Michael Stephenson's Blog, page 14

Who knows? The Shadow knows. #SleepyHollow #DVRRewind #FOX

Who knows? The Shadow knows. #SleepyHollow #DVRRewind #FOX
All pictures courtesy of FOX
What a busy week for me. Not only was I doing the last dot your i's and cross your t's edit on Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend (#AhStalking) out now, I had so much TV to watch, some fall gardening to do, and some other books to read on top of all the blog entries and other news I had to keep up with, let alone my exercise routine. So much stuff that I'm hitting you all with not just one but a few DVRRewinds this weekend and I still have yet to decide if I'm going to do one for The Flash's season premiere or the third week of Nashville. Too. Many. Shows. But, I'm trying to juggle as much of the entertainment world as I can right now so bare with me as I get to some of the stuff I missed.
For this week, I have Sleepy Hollow (#SleepyHollow) in my DVRRewind. That's right, I am one of the few millions that still watch and enjoy Sleepy Hollow even after they killed Orlando Jones (aka the Black guy), brought him back to life, turned him evil and killed him again all in one season! Ahh! They killed the Asian dude in the first season and they killed Ichabod's wife last season after turning her evil too, which I found to be straight disrespectful but I digress. Anyway, they returned with their season premiere on Fox last week and I hadn't gotten around to watch the first two episodes until last night. Interestingly enough, their move to FOX Thursdays at 9pm hasn't effected them in the ratings that much as they were always a lower-rated show. With FOX being cancel-happy with anything new and out of the box that doesn't involve people under the age of 24 (fingers crossed for Minority Report?), I'm surprised this has stayed on for as long as it has.
Pandora's so evil and a hell of a gardenerMoving on to episode two, this week saw Ichabod dealing with another conjured minion of Pandora (yes, the one with the crazy box for those of you not initiated into the insanity of this show. I ain't got time. Look it up!) From what we learned in the season opener, as the two witnesses supposedly prophesied in the bible, Ichabod and Abbie have only gone through one test of seven (complete mess of the Revelation prophecy but we've all accepted that at this point). Now comes their second test, Pandora. After the strange fear-paralyzing creature she summoned last week, this week she hit them up with a shadow creature that surrounds you with darkness and extracts from you, in your state of horrified petrification, a deep secret. This often leads to your death in some way as the two men the shadow performed this on died from a heart attack or a car accident.
While I enjoy this show, I will say that this is one of the most ebb and flowing shows I've ever seen on TV. It will be incredibly hot one week and incredibly cold the next. That being said, I enjoyed the season premiere more than I have most season premieres from my other established favorite shows. This week's episode seemed like the biggest throwaway episode I've seen since Breaking Bad's fly episode (I know it was supposed to be a metaphor but whatever). Though this shadow is supposed to be extracting secrets from people, the show never really gets around to revealing what those secrets were, concerning itself instead with Ichabod and Abbie's secrets, which is fine, but makes me wonder why the heck Pandora sent the shadow after the other three people in the first place.

Then there's Abbie's sister doing this dance of "caring" with the long-dead sheriff's son who just surfaced to look through his dad's things. What? The sheriff literally got beheaded by the headless horseman on the first or second episode of the series... back in 2013. Not only that but the premiere featured a time jump of nine months since their last adventure in season two's finale. It has got to be at least a year and a half after his death. Why is he here now? Sure, he made brief appearances in the past but one would think that he could have either moved on by now or they would have made him a series regular long ago. Doesn't seem quite right for him to be around now. Anyway, he got kidnapped in exchange for an artifact--the eye of Anubis, I believe--and Abbie's sister rescues him.


Finally, they have the newest Black guy love interest that networks seem to be plug and playing, Lance Gross. I say that because last year Grey's Anatomy on ABC inserted him as a 4 or 5 episode love interest for Meredith's sister. Now he's in as the new head over Abbie in her FBI post (a big step up from when she was at the deputy's office) even though they went through Quantico together. Is she gonna hit that at some point in the season? I would say yes, because if there has been anything more noticeable in this show than how little sex Ichabod and Abbie have each had, it is... uh. Well, there isn't anything more noticeable on the show than that.

So far Pandora has caused nothing but trouble, which now that I think about it is her main thrust but that's all she's done. Outside of sending a shadow monster easily defeated by calling out his name Marcus Collins (can you believe that? Yeah, that's his name. Marcus Collins. That's just as bad of a name for an evil being as Gerald was for the furry foot-eating monster that lived under my bed when I was little), she's shown off not a hint at a plan outside of growing a tree. Basically Pandora is Johnny Appleseed only more evil. A bad episode? Can't say it was their best, or even close to their average. It was below average, but that just means that next week's will probably blow me away.
What did you think? Do you watch this show? Are you happy with the way it's going with Abbie and Ichabod both getting new love interests and keeping away from each other's bed? What do you think Pandora has in store for them? Let me know in the comments below.
As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. All 15 episodes are out now on Amazon.
And check for my latest book, a comedy entitled Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend (#AhStalking) available only on Amazon (look for a post about it later today). Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, “my daddy still alive? What? ”

P.S. Was anyone else's mind blown when Abbie said her father was still alive? Yeah, neither was mine. As with most absentee father's he's become just some old guy sitting in a park, feeding the birds. Wait, there were no birds? Aww, that's even sadder.

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I Present To You Lady Monster... But Where's That Plot, Though? #AmericanHorrorStory #AHSHotel #DVRRewind

I Present To You Lady Monster... But Where's That Plot, Though? #AmericanHorrorStory #AHSHotel #DVRRewind


All pictures courtesy of FX unless otherwise stated

"Ooo La! Oo la Ga-ga! Ooo La! Oo la Ga-ga!" Wait, those aren't the words to Lady Gaga's "Judas" song? Well, how am I supposed to know that, I'm not her biggest fan--Paparazzi--but I am a fan. I'm just trying to give her that thing that she wants... you know, applause. Is that enough Lady Gaga song references or do you want more? I know everyone else has done it already but I can't help it, I was born this way. Leave me alone!

Anyway, American Horror Story came back for its fifth season, American Horror Story: Hotel (#AHSHotel). And with the absence of Jessica Lange--you dear sweet woman whom we'll miss forever--someone had to take over as lead monster. Enter Lady Gaga. But before we get to her fantastic starring role, we have to backtrack through a little non-plotting, plot.
What's the basis of Hotel? Similar to seasons past of the popular horror anthology series the producers have been very sparse on details. Though there has been talk of vampirism in some form, an earthly entrance into hell and even purgatory, none of that has been outright confirmed. All we know as of this moment is that the Hotel Cortez is haunted by a host of baddies sure to maim and disgust. We also have word (and have seen in previews of this season) that a few of the past favorite characters from prior seasons will make an appearance in the hotel that guests check in but never check--what? Oh, so you're saying I shouldn't make that joke because it's too easy. Fine, I won't write it, but I'm definitely thinkin' it.

A little character background, we have Kathy Bates playing the front desk check-in lady, Wes Bentley playing a creepy looking detective (though that just might be his normal face), Matt Bomer playing Lady Gaga's lover/Bates' son, Denis O'Hare playing a cross-dressing chain-smoker, Lady Gaga playing the boss of everything and Sarah Paulson playing... uh, Debbie from the Thornberrys?
Picture courtesy of Nickelodeon and The Wild ThornberrysIs that...? No, she's supposed to be a blonde version of Selma from the Simpsons, right?
Picture courtesy of FOX and The SimpsonsWell, whoever she is supposed to be that hair is teased to death, literally as it is revealed she is dead or at least should be after the fall she took at the hands of Bates' character. That's at the end of the episode.

I know, I'm jumping ahead again, but to be fair, this season started off with a very strange feeling. Unlike in seasons past, it felt like it had very little plot. Leeway is always given to the season premiere of any show as it sets up the rest of the season, but because this is an anthology series and we know each season will be different, you have to set us up with what's about to go on for the next twelve episodes. And I really have no idea what to anticipate.
Granted, this can be argued for any season and there are a ton of story strands, but it spent an hour and a half kind of meandering around from character to character showing us creepy stuff with no explanation. It starts with two foreign girls entering the hotel who, despite their better judgment, stay at the hotel even though they don't want to. There's an ode to the creepy children from The Shining in a scene where one of the girls goes to get ice, and one sees a huge stain of blood on some bed sheets that are being washed outside of a patron's room. There's also an apron-wearing man a la Hostel--a testament to this season's gore factor. Then the girls cut open their stinky mattress to find a person trapped inside of it all gaunt and Gollum-like. Naturally, like any other normal human being who just witnessed a person pop from inside their mattress would do, they stay in the hotel from fear that they could be arrested. What the hell? Personally, I would have left... unless they comped me all the pillow mint chocolates I could handle, then we could at least talk about me staying. And then one of the girls gets eatin' by the devil children... or does she? I don't know as she appears in another scene later on just fine, but locked up by Kathy Bates who has this thing about druggies (her son is one and OD'd in the hotel long while back in the 90s). Sarah Paulson was his dealer/fellow smack head.


In a secondary story, Wes Bentley's detective studies the murder and torture of a cheating couple where the man is glued into the woman mid-coitus and left to bleed with no eyes or tongue while the woman is stabbed through the head. This, coupled with the rape of one of the hotel guests using a metal drill phallus and the disemboweling of two other guys seems to suggest this season will be drawing heavily from David Finch's Seven (a must see if you haven't already). Those deadly sins and commandments will get you every time. Even the beginning credits have the list of the ten commandments between such horrifying visions of people bursting from things they shouldn't be inside of. He's got a daughter and a wife but is going through some serious family strife which ultimately leads him to stay at the hotel in room 64 where the murderer says he'll strike next--seems pretty reasonable to me.

