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All Creatures Great and Small (2020) s01e04 – A Tricki Case
No causes for concern or alarm this episode, and not just because Diana Rigg’s back. Even with the village still talking about how Nicholas Ralph handled the sick horse last episode, he seems cemented in the community. Though there is one significant eyebrow raise with Callum Woodhouse. Turns out he might not be a regular… 📖
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All Creatures Great and Small (2020) s01e02 – Another Farnon?
This episode’s got a couple concerning elements. Slightly concerning. It’s also got Diana Rigg in a fantastic guest spot as the BBC period piece equivalent of a “Best in Show” dog mom, which could probably let the show get away with anything. The first concerning bit is the episode using the same dramatic beat as… 📖
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All Creatures Great and Small (2020) s01e01 – You’ve Got to Dream
“All Creatures Great and Small” is pastoral to the point of pastures. The show—based on a show, based on a movie, based on a series of memoirs—tells the story of young veterinarian Nicholas Ralph. He moves from urban Glasgow to rural Darrowby, Yorkshire, for an assistant job to country vet Samuel West. Except Ralph thinks… 📖
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Grantchester (2014) s07e03
Since Tom Brittney directs this episode, I sort of expected him not to be in it very much. And he’s not; instead, it’s an Al Weaver plays detective episode, which is more delightful than the last time he had such an episode (he was in prison investigating). This time the case is weighty—someone is murdering… 📖
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Penny Century (1997) #7
Part of me wants to know how creator Jaime Hernandez came up with Penny Century’s arc. The series began with the return of Ray Dominguez, revealing he had a previously unrevealed history with Penny Century, going halfway through Love and Rockets: Volume One. Throughout the series, which mainly dealt with the death of H.R. Costigan,… 📖
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Grantchester (2014) s07e02
The episode begins with Tom Brittney drunk, talking to God about his engaged-to-another-man girlfriend (Ellora Torchia), and Brittney has finally become the vicar of “Grantchester.” Even if there still aren’t any scenes with him doing any services. Brittney’s also running low on consoling excuses to explain his presence at the police station to new boss… 📖
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Grantchester (2014) s07e01
There are some significant changes in “Grantchester” at the start of this season; some are continuations of last season’s subplots, others are not. New curate Ahmed Elhaj is gone already, getting a brief mention from Tessa Peake-Jones somewhere in the first five minutes, then nothing. Actually, vicar Tom Brittney doesn’t do any Church of England… 📖
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The Equalizer (2021) s02e13 – D.W.B.
Tory Kittles gets his most significant episode of the season (if not the show), but with several caveats. First, it’s a Black trauma episode. Kittles—with his two sons—is somewhere in not-New York City New York, and a couple sheriffs’ deputies assume he’s a suspect. When he asserts his rights, the senior officer (Lee Tergesen, leaning… 📖
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Resident Alien (2021) s02e08 – Alien Dinner Party
Well. Here I thought this episode was the season finale. It’s not. It’s the end of “Resident Alien: Season Two: Part One.” Another eight episodes are coming later. Things make a little more sense (though they may have introduced more in this episode than they can resolve in another eight). The episode ends on a… 📖
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The Desert of the Tartars (1976, Valerio Zurlini)
The Desert of the Tartars is a warless war epic. Set at a remote desert fort, a young officer (Jacques Perrin) discovers army life isn’t what he was expecting. The film opens with Perrin leaving home, ready for the great fortune awaiting him, only to learn he’s been assigned to the ass-end of nowhere. The… 📖
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Penny Century (1997) #6
Once again, creator Jaime Hernandez surprises with Penny Century. This issue features the first appearance of Maggie’s husband, T.C. (short for Tony “Top Cat” Chase). However, that appearance comes with a big asterisk. The character doesn’t show up, just his face. Well, his head. See, the issue’s all a dream, and Maggie’s working out some… 📖
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The Equalizer (2021) s02e12 – Somewhere Over the Hudson
So, Rob Hanning gets the script credit this episode; his name stood out but not because of his “Equalizer” work. He used to write on “Frasier.” He did another “Equalizer” too, the relatively good episode with Chris Noth saving his son; an inglorious distinction, to be sure. But Hanning’s name stood out. And his episode… 📖
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Upload (2020) s02e07 – Download
Either “Upload” decided to be just another 2022 show and play chicken with its renewal post-reduced Covid-19 lockdown season, or they ran out of time to shoot the whole season. As a result, this episode feels like a great mid-season breakpoint, not a season finale. It’s got three massive cliffhangers, one semi-resolution to an outstanding… 📖
