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Finale Watch – The End of The Chicago Code: Another Shawn Ryan Cancellation

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Tonight marks the 2nd time in that last year that Shawn Ryan created show, which is better than majority of the programming on Television, will be canceled after only a season on the air. The first was of course Terriers, which was one of my favorite shows ever. The next now is The Chicago Code. Tonight was the last episode of the rookie season for the show, and it will in all likely hood be the last episode ever. Unless however it’s gets a rare cable pickup, the way TNT did with NBC’s Southland, . That however is a ‘Hail Mary’ pass thrown up several times a year that almost never gets caught.

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Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 7 – ‘You Win or You Die’

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This episode aired on HBO Go (Online) the same night as episode 6 did which was a welcome treat and a precursor to one of the best episodes yet. So if you haven’t watched episode 7 online then there are major spoilers awaiting you ahead. This episode will air on TV May 29th.

We start the episode by finally getting to see Tywin Lannister on screen, who is definitely one of the characters people will grow to hate most over the course of the show. He’s one of those characters you love to hate and in the scene he has with Jaime you get to see what his ambitions are and the expectations of his house. Tywin is currently moving with 60,000 Lannister soldiers to protect the honor of his house against the Starks and their allies. As he questions and lectures Jaime, Tywin guts and skins a deer which for some reason made the scene all that better for me. He tells Jaime that they should have acted decisively, where if Tyrion was taken by Catelyn then Jaime should have killed Ned instead of leaving him alive. Jaime claims that he didn’t finish him because of the interference by one of their men and it wouldn’t have been a clean kill which Tywin scoffs at. Jaime, despite what everyone thinks of him, has a measure of honor that is his alone.

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As the show goes on and we get more into his character it will become evident that Jaime has almost no identity for himself. He is constantly trying to live up to roles that others assign him from Aerys Targaryen to Tywin Lannister and later you will see from Cersei too. It all began with Aerys raising him to the Kingsguard years ago, which angered Tywin to the point of resigning his position of Hand of the King since his heir was now under oath to serve until death thanks to the “Mad King”. That is why Tywin tells Jaime that he needs to him to become the man he was meant to be now and not later. The look on Jaime’s face before he leaves clearly shows us that he has almost no idea what he wants, which is a great precursor of the route his character will take in future seasons.

Finally after being MIA for a couple episodes, Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch return to our screens albeit briefly. After Benjen’s horse is found riderless at the Wall entrance, we get to see Jon, Sam, Grenn and Pip all graduate. This is accompanied by the big disappointment of Jon not being made a ranger but a steward. Stewards are the caretakers of the Night’s Watch, they clean up, send ravens and do the menial day to day tasks in all of the castles of the Wall. So you might see why a swordsman like Jon might be a little pissed off about it. But as Sam points out, Maester Aemon assigned him to be the attendant to Lord Commander Mormont where Jon will learn of all the functions of the Night’s Watch and it’s command structure at Castle Black. More than likely Jon will eventually succeed Lord Commander Mormont.

We also get to see Jon and the recently converted (To the Old Gods) Sam recite their oaths in the Godswood a mile North of the Wall. It was a nicely touching scene until Ghost ruins it by bringing back a severed and frozen hand from somewhere in the woods. Imagine being Jon and wondering if that were your Uncle’s hand your pet direwolf brought back. Not that any of us has ever had a pet direwolf but you get where I’m coming from.

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After the last episode with the Targaryens, it will be hard to follow up in this one. I still can’t get over seeing the pot of molten gold poured over Viserys’ head. It will live on as one of the best TV deaths of all time. Daenerys is trying to convince Drogo to eventually invade the Seven Kingdoms where their son will rule, but Drogo is reluctant telling her a king does not need a throne, only a horse to sit atop. However, after an assassin in the marketplace attempts to give Daenerys poisoned wine to cash in on the bounty on her head, Drogo is furious and in Vaes Dothrak he vows to invade and destroy the Seven Kingdoms for the attempt on his wife and child’s lives. This was a very powerful scene that I can’t come close to putting into a review as words. I have to give credit to Jason Momoa for sounding so convincing in a language created for the books and the series!

