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TV Review: Tyrant  “Gaslight” By: Brandon Wolfe “Gaslight” is perhaps the best episode of ‘Tyrant’ aired thus far. In its first season’s final stretch, Bassam’s secret coup against Jamal has finally given the series something to sink its teeth into. Which isn’t to give the impression that ‘Tyrant’ has become a terrific series; it most certainly has not. It’s still plagued by the same set of problems and deficiencies that have governed the series from the outset. But this coup has at least afforded ‘Tyrant’ some much-needed dramatic momentum to shake off some of the doldrums of the season’s earlier installments. Bassam and his coup-enabling consortium have identified Tariq as the primary obstacle in overthrowing Jamal. They decide the best way to get Tariq out of the picture is to have Jamal do the deed himself, using lies wrapped in truth to foster distrust in the general’s loyalty. Because Tariq was wiretapping Jamal’s exploits with Katrina, the paramour to whom Jamal confessed

TV Review: The Leftovers “Cairo” By: Brandon Wolfe It would appear that Kevin Garvey is a bit more messed up in the head than we quite realized. While we had previously been made aware of gaps in his memory, resulting in those lost shirts and the appearance of that irate dog tied to his front porch, we see this week that Kevin’s lost time appears to be more dangerous than anyone thought. Awoken by Dean the dog-shooting mystery man (whose appearances often seem to coincide with Kevin’s forgotten escapades), Kevin finds himself in the middle of the woods. When he asks Dean how he got there, a confused and somewhat hurt Dean fills him in: the two of them kidnapped Patti, the silently snide leader of the Guilty Remnant, the night before, roughed her up and tied her to a chair in a cabin Kevin that visited as a child. Dean wants to know what happens next, but a stunned Kevin is still trying to process what happened before. Kevin implores Patti that he is sorry for what he has don

TV Review: Tyrant “Meet the New Boss” By: Brandon Wolfe The crux of ‘Tyrant’s’ first (and hopefully only) season finally locks into place in “Meet the New Boss” as Bassam begins the preliminary stages of a coup against Jamal, drawing in allies to remove his brother from office. This is the character arc that Bassam has had earmarked since the pilot, embarking on a journey from wanting nothing to do with his country or legacy to gradually developing an inevitable thirst for power. After the debacle with the sheik’s death, Bassam has decided that Jamal’s incendiary temper makes him unfit to rule Abuddin, which is almost certainly true, but one begins to wonder how much of Bassam’s drive is truly motivated by what is best for his country versus what his own ego suddenly demands. You’re going to keep wondering about that, too, because Adam Rayner isn’t getting across any of the ruthless ambition fueling Bassam. This is very much the Walter White character template being played

Robin Williams passed away today at the age of 63, of an apparent suicide by asphyxia. And as I write out these words, I still don’t believe them. Robin Williams is one of those guys you can’t imagine the world no longer containing. He’s been a fixture, a familiar and welcoming presence, for as long as I, and I suspect the majority of people out there, can remember. Saying that Robin Williams no longer exists is like saying ice cream or kittens no longer exist. It sounds impossible and absurd. Williams is, of course, famous for being a funnyman and he most certainly was one funny man. With his manic voices and impressions erupting out of him one on top of the other like a Roman candle of silliness, Robin Williams was less a comedian than an indefatigable comedic force of nature. My first exposure to Williams as a child was, as I suspect it was for many, on his television series ‘ Mork and Mindy ”, which stood as his signature role for a large portion of his career. Mork was the

TV Review: The Leftovers “Solace For Tired Feet” By: Brandon Wolfe Man, is this a hard show to watch. Not in the sense that it’s depressing or challenging, qualities that could make its difficulty to endure commendable in a way (and qualities that the show clearly aspires toward), but in its inertia and frustrating lack of focus. As I’ve stated time and again, ‘The Leftovers’ has a core premise that could make for a fantastic television series, but this is not that series. This series is a flummoxing mass of uncooked dough, a collection of murky, half-formed ideas that aren’t as tantalizing as its creators believe they are. It is, in short, very much a Damon Lindelof show, and I mean that in the worst way. There really isn’t a good way to mean that, but I want it to be clear that of all the possible ways it could be meant, I mean the very worst one. After last week’s surprisingly solid outing, which centered its focus around Nora Durst, who has quickly emerged as the most intere

