thuganomics85

Oh, Book! He seemed prepared for everything but Moll basically being like "Yo, he may have been a good mentor to you but he SUCKED as a father, so I could give a shit about our relationship." I guess that is a common blindspot, to be fair. Plus, if I were a betting man, this will all probably end with them forming some kind of bond by the end of this. So, long story short, Moll and L'ak are basically on the run from a Blood contract because the latter is Breen and their whole relationship is looked down upon by everyone else. Plus, killing those soldiers and shooting his uncle probably didn't help things either. Can't really blame him on that though, because Eve Harlow would be worth going against your douchebag of an uncle! But that is why they are so gung-ho to get the Progenitors' powers for themselves. With Michael away (with Book), Rayner.... actually played really well with the Discovery crew. Still kept his natural sternness and firm grip on the proceedings, but was still more open with them and seemed to find a better way to get ideas out of them without being a jerk about it. He might fit in, after-all! Callum Keith Renne is doing good work here. The stuff with Tilly and Culber felt random out and out of place. Second episode in a row without checking in on Saru. I'm sure he'll be back at some point, but I'm wondering if this direction (him serving on the station, Rayner as the new number one, etc.) was always planned or if Doug Jones needed a lighter schedule for this final season?

"Time bump." I do kind of love it whenever Trek (or any sci-fi show) just combines the word time with some other random word in order to explain a new situation involving some form of time-travel. In this case, it's thanks to a bug planted by Moll that Discovery keeps randomly flipping to new timelines every few minutes. Effective enough, but luckily for Discovery, not only is Stamets self-aware about it due to his history, but Michael and Rayner just happen to be attempting to teleport when it happens, so they are able to keep their memories as well. If not for that, it might have gone on for days or maybe even weeks! Atypical timey-wimey silliness aside, I did enjoy revisiting some of the previous looks (and situations) again, and I thought they actually did a solid job at not going too broad with the differences, but still seeing how these characters changed. In particular, Younger Michael and Current Michael are clearly the same woman in so many ways, but you can see how much more of a hothead and emotional Younger Michael was compared to Current Michael. Loved how Stamets initially kept claiming that a "spore breach" was happening to clear out engineering, but for the oldest timeline, he just simply bemoaned "I'm very angry right now! Leave!" and everyone bailed. Yeah, Stamets might always be a crank, but he really has mellowed out compared to the early seasons. Speaking of cranks, not surprised this ended with Rayner coming around to realizing that personal connections can be good things amongst the crew and seems to making an effort now. At least they did acknowledge this his stern old-school approach might still have some merit in certain situations. Cool to see Airiam again and the Lorca reference, even if we couldn't see him. That would have been cool. Or maybe a Georgiou sighting. Hell, I would have liked to have seen Pike. I wonder if we'll ever a holo/android version of Zora before the end, just to get Annabelle Wallis on screen one time.

Glad we got at least one "War. War never changes", even if it was from Barb and not Ron Perlman's epic voice. I'll take it, though. That said, assuming this gets more seasons, he better show up at least once: even if it's just a cameo. Man, I know opinions on corporations are at an all-time low, but Vault-Tec somehow outdid them all by basically going "Hey, you know what would really increase our profits? If we cause a nuclear war so that they have to use our vaults!" Damn, guys. I think even the Roys from Succession would find that a step too far. No idea how they pulled that off, but hopefully they are saving all of that for the future. Whelp, he might have only been in two episodes for the entire season, but Kyle MacLachlan sure managed to leave a lasting impact for this episode! Hank is just insane. Truly think he is bettering humanity by... dropping a nuke on an entire city just to protect Vault-Tec's interest. And to top it off, he's certainly not winning any Father of the Year awards for the way he took Lucy (and Norm's) mom away from her. Dude's truly a psychotic company man through and through. Moldaver is dead, but she at least turn the fusion on and powered up the city (world?) That said, it's all in the hands of the Brotherhood of Steel now, which is... troubling. At least Maximus is now looked upon as a hero, so maybe this new fame and status will help him find ways to at least slow the damage, if not stop it. Barb definitely knew Cooper was spying on her, right? Sounds like was equally down with Vault-Tec's nefarious plans, so any potential reunion will be a sight to behold, I imagine. The show looks good for the most part, but the de-aging of Hank/Kyle MacLachlan in the flashback was rough. To be fair, most shows/films still seem to be struggling on that front. Lucy and The Ghoul are now doing something they probably never would have predicted: teaming up (with Dogmeat!) to hunt down Hank. The Wasteland really does create strange bedfellows! A few quibbles aside, this actually exceeded my expectations and was a pretty good adaptation that I think can stand on its own as well. Obvious brutal and had some typical post-apocalypse tropes, but I thought they did a pretty great job with also capturing the bizarre, outlandish, and sometimes offensive humor from the games, which helped makes the series standout from the pack. The set designs and production was good as well, and the characters were enjoyable to watch. Acting was great too: in a just world, Ella Purnell will get even more roles going forward after this. And, of course, Walton Goggins. Just more proof that he's one of the best actors in the world, IMO. From what I can tell, most seem optimistic that it will get renewed (certainly as gotten a lot of buzz/traction online), and I certainly hope that is the case. We need a Deathclaw, stat!

