Alan Rapp

The Blacklist – The Avenging Angel

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Blacklist – The Avenging Angel
  • wiki: link

Raymond Reddington (James Spader) sends the team after a former nun turned judge, jury, and executioner (Annabella Sciorra) who looks to avenge those who have been wronged. Her latest goal is to steal the heart of a wealthy businessman who used his power to bump the line leaving the rightful recipient of the heart transplant slowly wasting away. While hardly the show’s most villainous target, the rescue of the businessman does leave Red with a new friend. The episode’s B-story continues Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) drug issues while also starting a ridiculous new plot thread of someone quite obviously attempting to frame Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix) for murder. 

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G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #287

/ / Comics

G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #287 offers a spotlight on several new characters including Sherlock, Multo, Black Hat, and Mongoose. who are sent to infiltrate Cobra Island in the Gulf of Mexico where Dr. Mindbender is turning the old Cobra headquarters into a casino (with a brand new lab conveniently located in the kitchen).

The first part of a multi-issue story, the issue is perfunctory without any real highlights. The Joes face a small bit of resistance here and there, and get to dress up as Cobra soldiers at one point, but the mission is carried off without a hitch. However, neither the truth of what Mindbender is after on the island nor value of the data Black Hat was able to download is revealed here. That, plus the absence of any big-name characters, leaves the reader with a somewhat incomplete experience.

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WWE Extreme Rules 2021

/ / Home Video
  • Title: WWE Extreme Rules 2021
  • wiki: link

Extreme Rules is one of the WWE’s gimmick PPVs created to highlight specific kinds of matches on that night. What makes the 2021 edition so perplexing is only one of the seven matches on the night’s card is actually an extreme rules match. Instead, the card is filled with relatively forgettable matches such as the opening six-man tag involving the New Day defeating Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, and Omos more fitting Raw or Smackdown.

The night is mostly memorable for some odd endings ruining the night’s two best matches. First, Charlotte Flair defeated Alexa Bliss (at one time a dream match-up for WWE fans) in a match that couldn’t ever figure out what do do with Bliss’ current witchy persona. The match would be immediately overshadowed by the extended bizarre post-match mourning by Bliss for the loss of her doll Lily which was destroyed by Flair after a rushed end to an otherwise solid, if uneven, match. Then there’s the incredibly awkward ending to the main event involving the ring malfunction allowing Roman Reigns to successfully defeat Finn Balor. While both matches had their moments, it’s hard not to look at each as missed opportunities that WWE really botched in the end.

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NCIS: Hawai’i – Rescuers

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: NCIS: Hawai’i – Rescuers
  • wiki: link

When a Navy petty officer is killed and his famous Coast Guard girlfriend (Ashleigh LaThrop) is targeted from by a monster (Ashton Holmes) from her past who she put in prison for a decade, NCIS steps in. Mark Gessner guest-stars as the prickly CGIS agent assigned to the case who is known for doing things his own way. The case fits the basic formula of the show with the team struggling to get the truth from the young woman before being able to protect her and get justice for her boyfriend. We also get a callback to Lucy‘s (Yasmine Al-Bustami) fear of the water in what seems like the show is setting up something for her character later this season.

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Deadpool: Black, White & Blood #4

/ / Comics

Another issue collects three more Deadpool tales in black and white, and, of course, blood (also, oddly, cherry Kool-Aid). The creators of the popular manga Deadpool Samuari offer a story in “Samurai Version” in which Deadpool squares off with the Dipsoser (who turns out to be as disposable as his character name suggests).

In the weirdest story, Doop gets some payback on Deadpool’s various pranks in “Operation Payback!” by sending Deadpool on an odd space adventure.

The best story turns out to be “Cherry,” in which Deadpool accepts a job to deal with creature loose in the one of A.I.M.‘s evil laboratories on a volcano. The monster? A cross between the Kool-Aid Man and a dinosaur which turns out to be far more articulate than you’d expect. Dammit, Karl!

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