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Reviews
Tracker: Preternatural (2024)
Super Tracker.
The writers are really leaning hard on supernatural stuff this season. UAPs, witchcraft, it's all getting a bit spooky. There's a part of me that's wondering if AI is starting to be involved with the script writing process.
It was good to see Colter a little more vulnerable. That part of the show seemed a little closer to reality, but there were some serious leaps of logic in this episode. Like, they're getting chased through the woods and come across an abandoned store in the middle of the Kentucky woods that is large enough to have mannequins and escalators? It looked like it could have been an abandoned Sears or Macy's (which it probably was in real life). In the middle of nowhere Kentucky, adjacent to land rural enough to hide a meth lab? What?
I was happy to see a very brief glimpse into Velma's backstory. I can't help but wonder how bored the actors playing Rene, Velma, and Bobby must be with having three lines in a static shot every week. At least Rene gets out in the field once in a while.
I'm still liking the show but the writing is just getting weird. I really like Justin Hartley though, and the stories are so light it doesn't give me anxiety, so that's good.
The Big Bang Theory (2007)
Decent for the first two years or so
After someone on the writing team that "making fun of the guy with Asperger's" wasn't generating enough in the guffaw department, they decided to inexplicably turn the show into a road show, low rent version of "Friends" by throwing a bunch of female characters into the mix and then completely changing said characters. Amy went from never wanting to have sex to some sort of nympho, Bernadette's "squeaking voice" shtick was thrown out the window every 10 seconds, and Penny just became an alcoholic, with the actress throwing herself around in the character like she did in every other character sitcom should played up to this point. How this show lasted 11 god awful seasons is just indicative of a society steeply in decline. Small wonder Two Broke Girls didn't end up working at Penny's Cheesecake Factory.
The Bear: Tomorrow (2024)
Way Too Pretentious.
We get it. The producer and/or the director is making "art" and therefore we must be subjected to this award bait episode to get the story started for season three. But the story doesn't start for season three. Nothing happens. The same piece of music drones on and on through the episode, the editors are Oh. So. Clever. With Adobe Premiere Pro, and there's a heavy use of brooding LUTs throughout the entire "cinematic" experience. We get it. You're Oh. So. Special. With your artsy approach to episodic television. It gets one star because that's the minimum and there was a minimum of anxiety inducing screaming. That's probably back in episode two.
Anyone that thinks this is a comedy is more mental than Jamie Lee Curtis.
Twisters (2024)
I thoroughly enjoyed it
OK, I'm a storm chaser. I go out chasing storms all over tornado alley (I don't like chasing east of I-35) and I've seen plenty of tornadoes during my chases. I LOVED the original movie and it's hard to believe it's 28 years old. There's a lot the new movie gets right. First of all, it's shot on 35mm film instead of digital, which gives it a "familiar" feel. The effects are well done and the corn made sense in this latest movie. There are a couple of scientific liberties that you just have to let pass by but the vibe is spot on, there are Easter eggs all over the entirety of the movie and it's just a dang good cinematic experience. Just like the original. Go see it. I'm going to go see it again.
The Bear: Fishes (2023)
Too stressful
I had a really hard time getting through this episode. I've waded through all of the reviews about the "most realistic depictions of mental illness I've ever seen" and the like, and yeah, the cast did what they were suppose to do and they did it well enough to make me want to jump off a roof, but is this what we really want for entertainment? The U. S. in the 21st century is chaotic and stressful enough, why do we want to see a Christmas celebration where there's screaming, screaming, more screaming, crying, flipping tables, thrown forks, shouting, screaming, cursing, cussing, screaming, cursing, and cussing from a bunch of people, all at the same time, and call it entertainment? Again, well acted and directed and shot and all the artsy videography things, good job. You'll probably win a bunch of grandiose awards and there will be crying and giddy sounds over this episode when you get your trophy but my god, have we declined so much as a society that we want to watch a fake family go down in flames like this and label it a comedy-drama?
The Lincoln Lawyer: Suspicious Minds (2023)
Not nearly as good as season one
We just finished this episode as we binge watch and I'm having a hard time getting through this season.
