Doctor Who Pubcast

Nick and I have recorded another of our splendid wittering sessions...

http://dwpubcast.podomatic.com/entry/2015-05-31T08_16_25-07_00

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Frenemy of My Enemy

"Daisy Johnson. Huh."

Oh, such a complex web of allegiances: we have two competing visions of what SHIELD should be, Skye's loyalties to both SHIELD and her fellow Inhumans- and her complex relations with her loving yet Machiavellian mother Jiaying and her unstable yet honest father Cal, whom her mother plans to betray, and Skye knows it. Skye has a complicated lifestyle these days.

Fitz, meanwhile, at last joins up with Coulson and Hunter, still in possession of that prime MacGuffin, Nick Fury's toolbox. Coulson is doing a deal with the devil, working with Ward and Agent 33 in order to further his plans.

 Bobbi, in Gonzalez' rogue SHIELD, is beginning to worry that they may be somewhat neglecting the still operating HYDRA, which by the laws of television drama must mean that said baddies are about to do something nefarious.

But the heart of the episode lies in Skye learning to connect with her Dad in a Milwaukee that has changed, even though she realises she must betray him. There is much pathos in Cal's disappointment that so many of the things he wanted to show his daughter are no longer there as a sad metaphor of how time disappears. But we end the episode in a flurry of unexpected developments: HYDRA are tracking Gordon's teleports, and are able to arrive just as Coulson turns up to arrest Cal. Both Lincoln and Mike Peterson are captured, and Skye and Coulson fleetingly meet before Gordon takes her away.

If that wasn't brilliant enough for this fast-moving piece of television, we end with Coulson unexpectedly surrendering to Bobbi and Mack. What next? I, for one, am becoming obsessed.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Melinda

"I moved a mountain!"

At last we get the backstory to all this "Cavalry" stuff that Agent May did in Bahrain. The truth feels a bit like backtracking- what she actually did tends to underwhelm after all the hints- but this episode is nonetheless quite as brilliant as they all are at the moment. I'd expect nothing less.

What a difference seven years makes: Melinda was still with Andrew, and seemingly much more comfortable in her skin as she sets off with Coulson on a mission to retrieve a "gifted" individual in Bahrain. Unfortunately, things soon get out of control. This contrasts with the present day, in which Skye is slowly learning to tame her powers. She also finally learns that Jiayang is her mother, "put back together" by Cal after being vivisection by Whitehall, and also learns the circumstances of her birth right down to her actual birthday, which she now finally knows. It's a deeply emotional moment but one fraught with danger for Jiayang, who cannot be seen, as leader, to be favouring her daughter. I bet she will be outed as doing so by the end of the season.

Meanwhile, May impresses on Simmons that Coulson has been keeping many mysterious secrets, and she now wonders whether he should be trusted. Most prominent among these are the mysterious Theta Protocols.

There's a nice structural moment as Jiaying recounts to Skye of a woman, seven years ago, who stole Terrifen crystals and explored her powers without help, juxtaposed with footage, seven years ago in Bahrain, of May dealing with the fallout. The twist is that the powers- to gain power from others' pain- are not those of the target but of her daughter, whom May is forced to kill. This devastates her, damages her marriage, and leads her to abandon combat operations. She is now the distant Melinda that we know. All of this fits the facts as we know them, but it doesn't quite satisfy after all the build-up of the "Cavalry".

We end with Fitz proposing to join Coulson and Hunter, and he's bringing Fury's secret box of tricks... 

Cinderella (1950)

"Bibbidi bobbidi boo!"

Hmm. This film is ok, but, well, it seems to drag out s very short fairy tale to film length with a lot of only mildly funny stuff with cartoon animals and, well, fails to really soar. Is it me, or does this film lack the sparkle either of recent days or of the golden age of Bambi and Dumbo?

No, that's too harsh. It's a simple fairy tale for kids and, as such, it works, but without the charm or heart of Disney's early films or the adult appeal of their late ones, but it does a good job. I'll tell you one thing, though; it isn't made by cat people. The characterisation of Lucifer is a bit harsh to this avowed cat person. It's also disappointing that the wicked stepmother and stepsisters don't get any sort of comeuppance in a rather rushed ending. Still, it's nice to see the animals playing a pivotal role towards the end.

It's a short film and, I suspect, enjoyable for its target audience, although they may prefer Tom and Jerry for the cat and mouse stuff. In a couple of years I'll see what my little girl thinks!

The Parent Trap (1998)

"I have class and you don't!"

This isn't exactly the greatest film ever made or anything. Nor is it a particular favourite, and to be honest it was Mrs Llamastrangler who instigated watching it. But I've already blogged the original and may as well blog this. After all, it's very much a rarity to get a sequel that's better than the original.

The main reason for this is the pacing; this film zips along and doesn't drag in places as does it's predecessor. Also, a very young Lindsay Lohan is rather good as the twins- here renamed Hallie and Annie- and, indeed, knocks Hayley Milks into a cocked hat. And that, I'm sure you agree, is an arresting image.

The main difference from the original is that one of the twins, Annie, is British, and from London rather than Boston. Not the actual London, though; this is very much the London of Hollywood, a tourist-friendly place where people cross the zebra crossing at Abbey Road and where the La's (from, er, Liverpool) provide the soundtrack.

Another plus point is the splendid comic acting of Natasha Richardson, and the rather sweet romance between Martin and Chessie. Also, this time around,there's modification of Mum (Elizabeth) having physically abused Dad (Nick) way back when, which is always a plus. Oh, and the pranks are much bigger and better.

This is the perfect remake, with little improvements everywhere. The sweetest thing of all is that Martin and Chessie get married at the end too. So, yes, not exactly the best film ever, but the rare distinction, at least, of one remake which isn't pointless.

The C Word

"I'll tell you what, mate, right. You stand up, and I'll rummage around in your nuts."

Let's get all the superlatives about Sheridan Smith out of the way first, shall we? She's simply awesome, as always. So much so that we shall overlook the lack of any real attempt at a Derby accent. Sheridan Smith is probably the best actress on telly today.

This time she plays Lisa Lynch, real life cancer sufferer and author of the eponymous book. We start off by establishing how nice and normal Lisa is, as we would expect, and then the C bomb is duly dropped. It's an awful moment and, like everything, beautifully scripted and played. All of the big moments- mastectomy, chemotherapy, death sentence- are perfectly judged. And Mrs Llamastrangler and I were glad of this, as the subject of the C word is raw; earlier this year it took Mrs L's uncle, one of the nicest and coolest and most rock 'n' roll guys you could ever meet, get a bit sloshed with or compare beards with. He was only 44. The C word is indeed a C word.

There's an ironic contrast in that Lisa doesn't want to talk about the elephant in the room and can't be surrounded by drama, preferring to talk about other things. Hence the blog. It's all very human and very real.

The blog leads to a book, ironically recommended to Lisa after her second, terminal diagnosis, and the awful heartbreak of the cancer is juxtaposed throughout with humour and humanity. Like life, I suppose.

This is a most affecting piece of television and, what with my having just turned 38 and knocking on the door of middle age, as pleasant a way as any to confront my own mortality. We will all die, and it's usually painful and unpleasant, but at least we have each other, and our pleasures.

Sheridan Smith will win yet another award for this, mark my words. 

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Afterlife

"Seriously? I was only gone a week!"

My God, there's so much going on in Agents of SHIELD these days. That's why I love it so much.

Skye is beginning to explore this mysterious Inhuman base to which Gordon has brought her, with the help of an Inhuman bloke called Lincoln with electrical powers (an actor from Neighbours and Home and Away, Mrs Llamastrangler tells me). Are they on the Moon with Black Bolt and that lot, I wonder? There is a reference to "elders". Be that as it may, it seems most Inhumans are jealous of Skye; most of their powers are only potential, and they long for exposure to the Terrigen mist. Skye has what they dream of, and never particularly wanted it.

We soon learn that Cal is there too, locked up by Gordon and longing to see his daughter. Not only that, but Raina is there too, predictably enough in a building which was pooh-poohed away earlier. Skye is furious to find said tormented baddie, but she is persuaded that all Inhumans, bar none, are to be helped here. She is also assigned a guide who, unbeknownst to Skye, happens to be her mysteriously not-dead mother. Looks like a bigger role for Dichen Lachman.

Elsewhere, the rogue SHIELD run by Gonzalez continues to have the upper hand, although there are perhaps the beginnings of a rift between Bobbi and Gonzalez. Fits, it seems, is leaving out of loyalty to Coulson, with an especially personal feeling of betrayal from Mack. But Simmons, it seems, is staying. 

