Taboo: Season Finale Review

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Full spoilers for Taboo continue below.

There were extreme highs and disappointing lows in Taboo's Season 1 finale, which brought the London-based story to a close, killed off a lot of central characters and sent James Keziah Delaney off to claim his birthright in the Americas.

First: the good. Taboo has been building toward a massive confrontation between the various forces at play: the Crown, the Americans, the East India Company and, of course, Delaney. The payoff there was fantastic, with a big shootout in front of Delaney's hard-won ship that had real stakes. The action sequence was well shot, but more important was how it had so many of the central characters in the same place at the same time. It felt like a real culmination of everything we've been working toward.

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The Flash: "Attack on Central City" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Gorilla Grodd is the gift that keeps on giving. As if it weren’t enough that The Flash took us on a trip to Gorilla City last week, now we got to see a full-on, Planet of the Apes-style attack on Central City in this week’s follow-up episode. Despite the obvious budgetary limitations at work, “Attack on Central City” still managed to deliver a winning blend of character drama and speedster vs. ape action.

As great as it would have been to see all 42 minutes devoted to nothing but speedsters wrestling with armored gorillas, there’s only so much the effects team can feasibly accomplish. It’s impressive enough that they’re able to bring an all-CG character like Grodd to life at all, much less put him at the head of a literal army of super-intelligent apes. So while this episode took its sweet time getting to the battle royale, at least that battle didn’t disappoint in the end. The scope in that climactic showdown was about as huge as we’ve seen from this series.

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Dragon Ball Super Episode 80 Review

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Warning: The following review contains spoilers for the episode.

Episode 80 features the long overdue return of Gohan as a fighter in the second exhibition match of the Tournament of Power. He faces Lavender, an opponent who is interesting in his own right and serves as a great counter to Gohan, which helped deliver a wonderful fight and further hyped up excitement for the Tournament of Power. Some moments towards the end bring the overall episode down a bit due to some strange story decisions that don’t make much sense given the information (or lack thereof) that we’ve been told before.

It had been a long time since we’ve seen Gohan in a true fight, and I was pleased with how Super went about reintroducing his character. Instead of simply powering him up and throwing him in the ring, they took the time to highlight what makes him unique as a fighter. Gohan has always been a far more thoughtful fighter than many of the others, and they’re able to show that off wonderfully during this episode when he’s blinded and must use his wits to survive in battle. As silly as it might be, I really enjoyed the idea of Gohan using his Super Saiyan aura as a means of radar — what a unique way to use that golden glow! I was a little surprised to see him going Super Saiyan, though, and hope in the future they address what’s become of his Mystic/Ultimate form that he achieved back in the Buu Saga from DBZ.

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24: Legacy: "4:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M." Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

The show should really be moving faster than this. It is hard to look at this episode as anything more than treading water. The quality of the episodes this season may be a bit erratic, but at least each episode’s plot works towards something. A single shocking moment and decent end to the episode saved what otherwise would have been the weakest of the season.

I admit it; I was wrong about Gabriel being Tony. It just seemed so perfect.

Carter and Ben took center stage this week. While their interactions were generally interesting, it’s hard to see much growth when Ben is annoyingly optimistic and Carter communicates mostly in scowls and side-eye. Ben has never been a very sympathetic person -- their conversations in the car seem like a last ditch effort to make us care about him, but it just didn’t work for me.

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Torment: Tides of Numenera Review

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"Reading," the Nigerian poet Ben Okri said once, "is an act of civilization." Torment: Tides of Numenera embraces this idea, pairing a whole fantasy novel’s worth of quality quest text with a design foundation that champions chatting with enemies rather than running them through with swords. It's a strange concept in the context of most roleplaying games, and Torment: Tides of Numenera delivers a satisfyingly strange world to complement it. It's too bad that the combat falls short when it's actually necessary, but the surrounding world usually presents enough memorable wonders to make up for it.

As a spiritual successor to 1999's Planescape: Torment, one of the finest (and strangest) RPGs ever made, Torment: Tides of Numenera embraces its predecessor's isometric design with its use of the capable Pillars of Eternity engine. More importantly, it preserves Planescape: Torment's weird philosophical tone and aesthetic, filling the screen with everything from quasi-medieval markets to entire cities crafted out of meat.

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Supergirl: "Homecoming" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Among its many other strengths, Supergirl has been a real boon for fans of Lois & Clark who miss seeing Dean Cain running around the DC Universe. Heck, the show hasn’t even gotten around to adding Teri Hatcher to the mix yet. This week’s episode was heavy on Danvers family drama as it brought Cain’s Jeremiah Danvers back into play in a big way. Unsurprisingly, that made for a strong and very emotionally charged conflict.

