The Following - Season 3 Recap "Boxed In"

Wow.

Sometimes I wonder who writes the scripts for The Following because this show certainly goes the distance in undertaking some pretty sick stuff.

After last week's premiere episode, we find Mark (Sam Underwood) planning to kill an FBI agent unless Ryan, Mike and Max confess to their crime of executing his mom and using rogue tactics to hunt down Joe Carroll.

At first it looks as if Mark is going to be successful in nabbing that said 'FBI agent' and have them be tortured at a local auto body shop/torture chamber, but the FBI cracks down on that one real quick, leaving Mark's two followers (this new season's twisted couple played by Ruth Kearney and Hunter Parrish) to resort to Plan B.

Plan B is calling a rather burly fellow named 'Neil' and that said 'FBI agent' is actually FBI Director Clarke - whose been around since last season - while also getting a little backstory on him and his role in covering up Ryan's tactics for catching Joe.

We see in this episode how close knit Ryan has become with not only Mike and Max, but also his new love, Gwen, played by Zuleikha Robinson.  Ryan does seem to have truly moved on from Joe - especially when he's referred to rather humorously as 'the ex we don't talk about' - but still has to keep being reminded of the vital role he still plays in everything.

After FBI Director Clarke is taken at his home - not before his wife is nearly suffocated to death - Ryan, Mike, and Max are faced with the dilemma of confessing to their crimes before their friend is killed.  While Clarke is able to escape from his captors for a short time and tip off Ryan on his location, this episode ends rather tragically with Mr. Clarke literally being tortured and folded like a rag doll to fit into a 'box' our new fellow Neil created.  Not before Director Clarke confesses though to his role on-camera for the world to see in his role in covering up Ryan and Co.'s secret.

Ryan is too late in saving both his counterpart and friend - who we actually find out his the reason Ryan met Gwen - when Clarke had to be taken to the ER about a year earlier for panic attacks about Ryan's cover-up.  Gwen is the Doctor that treats Clarke, and the rest they say, is history.

Pretty sad episode.

Overall, I'd give this week's entry another B+.  Not the greatest, but certainly the show has returned with no shortage of suspense and tension in what Ryan must face this coming season.

Notes/Questions:

• Mark certainly got left out in the cold this week on the action.  I think this guy is going to snap soon enough.
• Nice little exchange between Mike and Max's new boyfriend.  "I'm not here to make friends."
• I suspect we are going to see more of our new friend Neil as it doesn't seem to be set-up as a one off character.
• How much longer until we see Joe?  You know it's eventually going to happen.

The Following - Season 3 Recap "New Blood"

Picking up a year after the events of last season, we find Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) having finally moved on with his life.  He's put his obsession with Joe Carroll behind him - along with a criminal investigation of his 'methods' to capture Joe - and found new love in the form of Gwen (played by Zuleikha Robinson).

Meanwhile, we find Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore) having done the exact opposite.  He's obsessed with finding Mark (the twin who wasn't killed, played by a really talented Sam Underwood) which has cost him everything in his life including his relationship with Max (Jessica Stroup) who has now moved on with someone else.

The season kicks off with everyone at FBI lead Gina Mendez' wedding (who knew she was a lesbian?) with Ryan giving a touching toast about finding true love, but not before he's interrupted by what's seemingly a grieving father splashing blood on Ryan and accusing him of murder for killing his daughter (who was one of Joe's followers).

This of course leads Ryan on a search to find out who this man's daughter was and apologize properly to her family.  This is all well and good until he realizes the real girl's father isn't the man from the wedding; someone's an imposter.

We come to find out this 'imposter' is actually working for Mark (along with a new psychotic, young couple) to terrorize Ryan and Co. to get revenge on their actions for killing his mom and brother.  Mark has precisely been setting up crime scenes with dead bodies to portray the killings that Ryan, Mike and Max lied about to hunt down Joe.