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Upload (2020) s02e06 – The Outing
This episode very much does not feel like the penultimate episode of the season. Most of the episode is character development and relationship arcs, with Andy Allo and Zainab Johnson taking Robbie Amell and Kevin Bigley on a field trip to New York City. Despite it being the near future and there being human-to-AI conversion… 📖
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Upload (2020) s02e05 – Mind Frisk
After last episode teasing the return of Nathan and Nora (Robbie Amell and Andy Allo, respectively) chemistry, this episode delivers. The episode also works to disentangle them from their ill-suited love interests, with Allo having a potentially relationship-ending argument with her boyfriend, Paulo Costanzo. Costanzo’s thrilled at the success of their cyber-terror attack on the… 📖
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Upload (2020) s02e04 – Family Day
It’s Family Day in the virtual afterlife, which means Robbie Amell’s mom, Jessica Tuck, and adorable niece, Chloe Coleman, get to visit. Of course, since Amell’s now got Allegra Edwards in the afterlife with him, it means uncomfortable interactions as Edwards tries to ingratiate herself to poors Tuck and Coleman. To minimal success, leading to… 📖
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Upload (2020) s02e03 – Robin Hood
It’s an excellent episode for Allegra Edwards. She gets to play out of character—in the real world, Edwards’s talking toilet has been chastising her for too much time in VR, so she’s going to take a break. To ensure Robbie Amell doesn’t ask any questions, Edwards hires a “job gerbil”—for an Amazon show, “Upload”’s real… 📖
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Upload (2020) s02e02 – Dinner Party
Both Robbie Amell and Andy Allo spend this episode getting used to their new normals (without each other), with Allo having a much better time of it. She gets to hang out with new beau Paulo Costanzo, which means a bunch of flirting, but also finding out some of the Luds anti-digital afterlife plans. Amell’s… 📖
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Upload (2020) s02e01 – Welcome Back, Mr. Brown
“Upload” starts its second season making some immediate changes from the previous season cliffhanger. One’s a reveal at the end of the episode and a good twist. The other’s Andy Allo’s not great real-life love interest Matt Ward getting axed in the first scene. They’re on the run in upstate New York, and Allo ditches… 📖
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The Black Stallion (1979, Carroll Ballard)
The Black Stallion is two separate, subsequent narratives. The filmmakers utilize two different but related styles for them. The first narrative, with 1940s tween Kelly Reno, shipwrecked on a desert island off the coast of North Africa with a wild Arabian stallion. The second is after Reno’s rescue when he and the stallion have to… 📖
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Resident Alien (2021) s02e07 – Escape from New York
Once again, I've failed to keep up with episodes per season on shows this year, and it turns out this episode is the penultimate one for "Resident Alien: Season Two," which makes a lot of sense. If the season were running ten episodes, it'd be a little strange to introduce so many new plot threads… 📖
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The Equalizer (2021) s02e11 – Chinatown
The Leonard Matlin capsule review of 1987’s other Mannequin movie, Lady Beware, describes Diane Lane’s lead performance in the film as “uneven, but her rage is convincing.” That phrase has stuck with me for decades now. This episode of “The Equalizer” feels similar. It’s about general hate crimes against Asian-Americans escalating to murder, though the… 📖
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Penny Century (1997) #5
This issue’s distinctly creator Jaime Hernandez’s work, but some of the moves he makes remind entirely of brother Beto’s. The first strip, for example, is a first-person one-pager about Ray getting in a social faux pas at a party. Jaime shows half of Ray’s face in a reflection; otherwise, it could easily be an autobiographical… 📖
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Selected Declarations 22.03.09
I’ve overextended myself on reading and writing projects this year. It was inevitable. The first change was to adjust my movie watchlist for 2022. It doesn’t account for screeners or blogathons, which are not scheduled (albeit with deadlines and embargoes), and are more fun. Even when an ancient watch list item is good, the run-up… 📖
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The Lions of Leningrad (2019-2022)
The Lions of Leningrad is European without being Russian, albeit then translated (from French) into English. But it’s a Russian tragedy, complete with a love quadrangle, flashbacks, gulags, and revenge. The comic opens in Leningrad, 1962. The police arrest an indigent who’s broken into a concert hall. Only the arresting officer is a nitwit who… 📖
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Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e13 – Knocked Down, Knocked Up
