In our second edition of Popcorn & Cornflakes Weekly Roundup, I have my good friend Jeff (@Belleneg on twitter/instagram) who will be giving me some of his shows in addition to mine. If you want to give provide some input, definitely reach out to me directly! Hopefully you and enjoy this week’s segment.
Black-Ish
Blackish’s this past week has shown why this show is a must have in your weekly rotation. We have two issues black families deal with on daily basis. Dre is reluctant to go to jury duty because he sees it as a waste of time. It was not until Junior’s insistence Dre decided to go. Jury duty is usually a duty a majority of americans shun. However, since POC normally tend to avoid going the people on trial are not judged by their “peers”. This leads to higher incarceration rates for black men in the court system. I honestly knew this before but it didn’t resonate with me until I saw this episode. The child on trial was saved due to Dre confusing one of the fellow jurors to look deeper and this woman (who happened to be white) was the “savior” for the defendant. Bow on the flip side was having issues not having a close relationship with her children. This jealousy is due to seeing a white parent become close to her son through the usage of profanity. Bow copied this idea to an amazing result to only discover she really didn’t want to know her kids that well. I do feel my friends with kids will appreciate this episode. If you have Hulu, definitely queue it up to watch with the family. (@SkipFromBk)
Star
In the episode titled “Alibi”, the past catches up with the cast to cause things to look bleek for the group’s future. I love how this show focuses on sisterhood where Empire focuses on brotherhood. The power of this show is why the cast moves as one. We were able to see this in a small dose in this episode. In addition to the group trying to save Simone, we have Jahil (the group’s manager) moving pretty shifty which further induces chaos within the group. The most important storyline to me was about Cotton and her boo thing. I think having a transgender is important for understanding their perspective and how to understanding the difficulty it is to live the way they do (with people have negative feelings towards them trying to be their true self). Cotton needed to keep hustling to get the movie for her surgery to transition fully into a woman. She lied to her boyfriend and thus caused the end of her relationship. I do feel sympathetic because we the audience understand why she made that choice. I do want to see Cotton and Carlotta reconcile their relationship but there was a lot of character development in this episode. Star is definitely on my rookie show of the year list for sure. (@SkipFromBk)
How To Get Away With Murder
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER – “Wes” – Annalise and the Keating 4 test the limits of how far they’ll go to save themselves while the chilling details from the night of the fire reveal who killed Wes. The two-hour season finale of “How to Get Away with Murder” will air on THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23 (9:01-11:00 p.m. EST) on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Richard Cartwright) KARLA SOUZA, MATT MCGORRY
I have to admit I was blown away as usual from this show. I will be super vague on this review because I need to allow people to catch up but man what a way to close a season. We discover the person who killed Wes and understand who has been hunting down Annalise. I was thrown for a curveball for both people. Connor’s emotional vulnerability made him endearing in contrast to the recent episodes of douchebaggery. The conflict between Michaela and Asher is typical between new couples and I enjoyed how they went about addressing it (until the end because it doesn’t make any sense). Nate still helping till the end was more about his guilt for Wes’ death than his life for Annalise which was evident in their interactions. I do enjoy the evolution of the characters over the course of this season let alone the show’s entire run. Great season finale and I am looking forward to the next season! (@SkipFromBk)
24 Legacy
When I first heard of the return of 24 without Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) I was deeply disappointed. The character of Jack Bauer is such a badass he makes Chuck Norris look like McLovin. At the same time I was intrigued to see how the show could move on without him. For those who are not familiar with 24 it’s a show where every episode represents an hour of real time. The protagonist then has essentially a day to stop catastrophic terrorist attack from happening. As a logical tv lover I’m thinking the only way this show can go on is if they try to get a protagonist who is nothing like Jack Bauer and doesn’t even attempt to be. Just as long as the writing is decent and the episodes are action packed everything should be fine right? Guess what? EVERY EPISODE SO FAR IS LITT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Trust me you don’t want to miss 24 Legacy this season. (@Belleneg)
Girls
