Idiot Boxing: Rick and Morty, season 4 (2019-2020)

The latest season features some familiar
faces, but plenty of new intergalactic and
interdimensional oddballs, too.

Boy oh boy, did this show come back with a vengeance. While it may not have been as consistently, accessibly funny as the first three seasons, the razor-sharp wit and irreverence are still at full-tilt for this already legendary animated series.

Unlike standard shows, there's no over-arching plot to summarize with Rick and Morty. While there's a certain continuity and recurring characters, each episode stands alone. The highs and lows for me of this ten-episode season were:

The Low (there's only one)

Episode 4: "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty" - it wasn't a "bad" show, really. It was just obviously not as good as nearly any of the other 41 episodes of this incredibly consistent program. It involves Morty fulfilling his wish to have a dragon of his own, only to find out that it's not all it's cracked up to be. His dragon, Balthromar, is pretty crotchety, and we eventually learn that he and the greater society of dragons are just a bunch of depraved sexual deviants. There's certainly funny stuff here, but more gags than normal are rather broad and obvious.

The High

Episode 1: "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Repeat" - Morty gets his hands on and (of course) misuses some crystals that can show you a multitude of possible futures, depending on your decisions. This is one of those episodes, like season two's "A Rickle in Time," that feature hyper-fast, multi-layered storytelling and jokes that are as dazzling as they are funny. 

Episode 2: "The Old Man and the Seat" - Rick puts all of his limitless intelligence and abilities to preserving his most treasured possession: a toilet placed in a paradisical setting of his discovery. 

Episode 3 (I swear I'm not going to put every episode here. I swear): "One Crew Over the Crewcoo's Morty" - a lightning-paced spoof of the "heist crew" genre of movies. If you revere the "Ocean's" movies, this one is likely to upset you. 

A lasting image from "The Vat of Acid Episode." I always
find joy on the rare occasions that Morty gets to bust Rick's
chops for conceiving a poor plan.

 Episode 8: "The Vat of Acid Episode" - I found this one to be a nice return to the relatively slower-paced feel of many of the earlier episodes. Morty grows frustrated with one of Rick's less-than-genius escape plans.

Episode 10: "Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri" - This fourth season ended with a blast, as Birdperson returns as a deadly enemy in this galaxy-jumping adventure in which the entire family has a ton of fun and saves the universe. Well, except Jerry, of course. 

The remaining four episodes not mentioned above were all good, and this show continues to dazzle. My only fear at this point is that it will feel the need to keep ramping up the speed, pace, and insanity to levels that overpower the humor a little too much. It hasn't happened yet, but I feel as if I catch a glimmer of potential for it. 

One can only guess how long it will be until we see the next season, but like nearly every fan of this show, I'll be all too ready to see them. Until then, I'll have plenty of laughs going back and rewatching this most recent season, since I was laughing hard enough to miss more than a few gags or clever plot points during every episode.

Idiot Boxing: Westworld, season 3 (2020)

I'm still enjoying this series, even if this third season became far more like other sci-fi films and TV shows than its more unique first two seasons. It's also grown emotionally colder as it has progressed.

At the end of season 2, the Westworld theme park was completely finished, with nearly all of the remaining hosts' "consciousness" having escaped into a virtual reality after being guided by Maeve. Meanwhile, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) had escaped the park, bringing with her a handful of other influential hosts' memory orbs. This third season picks up from there, with Dolores beginning her assault on the entire state of human society. She uses her abilities to infiltrate some of the wealthiest, most powerful computer programming companies, in order to gain access to the immense control they have over people's lives. Before long, she is in the crosshairs of Engerraud Serac (Vincent Cassel), a shadowy man who seems to wield nearly unlimited knowledge and financial power, and who has resurrected Maeve to use in his fight against Dolores. All the while, Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and a few other faces familiar from the first two seasons try to reach Dolores to either help or stop her.

This season was another solid one, but I wasn't as engrossed as with the first two seasons.

The themes are meaty ones, which are relevant and worth pondering. The primary one is how big data could potentially be used to build predictive programs that completely dominate human life. And not in the slightly-concerning "they know what I'm buying at the grocery store" kind of way. No, we're talking more like a Gattaca-style "We're going to lay your entire life out for you based on our algorithms" kind of way. This, as you can imagine, has some pretty dark impacts on people's lives, but people aren't even aware of them. It's not a massive leap for us viewers to see out digital society headed on a path not unlike what we see depicted in this season.

As with any and every Nolan brother production, the story is multi-layered and complex, sometimes to a fault. It's certainly not a casual watch, as it requires close attention to keep up with the ever-shifting characters, identities, their relationships to one another, and the plots against each other. This can be enjoyable, but the entertainment value sometimes takes a hit, buckling under the weight of attempted sophistication and profundity. More than this, though, is that we are once again mostly dealing with non-human characters fighting more for intellectual, philosophical ideas. There are some touches of true, human feeling - mostly in the form of the character Caleb Nichols (Aaron Paul) - but they usually take a back seat to the grander themes and overall scope of the story.

