TV Review: Fear The Walking Dead 7.1 “The Portrait” (dir by Heather Cappiello)

Posted on December 4, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The latest episode of Fear The Walking Dead featured Morgan taking baby Mo to Strand’s tower, in order to try to find medicine for her. Normally, Strand would have sent Morgan away and laughed about it but Morgan was lucky enough to show up while Strand was having an existential crisis about his role in the brave new world of the Walking Dead.

In short, Morgan got to enter the tower and he stayed there for a while before Strand ended up having one of his trademark changes of heart. After nearly tossing Morgan to the Walkers, Strand changed his mind on the condition that Grace and the baby would stay at the tower while Morgan went back out into the apocalyptic wasteland. Morgan then hooked up with Dwight and his “moral outlaws” and then they all ran into some Stalkers who are apparently different from the other Stalkers who have previously appeared and then there was a big explosion …. or something.

Look, I don’t know. To be honest, I had a hard time following what was going on after Morgan left the Tower. That could be because this is the first season of the show that I’ve really watched. But, I will say that, when Fear the Walking Dead works, it works precisely because it captures the confusion of trying to keep track of who is who in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It does a good job of capturing the paranoia that would go along with the end of the world. If The Walking Dead and Walking Dead: World Beyond is occasionally a bit too neat when it comes to depicting its characters as being good or evil, Fear The Walking Dead is a bit more chaotic.

As for this episode, it kind of reminded me of one of those old episodes of Lost where Jack or Kate would end up spending a week with The Others and you would kind of end up thinking that, regardless of how you felt about The Others as a moral force, you’d really rather live in their little village than in the caves with Jack and the skeletons. I wouldn’t necessarily want to live under the rule of a dictator prone to arbitrary rages but, at the same time, the Tower does look nice and Strand is keeping people alive (or at least, he is until he randomly decides to them off the top of the Tower). One could easily imagine the Others living in the Tower and telling a disbelieving Morgan, “We’re the good guys.”

For me, the highlight of this episode was Colman Domingo’s performance of Strand. Domingo, who has recently gotten some deserved attention for his performances in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Zola, is charismatic enough to be believable as a leader while also frightening enough to be believable as someone who could get his followers to go along with his often contradictory impulses. I actually felt a bit of sympathy for Strand as he realized that he would always be viewed as a fearsome ruler as opposed to a benevolent monarch. Of course, the rest of the episode was dedicated to reminding views as to why exactly Strand is so feared.

Anyway, it was a good episode. Colman Domingo and Lennie James dueling each other to see who could control each scene was entertaining to watch. The next episode is called Padre, so I guess we’ll finally get some answers as to who exactly is out there.

We’ll see!

TV Review: Dexter: New Blood 1.4 “H is for Hero” (dir by Sanford Bookstaver)

Posted on December 4, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Boom! I predicted Harrison would be a budding serial killer so give it up for me!

Well, to be honest, I’m probably not the only person who predicted that. I haven’t been reading any other reviews of Dexter: New Blood beyond my own but Harrison turning out to have a dark passenger shouldn’t be a shocking development to anyone who watched the original Dexter series. The way that the Trinity Killer killed Rita was obviously designed to turn Harrison into a killer. There was even an episode during season 5 in which Dexter investigated whether or not Trinity’s son had taken up his father’s bad habits. (And let’s not forget that, in the books, Dexter quickly realized that Rita’s children were sociopaths.) Harrison following in his father’s footsteps was something that was set in motion long ago. It’s an inevitable development. The only question really is whether or not Harrison has killed before or if his attempt to kill his high school friend was his first dry run. And will Dexter forgive his son, partner with his son, destroy his son, or be destroyed by his son?

While I’m patting myself on the back for being correct about Harrison, I should also admit that it appears that I was wrong about the identity of the killer sniper. I was sure that it was going to be Olsen but the end of this episode seems to suggest that it’s Kurt. Of course, Kurt could be working with Olsen. Considering what’s happened in past seasons of Dexter, it wouldn’t be a shock to discover that the Sniper is actually more than one man. Perhaps Matt was a part of the organization as well. I mean, he certainly was trigger happy.

