dwmarch

The answer to your question involves a spoiler that will probably not be a shock to anyone but I'll code it just in case:

I was referring to Ressler. Agent Navabi shared a Significant Look with him and they were doing the nasty seconds later. But with Aram she decides to go the talkative route only to find out that while he is a patient and caring man he will only wait so long. It goes back to a comment I made a long time ago about some life advice I wish I had heard when I was a teenager. If a gal feels "that way" about you she'll either fuck you or tell you. In that order. If she's struggling to tell Aram she shouldn't be surprised that he's seeking fulfillment elsewhere.

Well, I'm enjoying the relative lack of baby drama for the moment. I know this episode was all about the baby drama but they kept it relegated to background noise while they did other things. As it should be. I'm not sure if these agents or the ones on Blindspot are the worst FBI agents in the world. They can't follow an object that is only capable of traveling in straight lines?!?! The plot almost makes sense in that I could see the CDC moving the dangerous stuff out if they were at risk of losing containment on it. However, this isn't Star Trek. If you want to keep a virus contained you don't need a constant power supply. You need a tightly sealed lid. That's it. A physical barrier will suffice. And if and when the CDC has to transport such things I am sure there will be more than two guards on the train! Liz was actually useful this episode. She must have ADD. When the stakes are high she can super-focus and get things done. But when she's overstimulated she loses that focus and starts wondering who her actual daddy is. Mr. Kaplan lives! Surprisingly for this show we weren't treated to a gory shot of a giant hole in her face. Agent Navabi, did you express your interest in Agent Ressler by calling him at some random time and making meaningless small talk with him? No, as I recall you expressed your interest by unzipping his pants. That was effective. However, calling Aram to send him a batch of mixed signals will do you no good when random naked women are showing up at his door. Last but not least, go Aram, it's your birthday!

I feel that if and when the team should have to get ridiculously over-dressed for a heist that they are fated to fuck up, Rich Dotcom should be a mandatory guest. Speaking of which, Patterson... damn girl! I am sorry I ever disliked you! All dolled up she burnt my apartment down and all I could say was "yeah, I get it." Also, look what Zapata can do when she breaks out the leather jacket of badassedness! The bad guys have not been watching Weller for twenty goddamn years. They would have died of boredom.

They're old books but I'll spoiler code them just in case. So that's what's new in the Tom Clancy novels since you last checked in. As regards the topic, I'd say this show isn't going to follow Clancy's ideas beyond the basics because it would veer way too far into 24 territory.

The costume designer on this show seems to love me. I was thinking wouldn't it be funny if the only female clothing at Luci's place was an embarrassingly short leather skirt and Luci had to deal with that awkwardness. And sure enough! What a skirt too with that etched detailing on it. Not exactly something to wear to church but gorgeous nonetheless. It was Maze's though? Why are her clothes at Luci's place? I thought she lived elsewhere and I didn't think her and Luci had the kind of relationship in which her leather mini would get left at his place. Then again, I guess it's a good thing for Maze that she's not particularly attached to it since Mum just abandoned it on the street. So the FBI or DEA has a low-level reluctant gang kid and a high-priced attorney working on bringing down a drug kingpin but he knows about this and is using it to feed false information back to them? That's... random. I loved that Mum burnt the noodles. She has been in Hell for a long time, of course that's going to be her cooking style.

I had the same thought. In Season 2 of Daredevil, Matt didn't even bother showing up for his big case because he was too busy playing with Elektra. But Claire had that awesome scene with Foggy where he talked an angry guy down at the hospital. I'd call Foggy over Matt any day and twice on Sunday, which might be necessary in this universe! The legal system gets some serious abbreviation here. I'm no expert on US laws but my understanding is that the police send evidence to the DA who empanels a grand jury which then finds facts and only then decides whether or not to proceed with a trial. During the several months that this process takes, Mariah would be cooling her heels in jail (or released on bail with strict conditions). But here we have the Grand Theft Auto justice system in which she gets to walk because the last witness was just murdered. "There's reasonable doubt, we gotta let her go!" Not for you to decide, officers. No one mentioned the fact that Seagate couldn't hold Luke Cage before he knew the extent of his powers. I suppose they could borrow some of that hexagonal power-absorbing material they use on Agents of SHIELD but they didn't even mention it. Diamondback (who actually had a diamond on his back, clever) wasn't powered? He just had that suit? In that case his organs should have been liquefied when Luke did the Hulk smash on him. And Luke noticed that diamond (which was the control unit for the powered suit) way early in the fight but didn't even try for it. I think they might have been trying to say that the suit was absorbing the energy from Luke's punches so he had to power it down by letting Diamondback beat on him and only then could he smash the thing. But it wasn't very clear.

