Hair Apparent

During a news conference this week, Glorious Leader Kim Jong Un was seen sporting a bold, sassy new hairstyle. 

Something about his dramatic new coiffure seems familiar, but I can't quite figure out where I've seen it before...

Ah. Now I remember. 

Hey, it's a start. A couple more inches in height and Lil' Kim'll be able to hold his own against any leader of the Centauri Empire.

Marvel's Agent Carter Season 1, Episode 7: SNAFU

This week on Agent Carter Peggy and Jarvis are accused of treason, we learn Dr. Ivchenko's secret identity and the SSR agents go from cardboard cutouts to fleshed-out characters.

There's only one more episode to go in this mini-season. Will there be more? I certainly hope so. I've enjoyed this series a lot more than I thought I would, and I'd like to see Agent Carter return. Maybe they could wedge more of these mini-seasons between Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s year-end breaks.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:

We begin with another flashback this week, as we see Dr. Ivchenko in Russian during WWII. He's very conspicuously reading a copy of The Tragical History Of The Life And Death Of Doctor Faustus, so everyone who had "Dr. Ivchenko is really Captain America supervillain Dr. Faustus" in the pool, come forward and collect your winnings.

In the "present," otherwise known as 1946, Peggy's being interrogated by her fellow SSR agents. She's definitely in a spot of bother here, as she's accused of treason, not to mention working for Leviathan. Just then Jarvis bursts in with a signed confession from Howard Stark. His plan falls apart when Chief Dooley demands Stark turn himself in, and Jarvis admits he wrote the confession himself.

Peggy then notices Dr. Ivchenko is using Morse Code to signal someone across the street— most likely Dottie Underwood. She knows the SSR Agents won't believe her, so she spills her guts and tells them everything, recapping the first six episodes of the series and warning them that something Leviantan-y is about to happen.

Amazingly they believe her, and Agents Thompson and Sousa check out the building across the street. They find Dottie there, who effortlessly mops the floor with them and escapes. 

Meanwhile Ivchenko hypnotizes Chief Dooley and gets him to open the SSR's super secret science vault so he can steal Item #17, another of Howard Stark's dangerous inventions. Ivchenko makes off with the item and he and Dottie roar off in a getaway car.

Ivchenko left one last gift for the SSR— he strapped Chief Dooley into a Stark experimental thermal armor vest. It's meant to keep troops warm in hostile environments, but it's unstable and tends to explode. When the SSR can't figure out how to disable it, Dooley says to tell his wife he loves her, tells Peggy to make Ivchenko pay, and jumps out the window right before he explodes.

Dottie then pushes a baby stroller into a movie theater and leaves, which doesn't seem the least bit suspicious. Gas begins escaping from the stroller, which of course contains Item #17, and causes the moviegoers to lose their minds and kill one another.

Thoughts:

• Peggy's interrogation scene was very well done, as it cut back and forth between Dooley, Thompson and Sousa all questioning her in their own individual styles. Well done, Agent Carter!

• When Leviathan was first mentioned in the beginning of the series, it sounded like something huge and mysterious (to me, at least). I have to say I was a little disappointed to find out it's just another run of the mill spy ring, like HYDRA. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I was hoping for something a little... different.

• I just realized that Dr. Ivchenko looks a lot like the late Peter Boyle.

• Peggy and Jarvis contemplate their fate at the hands of the SSR. 

Peggy: "Have you ever been hanged, Mr. Jarvis?" 

Jarvis: "No, I can't say that I have." 

Peggy: It's quite unpleasant."

OK, I get what she's trying to say here, but it's worded very awkwardly and makes it sound like she's saying she's been hanged before.

• Last week when Ivchenko was signaling Dottie, I wondered why the hell she'd write down the message she received on a notepad. 

Well, now we know why. It was cheap plot trickery so the SSR agents could find the pad and discover Leviathan's plans. 

• Looks like the SSR has redshirts too. When Peggy finally convinces Dooley that Dottie is in the building next door, he sends Thompson, Sousa and several agents we've never seen before to check it out. Guess which ones won't be coming back?

• Agents Thompson and Sousa search the building for Dottie. Thompson reminds Sousa how dangerous these Black Widow agents are, and tells him to shoot her on sight.

