Amazon Cancels The Man in the High Castle: Season 4 Will Be Series Finale

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Plus Official Season 4 Teaser Trailer

Another one bites the dust.

As the title of the post says, the upcoming season 4 of Amazon Prime’s The Man in the High Castle, which will be released in the Fall of 2019, will be its last. Many suspected that this would be the case when the show was given an early renewal for season 4, after it had taken so long for season 3 to be released. Another high quality show lost to Jeff Bezos’ short attention span.

But, despite my sadness over the loss, I feel there’s some good news here as well.

For one thing, look at this amazing poster! For another, a teaser video was also released today. And, in an interview with Deadline, the executive producers of the show, Isa Dick Hackett and David Zucker, strongly hinted about the possibility of a sequel series or film.

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Movie Review: The Breaker Upperers

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The Breaker Upperers Poster

The Breaker Upperers * 2018 * Not Rated- Probably PG-13 for Language, Nudity and Adult Situations * 82 Minutes 

😸😸😸😸🌑  Rated 4/5 Happy Lap Cats

Spoiler-Free Review:

As the poster above says, 6 different times, The Breaker Upperers is hilarious. It is, first and foremost, a wacky comedy that’s not afraid to go for the laugh in whatever situation it finds itself in, whether that’s with a newly pregnant woman becoming nauseated while sharing the news with a friend, or engaging in drunken karaoke on a party bus.

Actually, those situations are likely to end the same way, so maybe that wasn’t the example of opposites I was looking for.

The great thing about this film is that, while it’s a wacky, screwball, sort of romantic, sort of musical, sort of dark, comedy, it’s also real. It’s the kind of female-oriented film I’ve been looking for on Netflix, as I’ve watched their romantic comedies pile up over the last year, almost all so laden with stereotypes and misogyny that I can barely manage to finish one viewing. The two female characters at the center of this film are just people, living their lives, not heroes, not villains, not stereotypes, and not trying to be any of those things. So are the rest of the characters.

The Breaker Upperers was written, directed by and stars Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek, two multi-talented women from New Zealand, who have been friends for many years in real life. In the film, they play Mel and Jen, who have also been friends for many years. Mel and Jen own and operate their own business, the titular Breaker Upperers, who clients hire to do the dirty work of ending a relationship when they can’t or don’t want to do it themselves.

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Dark Season 1 Episode 2: Lies Recap

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Dark 102 Young Jonas with Treasure Map

Dark, episode 2, Lies, picks up 9 hours after Mikkel’s disappearance. There’s still no sign of him. Large search parties fan out over the area, methodically covering every inch of the countryside.

The hooded man who exited the cave in episode 1 stands on a hillside and watches one of the search parties. He’s covered in dirt and grime, still wearing his hood, and carries a battered suitcase and a backpack. He looks down and notices a dead bird on the ground at his feet. He doesn’t seem surprised by the bird, but he is interested, and bends down to examine it.

Jonas startles awake in bed. He sits up and realizes that blood is running out of his right ear (or possibly an oily black substance?). When he gets up to look at his ear in the mirror, a man whispers his name. Jonas turns toward the mirror, and sees his father’s reflection. Michael looks the same as he did when Jonas saw him the night before in the woods- covered in blood or something else that’s dripping and black.

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Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 Episode 5: Don’t Speak Recap

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Roswell, NM 105 Max & Liz

This week’s installment of Roswell, New Mexico, episode 5 of the season, titled Don’t Speak, features some major revelations, the death of a minor character, and Isobel running around the desert in her little black nightgown and knee-high tube socks, without shoes.

I really need to start a regular Isobel fashion watch section. Her clothing just keeps getting more fun, though I don’t know how they can top this week.

For now, let’s move on to the recap, and discuss fashion and all of the other exciting events of the week as they arise. The writers have outdone themselves with giving us juicy, juicy tidbits to chew on.

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The Passage Season 1 Episode 5: How You Gonna Outrun the End of the World? Recap

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The Passage 105 Brad & Chair

This week on The Passage episode 4, How You Gonna Outrun the End of the World?, the virals begin to show what they’re really capable of; Amy discloses that she’s developed more abilities than she’s been letting on; we learn more about the backstory shared by Jonas, Tim and Elizabeth; Dr Pet finally goes too far; and Lacey returns to her roots. This fast-paced episode moves the show from having the virals under control to watching the lab fall to chaos and violence.

Episode 4 opens with the arrival at Project NOAH of an infamous book character named Horace Guilder. He’s the long time Deputy Director of the Department of Defense, now cross-promoted to be the Deputy Director of Special Weapons. Special Weapons is the kind of department that kills you as soon as you’ve outlived your usefulness, because they don’t want their secrets getting out. It’s clear that the other characters, like Wolgast and Richards, found Guilder deplorable even before this promotion.

Guilder asks Clark what’s been going on this week, because his reports show the place turning into a mess, with Paulson, the med tech that Carter attacked when he flipped, and Simpson, dead. Wolgast tells Amy that Guilder is famous for avoiding blame and taking credit, so they’ll need to be careful what they say near him.

Brad suggests that it’s time to make their escape. They’ve both noticed that the kitchen staff keep the kitchen door propped open so that they can get outside to smoke. The staff must have disabled the alarm on the door. Brad and Amy can use the kitchen door, then run to a nearby drainage tunnel, which they can crawl through to exit the property.

