Monthly Archives: April 2015

iZombie S01E06 Review: Virtual Reality Bites

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We were alarmed to see Major on the slab at the morgue. I guess we have grown attached to his character.

We were alarmed to see Major on the slab at the morgue. I guess we have grown attached to his character.

In “Virtual Reality Bites,” Episode 6 of iZombie, Liv picks up some hacker proficiency and sort of gets to go on a date. Babineaux is unwittingly almost murdered by Blaine’s brain chef, and Major collects more clues to the disappearance of two shelter kids. Oh, and Ravi gets to flex his gamer skillz in pursuit of a killer.

The show is beginning to hit its stride as the disparate storylines have all started to come together. Blaine is established as a very bad zombie with a thriving brain business and a host of minions. Major has now taken on a role beyond Liv’s handsome ex-fiancé, devoting himself to finding the kids that have gone missing from Helton Shelter. And Babineaux is settling into a routine of using Liv as his de facto partner—maybe the recent revelation that zombieism has permeated the upper ranks of the Seattle Police Department provides a clue as to why no one seems to care that Clive doesn’t have a partner and that a pasty-faced young assistant medical examiner is usually present during his interrogations.

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Game of Thrones S05E03 Recap: High Sparrow

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Arya Needle Game of Thrones High Sparrow

Game of Thrones sometimes gives us explosive conflict that takes our breath away. Other times it shows us the slow process of building influence and establishing a position, similar to a game of chess. “High Sparrow” has the feel a chess game, as many of our characters have charted new paths in the ever-changing landscape of Game of Thrones.

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The Messengers S01E02 Recap: Strange Magic

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Rose Devil The Messengers Strange MagicAfter being affected by the arrival of a meteor in the first episode, “Strange Magic” finds the characters from The Messengers either in Houston or on their way to Houston. After last week’s pilot “Awakening” we were eager to learn more about what happened to those affected, their fancy wings, and the Man with the red glowing eyes.

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Wayward Pines S01E01 Recap: When Paradise is Home

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Wayward Pines Where Paradise is HomeWayward Pines, the new series based on the trilogy of books by Blake Crouch, is scheduled to begin airing on Fox on May 14. Fox is excited about this series and wants you to be excited too. As a result, the pilot of Wayward Pines, “When Paradise is Home,” has been made available worldwide through a whole host of streaming options from April 24 to 30. If you don’t want to wait until May to watch the premiere of Wayward Pines, you can check it out at Fox on Demand via participating pay-TV providers, Fox.com, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, PlayStation Store, VUDU, Xbox Video, and Facebook. Fox’s innovative approach is likely to attract some viewers who don’t normally get invested in summer television series. Showcasing the first episode of Wayward Pines, “When Paradise is Home,” reminds us that as well as having a cast of cinematic stars, M. Night Shyamalan is one of the executive producers of the series and directed this pilot episode.

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Supernatural S10E19 Recap: The Werther Project

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Rowena Sam spell codex 2 Supernatural The Werther ProjectIn “The Werther Project” Sam is falling back into the Winchester patterns of secrets and lies we so frequently see in Supernatural. Despite Sam and Dean being honest with each other through most of Season 10, Sam has fallen off the wagon, starting with getting some heavenly help from Uncle Bobby to break out Metatron in the episode “Inside Man,” and then pretending to have a spell book bonfire in “The Book of the Damned.” Contacting Rowena to get help translating the Book of the Damned is the biggest betrayal so far. Though no one trusts Rowena, least of all Sam, we can’t help but wonder if she will still get the upper hand. If Macbeth has taught us anything, it’s never trust a Scottish witch.

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iZombie S01E05 Review: Flight of the Living Dead

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bloody marias

Lowell’s extra spicy bloody Marias

In Episode 5 of iZombie, “Flight of the Living Dead,” things really start moving—an experienced skydiver is impaled on a tree branch, Liv meets a young gentleman zombie with a sexy accent, and Major takes the search for his missing wards into his own hands when the police are suspiciously unhelpful.

Almost all of the characters’ stakes change this week, as the case-of-the-week becomes personal. Holly White was an adventurous, wild spirit who was once a sorority sister of Liv and Peyton’s at Theta Mu—that is, until they both voted to kick her out. Apparently she … played loud music at night? (We can only imagine how insufferable pre-med Liv, her pre-law pal Peyton and their like-minded sorority sisters must have been.) The descriptions of Liv’s undergrad self, along with her rhapsody on memories of a good egg salad sandwich (leading to Ravi’s perfect bored response: “#YOLO”), serve as counterpoints to the changes affected when she eats some of her dead old friend Holly’s brains and becomes adventurous. Continue reading →

The Women of Game of Thrones

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rd Arya smiles Bravos Game of Thrones The House of Black and WhiteGame of Thrones has received both praise and criticism for its portrayal of female characters over the years. Though Game of Thrones has always had some strong female characters, such as Daenerys Targaryen, in Season 5 many other women have emerged as both formidable and compelling. Though these female characters have many strengths, each also has her own weaknesses. In “The House of Black and White,” we begin to see some of their character defects mediated. The women of Game of Thrones are giving us some outstanding storylines so far in Season 5.

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Game of Thrones S05E02 Recap: The House of Black and White

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Arya Bravos statue Game of Thrones The House of Black and White“The House of Black and White” focuses on the women of Game of Thrones, each powerful in her own way. As we move increasingly outside of Westeros we see our characters not as Starks, Targaryens, and Lannisters fighting for control of the Seven Kingdoms, but as players in a wider and increasingly complex landscape. There is still a lot of terrain to be explored in Season 5 of Game of Thrones and “The House of Black and White” gets us started on the journey.

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