TV Recap : Gotham 1x03 and HTGAWM 1x03

Another TV Recap! Actually, the pilot episode of The Flash was also aired (officially) earlier this week. But since I've watched and made a review of it already, I won't do recaps for that show until the second episode airs next week. For now, here are my thoughts on the latest episodes of Gotham and HTGAWM. I'm kind of busy this week so I haven't seen Reign 2x02 and post this a little bit late. If you don't want spoilers, please stop reading.

Top : Annalise and her lawyer gang in HTGAWM 1x03
Bottom : James and Selina in Gotham 1x03

1. GOTHAM 1X03 : THE BALLOONMAN

PLOT : Long before Batman, there is a vigilante in Gotham called The Balloonman. This mysterious man targets corrupt people. He ties his victims to weather balloons and lets them fly with the balloons until the balloons pop and they fall to their deaths. James, who investigates the case with his partner Bullock, feels a bit emotional about the vigilante case. He feels like the emergence of the vigilante is his fault; because he and his co-workers at the GCPD suck at doing their jobs. Meanwhile, Maroni, Falcone's competitor, makes his debut, first hints of Batman emerge and the Penguin returns to Gotham.

THE GOOD : 

1. The first hints of Batman. In his big house, Bruce follows the coverage of The Balloonman and his victims. When the vigilante gets caught, Alfred sarcastically states that now the criminals of the city can sleep well because the man who targets them has been jailed. Then Bruce comments that the vigilante can be considered as a criminal too because he kills people. And then the news reporter on Bruce's TV asks a rhetorical question, "Now that The Balloonman is gone, who will defend the people of Gotham?" I smiled when I saw the scene. Bruce's comment captures the idealism that the future Batman always holds on to; that a real hero doesn't kill the bad guys but saves and helps people instead. I always love that message that Batman carries in his actions. And who will defend the people of Gotham? I bet that question lingers in young Bruce's mind every night until he decides to put on his bat mask and be that person.

2. Ben McKenzie's and Erin Richards's performances. I really enjoyed watching these two as James and Barbara here! In this episode, Barbara and James try to comfort each other without realizing that they do the opposite to each other. Barbara convinces James that he's a hero because he caught the killer of the Waynes when he was doing his very first assignment as a detective, which slaps James in the face because the man that he caught was not even related to the murder of the Waynes. On another occasion, James asks Barbara if she thinks he is capable of killing someone in the name of justice, which troubles Barbara because it reminds her of Montoya's accusations. They're not honest to each other, and everyone knows that it could damage any relationship. I'm eager to see how things go for this couple. And, by the way, they look cute together (haha).

3. The Penguin's surprise for James. He shows up at Barbara's apartment at the end! How does he find her apartment? Why does he come to see James? Is he going to kill James for ditching him? Or is he going to thank James for not killing him? Or is he going to ask James to work with him? Soooo many questions and I want answers!

THE BAD : Fish Mooney. I thought Mooney is going to be a badass villain, but so far I've been let down. I get bored of watching her glare and say devilish things. It kind of reminds me of the silly villains in Indonesian TV shows aka sinetron. And she seems very careless when doing her moves to take Falcone down. What makes her think that he won't find out about her plans? I mean, look at Falcone's face when he tells her about the accident that happens to his new girl. He definitely knows that Mooney is the one who makes it happen.

GOOD OR BAD? : Renee Montoya. I don't know if I realize this too late, but it seems that Montoya and Barbara used to be dating. So that's why she keeps warning Barbara that James "is not a good guy" and that Barbara "deserves better". It'll be pretty interesting to see how this goes, but it also makes Montoya very... lame. Is this why she's so eager to find the truth behind the Waynes's murder? Because she wants to use it to crush James so that she could win Barbara back? That's so uncool, Montoya, so uncool. I thought she was better than that.

FAVORITE QUOTE : "He killed people. That made him a criminal too." -Bruce Wayne

Rating : 3,5/5

2. HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER 1X03 : SMILE, OR GO TO JAIL

PLOT : Annalise and the gang defend a woman who is accused to be involved in a bombing years before. The woman is involved in the bombing; she fakes her identity, pretends to be someone else and marries an ordinary guy who knows nothing about her true identity. Annalise doesn't win the case because the client herself runs away, but we all learn how unexpected people can be, even those who are close to us. Meanwhile, Nate secretly tries to find information about Sam's whereabouts on the day when Lila Stangard, the victim of one of the mysterious murders, was killed. He finds that Sam doesn't have an alibi, but lies about it to Annalise (This is NOT gonna be good). Wes also tries to find the truth about the murder, now that Rebecca is arrested as a suspect. His speech about Rebecca to Annalise convinces the professor to defend Rebecca. But at the end of the episode, Rebecca confesses to the entire murder. OMG this is so complicated and confusing, isn't it?

