Priyanka Chopra in ‘Quantico’ season 2 (Photo by Giovanni Rufino / ABC)
I’m just going to put it out there, but last week’s (September 25, 2016) episode of Quantico season two was a tad bit confusing. More so, for a show that is a hit by modern TV standards, helped bring some life back into Sunday nights on ABC, and broke color barriers for South Asian actors, let alone badass female leads, the premiere just felt a little flat. For me, there wasn’t a clear shift between Alex’s identity and experiences (along with her Quantico posse’s) to what was going on in season two.
Yeah, I get it she’s on “The Farm” and she has an assignment handed to her by Miranda and she’s supposed to pretend she doesn’t know Ryan, who is the love of her life. After this week’s episode, however, the last few minutes in particular, were TGIT style O-M-G kinda moments. When last night’s episode ended, an article I read over the summer about the show dawned on me. Joshua Safran, a frequent writer on the show, mentioned this year’s storyline will unravel slowly, but more cohesively. He wasn’t kidding!
Similar to last season, every episode includes a lesson or backstory or a lesson that traces the journey on the job – this episode was no different. This week’s episode (season two episode two titled ‘Lipstick’) was about surveillance and how to be aware of your surroundings at all times, how you are always being watched, and how no one can blow your cover. (Spoiler alert – Shelby kind of did that to Alex when Alex ended up as the “mark” or target.)
As this episode progressed, you can see writers are also trying to explore Ryan’s character a little bit further. There was one scene between Ryan (Jake McLaughlin) and Owen Hall (Blair Underwood) where you can see he was trying to peel back at Ryan’s trust issues and problems with authority, given his long and unnerving history with the now deceased Liam.
There is an interesting dynamic between Lydia Bates, played by Tracy Ifeachor, and Owen Hall, and their infatuations in working with Alex (Priyanka Chopra) and Ryan, respectively. Owen and Tracy keep saying they see potential in each of the recruits, but my Law and Order: SVUesque mind is telling me there is more than meets the eye.
As they did in the first season, the time jumps from training to present day prevail, so Ryan and Raina are trying to hold down the fort and try to diffuse (no pun intended) the terrorist situation in New York. Meanwhile, Alex is in the building somewhere trying to find a way to communicate on the outside and ask for backup. While searching for a way to communicate, she runs into an NYPD officer who eventually leads her to a bunker, but being the noble NYPD officer that he was, he pushed her in, so no one knows that the hometown hero was in the building. He stayed on the outside and alas, and that was his noble demise.
The final twist comes in the last final scenes of the episode, where Alex connects to Miranda via the phone in the NYPD bunker (okay, the sigh and cut to commercial was a tad cheesy, but eh). After some ongoing banter and Miranda’s FBI version of a pep talk to Alex, we see one of the terrorists inside the building receive a message saying “Alex Parris is Inside the Building.” Cut to the final scene and you see the message came from none other than MIRANDA! There’s your OMG moment folks.
I’ve always had some odd suspicions about Miranda even in the first season, so we’ll shall see if my conspiracy theories are validated in future episodes.
You’ll have to tune in and find out what happens in TWO WEEKS as next week’s episode is pre-empted by endless political fodder, also known as the Town Hall Debate.
Final Tip: ABC, do a better job of marketing this show. Help Quantico find its voice and not just promote this show as sexy, seductive, or steamy, because you have two attractive looking people leading the show. There’s great acting and an intriguing storyline as well, that’s frankly quite relevant considering present day affairs.
Cesar Domboy and Lauren Lyle join ‘Outlander’ (Photos courtesy of Starz)
Starz confirmed César Domboy (The Walk) and Lauren Lyle have signed on to Outlander season three. Domboy will be taking on the role on an older Fergus while Lyle was cast as Marsali, one of Laoghaire’s daughters. Fergus was played by Romann Berrux in season two of the series but with the show jumping forward in the timeline, the character has aged up and will be played by 26-year-old Domboy in the upcoming season.
Here’s the official description of Fergus, courtesy of Starz: “Born into a brothel, Fergus has grown up into a charming, devilishly handsome man with a strong sense of loyalty and decorum, despite his unconventional upbringing. He is the ultimate romantic, wearing his heart on his sleeve and falling in and out of love easily. However, Fergus’s devotion to Jamie has never wavered, making the Frenchman an integral part of the Fraser clan. Still, his debonair demeanor masks a longing for a lasting love and a permanent sense of belonging.”
Starz’s description of Marsali: “Marsali is the 18-year-old high-spirited daughter of Laoghaire. Blond and lovely, like her mother who we first met in season one when her youthful crush on Jamie Fraser was halted by his marriage to Claire, but Marsali has a rebellious and romantic mind of her own. She knows what she wants and she goes after it – reputation and propriety be damned.”
The third season of Outlander is based on Diana Gabaldon’s Voyager and stars Sam Heughan as Jamie, Caitriona Balfe as Claire, David Berry as Lord John Grey, Richard Rankin as Roger Wakefield, Sophie Skelton as Brianna Randall, John Bell as Young Ian, and Wil Johnson as Joe Abernathy.
