Continuing Impressions of Revival Ep2: “Keeping Up Appearances”
Jun 23, 2025
Friday Fiction: Ceiling Men’s Managers
Jun 20, 2025
First Impressions Of Revival Ep1: “Don’t Tell Dad”
Jun 18, 2025
Hello Tomorrow! Doesn’t Need Its Gimmick
Jun 16, 2025
Friday Fiction: The Grasshopper
Jun 13, 2025
Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld: Part 2 – Cad Bane
Jun 11, 2025
Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld: Part 1 – Asajj Ventress
Jun 9, 2025
Friday Fiction: I Don’t Know Where I’m Going Today
Jun 6, 2025
Daredevil: Born Again Episodic Coverage: “Isle of Joy”
Jun 4, 2025
Doctor Who Episodic Coverage: “The Reality War”
Jun 2, 2025
Friday Fiction: Hiding Inside The Cupboard
May 30, 2025
Murderbot: About As Good As The Books
May 28, 2025
Doctor Who Episodic Coverage: “Wish World”
May 26, 2025
Friday Fiction: I Took A Nap Inside Your Soul
May 23, 2025
Daredevil: Born Again Episodic Coverage: “Art for Art’s Sake”
May 21, 2025
“Keeping Up Appearances” Is Extremely Bleak TV Let’s go back into the powder keg of possible issues that is Revival with the next episode, “Keeping Up Appearances.” And I am happy to say that this episode doesn’t turn into what I expected. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have issues; it’s just not the episodic structure…
Just because we said the next story—this week’s story—would be even weirder than our last, doesn’t mean that it’s going to also be a funny story.
Because this is not. “Ceiling Men’s Managers” is very much not.
Revival has kind of a bad first episode in a lot of ways, but does reveal how a good premise can carry an audience through the initial setup. And that one big, showy premise can give rise to several core questions/concepts that are so intriguing, and open so many doors for seasons of storytelling that it’s hard not to want to see what could happen next.
Hello Tomorrow! is perhaps one of the most unique sci-fi shows to come out in a long time. It’s got such an odd combination of factors that somehow come together to deliver an engaging drama and mystery revolving around a big, central question. But, unlike a lot of other dramas, there’s no hero. This is a show where almost everyone is a scam artist—though some of them don’t actually know they’re running a scam.
What would you do if a grasshopper came to your door?
That’s the absurd question at the heart of this surreal short story from Brandon Scott.
Tales of the Underworld didn’t stick the landing. The second part—the Cad Bane part—is not nearly as good as Asajj’s section. The action isn’t as interesting, dynamic, or even as intense. Lightsaber fights are just way cooler than blaster standoffs unless you try really, really hard. And they clearly didn’t.
Like the previous “Tales” miniseries for Star Wars, Tales of the Underworld is not actually one narrative. It’s multiple stories bundled together under one theme. And because of that, I decided it would work better to review them separately. The first three episodes are for Asajj Ventress, and the last three episodes are for Cad Bane.
You got to take the day as it comes, right?
Well, at least that’s the perspective of our MC. It’s a normal day for them—but quite the strange one for us. Because they’ve got the most unusual superpower.
“Isle of Joy” is a fantastic episode. I am consistently enjoying the constant use of parallels between Fisk and Daredevil, and this time, it’s about love lives. It’s about interpersonal drama. How much of their “real” selves do they let through? How do others deal with them when they do?
“The Reality War” is a mess of an episode. I thought “The Empire of Death” failed to stick the landing, but wow. I don’t always make outlines for articles—I’m not that type of writer—but I did for this one, and it is longer than some articles I’ve written. Frankly, it’s hard to hold every opinion and reaction I had over the course of this one episode in my head.
Is there a more classic spooky horror scenario than hiding from something or someone who’s looking for you?
Comparing the first three episodes of Murderbot to All Systems Red is a game of pros and cons. As a “fan” of the book series, I was obviously waiting for certain scenes and anticipating how well someone could play SecUnit, but the actual viewing experience was me going “that was good” followed swiftly by disappointment—and on and on it went.
