Touch - "Broken" Review: Dang it, Lucy!

We start this episode the next day, where Jake returns a notebook he took from the girl’s house and Lucy has Calvin captive. Jake shows Martin a photo with the girl’s grandfather, Carl and Calvin’s mom together. Martin inquires about this and gets Francine’s license plate from the photo. Meanwhile, Amelia is still reeling from being snatched away and warns that “they” are coming. Lucy heavily harms Calvin, attempting to force out her daughter’s location. Calvin bears this and while Lucy gets him painkillers, he escapes his bonds at points a gun at her.

Martin tries to find Lucy and has Jake stay at Trevor’s workplace. Calvin tells Lucy why he needs Amelia and the two broker a deal: trade Amelia for Jake. Lucy picks up Jake, and goes to the specified location, but is stopped by Martin. The two argue at first, but reconcile and head to where Amelia was kept. They find Francine shot dead, no Amelia and a distraught Calvin. Here it is implied that she was taken by Aster Corps.

In the Arizona desert, Guillermo goes hiking in order to reconnect with God and clear his head. He comes across a sad, wounded former doctor, who is reeling in a cave. The two talk and it is revealed that the doctor feels bad, because he let a boy die, due to drinking the night before the surgery. Guillermo convinces him that he has saved the lives of many children and that he shouldn’t focus on this one mistake. He returns the man to his family and disappears.

“Broken” showed us the tipping point of Lucy’s emotions and the subsequent fallout of her impulsive actions. After many absent episodes, one of the principal antagonists of the show, Aster Corps, has most likely made a reappearance, dragging Martin and Lucy farther away from Amelia. They are all emotionally and in Calvin’s case, physically broken. On top of all that, Guillermo is closing in to complicate matters. This episode wasn’t everything I hoped it would be, but is showed us different sides of the characters we have come to know.

The Walking Dead - "Clear" Review: Morgan's Back!

Despite the spoilers and rumors, I was still surprised to see Morgan return and in this fashion. I guess people really can change dramatically in a single year. As indicated in the last episode, Rick, Carl and Michonne head out to Rick’s old neighborhood to get ammo and weapons. They come across a survivor desperate for rescue but they ignore him for their own safety. At the end of the episode, they take his bag, and he’s presumably dead.

The place is heavily trapped for any incoming walkers, and after capture they are burned. The trio come across a hostile Morgan but they shoot him, leaving him unconscious. The group finds what it needs, but Rick has them stay in order to make sure Morgan’s OK and to see if he can come back with them.

Michonne and Carl head off to retrieve a photograph and crib for Judith. They succeed, but Michonne grabs an odd looking cat sculpture. I suppose that was included to develop her personality, since it wasn’t really portrayed earlier. Meanwhile, Morgan wakes up and attacks Rick. He manages to stab him, until he convinces Morgan that they know each other. Morgan then described what happened after Rick left. Duane was bitten by Jenny (Morgan’s wife) and turned. He was forced to shoot both, and that was the turning point for him.

Rick apologizes for not contacting Morgan as frequently as he said, saying he had to move out of range for his group’s survival. He then goes into his experiences during the past year. Morgan tells him that he needs to stay to “clear”, apparently meaning that he needs to clear the neighborhood. He laments that he is “weak”, the only kind of people that survive. Michonne and Carl meet up with Rick and leave, and the last we see of Morgan in the episode is of him capturing two walkers.

This episode only had one storyline unlike the last few, and not much happened. It served to give us a break from the intense action so far this season and it gave us closure on what happened to Morgan. It was entertaining, amusing and heartmelting at times, and overall it was a great episode.

SPOILER BELOW
Lennie James, who plays Morgan, is credited to appear in the season finale “Welcome to the Tombs”.

Touch "Eye for an Eye" Review: So Close!

The episode begins with a dream sequence where Jake and Amelia finally meet. Martin, Lucy and Jake then head out for breakfast. They find out that someone is following them, and Martin unsuccessfully interrogates him. Later, Jake is sent to that girl’s house for a playdate. Martin and Lucy continue to research Calvin and find out he has Amelia in order to find a cure for his brother’s brain injury.

In Mexico, Guillermo attempts to reach absolution for his mission. The priest there rejects him and is torn between telling the police about his murders and keeping his oath of secrecy. At the police station he is confronted by Guillermo. After another rejection, he kills the priest.

Amelia fakes a stomach condition in order to get admitted into a hospital, separating her and her captor. She escapes and heads out to an arcade where Jake also ran off to. Martin and Lucy then meet up with them at the boardwalk from the dream sequence. As Lucy races to Amelia, she is retaken. Later at night, Lucy forcefully rams Calvin with her car in frustation.

“Eye for an Eye” covered the span of one day just like the previous ones in this season. Here we are given a motive for Calvin’s actions and we as the audience understand how he’s done it. However, in this episode, Martin and Lucy got even closer to getting Amelia only to be foiled. Jake offers a great deal of help and he is visibly hurt at the end of the episode. Martin conforts him and promises that they will get Amelia. Meanwhile, the threat of Guillermo still hangs, and he seems ever closer to taking out Jake.

The Walking Dead - "I Ain't A Judas" Review: Family Reunion

"I wonder who that is."

The two plotlines with Woodbury and the Prison have become standard with the Walking Dead. This episode in particular used it to an advantage, capturing both zombie (or walker) violence and character development. Rick for instance has changed greatly since we first met him. That clean-shaven warm deputy has become bearded and cold, almost like the Governor in a sense. When Andrea goes to meet the group she isn’t welcomed, but instead seen as a traitor. Her perspective almost justifies her support for Woodbury. I mean, you’re comparing an almost infested prison with a nice town with pre-apocalypse living conditions. Sure their leader is recruiting child soldiers now and is hell-bent on destroying Rick, but hey there’s hot showers to make up for that.

