Daisy Comes Into Her Own As The Leader Of "The Team!"

The Good: Powers Boothe and Chloe Bennet's performances, Special effects, Final ten minutes
The Bad: Poorly constructed, Plot conceits, Lack of genuine character development.
The Basics: Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. introduces the Secret Warriors in "The Team" . . . with mediocre, plot-centered results.


Fans of Marvel Comics and the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe have been encouraged to broaden their reading base by Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Those brought into Marvel Comics through the success of Iron Man (reviewed here!) are now finding it necessary to get into more obscure titles, like The Inhumans and Secret Warriors due to the way Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is progressing. "The Team" is the proper introduction of the Secret Warriors to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and for those who might bank on the long-term viability of the superhero group to ever carry a film is likely to be disappointed.

"The Team" follows up on "Paradise Lost" (reviewed here!), which climaxed in a cliffhanger. It is impossible to discuss "The Team" without refrerencing where "Paradise Lost" ended. "Paradise Lost" saw Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. degenerating into the worst tropes of comic book stories. The heroes put all of their best people in one place where they were put at the mercy of their enemies and that set "The Team" up for Daisy to come to the rescue of everyone else. At this point, Daisy and Lincoln Campbell are the agents on the outside after Mr. Giyera used his powers to bring down the S.H.I.E.L.D. plane, leaving them entirely at the mercy of HYDRA and Hive.

Daisy recalls the Inhumans who have been peppered around the world as part of her Secret Warriors initiative within S.H.I.E.L.D. Her quinjet recovers Joey Gutierrez and Elena Rodriguez and they airdrop into the facility to rescue the rest of the core S.H.I.E.L.D. team. Campbell recovers Malick and Daisy manages to recover the S.H.I.E.L.D. leadership. Soon, they are back at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, where Coulson interrogates Malick. Malick implies that Hive has someone on the inside or that Hive can turn Inhumans by possessing them, which leads Coulson to lock down the S.H.I.E.L.D. base.

Daisy celebrates her first victory as the leader of her team of Inhumans. She confides in May that Coulson is having her lie to the other three Inhumans on her team. While Malick debates turning on Hive, Simmons performs an autopsy on Lucio, proving that his body is infected with the Hive parasite. When the infected individual kills Malick and makes their play, Coulson tries to contain the Inhumans. Daisy finds herself sealed in a room with the three Inhumans, trying to deduce which member of her team is under Hive's influence.

The first major problem with "The Team" is that the setting is instantly problematic. Giyera brought the Zephyr down, apparently, in HYDRA's headquarters - judging by the HYDRA iconography around and Malick and Ward's comfort within the facility. And yet, Coulson and his team manage to escape the Zephyr to get to the safe room in the building. Given how sketchy the intel has been on HYDRA, it seems entirely unrealistic that on the fly, Coulson and his team could figure out exactly where the panic room was. As well, Daisy evaluates the layout by sight (knowing the sublevels with a glance) in a way that implies it is S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. So, until the familiar brick building is returned to, the episode seems a bit off.

But beyond the setting seeming like it was written for two very different places at the same time, the fundamental problem with "The Team" is that the idiots of S.H.I.E.L.D. make the exact same mistake in this episode that they did in the prior one. Simmons quarantines the corpse of the Inhuman Lucio (the Inhuman who temporarily petrifies his victims) and notices it is still warm. How they do not figure out that his body has the Hive parasites in it is inconceivable. But any quarantine that has the infected body brought into a facility is a ridiculous quarantine. Just like Giyera being aboard the Zephyr, Lucio's body being within S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters is an obvious plant. Hive reanimates corpses, so a dead body would not kill the Hive parasites, so those parasites are now inside S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and that seems like a vulnerability that is foreseeable.

Powers Boothe rules "The Team." From his first scene as Malick, Boothe makes Malick twitchy and unsettled, which is entirely realistic for a man who just lost his beloved daughter. Boothe has played Malick as smart and powerful, perpetually in control. In "The Team" Boothe's performance is very different.

"The Team," predictably, turns into a witchhunt as the Secret Warriors turn on one another in quarantine. While the episode could be a brilliant character study, "The Team" puts Daisy in a room with three entirely dispensable characters who have virtually no backstory to them. In other words, there is no emotional impact to the reveal of who is infected by Hive. Indeed, the paranoid bickering within the Inhuman room is only resolved by a revelation from the people outside the room.

Daisy is given a decent role in "The Team" as she becomes a leader of the Secret Warriors. Daisy is smart and rises to the occasion well; her scenes with Coulson featuring cerebral introspection are a pleasure for a character who, more often than not, has been monolithic. Chloe Bennet does a magnificent job of making Daisy into a leader in a way that fees entirely organic.

"The Team" pays lips service to the Fitz/Simmons relationship, but even the one scene is refreshing to see after so many years.

Ultimately, "The Team" moves Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. forward well, but the series is expanding in ways that feel somewhat inorganic. In forcing the Secret Warriors to the forefront, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is continuing its unfortunate trend of packing a show with an already bloated cast of characters with even more characters. The result is that none of the characters have a chance to truly grow and develop. The show is becoming increasingly plot-centered instead of character-focused. In other words, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is devolving into the worst elements of comic books; opting for a lack of complexity and depth in exchange for spectacle and plot twists.

"The Team" meanders Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. into another tangent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and hinges on the final act to try to uplift its bored audience. It barely succeeds at being watchable.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - The Complete Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the third season here!
Thanks!]

4.5/10

For other Marvel movie, television season and episode reviews, please check out my Marvel Cinematic Universe Review Index Page for a listing of those reviews!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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What To Expect At A Heather Nova Concert (April 11, 2016 - Ann Arbor, MI)

| | | The Good: Amazing lyrics, Great voice, Inexpensive, Improvs/stories, Raw onstage charisma
The Bad: Technical difficulties, Usual live issues
The Basics: After eighteen years, I manage to see Heather Nova in concert again; this time with some very awesome moments and memories.


There is a critical mass for musical artists who have long careers and that is the concept that live performances are always going to let some of their fans down. The truth is, the more prolific a musical artist is, the more their fans fall in love with specific works and it becomes difficult for the artist to find a well-rounded setlist that will please their die-hard fans. This is certainly the case with Heather Nova, an artist that most music aficionados have written off because her popular peak hit in the late 1990s. Despite radio airplay with the single "Walk This World" and garnering a following of people who fell in love with "Heart And Shoulder" because it appeared on Dawson's Creek, Heather Nova is often written off as a "one-hit wonder" because her commercial success in the United States has never rivaled her creative successes as a musical artist. Now, with nine studio albums, an EP of unique songs, and three live albums (one of which has songs not found elsewhere!), Heather Nova is incredibly hard to write off and she is (finally!) touring in the United States again!

