The Man From UNCLE 2x17-2x19
The Deadly Goddess Affair
This antiquated show shows the odious Solo in all his horrific glamour. Thrush has invented drones. Solo is all strutting, preening, swivelling and grimacing display. The duo are on an island where Daniel J Travanti has a small role as an idiot cop. This has no historical resonance just all nostalgic imagery. Non-cognisant and non-collaborative locals bother the duo. The token plebeians have outsider rage. The plot causes squirming embarrassment. Illya is called an American. Thrush carries around photos of Solo and Illya. The hicks coercive behaviour makes the duo mild and complaint. This does not bear critical analysis. This was okay but had no clear character motivation and was desperately inelegant. But as a plus Illya gets wet and wanders around in a wet shirt not once, not twice but thrice.
Best Lines:
“There appears to be an altercation.”
“This one we brainwash Thursday.”
The Birds And The Bees Affair
Uncle has rotten security. An Uncle office is wiped out by Thrush killer bees. Invisible Thrush killer bees. This ep was unadventurous. Thrush plot semi-coherently. Solo has no moral core. The term instructress is used. Illya is in peril. This was neither terrifying nor thrilling. I am stupefied at how indescribably boring this was. This was monstrously pedantic and suffered from a creativity crushing lack of imagination.
Best Lines:
“Call Internal Defence.”
“A briefcase full of man-killing bees.”
The Waverly Ring Affair
Thrush has a mole in Uncle, again. Waverly gives out special rings that look like something I got out of a Christmas cracker when I was 6. Uncle has detraining which sounds and is ominous. Solo and Illya have a cunning plan to catch the mole and there are 2 suspects. Illya is wearing a special ring with no explanation. There is bar ranting, Solo gets punched in the face and lands in a woman’s cleavage. Uncle vigorously pursues the mole. Uncle doesn’t have high ethical values. Deep seated resentment is faked, maybe. According to fanfic, Solo calls Illya “comrade” all the time but so far on the show he hasn’t. This was good. Solo is audacious and ingenious and Illya is pretty.
Best Lines:
“A memory crack through counter hypnosis.”
“No offence Illya.”
“You have my sympathy.”
~
American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson 1x07
Conspiracy Theories
Shapiro is shamed, it doesn’t last long. Cochran’s ex-wife and mistress appear on the same trash TV show. Shapiro and Bob talk, Bob has doubts about OJ’s innocence. AC resurfaces. Shapiro wants to concede defeat. OJ screams. Marcia lays out the complex permutations that show there was no conspiracy. Darden wants OJ to try on the infamous gloves. Shapiro comes up with OJ trying on the gloves. Darden is played by the Dream Team. This was okay.
Best Line:
“The gloves are our conviction.”
“Don’t continue to tell me anymore.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Good.”
“Super secret cabal of OJ hating racist cops.”
“Some real demonstrable evidence.”
~
Agents Of SHIELD 3x12
The Inside Men
In this horrible ep the dreadful Hunter and Mockingbird have their unwanted spin-off set up and Talbot is more bitter than just. Coulson is tenaciously smug and has psychotic delusions of being moral. Hunter, May and Mockingbird are all useless. Daisy is greatly overused. SHIELD has an inability to deal appropriately with anything. Gideon has steely unflappability. Coulson and his bristling pride have ugly personal grudges. This ep has a strange inertness. Coulson speaks in a dismissive tone. TPTB are without any sort of future plan. There is no psychological or philosophical depth in this non-skilfully executed ep. SHIELD are whingers with spurned spite. Is Gideon an Inhuman? Daisy spews cod mysticism. Evil bedraggled wino looking Hunter has crumpled features and is a moron. TPTB can’t make him and his equally unsympathetic ex-wife ooze with sympathy. This was not an intriguing drama. Lincoln isn’t convivial. Will Inhuman god/Grant Ward ever actually do anything?
Best Lines:
“The alien contagion.”
“We like to hear that.”
“Never trust nice.”
“I’m building an army.”
“And another army will stand to fight them.”
“I had to hurt him. A little.”
~
Thirteen 1x04
Elliot is a moron and Ivy struggles to understand the boundaries within her own family. Christina reveals her connection with Stone and frets. Phoebe is still in Mark’s malign clutches. Ivy is edgy and unappealing and is reviled by the cops. Ivy and Eloise reunite. Emma whines and ups family tensions. Ivy is inarticulate and trapped in her lies. The sanctimony-spoofing cops seem to have no concept of post-incident contact and have a proclivity for complaint.
Angus has a brutally unbridgeable break with his ho. The cops are uncompromisingly angry. Ivy seems to capitalise on her vulnerability. Tim’s wife causes unwanted emotional complications. After the largely irrelevant and pretty formulaic 1x03, this was compelling. The cops act in a too overblown way. The much-derided Ivy won’t correct the false history
Tim makes an outlandish proclamation. Ivy won’t give clarification as to what happened during her abduction. There is amphetamine plotting. Nobody thinks that Ivy may have some discomfiting memories. The cops have undisguised suspicion of Ivy. There is no care and attention for Ivy. Is Ivy playing on the scrappy underdog trope? Where’s Ivy’s Appropriate Adult during her police interviews? Ivy reveals some unsettling and oblique back-story. Ivy smirks. There is a confession and is Craig gone? This was good and contact with Mark is finally made.
Best Lines:
“Everything has to be proper.”
“What is it now?”
“She’s not important.”
“Finish your sentence.”
“Not just you going mad on your own.”
“That means something does it?”
~
iZombie 1x10
Astroburger
Where did Liv’s roommate go? Why won’t Liv stop lying to Major? Nobody acts rationally. Liv shies away from sense. This was no an incisive contribution. Liv has short-lived anguish. Major is much-derided. The huge immensity of Liv’s screw-ups deserves proper re-evaluation. Nothing chilling or revelatory takes place, just bristling resistance to sense. Liv does not do much lamenting for Lowell. There is no visceral connection or gothic menace. Liv looks into the internal dysfunction of college. Liv fumes about the Max Rager drink that causes violent psychotic breaks. Liv is selfish and has no moral precepts. Liv and co don’t forestall Major’s paranoia. The Max Rager CEO (Steven Weber) is vociferously awful. Liv is moronic and horrible. Major ends up in the nut ward. Will Liv stay away from alluring strangers? This was incompatible with joy.
Best Lines:
“A bang buddy.”
“Preferably before they murder us.”
“Needed to use the toilet I was passed out on.”
“Where did you get the gun?”
“I bought it on the street.”
“Oh of course, as one does.”