Chicago Trilogy

     Last year, Sam suggested I watch a couple of episodes of Chicago Med- for parrot-related reasons- basically, one of the doctors adopts a parrot(looks like a blue-crowned conure)which is diagnosed with PTSD by the psych attending of the hospital. The doctor who adopted him also has PTSD, which is why they get along so well.

     I found it to be a high quality show, and ended up watching most of season 1, whatever was available on Hulu. I have a personal theory that the parrot is actually bonded to the actor, based on body language.

     This year, in a TV dry week, I watched the available episodes of Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire

     what they have done with these three shows is not unprecedented- I remember(and have backup) for the old TV Show "Emergency!" crossing over with "Adam 12" and "CHiPS" but these were quick jaunts, and what the Chicago Trilogy has is actually a shared universe, like the CW DC shows, where characters from one will show up on another show, or are related to characters on another show, and often plots spill over from one show to the other.

     I love this kind of Universe building in media, where characters exist in a larger world, where their story is not in a vacuum- what the Chicago universe does so well is to have it be an everyday thing. These characters all know each other, have real relationships, and affect each other. Where the Chicago shows excel and stand out, is the casual nature of these stop-ins. It's brilliant marketing, as one show directs you to the others, but it also gives you a sense of neighborhood.

Chicago Fire was the first one- exploring the lives and work of a single firehouse- a family pulled together by their responsibility to the people around them

Chicago P,D, was the second show, focusing on both beat cops and the elite intelligence unit that investigates and combats major offenses

Chicago Med is the third, and focuses on the emergency department at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center

Let me say at this point, there are no transformers on these shows at all. That we know of...

Here are some more of these TV crossovers, including ones I mentioned

Pop Culture League Challenge: Space Marines

A futuristic vision from ...

     So I am(no surprise) going off book here- while I am aware of Space Marines, in various media, they don't quite hit for me, They don't really inspire me quite the way a couple of other things do.

     The first thing I thought of was Phule's Company by Robert Asprin- A series of books about the Space Legion- an organization that takes in the worst of the worst: criminals, the disgraced, the incompetent. The books chronicle the adventures of Willard J. Phule, a weapons and munitions manufacturing heir, and his unique ways of solving problems and getting the best out of the people around him. He is given command of an "omega company" which is where the worst of the worst of the worst end up- screw-ups who have burned their bridges everywhere else. He quickly makes this omega company the best the legion can offer and becomes the most sought after commander in the legion.

     Rather than being a regular military force, the Space legion is more like a private security contractor. They are characterized as perpetually strapped for cash and kind of a laughingstock until Phule and his Omega Mob.

The series consists of

• Phule's Company (1990)
• Phule's Paradise (1992)
• A Phule and His Money (1999) with Peter J. Heck
• Phule Me Twice (2000) with Peter J. Heck
• No Phule Like an Old Phule (2004) with Peter J. Heck
• Phule's Errand (2006) with Peter J. Heck

     The second item is a little more personal. Back when I was married, in both the good old days adn the bad old days, Sam and I lived, ate and breathed Stargate SG-1. We watched it, season by season, and then about three seasons of Atlantis, and then what of Universe there was. 

     At some point in there, we picked up this:

     What we created was another branch of the Stargate command, under General Branch, which used organic ships instead of the gate system. Together, we populated a couple of galaxies, but my two favorite characters to play were Charles Emory Landscomb, reformed eco-terrorist and certified genius-"Chalky" to his friends

And Colonel Walker Bruce, Soldier, sometime straight-man, and good guy. 

     Sadly, when Sam and I divorced, one of the things that got lost was that world-building. I still miss it sometimes, and I miss the friends I made there. I miss those adventures. 

From my fellow leaguers:

• Green Plastic Squirt Gun gave us his alien queens
• Alexis' Universe gave us her handpicked best of the best
• The Toy Box told us of the tomes of DOOM
• 20 Years Before 2000 told of finding the soldier of the future in the goodwill of the past

Pop Culture League Challenge: “Here there be Monsters”

Another Excellent writing prompt from

     When I saw the challenge, my immediate thought was "What is a monster?" A short except from Wikipedia gives us a definition:  A monster is any creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is often hideous and may produce fear or physical harm by its appearance or its actions.