It was a good episode. I’m cringing a little bit at the character of Molly Park, if just because she sometimes seems like a boomer’s version of what a podcaster is like. (“Those crazy kids, with their cursing and their drunk sex….”) But, I do think there is some potential to her “alliance” with Angela. I also felt the fallout of the school stabbing was handled well, particularly Harrison’s new status as the town hero. In many ways, Harrison is living Dexter’s fantasy. He’s killing (or nearly killing) and he’s being celebrated for it. He’s a hero, just like Dexter always wanted to be.

(That said, even I could tell that Harrison obviously stabbed himself. Have the people in this town never watched an old episode of CSI?)

For me, the best part of the revival remains Ghost Deb. She really deservers her own show, though plotlines would probably be limited by the fact that she’s just a figment of Dexter’s imagination. Still, Jennifer Carpenter was one of the key parts of what made the original Dexter such an entertaining series and the way that show’s final season rather cavalierly killed her off is one of the many reasons why so many people hated the original finale. Though Ghost Deb may not be solving crimes, she’s still calling everyone on their bullshit. It’s good to have her back, in all of her profane glory.

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 11/21/21 — 11/27/21

Posted on November 27, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Between my sister’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and my attempts to get caught up on my Lifetime movie viewing, I didn’t watch much TV this week. Here’s some thoughts on what did I see:

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

With the long-distance duck making its way (very slowly) to London, Rene and the Resistance disguised themselves as doctors and nurses so that they could rescue Monsieur Alphonse from the hospital. Meanwhile, the German colonels plotted to assassinate Alphonse with an exploding bedpan. It was a bit of an odd episode but I still laughed.

Baywatch Hawaii (Prime)

On Friday, I continued my binge of the first season of Baywatch Hawaii, watching three episodes.

Episode 11 featured a bit of tragedy for the Baywatch Hawaii team. No sooner had Allie declared her love for Nick, the hunky coast guard helicopter pilot, than Nick ended up sacrificing his life so that two dummies trapped in a mini-sub could live. David Hasselhoff made a brief appearance so that he could presumably collect his a paycheck and also so that Mitch could declare, “Nick wasn’t a lifeguard but he died being one.” That’s actually probably why he died.

Episode 12 featured some JD/Jessie relationship drama, as it was revealed that JD and Dawn had previously worked together and had a relationship in Florida. I’m assuming that JD and Jessie broke up over the fact that JD kept it a secret, though the ending of this episode kind of left things in the air. There was also an odd subplot about JD inventing a new type of wet suit that allowed lifeguard to swim faster than dolphins. It was an oddly disjointed episode (and I haven’t even gotten into the subplots about the missing child and Dawn getting named in a wrongful death suit) but it did end with a nicely surreal scene of the lifeguards relaxing underwater while fireworks exploded in the sky above.

Speaking of surreal, that’s the only way to describe Episode 13. A man was recovered after drowning. Despite having been underwater and medically dead for 20 minutes, he was still revived with absolutely no brain damage or any other injuries. This led to Dawn and Sean exploring an underwater meditation technique that Dawn learned in India. Sean was freaked out by a vision that he had in which Dawn appeared to be trying to drown him. MEANWHILE, Jessie, Allie, and Kekoa went shopping! Yay! This led to them getting invited to a party on a boat and it also led to them having to strip down to their newly-purchased lingerie (in slow motion, of course) in order to save a group of stranded swimmers. It was weird mix of philosophy and prurience and, to be honest, it was kind of brilliant in a Baywatch sort of way.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Sunday Night, PBS)

A few years ago, my sister wrote about why this special is something to give thanks for.

Cowboys vs. Raiders (Thursday Afternoon, CBS)

Because it was Thanksgiving, I kind of watched this football game with my family. Most of my cousins really got into it. Myself, I’m just hoping that no one suffered any permanent injuries and that both teams had a nice Thanksgiving meal after the game ended. I was a little bit disappointed when the game went into overtime. I mean, they already had the tie. There was no need to hurt anyone’s feelings! Still, with their enthusiastic spirit and their can-do attitude, both teams were winners!

