Episode 500 Review: This episode has an epic couch gag mashing up every bit they have ever done. A fake nuclear war has been cooked up to keep the Simpsons away while the town votes on whether to ban them from Springfield. In a good amount of self referential fun, the family is displaced to the “Outlands” and gets to meet ultra-cool guest star, Julian Assange.
Continue reading ‘The Simpsons’ Hit #500 and Other Such Springfield Related Nonsense…
A Quick Recap: Shane got told what’s what by Rick on their way to drop off the hogtied stranger that Hershel fixed up. Shane… unlike his usual self… accepts Rick’s conditions. As they brought Randall 18 miles out from the barn, they discovered a mass of walkers where they intended to drop him off. This was right after Shane and Rick got into a long overdue fight. God help me, it was amazing!
Beth (remember? The blondie who went into a state of shock) is all better now except for one thing… she wants to kill herself. She snagged a knife from the plate of food she refused to eat, and Lori took it away. This lead to an argument between Lori and Andrea. Beth then told Maggie she wanted them to commit suicide together so that they could go peacefully. Beth made a very strong argument. I can’t honestly tell if Andrea is a psycho or a genius.
During a very true test of character, Rick and Randall flee the swarm of zombies while Shane is trapped in a school bus being dangled like a piece of bacon in front of a fat guy. They flee only to very quickly return in a car doing a very efficient drive-by, and freeing Shane.
Maggie confronts Andrea who left Beth alone, causing her to attempt suicide. She cut her wrist with a piece of glass, but could not being herself to go deep enough – Maggie then banned Andrea from the house.
Rick and Shane bring back Randall. Rick explains that he will probably have to kill the boy.
Overall, I would say that this episode was very deep, and had some of the best walker kills. And the fights? Phenomenal. I have got to say, I am impressed.
5/5. Yes. You heard me. 5/5.
*Animated Gifs from Gamma Squad
The Clone Wars is wrapping up its fourth season with a bang as the first of the last four episodes airs in the form of “Massacre“. We see Ventress making her return to Dathomir and swearing full allegiance to the Night Sisters of Dathomir, forsaking the Sith. Count Dooku in the meantime has ordered General Grievous to strike hard at the planet and rid the galaxy of the witches. These rich Sith types just tend to hold a major grudge ya know?
It was actually kind of hard to decide which group of scumbags to root for. I mean, Grievous and the Separatists are a no brainer, they suck. But the Night Sisters are equally as shady, with the hairless harpy leading the charge of laser bow-wielding Night Sisters and even a contingent of zombie Night Sisters. Yes, you heard me…. zombie Night Sisters. They were definitely creepy as hell, but nowhere near as creepy as the wrinkled old Night Sister who is even older than Mother Talzin. I thought Talzin’s double-layered voice was unnerving enough but the oldest Night Sister blew it away with all of her crazy chanting.
So, even though the battle itself was pretty awesome there was no indication of why it would be best if one side or the other was to win. I’m actually a little sick of Grievous being bested over and over again in combat, but even as he lost to Ventress after a short spar he went on quite the killing spree and savagely killed the super old Night Sister and her guards. One might wonder what happened to Mother Talzin but I’m sure we’ve not seen the last of her.
The force magic of the Night Sisters was an interesting thing to see, albeit some was a little ridiculous. I find it curious how Talzin was able to procure a lock of Dooku’s hair, but it’s a minute detail. The episode certainly did live up to its name. It truly did turn into a massacre as not one Night Sister except Ventress was left alive by the episode’s end. Again, I’m not too broken up about this and I can’t feel much sympathy for Ventress being left all alone. We’ll certainly see where she lands next episode as it appears she may be taking on the role of a bounty hunter!
Stayed tuned next week for the continuation of the Clone Wars ending arc. I give the episode 2 out of 5 grizzlies, great visuals but I just couldn’t find myself caring who won this round on the Clone Wars. Bring on the Maul Bros in a couple weeks!
This episode of Spartacus reminded me a whole lot of the finale of season one, Blood and Sand. It starts off with Oenomaus, Crixus and Rashko facing death in the arena Ad-Gladium…. at the hands of Gannicus and several other gladiators. Yes Gannicus is back and the episode begins with him and Oenomaus exchanging sword blows and then the screen cutting away to days earlier as the Blood and Sand finale started with Spartacus and Crixus fighting before it showed us events of the day previous. I always thought that was a very cool aspect of that season and I am glad to see they brought it back in this season. However let’s not see that it gets overused or anything.