Coulson and Hunter are on the run and, seemingly, doomed, but they have an ace in the hole in the form of Mike Peterson, who has been secretly working for Coulson for all this time. It's good to see J August Richards again. 

We get two shocks at the end: Gonzales offers May a seat on the new SHIELD's board as Coulson's advocate- and she accepts. And it seems that Jemma never betrayed Coulson at all. And Fitz is walking calmly away with Fury's actual box of tricks while Simmons "investigates" a decoy. 

Is Agents of SHIELD ever going to not be brilliant again?

Grimm: Bad Luck

"You learned to understand me. Now I have to learn to understand you."

We're back after the season break, although we in the UK, following Grimm on Watch, have just carried straight on. This episode is all about the aftermath of Nick finding out that Juliette is now, permanently, a Hexenbeist. He's supportive, yes, but that isn't quite enough for Juliette; he won't kiss her in Hexenbeist form, which she seems to insist on. As Hexenbeist faces are generally quite revolting this seems quite harsh of her, but this is probably a metaphor for something. Nevertheless, their relationship is suddenly strained. It certainly doesn't help that the first person she turned to for help was not Nick but Sean.

Interestingly, Nick hears from Henrietta herself that the transformation is permanent and that Juliette is not only formidably powerful but that this power is sexual in nature. Attempts at monogamy, it seems, will be futile. 

In parallel with all this we have a rather good story-of-the-week about a type of rabbit Wesen(!) which is hunted for its foot, apparently a good luck charm meant to induce fertility. There's an obvious metaphor here about the similar use of rhino horns and such forth, and more broadly about animal rights and endangered species, and human beings being dicks. Oh, and it's interesting that the baddie is a Welshman. This episode may not be one of the best but it's good nonetheless, and the season arc continues to enthrall.

In other news, Adalind has a clandestine meeting with Sean to discuss their baby.she wants him on her side. He won't bite, but I wonder about what is in store for his allegiances, especially as he's been hiring a private eye to follow Kelly Burkhart.

We end with a much bigger reveal than last time- Adalind is pregnant again. And the baby can only be Nick's!

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

"They're breeding like Catholic rabbits."

Because Samuel L Jackson always gets the best lines. It's the law.

Obviously, I enjoyed this muchly, and I'm not just saying that because it was both a nice birthday treat and the first time I've been able to go out with Mrs Llamastrangler to spend some time alone together since we had our beautiful baby- thanks to my lovely mother-in-law for babysitting! We just about managed to survive a few hours away from our little girl, and enjoyed ourselves.

The film is superb. Joss Whedon writes and directs. Those are two different ways of writing the same thing. We should appreciate how narratively difficult it must be to come up with a script which both works and gives substantial parts to (deep breath) Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Scarlet Witch and the Vision, with substantial cameos from War Machine and (new Avenger!) the Falcon. Joss Whedon accomplishes that, along with giving us thrills, spectacle, emotion, and the best Stan Lee cameo yet. I can't stress how much of an achievement it is to serve all these characters well script-wise. Whoever follows on from Whedon has big boots to fill, and I can't wait to see what he does next.

There are a couple of downsides, however. The death of a certain character comes as a surprise, which I suppose is the point, but also comes across as a pointless waste. And, as most of the Internet correctly points out, this, like all Marvel films, serves female characters rather poorly. Black Widow, up till now the only kick-ass female character alongside all the boys, spends much of her time pining after Bruce Banner. This is not a film which comes close, I suspect, to passing the Bechdel test. I'm not going to give Whedon a hard time over this- his feminist credentials are as good as anyone with a Y chromosome's- but Marvel needs to find a better gender balance, at least. Still, Scarlet Witch now gives us a second female Avenger.

Oh, and I love the fact we get to see Scarlet Witch, and the Vision (budding romance ahead?). And Ulysses Klaw, no doubt to return in Black Panther. And am I reading too much into Tony Stark's guilt at creating Ultron, what with seeing signs of a future storyline based on Armour Wars? Be that as it may, I'm liking the conflict of values between Stark and Steve Rogets from film to film. 

Essentially, this is a bloody good film. Go and see it. Now.

Daredevil: Rabbit in a Snowstorm

"Used to be if you killed a man you sent his wife flowers. Now you send his wife with him."

This is the first episode with no introductory stuff, and it's an episode with no real heroics. Instead, it's an episode where Matt and Foggy make a moral compromise in representing a dodgy client with even dodgier backers. It also introduces us to Ben Urich, a principled journalist in a cynical, Murdochian world. It's not hard to see him as a parallel to Matt, both of them principled Philip Marlowe figures floating in a world with moral anchor. Yet both must make compromises.

Set against this is Karen's decision not to compromise. In showing Urich all the stuff she knows from the first episode she is doing the right thing, not the smart thing. 

Oh, and we get our first proper introduction to Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. He's a villain with power, presence and charisma and will, no doubt, stay in the background for a long time until he and Matt meet.

What we don't get, despite the displays of Matt's superpowers, is any costume stuff. No doubt there'll be some of that next episode. As for this one, it's perhaps better thought of in terms of set-up, mood and character development for the long term, and may seem better in hindsight, but it perhaps underwhelmed slightly.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: One Door Closes

"Who's coming for me?"

"SHIELD."

More big things happening this week; Agents of SHIELD is swiftly reminding me of Chris Claremont's long run on Uncanny X-Men in that events are always  in flux and there is no status quo. 

One of those things is the belated revelation that Fitz has a first name: Leo. Rather bigger is Coulson finally confronting Mack on exactly what he's up to: Coulson is no fool and knows damn well that something is going on. Mack, though, keeps insisting that he works for "SHIELD". Meanwhile, May is having a similar confrontation with Bobbi, only with an awesome fight scene thrown in: it looks as though the plotters have been caught.  

Skye, meanwhile, is visited by the eyeless Inhuman, Gordon, in her prison- er, safe house- which was originally built by Dr Bruce Banner to contain the Hulk. She, and we, are left to ponder the extent to which her SHIELD friends want to help her and the extent to which they wish to catalogue, prod, and restrain. He leaves, having given him an open offer to come with him to a place (Attilan?) where there are others like her.

There are further flashbacks here, one featuring Hartley, intended to give us the background to Bobbi's and Mack's motives, but it cuts little ice with Fitz, betrayed by his friend, and Simmons, running rings round Bobbi. Just when it looks like our heroes have the upper hand, however, Gonzales and his rogue SHIELD arrive and take over. Coulson is taken prisoner, and everyone else is offered a place with the usurpers. Fortunately, May has time to warn Skye to get away.

Everything is turned upside down by this massive twist, promising an exhilarating end to the season. 

Efforts are made to get us to sympathise with Gonzales' motives- he mistrusts the motives of the secretive Nick Fury, and doesn't accept his right to simply anoint Coulson as his successor- but we're not exactly rooting for him or his faction. 

We end with a cornered Skye taking up Gordon's offer, while an escaped Coulson meets up with fellow escapee Hunter in a bar, who finally accepts that permanent position...

Agents of SHIELD is bloody good right now.

Grimm: Trial By Fire

"So the fire had a mind of its own?"

The strong run of stories-of-the-week continues, this time with an arson murder mystery involving a Wesen Human Torch. This time there's a twist, though: bent Bauerschwein cop Orson from way back in Season One is given leave from prison in order to help, leading, of course, to the inevitable confrontation with Monroe. This serves both to highlight the Blutbad/Bauerschwein feud and to contrast Moneoe's feelings towards Orson with the inter-racial harmony shown by his relationship with Rosalie. After a bit of dramatically expected friction between the two of them their relationship is underlined, as well as their mutual commitment to inter-Wesen tolerance. This is clearly not a theme that has run its course.

Elsewhere, Sean receives reports from a private eye regarding Kelly Burkhart's whereabouts, but Prince Viltor is using the same private eye. Meanwhile, Wu is still loving being part of the Wesen stuff- I'm still sure it won't end well for him- and there's quite an ending, just to remind us that we're just before the mid-season break: Adalind,not having an inkling either that Nick is a Grimm again or that Juliwtte is a) a Hexenbeist and b) well hard. There is a lot of property damage in the ensuing fight, following which Adalind runs away with her tail between her legs.

This time it can't be explained away. Juliette has to tell Nick and that's where, of course, it ends. It's a big cliffhanger but, it must be said, not so big compared to earlier seasons. Still, good episode.

The Parent Trap (1961)

"We're twins, aren't we?"

The main selling point of this veeeery sloooow paced film is the technical wizardry of getting Hayley Mills to play a pair of twins on screen at the same time for much of the film, and I'm duly dazzled. It's a pity, though, that Mills' American accents are somewhat comically unconvincing even to my British ears. We're talking Dick Van Dyke levels of unconvincing here.

