reviews

Mr. Robot eps1.6v1ew-s0urce.flv

mrrobotviewsourceThis episode made me angry, in a good way. It means that the characters are not one-dimensional. Rather, the characters are so well thought-out and constructed, that they piss you off. Namely the characters of Colby and Tyrell.

someone just punch this face
tyrell what have you done.

This episode focuses on Angela working on getting Terry Colby to admit he knew about the toxic levels. She offers him a deal, she will take responsibility for the AllSafe hack if he goes on trial. Of course this deal is not in favour for Angel. It will cost her her job at AllSafe, and will damage the reputation of AllSafe in the process. It is clear however, that she realizes this deal may just get Colby to talk.

Further into the episode, Tyrell continues to spiral out of control. His wife is some kind of evil genius, and encourages his strange antics. NEVERTHELESS Tyrell, you are in major trouble after that accidental choking situation. How the hell are you going to cover this one up?

Meanwhile, Elliot returns to his therapist at the end of the episode. He says he has been lying to her the whole time. That he hasn’t been taken his medication, and uses his time to hack peoples’ lives. He then proceeds to tell Krista all of her darkest secrets he knows about from hacking, this of course scares her.

He’s lonely, and losing Shayla hasn’t helped. It’s also upsetting that her death is to the cause of Elliot. He asked if her dealer had Suboxone available. She told him she knew a guy that was “supposed to be an effing psychopath, but if [Elliot] wants, [she] would call him. [Elliot] might be worth a psychopath”  /awkward.

Doctor Who “Before the Flood” Recap

904_31405Finally got around to watching the conclusion to “Under the Lake,” which left viewers wondering how the Doctor was going to save himself from becoming a ghost, and stopping the remaining crew members from being killed off. Although some of the solutions were a bit reaching, the episode was well-scripted and Bennett’s character deserves props for TWO amazing speeches. First, by facing the Doctor after SPOILER not saving O’Donnell’s character. Second speech was telling Lunn to declare his love for Cass *cuteness overload*.

904_41941Will you translate something to Cass for me? Tell her that you’re in love with her and you always have been. Tell her there’s no point in wasting time, ‘cause things happen and then it’s too late. Tell her I wish someone had given me that advice.”

It was a good episode in a long time. I have enjoyed Toby Whithouse’s writing for these two episodes. The Fisher King’s monster was a good inclusion, the “Bootstrap Paradox” backed up the episode, and the characters had depth.

The Bootstrap Paradox is a casual loop in time-travel. A past event features a future event, but it is only after seeing it in the past that you know you can do it in the future. As I saw from someone on Tumblr, they used the example of The Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry Potter was able to project the patronus to save Sirius and himself, because he saw it done in the past. Get it? (Although the person left out that he thought it was his dad bla bla bla but it still works).

 

Mr. Robot: eps1.5br4ve-trave1er.asf

mrrobot5What an intense episode this was. Last episode ends with Elliot discovering Shayla has been taken by her drug supplier’s gang. In order to help Shayla, Elliot must break Vera out of jail. A situation most difficult to hack.

Meanwhile, Angela begins uncovering the horrors within EvilCorp – remember that both her mom, and Elliot’s dad died from toxic levels in an E Corp factory. She brings more information to the lawyer who worked on the case twenty years ago. You can tell the lawyer is distraught as she adds scotch to her tea during the middle of the day.normal_mr106_2120Just a complete intense episode filled with emotion, and omg moments. The ending, although I don’t want to spoil it, is just so upsetting. The arc is nearing the top as the season begins to come to a close. The audience is witnessing Elliot’s life fall apart. Elliot has most definitely changed from the first episode. Just when you think he has a grip of everything and is in control, you can tell Vera is one step ahead. I’m not sure where Vera’s story is going, but I do hope he stays away from poor baby Elliot.tumblr_inline_nv3azhnsio1rxvybq_540

One of the highlights (and what seems to be looked over by other reviews) for this episode is the scene between Tyrell and Scott Knowels. As we all know, Tyrell is trying to move up to the position of CTO for E Corp. He plays games with every character, and uses manipulation to get what he wants.

However, it was nice to see Scott Knowels knowing exactly what Tyrell has been playing. Scott shutting this dream down is the best: Tyrell, I want you to accept the hard truth, right here, right now in front of me. You are not going to be CTO. I want to see that look wash over your face. It’s the only way I’ll know you’ll stop playing these silly, silly games. 

Good television makes me happy, even if it breaks my heart in the process.