The Season 3 Plot: The story picks up right after Claire travels through the stones to return to her life in 1948. Now pregnant, she struggles with the fallout of her sudden reappearance and its effect on her marriage to her first husband, Frank. Meanwhile, in the 18th century, Jamie suffers from the aftermath of his doomed last stand at the historic battle of Culloden, as well as the loss of Claire.
As the years pass, Jamie and Claire attempt to make a life apart from one another, each haunted by the memory of their lost love. The budding possibility that Claire can return to Jamie in the past breathes new hope into Claire’s heart… as well as new doubt. Separated by continents and centuries, Claire and Jamie must find their way back to each other. As always, adversity, mystery, and adventure await them on the path to reunion. And the question remains: when they find each other, will they be the same people who parted at the standing stones, all those years ago?
Lana Parrilla and Robert Carlyle in ‘Once Upon a Time’ (Photo by / Eike Schroter)
ABC’s Once Upon a Time season six episode two introduced us to the Count of Monte Cristo who arrives in Storybrooke with the mission of killing Snow White and Prince Charming. However, it’s the Evil Queen’s return that creates havoc among the heroes of Storybrooke as she’s behind the Count’s need to kill Snow and Charming and will be pulling the strings to set the heroes on edge. The episode kicks off with Zelena (Rebecca Mader) and the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) taking a nighttime stroll through the graveyard to Regina’s vault. The Evil Queen is taking the magic Regina has stored up and believes Zelena won’t tell on her. The Evil Queen says she won’t hurt Regina; she’ll just be teaching her a lesson. And, she promises at the end Zelena will get a sister who appreciates all of her qualities.
Henry (Jared Gilmore) and Regina are ready to begin Operation Cobra Part 2 in which Regina’s no longer the villain. The people from the Land of Untold Stories are gathered in Granny’s diner where David leads the gang in distributing supplies. Regina enters and welcomes them as Mayor of Storybrooke, telling them that she realizes they were afraid their stories would play out and that’s why they were in the Land of Untold Stories. She confides she’s also unsure of the future and just getting a fresh start, but assures them they will face the future together.
Just then Belle (Emilie de Ravin) arrives and everyone’s happy to have her back. She needs a place to stay and Emma (Jennifer Morrison) says they’ll find her something comfortable. Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) thinks he knows just the place but Emma can’t go with them because she has an appointment with Archie. Hook’s happy she’s going to counseling and Emma admits she needs it. Off Hook and Belle go to find lodging.
In walks a stranger and Henry asks for his name. He says he’s not in the book and while Henry looks, he disappears leaving behind an enveloped sealed with an ‘M’.
Flashback to a ball hosted by the Count of Monte Cristo (the stranger in Storybrooke). He toasts the Baron who doesn’t recognize him. Finally he does, calling him Edmond Dantès. The Baron put Edmond in prison after murdering his fiancée and burning down his home and now he’s back as the Count of Monte Cristo (Craig Horner). The Count wants revenge but needs to know who helped him. The Baron doesn’t name names and the Count kills him. The guests flee but the Evil Queen remains.
The Evil Queen’s impressed with the Count’s decades-long quest for revenge, and she offers him the names of the people who were involved in his fiancée’s death and destroying his life. All she wants in exchange is help getting revenge of her own.
Henry shows the letter to David (Josh Dallas) and Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin), and Henry guesses the guy was Dracula. But no, it’s the Count of Monte Cristo and David has no idea why he wants to meet with them. Regina overhears and says the Count wants them dead. He wants revenge and the only way to get it is by killing David and Snow. Regina confesses she actually hired him to do it.
Emma reveals her secret about the tremors and visions to Archie who attempts to work her through the details. He thinks if she talks about it, it will stop haunting her. He wonders why she hasn’t told her family, but as the savior she doesn’t want them to have to protect her. She wants Archie to help her win the fight and protect her loved ones, but he doesn’t have an easy answer. She leaves, unsatisfied.
Regina, David, and Snow visit the Count’s room and find more letters as well as weapons. Regina didn’t realize he’d make it to Storybrooke and now she’s going to accept the invitation and meet him so she can fire him. Snow wonders if they even have to worry about him, given the fact it’s taken forever for him to find them. Regina says, “Well, that’s not exactly true.”
Flashback to Snow, Charming, and the dwarfs looking through the latest village to be ransacked by the Evil Queen. They come upon Edmond and Snow’s handmaiden, Charlotte, sets to work healing his wounds. He looks at her strangely, saying, “Your eyes.” Edmond wants revenge on the Evil Queen but Snow says they have to rise above that. They offer him the position of wine steward at their castle and he accepts.
Meanwhile in Storybrooke, Regina meets with the Count. She wants to call off their deal but Edmond doesn’t accept. She says he doesn’t need revenge but he advises her not even she can stop him at this point. He disappears, but not before throwing his sword at Regina.
Emma promises Regina she’ll keep David and Snow safe, and she attempts to drive them out of town against their will. It doesn’t work and the squad car crashes into an invisible barrier at the county line.
