The Blacklist is always at its best when the villain-of-the-week is a compelling presence with an easy to understand motivation and paired with an actor with the right kind of talent to draw you into the character. "T. Earl King VI" was a great example of all of that, as it featured a number of outstanding guest stars, an easy to understand mission, and a solution that didn't call for the dumbing down of the FBI in order to highlight the smartiness of Red.
It seems like forever since we last checked in with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the other Marvel TV series that almost seems lost in the wave of universal acclaim for Agent Carter. The shame is that the series left us all hanging with a cliffhanger, a juicy one that had serious implications for the characters on the show and in the greater tapestry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Inhumans arrived with the sad passing of Trip and the sudden evolutionary leap of both Raina and Skye. Or do we mean, Daisy? Big change is hard to accept, and this first episode of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s second half was all about trying to cling on to normal even if holding on to what's normal is now impossible.
Leonard Nimoy passed away Friday at the age of 83, and an outpouring of grief, from his fellow Star Trek stars to the President of the United States, demonstrated just how big an impact the man who embodied Mr. Spock for nearly 50 years had on fans worldwide. Nimoy now joins his fellow crewmates DeForest Kelly and James Doohan in the real final frontier, but in remembering the actor's career, one can't help but to notice the reflection of the Vulcan edict: Infinite diversity in infinite combinations.
Throughout The Walking Dead there's been an undercurrent of nihilism, the idea that everything good ends up destroyed either because it's false, it becomes coveted by others, or because it was never really good to begin with. Every safe haven ends up being a mirage, or a wolf in sheep's clothing, and even it is the real thing, the other wolves end up descending on it and taking it apart anyway. It's understandable then that as the gates of the Alexandria Safe Zone opened, and Rick and the other survivors start to settle there, both we and they start looking for the cracks.
Although it would have been a brazen move to turn Liz into a member of The Blacklist by either sending her to jail or making her a fugitive, there was actually very little chance of that. So, why the drawn out ticking time clock of the unusually effective Detective Martin Wilcox? Drama! Forget the fact that she's the center of the an international conspiracy, forget the fact that she's basically seen her own life blow up in her face, and forget the fact nothing is certain in her life, including her past. We still have to threaten dear old Agent Keen with prison for a murder she didn't commit. Oh yeah, and there's a serial killer running around, too.
It was interesting when earlier this year, a technical snafu caused House of Cards’ third season to be released onto Netflix a bit early. The stream was immediately shut off, of course, but a leak for such a shrewd operation like Netflix was, well, like a finely tuned Frank Underwood scheme suddenly coming undone by a stubborn old Supreme Court Justice having the wrong friend in the right place. (Or the right friend in the wrong place. It’ll make sense when you start watching.) Fortunately, for fans of the show, House of Cards holds up well in its third seasons as things get harder for Frank now that he’s achieved the ultimate seat of power.
