Month: July 2014

July 28, 2014

Saturday’s Highlights of Comic Con

WARNING: This post does contain spoilers for upcoming TV seasons and movies. 

 

One of the most beautiful things about SDCC is that it is so big. It is so big that I generally spend a month watching panels and interviews, but I still will not have watched everything it had to offer. So here’s a few of the best parts that happened Saturday.

 

The Walking Dead panel at Nerd HQ:

 

As much as I love the actual panels at Comic Con, I generally love the panels at Nerd HQ more. It is in a more relaxed setting, and the actors and fans have a great time. Of course Nerd HQ wouldn’t even exist without Comic Con so I am grateful for both.

 

Once Upon a Time Panel:

 

While I am leery about parts of the show, I still love the majority of the actors. It is always great to see them, and Yvette Nicole Brown hosted the panel. I love that she is a huge lover of the show, and she has such a big heart.

 

The Marvel movie panel:

I will say the announcement of Evangeline Lilly made the Ant Man movie more exciting for me.

 

 

We know you for more than the Hulk here.

 

https://twitter.com/adambvary/status/4932046720358154

I think we would all pay money to see this.

 

 

And just when I think there will not be anymore characters appearing in Ultron, they announce another player. This movie is going to be packed with characters we love or will love soon enough.

 

WB DC TV Panel:

This was kind of amazing. To see all the major character of four different shows on stage. I don’t think I have ever seen that many people on the stage. What made it even more golden was Stephen Amell hosting the panel. DC knows how to do their TV.

 

 

 

 

The Women’s Panel at Nerd HQ:

 

 

All these ladies are amazing and I love them.

 

July 26, 2014

The Best of Friday’s Comic Con: Part 1

WARNING: THIS POST DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR UPCOMING SEASONS.

Friday I spent most of the day in my bed with my face glued to my laptop. So much happened yesterday with my favorite TV shows, and I still haven’t caught up on it all. So here are some favorite highlights from yesterday.

The Walking Dead:

The cast has quickly become one of my favorites and it was a joy to see them at SDCC.

 

The season five trailer was amazing, and my favorite part was seeing Beth alive with her own story line. Beth has played mostly a background character, and it is good to finally see her in the foreground.

 

Agent Carter:

While they still haven’t started filming the series yet I was extremely excited to hear more about this show and see Hayley Atwell.

I am super excited that the Russo brothers are continuing to participate in the Marvel universe. I miss them on Community, but I enjoy seeing the success they have been able to achieve.

 

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:

Any time you have Clark Gregg on a panel it will be beautiful.

Nothing is better than Clark Gregg’s face of excitement

 

We also got a cameo from Patton Oswalt in video form.

 

Although Marvel is not terribly fond of spoilers we did get some of the names of the guests who are appearing. I’m excited Reed Diamond is playing the main baddie. It is always a thrill to see a member of the Whedonverse show up.

 

Cutie.

 

Arrow:

I thought The Walking Dead trailer had already brought me over the edge, but I was wrong. The Arrow trailer gave me the same amount of emotions.

 

Diggle commentary will always be gold. It needs to be put in a frame and hung a wall.

 

I really enjoy that these two shows are going to be so interwoven, and yet will be able to remain two different shows.

July 25, 2014

Thursday Highlights of Comic Con

San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) is one my favorite times of the year. It is where nerdom rules and we get to find out so much about our favorite fandoms. The one thing that makes this weekend even more beautiful is the internet. If we didn’t have YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, or major sites that cover this weekend, we would be out in the dark. For those who can’t go we get to live vicariously through the internet.

 

Generally Friday is when the Con really starts to pick up, but a few things happened yesterday that are already highlights of the week for me.

 

1. Community Live Son! Or Community Lives On. Thanks to Yahoo we have another season of Community, and Yahoo has already done a great job of promoting it. I’m pretty sure I have seen more promotion for Community at SDCC than NBC ever did for it in the five years combined.

I wish I could get my hands on this.

Thanks to TV Guide, we also got another Community. Seeing them be at SDCC another year warms the heart. Especially when you can see the love of the cast and crew have for the show.

