After three seasons of therapy sessions, you would think Prof. Jasper Tempest
would have made some progress overcoming his OCD quirks. Unfortunately, he started
making headway by the third season, but then the murder of his former student
and primary police contact Lisa Donckers sent him spiraling backwards. Tempest’s
shrink, Dr. Helena Goldberg, initially recommends a return to crime-solving as
therapy, but she will also request his consulting detective expertise for
personal reasons in “Overboard,” which launches the fourth season of Professor
T, premiering tonight on PBS.
A death
on a cruise ship is a premise worthy of Dame Agatha. However, initially only
rookie DS Chloe Highsmith suspects foul play in the presumed drowning of Ophelia
McQueen. To be fair, DS (and acting DI) Dan Winters might be a bit distracted mourning
Donckers, with whom he had a rather complicated relationship. However,
revelations of some nasty texts and further suspicious circumstances prompt a
more pointed investigation.
It
turns out, Dr. Goldberg is an old friend of McQueen’s mother, so she would like
Tempest to apply his anti-social genius to the case. Of course, Tempest is
incapable of responding with grace, but eventually he starts his own
investigation, with all the prickliness of his first season self. At this point,
the only person of his limited social circle willing to help happens to be his
free-spirited Aunt Zelda Radclyffe, who agreed to visit while Tempest’s mother
tours Europe. Frankly, she really came more for the dog, but she can drive.
Fortunately,
this will be a case Tempest can solve like Nero Wolfe, without access to the
crime scene. Yet, he still gets himself into trouble. Regardless, writer
Stephen Brady pens some clever parsing of witness statements. Still, it seems
like this episode fails to capitalize on a promising crime scene. However, it
accomplishes its primary goal: getting Tempest back in the game.
This is New York, so the idea of recruiting prosecutors out of prison is not
so far-fetched for Alvin Bragg. They say our courts have a revolving door. That
has been especially true for the Night Court franchise. Everyone
remembers Markie Post from the original series, but they went through two prior
public defenders before she took over the role. Losing a prosecutor should be
nothing out of the ordinary for the reboot-continuation series. However,
curmudgeonly public defender Dan Fielding will be a little freaked out by his
new rival. As a possible consolation, he might discover a new son he never knew
he had in “The Judge’s Boyfriend’s Dad, Part 1 & 2,” the two-part season premiere
of showrunner Dan Rubin’s Night Court, airing tomorrow and next Tuesday
on NBC.
A
lot has changed since the first season. In addition to the new prosecutor,
Judge Abby Stone also has a new clerk and a new boyfriend. In most respects,
they are all trade-ups. India de Beaufort got a lot of laughs as Olivia, the
self-absorbed, uber-aggressive ADA. However, her replacement is Wendie Malick,
who played Fielding’s former stalker-tormentor Julianne Walters. Yes, she was
sent to prison in a previous episode. Welcome to New York City.
Nyambi
Nyambi also mines more humor from the clerk’s position than his predecessor.
Plus, recuring Gary Anthony Williams often feels like a throwback to the old school
Night Court (which is a good thing), as Flobert, a former judge who often
subs in the various Night Court positions (which have had several vacancies) and
just generally like to hang out and kvetch. He is going to have plenty of
gossip, because Judge Abby suspects her boyfriend Jake might be Fielding’s
secret illegitimate son, for reasons she explains in the eccentric opening prologue
to “Part 1.”
True
to form, the naïve do-gooding Stone agonizes over how to broach her supposition
with both men. On the other hand, Flobert and Gurgs the bailiff offer plenty of
suggestions for invasive DNA tests, which Stone will eventually go along with,
for her own personal reasons.
Of
course, the best scenes of this two-parter focus on Walters’ cat-and-mouse
sparring with Fielding. She has the edge this series needs, since it has gone
out of its way to tame Fielding. Walters also outmaneuvers Gurgs as well, when they
clash over smoking on the fire-escape, which is solidly relatable workplace
material.