Wow, I did not see that coming! I thought Cottonmouth was going to end up like Wilson Fisk, being put away "for good" in the last episode. But instead he gets taken out by his own cousin! Brutal! They actually said an MCU name for once! Captain America was directly name-checked! I was sure this was a rights thing and that the Netflix characters were not allowed to make direct references. But it seems they are allowed unless Captain and America are considered such generic terms that stringing them together behind a qualifier doesn't count. Having said that, Luke Cage doesn't so much look like Harlem's Capt. America to me so much as he looks like Harlem's Daredevil. The beats of this show are following DD S1 pretty closely. I don't mind because it's a winning formula but formulas are by their nature formulaic...

What was driving me crazy about that scene was the censored remix of Bring Da Ruckus. This show is violent, bloody, sexy, bullets and n-words flying everywhere... but Wu-Tang can't bring the MF ruckus as background noise over a scene of ass-kicking that definitely calls for it? Stale, although I've enjoyed pretty much everything else so far.

Oh, no specific knowledge of any such thing here, just riffing on Fox's love for cancelling shows that I enjoy.

Well this show continues to crawl forward at its usual painful pace. No meaningful answers to the whole Lizzie mystery. The baby is still a hot potato. The FBI still can't find that manual explaining how to tie their shoes. I didn't like Red shooting Mr. Kaplan. As I said back when this plot was first revealed I think she did him a favor. If her job is to protect Red, wouldn't that include protecting him from himself? I wonder how Dembe is feeling right now. The number of lieutenants Red has personally executed continues to grow. One strange thing about this show is that if the Task Force has to work with the CIA/NSA/etc. there will be infighting and backstabbing and pissing contests. However, inter-agency cooperation with the Canadian "POLICE" (actually known as the RCMP) is utterly flawless. Maybe it's because the Canadians are so polite and will let the trigger-happy cowboys of the FBI lead the raid. That can of Hills Bros. coffee looked way too 21st century for how old it was supposed to be. I realize it wouldn't be worth the effort to find a vintage can for the second or two it's on the screen but it definitely stood out to me.

Add me to the chorus! I might have seen one of the movies (the third or fourth one) but have never really cared about this franchise in general. I also dislike Mel Gibson in specific. But this show is so much fun and brings great emotional moments. It's on Fox, right? I will treasure each of the dozen episodes.

Okay, so I love me some DIME bombs. I heard about them either when Israel was trashing Lebanon or when Israel was trashing Gaza. Either way, I loved the idea of an explosive that was all micro-shrapnel. I even included DIMEs in a story I was writing. The idea was that you could drop them on the front steps of a building and kill a whole bunch of people but not break the windows. That is how these weapons work. The micro-shrapnel will obliterate flesh but can be stopped by anything resembling a solid object. The military idea behind this is that if you have a target in the middle of a densely populated area you can drop the bomb on the target's head and anything within about a dozen feet is salsa. Anything beyond that is confused about what just happened. But of course on Blindspot, a DIME weapon is a gigantic fireball that destroys everything around it. They had such a silly moment suggesting that kinetic energy would stop a DIME bomb. Forget that, throw your bulletproof vest over top of it and let it detonate with less power than a warm fart. Also, this is for the people on that island who were standing within 12 feet of the testing range? Fuck those people! Seriously! I'm glad the Reade plot wasn't dragged out and I loved that Zapata was able to get the truth out of him. Those two make a great team. I still think Nas is the mole. Why is it that she can put on tac gear and join an FBI raid to the point where no one questions her grabbing a big fucking sniper rifle and taking a shot? Her boots aren't that sexy! Patterson is squee adorable, especially with her clumsy but honest seduction of Borden. I demand a happy ending to that plotline! Is it just me or did they change Jane's neck tattoos around? She doesn't look quite the same and it's bugging me.

