Tag Archives: 2015-16

Season premiere: Arrow

The PolyBlog
October 16 2015

At the end of last season, Arrow had emerged triumphant over Ra’s Al Ghul, Merlyn took over with Arrow’s blessing, Palmer was apparently dead (giant explosion), Diggle was upset with Arrow putting his wife in danger and not trusting him, etc., and basically the band was ready for solo careers or something. The season ended with Felicity and Oliver driving off into an ocean sunset drive with Oliver saying he was happy.

The new season opens with Oliver and Felicity apparently in couple bliss, hanging out and being domestic. The scene is ridiculous as basically, you find out they’ve been travelling all over, Felicity is bored with the lack of action, and Oliver is perfectly content doing basically nothing (which he used to do before the Arrow, but hard to believe now). Regardless, there’s trouble back in Star City, Damien Dark is wreaking havoc, and Speedy+Canary want the Arrow’s help. Of course, they go back, not everyone (i.e. Diggle) is happy to see him, and oh yeah, Arrow was supposed to be Roy who supposedly died.

So they beat the bad guys, save the city, find out what Dark is really capable of (ooh, he’s into mystical stuff!) and then announce that Arrow is dead, but someone new (with a new snazzy suit) is ready to take up the mantle of Arrow’s legacy — Green Arrow.

I found the episode great for fight scenes, and really poor for the characters. Is Oliver happy in domestic bliss? Felicity has secretly been helping the Star City crew from various parts of the world without Oliver knowing? Dark is into, well, dark magic? Not a big fan of having the mystical added to the roster for Arrow, outside of the Lazarus Pit which is fine as a plot device I suppose. One of the best parts of the Batman and Arrow heritage is there is no superpower involved, it’s just a formidable fighter taking on the world with strength, agility, and really cool toys.

And honestly, I don’t care if Lance is piqued that Arrow is back, or Diggle still doesn’t trust him. Snooze-arama. Nor the drama in Ep 2 that Felicity has to be a big bad boss lady at Palmer Industries. Disappointing that Jeri Ryan’s character popped in for Ep 2 but that’s it. Oh, well, it can only go up, right?

Season premiere: Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The PolyBlog
October 4 2015

After being mostly destroyed at the end of Season 1, SHIELD fought itself through most of Season 2, at least when it wasn’t dealing with external threats to its existence. The season ended with things relatively back together, although people still think SHIELD is dead. So, with new inhumans cropping up around the globe (mainly the U.S. now), the US govt has created a new group, the ATC to deal with the threat. SHIELD thinks ATC is snatching inhumans, ATC thinks SHIELD is killing them, and since Hydra is dormant, who the heck is involved?

Skye is now going by her original name, Daisy, and her dad had his memory wiped so that’s off the table. The Cavalry has gone on extended walkabout. Coulson’s dealing with a new robotic hand, the team is trying to help new inhumans transition, and oh yeah, Fitz is trying to find out if Simmons is dead at the hands of the monolith or somehow trapped inside. Just another day in the life of SHIELD.

The episode was okay, although it isn’t clear to me if SHIELD is recruiting stormtroopers at this point, or they’re happy just relying on Daisy and friends. Mutant X / X-Men this isn’t and there’s no school for the gifted. Alien DNA is becoming activated in the general population, and expectation is worldwide contamination in 17 months. Every potential will become a reality. A nice way to set the mood for the year.

It was a pretty light episode, more laying ground markers for the rest of the season I suppose. However, it was nice to see Lincoln on the show still. Hope he doesn’t get killed anytime soon. But I need the Cavalry back too.

Season premiere: The Blacklist

The PolyBlog
October 4 2015

The Blacklist was the giant hit of two seasons ago, introducing James Spader as Raymond Reddington, riveting as he turned himself into the FBI with the words, “I will speak only to Elizabeth Keen”. The mystery, the bad guy of the week, the ones who lived off the radar of any government agency but nevertheless were the baddest of the bad. Ghosts, whispers, and Raymond was willing to deliver them, one at at time, while delivering on his own mysterious and hidden agenda. Why Keen? Why these people? What was he doing? And why KEEN!!!!????

Season 1 revealed the secret that he was in a deadly deal with a hidden cabal of international power brokers. They wanted him dead, but he had a deadman switch in the form of a file called the Fulcrum that had info on their entire operation — kill him, and the info goes public.

Season 2 revealed some of Keen’s past, and how her and Reddington were linked. Why he needed her, in part, and why he wanted to be with her. But the cabal called his bluff, everything went to hell in a handbasket, and now it is time for the collateral damage to start hurting.

Season 3 opens where season 2 ended — Keen had just killed a very corrupt Attorney General after being used as a weapon to kill someone else. Framed as a spy, she felt she had no way out. And so she killed the AG and started on the run with Reddington by her side. So, the chase begins. Dressler is in charge, and has locked the city down, no way out. Reddington has a place to hide for a week or two until things calm down, but that gets blown out by coincidence more than anything else. So they go to Plan B, which was the same as Plan A, but without the waiting.

