Nerdist » season 2http://nerdist.com
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 22:00:33 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1MARON Season 2 Premieres May 8th with Conan O’Brien, Chris Hardwick, and More to Guest Starhttp://nerdist.com/maron-season-2-premieres-may-8th-with-conan-obrien-chris-hardwick-and-more-to-guest-star/
http://nerdist.com/maron-season-2-premieres-may-8th-with-conan-obrien-chris-hardwick-and-more-to-guest-star/#commentsMon, 10 Mar 2014 23:30:52 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=121530The televised version of the life of podcast legend and comedian Marc Maron is finally returning to IFC next month. Come May 8th 10PM on IFC, we’re all invited back to be flies on the wall again in the garage for the second season of Maron, this time with a possibly even bigger cavalcade of guest stars. Amongst them, our own Chris Hardwick along with Conan O’Brien, Johnny Knoxville, David Cross, and much more will be dealing with Marc Maron’s Maron.

On top of all of this, I’m curious if they’ll address WTF being one of the channels in Bob Dylan’s interactive music video for his landmark song “Like a Rolling Stone.” Which guest are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments below!

]]>http://nerdist.com/maron-season-2-premieres-may-8th-with-conan-obrien-chris-hardwick-and-more-to-guest-star/feed/5Obama Requests “No Spoilers” for House of Cards Season 2http://nerdist.com/obama-requests-no-spoilers-for-house-of-cards-season-2/
http://nerdist.com/obama-requests-no-spoilers-for-house-of-cards-season-2/#commentsFri, 14 Feb 2014 13:00:24 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=114796Even the leader of the free world is afraid of dummies ruining his binge watching. Mr. Prez released a tweet yesterday warding off spoilers for the second season of NetFlix’s House of Cards. Since all HOC episodes are released at once, one could easily crush the entire season in a day and then crash the party for those of us with jobs – including the president.

The world has long known that number 44 is fan of the show. At a White House meeting in December, Obama spoke with NetFlix CEO Reed Hastings, saying “I’m just wondering if you brought advance copies of House Of Cards?”. Hastings jokingly offered Obama a cameo in response.

At the same meeting, Obama jokingly said that he “wished things were that ruthlessly efficient” in the actual White House. Despite the advantages of House of Cards‘ political efficiency, I think we can all be glad that problematic congressmen aren’t (SPOILER REDACTED).

Check out the trailer for House of Cards Season 2 below.

In other HOC news, NetFlix execs recently confirmed that the show will be renewed for a third season as well. I think we can assume from this move that Season 2 won’t disappoint.

Any predictions for Frank Underwood’s meddling in Season 2? or Season 3 for that matter? Will we see any new developments in Frank and Claire’s shockingly functional marriage? How many visits to Freddie’s BBQ Joint can we expect over these next 13 episodes?

]]>http://nerdist.com/obama-requests-no-spoilers-for-house-of-cards-season-2/feed/10ARROW Recap: Keep Your Enemies Closerhttp://nerdist.com/arrow-recap-keep-your-enemies-closer/
http://nerdist.com/arrow-recap-keep-your-enemies-closer/#commentsThu, 14 Nov 2013 22:00:15 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=97747It’s always a good idea to broaden the scope of an action adventure show. I mean, sure there’s lots of bad stuff to take care of in Starling City, but if you can get to Moscow without actually having to send a camera crew anywhere too far from Vancouver, then all the better. The sixth episode of Season Two of Arrow, “Keep Your Enemies Closer,” allowed the action to follow Diggle for awhile, but still had plenty to do with Oliver, and even some Roy stuff as well. Truth be told, this is an episode mostly about romantic relationships, which is very bizarre, really.

We begin with Roy Harper leaving his usual message for Arrow, by sticking the small throwing bolt in an electrical post. Felicity comes to tell Oliver about it while he’s having yet another yelling match with Queen Consolidated’s co-CEO Isabel Rochev (Summer Glau). Nothing gets solved, and Oliver hurries away after another fairly awkward excuse from Ms. Smoak.

