REVIEW: Midnight, Texas, Episode 102
“Midnight, Texas” is back with episode 102, “Bad Moon Rising”, and I have to say that this episode was much better than the first one, and not just because we didn’t see Mr. Snuggly. In some ways I think this episode set the story for the season/show in a more detailed way than the pilot did.
Tensions continue to raise in the beginning of the episode alongside the moon. Not only Bobo was charged with a murder a lot of people say he didn’t commit, but also the full moon was coming and with it we learned what Reverend Emilio is, not a werewolf, but a weretiger. This fact makes this show a little bit like “Teen Wolf” in which people aren’t only turned into wolves, but also other animals like coyote, jaguar… In this show they say that your personality reflects on the animal you become. But things are still different here, of course, since in this show one is born a child of moon, and so cannot be turned or turn others. Anyway, in this episode the Reverend caused a great amount of trouble and even lost control and killed a woman (Tina Gomez, a police officer). I think it was really beautiful, well-made and different seeing the Rev. turn from tiger to human, especially the final part of the transformations, when the wind sort of blows away the hair of the tiger like it was nothing but leaves.
It was also nice to see that everyone in Midnight (or at least most people) know about the supernatural or highly suspect somethings is wrong. Some of them don’t know exactly which person is what, but they know some are magical. This is definitely a good thing because a lot of shows spend too many time thinking whether or not to tell someone about their supernatural abilities and, sometimes, it eventually gets boring and repetitive all this struggle to keep someone in the dark. This is also a good thing because, like Manfred’s grandmother said, people like her grandson don’t have to pretend to be normal and so they can fully embrace who they are.
I was also glad that the police found out more about Aubrey’s death and let Bobo out. I was afraid they would try to extend it for a long time and we would see for a few episodes the supernatural team come together to break him out of jail. It would have been nice to watch that, but not if we had to wait several episodes for that to happen, when we can watch much more enjoyable things. In other shows sometimes the biggest enemy isn’t the most powerful one, but the weakest and by this I mean us humans, especially police officers. Sometimes they don’t want people to know about the supernatural and so “waste” some episodes doing something that could have easily been done in a faster away, just so that they don’t reveal themselves. I am glad that this show will be different (or at least it seems like it will).
As I said before, this episode really set up on what appears will be the story of the season. It started when Fiji performed the exorcism, but apparently it wasn’t quite complete because something is still in this side of the veil. And it doesn’t seem to be some regular demon, but a powerful one, which has a special interest on Fiji. Aside from this, we heard Joe tell a prophecy. I love prophecies, especially the ones that end up being self-fulfilling because it makes my head hurt if I think about it for a long time. Joe says the vail is breaking, but it is prophesized that an army will battle the evil and seal the vail forever. This army will be led by a man with the gift of vision. The first person that comes to mind about this “man of vision” is probably Manfred. I guess we will see if the guesses are correct.
Lastly, it was also great to see Creek and Manfred kiss in the end of the episode because that means the writers won’t probably focus on making a really big drama out of that love story, pulling them both to and away from each other at the same time.
It was definitely a great improvement from last episode to this one. Hope it only gets better, and things seem to be definitely pointing in that direction. I will give this episode a 8.0/10.
I will be back next week with my review of episode 103 “Lemuel, Unchained”. Hope you guys stick around.
Midnight, Texas: “Bad Moon Rising” Sneak Peeks
Angels, vampires, psychics, witches, assassins, racist biker gangs, ghost grandmas and a talking cat! Welcome to Midnight, Texas.
The first episode of the supernatural mystery aired earlier this week. TV Guide interviewed showrunner Monica Owusu-Breen to discuss what’s going to happen next.
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
Bobo took the fall for Aubrey’s murder! That’s not right, what’s next for him?
Monica Owusu-Breen: That storyline gets resolved in the second episode. It appears to be resolved in the second episode, I should say. We wrote a pilot and it was with the intention with the murder mystery guiding the entire series. When the pilot was shot, the network came to me and said, “Murder mysteries are done in a lot of shows. Can this be a supernatural show, with supernatural villains coming in and out of this world?” [NBC wanted] to really hit that.
