Flashgitz Presents Pokemanz

Disturbing and hilarious. Well I guess only hilarious if you like Pokemon, but I do so this was hilarious.

Review: Lucifer 1.2 – Lucifer, Stay. Good Devil

After enjoying the first episode I was curious to see how they would actually pair Lucifer and Chloe up so that they can continue to solve crimes together… the answer is not very thrilling. The episode is unfortunately a lot like most second episodes… rehash of the first. The reason being that pilot episodes are usually created in a bubble. They’re more standalone than jumping off points and so it’s usually pretty difficult to continue stories from the pilot when the second episode is filmed six months later and the entire direction of the show has changed. If you need any bigger proof of this just watch the first two episodes of Constantine as they abandon the entire premise of the show and recast a character. I know, I know… I’ve brought up Constantine again. Well… that’s because this show is a lot like Constantine in some ways. I fear that based on this episode that it might be heading towards cancellation like Constantine. Really the only thing saving it is that it’s a late season premiere and Fox hasn’t announced anything else coming down the line. That and Million Moms continues to give it great publicity by not shopping at places they don’t already shop at because “Lucifer” is the name of the show and god forbid kids watch it… what fucking kid wants to watch procedural TV shows based off a comic book they never read? I don’t know, but they’re a pretty cool fucking kid and their mom should back off.

In this episode we explore Chloe’s movie star past… in painstaking detail. We meet a Paparazzi she hates as he confesses to running someone off the road and getting them killed. The case is, who actually ran them off the road and if you pay attention you’ll figure it out before they do. Lucifer just tags along… that’s how he continues working with her. It works considering Chloe never checks in with a boss and is technically on Medical leave because Lucifer could save her life, but not heal her arm. At one point Chloe invites Lucifer to tag along because it’s easier than dealing with him just showing up. That was an actual exchange between them.

Maze and Amenadiel do the exact same thing and say practically the same lines.

Maze: “What are we doing here Lucifer? Why have you changed?

Amenadiel: “Go back to Hell Lucifer, there’s a balance… also, you’ve changed”

Wow, I hope in the third episode they remind us that Lucifer has changed and that he’s not being very devilish anymore… except for when he is. Tom Ellis isn’t perfect this go around either. Having Lucifer look at everyone and say, “Tell me your desires” is more like a pickup artist trying to land a date then it is an interesting story device. Try just having him look at them and adding a sound effect rather than boring us with the same line over and over. That and I will say that him sweet talking the desk officer, who just so happened to be a woman each time, was the biggest chunk of convenient writing I’ve witnessed since giving up on The Flash.

Let’s not forget Dan, who is the newest addition to the cast and has the lamest name. I mean Trixie and Chloe are nothing that grand, but fucking Dan? Why not shoot for the stars and call him Dante just to make it interesting. His character makes zero sense. He’s nice to his ex-wife and really he doesn’t come off like a bad guy making his character motivation strange. At least the previous Dan looked like a smug dickhead, new Dan just looks fishy.

I’m used to second episodes being rehash of the first, but this was a bit too much. It’s not enough that I’ll give up on the show, but it leaves me to believe that there’s not a lot of faith in this show succeeding which is always a bad sign. It’s like, why should I get invested if the studio didn’t? Too bad it’s not like Gotham and they just let them fuck around and do whatever for two seasons.

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Score: 2/5

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Lucifer 1.2 – “Lucifer, Stay. Good Devil Director: Nathan Hope Writers: Tom Kapinos, Joe Henderson Airs Monday’s on Fox

Review: The Magicians 1.3 – Consequences of Advanced Spellcasting

SyFy marketed The Magicians wonderfully. They showed all the magic and fucking that the show had to offer in the teaser. Women floating in a skirt? Check. Floating while fucking? Check. A shirt being blown off a woman in a scene that turned out to be more rapey than sexy? Check. It was marketed wonderfully because it caught the attention of everyone looking for a Harry Potter fix, but with sex as the reviews the show quotes over and over tell us. So much so that they made it their tagline… I checked it out because I downloaded the SyFy app on my X-Box One and realized that there wasn’t shit to watch on SyFy anymore. I figured, well… let’s watch their one and only new show. It is Harry Potter with adults. It’s kind of sad in that way because the author of the books doesn’t outright acknowledge that, but he sure as shit doesn’t shy away from it. The actual premise is that it’s Harry Potter mixed with Narnia and it’s like a grad school course. Because you only get invited after college… and yet the show complains that the magicians don’t know enough and they don’t have enough time and wait… maybe if they were kids they would have had enough time! See what I’m getting at? Change the age, change the locations and keep the accents, but it’s still a Potter knockoff. Don’t worry, I actually think that knockoffs can be fun and enjoyable.

At any rate our main character is Quentin Coldwater, he’s the chosen one, but who the fuck knows why. It’s the typical, “I don’t actually do anything, I’m just told I’m special” type of chosen one story. He’s a dick. There’s nothing really to like about this guy because when he discovers magic he turns into a complete dick to his best friend Julia. Sure he had a crush on her and she dated his friend instead. Sure she told him to grow up when it came to the Narnia esque books (Fillory in this world). Sure she… wait, that’s all she did other than tell him she knew he was in a hospital for being mental. Also we’ve seen her perform more magic than him at this point in the show, but hey… chosen one.

The third episode sees their two worlds meet again. Julia has been practicing magic with a bunch of… I don’t know what the fuck to call them. Basically magicians that don’t get to go to school and have to steal their spells anyway they can and as we learn, that can include sexual favors if need be. As we saw at the end of the second episode, there’s a traitor in the midst at the school and Quentin and Eliot track down a stolen book and that leads them to Julia. Quentin and Julia have another unprovoked argument in which Quentin furthers Julia’s motivation of learning magic in spite of him.

As for the rest of the episode, they assign a magic discipline and we learn that Penny can transport himself with a thought (like Jumpers), and that the teacher lady that does nothing but drop her accent can do it too… with a car though. Penny is apparently really fucking powerful and yet not our main character or the chosen one. I kind of hope he dies so we don’t have to deal with his one emotion that he busts out for everything… confusangry, confused and angry at the same time.

Alice’s story is about her brother haunting a fountain. We learn what happened to him and it’s pretty fucking lame actually. He was doing too much magic and turned into nothing but magic. On the plus side, Alice won’t be releasing anything dangerous shit trying to find him since he’s gone-gone now. She’s leaving the school supposedly and frankly I don’t care because it’s obvious the she’ll be back and that her and Quentin are going to lose their rose petals together.

