Assignment X

TV Review: REVOLUTION – SEASON 1 – “Children of Men”

By PETER BROWN 05/30/2013

Monore (David Lyons) fights back on REVOLUTION "Children of Men" | (c) 2013 Brownie Harris/NBC

Cast: Billy Burke, Tracy Spirdakos, Giancarlo Esposito, Zak Orth, David Lyons, Tim Guinee, Elizabeth Mitchell, Graham Rogers, Daniella Alonso Writer: David Rambo and Jim Barnes Director: Frederick E.O. Toye Network: NBC, airs Mondays @ 10 p.m. Original Telecast: May 27, 2012 After a host of bad episodes, REVOLUTION finally got on track with its penultimate episode of the season, “Children of Men,” which saw the beginning of the explanation behind the Tower plotline that has been building up for quite some time. The biggest question coming from this episode is: What is on Level 12? While not all of the …Read On »

COMMENTS (0)

TV Review: REVOLUTION – Season 1 – “Clue”

By PETER BROWN 05/22/2013

Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) kills a Monroe guard on REVOLUTION "Clue" | (c) 2013 Brownie Harris/NBC

Cast: Billy Burke, Tracy Spirdakos, Giancarlo Esposito, Zak Orth, David Lyons, Tim Guinee, Elizabeth Mitchell, Graham Rogers, Daniella Alonso Writer: Paul Grellong Network: NBC, airs Mondays @ 10 p.m. Original Telecast: May 20, 2012 Three weeks ago, REVOLUTION delivered one of the best episodes of the season with an emotional and action-packed revealing episode that brought Miles (Billy Burke) and Monroe (David Lyons) back to their hometown. The last two episodes were back to the same villain of the week or survival story of the week progressing the show at a snail’s pace. This week’s episode, “Clue,” continued this downward …Read On »

COMMENTS (0)

TV Review: ARROW – Season 1 – “Darkness on the Edge of Town”

By EGAN BRUMLEY 05/10/2013

Stars: Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, Paul Blackthorne, Colin Donnell, Susanna Thompson, Colin Salmon, Willa Holland, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, John Barrowman, Manu Bennett Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg & Wendy Mericle Director: John Behring Network: The CW, airs Wednesday Nights Original Telecast: May 8, 2013 ARROW is normally at its strongest when it operates in shades of grey, but “Darkness on the Edge of Town” gives us a black & white, good vs. evil battle between Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman). This is not necessarily a bad thing, though, because, while both men are hood-wearing vigilantes …Read On »

COMMENTS (0)

TV Review: ARROW – Season 1 – “The Undertaking”

By EGAN BRUMLEY 05/07/2013

Stars: Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, Paul Blackthorne, Colin Donnell, Susanna Thompson, Colin Salmon, Willa Holland, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, John Barrowman, Manu Bennett Writer: Jake Coburn & Lana Cho Director: Michael Schultz Network: The CW, airs Wednesday Nights Original Telecast: May 1, 2013 ARROW surprises a little this week by revealing the entire conspiracy that’s driven its narrative throughout its debut season. With another two episodes remaining, I didn’t expect this big reveal until the season finale, but since what they were revealing was not particularly unexpected, I didn’t have a problem with the refusal to let it continue …Read On »

COMMENTS (0)

TV Review: REVOLUTION – Season 1 – “Home”

By PETER BROWN 05/01/2013

Zak Orth as Aaron in REVOLUTION "Home" | (c) 2013 Brownie Harris/NBC

Cast: Billy Burke, Tracy Spirdakos, Giancarlo Esposito, Zak Orth, David Lyons, Tim Guinee, Elizabeth Mitchell, Graham Rogers, Daniella Alonso Writer: David Rambo Director: Jon Cassar Network: NBC, airs Mondays @ 10 p.m. Original Telecast: April 29, 2012 In one episode, REVOLUTION was able to bring some of the emotion that should be in this series back to the forefront in “Home.” One of the things that has been sadly missing in this show is any emotion as a result of the actions of the people in the cast. Every regular of this series has had something terrible happen to them …Read On »

COMMENTS (0)