The concept of nonverbal consent and abuse of power seems to constantly be a gray area we continue to try to clarify and this episode does an amazing job of showing all signs of the equation. Hannah is invited by a famous author to discuss an article she had written online about how he abuses his power as a literary figure to sleep with college students. The author is someone Hannah deeply admires so she welcomes the invitation and goes to his fancy apartment in the City. Once arriving to his home the author is distressed and claims he has not been able to sleep since such allegations were made. He makes the clever quip how can someone force someone to perform oral sex on them (bruh….). The author simultaneously berates Hannah for her article about him because how can she just take the words of some random girls’ Tumblr post and run with it as if it’s factual but do so with such amazing penmanship. He constantly reminds her throughout the episode that she’s a writer and not a two-bit journalist. He then shows Hannah an excerpt of his latest book which he explains the encounter with the woman in question in a way Hannah sympathizes with him. He makes the point that his success is a burden and everyone wants something from him. It’s not his fault he can’t connect with every woman he encounters in a manner deeper than casual. He and Hannah then connect over their favorite authors. The he asks Hannah to lay next to him on his bed but asks her to keep her clothes on because this isn’t sexual. He just felt such a deep connection to her and wanted to share her energy. As they lay back to back he then turns around and places his penis on Hannah. Then Hannah grabs his penis and it takes her a while to yell in disbelief of what is taking place. The author’s daughter enters the apartment and everything comes to a screeching halt. Then Hannah and the author watch his daughter perform her flute. So what do you guys think? I would love to discuss all aspects of what just transpired!!!!!!!!! (@Belleneg)
Riverdale
In the episode “Heart of Darkness”, we have the funeral for Jason (Cheryl Blossom’s fraternal twin) and we can feel the effects of his passing throughout the entire town. As we deviate from that event, other plots are opening up rather quickly. Archie and Reggie finally begin their rivalry with it involving football (and not women like in the comics). They push each other in a friendly way until Archie wins the captain title. He turns it down to focus on his music and football. Reggie is nominated to be captain because he has the talent and time to fully invest in the role. I think Archie’s maturity is levels above his peers as long as it doesn’t involve women. The search for who stole the murder evidence on Jason is heating up with Jughead and Betty teaming up to be our versions of Sherlock Holmes and Nancy Drew. Their chemistry is so natural, I enjoy their screen time together. Another quality episode and we are almost at the halfway mark for the season (12 episodes were made for this first season). (@SkipFromBk)
Being Mary Jane
I appreciate a happy Mary Jane. I reflect on earlier seasons and it was always something she on to fight through in every part of her life. Her visit to see her family with her boyfriend Lee popping up was sweet. I appreciate the gestures Lee does to show he is committed to MJ and her development as a person. Lee was able to see underneath some layers MJ actively blocks out from people. The direction of this season with MJ’s family taking a strong backseat allows us to experience Mary Jane the way we are supposed to. Looking forward to the next episode when she returns to NY to get back to work fighting for that anchor chair. (@SkipFromBk)
New Girl
Being a part of several weddings I know that there will be several challenges that get in the way while planning that special day. Hopefully one of them isn’t that the groom is still technically married and his current spouse is a psycho prankster who refuses to sign the divorce papers. This episode makes you really appreciate how far Winston has grown as a character from dating a terrible excuse for a human like Rhonda to being engaged to a more plausible person like Allie. When Rhonda meets up with Winston to sign the divorce papers at the bar she brings a baby with her claiming to be Winston’s son she never told him about. Fortunately she was kidding about that and then signs the divorce papers….with invisible ink. She agrees to actually sign the papers if Winston and Allie help her with a grand prank. During the prank, Allie pretended to be seriously injured during said prank which was a prank in itself and that impressed Rhonda greatly. I’m very glad to see Winston find someone who would go to such lengths to be with him and can’t wait to see this on screen crazy wedding. (@BelleNeg)
Jess overcoming her fear of messing up her dream job is something everyone can relate too. I do love the fact Nick and Schmidt support her like good friends do. I wouldn’t rent a person to act like someone from the past but we see the reason New Girl works. The bonds in this show are why people come back time after time, no matter how ridiculous it gets. My only issue is Schmidt took a backseat to Jess in this part of the storyline (the leads were Winston/Jess/Schmidt in this episode). I understand Jess is the star of the show but we didn’t have as much Schmidt as I would have liked. Otherwise, great story even though traveling in California to get to school on time for 8AM PST sounds impossible. TV magic right? (@SkipFromBk)
Powerless
New show alert! I was scrolling through Hulu while I was binge watching to prepare for this weekly roundup to see my man Danny Pudi. He was on Community with Donald Glover and anytime I see him, I expect a solid character out of him. I decided to take the gamble and start watching the show. Powerless is based in Charm City which is like a younger sibling city to Gotham City. The main character Emily Locke is taking on a job to fulfill her purpose in life. Unbeknownst to her, her place has had four people attempt to fix the department she is supposed to be leading. The odds are stacked against her but surprisingly Emily (Vanessa Hudgens) are more charismatic than I anticipated. She manages to save everyone’s job in the first episode and continues to be the lynchpin to this mad cast of characters. Also Ron Funches alongside Danny Pudi is amazing. Not Danny/Donald good but good enough for me to want to come back for more episodes. Give this show a shot and let me know your thoughts on this when you get the chance! (@SkipFromBk)