Doctor Who: Eve of the Daleks

 

Given that holiday episodes of Doctor Who are generally lighthearted and comedic, Eve of the Daleks is what you'd be looking for.  

The Tardis is going to need to be re-set.  Thinking they're on a beach planet that will be a relaxing place to wait for the process, the Doctor, Yaz and Dan find themselves instead inside a storage facility with two humans and a Dalek.

The owner of Elf storage, Sarah, is frustrated being stuck at work again on New Year's Eve.  Her only customer, Nick, who appears to own numerous storage lockers in the facility, has a secret crush on Sarah which is revealed over the course of the evening as everyone runs from, confronts, and dies at the lasers of the Daleks.

Die, run, re-set.  There's a plan, of course, but as the clock heads towards midnight, and the time loops close for good at that hour, it's a terrible chance the Doctor and her companions take to beat the Daleks.

Though the Doctor and Yaz have dealt with the Daleks on many occasions, Dan, Sarah and Nick toss out insults which the Daleks respond to in their humorless, single minded way.  It's something that the three can keep wise cracking after numerous deaths.

Doctor Who The Flux: Vanquishers

 

What an uneven six episodes.  This finale wrapped up the threat to our universe, but I couldn't quite say how.  Time itself, sternly telling the Doctor she would run out of time and have no more regenerations (it sounded imminent, but nah, couldn't be, right?).

Time poofed the Swarm and Azure, who were boring except for their teeth and makeup, which were fascinating. The threat they promised, just gone.

The Doctor got her Time Lord memory device, but tossed it deep into the workings of the Tardis without looking at it.  She has been ignoring almost everything that has gone on in these episodes to find out exactly what was on the device, then she tosses it.

The grand reveal of Bel and Vinder never occurred. They were simply lost lovers.  Putting that plot in when there are a mere six episodes to finish the series, that was just not a good use of time.

What was the deal with the Grand Snake?

Why did Dan's girlfriend (in his dreams) rebuff him after all they'd all been through, acting as though his being "late" for a date that wasn't one was all important and unforgivable?

Why kill off sweet brave professor Jericho as they did?  It was silly and he didn't deserve it.

Let's hope the Specials give a better ending to the 13th Doctor's story.

Doctor Who: Survivors of the Flux

 The "survivors" who were scooped up in an earlier episode by "Passengers" turn out to be used to power something by the Swarm.  Zinder sees this but is trapped by the Swarm and is sent elsewhere.

Meanwhile the Doctor has come face to face with Division.  The Division turns out to be a divide in space/time between universes.  It's run by an old woman Who recognizes as her mother.  It turns out the Doctor was found by this woman all alone on a planet, was taken home and adopted as her own.

 

The universe the Doctor loves and is trying to save from the Swarm is being eradicated by Tecteun herself. She caused the creation of the flux.  The Doctor, she says, has infected the universe.  She inspires people to have hope and that can't be allowed.

 

Even so, she invites the Doctor to join her in the next universe.  She also offers, as a lure, a Time Lord's device that's on display which will return all of the Doctor's memories.

Suddenly the Swarm pop in and dissolve Tectuen and they threaten the Doctor as well.

The best part of the episode has Yaz, Dan and Professor Jericho from the Angels episode traveling all over earth in 1904 searching for clues to the world's end date.  If they can find that date, they reason, they can try to stop the end of the world.

 

While they're traveling, there are Indiana Jones style maps that show their routes.  Even better, Yaz is outfitted for adventure, and she confidently drops into tombs and defeats possible opponents everywhere.  Lara Croft/Indiana Jones, look out!

One young man they encounter comments that a pretty girl like Yaz should be more careful and have someone watch out for her (paraphrase).  She informs him "This pretty girl can look out for herself."

One of my favorite episodes of the 13th Doctor's era!

Tonight is the final episode of the season, with some mix of "specials" incoming.  I'm beyond sorry to say goodbye to this Doctor, who might be my favorite of all.

Doctor Who: Village of the Angels

 The fourth episode of this season was really excellent, bringing in the always frightening Weeping Angels.

Weeping Angels actually appear in the Tardis, attacking as they do when you look away or blink for a moment.

 

Landing in 1967 they are in a village just at the beginning of an attack by the angels.

Two villagers, a man and woman, are looking for their ten year old ward Peggy.  Yaz tries to use her police service questioning techniques to learn more about the girl so they can help find her, but the man is impertinent and won't answer her questions, acting as if she's silly for asking.  There's an arch to humor to all of the characters in the town, and to the Doctor as well.

While Yaz and Dan end up in 1901 with the missing Peggy, the Doctor finds herself barricaded in a house with a professor of paranormal studies and a woman who can see the future.  Angels surround the house, ringing the doorbell!, pressing in at the windows, and driving the Doctor and her companions of the evening into the basement of the house.

The Doctor gets permission to enter Claire's mind.  There she finds a rogue Weeping Angel, using Claire's form, has been hiding in Claire's mind from the others outside.  They're after her, she says, and she tries to bargain with the Doctor to get help escaping.  

The Professor interrupts, pulling the Doctor out, as the Angels have broken into the house and have made their way to the basement.

As the Doctor, Claire and the Professor make their way outside through an old tunnel, filled with Angels, they finally come out side only to be surrounded by even more Angels.  The Rogue speaking though Claire informs the Doctor that the Angels and The Division want the Doctor even more than they want her, and the Doctor is transported and turned into a Weeping Angel herself.

I'm just a casual viewer, but I have to say I haven't been taken with the Division story line or the Timeless Child story line.  Clearly if the Division controls (?) the Angels as is hinted here, then why turn the Doctor into one?  What do the Division have to do with or say about the Flux?

Bel and Zinder's story line, though charming enough, must have some large payoff if it's included in these sparse few last episodes.  

Doctor Who: Once Upon A Time

 Ack, moments before this week's episode, my small thoughts on last week's episode.

Very frenetic again, but not in a good way.  Too much splintered time, the dialog could barely be made out over music and sound effects.  