First of all, he's hardly in the Lincoln. You could drop these storylines into "The Good Wife" or "Suits" and it'd be the same thing as them. There's nothing differentiating this series from any other procedural drama out there. Nothing.
Secondly, the actress playing the client is either really bad at acting or horribly written. There are some scenes that seem right out of a soap opera written in 1983. I'm leaning toward a terrible performance. I know we're suppose to have our doubts about the character, but when the character is horribly portrayed (or written), as the viewer I get too distracted by the portrayal to invest in the show.
The Equalizer: DOA (2024)
Plot holes
Wow, there were some MAJOR plot holes in this episode. How did Robyn get out of the airplane? Why was it snowing one minute (in the alley) but not at the protest? Is MEL turning into HER? So many unanswered, weird plot holes that have not been in previous seasons. There's always been a LOT of exposition in the scripts but this week, wow. If the writer's strike damaged anything it was the quality of this show.
Also, what was going on with the lighting in the early scenes; Queen Latifah and Mel's makeup was very obvious in HD. Did this episode get slammed together really fast? Is Queen Latifah bored with the series?
Tracker (2024)
It's OK.
This is a great vibe for Justin Hartley. He's got the body for this character, he has a natural acting vibe that works well, and he's not bad to look at. The episode plots feel a little "thin". There's a lot of checklist checking going on with many elements and that makes things feel a little forced. I'm assuming this show is sponsored by GMC.
There's quite a few editing issues in the first three episodes, where it's obvious neighboring shots were done days apart, like it's raining, no it's not raining, yes it is raining, no I have my window down. I'm starting a drinking game where I watch Justin Hartley's scruff, sometimes it's short, then it's long, then it's short, then he has sideburns, they he doesn't. It goes back and forth all in an hour's time. (The man should just shave and be done with it)
I'm not sure what they're doing with the lawyer woman yet. Right now she stands around a lot.
In general it's good for what we have on television these days, which ain't saying much. There's a lot of "let's assume it happened correctly" moving the plots forward but that's what we have in the mid 2020s.
The Equalizer: Truth for a Truth (2024)
Backup writers?
I know this must have been written either during the writer's strike when they had nobodies writing the episode or right after the writer's strike when no one remembered what this show was about, because we had a really hard time getting through this episode.
I love Queen Latifah, but this show as just all over the place. It felt like the writers were throwing post its against a wall with words like "Daughter!" and "Auntie!" and "Dante!" and "Michelle!" and then just hoping for the best.
The actress playing Michelle is awful. I really hope the season isn't going to focus on her because she's rough to watch.
The cinematography was all over the place and the new filming technique feels like a Spanish soap opera. They were clearly just wedging Dee and Aunt Vi into the episode so they had some screen time and it made no sense.
I really had a hard time following this storyline and I really hope Robyn gets back to helping the common man, because there were way too many plot holes and awful conveniences to have this make sort of any sense.
I hope the rest of the season kicks up a notch because this was rough. Very rough.
Frasier (2023)
I liked it better than I thought I would.
We just binge watched the season. There's a lot of familiar elements in there to keep it feeling like "Frasier" and for the most part I enjoyed the viewing experience very much.
A couple of observations: 1. The laugh track is way too, weird, I guess. Either it's out of balance with the sound mixing or it feels too raucous for the moment or something, but it's not as subtle as it should be. 2. The original series was shot on film and the digital starkness of 2020s recording kills the vibe a bit. It's always been well known, "film is funnier". With today's ability to do anything with recorded media they should be able to put a "film" filter on it that feels more like "Frasier" of old.
There was a little cut and paste to the characters and it took a couple of episodes for everyone to find their footing but by the end of this season I was enjoying the show very much and I very much hope they bring it back for season two.
Addendum - season two is a mess. And why can't Freddy shave? He's speaking at a memorial service and he can't bother to shave? What is wrong with him?
The Morning Show: Love Island (2023)
Really Didn't Want This Episode.
