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This year, like every year before, the cruel and mighty gods of television descended to Earth to feast on the poorly-rated or otherwise unfortunate shows and banish them to eternity of damnation in the land of cancellation. As they made their way from network to network, shows old and new, dramas and comedies alike cowered in fear, uncertain of their fate. Only those few that had already been blessed with a renewal stood tall amidst the chaos and bloodshed.

At last, the gods knocked on the door of a small cottage on the outskirts of ABC, ready to devour another victim. Agents of SHIELD opened, a wicked grin on its face and a cup of wine in its hand, looked the gods straight in the eyes and said, "Not today, bitches".

In other words, AoS has been officially renewed for a 22-episode season 5, and if you can hear someone screaming outside your window, it's probably me failing to contain my excitement and joy. I've spent the last two months filled with anxiety, and now I feel like I can breathe again. Unfortunately, the show isn't coming back until mid-season because Inhumans are set to air in its timeslot in the fall, and it's moving to Friday at 9 PM, but honestly, I'm not going to complain. I'm just happy we're getting more episodes.

This was a little weird. I don't know why. The pacing was kind of awkward, maybe? Aida's death was a bit underwhelming and I feel like they rushed everything too much. But I still liked it. We got some awesome moments, like Jemma shooting Aida (* Mushu from Mulan voice * My little baby, off to destroy people), YoYo being ready to die with Mack in the Framework (if you're suffering and you know it, clap your hands), Daisy's speech at the end (she's shaping up to be a great leader). Overall, they wrapped up all loose ends, Aida's a pile of ash, the Darkhold is gone, Radcliffe's dead (that was a pretty amazing scene too, I can't believe they just cut him off in the middle of his big speech, what even). Daisy and Robbie had a major case of heart eyes going on and I really hope he returns next season. The whole team together in the diner was cute as well. And I guess the US government was so fed up with SHIELD that they just fucking launched them into space. I'm totally down for it. I can't wait for all the inevitable references to Guardians of the Galaxy.

Oh, and a round of applause for Mallory Jansen and John Hannah. I wish them both all the best. Their performances were incredible and they contributed to making this season great.

Well, that's it for now. See you all whenever season 5 premieres!

Without lots of action, without much of the popular Star Wars lore like the Force, Jedi, Lightsabers, this show delivers with every new episode.

It was very interesting to see that Mon Mothma was reluctant to delve fully into engaging the Empire in open Rebellion. We've never seen that side. I also like that they adressed that people are and will be dying like Luthen told her. It's not much of romantisizing. It's war. And the Empire responds the only way it knows how. By asserting even more power. By being predictable, thus playing into the Rebels hands.

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

Which at least some inside the Empire seem to understand while others still think of their position.

We also see the glimmer of hope from the people that things are about to change for the better when they hear off the attack on Aldhani. And althought Star Wars is not known for portraying contemporary problems within the story telling, I wonder if the similarities are just random.

I really interested how characters like Syril and Dedra will develop moving forward. Could they actually (well maybe one of them) end up with the Rebels ?

Oh, and the world building in this show is also great: Bureau of Standards. It's the Empire put in a single building and again something that reminds me of our present.

[9.1/10] Jean Smart is a revelation. Her Laurie Blake has a Dr. House-like aura, far from the semi-naive young woman following in her mother’s footsteps, she is the uber-competent, seen-it-all, as cynical as she is capable representative of the old guard. “She Was Killed by Space Junk” puts a lot on Laurie’s shoulders, and a lot on Smart’s shoulders, and the result is Watchmen’s best episode yet.

What makes the character's entrance work is that she is both a bridge to the original Watchmen story in the most direct way yet, but also someone who can offer a different perspective on the main story of this new series. So far, despite our sojourns to visit Veidt and the occasional flashback to Germany, this series has treated Tulsa as the whole world, with all of the events, political intrigue, unrest, and character having their lives orbit this one community and its larger tensions.

Bringing in Laurie Blake, the daughter of the original Silk Spectre and The Comedian and the head of the FBI’s anti-vigilante task force, as the feds’ representative to investigate Sheriff Crawford’s death, helps pull back our perspective a bit.

We see someone who treats Keane Jr. (who, I’m a little ashamed to admit, I just now realized is likely the son of the author of the original anti-superhero act) with contempt for his ambition and politicking rather than admiration and respect. We see someone who cuts through the protective veneer that the Tulsa police force has erected around itself, quickly getting secret identities, “racist detectors”, and closed ranks local communities in and intuitive, almost causal way. And we see someone who casts explicit doubt on masked cops being any different than the masks vigilantes she’s developed a sincere contempt for over the years.

So much of Watchmen’s early going has been steeped in Angela’s perspective on this community, on the threat the police are responding to, and on its major players. By filtering this now-familiar world through Laurie’s perspective, someone who comes with the authority of being an original Watchmen lead character out-of-universe and her family history in it, it gives the whole situation a different spin. Like the feds descending on a town with very specific power balances and investigating a ground-shaking murder in Twin Peaks, Laurie and her junior associate arriving in Tulsa gives us one more reason to question the rightness of what’s going here, on either side of the thin blue line.

In a much more direct sense, we’re left to wonder what’s going on either side of Adiran Veidt’s property. To be frank, “She Was Killed by Space Junk” more or less stops dead in the middle to check in with him. We see our most tactile outing with “the smartest man in the world” yet, watching as he draws up blueprints, sews and severs, and eventually creates a suit for one of his automatons to “explore the great beyond.’ That is, until, the experiment fails and his efforts to rectify it leave him running afoul of “The Game Warden.”

That leads me to my (admittedly somewhat out there theory): What if Ozymandias is on Mars? What if Veidt’s “captivity” as described in the letter, is him being transported somewhere by Dr. Manhattan, the erstwhile game warden, so as not to be subject to any threats or investigations on Earth. And now, Veidt is trying to test the limits of his gilded cage and see if he can make it out of his enclosure. There’s a bizarre, separateness to every part of Veidt’s story so far, something that seems itching for a big reveal to let everything fall into place, and that’s the best stab I can make at it so far.

But apart from my grand theorizing, Veidt’s interlude still seems like a detour from the major story of the episode in the from of Laurie arriving in Tulsa, sizing up Angela, and proving herself a formidable presence in the town and in the series. Part of how the show establishes that is with some of its best action sequences and most taught moments of tension.

That comes in the early scene, where Laurie smokes out a Batman-esque masked adventurer by tipping him off to a bank robbery, having her team be the bank robbers, and then springing the trap on him. It’s a great way to establish Laurie’s take-no-crap bona fides, her ability to get into the heads of the vigilantes, and her brutal sense of justice with her willingness to shoot the target in the back (with the implication that she didn’t necessarily know his body armor would stop the bullet).

And you see it at Sheriff Crawford’s funeral, where a member of the Seventh Kavalry (explicitly made a Klan equivalent in the text), tries to hold Senator Keane Jr. hostage with a suicide vest he claims is connected to his heart. Laurie doesn't hesitate, just grabs the ankle-holstered gun she snuck in and pops the guy in the head, with the bullet inches away from the senator. Turns out the hostage-taker was telling the truth, and Angela has to drag his corpse into the grave and push Crawford’s coffin on top of it to stifle the explosion. It’s a hell of a set piece, showing the two women’s capabilities when they work together, even if their exchange later in the episode shows them at odd.

But it also shows Laurie in line with someone unexpected -- her father. The woman we meet decades after the events of the original comic has taken her father’s surname, and with it, his worldview. Like her dad, she now works for the government, calling masked adventurers “jokes” and does the bidding of the FBI. Like her dad, she thinks all of the noble-minded vigilanteism is bullshit. And like her dad, she’s seen too much, done too much, lost too much, that to be anything but caustic would be too painful.

That’s why the piece de resistance of “She Was Killed by Space Junk” is the frame element of the episode, where Laurie tells a joke (well, technically two jokes) to Dr. Manhattan through a box that’s theoretically sending the message to him on Mars. It sums up her nihilism, where no matter whether you’ve done good, done bad, or don’t recognize the distinction, everyone’s going to hell anyway, so you may as well act accordingly.

Her tears on the phone, her final laugh at the absurdity of the car that falls out of the sky, signify the ascendance of someone who still remembers falling in love with Jon Osterman, who still laments that Dan Dreiberg is (apparently) in jail, and who has assumed the mantle of The Comedian, in deed if not in name. The original Watchmen was about the toll that a life of masked adventuring would actually take on the heroes we so admired in the comics pages. “She Was Killed by Space Junk”, then, is about the toll the events of Watchmen would take on the people who lived through it. Through the character of Laurie, and Smart’s tremendous performance, we see The Comedian’s legacy rearing its ugly head, long after the man himself, and the events his death spurred, have been laid to rest.