 

 

Doctor Who “Under the Lake” Recap

oooooh. Doctor Who returned to a good classic Who episode. Had my heart racing, hand to mouth, gasping and general feel of emotions.

I think this is a better episode than the first two episodes of Series Nine, because there is a good storyline present (shots fired at Steven Moffat). The monster featured in this two-parter is actually scary and something we have not seen before. The ghosts remind me of the weeping angels given that they can appear at any moment. The episode also succeeds as I already feel attached to the characters (when Lunn is approached by that ghost with a wrench… oooh boy that had me going).

The TARDIS brings Clara and the Doctor to the year 2119 where an underwater mining facility has gone under siege from what appears to be ghosts caused by the unearthing of an empty black spaceship. The ghosts begin killing off the crew one by one.

The episode is well-written, and features strong characters like Cass & Lunn. It is nice to see Doctor Who making an effort to include characters with disabilities. It’s also nice that Cass is not seen as a victim in this episode; rather she’s a person who happens to be deaf — big difference.

Strong episode all around, looking forward to the conclusion next week!

“Every time I think it can’t get more extraordinary it surprises me. It’s impossible. I hate it. It’s evil, it’s astonishing. I want to kiss it to death!”

Mr. Robot: eps1.43xpl0its.wmv

mr_robot_EP5This episode was stressful. Elliot & fsociety find themselves at Steel Mountain. Elliot smooth talks himself inside Steel Mountain for a “tour” and uses the opportunity to achieve what they set out to do.

The focus of this episode is to exploit the thing that sets people apart from each other. We see Elliot tear pour Bill Harper apart by saying he is nothing. Trudy fears medical emergencies in her marriage. Tyrell reduces the life of a waiter to a cockroach, merely existing. In Tyrell’s eyes, Elliot desires revenge for his father’s death. Tyrell clearly wants power and will do just about anything to get it.

There’s a moment where we see Mr. Robot fight with Darlene. I’m still holding on to the fact that he is Elliot’s daemon. It is in this case that I think it was a Fight Club moment in which Elliot was able to remove himself from the fight by believing it was someone else carrying his frustrations out.

Another solid episode using good camera work and distortion of sound.

Doctor Who “The Witch’s Familiar” Recap

http://doctorwho.tumblr.com/post/129952204271/admit-davros-admit-the-creator

So much happier with last night’s episode! Finally picked up, and showed more depth with the characters. We also finally see more flawless acting on Michelle Gomez’s part, by her showing the true colours of The Master. MOREOVER we see Twelve display the Doctor’s Curse: compassion.

In sum, this episode is the conclusion for the two-parter, which means it has to tie up in what the Doctor will do for young Davros in the battle-field. Does he kill the young child, or save him? In present time, the Doctor is shown comforting a dying Davros. Davros asks Twelve if he has been a good man (a common theme in Doctor Who). Was Davros a good man in creating the Daleks? The Doctor does not provide him with a solid answer, but shows compassion towards him in his final moments.

0x600Davros wishes to see the sun one last time, but cries out to the Doctor that he does not have enough strength to open his eyes. The Doctor feels sorry, so decides to use some of his regeneration power to fuel Davros. Needless to say, this has been Davros’ trick all along, and traps the Doctor in transferring his regeneration power to rejuvenate Davros AND the Daleks.

It’s clear that this series will focus heavily on the Daleks.

Mr. Robot: eps1.3_da3m0ns.mp4

mrrobotep4

This was a pretty strange episode, but only because we had to witness Elliot going through withdrawal. Because of his withdrawal, we saw some pretty wild hallucinations like his fish talking.

The withdrawal was part of Elliot’s journey where he figured fsociety could destroy back-up files at Steel Mountain by accessing the climate control system. Slight snag in the plan, they have to physically be there. Ensue road trip music.

Meanwhile, Angela experiments with Ecstasy (and Shayla). She then decides to follow through with infecting AllSafe’s system with the disc given to her by Cisco (who we find out is Darlene’s ex). She uses Ollie’s work ID and computer so that the trace will come back to him and not her (obviously.)

Since Mr. Robot is a clever show, we are going to look at what exactly is a “daemon.” Strictly relating to computing, daemons refer to any background process. In Greek mythology it is “a supernatural being working in the background, with no particular bias towards good or evil.” Which begs to ask… Mr. Robot, are you Elliot’s daemon?

So far the show is leading up to this twist and if you are a good viewer who pays attention to the other members of fsociety, they do not interact with Christian Slater’s character. Mr. Robot seems to only communicate with Elliot.

