Category Archives: TV Review

Review: The Walking Dead S2E3 “Save the Last One”

Posted on by Arleigh

“Got bit. Fever hit. World turned to shit. Might as well quit.” — note from unnamed hanged man turned zombie

[some spoilers within]

The first two episodes of the newest season of The Walking Dead sees Rick and his group of survivors on the move after the events at the CDC which ended season 1. Their convoy to reach what they think as the safe haven of the US Army base at Fort Benning doesn’t get them very far as they come across traffic snarl of abandoned vehicles and wrecks on the main highway. Its during these first two episodes that the group begins to show signs of cracks in the group dynamic which could lead to a permanent splintering of factions. It doesn’t help that two young kids in the group have either gone missing or gets accidentally shot by a deer hunter’s bullet.

We also meet a new group of survivors in the form of the Greene family led by it’s country vet doctor in Hershel Greene, his eldest daughter Maggie, their ranch hand Otis and a few others. Its from the Greene farm that the previous spent most of it’s time though it did show some choice scenes back at the RV and the group searching for Sophia in the forest. We see another cliffhanger end the second episode with Shane and his new partner in Otis as they make their way to the local high school where a FEMA camp had been set up as a refugee center before it became overrun. While they got the necessary supplies needed to save Carl they soon find themselves besieged by a horde of zombies with just a security gate and a lose bolt keeping them at bay.

“Save the Last One” marks the third episode of this 13-episode season 2. Except for a brief pre-credits scene of Shane shaving his head and looking intensely at his reflection off of a steamed up bathroom mirror, the episode takes up right after the cliffhanger ending of the previous episode. Shane and Otis are running through the hallways of the high school they’ve gone into for safety only to have the zombies outside chasing in after them. This part of the episode is just one of four parallel subplots which includes Daryl and Andrea continuing into the night in their search for Sophia in the woods, Dale and Carol back in the RV and the rest of the group over at the Greene farm waiting to see if Carl will get the necessary he needs to survive.

The decision to cover all four threads in this episode was an interesting decision which doesn’t pay off for all. It would be the Shane and Otis section which would get the most action during the episode, but it would be at the Greene farm that we get some soul searching from the Grimes about whether its the best if Carl was just to die if just to save him the horror of having to try and survive in a world where something is always around the corner to tear into him. Andrea and Daryl has a conversation during their search that sounds just as similar though not as depressing and downbeat as Rick and Lori with theirs. We get more personal musings about faith, God and the need to live instead of just surviving.

Some of these dialogue-heavy scenes work like the ones between Andrea and Daryl. With each passing episode Reedus continues to make Daryl Dixon a well-rounded character beyond the racist redneck his initial introduction made him out to be. His Daryl shows much more than just being a badass in the show but also one who is more observant about those around him than he lets on. He sees how much Andrea is still hurting from Amy’s death from season 1 and understands the feeling of just ending it all though he doesn’t see it as the best option. The same goes with how Rick still remains optimistic about the world as it stands now and gives a wonderful speech to Lori about why Carl should have the chance to live instead of letting him die. Both Rick and Daryl seem to have much more in common than we realize though they each go about their optimistic viewpoint in their own particular way.

“Save the Last One” weaves too many concurrent subplots that at times they break some of the stronger scenes between Andrea and Daryl and those between Rick and Lori. Then there’s Shane and Otis in their attempt to escape the horde of zombies after them as they try to make it back to the Greene farm with their medical supplies. the episode tonight could easily have saved some of the scenes with Carol and Dale for the next episode since it looks like Sophia will remain missing. But all in all, tonight’s episode still moved the series forward despite the series still remaining static in terms of location for the group. While it didn’t hit on every note the show did bring up some of the more interesting themes from the comic book.

Despite the episode tonight having been uneven due to the juggling of several subplots to the main story it was fully redeemed by the ending which did a major deviate from the comic book source material and do so in a truly shocking way. I understand why the character in question made the decision that he made, but it still was one that sends this particular character past through the looking glass, shattering it and coming out changed on the other side and most likely not for the better. Plus, it was quite ballsy of Kirkman and the rest of the show’s writer to take out a character sooner than expected if one followed the book. If any episode really hammered in the point that the show will be going very far off the beaten path created by the comic book source material then it would be this one. “Save the Last One” is definitely one of the episodes in this show’s brief span, so far, that will be talked about for months to come.