It was easy enough to predict the broad strokes of this episode ahead of time. Of course Jeremiah’s sudden return wasn’t going to be what it seemed. His most recent appearance in “The Darkest Place” was plenty suspicious already, as he conveniently showed up just in time to free Kara and send her on her way. So it was never really a question of whether Jeremiah was a Cadmus spy, but only when and how his true motives would reveal themselves.

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Night in the Woods Review

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The Walking Dead: "Hostiles and Calamities" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

First things first: You can play Yars' Revenge right here. It's dope.

Now, onto "Hostiles and Calamities." AKA Season 7's third in-depth tour of The Sanctuary. Yup, every time someone new from Alexandria arrives in Neganville, we get more "here's how things work round here" story. It's repetitive to say the least. Also, given that most of us are assuming this season will end with a big all-out war between the Saviors and Rick's Alliance (whenever the show decides the time is right for everyone to get their s*** together), a lot of this was more wheel-spinning.

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Black Sails: "XXXIII.: Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Last week, in my Black Sails write up, I briefly mentioned Flint's error in agreeing to Eleanor's deal so quickly. Silver obviously wasn't on board and now Flint was going to send Silver back out to the beach, without a side conversation, to listen to Billy Bones' side of things while Flint sat in a cell, influencing no one. A fool-hearty move, for sure. Overly trusting and foolish.

Surprisingly though, that wasn't how everything got totally honked up this week. Eleanor and Flint were both wrong to assume that others would carry out their wishes. The two of them are, essentially, trapped inside that fort now and relying on others to follow through. It almost all came to a crashing end on the pirate side this week, in "XXXIII.," when it seemed like Silver was going to go along with Bones' plan to hijack the Urca loot. But where it actually failed was on Eleanor's end. She put all her faith in Woodes and he didn't budge one damn bit.

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HBO's Big Little Lies: Episode 2 Review

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Note: The second episode of HBO's Big Little Lies is available to watch early on HBO Go and HBO Now before it airs Sunday night on HBO. Full spoilers for the episode follow.

If the first episode of HBO's miniseries Big Little Lies was about introducing the feuding mothers of Monterrey, Calif., then the second was about drawing the battle lines.

Reese Witherspoon's Madeline is the kind of woman who knows everyone - but in "Serious Mothering," it became abundantly clear that it's because she inserts herself into other peoples' conflicts. Madeline might be well-meaning, but she's the town busybody. And when you concern yourself with fights that aren't your own, you're bound to make a few enemies.

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Taken: Series Premiere Review

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I'm sure we all had the same thought when NBC announced a TV series based on the Taken trilogy. "Is Bryan Mills going to have to rescue his daughter every single week?" Instead, Taken the series serves as a prequel to Taken the film, though only in a very loose sense. And for the most part, the series is more notable for the ways in which it diverges from the source material than how it replicates it.

Taken stars Clive Standen (Vikings) as a young Bryan Mills, who even at this very early stage is already a proficient killing machine and expert brooder. The series also stars Jennifer Beals (The L Word) as Christina Hart, a shadowy government operative with a marked interest in Mills' talents. Luc Besson remains on board the franchise in the role of producer, while Homeland's Alexander Cary serves as showrunner.

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Star Wars Rebels: "Through Imperial Eyes" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

“Through Imperial Eyes” was another high point for Season 3, delivering a tense and involving episode centered on Agent Kallus.

This episode had me from the very beginning, with the very unusual element in this series of presenting things from Kallus’ literal POV for a moment, thus making the episode’s title quote literal. The disorientation here as Kallus (and those of us watching) heard the familiar Imperial alarm and were given an update by Stormtroopers on what was occurring was a terrific way to immerse the viewer into Kallus’ experience.

Oh, and we saw Kallus use a sink! Is this the first canon Star Wars sink or am I forgetting prior sink-connected adventures? Either way, I hope this indicates a bigger use of sinks in Star Wars’ future, including in The Last Jedi.

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Night in the Woods Review

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Night in the Woods is all about the little things. Late-night diner adventures with friends; spontaneous rooftop stargazing; chatting about ghosts with the crust punks who hang out on the outskirts of town. Moments like these come and go faster than you can swing a bat at a batch of discarded light bulbs out behind the local snack mart, but thanks to earnest, heartfelt writing and a good helping of dry humor, they also lingered in my mind long after they’d passed.

While some pacing issues hamper the excitement of this side-scrolling, story-driven adventure’s latter half, I never stopped feeling invested in the personal stories of its adorable anthropomorphic animal cast, whose individual struggles and flaws make them surprisingly human and often painfully relatable.

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Dragon Ball Super: Episode 79 Review

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Warning: The following review contains spoilers for the episode.

Returning to what Dragon Ball knows best, Episode 79 is all about fighting as Majin Buu and Basil kick off the first exhibition match of the Tournament of Power. Although there is little in the way of story, Episode 79 stays entertaining thanks to the intense and unique fight while also dropping a few hints about the future, such as who the mysterious figure is that stands with Universe 11.

