Allegiance – Pilot / Teamwork

  • Title: Allegiance – Pilot / Teamwork
  • IMDb: link, link

Allegiance - Pilot / Teamwork

The first two episode of NBC’s new spy series Allegiance set-up the post-Cold War intrigue, characters, and main conflict of the series. Gavin Stenhouse stars as CIA Analyst Alex O’Connor whose unusual personality and vast knowledge are quickly raising him up the ranks of the agency. Called in to investigate the story of a potential SVR defector (Sofiya Akilova), Alex quickly discovers the truth of the woman’s claims that a former SVR/KGB agent was killed in the United States to hide the details of a massive operation the group has planned in the very near future.

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Backstrom – I Am a Bird Now

  • Title: Backstrom – I Am a Bird Now
  • wiki: link

“I’m declaring this a hate crime against the gays.”

Backstrom - I Am a Bird Now

After suffering panic attack that bought him a momentary reprieve from the Civilian Oversight Panel, Backstrom (Rainn Wilson) immediately classifies the murder of a drag queen as a hate crime allowing him to avoid giving testimony until the case is officially concluded. Given its coincidence Amy (Sarah Chalke) questions the validity of what appeared to be Backstrom having a heart attack in the middle of his testimony, but with the set-up the show has done over its first few episodes we know about the tenuous health of its leading character (whether or not he acknowledges it or not).

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All-New X-Men #36

All-New X-Men #36The time-displaced X-Men’s adventure in the Marvel Ultimate Universe comes to a close as the two teams work together to take down their version of Doctor Doom. This also (rather coincidentally) leads to the return of the young mutant who has been jumping through realities unable to find her way home (at least until she gets the right kind of help).

Like most of Marvel’s current multi-issue arcs the storyline dragged far longer than necessary to properly fill the inevitable graphic novel trade paperpback. That said, even if it is two issues too late, the conclusion to the arc does offer some fun moments including the Beast‘s explosive revenge against Doctor Doom, Miles Morales getting a proper thank you from Jean Grey, and both teams being annoyed by the wisecracking of not one but two versions of Iceman.

The issue is really a microcosm of the entire arc in that it includes some fun moments but never quite lives up to the promise of its premise ultimately offering a mostly forgettable adventure. For fans.

[Marvel, $3.99] …

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The Blacklist – Ruslan Denisov

  • Title: The Blacklist – Ruslan Denisov
  • wiki: link

The Blacklist - Ruslan Denisov

Despite Lizzie‘s (Megan Boone) distrust of Reddington (James Spader) in the aftermath of her experiences with Luther Braxton (Ron Perlman) the pair are thrown back together to deal with the latest number of The Blacklist (Faran Tahir) who has kidnapped an undercover CIA agent in Russia and is holding him for ransom. Meanwhile the investigation into the death of the harbormaster killed during Lizzie’s illegal confinement of Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold) takes another turn which may lead to the end of Lizzie’s career.

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