Hook offers Belle a place to stay on board the Jolly Roger. She doesn’t understand why he’d risk Rumple’s wrath – and possibly his own life – for her. He explains that long ago he tried to kill her at the Queen’s castle but failed. She tells him he’s changed since then, but he insists he’s still got a long way to go before he can be someone he’s proud of. He hasn’t forgiven himself yet. She accepts his offer of a place to stay.
Regina and Henry meet Emma at the Storybrooke county line. There’s a protection spell around the city and it’s the same spell Regina’s used before, a spell that can only be worked with ingredients she sealed in her vault with blood magic. Zelena shows up and Regina wants to know who would put up a protection spell by entering her locked vault. Zelena insists she didn’t do it but doesn’t say who did.
The Evil Queen is practicing her sword fighting skills and asks the Count for a lesson or two. He can’t because he’s off to a meeting with Snow White and Prince Charming. She hands him venom from a viper which is a slow and painful poison, and he doesn’t understand what they could have possibly done to deserve it. Despite his protests, she knows he wants his revenge and will do her bidding.
Rumple (Robert Carlyle) confronts the Evil Queen right after the Count leaves, telling her h3 didn’t train her to have someone else do her dirty work. He gave her the dark curse so she could take Snow and Charming somewhere where she could hurt them. Still, she’s not worried Rumple will stop the Count because she placed a protection spell on him just like the one he put on Snow and Charming.
Back in Storybrooke, Rumple spies an open cabinet. He knows he’s been visited by the Evil Queen and she appears, believing he should be happy she’s back. She gives him back what she just took, and he offers up a deal. If she leaves Belle and his unborn son out of it, she can take the coin she wants to steal. Then in a strange and unsettling twist, she comes on to Rumple, saying their own story never played out. She thinks he’ll eventually get tired of waiting for Belle and “that’s when the real fun can begin.” Meow!
The Count puts the poison into the wine, and right before Snow and Charming take a drink they invite Charlotte to the table for a toast. He pours a glass for them, but pauses before pouring one for Charlotte. They raise their glasses to toast and he says, “Wait!” right before they sip. He removes their wine, saying he has a better bottle in the cellar.
Regina and Henry walk through the woods by the crashed ship and she blames herself for how things are turning out. They stumble upon Charlotte who’s been poisoned. She touches Charlotte and the Evil Queen appears and says, “The handmaiden’s story is catching up with her, just like yours is catching up with you. Miss me?” She then looks at Henry and tells him mommy’s back, and Regina’s completely confused as to how the Evil Queen survived. The Evil Queen can’t believe Regina threw her away, and Regina tries to use her magic but can’t because the Evil Queen laced Charlotte’s gown with a magic dampening spell. Regina puts two and two together and realizes the Evil Queen has been controlling the Count. The Evil Queen laughs and says he’s about to kill Snow and Charming.
Down at the dock, Snow and Charming tell Edmond it’s all a big misunderstanding. They try to convince him the Queen is their friend and she doesn’t want him to do this but he continues his attack. They fight back and he reveals she – the Evil Queen – has his heart. They continue fighting and Edmond gets the better of them, knocking them both out. He confesses this isn’t the ending he wishes for any of them.
In a flashback, Rumple wants to know why the Count didn’t poison Snow and Charming and he says it was because of Charlotte. He won’t try again because they don’t deserve to die. Rumple needs Snow and Charming alive, which means he has to make sure the Count won’t be tempted to kill them ever again. He poisons Charlotte instead, telling the Count there isn’t any cure. However, a special key will allow him to go to a special world. If he goes through there to the special world where all the stories stop, then Charlotte won’t die. He agrees and off they go.
Back in Storybrooke, Edmond is about to kill Snow and David when Regina stops him. Another sword fight breaks out and he says he can’t fight the Evil Queen. Regina says Charlotte has died but she wants to save him. Her magic doesn’t work and Henry can’t use his phone to call Emma (the Evil Queen did something to it). Edmond’s just about to kill Snow and David when Regina throws her sword and kills him. Henry comforts his mom and just then the Evil Queen appears. Snow and David can’t believe she’s back, and Regina threatens to rip the Evil Queen’s heart out. Regina figures out the Evil Queen actually wanted her to kill the Count to prove she still has darkness inside her. The darkness that’s been awakened will only grow, says the Evil Queen, gleefully. Snow confronts the Evil Queen and tells her they’ll defeat her again. But the Evil Queen threatens that the people from the Land of Untold Stories aren’t the only ones with tales they want to keep hidden and she’ll watch the heroes tear themselves apart.
Snow and Emma tell Regina it’s not her fault, that’s just what the Evil Queen wants her to believe. Snow says you can’t beat her by running; you have to get ahead of her plan. Snow suggests Regina should try to think like the Evil Queen and figure out what she meant by having stories they don’t want told. Emma touches Regina’s arm and once again she has a vision of her own death. Just then Hook and David enter the diner and join Henry at the counter where he’s beating himself up over the ending to the Count’s story. Henry says they need to find out why these people ran from their own stories and why they don’t want them to play out. David spots an envelope with his name on it and inside is the coin the Evil Queen took from Gold’s shop. She’s waiting for him outside the diner and he tells her the untold story attached to that coin has played out. It was his dad’s good luck charm and he’s made peace with the way his father died. She asks him if he’s sure his father’s death was an accident.