The film has its moments, pacing aside, but there's a disturbing social conservatism at work in that we're supposed to see it as desirable for the divorced parents to get together even though it's explicitly said that Maggie has been violent towards Mitch in the past. Still, the film may be slow and reactionary but it's entertaining enough for most of its length, and it's a pleasure for this blog to finally encounter an actress of the stature of Maureen O'Hara. It's also nice that we have a child's eye view through most of its length.

Oh, and I like the funny vicar.

Freaky Friday (1976)

"Male chauvinist pig!"

This is one of two back-to-back old Disney films I will be blogging, mainly because we wanted them off our Sky Plus. They're both fascinating artefacts from another era, though, especially this one.

Obviously this is notable for featuring a very young Jodie Foster, but it also displays an instinctive slant towards gender roles that would never be seen again; phrases like the above quote are bandied about as a joke, but this is a world in which women stay at home to cook and clean, unless they are forced to work as secretaries because their husbands are out of work. It's a fascinating artefact of the social mores in 1970s America, perhaps all the more revealing in that this is a Disney film.

It works quite well as a comedy in spite of it's leisurely pace: the central conceit-another and a daughter switching bodies fortresses best left unexplained- is full of potential, and gives us a fascinating peek into what 1970s American high schools were like, with their marching bands and electric typewriters.

Everyone smokes. Annabel's dad reminds me of an American version of Reginald Perrin. This is the most 1970s film I have ever seen. 

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Love in the Time of HYDRA

"Well, then. I guess it's safe to say we all hide our true selves, don't we?"

Nicely structured, this episode. Coming after the revelatory cliffhanger that Bobbi and Mack are working for a rival SHIELD, we get most of the exposition done in the form of a flashback to the big HYDRA eruption during Captain America: Winter Soldier, with all the flashback scenes being tinted distinctly blue. We learn how this other SHIELD, led by Edward James Olmos's Gonzalez, featured Bobbi and Mack (and Hartley!) from the start.

We also learn what makes them different: they disagree with Nick Fury's choices, and in particular his appointment of Coulson, whom they see as quixotic and alien obsessed- which, to be fair, he is; we only side against them because we happen to like and trust Coulson in spite of these things.

Back to our SHIELD, and there is still debate about what to do with the post-Terrigen Mist Skye: May wants her removed from operations, and Coulson eventually acts on her views, moving get to a safe house against his better judgement. He feels guilty, meaning that Very Bad Things are likely to happen as a result as such is the way that drama works. This way she's alone and a massive target. 

Oh, and we also see Agents Ward and 33, after a long, long time. Their motives have never seemed more mysterious, nor their motives so interesting. A game of Operation is played, giving all people my age a nice nostalgic glow. There's a nice comedy scene with General Talbot and a bunch of female US military "spies". Fitz and Simmons clash again, Coulson and Talbot deepen their mutual respect and Bakshi is captured, kinkily, by Ward and Agent 33.

We end with the discovery that Coulson and May are both distrustful of Mack, that Hunter has escaped. It's a good individual episode but, even betters ham that, a link in a superlative chain. I'm loving this run of episodes.

Coalition

"I'm worried about Nick. He's in a bad place."

"Sheffield?"

I tend to write up my blog posts late these days, what with having become a father for the first time in February, but I just had to get this one out before the General Election and what looks like being a much more tortuous set of coalition negotiations over what could be a lot more than six days.

Also, cards on the table time: I'm on the left of the party, and some way to the left of all of the party's Cabinet ministers, with the possible exception of Vince Cable, but I've always voted Lib Dem until now. And the only reason I won't be voting Lib Dem on 7th May because I have now moved to a Tory/Labour marginal where a Lib Dem vote is fairly pointless under First Past the Post (why oh why is there not a site where I can swap my vote with a Labour supporter in a threatened Lib Dem seat?). I may not be a supporter of Nick Clegg (see below) or Orange Bookers generally, but I don't demonise him as many Labour tribalists do, but he hasn't been good leader since 2010 for various reasons, although he does have genuine achievements to his name and can, on the whole, be proud of his career. This one-off drama, with Clegg taking centre stage, is rather good at showing both his vices and his virtues.

Coalition is as good as this sort of thing tends to be, although you can never get a huge amount of dramatic depth out of a fairly straight reconstruction of recent political events. Obviously the standout cast member is Mark Gatiss who, as every review and preview has said, steals the show as a weary yet still dangerous Peter Mandelson, but all the portrayals ring true.

We begin not with the night of the election but with the leaders' debates, and those heady days of Cleggmania when everything seemed possible. This gives context for the slight deflation felt by many Lib Dems on election night, but the absurdity of election night is best portrayed by David Cameron receiving a call of misunderstanding congratulations from the Governor of California. Hasta la vista, baby. We also establish the relationship between Clegg and Donald Sumpter's elder statesman Paddy Ashdown, both a more left-wing and more substantial figure than Clegg, first shown consoling his protege on the mildly disappointing results, showing him to have rather more steel to him; it's not hard to see that the authorial voice sides with Ashdown rather than Clegg. So do I.

The morning after the night before sees Cameron make his big offer of coalition and Ashdown's prescient remark that "They'd string us up." The personal relationships are fascinating here; Camerpn subtly shows his dominance by insisting on immediate negotiations without sleep, and Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell puts pressure on both parties for a quick deal. Soon there are parallel negotiations going on with Labour, and the contrasts between Clegg's two suitors are fascinating; the Tories are hungry and devious, while Labour are half-hearted (sans Mandelson, a bit), unprepared and saddled by the fact that they simply haven't got the parliamentary arithmetic. Clegg's relationship with Gordon Brown is awkward, while Cameron runs rings round him; a Con-Lib coalition was inevitable, but a Blair clone like Clegg does not a good negotiator make and the script implies, not unfairly, that he was at least partly motivated by the prospect of power. He could have held out for a better deal, Brown leaving Number 10 prematurely notwithstanding. And, although a coalition of course makes it understandable that both sides have to compromise on their respective manifestos, that tuition fees pledge was different. It should have been inviolable.

Clegg's ultimatum to Brown- that he has to leave as PM for a coalition to happen- is both awkward and terrible, and Clegg is right to feel guilt. Brown deserved better, and Clegg cannot feel aggrieved if Labour were to make a similar demand in a week's time. Still, I have no doubt that all sides will be much better prepared. 

There's a nice cameo from Michael Crichton as an ancient Tory backbencher who remembers 1974, reminding us that Cameron too faces pressures, but the dramatic focus remains on a harried Clegg and a dignified Brown. We're reminded of how haphazard the final hours were, with Cameron becoming big PM, in the dark, before negotiations are complete. There will not, I suspect, be such chaos next time.

We end with the rose garden, and actual footage, bizarre in retrospect. Looking back the whole understanding of how coalitions were supposed to work looks extremely naive. I'm sure all parties are now much, much wiser.

Grimm: Marechaussee

"Back to reality!"

Even by the standards of this arc-heavy season, this episode feels big and pivotal. It's the Wesen Council! They've sent someone to kill Nick! They've threatened Monroe and Rosalie with dire consequences if they don't stop helping Nick immediately! All this will have consequences. And it's all wrapped up in a story of the week that also serves to further integrate Wu into the world of the Wesen. It's a bloody good episode, with a bloody good ending: in a hostage situation, Juliette saves herself from the baddie by, er, killing him with Hexenbeistliness. And then not telling Nick.

Speaking of Juliette, she, and we, learn more of Henrietta, herself a Hexenbeist, but apparently not so big and bad a one as Juliette. And apparently Juluette is like this for good. Oh dear. 

Sean, meanwhile, warns Nick and Hank of visitors from Vienna, but is himself paying a private dick to chase after Kelly Burkhart. Nick, meanwhile, let's his mother know,and gets in return a photo of the baby, and she's being all telekinetic and that.

What an episode! Must be a mid-season break coming up then...

Cube (1997)

"This may be hard for you to understand, but there is no conspiracy. Nobody is in charge. It's a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan."

Wow. What a gloriously cynical concept- a giant Rubik's cube, with 17,526 cubes, some with deadly traps, into which people are placed from time to time for reasons seemingly lost in the mists of time. It's a superb concept and, as it happens, a brilliant film. Not bad for a film requiring so few sets.

Indeed, it's not just the superb concept, neat plot and gruesome deaths that make this film work, but the carefully orchestrated mix of characters. The limited sets makes this feel something like a stage play (not often said of films like this) which emphasises this.

