Well the second season of the BBC hit Luther(which already aired in the UK) is set to premiere on BBC America tonight, and I can tell you – it’s excellent. If you aren’t familiar with the show, it stars Idris Elba (The Wire) as ‘John Luther’, an English Homicide Detective who often heads up the most gruesome of cases and is dealing with the end of his marriage.
Sounds pretty standard no? Well, it’s not. In fact, it’s extraordinary. The writing, how it’s shot, even the music are all brilliant. And season 1 is available streaming on Netflix. At only 6 episodes, the first season is a quick and easy watch, and it’s one I can’t recommend more highly. I watched it straight though.
So Season 2 makes its American debut tonight, and I meant to get this up sooner so people might have time to get caught up, but I’m a terrible person so here we are. Anyhow, here is some teasers for season 2…
In an expected come down from episode 10, Sunday’s Breaking Bad showed us Walt on the very edge. What was just an average episode for the 43 minutes, did more with just the last few moments than some shows will do in a whole hour. That last 2 minutes was chilling. And I loved it. But we’ll get back to that, first the buildup.
We start with the conclusion of last week’s excellentfest when Jessie delivers Gus and Mike to their doctor, and you realize Mike’s injury may have been more severe than previously thought.
Walt then learns, that while he’s been recouping, and Jessie has been out-of-town, someone else has been cooking in the lab. This, paired with Gus’ comment to Pinkman about running the lab solo have proven that Walt’s usefulness has run its course. That leads us to the next major event to play out – Walt’s trip to the desert.
And this is where things get weird, and I haven’t figured out why yet, but we hear Mike’s voice from Walt’s head.
Mike’s Voice – “If you could kill me…
Walt’s Voice – …I’d already be dead.”
Any theories on that are welcome as I don’t have a real guess. Sorry, my brain is only working at half speed right now.
The 2 other events that transpired before the end were Walt causing a car accident to keep Hank from seeing the Laundry, which seemed mildly ridiculous, but hey – better idea?
And secondly the Ted Beneke situation, which was hilarious. After Saul sent a couple of guys over the ensure Ted paid his IRS fees, ol’ Beneke makes a run for it. It doesn’t go well. He in fact gets defeated by a throw rug for the 2nd time in the episode.
Hahaha. Too good. The problem though is that this promises more Skyler over the next 2 episodes, but with any luck there will be enough Saul to balance it out.
Finally, the last scene. Holy crap. Walt’s mad scramble for the cash in the crawl space, learning that Skyler gave it away, Marie’s phone call – all with the background of the Joker’s Walt’s laughter. Chilling my friends.
The first 43 minutes get a 2/5 and the last 2 minutes get a 6/5 (Yeah – that’s right) so that evens out to about a 4/5.
Let the hypocrisy fly! Clay doesn’t want charters selling drugs, but it’s ok the mule them for the cartel? Bobby sees it, why can’t Clay? Anyhow, last night the Sons went on their first run for the Cartel and while things went relatively smooth, they did have some issues with their Tuscon charter, which draws some unfavorable comparisons to the Redwood. Despite their problems with the Irish, the Mexicans, the Russians, the Triads, and the law – this is just another example proving that the club’s biggest problem, is the club. And that’s what ‘Una Venta’ was all about.
While the whole episode was mostly just to further drive a wedge between Bobby and Clay, there is more. We see another parallel between the Tuscon Club and SAMCRO – Tuscon’s Reggie was sleeping with the old lady of another member, just like Bobby was sleeping with Luanne, who of course was married to Otto. Well Mr. State’s Attorney Potter, under the guise of a Sheriff’s Deputy, has let Otto know about the affair, and done his best to convince Otto that Bobby killed Luanne. The audience however knows that Luanne was killed by Georgie Caruso (Tom Arnold) way back in season 2.
The other major development is with Tara and Piney, discussing John Teller’s letters and then ultimately Piney’s health issues as he collapses in Tara’s office. Overall, Piney’s health and Bobby’s affair both hearken good news for Clay, as they will surely play out in his favor.
Michael Stephenson is the director of Best Worst Movie, a documentary film about the making of the film Troll 2, which he was also the star of.
In a recent interview with Collider he talked a little about the oft rumored Troll 3 – or ‘Troll 2: 2’ as it should probably be called, seeing as how ‘Troll 2’ has no real connection with Troll, beyond the name.
Claudio Fragasso – the original Troll 2 director – has a script and is working with Italian producers in getting it financed. Plus they want all the original cast. This has apparently put Stephenson in a dilemma, as he says…
If someone writes a check and says, “Make this movie”, it’ll happen. If Claudio was able to get Troll 2 made, I have every reason to believe he can make this happen, too. I can absolutely understand why someone would be like, “Naturally! Let’s make a sequel!” But two, do I think it’s right to make a sequel? No. My feeling right now is, anything in addition to what he made is unnecessary. I just don’t see…I guess my question is, why?
In other Troll news: John Carl Buechler – director of the original 1986 ‘Troll’ film – is set to remake Troll with a planned 2012 release date. It’s rumored it will star Harrison Bliss and Ali Lohan.
Grizzly Bomb 
