Television Reviews

Pretty Little Liars – Spirit Week

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  • Title: Pretty Little Liars (Original Sin) – Chapter One: Spirit Week
  • wiki: link

Starting out with two suicides in the first 5 minutes and closing the episode with a grizzly murder, the first thing you notice about Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin is how strongly it leans into the freedoms offered on HBO attempting to be a bit more bloody and bold than the original. However, I find the set up for the episode a bit confusing. We get a young girl, ignored at a school dance by a group of popular girls, committing suicide in 1999. Flash-forward 22 years at that appears to be the catalyst for the mayhem that will occur, although our new “A” targets only one of the women from that party (our second suicide) and instead targets the rest of their daughters for reasons yet to be revealed.

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Reacher – Persuader

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  • Title: Reacher – Persuader
  • IMDb: link

Adapting a different novel for each season, every season of Reacher has been a bit different. That continues in the kick-off of the show’s Third Season where Reacher‘s (Alan Ritchson) good Samaritan schtick gets him in hot water. Saving a young man (Johnny Berchtold) from a kidnapping attempt, things go downhill quickly with our hero having few options and delivering the kid to his wealthy father (Anthony Michael Hall). The rest of the episode involves flashbacks to the days leading up to Reacher’s save, where we learn not everything we’ve seen is exactly as it seems, and Reacher agreeing to work for the wealthy rug importer (but that’s not the only thing he’s importing).

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Invincible – A Deal with the Devil

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  • Title: Invincible – A Deal with the Devil
  • wiki: link

The tensions between Mark (Steven Yeun) and Cecil (Walton Goggins) at the end of the previous episode only increase in “A Deal with the Devil” as Mark’s attempt to walk away GDA reveal the links Cecil has gone to in order to try to control him (including implanting a device inside Mark’s skull to case him pain if activated). This leads to lots, and lots, and lots of cyborg casualties. Unfortunately for Cecil, the implant doesn’t stop Mark from fleeing the Pentagon and bringing their private war to the Guardians doorstep where the truth of Cecil’s recent actions causes a fissure within the group with half, like Mark, deciding to walk away.

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Matlock – A Traitor in Thine Own House

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  • Title: Matlock – A Traitor in Thine Own House
  • IMDb: link

While offering a case of stolen secrets between two tech giants (which guests stars Covert Affairs‘ Christopher Gorham as a hippy CEO), “A Traitor in Thine Own House” offers the team-up of the distrustful and the vengeful Sarah (Leah Lewis) working together to find dirt on Matlock (Kathy Bates). Maddy outmaneuvers the again, putting a quick end to Sarah’s hate-fueled run and also forcing Shae (Yael Grobglas) to back-off of Matlock for the foreseeable future. The other note on the episode comes from its name which remarks on Sarah’s framing Maddie’s betrayal as something of Shakespearean-level significance (but which only lasts a single episode).

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Will Trent – No Faith in Second Chances

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Will Trent – No Faith in Second Chances
  • IMDb: link

As Will (Ramón Rodríguez) and Faith (Iantha Richardson) investigate a body found under a house after a fire which seems to trace back to Rafael (Antwayn Hopper), Angie (Erika Christensen) and Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin) investigate the murder of a young woman where all the evidence points to Angie’s former coworker (Dan Gill) who proclaims his innocence for the crime (along with the original crime which he was sent to jail for years before). Despite her initial belief in his guilt, so much so she even takes a shot at him in the episode, Angie begins to suspect that his claim of being framed might not be as outrageous as it initially seems (although she has trouble getting anyone in the department to agree with her).

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