Notes

  • It’s interesting to note that both Andrea and Dale has so far been written quite differently for the show than in the comic book. Will the writers continue to make them different from their comic book counterparts or will they gradually work them into finally becoming the characters fans ended up loving.
  • So far, the rules as to who can and who doesn’t become a zombie has remained vague outside of the survivors thinking it’s a virus transmitted by bites and injuries caused directly by the zombies. The comic book followed the Romero rules that any sort of death will result in the body returning to life as zombie as long as the brain is intact.
  • The episode being set mostly at night really made some of the scenes at the high school and at the RV look very dark that at times it was hard difficult to figure out what was going on.
  • Glenn got a bit more screen time in this episode and his interaction with Maggie Greene was good to see as these two would become quite integral in the group moving forward.
  • Lauren Cohan also got a bit more time during the episode to help flesh out her character as someone who seemed more well-adjusted to the new world than either Lori, Andrea or Carol. Though after finding out what had happened to one of her and her family’s oldest friends showed that deep down she’s as damaged by the zombie apocalypse as the other ladies.
  • I’m all for Sophia being found alive and all, but this season has put too much energy on this particular part of the storyline for far too long. They need to figure out a way to end this part of the show’s second season soon and do so in a way that makes sense or it would’ve been a wasted exercise in storytelling that took up almost a third of the season if not more.
  • Even with the episode set at night with minimal lighting the zombie make-up effects by co-executive producer Greg Nicotero and his band of make-up wizards at KNB EFX remain one of the highlight’s of the show. Example in point: legless zombie in the high school gym.
  • It’s been awhile since we’ve seen someone shown getting torn apart by zombies on this series, but tonight did a great job at showing how savage and brutal a death at the hands of a horde of zombies could be especially if the person in question being torn apart was still alive to experience it.
  • Some may think the season has been slow-going so far, but I like how it’s not all action. If there was ever one thing which always made zombie apocalypse stories very fun to read and watch is how they don’t just show gore and death, but also explore some heavy themes and ideas about faith, living versus survival and whether allowing the most helpless to remain surviving in such a terrifying world is such a good idea to begin with.
  • The episode’s title definitely played on the idea of saving the last bullet. Whether the episode means saving it for oneself as the final option out or to use it for a darker purpose to continue surviving would be up to the each individual to decide.

Review: The Walking Dead S2E2 “Bloodletting”

Posted on by Arleigh

“It’s nature correcting itself…restoring some balance.” – Hershel Greene

[slight spoilers]

The new season of AMC’s The Walking Dead arrived with a major bang. The season 2 premiere episode, “What Lies Ahead”, was seen by over 7.3 million viewers which more than eclipsed the show’s own high-ratings pilot premiere from 2010. It’s no surprise that the episode would do so well with the network having pushed the new season through most of the summer. With fans of the showing growing with every passing month (DVD and Blu-Ray sales of the first season also helping keep the show in the public’s consciousness) there was really no doubt on whether the new season would come back firing.

“What Lies Ahead” saw Rick and his group fight through their very first experience of a zombie “herd” and how this event led to the two kids in the group in extreme danger as Sophia goes missing after the herd encounter on the highway and Carl getting himself accidentally shot to end the episode. While I would think that the writers would begin episode 2, “Bloodletting”, soon after the events of the premiere episode we instead get a flashback moment. A moment in time before the zombie apocalypse arrived and Lori waiting for Carl outside his school and confiding to a friend about her and Rick’s relationship. The emotional impact of this scene is not that Lori and Rick were having marital problems, but its from the arrival of Shane to inform her that Rick has been shot (seen in the pilot episode “Days Gone Bye”) and now she has to tell Carl. We see in this sequence the look of anguish on Shane and, most likely, the seed of his love not just for Lori but Carl as well.

This flashback will segue into Rick running desperately with an unconscious and bleeding Carl in his arms with Shane and Carl’s shooter, Otis, right behind them. For those who have read the comic book shouldn’t be surprised how this scene plays out, but I know that many who have not and only been following the show will be hoping for the worst for the youngest of the Grimes. Soon enough Otis (Pruitt Taylor Vance) leads them to the farm, the Greene family farm, where it’s patriarch might be able to help Carl survive the gunshot. We get to meet Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson) and his family, from the eldest daughter Maggie (Lauren Cohan) to the youngest Beth (Emily Kinney) and, for the moment, we only see how this family will be able to help Rick and Carl. For fans of the book this family will prove to be integral to the continued survival of Rick and the original group.

“Bloodletting” continues the theme established with the premiere episode in that this new world is going to be about slim chances even if logic says there’s none to be had. There’s only the slimmest chance that a country veterinarian doctor will be able to save Carl. It’s the slimmest of chances that T-Dog may survive the wound he suffered from the previous episode. Only the slimmest of chance that they will ever find Sophia. Finally, the episode ends in another cliffhanger which gives Shane and Otis the slimmest of chances to survive their trip to an overrun FEMA station for much needed medical supplies and equipment.

This episode’s title also makes for a proper description for Rick and what he’s been going through since he woke up from his coma in the hospital. It’s not just the literal bloodletting he must endure to help save Carl’s life, but just every waking moment since the pilot episode. Rick has been trying to remain the bedrock of optimism and provide the sort of calm leadership his group of survivors need in this new world. Yet, we see how much every moment has cost him even before leading up to Carl’s incident with a wayward bullet. he’s being bled not just literally in this episode but figuratively. It helps that Andrew Lincoln’s performance during the first two episode of this new season has been great, so far. We get to see some genuine emotion as Rick must watch someone else try to save his son. The look of utter grief and impotence in Lincoln’s face as he tries to do anything and everything to save Carl continues to make Lincoln’s work in this show one of the reason to continue watching it.

