War has come to the Badlands. Escaping the Widow’s trap in the previous episode, Quinn, Sunny, and the Clippers march into enemy territory. Coming face to face with the Widow in another stellar fight scene, Quinn is a stroke away when that tumor discovered in the previous episode decides to give him a crippling migraine. The Widow makes her escape with Tilda and a small group of bodyguards while Quinn’s Clippers dispatch the remaining opposition. Quinn now holds the Widow’s oil fields along with his territory and holding that territory will stretch his forces thin.
Quinn faces The Widow Photo: AMC Networks
Ryder, Quinn’s son, lays in a coma after being nearly strangled to death while his mother Lydia (Orla Brady) watches over him. She also has to contend with Quinn’s new bride-to-be, Jade (Sarah Bolger). As a Baron can take as many wives as he pleases, Lydia sees Jade as a threat to her position in the household, even though she’d never show it. Veil (Sunny’s pregnant lover) seems to have inherited her fathers medical duties for Quinn and suggests a trepanning (drilling a small hole to relieve pressure), which Lydia refuses to do until convinced that it will give him a chance to recover.
Sunny trains M.K. photo: AMC Networks
Elsewhere, Sunny struggles to train M.K., powerful but still a teenager, he refuses to train the way Sunny wants him to train. To teach him a lesson, Sunny brings M.K. to Waldo. Waldo (Stephen Lang) was formerly Regent and Quinn’s foremost Clipper before ending up in a wheelchair. Sunny tells M.K. that if the boy can land one blow, he will train the way M.K. wants to train. A solid fight sequence between the teenager and the wheelchair bound former Clipper is much lighter in tone than the other fights seen in this series so far, but is still well executed and engaging.
Sunny is dispatched to track down the “doll” who set Ryder up, and is it turns out she is working for The Widow. Failing to capture her alive, Sunny is left with a corpse, no answers, and trying to figure out how to cover both his barons’ poppy fields and the oil fields of The Widow.
A solid episode, not as action packed as the previous two but a lot of narrative movement. We learn that Quinn’s medical condition is worse than he expected. Sunny is torn between his love for Vail and desire to leave the Badlands, his allegiance to his baron, and his promise to train M.K., and The Widow is alive, in hiding, and planning revenge.
Into The Badlands airs Sunday nights on AMC at 9pm ET
Because What’s More American than the Over Consumption of Mediocrity?
This week in “40 ounces of Freedom!” I’m gulping down another classic: The Colt 45 and guess what it’s in a glass bottle baby! Also, I don’t think I could have found a better featured image. I mean, if Lando Carlissian says “It works every time,” then who am I to deny its sexist marketing campaign of pure magic.
Unnecessary Rules:
I must keep the alcohol in the bottle I purchased it in!
I must finish the bottle, unless I puke.
I should finish the bottle within an hour.
I’m very grateful that the pride of the Colt 45 has kept it’s amber potion in glass. My first sip has made me turn to a little research. It has approximately 5.61% alcohol and is brewed by Pabst, which I immediately identified from the first sip. It’s got a light Pabst feel with a Budweiser finish. I wouldn’t mind it so much, if it didn’t have a skunky aftertaste, but hey I’ve dealt my own cards with this pick. I’m actually not sure if I like this better than the Olde English 800. It shall be an epic battle to see which malt liquor is more tolerable!
I almost didn’t write one of these this week because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to drink, but my decision to see KRAMPUS, the movie about a demon Santa, at midnight, made me question my life decisions, so here I am. Another factor, was realizing that selling all my sisters and my own college textbooks only gets me a whopping $61.40. My mother is asking why I need to drink the whole thing, as she sips wine from a mug, and I tell her: “It’s integral to the piece.” Yep, I’m losing my mind and my soul has been disintegrated already from years of disappointment.
Half way through, I’m still unsure where the Colt 45 stands with the mighty Olde English. Some sips happen to have more flavor than others. I prefer the taste to be mellow to avoid the skunky after attack. I’m going to incorporate a straw to sip it down faster, just as any hard0-badass-macho-man would do.
I used a pink, metal Slurpee straw just in case you were wondering how hardcore I was, and it honestly made it taste worse, so I’m back to regular drinking. I have five minutes to finish. It’s time to pound it down!
The deed has been accomplished. It wasn’t good. The only thing Colt 45 has over Olde English is that it’s in glass, otherwise it doesn’t really matter. Ugh, what does matter. I just don’t know!
The new HBO ‘Game of Thrones‘ Season 6 trailer has arrived and it seems as vague as ever. The writers and creators of this hit show are quite good about keeping us in the dark about the fate of some of our favorite, and not so favorite, characters. Is it just a tease or a hint as to who we will see in the upcoming season? But that’s what we love some much about GOT.