The endings of each episode are pretty awkward. This one has Alice leaving and Margo telling her, “I like challenges.” That’s how it ends. I said, “Booo” outload. Even with all my bashing there were some good parts, but really there needs to be better character development. Right now Elliot and Margo are the only characters I like and something tells me I shouldn’t actually like their snotty attitude that much. Otherwise more character development please. There’s been zero effort in that, they’re just throwing these characters into situations and frankly without getting to know them, I don’t give two shits who lives or dies. It’s better than most SyFy shows, but it needs work. Because it’s SyFy it’ll run five seasons before being cancelled so that they don’t have to pay for syndication.

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Score: 3/5

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The Magicians 1.3 – “Consequences of Advanced Spellcasting” Director: Scott Smith Writer: Henry Alonso Myers Airs Monday’s on SyFy

Review: Forever – The Complete Series

Forever can easily be summed up as a Sherlock Holmes style of story, if Sherlock was an immortal doctor that had learned all his deduction from years and years of experience. That is of course the big twist of this otherwise procedural show, the main character Dr. Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd) is essentially cursed to live forever. Whenever he dies he wakes up naked and in the nearest body of water. We’re introduced to this fact very quickly in the pilot episode as a train explodes and he winds up in the river. There are two possible answers to this immortality that the show introduces, but never ultimately has the opportunity to answer. The first is the pocket watch that Henry has had or found off and on throughout his life. I personally believe that this is the source of his immortality, but the show offers a second option later in the form of the gun that originally killed Henry. His immortality began on a slave ship heading to America. The ship is actually his families ship and this repugnant fact is addressed later when he finds out and wants no part of the family business.

In the modern timeline, Henry is a medical examiner. He’s forged modest papers to get the position in New York where he’s lived a great deal of his immortality. He’s not alone though, he has a son (played by Judd Hirsch) … who is not immortal. His son is also adopted as he and his wife took the baby post World War II. You see, there’s the interesting part of all this. Henry, has for the most part lead a normal life since World War II. He’s had a family and only married once. We later learn that his wife disappeared and her disappearance drove Henry mad for a time.

At any rate, Henry is the head medical examiner and of course he’s kind of a genius having absorbed more knowledge than most can in one life-time. He attracts the attention of a detective whose assumes they have an open and shut case only to have Henry proclaim murder. That becomes a familiar element of the procedural part of the show.

For a great deal of the episodes Henry doesn’t die. He just helps Jo (Alana De La Garza); his detective partner solves crimes. You have to suspend your disbelief here because the only other detective to bring a medical examiner along is iZombie and so that should tell you how ridiculous it is. I’m sure there’s some pretty basic rules in place as an officer that you don’t let medical examiners question your witnesses, but it becomes a running element of the show.

The adversary of the show is a very Moriarty character. They enter into Henry’s life after discovering he’s immortal like they are. Though Adam, as he likes to be called, has lived so long that he’s lost a lot of interest in humanity especially after being experimented on by Nazi scientists all throughout World War II. There is a very Holmes/Moriarty relationship between them though as they both understand what the other has gone through for the most part. They’ve both lived so many fake lives, but they’ve chosen different paths. Adam, turns out to have a great origin. I won’t spoil it, but I will say that it is a famous historical figure. It really set the stage for the possibility of other historical figures being introduced later in the series, but atlas… that won’t happen.

The final showdown with Adam had an outcome with great consequences. It wasn’t amazing because there was a lot of sloppy writing leading up to it, but the actual consequences of it made of an interesting predicament for later episodes in the show. Adam could potentially come back as an even crazier character and I really found that to be interesting and dangerous.

The show avoids the pitfall of making our two leads romantically involved or in this case interested, until nearly the end of the show. Then, almost as a desperate gasp for attention it begins developing a storyline between Henry and Jo. It’s unfortunate because they bonded over being without their spouses, Jo without her dead husband and Henry without his wife that disappeared and could be alive, but probably isn’t. That brings me to my next point in that the show never really finds itself.

From the beginning to the end it tries to figure out if it’s a procedural, if the leads will be romantically involved, if it’s going to rely on the flashbacks of Henry’s past, if it’s going to run his beginning timeline parallel with his present timeline. It never finds itself and it stops relying on Henry dying to allow him to have more interesting outcomes and instead opts for putting Jo in harm’s way to protect him. It was interesting one episode and then overkill any other time it was attempted thereafter.

The series also wastes a lot of time just being procedural. Here’s our murder of the week that doesn’t look like a murder, but Henry says it is and he’s never wrong. Henry’s story is slowly developed and we see a lot of flashbacks to his early immortal days that attempt to tie into the episode’s story or just peel back a layer of his personality. Personally, I grew to hate the flashbacks as they reminded me of Arrow and that wasn’t a good thing. They quickly became overused and forced feeling.

The mystery of the disappearing wife ends up being a great deal of the finale and it’s stretched far too thin. To the point that it kind of gets ridiculous. Especially when they tie it into another story element. At that point you really have to acknowledge the convenience of the writing to tie together two elements that really have no business being anywhere near each other.

The sad part is, I actually really enjoyed the show despite all my criticism. It’s my joy for it that made me so critical of it. I was disappointed when it was cancelled, but not entirely surprised. The show really needed to pick a path and stick to it, but instead opted to change at someone’s whim. I don’t know if it was the networks, the producers or the showrunner, but the first six episodes of the show are the tightest and most interesting. There’s several after that, that manage to be quite good, but after those first six is when the emphasis on just solving murders takes over and it began to look a bit like Bones which is not a compliment.

I would recommend the DVD set if you liked the show. It contains several deleted scenes for each episode and while I don’t know if they really add anything to the story, it’s at least an interesting add-on to give the one season solid replay value. I did in fact say DVD earlier because let’s be honest we don’t need every TV show on Blu-Ray. If you were a fan of the show, then it’s worth the purchase. If you never watched it, but you’re a fan of Elementary, Bones or hell even Highlander, then you might just enjoy this hidden gem you missed.

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Score: 3/5 (Show), 4/5 (DVD)

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Forever – The Complete Series Studio: Warner Brothers Price: $47.99 (Made To Order) Release Date: 1/19/16

Review: Lucifer 1.1: Pilot

Since Constantine went off air I’ve been desperately waiting for Lucifer to premiere. Not because I’m some diehard of the original comic (though I have started reading the new series), but rather because the trailer for the series sold me on it. We meet Lucifer and we’re introduced to his “power” in the cold opening. It’s a scene just to establish that he’s “bad” and has an effect on people. It’s not the best cold opening, but it’s a safe opening. After he makes it to his nightclub LUX, we learn through exposition and a visit from an angel that Lucifer has left Hell in favor of owning a club off of the Hollywood strip. A famous singer that he helped guide stops by the club to ask if she in fact sold her soul to the devil to which he tells her no. He seems to really care about her as he asks her to just get her life in order and nothing more.

