Documentality: Bang My Box The Robyn Byrd Story

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Bang My Box The Robyn Byrd Story 9/10

This was a damn good documentary L suggested. This is about Robin Byrd. She hosted a public access series called The Robin Byrd Show in Manhattan where she spoke about sex, love, life, championed causes for the LGBTQ community, and safe sex. And this is something she kinda fell into. A show she had showed up on was being canceled (Hot Legs) and they just sorta threw her on and the show blew up. This show aired from 1977 to 1998. She went against the government during the shitty Ronald Reagan era (I shit you not when I was about 5 or 6 years old I wrote an article for the school paper about him titled “Bad Actor Makes Worse President”) and she won. Robin had been in adult films and would have adults performers on the show to just hang out, talk, dance, and speak with callers live on air. This could not exist now. People suck.

The Review: Lovecraft Country Season 1

Lovecraft Country 9/10

Full of spoilers! After months of not watching and some sad ass attempts at trying to recap this series episode by episode I have finally finished Lovecraft Country. This is one of the best series I have ever watched. I'm not even worried about hyping it too much because if you don't like this show something is wrong with you. Yeah. I said it. If you can't get into a show that has magic, time travel, ghosts, history lessons, monsters, science, and teaching you how not to be a racist asshole then I don't even wanna talk to you. Matter of fact, get out my face! This show was so damned good. So why didn't I give it a 10/10? I'll get to that.

Documentality: Murder On Middle Beach

Murder On Middle Beach 8/10

Spoilers. I guess. Over the last few days I have watched this four episode docu-series called Murder On Middle Beach. I don't watch much crime stuff but I do tend to get caught up in the wave of a popular one like Tiger King or Wild Wild Country. This one I haven't heard many people talking about and am waiting for folks to catch up so we can discuss it. Also, while watching anything real life crime related I will point my accusatory finger at anyone. At different points I had three main suspects. Was I right? Likely not. No one knows. That's the kicker of this whole thing. Watching these also makes me realize how few family photos in my own family exist and the fact that there are zero family videos.

The Review: Raised By Wolves S1E3

"Virtual Faith"

This show is nuts. I mean that in a good way. So much happens in each episode that my ass thought that I was like two more episodes past where I am. Mother is telling all the kids a story. They don't wanna hear it because it is not allowed in their religion. She tells it anyway. Its Three Little Pigs. It scares them. They don't know better. After the shit her kid Campion pulled she now carries her battle eyes around her neck. This episode jumps around through time so it was a tiny bit confusing.

The Review: Doom Patrol Season 2

Doom Patrol Season Two 6/10

Full of spoilers. I finished the second season of Doom Patrol. I normally cover each episode but since I watched so many in clumps I am gonna just talk about the characters and how I felt about them by the end of the season. I broke them down into categories of good, okay, and ugly. This season was a roller coaster. I rated this one lower than the previous season because there was a lot of time wasted on some uninteresting characters or some characters, by the time the season ended, were right back where they started and any character growth they experience meant nothing. Some story aspects were straight up just forgotten about. CK told me that there is a third season coming and that shit better be incredible every single episode to make up for this one. I almost don't care if it continues or not. It made the same mistake that Umbrella Academy did in its second season where I can only watch people fuck up with no progress for so long.

The Review: Raised By Wolves S1E2

"Pentagram"

This strange ass show continues to stay strange. This starts with Marcus who was one of the religious dudes that arrived last episode and didn't get blown up. It is Boston, 2145, and shit is wild. There are androids that are in full attack mode looking like Mother just leveling things. He and this lady find an android that can perform surgery and they get this crazy two day face swaps to look like two people that are going to be aboard the ship leaving Earth. They find the real couple and kill them and also find out that they have to pretend to be the parents of a young boy who happens to be one of the survivors that Mother brought back to the planet.

The Review: Raised By Wolves S1E1

"Raised By Wolves"

Full of spoilers. When I saw the trailer for this I knew it was gonna be nutty as hell. Oh, my body was not ready for the amount of “What the fuck?!” that this show contains. I said “Huh?” and “The hell...?” a lot during the hour. In the future a group of folks that didn't believe in god and some sun worshiping ones that hardcore do got into a fight. Everyone suffered because of it. The not religious people sends this ship with two androids and a dozen embryos on a ship to restart humanity without all that religious shit. The androids are Mother and Father. Father sticks these plugs into Mother and she grows the embryos in these ice tray looking things and he pulls out the babies later. One of them is dead but Mother starts humming to it and actually crying and it comes back to life. Father looks puzzled by her tears. This is just the first sign that shit is squirrely.

