“And so Ash vs. Evil Dead ends just as it begins: with Ashley J. Williams making a terrible decision to satisfy his own self-interests. Before you grab your pitchfork and rally the townsfolk to march on Ash, lend the poor bastard your compassion. He has been fighting the good fight, so to speak, against the … Continue reading
“Luke Cage might be super-strong, but the hardest blow he lands in Jessica Jones is his frank appraisal of Kilgrave’s odds of getting back together with Jessica, which tally to zero. ‘Tell me the truth,’ Kilgrave spits at Luke, ‘did you bugger my chances with her?’ ‘No,’ replies Luke. ‘You screwed that up yourself.’ (Via … Continue reading
“In a parallel dimension where Ash vs. Evil Dead’s first season is longer than ten episodes, and each episode is longer than thirty minutes, maybe Evil Ash 2.0 would stick around longer than just a handful of scenes. We don’t live in that dimension. Maybe that’s a good thing. Just after his debut, the son … Continue reading
“Jessica Jones has made a point of being judicious with flashbacks; they’re used sparingly when they’re used at all, and they never overstay their welcome. Take, for example, “AKA The Sandwich Saved Me,” which visits a Jessica and Trish in the B.K. (before Kilgrave) days of their friendship, when everything looked bright and optimistic (by … Continue reading
“Is this whole virus/vaccine plot device played out? Does boiling down a character’s super powers to nothing more than an airborne infectious agent rob them both of their dramatic oomph? Back in the day, Blade (incidentally the Marvel film that laid out the groundwork for the rise of comic book films through the aughts and … Continue reading
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens just came out this past Friday, so you’re probably sick to death of seeing the word “spoilers” bumped around on the Internet like a pop culture volleyball. That being said, it applies very much to Ash vs. Evil Dead’s most recent episode, which ends with a nasty shocker that can … Continue reading
“…well, that got out of hand quickly. Nobody would ever mistake Jessica Jones for a planner. That’s not to say she is incapable of planning; for reference, see her nearly successful joint bid at capturing Kilgrave with Simpson in Trish back in “AKA The Sandwich Saved Me.” Jessica is smart enough to put together a … Continue reading
“What gift should you buy for the Diehard-obsessed NYPD detective who has everything? How about this: don’t buy him a gift at all, just let him wander into a real-life Diehard situation so that he can live out his John McClane fantasy. By the time “Yippie Kayak” ends, you half-expect someone (probably Boyle) involved in … Continue reading
“Let’s start off by facing facts and talking spoilers: if you’re a longtime Evil Dead fan, and if you know this franchise inside and out, then you’re probably feeling a little bit jittery at Ruby’s unexpected resurrection. By “unexpected” we mean “totally expected,” mind, because there’s no way that Ash vs. Evil Dead could cast … Continue reading
“The first half of The Muppets’ premiere season has had its ups, downs, and growing pains. In that respect, it’s not unlike any other new television series, but most new television series don’t have decades of established characters and character relationships to draw on, for crafting plots or telling stories. There’s nothing wrong with The … Continue reading
“Everything’s been coming up Rosa lately, hasn’t it? It’s been a few episodes since she broke up with Marcus and subsequently broke down with Holt, and only a couple since Terry taught her a valuable lesson in compassion and forgiveness, despite a cavalcade of oopsies and screw-ups; after the season’s decidedly Rosa-light first half, she’s … Continue reading
“And here it is: The episode of Ash vs. Evil Dead that Ashley Williams’ diehard fanbase has been waiting for. Sure, the series started off with a bang, setting Ash back to work messing up Deadites and protecting all that is good and living from all that is evil and, well, not living. But past … Continue reading
“We knew it had to happen. We knew, as soon as Jessica Jones illustrated Jessica’s role in the death of Luke’s wife, that her unwilling complicity in the tragedy would come to light sooner than later. That’s why, after all, she has been dutifully avoiding Luke for the last few episodes, and why she cut … Continue reading
“Ever since The Muppets premiered on ABC, people have been hemming and hawing over whether or not it captures the Muppet spirit. Depending on who you ask, it’s either too adult, too much like The Office, or simply not funny enough—which, hey, different strokes for different folks. Whatever complaints you might have, concerns about The … Continue reading
“Superheroes invite metaphors for discrimination by their very nature. People fear what they don’t understand; this is especially true when the “what” happens to be a giant green monster or a Norse god, but what Jessica Jones and Luke Cage lack in enormity or mythology they make up for with power. In “AKA Crush Syndrome,” … Continue reading
“Watching the cast of Brooklyn Nine-Nine come together either in the pursuit of shenanigans or the performance of their jobs is standard routine for the series. In Season Three, we’ve seen whole precinct skive off work in the midst of Holt and Jake’s annual prank war (“Halloween III”), and unite over Captain Dozerman’s passing (“The … Continue reading
“Here’s a conundrum for your average building-vaulting, wall-punching superhero: How do you stop a dude who can monopolize your will from turning you into his own personal arm candy, or enslaving entire families to act as his beaming servants? In “AKA Ladies Night,” Jessica Jones did the bare minimum necessary to establish our leading lady’s … Continue reading
“Good news for Amanda Fisher: Ruby is her new best friend. That only seems fair, doesn’t it? Ash has already gained two new best friends himself. Why should Amanda be left out of the fun? Now she has someone to pal around with in pursuit of her perp, though Ruby’s intentions sound a lot less … Continue reading
“Marvel’s television brand has come a long way since the 2013 premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.That show was the company’s coltish first step into the widening TV world—an awkward, gangly attempt at bringing their operatic, costumed rumpuses onto a smaller screen with a larger creative space. Over time, the series has shaped itself into a … Continue reading
“If The Bastard Executioner’s cardinal season can be summed up with a single word, that word is “rushed.” From the show’s premiere to its finale, “Blood and Quiescence/Crau a Chwsg,” every narrative thread, every plot point, every character arc has felt unjustly compressed, like so many square pegs being stuffed into round holes. This, in … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 