We already know from reports that we will see an appearance(s) by the beloved Jon Snow (Kit Harington)- well not loved by his fellow Night’s Watchmen – but we continue to wonder in what capacity. He was fragged by his own men. Will he return as White Walker and seek his revenge?
Will Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) regain her sight after misuse of the borrowed face? Will we know see what has become of Bran and Rickon Stark or even the wildling Osha? We haven’t seen neither hide nor hair of them since Season 4. At the end of Season 4 of GOT Bran goes into training with the Three-eyed Crow. Rickon and Osha have traveled on a different path, but where are they now?
What has become of Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) after escaping the grasp of the sadistic Ramsay? Did she survive the jump from the wall with Theon “Wreak” Greyjoy (Alfie Allen)? Will Theon redeem himself for his betrayal of the family whom loved and cared for him as if he were one of their own? Or will his rash decision put Sansa in more danger?
Will Cersei Lannister get her revenge on those that subjected her to the long walk of shame? Can these religious zealots be brought under control after she herself put them in further power? Where shall we find the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen, in the new season? Has Tyrion Lannister earned his place at her counsel?
These are all questions that any avid ‘Game of Thrones’ fan would like answered, but alas we will have to wait until April 2016.
Until then, here is a little tease to hold you over until ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6 returns.
Last week, millions of viewers around the world intently watched the mid season finale of AMC’s critically acclaimed TV show, The Walking Dead. However, it wasn’t until after the episode aired when an announcement was made about an upcoming character that made fans of the comics nearly soil themselves. During the most recent episode of the new AMC series Into the Badlands, an extra scene (which can be seen here) was unveiled to the public involving the group consisting of Daryl Sasha and Abraham, a group of motorcyclist, and a namedrop of the biggest and most psychopathic villain ever to enter the universe of The Walking Dead.
That right, Negan has been officially confirmed to enter the show during the second half of this season. However, there are many fans asking the question of who is Negan and how does this impact the show. To those who are unfamiliar with the character, Negan is a barbed wire covered baseball bat wielding, foulmouthed, deranged sociopath that was unveiled to readers in issue #100 of the comic version and predecessor of the TV series The Walking Dead. Readers instantly were exposed to his true psychopathic self when after directly being unveiled, he murdered a major core character in what many view to be the most gruesome death in the history of The Walking Dead. Any fan of the comic book will verify that Negan makes the Governor look like Pippy Longstocking. Unlike the Governor who led his community of Woodbury in a somewhat organized fashion and showed rare traces of sanity and humanity, (such as his attachment to his zombiefied daughter Penny), Negan is a brutal despot of a group called “The Saviors” that shows only savagery and spends his time either making sex jokes, beating in heads with a barbed wired baseball bat he calls Lucile, or occasionally both. Despite his crude humor, Negan is no laughing matter to apocalyptic world that is The Walking Dead.
With The Hateful Eight only a few weeks from release, Quentin Tarantino’s follow up projects are now the new talking point for fans to theorize and obsess over for a year or two. QT has already said there is a cap on the number of films he will direct because he doesn’t want to get old and stale (that number varies from time to time, but somewhere between two to four more films), but what if he were to head to television for his next project instead?
Tarantino has been talking about Elmore Leonard’s western Forty Lashes Less One for well over a decade now, but has never gotten it past the early screenwriting stage. Having already adapted Leonard with his 1997 film Jackie Brown, Quentin Tarantino’s sensibilities have always felt in lock and step with Elmore Leonard. In a recent interview with Premiere magazine, QT discussed adapting the novel, possibly for the small screen:
“I own the rights to this book (I’ve) wanted to adapt for a while, and the time may have come for me to tackle it. This is Forty Lashes Less One, (written by) Elmore Leonard…which could be my third western. (I’m) considering (taking the) project to TV, in the form of a mini-series of four or six hours.”
Here is the synopsis for Forty Lashes Less One, which sounds pretty much like a QT film already:
The hell called Yuma Prison can destroy the soul of any man. And it’s worse for those whose damning crime is the color of their skin. The law says Chiricahua Apache Raymond San Carlos and black-as-night former soldier Harold Jackson are murderers, and they’ll stay behind bars until they’re dead and rotting. But even in the worst place on Earth, there’s hope. And for two hard and hated inmates — first enemies, then allies by necessity — it waits at the end of a mad and violent contest … on a bloody trail that winds toward Arizona’s five most dangerous men.