     But: Everything is a monster to something. To the Mouse that tries to get into Tangos cage, I am the monster that glues the floor. To me, he is the monster trying to kill my bird. To the doves we feed outside, we are monsters...Kindly ones, but to be avoided in close contact nonetheless. To the hawks that hunt the doves on our street...etc. To me the live action Transformers movies were about heroes and villains, but to my elderly parents...25 foot metal monsters, both factions. There are Monsters on the Big screen and the Small one, Monsters in our news feeds, even, some might say, Monsters running for office in the election this year.

     I learned early on about Vampires(the Lugosi kind, not the sucky sparkly kind.)I've seen Mummies, Frankenstein's creature, King Kong but the first monster that even really sparked my imagination was the king of them all:

He has a modern look,

But it's the classic look for me

     He has around 30 live-action films and three animated series based on his majesty. And I have this weird toy I have had forever that sort of echoes him in ways...If anyone knows it's origin, or even has ever seen the like, let me know.

Pacific Rim was a different kind of take on the Kaiju movie- As the narrator/protagonist states:"To fight monsters we created monsters of our own". Because Giant Robots vs. giant monsters never escalates...

     There are Cryptids, some of which may exist but probably nothing like we imagine them. A recent picture of the Loch Ness monster(the clearest ever taken!) was probably three seals swimming together.

     I think it fitting to end this post on monsters with Supernatural, because the show is above all else, about family, and the term 'Monster' is relative. Dean and Sam Winchester travel the country in their black Impala, saving people and hunting things.

     As they travel, they hold to each other above all else. But as they kill monsters, they discover that some of those 'monsters' are just quietly trying to stay under the radar, live the best they can, and stay alive. Some of the monsters have families of their own, and consider the Winchesters to be the monsters.

     Look at the monsters, and know that even Grendel had a point of view, even Grendel had a mom. A Hot, hot mom...

 Monster is a choice, not an appearance. The Monsters are inside us, should we but let them loose.

 Here be Monsters

And here be links. Please click the Logo above for any I missed

• Collectors Universe showed his favorite seasonal decorations
• Green Plastic Squirt Gun showed us his many monstrous collectables
• 20 years before 2000 makes it our unlucky day
• The Nerd Nook's post gave him a monster appetite
• GI Jigsaw Painted the dead, walking
• Big Tone chose the best from his collection
• The Toy Box hit up The BatMan's rogues gallery
• Rebel with Causes covered some of his most monstrous influences
• DI Treasures gave us his top ten plus one

Pop Culture League Challenge: Olympic Medal Winner

If _____ was an Olympic sport, I’d have a gold medal around my neck.

     This is a tricky one. What am I better at than anyone else? What is that one talent that there oughtta be an Olympic event for? 

     Enter the Media Pentathalon:

• Genre-Bingeing
• Flawed Gem Polishing
• Verbal trailering
• Media finding
• Connection-hunting

     This is an event tailor made for me, and those who come after me-Come forth all ye Cheetos-dusted Olympians and try yourselves against the king of media events!

Genre-Bingeing: 

Anyone can go season by season- the truly gifted can binge a genre- or even just go movie to movie based on an actor, or even a gut feeling. If it starts out August, and you look up from the screen and find it's October, you may have what it takes. 

Flawed gem Polishing:

Take a movie that nearly everyone hates, and find it's silver lining. Find the facets, and find the shine. I have been accused on more than one occasion of having a low threshhold of entertianment. It is at once my gift, my curse, and my responsibility. I liked Dawn of Justice. I liked John Carter. I Liked Battleship and Gods of Egypt...

Verbal Trailering:

Talk to people, enchant them with the sound of your enthusiasm. Get them to see the movie, with a measure of your enthusiasm. No spoilers please, points will be deducted. 

Media Finding: 

Whether you buy a series of action figures or just that one odd bit of memorabilia that symbolizes the movie or show to you, that item to have and hold is your talisman, your tactile representation of that work of fiction-display it proudly

Connection Hunting:

Possibly the most grueling challenge of the five, to connect the movie you just saw to other things you have seen- examples are : the Lorax and Wall-E; Star Wars original trilogy with Wanted; Transformers and Spider-man

Come Join me on the Podium, with your Bronze and Silver, or give me a good argument for not getting the gold...

