'The X-Files' Season 11, Episode 2: 'This'

After the unmitigated disaster that was the season premiere, this episode had an uphill battle to fight.  As such, it was rather surprising to find out that this episode actually managed to win me over.  The difficulty on that particular saving throw could not have been higher, but the crew managed to pull it off.

For every aspect that failed in the first episode, this one succeeds.  The script is better, the plot is more engaging, the characters feel like themselves.  There's actual effort here and it pays off big time.

The plot is fairly straight-forward, as Mulder and Scully find themselves under siege and forced on the run, but it gradually becomes more complex as the episode progresses.  There is a shadowy group of people involved, but it somehow manages to feel fresh.  You'd think after the syndicate, that this wouldn't work anymore, but the episode managed to pull it off.

While this is largely a stand alone, it does make some subtle nods to the show's ongoing plot. The impending apocalypse is a factor to an extent.  We also have the return of Langly..sort of.  Even Deep Throat gets a mention.  It was a nice touch, as I was a big fan of that character.  It would have been awesome to see him appear in a similar capacity, but just the mention was appreciated.

Langly's return was pretty well done.  They didn't have to back pedal or really retcon anything, which really helped.  It's not even really a poltergeist situation either.  I won't go too deep into spoilers, but I will say that Ross does bring up the concept on an episode of "Friends".  On top of that, the scrambled "voice messages" did add a sort of creepy air to the episode.  Mulder and Scully are nonchalant about it (I suppose after all they've seen, it makes sense that they'd shrug it off) but I think it would be rather unnerving. 

Where the last episode had Mulder and Scully going through the motions, this episode actually puts them to good use.  We get to see some impressive fights and shoot outs and the two exchange some pretty entertaining banter.  The muffin bit was kind of classic.  It doesn't all land, hearing Mulder refer to Scully as "adorbs" seemed a bit forced, but when you hear why he thought as such, it helps salvage the line a little. 

Erika Price, while only appearing in one scene, made a pretty solid impression.  She has some gravitas and her pitch to Mulder was one of the highlights of the episode.  A part of me isn't sure what else could be done with her, but it seems like she could be a good successor to smoking man.  While he's, sadly, over-stayed his welcome; she has a new feel that could bring new energy to the show.  She also benefits from having a clear objective.  Like most of the more complex villains, she believes her actions are in the right, so the show can play with that if they decide to go further with this.

All in all, the episode was well balanced and quite a bit of fun.  It never dragged and it felt like a return to form for the franchise.  It managed to strike a balance between telling a small, character driven story, while also touching on some of the bigger, global elements that the show's plot has tried to tackle.  It does a much better job of adding scope than any of the "struggles".  Hopefully, the season is able to take the momentum from this and run with it. I'm all for more episodes that are as well put together as this one.

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'Dragon Ball Super' Episode 125: 'With Imposing Presence! God of Destruction Toppo Descends!!'

Goku and Vegeta continue their clash with Jiren.  Whatever momentum they may have had seems to be waning as the two saiyans are starting to show signs of fatigue while Jiren is still able to effortlessly shrug off their attacks.  It doesn't exactly bode well, but the two saiyans continue to press on.

Meanwhile, 17 continues to face off against Toppo.  Well, by face off against, I mean run away from.  With only six minutes left in the tournament, he plans to just run out the clock.  It's not a bad idea and he does effectively stall the pride trooper for a little while, but it isn't long before Toppo has him in the tradtional beam struggle.  You'd think that 17 would have the advantage, what with the infinite energy, but he still looks like he's going to come out on the losing end of it.

Had it not been for the intervention of Frieza, the artificial human could very well have been eliminated.  The tyrant really does know how to make an entrance.  He's just as fun to watch as he boasts and taunts Toppo as he always is.  The fact that Toppo can only stand there and take Frieza's potshots (of both the verbal and finger beam variety) only makes it that much tougher for the stalwart hero.

When all is said and done, Toppo says screw it and takes the offer to become a god of destruction.  Now, this was established a while back, so it isn't pulled completely out of nowhere.  Still, I have to say it doesn't sit well with me.  If gods of destruction are allowed to partake, why bother recruiting mortals?  Sure, Jiren is stronger than his god of destruction, but he's still a mortal being.  It just seems like cheating.  Oddly, nobody raises this issue.  Then again, given the fact that the twin omni-kings are quite pleased with this development, it likely would have fallen on deaf ears anyway.