I'm sitting here writing this review while trying to get through this episode. Reliving the pandemic again through entertainment is really, really a bummer. This episode felt so unnecessary and feels like it's doing nothing to move this season's story forward. We are struggling to finish this episode. What a disappointing artistic choice to include this episode in this season's run. The best I can figure out is the writer's didn't have any ideas this week and they just pieced together bits leftover on the floor from the second season and hoped for the best. I hope no one was paid for this. I gave it two stars because the cinematography was somewhat interesting. Otherwise, this mess should be an embarrassment for everyone involved.
For All Mankind: Crossing the Line (2023)
Compelling, but...
This season has been a bit uneven for me. After the first episode of the season we had to take a few weeks break because it just didn't seem to mirror the quality of the previous seasons. But we gave it a fair shot and have found some of the storylines interesting enough to hold our interest.
This episode felt a bit all over the place. First of all, if there was an explosion that wiped out the side of a building on Mars it seems like there would be no survivors instead of what happened. Especially since there were no pressure suits available.
Secondly, Ed's aging makeup is all over the place, this latest incarnation looking like a high school play. I know he's a main character and the like and the character has a grudge but his character is starting to really grate on our nerves and we're not finding a sympathetic string to hold onto.
Thirdly, I don't know if the character is poorly written or if it's poorly portrayed but the leader of the strike really feels out of place. The role doesn't seem convincing, and I don't know if it's because she's poorly written or if it's the acting. I know folks online like to complain about Kelly and Alaida, but I find them a bit more believable than this strike leader.
Watching this I feel like I'm watching Pre-Expanse activities without the production values of The Expanse. We'll finish out the season just to see what happens but it's not nearly as compelling as it used to be.
Sex Education: Episode 8 (2023)
All over the place
Well, we finally made it to the final episode. After enduring Episode 5 this season it was a bit dicey as to whether we were going to endure the last three episodes of the season but we did and here we are.
After seeing Hannah Gadsby and her corn cob earlier in the season I had absolutely no desire to see her in any scene on this show, or frankly, see her in anything, for as long as I live. This was a horrendous casting choice and Ms. Gadsby should be ashamed for taking the role.
Thank god there was a minimum amount of Dan Levy. He should stick to Schitt's Creek.
The writers introduced too many subplots in this last episode and it just felt like it was going on and on. I really don't care about any of the new students. Not any of them. The writers purposely made Maeve and Otis and Jean unlikeable for some unknown reason and the only ones I cared about were Aimee and Ruby. The rest was unnecessary cruft.
It's a shame the writers decided to drag this dreck in such an unlikeable direction for this past season. The first two seasons were brilliant and the third season was OK, but this was like an episode of The Twilight Zone.
As I said, I'm surprised and happy we made it through the last episode. It's unfortunate, but when people scream about "woke TV" they're going to point to this season as exhibit A.
Sex Education: Episode 6 (2023)
A Little Better.
This episode was a little better than episode 5 (thank god) but I still can't figure out what they're trying to achieve here.
First of all, the new characters were mostly absent from the episode and none of it took place at crazy college, so that was good.
The funeral was interesting. There was a humorous bit or two that was reminiscent of earlier seasons but it was still odd.
Are the writers just trying to make us hate the main characters we've watched for four seasons? Other than Aimee no one is particularly likeable anymore nor are they relatable. Is the aim to show us that these high school folks have grown into insufferable fools? Because right now nobody is likeable. Except Ruby. I'm liking Ruby and Aimee. Other than those two, nope. Couldn't care less.
The Gilded Age: Some Sort of Trick (2023)
Agnes is extraneous
The Russells are why we're here. Their chemistry, their storyline, the presence, makes the show. Christine Baranski continues to do a poor Maggie Smith impersonation and I don't know what's going on with Cynthia Nixon. Was she kicked by a horse or something?
Miss Brooke's acting has improved since season one. Everyone else in the scene still acts circles around her but at least she's not doing the same hand gestures over and over again and that's refreshing.
