town diner is the catalyst for strange events....
If I’m being kind, in the season so far Fringe has been underwhelming. After a rocky opener it’s veered somewhat uncontrollably from some decent outings to those I’d rather forget. The biggest issue has been a resistance to return to the bigger plot arc, which is always where this show really comes to life. An Observer, but not the usual one we see each week (he’s always there somewhere, always) abducts a young women, but the mystery is why?...
3.11 Reciprocity I’ve decided not to spoil it, which means I can’t really say what it is that’s flummoxed me so completely, but it’s reasonably safe to divulge that there is a game changing event that happens in here that could turn the Fringe universe(s) entirely upside down. Massive Dynamic has constructed the machine that Peter was drawn at the centre of, and when he approaches, all manner of weird things start to happen....
4.11 Making Angels In this week’s Fringe, a university professor gets hold of Observer technology, which allows him to see what happens to people, and out of some type of religious mercy he decides to cut to the chase and kill them before things get messy. My problem with this idea from the outset is that nobody has a life that doesn’t impact on others in ways that you’d never imagine, and so this angel maker would have a huge job to do and insufficient resources to achieve much....
This week, we’re handing over to the excellent Jo Challacombe, who wants to talk about hiding in plain sight. Over to Joanne… Revealing your mental health condition in a world still marred with stigma and misunderstanding can be a challenging and potentially risky business. Sometimes, for our own wellbeing, it is necessary to hide in plain sight. I join in with the crowd of new acquaintances at the party. I laugh at people’s jokes and indulge them with the expected level of flattery....
Gotham: Season 2, Episode 21 Watching tonight’s excellent episode of Gotham,it’s hard not to wonder what this superhero show might look like with a shorter episode order. In many ways, Gothamis the most network-y show ever to network. It’s attention to villains-of-the-week isn’t a side effect of a 22-episode season order that requires a certain formulaic element, but rather a genuine interest of this story. No, “A Legion of Horribles” put the characters we care about all in one, dangerous place — Arkham Asylum — and gave us a complex villain we’ve slowly learned to fear over the course of this half-season....
Tonight’s episode began in the Dominican Republican, famous for its tropical beaches, bachata and mosquitoes, with two well-meaning doctors without borders. Diego, bitten by mosquito, leaving a mark that no one seems to notice and comment upon, returns to the loving embrace of his wife in Portland. It wouldn’t be Grimm if someone or something didn’t go bump in the night while most others are oblivious in their own world....
4.19 Iron Hans So, the cat’s out of the bag. In fact the cat leaped from the bag, wailing and scratching in spectacular fashion. There’s a public bust-up at the police station between the Grimm, his ex-girlfriend and his baby momma, shortly after Renard remarks: “I don’t know how this could get any more complicated.” Um, well Sean, we can think of recent Hexenbiest-half Zauerbiest entanglement that has yet to be revealed… But that remains under wraps for now....
This is a pretty crappy time slot, 10 pm on a Friday night, but I don’t get out much. SOMEONE must be watching this show, right? Charred bodies are found around Haven, but who is to blame? Nice to know that Jordan blames Nathan for failing with the whole barn situation. Duke tells Nathan that Audrey must just still be out there somewhere, and as Will leaves, Lexie DeWitt is willing enough to load a handgun and fire it to save Will....
As the hype gets yet more ubiquitous and everyone (even the Goddamn announcer) harps on about how great it is, Heroes still fails to impress me in the slightest. I spent my youth reading the X-Men comics and I’ve seen this story before. I don’t particularly want or need it fed through a pretentious, po-faced Lost filter and turned into yet another ‘slow-burning’ TV show with an ensemble cast of irritants and inconsequentials....
Arthur Petrelli is still wearing his ‘masters of the universe’ underwear, and smug expression, yet he lets Ando and Hiro get away when Ando unbelievably operates his power by squeezing Hiro’s face. The worst aspect of this season has been the utter rubbish they’ve given these two to do, and it doesn’t get any better here. Arthur’s grip on Hiro has taken him back to being a 10 year old, although at least they’re now transported far away to a bowling alley....
To better dive into this subject, let’s first examine this concept of grimness. Without going into spoilers, in Telltale’s more recent episodic adventure games like The Walking Dead Season 2 and Game of Thrones, there’s no denying that they’re filled with death and composed of dark storylines and environments. This sense of darkness frames both games and helps make the stories compelling, but there are times when the grim ambience seems to almost overshadow the creative potential of both games, making them feel heavy-handed—even predictably so....
Yes, this week had the same tired old Hulk as mother hen to A-Bomb with Red Hulk playing the brash foil conflict, and yes, the awesomeness of She-Hulk is still not being captured to any degree she deserves. But in this episode, the Hulks fight laser-laden dinosaurs in the Savage Land. Laser toting dinosaurs are always a cure all. At times, the episode feels like an old school Marvel Team-Up with Hulk, at first, fighting Devil Dinosaur before freeing him from Sauron’s control and teaming up with the classic Kirby beast....
There are a number of things I love about Hustle, one being that it has a visual flair and style that’s sadly lacking from many TV shows today. It’s almost a throw-back to the Lew Grade ATV productions of the seventies, which had a gloss that often seems to evade the production values of current products. But at its heart this is a classic ensemble piece that relies entirely on the convincing nature of the actors they’ve employed, and there are some great actors in Hustle....
Property developers have featured heavily on Hustle over the years, as they’re always knocking down people’s architectural memories, it appears. But that wasn’t enough motivation here, so they decided to make the nemesis of this week’s hustle a twisted TV performer whose shining star ended up in the skip. This element of the story worked well, as did the series of steps needed to reel Dale into the Hustle team’s property scam....
7.2 Old Sparks Come New Last week I had something of a downer on Hustle, thanks to an exceptionally lacklustre opening story. I’ve decided that a really good Hustle story requires a mark that’s beyond any redemption, a twist where the con goes wrong at some point, and it needs to have its dramatic tongue firmly in its cheek. Which is exactly what Old Sparks Come New delivered, delivering possibly the most entertaining Hustle story in a while....
After peaking somewhat early last week, Identity tried valiantly to keep the momentum going in Reparation, but overall this episode was a mixed bag. Bansi Dutta (Ramon Tikaram) is on the verge of signing a deal to buy a UK car maker with the backing of the government, except they want to make sure that he’s the person they think he is. Why this is actually important isn’t really covered because, based on his history, you’d think they’d be keen he was someone else....