THE GOOD : This episode is so intense for me! The story and the characters become even more complicated here, and I've told you, I love complicated! Here are the complicated things that I like.

1. The dynamic between Wes and Annalise. I love the scene in this episode where Annalise comes to pick Wes up at the police station. His speech about defending people who need help and give them fair trials changes the expression on Annalise's face. It seems to me like Wes reminds her what her job truly is: to defend people who need help. It's like Wes is the anchor that keeps the humanity in her. I really enjoyed watching them here. Great job, Viola Davis and Alfred Enoch!

2. Michaela/Aiden/Connor love triangle. Connor once had a one night stand with Aiden aka Michaela's fiancee! Michaela is so not happy about this and Connor seems to enjoy destroying Michaela and Aiden's relationship. I'd love to slap Michaela's and Connor's faces because they both are jerks but I enjoy watching them sooo much. And this complication in their relationship makes it more fun to watch.  

3. Asher Millstone. He's just so funny. I wonder why he doesn't join Wes, Laurel, Connor and Michaela when they're busy getting rid of the dead body in the "3 months later" part, though.

THE BAD : Only one thing: the weekly case that Annalise and the gang handle. I start to feel like those weekly cases don't play any significant role in the story; like those cases are not important. I think it would be better if they could relate the weekly cases with the main plot, like in Gotham.

FAVORITE QUOTE : "Choose your husband carefully, Miss Pratt. You only have yourself to blame if it ends badly." -Annalise Keating

Rating : 4/5

TV Recap : Gotham 1x02, How to Get Away with Murder 1x02 & Reign 2x01

Reign returns with the first episode of its second season while Gotham and How to Get Away with Murder settle down after their explosive first week. Here's what I think about them. I'll try not to make this post too lengthy (hehe). Oh, I have to warn you that this post contains spoilers.

Top : Connor, Michaela and Wes from HTGAWM 1x02
Bottom right : James, Bullock and the Mayor from Gotham 1x02
Bottom left : Queen Mary from Reign 2x01

1. GOTHAM 1x02 : SELINA KYLE

PLOT : Detectives James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) are assigned to handle an abduction case. A homeless teenage boy claims that he and his friend, Cat aka Selina (Camren Bicondova), witness how two mysterious captors sedate and kidnap their fellow homeless kids. The GCPD (Gotham City Police Department) doesn't take this case seriously, which frustrates James. But after the case is blown up to the media, thanks to Barbara (Erin Richards), the GCPD starts to take it seriously in order to save its reputation. James and his partner try their best to stop the child-snatchers. Meanwhile, James might be one step closer to figuring out who the real killer of the Waynes is as he crosses paths with Selina, who witnesses the murder.

THE GOOD : I really LOVE this episode; it's sooo much better than the pilot, I think. Here are the things that I like about the episode.

1. No more boring scenes and bad acting here.

2. Ben McKenzie's performance. We can see how hard he tries to be a good guy in the sinful city. He scolds a police officer who doesn't show up immediately for an emergency situation, pushes Bullock because he refuses to take the abduction case seriously and criticizes the Mayor of Gotham and his plan to keep the homeless children safe (which Jim interprets as an attempt to lock up the children). He kind of reminds me of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's John Blake, the rookie cop in The Dark Knight Rises. Their co-workers might think that they're hot-heads, but they actually just think very critically and fight so hard for what they believe.

3. Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), who continues to scare me. He hijacks a car from its owner (using violence) and holds the owner as a hostage in order to get money from the man's family. It's just scary to see how he can do violence spontaneously every time someone offends him. His violent scenes are not fun to watch, but this means that Robin Lord Taylor succeeds in portraying the legendary villain.

4. The different side of Alfred. It's quite shocking for me to see Alfred in this show. I'm so used to watching Michael Caine as the kind, old Alfred in Christopher Nolan's Batman movies. And Sean Pertwee's Alfred is nothing like that. He's not kind and old; he's young and kind of stern. Maybe this Alfred is in the phase where he just got out from the military. I hope this means that we'll get to see how Alfred changes from a tough military guy to a fatherly figure. That would be interesting to watch.

