Dead Hand

Here we go!

Some time has passed since we last saw the Jenners. It’s 1987 and they’ve gone forward with the plan of staying, with Philip retiring from the spy game and Elizabeth continuing the work. Henry is now at board school and has a spot on the hockey team. Judging by the girls in the stands cheering him on, Henry is doing well socially as well. Paige is now in college (I think she’s a junior) and has stuck with her parent’s secret job. She informs her mother about a certain professor at the school and she’s in what looks like regular contact with Elizabeth’s handler, Claudia.

Philip and Elizabeth now live separate lives. The change in Philip is immediately apparent. The travel company is thriving in new, larger, offices. He’s into line dancing, he’s got a sweet car, and he has the time to go see Henry play hockey. Elizabeth is in the trenches. She’s up to her eyeballs in the shadows. She’s working some kind of angle in someone’s home as a caregiver and another job has her managing a man in a honey pot scenario. Then Claudia sends her to South America to meet in super secret, a Soviet general.

Philip is happy. He looks much better, he genuinely smiles. He digs what he does at work (we watch him give a rousing pep talk to his employees) and he’s embraced line dancing like you wouldn’t believe. He knows the steps, he loves the environment. Elizabeth is burning herself up at both ends. She never stops working for the Mother Land. She looks dower and exhausted every waking second. They made the right moves for each other. Philip is no longer at risk of imploding and Elizabeth still has the drive to solider the immense pressure and responsibility for spying for the Soviet Union.

Paige is committed too. She’s actively doing work with Elizabeth, staking out men who are involved in the huge summit meeting in Washington between Ronald Regan and Mikhail Gorbachev that is coming up in 9 weeks. There’s another woman working with them but she doesn’t know that Paige is Elizabeth’s daughter. While on the job, a guy who works at the nearby Navy facility (looks like he’s on security duty) notices her in the car. While investigating her, he pulls a shady move to get her to go out with him over the weekend. He asks for 2 forms of ID and she gives her drivers license and school ID. He keeps the school ID as collateral to get her to come out on Saturday.

When Paige meets up with Elizabeth later, she’s upset that she was noticed by security. But Elizabeth reassures her: you did everything you were trained to do. You didn’t raise suspicion and gave him fake info. It’s nothing to worry about.

Now this mission from the South America meeting is a massive one. The man she meets tells her of Dead Hand, the Soviet “last resort plan” to strike the United States with nukes should America strike first. The system is being built to be completely automated. One person needs to start it and it can’t be stopped. He and his side of the “old” government are afraid Gorbachev is going to give away the Dead Hand project in return for the US to stop their “Star Wars” defense program at the summit. They believe that the US can’t be trusted in these negotiations, that have to keep Dead Hand, and it’s very existence, to keep the Soviet Union together. Elizabeth is on board. Her mission is to find out what’s going to happen at the summit. If Gorbachev intends to sell out the Soviet Union, they’re going to have him killed to stop it. And in a chilling move, the man says, “Now that you know of Dead Hand, you can’t be arrested” and gives her a necklace with a cyanide capsule hidden in it.

And then Philip is drawn in from the other side. Back in Moscow, Arkady is now in command of the program that runs the spy operation, basically Elizabeth’s boss. He finds out about Elizabeth meeting with the Soviet general and that was not sanctioned. Soviet leadership has splintered. The general represents the side that wants no change, that the US can’t be trusted. Arkady represents Gorbachev, that it’s time to change politics to keep from being left behind in a changing social and economic world. Arkady needs to know what Elizabeth’s mission is and he can’t use his power because there are defectors all over the place. It would tip off the other side. So he seeks out Oleg, now a family man working for his dad in transportation to fly to the US to talk to Philip. This is crazy dangerous for Oleg. If he gets spotted in the States, he’s never getting out of prison. If he gets caught by the anti-Gorbachev movement at home, he’s dead. Arkady leans on Oleg’s patriotism to get him to go.