I saw Heather Nova perform on April 11, 2016 at The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan and it was a big deal for me. My wife purchased the ticket for me and sent me on my way while she remained home with our unruly animals, as an anniversary gift (the day before was our seven year wedding anniversary!). I saw Heather Nova perform once before. Back in 1998, at the Lilith Fair in Canandaigua, New York, I was super-excited to see Heather Nova. Despite being a recent college graduate, I had never once been to a musical concert (save concerts I was dragged to as a young child by my father), and while some people were at the concert for the main stage artists, like Bonnie Raitt, Sarah McLachlan, and Natalie Merchant, I was there because Heather Nova was performing. It was a big deal for me at the time because, after her set, Nova went to the Tower Records tent and was signing autographs. Despite suffering from a massive stutter at the time, butterflies in my stomach and a huge case of hero worship, I met Heather Nova, told her the influence "London Rain (Nothing Heals Me Like You Do)" had on me (as best I could with my stutter) and got her autograph. It was the start of a pretty memorable weekend for me. So, I've been waiting for years to see her in concert again. It was a pretty awesome gift for my wife to give me for our anniversary and, despite me being a true fan who might seem like someone who would be hard to make happy, it was a truly magical evening.

Heather Nova's current tour seems to be a great reminder to her fans about the awkward balance an artist of her magnitude has. Nova is touring in the United States to promote her latest album, the PledgeMusic funded The Way It Feels (reviewed here!) and her setlist juggled new material and works from her two most commercially-successful albums (in the U.S.), Oyster and Siren. Redbird and The Jasmine Flower are completely neglected (so is Glowstars, but given that was pre-Oyster, that is less surprising), but that is the crux of the problem for an artist as prolific as Nova; the fans who will show up for a live performance are likely already to know about and own the newest album and have obscure favorites from some of the albums that never achieved commercial success or airplay. Despite the lack of Redbird and The Jasmine Flower songs and songs from South being under-represented, Nova managed to find an amazing balance between her newest works and the "old favorites" of fans.

The Heather Nova concert was my first time in Ann Arbor, so I arrived early and staked out the venue, as well as tried to guess where Nova might go pre-show to try to run into her and get my cover art signed (I was wrong!). Ann Arbor is a cute city bustling downtown with food co-ops and tea rooms and a lot of wonderful places to eat. The Ark, where Nova was performing, had a line in front of it over an hour before the show, with most of those there at that point waiting to get into the VIP reception before the show (tickets were sold out before I could get any). So, I waited in the freezing cold with other Heather Nova fans - some of whom were from Indiana - and we talked about our experiences with her music, our crappy Governors (Indiana's codified discrimination, Michigan's systematically poisoned poor citizens to save money in the budget on clean drinking water), and the venue. I met a woman in line who had been to the Ark many, many times and advised me on where to sit.

When the doors were opened for the eight o'clock show - at 7:36 (! grr, it was that cold, so we were checking our watches and phones that much!) - we were escorted to the upstairs auditorium. I sat between the wife and the girlfriend of two men who had gotten in on the V.I.P. experience and I found myself literally eight feet away from where Heather Nova would later be singing, with a completely unobstructed view. I thanked the wife for advising on the seats and she asked where my wife was. My answer got me onto a conversation with the girlfriend about Siberian Huskys (we both have them; she had a sitter for hers, mine necessitated my wife staying home with ours!). The Ark had seating for four hundred people and if there were one hundred people there for Heather Nova, I would be surprised. The result was a very intimate concert experience.

Shortly after eight o'clock, the concert began with Chris Riffle opening for Heather Nova. Riffle is a singer-songwriter from New York City and I'm unsure how Nova or her tour manager decided on him for her opening act. Riffle has a lot energy, but he did not seem overly comfortable on-stage (or, perhaps, he just has not developed a "performing persona" to get him away from the rawness of the experiences he is singing about). Riffle's opening led him to reveal that with the lighting, he could not see any of us, so I instantly felt better about the potential of not making an ass of myself drooling over Heather Nova, or grinning like an idiot over her entire set. Because I never had any prior experiences with Christ Riffle's works before that night, I found myself listening to him and his performance in a very analytical way (my wife forbade me to take notes on the Heather Nova concert, insisting I go and enjoy it!). As Riffle completed his set, a strange melancholy filled me; I listened to his works with an intellectual detachment and I became terrified for the time between his last song and Nova appearing on stage that I could no longer simply *enjoy* anything.

My anhedonia passed the moment Heather Nova began singing. Bathed in light from stage lights with pink and blue gels, Heather Nova stepped up to a jasmine flower covered microphone after her accompanist, Arnulf Lindner (there is very much something for the ladies at a Heather Nova at her current concerts!) preceded her to the stage. She was wearing a simple black tank top and pants accented by sequins (or something else sparkly) and jewelry that was instantly evocative of her birds from her artwork from her earliest EPs.

It takes a pretty remarkable artist to instantly enchant an audience with a new song. I recall, very vividly, listening to The Way It Feels the very first time. When Nova got to the first refrain of "Treehouse" - "Treehouse in the trees" - I literally winced (where else would a treehouse be?!). But live, the passion of Nova infuses from the opening lines "Afternoon, heavy scented . . ." to her belting out "When you love / Then you can't / Keep your heart from breaking / Holding on / Holding on / But I can't keep the tree from shaking" ("Treehouse") it was virtually impossible not to get chills all up and down one's arms. Accompanied on guitar and cello by Heather Nova instantly establishes a presence that is magnetic. I was sitting close enough to the stage to see the set list on the floor of the stage, so I was somewhat giddy over the idea that I would hear Nova performing the song I requested online, but after the opening act, I honestly thought that perhaps I had built the experience up too much for it to live up to expectations.

I had not over-estimated the impact of seeing Heather Nova perform live. Live, the passion and unedited vocal talent of Heather Nova is so profound that she manages to captivate bored spouses of Heather Nova fans and remind her fans just why they fell in love with Nova and her works. Seriously, one of the men who had been a part of the V.I.P. experience got up twice during the show and was checking his phone every three songs; his girlfriend did not move from her seat and her eyes were glued on Nova and Lindner. And the mixed metaphors of "The Archeologist" and the unclear metaphor in "Girl On The Mountain" become irrelevant when Nova is giving them her all with passion in her voice and a stage performance that is electric - even though most of the evening found her simply standing behind her microphone.

The blend of new works and classic Heather Nova for the first half of the concert turned out to be an absolutely brilliant arrangement. Nova's voice and presence gives a credibility to the works that lack the inherent greatness (it all starts with lyrics!) of some of her prior works; those faults disappear with her raw on-stage charisma.

While Chris Riffle might have been an unclear opening act for Heather Nova, Arnulf Lindner is a clear, amazing accompanist for Nova. Lindner has an impressive vocal range. Nova has incredible vocal range, but when she hits her high soprano notes, Lindner offers contrast in the lower registers or harmonizes - shockingly good - as an alto. The most impressive musical moment between Nova and Lindner at the Ann Arbor concert came on "Winterblue." "Winterblue" was the song that both Nova and Lindner offered the most improvisation for. Nova added a few additional riffs and Lindner was given the chance to do a piano solo. The improvisation was musically interesting and it grabbed the ear in a very complimentary way. But the magic was that when Nova leapt back in with her vocals it came at the organic end to Lindner's improv and the seamless transition occurred without even a look between them. Perhaps before the show, Nova said, "I will give you twenty-two seconds of improve in 'Winterblue,' not a second more! Go wild!" and he managed to perfectly conform. Regardless of whatever prior communications there were between the two beforehand, watching them both from the closest possible position, it looked like they had an expert back and forth where their artistic expression and performances blended with apparent effortlessness. Lindner's vocal accompaniment on "Paper Cup" is haunting to hear harmonizing with Nova's siren-like soprano (sue me, she named Siren well!).

