television

Orphan Black “Transgressive Border Crossing” Recap

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Fourth season of Orphan Black is still going strong with the second episode entitled “Transgressive Border Crossing.” After Mika warned Sarah that the neolutionists knew where Sarah was hiding, Sarah packs up the fam jam and heads home.

From there, the episode mainly focuses on Sarah continuing Beth’s investigation on the neolutionists, and exactly what they are doing with a) the clones b) those creepy bugs in people’s cheeks *by far the cringiest thing this episode.*

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We still get to see our favourite other clones and what they are up to. Alison very much wants to move on from the clone business, Cosima is taking treatment but looks far too ill, and Helena gets an ultrasound discovering that she will be having not one baby BUT identical twins. On top of our clones, we see our favourite apron-wearing, painting Felix who updates Sarah that he is looking for his biological family. This of course offends Sarah, as is symbolizes Felix is moving on from his foster family. Felix even makes the comment that they aren’t his family, it’s Sarah’s family.

On a personal note, fourth season of Orphan Black takes me back to fourth year and to my Risk Communications seminar. I had the luck of having my seminar on the subject of cloning, so naturally I used it as a way to bring Canadian Content to my peers. While Orphan Black is an extreme case of clones, cloning is still happening in our society today with projects in the development. For instance, scientists have the genome sequence for Neanderthals and are flirting with the idea of bringing a Neanderthal into existence. They also have DNA for the Woolly Mammoth. Just. Think. About. That.

Okay, enough nerd content for one day.

 

Recap: Daredevil Season Two

Ahh! Season two of Daredevil was amazing, and continues to succeed in so many areas. It was an INTENSE season, seemed like it was more intense than season one? Right from the start it was action-packed, gore, and just. Wow. Those character developments are to gush about. Following write-up is a recap of the awesomeness that is season two of Daredevil.

Let’s look at the inclusion of this quick scene: Matt Murdock getting dressed for the day. Something many of us will not think of, Matt Murdock is indeed blind and needs a system in how to dress. A braille system telling him what the suit looks like? Of course. It’s inclusions like this that are important, as it is clear most televisions leave those with disabilities out. Daredevil/Matt Murdock represents how disabilities do not hinder a person. A simple inclusion of braille gives those without disabilities a reminder to make sure things are accessible for everyone.

Daredevil also continues to include a multitude of ethnicity and language, which I’m glad they do. Instead of erasing language and simplifying it into pure English, they use subtitles to bring recognition to the fact that there are more languages than one.

Additionally, the cinematography in Daredevil is strong. I was overwhelmed with the playing of shadows, as it works to make the show successful. The use of light vs. darkness during fight scenes also adds to the general intensity of the show. As a viewer, you begin to identify with Daredevil in hearing the actual fighting. Moreover, the fight scenes are choreographed well. They are tightly choreographed and are pure skill.

I also enjoyed the character development. There are moments when you will question Karen Page’s ethical decisions, what Matt Murdock is doing, and actually feel sorry for the Punisher (and somewhat understand why he is the way that he is… albeit how bad it is). That complexity is new and refreshing. People are complex individuals, and Daredevil brings that to the forefront.

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I can’t wait to see what season three has in store for us! Usually the second season is either a make or break for a show. Daredevil season two was nooooo disappointment.

Season One review can be found over here.

 

Sherlock “The Abominable Bride” Review

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Sherlock is one of my most favourite series. It’s something about the cleverness of the cases, the update on Sherlock as a character living in the modern age, as well as the talented cast. Benedict Cumberbatch is of course a lovely feature within the series as his acting is superb. He’s able to portray Sherlock successfully by acknowledging that the character is removed from typical social interaction.

I also think Sherlock is successful because there’s anticipation leading up to each series. Between series one, two, and three there are roughly two years between each. Added to the suspension is that the fanbase is only granted three episodes per series. This allows each series to be crafted to near perfection. There’s more room for the production team to put effort within each episode. This effort is noticeable through the writing by blending Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work with a modern touch, the cinematography gives you goosebumps, and the actors play their characters oh so very well.S_TAB_0325

“The Abominable Bride” comes two years after series three. Leading up to the Christmas special it feels like it’ll be a one-off episode that is purely a re-imagination of Sherlock during the time period it was written in. However, further into the episode it actually sets up the direction for series four. Given that series three leaves the audience witnessing the suspected return of Moriarty, the Christmas special deals with Sherlock working out how Moriarty survived his own death of quite literally shooting his brains out.