The Evil Queen gives Zelena a baby rattle her mother owned and Zelena wants to know why she’d give her a gift. The Evil Queen admires Zelena’s ability to keep a secret and now she won’t doubt her again. The Evil Queen’s convinced she’s actually the sister Zelena wants, not Regina.
Emma visits Archie and tells him he’s right. She should tell her family about her visions. They discuss the Evil Queen and Emma’s worried about who it is under the hood. She thinks it’s the one person who wasn’t with her family in the vision: Regina. Archie wonders if she’s worried about Regina or the Evil Queen. Emma’s not sure of the answer.
A&E will be premiering Live PD, a new series that offers viewers a chance to ride along live with police officers on patrol, on October 28, 2016 at 9pm ET/PT. The series will be hosted by ABC’s Dan Abrams and Dallas Police Department Detectives Rich Emberlin and Kevin Jackson, with season one consisting of eight two-hour episodes. Although the show is live, Live PD will air on a delay due to the possibility the series will “capture intense and possibly disturbing content,” according to A&E.
“Every day the demands for more transparency in law enforcement continues to come from both civilians and police across the country,” said Rob Sharenow, Executive Vice President and General Manager of A&E and Lifetime. “Live PD will not only highlight the difficult work being done by our men and women in uniform as they go out into the streets never knowing what to expect, but also answers citizens’ calls for clarity.”
David Doss is on board as the showrunner with Dan Cesareo, David Doss, George McTeague, Kara Kurcz, John Zito, Elaine Frontain Bryant, Shelly Tatro and Sean Gottlieb executive producing.
The Plot: Over the course of eight weeks, dash cams along with fixed rig and handheld cameras, will capture the work of a varied mix of urban and rural police forces around the country on a typical Friday night. In-studio host, ABC’s Dan Abrams, alongside Dallas Police Department Detectives Rich Emberlin and Kevin Jackson will guide viewers through the night, giving insight to what audiences are seeing in real time, bouncing minute-by-minute between the featured police departments and offering an inside look at each live incident.
HBO dropped the first teaser trailer for The Young Pope starring Oscar nominee Jude Law before the premiere of the sci-fi series Westworld. The series, centering around a fictional Pope from America, comes from BAFTA winning director Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty) and is executive produced by Lorenzo Mieli, Mario Gianani, Caroline Benjo, Carole Scotta, Simon Arnal, and John Lyons. Law plays Pope Pius XIII and Diane Keaton co-stars as Sister Mary, an American nun residing in Vatican City.
Season one will consist of 10 episodes, all directed by Sorrentino. The series is a Sky, HBO, and Caanl + production and will premiere in 2017.
The Plot: The Young Pope tells the controversial story of the beginning of PIUS XIII’s Pontificate. Born Lenny Belardo, he is a complex and conflicted character, so conservative in his choices as to border on obscurantism, yet full of compassion towards the weak and poor. He is a man of great power who is stubbornly resistant to the Vatican courtiers, unconcerned with the implications to his authority. During the series, Belardo will face losing those closest to him and the constant fear of being abandoned, even by his God. He is, however, not afraid of undertaking the millennial mission of defending that same God and the world representing Him.
Describing the series, Paolo Sorrentino said, “The clear signs of God’s existence. The clear signs of God’s absence. How faith can be searched for and lost. The greatness of holiness, so great as to be unbearable when you are fighting temptations and when all you can do is to yield to them. The inner struggle between the huge responsibility of the Head of the Catholic Church and the miseries of the simple man that fate (or the Holy Spirit) chose as Pontiff. Finally, how to handle and manipulate power in a state whose dogma and moral imperative is the renunciation of power and selfless love towards one’s neighbour. That is what THE YOUNG POPE is about.”
James Marsden and Evan Rachel Wood in ‘Westwood’ (Photo: John P. Johnson / HBO)
HBO’s long-awaited much-anticipated Westworld finally arrived, premiering on October 2, 2016 with episode one titled “The Original.” We’ve been hearing about Westworld for years and not all of the reports on the production have been positive. Filming was actually put on hold for a while as the overall plan for the series was reconsidered, however, the pre-premiere buzz was mostly positive leading up to episode one’s debut. The big question ultimately is whether HBO spent its money wisely on this big-budgeted sci-fi action series or if this will be a one and out like Vinyl. Based solely on episode one, it appears Westworld’s future is bright and viewers won’t be let down after such a long wait for the show.
The effects, acting, and story in “The Original” were all first-rate although the violence – in particular the violence toward women – might turn off some viewers. In interviews leading up to the series’ debut, producer J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) acknowledged the concern over the show’s violence toward women. “I would say the criticism is accurate but you can’t tell a story about oppression without depicting the oppressed,” said Abrams in an interview with the Press Association. “If it was a movie I would say: ‘Damn it, they’re 100% right.’ It’s a series and it goes somewhere for a reason. No one was going into this thinking ‘let’s do a show that somehow dehumanizes women.’ This is a show, I would argue, very much about the opposite.”