[9.0/10] There’s so much to talk about in this one. X-Men’s Quicksilver as Avengers Quicksilver! Bulletproof hotpants! 1980s TV spoofs! Scarlet Witch’s stand-off with Sword!

But here’s the thing that stands out to me, the thing that grabbed me the most while watching this “Very Special Episode” -- Vision confronting the woman he loves over what’s happening. That moment has extra oomph because of the effects. There’s something eerie about the two of them arguing over the end credits until they stop. There’s something scary about the two of them rising into the air at the same time they raise their voices to one another.

What stands out about it, though, is the emotional rawness in the moment. Vision isn’t just upset; he’s worried that he can no longer trust his wife, that she’s done something terrible to him, to everyone, and doing everything in her power to keep it from him. Wanda is trying to hold it together, feeling just as vulnerable and admitting she’s not even sure how this started. They are both just so messed up by what’s happening, so riven by it, but in ways that drive them apart over whether to tear this all down or do everything they can to continue propping it up.

The tenor of the scene is familiar to anyone who’s spoken with a loved one who’s unwell, who is not themselves, whether through grief or mental illness or some other trauma that jeopardizes their ability to process the world as it is. There’s an honesty to that scene, one that is frankly startling, and it’s the kind of place I never really expected an MCU project to go. It’s draped in reality-distorting fiction and the trappings of family sitcoms, but somehow that just makes it all the more disturbing and poignant when the truth of those moments bursts through those bracing layers of abstraction.

That’s bolstered by the second most stunning revelation of “On a Very Special Episode” -- that Wanda stole Vision’s corpse from Sword. More to the point, that he left a living will and wished never to be revived, not wanting to be anyone’s weapon. It’s plain that Wanda, either by herself or with the help of someone else, revivified him, and that he’s starting to reckon with the margins of what happened to him, if not the full picture.

He’s starting to see through the illusions and deceptions that Westview is made of. Again, the show does so well making the moments where it breaks the sitcom rhythms unnerving. Agnes’s “should I take it from the top” bit is eerie, and for once, Vision has a chance to realize it before Wanda resets things. Instead, she tries to play it off, tries to distract him with puppies and doorbells ringing and other head-fakes that Vision’s nevertheless noticing.

It comes through in the odd behavior of his coworkers, who respond to a Sword email by reading and laughing in unison. Vision briefly frees Norm, who is understandably frantic and undone and, most importantly, in pain over what’s being done to him. The secret truth of WandaVision is that it’s not a comedy show or sitcom homage or a superhero series. It’s a horror show, and Vision’s starting to realize that. He’s realizing that everything is wrong here, starting with him, what he can and can’t remember, and the mother of his children.

Meanwhile, there’s some more traditional but still cool developments on the outside. Monica Rambeau, Jimmy Woo, and Darcy Lewis are trying to save Wanda, trying to show her compassion despite what’s happening, while Sword Director Hayward thinks she’s just a terrorist who needs to be taken out. Meanwhile, our trio of familiar characters are finding solutions to the problem, realizing that 1980s tech can penetrate the Hex without being transformed by Scarlet Witch’s powers.

Of course, it doesn’t go unnoticed by Wanda, and she storms out of the Hex to threaten Heyward and everyone else when, unbeknownst to Monica, he tries to use their drone to eliminate her. It’s a scary moment, one only slightly cut by Elizabeth Olsen reverting to her dodgy Eastern European accent. We see definitively that Wanda has at least some control and awareness of her surroundings and what’s happening, enough to want to protect it from interlopers and those intruding on her surroundings.

It’s become increasingly clear why she’s so protective of her perfect bubble of happiness and what she is running from -- grief. The show channels that idea through 1980s sitcom pastiches in an amusing fashion, with Agnes as the friendly, albeit intrusive neighbor, kids growing up too fast, and dogs dying so that parents can give an important lesson about making peace with certain facts of life.

At the root of it, though, is a deep sense of loss and the artifacts of reckoning with death, something difficult whether you’re a child or an adult. Wanda says to her boys, and to herself, that she cannot reverse death, that they cannot turn away from it, because some things aren’t meant to be elided and some lines shouldn’t be crossed.

We confirm that she has brought the corpse of the man she loves back to life, presumably because she couldn’t deal with his absence and the tragedy of what happened to him. The commercial break this episode name-checks Lagos, the Nigerian city from Civil War where Scarlet Witch accidentally killed dozens of civilians when trying to redirect a blast, more mess than any paper towel could clean up. And she reflects, at her sons’ urging, on the loss of her own twin, Pietro, the only lifeline she had when she lost her parents at the same tender age Billy and Tommy are now.

So she does what she’s already done -- she brings him back, after a fashion. It’s an inspired bit of stunt-casting to bring in Evan Peters to quasi-reprise his role as Quicksilver. But beyond the jolt of the misdirect and reveal is a simple truth, that this whole thing is wrong. It is a coping mechanism, one meant to shield Wanda from yet another horrid demise marring her personal history.

So she, or some other force working with and through her, has constructed this place to evade that destabilizing realization. Vision is breaking out of it, shaking off the cobwebs of his violative rebirth and seeing through the comforting lies that Wanda is straining so hard to hold onto. It is difficult, hollowing, wounding to watch someone you care for undone by grief and trauma, dragging the world down with them. So much of what WandaVision does is clever or exciting or amusing. But what it does here is disquieting beyond words, and deeply, painfully true.

For me, the main question I wanted to know going in was, "Is this going to be better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".
Happy to report that, yes it's vastly superior in almost every area to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
But with that out of the way, does it compete/equal the originals, to which the answer for me was no.

But it had its moments and felt way more in line with "an Indiana Jones" movie than Crystal Skull and had it's share of flaws. I still think Hollywood should use younger actors or makeup/prosthetics instead of "de-aging CGI" as it continues to look horrible IMO, or at least use it the same way the used emerging CGI in the late 90's early 00's by keeping it in shadow/not the focus point.

The cast, both legacy and new are solid across the board, soundtrack and score work well, plot was a big fun dumb adventure that actually felt like following the breadcrumbs in a good way.

Not at all a bad film, but one that probably won't make my top 10 of the year, but unlike Crystal Skull this probably also won't make my worst 10 of the year either.

Okay. So here's the short recap for everyone confused:
Geralt saved Duny, father of Ciri (the hedgehog), by calming Calanthe down. As the price for saving his life he got the Law of Surprise as payment: Whatever's already in Duny's possision without him knowing it, is now Geralt's. Paveta, Ciri's mother, was pregnant at that moment and Duny didn't know about it. Therefore Geralt is destined to be Ciri's foster father. But both Calanthe and Geralt weren't fans and didn't honour the deal. So Destiny got angry and fucked things up for Calanthe and her kingdom by letting Nilfgaard invade Cintra successfully. Geralt knew about Nilfgaard's advances and wanted to save Ciri from it - by doing that he fulfilled the Law of Surprise and took his role as Ciri's foster father seriously. But he was too late. Cintra has fallen, Calanthe killed herself, and Ciri is on the run. There she meet elf kid, wandering into the Brokilon, trusting and following fake Mousesack for some time, before realizing her mistake and running away from Nilfgaard again. They are searching for her, because she has a power that seems to fulfill a prophecy about something End of the World-ish.

As I said again and again before: The books are not really that much more straightforward, maybe even less than the Netflix series. And they are intertwining lore and background only explained in the saga with the short stories of the prequel books, while also fleshing out Yennefer's and Ciri's story. And all of that within 7 episodes.

throws an Emmy at Chyler Leigh's head because somehow she manages to outdo herself every week and it's ridiculous

I didn't expect Supergirl to do a horror episode, but they actually kinda pulled it off. The scenes at the research station were sufficiently creepy. And the parasite looked really good.

Drunk Kara was absolutely adorable and hilarious.

The Guardian is fine. I liked James and Winn's interactions in this episode. Kudos to Jeremy Jordan for his angry speech at the DEO. It was amazing. And the idea to lace the suit with lead so Kara can't see inside it was pretty brilliant.

Is something going to happen to J'onn because of White Martian blood?

Well, Mon-El is dead. I mean, not really, but I can't say I'd miss his pasty annoying ass.

