Deception (US residents already have a chance to watch the pilot online, the official NBC premiere date is January 7) looks a lot like Revenge, if I may judge by the trailer. A rich socialite is killed and her best friend tries to solve this murder.
NBC is also going to entertain us with a comedy series about a presidential family 1600 Penn, starring Jenna Elfman (Dharma & Greg) and Josh Gad. The series is scheduled to premiere on January 10.
On January 21 Fox will release new psychological thriller The Following about some charismatic serial killer.
I think that's enough for now. There's also a prequel to Sex and the City that will premiere on January 14, called The Carrie Diaries, but since I never liked the original series, I don't see a reason why I should watch a teenage version of that crap.
Dec 29, 2012
SERIES TO WATCH IN JANUARY
On December 30 the first episode of a new British mini series, Ripper Street, is released on BBC 1 (BBC America will air it on the 19th of January). It's a period drama/procedural about a bunch of detectives who have to keep a district inhabited with very low class citizens, Whitechapel, within the law, in other words, solve crimes. The story happens in 1889, after the notorious Jack The Ripper murders took place, hence the title. It's very likely to turn out boring, but then it's only eight episodes, so it doesn't hurt to check it out.
FX managed to produce the two shows that I'm crazy about (AHS and Archer), so I'll definitely watch The Americans, a new series about Russian spies in the eighties, which premiers on January 30th. Let's hope it's better than Homeland.
Banshee will premiere on Cinemax on the 11th of January and the promo looks fine. I understand that it's "Dexter style" action series, about an ex-convict who becomes a Sheriff of a small town, and who'll fight the crime his own way.
FX managed to produce the two shows that I'm crazy about (AHS and Archer), so I'll definitely watch The Americans, a new series about Russian spies in the eighties, which premiers on January 30th. Let's hope it's better than Homeland.
Banshee will premiere on Cinemax on the 11th of January and the promo looks fine. I understand that it's "Dexter style" action series, about an ex-convict who becomes a Sheriff of a small town, and who'll fight the crime his own way.
Dec 27, 2012
Dec 18, 2012
DEXTER EPISODES 10 THROUGH 12
I kind of gave up on Dexter, didn't I? The truth is that with Isaak Sirko gone, the series became a little dull. Anyway, it's time to cover the rest of the season.
Quinn killed George and made it to look like a self defense, but the the girl he did it all for, Nadia, left him.
Maria and Tom investigate the Bay Harbour Butcher case and find out that the cabin Doakes died in was rented by one of Dexter's mother's murderers. That, added to the fact that Doakes never had the boat, unlike Dex, makes LaGuerta and Matthews suspicious. So Tom "interrogates" Dexter, although, the conversation feels more like a friendly warning, and so Dexter lies that he saw that Doakes had a boat. Then the Morgans rent the boat storage and plant the evidence all over the place, which convinces Tom, but not Maria. She has a better plan.
Hannah and Dexter grow closer day by day. She teaches him that there's no dark passenger that controls him; he kills her awful father and imagines how they grow old together. But Debra is determined to put Hanna's sweet ass behind the bars and she got a tip: a name of the girl who saw how Hannah poisoned that chancellor Price was talking about.
So there was nothing for Hannah to do than to dissolve a bunch of pills in Debra's bottled water, which made Deb pass out while driving, so she got to a car accident. She didn't die, but to protect her, Dexter gave her the pen Sal Price chewed on before his death with traces of aconite. Hannah got arrested, and she asked her friend to get her something that made her temporarily collapse. When she regained her consciousness, she fled from the hospital she was rushed into.
Maria arranged the last of Dexter's mom's murderers, Hector Estrada, to be released from prison on parole. Dexter, like an idiot, hurries to kill the guy, but as he has the last talk with his victim in accordance with his routines, he learns that Maria set him up. So he runs, because the cops already tracked Estrada's whereabouts with the help of the GPS, and Estrada himself manages to run away from Dexter.
Maria arrests Dexter for Estrada's murder and interrogates him, but he's very calm. That's all because the evidence she got was planted by Dexter: it was a shirt with Estrada's blood and his wallet, which Dexter took from the evidence room to make LaGuerta look like she tried to frame him. Dex is released.
LaGuerta asks Debra if she was with Dexter at the church on the night of Travis's murder, she said she wasn't, and then Maria shows her the video from the gasoline station. Debra doesn't say anything, but she is scared. Dexter breaks into Maria's apartment and finds warrants for GPS tracking of his and Deb's cell phones. He decides to kill that sneaky bitch to protect his life.
Dexter catches Estrada again, makes him call LaGuerta and kills him afterwards. He wanted to make it look like Maria and Estrada killed each other, but before he finished, Debra comes and ruins everything. Maria asks her to take Dexter down, but Debra shoots her captain instead. And then they go to a party.
So, Debra is a killer now, like Hannah. I wish they could make her conversion look a bit smoother, by making her do a lot more bad stuff along the way. Like that car crash: she could have put those pills into her water herself, to set Hannah up. It feels like there's a huge gap between what Debra was in the beginning of the season and what she is now. Planting evidence and lying to coworkers doesn't lead to killing somebody. It is also quite annoying that the writers never let Dexter murder any innocent people, they always make his women do it.
The story with Hannah is unlikely to be over, I'm sure she and Dexter will try to kill each other next year.
All in all it wasn't the best season, but it was fun to watch. And may I say that Jennifer Carpenter has GORGEOUS hair.
Quinn killed George and made it to look like a self defense, but the the girl he did it all for, Nadia, left him.
Maria and Tom investigate the Bay Harbour Butcher case and find out that the cabin Doakes died in was rented by one of Dexter's mother's murderers. That, added to the fact that Doakes never had the boat, unlike Dex, makes LaGuerta and Matthews suspicious. So Tom "interrogates" Dexter, although, the conversation feels more like a friendly warning, and so Dexter lies that he saw that Doakes had a boat. Then the Morgans rent the boat storage and plant the evidence all over the place, which convinces Tom, but not Maria. She has a better plan.
Hannah and Dexter grow closer day by day. She teaches him that there's no dark passenger that controls him; he kills her awful father and imagines how they grow old together. But Debra is determined to put Hanna's sweet ass behind the bars and she got a tip: a name of the girl who saw how Hannah poisoned that chancellor Price was talking about.
So there was nothing for Hannah to do than to dissolve a bunch of pills in Debra's bottled water, which made Deb pass out while driving, so she got to a car accident. She didn't die, but to protect her, Dexter gave her the pen Sal Price chewed on before his death with traces of aconite. Hannah got arrested, and she asked her friend to get her something that made her temporarily collapse. When she regained her consciousness, she fled from the hospital she was rushed into.
Maria arrests Dexter for Estrada's murder and interrogates him, but he's very calm. That's all because the evidence she got was planted by Dexter: it was a shirt with Estrada's blood and his wallet, which Dexter took from the evidence room to make LaGuerta look like she tried to frame him. Dex is released.
LaGuerta asks Debra if she was with Dexter at the church on the night of Travis's murder, she said she wasn't, and then Maria shows her the video from the gasoline station. Debra doesn't say anything, but she is scared. Dexter breaks into Maria's apartment and finds warrants for GPS tracking of his and Deb's cell phones. He decides to kill that sneaky bitch to protect his life.
Dexter catches Estrada again, makes him call LaGuerta and kills him afterwards. He wanted to make it look like Maria and Estrada killed each other, but before he finished, Debra comes and ruins everything. Maria asks her to take Dexter down, but Debra shoots her captain instead. And then they go to a party.
So, Debra is a killer now, like Hannah. I wish they could make her conversion look a bit smoother, by making her do a lot more bad stuff along the way. Like that car crash: she could have put those pills into her water herself, to set Hannah up. It feels like there's a huge gap between what Debra was in the beginning of the season and what she is now. Planting evidence and lying to coworkers doesn't lead to killing somebody. It is also quite annoying that the writers never let Dexter murder any innocent people, they always make his women do it.
The story with Hannah is unlikely to be over, I'm sure she and Dexter will try to kill each other next year.
All in all it wasn't the best season, but it was fun to watch. And may I say that Jennifer Carpenter has GORGEOUS hair.
Dec 17, 2012
A MOMENT OF HATRED
I really hate when someone fixes something that isn't fucking broken. That's right, Google, I'm talking about you! I don't like Blogger turning to mobile version on my iPad, it's UGLY and INCONVENIENT! I don't want to scroll all the fucking way down to see the normal version, I want everything back as it was!
You like to think that you know better, but just learn that you don't. Ever since you got to be this "corporation" you've only got worse and worse.
You like to think that you know better, but just learn that you don't. Ever since you got to be this "corporation" you've only got worse and worse.
Dec 14, 2012
GOLDEN GLOBES: WELL, THAT'S JUST SAD
I am extremely disappointed with the Golden Globe nominations. Nothing for Boss? Go On is completely off the list? Only one nomination for American Horror Story, which is once again for Jessica Lange's performance, while almost every actor on that show deserves an award? Are you kidding me, people?
