A Really Disappointing Tuesday

The Flash:  Rogue Time (116)

I’m so disgusted with “Rogue Time,” this week I’m going to rank the principles in reverse order, from worst to best.

1. The Writers!  What a horrible, horrible way to disengage all the greatness of last week.
2. Everyone else.  Not even the few who were on form get special mention.

A year or so ago, I began binge watching Continuum.  The season 2 finale was a doozy, with the heroine in dire circumstances, several deaths, and extreme realignment of alliances.  I pondered for months how everything would be resolved.  And what did they do?  They set everything back one week!  I was so disgusted, I stopped watching.

A Short Agents of SHIELD Comment before We Discuss The Flash

The second best part of “One of Us”

Did anyone else notice how easily Fitz and Simmons slipped back into their companionable banter when discussing May and her ex?  Simmons may still be annoyed with Fitz—it’s not likely a permanent repair to their relationship—but it gave us a much needed wink to the loveliness that is FitzSimmons.

And while crazy Cal (Kyle MacLachlan) was completely and delightfully crazy, the show was otherwise a big ol’ yawn.  I’m done with Skye.  Again.

Procrastinator’s Roundup, Part 4: Terrific Tuesday

So many shows, only one night.  My poor DVR can’t keep up.  Which means I sometimes must resort to OnDemand. It’s nice that it’s available, but the broadcast networks won’t let you fast-forward through the commercials.  It’s like watching television c. 1980!

Supernatural

It was covered in Round-up #2.  but is included here for continuity.  It’s not the first show of the evening, nor is it currently first in my watching priority. Heck, I haven’t even watched “Paper Moon” (1004) yet.  Depending  on how the season pans out, it may deserve its own post.

The Flash

The S.T.A.R. Labs Stars: not a softball team

Do you ever watch a show and suddenly realize you’ve got a silly grin on your face?  Turns out I’m not the only one.  I’m not in the CW’s target demographic, yet I’m totally enjoying this show.  It’s engaging on many levels.

There’s something about Grant Gustin that immediately pulls you in.  I don’t know if it’s his “boy next door” persona, or the “dorky nerd” vibe, but he is Barry Allen, chronically late forensics scientist by day, fastest man alive by night.

Doctor Gotham Hollow SHIELD

A Roundup of Doctor Who, Gotham, Sleepy Hollow, and Agents of SHIELD

(Guess I better get this posted before another week goes by.)

Doctor Who: The Caretaker (106)

Peter Capaldi’s Doctor makes me smile.  Until he gets all pissy and judgemental.  His new found dislike of soldiers doesn’t make sense.  But I enjoyed the episode.  Clara admitted she loved Danny (although what’s been shown of their relationship really hasn’t borne that out).  Danny learned about the TARDIS.  I’m not sure where the show will go from here.  Surprise me, Steven Moffat.  In a good way!

An Eleven look-alike!  When I first saw him in the teacher’s meeting, I thought it was just a tongue-in-cheek nod to the past.  But he turned out to have a slightly larger role to play.  It was cute, even if a little egocentric for the Doctor.

There as a new creature to cause havoc with the world, but I kind of felt sorry for it.  It had to play third string to the Doctor wreaking havoc with Clara’s classes, and the whole Doctor/Danny debacle.  Surely something so destructive should be seen again.  Yes?

Gotham: Selina Kyle (102)

Would you believe anything out of this guy’s mouth?

Agents of SHIELD Season 2 Hypotheses

Prior to watching to second season premiere of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which you will see referred to properly only this once) I read a spoiler that said Skye is an alien.  Yes, it was a joke, but it would have made her so much more interesting.

The gang’s all here, and then some.

“Shadows” was neither over- nor underwhelming.  It wasn’t a bad outing, but it didn’t motivate me to write anything about it.  Until I watched it a second time.

The first time around, my biggest question was “Who can you trust?”  So many possibilities!  First there’s Mack, Tripp’s mechanic buddy.  (He’s new, isn’t he?)  Then there’s Koenig (although, like John Cho, it’s hard to imagine Patton Oswalt to playing evil).  And lastly, there’s the ever-grumbling guy from Lucy Lawless’s team.  (Sorry, didn’t catch his name).

Watching the episode a second time cleared up a few things.  The grumbler’s name is Hunter.  The mysterious “he” who rewards Carl Creel with minerals he can absorb, is Reed Diamond (the ageless Whitehall).  And the goal of Coulson’s primary team (May, Skye and Tripp) was the “Quinjet,” the cloaking fighter plane.  (Although why did May escape via motorcycle?)  Yeah, yeah.  You may have made all those connections initially, but I did not.

