“I can see you’re in pain. I know how it feels to be overcome with anguish and grief. All you want even for a moment is to feel some relief, a release. To be unburdened. I can give you that.”
- Casper
Now that we got most of the backstory doled out over the last two episodes, we are back to the present day and picking up story threads we left dangling a while ago. We find Carlos and the cop finally making a bid to free the priest and Carlos’ nephew. They get through the gate and Carlos tests positive for powers. The cop warns Carlos not to get near the Director because he can get inside your head which makes me think that it might be Matt. Which again, just breaks my heart if it is because he is so much better than this! Things aren’t going at all according to plan for the little jail break. Sure Carlos takes out a guard and is wandering around while Matt talks over a loudspeaker and Evos just sort of stand around but the cop gets taken out and drugged, too. Oops! I am really disappointed in Matt at this point. He had tings rough sure but he’s sold out big time for these people. He’s basically using his power to torture other Evos. Just his dad did. Just like he never wanted to. He convinces the cop to kill himself. Really Matt? Really? Carlos is finding things difficult as well. He tracks down the priest and his nephew but they are stuck in Matt’s mind warp and don’t want to leave. Carlos gets snatched up (after getting electrocuted) and Matt goes into his head and drags out the memory of the raid in the Middle East hat Farah was responsible for but for which he got the medal.
Out in Carbondale, Tommy/Nathan and Emily get back from their Paris trip and Tommy heads back to see his mom. Apparently Noah has managed to track down his grandson because he shows up shortly thereafter and he and Tommy’s mom fill him in. He’s got Hiro’s powers, Hiro is sort of his dad and Claire is his mom. He’s also got a sister he’s never met (well not that he remembers anyway. Speaking of Malina, she and Luke are at a diner sort of bonding a little bit. I don’t know that it will end well for Luke but whatever. He does open up a little while he and Malina are in the car and heading for Illinois. They talk about movies and how Dennis loved funny movies. At least he’s opening up a little bit.
Taylor is also getting wrapped up in things she probably doesn’t understand. She ultimately gets snatched up by Evos behind Hero Truther. I kind of want Micah to show up again. Like maybe he managed to get free or something. Well it turns out he’s not free but also Renee didn’t get killed by Noah because Casper wiped his memory this time around. So he is working with some of the other Evos and they needed to know they could trust Taylor. Taylor ends up pointing out the facility where Carlos and the cop are as the most likely place Micah is being held. I’m not sure what Erica is using Micah’s power for but it can’t be anything good.
Erica is still looking for her but she’s got more pressing matters to attend to. Like getting her hands on Tommy/Nathan. Quentin appears to be on that task and after getting a candy bar unstuck from the vending machine, our dopey guy turned villain goes in to kill Tommy but he’s gone. Joanne has showed up at the ice cream shop. I’m not sure what her deal is to be honest but she’s threatening Emily and Casper. On the bright side Casper didn’t end up wiping Emily’s memory. So that’s nice. But Joanne is still a lunatic. It also makes me wonder if she somehow get on Renautus’ payroll too. Well she might very well end up there but she’s not quite yet. Luke and Malina show up not long after Tommy does. Unfortunately, Tommy can’t make Joanne calm down and she ends up shooting Casper. Luke doesn’t have much luck getting her to back down either but at least this time Tommy takes control and actually stops time for the first time. He really is becoming the Master of Space and Time like his surrogate dad. Awesome! He aligns things so that Luke’s heat blast and Joanne’s bullet don’t hit their intended targets. He even glimpses Malina in the back room before getting himself and Emily to safety.
That safety isn’t so safe as it turns out. Quentin and Phoebe show up to kidnap Tommy and her darkness temporarily neutralizes Tommy’s power. Noah has no choice but to let them take his grandson because if he shot Phoebe, Quentin would have shot Tommy and without his powers there is nothing he could have done to stop it. So they usher him off to Erica’s house where she has prepared an elaborate meal of venison (because why not) and she says she’s going to tell him how he’s going to save the world. Before we cut to black, we jump to 7,957 years in the future and the planet is pretty barren. Except for a single butterfly that lands on Miko’s hand. Um, how is she even there? She’s not real. We saw her basically dematerialize in Evernow. But she’s definitely there and she runs off and sees what could be a settlement where all the Renautus people were going through the weird portal thing a few weeks ago.
The end of this episode left us with more questions than answers and with only four episodes left in the season, I really hope we get some resolution. I would also like to see Tommy and Malina get a chance to bond at some point. But hey, at least she’s now in Noah’s care. So I guess Luke did his job in sort of reuniting her with her family.
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
MTVP So Cal Summer 2016: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 1.08: "My Mom, Greg’s Mom and Josh’s Sweet Dance Moves!"
“Look, this is important. No one is wearing a Christmas sweater. Why isn’t anyone wearing a Christmas sweater? It is National Christmas Sweater Day. Whatever.”
-Darryl
This was “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s” first attempt at a holiday episode, and overall, it was quite charming and insightful. We finally really meet Rebecca’s mother, and she’s kind of horrifying. By the end of the episode, she explains to Rebecca why she’s always been so ridiculously tough on her, but I don’t think the explanation justifies her behavior. I believe she loves Rebecca, but her way of showing that love has done quite a bit of damage. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we learn more about Greg’s difficult relationship with his mother where he is the one with the worse behavior. He resents that his mother left him and his father when he was a kid, but he is completely hostile to any attempt by her or her new family to be kind to him. Both Rebecca and Greg come to difficult realizations in this episode, Greg more than Rebecca. Also, in a C plot that kind of mirrors my own feelings about the holidays, Josh is bummed because the holidays aren’t quite as fun when you’re an adult and have work and responsibilities and stuff. This plot has the advantage of showing off Vincent Rodriguez III’s amazing dance skills.
It’s the holidays, and Rebecca’s mother Naomi is coming to West Covina for Hanukah. Ahead of the visit, Paula rightly accuses Rebecca of being an Level 5 Mom Pleaser. We get all sorts of flashbacks to Rebecca’s mom-pleasing ways throughout this episode. She basically always tells her mom exactly what she wants to hear in every situation. The dysfunctional relationship between mother and daughter seems to go back generations in Rebecca’s family. First thing in this episode, we see ancestors of Rebecca coming to the United States on a ship, and the mother of that generation is just as judgmental as Naomi. We also learn about the Garfinkel ring, an heirloom in Rebecca’s family. The ring is passed down from mother to daughter on her eighteenth birthday, but Rebecca still hasn’t gotten it. Naomi hasn’t found her worthy of it yet.
