Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings and Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings in ‘The Americans’ (Photo by Patrick Harbron / Copyright 2016 FX Networks)
There’s good news and bad news for fans of FX’s critically acclaimed dramatic series The Americans. The network announced they’ve renewed the award-winning series for two more seasons, however they’ve also confirmed season six will be the show’s final season. Season five will air in 2017 followed by the show’s final season in 2018. Season four is currently airing on Wednesdays at 10pm ET/PT, with three all new episodes remaining. The finale will air on June 8, 2016.
Season five will consist of 13 hour-long episodes. Season six will finish up the show’s run with 10 episodes. The Americans was created by writer/executive producer Joe Weisberg. Joel Fields also writes, executive produces, and is a co-showrunner with Weisberg. Graham Yost, Chris Long, Stephen Schiff, Justin Falvey, and Darryl Frank are involved as executive producers.
“Through its first four seasons, critics have lauded The Americans as one of the best shows on television and, remarkably, a series that keeps getting better every year,” said Eric Schrier, President of Original Programming for FX Networks and FX Productions. “All credit for that achievement goes to everyone who has worked on the show, and especially Co-Showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, Graham Yost, our brilliant stars Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Noah Emmerich, Allison Wright, Holly Taylor, Annet Mahendru and the ensemble cast for their incomparable performances every season. We have no doubt that this two-season order will allow Joe and Joel to tell this story to its perfect conclusion. On behalf of our producing partners at Fox 21 Television Studios and Amblin TV, we look forward to a brilliant final act of the Jennings family saga.”
“I echo the sentiments of our friends at FX in congratulating Joe, Joel and everyone at The Americans on creating one of the most critically acclaimed, thought provoking and spectacularly acted television shows ever to be broadcast,” added Fox 21 Television Studios President Bert Salke. “It remains our privilege to partner with FX Productions on this series, and while we are already mourning the eventual end, we are grateful to FX for this generous two-season pickup that enables the show to go out on its own terms and gives the creators time to craft a final stretch as satisfying as the show itself.”
“It’s hard to believe we’re heading into the final stretch on The Americans, and we’re so grateful to know we’ll be telling the story to its conclusion,” stated Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg. “The best part of the last four years has been the intensive and fruitful collaboration with all of the people who make this show – the teams at FX, Fox 21 Television Studios, FX Productions and Amblin, our amazing cast, crew, and production team and our fellow writers. It’s a lot of people putting their hearts and souls into The Americans, at this point for a lot of years. We’re looking forward to the final two.”
The Plot:The Americans is a period drama about the complex marriage of two KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban Washington D.C. during the Reagan administration. The arranged marriage of Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) grows more passionate and genuine by the day, but as the pressures and demands of the job grow heavier, the personal toll becomes almost too exhausting to bear. Having revealed their true identities to their teenage daughter Paige (Holly Taylor), Philip and Elizabeth must keep her best interests at heart while ensuring that their cover identities, and thus their lives, remain protected. Their previous missions have already placed Philip and Elizabeth in great jeopardy. Martha (Alison Wright), a valued secretary at the FBI whom Philip married while undercover, has been an invaluable source of intel. However, when her cover is nearly blown, Philip must make increasingly difficult decisions to ensure her safety and allegiance. The Jennings’ neighbor, FBI Agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), could also prove to be a renewed threat. His KGB lover/asset Nina (Annet Mahendru), having failed to turn him against the U.S., was sent back to Moscow to face an unsure fate. With Nina gone, Stan has made an effort to become closer with his family, and has formed a bond with the Jennings’ 12-year-old son, Henry (Keidrich Sellati). He has also cultivated his relationship with KGB officer Oleg Burov (Costa Ronin), behind the back of Oleg’s boss, Director of the KGB Rezidentura Arkady Ivanovich (Lev Gorn). Stan’s newfound dedication to wiping out Directorate S has also led him to become suspicious of Martha’s uncharacteristic behavior. As he begins to investigate what’s been in front of him all this time, he might finally get closer to uncovering the “Illegals” – Philip and Elizabeth – that have eluded him for so long.
It was a double feature of CBS’ action crime series Person of Interest‘s season five on Tuesday, May 24, 2016. The first episode titled “Qso” had Root (Amy Acker) being placed by the Machine to look after Max, a late-night radio talk show host who specializes in conspiracy theories and aliens. All the while Root keeps talking to the Machine, telling her she wants to focus on trying to find Shaw (Sarah Shahi) but the Machine is determined Root needs to protect Max.
It turns out that Max, along with one of his regular listeners, has been working on a coded static message that he discovered on his radio. He hasn’t been able to crack it but has decided to go public with it. This isn’t a good idea because it’s actually being created by…yes, you guessed it…Samaritan. So now Samaritan operatives are after poor Max, something Root is able to figure out after he lets her hear the code and she realizes it’s a way that Samaritan can communicate with its operatives.
When Root asks Reese (Jim Caviezel) to go check on Max’s regular listener after he called in threatening to kill himself, Reese enters his apartment only to discover the listener has been dead for over a week. The message had been digitally spliced together by Samaritan to create the suicide call. Reese is in the process of telling Root this when Max loses control of his broadcast board to Samaritan and it activates a spliced monologue of Max saying he’s going to off himself. Root realizes that Samaritan agents are on their way to kill Max so she works quickly to get Max out undetected by the security cameras at the station.
While Root and Max are heading down to the lobby via the back stairs, she calls Finch (Michael Emerson) and the two of them realize in talking that the code Samaritan is using may actually be a way for Root to get a message to Shaw. Root puts Max in the supply closet to keep him safe, telling him not to move until she comes back for him. Root goes back to the control room and, using a technological toy the Machine told her to “borrow” earlier in the episode, discovers it’s the printer in the room that has the Samaritan malware on it and is creating the signal. She uses it to send a coded message to Shaw hoping she will get it. Of course, just as Root is finishing Samaritan’s agents arrive.