We have, firstly, the contrast between the reactionary Quentin and the left-wing conspiracy theorist Holloway, alongside the cynical Worth, mathematical prodigy Leaven and autistic savant Kazan, the only survivor. The relationship between Quentin and Holloway, and their inevitable clash, is handled superbly. Quentin, of course, turns out to hide a murderous anger beneath his UKIP-friendly views, making him the definite villain. Holloway is too strident, so she dies. Worth is morally compromised, so he cannot be allowed to live. And Leaven must die because she's too clever by half. The only survivor is Kazan, seemingly the least equipped to survive.

Oh, and we get the big twist; their best chance of survival would have been to stay in the room they started in. It's a satisfying end to a well plotted and characterised film with a kick ass concept. Cube is brilliant. And that's another reference in The Cabin in the Woods that I now get. 

Daredevil: Cut Man

"Word's getting around..."

There's a certain logic to the structure of this second episode. Last episode introduced the characters and the format; this time we get a slower episode in which an injured Matt Murdoch is treated by a kindly person who agrees both to help him and be exposited at, although it isn't anywhere near as crudely obvious as all that, and Claire is allowed to be mildly disapproving of some of his ways.

Said exposition is balanced by the inevitable flashback to Matt's childhood, the loss of his sight in a terrible accident involving bizarre chemicals, and his close relationship with his poor and put-upon father Jack, a decent man at the mercy of organised crime who dies because of his principles. Matt shares those principles but, unlike his father, he refuses to be a victim. Still, these are early days. He's making dangerous rookie mistakes, and even his outfit is a "work in progress". We also explore more of his powers in the form of his superhuman hearing.

Meanwhile, Karen and Foggy bond through the happy medium of an alcohol-fuelled all-nighter. And who's that Battlin' Jack is fighting in flashback? Why, it's "Crusher" Creel, the Absorbing Man, so recently seen in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.

All this is still just set-up, but it's very good indeed.

Daredevil: Into the Ring

I'm "I'm seeking forgiveness for what I am about to do..."

Daredevil was never a title I followed much as n my comics reading days, although I followed Ann Nocenti'scrun for a bit in the early '90s. I have, though, read Frank Miller's iconic work on the title and, much as Miller's star may have since fallen with his increasingly apparent right-wing obsessions and his inability to move beyond what Alan Moore has called "hard-boiled", his run on Daredevil is truly great and possibly the highlight of his career.

It's good, then, to see that Drew Goddard's 13 episode season, released all at once on Netflix, haas retained the mood and approach of Miller's work. This episode is a perfect introduction to a very likeable Matt Murdoch and Foggy through the eyes of a desperate Karen Page, but also an introduction to a world of incredible darkness. Hell's Kitchen is a realm of crime, despair and entropy where hope and goodness are stamped out by cruel, amoral cynicism. Corruption and conspiracy conspire against the innocent and the good. And yet, amazing just all this, like Philip Marlowe, stands Matt Murdoch, starting out as a vigilante but not quite Daredevil yet.

(Intetsstingly, dialogue shows him to have a more robust attitude to crime and the law than Foggy. Is this setting something up?)

We're introduced, significantly, to Matt's father Battlin' Jack, a huge influence in his life and no doubt to appear in many more flashbacks. There's only a slight reference to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe,  as it's inferred that the destruction of New York in The Avengers afforded the opportunities now available to organised crime.

The pivotal scenes, I think, are of Karen staying with Matt. On the one hand it illustrates Matt's blindness- he never uses the light switches- and on the other it helps the two of them to bond. We are also introduced to Matt's ability to tell if someone is lying by their heartbeat. And towards the end we see him as a mysterious hero in black, fighting the bad guys in the dark and the pouring rain. 

We end with Karen being hired by Matt and Foggy, and the corruption behind her persecution is out in the open. Yet only the foot soldiers are punished; those truly behind it are untouched. We end with a boy being kidnapped by a gang; crime and cruelty go on, and Matt has a Sisyphean task.

Scooby-Doo (2002)

"I'm so over this damsel in distress nonsense."

Let's admit it: a live action Scooby-Doo film was never on my peoples' wish list, especially not one starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, an actress who has loads of natural talent but, sadly, is rather prone to phoning in her performance, as she has done ever since halfway through Buffy. This is no exception but, annoyingly, she has just enough natural talent to pull it off. Just. Still, we have the consolation that this film is rather excellent, mainly due to a splendid script from James Gunn, now famous for helming Guardians of the Galaxy.

This film is great because it's funny, and it's funny because it nods and winks,in a delightfully metatextual way, at all those drunken/stoned conversations about Scooby-Doo that we all had as students. You know, the ones about how Shaggy was a massive stoner who always has the munchies. I mean, he's so stoned he thinks his dog can talk. And that's the only reason why this film gives us a little snippet of Pass the Dutchie. 

There is also, of course, the spectacle of seeing cartoonish running in live action an thus incredibly expensive. And the deconstruction of the gang's personalities- Fred is vain, Daphne superficial and Velma the only clever one and, bizarrely, not gay. And Rowan Atkinson. Rowan Atkinson is always a good thing.  

Best of all, though, is the twist with Scrappy. This is a witty and enjoyable bit of metatextual fun and a cut above most similar films.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: One of Us

"We want SHIELD exposed for its barbaric crimes against exceptional humanity!"

This episode is, obviously, superb. It's also getting at the series' big question at the moment; yes, Cal wants revenge on Coulson. But he also has an agenda, as per the above quote; is SHIELD's treatment of duper humans right? He is most obviously worried about his daughter, of course, and his fears may be confirmed a little as Coulson faces the recommendation to remove Skye,now on the creepy-sounding "gifted index" from active duty. Will Coulson go along with recommendations or will he go his own way again? His idiosyncratic decision making is really being foregrounded as we (and Hunter) end the episode by learning that Bobbi and Mack are secretly working for a rival "SHIELD".

Interesting that we get our first supervillain team in this context. Cal brings together a gang of misfits in an episode whose title recalls Tod Browning's Freaks. With the exception of Angar the Screamer, though, they aren't really villains known to us old followers of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. 

In other news, we meet May's curiously well-adjusted ex-husband Andrew Garner as she gains a little hinterland. Fitz and Simmons slowly start to rebuild their relationship and Skye is slowly learning to control her powers. We get a glimpse into Coulson's Wisconsin upbringing.  And, interestingly, Simmons proposes to  Coulson that there should be two categories of superhumans- "enhanced" and what sounds awfully like Mutants, Sony notwithstanding.

At the end of it all, though, Cal ends up in the clutches of Gordon, our mysterious and eyeless teleporting Inhuman. Sooner or later we will find out what he's up to.

Grimm: Death Us Do Part

"What kind of police are you?"

This begins like an episode of Most Haunted mixed with The Blair Witch Project. It ends as one of the most brilliant episodes to date. The story-of-the-week is both devilishly clever- a ghost story that turns out to really be a Wesen is predicable enough, but the circumstances, and the identity of the killer, are a genuine surprise through some clever storytelling. Best of all, it's the perfect case with which to show Wu now being fully involved in the investigations, Wesen and all.

Meanwhile, Juliette continues to hide her Hexenbeistliness from Nick, causing no little awkwardness between them. This can only get more awkward, as she had confided in Sean of all people. Sean refers us to the mysterious Henrietta, of whom we know little for now. But it is Sean who gives us the cliffhanger; he dreams of being shot, but wakes up to some real blood...

Grimm is very good at the moment, but this is genuinely exceptional.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Who You Really Are

"Skye is my friend. That's different!"

A game-changer of an episode, but aren't they all these days? We meet Sif again, we meet an actual Kree, and we get the backstory behind the Kree genetic engineering of humans that created what we're not calling the Inhumans- although it seems the Kree now want to "put down" the results of those experiments. Including Skye.

Oh, and, in the midst of all this, Skye is outed as having earthquake superpowers, and this leads to friction between Fitz and Simmons which will, no doubt, go on for a while. It's an eventful and entertaining episode.

Other stuff: Coulson offers Hunter a permanent post with SHIELD. There is still obvious friction between Coulson and a disapproving Mack. The Kree home works of Hala gets a mention! We get a glimpse of Bifrost, last seen on the big screen. 

But we get quite an ending; Hunter confronts Mack over whatever he and Bobbi are plotting. And gets knocked unconscious...

Grimm: Tribunal

"Oh no! I prematured again!"

Last episode was the set-up. This is where it all kicks off in the parallel storylines of Monroe being tried for his life by a bunch of Nazis while Wu gradually comes to terms with the fact that the world is not what he thought it was.