Caleb relaxes at his construction job with a robot assistant.
Caleb, played well by the reliable Aaron Paul, is really the
one and only strong human connection that we viewers
get in this season.

This season does still feature a few really solid action sequences, and the look and feel are as slick as anything we've seen in the show thus far. I must say, though, that this season - the first one that takes place almost completely outside of the Westworld-type theme parks - doesn't feel as distinct as the first two. Rather, it has the same mostly high-polish aesthetic which we've seen in so many other sci-fi shows and films, most notable the Blade Runner movies, Minority Report, and several others. This, combined with having themes shared in other shows released around the same time, like FX's recent Devs and others, make Westworld feel less novel.

I had originally thought that this was meant to be the final season. I have since learned that there is at least one more season planned. I'll watch it, though I won't be heading into it with the same enthusiasm as I was season two or three. It's feeling like a show that needs to reach its conclusion soon, or risk feeling like it's floundering for a way to wrap itself up. 

Idiot Boxing: Devs, season 1 (2020)

No Spoilers - Read Away!

Director: Alex Garland

Solid, cerebral sci-fi that offers some meaty food for thought, even if the pacing and dialog aren't always enhancing the story as much as they could.

Written and directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation), the story takes place in a not-too-distant future and follows Lily (Sonoya Mizuno), a young programmer at the tech company Amaya. Her boyfriend, Sergei, has just been promoted into Amaya's most secretive and exclusive division, known only as "Devs." Before long, things take a turn for the worse, leading Lily to greatly fear for herself and start looking into exactly what Devs is. This also brings her closer to the somewhat enigmatic owner of Amaya, Forest (Nick Offerman), who has a vision that goes well beyond using tech for getting faster emails and business transactions.

Devs was an engaging watch, though one that came off as feeling that it was a bit smarter and sleeker than it ultimately was. Don't get me wrong - there are some really compelling speculations in the story. They mostly revolve around just how far predictive algorithms might go and the ever-growing reach of big data. And they take these themes into some wondrous and frightening places, in terms of their impacts on humans. But there are more than a few moments when the pace, tone, and dialog lend an air being overly didactic. One particular episode was little more than a slow explanation of causality, complete with innumerable long, pregnant pauses between thought groups and characters simply repeating the other's question back to them. It became rather frustrating, especially since the dialog in the show is nothing special (this has never been one of Garland's areas of strength, though he's fantastic at many other aspects of film-making). Despite the occasional narrative drag, the mystery and greater themes carry the story through its eight episodes pretty well.

Forest and his chief scientist, Katie. These two can be more
than a little intimidating, though the show does try to give
them a bit more depth than your run-of-the-mill, dubious
STEM types.

The look and feel are what one might expect from Garland, if you'd seen his previous two films. There is a slick aesthetic at work, though not one without warmth and life in many places. The camerawork is solid, and the visuals can be quite stunning at times. There are, however, some sections and even whole episodes of the show where the settings are a bit bland. And without the benefit of sharper dialog to distract one, it can lead to a few moments that feel overly long and dull.

The acting is very good, though the cast sometimes had to work with dialog that wasn't allowing them to show off everything they were capable of. Sonoya Mizuno shows decent range, though the story never fully explores  or utilizes a genius that is mostly hinted at in earlier episodes. Nick Offerman is excellent as the imposing, obsessive tech mogul Forest, often easily shifting between seemingly down-to-earth everyman and detached egomaniac. Peeling back the layers of his backstory and personality is a big part of what keeps the show engaging through the series.

I do recommend this one to fans of cerebral science-/speculative fiction. It's not perfect. It's not even as good as Garland's best work. But it certainly has enough to feel fairly rewarding, including some troubling themes and commentary on our ever-more digitally connected world. 

Idiot Boxing: Westworld season 2 (2018); Luke Cage season 2 (2018)

Maeve is one of a few of the "women" of Westworld who flex
their new-found muscles and freedom in season 2. 

Westworld, season 2 (2018)

I have no doubt that this season probably lost a certain number of the fans that it garnered in its first season. I wasn't one of those lost, and I loved this second season.

In the final bloodbath episode of season one, we see a certain number of the Westworld park's hosts (the artificial humans) become self aware and kick off a full-scale uprising. The real ignition point is Dolores's (Evan Rachel Wood) very public execution of park co-founder and co-creator Ford (Anthony Hopkins), all of which Ford himself had very meticulously orchestrated. Along with Dolores, the host Maeve (Thandie Newton) has become self-aware and even upgraded herself to allow certain freedoms and abilities - freedoms and abilities which she plans to use to find her daughter somewhere in the vast Westworld landscape. Roaming around in all of this is William "The Man in Black" (Ed Harris), the owner of the entire park who is madly searching for some mysterious finding which Ford has teased him with for decades.