Root says she’ll give up without a fight if she’s taken to the holding cell where Shaw is being kept. A computer’s voice comes across one of the radio speakers saying it can’t see Root (the Machine’s ID covers for her operatives and blocks Samaritan from seeing their true identity) but will agree to her terms. It’s then that Reese enters, shooting the two Samaritan agents and disconnecting Samaritan briefly from the control room. Root is not pleased with John telling him she was going to finally find Shaw. Reese responds by telling Root she can’t give herself to Samaritan, that she would be playing right into its hands.
Root and Reese offer to take Max back to meet Harold and get him a new identity but Max refuses. He now knows part of the truth that an AI is out there spying on the world and trying to control it. Root tells Max not to broadcast the signal or talk about it and that as long as he does that, he’ll be left alone by the deadly AI. Later when Reese and Root are back in the subway headquarters/hideout they hear Max broadcasting info on the signals and what they really mean. Reese starts to head off to the station but Root tells him the Machine says it’s too late. Max was poisoned while live on the air by the radio’s receptionist who it turns out is an agent for Samaritan.
When Reese and Root tell Finch what happened he’s angry they failed, but Root insists the real mission was to get a message to Shaw which she hopes they did and that Max made his choice. Harold is still extremely upset and asks the Machine if it warned Reese and Root about Max and the Machine declares Max exercised free will. Finch becomes even more upset, saying that using the idea of free will to excuse moral attrition is wrong.
GRADE: B-
The second episode titled “Reassortment” Reese is following a POI who ends up in the emergency room because he has what seems to be the flu. Reese tells Finch the Machine must have gotten it wrong but Finch is insistent that Reese should stay with him. That turns out to be a wise decision because not long after the man gets an injection to help fight off the flu, he passes out in the hall and dies. Reese flashes his NYPD badge and offers to help and the doctor who was treating the now dead man says she suspects it might be some weird virus. They’ll have to test his blood to see but the doctor advises everyone should remain in the emergency room until they know what they are dealing with. Reese, along with the security guard, lock down the emergency room.
Just before Reese is about to lock the back door, Finch shows up with Bear the dog. Finch believes Reese will need his help and he informs Reese that Root is back at their subway hideout trying to see when and where the POI came in contact with this new super virus. It turns out that once again Samaritan is behind this deadly Avian Flu super virus at the hospital. Samaritan is targeting two doctors who’ve been complaining about error messages and blips the automated computer system has been experiencing. Samaritan’s other big plan is to create an outbreak just big enough so that it will scare the public into being willing to give a DNA sample to the CDC. Samaritan has taken control over the CDC computer systems to categorize people and figure out where they would best fit in the world – if they do at all. Samaritan sends in Jeff Blackwell (Josh Close), an ex-con who’s been recruited by Samaritan agents, to be a low-level driver and grab-and-go guy to actually kill the two main doctors in the ER.
Meanwhile, Shaw has been going through simulation after simulation and is finding it hard to tell what is real and what is just another simulation. She did, however, receive Root’s message through the air conditioning unit which has given her newfound strength. Shaw digs a hole in her bathroom that leads to a tunnel that exits in a South African prison. She works with one of the inmates there to break out of the cell and continues to make a run for it until Agent Lambert catches up to her (he’s actually very impressed by her escape) and tries to convince her it’s all just another simulation. She calls his bluff and says, “Okay, then shoot yourself in the head.” He hesitates and tries again to convince Shaw it’s all just a simulation and she’s mixing up real memories with fake ones. Shaw doesn’t agree and shoots Lambert who falls to the floor, bleeding to death. “Don’t worry. The orderlies should be coming in any minute to take the electronic goggles off of me and you’ll be fine…or not,” taunts Shaw as she runs off. As she drives away in a truck, she turns on the radio and hears about the virus outbreak in New York.
Back in the Big Apple, Fusco survived the demolition and is finally out of the hospital but isn’t interested in working with Finch or John anymore, believing that they don’t respect or trust him enough to bring him into the loop. Fusco’s tracking Blackwell after getting a lead (thanks to Elias) about Blackwell driving to deliver the demolition explosives. He shows up at the hospital looking for Blackwell who, it just so happens, has been posted in the ER with two deadly syringes to use to kill the two doctors.
At the subway hideout, the Machine has found a cure to the super bug and gives Root the ID she’ll need to go get it and deliver it to the hospital. At the ER, Blackwell finally makes his move and ends up getting one of the doctors but Fusco tackles him and fights him off, getting stabbed with the other syringe himself. Blackwell runs off and is protected by Samaritan which gives him another cover ID. Root shows up with the cure just in time to save both the doctor and Fusco. (WHEW!)
At the police station, Reese tries to talk to Fusco who has boxed up his personal belongings. “What? Did they fire you?” asks Reese. Fusco tells him he’s getting a transfer that he requested. Fusco reiterates to Reese that he’s tired of not getting the respect he deserves from both he and Finch so he’s done. He also warns Reese not to tell him anymore to not do his job. Reese tries to tell Fusco that he and Finch are attempting to protect him, but Fusco points out that it’s not working. (C’mon, Team Machine! Bring Fusco into the loop already! There’s no way they can win against Samaritan without him.)
Finch pays a visit to Elias (Enrico Colantoni) to see if he gave Fusco the tip that almost got him killed. Elias admits to Finch he did and tells Finch that he’s going to need all his people in this war he’s fighting – not just his favorites. “War requires sacrifice,” says Elias to which Finch replies, “I’ll take it under advisement.” Elias warns Harold that underneath all his intelligence he is the darkest of all of them. He hopes that he’s not around when Finch’s pot finally boils over. Finch tells Elias he’s wrong,g but it’s clear that at least part of what Elias is saying is true and Finch knows it.