 

Finally, I fully support #Gim, and hope there will be some in season 6. https://twitter.com/TVGuideMagazine/status/492400641843552257

 

 

2. Nerd HQ kicked off. Chuck is probably my favorite show. I know it wasn’t the best show ever created, but it had so much heart. So of course I will watch a whole panel of Mr. Zachary Levi talking with his fans. It was a glorious hour, and you can always play the game how many times will Levi begin to cry during the hour. I find the man adorable.

3. This trailer for the online Firefly game. It is beautiful that a show which only lasted 13 episodes still lives on today.

4. The Walking Dead cast. It was finally confirmed that Emily Kinney was going to be at SDCC with the rest of the cast due to Norman Reedus being a lover of Instagram and his fellow cast mates. So even when he deleted the photo it was already on the internet. Now there have been a few more photos of Emily Kinney. Sure it would have been a nice surprise, but knowing she is there for sure makes me happy.

 

 

Kind of wish there was a way to see what happened on the plane.

 

July 23, 2014

“We do what we need to do.”

**This post contains spoilers for 4.05 of Suits, “Pound of Flesh.”**

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Good news, everyone! Last week’s Suits was marginally better than it has been all season! I’ll give you a moment to celebrate, because believe me, we need it.

It didn’t start out great; for the ninety billionth week in a row, Rachel complains about her workload and how difficult her super-privileged life is as a law student and as Harvey Specter’s associate, in case you forgot. The sad part is that Mike comes off looking like the jerk here, as he turned off Rachel’s alarm, causing her to be late for work. Like he’s never met/worked for Harvey Specter before. C’mon Mike.

But Rachel is so exhausted you guys, even though she promised everyone who would listen that she could handle this workload. It’s her M.O.: Make a huge stand about being able to handle things as an adult, and then immediately buckle and beg for sympathy from the people around her. She winds up fainting from exhaustion at school, which is not only kind of lame (an ulcer would’ve packed a bigger punch) but it ends up being a plot device for Mike and Harvey to meet on some sort of middle ground. Hey, I never said this episode was perfect, I only said it was better.

Rachel wakes up from a horrible nightmare, which is actually just a flashback of Logan Sanders proposing to her before he suddenly turns into Mike, and then she goes back to sleep all wide-eyed and worried. An actual nervous breakdown would’ve been preferable to this.

Mike, Harvey, Jeff, and Jessica all talk about buying out a block of shares that somehow manages to mess with Mike’s plan and draw the bead from the SEC. Jeff figures out a “questionable” way to acquire the shares, which floats for the majority of the episode until Rachel lands her exhausted butt in the hospital. That’s when Harvey takes Mike out on a date — a literal date with mood lighting, expensive food, and suggestive talking — and manage to mend their fences. Things look good for our favorite duo until afterwards, when the SEC guy, Cahill, materializes out of nowhere and accuses them of colluding.

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This results in Mike being mad at Harvey for not being honest with him about the whole shares thing, and Harvey basically begs Mike to trust him. He goes to bat for Mike against Jessica, but Jessica overrules him. Harvey ends up apologizing to Mike for not taking his takeover plan many months ago, which is nice and all, but it doesn’t help Mike. The scene ends with Harvey telling Mike, “Do what you have to do.”

But Mike finally grows a conscience and tries to pull out of his deal with Forstman, but it’s too late: Sidwell has taken the deal and has cut Mike out of it. Turnabout’s fair play.

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The best part of the episode is the one-off story with Donna and Louis, where he finds her trying to memorize her lines for the part of Portia in Merchant of Venice and freaks out when she tells him that tonight is opening night and she’s still not off-book. He vows to spend the entire day helping her memorize her lines (because of course Louis knows all the words to all of Shakespeare’s plays) and during the course of the rehearsals, Donna confesses that she’s terrified of getting back onstage.

 

The next day, she begs Louis to fill in for one of the injured actors, but Louis has crippling stage fright and refuses. It’s his deep love for Donna that compels him to finally agree, but it’s not without its issues. As hokey as the storyline might’ve seemed to a first-time viewer, it’s this sort of lightheartedness and camaraderie that’s been sorely lacking from this show.

Also, I lied. The absolute best part of the episode was the very end, when Harvey dropped everything to be at the closing night of Donna’s big play. There weren’t even any indicators throughtout the episode that Harvey really cared or was aware of how important it was to her, so it’s a particularly touching scene.

