Amph What was the last tv episode you watched?

I liked the character of Doggett and thought Patrick was good in the role. The writers seemed not to exactly know how to keep him consistent. I like the concept, I guess, of his character, but the execution was off. Now, the Monica Reyes character was just not a good idea.


Picket Fences: Pageantry (1992) – Mel Damski

Things are gearing up for the annual Rome Christmas pageant, but a local Rabbi sues on the grounds of separation of Church & State. Fyvush Finkel’s Douglas Wambaugh is Jewish, but he decides to argue on the side of Christmas; he confronts the Rabbi with the deathless line, “With Jews like you, who needs anti-semites?” You think the whole episode is going to be about the church and state issue, but that gets neatly wrapped up in about ten minutes and the episode takes a sharp turn: the beloved school teacher who’s directing the pageant and playing the Virgin Mary . . . used to be a man! Yes, it’s 1992 and Picket Fences is already tackling transsexuality as a hot button issue. The episode has a couple of logical lapses and the ending is annoyingly cheesy, but the show delves into the issues in a serious way. Tom Skerritt gets the chance to really push his character to some new and interesting places; lovable Sheriff Jimmy Brock, it turns out, is quite virulently bigoted on this issue. There’s a scene here of Jimmy and Jill arguing about it where Skerritt is incredibly good at making Jimmy absolutely infuriating and unlikable. Again, I really love that the show is willing to have recurring characters, even main characters, reveal incredibly unlikable traits. It’s realistic and challenging. And a note for Kelly Connell who gets to take his usually comical character in a surprisingly serious direction; Carter dated the teacher before anyone knew she was a transsexual and this causes a surprising amount of serious self-reflection on his part. It’s a really good episode, only somewhat damaged by a couple of annoying bits. 3 ½ stars.

tl;dr – always ahead of its time, Picket Fences takes on bigotry against transsexuals in this issue-driven episode that also explores the main characters in interesting ways. 3 ½ stars.

 

I'm quite the opposite on that one. Love her role and how she's portrayed, she's like a kooky Mulder type.

 

It's an 80s aftertoon!

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: S1, Ep. 45 "Memories of Mara" (1985) - Plot; Shipwreck rescues a young woman genetically altered by Cobra in a failed attempt to create an amphibious commando. Now she's the Joes' only hope of finding a stolen submarine and its crew before Cobra can do its worst with them.

Middling episode sees Shipwreck, often pushed to the front as a leading man in season one, in a hamfisted love story set against the backdrop of one of Cobra's all-time least inspired plots. - 5.5/10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles S3, Ep. 27 "Casey Jones Outlaw Hero" (1989) - Plot; The Turtles find themselves taking the blame for the antics of an unhinged vigilante. Meanwhile, Shredder and Krang unleash robotic bugs on the city that infiltrate machines and appliances, turning them into weapons.

The introduction of fan favorite Casey Jones in the original series is a fun romp with all of the classic TMNT 'toon elements present. Jones here is imagined as a sort of black and white, Dirty Harry style justice enforcer, and it plays well against the wisecracking Turtles. - 7/10

 

Welcome to the Tombs - The Walking Dead - Season 3

 

The X-Files Season 9 Episode 8. An interesting episode, especially in terms of Reyes story.

 

TNG Season 2 Samaritan Snare and Up the Long Ladder

 

30 Days Without an Accident - The Walking Dead - Season 4

 

Picket Fences: High Tidings

Was that the first time?

No. About four months ago we made love.

Once every four months. They might as well be married.

Kim’s parents catch her in bed with her boyfriend and Jimmy arrests him for statutory rape; meanwhile, Max finds herself dealing with a strange arrest: a mysterious man has the red suit, the white beard and a social security card in the name of Santa Claus. This is a strange episode; the A & B plots really don’t connect on any thematic level and they aren’t on the same quality level either. The plot in which Jimmy & Jill have to deal with the fact that Kim is sexually active is a serious and thoughtful treatment of a lot of compelling drama. And it raises and explores a lot of issues: ages of consent, statutory rape, sexual abuse, etc. There’s a scene between Holly Marie Combs, giving her best performance so far as Kim, and Costas Mandylor’s Kenny where Kim unburdens herself about the pervasive “was it or not?” sexual abuse of teenage girls that’s really disturbing and thought provoking. And, oh my God, after we found about the charged history between Jimmy, Jill & Jimmy’s ex-wife back in The Contenders I’ve been wondering if this would happen; well, it does: enter a wily, smart-ass Cristine Rose as Lydia, the ex-wife. Her scenes with Jill & Kim are really wonderful. The Santa Claus plot is . . . just not good at all. I kind of don’t even have anything to say about it. It’s not funny and the twist at the end is pretty stupid, I thought. A shame; the Kim plot is great, but you’ve got a solid chunk of the episode dedicated to, essentially, dead air. 2 ½ stars.

tl;dr – the episode explores issues related to sexuality and youth in a compelling way, but wastes a lot of time on a cutesy Christmas subplot about Santa Claus. 2 ½ stars.

More Picket Fences!

 

TNG Season 2 Manhunt and The Emissary

 

Pretty Little Liars, "Original G'A'ngsters".

 

This episode of Bob's Burgers where a minor league baseball player uses the grease from Bob's hamburgers to grease the ball, allowing him to cheat. Because of this, his son learns it's okay to cheat at the seventh-inning strech mascot race.