While everybody else is shocked (even Goku and Vegeta stop a second to wonder just what's happening over there) both Frieza and 17 remain unfazed by this development.  17 is just naturally stoic, but Frieza remembers easily overcoming the destruction powers when universe 9's assassins tried to use it on him. 

Frieza's normally a cocky bastich, but his past experience just makes him all the more assured that this ascension is not a problem.  Suffice it to say, it is.  The revelation is almost played comically as Frieza keeps repeating that it's no match for him as it slowly overwhelms him.

It was nice to see "Desperate Assault" make a return.  I'm kind of surprised that it took this long, but it really worked well here and hammered in the hopelessness of the new situation.  To Frieza's credit, he fares better than Zamasu (though Toppo likely held back so as not to be eliminated), but he's still taken out of his golden form and barely conscious.  Toppo throws some of Frieza's taunts back at him before completely knocking him out.

While Toppo may have intended to eliminate Frieza from the tournament, he doesn't.  He kicks Frieza's lifeless body, and it comes close to falling out of the ring, but it manages to fall just short.  You'd think Toppo would have been a bit more thorough, or at least made sure that his kick was hard enough.

A part of me wishes that Frieza had been eliminated.  Yeah, keeping him around allows us to see what his big plan regarding getting the wish is, but it would have also shaken up the status quo as universe 7's numbers advantage would dwindle. 

I suppose having him unconscious allows us to get the best of both worlds.  As it is, 17 is now facing off against the ascended god by himself.  17's attacks don't work and Toppo's new power is too much for 17's defenses to handle.  The episode ends with another beam struggle between the two.  Considering how he fared against Toppo as a mortal, one can't imagine that it's going to end well.  The next episode's teaser piqued my interest as Vegeta will apparently leave Goku to face Jiren alone while he goes to confront the god of destruction.

This was another solid episode.  Showing us how tough Toppo is has been working a lot better than just having characters talk about it while all of his battles go down off screen.  It's a shame we never really saw Frieza and 17 interact or attempt to engage their opponent at the same time, but the "take turns" approach did allow for some nice balance and gave Toppo a chance to interact with both of them individually. 

While 17's "run out the clock" strategy would seem sound, the fact that all of this goes down in a minute shows that it might not be that effective in this situation.  What "plan B" is remains to be seen.

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'Children of the Corn: Runaway' Trailer Reaction

They went ahead and made another "Children of the Corn" movie.  I guess people were clamoring for another, so Hollywood delivered.  While it's going to be direct to video, we did get a trailer that dropped about a day or so ago.  As such, I figured we should take a glance at it and see what we're in for.









Well, that sure was a thing.

I'm sorry, this did nothing for me.  It is desperately trying to create a spooky atmosphere, but it all just fell flat.

The dialogue is...stilted, to say the least.  I know it's a weird thing to harp on in a trailer, but it really stands out in how utterly banal it all sounds. 

Judging by what we see, it looks like the cast is doing a decent job of it.  They're at least making an effort.  The kids didn't really blow me away, but their scenes might be creepier in context.  As it is, we just see kids doing what creepy kids normally do.  It's probably one of the reasons that this trailer felt so ho-hum to me. 

We'll see how the final product fares when it hits DVD in March.  I'd like it to be good, but so far, I'm not feeling too optimistic.  I'm open to being surprised, however.









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'Dragon Ball Super' Episode 124: 'The Fiercely Overwhelming Assault! Gohan's Last Stand!!'

The clock continues to wind down in the Tournament of Power.  Goku and Vegeta continue their assault.  While it seems like they have Jiren on the defensive, we also see that the attacks aren't really fazing the pride trooper all that much.

It's been made clear that Jiren has been holding back this whole time and the final shot of him strongly suggests that he's about to really cut loose and show the two saiyans what he's truly capable of.

From here, the episode cuts to the Frieza/Dyspo fight.  The universe 7 tyrant tries to maintain his confident demeanor, but it's clear that Dyspo and his speed is giving him more trouble than he would like to admit. 

As such, he tries a different tactic: bargaining.  He notes that the two can keep fighting, but even if Dyspo wins, universe 7 still has the numbers advantage and that there's no guarantee that Jiren will knock Goku and Vegeta out of the ring in time.  Much like he did with Roh and Sidra, Frieza offers to throw his own universe under the bus if Dyspo agrees to use the super dragon balls to revive him.