TV Review: Tyrant “Preventative Medicine” By: Brandon Wolfe After a few episodes attempting, and failing, to craft riveting television out of political intrigue, ‘Tyrant’ moves to that most tried-and-true method of grabbing viewers: murder. Truth be told, it mostly helps. “Preventative Medicine” holds our interest more than episodes of this series generally have. The introduction of juicier stakes for the characters, actions and decisions of more immediate interest to the viewing audience than the legacy-building and political chess games the show usually feeds us, gives ‘Tyrant’ a bit of kick in the seat. We are far from out of the woods here, but a watchable ‘Tyrant’ is certainly progress. Jamal’s impromptu assault on Sheik Rashid in the men’s room has mostly gone in his favor. The doctors find no evidence of foul play and conclude that the sheik’s physical ailment is the culprit behind his nasty head trauma, while the security footage is doctored to remove Jamal’s presence

Review By Brandon Wolfe Our first glimpse of soul legend James Brown ( Chadwick Boseman ) is not a favorable one. In Augusta in 1988, a disheveled Brown pulls into a strip mall’s parking lot in a rickety pickup truck and enters a dreary business office that he owns. A seminar of some sort is being held inside and Brown notices that his private bathroom has been used by one of the attendees. He then proceeds to return to his truck to retrieve a shotgun, which he brandishes at the terrified drones, forcing them to dive out of their folding chairs in abject fear. Accidentally firing off a shot into the ceiling, Brown demands to know which among them relieved his or herself in his personal washroom before ascertaining the culprit, a tearful older woman. Brown ultimately decides to let the whole thing slide, but not before police sirens cry out in the distance. Clearly we are not catching the Godfather of Soul on his best day. ‘Get On Up’, the new biopic from Tate Taylor, dire

TV Review: Tyrant “What the World Needs Now” By: Brandon Wolfe ‘ Tyrant ’ is still moseying along, trying to spin the situation concerning the rapidly growing public demonstration at the town square into nailbiting television. Yet as volatile as the situation is reported to be (we never actually check in at the scene this week), it’s presented more as a backdrop, an offscreen catalyst for the real meat of “What the World Needs Now”, which is the backroom maneuvering and machinations put into play to resolve the protest without bloodshed. Now that Sheik Rashid has publicly demanded (not requested, mind you) a meeting with President Jamal, the Al-Fayeed administration is grudgingly forced to accept. Bassam, ever the peacenik pragmatist, believes this to be a good thing, a step in the right direction toward bringing longtime enemies together and pushing Abuddin toward something resembling civilization. Jamal, however, bristles at having to bow to the wishes of a man he has looked u

TV Review: The Leftovers “Gladys” By: Brandon Wolfe For a series so often awash in inertia, “Gladys” opens with a visceral gutpunch. A pair of Guilty Remnant members stop at a gas station so one of the women can use the restroom. The older woman waiting outside, whom we will later learn is the eponymous Gladys, is grabbed by a pair of masked assailants, who take her out to the woods nearby, affix her to a tree with masking tape and proceed to stone her to death with large rocks, blood profusely gushing from the woman’s head. The GR does not speak, but with the life draining out of her, Gladys breaks this vow in order to plead for her life. This falls on deaf ears, as the men chuck the last rock at her head, delivering a fatal blow. This is an ugly scene, unnecessarily so. While the GR have been such a frustrating force, both to the characters within the show and to us out in the viewing audience, seeing this helpless older woman bludgeoned to death is very difficult to watch. I have

