Conan Troutman

Netflix has first run rights in a couple of European countries (including Germany, where I'm from, and the Netherlands), making the new episodes available every Wednesday. They did that earlier this year with Better Call Saul and Orphan Black and hopefully more shows in the future. You can also access those countries via VPN or DNS service (unless you still have the DVD package, it won't work then).

Makes me glad I can watch this show on Netflix a day later. It didn't feel too long for me, although I agree that a couple of scenes didn't absolutely need all of their length. Loving the season so far. That scene with Hank and Milligan was really chilling. Danson, Woodbine and Dunst are already strong favorites for season MVP for me, so hopefully none get killed too early. Dunst's Peggy intrigues me the most so far. I severely doubt we've seen her last crime for the season, curios how deep down the rabbit hole she'll go. I'm also curios about the role the aliens will play. Obviously there won't be actual aliens within the events, but it seems they do serve a narrative purpose. Maybe it's a play on the role of the audience, who isn't only observing, but changes events by its mere presence/existence? Rye probably wouldn't have been hit by the car and the events would've unfolded in an entirely different way, a way that wouldn't have been as satisfying to the audience. I doubt it's exactly that, but maybe something along the line. The obvious reference would be "The man who wasn't there", but out of curiosity I googled the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books - and the first one was released in 1979, the year the show is set. It's something about time travel, which we won't get of course, although we did travel backwards in time from season one to season two. Peggy seems to have the Lester role from last year, who (same as Jerry Lundegard in the movie) functioned as the protagonist, in the same way the murderer was always the protagonist of his story in "Columbo". The way the pilot begins is that you'd assume Rye would take that role, but he doesn't - because of the UFO/audience intervention, he gets hit by Peggy, who thereby "steals" his role. Maybe we're choosing her adventure instead...

The repeat of the premiere seems to have put up the exact same numbers of the premiere (at least that's what I've read somewhere, don't have a source right now), which is obviously not the norm. Plus it held it's numbers despite the preemption. That could be a sign that word of mouth is already spreading, so that necessary uptick might indeed be coming. We'll know more in a couple of weeks. But I agree that, while I really liked the first two episodes, the long-term potential of the premise doesn't seem to be that great, anyway. Seems like a classic case of "we'll gladly deal with it should we somehow get more than two seasons". Anyway, it already served its purpose of putting Rachel Bloom on the radar, whom I probably never would've heard about if not for this show.

I think Clive does pick up on her personality of the week. The show always makes the point of getting some kind of reaction shot from him whenever Liv is doing her weird thing. So he clearly knows something's up, and he's portrayed as quite a good cop - yes, he may need Liv's help on all of those cases, but most of them would be nigh unsolvable (at least as far as getting evidence or a confession is concerned) without her visions in the first place and he usually does a good job of putting things together. So I'm pretty sure he's either made up an explanation for himself or is working on one. I find it hard to believe that he hasn't picked up on how Liv's weekly weird behavior is eerily similar to that of the victim. So he's probably put two and two together and came to the conclusion that Liv has to somehow enter the mind of the victim when getting her visions and picking up some ticks in the process, as a byproduct of her "gift" or psychic powers, and that's pretty spot on (minus the brain eating part, of course) and would explain why he more or less shrugs her antics off. At least that's my interpretation of him. I'm hoping for a scene where he asks Ravi about her strange behavior, which is kind of due at this point and could be quite fun. Overall I thought it was a solid start for the new season, with some flaws but pretty fun. I do like grumpy, snarky Liv, but racist Liv was a bit much. The case worked well enough from a structural standpoint and at least they got some hard evidence in form of the shoes. Blaine is probably even more of a dick in human form, when he doesn't have the excuse of being a zombie, but also not any less fun. That's probably my biggest beef with the Max Rager guy, who's just evil, but not very interesting or entertaining right now. I do like his secretary though, looking forward to her moving in with Liv.