The draw of Episode 79 is the big fight and it doesn’t disappoint. Majin Buu has always been a strange character, which makes his fights fun to watch as his style is radically different than everyone else’s. Laughing off each hit and bouncing around the arena like a balloon is exactly what I’d expect from him. They counter his childish personality with that of Basil, a hardened fighter who uses kicks as his primary form of attack, something we rarely see in Dragon Ball. Without these two different personalities, the fight surely wouldn’t of been as entertaining, as Buu’s silly antics can sometimes be too dominating when he’s on screen.

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Powerless: "Emily Dates a Henchman" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Powerless may not be everything a superhero fanatic could want out of a workplace comedy set in the DC Universe, but it is getting pretty good about doing a lot with very little. This week's episode managed to deliver an entertaining, Batman-focused storyline without ever actually featuring the Caped Crusader in person.

Apparently a lot of time has passed in the Powerless universe since the pilot episode, as "Emily Dates a Henchman" opened with our plucky heroine celebrating her six-month anniversary at Wayne Security by moping over an ex-boyfriend. One "girls night out," Emily found herself a seemingly perfect boyfriend with one rather glaring character flaw.

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Legion: "Chapter 3" Review

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Spoilers follow for this episode and the comics on which Legion is based.

As the third episode of Legion begins, we meet Melanie’s talking cappuccino machine -- which, by the way, how much do you want one of those right about now? -- as it relays a folk tale to Melanie. It’s the story of a poor woodcutter and his wife who find a crane caught in a trap and free it. Later they meet a girl and she moves in with the couple. They come to love the girl as a daughter, and her talents as a weaver bring them great wealth, but when they betray her trust she is revealed to actually be a crane -- and she flies off, never to be seen again.

David - mutant or monster?

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Arrow: "The Sin-Eater" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

This week’s Arrow was one of those cases where the show tried to make up for the lack of one good villain by pooling several lesser villains together. Nothing in the show’s near-five-year lifespan has done much to suggest that China White is a compelling character. And while Cupid has had her moments (mainly during her short-lived stint as a Suicide Squad member), she too has pretty well worn out her welcome by now. It says something when the return of rogue cop Liza Warner outshone either of these costumed villains.

While the idea of several recurring Arrow villains joining forces sounds fine on paper, the China/Cupid/Liza alliance didn’t result in a particularly noteworthy conflict. Surely the show has more important threads to explore than a group of ladies trying to rob the ghost of Tobias Church? Apart from a handful of solid action sequences, China White and Cupid didn’t have much to offer this week.

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It's Always Sunny: "The Gang Tends Bar" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

"The Gang Tends Bar," at face value, was another attempt by Dennis to try and get everyone else in the Gang to act normally. To behave like civilized, responsible adults who understand good will and consequences. Naturally, Dennis' hopes were crushed at almost every turn while he tried, in earnest, to get his friends and family to just be Paddy's Pub employees.

It's a familiar premise, for sure. And usually, within this arc, Dennis himself winds up becoming unhinged in very Dennis-like ways. See "Wolf Cola: A Public Relations Nightmare" for the most recent example of Dennis destroying his own best laid plans. But here, surprisingly, Dennis stuck to his guns. He really did want everyone to just serve customers. To work at the bar that they all supposedly "ran" together. This was their shot at normalcy. To gain a healthy stream of regular clientele. So it's fitting that they failed miserably.

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The 100: "A Lie Guarded" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Alright, Jasper. You’re being annoying. A different kind of annoying, sure, but come on…

Well, okay, I do like that he’s pranking Jaha and Clarke, which makes the old "Camp Jaha" name for Arkadia feel a lot more literal, complete with wacky hijinks. But the bit with him standing in the rain was frustrating, not to mention predictable as a fake out. Clarke should have been like, “There’s no way they’d kill you at the top of an episode like this!”

Jasper and Monty finding Clarke’s list and the fallout from it was good drama, to be sure, as was them learning neither of them are on it. But I wish at least one of them could see her side of it better. Monty essentially said he could see why she made the decisions she made, but not why she’d make them in the first place. But Monty, dude, you know this is the potential end of humanity here! All of which is to say that it is a good moral quandary in place here, even if Jasper’s going too far with his reactions to, well, everything.

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Inhumans vs. X-Men #5 Review

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IvX started out on a strong note but took a fairly steep dive in issues #3 and 4. That had as much to do with the change in artist as the progressively more sluggish pace. Issue #5 addresses the latter complaint, at least. The conflict between mutants and Inhumans is heating up again as Charles Soule and Jeff Lemire gear up for their grand finale.

