Tag: episode 6

Sleepy Hollow: Homecoming – Team Witness (Review)

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Sleepy Hollow “Homecoming” pits Team Witness against Malcolm Dreyfuss and his pet demon Jobe.  By the end of the episode it appears that  Crane and his posse have defeated the man who sold his soul to the devil. However, Dreyfuss crawls out of the wreckage and appears to be pretty much indestructible.

Oops.

Jobe, we learn, was not despatched permanently by Ansel last week and the demon is in on Malcolm’s little plan to cheat the devil out of his due. A bit more Crane backstory is trotted out by Dreyfuss.

Ichabod learns that his friend and mentor sacrificed him to the Philosophers Stone back in the day. It also turns out that his other pal, Benjamin Banneker knew about it and fought for Crane’s corner. Washington won out and later, Crane tells Diana that it was the right choice at the time.

These last few episodes of Sleepy Hollow have worked to bring the new members to Crane’s world together as a more effective team. Alex, Jake and Jennifer do very well as a trio of defenders against evil and Diana fills in for her witness daughter as Crane’s partner.

There was one plot hole in this episode. Crane tells everyone that if Malcolm uses the Philosophers Stone to become immortal then everyone in Sleepy Hollow will perish. However, as we learn at the stone’s site, both Crane and the horseman became immortal because of the stone over 250 years earlier.

Clearly the denizens of Sleepy Hollow are still very much alive even though two immortals are still walking the Earth. At the end of the episode, where a smoke blackened and bedraggled Malcolm Dreyfuss crawls from the rubble, a new immortal has been created and the town’s people are still, presumably, alive and well.

On a sidenote: Jobe might just pop back up since that lantern was blasted from Jenny’s grasp, as Crane tells Abigail later.

One thing to look out for is the possibility that young Molly’s life will be in danger very soon. Crane’s repeated promises to save the young witness from harm is most likely a portent that she will be targeted this season.

The introduction of the Anubis-type guardian looks to be a sign that Egyptian Gods may well play a part in this season which should make things interesting if not a bit off point.

Word on the net is that Sleepy Hollow is falling in the ratings game. The show’s creators (Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) need to pull something out of their collective hats to keep the show on the air.  Losing Abbie Mills and bringing in a new team has shaken things up a bit but it may not be enough to keep viewers interested. 

Sleepy Hollow airs Fridays on FOX.

 

Cast:

Guest starring Edwin Hodge as Benjamin Banneker and Mark Campbell as George Washington.

The Mick: The Master – Butt Dial (Review)

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The Mick with “The Master” continues to knock it out of the comedy ballpark with more “inappropriate” humor and non-PC gags. Just when it seems that the creators, John and Dave Chernin, cannot possibly top, or at least match, the “Granny Hitler” episode along comes another noteworthy segment.

It all starts off with a horrible meal in an Italian restaurant that “smelly” Jimmy found by accident. After spilling red wine on Mickey’s dress and then choking on spaghetti bolognese, his girlfriend dumps him for the power puncher Teddy Grant.

This is followed by Chip being “butt dialed” by the missing parents and Ben watching highly inappropriate movies, starting with A Clockwork Orange, aka the annoying orange. (This long running gag ended with Jimmy, Mickey and Ben watching Aliens on a tablet together.)

The Mick this week had it all: An almost non-stop quota of more laughs per minute than any other episode so far. Mickey taking too much motion sickness medication and falling overboard, the sex butt dial, the battle for the master bedroom between Chip and Sabrina and the culmination of that fight where Teddy gets it in the eye.

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Mickey in too deep…

The main storyline runs parallel with the master bedroom battle. Mickey zeroes in on the man with the money; Teddy, while at home the group find themselves focussing on the luxurious boudoir.

Everyone in this episode just killed it. Olson with her OTT behavior with her latest “man.” Jimenez giving that seduction scene her all, including the savage teeth chomping, was spot on.

Major kudos to both Black-D’Elia and Barbusca and their epic bedroom fight. Headbutting, with Sabrina hurting her forehead, leaping through windows, Chip and that falsetto scream, “I killed her,” and that shoe shot all took this episode to insane heights of physical comedy.

