Sunday, February 26, 2017

Oh, The Metahumanity! Feb 20-23)

SO MANY ROBOTS!
Arrow improves, because how could it not? Flash goes ape. Powerless slips a bit from last week's high, and Agents of SHIELD knocks it out of the park, asks us to hold its beer, and vanishes until April.

The Flash: "Attack On Gorilla City" (15% Stupid)

OK. I'm not gonna ding Flash for another one of those Flash episodes where the budget and the effects crew really isn't up to the task. It's an ambitious episode, and yeah, you can see every single corner they cut, but they get a pass from me on that.

I have one small problem, and one large problem with this episode. The small problem involves Jessie Quick. Not only was leaving her behind a dumb contrivance to further her Wally story (really, you don't want to bring a person with superpowers and familiarity with Earth 2 on your rescue mission to Earth 2?), but neither her wrestling with her decision to stay, nor her decision, ever referenced the fact that the only reason she went to Earth 2 in the first place is that "Earth 2 needs a Flash". Guess it doesn't anymore even though it's full of monkey armies?

The larger problem may or may not be ameliorated next week, but the show needs to explain why, if Grodd had Gypsy in his back pocket the entire time, any of the events in this week's episode needed to happen at all. I mean, yeah, technically he needed someone to defeat Solivar so he could take over Gorilla City, but you'd think a dimension-hopping trained assassin would be able to manage that without any of the moral qualms that got in Barry's way.

Agents Of SHIELD: "Self Control" (0.0000000001% Stupid)

This was fucking fantastic, start to finish. Tense, dramatic, action-packed, emotional, EVERYONE'S A ROBOT, tables got turned over, the status quo of the show shifted, and they left us with a fucking cliffhanger for a six week break until the show returns in April. APRIL! I wonder if they're getting out of the way of Iron Fist?

The tiny fraction of stupid is due to the fact that I can't quite jibe the events of this episode with the cliffhanger revelation from last episode that detected four robots when four people entered the base.

Arrow: "The Sin-Eater" (15% Stupi)

Much better than last week. The biggest problem here is that the show has had like five seasons to establish various moral centers. And I think it was maybe three episodes ago where Diggle got a stern talking to about torture and Felicity got a stern talking to about blackmail.

What Thea did in this episode is roughly on par with that, and it's a sign of SOMETHING DARKER. And to accomplish this, the show has to paint Susan Williams in a WAY more sympathetic light than the season has shone on her to date. As far as this season's been concerned, she's been manipulating Oliver and dating/fucking him while compiling a dossier on and investigating him.

So when she gets mad at Ollie for lying, using a line I'm pretty sure has been in this show before, it's hard to amass sympathy, even given the morally questionable means by which she was neutralized. I can go along with it, but I'm not fully invested because it's not fully consistent.

Powerless: "Emily Dates A Henchman" (60% There)

I freely admit I was biased towards this episode because I saw the title ahead of time and love it. The actual plot referenced in the title is, really, the B plot of the episode, and it plays out OK. The dynamic between Emily and Jackie is rife for comedy, and this ep takes a noble swing at it and only whiffs a little.

I still don't know why Dnany Pudi is here. I like him. I like his character. But he's spent the entire season being the third whieel in other people's plots. What does Teddy bring to the ensemble? No idea. Everyone else's contribution is clear four episodes in, so it's definitely time to answer the question for Teddy.

Also, Van Wayne has a rubbersmith.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Weekly Wrasslin' Wrouindup (Feb 20-22)

And THAT's why he's the champ. For at least another 10 days.
Don't know if it's something in the air, or what, but a LOT of what WWE did this week worked for me. Most of Raw, some of Smackdown, a lot of NXT. In a pretty shocking twist, 205 Live was the letdown, with one and a half decent matches and a lot of tedious BS.

