ConStar Watches

Reviews/recaps/liveblog thoughts of episodes throughout the week.

05 14 2015

Recap Finale Fever (Castle & Arrow)

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While I’ve been a bit behind, here are the recaps for the Castle season 7 finale and the last two episodes of Arrow Season 3!

Castle 7.23 Review: “Hollander’s Woods”

Castle ends an imbalanced season with a decent episode that could have served as the series finale had the stars not signed their contracts and the network had decided to cancel the series.

NOC Recaps Arrow 3.22: Don’t Stab Yourself In the Foot

This episode is a bit of a mess and introduces a ridiculous plot twist that doesn’t serve the rest of the story.

NOC Recaps Arrow 3.23: The City’s Under Attack, Must Be May

The Arrow season 3 finale finally gets us out of the Ra’s al Ghul arc that has been killing the shows cred with fans. Now that we’re moving on, hopefully season 4 will be better. That said, this episode splinters our main characters that could lead to interesting places come season 4. I’m also proud of an Aladdin joke and a Captain Planet joke that you should click-through to enjoy in its full glory.

05 12 2015

Last Week in Recaps (Castle & iZombie x2); plus a look at Netflix's Sense8

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It’s almost the end of the TV season, and thus the end of my mad dash for recap updates here on the blog. Here are the recaps I did last week, for Castle and iZombie. Still working on that Arrow recap and this week’s Castle season finale. Also, I took a look at the trailer for Sense8, the new Netflix series coming to Netflix this June directed by the Wachowski siblings (you know, The Matrix). Click on through!

Castle 7.22 Review: Dead From New York

The penultimate Castle of the season dealt with the death of late night comedy mogul Sid Ross, a Lorne Michaels proxy. With all the shots taken at SNL in the episode, it makes me wonder if there’s a writer who was jilted by the show at some time in their career. While it starts off as a fun episode, it takes a few kind of unnecessary turns before turning into a minute long Carly Rae Jepsen show (a desperate attempt for younger viewers?). Still a fun episode.

NOC Recaps iZombie: Baby Mama Brain Drama

iZombie is continuing to win me over. Though the cases are fairly uninteresting, I love the characters and the way they weave Liv’s lessons with the power of the week, even if she usually regresses afterwards.

NOC Recaps iZombie: Shock Jock

RAVI NOOO! That was my main concern as I ended this week’s iZombie. That and: hey if Ravi becomes a zombie, maybe we’ll find out if zombies of color turn pale and have to do some absurdly unreal tanning in order to remain their beautiful brown selves.

Netflix’s Sense8 Trailer

I wrote about the trailer for Netflix’s Sense8, from the producers of the Matrix and Babylon 5 for HelloGiggles. They sent me the trailer and it looks really cool! Hopefully it pulls its mystery threads together in a way that a lot of shows post-Lost (and including Lost) never did.

05 12 2015

‘Orphan Black’ Clone Club MVP Week 4: Helena and her teeth of steel

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We were only about 10 minutes into this week’s Orphan Black episode and I already knew who the Clone Club MVP was going to be. While Sarah patches up Mark, Alison confronts an old boyfriend, and Cosima contemplates finding a new girlfriend, Helena is all alone with her imaginary scorpion and yet seems to have more control over her situation than any of the others.
Click through to read more of why I chose Helena this week. And check the previous MVPs for this season of Orphan Black so far over on HelloGiggles.

05 05 2015

‘Orphan Black’ Clone Club MVP of the Week: Art; plus some thoughts on Beth Childs

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This week’s Orphan Black Clone Club MVP was hard to pin down. When I started this series, I wanted to just focus on our Leda clones, our Tatiana Maslanys. But this season has expanded its storytelling past the ladies on to an ever-growing cast of characters spread out across this world, so it’s only fair that the MVP nominations extend to the entire cast. This week’s MVP was hard to choose—Gracie almost made the cut—but Art is truly one of Clone Club’s Most Valuable Players.
This week on Orphan Black, Art helps Sarah track down one of Johannsen’s (Gracie’s father who impregnated her and Helena) former allies, who might have information on the Castor and Leda originals.