Now, let's get to the more emotional and less comprehensible part of this review:

Alex came out to Kara, and of course there had to be a misunderstanding, but that scene at Kara's apartment was beautiful. Everything about it was perfect, from the soft music and the warm lighting to all the acting choices. Alex talking about Maggie and calling her beautiful was just so pure and cute and it made me want to bite my hand off. You know the feeling. Don't lie to me.

AND THEN ALEX KISSED MAGGIE! I had to pause the episode and calm my racing heart. I was so excited and happy that I felt like I was about to explode. But underneath all that there was a nasty little gremlin sitting in my stomach, whispering "Maggie's gonna reject her", so I hesitated for a good minute before hitting play.

And guess what?

The gremlin was fucking right and I hate life.

Don't get me wrong. I want Alex and Maggie's relationship to develop slowly. And Maggie had a good reason for not wanting to get involved with a baby gay who's just starting to figure herself out. The calm, reasonable part of me knows that. But the far more vocal, far less logical part wants them to get together immediately.

Alex's heartbreak destroyed me. Holy shit. My poor baby. I'm sobbing because of her. The way she choked and stuttered and could barely talk... so real and completely devastating.

[7.4/10] Blaise Pascal came up with a philosophical concept known as “Pascal’s Wager.” It’s an argument to believe in God. Pascal maintained that if you believe in God, and He turns out not to exist, you’ve lost nothing, or comparatively little. If He turns out to be real, you gain the infinite rewards of Heaven. Whereas if you don’t believe, and God is real, you risk the infinite pain of Hell, the chance of which would outweigh any meager reward disbelief might grant you on this mortal coil.

Now there’s four centuries’ worth of counterarguments to this famous wager, so if you’ll pardon the expression, don’t take it as gospel. But it seems like the same argument He Who Remains makes to Loki and Sylvie: believe me and gain the power and glory you’ve always wanted, or don’t and face a terrible calamity. Our heroes (or anti-heroes) have to weigh that proposition, whether two beings innately prone to betrayal and mistrust should take this odd man’s pronouncements at face value, or instead assume he’s lying and risk multiversal catastrophe to bring free will back to the masses.

I don’t know what I would choose. There’s been enough lies and, frankly, weird shit in the last six episodes that I’d be ready to believe both that this mysterious, calm-but-deranged figure’s tale of inter-dimensional battle quelled into harmony and that he’s yet another huckster trying to preserve the status quo because it suits him and because agitators like our protagonist soon become flies in his ointment.

It’s enough to divide the Lokis. Sylvie is ready to kill him, tired of other people controlling her destiny, willing to believe that her counterpart has succumbed to the lures of glory and a throne. Loki is ready to buy his story, willing to leave a system he’s risked everything to overthrow in place and offer his trust to someone for a simple reason -- because he wants to keep this woman he loves safe. Do you unravel a lie that keeps the world stable and relatively peaceful, or do you slay the liar, discard his stories, and let the chips fall where they may?

The announcement of future films with subtitles like “Multiverse of Madness” and “Quantumania” tips the MCU’s hand here. But the ultimate choice, the debate, and the willingness to sacrifice oneself rather than betray another, have meaning despite that. The finale of Loki’s first season is essentially one big conversation with God, the Devil, or maybe just the showrunner personified in their own work, and it’s a compelling conversation.

It should be said, after fireworks-filled swan songs for the likes of WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it’s nice to have a season finale to an MCU show that is, outside of little swordplay, all talk. The rollicking action came last week, giving us a climactic and cinematic battle which cleared the decks for the major characters to mainly consider their actions here, and listen to the pitch, rather than blow things up before reflecting on them.

Perhaps that’s more possible since, as our mid-credits surprise indicates, Loki is the first MCU show to announce a second season. This is, then, a major mile marker along the series’s journey, not the end of it. More ground to cover gives the show room to hinge its finale on a choice and a discussion, rather than on fist-fights and explosions.
That discussion is led by Kang (Can we call him Kang? They don’t call him Kang, but it’s definitely Kang), a scientist and conqueror who spins the tale of forging multiversal peace from his own warring variants. I don’t know quite what to make of the character’s debut. Jonathan Majors (of Lovecraft Country fame) makes big choices as an actor, which I’m always inclined to admire, but there’s something off about him here.

Then again, maybe that works. Taken generously, this variant of Kang has “lived a million lifetimes.” He’s tired. He’s at peace with either two gods of mischief running the show or the throes of inter-dimensional combat beginning anew. He should be weird! Too often these godlike beings fall into the same tropes of stentorian-voiced automatons (something the Time Keepers’ presence low-key spoofs).

It’s refreshing, in its way, to have the man behind the curtain turn out to be some unpinnable weirdo, sitting in a big empty castle, shuffling papers and reacting with awkward bemusement to each new development. I’ll confess to having trouble connecting to the performance in the moment -- a little too much “Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor” quirkiness for my tastes -- but the acting choices align with the strangeness of the character, and the more I think about that, the more I can appreciate it.

We also see confrontations and teases from the rest of the cast. Hunter B-15 is spreading the word to her comrades, using proof in front of their faces that Renslayer is a variant, and by extension, so’s everyone at the TVA. It’s a smart, succinct way to show the fire spreading.

Better yet is the confrontation between Mobius and Renslayer. Just as Sylvie and Loki take differing approaches to the choice laid out in front of them, so do their TVA counterparts when deciding what to do with the knowledge that the TIme Keepers were a lie. Mobius announced last week that he was ready to burn it all down. But Renslayer stays firm, reasoning that even if there’s more to the story than they thought, there must be a reason for how things are, a justification to maintain the status quo, even if it’s not the one they thought.

It speaks to the essential question Loki has been asking from the beginning. What do you do when what you thought was your purpose is taken away from you, when the person you thought you were is upended? Renslayer clings to the wreckage, hoping the tides will push her where she needs to be. Mobius aims to bring the truth to the people, to stop what he once supported, as the best way forward. Sylvie breaks in the same direction, championing free will and a life unbound to a dictator, benevolent or not, no matter what transdimensional boogiemen he conjures up in warning.

And Loki too finds his purpose -- to save himself, only for once, that means saving someone else. There’s a meta quality to Loki’s season finale, with plenty of comments on this all being a game, or an effort to rewrite the story. You can even read it as a commentary on Marvel Studios’ quality control, maintaining this cinematic universe with consistency so that dozens of hours of entertainment can feel reasonably cohesive and connected. In a post-Endgame world, with gutsier and more out there concepts at play, this could be the MCU’s declaration that things are about to get wilder and woolier.

But for Loki, who tries to stave off that all-but inevitable unraveling of the multiverse, it’s about holding onto something, a bond to someone outside of himself that’s worth holding the rest of existence in thrall for, if it means keeping her near. Since his abduction and deconstruction by the TVA, Loki has found his new glorious purpose, and it’s Sylvie. Whatever infinite pleasures and punishments this would-be god presents to him, they can’t outweigh the presence of this person who changed his life. He bets on her. Let’s hope he doesn’t lose anyway.

And that's it! One of most intelligent, well written and delightfully acted series of the last few years has met its (probable) demise. For me, this was a fitting end that did not leave any stone left unturned, an end that brought peace to some characters and left a bitter taste in the mouth of others.

Oh man, how I've missed having both Howards in the same scene, bickering at one another... That's always been one of the most fun moments of the show!

That dialogue between Emily and Ethel was crushing me, not only because of the delicate and time sensitive issue that was at stake at the time, but also because I knew something bad was about to happen, I just did not know when. And then the first big loss of the show hit us... Poor Howard.

Howard Prime going all Hitman (so, doing what he does best) on those guys from the other side carrying the virus at the train station, surgically killing one by one and letting no single one of them escape was a very, very satisfying scene.

The ending for Quayle and Clare had a certain relief to it, their last scene was very sweet and I hope they'll manage to deal with their issues and raise Sara(h) as a genuinely happy and loving family.

In the end, Karma bit Mira in the ass, and that was also a very satisfying scene, watching Emily Prime savouring her final moment of victory in the guise of revenge (or is it the other way around?).

Fuck you, Starz, for pulling the plug on the most precious thing you had in your catalogue! Fingers crossed for another network to pick this one up, since the show's producers are currently shopping Counterpart around. There has got to be a network with good taste, out there!

Let's reopen the Crossing one more time, see you all in season 3 (make it happen, damn it!)!