THE BAD : Only one scene for Ed Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) and Barbara Kean, respectively. I want more of them!

FAVORITE QUOTE : "Men who are about to die are very honest. It pays to listen to them." - Carmine Falcone

Rating : 4/5

2. HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER 1x02 : IT'S ALL HER FAULT

PLOT : Annalise (Viola Davis) and her new team of law students face a new murder case in this episode. They defend a rich man who is accused of killing his own wife. The wife is stabbed sixteen times in her sleep, and the husband, who is a hunter, does seem to be capable of killing her. However, his knowledge about hunting and killing turns out to be the one that Annalise and the gang can use to save the man. Meanwhile, we also get more details about the two mysterious murders that were introduced last week. I won't tell the victims' identities, but we learn that Annalise's husband, Sam (Tom Verica), and Wes's gothic neighbor, Rebecca (Katie Findlay), are involved in this tangled web.

THE GOOD : My favorite characters are still the four students who now work with Annalise in her firm. They're so fun to watch. Here's the details about my favorite things in this episode.

1. More of Laurel Castillo (Karla Souza). She's not very confident about her own abilities at the beginning. But after Bonnie (Liza Weil) gives her some advice (in a harsh way), she manages to prove that she deserves to be chosen by Annalise to work in her firm. Good for her!

2. New layers in Annalise's personality. Last week, Annalise seemed like a steady and strong woman. However, we see  her showing other emotions this week. In this episode, Annalise begs Nate Leahy (Billy Brown) not to end their affair, gets angry to her dishonest husband, gets scared when she finds out that Sam might be related to a murder, and cries because of the fear that she feels. A layered character like this is always interesting to watch.

3. Everything about Connor Walsh (Jack Falahee)! He is seriously the sexiest guy on TV right now. Even when he's thinking hard to win the case and not doing his hot gay scenes, he still manages to dazzle me. I also like how his personality is not defined only by the fact that he's gay. He's smart, confident, cool, ambitious, canny, sexy and just happens to be gay.

THE BAD : The bad things about this episode are not exactly bad, I think.

1. The law terms, like last week. The case in the episode is easier to follow than last week's case, though.

2. The plot that goes back and forth. They keep jumping from past to present and vice versa. Sometimes it's a bit confusing. You need a few seconds to know when this is, when that is...

FAVORITE QUOTE :  

Me neither, Connor, me neither.

Rating :4/5

3. REIGN 2X01 : THE PLAGUE

PLOT : The plague comes to the French Court and threatens everyone's life. Queen Mary (Adelaide Kane) has to struggle in making the best decisions for France while her husband, Francis (Toby Regbo) aka the king of France, is away to find Lola (Anna Popplewell) and his newborn baby. A nobleman named Edward offers Mary to bring supplies that she needs for her people only if Mary is willing to kill his foe. So the young queen is forced to make a choice, kill an innocent person and save her people or keep her morals. Meanwhile, Francis has his own dilemma: let Lola and his child leave and go back to Mary or keep the child whom he cares about.

THE GOOD : This is a good episode for me. The horror of the plague and the chaos that it brings truly scare me. I'm so worried about my favorite characters' lives. Anyway, here are the things that I like about The Plague.

1. Mary's and Francis's struggles. Well, I've explained the problems that they must face before. I think their struggles here are more realistic, compared to the ones they faced back in the first half of the first season. In this episode, we learn how hard it is for good people like them to stay good when they rule. This is why I don't like to join people when they protest and mock the people in our government; because I don't know their stories. They might face tough choices like Mary and Francis, right?

2. Leith and Greer's relationship that gets more and more complicated. In case you don't know about their history, Leith (Jonathan Keltz) and Greer (Celina Sinden) started seeing each other secretly when he was just a servant and she was a single lady back in the first season. But then Greer was engaged to a nobleman, which forced them to end their relationship. Not long after that, Leith came back with wealth as he was rewarded with a land and money for saving Francis's life. He was wealthy enough to marry a lady by then, but Greer didn't want to hurt her fiancee, who had been very good to her. Leith was broken-hearted and started dating another woman, who happens to be the daughter of Greer's fiancee. In The Plague, it turns out that Greer's fiancee is Edward's foe. So he and his family are all killed by Edward at the end of this episode. So now Leith and Greer are single again, which means that it's possible for them to get back together now. But will they go back together again, after all that they've been through? Complicated, isn't it? I love complicated (haha).

