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Killing Eve
“I’ll Deal with Him Later” (Episode 102)
April 15, 2018
Lots of forward momentum on plot in this second episode as Eve settles into a new life and Villanelle … well, she is pretty much the same old Villanelle but we do get some new questions on what makes her tick and who she is killing for?!?
Our Deep Dive Recap and Review … after the jump! (Spoilers Warning!)
Continue reading “TV Recap: Killing Eve – An Unofficial Official Tap On the Shoulder …”
Black Lightning
“Shadow of Death: The Book of War”
April 17, 2018
Black Lightning concluded its freshman season tonight and the questions on everyone’s minds: Will Black Lightning recover from his injury last week? If so, will he recover in time to be useful in a final fight? Will Henderson discover his bestie’s secret identity? Will Whale survive and thrive? Will Proctor and the ASA? Will Lynn and Jennifer embrace that which Anissa and Jefferson already have?
Every single one of these questions is resolved tonight so sit back, relax, and enjoy our deep dive recap & review of the Black Lightning season finale, “Shadow of Death: The Book of War” … after the jump (warning: spoilers!!)
Continue reading “TV Recap: Black Lightning – Who’s Life Is This?”
Black Lightning
“The Resurrection and
the Light: The Book of Pain”
April 10, 2018
This episode turned things on its head. Going into next week’s season finale, things are not great for Team Pierce and the bad guys are definitely ascendant. In a classic God giveth and God taketh away, just as Lynn and Jefferson were getting their shit together, before the hour is out, its all fallen to pieces. We are greeted to the return of a Milli Vanilli-looking cosplayer and Tobias and Syonide make a case for their own deranged Rom Com spin-off (which, to be clear … I would totally watch).
Less talk, more action so check out our Recap & Review of Black Lightning‘s “The Resurrection and the Light: The Book of Pain” … after the jump (beware of spoilers)!
Continue reading “TV Recap: Black Lightning – Shall We Begin?”
Black Lightning
“Black Jesus: The Book of Crucifixion”
April 3, 2018
Tonight was a rare Black Lightning episode where we end in a good place but we take a couple of shitty turns to get there. We have a nice moment of redemption, “a good guy finally wins one” moment, and my dislike for Fowdy grows to ginormous size.
Without further delay, our (long overdue) recap and review of Black Lightning‘s episode, “Black Jesus: The Book of Crucifixion” … after the jump (beware of spoilers)!
Continue reading “TV Recap: Black Lightning – Can We All Just Get Along?”
Killing Eve debuted last night on BBC America and just knocked my socks off. It is funny and sexy and dangerous and most importantly, its a thinking person’s show with involved plot and character design. I want all of those things on my TV all of the time. Love it or leave it? I loved Killing Eve.
Led by a strong cast, but in particular, its three female leads, Eve promises to be a weekly spy adventure in the grand tradition of the good guy chasing the bad guy, EXCEPT its a good woman chasing a bad woman, and maybe the bad woman is not so black and white bad? A 2018 Twist on the spy genre to be sure but also, just as welcomed. Television can only be benefited by having complex women on the screen that don’t wallow in traditional tropes. Killing Eve smashes the traditional idea of the type-cast female in a thriller spy show and puts them front and center.
Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy) as the titular Eve and Jodie Comer (star of several UK shows but in America was a lead in the Starz series, The White Princess) as the assassin, Villanelle, crackle when they’re on screen and its hard to take your eyes off of them. Add in the fantastic Fiona Shaw (Americans will know her from her time on True Blood or more obviously as Aunt Petunia from the Harry Potter film series) as the legendary MI-6 operative who will seemingly play an important role in Eve’s life, and you’ve got tremendous women that are hard to ignore.
Killing Eve is brought to TV by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (who acts as lead writer, showrunner and is an executive producer) and is based on a series of novels by Luke Jennings which focuses on the assassin, Villanelle, as well as the MI-5 agent that tracks her. I haven’t read them yet but I will because the only thing I like more than a great spy show is a great spy novel! Sold! Also important to note, Killing Eve was renewed for a Season 2 before this pilot episode even aired. BBC America believes in Eve.