As for Heather Nova, the second-most interesting moment of the night for me came as Nova and Lindner performed "The Archaeologist." Nova was playing a ukulele and it either was not connected or it was not loud enough for her to hear over Lindner's piano. While I, like Lindner, could have sworn I heard it for a few strums at least, Nova could not. Those watching Nova could tell that she was not hearing it and there was a flash of frustration on her face. In that moment, I became utterly fascinated; I once was at a Sophie B. Hawkins concert at a venue where she (literally) blew the fuses each time she strummed her electric guitar and she stopped the show, we waited ten minutes in the heat for the techs to rewire and retry and she'd try again. It happened at least three times and Hawkins refused to keep playing until the problem was fixed, despite the fact that everyone who was there appeared very able to hear her and an acoustic rendition could have been interesting. Nova's reaction was entirely different. There was a moment of frustration on her face, but then it was very quickly replaced with one of resolve. Nova took her hands off her uke and started singing more forthrightly, more passionately. Her eyes took on a quality that seemed to scream, "dare me not to enchant you with my voice!" For those who ever wonder "what ever happened to Heather Nova," the answer is "she's still here and she's a professional of the highest order who will spellbind you if you were only paying attention!" That moment where Nova revealed her professionalism and class was strangely electrifying and seeing someone become the embodiment of resolve is incredible when it yields such impressive results.

I wrote that that moment where Nova threw her hands up and put her voice and eyes into "The Archaeologist" was the second most interesting moment of the pretty incredible night. The most amazing moment was one that gave me an uncommon feeling of connection with the musical artist. That was the penultimate song of the regular set.

Being able to see her set list, from the moment her assistant placed it on the floor within my sightline, I knew "Truth And Bone" was coming and I knew when it would be performed. In fact, when the boyfriend sitting just ahead of me (the layout of The Ark allowed for tables to be right up against the stage; he was at the table, I was between the two tables, just behind the table, so he was slightly ahead and askew of me), began singing along with one of Nova's songs, fist-pumping and stomping on the stage (how Nova and Lindner were not disrupted by him - or maybe he was stomping on beat during "London Rain" - is a mystery to me), I came very close to warning him that if he pulled that shit during "Truth And Bone," we'd have a problem! (Fortunately, I did not have to resort of barbarian threats; he fell into a stupor on "Fool For You.") The high point of the night was "Truth And Bone."

Having now had the opportunity to see set lists from other performances Nova has done on her (too-brief) U.S. tour, I was surprised to see how constant her performance line-up is. In fact, all that differed between the Ann Arbor show and at least five of her other stops was that "Heart And Shoulder" was swapped out for "Truth And Bone" in Ann Arbor. This makes me especially happy for how this came to be. I love "Heart And Shoulder" as much as the next Heather Nova (or Dawson's Creek) fan, but on the (many) live recordings Nova has released publicly and to her fans, "Heart And Shoulder" has become a staple, much like "Maybe An Angel" used to be. "Heart And Shoulder" is not a song her fans have not already heard with every (conceivable) permutation (I'm still open to being surprised, though and I was surprised in Ann Arbor by how close Nova came to making "London Rain" into a country song!). But, for Ann Arbor, "Heart And Shoulder" was replaced with "Truth And Bone" and that is because of me and Heather Nova's awesome responsiveness.

When Nova's U.S. tour was first announced, I was psyched to see that - of all the places she would be, and there were too few! - she would be performing about three hours away from where I live. I knew Ann Arbor was the most likely place I would see Nova (though, I have family in Rochester, New York, and if the money had come in in time, I might have shelled out the money to travel to Albany, NY to see her and have the V.I.P. experience) and when she announced that she would be recording the shows and making them available to her fans, I sent her a message on Facebook. I asked Nova if she might offer something akin to a "Season Pass" (like with video games) where fans could get recordings from her entire tour for a discounted price. And I said that I would entirely liquefy to see her perform "Truth And Bone" in Ann Arbor. So, as the night wound down, from being cold to eager to disappointed to enchanted, I was anticipating Nova's penultimate song.

Then she introduced it. I have never been so glad for a gift from my wife than I was in the moment when, after saying she was performing the next song for someone who had asked for it on Facebook, Nova asked, "Do you know who you are?" Nova could not remember my name (no big deal, no reason she should!) and she could not quite remember what I said I would do if she performed the song (she thought "eat my hat" or "melt") (and hey, neither could I! In the shock of the moment as she introduced the song, referencing my request, I conceded and shouted back "Yes!" [I knew who I was] and [in response to "What was it you said you would do?"] "Melt completely!" [not quite "liquefy!"]), but she told me that my message had reached her and she was playing the song because I had asked for it (in a timely fashion!). It takes a pretty amazing artist to care about a fan request like that and then deliver. It sounds simple, but after a dozen shows with remarkably similar setlists, I can understand how shaking things up might really mess an artist (and her accompanist) up.

But then there was the execution. People who pay for Heather Nova's live recording from the Ann Arbor show will be missing something incredible. When Heather Nova sang "Truth And Bone," she sang it with passion and presence that was heartwrenching and beautiful. I was tearing up almost instantly, but I could clearly see Nova's eyes as she sang; expressive and full of passion and vulnerability and that only made me cry more. Heather Nova must have performed "Truth And Bone" a thousand times (at least!) before that night and yet, when she sang it in Ann Arbor, you would have thought that she had just written the song, she sang it with such emotion and on-stage presence. My request aside, the execution of "Truth And Bone" live by Heather Nova is the perfect reminder of why live performances are so important and so different as artistic works from studio recordings.

And when it was done, I could not stand to give her the standing ovation I wanted to. I could barely applaud, choke out and project my voice to say "thank you" (she graciously nodded acknowledgement!) and wipe my tears away. And the cello work Arnulf Lindner did on it cannot go unacknowledged. Lindner did not provide backing vocals on the song, but his cello sang with Nova's voice wonderfully.

Like all live performances, the Ann Arbor show was not without technical issues. Drunk boyfriend (that's what my wife instantly assumed), the ukulele not working right away, a vocal crack trying to hit a note I never in my life could on "Island" (and, hell, for an artist of such incredible range and lung capacity, the bar would be set high with five vocal imperfections, so one is pretty much a testament to Nova's unbridled talent!), these are all things that happen when music is performed live. There was something weird about "Sugar" (one of Nova's darker songs about trauma) capping off the night as the second encore, but - in all - the night was absolutely amazing.