Fred Armisen as a disk jockey who only plays fiddle music and has elaborate booby traps surrounding the station to prevent people from killing him over said fiddle music is pretty much what I would expect a Fred Armisen Fallout character to be! Between him and Chris Parnell, I wonder what other former SNL folks from that era would fit in here (Bill Hader?! Kristen Wig?! Andy Samberg?!) Turns out that the current Vault 4 folks were actually not evil, and were trying to fix all of the horrible experiments their predecessors did. Doesn't explain away all of the weirdness, but that's just vault life for y'all! They do banish Lucy though for throwing acid in that doctor's face, but still were kind enough to give her two weeks worth of supplies! Only for Maximus to destroy it and get himself booted with an attempt to "save" her, even though she actually ended up not needing it. Ah, mishaps! At least Maximus actually told Lucy the truth about who he is on his own accord, and she didn't find out another way. Not surprised she isn't going to hold it against him, because considering everything that goes on in wasteland, some fibbing really isn't high enough to get that worked up over it. Thaddeus is a ghoul, now?! That's why you never trust doctors who dress like 1800 carnies! Cooper ends up spying on his wife for Moldaver. Yeah, I'm guessing this why they will be estranged at some point. But it definitely feels like Vault-Tech is up to no good. Norm is off to Vault 31!

I figured the Vault 4 folks would end up being nuts (and that's saying something when talking about vaulters in general), but that was a wild ride. They not only worship Moldaver and spread the ashes of the dead on their bodies at times, but they are also doing some kind of experiments on level 12? That, I think, involves forcing women to birth some kind of fish creatures. Yeah, that's all kind of crazy and disturbing. Good luck trying to worm your way out of this, Lucy! Not surprised that Maximus would fall under the spell of vault life, with all of the food and hot showers. He's even ready to have "intercourse" with Lucy now that he know ejaculation is actually considered normal. Safe to say sex education amongst The Brotherhood is lacking in a lot of areas... Chris Parnell was a hoot as Vault 4's Overseer: complete with one eye in the middle that makes him look like a cyclops! Curious to see what is next for The Ghoul and this new "president" played by Glenn Fleshler. Ironically, this might be one of the more normal characters Glenn has played out of everything I've seen him in (True Detective, Barry, Boardwalk Empire.) The flashbacks with Cooper seem to opening up some interesting paths. I'm guessing the wedge between him and his wife will be due to all of this stuff with Vault-Tech and how shady they are. It already sounds like being part of their advertising has damaged his spot in Hollywood, so if he ends up going against them, I can see why he ends up being forced to work kid's birthday parties come pilot time. Great seeing Dallas Goldtooth from Reservation Dogs as Charlie and getting to see Matt Berry in live action form as Sebastian Leslie: the icon whose voice will be used by all of the Mr. Handy robots! But the biggest reveal? That Moldaver is also there in the past and seems to be the same age she is now. Twist!