I'm digging this so far and I'll be the first to admit I have a love/hate relationship with this show. Specifically, I liked Daisy pretending she was Robbie's old friend from school and dropping all those sly references. She definitely did her homework. The reveal on the new director was great. All episode I was thinking "screw this smug prick!" and then he goes toe to toe with May and hands her her ass. Cue "oh... okay!" Is May immune to an Icer? Why have all the trainees get themselves beaten up when they could have just tranquilized her? We also see that the base has tranquilizer gas in some areas. I know it was necessary for that reveal I enjoyed so much but it was also the television trope of not using the obvious solution. A shotgun-axe is probably of questionable value against semi-corporeal opponents but I appreciate that they tried. See also every Terminator movie and show in which the heroes use buckshot against things made entirely of metal. Rule of cool, people. Rule of cool.

See also Dollhouse 1x06 "Man on the Street". You don't see or hear the crash and the story of it is relayed by Patton Oswalt regarding a wife we never even see but y'all know Joss Whedon knows how to bring the pain. Well, first you start with a nappery... All in all I'd say the show is off to a solid start. And was it just me or was there a bunch (a load?) of blowjob jokes? Fellow Fox show Lucifer is known for not being shy with the adult humor so it's interesting to see it appearing in other shows. I liked Riggs. For a suicidal guy he sure knew how to turn on the charm. He had some great emotional moments too, like when he was holding Murtagh's baby. I hope they abandon the trope of a Navy SEAL being a bullet sponge. Those dudes are tough, absolutely. Best of the best without a doubt. But that does not give them an immunity to bullets! The Chief's name was Brooks Avery? Was that from the movies or a really weird reference to Avery Brooks, otherwise known as Capt. Sisko from DS9? I watched this after watching the MacGyver reboot. I enjoyed MacGyver but will readily admit it belongs in the "low-hanging fruit" category for those of us who have little to no taste in entertainment. Lethal Weapon seems like it belongs in the "might actually be entertaining" category. We'll see.

And there's the Governor bitching about tourism! If the islands of Hawaii were as violent and dangerous as this show portrays them to be there wouldn't be any tourism of any kind other than old enemies coming for revenge missions, victims who got caught up in something terrible they didn't know about and CIA/NSA/OGA (other gov't agency) people who will fall into one or the other category. How long ago was it that someone was trying to nuke Honolulu? That didn't put a damper on tourism but beware of serial killers!

Well that sucked. Tom almost escapes but is captured again... almost escapes but is captured again... I sure hope we're not planning a spinoff series in which he will be the lead character. Lizzie on the other hand was almost useful but somehow managed to forget she was on an island where she has no friends at all and no means of escape. Escaping the house to the yard isn't really an escape. Lizzie should have realized that Kirk wanted to trust her and should have taken advantage of him that way. I do think Red should be thanking Mr. Kaplan up and down. When Red thought Lizzie was dead he had to take stock of everything and figure out who and what he was. Kaplan did him a favor. Ressler was actually useful? And he didn't blow his mission by being his charming block of wood self? What show am I watching? I am sad for that one honest Cuban cop who was... wait... did he actually end up dead or did he just get dropped off and forgotten as if he was a canine of the Keen family?

The original 5-0 is before my time so I didn't get the reference but I knew it was a reference. I did find the image a little strange but I don't watch this show for the CGI, which is terrible (remember Iron Man last season?). Anyhow, cool reference, A for effort even if the technical aspect fell short. The parkour was funny when McGarrett was chasing the guy down the street and they're playing Frogger... while the sidewalk is desolate. Also interesting to note that 5-0 did not gun the suspect down (I was among those wondering why they didn't at least try to shoot at him) even though the governor was telling them to do whatever they had to. Why is it that one can bring a dead body right into the 5-0 command center? Last season a panicked teenager was stopped by a desk sergeant but I guess that guy only works on Tuesdays or something. And I guess McGarrett enjoys the tension of sweeping and clearing his own house because anyone can break into there too. The new governor's name is Keiko for a shameless Star Trek reference. Mad props to the showrunners if they can get Colm Meany to put in an appearance as her long-suffering husband. Why does her commercial/infomercial play on a loop in hotels? I could see it being a welcome to Hawaii thing but I thought it was going to be related to the case.