After the show, Nova briefly met with her fans to sign albums and memorabilia. Heather Nova is a class act and gracing her fans with even a short autograph session is very cool of her. The Ark is a smaller venue and there was not much of a crowd, so Nova had an easy time getting through her line. The Ann Arbor concert was an amazing reminder of the essential humanity of the artists we idolize. I felt glad that I was prepared - one of the photos that someone had posted to Nova's Facebook page from a prior concert featured a glowing fan and Nova looking distinctly uncomfortable - and the pictures people were getting with her after the show she did not look overly comfortable in. Nova was a professional and a trooper the whole night, but anyone who could read basic body language could tell she was not excited to come out after the show to sign (hell, she had been on her feet for two hours prior, so I can absolutely understand it!). She did come, though, and she signed stuff for other people, took some photos and signed my piece (and smudged it, but hey, that makes autographs authentic sometimes!). Whether it was a function of being earlier in her career before or later in the night and further along the tour schedule this time, there was a marked difference between my first and second direct interactions with Heather Nova. After observing that the Sharpie I brought to get my cover art signed was the same as the one in her hand, I thanked her profusely for performing "Truth And Bone." She said "You're welcome" and smiled at me, but then it was onto the next person. It's a noticeable difference between how engaged she was at Lilith Fair, but all it really robbed me of was the ability to take her time to tell her about how she has released an album at every major stage of my adult life that seems to mirror exactly where I was on my emotional journey at the time - something she either has heard hundreds of times before, could not possible explore in a real conversation at such a venue or would be of minimal interest to her anyway (our lives are always far more interesting to us than to other people!).

So, at the end of it, it was an absolutely incredible experience. Heather Nova offered insight into how she wrote a couple of the new songs, she had good banter with Arnulf, and she was absolutely captivating as she sang and played her guitar/ukulele/whatever the hell that thing was she was blowing into at the end of "Moon River Days" (I think!). Heather Nova reminds anyone who will listen just how incredible an authentic human voice with range can be when it is expressively performing insightfully-written lyrics and accompanied by someone who clearly is in the same zone as her. Hopefully, it will not be another eighteen years before Nova returns to touring in the United States, but if it is that long, I know exactly where I will be for her next U.S. tour.

And for those who live on the West Coast, there are still a few concerts left she is performing in the days ahead; you have the rare opportunity to have as transcendent an experience!

For other Heather Nova album reviews, please be sure to check out:
These Walls
Glowstars
Oyster
Blow
Live From The Milky Way
Siren
Wonderlust
The Sorrowjoy (Audio Version)
South
Storm
Redbird
The Jasmine Flower
300 Days At Sea
Live In Cologne 2/26/2014
Live In Leuven 12/10/10
Live In Eindhoven 2011

For other reviews of live music, please be sure to visit my Travel And Theater Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Jonah Hex Episode Of Legends Of Tomorrow: "The Magnificent Eight"

The Good: Guest performances, Dr. Stein's subplot
The Bad: Dull plot, Light ong character development, Some poor performances
The Basics: "The Magnificent Eight" is an unfortunately lackluster and predictable episode of Legends Of Tomorrow.


Ever since the DC Television Universe expanded with Legends Of Tomorrow, viewers have been teased with the idea that the show would be introducing Jonah Hex to the DTU. While the heyday of the character has probably passed, the addition of Jonah Hex has garnered a lot of interest from fans. Despite the general failure of the film Jonah Hex (reviewed here!), Legends Of Tomorrow worked to infuse Jonah Hex into the narrative into the episode "The Magnificent Eight."

"The Magnificent Eight" redirects the crew of the Waverider after "Progeny" (reviewed here!) in, as its name suggests, a Western episode. "Progeny" climaxed with Chronos advising Rip Hunter and the crew to run from the Time Hunters. Much of "The Magnificent Eight" is a typical Western, working to put in all of the familiar tropes.

The Waverider arrives as Salvation 1871, which is a temporal blind spot that Chronos and Hunter believe will allow them to regroup and hide from the potential threat of the Hunters. Ray Palmer's enthusiasm for the Old West leads the crew to disembark and explore Salvation. While at the bar, Dr. Stein is playing cards with a man who draws on him and his life is saved by Snart. Unfortunately, the man Snart killed was a member of the Stillwater Gang and now all of Salvation is in jeopardy from the gang. While at the same bar, Kendra runs into a woman and has a flash of visions. That leads her to try to find the woman again, heading out with Sara Lance.

As the Stillwater Gang prepares for an attack on Salvation, Kendra tracks down the woman from the bar. The woman is a prior incarnation of herself and Kendra becomes interested in a bracelet from their first life that might be used as a tool in the fight against Vandal Savage. The fight with the Stillwaters goes poorly, with Jax getting captured by the gang. Hex sets up a quickdraw to get Jax back and free Salvation from the Gang's influence.

The plot of "The Magnificent Eight" is unfortunately predictable. Outside amusing moments like Palmer naming himself John Wayne and the Kendra subplot, the episode is a remarkably straightforward Western. Captain Hunter's expository story about Calvert is almost enough to overshadow the obvious nature of the reveal for who the older woman is that Kendra is drawn to.

"The Magnificent Eight" is notable for how most of the main cast seem uncharacteristically giddy. Caity Lotz, especially, trades in her recently dark performances for smiling almost the entire episode. While that is addressed in-episode, the explanation is hardly satisfactory. Lotz seems to come through much more than Lance in her performance. The subplot involving Dr. Stein curing a boy of Tuberculosis allows Victor Garber to shine and perform as the ethical compass of the group, as usual. Garber is predictably good in his usual role and, unlike Lotz, does not smirk through his entire performance.

While most of the hype for the episode was on the apprearance of Jonah Hex, it is actress Anna Deavere Smith who steals the episode. Smith is an incredible actress and the role of Kendra is a satisfying departure from her recurring role on The West Wing; she is able to emotively present what could otherwise be fairly dull exposition. She actually nails some of the speech patterns of Ciara Renee to convincingly be another incarnation of Kendra.

Thor Freundenthal directs "The Magnificent Eight" well-enough, but the set pieces and costumes are far too clean to truly sell the viewer on the time and place of Salvation, 1871. Ironically, when the Hunters show up inevitably, the special effects for the characters like Firestorm and The Atom do not pop against the equally-clean building signs in Salvation.

"The Magnificent Eight" is light on character development, with only Kendra getting a real arc . . . which, ironically, merely re-establishes where she was at the middle of "Left Behind." For a limited series like Legends Of Tomorrow, bottle episodes hurt the overall narrative and "The Magnificent Eight" is no exception. The episode seems like a cheap excuse to add Jonah Hex without truly caring about the story of the overall season.

For other works with Johnathon Schaech, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Vice
Quarantine

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Legends Of Tomorrow - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the premiere season of the time traveling hero team here!
Thanks!]

3.5/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Two Out Of Three Cats Go For Fancy Feast Medleys White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate Cat Food!

The Good: Nothing bad in it, Does not smell bad, Elim and Timber loved it
The Bad: Very expensive, Evie actively avoided it
The Basics: For my first experience with Fancy Feast, two out of my three cats enjoyed the Fancy Feast Medleys White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate cat food!


I miss my cat, Gollum. Gollum was the pet I had for the longest period of my life that was distinctly my own companion. I was so reluctant when I first got him, but he stuck through a house fire, new relationships, a big move and all sorts of other animals that came and went in my life for a decade. A year and a half ago, I had to put Gollum down because my poor, skittish boy was facing a lifetime of invasive medical treatments that would have traumatized him continually and I could not do that to my little guy. What I did not realize as I brought two new cats into my life - Elim and Evie - was that I have not reviewed a catfood pate since Gollum died (check that review out here!). My wife is big into getting new things to stimulate our animals - and because she spoils her darling cat Timber (who became Gollum's best friend in Gollum's final year) - so when she had a chance to get in the fresh-to-market Fancy Feast Medleys White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate Cat Food, she was eager to get some in and spoil our three cats. The White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate Pate is, surprisingly, the first Fancy Feast product I have reviewed.

