57 Channels and Only This Is On: August 27, 2023

 

The Chi:  In this week’s installment of should I know who that is: the chick in the shower with Douda.  And did we know Quentin was an informant?  But what I am really following this season is Emmitt’s gun.  He learned his father took it this week and wants it back, but I do not think he actually got it back.  Though, if that is Chekov’s gun which will go off in the third act of the season (and I assume in Douda’s direction) does that make the bag of guns Chekov’s arsenal?

 

Billions:  Chuck had a secret meeting at the tomb of Ulysses S. Grant with… Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?  I know this show loves gratuitous cameos, but that was a bit absurd.  For a second, I thought maybe he was meeting with Axe.  Knowing this show, they probably will team up to bring down Prince, but it will probably be Wendy that facilitates that.

 

Only Murders in the Building:  It was a little annoying that they tried to hide who was calling Mabel when it was obvious that is was the person who gave the voiceover at the start of the episode. Otherwise, why else was Cinda there? But I have to say, I enjoyed wellness hippie Cinda than the murder podcaster Cinda.

 

It looks like next episode will be Joy being the red herring of the week which should be hilarious.  I cannot imagine they would make another of Charles’ girlfriend a kill no matter how funny that would be.  The whole fish thing was great.

 

Kimber as this week’s red herring was also very entertaining.  I think I would watch a Kinber trying to make it as an influencer in the New York theater type spin-off. Then the whole White Room stuff was hilarious. I just hope we get a full cast album of Death Rattle Dazzle because all these songs are bangers. But I am not sure I will be able to watch another musical without trying to find who they stuck the sing-talky song too.

 

Justified: City Primeval:  That scene in the diner really felt like the opening scene of the original series.  But instead of ending with a “Justified” killing, for the second time this season, two people trying to get Clement with two different schemes, ruined the other.

 

Ashoka:  Why are they spending so much time and energy trying to find Ezra Bridger?  There are so many Jedi out there who are better than Ezra.  And when did being stabbed in the stomach with a lightsaber stop being fatal?  It felt like a death sentence in the movies, but just a flesh wound on the television shows.

 

The Challenge: USA:  The hat trick plan has to be one of the dumbest things ever.  You just eliminated someone who was not a threat and it should be pretty obvious to all the Survivor and Big Brother people what the Vets were doing.  Of course the big question is will the Survivor and Big Brother people get back on the same page and target the Vets again.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: August 20, 2023

 

The Chi:  In this week’s instalment of should I know who these people are: should I know who those first two people at the party are?  I vaguely remember who the guy who sat at the bar was, but am not entirely how he fit into the story.  Thankfully the guy who did not pick up Keisha the night she was kidnapped said that upfront, because I would not have known that if he did not.  But is this the first time all the characters were in the same place at the same time?  But I think we need to keep track of the Chekov’s Gun that was given as a housewarming present.  I have a feeling I know who will be on a receiving end (the kingpin), but the list of who could shoot it is very long.

 

Billions:  So Chuck ended the last season in jail and has his job back by episode two because of a pair of cowboy boot?  That is pretty absurd even by television standards.  I am guessing it will take a little longer to get Axe Cap back together.  Then I have to imagine the whole bassoon thing was inspired by Only Murders in the Building.

 

Only Murders in the Building:  Ben Glenroy's apartment may have been more wild than the stalkers. Then Death Rattle Dazzle is really coming together nicely, or at the very least coming together hilariously.

But my two main suspects after the first two episodes look a little less guilty this week. The brother looked broken up even when no one was watching (that he knew of). Then Flobert (that is my official name for him going forward unless Mabel comes up with a better one) seemed to help Mabel in her investigation... but then again, Jan did help too.

I do have a sinking suspicion than Kimber was not the only one to lose her hankie.

 

Justified: City Primeval:  Oh no, Sweetie is dead… oh well.  But what happened to the gun?  But this has to be the point where the lawyer turns on him.  But who is the mole in the police department?  The black dude is pretty laissez faire but it is probably the lady cop.

 

The Challenge: USA:  Why were trey trying to make Paulie seem sympathetic?  Good riddance.  If only both went home.  But it is nice to see the hot chick alliance take full control of this game.  It will be interesting as to what Johnny does.  Seems most likely that he goes to go to Blue.  But does he go full spite and send Cory to Red Flag or does he try to make a Vet majority and send one of the non-Vets packing like Chris?  That would be Johnny, Cory, Fessie, and Tori against Cassidy, Seabass, and the Alyssa’s.  Tori could definably get Seabass to switch in that situation.  But can the Alyssa’s keep Cory on their side in that situation.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: August 13, 2023

 

The Chi:  Are they really doing a grooming storyline with Poppa.  Sure, a two year age difference is not that gross, but it is a little icky hearing anyone ask someone when they turn eighteen.  But twice this week I had to ask myself, should I know these people?  First was the guy who found God while in prison.  I ended up using context clues to realize that was brother of the girl Kevin’s moms adopted.  Then the drug dealer’s mom was talking about her brother who was murdered.  Is that Quinten?  Did we know Quinten and the drug dealer were related?