Naomi arrives in West Covina with a vengeance, immediately bursting into a song called “Where’s the Bathroom?” where she simultaneously berates Rebecca and repeatedly asks where the bathroom is. Naomi is played by Tovah Feldshuh, who perfectly captures this type of overbearing, hypercritical mother. She’s not passive aggressive – she’s full-on aggressive. Rebecca also takes her mom to visit Whitefeather, where Naomi is not impressed at all. Audra Levine has a much nicer office and is married to a hedge fund manager, after all. Being the mom-pleaser that she is, Rebecca says that Whitefeather isn’t her actual office – she just goes there often to mentor “underprivileged attorneys,” which Naomi points out is kind of an oxymoron. As a former public interest attorney, though, I’d say that’s not entirely true (I worked part-time at a nonprofit for $20 an hour my first year as a licensed attorney), but in general, she’s on the mark.
Greg’s mom left him and his father when Greg was young, and now she lives in Beverly Hills with a husband and two teenaged kids. Greg resents this immensely. Nevertheless, he goes to his Mom’s family holiday gathering on Christmas Eve Eve (also my late paternal grandmother’s birthday) every year. Greg is at the mall begrudgingly shopping for presents for his half-siblings when he runs into Heather, who is working as a Santa Elf. They vaguely remember each other from Rebecca’s party, so Greg starts telling her about holidays at his mother’s house. Heather, because she has no filter, asks if she can come along. After pausing because the request is kind of odd, Greg basically says “why not?” Greg’s mother’s house is beautiful of course, and his half-siblings are typical teenagers, but not especially horrible people. Greg, however, finds every detail of the proceedings offensive. It’s all rather Norman Rockwell, complete with gingerbread house-making. Heather is actually having a great time eating all the food and talking with Greg’s siblings.
Rebecca desperately wants to convince her mother that she’s not hanging out with losers anymore, so she asks Paula to pretend to be the kind of person her mother would really like. They all go to lunch together, and Paula pretends to be a British Jew. Naomi, of course, thinks this is fantastic and classy and not at all loser-like. I found it interesting that even after criticizing Rebecca for being a mom-pleaser, Paula still can’t resist a scheme. Anyway, later when they’re hanging out, Rebecca gets a call from Calving, and Naomi insists she take it. After all, what could be more important than work? Rebecca also notices that Naomi brought the Garfinkel Ring with her, and Rebecca really, really wants it.
Back in Beverly Hills, Greg is continuing to be super annoying and finding every aspect of the celebration offensive, even as his family is doing their best to be nice to him. Heather eventually calls him out for this, saying he’s the one being horrible, not his family. Since Heather is a neutral party in all this, he actually takes this seriously and starts reevaluating how he has been behaving. He and his mom end up having a good conversation where Greg talks about his abandonment issues and his mom admits she should have pushed harder for joint custody, even though her instinct at the time had been to not separate Greg from his dad. It ends up being something of a healing night for everyone. Afterwards when they debrief about the evening, Greg and Heather start making out. I found this pairing extremely random, although I’m glad Heather was at least able to help Greg make some peace with his mom and her family.
Rebecca arranges for Calvin, herself, and her mom to meet for drinks so that Calvin can go over his latest real estate issues. Naomi, though, is flirting with him like mad after she has some wine. Calvin leaves the table for a minute, and Naomi starts insisting that Rebecca needs to set them up. She can’t find any suitable men at her age in New York, and she thinks Rebecca owes her this. Rebecca wants her mom’s approval so much that she actually asks Calvin to sleep with her. Thankfully, sanity prevails and he says no. Rebecca is ever the mom-pleaser, though, and she tells her mom that Calvin wanted to sleep with her, but Rebecca said know because it could affect their business relationship. Naomi isn’t happy about this at all, and Rebecca does not get the Garfinkel ring. She also tries to send her mom to the airport in an Uber. Before she leaves Naomi says that she loves Rebecca and that’s why she pushes her so much. She wants to know she’s able to survive. I guess that’s nice, but it’s done some real damage.
Josh, meanwhile, has been bummed that he’s got to work a double shift on Christmas Eve, so he can’t see the local high school do their Winter Showcase. He was on the dance team as a student, and he really wanted to be there to support the kids during their performance. He meets one of the current students while hanging around the mall, and they really hit it off. The kid is really excited to meet Josh, since he’s apparently still a big name at the school. Josh ends up having his mom call in sick to work for him, and he goes to see the showcase after all. The student he met pretends to have an injury so Josh can dance. The whole thing is kind of inconsequential compared to the other plots, but Josh does realize that he is a grown-up after all, since while he could still do the dance routine, it really hurt afterwards. The whole episode ends with a gaudy Christmas group number called “California Christmastime,” which has wickedly subversive lyrics. Would you expect anything less from this show?
Summer DVR Dump: Lucifer 1.09: “A Priest Walks into a Bar”
“It’s a church, what am I going to do? Pray too hard?”
- Lucifer
When last we left our Head of Hell, he was on the outs with Maze and Chloe isn’t hit to Dan’s involvement in the Palmetto shooting. Lucifer is having a party and invites the pizza delivery guy in for a threesome (or is it a foursome). Anyway, the important bit is that Lucifer doesn’t join in. Linda points out at their next session (which is much more professional than they have been) that he seems lonely and doesn’t have any friends. He can’t even say that Chloe is his friend.
Back at Lux, Maze begs Lucifer to stop for half a second to check out the actual priest that walked into the bar, looking for help from the Devil. Lucifer isn’t interested, even when the priest says he thinks a thug is running a drug ring out of a youth center. He does think the priest is hiding something and so he ropes Chloe in. They go to question the youth center director (aka the drug-running thug) but find him dead in his office. Oops! Lucifer wants to believe that the priest is responsible (although if you believe the head counselor that’s not possible). But the boy that the priest was so concerned with admits he’s kind of over-protective. And it doesn’t help that the father has a rap sheet with all kinds of fun things on it like assault and drug charges.