It would seem strange for Tarantino, who loves bouncing around between genres, would take on his third western in a row. There is still so much for him to do as a filmmaker, and with a limited number of films he wants to direct, tackling a television project might zap the desire right out of him. At the same time, it would be fun to see what Tarantino would do with an expanded time slot on a cabe network. This screams of an HBO collaboration similar to what Martin Scorsese has started doing recently with Boardwalk Empire and now Vinyl.
One week, one storyline and a lot of action packed in this weeks special crossover between the Flash and the Green Arrow. With Vandal Savage in town, Barry enlists the help of his friends from Star City in a battle that has been raging for more than 4000 years.
Just when Cisco gets his chance with Kendra Saunders, his vibes begin to unravel the tale of her sudden appearance in Central City. Also in tow is her on again, off again soul mate (literally – till death do they part) in Hawkman, or by his alias in Carter Hall.
Following Savage’s first attack on Kendra, Flash and the rest of the team move her into a pseudo-protective custody in Star City, hoping that Oliver and Team Arrow have a plan to draw out Savage and hopefully end this horrific losing streak that makes the Buffalo Bills’ playoff drought seem like nothing.
Seriously, over 200 times Savage has shown his face to Kendra and Carter, only to kill them, suck the life out of them and proceed on with his daily routine until the next meeting down the road. (Rinse, repeat.)
Being that it is still a Flash-centric episode, we are still looking into the drama that surrounds Barry. Obviously, with all that is going on, Zoom is still in the background somewhere, and the lack of his total speed is one thing that is holding Barry back.
Whilst in Star City, we are finally introduced to the one and only Hawkman, who sweeps Kendra up and in turn comes face to face with Team Flash-Arrow, namely the two stars of the group. After a successful rescue of Kendra and capture of Hawkman, they interrogate the mysterious adversary and discover the story deeper than one could imagine.
Now partnered with Hall, the focus was turned to the malicious Vandal Savage, largely unknown except for the giant wake of bodies he left. His apparent draw to Kendra is interesting, seemingly tethered almost telepathically, but why is he just surfacing now?
So what does a haphazardly assembled group of scientists, tech geeks, Egyptian gods and superheros do with a woman suffering from the worst case of amnesia? Well, let’s throw her off of a building. In an attempt for her to regain her former self, the team, with Hall in the lead, have to find a way for Kendra to remember her past, which had begun to return to the forefront of her memory. Bits and pieces slowly hit her, but she was still a long way from rediscovering her true power.
Back in Central City, Harrison Wells and Caitlin were busy trying to find a way for Barry to return to full Flash. Through different processes and procedures, the duo formulated a serum designed to push large amounts of oxygen to Barry in order to trigger a chemical reaction and combust the gas to increase his speed output. Without Cisco to christen the formula with a name, the pair decided on a name that would be music to their ears, but a horrifying ring to others – Velocity Six.
With the primary subject away at the present moment, Caitlin and Harrison called upon Jay Garrick, who magically answered the call to return to S.T.A.R. Labs. Upon the revelation of what Snow and Wells came up with, Jay’s reaction told a bigger story. Obviously distraught by the concept, he warned them to keep it away from Barry, in fear of what could happen if dosed with with unsafe amounts of the otherwise unknown substance.
With the creation, the need of supplies is important, since nobody has exactly what they would need for every situation handy at the drop of a hat.
With Hall, Oliver, Barry and the rest of the team trying to get Kendra to remember her life, the real solution, however drastic it may be, was simply throw her off the roof and just hope for the best. Much to Barry’s disliking, eventually, Kendra warmed up to the idea and threw herself off. While falling to what is normally a sudden death, Kendra’s wings emerge, and thus, we have our first view of Hawkgirl, minus the outfit.
Setting off on a small shopping trip, as fate would have it, Wells would be spotted by Miss Patty Spivot, still in the dark about her boyfriends night life and double duty as a famous hero. So when she sees a man who she assumes is dead, despite the report of Wells breaking into the lab earlier in the season, she does what a cop does best and investigates.
Upon completion of the first round of V6, Patty confronts and shoots Wells, leaving him helpless on the floor as Caitlin walks in and realizes the horror that is playing out in front of her. In a rush to save Wells, Snow urges Patty to call Joe, knowing that he will know how to handle it. Joe tells Patty to leave, clearly creating question after question of why Joe is protecting Wells and how in fact he is alive after the events of last season.
With his life hanging in the balance, Snow quickly sets off to try and help remove the bullet lodged in Wells’ heart. Panicking from the crisis and no Barry to lend a phasing hand, they turn to Jay one last time.