The rest of the nominations are occupied by Game Change, The Newsroom, and the appalling, tasteless, idiotic Homeland. Sarah Paulson is nominated for a boring, almost an episodic role in Game Change and her performance in that TV movie was not even close to that she's done in AHS. Oh well.
I'll never know why the general public likes Homeland, just like I never understood why people enjoyed 24. And so every award this series takes makes me die a little inside. I don't think I can watch the ceremony, it'll be too painful, even the hosts, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, can't save the night.
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: WELCOME TO BRIARCLIFF, JUDY MARTIN!
The Monsignor had to pay for his blind ambition, Grace and Pepper are back and glowing, Lana didn't get to kill anyone, Jude learnt the taste her own medicine, and one therapy session in the modern time got a little out of hand.
The episode starts with a Johnny (Dylan McDermott) talking to the therapist about his compulsion. He used to enjoy killing and skinning small animals as a teenager, and looking for the origin of his dark desires, he found out that his real father was Mr. Thredson a.k.a. Bloody Face. So he now tries to live up to his dad by skinning women (he started with Teresa, but the process wasn't flawless, as Johnny Thredson had no medical practice). Long story short, he kills the therapist and probably her secretary as well.
Jude opens her eyes and like Lana in the first episode, she finds herself tied to the bed. Mary Eunice, the Monsignor, Dr. Arden, "crazy Santa" and even Mother Superior - all testified against her, claiming that she was mentally ill and killed Frank. So, Judy is back at the Briarcliff but as a patient. Poor thing. Above all people she knows it's not a great place to be in.
Lana learns that she's pregnant and Mary Eunice is determined to make her have the child. So Ms. Winters has to get creative: she steals the coat hanger and performs an abortion herself. Then she turns to Kit to convince him they need to kill Thredson now that they have a chance, but yet again, he wants to get his confession first. So Lana comes up with a plan: she tells Oliver she's pregnant and gets the confession out of him which Kit managed to record. Then with a great satisfaction Lana tells Thredson that the baby is already taken care of, and that he's next on her murder list.
Kit hides the tape in the bathroom, and that's where he's found by Dr. Arden, who is acting suspiciously friendly. Arden says he saw the aliens and that he thinks they might come and save their subject, Kit, if anything would seriously threaten his life. So he suggests to try to almost kill Kit and see if the little green men show up. Obviously, he gets a green light.
Timothy finds Leigh "praying" in the church. After a conversation with the psychopath, who is acting all enlightened, he once again thinks that if he "saves" this person, he might get a ticket to Rome. So he uncuffs a very dangerous criminal and baptizes him in a large bath with water. Little did he know about the true intentions of Mr. Emerson: the next moment the Monsignor is drowned in the bath and the next time we see him he's crucified. That's when the Angel of Death pays him a visit.
Lana fails to steal the knife, so she decides to finish Thredson with the coat hanger, but it's too late: Bloody Face is gone! So she looks for him and finds Mary Eunice instead. Lana quickly realized that Sister set the serial killer free and confronts her. But the devil delivers some bad news: the baby is not dead and it's a boy!
Jude enters the common rest room as a patient for the first time. She goes directly to Lana and apologizes for what's she's done to her. She promises Ms. Winters she'll help her get out of the institution, but Lana trusts no one. So to show that she's willing to earn her trust, Judy breaks the record with that annoying song "Dominique".
Dr. Arden stops Kit's heart and naturally, the white light is immediately all over the place. Arden enters one of the wards and finds Grace, alive and very pregnant, and Pepper, talking like a sane person.
So, what do we have? Aliens are "refining some sort of eugenics", if we can believe Dr. Arden. They also are capable of bringing humans back to life and curing idiocy. I guess, there's not much left to this story, I mean, now we know that these creatures are real, don't we?
Bloody Face of 2012 claims to be Dr. Thredson's son. I don't know if it's that easy to find info about your real parents in the internet, but let's assume it's true, since it's kind of confirmed by Lana's pregnancy. The fact that Johnny knows that Thredson was Bloody Face must mean that the world will learn the truth about Oliver, right?
Judy and Lana seem to form some sort of alliance, which seems promising, though it's hard to say where this is going.
Dec 7, 2012
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: MERRY XMAS! AND NOW PREPARE TO DIE!
I think it was the best Christmas special I have ever seen. A couple of things seemed a little off (like, it wasn't clearly shown how Kit got untied), but this dim, disturbing emotion that dominated "Unholy Night" just came off the screen like the dead girl from "The Ring" and made all imperfection disappear.
I must say something really unoriginal: Lily Rabe was phenomenal. In that scene where Cromwell's character gave hers the earrings, she totally stole the show. I hope the devil will reside in Mary Eunice till the end of the season, it'd be a pity to lose this character earlier.
And then Ian McShane was also great, just as expected. Santa Claus will never be the same for me.
Back to the story.
There's another flashback to 1962 when a psychopath, Lee Emerson, with complicated feelings about Christmas shoots down one careless Santa Claus. The next scene he's already in somebody's home, wearing Santa's costume with blood stains фтв talking to the little girl. She's asking him all these questions like where his beard is and why he didn't come through the chimney like the real Santa. Tired from answering all that, he asks the girl to wake her parents up, whom he then ties up with Christmas lights and kills. We later learn he murdered five (!) families that night, and that was all because around Christmas time he was raped by five (!) jailors. Now I doubt that the families he killed were those of the rapists, these murders seemed more like a symbolic payback for his ruined Xmas spirit.
Anyway, in 1964, Mary Eunice plans to bring Christmas back to the Briarcliff. Sister Jude decided to stop celebrating this holiday, because last year Lee bit off the face of one of the male nurses, who was stupid enough to wear Santa's hat. And so Ian's character has been locked in the solitary ever since. Now, because Jude threw all the ornaments away, Mary has to be creative: she decorates the tree with patients' hair locks and fake teeth.
Frank is eaten up with remorse, and so he tells Dr. Arden that he wants to go to the police and tell them about Kit, Grace and the monster. Arthur tries to scare him by saying that Frank could be arrested for killing Grace, but the "former Irish cop" doesn't care.
The devil listens to some holy music watching flames and not feeling the danger: Sister Jude puts the razor (the letter opener?) from the last episode to Mary's throat. She realized that Mary's pure soul protects the devil from the holy icons and stuff, so she wonders what happens if she kills her protege. Well, she wasn't meant to find out just yet, because at first the devil showed her little psychokinetic tricks, and then Dr. Arden appears. Jude is escorted from the Briarcliff by the guards.
Mary Eunice releases the crazy Santa from "the hole" and gives him the new suit. She later gets a wicked present of her own from Dr. Arden: ruby earrings that a Jewish camper swallowed day after day to keep them till the time she's free again. When she died from internal bleeding, Arthur retrieved the earrings and now he hoped Mary Eunice would be horrified at the story behind this present, and the innocent girl would be back (or so he says), but she wasn't. A little later Mary kills Frank with the Christmas tree star - a present from Monsignor, who finds the new management of the institution very good.
Dr. Arden pleads Sister Jude to help him with Mary Eunice. She agrees and comes to the Briarcliff, however, turns out he tricked, her to prove his loyalty to the devil, and so Jude is locked in the room with Lee, who beats her and canes her. He didn't get to rape her, though, since she managed to get the letter opener and stick it to his neck.
Lana is playing Duchess Kate i.e. suffering from sickness in the Briarcliff infirmary, so there's almost no doubt that even though Sister Jude's done all she could to prevent that, the murder baby is conceived. Lana finds Kit in the same ward, sedated, and so she takes him off the drugs and tells him the truth about Thredson. She then goes to the room with the phone to call the police, but guess, who's there? Bloody face! He says he got rid off all the evidence, and now he wants to be reborn by taking Lana's skin off. He doesn't go through with this, because Kit knocks him out just in time. Lana wants to finish the bastard, but Kit stops her: Thredson is the only person who could save him from the chair. So they tie the killer up and place him to some room where no one ever goes to. Lana says to her tormentor: "One Day I'll bury you!" Well, I hope she will.
And the aliens took Grace's body, when Dr. Arden was taking it to the woods.
Despite all these manifests about Christmas becoming more and more commercial and less and less religious, and the hypocrisy of Santa Claus, this episode for me was about retaliation: at least temporarily, several characters managed to go from the victim to the victor: Lee, Jude and most importantly Lana.
The alien line is still out there and still not making much sense. Everything else seems pretty straight forward now.
Score: 9.5/10
I must say something really unoriginal: Lily Rabe was phenomenal. In that scene where Cromwell's character gave hers the earrings, she totally stole the show. I hope the devil will reside in Mary Eunice till the end of the season, it'd be a pity to lose this character earlier.
And then Ian McShane was also great, just as expected. Santa Claus will never be the same for me.
Back to the story.