Before they can head out to question the priest though, Chloe tries to have a chat with Dan since he’s kind of been avoiding her. She wants to talk about the kiss they shared (before he went off to meet Malcolm) but he keeps glancing at said dirty cop. He promise to come by for take-out that night before she heads off. Things are going to be very uncomfortable for Dan though. Malcolm got himself assigned as Dan’s new partner (to keep an eye on him). Well mostly it’s so Malcolm can threaten Dan with mutually assured destruction if he tries to tell Chloe what happened. Apparently Dan isn’t quite as dirty as we thought. Sure he looked the other way a few times but that night, when Chloe realized Malcolm spotted her, Malcolm went for his gun and so Dan had to shoot to protect Chloe.
Chloe quickly learns not to leave Lucifer alone in a church because he’ll just climb into the confessional and muck up people’s confessions. But at least he did figure out that the priest has an alibi for the murder. He was with the woman Lucifer talked to. Although he does admit to breaking the restraining order and punching the guy in the face. Just as they head out to take the priest’s statement, a car drives by and someone unloads a gun. No one is injured by it gets the priest to admit that the boy he’s concerned about is already in the drug business and it seems that there’s another drug dealer moving in on the dead dealer’s turf. The priest says he’s going to stay at the church but Lucifer convinces him to stay at Lux which results in a budding friendship that culminates and playing some improv jazz together on the piano (it turns out the priest used to be a musician and he was in the same car accident that killed the boy’s parents…and the priest’s daughter). Very sad. Even sadder is that Chloe and Lucifer discover that the boy isn’t working for the competition, he is the competition.
In other weird news, Malcolm clearly knows he was rescued from Hell by Amenediel because our annoying angel pays him a visit in a parking garage. It turns out Amenediel has a task for Malcolm and I have a feeling it involves murdering our dear, handsome Devil. Which just makes me want to punch the chrome-headed man-bird in the face. A lot. But that also explains why Malcolm needs Dan to steal some evidence. I’m guessing it’s a weapon in another crime and it will be linked to that if Malcolm can get close enough to pop Lucifer. And he isn’t letting Dan off the hook any time soon after he gets a gun out of evidence. Amenediel pays his little trigger man another visit and orders him to kill Lucifer. Yeah, I really just want to smack him hard.
In a far more interesting and emotional turn of events, Lucifer and the priest bond a bit more over God’s plan (or lack thereof) and then Lucifer and Chloe discover that the priest has run off to meet the boy they think is the other drug dealer. It turns out the head counselor is the one pulling the strings and he wants the kid to shoot the priest. The kid won’t do it and so the counselor does (and Chloe shoots him). The priests doesn’t make it and Lucifer gets super pissed and nearly kills the counselor but Chloe manages to talk him down. Afterwards, Lucifer has a good yell at the sky (and his father), ranting about how if you break the rules, you lose and even if you follow them, you get shafted so what’s the point? I loved seeing this vulnerability come back in him. It shows he really is struggling to accept his own family drama. And that night, as he sits playing a piece the priest had started to play, Chloe shows up, offering to be a friend and hang with him. They end with playing “Heart and Soul” and that totally made me smile. We are getting ever closer to at least Lucifer getting a kiss out of Chloe. I really am enjoying their progression and the strides he is making as a character. I think the writers have really hit their stride, revealing pieces of the puzzle slowly but actually giving answers. I just hope the show is able to hang on enough to get another season because it is definitely a show I’d like to cover again for the blog.
- Lucifer
When last we left our Head of Hell, he was on the outs with Maze and Chloe isn’t hit to Dan’s involvement in the Palmetto shooting. Lucifer is having a party and invites the pizza delivery guy in for a threesome (or is it a foursome). Anyway, the important bit is that Lucifer doesn’t join in. Linda points out at their next session (which is much more professional than they have been) that he seems lonely and doesn’t have any friends. He can’t even say that Chloe is his friend.
Back at Lux, Maze begs Lucifer to stop for half a second to check out the actual priest that walked into the bar, looking for help from the Devil. Lucifer isn’t interested, even when the priest says he thinks a thug is running a drug ring out of a youth center. He does think the priest is hiding something and so he ropes Chloe in. They go to question the youth center director (aka the drug-running thug) but find him dead in his office. Oops! Lucifer wants to believe that the priest is responsible (although if you believe the head counselor that’s not possible). But the boy that the priest was so concerned with admits he’s kind of over-protective. And it doesn’t help that the father has a rap sheet with all kinds of fun things on it like assault and drug charges.
Before they can head out to question the priest though, Chloe tries to have a chat with Dan since he’s kind of been avoiding her. She wants to talk about the kiss they shared (before he went off to meet Malcolm) but he keeps glancing at said dirty cop. He promise to come by for take-out that night before she heads off. Things are going to be very uncomfortable for Dan though. Malcolm got himself assigned as Dan’s new partner (to keep an eye on him). Well mostly it’s so Malcolm can threaten Dan with mutually assured destruction if he tries to tell Chloe what happened. Apparently Dan isn’t quite as dirty as we thought. Sure he looked the other way a few times but that night, when Chloe realized Malcolm spotted her, Malcolm went for his gun and so Dan had to shoot to protect Chloe.
Chloe quickly learns not to leave Lucifer alone in a church because he’ll just climb into the confessional and muck up people’s confessions. But at least he did figure out that the priest has an alibi for the murder. He was with the woman Lucifer talked to. Although he does admit to breaking the restraining order and punching the guy in the face. Just as they head out to take the priest’s statement, a car drives by and someone unloads a gun. No one is injured by it gets the priest to admit that the boy he’s concerned about is already in the drug business and it seems that there’s another drug dealer moving in on the dead dealer’s turf. The priest says he’s going to stay at the church but Lucifer convinces him to stay at Lux which results in a budding friendship that culminates and playing some improv jazz together on the piano (it turns out the priest used to be a musician and he was in the same car accident that killed the boy’s parents…and the priest’s daughter). Very sad. Even sadder is that Chloe and Lucifer discover that the boy isn’t working for the competition, he is the competition.
