Glee - Season 5 May Be Delayed

I didn't really want to write this blog because I still can't believe it but sadly, I have to.

It's been two days since the news broke about the death of actor Cory Monteith and like so many people, I am definitely shocked and saddened to have heard the news. I'm not going to make any speculations here but my thoughts most definitely go out to his family, friends and colleagues. 31 is no age to die and he will be missed from Glee and in general. I've not always been the biggest fan of Finn as a character but Monteith always struck me as a nice guy though.

Because of the untimely passing of actor, it seems that production is rightly going to be delayed for a month to give everyone some time to breathe. This will now mean that the show will more than likely return in November when filming begins.

More News: http://www.spoilertv.com/2013/07/glee-season-5-production-possibly.html and http://ontd-glee.livejournal.com/tag/actor%3A%20cory%20monteith

Glee is currently being repeated on Sky1 and E4 at different points during the week. EDIT: Season 5 will now air September 26th on FOX with production beginning in August.

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My Review of True Blood's 6x05: "Fuck The Pain Away"

Written by Angela Robinson
Directed by Michael Ruscio

Pam (to the shrink): “You humans just love pain, don’t ya? You just love being in it. You even consider it a virtue.”

Now, that is the Pamela Swinford de Beaufort I missed watching. Not the whiny one we’ve had for the last few episodes whose bitchiness has been more of a source of tedium but the one whose bitchiness is more a source of observation and amusement and she was certainly swinging in this episode.

Pam at a therapy session has been the best thing that has happened with the character this season and watching her challenging the patronising shrink who was trying to get into her mindset was wonderful. This is easily Pam’s best episode this season and the observation she made on humans indulging in their pain was neat to watch. I wonder what she makes of the phrase ‘tortured artist’.

Of course, while Pam thought she was being clever and besting the shrink in question, it didn’t stop Vampire Camp from outsmarting her and placing her in the position of having to fight Eric at the end of the episode. For all her bluster, I can’t see Pam ever trying to kill Eric and I certainly don’t think he would do the same to his own progeny either.

It was nicely stinging moment though for the pair of them, all brought together by Steve and Sarah being their treacherous selves and Burrell wanting his own payback for what happened to Willa as well. More to the point, Bill’s prophecies really have come to fruition considering that him and Warlow are the only vampires not at the camp at the moment.

However getting back to Eric – he wasn’t thinking straight this week. He let himself get captured in the hopes of having the upper hand on Burrell but twice in this episode, Eric was put in his place. He was shocked that Burrell turned on Willa and even more so that Pam was sent to fight him. It’s going to be interesting to see how he gets out of this one to be honest.

As for the rest of the vampires at camp – is anyone shocked by Steve being a turncoat? I thought his actions were pretty in character but it’s the scenes with Tara and Jessica and the new vampire lady that are intriguing him. I’m sensing an unholy alliance in the next episode if any of them stand a hope of getting out of that camp alive because honestly it really does look like someone is going to die in there pretty soon as well.

This was certainly not Jessica’s episode though. Her remorse over killing three of Andy’s fairy kids (one of them survived) saw her do something reckless with Bill and Sarah Newlin of all people got the upper hand when visiting Jason didn’t exactly go to plan either. I did like that Tara did her best to look out for Jessica though in the episode. Tara was pretty fantastic in this one throughout.

As for Warlow/Ben – of course Bill can control him. It did make sense given that Lilith is coursing through his veins but more to the point, Ben’s story kept getting interesting in this episode. His feelings for Sookie seem genuine enough and he wasn’t actually lying when he dropped that bombshell about Corbett and Michelle trying to kill her but Sookie would be a massive fool to be taken in so easily by him.

I loved the flashback scenes to Ben/Warlow’s turning as a vampire by Lilith and the interactions with him and Bill were brilliant to watch as well. I’m guessing if Bill can synthesise Warlow’s blood, he could be onto something with saving all vampires but again, do they deserve to be saved? Even Jessica was starting to have her doubts in this episode.

Also in “Fuck The Pain Away”

Where was Nora in this episode? We were at vampire camp for ages and I don’t think she was seen once.

Ben: “You are my intended. I wandered the Earth for millennia in misery and solitude waiting for you, dreaming only of you.”
Sookie: “Fuck you.”
Ben: “It’s our destiny to be together.”
Sookie: “Fuck destiny.”

It’s been three seasons since Lafayette can communicate with the dead and yet again, he got possessed by Corbett who ended the episode by trying to drown Sookie. Get some control already, Lafayette.