We begin light-heartedly, as an enthusiastic and magnificent Wu is shown how to handle a Woge via the harmless medium of Bud, who is responsible fur the classic line up there. Sadly, the poor nervous chap is swiftly kidnapped by the Wesenrein and forced to testify against Monroe, who would be in a lot of trouble if only the viewers were not all confident of his last minute rescue (although Mrs Llamastrangler wasn't!). So it proves to play out, but not without a magnificent speech from Monroe. Silas Weir Mitchell is fantastic here.

In parallel to all this, Juliette learns that not all Hexenbeists are born, which seems to be somewhat relevant other own situation. We also get clarity on the two types of Woge, only one of which is visible to those of us who are not Grimms.

The ending is dramatic and brilliant as the Nazis are taken out the hard way. Hank gets to see his captain in Wesen form, while Monroe and Rosalie, fittingly, get to personally kill the Grand Wizard. It's an awesome conclusion, followed by one o our gang's trademark wine-fuelled dinner parties and a police escort for Monroe and Tosslie as they head off to their Hawaiian honeymoon.

And then Juliette decides to talk about the fact that she now send to be a Hexenbeist- to Sean. This won't end well...

Brilliant. Just brilliant. Again.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

"You gave me life, and then you left me to die."

This is a very different cinematic version of Frankenstein. The point is not that it follows the broad outline of Mary Shelley's novel- which, not splitting hairs, it more or less does, including the Arctic bits- but that it is quite self-consciously made as part of a different genre. This doesn't have the trappings of a horror film and, unlike every other version I've seen, isn't a melodrama. Instead, this is presented simply as an adaptation of s classic novel, owing more to Merchant Ivory than to James Whale or Terence Fisher. The very presence of Helena Bonham Carter would signify that, we're it not for the fact that she would go on to meet Tim Burton.

Obviously, this means a focus on scientific ethics. But Kenneth Branagh's take on the themes of the novel seems to emphasise the Gothic, and not just in terms of mood; he includes the prominent lecture room scene in which Frankenstein stands up for an older, "philosophical" approach to science, and the controversial Professor Waldman (played by John Cleese in an entirely serious role) stands for an older, more alchemical tradition. This makes the monster, in a sense, a creation of the knowledge of a dark past- true Gothic.

It's also worth pondering Branagh's take on the links to Romanticism too, what with the original author being married to a certain writer of Ozymandias (and the thematically relevant Prometheus  Unbound) but not really in tune with the movement. Frankenstein here seems to be no fan of rationalism, yet he is hardly a sympathetic figure.

The film works well enough; Bonham Carter is excellent in the film's (and novel's) only significant female role from the pen of a daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft. Branagh is competent although, outside classical parts, he is not the most charismatic of actors; next to Colin Clive and Peter Cushing his take on the character is not overly memorable. Robert De Niro is superb as always. But there's a reason why film versions of Frankenstein lend themselves towards melodrama. This is a good film but not a great one, simply because the source material doesn't really lend itself to a straight adaptation.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wrecked

"It was like a meat party in my mouth!"

This episode is quite a shock. It's not as though Willow's journey to rock bottom hasn't been gradual, but to see her reduced to such uncharacteristic junkie behaviour is a huge shock. I mean, this is Willow.

I still think the metaphor of magic for drugs is a little awkward, but it's very well executed (I love the trippy direction of the "hit", and the obvious metaphor of her giving her body for drugs is suitably creepy) and a fairly straightforward dramatisation of someone reaching rock bottom and coming to terms with her addiction. No more magic for Willow, then. Ever.

Buffy, meanwhile, is dealing with her own addiction to meaningless sex with Spike; he's "just convenient". She begins the episode waking up in a destroyed house and full of a self-disgust that will remain for as long as she continues to use him for sex. And, while Buffy is distracted, and putting her energies into hiding this from her friends, the Scooby gang are divided, dysfunctional and much less effective. They have never looked more vulnerable.

And then there's Tara, newly single Anderson stuttering again without the lift that being with Willow gives her, especially upon seeing Willow with Amy, for all she knows a potential new girlfriend. 

Willow finally hits rock bottom, complete with evil black eyeballs, putting Dawn in terrible danger and needing to be rescued by Buffy, who instantly knows what Willow has done. Buffy giving Willow the cold shoulder here, and Dawn then slapping her, is a powerful and devastating moment. And I should take this opportunity to praise the performance of Alyson Hannigan, the awesomeness of which I too often take for granted. She, far more so than Sarah Michelle Gellar, is the star of the show here and always.

At the end we see the real psychological cause of Willow's problems; she still sees herself as the nerd she was and desperately needs to be "Super Willow". Poor girl. She has no idea how awesome she is.

Angel: Lullaby

"There will be no birth. Only death!"

An interesting episode this, with very lasting effects which pull Angel very nicely away from Buffy and into being its own thing. On the one level, Angel is now father to a baby boy and Darla is dead, fulfilling the above prophecy. But most interesting is the reaction of Holtz to all this, now knowing (courtesy of Lilah and a little light torture) that Angel has a soul. He may rave at Sahjahn for his Satanic layers of duplicity but, it seems, Holtz will not kill Angel but still has every intention of exacting his revenge through more insidious and psychological means.

It's all very well structured dramatically, with the revelation in flashback that Holtz,  back in the age of wigs and sentimentality, had to kill his own vampire daughter by means of sunlight. This sort of thing makes the episode impressive enough to outweigh the suspiciously TV nature of Darla's labour, which bears very little relation to Mrs Llamastrangler's experiences in February this year. Still,it's moving to realise how her love for the baby, her new-found behaviour, all stem from the baby "infecting" her. She's terrified that, after the birth, she will no longer love the baby and will want to drink it's blood. It's a stark reminder of what vampirism means. Her staking herself to save the baby us a fitting resolution.

In short... Angel: still on fire.

Grimm: Wesenrein

"I'm gonna looove watching you die!"

I'm genuinely at a loss as to what the subtext is here; obviously the Wesenrein are Neo-Nazis and their objection is to "miscegenation", but these are ideas that have no serious currency in 2015. It isn't that extreme racists don't exist, but only in a nihilistic sort of way. So I'm assuming there must be another subtext, possibly against a more insidious form of racism that's more worth discussing. But I can't see it.

Aside from Monroe's plight, though, this is where Wu finds out about Wesen, the reason behind Portland's weirdness, and the fact that he's actually been perfectly sane all the time. He seems to take it well, but there's an edge to Reggie Lee's performance that suggests a kind of suppressed unease. Wu will do fine for a few episodes, I think, but in the long run this will not end well. Certainly there's a sense of simmering resentment at Nick and Hank for lying to him for so long. And for that you can't really blame him. I'm a little worried about his extra layer of shock that the Captain is in on it.

Much of the rest of the episode is simply set-up, showing how nasty the Wesenrein are and how much trouble Monroe is in; this will pay off next episode, when Monroe will be "tried" and possibly impaled, like his poor cell-mate. So, good episode, but I'll leave it until next time to say more.

In other news, Juliette frets about how people will react to her new-found Hexenbeistliness. Frets to the point of a vivid dream sequence.

Oh, and Adalind and Prince Viktor are off to Portland? Good. About time they stopped trying to be dramatic in their little narrative cul-de-sac in Vienna and actually did something.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Aftershocks

"There's something wrong with me."

"No, you're just different now."

At last Agents of SHIELD is back. It's been a long wait since that cliffhanger, and it's great to see both some things getting resolved (although further mysteries also arise) and lots of geeky Marvel stuff to satisfy fanboys like me. But, well, this episode seems a bit forced, as though it only exists to move or threads forward for the next episode at times. When not geeking out o must admit that it's not the best possible episode to return to.

Time has passed. There's a flashback to 1983, Skye's mum (Dichen Lachman!) and that eyeless Inhuman from last episode who, it seems, can teleport, is called Gordon and is a little distressed, having just gone through the Terrigen must. There are obvious parallels with Skye and Raina in the present day.

We are introduced to another load of senior HYDRA personnel, most of whom due through Coulson's machinations but one of whom is played by Henry Goodman. Coulson wants revenge; Trip's death hurts. Trip was a model agent, burn to join SHIELD and a calm, competent presence in a team that suddenly looks alarming night divided, especially with Bobbi and an awesome visually angry Mack planning something in secret. Mack appears damaged, remembering all tje things he did while mind control, and only Fitz seems to understand. 

There was an earthquake at the end of the last episode which we, the audience, know to have been caused by Skye (Quake). She can't hide her newly acquired powers for long, as the Earth shakes when she's agitated. Yet it's uncertain how the team would treat her. Especially with Simmons mouthing off about how deadly people with superpowers are. We reach the point where Fitz has to hide her true test results to keep Skye's secret, illustrating what could grow to be an important rift between the respective halves of Fitz-Simmons.