In other weird news, Malcolm clearly knows he was rescued from Hell by Amenediel because our annoying angel pays him a visit in a parking garage. It turns out Amenediel has a task for Malcolm and I have a feeling it involves murdering our dear, handsome Devil. Which just makes me want to punch the chrome-headed man-bird in the face. A lot. But that also explains why Malcolm needs Dan to steal some evidence. I’m guessing it’s a weapon in another crime and it will be linked to that if Malcolm can get close enough to pop Lucifer. And he isn’t letting Dan off the hook any time soon after he gets a gun out of evidence. Amenediel pays his little trigger man another visit and orders him to kill Lucifer. Yeah, I really just want to smack him hard.
In a far more interesting and emotional turn of events, Lucifer and the priest bond a bit more over God’s plan (or lack thereof) and then Lucifer and Chloe discover that the priest has run off to meet the boy they think is the other drug dealer. It turns out the head counselor is the one pulling the strings and he wants the kid to shoot the priest. The kid won’t do it and so the counselor does (and Chloe shoots him). The priests doesn’t make it and Lucifer gets super pissed and nearly kills the counselor but Chloe manages to talk him down. Afterwards, Lucifer has a good yell at the sky (and his father), ranting about how if you break the rules, you lose and even if you follow them, you get shafted so what’s the point? I loved seeing this vulnerability come back in him. It shows he really is struggling to accept his own family drama. And that night, as he sits playing a piece the priest had started to play, Chloe shows up, offering to be a friend and hang with him. They end with playing “Heart and Soul” and that totally made me smile. We are getting ever closer to at least Lucifer getting a kiss out of Chloe. I really am enjoying their progression and the strides he is making as a character. I think the writers have really hit their stride, revealing pieces of the puzzle slowly but actually giving answers. I just hope the show is able to hang on enough to get another season because it is definitely a show I’d like to cover again for the blog.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
MTVP So Cal Summer 2016: UnREAL 1.08: "Two"
“You are literally insane if you think I am going to marry a girl I met three weeks ago.”
-Adam
In this episode of UnREAL, Adam has arrived at his final four: Grace, Anna, Faith, and Shamiqua. This means that everyone involved in the show, both cast and crew, are trying to figure out their plans for post-show and put themselves in the best possible position for post-show success. Jockeying for post-show success leads to even more manipulation than usual, or maybe it’s just a different kind of manipulation. Rachel, Grace, Anna, and Adam all get caught up in Quinn and Chet gunning for a spinoff show, and it isn’t pretty. In addition, the relationship drama continues to ramp up, both with Quinn and Chet and the Lizzie/Jeremy/Rachel/Adam quadrangle of doom (not quite as doom-y as “Lost’s” quadrangle, I think, but some doom is definitely present nonetheless). I continue to not at all see what Quinn sees in Chet, and I think she’s starting to realize Chet is a mistake, too.
Underpinning this whole episode is a video call where the network gives Quinn and Chet the go-ahead for a show called Royal Love. The premise is that Adam and Grace would have gotten married in the Everlasting season finale (to keep with the extremes of the season), and this spinoff would follow their life back in the UK, with Grace trying to adjust to society life. The jerk from the network specifically suggests he wants to see Grace in this role because of her bikini model bona fides. Quinn and Chet talk to Adam and Grace about the idea. Grace is all in and ready to sign on the dotted line, but Adam’s not having it at all. Part of it is the idea of the sham marriage, and part of it is playing up his English society family, which he has been trying to distance himself from (and they from him). Chet enlists Rachel to try and get buy-in from Adam, and in exchange, he promises that she’ll be showrunner of Royal Love.
Meanwhile, Grace is so enthusiastic about the future plans for the show that she’s practicing a British accent in front of a mirror. Anna sees this and calls Grace on it. Grace basically tells Anna everything about the plans for Royal Love. Anna brings this up to Rachel, and Rachel tries to salvage the situation by telling Anna that she thinks she would be great for Royal Love, and she’s going to try to make that happen. Chet would prefer Grace, but he ultimately doesn’t care which of the two women gets the spinoff, so Rachel goes to work. Adam, of course, still hates the idea, for the reasons I already mentioned. Rachel brings this back to Chet, and he has a completely insane response. He gets Rachel into a Ferrari and has her drive faster and faster. He wants to push her past her comfort level, so at one point, he pushes her foot down on the gas pedal. Rachel almost gets in an accident, but she manages to stop the car just in time. When they arrive back at the set, Rachel gets out of the car and immediately vomits.
Meanwhile, it’s spa date week on Everlasting. Each of the spa dates are pretty ridiculous. Grace freaks out as her treatment is a little too close to being buried alive. Adam and Faith are supposed to sensually smear mud on each other, but at Faith’s prompting, they turn it into a mud fight instead. They have a fabulous time, but of course Quinn is furious. She wants sexy times, not friends playing in the mud. Encouraged by Rachel to really make a pass at Adam, the tantric yoga session with Adam and Anna starts out a little more to Quinn’s liking. Then Anna mentions something about what their lives would be like back in England, and Adam immediately knows she’s been given the Royal Love offer too. He finds the idea so appalling that he ends the date right then and there. After her little incident with Chet, however, Rachel finally figures out how to get Adam to agree to a spinoff. She proposes that he make a deal for a show called Royal Renovations, where he would get control of the vineyard back instead of it being the Everlasting Resort. He wouldn’t get married to Anna – just engaged – and they would work on the renovations together for the show. This is a bit more to Adam’s liking, and he agrees to the plan, making a big apology to Anna. The apology (and subsequent make-out session) kind of bugs Rachel.
Which means, of course, it’s on to the romantic entanglements of the episode! First we’ll start with everybody’s least favorite couple, Quinn and Chet. At the end of the previous episode, Chet announced that he told his pregnant wife that he wants a divorce. Real classy, Chet. Understandably, in this episode, his wife wants to get as much monetary compensation for this fuckery as she can. Chet however, convinces her that they should reach a financial settlement outside of court. He tells Quinn that he had to pay tens of millions of dollars, but she was worth it. And then he proposes to Quinn. Like a complete idiot, she accepts. Again, I really don’t at all see what Quinn sees in him. He’s a sleazy drug addict, and I really don’t find him at all charming. Apparently newbie PA Madison finds Chet just as charming as Quinn does, though. They have a few friendly conversations, and by the end of the episode, she’s giving him a blow job. Quinn sees this happening, and she’s devastated. She goes to a safe and exchanges her engagement ring for a flash drive, then she goes and tells Chet that she’s ready to get married in Vegas ASAP. I can only wonder what she’s up to, because it can’t be good!