Review of Person of Interest episodes 7 and 8:
Suspenseful and engaging, episodes seven and eight move the series ever closer to the final showdown between the Machine and Samaritan, and finally has Shaw actually escaping to rejoin her friends in New York. (No more annoying simulation episodes! YES!) One of the stand-out performances once again belongs to Amy Acker as Root who starts to stand up to the Machine and even threatens to start ignoring it if it didn’t figure out a way to send a message to Shaw. It’s real growth for her character to care so much about her friends over the Machine who she used to think was god. The other stand-out performance goes to Sarah Shahi as Shaw who’s finally back in action and back to her old wise-cracking, ass-kicking self. The scene where she shoots Lambert is the true highlight of the double-header. Shaw pretending to be confused as to what is real or not so he will lower his guard is priceless.
With Shaw headed back to NYC and Samaritan trying to control and categorize every citizen in New York and soon the world, here’s hoping Team Machine is getting ready for the ultimate showdown.
A creepy teaser trailer has arrived for Morgan, a suspense horror film arriving later this year. The teaser trailer avoids showing the actual Morgan, but the poster puts the titular character front and center. Directed by first time feature film director Luke Scott from a script by Seth Owen, the cast includes Kate Mara (House of Cards), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), Toby Jones (Wayward Pines), Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones), Boyd Holbrook (Narcos), Michelle Yeoh (Marco Polo), Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight), and Paul Giamatti (Billions).
The Plot: A corporate troubleshooter (Kate Mara) is sent to a remote, top-secret location, where she is to investigate and evaluate a terrifying accident. She learns the event was triggered by a seemingly innocent “human,” who presents a mystery of both infinite promise and incalculable danger.
Wow, just wow. Show of hands of those found themselves holding their breath multiple times during The Flash season two’s final episode. Episode 23 was a total game-changer that will make the wait for season three incredibly difficult to endure. Season two episode 23 titled ‘The Race of His Life’ revealed the true identity of the man in the iron mask, a twist that no one saw coming. It also found Zoom and Barry locked in a race with the future of the multiverse hanging in the balance. The season two finale airing on May 24, 2016 was a real white knuckle ride that featured Grant Gustin’s best performance in the series to date.
The Recap:
The episode picks up exactly where episode 22 left off, with Zoom (Teddy Sears) killing Barry’s dad, Henry Allen. Barry sinks to his knees, screaming and crying while Zoom says, “Now the two of us are the same.” The Flash responds by slamming Zoom into a wall in a rage which is exactly the reaction Zoom was hoping for. Zoom pushes past The Flash and the two take off on a race around the city, with The Flash getting the upper hand throughout the race. Then suddenly someone else enters the fray, taking down Zoom. It’s the real Zoom; the one who was defeated was just another time remnant. Zoom teases Barry by telling him there might be two Barrys at some point and he’ll just have to be ready to kill himself. “You’re almost ready,” says Zoom, speeding away.
The stormy weather is completely in keeping with the mood at Henry’s funeral. It’s all too much for Barry to handle and he can’t say the words he wants to at his father’s grave. Joe (Jesse L Martin) speaks, saying Henry suffered two great losses: his wife and Barry. But, Henry was also proof that love can get you through the darkest of days. “That love will keep him alive in all of our hearts,” says Joe. Barry kneels down, telling his father he will find Zoom and take from him what he took from his father.
Back at the West house, now that Wally’s (Keiynan Lonsdale) in on the secret he thanks Barry again for everything he’s done for him and for the whole city as The Flash. He also tells Barry if he ever needs anything, just say the word. Barry tells the gang they have to come up with a plan to take down Zoom, and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) points out Zoom has hidden talents they still don’t know about. Cisco can’t figure out why he keeps vibing Earth-2 being ripped apart. “It’s like I’m watching Transformers in 4D but like 10 times more realistic and with much better acting,” says Cisco, delivering what will undoubtedly be one of the best lines of the episode.
Barry and Iris (Candice Patton) step outside, and Barry says he thought he’d almost come to grips with his mom’s death when Zoom took his father. He doesn’t know how he’ll find peace with it, and Iris says he has to try or else it’ll tear him apart. As they’re sitting there, Zoom races by. Barry chases after him, even though Iris begs him not to. Zoom taunts Barry, saying there’s always more to take and Barry responds by telling Zoom he has to stay away from his friends and family. Zoom needs to be the best and challenges Barry to a race. If Barry wins, it’s all over and Barry can be the hero. If he doesn’t race, them Zoom will kill more of his friends. Zoom claims all he’s ever wanted was to know who is the fastest man alive. With that, Zoom speeds off.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry delivers the race challenge news to the gang, and Cisco thinks in a crazy way it actually makes sense. Joe and Wells (Tom Cavanagh) don’t believe it, and Wells thinks a power amplifier (also called a magnetar) can be weaponized and that’s what has destroyed Earth-2 in Cisco’s vision. Zoom wants to siphon the energy off of the two speedsters to activate the amplifier, and that makes sense to Caitlin since Zoom told her he’s now measuring his success in the number of Earths he conquers. Wells thinks Zoom actually wants to take out not just Earth-2 but every other Earth (and there are an infinite number of those). One pulse will destroy them all, and Barry now knows he has to race Zoom and, most importantly, he has to win.
Joe pleads with Barry to change his mind and not accept Zoom’s challenge, suggesting the team will find another way to take down Zoom. Barry doesn’t want to take that chance. He won’t let anyone else die if he can prevent it, and Joe figures out Barry’s real motivation is that he wants to kill Zoom. Barry admits it and also admits he wants him to suffer first for everything he’s done. Joe tries to calm Barry down, but Barry will not back off the idea of racing Zoom. Joe apologizes as Wells tranquilizes Barry.