Although entirely against the use of the serum in its entirety, Jay doses himself and instantaneously sees the effect. Some electricity flowing, he “phases” his hand into Wells’ chest and pulls the bullet out, allowing Caitlin to patch him up. Bothered by the effects of the Velocity 6, Jay clearly has something else going on. When Wells awakens, you can see the bothered look as he tells Harrison to keep it away from Barry. At this time, we hear that the chemical has run its course through Jay’s body, but are we really sure that it is gone? Some may still linger, giving Jay sporadic bursts and just the kick he might need to start running again.
Ending the setup episode was the final scene in which a long lost storyline finally reemerges. I was happy to see the prospect of Oliver having a son being revisited, but I firmly thought that was something that they would venture down the road with further down the line. His view of his former girlfriend and her son in CC Jitters is brief, but it’s still worthy enough to warrant a search by Oliver. It’s obviously his, given the payoff from Moira way back when after
While Tuesday’s Flash was nothing over the top in terms of action, but it served as a great setup story with a lot of moving pieces that furthers the crossover as well as feeds into the season.
In an effort to expose his weakness, Barry and Oliver set off to find the Staff of Horus, knowing that it’s power is nearly unmatched, and costly if in the wrong hands. After discovering it’s location after being consecrated in a Central City church, the duo met its first match with Savage in possession of the staff. Clearly a whole new power on it’s own, the staff creates it’s own energy, far beyond the capabilities of the team.
In the last scene, we see the former Samantha Clayton, now Sandra Clarke in CC Jitters, with what we can again assume is the son of Oliver. Almost a mirror image to last season’s crossover, where the two bumped into each other in the same coffee shop. You can see the realization come to Oliver’s face, that he could be a father.
However, the story ends there for Tuesday. With The Flash setting the stage for last night’s Arrow, we saw an episode that started quick and didn’t slow down in the least bit.
Kendra still fought with her emergence of her power, Carter tries to get her to embrace it, Cisco is jealous and Oliver and Barry have their own demons to tussle with.
Starting off with a flashback of 4000 years ago, we see ancient Egypt as the setting for the start. In their first life, we see the clergy of Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II with Carter (Khufu in Egypt) and Kendra (Chay-Ara) talking about offerings. Only after a pan, do we see Savage is also in the conference. The scene changes and we see Carter and Kendra exchange secret pleasantries and a kiss, followed by Savage reappearing around the corner.
Last night’s episode took away the Oliver on Lian Yu sub-story in exchange for a few flashes to Egypt, in an effort to bridge the gap of 4000 years.
With the team in full knowledge of Savage’s link to Kendra, the team moves her back to Central City for the purpose of getting her out of Savage’s wide sight. Taking residence in an isolated farm house for their operations, Carter attempts to train Kendra, albeit a little too rushed as he more or less just threw her to the ground a couple of times. To no success, Kendra refused to accept her role and still remained shrouded for the most part.
Barry and Oliver continued down their path of self-destruction. With the thought of his child, Oliver became too preoccupied with his head swirling in different directions. Barry, reeling with his predicament outside of the episode, is still battling with his speed issues and his inability to counter Zoom. Throw in the resistance from Malcolm Merlin of Vandal Savage, and the web becomes more complex than ever. Knowing that they are against a force stronger than they could ever imagine, Merlin counsels the two against Savage, but leaves an interesting tidbit of plot twist. Adding to the mix is the subtle hinting that he “ghosted” and is feeling another time jump, Barry hesitantly proceeds. Utilizing Cisco’s design for gauntlet’s that will work against the energy emitted from the staff, the team rushes into their first encounter with Savage that goes horribly wrong incredibly quick.
Distracted and beaten up by the revelation of his child and Felicity finding out through the DNA test run by Barry that proved the truth, things were not clear in Oliver’s head heading into this matchup. After just Barry and Oliver attempting to “hand over” Carter and Kendra, as if they were a Trojan Horse, they quickly fell to a stronger Savage. Oliver told Barry to run, knowing then and there that this was about to get ugly. Falling victim to the sheer unmatched energy from the staff, the gauntlets failed and Oliver was unable to possess it. Savage grabbed the staff and released a massive blast on Central City. Imagine a nuclear blast and anything in its wake was obliterated, including the entire team.
Except for Barry.
Running as fast as he could, Barry experienced the same “ghosting” and continued to push forward. Pushing all the way back to their meeting with Merlin and Savage, Barry quickly realized what he has to do, regardless of the outcome. With the necessary explanation, both Oliver and Barry took the risk of tampering with the future in order to preserve it. Having a second chance is a rare thing for a hero, but it became useful in this case, and Oliver was not going to miss the chance to fix the wrongs.
The chain of events:
Barry flat out tells Oliver of the revelation of his son, yet Oliver still refuses to tell Felicity.