The series is set in the near future in which people can live out their dreams by visiting a park populated by androids (called ‘hosts’). Visitors pay to do whatever they please to (and with) the hosts, no matter how disgusting and depraved. The hosts, however, are unable to harm any living creature.
Westworld Season 1 Episode 1 Recap:
In the operations headquarters of Westworld, a fly crawls over Dolores Abernathy’s eyeball as she’s asked if she ever questions the nature of her reality and what she thinks of her world. She responded by saying she sees the world’s beauty.
The story shifts to the actual park where Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) lives with her parents on a ranch. Dolores is a beautiful young woman with a sunny disposition. She exchanges morning pleasantries with her dad, Peter (Louis Herthum), outside of their farmhouse and then she’s off to town for the day.
The newcomers, as Dolores calls them, are on a train heading to the Western town. They arrive at the station where they’re met by gentle townsfolk going about their ‘normal’ lives. The Western town has everything imaginable you’d expect from a Wild West setting and Teddy (James Marsden) heads to the saloon/brothel where he orders up a whiskey and spots Dolores outside the saloon. She’s so happy to see him again, and they’re all flirty as they ride out to her place against a stunning backdrop of hills, meadows, and cows. They pause on their ride and he leans in for a kiss, but she stops him and says her dad won’t be happy to see him. They finally arrive at the ranch and it’s now nighttime. They’re still a bit away from the house when they hear gunshots. Teddy rides ahead and kills the thieves who’ve broken into Dolores’ house and murdered her parents.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris) arrives and we learn he’s been visiting Westworld for 30 years. We also learn he lusts after Dolores but unlike with Teddy, she doesn’t remember him. He expresses regret he wasn’t the one who got to kill her dad and Teddy, upset, begins shooting at the Man in Black. He’s hit but not injured in the slightest and Teddy’s confused. Teddy doesn’t realize he’s a host and can’t actually hurt the Man in Black. Teddy falls at the Man in Black’s feet, incredulous. The Man in Black hauls Dolores away by the neck while she screams, taking her into the barn to rape.
In a voice-over Dolores is told there are no chance encounters. This unseen person from the corporation explains she was built to gratify the people who pay to visit the world. Dolores doesn’t grasp the concept and professes to love all of the newcomers.
And now the action reboots, with a new day in Westworld beginning with Teddy back on the train but with different newcomers sitting in front of him. Zoom out and we see the theme park is being overseen by technicians who monitor every event. They’re also busy constructing new horses and putting them through their paces. New hosts are also being created for different purposes – hookers, cowboys, etc.
In one of the cubicles where hosts are prepped for Westworld, a hooker host is exhibiting behavior outside the norm. She touches her finger to her lip and Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright) and Elsie Hughes (Shannon Woodward) are fascinated by how new programming updates are incorporated that include memories from past days in the park.
Bernard is alerted there is unscheduled activity in sublevel 83, the storage area. An armed team accompanies Bernard to the sublevel, even though Bernard doesn’t think he needs them since the hosts can’t hurt them. Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) pipes up and says all kids rebel eventually. They walk through rows and rows of naked robots, seeing nothing unusual until they hear someone talking. An old cowboy named Bill is drinking with Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) and Robert reveals he’s the second host they ever built. Robert says they broke down constantly and he tells Bill to put himself away. Bernard congratulates him on the new gestures included from the memories into the updates, saying they’re beautiful.
Dolores heads out, passing by her dad once again. He warns her to be home before it’s dark. He was once a lawman and wants her to be safe from the murderer hiding out in the hills. They are having a sweet heart-to-heart and then she heads into town.
The train pulls up to the station and it’s a replay from the prior day except the Marshal recruits a couple to help with the manhunt for the outlaw hiding out in the hills. Teddy once again sees Dolores but he’s stopped from following her by newcomers who want him to show them around. Instead, the Man in Black meets Dolores at her horse. Fortunately for Dolores, he says he won’t be visiting her tonight. Instead, he heads into the saloon to play cards.
The Marshal and his team head out and find a dead body, and the newcomers are uncomfortable and don’t want to be up there at night. As the Marshal’s talking, he breaks down, like a computer program gone bad.
Back at the operations headquarters, Bernard says the Marshal is exhibiting strange behavior that could be due to the last update. That means 200 hosts might have to be taken down. Head of Narrative Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) is upset because pulling 200 hosts would screw up all the storylines guests are engaged in in the park. Westworld’s Head of Quality Assurance Theresa Cullen (Sidse Babett Knudsen) wants to know if the 1,400 guests in the park are in danger. Bernard assures her they’re not because even if they malfunction they can’t hurt a fly. Cullen decides to not pull the hosts but to make sure they keep a close eye on everyone for any strange behavior.
Dolores is at the river, painting, when a couple and their young child walk up. There are three horses grazing and the young boy gets to feed one an apple. He says to Dolores, “You’re one of them, aren’t you? You’re not real.” She looks confused and warns them to get home by sundown because there are bandits in the hills.