The pinnacle of the entire episode had to be Teddy getting that high-heeled shoe skewered into his left eye. As the entire group react in horror, Ben, who has been immunized against grotesque scenes of violence with his steady diet of inappropriate films, pulls the heel from Grant’s eye.

“Cool,” says Ben as Chip passes out. This was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the comedy highpoint in this series thus far. Even funnier than Mickey’s drunken high dive off of Grant’s yacht earlier.

The Mick also manages to give us a touching moment at the end of this episode. After Chip tries so hard to decipher the butt dialed messages left on his phone, he finally realizes, with some help from Sabrina, that their parents do not care about any of them.

Chip takes his phone out to the police who are watching the house and gives it to the two men. He has decided to help the cops catch his “unloving” parents. Seconds after handing the phone over, Chip’s father calls and explains why they have not called before and to say that he and Poodle love them and miss them.

FOX have given us a family that are shallow, supercilious and comically unlikeable. (With the exception of Alba who is absolutely lovable.) This show is full of comic genius and one can only hope that Mickey and the kids stick together for a long time.

The Mick airs Tuesdays on FOX.

Cast:

Guest starring Dave Annable as Teddy Grant.

Crazyhead: Beaver With a Chainsaw – Balls Out Together (Review)

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Crazyhead “Beaver With a Chainsaw” (“What does that even mean,” asks Amy.) is the very short season’s finale.  Raquel does indeed open the gates of Hell releasing a legion of demons.  Amy saves the day, along with a little help from Mercy, and Jake is possessed. By the time the end credits roll, however, the two demon hunters are back together; extendible batons at the ready.

In the last episode, Raquel learns that Harry is actually a demon and that Dr. Weaver is the big leader of all the escapees from Hell.  Amy tries to warn her friend and even threatens to get Tyler; Raquel’s brother,  involved to keep the “key to Hell” from going to see Harry.

Raquel drugs everyone and as they play Jinga on Halloween, Tyler, Jake and Amy collapse and pass out. (Tyler loses the Jinga game by knocking over the wooden tower with his head as he passes out.) Amy wakes up and gets Jake to drive after Raquel.

Both of her potential saviors are colossally messed up from the combination of vodka and prescription medication. Jake insists he can drive and takes off at a snail’s pace to catch up with Raquel. After a short, but very funny, journey, they arrive in time to see Raquel being taken away.

After getting Halloween costumes, in order to blend in at the big party and Hell gate opening, they chase after Raquel again.

At the mansion, Callum is gloating about releasing a legion of demons. Raquel asks for, and gets, a cigarette. Immediately after lighting it, she shoves the lit end into Dr. Weaver’s ear. “Can we get that painkilling spray,” he asks Harry later.

Mercy is not pleased that her son is set up to be possessed by demons and while Callum and Harry get things ready, she spends a lot of time with her boy. Amy and Jake arrive and Mercy gives her a demon kiss rendering the young woman unconscious.

Raquel learns that Harry was a demon all along and her fury at being lied to creates a little meltdown action. The gates of Hell open and demons come flooding into the mansion and the innocent party goers.

Amy, who had a vision showing her dying at the Halloween party, stops Raquel’s rage fueled grief by telling her friend  she loves her. Kissing her pal causes Raquel to calm down and this closes the gates of Hell.

Callum is furious. He and Amy struggle and they plunge off the edge of the balcony. Amy, seen falling in slow motion, lands on a zombie decoration. Raquel screams her friend’s name and Amy’s eyes open. She has been saved by an inflatable zombie decoration.

The three friends leave the mansion. Jake turns out to be possessed. After a quick chase through the woods, which ends with the young man being zapped by Raquel’s taser mobile phone, Amy performs an exorcism.

Later she tells her friend that Jake is back and that he was extremely excited that she urinated on him. At the end, Suzanne – drinking what looks suspiciously like blood from a  five liter plastic bottle – watches as the two demon hunters go after their latest prey.

This was a brilliant end to the six episode season. Everything about this series worked well. From Kiwi songstress Gin Wigmore’s  Kill of the Night theme song to the raunchy, aka earthy, slang for all things sexual from Raquel, this was funny and entertaining.