Incidentally, if Skye is Quake, who's Raina, with all those spines? I'm sure we will find out. And so will Gordon, seeing as he has her and all.

Sod it. In spite of my earlier criticisms, this season continues to be bloody good.

Grimm: Chupacabra

"This is not the time."

"No, it never is."

It was, of course, inevitable that Grimm would do an episode about the Chupacabra, and equally inevitable that said beast from latter day mythology would turn out to be a Wesen, although recent episodes have seemed to push the concept of supernatural threats not necessarily being Wesen. It's a nice twist, though, that Diego, the Wesen in question, should turn out to be an infection, caught in Puerto Rico. And we end with a nice bit of melodrama, reminiscent of Doctor Who's The Caves of Androzani, in which Diego refuses the only existing dose of the cure and dies to save his beloved.

But what of the metaplot? Well, Rosalie receives a threatening phone call from the Wesenrein, which makes Monroe exceedingly angry. It becomes increasingly untenable not to let Wu into the secret of what lies behind all this Portland weirdness. Meanwhile, in Austria, Prince Viktor and Adalind resolve to research Kelly Burkhart, knowing she had the child. Not only that, but Sean also tells the Wesen resistance that Kelly has the baby, in a clandestine meeting with an agent late at night. Much will surely come of all these things.

For now, though, it's all about Wu, who again sees a Wesen and, again, is troubled, ending up drunk and spending the night in a cell. Things can't go on like this. Oh, and something's still up with Juliette. Just to top it all, though, it's the night before Monroe's and Rosalie's honeymoon, and their olive bodyguard is not only Wesen but Wesenrein.

Topping even this, incredibly, is yet another cliffhanger: Juliette is a Hexenbeist. So much going on, and it isn't even the half season cliffhanger yet. I'll say it again: this season is on fire.

Cucumber: Episode 8

"Right, I'm off for a wank."

And so it ends, with a slow-paced, philosophical and reflective episode to tie things up. And I'll begin with the ending; Henry and Freddie meet for a chat six years later, and Henry (no longer a virgin, although penetration will never be his favourite sexual pastime) finally lets slip the central fact about his character; he still needs to come to terms with being gay. Freddie's generation may be utterly relaxed about sexual orientation, but Henry's generation were the pioneers in the long march from AIDS and Section 28 towards Equal Marriage a quarter century later. He's young enough to have tasted of the fruits of equality but old enough to remember when gay people had no rights at all. Unlike Freddie, Henry sees these rights as precarious, which probably has a lot to do with why he wouldn't marry Lance. And he could be right. Time will tell. Nevertheless, all of Genry's behaviours over the series is interesting to consider in this light, which is why the television grammar of a cliffhanger ending clicks in as soon as Henry says  "Being gay."

Before this, though, we have a whole episode in which Henry's little commune slowly dissolves, hippy fantasies slowly punctured by real life, and his mid-life crisis ends as, with Cliff's assistance and in the episode's most amusing scene, he not only gets his job back but gets a promotion. It's all brilliantly structured, both as an episode and, we can now finally say, as a whole series.

We begin, again, with our usual opening motif of Henry in the supermarket, a sign of renewed normality at first. Yet this time he stalks a fellow shopper whom he fancies, following him all the way to... his wife. This sort of thing is, of course, a universal part of being gay.

The most dramatic part of a quiet episode, and very much harking back to last week, is where Veronica, instinctively disgusted with his Bohemian lifestyle, accuses Henry of being responsible for Lance's death and re-opens a very tender wound. Yes, this is cruel of her, but it stings all the more because she's such a convincing Everywoman. Both Vincent Franklin and Anjli Mohindra are extraordinary here. This is an important prelude to the silent and tense scenes as Henry waits for the verdict on Daniel, which is guilty in spite of everyone's fears.

We end with a nice coda, with everything and everyone being brought up to date in a quiet chat between Henry and Freddie. It's a low key end, but appropriately so. RTD is s master of how to balance high drama with calm. Indeed, on the evidence of these eight episodes, he has a good claim to be the best dramatist currently working in British TV. Cucumber is right up there with the likes of Edge of Darkness and The Boys from the Black Stuff.

Grimm: The Grimm Who Stole Christmas

"Strange is your speciality!"

These Christmas episodes with a twist are becoming quite the Grimm speciality and this one, with its violent Grinch-like Wesen turning out to be just wild metaphors for teenage abandon who can be nicely cured with, er, fruitcake, is no exception. This is an entertaining tale with a nice little twist, and silly exactly to the right degree.

But what of the metaplot? Well, after last year it's heartwarming to see both Monroe and Rosalie enjoying a perfect Christmas. The Wesenrein continue to menace our newlyweds for their "miscegenation", but Triubel is on the case, ably assisted by Josh. And Wu continues to be suspicious about Nick and Hank; this will come to the boil very soon.

Trubel and Josh have results from their little spy mission against Wesen Neo-Nazis; they're quite a team. We're shown this very shortly before Trubel announces that she's off with Josh (and Nick's Aunt Marie's truck) to look after him at his home, no doubt to be the focus of a storyline later in the season. They'll be back, especially as Josh's pursuers are after a doohickey held by Nick.

But the Wu subplot is clearly coming to the boil in the very near future, especially as Renard warns Nick and Hank not to let Wu know about him. Meanwhile, Juliette may be pregnant, and it may have happened during her time as Adalind. We end with a pregnancy test, but we don't see...

This is how I like my Grimm; lots of weaving subplots. I'm still loving this season in a way I haven't really loved the others. I hope they can keep it up.

Grease (1978)

"Rock Hudson lost his heart to Doris Day."

Yeah, right. Suuure he did.

I'm sure I'm not the only man to have been forced to watch this film by my better half but, cliched though it may be, that is how I came to see this, a film I wouldn't normally watch. You can thank Mrs Llamastrangler for this post.

First impressions are that this is a fairly straight-up romantic musical. There's a lot of humour, but none of it is metatextual; its a fairly straight take on the tropes of high school romance with songs. And there's nothing wrong with that; it works, although the ending, in which our lovers finally get together, feels somewhat rushed.

Second impression is that this may be set in the 1950's but, like Happy Days, it's giving us a very '70s version of the '50s, something not quite like the '50s as they were or, indeed, the '50s as shown in popular culture today. But for Grease, of course, the '50s were only as long ago as the '90s are to us, with the gap in social mores not looming so large.

Oh, and there's a certain obvious debt to Romeo and Juliet, although perhaps in this case more through the medium of West Side Story.

I won't say much about the songs; they do what they're supposed to do, but they're not really my think, and don't really evoke '50s rock 'n' roll, not even Greased Lightning. They're show tunes mixed with s little disco, which fits just a little oddly with the setting. But I'll make a load of observations...

1. So that's why Lauren Laverne called her band "Kenickie" back in the '99s. The penny drops. This is why all films that have permeated popular culture to this extent need to be watched, or pop culture references will go unrecognised.

2. I'm surprised they let Olivia Newton-John use her natural Aussie accent, especially as the script and characterisation make no real reference to her Antipodean origins.

3. American high schools seem to be conformist hells anyway. '50s American high schools are seemingly much worse.

4. The Blob is on at the drive-in. Nice!

5. Fanny Flagg!!! Titter. Chortle. Etc.

6. It's refreshing to see a PE teacher- Sud Caesar's Coach Calhoun- not being portrayed as a thug for once.

Musicals are not my thing, unless there a quirkiness to them, and this is a straight-aged musical. Still, it's well enough made, and at least I've finally ticked this film off. Just never make me watch it again.

Cucumber: Episode 7

"I thought we'd seen the last of this- funerals at too young an age."

After last episode's extraordinary demonstration of Russell T Davies' genius, we get another example of what a master of structure and storytelling he is. It feels as though Cucumber ascended to another level last week and is staying there. Cucumber is not only bloody good telly, it's I, Clavdivs good. Edge of Darkness good. Absolutely superlative stuff.

No supermarket framing sequence this week,it's straight to Lance's funeral. Once again a group of gay men of a certain age are mourning one of their own, as in days of old, but this time there's real anger, especially as Daniel Coltrane is using that tired old "gay panic" defence; Cliff appears to be quite sincere as he offers to kill him. But this is all wearily familiar territory for these Middle Ages men, who have grown up with the spectre of both premature death and homophobic violence. The contrast between this generation and the casually on bisexual generation of Freddie and co is both a big theme of the series and hugely perturbing for Henry. Vincent Franklin is incredible here.