Arrow finds Roy and tells him he should go home. It’s pretty adorable that Roy’s got the hood up on his red hoodie. He wants to be just like him! Arrow takes down whatever gang members were doing whatever gang-related stuff with the help of Diggle, who is Arrow’s eyes and ears. One perp gets away and Roy pounces on him and begins a-wailing just as the police arrive and arrest both of them. Diggle, meanwhile, gets tased and taken away by Strike Force X. Ooh, intriguing.

What do you know? Who should be in control of Strike Force X but Amanda Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), DC Comics’ go-to government administrator/scientist. She tells Diggle that one of her agents, his friend Leila Michaels (Audrey Marie Anderson), has gone missing in Russia. Turns out she went there following a lead on Dig’s archenemy, Deadshot (Michael Rowe). She wants Diggle to go and get her back, mostly because if she sends her own crew, it could cause an international incident. Can’t have that!

At the police station, Quentin Lance is booking Roy, who explains that he was working for “the guy who cost you your shield.” Quentin immediately lets Roy go just as Thea comes in to yell at her boyfriend. She’s surprised that Lance admits it was a misunderstanding. Interesting. I like this new Lance a whole lot, especially after last week. He gets that the city might need people like the Arrow.

In the Arrowcave, Diggle tells Oliver and Felicity he’s going to Russia to save Leila, and the pair immediately announce they’re going with him. Diggle says he can’t ask Oliver to do that, and Oliver replies that he didn’t. That’s friendship. I’ve always liked the Oliver-Diggle relationship, and it’s nice to see Oliver reciprocating the back-getting that Diggle always provides.

Oliver is using the trip to Russia as an excuse to meet with the company’s overseas branches, which causes Isabel to want to tag along. Always the buzzkill, this woman.

And speaking of buzzkills, Moira’s lawyer comes to visit Thea at Verdant. She tells her that the news ran with Roy being arrested, even though he was released. She says that, for the sake of her mother’s case, Thea ought to break up with Roy. I don’t really see how that would work, Lawyer. But, then again, I’m no lawyer. And the hell of it? Thea actually DOES break up with Roy.

Diggle and Oliver meet with Ollie’s old friend Anatoli Knyazev (David Nykl), whom Oliver saved at some point (from the freighter). He tells them that Leila is being held in a Gulag with a name that means “Nightmare.” Sounds hopeful. The only way into this prison is to be imprisoned, but Anatoli has a friend who is a guard to help whoever goes in once they’re in.

Though Oliver wants to go, Diggle says he has to be the one, for two reasons: 1) if anything happens to Oliver, more people would be left in the lurch than if anything should happen to Diggle, and 2) Leila was Diggle’s wife, and apparently the woman he has always and will always love. Okay, could everyone please stop tinkering with Diggle’s backstory? I guess since he’s a brand new character, they can do whatever they want, but it seems like they keep adjusting things just for the sake of it. Anyway, not a big complaint.

On the inside, Diggle learns that “people like him” aren’t too welcomed in the prison. “Shocker,” says Diggle, which might be one of my favorite lines from him ever. Very quickly, Dig gets into a fight in the gulag’s mess hall and is dragged off to be put in the freezer, a thing they do with rowdy inmates. Unfortunately, Diggle’s in there with an old enemy – Deadshot. It seems Leila didn’t find a lead on the assassin; she found him.

Oliver heads to the hotel bar to wait and Isabel is there. They start drinking together and one could say they REALLY hit it off. She loosens up and talks about how she’s always felt like she has to be the best or she isn’t good enough and she also says she knows that Oliver is smarter and more driven than he appears. Then they go do it.

Diggle is let out of the cold by Anatoli’s guard friend and is escorted down the hall toward where Leila is being held. Suddenly, the guard is killed by Deadshot, who somehow got out. Now he’s the only one who knows where she is, and Diggle has to bury his hatred of the man who killed his brother to rescue her. Why won’t he just kill Deadshot when Leila’s free? Honor.

Oliver has to leave, and Isabel says she isn’t the kind to want to cuddle. Unfortunately, he answers the door to find Felicity there and, as if on awkward cue, Isabel slinks out. Felicity is jealous for sure. She at first says, “What happens in Russia stays in Russia,” but while they’re still in Russia, sitting in the armored car Oliver bought with Anatoli, she’s still pretty darned upset.