Sookie: “Oh, great, now you wanna save me too? I thought I was dead to you, Bill Compton.”
Bill (re Ben): “I didn’t come here for you. I came here for him.”

Pam (re experiments): “All in the name of science?”
Guard: “Shut up.”
Pam: “Care to explain the scientific value of this?”

Sarah Newlin has become quite the bunny boiler, wanting Burrell to get her pregnant and sleeping with Jason in this episode. How was she able to rescind Jessica’s invitation though?

Lilith (to Ben): “You are destined to save vampire kind.”

Sarah: “You’re a demon whore.”
Jessica: “Oh, you take that back.”

Terry wants to kill himself? Jesus, can the writers not come up with a better way of writing his character out of the show? As for the Sam/Nicole and Alcide/Jackson scenes – only meh can describe them.

Shrink: “What value do you place on my life?”
Pam: “None.”

Jessica: “Where are we?”
Tara: “We’re in hell.”
Jessica: “Thought so.”

Standout music: Peaches “Fuck The Pain Away” funnily enough.

Ben (to Corbett/Michelle): “I’m a prince. I’ll make Sookie a princess. It’s the way our tribe has done things since the beginning of time.”

Chronology: From where “At Last” left off and 3496 BC during the Warlow/Bilith scenes, which were also suitably homoerotic as well.

This season is halfway done and it’s arguably shaping up to being one of the best going. “Fuck The Pain Away” was hard not to enjoy as an episode (despite some boring subplots) and with that ending, I really want to see the next episode almost immediately.

Rating: 9 out of 10

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Batman: The Animated Series

What can I say? I'm a big kid at heart and if there's one cartoon I loved, it was Batman: The Animated Series.

Sure there has been many Batman related cartoons over the years and I've enjoyed the majority of them (though I have yet to see Beware The Batman) but for me, The Animated Series was kind of the pinnacle of them all. Running for a total of 85 episodes, the series just started off with Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy) as the Dark Knight taking out most of Gotham's deadliest of villains before the likes of Dick Grayson/Robin (Loren Lester) and Barbara Gordon/Batgirl (Melissa Gilbert) also joined to help save the day from the likes of the Joker (Mark Hamill), Catwoman (Adrienne Barbeau), Bane (Henry Siva) and Ras Al Ghul (David Warner) to name a few.

More to the point, my own enthusiasm for the Caped Crusader in many of his mediums will result in a few blog posts about him over the next few months as well. Not only will I do some postings about the animated adventures and the live action Adam West series but I also intend to actually get around to watching and reviewing the movies from Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher and Christopher Nolan as well. I hope you enjoy folks.

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Revenge - Season 3 Casting Spoiler

It's been some time since I've posted a blog in relation to Revenge but it seems now is the perfect time as the casting for Patrick, the first born of Victoria Grayson has been revealed as ...

 ... Justin Hartley of course. The former Oliver Queen on Smallville and from the shortlived Emily Owens, MD has been cast in the role and will first appear in the third season premiere episode, titled Fear. Patrick will also be popping up in several episodes of the new season as a recurring character as well. I just hope for his sake that he fares better than Jennifer Jason Leigh did as Kara in the previous season. Personally, I think is fab casting and if he cops off with Nolan, it'll be even better too. What, one can dream right? I can't wait to see Patrick and Victoria clash/interact with each other.

Casting News: http://www.spoilertv.com/2013/07/revenge-season-3-justin-hartley-joins.html

Revenge Season 3 will air on ABC, Sundays at 9pm from September 29th.

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My Review of Dexter's 8x02: "Every Silver Lining"

Written by Manny Coto
Directed by Michael C. Hall

Dexter: “You’re wrong about me. I’m a mistake.”
Vogel: “You’re everything you need to be, Dexter. You’re perfect.”

And with those words, alarm bells really should be ringing in Dexter’s ears about now. With the exception of Lumen and Deb, anyone else who has been privy to Dexter’s bloodlust has not turned out to be good for him and it’s pretty obvious that Vogel is going to be joining that line up as well.

I’m not sure if I entirely buy the idea of Vogel being responsible for Harry giving Dexter his code but the maternal streak she showed Dexter alone in this episode certainly means that her chances of manipulating him for a bit are pretty good. Already in this episode she sent him after someone she assumed was the Brain Surgeon and stalking her.

I liked the reveal about Lyle Sussman being more of a victim of the Brain Surgeon as well, even if he was responsible for a victim’s death in this episode before being killed himself. Is it too much to assume that Evelyn herself is the real surgeon and she’s preying on certain psychopaths to do her bidding? I don’t think so.