The plot basically stalled out in the previous two chapters, with the X-Men sweeping the major Inhumans off the board and then stalling in their attempts to destroy the last remaining Terrigen cloud. Finally, things seem to be clicking back into place as the Inhumans launch their counterattack and the X-Men are suddenly on the defensive. This issue includes several terrific confrontations, including Havok staring down Medusa and Fantomex trading blows with Karnak inside the surreal landscape of The World. But easily the best showdown involves the brutal clash between Colossus and Gorgon. Too many writers seem to forget that Colossus can be funny, preferring to paint him as an eternally morose mutant who loves to wallow in his own suffering. Hopefully this issue will inspire Colossus' characterization in X-Men Gold.

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Get Out Review

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Throughout most of Jordan Peele’s Get Out, all the way up to its final act, you keep waiting for the metaphorical pointed white hoods to come out -- for the movie’s awkward social racism to transition to violent, overt racism. But while there is something sinister behind the Armitage family’s accepting facade, the party they throw when daughter Rose (Allison Williams) brings home her black boyfriend Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is not a secret white power rally.

That’s definitely what you’re meant to think, whether from watching a trailer or simply paying attention to the movie’s bread crumb trail of clues. But that’s not the way it goes, and by the end you’ll realize that Get Out excels at inverting your expectations. Like Chris, you’re being manipulated. And it works on so many levels.

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Justice League of America #1 Review

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This isn't actually the first issue of DC's new Justice League of America series, but it might as well be. Justice League of America Rebirth #1 was a very formulaic team-building story, which is all the more frustrating given the fact that this issue shows readers everything they need to know about the new JLA in itself. But the good news is that, freed of the need for setup, Justice League of America is already a stronger comic.

This series has two main selling points at this early stage - the quirky team lineup and Ivan Reis' artwork. The more action-oriented focus in this sophomore issue emphasizes both selling points. Reis could hardly have found a better home in his first ongoing DC Rebirth assignment. This is a team comprised of heroes who are physically powerful but much more flawed and human than the regular Justice League. That plays directly to Reis' storytelling strengths. He's able to craft figures that are as vibrant and emotional as they are powerful. This issue features several epic splash images, but often it's the more intimate, close-up panels that stand out the most.

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Elektra #1 Review

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It's still depressing that Marvel's previous Elektra comic didn't find a wider audience, as it was about as gorgeous a comic as one could find on the stands in 2014. Even with a drastically different stylistic approach in this new series, the art remains the big selling point as Elektra returns to the forefront of the Marvel Universe.

Writer Matt Owens and artist Juan Cabal don't seek to reinvent the wheel with this new series. As is her wont, Elektra is hiding from the demons of her past and seeking some way of helping those who aren't fortunate enough to be deadly ninja assassins. That neverending quest now brings her to Las Vegas, where she catches wind of a mysterious villain allowing high-rollers to toy with human lives. Basically, a lot of bad people need stabbing, and Elektra is just the ninja for the job.

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The Amazing Spider-Man #24 Review

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Too many Marvel and DC events suffer from the decision to split the story between a core mini-series and several tie-in books. The core series generally has room to cover only the big story beats, while most of the character development is reserved for the tie-ins. If not handled elegantly, the reading experience becomes disjointed and unsatisfying. This is a problem that's plagued The Clone Conspiracy particularly at the end. The Clone Conspiracy #5 wrapped without giving the conflict adequate closure or definitively addressing the fates of many key characters. The Amazing Spider-Man #24 attempts to rectify those problems, but it's only partially successful.

Unfolding both during and after the events of The Clone Conspiracy #5, this issue sheds more light on the ultimate fate of both Ben Reilly and Otto Octavius. The issue is at its strongest early on as it continues exploring the sudden, bitter rivalry between Ben and Otto, the latter of whom clearly hasn't forgotten every lesson he learned as the Superior Spider-Man. Sadly, Otto drops out of the story after the first act, leaving the rest of the issue to focus on Ben's efforts to rebuild his shattered empire.

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DC's Legends of Tomorrow: "Camelot/3000" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

When it was revealed that an upcoming Legends of Tomorrow episode would be titled “Camelot/3000,” a whole bunch of fans of the classic 80’s maxi-series Camelot 3000 suddenly had cause to be excited. Unfortunately, it turns out that the title is more an homage to that comic than a sign that it directly inspired this episode. It was probably too much to hope that The CW even had the rights to Mike Barr and Brian Bolland’s work in the first place. It’s not as if it’s a traditional, DCU-focused story. Even so, this episode made the most of the medieval setting.

The Legends continued their hunt for the fragments of the Spear of Destiny this week, with one notable new wrinkle. We learned that Rip enlisted the aid of the Justice Society, scattering tis members across time and entrusting them with pieces of the spear. This new twist not only helps give the overarching conflict a little more cohesion, it also allows the show to make use of the JSA characters who seemed all but forgotten after the first few episodes.

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Taboo: "Episode 7" Review

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Full spoilers for Taboo continue below.