This all leads to that 'imposter' being captured, with him telling Ryan that he has no idea what's coming (haven't we heard this before?), which Ryan sort of comically points out that this isn't the first time someone's threatened him with those exact words.

Overall, I'd say this was a pretty good start to season 3.  We obviously know Joe is still alive somewhere, locked down in a 24/7 facility awaiting death row (though we can assume not for long), which we can imagine will play a part in this new threat facing Ryan this year.

I'd give this episode a solid B+ and hope the best is yet to come for this coming season.

Notes/Questions: 

• So after all Mike and Max went through together, they were only dating for 1 month?
• It's nice to see Ryan has moved on, but did anyone else get a 'creepy' vibe that Gwen isn't as innocent as she seems?
• I'm not sure who writes the scenes for Sam Underwood, but that guy is an extremely talented actor.  To go from playing two people to now playing one with a seemingly split personality...wow.
• How many episodes will you bet until we see Joe again? 

First Trailer for Fox's 'Gotham'

Fox has released its first trailer for their Batman prequel series, Gotham, starring Ben McKenzie as Detective James Gordon.

The trailer - which had a condensed version running during tonight's premiere of 24: Live Another Day - certainly sets the tone and mood for something comic book fans will enjoy but also the 'average joe' might like too.

Earlier today, it was announced the series had been picked up for 'at least' 13 episodes, with a potential 9 more on the backend if the series scores high ratings.

I'd rather them focus more on giving a good, quality drama over 13 straight-forward episodes than a potential 22 that try to stretch the storyline to make it from September to May.

We'll find out this fall.

Source:  EW

Netflix Announces August 1st Premiere Date for 'The Killing' Final Season

The Killing is one of those shows I wish I had watched from its beginning back in 2011.

I remember seeing a preview for it during the first season of The Walking Dead during the fall of 2010 and thinking, "How great does that look?"

Nevertheless, I have never seen a single episode but have heard nothing but great things about the show (except for its apparently dissapointing first season finale).

Over the years, the show has had a bit of a rocky existence, being canceled twice only to be brought back again (once by AMC after season two, and now by Netflix for its fourth and final season).

The streaming service has announced its six-episode final run will be available on August 1st and has released this short teaser video below.

For those unfamilar with the show, here's a short summary:

Based on the Danish series Forbrydelsen, “The Killing” follows various murder investigations led by homicide detectives “Sarah Linden” (Mireille Enos) and “Stephen Holder” (Joel Kinnaman). Seasons one and two chronicled the “Rosie Larsen case,” with Linden and Holder investigating the murder of a teenage girl. Picking up one year after the close of that investigation, season three followed the detectives on their search for a runaway girl, leading them to discover a gruesome string of murders that connected to a previous investigation by Linden. 

Source:  Netflix

First Trailer and Images from New AMC Series 'Halt and Catch Fire'

With Breaking Bad now over, The Walking Dead just finishing up it's fourth season, and Mad Men on its way out next year; AMC is looking for its next big hit.

Halt and Catch Fire just might be it.

Set in Texas during the early 1980s, this new drama series takes place during the rise of the PC era and centers on a former IBM executive (Lee Pace) who recruits a once-great engineer (Scoot McNairy) and a volatile prodigy (Mackenzie Davis) to reverse engineer the new IBM PC.

While the trailer is brief - proving to be more of a teaser than anything else - it certainly sets the mood and tone for the show as something truly different and unique than what networks are typically cranking out these days.  Maybe that's why AMC continues to be successful.

See below for a look at the trailer along with official images and synopsis.

Halt and Catch Fire premieres Sunday, June 1st at 10pm ET/PT.