Of course when they encounter her, both men hesitate and Dottie hands their asses to them.

• Did you get a load of Dottie's outfit in this episode? She wears a black dress with white "web" lines on the collars, and a spot of red in the center— just like her Black Widow namesake.

• Ivchenko uses his powers to hypnotize Chief Dooley. He makes Dooley lock Peggy and Jarvis inside the interrogation room and then lead him to the science lab and Item #17.

I'm wondering Ivchenko didn't compel Dooley to just kill Peggy and Jarvis. After all, his message to Dottie last week said, "Kill Peggy Carter." Maybe he did tell him to do so, but Dooley's decent nature bubbled through the hypnosis long enough to make him spare them?

• This episode went a long way in finally humanizing the male SSR agents, and making them realize Peggy's more than just a secretary. We especially got to know a lot more about Chief Dooley, even meeting his family (well, a vision of them anyway).

Unfortunately the writers took a tip from The Walking Dead here, as we get all kinds of info about Dooley's personal life, right before they kill him off.

• So Howard Stark invents heated armor that can inadvertently explode (!). Seems a bit overkill, doesn't it? Hasn't he ever heard of down lining?

• Ivchenko tests Item #17 by placing it in a baby carriage that Dottie pushes into a movie theater. A couple things here.

First of all, when one of the patrons sees her pushing the carriage down the aisle, he says, "Oh great, now we get to hear a screaming baby all through the picture." HAW! Apparently people have always been inconsiderate jerks in movie theaters!

Secondly, Stark Item #17 releases a gas that causes the movie goers to lose their minds and violently kill one another. This sounds a lot like what happened to the Russian army at the oft-mentioned Battle Of Finow. 

• Wondering what the title of this episode means? "SNAFU" is Army lingo that stands for "Situation Normal All Fouled Up." You may have heard your grandpa use another word in place of "fouled" though.

Jurassic Plotz

I know it's bad form to nitpick a film before it even comes out, but eh, what the heck.

After seeing the trailer for the new Jurassic World movie, I'm cautiously optimistic that it might turn out OK. Something in that trailer was bugging me though. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, until now.

Back in the first film, Mr. DNA helpfully explains to us how the Jurassic Park scientists recreated extinct dinosaurs.

Millions of years ago prehistoric mosquitoes routinely sucked the blood of various dinosaurs. Some of these mosquitoes then became encased in amber, where they were perfectly preserved until the present day.

Scientists then found these fossilized mosquitoes and were able to extract the dino blood from them. They then used this blood to clone real live dinosaurs. Unlikely, but so far so good.

My question is: How the hell'd a mosquito manage to bite one of these?

The Flash Season 1, Episode 14: Fallout

With this episode The Flash has now become my new favorite TV show, edging out even Doctor Who. It's not perfect, but it's a lot of fun, and you can tell the people making it love the character in particular and comics in general. I desperately wish the people in charge of DC's TV shows were in charge of their movies as well.

The Flash's weird obsession with Firestorm finally pays off here, as we at long last we get to see him in full, white-eyed superhero glory. I still think it'd been better if we were introduced to these two characters in the first episode, but whaddya gonna do? 

If I didn't know better I'd say this was a backdoor pilot for a Firestorm series, but I haven't heard any chatter about such a thing on the interwebs. Maybe next year? I'd definitely watch a Firestorm show if it was as good as this one.

And Gorilla Grodd! GORILLA FREAKIN' GRODD! I can't believe I'm watching GORILLA JET SKIING GRODD on TV! I'm not ashamed to admit I squeed like a little girl when he appeared.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:

Picking up where we left off last week, Firestorm separates into Ronnie Raymond and Professor Stein, setting off a huge, but oddly radiation-free, nuclear explosion. Barry and Caitlin find Ronnie and Stein at ground zero and take them back to STAR Labs for testing. General Eiling arrives a bit later and examines the crater, finding two distinct "body prints" in the ground and realizing Firestorm's been there.

Caitlin is ecstatic to have her dead fiancé back, and Professor Stein is reunited with his wife (cue the emotional violins). Ronnie and Stein don't seem too thrilled with one another though. Probably because the Professor controlled Ronnie's body for a year, suppressing his mind and choosing to live like a hobo.

