Dr. Smith Anecdote

From ace writer Mark Evanier's website, a funny story from Jonathan Harris, Dr. Zachary Smith from Lost in Space. It's weird to hear Dr. Smith say the f-word. Here's the link. 

Television: Punisher Season 2 (Netflix)

Unbelievable. It really is. I hated the first season of The Punisher, the show was truly awful. Slowly paced, very little punishing, story all over the place. However, someone learned from their mistakes and in the process discovered who the Punisher was. Season Two was the best Marvel show so far and its last episode was the best single Marvel TV show to date. I’m not sure what happened, but more like this please.

Recovered from the events of Season 1, Frank Castle is wandering through the American Midwest, reveling in his freedom. When mercenaries invade a bar and go after a teenage girl, Frank steps in to rescue her and gets sucked in to a major situation. Meanwhile back in New York, Billy Russo, who Frank defeated and disfigured last season, escapes a mental hospital with help from his smitten female therapist and goes on a crime rampage. Eventually the two storylines come together (at least in the same place) and Frank does some major punishing.

What’s so good is that the producers have finally let Frank Castle just be who he is meant to be. No evil person is safe. He punishes women, devout religious types, deranged psychotics and politicians.

The pacing is a lot better this season, and the story concentrates much more on Castle and his immediate supporting cast. The girl he saves in the bar, Amy, becomes a surrogate daughter whom he protects at any cost. And the cost is high. The story does screech to a halt for a while when all the characters get to New York, but picks up the pace again quickly. I think in a Punisher show it’s reasonable that Frank should kill one person in every episode—at least! He does this in most episodes, a welcome relief from sitting on the sidelines for most of Season 1. The fights are expertly choreographed, especially Franks’s hand-to-hand combat with a gym full of Russian gangsters. That was fun, if brutal, to watch.

There are very few negatives to this season. Billy, who becomes the villain Jigsaw, is far too pretty. In the comics, Jigsaw’s face looks like a 1000-piece puzzle. Billy only has a few scars. They should have gone with a lot more damage. The pacing was still slow in a few of the episodes, and Frank doesn’t wear his skull near enough—but those are minor nitpicks. He does wear his chest skull at all the right times, and the last scene of the show is a triumph right out of the comics. Thank you Marvel, for finally making an action-filled show that pulls no punches—literally. The show has already been renewed for Season 3—let’s hope it is half this good.

Grade: A

Worth your valuable time?: Oh, yes. 

Update ... And now for something somewhat different ...

Time to do some blogging again! For the six or seven of my regular readers, hopefully I’ll have a bit more time this year to share some obsessions and point out various oddities. First off, a change in the review system. In order to give more accurate opinions of different media, we’re trying a few new things. First, the 5-Star review system will change to a grade system, A thru F. Don’t worry, I don’t think I’m a teacher, doling out the final say to media professionals from my ivory tower. It’s just a handy way to share an opinion. For the record, I realize that even the worst media is usually created by people trying their best to entertain—and sometimes failing miserably. No one sets out to make bad entertainment, but sometimes things go spectacularly wrong. The only exceptions are when story quality or entertainment value is booted in favor of an agenda. Doesn’t matter what the agenda is, SJW or white nationalism, progressive or alt right. If someone is more interested in pounding me over  the head with their political or cultural message than telling a story, it usually means a bad story and a low grade will be forthcoming. Given that this is every Marvel comic book published since 2010, I don’t have hopes for good reviews for Marvel comics. However, I won’t be reviewing (or reading) many Marvel books, so that shouldn’t be a problem. I want to like and enjoy pop culture, so I tend to avoid things that have proven to be toxic. I don’t “hate-watch/read” anything. I like being happy. 

The other change is just to ask, and answer, a simple question at the end of each review: Is this movie/comic/TV show worth your valuable ticket price, money or time? I’ve read mediocre reviews that are not positive or negative that leave me confused not only whether the writer actually liked the subject; but also was it worth the time/price? That’s what is important to me when reading reviews, and I will endeavor to provide it in my own. 

Just remember, this is one man’s view. You are free to differ or see/read/watch stuff I disliked. It’s all just my Humble Opinion.