Tag: episode 7

Sleepy Hollow: Loco Parentis – Little Red Molly Hood (Review)

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Taking a page from The Brothers Grimm Sleepy Hollow presents the tale of Little Red Riding Hood but with Molly in the starring role. Jenny captures Jobe and keeps him prisoner while trying to figure out how to kill the demon.

Molly father gets a visit from her father; a Marine, and Diana, her mother is somewhat ambiguous about his unannounced appearance. Jenny learns that Jobe believes that Malcolm is alive and she attempts to make him tell her where Dreyfuss is.

Meanwhile a large wolf-like creature is attacking pre-pubescent girls and eating their hearts. It is called, Ichabod informs us helpfully, a Barghest. He also explains that Little Red Riding Hood was inspired by this Germanic wolf beast that takes on the form of those we love. “What big teeth you have, grandma…”

In this instance, it takes on the form of Mitch who is still off fighting in the war, and takes Molly off into the woods. The goal is not to attend a teddy bear picnic but to have a real “heart-to-heart” with the new witness the moment she turns 11.

Luckily, the kid is pretty canny about not only staying away from the monster but she susses out pretty quickly that Mitch is not the real deal. She mentions a bike that her father got her the year before for her birthday and when Mitch responds incorrectly, she tells “daddy” that she needs to pee…now.

Overall the episode was interesting and had a number of things going on. Diana finally admits that she has been attempting to witness for Molly. Jenny proves that while she may be  pretty good demon hunter she is not all knowing and has to work at finding what will kill Jobe.

Apparently Malcolm’s becoming immortal has made him a bit mad and Crane obviously has no idea how to talk to 11 year-old girls. He tells the curly-headed moppets that King George was driven mad by syphilis and then hesitates when they ask for a definition.

Initially, when Diana brings Crane in on the Barghest case, they both believe that Malcolm is the werewolf clone that is attacking young girls in the park. It is only when Ichabod relates the origins of the beast, that Thomas makes the Mitch connection.

According to Crane, the Barghest came from Europe where it terrorized the locals. The creature came over on the Mayflower and its soul purpose in life is to eat the hearts of witnesses. (If one Googles the name “Barghest” it refers to a large black dog with big teeth from the north of England.)

Part of the Mayflower lore espoused by Crane includes the mention that Plymouth Rock was used to trap the original beast. They then use stone crossbow bolts, made from the rock, to kill the nasty thing.

Jobe helps them find Molly and Jenny allows him to leave her circle of salt. The demon gets back with Malcolm and the immortal billionaire tells him demon buddy that he will change the world.

Molly survives to celebrate her birthday with friends and cake and Diana realizes that she needs to let her witness daughter carry on with little interference.

Tom Mison got the funniest line of the entire episode with his heartfelt tale of a wooden hoop and a stick (apparently it was a woeful event if that stick broke…).

While the episode was a nice riff on the old Little Red Riding Hood tale it also lacked a little in the humor department. Mison did all the comedic bits in this one, the birthday party, the shopping for gifts and the hiding of presents made for some chuckle-worthy moments.

Sleepy Hollow airs Fridays on FOX. Tune in and see just how season four of this fantasy series plays out.

Cast:

Guest starring Bill Heck as Mitch Talbot

The Mick: The Country Club – Caddyshack Poop Attack (Review)

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It is all too tempting to call foul on this episode of The Mick. However…This is not, as it first appears, a rip off of Caddyshack. It is instead a gleeful homage that turns that iconic Baby Ruth scene into a poop attack on not just one but two characters in the show.

This episode reveals that the Pemberton’s may have 30 percent of their funds frozen but they have plenty of money left. They are also still members of the country club and have a luxury apartment on ice.  Money manager Barry explains that he knew nothing about the tax issue and Chip tells about Sabrina’s poop in the pool story.

They also learn about gossip columnist Oliver Fishburn’s article about the Pemberton’s problems and the kids decide to take the writer on. Mickey is excited to learn that they are members of a country club, which Chip hastens to explain that his aunt is not a part of.

The action shifts to the club where Sabrina makes things worse and Chip discovers that in the golf competition he has been “demoted” to playing with the local concrete tycoon.

“The Country Club” follows the Pemberton family attack on the gossip columnist.  Operation Poop is meant to humiliate the writer and despite Mickey’s intricate plan, the whole thing falls apart upon its execution.

By the end of the episode, Sabrina ends up with a “roll” of fudge that everyone believes is her poop and Mickey assaults Fishburn with hot sauce. Alba has passed out after drinking far too many mojitos and the only two Pemberton family members to emerge unscathed are Ben and Chip.