I'm really intrigued by the Russell's son and his new romance with the seedy woman from The Good Wife. The sets are gorgeous and while the dialog feels a little stilted, I suppose it's meant to sound that way.
I look forward to each episode; it took way too long to get to season two.
Sex Education: Episode 2 (2023)
What has happened?
Did the show cross into some alternate reality where some of the characters are familiar but nothing else resembles anything we've seen before? Are the writers high?
I hate to say this, but if the folks that scream "groomers!" want evidence, just look at season four of this show. There is every possible checkbox on the LGBTQA+ punch card checked at least once with the students at this college.
Maeve's storyline feels tacked on as an after thought. Otis has gone brain dead. For some reason Dan Levy and Hannah Gadsby are there and outside of stunt casting they serve absolutely no purpose other than looking like brother and sister. There's a sister that I couldn't care less about, alien woman is gone, and there's too many scenes with the guy in the wheelchair.
I'm probably bailing on the show. This season is AWFUL.
I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later (1985)
Better than Return to Green Acres?
So I don't know what they were trying to achieve here. I do believe they were thinking about rebooting the series with this movie as a kick off, but too many things fell flat. First of all, Jeannie is waving her hands around for her magic as if she was on "Bewitched"; normally Jeannie just blinked. And speaking of the the blink, why on earth did they sound people think replacing Jeannie's trademark "boing" with a synthesizer riff was a good idea? Rumor has it they couldn't get their hands on the master tapes of the classic sound effects so they made new, but it was really, really weird.
When at the golf course, listen for the players' names being called out over the PA speaker, one of them being "Stephens". I'm surprised there was no mention of a "Tate".
Bill Asher directed this and Elizabeth Montgomery was furious at him for doing so. Wayne Rogers just didn't work as Tony Nelson, though if they rebooted the series with him in the role it might have been a new way to kick things off.
I always wondered why Scheherazade, an ancient genie, had a southern accent.
Barbara Eden looked gorgeous in this (in both roles) but there were too many continuity errors.
Hannah Gadsby: Something Special (2023)
Meh.
I "got" Nanette and I really enjoyed "Douglas" but I don't know what the hell this was suppose to be. Yay, she got married, completely happy for her on that. I'm happy for her wife as well. That's wonderful. But the rest of it didn't land anywhere near humorous for me. I found it repetitive, morbid, and banal at best. She sounds liked she was trying way too hard for this special; the previous two felt quite organic and true to herself. This felt like a pop star was making an album to meet a record company contract and the only important thing was to fulfill that contract. I maybe snickered once. Ok, it was a chuckle but the rest of it was dismal. So disappointing.
The Good Fight: Henceforth Known as Property (2017)
They lost us with this episode.
The ownership suit was a weak story line at best. It felt like Barbara and Diane's conversation was way too forced and no mention of Diane's equity contribution anywhere. I no longer care if it's a valid or dropped storyline.
Marissa's presence is way too convenient and Maya's storyline has become stupid.
But the worst part of this episode that pushed us over the edge was bringing back Matthew Perry to slur his words through stupid scene after stupid scene and the ending scene where he's rounding up his team to go after Boseman and whatever had us rolling our eyes for the last time. This ain't no Good Wife even with namechecking Alicia in this episode.
And the hot AUSA ain't no Cary Agos.
Delete delete delete.
The Good Wife: End (2016)
Letdown.
After binging the series over the past couple of months, it's clear to see the quality of the final season doesn't come close to the seasons preceding it. The departure of Will and Kalinda really put a kink in the flow of the series and you could tell the writers were struggling with storylines. Numerous storylines were dropped without explanation. The final two episodes focusing on Peter's trial really doesn't do the show justice and the final scene was contrived and ridiculous.
Because we watched this several years after the original broadcast, we could rationalize the writers were just setting things up for "The Good Fight".
They really should have ended the series at the episode featuring Howard and Jackie's party. A few extra scenes and that would have been a satisfying ending. But this mess felt contrived, over calculated, and exceeded logic on several occasions.
Such a disappointment.
The Good Wife: Cooked (2015)
Meh.