This scene was honestly one of the highlights of the episode.  Frieza's really in his element when he's tempting others to compromise their morals for a short term gain and it's really fun to watch. 

It's also quite satisfying to see Dyspo soundly reject the offer.  Sure, Toppo said that winning was the only priority, but seeing Dyspo announce that he won't compromise with evil was a great moment.  Even when he's seemingly backed into a corner, he's still a superhero and he's going to carry himself as such. 

It's at this point where Frieza decides to stop screwing around and goes into his golden form.  Sure, the transformation sequence is the exact same one used before, but with that haunting chant playing over it, it still works. 

The golden form seems like it gives Frieza a distinct advantage as he can match Dyspo's speed with ease. 

Unfortunately, Dyspo has another power.  Much like Hit's ever expanding time skip, Dyspo can increase his speed even further.  With this, not even Golden Frieza is a match for the pride trooper.  Heck, the two omni-kings can't even keep up with their godpads.  Slow motion replays don't seem to make a difference either.  They're disappointed at first, but seem content to go along with it.  Strangely, the grand priest says that next time he'll equip them with better tech.  I suppose there are still 4 other universes if there were to be another tournament, but it does lend credence to the idea that something else is going on.

Were it not for Beerus yelling out, Frieza might very well have been eliminated.  However, the god of destruction's desperate cry draws the attention of Gohan, who doesn't hesitate to jump to the aid of his father's nemesis. 

Frieza does toy with the idea of actually betraying Gohan this time, but the saiyan shuts it down by saying that if Frieza tries anything, Gohan will knock him out of the ring himself.  Judging by the look on Gohan's face, it's clear he's not kidding. 

Even with the backup, Dyspo proves to be a formidable opponent.  The two can't seem to get a hit in, as Dyspo dodges all of their attacks with ease.

True to form, though, Gohan uses his head and comes up with a plan to put Dyspo in check.  Frieza uses his finger beams to create grid walls that prevent Dyspo from moving around too much.  The supreme kai of universe 11 cites this as a "cheap trick", but it was actually clever tactical thinking on Gohan's part.

It results in a straight up cage match between the two.  It does have its downsides, as Frieza's beams are just as likely to hurt Gohan should he get pushed into them (which does happen), but it's not enough to give Dyspo an advantage.  As long as Dyspo is unable to use his speed, Gohan has the clear upper hand. 

Unfortunately, the effort takes too long and Frieza runs out of stamina, forcing him to stop the attack.  This wasn't like other instances where Gohan got cocky and decided to toy with his opponent.  Dyspo was just putting up that much of a fight. 

Before Dyspo can do anything, however, Gohan grabs him and tells Frieza to fire.  Whether this was an intentional nod to Goku's fight with Raditz way back at the beginning of Z or not is unclear.  Either way, it works, as Dyspo is knocked out of the ring.  Sadly, Gohan goes with him, but nobody seems too upset about it.  Even Goku notes to himself that Gohan did really well, so at least he got to go out on a high note. 

I'm not sure what effect this will have on the tournament overall.  On the one hand, Dyspo was tough, so having him out is a plus.  On the other, Gohan's out and Frieza's burnt out (though he was still able to retain his golden form).  It's likely he'll get a second wind and go help 17 confront Toppo, but the latter was already fighting off two warriors, so even with Frieza jumping into the fray, it might not be enough to turn the tide.  I suppose we'll just have to wait until the next episode to find out.  The fact that the arc (and possibly the series?) is ending in March does up the anticipation level to a certain extent as the countdown progresses both in and out of universe. 

Overall, this was a strong episode.  The scales tipped back and forth between Frieza and Dyspo, allowing for an exciting fight, Frieza got to play the corrupting tempter, and Gohan's intellect got to shine again.  All in all, it wasn't too shabby for 23 minutes.

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'The X-Files' Season 11, Episode 1: 'My Struggle III'

When Fox brought "The X-Files" back last year for a six episode mini-series, one would have assumed that the intent was to tie up loose ends and allow the franchise to end on a higher note than the second movie. This assumption would have been proven wrong, as the last batch ended on a cliffhanger.  On the plus side, it did well enough in the ratings that we have another go.  Whether THIS turns out to be the end, or if there's still enough draw to keep it going remains to be seen.