Oh, Maximus! It was probably not going to go well no matter what, but if he was planning telling Thaddeus the truth, he really should have done it before he "branded" him. Because I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually count since he isn't actually a knight, so I can kind of understand why Thaddeus would want nothing to do with him or "his story." And once again, Maximus gets cocky (and kind of psycho) in that suit, and Thaddeus finds a way to scamper off with Michael Emerson's head. At least he got saved by Lucy before the radroaches got him, but he's still maintaining that lie, so you know that's going to end badly for him. Our first New California Republic/NCR reference! Certainly seems like something is going down with the Vaults and apparently it is coming from Vault 31, where the Overseers always seem to originally come from there, and everyone is mum about it. Yeah, they are hiding something. Looking forward to Norm facing off a more sinister Betty and seeing Leslie Uggams get to dine on some scenery. Speculation: Lucy talking about how the sun felt real on her face during her childhood/with her mother makes me think that she was actually born on the surface, and somehow gets put into the Vault thanks to her parents and whatever is going on with them being known by both the vaulters and surface folks. Missed The Ghoul/Walton Goggins, but I liked seeing more of Lucy and Maximus together and I can't wait to see how this other Vault will play out.

Figured The Ghoul had something nefarious planned after he killed the turning ghoul, but I wasn't predicting making ass jerky. Classic Fallout! Loved seeing one of the variations of the Mr. Handy robots get significant screen time. Snip Snip is certainly one of the most polite organ traffickers to ever be put onto film/television! Again, Matt Berry and his epic voice were the perfect choices for this role (and hopefully future ones.) Lucy is still letting her kind heart and need to help others put her in precarious situations and in harms way, but she does have a knack for getting out of it. But she now has her first kill, so we'll see if this changes things (even if it was a rabid ghoul.) But she is still holding onto some kind of moral code by giving The Ghoul that medicine or whatever it is he needs. We'll see if this ends up blowing up in her face or is this a step for him turning a new leaf. It could be either or! Something crazy certainly went down in Vault 32. Looks like they had actually took each other out before the raiders came in? And Rose/Lucy's mom was the one that opened the door from the outside? Also, The Ghoul totally had a significant reaction to hearing the MacLean name for the first time, so there is clearly a lot more to this mystery and this family. Fun seeing Ansel from Reservation Dogs as one of the organ traffickers. Before he met a typical brutal Fallout end!

Cooper Howard a.k.a. The Ghoul being the loose inspiration for the Pip Boy face was unexpected but awesome. Makes even more sense why they got Walton Goggins: along with his other numerous talent, he certainly has the face/teeth for that role! Curious to see what will come out of the flashbacks. He is going to go from someone who didn't even want to kill people in movies to.... well, what we see now. Safe bet is that something will probably happen to his daughter that will change him (sounded like he and his wife had already split up in the pilot, but he still seemed like a decent fellow.) Glad that we are still going to revisit the Vault and follow things through Norm/Lucy's brother's eyes. Right now, it feels like they are directionless without a firm Overseer and it will likely cost them. I get that just straight-up killing prisoners isn't not a welcomed idea, but trying to rehabilitate this lot is probably a losing strategy. But it looks like both Norm and Stephanie/Lucy's friend might not be down with the way things are going. Hmm... Thaddeus/Maximus' bully being his new squire has a lot of potential. Maximus was clearly enjoying the power trip, but he did seem to soften a bit and even saved his life. I imagine this will all lead to the eventual moment when Thaddeus finds out who he is really squiring for! I have to imagine all of this contact Lucy has had with various radiation will not be healthy for her.

Whelp, it was fun seeing Michael Emerson while we could! Definitely seems like its going to be a show where characters don't last for very long, outside of maybe Lucy, Maximus, and The Ghoul. He made the most of his screen time at least. And judging from that final bit, we will likely be seeing his severed head again, at least! Knowing the unspoken rule that killing animals on television makes you irredeemable, I was definitely shocked when it looked like The Ghoul killed the dog. Instead, he only wounded her and brought her back to life with a handy, dandy stimpack! Of course, I doubt it was out of the kindness out of his heart. I'm guessing he's going to use her to track Wilzig (or what's left of him) down. Walton Goggins continues to be perfection in this role. The shootout in "Filly" was extremely violent and highly entertaining. I figured the Knight Maximus was stuck with would end up not being the macho ass-kicker he built up in his head, but I wasn't expecting him to be Michael Rapaport! I know he's an acquired taste, but he does have a knack for these type of roles. Also think it's funny that this makes another former Justified villain to pop up here. Just need to get either Neal McDonough or Margo Martindale next! Dale Dickey!!! Have to imagine Lucy will eventually grow out of her naivety at some point, but Ella Purnell is continuing to actually make me like the character and root for her to maintain some form of morality by the end of this.