Wow, just wow. If that's indeed the end of the show (I still think we can get another season in two or three years, possibly on Netflix after the Amazon deal is up), at least it was a perfect ending. Seriously, Jack totally lacks any kind of self awareness. How could that plan not end up like it did? Of course, in any other reality Dollarhyde wouldn't be able to pull off that lunacy it took to "free" Hannibal, but Jack really should know better by now. I never thought Fuller would actually have them kiss, but that sure was damn close. Of course, I'm not sure that would've been a good idea for Will what with his mouth being stabbed and all. Not that Hannibal would mind the extra blood. Re: Bedelia and her leg: Damn that show. No matter how horrible it is, it always makes me hungry.

Well, the worst thing that could possibly happen already happened (rot in all seven hells, Stannis!) and I'm not going to quit now. I'm expecting all hell to break loose and for me, really the worst outcome would be if the story were to fizzle to a halt and end somewhat anticlimactic. I definitely need to see the Wall come crashing down coupled with a full blown WW invasion and if it takes half the SFX budget. I'd be also disappointed if too many loose threads were left hanging. Of course Jon's parentage is going to be resolved soon, but I would like to know about the fates of Benjen (I really hope he makes a comeback as a WW) and the Hound (if the Mountain can come back, it would be weird for him not to) and how all the various mysterious factions are tied together - especially CotF, Faceless Men, the "gods" (who are probably more the result of magic than actual deities) and their respective followers and of course the WW. For this season, I'm mainly looking forward to Bran's and Sam 's stuff since I think those two are by far the best shots at giving us some answers.

I'd be surprised if D&D were able to wrap the story up in just 20 episodes. There are too many things that need to be resolved before you can allow the story to move towards the endgame and most of them will probably take most if not all of season six. So unless you're going to pack both the transitioning parts and the endgame itself in just ten to twelve episodes, which I don't think is a good idea, you'll need at the very least a split season seven if you don't want to rush it. Given the amount of CGI you probably have to do for whatever it is the show ends with (it will have to feature WW and dragons a lot more than it has until now), I can see how you could shoot the scenes with the actors all in one swoop and then use the extra time to do the extensive post for the second part afterwards. Or you could just do two regular seasons seven and eight. Either way, 20 episodes doesn't sound like a realistic time frame. Also keep in mind that D&D always said it was their goal to finish in seven seasons, not that they will do so no matter what. Given that they now have access to the bulk of the next book, they could've realized this is no longer possible.

It's back! It's back! It's back! It's back! It's back! It's back! It's back! It's back! It's back! It's back! My Neck! It's back! It's back! It's back! It's back! It's back!

That's Kerry Ingram. And while she did deliver fantastic work throughout the show and especially in her last episode, she did have five appearances this season and would've had to compete in the supporting category, but her role was too small for that. Let alone the whole lobbying part, great acting alone doesn't get you a nomination. If they had a best child actor category, now that would be different - she'd almost be a lock to be nominated.

It also had dramatic wight. No, I'm not sorry for that pun. Dillane strikes me as the type who couldn't care less about the Emmys. Stannis also wonders if the proper plural shouldn't be "the Emmies"?

Did she kill another Frey? That's the one I meant, he was the guy second on the list. But I only credited her with one, since the Hound took care of the rest of them. If we include them, we'd also have to include the other guys the Hound killed in the season 4 premiere. But since Jaquen killed more than one guard, we're already into the double digits. Either way, the Many Faced God has to be quite pleased with her body of work... Yeah, I'm also pretty sure whoever that guy was, it wasn't the same FM that appeared as Jaquen in season 2. But I'm not sure it was her, either. The "real" Jaquen (if we can even call him that) might be somewhere else - presumably somewhere on a mission, if he's one of the field personnel. Dude who killed himself might've been head of HR or something like that and the Waif is the CEO. I wonder if we get to see the chairman of the board next season.

