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The Boys Season 2: Trailer | Premiere Date Announced

New trailer for the second season of The Boys on Amazon Prime.

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Hunters (2020) after one episode | Amazon Original

This Amazon original, much like the Carnival Row, is not for the faint of heart. It plays off of the fall out of the Holocaust with the show dating back in 1977.

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The Flash: A Girl Named Sue | 6 x 12 – Review

What happened to Iris when she walked into the mirror?

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Is Designated Survivor worth binging? | review

Netflix recently released the third season of Designated Survivor. The show was previously on ABC, and I have to admit that I knew it existed, but I never watched it.

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Party of Five after one episode

Freeform’s 2020 drama, Party of Five started off like the generic mellow dramatic teen television show. But it quickly pulled on the viewer’s heartstrings.

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Watchmen (2019) | Season 1 Series Review (HBO)

I decided to binge-watch HBO’s Watchmen (2019) after watching the first episode during the season premiere. I still remember the emotions that the first episode left me with. As a result, I decided to designate time to appropriately watch the series and write a full spoiler free season review.

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The Mandalorian (2019) based on two epsiodes

The first series released on the Disney+ stream, The Mandalorian, proved to be a treat for Star Wars fans. Before I was able to see the first episode for myself, I heard a lot of good things about the shows practical and visual effects.

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The Hook Up Plan (Netflix) | Series Review

[This review was contributed by (AF).]

Paris, France gets a piece of the Netflix streaming action with its comedy-drama The Hook Up Plan. With a mixed cast of newcomers and award-winning talent, the audience won’t mind reading the subtitles for this french entertainment. 

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The Flash: Kiss Kiss Breach Breach | 6 x05 (the CW)

Iris doesn’t want to go on vacation with Barry because there is a lot of stuff going on, but Barry talks her into going away for two days. Cisco is attaching to his pending role as the team leader. He created a decision-making algorithm, B.A.R.I.

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Nancy Drew based on one episode (CW)

After watching the first episode of Nancy Drew on the CW, I wasn’t impressed. For me, the show started off very bland. Nancy’s afternoon quickies with the neighborhood mechanic did nothing for me, and her job at the local diner didn’t add anything to her character. Plus, During Nancy’s narration, she says that she isn’t curious anymore since her mom passed, but she is. As soon as something weird happens she jumps headfirst into detective work and brings her coworkers along with her.

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The Flash: There Will Be Blood | 6 x 04 (the CW)

This week in Central City, Ramsey Rosso finally ascended into madness while trying to cure his terminal illness, HLH. The episode began with Ramsey sneaking into Central City General (the city hospital) and stealing 10 liters of blood. He believes he can rebuild his cellular structure with the new blood and Romero’s blood and create a cure.

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‘Stumptown’ based on one episode: Dex Parios character analysis (ABC)

Dex Parios is a fun character. Sure she has her problems but her sarcasm, love for her family and friends, plus a willingness to go above and beyond to call of duty make her likable.

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The I-Land will leave you confused (Netflix)

I started watching The I-Land after stumbling across it on Netflix in the late night. I was very intrigued by the show. It’s a 7 episode series about certain death row inmates looking for redemption after committing crimes in their life.

Sounds straightforward enough until you realize that nothing makes sense at all. All of the criminals were dropped on an island with no memories of their life. The goal is to see if they could change their behavior with new circumstances. However, throwing them in an environment with different types of people hindered that because right away there were trust issues and confusion.

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Abyss: Murder Mystery and Love (Netflix)

[This review was contributed by (AF).]

I am ready to tackle the Koren Drama called Abyss starring the extremely popular Park Bo-Young playing Go Se-Yeon and handsome Ahn Hyo-Seop as Cha Min. Abyss is about two people brought back to life but in different bodies by a strange alien object. Together they embark on a journey to uncover an elusive killer wreaking havoc in Seoul and of course finding love on the way. Wish me luck as I do a drama deep-sea dive and give my recommendation.

In terms of originality and storyline, I would give this an A for effort. Korean dramas, though recycled, reinvent the premise around the typical love triangle with new elements of history, fantasy or politics. This drama does a good job of combining several genres.