Finally, the plan springs into action. The coat Diggle was arrested in has a little bomb on it and a hole gets blown in the wall. As Diggle, Deadshot, and Leila escape, it seems like they won’t get far, until Oliver comes in and starts beating the shit out of some guys. They manage, all of them, to get to the armored car and escape.

Once they’re out of range, Diggle makes Deadshot get out of the car. Whether he’s going to shoot him or not is unknown, but Deadshot drops a bit of knowledge on Dig: that Andy Diggle WAS the target. All he knows about the employer is one word – “Hive.” Dig lets Deadshot walk on, to assassinate another day.

Back in Starling City, Thea goes to see Moira in prison and is surprised to find Roy there. Roy’s been summoned because Moira heard about the lawyer’s telling Thea to dump him. Mrs. Queen demands that they not break up, and that Thea’s gone through enough the past year that she shouldn’t have to go on alone. What a nice thing for Moira to do. Kind of an unnecessary plot thread, but I guess it did give the excuse for Moira to meet Roy. So, yay, I guess?

Diggle and Leila celebrate with a bit of bedroom time, and it seems like they’re back together. I half expected someone to break in and kill her right away, but that’s because I always expect the worst. Diggle then searches for “H.I.V.E.” on his Bing phone. Like anyone would do.

Felicity is still upset at Oliver and can’t understand why he’d want to sleep with Isabel. He says it just happened, and that, because of the kind of life he leads, he can’t be with someone he might care deeply for (HINT HINT HINT). Felicity replies that she thinks he just deserves someone better. Holy ramped-up sexual tension, Green Arrow.

ON THE FREIGHTER

Oliver’s still trying to deal with the fact that Sarah isn’t dead. Anthony Ivo comes in and questions Oliver about the island, and Oliver says that Ivo’s men killed his friends. He also uses the name “Tommy” to fool Ivo. Ivo says that the only reason he’s alive is to take them to what they want: the Japanese graves are home to WWII-era project called “Miracle,” in which they tried to create supersoldiers from early stem cell research. Ivo wants it.

Shado is busy tending to Slade’s bad facial burns. The two bond over the fact that neither would leave the other behind. She wraps her arms around him when he begins to shiver violently, because nothing warms up a big, burly guy faster than the spindly embrace of a small woman.

Oliver talks to Anatoli on the ship, and then Sarah comes in to free him. She takes him to radio Shado and Slade, who he confesses aren’t dead, and as soon as Shado responds, Sarah pulls the plug. Seems she’s been working for Ivo all along. The Captain almost kills Oliver, but Sarah stops him, saying he could still be useful. Ivo says Oliver will have to lead them to the graves once his friends are dead. And he knows he’s Oliver Queen. Dun dun and, if I may, dun.

There’s a ton of great stuff in this episode, and really good character moments. Probably my favorite thing about it, unfortunately, is that Laurel wasn’t in it. As great as this season’s been so far, I really dislike what’s going on with Laurel. She really feels like a squeaky, superfluous wheel. She seems to have no function. At any rate, we’ll probably get a lot more of her next week in “State vs. Queen,” an episode that begins Moira’s trial and sees the return of Count Vertigo (who I was positive was dead…not).

]]>http://nerdist.com/arrow-recap-keep-your-enemies-closer/feed/2ARROW Recap: Broken Dollshttp://nerdist.com/arrow-recap-broken-dolls/
http://nerdist.com/arrow-recap-broken-dolls/#commentsThu, 24 Oct 2013 22:00:51 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=94665We know the world we’re in; now it’s time to add some intrigue. After last week’s functional second episode, Arrow brought the thunder in Season Two’s third episode, “Broken Dolls.” We got a creepy-ass villain, raised stakes for Moira Queen, some parkour from Roy, some revelations from the Lances, and we find out a whooooooole lot about Black Canary without actually knowing anything. It’s very exciting. Oh, and some stuff happens on the island, too.