Joe takes Barry to his old house to see the holographic crime scene that Cisco cooked up last week. He shows Barry the image of two distinct speedsters flying around the room, and says one of them is him— not as a child, but as an adult. Barry realizes this means that at some point in the future he'll travel to the past and try to prevent his mother's murder— and fail. He goes into a funk over this for a while, until he realizes that with this knowledge he can now possibly change time and save his mother.

Iris' snarky co-worker Mason Bridge tells her he thinks the STAR Labs particle accelerator explosion, which has been driving the plot all season, wasn't an accident. He talks Iris into investigating STAR Labs.

General Eiling tries to capture Ronnie to experiment on him, but Barry's able to rescue him. Eiling then visits Dr. Wells, revealing that he knows Barry's the Flash (who doesn't at this point?). He threatens to harm Barry unless Wells helps him capture Firestorm. Dr. Wells invites Professor Stein over for a drugged nightcap, and hands him over to Eiling.

Eiling then tortures Stein, trying to discover the secret of Firestorm. Ronnie can feel Stein's pain, and carves the message "WHERE" into his own arm. The crude message then appears on Stein's own arm, and he taps out a less painful Morse code message to Ronnie— he's at the old abandoned Military Base #27.

Barry zooms over (carrying Ronnie) and rescues Stein just as Eiling was about to put a bullet in his head. Eiling lobs a phosphorus bomb and Barry, which begins eating into his suit. Barry's then preoccupied with running fast enough to create a vacuum in order to put out his chemical fire. Ronnie and Stein have no choice but to merge to save themselves, finally becoming the Firestorm of the comics. They make quick work of Eiling's soldiers and head back to STAR Labs with Barry.

Ronnie and Stein, who can now safely merge and separate without all that pesky atomic explosion business, tell their loved ones that they're going to lay low in Pittsburgh for a while until things blow over. 

In the greatest tag scene ever, General Eiling is kidnapped from his headquarters at super speed. He's deposited in a sewer, as the Reverse Flash stands before him. He removes his mask, revealing himself once and for all to be Dr. Wells. We hear a roar in the distance, as Eiling wets himself and says, "My god!" He then telepathically "hears" a terrifying voice in his head say, "Not god. GRODD!" Gorilla Grodd then appears and drags Eiling into the depths of the sewer, sending shockwaves of awe and joy throughout nerddom.

Thoughts:

• What exactly does the Quantum Splicer do? Last week Dr. Wells said Firestorm was in danger of separating, which would be a bad explody thing, and cobbled together the Splicer to stabilize his atoms. "Splice" means "to combine," right?

It must not have worked, because Firestorm separated in a big flashy explosion anyway. In this episode Cisco gives the splicer back to Ronnie, saying it may help. But Ronnie and Stein seem perfectly able to merge and split now with no trouble. So what exactly does the Quantum Splicer do again? Other than stick to Ronnie's chest, light up and look cool?

• So how come the first time Ronnie and Stein split there's a huge but conveniently radiation-free nuclear explosion, but not in any of their subsequent separations? Is it really because, as Dr. Wells suggested, they decided to "accept" their merging and splitting ability? That seems like a pretty thin explanation.

• Barry speeds away from the nuclear explosion with Caitlin, but isn't fast enough and it overtakes them. Cisco is back in STAR Labs monitoring things, and says the Geiger Counters (plural!) in Barry's suit indicate there's no radiation (implying Ronnie and Stein absorbed it all?).

Um... why would Cisco install Geiger Counters in the Flash suit? What else is in there? Wifi? Built-in AC? Utility Belt? Adamantium claws?

• When Firestorm separates for the first time, Professor Stein is miraculously wearing his glasses. I guess it makes a certain amount of sense, since he's wearing the same clothes he was before he merged, but for some reason still having the glasses on struck me as funny.

• Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin runs tests on Ronnie and Stein and finds they both have a body temperature of 106º (presumably from all the radiation they just absorbed?). Stein brushes this off, saying, "It's hardly a sweat, my dear."

Not quite, Professor. Any temperature higher than 105º is serious business, and can cause brain damage in humans!