On the quadrangle of doom front, you may recall that Jeremy and Rachel had what Rachel called “grief sex” in the last episode. In this episode, Jeremy feels kind of guilty (maybe?) and ends up breaking up with Lizzie, who was already to get married despite her previous misgivings. Jeremy tries to tell this to Rachel (presumably because he wants to get back together), but Rachel is too preoccupied to have time to talk with him. At the end of the episode, he stops by the electrical truck, but she’s not there. He texts her, and she’s not going to be answering any time soon, because she’s having sex with Adam. He finally said that what he really wants is her, not any of the contestants, and there you have it.
Summer DVR Dump: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow 1.08: “Night of the Hawk”
“An immortal psychopath and racists. I’m beginning to like this quaint, little town less and less.”
- Ray
We now find ourselves in 1958: the time of the juke box and rampant homophobia and racism. Just what the civil rights attorney in me wants to watch. But hey, at least Ray got to have some humorous one-liners! Before we find the team, though, we gets some teenagers drag racing down lover’s lane. They have the misfortune of happening upon a meteor that’s also attracted one Vandal Savage. That’s not good for the kids, that’s for sure. Since it seems Savage has settled into this little Oregon town (and some strategic murders have taken place), the team splits up. Sara and Stein pose as a doctor and nurse at an insane asylum and Kendra and Ray are a married couple new in town. Jax is going to use his youth to cozy up to some of the town’s local high school crowd to get some info on those missing kids. And Rip and Snart get to pump the police for some information (with Rip doing a weird American accent).
Kendra and Ray are the first to get a shock when their new neighbors, the Knoxes show up to invite them to a dinner party. Sure that’s a nice sentiment but it is creepy as hell coming from Savage. At this point it is very unclear whether he recognizes her and the team. But thanks to that invite, she and Ray find out that he’s got a man cave that Ray is going to break into. While they are susses out Savage, Sara and Stein learn a few things at the hospital. First, Knox (aka Savage) has a restricted wing where he keeps psychotic patients. Well it isn’t quite psychotic as grotesque bat-people. Sara also finds a repressed lesbian nurse who is kind of adorable. Sara saves her from a misogynistic pig of a doctor. They bond a little over drinks while Sara and Stein are supposed to be searching the hospital and then they kiss (initiated by the nurse).
Not surprisingly, Jax faces the hardest situation of the team (even more so than Ray and Kendra being an interracial couple) because he cozies up to a white girl who was the girlfriend of one of the missing teens. First he gets hassled by some football players and then when and the girl go out on a date, the same football players track them down and start hassling them. This of course is interrupted by the bat people (aka the teenagers that have been mutated by the meteor) and the girl gets her throat slashed. Jax, in an effort to get her help, gets pulled over by a racist asshole cop and then knocked out.
Things aren’t all bad (well sure, Jax gets turned into a bat thing but you know I’m sure Stein can save him). Ray’s mission into Savage’s house yields the dagger Kendra needs to kill Savage. She plans to go to him alone and take him out but the rest of the team isn’t very comfortable with that plan. I don’t blame them. She hasn’t exactly proven herself a strong, capable warrior. She’s still just kind of bland. Sara is a much better fighter and way more badass, even as she deals with emotions for the first time post-Pit. The rest of the team is strategically in place at the hospital when Kendra goes to meet Savage. Kendra tries to get the knife out of her purse and stab Savage with it but he get the upper hand. And to keep the rest of the team busy, he lets out the monsters. This leads to quite the chaotic scene at the hospital and Stein and Snart sort of team up (well okay so it’s mostly Snart and his freeze gun doing all the work). Sara gets to save her nurse and even Rip and Ray get to take on a piece of the action. I’d say it was a win when Ray punches Savage out a window but the bad guy has the knife again so it’s really a loss.
Jax is cured as are the other kids and things are starting to settle down for the small town folk. Jax has gifted the girl (who has recovered from her wounds) with a tricked out ride and he makes her promise to get out of town because things are changing in the world and she deserves to see it. Sara also says goodbye to her nurse who seems much happier now that she’s kissed a girl (several times) and liked it. Sara seems happier, too. I’m sure Nyssa would be happy to see her girlfriend smiling again. Ray and Kendra apologize to each other for how they acted (getting caught up in the moment and all). Jax even gets to apologize to Snart for the way he acted about the Rory situation (from the conversations throughout the episode I think he’s still dead). They don’t get much of a chance to chat because Chronos shows up yet again and he’s got new Time Master toys that let him breach the ship. It’s unclear whether the guys get to the jump ship in time to escape but the Wave Rider takes off before Ray, Sara and Kendra are aboard. So I guess we aren’t quite done with the 1950s yet. Maybe Sara can go on a date with that nurse after all. Of course the team left onboard (if they are onboard) are probably going to have a very bad day now that they are in Chronos’ clutches. I am sensing a pattern of non-Savage centric episodes and Savage-centric ones. It isn’t a bad way to formulate the show but it does seem like they just keep flipping back and forth and they aren’t really accomplishing much of their ultimate goal as they bumble along. I know they aren’t legends yet but they really don’t seem to be as effective as they should be given their combined skillsets and technology.
- Ray
We now find ourselves in 1958: the time of the juke box and rampant homophobia and racism. Just what the civil rights attorney in me wants to watch. But hey, at least Ray got to have some humorous one-liners! Before we find the team, though, we gets some teenagers drag racing down lover’s lane. They have the misfortune of happening upon a meteor that’s also attracted one Vandal Savage. That’s not good for the kids, that’s for sure. Since it seems Savage has settled into this little Oregon town (and some strategic murders have taken place), the team splits up. Sara and Stein pose as a doctor and nurse at an insane asylum and Kendra and Ray are a married couple new in town. Jax is going to use his youth to cozy up to some of the town’s local high school crowd to get some info on those missing kids. And Rip and Snart get to pump the police for some information (with Rip doing a weird American accent).