There's another flashback to 1962 when a psychopath, Lee Emerson, with complicated feelings about Christmas shoots down one careless Santa Claus. The next scene he's already in somebody's home, wearing Santa's costume with blood stains фтв talking to the little girl. She's asking him all these questions like where his beard is and why he didn't come through the chimney like the real Santa. Tired from answering all that, he asks the girl to wake her parents up, whom he then ties up with Christmas lights and kills. We later learn he murdered five (!) families that night, and that was all because around Christmas time he was raped by five (!) jailors. Now I doubt that the families he killed were those of the rapists, these murders seemed more like a symbolic payback for his ruined Xmas spirit.
Anyway, in 1964, Mary Eunice plans to bring Christmas back to the Briarcliff. Sister Jude decided to stop celebrating this holiday, because last year Lee bit off the face of one of the male nurses, who was stupid enough to wear Santa's hat. And so Ian's character has been locked in the solitary ever since. Now, because Jude threw all the ornaments away, Mary has to be creative: she decorates the tree with patients' hair locks and fake teeth.
Frank is eaten up with remorse, and so he tells Dr. Arden that he wants to go to the police and tell them about Kit, Grace and the monster. Arthur tries to scare him by saying that Frank could be arrested for killing Grace, but the "former Irish cop" doesn't care.
The devil listens to some holy music watching flames and not feeling the danger: Sister Jude puts the razor (the letter opener?) from the last episode to Mary's throat. She realized that Mary's pure soul protects the devil from the holy icons and stuff, so she wonders what happens if she kills her protege. Well, she wasn't meant to find out just yet, because at first the devil showed her little psychokinetic tricks, and then Dr. Arden appears. Jude is escorted from the Briarcliff by the guards.
Mary Eunice releases the crazy Santa from "the hole" and gives him the new suit. She later gets a wicked present of her own from Dr. Arden: ruby earrings that a Jewish camper swallowed day after day to keep them till the time she's free again. When she died from internal bleeding, Arthur retrieved the earrings and now he hoped Mary Eunice would be horrified at the story behind this present, and the innocent girl would be back (or so he says), but she wasn't. A little later Mary kills Frank with the Christmas tree star - a present from Monsignor, who finds the new management of the institution very good.
Dr. Arden pleads Sister Jude to help him with Mary Eunice. She agrees and comes to the Briarcliff, however, turns out he tricked, her to prove his loyalty to the devil, and so Jude is locked in the room with Lee, who beats her and canes her. He didn't get to rape her, though, since she managed to get the letter opener and stick it to his neck.
Lana is playing Duchess Kate i.e. suffering from sickness in the Briarcliff infirmary, so there's almost no doubt that even though Sister Jude's done all she could to prevent that, the murder baby is conceived. Lana finds Kit in the same ward, sedated, and so she takes him off the drugs and tells him the truth about Thredson. She then goes to the room with the phone to call the police, but guess, who's there? Bloody face! He says he got rid off all the evidence, and now he wants to be reborn by taking Lana's skin off. He doesn't go through with this, because Kit knocks him out just in time. Lana wants to finish the bastard, but Kit stops her: Thredson is the only person who could save him from the chair. So they tie the killer up and place him to some room where no one ever goes to. Lana says to her tormentor: "One Day I'll bury you!" Well, I hope she will.
And the aliens took Grace's body, when Dr. Arden was taking it to the woods.
Despite all these manifests about Christmas becoming more and more commercial and less and less religious, and the hypocrisy of Santa Claus, this episode for me was about retaliation: at least temporarily, several characters managed to go from the victim to the victor: Lee, Jude and most importantly Lana.
The alien line is still out there and still not making much sense. Everything else seems pretty straight forward now.
Dec 1, 2012
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ANGEL'S KISS
I am a little sick today, so my judgement is compromised, please take this into consideration when reading this.
Anyways, I couldn't help feeling cheated after I watched "Dark Cousin". Now, even though there already is a devil this season, most of the horrible things the series portrayed so far were man-made, so the latest introduction of the Angel of Death (of Suicide?) felt a little over the top. I believe the only story Frances Conroy's new character brought something to was the one with Lana, whose spirit was so strong she did not want to die even after all she's been through.
So Grace is bleeding out and dying. The Angel of Death appears then and Grace says she is ready. Sadly, as the angel leans over to kiss her and put her out of her misery, one of the nuns brings the poor girl back to life. "You should have let me go", she says to her saviors.
Sister Mary Eunice interferes with Arden's gardening practice to tell him about Grace. She says because of sterilization, Grace is close to dying. Arden says he performed no such thing and that as the person in charge of the facility he demands to be talked to with respect. "You really think you're in charge?", she asks and gets slapped. She warns him if he touches her again, he dies. Arden wants to put that to the test and raise his hand to hit her again, but some force then throws him against the wall. The chain of command is clear. Dr. Arden then heals Grace, because he doesn't want to take the fall for her death.
One of the patients, Myles, a schizophrenic, is forced to cuts his hand with a ham slicer by the voice in his head. When Sister Mary comes to the kitchen, she sees a name in ancient Aramaic written on the wall with his blood. "Did you summon her?", she asks the guy, but he wouldn't answer anything comprehensible.
The guy is saved and is tied to his bed. He can take this no more, he says to Frank. When he's left all by himself, he tries to tear up the stitches, so the angel appears and asks if he needs her help. He says yes and so she opens her wings and kisses him and he dies. Sister Mary Eunice enters the room where the Angel of Death is. The latter establishes that the nun is possessed with one of her fallen cousins. The real Mary asks for help, but devil suppresses her. "We'll meet again", says the angel and disappears.
Sister Jude is still sitting at the place of Sam Goodman's murder. Sister Mary Eunice calls there and tells Jude she's a murderer, who drove over a little girl. To a question how does Eunice know about it, she replies "I was in your head, remember?" And Jude finally figures out that Mary Eunice is possessed. The Devil also left a present for Jude: a bottle of whiskey and a razor. Judy goes to a diner to cut her wrists, but she doesn't go through with this and talks to the Angel of Death instead. From that conversation we learn that she wanted to kill herself several times before, and that she can't have children because of syphilis her fiancee gave her.
Before killing herself, Jude comes to the family of a girl she hit with her car. It turns out, the girl didn't die, so essentially, there's no reason for Jude to commit a suicide anymore. God gives Jude another reason to live.
Kit learns from his attorney that Grace might die very soon, so he hits the guy with something like a presse papier and runs to the asylum through the death chute. One of Arden's monsters follows him. Kit finds Grace in the kitchen and wants escape with her. The nun appears in the door, only to be attacked by the monster some seconds after. Kit kills the monster, but then Frank, who came to the screams, takes a shot at him. Grace covers Kit with her body, and finally she is kissed by the angel. The end.
So, unfortunately, AHS goes from bizarre to completely reckless, and I don't think I like that. The story with Bloody Face this episode was incoherent, the Angel of Death scenes felt like an unnecessary extra (plus, the effect from the way she opened her wings every time wore off very quickly). Dr. Arden faced something rather extraordinary, which should have shaken the world of the science lover, but he barely reacted. And next time we'll see psychotic Santa, which is so over the top. But at least I'm sure Ian McShane will be just awesome.
Score 6/10
Anyways, I couldn't help feeling cheated after I watched "Dark Cousin". Now, even though there already is a devil this season, most of the horrible things the series portrayed so far were man-made, so the latest introduction of the Angel of Death (of Suicide?) felt a little over the top. I believe the only story Frances Conroy's new character brought something to was the one with Lana, whose spirit was so strong she did not want to die even after all she's been through.
So Grace is bleeding out and dying. The Angel of Death appears then and Grace says she is ready. Sadly, as the angel leans over to kiss her and put her out of her misery, one of the nuns brings the poor girl back to life. "You should have let me go", she says to her saviors.
Sister Mary Eunice interferes with Arden's gardening practice to tell him about Grace. She says because of sterilization, Grace is close to dying. Arden says he performed no such thing and that as the person in charge of the facility he demands to be talked to with respect. "You really think you're in charge?", she asks and gets slapped. She warns him if he touches her again, he dies. Arden wants to put that to the test and raise his hand to hit her again, but some force then throws him against the wall. The chain of command is clear. Dr. Arden then heals Grace, because he doesn't want to take the fall for her death.
One of the patients, Myles, a schizophrenic, is forced to cuts his hand with a ham slicer by the voice in his head. When Sister Mary comes to the kitchen, she sees a name in ancient Aramaic written on the wall with his blood. "Did you summon her?", she asks the guy, but he wouldn't answer anything comprehensible.
The guy is saved and is tied to his bed. He can take this no more, he says to Frank. When he's left all by himself, he tries to tear up the stitches, so the angel appears and asks if he needs her help. He says yes and so she opens her wings and kisses him and he dies. Sister Mary Eunice enters the room where the Angel of Death is. The latter establishes that the nun is possessed with one of her fallen cousins. The real Mary asks for help, but devil suppresses her. "We'll meet again", says the angel and disappears.