Though the Doctor was supposedly protecting Yaz, Dan and Zinder, she came off as being more selfishly interested in her own part in the time stream and the possible causes of the Flux.

Not a good episode.

Doctor Who Ep. 2 Flux: War of the Sontarans

 The Doctor is deposited in the middle of the Crimean War (1853-1856) by the unruly Tardis.  Here she meets a real life historical figure, "doctress" Mary Seacole.  

Mary knows of Florence Nightingale, but comments she never gets this close to the front.  Mary helps the wounded from both sides of the conflict, and is a brave and willing ally to the Doctor.  My favorite Who episodes feature real historical figures.  Why time travel if not to meet these exciting people?

Mary Secole and the Tardis

The Real Mary Seacole

With the influence of the Flux on all periods of history, the British are not fighting the Russians, but the Sontarans.   Yup, the Sontarans, those laser rifle rattling, Humpty Dumpty headed, war mongering miscreants. 

The Sontarans plan to take over Earth in the present day, then launch Time Ships in the past to wipe out humanity in all time periods.  I believe one of the leaders mentioned they wanted to do the Crimean War period because he wanted to ride horses.

Somehow, the Who Crew gets split up in time.  The Doctor works with Mary in the past.  Dan, the new guy, meets his parents who rescue him with a Wok pan.  They're all in for adventure, and so is Dan.  Wok in hand, Dan single handedly sneaks into the Sontaran camp, armed with his parents Wok.  He makes his way into a Sontaran ship, where, with the help of his doggie Karvanista protector, he saves the day and prevents the launch.

Yaz, who is given a much better, more confident role this season, meets the young officer  named Vinder we saw last episode on a planet called Time, and becomes embroiled with the Swarm and a takeover of a temple from its rightful guardians.

Hopefully in tonight's episode the Doctor and Dan can rescue Yaz and Vinder from the clutches of the Swarm.

Doctor Who The Flux

 It seemed to me that there was no word about when the new season of Doctor Who would be on, then suddenly a few weeks ago, it's on Halloween and there are only six episodes. 

There will apparently be some specials, but it's all very fragmented and the thirteenth Doctor should get more respect, I feel.

The Flux was an absolute whirlwind of an episode. It begins with The Doctor and Yaz suspended upside down, in handcuffs, over a toxic green planet that they're about to be dropped into. As a backup should they survive that, small whirling weapons are trained on them, plus the planet is about to be destroyed.

They pick up a new companion this episode, Dan, a goodhearted wiseguy who has been caged and kidnapped by a dog.  When I saw the previews I thought the Karvanista was a wookiee!

There is a Weeping Angel and a Sontaran.

There's another new alien called Swarm, who, with his sister, may be behind the Flux (?).

It will be interesting to see if all six episodes have this pace.

DOA ON TV

Playing catch up this week!




Monday

Manifest

Last week it was revealed that 11 passengers whom "no one would miss" were taken away by some unknown agency to a farm.  They're being experimented on, it seems to be pain tolerance from what we see, though that makes no sense.  Cal is connected to a detainee named Marco, and as Marco is tortured, Cal is as well.  Marco appears to be very ill, with a fever, and so is Cal, to the point of being hospitalized.

This gives us some insights into the problems Cal's illness had on the marriage of Ben and Grace in the past, and threatens what they're rebuilding.

Ben tries to tell Grace what has been happening to those on the plane, after she says she can believe anything after the miracle of their return, but she shuts him down immediately.   Grace isn't much liked on social media.

Michaela has better luck with Jared, as he helps her track down the farm which turns out to be a "government black site" that they're warned away from by armed troups.   I think he's still credulous, but he's trying, and he can't deny she has insight into events that can't be explained.

In this week's episode, Ben gets a job as a low level accountant at a company that may allow him to get access to information on the bad guys.

More creepy Danny smarminess.

Vance of the NSA has Ben's cell phone texts up on a wall in his office, and he intercepts data Ben has stolen that might help find the missing passengers.  Vance's second in command is a total weasel who seems to have his own agenda, but Vance circumvents the weasel and looks into the missing passenger info on his own.  It looks like Ben has a new ally.


The Arrow

I gave up on The Arrow mid season last year, but decided to see how it is this season.   I dreaded the whole Oliver Queen in jail drama, but it has been a solid, and even suspenseful storyline.

The other crime fighters have started new lives, and they're all interesting moves forward for these characters.  Even Felicity, who has gone off the rails to get revenge.



Tuesday

The Flash     News Flash


It turns out that the Thinker's Enlightenment affected some technology.   A selfie obsessed rival to Iris named Spencer Young gained technology in her phone on the night of the Enlightenment that lets her affect people and events creating news stories which she scoops.

She has an App that delivers her news to adoring fans (three times the followers Iris has, sneers Nora).    Nora is immediately smitten with Spencer when she meets her in person, and forgets to check to see if Spencer is a meta.   Iris bursts in and breaks things up, reminding Nora of her task.

After several bad scenes between Iris and Nora , it's revealed Nora has only had her powers for six months.  Prior to that, she'd had her powers blocked by a chip inserted by Iris of the future.  No wonder.

Ralph has some good scenes trying to out-detective Sherloque.   Between them, they figure out some new facts about Cicada.    I love Sherloque calling Ralph "Baby Giraffe".

My favorite thing in the episode is Barry playing baseball.  He get's the right field spot though he hates it and is unable to catch the ball.   He's no good up at bat, either.

No Flash last week.



This Is Us    Kamsahamnida

Toby remains depressed though back on his meds.   He's afraid Kate will eventually leave him because he's this way.  In a powerful Pearson-All-The-Way speech she lets him know she will always be there for him.

Kevin helps Randall campaign in a Korean area of the District, since Soloman has such an unshakeable hold on the area where William's apartment building is.   It turns out The Manny is wildly popular in Korea at this time and everyone's excited to meet "The Man Baby" as he's known.

Kevin and Zoe are off to Vietnam.  I found it interesting Kevin tells Randall "she gave him her necklace".  I was right, it was hers, and I still think given to him not out of love, but something else.  Apparently the letters themselves, of which nothing is revealed, answer no questions.