Like the season before it, this one doesn't get off to the most auspicious start.  Actually, that's being generous.  This episode's a hot mess.  Apparently, when the producers came up with the "My Struggle" episodes, they were talking about the viewer's.  Really, these three have been the weakest of the relaunch.  I shudder to think of what will come in "My Struggle IV".

Right off the bat, the episode commits two rather egregious sins.  It shows that the moon landing was staged.  I face palmed at that.  I know government conspiracies are this show's thing, but really?

Even worse, it completely negates the preceding episode by making it all a dream.  They try to keep it relevant by saying it's a vision of things to come, but it still feels like taking two steps backward to take one step forward.

I thought that the last few "myth-arc" episodes did a disservice by trying to rebrand the whole plot, but that was child's play compared to what this episode does.  Inane plot twists abound as everything that was established is tossed aside.  Yet at the same time, nothing's changed.  Smoking Man wants to release an alien virus.  The difference is that, rather than try to salvage some bit of humanity in the wake of alien colonization, he wants to kill them because....eeeevil.  Yeah, he's always been a villain, but there was more nuance to him. Now, he's a two-dimensional mustache twirler.

It's not helped by the fact that the dialogue is clunky as all get out.  That exchange between Smoking Man and Reyes?  Oy.

In addition to clunky dialogue, we have incredibly flat acting.  None of the cast seem like they want to be here.  They're all clearly phoning it in for a paycheck.  Amid all the episode's problems, this one is probably the most damaging.  If the cast can't be bothered to care, it makes it really hard for us the viewers to do the same.

Chris Carter directed the episode, and he does what he can on that front to pick up the slack and add some excitement to the proceedings.  Mulder engages in a solid car chase and a vulnerable Scully is attacked in a fairly intense scene while she is bed-ridden in a hospital.  There's also the noticeable attempt to try to add a "ticking clock" factor to the situation.  It helps, but the aforementioned hurdles are way too high for these small perks to jump.

The first two "My Struggle" episodes failed to impress.  Following the general pattern of the third entry in any trilogy stinking, this one follows suit.  Hopefully, this is the last struggle because it's dead in the water.

Hopefully, the subsequent episodes can help the season save face.  I do hope we get another entry in the vein of "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster" this season. Man, that was a fun episode.  Go watch that instead.

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'Dragon Ball Super' Episode 123: 'Body and Soul, Full Power Release! Goku and Vegeta!!'

The last episode ended with Vegeta dramatically being knocked the %#$@ out.  While he's able to snap back to consciousness quickly enough, it's clear that he's not getting back into the fight anytime soon.

Nevertheless, Jiren does acknowledge Vegeta as a warrior and tells him to sleep now.  According to the universe 11 gods, this is actually a great show of respect and that Jiren is commending the saiyan prince for giving it his all in the fight.  It sounded sincere from the way the lines were delivered, but the universe 7 spectators still view it as arrogant.  Interestingly, I did find it to be very similar to what Vegeta said to Roshi right before he took himself out of the tournament.  Maybe that just proves the point?  I don't know.

In any event, this leaves Goku to fight the pride trooper by himself.  Not surprisingly, Jiren continues to have the upper hand.  You have to hand it to Goku, though, he used some pretty clever tricks to try and keep things level.  The ki landmines were a unique tactic that we hadn't seen before.  Sure, they don't really do any damage, but even Goku knew that the idea was to try and throw Jiren a curve in order to obtain even a slight opening. 

Goku also takes a page from Krillin's playbook and uses a barrage of destructo discs, only to later reveal that he used them to cut the ground out from under his opponent.  For those who didn't notice the callback, Krillin spells it out.  Still, that moment of pride in seeing his own tactic in action was a nice boon for him.

Said tactic very nearly eliminates Jiren from the ring, but he is able to jump from one piece of debris to another enough for him to make it back into the ring.

This is the first of two close calls that universe 7 sees in the fight.  Gohan and 17 come very close to eliminating Toppo, only for the pride trooper to avert the tactic at the last possible second.  On the plus side, the failure means that 17 is still in the fight.  He was planning to take Toppo out with him.  It could have worked in universe 7's favor, but maybe they'll be able to come up with something more effective later.

It was interesting to see 17 point out that attempting to coordinate attacks was what was tripping them up.  He rightly notes that they haven't fought together before, and as such can't coordinate as effectively, but I'm not sure what else Gohan was supposed to do.  A similar idea comes up in the Jiren fight, but we'll get to that later.