What I enjoyed of this Christmas special is that they did decide to take it back to it’s roots and set it during the 19th century. I also loved how they dealt with the suffragette movement during this time, (as our own generation is lacking an appreciation/motivation/difficultly coming to grips of what Feminism is.) Nevertheless, the way in which Moffat decided to go about displaying suffragettes is a tad cringeworthy — outfits are much like KKK and the fact that they are a murderous cult taking out husbands who are brute. Hmmm.

Overall I enjoyed the episode – it was nice seeing my boy Cumberbatch and hearing his delightful voice – and I am most definitely looking forward to series four!

Doctor Who “The Girl Who Died” Recap

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Let’s all appreciate that we had a Ten flashback. Doctor Who writers finally explained why Twelve’s face looks like the Caecilius’ from “The Fires of Pompeii.” I thought it was a nice touch to explain the resemblance, and work it into this week’s episode, and the importance behind it. It was the only scene in the episode that I truly appreciated.

Clara and the Doctor find themselves captured by Vikings. The Doctor thinks he’ll be clever when he pretends to be Odin, when from the sky the “real” Odin shows up. This Odin takes the best Viking warriors for himself. Turns out this “Odin” is the ruler of the Mire, and feeds off of Testosterone.

What you think is a one-off story, is actually part of a *gasp* two-parter. This is my only critique of Series Nine, as so far all the episodes have been two parters.

Then again, nice to see Maisie Williams.

Mr. Robot: eps1.3_da3m0ns.mp4

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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/

Mr. Robot: eps.1.1_ones-and-zer0es.mpeg

review2Second episode aired on Showcase last night. Not as powerful as the premiere, but was still good to lay down a foundation. Episode focused on what to do with his drug dealer’s supplier. Should Elliot bring him down, if this means he has to sacrifice his access to morphine?

This episode was good for experimenting with cinematography and sound. Lots of the framing was Continue reading →

Mr. Robot: eps1.0hellofriend.mov

reviewpicIn case you didn’t know me, I’m pretty big on television. If you are ever in a conundrum and need a suggestion, hit me up. Oh my love for clever televisions shows is so strong. And what do I discover this summer? Mr. Robot. Now, at the moment I’m currently watching on a weekly basis off of Showcase, but I may being to bingewatch while I can off of AMC because WOW. Continue reading →

Why Netflix’s Daredevil Succeeds

It has been nearly a month since Netflix released Daredevil.

After watching Daredevil, I instantly knew it was a great show. However it wasn’t until I came across this Tumblr post that I actually thought about how well it was made.

daredevilOkay let’s pull some of the larger concepts from what sidizenkane outlined: multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, blind and gentrification.

The multi-lingual and multi-ethnic aspects in this show are important as it draws away from the narrow landscape of white and English actors we have come to see only. Granted, Charlie Cox is both white and English, but at least the show includes other languages and ethnicity.

Next, the fact that Daredevil’s character is blind shows disabilities onscreen in positive terms, and how this disability does not hinder the character in any way. A positive representation is important for those living with disabilities.

Finally, the idea of gentrification (the displacement of the occupying demographic) is important to address because we live in a society where this displacement can be seen. Audiences need to be aware of this issue so that as a society we can remember that there are numerous economic brackets. Homelessness is an issue often overlooked due to the misconception and general negative connotations associated with the idea.

What can be gathered from this then, is that the show features a variety of identities in one show to try to be all inclusive. This is extremely significant as some other shows continue to find it difficult to even feature females in their shows.

By featuring a variety of identities it allows a wider audience to feel included in the storyline. They can identify with what is being shown to them, and in turn, will feel empowered. It is important that Daredevil has taken the step in this positive direction. Next step: Give Black Widow a full-feature film.