Series Review: Giri/Haji

"We are not bad people, we just did bad things."
"Really, what's the difference?"

This review contains mild spoilers, but they won't really make sense until you've actually watched the show, so I think you should read this, which will convince you to watch it. That's my evil plan for the week.

This Week: Happy Halloween!

Billie Doux: I'm enjoying the third season of The Diplomat and I'm looking forward to the second season of Nobody Wants This. With the final season approaching, I'm rewatching Outlander while still avoiding the spinoff Blood of my Blood. (It's amazing that they call it BOB instead of BomB. They probably don't want it to bomb.) I might be doing some Outlander novella reviews.

What is everyone watching this week?

The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 22)

"People don't live on the Disc any more than, in less hand-crafted parts of the multiverse, they live on balls. Oh, planets may be the place where their body eats its tea, but they live elsewhere, in worlds of their own which orbit very handily around the centre of their heads."

The twenty-second Discworld book focuses on our hapless 'wizzard' Rincewind, the staff at Unseen University, and as the title suggests, a hitherto mostly conjectural land mass, although not to the people that actually live there.

Doctor Who: Fury from the Deep

"Baby baby can't you hear my heartbeat..."

Victoria hates it here so much she could just SCREEEEEAM.

Season Five, Story 6 (Story Code RR)

Starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor
with Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Deborah Watling (Victoria)

Evil: Let X = 9

"Do you have any idea how weird it is for me to be involved in this? I mean, I go to Whole Foods during the day, and at night I say things like, ‘Would you have told the exorcist?'"

Jeffrey Epstein and vindictive ICE raids. Did this air in 2019 or last Tuesday?

Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer: Series Review

"Rule zero is: don't f**k with cats."

Series description: "A group of online justice seekers track down a guy who posted a video of himself killing kittens."

This is a true story, and a story that's actually fairly recent (2010-2014), but one I missed despite its international nature. However, the information that comes out during it has so many twists that I will try, for once, to keep the review relatively spoiler-free, with the exception of the series' set up.

The Confession Killer: Series Review

The real sad thing about this is that someone got away with murder.

Image shows the two Texas rangers most involved with the task force: Jim Boutweil (back left) and Bob Prince (back right). Henry Lee Lucas is in front.

Series description: “Henry Lee Lucas was known as America's most prolific serial killer, admitting to hundreds of murders, but, as DNA results contradict his confessions, will they expose the biggest criminal justice hoax in U.S. history?”

Jingo by Terry Pratchett (Discworld 21)

"It is always useful to face an enemy who is prepared to die for his country," he read. "This means that both you and he have exactly the same aim in mind."

The twenty-first Discworld book starts off with a couple of fishing boats, one from Ankh-Morpork and the other from Klatch, arguing with each other when the strange island of Leshp suddenly rises out of the sea directly in between their respective domiciles, with both sides then immediately claiming it. This is not an ideal situation for cooperation and coexistence but makes for a great plot device.

Masters of the Universe (1987)

"People of Eternia, the war is over. My forces are victorious. The Sorceress of Greyskull is my prisoner, and her powers are now joined with mine! Let this be my first decree... those who do not pledge themselves to me shall be destroyed! The new age begins!"

Masters of the Universe is what happens when an overly ambitious film production company meets an overly cautious toy company.

Peacemaker: Season Two

"When you wake in the morning, you'll be satisfied. 'Cause there is always a wrong to your right. And there will always be a war somewhere to fight."

Season two of Peacemaker is stronger, more serious, less offensive and oddly more incomplete than the first, and somehow evolved the main character in fun and unexpected ways.

Mini Comic Reviews: October, 2025

This month I'll be taking a look at the Scarlet Witch's first ongoing solo series, John Byrne's famous run on Fantastic Four, some classic Batman tales, that time the X-Men hung out with the New Teen Titans, and the adventures of Tom Strong.

Mini Movie Reviews: Femme Fatales

Today's theme is the seductive icons of film noir featuring films by Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Charles Vidor, John Huston, George Marshall, Henry Hathaway, and Jacques Tourneur.