iZombie S:01 E:08

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Dead Air
Original Airdate: 5-5-15

Before I get too far into this week’s episode I do have some good news. If you haven’t already heard on Twitter or via other entertainment news outlets, iZombie has officially been picked up for a second season on the CW. But back to this week’s episode that involves a lot of sex and pop culture references, even though I don’t watch it I quite liked the Game of Thrones reference and loved the Fight Club one. There is a lot of forward momentum for several of the characters in the show as relationships change and get intermingled, all while having Liv on the brains of a radio sex therapist.
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Arrow S:03 E:21

Posted on by Jeffrey Lyles

Episode Title: Al Sah-Him
Original Airdate: 4-29-15

Season 3 has had a number of rough patches — Roy’s abrupt departure, the back and forth with Team Arrow missing Oliver, the nothing happening Hong Kong flashbacks — but this week felt like a much-needed step in the right direction as we head to the final two episodes. And with so much happening tonight, it almost seemed like these events in both current and flashback time could have used more episodes to develop.

The big development was Oliver has been fully ingrained as a League of Assassin thanks to a strict brainwashing regiment. Oliver has no remorse and little concern for his old way of life so when Ra’s tests him and Oliver sees a vision of Diggle, Oliver kills him without hesitation. It was presumably a LOA member that got on Ra’s bad side, but you know it’s effective brainwashing when Oliver is killing again.

Arrow - Al Sah-Him - Arrow as Al Sah-HimRa’s sends Oliver to bring back Nyssa so he can eliminate the only rival to his claim as heir to the demon so Team Arrow has to defend their unlikely ally from their former leader. It’s a nice shake-up and I wish there was more time to explore this subplot as Oliver shows no sign of his former self even going so far as to kidnap Lyla to force Nyssa to turn herself in.

I loved how the show worked in Laurel’s Canary Cry. It makes perfect sense and works in the context of the show. Roy’s absence was especially felt this time to the point I wished his exit was saved for the season finale after Team Arrow dealt with Dark Arrow. Fortunately Thea is ready to lend a hand, or arrow to help her friends and send her brother and his new henchmen back to Ra’s with Nyssa in tow. Thankfully Felicity didn’t keep Thea in the dark any longer about Roy still being alive.

The Hong Kong flashbacks finally got some payoff. Oliver, Maseo and Tatsu stop Shrieve’s men from spreading the Alpha/Omega bioweapon, but not before Maseo and Tatsu’s son, Akio, starts showing signs that he’s been infected.

Arrow - Al Sah-Him - Diggle and Black CanaryBack to the present day, Ra’s reveals he doesn’t want Oliver to kill Nyssa. Removing a vial from her sword base, Ra’s instead wants Oliver to marry her — oh and use the recovered Alpha/Omega drive on Starling City. Will Oliver regain his sense before or after consummating the marriage and creating a little Damian Queen?

I’m digging the new status quo even if Team Arrow isn’t and I’m fascinated in seeing what goes down in these final two episodes. Should be a lot of fun!

The Flash S:01 E:20

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Trap
Original Airdate: 4-28-15

We finally get our full villain reveal at the end of this episode to head into the last two episodes of the season along with plenty of other reveals for all sorts of cast members. This episode had a strong build up to the climax along with plenty of great character moments and humor along the way. This show just keeps getting better and better all the time and it’s one reason why Wednesday is my favorite day of the week for television (being a day behind to watch streaming). After proving time and time again that Iris is the worst reporter ever, she finally starts to make a little bit of headway towards not being completely oblivious to everything around her, and Dr. Wells finally gets to the chance to go full villain, and explain why he always seems to pop up at the right (or wrong) moments.
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iZombie S:01 E:07

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Maternity Liv
Original Airdate: 4-28-15

One of the things that I like the best about this show is how it can allow itself to be subtle and move its overarching storyline along at a leisurely pace without making it seem like its dragging its heels. There are some great moments of world building in this episode, the only downside was that the humor for much of the primary story of the week felt a little flat with me, especially one of the personality traits of the brain. But that was a small downside to an otherwise great episode that continues to intrigue me with its ability to not only weave these characters and how they are interconnected with each other, but also how it doesn’t coddle the audience with reminders of what all of this means at every corner. There’s plenty of information there for those who have been watching the show from the beginning, and for those that haven’t they will seem to be just unimportant details that don’t really impact the main plot one way or the other.
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Arrow S:03 E:20

Posted on by Jeffrey Lyles

Episode Title:The Fallen
Original Airdate: 4-22-15

There was a lot of good moments in this episode that on their own would have resulted in an obvious home-run, but too many decisions from earlier this season watered down what was poised to be one of the season’s most dramatic outings.