Lana is raped by Thredson, so the idea about modern Bloody Face being Lana and Oliver's son is not so outrageous after all. This is when the angel appears, but Lana is not ready to be kissed. Shortly after Oliver comes to a thought that he was wrong, Lana can't help him overcome his issues, so he wants to kill her. Struggling, she hits him with Wendy's picture and then strangles him with her chain, and runs away. She stops a car, driven by a crazy misogynist, who's just caught his wife cheating on him. He shot himself while driving, and the next time Lana opens her eyes - she's in Briarcliff, as police, who came to take a look at the car accident, found her and sent her there. Lana asks Sister Mary Eunice for Sister Jude, but the nun says Jude no longer runs the Briarcliff. Lana tells her then that Dr. Thredson is Bloody Face, but even though Mary Eunice says she believes her, she acts like she doesn't. I'm pretty sure Mary plans on doing something evil, maybe even invite Thredson to the asylum.
Sister Jude is still sitting at the place of Sam Goodman's murder. Sister Mary Eunice calls there and tells Jude she's a murderer, who drove over a little girl. To a question how does Eunice know about it, she replies "I was in your head, remember?" And Jude finally figures out that Mary Eunice is possessed. The Devil also left a present for Jude: a bottle of whiskey and a razor. Judy goes to a diner to cut her wrists, but she doesn't go through with this and talks to the Angel of Death instead. From that conversation we learn that she wanted to kill herself several times before, and that she can't have children because of syphilis her fiancee gave her.
Before killing herself, Jude comes to the family of a girl she hit with her car. It turns out, the girl didn't die, so essentially, there's no reason for Jude to commit a suicide anymore. God gives Jude another reason to live.
Kit learns from his attorney that Grace might die very soon, so he hits the guy with something like a presse papier and runs to the asylum through the death chute. One of Arden's monsters follows him. Kit finds Grace in the kitchen and wants escape with her. The nun appears in the door, only to be attacked by the monster some seconds after. Kit kills the monster, but then Frank, who came to the screams, takes a shot at him. Grace covers Kit with her body, and finally she is kissed by the angel. The end.
So, unfortunately, AHS goes from bizarre to completely reckless, and I don't think I like that. The story with Bloody Face this episode was incoherent, the Angel of Death scenes felt like an unnecessary extra (plus, the effect from the way she opened her wings every time wore off very quickly). Dr. Arden faced something rather extraordinary, which should have shaken the world of the science lover, but he barely reacted. And next time we'll see psychotic Santa, which is so over the top. But at least I'm sure Ian McShane will be just awesome.
Score 6/10
Nov 29, 2012
DEXTER S07E09: COUNTING BODIES LIKE SHEEP
Wow, that was a quite a roller coaster! Very exciting episode, although, now I can't really imagine, what happens next.
Dexter takes Hanna to a small boat trip, but she looks stiff and pale and hardly enjoys it: she's afraid of water since her father nearly drowned her, when teaching her to swim. When she asks Dexter if he ever was scared like that, he pulls the usual self mumbling "I don't know", but very conveniently he is called for work: to take a look at a burned man's body. "It was a suicide", concludes one weird arson investigator. But it takes just one more burned person to make Dex suspect that the arson guy is responsible for this.
Isaak has a problem: Koshkas sent two guys to kill him, sadly they are nothing like those amateurs from Colombian drug cartel he could finish with one hand, they are professional hitmen, so to survive he needs help. And who could help him if not Dexter Morgan? When Sirko outlines the situation and offers to stop his vendetta, if Dex would give him a hand, he gets in response: "I'll take my chances". So arrogant. But secretly Dexter doesn't want Isaak be killed by somebody else, either because he wants to end him himself, or he just feels they have a lot in common.
So Isaak has no choice but to take Hannah hostage. He threatens Dexter that if he doesn't get help, his associate, Jurg, will kill her. Dexter runs to his sister and asks her to pull off the surveillance. She's obviously unhappy when she learns who he's doing it for, but eventually agrees.
Dexter stabs one of the killers, Oleg, easily, at the firing range, in the broad light with people around. To get to the second hitman, Benjamin, Dex wants to let the guy follow him to a safe place and finish him there. Also, while having a video call with Hannah, Dexter takes a screenshot of her, which helps him realize that Jurg's keeping Hannah in the house of one of the Colombians Isaak recently killed. He asks Debra to find out which house this is.
Benjamin follows Dex to a cargo ship, as expected, and is successfully killed there by Isaak. However, before that, the guy mentioned the place where he was going to to George, who was afraid Sirko would brutally murder him if he stayed alive, so George appeared there as well and shot Isaak. Dexter wanted to call an ambulance, but dying Sirko asked him to bury him at sea instead, to be reunited with Viktor.
Hannah tries to escape and is attacked Jurg. She kills him with a lamp, but he wounds her, so she passes out. Debra finds them and calls an ambulance. In the hospital Hannah asked her why she just did not let her die, and Deb replied that she's not like them and she doesn't want to feel responsible for anyone's death.
When Dexter enters the ward, she leaves, after confirming that Sirko's been taken care of. Dexter then answers that question Hannah earlier asked about him ever being really scared. He said he was twice: first, when his mother was chopped in pieces in front of him, and now, when he thought he might never see Hannah again.
Maria comes to Tom Matthews and tells him about her investigation on Bay Harbor Butcher case. At first he sends her to hell, but then he agrees to help her if she helps him ensure his pension first. I think he wants to double-cross her.
And Quinn beats up George for sleeping with Nadia (George did that to pay back to Quinn for not returning his calls) and leaves the club with her.
So, finally, Dexter has accepted his feelings for Hannah, though, looking back at his history with women, I have a feeling she won't survive (in the best case scenario, won't stay out of jail) and by the end of the season it'll be over.
Maria's investigation is finally moving somewhere, which is certainly promising, but I still can't figure out, how is it that she suddenly became good at this job? Where were her wonderful insights before?
I was also sad to see Isaak go, I liked this character a lot. Oh well.
Score: 10/10
Dexter takes Hanna to a small boat trip, but she looks stiff and pale and hardly enjoys it: she's afraid of water since her father nearly drowned her, when teaching her to swim. When she asks Dexter if he ever was scared like that, he pulls the usual self mumbling "I don't know", but very conveniently he is called for work: to take a look at a burned man's body. "It was a suicide", concludes one weird arson investigator. But it takes just one more burned person to make Dex suspect that the arson guy is responsible for this.
Isaak has a problem: Koshkas sent two guys to kill him, sadly they are nothing like those amateurs from Colombian drug cartel he could finish with one hand, they are professional hitmen, so to survive he needs help. And who could help him if not Dexter Morgan? When Sirko outlines the situation and offers to stop his vendetta, if Dex would give him a hand, he gets in response: "I'll take my chances". So arrogant. But secretly Dexter doesn't want Isaak be killed by somebody else, either because he wants to end him himself, or he just feels they have a lot in common.
So Isaak has no choice but to take Hannah hostage. He threatens Dexter that if he doesn't get help, his associate, Jurg, will kill her. Dexter runs to his sister and asks her to pull off the surveillance. She's obviously unhappy when she learns who he's doing it for, but eventually agrees.
Dexter stabs one of the killers, Oleg, easily, at the firing range, in the broad light with people around. To get to the second hitman, Benjamin, Dex wants to let the guy follow him to a safe place and finish him there. Also, while having a video call with Hannah, Dexter takes a screenshot of her, which helps him realize that Jurg's keeping Hannah in the house of one of the Colombians Isaak recently killed. He asks Debra to find out which house this is.
Benjamin follows Dex to a cargo ship, as expected, and is successfully killed there by Isaak. However, before that, the guy mentioned the place where he was going to to George, who was afraid Sirko would brutally murder him if he stayed alive, so George appeared there as well and shot Isaak. Dexter wanted to call an ambulance, but dying Sirko asked him to bury him at sea instead, to be reunited with Viktor.
Hannah tries to escape and is attacked Jurg. She kills him with a lamp, but he wounds her, so she passes out. Debra finds them and calls an ambulance. In the hospital Hannah asked her why she just did not let her die, and Deb replied that she's not like them and she doesn't want to feel responsible for anyone's death.
When Dexter enters the ward, she leaves, after confirming that Sirko's been taken care of. Dexter then answers that question Hannah earlier asked about him ever being really scared. He said he was twice: first, when his mother was chopped in pieces in front of him, and now, when he thought he might never see Hannah again.
Maria comes to Tom Matthews and tells him about her investigation on Bay Harbor Butcher case. At first he sends her to hell, but then he agrees to help her if she helps him ensure his pension first. I think he wants to double-cross her.
And Quinn beats up George for sleeping with Nadia (George did that to pay back to Quinn for not returning his calls) and leaves the club with her.
So, finally, Dexter has accepted his feelings for Hannah, though, looking back at his history with women, I have a feeling she won't survive (in the best case scenario, won't stay out of jail) and by the end of the season it'll be over.