• Joe takes Barry back to his childhood home and shows him the holographic murder scene light show Cisco set up last week.

Why the hell does Joe have a key to this house, when it now belongs to Sherry, the horny cougar we met in the previous episode? Now that I think of it, she was hitting on Joe pretty hard last week. Is there something he'd like to tell us? 

And speaking of Sherry, where is she all during this episode? Does she really not mind that Cisco left all this high tech equipment sitting in the middle of her dining room? Is she cool with Joe barging in at all hours with guests whenever he feels like it?

• Barry asks Professor Stein if time travel is possible. He says traveling to the future is definitely possible. Well technically we're all doing that, Professor Stein.

• General Eiling attacks Barry with some kind of high tech quills that are attracted to "kinetic energy." Later back at STAR Labs, Dr. Wells tells Caitlin to hurry and remove the quills, because Barry's souped-up metabolism is causing his skin to heal around them. 

If that's true, why is she the only one pulling them out, while everyone else stands around wringing their hands and watching?

• Professor Stein tells the STAR Labs Gang, "I'm still inside Ronald." Cisco says, "There's gotta be a better way to phrase that." HAW!

• Barry's getting very sloppy with the whole secret identity thing. He zooms off at super speed in full view of Mrs. Stein, just to bring the Professor a pizza. Mrs. Stein has already seen her husband merge with a young man, burst into flame and fly off into the sky though, so it's probably a moot point. Still...

On the other hand, due to his carelessness, General Eiling knows he's the Flash, which ain't good, as we see later in the episode.

• Up until their separation, Stein was in full control of Ronnie's body when they were merged. Once they join a second time, Ronnie's in charge of his body, and Stein's just a passenger along for the ride. Why the change? Because they accepted their merger this time?

• A few things about TV Firestorm:

Ronnie and Stein don't seem very fond of one another after they first separate. They were much friendlier in the comics (at least in the issues I read).

The two of them share a psychic and physical link, even when separated.

Ronnie controls the Firestorm body, while Stein is just a voice in his head, shouting out wisdom and warnings. Exactly like in the comics! Woohoo!

I believe this is the first time Firestorm's eyes have been all white when he's merged.

It appears here that Ronnie and Stein need to touch in order to merge. In the comic either one could initiate the merge no matter how far apart they were. I'm assuming they did this in the comic because they realized it would be impossible for them to touch every time they needed to merge. Whether the show follows suit, we'll have to wait and see.

The only thing missing so far is Firestorm's transmutational ability. I'm betting that'll come eventually.

• After a threatening visit from Eiling, Dr. Wells drugs Professor Stein and hands him over to the military. General Eiling then begins torturing Stein, trying to find the secret of Firestorm.

Eiling has a pretty unusual method of torture. He actually stops in the middle of Stein's interrogation to give him a rest period! That was certainly considerate of him!

• When Stein's being tortured, Ronnie can feel his pain. He then gets the bright idea to carve a message into his arm to communicate with Stein. Yikes!

For their sake I hope they figure out a better way to communicate in the future, other than Skin-O-Grams.

• After Stein's rescued, why the hell doesn't he tell Ronnie or Barry or anyone else that Wells drugged him and handed him over to Eiling? Does he not remember? Does he think he just happened to pass out after Wells offered him a drink? Or is he saving this revelation for a more opportune time? This is a pretty major blunder in an otherwise awesome episode.

• Iris has basically now become Lois Lane, as she sets her investigative sights on STAR Labs. It's no secret that she's my least favorite character on the show, mainly because the writers seem to have no idea what to do with her. Setting her up as kind of an adversary for the Flash is actually a pretty good idea, and gives her a new purpose– make that A purpose– on the show.

• Iris' editor tells her he thinks the particle accelerator explosion wasn't an accident. Did Dr. Wells deliberately explode it to create the Flash? 

• Iris has a chance meeting with Caitlin and Ronnie. Feeling she can't very well say Ronnie is her formerly dead fiancé, Caitlin says he's her cousin Sam, who's visiting from Coast City. 

Coast City was the home town of Green Lantern. Later she goofs and says he's from Midway City, which was the home of Hawkman and the Doom Patrol. DC Geography!