The Review: Lovecraft Country S1E1

Episode 1 “Sundown”

Full of spoilers. I finally started watching Lovecraft Country. The trailer for this looked intense so I expect that this show is gonna have me living in clenched city most of the time. And so far it did. I am also sure a lot of people have discovered what a “sundown town” is from this. Or that horrible looking movie Green Book. I can't be mad. I didn't know about the Tulsa massacre until watching Watchmen and going “Why does Wikipedia have a link to...oh fuck. That really happened.” This starts off with a guy named Tic riding a bus to Chicago with another woman. Oh, wait. It starts with an insane dream where Jackie Robinson saves him from Cthulhu. So, yeah. He is on a bus heading to Chicago with a Black woman when the bus breaks down. They all get off and a ride comes...for everyone not Black. They end up walking the rest of the way.

The Review: Doom Patrol Season 2 Episode 1

Doom Patrol S2E1 “Fun Size Patrol”

I learned from my review of Doom Patrol during the first season that this is not the type of show you can cover in one post. I am going to cover each episode for this season so I don't sound like a lunatic talking about farting donkeys and such. So yeah. This episode starts when they escaped the roaches' body from another dimension after it was making out with a large rodent and are stuck being tiny. The team saved the Chief's daughter Dorothy. Larry makes them very tiny breakfast which made me laugh. The team is still pissed off at Chief for revealing that he is the reason they all had accidents that gave them their powers because he is obsessed with immortality. Larry is also trying to make a formula to turn the team back to normal size.

The Review: Doom Patrol Season 1

Doom Patrol 9/10

This will have spoilers. How do I even begin to describe Doom Patrol? I first heard about this show about a year ago and had zero desire to watch it. I have heard of the comic and knew there was a robot dude and that was it. I knew nothing of the other characters or anything. But CK watched the first three episodes and really liked it so I gave it a try and I'll be damned if it isn't up there with Legion as one of the best superhero series. There was only one aspect of the series that stopped me from giving it a 10/10 and I'll get to that.

This is about a team of heroes that isn't really a team so much as a bunch of various misfits with special abilities. None of them get along with each other and can barely control or understand the things that they can do. By the way, if you are going into this thinking this is a cute show it is not. There is cursing, gore, and a donkey that farts messages. See? I can not explain why you should watch this other than to say if you like the suggestions I make in series and movies then you should check this one out. I know that we are filthy with superhero shows right now like The Boys and The Umbrella Academy but this one is very different than those and better than Umbrella Academy which kinda shit the bed during the second season.

The Review: Watchmen Episode 9

Watchman Episode 9 Finale: See How They Fly 10/10

The Watchmen series was perfect. But first let me recap this which managed to answer all the questions and show so damn much within an hour. This was an insane ass hour of television. This episode takes place over multiple points in time like previous ones so again I can not describe the in a linear way. It starts off showing Lady Trieu's mother in Veidt's office breaking into his computer and stealing some of his man gravy that he has been saving and replacing it with lotion. She injects it into herself answering the question as to who her father is. Veidt meanwhile is making the recording to the future president explaining his plan to release that giant squid over New York. 

The Review: Watchmen Episode 8

Episode 8: A God Walks Into Abar

Every damn week I sit here and say that each new episode is the best one and that trend continues this week. This episode jumps all over the place through multiple time periods, people, and planets so I am not gonna even sit here and try to recap it in a linear way because the episode is not linear. It starts off in 2009 and Angela is sitting in a bar having a drink. Doctor Manhattan shows up walking down the street after a parade in his honor and picks up a mask and puts it on. He walks into the bar and sits with Angela and asks her to go to dinner with him. He also tells her that he is Doctor Manhattan and she says that is bad since she says him killing for the US during Vietnam created the man that decided to blow her parents up as a child and this night is the anniversary of their deaths. He apologizes and begins to drive her crazy because he is experiencing the past, present, and future all at the same time. He mentions that they will get married, have adopted children, and how they will break up but get back together and have ten wonderful years that end in tragedy.

The Review: Watchmen Episode 6

Episode 6: This Extraordinary Being

Good lord this show. This was probably my favorite episode. I will say the same thing next week because each episode manages to get progressively better. This show should not work. Seriously, its based off of a comic book that while many have read its not talked about as much as the worst superhero movies or shows. Most people know Watchmen from the movie which this show doesn't even follow. Its nuts but great. Last week was Looking Glass' episode. This week belonged to Will Reeves and his history. It starts with an episode of American Hero Story where Hooded Justice is forced to unmask with the threat of a sex tape featuring him coming out if he does not help prove them out. He kicks their asses and worries more about the fact he was cheated on by another hero.

The Review: Watchmen Episode 5

Episode 5: Little Fear of Lightning

This weeks episode was dedicated to Wade aka Looking Glass and I loved it. It starts off with him as a young man part of a religious group. They are aware that the US and Russia are about to blow one another up so they need to repent before it is too late. Wade walks up to some Knot Tops and tries to convert them. Just when they are about to whip his ass one of the girls leads him away to a house of mirrors. She challenges his faith and then the strength of his belt as she pulls his pants down. I was like “Dude, run!” She gets him butt booty ass naked and then runs off with his cloths. He stands there naked surrounded by mirrors and starts to yell at himself for being a sinner and a fool. Next thing you know a sound starts making the mirrors break and blood come out of Wade's ears. He heads outside and almost everyone is dead. The camera pans out and we get to see the giant squid that killed millions.