When we last left the Emerald Archer, he was surrounded by Laurel’s SWAT friends. He tries to tell her that they’re on the same side, to which she tells him to lower his weapon. He does. This is surely the end of Oliver’s crime fighting activities! Oh, wait – Black Canary smashes through the window and saves him by using a device that emits a banshee-like scream. They skedaddle, and then she leaves without giving much of an explanation. This troubles Oliver. Obviously he’s grateful for the help, but he’s skeptical, and rightfully so.

Elsewhere, a young woman has been murdered, her mouth filled with a preservative and her body dressed and propped up like a porcelain doll. The SCPD don’t want Officer Lance to get involved, because he’s seen it before. It’s the MO of a baddie named Barton Mathis, aka “The Dollmaker,” played by the always creepy Michael Eklund. It seems that when the earthquake happened, a percentage of the criminals locked up in prison got out, including Mathis. Lance is upset, but, given his new reduced status, he’s been forbidden from being on the case, lest he get arrested for obstruction. Okay, I really think the Starling City Police Department has got their priorities wrong. Let’s devote all our energy to catching a guy who stops bad guys (admittedly, by killing them) and a good cop who’s trying to do his best.

Lance, seeing no other option, gets in touch with Felicity, knowing she works with the Hood. Oliver agrees to help, putting the search for Black Canary on hold for the time being. They meet on a rooftop, and Lance explains his change of heart, knowing that the city is getting too rough for people not to act when they can. Quite the turnaround from Lance last year, but given how the city is in ruins, he can’t really afford to be on a high horse.

Lance then goes to see his daughter, who has just yet again been around broken glass and gunfire. She’s still doggedly gunning for the vigilante, whom Lance now thinks should be called “The Arrow” instead of “The Hood,” and is upset that her father is okay with him now. He knows she blames him for Tommy’s death, but (and this an excellent point) a guy with a bow and arrow can’t do much to stop a collapsing building. Who’d have thought Quentin Lance could be so level-headed?

Arrow goes with Lance to see the Dollmaker’s lawyer (named Tony Daniel. Comics reference.) who, under duress, tells them that the psychopath is likely at the Bisque Museum, because it reminds him of Germany where they invented porcelain dolls. What a terrifying individual. They check it out and in room 52 (another comics reference), they see a telephone. It rings and the Dollmaker tells Lance that he’s too late. He’s found a new victim, and she’s dying as they speak.

They figure out, thanks to Felicity’s computer whizzery, that the chemical compound was manufactured by Metamorpho Chemical (another comics reference) and that they also create a specific skincare product that makes women looks particularly porcelain-like. Felicity volunteers to be used as bait to draw out the bad guy, which works, except Lance and Arrow are unable to catch him before the police arrive. Arrow gets away, but Lance is, of course, arrested.

Elsewhere, Moira Queen gets ready for her hearing. People don’t seem to be too fond of her, what with the 503 people dead and her playing an implicit part in that, and the judge is denying bail and the D.A. is seeking the death penalty. Oliver vows that they’ll fight it, and Moira’s lawyer seems to think once the truth is aired out, people will be lenient on her. However, Moira doesn’t want her family to know all her deepest and darkest secrets and is fully prepared to take whatever punishment is doled out. Ever the cold-blooded mother, that Mrs. Queen.

Roy has been on assignment from Arrow to find out what he can about Black Canary. He eventually tracks down a friend of hers, a young punk named Sin. She runs for it and Roy gives chase, which leads to one of the best needless parkour scenes on television. Eventually, he chases her to a clock tower where he gets walloped upside the head. When he wakes up, he’s zip-tied and Canary demands to know if “they” sent him. He can’t quite get around to saying anything because his phone buzzes and he gets a text message from Thea saying that Laurel has been kidnapped. Canary says to untie Roy and goes a-running.

Yes, it seems the Dollmaker has kidnapped both Quentin and Laurel. He’s going to do is doll routine on Laurel while her father watches. Sadistic. However, just as the deadly goo is about to hit her mouth, Arrow arrives and fires his namesake at the tubing, saving Laurel’s life. He frees Lance while the Dollmaker runs off. The policeman says to do what he has to do to stop him.