This being RTD, the heavy stuff is leavened by a bit of fun with cock hairs. But this is followed by a harrowing scene of Henry crying, in the gents, too proud and repressed to do it anywhere else. This says an awful lot about him as a character. Earlier in the series he seemed an abrasive and brave choice for a main protagonist, but by now he just seems nuanced, fascinating, not a tragic hero in a plot structural sense but certainly of that lineage. Again, RTD and Vincent Franklin deserve all the plaudits in the world.

Freddie gets further development here, coming to resent, and feel trapped by, Henry's dependence on him, in large part because he was the one who happened to be there during that phone call. He's shallow, perhaps, but shallow people, at least when written by RTD, can be interesting and have hinterland.

Perhaps the most upsetting scene, though, takes place afterwards between Henry and Marie, and their huge falling-out on what happens with the house; Henry was not married to Lance, and only has half the rights to it. Worse, she now has possession of all the savings from the joint account that Lance took. There's a subtle homophobia to all her actions and attitudes here. And their dinner descends into deep acrimony with Henry screaming insistently that Lance's death was not his fault. It wasn't, of course- it was Daniel Coltrane's alone- but the cruel unspoken accusation that Henry was somehow responsible hangs horribly over everything.

The scene between Henry, Freddy's and Dean in the car is extraordinary; such a long scene in such a confined space would seem to be more theatrical than televisual, but it works, and is a necessary way of getting Henry to discuss his hang-ups over sex, and how Lance was so good that he put up with no penetration for nine years. The narrative needed this catharsis and, as akways, RTD leavens the harrowing stuff with humour as the three men bond as Freddy discusses the respective sexual plumbing systems of women and men.

We end, as with much of this episode, in a scene of legal brutality; Henry, Freddy et Al are all evicted from their flat, which was only ever an outrageous legal con to steal their stuff. But Henry, his mid-life crisis at its peak, invites all of the newly homeless twentysomethings to his house, much to Marie's outrage. This is the best telly, with the best written parts, that I've seen in years.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Smashed

"How've you been?"

"Rat. You?"

"Dead."

"Oh."

Another light episode, then, but one where stuff happens well and truly; the simmering sexual tension between Buffy and Spike eventually erupts into some symbolically building-demolishing sex, while Willow is led even further astray into the selfish use of magic by a de-rodented Amy. Mind you, the scenes of them both doing naughty magic in the Bronze are notable because this is the first time the Bronze has made an appearance in aaaages!

(Oh, and I bet Willow likes the Donnas. And Verruca Salt.)

Amy's first scenes are amusing, though, as she digests the news that three years have passed and that, anyway, the whole school was swallowed by the Mayor. And our three baddie's provide further amusement with the freeze ray and all that. But their main role in the episode is to prove to a Boba Fett-threatening Spike that his chip is present and correct; it's just that Buffy no longer counts as human since her resurrection, which is an alarming thought. Or, if you're Spike, a kinky one.

Buffy, for the first time ever, isn't quite as good as Angel and, it occurs to me for the first time, be a little past it's peak, especially now Once More, with Feeling is over. Still bloody good, though.

Bet we get a really serious episode next. You can always tell...

Angel: Quickening

"Manifest destiny, the Beach Boys..."

Well, that's me up to date with blogging all the episodes of Angel I've seen so far. Nearly there with Buffy, Cucumber, Grimm and one outstanding film, but im proud of this Angel post. Mainly because I'm writing it with my baby daughter in my arms and feeding her. Anyway...

Angel shows no signs that it's going to stop being first class telly any time soon. We begin with a flashback to York in 1764 although, of course, this being an American programne, no one seems to have a Yorkshire accent. Cue Holtz's family getting mercilessly slaughtered by Angelus. Naturally, Sahjahn chooses this very moment to transport him 237 years forward in time, sworn to kill Angel with his inhuman underlings. And all this at a time when rather a lot is going on. And, into this, plus Darla being up the duff with Angel's child, a possible antichrist, we can also add Wolfram and Hart.

Our evil legal firm are somewhat behind the curve in the whole Darla-being-with-child stakes, although Lilah continues to run rings round the ambitious yet rather stupid Gavin, however much short term advantage he may have at any one time.

Into all this we have the bombshell that is Darla's waters breaking, after having those TV style contractions that only last a couple of hours. Birth and pregnancy on telly are so very neat, and not at all like it was for Mrs Llamastrangler last months. Believe you me, contractions can last muuuuch longer. And the waters breaking us only a vague sign. But, anyway... it's a human. A boy!

What's truly impressive in this episode is the confluence of events to set up so many different things for next episode, which is obviously a big one. There's a real sense of fast-moving excitement here, and yet there's still time for character moments and Wolfram & Hart terminating its psychics' employment contracts with extreme prejudice.

Angel continues to be excellent. I'm genuinely excited about the next episode.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tabula Rasa

"Magic's all balderdash and chicanery!"

It's the morning after the musical before. After all the heaviness of the revelations we need a light episode, and that's what we get. And it's so very appropriate at this of all moments that the comedy should arise from a series of misunderstandings from a spell of (what else?) forgetting. And yet the cause of the comedy is also the cause of the quietly devastating ending; after trying to violate Tara a second time by trying to make her magical forget, Willow has ruined everything, and Tara wordlessly leaves her. It's utterly heartbreaking. All this,and Giles quietly slips away to Blighty at the end.

Buffy is, of course, in denial about that kiss with Spike ("All Gone with the Wind with the rising music and the rising..."), which proves that it's definitely going to be a thing in coming episodes. On the subject of Spike, though, it seems he owns forty kittens to a loan shark. Literally. A walking shark in a suit. And yes, it may have seemed like a good idea on the page, but... really? This is the most cringeworthy bit of prosthetic I've ever seen on Buffy. But let's move on. 

The forgetting spell, of course, affects the whole gang, and hilarity ensues. I love Spike's sudden realisation that he's British ("Blimey, shagging..."), although why he should assume he's American by default I have no idea. A bit of mild if harmless scripting chauvinism, methinks!

Still, any episode with Giles fighting a Ray Harryhausen skeleton has to be a winner. 

Grimm: Highway of Tears

"It's good to have you back!"

It looks as though this season is going to continue as well as it started; we're several episodes in, and there's a pleasing number of ongoing plot threads. Here we're mostly concerned with the dramatic tension- will Elizabeth's concoction cute Nick in time for him to solve a strange series of murders committed by reptilian Wesen linked to the Thuggee? (Oh, and Rudyard Kipling was a Grimm. Blimey.)

But there are other threads bubbling under. The motive for Nick (and Juliette) agreeing for Nick to be re-Grimmed, as it were, is the constant harassment of Rosalie and Monroe by the Wesen Ku Klux Klan, who object to their inter-racial marriage and burn crosses on their lawn. 

Meanwhile, in Austria, Adalind tells all to Pronce Victor, who at last learns that the baby (unseen so far this season) is with Kelly Burhhart. More importantly, though, just when is he going to get rid of that thing on his upper lip? It's doing my head in.

Elizabeth's spell requires Juliette to become Adalind and shag Nick in said form, leading to some awkward but also illicitly exciting sex for them. But Juliette collapses afterwards. Hmm. Something has happened to her!

Elsewhere, Elizabeth tells Sean that she's leaving, and Josh arrives at the Burkhart residence to find only a tense Trubel. This is to be continued next episode, I'm sure. But for now, Nick is back as a Grimm and the series has never been better.

Angel: Offspring

"We tried to stop her by hitting her fists with our faces."

This is where the season really begins. The characters have had their fun, but from now on things get relentless.

We begin with the gang researching an intriguing yet inevitably vague prophecy about the birth of an Antichrist of some kind. This is able to be communicated pretty much in shorthand, as we've already been through this sort of thing with the Shanshu stuff, but the scenes are used nicely to further establish Fred as a useful and well-liked member of the team.

Of course we, the audience, are well aware that this is likely to relate to the child currently inside Darla's baby, father of this parish, and the arrival of a very pregnant Darla into the hotel sends shockwaves. Angel, from this point, is set to be a fast-moving serial with few stories of the week and no settling into any status quo, reminding me very much of Chris Claremont's classic fifteen year run on Uncanny X-Men.

Cordelia, whom Angel is increasingly coming to fancy, reacts rather strongly against Angel who has, after all, when all has been stopped away, acted as the feckless father type, knocking up his on-again, off-again father during a one night stand without protection and leaving her to deal with the consequences. (Yes, I know, if we're being literal about it then vampires can be forgiven for not using contraception, but this is subtext.)