And, for my first experience with Fancy Feast (and certainly Evie's first experience with the brand), my two male cats (ages six and two) happily gorged upon this food, while our five month old kitten Evie, actively avoided this new pate (and, as it turns out, she loves other pates!).

Basics

Fancy Feast Medleys comes in a metal 3 oz. single serve container. Supposedly, Timber for his weight and age should eat three of these containers per day; Elim and Evie would get two cans each if I followed the directions! Even on sale, that would be a pricey endeavor; feeding three cats wet cat food is a pretty fast trip to bankruptcy! That said, when I opened the container of White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate, Timber came running (possibly from the sound?), Elim came to find the food after the can had been open for about two minutes (which implies he found it through his sense of smell) and Evie followed Elim, smelled the pate, and ran out of the room.

Ease Of Preparation

The White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate Fancy Feast Medleys opens up easily enough in the 3 oz. metal container. The small metal container has a thin aluminum lid that easily pulls off. Opening the container reveals the food inside. Fancy Feast Medleys White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate looks like a lump of ground up liver with flecks of green and red vegetables embedded in it. It is a pinkish brown color, save the little bits of veggies in it. This cat food may be dispensed into a cat's food dish by either smacking it against the bottom of the dish or spooning the contents out into the dish. Alternatively, this wet cat food may be eaten right out of the can, though the metal edges are sharp and that method is not recommended for cats.

Evie, Elim And Timber’s Reactions

The Fancy Feast Medleys White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate smells completely like chicken, cooked and slightly spiced. The smell is very familiar and has a complex bouquet to it. It does not simply smell like ground chicken paste; instead, is smells somewhat spiced, almost as if there was a blend of chicken and garlic being fed to the cats.

Timber gorged on all of this food that he could. He clearly loves the White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate. There have been some pates that have not enticed or excited him and this is not one of those; he licked the plate clean. Elim ate the portion I gave to him and seemed to enjoy it, but did not go looking for more (he had the opportunity to get the second helping I left out just a few feet away to try to entice Evie after her initial rejection. Timber ran over to that after he had licked clean his first serving). Evie could not be enticed into even trying the White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate.

This left a scent of chicken in Timber's mouth for at least ten minutes after he was done eating it. Elim went and drank a considerable amount of water after consuming his portion (which is an atypical reaction for him to a wet cat food), so his breath did not smell of the food.

Nutrition

The Fancy Feast Medleys White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate is very nutritious for cats and it has nothing noticeable bad in it, though there are several chemical-sounding things in it that I cannot identify. But considering that the primary ingredients are chicken liver, meat by products, and chicken broth, Fancy Feast Medleys is making an essentially good product. According to the guaranteed analysis on the container, there is a minimum of 10% crude protein and 5% crude fat and no more than 1.5% crude fiber, 3.5% ash, and 78% moisture. This is food appears to be wheat-free and it most definitely requires refrigeration after it is opened!

I cannot afford to give my three cats this regularly and soft foods tend to be a harder sell with me anyway. Hard cat food has clear dental benefits that the Fancy Feast Medleys White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate does not have. When the cats chew (to split into bite-sized pieces) their hard cat food, it scrapes plaque and tartar off their teeth. There is no such physical operation going on with this cat food.

Overview

Fancy Feast Medleys White Meat Chicken Primavera With Garden Veggies & Greens Pate seems like an excellent once in a while treat for Timber, but if Evie cannot be enticed into trying it and Elim has a "take it or leave it" attitude, it is hard to justify stocking up on this particular food.

For other pate cat foods, please visit my reviews of:
Friskies Mixed Grill Classic Pate
Meow Mix Pate Toppers Real Chicken Topped With Shreds Of Chicken
Friskies Classic Pate Salmon Dinner

6.5/10

For other pet product reviews, please visit my Pet Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Hive Revealed! "Paradise Lost."

The Good: Performances, Attempts at character development, Special effects
The Bad: Predictable plot and reversals
The Basics: "Paradise Lost" fleshes out the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. villains and heroes well-enough to keep the show interesting.


Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has had a pretty rough time of things lately. The episode "Spacetime" (reviewed here!), was an unfortunately lazy episode on the creative front. Shows like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had already done the "prophecy episode" with "Destiny" (reviewed here!) decades ago and, frankly "Spacetime" did nothing new with the formula. In "Spacetime," Daisy witnessed a vision of the future and - because of her limited perspective in the future flashes and the inconvenient arrival of Lash - ultimately, the vision came true. "Spacetime" was not even clever enough to leave anything open to interpretation; things didn't come to pass "from a certain point of view," they literally came true in an immutable way which forces Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. into a constraint that time is treated as unchangeable.

"Paradise Lost" follows up on "Spacetime" and for those who missed the prior episode the only real takeaways were that the flashforward shown in the midseason premiere panned out just a little farther so the viewer now knows it is someone in a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform bleeding to death in the spaceship orbiting Earth and that Gordon Malick now knows how he will die (it's either Ward or Giyera based on his reaction!). "Paradise Lost" finally explicitly exposes the creature that had infested Will and now occupies the corpse of Grant Ward and sets S.H.I.E.L.D. on a mission to take over

Opening in 1970, the Malick siblings bicker over the direction of HYDRA following their father's death. They head off to visit Daniel Whitehall. In the present, Gideon Malick arrives home where the Ward entity has called together all of the heads of HYDRA. S.H.I.E.L.D. evaluates the threat represented by the infested Ward and Coulson constructs a mission to GT Agrochemical, a subsidiary of Transia (which HYDRA took in the prior episode) to try to stop HYDRA. En route to the agrochem facility, Fitz and Simmons brief Coulson on the nature of the entity that now inhabit Malick - it is a hive of microorganisms that work together.

Daisy and Lincoln Campbell visit a potential Inhuman who stole information from Afterlife, where Daisy steps on a landmine. Defusing the situation, Daisy and Campbell interview James for information about the creature infesting Ward. At HYDRA's headquarters, Hive reveals himself to the leadership and at GT Agrochemical, Coulson, Mack and May square off against Giyera. Campbell and Daisy prepare to trade James a terragin crystal for a Kree artifact, when Campbell betrays the wannabe Inhuman. But Hive's plan is slowly revealed as he exacts the revenge demanded by one of his prior hosts and he puts pieces in place to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Paradise Lost" manages to not insult viewers with dragging out Malick's prophecy. Malick saw his death in "Spacetime" and it was Ward who he believes will kill him given that he is torn apart cell by cell. "Paradise Lost" is the first essential Gideon Malick episode and between the flashbacks to his interactions with the incarcerated Whitehall and his interactions with his daughter, he is finally fleshed out as more than just a generic HYDRA villain. Ironically, the episode continues to tease the vision of death Daisy had of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the space ship without making that explicit yet.