He doesn’t have to do much, because Black Canary is there to smack him six ways from Sunday with her awesome metal bow staff. Oliver fires two non-lethal arrows at the guy, hitting him in both shoulders, and saying the Dollmaker’s going back to jail. However, Canary throws her own blade, hitting the bad guy in the chest and killing him. Then, she’s gone.

Laurel is shaken up, understandably, and is baffled as to why Arrow would save her after she tried to take him down. Then she FINALLY realizes that it wasn’t his fault that Tommy died and actually it was hers for not getting out of the Glades when she was told, by both Oliver and Quentin. So now she’s probably gonna be all guilt-ridden and sappy for the next several episodes.

The episode ends with Canary being visited by a hooded figure, but it’s not the one we think. It’s a guy in a black ninja outfit, not unlike that worn by Malcolm Merlyn as the Black Archer. She’s told that Ra’s Al Ghul (!) wants her to come back, but she says she has to stay. So that’s what’s been going on! She’s in the League of Shadows!

ON THE ISLAND

Shado stays with the Japanese soldier’s bones while Oliver and Slade go searching for the origin of the guys who attacked them. Slade warns again about Oliver making attachments. Slade slips and almost falls off a cliff, but Oliver saves him. I’m sure he’ll live to regret that decision. They get to the top of the mountain and look with binoculars to see a ship in the harbor. It begins firing missiles at the location of the cave. Oliver screams “Shado!” and goes running with Slade following after.

In an onslaught of explosions, Oliver is knocked out and only remains conscious long enough to see Slade writhing in agony from being on fire. When Oliver wakes up, he’s in a cage, near other cages, aboard the ship. The ship pulls away and we see the word “Amazo” on the back. Another comic book reverence.

After a weak week, we get a whole slew of stuff happening. Every character has a storyline set up for the season now, and that all but ensures we won’t have wasted people. It might now be too many characters, but I’m sure the writers will be able to figure everything out. They’re pretty damn great after all.

Now, let’s take a look at the next episode, “Crucible”:

]]>http://nerdist.com/arrow-recap-broken-dolls/feed/4What to Expect in ARROW Season 2, Premiering Wednesday Nighthttp://nerdist.com/what-to-expect-in-arrow-season-2-premiering-tonight/
http://nerdist.com/what-to-expect-in-arrow-season-2-premiering-tonight/#commentsWed, 09 Oct 2013 21:30:56 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=92583Tonight sees the return of the CW’s surprise smash hit Arrow. Many, including yours truly, were skeptical about another DC superhero program on the network that gave us ten seasons of Smallville, yes, but also the failed Birds of Prey and the pilot-only Aquaman. Arrow, however, benefited from a solid premise made stronger as the season progressed, a highly-cinematic shooting style, and not skimping out on the supervillainry. (We got Deadshot, Deathstroke, Count Vertigo, and the Royal Flush Gang all in one season!) What kind of things can we expect from the second season? We spoke to executive producer/co-head writer Andrew Kreisberg, star Stephen Amell, and co-star Emily Bett Rickards to get a hint of some answers to these very *ahem* pointed questions.

Most fans of the show will tell you that the first several episodes of the first season, with Oliver Queen brutally taking out names of bad people on his Failed-the-City list, were good but not necessarily great, and that a little before the halfway point, the show really picked up. This is a sentiment shared by its writers too. Said Kreisberg, “Around episodes 10, 11, 12 last year is when we as writers really found the groove of the show. I think we were still trying to discover it in the beginning. I think the storytelling this season will be tighter and cleaner from the get-go, because we figured out how to write Arrow.” He adds that once the premise for the show evolved, it was off to the races. “I think once we got it, we felt really good about it; it had a really strong run in the back half of Season 1, and I think these first few episodes of Season 2 are really continuing that.”

One of the most popular additions to the series while it was still finding its footing was that of Felicity Smoak, played by Emily Bett Rickards. She was meant at first only to a one-off character of a computer whiz working for Queen Consolidated, but eventually became Arrow’s permanent tech person. The fans of the show embraced her right away, and that has led to her being a full cast member this season. Of how the fan reaction colors her performance, Rickards says, “It lets me be a little more confident. It’s interesting, because at the same time Felicity’s getting to be a bit more confident too. I’m so happy the audience related to her.”

