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The Walking Dead’s “The Grove” Gives Viewers Another Reason to Drink This St. Patrick’s Day
With only two episodes left in this season, The Walking Dead has finally started to answer some questions that have been bugging viewers since the midseason finale. Last night’s episode focused on Tyreese, Carol, Lizzie, Mika, and Judith. On their way to Terminus, they find a home in the middle of nowhere. It seems to be the perfect place to start over; it’s secluded, has a water pump and a propane tank, puzzles, a doll, a big comfy dad chair. Basically everything is going to go back to normal, right? Of course not.
One of the first questions that last night’s episode answered was why Carol was teaching the children how to fight. To put it simply, it’s because of Sophia. Carol described her as “not having a mean bone in her body”. She wasn’t capable of killing anything, which was her downfall. Now that Carol has two surrogate daughters, she doesn’t want the same thing to happen to them. Carol can see a lot of Sophia in Mika, in that she cannot bring herself to kill people invading the prison or even a deer except she has no problem killing walkers. Lizzie, on the other hand, cannot bring herself to kill a walker, but can kill people. And animals, Lizzie kills animals too for some reason; probably because, as Mika put it, she’s not right.
Speaking of which, we also learned that Lizzie was the one feeding walkers outside of the prison. Which doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone since she has pretty much been friendly with walkers since she was introduced. So friendly, that she gets upset when anyone kills a walker. We see her have a near emotional breakdown after Mika shoots a walker right in front of them. Luckily, Mika calms her down by telling her to look at the flowers right next to her. Then she screams at Carol for putting down a walker that Lizzie was playing with. It’s hard to believe an eleven year old could hold that much crazy, but she does.
Hannibal‘s Kaiseki Leaves Us Hungry for More
Season two of Hannibal hit the ground running. Quite literally too, as the opening scene was a flash-forward of an intense fight between Hannibal and Jack Crawford. So far, we know that Hannibal is going to get figured out, and the rest of the season is going to be dedicated to seeing how that comes together. Season two started where season one had left off, Will Graham was framed for all of the horrible things that Hannibal had done and is now imprisoned. Even worse, his new psychiatrist is Dr. Chilton, who is still full of himself even after having all of his organs removed. At this time, only the audience, Will, and maybe Hannibal’s psychiatrist Bedelia Du Maurier know that Hannibal is last season’s big baddie “The Chesapeake Ripper”. It’s unclear, as of right now, what Bedelia knows, but she has made some implications that she knows too much about Hannibal.
This season is going to stray away from the first season’s formula of featuring a killer of the week. Instead, they are going to have a “big baddie” which has already been revealed to be Mason Verger, notably played by Gary Oldman in the film adaptation of Hannibal. It isn’t known exactly when Verger is going to show up, but last night introduced an unknown killer kidnapping random people based on the color of their skin. Also the feel of their skin, that was oh so creepily pointed out to the audience when the killer complimented a man’s smooth skin on the subway. Later, this man was abducted and found himself in a room of “dead” people. It’s unclear whether or not they are dead or in heroin-induced comas even though the coma thing has been done before. The last shot of the night revealed that the bodies are arranged in a way to make it look like an eye.
‘The Walking Dead’: “Claimed” Recap
Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead continued to follow the formula of showing only a few characters at a time. This week we followed Rick, Carl, Michonne, Glenn, Tara, and the new group of survivors. Fans of the comics knew exactly who they were, but were the new survivors were introduced to the audience as Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene. They are traveling to Washington D.C. because Eugene is a “scientist” and he is going to “save the world.” I think it’s safe to put those in quotes because you cannot trust a man with a mullet. Especially one that claims to be a scientist.
Michonne asks Rick what their plans are- whether they are going to stay in the house or continue to travel. Rick doesn’t have a clue, so he just makes her take Carl scavenging while he takes a nap. Rick is woken up by a group of strange men that have broken into the house. Since he is still weak from being beaten by The Governor, he hides under the bed. Things get awkward when a man walks into the room and decides to take a nap. Then things get really awkward when another guy comes in and demands to have the bed. Then things get super awkward when that guy chokes the other guy just to have the bed. He sees Rick hiding under the bed before he’s choked to sleep. Rick slips out under the bed while the both men are sleeping/passed out.