Then she’s gunned down… along with Lucifer.

He actually gets back up and questions the shooter who was hit by a bus. From there he decides that he’s going to basically solve the case. He meets a detective that no one on the force wants to work with and his charms don’t work on her. Their paths cross again as Lucifer seeks answers for the woman’s death and we successfully see his powers in action.

The first episode does a fine job of introducing Chloe our soon to be co-main character. For Lucifer its easy, read the bible or just the quotes that it leads off with. The point of Lucifer’s story is to present another side of the story that’s written in the bible so we don’t need backstory on him. We do need it on Chloe and we learn everything. She was an actress at one point and took her top off on camera. Then she became a cop and stood against other cops which is why she’s a pariah in the department. Her ex-husband is one of the villains from Arrow season 2 and he’s there just to look like a dick.

Lucifer, played by Tom Ellis, is the best part of the show. His voice is what does it. He has this distinguished voice. It doesn’t quite sound British, but it kind of does. I don’t know, it’s just fantastic and he really makes the entire show worth watching. I laughed hard when he said “Trixie is a hooker’s name” to a small child. A) Because it is and B) his delivery was great. Chloe, played by Lauren German was okay. She was a bit too polar for me at times. She was extreme either in her dislike or like of Lucifer and it got in the way of the believability of their budding relationship.

Interestingly enough I watched the leak pilot from a while back and noticed a startling difference… they re-cast the ex-husband. I wish they had stuck with the original guy, but Kevin Alejandro (Arrow’s Sebastian Blood) is the perfect guy to hate. Rachel Harris who plays Dr. Linda, is actually not annoying in her role as well. Which is good because according to IMDB, she’s in the next twelve episodes.

For a pilot it’s quite good. There’s some hokiness to the story in the fact that an officer would never bring along a civilian to question or arrest a suspect, but that’s TV for you. Happens every week on several different shows and we keep watching. Otherwise, if I score this just against the typical pilot, it scores high.

My only concern for the show is that it’s going to be procedural as fuck and that will kill it, just like Constantine. For this show to be successful you can’t honestly have Lucifer be a crime fighting consulting detective every week. There must be something else for him to do, but I have a feeling that it will be exactly that. Hopefully Fox’s audience will like that and support it because I really want to see more from Ellis.

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Score: 4/5

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Lucifer 1.1 “Pilot” Writer: Tom Kapinos Director: Len Wiseman Airs: Mondays on Fox

Review: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Written by guest contributor Dave Fox

Online streaming services like Amazon Prime and Netflix have changed the television game over the last few years. Starting life content to stream films and TV shows people had already seen, they then made the leap into original programming. Ever since Netflix consulted an algorithm to tell them what people wanted to see and produced House Of Cards, they have been scrambling to out do the traditional channels and networks.

Of course, they don't even have to produce their own content all of the time. They also have the option of hoovering up the shows that traditional, risk-averse networks pass on. One such show is Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, hands down the funniest sitcom of 2015. It was the post-30 Rock creation of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, originally developed for NBC. According to Fey, the network "weren't feeling confident" about the comedy and so passed it on to Netflix. They made a huge mistake.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has one of the catchiest theme songs around, and if it sounds familiar, it's because it is. We've all seen viral memes along the same lines: an excitable local resident gets interviewed about a crime, and his words get auto-tuned into an irritatingly catchy song.

The words in the opening credits are shorthand for Kimmy Schmidt's themes: "they alive, dammit. But females are strong as hell". The four women we see emerging from a bunker in the pilot episode's cold open had been held captive in there for fifteen years by a deranged preacher, the leader of a doomsday cult. The first face we see is that of the main protagonist, Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper). It's not what you might expect. She's not cowed, scared, broken or defeated. Instead, she smiles as bright as sunshine.

Soon enough, Kimmy and her three bunker-mates are shipped off to New York for a round of television interviews, but as they head back to Durnsville, Indiana afterwards Kimmy decides to make a break for it. She doesn't want to return home where she'll forever be viewed as a victim, one of the "mole women" who escaped from an underground bunker. She resolves to make a clean break and forge a new life for herself in Manhattan.

She finds herself a tiny basement apartment complete with a crazy landlady (Carol Kane) and an out-of-work gay actor roommate named Titus Adromedon (Tituss Burgess). She even stumbles her way into a job working for Upper East Side socialite Jacqueline Voorhees (Jane Krakowski). Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's first season charts Kimmy as she adjusts to her new life and tries to deal with her past - she gets a job, a boyfriend, gets caught in a love triangle and goes back to school. She - accidentally - joins another cult, this one cycling and fitness based and reluctantly attends the trial of the man who kidnapped her, Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm).

Ellie Kemper's larger-than-life performance steals the show, but her co-stars have chance to sign too. Tituss Burgess crushes every scene he's in as Kimmy's roommate and 30 Rock alum Krakowski is on career best form as the rich and out of touch Jacqueline.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is undoubtedly hilarious, but given the subject matter - a woman kidnapped and, it's strongly hinted, abused for 15 years of her life - is rare material for a sitcom, so maybe it's understandable that NBC passed, but the network should have been stronger and had more faith. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt doesn't make jokes about dark subjects to offend or shock in the way a lesser show would. They aren't exploitative, and Kimmy's such a well drawn character that she is more than her traumatic past. Her story didn't end when she came out of that bunker.

Ultimately, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt doesn't trade on cynicism or offence for the sake of it. It's message is one of resilience and hope. You'll come away from binge-watching the first season on Netflix sore from laughter, but with a message you can take into your daily life: find that small, unbreakable you inside yourself, and never let it go.

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Score: 4/5

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Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Directors: Tristram Shapeero, and others Writers: Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, and others Studios: Netflix, Universal Studios, Little Stranger Inc, Bevel Gears, 3 Arts Entertainment

Review: Making A Murderer

Written by guest contributor Dave Fox

Even if you haven't seen Making A Murderer yet, you have heard about. It's been a huge subject for "water cooler" discussions in offices (do offices still have water coolers?) and has blown up on social media. An online petition even prompted a response from The White House!