Poor Beth snaps while unsuccessfully trying to help the girls sell Girl Scout cookies.   She'll be joining Randall's campaign.


No This Is Us last week.




Wednesday

Survivor

A merge is always fun, and there are unexpected alliances which may or may not hold.   I am sort of tired of one tribe dominating the whole thing, staying "strong" and just picking the others off.

Dan the Swat Guy immediately reunited with his crush Kara, and stupidly tells her he has a second idol.  Bonk!

Angelina tries to take command of the game's strategy, and should have gotten voted off, but Elizabeth went.   It appears Elizabeth had a back injury prior to the game that has come back and she's been in a lot of pain, causing her to gert no sleep, so bad decisions and shrieky  moments did her in.

Elizabeth was my pick, though I really, really wanted Angelina to go.



Thursday

The Good Place


Things are a little turgid on The Good Place, with another Eleanor-centric episode.  She has to be shown "clips" of her and Chidi falling in love by Michael to prove she's a worthy human.   I hoped it was Chidi's turn to have his life examined, and that there would besome person to be saved in his behalf.



Murphy Brown

Centered around a banquet in honor of a past season character "Jim Dial" who I don't find interesting.   It was all sort of a love fest.  Loved Tyne Daily who thought she was Dial's date.   Loved John Larroquette (who I miss in The Librarians!) as a judge who finds Murphy interesting and who gives her his card.   Loved Bette Middler as a gold digger who now owns a large share in the network.    Katie Couric had a nice bit with Corky, who I don't think I care for much.   Avery introducing a new girlfriend to Murphy was sort of silly.  He needs to get his own place, but then there wouldn't be those great heart to heart talks with Murphy.

I love Murphy's living room with all those books.



Friday

Van Helsing

Vanessa, Scarlet and Axel are in San Francisco to find the creepy "B'ah" Elder.   Artificially plot wise, Scarlet is sent into a deep slumber after a fight with Vampire Ninjas (the ones from the old Chine episode a few weeks ago).   Alex goes off with some military guys.  Vanessa is left to face the B'ah alone.   The three of them together would have easily defeated the group, but no.

In Denver, Julius, Flesh, Doc and Jolene arrive, are processed, and begin new lives in this "free zone."

The standout among them for me is Julius, who was turned into a vampire in the 1930s, so the world has very much passed him by.  He has no idea what a microwave does.  He's uncertain how to respond to his new boss.   Doc and Jolene are in a romance, which should be a lightening of things, but both are gnarly and uncertain, and also affected by mandatory shots given to new citizens.   Flesh tries to kill himself, but apparently can't...no I don't think his jumping off a building with his head going splat is the last of him.


Doctor Who   Demons of the Punjab


This weeks episode may be my favorite ever.

We haven't seen much of what makes Yaz tick.   Despite the Doctor's wariness, they travel back in time to 1947 India to see something of Yaz's grandmother's past.

Yaz's beautiful, smart, warm, remarkable grandmother is getting married the next day to her lifelong friend Prem.    They're in a remote rural area, and will be married by a holy man who is walking to the wedding.   Yaz is rather horrified, because she knows from photographs that Prem was not her grandfather.

Yaz explains they're family and she hugs her grandmother, who she loves so much in the present.  It's amazing the group, in their odd clothing, are so readily accepted in.   But they are.

It turns out the next day is also the day The Partition of India and Pakistan takes place.   I had never heard of this before, and reading about it, and hearing the Doctor describing the chaos and loss of life that came with it...it's so awful, so incomprehensible anyone would think of dividing a land and people in that way.   I don't know why I've never heard of it, it's only seventy years ago.  Such upheaval, it should be so prominent in modern history for everyone to know about.

The show handled so well showing the effect on families in even the most remote area.  Prem's younger brother has joined, in secret, a group of angry young men who embrace the division of Muslims and Hindus and everything that now gives them power to get rid of people "who don't belong here".

This being Doctor Who, there are aliens, who the Doctor recognizes as a race of assassins.  She tries to keep them away, but she finds that they are now a race who are dedicated to witnessing the loss of life and honoring and remembering souls.   And they're here for Prem.

All that goes on, but a young couple in love follow tradition, and stand right on the new borderline and say their vows, officiated by the Doctor.    She says Love in all its forms is the most powerful weapon we have. Because love is a form of hope. And like hope, love abides, in the face of everything.

DOA On TV

Monday

Manifest 

The episode "Connecting Flights" explored what it was like for the people left behind when Flight 828 disappeared.

6 months after the event,  Grace isn't coping, and goes to grief counseling where she was immediately leached onto by Danny.    Not the time, not the place, guy.    Jared and Lourdes are sharing memories of Michaela.

Two years after, Danny's over for dinner (I guess his smooth moves didn't pan out so quickly), and Lourdes congratulates Jared for making detective with a smooch at a bar.

Everyone's all settled into their new lives at the 5 1/2 year mark when unexpectedly the flight returns, upending the lives they've made.

It turns out that icky Danny was essentially living with Grace and Olive, and had taken on a role of a father to Olive, and had to awkwardly back out of his cozy nest once Ben, the actual husband and father came home.  We can see I don't like Danny.

As of this episode, it has only been two weeks since the return of the flight.  It seems longer, but given that timeline maybe some things are a bit more understandable.

Except Danny the slimeball wails that he can lose Grace, just as (sniff) he lost his wife, but (sniff) don't take Olive away.  Just back out that door, creepy guy.

In today's timeline Ben and Cal have a day out at Coney Island, flipping a coin to decide what they'll do, what they'll eat, etc.   As they're heading home on the subway, Cal, who has seemed like a nice little kid, suddenly hops off the subway at a stop that isn't home, and he runs away from his father, leading him on a hectic chase into the bowels of the station, where he somehow finds Thomas, the stowaway, in his lair.   This is such odd behavior for any kid, let this one.   Then he has a seemingly clairvoyant knowledge that someone is coming down the hall to the room where they're hiding.

