By now, you’ve probably heard about the Harvey Weinstein scandal; big-name movie producer around whom rumours have swirled for years is finally fired after a series of articles detail his decades-long sexual harassment of various female employees and acquaintances. And honestly, my first reaction to this was, “well, duh.”.
So, for the first time in a long time, I’m actually reading a new Stephen King book. No, not this one – Sleeping Beauties, his collaboration with his son Owen King that was out last month. And I’m actually…quite liking it? It’s been a long time since I’ve read and actually made it all the way through a new SK novel (and I actively fucking detested Mr Mercedes, the trope-ridden, punishingly uninteresting wreck of a “thriller” novel that it was), and I put it down to the fact that reading Carrie with this much of an eye to the writing style has reminded me how much I enjoy King’s writing style and I’m happy to indulge in it again. Anyway, on to another chapter!
Okay, I have something to admit: I don’t love Blade Runner.
With an episode as good as last week’s one, there’s always going to be a comedown. But, to my pleasant surprise, this week’s outing Holes wasn’t as big a drop as it could have been.
THE DREAM TEAM
It’s the first day of October, the month where – and this is true – every single day is Stephen King’s birthday. With Halloween fast approaching, what have you got planned for the year’s spooookiest holiday (aside from, of course, gathering round a campfire with your friend to read these recaps aloud to one another in reverently hushed tones by torchlight)? Give me your favourite scary movies, books, TV shows, and music. I live for this shit.
I wrote last year about How to Get Away with Murder and, well, I was pretty bloody excited about it then. And I stand by that! The mid-season finale, the one where the show killed off it’s main character, Wes Gibbins (Alfred Enoch), is still one of the most effectively shocking and mind-bogglingly memorable moments in recent small-screen memory. But the second half of the season left something to be desired, with ridiculous plot machinations in order to avoid incriminating one of the other main characters in Wes’ death and having to get rid of them too, and now, with the show returning for a fourth season, it’s becoming clear that while the show made a brave and bold choice in killing off it’s leading character, there’s a reason that other shows don’t do it too – and that’s because it just might not work.
Alright, so let’s talk about Evan Peters.
I didn’t have much to say about him in my recap of last season because, well, there wasn’t a lot to say about him. He was barely in it, and his character/s just weren’t up to much. But this season – and 11/9, this week’s episode, in particular – he’s front and centre and the show is soaring because of it.
And we’re back (slightly late) – welcome to another recap of Stephen King’s Carrie. Have you guys been reading along? Oh, and speaking of reading Stephen King’s work, I just picked up his new novella Gwendy’s Button Box with Richard Chizmar; anyone read it? Is it worth a look, or should I just reread The Stand for the dozenth time instead?
This fucking show, man. I swear, every time I write a bad review (like last week), it comes back with an episode packed to the gills with reminders as to what it was I loved so much about American Horror Story in the first place.
“Man hands on misery to man/It deepens like a coastal shelf/ Get out as early as you can/And don’t have any kids yourself”. If there’s any quote that sums up the latest season of the inimitable Bojack Horseman, it’s the final lines of Philip Larkin’s This Be The Verse – an indictment of inherited misery and the way pain echoes down generations of a single family. But more than that, season four of everyone’s favourite depressive show about an ex-sitcom star who’s more horse than man (or is he more man than a horse?) is a tirade against historical misogyny – and how it, above all else, has inflicted horrendous physical and emotional pain on three generations of the lead character’s family. Spoilers for season four ahead.
The Cutprice Guignol 