Gotham S:01 E:05

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Viper
Original Airdate: 10-20-14

After last weeks episode that I actually quite enjoyed, it went back downhill hard. Where I liked the setup of the war between the crime lords in Gotham last week, it somehow had the air knocked out of it this week. Instead of having an air of intrigue to the situation, it had all the subtlety of a sack of bricks. Maroni ends up looking more like a punk thug who just wants a piece of the action, and Fish Mooney… Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on with Fish Mooney. One minute Jada Pinkett sounds like she’s doing her best Eartha Kitt impression, the next minute she’s acting like a psychopath, the next she’s acting like a caring mother to her singing secret weapon. I will say that I did like some of the seeds planted on the scheming front as we see that she is working with one of Falcone’s other lieutenants against him, and the secret weapon singer she picked up last episode and was grooming this episode is to become an inside man, so to speak, into Falcone’s intimate side. But the rest of the episode did not work at all, with little Bruce playing at detective and digging into the Wayne Corporation’s books to find all the off-book deals was just ridiculous. The Viper subplot was another way too on the nose reference to Batman when they casually mention that Venom has already been perfected. And Penguin spills the beans to Maroni in order to become his inside man, but almost dies for it and gets Gordon neck deep in Maroni’s dealings as well. It’s just all too convoluted for me, and where there were a lot of great looking shots last week, there was nothing on par this week. It’s just too up and down for me at this point.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:04

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Face of My Enemy
Original Airdate: 10-14-14

Another great episode that moves forward several different ongoing plotlines. The crux of the episode is a painting that has been found that’s hundreds of years old and on the back is the alien carving that Coulson has been doing since the end of season 1. We also get to see more of the relationship between Coulson and Agent May who is the only person that Coulson trusts with his condition, and to do what needs to be done if his condition worsens. We also get to see how much of a threat Hydra really is, as they are not only brainwashing former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but they also have the technology to pose as one of their dopplegangers with an electronic form of Darkman’s synthetic skin or the Mission Impossible masks, etc. Though it’s a little bit more believable here as it is electronic so it’s also able to mask their voice. Not only that, but at the end we see that they are also able to easily get the drop on Rayna and they want their obelisk back. Back on the S.H.I.E.L.D. side of things, Fitz is starting to make even more progress than before, even though he is still talking to his imaginary Simmons, he is also starting to reach out towards the rest of the group including the newcomers a little bit more, and also gets the chance to be Fitz once again while still having to work through his mental disability. Another great episode.

Gotham S:01 E:04

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Arkham
Original airdate: 10-13-14

One of my biggest problems with Gotham so far is how it hits the viewer over the head with hints of what is to come with Batman. This is the first episode where it felt like it hit the right balance for the most part. It also moved forward one of the most interesting things about Gotham during this point in time: the dynamic of the criminal underworld and the threat of a gang war between Falcone, Maroni, and Fish Mooney. And at least as far as I know, the hired killer that is the main villain for the episode has nothing to do with the Batman universe whatsoever, even though he did have a bit of a quirky way of killing his victims. The only real foreshadowing in the episode is the fact that the episode revolves around what is going to happen to the old Arkham Asylum and the resulting potential turf war between Falcone and Maroni. Penguin also got some forward momentum on his own personal character arc, and while I do like the direction it is going, I don’t know if it’s really the best origin for what Penguin is going to become. There are moments in the show that still bother me, Gordon spends way too much time having heart to heart talks with 12 year old Bruce Wayne and Alfred. I also am not fond of his relationship with Barbara and how she is trying to find out about his life while he is keeping secrets, and then turning around and getting angry at her for keeping secrets from him. While it’s not exactly Batman foreshadowing, it is awfully on the nose at calling him out on his hypocrisy. I will say that one thing I noticed a lot during this episode and has been throughout the show so far is that the cinematography is gorgeous. There are some really stellar looking shots in the show, I just wish there was a bit more meat to the plot and some of the characters.