For the first time, he's exhibiting powers of some sort that aren't like those experienced by any of the others.   A final scene back in the aircraft has everyone sleeping but Cal, who sees something in a bright light outside the plane window.  He intones "it's all Connected."

No episode tonight, the 29th, but back next week.



Tuesday


Flash The Death of Vibe

Cisco didn't die at all, though he was attacked by Cicada (chirp, chirp).   Any episode with lots of Cisco is a good one.



A new version of Wells enters the scene, a "brilliant detective" who has tracked Cicada in numerous incarnations named Sherloque Wells.    He's a seedy Poirot clone with a supposed French accent.   Luckily I always end up liking Wells in all his alternate Earth forms.   Predictably, Cisco pretends to hate the new Wells and wants nothing to do with him, but of course they'll end up fast friends.

I like a side mystery with Caitlin and Ralph trying to find Caitlin's father who may not be dead after all.


This Is Us


A packed episode that showed Toby's childhood and lifelong battle with depression.   He's trying to get back on his anti-depression pills without Kate knowing he went off them, but his behavior is becoming erratic.

Kate had a gig dressed as Adele, and belted out a song.  She looked and sounded amazing.   And she's pregnant!

Teen Kate had a glowering episode as Miguel brought in a piano for the Peason's apartment.  Her dress made her look pregnant...eerily mirroring adult Kate's story.

Kevin and Zoe traveled to see an old war buddy of Jack's to try to unravel Jack's war time story.  Kevin did not notice a clerk's rude treatment of Zoe at all, so absorbed was he.   Kevin has improved greatly, but I don't think he's good enough for Zoe.

Randall's prom was ruined when his date's father couldn't tolerate his daughter dating a young black man.  His sweet face, poor Randall.

A bit of softening toward Miguel, who is shown promising Jack he'll look after his family if anything ever happens to him.   So, Miguel bringing over the used piano and fixing the Pearson's fridge was him honoring Jack.

Jack's war buddy shows up at Kevin's hotel as he's checking out to hand him several letters he received from Jack while Jack was still in Vietnam.

In one is a picture of Jack and the woman from the Vietnamese village talking to one another.  The woman is wearing Jack's necklace, which Kevin now has.

The woman was wearing the necklace in the first episode she was in, while Jack's troop was just moving into the village.  So somewhere along the line, Jack befriended her, and I think just friends, and he ended up with the necklace.

My theory is the woman was previously involved with either one of the Viet Cong tied to the village, or another serviceman.   I think Viet Cong is most likely and somehow Jack saves him, let's him escape, or tries to help in some way as he is prone to doing.   Perhaps she gives Jack the necklace to honor his assistance to the ones she loves.  That sounds like Jack.




Survivor


Breathe a sigh of relief, Natalie got ousted at tribal.   I've never seen anyone try harder to be disliked, yet be more impervious to everything around them than Natalie.   She's fascinating, yet painful to watch.

Meet the Brochachos!   Swat cop Dan and wrestler John take Christian the robotics scientist into the fold and call themselves the Brochachos.   May be spelled differently.

This worries Gabby of course who is once again shown moaning off to the side.   Dan and John do indeed thinks she's a weak link and want to boot her when the chance arrives.   SwatDan found his second idol of the game.   Lots of folk know he has the first one, but hopefully he'll not tell anyone about the second, particularly with Carl's game advantage in play.

Dirt Move of the Day:   Angelina decides she's cold and wants Lyrsa's jacket.  She decides to talk Natalie into getting it for her, so she doesn't have to get her hands dirty.  What?  Unbelievably, Natalie goes right for it and asks for it, when turned down, she tries to bully attorney Nick into giving her his.

Possible Tribal Targets Gabby, Kara, Natalie    Natalie was voted, both because she was painful to be around, but she took a lot of bad pub for trying to get the jackets.   It must have appeared to the others that she'd gone mad.  She never said Angelina put her up to trying to get the jackets, and Angelina never confessed.

Unbelievably, Angelina kept asking Natalie for her jacket as she was heading out, in increasing louder and whinier tones.   So much for the thin veneer of civilization.



Thursday

The Good Place   The Ballad of Donkey Doug

It appears the crew is going to try to save those they know best first.  So we meet at last Donkey Doug and Pillboi.   OMG.  Donkey Doug turns out to be Jason's father.  Pillboi dispenses meds in a nursing home.   The two are planning to steal the ingredients to make some odd concoction they think will make them rich.

The Team tries to get Donkey to go back to Electrician's school to save his soul, but Douggie Daddy is having none of it.

Not a great episode.  Jason's character needs to be dispensed in tiny doses.  Having three of him---oh, the horrors!



Murphy Brown

Murphy had a line on a whistle blower, but had to wait for approval from above to fly the guy in for the show.

Although this was all supposed to be super secret,  everyone from the copier guy to the group at Phil's seemed savvy to the story.

When the Wolf Network had the man on their show the very next morning, a round of finger pointing made for hard feelings.



It turned out a piece of tech that was Murphy's new assistant was misinterpreting voice commands and was sending all the info from the newsroom right over to Wolf.


Friday

Van Helsing

After the two great episodes the previous weeks, the show returned to the "current day" and a painful to watch story line with Sam (awful serial killer turned vampire) hunting down victims and trying to teach Mohamed to be a nasty serial killing vampire like himself.

Sam was a good character early on when you didn't realize he was a serial killer since childhood.  Horribly, the episode showed some of Sam's early days.   He was never anything but a real monster.




I actually turned the sound down and browsed the Net in the scenes with Sam, of which there were quite a few.

Looking up reviews after the show, as I do, I saw there was a big Twitter campaign to encourage people to watch Friday's episode because the show is struggling in the ratings.   And then it's the worst episode ever for the series.


Sunday


Doctor Who   Arachnids In the UK


Why did it have to be spiders?   After getting the companions home to Sheffield, The Doctor is reluctant to say goodbye, so she takes the invite to tea at Yaz's place in a flash.

There's a neighbor encased in spider's webbing.

There's a newly built luxury hotel Yaz's mom was going to manage before being summarily fired by the big ugly American businessman who owns the place.