So why has it caused such a sensation? Ten years in the making, the documentary tells the story of Steven Avery, an unremarkable man from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. The Avery family owned a large vehicle salvage yard in Manitowoc County from which they made a modest living. Steven Avery's life took a wrong turn in 1985, when he was arrested for the sexual assault of a local woman, Penny Beernsten. He was later convicted of the crime, despite having numerous alibis for his whereabouts at the time of the attack. Avery spent 18 years in prison as a result, until DNA evidence pointed in the right direction, towards another man guilty of several violent crimes in the area. Avery was freed in 2o03, once the miscarriage of justice was confirmed. Understandably, having lost nearly two decades of his life, he filed a lawsuit against the Manitowoc County Sheriffs Department and several individuals associated with his case. He was looking for damages in excess of $30m.

Soon after filing his lawsuit, Avery found himself behind bars again - accused of the murder of local photographer Teresa Halbach. Soon after, his nephew Brendan Dassey was also accused of involvement in the violent crime. The documentary delves deep into the case, alleging a conflict of interest for the Manitowoc County law enforcement officials who dealt with both of Avery's arrests.

Because Making A Murderer is on Netflix, it's not an ordinary documentary. An hour long show, even a feature length film, would not be able to go into as much detail a this show does. The documentary consists of 10 episodes of 45 minutes to one hour, and it unfolds at a slow yet beguiling pace. The tension soon ratchets up though after only a couple of episodes, and you'll find yourself hooked.

Film makers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos do a wonderful job of using the documentary format to tell the story of a true crime thriller, with all its twists and turns. I don't want spoil anything, but even after it's over, the hours and hours of evidence, there are still questions to be asked and answered. Certainly, there are still enough theories and counter theories online to show that Making A Murderer has got plenty of amateur sleuths thinking! The film clearly has an agenda - like almost any documentary - a story that it wants to tell, and whatever you may think about the innocence (or otherwise) of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, it will certainly make you think, and wonder exactly what it says about the American justice system. And there can never be too many thought provoking documentaries made. Let's hope the success of Making A Murderer heralds a new dawn for the documentary.

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Score: 5/5

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Making A Murderer Directors/Writers: Laura Ricciardi & Moira Demos Studio: Netflix & Synthesis Films

Review: American Horror Story: Freak Show

Written by guest contributor Cameron Gallagher

After having watched Hotel, and just coming from Coven, I skipped Freak Show, because I was waiting for it to come to Netflix. Coven, has been my favorite of the entire shows run so far with the magical sense of horror and a compelling plot to go along with it, but after watching Freak Show, I have a new favorite.

Freak Show follows the story of a Freak Show (obviously) and their leader, Jessica Lange, and basically it is all of the insane things that come with a new addition, Sarah Paulson, a two-headed human, and how she basically creates the fall of the beloved Freak Show. This show had a lot of things going against it. Coming off a season like Coven, there is a lot the show would have to accomplish in order to not push away its viewers.

I think this show really flourished in its storytelling and visuals.  In previous seasons like Asylum and Murder House, the stories seemed to be sewn together, just barely hanging on by a thread and seeming a little too convenient for my liking, but Freak Show raised the bar for really bringing in multiple stories, and having them all fall nicely together, and being not only coherent, but VERY entertaining.

This is by far the best visually of the series. Everything from camera movement to the color palette of the series blew my mind. The style was pushed so heavily by the production team, you can feel the authenticity in its costumer design, sets, and cinematography. Every time I would see the circus tent, I would imagine what it was like to be there and the warm and hot feeling the Florida air had. It created a very surreal feeling.

The acting was phenomenal, as most of the seasons have been. Particularly the character of Dandy Mott. The psychological depth and hatred you had for this character… made you love him. You basically watched the beginning and formation of a serial killer, and it was incredible to watch how his character would justify things and his recklessness. I was very impressed with Finn Wittrock’s performance in the role.

Jessica Lange’s narcissistic backstory seems to be getting a little repetitive, considering all of the seasons have really had that same message behind her character, and the show can be a little slow at some times, but it was made up for in its acting and production value. AHS gets it’s well deserved 4/5. Make sure to check it out yourself and enjoy!

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Score: 4/5

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American Horror Story: Freak Show Directors: Various Writers: Various Studio: FX Episode Total: 13

Review: American Horror Story: Murder House & Asylum

Written by guest contributor Dave Fox

Every well-regarding TV show in history has had its detractors. Even a classic like Twin Peaks divided opinion. Lost often split audiences right down the middle. I even know people who find documentary-of-the-moment Making A Murderer boring. But there's one show that seems unanimously loved, at least by people I know: American Horror Story.

Ever since the show debuted in 2011; friends, co-workers and relatives have been telling me to watch it. I always resisted, horror isn't really my thing, and there are so many shows to catch up on that it was always very low on my list of shows to watch.

But, one fateful day recently, I was browsing listlessly through Netflix when my fiance suggested that we watch American Horror Story to "see what the fuss is about". I agreed, and it's a decision I will always regret.

The anthology series is currently on its fifth season, American Horror Story: Hotel. Naturally, my experience started at the beginning with American Horror Story: Murder House. It's the season that is almost universally regarded as being the best. Given how much I hated it, I can only imagine how awful I'll find Hotel once I get to it (if I get to it!).

Murder house follows the Harmon family: psychiatrist Ben (Dylan McDermott), his wife Vivien (Connie Britton) and their moody teenage daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga). They move into an old mansion in L.A. and are haunted by strange happenings and the apparitions of anyone who had ever died in the infamous "murder house".

Haunted house tales are as old as time, and the setting is perfect, in theory, for a creepy, suspenseful thriller. But instead of that, Murder House delivers a shrill, jumbled mess. The Harmon family seem to be going through about twelve different crises at once while the house itself is haunted by what seems to be an innumerable number of ghosts. Not content to tell a simple ghost story, the show throws everything at the wall to see what sticks: a school shooting, suicide, rape, a mutation in the basement, scientific experiments gone wrong, the antichrist...it's all there. And most of it doesn't need to be. Murder House feels as though it's written by an excitable child with ADHD.

American Horror Story's second season, Asylum, is much the same. It's worth mentioning that American Horror Story is an anthology series like True Detective and Fargo. Each season is distinct, following a different story and a different cast of characters, albeit with a revolving cast of actors playing different roles. So Asylum takes place in, well, an asylum. Unlike Murder House, it isn't set in the present day but in the 1960's. The season follows the lives of the nuns, doctors and patients who occupy Briarcliff Mental Institution. Again, the setting is interesting. Given the horrors that were seen inside the walls of mental institutions during this period in history, the potential was there for some really creepy, unsettling television. Creator Ryan Murphy even said the season was "based largely on truth and truth is always scarier than fiction".