 

Only Murders in the Building:  I was wondering how they were going to do an Only Murders in the Building podcast when the murder did not happen in the building.  Good fake out especially with Uma saying it was nice they kept the body out of the building this time only for her to see Ben Glenroy’s dead body later on.   It would have been funny had people kept trying to kill Ben Glenroy all season only to fail, but alas, it seems like he is really dead this time.

 

Though I do have a theory that whoever poisoned Ben Glenroy was not the person who pushed him down the elevator shaft.  Right now I think the brother poisoned him while the documentarian shoved him down the shaft even though they really seemed to want us to think Meryl Streep did it.

 

My other big prediction after one episode is that the “her” Charles told Ben Glenroy to stay away from is not a person but a thing.  He mentioned that Mabel did not get to know him before he died and Lucy was quickly ushered out of the theater so it does not seem like we will see much of her (and it would have been creepy anyway if Ben Glenroy needed to be told to stay away from a teenage girl).  That just leaves his girlfriend because I doubt Charles would get too attached to one of his castmates.

 

Justified: City Primeval:  Well, I was just saying how Raylan has seemed to mature during the show’s hiatus for not letting one bad guy kill another bad guy and then he goes and forks a key person in the case he is working on and get in a pissing contest with her ex-husband.  And now that key person may become a person of interest if she starts using that book to advance her career.

 

The Challenge: USA:  Ugg, the nation centric spin-offs last season year were so good without the same tired contestants from the flagship show.  Of course they had to go and ruin it just like they ruined All-Star.  Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to bring Paulie back.  And no, Paulie, people do not love to hate you, you have go away heat.  Ugg, and Josh is back and on the same team as Paulie.  Hopefully that team self-combusts and Michele is the only one who survives.   If we are lucky Johnny gets sent in and sent home, but I fear there may be a frozen envelope situation.  I like the idea of a hidden vote and random people being thrown in, but I do not trust the producers not to do some shenanigans to keep the same boring players on the show longer.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: May 21, 2023

 

Fatal Attraction: So Lizzie Caplan really killed the old lady.  Cool.  But they teased us with blood in her apartment, I am still pretty convinced it is not hers and she is still very alive.

 

Fear the Walking Dead:  So there was a big time jump where the baby we once knew is now a precocious little girl.  Gee, where have I seen this before?  But am I really supposed to believe that Morgan just gave up and did not even try to get

 

Saint X:  Much like Yellowjackets, the earlier timeline is more interesting, but the crazier the sister get, the more entertaining the present day timeline gets.  Hopefully she gets crazy enough to confront Gogo in the next episode.

 

Class of ’09:  Unlike Yellowjackets and Saint X, the earliest timeline is the least interesting part.  I could actually do without it completely.  I even kind of forgot if there was any ’09 timeline this week.  At least the other two are kind of tying into each other as we see why each are into the Minority Report type program.  But I do not get why they are doing a character of the week for a show that is an eight episode mini-series

 

The Challenge: World Championship:  So TJ said his final starts now at the end of the elimination and then they let everyone get a good night’s sleep right afterward.  Does that really count as TJ’s final?  But really just another run of the mill Challenge finale.    They really should switch things up.

 

Survivor:  What happened between Rotu and Sika that they will only vote for each other and just let Tika run the game.  This was the last time to do something about the trio, even if they forced a tie.  Letting Tika run this game already made this a bottom 5 season.  But it has been a while since there has been a above average season.  It is time for a hard reboot, and not one that involves more scavenger hunts.  

 

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies:  Wait, Susan had an abortion?  I remember they forked, but I missed that a doctor took care of it.  And when did Dot get interesting?  She seemed like such a background character all season.

 

Yellowjackets:  Well that is an interesting way to play Russian roulette.  I guess I should specify that I was referring to drawing the Queen of Hearts because Lottie wants to play in the current timeline.  At the time, I was wondering if there was any significant to Javi drawing the King, but I guess if they do not kill the Queen; the King is a worthy alternative.  So all that time, Javi never did tell anyone where he was.  It looks like he was about to tell Natalie, but then the wilderness took him.

 

But at least it looks like Coach Ben found where Javi’s hiding spot with plenty of tiny bones, so it looks like Akilah’s dead buddy’s family might be there too.  So we may be able to put two and two together on what Javi was doing when he was missing.  But the one big unanswered question is: who exactly is the person who told Javi he should not go back?  Was it Other Tai?  Could there be someone else down there?  We only have one more episode to learn the answer to or it might be a long wait with the writer’s strike.

 

So is this where the warring tribes are split?  Nat vs. Lottie?  Will Lottie’s crew take the cabin and Team Nat will be in the tree?  I am having trouble figuring out who would actually follow Nat.  It seems to be just Travis, Ben, and maybe Shauna and/or Tai.  I could see Misty playing both sides.  I wonder if we will get a hard split by the end of the season or will be have to wait until the next one.

 

Then in present day, all the secrets came out and Lottie’s big solution is to sacrifice one them to the Wilderness and everything will be alright again.  Ooof.  I am not entirely sure if everyone says no.  Well, maybe there will be a Javi situation and the Wilderness will take someone and those girls will get a reprieve like Nat did back in the nineties.  One of Lotttie’s purple people has to be disposable.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: May 14, 2023

 

Fatal Attraction:  Oh thank goodness, Lizzie Caplan killed the old lady (allegedly).  I thought she might have killed the dog.

 

The Blacklist:  I was befuddled when Red was still part of the task force assuming killing the one dude in a federal building without the FBI’s knowledge would be a step too far.  I guess it was as Red scrubbed himself from the record and did not show up to the meeting with the Committee Chair.  It just took a week longer than I expected.  But maybe the bigger news is that the new chick was adopted.  I have to assume this will somehow tie back to Red.  He cannot possibly be the father, van he?

 

Saint X:  My pick of the brunette chick got a good bump this week when she said she made a horrible mistake.  Though the preppy dude and the creepy pregnant couple were also implicated in that cold open.  Maybe everyone was there when she died. 

 

Class of ’09:  Well those first two episode were kind of a borefest.  Hopefully things pick up and soon.  Quantico was a pretty bad show, but at least it was not boring.

 

The Challenge: World Championship:  The show really needs to stop people like Tori and Kacee with their predetermined alliances on the show.  It makes it so boring to watch.   The veterans really ruined what could have been an entertaining season.  Those country specific shows were much more entertaining without them.

 

Survivor:  So are they not going to explain why the two chicks would rather the tribe breakdown to be 3-2-1 instead of 2-2-2.  That makes about as much sense as the guy with an Idol not playing it even though an Idol got played for the person he voted for.  What did he think would happen?  Clearly Tika was on to him so he basically had a one in four shot that the votes would come to him.  That may be a top ten dumbest play in the history of the show.  Almost as silly was the Tika saying they would be in the majority if the votes go their way.  It is still three-three and I believe they know that one of those three has an extra vote.  So they could easily get voted out with a three to four split.  Of course those two have to wise up and vote out a Tika next week and wise moves and been few and far in-between this season.  Thankfully only one episode left.  I am ready for this season to be over.

 

Titans:  That ending made no sense.  How did Superboy come back to life?  I knew he would, but at least put him under some yellow sun so it makes sense.  There are just too many of this inconsistency to name.  Good riddance to this poorly executed show.  It should have been much better.

 

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies:  I did not think I needed an episode dedicated to the T-Bird and after this episode, I gotta say, I was right.  Those kids have absolutely no charisma, especially compared to John Travolta.

 

Yellowjackets:  I was getting ready to write that this was the first episode where the modern day scenes were more interesting than the 90’s… and then Shauna had to go and punch Misty out of nowhere and just wailed on Lottie, so I think it may be a draw.  But still, I am disappointed that it took so long for all the girls to get to the cult (one of them noticeably said “we’re all here,” does that mean everyone else is a goner?).  The Misty tank may end up going down as the most entertaining scene of the series.

 

Speaking of the “we’re all here,” prior to that I believe Lottie mentioned that most everyone was there, but they hid the face to begin and for a second I thought maybe she was talking to Ben, whom Misty just talked off a cliff, before revealing it was her psychiatrist who turned out to not be there.  So it looks like my prediction that Ben kills himself is wrong… for now.  Though I did not see him in the brawl at the end.  What a weird scene, we all assume Ben is a goner, this seemed like a perfect time for him to go, his imaginary lover seemingly abandoned him, but in the end, Misty talking about there been too many deaths stopped him.  So is he actually going to survive?  I cannot image he will kill himself now, after being talked off the ledge.  Will they actually give him some sort of heroic death?  Coach Ben making it to season three may be the biggest shocker on the show, but almost seems likely now.

 

So much going on this episode which unfortunately means no time for Javi to explain what happened to him once again.  So one even mentioned that if javi could survive two months, Crystal could survive a couple days, no one in that moment thought to ask, yeah, Javi, how exactly did you survive in the freezing cold all alone for that month?  They really are going to drag this out all season, aren’t they?

 

Then we have to add the question of what happened to <strike>Crystal</strike>Kristen.  At least Javi is a healthy teenage boy even if dead-ass Jackie could not survive the same storm, <strike>Crystal</strike>Kristen was spitting up blood when given chest compressions, there is no way she could have gotten far.  Though maybe the question should not be did she move, but did someone move her?  I know I have been saying that this is a mystery box show and it would be silly to suggest that the same people that kept Javi alive for months saved <strike>Crystal</strike>Kristen, but I will put it out there just in case this does turn into a mystery box show.

 

With so much going on, it is almost easy to forget that the two remaining redshirts were the first to bring up cannibalism.  Kind of a big moment for two characters that have been so insignificant so far. 

57 Channels and Only This Is On: May 7, 2023

 

Fatal Attraction:  I have not seen the original movie, but my big prediction is that Lizzy Caplan is not dead.  The daughter ends up killing her in the future.

 

The Blacklist:  Oh, so Red is not the Big Bad, or least not yet.  I was shocked that the episode started with Red with Agnes in the dining room.  At least he is not the Big Bad… yet.

 

Saint X:  Oh joy, they added another timeline.  At least they did not have any young kid Gogo this week and the new timeline bleed into present day.  But at whvt point does Gogo start becoming suspicious of this white girl who just keeps showing up around her?

 

The Challenge: World Championship:  So did Darrell have to get one less piece and still lost?  Is he and Kiki just really bad swimmers.  The editing of that Challenge seemed weird.

 

Survivor:  Oh no, the one person that realized that Tiki was playing both sides got voted out.  Though Frannie may up being Tiki’s demise as Caroline seems like someone who will go scorched earth because they voted out her girl.  But then again she seemed like someone who would go scorched earth against Yam Yam when he went against her and started working with her again.

 

Titans:  So is Mother Mayhem actually dead-dead this time? 

 

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies:  What exactly are they doing with Hazel?  It is weird that she is the main focus occasionally but she is not with the cheerleaders or with the pink Ladies nor does it seem like either are even fighting over her.  Why is she on the show at all?

 

Yellowjackets:   Some of the best viewer theories about the show centered on Shauna’s wilderness baby.  I came up with one where Jackie kidnaps the baby and raises it in the wilderness and they were the ones sending the postcards.  When Jackie died, I swapped her out and put Lottie in that same theory.  I got a tingle that maybe I was right when Lottie said, “our baby.”  Of course then I remembered Lottie was rescued and went straight to a mental hospital.  I also then remembered what I wrote a couple weeks ago that none of the theories are going to be correct because this show is not a mystery box show, it is a show about trauma and of course what happened to the baby was not going to be some shocking reveal, but just the most tragic outcome: he dies in childbirth.  Sigh.

 

The other big news this week is for the first time, all six survivors (that we currently know about) we in the same place at the same time.  Misty in the cult did disappoint (holy brass knuckles).  Well maybe a little, I wish we would have gotten more time with her.  I wonder how much time we will get with them all there.  I really doubt Van is actually going to leave with the way she looked at Lottie.  But there is that pesky murder thing with Shauna that three of them covered up.

 

For me the weakest part of the first season was Shauna’s bored housewife routine.  But I have to say, after it turned out Jeff turned out to be a pretty good husband (aside from the whole blackmail thing) and we have gotten more Callie this season, it is slowly becoming the second best present day storyline after whatever Misty is doing.  Jeff listening to Fork the Police and Callie talking about the cop’s weird balls were the best part of this week.

 

One thing that stood out to me this week that I had not noticed previously (maybe this was the first time she wore it) was that Akilah was where a purple neck cover this week.  I wonder if that is some subtle nod that she will end up being team Lottie.  I tried to see if there was some color coordination going on, but other than a two people in red, I really could not see any division by wardrobe and Akilah was the only one I noticed wearing purple.

 

57 Channels and Only This Is On: April 30, 2023

 

The Blacklist:  So the Big Bad of the season for not the buddy of the lawyer, but Red himself.  Okay, that makes this season slightly more interesting.  Though I am not sure why exactly Red would go back on his lucrative deal with the government that took out his adversaries and made him a lot more money.

 

Saint X:  This was a slow to the series, but I do have some prediction: Obviously the natives did not kill the older sister, I am pretty sure it was one of the other ladies at the resort, either the pregnant lady who was mad her husband was eye forking her, or the other college age girl who seems annoyed that she is taking all the boy.  My other prediction is the younger sister and Gogo are definitely going to fork.

 

The Challenge: World Championship:  Why did they build this up to be some awesome challenge?  One of them ran for about five feet (I think one even lifted the cover before they put in the key, the hardest part of the challenge), then other person drove in a straight line.  I miss the days when they would melt ice with body heat.

 

Survivor:  So Franny was the only one smart enough to realize the loser alliance is playing both side.  Seemed pretty obvious to me when you know someone has an Idol and who they are going to play it for and not change your vote or inform the people you are voting for that is what the plan is.  Though the loser alliance did all vote for the big dude.  Wonder if anyone from the other tribe will pick up that they voted with them last week and against them this week when strategizing next week.

 

Titans:  So this ended up being the Titan’s world version of the Doom Patrol.  So where exactly were The Chief and Elasta-Girl?  They did not even get a mention.  Beast Boy even got that big reveal about The Chief last episode.  It was a shame they did not pull in more people into… wherever they were.  It would have been cool had Stargirl been hanging around all episode too.

 

Love and Death:  I did not think this story need two television shows devoted to it, so I skipped the Hulu version mostly because Elizabeth Olsen is a much better actress than Jessica Biel, but after watching the first three episodes of the HBO Max, I think maybe it did not even need one show devoted to it.  The nineties movie might have been enough.

 

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies:  I really hope this does not devolve into a Pretty Little Liars situation where the writers think a teacher statutory raping his student is some grand love story.  It is already creepy.  And if Jane is so worried about her reputation, maybe she should stop bouncing back between Buddy and the T-Bird.  But those old people are definitely going to get Hugo Chavez to switch some votes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: April 23, 2023

 

 The Blacklist:  Like I said last week, this is just going to be a greatest hits season.  Yawn.

 

The Mandalorian:  Well, that was a pretty straight forward finale, though, I was mildly surprised that IG-12 was named the new sheriff and they did not bring in Cobb Vance.  I wonder when we will see him again.

 

The Challenge: World Championship:  I was so happy to finally get rid of Kacee who grossly only seemed concerned that she was going to be kicked off the show and not at all concerned that her partner was being carted off to the hospital.  But then Amber had to go and get knocked up.  What is that, the third time a chick was kicked off for being knocked up?  And that does not even include Melissa who ran a final while pregnant.  You would think would think after the first time, they would make a pregnancy test to be part of the women’s physical.   What they should have done was bring back Jonna and have her team with Troy because at least she was more concern about Grant’s health than money.

 

Survivor:  Well, that was confusing.  So the firefighter played his Idol for Franny knowing that all the Tika players knew he was going to do it.  But if you think they are with you, why play the Idol?  And if you think they are not with they, why play it for Franny if there is a possibility they were going to switch their votes to someone else?  Then if the Tika people still voted for Franny know someone going to play the Idol, does that just show they are playing both sides and you probably should not trust them?  I feel like I am missing something.  Or maybe they are all just dumb.

 

Titans:  So Beast Boy was in The Red this whole time?  I still do not understand why the Previously On on the return episode was dedicated to him unless it was a mistake.  But it was nice to see Stargirl again, unfortunately it was not for very long and Wildcat was not with her.  I wonder what Doom Patrol Beast Boy ended up with, the one from his show, the one with its own show, or possibly a different one.  The one with its own show, the Cyborg on that lost his tech.

 

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies:  Okay, I also kind of liked the song in the classroom this week too.

 

Yellowjackets:  We waited almost half a season and Javi is not talking aside from one cryptic statement of someone telling him not to go back.  Who told him?  Are there more people out there?  Was this person in his head?  We have to add those to the questions we still need to know like where was he and how did he survive out there when Jackie was turned into a Popsicle? 

 

Of course the biggest downside of Javi returning was that he was one more mouth to feed.  But Misty gonna Misty and took care of that problem but eliminating one mouth.  When they walked up to that cliff, I said to myself, this is the second time we have seen someone stand over this cliff, someone is going to go over.  I just did not expect it to be as soon as the second time we saw it.  But as soon as they started sharing secrets, I knew Misty was going to blab about the black box.  Even then, I was not expecting her to die because I figured the other girls would figure out what Misty did eventually and this would be how.  Nope.  R.I.P. Crystal… or whatever her real name was.

 

Speaking of Misty gonna Misty, what exactly is she going to do with Walter?  He kind of seems into it, but I cannot see her keeping that loose end open.  Speaking of loose ends, when is she going to make it back to town to clean up Shauna’s mess?  But her time with the cult will likely be an all-timer.  And speaking of the cult, Nat’s vision of the plane crash kind of looked like everyone died.  Hopefully this is not a Lost-purgatory situation where they all died and the ones that were not worthy of moving on were stuck in that place before they redeem themselves. 

57 Channels and Only This Is On: April 16, 2023

 

The Blacklist:  So is this season just going to be a greatest hits of former blacklisters?

 

The Mandalorian:  Who could have guessed Grogu was a Daniel Bryan fan?  I have to assume that is why he kept punching the “Yes” button.  Though I do not quite understand why the evil guys were so keen on killing all the Mandalorians, but just tied up Din.  Why spare him?

 

The Challenge: World Championship:  What a glorious two weeks with Wes and Johnny going out back to back.  But what was hilarious about Johnny going out, was that he was the biggest defender of letting the peanut gallery help people during the elimination, but no one bothered to tell him that he had the wrong sun.

 

Survivor:  That new twist would have been almost interesting if the Control a Vote happened in secret without anyone else knowing that it happened.  What is the point in having someone declaring to everyone whose vote they were stealing and who they were being forced to vote for?

 

Titans:  Why did the “Previously On” focus so much on Beast Boy when he was not even in either episode?  But I am really just ready for this show to end.

 

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies:  Okay, the second debate song was the first song that was almost catchy.

 

School Spirits:  Huh?  So how exactly was Maddie able to hear the ghosts?  Why was ghost lady able to take over her body?  Why did Maddie become a ghost because of it?  Why was there so much blood?  None of that finale made sense.

 

Yellowjackets:  Three episodes and no sign of javi or adult Van and here we get them both in quick succession.  Now the question is, where exactly was javi this whole time and how did he survive when Jackie turned into a popsicle?  Does it have to do with the melted snow?  I could not tell what was poking out of it, kind of looked like a black rock.  When Van started to poke around, I thought she was going to find some sort of hatch.

 

Except it is becoming clear that Yellowjackets is not that kind of show.  Fan theories went wild in the offseason with many people believing, including myself, that Lottie was the leader of some wild cult that started back in the wilderness.  But it became clear this episode that Lottie is not some nefarious cult leader but both Lotties are severely broken.  The elder one is going to therapy and the younger one seemed to be unwillingly pushed into the prophecy role by some of the other girls.

 

We do know that the girls eventually break into factions, was this where the first division is?  Van was with Lottie at the bear heart ritual, but this week she was very adamant that it was Tai supernatural powers that found Javi.  But Mari was still backing Lottie.  Is this going to devolve into the people who think Lottie is their savior and those that worship Tai? 

 

Speaking of out of control fan theories, I thought Walter was going to be some big bad, but he is turning out to be just a male version of Misty.   I am shocked they did not end up forking.  But if there is something this show needs is a big bad for the girls to fight.  But like I said before, Yellowjackets is not that kind of show.  It is because clear this is just a show about generational trauma, and nothing else.

 

Had it not been for those two appearances, my biggest takeaway from this episode was Jeff saying, “We only have one kid.”  That eliminates that his first kid is just some twenty-five year old living his (Lottie did call the baby a “him”) life away from his parents.  So where is the kid?  My wild fan theories really want to say that he is still in the Canadian wilderness or grew up in Lottie’s cult, but it is becoming clearer that the baby did not make it back to civilization.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: April 9, 2023

 

The Blacklist:  I knew it, that guy was with Red the whole time.  I just did not expect it to be revealed the very next episode and then the guy dies minutes later.