[8.5/10] The original Watchmen comic was originally supposed to be mainly plot-focused, and only six issues long. But then when the order was extended to twelve, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons decided to fill that extra space with deeper dives into the characters, explorations of their backstories and motivations that would add dimension to the world and the ultimate conflict, without requiring the creators to pad out the plot with needless filler. And while it’s a decision born of format in some ways, it also made that graphic novel what it is -- a piece that doesn't just race headlong into its breathless mystery plot, but which crafted some of pop culture’s most rich and enduring figures.

So it’s nice to see HBO’s Watchmen following that same tack to some degree. “Little Fear of Lightning” does have its major revelations -- like the fact that, somewhat predictably, Senator Keane is involved with the Seventh Kavalry (and apparently so was Sheriff Crawford). It has big time plot developments, like Looking Glass effectively turning in Angela to the feds. And it adds some major pieces to the lore, like the fact that the U.S. government knew that the squid was a hoax and perpetuated the myth for the good social and political effects it had. There’s far more foundation-shaking events in this episode thanin the previous one.

Still, it is, first and foremost, a character story, one that digs into Looking Glass in an incisive, and ultimately heartbreaking way. In the prior episode, Laurie gave her assessment of vigilantes as people who decide to embark upon this way of life as a response to trauma, with their personas reflecting that trauma in some way. From that seed, “Little Fear” proves her right, at least for Looking Glass, whose choice of mask, and efforts as a policeman, are a direct reflection of his foundational trauma, one that just so happens to be “11/2” a.k.a. the giant squid attack on New York.

(As an aside, I love the detail that for however much this version of history differs from our own thanks to Dr. Manhattan and so on, Steven Spielberg is still an Oscar-winning director, who still made a famous prestige picture in the 1990s that still features a little girl in a red coat. Apparently some parts of our cultural past are just immutable.)

It’s noteworthy that Looking Glass is basically the Rorschach of this series, and yet it in an inverse way to the Moore/Gibbons original. He is morally exacting (although, ironically, against the very people inspired by Rorschach). He is lonely and essentially friendless. He is driven by a defining, awakening experience. He has a distinctive, inscrutable mask. And his childhood warped him a little bit, albeit on the side of having been overly repressed rather than exposed to a “den of sin” like Rorschach was. If the thematic ties weren’t enough, “Little Fear” shows Wade eating cold beans for good measure.

The ultimate irony of the episode, then, is that the thing that rattles the foundations of Wade’s world is the thing that Rorschach ended up working so hard to figure out and expose. After a lifetime of a near-crippling phobia due to the squid attack, after a career of priding himself on being able to discern truth from falsehood, he learns that the event that has effectively defined his life is a hoax, one hidden by the government and the people you work for. It’s a truth championed by the people Looking Glass has been hunting and written off as a conspiracy theory by the people nominally on his side.

Imagine what it would be like to have all of those pillars of your beliefs, your fears, your life, come crumbling down? Tim Blake Nelson absolutely sells the glass-shattering shock of that moment, of Wade’s sad, resigned little life, or his warm chances for human connection turned into a trap. For one episode, Lindelof and company focus on two questions: what is the effect a trauma like the squid attack would have on a person, and what would it do to their psyche to learn it was all a lie? By centering that story on one man, focusing on his personal struggles and bewilderment when the rug is pulled out from under him, Watchmen delivers arguably its most impactful and introspective episode yet.

It’s especially engaging to see the subtle ways that one seminal event directed the rest of Wade’s life. The cold open at a New Jersey carnival initially grabs you with the peculiarity of what’s going on. There’s a subtle ominousness to it (though that may just be leftover vibes from Us). And then it compounds a moment of humiliation and self-hatred with a moment of unimaginable tragedy. The big scream is a little much, but it’s easy to understand how a moment like this would burrow within Wade and effect everything else he does.

The episode plays that thought out nicely. The event itself causes him to live in isolation and run thousands of “drills” in the event of another extra-dimensional attack. Him being saved by the hall of mirrors at the carnival leads not only to his distinctive mask, but to a “reflectine”-lined baseball cap to keep psychic waves away. And the regrettable instance of his first romantic encounter being one where the girl was just toying with him to leave him embarrassed and humiliated is implied to have ruined his ability to trust another person in relationships. The episode underlines this all a little hard, but it’s strong writing that lets us come to understand Wade better.

So when he’s tricked by one more woman who uses affection as a lure for a different agenda (Deadwood’s Paula Malcomson!), when he realizes that the squid that he’s been living in fear of for four decades was a fabrication, when he sees once more that the people he’s been working for are working with the enemy, he rightfully doesn't know which way is up anymore.

“Little Fear” builds to his decision to turn in Angela, but it’s less focused on that than in the epiphany and internal sense of turmoil and lostness that would let such a steadfast person be able to make that decision in the first place. By putting the plot mostly on pause for an episode, and channeling the story through Looking Glass, Watchmen manages to advance both character and story more effectively than it could any other way.

(As an aside, I didn’t have a good space there to talk about Veidt’s latest escapade, but I’m intrigued by him both figuring his way out of his gilded cage, if only for a moment, making a plea for help, and truly and firmly running afoul of “The Game Warden” whose god has left him. I assume Veidt is on a planet full of life that Dr. Manhattan created? Who knows! And who knows who might be coming to save him!)

Another good episode, but I must admit that I was kinda disappointed by it as a season finale. It ended well, but the episode felt a bit off. It felt as though every single character just had a sudden change of heart, as though we had missed an entire episode of development. Obviously we knew certain characters were headed a certain way, but they just seemed to suddenly jump from say 60% of the way that they progressed through the last 7 episodes, to 100% just in this one. It felt kinda weird how Homelander just suddenly showed up and got Ryan too - it came out of nowhere. It was still a good episode, but I thought it felt a bit rushed.

Also kinda disappointed that we're kinda just back where we started at the beginning of the season, with no real way to take down Homelander. I was expecting Soldier Boy to take Homelander's powers and then we'd get to see a new side to Homelander next season since he'd be weak and dealing with having no powers. Instead, it seems we're going to get a lot of focus on Ryan and Homelander together - which I do like. I had also thought that maybe all of The Boys would end up with powers by the end of the season, but that didn't happen either (not that that's a bad thing).

Anyway, I thought this was a good episode, but an ever so slightly disappointing end to a fantastic season of TV. Can't wait for season 4.

I will be writing about Episode 1 and 2.

This season premiere was perfectly paced and very atmospheric. I think the general theme of the episodes and also this season is illusion. Mr. Robot talks about how reality is just an illusion, Phillip Price talks about how the government creates an illusion and Elliot tries to build himself an illusion of a normal life. This illusion equals normalcy and routine. There is this IT-saying: "Never touch a running system". And i think Mr. Robot (the show) tries to transfer this proverb to the real world. You should never touch a running system, even if you can improve something, because it causes disruption. That is what government and the society is about in general (in the thinking of Mr. Robot). But what does a hacker? He/She touches a running system. Sometimes to cause harm and chaos, but often hackers hack something to improve it. Lifehacks become a whole new meaning in this context.
The second part of this illusion-theme is the connection to magicians. The show confirms this magic connection in the QR-Code Easteregg, which leads to http://www.conficturaindustries.com/. If you google Confictura, you get to a handbook for stage illusionists . I remembered what i learned about magic tricks from The Prestige: There are three stages. The Pledge, where you set up the trick ("Look at this bird. Just a normal bird!"), the Turn (Bird disappears) and finally the prestige (Bird reappears). I think you can see this three stages in the season one finales and the two episodes in season two. Tyrell Wellick meets Elliot in the season finale (The Pledge), Tyrell disappears (The Turn) and at the end of episode two he reappears (The prestige). . Maybe we see more magic tricks in this season.
Some other observations: I really liked the acting, specially of Rami Malek and Portia Doubleday (Angela). Angela turned full American Psycho, i was amazed by her powerplay in the PR department. I would like to see her rise to a corporate power woman (and then her eventual fall). Rami's pivot of acting was the scene where he started laughing at Mr. Robot. That was a Joker-worthy performance. It really frightened me. We are also introduced to FBI-Agent Grace Gummer. I think she will be the counterpart to Elliot and fsociety in general. I liked her performance (Anyone else thought of Elsbeth Tascioni from The Good Wife?) and i am looking forward to see more of her.
To sum it up, this season beginning was fantastic and shows how good Mr. Robot is. Pacing, Atmosphere, Acting: It all was on pint and although the series is often slow paced it never gets dull.