Monday, February 20, 2017

@midnight LIVE Power Rankings (Feb 13-16)

Yep! That happened.
A week of all-live @midnights tells us two things. One, the show can totally be done live and be entertaining and insane. And two, they shouldn't do it more than once a year. Because the live shows really take the focus off the guest comedians and their jokes. The rankings, as a result, are even more arbitrary than usual.

Oh, The Metahumanity! (Feb 13-16)

Problem solved. NEXT!
Arrow takes an epic misstep in the midst of a pretty good season, while Powerless starts to learn how to use its powers for good.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundup (Feb 13-16)

FRIENDSHIP!
FRIENDSHIP!

Monday, February 13, 2017

Elimination Chamber 2017

The, um, highlight? I think?
The Elimination Chamber was a masterpiece of mediocrity. No matches from the announced card were on the kickoff show, just Mojo Rawley vs. Curt Hawkins, which I didn't watch, because come the fuck on. With one exception, nothing was awful, but none of it was great. Even two new champions didn't liven things up, and my predictions were WAY THE FUCK OFF.

@midnight Power Rankings (Feb 6-9)

Honestly, this episode was a bit of a wash.

The @midnight crew probably spent a lot of last week fretting about this week's live episodes, which explains a fairly lackluster week with a lot of weak performances. Also, they booked Nick Swardson, who dropped a "suck my own dick" callback so obvious I spent an entire commercial break knowing it was coming. Special props to first-timer Alan Tudyk, who came out strong, and Josh Johnson, who made Thursday's show watchable thanks to about three killer jokes.

The LEGO Batman Movie

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LEGO Batman Movie isn't as good as The LEGO Movie, but let's face it, what is?

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Monthly Free Games (Feb 2017)

Best of the month BY FAR.
Sony's policy of "Firstish Tuesday Of The Month" is the main reason for the MFG list to be out on the 11th this month, although hilariously enough, just like last month, I have the same fucking cold that's been going around. Anyway, get Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime and poke at the rest.

Oh, The Metahumanity! (Feb 6-9)

The Internet needs to up its Agents of SHIELD screencap game.
No big swings on any of the shows this week. SHIELD is competent with some iffy stuff, Flash is flailing around and not settling in to any kind of groove, Arrow is trying to go somewhere but stumbling a bit along the way,

Elimination Chamber PREDICTIONS

So ridiculous.
It's a quantity over quality card for Elimination Chamber. Two of these have got to go on the pre-show, that's the only way it'll work. I'm betting Ziggler's match and Nikki-Natalya. I'm also predicting I won't enjoy this much.

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundup (Feb 6-9)

POPPINS DROP MOTHERFUCKERS!
Elimination Chamber is days away, but it was 205 Live that stole the show this week, in the best show they've put on ever, and the best match the Cruiserweights have had since the Classic.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

@midnight Power Rankings (Jan 30 - Feb 2)

Go ahead and celebrate. You earned it.
Yeah, I skipped a week because I actually couldn't watch all four of, um, two weeks ago's episodes that week or most of last week. I'm caught up now, though, and it's a good week to get caught up on, with some standout performances, especially Whitney Cummings and Will Sasso on Thursday's show, which was loose and filthy. Also, Ashling Bea is fucking hilarious every single time she's on.

Friday, February 3, 2017

Oh, The Metahumanity! (Jan 30-Feb 2)

Perhaps soon it will live up to its awesome credits.
New show! Lots of promising ingredients in Powerless, but the big surprise this week was a perfectly enjoyable episode of The Flash. I know, right?

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundup (Jan 30 - Feb 2)



We're on the road to Wrestlemania, but in two weeks, we have to stop off at the
Finally found a pic of my fave Rumble moment so I'm using it.
Elimination Chamber because we can't make it all the way to Orlando without eliminating. I actually love the Elimination Chamber because it's the most elaborate gimmick WWE has, and ridiculously elaborate gimmicks are the best part of wrestling. Anyway, OK week, brought down some by the usual post-Takeover NXT.