Review of "The Reptile Room" (Netflix)

SPOILERS

Much like “The Bad Beginning”, “The Reptile Room” was very true to the book. In the little trilogy of the first three books, this is probably my favorite, and this story is my favorite of the series so far. It was funny, charming, nail-biting, awesome, and tragic, pretty much in that order. Of course there were minor differences from the book, like Uncle Monty’s appearance and the elaborate way the Reptile Room is locked on the show and how the siblings still had the same room together instead of their own unique rooms like in the book. But they still got most of it right and these details were so minor I didn't even care!

The biggest change I loved and it reinforced the background story of the VFD so much more, since at this point in the books it’s not even mentioned yet. This was the inclusion of the movie, which they did see in the book, but what wasn’t included was the decoder spyglass with the hidden message. I loved this decoding game; it reminded me a little of The 39 Clues. In the books, they were supposed to go to Peru for fun and to accompany Uncle Monty on an expedition. On the show, the audience is lead to believe that their parents are in Peru and Uncle Monty got that message and is trying to get them there. This is about when I started questioning how realistic these scenes with the parents were. There’s no way they are still alive, right?

I remember when watching, while trying to remember if there was a Jacquelyn in the books, also wondering about Gustav. Gustav was a book character; he was still Monty’s assistant who disappeared, killed by Count Olaf. However, there was no indication that he was a member of the VFD. That’s fine with me; there’s probably people out there who are determined to make every minor character in the books a member of the VFD or at least having knowledge of it (much like the Game of Thrones “everyone’s a secret Targaryen” theories). Let me say again that these inclusions of the VFD are something that could only be done in a setting like this and blend in seamlessly with the rest of the narrative.

Yet again, this was a very well done episode, hitting all the right emotions without being too over-the-top about it. You feel what you’re supposed to feel, you’re confused when you’re supposed to be confused. And the narrative just keeps on rolling. Next stop, Lake Lachrymose!

VFD noticed:

Verified Film Discount

Vitiated Film Distribution

Vincent Fig Demetrios

Come back next Sunday for "The Wide Window"!

Click here for my full series review! 

New Doctor Who Season 10 Trailer Reaction

There’s a new teaser for Doctor Who Season 10! Watch it here first:

It’s narrated by the new companion Bill, who really sums up who the Doctor is with her dialogue: “He says he’s a man of peace, but he walks in war”. I’m already wondering how much of an influence the other Time Lords are going to have on this season. Will there be any more confrontation between the Doctor and the rest? How will Missy fit into the picture?

I’m thinking that the season will start off with some sort of alien problem at whatever university Bill is attending. If the footage in the trailer is from the season, they are probably in a library on campus (and whatever was shooting looked a little bit like Dalek fire, but I could be wrong). Throughout the episode Bill runs into the Doctor or Nardole three times, and that’s as much as it takes to convince her to travel along with him. But that’s just speculation and predicting fun based off a 25-second teaser. (And what are those ghost faces? New aliens, yay!)

I’m a little wary about her line “even if it kills me”, because I don’t want the writers to kill her right off the bat and it just follows in this line of killing off companions. But I won’t read too much into it. Most likely they’ll use her like Rose to bridge the gap between new Doctors. And I’m really excited to get to know her; she seems like an average sort of companion, about my age. Back to the roots of DW; no more Impossible Girls, please!

I cannot wait for April 15^th! 

Criminal Minds 12x14 "Collision Course" Review

SPOILERS

“Collision Course” was another roller coaster of an episode, split between two stories: an unsub who is hacking cars and experiencing a thrill from watching a terrified crash, first selecting random victims, then focusing his anger on women who ignored him on a dating site; and the continuation of Reid’s story as he gains a lawyer, is offered a few deals, turns down the deals, and is facing a trial, stuck in jail without bail for three months. It seems to be rock bottom, and we’re left wondering where could it possibly go from here?

The whole hacking the cars storyline was one that I hadn’t even considered before. There have been plenty of unsubs that I should have been scared of (most of them have some problem with young women) but this one really scared me. I guess anything is hackable, but the fact that as cars become smarter they also become more susceptible is something that has never really occurred to me before. The actual car crashes, especially the last one, were enough to get my heart pounding a little. It’s the same story they’ve covered dozens of times before: an antisocial guy is going after the girls who rejected him. But it’s a different take on it.