So far, we got: - Unnamed stable boy while escaping King's Landing - That Frey soldier who mocked Robb after the Red Wedding - Polliver (the guy who stole Needle and killed Lommy) - That companion of the Biter she had to ask for his name so she could add him to her list and then kill him (checked the wiki and it says he's called Rorge, but whatever) - Meryn Trant Then there's that sick girl, but that was a mercy kill. Plus, she ordered hits from Jaquen for the Tickler, that dude who saw her stealing some strategy paper from Tywin and some guards. She's also guilty of the death of No One (does no one count as one? The math of Thrones is weird...), who killed himself because Arya killed Meryn instead of the insurance scammer. Pretty impressive list and she just got started... Hm, speaking of Jaquen/No One, why did that guy (or girl or whatever) sacrifice himself for Arya? What are the Faceless Men's plans for Arya? If she was just another wannabe assassin to them, they could have easily replaced her - it's not that there's a shortage of those in this world... I thought at first that a young girl was still a rare commodity for them, allowing them to get close to people they otherwise couldn't - but apparently they can not only change their face, but also size and gender and age rather effortlessly - if Arya's coworker can easily morph into Jaquen just like that, I have to assume they all can, so that can't be it, either. So it has to be something special about her, presumably her being a Stark. Was it a coincidence that Jaquen was in that cage? If he's that masterful assassin, why did he get captured in the first place? So I'm guessing he set out specifically for her, let himself getting captured, let her help him escape so he could introduce himself later and fix her up with the idea of joining them later. But how could he know that she would be there and how events would unfold? He also was able to detect even the smallest of lies from Arya, so the FM (or at least their boss, whoever that is) are probably not just walking lie detectors, but can see into the past and into the future. So what could it be that she can give them that no one else can? Special access to her family members? But why would they need to kill Jon or Bran? Speaking of Bran, he also has that sight gift, along with Jojen and the Tree Guy. Is it just a coincidence or are they all connected? Mostly Tree Guy, the Children and the Faceless Men, because they could know each other from before the events of the show. I really hope Bran will give us some insight about what those folks are up to next season, because that's a complete mystery right now. ETA: If the FM are indeed somehow connected to the Children of the Forest through the gift of sight, they could have some common goal or enemy. It could be that WW and dragons are different sides of the same coin, in that both are magical and their existence is a threat to the other species in the World. So now the Children would probably focus on dealing with the WW, while the FM might be tasked with taking care of the dragon problem. First step towards a solution could be to take away their mother, so they are no longer united and it would be easier to kill them one by one. So they need Arya because her being a Stark would allow her to get close to Dany (who may have use for a Stark in her camp to form an alliance or whatnot) and kill her, something a regular FM could not because reasons. Plus Mel told her back at the BwB camp she saw eyes of many different colors, eyes belonging to people Arya had killed. So that would explain why Jaquen went to great lengths to recruit her and then killed himself so that she could complete her mission. Of course, if she will actually carry it out is another question, but at least it would explain why they need her.

Why Sapochnik didn't get the nomination for Hardhome is a real headscratcher. Maybe he didn't submit? Or people ignored it because of the big battle sequence? Which I could understand for the writing nomination (not that I'd agree, but I could at least understand it), but we're talking about directing here and that shit is tough to pull off for sure. I have no issue with Clarke's acting this season, but she didn't get much to do. That nom is very weird, indeed. Same with Dinklage, he was good as usual, but that was just not Tyrion's season. I hope Headey get's the win this time, she was just spectacular all season. Absolutely. He also didn't get a nomination for Wolf Hall, which is even more surprising.

This season. Period of eligibility is from June 1, 2014 - May 31, 2015. Then there's the "hanging episodes" rule, which covers the remaining episodes that aired this June. Also, Krystal was mentioned above.

I thought Hannibal isn't eligible this year because the season started airing too late? ETA: Now THAT'S what I call timing *lol*

So is it for best actress or best ensemble? They also forgot Beth... But seriously, great news! Yay for Tat!