I’m happy to see Cooper in the episode, Dressler, Arum, and the Mossad agent too. Dengbe is running around with the Cabal figuring out how to use him to get to Reddington, but it’s not clear to me really why he’s not involved in helping them. Maybe that was in the last episode and I’ve just blocked it out.

I liked the episode, but I just felt it was too drawn out. Also, the Fulcrum is in play after the end of the last episode, and yet the Cabal is barely affected it seems. An embarrassment, no governments are falling. Heck, even the DCS at the CIA is still in his job.Plus the giant reveal, the giant technique at the end, it was just smoke with no fire at all. It totally fizzled for all the time and effort the script put into showing it might/could/should be amazing. Welcome back, but don’t drag this out like the start of last season. Get to catching the blacklisters again.

Season premiere: Sleepy Hollow

The PolyBlog
October 3 2015

When we last saw Sleepy Hollow, Molloch was vanquished, and with him went Ichabod’s love of his life, Katrina. Sure, her soul had been corrupted, but nevertheless, they were ill-fated lovers across time and space, without the TARDIS to help. The portal was closed, the danger had passed, so what now, brown cow?

Well, apparently the writers were looking for some change. So, they dumped the Sheriff’s Office, sent Abby to Quantico, made her a field agent, and now she works for the FBI, albeit still in Sleepy Hollow. Better digs, some kick ass science to back them up, some federal resources to access, a better badge. Cool. Of course, Abby did all this because it was time to get on with her life and back on the path she was on before she became one of the two witnesses from the Bible prophecies. And it was easy to do, because Ichabod went on a walkabout.

He went to England, and Scotland, in search of his ancestral roots. For nine months. With nary a postcard. Abby’s a bit like the lost high school sweetheart who got left behind while the hero went off to see the bright lights of the big city. Well, good old Ichabod is back and anticipating demons. He thinks their role as witnesses is not yet complete — rather, they have seen just the first of the seven tribulations.

As a viewer, you know already that he is right. A woman appeared out of a lightning strike, and basically singlehandedly turned the horseman of war / Abraham into mist, dissipated him into a box, and released a demon of fear instead. She’s obviously a very beautiful and powerful witch. And it isn’t until the very end of the episode that you find out who she is. I have a suspicion there will be another twist along the way about her identity and who she was in the past as well, but for now, her identity is known to the viewers, but not really to the witnesses.

Jenny was in the episode too, but everyone and everything else is changed. The archives have to be relocated, they have a new office for Abby to work in, and most of the non-demon stuff seems brighter, shinier even. The demon solution was rather simple and easy, followed by a ridiculous reunion scene for the witnesses while they comfort each other, totally ignoring the fact that moments earlier, JENNY WAS STRUCK DOWN BY THE DEMON and they have no idea if she’s lying dead or dying, but yes, indeed, let’s hug it out before we check on her.

But I’m glad the show is back, I’ve missed it. Mostly because the network has screwed around with the number of episodes (18 last year instead of standard 22-26) and timing (the show wrapped pretty early, February or March?), not to mention a long hiatus over Xmas. You’d swear they were trying to kill the show. I hope not, I’ve missed you too, Ichabod and Abby. Jenny? Not so much.

Series premiere: Benders

The PolyBlog
October 3 2015

I gave the new show called Benders a try tonight. The premise is four guys on a recreational hockey team, and what happens in their lives around it. The initial premise of this show, at least according to the description, is that the four are really devoted to their team and playing hockey, and it messes with the rest of their life. More or less. It sounded like it could be interesting, not sure it’s a strong enough premise for a full series, but hey, I thought I would give it a go. For those reading this blog, you probably already know I don’t watch many comedies (basically only one at this point, The Big Bang Theory).

And I have to confess two things for this show. First, it is really well done. It reminds me a lot of the original series from the UK called Couples (not the US remake version). Take the show, take a premise for the episode and just run with it. It feels in part like a giant improv sketch as the main character is thinking the rest will think it is all nuts, but they go with the premise leaving the main guy completely discombobulated. So, this show does that, and does it in spades. In the opener, Paul goes to visit his grandfather. Grandpa says, “Life sucks, I’m old, please kill me.” Except it isn’t a metaphor, he’s really asking him to kill him. Which his three friends think he should totally do, so the rest of the episode is him visiting some mobsters, etc. It’s really well done, and if you like that surreal type of WTF moments as they negotiate whether or not to shove grenades up Grandpa’s butt, this show’s for you.

My second confession? It didn’t work for me. I know, I know, I just said it was really well done. And it is. But it is just a bridge too far for me to go with the suspension of disbelief. I lasted a whole two thirds of the first episode, and that was as far as I could go. Maybe it’s amazing, maybe it picks up, but the personal spark wasn’t there. I don’t think it will win any awards or anything, but it’s unique.