The plot this week has Sabrina having to become an willing ally to her aunt when the plan she starts falls apart. Mickey taking on the columnist also fails, she throws an Apple laptop into a fountain that does not belong to the writer and she has to retreat.

Alba gets wasted on mojitos and spends a fortune on a spa afternoon with Ben. Chip, who has become a personal favorite as portrayed by Thomas Barbusca (he joins Carla Jimenez and Kaitlin Olson), manages to almost eclipse the main storyline with his version of this “Caddyshack” homage.

After the golf tournament, where he and Jerry, along with their two Japanese partners, come last the concrete magnate lies and tells the club that Chip got a hole in one. In any golf club in the world this means the player must treat everyone to a drink at the 19th hole.

Chip is furious but then embellishes his “fame.” Telling  politically incorrect jokes and working the room until the club president calls him into the office with charges that he lied about the hole in one.

Jerry saves the day by bribing the two Japanese players, who pointed out the lie, and when the president apologizes about the whole thing, Chip rips into the man with a vengeance.

It is pure Chip.

The episode’s poop finale, with Sabrina rushing to push the columnist into the pool with that fudge “lookalike” fails. She re-lives her earlier humiliation  and the “pool panic” when she grabs the roll of fudge replicated the Caddyshack scene before the groundskeeper moment in the film.

Everyone in this episode got a chance to shine. This ensemble cast is meshing together perfectly and every segment of this brilliantly funny show increases the comedy quotient exponentially.

The Mick continues to push the boundaries of good taste while delivering more laughs per square inch of film than any other comedy out there at the moment. The series unapologetically goes for the jugular with whatever works.

The series airs Tuesdays on FOX and should not be missed. Who else has the brass to pay such a loving homage to a 1980’s iconic comedy. This episode, like the rest in this opening season was spot on. Go now and watch this brilliantly un-PC comedy show.

Cast:

Guest starring Paul Ben-Victor as Jerry Berlin, Jason Kravits as Barry, Sam Pancake as Oliver Fishburn, Avery Wada as Dai Yamaguchi, Toshiya Agata as Jun Yamaguchi and Thomas Crawford as club president.

Shut Eye: Two of Swords – Marime (Review)

KaDee Strickland, Jeffrey Donovan in Hulu's Shut Eye

The Path “Two of Swords” brings things to a head (no pun intended) when Charlie’s ability to see the immediate future results in the Nadine scam being uncovered. Although this does not happen until the whole Fonzo/White Tony feud ends with the police searching the leader’s residence.

Since the cops are not “Roma” everything they touch becomes contaminated, aka Marime. Fonzo is furious and takes Tony to a tribunal with the elders. Tony asks for four of Fonzo’s parlors and gets two. Fonzo asks for revenge and ends up losing his eldest daughter.

The girl will be forced to marry White Tony’s son. This move is to  bring the two houses closer together. Fonzo is distraught and his daughter is furious with him and the Roma customs. Later, the unhappy father lays down next to his younger daughter, who is sleeping in a tent in the back garden.

She reaches out to her father and touches his shoulder, Fonzo reacts and places his hand over hers. It is a poignant moment that reveals the saccharine inner-core of a violent and unlikeable character.  It also makes the man more human and we can feel his pain.

Emma’s body is found and Nick believes that Nadine may have been able to help find who killed her.  The cops know that the girl overdosed on the South American drug that Gina left with Linda. Charlie explains that the unhappy client knows nothing.

Charlie finalizes the scam on Nadine, burning the fake money and putting the $1.7 million in a trash bag.  As he continues the con, he has a very real vision of the woman killing herself.

He sees Nadine come out of the house with a weight and jumprope. She steps off the pool’s diving board and sinks to the bottom of the pool. In real life, Charlie leaps in and finds Nadine dead, floating lifeless as he watches.

The next thing he sees in Nadine coming out of the house and yelling at him as he floats in the water. Charlie then sees that the weight and the rope have been tied to him.

He climbs out of the pool and Nadine wraps a towel around him. She sees the real money, it has fallen out of the trash bag,  and asks Charlie about it. She learns about the scam and he explains that he is not her friend and that she should stay away from people like him.

Charlie finishes by telling the unhappy woman to seek out a therapist. He then returns home. Linda, who is sipping  a glass of pre-celebratory champagne, reacts badly to the news that her husband blew the con.