Here's the Flicks And The City version of the iZombie panel:

Full panel is up:

Short, but still: Another Orphan Black Panel

Yeah, I doubt we'll be getting any news this weekend. Or really any good news for a while. Still, Amazon's U.S. streaming rights are expiring soon (after 2017 I think), which means that Netflix (which already has the rights for a couple of European countries) could be back in the conversation. And a time jump or loss of secondary characters/actors is hardly a problem for this show, in fact both probably would've had to happen anyway. As long as Mikkelsen and Dancy (and even Will Graham isn't all that essential moving forward) are game, there's a realistic chance for the show to continue.

What would be the opposite of that? You're probably right on that one. I tried to read the rest of your posts, but I just can't follow right now. You just tripled the already dense plot. Okay, now I'll have to pass. I can make sense of the individual components of the sentence, but when I try to pull them together, my brain starts to hurt. Go Ally! Go Helena!

Maybe I shouldn't have watched this for the first time directly after last night's Hannibal. That was so bizarre, I seriously expected the pig to start talking about the intrinsic value of bestiality. I know I should be disturbed, but I still can't stop laughing.

Let's check what wishes were granted. We got one abduction in Sarah, but I can live with that. If we want to keep a sense of danger, but no members of Clone Club killed, something's gotta give. 1. Partially fulfilled. Delphine was back on-screen, but gone for good now. At least Shay seems to be a worthy successor. 2. Also a mixed bag. They did take over for a couple of episodes, but were starting to get killed off one-by-one pretty soon and now we're back to Marc being the only one (and I don't mind him, he can stay around). Could've been way worse. That clearly counts as fulfilled. The hermaphrodite explanation was odd, but whatever. Sadly, nothing on Cosima's behalf, but at least we got Alison's mom. Her dad doesn't seem to be super relevant, so I'll settle for that for now. 1. Partially fulfilled. She's still sick, but has improved a lot and a cure is still in sight once they can retrieve Duncan's book, plus material from the original will help. 2 + 3. There was definitely more interaction than last year. Also stuff like Cosima being involved in Alison's storyline was great. Communication however, was still iffy. We never saw Alison finding out about Sarah's abduction by the military and Cosima's way of dealing with keeping the book secret from Delphine wasn't very smart. But overall, I think the show improved in that regard. 5. A yes on Cosima's part and an undecided "hmm" on Delphine's behalf. We got to see Delphine interact more with other people, but it felt like half of those scenes were with Shay. We got Dr. Nealon and his robot worm, plus the general Neolutionist comeback. Another yes. 1. Close. No personality gained, but he did get a bit of back story and was put on a bus for almost the entire season. 4. She didn't get much to do in terms of the Castor plot, but overall I think they did a good job on the more interactions side. Alison giving another poor Sarah impression was great, as was Cosima's even worse performance as Alison. Starting the debate with "As a lesbian..." was one of the highlights of the season. But the best idea was to make Helena move in. 5. That's a no. We did get to know a little bit of Castor, but that was pretty stupid. Whatever the grand master plan of the Neolutionists is, we didn't get to see it and I'm kind of glad, because I expect that to be equally moronic. 2. I don't think it matters all that much of how it happened. Which is why we didn't get an explanation this season and probably never will, but technically I'll count that as a no. 5. Another no, but I'm quite happy with that one. Krystal seems to be a great addition. Agree about Tony and Charlotte, though. 6. I liked her story this year, for the first time being in a vulnerable position and her reaction to it seemed believable. But your wish, so it's a no. 9. Another no, sadly. Although judging from interviews, I'm hopeful he'll get more to do next season. 10. She seems to be gone for good. 11. Same, although still alive. My own wish has been largely granted. That alliance sort-of happened, although Rachel didn't keep her end of the bargain. Eye patch and techno eye totally happened, I'm happy with that. 4. Only partially fulfilled, but I think they did a nice job there. Sure, the tone still was vastly different from the rest of the show, but Alison did get some character work with her mom, Jason and the trustee plot in general. 10. If threatening to burn/kill/dissolve your mom in acid isn't hardcore, I don't know what is. I didn't count, but I think that's a decent outcome. A lot of wishes have been granted, at least to some degree. Biggest issue of the season was obviously the heavy amount of Caster and male clones, but at least that plot was far more interesting than the Prolethean plot from last season, albeit with an equally stupid motivation behind it. The show managed to go in the right direction regarding the disconnected story lines of the Leda clones, which was one of the biggest problem of season 2 and thankfully avoided to rely on too many abductions. Now give Art and Felix more to do and find a not completely idiotic motivation for the Neolutionists and season 4 could be really great.

