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

One unexpected brain-dump of Westworld mythology later and now we have Arnold. With him comes tons of new questions like:

Is the Man In Black somehow related to Arnold?

Is Arnold a first name or a last name?

Is Arnold like a ghost in the machine presence in Westworld?

Did Ford tell the whole truth about Arnold?

Immediately, I'm reminded of Jacob from LOST. For a looong time, Jacob existed only in the shadows, speaking through others (sound familiar?). We had to watch all the way to just about the end of the final season before we got the entire backstory on the guy. It's unknown with only 3 episodes in the can whether or not Westworld is a show that condones entire-show flashbacks or not, so we may never get a filmed version of "This Is What Arnold Did". I hope we DO get some corroborated info from some other sources on Arnold though. Ford seems like the kind of guy that takes Obi-wan Kenobi's "truth from a certain point of view," from Return of the Jedi and RUNS with it. Honesty, but not the whole story.

Quick recap of where the main characters wound up:

Bernie: Bad day at work, found out about Arnold, and decided NOT to reset Delores' programming. Also, has a dead son. Sad.

Delores: Starting to overcome programming limitations, but it's having a bad effect on her mind. She winds up in William and Logan's camp. Being able to pull that trigger, no matter where you think the gun came from, was pretty huge.

Teddy: All the sudden, he's got a nemesis: Wyatt. Too bad Wyatt and his been don't seem to be affected by bullets.

Ford: His agenda became muddied for me this week. Last week I thought he was trying to expand the hosts beyond their programming through reveries and possibly introducing religion. This week he demonstrated is ardent belief that hosts are machines capable of nothing more than their programming allows. At least we have his Arnold story to noodle on this week.

William: Got into the swing of things and killed a host! Hooray for robo-cide!

We try and dig into the bicameral mind stuff and other questions this week, so have a listen!

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.

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!

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.

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!

If I didn't love this show before this episode, then this one cemented it. I love this show. What makes this episode so special though? Forward progress in the story.

Jonathon and Nancy - They get right to the business of sorting out monsters with missing faces and Jon's pictures of them.  Despite their awkwardness around each other, despite Jon's naked pictures of Nancy, despite Jon probably like-liking Nancy, they still managed to exchange very important info and factor into solving the mystery.

Hopper - What's not to love here? This guy punches O-Bannon's lights out and then breaks into the morgue to get the truth behind Will's body. Sidenote on the appearance of Cujo during the morgue scene: The cop and the kid die in Cujo. Just sayin'.

The boys - They all get on board with 11's ability to channel Will's other worldly transmissions. Dustin especially has a wide open approach to trying to understand what's happened to Will (hopefully wide enough to make up for Lucas' very close-minded approach). They could have gotten bogged down in the sadness of the town's grief, but instead they still forged ahead. Goonies never say die!

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!

Direct iTunes link!

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.