It's turns out the place is Spider Central, with literally the Mother Of All Spider's nesting below the building.

Despite the fact that the big momma had encased at least two, maybe more people in the underground mines beneath the hotel, the Doctor was sympathetic with it's situation and wanted to offer some solution where it could live peaceably.  Eeww, eeww.


In the end, Ryan, Yaz, and Graham decided they'd like to keep traveling with the Doctor, because, who wouldn't?

DOA on TV

Monday

Manifest

The main mysteries connected with Flight 828 are in the background this week.  Ben meets his "replacement" in the hearts of Grace and Olive, a scraggly fellow named Danny.  Betrayal city, Olive gets caught shoplifting and calls Danny to break her out instead of her dad who has been working so hard to be her dad again.  Ouch.

Michaela is side-winded by her partner and ex-love Jared tricking some extra time with her on a stakeout so he can figure out what is going on with her.   She was soooo close to telling him everything when he said she'd end up in a psychiatric facility if she kept acting as she was.   Close call!   Zipped lips, I got nothing, la la.

Saanvi works with the stewardess from the aircraft to help a stowaway(! ) from Flight 828 find his old love, the stewardesses' nephew, in New York.  The NSA is right on their tail, looking for that stowaway.


Tuesday

This Is Us

A completely Jack-centric episode that shows his life over time, from his meeting up with his brother Nick in Vietnam, all the way back to Nick's birth in 1948.   Given the family's terrible life, the drunken, abusive father, it was a rough episode.  I think it would have been better spread out over the season.

It was promoted as the episode that shows how Jack became Jack, but I don't think it did at all. Nor did it give any real personality to his brother Nick.

The only good thing I took from the episode was that there was a time, way back at Nick's birth, when Jack's father was a good guy who didn't drink.   For a time.   Jack's grandfather visited the hospital, providing a mirror of what Jack's father would become.  Poor little Jack, his face when his grandfather came in.   Then to have his father turn into that man and worse.


The Flash

Yikes, I missed the first return episode Nora the previous week.   I want to like the girl, but I don't think I do.   She's a big fan girl of Barry's and is really just cold and dismissive to Iris, who I love, and who you don't treat that way, kid or not.

I think it would be awful to meet your child who's in their mid-late twenties and you missed all the dreaming of what they might be.  All those sweet baby moments and the wonderful years of childhood.

Barry apparently disappears forever, is the excuse, and she wanted to see him for herself.   That I can understand, but she's just not very nice.

Blocked was the episode of the week, with more Nora, and trying to train her in the speed force, trying to slow down her enthusiasm and thoughtlessness.

Enter a new villain called Cicada who makes cicada noises (really) while killing people.  Chirp, chirp, you're dead!

The interesting thing there is that he and Nora seem to know each other.



Wednesday

Survivor

They could call this the Twist Episode.

Bi who has torn her MCL (? ) voluntarily leaves the game so she doesn't injure it further and put her career in jeopardy.

Planned anyway, they say, was a split of the tribe into three new tribes.  The twist here is one person (Carl) got no tribe, and he'd go to Exile Island for now, then at Tribal he'd get the spot of whoever got popped.

While at Exile he found an intriguing new advantage in a coconut that will allow him to block immunity for a player who is going to play it at tribal.  So he needs to be sure the person has an Immunity Necklace, then has to vote against its use on his voting turn at tribal.   If he's wrong and none are played or a different person plays theirs, it's gone.


Not Cut Out For This Game:    Gabby

Tossed Opportunity In the Dumper With An All New Tribe and New Start:  Natalie

Favorite:  Christian

Most Likely to Go:    I could not decide between Gabby, Natalie and Elizabeth.   Shocker:  Natalia of Mean Girls International got the boot.   An understandable but stupid move that means the former David tribe members now have the voting numbers to control the vote in their tribe.


Thursday


The Good Place

Michael and Janet,  caught red handed with the inter-dimensional doorway, go ahead and explain everything to the four erstwhile unsaveable humans.

Eleanor, who is most on top of things with ideas to salvage the situation in every incarnation of their Good Place/Bad Place scenarios, decides that since they are busted and they can't even get points anymore to ever get to the Good Place, they'll use their time on earth to help others make it to the Good Place.  Kinda touching.

Chidi with no shirt on!  Holy moleans, Rocky.   


Murphy Brown

Murphy's station wants her to interview an extremist politico who wants to go head to head on her show.   The ratings will be great, but Murphy decides giving him airtime would be a mistake and she declines the interview.

He waylays her at Phil's bar and has the conversation he wanted to have.  I was all admiration for the way she handled it.  She told him exactly what she thought of him and his ideas, in calm voice, very smooth.  Off he went, steaming.

At home, her son is watching a video someone at the bar captured on their phone of the confrontation.



Friday

Van Helsing

Vanessa is in 1896 Hong Kong, trying to find out why the East India Company is involved with vampires and the B'ah Elder herself. 

The episode has rare light moments as Vanessa walks through the ancient streets, actually smiling as she takes it all in.   Seeing her in Victorian dress, and fussing uncomfortably with her pinned up hair, was such fun.

I loved the Governor's helpful wife, a Seward by birth.

Master Tsui, who tried to help Vanessa train to fight the B'ah in the short time they had was patient yet blunt with her.  She countered with withering remarks about Yoda and "wax on, wax off".

Lilly's husband, who seemed supportive in the previous episode, was completely different here, having no patience with any talk of vampires.  Until he was surrounded by them.



Sunday

Doctor Who     "Rosa"

The Tardis directs the Doctor and her companions to Montgomery, Alabama in 1955.   There are some mysterious signatures/readings that shouldn't exist until the far future in the town, so they decide to see what the cause is since the Tardis won't return them to Sheffield, England, their home.

The villain is some prisoner from the future who decides that the Montgomery Bus Boycott is where the timeline started to go bad.   He can't harm Rosa because of restraints in his brain, but he plans to force small changes that will undo the event.

The Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz work to find Rosa's schedule, where she works, and what bus she'd be taking, so they can be there to make sure history isn't changed.