The Walking Dead wouldn’t be the fan-favorite it has become if it skimped on any sort of zombie action. While it doesn’t have the high gore quotient that the previous episode had it still had enough zombies to sate the show’s fans until next week’s episode. Most of the zombies appear close at the end of the episode at the FEMA camp and it’s also in this sequence where we get the show’s heart-thumping moments as Shane and Otis must figure out a way to get out of their predicament which ends the episode on another cliffhanger.

“Bloodletting” doesn’t do much in terms of finding Sophia or even whether Carl gets to live. It does make a good job of introducing a new set of characters without making them feel extraneous. While we only got to know a few of these new additions there’s a sense that they will (at least some of them) become important ones during this first half of the season. Finally, those who have been fans of the comic books should accept the reality now and admit to themselves that this show has become it’s own growing tale. While still remaining on the basic path Kirkman set for them through the comic book the show has taken on a life of it’s own and it’s unpredicatability and changes in that path should make things interesting moving forward.

Notes

  • Once again Norman Reedus continues to make Daryl Dixon a badass. He also has done a great job in making what happened been a stereotypical redneck role into a character with hidden complexities and layers. I was reticent on this character being added specifically for the show, but each new episode has made me a believer and thankful to the writers for doing it.
  • Liked how Daryl nonchalantly tells the zombie that had been attacking Andrea in the woods to “shut up” before sending a crossbow bolt through the side of it’s head.
  • One final great moment with Daryl is his surprise to the rest of the group concerning the hidden stash of “meds” that was Merle’s stash. He may be a Southern good ol’ boy, but Daryl continues to prove just how much more of a survivor and team player he has been to this group despite first appearances.
  • One of the changes made from book to show has been the physical casting of veteran genre actor Pruitt Taylor Vance as the Greene ranch hand Otis. It’s an interesting choice, ut having Vance as part of the cast overrides any fanboy reaction to having a much larger actor portray the slimmer Otis from the book.
  • Lori continues to become a stronger character this season and Sarah Wayne Callies does some very good work in this episode by becoming the steel to talk some sense to a grief-stricken Rick.
  • I think the show’s didn’t need the brief, fever-induced paranoid rant from T-Dog about how he being the only black person in a group of Southern good ol’ boys. While part of me hopes all that talk from T-Dog was due to the fever from his injury I have a feeling he won’t be with the show for long. The way he’s talking makes him this season’s “Dead Man Walking” role.
  • There was a positive, albeit very disturbing, moment involving T-Dog in this episode and that was when he noticed the baby seat in the back of the car he was looting for supplies. His growing expression of horror at seeing the bloody baby seat with bits of flesh on it was one of this episode’s best moments. I’m sure I wasn’t the only viewer who wondered what happened to the baby in that seat.
  • It was a nice bit of detail work on the writers of this episode to populate the FEMA camp with zombies from the soldiers, FEMA workers and refugees who were overrun prior to Shane and Otis arriving. Rarely do we see such detail in zombie films and stories. What else but the very people who were suppose to be in the camp would become zombies once they’ve been overrun.
  • Can’t end this without mentioning Glenn’s look at seeing Maggie come riding in like Arwen from The Fellowship of the Ring. I do believe the boy’s been struck by cupid.

Quickie Horror Review: Masters of Horror – Deer Woman (dir. by John Landis)

Posted on by Arleigh

It is hard to categorize John Landis’ contribution to the Showtime horror anthology series, The Masters of Horror. Landis made a name for himself in the horror genre as the director of the classic early 80’s werewolf film, An American Werewolf In London, and the cult classic vampire-noir film, Innocent Blood. With his “Deer Woman” episode, John Landis reaches back to his past work and comes up with an episode that mixes horror, absurd situations and a healthy dose of black comedy.

“Deer Woman” has something in common with An American Werewolf In London in that this episode deals with a creature born out of folklore and myth. This time around its a creature from Native American folklore. The creature in question is the Deer Woman. A legendary creature who takes the form of a beautiful woman from the waist up and that of a deer from the waist down. The Deer Woman will then go on a spree of seducing random men then trampling them to mincemeat. In this respect she has a bit of the mythical succubus mixed in with the shapeshifting. It is during the aftermath of one of her killings that we’re introduced to the main player in this horrifically absurd little tale. Detective Faraday (masterfully played with a dry wit and comedic timing by Brian Benben) gets called in to the scene thinking it is an animal attack, but the crime scene leaves him confused, perplexed and a tad more than intrigued by the case after it’s unceremoniously taken away from him.

We learn through the length of the hour-long episode that Faraday is a disgraced cop due to an incident in the past that’s made him a pariah in his own department. Faraday’s sidekick in his hunt to solving the murders and thus finding the Deer Woman is a beat cop played by Anthony Griffin. Former Brazilian, and still smoking hot and stunning, Cinthia Moura does duty as the abovementioned Deer Woman. She goes through the entire episode without uttering one line. Her eyes, expressions and body language conveying whatever motivations and thoughts may be in her head. She did pretty well and it didn’t hurt she looked very natural baring it all on the screen.