Garcia was the little beacon of light in this episode. It’s been a while since she’s been in the field, and her hobbling around in heels and an FBI vest made me chuckle a little; it was a tiny bit of much-needed humor in an otherwise taxing episode. Also, who doesn’t lowkey ship her and Luke?

Prentiss and Reid discussing Reid's options.

The Reid storyline made me feel confusion, indecision, and worry all through the episode. The rapid-fire questioning by his lawyer Fiona Duncan made me actually consider, for just a moment, that perhaps Reid really did kill her. I was surprised about the deal offers, but not surprised he rejected them and wanted to fight. And I felt, along with the rest of the team, the utter disappointment when he was denied bail. I read his phone call to his mother in a few different ways: he is comforting her, he is comforting us, the audience, and he is also trying to reassure himself. It’s all gonna be okay. But is it? Will it?

Here’s my prediction for the rest of the season: the finale will be the team capturing Mr. Scratch and getting Reid out of trouble. His trial will be in 3 months, and 3 months from now is May, the end of the season. That’s definitely enough high stakes for a season finale. Also, if they’re writing Reid out of the show, why would they tuck him away in jail? It just doesn’t make sense. I always hope for a happy outcome, but the road to get there may not be so.

8/10

NCIS 14x16 "A Many Splendored Thing" Review

SPOILERS

“A Many Splendored Thing” was an interesting episode. It was far from a favorite, but still had a few moments that made me jump. It starts off with a Navy Commander backed into a corner by a mysterious hacker and commits suicide to protect her daughter, and you just know thanks to the “previously on” it has something to do with Kai Chen. Reeves has a breakthrough in his own investigation into the Chen case and keeps Bishop in the loop as long as she doesn’t do anything. She decides she’s all in and they go investigating some leads and end up in the same place as the rest of the team. Eventually they all figure out Chen’s plan to blow out an electrical grid, but Bishop gets to him first, on her own, and backs him into the same corner as the Commander at the start of the episode. He chooses to commit suicide, and the episode ends with Bishop talking to Gibbs and feeling his quiet disappointment.

The small secondary plot doesn’t always tie into the main episode, but this time it did. Torres teaches the team how to pickpocket (and who would’ve thought Gibbs was a good one?) and Bishop ends up using these skills in order to arrange her meeting with Chen by “borrowing” Congresswoman Flemming’s phone.

The biggest problem I had with all of this was Qasim’s storyline. Qasim seemed nice and all, and I’m glad that Ellie was happy with him, but I totally called his death in that episode. Qasim was just plot convenience. That’s the only way I can think of describing him. In the episode he was introduced, they needed a translator and he happened to be there. It was a memory of a date with him that made Bishop figure out the song lyric code. I didn’t feel as much during the episode because we weren’t given much setup for it. I’m feeling after the episode, with that hanging final shot of the card, and suddenly the whole episode made sense. Was that the writers’ intent?

Flashback to an Ellie and Qasim bowling date.

The title of the episode refers to a song title, “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing”, and its significance to the episode is very obvious. In the Bishop parts of the episode, she is very much motivated by love. You could also tie it back to the Commander Turner suicide; it was because of love.

The only possible foreshadowing I caught was when Congresswoman Flemming and Gibbs were talking, and she mentions him possibly becoming Director if there was a vacancy. I’m thinking this means there is a good possibility that Vance will not be Director for much longer. I remember there being hints of this last season too; I kept expecting one episode to suddenly be his last.

I wasn’t expecting this is to be the end of the Kai Chen storyline, but I suppose it had to be if Bishop was going to get any closure. I just wonder what sort of thing they will come up with to be the background plot for the final third of the season.

7/10

#TBT Star Trek: The Next Generation Review

First watched in: 2016

Star Trek: The Next Generation was the first Star Trek I ever saw. My dad would have it on occasionally when I was younger, because he enjoyed it when it was on air originally. I knew some of the characters through these occasional viewings. So when looking for something to watch during spring semester last year, I decided to start TNG from the beginning, skipping right over the original series and holding onto my small amount of knowledge about Captain Picard, an android, and an annoying kid named Wesley.