“Halt and Catch Fire” is set roughly one year after IBM all but corners the market with the release of its first major product — the IBM PC. It is also the same year people realize that the IBM PC has a fatal flaw, which quickly makes personal computing anyone’s game. In this fictional drama, a former IBM executive, Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace), plans to reverse-engineer the flagship product of his former employer, and he forces his current company, Cardiff Electric, into the personal computer race. MacMillan enlists the help of Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy), a once-great engineer who dreams of creating a revolutionary product while trying to manage his initially unsupportive wife, Donna (Kerry Bishé), and Cameron Howe (Mackenzie Davis), a volatile prodigy who puts her future in jeopardy to join MacMillan’s rogue PC project. “Halt and Catch Fire” thrives on the spirit of innovation and explores what it’s like to stand at the forefront of something truly great and world-changing and work toward it, no matter the risk.

Source:  AMC

First Full Trailer for Showtime's 'Penny Dreadful'

The first full-length trailer has been released for Showtime's upcoming summer horror-thriller series, Penny Dreadful.

Starring Josh Hartnett, Eva Green, Timothy Dalton, and Billie Piper, the show is set in Victorian London as some of literature's most terrifying characters - including Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, Dorian Gray, and, of course, Dracula - are brilliantly reimagined in a whole new light..

The series premeires Sunday, May 11th at 10pm ET.

Jonathan Banks Joins 'Breaking Bad' Spin-off, 'Better Call Saul'

Jonathan Banks will indeed be back as Mike Ehrmantraut in the Breaking Bad spin-off, Better Call Saul.

Though Vince Gilligan had teased it, the fan favorite character will be returning as a series regular for the prequel show which will follow the exploits of Saul Goodman and his career as a criminal lawyer before Walter White came walking through his door.

Vince Gilligan has described this show as '70% comedy, 30% drama' whereas Breaking Bad was the other way around.

I'm still not sure about this one.  As a die hard Breaking Bad fan, I feel they should just leave it alone and let live on in television history.  Yeah, Saul Goodman was a great character for jokes here and there, but can Bob Odenkirk really carry on the legacy of Bryan Cranston for one-hour at a time as the series lead?

We shall see.

The series is expected to debut this November.

Source:  Deadline

Another New Trailer for 'True Detective'

I've talked up this show quite a bit, and hope it lives up to expectations.

With a little more than a week to go before its premeire, there's not much more HBO can do than trust what the people behind the show have put forth.

See for yourself.

"True Detective" debuts Sunday, January 12 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO. The series stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as Louisiana detectives Rust Cohle and Martin Hart, whose lives collide and entwine during a 17-year hunt for a killer, ranging from the original investigation of a bizarre murder in 1995 to the reopening of the case in 2012. Michelle Monaghan also stars as Hart’s wife, Maggie, who struggles to keep her family together as the men in her life become locked in a cycle of violence and obsession. Written by Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Cary Fukunaga.

Source:  ComingSoon.net

New 'True Detective' Trailer

HBO has released a new trailer for their upcoming dark-drama series True Detective starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

In the eight-episode stint debuting Sunday, January 12th (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT), Louisiana detectives Rust Cohle and Martin Hart begin an obsessive investigation of a bizarre killer in 1995, leading to the destruction of their lives over a 17 year-span until 2012 when the case is reopened.

I've been following this project for a while now and is definitely on my 'must-see' list for 2014.  Little to any shows have peaked my interest since Breaking Bad ended but I'm pretty confident this show will live up to lofty expectations.

True Detective was written by Nic Pizzolatto (also showrunner and executive producer) and directed by Cary Fukunaga (Jane Eyre).

Source:  HBO

'Breaking Bad' Final Episodes Recap - Felina

"That is how you end a TV show."

Those were the first words that came to mind after the closing credits to Breaking Bad's series finale came on screen.

No ambigious ending, no sutle nod to a spinoff series, just a clean, cut and dry 'the end.'

Breaking Bad is a series that I did not watch when it first premiered in January 2008.  In fact, I did not watch my first episode until the Fall of 2011, well past four seasons at that point; however, I knew from the very first episode that this something different.  Not your run-of-the-mill police procedural, or gimmicky genre-filled action spectacle, just a simple story of an ordinary man faced with the harsh reality of the world and how he deals with it.