Next week: more yelling, more stalk-talk, and more use of the word “bullshit” during every act.

July 15, 2014

“Pull the leverage, Louis! … WRONG LEVERAGE!”

**This post contains spoilers for 4.04 of Suits, “Leveraged.”**

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This episode of Suits started out strong, with Donna busting into Mike’s see-through office like a wrecking ball to yell at him about privacy, friendship, and designer handbags. She leaves mollified, because she’s the only person on this show that knows how to walk a line between work and personal (except for Jessica, who is admittedly struggling with that at the moment). She compliments Mike’s assistant, Amy, for her shoes, and pretty much that’s the only scene that’s entirely on point in this episode. I won’t say it’s all downhill from here, but there’s definitely a decline.

Fourth episode in a row where Harvey's wearing a waistcoat. Bless.

Fourth episode in a row where Harvey’s wearing a waistcoat… and a scowl. Bless.

The SEC storyline seems to fizzle before it really starts, with Jessica and Jeff teaming up to take down Sean Cahill of the SEC. Unfortunately, it backfires because I guess everyone on this show gets outmaneuvered at the last minute.

Actual power couple.

Actual power couple.

Mike, meanwhile, leverages (ha! Get it? The theme tonight is “leverage,” and if you manage to get it on a triple word score, you win a set of bickering lawyers-slash-ex-boyfriends!) a Photoshopped picture of Sheila to throw Louis off of his game, and Louis, predictably, falls for it. This is too much for Harvey, who righteously rages at Louis with an appropriate amount of disappointment and anger in the moment; he doesn’t treat Louis any differently than he would treat Mike or Donna, but the problem this time is that dealing with Louis always means lasting ramifications. Louis is the pond that people throw pebbles into, and by the time the ripples reach the shore, they’re tsunamis.

Great scene for Gabriel Macht in particular; it makes this episode worth watching.

Great scene for Gabriel Macht in particular; it makes this episode worth watching.

Louis heads off Mike with Tony Gionopolus (who is still relevant I guess) and manages to cut all ties with Mike. He warns him that people hold grudges, which somehow magically gives Mike the idea to go to someone named Forstman, who likes to control people, exact revenge, and brood in diners about lost Aston Martins. This is bad news for Harvey’s case, and Louis fesses up immediately to the role he played in it, which results in one of the most devastating scenes on this show.

 

 

It’s not an entirely earned scene; Louis has done much worse than inadvertently remind someone of an old grudge (and that’s on Harvey for not taking into account how much personal information Mike has on him in the first place) and this tiny faux pas doesn’t warrant this deep disappointment Harvey exhibits. The scene barely works only because the actors are great and because Harvey’s outburst earlier in the episode was so effective. This is another case of the show leaning too hard on the drama and not enough on the actual plot; all of the back-and-forth actually undercuts the emotional punches. Imagine if this scene had happened without Harvey’s pseudo-apology — if he had just cooled off, then went into Louis’ office and started with “You know what? I’m done.” Devastating! And earned.

(The entire thing was ruined by odd shaky camera work. I swear, sometimes the creative decisions on this show…) Still, the scene works, and it’s gonna drive Louis through the next couple of episodes I’m sure. Harvey, in turn, needs to learn not to come down so hard on people when they fail him. Those are the sorts of outbursts that have garnered him so many enemies.

Behold! Chemistry.

Behold! Chemistry.

Mike continues down his road to perdition, choosing all of the worst solutions to his growing Gillis Industries problem. He starts with the Louis thing, then teaming up with Forstman and denying Harvey’s dire warning about Forstman’s motives. When Forstman then tells Mike that his one caveat is for Mike to cut his boss, Sidwell, out of the final deal, Mike yells at Amy that he doesn’t have a choice. Harvey, in his sober farewell to his former protegee, tells Mike that he always has a choice. Mike doesn’t listen; he shakes hands with Forstman and accepts Sidwell’s congratulations like there’s nothing amiss. (No wonder Patrick Adams got a lot of hate tweets after this episode.)