She also talked about Felicity’s place in the trio opposite Oliver and John Diggle (David Ramsey), both of whom are men of action. “Felicity’s never had a family, I don’t think, like this,” Rickard explains. “She’s found a spot here. Before, she was working in Queen Consolidated in a little cubby, alone, and she was comfortable but she wasn’t happy. I think she’s afraid, because the three of them are always put in these high-stakes situations, that the contentment won’t last forever, and if it doesn’t, where does that leave her?”

From the very start, Arrow set up the convention of flashing back to Oliver’s five year stint stuck on the island and how that would contribute to him becoming the scarred and capable man that returned. While this might have initially felt like a Lost idea, it too evolved into something much more engaging, introducing Slade Wilson, a/k/a Deathstroke, played by Manu Bennett, as Oliver’s begrudging ally. The writers even felt confident enough to set an entire episode in the flashback, Episode 14, “The Odyssey.”

“We didn’t know if it was going to work,” admits Kreisberg, “and that really showed us we could do that, and people could become invested no matter what kind of story we tell. That’s what gave us the confidence to do “The Undertaking” episode where we flashback to five years before. It gave us confidence in our storytelling, confidence in our characters, and confidence in our audience that they’re happy to go on this journey with us no matter where we take them.”

Oliver’s growth is taking two paths on the show, one in the past, on the island slowly transforming from spoiled rich kid to strong and ruthless survivalist, and the other in the present, a hardened man fighting learning how to fight the good fight while pretending to still be the man he was. It presents a unique challenge for the man playing Oliver, Stephen Amell, but he says it’s a challenge he likes. “It keeps me grounded and it keeps me thinking,” he says. “The cool thing about playing all these different versions of the character is I always have to check in with them. I know that they have to be very distinctly different, so I’m constantly aware of it. It helps me.”

This dual storyline aspect of the show led to parallel thematic or plot elements, but sometimes things feel like they don’t line up at all. This is a problem the writers hope to solve in the second season. “We’re not shy about it; in the beginning the island was a bit too much of a mystery even to us and I think it showed in a few places,” Kreisberg admits. “This season, we were very cognizant of, what’s the story in the flashbacks, what’s the overall story we’re trying to tell there, and where are we going and where are we starting so that we’re making the plot machinations better bridge the gap between the present and the past.”

Without giving too much away, the finale of Season 1 had Oliver in the past triumphant over his enemy, but Oliver in the present devastated after a huge defeat. Where will each version of our hero go as the new season begins? Amell explains that each will have a wake-up call pretty quickly. “[At the beginning of the season] Island Oliver is kind of a happy guy. Fyers’ men are dead, there’s no real danger on the island at the moment, and it’s kind of a happy, jovial Oliver. It’s neat. But, things shift pretty dramatically by the end of the first episode.” It’s a complete opposite to what happens with his present-day counterpart, Amell adds. “We find him in a very different spot; resolved to a very different life. It takes a cataclysmic event to draw him back into Hoodedness.” However, he does give hope to those who are interested in the development of his storyline with Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) who was introduced last year. “Pretty early on in the season, we see some cool interactions between Oliver and Roy, and also Arrow and Roy, and I’m very excited about that.”

Kreisberg finished by telling us that this season will be a tale of two very different Oliver Queens. “Oliver’s journey in the present this season is really leaving the list and being a vigilante behind and becoming more of a hero, whereas conversely we’re going to be seeing more of a dark journey of him in the past. Last season, Island Oliver was a bit of a lighter character, and there was some fun seeing a fish out of water. In this season we’re really going to be putting him through his paces and finding out the origin of a lot more of those scars.”

—

You can see Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak, and all the other fantastic characters (including an appearance by The Flash later on) when Season 2 of Arrow premieres tonight (Wednesday, October 9th) on The CW.

The Walking Dead returns to your picture box on February 12th, and AMC released the midseason teaser for the next episode, Nebraska. Guns, check. Zombies, check. Rick screaming, check. Looks like a great season of The Walking Dead is about to happen! Hopefully they leave that farm sooner than later.