TV Review: The Leftovers “B.J. and the A.C.” By: Brandon Wolfe It might be time to call it with ‘The Leftovers’. After four installments, the HBO show is still struggling to locate its pulse. The premise at the core of the series remains spooky and promising, but the series itself is fumbling to tell stories that build off that premise in any meaningful or compelling way. With its cast of stiffs, lifeless narrative and hokey symbolism, ‘The Leftovers’ is so deep in the ground right now that it’s hard to imagine it pulling itself out. Kevin is imploring Guilty Remnant lieutenant Patti (Ann Dowd) to avoid crashing a Christmas dance at the local high school, but as with all interactions with the GR, it’s literally like talking to a brick wall, if the brick wall chain-smoked and made smarmy faces. But soon Kevin’s attention is focused on something much more pressing: the baby Jesus doll from the town’s nativity scene has been swiped and Kevin has been tasked with locating it, m

TV Review: Tyrant “Sins of the Father" By: Brandon Wolfe After a moment of modest promise last week, ‘Tyrant’ is back to its usual floundering about. The series remains as clumsy as ever while telling stories it believes to be compelling but that land with a resounding thud. “Sins of the Father” even begins with a thud, in a flashback to Bassam’s college days, where he arrives at his dorm room to find that it has been besmirched with graffiti and news clippings decrying a gas-attack massacre initiated by his father. This sequence is a microcosm of how inept ‘Tyrant’ is, for not only is it set to “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears, a song choice insultingly on-the-nose both in its lyrics and in its “hey, it’s the ‘80s!” era evocation, but it’s also a bungle in terms of basic numbers, since we’re told in the present day that the 20th anniversary of this attack is now occurring, which would have placed Bassam’s college experience in 1994. Add math to the list o

TV Review 24: Live Another Day  Finale  “10:00 PM-11:00 AM”  By: Brandon Wolfe ‘24’ is a nasty piece of work. It’s a violent, ruthless, completely unforgiving enterprise. Apart from the fleeting moments of catharsis when a villain meets his or her demise or a crisis is averted, there are no happy endings on this show. The heroes never truly win, even when they’ve technically won. In the early goings, ‘24’s’ bleakness set it apart, made it unique. That the show could end a season on a soul-crushing downer gave it a mean-spirited edge that seemed refreshing in the comparatively brighter television landscape into which it was birthed. But ‘24’ has been bumming us out for nine seasons now, never letting even a tiny ray of light sneak through its aura of oppressive gloom. So resolute is ‘24’ in its bid to constantly shock its audience that it doesn’t seem to realize that it has made being defiantly cutthroat into a formula. After 13 years, the most shocking thing ‘24’ could possibly do w

TV Review: The Leftovers “Two Boats and a Helicopter” By: Brandon Wolfe With “ Two Boats and a Helicopter ”, ‘The Leftovers’ moves into the weekly-spotlight motif that served Damon Lindelof so well on ‘Lost’. Where the first two episodes cast a wide net to set up the entire world and cast, this entry fixates solely on Matt Jamison ( Christopher Eccleston ), the tormented reverend whom we’ve only met in passing thus far. Matt has a very specific reaction to the Departure. He is hell-bent on proving to the public that this wasn’t the Rapture, as many believe, since he’s keen to point out that many of those who were taken on October 14th were demonstrably bad people. Matt publishes a newsletter where he documents the crimes and sordid deeds of the departed, a practice that only stirs up ill will in people, and occasionally results in Matt taking a beating from the angry relatives of those whose sins he exposes. We also learn that Matt’s wife was critically injured on that fateful day

TV Review: 24: Live Another Day “9:00 PM – 10:00 PM” By: Brandon Wolfe ’ 24: Live Another Day ’ has a lot of story left to tell and not a lot of time left to tell it. “9:00 PM – 10:00 PM” is the penultimate episode of this 12-episode event series and it breaks its neck setting up all the pieces for next week’s finale, yet it still feels like it’s setting up the next 12 weeks, as if the writers somehow forgot that they weren’t required to fill their usual quota of 24 episodes. The episode is a non-stop dash for Jack to put many pieces together in a very short amount of time. It’s a busy hour that rarely takes a breath, usually ‘24’s’ strong suit, yet it all feels a bit like speeding toward a red light. I don’t know how the writers intend to resolve not only this season satisfactorily, but perhaps the entire Jack Bauer saga altogether (those ratings ain’t great, after all), with just one measly hour left. Historically, these guys aren’t the best closers even when they have all the