Paul and Caroline Daley review TV - Handmaid's Tale | The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel | This Is US | Westworld | Stranger Things

The tempo of the series starts to pick up with Hopper's invasion of Hawkins Labs. I haven't followed any of David Harbour's work before now, but he brings a very large, very physical presence to his scenes. It makes for believable action and an endearing character. Even though he's captured and delayed in a little swamp of self-doubt in his cabin, he picks himself up and gets the story moving again by making it to Joyce's to spill his guts. I love this. Lonnie's influence may have delayed Jonathon's ability to confer with his mom, but after Joyce ably kicks him to the curb, she's all ears when Hopper shows up. And the plot keeps moving! After Will's funeral, 11 has the boys chasing their tails after Professor Dustin Compassman schools them on proper compass functioning. She doesn't want anyone to get hurt. Until she does, that is. And then, so looooong, Lucas. Chagrined at having knocked out one her friends cold, she bolts. Meanwhile, Jon and Nancy take in the fall colors with a little shooting practice and ill-prepared monster hunting. Then again, who would ever be prepared to crawl through a bloody tree hole and an unguided tour in the upside down forest? Nancy falls into the same category as most of us and looks like she will need some help from a suddenly hearing and directionally impaired Jon. This episode flies by, pleading with you to just binge the rest of the series. Savor this one for e second though. It's got enough funny and enough action to stand out as one of my favorites so far. This is a pretty short podcast for us, matching the pace of this great episode. Direct iTunes link.

In episodes to come, we will look back at this one and say, "That's the one everything was put into motion," I bet. Although whatever Ford intends to happen must have required some steps having been taken prior to our introduction to him last week, this is when those plans are starting to bear fruit. This is when the good stuff starts. We talk about said good stuff including: - Newcomers William and Logan - what's their possible relationship and whether Logan is a psycho back in the real world or not - All the HQ staffers including Bernie and Cullen's lustful urges and Sizemore's comeuppance - Maeve - her tumultuous life path from prairie massacre survivor, to whorehouse madame, to robot revolutionary - The Man in Black and his gunfire-laden path to winning friends and influencing teenage robots - Ford - or robot-god (robo-god?) and what he might be up to Check us out and see what you think!

What an episode, right? We have this show which has all the trimmings for Hollywood success: * It's a reboot of a 1973 sci-fi classic written and directed by Michael Crichton. * It's got BIG stars. KNIGHTED stars. Even CYCLOPS. * It's got classic, Frankenstein inspired themes combined with just-out-of-our-reach tech. * It's got Jonathan Nolan, the guy that wrote Interstellar, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Prestige in charge of the whole thing (with his wife, Lisa Joy Nolan). AND it all seems to actually WORK for once! This show has that carefully polished sheen you'd expect from HBO these days, but it goes further than meeting expectations set by watching Game of Thrones. You get the sense that although we may be at the beginning of our adventure with Bernie and Delores, we're actually very late to the party. Things have been happening in Westworld for a while, but now they're getting interesting. Dropping us into the story like this gives us the natural desire to see the story move forward every week, but we're also going to want to know a lot backstory. I love stories like this. What we think here at Daley Review: * Dr. Ford is up to something. His final say over the software updates being pushed to the hosts gives him a vehicle for mischief. * Delores may know may than she lets on and just plays her part in order to stay out of trouble. * It's probably against policy to kiss robots. * The imagery and concept behind the repeated showing of player pianos was very nice. We explain more about why we thought it was nice in the podcast [hint, hint]. We can't wait for the next one. We'll try and finish up the Stranger Things episodes as time permits. Just hang in there with us. Direct iTunes link.

I can't say that I generally endorse the eight episode season, but in this case, the compressed timing seems to force the story to move forward. Thank the televisual gods that the Duffers have the skill to deal with less time and make it feel un-hurried. Huzzah, Duffers!