The dialogue in the episode was where the absurdity of the moments in the story shone through to give “Deer Woman” its black-comedy. The characters in the film react to murders and the clues leading to what might be their only suspect with incredulity, denial and dismissal. Yet, no matter how much the characters of Faraday and his partner try to deny what they know in their mind is the real killer, they inevitably see the truth of the matter dangerously up close and personal. The teleplay for the episode was primarily written by Max Landis (the director’s son) with some brief rewrites and treatments by John himself. They both run with a very absurd situation and run with it fult-tilt and non-stop. They both know how silly the story sounds and its that silliness that makes this episode memorable. In fact, if I really had to categorize this episode I would call it a comedy with small bits of horror slipped in (horror and gore effectively done — once again — by the master effects people from KNB EFX.

Despite “Deer Woman” being closer to a comedy-horror than a straight-up horror tale, I found the episode to be very entertaining and worth the viewing. John Landis stuck to his guns in crafting an absurd tale and making it believable to his audience. With shades and hints of An American Werewolf In London, Landis’ contribution to The Masters of Horror marks a bright spot in the an uneven series, so far. Landis’ has once again shown that horror and comedy are more intertwined than most people would think.

Review: The Walking Dead S2E1 “What Lies Ahead”

Posted on by Arleigh

“It’s all about slim chances now.” – Rick Grimes

The first season of AMC’s The Walking Dead was a runaway hit for the network. Despite the inaugural season being a a truncated 6-episode long one the series gained a huge following that included long-time fans of the Robert Kirkman long-running zombie comic book series, but also new ones. The Walking Dead would have it’s showrunner and tv series creator Frank Darabont to thank for bringing it to a wider audience which is why this second season premiere brings with it a sense of bittersweet to the proceedings. This past summer saw Darabont fired from the very show he had helped create due to creative and financial differences with the show’s parent network in AMC.

Does this mean the show will suffer as it moves forward without it’s leader at the helm? If the premiere episode of season two is any clue then the show has hit the ground running and doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to stop to mourn the firing of it’s leader.

“What Lies Ahead” begins with the survivors soon after their narrow escape from the destruction of the CDC in Atlanta. The group’s number is now one less and any chances of a cure to what has caused the zombie apocalypse and a hopeful future seems slim at best and a hopeless exercise in futility at it’s worst. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) continues to be the group’s de facto leader which seems to wear on him now that he doesn’t just have his wife and son to think about but others as well. The episode does show that Rick’s acceptance of leadership in the group might be more out of necessity and less about him wanting to lead. No one, from his partner Shane (Jon Bernthal) to the wise, old Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) seem to want the job and everyone seems willing to blame Rick for every instance of danger the group finds itself in.

Just like the pilot episode of the first season this new season doesn’t skimp on the tension. Frank Darabont wrote this first episode and his handling of the group’s first encounter with a moving “herd” of zombies show’s that he hasn’t lost the ability to create tension and just build it past the point of unbearable. This entire sequence with the group hiding beneath abandoned cars on the interstate with countless zombies walking past just inches away has to be one of the signature scenes of this season and more than a match for Rick’s solitary walk through the empty hospital in the pilot episode.

The bulk of the episode doesn’t come down too much from the tension and dread built up during this “herd” scene. It continues to keep the tension level at a fever pitch as the group must now search for one of their own who has gone missing during the “herd” march. The tension doesn’t just come from the situation Rick and the group find themselves in, but from the cracks and fractures that has begun to appear within the collective group. It’s these fractures which becomes the impetus for some character building that the first season rarely seem to have time for.

We still see repercussions from decisions made in the last season continue to make itself known. Whether it’s Shane wallowing in self-pity for losing what he thought was a ready-made family he had created for himself once Rick reappeared right up to Andrea’s bitterness towards Dale for having saved her from her choice to commit suicide in the last episode of the first season. It’s through the interaction between some of the factions being created through these particular characters that we begin to see the stress of this new world beginning to wear on them. Not to mention how they all seem to blame Rick for the situation they find themselves in. Which made it a suprising turn of events when was left to Lori to defend her husband and put everyone in their place. Her little speech near the end of the episode went a long way in establishing her character as one who sought redemption not in self-pity but in supporting the one person she understand to be the most qualified to see them through alive.

The episode wasn’t all positive. What hampered the first season was still quite evident in this season two premiere. While most of the writing was much improved from the first season there was still some parts in the episode when the dialogue seemed forced and not something which came about organically. It’s a testament to the performances by the whole cast that most people watching the show wouldn’t notice it much. Some stand out performances has to be the husband and wife team of Andrew Lincoln and Sarah Wayne Callies. Then there’s Norman Reedus as Daryl who continues to grow as a character beyond the typical redneck many thought him to be during the first season. With Reedus’s portrayal of Daryl one could see that he might not agree with some of Rick’s moral choices and decisions but he respects the man for actually making a decision instead of being wishy-washy. Daryl knows and understand, just as Lori does, that Rick is their best chance at surviving.