3. Bash (Torrance Coombs) and Kenna (Caitlin Stasey) are safe! I was so scared when I saw the promotional clips. I thought they would die! So relieved to know they're not dead.

THE BAD : Hmm I don't have anything that I don't like about this episode. It's good!

FAVORITE QUOTE : "One life matters. Every life matters!" - Queen Mary

Rating : 4/5

All the episodes are good! It's been a great week for these shows! Hope the next episodes' are great too!

New TV Shows to Watch

My favorite TV shows, Teen Wolf and Pretty Little Liars, are on hiatus right now, so I need to find some new shows so that I won't die because of boredom. I've searched for and read a lot of previews and reviews about new television shows for the fall season. There are three TV shows that I've chosen: Gotham, The Flash and How to Get Away with Murder. I've seen the pilot episodes of all those new shows, and here are my thoughts about them.

1. GOTHAM

New episodes on : Monday (in US), Tuesday (in Indonesia)

Creator : Bruno Heller

Cast : Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, David Mazouz, Camren Bicondova, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Erin Richards, Robin Lord Taylor.

Genre : Crime Fiction

When you hear the name Gotham, the first thing that pops in your head must be Batman. Yup, the Gotham that is referred to in this new TV show is that Gotham, the hometown of the Dark Knight. However, this show isn't going to tell the story of Batman. Instead, it will follow young James Gordon, Batman's future ally, as he cleans the dark streets of Gotham from bad guys in his early days as a detective. James Gordon isn't the only familiar face that you'll see in this show. We'll get to see other popular characters from the Batman universe when all of them are still young, such as the Batman himself, Bruce Wayne; Selina Kyle aka Catwoman; Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin; Edward Nygma aka The Riddler; and Ivy Pepper aka Poison Ivy.

The pilot episode follows Det. James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) as he investigates the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. He meets their son, Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz), and promises to catch "the man who did this". With his grumpy partner, Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), James is able to solve the case and kill the murderer. Case closed? No. It turns out that the person that they've killed is framed by other people who don't want the truth to come out. When the idealistic James Gordon finds out about this, he tries to find the real murderer, only to find an ugly truth about how things work in Gotham.

I was sooo excited to watch this show before it premiered on September 22nd. When I finally saw it, I was... a bit disappointed. Well, it's not a bad episode. It's just not as good as I expected. Probably because my expectation is too high. The first half of the episode is kind of boring. The case seems too easy and some actors, especially Ben McKenzie and Erin Richards (who plays James' girl, Barbara Kean), show bad acting. The dialogues are kind of... cheesy, especially when Barbara tells Jim to "swim" when he says that he's "out of his depth" (Errr swim?). 

But everything changes as it starts its second half. Well, maybe they try to deceive the audience with the first half, like Gone Girl. The story gets darker after James finds out about the frame-up. Ben's and Erin's performances suddenly escalate. Dude, they're awesome during the second half. The other actors show their best performances too. My favorite is David Mazouz, the kid who plays Bruce aka Batman. There's something about his expression. He looks really wounded and angry. Grrr I love his performance. The guy who plays Edward Nygma is also great, even though he only has one scene. I hope we'll get to see more of him in the future. Robin Lord Taylor is really scary as the young Penguin. His last scene in this episode, where he rips an old man's throat with a knife just to get his bread, made me shiver. That scene lets me know that he's dangerous.

So the pilot episode is good enough to make me decide to watch the next episode. The show has big potential, which I hope will be developed well in the following episodes. I hope the show can be more consistent and get the cheesy dialogues fixed too.

Rating : 3/5

2. THE FLASH

New episodes on : Tuesday (in US), Wednesday (in Indonesia)

Creator : Greg Berlanti

Cast : Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Tom Cavanagh, Jesse L. Martin.

Genre : Superhero

After the huge success of Arrow, the people behind the hit series try their luck for the second time with The Flash. In order to "test" their new project, they even introduced the show's lead character, Barry Allen, in Arrow last year. Grant Gustin was cast and debuted as Barry in two episodes of the second season of Arrow. Fans loved him. So they decided to give a green light to the project.

In Three Ghosts, an episode of Arrow in which Barry appears, we've seen him get struck by lightning. So the pilot episode of The Flash takes place around nine months after that incident. Barry (Grant Gustin) wakes up after being in a coma for months. Soon after that, he realizes that the incident has given him some super strengths. He's suddenly able to run really (REALLY) fast and heals his physical wounds faster than normal people do. In the episode, we also get to learn more about Barry's dark past. When he was a kid, he saw how his mother got killed by a mysterious blurry figure yet couldn't prove it to the police to stop them from blaming his father for the murder. From this, we know why Barry feels like it's his responsibility to use his new powers for good. It's because he knows how it feels like to be helpless and to see people that he loves suffer because of his helplessness.