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The Passage Season 1 Episode 4: Whose Blood Is That? Recap

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104 The Passage Lear and Sykes OMG in Lab

Things are starting to get real at Project NOAH. The fourth episode of The Passage, Whose Blood Is That?, shows us the transition from human to viral vampire, as Carter flips to his new form. It also shows the insidiousness, and brilliance, of the virals’ psychological invasion of the humans stationed at the Project NOAH facility.

The humans are scientists and members of the military, who don’t believe that dreams can hurt them or that vampires are real. It’s important that they each appear to be in control of themselves to their colleagues. Scientific and military cultures dictate that they maintain those facades until the very end, no matter what’s actually going on inside them. They are the perfect group of people on which to use internal psychological warfare.

We often think of murderers as rough, violent thugs, but the reality is that many appear to be normal people in their day to day lives. Serial killers, in particular, can be narcissistic chameleons with a talent for manipulation, which they use to lure in their victims. Eleven of the thirteen recipients of Fanning’s blood are the perpetrators of multiple murders, predators in their human lives. Prior to developing their viral predatory instincts, they’d already developed the human version of those instincts and learned the ways of their prey, us.

Now, they have moved beyond being merely narcissistic, ruthless psychopaths, to become ruthless, efficient predators of humans and mammals. They are a telepathic tribe of killers who are bent on revenge and domination and who crave the blood of their prey and enemies. They are led by an evil genius with an axe to grind, and they can convert people to their cause through dreams and visions, without ever speaking directly to them.

The end of the world as we know it is almost upon us.

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Roswell, New Mexico Season 1 Episode 4: Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? Recap

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Roswell, NM 104 Michael, Max, Isobel

In episode 4 of Roswell, New Mexico, Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?, Max and the town deal with the consequences of his electromagnetic outburst at the end of episode 3. Power and cell service are down throughout the town, causing car accidents and medical emergencies. Since Kyle knows the truth about Max, he attempts to goad Max into taking some kind of action to help the hospital’s dying patients.

The investigation into Rosa’s death continues, with both Liz and Isobel investigating in their own ways. Liz gets in touch with Rosa’s ex-boyfriend, who gives her an important clue. Isobel exchanges psychic readings with Maria, and comes away with a new clue, but more confusion.

This episode finally gives us some decent Michael and Maria time, and, WOW. They have great chemistry. I think was my favorite episode yet, largely due to the amount of screentime their characters got, separately and together.

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Dark Season 1 Episode 1: Secrets Recap

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Okay, kids, shall we recap Netflix’s first German-language show, the mysterious Dark? It was released more than a year ago, but there’s still no definite release date for season 2. (Rumors suggest it’ll be in June, 2019.) So, if you haven’t watched, or rewatched, Dark yet, there’s still time.

This is the show that says the question isn’t, where? Instead it’s, when? To which I would add, who???? This show has a giant cast, spending time with the same characters in two or three different time periods as its complex mystery unfolds. The same characters are played by different actors in each time period, so it takes a while to remember who and when everyone is, but the extra work is worth it.

Once you start to get a sense of the characters, setting and time periods, the show gets into your head. It can’t help but be layered, with all of those facets to the characters, some of whom we see in three time periods. We get to know the village of Winden, including three generations of each one of the four main families.

Wiki has a Cast and Characters chart that explains how everyone is related to everyone else, but don’t look too closely yet! There are spoilers there! TV Guide has a useful diagram and description of how everyone is connected. It also contains spoilers, so proceed slowly. Underneath the recap, I’ve taken the photos from the opening of this episode and added brief descriptions of the characters’ identities and relationships. I tried to leave out major spoilers, for now.

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Hanna Season 1 Episode 1: Forest Review and Recap

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Update: Amazon prime drops all 8 season 1 episodes on March 29, 2019, including episode 1. This post is based on the version of episode 1 that was available for 24 hours after the Superbowl.

Review

Hanna is an Amazon Prime original series which is based on the 2011 film of the same name. The series stars stars Esme Creed-Miles as Hanna, a 15 year old girl who’s been raised alone in the woods by her father and trained to be a survivalist and fighter; Joel Kinnaman as Erik Heller, Hanna’s father and a former agent who took his infant daughter on the run to escape the relentless pursuit which killed Hanna’s mother; and Mireille Enos as Marissa Wiegler, a rogue CIA agent who’s been hunting Heller and his family for many years and will stop at nothing to find them.

Amazon is advertising the story as “equal parts high-concept thriller and coming-of-age drama”. I can’t help but notice the similarities to Les Miserables and the Jean Valjean/ Cosette/ Javert storyline, one of my favorite stories of all time. In this version, Cosette is the star, and gets to show what she’s made of.

But, never fear, if you don’t like 19th century French literature or operatic 80s musicals. This is a thoroughly modern action-mystery-thriller in the vein of Hunger Games or Nikita. Hanna has been trained by her father since birth and has extraordinary talents, but she doesn’t know who she is to the outside world, or why she’s being hunted. Her father has kept her sheltered from the rest of humanity, but has taught her as much as he could about the world from their cave in the forest.

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Travelers Cancelled by Netflix: No Season 4 Planned

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Travelers Cast Plus Brad Wright

Update: Fans have started a petition to save Travelers. Sign it HERE.

We’re all on Protocol 5 for the foreseeable future, fellow Travelers. Eric McCormack announced today, via Twitter, that Netflix has cancelled the Canadian science fiction series after 3 seasons. Travelers creator and showrunner Brad Wright confirmed the cancellation shortly afterward.

Watch Eric McCormack’s video announcement after the cut.

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