Sometimes the drama gets awkward in terms of musical cues that don’t add to the moments. Also, there are forced product placements that take away from the story. It ended up being distracting and making me frustrated.

Plus, the mysterious alien object called Abyss towards the end was explained away horribly. It was like the writers were trying to be too mysterious or set up a season two and do a big reveal later.

The supporting actors do deserve an award for their performance. They helped move the story forward. Lee Si-eon, who previously was in the drama W, played the police detective and he was unforgettable. He had moments with fellow co-stars Song Sang-Eun, who played his ex-girlfriend. They had chemistry and served their purpose.

But a relative newcomer with less than 5 drama’s released named, Han So-Hee had the best performance. She played Cha Min’s missing in action fiancée and quickly outgrew her role, capturing the screen when she had to deliver. Alas towards episode 13, her storyline was cut off and she was tossed in the proverbial character trash bin. She needed more time.

Ahn Hyo-Seop plays the younger hot version of Cha Min after he is brought back to life early in episode one. Infatuated with his new looks and motivated to win his fiance back, he takes advantage of his new life by partnering with Go Se-Yeon on a murder mystery. He was the typical
hot guy persona. There were no distinct personality or character traits. But, he didn’t have a lot of chances to extend his range of performance and a lot of times I was distracted by the sometimes confusing storyline.

Park Bo-Young plays the younger average or “ugly” version of Go Se-Yeon when she is murdered, but she is revived by Cha Min. Having rejected Cha Min for over 30 years, she finally admits her love him and they team up to find her killer. Park Bo-Young was a game-changer in the industry and a great addition to the project.

After watching Abyss, I would recommend it. I admit to binging a few episodes in a row, but it showcases the originality of Korean Dramas as America continues to consume its entertainment. We all love to be sucked into a fantasy with good looking people in unrealistic
situations and Abyss accomplishes that. So K-drama lovers, this can scratch your drama fix for now.

Let’s catch up on Stranger Things episodes 1-4 (season 3 recap)

So much happened in this season of Stranger Things! It is a truly exciting episodic adventure and I am glad I watched it. However, there was so much happening that I decided to break up the review into two parts. It’ll be easier to follow that way I’m sure.

Let’s catch up on Stranger Things episodes 1 through 4 in season 3.

Everything is going somewhat well in Hawkins, Louisiana when we meet back up with Eleven (El) and the gang. Hopper is miserable because El and Mike are getting more action than him every night. Local businesses, including Joyce’s, are closing or suffering because a new mall has opened called Starcourt. The entire community is spending time there at the new mall and people are losing work too. But, overall things seem normal.

That is until a blackout in Hawkins knocked out the power for a moment and rats start gravitating toward a warehouse in town. Joyce notices and tries to get Hopper to help her investigate with her, but he’s too preoccupied with trying to date her. Eventually, he comes around and they follow a lead to find out if Hawkins Lab, which was destroyed last season, is the root of this issue.

Billy, Stranger Things 3

Not too much is happening until we catch up with Billy, Max’s older brother. He’s a lifeguard this summer and has the hots for an older woman. They plan a date and Billy takes his car to pick her up, but he never makes it because he drives past the warehouse that is giving off weird vibes and attracting crazy amounts of rats at this point.

Somewhat of a shock wave knocks Billy off course and causes an accident. A shadowy figure drags Billy into the warehouse and I assure its all bad from there.

As a result of Billy’s abduction, the older lady is stood up, sort of. It’s okay though because she has a husband and children. One of those children is Nancy.

Nancy is dating Jonathon Byers. They are interning at the Hawkins post this summer, but the editors treat her like she’s incompetent. Nancy comes across a story regarding rabid rats eating chemicals around the town. The editors don’t take her seriously, so she decides to investigate on her own with Jonathan.

Let’s jump back to 1 year before these events. In a place that looks a lot like Siberia, Russian scientists tried to reopen a portal to the Upside Down. They were given a year time frame to open it and keep it open by an unnamed General who was awfully sweaty.

At first, I thought they were trying to weaponize the portal and its beings, but then I realized the General was sweaty!

Let me explain.

Next time we see Billy, he is a sweaty, nasty, violated mess. That’s when it hit me. Billy is infected by the Mind Flayer and so was the General who gave the order in the previous year!