True to form, Rachel fails to leave work stuff at work, bringing home the Louis stuff to pick a fight with Mike. Sure, Mike was wrong to do what he did to someone he claimed was a friend, but he’s focused on the bigger picture, which is exactly what he told Rachel he would be doing. If you’re keeping track, that makes this the 48th episode in a row where Rachel insists she can handle a complicated, multi-layered situation and fails miserably.

Behold! ... Meh.

Behold! … Meh.

But if you started this episode thinking “Hey! Maybe Rachel learned from her past mistakes with Logan Sanders!” then please allow me to laugh in your face. She learned nothing. He contrives some kind of investment deal (I wasn’t totally paying attention) in order to spend some alone time with her, which she completely recognizes but lets him deny. They argue a bit, I think there was supposed to be heat there but the stunning lack of chemistry makes me wonder if anyone screen tests anymore. Then at the end of the episode, Logan leans in for a kiss and Rachel allllmost lets it land. She’s flustered when she leaves, which again, I don’t totally understand because there’s exactly zero sexual tension in their scenes. Have I emphasized that enough?

Donna Paulsen, voice of reason.

Donna Paulsen, voice of reason.

There was another good Donna scene where she bluntly reminded Harvey that Louis considers him to be his best friend — he’d even asked Harvey to be his best man. Other than that, there’s a deplorable lack of Donna again and I’m starting to lose hope that she’ll get a meaty storyline this season.

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The relationship between Mike and Amy is compelling because she’s every bit as confident and qualified as Donna, and she plays off Mike the same way Donna plays off Harvey. If they’re smart, they’ll play that out as a parallel, especially if Mike and Rachel continue to be pulled in opposite directions. They may not be long for this world, though; Amy looks disappointed in Mike after he makes his dirty deal.

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Finally, after getting caught lying about the way he left the SEC (meaning, he was about to be fired for not going after Pearson Specter) Jeff tells Jessica that he will never lie to her, man to woman. She shows up on his doorstep with All About Eve and Raging Bulls, it’s a really sweet scene.

Next episode: Probably more of the same. Hopefully more Jessica this time.

July 7, 2014

“Shut Up and be Dead, I’m Busy.”

Please enjoy this Under the Dome post from guestblogger Justin.

**This post contains spoilers for 2.01 of Under the Dome, “Heads Will Roll.”**

Under the Dome returned with Season 2 last Monday, but due to a combination of houseguests and work, I wasn’t able to watch it until Sunday. At least I don’t have to wait long for the next episode.

I volunteered to write reviews/recaps for the second season, and Kerry decided to hold me to my word. In these reviews, you can expect spoilers, my thoughts on each episode, and general commentary. I hope you enjoy and decide to watch the show if you don’t already.

The episode opens with some rando changing a lightbulb and trying to decide if he wants to drink some liquor. He’s distracted by pulsating lights outside and decides to go investigate. I guess the sky turning black was why he was turning on the light, not sure why the pulsating light changed his mind about drinking though.

We switch back to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court Barbie’s execution. (To be honest, during this scene I wasn’t worried about them killing Barbie, I was just wondering who took the time, and had the materials, to build such an intricate gallows). The pulsating light and sound of the dome has given Junior Rennie second thoughts about pulling the lever and sending Barbie to his death.

Meanwhile, Julia returns to shore after dumping the tiny black egg in the lake. She immediately hears splashing and screaming and looks back to see someone drowning. Even though she’s standing right next to the boat she just used, she dives into the water to swim halfway across the lake to the drowning girl. I’m not sure why she didn’t use the boat, or why she didn’t stop to wonder why she didn’t see the girl when she was just out there. In the back of my head I was wondering if her gunshot wound was going to get infected by the pond water, it can’t be very sanitary with eggs and random girls floating around in it.

Back at the gallows, the supporting characters all pass out. Junior can’t pull the lever so Big Jim says he will. This causes Linda to finally step in and save Barbie.

Linda saves the drowning girl and is aided by the alcoholic Rando in reviving her, something Angie probably wishes didn’t happen – but more on that later. They get her breathing and go back to his cabin. The Rando seemed to recognize the Swimmer, but I could just be misreading that.

Big Jim, Linda, and Barbie all arrive at the dome to see why it’s pulsating sounds and lights. They find out that it has been magnetized and is drawing in surrounding objects. Barbie, still in handcuffs, is pulled toward the wall. Linda saves him but ends up being crushed by the SUV they arrived in, so she’s dead.