Using the old dead drop techniques to contact Philip, Oleg meets up with him (I love the spy stuff so much). Oleg uses the same lines that Arkady used on him to get Philip to move. At first, Philip swears up and down that he wants nothing to do with this, he’s been out for years. But Philip has embraced America. He doesn’t disparage his new home like Elizabeth and Paige do (and it’s unclear how in touch he is with what Paige is currently doing with her mother). So Elizabeth is for the status quo, while Philip is for the change. They’re on different sides in the same house. And then there is the ominous final request Oleg gives Philip. If he finds out Elizabeth is ultimately up to no good, stop her at any cost..,

Elizabeth takes matters into her own hands with the Navy officer. She figures out where he is the same night Paige meets him (which is also the same night Philip meets Oleg) and shanks him on the street! Elizabeth took this dude out with extreme prejudice. She doesn’t want anyone to know about Paige and made the executive decision to cut off this threat then and there. A burst of violence and extremes in an otherwise calm episode.

Finally, Elizabeth returns home. Another brutal day, another life on her hands. Philip wants to talk to her right when she walks in. She’s in no mood to talk and shuts him down at every turn. More than just wanting to sleep, she’s angry at him. Jealous too? It must make her boil that all of this is up to her now. For the longest time they shared the burden and like she told Tuan last season, you need someone to be by your side for this line of work or you’ll never make it.

Now, I’m not sure what Philip was going to tell her. I got the sense he wanted to tell her everything because he doesn’t want to play spy in his own house. He’s done with it and wants to warn his wife of what’s going on. But would he have? He lets her go upstairs without saying anything and I don’t know how he’s going to approach this now.

Riveting start and I skipped over Stan (still with Renee) and the Anderholts (Dennis being Stan’s partner) who now have a baby. There’s a very brief scene with Renee seemingly fishing for info (is she a spy?) while Elizabeth eavesdrops.

The honey pot scenario was left entirely alone but the caretaker job got some significant looks. I didn’t catch what the husband does but there was a rather large focus on the ill wife being an artist. She constantly draws and Elizabeth pays no mind to it until the woman talks to her about it. While this woman is very attuned to things, very observant to create (she draws Elizabeth while she’s sleeping at one point), Elizabeth is very detached. She doesn’t care or think about anything beyond her mission. Elizabeth tells her she doesn’t really look at art and the woman laughs. When Elizabeth does focus on one of her rather haunting works, you get a sense that she sees herself.

This year, Baskets was a season about growing up.

Christine Baskets has her kids, they’re who she holds on tight to. Her father was terrible and her brother picked up many of his traits. While they aren’t estranged and meet up, Christine has needed to assert herself to him many times. Her DJ twins are successful, career wise anyway. As such, they’re on the own and only check in here and there. They’re distant.

Chip and Dale are in her orbit. Chip tried to leave Bakersfield (and failed) and Dale made his own business in town (which eventually failed along with his marriage). Chip and Dale have had a difficult time succeeding and with their father committing suicide years ago, there’s that specter always hanging over them. Christine especially feels guilty and worries about Chip and Dale (especially Dale this season).

A lot of what Christine does is to provide for her kids, to fix what goes wrong. She’s always the safety net. They know where they can find her no matter what happens and despite how many times they take advantage of her.

She also adopts Martha in a way. Maybe she’s just looking for a friend but she ends up treating her like a child. It’s not until Martha tells her how controlling she is, does Christine realize that she doesn’t listen to what people tell her (much like Dale).

The Baskets Family Rodeo represents the pinnacle of Christine’s efforts. A massive investment to get them all working together. And Chip and Dale, of course, do what they always do. Chip was the first one to come around though. He’s the more clear-headed of the two and considering how much he fights with Dale (which is almost always his fault) that’s not a surprising turn of events.

Dale had a really rough time this season and his meltdown(s) were especially bad this season. His constant pushback on Ken turned out to be an exemplary demonstration of how good of a person Ken is. Someone who does and can make his mother happy. Ken isn’t an enemy.

Considering how obnoxious Chip and Dale can be, it’s a wonder how well the writers can make this show work. A large part of that is how good Zach Galifinakis is at playing both characters. They share similar traits but they read as two completely different people. And Louis Anderson holds them together as Christine. Now she may not be the constant glue as her boys have come to realize that they aren’t kids. They need to grow up and rely more on themselves.

I’m very happy this season of The Detour turned out so well. I think how much I hated the season finale of 2 skewed by the perspective of that entire season when most of it was really funny.