 

Quantum Leap:  So Ben jumped into his own body from five years ago?  Jumping into yourself just kind of defeats the purpose of the Quantum Leap program.  I cannot believe the renewed this crap.

 

The Mandalorian:  So it took Mando multiple episodes to realize what I knew the moment that it happened: Bo-Katan could lay claim to the Dark Saber because she defeated the eye monster that defeated Mando.  Sigh.

 

Wu-Tang: An American Saga:  I am glad we got to the Rage tour by the finale, that that could have been a whole season.  I was actually working at my local amphitheater during this show and Wu-Tang started a full hour late because the group was playing back stage.  Then it was Rage that had the plug pulled on them because we had a very strict curfew in order.  Fun times.  Shame we did not get a season dedicated to the album bought by the Pharma Bro.

 

The Challenge: World Championship:  Nothing more anticlimactic than when an episode ends with no elimination because someone when home due to a medical DQ instead.  How exactly did Grant miss a giant balloon in the middle of the lake?  But poor Kellyanne, does not even get the satisfaction of throwing Jonna in out of spite.

 

Survivor:  Carson seemed like he was in one of the better positions in the game, but what a boneheaded move to tell someone they were the target.  He just became extremely untrustworthy and just gained the support of one dude for it.

 

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies:  I have the same issue with this show that I had with Up Here in that the songs just are not that good.  They just take the steam out of the episode for three straight minutes.  Other than the Theme to Grease, the songs just did not add anything to this show.  I wonder if they will try to repurpose any of the original song because these new songs are not working.  But unlike Up Here where Jason Street is the only good character, I actually kind of like most of the characters on this show.

 

Yellowjackets:   I was a little off with Tai’s wife dying, though, give it another episode and it may still happen.  But the biggest takeaway this week with Tai is that she might not actually be sleepwalking.  It certainly made it seem like she has a split personality.  So who exactly is the other personality and what does she have to do with the Man with No Eyes?

 

Speaking of seeing things, Lottie is having visions again.  What exactly is that blood and dead bees (or yellowjackets) portend?  When the lady came up to talk to her, from behind, I thought that was young Nat for a second.  Speaking of Nat, when she was startled at the plane, I thought that was going to be Javi.  Thankfully it was not, because has he just been living there for the past two months and no one bothered to look there, that would have been silly.  But any ending where Javi shows up alive after all this time would be a little silly since Jackie froze to death… unless they are not alone.

 

Then Misty is gonna be Misty, in both timeline.  Of course she is going to give a very inappropriate gift at the baby shower (and what are we to make of Shanna getting a nosebleed at the very same time a bunch of birds died?)  Then getting the other Citizen Detective ordering to rough up Randy was hilarious.  But is he really going to buy that story about Adam?  And I was a little disappointed that Misty would need credit card records to identify the purple people (eaters).  Does she not already have a file on Lottie and knows her cult wears purple and was able to put two and two together?

 

I got serious Lost vibes with Coach Ben’s flashback, you know, the kind of flashbacks where you just knew that character was going to die at the end of the episode.  Except he did make it out of the episode alive.  But it hard to see he will survive the season.  The better quest may be just how will he die?  Does he get killed for meat?  Is it an accident like Jackie?  I kind of got suicide vibes from him.

 

57 Channels and Only This Is On: April 2, 2023

 

The Blacklist:  I am willing to bet that Red sent his buddy in to the evil dude’s crew to keep tabs on him and he is not really turning on Red.

 

Quantum Leap:  So that was what Ben was up to, he was trying to go to the future to stop some sort of nuclear fallout.  Did he go too far because it looks like it already happened.  This has gotten too confusing.  And just how exactly did Ben know something lie that was going down in the future?

 

The Mandalorian:  Holy Zeb sighting?  But the problem with all these Star Wars shows is I keep forgetting where they fall in the timeline.  I actually had to spend a minute thinking if this happened before or after Rebels.  We also got a tie in to the Pershing storyline with the evil chick trying to keep Tim Meadows from helping Greef.  I only also have to assume she also helped Moth Gideon escape too.

 

Wu-Tang: An American Saga:  Wait, did Ghostface really do a drive-by with the Del

 

The Challenge: World Championship:  Yet another cliffhanger this season?  But you gotta love the hubris of Wes who likes to pretend he is the smartest person on the room but really messed up by not drinking.  But I just do not under why Wes only lost five points when neither he nor his partner even tried but amber lost seven points even though her partner did finish.  But rules on this show rarely makes sense.

 

Survivor:  If this guy was hurt, why did they wait this long to pull him?  I feel bad for everyone who got voted out and they just waited until now to pull him.  But I was looking forward to losing two annoying people because that whole tribe was annoying except stupid Jeff had to cancel Tribal.  Meh.