Rosa Parks as played by Vinette Robinson was so smart, dignified and elegant.  How could anyone stand up against such a lady?

I've liked Ryan's character from the start, and I loved that he got to meet Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King.   I think he's a really thoughtful young man, and his experiences on the Tardis are really going to shape him into a remarkable person.

DOA On TV

Monday

Manifest

This week's mystery involved the woman who was shot at the end of the previous episode.  Though she wasn't killed to shut her up, the NSA did take over the crime scene and took her body away to a creepy government facility where masked and gowned surgical types awaited her.

The medical researcher Saanvi is ahead of the feds, searching young Cal's blood for answers to what might have happened to the passengers and crew of Flight 828.  She finds a marker that turns out to be in her own blood now too, that may indicate everyone was near death and brought back.

Tuesday

This Is Us

The highlight for me was a dream sequence of sorts with all three Kate's together, with Jack stepping in after a bit.  The actresses playing Kate are all so wonderful.   The teen is so angry, while the youngest version is so sweet.

Huge: Beth loses her job just as Randall decides he's going to run against the North Philadelphia councilman who won't act to clean up the rec center.  So, they're moving from New Jersey to Philadelphia?  Does Randall plan to move into his apartment building?  Lots going on there.



Wednesday

Survivor

Worst Judgement:  Jeremy

Favorite this week:  Mike

Toughest to to take down: Natalie

Most likely to leave by episode's end:   Natalie or Jeremy.    Jeremy!  He went right off the rails out of nowhere, was paranoid, was accusing people of talking about him.  Yikes.  It happens sometimes that people just crack.  Too bad, what a good guy.


Standout moments:

David wins Immunity!  Goliath goes to Tribal.

Mike was pretty interesting and surprisingly emotional.

Natalie was just impressive going to everyone and stating her case.  She's definitely a powerhouse, but hasn't shown it much, but she was there tonight.

Bi hurting her knee is bad news she's really a tough physical resource for the David tribe.  Odd little vibe, her laying on the raft with her head in Nick's lap.

Not a merge but a mixing of tribes next week.  That's not going to go well.



Thursday

The Good Place  

Any worries about how Michael and Janet could make their way on earth with no skills, no monies, no idea of what they are doing here were quickly put aside.  Michael and Janet just use Janet's infinite knowledge base to win the Lottery by picking just the right ticket from a roll for Eleanor, and likely are doing the same for themselves.

Things just seem to be meant to break the group apart though, Tahani meets old friend Larry and plans to go back home and marry him.

Despite Janet's cautioning against it, Michael wants to sneak into the Judge's chambers!!!! and reboot things once again for the group.  That's going to go well.

Even more bizarre, Michael summons a door way in the basement but before he and Janet can go through, they see Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason standing watching them.  Oops!   How much did they hear, how is the glowing door explained, and what on earth are they all doing down in the basement?



Murphy Brown

Murphy has a pretty good episode with the MeToo movement as it's base.   Some awareness training at the station on appropriate behavior in the workplace brings up lots of conversations, and some hard memories for Murphy.   She has a good scene with Tyne Daly at Phil's talking about how women put up with a lot of behavior as part of "bad dates" back in the day.   Then, at home Murphy talks to Avery about an experience at college with a professor she's carried with her ever since.

Murphy goes to confront him, and his home is like some terrible stalker trophy den, complete with an award she won on display.


Friday

Van Helsing

My favorite episode of the series, it was spooky instead of gory.  It took a step back into the past with ancestor Lillian Van Helsing going undercover in an asylum called Renfield House.

There's a graveyard, a mad scientist, and a new type of vampire.

To top it off, The Elder psychically sends Vanessa back to Lillian's time at the end to experience an encounter from Lillian's time, as Lillian.

Next week should be great.

Sunday

Doctor Who

The Ghost Monument

At the end of episode one, the Doctor and her three new companions were floating in space, just floating in nothingness.

This episode has the Doctor and Yaz aboard a ship with Epzo, hurtling toward an unknown planet that isn't were it's supposed to be.   There's much Doctor Who-ish  technical back and forth with the pilot about how to land without crashing.

In another ship, Ryan and Graham are with pilot Angstrom who thinks they're bonuses to help her win the race she's engaged in against pilot Epzo.

The pilots began the race with a huge competitive field and they're the only ones left, and the planet they've landed on contains the last leg of the race.

The pilots were both really interesting, and though you really had to be rooting for Anstrom to win, with her whole family at stake, I liked the shared victory at the end.

The Doctor's reaction to finding that the Ghost Monument at race's end was the Tardis was fantastic, as was her reunion with the newly self-remodeled ship.

DOA On TV

Monday

Manifest  

There appears to be a mystery of the week aside from the larger mystery of the time traveling aircraft.  This week it was a touching story of a father from the plane trying to get help clearing his son of robbery charges.  The father had been on the plane for a single day trip to play with the Philharmonic.  He'd left his thirteen year old son with a trusted neighbor.  Then he disappeared for five years of his son's life.  Played by a real life father and son, they were a heartbreaking pair.

The episode ended with one of the survivors of the plane being shot while she proudly watched herself talking about the plane and the security circumstances on TV, though the government investigators had told all the passengers to talk to no one.


Tuesday

This Is Us

Kate and Toby try in vitro fertilization despite only a ten percent chance of success because of Kate's weight and Toby's long use of anti-depressants.      Incredibly Toby tosses his pills down the toilet without thinking out how to safely come off from using them.  He soon develops some odd twitches and behaviors, clearly going down a rough path.

Randall tries to save the world again by getting a local politico to help fix a local (North Philadelphia, where the heck does everyone live in this show?) rec center.   I was horrified he just dropped Deja off there to mingle with some kids he thought she might identify with.  He was gone driving around like the whole day, leaving her there.  There weren't any consequences we saw, but that girl is really in a tenuous place still, and abandoning her anywhere is a terrible thing to do.

The story lines come together at Kevin's film premier as Kate and Toby's effort to be the" only ones who can pass Jack's genes and self along by having a baby" insults Kevin and deeply wounds Randall, who is truly the best of all of them, and the most like Jack.


