The Contenders
Gotham Season 3, Episode 2 - "Mad City: Burn the Witch"
Starring: Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, David Mazouz, Sean Pertwee, Robin Lord Taylor, Erin Richards, Chris Chalk, Drew Powell, Maggie Geha and Michael Chiklis.
Guest Starring: Jada Pinkett Smith, BD Wong, Leslie Hendrix, Nicholas E. Calhoun, Jamie Chung
Written by: Ken Woodruff
Directed by: Danny Cannon
The confrontation between Fish, Strange, Gordon, The GCPD and Penguin was the focus of this episode, and I found it - for the most part - very well done. Again, Jim Gordon shows he is a much better bounty hunter than he is a cop - somewhat callously sacrificing people by getting Penguin to sick a mob on Fish's forces - while Penguin's passion for revenge is played again excellently by Robin Lord Taylor. I didn't 100% buy Fish and Penguin's final speech, but it does seem to fit in with what is the theme of this season so far - taking responsibility for your actions.
I'm a little creeped out by the new Poison Ivy - and not in a good way. Aging her up to make a her sexy is weird, it is still a young girl behind it.
Final Rating: 8.3, a solid and sometimes exciting episode.
Guest Starring: Gabriel Luna, Lilli Birdsell, Dan Donohue, Ward Roberts, Usman Ally, Daniel Zacapa, Jason O'Mara
Written by: Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by: Vincent Misiano
Ok, full disclosure - I've never been a huge fan of write Drew Z. Greenberg, who I've been tracking since his Buffy days (as I do with most Buffy/Angel writers, as I'm sad that way). I sometimes find his scripts a bit lacking in the logic and general flow departments - and this wasn't really much of an exception. Why the episode had a lot to like (the ghosts and SFX were fairly good), I put a lot of that down to the director Vincent Misiano - who has been impressive on this show for a while.
The focus was largely around the new boss! As the title of the episode suggests, and I didn't hate Jason O'Mara's performance as Jeffrey (Mace?) in this episode, but am reserving my judgement for a little while yet. Ming-Na Wen did another great job in her underrated performance of Melinda May, and I think this episode was just fine. "It's all connected" to Ghost Rider it seems, and the show is at its best when he is on the screen.
Final Rating - 7.5
Luke Cage Season 1, Episode 1 - "Moment of Truth"
Note: For Netflix shows, I'll do 2 episodes a week from when it first drops. Seems the fairest way to do it I think!
Starring: Mike Colter, Mahershala Ali, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi and Alfre Woodard
Guest Starring: Frankie Faison, Frank Whaley, Ron Cephas Jones, Jacob Vergas, Cassandra Freeman, Brian 'Sene' Marc, Darius Kaleb, Jermel Howard
Written by: Cheo Hodari Coker
Directed by: Paul McGuigan
The 3rd Marvel Netflix show and the 5th MCU show overall made its much anticipated debut! And you know what? I was surprised at how slow it was. Not in a 'this is really boring way', but in a very calm, meticulous way as it confidently introduced a whole wrath of new characters, setting up the violent world of Harlem, and highlighting its strong soundtrack.
I thought it was great! It had quite a few references to the MCU (references to The Avengers, Jessica Jones, Wilson Fisk and most surprisingly Iron Man 2 villain Justin Hammer), and was a slow build to the final confrontation and fist-breaking awesomeness.
Final Rating: 8.5
Luke Cage Season 1, Episode 2 - "Code of the Streets"
Note: For Netflix shows, I'll do 2 episodes a week from when it first drops. Seems the fairest way to do it I think!
Starring: Mike Colter, Mahershala Ali, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi and Alfre Woodard
Guest Starring: Frankie Faison, Frank Whaley, Ron Cephas Jones, Cassandra Freeman, Brian 'Sene' Marc, Darius Kaleb, Jermel Howard, Rob Morgan
Written by: Cheo Hodari Coker
Directed by: Paul McGuigan
And we get our first actor crossing over :) Surprisingly from Rob Morgan, who reprised his role of Turk Barrett from
Daredevil. I love his line that was something like "You Harlem people are crazy, I'm going back to Hell's Kitchen where it's safe". Huh! Excellent.
This episode was outstanding. From the bookended scenes of Mike Colter showing off his acting chops with a gun to his head, to the (inevitable) death of his father-figure Pop, to the amazing development of Misty Knight (a character that could really have been done bad). Mahershala Ali, who I've admired since his
The 4400 days (and more recently
House of Cards) was fantastic.
Final Rating: 9.0
The Winner
Reminder! Netflix shows will be done at 2 episodes per week :)
Gotta give this week to Luke Cage's second episode 'Code of the Streets', exceptionally well crafted episode.
The Honour Board
(Week ending)
23-Sep: "The Ghost" Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
30-Sep: "Code of the Streets" Luke Cage