Television Reviews

Leverage: Redemption – The Jackal Job

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Leverage: Redemption – The Jackal Job
  • wiki: link

The team gets their newest client when Sophie (Gina Bellman) and Breanna (Aleyse Shannon) cross paths with a legendary grifter (Joanna Cassidy) fighting early-onset Alzheimer’s who a crooked guardian (Kraig Dane) and an unscrupulous judge (Bill Kelly) are taking advantage of. Somewhat similar to “The Van Gogh Job,” the episode includes a flashback story with one of the cast taking on the role of the main character as the team work with the legendary grifter to remember her biggest score and find what they need to free her from her current predicament.

…

Leverage: Redemption – The Jackal JobRead More »

Leverage: Redemption – The Jackal Job Read More »

NCIS: Hawai’i – Gaijin

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

The death of a Japanese sailor on Hawaii calls the attention of NCIS to a related murder from years before in Okinawa. Madeline Zima guest-stars as the prime suspect in both crimes, as psychopath who was the original victim’s roommate and met with the second victim on the day of his death. The other guest-appearance of note is Toshiji Takeshima as the officer who was unable to solve the original murder. It’s not often you see s procedural introduce a psychopath as a suspect only to use them as a red herring, but “Gaijin” takes some interesting turns as NCIS is able to solve two murders with the help of the woman originally suspected of both. 

…

NCIS: Hawai’i – GaijinRead More »

NCIS: Hawai’i – Gaijin Read More »

The Blacklist – The Skinner

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Blacklist – The Skinner
  • wiki: link

The Blacklist returns for its first season without central character Elizabeth Keen who was killed off in last season’s finale. While Raymond Reddington (James Spader) has always been the show’s star, Keen was the character at the center of the story. How well the show can move forward without her looms large over the show’s Ninth Season. Set two years after her death, “The Skinner” focuses on Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix) putting the band back together after after Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq), now working for the FBI, is injured while attempting to stop the theft with global repercussions.

…

The Blacklist – The SkinnerRead More »

The Blacklist – The Skinner Read More »

Foundation – The Emperor’s Peace

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Foundation – The Emperor’s Peace
  • IMDb: link

Originally written as short stories for Astounding Magazine more than 70 years ago, Isaac Asimov‘s idea of examining something akin to the fall of the Roman Empire on a galactic scale would result in a series of stories and novels, some written decades apart, spanning thousands of years, where the fate of humanity weighed in the balance. Using the concept of predictive models taken to the nth degree, Asimov offered the mathematics of psychohistory which was capable of predicting the future of large populations, even if those populations don’t like what those predictions might be.

…

Foundation – The Emperor’s PeaceRead More »

Foundation – The Emperor’s Peace Read More »

The Lost Symbol – Melencolia I

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Lost Symbol – Melencolia I
  • IMDb: link

The moral of “Melencolia I” seems to be to never trust the CIA. After receiving a video from Peter (Eddie Izzard), Robert (Ashley Zukerman) reaches out to Katharine (Valorie Curry) who is now working with Sato (Sumalee Montano) and the CIA. Despite all of Langdon’s discoveries, he’s still far from discovering the location of the portal. However, Sato suggests lying to Mal’akh (Beau Knapp) in order to lay a trap for the cult leader. Things don’t go exactly as planned as Mal’akh escapes with both Robert, who he needs to finish his work, and Peter, who apparently is instrumental in the final stage of whatever Mal’akh has planned.

…

The Lost Symbol – Melencolia IRead More »

The Lost Symbol – Melencolia I Read More »