“What Lies Ahead” is a great start to a new season of The Walking Dead. While the firing of Darabont as showrunner from the show (replaced by a more than qualified Glen Mazzara) does hang like a dark cloud over the premiere that still shouldn’t detract from this episode’s quality. It’s an episode that really doesn’t dwell on allowing the rest of the world to catch it’s breath from start to finish while at the same time still allowing for characters to grow. This episode even ends in a cliffhanger that should be quite familiar for fans of the comic book, but should be quite a shock to the system for those who haven’t read a page of Kirkman’s comic.

Rick said in the beginning of the episode, after seeing the destruction of the CDC and getting the news that there’s really no more way to turn back the clock on this apocalypse, that it was all about “slim chances” now and from what this episode showed even slim might be too hopeful a word. These are people living on borrowed time and one can say that they’re already the walking dead. Time to see if Rick’s word’s will be rewarded with safety and salvation or just new levels of hell they must navigate through.

Notes

  • Chandler Riggs as Carl looks to be getting more and more comfortable in the role. His line delivery don’t seem as flat as they were in the first season.
  • Steven Yeun didn’t get as much time on the screen, but his gleeful reaction at being handed one of the bladed weapons was priceless. Like a kid in a candy store.
  • I noticed that while Frank Darabont wrote this episode the name shown during the beginning of the film was the name Ardeth Bay. For genre geek fans that name should sound familiar. It was a nice touch and better than just using the usual Alan Smithee.
  • We see more clues as to zombie behavior in this episode as Daryl once again proves that the stink of the dead bodies will hide living humans from zombies as he drapes corpses over himself and T-Dog during the “herd” march.
  • Love the line reading by Norman Reedus as his Daryl looks up at the large crucifix in the abandoned chapel and says “Hey J.C….taking requests”.
  • Gore content in this episode still continues the series trademark of being quite high for a network tv series. I’m still surprised at how much the show has gotten away with. Tonight’s signature gore scene has to be the impromptu zombie autopsy and trying to find out if their missing group member is in its stomach.
  • This episode deviated very much from the comic book, but when it mattered most it used one of the early shockers in the comic book series to end the episode on a huge note.

What Horror Lisa Watched Last Night: The Curse of Degrassi

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched the classic Degrassi 2008 Halloween special, The Curse of Degrassi.

Why Was I Watching It?

Last night, I was suffering from conflicting emotions.  I was depressed and angry over the fact that I’m probably going to have to go spend a few thousand dollars on a new laptop.  However, I was also all happy and hyper because, after spending a week far away in Houston, Jeff’s back!  So, I was like “Yay!” and “Boo hoo hoo” all at the same time and Jeff finally suggested that maybe it would help me get my mind off the boo hoo part if I watched something silly and stupid.  And, as usual, he was right!  Though, in its defense, Degrassi may often times be kinda silly but it’s rarely stupid.  Except when it is.  Anyway, The Curse of Degrassi is available for free viewing off of Uverse OnDemand, which is how I watched it last night.

What’s It About?

Okay, so like many years ago, there was this very special, two-part episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation in which bullied, picked-on Rick Murray (played by an excellent actor named Ephraim Ellis, and by the way, that’s Jeff’s last name too but they’re not related and believe me, I asked) was competing in some sort of high school quiz-like game show and he ended up getting a bunch of yellow paint and chicken feathers poured on him by school bully Spinner (Shane Kippel).  So, naturally, Rick went home, got a gun, and came back up to school and started shooting people until he himself eventually ended up getting shot and killed.  

Now, four years to the day after Rick’s death, a group of Degrassi students are all up at the school at night, getting things ready for the upcoming Harvest dance.  Group ringleader Holly J. Sinclair ends up getting possessed by Rick’s vengeful spirit and proceeds to kill off the entire cast.  And no, this is not a dream or one of those non-canon fantasy episodes.  Which is cool because, quite frankly, Holly J. annoys me…

What Worked?

To be honest, the entire 22 minute episode worked.  For a Canadian teen show, this was actually pretty scary and had some fairly effective (in their own fun way) special effects.  Plus, as much as I complain about the character she plays., actress Charlotte Arnold does a pretty good job playing psychotic, possessed Holly J.  Plus, even among all the mayhem and death, the episode gets across a well-meant and sincere anti-bullying message and if you don’t get a little bit emotional when Rick says, “I’m dead, aren’t I?,” then you have no soul.  That’s right — you’re a freaking zombie.

(Though, at the same time, Rick Murray was kind of a disturbed guy who, let’s not forget, first appeared on the show as an obsessive, abusive stalker who put Terri in a coma when he pushed her down and she hit her head on a rock.  It was his abusive behavior that led to Rick becoming a pariah though Spinner, ultimately, took things too far. By the way, I always loved how Degrassi students all had names like Spinner.)

Plus, you get to see all the Degrassi kids die.

What Didn’t Work?

Seriously, it all worked.  In fact, I’m just going to say that this is the greatest thing ever to come out of Canada.  Okay, maybe not.  But still, I enjoyed it.