As that goes on, it looks like Dyspo still has Frieza on the ropes.  The rabbit-like pride trooper continues to zip around and slam the former tyrant into rocks with gusto and glee.  Just when the universe 11 fighter asks if Frieza has had enough, the latter reveals that despite appearances, he hasn't really taken any damage.  In fact, he wonders why Dyspo thought that such an attack would be enough to take him down. 

It was a nice turn around moment, even the universe 11 spectators are caught off guard by the reveal.  The fact that Frieza relishes the moment as much as he does makes it fun to watch. 

Still, it's made clear that this is hardly going to be an easy win for Frieza.  Sure, Dyspo's tactic didn't work, but Frieza still can't seem to hit the guy.  It did somewhat undercut Frieza's boast, but it does keep things interesting.

The main attraction for the episode, however is the confrontation with Jiren.  Even though Goku acknowledges how insanely strong Jiren is, he won't back down.  Whether this is due to Goku's nature, his desire to protect his universe, or a little of both isn't made clear.

This is also where Vegeta re-enters the fray with a similar declaration.  You'd think that the motivation would be a bit more clear cut with him, but we see that he's largely motivated by the desire to fulfill the promise he made to Cabba.  It was a rather heartwarming moment.

This is followed by an awesome moment as Goku brings out the blue/kaio ken combo form.  Vegeta, in turn, follows through on his vow to break his own limits in his own way with a power up of his own.  It's not ultra instinct, but it does amaze viewers both in and out of universe.  It looks like a mix of Gohan's ultimate mystic power and Blue.  Much like Trunks' power up against Goku Black, we don't get an official name just yet.  You could call it "ascended blue" or "super saiyan blue 2".  It could also go the way of "Rage" (the aforementioned Trunks form) or "Berserk" (Kale's "legendary" form) and just have a descriptor for a title.  We'll see.

Where the two saiyan's previous effort to fight Jiren proved futile, here it looks like they're actually able to put him on the ropes.  I thought they were working well together before, but they do so much more effectively here.  Even Krillin is amazed that the two are actually attacking Jiren at the same time.

I said before that coordination was said to be a detriment and that it would come up again. Sure enough, Whis points out that, despite appearances, Goku and Vegeta aren't really working together.  In fact, this is what's tripping Jiren up.  The fact that the two aren't in sync is making it hard to defend.

Considering how Jiren was still able to best Goku's blue/kaio-ken form, it's a little weird to see him unable to do so now.  If Goku had gone back into ultra instinct, it might have made more sense.  As it is, it seems like Jiren is slowly being nerfed as the tournament progresses.  Vegeta does note that Jiren isn't fighting with all of his power yet, but it does seem like the fight is pushing him to that point.

Speaking of ultra instinct, there was a nice fake out where it looked like Goku was knocked unconscious and about to do it again, but he wakes up as himself.  We do get another use of "ultimate battle".  It's been long enough, I think that it didn't feel forced and it did augment the awesome sight of seeing the two uber-powered saiyans go on the offensive. 

Where the last episode ended on a grim down note, this one ends significantly more triumphantly as it seems like the scales are tipping in universe 7's favor.  Of course, there's still seven minutes left, so a lot can happen before fight's end.  We'll just have to see how it plays out.

Overall, this was a very entertaining episode.  While it would have been nice to see more of the other two fights, the Goku/Vegeta vs Jiren skirmish provided plenty of spectacle and excitement.  We got several great highlight moments and a great power up sequence.  What we saw of the other two fights was good and it looks like the next episode will give them more focus. 

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'Dragon Ball Super' Episode 122: 'For One's Own Pride! Vegeta's Challenge to be the Strongest!!'

The tournament of power moves into its final minutes as the remaining two universes begin their climactic confrontation.

We, of course, have the trademark pre-fight stare down.  It never stops being a great way to up the tension and anticipation.  You'd think it would come off as just time killing, but it seems to work really well in situations like this.

Speaking of time killing, the episode does stop to show us the grand priest shrinking the bleachers so that the few remaining spectators would be closer together.  To its credit, the ensuing awkwardness did bring a bit of levity to the episode.  I did wonder where the four exempt universes were, though.  Are they in a different set of bleachers?  Either way, it does allow the two groups to banter back and forth much easier.  It should make for some interesting exchanges as the fight progresses.