Courtesy Entertainment WeeklyAnd lastly, we have Lady Gaga playing the boss of everyone. She seems not to age as she was in the hotel during the 90s and the OD of Bates' son, Bomer. Now, the two of them have couples' sex with other creeptastic swingers before slitting their throats and drinking some of their blood, though most of it is wasted. She encounters Will Drake who has just purchased the hotel and presumably will re-vamp (ha! Re-vamp. Vampire? Lady Gaga is some sorta non-vampire, vampire. You get it?) much of it to his stylings and kick out the residents that populate some of its rooms. I'm supposing this will be a main plot though I'm not sure as Drake seems easily seduced, though we do know that no woman has ever had him starstruck as we learned this summer (Meek Mill is still taking losses. Sad).
There's some stuff in there about never leaving and having to feed something, but that was about it. Oh, and they ended the show with the most appropriate song in history "Hotel California" by the Eagles. I don't really know who these Eagles are but they're totally going to blow up after this. I mean, they're gonna be super famous, like maybe even legendary.
Was the first episode scary? It had a few good moments in there, definitely better than Scream Queens over on Fox. Has it lived up to Freak Show? Not yet, but there's plenty of time. We'll see.


What do you think little monsters and AHS long-standing fans out there? Did you love Lady Gaga about as much as I did? Do you think she is a good actress? Do you already miss Jessica Lange? And what the heck is up with not seeing Evan Peters (the other longest tenured cast member) on the first episode? What are your theories about what the heck is going on? My money's on the gateway to hell/purgatory where wayward souls come to vacation before either moving on or going back to haunt their old places, or a grown-up version of Hotel Transylvania. Let's see, multitude of Lady Gaga references, Seven reference, rapper Drake reference, Simpsons reference, Nickelodeon reference, so-so joke pretending that I don't know who the Eagles are--yeah, I pretty much nailed this recap. Let me know what your theories in the comments below.
As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. And ladies, my comedy Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriendis out today. Get it and laugh only on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “I want your lovin' and I want your revenge. You and me could have a bad romance.”

P.S. How did they not use that song in that gruesome foursome sex scene? I thought Gaga would permeate the entire episode. Oh well. There's always next week.  
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Anyone Else Feel Like They're Getting Played? #ThePlayer #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek

Anyone Else Feel Like They're Getting Played? #ThePlayer #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek




All pictures courtesy of NBC 

NBC's The Player (#ThePlayer) starring Wesley Snipes and Philip Winchester is the latest show to tackle the crime drama procedural and give it a twist. But before we dive into what the show is about and my review/recap of the first three episodes, I will again remind you of why I first found interest in this show and would point you to the #Premiere Week button up top if you want a more in-depth look at my reasoning--just scroll down to the NBC section, it's the second to last section.
For starters, the show has Wesley Snipes in it. You remember, he's the guy from Too Wong Foo. No, you don't remember that movie? What about Demolition Man? Drop Zone? The Art of War? The Art of War 2? Come on, you can't remember the guy from any of those movies? Wow! I doubt you'd know him from some of his smaller stuff like Passenger 57 or the Blade Trilogy so there's no use in me even mentioning them. Anyway, he was half the draw of the series for me. The other half consisted of the idea. Let's dive into the first three episodes.


The previous game has ended in death and Wesley Snipes' character calls back to his worker bee instructing her to find them a new player within the opening minute of the show. What is the game? You'll understand in a minute. For now, what you need to know is that they choose Philip Winchester's character Alex Kane as their next potential player. Ex-black ops, Alex lives in Las Vegas as somewhat of a security consultant. During the only official job we ever see him on in the show, he was hired by a rich, high-ranking middle eastern man on a trip with his family to Viva Las Vegas. His job was simply to pinpoint weaknesses in the man's room security. Not only did he manage to get into the room, sit down and wait for the man and his crew to enter, he also identifies an open window as a security risk even though they are on the highest floor of the hotel. He later proves just how correct he was when he has to leap onto a crane attached to the roof of the building just over the man's room, slide down it, and Tarzan his way through the open window and into the rich man's room to stop an assassination attempt. And there is where the story complicates and where we get the beginning strands of the connective mystery throughout the show.
Again, this is a procedural case-of-the-week format, so each week you have a new mystery and crime; however, like most of these shows in the last few years since The Blacklist came out, they try to have an even larger mystery to connect everything and keep you tuned in week after week. Well, Alex's thwarting of the assassination attempt ticks off the group of men who want the rich guy dead or in their back pocket. So, they find out who he is, track him down to his ex's house and supposedly shoot and kill her in the middle of the night. Two facts here. For one, he and his ex have a complicated relationship. Technically still married, they also fall into each other's bed frequently and have little tension and animosity between them. About the only real sign to show that there's trouble in their relationship is the fact that they don't live together. She too served overseas as a medic--this was how they met as she worked to patch him up physically and mentally after a battle.

The second thing of note in their relationship is how I said "supposedly shoot and kill her." Not only does Alex's non-ex, ex still wear her wedding ring but she also has a wedding band tattoo (is that still popular with couples? I know it was big four, five years ago but do people still do that a lot). On the night she is shot, he comes into the bedroom to find her dead already, no gasping for air or final words breathlessly spoken. Then in the morgue when he goes to identify her body, the person has the same face but no ring finger tattoo. Hmm? He notices this because he had her wedding ring and wanted to bury her with that on (complicated relationship, remember). What, then, does this mean? Either someone at some point between the time he got up to go to the kitchen to get a glass of water after he and his wife had sex took the time to not only kill her but laser off the tattoo on her ring finger, or that woman is not his real wife, regardless of how she looks in the face. Yeah, dead people not being the actual dead people you think they are. And we haven't even gotten to the crux of the show yet.

Through a series of coincidences and a rather ridiculous car chase/show of power, Alex encounters a woman named Cassandra King who works for Wesley Snipes' character. On a parking garage rooftop, all three of them meet and explain to Alex what is going on. As I stated earlier, the guys whose assassination attempt he stopped supposedly came and killed his wife. Not done, they wanted to kill him too or at least scare him off. This time, they were going to kidnap the man's daughter. How does this involve the three of them? Well, Cassandra and Wesley want Alex to be their new Player. The game? A group of unidentified super wealthy men and women around the world have grown so bored with their riches that they now gamble on crime. He, as the player, will be who they bet on--for or against--to see if he can successfully stop a particular crime in a particular time frame as set by the house. The house consists of Wesley as the boss or bet setter, Cassandra as the dealer (she helps the player however he needs her to) and the Player who works to stop the crimes. They chose him because he is a man who has acquired a set of very special skills Liam Neeson-style. He jumps at the chance to get revenge on the people who killed his wife and stop the kidnapping. And so the game begins.
Learning of the technology and everything available to the house, Alex starts to put up a wall of moral resistance. While he knows he's going to be doing good, he can't help but think that all the gadgetry and Big Brother-esque surveillance at the house's disposal could be helping the police to solve or stop far more crimes. Finally the viewer gets the moral objection and dilemma that we wanted from Minority Report. They have access to every camera, know every single dollar counted in the casinos as evidenced by the second episode, know flight plans and people entering and exiting the city, and have a an unlimited amount of access to weaponry, money and vehicles including a jet. Finally, they have the rudimentary skills to impersonate any law enforcement agency at will and erase or create identities when needed. They are essentially their own little government. In dealing with criminals, they have large case files or access to the already established CIA, FBI, DEA, and etc. files of these people. This is how they know all about the group trying to kill the rich guy. They know all about Alex too.


Well, using their skills and Alex's skills, they manage to rescue the girl in a wild shootout between lone man Alex and the group of terrorists. Killing most of the men, he exacts his revenge for his wife, but doesn't feel good about it and then the morgue/ring thing happens and he becomes super suspicious.
Meanwhile, Wesley Snipes is working diligently to make everything perfect and tie up any loose ends he thinks Alex might pull at before Mr. Kane even thinks of doing as much. This seems to hint that he is behind the wife's murder but in the second episode he tells Alex that not only does he agree that he thinks the man's wife is still alive but that he will help him find her. And this was after Alex gave one of his hush-hush tech friends a sample of her DNA to test against the blood of the corpse. It tested as a match confirming her death but he doesn't believe it and neither do I. That just means that Wesley Snipes knows what happened to the man's wife because he has to know. Nothing goes on in the city without him knowing as evidenced on the second episode when a group of more ex-black ops baddies roll into town to steal some diamonds (apparently a theme over at NBC as Blindspot had essentially the same plot; the Provocateurs at work for you).
Things get interesting when Alex realizes he worked with the guy but now that the man has turned big and bad he has to kill him because this new group not only has no value for human life, but they demonstrate as much by holding a shootout in the middle of an intersection. But it doesn't seem like Alex has a great appreciation for life either as he jumps from a cargo plane mid-flight with no pilot in order to stop the baddie, this after failing on the first bet. As with most gamblers, the house offers a special double or nothing bet to see if he can stop this man from escaping Vegas. In the finale--a straight out of Passenger 57 callback--Alex fights with the man mid-air as they wrestle over one parachute. He wins and the man plummets to his death into the Nevada desert and somewhere you could just hear Wesley Snipes saying, "always bet on black," and that little old white lady doing the Arsenio Hall "woo! Woo! Woo!" My feeling: what about that big ass plane going to crash land somewhere? What if it smashed into a highway, killing dozens? Craziness.
The third episode featured a tangle with a cartel sniper who killed a group of scuba divers for seeing something they shouldn't have while on vacation years prior. The twist? It took place in LA, with Snipes saying that while the house is in Vegas, crime is everywhere. A new wrinkle to the show, this takes the possibilities of the show's future to new, maybe international heights where the stakes can become astronomically big. But will viewers go for Alex as a hero who seems to always win even when he doesn't (yes, he stopped the sniper though it can be argued that Cassandra sniping the sniper was actually a bending of the game's rules)?