This season took place entirely in Alaska with the Parkers still on the lamb. With the family on the run for going on two years, they’re all getting worn down and in desperate need to get some semblance of a life back. When you have to lie to everyone (and your parents being often bad at said lying) that’s hard to do. There was a good mix of outlandish gags with honest family moments. The Detour has never been afraid to be absurd and I think this arc found a good tone to stick with.

With the family trying to settle in one place, it gave everyone something to do and work on. Robin and Nate try to get jobs, Jareb’s run as town mayor was hilarious, and Deliah’s struggle to be a normal girl was the strongest part of the family. She’s rebellious (the hell she gives her mother is great), smart, and witty. She keeps her cards close to her chest and you have to keep an eye out for her.

And man did they stick the landing. The complete opposite of last year. It was like watching a murder mystery come together (and as such I won’t be specific about what happens, I think it works best to go through the realization of what happens with the characters). It weaved together many smaller moments from the entire season brilliantly and brought the main arc of the series to a close. The set up for another season is intelligent, something I never considered at the start of the season. I was surprised and honestly affected by the last moments of the show. The writers knew exactly where they wanted to go when they started writing. Next year (if it happens, I don’t know if it’s been greenlit) is going to be very different and I’m excited to see where they take it.

The SYFY Channel got a lot of weird looks when they announced Krypton. A show in the Superman world without Superman that starts two generations before he’s born? Has anyone asked to see that?

So out of the box thinking and the potential is there for something interesting. It’s an alien planet with a society that’s been talked about in the comics for generations but has never been explored in any extensive way. Superman is part of the DC trinity so there’s a lot of love and expectation there.

The premiere kicked off this week and I like what I’ve seen so far. The production is really good, SYFY put up the money to make Krypton on TV. Great sets, costumes, and attention to detail. CG set extensions and full CG scenes (cityscapes and ships) are very well done. So the world looks believable. What about the characters?

I don’t recognize any of the actors, so for me, there’s no cast hook to reel me in. I’m fine with that and it usually makes it easier for me to like characters and suspend disbelief. I don’t know the actor from anything else so the role they are playing “is” them. So far I like all the cast I’ve seen too. The writing can be a bit on the nose (scenes are clearly built to push you on one side of the good/evil character scale) but I’m OK with that for a pilot. The show is doing everything it can to get the audience onboard as quickly as possible. Here are your main characters and here’s the problem: find out what happens next with us!

So without Superman. what is this show about? The show is called Krypton and it takes place on Krypton so the built-in canonical story of Superman’s home blowing up cuts any “gee, what’s going to happen here?” off at the knees. So what’s the pitch here? Adam Strange travels back in time (and to another planet, another good trick) to deliver Superman’s 21 year old grandfather, Seg-El, a dire message. Something is coming to Krypton to keep the galaxy’s greatest hero, Kal-El, from being born. And that thing is The Destroyer of Worlds, Brainiac.

In terms of Superman villains, they don’t get any more dangerous than Brainiac. A major foe in every metric, it makes sense for the android alien collector to come up with the idea of going back in time to keep the biggest thorn in his side from making it to Earth. They show him too and he looks amazing! An actor (Blake Ritson) in prosthetics, it looks like they’ll be using little to no CG for his portrayal. This gives us all sorts of angles to consider

First, we get to see the society of Krypton and Kal-El’s family explored in ways we’ve never seen before. And what’s Brainiacs full plan? Kill Seg-El? His wife or maybe both? Wait until they have a child (Jor-El, Superman’s father) and kill him? Then we have the destruction of Krypton, the reason why Kal gets sent to Earth. Does Adam Savage tell Seg-El about it, potentially messing with what happens? Does Brainiac offer to help stop the destruction of Krypton, saving billions of lives? He could make the deal that no Kryptonian leaves the planet in return (and also the promise that he himself won’t harvest from the planet and destroy it)?

There are some shades of Game of Thrones on display. Family names are a big deal on Krypton and there is a very clear class system at work. While Krypton is really technologically advanced, if you’re not born into the right family, it looks like your life is going to be way more difficult. The show starts with the House of El being ripped of it’s standing so we’ll be seeing a lot of that.

Finally, one thing jumped out at me. While everyone speaks English for obvious reasons, I don’t think I heard one attempt at making new vocabulary. All slang is American, even “shit” is used as a curse. That jumped out at me as being very odd for a world that is very far from our own.