Kendra and Ray are the first to get a shock when their new neighbors, the Knoxes show up to invite them to a dinner party. Sure that’s a nice sentiment but it is creepy as hell coming from Savage. At this point it is very unclear whether he recognizes her and the team. But thanks to that invite, she and Ray find out that he’s got a man cave that Ray is going to break into. While they are susses out Savage, Sara and Stein learn a few things at the hospital. First, Knox (aka Savage) has a restricted wing where he keeps psychotic patients. Well it isn’t quite psychotic as grotesque bat-people. Sara also finds a repressed lesbian nurse who is kind of adorable. Sara saves her from a misogynistic pig of a doctor. They bond a little over drinks while Sara and Stein are supposed to be searching the hospital and then they kiss (initiated by the nurse).
Not surprisingly, Jax faces the hardest situation of the team (even more so than Ray and Kendra being an interracial couple) because he cozies up to a white girl who was the girlfriend of one of the missing teens. First he gets hassled by some football players and then when and the girl go out on a date, the same football players track them down and start hassling them. This of course is interrupted by the bat people (aka the teenagers that have been mutated by the meteor) and the girl gets her throat slashed. Jax, in an effort to get her help, gets pulled over by a racist asshole cop and then knocked out.
Things aren’t all bad (well sure, Jax gets turned into a bat thing but you know I’m sure Stein can save him). Ray’s mission into Savage’s house yields the dagger Kendra needs to kill Savage. She plans to go to him alone and take him out but the rest of the team isn’t very comfortable with that plan. I don’t blame them. She hasn’t exactly proven herself a strong, capable warrior. She’s still just kind of bland. Sara is a much better fighter and way more badass, even as she deals with emotions for the first time post-Pit. The rest of the team is strategically in place at the hospital when Kendra goes to meet Savage. Kendra tries to get the knife out of her purse and stab Savage with it but he get the upper hand. And to keep the rest of the team busy, he lets out the monsters. This leads to quite the chaotic scene at the hospital and Stein and Snart sort of team up (well okay so it’s mostly Snart and his freeze gun doing all the work). Sara gets to save her nurse and even Rip and Ray get to take on a piece of the action. I’d say it was a win when Ray punches Savage out a window but the bad guy has the knife again so it’s really a loss.
Jax is cured as are the other kids and things are starting to settle down for the small town folk. Jax has gifted the girl (who has recovered from her wounds) with a tricked out ride and he makes her promise to get out of town because things are changing in the world and she deserves to see it. Sara also says goodbye to her nurse who seems much happier now that she’s kissed a girl (several times) and liked it. Sara seems happier, too. I’m sure Nyssa would be happy to see her girlfriend smiling again. Ray and Kendra apologize to each other for how they acted (getting caught up in the moment and all). Jax even gets to apologize to Snart for the way he acted about the Rory situation (from the conversations throughout the episode I think he’s still dead). They don’t get much of a chance to chat because Chronos shows up yet again and he’s got new Time Master toys that let him breach the ship. It’s unclear whether the guys get to the jump ship in time to escape but the Wave Rider takes off before Ray, Sara and Kendra are aboard. So I guess we aren’t quite done with the 1950s yet. Maybe Sara can go on a date with that nurse after all. Of course the team left onboard (if they are onboard) are probably going to have a very bad day now that they are in Chronos’ clutches. I am sensing a pattern of non-Savage centric episodes and Savage-centric ones. It isn’t a bad way to formulate the show but it does seem like they just keep flipping back and forth and they aren’t really accomplishing much of their ultimate goal as they bumble along. I know they aren’t legends yet but they really don’t seem to be as effective as they should be given their combined skillsets and technology.
Thursday, July 28, 2016
MTVP So Cal Summer 2016: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 1.07: "I'm So Happy that Josh is So Happy!"
“Everyone should feel their feelings. Everyone should always feel their feelings.”
-Rebecca
This particular episode of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” was kind of a mixed bag for me. There were some aspects of the episode that really worked for me, and there were some aspects of the episode that made me a little too upset. That’s kind of representative of the show overall, though. It’s a brilliant show and the characters are so well drawn, but it’s also not afraid to make viewers uncomfortable. Rebecca’s mental health issues really take center stage in this episode. She’s done some impulsive ridiculous things in previous episodes, but she really loses it this time, and she starts hallucinating Dr. Phil of all people. On the more positive side, we explore Paula’s character in this episode and get a fabulous song from Donna Lynne Champlin, and we also get some fun bro time with Josh and his buddies. That fun bro time also clearly shows how Josh’s friends feel about Valencia, which I found pretty interesting.
Josh and Valencia are moving it in together, and of course Rebecca and Paula are watching while parked down the road. Rebecca wants to give the couple a rice cooker for a housewarming gift because rice is important to both their cultures (Filipino and Mexican), but Paula of course thinks that’s a horrible idea. Anything that encourages Josh and Valencia is not a good thing in her book. Rebecca has some good sense for once and decides to give Josh some space, letting him tell her when he’s ready to get together. That’s when she’ll give him the rice cooker. Seeing Josh and Valencia moving in and making out throws Rebecca for a loop. It’s bad timing for Rebecca to be preoccupied with Josh, though. Darryl is trying to attract a new client to Whitefeather, a medium (but big time in West Covina) real estate guy named Calvin Young. Rebecca is supposed to take a key role in landing Calvin as a client, but she’s a mess. She drinks vodka out of her pen cup and ends up with ink-blue teeth. Darryl can tell Rebecca’s not doing well, so he tells her to go home and rest up so she can kill the big presentation to Calvin on Monday.