“OMG! Just like me!” moments

I always have a lot of “Oh my God!  Just like me!” moments whenever I watch any TV show or movie that features silly people falling victim to some unseen supernatural force.  Usually, they’re along the lines of, “WHAT!?  There’s a killer stalking the school and you’re going to stop to make out with your boyfriend in some dark, isolated room that only has one exit!?  OH MY GOD!  JUST LIKE ME!”  Anyway, I had quite a few of those while watching The Curse of Degrassi.  Though my biggest “Oh my God!  Just like me!” moment came when Holly J. screamed, “I’M HOLLY J. FREAKIN SINCLAIR!” as that’s the way I usually chose to introduce myself as well.

Lessons Learned:

The world can do without the Harvest Dance.  That, and be nice because otherwise, you might get possessed by Rick Murray.

Until next time, this is Lisa Marie Freakin Bowman saying, “Stay supple!”

The Walking Dead: “Torn Apart” 6-Part Webisodes

Posted on by Arleigh

It’s just 13 days more days til the season 2 premiere of AMC’s The Walking Dead series. The show has been a runaway hit for the network and for all involved. The past summer has seen some major turmoil within the creative team (mostly the firing of show-runner Frank Darabont halfway through the season 2 filming), but the show still remains one of the most awaited ones for 2011 with millions of fans waiting to see what’s in store for Rick Grimes and his small group of survivors.

Leading up to the show’s October 16 premiere the people at AMC and the show decided to create six webisodes showing the life of the first zombie Rick comes across in the first season. Yes, these 2.5 minute webisodes details the life of the “Bicycle Girl” before she joined the ranks of the undead. The webisodes were directed by the show’s lead make-up effects guru in Greg Nicotero.

One would think that AMC would release one webisode every other day until the seasoon 2 premiere but they’ve tortured fans of the show enough with all the drama this past summer and decided to release all 6 webisodes at the same time.

From what I saw these webisodes were well-done and added an extra but of tragic backstory to one of the iconic figures of the first season. Here’s to hoping this becomes a regular practice with each new season for the show.

Part 1: “A New Day”

Part 2: “Family Matters”

Part 3: “Domestic Violence”

Part 4: “Neighborly Advice”

Part 5: “Step-Mother”

Part 6: “Everything Dies”

Comment on what you’ve just watched. Do you think the family’s decisions made things worse or were things just too far gone for them to reach safety? What would you do differently if in their shoes?

Source: AMC TV: The Walking Dead

What Lisa Watched Last Night: Terra Nova Episode 1.1 — “Genesis”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I actually put off watching Dancing With The Kinda Stars so that I could catch the first episode of Fox’s much-hyped sci-fi series, Terra Nova.  This show was produced by Mr. Mainstream himself, Steven Spielberg.

Why Was I Watching It?

I was beaten into submission by the nonstop commercials.  Now, I have to admit that the commercials seemed to represent everything that I traditionally dislike in my entertainment: political subtext, “inspiring” speeches, and Stephen Lang.  However, it also had dinosaurs and seriously, who doesn’t love dinosaurs?

What’s It About?

Okay, we’re several years into the future and the Earth looks a lot like Blade Runner.  Why?  It turns out that Al Gore was right and ManBearPig has basically messed up the entire planet.  However, there is hope!  There’s some sort of tear in the whole space-time continuum and stepping through it allows a few lucky citizens to go back to the Island from Lost.  However, since this is the FAR future, nobody remembers Lost so they think they’ve actually gone back to the prehistoric past.  In the prehistoric past, time travellers are living in a small community that is overseen by a vaguely menacing guy who we suspect might secretly be evil because he’s named Nathaniel and he’s played by Stephen Lang.

Anyway, there’s this family that has issues in the future and since Jeremy Kyle is long dead (we can only hope), they can’t go on TV to work it out.  So, they go through the time portal.  The father — who is a fugitive from future law — quickly becomes a part of Nathaniel’s security force.  Meanwhile, the teenage children get all rebellious and there’s these guerillas who live outside the compound and they’re led by a woman who might as well have been played by Michelle Rodriguez but wasn’t.

Oh!  And there are dinosaurs!  Yay!

What Worked?

The show is filmed in Australia and, as a result, it’s really pretty to look at. 

I make fun of Stephen Lang a lot because I honestly believe that he gave one of the worst performances in cinematic history in Avatar.  (Fortunately, he was acting opposite Sam Worthington, who can make anyone look like an Olivier by comparison.)  But, I have to admit, Lang is well-cast here and comes the closest to anyone in this episode to actually being memorable.

The dinosaurs are impressive and fun to watch.  Unfortunately, the fake dinosaurs often displayed more personality than the living actors but still, who doesn’t love dinosaurs?  Hopefully, in a future episode, the annoying and way too English talk show host Jeremy Kyle will come through the portal and get devoured (in slow-motion) by one of the dinosaurs.  I may start a letter-writing campaign.

What Doesn’t Work?

A lot.

My biggest complaint with the show was that this episode really put the sloth into the giant sloth.  Seriously.  Lost took its time as well but the show itself was never boring.  Terra Nova, at least in this episode, seems to feel that elaborate special effects are a proper substitute for interesting characters, witty dialogue, and anything else that might organically create narrative momentum.  I actually ended up falling asleep during the final 30 minutes of the show and had to watch the finale off of the DVR.