• General Eiling uses a phosphorus bomb to incapacitate the Flash. As the phosphorus begins burning through his suit, Dr. Wells suggests Barry start running fast enough to create a vacuum, which will put out the chemical fire.

I guess in all the excitement no one, including Barry, thought to simply take off his costume.

• Near the end of the episode, Ronnie and Stein decide to hide out in Pittsburgh for a while, until it's safe to return to Central City. In the comic book, Firestorm was based in Pittsburgh! Well done, Flash writers!

Living in Pittsburgh was significant, because most cities in the DC Comic Universe are fictional, like Metropolis and Gotham City.

• The Reverse Flash captures Eiling and takes him down into the sewers. He then removes his mask and reveals his true identity to Eiling. I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've seen Wells unmasked while in costume.

I'm still trying to figure out why the Reverse Flash has veins molded into his costume. Who designed it, Joel Schumacher?

I'm assuming now that Eiling's revealed he knows the Flash's true identity, Wells is eliminating him in order to protect Barry?

I wouldn't count Eiling out just yet though. This is a comic book world after all, and people die and get better all the time. Besides, Clancy Brown's too good of an actor to not have back.

• What an awesome tag scene! I still can't believe I live in a world where I can watch a live action Gorilla F-ing Grodd on my TV screen.

Right before Eiling's attacked by Grodd, it appears that he's hearing his voice inside his head. So I'm betting Grodd's going to speak telepathically. Did they do that because they thought a talking ape would look silly, or to save money on lip-synching? 

• This is the last new episode until March 17. Thanks a lot, Sweeps Month. Just show the goddamned episodes already and quit worrying about the woefully inaccurate ratings!

Support WhoNA!

If you're a regular reader of my blog (as millions are) you know that one of my all-time favorite stores is WhoNA in Indianapolis.

WhoNA, short for Who North America, is an online store specializing (almost) exclusively in Doctor Who merchandise, inexplicably located in the heart of the Hoosier State. 

It's run by Keith and Jany Bradbury, who are two of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. Their customer service is amazing, especially in this day and age of surly clerks and uncaring companies. I've ordered many, many, MANY items from WhoNA and am consistently surprised at their level of customer service.

Because it's primarily an online store, WhoNA's not open to the public. However, they have an open house once a month, where you can enter their warehouse and shop to your heart's content as you marvel at all the Doctor Who merchandise that's available.

You can also tour the facility and get your picture taken in front of the full sized TARIDS...

...as well as touring Keith's extensive Doctor Who Merchandise Museum, filled with old and new items from his personal collection. Here's a link to a video tour of the current facility.

Unfortunately WhoNA's has outgrown their current facility, and they'd like to move to larger digs, one in which they can adequately display all the items in the museum and house their inventory. Ideally they'd like to purchase their own building. 

To that end, the Bradbury's have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the necessary funds for a new building. If you'd like to contribute to the cause, head on over to this link:

WhoNA Kickstarter Fund

Hopefully the Bradbury's will reach their goal, find a new facility, set up a proper Doctor Who museum and I can continue to shop at WhoNA for many years to come (and yes, I put my money where my mouth is and already pledged some dough)!

As a special Blast From The Past, here's a look at a visit my nephews and I took to WhoNA back in 2011. Enjoy!

The Walking Dead Season 5, Episode 10: Them

This week we see Team Rick at their absolute lowest, as their food, water and especially their will to survive run out. Hopefully this is the last hurrah for these kinds of hopeless, nihilistic episodes, coming right before the writers make a major change to the series.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:

Well, there really isn't a plot per se in this episode, as we pretty much just follow the group as they search for supplies for forty five minutes.

As the episode opens we see Maggie slumped against a tree, barely able to summon the energy to kill a walker stumbling toward her. Daryl's digging up worms to eat, and Sasha finds a dried up creek full of dead frogs. I think the writers are trying to tell us things are dire.

As they trudge down a suspiciously deserted two lane road toward Washington D.C., they're followed by a horde of walkers. They're too tired to attack them, so they wait till they come to bridge and then just shove the walkers over the side, or hilariously, step out of the way as they lunge at them. That is until Sasha stupidly decides to revenge-attack the walkers for killing Tyreese, which endangers everyone's lives.