So like every show, we’re sort of trying to figure out what we really are. So I went off and thought about it, and thought if I couldn’t do a supernatural show in a town like Midnight, I should hand in my Writers Guild card. So what begins as a murder mystery, you’ll see in Episode 2 opens up a bigger mystery and a bigger obstacle for the Midnighters and for Manfred (Francois Arnaud) specifically.
So the murder mystery won’t be the main thread of the season?
Owusu-Breen: No, that’s Bobo’s (Dylan Bruce) story. Every character has their own story, and the murder mystery and the fallout from that is Bobo’s story more than it is the story of the town.
Manfred is our window into this world, but soon he’ll have to be more proactive in the show. What drives him later throughout the series?
Owusu-Breen: I think what’s interesting about Manfred is that he’s a guy who’s used to running from things. I mean he grew up in gypsy caravan and he’s traveled the world, and whenever there were problems he and his grandma would leave. So the idea of committing to home and committing to a community is one sort of obstacle for our character Manfred who is not used to being alone. But I don’t think humans were meant to be alone, I don’t think we function well alone. For Manfred too, it’s about finding that community and place, where he is willing to take charge, and to lead, and to fight and to risk his own safety for this group of people who he will grow to feel a part of.
Okay, now we have to talk about my favorite character. There are so many supernatural characters, and you’re introducing all these different types of beings, and then, out of nowhere, we get a talking cat!
Owusu-Breen: Mr. Snuggly!!! I will describe it — because this show is wackadoo. I love wacky, I know I love it, I hope we find an audience who is as enamored with this crazy universe as me. When I read the books, I remember Mr. Snuggly was just always around, and then midway through the books or three-quarters through the books, he starts talking. But by that point he had been around often enough and the world had gotten nutty enough it was like, of course the cat talks. it kind of made sense in that weird Charlaine-inspired supernatural universe that of course a witch would have a familiar, and of course that familiar would have a voice. It’s a polarizing figure [laughs] but it makes us laugh.
Here are four sneak peeks from episode two titled “Bad Moon Rising”:
Midnight, Texas airs Mondays at 10pm/9c on NBC.
REVIEW: Midnight, Texas, Episode 101
I never watched True Blood, but I did hear great things about it, and for it to last 7 years it had to be cool. Since “Midnight Texas” is based on books by the same author (Charlaine Harris) I was hoping I could “atone for” not watching “True Blood” by watching this one. Let’s see how it will turn out.
Right in the first second of the pilot we are introduced to the main character: a psychic named Manfred Bernardo, who can talk to dead people. I thought the first scene was funny in a bit of a dumb way. Apparently Harold didn’t want his wife to move on from him as much as he said he did.
Because of some people that are after him, Manfred moves away. Following his dead grandmother’s advice, he goes to a town in Texas called Midnight. Like usually happens in supernatural shows, this town isn’t like the others. We learn later that it draws supernatural creatures to it. There they can lay low because the barrier between the living and the dead is thinner. But Manfred isn’t very lucky because we learn closer to the end of this episode that whoever is after him knows where he is.
It doesn’t take long for bodies to start piling up. Short after Manfred gets to Midnight he goes on a picnic and finds the body of Bobo’s fiancé (who had been missing for 2 weeks). Like most shows, the police doesn’t take long to start suspecting the new guy. Wanting to find out more about the murder, Manfred contacts Aubrey with an Ouija board and she tells him one word: “Pecados” (which is Portuguese for “sins”). In this scene things go terribly wrong but unfortunately it gets cut by a police officer who shows up in his house.