Well, "fights" is the more accurate word, as the two teams branch off into three separate showdowns.

Not surprisingly, Goku wants another crack at Jiren.  The two face off briefly, and Goku even manages to get the taciturn alien to open up a bit about his motivations, but it isn't long before Vegeta jumps into the fray. 

Common sense would suggest that Goku had to amplify his super saiyan blue power twenty-fold to barely hold his own and, as such, the ensuing match up would be a curb stomping of about the same proportions, but Vegeta manages to fare better than you'd think he would.  He even gets to put his tactical analysis to use and figures out how to evade Jiren's rapid fist attack.  This allows the prince to actually land a solid hit against the seemingly unflappable opponent. 

This also makes for a nice fake-out as it seems like Vegeta is on the verge of going ultra instinct, but doesn't.  He later says that Kakarot can keep it, suggesting he might try some other mode of upping his power.  Goku has ultra instinct, Gohan has the mystic power, and giving Vegeta something else would make for a bit more variety in terms of character appearances.  For now, though, Vegeta's sticking with the good old blue form.

The fact that Goku is there to back him up also helps keep things so that it at least looks even.  Normally, the two don't do the whole teamwork thing.  In some cases, it seemed like they spent more time fighting each other.  Here, though, the two do rather well working in sync.  Goku cries foul once early on, but after that, the two put their focus on their actual opponent and do so in a pretty coordinated fashion. Whenever Jiren swatted one away, the other one was right there to attempt an attack. 

Granted, this doesn't faze Jiren at all, but the whole sequence was still exciting and fun to watch.  It also made for a nice instance of subtle character development for the two saiyans. 

As this goes on, Frieza takes on Dyspo.  You'd think having a pride trooper take on one of universe 7's greatest villains would lead to a playing up of the hero vs villain angle through dialogue, but it never really comes up.  Maybe it's something that will be elaborated on later, but right now, we just see Frieza act cocky and dismissive.  His line about Dyspo's skill amounting to "being really good at running away" was some decent shade throwing on his part.

It does seem like Dyspo won't prove much of a challenge.  Frieza's finger beams seem to, at the very least, be keeping Dyspo too occupied to take on any of the other fighters and Frieza is utterly bored when his opponent attempts to use the after-image technique. 

When Frieza manages to grab Dyspo's wrist in his tail, it seems like the tyrant has won...until Dyspo turns the tables and starts laying the smack down.  While Frieza still has his golden form to act as an ace up his sleeve, it's made clear that this fight won't be as easy as he thought it would be.

Rounding out the showdown, we have Gohan and 17 taking on Toppo.  To be fair, I think this is the first time where Toppo comes close to living up to his reputation as a tough fighter.  We actually see him doing things that show he's a formidable opponent, like completely no-selling Gohan's kamehameha wave.  It still seems like it's a bit of an informed attribute, but at least he's not just bear-hugging people. 

While what we see of these latter two fights is entertaining, they take a back seat to the main event against Jiren. 

The universe 11 powerhouse remains unimpressed and chides Vegeta for his arrogance.  This, in turn provokes Vegeta into attempting to take Jiren out with a final flash.

Now, he's used this attack pretty frequently, so you'd think it would be old hat at this point; but Vegeta does spend a decent amount of time charging it.  Not nearly as much as he did against Cell, but for Super, it was one of the bigger attack build ups.

Speaking of, Vegeta even challenges Jiren to take the attack head on.  It's a bit odd, as this is what Jiren did against the spirit bomb, and it was even explicitly stated that withstanding enemy's strongest attacks was his thing, but it does make for a parallel to the aforementioned instance in Z.

The results are, of course, the exact same. Vegeta thinks he won, laughs, and realizes that he was completely wrong as his target turns the tables and knocks the saiyan prince down a peg.

At first, it seemed like Vegeta was eliminated by Jiren's blast, but when the smoke clears we just see him on the ground.  The gray eyes make you think he's dead, but it's made clear that he's still breathing at least.  It makes for a heavy cliffhanger, as one of universe 7's strongest gets knocked down with Jiren still not breaking a sweat.

You could argue that this is another instance of Vegeta acting as the jobber and succumbing to the worf effect, but Jiren's strength was already established and any other outcome would have come off as bizarre.  The sequence itself was also executed well enough, that you felt the weight of it.