James Delaney's plan to take all his allies and head to Noutka Sound seems like a bit of a pipe dream now, no?

The penultimate episode of Taboo: Season 1 sees Delaney's best laid plans come crumbling around him, but they sort of needed to. This is not the type of show where the hero -- no matter how flawed he is -- moves forward in the linear direction he planned. Instead, it's a narrative which has fits and starts, and circles back in on itself to offer character exploration and introverted reflection. And ultimately, Delaney's journey isn't about amassing wealth and living a happy life on a plot of land in America, any way.

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Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: "Self Control" Review

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Full spoilers for Marvel's Agents of SHIELD continue below. And considering this was one doozy of an episode, read on at your own risk.

Well, that was certainly one of the best episodes of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD that has ever aired, and without a doubt the best episode of Season 4 to date. We knew going in that "Self Control" would conclude the second "pod" of the season, "L.M.D.," and kick off whatever storyline would lead us to the end, but Hydra running the world? Certainly did not see that coming.

In our preview for tonight's big episode, Jed Whedon told me that one of the challenges of this season was trying to stay one step ahead of what SHIELD's smart audience expects. Most of us probably assumed that the show would be sending its main characters into the Framework, but I doubt many of us expected what we'd find inside. (If you did, claim your kudos in the comments!) Hydra in charge?! Simmons is dead?! Skye Daisy and Ward are an item?! This truly is the Upside Down.

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The Flash: "Attack on Gorilla City" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Every so often, one of the Arrow-verse shows will do something that forces you to marvel at how far this superhero universe has come since the gritty, grounded days of Arrow: Season 1. “Attack on Gorilla City” was definitely one of those episodes. Who would have thought four years ago that we’d one day see Flash, Vibe and Killer Frost travel to another universe to do battle with Solovar and Gorilla Grodd in the middle of Gorilla City? And all that a mere 24 hours after Supergirl and Mon-El battled Mr. Mzyzptlk. You have to admire the willingness of these shows to explore the craziest corners of the DC Universe, week in and week out.

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Halo Wars 2 Review

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It is said that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. In that sense, Halo Wars 2 is the de facto king of real-time strategy games on consoles, where the venerable genre is underrepresented because of the challenges of managing a lot of units at once on a gamepad. Like its predecessor, Halo Wars 2 does a reasonably good job of overcoming many – not all – of those challenges, but compared to the best RTS games on PC, where it also exists, its campaign missions are flat and unambitious, and its distinctive Blitz multiplayer mode sacrifices the stability of a level playing field in the name of fast and unpredictable action.

I admire Microsoft’s effort to expand its prized Halo series into something that spans beyond an endless procession of first-person shooters, and with Halo Wars 2 (like Halo Wars before it) we get to experience this sci-fi universe from a perspective that emphasizes the scope of its battles. Seeing instantly recognizable vehicles like Warthogs and Banshees on the field adds an inherited personality to what is otherwise a fairly standard set of units. While there are substantial differences in tactics thanks to the unique Banished (a rebel faction of the Covenant) units like suicide grunts and airborne Blisterback artillery, the greatest distinction between them and the UNSC Marines comes from support powers like bombardments and buffs cast from above.

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Marvel to Launch 12 New Comics in May

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Marvel released their full lineup of solicitations for May 2017 today. May is shaping up to be a pretty huge month for Marvel, as the X-Men and Inhumans lines continue to grow and the company kicks off 2017's big summer event, Secret Empire.

New Series:

• All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #1-2
• Black Bolt #1
• Cable #1
• Generation X #1-2
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout #1 (one-shot)
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Mother Entropy #1-5
• I Am Groot #1
• Jean Grey #1
• Luke Cage #1
• Rocket #1
• Secret Empire #1-3

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Berserk and the Band of the Hawk Review

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If there was ever an anime or manga that was ripe for a Dynasty Warriors game treatment, it’s Berserk. The legendary 100-Man-Slayer’s gruesome story translates well to an action game about hack-and-slash murder sprees, and wielding his giant hunk of iron in Berserk and the Band of the Hawk felt powerful and satisfying… until it got a little too simple and repetitive.

After I got over Band of the Hawk’s inexplicable lack of co-op (nearly every other Warriors-style game includes it), I jumped into the lonely single-player action gameplay. Like the rest of Dynasty Warriors’ many spinoffs, it’s easy to grasp and superficially satisfying, especially when performing specials in the form of Death Blows to eradicate entire swarms of enemies in explosive displays of blood and guts.

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Bates Motel: Season 5 Premiere Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

After a bit of thumb-twiddling in Seasons 2 and 3, Bates Motel rocketed back with a moving, thrilling fourth season, setting us up for a final endgame season that looks to take us through the entire Norman Bates saga in a really unique and captivating way.