It also appears that every Midnighter either is a supernatural creature or knows about them. Like always happens on a pilot we are introduced to many characters, and here are the ones I think are the most important (since you can’t really know based only on a pilot): Lemuel, a vampire that not only feeds on blood, but also on emotional energy; Bobo, I am not yet sure if he is human or not; Olivia, this one is said to be human and she is also very experienced with weapons (at least guns and bow and arrow); Joe, a fallen angel; Fiji, a witch that kind of looks powerful (at least in the final scene); Mr. Snuggly, Fiji’s cat, which can talk; Rev. Emilio, who I am also not sure if he is supernatural or not, but who has a pet cemetery, which, for a Stephen King fan, has a weird special tune to it; and Creek, who is human and kind of that cliché character everyone loves to hate because she is so sweet and interested in the main character.
The episode ends with Bobo being arrested for Aubrey’s death and people aren’t too happy about it, especially not Fiji. We also see that Manfred’s house has become a much hunted house, consequences of the interrupted scene.
I didn’t have a lot of expectations for this show and I am happy I didn’t. I found the supernatural part of it a little silly. My first supernatural show was “The Vampire Diaries” and I think supernatural creatures were well made there (maybe because it was my first) and I find all the creatures that are very different from it a bit weird. But this isn’t the only reason. I am going to mostly blame the fact I thought it was weird on the talking cat. Maybe some people found it nice, but not me. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against talking cats, but I think animals that speak are more fit in animated movies and not shows like this, nor live action movies. But maybe I took this show too seriously. If I had been prepared for the fact that there was going to be a talking cat, maybe I would have taken it more lightly. But I know now, and it is better late than never. Now I will be prepared for when it comes back.
I am going to be honest, I felt this was a “meh” episode. Not “meh” as in “meh, who cares”, but more like “Did you like it? Meh, it was OK”. I hope it gets better. I will give it a 6.8/10.
Hope my “meh” didn’t pull you away, because I will keep watching and reviewing it next week with episode 102 ”Bad Moon Rising”.
Celebrity Apprentice Premiere Date Announced
The Celebrity Apprentice has been off the NBC airwaves since Spring 2013, but the Donald is back! The latest season of the celebreality competition series will return to NBC on Sunday, January 4, 2015 @ 9pm ET, before moving to it’s regular Monday @ 8pm ET timeslot.
NBC plans to air back-to-back one-hour installments each week (so double the boardroom showdowns and several firings per night).
The cast includes:
— two-time World Series champion Johnny Damon
— comedian Gilbert Gottfried
— star of Deadliest Catch Sig Hansen
— singer Kevin Jonas
— actor Lorenzo Lamas
— NFL star Terrell Owens
— talk show host Geraldo Rivera
— television and Beverly Hills 90210/Sharknado‘s Ian Ziering
— Gold Medal Olympic snowboarder Jamie Anderson
— actress Vivica A. Fox
— TV host Leeza Gibbons
— reality star Brandi Glanville
— reality star Kate Gosselin
— gold medal Olympian Shawn Johnson
— former Miss USA and star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta Kenya Moore
— and The Cosby Show‘s Keshia Knight Pulliam.
Trump’s children — Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump — will serve as his advisers. The winner of the competition will score a $250,000 donation to his or her designated charity.
H/T: TVLine
NBC 2014-2015: What’s New? What’s Cancelled? What to Expect?
Last month the major broadcast networks announced their 2014-2015 television season pickups and cancellations. We will be breaking down for you what’s coming (and going) on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and The CW.
Next up: NBC!
NBC Orders Constantine, The Mysteries of Laura and More to Series
NBC added several new shows to its fall 2014-15 schedule, including Constantine, based on DC Comics’ supernatural mysteries series, and Debra Messing’s detective drama The Mysteries of Laura.
Here’s the logline/casting/pedigree info for each of the new series:
Constantine (Drama)
EPs | Daniel Cerone (Dexter), David S. Goyer (Batman Begins)
CAST | Matt Ryan, Lucy Griffiths (True Blood), Harold Perrineau (Lost)
Based on the characters in DC Comics’ stories about John Constantine, an enigmatic and irreverent con man-turned-reluctant supernatural detective who is thrust into the role of defending us against dark forces from beyond. (more…)