Sadly, said weight is completely deflated by the next episode preview, where we see Vegeta is back up and in the fight again.  As a fan of the character, it's good, but it's another instance of the show completely avoiding tension and suspense.  Let the fans wonder what's going to happen with Vegeta down for the count, let his return be a surprise.  If they had put the preview's focus on other things, it would have completely caught viewer's off guard and it would have had a much bigger impact.

That notwithstanding, though, this episode was quite good.  It was well balanced, giving each fight just the right amount of time, while also giving us the showdown with Jiren that we've all been waiting for.  On top of that, we actually start to see Jiren's personality come out a bit more.  There's still room for further development, but progress is still progress on that front.

There's only 8 minutes left to go and the tournament could still go either way.  So far, both teams are still as intact as they were in the episode's opening, though it's only a matter of time before the scales start to tip one way or the other.

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'The Punisher' Episode 3: 'Kandahar'

While the main plot hook for the episode centers on Frank's interrogation of Micro, it's the episode's flashbacks that provide the more memorable material for the episode.

The interrogation itself was very strange.  At no point does Frank actually try to get any information.  I get that he'd be skeptical of what Micro is yammering about, but it seems counter-productive.  Jack Bauer roughed people up, but he also made it clear what he wanted.  While both are pretty savage in their methods, the latter still seems like the more logical approach.

Where Micro acted as the antagonist in the previous episode, here he tries to present himself as an ally.  Suffice it to say, Frank's skeptical.  Judging by what we see, it's quite possible, but at the same time, he could be playing a longer game.

We see that Micro is pretty clever in his own right, using patience, preparation, and deception to eventually turn the tables on his captor.  It was a pretty great moment both for the character and the episode overall.

The episode also gives us a more in depth look into his back story.  We knew the jist, but seeing it unfold resonated a lot more than being fed plot points in dialogue.

The same goes for Frank.  This episode gives us the biggest look at Frank's time as a marine to date and it is definitely to the episode's benefit.  Not only do we get to see a happier and more easygoing Frank bantering with his fellow soldiers and gushing over the fact that his wife got him Springsteen tickets, but its made clear that Frank's rage predates the death of his family.  That certainly didn't help, but his experience oversees seems to be the bigger factor in regards to his turn into "the punisher".

On the flip side, we also see Frank at his most brutal in his own take on the now trademark "hallway fight".  Preceding scenes usually did it in one long shot, but this one jumps around.  It makes it a bit more disorienting.  A part of me kind of wishes they had stuck to "the oner", but I can see how this approach fits.  It also helps the scene stand out after so many similar scenes of the main character taking on dozens of mooks in rapid succession.

It was nice to see Clancy Brown reprise his role as Schoonover.  He's always solid and it helps connect to what was established on "Daredevil".  Just like Micro's flashbacks flesh out what was established in dialogue, so too do Frank's scenes depict what Schoonover talked about when he was brought to the stand during the trial.

It was good to get back into this show and the episode ends with the plot moving into its next phase.  Frank now has a new list of people to target and he's not going to stop until they're all dead.  It might be tougher than taking out the crime bosses he had targeted previously, but Frank himself is not one to be underestimated. 

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Site Update: 2018 Docket

It's a new year, which means that, like last year, it's time to lay out the itinerary for what's to come.  Oh man, remember me saying that I would have a new post up every day of the year? Ha, I wasn't even close.  I won't be making that promise this year, though I would like to attempt it (and maybe even succeed) at some point down the line, maybe 2020?  We'll see.  At the very least, I would like to try and at least surpass the content bar that I set in the previous year.  Will I follow through?  That remains to be seen, as of now, though.  These are the things that I plan on covering in the next 365 days.


Stephen King

As of the writing of this post, I am working my way through "Hearts in Atlantis".  I also still have to discuss Stephen King's recent collaboration with his son, Owen, "Sleeping Beauties".  Speaking of Stephen King's sons, Joe Hill released a collection of novellas, "Strange Weather" that bears examination, so look forward to that.  Papa King also has a new book coming out called "The Outsiders" later on in the year. 

Progressing through the bibliography, I'm hoping to cover "On Writing", "Secret Windows", "The Plant", "Dreamcatcher", and "Black House".

On the movie front, "Cell" still sits in my Netflix queue.  I also have the first part of "It" as well as "The Dark Tower" to watch and review.  I recently read that the latter might also have a TV series attached, so hopefully that comes to light. 