When the show first started, there was an idea floating around that it'd work solely as an origin story. As in, the show was meant to take us right up the front steps of Hitchcock's Psycho and deliver us a neatly wrapped Norman, ready to grow up and become the man who murders Marion Crane in the shower. As the seasons went on though, and Freddie Highmore began crafting a really interesting, and severely damaged, character, it became clear that it would be a disservice to simply treat this show like a prelude. It needed to tell a complete story with very little winking regarding "what's to come" after the final credits roll.

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Supergirl: "Mr. and Mrs. Mxyzptlk" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Supergirl waited an extra week before dropping its Valentine’s day-themed episode, but it was definitely worth the extra wait. “Mr. and Mrs. Mxyzptlk” found plenty of success in exploring two of the show’s key relationships this season, while also throwing in a classic Superman villain and a Hamilton spoof for good measure. What’s not to love?

It was certainly a refreshing change of pace to have an episode where it felt like the villain mattered as much as the main cast. Even after a year-and-a-half, that’s not a formula Supergirl really seems to have cracked. It was equally refreshing to see a villain that allowed the writers to really lean into the campy source material. There was no attempt to water down Mr. Mxyzptlk (played by Queen of the South’s Peter Gadiot) or replace his back-story as a fifth-dimensional imp with something more grounded. Sure, he looked quite a bit more suave than the squat, garishly dressed Mxy of the comics, but otherwise it was all there.

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24: Legacy: "3:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M." Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

24: Legacy turned a corner last week and for the first time really felt like an extension of the original. While this week’s episode wasn’t quite as good, it was still a solid outing. We got to see Carter operating within CTU for the first time and the extended period spent inside felt right. The fourth hour of this series allowed the side stories to take most of the focus, while the main plot received important exposition for what has yet to come.

Drew's dead! ...again. I don’t know why I cared so much about this guy. Looking back, he had maybe three scenes where he wasn’t unconscious but I was still pulling for him. But to bring him back just to kill him again? It seems like a waste on the surface. However, it did allow for Amira to be the one that kills him, which is important enough to warrant this seemingly cheap conclusion to a character's life. Mr. Harris’s lackey nature felt like a miss; despite him snapping, his character lacked the emotional punch something that surprising should illicit. On the other hand, Amira’s internal struggle was an attempt to humanize her. As she is seemingly unable to do it herself, her finally pulling the proverbial trigger was an attempt to humanize someone that just murdered an innocent teenager... while weak in the moment it plants the seed for her to eventually make the right decision later.

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Horizon Zero Dawn Review

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There’s something about being dropped into a brand new game world and finding it to be dense with deeply considered lore, terrifyingly aggressive creatures, and tantalizing questions that leaves an indelible mark on the memory. Horizon Zero Dawn is one of those games, and it carves out a unique identity within the popular action-roleplaying genre. Coupled with wonderfully flexible combat and a story that touches on unexpectedly profound themes, I found it hard to tear myself away from Horizon even after I’d finished its main campaign some 40 odd hours later. 

A sense of urgency is established from the get-go, as Horizon’s premise is a big mystery that begs to be solved. The questions raised by protagonist Aloy and the primitive, feral machine-infested open world she inhabits kept me guessing throughout: what’s at the centre of it all? Although Horizon suffers from occasionally corny dialogue that belies its smarts, the broader ideas it prods at - the nature of creation, for example - are remarkably ambitious.

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The Walking Dead: "New Best Friends" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Man, what a weird episode.

Were the Garbage People of Trashlandia a part of the comics? The show is now past where I stopped reading so I don't know what's a straight adaptation anymore. Either way, I need some answers here. Maybe answers are coming. Maybe we'll get an explanation as to why these oddballs act like they've been living in a Mad Max apocalypse for two generations and not just a handful of years like everyone else, but until that happens the verdict is that these folks are pretty damned goofy.

Yes, "New Best Friends" introduced us to a entirely new community of zompocalypse survivors, but unlike the Saviors and Hilltop, who act like real people (and real d-bags), and the Kingdom, who live in an agreed upon delusion, the Garbage People feel like they all escaped from the same mental hospital.

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Black Sails: "XXXII." Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

After it seemed like Silver and Flint were one unit, one confident and united front, Chapter "XXXII" worked to start tearing their alliance apart right at the seams as Bones found a way into Silver's psyche and Flint went ahead, against Silver's wishes, and made a giant deal to end the entire conflict.

Not only do we have the inevitable Silver/Flint rift beginning, but the buried treasure is right at the heart of it. So while "XXXII" may not have been as roaring or thrilling as the premiere, or even last week's installment, it gave us some big storyline moves that definitely now show us a clearer picture of the fast-approaching endgame.

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Star Wars Rebels: "Legacy of Mandalore" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Considering it was a pretty direct follow-up to the last episode, it’s too bad there was several weeks between the airing of “Trial of the Darksaber” and “Legacy of Mandalore.” Then again, “Trial” was such a heavy, emotional episode perhaps it was for the best to give us a bit of a breather.