The main problem was yet again Oliver was saying goodbye to Felicity and Diggle. This season alone I can think of at least three other instances where Oliver has bid an emotional farewell to an ally and eventually it leads to diminishing dramatic returns when everything reverts to normal an episode or two later.

arrow-the-fallen-oliver-and-ras-al-ghulThis time should be more impactful as since the midseason finale, Oliver has resisted the lure of Ra’s al Ghul to become his heir only to be forced to accept the position in order to save Thea. There’s no turning back and everyone knows it, but a lot of the emotional sting was absent as we’ve been here too often this season.

Still, the actors delivered some of their best of the season with Amell conveying Oliver’s shock at seeing a bloody Thea, Emily Bett Rickards giving Felicity some fire as she confronts both Malcolm and Ra’s, the overall quiet composure David Ramsey provides as Diggle and Matt Nable shining in easily his best performance.

The Hong Kong flashback was more action-packed despite a lack of anything happening until Oliver fights one of Shrieve’s soldiers and the vial containing the Alpha/Omega compound shatters leading to….? Stay tuned.

arrow-the-fallen-ras-and-priestess

Thea coming back from being brain dead courtesy of The Lazarus Pit was fine, but hopefully there will be more repercussions for her dip in Ra’s “magic hot tub.” Felicity drugging Oliver after they made sweet Cinemax-worthy love (poor Ray) was funny as she reasoned there had to be some secret catacombs they could escape without Ra’s knowing. But in the end, Oliver is a man of his word even when dealing with The Demon’s Head and he agreed to become Ra’s heir.

The final scene of Ra’s branding Oliver with an arrow mark was tremendous as was the closing moments of Oliver Queen being figuratively buried and replaced by Ah Sah-Him, Heir to the Demon.
This wasn’t the sharpest outing, but next week teases some fascinating possibilities for a very fun episode.

The Flash S:01 E:19

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Who is Harrison Wells?
Original Airdate: 4-21-15

This episode definitely feels like it’s ramping up to the season finale as the circle of trust continues to get bigger and bigger while those who trust Dr. Harrison Wells gets smaller and smaller. There’s a few reveals in the episode for the characters but not the audience, and also a bit of a visit to both Coast City as well as Starling City to get a couple more members of team Arrow onto the Flash screens. And all topped off with a metahuman who can make himself look like anyone. Excellent episode that hits a lot of the right notes while very much accelerating the pace to pave the way towards the season finale which I imagine will involve the defeat of the Reverse Flash, hopefully temporarily as Tom Cavanagh is an excellent member of the cast.
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iZombie S:01 E:06

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Virtual Reality Bites
Original Airdate: 4-21-15

When we last left Liv and co, she had discovered yet another friendly neighborhood zombie with a British accent and Major had been knocked around at the skate park. This week Liv gets a taste of week old brains from an agoraphobic hacker WoW troll while she decides that she finally needs to start living her life, or unlife. We also start to get a little bit of the walls beginning to close in on Blaine and his operation, but he isn’t quite feeling the heat yet. It was another fun episode that reminded me a little bit of my own World of Warcraft and City of Heroes days while also making me wonder if anyone on the show had ever actually played any of these games since they rarely get them even close to being right.
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iZombie S:01 E:05

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Flight of the Living Dead
Original Airdate: 4-14-15

Another week another brains, as this show really starts the blow the lid off of the Zombie community and possibly drops a hint as to what the secret ingredient in this zombie mixture might actually be. This time around Liv sees the death of one of her old college friends who was the complete opposite of Liv before she died. She loved life, did extreme things on a daily basis, and while Liv wants to find out if she was actually murdered she also gets to spend some time actually enjoying herself. The only real issue I had is that this episode almost felt like it ended a bit too soon without being “to be continued…”
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The Flash S:01 E:18

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: All Star Team Up
Original Airdate: 4-14-15

It’s been a little while since the last crossover, so it’s nice to see the return of Felicity Smoak and the introduction of Ray Parker also known as the Atom here in Central City. And as I haven’t been watching Arrow, I’ve brought in fellow writer here at Channel: Superhero Jeffrey Lyles, our Arrow correspondent to share his thoughts on the episode from Arrow’s perspective. But as for my own thoughts, there was a little bit of television trope tension involving keeping secrets and the tensions that creates between friends and lovers, and it never ends well. But other than that, there’s a lot of fun to be had throughout the episode which is one of the reasons why I love this show so much. There were a few rocky patches, but overall there was much more to enjoy than there was to criticize.
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