Dolores’ dad discovers a piece of paper mostly buried in the earth while rounding up his cows. He shows it to Dolores and it’s a photo from now. Dolores doesn’t look fazed but he’s completely confused by what he’s seeing.
Poster for Disney’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’
Johnny Depp once again reprises his role as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth film of the franchise. The latest pirate adventure from Walt Disney Pictures has just unveiled a teaser trailer minus Depp but featuring Javier Bardem and Brenton Thwaites. Directed by Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning (Kon-Tiki), the cast also includes Orlando Bloom as Will Turner, Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbosa, and Sir Paul McCartney. Disney’s planning a May 26, 2017 theatrical release date.
The Plot: Thrust into an all-new adventure, a down-on-his-luck Captain Jack Sparrow finds the winds of ill-fortune blowing even more strongly when deadly ghost pirates led by his old nemesis, the terrifying Captain Salazar (Bardem), escape from the Devil’s Triangle, determined to kill every pirate at sea…including him. Captain Jack’s only hope of survival lies in seeking out the legendary Trident of Poseidon, a powerful artifact that bestows upon its possessor total control over the seas
Watch the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales trailer:
Alec Baldwin as Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump and Kate McKinnon as Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton on ‘SNL’ (Photo by Will Heath/NBC)
Saturday Night Live season 42 opened with Alec Baldwin portraying presidential candidate Donald Trump and SNL regular Kate McKinnon playing Hillary Clinton. The much-anticipated season opener delivered on its promise to skewer the 1st Presidential Debate, with the late night show snagging its biggest premiere in eight years and growing 29% over last year’s premiere.
Season 42’s opener was hosted by first-timer Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad) with The Weeknd as the episode’s musical guest, but it was really Baldwin as Trump that had people tuning in. Larry David also returned as Senator Bernie Sanders and Darrell Hammond was back as President Bill Clinton.
Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera) and Father Marcus Keane (Ben Daniels) move closer to uniting to fight evil in Fox’s riveting new horror series The Exorcist season one episode two. Titled ‘Chapter Two: Lupus in Fabula,’ the episode opened in a dark room with boys gathered in front of a priest. He tells them they don’t have a future and are basically nameless, and warns them he’ll be testing them. Each boy will be sent one at a time into a pitch black room with a possessed man. Armed only with a Bible and cross, one boy doesn’t retreat and remains in the room reading passages.
Fast forward to Father Marcus on a bus making notes in a well-worn Bible.
Using only the light of her iPad, Angela Rance (Geena Davis) goes to her kitchen for a midnight snack. The house is quiet around her when she suddenly hears a man’s voice. She’s shocked, finding only her daughter Casey (Hannah Kasulka) seated in a chair, facing away from her in the room. She begins recording on her iPad, watching as her daughter feels up her own body. (The voice had said she was fresh and supple.) Angela speaks to her daughter and the male voice tells Casey her mother is snooping beside her and to wake up. She jerks awake and comes to her feet, all while Angela still records. When Casey sees her mom, she looks confused and frightened.
Father Tomas speaks to Bishop Egan (Brad Armacost) about Casey, saying he sat down with her after their run-in in the attic. Casey didn’t remember, her mom is concerned and Casey’s sister, Kat, and father, Henry, are unaware of what’s happening. Father Tomas received Angela’s video of Casey and now he wants to know if he can get approval for an exorcism. Bishop Egan tells him he’s done an incredible job in the parish and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Plus, His Holiness is visiting in a month and Tomas is on the welcoming committee so it’s a big month. The Bishop says this isn’t his job and that the child just needs a psychiatrist. Bishop Egan also brings up the fact Father Marcus has gone missing.
Angela meets with her friend, Maria Walters (Kristen Fitzgerald), who was part of the group responsible for bringing the Pope to Chicago. Pope Sebastian will be sleeping in a bedroll on the floor elsewhere, but Maria wants Angela’s hotel to host his entourage. Security is critical, says Maria. The meeting ends when Angela receives a message from Casey. She calls her cell phone and only hears heavy breathing.
Rushing home, Angela yells for her daughter but there’s no answer. She calls her cell again and hears it ringing in Casey’s room. It’s there on her pillow but Casey’s not in the room. Just then Casey, Kat (Brianne Howey), and their dad (Alan Ruck) come up the stairs. They went for ice cream…so who was on the phone heavy breathing with Angela? Creepy! Angela picks up Casey’s phone and there’s a huge bug under it. Kat is apparently the brave one of the group and snatches the pillow to find the bug. Under the pillow is a mass of centipedes all swirling around in a circular group. Not even Kat’s brave enough to deal with this insect invasion.
Father Tomas returns home from a jog and his apartment door’s unlocked. Father Marcus is in the kitchen after having picked the lock, and Father Tomas doesn’t know why he’s there. Marcus wants to know if Tomas has told anyone else about the possessed girl, and Tomas admits he told the Bishop. Marcus guesses the Bishop told him to bugger off, and he wants to know if Tomas always does what he’s told. Tomas is weirded out by the visit, especially as Marcus keeps inspecting all of his possessions. Marcus believes the demon has “gone possum” and will gather strength before showing itself. He says he’ll kill it when it does and Tomas will either watch or pass out. Marcus also asks about Jessica after seeing all the letters from her that Tomas keeps on his kitchen table.