I saved the best for last in the events that are going down at King’s Landing. Cersei confronts Ned in a garden in the Red Keep, telling him that she thinks it’s time he went home to Winterfell after everything that has happened. Ned then reveals the realization he had come to in the previous episode; that Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella are all Jaime’s children and not Robert’s. Cersei admits to it, telling Ned of how Robert always loved Lyanna Stark even after he married her and that her and Jaime belong together. Ned offers her an ultimatum to take her children and leave King’s Landing before Robert returns from the hunt because he will be one angry King. Robert does indeed return from the hunt but he is gravely injured…by a boar. He missed his thrust and the tusks damaged him beyond repair, but at least good ole’ Robert killed it in the end. He has Ned write his last wishes, which are that Ned become protector of the realm until Joffrey comes of age. Ned writes everything but changes “son” to “heir” on the parchment, because Joffrey has no claim if he is a product of his mother and uncle’s incest. Robert also tells Ned to cancel the order of assassination against Daenerys, telling him that Ned was right. Unfortunately according to Lord Varys “those birds have flown”. This is when things start to heat up even more as Ned lets two important opportunities pass him up due to his great sense of honor.

The first opportunity is presented by Renly Baratheon, who is the King’s youngest brother if you haven’t figured that out. He urges Ned to seize Joffrey in the middle of the night so that as protector he can hold all of the power against the Lannisters. Renly even offers him a hundred men loyal to him in assistance of Ned in this task. Ned however refuses to shed blood in the castle that Robert ruled and to taking children from their beds in the middle of the night. So not only has Ned shown his cards to Cersei and alerted her that he knows of her incest, he has refused Renly’s support which would have been a great help. Next Ned summons Petyr Littlefinger Baelish to help him in taking Cersei and her children captive during the day with minimal to no bloodshed.

The Lannister men and guards far outnumber anything Ned has left with him and he asks that Littlefinger secure the 2000 men of the City Watch to help them. Littlefinger agrees even after he refuses Lord Baelish’s plan to securing the throne. Baelish tells Ned that he should install Joffrey as King and watch over him closely (pretty much as a hostage) and use his tainted birth as blackmail should he or the Lannisters ever step out of line. And if Joffrey was removed then he suggests that the more likeable Renly be brought in as King, even though Stannis is the older brother. Stannis though is so rigid and uncompromising that the kingdoms would fall into war with no one supporting his claim. Ned however will not let someone not even having Baratheon blood sit on the throne, let alone the youngest Baratheon brother. Even if it means the realm certainly falling into war, Ned’s honor only allows him to do things by the book.

Ned confronts the Lannisters in the throne room, presenting Robert’s letter making him protector of the realm and even denouncing Joffrey as having no rights to the throne. Cersei rips the letter up before everyone, ordering Ser Barristan Selmy to arrest Stark immediately. Just as the City Guard seems ready to fight the Lannisters they turn on the Stark men killing them all while Littlefinger places a dagger to Ned’s throat telling him -“You were right not to trust me.” Things are not looking good for Ned and the Starks. I promise the next episode will show why George R.R. Martin’s books stand alone from any other fantasy books out there.

I give this episode a 4.5 bears out of 5, because despite being absent of much action there was plenty of plot and character development. I can already tell that the next episode will be a five out of five and the viewers are either going to love it or hate it.


Episode 6 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 1 Review
Most Anticipated Scenes from Game of Thrones

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AMC’s ‘The Killing’: Episode 9 – “Undertow”

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After last week’s episode I’ve found a stronger interest in the show. Not that I lost interest, but this week certainly held more anticipation than the past few did. The show has found a flow as Linden and Holder have grown closer. Their relationship is what is now driving the show. Richmond’s campaign seems to be spiraling downward since going negative, and the Larsen’s have been promised that Bennett will be arrested soon.

We see Stan and Belko back to work, unloading a house and Stan is asked by a little girl for her bike out of the moving truck. As Stan gives it to her, you can see him pretending she’s Rosie. He puts her on the bike, and fixes the chain, and straps the helmet on her head. As he sends her down the road and tells her to be careful, it seems symbolic of letting Rosie go. Stan is moving on.

Linden and Holder’s warrant falls through and their wire is inadmissible. And Richmond? His release of info on Mayor Adam’s mistress has been spun by Adam’s to look like lies and Darren’s problems just continue to grow, as his supporters jump ship in the wake of the perceived lies.