HYDRA has the potential to be a parody of itself and "Paradise Lost" is an episode built around a number of conceits that undermine the longterm viability of the evil organization. Malick has essentially rebuilt HYDRA after Ward knocked off most of the organization's leadership, but before that, HYDRA existed for decades completely in the shadows. The implication of that is that HYDRA had a level of stability and co-existence among its members that worked opposite to the usual conceits of comic book supervillains. In comic books, supervillains almost invariably fail because they place their own self interest before any sense of community - unlike the heroes who work together for their greater cause. But, in "Paradise Lost," viewers see that Malick is predictably treacherous and HYDRA is filled with opportunists instead of people working under a sense of principles (albeit a horrible one).

The Malick family is made up of loyalists, but Gideon Malick sacrificed his own brother to try to bring Hive back. In the flashback scenes, Malick is played by Cameron Palatas and Palatas did an excellent job of studying and replicating mannerisms Powers Boothe has used to establish his villainous character. Malick's arc in "Paradise Lost" might be somewhat predictable, but it is well-executed - stylistic and well-performed.

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to pander to certain conceits and the fight between May and Giyera seems unfortunately predictable. "Paradise Lost" is loaded with exposition that explores the nature of Hive and that is worthwhile for comparing the nature of the comic book version of Hive and the Marvel Cinematic Universe incarnation. Similarly, Hive's strange sense of revenge plays as something ridiculous. For an entity that is potentially immortal that has a leadership role in a multigenerational organization, the kill Hive makes is shockingly shortsighted.

What drives "Paradise Lost" up a bit is the focus on the characters. Coulson is finally haunted by killing Ward. Coulson is an inherently good human character and when he killed Ward on the distant world, he knew he crossed a line. That choice now torments him and Clark Gregg humanizes Coulson and illustrates a sense of consequences. At the other end of the spectrum, Lincoln Campbell is given a little more backstory when James outs him. Campbell fights for his relationship with Daisy and the way he is fleshed out is an odd mix of mundane and smart. More than the long exposition that gives Campbell a prior incident to give him a little more depth, Luke Mitchell's performance in delivering the dialogue emotively stands out. Viewers might not care much about Campbell, but the writers and executive producers at least give fleshing him out a shot.

When Hive is revealed, the special effect is surprisingly cool. "Paradise Lost" has decent special effects throughout.

"Paradise Lost" is a weird mix of plot and character concepts that feels like it underdevelops on all fronts. Gideon Malick is not treated as a sufficiently complicated or charismatic villain to warrant an entire episode, so his most central episode is packed with an entire plotline revolving around setting up for the next episode. Director Coulson's character struggle is too internal and cerebral to keep the action-oriented audience of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. engaged (though I think that's the producers dumbing the show down and underestimating their audience), so his struggle is blended with scenes that finally make Lincoln Campbell more than just another generically good-looking guy on the team. None of the members of the Marvel Cinematic Universes's smartest super-spy team conceive of the idea that their Inhuman prison might be vulnerable to a guy who can completely manipulate mechanical and inorganic objects?!

The result is that "Paradise Lost" seems like one of the episodes of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. that plays better the first time through and will suffer more with each subsequent viewing.

For other works with Reed Diamond, please visit my reviews of:
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season Two
Moneyball
Meet Bill
Spider-Man 2
Homicide: The Movie
Homicide: Life On The Street

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - The Complete Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the third season here!
Thanks!]

5.5/10

For other Marvel movie, television season and episode reviews, please check out my Marvel Cinematic Universe Review Index Page for a listing of those reviews!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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High-Quality Granola? Solid Gold Bars Ginger Cacao! Are Candy For Hippies!

The Good: Flavorful, Soft, Easy to eat, Intriguing
The Bad: Expensive! Not overly complicated or interesting in their flavoring, No cacao taste
The Basics: Solid Gold Bars Ginger Cacao! Bars are a well-made, comparatively healthy, somewhat-sweet snack marketed toward the fair-trade, healthy-eating, food co-op crowd . . . and they generally succeed.


Yesterday, as part of our anniversary celebration, my wife sent me to a concert. My favorite musical artist, Heather Nova, is finally touring in the United States again and given that one of her performances was only three hours away on the day after our seven year anniversary, my wife bought me a ticket to the show. Those who read my many reviews know that we have a Siberian Husky and three cats, so it's difficult for my wife and I to go for trips. So, my wife sent me on my own and when I grabbed my notepad to take notes on the concert, she suggested that I go and simply enjoy the concert and not worry about reviewing it. I did that - which was pretty awesome given that my favorite musical artist actually performed, for me, my favorite song by her! - but when I was waiting for the concert to begin, I went to a local tea shop and I found something that was instantly intriguing to me. I had never before seen the Solid Gold Bars Ginger Cacao! bars and that was what I found and bought to enjoy and review to commemorate my anniversary trip!

The Ginger Cacao! bar is essentially a granola bar (which fits the setting in which I purchased it!), not a candy bar, like I thought it might be. Solid Gold Bars Ginger Cacao! bars are interesting and surprisingly filling, but not at all a flavor embodiment of anything resembling cacao/chocolate. So, it lives up to half of its name and, for the price, that is a bit of a letdown.

Basics

Solid Gold Bars are a locally-owned business in Ann Arbor, Michigan (which is where I was for the concert!). The granola bars are a high-end granola that is sold at places like tea houses and natural eateries. The packaging is reminiscent of Jones Soda in that each bar is wrapped in paper and the packaging is black and white and simple, as opposed to trading on any form of flash.

The Ginger Cacao! Bars have no weight on them, nor any nutritional information. Presumably, each bar represents a single serving for each 1 3/4” wide by 4” long by 3/4" thick granola bar. Each bar is soft and nutty, reminiscent of oatmeal that is prepared with too little water, so it is thicker and slightly gooey.

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Solid Gold Bars Ginger Cacao! Bars is not a real challenge. After removing the wrapper, simply pull apart the bar and stick it in your mouth or bite right into it. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating this granola bar. This is an entirely ready-to-eat food! These Solid Gold Bars come with the recommendation to refrigerate them.

Taste

Unwrapping the Ginger Cacao! bar, I was overwhelmed by the aroma. These Solid Gold Bars smell exactly like freeze-dried edamame snacks my wife has around the house. They two snacks share no identical ingredients, but the aromas are perfectly aligned. For a slightly more common analogy, the Ginger Cacao! bar smells like dried Wasabi Peas . . . without the ultimate sharp spiciness of the wasabi.

On the tongue, the Ginger Cacao! bar is soft and dominated by the flavors of honey and ginger. The bar tastes like oatmeal with an initial dryness that dissipates to the sharper, drier, flavor of ginger. The ginger's bitter spiciness is, in turn, muted by the honey and oats. The result is a very grainy granola bar that does not taste unsatisfying, but it not overly impressive or thrilling. The honey is not so sweet as to overwhelm and the ginger is not so prevalent as to make the granola bitter.

While the net result of the bar is not a dry, granola - it tastes much more like oatmeal! - the aftertaste from the Ginger Cacao! bar is an intensely dry flavor that lingers in the mouth for a good five minutes after the last of it is consumed.