TV Review: VIKINGS – Season One – “All Change” – Season Finale

By PETER BROWN 04/30/2013

Rollo (Clive Standen) in VIKINGS "All Change" | (c) 2013 History/Jonathan Hession

Cast: Travis Fimmel, Clive Standen, Katheryn Winnick, Gabriel Byrne, Gustaf Skarsgard, Jessalyn Gilsig, George Blagden Writer: Michael Hirst Director: Ken Girotti Network: Airs on History, Sundays at 10 p.m. Original Telecast: April 28, 2013 The season finale of VIKINGS was not your typical one, but for a show that has been anything but typical from the start that really shouldn’t surprise anyone. “All Change” was not a knockdown, drag out battle between warring factions of Scandinavia but was more of a stage setting for what was to come – which will surely be a knockdown, drag out battle between warring …Read On »

COMMENTS (1)

TV Review: ARROW – Season 1 – “Home Invasion”

By EGAN BRUMLEY 04/26/2013

Stars: Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, Paul Blackthorne, Colin Donnell, Susanna Thompson, Colin Salmon, Willa Holland, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, John Barrowman, Manu Bennett Writer: Ben Sokolowski & Beth Schwartz Director: Ken Fink Network: The CW, airs Wednesday Nights Original Telecast: April 24, 2013 Despite the high body count, “Home Invasion” is an episode dedicated to romance. Specifically, it delves deeper into Oliver Queen’s (Stephen Amell’s) romantic feelings for his ex-girlfriend Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) and how they’ve been complicated by his secret life as the hooded vigilante, and the fact that his best friend Tommy Merlyn (Colin Donnell) is …Read On »

COMMENTS (0)

TV Review: ARROW – Season 1 – “Unfinished Business”

By EGAN BRUMLEY 04/18/2013

Stars: Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, Paul Blackthorne, Colin Donnell, Susanna Thompson, Colin Salmon, Willa Holland, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards, John Barrowman, Manu Bennett Writer: Bryan Q. Miller & Lindsey Allen Director: Michael Offer Network: The CW, airs Wednesday Nights Original Telecast: April 3, 2013 This week’s episode of ARROW doesn’t bludgeon us with unrelenting bleakness the way last week’s did. In fact, “Unfinished Business” is a fairly slight episode overall, and most of it doesn’t leave much of an impression. But one thing it did do quite well is continue the difficult conversation it began earlier about the appropriate …Read On »

COMMENTS (1)

TV Review: VIKINGS – Season One – “Burial of the Dead”

By PETER BROWN 04/09/2013

Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) takes over as Earl in VIKINGS "Burial of the Dead" | (c) 2013 History/Jonathan Hession

Cast: Travis Fimmel, Clive Standen, Katheryn Winnick, Gabriel Byrne, Gustaf Skarsgard, Jessalyn Gilsig, George Blagden Writer: Michael Hirst Director: Ciaran Donnelly Network: Airs on History, Sundays at 10 p.m. Original Telecast: April 7, 2013 “Burial of the Dead” was the episode that has been building since the very first episode of the season on VIKINGS. It was the final confrontation between Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) and the leader of their Nordic tribe Earl Haraldson (Gabriel Byrne) and the culmination of nearly everything we have seen on the show up until this point. Given the brutality of “Raid” from last week …Read On »

COMMENTS (0)

TV Review: VIKINGS – Season One – “Raid”

By PETER BROWN 04/05/2013

The Earl (Gabriel Byrne) in VIKINGS "Raid" | (c) 2013 History/Jonathan Hession

Cast: Travis Fimmel, Clive Standen, Katheryn Winnick, Gabriel Byrne, Gustaf Skarsgard, Jessalyn Gilsig, George Blagden Writer: Michael Hirst Director: Ciaran Donnelly Network: Airs on History, Sundays at 10 p.m. Original Telecast: March 31, 2013 This was an exceptionally brutal episode of VIKINGS. And when I say that it is actually saying something considering every episode of this show on History has been very brutal. But “Raid” was by all means the fall of the Lothbroks at the hands of the ruthless Earl Haraldson (Gabriel Byrne). Haraldson has pretty much been dead set on eliminating made a move to eliminate Ragnar …Read On »

COMMENTS (0)