This was a touching episode. Even the despicable Fonzo manages to come across as a sympathetic character. His pain, at losing his daughter, is real and practically tear inducing.

Haverford’s very real distress, and anxiety, at being forced to be the good guy is also touching. He rages at Dr. White for her “saints and sinners” theory and then, like Judas, denies his fate.

Linda, once again, proves to be the Haverford with ice-water in her veins. She does not care that the con would have killed Nadine.  Meeting with Gina, Linda declares that she can still get the money. It appears that she has now chosen her “bit on the side” over Charlie.

Kudos to Angus Sampson who actually became a character who could be empathized with mainly due to the storyline and his subtle acting. Mad props also got to Donovan.

As his character starts to break apart, all tears and massive amounts of guilt, it was “lump in the throat time.” Show creator Leslie Bohem and  episode scribe (Tom Pabst) knocked this one right out of the park.

Shut Eye is streaming on Hulu and all 10 episode are available to watch at once.

Cast:

Con Man: Pin Cushion and I’m With Stupid – Musical Fun (Recap/Review)

Ep 7 Lou and Alan images by Comic Con HQ

In “Pin Cushion” Wray and Bobby are at the Long Con (You have to love these names, the next con coming up is “Shaka” Con.). She informs him that he does not yet have the part of Doctor Cop Lawyer, he has been pinned for the role. It appears that there is yet another Hemsworth brother, “The best one yet,” says Bobbie, “Farnsworth Hemsworth.”

She then goes on to tell Wray that Lou Ferrigno really wants him for his  stage version of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” Lou is in the room filling up on snacks at the buffet. Wray goes over to see Ferrigno and as the big man talks to Wray, he has a smear of dip on his upper lip.

As Wray tries to signal to Lou that he has dip on his lip (See what we did there?) Nearly’s old “double” from season one, Karen appears. This season she is Ferrigno’s double and when she arrives Karen already has dip on her lip.

Event coordinator Bucky (It’s a long story.) brings the talent out and finds she is two short, despite using the talent buddy system. Lou and Wray are missing. They have snuck into a back room to do a reading from the musical.

As the two actors enter the room, the door closes behind them. Wray is now trapped into reading the play whether he wants to or not. Wray is dismayed to learn that Lou will be playing George, a dream of his since he was a “giant baby,” and Nearly will be Lenny.

He is, however, somewhat excited to find out that Lou intends this to be a musical version of the story. Wray switches back to dismay though when he reads the play’s title: “I’m With Stupid,” and he is playing “Stupid.”

Wray immediately tries to talk his way out of the part, citing Spectrum: The Movie and being pinned for Doctor Cop Lawyer. He attempts to leave but finds the door is locked. Lou disregards Wray’s excuses and they begin to do a reading.

Bucky explains that Lou and Wray are missing and Karen tries to trick the attendees into believing that she is Ferrigno. Bobbie and Leslie go to find Wray and as they enter the room where the reading is taking place, the episode takes on a homage to The Marx Brothers film “A Night at the Opera.”

As each new artist enters the room, they are cast in Lou’s show. After Lansing is cast as the dog, Wray explains to Lou that he needs to be Lenny. Ferrigno also learns that Wray wants out, but he then talks the reluctant actor into doing the show…in the back room.

Karen comes in and holds the door but Wray tells her to let the door close and lock. They then continue working to put on the show “I’m With Stupid.”

Con Man Musical Poster courtesy of Comic Con HG

Con Man then moves into episode 8 where the actors and crew put on the musical in the back room. In the dining hall/meet and greet area, Bucky is showing an increasingly hostile audience a clip from Spectrum that features Wray and Jack. In the back room preparations continue for “I’m With Stupid.”

The “impromptu” show is actually quite good. There are plenty of comic moments.  Leslie Jordan’s “Short and Curly’s” is amusing but nowhere near as funny as Nolan North’s character. As Jerry Lansing, North plays the longest dog death scene ever in the history of musical theatre.

“Fat of the Land” is fun and funny. Ferrigno’s Lenny with the “dead” stuffed bunny is hysterical. As is Bobbie as the doomed  “femme fatale.” The scene with George and Lenny is also quite touching although Bucky bursts in at the shows climatic finish. She is furious at the stars for messing up her con.

Wray placates Bucky by giving her “Long Con” the world exclusive rights to premiere “I’m With Stupid” and the musical is a mega hit.

A bald Jack Moore calls Wray and tells him that “I’m With Stupid” is being streamed and that people are “losing their minds over it.” He believes it is the perfect lead in to Spectrum: The Movie.