I’ve been worried about “Legends of Tomorrow”’s renewal for a while now—though it’s not like The CW has renewed any of their shows, they’re just not renewing early this year—but if Knocked Down, Knocked Up ends up being the series finale… it’s a dreadful series finale. As a season finale, it’s generally okay. It’s way… 📖
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The Equalizer (2021) s02e10 – Legacy
Based on the Legacy title, I thought we might be getting Chris Noth’s character dying offscreen. Sadly no. They also mention him a few times, which is kind of weird. It implies the viewer’s supposed to remember the character, though—presumably—Noth won’t be back. The episode opens with a flashback to the Tulsa massacre in 1921… 📖
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Resident Alien (2021) s02e06 – An Alien in New York
There are a couple big surprises this episode, which sees Sara Tomko and Alan Tudyk going to New York City to find another alien from Tudyk’s species. It’s not New York, New York, it seems to be the more Manhattan-y streets of Vancouver, but they do a decent enough job of it. Tudyk hates all… 📖
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Orgazmo (1997, Trey Parker), the unrated version
The best thing about Orgazmo is the opening title’s song, Now You’re a Man. Unfortunately, once the song’s over, there are ninety more minutes of movie. Orgazmo tells the simple tale of a Mormon missionary (co-writer and director Parker) who happens upon a porn set and ends up the star of a superhero porno (also… 📖
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Penny Century (1997) #4
After the last issue’s full-length feature, creator Jaime Hernandez is back to the Penny Century anthology feel with this issue. The issue has two narrative arcs, split over five strips (plus a color strip and then another “To Be Announced”). The first and last strips are single-pagers, bookending and tying the arcs together neatly. The… 📖
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Penny Century (1997) #3
Again, creator Jaime Hernandez completely surprises with Penny Century. The content, anyway; the quality is always a safe bet. This issue is set in summer 1966, in Hoppers, where Isabel is a little kid whose best friend is going to Mexico for the summer, and she’s got nothing to do. Thanks to older sister Chabela’s… 📖
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Paris (2005-2022)
The love story at the heart of Paris could take place anywhere. But it also can't take place anywhere but Paris. This collection emphasizes the Paris setting, with artist Simon Gane doing a new visual prologue of the city waking up. The birds are chirping, the lovers are waking (or already busy), and the city… 📖
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Selected Declarations 22.02.28
My initial impulse for this post was a lengthy history of my personal “let people like what they like” realization, but it’s a real downer. The point was going to be it’s better to write about things you like or talk about things you like and enjoy. It’s immaterial whether you’re standing on the “what… 📖
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Resident Alien (2021) s02e05 – Family Day
Describing “Resident Alien” as ‘“Northern Exposure” with an alien’ is reductive (and doesn’t properly acknowledge “Alien”’s R-rated but PG-13 executed humor). But it’s where my mind goes when trying to shortcut describe the show, especially this season. “Alien” is an ensemble. Though Alan Tudyk’s semi-reformed alien invader is the lynchpin, the core relationship is Sara… 📖
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River’s Edge (1986, Tim Hunter)
River’s Edge hinges on a few things. First, Joshua John Miller’s performance. The film’s about a group of teenagers reacting (and not reacting) to one of them killing another and showing off the body. Miller is protagonist Keanu Reeves’s little brother, who emulates and identifies with his brother’s worst traits. Second, Jürgen Knieper’s score. The… 📖
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Penny Century (1997) #2
Penny Century didn’t appear in Penny Century #1 (at least, not in the present action), but this issue starts with her. It’s a direct follow-up to last issue, with Penny—who seems to have a beauty salon somewhere between L.A. and Hoppers—getting Hopey gussied up. It’s a one-page strip, followed by the further adventures of Ray… 📖
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Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e12 – Too Legit to Quit
The network hasn’t renewed “Legends of Tomorrow” yet, so when Adam Tsekhman makes a meta-reference to the show’s weekly air time… it’s cute but isn’t a great landing. Especially since the episode’s all about the show ending. There’s a real quick resolve to the cliffhanger. The evil robot version of Olivia Swann escaped Hell and… 📖
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Penny Century (1997) #1
I had to go back and check old Love and Rockets to see if I’d somehow forgotten Ray (Maggie’s most serious boyfriend) had a subplot about mad-crushing on Penny Century. Nope, doesn’t look like it. First, I wasn’t expecting Penny Century to open with a story about someone knowing Penny Century, not Penny herself. Second,… 📖