Nutrition

Solid Gold Bars chocolates are intended as a snack or dessert product, but they should not be used to replace meals! These granola bars represents a single serving and those looking for nutrition will have to inquire from the company; the labels devote space to reminding consumers that the Ginger Cacao! bars were made by a real live human being, but does not have space for a nutritional analysis.

Made primarily of organic rolled oats, fair trade organic cacao nibs (where?!) and organic crystallized ginger, there is nothing unpronounceable in the ingredient list. This is an entirely-natural food product and these Solid Gold Bars bars were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about potentially containing tree nuts, peanuts, and soy.

Storage/Cleanup

As a granola bar, Solid Gold Bars Ginger Cacao! Bars are fine as long as they are refrigerated. Stored that way, the one I bought yesterday would have lasted until June 5, 2016. I ate it right up, though. These do not stain or stick to anything.

Overall

Whenever I consider a food that was developed for a niche market, I find myself a little conflicted and that is where I am on the Solid Gold Bars Ginger Cacao! Bars. These bars taste good, but they are tremendously expensive for what they are. They have a comparatively short shelf life and they are not bursting with the full range of promised flavor. That said, the market they are targeting tends to be willing to spend more money for less flavor, especially when they approve of the ethics of the manufacturer. I certainly agree with the latter, but I also like the dry coffee bean/chocolate flavor embodied by cacao and I like even my granola bars to live up to all the flavor the name promises. While the Solid Gold Bars Ginge Cacao! have enough ginger to justify that, the cacao flavor did not come through in a single bite I had, making it a bit of a letdown for me.

For other reviews of products with ginger, please check out:
Maine Root Ginger Brew Soda
Sartori Citrus Ginger BellaVitano cheese
Bigelow Ginger Snappish Tea

4/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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So Many Cop Outs: "Progeny" Undermines Legends Of Tomorrow!

The Good: Moments of performance, Ethics, Moments of character
The Bad: Undermines all of the key plot and character aspects to keep the series going.
The Basics: Legends Of Tomorrow explores a mediocre "Progeny;" an average episode that starts with so much potential and then is executed in a particularly banal way.


Treated too often like the ugly stepsister of the DC television universe, Legends Of Tomorrow is not without its moments of real ambition. To date, the show has tried to find its footing and has been conservative in its leaps into the future. "Star City 2046" (reviewed here!) is the only whole episode to be spent in the future, albeit a tangent future that was theoretically erased when the crew of the Waverider eventually returns to its vanishing point at the end of the series. "Progeny" promised viewers a trip to 2147, which is loaded with potential.

"Progeny" continues the mission that began in the final moments of "Left Behind" (reviewed here!), with the Waverider crew headed to the future to try to stop Vandal Savage in an all-out assault. The episode comes on the heels of a character-intensive episode that has to be alluded to to properly review the new episode. After all, "Left Behind" ended with Palmer and Saunders exploring a relationship and Mick Rory being captured by the Waverider crew after he was revealed to be the villain Chronos.

Opening with Rip Hunter talking to Mick Rory, he admits that he is responsible for how Snart treated Rory. Arriving at 2147, Hunter guides the crew toward the Kasnia Conglamorate, a 22nd Century company that has taken over an entire country. Hunter goes to a Kasnia stockholder's meeting where he sees that Savage is directly involved in the Board of Directors. Afterward, he witnesses Savage mentoring Per Degaton, a boy who grows up to overthrow much of the remaining world order for Savage before Savage kills him and siezes power. Hunter wants to kill Per Degaton before he can unleash his Armageddon virus and wipe out most of the world's population.

While Lance, Hunter, and Snart work to abduct Per Degaton, Palmer, Stein, and Jackson visit a company that is utilizing Palmer's technology to create an autonomous police force that will be part of Per Degaton and Savage's rise to power. When it appears that the abduction of Per Degaton has no genuine affect on the timeline, the crew tries to regroup. Hunter takes Per Degaton in the jump ship

Throughout "Progeny," there is a "will they or won't they" aspect to killing Per Degaton. The episode almost instantly cheats the argument by revealing that the abduction has minimal effects on the timeline. The episode makes little sense on some of the key details. The first is that Hunter has mentioned that after each time mission, Time Masters have to return to the Vanishing Point to get computer updates. In other words, Gideon would not necessarily have conclusive proof over the effect of any action Hunter took (especially if he has not actually executed Per Degaton already). Similarly, the whole point of the Palmer subplot with the automated Atom suits is that the crew needs a way to disable the automated police in order to make the abduction possible. Palmer and his team do nothing disruptive, yet the automated police do not respond to gunfire and the child abduction that happens in broad daylight.

Victor Garber's Professor Stein has a strong moral core that comes out the moment Hunter weighs killing the child to save the world. Garber is convincing when he expresses outrage over killing Per Degaton. The episode is peppered with moments that Garber, predictably, shines.

The rest of the episode's character moments come from a brief exchange between Lance and Rory and the resolution to the Palmer/Saunders relationship. Palmer discovers he has a child - and is convinced it was conceived before he left the past. Saunders is having visions of her past life with Carter and their son, Aldus. Their relationship, which ended with potential for continuing and growing in "Left Behind" is all but destroyed in "Progeny." Palmer's character arc takes an interesting turn in the final moments of the episode and it is one of the better reversals in Legends Of Tomorrow up until now.

The special effects in "Progeny" are good, especially for the army of automated police officers.

Unfortunately, "Progeny" is a long series of cop outs. The episode starts with a pretty solid premise; the crew of the Waverider has the chance to kill a would-be Hitler. The only real benefit of the episode is that the result illustrates that Hunter's mission has the potential to end in abject failure. Rip Hunter has the potential to make the future much worse than it originally was. That is a marginally interesting twist, but whether or not it is satisfactorily played out in the subsequent episodes remains to be seen. If nothing else, "Progeny" makes a strong argument for the idea that killing Vandal Savage must occur before 2147 to ensure that the Waverider crew does not make the world worse before they succeed in making it better.

For other works with Jewel Staite, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Serenity
Wonderfalls
Firefly

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Legends Of Tomorrow - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the premiere season of the time traveling hero team here!
Thanks!]

5/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Not All We Hoped, Not Bad, Though: Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie Bars!

The Good: Affordable, Generally natural ingredients, Does not taste bad
The Bad: Brownie center is not overly flavorful, Weird serving size, Could always be less expensive
The Basics: Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie chocolate bars are a slight disappointment, though they do not taste terrible.


I am a huge fan of dark chocolate and I like a lot of Ghirardelli's products. Every now and then, I encounter one with massive potential that just does not live up. The Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie chocolate bars are definitely in that category. As much as I love Ghirardelli's dark chocolate, the Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie bar does not have a flavorful enough brownie center to be truly distinctive. The result is an unfortunately average chocolate bar.

Basics

Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie chocolate bars are one and a half inch squares of chocolate that are about three-eighths of an inch thick and connected side by side and in rows, to form a bar of eight segments. Each bar comes unified in a foil wrapper. The foil-wrapped chocolate bar is sealed in a cardboard package.

Each chocolate bar is sold in a way that it is easy to segment and control portions. In this form, the 3.45 oz. bar, the chocolate bar represents two and a half servings. Each bar has a dark chocolate base with a soft brownie center. Each bar is stamped with the Ghirardelli logo.