Instead of working on her presentation, Rebecca wallows, watches some Dr. Phil, and fantasizes about how the French make depression seem sexy. “Sexy French Depression,” the song that explores the later topic, is one of the better songs of the series, I think. It’s basically a little art film, and there’s a lot of French spoken in it. Soon enough, Rebecca is having full-on conversations with imaginary Dr. Phil, and she realizes that she probably needs some help. One thing I do appreciate about “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” is that while it is at its heart a comedy, Rebecca’s mental health issues are taken seriously. You might remember that when she first moved to West Covina, Rebecca triumphantly threw away all of her meds. Now she frantically looks for any pills she might have left behind. Not finding any meds, Rebecca goes to see a real therapist, Dr. Akopian. Dr. Akopian is horrified at the list of meds Rebecca was on in New York, and she wants Rebecca to try some real therapy. Rebecca has rehashed her childhood countless times to therapists, and she’s not keen to do it again. Instead she finds a pill on the bathroom floor at Dr. Akopian’s office that turns out to be an ADHD medication. Rebecca thinks she found exactly what she needs.
Meanwhile, Valencia has complained that they have no furniture for their new place, so Josh buys an Ikea-style dining room table and enlists Greg, Hector, and White Josh to help him build it. The guys help even though they know Valencia won’t like it since she didn’t pick it out. They allude to their dislike of Valencia by saying things about the dining room table that they actually feel about Valencia. Greg even goes so far as to say Josh will ruin his life if he sticks with “this table.” Josh isn’t hearing any of it, though. Eventually, after pulling an all-nighter, the table is finished, and it doesn’t look half bad. It’s actually surprising they got the thing together, really. Valencia, of course, hates it when she sees it. She says it’s not what she would have picked out, and she asks Josh to return it. There are times when I have some sympathy for Valencia, but now is not one of those times.
Anyway, since Rebecca is out of commission, Paula has the responsibility of entertaining Calvin for the weekend. The weekend starts with a dinner at Paula’s house for Calvin and Darryl. Paula’s husband is off barbershopping, and Darryl leaves pretty quickly after he sees that Calvin and Paula are just going to flirt all evening. Calving invites Paula to a jazz club, and she accepts. She has a great time at the club, since she actually feels appreciated, and she sings a gorgeous jazz tune about it called “His Status is Preferred.” It’s a great song, and Donna Lynne Champlin kills it as always. As the evening continues, Calvin invites Paula back to his hotel room, and Paula accepts that invitation too. Calvin is a widower, and Paula is the first woman since his wife that he really feels a connection with. Paula’s marriage is a mess, and she really just wants the kind of attention Calvin is offering.
The ADHD pill turns out to be a bit much for Rebecca, so she calls Heather to ask if she has any downers. Heather stops by with some weed, and once she’s high, Rebecca has the bright idea to break into Dr. Akopian’s office to try and find more pills. Instead, Rebecca and Heather see that Dr. Akopian left her prescription pad out. Rebecca now has a new plan – steal the scrip pad. She tries to fit in through the doggie door and gets stuck, and Dr. Akopian catches her and Heather. She makes Rebecca realize just how far she has fallen, but she tells Rebecca she won’t press any charges for the breaking and entering if Rebecca agrees to do some real therapy.
What really brings Rebecca back, however, is when she calls Paula and finds out that Paula is in Calvin’s hotel room, about to have sex with him. She marches right to the hotel and tells Paula in no uncertain terms that what she’s about to do is a very bad idea. Rebecca says she has now realized it’s okay to feel your feelings, and she, Paula, and Calvin all end up crying together. Calvin acknowledges that this sort of thing would usually destroy a business deal, but he appreciates Rebecca’s no-nonsense attitude, and he’s willing to do business with Whitefeather. Rebecca does indeed go for a session with Dr. Akopian, but as you might expect, it’s cut short when Josh texts her to ask if she wants to get boba. Rebecca of course immediately makes her excuses and goes for boba, where she finally gives Josh the rice cooker. Two steps forward, one step back, I suppose.
Summer DVR Dump: Heroes Reborn 1.08: “June 13th Part Two”
“It’s about time my old friend.”
- Hiro
This episode is crazy! Much like the original we are finally getting answers and the action is just crazy. There’s so much to get through so let’s start. Present Noah tackles Future Noah but the latter gets a shot off and nails Erika in the butt. Quentin has been looking for Phoebe and he ends up helping Erika get medical attention because she says he’ll never find her if he lets Erika die. The better part is the two Noahs arguing and realizing what the heck is going on. I enjoyed Jack Coleman playing against himself. It was entertaining and Present Noah was pissed that his future counterpart shot Erika and stepped on a butterfly. Hiro would be so annoyed.
Speaking of Hiro, he and Angel have taken the babies back to 1999 but they are still stuck in Odessa. And Hiro has no powers thanks to baby Nathan having a power somewhere in between Sylar and Great-Uncle Peter. He takes powers. Angela warns Hiro that the twins can’t be near each other (it also explains how Claire died…poor kid took her power, too) so they are going to separate the twins. We also are subjected to the origin of Joanne the nut job. They eventually find poor Dennis’s body and she is losing it. They are watching news footage in their hotel room when the freezing guy shows up to thank Luke for helping him. But Joanne freaks out, starts throwing around terms like “you people” (it still just irks me so bad) and she ultimately stabs the poor guy to death rather gleefully. She totally has the crazed killer look at the end when she says she feels fine and Luke just kind of stares at her like “what the hell just happened?”
Meanwhile, we see Carlos getting questioned about an operation in the Middle East and Farah is there, too. It seems she was part of his unit as well. She’s going off the grid for an operation (I’m pretty sure it’s to protect Malina) when Carlos shows up and he’s not happy that he got a medal for something she did. She tells him to live up to the honor. So at least he’s kind of connected to the larger story now since he’s mostly been useless up to this point. Out in Japan, Miko’s creator sees that Hiro supposedly died in Odessa and he was in league with Mohinder. I have to wonder how they managed to doctor a video of Mohinder rambling about Evo superiority. Anyway, we witness Miko’s creator build her in the game and bring her into our world with his power as a back door to protect Hiro in the game. We get some sweet scene with him teaching her to make dinner and filling her on her past (even though we know now that she isn’t real). Erika has ordered Harris (or one of his clones) to eliminate the additional Hiro. Oh boy.
Future Noah and Molly head off to find Hiro (or at least his power) which leaves Present Noah and Casper. I have a feeling they are going to regret not using Renee for the memory wipe. Especially since Casper gets knocked out and Matt comes in to find out about Claire. I have to say I was kind of bummed about Matt’s trajectory. He did struggle so much to find his place but he is better than this. I know he wants to protect his family but come on. He does let Noah and Casper go after Casper uses one of his pennies to wipe Noah’s memory so he can’t reveal the location of the baby (they don’t know she had twins). Noah and Molly find Hiro living in a pretty nice house and it makes me think he settled down with the nurse and raised Nathan/Tommy.