We have had a -busy- month! As just a couple of parents podcasting for the fun of it, Real Life has a way of winning out over extracurriculars sometimes, but we should be back on track for a while now. We plan to finish out Stranger Things, then podcast all about our trip to Gilmore Girls Fan Fest AND the GG Revival episodes coming out in November. After that, it will almost be time to start up with Colony, season 2! Poor Barb! I don't think there's any hope that Barb wound up anything other than a faceless monster's Barb-burger. Did it pay to be Nancy's conscience? Or does she wish she had cut loose a little more? We'll probably never know the answer - unless the monster was just really lonely and wanted a friend for checkers at the bottom of the pool. We had a hunch they didn't show us that quarry in episode 2 just for good production value. I wonder if we're done with it though. Seems like a great showdown location with the monster... Or maybe Joyce's house. Either way, I know I need to see Elle telekinetically beat the hell out of the monster while Hop unloads 6 rounds into its chest before this thing is over. You know. For Barb.

With only 8 episode this season, no episode can spend much time on any one character. This episode goes a long way to defining who the main characters are without a lot of exposition. They DO the things that tell us who they are, making it very watchable. And just when you think you've seen everything this episode has to offer... Barb.

And we're back! I don't think I'd recommend moving if you want to try and keep a weekly podcast going. It really plays havoc with your scheduling and studio availability. (By that I mean the studio is completely inaccessible). But we're back now with the first season of Stranger Things from Netflix. This one is too good to just sit back and let pass by with giving it the Daley review treatment. Being children of the 80's, there's a lot for Caroline and I to chew on that tastes both satisfying and familiar. I know we're a little late to the party on this one, but give us a chance even of you've watched Stranger Things. We may surprise you with some insights you hadn't heard elsewhere. Of maybe you just like us better. Either reason works for us.

Was it just a week ago the first season of USA's Colony drew to a close? What better way to mark the occasion than with a slightly later than normal, but there's no harm because there's no new episode tonight, podcast? I have just the thing. This here podcast can do that for you. The season started and everyone was together. The season ended with everyone headed in vastly different directions with no way to stay in touch. The idea behind any story's second act is to put everybody in a heap of trouble. With the finale's last few scenes, I think it's fair to say a heap of trouble is in everyone's future. Except maybe Jennifer. She may get through episode 201 without being shot at or run in by red hats, but those odds are only even money. The team here at Daley Review is anxious to see where we go next with the LA Bloc and can't wait for 2017 to see what happens next. In the meantime, we'll start our season 2 coverage of Fear the Walking Dead in a few weeks! Direct iTunes Link!

The next to last episode of the season delivered the big fight between Will and Katie that's been building all season. Before we get to see how that goes down, we get to see how some of our fellow colonists celebrate the first anniversary of the arrival. Let's just say that some of those colonists aim to misbehave. An opportunity arises and Will has a new, third option he wants to explore with his family: not collaborate, not resist, but Colony Exodus. It's this new option that brings Will to the family shootout we've been waiting to see. The Will/Kate blow-up was not really everything I needed it to be and since the writers knew it wouldn't be, they gave us something juicy: Hyperion. Watch the episode, listen to the podcast and strap in for the final episode this week! Direct iTunes link.

If Colony had a Talking Dead-style "In Memorium" section of the show, this episode would have had a long one. A major character, a minor one, the minor one's sons, and then red-hat collateral damage. Let's not forget moon-base plague-man! The terrorist cell Will has been after all season, also known as the Country Quayle Jamboree featuring Katie, is swept into the pages of history with a little help from their leader turning rat (and a little more help from Will's good aim). Things play out in a way that will let Katie skate back into her normal, non-insurrectionist life and all she has to do is take the opportunity Will has created. Can she? Will she? Her unexplained draw to Broussard is likely a time-bomb within her and when he calls, she will come a' runnin'. Maybe in the meantime, she and Will can re-forge their own bond, focus on getting Charlie back, and at least make it hard decision for her when Broussard comes knocking. Overall, great episode, full of surprises; top 3 of the season. In other news, we are taking part of this week's Blab From the Bloc! Sign up and be there as we get to help interview Peter Jacobson (Proxy Alan Snyder himself)! Footnote: If you notice a reference to "hot-talk" or "talking hot", you should take this to mean that the person is speaking in an undeservedly braggadocios manner. Direct iTunes link.