[7.7/10] Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson are fun together. That might be enough to power this show alone. Both are talky, smart aleks as Loki and Mobius respectively, but they have different energies. Loki is theatrical, comical, smirking, and sarcastic. Mobius, by is wry and sardonic with a workaday wisdom vibe to him. The pairing clicks in the contrast. They’re close enough to mesh but different enough to compliment one another, and it’s the best part of the show.

But I like the plotting in this episode! If the first outing for the series set the table, this one finally starts serving up dishes, as Loki and Mobius actually get a break in the case. Loki realizes that his counterpart, the Superior Loki, is hiding out from the TVA in pre-apocalyptic zones, because her mucking about won’t leave any “time variances” since they’ll all be washed away by the impending disaster. Mobius cross-references that with a candy bar found at the scene of the crime in the last episode, and it leads them to actually locating their target.

Look, it’s not much, but it shows how Loki could be useful and clever when pointed in the right. It shows how Mobius is good at his job and right, however fleetingly, that this God of Mischief could be an asset to their investigation if used properly. And it plays by the rules established by the show of how time travel and detection work, while preserving the timeline. In a way, this is all a basic cop show plot, but dressed up in temporal finery and 1960s drudgery, the results are tons of fun.

I’m also a fan of Loki and Mobius’s conversation in the lunchroom about life, the universe, and everything. I’m a sucker for those sorts of navel-gazing conversations on the nature of existence, but I genuinely enjoy the two of them bouncing off one another in these grand matters of creation and philosophy. Mobius is intriguingly zen, chalking up anyone’s existence to a certain weirdness, resolving that existence is chaos, and being grateful this slice of chaos gave him the TVA. Loki, on the other hand, is not content to just ride the wave. He wants to know how things began and how they’ll end and seem to reject the notion of the Time Keepers forging order from chaos and allowing all souls to meet at the end in peace. These cosmological conversations are well-written, both in terms of getting at the big questions of existence in a compelling way and rooting them in differences between characters.

There’s also a lot of pure fun to be had here! The show opens with a good gag when we see a medieval scene and expect the heroes or villains have leapt far into the past, only to reveal that we’re seeing a Renaissance fair in 1980s Wisconsin. The droll librarian retorting to Loki’s every file request with “That’s classified” is a hoot. And Loki himself, making goofy mischief in pre-volcano Pompeii is utter delight.

The one catch is that the show is less interesting every time Loki and Mobius are separated, more or less. I’m not wild about Mobius’s interactions with his boss, Renslayer, which has a very generic, “I get results, chief!” vibe with a 1940s screwball twist. I’m not averse to the vibe, but the execution is generic.

Likewise, the final setpiece in a futuristic ersatz Wal-Mart didn’t do much for me either. Superior Loki using her abilities to hop bodies is a trick, but none of her hosts are as good at spouting smug, knowing dialogue as Tom Hiddleston is. Her motivations are opaque, which is fine at this juncture, but still a hindrance for a series’s villain. And the action is choppy and mild, with none of the flair of the time-dilated dust-ups from the last episode. The one saving grace is that Superior Loki’s immediate ploy to massively disrupt the timeline is a promising hook. Setting up the TVA to work like clockwork, only to have a variant of our favorite Trickster God throw a cosmic monkey wrench into the proceedings promises entertaining disarray to come.

Overall, though, I’m still most compelled by just watching two superb actors and two stellar characters bounce off one another in a high concept scenario. The plot remains a little convoluted if you stop to unravel it, but works well enough on a scene-to-scene basis that it’s easy to get the gist even if the details are fuzzy. I do appreciate the “It’s not about you” kiss-off at the end, which may be a metonym for the series’s main theme, and there’s zing in what the narrative promises will come next, but after two episodes, I’m still mostly here to watch a pair of quality scene partners have fun together.

(Spoilers for Star Wars: The Bad Batch: I find it funny that in two months, Disney+ has released two shows with a setup of “Here’s a scenario featuring lots of different versions of a popular character only -- wait for it -- one of them’s a girl!”)

This finale feels like not just a finale for Season 2, but Season 1 as well. It wraps up the plot that has been worked on since Season 1, and in some ways turning it to full circle, e.g. Butcher's quest for Becca, A-Train subplot, Hughie's self-discovery, and the rest of The Boys's relationship with each other.

As usual, The Boys does the best job when they take a jab on current corporatist-political climate.

“People love what I have to say. They believe in it," Stormfront confidently said. "They just don’t like the word Nazi." A racist superhero is Vought's darling - one that casually screams lingos like "white genocide" to young boys. Seemingly contradictory considering Stan Edgar, who would be target of racism, is Vought's CEO. But Edgar insisted that it is not about him. "I can’t lash out like some raging, entitled maniac," Stan Edgar responded as he smiled when confronted on what he did, "That’s a white man’s luxury." Anger drives demands for securitization. Demands for securitization drives demands for Compound V. Vought just "play with the cards we're dealt." Like Maeve's bisexuality that Vought plays, racism is just another card to eventually drive profit. Be it racism or empowerment, they are all smoke and mirrors.

But of course the thickest smoke and mirror is not a mere woke capitalism - something we can already obviously see. The thickest smoke is one that makes us think that within this war of attrition, another hero existed, and they would fight for our cause. We follow them as they march - our symbol of hope. This episode reveals something that has been foreshadowed very early in this season: "it's a fucking coup from the inside," said Raynor, before her head got blown into bits. Neuman, an obvious parody of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, raised into the spotlight as an opposition toward Vought and Homelander. But as it is revealed that it was her who was blowing people's head, and she has blown the church leader's head too as soon as she knew he has files on supes, it is revealed that she is actually a controlled opposition by Vought. Like the politicians who hail from Democratic Party, a part of ruling oligarchy, The Boys takes another jab that we should really never trust heroes, be it in the form of supe or another.

This reveal is also a very nice setup as it closes the arcs on Season 1 and 2, and prepares for another arc coming in Season 3. It gets interesting as I had myself asking, "can Homelander end up being our hope now?" This sort of dilemma is what piqued my interest in The Boys; we can't really easily label one as evil and another as good, as - like in real life - today's enemy can be tomorrow's ally, and vice versa.

That being said, I do not think this episode is a perfect ten. Butcher's quest for his wife, for example, was quite unsatisfying. Becca, despite having a lot of screen time, does not possess actual agency, and more like a side character who happens to be involved in Butcher's bigger story. Despite revolving around his infatuation with his supposedly long-dead wife, the way the subplot climaxes leaves much to be desired as Butcher seemingly sidesteps Becca's death. How would Butcher reconcile with such heavily emotional feeling, after years of losing her, finding her, and now he is losing her again? How would Ryan, her son, react to the loss of the only guardian he ever knew in all his life? Those questions remain unresolved. We get to see more time of Hughie and Starlight bonding - while it resolves the tension in their relationship, there is not much resolution or development going on in that aspect.

In addition to that, while watching girls trio beating up Nazi is fun to watch (though it seems to lean more on the cathartic side too much) - and especially funny since it is another parody at Marvel, the forced "girl power" scene in Endgame - Maeve's appearance seems a bit too convenient, deus ex machina that resolves not just the issue with Stormfront, but also Homelander. The Boys has been sort of weak in the last three episodes in employing deus ex machina, something I wish could be worked on more on the next season.

All in all though, this is a much better finale than Season 1's.

Legends: break the first rule of time travel, meet their past selves, fuck up all of time to the point where there are fucking dinosaurs running around present-day LA

Barry, watching from the sidelines: throws his hands up in disbelief, shakes his head, walks away muttering curse words under his breath

Yup, the level of hypocrisy is staggering. On the other hand, if I had to choose between living in Doomworld and risking the possibility of ending up with a T-rex in my backyard, I wouldn't even hesitate.

Eobard got fucked! Yes! That was so satisfying.

Is Rip gone for good? My guess is that he'll pop up every now and then in season 3. I'm glad he won't be around all the time, though. He said it himself: "This team has functioned far better in my absence than it ever did under my leadership". Preach. Sara makes a really great captain. And the team we've got now is so well-balanced. Everyone contributes something and has their own stories, struggles and character development. That's one of the things that made season 2 so much better than season 1 and honestly, Rip's absence helped with that.

The scene between Sara and Laurel was so emotional and tear-jerking. I'm so proud of Sara for being able to overcome her personal desires and do the right thing.

I can't believe how fun this season was. I had a blast watching each new episode. I'm very excited for season 3. I guess we have 6 months of waiting ahead of us now, huh?