As Richmond’s political aspirations dwindle, his buddy Bennett attempts to return to work. He garners support from neither co-worker or students, and his class actually walks out on him. If this isn’t a bad enough way to start the day, unbeknownst to him,  his wife has gone to Linden with the phone number of Muhammad she seeks.


Using the number given to them by Mrs. Ahmed, Linden and Holder track down the elusive Muhammad, but not before being confronted by Mitch Larsen. She is irate that Bennett is still free. And this is something that Stan is gonna hear about.

Richmond has hit rock bottom and must once again crawl to Tom Drexler for another handout. This time he wants $5 Million to fix the Somali community damaged by recent events and bad pub. He believes this will be the gesture that wins him an election. It’s a ‘Hail Mary’, or more accurately, a $5 million shot. Drexler gives Darren the Basketball and tells him the money is his if he makes it, but if he misses, he must withdraw his name from the race. Cut to commercial…

Once we return from commercial break we learn that Muhammad and Bennett didn’t kill Rosie, but have instead taken the missing girl from the Muslim community. They are trying to get her to Canada to help her escape her parents. Mitch then finds Rosie’s pink ‘Grand Canyon’ shirt in the wash and quickly realizes what we already know – Bennett didn’t kill her daughter. It’s realized too late however, as Mitch has already sicked her husband on the teacher. As the Stan and Belko open the back of their van we hear Bennett scream in terror.

Richmond returns to his office with a basketball in hand. This means of course, he hit his shot. He has his funding. The screen then cuts back to Stan and Belko as they proceed to beat Bennett. Beat him to viscously to hear Stan’s phone ring. Mitch is unable to call off the attack.

It’s a good follow-up to last week, but it does re-open the suspect list and it doesn’t get us any closer to a solution. Though, as many people have already guessed, the ‘Belko Theory’ gained some grounding tonight. As Stan is beating Amhed, Belko can be seen punching a rock in frustration. I give it a a solid 3.5/5 Bears.

 So who’s your guess?

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Review: HBO’s Game of Thrones, Episode 6 – ‘A Golden Crown’

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After the killing of his men and the injury of his leg by the Lannisters in the last episode, Ned Stark wakes up in bed to see the King and Queen standing over him. Cersei is of course angry at Tyrion being held by Catelyn, and now they’ve spun the story of Ned Stark being drunk outside of a brothel and attacking Jaime Lannister. Robert commands them both to shut it, having to smack Cersei for questioning his status as king. Robert orders Ned to make peace with the Lannisters and release Tyrion, while also offering him the clasp of the Hand back. Ned takes it as Robert leaves for a hunting trip.

Queen Punch courtesy of WARMING GLOW

Bran, Robb and Theon have their own expedition in the forest underway as the Bran gets to test out his new saddle from Tyrion’s design. Things seem to going well until the little Stark runs afoul of a couple wildlings and a Wall deserter who try to rob him. Unfortunately for them, Robb shows up and whoops some ass, and Theon finishes the job. Robb decides to let the wildling woman (Soon to be known to us as Osha.) live after she surrenders her life to him. It was interesting in this scene to see Theon speaking to Robb of going to war with the Lannisters, because that would mean weakening the kingdoms and creating an opening for his father Balon to rebel again, not to mention an opportunity for Theon to return home.

Tyrion is having a rough time himself in the Eyrie. Besides his uncomfortable sleeping arrangements in the sky cells, Mord the turn-key of the cells decides to come in and yell at him for making noise and hits him repeatedly. He finally convinces Mord to tell Lysa Arryn that he wishes to confess his crimes. After appearing in front of the court of the Vale, Tyrion confesses to a number of crimes he committed in his childhood. Putting goat shit in his uncle’s boots and tossing off in his sister’s turtle soup. It was all pretty hilarious to me, but nothing was better than actually getting to see the Moon Door and getting to see Tyrion proclaim his right to trial by combat.

