formerlyfreedom September 16, 2015 Share September 16, 2015 Harriet Tubman provides military intel to the Union Army, Virginia Hall spies in France during World War II and becomes the first woman in the CIA and children's books' author Roald Dahl serves as a debonair British spy. Featuring Octavia Spencer as Harriet Tubman in "Harriet Tubman"; Alia Shawkat as Virginia Hall in "Virginia Hall": Will Ferrell as Roald Dahl and Matt Gourley as Ian Fleming in (you guessed it!) "Roald Dahl" Retellers: Crissle West on "Harriet Tubman," Claudia O'Doherty on "Virginia Hall," and Lucious Dillon on "Roald Dahl." Link to comment
IndianPaintbrush September 23, 2015 Share September 23, 2015 (edited) It was a weak episode with the exception of the Harriet Tubman story. Octavia Spencer was great and I love the narrator's bad-assitude. I didn't laugh once during the Virginia Hall story. Will Ferrell as Roald Dahl didn't live up to expectations either. Edited September 23, 2015 by IndianPaintbrush Link to comment
peeayebee September 23, 2015 Share September 23, 2015 I too found the ep disappointing. The name 'Virginia Hall' was familiar to me, but I think I actually knew someone by that name. It's not unusual after all. BTW, I was a bit thrown by her story starting in 1906 and then jumping to WWII. I thought she would have been a spy in WWI. Link to comment
Crisopera September 23, 2015 Share September 23, 2015 I join the chorus of "not one of the better episodes." A disappointment, especially after the terrific New Orleans ep last week. Link to comment
Tara Ariano September 23, 2015 Share September 23, 2015 Matt Gourley playing Ian Fleming made me so happy. 1 Link to comment
Cosmic Muffin September 24, 2015 Share September 24, 2015 I don't know why it was lack luster. I really like Alia Shawkat, and I was happy to see her in this. I thought she did a good job with the narration. I enjoyed Derek in disguise and him and Lucius rolling around on the fluffy pink pillows. But not a great episode overall. Octavia Spencer was the best part. 2 Link to comment
LeighAnne September 24, 2015 Share September 24, 2015 This episode made me want to start a band and call it "Harriet Tubman and Her Army of Bad Bitches." 3 Link to comment
mahree September 24, 2015 Share September 24, 2015 I checked the info on the episode three times to make sure it wasn't a re-run before I realized that the Octavia-Spencer-as-Harriet-Tubman I was remembering was from 30 Rock. 1 Link to comment
peeayebee September 24, 2015 Share September 24, 2015 Oh right! Thanks for checking. I was also having a deja vu moment. Link to comment
HalcyonDays September 24, 2015 Share September 24, 2015 Scanning channels last night and I realized that yes! This show is actually airing on channels I can get (Canadian feed). Watched Spies last night. The Harriet Tubman/Octavia Spencer was hilarious. Beautifully done and the narrator (Crissle West) was a riot. I think excessive swearing is an essential part of these "retellings" The other ones were not as funny, though the "James fucking Bond" part was priceless. Does Derek seem to be more drunk this time around, or just faking it more? I always think he's pretending he's wasted, not actually drunk (since he's kinda directing things, isn't he??), but he seemed pretty gone for all three segments. 1 Link to comment
mledawn September 24, 2015 Share September 24, 2015 My favourite episode to this point has been Jen Kirkman's Fredrick Douglass skit, but this one with Crissle West narrating Harriet Tubman is almost on par. I laughed so hard, and I've watched it about five times already. The other two weren't as good, I only watched them once. Link to comment
Joimiaroxeu September 25, 2015 Share September 25, 2015 The Harriet Tubman one was my favorite. I regularly listen to Crissle's podcast (The Read) and I had no idea she was doing Drunk History. I also had no idea Roald Dahl was such a swordsman. Will Ferrell was a surprisingly good choice for that role. Link to comment
ganesh September 26, 2015 Share September 26, 2015 The only thing that took away from the Tubman segment was the overuse of 'like' in the narration. And the narrator was good, she didn't need to like everything. I think the reason the show overall wasn't so strong was because there just wasn't a lot of characters in each segment. That typically weakens it. Alia looks gorgeous with that short haircut. Did any one catch that they made FDR a black guy? lol. Link to comment
cynicat September 27, 2015 Share September 27, 2015 This was not nearly as strong as last week, and no talking animals! Agree with all that the Harriet Tubman segment was the stand out and Octavia Spencer nailed it. The star of this week to me was the "special" effects. Alia Shawkat fake-driving the ambulance, the blowing up of bridges, and Will Ferrell flying the prop plane were awesome. That being said, I simply cannot stomach Will Ferrell, not even in this show, which I love to death. 1 Link to comment
JTMacc99 October 8, 2015 Share October 8, 2015 I'm a sucker for any time they do something like put up a map that has locations labeled "Fuck that". 1 Link to comment
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