The scene where everyone apart from Raquel are stoned while playing Jinga is hysterically funny. So too is the low speed chase with a loaded Jake and Amy going after Raquel. Rather interestingly, Mercy’s last moment change of heart was touching.

Misfits creator Howard Overman has given us an irreverent and amusing look at two English demon hunters who have little in common. There appears to be a good chance that the show will come back for a second season as it seems that E4 put the series on with an eye on Netflix acquiring the show.

With an ongoing mission to find all the demons that Raquel released into that mansion, the two heroines are going to be very busy for at least another six episode season.

Crazyhead is available on Netflix to stream or download for offline viewing.

Cast:

Shut Eye: Judgement – Funeral (Review)

KaDee Strickland, Jeffrey Donovan in Hulu's Shut Eye

Shut Eye “Judgement” sees Fabiana somehow surviving her fiery end, but not for long.  As the family engulf the hospital where Fonzo’s cousin is interred, Linda hovers worriedly around the burned woman. Charlie arrives and Fabiana recovers somewhat. He turns what she says into news about her cat and Fabiana dies.

Next up is the funeral and the wake afterward.  Meanwhile Charlie works on the long game he has planned for Nadine Davies. Nick is questioned by the police about Emma, he sent her a text and as such is the last person to have seen and communicated with her.

Charlie and Linda come home to find the police talking to their son and he orders them out of his house. The cop investigating Charlie and the psychic community warns him that the city is cracking down on the scammers.

Later, at Fabiana’s funeral, Charlie tells Linda to warn Rita that a guest is wearing a wire. Roger Nash is there to get evidence that Fonzo’s mother charged him for her services. Rita is not overly impressed that Linda warned her.

Fonzo still believes that “White Tony” burned his cousin. Rita tasks Charlie with making sure that Fonzo behaves. She is already angry with her son for killing White Tony’s cousin Lou. Tony eats the last of the shrimp, at the wake, and Fonzo, after being warned that police are outside, attacks White Tony.

Gina takes advantage of a potential threesome to steal a huge diamond ring. She then sells it to buy an apartment for Linda. Charlie’s wife turns up and after telling Gina how much she hates her, gets into a sexy clinch with her “bit on the side.”

Nick is still confused and concerned about Emma and why she left. He asks her “cool” friends if they know and after initially making fun of Nick then admit that are concerned as well. Someone, it seems, is watching Nick and it could well be the police.

Dr. White has halfway convinced herself that “scumbag” Charlie is a saint experiencing real visions. He emphatically does not want the visions at all. Charlie tells White that he wants real medicine to take the things away.

Fabiana’s fiery death after his visions of burning have disturbed him. This, coupled with his latest premonition, of drowning, has left him desperate to get rid of his newest “power.” Dr. White seems to be the wrong person to help him however.

It does seem that Shut Eye may be heading for an ending that will end in tears for all the main players. With the police cracking down on the psychic community and the death of Emma, Linda’s hooking back up with Gina could be the worst possible decision on her part.

The same can be said for Charlie’s long game plans. Despite his drowning vision and the warning from the detective (Sonja Sohn) Charlie is powering ahead with his million dollar scam.

Maybe Charlie can pull it off in time and Linda’s move to reunite with Gina could be her chance to pin Emma’s death on the medium from Vegas.  Of course the biggest issue, apart from everything else, which includes Eduardo, is that vision of Charlie drowning.

Shut Eye continues to entertain. The characters are all interesting and Fonzo, who was initially quite disturbing, and a character that seemed to define despicable, is becoming funnier and more interesting.

The series is on Hulu and all 10 episodes can be watched via the streaming platform.

Cast:

Guest starring Tara Karsian as Fabiana and Evan Arnold as Roger Nash. 

Con Man Season 2: Episodes 3 Through 6 – Thath Thowbizth (Review)

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After season one of Con Man poked fun at the whole fan convention experience, as seen through the eyes of Wray Nerely, season two continues to look at the funny side of working in showbiz. It also takes a slightly different direction than indicated by the season one finale. It appears that the path to a Spectrum film is not quite as cut and dried as Jack thought.