What's my grade? I give this show a B- to C+. While I like this far more than Limitless and almost on the same level as Minority Report, I also didn't feel as duped by its advertising. I did give Minority Report a little more leeway in its grade because of the sci-fi aspect and the complexity of the idea, but Limitless and The Player both share fairly simple ideas. Limitless, the guy takes a pill and becomes super smart. The Player, a guy has people bet on if he can stop crimes. That's it. It's nothing more than if you and your friends gathered together to watch Criminal Minds and bet potato chips and Halloween candies on if the Criminal Minds crew would solve the case by the end of the hour. Of course they will. The only difference is the non-jurisdiction allure to the show and the fact that he can use tactics police and other badge-d good guys can't. And though he seems to be working for a corrupt man in Snipes, there's not much that will jump out at you in the way of "wow!" Again, I feel like this is a show where I can skip episodes, maybe even weeks at a time and come back and have missed very little. While that may be what some viewers want, in comparing this to the other powerhouse on Thursday night which is How To Get Away With Murder, I'm not sure this snatches viewers from that and football. Honestly, even with The Blacklist as its lead-in, the Thursday night 10pm hour on NBC which this show currently occupies seems like it should have something even flashier. I think this show would do better on Tuesdays in the same time slot.
Also, while I find the threading mystery of if his wife is actually dead or not, much more compelling than both Minority Report's and Limitless' mysteries, I find myself nearly unfazed by whether or not he gets that answer. I think that is mostly because of the way his character is played and written. Again, I don't like to be critical about things really, but I will say that I find Alex Kane to be the weakest character on the show both in written presentation and in acting. The woman playing Cassandra draws attention and captivates as she has mysteries just like Alex and Snipes. Snipes is great at playing the cool, calm and conniving boss who seems to lie every time he opens his mouth. But for the titular character to be the least interesting, I don't think that bodes well for the show. Just like Agent Weller on Blindspot, Kane has only one facial expression almost exclusively (like someone just stole his favorite pair of socks). I'll be checking the ratings for all new shows at the end of this week to see how viewers are adapting, but I have a pretty good idea of what I think will be canceled in the next few weeks.
Should you be watching? This is another take it or leave it show. I feel like ABC Thursdays are clearly geared more toward women and CBS has football for the sports lover which will also see TNT's NBA coverage come the end of the month. That leaves NBC with the "rest of the crowd" so to speak. While I highly enjoy Heroes Reborn and The Blacklist (which has managed to do well) and both are geared more toward men though plenty of women watch them, The Player stands out as the weakest part of the night and it ends the night. Even flipping times with The Blacklist would do it good. It is definitely a more masculine show as I can literally count on hand the amount of women with speaking roles I've seen in the first three episodes (4-5 including Cassandra). If you like the simple, guns a-blazing cowboy style of show, then this might be it for you. Otherwise, give it a pass.
What do you think? Am I wrong in thinking that this show isn't as good as the rest of TV on Thursdays? Do you think it's the best thing on TV right now? Have you even watched the show? If so, what do you think Snipes' character has to do with Kane's wife's death/disappearance? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button to comment).
As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “And I just watch your show all the time. Never Miss it! Woo, woo, woo!”
P.S. Granny from Passenger 57. Those were the days, weren't they? When you could just mistake any black person for any other black person and so long as they were famous it was OK. Sigh. I'll keep thinking of a proper sign-off. 
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I Have Yet To Reach My Limit, But It Might Be Close #Limitless #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek

I have yet to reach my limit, but it might be close #Limitless #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeeke

All pictures courtesy of CBS
Limitless, Limitless, Limitless. What to say about this show. So much potential but it moves so slowly that it's hard to figure out where it's going or if it'll ever have something to draw me in week after week. Before we dive full-on into the show, let me remind as always why I originally anticipated this show (and for those that want a little more in-depth look, click that #Premiere Week up top and scroll down to CBS which should be the first network covered).
A quick refresher, Limitless (#Limitless) was originally a film starring Bradley Cooper that came out a few years back. In it, some guy stumbles onto a drug called NZT that enhances the brain's conscious activity, giving the taker of the drug superhuman intelligence and processing skills equivalent to a computer. Essentially, you take it you become "the smartest man alive" as is stated on the show. The show is produced by Bradley Cooper who briefly appeared on the pilot. And that was pretty much all this show needed to draw me in.

OK, so what do we get with Limitless? Well, in the movie Cooper's character had to stay on the run and intelligently fight off bad guys who manufactured the pill and who wanted their money, as well as the person whose pills he had. He was not supposed to have the pills and certainly wasn't supposed to have such intellect. Well, the series starts in much the same manner. We pick up with our main character Brian Finch, a 28-year-old burnout musician who sees his life passing by while everyone around him succeeds (I'm sure that hit home for more than a few Millennials). No girlfriend, no job, no real prospects of anything in life, he learns his father is sick from a mystery illness that has pulled him closer to death. Fearing that his father will not see him accomplish anything great, good or even decent in his life before the man passes away, Brian decides to finally forego his dreams of being a rocker and gets another temp job he hopes will this time turn into something worth while. There, he runs into an old friend/rocker buddy who has absolutely stormed the finance world of NY and is doing great. His friend hips him to this drug he's taking on the hush that helps him focus his mind as Brian is having trouble doing anything. And thus we have our inciting incident.
NZT is the mind-altering drug that allows a person conscious access to 100% of their brain. I say conscious access because while I know about the geeks who took offense with Luc Besson's film Lucy starring Scarlet Johansson saying that we only use 10% of the brain, we do only use about 15% of it consciously. The other 85% is subconscious or accessed at different points during the day for different activities. The drug makes it so that he can do everything. He can remember things that he saw at a glance 20 years ago while zooming by it in the back seat of a car. He can complete complex mathematical equations at the drop of a hat. He can learn languages in a day and even solve the mystery behind his father's disease. Apparently his dad had a genetic disorder that caused him to need a new kidney or liver (he talked kind of fast so I didn't quite get what he said even though he said it a few times and I got too lazy to rewind my DVR). Think Batman level smart, add Sherlock Holmes level smart and multiple it all by Spider-man level genius. Yeah, the kids wicked smart (where's Ben Affleck when you need him? Oh right, playing Batman).
And then the drug wears off and it's back to normal loser Brian, which he totally doesn't want to be because super genius Brian is way better. To add to the misery of coming down from NZT, like any other drug it has horrid withdrawal symptoms. He feels sick, sweats a lot and looks like his heart and brain are simultaneously about to explode within him. Though he learns that those feelings are nearly exactly what will happen sooner or later, I'm getting ahead of myself by telling you that.
In any case, he wants more of the drug. So, he ventures off to find his old friend again and ask him for another pill. Just loser Brian's luck, he arrives to his friend's apartment to find him dead. While he procures one pill from the man, he doesn't have much time to think as the cops and FBI are suddenly at his dead friend's apartment door. To the surprise of no one, he takes off running in a daring escape that sees him parkour-leaping down a fire escape, sprinting through traffic on a precisely calculated line better than Frogger ever could and hopping in front of a stopping subway train at just the right distance for it to come to a halt in front of him before escaping through a grate. Daring? Yes. Stupid? Oh yeah! Me likey? Me likey a lot. Was that weird? Did I just make this review weird. Sorry. I'll dial it back.
Anyway, he pieces together who did it by mentally re-running the company records that he had to file away while on his temp job. He discovers that his friend as well as another guy were both killed by a third guy who also took the drug and felt he needed the pills, so he'd kill his partners and take their supply. Though they're both super smart for the time, Brian manages to outwit the guy with the help of the same FBI agent who chased him. Why does he receive this help? Because they discover his little secret (he helps them with that too) and have secrets of their own.
See, the drug was apparently manufactured by a company that the government was working closely with. The drug's original clients were to be soldiers, FBI agents, law enforcement, etc., because it would enhance their ability to stop crime. Unfortunately, the company and the drug testing were both scuttled after tests revealed those horrific side effects I mentioned up top: the nausea, the sweating, the brain and heart explosion. The test subjects would get sick, degrade over time and would be dead in a year, often covered in sores and other hideous marks. They warn Brian that if he doesn't come in and either take another pill or gets completely clean from the drug, the same will happen to him.
And in steps Bradley Cooper. Nearly dying during a come-down from his latest high, Brian slips into an unconscious state and awakes in a large room with little furniture save for a hospital bed, some medical equipment and two chairs for him and Bradley's character. Cooper plays the same character from the film (making this one of those series-sequel hybrids like Minority Report) and has been on the drug for five years. How has he survived? During all that time he came up with an inhibitor of some sort that works on a cellular level to stop the drug from degrading the body's cells. One shot a month and Brian can take as much NZT as he wants without the horrible side effects. Cooper will supply him this new drug but in return he will ask for a series of favors as he knows Brian will soon be working for the FBI. Cooper's own station in life has led him to become Senator and possibly the next president. What he wants from Brian, is the show's threading mystery that is supposed to keep viewers returning weekly. The interesting thing about this is that though Cooper played the protagonist in the film, he wasn't fully a Leave It To Beaver good guy. Sure, he used his powers for some good, but he wasn't always looking to do right every time. And though I can't see the series making him any kind of a bad guy, who knows the depths that the people he employs will sink to for him.
Correct in every assessment, Brian does end up solving the mystery, the FBI bring the murderer to justice and figure out he was on NZT. Instead of arresting him, they turn him into their latest guinea pig as they want to know what makes him immune to the drug's side effects. They will supply him with the drug every day and study him to see if his lifestyle is conducive to such immunity and use his improved mental capacity to their advantage on different cases. He, in turn, gets not only a new kidney for his father but something he's wanted all his life: real purpose. And that turns this into yet another procedural case-of-the-week drama--my third new one on Monday alone. I promise you I don't usually go for this many buddy cop shows but at least they are all different and have their own hook outside of crimes that need solving. Minority Report has the flashy future tech and Blindspot has the tattooed mystery that is Jane Doe. Limitless, however, has the weakest getof the bunch if you ask me.
What's a get? Simple, that thing that will get you to watch week after week, appointment viewing. At first I thought Minority Report had the weakest get as Agatha's vision does not readily cause me to care from one week to the next. But on second thought, Limitless is the show that has the least weekly attraction. For one, the cases are good and I would rate them better than Minority Report's which don't push the mind and only have the draw of the future and Dash's visions to wow the viewer. But Limitless flounders solely on the concept in the digital age.
To explain, each season we are hit with at least half a dozen to a dozen new procedural shows each with their own detective that is so well-versed and knowledgeable in his or her field that you know the writers just spent half of their day looking up bizarre and out of the box factoids that have no other use except as cocktail conversation at a dinner party where you're trying to look sophisticated and intelligent (funny side note: I actually knew about the Genghis Khan gene indicator used in the second episode to create a personalized viral strain). Geniuses populate our airwaves. In order to not seem so pedestrian in the midst of shows like Sherlock Holmes, The Mentalist, Blindspot, Scorpion, Minority Report, Sleepy Hollow, Bones and a few others, many of these shows have to adopt a specialized trait. Limitless has no real trait.
This is his FBI partner by the way.What? But what about the NZT thing? First off, some fans might have objection to the fact that the show is tacitly making taking drugs and getting high cool, and that the only way to not die from that drug is to take another drug. I'm sure somebody over at CBS thought of this faux pas which is why it ended up on CBS at 10pm on Tuesdays as opposed to 9 or even 8 because it has no graphic gore, sexual activity or crude language to garner such a late time-slot (though that could change). But also, the fact that the pill makes him the genius is the crux of the show. In all the other shows, the character already possesses such mental ability but has some other unique trait about them that acts as the draw. Ichabod is a man out of time in Sleepy Hollow. Jane Doe is a girl who can't remember her life in Blindspot. A group of socially inept nerds are smashed together in Scorpion. Take NZT away and Brian is nothing.
Sure that can be the draw but there is a stated contract with the viewers that he will receive the pill at least the majority of the show's run, making him nothing special if he doesn't have to solve crimes without his aid. Even superheroes have more complications in life than this. He gets his brains handed to him on a daily basis--nothing special.
What's my grade? Unfortunately, I have to give it a C. It's average. I'll probably keep watching it but by the time the sixth episode rolls around I won't be surprised if I've forgotten to record it once or twice and shrugged it off. Some shows I have to see every week. And despite Jake McDorman reconnecting with his Manhattan Love Story costar from ABC's failed rom-com series last year, Analeigh Tipton, I could only halfway care about the third episode (and isn't that some kind of bad juju to have a costar from a show that lasted only 3 episodes appear on your new show?). That's also taking into account the fact that they have two black guys--one from the first Resident Evil film and one from last year's Constantine--that I thought truly were the same guy both on the show. Blew my mind; yes, they're black; yes, I felt ashamed of myself. Should you be watching it? If you are just looking for another crime show now that the original CSI is done, and you want something a little more sophisticated than the NYPD, and you don't mind a few laughs or a few missed jokes like on the TV show Castle, then go for it. For everyone else, I'd say no. I wish it was more special.
What do you think? Am I wrong and this show is the most intelligent crime show on TV right now? Are you on the edge of your seat thinking about what might next happen to Brian if he doesn't get the NZT or the shot? Have you even watched the show yet? If so, what do you think Bradley Cooper's character's motives are? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button to comment).
As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “you're on the verge of living a life most people could only dream of.”