In trial by combat, the accuser and the person on trial are able to either fight themselves or choose a champion. Lysa Arryn chooses Ser Vardis of the Vale while no one except the sell sword Bronn will stand for Tyrion. Bronn as you will see loves gold and no doubt expects a great pay out from the little Lannister. The fight was excellent, showing us what a crafty fighter Bronn can be. He had to be in order to beat a knight in full armor. After Ser Vardis leaves via the Moon Door, Tyrion leaves through the main door. But not before paying Mord with his gold purse for delivering the message of confession and proving that a Lannister always pays his debts. Meanwhile in King’s Landing Ned filling in for Robert at court, hears from people in the Riverlands where his wife’s father rules that there is a rather large bandit and his men burning their villages and killing their loved ones. Based on his height, Ned deduces that it must be Ser Gregor Clegane who is one of Tywin Lannister’s men and Ned announces that Clegane shall be stripped of his knighthood and all of his lands, not to mention his life. As an extra added bonus he also has the Grand Maester deliver word to Casterly Rock that Tywin Lannister must come to court to answer for the actions of Clegane and if he refuses then he will be marked as an enemy of the crown. Ohhhh boyyyy. So much for peace between the Starks and Lannisters.

Flawless. Victory. (Warming Glow)

We are then treated to a Sansa scene, where Joffrey actually comes to see her and offers her a necklace that she gladly wears. He also apologizes to her for how he acted and promises to never disrespect her and marry her so she can be queen. They even share a tender kiss after he is done telling her this. It makes me want to puke because he’s such a demented little turd and time will tell you the viewer just how sincere his promise is.

You can smell the bullshit

And now we get back to the Targaryens finally. In a Dothraki tradition, Daenerys gets the disgusting honor of eating a horse heart in front of Khal Drogo and some assembled Dothraki while Mormont translates for Viserys that her son will become the greatest Khal ever who will rule over the whole world. Viserys can finally see how there is no plan to make him king and decides to go off and sell his sister’s dragon eggs to get enough money to buy his own army. Ser Jorah Mormont stops him and shows that his loyalty lies with Daenerys and not Viserys who surrenders the eggs and storms out.

That just looks delicious… (Warming Glow)

Things get worse a little later as “the dragon” storms into the evening feast honoring Daenerys’ unborn child Rhaego. (Named after her brother Rhaegar who died by Robert’s hand at the Battle of the Trident.) The moron insults her and even draws his sword on her after Mormont tries to remove him. After Viserys threatens to cut out their baby if he doesn’t receive the crown Drogo promised for her, Drogo agrees to give him what he wants…. literally. The Khal has his men hold the Targaryen boy down as he melts down his gold belt in an empty soup pot and then proceeds to pour it over Viserys’ head in what I can only describe as one of the most brutal, yet awesome scenes in the series. The clunking sound that Viserys’ head made as it hit the ground and his screams before were just eerie as can be; and here I was worried about how they would do that scene when not on the pages of a book!

Awesome episode overall. I’m giving it a 5 out of 5 bears because the episodes keep getting better and better, and the tension is building to a climax in the next episode. I promise I won’t be able to keep giving it five bears every week because the episodes will slow a bit towards the end unless HBO has made some changes.

Review: Game of Thrones, Episode 7 – ‘You Win or You Die’

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Camelot Review: Episode 8 – “Igraine”

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Filling in for Darth this week, I have to say he’s been a little rough on Camelot as of late. Yes there were a few episodes in there that got a little slow, but this week’s I think had a nice flow to it.

Morgan is disguised as Brandi Svenning Arthur’s mother, former Queen Igraine. She has positioned herself inside of the walls of Camelot, while the real Igraine is a chained prisoner at Castle Pendragon.

This exchange is the focus of the episode with surprisingly little of Arthur actually appearing. Arthur and his champions are out of Camelot on a hunting trip, bonding as a crew. Two important things happen on the hunt. First, Arthur talks of creating a representative government for the people, which his brother Kay likens to the Roman senate. Leontes however suggested instead that each area send a champion to represent them, this is obviously the suggestion that will turn into the ‘Knights of the Round Table’.

The second event is the encounter between Morgan’s mystical wolf and Leontes. While the others sleep Leontes is meet face to face by the wolf who has been stalking the group. The wolf does nothing though, as Arthur’s champion still has too large a part to play.

“I’m in a Wolf-Pack of one.”