The first two episodes included some moments from season one favorites, Dale, the “female” stuntman and Faith, the delicious, and funny, right-hand woman to Jack Moore. Both characters are gone all too soon but Bobbie is back, to stay it seems, and she has gone from Comic Con agent to agent…agent.

Jack has been offered the role of Doctor Cop Lawyer and he turns it down. Meanwhile Wray does  a commercial, being shot by Diego (who will be shooting the pilot for Doctor Cop Lawyer.). Wray does all his own stunts despite the stuntman offering to do them.

The two talk about the deal in her “spa” (“Hot grease!”) while she massages a customer and makes her plea to become Wray’s full-time representative.

Bobbie has the script and she pushes for Wray to read for the part of “gimpy sidekick” Dr. Richard Trimmings, aka Dr. Dick Trimmings.  (Get it?) The character has a squinty eye, a lisp, and a limp. Wray wants to go for the lead, Dr. Blade Slater.

Bobbie tells Wray that he cannot go for Slater as she submitted herself for the “20 something” dancer role; Blade’s lover. Jack pushes for Wray to do the commercial for Diego, while he orchestrates the Spectrum Movie.

Jack’s personal assistant, Faith, breaks up with both men through a letter. “Blah, blah, blah, self destructive, blah, blah, blah, sexual inconsistency…” Although, it turns out that the letter was not a “Dear Wray” break up note until Nerely insults Faith when she walks in.

Dale exits after “discarding” his broken arm and cast.

Wray learns that Bobbie did not get the part of the 20 something former dancer and that Diego does not want him for the lead role.  After being told by Bobbie to read for the gimpy sidekick, Wray complains to the health food bartender (Van Diem) who drowns him out with the blender.

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Alan Tudyk as Wray Nerely at the audition.

Wray goes to his buddy’s mo-cap lesson. Jerry Lansing offers the class as an alternative to Andy Serkis’ course on doing apes. (“Get out of here you damn dirty ape!”) Lansing takes Wray through the paces of his upcoming audition and how to capture the character of Dick Trimmings.

After the mo-cap training session, Wray goes to the audition. Two Aussie actors let Wray go next and the casting director reveals that Diego is not even at the audition. He is, according to Cindy, watching via the smartphone in her left breast pocket.

The audition takes place in front of three assistants and a trio of children who are in charge of social media. Diego watches while he eats lunch. During the audition, no one looks at Wray except for Sarah, the gum-chomping girl who reads the huge Blade Slater part. Nerely has two lines.

After the audition, Wray becomes agitated by Sarah’s over-enthusiastic chewing and flips out. Enraged, he calls out the entire room, including the absent Diego. (“It’s anaphylactic shock!”) The director asks Wray to audition for another part.

Nerely then reads for the lead. Amid spontaneous applause, Wray leaves the audition and he meets Jerry Lansing all hunched over, limping and lisping, as he comes in to read for Dick Trimmings.

These four episodes were excruciatingly funny. From the breakup with Faith to the mo-cap class with Nolan North, each sequence had plenty of laugh out loud moments. There are also plenty of bits that hit a nerve of truth.

Anyone one who has auditioned for a role will recognise the scenario that Wray faces in his Doctor Cop Lawyer reading.  The sly dig at Australian actors apparently inundating the business was also funny.

Episode five was mainly a lot of sight gags combined with the brilliant delivery of Nolan North as he “teaches” his students to be a variety of animals (No apes!) and aspects of weather.

Dushku and Hathaway killed it in episode six. Huertas is proving that he has comedy chops for days as Diego. (On a sidenote: Nolan North proves once again that apart from being the master of videogame voice acting, he is one of the funniest comic actors in the business.)

There are some brilliant gags in this season. Jack Moore tearfully brushing his toupee, and that huge bald-dome, Bobbie and the whole health food bit, the audition piece, and Lansing turning up “in-character” as Dr. Dick Trimmings. (“Sorry! It’s such a great part!”)

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Eliza Dushku as Cindy

Season two of Con Man is just as irreverent as season one. There are a number of well-loved performers (from the Whedon-verse) who drop by for cameos and the comedy ranges from slapstick to farce.

This time Con Man is airing via Comic Con HQ, versus Vimeo. Head on over now and catch the fun.

Cast:

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