Rando introduces himself as Sam Verdreaux and helps Julia clean her wound while the Swimmer spies on them.The Swimmer eventually sneaks away. Julia decides she needs to leave the cabin to go save the town and Sam gives her an apparently non-magnetic knife for protection. Once she leaves Sam opens up his sister’s art book where he finds a drawing of the Swimmer.

Barbie decides to steal a car to get back to town and help people. I guess this one was conveniently non-magnetic. He’s stopped by the shotgun-wielding science teacher, Rebecca Pine. She hypothesizes that the dome is having contractions and the resulting electromagnetic waves could kill people.

At the McCallister residence, Norrie’s mom has passed out while all the metal objects in the area are pulled toward the dome. Joe ends up with some stigmata in one hand trying to protect everyone, and they’re all saved once Barbie shows up.

Big Jim ends up trapped in his zombie shelter where he hallucinates Dodee (or the dome sends her, not sure). He ends up using a grenade and a shrapnel-proof mattress to escape, but not before Dodee tells him he has to learn to sacrifice and put other people’s needs before his. He does use some good comebacks to ghost-Dodee though.

Science teacher Rebecca says that everyone needs to be moved to her school, which is at the center of the dome, in order to be furthest away from the dome’s magnetic field. They’re also going to build a giant electromagnet.

Science Teacher Rebecca and Barbie gather up a lot of copper wire and use a tower to build a giant magnet, but it doesn’t work and everyone passes out except Barbie. Junior and Angie are running through town and they also pass out.

 

Junior dreams about being in a town called Zenith. The badge that was pulled off of his shirt is back now too, and while there, he sees his dead mom. At this point I actually had to go look up if his mom was dead or if she just left. It had been a while since I watched Season 1 (I meant to do a re-watch but ran out of time) but I thought she had killed herself.

Barbie and Julia reunite while Big Jim hallucinates ghost Linda. Jim figures out from his conversation with ghost Linda that he needs to hang himself on the newly constructed gallows in order to save the town. He tries to, but in Rennie fashion, he can’t pull the lever.

He offers for Julia or Barbie to pull the lever and Julia accepts. She also chickens out which causes Jim to stomp through the trapdoor. Julia uses the non-magnetic knife that she got from Sam to cut the rope before Jim dies. She then declares that the dome didn’t want Jim to die, it wanted everyone to stop killing. Not sure where she got that from, though. It makes sense in the episode I guess, but not coming from her. I just don’t understand why the dome would want to tell everyone to stop killing by almost killing all of the town.

In any case, Julia is right and the dome becomes clear once again and everyone wakes up. Well, except for Linda, whose body is being held by the Swimmer.

Oh hey! It’s Stephen King drinking coffee in the diner!

Big Jim deputizes Phil and then gets confronted by Angie in the diner. Angie tells him that it’s a good thing she wasn’t up there on the gallows with him. Science Teacher Rebecca said earlier she thought the tower worked to clear the dome and Barbie and Julia both didn’t correct her. Did they fill in just Angie? I’m not sure how else she would know about it since she was passed out with the rest of the crowd.

Sam the Alcoholic shows up in the diner and we discover that he’s Junior’s uncle. In true uncle fashion, he comments on how Junior has gotten big. He’s searching for the Swimmer who escaped from his cabin.

We see Junior’s mom, Pauline, wake up and say, “James.” I’m presuming she was waking up from the same dream where Junior saw her walking in town. She grabs a painting of a door and starts painting red over the top of it. So I guess she’s alive. We also finally get a glimpse outside of the dome and hear a news report mentioning the dome which shows the outsiders know just as little as those trapped inside.

The episode ends with Angie following the Swimmer into a school. Angie is shocked by something she sees inside a locker the Swimmer had opened. Her shock is shortly lived because she’s soon hit with (and I’m guessing killed by) an ax. My guess? It was Science Teacher Rebecca. The whole “my school is the center of town” thing got to her head.

We’ll have to see what answers episode 2 will bring.

Justin occasionally watches TV shows without the company of his wife; this is one of those shows. Follow his #drunktweets on Twitter at @OfcCupcake.