Dexter: New Blood (Sunday Night, Showtime)

I wrote about the latest episode of Dexter here!

Fear the Walking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

I wrote about the latest episode here!

King of the Hill (Sunday Afternoon, FXX)

I watched three classic episodes on Sunday afternoon. Khannie and the Dale Gribble Bluegrass Experience went to Branson. (“She’s good …. she’s Branson good!”) Peggy was conned by the president of the fictitious Genius Institute but she got her money back by pulling a con of her own. Finally, Hank tried to convince his father to allow the local Vietnam vets to join the local VFW.

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Arkwright tried to impress Nurse Gladys Emmanuel while Granville bitterly considered the pointlessness of his life.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about the latest episode of Survivor here!

The Walking Dead: World Beyond (Sunday Night, AMC)

This week brought us another slowly paced episode of Walking Dead: World Beyond. I guess the scientists and the main family are trying to break out of the paramilitary compound now? Well, that’s probably a good idea.

TV Review: Fear the Walking Dead 7.6 “Reclamation” (dir by Billie Woodruff)

Posted on November 27, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I just watched the latest episode of Fear The Walking Dead and I have to say that this is probably the first time this season where I really felt lost. I think that if I had watched the previous seasons, I would have had a better reaction to this particular episode. But, I have to admit that I had to use Wikipedia to discover who Al was and why Morgan and Grace were looking for her.

I will say that Maggie Grace did give a good performance as Al and it was hard not to get caught up in her joy as she experimented with that cannon. And I do like the idea of someone trying to travel the country and record people’s experiences for future generations. Whenever I watch any of the Walking Dead shows, I always wonder what it’s going to be like for the people who were born after the zombie apocalypse and who have no memory of what the world was like before the dead starting walking. Everything that we take for granted today would be viewed the way that we currently view the Roman Empire, a remote and almost mythological time that sometimes seems to be beyond understanding.

Unfortunately, there were many moments when the latest episode reminded me of one of those old Walking Dead episodes where almost the entire show would just be Rick driving from one location to another, having endless conversations about everything other than what the viewer wanted to hear about. The episode was bit too slowly paced for me, which has always been a frequent issue when it comes to The Walking Dead and its spin-offs.

That said, it appears that things have worked out well for Al and Isabelle so yay! And tomorrow night’s episode will apparently feature Strand so an even bigger yay! for that. Strand is a far more compelling villain that the paramilitary thugs that wandered through this episode (not to mention Walking Dead: World Beyond).

TV Review: Dexter: New Blood 1.3 “Smoke Signals” (dir by Sanford Bookstaver)

Posted on November 27, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s been a busy week, with my sister’s birthday and Thanksgiving, so it was only this morning that I finally got a chance to watch the latest episode of Dexter: New Blood.

A lot happened in Smoke Signals. In fact, it was probably the busiest episode of the series so far. That’s not a complaint, of course. If anything, this episode felt like a classic episode of the first Dexter series. In Miami, there was always a lot going on around Dexter while Dexter tried to figure out a way to dispose of his latest victim. The latest episode would seem to suggest that, chilly weather aside, upstate New York is not that much different from Dexter’s former home.

Here’s a quick rundown of what did happen:

First off, Lily the hitchhiker was killed by the serial killer who we all know is going to turn out to be Olsen.

Harrison is now a student at the local high school. He stood up to group of bullies, which was cool. But, by grabbing the bully by throat and basically strangling him while demanding that the bully leave his friends alone, Harrison confirmed my suspicion that he’s got his own Dark Passenger.

Audrey, who is kind of annoying, told Olsen to stop “fucking up the planet.” Olsen pointed out that Audrey drives an “old gas guzzler.” It seems kind of obvious to me that, along with being a Count Zaroff-style serial killer, Olsen is also Audrey father.

Angela continued to investigate Matt’s death and Dexter again found himself in the weird position of being the closest confidant to the people investigating a murder that he committed.

Dexter spent most of the episode trying to figure out how to get rid of Matt’s body. It turned out to be not as easy as he thought it would be. Eventually, after watching the Seneca people burn the body of the deer that Matt shot, it occurred to Dexter to do the same thing with Matt.