Other Olympic Champions

• Rebel With Causes and Toy Break got gold and silver for the 100 meter procrastination. they will get around to picking up their medals eventually
• Diary of a Dorkette got all 10s for her humming of video game tunes, and gave me an ear-worm
• Green Plastic Squirt Gun has an event from the dust and to the dust it shall return in time...
• Jathniel is strong in the ways of the trivial force
• 20 years before 2000 is taking gold in 50 meter freestyle parenting
• the Harvey Mercheum is worrying his way to the podium
• Travelling Pics is taking her show on the road for the win! Toy travelling marathon!
• Rediscover the 80's is playing competitive Contra
• Calvins Canadian Cave of Cool is doing the self-blogging triathalon
• The Toy Box is working the toy cataloguing relay
• The Nerd Nook has a truly gold-worthy junk drawer- chances are the medal will wind up there too

Farewell for now, Castle and Beckett

     I watched the series finale of Castle...finally, like a week later than I could have. Because I guess I was a little afraid to say goodbye.




     Watching the finale, I know they weren't ready to say goodbye either.




     Now, understand I don't pretend to know someone's mind, but I know stories. And I gotta say, yes, they concluded the LokSat storyline, but then they tagged on the "seven years later" epilogue.


     It felt rushed. It was a good, happy farewell to Castle and becket, but it left some things unwrapped. I would have liked to see Ryan, Espo, Martha, Alexis in the Idyllic little family scene with Castle & Becket + three kids.


     As endings go, it wasn't the best.


     It also was not the worst.


     I have seen some finales that were either no finale, or a direct middle finger, defiantly thrust upward at the viewer. Not a satisfying wrap up, but a bitter breakup instead.


     So I will let Castle and his family lie in their happy-ever-after until I collect all the DVD seasons and then visit them again. They ended their story true to the promise and premise they had built for 8 seasons.


     Castle and Beckett- Always...

It Was Over Way Too Fast

     Please pause for my fanboy geek-out moment. I will be right with you.

SQQUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

     Thank you. So I got up this morning and watched the season Premiere of the Flash on my tablet. (thank you, CW App) See my quick review above. Spoilers below, so be ye warn-ed, matey.

     Rather than picking up right after season 1's cliffhanger, they pick up six months later. Barry is alone, having pushed his team away for their protection. He is debating whether to go to the celebration in his name, where the Flash would be given the key to the city. He is mourning both Eddie Thawne and Ronnie Raymond, who perished while stopping Eobard Thawne, and feeling that he failed, because while he saved the city, he lost two friends. Joe, Cisco, Iris are hovering around him, but giving him Space.

     Barry decides to attend the ceremony, and who else should attend but a new metahuman, Atom Smasher- A hero most times in DC continuity, but not here- here he has come to destroy the Flash, for a Mysterious reason. With the help of his team, who decide Barry has had enough space, and Joe, who decides to stop taking "no" for an answer, they defeat the "meta of the week"

     And with his dying word, Atom Smasher identifies the Big Bad of the Season..."Zoom..."

Who could it be?
 could it be  

?

 

probably not- probably this guy.

there is more than one reverse flash, you see. and we have seen this one, so far, and he may not be dead everywhere, it turns out.


     But that's not the payout on this episode. "Harrison Wells" leaves S.T.A.R. labs to Barry, and a confession that frees Henry Allen from prison. Henry rides off into the sunset so Barry can be all he needs to become, promising to return if needed

Still not the payout.

this

is the payout


SQUEEE indeed. looking forward to next week.

Floored by a Flightless Seabird

     I have been watching Gotham from the first episode, and have been semi-impressed.

     Let me give a little background- back a trio of years ago, Once Upon A Time started up, and my feelings were complicated- I felt that there was no mystery- or very little- of who most of the characters were- that rather than going for the slow reveal, it was all out there in our faces. yet somehow, Once Upon A Time has kept jumping the shark and making me look forward to a bigger shark. it's kept me coming back for more, and pretty eagerly.

     So along came Gotham...and, yep, we figured out that Selina "Cat" Kyle is going to be Catwoman. We had an intimation that Edward Nygma would be the Riddler. No mystery there. And we are treated to a Penguin with what appears to be such psychopathically poor impulse control that he caused this sentence to begin with a conjunction (which is apparently OK).