The Review: Watchmen Episode 4

Episode 4: If You Don't Like My Story, Write Your Own

In a show full of weird this show has to do a lot of it to make me say out loud “Wow. That was weird.” This was that episode. It starts with this husband and wife trying to sell eggs on the roadside in front of their house. No one comes. Later that night after they are going to sleep this lady that has been mentioned in previous episodes shows up named Lady Trieu. She offers to buy their home and land and gives them three minutes to make a decision. They are like “Nah” and she mentions how they have no legacy and tried to have a kid but could not years ago. They want her out the house until she is like “Here's your baby. Boom.” She genetically made it for them and they sign over their shit just as three minutes pass on the hourglass. Next thing you know something crashes in the woods nearby and they ask what it is. She says “Its mine.” They fast forward and it is the location where she is building this big ass science clock.

The Review: Watchmen Episode 3

Episode 3: She Was Killed By Space Junk

This episode was all about Laurie Blake and it was an episode I didn't realize I needed. I know what I think of when I think of Watchmen and her character of Silk Spectre is not that thing. I never wondered what happened to her even after this show started. But this episode shows that not only is she alive but she is a damned federal agent. It starts with her robbing a bank and a vigilante appearing and whipping ass. She reveals herself to be an agent and they capture the guy as protesters say he is a hero. She is asked to head to Tulsa and handle the murder of Judd (the captain that got hung). She hates people in masks so it makes a good mixture considering who she was and what her mother was. During the visit she quickly figures out who everyone is under their masks. She talks to Mirror and knows who he is. She easily figures out that Angela is Sister Night and wonders why Judd's body was buried so quickly as the investigation is still going. Likely cause he was on drugs. Laurie spends most of the episode talking to a phone that is supposed to be connected to Dr. Manhattan telling him a long joke about god using Ozymandias, Dr. Manhattan, and Night Owl as examples.

The Review: Watchmen Episode 2

Episode 2: Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship

Holy shit this show is good! I keep putting off watching episodes of Watchmen because I know there are only nine episodes and this will be over before I know it. Hell, the newest episode comes on tonight and I'll probably wait a week before watching it. This one starts off in Germany during the war with a letter being written to be dropped out of the sky aimed at Black soldiers pointing out how America treats them like shit and how they can prosper in Germany. The soldier keeps it and it turns out it is the father of the boy that grew into the old man who somehow managed to hang a grown ass man from a tree. The note in his pocket was written on that piece of paper. Angela brings him to her bakery where he is being vague as hell about everything she asks. Angela heads to her dead captains house and finds out that he as a Klan suit hidden. Well...shit.

The Review: Watchmen Episode 1

Episode 1: Its Summer And We're Running Out Of Ice

Full of spoilers. I did not even want to give this show a chance when I first saw the trailer. I had zero interest in watching a series based off of Watchmen. Like, none. But after watching the second season of Legion and remembering how stubborn I was about that show and then ended up loving it I decided to check this out today. Holy shit. This starts off with a historical incident that I did not know even happened. It starts off in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. This kid is watching a silent film with his mother playing piano in a theater. The kid is enjoying himself while the mother weeps and she plays. Next thing you know his dad bursts into the place with a rifle and they run off. The Black people in the streets are being dragged, shot, burned, and attacked. There was even a goddamn airplane shooting people! This was real shit that happened that I never heard of! It is known as Tulsa race riot, the Tulsa race massacre, Greenwood Massacre, and the Black Wall Street Massacre.

The Review: Barry Season 2 (1 - 3)

I finished watching season two of Barry last night and am feeling so damned happy that shows like this exist. I loved season one (click here to read that review) and this one managed to be even better. Don't know how they did it but they did. This is gonna be full of spoilers because I do not like that I blew through the first season in my previous review the way I did. I should have written them episode by episode but when I am binging a show that means stopping to write and that is not fun. So this will be a review/recap of the second season.

This season picks up closely following the previous and the death of Detective Moss is being investigated. Her death hangs over this show like a fart that can not be ignored. Any time I start to like Barry I am reminded that this guy is a killer that needs to be dealt with. Yeah, another season later and my goofy ass is still struggling with this problem. What the hell does that say about me?

The Review: Barry Season 1

Barry Season 1 (9/10)

This is a damn good show. I had people at work telling me that Barry on HBO was good but I did not think from the trailers that I'd be into it. The basic premise is that a hitman wants to be an actor. Okay. That does not sound all that interesting to me. Then I decided to watch the first episode and knew my ass was hooked. The humor on this show is genuine. No forced yucks being thrown out. The action is intense and the violence is sudden. The characters make this show and the conversations they have feel authentic. Even though this show is violent and you have no idea who is gonna make it through an episode or the season (one death shook my ass!) I stayed invested. The episodes are about half an hour each and there are only eight episodes in a season so it flies by.