Actually, the pilot episode will not be aired until October 7. However, the episode was leaked a while ago and I watched it online. Anyway, the pilot is fun to watch. Grant Gustin truly stands out in this show. His version of Barry Allen is smart, pure-hearted and charming (I just can't resist a guy who is smart AND cute like him). His dark past and the wound that it leaves makes him very human too. Besides Grant's flashy performance (I love using the word "flashy" to describe this show), there are pretty cool action sequences too in the pilot. 

The minus point of the pilot for me is the storyline, which, I think, is too fast. Well, of course it's fast; it's a show about the fastest man alive. But I think they have too much to tell in this episode. It's like they cram all of them in it. Because of this, it feels like things are rushed in the episode. I personally think that they shouldn't let Barry put on his red suit in the first episode. I think it would be better if they let him take his time to adjust with his new powers until he is finally ready to put on his suit and take down the bad guys like his fellow hero, the Arrow.

Overall, the pilot episode of The Flash is fun and worth to watch. I'm definitely going to see its second episode.

Rating : 3,5/5

3. HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER

New episodes on : Thursday (in US), Friday (in Indonesia)

Creator : Peter Nowalk

Cast : Viola Davis, Alfred Enoch, Aja Naomi King, Jack Falahee, Katie Findlay, Karla Souza.

Genre : Legal Drama

There is a lot of buzz around this new show because Shonda Rhimes, the creator of hit shows Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, is involved in this project. Well I don't watch those two shows so I'm not really affected by the Shonda Rhimes factor. I decided to watch the pilot episode of this series simply because the reviews are good and the trailer is intriguing.

So the show is about a law professor named Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) who teaches her students "not to study law, but to practice law". She has high demands for her students, which make some of them overly excited and even willing to do extreme, risky and dangerous things to impress the professor. Four of the students are involved in a dangerous murder plot that is related to Annalise. Details about the murder itself are still mysterious; it seems like this murder plot is going to be the main case throughout the season.

The pilot episode is basically an introduction to the characters and the background of the story. We get to see how Annalise runs her classes; how she does her job; her students and their complex characteristics; her personal life; and the mysterious, not-yet-solved cases that are related to the professor. I think an introduction like this is necessary for an original show like this; you know, to "set the scene". This show is totally new, right? It doesn't have millions of fans who've been familiar with its characters and their backstories like Gotham and The Flash.

The best thing about the pilot episode for me is the acting. Academy Award nominee Viola Davis delivers a very powerful performance as Annalise Keating. She's totally unreadable. You just can't tell when Annalise lies and when she tells the truth. There's this scene with Annalise and her student Wes (Alfred Enoch) where the professor breaks down and apologizes to the young man for a nasty action she does that he accidentally witnesses. In the scene, Wes looks puzzled. Maybe it's because he just doesn't know whether she truly feels sorry for what she does or just tries to silence him.

I also enjoyed watching Annalise's four students in this episode. There's Wes, the heart of the story who is likable, pure-hearted and sweet, played by Alfred Enoch (aka Dean Thomas from the Harry Potter series). And then there's Michaela Pratt, a beautiful girl who is very opportunistic and cunning, played by Aja Naomi King. Karla Souza plays Laurel Castillo, an idealistic girl who always looks very serious. And the last one is Connor Walsh, played by (the very hot and handsome) Jack Falahee, a gay student who is like the male version of Michaela. Despite all the characteristics that I've mentioned, they all possess one other trait: ambitious. I love watching ambitious students. They kind of remind of myself (haha).

The negative thing about this show for me is probably the fact that it is about law. They use a lot of law terms which I don't understand AT ALL. Well, I'm a literature girl; how am I supposed to know what those law terms mean? I read somewhere that people who are familiar with law think that the actions that the characters do in the show are too unethical and don't actually make sense. Well I don't know about that. As a literature girl, I'll just focus on the story and the character development.

I enjoyed the pilot episode of How to Get Away with Murder so much. Can't wait for the second episode!

Rating : 4/5

I actually didn't want to make this post too long but I just can't help it. I enjoy doing this too much. Hope you enjoy reading this post :)