The ultimate tension, of course, making for great drama, is the question of whether Angel's only child is a monster, set to unleash Armageddon? We end, after an entertaining scrap between Mummy and Daddy in a kids' amusement arcade, with reluctant mother Darla begging Angel to kill her. But he can't. Because the baby had a heartbeat. A soul.

As a postscript, making this episode even more ominous than it actually did, the demon Sahjahn brings Holtz, fresh from Angelus' murder of his wife and children, to the present day, extracting from him a promise to kill Angelus. But he has, of course, neglected to tell him about the whole soul business...

This is dramatic stuff, and great telly. It's almost as dramatic as the birth of my own daughter. Not only is this episode brilliant, but it elevates Angel to another level.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling

"She needs back-up. Anya, Tara..."

The metatextual joke in the above quote is that, yes, Giles is sending two of the gang to help Buffy against a demon baddie, but they are doing so in the capacity of... backing singers. That's one of many wonderful metatextual touches in this, the best ever episode of Buffy and a piece of televisual history, written and helmed for our delectation by Joss Whedon himself. My favourite metatextual joke is that the underling captured by Spike and questioned about the baddie's intentions seems about to deliver the info in the form of a song after much build-up, but then simply tells them.

Like the second-best episode, Hush, this episode relies on an unusual form- the fact that it is structured like a musical, with characters bursting into song- and marries this to content. Songs in musicals are generally about the singer's  innermost feelings, but here this means that everyone's innermost secrets are revealed to all and sundry. Hence Tara learns that Willow has used magic to manipulate her mind. Hence the outing of Xander and Anya's mutual doubts about their marriage ("I love her tight... embrace, tight embrace!"). Hence Giles' decision to leave, so Buffy can get used to not relying on him as a crutch. And hence (this is the biggie) everyone learning that they brought Buffy back, not from a Hell, but from a Heaven. The episode ends with the characters, and their relationships, shattered.

There are some nice structural touches. The opening medley of short scenes is without dialogue, contrasting the status quo where there is a lack of communication to the excess of communication that follows. And an alienated Buffy sneaks off from the big show-stopper to share a dramatic final kiss with Spike.

It would be remiss of me not to praise the awesomeness of the songs, again by that Rebaissance man, Joss Whedon, or the equally awesome singing voices of certain cast members. But this episode is awesome because it is metatextual. This may be the highlight of Whedon's TV career.

Agent Carter: Valediction

"I plan a complete and total overhaul of the kitchen spices..."

It's the end of the season and, worryingly, if online gossip is at all reliable, the series. So it's time to thank a certain person for making it possible for seeing these episode. This person goes by the YouTube handle of MrVortexofDOOM and, for those of us who like this sort of thing, his missing episode reconstructions knock Loose Cannon into a cocked hat. So please have a proper look at his channel, press the "like" button, and spread the word.

As we might expect,the episode is topped and tailed with deliberately egregious examples of sexism; we begin with that Captain America radio show again, with its arse-clenching rendition of Peggy's character, and we end with a triumphant Peggy being applauded back into the office, only for official credit to fall to the much less competent, but much more male, Jack Thompson. In between these two bookends are some wonderful things.

Tony Stark gets a baptism of fire; he may now have been cleared, but he's hypnotised to do himself in by taking off in a plane and doing a Steve Rogers. It's an interesting riff on the guilt that he feels about that day, and the fact that it is Peggy who persuades him to come back from the brink speaks volumes about the mutual respect they share, forged in war, in spite of everything.

It's a feelgood ending; Dotty Underwood escapes to strike again, and both Peggy and Angie get to stay together chez Stark. Most touchingly, Jarvis trusts Peggy, and not his employer, with Steve Rogers' blood.

This is a very pleasing finale. It would be awfully good to have a second season now...

Agent Carter: SNAFU

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

"I don't think I have, no."

"It is quite unpleasant."

The penultimate episode, then, and a dramatic one, with Dooley's horrific yet heroic death as its centrepiece; hypnotised into wearing a suicide vest, he heroically defenestrates himself to his doom, and that's a phrase which one doesn't often get a chance to use. Get in.

Peggy's desperate attempts to get the SSR to believe the truth- Dotty Underwood and her hypnotist mate are the baddies- flounder on the usual casual sexism; the assumption, predictably, is that she and Stark had a "thing". Fortunately, the potentially frustrating scenes of the SSR not believing Peggy don't outstay their welcome; the episode soon becomes a gripping thriller. 

After a gripping final scene with gas being released at a cinema we are left eagerly anticipating the finale. Agent  Carter may have suffered some pacing problems in the middle but the concluding episodes have been excellent so far. 

Agent Carter: A Sin to Err

"I knew you didn't work at the phone company!"

Yes, this is the episode where Peggy gets caught by her SSR "mates", and also the episode where the plot crystallises; Leviathan (much fleshed out in this episode) are after Stark's inventions. But let's talk about Angie for a minute.

She's in the series mainly to perform a narrative function, that of Peggy's female friend and confidante, so obviously she has to find out her friend's secret, as she does here. But she's also a parallel character to Peggy, also stuck in a traditionally female job, constantly suffering the slings and arrows of sexism and misogyny. She, too, aspires to greater things, in her case Broadway stardom rather than being a spy. And which of all plays is she rehearsing? The Doll's House.

On a similarly feminist note, it's also fun to see Jarvis getting slapped by a parade of Howard Stark's exes. But the core of the episode lie in Peggy being caught just as the true baddie lady, Dottie Underwood, is about to strike. All relies on Peggy's ability to convince her former comrades of the truth before it's too late. Only in handcuffs is she finally taken seriously.

I can still why the series has been criticised for its slow pace, but things are beginning to speed up now. Two more episodes...

Agent Carter: The Iron Ceiling

"He may be an utter wanker but he is one of us."

Nice title; alluding to the glass ceiling that pretty much defines the show, but also a nod to the presence of a Stark. Nice episode, too, giving us a potted history of Peggy's new, mysterious neighbour who, it seems, is a Soviet agent with a past all bound up with Stalinist darkness; her continuing habit of chaining herself to the bedpost is nicely symbolic.

Howard Stark is still not Peggy's favourite person, but Jarvis manages to mollify her somewhat; Stark may be a git, but he's a good git. And there is still tension in relations between the series' two biggest protagonists.

The glass ceiling is exemplified, rather blatantly, by Peggy's brilliant code-breaking work not getting her anything in this man's world. And yet, when she ultimately gets her way and gets sent on a mission, Dum Dum and the other Howling Commandos, old war comrades of hers, treat her with both an affection and a respect that her colleagues will never show. Only in the heat of war can a woman like Peggy show what she's made of. It's 1946. Feminism is a generation away. But at least this time with her real friends help her to decide how she really feels about Stark. 

We end with Peggy's star on the relative rise, but Daniel is suspicious. By this point the series is beginning to feel a little too slow-paced, but the characterisation. And spectacle continues to impress.

Agent Carter: The Blitzkrieg Button

"Hey, can I borrow the sports section?"

Yes, it's the inevitable Stan Lee cameo, sitting on a park bench. He's 94, you know.

A confession: I have in fact seen the whole series of Agent Carter, having intravenously injected the whole addictive series a few days ago. Try as I might to maintain dramatic irony, I know how it ends. I shall discuss the hows and wherefores at the end, but in the meantime you may wish to look up the YouTube channel of a certain MrVortexofDOOM, especially if you're partial to reconstructions of missing Doctor Who. It's jolly good.

Anyway...

This episode is where we really get to know Howard Stark. Then again, we already do; he's a genius millionaire playboy, exactly like his son, and he does absolutely nothing that you can't imagine being played by Robert Downey Jr. Dominic Cooper is an excellent second best, though. The scenes with him "hiding" in Peggy's apartment are a hoot.

I also loved the '40s science lab, and the proto-James Bond pen. But the episode is mainly about a big plot twist; Howard's big, dangerous MacGuffin is not in fact a big bomb but Steve Rogers' Super Soldier blood. This, naturally, is not without meaning for Peggy. And the temperature is rising for our Peg, technically committing treason although, it must be said, Jarvis seems to be more worried on her behalf than she dies. Their relationship is touching; alone of all the men in this (well, besides Stark), he respects her and I'm so glad there's no suggestion of sexual attraction between them, which would entirely spoil things.

We end, though, with Peggy beginning to harbour doubts about Stark; were all the risks she ran for nothing? And what of her blonde neighbour's propensity for duffing people up? Halfway through, and this is more and more intriguing. This is gripping stuff.

This blog post was brought to you by a man with his baby daughter in one arm, so hopefully there aren't too many typos...!