Barry wakes up to find he’s locked up and his friends are gathered outside the cell. Joe tells him he’s too angry and doesn’t have a plan, and they won’t let him out. Wells says if Barry races Zoom on Zoom’s terms, he’ll lose. Joe adds that they all made this decision together, but Cisco clarifies that he went back and forth and was a good “60/40” at first. Barry’s devastated and begs them not to keep him locked up. They walk away as Barry pounds on the door to be let out.
Wells says locking up Barry was the easy part – their plan to take down Zoom will be the hard part. Cisco tracks down Zoom via the computer and Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) assures the team she’s ready to do her part. Caitlin will distract Zoom, Wells and Joe will hit him, Cisco will open the breach, and then they’ll push Zoom through it. (Nothing about this plan could possibly go wrong, could it?) All of this will take place without Barry’s assistance.
As Wells is loading up, Jesse (Violett Beane) asks her dad what’s next. She’s been thinking about it because of how Wells is when he’s around Team Flash, and Jesse knows he cares about the Earth-1 gang. But, she wants to return to Earth-2 to be with her friends. Jesse tells her dad it’s okay if he stays on Earth-1 as long as he’s happy.
Team Flash minus the actual Flash get into position. The bait (aka Caitlin) is in place and she calls out for Jay. He appears and the gang prepares to do their parts. Caitlin tries to convince him she’s there alone and begins to move toward Jay as she speaks. Caitlin gets closer to Jay, telling him she has darkness in her just like Killer Frost. Caitlin says she’s ready to accept who she really is and apologizes for hurting him. He seems like he’s falling for it but then suddenly says it’s too late. Fortunately, as he’s ready to attack we discover Caitlin is just a hologram. Team Flash starts attempting to take Jay down, but Joe’s weapon jams and he has to plunge the tranquilizers into Jay up close. The breach opens and not only is Zoom sent through but Joe is also now on his way to Earth-2!
Cisco vibes to check on Joe but can’t see him. Cisco’s going to keep trying but it’s like his brain is channel surfing. The team also failed to turn off the magnetar as they had planned. If they attempt to move it now, Earth-1 will be history. Wally walks in and Iris has to break the news that their dad is with Zoom on Earth-2. Wally didn’t know about the plan or that they attempted to pull it off without Barry’s help. Wally, obviously, wants to retrieve his father but Iris explains they all agreed that if they got Zoom off this Earth they would close the breaches and never open them again – no matter what. Wally didn’t agree to it and will not let this stand. He leaves the room, angry and confused.
On Earth-2, Jay has Joe locked up which Jay believes means he’ll now get Barry to agree to the race to save his only surviving dad. Joe says no way and that he made sure that wouldn’t happen. Joe wants to know who the man in the iron mask is and Jay finally reveals the man’s secret identity. He explains how he got his powers and became the fastest man alive, but that he wanted more. He created Velocity-9 which made him fast enough to run to other Earths. On one of those Earths, he discovered the man who is now in the iron mask. After figuring out the V-9 was killing him, he tried everything including manipulating the speed force. The man in the iron mask was brought to Earth-2 so Zoom could steal his speed and then Zoom found Barry, took his speed, and now the man in the iron mask is really just a trophy. Zoom got so tired of being the villain that he borrowed the man in the mask’s name – Jay Garrick. Zoom threatens that after he proves he’s the fastest man alive, Barry will be forced to rot in a cage like the one Jay is in now, gloating that then he’ll have two Flash to keep him company.
Back on Earth-1, Wally frees Barry from the cell because he needs his help. Wally and Barry join the team in the lab, and Iris is pissed at her brother for breaking Barry out. Barry’s mad at everyone for letting Zoom take Joe, still believing it would have been better if he just raced Zoom in the first place. Cisco tells Barry he’s not in control of himself right now and they’re worried he’s too emotional and angry to handle Zoom at this moment. Caitlin reminds Barry that he kept her in check and told her to stop and take a breath. Wells says if he’s doing this for revenge, then he will lose. But Barry says no matter what he has to beat Zoom, even without their help.
The team reluctantly agrees and Cisco vibes The Flash to Earth-2. The Flash tells Zoom the race is on, but only if Joe is returned completely unharmed. Zoom agrees but adds that he won’t release Joe until after they’ve raced. A deal is struck.
Team Flash meets up with Zoom who kept his end of the bargain and has Joe. Wells tells him they know his plan, but Zoom says he doesn’t want to destroy every Earth. He’ll leave Earth-1 because it’s the access point to every other Earth. “I need to have some place to hang my cowl,” says Zoom. Barry promises he’ll save Iris and Wally’s dad, and Wally corrects him and includes Barry as Joe’s son, too. Although Barry wants them all to go back to S.T.A.R. Labs before the race begins, they refuse. Wells says he believes in Barry and Iris tells Barry to kick Zoom’s ass.
Zoom explains how the race will go and that for Barry to win he has to stop Zoom from powering up the magnetar. If Barry calls off the race at any point, Joe and the rest of Team Flash will be killed. And they’re off! Zoom seems to be winning and the magnetar is close to being powered up when a time remnant joins Barry to help him out. The Flash frees Joe and Zoom slams Barry to the ground, enraged, telling him he’s too late. The magnetar looks to be fully charged but Barry’s time remnant is still running around, creating his own pulse. His body won’t be able to handle it and he’ll die, explains Wells, as the remnant continues to run while burning up. Fortunately, what he managed to do was enough to stop the magnetar, which further enrages Zoom. Now it’s time for hand-to-hand combat and this time Barry has the upper hand. Zoom reminds him he’s a hero and therefore he can’t kill someone and Barry agrees, saying, “I won’t have to,” as the speed wraiths arrive to deal with Zoom.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs Wally tries to figure out how Barry ran back in time to make a remnant while Barry explains his master plan. Wally’s still confused and Barry says the time remnant was willing to sacrifice himself for them. Wally laughs, knowing this is beyond him at this point, and tells Barry he’s just happy he’s safe.