 

The Aphrodite Inheritance ep 2: A Lamb to Slaughter

Old BBC miniseries set in Cyprus. First re-watch in decades, it's a little padded but still interesting. And it has a nostalgia factor for me.

 

Infection - The Walking Dead - Season 4

 

M.A.S.K.: S1, Ep. 7 "Ultimate Weapon" (1985) - V.E.N.O.M. creates a device that neutralizes M.A.S.K. vehicles. With M.A.S.K. immobilized, they set their sights on a nuclear power plant and its vast stores of plutonium.

Revisiting this childhood favorite has been, to put it kindly, a disappointment. Witless scripts populated with dull characters is a recipe for tedium that no amount of whiz-bang can overcome (and there's not even that much whiz nor bang to be had). Hero Matt Trakker may just be the squarest character in the history of the medium and his villainous counterpart is a classic G.O.W.G. (Generic Old White Guy). To make matters worse, they keep insisting on inserting Matt's annoying 10 year old son into the story. I suppose the "Go get 'em!" Scott is supposed to be an avatar for the kids watching, but God help my brother and parents if I was ever that irritating. - 5/10

- 80s cartoons are famous (or notorious) for their inclusion of PSA's, and M.A.S.K. is no different. The one attached to this particular episode, however, takes the cake.

- Whatever its other many flaws, M.A.S.K. just might feature the best theme song (and a great opening sequence) of any cartoon from the 80s.

 

Chapter 2 of Stranger Things.

 

Isolation - The Walking Dead - Season 4

 

Picket Fences: Frog Man

Someone has been breaking into local businesses, taking nothing & leaving frogs behind. A silly series of pranks? That’s what Rome assumes until Kenny catches the Frog Man in the act and takes a bullet to the chest for his trouble. The “Frog Man” side of this episode goes some strange places and ultimately the episode tries to wring some poignancy out of the culprit’s identity, but it just comes off as silly and not at all sad. What does work is the fallout between Kenny and Max following Max’s near death on the job. Kenny’s lost faith in Max as a partner, but, even more critically, in himself as a police officer. There’s a great scene at the end of the episode when Kenny and Max finally get past all the anger and just talk with sadness about the violence that they can’t escape. Max has a wonderful moment when she muses that she and Kenny are both under thirty and they’ve both nearly died in the past month. “We’re just kids,” she says. “Just kids.” This stuff feels very real and very sad. The episode is a good one; if the Frog Man had turned out to be something different than he was, the episode could have been great. As it is, it’s only a slight detraction. 3 stars.

tl;dr – the mystery of a violent burglar doesn’t work very well, but a subplot involving Kenny & Max struggling to deal emotionally with the violence of their job is well-done and moving. 3 stars.

More Picket Fences!

 

The 2nd episode of the first season of the latest doctor Dr Who. This show gets better right?

 

Voltron: Legendary Defender: S1, Ep. 1 "The Rise of Voltron" (2016) - Plot; Five young space explorers find themselves swept up in the search to find five legendary robots before an evil galactic emperor and his armada do.

Netflix reboot of the 80s 'toon features gorgeous animation and some really nice touches (such as the five lions each having a sort of disposition that matches up with that of their human pilot), but the tone is often too jokey, broad and on the nose (did we really need a fart joke?), robbing it of its full dramatic potential. Still, more works than not, and I'm intrigued enough to continue on to the second episode. - 7/10

 

Indifference - The Walking Dead - Season 4

 

Picket Fences: Bad Moons Rising

A local woman is in the midst of messy divorce proceedings with her husband, but that isn’t getting him exed soon enough, so she exes him out herself with a steamroller. Her legal defense? Guilty by reason of menopause. Yes, next on the list of “topics you absolutely should not make a prime time TV show about in 1994” is menopause. And then the Brocks’ oldest boy, Matthew, starts having . . . interesting dreams. “I think my penis is broken,” he muses worriedly at the breakfast table. Does Tom Skerritt absolutely nail his double take? You know it. The dreams Matthew is having tend to involve Max in her underwear/bikini/hockey gear (don’t ask), so this episode has achieved about the most notoriety of any Picket Fences episode thanks to repeated scenes of Lauren Holly in said outfits. The theme here is obvious: the changing body and the mystery surrounding it. The treatment of menopause is witty, but also surprisingly serious. Ann Guilbert has a great scene as Wambaugh’s wife; their discussion about menopause and the cloud of mystery that surrounds it even in the medical community is fantastic. I didn’t care for the ending however, which kind of throws the rest of the episode under the bus. Still, an interesting episode. 3 stars.

tl;dr – the mysteries of menopause & puberty all in one episode, so it must be Picket Fences; interesting, surprisingly serious episode, but the ending is extremely disappointing. 3 stars.

 

TNG Season 2 Peak Performance and Shades of Gray

 

Internment - The Walking Dead - Season 4

 

Voltron: Legendary Defender: S1, Ep. 2 "Some Assembly Required" (2016) - Plot; The newly formed Voltron Force struggle to find cohesion in the wake of their first victory.

Solid, character focused follow up eschews action and pyrotechnics in favor of character and team building. The humor-heavy tone still feels a tad too forced at times, but the general storytelling is good, the characters likeable, and the animation attractive. I can't help but wish they had (or been able to) used the themes from the 80s Americanized 'toon, as they're both iconic and awesome, but as long as the other elements continue to work it's a small matter. - 7/10

 

Live Bait - The Walking Dead - Season 4