Upon further reflection, I think Archie Panjabi's character is the mole. She's way too helpful to be NSA and she told them she's part of an off-book unit so they can't exactly call up Fort Meade to check. She's telling them what direction they should be going in and they're dutifully following along, as they tend to do when they're in the midst of a mistake.

Off to a good start, if I say so myself. Tightly written, action packed and much less FBI chasing their own tail than usual. It seemed like the music was different and they tried some new things like that large title font for the "two weeks later". Zapata and Reade were great and Patterson did well with what little she was given in this episode. The stakes definitely seem higher and the conspiracy has coalesced into something that actually almost makes sense. It's a great look for her (although a potato sack would work just as well, she's absurdly gorgeous) but I did find myself wondering if she walked directly over from the set of The Good Wife and they didn't bother changing her wardrobe. As I recall her Good Wife outfits featured more leather but knowing this show she'll swap those suede boots for badass shiny leather as soon as there is some ass for her to kick. Daylight got retconned a bit. Before it was the program that would get you executed for even knowing that it existed. Now the FBI casually mentions it to the NSA and gets a shrug in response. I'm glad they buried the contrived Taylor Shaw plot. I imagine the fallout from it will continue throughout the season but I think they resolved it well enough by establishing that Weller and Jane both wanted it to be true and the bad guys used that against them.

Great article, thanks! And in case anyone was wondering, he does indeed ride the subway: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/kiefer-sutherland-ttc-1.3754432

I realize Kiefer would hate the idea but I'd like to see him do a 24-themed ballad ("Damn it, there's not enough time/Chloe, open a socket/The terrorists are about to fire/A nuclear rocket"). As regards this show I'm looking forward to it. It clearly takes inspiration from Tom Clancy, who wiped out the entire US government except for one guy all the way back in 1993 (via a commercial airliner turned into a crude missile - I sure hope actual terrorists never think of that one!). The following book, Executive Orders, was all about what a Presidency would be like with no House or Senate, no SCOTUS, no Joint Chiefs, etc. while the new POTUS gets himself in trouble by speaking plainly because he wasn't really a politician to begin with. As with all Tom Clancy works there is war and this show looks like it will have plenty of military drama as well. However, I hope we get some domestic conflict as well. I know it's silly of me to hope that a Kiefer Sutherland military/political drama will tackle hard-hitting issues like tax policy or the environment but I've already seen Jack Bauer save the world from nuclear/chemical/biological annihilation nine times over. Let's see what a well-intentioned but clueless President does without checks and balances.

Keiko's baby was transplanted to Kira after an accident. From Memory Alpha: http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Kirayoshi_O'Brien