Oliver urges Cisco to triple check the gauntlets and find whatever would make it fail. Upon that, a discovery is made regarding a new crystal that will overpower the staff and help the effort.
Cisco barges into Carter and Kendra’s conversation and motivates her to accept her fate, regardless of if it means losing her altogether.
Oliver chooses to have the entire team lead the charge, instead of just him, Barry and the Hawks.
Four changes with a massive outcome. With the help of everyone’s abilities and specialities, the group regained control of the staff and vaporized Savage, presumably killing him. After that, all seems right in this tale of two cities, setting the stage to resume to the forerunning arcs and opening a door to the Legends of Tomorrow, getting ready to premiere in just over a month.
My thoughts:
While it is the first time that we have Carter and Kendra the victors, so the next step is a new one for them. We assume that they take some time to soul search and eventually join up with the rest of the Legends of Tomorrow. It is definitely a new feeling having more power-oriented heroes in the fold and I’m excited to see the result of them coming into the fold.
Oliver just can’t learn, can he? Obviously, when it comes to his son, he is going to do everything he can to create a relationship with him. At the expense of not revealing to everyone, I feel this is going to cause some issues with trust, a massive underlying tone that constantly gets flirted with. This new story is bigger than many can imagine, so it’s a wonder how a new Queen will mesh into the overall story. We have seen the outcome of what happens when he holds back the truth with Felicity, so it’ll be a big story arc when the second time this comes about. When will we see it? This season? Next? One thing is for sure, time travel always complicates things, and it’s still a mystery what chain of events are created when Barry jumped.
Finally, are we really supposed to expect anything less than Vandal Savage being anything else other than a pile of dust bunnies? Not in the least bit. Malcolm clearly has a motive, muttering the Egyptian words and holding his “old friend” close to him. Savage will also make his return to the villainous route in January when Legends of Tomorrow kicks off it’s run.
Last week marks the last episode for the fall season before going on hiatus following the midseason finale, where we will finally get a look at Wally West, who makes his entrance in Central City.
Nick Offerman’s ‘Yule Log’ is an interesting, hilarious take on the yule log videos people use as background during the holidays. This year, instead of that same old video of a burning fireplace to capture the essence of the season, why not include Nick Offerman drinking scotch, sitting quietly in a very masculine den?
The trailer for FX’s American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson looks like a farce. I assure you, however, it is very real. And very ridiculous.
FX has been pushing this upcoming miniseries pretty hard, with little hints and snippets and micro-trailers. Now, we have our first real look at the series, and it is perhaps the peak of ham-fisted nonsense from the master of ham-fisted nonsense, Ryan Murphy.
Here is the trailer:
https://youtu.be/nAyn1gDBc7s
If you’ve been longing for the days of the CBS Sunday night movie, or you’re a Lifetime movie fan, American Crime Story is right down your alley. Maybe it’s John Travolta as Robert Shapiro that doesn’t work for me, maybe it’s everything else. I’m not sure. Cuba Gooding Jr. still seems to be second fiddle in this story, even though he’s playing O.J. Simpson.
And who didn’t laugh at the sight of David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian?
On no better day than Wu Wednesday, Method Man released a music video, “The Purple Tape,” a track off of Method Man’s new album, The Meth Lab, which was issued on August 21st and the legendary MC’s fifth studio album. “The Purple Tape” featured fellow Wu-Tang Clan legends Raekwon and Inspectah Deck, along with Method Man’s son, also named Raekwon. That’s right, two Raekwons in one song, which Method Man’s son addresses, stating “Raekwon no relation to Chef though”, in “The Purple Tapes” hook.
“The Purple Tape” video was directed by the Last American B-Boy and the track produced by J57, with the video dropped on the legendary Hip Hop label TommY BoY Entertainment’s channel.
Before the “The Purple Tape”, Method Man also released another track off of his album “Straight Gutta”, featuring Hanz On and Streetlife. “Straight Gutta” was produced by Cee The Architek, and the video was directed by Taya Simmons & Devin Gibson.
The Meth Lab is now available for purchase. #WeStillWin
Ben Affleck appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to debut the latest trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, directed by Zack Snyder. Affleck brought a colossal surprise, DOOMSDAY!
Below is a gallery of the ‘Top 10’ images from the trailer, a breakdown of the final fight between Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Doomsday, plus a few bonus pictures. The gallery goes in the same order as the trailer.
Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jason Momoa, Ben Affleck, Jesse Eisenberg, Gal Gadot, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Diane Lane, Ezra Miller, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Michael Shannon, and Laurence Fishburne.
The film is set to open worldwide on March 25, 2016