There is a hole on Sunday nights at 8pm and my “Hot Take” is that you need to fill it with Killing Eve. If you’re looking for a recap of the first episode, take a gander, after the jump (Beware of Spoilers!)
Continue reading “TV Recap: Killing Eve – Love It Or Leave It?”
With The Magicians having aired its season finale this week, now is the time to start looking forward to Season 4 and wondering what is going to happen. But! Before we say goodbye to Season 3, I thought it would be fun to look back on this tremendous season and rank the 13 episodes from best to still great but not best (there is NO worse in this season’s catalog).
Read my thoughts and let me know if you agree or if I messed up big time in the comments. In every episode title, there is a link to our complete recap & review of that episode!
PopCultureReview’s Rank of Best Season 3 The Magicians Episodes begins … after the jump!
Continue reading “TV Recaps: The Magicians – Ranking the Episodes of Season 3”
The Magicians
“Will You Play With Me?”
April 4, 2018
Okay kids, tonight’s the night. The Season 3 finale of The Magicians and boy did we have an episode. Betrayals? Check. Sacrifices? Check. Tacos? Check. Tick throwing shade? Check. Amazing Music Montages? Check. Great Easter Eggs? Check. Crisp dialogue, twists you can’t predict and things just make you go, the fuck is happening? Check.
Sera Gamble and John McNamara, who wrote tonight’s show (they’re also the creators, 2 of the EPs and Sera is the show runner), and Chris Fisher who directed, closed out this Season in amazing style while setting up a lot of great questions for Season 4. Without another wasted moment, jump into our recap and review of The Magicians‘ season finale, “Will You Play With Me?” … after the jump!
Continue reading “TV Recaps: The Magicians – Of Sacrifices and Betrayals …”
The Magicians
“The Fillorian Candidate”
March 28, 2018
Its Fillory’s Spring Awakening, democracy-style!! But, the real star of tonight’s episode is the continued growth of Julia’s character as she embraces her ever increasing Godhood. Elsewhere, Kady Meets 23TL Penny and Alice and Quentin continue being Alice and Quentin. Never have two people each been the other’s Fuck, Marry AND Kill! *sigh*
Don’t waste a second more, jump into our deep dive recap and review of “The Fillorian Candidate” (Spoilers! Last Warning) … after the jump!
Continue reading “TV Recaps: The Magicians – Long Live the King …”
The Magicians
“Twenty-Three”
March 21, 2018
This week, we take a bit of a breather after a series of emotional and impactful episodes that have really moved the plot along. Not that tonight doesn’t have some emotional resonance, but we’re not terribly closer to solving the problem of the Fairy Realm Key after tonight’s episode. You’ll notice this episode is very self-contained in a few familiar spots – its because tonight’s ep is a classic “Bottle Episode”; a trick of producers to save cash on new sets and props and dressing which is necessary in order to pay for larger expenditures during the rest of the season (looking at you music licensing rights for “All About Josh“). The upside of these types of episodes is that you tend to get great dialogue and character beats – very much like good stage plays because its basically characters on screen not moving around much. Tonight doesn’t disappoint.
Let’s jump right in to Julia and Josh’s excellent adventure to another timeline, Timeline twenty-Three. Our deep Dive Recap and review (spoilers ahead!!) … after the jump!
Continue reading “TV Recaps: The Magicians – The Return of Mothra …”
The Magicians
“The Art of the Deal”
March 14, 2018
Fairy Rebellion. After-Life Ruminations. Political Intrigue. Book Club and Cupcakes. After a few weeks of ground breaking story telling episodes, The Magicians gave us a jam-packed episode of forward moving story progress. Other than Kady, who had the week off, all of our Magicians had story line movement this week which is essential as pivot towards the end of the season. A Note: After consultation with everything The Magicians puts out, I am reverting to the base spelling of Fairy in lieu of Faery. I think the latter is more correct but every where else, they use Fair(y)(ies), so there you go.
Our deep dive recap and review (Beware! Spoilers Ahead) … After the jump!
Continue reading “TV Recap: The Magicians – The Enemy of My Enemy …”