What we're left with is arguably the greatest television drama in history.  The gold standard that networks - basic, cable, or premium - will try to attain from here on out.  A consistently excellent television show with not a single drop in quality...ever.

So here it goes, for the last time, a recap of this week's series finale of Breaking Bad:

After learning how Walt evades the police up in New Hampshire by stealing a car (gotta love the Vince Gilligan humor in that scene), we find him back in New Mexico at a gas station, ever so cunningly disguising himself via a pay-phone to find out where his former partners, Gretchen and Elliot Schwartz now live.

Walt - practically gliding throughout this entire episode as every action has been strategically planned - gets the last laugh with his once friendly colleagues, blackmailing them to use what's left of his drug money ($9,700,000 I believe), to set up a trust fund for Walt Jr. once he turns 18.  It's the only way he can be sure the money gets to his son, and for safe measures, informs them two hit men are now on to them if they don't oblige by what Walt's asked.

Now onto Lydia, oh you bitch Lydia.  How can you think Walter White would just show up to a meeting with you and Todd in the usual cafe at the usual time, ask to help assist in the empire he built, be turned down, and think he would just go quietly?  No.  That sugar packet or whatever you like to put in your tea, that's ricin, and you're soon to be dead.

Before the big finale, we get our last scene of Walt and Skyler together, a very sad encounter when you think about all that's happened to them over the past two years.  In talking to Skyler one final time, Walt finally admits he never did it for the family...he did it for himself.  He liked it, he was good at it, and it made him feel alive.  The look on Skyler's face is priceless....finally, the truth.  Walt then proceeds to say bye to Holly one last time, but sadly only get to see his son from a distance for a few short moments, and then onto his last stop.

I had to think Walt's plan all along in going to the neo-Nazi camp or whatever you want to call it, was to kill them all, including Jessie.  Walt was in-fact under the assumption Jessie had partnered with the men who killed Hank and stolen all his money, so why wouldn't he want him dead?

To Walt's realization, he find Jessie as a slave, chained up and forced to cook.  This is where Walter White shines through, not Heisenberg, tackling Jessie down before hitting that trunk opener on his car, unleashing that machine gun to mow down all those white trash bastards.  Although, Todd of course survives, leaving him all for Jessie to choke to death before snapping his neck.  Revenge, bitch!

Lastly, we have the final encounter between Walt and Jessie, two very different people, whom come a long way together.  Walt wants Jessie to kill him, but as Jessie exclaims, "I'm done doing what you tell me.  You want it, do it yourself."  Jessie speeds off in a car, escaping the Nazi compound, and the freedom to finally move on with his life.

Walt, for one last time - having inflicted a gun shot wound to the gut from protecting Jessie - takes a moment with the meth lab that changed his life, sees his reflection ever so slightly, then collapses to the ground, dead, just as the police arrive.  The end of Walter White.

Notes:

• I noticed a minority of fans complain that the finale didn't have enough Jessie, which it true, but this was the end of Walter White.  Jessie will go on and live his life, this was Walter's White's last shot at redemption.

• A quick scene with Marie too...a bit dissapointing, but with so much to wrap up, I understand why.
• Jessie's woodworking dream...perfect.

• The most heartbraking scene had to be Walt watching Walt Jr. get off the school bus and walk home.  No goodbye, just seeing your only son one last time...sad.

• Had to love how Walt didn't give a crap about where the rest of the money was, he just wanted to blow Jack's head off.

• Vince Gilligan, you are a genius.

Well, that's it.  The final recap is done.  Thank you to every one whose followed these recaps and I appreciate any comments or compliments you might have.  It was a tough duty doing these every week, but I couldn't have asked for anything better.  Long live Breaking Bad.

Grade: A+