     Episode 7- Penguin's Umbrella changed all that. 

SPOILER ALERT FOR THE GOTHAM DISADVANTAGED

     In the pilot, James Gordon (honest cop) is convinced under threat of harm to his fiance' to execute Oswald Cobblepot for the mob boss Falcone- Gordon fires his gun next to the Penguins head and tells him to disappear, never come back to Gotham. Which lasts...not very long- Cobblepot is back, slinking around the city and trying to create advantages for himself by ingratiating himself with rival boss Maroni. We are left with the impression that the very presence of this whack-job murderous Penguin is a danger to Gordon

     In Episode 7, we find out that the Penguin asked Falcone to have Gordon be his killer, because Gordon might spare him. And in return, the Penguin will be gathering information for Falcone. In other words...poor impulse control or no, The Penguin is pulling a whole puppet show's worth of strings behind the scenes. 

     I'm not gonna lie- my jaw dropped, I leaned in close to my screen and said "what the...hell???" Never saw it coming. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the next episode. And my Semi-Impressed got a whole lot more impressed

Putting Bones to Rest

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

If you are a bones fan and have not watched the first episode of season 10

TURN BACK NOW!

I make no more warnings or apologies-proceed at your own peril

     I have been a faithful watcher of Bones up to now- the following is my farewell letter to the show, and why I can't see it any more

     It's not the gore, it's not the graphic depictions of human remains. I have not grown a late-life queasy gut. It is that they threw away a character they had been developing over season after season for what seems to me to be a cheap moment of Pathos

Let me pause for a second to add that this is my perception, and mine alone...but I am the one writing this, so it's my opinion we'll be hearing

     Dr Lance Coulson...um Sweets- why the hell did I call him Coulson? We'll cover that. Sweets Dies in the first episode of season 10,, and I was...unmoved. I loved Sweets's character development, over the course of his time on the show. So why was I unmoved? Because they threw him away. They set up a situation where he had vital evidence he was bringing back, and someone ambushed him. Reasonable. did they need to kill him off? No, not really. I'm calling shenanigans and bad storytelling, and this is why. Shortly before they killed him off, they revealed that he was going to be a father.

     They played the daddy card, which when played in a hand with the widowed mommy card jerks the heartstrings of most of the audience members. If they have an ounce of human feeling left. Or unless they can see through the storytelling to see the cheap trick behind it

     Now the story behind the actors departure is that he is moving on to other projects- fine and dandy (or fine, but maybe not dandy) I can respect that, and an actor moving on to the next phase of his career

     Here is my problem, in a nutshell- they did it before, with Vincent Nigel-Murray. It's like a group of writers were sitting around saying "What do we do? Kill someone? get someone pregnant? Hey, what if we..."

     Here is my problem, in another nutshell

     Seen it before, and done better- Dr Lance Coulson...ok, Agent Phil Coulson- the difference being that Coulsons death in "the Avengers" serves a purpose and unites a fragmented team. Sweets Death serves no such narrative purpose, and as such, seems a desperate ploy. 

     They could have just made Sweets last words "sorry boss, the guy rabbited" and had done with it.

     Also, on the subject, Fury arriving to hear Coulsons last words before the medical team arrives makes sense, since Fury found him...I'm still not sure why Booth and Brennan arrived before the damn ambulance for Sweets

     Sloppy

     Bye, Bones- I will find another show to fill that time we spent together. I'm a little sad, but I'm not going to give in to pity-watching you

Stahma- I love you, but do not TRUST you

     I watched the first season of Defiance with eagerness, and when  it came back, I looked forward to it again. It's very much sci-fi meets western frontier, not unlike Firefly. Familiar themes, interesting characters...a lot of more adult themes( the town brothel is known as the "NeedWant")

     So, a quick rundown, if you have not watched; Defiance takes place on Earth, but an earth that has been invaded by and made peace with several alien races, collectively known as Votans. Their ships crashed, they have nowhere else to go, so Earth and the Votans have both changed and adapted. In addition, the Earth has been Unterraformed(since to terraform would be to make a world more earthlike) so we have new shapes to the terrain, new creatures in the wild, and so forth.

     That's all I really want to say about the show itself for now. You have the power of the internetz if you want to know more. What I want to talk about is character.