Read more: ‘Orphan Black’ Clone Club MVP of the Week: Art.
And can I just say how interesting it is that they’re still including Beth in the story? She died three seasons ago and her presence is still felt throughout Clone Club. I would love a flashback episode or series of scenes that explore her life before she killed Maggie Chen, showing her partnership with Art. What drew him to her? Did she love him back? What did her early relationship with Cosima and Alison look like. And what were her final hours like, the decision to kill herself must have taken a lot, she already knew Helena was coming after them. Was she heading her off at the pass or was that not even in her mind? Ponder Beth with me and let’s appreciate Detective Arthur Bell.

05 03 2015

Recap Catch Up (Arrow and iZombie); plus Some TV Hiatus Plans

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The week before last was my birthday (ahh!) and I was working the final week of my time at the Tribeca Film Festival, so I had to spend last week catching up on writing recaps. I managed to do 3/4 (this week’s iZombie is coming soon-ish) and so here they are! Over hiatus, I’ll be working on having more original content for the blog, some binge watch TV thoughts (maybe some Daredevil), hopefully more consistent ConStar Clicks, and more adventures in speccing. Until then, recap city it is!

NOC Recaps iZombie: Death by Birthday Card

iZombie is slowing coming into it’s own. Liv eats her grossest brain yet and the show taps into a good murder weapon but a bit of a convoluted plot. But the characters are still great with strong, quippy dialogue. I love Ravi.

NOC Recaps Arrow: The Weight of Expectation

Arrow suffers growing pains in it’s most recent two episodes. Thea’s resurrection episode left me conflicted, concerned with the plotting of the episode, but accepting what the writers intended for the story, even if I didn’t buy the execution. However…

NOC Recaps Arrow: Darth Oliver’s Inferno

Oliver’s first “evil” League of Assassins episode, while strong with potential and great character interactions, swerved into uncharted territory that leaves a sour taste in my mouth as we ramp towards the finale. But I think this is my favorite recap because I reference smart hoity-toity literary works, the Bible, and Aladdin.

And as always, check my blogger friend Jenn’s site Just About Write for my weekly TV MVP choices.

04 28 2015

Castle 7.21 Review: "In Plane Sight"

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This week’s Castle had all eyes in the sky as Castle solved a mystery on his way to London. After last week’s jumble of an episode, it was refreshing to get a solid plot with great suspense and well used supporting characters. Though I will add in that Castle’s seeming hesitance about solving the crime in the air and possibly preventing a terrorist attack would be easier if he KNEW WHAT HE DID FOR TWO MONTHS. Still not over the ridiculousness that if Castle saved the world, that he would choose to forget. But anyway, check the recap:

As if we didn’t already know, Castle has the Angela Lansbury curse, where murder follows him everywhere he goes. On this week’s episode of Castle, he cashed in his frequent murder miles and solved a case in the sky.
Castle and Alexis are on a trip to London (on a known to be deadly Oceanic Air… no wonder they come across trouble), where Castle will be speaking at the Sherlock Holmes Society. He’s a bit upset that Alexis won’t come with him, but soon they have other concerns as the air marshal is found dead in the cargo hold. The pilot thinks Castle’s assistance is necessary: “You’re the closest thing to law enforcement we have on this plane.” “Which itself is cause for concern.”

04 26 2015

Castle 7.20 Review: "Sleeper": A Disappointing Reveal

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I must say: I’ve never been so disappointed with a plot resolution as I was with the reveal of (parts) of the Castle Disappearance arc. There was so much lead up, and so little focus on a mystery for Castle’s personal life, that the reveal had to be a good one. What could possibly have led Castle to disappear on his wedding day for two months and choose to not remember it? It seems we got an answer for why he was gone for about the span of a week, maybe? And it was not a satisfying answer. It was rushed, jumbled, confused, and had weak links stretching one plot introduced a few months earlier to the hastily added bits of story introduced in this episode.
Typically, Castle is great at reveals. The Johanna Beckett mystery had a lot of twists and turns and while some felt weaker than others or caused more stretches of the imagination, it still made a satisfying ride. So far, this disappearance story makes very little sense. Click through to my TVOvermind review to see what drove me to be so disappointed.
Hint: it has a lot to do with Castle’s ability to keep a secret.

This week’s episode of Castle finally wraps up the Castle disappearance arc, which has been in play since he missed his wedding ceremony in the season six finale. Going into the episode, I felt trepidation; the conclusion to this story must be compelling to be drawn out an entire season but only a handful of episodes. Even the characters seemed determine to put it behind them, decreasing my interest in the mystery. All-in-all, this season has been one of tying up loose ends (due to the show’s fate for season eight still up in the air), so it’s hard to think the show will need another season after this one; with this story, the Caskett romance settled, and Beckett’s mother’s killer caught, there’s not much left to explore. If the show does go on for one more season, I forsee it being its last. But let’s jump into this week’s episode.
As I said, the explanation behind Castle’s disappearance had a lot riding on it and I’m not sure I bought the execution.