The dinosaurs were impressive but the rest of the show’s special effects were rather predictable and a little on the bleh side.  The time portal looked like every other time portal in the history of science fiction and the dystopian future looked a lot like Blade Runner but without any of the small details to make it feel like anything other than CGI. 

I am officially bored with shows that use global warming as a plot point.  Seriously, they’re always so smug about it. 

This show is being compared, by many people, to Lost.  Like Lost, the scenery is beautiful and the plot has the potential for a lot of secrets and mysteries to be uncovered.  However, Lost also had a lot of quirky, interesting characters and that’s something that Terra Nova, on the basis of this episode, is lacking.  The first episode of Terra Nova felt a lot like Lost if Lost had only focused on Jack Shepherd and Michael Dawson.  Terra Nova needs its own Sawyers, Hurleys, and John Lockes. 

Now, I want to make clear — my comments here are strictly based on seeing Genesis and a lot of my criticisms could be due to the fact that it’s just the first episode.  Hopefully, as a series, Terra Nova will — much like Lost and Fringe and other comparable shows — evolve beyond the strengths and flaws of the first episode.

“OMG!  Just like me!” Moments

Much like Nathaniel’s rebellious daughter, I would also go a little stir crazy if I was stuck in that highly regimented, socialistic commune.  Seriously, the commune looked like a really bleh place to live.

Lessons Learned

Dinosaurs are neat and global warming is tedious.

Review: Torchwood: Miracle Day Ep. 08 “End of the Road”

Posted on by Arleigh

“End of the Road” is quite an apt title for the eight episode in the fourth season of Torchwood. We see the end of a couple characters during the episode and at the same time we finally get the final pieces to the question of who or what caused “Miracle Day”.

The episode begins with the Torchwood team arriving at the Colasanto estate and led by Olivia Colasanto to her grandfather and Jack’s former companion and lover from the late 1920’s. We find out that Angelo Colasanto has kept himself alive through natural means, but is now in a coma as Jack looks on. Angelo’s condition when revealed almost felt like a cop out, but in a major exposition info dump done by his granddaughter we find out who is behind “Miracle Day”. They’re called The Families and are made up of the descendants of the three men last seen in the previous episode forming an alliance to study Jack’s seeming immortality.

Angelo himself has been kept out of the alliance due to the three men’s discomfort over his homosexuality. Angelo has been observing not just the three families through the years, but Jack as well in an attempt to either stave off whatever plans The Families have in regards to the “Miracle” or, at the very least, give Jack the clues needed to fix the problem. But before Jack, Gwen, Esther and Rex can do their thing to save the day there’s the little obstacle of Rex’s old boss in the form of Wayne Knight interrupting the Jack/Colasanto reunion. The rest of the episode never lets go of the throttle once John De Lancie’s CIA head honcho Shapiro show’s up and we get closer to this season’s endgame.

The episode was well-written even with the major expositional scene involving Nana Visitor’s character. Each character in the Torchwood team got a chance to shine in their roles with Barrowman making Jack’s bittersweet reunion with Angelo a mixture of happiness and regret. If there was a weak point in the cast’s performance it would continue to be some of the side characters like Wayne Knight’s deputy director Friedkin and Bill Pullman’s Oswald Danes. While I can understand the role of Knight’s character in the overall scheme of things this season I still can’t quite grasp just exactly what Pullman’s Danes character is suppose to do other than be over-the-top creepy. Even Ambrose’s Kitzinger got a chance to own her scene as she finally unleashes what she truly feels about Oswald Danes despite having to be his publicist.

“End of the Road” ends on a major cliffhanger with one of the Torchwood team members shot and the team split apart as the CIA, The Families and everyone else seem to be pulling at them from all directions making their task about solving “Miracle Day” that much more difficult. With only two more episodes remaining this season what looked to be a show that seemed stuck on idle for most of the middle episodes has suddenly begun to speed ahead towards what could be an epic conclusion.

Review: Torchwood: Miracle Day Ep. 07 “Immortal Sins”

Posted on by Arleigh

I didn’t think Russell T. Davies and his writers could pull off moving the story of Torchwood: Miracle Day towards a resolution that would be interesting, but it looks like they might just do it. The series is now on it’s final stretch run and fears that the show was spinning its wheels about not having any idea what the cause of “Miracle Day” was and what was the endgame looks to be easing somewhat with this 7th episode titled “Immortal Sins”.

The episode was mainly told through a flashback to the early 1920’s where we see Jack entering the U.S. through Ellis Island and befriending an Italian immigrant who also happened to have tried to steal his visa papers. We learn that this man is one Angelo Colasanto and his bright-eyed outlook on being in a new land has made quite an impact on the well-traveled Captain. Soon enough Jack and Angelo become companions and romantically involved, but as with everything involving Jack such happiness never last for long as we find out why Jack was entering the U.S. in the first place. It’s a consequence of Jack and Angelo’s attempted escape following Jack’s mission that his companion  later learns of his inability to die.