It was…good. Not mind blowing, but definitely entertaining once it hit its stride a couple seasons in. Definitely some boring, strange, and confusing episodes, but some good, thought-provoking, funny, and beautiful episodes as well. Alien of the week episodes were interesting, even though most of them just seemed like humans but with a strange extra custom. I also enjoyed episodes that employed the holodeck as the source of the week’s problem or enjoyment; references to modern and historical literature and music were a nice touch to remind us that this could be our future.

I’ve found, through a little poking around online, that Star Trek is known for its easy fixes to problems, so some of that annoyance of frequent last-minute solutions was resolved. The only thing I had a problem with was the use of time travel as a frequent plot device. I kept muttering to myself, “This has more time travel than Doctor Who”. It seemed like every few episodes they hit a rift or a wormhole or a time loop and they used time as their antagonist for an episode. That’s an exaggeration, but I can be picky like that.

Data the android is definitely my favorite character of the TNG set. It was enjoyable to see him grow as a character and as a “person”. He gets a cat and learns how to paint and play the violin (and the oboe, my instrument!). It is because of his character I enjoyed the non-organic characters on the other series as well. The other characters on the show have interesting and varied backgrounds and arcs, like any other show, but Data’s intrigued me the most.

Looking back, after having seen the rest of the series except TOS, TNG was probably my least favorite. I’m not sure why. It might have something to do with the fact it was the first of the 90’s series and unlike Deep Space Nine and Voyager, didn’t have a set story arc because it was following in the footsteps of the original Star Trek, carrying on the Enterprise’s journey. But I’m still glad I watched it.

Would I watch again? Probably not for a while, if at all

Review of "The Bad Beginning" (Netflix)

SPOILERS

Soon after watching A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix, I decided to reread the books for the first time in years. It was surprising at how quickly the story went, how easy it was to read, and how the voices and expressions in my head from years ago all of a sudden came back.

For someone who has had her fill of book to screen adaptations, good, adequate, and plain old disappointing, this was a breath of fresh air. Since Daniel Handler, the real name of the books’ author and narrator, Lemony Snicket, was involved with the adaption from the beginning, instead of fired like he was on the film adaptation, I was expecting high quality storytelling. And I was not disappointed. "The Bad Beginning" stayed pretty true to the book. Since I read the book soon after watching, it was fresh in my mind and I was surprised at how similar it is. Dialogue and references and the quips of Lemony Snicket were exactly the same, like “Klaus found himself reading the same sentence over and over. Klaus found himself reading the same sentence over and over.” This is my new number one book-to-live action adaptation. It beats Deathly Hallows. It beats The Hunger Games.

The episodes hit all the classic main plot points, the things that were in the film as well. You have the opening scene on Briny Beach, the disastrous dinner with good old pasta puttanesca, and of course “The Marvelous Marriage” by Al Funcoot. But then there were small changes, of course, including all the cutaway VFD stuff which I just love and was intrigued from the very start. It took me a little into the first episode to remember all the VFD subplot, but at the first mention of “volunteer fire department” something clicked and it all came rushing back.

I was also surprised at all the big-name actors that were involved, such as NPH, Joan Cusack, Cobie Smulders, and Will Arnett. What I took away from that was those involved had to know the amount of success the show was going to have; the day before it was released, Netflix ordered Season 2. There were plenty of small and unknown actors who played their parts well (I recognized K. Todd Freeman, who played Mr. Poe, from Buffy).

My favorite little literary reference was the scene towards the beginning with the two Poe kids, Edgar and Albert (read: Allan), mentioning a raven (as in Edgar Allan Poe, author of “The Raven”. Clever, Mr. Snicket. Very clever.).

VFD noticed:

Volunteer Fire Department

Vigorously Fixed Destination

Come back next Sunday for "The Reptile Room"!

Click here for my full series review!

Criminal Minds 12x13 “Spencer” Review

SPOILERS

“Spencer” was such a good episode, one that happened at just the right time. We had built up enough suspense around Reid, his mother, and whatever those drugs were. Now we had to get some fallout.