Maria's investigation is finally moving somewhere, which is certainly promising, but I still can't figure out, how is it that she suddenly became good at this job? Where were her wonderful insights before?
I was also sad to see Isaak go, I liked this character a lot. Oh well.
Score: 10/10
Nov 27, 2012
REVENGE S02E08: ANOTHER EXTENSIVE FLASHBACK
Well, I've never thought it would come to this, but "Lineage" is the worst episode of Revenge I've seen so far. All of the background stories were cheesy, far-fetched, and pretty much unnecessary. Not much to add, really.
2006, Thanksgiving day. Emily, along with Takeda, is trying to infiltrate some Russian cartel specializing in human trafficking to find out what happened to a girl named Coleen, whose disappearance is somehow connected with the Initiative and the notorious plane explosion David Clarke was convicted for. That's when she met Ashley, who was then planning to start a successful prostitution career, and Aiden, who happened to be Coleen's brother, and so he planned to avenge her kidnapping and possible death. He basically sabotaged Emily's operation and killed Dmitry Bladov, the only guy who could know where Coleen was. But in spite o that, Emily asked Takeda to be Aiden's sensei as well.
It was a little funny that Emily and Takeda planned their operation in an abandoned building, like that fellow from Arrow. But gosh, Emily VanCamp looked pretty there.
Jack and Declan's father, Carl, is still alive and is trying to stand up to some racketeer, who obviously was Kenny's dad. Long story short, the racketeer is killed by another small business owner with Carl's gun.
NolCorp goes public, all thanks to the company CFO, Marco Romero, who also happens to be Nolan's boyfriend at the time. This story line was extremely poor, the dialogues - not less than pathetic. The CFO finds out that the account on Cayman Islands with half a billion dollars from NolCorp is empty. At first, Nolan doesn't want to share with him where this money went. So Marco says "See, I'm your CFO. And you can't tell me where nearly half a billion dollars went? That doesn't work for me." Pff. After a while Nolan does say it was given to David Clarke's daughter and when Marco shockingly wonders if Nolan is insane, he replies "if you don't get that, then I don't think we have a future together". Pffff. Really? You don't want to explain the situation better? Anyway, at least now we know why Mr. Ross wouldn't hire a new CFO for the audit. Too many painful memories.
Finally, the Graysons. Victoria's mother, Marion Harper, whose career was basically marrying rich men, came to a dinner at Graysons to introduce her new fiancee, Ben. Victoria tells the story about how her mother shot one of the men when he refused to marry her and made her daughter take the fall for it. Shortly after, Victoria was kicked out of home at the age of fifteen, because Marion's new boyfriend seemed to be attracted to her more than to her mother. After hearing that, Ben casually says to Mrs. Harper he doesn't want to see her again, and Victoria throws her out of the house, knowing that she has no place to go. It turned out this was all orchestrated and Ben was hired by Vic and Conrad.
Well, this part of story was almost OK, since all those bitchy lines between Victoria and her mom were sort of fun. Still, it was below average, starting with the fact that mother and daughter looked the same age. I know that the actress playing Marion, Adrienne Barbeau, is about thirteen years older than Madeleine Stowe, but it doesn't help. They look equally old, end of story. Plus the choice of Grace Fulton to play Victoria is kind of iffy - she looks nothing like Stowe (except for dark hair). In regards to the plot, I do believe that this incident with killing the man was not really necessary. The fact that Marion kicked her daughter out of her house over a pedophile was a good reason for hatred, murder just made it over the top and frankly, non-believable.
Oh, and Daniel wanted to be a poet back then, but his parents just wouldn't let him (surprise).
2012. After sleeping with Aiden, Emily shows him his secret box with all materials about her father. It didn't take her that long to trust him again now, did it?
Daniel calls the Marco to talk about NolCorp and the guy is very interested.
Victoria and Conrad want to save Daniel from the Initiative, so they plan on preventing him from becoming the CEO of Grayson Global.
Victoria, Kenny, Aiden, Marco. Daniel. Victoria's mom, maybe. The need for revenge drives everybody's motives in this series, I get it. I doubt we needed the whole episode dedicated the root of their vindictiveness, though.
Score 3/10
2006, Thanksgiving day. Emily, along with Takeda, is trying to infiltrate some Russian cartel specializing in human trafficking to find out what happened to a girl named Coleen, whose disappearance is somehow connected with the Initiative and the notorious plane explosion David Clarke was convicted for. That's when she met Ashley, who was then planning to start a successful prostitution career, and Aiden, who happened to be Coleen's brother, and so he planned to avenge her kidnapping and possible death. He basically sabotaged Emily's operation and killed Dmitry Bladov, the only guy who could know where Coleen was. But in spite o that, Emily asked Takeda to be Aiden's sensei as well.
It was a little funny that Emily and Takeda planned their operation in an abandoned building, like that fellow from Arrow. But gosh, Emily VanCamp looked pretty there.
Jack and Declan's father, Carl, is still alive and is trying to stand up to some racketeer, who obviously was Kenny's dad. Long story short, the racketeer is killed by another small business owner with Carl's gun.
NolCorp goes public, all thanks to the company CFO, Marco Romero, who also happens to be Nolan's boyfriend at the time. This story line was extremely poor, the dialogues - not less than pathetic. The CFO finds out that the account on Cayman Islands with half a billion dollars from NolCorp is empty. At first, Nolan doesn't want to share with him where this money went. So Marco says "See, I'm your CFO. And you can't tell me where nearly half a billion dollars went? That doesn't work for me." Pff. After a while Nolan does say it was given to David Clarke's daughter and when Marco shockingly wonders if Nolan is insane, he replies "if you don't get that, then I don't think we have a future together". Pffff. Really? You don't want to explain the situation better? Anyway, at least now we know why Mr. Ross wouldn't hire a new CFO for the audit. Too many painful memories.
Finally, the Graysons. Victoria's mother, Marion Harper, whose career was basically marrying rich men, came to a dinner at Graysons to introduce her new fiancee, Ben. Victoria tells the story about how her mother shot one of the men when he refused to marry her and made her daughter take the fall for it. Shortly after, Victoria was kicked out of home at the age of fifteen, because Marion's new boyfriend seemed to be attracted to her more than to her mother. After hearing that, Ben casually says to Mrs. Harper he doesn't want to see her again, and Victoria throws her out of the house, knowing that she has no place to go. It turned out this was all orchestrated and Ben was hired by Vic and Conrad.
Well, this part of story was almost OK, since all those bitchy lines between Victoria and her mom were sort of fun. Still, it was below average, starting with the fact that mother and daughter looked the same age. I know that the actress playing Marion, Adrienne Barbeau, is about thirteen years older than Madeleine Stowe, but it doesn't help. They look equally old, end of story. Plus the choice of Grace Fulton to play Victoria is kind of iffy - she looks nothing like Stowe (except for dark hair). In regards to the plot, I do believe that this incident with killing the man was not really necessary. The fact that Marion kicked her daughter out of her house over a pedophile was a good reason for hatred, murder just made it over the top and frankly, non-believable.
Oh, and Daniel wanted to be a poet back then, but his parents just wouldn't let him (surprise).
2012. After sleeping with Aiden, Emily shows him his secret box with all materials about her father. It didn't take her that long to trust him again now, did it?
Daniel calls the Marco to talk about NolCorp and the guy is very interested.
Victoria and Conrad want to save Daniel from the Initiative, so they plan on preventing him from becoming the CEO of Grayson Global.
Victoria, Kenny, Aiden, Marco. Daniel. Victoria's mom, maybe. The need for revenge drives everybody's motives in this series, I get it. I doubt we needed the whole episode dedicated the root of their vindictiveness, though.
Score 3/10
Nov 26, 2012
VEGAS S01E07: THINGS ARE GETTING INTERESTING
I want once again to compliment the fact that the creators stopped using those far-fetched crimes that had very little to do with the main story. It's already the second episode that I actually enjoyed, and there was no jealous boyfriend, or jealous husband, or jealous co-worker to blame for another murder in Vegas. Double murder, to be precise.
Recap:
Farmers found the bodies of David Cornaro and his bodyguard. The news spread fast, so Milwaukee's best, Mr. Jones, comes back to Vegas to avenge Cornaro's death (It was funny, how they attempted to hold an intrigue on who arrived at the airport. I figured it was Jones when I saw his suitcases). "What business are you in?" asks the policeman, while checking Jones' id. "Wholesale butchery", he answers. I thought it was a funny line.
Savino is both furious with his subordinates, who were stupid enough to bury Cornaro in the farm, and terrified for his life. As he was talking to his crew about the unfortunate situation, one of his man and a witness were being killed by Jones, practically just outside the Savoy.
Ralph asks Savino to tell him who killed Cornaro. After he is refused, he floods the casino with cops, "to protect civilians", but actually, to freeze all operations. The news about Savoy closure reached Angelo, and to make peace with Milwaukee he wants to give them the Tumbleweed.