In one of the more disturbing sequences throughout this series, so far, Jack’s immortality was tested time and time again. Angelo’s misguided betrayal of his lover leads to Jack being killed over and over only for him to return. It’s from this sequence we see what could be the birth of the shadowbrokers pulling the strings behind PhiCorp and the many others complicit in moving “Miracle Day” along.

While the bulk of the episode was taken up mostly by Jack’s flashback to his meeting with Angelo we still got enough time given over to Gwen as she attempted to save her family from the very people who also want Jack. Even with her loyalty to Jack we see that Gwen will be willing to turn him over to the very people holding her family hostage if it meant saving them. It’s only through a timely intervention by Esther and Rex that Gwen and Jack get out of another crisis. It’s the final moments of this sequence that we finally learn the name of the person who has the key to learning the true nature of “Miracle Day”. Sins of the past looks to have caught up to Jack this time around and it’ll be interesting to see if “Miracle Day” becomes the elaborate plan of a spurned lover and companion and whether Jack will be the key to unraveling the effect of the world’s current bout of “immortality”.

Overall, “Immortal Sins” was a good episode that gave us a nice look into a part of Jack’s past that has only been shown briefly in the past. The episode was actually stronger when it focused on Jack’s past with Angelo and the discoveries made by both men about each other that looks to color the current situation occurring on the planet right now. While the other half with Gwen had it’s exciting moments (mainly once Esther and Rex get involved) this section of the episode looked to be more of an expositional trigger to get Jack to recount his past. I did like how Jack and Gwen seemed to make-up and get back on track as partners once again when the danger had passed. The chest bump between the two was quite amusing. Only time will tell if Gwen’s attempt to save her family’s life by trying to turn Jack over to the very people opposing them would have any lingering effects as the season comes to a close and towards any potential future seasons.

The final three episodes of this season should make for some interesting tv watching.

Review: Torchwood: Miracle Day Ep. 06 “The Middle Men”

Posted on by Arleigh

Torchwood: Miracle Day is now into the second-half of it’s 10-episode latest season and something just occurred to me even while I was enjoying this 6th and latest episode. For a new season that’s just 10-episode the writers seem to be doing things as if there’s more than just the 10 episodes. For some people this slow pace has become an annoyance as the mystery of what is “Miracle Day” seem to be doing the glacial unveiling. I’m beginning to lean towards these individuals who thinks this season, as entertaining as it has been, looks to be wasting too much of of the season’s remaining episodes introducing new characters left and right to be nothing more than exposition mouthpieces to help add another clue to the mystery of the season.

While episode 6, perfectly titled as “The Middle Men”, was entertaining as we see Rex, Esther and Gwen deal with their part in exposing the government “Outflow Camps” (aka extermination camps for those deemed braindead but still alive), the episode seemed to spin it’s wheels in place once Jack met with one of PhiCorp’s executive who may or may not know the company’s role in “Miracle Day”. Ernie Hudson plays PhiCorp’s COO, Stuart Owens,  who also has begun to investigate on the true nature of the Outflow Camps. One of Owens’ operatives in Shanghai tasked with investigating that country’s Outflow Camps relays an ominous and cryptic message to Owens in the form of jumping off of the roof of the tallest building in the city after what he had uncovered. It looks like the burn units in the Outflow Camps’ module might not be the only way to get around the forced upon “immortality” everyone now has.

The episode actually takes place pretty much where the last one ended and it spends most of it’s time with Rex and Esther finding out who was responsible for Vera Juarez’s “death”. This part of the episode was actually quite frustrating to watch. Some of it was very difficult to watch in a good way as Rex goes through a form of torture that had even me averting my eyes. But it was also a part of the episode where both Rex and Esther make one stupid mistake after the other. Esther I can understand as she’s become almost useless as a Torchwood member outside of her hacking skills. Rex on the other hand I thought would’ve been more wary of his surroundings and those in the Camp he interacted with. The fact that it took a bumbling idiot to save the two put this whole part of the episode into the realm of the absurd.

Gwen’s time in the Cardiff Outflow Camp was a bit more successful though this leads to consequences which puts her in a no-win situation as the episode draws to a cliffhanger close. We did get to see her get into badass mode as she figures out in her own way to put a temporary stop to the burn modules. She does this all the while playfully bantering back and forth with Jack back in LA. This past of the episode was actually the best of the three concurrent story plot threads which has been running for the past couple episodes.

The third part of the episode is more of an exposition dump than anything else. For some reason this season has seen Jack in less of badass role while at the same time the one member of the team who seems to run across people who do nothing but act as exposition dump devices. While Ernie Hudson’s character unloading information on Jack was good and all most of it was something that audiences probably have figured out by now and that PhiCorp is just a link to the those in the shadows pulling the strings on “Miracle Day”. He did give a little tidbit about what might be the endgame for those behind-the-scenes of this worldwide event: The Blessing.

All in all, episode 6 (“The Middle Men”) was a good episode but definitely a step back from some strong ones previous to this one. With only four more episodes remaining in the season I’d be really interested in how Davies and his writers will be able to wrap things up without rushing things. Part of me thinks they may not be able to pull it off and another part of me suspect that there won’t be a true resolution and that a follow-up season may be what’s in store.