The Flash S:01 E:01

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Pilot
Original Airdate: 10-7-14

Even though I haven’t been watching Arrow, this was the show that I’ve been most excited for this season. I’m a big fan of the Flash and everything I’ve heard about this show before now has been pretty positive. They want to take it in a more sci-fi direction, they have John Wesley Shipp as an homage to the 90’s short lived Flash series which I’m glad I caught up with a few months back, and they have Danielle Panabaker who I remember from when she was in Sky High. It has a lot more of what’s missing from the rest of the superhero TV shows this season: fun. Yes, there are some serious moments, but there is a lot more fun in this show than Gotham, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., or even Arrow from what I gather. Those other shows do have their fun moments, and Flash has a serious side too, but this is the right way to do a superhero on TV right now. It’s the closest thing to a Marvel movie brought to the small screen, which is funny because it is a DC property.
Continue reading The Flash S:01 E:01

Gotham S:01 E:03

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Balloonman
Original Airdate: 10-6-2014

Gotham has been a strange creature these past few weeks. Each time I watch the show, I do enjoy it quite a bit. But then after the credits roll and I begin to think about it a bit in order to write my thoughts on it, I start poking holes in it. Whether it’s the Penguin, or Fish Mooney, or Jim Gordon himself, there’s a lot of elements of the show that just rub me the wrong way as it pertains to the Batman mythos, at least the corner of the mythos that I know about. This was the first episode where I started poking holes in the show as I was watching it, but at this point there is still enough good in the show for me to latch onto to stick with it for a while longer at least.
Continue reading Gotham S:01 E:03

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:02

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Heavy is the Head
Original Airdate: 9-30-2014

S.H.I.E.L.D. continues strong into its second season as things continue to have been shaken up since the events from the end of the first season. The team still has a lot of rebuilding to do, and it has to reassess their threats from various sources including Hydra, the government, and yet another group who we get to see a little bit more of in this episode.
Continue reading Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:02

Gotham S:01 E:02

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Selina Kyle
Original Airdate: 9-29-2014

After getting through the first episode of Gotham I thought that it had some promise but ultimately suffered from Pilot Syndrome. It had too many plots, too many characters, and too many potential Batman villains that they introduced. But the potential was there, there are some great characters like Donal Logue’s Harvey Bullock, and the look of the show has a great feel to it. This second episode gave the show a chance to dial things back a little bit and bring things into a tighter focus. And while it was still drawing a few too many threads across Gotham, the overall quality of the episode was much better than the Pilot and I’m looking forward to seeing what Gotham will bring in the future.
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Gotham S:01 E:01

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Pilot
Original Airdate: 9-22-14

It’s time to start the biggest superhero and comic book TV seasons in many years if not ever and Gotham is the first one out of the gate, though I’m probably one of the last ones out of the gate to get a post written about it. Based on the trailer, and what the show was going for I had high hopes for this show. I thought it could be an interesting take on the superhero trend, something along the lines of how Lois and Clark focused more on the relationship between the two rather than the superhero aspect. This show is supposedly going to take a closer look at the Gotham PD side of the equation rather than the supervillain side of things. And since this takes place when Bruce Wayne is still a boy and there is no such thing as Batman there should also be no such thing as supervillains yet. Instead, they are all still merely criminals before crossing the line once the door has been opened for the overly theatrical. Though it wouldn’t surprise me if they delve into some early theatrics later in the season, especially if they start struggling in the ratings department. Overall, I initially liked what I saw, but as I started reading other people’s negative reactions, I started to see more of the holes in the show and am actually a little glad that I have waited so long before writing this.
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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:01 E:21

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Ragtag
Original Airdate: 5-6-14

Gearing up to the season finale next week and the show decides to actually slow things down a little bit and take a look into Ward’s past and his relationship with Garrett. While I didn’t really care too much for almost any of the flashback scenes, there were still enough fun to be had in Coulson’s team and with Rayna to keep me interested in this episode throughout and from the look of things, it has the season finale ready to go out with a big bang even if it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll be making the gravitron callback this season, instead saving it for a second season which is still up in the air as far as I can tell.
Continue reading Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:01 E:21

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:01 E:20

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode: Nothing Personal
Original Airdate: 4-29-14

Ran a little late on this episode’s roundup because I didn’t have internet until the other day, but I’m mostly moved in now and back into the swing of things so I am ready to get back into the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and its run up to the season finale. Things are getting much more complicated with Ward’s alignment change, the dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D. as an organization and the entire disruption of Coulson’s team. Agent Triplett is starting to fit in a little bit more, but things are also not going quite so well between the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the US government. And on top of everything else, Deathlok makes another appearance and so does Maria Hill.
Continue reading Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:01 E:20