Ease Of Preparation

These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as opening the cardboard and then opening the foil wrapper from around the actual chocolate. There is no grand secret to eating Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie chocolate bars.

Taste

The Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie bars smell just like fresh-baked brownies, chocolatey and thick. The aroma is distinct, strong and instantly evocative of chocolate, so it completely prepares the consumer for an amazing flavor experience.

On the tongue, the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie bars taste like rich dark chocolate. The chocolate is dry and pleasant, but the brownie center to the bar only breaks through the flavor front in the last moments of consuming them. These bars have an incredibly short half-life before the sweet, dry chocolate becomes salty and dry flavored. The brownie flavor is barely realized, but the sea salt flavor truly explodes from these bars when one masticates.

This chocolate bar is ultimately dry and that is the dominant sensation that lingers in the mouth for about five minutes after it is consumed. The aftertaste is not horrible, but it does not accent any truly good flavors.

Nutrition

These are candy, so they are not healthy, but the Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie chocolate bars are not nearly as bad as they could be. The primary ingredients are sugar, unsweetened chocolate, and milk fat. There is nothing unpronounceable in these candies and all of the ingredients could be readily identified by me.

A serving from the Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie chocolate bars is considered three squares from the overall bar, which is a ridiculous serving size for a bar that is segmented into eight pieces. From three squares, one takes in 190 calories, including 120 calories of fat. There are 25 mg of sodium and 2 grams protein, but almost no vitamins or minerals in these chocolate bars. There are negligible amounts of Vitamin A and Calcium (2% RDA, each) and Iron (10% RDA), but not other major nutrients.

These are not Vegan-compliant, nor are they recommended for anyone with a nut allergy as they contain hazelnuts and may have other tree nuts in them in trace quantities. They are, however, kosher.

Storage/Clean-up

The bars of these Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie chocolate bars remain fresh for quite some time. The bars we picked up during the holidays had an expiration date of October 31, 2016, had I not consumed them first! One assumes that if they are kept in a cool, dry environment they will not melt or go bad. It is hard to imagine just what it would take for these to go bad outside melting and refreezing.

As for cleanup, just throw the packaging away in socially appropriate places, as opposed to litter and you're done! Outside that, there is no real cleanup needed, unless one is eating them in a hot environment. In that case, it is likely one would need to wash their hands, though these bars do not melt as easily as less-expensive chocolates. When this chocolate melts into most fabrics, it will stain.

Overall

Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Brownie chocolate bars are good, but the more I had them, the more I found myself wishing Ghirardelli had made them with dark chocolate. That said, they are worth hunting down, clearance or not!

For other Ghirardelli Chocolate reviews, please check out:
Dark Chocolate With Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Squares
Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares Intense Dark Cherry Tango
Sublime White Vanilla Dream White Chocolate With Vanilla Beans Chocolate Squares

5/10

For other chocolate reviews, please visit my Chocolate Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Return Of Donna Noble: "Partners In Crime"

The Good: Fun tone, Amazingly cute adversaries, Fun direction, Decent character development
The Bad: Pretty standard plot
The Basics: Donna Noble returns to Doctor Who where she reunites with The Doctor, who is investigating one of the weirdest alien invasions yet!


As Doctor Who progressed, one of the challenges the show faced was how to keep the series interesting through different Doctors and Companions. Perhaps the most incredible arc of the contemporary Doctor Who was that of Donna Noble. Donna Noble appeared in "The Runaway Bride" (reviewed here!) where she was quickly established as one of the least-likable, least-interesting guest stars to accompany The Doctor on one of his missions. The incredible thing about Donna Noble's character arc is that she evolves into one of the best, most important Companions The Doctor has! That arc continues with the return of Donna Noble in "Partners In Crime."

"Partners In Crime" begins as a screwball comedy, with a caper-style soundtrack. That tone carries through most of the episode and gets the tenure of Donna Noble off to an energetic start. In fact, the tone is so different from most other Doctor Who episodes that it is easy to overlook just how mundane the plot is!

Independent of one another, Donna Noble and The Doctor find themselves in London, investigating Adipose Industries, a diet pill company that advertises with the slogan "The fat just walks away." After getting customer records (and a buyer's incentive) from Adipose Industries, Donna visits Stacey Harris and The Doctor meets with Roger Davies. Roger informs The Doctor that his pound a day has been disappearing precisely by 1:10 A.M. each day and Donna inadvertently triggers the Adipose in Stacey, causing her entire body to be transformed into tiny creatures - the Adipose.

Donna returns home to visit her sky-watching Grandfather, Wilfred, while The Doctor returns to the TARDIS, where he studies the Adipose technology and finds himself talking to himself. Both The Doctor and Donna re-infiltrate the Adipose Industries headquarters, where Donna evades capture when Penny (a reporter) uses the same tactic as she does to try to avoid Miss Foster. Foster reveals to Penny (as Donna and The Doctor spy upon them) the nature of the Adipose and her presence on Earth. Pursued by Foster, The Doctor and Donna reunite and the pair works together to stop Foster from using the human race as incubators for the Adipose race.

"Partners In Crime" is a fun episode and it manages to do something that very few episode of Doctor Who does: it explores the effects of The Doctor on a secondary character. In the prior season, characters like Donna Noble and Sally Sparrow were affected by The Doctor and after the episodes in which they appear, they essentially disappear. "Partners In Crime" picks Donna Noble back up and it illustrates that after "The Runaway Bride" Donna Noble became obsessed with extraordinary events on Earth - rumors of alien invasions, bees disappearing, etc.

Similarly, The Doctor has a chance to reflect upon the idea that his last two Companions - Rose and Martha Jones - have left him abandoned and alone. He even has a moment in "Partners In Crime" where he is able to reflect on how meeting him might not have been the best thing for either Martha or Rose. Donna, however, is able to point out how Martha rubbed off on The Doctor and it is a pretty insightful observation.

Still, in true Doctor Who fashion, the humor is mixed with horror and the reflective moments fall away to plot. Threatened by The Doctor realizing who she is and what she is doing on Earth, Miss Foster begins to transform all the Adipose users into the cute little fat-based Adipose. With millions of lives in the balance, The Doctor and Donna struggle to stop the signal that is liquidating the Londoners. The emergency parthenogenesis that Foster induces is horrific.

"Partners In Crime" is well-acted and well-directed, even if the special effect of the Adipose is pretty ridiculous. The episode foreshadows the two big continuity aspects of the fourth season. Foster mentions how the Adipose nursery planet disappeared and that sets up the encounters Donna and the Doctor will have as they discover there are multiple planets missing. As well, "Partners In Crime" marks the first mysterious reappearance of Rose Tyler. This is Rose's first time back to our universe since she was condemned to a parallel universe at the climax of "Doomsday" (reviewed here!).

The result is a fresh-feeling start to the fourth season of Doctor Who and an episode that, in rare fashion, replays better than it initially seems!

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Doctor Who - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season of David Tennant as The Doctor here!
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For other science fiction comedies, please check out my reviews of:
"Our Man Bashir" - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Men In Black
"Blue Harvest" - Family Guy

7/10

For other Doctor Who episode and movie reviews, please visit my Doctor Who Review Index Page!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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