Casey’s playing lacrosse with Kat looking on from the stands. She gets tripped and goes down hard, right before they take a water break. She glances up at the stands and sees a man (Robert Emmy Lunney) waving to her while seated next to her sister. The game starts up again and the man is staring at her intently. The same girl knocks her down again as the man stands up. Casey stares at her opponent and with no one around her, the girl breaks her leg. She falls to the ground, leg contorted in a direction it wasn’t intended to go. Casey just smiles.
Marcus and Tomas are discussing what the demon will do and Jessica’s name comes up once again as someone the demon can use to shame Tomas. Marcus read the letters and Tomas says he and Jessica helped each other with English and Spanish. She was married, he took his vows, and that’s it. Marcus wants to know what else Tomas is hiding because the demon will use everything against them. He tells Tomas to break it off with Jessica, for the sake of the Rance family.
Henry, Kat, and Casey are playing Jenga and discussing toilets and pipes when Angela finally gets home from work. She joins Henry’s team and Casey tells her about the lacrosse game and the girl whose leg snapped. Kat warns Casey that mom will sic Father Tomas on her. Henry doesn’t understand and Kat says her mom told Father Tomas she was possessed by the Devil. Angela tells Henry Kat hasn’t seen the sun in months and Casey isn’t herself. Casey pulls out a piece from the Jenga tower, a piece from the bottom that should have instantly made the tower fall. Henry and Kat don’t understand how it’s possible the tower is still standing, all while Angela and Casey are locked in a staring contest. Casey has a small smile on her face as the game ends.
Angela visits Father Tomas at the church and says the demon can now move things, and it can hurt people. Tomas says Bishop Egan wants Casey to see a therapist before they proceed. Angela doesn’t want Casey to see a therapist, but Tomas says they have to follow the church’s rules. After Tomas walks away, Angela begins to fill her water bottle with holy water. She’s interrupted by Father Marcus who asks her if she knows how to use the water. He tells her to put it in Casey’s drinking water and it will be hard on the demon.
Angela takes her seat in the pew next to Henry while Casey and Kat help Father Tomas serve food to those in need. Casey serves Marcus and they introduce themselves to each other. He takes a seat in a pew and watches Casey. A man who looks homeless approaches her, saying, “Hi. I know you. He chose you.” He wants to touch her and she jerks away. Father Marcus goes to lead him out and he says the same words the possessed man said to the boy at the beginning of the episode. Marcus is stunned.
Father Tomas meets with Jessica (Mouzam Makkar), asking her for advice about Marcus. She took multiple buses to get there and he says she knows him better than anyone. It’s been 13 months and a week since they were together. He asks after her husband and she takes his hand. He pulls away, saying he can’t do this. She feels stupid and leaves, but not before telling him to send her another letter.
Father Marcus has followed the homeless man to the street and watches as he gets into a delivery van. After he leaves, Marcus looks through his tent. An elderly woman tells him everyone knows him, calling him by name and saying they all feared him until he lost that little boy. He orders the unclean spirit out and she stands, asking in a male voice, “On whose authority?” She’s not frightened and the demon’s not leaving her body. It’s not working, even after he places the cross on her forehead. She says, “So, it’s true what they say…” She is not compelled and walks away but not before placing her hand on his face and saying, “The mighty Marcus, vessel of nothing!”
Back at home, the Rance family sits down for dinner. Angela has secretly poured holy water into Casey’s glass, watching every movement Casey makes at the table. She apologizes for being late for game night and being distracted. She also apologizes to Kat for not knowing how to handle her pain and what she’s been going through. Casey sips her water and nothing happens.
The family is acting pretty much normal, clearing plates and talking. Casey heads upstairs saying she has studying to do. She races to the bathroom and throws up her dinner and the holy water (pea soup!). As she’s leaning over the toilet, she reaches into her mouth and pulls out the centipedes in one long, continuous string.
Later, Casey’s sitting outside with a book, by herself. The stranger from the stands at the lacrosse game approaches and she tells him she thinks there’s something really wrong with her. He says it’s just a “glorious seed breaching the soil, a fresh glimpse of the sun.” He sits next to her and asks her to tell him everything. She leans her head against his shoulder and tells him what she thinks is going on.
Father Tomas looks through Father Marcus’ tattered notebook. He’s upset Marcus’ book has the blood of tortured children, and Marcus asks why Tomas thought the man at the church was hearing voices. Marcus explains it’s because he recognized the demon in Casey. Marcus believes Casey isn’t the only one possessed and that there are many demons here. Tomas wants him to leave and instead Marcus describes his horrific childhood. He was seven when his dad killed his mom in front of him. After the murder he was sent to a boys home before being sold to the Church. At 12 he was locked in a room with a demon. He asks if Tomas was scared when he saw the demon in the attic and Tomas admits he was. Marcus said he felt relief because at 12 he finally had a purpose. “I was the gun and the Church was the hand and the words were true.” He saw God’s face once and it was so loud he couldn’t hear it. Now he says he’s not fit and Tomas should know that. He swears on his life he can try to help. Then it’s Tomas’ turn to admit things. He says he saw Jessica today. Marcus suggests they do this together, and they begin praying.