P.S. Bradley Cooper in his most Morpheus-like role he's ever played and I don't even know if I'll continue watching it. I really like the music thought. I'll keep thinking of a good universal sign-off. 
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Tattoos are permanent; TV Shows are not #Blindspot #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek

Tattoos are permanent; TV Shows are not #Blindspot #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek

All pictures courtesy of NBC 
Is my opening line indicative of how much I hate this show? Whoa, reader, not so fast. Who said I hate the show? Quite to the contrary. It has its flaws but my grade is--wait. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. I don't want to move too fast, so much so that I leave your head spinning about what's really happening and then I somehow end up repeating myself by doing or saying the same thing over and over and over again. Let's start at the beginning like we usually do.
As with all three-week roundup posts, I will remind you that if you want my unmolested thoughts on why I looked forward to this show in the first place, I suggest you click on the #Premiere Week link up top and scroll down to the NBC section until you see the picture. As a little recap, I'll say that I find it an intriguing concept made even more intriguing by the inclusion of Lady Sif herself Jaimie Alexander. We once went out on a date. It was in a dream I had but still, it counts... sorta.
If you don't know, NBC's Blindspot (#Blindspot) is about an excessively tattooed young woman winding up naked in a duffelbag in the middle of Times Square. Originally thought to be a bomb, the entire square is cleared as the bag is unzipped and she groggily fumbles out with fear and innocence seeping from her pores in equal measure. What's even stranger is that one of the biggest, most easily decipherable tattoos on her body is a large print of an FBI agent's name that happens to work in the field office just a few blocks over. And that is where the mystery begins.

As the FBI take her into custody, get her cleaned up, examined, questioned, fed, clothed and etc., they discover that she doesn't have many other identifiable markers about her outside of the tattoos. Just like her counter-part Jason Bourne, she doesn't even know her name, let alone how she got into the bag, why she was placed in Time Square and why she has an FBI agent's name tattooed on her back. The biggest mystery lies with who actually did this? The tattoos look fresh (as in just a few weeks old) and also seem to have been done all at the same time (ouch!), yet she has no memory of anything before crawling out of the bag. Now, the FBI agent, Agent Kurt Weller, and his team have to figure out who she is and what their connection is before releasing her back into normal life. That is the thrust of the show.

But wait, there's more. The team discovers the tattoos aren't just random etchings on a skin canvass but clues to other possible crimes or criminal organizations. In discovering that she has a date tatted just behind her ear, they are able to track down a man who was set to detonate a bomb at the Statue of Liberty. Their original plan was to chase after this man simply to ask if he knew Jane Doe's identity, was involved with the tattooing or if he knew why someone would do this to her. What they ended up discovering was that the man planned the terrorist attack because of his mother and the immigration laws between this country and China (I believe it was China. My memory isn't as sharp on that detail). His family member was sent back to China where she was then killed and he has a grudge against the US. What better way to enact revenge than to take out the biggest symbol of immigration in the country.
While chasing after him, it's also revealed that Jane Doe has phenomenal fighting and tactical weapons skills. There are a plethora of flashbacks which reveal that some bearded guy helped to train her in a forest somewhere where she honed her close-quarters combat techniques as well as her shooting prowess. Digital scanning and cataloging her tattoos in the FBI database back at headquarters, they also discover that she has one large block of black ink where a previous tattoo already existed. The tattoo of an Eagle carrying a trident--Navy SEAL sign--was covered supposedly so it wouldn't be confused with the rest of the new tattoos that actually mean something. This, however, is called into question for me on the third episode which I will get to further down. Just remember she has the navy seal tattoo--an interesting fact in itself as she is believed to be special or black ops and no woman on record has ever been a SEAL.

Well, being an inquisitive and petulant crime victim, she disobeys Weller's orders nearly every time he gives them and winds up saving his life on multiple occasions, including at the end of the first case when they catch the irate immigrant. A dead-eye, she shoots him precisely where she needs to in order to get him off of Weller's back and free the FBI hostage. After that heroism, she's congratulated with a safe house and a few large guards to stand outside at all hours of the day. Weller comes to thank her and tell her that she'll be working with the FBI now as they figure out her mystery. While there, he sees a scar on the back of her neck and is reminded of a young girl he used to know when little.
Hold on to your seats because this next fact is key but it's going to blow your mind. When Weller was young--we're talkin' ten years old here--he and a female friend were climbing a tree to play. An accident, he caused her to fall and cut the back of her neck, leaving a nasty scar. Shortly after that, she disappeared. It was believed that his father killed the girl which is why the man is in jail at the moment and Weller hasn't forgiven him for that. Again, that was at least 20 years ago. Suddenly a woman with the same kind of scar, same eyes, and similar look to that young girl appears and Weller thinks it is the girl probably because of a guilty conscience more than anything. But guess what? It isher as revealed by a DNA test on the third episode! What? So you mean to tell me some powerful group not only knows people who are about to commit crimes on the date and time they're going to commit them, but they also knew that this young boy would grow up to become an FBI special agent as opposed to some desk jockey, and would be in the perfect position to stop these crimes? Stop. It. N. B. C.

You heard right--or, I mean read right in that last paragraph. Each tattoo is linked to a future crime which makes this into a procedural crime-solving show with a twist: every crime is linked to the female protagonist. The FBI has to figure out which tattoo means what and connects to a strand of events that will take place that episode. You losin' your crap yet? Yes, I know. The very concept that these skin inks are linked to a crime or criminal who is ready to perpetrate such an act around the exact time the analysts decipher what the tattoo means has a huge amount of flaws to it. Don't wanna get all science-y on you, but there's things like predictive analytics, behavioral sciences, probability algorithms and etc. that the person or persons behind the tattooing would have to take into account and master (are Dash and his siblings from Minority Report behind this?). Not to mention, every clue she gets while tagging along in the field must align so perfectly with what's going on concerning the tattoos, that even if one thing is out of place and they get a date or time or reference wrong, seemingly the entire Jenga tower comes tumbling down. Still with me.
The second case shown in episode two helped to stop a drone bombing on US soil from a disgruntled drone pilot who got fed up with his duties involving surveying US citizens. He, like the man before, was ready to carry out his attack but only did so after Weller and Jane Doe AKA Taylor Shaw came knocking on his door to ask him if he knew her. That then led me to believe that Jane's appearance at these places or to these people is what actually prompted their attacks, however, the third episode dispels this theory and also calls into question the meaning of the covered Navy SEAL tattoo. In it, a group of International jewelry thieves botch a smash and grab at a high-end store, leaving one of their men behind suffering through gunshot wounds. He would survive long enough to breathe his last few breaths to Jane Doe in a hospital but what's important is how they found him. He had the exact same SEAL tattoo, something they wouldn't have known were it not for him being shot. This hints at them belonging or receiving training from the same group. Then again, maybe whoever tattooed them was behind the robberies in the first place. As an aside, I'd like to note how ridiculous it felt to me to have an internationally known, never caught jewelry heist group do a simple smash and grab with a van. I generally expect something closer to Ocean's Eleven, but got something closer to Hank and Seamus knocking over the 7/11 on the corner.
Then there was the mysterious bearded guy from Taylor's flashbacks. In the first episode he killed the Asian guy after inferring that the man had failed at some task presumably given to him by the tattooing group. He just appears in the second episode to stare from afar with the longing eyes of Romeo. Come the opening minutes of the third episode he is shot dead after she kicks his butt. He tries telling her something but dies before he can say it. As another aside, how in the hell did this show think they could get away with two men whispering dying words about the truth to Jane Doe? That was one dramatic deathbed confession scene too many and you know it Blindspot. Talk about repetition and repeating yourself--you know, when you do the same thing over and over again.
And as if all that mystery isn't enough, they throw one more at you with a mystery concerning Weller's boss. One of the tattoos is of a case file number that she worked on some time ago. While the file has mostly been redacted, it contained something very dubious as she meets with some guy at the end of the third episode who asks if Jane Doe knows what the tattoo means, and if she does why she isn't already dead.

What's my grade of the series so far? I give it a solid B. While I enjoy this show quite a bit, the flaws I mentioned in logic may become distracting as time goes on but for now they play well. But just the fact that whoever put these tattoos on her has power akin to God (maybe God did this to her. What if God was one of us a tattoo artist) is mind-blowing in itself. They remind me of the Provocateurs but I digress. The fact that there is so much mystery going on is also cause for future concern as I still haven't a clue as to where to start for possible suspects. The only suspect I really had was the bearded guy and he is dead now, plus I never thought he was the boss behind it all, but another pawn or rook. Also, the fact that these events happen the way they do in a sequential order of most easily deciphered to least (some are in completely different languages, though Jane Doe seems to know said languages) calls into question the validity of the tension in the show. What if they figure out the wrong clue at the wrong time? Will that ever happen?
And then there are the characters. While I like the character played by Ms. Alexander, I can see some viewers growing weary of her constant eyebrow-raised look of doe-ish befuddlement on why this is happening to her. If not wearing that look, she's got on a bad ass scowl as she's kicking butt. Weller, played by Sullivan Stapleton is no better as he has only one setting which is also a bad ass, mad at the world scowl. Thank goodness they're single, old friends and have a palpable tension building between them because they clearly each need to get, uh... you know. They need a little stress relief in their lives.
Should you be watching? I'm going to venture out on a limb and say yes. While the coughs and leaps in logic might make you cringe, and there aren't any visible suspects to the overall mystery as of yet, there is a hypnotic draw to this show. The crimes are more complex than the ones you'll see on Minority Report and you do feel the confusion of the characters. For a Monday show on NBC at 10pm, it might be precisely what you need after a long work day when your mind wants to slow down before you drift off to sleep. It also has good enough pacing to make every episode feel like a heart-stopping thriller similar to 24. And while all the tattoos connect to her, you can skip an episode or two and not miss much which makes it perfect for those times when you forget to set your DVR or get busy with something else.
What do you think? Have you been watching Blindspot and think it's insanely intelligent and involved? Do you have a theory about who tattooed Jane/Taylor? How do you see the relationship between Jane and Weller evolving? And do you think this series has lasting potential past the first season? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button to comment).
As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “It's nice. It's a little hard to find but ya think I could rent a scooter?”

P.S. OK, don't freak when I say this but I actually could never get into Jason Bourne. I know, that sounds terrible especially with this show being so similar in tone. I did watch the Dominic Purcell show but that quickly got canceled so Blindspot has quite a bit working against it. We'll see if it lasts.

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I see the future and it looks rather... muted #MinorityReport #3WeekRoundup #PremiereWeek

I see the future and it looks rather... muted #MinorityReport #3WeekRoundup #PremiereWeek

All pictures courtesy of FOX 
So much to say, yet few words to say it with. FOX's Minority Report (#MinorityReport) is a difficult show to pin down. On the one hand, it has all the cool futuristic sci-fi tech that many of us hope to have come 50 years from now. That alone can draw a geek in for a few episodes. On the other hand, it has a plodding mystery so glacial-like in its movement that its hard to see it as a mystery or half care about it. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's begin at the beginning.
Again, I mention that for those of you not in the know, I wait to watch the first three episodes of a new show before making my ultimate judgment on if I'll continue watching that show. That means I will be having a ton of work to do blog-wise this week as this is the third official week for the new fall season. You can expect a review of Blindspot later on today and Limitless even later. For now, we focus on Minority Report. Also, as a refresher on why I looked forward to this show just click the #PremiereWeek link up top and scroll down to FOX (the first section I believe). But in short, I liked it because it was based on a Spielberg movie and had him as an executive producer behind it.
To begin, the show is a sequel to the Tom Cruise movie as I previously mentioned (if you haven't seen it then you should rent or buy that from somewhere because it is definitely worth a watch). While the movie trailed a future cop on the run with an unusually gifted young girl, the show pairs her youngest brother with a cop bent on solving crimes in part because of her father's death--he also was a cop.

The series began with Dash--the precog who can see crimes happening in the future--receiving the vision of a woman being thrust out of her apartment window and plummeting to her death. Though he tries to stop this crime, he's too late when he darts into the wrong apartment building and finds a Tai Chi or Yoga class going on in the room number where the woman is supposed to live. Hoping to be of some help, he scopes the crime scene, discovers who the woman is working the case, tracks her down and gives her information on what he knows while staying as disconnected from her as possible. No introduction, no exchanging of phone numbers, not even a proper handshake, he instead injects her with some kind of local muscle relaxant to paralyze her from chasing him--the same drug he used on his facial muscles to disguise himself. She can't let this go.

The detective, played by Meagan Good, is name Vega. Not a slouch, she works very closely with her lieutenant/captain boss and ex-lover played by Wilmer Valderrama (yeah, he's back on TV and it's kinda cool). One of the lead detectives in her department, she uses the high-tech facilities to find the identity of the guy who gave her useful information on the crime. She is helped by her female geek/nerd tech girl who seems to work in that department completely alone but it's the future so I can understand fewer people needed to do the work of a machine. And while FOX does get brownie points here for hitting the minority trifecta--Latino, Black woman, and Asian woman--some of those points are taken away because of the fact that they made the Asian woman the smart geeky tech.

With her small team, she manages to track Dash down, though she keeps his identity a secret. He confesses to being precisely what she theorized, a precog, and gives her more info on another crime soon to happen. While Vega manages to track down the first criminal, he dies from a falling beam right after saying something big is about to happen. At first I thought he was referring to a bigger mystery to run through the show, but in hindsight I'm not sure he wasn't just talking about the infecting of birds with a viral strain that would kill a crowd of people at the outside launch of a new technology called Hawk-eye. A new computer program, it comes into effect on the third episode and is essentially Big Brother and the Patriot Act on steroids, able to monitor and flag your every behavior and predict future actions based on a probability rating. It can also do things such as shut down your car and restrict your driving, and have your doctor-patient confidentiality waived if you end up on the restrictions list, but I am getting too ahead of myself again.
Back to the first mystery, the birds attack was choreographed by a past precrime worker upset at the fact that he lost everything after the division shuttered. One of the men that was in charge of the entire operation has moved on to greener pastures and is the brain (or money or both) behind the new Hawk-eye system which does a similar job to the precogs. He is the villains target.
Dash and Vega find the bad guy and stop him but not without some help from Dash's twin brother--older by a few minutes. Originally slated to be an identical twin and to be played by the same actor as Dash, the brother looks insanely different. He looks more mature, has a boxier face and exudes suaveness. After his time spent in the "milk bath" that enhanced the three siblings powers to have the visions, he spent his life trying to monetize his gift, accomplishing that both in legal and illegal ways. Why does Dash need to contact him? Because unlike their older sister Agatha, Dash and his brother Arthur are a team. Dash gets the visions while Arthur gets details like names, addresses, times, etc. Embittered towards the police for his and his siblings time spent locked in the cellar of precrime, he only helps after his brother makes a promise to do something for him.

The crime is quickly solved and the man and his accomplice daughter are both brought to justice; however, Dash accidentally kills the man by pushing him from a height while trying to save Vega's life. Though the show tries to display some moral gravitas here, the writers throw up their hands and pretty much conclude that, "eh, he was a bad guy," before moving on their merry way. That was the first episode.
Sticking to what I thought it'd be, Minority Report does become a weekly procedural where they are given a case of the week to solve before the hour is over. And while that may be what dominates the show, producers hope you come back for the secondary mystery involving what the twins' sister Agatha sees. As the most powerful of the three siblings clinically born brain-dead to drug addicts, she receives not only the visions like her youngest brother, but the details like her oldest brother. Unique to her, she also sees multiple possibilities of what could happen depending on environmental variables. In other words, she knows that the future can change which is what the movie was about and the reason why precrime was outlawed. As of late, her visions have shown her and her brothers being re-submerged in the milk bath in the dungeon of precrime at D.C.'s HQ. The vision also suggests Vega has something to do with this new round of punishment as they see it. Unfortunately she lives out in the country somewhere on what she's termed "the island," and only interacts with her brother through hologram calls.

Is the mystery of how they get back into the vats of psychic juice great enough to keep me on the edge of my seat in anticipation for even the smallest clues? Not really. It doesn't hint at a greater catastrophe and hasn't really done much to enhance or impair the show. Honestly, it seems like filler similar to the first chapter of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo or the last few chapters of the book--it's a nice side-story but you can take it away and the show loses nothing. In fact, I didn't even know they would show the sister after spending the entire movie dwelling on her. Funny thing, they didn't get the original actress to reprise her role though I thought she was quite good and is actually the same age as the current actress. She is set to appear in the Harry Potter spin-off film Fantastic Beasts...

The only connective strand they do have left over from the film is Wally the Caretaker who was the only person to see the faces of the siblings before the events of the film. A brilliant but frustrated scientist, he recreated some of the precrime tech used on the siblings so Vega can see the visions within Dash's mind. It's a nice nod to the film and gives the show a legitimate way to continue the same vein of precognition work.
My grade for the series so far? I give it a B- to a C+. While I enjoy the future tech (funny, the profile compatibility thing was what I wrote about in my serial novel Unrequited near five years ago. It'll be out 2016), the overall aesthetic of the show and the producers bravery in trying to turn this concept film (based off a story by Philip K. Dick), I think they've missed the mark on many fronts.
First, the film explored the moral complexity of what precrime was and how to deal with it. The fact that things could change and be willfully altered both by the perpetrator on a personal level and on a machine level was where the movie got its namesake. A minority report was explained as the random times in which not all the siblings saw or experienced the same thing concerning a crime, thereby clouding the precognition process. In the show, not only is the moral weight seemingly absent but there's also a strange duality of spirit coming from Vega who willfully uses the abilities of Dash illegally but is skeptical of the Hawk-eye program which does essentially the same thing but through a behavioral predictive algorithm.
Then there's the characters which are not very rich or interesting to me, at least not as much as I thought they'd be. Dash is someone who has lived on the fringes of society ever since he and his siblings were released. While he shows some signs of ill adjustment, he isn't a Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Asperger's savant or Rain Man genius or whimsically charming fish-out-of-water character like Ichabod on Sleepy Hollow, but more of a quiet guy who can be awkward every so often and sees visions of people getting murdered. Everything about him screams that he should be more maladjusted but isn't, which sometimes allows him to blend into the background and not on purpose from what I can gather.
Meagan Good's character of Vega I also find to be a little bland. She doesn't have the hard-nosed sex appeal of Kate Beckett on Castle nor the playful and witty banter of Booth on Bones nor the ability to diffuse a tense situation possessed by Abbie Mills on Sleepy Hollow. She, too, plays the straight man on a show that I'm not sure wants to be a straight crime show like CSI or Law and Order. And while I'd be perfectly fine with a crime show that doesn't focus heavily on the two main characters, the stories and crimes must then be the draw. Minority Report doesn't grabbased on the crimes.
Should you be watching? Well, that's a hard one to say. While my first instinct is to say yes because of the B- score I gave it, I have a strong urge to say this is a take it or leave it show. If you enjoy the case of the week such as on the Mentalist, Castle, Bones etc., then you might like this but don't count on the crimes being anywhere near a level of sophistication. And while the science may draw you in, I doubt it'll keep you after the novelty wears thin. Though the Hawk-eye program and its possible failure and over-monitoring of the citizens looks to be a promising story-line to follow, I'm not convinced it, along with how the precogs end up in the goo again, can sustain a viewers interest when so much other stuff is on. 
The best thing about this show currently is that it comes on at 9pm on Mondays only on FOX which is perfect placement because it doesn't have much competition from other scripted shows (ABC and NBC both have reality shows and CBS has Scorpion), though the reality comps have proven themselves worthy juggernauts. If, however, this came on at 10 or 8, I think it might get killed and become a one season show. I haven't checked the ratings of any show yet so I don't know what is and isn't doing well but I can only hope the show picks up soon.
What do you think? Am I wrong and you're absolutely loving this show from start to finish? Have you tuned in to watch it or are you too busy with other things to be bothered? If you are watching, what is your take on the characters and the story about the siblings going back into the milk? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button to comment).
As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “do you remember what you forgot tomorrow?”

P.S. Yeah, I confused the hell outta you, didn't I? It's like that cell phone commercial where the guy builds a time machine so he doesn't have to wait to get the newest phone six months from now. You haven't seen that? Oh, you don't watch commercials anymore. I understand. Man, my main character in my latest book Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-boyfriend Cass Clinton might not like you.  

Hero overload can be... a good thing! #HeroesReborn #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek

Hero overload can be... a good thing! #HeroesReborn #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek


All pictures courtesy of NBC 
Coming to you once again with another new show’s review and recap of the first three episodes, today I present NBC’s Heroes Reborn (#Heroes Reborn). Again, that three week round up post is coming soon on why I do the first three episodes all as one, but until then just know that I have my reasons and you won’t be too far behind if you haven’t yet watched it.
To start, we ask why the heck these Heroes need rebirthing in the first place. Good question. For more on why and why I was originally intrigued by this show click on #PremiereWeek up top and scroll down to the NBC section. But for a quick overview, Heroes was an NBC show from five years ago (that was it’s final season. It premiered in 2006 I believe). It was the first attempt to bring superheroes to TV in non-comedic fashion a la 1960s Batman or Lois and Clark or the first incarnation of the Flash. While audiences loved the first two seasons, by the third most fans thought it had petered out, turning from its original glory and group storytelling akin to Lost, and replacing that instead with story-lines that went nowhere, produced more questions than answers and just plan old sucked. So they rushed toward the series finale and the cheerleader everyone was trying to save actually got saved (not by Jesus but by revealing her powers to the world). NBC axed the show and it was never heard from again... until now (don’t act like you didn’t see me writing that cheesy line).
Now, NBC brings a revival/sequel to the original series that is supposed to be a limited run/miniseries 13-episode event. What does that mean? Brace yourselves past Lost fans because it means you’re supposed to get actual answers to pretty much all of your questions by the time it has a finale sometime in January I believe. Yeah! A series that’s actually got answers to its big questions. That’s, like... inconceivable, right? Right? Anyway, it also means you can treat this like a one-off, enjoy the entire season and not have to worry about shifting your schedule around in the future to see where the characters have gone. While the show does have a to-series option for more seasons and NBC is eyeing those ratings very closely to see if they’d want to invest in more of the show, both the creators and TV execs have made it clear that this is supposed to stay an island to itself (man, I am full of the Lost references today, aren’t I). With all that out of the way, let’s get to plot deets.
First it should be noted that while this is a sequel/continuing series of Heroes, the story is told in a way which requires very little background for the viewer. For Heroes virgins you don’t need to know about every aspect of the show and all its characters to watch and enjoy this show. In fact, I was not a huge fan of the original show and dropped it after I did my 3 episode judgment. What you do need to know is why these people are like this. There was a strange eclipse event (Super Blood Moon, where are you?) that awakened a strange mutated gene inside a bunch of people at random giving them superpowers. Humans being the creatures we are, some of the non-effected people start hating those termed as Evos, short for Evolveds. This fear is both irrational and perfectly reasonable as not every person given powers is on their way to sainthood, and some even enjoy killing other Evos. However, some people believe these Evos were given powers for a higher calling, a higher purpose, and that they are here to save the world.


That’s it. That’s about all the background you need, and the thrust of both shows. What they’re here to save the world from and how they’ll do that is currently unknown and was, to my understanding, muddied in the original Heroes. However, Heroes Reborn does provide us with a strange Aurora Boealis mystery that seems to be controlled or manipulated by a young girl way up in the arctic somewhere, who talks to her invisible friend. No, really. It looks cooler than I make it sound.

The story focuses on five main groups or people. The first is Mr. Noah Bennet. A holdover from the original series, he is a man who wears glasses. That may be a character-defining trait or not. All I do know is that there was a semi-big deal made about him putting the glasses back on after visiting an old friend. The man with the shiftiest of intentions, his journey starts when the unity fair for Evos and Humans to live in peace is bombed and his daughter (the cheerleader and protagonist from the original series) is killed in the blast. A year later, he not only misses his daughter but is getting married again and works as a car salesman. His life his flipped upside down when he runs into a conspiracy theorist who insists the bombing didn’t happen like the news reports.

Suddenly, Noah embarks on an odyssey that reunites him with an old friend with the power to wipe his mind that he subsequently kills, learns that his memories of what actually happened that day don’t align with mounting evidence of the opposite, revisits a facility that used to experiment and manipulate the Evos for their own gain and has the conspiracy nut tag along with him. What’s interesting is that he appears to have no powers on his own but is at the center of the Heroes mythos. While long-standing fans will know of his background and true intentions, newcomers are treated with a very ambiguous mystery surrounding whether he is a good or bad guy. For now, he’s just a man trying to figure out life.

Then there’s Tommy. A young high school boy, he has the power of teleportation and, like all adolescents, is still figuring out himself including how to use his powers. Son to a single mother, his mom has kept them nomadic sense his powers began to manifest. He currently finds himself in Illinois seeking help in controlling his gifts from a secret support group of Evos. One of the lucky ones, he is called away just before a rampaging, Evo-killing couple massacres the others in the group.Outside of a brief reintroduction to the couple and them plotting to kill him before he transports them to a secret facility down in Texas where Evos used to be experimented on (the same company Bennet once worked for), he deals with the basic teen problems: school bullies, first loves, first jobs, angst, parents that just don’t understand, etc. (didn’t think I’d fit in a Will Smith reference today, did you? Did you know he has new music out? He’s on a remix of fiesta. Yeah. New music. Craziness!).

The couple who chased after him is led by Zachary Levi and some black woman who are married and lost their son in the unity festival explosion a year prior. Why do I point out they’re a married couple? Because so far they have very little chemistry. I understand they’re going through a grieving period and from how the show plays out the only thing still keeping them together in holy matrimony is their desire to kill as many Evos as possible—they blame them for their son’s death—but they just don’t fit. Also, I’m going to say a controversial thing because I think the actress is beautiful, however, the kinky afro puffs she has on the show I don’t think do her any service in the way of appearance. In fact, they make her look overly lanky and oddly shaped, not to mention accentuate her sunken eyes. Maybe that’s the look the art department is going for in order to enhance her aura as a “villain” but if not, it just doesn’t look good (one of the few black women I’ve ever said doesn’t look good with natural hair).

Anyway, their story is simple. They get transported to a room and have to break out, succeeding and gaining tons of details on cataloged Evos. And so their cross country trip begins. But the twist from the previous episode? Zachary Levi’s character is turning into a flame Evo himself. How his wife will handle that will be interesting to see play out through the rest of the season.
Next, Molly Walker who has the power to locate any Evo just by thinking about them. Bennet is looking for her as he knows her power will be used to locate, capture and kill as many Evos as possible by a new company taking over his old company’s work. Her story hasn’t been explored much yet as it will undoubtedly intertwine more with Bennet’s but she’ll clearly be important in uniting all the main characters at some point.

There is Carlos Gutierrez who lives in LA and was hailed as a war hero after saving some of his squad buddies in battle. His brother was a masked hero of the city who helped Evos escape on an underground railroad to Canada as well as helped normal people from becoming victims to horrible crimes. Carlos’ brother is killed in the first episode urging him to don the costume and find his brother’s crooked-cop killers. What’s unclear so far is if he has powers. I haven’t been able to tell but he does know a priest that can turn into a mist/cloud/smoke thing, so... there’s that.

And finally there’s the Asian video game girl Miko. Staying true to her plot, she speaks Japanese (they supply the subtitles big enough and long-lasting enough to read). Probably the strangest, most discard-able part of the story so far, she has a power(?) brought on by a sword left to her by her father. Very Tron-like, when she unsheathes the sword she digitizes into one of the most popular online RPG video games in Japan entitled Evernow. Her mission: rescue her father from a supreme overlord in a giant tower. What’s interesting about her story is that when she re-sheathes the sword she winds up in a real life place, the headquarters of a global conglomerate—the same company taking over the work of Bennet’s old firm. While little is understood about her story or how it connects to everything else, I’m interested to see how she will connect to the Americans and if she is actually an Evo as she seems to know absolutely nothing and only has had meaningful contact with a famous Japanese gamer.
My grade for the series so far? I give it a solid B+. Remember, this is network TV so you’re not getting Breaking Bad or something like that. This is fun mystery and moderately deep character study. Rather than the costumed comedy of things like The Flash, Supergirl, almost anything Marvel and ABC are doing, this is closer to Gotham or the Netflix version of Daredevil, or even M. Night’s Unbreakable. These are people struggling to figure out how to live with their powers, why they have them, and what it means to even be a hero let alone if they want to be one.
Should you be watching? If you go for the multiple stories across multiple times motif such as in the Walking Dead, Lost and 24, and if you enjoy superheroes but need a break from the well-established save-the-world-at-any-cost heroism of Marvel and DC, and if you enjoy a good but simple mystery that gets you involved enough to want to know more, I say that you should definitely tune in to Heroes Reborn. Again, you don’t have to know much about the story but if you do you’ll be treated to plenty of Easter eggs placed in it for past Heroes fans. While I think the video game samurai girl’s story is still lacking and possibly the weakest part of the show, I think the writers’ handling of the Noah Bennet character is genius for newcomers as it is left open for the viewer to decide his true intentions as human hero or villain. As I said before, right now he’s just a man trying to find answers. Luckily for the viewer, the show supplies you with a few each week while continuing to pose new questions for the coming episode.
What do you think? Have you been watching Heroes Reborn as a newcomer or a long fan? If neither, do you think you’ll tune in and give it the three episode try? What mystery intrigues you the most: what really happened during the bombing, what’s going on with the Aurora Borealis or how does Miko’s story align with everything else? And who the hell is that penny guy? I’d pay a penny for your thoughts down below (hint: click the no comments section to comment).
As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “we gotta go back, Kate. We gotta go back! ”

P.S. I know, some of you longtime fans are freaking and saying, “this is nothing like Lost.” That may be true but looking at the facts: there are lots of questions that still need to be answered, the original Heroes had a terrible ending, there are two Asians that actually speak their native language, there is a guy made of some kind of smoke/mist thing and this is five years after the original. Think about it.

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Liz is on the run, Red is back from playing Ultron and the black guy is branching out! #TheBlacklist #NBC #PremiereWeek

Liz is on the run, Red is back from playing Ultron and the black guy is branching out! #TheBlacklist #NBC#PremiereWeek #DVRRewind


All pictures courtesy of NBC 
Boy was Thursday a crowded night for TV. If you weren’t watching something spectacular amongst the offerings, then you missed out on a hell of a lot of good programming. In the nine o’clock hour alone we had Scandal, The Blacklist (#TheBlacklist) and Sleepy Hollow, not to mention CBS’s Thursday night gridiron showdown between the Ravens and the Steelers. But if you don’t like football, don’t like a good romance, don’t like political drama, hate the paranormal and otherworldly and just plain old despise TV, chances are you might be dead. That’s OK. There’s a show called Walking Dead that I heard helps dead people rehabilitate their legs and basic motor functions. If you do like TV, then keep reading for my recap of The Blacklist.
When last we left off Elizabeth Keen had shot and killed one of the powerful white men who not only lied to her boss about him being deathly ill but concocted a plan that had her looking like a Russian spy because of who her mother was--a Russian spy. Forget the fact that she grew up in America her entire life and barely remembered her mother from her youth, according to him she had somehow been trained and placed within this secret division on purpose. This was further backed by the fact that Red asked to speak only with her when first turning himself in as he was fingered as an accomplice to her spying. For Red it didn’t much matter as he was already deemed a traitor long ago but for Elizabeth the accusation, coupled with the fact that she knew her ex-husband was alive and kept him prisoner on a boat where an innocent man died and underwent a trial because of it, threw her entire life out of order. Now, she had to go on the run. 

Picking up with her and Red in mid-flee, he used his long list of contacts to procure them a safe exit from the city. The plan: find a good hiding place, stay there for two or three weeks, visit a man that could safely get them out after such a duration and escape out of the country. That plan was ruined.

With old by-the-book Ressler getting the promotion from her partner to the temporary mobilized head of this secret task force, he went after her with gusto. Why he wanted to find her so bad is partially explored as he was also one of the people complicit in letting her escape hours prior. His so-so change of heart only came after she actually killed the evil Attorney General, a crime which doesn’t seem too bad since her old boss also let her escape (even telling her to run), her hacker coworker hates the manhunt put out on her and even her other Middle Eastern coworker (I swear I’m going to learn her name one day) isn’t thrilled about searching for her. Nevertheless, with Ressler at the helm they plan on finding her.


And find her they do. Venturing to a safe house of a man he thought he could trust, Red’s weeks of safety he planned to spend with Liz turned into minutes when the guy’s sister called the FBI on them. They ran to the Troll Farmer—the guy who is supposed to get them out—to have him create a social media buzz of tip-line sightings and location tweets all across the city. He even had a woman and man dress like Liz and Red and roam the city so traffic cams could take pictures of them in various places. The city harboring a Russian spy on the run, D.C. naturally goes into lock-down until her capture.

While Red makes it past the last checkpoint, Liz just misses it when Ressler solves their ruse and catches her transport vehicle. A traitor until the end, Red gives Ressler the name of the Troll Farmer as the guy says he doesn’t ever want to work for Red again after the difficult rush job. The name is gifted to Ressler as a sign of good faith to treat Liz with respect because both men know she’s not what people are saying she is. In a genius move, Liz adopts the accusatory story of her espionage against the US, runs to the Russian embassy and scales the fence to beg for diplomatic protection as a Russian spy.
Mufasa AKA Demba
Doing a good job at setting up two hot story arcs for the season, the second one involved African Black guy and long time Red collaborator Mufasa (not his actual character name but I like to call him that) dealing with a kidnapping of his granddaughter by another sinister evil black guy. The man returns the baby when Mufasa agrees to meet him but he says Mufasa has to breathe in a strange vapor before the mysterious group the evil guy works for gives the baby the antidote to the slow-acting poison they gave her. The big twist? The evil black guy belongs to the same organization that set Lizzy up and outranks the head of the FBI in this secret society. What mischief will he bring to the show? Only time will tell.
Mr. SolomonFor a show competing with Scandal for viewers, Blacklist gave us a strong initial showing for its season premiere and set up so many story strands that can change the entire outlook of the show that viewers have to be salivating to learn what happens next?
What do you think? Did you find the episode just as good as Scandal’s “Yes”? Are you excited to see what the heck will happen to Liz next? And where do you think that side-story with the black guy is going? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “there are no strings on me. ”

P.S. OK, seriously I know probably half of you thought about Pinnochio first, which, seeing as how Ultron was completely obsessed with the character, I can see your reasoning. But was anyone else a little disappointed in how they used James Spader? He was so cheesy in that movie.

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Am I Captivated by the Red Devils? Uh... well #ScreamQueens #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek #FOX

Am I Captivated by the Red Devils? Uh... well #ScreamQueens #3WeekRoundUp #PremiereWeek #FOX


All pictures courtesy of FOX
Oh boy. Scream Queens. Fox’s Scream Queens (#ScreamQueens) is... quite the show. Honestly, I don’t really know where the heck to begin with this. There is so much right and wrong with this show that it’s hard to piece out the difference between either. It both appears as a complete mess at times while also knowing what it is doing. Its brand of satire of the horror genre can sometimes be right on while at other times drifts into a far too over-the-top melodrama that even Liberace or Lady Gaga or Bjork or any other outlandishly dressed musical artist would sit back and go, “whoa! Too much.” But before I begin deconstructing the show, let’s back track a little and breakdown what to expect in this review/recap.
As was stated in a previous post, this will be a three week round up post (the same goes for all new shows). Why? Because I believe in giving a show three episodes to prove itself and decide whether I’ll continue with it or not. Since Scream Queens as well as Heroes Reborn gave us a two-hour season premiere, they have already covered three episodes of the series come the end of this week. I’ll go more into depth on why I have this three week rule in a later post but for now just know that I don’t think most people can adequately judge something in just one episode, as a TV series (or my episodic novella series) is meant to change over time. With that in mind, writing a series off that you were initially interested in after just one episode can be foolish as plenty of things start slow.

Now that that business is out of the way, back to Scream Queens. My initial excitement for this show was based on the fact that this came from the same creator of American Horror Story and Nip/Tuck and that it would be a comedy (for a recap of that click #PremiereWeek to go back to that article). Comedy it is. A little too silly? Definitely.


The story follows a brand new year at a university that still allows for Sororities and Fraternities. The best and most popular sorority on campus is the KKT (because the KKK would have been too obvious? Not likely for this show, but OK). The president of the KKT happens to be a young white girl by the name of Chanel played by Emma Roberts. So self-obsessed and cartoonish in her ego this girl is that she has no time or just lacks the brain cells to remember and call her fellow sisters by their proper names, instead naming them Chanel numbers 2-5 (as if that perfume needed any more free advertising). Far too into the worship culture of Chanel, the only thing missing from these other girls (one of which left before the season began) is the yellow Minion color and strange goggles. I’m surprised they can even speak English rather than having formulated their own language of Kissass-ese or some other gobblety-gook. Two of these girls are recognizable as Ariana Grande and Abigail Breslin (Chanel no. 5 and the first suspect due to her name alone). Ariana’s time as a TV star is short-lived as she tweets about her death in the first episode but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Jamie Lee Curtis as the dean of the college, she concludes that KKT reflects poorly on college culture and the university as a whole. This comes after an accident last year when Chanel was a prime suspect in loading a spray tan machine with acid, which then sprayed down the president of KKT at that time. Now that Chanel has moseyed her way into such a position, the dean makes a decree that any and all people wanting to join KKT must be permitted to do so—this only after a meeting with a past sorority sister serving as the lawyer for that branch who is stuck in the 90s for whatever reason. That’s what’s going on all in episode one to set up the future shenanigans on the actual college side.


As for the would-be sisters, we have Grace—a legacy whose overprotective father actually comes to teach at the college after the murders start. Her mother apparently died a long while ago but her father regaled her with stories about how much the woman loved being a KKT sister and the celebration of womanhood and blah blah blah! Naturally, she wants to follow in her deceased mother’s footsteps. Her initial roommate, played by Keke Palmer (excuse me as some people I know by their character’s name and others just by their real name) is the only black girl to pledge and really doesn’t want to do it save for it looking good on a resume one day as she has lofty aspirations.

