The Review Show

Episode 120. This week we watched the Japanese TV series Midnight Diner, which you can find on Netflix as just Midnight Diner (the original three seasons) and Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (season four onwards, after Netflix acquired it as one of its own productions). Kyle watched season one of the original and Melissa watched season "one" of Tokyo Stories. Whoops. We still had an exciting conversation about this anthology series! The show follows a cozy late night diner where the chef is known only as "Master" and will cook you anything you want. Customers reconnect with favorite old dishes and poignant old memories, as they always seem to run into people from their past around this small dining counter. Every episode is a new dish and a new slice-of-life drama story!

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Episode 119. This week we read Superman: Rebirth, the first volume of the deluxe edition that collects issues 1-13 from writer Peter J. Tomasi and artist Patrick Gleason. After the Superman of this universe dies, a Superman lost from another universe decides to stay here and fill his role. Clark "Smith" now lives on a farm with his wife Lois and ten-year-old son Jonathan. He fights any threat that comes his way but is most focused on his family, helping Jon adjust to his growing powers and learn what it takes to be a hero and a good teammate to other heroes.

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Episode 118. This week we watched Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic mystery Murder on the Orient Express. Renowned detective Hercule Poirot is determined to take a break from solving crimes to enjoy a leisurely train trip, until one of his fellow passengers is murdered. Everyone traveling in that train car is a suspect. As he sinks deeper into the inescapable mystery surrounding him, Poirot finds that justice may be more complicated than just catching a killer.

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Episode 117. This week we watched the Amazon Prime original movie The Vast of Night. It's the late 1950s in rural Cayuga, New Mexico. The whole town is at the high school basketball game, but Fay and Everett are busy working. While she's transferring phone calls on the switchboard, Fay encounters distressed callers and hears a strange noise interrupt Everett's radio broadcast. Someone calls in believing they have the answer, and it could be a threat from beyond our world, hovering behind the clouds and waiting to strike the town.

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We say “goodbye, friend” to Mr. Robot as we discuss its fourth and final season! After the Dark Army kills someone close to Elliot, he focuses everything on taking down Whiterose’s mysterious machine and her cabal that has been controlling world affairs and finances. We discover devastating Alderson family secrets, the origin of the Mr. Robot persona, and truths that Elliot has hidden from everyone, including himself. It’s a power struggle for all of society, and for Elliot’s own mind.

Melissa's penchant for playlists continues, and you can listen to a Mr. Robot fanmix she made on Spotify. Special thanks to friend of the show Jacq for help on this one!

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Episode 115. This week friend of the show Sam joins us to talk about the anime film Promare from Studio Trigger. Thirty years ago, people around the world suddenly developed unstable pyrokinetic powers. They decimated cities, killed millions, and became an ever-growing band of outcasts known as the Burnish. Burning Rescue is a fire-fighting team that works against a Burnish terrorist group in their city, until they find out what happens to these people after they're taken away from the crime scene. They see the fights across the city in a whole different light and learn that they all share a common threat that could really destroy the world this time.

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Episode 114. This week we read the first four volumes of Hiro Mashima's shonen manga Fairy Tail. Lucy is a young woman with a talent for working with spirits contained in magical artifacts, and she wants to join one of the hottest wizarding guilds, Fairy Tail. She takes up with another fledgling guild member, the fire-breathing Natsu, and the two form a team to take on whatever odd jobs come their way in need of magical powers. With an ice wizard and a warrior of interdimensional weapons joining their team, they sure aren't going to help the guild's reputation for being too destructive in trying to get the job done.

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Episode 113. This week we watched season one of the supernatural crime procedural Lucifer, based on a character from the Sandman comics. You know the devil, right? This is him. He got bored of ruling hell and left to run a nightclub in Los Angeles, where he loudly tells everyone that he is the devil. When there's a murder outside his club, Lucifer gets wrapped up in the investigation, and particularly lead detective Chloe Decker. He can magically charm anyone he wants, but his powers don't work on her. Intrigued, Lucifer joins her as a consultant on her murder cases, learning more about the limits of his powers and the depths of human emotion.

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Episode 112. Friend of the show Jacq joins us for a discussion on Mr. Robot, season three! Elliot has realized that deleting all of E-Corp’s financial records has worse consequences than he intended, and now he’s working at the company trying to restore that data. He’s lost connection with Mr. Robot, blacking out entirely when his other persona takes control and struggling to puzzle together what Mr. Robot has been planning. Are his two identities working against each other? Is Angela turning on him too? Does he have any chance of atoning for his mistakes and getting the world back to normal?

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Episode 111. This week we listened to the Marvels audio drama, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross. The story features some favorite Marvel characters and is produced by audio drama all-stars like Paul Bae, Lauren Shippen, and Misha Stanton! It's 1967 and New York City is already dealing with protests about the war, civil rights, and the rising presence of mutants, when Galactus attacks. The Fantastic Four manage to beat him, and as the city picks itself back up in the aftermath, citizens start to question the true nature of the battle. Was there really a Galactus? What if the whole disaster was staged by Reed Richards' technology to make him and his team look better? Three reporters investigate the potential hoax and what it means for their city.

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