There’s a car chase in Mexico…and it’s Reid who was driving the car! The police find drugs, he’s arrested, and he’s very, very high. The team does their part in helping figure out what’s going on, because he was definitely set up. He is still in custody, but back in the United States at the end of the episode. There were flashbacks to his early season drug problems, as well as this-season problems with his mom. This was a very Spencer-centered episode (as the title would suggest) and one that I’m glad they got around to doing.

Spencer Reid in jail in Mexico

I enjoy episodes that revolve around one of the main characters. Sure, some of the cases they solve are interesting, but the team-centered ones are the arcs and episodes I prefer. And I have a soft spot for Spencer; a lot of fans do (I was hoping this wouldn’t be his surprise final episode. The last time there was a character name as a title was when Derek left. My grandma is still mourning his absence.). To take such a smart, quick character and have him slowed down, with memory gaps and a mug shot, is a great way to draw the viewers in. It was not out of character for him to have drug problems or secrets. It just took a while for all of this to catch up to him. Throw in Mr. Scratch out to get the entire team, and you have a perfect storm for this all to boil over. And we’re only halfway through the season!

I was surprised at how far the writers were willing to take this storyline. The whole thing isn’t wrapped up at the end of the episode. There’s no technicality that gets him out of everything, the federal lawyers won’t represent him, and his mom is still no better and has no idea of what lengths Spencer went for her. This won’t take a two-parter to solve; it’ll probably be more. Real-world repercussions with characters that seem so untouchable always hurt. It was slightly painful to watch Reid all hazy and not remembering things, with the lightbulbs swaying and the flashbacks pulling us into his mind. And to top it all off, he’s under investigation for murder.

This was a really good episode. I’m sure a lot of people watch shows like this for the interesting stories and murders to solve and bad guys to catch, and a part of me does. But after a few seasons of the same thing, when the stories start diving into the characters in very personal ways, that is when it really gets interesting. You really find out how invested you are in the characters.

9/10

NCIS 14x15 “Pandora’s Box (Part I)” Review

SPOILERS

“Pandora’s Box (Part I)” was a two-part crossover with NCIS: New Orleans. I hadn’t watched NCIS: New Orleans since the pilot crossover but I wanted to finish the story. Overall, I enjoyed both episodes.

Quick recap: Part I starts with someone planting something suspicious-looking at a concert. They’re caught, there’s a dramatic reveal, and it’s Abby! She says something that sounds like a code, and since Abby would never be the bad guy, I assumed it was all a ruse. Turns out it was, and in flashbacks we get to see the war game planned out by a Homeland think tank. But, plot twist, the fake balloons were filled with real sarin, and no one knew there was a security test going on. There was a race to figure out who it was, and it ended up being a revenge-driven member of the think tank.

Abby convinces security that she's not a "bad guy".

The secondary plot that leads into the NOLA episode (“Pandora’s Box (Part II)”) is that information about similar Homeland security tests, plans, and results were hacked and stolen. Torres and McGee team with up the NOLA branch to find who took this “Playbook” and who’s going to buy it. A little undercover, a little kidnapping. I might have appreciated it more if I was following NOLA, but it was still good.

I really like the episodes that are less “who killed the Marine” and more high-stakes, national security, game-like puzzle pieces, and closely involving the members of the team. The way it was going it couldn’t have been just a one-off episode. I could almost have seen it becoming a season-long arc, but the two-part suited it as well.

I always enjoy episodes that have the team members tied into the storyline in an integral way, like a few episodes ago that was all about Jimmy. “Abby the bad guy” was a nice angle because she is the last person you would expect for this kind of thing. She’s the happiest Goth you’ll ever meet, and it’s really obvious that she is not happy about being used in this game and will definitely not be volunteering for anything in the future. This reminded me a little about an earlier season; I believe when Lee was on the team and they were trying to find the mole, they used Abby as the fall guy to smoke them out.

The title, “Pandora’s Box”, was very apt in this case. In Greek mythology, Pandora’s box was opened and released death and disease and other horrible things onto the otherwise perfect human race. Much like that, the balloons from the war game would be like Pandora’s box since if they had been released they would have let out the sarin and brought death to hundreds of people.