No sooner had Dexter finished stuffing Matt in the incinerator than he ran into Matt’s father, Kurt. Kurt was totally drunk and swore that he had just had a conversation with Matt and that Matt was still alive! I’m interested to see what the show does with the character of Kurt. At first, I thought he’d just be another person who would eventually come too close to revealing the truth about Dexter, like Doakes from the first two seasons. But the end of the latest episode, with Dexter driving the drunk Kurt home, suggested that their relationship could become a bit more complex.

For myself, the highlight of this episode was Ghost Deb, who spent the entire show popping up at the least opportune times and profanely taunting Dexter over his inability to get rid of Matt’s body. Ghost Deb had a point. Dexter is out of practice and his idea that he could somehow turn his urges on-and-off was a foolish one. Dexter should know better. Ghost Deb and the wood chipper was a great Dexter moment.

All in all, it was a good episode. I do wish that Olsen was a bit less obvious in his villainy but Dexter was never exactly known for its nuanced villains. The Trinity Killer was more the exception than the rule. That said, I’m interested to see where all of this stuff with Harrison leads. Is Harrison a killer-in-training and, if so, how is Dexter going to deal with that?

Maybe we’ll find out tomorrow!

A Scene That I Love: Happy Thanksgiving from WKRP!

Posted on November 24, 2021 by Jedadiah Leland

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without sharing these scenes that I love from the classic sitcom, WKRP in Cincinnati.

Believe it or not, this episode was based on a true story! It didn’t happen in Ohio. Instead, it happened in Atlanta, Georgia and it was real promotion stunt for a local station, WQXI. Years later, a young copywriter named Hugh Wilson heard the story while he was working WQXI. Wilson later moved to California, started writing scripts, and eventually created WKRP In Cincinnati.

I always feel bad for the turkeys but I am glad that the survivors were able to launch a counter attack.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lisa Marie’s Week In Television: 11/14/21 — 11/20/21

Posted on November 20, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s that time again. Here’s some thoughts on what I watched over the past seven days:

Allo Allo (Sunday Night, PBS)

Finally! It was time for the long-distance duck to fly from France to London, carrying with it the plans for the German invasion of England. Unfortunately, the duck itself really didn’t feel like flying, which led to Rene and Edith having to chase it around the courtyard while Michelle and the two airmen watched from a balcony above. Meanwhile, everyone was trying to figure out what to do with the forged money that Rene stole from the bank. It was a funny episode. I relate to Michelle.

Baywatch Hawaii (Prime)

I had a really tough day on Tuesday so I decided to unwind and calm myself down by continuing my binge of the first season of Baywatch Hawaii. This, of course, was the sequel to Baywatch, in which the Hoff moved to Hawaii and helped to train a new group of lifeguards.

I started things off with watching the 9th episode of the series, which was called The Hunt. It featured Jessie investigating a case of shark poaching and Jason trying to come to terms with his Hawaiian heritage. In the end, the poaches were defeated, Jessie was rescued after her jet ski sank, and Jason proved himself to be worthy of the islands by having some sort of weird mind-meld with a shark. “The shark is my brother,” Jason explained. Yay! Incidentally, the poacher’s boat was named “All She Rote,” which was kind of clever. This was followed by a treasure hunt episode, where the lifeguards mistakenly believed that they had found a long-lost treasure. I’m pretty sure this was a remake an old Baywatch episode, with gold instead of doubloons.

Cold Case (Weekday, Afternoons, Start TV)

On Tuesday’s episode, Lily and the gang investigated the 1967 murder of a brush salesman. Speaking of brushes, Lily could have used one because her hair was a mess. I will never understand why Lily never did anything about that.

Court Cam (Wednesday, A&E)

A&E always airs several episodes of Court Cam on Wednesday and they do tend to blend together. For some reason, this week, there were a lot of clips of defendants cussing out their judges. That’s never a good courtroom strategy. One fellow got 360 days for contempt of court, though it was later reduced to 90 days. Ironically, he only served 5 days for the crime that he was initially charged with. Seriously, be polite when talking to a judge.