Sleepy Hollow Makes You Sleep With One Eye Open
After Sleepy Hollow’s strong pilot and terrible second episode, its third episode could either make or break the series. If it continued on with the second episode’s cheesy subplot, obvious Chekhov’s guns and just downright outrageousness; then the show would have to be buried. Luckily, the third episode titled “For the Triumph of Evil…” was a vast improvement over last week’s disaster. This has to do with removing the whole zombie John Cho story line and finally gathering some materials to make an Ichabod/Abbie ship.
This week, Ichabod and Abbie had to fight a demon called “The Sandman,” who like Freddy Krueger, attacks people in their sleep. Instead of actually fighting you, he makes each person relive their sins so they willingly kill themselves. Unfortunately, Abbie is on The Sandman’s hitlist for what she did to her sister, Jenny. Jenny had told the police that she had seen a demon in the woods. Abbie lied and said that she didn’t see anything, thus betraying her sister and forcing her into an institution.
Should ‘Sleepy Hollow’ Go Back to Sleep?
Warning: Many of the comments in this review are meant to be sarcastic, so put on your sarcasm detector.
Last night’s episode of Sleepy Hollow, titled “Blood Moon,” began with a dream sequence. His wife Katrina warns him of an army of evil that will rise to bring the Four Horsemen back to life. This “army of evil” hunting will certainly give Ichabod and Abbie something to do for the rest of the series. Katrina explains that the first dark spirit will rise with the blood moon and that “she [the dark spirit] is one of us.” Ichabod has no clue what she is talking about and wakes up before she can explain.
Abbie’s captain, Frank Irving, played by Orlando Jones, still doubts the whole Headless Horseman ordeal, even though two officers went on record stating that they saw the horseman. Irving informs that they recanted their statements. He then shows her security footage that proves that Andy Dunn, played by John Cho, did not die by a demon whipping his head off his neck, but running head first into a wall. This basically decapitates him, without the head actually coming off because that seems plausible. With the physical evidence of the videotape, Abbie starts to doubt what is real and what is not.
(Mostly) Spoiler Free Review of ‘Sleepy Hollow’
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is a short story written by Washington Irving. It has been around for over 200 years and it inspired many adaptations, including the 1999 Tim Burton film. There’s a pretty good chance that you’ve at least heard of it or know the story. Except the people in Sleepy Hollow, the new show that premiered last night on Fox, have no idea of the legendary tale that is coming to life. Now, I didn’t have high expectations for this show because it sounded far-fetched. Like the classic story, Ichabod Crane fights the Headless Horseman. Except, this show takes place in the 21st century and Crane and the Headless Horseman are from 1781. That must have been one hell of a pitch to get this show greenlit.
Now, the show was not as bad as I had expected. It answered a lot of questions in the first episode, such as why Ichabod is British despite fighting the Red Coats in the opening scene and how The Headless Horseman and him aren’t dead. Although, it didn’t answer how Ichabod woke up shirtless and then came across a shirt after he was arrested for, presumably, running in the middle of the street. The latter one could be explained in a future episode, though.
‘Breaking Bad’: ‘Buried’ Deep With No Way Out
You know how some teenagers think they’re invincible? They’ll maybe pass by a car wreck on the side of the road and think, “Hey, that could never happen to me” and continue to race down the highway without caution. But then it does happen and it’s scary. It’s scary and it sets them straight.
That is Walter White. He finally had his epiphany in “Buried” on Sunday night. How many times have we heard him acknowledge that he isn’t perfect?
“I screwed up.”