We find out that the Mind Flayer wants to spread himself across Hawkins and the rest of the world by infecting more people. He tells Billy this much. It sends Billy on a rampage to abduct people and take them back to the Mind Flayer for infection.

We meet back up with El, Mike, Max, Lucas, Will, and Dustin. Dustin recently returned from a camp where he made a high powered satellite to talk to his girlfriend, Suzie.

When he uses it, Suzie doesn’t answer, but he overhears a secret Russian transmission.

Transmission: The week is long, silver cats feed, when blue meets yellow in the west (playing over Indiana Flyer Much)

Dustin and Steve, Stranger Things 3

Mike, Lucas, and Will are caught up in the boyfriend, girlfriend drama with El and Max. So Dustin takes his findings to Steve and his co-worker, Robin, at the ice cream parlor in Starcourt. They begin to decode the message and they discover it’s a message telling the people involved when and where to meet underneath Starcourt.

At the same time, Billy has abducted his lifeguard co-worker, Heather.

El ends up having a weird feeling about Heather and Billy so sure uses her powers to spy on them and sees Heather in trouble. Max and El run over to Heather’s house to find Billy is over for dinner.

Billy almost convinces El and Max to back off, but then Mike, Will, and Lucus call for a code red the next day.

Let me back up.

During that same rainstorm, Mike and Lucus are trying to figure out how to get back with their girlfriends. Mike is broken up with El because he lied to her after Hopper threatened him. And Max and Lucas are on the outs because of El and Mike.

Will just wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons but Mike and Lucas wanted to win their girls back. Will threw a tantrum and ran out in the rain. During Will’s tantrum, Billy and Heather abduct her parents and give them to the Mind Flayer. Will recognizes an all too familiar feeling and alerts his friends that that Mind Flayer is back.

Turns out, Heather’s dad, Tom, the boss of Nancy and Jonathan. The next day he turns up to work looking all sweaty, nasty, and like a violated mess. He fires Nancy and Jonathan for continuing their investigation after they were told not to mess with the rats anymore.

He’s been infected!

Nancy still feels compelled to do this story despite pretty much breaking up with Jonathan due to class issues and losing her internship. With the encouragement of her mother, she sets up to continue investigating the rats.

Remember, the rabid rats are feeding on chemicals around town. Jonathon and Nancy previously met with a little old lady, Doris Driscoll. She caught one in her basement. When they came back to check on her during the rainstorm, they found her eating the rat. That’s what ultimately got them fired.

Code red!

Stranger Things 3

Back with Dustin, Steve, and Robin, they hatch a plan to get into the secret room that the Russians are using under Starcourt by using the vent system. Dustin can’t fit so they bribe a little girl named Erica to help.

Erica shimmies her way into the room and opens the door from the inside. They find cases of vials filled with green liquid. They try to leave with a sample but the room begins to move. The room is actually an elevator to an underground facility.

My guess is that it is the same facility that they are trying to open the portal to the Upside Down from.

Joyce and Hopper were attacked while visiting the Hawkins Lab by a man on a motorcycle. Hopper followed his intuition and managed to get some addresses from Larry, a real estate agent working with the Russians to acquire land and buildings in Hawkins.

Larry tells Hopper that the people he’s working with are not to be messed with. Hopper beats him up after they exchange jabs about Hopper’s past substance abuse issues and go to follow the address trail with Joyce. Larry makes a phone, most likely to the same people he just told Hopper not to mess with.

Meanwhile, Max El Mike, Will, Lucas, and Max plan to lock Billy in a sauna to confirm that he is infected.

Of course, he is and he ends up getting into a fight with El. She almost wins, but she throws him out of a window allowing him to escape.

Billy runs back to his warehouse hideaway to find Heather waiting for him. He tells her how Eleven almost killed him. Heather says it’s okay because “She can’t beat us.”

The final shot of episode four is an entire group of people that they’ve abducted and fed to the Mind Flayer. They are all sitting in wait!

Stranger Things season 3 promotion poster

Swamp Thing S01 E06: The Price You Pay (review)

Blackmail, tricks, and half-cocked explained bargains. That’s what this Swamp Thing series is made up of. That doesn’t make it any less interesting.