     For me, far and away the stand out character of season 2 is Stahma Tarr

     Portrayed by the lovely british actress Jaime Murray, known to me for Warehouse 13 and Dexter(season 2), the Makeup and effects wizards at SyFy changed this

into this: 

What words would I use to describe her? She has been compared to Lady Macbeth, but I think that is too shallow a description. 

Beautiful...elegant...demure...graceful...deferential...subtle...treacherous...insidious...devoted ...

The list could go on far past your point of patience. Suffice to say- when she graces the screen in Defiance...don't make an enemy of her. She is not interested in keeping an enemy around for very long. And she is not always easy on her friends either

League Assignment: Don't Touch That Dial!

     I love my Media- TV, Movies, Books, you name it. Like a Don Juan of the Airwaves, I fall in love, I court, and sometimes the love lasts...and sometimes I fall out of love. Sometimes things pass before their time, and sometimes they trip while jumping the shark and get eaten. Allow me to be kind of a dick(ens). This Night you shall be visited by Three Spirits...

     Ghosts of Media Past

Gone long before their time: 

• Firefly- curse Foxs sudden yet inevitable betrayal
• The Good Guys and never released on DVD I might add
• Surviving Jack Fox Cancelled it because they got rattled
• Suburgatory
• Transformers Prime-have to finish my post series about this one day soon

Still here, but kind of dead to me

• Modern Family- the same plotlines now as every other damn sitcom
• Last Man Standing-gotten kind of mean, and the actress swap on the oldest daughter is still jarring
• Bones -just not really engaging me like it used to

...Why is it still on the air???

• Greys Anatomy-I watched up through end of season 3-bleah

     Ghosts of Media Present

Eagerly Awaited each week

• Castle
• Longmire
• Arrow
• Agents of Shield
• Parks and Recreation-Four words- Ron Swanson, American Hero

With Slightly Less Anticipation, like old and trusted Friends

• Supernatural
• Grimm for Monroe and Rosalie if for no other reason
• NCIS

     Ghosts of Media Yet to Come

Who knows what the future holds?

• The Flash
• Gotham-canceled at 13 episodes! you heard it here first
• Amazon...maybe?
• NCIS New Orleans- not sure how the SAC on the show handles a gun but I hear he's a good archer

Here is the Nielsen roster from the rest of the league

• Jathniel likes not whole movies but specific scenes
• Brian from Cool and Collected is an Action Movie Buff
• AdamNori is possessed of an eclectic taste
• Pop Rewind tells us of the chocolatey allure of Willy Wonka(the original)
• Retro Robot Review loves the classics and home improvement shows

Almost Human...Almost Skipped it

     So I have to eat a little Cybernetic Crow. I expected Almost Human to be just sort of... I, Robot the TV series sans Will Smith

     and so the pilot was- you have a disgraced cop, struggling with his no longer quite human body, with a disdain for his required android partner, who is a non-standard Android of the DRN series(one of the crazy ones)

     and then it gets better


          and better still...


And now I am looking forward to each episode with the excitement I used to have for Fringe (before I kind of got lost in it)

Cybernetic Crow is not bad. It's a little crunchy. If you haven't tried Almost Human, I recommend it


note- this is my historic 200th post!

League Assignment: A Visit to the Kent's Guest Room

     I thought long and hard about this. I've wanted to visit a lot of fictional places. some of them I have even had a hand in creating (during my years of Role-play gaming). so where to visit? Almost anywhere you go in any pop culture universe has it's own inherent hazards. From the New York of Marvel, where anywhere you park your car it is guaranteed to be used as a weapon/casualty in a super-powered conflict, to the town of Pleasantville, where the very blandness is itself a threat. As threats go, I know to avoid any old cars or large dogs in Maine,

     There are an incredible number of Distinct Destinations, such as a trip to Hogwarts, a far-off locale like Eternia for a tour by Wind-Raider, A full Horror Movie Pilgrimage with ghostbusters gear on hand, or a trip across multiple famous planets at FTL speed . If I had a chance to visit my younger self, I would give myself some darn good advice to ignore. If I had the opportunity to "return" to the future...well, I'm thinking lottery numbers might be a good thing to pick up. All you would need would be a good travel agent with a useful room to get you there.