So who shot Delphine? Note: There's really no definitive answer since apparently TPTB wanted to leave their options on the table. But I think we can rule some out. Shay: She certainly was shocked by Delphine's willingness to brutally murder her. If she had been working for Neolution/Topside/whatever all along, she would've had a different reaction. I'm totally buying her as innocent bystander - the writers were not so subtly trying to manipulate us into thinking she's shady, but this always felt like a red herring to me. Her military background should come into play, but more like she'll be killing one for the team, not of the team. Plus, Delphine was totally not surprised when she saw her killer, but she would've been if it had been Shay. So she's out. Ferdinand: He'd be the most logical choice, being Topside's cleaner. But he gave us some tiny hints that he might not be that big a Neolutionist fan, so I don't see how he could continue to work for Topside after learning that they run the ship. Still possible, but implausible. I'd look elsewhere. Marion: She seems to have given her daughter to foster care to what appear to be Neolutionists. Then she went back to Toronto to take care of business. Why did she do the dirty work herself? Well, probably because their go-to killer has deflected and their second choice is currently unavailable due to being dissolved in sulfuric acid. Would also be a nice way to re-introduce the character next season. The only problem is that Michelle Forbes might not be coming back at all, so you either recast her, but then the scene falls flat because we don't remember her, or you write her out. Of course you could have her kill Delphine and then die off screen, but I'm not sure that's the best solution. So, who else could it be? Scott: He's working for Dyad, so him secretly being a Neolutionist wouldn't be much of a stretch. But the character hasn't been written that way, that would be way too out-of-left-field to work. Not to mention that he was scared as shit when Rudy threatened his cat, so it doesn't seem like he could pull off cold blooded murderer. Plus, he was at the dinner that night, and I assume the murder happened right after Delphine left Cosima, so he has an alibi. Speaking of alibi, Rachel and her mom have a great one too, being in Switzerland at the time. Mrs. Duncan may have ordered the hit, but didn't carry it out herself. And Delphine sure would've been more surprised to see her. Who's that guy at the top of Castor? There's a good chance he's yet another secret Neolution agent. Seems shady enough to kill Delphine too, and has no alibi. He's my top suspect, along with someone who simply hasn't appeared yet. Are there any other realistic suspects? I think the killer must've been with or at least connected to Dyad/Topside/Neolution for a while, so that rules out pretty much the rest of the characters we know if the show isn't going to pull some ridiculous mega twist out of nowhere. My conclusion: If it's not Marion or Chief Castor, it can only be Mr. or Mrs. X. ETA: Totally forgot the existence of Cal, who has worked for the military in the past, so technically he could still be involved. But he's in Meereen um I mean Iceland with Kiera, so that's another no. Vic would be a familiar face too and he's a criminal to boot, but more of the petty street criminal variety. Him becoming a hitman would a big step "up". I don't think Neolution would deem him trustworthy enough and he's probably in jail anyway - whatever deal he made with Angie would be invalid now that he couldn't deliver the Hendrixes. Like with Cal and Marion, actor availability is also a big con as he's probably going to play a bigger role on Better Call Saul.

Not the books, but in my CK2 playthrough he's married to Cersei and they even have a boy who inherits whatever the Cleganes have. Awww. Mrs Cersei Clegane.