Back at Camelot Morgan is starting to become more comfortable in her Igraine appearance, and she’s also getting more familiar with Merlin. This was the strange part to me, I guess I just expected Merlin to sniff out the deceit, but he was just a powerless against it as everyone else. The real Igraine however is less comfortable, incarcerated  within the castle walls she once called home. This is when we get to see more and more the true character of Sybil, the nun. She enters Igraine’s prison to taunt and belittle the former Queen. This episode is also the first time we see any real flare from Igraine and she nearly kills the nun with her chains. It is only that blade of the door’s guard that stays the Nun’s execution.

Meanwhile, as the Queen is fighting for her freedom, Morgan is learning how the other side lives. She spends time with an orphaned boy who is clearly in love with Igraine and to whom Merlin is obviously also attached. The kid looks a little like Darth Vader…but a better actor.

Anyhow, this won’t grow up to be a badass like Lil’ Ani, because this kid, is dead. That’s right folks. After Morgan and Merlin give him his first ever birthday and tuck the little guy in, Morgan has another attack from the powers, which seem to be ripping her apart from the inside. Well the kid wakes up and finds who he believes to be Igraine in pain and declares that he is going to get Merlin to help. In an attempt to stop him from retrieving  Merlin, Morgan grabs his arm and inadvertently knocks him over the balcony. So after Game of Thrones, I’m starting to think they like dropping kids off of stuff in these period pieces…

Wow. Nice move Morgan.

Thinking this might cause Morgan to see the error of her ways, and retreat back to Pendragon, I am proven completely wrong as she first lets it slip to Leontes that his wife and Arthur bumped uglies, and then uses the tragedy of the day to seduce Merlin. And might I say, for someone who is pushing 40, Clair Forlani is still looking damn good.

So anyhow, back Pendragon the real Igraine is using her body to advantage as well, making a deal with the guard for her freedom. It proves deadly for the guard however, as she is giving opportunity to grab his dagger during. But hey, if you gotta go, can’t think of many better ways…

“Was it good for you?”

Igraine then escapes Pendragon thanks to a blind eye turnned by Vivian, and steals a horse to make way back to Camelot. She however cannot get in time stop prevent the cavalcade of damage. The kid is dead, Merlin slept with who he thought was the Queen, and Morgan had her little chat with Leontes about his wife and the King. This does not bode well for Arthur, as his greatest champion now knows of his treachery and the wolf let Leontes live for a reason…

Igraine, upon her return to Camelot, comes face to face with her impostor…

The house of cards Merlin has so steadily been building is starting to tumble, and it’s awesome. This was probably the best episode since the premiere. (and I’m not just saying that cause we saw Brandi Svenning’s boobs...or at least her body double anyway) I’m giving this one a 4 out of 5.

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Review: South Park – Season 15, Episode 4 ‘T.M.I.’

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After the last three lackluster episodes I’m ready for a decent South Park episode and it’s off to a good start. We begin with a good Cartman rant about how the school doesn’t care about them and accusations fly about the school posting everyone’s penis sizes in the hallway. Kyle and Stan disbelieve it, but sure enough there is a poster showing how the students have “Grown” since the last physical. Cartman has a bright idea and the boys make their own list and post it over the school’s. Catman’s of course is the smallest in his class.

Principal Victoria informs Eric that he acts too rashly because of his anger and sends him to therapy, and then anger management. Honestly, the scene with the therapist calling Cartman fat made me laugh harder than any of the first three episodes combined. I need to thank Trey Parker and Matt Stone for getting back to basics, because this episode was great.

The anger management group was funny enough with the tea bagger and white ghetto kid, but when Randy Marsh gets involved it’s just downright classic. He is sent to the group for beating the ever-loving shit out of the Surgeon General for debunking his super complex T.M.I. penis length formula. They dub themselves the ‘Pissed Off and Angry Party’ and apparently people who are so pissed off at the world and the government, are only that way because… they have tiny, tiny dicks. I’ll buy into that. I liked the inclusion of the truck nuts on the last guy’s car by the way, because the people who put those on a vehicle are complete scum.

The episode flew by and I laughed throughout, so to me, that’s a damn good episode. I give this episode a 3 out of 5 bears. It wasn’t a future classic or anything, but it was a vast improvement over the first three episodes. Now I can’t wait until next week because South Park is officially back.