Evelyn knows about psychopaths in a pretty detailed manner and she knew exactly what to say to Dexter at various points when it looked like he was going to snub her requests as well. She’s definitely an intellectual threat for Dexter and he really hasn’t had one of those in a long while, has he?

This week certainly wasn’t Dexter’s best one. With Vogel getting under his skin and Deb continuing to distance herself from him, it was a little hard not to feel bad for Dexter a bit in this episode.

Speaking of Deb – I’m disappointed that she killed El Sapo (assuming she did, in spite of her fuzzy memory) but the downward spiral has been nicely played by Jennifer Carpenter nonetheless though. Deb made some valid points again to Dexter but at the same time, it was him who managed to save her bacon from being identified as El Sapo’s killer though.

Of course the scenes at Miami Metro still had their moment of tension though. Deb could barely look at Angel or Tom and she couldn’t even snap back at Masuka like she would do in the old days. Even her questioning with Quinn about El Sapo saw her only being inches away from confessing to murdering the guy.

Also in “Every Silver Lining”

This was the first time Michael C. Hall directed for the show. He previously directed the penultimate episode of Six Feet Under’s final season.

Vogel: “Sooner or later somebody’s going to be holding a piece of my brain in a jar. I want you to find him, Dexter and I want you to do what Harry and I taught you to do.”
Dexter: “I don’t take requests.”

Angel admitted to being aware about Quinn sleeping with Jamie but seemed more fixated on Quinn taking the sergeant’s test.

Dexter: “Miami makes more corpses than sunburns and I’m thankful.”

Dexter: “You never felt guilty about what I was doing.”
Vogel: “No, all I ever felt was pride.”

Elway seems to be harbouring some romantic feelings for Deb and Quinn’s feelings for her have been noticed by Jamie as well.

El Sapo (to Deb): “You’re lucky I don’t kill people unless I’m paid to.”

Deb: “Nobody’s coming after me, Dexter.”
Dexter: “How do you know that?”

Standout music: Mama Cass’s “Make Your Kind Of Music” was played in this episode during a gruesome scene.

Dexter: “What if I weren’t here to cover your ass.”
Deb: “Do you really wanna play the ‘what if’ game?”

Chronology: I assume from where “A Beautiful Day” left off.

Although not quite as good as the opening episode, at least “Every Silver Lining” moved things along nicely. Michael C. Hall did a good job with directing the episode and Vogel is certainly proving to be a whole new kind of problem as well.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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My Review of True Blood's 6x04: "At Last"

Written by Alexander Woo
Directed by Anthony Hemingway

Sookie (to Ben): “Get the fuck off me or die, Warlow.”

Aren’t closing moments like this almost an anti-cliff-hanger of sorts? Not that I didn’t enjoy it but Sookie nearly getting naked with Ben before letting him know that she was aware of his real identity was certainly the opposite of the usual type of cliff-hanger we’d get on the show.

It’s a nicely gratifying moment though as we saw in the episode how Sookie pieced things together with Ben being Warlow and how she went to good lengths to trap him as well. I do think informing both Jason and Niall of her master plan might have been a good idea too but at least Sookie was on a roll this week.

The reveal about Ben being Warlow was hardly a shock but it actually was quite satisfying to watch. In this episode alone, he got both Jason and Niall out of his hair but in a merciful way. He made Jason forget everything instead of killing him and he spared Niall yet again, even if he did shove him into that dimension he was trapped in for the last twenty years himself.

Now I’m really curious as to why Ben/Warlow actually wants with Sookie. She basically asked him the question as well and he gave her some spiel about wanting to belong but obviously there has to be more to it than that, right? More to the point – a fairy/vampire hybrid?

Personally I think it’s actually rather a neat twist and given that previous episodes alluded to it, not one that feels off about Ben/Warlow either. In some ways, he’s got the best and worst elements of being both but at the same time, he’s going to be massively hard I assume to get rid of over the coming weeks as well.

This season has certainly breathed a lot of new life into the characters but for the vampires, it’s almost like this episode went out of it’s way to prove that Burrell has a point about wanting them dead. Eric more than proved this point when he decided to make Willa into a vampire and send her back to Burrell.

It was nice that Burrell showed some genuine conflict upon seeing Willa being turned (times like this, I like being proved wrong) but with Sarah in his ear and Willa trying to attack him, it doesn’t look like Burrell will be giving up his vendetta towards those with fangs anytime soon. Thanks to Eric, Burrell will probably be a lot worse in the remainder of the season.