Busy week with a LOT of setup for what's to come. Broussard is a wanted man, or many men as it turns out. Things get off to an explosive start this episode, Jennifer becomes the team's "Velma" for some reason, and time is about up for Katie with her Resistance comrades. The pieces -should- be all in place in Will's mind, but that doggone blind spot may keep him from facing the truth about the way Katie's been spending her free time. Go check out our Facebook page for more info Caroline has found on details related to the show. Did you wonder how Katie picked the codename Emilia Gould? Have a listen and find out. Direct iTunes link.  

And now something different. Don't worry, we're still going to review this past week's episode. This mini-cast is a recorded conversation between one of your Daley Review hosts, Paul Daley, and one of our listeners, Paul Rabenowitz (@paulrabenowitz on Twitter). Paul has been listening and conversing back and forth with us since our Leftovers reviews and has come along for the ride into the LA Bloc as we review Colony. The initial scope of the conversation was meant to include a discussion of Flatland, a book about expanding your perspective beyond what you may be capable of and how it relates to Colony. Paul R. had caught subtle references to "Flatlanders" during the show and the themes of this 100 year old novel made an immediate connection. He mentioned it to me (Paul D.) and we decided to exploit the marvelous technology of our modern age and have a trans-Atlantic conversation about it. The result was what follows, a conversation that sounds like old friends, able to draw references from books, TV, and movies to make their points and increase their mutual enjoyment of the show. If anyone listens to this and has an idea they'd like to try and team-up to mini-cast about, let us know through the contact form or Twitter!

Tons of action and Action Jackson was nowhere to be seen! This one was all about Will and Proxy Snyder trying to survive an ambush, Broussard trying to perform that ambush, and Katie trying to fit into the middle of the ambush without Will ever finding out about it. Given her natural talent for disguise and espionage, it's hard to believe Will could ever find her out. And by that I mean it's just a matter of time because she -doesn't- actually have any natural talent in those areas and I have serious doubts about the integrity of the resistance's training program. I sure love great action scenes, but even more I love when light is shone upon up until now unknown nuggets of info about the Colony universe. You wouldn't expect an action oriented episode to have such meaty exposition, but it does and it really works. The pace of the show didn't drag as a result of the three or four gut-spilling sessions our characters had. Congrats, Colony Creators! This week, my sister joins us on the podcast, and be on the lookout for a mid-week mini-cast with listener Paul Rabenowitz as he and I discuss Colony, some of our favorite TV in general and the book Flatland as it relate to Colony. Direct iTunes link.

Will's team is shaken up after the murder of their former boss and everybody's going to have to get used to the new guy being in charge. If I was Jennifer, I'd be all like, "Anything he can do, I can do better," but I doubt it would work on Proxy Snyder. At least not right now. Phyllis' death has him very nervous and all of the sudden it doesn't matter that he doesn't have the right Geronimo in custody. In cases where a public example needs to be made, any Geronimo will do. Other Geronimos may surface (they do), but they don't quite look the part quite like poor, under-represented Luis (I guess certain rights, like legal representation, have been suspended during the occupation). This was a fine episode, and one that helped add texture to the levels of human bureaucracy above the proxy level, but overall it was meant to serve up next week's episode (which looks action-packed). We end on a cliffhanger and a preview promising a gunfight, so stick around and we'll catch up next week! Direct iTunes link. More on Nostromo. More on bulletproof defendant's boxes. More on the statue in Echo Park. Other times the "words are stronger than guns" idea has been used in history.

The best episode of the season so far. That's what I said on Twitter after it aired, and I stand by that assessment. A leader arrested, a major reveal and a major character death. Normally, a house-fire would qualify as a show's major action-piece, but not so for Colony. That's just a set up for something better to actually happen. Look at our Facebook page for additional fact-finding related to the show. Let's review: Will - Continues to be too good at his job, but suffers from a woman-shaped blind spot. Katie - Is a bad liar and ok with arson in small, manageable quantities. Bram - is grounded. Beau - Did a -little- police work this week. Phyliss - Don't get too attached... Direct iTunes link.