While Lamb and his siblings were trying to find Jones without any success, he showed up at the Savoy, pretending to be a carpet salesman. However, the cop that was checking his ID earlier at the airport recognized him and followed him. When Jones took out his Czechoslovakian gun, the cop told him to drop it and got shot. Savino heard this, run out of his office and wounded Jones.
Ralph and his entourage arrive shortly, extremely upset about the wounded cop. So Savino tells them the name of the shooter (if that's his real name). Ralph then detains Savino and drives him to the ranch. Jones hears the news about Vince's arrest and calls the police station, pretending to be working for a judge and learns from one very talkative deputy where Vincent is really held. Jones then asks for a couple of Milwaukee men and heads to the ranch. But since the talkative cop also mentions the phone conversation he had with Jones to the other (smarter) guys, Jack figures who the caller was and warns Ralph, and so after a short gunfight, Milwaukees were done.
Angelo and Rizzo come for Vincent, they need to clear things up with the Milwaukee mob, but Savino feels the threat. They drive to the place off the beaten track, no Milwaukees there. Angelo then says that to make a peace with the other group, Savino has to be killed. Rizzo points the gun at Vince and...
Shoots Angelo. Aparrenty, Chicago guys did not like that Angelo wanted to give the Tumbleweed away, so they approved his murder. Rizzo is in charge now, which means difficult times for Savino just began.
Oh and Grady won the election.
Overall, it was a great episode, but I still want to give some critique. A lot of things happening in Vegas lead nowhere. I understand that the series was based on the memoir of some sort, but they still give us some excessive, meaningless details. For instance, why was it necessary for Jones to be wounded by Savino? It didn't matter to the story at all. Just like Ralph hitting Savino in the face after some questions about his deceased wife. Or the D.A. taking Mia out. Or Katherine talking to Laura. None of this had any continuation and because of all this, the story loses focus. They have to work on that.
Score 10/10 (only because it was better than all the other episodes of Vegas)
Recap:
Farmers found the bodies of David Cornaro and his bodyguard. The news spread fast, so Milwaukee's best, Mr. Jones, comes back to Vegas to avenge Cornaro's death (It was funny, how they attempted to hold an intrigue on who arrived at the airport. I figured it was Jones when I saw his suitcases). "What business are you in?" asks the policeman, while checking Jones' id. "Wholesale butchery", he answers. I thought it was a funny line.
Savino is both furious with his subordinates, who were stupid enough to bury Cornaro in the farm, and terrified for his life. As he was talking to his crew about the unfortunate situation, one of his man and a witness were being killed by Jones, practically just outside the Savoy.
Ralph asks Savino to tell him who killed Cornaro. After he is refused, he floods the casino with cops, "to protect civilians", but actually, to freeze all operations. The news about Savoy closure reached Angelo, and to make peace with Milwaukee he wants to give them the Tumbleweed.
While Lamb and his siblings were trying to find Jones without any success, he showed up at the Savoy, pretending to be a carpet salesman. However, the cop that was checking his ID earlier at the airport recognized him and followed him. When Jones took out his Czechoslovakian gun, the cop told him to drop it and got shot. Savino heard this, run out of his office and wounded Jones.
Ralph and his entourage arrive shortly, extremely upset about the wounded cop. So Savino tells them the name of the shooter (if that's his real name). Ralph then detains Savino and drives him to the ranch. Jones hears the news about Vince's arrest and calls the police station, pretending to be working for a judge and learns from one very talkative deputy where Vincent is really held. Jones then asks for a couple of Milwaukee men and heads to the ranch. But since the talkative cop also mentions the phone conversation he had with Jones to the other (smarter) guys, Jack figures who the caller was and warns Ralph, and so after a short gunfight, Milwaukees were done.
Angelo and Rizzo come for Vincent, they need to clear things up with the Milwaukee mob, but Savino feels the threat. They drive to the place off the beaten track, no Milwaukees there. Angelo then says that to make a peace with the other group, Savino has to be killed. Rizzo points the gun at Vince and...
Shoots Angelo. Aparrenty, Chicago guys did not like that Angelo wanted to give the Tumbleweed away, so they approved his murder. Rizzo is in charge now, which means difficult times for Savino just began.
Oh and Grady won the election.
Overall, it was a great episode, but I still want to give some critique. A lot of things happening in Vegas lead nowhere. I understand that the series was based on the memoir of some sort, but they still give us some excessive, meaningless details. For instance, why was it necessary for Jones to be wounded by Savino? It didn't matter to the story at all. Just like Ralph hitting Savino in the face after some questions about his deceased wife. Or the D.A. taking Mia out. Or Katherine talking to Laura. None of this had any continuation and because of all this, the story loses focus. They have to work on that.
Score 10/10 (only because it was better than all the other episodes of Vegas)
Nov 25, 2012
VEGAS S01E06: DID THEY FINALLY GET IT?
Finally! They managed to think of a crime that would actually connect the two worlds of mobsters and cops. So my whining didn't go in vain.
Recap:
Ted Bennett, the mayor, sends auditors to watch Savoy's financial operations, which made it hard for Savino to fulfill his mobster duties. Vincent is outraged, so he goes to the mayor's office and yells at Ted, who shows no intention of reversing his decision. Vince promises Ted would regret this and decides to support the opposing candidate for the mayor's office, George Grady (Gil Bellows). The guy does not look particularly promising, so Vince and his wife put a lot of effort in preparing him for the upcoming debate.
Around the same time Mia discovers fake chips in Savoy, so Vince orders his crew to find one guy and interrogate him about this. The guy seems to have pretty strong spirit, though, and even head dipping to the toilet couldn't make him say a word. Well, mainly because he knew nothing.
A dentist Howard Safran is murdered. Turns out he was quite a gambler and owed a lot of cash (nearly forty grand) to some bookie. However, after Ralph talked to the bookie, he learnt that the dentist recently paid his debt. Ralph and Jack went to visit a place the Howard rented and found some fake Savoy chips made out of dental cement. Alas, the supplies are gone, which means that more chips are about to get to the casino.
So the law and the mob had to unite their powers.They discovered that one night one of Savoy cashiers has cashed several times the amount of just under $2000. The house policy was that for amounts under 2k the cashier did not have to ask for any documents, a policy not known to the general public (although, I'm pretty sure that serious gamblers would know that by now anyway). The total sum added up to the dentist's debt, so obviously, the cashier was helping him out. Ralph took the cashier to the police station to ask her about her accomplice. It was her boyfriend.
In a meanwhile, Savino, who also found out about the cashier's boyfriend from other employees, got to the place where the guy lived. Vince planned to kill the guy, however, Ralph stopped him, so Savino had to be content with just hitting the guy in the face.
As I said I'm glad they finally found a way to connect the two worlds into one compelling story, so it was a pretty fine episode. One thing surprised me, though: Kathrine knew all the faces of the Chicago mob, but not Laura Savino? A little unprofessional, isn't it? And why would she help Bennet with elections? I thought DA's assistant has better things to do. Finally, why does Savino always wear his hat when he's about to do some dirty business?
Score: 10/10
Recap:
Ted Bennett, the mayor, sends auditors to watch Savoy's financial operations, which made it hard for Savino to fulfill his mobster duties. Vincent is outraged, so he goes to the mayor's office and yells at Ted, who shows no intention of reversing his decision. Vince promises Ted would regret this and decides to support the opposing candidate for the mayor's office, George Grady (Gil Bellows). The guy does not look particularly promising, so Vince and his wife put a lot of effort in preparing him for the upcoming debate.
Around the same time Mia discovers fake chips in Savoy, so Vince orders his crew to find one guy and interrogate him about this. The guy seems to have pretty strong spirit, though, and even head dipping to the toilet couldn't make him say a word. Well, mainly because he knew nothing.
A dentist Howard Safran is murdered. Turns out he was quite a gambler and owed a lot of cash (nearly forty grand) to some bookie. However, after Ralph talked to the bookie, he learnt that the dentist recently paid his debt. Ralph and Jack went to visit a place the Howard rented and found some fake Savoy chips made out of dental cement. Alas, the supplies are gone, which means that more chips are about to get to the casino.
So the law and the mob had to unite their powers.They discovered that one night one of Savoy cashiers has cashed several times the amount of just under $2000. The house policy was that for amounts under 2k the cashier did not have to ask for any documents, a policy not known to the general public (although, I'm pretty sure that serious gamblers would know that by now anyway). The total sum added up to the dentist's debt, so obviously, the cashier was helping him out. Ralph took the cashier to the police station to ask her about her accomplice. It was her boyfriend.
In a meanwhile, Savino, who also found out about the cashier's boyfriend from other employees, got to the place where the guy lived. Vince planned to kill the guy, however, Ralph stopped him, so Savino had to be content with just hitting the guy in the face.