And now it’s time for the huge reveal… Wells and Cisco trade insults as they work to free the man in the iron mask. They remove the mask and he faces Team Flash to reveal the real Jay Garrick is Barry’s father’s doppelgänger. Barry leaves the room in tears, with Joe hot on his heels. Barry can’t believe he looks just like his father, and Barry remembers his father’s mom’s maiden name was Garrick but he never put two and two together. Joe reminds Barry that this man doesn’t know he is Barry’s father’s doppelgänger and Joe says he’ll ask Garrick to leave if this is too upsetting for Barry. Barry just asks for a minute to recover from the shock.
Back in the lab, Cisco explains to Jay that he didn’t have his powers because there was a dampener in the mask. Without the mask, Jay has his powers back and he also has his speedster suit. However, he explains the helmet was all the fake Jay’s creation. When Wells says it stands for hope on Earth-2, Jay decides he might just use it after all. Placing the helmet on his head, the outfit is now complete. Jay thanks them all, and especially The Flash, for saving them from Zoom. He’d like to go home to Earth-3 and Cisco says he can get him to Earth-2. Wells and Jesse volunteer to help him get to Earth-3 from there, which means the Wells family is heading back home to Earth-2. The gang take turns hugging Dr. Wells, and he stops to say goodbye to each of them before taking off. Cisco says, “Don’t be surprised if I project myself over to Earth-2 every once in a while just to throw your stuff across the office,” and Wells and Cisco share a laugh. Jesse and Wally also share a hug before Jay, Dr. Harrison Wells, and Jesse head off through the breach to Earth-2.
At the West house, the team is relaxing except for Barry. He steps outside to sit on the porch and Iris follows. Barry confesses he just can’t stop thinking about his dad’s doppelgänger. Somehow it’s just made him miss his dad even more. They’ve won the Zoom battle but Barry doesn’t feel like a winner right now. Iris says maybe their relationship will help Barry heal, but Barry’s just not in the right mindset to actually try to be with Iris now. “I feel so hollowed out inside right now. I feel more broken than I’ve ever felt in my life,” says Barry, with tears in his eyes. He says he has to find peace before he can be with her, and Iris says she’ll wait for him because he’s always waited for her. She’ll be there whenever he gets back. Iris says she loves him and they share a beautiful, gentle kiss. “I love you, too, and I always will,” says Barry. Iris goes back inside and Barry looks in at his friends and family through the window. He whispers an apology to them and then races back through time to the night of his mother’s murder and this time he saves his mom. He looks up and sees The Flash from season one observing the action from the doorway. That time-traveling Flash briefly smiles and then fades away. Barry’s completely altered the past. He bends down to comfort his mother who has no idea at this point that this young man is her son.
Director R.J. Cutler (The World According to Dick Cheney) and producer John Battsek (Searching for Sugar Man) are teaming up with Showtime for a feature-length documentary on comedian/actor John Belushi. The documentary is being made with the full cooperation of John Belushi’s widow, Judith Belushi Pisano. Commenting on the documentary, Belushi Pisano said, “John Battsek and I have been discussing the possibility of making this film for over a decade. I’m thrilled to finally embark upon that journey together with him and director RJ Cutler. Passion Pictures is poised to make the definitive documentary on John Belushi – a man who not only had a profound effect on the comedy landscape of America, but also made an indelible mark on the social fabric of his time which continues to reverberate today.”
Cutler and Battsek are producing, and Belushi’s long-time collaborate Sean Daniel will executive produce with Bill Couturie. Filming’s expected to begin this fall.
“Belushi was one of my very first heroes. At a time when film, television, and music were undergoing tectonic shifts within American culture, he was at the center of it all,” stated Cutler. “At that moment, he had the number one show on television, the number one film at the box office, and the number one record on the charts. We plan to explore his unique genius and how his creative influence is still making an impact to this moment.”
“This is a film I have wanted to make for many years as John was a great hero of mine. Having Judy cooperate for the first time on a feature documentary of his life is very special and means we know we will be making a truly authentic film,” commented Battsek. “We plan to assemble a deep and three-dimensional look into the life of a man of great complexity and talent who went on to become an American comedic icon.”
A new trailer and poster have arrived for the action thriller Collide starring Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road) and Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything). Ben Kingsley and Anthony Hopkins co-star in the dramatic film from co-writer and director Eran Creevy. Collide, with Hoult back in full-on action mode, will open in theaters on August 19, 2016.
The Plot: After a heist goes terribly wrong, Casey Stein (Nicholas Hoult) finds himself on the run from a ruthless gang headed by mob boss Hagen (Anthony Hopkins). Now Casey has precious cargo that belongs to Hagen, who will stop at nothing to retrieve it. Left with no choice, Casey calls his former employer and drug smuggler Geran (Ben Kingsley) to protect his long-time girlfriend Juliette before Hagen gets his hands on her. Casey sets out on an adrenaline-fueled car chase on the German highways to save the love of his life before it’s too late.
Simon Pegg, Max Irons and Mike Myers join Terminal (Photos Courtesy of Highland Film Group)
Star Trek‘s Simon Pegg, Max Irons (The White Queen), Austin Powers‘ Mike Myers, and Dexter Fletcher (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) have joined the cast of the dramatic movie Terminal written and directed by Vaughn Stein. The newly announced cast members join Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad) in the noir thriller which will be shooting in Hungary. The Highland Film Group is handling international sales and broke the news about the additional cast members.