 

Yellowjackets:   Um… so what happened to Jackie’s clothes?   Did they just burn off and leave a surprisingly great flavoring?  Then with Coach hightailing it out of there, you have got put him number one on who they kill first for food power rankings.  But there have been a lot of debate as to if there is something supernatural going on here, and that snow falling during sex scene really leaned into the supernatural.  And was Lottie just there watching or was Travis having vision her.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: March 26, 2023

  

Your Honor:   Episode 10:  I was right that the judge spilled everything at trial, but I was wrong with the fallout.  I thought everyone would go to prison.  Instead the gangster’s wife managed to take out her husband and her father in one fell swoop.  Well, she tried except apparently her father cannot kill someone at point blank range and her husband woke up.  This kind of felt like a set up for another season.  Brian Cranston did say this was the last season in an interview for it came up, though I do not believe Showtime has made any kind of announcement.  Could they possibly try a season without Cranston whose character should be in prison for a while?  Hopefully not.

 

The Mandalorian:  Some serious laps in logic this week.  Like how did the Mandalorians beat the bird dinosaur back to her nest?  And if Grogu was able to shoot off three darts in a row, why did the other kid just shoot one at a time when Grogu was looking confused at the game?  He picked the game; he should know he could shoot multiple shots in a row.

 

Wu-Tang: An American Saga:  This was probably the best of all the movie episodes but wild we got three in the final season.  But I guess that is it and next week will be the Clan spread out but reteams for the finale to record Wu-Tang Forever.  Disappointing that we will not get a Pharma Bro episode.

 

The Challenge: World Championship:   The show needs to bring back the advantage for whoever comes back from elimination because when the same people get nominated every week, it just gets boring.  Why even watch next week when it will most likely be the last remaining Argentina team goes in and probably goes home?

 

Survivor:  Another week, another young women goes home.  Frannie better watch her back next week.  Lucky for her, it looks like the one dude with the limp arm might be pulled.  I am surprised he made it this far.

Scooter's Note:  Since Showtime has been putting new episodes on streaming on Fridays for a while, I am going to start writing about those show in the following day's 57 Channels instead of waiting a week to write about them because they air linearly on Sundays starting with the season premiere of Yellowjackets.

Yellowjackets:   Everyone has been wondering when the first taste of cannibalism was going to happen, but, wow, I was not expecting it would be Shanna just popping Jackie’s ear like it’s a Skittle.  But now I fear for the safety of Tai’s wife.  I would not be threatening someone who cut off your dog’s head and to make an altar of it.  Though it seems like Tai was just as shock to see it as her wife.  A shout out to Callie for watching the greatest scene in The Challenge history and was much more interested in that than her mother coming home.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: March 19, 2023

 

The Blacklist:  So this guy was able to find the greatest pickpockets in the world, but could not find anyone who could hit a target?  For a mastermind, that was a very big oversite.  I did recognize the guy Red tried to poison, but cannot place him at all.  This show really could use “Previously On” montages when they bring back people like this.

 

The Last of Us:  Well that was a horrible finale.  If you have to sacrifice one person to save all of humanity, you do it.

 

Your Honor:   So this is how the show is going to end?  The judge is going to get on the stand and answer all the questions truthfully, exposing all the criminality, from police corruption that killed his wife, everything he did that kept his son out of prison, and all the gangster activities was the two warring factions.  Everyone but the young mother goes to prison.

 

The Mandalorian:  Um, did we really need an episode of Andor inside of this show?  Unfortunately I really do not care about two characters I barely remember.   So all of that was just an elaborate way to zap the doctor’s brain?

 

Wu-Tang: An American Saga:  Why were they wasting an episode on RZA’s brother this late in the series?

 

The Challenge: World Championship:  Seriously, they waited until the end to do the elimination?  This show really should stick to a one challenge and one elimination per episode  But poor Jujuy, stuck with someone giving the single worse elimination performance ever.  Everyone was helping Nelson and still he did not listen.

 

Survivor:  Is a dude ever going to be voted out?  I wonder what longer streak for one gender being voted out is?

 

School Spirits:  Why does the teacher have the cheerleader’s number?

57 Channels and Only This Is On: March 12, 2023

 

The Blacklist:  I am trying to do the math on the new agent.  Just how old was her mom when she had her?   Though I guess there were some time jumps so maybe it has been more than ten years on the show since season one.  But the Whaler really looked like Lizzy’s mother, for a second I thought she returned.

 

The Last of Us:  Yippie, another lets meet another dead person of the week.  They really leaned into the video aspect this week with Joel getting antibiotics and his health meter instantly getting full. But where exactly did the rest of the resort people go as one of the buildings got burned down?  The resort just seemed to turn into a ghost town the moment Joel arrived even though there were at least twenty people at dinner.

 

Your Honor:   Wait, the baby mama is only seventeen?  For some reason I thought she was in college.  But I am beginning to think that trail is what will bring all the corrupt people in New Orleans down.

 

Quantum Leap:  Oh yeah, other leaper is back.  That guy was missing for too many episodes.  But where was he the whole episode?

 

The Mandalorian:  Why did Mando send Grogu to Bo-Katan?  Little dude has made much bigger creatures go to sleep with the force.  Why waste all the time traveling to the moon when he could have easily dispatched the eye robot?  But I could not tell is Mando put the Dark Saber back on his suit.  Doesn’t Bo-Katan have a claim to it?  The eye robot won it in battle from Mando and she won it in battle from the eye-robot.  If she refused it from Mando because it has to be won in battle, kind of seems like this satisfies the prophecy.   