This could be because I'm binging the series many years after its initial release, and watching one or two episodes a night, but the whole "a misunderstanding, David Lee screams, Diane Lockhart looks pouty and gives Alicia a verbal lashing after playing nice" is really starting to wear thin here. I can't help but think there's better things for Christine Baranski to do in lieu of grabbing her pearls every other episode. This too often repeated shtick is starting to wear thin.
Also, what happened to Robin? She was briefly mentioned in the last season when Kalinda needed to do something else for Diane, but Robin is just gone and forgotten. Weird.
Overall I'm liking the new dynamics of the characters this season but Margo Martindale feels like a big lump on the flow of the show, maybe she's just written that way, and of course the aforementioned Diane is grabbing her pearls again and David is yelling thing is a bit much.
Thank god for Cary.
The Equalizer: Eye for an Eye (2023)
Jumpin. The. Shark.
The "A" storyline was all over the place. Wow, was it all over the place. Absolutely no credibility. None. Queen Latifah is much, much better than this. Horrible, horrible acting from the bad meanie woman (Michelle?) in the last scenes and every indication of sanity shows this episode HAS to be a dream because no episode has been this poorly written and made such little sense in the history of the series.
Now, the "B" storyline was excellent. Aunt Vi and Dee were well written, well acted, and that whole scenario was believable and portrayed unbelievably well. Hats off to Lorraine Touissaint and Laya DeLeon Hayes.
The whole cliffhanger thing at the end was just idiotic. I feel like it was written after the writer's strike started and they just grabbed some folks off the street to write an episode.
Star Trek: Picard: Surrender (2023)
Selective Memory.
Yes, the crew of TNG is back together again and that is a wonderful feeling. Yes, there's plenty of Easter Eggs and other goodies sprinkled throughout every episode of season three. Yes, the music is familiar. But there's a whole lot of this season that is NOTHING like the original ST:TNG.
Season three is many orders of magnitude better than season one and especially season two of Star Trek: Picard. But there's a lot of flaws in these scripts and this season and I really don't get all of the 10 stars unless everyone just drastically lowered their expectations after the abysmal season two.
Amanda Plummer is awful. The character is written as a caricature, but she takes it even lower by chewing the scenery and over-acting like she's scraping for whatever leftover salary they'll give her to do this. It's a wonder she didn't just chew her way through the bridge escape hatch.
The rest of the main cast is mostly on point, despite some poor writing choices. But 10 stars for this? My god, could Vadic drag out the first half of the episode any more? There was no tension. There was monotony. On and on and on. My god I want to scream "Khan" and find the Enterprise to get the hell out of there with disco warp effects.
Yes, it's much better than seasons one and two. Yes, I'm entertained. But no, this is not 10 stars material.
The Good Wife: Boom De Yah Da (2013)
Not one of the better episodes
I can't be the only viewer that was really tired of the Nick storyline and glad to see him gone last episode, albeit in a weird character arc sort of way with Kalinda.
Now we have Wendy Scott-Carr showing up again, played predictably by a woman that should focus on doing ASMR instead of trying to be some bad ass lawyer on an otherwise bad ass show. It's a weak character that's been overused and wedged into too many scenarios.
This episode just felt disjointed all around. It must have been written by the "B" team because the characters just felt off. They're shipping Kalinda to Minnesota from Chicago with a bag of clothes? Really? Alicia doesn't remember meeting Mrs. Canning in season two?
Not one of my favorites.
The Equalizer: No Way Out (2023)
Hands down best so far of the series.
I found this to be the best episode of the series thus far. I also found it one of the hardest episodes to watch thus far, because some of the depicted violence appeared very real. I sympathized with the guest character and her plight, but when her husband hit Aunt Vi it made me tear up.
Every actor in this episode was on their game, especially in the last act. Robyn's interaction with Aunt Vi at the hotel, the fallout afterwards, all of it was emotionally gripping.
The show tackled, and more importantly, increased awareness of the very real problem of domestic abuse. I give the entire production a standing ovation for this episode. Well done across the board.
Awareness is important. Thanks for bringing awareness.