Hyper-sensitivity
will be the death of the sitcom genre, but the new shows like St. Denis Medical and Animal Control are not giving up without a fight.
Frankly, it is still unclear whether Rubin and his fellow writers intend to
join the battle or surrender, but at least their writing for Malick shows some
signs of life.
Last season, Dr. Alec Mercer overcame his own personal biases and the “halo
effect” to undercover a liberal politician’s involvement in the deadly bombing
that left him physically scarred. Perhaps this season, he might heal in other
ways as well. However, Dr. Mercer must first deal with the cliffhanger that ended
the first season finale when creator Arika Lisanne Mittman’s Irrational returns
tonight, on NBC.
One
of the things that went right for Mercer last season was his increasingly
romantic relationship with Dinshaw, so he would presumably be distressed to see
her snatched off the street and bundled into a van. Of course, it rather
follows that the kidnapping would be related to her previous work as a MI-6
agent. Fortunately for her, Mercer deduces her distress sooner rather than
later. He also has a direct line into the FBI. In addition to his ex, Marisa
Clark, who often calls in Mercer to consult, his formerly slacker sister Kylie
also works at the Bureau as a contract cyber-crime specialist.
As
a result, the season premiere, “Collateral Damage,” is less of a whodunit and
more of ticking clock rescue operation. Lead Jesse L. Martin has solid
chemistry with Keren David, which helps sell the drastic step Mercer takes to find
Dinshaw. Meanwhile, his long-suffering teaching assistant Rizwan Asadi must
endure several clinical experiments exploring the overwhelming desire for
revenge.
Indeed,
Mercer’s investigative methods are often the best elements of each episode.
This is very definitely true of the next installment, “A Kick in the Teeth,” a
crisply paced hunt for an apparent serial killer (nicely helmed by experienced
horror genre director Ernest Dickerson), but the mystery is undercut by the
episode’s limited cast of characters.
However,
it announces an increased role for supporting character, Simon Wilton, the
well-heeled replacement for Mercer’s other assistant, Phoebe Duncan, a Gen Z’er
“stressed out” by Mercer’s crime-fighting productivity. Wilton both embarrasses
and redeems himself. However, unlike other students of his generation, he takes
responsibility in a smartly written scene, featuring Max Lloyd-Jones as Mercer’s
new TA-gofer-sounding board.
This will be the final season of CW’s last DC superhero series currently on
its schedule, but they are going out with a bang. The first three episodes of
season four adapt the most famous Superman comic book story arc of all time. Saying
what it is outright would violate embargoes. However, any serious fan knew the
prospect of battling Doomsday during season three’s cliffhanger ending boded
ominously. Dark days are ahead, but the Kent family must band together in the
first three episodes of Superman & Lois’s fourth and final season,
which premieres tomorrow on the CW (moved up from its previously announced
date).
Thanks
to a suit and some training from the DOD, Jordan Kent is Superboy, but he remains
the same dumb kid. His brother Jon continues to be the more mature one (comparatively
speaking). The Kent family needs his stabilizing influence when Lex Luthor
declares war on them. Beyond the obvious supervillain reasons, he created
Doomsday to take on Superman, to get to Lois Lane, Luthor’s real
nemesis. The disgraced mogul still blames the former Daily Planet reporter for his incarceration and his
estrangement from his daughter Elizabeth.
Luthor
is not too happy with Lois’s father, General Sam Lane, either. In addition to
serving as Superman’s handler, he also helped secure protective relocation for
Luxor’s daughter. Striking while the iron is hot, Luthor has his thugs kidnap
the General. Although the Kents remain in crisis mode, Superboy can focus his super-hearing
on finding his grandfather’s location.
At
least it gives him something structured to do. When Superboy flies off on his
own initiative in the following episode, “A World Without,” it leads to
trouble. Frankly, they already have plenty of that. In addition to the embargoed
stuff, Smallville Mayor (and Clark Kent’s old sweetheart) Lana Lang Cushing
undercovers evidence of Luthorcorp’s plans to buy up considerable parts of the
town, presumably for nefarious purposes.