I saw the extended edition last night and I didn't hate it but I'm not a DC guy so some of the changes didn't offend me at all. Batman kills people in this movie. I take that at face value because they never tried to say he was against it. But as a Star Trek fan who is also a purist I was offended by certain changes in Star Trek 2009 that I bet few others would care about. The Kelvin has a leading zero in it's registry number. That is just plain wrong! I don't care about J.J. Abrams grandmother's birth date and it is certainly no reason to mess with fifty years of Star Trek tradition. From previous comments in the thread, I feel like this movie is absolutely full of bits like this. What bothered me the most was how dark the movie was. Not figuratively but literally. Did anyone notice that Amy Adams was wearing a leather skirt? She has it on for about half an hour, from her park bench meeting with Harry Lennix right up until Superman flies away from her on the balcony. And you'd hardly know it because she spends almost that entire time obscured from view. She also had a gorgeous leather trenchcoat that we saw occasional glimpses of the shoulders of (and that she let perish in the destruction at the end) and it made me wonder why they were dressing her up so nicely only to hide her in the shadows. They certainly weren't afraid to show the other ladies off. Wonder Woman's costume is basically a corset and thigh high boots. I did find it a little dismaying how casually certain characters were bumped off. Jimmy Olsen is just casually shot. I thought at the end of that scene he was going to get up, dig a bullet out of his vest and carry on. Nope, he gets half a moment of awesome followed by death. And Lex Luthor blew up his gorgeous lackey, that gal who only had about one or two lines. The reluctant witness is casually thrown in front of a speeding train and even though there's a bunch of heroes who could conceivably save her from such a situation (isn't damsel in distress about to be hit by a train covered in Superhero 101?) they don't have any real reason to care about her so she gets to have Amtrak for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And none of these deaths had any real impact. Lex doesn't miss his gal, no one knew Jimmy Olsen at all (and my Superman lore is 30 years out of date but what?!?!?) and the witness who could have blown the plot wide open is forgotten about. I didn't get the pig piss bit until I read it here. I thought Lex was going for a double villain whammy, poisoning the senator in addition to blowing her up. Now that I read about it I think it's hilarious although given how long this movie was I'm glad we weren't treated to a scene of Lex Luthor wrassling a pig and trying to get it to piss into a jar. As for Lex's motivations, I thought they were simple enough. He wanted a god to bow down to him and when that didn't work out he wanted to create a god to fight the one who disrespected him. There was very little humor in the movie but I thought that actually worked well in this case. One thing that bugged me was how Captain America: Civil War started out as this drama about civilians being caught in the crossfire but by the end of the movie we were now into straight comedy with all the characters cracking wise as they fought each other. That tonal shift was really weird to me and I'm glad they avoided it here. What little humor there was felt appropriately dark. There were definitely a lot of DC references in this that I didn't get. One of Batman's dreams had some dude popping out of a hole to yell something at him. It meant nothing to me beyond "it's a reference!" There was also the Youtube channel of superheroes in development, some of which I knew and some of which were not obvious to me at all. The dude pinned to the wall who was about to die but then got turned into something... I don't have any idea who that is. I did like some of the references to how today's Superman is not the same as when he first started like when Clark Kent's editor bitches about Smallville and how is isn't the 30's anymore. Did any of the references tie into the TV shows? Some people were wondering why Superman's mom is working in a dingy diner. I have a feeling there's a few reasons for this. First, no one knows she's Superman's mom. Second, she's a widow who lives in the middle of a giant corn field in rural Kansas. Working at the diner would keep her busy and would be about as much of a social life as you could ask for in that area. Was there anything other than comic book physics to explain why Batman didn't get turned into salsa by getting thrown around in that metal suit? If you picture yourself in a metal suit of any kind (and Batman's looked heavy) just falling over is going to hurt and possibly break things. Getting chucked through a building should be instantly fatal. The Marvel movies do this too (Iron Man getting bounced around like a pinball inside of a giant engine in the first Avengers, etc) and I know it just comes with the territory but I still couldn't help but think Batman's suit would have been a liability rather than an asset. I don't hate Affleck (Affleck was da bomb in Phantoms, yo!) or Eisenberg but they're the type of actors I like in spite of themselves. I can definitely see how people might see Ben Affleck and want to punch him in his smug face. For what it's worth I think that actually translates well to this interpretation of Batman. There's been a lot of criticism of the director and I wonder what this movie could have been like in different hands. You know who I think might actually be able to pull something like this off? None other than Kevin Smith. He's a super fan of DC, can wring actual performances out of Ben Affleck, has actually developed the chops for drama (see Red State or the scene in Tusk where the villain is explaining his past, having lost his parents just like Batman lost his) but can also do comedy. And you know what I don't think I've ever seen in a Kevin Smith movie? An explosion! I know Smith was considered years ago for a Superman movie (where Supes would fight a giant spider because one guy at the studio really wanted that to happen and Smith backed away slowly) and I wonder if the DC movie universe might consider bringing him into the fold.

I hope this picture links correctly. Some poignant fan art here: