Category: TV Dramas (Page 12 of 235)

Sons of Anarchy 3.8 – Lochan Mor

Well, the Sons have finally arrived in Ireland, and to celebrate the occasion, tonight’s episode was a supersized 90-minute edition with a cool Celtic version of the “This Life” theme song to boot. Unfortunately, that also means that Charming is going to be a dreary place for the remainder of the season, although the writers are clearly trying to make it somewhat interesting. For starters, it gives Tig and Kozik plenty of time to kiss and make up – especially now that Tig has had his license revoked due to his little stunt at the end of last week’s episode. We also now know that their beef goes back eight years, and it has something to do with a girl, which Chucky so eloquently confirms with the quote of the night: “Judging by their level of malevolence, there’s gotta be at least one vagina involved.”

And when they’re not bickering like an old couple, Tig and Kozik are going to be pretty busy trying to keep the peace in Charming all on their own, because there are still plenty of bad guys lurking about – particularly Jacob Hale, who will do anything to get SAMCRO out of his town. At the moment, however, he’s more concerned with convincing Lumpy to sell his boxing gym so that he can begin building his hotels. Hale hires Darby to put the pressure on, but when Lumpy refuses the offer, Darby returns the money because he doesn’t want to kill the old man. Hale in turn finds someone else to do his dirty work, but it seems strange that he’d get in bed with Salazar considering his MC was the one responsible for killing his little brother. He doesn’t see it that way, of course, but that’s just out of blind hatred for SAMCRO. Of course, Salazar wouldn’t have done any damage if the prospect that Tig left in charge wasn’t such a pussy, but the experience was obviously enough to convince him that the life of an outlaw biker wasn’t for him, as he left his cut and gun and rode away. Good riddance.

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I can’t wait to say the same about Tara’s pregnancy drama, because this is easily the weakest storyline at the moment. Why doesn’t she just tell Jax and get it over with? We all know she isn’t going to get an abortion, even though her supervisor Margaret seems to think it’s a good idea, and though she asked to schedule an appointment while at the abortion clinic with Lyla (yep, she’s pregnant too – SAMCRO is certainly a fertile bunch), she’ll change her mind eventually. And if she doesn’t, well, that’s going to be a pretty big secret to keep from Jax after he returns from Ireland with Abel, they reconcile their relationship, and she starts having regrets about not keeping the baby. The whole thing is just ridiculous, so let’s move on.

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Boardwalk Empire 1.6 – “I think you’d agree that Greektown belongs to us now.”

If I was supposed to recognize the gentleman who was strolling the boardwalk at the beginning of the episode, picking up “donations” from the various business owners, I must admit that I didn’t. (Did I mention how glad I am that this is my first Sunday night in many months where I haven’t had to blog two shows? My retention of faces just isn’t what it used to be.) It didn’t really matter, though: by virtue of his actions, it was evident that he was part of someone’s operation. That punk kid had a set of brass balls on him, spitting in the face of a big bastard like that one. Let’s hope the payday was worth it…especially since, as we soon found out, the big bastard in question turned out to be one of Nucky’s boys. As far as who the kid belongs to, that’s a mystery, but it’s one that Nucky wants solved sooner than later. All things being equal, though, it might’ve been better to put someone other than Eli on the case, given that he comes across as more ignorant and belligerent than usual this episode. Is Lucky really responsible?

I’m not going to pretend that I’m not disconcerted by Lucy’s insistence on calling Nucky “Daddy” – as the daughter of a 5-year-old, it really creeps me out – but I’d be lying if I said that I don’t enjoy any opportunity to see Paz de la Huerta’s naked body. Seriously, the woman is a full-fledged sex bomb. If Lucy isn’t aware that Nucky and Margaret have officially made the move from idle flirtation to full-fledged ugly bumping, she’s at least conscious that she’s got to work to hold Nucky’s interest, but while drawing blood definitely works as an attention-getter, Lucy’s on the wrong HBO series if she thinks she’s dating someone who gets off on bloodletting.

Margaret goes to visit Mrs. McGarry of the Women’s Temperance League, providing a very carefully phrased statement which indicates that Nucky has offered to take care of her and her children. In return, she gets a frown from Mrs. McGarry, along with a copy of Margaret Sanger’s now-famous “Family Limitation” pamphlet.

It’s a miracle! Charles Luciano is once again capable of getting lucky! And to think: all it took was to hop into the sack with Jimmy Darmody’s mom. Rothstein might’ve been pissed off for still not having a proper update on Jimmy’s whereabouts, but don’t tell me he didn’t chuckle to himself immediately after getting off the phone. The look on Lucky’s face was priceless.

Jimmy’s playing a round of Five Finger Filet, a probable sign that he’s still really depressed about Pearl’s suicide, when Al comes up and tells him that Johnny Torrio is in the house. As soon as Johnny sits down, though, it’s evident that he has little time for Al, dismissing him within moments as a poor businessman. Jimmy might have been pressing his lucky by calling Torrio by his first name, but he’s got a sensible delivery that lends him a great deal of credibility.

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A Chat with Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (“Sherlock”)

The characters of Sherlock Holmes and his trusty associate Dr. John Watson have been interpreted every which way but loose since their original inception in 1887, courtesy of Arthur Conan Doyle, and with Guy Ritchie’s take on the Holmes mythos having only just hit theaters last year, it would seem to be a bit premature to put Baker Street’s most famous detective onto the small screen as well…but, then, “Sherlock” – premiering here in the States as part of PBS’s “Masterpiece” on Sunday, Oct. 24, bears precious little resemblance to Robert Downey, Jr.’s big-screen adventure. This is a modern-day look at the characters and their mythology, and for those who might be skeptical that they can successfully survive such a transformation, I believe you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I’ve only seen a portion of the first episode (“A Study in Pink”) thus far, but it was more than enough to sell me on tuning in on the 24th. Mind you, I also had the advantage of sitting down with the series’ executive producers, Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis, whose enthusiasm for the project proved decidedly contagious.

Bullz-Eye: Steven, you and I met in passing a few years ago at the “Jekyll” panel…a show which I loved, by the way…

Steven Moffat: Oh, thank you. Oh, good!

BE: …and, Mark, I didn’t realize it at the time, but I now know that you made an appearance in that series.

Mark Gatiss: That’s right!

BE: So, Steven, what do you enjoy about the challenge of contemporizing British icons? I mean, you can argue that Dr. Jekyll is an icon of sorts, but then you’ve got Doctor Who, and now Sherlock Holmes.

SM: Well, being honest, for me, there isn’t really…it looks like there’s a narrative through that, that I’m trolling for things, but I’m really, really not. “Jekyll” was a totally different experience to this, the one big difference being that it was a sequel set in the modern day. And, really, it looks as if I’ve just been doing that, but, really, seriously, it wasn’t that. This is a completely different experience, and the challenge of this…well, they’re just joys, aren’t they?

MG: It’s true, yeah.

SM: There are so many things that…well, once having started talking about this, we realized it was going to work, because he can still be coming home from Afghanistan, a flat share is what we now call sharing rooms, we’ve gone back to sending telegrams by sending texts…it’s just perfect.

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“Dead Set” is a delightfully gory zombie satire

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AMC’s premiere of “The Walking Dead” may be the most anticipated horror event of the year, but zombie fans looking for an entertaining appetizer would be wise to check out “Dead Set.” After Stephen King included the British miniseries in his year-end Entertainment Weekly column listing his favorite TV shows of 2009, I’ve been anxious to see what all the buzz is about. And thanks to IFC – which is airing the horror series throughout the week starting on October 25th, as well as showing all five episodes back-to-back on Halloween night – “Dead Set” is finally coming stateside.

Set almost predominantly within the hit TV reality program, “Big Brother,” the series opens on eviction night when a zombie outbreak turns the outside world into a wasteland where the living are vastly outnumbered by flesh-eating undead. Protected inside the walls of the Big Brother house, the fame-seeking contestants are some of the only survivors remaining – and the last to hear about the zombies. But staying alive requires teamwork, and that’s easier said than done when you’re surrounded by a bunch of people who have been specifically selected to not get along.

Drawing inspiration from the likes of “Dawn of the Dead” and “28 Days Later,” “Dead Set” is still a considerably fresh entry in the zombie subgenre thanks to a few unexpected twists and a solid script that doesn’t shy away from comedy. It’s not exactly funny like “Shaun of the Dead,” but rather a dark satire that plays on the idea of the contestants falling victim one by one in a cruel reflection of the reality show they were cast in. The actors also elevate the material beyond its potentially gimmicky premise – particularly Jaime Winstone as the unlikely heroine and Andy Nyman as the asshole producer in charge of the show – but it’s the amazing zombie effects (the amount of gore packed into each episode is pretty impressive) and the breakneck pacing that make “Dead Set” an absolute must-see.

Sons of Anarchy 3.7 – Widening Gyre

It may have seemed like a foregone conclusion after last week’s episode that SAMCRO would be heading for Belfast this week, but since they have to wait until Oswald’s charter plane leaves for Manchester, they’re stuck in Charming for one more day. And as it turns out, it’s for the better, because after a member of the Grim Reapers turns up dead, SAMCRO has to step in and stop them from seeking revenge on the Calaveras. Afraid of striking back without checking with Alvarez first, Clay decides to approach the Mayan president directly to act as a mediator. But while Alvarez admits that he still needs the Calaveras in his pocket because they serve a purpose, he agrees to let SAMCRO question Salazar about the assassination. Salazar begrudgingly gives up the man responsible, but Alvarez punishes him as well, stripping him of his patch and putting someone else in charge.

Salazar isn’t at all pleased, and after they made a point of showing his reaction to Jax telling Alvarez that they were going to be out of town for a week, I just knew that he was planning some kind of retribution. And now that they know that Tara is Jax’s old lady, you can bet that they’re going to go after her, especially with the club halfway across the world. Still, it feels a little too soon to be doing another subplot involving an attack on one of SAMCRO’s women after Gemma’s kidnapping/rape last season, so here’s hoping that Salazar is taken care of before anything bad happens to Tara.

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After all, it’s not like she hasn’t already been through hell these last few weeks. She was held at gunpoint by Cameron while Half-Sack was killed and Abel was kidnapped, she became an accessory to murder when she helped Gemma kill Amelia the caretaker, and on tonight’s episode, she walked in on Jax to discover that he had just banged a porn star. Opie believes that Tara is too resilient to let something like this make her want to give up on the relationship, but she’s still not happy about it and has moved out of Jax’s house for the time being. Gemma suggests that telling Jax about the pregnancy may change his mind about his plan to “protect” her, but she wants to keep it a secret until she decides what she’s going to do with the baby, and makes Gemma promise not to tell anyone.

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