Terminal will be produced by Robbie, David Barron, Molly Hassell, Arianne Fraser, Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara, and Sophia Kerr. John Jencks, D. Todd Shepherd, Joe Simpson, George Waud, Shelley Madison, Charles Auty, Simon Williams, Delphine Perrier and Henry Winterstern are executive producing.
Simon Pegg’s credits also include the Mission Impossible franchise, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End, Kill Me Three Times, and Hector and the Search for Happiness. Max Irons, the son of actor Jeremy Irons, has had starring roles in The Host, Red Riding Hood, and Woman in Gold. Myers’ lengthy list of credits includes Saturday Night Live, the Shrek films, View From the Top, 54, and Mystery, Alaska.
The Plot:Terminal tells the story of two hitmen (Fletcher and Irons) as they embark on a borderline suicide mission for a mysterious employer and a high paycheck. Along the way, the unlikely pair come across a dynamic woman named Annie, (Robbie) that may be more involved than they had originally suspected.
“Sorry Mr. Reese but I had to make sure you attend that wedding,” says Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) to a displeased John Reese (Jim Caviezel) who’s posing as security for a male stripper at a bachelorette party in season five episode six of CBS’ crime action series, Person of Interest. It seems the Machine has given Finch a number to the wedding of a young lady, Phoebe Turner, who’s engaged to marry public defender Will O’Brien. (Phoebe’s also set to inherit a horse empire from her father.) To infiltrate the wedding, Finch poses as Will’s long-lost Irish uncle, and Reese gets invited by one of Phoebe’s sisters to be her date.
The two professional meddlers make their way to the estate for the wedding, leaving a lonely Root – yes, she genuinely seems to miss Finch and Reese when she’s away from them for any real length of time – to watch Bear the dog and monitor the Machine should any new numbers come up. A number does come up and Root (Amy Acker) gives it to Fusco (Kevin Chapman) and Bear, telling Fusco she has to be Harold’s plus one at a wedding. The number belongs to Howard Carpenter, a civil planner who’s in charge of the city’s underground construction. Fusco follows him to a meeting he has with Elias’ friend, Bruce, where he records as best he can the conversation. After Carpenter has left, Fusco confronts Bruce about the conversation. Bruce tells the detective that Howard had a work permit that didn’t come from his or any of the five families so there must be another player involved. Can anyone say Samaritan?
Back at the wedding ceremony, Finch and Reese see two men who look like assassins hovering nearby but they don’t act and the happy couple get married. Reese and Finch decide to try to get the camera away from the wedding photographer so they might be able to look at her photos and see if she got a shot of the hitmen. This is when Root shows up with the unconscious photographer saying she’s fine and will wake up in 20 minutes. Finch asks her what she’s doing at the wedding and Root says she’s filling in for the caterer. The photographer, unfortunately, did not get a photo of the two gunmen.
Later at the reception Reese and Root see the two hitmen again and take them on in different empty rooms while Finch, posing as Will’s uncle, keeps the attention on him by singing “We’re Not Going to Take It” by Twisted Sister. After taking down the two thugs, Reese and Root realize the target is not the bride or the groom but Maggie the photographer. It seems she’s on the prosecution’s witness list to testify against Phoebe’s sister, Karen, who’s been doping horses. Working together Reese and Root are able to stop the two hitmen (who recovered way too quickly from the first fight by the way) from executing Maggie, taking her sister prisoner, and keeping it all very hush-hush so the reception can continue.
Fusco listens to the recording and gets the address of the demolition site. He decides to go check on it with Bear. When he finds the tunnel Fusco discovers to his surprise the bodies of all the people who have gone missing including Carpenter and sadly Elias’ friend, Bruce. It seems this is the spot Samaritan has been dumping the bodies of those it saw as a threat. The demolition begins before Fusco can get clear and he’s knocked off his feet while Bear makes a run for it.
Meanwhile, Greer (John Nolan) is still running simulations on Shaw (Sarah Shahi) trying to convince her to switch sides, betray her friends, and work for Samaritan. Samaritan even approaches Shaw in a simulation as the image of the same little boy it used with Root to tell her that mankind will cause the apocalypse if Samaritan doesn’t control them.
Team Machine returns to the reception and sits at a table together, and Root even asks Finch to dance. Root tells Finch while they’re dancing that she knows Harold is lying to her about the Machine being able to beat Samaritan and that he’s trying to protect her. She tells Harold they need to give the Machine the tools and determination to be able to go up against Samaritan. Finch is worried about giving the Machine – and themselves – too much power, but Root encourages Finch by saying they will never know if they can handle it or not if they don’t try. Root admits to Finch in a sweet moment that the real reason she crashed the wedding and joined him and Reese is because she is lonely without them.
Review of Person of Interest season 5 episode 6:
More tongue-in-cheek than usual, season five episode six titled “A More Perfect Union” had more humor and a lighter tone than usual for the action crime series. It went back to the basic routine of following the number given to them by the Machine and striving to save the potential victim from harm. It also put Chapman’s character Fusco in danger by having him stumble across Samaritan’s dirty work but not realizing it because he’s still in the dark about what’s really going on and what he and Team Machine are up against. At this point, Finch, John, and Root really need to bring Fusco into the fold. They’re putting him in more danger by trying to protect him from Samaritan. Ignorance is not bliss nor is it a safety net.
The stand-out performance in this episode goes to Amy Acker as Root who shows sensitivity and a real bond with Finch and John. She’s no longer able to go it alone, and more importantly, she doesn’t want to. Acker shows subtly just how much Finch and Reese have come to mean to Root; they’re now her family. She steals every scene she’s in with both actors which is quite a feat. Plus, the scene where she tells Finch she’s lonely without him and John is sweet without being overly emotional.
With Samaritan doing its best to turn Shaw to its side and Fusco in a bad way, here’s hoping Finch and Root give the Machine the tools she needs to get ready to take on Samaritan and bring it down.