As I said I'm glad they finally found a way to connect the two worlds into one compelling story, so it was a pretty fine episode. One thing surprised me, though: Kathrine knew all the faces of the Chicago mob, but not Laura Savino? A little unprofessional, isn't it? And why would she help Bennet with elections? I thought DA's assistant has better things to do. Finally, why does Savino always wear his hat when he's about to do some dirty business?
Score: 10/10
Nov 24, 2012
DEXTER S07E08: EVERYBODY NEEDS HIS ARGENTINA
"Argentina" is created in the best traditions of any TV soap opera produced in South America, so I wonder if the episode title actually hinted on this fact. It also had a little touch of Dostoyevsky, rolling around the idea that everyone needs a place to go to, a place to feel like home.
Overall, it felt a bit like a filler, with nothing really interesting happening. In a nutshell, Dexter gets to the top of the love triangle, with Hannah and Debra on the other sides. We also learn the true origins of Isaak's excessive desire to avenge Viktor's death.
It starts with Dex and Hannah having breakfast after the night they spent together, just like any normal couple. The calendar on Hannah's wall with a picture of Argentina leads to a conversation where she explains why this country has a special meaning for her - it feels like home.
After that Dex leaves his safe place and tries to convince his sister that killing Hannah won't do any good to her, he says she wouldn't be able to be at peace with herself, should he proceed. Debra doesn't seem to agree, but he puts his foot down.
So to make her feel better, Dex goes to the doughnut shop and is assassinated there by Sirko, who managed to get rid of his police tail. Dexter obviously survives and after telling his sister about the incident, he gets the carte blanche from her to deal with the crazy avenger. However, turns out that Dexter has a competitor: George gets an approval from his Ukrainian bosses to get rid of Sirko, since his little vendetta puts Koshka's drug business in jeopardy. Around the same time Dexter gets a message from his mother-in-law that Rita's father is having an operation, so Astor, Cody and Harrison have to go to Miami, but since it's too dangerous to be in Dexter's apartment with Isaak on the loose, Debra agrees to let the kids stay in her place instead. Dex also tells Hannah about Isaak, and she gives him an advice: he must gather more information about the guy. She gives him her van so he could follow Sirko in a vehicle no one knows is his.
Dexter breaks into Sirko's apartment, where he finds another "hitman", waiting for the owner. Instead of just letting the guy do his job, Dex slits his throat and leaves the body. When Isaak finds the corpse in his place, he figures out that George and the bosses decided to take him out. As his right hand asks who could kill the assassin, Isaak says: well, that's a job for the police, isn't it?".
And so the police, including Dexter, comes to investigate this murder. Dexter briefly describes what happened and leaves to spend some time with the kids on the beach. Hanna comes there as well, to get one of the keys she gave Dex together with her car keys and learn that he has a son and two step-children. She says she'd want to meet them someday.
A little later Dexter comes to check on how Debra is doing with the kids and she recognizes the key holder. She asks if he's sleeping with Hannah, he confesses he has feelings for her. Debra freaks out and in her hysteria lets out that she was (maybe still is) in love with him.
After being kicked out from Deb's apartment, Dexter follows Isaak to a gay bar, where he learns that Baskov was Isaak's great love.
That's pretty much it, from other events, Quinn had to work for George again, Batista opened his restaurant, Astor smokes pot and Maria learns that Dexter moved his boat when the police learnt about Bay Harbor Butcher existence.
Overall, it felt a bit like a filler, with nothing really interesting happening. In a nutshell, Dexter gets to the top of the love triangle, with Hannah and Debra on the other sides. We also learn the true origins of Isaak's excessive desire to avenge Viktor's death.
It starts with Dex and Hannah having breakfast after the night they spent together, just like any normal couple. The calendar on Hannah's wall with a picture of Argentina leads to a conversation where she explains why this country has a special meaning for her - it feels like home.
After that Dex leaves his safe place and tries to convince his sister that killing Hannah won't do any good to her, he says she wouldn't be able to be at peace with herself, should he proceed. Debra doesn't seem to agree, but he puts his foot down.
So to make her feel better, Dex goes to the doughnut shop and is assassinated there by Sirko, who managed to get rid of his police tail. Dexter obviously survives and after telling his sister about the incident, he gets the carte blanche from her to deal with the crazy avenger. However, turns out that Dexter has a competitor: George gets an approval from his Ukrainian bosses to get rid of Sirko, since his little vendetta puts Koshka's drug business in jeopardy. Around the same time Dexter gets a message from his mother-in-law that Rita's father is having an operation, so Astor, Cody and Harrison have to go to Miami, but since it's too dangerous to be in Dexter's apartment with Isaak on the loose, Debra agrees to let the kids stay in her place instead. Dex also tells Hannah about Isaak, and she gives him an advice: he must gather more information about the guy. She gives him her van so he could follow Sirko in a vehicle no one knows is his.
And so the police, including Dexter, comes to investigate this murder. Dexter briefly describes what happened and leaves to spend some time with the kids on the beach. Hanna comes there as well, to get one of the keys she gave Dex together with her car keys and learn that he has a son and two step-children. She says she'd want to meet them someday.
A little later Dexter comes to check on how Debra is doing with the kids and she recognizes the key holder. She asks if he's sleeping with Hannah, he confesses he has feelings for her. Debra freaks out and in her hysteria lets out that she was (maybe still is) in love with him.
After being kicked out from Deb's apartment, Dexter follows Isaak to a gay bar, where he learns that Baskov was Isaak's great love.
That's pretty much it, from other events, Quinn had to work for George again, Batista opened his restaurant, Astor smokes pot and Maria learns that Dexter moved his boat when the police learnt about Bay Harbor Butcher existence.
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: EVERYBODY IS A LIL' BIT OF MONSTER
Everybody seems to be talking about how revolting the phrase "Baby needs colostrum" was. I don't know, I maybe managed to grow very thick skin, but it didn't do the trick for me. So a serial, sick-minded killer is sucking on his victim's breast - big deal! She wasn't even dead, had he done that on Wendy, maybe then I'd make a wry face. Anyway, I must say "The Origins of Monstrosity" was a rather uneventful episode and at the end of it I was left with "That's it???" expression on my face.
We did finally go back to the 2012 part of the story, and this time it was quite frankly one of the highlights of this week's narration. A voice behind the screen calls 911 and tells to send the police to the abandoned sanitarium, the voice clearly belongs to Zachary Quinto. Does that mean that Bloody Face 2012 and the one from 1964 are the same person? Who knows. So when the police enters the Briarcliff, they see the Bloody Face copycats (or the impostors, as the voice calls them), hanging with their masks on.
This scene reminded me of how Dylan McDermott's character died last season, hanged by the ghosts of Franklin copycats. Regardless, it looked pretty cool.
Then the policemen hear the iphone ring, and find Leo's hand with the phone. Guess who's calling? Mr. Bloody Face! He just wanted to say he did not kill Leo, only the impostrors. As one of the officers starts to wonder where Teresa is, we see her lying on a table, tied, just the way she normally likes it. And Bloody Face is in the room.
About forty-eight years earlier, Mrs. Reynolds brings one of her daughters, Jenny (Nikki Hahn), to the Briarcliff, she suspects the girl stabbed her little friend in the woods. Despite all the pleas of a devastated mother, Sister Jude, who apparently hasn't really left the asylum yet, was relentless: there's no children ward in the institution. And so the woman did what she had to do: left the bad seed behind. Little did she know that her daughter's babysitter in Briarcliff would be the Devil herself. And that was the second highlight of the episode.
The way Sister Mary Eunice taught Jenny the cruel truths, like that there's no God and that people should do what they want - it all felt so authentic, this is exactly what the Devil would say. I loved it. I also loved how the girl went back home and stabbed the entire family, and how she made the statement to the police about a bearded man in a brown jacket, almost word-to-word repeating the story she told after she killed her friend.
Sister Jude received a call from Sam Goodman. Ann Frank could have been fake, but Hans Grouper really got his new name, Arthur Arden, with the help of the Red Cross. Sam gives Jude a task: she has to obtain Arden's fingerprint.
Monsignor Timothy is called to perform the last rites on transformed Shelley, whom he recognized despite all the blisters. He strangled her and for the first time realized how horrible the experiments that Dr. Arden carried out really were. Turns out when Timothy came to take a look at the purchased Briarcliff two years ago, Arden was there, working as a physician for TB patients. He saw the ambition in Timothy's eyes, he convinced the monsignor that the experiments on human subjects would lead to a medical breakthrough, which won't be unnoticed in Rome. Now that Timothy saw the nature of these tests, he calls Arden a monster and threatens to expose the horrible things doctor did. Dr. Arden says that he won't go down alone, so why not forget about the whole thing instead and concentrate on the real threat here: Sister Jude, she's onto something.