Crossing Jordan (Weekday Afternoons, Start TV)

I watched two episodes on Tuesday. Jordan was cranky while Bugs was again being targeted by bigots and Homeland Security. That was pretty much the plot of every single episode of Crossing Jordan, yet somehow everyone on the show always acted as if the same thing didn’t keep happening over and over again.

Dexter: New Blood (Sunday Night, Showtime)

I wrote about the latest episode of Dexter here!

Fear The Walking Dead (Sunday Night, AMC)

I wrote about the latest episode of Fear the Walking Dead here!

Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Monday Morning, BBC America)

I watched two of my favorite episodes on Monday morning, Mr. Pither’s Cycling Tour and The Ministry of Silly Walks. I especially love Mr. Pither, if just because Michael Palin did such a wonderful job playing the well-meaning but utterly clueless cyclist. “My lack of God, it’s Trotsky!”

Open All Hours (Sunday Night, PBS)

Arkwright cheated his customers by pretending to be blind. Granville took a heap of abuse. They both attempted to provide better customer service at their little shop. It didn’t go well.

Shipping Wars (Tuesday Morning, A&E)

It amazes me that everyone who ever appeared on this show — whether they were a regular or just a customer — was a complete and total jerk. I watched several episodes of Tuesday morning and I can’t think of one episode that featured anyone who was the least bit likable.

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I wrote about Survivor here!

Three’s Company (Weekday Afternoons, Antenna TV)

I watched two episodes on Tuesday. Believe it or not, both of them revolved around simple misunderstandings that could have been solved in a matter of minutes if all of the characters on the show weren’t so stupid.

The Walking Dead: The World Beyond (Sunday Night, AMC)

I think what’s frustrating about this show is that it works best when it focuses on the teens growing up in a world where society has collapsed but, for some reason, the show keeps getting sidetracked with all of the adults. I don’t care about the adults but sometimes, the majority of the show seems to be made up of scenes of them sitting around and having hushed conversations. It gets boring!

Yes, Minister (PBS, Monday Morning)

I rewatched the episode where Jim becomes Prime Minister. Yay, Jim!

TV Review: Fear the Walking Dead 7.5 “Til Death” (dir by Lennie James)

Posted on November 20, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I can still remember when Fear the Walking Dead first started back in 2015.

The premise, as you may remember, was that the show was going to take place in the “world of The Walking Dead” but that it was going to deal with an entirely new group of characters and follow them through the early days of the zombie apocalypse. Would there be crossovers with the main show? While AMC refused to rule them out, it was also said that the world of the Walking Dead was so compelling and fully realized that there really was no real need to bring over Rick, Darryl, Morgan, or anyone else from the original show. In fact, since Fear the Walking Dead was a prequel, it really wouldn’t make any sense to have any of the original show’s characters show up for anything more than a winking cameo. Instead, audiences would be thrilled with the new cast of doctors, drug addicts, and city planners.

Well, that didn’t quite work out. It turned out that audiences didn’t really respond to the entirely new cast and so almost all of them were killed off, Lennie James switched from the main show to the spinoff, and, from season 4 on, Fear the Walking Dead became the Morgan show.

And I’m really not complaining. I tried to watch the early seasons of Fear The Walking Dead and I was so bored that I gave up on the show fairly quickly. However, I’ve been mostly entertained by the seventh and final season of Fear The Walking Dead. Yes, there have been a few pacing issues but, at this point, that’s something that anyone who has ever watched more than a handful of episodes of The Walking Dead and its spin-offs should be used to. But still, I enjoy Fear the Walking Dead‘s rather surreal landscape. Colman Domingo’s wonderfully weird performance is always entertaining to watch. I’m even somewhat interested in discovering who Padre is, even though I know the character probably won’t live up to all the hype. At this point, unless he turns out to be Rick, there’s no way Padre can meet the expectations that have been set for him.