Superb episode! We finally got to know how all this mess began, narrated by the person who witnessed all of it, from the very beginning. It was exhilarating to watch the events unfolding with the inevitable decay of the relationship between what are now the members of upper Management. I was absolutely thrilled when it was shown exactly when the two worlds drifted apart (such a mundane thing, who would have known?). The scene with all those rats feeding on each other was a chilling and appropriate metaphor for the current state of the relationship between both worlds.
This episode was excellently executed, giving us in great detail how things turned to shit.

It's just a pity that one of the things I was looking forward to knowing the most wasn't revealed: how the flu that devastated the other world was released. Sadly, they didn't elaborate on that, and I found the short reference they made about it to be quite underwhelming.

This was one of the best "origins" episodes I've ever watched in any show and an essential narration of the background story that gave birth to this show that we know and love (well, at least I do).

Geez, this episode was a rollercoaster. I have so many thoughts and I’m not sure if I can express all of them properly, but I’ll try.

First of all, Mon-El is not bad, but he’s not particularly interesting either. I really hope he and Kara will stay friends and nothing more. His scenes with Winn were pretty great, though. And hungover Winn is absolutely hilarious.

Something about Lena Luthor’s accent has been bothering me since the season premiere, and I finally got around to looking up Katie McGrath. She’s Irish, as it turns out. My ears weren’t deceiving me. By the way, is Lena evil? Does she know Kara is Supergirl? Something about their conversation and the way she stared after Kara seemed shady. Frankly, I don’t care if she’s one of the good guys or a villain. I’m fine with either.

Miss Martian is a White Martian! I’m having an aneurysm! I didn’t see that one coming at all. What an awesome plot twist. I really enjoyed the relationship between her and J’onn in this episode and I can’t wait to see what will happen when J’onn finds out who she really is.

"- I offered to merge with her in the Martian way.
- But you guys just met."

I literally had to pause the episode because I was laughing too hard. Oh, Kara.

Dichen Lachman is always a win. Dichen Lachman playing a villain in a red dress with sick tattoos? Double win. I hope we’ll see Roulette again at some point.

Alex „Fight Me” Danvers, the same Alex Danvers who throws herself at aliens twice her size without hesitation, stutters and gets flustered when a pretty girl compliments her. What an awkward baby gay. I love her so much.

Why did Maggie take Alex’s hand? Don’t tell me it was for the mission because there was no need for them to hold hands. I’m pretty sure the writers only threw that in to give me (and Alex) a heart attack.

Of course Maggie has a girlfriend who conveniently showed up when Alex was trying to ask Maggie out. I hate it when they do that. We all know that the girlfriend is just a plot device created for the sole purpose of keeping Alex pining for Maggie for a little longer. They did basically the same thing with Kara, James and Lucy last season, except Lucy ended up actually getting some character development and being relevant to the plot. I’m willing to bet it won’t be the case here.

Shoutout to Chyler Leigh for her phenomenal work. She did an amazing job of showing Alex’s inner turmoil, sadness and disappointment with just her facial expressions as she watched Maggie leave. It was stunning to watch.

Omg, this episode is hilariously terrible. How is it possible to make something this terrible?
First of all, why the hell is Barry their father? Afaik their still themselves and "Nora" is the Speed force, a primordial force of nature who's been reborn, they even say that in the episode. So, again, why is he their father? Just because I create my dinner doesn't it's my child. Stop it, it's terribly cringe.
Second, how is Psych faster than Barry? He's literally a speedster supposedly faster than anyone, yet he's caught every damn episode, at this point you might as well take away his powers for good.
And third, why the f*ck does Barry need a stupid, sappy ass speech ever goddamn episode? God, just rehashing the same trash every episode, just do something different, just give us something good. The most exciting thing that's happened the last 4 seasons, apart from Barry meeting Justice League Barry was Frost vs Flash and him turning evil.
This episode was just so awful that I was laughing the entire time because of the stupidity of the episode with them being "family" even though they literally never met each other. I must say I did quite like Psych tho, he adds a much needed dynamic to the show other than the feel good, extremely nice characters of the show.
Honestly, if it wasn't for the Flash being one of my favorite superheroes of all time since I was a kid, I would've stopped watching this a long time ago. I sincerely hope this show ends for good at the end of this season, Grant is a great actor and deserves better than to waste away on this God awful show.

YASSSSSS! Get ready, HYDRA, Quake is coming for all of your asses. As soon as I saw those Terrigen crystals in the lab, I knew Daisy was going to get her hands on them somehow. With only 4 episodes left, they really need to start wrapping up the Framework business soon. At least Radcliffe told Daisy how to get out (their whole conversation was absolutely heartbreaking, by the way; I never thought I'd feel bad for Radcliffe, but I'm kind of a mess because of him now). I was afraid Aida would interrupt them or kill him before he got the chance, but apparently even she can't predict everything.

I like how Jemma is obviously struggling with accepting the fact that even though the Framework is not real, what goes on inside it feels real. It's even more challenging for her now that she's met Mack because he is pretty much the only team member who is happy in the Framework. Coulson feels ashamed of the part he played in spreading HYDRA's lies, May has to live with the consequences of what she did in Bahrain, Mace lost everyone he cared about, Fitz is arguably the most miserable of them all (even if he doesn't realize it). But Mack has his daughter and a quiet life, and the world ruled by HYDRA may be horrible, but he's probably happier here than Jemma's ever seen him in real life and you can see her determination waver, if just for a second. Because she knows that in the end, she'll have to take his little girl away from him, and sure, Hope may not technically be real, but she talks and smiles, and plays, and makes her father laugh, and she's smart, and sweet, and how can Jemma possibly tell Mack that his child is just a string of ones and zeroes?

I will never be able to look at Iain de Caestecker the same way again. Evil Fitz is genuinely frightening. One moment that really got me in this episode was when he wiped his hands after hitting Daisy. As if she, an Inhuman, was filthy. It made me feel a little bit sick.

We finally got to meet Fitz's father, who looks a lot more unassuming than I imagined (but to be fair, at this point I pretty much imagined Hitler, so there's that). But he's exactly as cold, aloof and ruthless as I expected. What could Fitz's mother possibly have seen in this guy?

I loved the scene when we saw a crack in May's façade. You could really feel all the pain she hides beneath. She just can't catch a break, can she? She kills a little girl, it shatters her into a million pieces and she has to live with the weight of it. She saves the little girl, hundreds of people die, Nazis take over and she has to carry a different kind of a burden, one that isn't any lighter or easier to bear. At least she's awake now. I knew Coulson would be her trigger, even if he himself doesn't quite remember their relationship.

Antoine Triplett, as I live and breathe! It's been so long. I never thought we'd see him again. Remember when he and Daisy (who was still Skye back then) were partners and went on missions together? Good times.

Mace's death didn't come as much of a surprise, but it was poignant and beautifully done. I never really bonded that much with his character, but it still hit me right in the feels. I wonder who's in charge of SHIELD now.

It's super cool when a show has built enough of its own mythology to be able to drop references to things that happened in the previous seasons. There were plenty of those here: Coulson getting "hives" when looking at Ward, Cal's super strength serum with a drop of peppermint, Bakshi's brainwashing recording... It feels so satisfying when you've been watching something for years and the showrunners put those little Easter eggs in there, like they're asking, "You get it, right? You see what we did there?"

(Yes, I do.)

All the Framework episodes have been excellent so far, and it's kind of hard to rank them, but dare I say this was the best one yet?

You know what the sad thing is? I didn't appreciate Laurel enough when she was on the show. This episode only reminded me what a big hole she left when she died. And damn, it made me emotional.

I actually love the "characters are in a simulation and start to realize that something's not right" storyline. This was really well-done.

I wondered where the newbies were during last night's episode. I'm not that fond of them, but I'm glad they included them here, if only for the sake of continuity.

Kara and Barry's high five in the middle of a fight was just the cutest thing ever. This is one of my favorite relationships in the Arrowverse. They are absolutely adorable together.

Holy cow, that spaceship looked freaking amazing. And I'm happy that the Waverider and Nate made an appearance. I guess we'll see everyone in the Legends part of the crossover. Maybe we'll finally get some actual alien ass-kicking.

Oh, and how could I forget? This is the 100th episode of Arrow! Congrats! It hasn't always been smooth sailing, but I'm still happy for the show. It was great to see all the characters we've lost along the way and remember how much Arrow has changed since the pilot. Some of the changes have been for the better. Some for the worse. But all in all, I still enjoy the show and episodes like this remind me why I fell in love with it in the first place.

[9.5/10] Holy hell. This was incredible. I love that after A New Hope pulled a lot from classic Japanese films like Yojimbo and The Hidden Fortress, the franchise is coming full circle. Japanese artists are now translating the tropes of Star Wars back into a feudal Japan setting, and it could hardly be cooler.