     I spent ten years watching Smallville (don't judge) and I tend to revisit there a lot (ditto). I like the character growth from awkward youth to man of steel that Clark exhibits, and all of the wrong turns along the way.

     My visit to Smallville began when I was run off the road in the middle of the night by some lunatic. I bumped my head pretty good, but when the farmer and his son helped pull me out of the car, I'm pretty sure the kid pushed the car back onto the road himself. No way he lifted it...uh uh. What the hell do they feed these farm kids, anyway? Anyway, they introduce themselves as Jonathan and Clark Kent. my car is leaking oil, and it's raining, so they offer to help me get it towed and a place to stay until I find out what it will take ot fix it. The Kents put me up in their guest room. In the morning Martha Makes pancakes

     In the Morning, Johnathan asks me where I was going, I tell him "Metropolis, I guess." and at his questioning look, I end up spilling the whole story, about the mess my life has become. We both lean our arms on the split rail fence, and he starts talking. For a man who looks like he should have a bright orange Dodge charger hidden somewhere on the farm, this guy can knock an inspirational speech out of the park. I feel a lot better after talking to him...until I hear about my civic. The oil pan is dinged, and I'm going to be here a few days. Amazingly, this family takes me in. It also turns out they know the car that ran me off the road (small towns, eh?) and "it's not like him to drive off from an accident". They take me over to speak to the driver of the car.

     Not sure what's going on, but Clark suddenly looks like he has the flu as we approach the drivers house. He's sweating, shaky, and I suddenly don't want him breathing on me. Jonathan tells him to go back to the car and he starts looking better. The Driver of the car that hit me doesn't answer his door, and the Kents call the sheriff out to take a look. Sheriff Adams is a no-nonsense kind of person, and finds that the driver of the car is dead when she investigates. She does make an odd comment about the Kents always being around when this type of thing happens.
    
     I was mad about my car, but now I feel bad, guy was probably in incredible pain when he ran me off the road. They don't have any idea why he died. Probably did not help that he had a house full of green rocks though...hoarder? Who knows? I'm tempted to pick up a rock, but...crime scene.

          We drive back to the Kents farm, and Clark offers to take a look at my car. He comes out and says he was able to fix the oil pan, and it wasn't as bad as we thought. My little civic is ready to go, in fact it's running a lot better than it was. Clark is one heck of a mechanic, plus he managed to get his farm chores done in record time... I do feel like I got some perspective on this trip, and I am ready to turn around and get my life back on track. So I stay one more night, for a pancake breakfast in the morning. Something about being around this family just seemed to straighten out my thinking ...wonder if I can get them to adopt me?

     It's odd to think that it's so nice here in Smallville when that tragedy happened to the Winchester family in Lawrence, KS, not so very far away!
    

3Bs visited Springfield
Movie Hodge Podge visited Q's lab for some Swag
Dead Man Dan(of Flying Monkeys) was a long distance call away from me in Gotham(and I never even knew!)
and we can only hope Cool and Collected will make it back from his trip to see some dinosaurs to do a final post for this week!

League Assignment: Star of the Show!

Do you have what it takes to be a Shakespearean prison actor?

Television executives have determined that you lead an amazing life and have pegged you as the next big reality TV star. What’s the name and the premise of your show? 

League of Extra Ordinary Bloggers

Prison Masters takes you into the thrilling and illicit world of the Ants of Words Shakespeare Troupe.  Ants of Words travels from penitentiary to penitentiary performing various Shakespearean works.  These actors put on shows to 'Bring Theater Arts to the Caged Masses'. They work with little to no money, no sets other than a stage, and no other expectations than to put on a good show.  Or so they say.  The real purpose of Ants of Words is far more sinister than anyone could guess.

Prison Masters debuts with reading tutor Peggy Mather's* first day as a volunteer drama coach.  She's instructed through security procedures and walked to the drama room by the overseeing warden himself.  Though Peggy is advised to 'never let yourself get caught alone with these guys' it's advice she very quickly forgets.  

Peggy first meets Joseph**, an inmate in for life.  He's a reformed gangster turned Christian.  He sneaks into the drama room, practices a few lines from the St. Crispin's Day speech, and charms her.  When he asks Peggy to return a hand-sized pink covered bible to his mamma, how can she refuse?  Later in the episode Joseph's mamma gives her a beta fish (complete with tank) to take back to her son.  (Several episodes later we learn the beta fish was for fish fighting - a source of gambling in the prison.  Oh, and there was money hidden in the air filter.)  It's up to Peggy to figure out how to get the 'gift' in to Joseph.