Filling out the trifecta of pledges that matter is Lea Michele’s character or neck brace girl named so because... well, it’s obvious. Outside of her over-creepy nerd knowledge about death, she calls Chanel mom in some strange idolatry fetishism that I’m partially convinced the show made up (apparently young girls without female figures in their lives call a girl near the same age that they admire and look up to their mom? What?). There’s a few other pledges—deaf Taylor Swift (she gets her head run over by a lawnmower toward the end of the second episode), other strange nerd girl and Asian lesbian chick but they’re really there just to fill out the cast and to raise the body count before getting rid of characters you really love. They all move into the house just as the murders start.


Surprisingly, the first real murder comes when Chanel dips their house maid’s (since when do sororities have maids? Don’t they make the pledges do all the gruntwork?), White Mamie (yeah, you read that right. And as the most awkward and cringe-laugh-inducing scenes in the opening minutes of the show tell you, she also don’t know nothin’ ‘bout birthin’ no babies) into a deep fryer that was on in the sorority house kitchen (since when does a sorority have a deep fryer? Aren’t the girls always looking out for their weight? I’ve seen those recruitment videos online and not a single girl is over 150, tops). Instead of calling the police, all the girls go along with throwing her body into the freezer from where she subsequently disappears. This, in turn, bonds the girls in secret which also leads to Ariana Grande’s death as she tweets and a hazing situation where all the pledges are buried up to their heads in soil in the backyard and the red devil—the school mascot—runs over the deaf girl’s head on a riding mower. Ka-boom! We got a murder mystery on our hands.

So, outside of the fact that Chanel has a typical douche, jock, frathouse boyfriend with grades so bad he has
to sleep with the dean to stay in school—her choice, though he thinks he’s madly in love with her—the only
other suspect in the first episode is his gay best friend played by Nick Jonas. Yes, that Nick Jonas... from the Jonas Brothers and now with his own solo career. In a completely expected twist akin to Scream, it’s revealed at the end of the second episode that not only did Nick fake his death in his own frat but that he is most certainly one of the two killers stalking the campus. Yes, two killers because murder is only fun if you have a partner. It’s like Scattergory or sex. Side note: I predict with the ridiculousness of this show that there will end up actually being three to five killers.

Because the murder happened solely on KKT property the dean declares that they need to have extra protection, ending them up with Niecy Nash as the security guard in her Reno 9-1-1 callback days. She is hilarious for what she brings and as the Deputy Dewey of the show she gets an old friend killed and manages to accuse the only other black character of being the murderer as only good cops would do, right? Right (Eyeroll, sigh, double sigh!)?

To top it all off there’s a secondary mystery about the death of a sorority sister from twenty years earlier who died during a house party in which she gave birth in an upstairs bathroom and supposedly bled to death. Though her sisters knew of this birth, she died anyway because they had to go dance to TLC’s Waterfalls, which, to be fair that was also my Jimmy-jam back in the day. Hey, sometimes we all need to just listen to the rivers and the lakes like we used to. Not to move to fast away from this second mystery, the girls, along with the help of White Mamie (damn, she was working for them way back then too?) and the dean (not the dean at the time) covered it up somehow and made the young girl disappear. The mystery remains.
Coffee Shop Creeper/Reporter
Because of this continuing question mark, Grace and her new non-boyfriend boyfriend who stalked Chanel the previous year (they probably had a thing before she became uber-popular) is investigating this along with the murders as he considers himself a future journalist/current school newspaper editor... and part-time mascot. Whaaaaaa..! That’s right, he has a red devils costume, but is he the killer?

In my estimation, no. In fact, along with Nick Jonas, I think the person most likely to be the killer is Grace’s overprotective father, played by Oliver Hudson who had a steady gig on Nashville last year and a little father drama of his own over the summer. Why? Because I think either the dead girl from 20 years ago or the second girl who took the dead girl’s baby has something to do with him: Grace’s mother (making the baby grace), a good friend of his, or maybe his sister, etc. I also think Nick Jonas’ character is somehow related to Grace (maybe older brother) and is doing the killings for the hell of it/father-son bonding. Crazy, but right up this show’s alley.

So, my diagnosis of this show? Meh! I rate it around a C or C+ at the moment. While it hits its mark on many things including the actual mystery, well-defined characters and plenty of blood-lust, I think the exaggerated slapstick-ish humor of the show can wear on the viewer over the season. Even for an audience much younger than, say, the AHS crowd, this seems like it could get old fast (probably why this is only a short run 13-episode season). Emma is great at playing the “B” as she has been for the past few years (I’d like to see her stretch and play a nice girl again even in just one thing), Niecy Nash is Niecy Nash,
Keke Palmer has a little too much sister-girl going on (a hyper-attitude that some young girls give off reminiscent of the movie BAPS and falls into the stereotypical black sidekick role), Abigail Breslin and the others haven’t had their proper time to shine yet (it’s only the third episode) and Jamie Lee Curtis feels partially wasted here. Honestly, I would have preferred she do a role on AHS first, maybe fill in the vacancy left by Jessica Lange as the horror godmother of sorts, but I understand how she seems to only want to do comedy nowadays. Will I keep watching? Probably, but this might be a DVR spacer—a show I leave on the DVR for a really long time until I get enough free time to binge nearly the entire season and then be done with it. Should you watch if you haven’t been doing so already? Not if you want real horror or don’t find teenage and young adult drama/comedy funny. If, however, you enjoy things similar to Evil Dead 2 and Dale and Tucker vs. Evil, and can stand a lot of humor in your horror. This is right up your alley.
What do you think? Am I being too harsh on this show? Is it only average or do you drop everything to watch it because it’s your jam, jelly, and secret sauce? Or are you patiently waiting for American Horror Story to come back October 7th? And what about the mystery for those that do enjoy it? Who do you think the killers are? Let me know what you think in the comments below. Scream Queens airs Tuesdays at 9pm eastern only on FOX.

As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. And coming in just one week, check for my new comedy book “Yep, I’m Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend” (#AhStalking). Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to my blog.
Until next time, “This is not a cheerocracy. This is a cheer-tatorship.”
P.S. Look, if this show doesn’t remind you of Bring It On at least a little, then I don’t even know who you are. I probably don’t know you anyway, but you know... whatever. I'll keep thinking of something else as a sign-off.
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Nothing’s Impossible on Bailey’s first day, but is anybody going to cut that cake? #GreysAnatomy #ABC #TGIT

Nothing’s Impossible on Bailey’s first day, but is anybody going to cut that cake? #GreysAnatomy #ABC #TGIT
All pictures courtesy of ABC
After my post last week about the changes to Grey’s and my disdain for Ellen Pompeo’s defense of the way they treated the character of Derek Shepherd, the show has come back as strong as it could with loyal viewers still tuning in for lack of anything else really to watch (although Heroes Reborn is looking interesting. Stay tuned for my three week roundup of that show later). While it feels the same, it also feels quite different as the writers and crew have run with the female empowerment angle of the show, completely abandoning the romance that once drew viewers in—I still think that’s a mistake and has thusly numbered Grey’s remaining days but power to them. Shooing away all of that, Grey’s Anatomy (#GreysAnatomy) is back and with a new chief.

The first day of Bailey’s run as Chief of surgery started with a bang. Not only has she drawn a line in the sand about just how strict of a chief she plans to be, she also chastised a gathering of the old familiar surgeons as they planned a congratulatory party. And her first case as chief: a giant woman with a pituitary gland tumor. The tumor has caused the young lady—a philanthropist seeking to bring the internet to remote places of Africa for the first time ever—to grow to a height of seven feet two inches and counting. She’s growing so fast that her body is having a difficult time keeping up.
To display her power, Bailey pulls a few heads of departments from their already busy surgery schedule to work on her general surgery case. Not only does she prioritize that case but just about all of her own cases, delegating the work to the underlings who don’t know what they’re doing. Will they solve this woman’s problem and perform brain surgery on her before she dies? Of course, but that’s not without a few near casualties as she collapses in the foyer of the hospital, crushing Alex’s old lady.
Meanwhile, because Arizona sees strange markings, pimples, bumps and bruises on April’s back, and she just came back from overseas in a third world country, she is put into quarantine until they can figure out what she has. At first it looks like chickenpox or poison ivy but it turns out to be a skin irritation.

The funniest thing is that Bailey pushes her people so hard it re-conjures her nickname from the first season “The Nazi” in a scene amongst the heads of surgery that is so bizarre that it reminds the audience of just how new the show purports to be. Looking at the cast, the standards we once loved are either dead (on the show) or moved on to other things. What we’re left with is the new crop of doctors which, though they’ve been around for a few seasons now, aren’t the journey we originally signed up for. The love, romance and adult coming-of-age story Grey’s once gave us is all but gone save for the relationship between April and Avery (who reaches the same conclusion I did a few seasons ago about his relationship with April), and the “it’s complicated” new budding romance between Owen and Shepherd (Derek’s sister). Weber is all pissed that Bailey didn’t come to him for advice and apparently Callie has a new love interest.

With the giant lady surgery not going well, Weber gives Bailey just the pep talk she needs when she wants to quit the first day and things turn around. That doesn’t mean her patient gets better as the giant philanthropist lady ends up in a brief coma before finally awaking. A little more kissy-face between Owen and Shepherd, an appointment to chief of general surgery for Meredith and another non-original, slow remix of a popular song (Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off”) and we arrived at the end.
It was a good episode but didn’t feel focused on anything. The surgery was brief. Bailey was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. And the main focus which was supposed to be on Bailey’s first day as chief and her shortcomings and over-eagerness at times got lost. Of course, my question almost the entire episode arose from my life as a rather husky (read fat) boy. They had a congratulatory cake at the beginning that they just left out. What the hell happened to that cake? I’m so serious right now, literally asking this as I am forking through a broiled chicken salad. Sigh!
What do you think? Are you an absolute fan of Avery and April? Did you think Bailey rocked out her first day as chief? Is Owen and Shepherd’s “complicated” driving you crazy? Do you also want to know about what the heck happened to that cake? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “I just wanna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake it off! Shake it off!”

P.S. Listen, I’m all for the slow-it-down and then it’s cooler remixes of popular songs, but I remember when Grey’s featured new music from new artists just coming into the spotlight. It added to the charm. How about a return to that? Still, love me some Taylor Swift.

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