As a fan of the games, I was looking forward to this and I'm glad the pilot delivered at least. Between this and The Last of Us, maybe they are finally figuring out how to adapt video games into a live action form (definitely think series is a better choice than films, because you really can't cover most everything in just two hours or so.) The look and feel of the Vault was top notch and looked like it came straight from the games. Curious to see if the Wasteland will be able to standout amongst other post-apocalyptic worlds in media. The opening scenes looked really great as well. I like the idea of them using Lucy/the Vault, Norm/The Brotherhood of Steel, and The Ghoul as ways to eventually connect everything with what is going on with the Enclave and the likely reason the Overseer was taken. Definitely spared no expense with the violence and gore. And while they started things out a bit seriously, you can already see some of the zany and out there humor that has populated the series. Casting was good. I mainly know Ella Purnell for her voice work as Jinx in Arcane, so it's great seeing her in live action form and I thought she made Lucy a likable and relatable enough of a protagonist. Kyle MacLachlan is always a welcomed sight and the actor playing Maximus was solid as well. Great supporting cast too with Sarita Choudhury, Michael Cristofer, and Matt Berry voicing Mr. Handy might be the best casting decision ever. But my favorite? Definitely Walton Goggins as The Ghoul. For me, he might be one of the best actors out there and I can't wait to see what he will do with this character. Already like seeing how different he was pre-Ghoul and now. The Justified fan in me also got a kick out of seeing Mykelti Williamson as Honcho: the guy trying to recruit the Ghoul (and failing miserably.) A lot of good Easter Eggs and I'm sure we'll get more, but the only request I have is that they better have a cameo from Ron Perlman, lamenting his iconic line, "War. War never changes." before the end of this series!

I know Rayner is a jerk for only "analyzing" the main crew instead of actually getting to know them, but considering that I usually have to IMDB any character who isn't in the main cast, he's already a step ahead of me at least. It's not that they are bad, but the show never really did a good job at making the bridge gang standout in ways the other Treks have. Great seeing Reno again: complete with Tig Notaro getting bumped up to main credit status this season. Hope we see more of her. It was brief, but I can already see the comedic potential to keep having Rayner and Reno in the same scenes together. I suspected Jinaal was playing some kind of game/test with Michael and Booker, and would help them at the end, but he was still kind of a dick about it. But I guess when you live that long (sort of), your bound to be a social mess. Wilson Cruz seem to be having fun playing the character. Saru seems to have a solid handle on the politics so far, but almost screws things up with T'Rina after her aid gets in his head about how their relationship will damage her status with the Vulcan purists. At least he did apologize and seem to understand why he was wrong, and they've moved past it. I do wonder if the Vulcan purists will end up being a bigger threat than expected. Grey returns so that they can end things with them and Adira. Not much else to add there, really. Moll uses Adira to plant a bug or something on Discovery.

Glad that they at least had a service for Asher, even if was cut short. Nice of them to bring back Rabbi Benjamin from last week as well and have a heartfelt moment with Jerome. I hope this isn't the last we will see of Jerome, but I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves/moves at some point, since it will probably be a lot to handle since he'll no doubt be seeing Asher everywhere he looks at the hospital and amongst his co-workers/friends. Surely he'll need time to grieve. Just when things look like they might get worse, they do an about face with Shaun and Charlie, thanks to the latter helping the former survive another potential meltdown and then successfully complete a surgery together. A little bit pat and borderline "it takes an autistic person to truly understand/get through to another autistic person because they all share that bond" territory, but I'm all for them not dragging this out. Instead, Charlie is now withdrawing her complaint (for now!), and Shaun not only tells her she did a good job but has the makings of being... an "adequate" surgeon. Progress! Poor Lim though. She was almost in the role of the Angel of Death here, with the way her patients seem to be the ones that ended up dying. At least she made it through things with only one mild outburst at an unruly patient (who ended up being pretty understanding/apologetic at the end.) The scene with her mom at the end was nice. Glassman's still got it! And Dom steps up! Noticed that Park was pretty much off screen during the thick of it and was only referenced during all of the surgical stuff. I wonder if Will Yun Lee needed a lighter schedule that week, and that was why he was only really there for the opening and ending scenes. Jordan lets her anger over what happened to Asher prevent her from giving the driver proper medical treatment, but eventually comes around, thanks in part to a speech from Jared. Because Jared is now the wise man of the gang. A bonus with these mass casualty episodes (man, no way not to sound a little psychotic when I word it like that!) is that it's fun seeing all of the recurring nurses in the thick of it and getting moments to standout.