Spoilers ahead

Do you remember the friendly stranger that helped Holland become one with the green last week?

I’m beginning to think he’s not so friendly after all. We meet him again this week in a flashback with Daniel Cassidy. Last week he was knocked over the head during an attack on Liz. This left him in a coma with little brain activity.

In the flashback, we’re finally somewhat exposed to his life as a stunt double in Hollywood. He’s in the middle of a gig when a “friendly stranger” that Daniel believes is a part of the directing crew starts to chat him up.

While talking to the stranger, Daniel says that he’d give anything to play Blue Devil.

Be careful how you word things, people!

The stranger takes him seriously and tells him he needs a person to make themselves available for a new job staying in Marai. He gives no specifics or time frame. They just shake hands and BOOM, “miraculously” Daniel is recast as the lead Blue Devil.

Be careful what you wish for, people!

Fast forward to now, Daniel is in a coma and a nurse walks in to administer some blue liquid into his IV line.

Apparently, Liz is a very heavy sleeper because she was right there in the room. Either she didn’t hear the nurse or she wasn’t curious enough to squint her eyes open and say, “What’s that?”

“What did they do?” – Daniel Cassidy

Daniel Cassidy, Blue Devil

The blue liquid jump-starts Daniels brain activity, he wakes up, jumps up all frantic and starts burning up.

Turns out that Dr. Woodrue is behind the blue liquid with his human experimentation. That concoction was synthesized from Hollands swamp DNA and now Daniel is 3 seconds away from turning physically into Blue Devil.

Daniel runs away to find Woodrue, but he’s challenged by Avery who thinks Woodrue has figured out a brain healing cure. Not that Avery really cares. He just wants to please his investors.

The Conclave maybe?

Caroline Woodrue ends up stabbing Daniel with a tranquilizer to keep him from transforming. He ends up sedated back at the hospital where Ms. X tells him that she can’t relieve him from his destiny, but she can ease his pain.

So, him turning into a Blue Devil is inevitable. Poor guy.

“I’ll always care about you, but if you accuse me of something like this again, I won’t be so forgiving”. – Avery Sunderland

Liz ends up telling Abby about the intimidation tactics of Avery that caused Daniel to be in a coma in the first place. Abby straight up confronts Avery and tells him to stop trying to hurt people and to leave her friends alone.

That was very brave of her, but it won’t stop the wheels that are already in motion.

Abby goes to meet Holland in the woods at the same time that Matt Cable is investigating animal attacks. It’s actually not animal attacks, it’s Holland trying to ward off bounty hunters from Avery.

He’s attacked four hunters by this point which prompted Lucilia to send Matt to the sight.

Abby is too trusting! She’s suspicious of all of the right people, but still too trusting of the wrong people. We’ve seen that with her letting Woodrue see her research data and now she’s revealed Holland’s true identity to Matt! And poor Holland, he’s lost all of his important memories so all he knows is that Matt is a friend to Abby.

But honestly, Matt is being blackmailed by Avery and that blackmail is the reason that Matt attempted to kill Holland in episode one. But, the only reason he was able to be blackmailed in the first place is because of Lucilia.

YUP!

His mother is a dirty cop and even though she’s literally in bed with Avery, he threatened to out Lucilia of all of her wrongdoings if Matt didn’t do his bidding.

Yikes.

“I’m not going to give up on you. You’re still Alex Holland.” – Abby Arcane

Holland, Swamp Thing and Abby Arcane

Matt ends up leaving the woods because Abby asks him to keep Holland’s secret until she figures out how to cure him. However, I think he’s going to report back to Avery.

I really hope not. I’m rooting for you to not be a total scumbag, Matt!

This leaves Holland and Abby alone. I think pheromones surround them or something because a flower blooms in Hollands plant hand and then Abby can see Holland as his former human form.

Aww, love.

But seriously, I have some questions.

Will Matt tell Avery about Holland’s identity even though he’s technically working for him by force?

Will Lucilia stop sleeping and watching out for Avery now that he has blackmailed Matt?

Are the Conclave, Avery’s investors, and the swamp stranger related?

Previous Episode: Swamp Thing S01 E05: Drive All Night (review)

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