Disney•Pixar’s new trailer for the much-anticipated Finding Nemo sequel, Finding Dory, reveals a little about poor forgetful Dory’s childhood. The just-released trailer also introduces some of the new characters Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) will be encountering as she searches for her family. Directed by Andrew Stanton (he also directed Finding Nemo), the voice cast includes Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy, and Diane Keaton.
Pixar’s launching Finding Dory in theaters on June 17, 2016.
Finding Nemo is the fifth highest grossing animated film of all time, and Disney reports Dory is the “most liked individual character from a Disney or Disney•Pixar film.” Released on May 30, 2003, Finding Nemo went on to earn four Academy Award nominations, winning in the Best Animated Feature category. The animated fish tale opened to $70 million domestically and made $936 million worldwide before exiting theaters.
The Plot: Disney•Pixar’s Finding Dory reunites everyone’s favorite forgetful blue tang, Dory, with her friends Nemo and Marlin on a search for answers about her past. What can she remember? Who are her parents? And where did she learn to speak Whale?
“Jim, are we alive?” asks Lucius Fox (Chris Chalk) to Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) who’s strapped down in a chair in one of Dr. Hugo Strange’s experimental cells. “So far so good,” replies Gordon in the season two finale of FOX’s gritty comic-book inspired crime thriller series, Gotham.
As the episode begins the GCPD is right outside the walls of Arkham preparing to blow open the gate and charge in. Just then Clayface – looking just like Jim Gordon – appears and tells the cops it’s all right and it was just a false alarm. Clayface (who from this point on will be referred to as the fake Gordon, primarily because Ben McKenzie is portraying both roles) goes back to the GCPD and tells Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) that Strange is in the clear and that they were wrong about him. Harvey notices his ex-partner is not acting right and asks him if he’s okay, and fake Gordon explains away his behavior by saying he’s fighting off the flu.
Back at Arkham, Gordon is still a prisoner and Dr. Strange (BD Wong) injects him with a truth drug to try to find out how much he really knows about Indian Hill and who Hugo’s real bosses are. Gordon fights as best he can but the drug is too powerful and he begins to answer Dr. Strange’s questions. During the questioning, it becomes clear to Hugo that Gordon is riddled with guilt over not solving the murder of the Waynes for Bruce as he promised and over losing Lee (Morena Baccarin) by choosing to stay in Gotham instead of being with her. Dr. Strange tells Gordon in his drug-induced state that he should pretend that Hugo is God and he absolves Jim of his guilt. Dr. Strange asks Jim how he feels and Jim answers, “Better.” Dr. Strange then asks Gordon who knows he is at Arkham and Gordon begins to reveal his plan, telling Hugo that if he doesn’t report in by noon Harvey will have the entire police force at Arkham.
In another part of Arkham, Lucius and Bruce (David Mazouz) are trapped in an experimental cell and Ed Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) is forcing them to play his fun little game of ‘answer my question correctly and you live, get it wrong and you die.’ The first question Nygma asks them is who runs Indian Hill. They get five minutes to talk it over and then have to answer. Bruce gets it right and says Wayne Enterprises. For his follow-up question, Nygma asks who really runs Wayne Enterprises. Lucius thinks it’s the board of directors but Bruce knows that’s too easy and that Nygma is fishing to see what they know. When their five minutes is up, Lucius answers that it’s the board and Nygma laughs saying they’re incorrect. He releases a gas that Lucius and Bruce are told is poison. They grab each other and hug one last time before passing out and falling to the floor.
Dr. Strange once again reports via video monitor to the mysterious masked woman and tells her the good news that Gordon and Bruce have no knowledge of who is really running Wayne Enterprises and Indian Hill. The woman still seems concerned and orders Hugo to destroy Indian Hill and all of his experiments, demanding there be no trace of any of them. Hugo orders Peabody (Tonya Pinkins) to get all the experiments onto their bus and get ready to transfer them to another location while he goes to set up the bomb for detonation. While Peabody is having the experiments moved, Fish (Jada Pinkett Smith) tries to lure her over in order to grab her hand and get control, but it fails. Persistence pays off for Fish however when Peabody comes to put her on board the bus. As Peabody prepares to tranquilize her, Fish touches her hand and face and gets Peabody to do as she says. Fish, Peabody, and two orderlies are walking down the hall when they come across Dr. Strange who tries to get Fish to listen to him. It fails, and Fish sends Peabody after Hugo when he flees.
Lucius and Bruce wake up in the same large locked room with Gordon still strapped to the chair and starting to come out from under the control of the truth drug. The door opens and two guards walk in with Selina (Camren Bicondova) who’s still playing at being Firefly’s assistant. She calls over Bruce who asks if she’s okay and she tells him she is. He apologizes for getting her trapped in Arkham and for being selfish and manipulative, and Selina responds by telling him that he couldn’t manipulate her if he tried and that SHE has HIM wrapped around her little finger. Bruce doesn’t deny that she does and tells her if she’s able to get out, she should go for the police. She tells him she’ll go her own way, as always, and that Hugo is going to blow the place up with a bomb. Bruce looks over at Gordon who’s now untied from the chair thanks to Lucius.
Back at the GCPD, Harvey is getting more and more suspicious of the fake Gordon who may look and sound like Jim but doesn’t act like him. Alfred (Sean Pertwee) shows up at the GCPD upset that Harvey and his policemen haven’t gone in and rescued Bruce and Lucius yet. Fake Gordon once again tries to blow off Arkham by saying it’s all okay over there and that Bruce and Lucius are most likely heading home now. Neither Harvey nor Alfred are buying it. This is when Barbara (Erin Richards) enters the police station looking to find out who is running things at Arkham for Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor).