Last Sunday, Dwight and Sherry joined the search for Padre. Like Morgan, Dwight and Sherry were originally on The Walking Dead. Dwight was one of Negan’s lieutenants. Sherry was his wife. Now, they’re “ethical outlaws,” riding across the radioactive landscape of Texas and protecting those in need. During the latest episode, Strand tried to get Dwight and Sherry to join his organization and Dwight was certainly tempted. But, in the end, they did the right thing and helped a woman named Mickey find and put down her reanimated husband. They then teamed up with the Stalkers to continue their search for Padre …. okay, so the plot summary sounds a little absurd and, to be honest, the idea of Dwight and Sherry calling themselves the Dark Horses and fighting for the bullied is a little absurd. But, and this is the secret as to why Fear the Walking Dead‘s final season has been so enjoyable, the show seems to be aware of how absurd it all is. Whereas The Walking Dead would have taken the whole “ethical outlaw” thing way too seriously, Fear the Walking Dead is willing to have fun with it all.

And this Sunday’s episode was a fun one. Apparently, with The Walking Dead and its two spin-offs coming to a close with the end of their current seasons, AMC is planning on keeping the franchie alive with an anthology series. Hopefully, the Dark Horses will appear in more than a few episodes. As much as I disliked them on The Walking Dead, Dwight and Sherry are a blast on Fear the Waling Dead. Dark Horses forever!

TV Review: Dexter: New Blood 1.2 “Storm of Fuck” (dir by Marcos Siega)

Posted on November 20, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The second episode of Dexter: New Blood had a title that I’m sure Deb would have appreciated.

Indeed, any Deb-centric episode of the first series of Dexter was always guaranteed to feature a storm of profanity and one of the the things that I always liked about Dexter is that everyone on the show was always as shocked by Deb’s language as the viewer was. Ghost Deb tends to curse a lot as well. Of course, Ghost Deb has her reasons. Not only is she dead but she can’t get her stupid stepbrother to listen to her advice. Ghost Deb told Dexter not to let Harrison stay in the cabin. She told Dexter that everyone he gets close to dies. And yet, over the course of Storm of Fuck, Dexter not only invited Harrison to live with him but he also took Harrison along with him while he covered up the previous episode’s murder of Matt Caldwell. (Of course, he didn’t tell Harrison what he was actually doing. Dexter is very good at keeping his secrets.)

A few thoughts on Storm of Fuck:

First off, it’s pretty obvious that the girl in the motel is going to be used as the target in some version of The Most Dangerous Game, right? And it’s also pretty obvious that Edward Olsen is the one behind it. It’s in no way a big surprise because Dexter has always been full of evil, rich serial killers. It also seems fairly obvious that Audrey is eventually going to end up getting hunted by Olsen.

Secondly, I don’t think Matt’s father (played by Clancy Brown) is a serial killer but I do think that he’s going to eventually figure out what Dexter did to his son. He’ll be the New Blood‘s equivalent of James Doakes, the man who knows the truth but can’t get anyone to listen to him.

Third, Harrison has totally murdered someone, right? I mean, he may not be a serial killer. And the events of Storm of Fuck would seem to indicate that he doesn’t have anything to do with any of the recent missing persons cases. But, obviously, he’s got some secrets. What did he do back when he was on drugs? Was he even on drugs or was that just something he said? Are those drawings of people who he knows or people he killed? When he read Dexter’s letter about “dark tendencies,” was he upset because he discovered Dexter was alive or was it because he knew that he did have those dark tendencies? My point is that Harrison is destined to follow in his father’s bloody footsteps eventually.

As for the rest of Storm of Fuck, it was an okay episode. It didn’t exactly move the story forward by much but it did allow us a chance to get to know all of the new characters. To me, this episode worked best as an example of the show’s often underrated use of dark humor. As macabre as the subject matter often is, it’s hard not to laugh at the contrast between Michael C. Hall’s deadpan voice-over and the events happening on screen. And, in grand Dexter tradition, the entire episode featured Dexter getting one lucky break after another until, during the final few minutes, everything fell apart. Dexter had nearly gotten everyone away from his cabin when Kurt Caldwell showed up and gave a rousing speech. On any other show, we would have cheered a community coming together and Kurt’s speech would have been a big hero moment.

On Dexter, though, it’s just a storm of fuck.