Category Archives: Drama
The End of ‘Californication’
Very rarely does a television show have the decency to wrap up the series in a timely fashion. Most choose to alienate their audience with shoddy, lifeless episodes and tired or ridiculous plots in hopes of prolonging the life of their ‘baby.’ It’s times like that where we should take a page out of Stephen King’s book and “kill your darlings.”
That being said, Californication’s seventh season, airing in April 2014, will be it’s last. While I wish I could say it remains an untarnished series, I just can’t – but at least they were able to pull the plug themselves. What started as a heartfelt series about a tortured writer trying to get his wife and daughter back together as a family has turned into a circus of attempted shock value, almost insulting stereotypes, and a disintegrating interest from the audience for any of the core cast’s issues. It’s upsetting to see one of this decade’s most recognizable anti-heroes fall even further than the bar floor he was passed out on.
‘Suprise, Bitch’: It’s War on “American Horror Story: Coven”
Was “The Sacred Taking” American Horror Story’s weakest episode of the season? Probably, but given how strong Coven has been this season, the weak link still held its own. It felt a little jumbled, but it certainly helped set up the series’ five remaining episodes and next week’s last new episode until 2014. Let’s take a look at what went down.
The episode opened with what I initially thought was a flashback. Queenie is wandering around a shoddy area late at night and completely alone – until she’s approached by a man who threatens her with rape and murder. Our girl is scared, but not for long. She picks up a board with several nails pushed clean through and jabs it into her hand, incapacitating and confusing the man long enough for her to overpower him. She’s stopped, though, as Zoe and Madison show up. This was also the moment I realized that this was a present-day incident and not one that took place in Detroit. They want her to come back to Miss Robichaux’s, but Queenie is on a mission. Her encounter with the homeless man was no accident. Marie Laveau sent her out in pursuit of an evil heart, and this man just happens to have raped a number of young girls. The heart is an ingredient in a potion Marie is supposedly brewing to make Queenie a stronger voudon, something Queenie suggests Fiona would never do for the other witches. She’s right, as Fiona is wont to do pretty much the opposite. Queenie cuts the man’s heart out and holds it up, still beating, as she lets the girls know this town ain’t big enough for the both of them. It’s war.
‘The Walking Dead’: “Too Far Gone” Recap
The Walking Dead is finally going back to the comics for its midseason finale. For the last two weeks, we’ve seen what The Governor has been doing since we last saw him, which has basically been to find a new group to lead. The episode starts out with The Governor lying about how Rick’s group is made up of horrible people. He quickly convinces the group to kill them in order to take over the prison. They don’t question him and blindly follow him to absolute destruction, which really shows that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
During the last two weeks, it seemed like The Governor had changed. He was caring for two women, Lilly and Tara along with Lilly’s daughter Meghan. The Governor was very paternal toward Meghan, not only because he’s “dating” Lilly but because Meghan is kind of like a replacement for his late daughter Penny. Meghan certainly saw The Governor as a father figure, even going as far as drawing an eye-patch on to a king piece from her chess set. It was her little way of showing how important piece of her life. It wasn’t until after her death that fans were certain that the Governor that we all know was back when he showed no remorse as he prevented her reanimation.
“The Dead” are back on ‘American Horror Story: Coven’
Resurrection is running wild on American Horror Story: Coven, even without the inimitable Misty Day. In the fittingly-titled “The Dead,” Kyle and Madison get it on walking dead-style, the Axeman is back, and Zoe brings back Spalding’s tongue from beyond the grave – all while Queenie leads the recently exhumed Madame LaLaurie straight into Laveau’s eager arms. Let’s see how we got there.
The episode opens with Kyle discovering exactly who (or, rather, what) he is by taking us back to a tattoo parlor at an unspecified time. We see one brother get some ink on his leg, while another gets a tattoo on his arm. Both of these limbs, we learn, are now attached to Kyle, who notices the irregularities and cries out. He examines his body and holds up to his face his hands that appear to be just a smidge too large for his body – a nice touch, whether it was done intentionally or not.
‘Sleepy Hollow’: “Necromancer” Recap
It seems that another ship set sail in Monday’s episode of Sleepy Hollow. Abbie’s sister, Jenny, was released from the mental institution and began working with Captain Irving. Fans voted for the ship name to be “Mr. and Mrs. BAMF,” but I think it should be something along the lines of Jirving. This is not going to distract fans from the favorite “Ichabbie” ship as the writers continue to tease us with all of the “will they, won’t they” tension. Thousands of fans cried out in delight as Abbie implied that candle light was romantic, to which Ichabod practically blushed and seemed to agree with that statement. Seriously, writers, you’re killing us.
‘The Walking Dead’: “Internment” Recap
Last night on The Walking Dead, things started to hit the fan. We not only got to see a rise of the problem inside the prison, but also outside. While Maggie helped clear out the people who had turned in the sick ward, Rick and Carl had to clear out the hundreds of walkers that took down the fences. Luckily, at the eleventh hour, Michonne, Daryl, Tyreese, and Bob came back with medicine from the veterinarian school. Thank goodness, because Glenn wasn’t going to last much longer. Hopefully, this solves the “virus” problem. Although, they haven’t figured out how the virus is spread.