So the monsignor sends Jude to run a place in Pittsburg. But she won't go so easy: she comes to Arden's lab with a bottle of cognac and gets his fingerprint. Unfortunately, Sister Mary Eunice, celebrating Jude's departure while wearing her red lingerie, answers the phone and talks to Mr. Goodman. She then goes to his place and stabs him. When Jude arrives it's too late, but Sam, covered in blood, managed to tell her that some nun killed him. In a meanwhile, Mary Eunice gives some of the materials Sam found to Dr. Arden. He's now safe and can continue working on a super race that would resist Russian nuclear bombs (perhaps, this idea came to Arden after Cuban missile crisis?)
Lana wakes up to the kitchen noises. She looks around and sees photos of Wendy's pupils and Wendy herself and happily thinks it all was a dream and she's in her bedroom now. Alas, the moment of blissful ignorance did not last: Oliver's loud sigh made her realize that she's still locked in the basement of a serial killer. She yells. He says it won't help: "Obviously, the basement is soundproof". But he made her croque-monsieur and tomato soup - "the nutmeg makes all the difference...in the world" (does it, though? I only feel the difference when I overuse it). It's breakfast that a typical mother would make. Only Oliver had no mother, he grew up in an orphanage, with no access to human touch. He was always self aware, and so he knew there was something wrong with him. Seeking for the cure he turned to psychiatry and only when he saw the corpse of a 33 years old woman, he realized what he was missing. He mentions the Harlow studies to Lana, a series of experiments where baby monkeys, separated from their mothers, faced the choice between two surrogates: one covered with terrycloth and the other one being made out of mesh wire.
-Every monkey preferred the terrycloth covered mother. Even if it didn't have milk, - Oliver explains.
-Because of the warmth?
-Because of the skin!
But the corpse's skin was no good. Neither was that of a freshly killed women. It is all behind him now that he has finally found his real mommy - Lana.
Lana gets manipulative. She thanks him for the breakfast, she holds his hand, she says she understands how it's like to feel abandoned, but when Oliver is distracted by a phone call from Kit, who calls his former shrink a liar, she tries to break the chain and escape. He obviously finds out and is crashed. She wants to abandon him! She's just like all of them! He puts his mask on, he has to finish it. And it's all her fault! He had such great hopes for her when he saw her for the fist time, no silly, before the Briarcliff, when she was all polished and ambitious, almost cold blooded, telling her colleague she wanted to see the child, the precious baby inside Bloody Face. Eventually, Lana manages to convince Oliver that she is his mommy, so he doesn't kill her yet.
What can I say, the acting, the dialogues and the camera work: all of that was amazing, as always. I just wish there was a little more progress, that's all. Among the performances my favorite was definitely Lily Rabe's, she rocked! Also, a tip of the hat to Joseph Fiennes - before this episode I felt that he was overshadowed by other actors, this time he really delivered.
The main question for me is if Mary Eunice tried to frame Jude with Sam's murder, like she framed that poor chronic masturbator, who ended up injected with a mix of TB and syphilis on Arden's table, or will Sister Jude just leave for Pittsburg now? The second question is if Dr.Thredson really is the one killing people in 2012?
We haven't heard anything about Grace or the aliens either, I hope the creatures will abduct Kit from prison. Otherwise, I don't see how he could get out of there alive.
Update: Murphy has confirmed that Dylan McDermott is the modern Bloody Face and not Quinto. Oh well.
We did finally go back to the 2012 part of the story, and this time it was quite frankly one of the highlights of this week's narration. A voice behind the screen calls 911 and tells to send the police to the abandoned sanitarium, the voice clearly belongs to Zachary Quinto. Does that mean that Bloody Face 2012 and the one from 1964 are the same person? Who knows. So when the police enters the Briarcliff, they see the Bloody Face copycats (or the impostors, as the voice calls them), hanging with their masks on.
Then the policemen hear the iphone ring, and find Leo's hand with the phone. Guess who's calling? Mr. Bloody Face! He just wanted to say he did not kill Leo, only the impostrors. As one of the officers starts to wonder where Teresa is, we see her lying on a table, tied, just the way she normally likes it. And Bloody Face is in the room.
About forty-eight years earlier, Mrs. Reynolds brings one of her daughters, Jenny (Nikki Hahn), to the Briarcliff, she suspects the girl stabbed her little friend in the woods. Despite all the pleas of a devastated mother, Sister Jude, who apparently hasn't really left the asylum yet, was relentless: there's no children ward in the institution. And so the woman did what she had to do: left the bad seed behind. Little did she know that her daughter's babysitter in Briarcliff would be the Devil herself. And that was the second highlight of the episode.
The way Sister Mary Eunice taught Jenny the cruel truths, like that there's no God and that people should do what they want - it all felt so authentic, this is exactly what the Devil would say. I loved it. I also loved how the girl went back home and stabbed the entire family, and how she made the statement to the police about a bearded man in a brown jacket, almost word-to-word repeating the story she told after she killed her friend.
Sister Jude received a call from Sam Goodman. Ann Frank could have been fake, but Hans Grouper really got his new name, Arthur Arden, with the help of the Red Cross. Sam gives Jude a task: she has to obtain Arden's fingerprint.
Monsignor Timothy is called to perform the last rites on transformed Shelley, whom he recognized despite all the blisters. He strangled her and for the first time realized how horrible the experiments that Dr. Arden carried out really were. Turns out when Timothy came to take a look at the purchased Briarcliff two years ago, Arden was there, working as a physician for TB patients. He saw the ambition in Timothy's eyes, he convinced the monsignor that the experiments on human subjects would lead to a medical breakthrough, which won't be unnoticed in Rome. Now that Timothy saw the nature of these tests, he calls Arden a monster and threatens to expose the horrible things doctor did. Dr. Arden says that he won't go down alone, so why not forget about the whole thing instead and concentrate on the real threat here: Sister Jude, she's onto something.
So the monsignor sends Jude to run a place in Pittsburg. But she won't go so easy: she comes to Arden's lab with a bottle of cognac and gets his fingerprint. Unfortunately, Sister Mary Eunice, celebrating Jude's departure while wearing her red lingerie, answers the phone and talks to Mr. Goodman. She then goes to his place and stabs him. When Jude arrives it's too late, but Sam, covered in blood, managed to tell her that some nun killed him. In a meanwhile, Mary Eunice gives some of the materials Sam found to Dr. Arden. He's now safe and can continue working on a super race that would resist Russian nuclear bombs (perhaps, this idea came to Arden after Cuban missile crisis?)
Lana wakes up to the kitchen noises. She looks around and sees photos of Wendy's pupils and Wendy herself and happily thinks it all was a dream and she's in her bedroom now. Alas, the moment of blissful ignorance did not last: Oliver's loud sigh made her realize that she's still locked in the basement of a serial killer. She yells. He says it won't help: "Obviously, the basement is soundproof". But he made her croque-monsieur and tomato soup - "the nutmeg makes all the difference...in the world" (does it, though? I only feel the difference when I overuse it). It's breakfast that a typical mother would make. Only Oliver had no mother, he grew up in an orphanage, with no access to human touch. He was always self aware, and so he knew there was something wrong with him. Seeking for the cure he turned to psychiatry and only when he saw the corpse of a 33 years old woman, he realized what he was missing. He mentions the Harlow studies to Lana, a series of experiments where baby monkeys, separated from their mothers, faced the choice between two surrogates: one covered with terrycloth and the other one being made out of mesh wire.
-Every monkey preferred the terrycloth covered mother. Even if it didn't have milk, - Oliver explains.
-Because of the warmth?
-Because of the skin!
But the corpse's skin was no good. Neither was that of a freshly killed women. It is all behind him now that he has finally found his real mommy - Lana.
Lana gets manipulative. She thanks him for the breakfast, she holds his hand, she says she understands how it's like to feel abandoned, but when Oliver is distracted by a phone call from Kit, who calls his former shrink a liar, she tries to break the chain and escape. He obviously finds out and is crashed. She wants to abandon him! She's just like all of them! He puts his mask on, he has to finish it. And it's all her fault! He had such great hopes for her when he saw her for the fist time, no silly, before the Briarcliff, when she was all polished and ambitious, almost cold blooded, telling her colleague she wanted to see the child, the precious baby inside Bloody Face. Eventually, Lana manages to convince Oliver that she is his mommy, so he doesn't kill her yet.
What can I say, the acting, the dialogues and the camera work: all of that was amazing, as always. I just wish there was a little more progress, that's all. Among the performances my favorite was definitely Lily Rabe's, she rocked! Also, a tip of the hat to Joseph Fiennes - before this episode I felt that he was overshadowed by other actors, this time he really delivered.
The main question for me is if Mary Eunice tried to frame Jude with Sam's murder, like she framed that poor chronic masturbator, who ended up injected with a mix of TB and syphilis on Arden's table, or will Sister Jude just leave for Pittsburg now? The second question is if Dr.Thredson really is the one killing people in 2012?
We haven't heard anything about Grace or the aliens either, I hope the creatures will abduct Kit from prison. Otherwise, I don't see how he could get out of there alive.
Update: Murphy has confirmed that Dylan McDermott is the modern Bloody Face and not Quinto. Oh well.
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