(Disclaimer for the future: I will only be reviewing spinoff episodes if they are crossovers; NCIS is the only show of the three I regularly watch.)

What a great two-parter to start this blog with!

9/10

#TBT The One Where I Review Friends

First watched in: 2015

*clap clap clap clap*

Soon after the Internet and my peers freaked out about Friends being added to Netflix and after my parents told me they enjoyed it while it was on TV, I decided to give it a try. I liked it, I really did, enough to give it a rewatch. But it’s been about a year and a half since then and I haven’t had a desire to watch it again since.

One thing I did enjoy about Friends was even though the show took place in the 90’s, much of the humor transcends the century shift and remains funny even today. The same troubles we all have involving jobs, relationships, and friendships existed twenty years ago. They all grow up, in a way, over the course of ten years, and I’m sure anyone who watched the show who was the same age would feel like they grew up together. But for everyone else, the college kids who have latched onto them and refused to let go, it’s a show giving us a glimpse of what the future could be like, and it isn’t always a happily ever after.

Some of the stereotypes and overacting in some cases bugged me, but the more I look into sitcoms, the more I find that the “situational comedy” part of the writing comes first, the character development second. It’s easy to write situational humor that everyone can relate to when all you have are stock characters to work with. The reason Friends stood out was it didn’t always fall into the cut and paste trap and their actors had a crazy amount of chemistry from the first season on. It still had its flaws, though. No show is perfect.

My least favorite character was probably Ross and my favorite character shifted between Monica and Chandler, depending if one of them just did a stupid thing or not. And therefore it’s no surprise that I really wasn’t all that invested in the Ross/Rachel relationship, unlike most everyone I know who watched. The interesting thing was, I could see a bit of myself in every character, and that must be why Friends has stood the test of time and wormed its way into the subconscious of another generation of twenty-somethings.

The main takeaway from it is we should all be so lucky as to find such a close-knit group of friends as them. Friends is definitely here to stay, in the greater scheme of American culture. That’s a fact.

Would I watch again? Probably not for a while. 

Introduction: Why TV?

If I told my ten-year-old self I would be running a blog about TV shows, she would be very confused. Ten-year-old me was a reader and a budding writer, not someone who was really even allowed to watch TV. It stayed like that until my junior year of high school. My parents caved and subscribed to Netflix as a Christmas present and the rest, as they say, is history.

It's true that I haven't read as much after I started watching Netflix and began consuming show after show, things I had heard from my friends that were popular or good shows. Watching Netflix was more of a convenience; I was already carrying around an iPad and a phone in school, so why bring an extra book and fill up valuable backpack space? There were exceptions to this rule, of course. But this isn't a post about the books that survived my high school years. This is about TV and how it's influenced the way I think about and consume media.

I don't mind pushing reading to the wayside because of TV. In fact, I can argue that some shows can be as complicated and deep as a good book series, filled with intriguing characters, worlds, and references, layered and ready to be peeled back. It's about the effort you put into it. While reading requires a certain amount of concentration and TV can be passively viewed in the background, it doesn't have to be.

Last summer I rediscovered YouTube, which I really hadn’t used since middle school. Instead of following vlogs and weekly skits, I found the side of YouTube that shared theories and in-depth analyses, predictions and recaps. My eyes were opened to a new way of watching television and since then in the back of my mind I’m looking for Easter eggs, comparisons, archetypes, foreshadowing, payoffs, red herrings, and other fun things instead of taking my entertainment at face value. Some shows are harder to do this with; sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory are a bit more surface level than something intricate like Sherlock or Game of Thrones.

I figured with this blog I could try my hand at doing my own analyses for others’ enjoyment. If there’s not much to actually analyze, a recap is always nice, especially for shows that don’t always have a “previously on”. Other posts will be spoiler-free reviews of some of those Netflix shows I inhaled as an upperclassman and beyond, as well as spoiler-filled breakdowns of some of the biggest seasons of scripted shows to come out of January 2017.

There’s so much I want to share and so much I’m looking forward to. Look out for my next post!