More importantly (for blog purposes), the rewatch gave me pause to contemplate and amend my previous assessment of who to trust.  I herein give my theories for season 2:

What’s New This Fall?

Last year, the 2013 television season brought us several new scifi-oriented shows.  Only a couple of them survived.  Does this year bode as well (or as poorly) for the genre?  I’m not sure.   I’ve been checking out some of the new show previews on Xfinity.  Here’s what I’ve gleaned so far.  Interestingly, these three remind me of three current shows.

Gotham (Fox)

The Gotham cast: All the main players are here.

The most highly-anticipated show of 2014 is a prequel to the Batman saga.  As with Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., I’m behind the power curve, having seen only a handful of the many Batman movies made in the last several years.  Ratjer, my exposure to the Batman world came from the Adam West Batman series of yesteryear; and its campy, cartoonish vibe was much different from the dark, forlorn tone of the movies and (I suspect) the comic books.

CANCELLED!

Well crap.  Intelligence was cancelled in favor of another season of The Mentalist.  That makes yet another show down the drain.  My Current SciFi category is going to be significantly smaller next season.   Let’s look at the count.

Intelligence – CANCELLED!

Almost Human – CANCELLED!

Dracula – CANCELLED!

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Renewed!

Freshmen programs:

Agents of SHIELD: The Beginning of the End (122)

Well, shiver me timbers!  (Forgive the pirate talk.  I’m currently reading Treasure Island.)  I’ve never been happier to be proven wrong.   Agents of SHIELD wrapped up its first season without a cliffhanger, yet with just enough intrigue to tease us into the next season.  I’m quite a happy chick.

A dearth of photos this week gives us various configurations of Coulson and Trip.

The budget was big enough for bring on Samuel L. Jackson after all. But not big enough for an eye patch and had to go with sunglasses.  Then again, maybe it all has something to do with the events of Captain America: the Winter Soldier, which I still haven’t seen.

Yes, some of the dialog was incredibly cheesy, but who cares?  The episode was more than I ever could have asked for.  With Samuel L. Jackson!  Did I mention Samuel L. Jackson?

Garrett goes looney-tunes from the GH-325 serum, wrangling doors from their hinges, writing on plexiglass with a nail, severing a general’s aorta—with his bare hands!—and Bill Paxton chews the scenery with gastronomic delight.

Ratings-Palooza, Part 2

Apparently my Charlie White on Dancing with the Stars obsession continues, but I have torn myself away long enough to catch up on a few sci fi shows.  Here are some incredibly short reviews, because better recaps and reviews have been done elsewhere, and in a more timely manner.

Agents of SHIELD

What’s with all the black, wardrobe people?

The season is definitely going out with a bang.  Will it make for a great, or at least better season 2?  One can hope.

The Second Season Poll Results

Well yes, you could just look at the post below to see the final tally of which freshman sci fi shows should get a second season, but since I’ve been neglecting this site for a week or two, I thought it might good to report on something, anything.

The winners are Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Intelligence.  Whether ABC or CBS will take our recommendations to heart is unclear.  With a total of 25 votes (i.e., 13 voters, since one of you only voted for 1 show), we probably don’t make up a majority of the viewing (and sponsor-buying) public.

Goodbye Karl Urban and Michael Ealy.

Personally, I voted for Intelligence and Almost Human, but news came this week that Fox didn’t renew the latter.  There is a rather clever conversation about the cancellation on Previously.tv (the defacto replacement for Television Without Pity, which thankfully died earlier this spring).  Like Natalie and me, the reviewers faithfully watched the show while complaining how it could be better.   Or was that just me?

I admit I have been ignoring my favorite sci fi shows.  I didn’t watch last week’s Supernatural (Alex Annie Alexis Ann) until yesterday, and have yet to watch “Bloodlines.”  (Although I plan to later today.)  I just finished this week’s Agents of SHIELD and I have to say, it was pretty darned good.  We’ll see where the end of the season takes us.  Look for Agents and Supernatural reviews later this weekend.

My sci fi watching schedule has been derailed by my new obsession for love of interest in Charlie White on Dancing With the Stars.  Along with the rest of America, I’ve been smitten with the charming, adorable mop-topped Olympic ice-dancing champion; and have been spending entirely too much time rewatching his dances and stalking him on the internet.  As someone somewhere on the internet said, “”If you threw the essence of sunshine, puppies, and rainbows into a jug and shook them up, you’d pour out Charlie White.”  Aww.

Hello Charlie White and ice dancing partner Meryl Davis

Hello again, Charlie and Sharna Burgess of Dancing with the Stars

 Hello Charlie White (and Meryl Davis and Sharna Burgess)!