The 100: Shifting Sands

"You can't just do whatever the hell you want here."

In the beginning 'whatever the hell we want' was at the heart of what the original 100 wanted. The dream was to make choices and mistakes and live freely without the insane consequence of death for all infractions. Over the years the stakes have gotten higher and the enemies smarter and stronger and the dream has come back to simply surviving.

Star Trek The Next Generation: True Q

"With unlimited power comes responsibility." As Spider-man would say.

A surprisingly good Q episode.

The Handmaid's Tale: First Blood

The use of color in The Handmaid's Tale, or the lack of it, is fascinating. While there was some important use of Handmaid red mostly at the end, I kept noticing that this time, our characters were nearly all in black and white.

Sense8: I Am Also a We

"I'm losing my mind."
"No, it's just expanding."

Whoever said it takes Sense8 four episodes to become good was wrong. And that was me, two years ago.

Fear the Walking Dead: Just in Case

"People don't change. When pressed, when cornered, the artifice falls and the curtain drops. They always show you who they really are."

Oh, Naomi. You've turned out to be quite the slippery so-and-so, haven't you? At least you injected some life into a fairly boring slog of an episode.

iZombie: You've Got to Hide Your Liv Away

“I really hate your singing and there's a big part of me that isn't keen on being kidnapped.”

Some of the issues prevalent in the previous episode are course corrected, here. The plotting was tighter, the characterization more affecting and what felt partially formed previously was far more integral this time around.

24: Day 3 Review

Chase: "Today is not a good day for you to be needing a fix."

Day 3 isn't what I'd call bad, but it certainly suffers in comparison to the exciting wall-to-wall action and depth of emotion that dominated Day 2.

(This review includes massive spoilers!)

Supergirl: The Fanatical

Supergirl: Olivia was so sweet and innocent when I first met her. Now she’s a cult leader.

In this episode we slow down the Worldkillers (especially Reign) storyline, to follow up on many different threads – to create an episode that is deeply satisfying.

Westworld: Virtu e Fortuna

“I’m just heeding my convictions.”

According to the internet, 'Virtu e Fortuna' relates back to Niccolo Machiavelli's book on leadership and politics, The Prince. He believed "virtu" was the will of a person in power to use any circumstances at their disposal to achieve victory over rivals for the longterm preservation of a regime, while "fortuna" represented luck, fate or the inevitable, and that whoever best utilized the former would be the one most likely to have the latter work in their favor. Or something like that.

Arrow: Life Sentence

"I'm not alone."

It’s only fitting that this season finale of Arrow was as much about self-reflection as it was about action.  We could discuss what it means to be a hero and whether Oliver is qualified to be one.  But that’s not the question Oliver needed to answer for himself.  He had to answer the question that most of us struggle with.  What does success look like and is he willing to pay the price for it?

The Originals: Don't It Just Break Your Heart

"I'm interested in you because you're the most interesting."

The only words I have are expletives. So many excited expletives.