Ultimately, if viewed as a two-parter, “Legacy” was the weaker installment, though to be fair, it’s being measured against one of the best episodes the series has ever done. But there was still a lot to enjoy here, as we delved into “modern” Mandalorian society (modern as measured against its portrayal in The Clone Wars) a bit more directly, having only seen certain warrior factions in previous installments.

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For Honor Review

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For Honor’s combat is the kind of brutal melee I always wanted, but never thought I’d actually get to play. Its third-person action-game exterior hides a strategically complex fighting game, mixing team-based action with less interesting solo modes, all built on the most flexible and technically complete melee fighting system I’ve ever experienced.

For Honor lives and dies on its fighting system, dubbed “The Art of Battle” by Ubisoft, and it’s the reason For Honor is more like a traditional fighting game in the vein of Street Fighter or Soul Calibur than the hack-and-slash Dynasty Warriors it appears to be at first glance. Locking onto an opponent puts you into “duel mode,” for lack of a better term, where you can change your guard to block left, right, or top. You can block incoming attacks from the direction you’re guarding, and you have to read which direction your opponent is guarding and attack from one of the two directions from which they’re vulnerable to successfully hit.

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The Great Wall Review

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Matt Damon is one of the most popular American movie stars of his generation. Similarly, Zhang Yimou is a filmmaker of supreme technical and emotional skill, which he’s been showing off consistently ever since his debut in the late 1980s. So on the surface, a team-up between Damon and Yimou, in what is set to be the filmmaker’s first English language feature, should be cause for excitement. But strangely enough, the anticipation surrounding The Great Wall - an ambitious Hollywood and Chinese co-production hitting theaters stateside this weekend - has been surprisingly low these past few weeks.

Unfortunately, The Great Wall doesn’t do anything worth getting all that excited over either, which, despite featuring some entertaining and technically impressive battle sequences, is a shockingly boring outing from both Damon and Yimou.

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Big Little Lies Review

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The wealthy, postcard-perfect beachfront town of Monterey, California -- as seen in HBO's new series Big Little Lies, at least -- is like a vision board brought to life: architecturally stunning homes, cosmetically beautiful people, Blue Ribbon schools... Why wouldn't you want to live there?

But underneath that stellar exterior lies plenty of problems, big and little, that its inhabitants must face. Mo' money, mo' problems.

Yes, it’s another story about rich people problems: ambition, complicated female friendships, love, privilege, abuse, and even murder. But the A-list cast and beautiful direction from Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyer's Club) give the well-worn stories a compelling edge. You might’ve seen this plot play out before, but not by these particular superstars.

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Logan Review

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In some ways, Logan is the Wolverine film that many fans have long awaited, replete with a heavy dose of R-rated violence, adult language and earth-shattering, gut-wrenching revelations. And yet, Hugh Jackman’s final appearance as the X-Man that made him famous also serves as a meditation on the very nature of superhero stories and the comic-book movie genre itself.

Based loosely on the Old Man Logan storyline from the comics, the film takes place in a future that’s not quite post-apocalyptic, but sure seems to be teetering on the edge. Mutants have all but vanished from the population, and the few that remain appear to be in hiding. That includes Logan and a diminished, ancient, and mentally deteriorating Professor Xavier. The return of Patrick Stewart to the role is one of the hugely satisfying aspects of Logan, as the revered thespian finally gets to bring a true depth to the character -- if in a distinctly new way. His Professor X has always been mostly sidelined in the movies, but not in Logan: Sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious, this is an Xavier you’ve never seen before.

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Crashing: Series Premiere Review

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Comedian Pete Holmes, of the You Made It Weird podcast and TBS' (regrettably) canceled Pete Holmes Show, has landed on HBO with executive producer Judd Apatow -- who directs this first episode -- and a quasi-autobiographical story about an aspiring stand-up whose life is thrown into upheaval after he catches his wife having an affair.

It's an incident that leaves him "crashing" on people's couches while his life, in turn, "crashes" down around him, forcing him to live a bit more dangerously and uncomfortably than he'd grown accustomed to. Holmes has an amiable, squishy and unassuming presence and I'm really happy he's rounded third here with an HBO series, but, as with most Apatow tales of woe, he's become nestled within this "unlikable nice guy" persona where he's almost too milquetoast to be believed. It's sort of an aggressive version of being obtuse that really tests our limits for sympathy.

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Powerless: "Sinking Day" Review

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

You can pretty much break down Powerless' problems to two main areas. It doesn't make great use of the DC Universe setting, and it gives its talented cast depressingly little to do. "Sinking Day" managed to address both problems in one fell swoop. After a thoroughly bland premiere and an only marginally better sophomore episode, things are looking up in week 3.