The art here is just gorgeous. This is the most beautiful blend of 3D animation with 2D flourishes since Klaus. The choice to go black and white, with only electronic things like lightsabers, droid lights, and whistling birds appear in color creates a striking aesthetic. And the design choices are downright stunning, from straw-covered R2 units, to the force-sensitive combatants and their artistically-conceived hair and clothing, to vehicles, weapons, and whole species reimagined with an ancient Japanese flair.

The basic premise works just as well. The notion of a Sith warlord coming to harass a humble village, while a calm ronin springs into action to save the innocent from their oppressors, fits wonderfully into this new rendition of Star Wars. That’s no shock. Episode IV reinterpreted a number of standard ronin tropes into a space setting, and watching those tropes reabsorbed and remixed back into a feudal setting is a thrill.

The action here is top notch. This is one of the best lightsaber battles we’ve seen in ages, with stellar choices in the blocking, shot-selection, and choreography. I love the little choices like letting the “camera” focus on the Sith’s hood floating away in the wind while we only hear the sound of her clashing with the hero. There’s a real mood and atmosphere which adds to the epicness of the confrontation. Intensity in the pace, eye-catching poses, and clever shifts and ruses to get the upper hand all make this a stand out among Star Wars skirmishes.

I’m also a big fan of the texture to this one: little moments that don’t contribute that much to the fairly simple “story” but which add color and intrigue to the world the characters inhabit. A ten-year-old being the chief because his dad’s asleep or ran-off, the hunched tea-maker fixing the droid, the bounty hunters fighting back against the Sith are all little details, but make this world feel more alive and lived-in beyond the immediate story.

On the whole, this is one hell of a coming out party for Star Wars: Visions. I’ll confess, I’m not much of an anime afficionado. But “The Duel” is enough for even a relative neophyte like me to sit up and take notice.

Violent. Bloody. Dark. Gritty. Bloodier. Finally, a DC show done right!

If this premiere is anything to go by, I'm so glad to have this show among us! DC's TV series gave been mostly uninteresting, to use an euphemism. With the exception of the more mature and better accomplished Fox's Gotham, the CW offering has been nothing but a subpar series of shows clearly aimed at teens. But Gotham will have its finale next year, leaving an uncomfortable void in the universe of DC's TV series. Though it's rather premature to affirm this, I am betting that Titans is stepping in to fill that gap just nicely. This pilot episode gave me almost everything I'd want in a DC show.

Being used to watch Teen Titans on the Cartoon Network with my little niece, I was disappointingly expecting this show to be in the same league of all those CW series. But, after only a few minutes, I was so happy to be wrong! They made sure to let us know that this ain't a show for kids. The premise, though barely scratched in this episode, looks promising and the few characters that appeared look intriguing and appealing. This was a pilot episode well done in the sense that I'm already craving for more. And that's all a pilot episode should do.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the way they've kicked off what is shaping up to be DC's most somber show yet.

Fuck Batman!

I can't believe it's been almost 2.5 years since season 1. Just to put it in perspective, i was in my 2nd year of high school when this show first premiered, and now I'm at university. Time really does fly.

Krysten Ritter was born to play Jessica. Sometimes it feels like the MCU actors are grown on a farm of some kind and genetically engineered to play their characters. She channels all the anger, all the hurt, all the brokenness (I thought there was no way it was a real word, but it is! I love the English language) perfectly. Without her talent and charisma, this show would never work. She deserves all the awards for her performance.

So this season we're going to explore Jessica's past. Hey, I'm hyped. It's going to be interesting to see her get to the roots of her trauma. I can smell the angst from here.

(Also, can I just say, Jessica wearing the same pair of jeans every day and alternating between like two identical shirts makes her the most relatable character in all of MCU.)

Jessica and Trish's relationship is my favorite, so seeing them conflict hurts my heart. I hope they'll get past it soon and work together, like they should be.

Cheng is a fucking asshole. I hate him already. Sure, Jessica making a punching bag out of him wasn't cool, but honestly, after what he said to her, I can't find it in myself to feel bad for him.

Hogarth is dying, isn't she? I wonder how it will impact her actions this season.

Good season premiere overall. I'm happy to have this show back. I'm looking forward to binging the rest of the episodes!

[8.7/10] I should have known. There was a somber, spiritual quality to this one even before the ending. It’s hard to put a finger on, but it’s something like the moment before the “storm” hits in a Spielberg film, just the notion that there’s something big on the horizon, and this isn’t your average mission.

There’s a delicacy and sense of preparation for an ending when Kanan cuts his hair and shaves his beard, as though he is purifying himself, returning himself to a different state. I think part of my sense for Spielbergian vibes comes from the moment when Zeb launches our heroes onto their glider-based rescue mission, with the orchestra swelling and the glow of the sky shining down, giving the adventure a different sort of feeling. And of course there’s that final moment of sacrifice, of love, made real with a cloud of fire and the sounds of personal rapture.

He knew. He had to know. Or at least suspect. Throughout the episode, Kanan carries himself with a sense of peace, a sense of acceptance, that suggest his meditations made him aware of what the Force was guiding him toward. There’s a reason he pushes Ezra to lead. There’s a reason he embraces Hera like it’s the last time he’ll ever see her. There’s a reason he has an odd calm about this mission -- because he knew how it would end, if only in broad strokes.

And yet for any episode with so much momentousness to it, so great a sense of stakes and electricity in the air, “Jedi Night” is an oddly funny, charming episode. It turns over much of the half-hour to the playful, fraught, but ultimately heartfelt dynamic between Kanan and Hera, and let’s the show revel in that one last time before it’s seemingly fated to be ripped away.

Part of that comes from the fact that Hera is hopped up on truth serum from the interrogation droid (of A New Hope Fame) which leaves her loopy and a little more upfront. The way that Kanan returns her family’s sacred idol to her, and she deadpans to the effect that it’s not much of a gift if it’s something that already belongs to her, is the right sort of interpersonal comedy that works for me. The way she slurs and sways, a little bit, but shows utter trust in Kanan, brings out the humor, but also the complete charm of the two of them together.

Ezra and Sabine’s part of the episode feels much more perfunctory, if necessary to set up the plot mechanics of the episode. Watching the two of them sneak around Governor Price’s compound, comandeer an imperial vessel, and plan the latest of their ramshackle getaways has its moments, but it’s the same stuff we’ve seen from Rebels for ages now. It’s all done well enough, but it’s become standard operating procedure in a way that makes it feel like mere connective tissue for the more important business between Kanan and Hera.

The same goes for Rukh (literally) sniffing out the rebels. Rukh’s a pretty dull hatchetman, who provides, at most, a temporary obstacle for our heroes in a way that makes him seem like filler absent his stature as another character reclaimed from the old Extended Universe. His fight with Kanan has some juice to it, but on the whole, he too feels like something thrown in to raise the stakes rather than something the narrative demanded.

Still, what separates “Jedi Night” from a standard episode is the way, despite that perfectly solid but less-than-overwhelming material, heightens both the atmosphere of the episode and the connection between Hera and Kanan. The show has played up the pair’s semi-forbidden romance for much of this season, with varying results, but here it turns over much of the episode’s runtime to just letting the two be with one another, converse with one another, fight with another, laugh with one another, and ultimately love one another.

It’s the kiss we (or at least I) didn’t know we wanted so badly. After years of keeping things ambiguous or actively teasing them, Hera professes her love for Kanan, and Kanan returns her affections. The Ghost crew is characteristically and sweetly unsurprised, and it’s a well done culmination of all that there’s been between the two of them over the course of the series. The show earns this moment, both from the years of partnership we’ve witnessed, and for the connection the show puts on display here.

But in heartbreaking, Whedonesque fashion, the show turns such a beautiful moment into a tragic one. Kanan and Hera’s kiss takes place on top of an imperial fuel tank, which Governor Pryce orders blown up as soon as they’re in range. That leaves Kanan using his force abilities to hold the fireball at bay just long enough for the rest of our heroes to get away. He uses the same abilities to force Hera onto their commandeered ship and out of the way of the blast. His compatriots are left to watch him be consumed in flame, like so many Jedi past and future.

And yet, it isn’t sad exactly. It is affecting, certainly, and powerful undoubtedly. But that sense of peace, of acceptance, from Kanan diffuses out through the television screen. He was prepared for this. He has embraced it. And as heartbreaking as it is that he gets but one moment to embrace his feels for Hera fully, he ends his life doing what he did best with the person he loved. He got that moment; they got that moment, and the episode pays tribute to all that led up to it before it has to end after such a fleeting existence.

