by Grace Crawford

All Game of Thrones images courtesy of HBO.

4×02: “The Lion and the Rose”

JOFFREY IS DEAD.

At long last, the sh*tfaced little turd we’ve all hated ever since that awful night he managed to get Arya’s friend Mycah and Sansa’s direwolf Lady killed is finally freaking dead.

Ring out the bells! Declare a national holiday! I’ve been waiting for this for ages, so it was a relief to finally laugh at Cersei’s wails and point a finger at Joffrey’s purple face, because the sadistic boy-king–the boy responsible for Ned Stark’s death, Ros the prostitute’s murder, not to mention countless instances of terror and torture–is finally, finally dead.

… at least, that’s what I thought I’d be saying.

But I’ll get to that.

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by Thom Yee

Community images courtesy of NBCUniversal Television Distribution

5×12:  “Basic Story” (Part 1)

When the exploits of the Save Greendale Committee bring widespread contentment to the entire campus, Abed goes in search of a problem… conflict… a story… anything for this week’s episode to revolve around, breaking down the entire structure of what it means to be on Community.

Given some of the groundbreaking episodes we’ve seen in the series, that sounds like an exciting and landmark episode. It wasn’t. At least not yet.

“Basic Story” is an episode of Community that’s both literally and figuratively in need of direction. Continue reading →

by Grace Crawford

All Game of Thrones images courtesy of HBO.

4×01: “Two Swords”

The episode begins with Tywin Lannister melting down Ned Stark’s Valyrian steel greatsword, Ice, to forge two new swords. And from the moment I whispered, “THAT’S NOT YOURS YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT,” the latest season of Game of Thrones had me hooked.

This episode is in a unique position: whereas most season premieres are starting out new story arcs and hinting at where the rest of the season is going to go, season 4 is based on the second half of the third book in the ASOIAF series, A Storm of Swords. So this season picks up right where the last one left off while, yes, giving us several indications of where season 4 is going. And I’m a big fan of that, because even after watching all sorts of videos to catch up on where we’re at, it’s very easy to get lost.

It’s hard to recap where everyone’s at because there are so many characters, but I’ll give it a shot.

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by Thom Yee

Community images courtesy of NBCUniversal Television Distribution

5×11:  “G.I. Jeff”

I can’t believe they went this far. They must, like, own the television broadcast rights or something.

Going far beyond inspiration or imitation, “G.I. Jeff” basically transplants our Save Greendale Committee into an episode straight from the original G.I. Joe ‘80s series. All the details are right, from the ridiculous premises, the low-framerate animation, the film scratches, the static backgrounds, the music that opens scenes and transitions, and everything in between. The episode uses original series characters like Duke and Flint and Scarlet, and I even recognize many of the original voice actors reprising their roles (though the irreplaceable Chris Latta [Cobra Commander and Transformers’ Starscream] remains woefully absent… because he’s dead). Continue reading →

by Grace Crawford

Images courtesy of Bay & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox.

9×23-24: “Last Forever”

So here we are: the series finale of How I Met Your Mother. For me, my love of the show began I think five years ago, right after I graduated from high school. I was so mad because one of my favourite webcomic writers said The Big Bang Theory was no HIMYM, and I sat down in front of the TV to prove him wrong.

And it turns out he was right: there’s no show like this show, not Friends or Cheers or any of those other shows that deal with friendships and heartache and all the things that happen when you share your life with people.

I might just be saying that because this show belonged to my generation, because I’m pretty sure people have said that before. But that’s my truth, and it’s true for everyone who has watched this show and been invested in it and waited with hope in their hearts for the end they knew was coming. And now it’s here, and my feelings aren’t at all what I thought they’d be.

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