I’m excited to see where this goes. If they can keep this quality and improve on the few sagging bits, SYFY could have their next The Expanse on their hands.

Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block has finished its run and I think I liked No End House more. The hook for Butcher’s Block was cannibalism but I never thought the show ever got scary. Something always felt missing and by the end, I wasn’t surprised to come away with little more than a shrug and thinking “I guess so.” Maybe I had no connection to the mental illness action, or I missed the important subtext, but very little stuck with me. Some wild imagery brought up the creep factor (the representation(s) of Alice’s fears being the standout) which is what I’ll remember most. I didn’t get attached to the sisters like I needed to and outside of Rutger Hauer, none of the characters stood out to me. I’m having a hard time articulating my disappointment for this. I guess I just wanted more and maybe it wasn’t developed in ways I thought it should.

McMafia is….alright. Feels rather paint by numbers and nothing really special. This week’s episode with getting into the dock was well done, but I’m having a hard time finding good reasons to stick around. And why did they name this show McMafia? McMansion is the obvious wordplay but I don’t understand what kind of possible relation they’re going for. AMC doesn’t even seem to believe in the show as it’s being replaced for a week by the premiere of The Terror.

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead was the best I can remember in some time. Angry and impulsive Rick is the best. We finally we got to see him go after with Negan and get to him. They charge right in without wasting time and the fight turned out to be one of the series most unique action scenes (could have used less dialog though). Maggie is getting more screen time and I like seeing her throw he weight around. The more executive decisions, the better. I thought Michonne was going to pistol whip Enid, so there’s another successful scene. And Simon being fed up with the status quo is great! That power dynamic needs to be thrown in a blender because Negan is beyond boring. Keep hitting the same notes and everyone is going to start demanding to hear a new song.

Now the challenge is if I can remember it all.

Arrow is finally going through a story arc that is bringing something new to the table, not just whatever bad guy is the biggest problem. Internal strife has pulled the team apart and it feels like something of long-term consequence is happening.

Gotham is on its third Poison Ivy but it looks like we have hit the comic book version with this one. And if I’m not mistaken that was The Toymaker! It said Krank on the storefront window so that’s a rather recent pull from a modern animated Batman show. Rebel without a cause Bruce cracks me up and Selina finally sees him and calls him out. I look forward to this every week and I’m happy it’s back.

The Walking Dead had a powerful episode. Funny how that happens when it’s about a character you care about. Interesting set up for the last half of the season, I’m not much of a believer that they’ll make it work and keep up the quality.

Atlanta is back! It feels like it’s been forever. Guest appearance by Katt Williams and he was fantastic! Earn is trying to keep his space next to Paper Boi and the plot used for Katt created a revealing look at how Earn feels and what his fears are. Strong character study right out of the gate.

The mini-series Waco finished but I haven’t watched the final episode yet. Really good, Taylor Kitsch is fantastic.

Baskets remains awesome, I have an odd love for this show.

McMafia is a new show on FX. I usually dig the shows this network picks up so I gave it a shot. The show is about Alex Godman, the son of a Russian mob boss who was kicked out of the country. Alex grew up in England and lived a luxurious childhood, an Ivy league school education and now heads his own business on Wall Street. His uncle still works on the less legal side of business and a bad deal brings Alex directly into a world he’s tried to keep clear of. An interesting pilot episode with the hook of the show coming in the last 10 minutes of the show. I’m intrigued by the setup and I really like the lead actor, James Norton, who I first saw on the fantastic Happy Valley.

And that’s just the start. Once April kicks in, we’re looking at Silicon Valley, Westworld, Archer, Krypton, The Terror, and The Americans. My backlog of series is growing, there’s not enough time in the day.

The Detour is back on TBS. I hated the season 2 finale but two episodes in and the show is back on track.

Baskets is back on FX. More people should be watching this.

Happy! has finished it’s first season run. Wild show that was smartly 8 episodes long to tell its story. That left no time to waste so it moved along and had no chance to get stuck in a rut or overstay its welcome. I think enough background to the characters were given and satisfying resolution at the end made for a complete story. A good start with a perfect set up for more, I look forward to the next run.