Wednesday

Survivor

Favorites:  Elizabeth  and Christian

Most likely to leave by episode's end:   Jess or Natalie   Jess!

Standouts:

Jeremy   went through Dan's coat pockets where he found Dan's idol, then went out and found his own!

The Goliath "power girls"    Kara, Natalia and Angelina  figure they have the "boys wrapped around their fingers"  so they're all set.

Natalie    Tries to promote herself as harmless and old, and thus a silly target.  That argument could work later in the game, but not this early on.





Thursday



The Good Place

Bad Place crud ball Trevor reaches earth and sets out to tear the foursome apart.  He is hilariously obnoxious.   They go out to dine at a horrible "American restaurant.

Ha!  The Judge catches up with Michael and Janet, really telling them off for their interference and describing their upcoming well deserved ill fate.   Somehow they escape back to Earth.

Murphy Brown

The second episode has Murphy trying to get into the White House press room because her son has gained access via a campaign trail alliance with Sandra Huckabee Sanders.

She is so competitive with him.  She miraculously gets in with a ridiculous disguise, which she sheds in a planter before going into the press room and castigating Sanders and everyone in the room before being shown out.

I thought she should have kept her disguise on to have at least a few moments of journalistic credibility, but she just plowed in and tried to take over the room.   This was a terrible choice, and if she is buffoonish like that all the time, my dislike of sitcoms having people do outrageous things to get a laugh is going to play out.

I hoped the show might get in some actual commentary on our society and politics, but that might get tossed aside to play to the laugh track.




Friday 

Van Helsing

The uber grisly and grim vampire hunter is back.  The season last year ended oddly with little of Vanessa Van Helsing in episodes because she was pregnant in real life and couldn't do all the stunts and fights.

Vanessa is in fine form, and two big bads from last season were quickly dispatched by Vanessa and her sister.   Two more to go!

A show not for the faint of heart.  I'm borderline myself.



Sunday

Doctor Who!  

A great day for Who fans.   Great cast, enjoyable episode.   I like seeing the emergence of a new Doctor.

Doctor Who: The Woman Who Fell To Earth

I knew from the first moments of Jodi Whittaker's appearance on Capaldi's last Who that she would be a great Doctor.

Having watched the first Jodi Whittaker Doctor Who episode twice today, I was right!  She is a great Doctor already.

She has boundless enthusiasm and energy.   The fearlessness to tell any alien to just get OUT.  The quick brilliance.   Centuries of knowledge (after a bit of a reboot process) at her fingertips.   Unassuming bravery.  A love of humanity.  A definitely alien view of the workings of the universe.

The only thing I was worried about were her companions.  Three seemed too many to start a new doctor off with.   They're perfect, though, and work really well as a team and with the doctor.  I wish Grace could have joined them!  She was the best.

I might have watched all the seasons of Doctor Who from Eccleston to Capaldi within a span of months, rather than over a space of years.  I'd just get to really enjoy a Doctor when a new one would come on board, and I'd be sad to see the one I'd become attached to leaving, but in every case I loved the new Doctor as much as the old.   Each new Doctor seems to become my favorite.  I think that will be the case here as well.


My favorite parts:

The Doctor's surprising entrance through the roof of a train and her quick dispatch of a tentacled alien.

The alien's toothy face, eeeww.

The Doctor making her own new Sonic Screwdriver.

I'm the Doctor!

Graham's surprisingly touching eulogy.  The show doesn't often allow emotional heft in any scenes, but his speech, and the glory of Grace's great character made it special.

Off to find the Tardis, oops!

The Doctor Is IN!

Speculate no more, the new season of Doctor Who with all it's changes and wonders begins OCTOBER 7!!!   It's almost here!

The show is leaving Saturday nights for Sundays this time around.  

While you're waiting, the BBC Doctor Who page has lots of puzzles and games to occupy you.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4nH4gHgpmRXh8w8vqLsq1jS/fun-and-games

Syfy Wire's Everything We Know About Doctor Who So Far

I personally am always sad to see an old Doctor go, but I've liked each new incarnation.  From what I've seen of  Jodi Whittaker, I'm sure I'll love her Doctor as well.

Syfy Wire posted one of those appealing articles last week touting "Everything We Know So Far", with the exception being, no one knows the premier date beyond a vague  "Fall 2018".  We're there!  Bring on the Doctor.  Perhaps they like beginnings and endings on Christmas.  Does that count as Fall?

My thoughts on what they talk about

Hate her shirt.  Can't stand stripes.

Excited to see a new Tardis Interior!

New Sonic Screwdrivers are fun.

Three companions might be too many.  While I always love the Doctors, I'm not always fond of the Companions.  Perhaps if there are three there are higher chances of a likeable one?

New writers and directors may liven things up.  I can't imagine they don't know Who they're writing and creating for, so they'll be lively but careful is my hope.

Daleks are a no show?  I may have mentioned I don't care for them, so it's all good!

DOA on TV: And We're Off!

Doctor Who  The Magician's Apprentice

I'm not clear here who was the magician and who was the apprentice.  Doctor Who/Clara or Davros/Dr. Who?

I have seen no episodes with The Master (I haven't seen all the runs of Who) that I recall, but I just despise the Missy character and was not happy to see her again.

Clara has grown on me, but I didn't care for her bit here super analyzing the frozen plane dilemma with some brain trust peeps.  Once reunited with Who, she was wonderful.

In a bit of purest sacrilege, I also don't like the tinny voiced Daleks with their idiotic incessant "exterminate" whine.

Colony Sarff, a being composed of deadly snakes, now he was interesting.

I loved Peter Capaldi rocking out with his guitar, riding atop of tank.  Best entrance ever.


Fear the Walking Dead: Not Fade Away

Our group tries for normalcy under the imposed martial law.   From the opening we know it's been nine days since the lights went out in Los Angeles and elsewhere.  There's no water, landline phones, nothing, and the occupiers aren't providing much information.