Season two follows these threads in a very measured way, with Dolores and Maeve mustering allies, and William fighting through now-deadly hosts while on his obsessive quest to beat Ford at whatever game he feels the now-dead genius had created. Unlike the first season, it soon becomes apparent within the first episode or two that we are not in a linear narrative. There are flashbacks galore, as we start to learn things about Dolores's and the park's origins that deepen the mysteries surrounding the place which ostensibly is a massive, violent Disneyworld for adults to play out their wildest fantasies. These back stories are presented in parallel with the more "modern" tale, which is a skillful technique that show creators Nolan and Joy have used to great effect. This second season is no different. While this non-linear method seems to frustrate some viewers, I've always enjoyed the puzzle being presented in such fashion, as it can be stimulating to keep an eye out for little details that serve as narrative connectors and small revelations which build into greater ones.

Akecheta. Episode 8, which sees all of the bizarre changes in
the park from his very unique and touching perspective, was
my favorite of the season.

Aside from the twisting narrative, another element which probably led to some viewer frustration had to do with the character perspectives. At this point in the story, we are mostly following the hosts. For most of the first season, especially the first five or so episodes, it was all about the human guests and the revelation of the park itself. In this season, now that all of those basics have been established, the show delves much deeper into the cerebral, speculative fiction elements which had gained steam towards first season's end. We dig into the minds and natures of Dolores and Maeve, which is interesting enough. And the Bernard host is an entire mess of conflicts all by himself. But perhaps my favorite episode was focused solely on a character who only had a few brief cameos in season one - the Native American Akecheta (played brilliantly by Zahn McClarnon). This episode spins several things on their heads, and actually provides a certain emotional depth to the hosts which I had felt was slipping away a bit, even with Maeve's heart-felt quest to find her "daughter."

The season did have what I found to be a bit of a lull around episodes four and five, which brought Maeve and her crew into the neighboring park of Samurai World. Despite having a ton of potential and offering a few interesting scenes and characters, this little part of the story felt as if it took a bit too long to work through and ultimately didn't have a great impact on the overall tale. Fortunately, this came and went by the mid-point of the season. After that, I found that everything picked up, built, and resolved itself nicely.

So another good season. Apparently, a third is on the way, though not for another 18 months or more. That's fine with me. I look forward to re-watching the entire labyrinthine story again before getting the next chapter, which looks to further expand upon what has come before.

Misty Knight and Luke, ready to bring some justice to the
streets of Harlem once again.

Luke Cage, season 2 (2018)

Like much of its Netflix MCU brethren, season two of Luke Cage suffers a bit in a few areas, but is a solid entry into the canon. This is thanks to a compelling villain and a strong finish.

Following on the heels of its first season and the subsequent Defenders mini-series, season two of Luke Cage picks up with Harlem's bulletproof protector trying to settle into his role as neighborhood celebrity. As he deals with efforts to monetize his fame, a new threat emerges, as the mysterious Jamaican John "Bushmaster" McIver arrived in Harlem with a vicious streak and a mission of vengeance against Mariah Stokes/Dillard, the dirty politician much to blame for the first season's problems. As Mariah and her right-hand man Hernan "Shades" Alavarez seek to divest from the criminal underworld, Bushmaster start to make his presence known, using rather violent tactics and his own inexplicably enhanced strength and healing abilities, to go along with immense martial arts prowess. As this deadly islander hones in on Mariah and Shades, leading to escalating bloodshed in Harlem, Luke Cage inevitably gets involved.

As with nearly every Netflix MCU show thus far, this season of Luke Cage has a solid premise, several highly workable pieces in terms of character and plot, and some excellent acting. The main weakness is that it felt like about 7 or 8 good episodes worth of material stretched out over a 13-episode season. This led to a fair amount of overly drawn out and repetitive story loops that took much too long to progress, most of them involving characters trying to suss out their identities. The two most obvious were Misty Knight and Mariah Stokes/Dillard. By episode 9 or 10, they lock in, but for nearly the entire middle section of the season, the two storylines seem to flounder in ways that are sometimes dull and sometimes inorganic or illogical. They do come around, fortunately, by season's end.

The other weakness to me was dialogue which was inconsistent, which I felt in turn affected the performances of nearly all of the primary actors at times. There are no doubt some fun and tense exchanges between the several strong and fairly dynamic characters in this series, but more than a few of the conversations felt forced or clunky at times. It seemed as if the writers occasionally started with the idea of giving certain characters their "speech" or "preach" moments, and then shoehorned them into scenes, regardless of whether it fit the context or natural speech patterns established for the character.

Arguably the best aspect of season 2 was Bushmaster as one
of the primary villains. Mustafa Shakir's portrayal of the
lethal, vengeance-obsessed Jamaican was brilliant.

