NCIS: Origins – Monsoon

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: NCIS: Origins – Monsoon
  • wiki: link

While dealing with the murder of a Vietnam vet, Franks‘ (Kyle Schmid) taking a homeless vet under his wing brings back painful memories of aimless time between his service and finding NIS. The episode works as a companion piece to “Flight of Icarus” in exploring Franks’ backstory. The flashbacks of the episode include his first encounter with Tish (Tonantzin Carmelo) which also ties into his current obsession of finding the man who assaulted her. The two pieces fit together nicely when his confession of what he’s been up to, despite previously promising he would drop the case, causes the abrupt end of their relationship.

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Ghosts of Mars

/ / Home Video
  • Title: John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars
  • IMDb: link

Not exactly the best of John Carpenter‘s career, Ghosts of Mars gives us Natasha Henstridge as the lone surviving member of a squad (which also includes Jason Statham and Pam Grier) on a terraformed Mars sent to retrieve a prisoner (Ice Cube) from a small mining town. Told mostly through flashbacks, with inserts for Lieutenant Melanie Ballard’s deposition, the officer tells an outrageous story that somehow doesn’t seem to raise any red flags for the tribunal who offer few questions, and even less skepticism, about her tale of miners possessed by Martian ghosts slaughtering an entire town.

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Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Raph Thinks It Through

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Raph Thinks It Through
  • wiki: link

Following the same format of the first two episodes of the series, “Raph Thinks It Through” offers a standalone tale for Raphael (Brady Noon) who spends most of the episode strung up by the Purple Dragons who fish him out of the river following his fight with a Mechazoid. Unable to use his brawn, Raph is forced to use his brains (especially after the killer robot tracks him to the gang’s lair). While the dimwitted Hun (Carlin James) was okay, I didn’t love the show’s interpretation of the Purple Dragons, particularly the animation for Angel (Jamila Velazquez), but the episode works well-enough for another one-off focused on one of the Turtles working outside their usual comfort zone while not being able to rely on their brothers.

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Shifting Gears – Jimmy

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Shifting Gears – Jimmy
  • IMDb: link

“Jimmy” is something of a misfire for Shifting Gears which introduces Lucas Neff as Riley’s (Kat Dennings) husband Jimmy. It’s always tricky when introducing an ex after never showing us an example of the couple together. The show never really sells Riley and Jimmy as a couple who would have stayed together for years other than that Riley appears weak in the knees for the man’s musical talent (which we don’t see a single example of on-screen). Nothing here does anything positive for the Riley character. Arriving in time for Carter’s (Maxwell Simkins) birthday, the premise of the episode moves from Jimmy attempting to win back Riley to instead win back his son’s love. Once transitioning to that aspect, which is something even Matt (Tim Allen) can get behind, the episode works better. However, overall it’s quite hit-and-miss.

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