They do say they're working on getting services restored, and health checks will continue.  These folks are one of 12 safe zones south of the San Gabriel Mountains.  This stuck with me so I looked for a map to see how much area that covered.  Not really so much land area, and they don't say how many people are in each safe zone.

They also said that it was great news that a six mile area around the safe zone had been cleared.  When Madison goes sneaking through a fence with her handy fence cutter to see what that zone is like, she finds the dead lying all over in the streets, some clearly not diseased, just shot.

When Travis reports to the head military goof that some sort of signal seems to be coming from the deadened zone, the guy looks up, dismisses the idea, and goes back to golfing in the street  (a common thing for apocalypse honchos to do, note the Governor, season three The Walking Dead lofting golf balls at zombies).

Later that night, Travis sees lights from the house, then sees the place lit up with gunfire, which can be heard even at the distance.  He is so enamored of the security the military brings, but I'm hoping he sees that he is responsible for those deaths.

Madison, in addition to sneaking outside the fence, goes whacko on Nick and beats him for stealing drugs from a dying neighbor.   I understand that she is cracking under the strain but, just yell at the kid.  Man.

Alycia just has to butt into every conversation.  Agh.

Ofelia changes out of her sweetie pie dress and slinks out to find a soldier who might give her mom new meds.

Liza, who keeps sneering at Travis for trying to fix everything, is right out there on the front lines going door to door using her nurse-in-training skills to help out.  When ratted out by a real doc who comes to town, she hops on a truck and leaves everyone behind in order to travel with Griselda (who is going to get surgery for her foot-wink-wink) and Nick, who is apparently a risk of OD-ing and needs to be removed.   I see nothing good ahead for those folks, since soldiers come and forcibly take them at night--why at night? and relatives are not allowed to come along for the ride.

The only good things that can come from these events are that Liza gets some crash course medical training that will be valuable later, and Daniel and Madison will unite to try to get them back, and I think they make a formidable pair.  Through them, we'll also get a bit more of an idea of what is happening in the larger world.

My last thought is, in the chaos of the times, how did they get a big chain fence up around this community in so little time?


Gotham: Rise of the Villains: Damned If You Do...

This season is Gotham, Rise of the Villains.  All of the neo-natal villains from season one--Penguin, Joker, Riddler and more are coming into their own.

Jim Gordon is tossed from the force by the commissioner.  Gordon goes to Penguin to ask for help getting reinstated and he wants Commissioner Loeb removed.  Penguin want Gordon to do a favor too, collect money from a reluctant mob boss.  He refuses, but basically Bruce Wayne shames him into going to do it for the long term good of the city.   Wise beyond his years is Bruce.

Jim does the deed, ends up killing the mob boss, but he gets Penguins help and is reinstated by new commissioner Essen. Yay, now things will shape up.

Horribly, there's a new uber villain in town with a psycho sister in tow with big ninja moves (Theo and Tabitha Galavan).  I don't mind a passle of silly over the top villains, because this is the comics, folks.   I hate uber, untouchable, smarter than everyone villains though.  Boring and ugly.

Worse yet, Uber dog has set loose a team of scum from Arkham Asylum which includes Barbara the super psycho which puts my beloved Dr. Leslie Thompkins in danger.  Yech.

Great scenes with Bruce determined to get into the Batcave and getting yelled at by Alfred for trying to make a fertilizer bomb using an Internet recipe.  Thanks to Alfred's own skills, they blow open the door and find a spider webby cave with an old computer and a note to Bruce from his dad.  The doorcode was Bruce, doh.  To the Batcave!


Minority Report: Pilot

This has taken the place of Sleepy Hollow after Gotham and I found the commecials for it to be just cringe worthy.  Ha!

The story doesn't quite match the film, and yet it was quite enjoyable.

Three children with precognition are trapped by the goverment for a decade predicting crimes.  Theyr'e released after the program doesn't quite work out but are not to bring any attention to themselves.

Cue the entrance of Dash, who sees visions of murders and can draw rather bizarre caricatures of the killers.  He sees these just barely enough in advance to try to stop them but he can't ever successfully get to the scene in time.

He decides to ask for the help of detective Lara Vega, who has retinal implants which help her recreate crime scenes and scan areas for heat signatures among other things.  The high tech available to the cops is fun to see.   They were able to create a 3D sketch from Dash's drawing of a killer, then go after that person.

The show was unexpectedly fast paced, compelling as a crime story, with Vega and Dash being a good pair working together.

An interesting twist going forward is that Agatha, the precog sister who sees the future as a larger picture without details, sees something bad coming of Dash working with Vega. Maybe his death, maybe the recapture and imprisonment of the three siblings.  Arthur, the sibling who sees names and dates and places wants to help Dash but fears Agatha may be right.   Dash himself sees the details of the murder, but not locations, names or any general idea of what surrounds the crime.   Only the three together get a good picture of what is to be.

From the Diaries of D.O.A.

Fair

We spent a few hours at the State Fair today.  Mostly we wandered.  I only had my beloved Cheese Curds and they did not disappoint.

We took the Park and Ride Bus and it was smooth as usual.  The new hub however was a terrible mess of lines of people waiting to get tickets.  Half and hour in line?

Then as we entered the fair you looked down and it was just a sea of humanity.  The whole place was that way.   Hot from people though the temp itself was in the reasonable 70s.

Television

Doctor Who: Into the Dalek

Shades of the movie Fantastic Voyage the Doctor, Clara and two soldiers from a rebel ship are miniaturized and sent into a haywire “good Dalek” who is malfunctioning after having seen the birth of a star, and experiencing beauty.

 

I thought it was amusing the Doctor named the Dalek “Rusty”.   It sort of personalized him.

In another echo of Fantastic Voyage, the Dalek’s anti-bodies attack our little group when one shoots a grappling hook into the “floor”.

The episode is a race to find what is causing the malfunction and see if it can be used to turn the other Daleks from their destructive ways.

 

There is more of the theme of getting to know the new Doctor as well.  He asks Clara if he is a good man.   At the episode’s beginning and end she has to say “I don’t know”.   From what I’ve seen so far, my answer would be “not particularly”.