Mr. Robot out of frame holding a book.
Mr. Robot out of frame holding a book.
A wild Mr. Robot appears beside Trenton with no book.
A wild Mr. Robot appears beside Trenton with no book.

“Daemons. They don’t stop working. They are always active. They seduce. They manipulate. They own us. And even though you’re with me, even though I created you, it makes no difference. We all must deal with them alone. The best we can hope for… The only silver lining in all of this… is that when we break through, we find a few familiar faces waiting on the other side.”

daemon definition from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_%28computing%29
quote from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4659980/

Doctor Who “The Magician’s Apprentice” Recap

“If someone … pointed out a child to you, and told you that that child would … destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?”

901_03121 (2)Series Nine premiered on September 19th with “The Magician’s Apprentice.” Title is a bit of a disconnect, and the phrase is said once during the episode. Nevertheless, this episode is part of a two-parter. Much of the episode – to classic Moffat writing – focuses on the search of the Doctor. Once the Doctor is found by Clara and Missy, we learn that he is ashamed. For what is the Doctor ashamed about though?

The episode sets up for the series, in that it will focus heavily on the Daleks and their creator Davros. The episode also hints at Clara Oswald’s departure from the series, as there have been rumours for quite some time now that Coleman quit the show. Jenna Coleman has decided to leave the Doctor Who family to play Queen Victoria in ITV’s drama Victoria.

Speaking of shame, it is a shame that I am developing a love-hate relationship with Doctor Who now. I will always watch Doctor Who but I’m wary that it will become a task, and not something of entertainment. I feel that, with the involvement from BBC America and increase in budget, the episodes aren’t leaving me satisfied. It is nothing on Peter Capaldi as twelve, he is wonderful and fully entertaining. However, it’s more so Steven Moffat’s writing that appears to be looping. Another “Last Day of the Doctor” storyline? Can a doctor really have multiple last days? Ten had one, Eleven had one, Twelve now has one…

Therefore the episode is alright for me. It isn’t the best of episodes, but isn’t the worst of episodes. I’m trying not to be too negative here, soooo

Three parts of this episode that are worth highlighting:901_46549

  1. Return of Davros is an interesting arc as we haven’t seen him for ages
  2. Twelve showing up with an electric guitar on a military tank during the middle ages is just one for the books
  3. Michelle Gomez plays Missy so well, I can’t help but enjoy her take on the Master’s role

 

Beasts of No Nation

Saw my first TIFF film ever, and what an experience. We saw the second showing of Beasts of No Nation, which is a Netflix original film starring Idris Elba and introducing Abraham Attah (he deserves all the awards). Beasts of No Nation is an adaptation of Uzodinma Iweala’s book published in 2005.

In sum, this is about a civil war in an unnamed African country. It centres on the experiences of Agu, whose life transforms drastically. At the start of the film we see this happy child using his imagination, support from his father and mother, and love for life. His town later becomes unprotected from the military, ensuing complications for Agu: he finds himself recruited as a child soldier.

Going into the movie, I was unsure how much gore would be shown. Compared to my initial thoughts, there were not as many scenes that were uneasy; much of it was tame or insinuated. I would say there are three points during the film that are difficult to watch.  Nevertheless, by making you uncomfortable it allows you to reflect.

I hope to see Oscar wins for this film. Abraham Attah – who is only 14 – is remarkable. It is astonishing that this is his first film as he is able to display a range of emotions on demand.

Beasts of No Nation will be available on Netflix on October 16th, and will be featured in select theatres.

Mr. Robot eps1.2d3bug.mkv

mr_robot_ep3The file format “mkv” is a sneaky little inclusion on this title sequence. mkv are multimedia formats that can include audio, visual, and subtitles. Make sense? Yep, because our strange little character Tyrell Wellick and his wife are shown speaking with subtitles for us English folk (him Swedish, her Danish).

This episode picked up from the last. We finally get to see into the life of Tyrell Wellick which was eye-opening. We see his strange behaviours and how he is willing to do just about anything to move up in EvilCorp. He is a ruthless character that we will have to look out for.

The episode also continues with Elliot’s storyline of whether he will continue with fsociety. The deciding moment comes when he is faced with the resurgence of how engineers were affected by toxicity levels at EvilCorp plants. As you should remember from the end of episode two, this is how Elliot’s father passed – as he was diagnosed with Leukemia – and we now learn this is how Angela’s mother died. Can fsociety pull Elliot back in by reigniting his hatred towards EvilCorp?

This was an A+ episode.