It seems Penguin, Barbara, and Butch (Drew Powell) have become buddies as of late. Barbara goes over to the fake Gordon to flirt and finds him very receptive. Surprised, she asks him, “What? You like me again?” Fake Gordon responds, “What’s not to like?” Barbara asks about Lee and the fake Gordon dismisses Lee and curses her name which causes Barbara to yell, “You’re NOT JIM!” She slaps his face which twists out of shape as clay will do if you hit it hard enough. Harvey and Alfred realize their Jim is still in Arkham. (Good job, Barbara, you beautiful crazy nut!)
Dr. Strange is able to knock out Peabody and program the bomb’s countdown to 30 minutes. Hugo shuts the doors and gates to Indian Hill, trapping everyone inside including Fish and the bus full of Dr. Strange’s experiments. Dr. Strange then goes to collect Mr. Freeze, Firefly, and Selina to escape, but Selina starts asking about the bomb and Hugo decides she needs to die. He tells Freeze to kill her and Selina responds by asking Firefly to protect her. Firefly does, which sets up a battle between fire and ice. Selina makes a run for it, heading back to where Bruce, Gordon, and Lucius are still trapped. She opens the door and Lucius asks what now, and Selina explains to the three men she’s been biding her time waiting for the right time to escape.
She turns to go and the three men are still standing there so she says, “You guys coming or what?” They run back to where Hugo is now lying on the floor after ending up in the crossfire of Freeze’s and Firefly’s gun battle. Gordon wakes him up and makes him tell him where the bomb is located. Hugo tells him but refuses to explain how to stop it or how to get to it since everything is locked down and that it’s better if he dies here than face the wrath of his employers. Selina tells Gordon Nygma knows a way down to it. Gordon tells a reluctant Bruce and Selina to get out and as far away from Arkham as possible while he and Lucius go off to try to stop the bomb. The bomb’s blast is capable of not only killing everyone in the building but if Indian Hill’s radioactive material goes up, it could form a radioactive cloud around the blast resulting in the death of thousands. Jim and Lucius make Nygma – who was put back in his cell after interrogating Bruce and Lucius – show them the way down and unlock the gates and doors.
With an exit now available, Fish drives her bus full of monsters out of Indian Hill and speeds off with one of the arriving cop cars hot on her tail. Back down with the bomb both Gordon and Lucius are looking at it not knowing how to disarm the thing with less than two minutes to go. Gordon suggests they start unhooking wires thinking that will get it to stop counting down. Lucius fears it may actually activate it sooner. It’s then that Peabody wakes up and says “need water,” and Jim realizes she means they need to pour water over the control board of the bomb and short it out. Jim quickly grabs a cup, gets water from the fountain, and pours it all over the controls and wires, shorting out the bomb just seconds before it was about to explode. Peabody continues to ask for water, and Jim and Lucius realize she just wanted a drink of water…but the plan worked anyways. WHEW!
Outside, Gordon tells Bruce, Selina, and Alfred that he’s leaving Gotham for a while in order to find Lee and try to win her back. Selina tells him that girls like chocolate to show her support of his plan, and Alfred and Bruce wish him good luck. As Jim’s about to leave, Harvey asks him where he’s going now that they have a bus full of monsters to catch. Jim tells Bullock that he’s in charge and he’ll do just fine rounding them all up with his police force. As Jim gets in Harvey’s car he tells Bullock that he’s in charge now so he should think about getting a haircut. As Gordon drives off to go find his beloved Lee, Harvey yells out, “Hey, that’s my car!”
Alfred suggests to Bruce that Gordon is smart putting all of this behind him and going to be with the woman he cares about, hinting Bruce should do the same. But Bruce tells Alfred they learned a secret society is really running Wayne Enterprises and Gotham and that they are so close to finally discovering who is really behind the death of his parents. Alfred, frustrated, looks at Selina who is smiling at Bruce. Selina says, “Hey, don’t look at me. This is all him,” and she turns back and smiles again at Bruce proudly, the way a young girl smiles at her boyfriend when he’s just done something brave or noble.
Fish’s monster bus is able to take out the cop car but crashes after getting attacked by Penguin and his men. It seems Penguin wants to make Hugo Strange pay for bringing Galavan back to life but doesn’t know that the mad doctor is back with the GCPD under arrest. Penguin is yelling at the bus when Fish comes up behind him and touches his shocked face which causes Oswald to pass out. Fish then walks off into the night. An older woman comes along and sees that there are people trapped in the bus so she opens the back door to let them out. She’s horrified when she sees all the weird-looking creatures exiting the bus and she falls to the ground. Just as she is about to pass out from the shock, a young man with long hair who looks exactly like Bruce Wayne exits the bus. He approaches her, bending over her to say, “Thank you.”
Review of the Gotham season 2 finale:
Suspenseful, action-packed, and quite eerie, episode 22 titled “Transference” ends the crime thriller series’ second season strong with the end of Dr. Strange’s control over Arkham and his terrifying experiments, Gordon leaving to win back Lee, Bruce still determined to unravel the conspiracy behind the death of his parents, and engineered monsters loose upon Gotham. Now that’s a jam-packed season finale! The stand-out performance once again goes to Ben McKenzie for not just his portrayal of Jim Gordon but especially for his performance as “Fake Gordon” (aka Clayface). His larger-than-life performance of the street goon doing his best to fool everyone into believing he’s Gordon (when his behavior is NOT like Jim at all) is hilarious and injects the dark series with some much-needed humor. Also worth pointing out is the scene where drug-induced Jim reveals to Hugo the guilt he feels having let Bruce down and losing Lee. It’s a genuine albeit brief emotional moment for a man who carries the weight of the world on his back.
With Dr. Strange’s monsters roaming Gotham City and the introduction of the secret society, which seems to be the “Court of Owls” from the DC graphic novels, here’s looking forward to season three in the fall.