This was the first episode where it didn't feel like the episode could quickly and effortlessly be rewritten to remove all the superhero elements entirely. Sure, The Olympian isn't exactly an A-List DC hero, and a group of random Atlanteans is no substitute for "A to the Q" himself, but it still felt like the writers were taking advantage of the DC setting in a way they've been reluctant to before.

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Why Is Batman Fighting Elmer Fudd?

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Did you ever think you'd see the day when Batman added Elmer Fudd to his rogues gallery? Well get ready, because four of DC's most popular superhero characters are about to go to war with the Looney Tunes cast.

Today DC announced a quartet of "DC/Looney Tunes Specials" that mash up the DC and Looney Tunes universes. Check out the covers to all four specials below:

DC didn't reveal any other details about these new books, so we're not sure if they're meant to be isolated one-shots like March's DC/Hanna Barbera crossovers or if we're looking at a full-blown Justice League/Looney Tunes crossover. The idea sounds slightly less strange in the wake of recent crossovers like Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Justice League/Power Rangers.

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Fist Fight Review

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Ever since the first Friday film opened in 1995, Ice Cube has enjoyed plenty of success in comedies. He’s found a nice niche for himself in a genre that has, surprisingly, produced more hits than misses for the rapper-turned-actor. Over the past two decades, Cube has amassed an impressive filmography with appearances in films like the Barbershop, Jump Street, and Ride Along series. Cube continues his comedic winning streak in the satisfyingly crude Fist Fight, a film light on plot and character development, but one that still often shines due to its hilarious star-studded cast.

Cube plays frightening and short-tempered high school teacher Strickland, who’s hellbent on fighting his poor co-worker Andy Campbell, played by Charlie Day. Strickland challenges Campbell to a classic after school brawl after Campbell gets Strickland fired over a class incident. Make no mistake, while Cube is excellent playing yet another hard-edged tough guy, Charlie Day steals the show as the sweet and lovable Campbell. Day is the center of attention in Fist Fight. The story takes place in a single day and follows Campbell’s creative and risky attempts to weasel his way out of the fight, which cause some crazy consequences for him. To top it all off, most of the staff is getting fired and students are pulling some harsh pranks on teachers during this last day of school.

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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #12 Review

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The future is here, and it's not looking good for the time-lost teens with attitude. The latest from Kyle Higgins and Hendry Prasetya further taps into the vast mythology at their disposal, making for a uniquely exciting and visually immersive installment.

Given the dramatic nature of last month's reveal, it wouldn't have been at all unexpected had Higgins decided to let the mystery linger. He instead opts to do the exact opposite, quickly confirming that Tommy and Billy have in fact been transferred to an alternate reality. Of course, the actual nature of that reality goes quite a bit further, as its revealed that Lord Drakkon, aka Tommy 2.0, once walked a very similar path to our own Green Ranger. Good versus evil can be an all too simple concept if handled incorrectly, and Higgins does a nice job of differentiating the two Tommy's beyond their seemingly obvious inclinations. At this point Tommy is largely viewed as a "good guy", but he's also conflicted, knowing full well the origins of his massive power. In Lord Drakkon, we don't get a character who succumbs to the evil energy, but rather submits to it, and it's that dichotomy that provides the book's strongest character moments.

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Venom #4 Review

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Marvel's latest Venom comic has some elements working in its favor, but nothing so far has allowed it to overcome the hurdle poses by its bland protagonist. And with all of Marvel's teases regarding a drastically different status quo in May's Venom #150 (and the possible return of Eddie Brock), what incentive do readers have to invest themselves in the series right now? Not much, if Venom #4 has anything to say about the matter.

Perhaps it was a mistake to make former Venom host Mac Gargan such a prominent fixture in the series. This issue features the first big clash between the old Venom and the new, and Mac has a bad habit of stealing Lee Price's thunder during their scenes together. Mac is a fun villain, regardless of whether he calls himself Venom or Scorpion. Lee is just the the dull, emotionless soldier.

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Legion: "Chapter 2" Review

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Spoilers follow for this episode and the comics on which Legion is based.

David Haller’s slightly less crazy adventures (when compared to the amazing pilot episode from last week) continue in this second episode of FX’s Legion, which kicks things off more or less right after that first tale. Well, more or less being the operative term because the series continues to play with time and narrative so that we’re never fully sure where Dan Stevens’ David is at all times.

Still, we are getting a better grasp of things now, so as the episode begins with a cover (performed by series star Rachel Keller) of Talking Heads’ “Road to Nowhere,” the lyrics seem to sum up where David is at the moment quite aptly: “Well we know where we’re going/but we don’t know where we’ve been.” David is going to Summerland, the hidden retreat of Syd (Keller) and the mutants led by Jean Smart’s Melanie Bird (glimpsed at the end of the pilot) who rescued David.

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