I still need to watch "Mr. Mercedes".  Hopefully, that hits Netflix, Hulu, or DVD at some point in the near future.  If there is a second season, it will likely be delayed like its predecessor.  It's a shame that they aren't making it more widely available.

Speaking of Hulu, "Castle Rock" is slated to land in the next year.  I haven't followed the development too closely, but that should be an interesting watch. 




Brad Thor


I recently added another author to the site's content review roster.  I dove into Brad Thor's library with his debut, "Lions of Lucerne".  It should come as no surprise, then, that I aim to continue to progress onward through his library as well. 

Following "Lions", we have "Path of the Assassin", "State of the Union", "Blowback", and "Takedown". 

Thor is releasing a new book, "Spymaster" in the summer, but I will likely wait until I hit that point in the chronology before reading it.  I should (hopefully anyway) be up to speed by the time his 2019 book comes out, so it's a minor setback in the grand scheme of things.


Netflix


Continuing the tradition, my write ups for Marvel's "The Punisher" have succumbed to schedule slip.  Naturally, I will try to finish it as soon as possible, though.  Also in the MCU realm, the third season of "Daredevil is set to land, as is the second season of "Jessica Jones". 

Yes, much like "Daredevil", the write ups for that show will start with season 2.  On the plus side, all 4 defenders will be represented in the label list, so that will be good; especially if "The Defenders" does end up getting a second season. 




Anime


"Dragon Ball Super" continues.  I've been doing a decent job of keeping up with it and that won't be stopping any time soon.

The third season of "Attack on Titan" is set to air in the middle of this year.  I was hoping to cover the second season as it aired, but the schedule didn't permit it.  As I'm all caught up now, it should be a lot easier this time around.

I'd also like to dive back into "Rurouni Kenshin".  Alas, I'll likely have to start over.  Not only do I not remember what was happening, but there were a lot of articles lost in the Examiner shut down that I will have to re-do in order to keep everything complete.  It'll be a pain to go through, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.  It'll also eventually give me something to write about consistently to help fill in the gaps.

I could potentially add another series to the roster, though I'd have to browse around a bit.  I said that I would do this last year and nothing came of it, so I'd understand if you're skeptical, but hope springs eternal, right? 



Legends of Tomorrow


I discussed this in one of my Patreon updates, but I might as well say again that I have been unable to keep up with the CW shows as of late due to changing circumstances.  As such, I will be waiting for this year's batch of episodes to hit Netflix.  When that day does come, I will continue my write ups on that show.  It's a bit of a pain, but we do what we can with what we have. 



Archive Restoration


As it is, the site's backlog is mostly full of dead links.  I'm hoping to begin remedying that in the months to come.  It does mean doing a lot of work that was already done, but there it is.  I started doing re-writes for "Death Note", and you can see the articles for the first half of the show in my "mega-post", though I still have quite a bit to go through. 

The backlog covers all manner of things: movies, comics, anime.  It should give me a good variety.  I do try to put more emphasis on new content, but I think filling in the archive will be good overall.  Doing this will also facilitate more new content like episodes of "Rurouni Kenshin" that went unwatched and diving back into the "Dark Tower" comics.




Reviewstream

Normally, I've shied away from going into too much detail on upcoming content for this particular site as it was always more spur of the moment.  I'd see a movie and decide to write a review for it.  Some times, I saw a movie that I thought I would review, but found that it didn't give me a whole lot on which to comment.  It makes it difficult to lay down a projected list of what's to come.

This time around, though, I'm taking a different approach and have come up with some things that I plan on writing about. 

You might recall that I had written reviews for the first two JLA trade paperback collections.  My original intent was to go through the whole run, but it got pushed to the back burner.  While I won't go so far as to say that I'll finish, I do want to cover what I can and at least knock a few more trades out.

I'm also diving into the fifth edition of "Dungeons and Dragons".  I had written some articles on the "Essentials" material, but talking about the newer and more relevant content will be beneficial.  I did rather enjoy doing those articles, so it should be a good bit of fun.  I am kind of curious to look at the newest edition in more detail. 




So, there you go.  That's the 2018 plan.  It's definitely more in depth than last year's, but I think that's a good thing.  Oddly enough, I also think that this is more doable than the "post every day of the year" idea I threw out before.  We'll see how things go though.  Maybe on December 31, I can start doing retrospectives that assess what I thought I was going to do and what I did do.  We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. 






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