Ah, the return of Discovery's true greatest crew member of all time: Grudge! Time for the queen to lay down the law! With all of the talk about this being Saru's last mission, they certainly wanted to give off the idea that this could be the end for him. Definitely tempted fate there, since that's how it normally goes on shows. Thankfully, that is not the case and he is now off to begin his journey as a diplomat! Imagine though that we will still be checking in on him since he's going to be still on the main base. I'm guessing that's the case for Tilly as well since she's only temporary helping Discovery. Since Moll and L'ak are bound to go back to the planet since they don't have all of the information, why isn't Discovery (or another ship) hanging back so that they can ambush them? Wouldn't that make sense? Have no idea why they aren't. Anyway though, it now also sounds like Moll might be related to Booker's mentor, so I'm sure that's going to be a thing as well. Rayner initially gets forced into early retirement due to his actions last episode, but after his assist here and how he does seem to be sincere about doing what is best for Starfleet (for better or worse), Michael instead asks him to be her number first officer. Which he accepts after making sure she knows he isn't just a "yes man." I guess we'll see how this effects the dynamics with the rest of the Discovery crew.

Star Trek: Discovery is back for one final ride! It might not have the star power of Picard or be the close to perfect nostalgia ride that is Strange New Worlds, but it was the first of the NuTrek, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. I'm usually good with placing faces, but it took me until the credits to place Eve Harlow as Moll since I'm use to her as a brunette (remember her best as Maya from The 100.) On the flip side, I totally knew that Elias Toufexis was L'ak, because that man's voice can not be duplicated. Part of the reason why I've heard him in various video games (especially Adam Jensen in the Deus Ex series.) They both were effective enough as adversaries and hopefully they'll be popping up from time to time. We also get "Hey, it's that Guy who appears in every Canadian-based show ever!" Callum Keith Rennie as Captain Rayner, who definitely isn't meshing well with Michael and the rest of the Discovery gang. Since he's listed as a regular, I'm guessing he'll be playing a major factor despite being a captain of another ship. We will never be rid of Soong since even his androids; or those based on his work; apparently still last into this century. I wonder if old Dead Fred will somehow get woken up. Aww, Saru and T'Rina want to tie the knot! I hope nothing bad happens to either one of them. Stamets seems to be struggling to find his place since the spore drive has apparently been shuttered. I wonder if we'll actually see Tilly interact with her students or is that being saved for a potential spin-off? Yeah, yeah, I'm sure Michael is happy to have Booker back, but I want to see Grudge again! The queen must not be denied! Glad Vance is still around. Oded Fehr needs to be in more things! Looks like the mystery is going to be connected to an alien race Picard met back during his Next Generation days. Can't remember which episode that was, but the Romulans were apparently involved as well, so I'm sure fun times were had!

Glad the Angstrom threat has been put to rest, even if Sterling K. Brown made sure to go all out and give a hell of a performance for his last episode. But it looks like this will be sticking with Mark for a while because not only is he is first kill, but he did so in a fit of rage, so now Mark is concerned that he is going to lose it again if he's not careful. An understandable concern, but him showing any form of guilt at least proves he isn't like his dad. Angstrom breaking Debbie's arm was brutal. But she really is a strong despite not having any super powers. The multiverse scenes were fun. Had everything from a zombie world (naturally), a Fornite reference, this show's version of a Spider-Man, and Mark meeting another mysterious hero who looked a bit... batty. Mark now knows that Eve has feelings for him thanks to Future Eve, but it seems like he's not going to act on it right now. Repli-Kate is still with us after-all, because it turns out the real Kate has been hiding this entire time. An advantage of having clones! Allen and Nolan might be teaming up! Think it was a mistake for Amazon to split up the season like they did. Think it lessen the buzz and hype for this season. At least they already confirmed a third one.