Pilot
TPTB promised us a blended family faced with the onset of the zombie apocalypse. But instead they give us endless scenes of a whining junkie. This spin-off from ‘The Walking Dead’ isn’t better than the original. A junkie runs around with his shirt billowing open. Neither his life nor his dignity is important to him.
Kim Dickens, Cliff Curtis and Ruben Blades star in this. The junkie is the son of a pushover mother (Dickens). There are roiling tensions as the junkie is a jackass. There is no cold dread. The junkie is faux weary and has no shuddering shame. Instead the junkie has brain-frying entitlement and no sensitive tactful responses. The blended family has misleadingly mundane problems. The junkie is an enormously hostile and fundamentally selfish spiteful git.
Civil unrest brews. Nobody notices. The mother babies her son and his unrelenting cycle of drama. He’s not borderline tragic. Just a barely intelligent suppurating nest of resentment. One of the mother’s students goes on about a coming doom. She doesn’t listen being too obsessed with the catastrophic liability that is her junkie son. Why are we meant to care about him?
A grim situation is coming but we get endless scenes of the junkie. There is no brutal intensity and this is not vividly convincing. The mother doesn’t listen to sense as she is dumb and into always placating the junkie. This ep causes no tremendous enjoyment and there is a loss of anything resembling tension. This is not downright intriguing. Cultural change is coming as events defy scientific analysis.
Dramatic events unfold unnoticed as the whole blended family’s lives revolve around the junkie shooting up junk. The junkie doesn’t look like a junkie. Where are his track marks? Nobody retains their dignity. I don’t care about the junkie or his drama. He murders someone. The existence of zombies is dramatically exposed. This was not convincingly unearthly.
Best Lines:
“She’s not listening.”
“She heard you.”
“Something resembling love.”
“Remedial moron.”
“Something really bad happened there.”
~
Skinny Is Magic
Bob’s nickname was Blob in high school. Patty’s mother has abandoned her. Bob can’t follow the safer quieter path. Patty is wildly inappropriate and seeks emotional intimacy. Patty is emotionally deprived and socially isolated and desperate seeming. Brick is a jerk and Patty’s not popular. This was okay if not mega-good. Patty’s irked and has a harmful attitude. Bob keeps putting his own credibility and reputation on the line.
Patty has no social cachet. Evil Bob shows off his man-boobs. Bob's wife is weird. Patty’s BBF has a cop for a father. Homeless guy was in a fire. Patty now fancies Christian. Evil Bob is the DA and he has a ferocious ambition to annoy people. Bob’s wife has ingenuity. The Miss American Lady pageant is mentioned.
Brick is boffing the adult woman who maliciously accused Bob. Magnolia is mean to Patty and she has no moral judgement. Neither does anyone else. This ep does not elevate thought. Patty has unresolved sorrows in this unrefined ep.
Best Lines:
“Caring for a cause alliance.”
“Porn-hoarder.”
“Motorboated by homeless guys.”
“Punching the clown.”
“Murdering arsonist.”
“Cos it was preggers when I drilled it. Unfortunately you can’t wall-mount a bear foetus.”
~
Blurred Lines
Will the POW ever be retrieved? Sebastian Roche of ‘Odyssey 5’ guest stars as an arms dealer. The leak of classified info is not morale boosting. The gang are in Ethiopia. Why is Thea there? Ethiopia looks like Canada and or Georgia. Thea is a jackass and Gallo is awful, he and Nora have shrugged off their shattering intimacy.
‘A Few Good Men’ is ripped off. Nora gets judgemental. Gallo gets sexually triumphant with Thea. Nora has a habit of sleeping with her CO’s. Ian used to be her CO. Gallo gets drunk and belligerent. Another domino pops up. There is a reveal. Gallo’s irked and this ep was not ingenious.
Best Line:
“Beat your ass.”
About-Face
The prisoner from 1x01 is not a nice man at all. Gallo is in disgrace until he pulls a stunt to get out of it. Gallo is a jerk. The prisoner’s name is Davis Goundry. The FBI shows up. Nora lies. Nora and Gallo seem to forget she shot a CIA agent in 1x01. Gallo has bloody minded persistence. Jess is bothered. There is no moral certainty. Nora went to rehab in Germany? When?
There is a fake news mention. There is an attempted assault. The POW faces a challenge. Davis makes claims. Ian sees Nora as his moral equal. Thea is AWOL, again. Gallo is the unit victim advocate?!?!? What is restricted or unrestricted? Where is Jess’ son?
There is not one mention of the POTUS’ name. What is an unrestricted report? Haskins says Gallo has PTSD to explain his jackassery. 6 years ago Gallo wasn’t a pilot. This was dull.
Best Lines:
“I’m gonna hurt you if you try.”
“He forgives more easily than I do.”
“You know what it took to get here?”
“We are not trying to be subtle.”