Things
look pretty bad in the next episode, “Always My Hero,” so the DOD must call in
reinforcements. There is no Justice League in this world (and not much time
left to create it), but there are John Henry Irons, a.k.a. Steel (Shaquille O’Neal
played a very different version of him in a movie best forgotten) and his
daughter (no longer his niece) Nathalie, a.k.a. Starlight, who happens to be
Gen. Lane’s granddaughter, in a weird multiversal kind of way. They will see
their share of action in an episode rife with tragedy, but driven by hope.
Indeed,
these three episodes show why Superman & Lois is better suited to
take on this storyline than the live action films. Despite the spandex and
superpowers, this show always put family drama front and center. It is about
the Kents rather than cosmic spectacle. (That said, the big extended super-slugfest
is rendered surprisingly well.) Despite some changes to fit the show’s pre-existing
mythology, it really gets to the essence of the classic storyline.
It
is also just as much about Smallville as was Smallville. Indeed, Emmanuelle
Chriqui supplies some of the most memorable quiet moments as Mayor Cushing, who
comes to support her friends, the Kents. However, Michael Kudlitz is definitely
the star of these three episodes, as Luthor, who is undeniably on the march. He
certainly has the swagger and the snarl for the super-villain.
Dylan
Walsh also delivers some standout scenes as Gen. Lane. While his character is imperfectly
human (as we see during flashbacks), he is a refreshingly sympathetic military
figure. Indeed, the way the series developed his relationships with the
Ironses, nicely played by Wole Parks and Taylor Buck, has been quite an
intriguing wrinkle. Parks and Buck also deserve credit for rehabilitating the Steel
character after the Shaq debacle.
Chicago is a great city for a workaholic cop like Sgt. Hank Voight. He always can
count on a steady stream of heinous crimes that merit the attention of his
intelligence unit. Since surviving a serial killer’s abduction at the end of
season eleven, he feels compelled to make the most of his “bonus time” by
fighting crime to the fullest possible extent of his human capabilities. Of
course, that means the rest of the team must keep up with him in “Ten
Ninety-Nine,” the twelfth season premiere of Chicago P.D. (of the One
Chicago programming block), airing tonight on NBC.
The
first four and of half minutes of tonight’s episode features no real dialogue
and only a bit of muffled incidental chatter. We do not need any talking to
understand how driven Voight is, as we watch him circling in and out of his
office, only pausing long enough to change his shirt. He is like a man
possessed.
Since
this is Chicago, there is no shortage of crimes, but many of the ones crossing
his desk involve a deadly new “bad batch.” He also might have an informant,
nicknamed “Rabbit,” who witnessed a gruesome multiple homicide at a trap house,
which might be related. Having survived death, Voight might have the right
insight to reach him.
Presumably
fans were sad to lose a regular cast-member at the end of last season, but “Ten
Ninety-Nine” delivers a heaping helping of what makes this show work, steely
Jason Beghe as hard-charging Hank Voight. This is episode is a great showcase
for his charismatic hardnosed persona.
There are two things they universally support in Texas: family and crime
fighting, even in Austin. That is where the Texas Rangers are headquartered,
after all. Nobody is more synonymous with the Rangers than Cordell Walker,
first in the Chuck Norris series and now in the CW reboot. Since the original
pilot, it looks like the writers better understand how to cater to audiences for
those themes, at least judging by “The Quiet,” the fourth and final season
premiere of Walker, which premieres Wednesday on the CW.
A
lot has happened since at least one of us checked in on Walker, his family, and
his colleagues. His team is still reeling from their fruitless pursuit of The
Jackal, a serial killer who remains at large. Whoever the perp might be, he
went underground at the end of season three. However, Walker and Trey Barnett
must suddenly investigate fresh signs of the Jackal, without informing Captain
Larry James, who was nearly broken by their powerlessness to stop the soul-crushing
murders.