04 19 2015

Three-cap City: Game of Thrones, iZombie, and Arrow.

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I did THREE recaps last week, all for my friends over at The Nerds of Color! I might be a little insane. If you watch Game of Thrones, iZombie, or Arrow, I’ve got recaps for you! (I feel like a dude with a trenchcoat on the train selling watches.)

NOC Recaps Game of Thrones: Control Your Dragon

I connect the major stories of this week’s Game of Thrones to find the common thread: everyone has lost control of their source of power and now they need to rein it in. Daenarys and her dragons, Tyrion and Jon and their compassion, and Brienne’s loyalty have gotten them this far but are now getting them into trouble they need to get out of. Clearly this is what we should expect from season five.

NOC Recaps iZombie: What About the Zombies of Color?

Over on my iZombie recap, I care less about the case of the week and more about knowing more about Ravi. Also, I question why the zombie of color on the show don’t change when the Liv and the other caucasian zombies do. Have they just not figured it out yet?

NOC Recaps Arrow: Pulling out the Arsenal

Finally, on Arrow, I predicted half of what happened and was shocked (and pleasantly surprised) by the other half. Join me in pouring out a little liquor (or sparkling grape) for our absent soldier from Team Arrow.

Soon I’ll have an Orphan Black post or two to share with you and as always, check out my TV MVPs for the week over on Just About Write!

04 11 2015

Maps, Dinner Parties, and Valets Herald Game of Thrones 2015 Return

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Here are some Game of Thrones posts that cracked me up this week ahead of the Sunday premiere. I’ll be recapping the first episode for The Nerds of Color this Sunday, so keep an eye out for that. And be gentle with me, I haven’t read the books yet!
℘ Here are a couple of Westeros Transit Maps…! So cool when people figure out stuff like this!

Westeros Transit Map 1 — Westeros Transit Map By Michael Tyznik

Westeros Subway Map 2 — © 2014 F&A Printing Co. | www.fencingandarchery.com

℘ Key and Peele show us how much The Valets love Game of Thrones when they reenact all the major deaths in the last four seasons. They love Khaleesis thooo!! Khaleesis wit them dragons! They kill me. “The Dinkles is my jam, my jelly, my peanut butter and my peanuts.” Check it out here:

℘ Seth Meyers invited Jon Snow to a dinner party… turns out Jon is a bit of a depressing dinner guest…

04 09 2015

NOC Recaps iZombie: Where Veronica Mars Meets Chuck Meets Pushing Daisies

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I am now recapping iZombie for The Nerds of Color! (Making that 3 recaps a week, plus occasional 4ths (there may be a Game of Thrones recap in my future), plus a 5th nostalgia recap I should be doing for another blog but haven’t started yet, plus TV MVPs at the end of the week for Just About Write… Someone will hire me to do this full-time eventually right?)

NOC is recapping iZombie! Here’s a bit of background on the show before we dive in to this week’s episode.

iZombie is The CW’s newest series. Based on the DC comic book of the same name, it tells the story of Olivia Moore (she goes by Liv. Liv Moore), a former heart surgeon, who went to a boat party that went badly. The boat was attacked by some dudes on an experimental drug and she was swiped in the arm on the way over the side of the boat. She wakes up with white hair and an intense craving for BRAAAINNS.

So far, I’ve been enjoying the show. It reminds me of three other shows:

Veronica Mars — Clearly this is the strongest and most obvious. Both shows were run by Rob Thomas and Liv’s pale shoulder length locks and her snarkiness are very reminiscent of Veronica Mars’ style.
Chuck — Liv’s Skill of the Week reminds me of the show Chuck where the lead character downloaded the Intersect 2.0 which gave him new temporary skills as the plot demanded.
Pushing Daisies — A supernatural detective using skills related to death to find out how someone was murdered? A live man and a dead girl can’t touch for fear of something bad happening? One brown man who knows crime fighter’s secret? Too bad Washington’s dreary rain is the opposite of Couer d’Couers.
(Also, fake psychic detective? Very Psych.)