I mentioned in my previous review about the double standards in fandom surrounding Eric and this episode highlighted it again. I get that people adore the character but the fact that some did try to rationalise what he actually done to Willa, yet berate Bill for his similarly reckless actions this week does smack of hypocrisy to be honest.

Speaking of Bill – he was both right and wrong in this episode. His idea of trying to synthesise fairy blood in order to save vampires isn’t a bad idea but using Andy’s daughters in order to do it wasn’t too smart either. I really did think that it was going to be Bill who would drain the girls dry. Having Jessica do it after her desperate attempts of trying to keep the girls safe only made it more sad. And I’m saying this as someone who doesn’t actually like Andy’s daughters. The teenage versions we had in this episode were super annoying that I hope we never see them again but I have a feeling they’re not dead though.

Last but not least – Ginger, Pam and Nora were snatched by Burrell’s goons a little too quickly, weren’t they? I guess the pieces of Bill’s doom laden prophecy are coming true and it won’t be long before Eric, Jessica and Tara are next on the list. Why do I get the feeling one of these characters might not make it out of this season alive?

Also in “At Last”

Ben gave Jason some of his blood to drink and we got a delightfully homoerotic shaving dream with the pair of them.

Burrell (to his men): “Get those choppers in the air. I want this town to light up like a Christmas tree.”

The annoying clerk from “Strange Love” was in this episode when Jessica acquired Andy’s daughters.

Andy (to his daughters): “No telepathy. It’s illegal in these parts and that’s coming from the Sherriff of this parish.”

Ben: “You haven’t done this before, have you?”
Jason: “No, not really.”
Ben: “Just relax. Do it like you do it to yourself.”

Ben can’t seem to drink fairy blood and he also seemed immune to silver (which Sookie laced in his dinner). I wonder when he dies if he’ll go to dust or goo.

Willa: “Why did you choose me?”
Eric: “You deserve to be one of us.”

Ben: “It’s a date.”
Sookie: “I didn’t say that, now did I?”

Sam and Nicole had sex in this episode and it seems that Sarah and Burrell are sleeping together as well. There’s some speculation that she’s pregnant too. Also, what’s happened to Steve?

Ben: “Go to work, do your job.”
Jason: “Okay.”
Ben: “Stay away from Sookie’s place tonight, we have plans.”

The werewolves are getting increasingly boring this season and I’m not liking Alcide too much either, though I did appreciate him taking Rikki down a peg or two.

Willa: “You did this to me to get back at him. You took my life.”
Eric: “Just as he’s taken so many of ours.”

Standout music: Etta James’s “At Last” of course.

Niall: “No, there, no.”
Ben: “I survived twenty years. I’m sure a King can survive longer.”

Chronology: Pretty much from where “You’re No Good” left off.

“At Last” lived up to it’s title and delivered the Warlow plot with some aplomb. I can’t wait to see where he’s going to go in the next few weeks and with the likes Bilith and Burrell, surely Warlow/Ben is going to face off with them soon, right?

Rating: 9 out of 10

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First Look: Sleepy Hollow

There's not many new shows coming this upcoming season that are intriguing me but one of FOX's latest ones, a retelling of Sleepy Hollow certainly seems to have some potential ...

A modern retelling of the story, The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, the series sees Tom Mison's character, Revolutionary soldier Ichabod Crane plucked into the present day version of Sleepy Hollow where an old enemy is currently wreaking havoc on the town. With Crane then being implicated in the murder of a sheriff, it's up to him and a rather sceptical detective, Abbie Archer (Nicole Beharie) in order to stop the Headless Horseman (Richard Cetrone) from claiming more victims. Other characters include Captain Frank Irving (Orlando Jones), a father like figure for Abbie and Katrina Crane (Katia Winter), the former wife of Ichabod, who is also a presence throughout the series and a a witch to boot.

Executive produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Sleepy Hollow definitely looks like it could be a hit for FOX. The mashing of historical and modern for both Ichabod and the Horseman works nicely and the backstory between the two of them also seems to be developed nicely as well. It also looks gorgeously shot and genuinely dark in some places too with a stellar cast. It's definitely one new show I'll be watching this autumn season.

Season 1 Trailer/Behind The Scenes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7LfRNJloR0
Season 1 Cast Shots: http://www.spoilertv.com/2013/05/sleepy-hollow-first-look-cast.html

Sleepy Hollow will air Mondays 9pm on FOX from September 16th. A UK broadcaster hasn't been confirmed yet.

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