                

Of course, there is just a heap of unverifiable information floating around and Andrea is torn because of it. We also see Tyreese’s group after two episodes and now they’ve joined Woodbury. It makes sense though; after all, they think Rick’s insane, and the Governor seems like a nice one-eyed guy. When you compare the two sides, Woodbury is much, much better off. It almost makes you wonder if the Prison group even stands a chance in a war.

                

To close, both sides have new members, and both are gearing up for an epic battle. That will most likely constitute the season finale. Rick is off to get ammunition and he may or may not come across Morgan. If they did, though it would be a real boon for the group. But, back to the episode. The scene where Andrea was contemplating killing the Governor was interesting. Obviously she couldn’t do it, or else his henchmen would just kill her, but if she did, then Woodbury would be thrown in disarray and Rick’s group may stand a chance. The music at the end was a bit odd, but to me that’s just a minor criticism. “I Ain’t A Judas” was a good episode, but from the looks of it, “Clear” just might be the topping that this ice cream needs.

Touch - Perfect Storm: Breaking Rules

Martin meets with Calvin again, and they devise a plan to retrieve Aster Corps’ files on his research. He uses the red pass card and gets in, but realizes that he doesn’t know how to access the servers. He meets with Tony, Calvin’s former friend and pretends to do a story about Calvin being insane. Tony lets him download the files and he leaves. Lucy does her own investigating, attempting to discover the identity of the man who killed Claudia and who was also in the picture. After a failed search, she decides to go to the police, but they offer no help.

Meanwhile, Amelia is strapped to a machine that reads her brain. They want to test her ability to predict the future using a simple pinball machine. Amelia successfully predicts 91% of the outcomes while the supercomputer for comparison had only a 68% success rate. Later, Calvin learns about Jake Bohm and who Martin really is.

Guillermo is in New York, poking around and he eventually comes across Avram. The two talk, and Avram offers him no information. Later he breaks into Guillermo’s room and discovers his mission. He warns Martin that his son is in danger and tells him the killer’s name. He meets back with Calvin and his suspicion that he is holding her captive is confirmed.

Martin meets back with Lucy and tells her about Avram’s call. He withholds Calvin’s information, and Lucy starts to feel hopeless. We see a side story of Jake’s first day at school, where he helps find a lost rabbit and forms a relationship with the girl in the previous episodes.

Tony presumably knows about Amelia’s location and so does Martin. Guillermo is on his way there and a perfect storm is essentially created. This episode only covered a day, yet so much happened and so much is left unknown. The storytelling here is good, and I think Touch can keep it up.

Suits - Season Finale Review: To Merge Or Not To Merge

In this episode we got to understand the details of the merger and those who are for and opposed to it. This leads to the clashes Harvey and Jessica have, the former is against it and the latter is for it. Harvey makes a deal with Darby gambling the fate of the merger and the related power structure. Jessica is clearly attempting to keep her power while undermining Harvey. He knows he would lose his if the merger goes through and he and Mike work to stop it. Until, of course, Jessica blackmails Mike into destroying the only file they had to succeed. This breaks Harvey’s trust in him, but it also shows the depths Jessica is willing to go to get what she wants. The consequences of the merge however, may make her regret her actions.

                

Meanwhile, Louis meets his British counterpart Nigel Nesbitt and after some unfriendly mud discussions, the two become close friends. This is one of the few comedic vents for this episode, heralding a far more serious and dramatic atmosphere for Season 3.

                

“War” was the episode we were all waiting for, the conclusion to all this rising action. This delivered, but it didn’t leave out the romance that underlines the principle characters themselves vis-à-vis Harvey and Mike. We learn that Scottie really was in love with Harvey, but it was difficult for her to grab his attention. For giving Mike the file, she was fired, but her fate remains uncertain due to Harvey’s plea for Darby to rehire her.

Mike spills the beans at the end of the episode by telling Rachel, but will she keep his secret safe? It would look unfashionable for Mike to wear orange and be housed in a cell. For the season in general, we saw more progression, plot and character-wise from what was once originally a fledgling one-season show. I have high hopes for the next season and I can’t wait to see it.

Fall of Giants Review: Love and Shoving Those Above

Ken Follett’s new trilogy focuses on the lives of various interconnected families during the 20^th Century. This volume takes place during the early decades of that time frame. The major powers are reshaped throughout the novel, and certain giants fall while others rise through war and revolution. These political and larger than life events contrast with the more simple yet important minutiae concerning the main cast. We are presented with a Welsh coal miner and his sister, an English earl and his sister, a German diplomat, two Russian brothers, one an easy-goer, the other a hard worker, and an ambitious American aide to President Wilson.

Their lives are coupled through love and hate, alliance and distrust, etc. Their interactions with real historical figures such as Churchill and Lenin bring readers neck-to-neck with history and how the inevitable has changed lives for the better and for the worst. These people cross paths regularly and their actions have consequences, some world-changing, others insignificant. The giants, the crowned heads, and their minions carry out their own machinations watched intently by the common folk. Although they are described to an extent that makes them more than simple portraits from a dusty book of times past, they aren’t given any real personalities except a small few. This somewhat marginalizes the power and influence they held, but nonetheless it’s just enough to move the plot along.

For instance, some chapters just cover a day, while others can cover a span of months and one wouldn’t notice. Follett manages to work out the timeline, blot out most inconsistencies and tell his story in a meaningful way. The book pulls readers in to its highly realistic yet fictional drama peppered with tragedy and romance and action. The conversations are genuine and the events defined are rich. Follett’s experience and maturity in writing are displayed here and it is a must-read for his fans.