In “Internment,” we got to see how much characters have changed. First, Carl has stopped being a little snot and does what he is told, like staying in that one hallway. Also, Rick lets him fight walkers together instead of sending him away on a “mission” to “protect” the prison when in reality Rick is just trying to keep Carl safe. It was a really sweet buddy cop moment when they were fighting walkers together. All it needed was some heavy synthesizer music and a cheesy catchphrase. I guess the cheesy catchphrase could be when Rick decides to go farming with Carl to avoid telling Daryl about exiling Carol. They share a peapod together which actually means “we’re just two peas in the same pod.”
‘Sleepy Hollow’: “Sin Eater” Recap
After three brutal weeks, Sleepy Hollow galloped straight into our hearts. “Sin Eater” was so heartfelt that you could practically hear Ichabbie shippers furiously typing fan fictions before the credits rolled. We also were introduced to Fringe star John Noble as the titular “Sin Eater.” He played a small role but I hope to see more of him throughout the series.
In the previous episode, we saw how Abbie reacted to Ichabod being infected with a deadly disease. This week, we saw him within moments of death. Since Ichabod’s bloodline is crossed with the Headless Horseman, the only way to stop him is for Ichabod to sacrifice himself. If one of them dies, so does the other. Even though Abbie pleads with Ichabod not to drink the poison that Franklyn from True Blood gave him, he drinks it anyway. It’s not like their fates are entwined for the next seven years or anything.
‘The Walking Dead’: “Indifference” Recap
In last night’s episode of The Walking Dead, we finally got to get out of the prison. Since Daryl, Tyreese, Michonne, and Bob were taking too long to get medicine, Rick and Carol decided to make a trip of their own. This would have been a great opportunity for Rick to lecture Carol about killing two innocent people, but he didn’t bring it up. Instead he did something a little bit sneakier, he observed.
While scavenging for medicine, Carol and Rick ran into some hippie couple that I don’t remember their names. It’s not important because they lasted 20 minutes anyway. Since Carol didn’t even bat an eyelash when they died, it was obvious that Carol has changed drastically. The old Carol would have expressed some remorse instead of convincing Rick to go back to the prison. Rick made an executive decision and exiled Carol from the group. Not only is he afraid of having her around his children, he’s afraid that Tyreese will kill Carol when he finds out she killed his girlfriend Karen. This is the best scenario since Rick is giving Carol a chance to start over again.
“Fearful Pranks Ensue” on ‘American Horror Story: Coven’
It was all about the past on last night’s American Horror Story: Coven, and boy, not much has changed in the lives of these ladies since the 60s and 70s. “Fearful Pranks Ensue” opened and closed with a new AHS addition: full-on, limb-tearing zombies, courtesy of Marie Laveau. Back in 1961, she used a spell to exhume the bodies of the long-dead that forced them on three white men who murdered the son of Cora, one of her hairdressers. Needless to say, each man died a painful, violent death. Back in the present, she starts preparing the same spell after receiving Bastien’s still-blinking head in a box, presumably from the gang over at Miss Robichaux’s. Exactly how they managed to decapitate him, we don’t know. Anyway, Marie wails, overcome with grief and anger and bitterness. One of her hairdressers tries to convince her to stay true to the pact she signed with Annalee a few decades ago, but that truce, Marie said, is over. They’ve moved into life-or-death territory. The zombies – including the body of one of Delphine’s daughters – rise and surround Miss Robichaux’s. Marie sure does revenge well.
It turns out Fiona and Myrtle Snow, played fabulously by Frances Conroy, have some history, too. After Annalee’s murder, Fiona was examined by the witches’ council. She cried and cried and fashioned a story about the former Supreme leaving with a fine bottle of wine, perhaps as a peace offering; she’s trying to throw Marie’s name into the suspect ring, and she succeeds. She also receives some news: Fiona is the new Supreme, but she already knew that, of course. When it’s announced in front of the rest of the school later on, Myrtle is not happy. She knows what Fiona did, and she has the perfect plan to expose her. Spalding has a hearing with the council scheduled for the next day. He’s always “cleaning up Fiona’s messes,” so Myrtle is sure he knows the truth – and she makes it impossible to reveal anything but by casting a spell on his tongue. Somehow, though, he knew. He has Fiona meet him in a bathroom, where he says he wants his last words to be a declaration of love; he cuts out his own tongue so as not to betray Fiona.
‘The Walking Dead’: “Isolated” Recap
Sunday night’s episode of The Walking Dead, started off with a punch. Literally. Fans gasped as our precious Daryl was attacked by the comic book favorite Tyreese. The most important part of this scene was how Rick reacted. He started punching Tyreese, it was similar to how Shane beat up Carol’s ex-husband: unrestricted and superfluous. Could this be Rick breaking free from his cop past?
If there is one thing that The Walking Dead is good at, it’s drawing things out. In the second season, it took seven episodes to find Sophia. What I’m glad that they didn’t draw out is who burned two people who were infected. Rick did some detective work and approached Carol at the end of the episode. She came clean with little hesitation. Wait, the woman who was abused by her husband and lost her only child did this?
Wait! What's A Dial? 