Jack also tells Wray that the musical’s popularity has guaranteed them an invite to “Shaka Con.” He is over the moon at the prospect while Wray is less than enthusiastic.

Lou tells Wray that due to the popularity of the show the musical is going to the real “off Broadway.” He also reveals that they want a “name” to play George, “someone from England.” Wray is effectively fired from the show.

Before the credits roll, with a few previews of the next episode, Wray miserably refreshes his makeup. During the closing credits we are treated to Stan Lee doing a cameo and a bush offering to kill a Hemsworth for Wray.

Con Man continues to delight and amuse. The fate of Wray hangs in the balance as Spectrum: The Movie looks to be more of a possibility and yet another Hemsworth if found to read for Doctor Cop Lawyer.

It looks like Wray Nearly will be doomed to repeat his role in the film version of Spectrum.  Alan Tudyk continues to make the most of his character’s misery and all the cameos in this treat are splendid fun.

Ferrigno is beyond brilliant with his comedic touch and is surprisingly good with his musical bits.  The former Incredible Hulk, makes fun of his work as The Hulk and yet manages to put so much feeling into Lenny that he practically induces tears from the viewer.

Nathan Fillion, with his giant bald head, is spot on while trying to match a toupee to a yachting cap. This may not be high comedy, but there are enough nods and winks to other shows that it is well worth watching.

Con Man is streaming on Comic Con HQ.


Cast:

Fresh Off the Boat: The Taming of the Dads – Tamagotchi (Review)

HUDSON YANG, ISABELLA ALEXANDER

There cannot be many who do not remember the Tamagotchi craze of the 1990’s. Fresh Off the Boat “The Taming of Two Dads” may have focused upon Jessica’s jury duty and Louis’ Shakespearean Bromance, but the “Tale of Two Brothers” and their electronic pet was the funniest section of the show.

It was a close call this week. Louis’ bonding with Alison’s dad over a mutual love of all things Shakespeare was amusing. All the more so because of Eddie’s clear discomfort at his father crashing his and Alison’s anniversary date.

The eldest Huang son was uncomfortable sitting through “Romeo and Juliet” anyway, and to have Gary and Louis eating the young couple’s Goobers and talking loudly about the film pretty much ruined the date.

Jessica is mistakenly tapped for jury duty and loses out being the jury foreman; something that annoys her no end. Instead of concentrating on the trial she is part of, Jessica works to become the foreman.  (At one point she gives her fellow jurors notes and an orange as a bribe to allow her to be in charge.)

When Jessica finally becomes the foreman she causes a mistrial by announcing she thought the alleged arsonist was guilty from day one. As she talks about his dodgy haircut, the judge declares a mistrial.

Later Honey reveals that as Jessica is not a citizen she could not legally serve on the jury.

Evan and Emery get a tamagotchi (an electronic pet) from their cousin in Taiwan. He sends the pet with a note saying he hopes they have better luck with their tamagotchi than he had with his.

The two younger Huang boys work well together initially but as the pet becomes more demanding their teamwork becomes frayed at the edges.  Even with the increased workload they both take pride in their pet and beam like proud parents when the neighbor’s take notice of their tamagotchi.

Meanwhile, Eddie’s girlfriend Alison decides they need a break after seeing how well Louis and her father get along. She tells Eddie that they have become too complacent and Eddie panics.

He gets advice from his father who then tells Gary that they can no longer be friends. He explains that their happiness has placed Eddie and Alison’s relationship in a Montague and Capulet situation. Sadly Alison’s father agrees.

Eddie decides to become more spontaneous and he invites Alison to see the Leonardo DiCaprio version of “Romeo and Juliet” again, this time without the two dads.

Emery and Evan end up killing the tamagotchi.  At the funeral, they bury the electronic pet in the front garden as Honey explains to Jessica about the jury duty mistake. At the very end, the tamagotchi beeps from underneath the dirt and both lads decide that they did not hear anything.

While Jessica’s hubris almost steals the show, it really was Emery and Evan and their temperamental tamagotchi that provided the most amusing storyline of the three on offer this week.

Forrest Wheeler and Ian Chen were spot on as the excited “parents” who end up being ruled by their new pet. Constance Wu, as usual, continues to make Jessica Huang the center of the show.

Fresh Off the Boat airs Tuesdays on ABC.

Cast:

Guest starring Isabella Alexander as Alison and Cory Blevins as Gary Olsen (Alison’s dad.).

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