One storyline that I thought wouldn’t come to a head so soon was that of the game being played by Illythia against her husband Glaber. Thanks to the crafty machinations of Lucretia and Ashur, Glaber comes to find out that Illythia’s plans to abort their child and her further plans of dissolving marriage to get with Verinius soon follows. It’s clear that Glaber isn’t going to let this pass and it would seem even with Lucretia playing both sides, for the moment she will help Glaber out to somehow get back at Illythia. I still think that Glaber is going to get with Seppia after sufficiently humiliating Illythia and Verinius. Glaber is actually becoming a proper villain thanks to his “loving” wife after what he did to her father. I couldn’t help but laugh a little at the moment when Glaber told him that he wasn’t the fool that him and his daughter believe him to be. I believe this leaves Illythia in a bit of a tight spot after revealing her plans to Glaber. TOO BAD!
For those of you wondering which actor is going to be playing that sicko bastard The Governor in the Walking Dead TV series, then wonder no more as he has been cast!
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
David Morrissey has most recently been in the movies Centurion and the Jason Statham cop thriller Blitz. Morrisey also has quite an extensive TV career, but nothing of which I’ve heard of, but feel free to check out his resume’ at IMDB.
For those of you not familiar with the good ole’ Governor, he is the leader of another group of zombie survivors in the town of Woodbury. Now this guy is completely freakin’ nuts. Reading the issues of Walking Dead with him in it were some of the most sadistic and gruesome things I’ve read in comics. Of course now a bunch of comics follow suit with the gruesomness in The Walking Dead, but at the time there wasn’t a whole lot besides The Punisher MAX and maybe Preacher that were as graphic as the Governor issues. Just know that this guy will most definitely change the face of the show if they even remotely stick to the comics. Lord knows they’ve taken plenty of liberties with the show thus far not having it follow the comics exactly, and I agree that the show is better of for it.
I’m not the biggest fan of the Walking Dead TV series, but I may have to jump back on board just to see how they handle a lot of scenes with the Governor and what kind of spirit that David Morrissey brings to the role. I’d love to see the picture below play out on screen.
It’s been pretty official by now that Darth Maul is returning, and kudos to Lucasfilm for their clever re-release of the Phantom Menace and his simultaneous Clone Wars appearance which is sheer marketing genius. It seems like I can’t go into any store where there are toys or books without seeing that ugly Sith bastard adorned on something. Even my McDonald’s Happy Meal toy was a top spinner with him on it! But anyways….
Maul is back and whether you like it or not you have to admit the trailer for his return in the final season’s arc looks pretty excellent. Not to mention the fact that he is being voiced by none other than Sam Witwer who is a sort of sci-fi superstar at the moment. Witwer has done extensive work with the Star Wars franchise, starting off with the Force Unleashed video games as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice Starkiller who kicked major ass with his uber force abilities. Some may not know that he also voiced the Emperor in the Force Unleashed and did a damn fine job. This is also not his first appearance on the Clone Wars as he also played the Dark Side being “The Son” in the Mortis Trilogy. He also played a large part in the 8th season of Smallville as Davis Bloome A.K.A. Doomsday and is currently playing the vampire Aidan on the American version of Being Human. Being Human was recently renewed by SyFy for it’s third season. And all of that on top of a missed chance to be featured in an entire flashback episode of the Walking Dead in a storyline that was set up by show creator Frank Darabont, but was ultimately discarded after his “leaving” the show. The guy is a talented actor no doubt, but his voice acting sure packs a punch too. Check out the video below to see how intense Witwer gets when he is slipping into his crazy Darth Maul persona:
So it would look as if Ventress is choosing to side with the Night Sisters of Dathomir and that Dooku may be getting some payback for their attempted assassination of him: Grievous style. I’m interested to see the Night Sisters in combat, particularly Mother Talzin who is seen in the trailer unleashing some crazy witch powers on the Separatist forces. But let’s face it, that’s all bantha poodoo compared to what I think may be the best part of the episode arc and that’s Obi-Wan v.s. Maul…. the rematch! This has potential to be one of the best moments on the Clone Wars, overshadowing even the awesomeness that was Savage Oppress’s debut last season. But then again I thought that with the return of Boba Fett and I was left quite crestfallen. But this has to be way better than the little half pint bounty hunter. The part where Maul emit’s a harsh “Jedi!” and his mechanical leg steps on the ground before Obi-Wan was chilling and gave me a case of the goosbumps. What’s everyone’s thought on the whole deal? Expanded Universe blasphemy or totally awesome? I for one am glad they stuck with the Star Wars Visionaries robo-legs concept. It wouldn’t have done to see a Darth Maul walking on his hands and using the lightsaber with his mouth.
Grizzly Bomb 