Each episode is 22 minutes before commercial inclusion.  Although this is filmed on location the opportunity for sponsorship is endless.  The viewers, as well as Peggy, are let into the fact that the primary purpose behind the troupe is to move goods.  What kind of goods?  Anything they can't obtain in person.  This goes beyond the usual cigarettes, cell phones, ipads, and poker decks.  Anything goes - the weirder the better.  

Although trades of goods are not the primary or secondary focus of the show approximately five minutes of air time will be devoted to how the item is obtained and what it is used for.  One mid-season episode is entitled Goliath.  The troupe itself 'trades-in' a small jar of four black widow spiders 'for gambling'.  At the end of the episode, however, the prison is locked down as a brutal guard is found dead in his office.   Vincent, the quiet director of the troupe, warns Peggy to say she doesn't know anything.  And that 'Rumor isn't truth."  The next episode opens with Peggy being interviewed by the Lieutenant Warden regarding what she knows of how the guard dies.  

Other troupe members include Jordi-Gordi-Diana.  Peggy's uncertain around him at first as, per the other troupe members, one never knows which one of the personalities you're talking to.  They grow closer, though, when Peggy learns the austere Shakespearean actor cannot read.  She decides to take Jordi-Gordi-Diana under her wing.  (By the end of the first season he's mastered reading at a fifth grade level and html coding.)

Though Peggy herself is often caught flat-footed, and a little surprised at the troupe's open attitudes towards just about everything, she surprises them as well.  When it's revealed Peggy is having relationship issues, each of the troupe members attempt to help her through 'man speak'.  In one episode troupe members argue the philosophical approach Peggy should take in dealing with her husband.  The prisoners backing the Freud 'method' (just f**k him till he grins) go sharpened spoon to fists with the prisoners backing the Maslow 'method' (lock him in a dark closet and deprive him of all things until he begs for forgiveness).  

One breakout surprise is Monster.  He's a former military specialist who has the habit of giving timely advice and mixing up his Shakespearean lines with poetry from Keats.  Monster collects postcards and magazine cut-outs of rare art pieces.  Though their relationship starts out warmly, Peggy's not to sure of him as the season travels on.  Her security in being around Monster takes a serious nosedive during the season ending episode.

Speaking of the season ender, what would you expect to happen at a prison?  That's right: a riot.  And Peggy Mathers is caught behind bars in an unfamiliar prison with the Ants of Words Shakespeare Troupe.  Asphault, a wiry haired wannabe vegan, suggests she eats the beta fish to survive.  A small betting war is started between two lesser troupe members as to whether or not Peggy will.  Later in the episode inmates burst into the room only to be faced with Monster.   Monster protects Peggy from the rioting inmates by doing what he does best: breaking bones and ending lives.  Ending scenes from this season are of Peggy talking about how she doesn't know if she's going to return to the troupe.  As the credits roll out Joseph can be heard quoting lines from Taming of the Shrew.  

  

*   All names are changed to protect the innocent. 
** Convicts are presumed innocent except where prosecuted in a court of law.

I enjoyed reading these League Challenge posts:
Lair of the Dark Horde
The Ward
Thrift Justice
Geeks In Love
Special Note: 3 B's Toy Hive - Must watch the 911 operator videos to the very end.  Too Good!  This made me laugh so hard.  Thank you!

Avoid The Green Ones

"Don't eat the green ones, Kent; you wouldn't like the Green ones"    

 - misquoted from "A Fish Called Wanda"

I watched Total Recall (the Schwarzenegger one) and at 1:31 in the playback, the master villain kicks over his fishtank in a fit of pique; cut to a closeup of poor dying goldfish, gasping out their last, symbolic (I assume) of the martian workers he is starving of air.
     What follows is a woefully incomplete list of media containing GFV (gratuitious fish violence)

Total Recall

A Fish Called Wanda

Finding Nemo (yes)

the Deadliest Catch

The Life Aquatic

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Pirates of The Caribbean At Worlds End

Jingo and Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter