Todd & The Book of Pure Evil has been making waves lately. And for good reason. The reviews on the Season 1 DVD have been outrageously positive, and I expect more of the same as the Season 2 DVD is set to drop soon (in Canada, at least). We previously spoke with Todd himself, Alex House, and I think a good time was had by all. Or just me. Whatever. We’re here today with another member of the cast who we all know and love as Atticus Murphy Jr., Crowley High’s Guidance Counselor, which is what he is. Please join me in welcoming Chris Leavins as he steps Inside the Grizzly Studio.
Chances are if you are a 20-something fun individual you have at one point or another enjoyed a good session of Family Guy. If you know Family Guy then I would wager your favorite characters are either Peter, Brian, or Stewie. So you will probably be pretty excited to hear that Seth MacFarlane’s new film Ted finally has a trailer out, which is Red band. That means NSFW, people. Ted stars Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis (shut up, Meg) and of course, Seth MacFarlane as the voice of Ted.
For all the Mad Men fans who thought they were getting an extra hour of their favorite show this season I’m sorry to report that last weeks season 5 premiere counted as two episodes and so accordingly this weeks review will be of episode three.
We quickly learn that, as promised at the end of last weeks episode, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce has indeed followed through on their pledge of diversifying the office by hiring a black secretary who is ironically named Dawn and is assigned to handle desk duties for Don, rounds of mistaken identity jokes ensue. The larger portion of the office action this week surrounds another new hire. Mohawk Airlines has been confirmed as returning to SCDP and Peggy must search for a new copywriter to handle the extra responsibilities.
Enter the plucky Michael Ginsberg (Ben Feldman) who is clearly a talented young ad man but rubs Peggy the wrong way with his brash antics. Peggy’s ultimate fear is of disappointing Don but after reigning himself in for the second interview Ginsberg passes with flying colors and gets the job.
Ginsberg looks to be an interesting new addition to the show as he seems like he will add some energy to the SCDP office and it his unbridled enthusiasm may well be something Peggy appreciates in contrast to the always cynical Stan Rizzo. The relationship between Peggy and Michael will be an interesting one to see develop as one of the overall themes of this week is to be wary of ones inter-office competitors. This is most blatantly demonstrated as the episode ends and Pete belittles Roger in front of the entire office in regards to the handling of the Mohawk account. Roger has been given control of the account but Pete makes it well know that he landed the account and that he will be monitoring Roger. The warning, as Roger says to Peggy “That’s the last guy I hired”, is that you’ve got to watch your back in the politics of office aspirations.
The biggest shocker of this weeks episode was that Betty Francis (formerly Draper) has gotten a bit fat. Betty’s notable absence from the first two episodes was apparently to illicit the maximum effect of having an episode three “shocker”, ie. January Jones in fat suit makeup. After being convinced by her mother-in-law to see a doctor about diet pills we get a bit of extra drama in that Betty might actually have Lymphatic cancer. The writers decided not too make this a strung out drama, cancer-wise anyhow, as we learn by the end of the episode that Betty’s lump is benign and her weight issues are probably more linked to the depression of being a 60’s housewife and her new found love of sweets and the plague that still haunts us today; Bugles. Betty’s cancer scare does play out some subtle battle lines in the lives of the divorced as we find Betty seeking seeking solace and reassurance from Don, Don’s concern for Betty and the kids and Henry Francis’ smug satisfaction when he learns that Betty hadn’t informed Don when she found out she was OK.
Last week we talked a little bit about the upcoming Total Recall remake, and made fun of the fact that they released a trailer for the trailer. Which we ate up. Well now the actual trailer is out and we thought you might like to see it.
Things have picked up almost right where they left off in Westeros… except now there are a few different kings running around the lands culminating into the conflict that is known as the ‘War of the Five Kings’. If you’re wondering who the fifth is, you’ll find out soon enough as the show moves on. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s in the next episode to come.
Obviously…SPOILERS
Our first king is Joffrey who is just the same old little shit head throughout this first episode. He is reveling in his newfound rule and doing whatever he wants to despite his mother’s guiding hand. To complicate things for Joffrey and Cersei, Tyrion has arrived in King’s Landing to execute his father Tywin’s command to be Hand of the King in his absence. Although it was good to see Tyrion back in the show, there wasn’t a whole lot of time spent in the royal capital, which is where the majority of the action and intrigue will take place this season. The same could be said of Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch who are making their way beyond the wall to investigate what the Wildlings are up to. Besides Jon getting reprimanded by Commander Mormont not much happens aside from the character of Craster being introduced. He is the same piss pot many of us know and love from the books, having a pretty liberal brain-mouth filter due to knowing that the Night’s Watch needs him. Even though you know it won’t happen you can’t help but wish Jon Snow would just go and punch him in the mouth.
Robb Stark is still doing a good job of being a bad ass, as he confronts Jaime Lannister in his cell along with his dire wolf Grey Wind. That scene was probably one of the best as Robb set the direwolf loose on Jaime, and I have to commend the crew of Game of Thrones for making the dog look about as big as dire wolf is supposed to be. Robb’s strategy at this point while he is still winning is of course to gain some allies. Theon urges Robb to allow him to go to his father Balon on the Iron Islands, and convince to join with Robb, who sends his mother to the Storm Lands in order to ally with King Renly Baratheon who we don’t get to see in this episode.
The newest portion of the story involves Robert Baratheon’s other brother Stannis, who is portrayed as a very stoic and cold man just as he was in the book. Things with Stannis are black and white and by the book. He doesn’t mess around with words or people as we’ll find out through the season. More interesting is his current advisor in the form of Melisandre, played perfectly by Carice van Houten. Stannis has taken a new god, the Lord of Light, and Melisandre is his priestess. As you’ll see, many of Stannis’s followers aren’t too fond of her, including Maester Cressen who makes the ultimate sacrifice to no avail. Unlike Robb, Stannis doesn’t want or need any allies. His philosophy is “they’ll bend the knee or I’ll destroy them.”, and this includes his little brother Renly. The confrontation between the remaining two Baratheon brothers is something I can’t wait to see play out on screen.
This picture doesn’t really fit in here, but we wanted to use it anyhow.
Daenerys (along with Drogon.) had about six minutes of screen time and her remaining Khalasar is not doing too well. They are short on horses and there is barren wasteland aplenty, into which she sends her blood riders into in order to find a safe haven for them. I expect that the following episodes won’t be so broken up into so many pieces. The show may have to focus on two or three storylines at a time as all of the characters are so scattered at the moment. At one point, the author George R.R. Martin had to write two different books that took place concurrently because there were so many different characters in different locations. It will be interesting to see how they handle that on the show in future seasons. Regardless, this season is off to a great start thus far and looks to only get better from the looks of the preview at the end. Hopefully the next episode deals more with Arya who is still on the road with Yoren and Gendry because she had wayyyyyyyyyyy less screen time with Daenerys. I give the episode 4 out of 5 bears. Even though the whole episode was show of putting the pieces into place for us viewers, it was still excellent and the pay off will be even better starting next week.
Grizzly Bomb 