Just as they're about to die of thirst, they find a stash of water bottles in the middle of the road, complete with a note that says, "From A Friend." They're rightly suspicious of this, apparently thinking some nearby frat boys are trying to roofie them. It's a moot point though, as right then it starts raining and they fill their empty water bottles.

The storm intensifies, so the group takes shelter in a nearby barn that Daryl finds. Once inside, Rick finds the strength to deliver another speech about the world and how they can't give up, and actually says, "We are the Walking Dead!" This causes fans to either squeal with delight or roll their eyes so hard they sprain them.

God apparently doesn't like it when characters work the title of their show into their dialog, so the storm intensifies. Another horde of walkers begins trying to break down the barn doors. Daryl tries to hold them back in vain. Eventually the others notice what's happening and the whole team pushes against the doors, trying to hold back the breaking waves of undead.

Cut to the next morning, when Maggie and Sasha exit the barn and see that a tornado decimated the walker horde and miraculously left the barn untouched. They're then approached by an unbelievably clean and well-fed man named Aaron, who says he's a friend and wants to talk to their leader Rick, which means we're following the comic again.

Thoughts:

• Maggie finally remembers Beth was her sister and grieves for her in this episode. It's about damned time.

• As the group is trudging along, Carl sidles up to Maggie and gives her a music box. He says he thought she'd like to have it, but sheepishly admitting it's broken.

First of all, was Carl hitting on Maggie? It kind of seemed like it to me. Did he forget she's married to Glenn? 

Secondly, they're traveling sixty miles on foot, they have no food and water, and everyone's loaded down with their own personal arsenal. So it's only natural that Carl would pick up a bulky piece of broken garbage and burden someone else with it.

• The shot of Team Rick stumbling down the road with a horde of walkers shambling behind them was very well done. At this point there appeared to be very little difference between the two groups.

• During the walker battle on the bridge, Rick comes thisssss close to getting bitten on the arm. Yikes! And all due to Sasha's bone-headedness.

• Maggie opens the trunk of an abandoned car and finds a bound and gagged walker inside. It looked like she'd been tied up before she turned. So what was the significance of that? Was it a kidnapping gone wrong? Some sort of mob hit? A husband who finally had enough of his wife's nagging?

Maggie shuts the trunk lid, then thinks better of it and tries to open it again to "put the walker out of its misery." Why's she suddenly so concerned with this undead woman's well being, when earlier she could barely summon the strength to kill a walker that was about to attack her?

• The group is almost attacked by a pack of feral dogs, but is saved in the nick of time by Sasha's quick thinking. 

This scene reminded me that we very rarely see any animals on this show. I remember way back in the first season Daryl shot a deer, and he killed an ate an owl once. I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've ever seen dogs on the show though. Have the walkers decimated the animal population as well?

Oh, and mmmm, dog meat!

• Father Gabriel's sermons and platitudes are really starting to annoy me. Maybe now that he's burned his collar— literally as well as symbolically— he'll be less insufferable.

• Daryl heads off into the woods to have a smoke. To demonstrate just how empty he is at this point, he puts his cigarette out on his own hand, just to feel something. He then has himself a good cry for Beth.

When he's done he drops the still-lit cig in a pile of dry pine needles, which seems like a bad idea. I guess Smokey The Bear was probably killed by walkers long ago.

• I could definitely do with less of the "human condition" speeches on this show. It's becoming a definite pattern. Trudge, trudge, trudge, kill walkers, trudge, kill walkers, "We do what they have to do," kill, trudge, kill, kill, trudge, "We kill to live another day," trudge, trudge, kill.

• Houston, we have a title! Whether you thought Rick's "We are the Walking Dead!" comment was corny or awesome, there is a precedent for it. Rick said the exact same thing in issue 24 of the comic, way back in 2005. 

• I'm not quite sure, but when the entire group is rammed up against the barn door literally trying to push back the dead, I may have detected just a slight bit of symbolism.

• At the end of the episode, Maggie and Sasha encounter Aaron. It's about time! I don't want to get too spoilery right now, but this means things are about to get better for Team Rick. Before they inevitably get much, much worse again, of course. It also means the show's most likely going to change quite a bit.