I must say I really like Nathan with all his memories. He has the geekiness of Hiro and the need to save the world like his Great Uncle Peter. Even his power is like Peter. Unfortunately, just as the family reunion is getting underway, Harris shows up Noah has to kill him. This prompts a visit to Angela to warn that Erika is somewhat on to them. Angela has not aged well. She’s at a monastery with young Malina. Nathan really wants to meet her but Angela insists they stay apart until the time is right. Not long after Noah and Nathan leave, Farah shows up and Angela tasks her with keeping an eye on Malina. Farah is skeptical that Malina will be able to save the world but come on, she’s a Petrelli, too!
Noah needs to get back to the future so he can get the twins together at the right time. But first we see Present Noah get dropped into the rubble of the explosion to go wandering off looking for Claire. So at least they have fixed some of the problem. Too bad Quentin goes back to Erika and demands to see Phoebe. They have an okay reunion and it just makes me worry that they will get to him. Anyway, a bunch of Harris clones show up to take out Nathan and Hiro orders his son to flee (Molly has also been tasked with remotely monitoring the twins) with his mother and Casper. He has his own battle to finish from fifteen years ago (or you know, a few hours depending on how you look at it). Casper takes Nathan’s memory and thus we get to the point where we found him at the start of the season.
Noah gets back to the future to find Quentin is alive. He does his kind of obnoxious rambling thing and gets Noah to admit that Claire had twins and they are teenagers now. I was right not to trust Quentin because he reports this to Erika. So now they know what is going on. Well damn!
- Hiro
This episode is crazy! Much like the original we are finally getting answers and the action is just crazy. There’s so much to get through so let’s start. Present Noah tackles Future Noah but the latter gets a shot off and nails Erika in the butt. Quentin has been looking for Phoebe and he ends up helping Erika get medical attention because she says he’ll never find her if he lets Erika die. The better part is the two Noahs arguing and realizing what the heck is going on. I enjoyed Jack Coleman playing against himself. It was entertaining and Present Noah was pissed that his future counterpart shot Erika and stepped on a butterfly. Hiro would be so annoyed.
Speaking of Hiro, he and Angel have taken the babies back to 1999 but they are still stuck in Odessa. And Hiro has no powers thanks to baby Nathan having a power somewhere in between Sylar and Great-Uncle Peter. He takes powers. Angela warns Hiro that the twins can’t be near each other (it also explains how Claire died…poor kid took her power, too) so they are going to separate the twins. We also are subjected to the origin of Joanne the nut job. They eventually find poor Dennis’s body and she is losing it. They are watching news footage in their hotel room when the freezing guy shows up to thank Luke for helping him. But Joanne freaks out, starts throwing around terms like “you people” (it still just irks me so bad) and she ultimately stabs the poor guy to death rather gleefully. She totally has the crazed killer look at the end when she says she feels fine and Luke just kind of stares at her like “what the hell just happened?”
Meanwhile, we see Carlos getting questioned about an operation in the Middle East and Farah is there, too. It seems she was part of his unit as well. She’s going off the grid for an operation (I’m pretty sure it’s to protect Malina) when Carlos shows up and he’s not happy that he got a medal for something she did. She tells him to live up to the honor. So at least he’s kind of connected to the larger story now since he’s mostly been useless up to this point. Out in Japan, Miko’s creator sees that Hiro supposedly died in Odessa and he was in league with Mohinder. I have to wonder how they managed to doctor a video of Mohinder rambling about Evo superiority. Anyway, we witness Miko’s creator build her in the game and bring her into our world with his power as a back door to protect Hiro in the game. We get some sweet scene with him teaching her to make dinner and filling her on her past (even though we know now that she isn’t real). Erika has ordered Harris (or one of his clones) to eliminate the additional Hiro. Oh boy.
Future Noah and Molly head off to find Hiro (or at least his power) which leaves Present Noah and Casper. I have a feeling they are going to regret not using Renee for the memory wipe. Especially since Casper gets knocked out and Matt comes in to find out about Claire. I have to say I was kind of bummed about Matt’s trajectory. He did struggle so much to find his place but he is better than this. I know he wants to protect his family but come on. He does let Noah and Casper go after Casper uses one of his pennies to wipe Noah’s memory so he can’t reveal the location of the baby (they don’t know she had twins). Noah and Molly find Hiro living in a pretty nice house and it makes me think he settled down with the nurse and raised Nathan/Tommy.
I must say I really like Nathan with all his memories. He has the geekiness of Hiro and the need to save the world like his Great Uncle Peter. Even his power is like Peter. Unfortunately, just as the family reunion is getting underway, Harris shows up Noah has to kill him. This prompts a visit to Angela to warn that Erika is somewhat on to them. Angela has not aged well. She’s at a monastery with young Malina. Nathan really wants to meet her but Angela insists they stay apart until the time is right. Not long after Noah and Nathan leave, Farah shows up and Angela tasks her with keeping an eye on Malina. Farah is skeptical that Malina will be able to save the world but come on, she’s a Petrelli, too!
Noah needs to get back to the future so he can get the twins together at the right time. But first we see Present Noah get dropped into the rubble of the explosion to go wandering off looking for Claire. So at least they have fixed some of the problem. Too bad Quentin goes back to Erika and demands to see Phoebe. They have an okay reunion and it just makes me worry that they will get to him. Anyway, a bunch of Harris clones show up to take out Nathan and Hiro orders his son to flee (Molly has also been tasked with remotely monitoring the twins) with his mother and Casper. He has his own battle to finish from fifteen years ago (or you know, a few hours depending on how you look at it). Casper takes Nathan’s memory and thus we get to the point where we found him at the start of the season.
Noah gets back to the future to find Quentin is alive. He does his kind of obnoxious rambling thing and gets Noah to admit that Claire had twins and they are teenagers now. I was right not to trust Quentin because he reports this to Erika. So now they know what is going on. Well damn!
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