"Based largely on truth"? Asylum contains with in its walls a former Nazi in hiding, experimenting on patients; mutated, feral, cannibalistic ex-patients who live in the woods, a serial killer who kills women and wears their skin, exorcisms, devil possession, the Angel of Death, rape (yep, again), oh, and aliens. Because why the hell not? It's fair to say that it has absolutely nothing to do with the truth. In Asylum, just as in murder house, a promising setting is ruined by jumbled storytelling. Absolutely nothing in Asylum makes any sense. In fact, both of the first two seasons lurch from idea to idea and don't seem to settle on anything at all. It's irritating, it's distracting, and it's certainly not scary.

I haven't yet moved on to season three (Coven), but I'm sure it will have as much frenetic, unfocused energy as Murder House and Asylum. All I want is for American Horror Story to live up to its name and tell an actual story. A solidly plotted story that sticks to an idea for more than five minutes, and carries it through to the end. Sadly, I think it's far too much to ask.

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Score: 2/5

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American Horror Story: Murder House and American Horror Story: Asylum Director: Bradley Buecker and Various Writers: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Various Studio: 20th Century Fox

Review: Doctor Who 9.01 - The Magician’s Apprentice

Doctor Who is back! I can’t say I was that excited after a really lackluster eighth season, but there’s always a bit of excitement when the show returns. I know that there’s always a bit of a transition when a new Doctor is introduced, but in the past it’s always been used to kick off a major storyline for the new Doctor. I mean with the Tenth Doctor we had his entire endgame started in the first episode of his appearance. It was as if it was created at the same time so that there would be an exit strategy for when Tennant left the show… clearly that wasn’t done for Matt Smith whose storyline ended up being a lame duck ending and a lot of pieces that were being built up ended up being swept under the rug instead. I’ll admit that I wasn’t a fan of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor at first, but he grew on me as all new actors to the role often do. What became painful clear was that Jenna Coleman’s character of Clara had in fact worn out her welcome. Her storyline last season was boring and I was glad when her boyfriend died. I hated him instantly and I will never be able to enjoy that actor in anything he goes on to do. The eighth season came across as a trial and error season. Showrunner Steven Moffat came across as not really having a plan for the new Doctor because too much of what he was building was ruined by Matt Smith’s early exit. The first episode of the ninth season, The Magician’s Apprentice, felt a lot like the start of the Eleventh Doctor’s last season.

The episode begins on a planet in the midst of war. We see old school style bi-planes flying and shooting lasers at men with bows and arrows… that shoot lasers. One of the soldiers sees a boy running off on his own and wants to help him. The boy freezes in place and the two talk before the man helping him has his leg grabbed by a clay covered hand coming up from the ground. Creepy awesome Doctor Who is back I thought. The visuals are incredible on this scene and the man is sucked under. The boy screams for help after this and in typical Doctor fashion he arrives to help the boy. Things get interesting though when he asks the boy for his name and we learn that it’s… Davros. You either understand what that means or not, but to explain it would ruin it so I’ll move on.

Then we move to another scene in which a dude that is clearly a big ass snake named Colony Sarff is looking for the Doctor and turning up at all kinds of places that he’s not welcomed. Eventually he winds up at Karn looking for the Doctor and there’s a great line just before Sarff reveals why he’s looking for the Doctor and it involves Davros.

The story then kicks over to Jenna who feels super cool and important when the government calls her when all the planes are frozen in time in the sky. Eventually Missy reveals herself and it’s all great with her. Missy is amazing and actress Michelle Gomez is phenomenal in the role. Together Missy and Clara track down the Doctor who seems to think he’s going to die tomorrow which is a very loose term for Time Lords.

The episode is pretty damn good until the Doctor returns. Actually I should say up until the point that the Doctor is discovered by Clara and Missy. The Doctor is apparently just fucking with time at this one given point and while it’s supposed to be fun and not worth too much thought… well we’re dealing with a series that thinks a lot about time travel and so that’s just injected into us as well. Basically it’s hard to ignore the rules when the show has engrained them into us.

The ending of the episode was B.S. and I can’t wait to see them pull their punches on the second episode. Oh and Missy and Clara are supposedly dead even though we know they have junk time travel devices on and that’s an escape route that’s been used too many times before… that and I kind of hope Clara is dead as I for one am really happy to see Jenna Coleman finally leaving the show for something boring which I’m sure will suit her better.

I liked the episode for the most part, but the well-worn devices that Moffat loves to use just weren’t working this time. How many times have we seen someone die while he’s the showrunner only to see them come back some way somehow? Frankly, comic book deaths hold more weight because the only time people die in Who is when they’re a supporting character or leaving the show.

I liked the reveals, but it was just the moving parts to get to them that still feel really weak. I’m beginning to think that Moffat isn’t the best showrunner and should pass the torch and go back to writing. He has some great episodes and you can always spot one of his lines like, “Right behind you and one step ahead”, but even that is becoming old hat. This could have been a great episode, but instead it was better than average and just barely. Even still it was better than anything the last season had to offer and hopefully this season will just erase that all from my memory.

Doctor Who is definitely back, but I’m missing that exciting feeling that’s usually attached to it. Hopefully Moffat and company can turn it around.

Score: 4/5

Doctor Who S9.E1 “The Magician’s Apprentice” Writer: Steven Moffat Director: Hettie MacDonald

Review: Arrow 3.23 - My Name Is Oliver Queen

The Arrow finale was, in a word, underwhelming. A lot gets resolved and settled, and it’s all well and good, but this episode wasn’t particularly exciting, especially as a season finale. Merlyn reveals to Team Arrow that he and Oliver have been planning this for a while, and that it had to look like Oliver betrayed them in order for Ra’s to trust him. This makes perfect sense and Team Arrow should probably have figured it out themselves, but they’re a bit too busy feeling actually betrayed. Elsewhere, Oliver reveals himself to Ra’s pretty immediately. Ra’s is heading to Starling to unleash the bioweapon- against which Team Arrow is already conveniently inoculated. He’s aiming not only for the city Oliver loves, but also for Damien Darhk, because another rushed subplot was exactly what this episode needed.