For the third time in the episode a young man is seen on a bicycle. This time he’s returning home while wearing headphones and listening to music. He doesn’t realize his father’s dead and his mother’s being attacked in the other room. She’s killed and then the murderer comes after the young man. He’s also murdered and the killers leave the murder scene with body parts. They join others, including the homeless man from the church, in the street. Each is carrying a small cooler. Half a dozen or so of these men get into the same white delivery van that picked up the homeless man earlier in the evening.
Marcus is still at Tomas’ place when the news comes on reporting the murders of nine people. Few details are given but they were all brutal stabbings. It’s assumed this is gang-related.
A lighted billboard showing the Pope’s back with the words “He Is Coming” is shown on the street.
The CW’s set to debut the new drama Frequency, inspired by the movie of the same name, on October 5, 2016 at 9pm ET/PT. Frequency isn’t the only new series with time travel elements, however Mekhi Phifer says what sets this one apart is the fact the time travel is just the backdrop to a character-driven story.
Phifer and his co-stars Peyton List and Riley Smith were promoting the new series at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, participating in a Q&A with Con attendees as well as sitting down for roundtable interviews to further discuss the series from executive producers Jeremy Carver (Supernatural), Toby Emmerich (The Notebook), John Rickard (Horrible Bosses), Dan Lin (The LEGO Movie), and Jennifer Gwartz (Veronica Mars). Phifer talked to us about the time travel aspect and more during our interview in July.
Mekhi Phifer Interview:
Mekhi, are you just doing a cop drama because the time travel doesn’t really affect your character?
Mekhi Phifer: “No. It does in the sense that it affects the people I really, really care about. Riley’s character, Frank, being my best friend and me sort of being the fun uncle but when he passes away becoming more of a mentor and a surrogate father in essence for Raimy, Peyton’s character. So, the drama that they’re going through whether he’s alive in my reality or he’s dead is very much affecting me because it affects these people and their attitudes.
I don’t know yet what could be going on but at some point it’s going to be like, ‘How come you guys are always at the right place at the right time for some odd reason? How is that possible?’ It will start to raise those sort of questions. Even though I’m going about my own normal life in essence, I am being affected – and I will be affected by – their talking to each other.”
Is it hard to keep track between the past and the present and what your character knows and doesn’t know?
Mekhi Phifer: “Not yet. As far as me as an actor, that’s an interesting thing. Reading the scripts is very much a highlighting experience because you have to really literal highlight, ‘Okay, so this is ’96. I know this then and then this happens so now I don’t know that.’ And then bouncing back to 2016…so it’s a little bit tricky. But that’s what I love about acting and doing a multitude of different projects. There’s always something new around the bend. I get to sort of explore and do things that I haven’t done before.
It does help to have that mindset because, yes, it is very intricate for me. But when you see it as an audience, it’s not confusing. But it’s about us putting in the work and making sure that everything lines up in the right way so that as an audience you’re not going, ‘Oh, come on! Last episode they said this. This doesn’t make sense.’ So it’s really an effort between the writers and us to make it authentic, as much as time travel can be. It’s an interesting process.”
Brad Anderson directed your pilot and he has done a lot of horror and thrillers. What is he like as a director?
Mekhi Phifer: “Brad’s a great director. He really has a great way of one, communicating with the actors, but he also has a great way of telling the story. I think that there’s a lot of directors who can just shoot something, but there’s not so many that can tell a good story. I think that he was able to tell the story and then add a certain element of the suspense.
When I saw the pilot I was very impressed with the way that he shot it, the way that he edited it. I really felt like it was a suspense element. Not just because I’m in it but I really wanted to see what happens next when it’s over. ‘Okay, now where do they go with this?’ So he did a great job of setting the tone I think. Hopefully he’ll do more episodes throughout the season.”
There are multiple time travel shows this season. Is time travel the new vampires? How do you explain the trend?
Mekhi Phifer: “Well the thing about ours I think which is different than the basic genre of time travel… I think that time travel or the ham radio aspect is really sort of a backdrop or foundation from which the stories are being told. It’s really a character-driven piece. There’s a lot of emotion with a lot of real world – if there was a real world of butterfly effects.
It’s not like we’re getting in a time machine and then all of a sudden we’re running from dinosaurs or anything like that. I just think that it’s a great anomaly that happens that lends itself to a great mystery, a great detective drama, a suspense mystery. There’s a sort of multi-genre thing about it.
I think it’s a creative way to almost have never ending stories. I think you can go to so many different places with this sort of thing, especially with ours. I haven’t seen the others but with ours, one change of something in the present or one change of something in the past really affects when you come back to the present. I get asked a lot, ‘If you could change one thing in the past…’ it’s really hard to answer that because then it would affect something else and I may not be here and I’m very happy to be here. So, yeah, I think that’s part of the trend that people get really psyched about, if it’s done well.”