It is a bold move to (at least seemingly) kill off one of your main characters with six episodes still to come in the series. Rebels was always going to have to deal with why Kanan’s Jedi abilities weren’t around to help Luke or the rebellion, and this answers the question in a satisfying fashion. But what make it satisfying is that the show doesn’t go for something over the top, or dramatic, or full of endless battles.

Instead, it goes for the somber and peaceful. The score does much of the work for the ending, but the imagery is one of a man who has accepted his fate, who loves his friends, and loves one of them in particular, but who is ready for what’s to come. “Jedi Night” feels different from other Rebels episodes from the very beginning, something that should have clued us into the series-shaking change in the offing, but which makes Kanan’s exit appropriately rich, meaningful, and spiritual, not just dramatic.

Oh lord. My mind just blew. I can't wait to see next episode but I need to digest this one first. Otherwise I think I won't sleep tonight.

Who would've told me that Egon Tiedemann's timeline would be the one that I'd be more interested in! I didn't quite like the character back in season 1. Now, all I want is for him to tie everything up and find out the truth before dying.

One of the parts that I loved the most was Egon's relationship with Claudia. I seriously got the goosebumps when old Claudia apologized to him. "Die Welt hat dich nicht verdient". And those three scenes in a row with Claudia and Egon, in 3 different rimelines. Damn, it was too good.

That poor family can't catch a break. His dad had cancer and now she sees her poor daughter going through the same. My heart broke when Claudia saw Regina. And only a couple of minutes ago she complemented her hair. Damn.

Noah and Agnes. I can't wait to see what's gonna happen next. And Noah mentioned Charlotte. Could he be her father? He looked really shocked and then he lied to Adam. Also, maybe it's just me but since everyone seems to be related to one another somehow, I'm starting to even doubt that Tronte's dad is dead. Maybe I'm overthinking it but, could it be possible that both Noah and Agnes are her parents?

Also, my heart hurts for Ulrich. I just hope he gets reunited with Mikkel. I'm just thinking now that Ulrich und Adam are connected somehow. Or maybe Ulrich is Adam. I remember he said something along the lines of "We all get what we deserve" last episode and Adam, at the end, said the same. "Am Ende bekommen wir alle, was wir verdient haben". Maybe it's just a stretch, but who knows with this show.

I'm sick and tired of Helge's mom. Her coldness really freaks me out. She reminds me of Serena Joy in The Handmaid's Tale. And also, there's something really wrong with her and Noah. It's like she's deeply in love with the guy.

So... It's looking like Colony won't be renewed for a 4th season, unless another network picks it up. This season had its ups and downs but let's look back at the season and at where the show is leaving us.

Season 3 began with the family and Snyder leaving the LA bloc and Broussard following shortly after. We finally got to see outside the walls and learn more about the hosts. The resistance camp and Seattle might not have been the most enjoyable story arcs at first, but they served to tell us about the bigger picture of the hosts and the imminent arrival of their enemy. The promised resistance also wasn't what it seemed to be, proving that there were bad people everywhere.

The show spent a long time focused on the collaborators, we witnessed their actions and this season told us that it wasn't just about power, greed or fear, it legitimately also was about survival, and what comes next. In that situation what would you have done?

It's too bad we won't get to see more of morally grey characters like Kynes, now that Snyder has gone full dark. With the IGA gone and the war beginning, I think the show would have had a lot more liberty to develop the stories of Seattle and the war side by side, maybe even do something with Bram. But unless we're surprised, it appears the show will stop right before the war it's been preparing for since the first episode begins, leaving us with what feels like the prelude to a bigger story.

I totally called the double wedding thing! And I actually loved it. Everyone's vows were really sweet. And I also think that closing the will-they-won't-they part of Oliver and Felicity's relationship will be good for both the show and the shippers. Less stupid drama.

I had to pause the episode for a few minutes when the Professor died because I was bawling too hard. It was so devastating. And Jax letting him go was so painful... I couldn't stop crying. Rest in peace, Martin. I do hope they will bring Victor Garber back eventually, but this was a beautiful send-off for his character.

I wish Barry had killed Eobard. I'm sick of him. But it was a fun contrast to see Oliver just shoot his doppelganger straight in the chest without hesitation. Get wrecked, Nazi. Same goes for Overgirl. Good fucking riddance.

I was happy to see Ray, Nate, Amaya and Zari. I was afraid they wouldn't use them at all in this crossover, which would've been a waste. Oh, and I'm glad Dig showed up too.

This crossover ended too quickly. It was so much fun! I hope they keep this 4-hour, 2-night format next year. It worked extremely well here.

I love kickass ladies more than anything, so I liked this episode. I do think the "#feminism" thing was kind of cringeworthy though. Like, girls teaming up and kicking ass was literally the focus of this episode, you don't have to tell us that it's feminist. We know. I'm a feminist myself and I'm 100% here for female empowerment, but the way they tried to bring attention to it every 5 seconds was grating. If you keep making a big deal out of powerful and capable women, it will never be seen as something normal and common (which, you know, it is). Instead, it will feel gimmick-y. Fortunately, this was probably a one-time thing and Caitlin and Iris will go back to being casual badasses in the next episode.

My favorite part was that Caitlin and Iris had so many scenes together. Seriously, I've been waiting for so long for their friendship to develop into something more than just work colleagues. This is the brOTP that we deserve.

Drunk Barry was so hilarious. My sweet boy, crying over Jack and Rose. But he's a scientist, he should know that just because the door was big enough for the two of them, it doesn't mean that it could hold both of them. There's this thing called buoyancy, you know. They totally could've taken turns though.

Also, did Felicity really say "The Incredible Hulk"? Are they allowed to name-drop Marvel heroes?

ET gets a remake! What a great episode! Definitely one of the best ones I've seen! So much cuteness in just 42 minutes and now I have alien goo in my eyes!

"Isn't that adorable!" Ray "cinnamon roll" Palmer is just simply adorable. The more I know about his childhood the more I fall in love with his character. Gumball was simply lovely! That cute little baby dominator! That head-bobbing while watching Singing in the Rain. Gold. I was looking forward for some insight into Ray's childhood and backstory and here it is.

It was surprisingly emotional. I connect with little Ray in every way possible. His words really pierced my heart. Props for the actor who plays young Ray. He made me laugh, he made me cry and he definitely won my heart.

Zari's character development was perfect. She was great. She being supportive of little Ray was cool. She's so much fun and her dynamic with the team was great as well. She's a great addition to the team.

I really loved Stein's interactions with Jax and calling him family, especially know that we know Victor Garber is leaving the show. And he named his grandson Ronnie! Cute.

I love the writers of this show and the big nerds they are. So many E.T. references. This touched my heart. So many emotions. I loved the flying bicycle scene. That was breathtaking.

MiB agents randomly start singing. This is the show! It was a WTF scene but boy, did I enjoy it! I lost it the minute they said "good morning". This just proves that the show can do whatever they want even if that doesn't make any sense. They don't hold anything.

The Mommynator scenes with Nate were just golden. "I'm gonna brush my teeth forever", lol. Nate was great. His Biff Tannen outfit while waxing the DeLorean was perfect. I love BTTF and I hope they do an episode inspired on it.

That scenes with all of them suited-up was awesome. Zari's suit is amazing. I love that it's loosely based on Isis. I loved Rory robbing candy from those bullies. This show is just awesome!

Our heroes paths are finally starting to cross. Luke and Danny's run-in in the alley was hilarious, with Danny's fancy moves not affecting Luke at all until he summoned the Iron Fist and fucking DECKED him right in the face. I laughed. Can't wait for Luke to tell Claire about it. "Yeah, I ran into this weird dude tonight. He had a glowing fist and almost knocked my teeth out." "Oh yeah, that's Danny. We went to China together and fought some crazy ninja assassins. He's kind of a mess."

Jessica can pretend to not give a shit all she wants, but she's not fooling anyone. At the end of the day, she cares so much and gets herself in trouble trying to help people. I screamed when Matt showed up at the precinct. And at least they took time to ensure that it doesn't look like the most convenient coincidence ever - we know that Foggy probably gave the case to Matt to keep it as far away from his firm as possible, just like Hogarth wanted.

Again, the way they use color is ingenious. Each Defender's surroundings continue to be in their signature color, with Danny's blueish green featured more prominently here. I absolutely love it.