The final showdown between Ra’s and Oliver is also pretty underwhelming. They duel on a bridge while the SCPD looks on, a sniper waiting for a “clean shot.” The sniper’s kind enough to wait until Oliver and Ra’s hash it out; Ra’s gives Oliver his ring and his title, then dies. Oliver’s then shot by the sniper fellow and tumbles off the bridge, and it’s Felicity in the Atom suit who saves him. I’ll admit that bit was pretty sweet.

This episode had a few other good points. Barry makes a very brief appearance. Lance shows up for the first time in a couple episodes- I think it’s been at least three since we’ve seen him. Thea works the Arsenal suit, and even gets Oliver’s blessing to become yet another Starling City Mask. I enjoyed the little exchange where she says she’s considering going by Red Arrow and Oliver replies that he’s already told everyone to call her Speedy.

In the end, Oliver’s vigilante days are behind him; it’s time for him to leave Starling, and Felicity’s going with him. I know many are excited and/or relieved that they’ve finally gotten together, and I’d include myself in that, though I’m kind of amused that he’s still technically married to Nyssa. And as per their “deal,” Oliver gives the Demon’s Head ring and title to Merlyn, which can’t possibly go wrong.

Overall, the finale did well wrapping up all the loose ends, but that’s about it. Despite packing so much into one episode, it really dragged and did little to hold my interest.

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Score: 2/5

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Arrow 3.23 – “My Name Is Oliver Queen” Watch Arrow on the CW, Wednesdays at 8/7c.

Review: Arrow 3.22 - This Is Your Sword

Oliver is a big faker and I’m mad about it. Al Sah-him isn’t real and Oliver isn’t really gone. He and Merlyn have planned this since the beginning; Merlyn told Oliver what to expect with his transformation into the Heir, and Oliver used that information to trick Ra’s al Ghul, which is apparently a thing people are able to do. I personally was a bit disappointed by this. During the last episode I had the fleeting thought that Ollie was faking, but I dismissed it, thinking it was too easy. But I’ve been wrong before and I was wrong now. Merlyn’s got to convince Team Arrow that Oliver is still Oliver, and get them to stop Ra’s and Al Sah-him from unleashing the bioweapon. He enlists Tatsu’s help in convincing Team Arrow, which makes total sense, seeing as they have no idea who she is or what she means to Oliver. Merlyn, Felicity, Diggle, Laurel, Tatsu, and Ray make up an interesting but ineffective team; the episode ends with them imprisoned in Nanda Parbat and in capital t Trouble.

Thea goes to see Roy which is only worth mentioning because it looks like she’ll be taking on the Arsenal suit. So I guess this is goodbye to Roy for real? And maybe I’ll finally get that Thea action I’ve been waiting on for this entire season.

Al Sah-him and Nyssa get officially married and Oliver’s now Ibn al Ghul. I still have no idea what they’re aiming for here but I hope that when Oliver inevitably returns to Team Arrow, Nyssa goes with him. Another woman in the field would be great, plus she and Laurel supposedly have a strong friendship we’ve seen very little of, and she’d certainly bring a different perspective to the team. While we’re at it, I’m also cool with having Ray around a bit more. He brings some light-heartedness that the team could really use. I love Ollie but he can be a downer.

The season finale is next week and I’m looking forward to it, despite the messiness of the past couple of episodes. There’s a lot to be resolved and not all of it can be done in one episode. Diggle and Oliver’s friendship is shattered, and that won’t be easily mended. Felicity and Oliver have been will-they-won’t-they for far too long, and I can’t imagine the writers dragging that out any further than they already have, so hopefully that one will be resolved. And speaking of dragging things out, this episode was a prime example - I feel like I spent the entire episode waiting for it to start.

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Score: 3/5

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Arrow 3.22 – “This Is Your Sword” Watch Arrow on the CW, Wednesdays at 8/7c.

Group Review: Daredevil 1.13 – Daredevil

Well we were supposed to have this final review for Daredevil up a little bit ago, but things happen, schedules get busy and here we are. This is it, the final episode of Daredevil titled “Daredevil” so that things could be real confusing. Unlike our first episode review we only have a few reviewers that have had the time to blaze through the series so check out what they thought about the season one finale.

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NINA: 5/5

The Daredevil finale involved a lot of yelling on my end. And the faux-wrapping things up with twenty minutes left on the episode- solid way to stress out your viewers. There was so much I loved about this episode, and I had a really hard time coming up with things I didn’t like. When Leland died I knew we were in for a great finale, but this exceed my expectations.

The firefight on the bridge was the main source of my yelling uselessly at the screen. When Fisk started telling the Samaritan story I knew there’d be a rescue, but I didn’t expect it to be so bold or so blatant. Fisk managed to surprise me there.

I particularly loved that moment when Matt catches up to Fisk and it’s just Fisk darting away into the alley. Fisk was very much the cornered, wounded animal, and there was nothing intimidating about the way he ran. This big, hulking man looked a bit like a bug scurrying away. Fisk’s final, desperate attempts at beating Matt and getting out of there were reminiscent of Wesley’s “do you really think I’d put a loaded gun on the table.” They both got too cocky, they both underestimated the opponent, and they both put that loaded gun on the table within reach.

I don’t really have any negative comments about the episode. I got easily caught up in the action and drama of it, and I felt they wrapped up everything they needed to.

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NICK: 4/5

Marvel’s Daredevil certainly does go out with the bang that it’s been promising for the first twelve episodes. Villains are defeated, but at what cost to the heroes?

There’s a lot that happens in the finale, plot-wise, but thematically, there are only a few big sequences. Foggy, Matt and Karen finally mend fences (which feels a little too “Oh, look how easy that was, we’re all friends again” after a couple episodes of Foggy and Matt being super petty); Fisk finally finds out the traitor in his organization all along was actually the asshole with a snarky retort at every turn; and the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen gets a costume to become a symbol for the city.

I don’t think I need to say anything about how amazing Fisk and Vanessa’s storyline was in the show. They decided to come at Fisk from a whole different direction than he’s usually treated to in the comics, and they made him not only surprisingly evil and brutal, but surprisingly innocent and damaged. There were so many opportunities for him to die from his injuries or commit suicide by cop (or, for a real shakeup, the devil in Matt Murdock could have won him over and he could have killed Fisk), but putting him in front of a white wall to think about how alone he is... amazing.

The suit was the most polarizing aspect of the series, it seems. I personally dig it, even if it is couched in a sort of lazy Dark Knight-ish back half of the finale. From the moment Fisk starts biblically monologuing, he becomes more Kingpin and less Fisk, while Matt finally becomes a superhero. It’s the moment where the “realistic” world of the show touches the membrane where it meets the comics, and it definitely worked for me. I’m not huge on biblical monologues from villains, but D’Onofrio kills it.