Those words sounded almost foreign coming from his mouth. There was no lying. There was no blaming anybody else. It was an honest statement, a statement that wasn’t totally self-serving, and from Walt, those are rare. He told Skyler that he’d turn himself in and told her to take the money. If anything, he’ll leave his family with a little bit (or a lot, really) of security regardless of the fate he suffers. It was actually sort of heartwarming. It’s one of his final statements of the episode, though, that kind of set all of that aside. His plea for Skyler to not let all of his hard work go to waste was more like the Walt we’re used to, the Walt who just last week begged Jesse to believe him because Walt needed him to.
CBS’s Brady Bunch Reboot is a Bad Idea
The Brady Bunch Hour
Ignoring the terrible track record for Brady Bunch spinoffs and remakes, CBS has announced plans for a Brady Bunch reboot with Vince Vaughn as the executive producer. Instead of Mike being the Brady getting remarried and starting a new family, his youngest son Bobby will take his place. Unlike the original, which ran from 1969-74 and rarely mentioned Mike’s dead wife or Carol’s ex-husband, the new Brady Bunch will feature Bobby ex-wife, his new wife’s ex-husband, and, of course, their children. While the basic premise of the latest Brady Bunch remake sounds decent, connecting the new show to a series that has not been relevant since the 1970s is a bad idea.
Whether it was first run or syndicated, everyone who has been a child from the early-70s onward has found memories of watching The Brady Bunch. Some people related to having a parent remarry and finding themselves with step-siblings. Others knew what the Bradys were going through when their dog Tiger ran away. Young girls were jealous of Marcia when she got to take her idol Davy Jones to the prom because they would never get to meet their celebrity crush, whereas boys wished could be Bobby just so they could meet Joe Namath. The show is clearly stuck in the 70s, but the themes and events are those that every generation of kids either experiences or wishes would happen to them.
Game of Thrones Puts Bush’s Head on a Stake
The Bush Mask as seen on Game of Thrones
HBO’s Game of Thrones has been the subject of a lot of controversy, since it was revealed that the show used a mask of former President George W. Bush to depict a decapitated head. The production crew apologized, saying that they just had to use the heads they had lying around. They can make any excuse they want and say that it isn’t a political statement, but that does not make the putting a former presidents head on a stake any less inappropriate.
The fact is that it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of President Bush. It doesn’t matter how often he may have disappointed some parts of the public. He was still the president of the United States and deserves some basic human decency. Frankly, I do believe the Game of Thrones crew and that it wasn’t trying to express any hate toward Bush, but that’s irrelevant. It was in poor taste. They should have known they would have to defend themselves. You don’t just get away with something that is potentially and probably extremely offensive.
Placing Former President Bush’s head on a stake could easily be interpreted as a symbol of the desire to decapitate him, even if it wasn’t intended as such. Someone needed to think it out more carefully. It’s patently offensive. A member of the crew should have thought that the reaction to this will not be positive.
Thankfully, all content about the decapitation will be removed from Game of Thrones DVDs. The show did the right thing after the fact, but such a blatantly offensive idea should have never been thought of in the first place.
The Munsters Becomes Mockingbird Lane
Portia de Rossi
You’ve probably heard about NBC rebooting The Munsters as a one hour drama. Now, Entertainment Weekly reports the show’s name has been changed to Mockingbird Lane, which comes from the family’s iconic address, 1313 Mockingbird Lane.
The show will star Jerry O’Connell as Herman Munster, British comedian Eddie Izzard as Grandpa Munster, and Portia de Rossi as his wife Lily.
This cannot be a good idea. The Munsters does not belong as a drama. The original show is remembered as a goofy sitcom. It was an alternative to The Addams Family. Mockingbird Lane just seems like NBC’s desperate attempt to cash in on a classic show. The only similarities between the two shows will be the characters names and probably personality traits, since the actors chosen do not look like the original cast members.
While Mockingbird Lane may be inspired by The Munsters, there is no good reason for NBC to make such a big deal about the connection between the shows. The two shows will be completely different from each other. I would even argue that it would have been smarter for NBC to change the names of the characters, remove any reference to the original show, and just advertise their unusual new drama, so that people would judge Mockingbird Lane on its own merits and not automatically assume it will be inferior to its 1960s counterpart.
Wait! What's A Dial? 