These
scenes are considerably better than anything in the pilot, which admittedly,
was three years ago. On the other hand, this episode’s self-contained case
involves a fentanyl gang, but nobody ever mentions their original supplier:
China. That’s kind of gutless.
History got the end of the Cold War right, but that was not necessarily the case
with every battle and maybe one of the related wars. Fortunately, Dr. Ben Song
can help fix a clandestine Air Force mission that went wrong in 1978. Not so
fortunately for him, though. He thought his leap in the season one finale would
be his last, but his show was renewed for a second season, so here he is. For
reasons not yet clear to him or viewers, Song must take this leap solo, without
the help of his holographic support team in “This Took Too Long,” the season
premiere of showrunner Martin Gero’s Quantum Leap continuation series,
which premieres tomorrow on NBC.
Apparently,
a lot of embargoed stuff happened since the previous episode, but the upshot is
Song must navigate this leap on his own. He finds himself part of a team of Air
Force foul-ups and their commander, Lt. Ellen Grier, who is trying to prove
herself to her sexist superior officers. Their orders are to escort a crate
(which looks like it could hold the Ark of the Covenant) through Soviet
airspace, to India. (India was closer to the USSR during the Cold War, but
whatever.)
Indeed,
theirs is not to wonder why, but a little context might be helpful when they
are shot down. Song has leaped into their comms specialist, so they are
probably getting a serious upgrade in skills. He also remembers a lot of the
military insights he gleaned from his fiancée, Addison Augustine, a veteran,
whose words he frequently revisits via flashbacks. Although he previously
self-described as a “pacifist,” to survive this leap Dr. Song will have to fight
Commies, which makes up for sulky Sgt. Curtis Bailey’s “don’t-ask-don’t-tell”
backstory.
This
episode raises all kinds of questions, but provides very few answers—more like
none. Yet, this is still one of the better written self-contained leaps. There
is a good deal of old school Cold War action to which Song constructively
applies his brainy problem-solving skills. Fans who remember when the original
series was new will most likely appreciate Song’s results.
Nobody ever read Isaac Asimov for steamy sex scenes. His books were informed by
real science and written with a deliciously dry, mordant wit. Perhaps the ultimate
Asimov is his short story “The Billiard Ball,” wherein a scientist uses physics
to murder his rival, right in plain sight. Unfortunately, the first season of Foundation
never felt very Asimovian. Yes, there was Hari Seldon, the Foundation, and
psychohistory, but all the intrigue with lusty, naked emperor clones was more
like something out of the Dune series than Foundation. At the end
of season one, the digital copy of Seldon’s consciousness learned he might have
gotten something wrong—which is inconceivable. Nevertheless, history might be
slightly off-course in the season premiere of Foundation, which premieres
tomorrow on Apple TV+.
One
of the only original aspects of season one that stayed true to the spirit and ideas
of Asimov’s speculative fiction was the way it found clever ways to span
decades and eras. Much to the surprise of Salvor Hardin, the former warden of
the Foundation’s home planet of Terminus, Gaal Dornick (Seldon’s estranged protégé)
just introduced herself as her biological mother (after a loong slumber in
suspended animation). (Both characters were men in the books, but that is least
of showrunner David S. Goyer’s unfaithfulness). They start to get to know each
other in the season premiere, but it is still mostly awkward—and boring.
The
best scene is the attempted assassination of “Brother Day,” the primary governing
“Brother” of the cloned triumvirate of Emperor Cleon the First, who jointly
rule over the galactic empire. Frankly, the preening Brother Day is so out of
place in a universe ostensibly created by Asimov, it is a shame they fail.
Again, he is saved by Demerzel, who once again violates Asimov’s “Laws of Robotics.”
For Asimov readers, this is truly unforgivable. Briefly, Nimrat Kaur is introduced
as Seldon’s late wife, so hopefully she gets more interesting things to do in the
next episode.
Jughead Jones suddenly found himself back in high school. The good news is he
did not wake up naked on the last day of finals, for which he hadn’t studied
for. Instead, he is in an alternate 1950s Happy Days-style universe—and he
is the only one of his friends who remembers the first six seasons of Riverdale.
Jones and the Archie comics gang go back to high school, where fans
always remember them, in the seventh season of Riverdale, which
premieres tomorrow night on the CW.
At
the end of last season, Jones’ psychic girlfriend Tabitha Tate and their
friends tried to save the Earth from Comet Bailey, but they failed. At the last
second, Tate managed to send them back into the alternate past, so they can
regroup and hopefully develop a plan B. However, only Jones initially remembers
their past/future, whereas the rest of the group is busy living in the
alternate 1950s.
According
to Jughead’s narration, 1955 was a terrible time to be a teenager, but he has
no idea how wrong he is. Before the Progressive Era, there were no “teens,”
just people who were old enough to work all day in factories and those who were
not (as the doc Teenage explains). Even for teens, there was little work
available during the Great Depression, while eighteen-year-olds faced the prospect
of military service during the Korean War, and the two World Wars. It was also in the 1950s that the
segregationist policies initiated by Woodrow Wilson were finally effectively
challenged, notably with the 1954 Brown v. Board of Ed decision and Eisenhower
sending troops to integrate Little Rock schools in 1957. Seriously, 1955 is
pretty choice-year to land in, given the grimmer possibilities.
Yes,
the nation was still far from perfect, as the season premiere, “Don’t Worry
Darling,” makes abundantly clear with its focus on the Emmitt Till murder. The
Tate who doesn’t remember Jughead spends most of the episode trying in vain to
cover the lynching in the Riverdale school paper, with Betty Cooper’s help. It
is decent student drama to supplement Jughead’s efforts to figure out their situation,
while he still remembers. For those coming in cold, Cole Sprouse’s nebbish
charm as Jones and Camilla Mendes’ femme fatale turn as Veronica Lodge definitely
standout amid the established ensemble.
However,
there is not a lot fantastical or menacing business going on in the second
episode, “Skip, Hop, and Thump!,” which focuses on several characters’
repressed sexuality. The percentage of Riverdale students identifying (secretly)
as lgbtq is statistically unlikely, but Riverdale has always existed in a world
of its own. At least, at the very end, it introduces a promising storyline that
will presumably become a major focus throughout the final season.
As
we learn more fully in “Sex Education,” it seems that Jones’ comic artist
friend will be suspected of killing her awful parents in a way very much like
that depicted in one of the horror comic books they just started freelancing
for. This is definitely a geek-friendly arc that directly pays homage to EC
Comics and their battle with the Progressive, Puritanical Comics Code.
NBC just saved Hawaii’s state economy. Since Hawaii Five-0 ended, CBS’s
surprise cancelation of the Magnum P.I. reboot came as a particularly
hard blow to the local film industry. However, the ratings were good and the
show definitely fits with NBC’s new strategy of mining 80’s gold, fitting in
nicely with their new Night Court and Quantum Leap shows. Magnum
works two new cases with some reluctant help from his friends in “The Passenger”
and “The Breaking Point,” the first two episodes of NBC’s first new season of Magnum
P.I., premiering tomorrow night.
As
the opening narration makes clear, the “new” Rick and TC are basically the same
as the old ones. The “new” Higgins is Juliet Higgins, a former MI6 agent, who
was first Magnum’s Tracy-and-Hepburn-style foil on the Robin Masters estate,
then his Moonlighting-style partner in detective work, and as of the
prior series finale, his Thin Man-esque romantic partner. They are
trying to keep their new relationship on the downlow, but a good deal of “The
Passenger” focuses on how they adjust professionally, or not, to their new
personal arrangement.
The
story itself, investigating a doctor’s suspicious accident is mostly routine,
but instead of going in a cynical direction, the truth turns out to be rather
edifying. It also teases a brief appearance from the great James Remar, as
Magnum’s disgraced mentor, Captain Buck Greene, whose troubles appear likely to
dominate the coming season.
One
of the best aspects of the Magnum reboot comes out clearly in “The
Breaking Point.” Jay Fernandez might not have Tom Selleck’s megawatt screen
presence, but the new show is still one of the more veteran-friendly series on
television (along with Blue Bloods, as it happens). While Magnum and
Higgins go undercover as lifeguards (which is always a solid option for a
Hawaiian based TV-show), TC and his annoying small-time operator friend Jin
Jeong win an auction for an abandoned storage locker holding a prolific but
freshly incarcerated burglar’s stash. Among the loot is a Purple Heart that TC,
the former Marine insists they return to its rightful owner.
Bobby
Lee is like fingernails on a blackboard as Jeong, but this subplot pays off in
a big way, connecting with some very important Hawaiian history. The camaraderie
of Magnum and his friends is also rooted in their service, and it definitely elevates
the show.
As a society, we are more diligent about vetting prospective Jeopardy hosts
and superhero actors than presidential candidates. Maybe if the media that has
spent so much time digging into Jeopardy’s Mike Richards and Ezra Miller
had devoted a little more attention to Biden’s Afghanistan plans (or lack thereof),
we could have avoided a humiliating debacle. So, what if the next movie Flash
will be played by a weirdo with legal problems? Still, moralizing fans have a
point: there already is a perfectly competent TV Flash. Season Nine might be
the end of the line for his series, but the season premiere happens to stand
alone relatively sturdily. It is time to do the time loop again in “Wednesday
Ever After,” which premieres tonight on the CW.
Evidently,
The Flash and his wife, Iris West-Allen, survived a lot of crazy time-related
chaos in the previous season, so they have just finished a week of recuperation.
Of course, the series’ new super-villain, Captain Boomerang, choses this
inopportune time to strike. However, his nuclear shenanigans inadvertently trap
The Flash and West-Allen together in a time loop.
There
have already been a whole heck of a lot of time loops in film and television, including
recently the “Leap, Die, Repeat” episode of Quantum Leap. However, “Wednesday”
still manages to come up with some fresh wrinkles. In fact, it rather
effectively uses the loop to contrast the married couple’s very different
approaches to the future. Allen has meticulously assembled all his notes from
the future into a blueprint for their lives together, whereas West-Allen
steadfastly insists on the right to make her own choices—sort of the super-heroic
time-travelling version of the free will versus predestination debate.
High school is the ultimate horror mainstay. From Carrie to Scream,
there have probably been more horror movies and TV series set within the halls
of secondary education than drafty Euro castles. The tradition continues with
the two-for season premiere of Vera Miao’s Two Sentence Horror Stories,
airing this coming Tuesday on the CW.
“Bag
Man,” directed by Kimani Ray Smith and written by Leon Hendrix and Miao is
definitely the better of the two stories, in part because it obviously starts
as a genre homage to the Breakfast Club. Five students of varying social
status must spend Saturday morning in detention, but there is a very contemporary
wrinkle. All are suspects in a cherry bomb incident that triggered the school’s
new automated lock-down system. When they arrive, there is already a mysterious
bag in the room that just radiates bad vibes.
Admittedly,
the narrative follows a familiar horror arc, but the execution is brisk and
energetic. Hendrix and Miao come up with enough new, ironic wrinkles to keep it
interesting for experienced genre viewers and the cast hits the right notes,
especially Doralynn Mui as Zee, the catty “good girl.” Having recurred on Riverdale
and guested on Sabrina, this must be pretty comfortable terrain for
her.) Regardless, even though we know where it is all headed, it is still a
macabrely amusing ride.
The
titular bullied transmasculine teen of “Elliot,” written by Stephanie
Adams-Santos and directed by Chase Joynt (who also helmed the upcoming Billy
Tipton doc) could relate to movies like Carrie, Sleepaway Camp, and more
recently Some Kind of Hate, but at times this episode risks becoming an
afterschool special. The lesson is laid on rather heavily, but there are still
some creepy moments, especially down the stretch.