I don’t think anyone’s surprised that I am 1000% psyched for next season. Now if I can just wait a whole year for it.

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DUSTIN: 3/5

I wanted to like this episode more. There’s a lot going on in the episode and I think there’s a decent amount of payoff for the overall season, but some of it comes too easily. The way they finally snag Fisk is extremely convenient and it all leads to a ridiculous mafia movie style montage with classic music playing over the imagery.

There is one really, really, bright spot in the entire episode and it’s not the final fight between Fisk and Daredevil. In fact that fight was the least satisfying battle of the entire season. No it was the bridge scene and Fisk’s monologue about himself. It was a bit long winded and I wish that they hadn’t cut to the goofy fuckers riding in the truck with him, but otherwise it was fantastic and completed his character development and journey. Everything about that bridge scene was baller as fuck.

My favorite thing had to be when Foggy completely moved on from Karen after saying one dickish thing and not attending a funeral because he was winning the fucking case against Fisk! It was kind of ridiculous that they even bothered building his interest in her just to throw it out the window the minute they could. Seriously they built it for ten episodes and killed it in two.

I did enjoy the last scene with Matt and Karen as it continued to give Karen’s character a lot of realism as she lived with her own actions. That was definitely one of the best things to come from the season. Oh and I hate the costume. It looked stupid and frankly the Ben Affleck suit looked way fucking better. In fact I’ve seen cosplay that looked better, but hey… I’m sure it’ll change by the next season.

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Daredevil 1.13 “Daredevil” Director/Writer: Steven S. DeKnight Distributor: Netflix, ABC Films, Marvel Studios Runtime: 60 Minutes Exclusively on Netflix

Review: The Flash 1.21 – Grodd Lives

I knew I was in for a long episode when Iris was narrating. Slate that, I actually thought I was watching an episode of Grey’s Anatomy which isn’t much better. I knew Grodd (which thankfully you can’t hear me say wrong over and over) was going to be in this episode, I just didn’t know they were going to make it all about Iris at the same time. Here’s why… Iris is a terrible character.

I have yet to find anyone that disagrees with this. In fact my house hold which consists of me and two women all groaned at the sound of Iris’ voice and took turns telling Iris “fuck you” when she would say anything remotely selfish and stupid. Which is basically her throughout the entire episode.

I’m going to get the Grodd shit out of the way quick and hey spoilers if you care.

If you know anything about Grodd then you know his power set which made this episode actually pretty fucking boring for me. I knew that he was mind controlling General Eiling the minute I saw the character and while I don’t remember why he needs gold, I wasn’t surprised that he was going for it either. Grodd fucks with Barry and the team has to overcome the fact that they don’t have Dr. Wells and figure out how to beat Grodd… which they don’t really do. The CG on Grodd is actually pretty fucking good for a TV show which is why they’ll basically only use him in very small doses and we’re likely to see the same animation over and over. Basically Grodd has been sent to distract them so Wells/Reverse Flash can finish his shit and talk to Eddie a lot about how he’s a fucking failure and what was all that about knowing too much of the future again?

Really the bulk of the episode is spent with Iris who has figured out on her own that Barry is the Flash… finally. Which means that all of the main characters on the show now know his identity. Four or five sub-characters know his identity. All the main characters on Arrow know his identity and basically all the villains locked in the prison know his identity… so good for her.

She tests Barry to see if he’ll break and tell her, but when he doesn’t she shows up to STAR labs which still just lets anyone in and finds Cisco, Caitlin and Barry talking about their first Grodd encounter with Barry in the suit. After that is a series of selfish conversations on her part in which she asks why they lied to her, why they haven’t gotten back her boyfriend, why everyone knew but her and blah, blah, blah.

Again… fuck you Iris.

It really isn’t that she’s whinny, it’s that she sucks. The writers have butchered this character and actress Candice Patton really doesn’t do anything to spice up the role. She gives the same emotion the entire episode and it’s just very in-line with a lot of acting on the CW. And that sucks because other than Iris and Barry the rest of the cast can actually act… okay Eddie too, but I always forget to count that guy. I mean Caitlin definitely has a limited range, but when she’s in the range she does just fine. Iris has no range. She’s basically just fake happy or annoyingly stupid and selfish which the writer’s think means “upset.”

If you haven’t watched the episode yet pay close attention to how many times Iris walks into the main room at STAR labs and just finishes everyone’s sentence like she was listen to everything. One of the times she does this it’s impossible for her to even know what the fuck they’re talking about because she knows nothing about their operation which was extremely annoying.

But hey… at least she’s not the damsel right? I’m mean her boyfriend and father are damsels and then she’s pissed at everyone for not doing more to get them back and save them. It’s funny because she disses on her father for throwing himself into danger and yet she doesn’t say shit about Barry doing it because he’s fast… what? Again, everything she says or does in this episode is about her and how she’s hurt or has been wronged. Even when she gets her dad back she reminds Barry that they still need to get Eddie… Fuck you Iris.

Overall I called every twist about this episode. The General being a puppet. Grodd not doing anything and Barry and the team not actually stopping him. And the worst one, the worst one that I called was that Wells was actually right underneath them… because why wouldn’t he be. I’m scoring this episode a little higher just due to the CG on that gorilla, but otherwise it was a terrible episode that made me lose all faith in the show, especially now that they’ve adapted the system of the triple ending and added Iris to the team instead of just letting her be the annoying sub-character she was before. Lastly… when is someone going to stop them from using STAR labs? I mean… Wells technically owns it so… huh…

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Score: 2/5

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The Flash 1.21 – "Grodd Lives" The Flash airs Tuesdays 8/7 C

Review: Arrow 3.21 - Al Sah-Him

Oliver is gone, Al Sah-him is in training, and Team Arrow is left reeling. Lyla gets some screentime, and Nyssa actually works with them this time. When Nyssa finds out Oliver’s gone to Nanda Parbat, she knows her time is up. We open with Al Sah-him’s training, and one of his first big tests. Diggle is brought before him and Al Sah-him must kill him, which he does easily. But it turns out it’s not Diggle, just some poor random guy; he’d seen Diggle because he’d been given a hallucinogen. This all makes perfect sense. Ra’s is such a character. Next up, Al Sah-him goes back to Starling to kill Nyssa, and Team Arrow is forced to accept that Oliver has truly been brainwashed. He is unrecognizable, and fairly terrifying.

After Al Sah-him’s first confrontation with Nyssa, he decides to “draw her out” by kidnapping Lyla. This is the point where Diggle knows Oliver is truly gone; they exchange Nyssa for Lyla, but they don’t go down without a fight. Before we find out whether Al Sah-him/Oliver was actually going to kill Diggle, he’s shot in the arm by Thea, of all people, and decides to quit while he’s ahead. The League has Nyssa, and that’s all they needed.

I haven’t talked much about the flashbacks because I think we’re all pretty sick of them, but they’re been building up to this episode. In the flashbacks we learn about the “alpha omega,” a bioweapon which can wreak havoc upon entire cities. Nyssa had it, Ra’s wanted it, and he got it. Now Al Sah-him’s next task is to unleash it on Starling City. There’s also the matter of Nyssa and Al Sah-him’s arranged marriage, meant to unite the families.

This episode was kind of a mess, and while I enjoyed Al Sah-him (evil Stephen Amell) well enough, it was lacking. The transition from Oliver to Al Sah-him was abrupt and made it hard for viewers to jump on board. It wasn’t even a transition so much as a switch. There’s a quick montage, but again, abrupt. Similarly, Nyssa and Laurel’s relationship has changed, and it also feels abrupt to the viewer because we didn’t see it progress. We didn’t necessarily need to check in with them every episode, but we could have used something to make that transition. Laurel’s grown fiercely attached to Nyssa in a very short amount of time, and it seems out of place.

This was a good episode for Diggle, not only as he got good screentime, but he carried a lot of the emotional weight. He and Felicity hold Team Arrow together, and when Lyla is taken he’s forced to acknowledge that his friend is really gone. I also loved the moment when Nyssa called out Laurel on her need to keep secrets from people, specifically secrets pertaining to them. I’ve said it before, I can’t stand that plot device, and since Lance is still freezing Laurel out, you’d think she had learned her lesson.

I was excited to see Thea in the field (finally!) but now that she knows Roy is still alive, it looks like she’s going after him, so it seems she won’t be joining Team Arrow just yet. And as ridiculous as it is, I’m looking forward to seeing the arranged marriage play out.

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Score: 3/5

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Arrow 3.21 – “Al Sah-Him” Watch Arrow on the CW, Wednesdays at 8/7c.

Review: Daredevil 1.12 - The Ones We Leave Behind

Well, we thought we were in the darkness before, True Believers. Hell’s Kitchen was beating down our heroes relentlessly and there was nowhere to go but up, right? Right?

Clearly, if you’re still reading and keeping up with the series: very, very wrong. There’s plenty more down to go. We start by catching up with Karen, shaken by her actions at the end of the last episode, and going through some pretty typical behavior for a person who is clearly in shock. When she’s finally drunk herself to sleep, she has nightmares of Fisk in her apartment, attacking her for what she’s done. As she tries to come to terms with her own demons, she has to play middleman to the “mom and dad are fighting” dynamic of Matt and Foggy from the past couple episodes.

In the hospital, Vanessa wakes up (thank christ--she’s too good an actress to waste as a character in a coma for long), and tells Fisk he won’t be moving her; she’s happy right here. Fisk goes after the people who killed Wesley while Foggy tries to get his ex to look over evidence that her firm’s client, a one Mr. Wilson Fisk, might actually be an evil monster, and Matt manages to follow one of Madame Gao’s delivery guys to the warehouse where the heroin is packaged. He also manages to burn it down--score one for the good guys. Meanwhile, Ben Urich tries to get his piece about Fisk’s childhood published, and is let go from the Bulletin in the process. We get a brief moment to hope he will get whisked away to the Daily Bugle (because Spider-Man rights, guys), but instead, once again, all of our hopes and dreams come crashing down around us.

This episode is the first time that Matt gets to be Daredevil in a tangible way, as well. In previous episodes, he’s dangled men from rooftop edges, he’s gotten in awesome fights, and he’s been super Catholic. In this episode, he finally gets a sequence where he tracks someone by sound, runs over the rooftops to track them down, and then comes back to fuck their shit up. The technical aspects of the chase are incredibly well done, from the camera moves on the rooftops, to the way they chose to represent his super-hearing (soft focus with one man in sharp focus instead of the CGI radar sense is the way to go), and it’s just fun to see the guy jumping all over rooftops on the chase. It’s just this side of old-school, swashbuckling adventurer Daredevil.

The highlight of this episode is the really clever structural twist it plays on the audience. In the pre-credits scenes, we see Karen attacked in her home by Fisk. He shows up behind her, in the dark, waxes philosophic about the things she has taken from him, and just as he begins to assault her, she wakes up. It was all a dream, we laugh, as we sigh a little in relief. Fast forward forty-five minutes. Ben comes home from being fired from his job, intending to write a tell-all expose about Fisk. He pops open his bottle of whiskey and begins to type, just before Fisk shows up behind him, in the dark, waxes philosophic about the things Ben Urich has taken from him, and then he, in a fit of rage, strangles Ben Urich to death. Up until the end of this episode, I was waiting for the camera to cut back to Ben, asleep on his keyboard, or asleep in the chair in his wife’s hospital room.

Marvel’s Daredevil is not afraid to kill the characters who have been around for decades when it’s what the story calls for, and that is something that gives me great faith in it as a new television property. It is also the number one reason it breaks my heart. See you back here with all the rest of the gang for the final episode group review. Stay alive, kids.

Stray Observations:

• “It gets easier the more you do it” is a line that could have gotten laughs, but D’Onofrio’s delivery is haunting.
• “I think they call that loyalty, or something.” God bless you, Leland Owlsley.
• I am thoroughly humbled and disappointed with myself for not realizing until this episode that the symbol they stamped on the heroin at the end of the first episode was the Steel Serpent symbol--one of several Iron Fist teases in this episode.
• People apparently learn how to sneak up on each other professionally in Hell’s Kitchen.
• “Hardcore parkour!”
• Matt must go through like, at least 2 canes a day if he’s just throwing them away in alleys.
• “You sound like a whore.” “Well, I learned how to be one from you...dad!” is how that line should have played. Luckily, I’m not writing for this show.
• Madame Gao thoroughly does not play--apparently even Brubaker thinks she might be Crane Mother?

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Score: 5/5

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Daredevil 1.12 – “The Ones We Leave Behind” Director: Euros Lyn Writer: Douglas Petrie Distributor: Netflix, ABC Films, Marvel Studios Runtime: 60 Minutes Exclusively on Netflix