Those gripes aside, I liked the season. John Colter still makes a great Cage, and the returning cast from the previous season brought everything they had, especially Alfre Woodard as Mariah. Even when I wasn't crazy about how she was being written in certain scenes, Woodard acted the hell out of each and every one of them. And Mustafa Shakir and the imposing Bushmaster was a revelation for me. The towering Harlem native radiates all of the physical strength and burning rage demanded of his vengeance-obsessed character. And as his story is revealed over the season, Shakir shows some versatility to adapt to the story's demands. It helped that he does the Jamaican accent (not an easy one to pull off at all) so well that I initially thought that he might be native to that island, and he seemed to do many of the stunts and fight sequences himself. Bushmaster ended up being one of the best and most well-rounded arch villains in any of the MCU TV shows to date.

After pointing out the pacing problems in the middle of the season, I would be remiss not to say that the final few episodes of the run saved it from being an overall tepid one. After some rather slow and meandering plotting, all of the primary and secondary storylines come together quite well at the end. I was actually quite satisfied with how nearly every major character's arc concluded and where they ended up. The one exception was that of Matilda "Tilda" Stokes/Johnson. Hers was, throughout the season, a tale that never seemed to figure out what really made her who she was. There are several moments when it seems as if she's resolved something inside of her, only to reverse course not long after, for reasons that are not always clear. Her aside, I found the final two episodes of the season highly enjoyable, and this generally speaks well of a show.

So I'm on board for another season, which I imagine will be forthcoming. I do, however, repeat a familiar refrain - Netflix really needs to figure out how to fill out a 13-episode season; something they still haven't managed to do in 5 different MCU shows, across 8 different seasons. Either that, or go with 8-episode seasons, like they did with The Defenders. 

Idiot Boxing: Runaways, season 1 (2017); Rick & Morty, seasons 2 and 3 (2015, 2017)

Runaways, season 1 (2017)

A surprisingly solid and entertaining first "YA" entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Set within the same fictional universe as better-known films such as Thor and TV shows like Agents of SHIELD, Runaways focuses on a sextet of teenagers in Los Angeles who live in an extremely affluent area and attend a top-flight high school. We join their story about two years after the death of one of their friends, also the older sister to one of the group, an event which fractured the bonds which held them together. Now being adolscents between 13 and 17, each of the six has found different groups or interests: lacrosse, computer science, social causes, a parent's Scientology-like pseudo-religious pop cult, and others. An accidental discovery at one of their houses, though, reveals that all of their highly wealthy and successful parents, through whom they had all met as children, may not be the fine, upstanding citizens they had always assumed. In fact, they may even be murderous villains.

And so kicks off the premise of the show. As the story moves along, it also reveals that a few of the six teens have supernatural powers, while others are exceptionally intelligent. Despite their abilities, they all struggle to cope with their entire social order crumbling around them as they face the very real possibility that their parents are "the bad guys." It's a really novel premise for a story, and it serves to keep the show surprisingly engaging. Sure, nearly every teenager thinks their parents are evil, but what if you actually found out that they were, really and truly, evil? It's a fun concept which is handled well in this show.

Another strength is that, even beyond the basic premise, the plot works well with its mysteries. In the first couple of season's ten episodes, we are offered several odd images and scenes which beg multiple questions. As the season progresses, the questions are addressed in mostly satisfying ways, at a well-measured pace. The kids with supernatural powers begin to discover their abilities. The group also begins to dig up the shadier parts of their parents' past, including certain aspects that puts them more in the realm of the fantastic heroes and villains with whom we are more familiar through the other MCU shows and films. Blessedly, this latter element is done without relying one bit on plotlines or characters from any other shows or movies. Runaways is one of the most self-contained MCU shows created, and its all the stronger for it.

Much of the drama comes from the kids' uncovering and
grappling with the reality that their parents are murderous
villains masquerading as pillars of society.

The performances by the rather large cast are solid, all around. The six teens, each pair of parents, and even the handful of secondary and tertiary characters all hit their marks quite well. For me, it's good to see a show featuring actors whom I had never seen before, allowing them to inhabit their roles so that I only identify them with this show. The dialogue isn't anything particularly special, but it is solid by not trying to be too clever. Rather, it offers a lot of organic verbal exchanges during the many dramatic moments, large and small.

On the subject of the drama, most of it is handled well. I will say, however, that some of the romantic elements felt a bit forced. I understand maybe two or even three of the six "runaways" falling for each other, but the show goes a bit overboard by giving us a weird "love pentagram," where everyone but the youngest member, 13-year old Molly, is pining for one of the others. I can't help but wonder if the writers weren't trying to be overly "inclusive" here. It's great that the cast is very diverse ethnically and in terms of sexual orientation, but there is almost a sense that they were afraid to leave anybody out in terms of openly expressing themselves in this first ten-episode season. The result is a bit of an overload of teen love and lust. It hasn't harmed the show yet, but they'll need to be careful not to be all things to all people, which can ultimately torpedo any fictional tale.

The season doesn't end with quite the sense of closure that one might like, even for what is meant to be only the opening chapter in a longer tale. Rather, some notably large questions remain unanswered, while new ones are raised in the final episode. Such suspense and mystery can work well, but I felt more as if the show simply lost track of the episode limit on its rookie season just a bit.

Nitpicks aside, this was a pleasant surprise. I look forward to the next season.

"Pickle" Rick and his improvised exoskeleton and laser
weapon. This was just one of many episodes featuring writing
brilliant enough to outdo 99% of Hollywood action flicks.

Rick and Morty, seasons 2 and 3 (2015, 2017)

After discovering and falling in love with the first season last year, my wife and I readily dove into the second and third seasons of this outstanding show. We were not disappointed.

Giving a thorough rundown of either ten-episode season would require far more writing that its genius demands. Instead, I'll just mention a few of my favorite episodes from each season. But know that there are no "bad" episodes of Rick and Morty. Sure, some are weirder or darker than others, and some go a bit more "meta" than the rest, but they are all exceedingly intelligent and creative. And every single one of them is hilariously irreverent to delicate sensibilities and the standard tropes of many popular science-fiction tales. A few of my favorites from each season:

In season 2, the season opener "A Rickle in Time" is a masterpiece of fast-paced, intelligent storytelling. Rick, Morty, and Summer end up playing with time in order not to get caught having thrown the massive house party that ended season one. This results in ever-splintering parallel timelines, with different Ricks trying to outthink and even kill one another. The tale is told with ever-multiplying split screens in one of the most uniquely stunning sequences I've seen in a long time. In "The Ricks Must Be Crazy," Rick and Morty shrink themselves down to help jumpstart the miniature universe that powers Rick's spaceship battery. Another hilarious multi-layered tale. My wife offers her seal of approval to "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez," when Rick implants his mind into a smaller, teenage body of himself. Just his infectious teenage enthusiasm and propensity to thrust his arms in the air and proclaim "Tiny Rick!" is worth seeing.

Season 3 had more than a few outstanding offerings. My clear-cut favorite was "Pickle Rick," which sees Rick proudly turn himself into a pickle in order to avoid a family counceling session. Pickle Rick eventually becomes embroiled in a Die Hard-like scenario where he is trapped in a building and has to fight his way out. This episode has some action elements and sequences that were as fun as anything I've seen from nine-figure-budget Hollywood action movies in recent years. "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender" was also a personal favorite. Rick and Morty rejoin a galactic superhero group, The Vindicators, who barely tolerate Rick's open derision of their posturing and moral superiority. The oil/water scenario of the sociopathic Rick and a bunch of self-important do-gooders in tights is every bit a hilarious as one would hope. And the opening 3 minutes of "Rest and Ricklaxation" had me and my wife literally crying with laughter. The rest of the episode is great, too, but the setup is award-worthy stuff.

Both the second and third seasons ended with the same tease: oddball character Mister Poopybutthole sending us off and suggesting that the next season probably wouldn't be coming for quite some time. If it results in another ten episodes like we got with these two season, the creators can take whatever time they need, as far as I'm concerned. 

Idiot Boxing: Stranger Things, season 2 (2017); Rick and Morty, season 1 (2013)

Who ya gonna call? The show wears its blatant love for
1980s pop culture nostalgia on its sleeve, without it ever
feeling purely gratuitous or exploitative.

Stranger Things, season 2 (2017)

I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of this great little TV show/love letter to 1980s Spielberg-esque, PG-13 adventure/horror shows. I found the sophomore season satisfying enough, but one that wasn't quite as dazzling or well-constructed as the first season.

At the end of the first season, Will was saved by his three faithful friends from a dark dimension which they had termed "The Upside-Down," a world where some strange type of plant monster seemed to be attempting to break into our own world. Although Will had been pulled out of The Upside-Down, he brought back some tadpole-looking lifeform, which escapes. The young girl, "Eleven" or "Elle," who had inadvertently been responsible for the rift, and Will's subsequent rescue, has gone missing.

In this new season, we fast forward just about ten months, nearing Halloween. The four main boys are mostly trying to live their lives normally, though Will occasionally is visited by strange episodes during which he feels that he is seeing back into The Upside-Down. Not only that, but he sees and feels the presence of a massive, shadowy creature looming over everything. We learn that he's been seeing doctors brought in by the military agency responsible for the troubles during the previous year. We also learn that Elle has been hiding out in Sheriff Jim Hopper's remote cabin in the woods near  town. As Elle fight the urge to leave the cabin, Mike, Will, and the other boys who had become her friends work to deal with another round of odd occurrences that spring up around Will's visions and a reptilian lifeform that Justin discovers rummaging through his trashcans. All of these elements come together as the shadow creature from the Upside-Down slowly tries to break into our world.

Between both seasons of the show, there hadn't been any
episode that felt out of place. That is, until episode 7 of this
second season. The writing, characters, pacing and plot were
oddly out of whack in this lone departure from Hawkins.

This second season was fun and entertaining, though maybe not quite as much as the first. The fantasy/adventure elements are still there and done very well, though there isn't a lot that is new. So much of the fun of the first season was discovering and learning about the world and the bizarre situations. This second season really just continues the same story, with a few flourishes, rather than offering much that will truly pique our curiosity. It doesn't help that a few elements smack just a bit of a lack of creativity, such as Will scribbling out his massive visions and having the drawings sprawled out all throughout his house. This little supernatural art project is a tad too similar to the iconic (and brilliant) "Christmas lights" communication system in season one. This is just one a few plot elements that perhaps drew a little too heavily from strengths of the first season.

The characters are still great, and I thought the show did a very nice job dealing with the boys' and girls' budding adolescence. We learn more about Dustin and Lucas, and their somewhat rivalry over the new girl at school, the tomboy Max. I did find Max's older brother, Billy, to be an over-the-top "bad boy" who bordered on caricature much of the time. But the adults are still solid, even if their personal story arcs don't show any particular amount of personal growth.

For the most part, the pacing of the tale was good. Oddly, though the seventh episode seemed highly unnecessary, and featured some rather poor dialogue and acting by Linnea Berthelsen, who plays Kali. I understand the point that Elle needed to rebel a bit and deal with her anger, but this episode seemed clunky and far less entertaining or compelling than those that take place back in Hawkins. It was an odd outlier in a show that had been very tight, and even added an episode to this season.

This was still a good show, and I'll likely tune in for the next season. However, the magic of watching that first season wasn't completely there this time.

We hardly know much about Rick or Morty before we have
Rick convincing his grandson to stuff a couple of alien plant
pods into his rectal cavity in an effort to sneak them past
intergalactic transportation security officers. This gives you
some idea of the tone and humor of the show.

Rick and Morty, season 1 (2013)

It's been quite some time since I found a show that made me laugh so hard, so consistently as Rick and Morty.

This was a show that had always been at the top of the "Recommended" list on my Hulu page, but I didn't give it a thought until a close friend with very similar tastes recently sang its praises to me. Roughly ten minutes into the pilot episode, I was completely hooked. By the end of the episode, I was literally in tears from laughing.

This animated show, which airs during the Cartoon Network's late-night Adult Swim hours follows the wild adventures of the title characters. Rick is an inconceivably brilliant scientist who is able to use his inventions to jump between galaxies, alternate dimensions, and other bizarre realms outside of the perception of most mortals. He often brings his none-too-bright, 14-year-old grandson on his far-flung and often extremely dangerous escapades. These might include shrinking Morty down to microscopic size and injecting him into a transient, in order to resolve problems in an amusement park inside the bum's body. Or it could involve the two working their way through a series of Matrix-like world simulations to evade an alien race seeking Rick's powerful technology. The plots are often extremely brisk, multi-layered, and place the odd pair in bizarre scenarios that only an LSD-addled sci-fi savant could dream up. The entire premise is a dream for any fan of science-fiction and fantasy action/adventure books, movies, and TV shows, and the writers are consistently razor sharp.

The episode with the Mr. Meeseekses (the blue guys) is a
perfect example of how one of Rick's genius inventions gets
horribly misused by his family. Things, of course, go completely
bonkers and those Meeseeks aren't smiling by episode's end.

Then there are the characters Rick and Morty themselves. Rick is clearly a misanthropic, borderline sociopath. He also happens to be a high-functioning alcoholic. Basically, he's what Doc Brown from the Back to Future movies would be if Brown had been a hundred times smarter, thoroughly unconcerned with humanity, and a complete booze bag. He makes the perfect comedy companion for Morty, his endearingly dim and frustrated grandson. There is something oddly sweet about Rick's dependence on Morty's presence on so many of his insane and highly dangerous forays into the far reaches of space and alternate realities.

The final episode of this first season was a great one, wherein Morty's teenage sister Summer and Rick decide to throw their own parties at the same time in the family house, when their parents are away. In the 24-minute episode, we're treated to a hilarious array of teen angst and back-biting happening right along with the gonzo gathering of Rick's various inter-dimensional associates, all of whom are looking to get drunk, high, or whatever it is that aliens and beings from other dimensions do to enter altered states of mind. It's a great representation of so much of what is great about the show: brilliant science-fiction gags, a boatload of events told at a somehow accessible pace, and a few sprinkles of heart here and there.

So I have now quickly become a major fan of this show. I've already dived right into season 2, a review of which is sure to be coming before too long. 

Idiot Boxing: Orphan Black, season 4 (2016); Ballers, season 1 (2015)

Orphan Black, season 4 (2016)

A quality return to the strong roots of the show, after what I found to be an overly expansive third season.

In the wake of the overwhleming revelations about more Lida clones, in addition to a whole parcel of psychotic, soldier Castor clones in season 3, season 4 gets back to some of the basics laid out in the first season. Namely, what Neolution was ever truly after, and how Sarah and her sisters can avoid death via the latent illness built into their DNA. Blessedly, the tale narrows its focus more on a smaller amount of characters and goes back to the very beginning of the story and even before, when we get to see what led up to Beth Childs's suicide - the event which drew Sarah into the entire affair way back in the pilot episode.

I have to admit that, after not having watched the show since the end of the previous season, it helped that the pace slowed down and returned to familiar territory. Later in this season, my mind was actually racing to recall certain characters and events which I hadn't seen or thought about in at least a year, but starting this fourth season a bit more slowly was a great help. And while the end of this season did raise a few puzzling questions and may not have offered the satisfaction that you might hope for from a season finale, the pieces are clearly in place for the fifth season - reportedly the shows last.

Sarah (left) and relative newcomer to "Clone Club," Crystal.
The bimbo Crystal is definitely a comic relief, but they don't
overdo her presence - just one of many examples of how this
season gets the tricky balancing act of the show correct.

The story in season 4 focuses more on the power struggle within Neolution regarding the future of their genetic engineering and eugenics projects. The primary players are the young a eerily exotic-looking Evie Cho, and Lida clone Rachel Duncan, who is still recovering from her attack at the hands of Sarah. As Evie and Rachel try to out-maneuver one another, Sarah and her sisters attempt to uncover more truths about their place in the entire affair. While the plot points can get a bit convoluted at times, the important points clarify by season's end.

Like many such briskly-paced thrillers, Orphan Black will occasionally make use of the speed of its narrative to gloss over actions or points that don't always add up. Characters will sometimes act in ways that do not show the intelligence or foresight that their characters are meant to possess, usually in the name of creating interesting dynamics or moving the plot forward. Fortunately, these aspects do not hamstring the show, as they are usually relatively minor points that never sabotage the major themes or motivations.

It's almost a given at this point, but the acting is tremendous. Tatiana Maslany hasn't slackened a bit in her acting gymnastics of playing seven different, very distinct clones. She finally won an Emmy for it, as well, which is beyond well-deserved, if not a year or two late. The rest of the cast holds just as well, but Maslany truly is the show.

I was really pleased with this season. After season three, which had expanded the character roster and scope to almost dizzying size, I was afraid that I was watching a show that had no real end-game plan and was just spinning out ideas in order to keep the show running for as long as they could. Season four, however, showed that there was always a clear plan in mind, and the show is heading towards its ultimate resolution. If the final season even comes close to living up to this promise, this will become a classic of modern speculative fiction.

Ballers, season 1 (2015)

It's not a game-changing, mind-blowing sports drama/comedy, but Ballers had just enough surprises to be engaging.

Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a recently-retired former star NFL linebacker Spencer Strasmore, the show follows "Spence", who is based in Miami, as he tries to forge a new career as a financial planner for current NFL players. The show draws on the antics of rich, immature athletes for much of its entertainment value. A fist fight in a club over a verbal insult. Raucous parties with booze, drugs, and women. More than one athlete too self-absorbed to realize how ridiculous his behavior is. These are not exactly new grounds being broken. While I didn't find many of the athletes' antics particularly hilarious or revelatory, I will admit that there are more than a few good lines of dialogue sprinkled in.

Rather than the inside look at the daily insanity of the lives of some wealthy pro athletes, it is the character of Spence and what revolves around him that gives the show a dash of novelty. Spence represents that segment of athletes that make for the sadder stories. The gifted athlete who forged a great career, but has far less to show for it than he probably should. Although very accomplished as a player, Spence has very little of the financial security that other modern athletes of his caliber ought to have. His attempt to forge a new career as a financial planner seems to be a form of redemption as much as a way to pay his bills. In trying to find his very first clients, he sees men not much younger or further from their post-playing days than Spence is, and he is trying to help them avoid the mistakes that he made. This is, of course, easier said than done when dealing with extremely competitive, egotistical personalities. The drama arising from Spence's attempts to make his clients, and sometimes their delusional entourages, see the light is often compelling, humorous, or both. One memorable example is watching Spence's incredulity when having to tell one of his star clients why its not a good idea to be snorting cocaine off of a woman's breasts in front of dozens of people on a party boat. Such scenes' humor is often carried by Dwayne Johnson's acting and wonderfully expressive face, which bears every ounce of frustration that a parent would have trying to talk sense into a four year old. The Rock has shown his acting chops before this, and Ballers just further confirms that he is far more than just a tall pile of muscles.

Spence and Ricky Jerret, Spence's most volatile client. Much
of this first season focuses on Spence working to not only get
Ricky a solid contract but also helping Ricky avoid acting
like an adolescent in ways that harm his brand.

Another unexpected layer is that Spence himself is also dealing with the physical toll left by his many years playing football. The concern hovering over Spence for much of this first season is the possibility of head trauma - a condition for which he is highly reluctant to get checked out. While the resolution does come, it offers a rather palatable outcome that perhaps undercuts the seriousness of this issue. I only hope that it is revisited in future episodes, if not with Spence directly, then with one or more of his clients. There is also the Spence's ongoing use/abuse of painkilling medication, which is not fully addressed in this season, but is clearly presented as an issue which will be further explored.

I actually liked this first season more than I had expected, although it is hardly breaking breaking any new ground. While it is interesting to focus on the off-the-field issues of professional athletes, much of Ballers is relatively light fare, some but not all of which is entertaining. I'll be checking out the second season to see how it evolves, and if it lives up to the potential this first season shows. 

Idiot Boxing: Orphan Black, Seasons 2 and 3 (2014-2015)

Orphan Black: Season 2 (2014)

The plot gets twistier. A few more clones come out of the woodwork. And things get markedly more visceral. In short, it's still pretty good fun.

Season 2 of the series picks up with Sarah's daughter, Kira, recovering from a rather grave car accident. The sinister company Dyad has a few more of its tendrils revealed, one in the form of the clone Rachel. Rachel is a cold-blooded, calculating, high-ranking member of Dyad, and she is the only clone who has been self-aware from the very beginning. Figuring out her exact motives remains unclear for most of the season, but her ruthlessness underlies many of the more gripping elements of the story.

Sarah Manning remains the protagonist, though the other clones get plenty of time. Sarah often remains on the run from Dyad, even getting help from Kira's father, the extremely resourceful (and of course, impossibly handsome) Cal. While Sarah evades her pursuers, other clones deal with all manner of other obstacles. Large portions of season two feature the stories of Alison and Helena, two pieces of the overall story which are wildly different but equally engaging. Helena's is a tale mostly composed of horrific incidents made occasionally comical due to Helena's odd detachment. Alison's is a tale mostly composed of comical incidents occasionally made horrific due to Alison's increasingly dark compulsions.

The breakneck pace and solid direction of the first season continue right into the second. There are, however, a few aspects which are not the most appealing. One is that some characters' actions simply do not hold up to closer scrutiny. One of several examples is Cosima's infuriating soap opera romance with Delphine, who hardly seems alluring enough to compell a hyper-intelligent woman like Cosima to repeatedly act like such a dope. Another bothersome aspect is the increasingly graphic nature of the violence in the show. While there are certainly a few gut-wrenching scenes in the first season, season two brings us far more in the way of torture scenes, squirm-inducing medical procedures, brutal fights, and bloody deaths and attacks. Such things don't necessarily repulse me, but there are times in season 2 when they border on feeling gratuitous.

After this season, I still enjoy where the show is going. I do fear, however, that things may grow beyond the control of a good TV series. For now, I look forward to where it all leads in Season 3.

Orphan Black: Season 3 (2015)

Even more clones?? This is the season when I've started to grow a tiny bit weary of this series.

The major cliffhanger at the end of season 2 was the revelation that Sarah and her "sisters" are not the only batch of clones running around in the world. There are male clones all over the place as well, and several of them seem very deeply involved, mostly as soldiers, with the entire cloning program and its shadowy origins. Season 3 is mostly dedicated to various male and female clones' pursuit of one another, as well as a cure to the various genetic ailments which are killing several of their kind.

Production-wise, the show hasn't lost a single step. The acting is still phenomenal, and the look and feel of the characters and environments are as evocative and coherent as ever.

Season 3 does begin to uncover a few answers to some of the larger questions raised in the first two seasons of the show. I do get the sense that the "expansion" phase of the tale is complete, and we are now ready for the "resolution" phase to begin. This is a relief, as I'm not sure I could take much more of the "add a clone" pattern that was fascinating in the earliest episdoes but had become a somewhat tired element of the show. At this point, however, I was hoping to get a bit deeper into the ethical questions underpinning the science of human cloning. While there is a dash of this, the show is still mostly driven by plot and tense action. These elements are still strong enough to make the show interesting, but I'll be hoping for some sort of shift in tone next season.

Based on the general pattern in seasons 2 and 3, anyone in
a hospital is bound to get tormented, tortured, and very
likely killed in some brutal manner.

This season does, unfortunately, continue the unappealing trend of increasingly graphic violence and grotesque shock visuals. I'm certainly not above the use of such moments when they punctuate key points in a story, but some of the images in this season struck me as gratuitous.

Maybe I haven't done myself a favor by watching the entire 3-season, 30 episode series in the relatively short span of about 2 months. Still, I can't help shake the feeling that some of the intelligence and commentary hinted at in the very earliest episodes has fallen by the wayside in this series. I still appreciate the humor and acting in the show, and the intensity and grit of characters like Sarah and Helena  are compelling. All the same, the show has become more focused on tension and suspense than on character exploration or thoughtful science fiction. It has not gone completely off the deep end, by any means, but it is headaing that way. Fortunately, there is still time to bring it back to a place where we will be left with more food for thought than simply seeing a bunch of male and female clones duke it out for mere survival. This show started with much more promise than that. I hope that season 4 start fulfilling more of that promise than I received in this latest season.