 

Wu-Tang: An American Saga:  Yet another very special episode.  I wonder just how many more of these will we get.  Will Method Man get one?  He was conspicuously absent from this episode and really has not been in the season that much. 

 

The Challenge: World Championship:  Some questionable non-winners included in this cast.  I do not even remember Justine.  Ben was “medically separated” from his season and still seems hurt.  Neither Australia player even made the finals.  No comment on Argentina because for some reason The Mount is not airing that season until halfway through this season.  Then I do not like that the Global MVP’s are paired with “Legends” ( I had to put that in quotation marks because, c’mon… Theo? Nelson?  Kacee?).  Hopefully the MVP’s do not let the “Legends” dominate the game and let the same boring alliances from the main show dominate.

 

Survivor:  Here is the problem with modern Survivor.  All the smart players what to sit next to someone annoying at Final Tribal so it will be easier for them to win.  So when the annoying people used to go out first, now we have to spend an entire season them with them.  I was just flabbergasted that the one dude whose name I have not bothered to learn yet sided with the two most annoying people this season.

 

School Spirits:  I was not expecting high art, but the acting was somehow worse than I was expecting.  Okay, I do have to admit the gay homosexual dying from a nut allergy was pretty funny.  That chick really should have laughed at that.

 

57 Channels and Only This Is On: March 5, 2023

 

The Last of Us:  Oh joy, another dead person of the week episode.  But I wonder if we will revisit this scene because you know that Ellie ended up killing that chick and it would be weird if they never show it.

 

Your Honor:   Wait, the mayor is evil?  Was this a plot twist that happened this episode or have I not been paying attention?  And he called the crooked cop to get rid of the car?  I thought he got the kid’s brother to get rid of the car.  And now the mayor wants the kid dead too?  I feel like I missed an episode or five.  None of this makes complete sense.

 

Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches:   I did not go into this show expecting it to be high art, but I still was not expecting it to be a complete incomprehensible mess.  Does anyone know what is going on?

 

La Brea:  Why were they so concerned with the portal closing?  They just went back four hours.  If it closes, just wait out the four hours then go back to the time machine then.  But a pretty wild finale, no more time machines and the mom is lost in history.  Maybe she goes to the future where time machines exist and travels back.  Oh, and the dad has a sister.  Could it possibly be the shady German chick who pretended she did not know English we just met, or possibly her mom?

 

The Mandalorian:  I feel bad for the people who skipped Boba Fett.  Though I did watch and that opening scene had me fooled.  I thought that was young Din being inducted into the order until adult Din showed up.  But I do wonder if Bo Katan will ever challenge Din for the Dark Saber.  She clearly want to rule Mandalore but will she be willing to take the Dark Saber from Din in battle when he does not want to fight her for it?

 

Wu-Tang: An American Saga:  Why are we expected to care so much about Masta Killa.  It seems like dude just showed up last week on the bus and now he is the focus of a third of an episode.  But poor Inspectah Deck, had to share an episode with the two least important members of the Wu.  I do even remember that song from Tales from the Hood.

 

Survivor:  The show needs to do away with the two hour premiere because they are a complete drag.  Well, this one was until the end with the most chaotic premiere episode Tribal Council ever.  I always watch the show and wonder how these people are not so paranoid that they are not just constantly playing their Idols and advantages.  Finally a bunch of contestants playing like I would.  Four of the six members played something.  But I wonder if anything else gets played if that first chick did not get extremely paranoid.  When two people play their shot in the dark, especially when you thought they were voting with you, you really have to play your Idol.  Hopefully this chaos continues because this show has gotten stale with too many gamebots.

 

The Challenge: Ride or Dies:  Okay, that Turbo video was great.  More Turbo in future seasons and less pussy chickens like Johnny, Devin, and Jordon.

 

57 Channels and Only This Is On: February 19, 2023

 

The Last of Us:  So is this show going to be the people who Joel and Ellie meet and then die of the week kind of show? 

 

Your Honor:   Wait, are they implicating the judge in the murder of his wife?  That is coming out of nowhere.  So is the cop grasping at straws or did he really did that too?  Probably the former because as we saw last season, he is very bad at covering up crimes; there is no why it is taking the cops years to catch him.

 

Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches:  I have been paying less and less attention to this show and then all of the sudden I look up and a circle of women are kissing what looks to be a skeleton baby.  What the fork?

 

How I Met Your Father:  This reminded me of the time in college where I swore off taking the elevator for health reasons.  But I had to drop off paper work in the twentieth floor of a building.  Around the tenth floor, I realize that maybe I should change the elevator ban to just if I need to go five flights or less at around the tenth floor.  Except when I decided to finally go the rest of the way in the elevator, I leaned that the middle floors were blocked off to the general public and it was not until the eighteenth floor when the doors were unlocked.  Well, at least I got my steps in that day.

 

La Brea:  Wait, that dude had a wife?  And just when did the Exiles find a way to blackmail him? 

 

The Challenge: Ride or Dies:  How nice that they brought back the two teams that were medically eliminated to come back and watch the ending of the final.  Though, maybe they should realize if half your teams cannot even complete your final, that maybe your final is not say.  They have a similar issue on The Challenge: USA.  This franchise really needs new producer before someone dies.