Gotham
Season 4 Episode 1: “A Dark Knight: Pax Penguina”
Directed by Danny Cannon
Written by John Stephens
Created by Bruno Heller
Starring Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, Sean Pertwee, Robin Lord Taylor, David Mazouz, Camren Bicondova, Cory Michael Smith, Erin Richards, Chris Chalk, Jessica Lucas, Drew Powell, Morena Baccharin
FOX
Air Date: Thursday, September 21st, 2017, 8pm

Warning! Spoilers below for the season 4 premiere of Gotham!

Last season on Gotham was just bananas, as we lost 2 (sort of 3 then 4 then 3 again) major characters. Bruce ran Alfred (David Mazouz, Sean Pertwee) through with a sword, but Ra’s al Ghul (Alexander Siddig) told him to use the Lazarus Pit to restore him. Bruce vowed to never join him. Jim (Ben McKenzie) accidentally killed Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and she and Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) had a touching moment before she died in his arms. Penguin got the drop on Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) and froze him into an ice sculpture. Barbara killed Butch (Erin Richards, Drew Powell) and then Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) killed Barbara. Lee left Jim (Morena Baccharin) after he wouldn’t run away with her and he injected her with the cure for the Tetch virus. A masked Bruce Wayne stopped a robbery in progress.

Spoilers below.

Outlander
Season 3 Episode 2: “Surrender”
Directed by Jennifer Getzinger
Written by Anne Kenney
Created by Ronald D. Moore
Based on the books by Diana Galbadon
Starring Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Tobias Menzies, Duncan Lacroix, Richard Rankin, Sophie Skelton, Grant O’Rourke, Romann Berrux, Andrew Gower, John Bell, Steven Cree, Laura Donnelly, Greg Esplin
Starz
Air Date: Sunday, September 17th, 2017, 9:00pm

Warning! Spoilers below for Outlander!

Last time on Outlander, we saw what happened at Culloden and to Claire (Caitriona Balfe) after she went back to the 1940s through the stones. Jamie and BlackJack Randall (Sam Heughan, Tobias Menzies) found each other amongst the battle din, and savagely slashed at each other until they both fell. When Jamie awoke, BlackJack was dead and the British were stabbing the men that were still alive. Jamie was rescued for a very brief time with some other survivors, but the British found them and started killing them one by one. When it was his turn and he gave his full name, the man in charge could not kill him. He was the brother of the boy Jamie spared, john Grey and it was a debt of honor. Although no one believed he would survive the journey, Jamie made it to Lallybroch and his family.

Spoilers below.

Outlander
Season 3 Episode 1: “The Battle Joined”
Directed by Brendan Maher
Written by Ronald D. Moore
Created by Ronald D. Moore
Based on the books by Diana Galbadon
Starring Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Tobias Menzies, Duncan Lacroix, Richard Rankin, Sophie Skelton, Grant O’Rourke, Romann Berrux, Andrew Gower, John Bell, Steven Cree, Laura Donnelly, Greg Esplin
Starz
Air Date: Sunday, September 10th, 2017, 9:00pm

Warning! Spoilers below for the season 3 premiere of Outlander!

Outlander has finally returned! Starz’s sweeping time-traveling historical romance based on the series of novels by Diana Galbadon returned last night with “The Battle Joined.” This season is based on Gabaldon’s 3rd novel, Voyager, which is supposed to reunite husband and wife, Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire Randall Fraser (or rather, Claire Randall Fraser Randall Fraser played by Caitriona Balfe), after he pushed her back to the 1940s and to 1st husband Frank Randall (Tobias Menzies).

Spoilers below.

Preacher
Episode 2.13 “The End of the Road”
Written by Sam Catlin
Directed by Wayne Yip
Created by Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Starring Dominic Cooper, Joe Gilgun, Ruth Negga, Graham McTavish, Tom Brooke, Ian Colletti, Julie Ann Emery
AMC
Air date: Monday, September 11, 2017

As the Grateful Dead said, “What a long strange trip it’s been.” Season 2 of AMC’s Preacher never came close to a sophomore slump; in fact, it somehow improved on the sheer lunacy of Season 1. What started as both a quest to find God and a run from the Saint of Killers has ended with Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) being groomed to be the new Messiah by Herr Starr (Pip Torrens), leader of The Grail. This new path did not fly well with Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun), each of whom has been dealing with serious issues without Jesse’s help much of the season. Tulip is suffering from PTSD after nearly being killed by The Saint (Graham McTavish) and Cass has been dealing first with his son Denis (Ronald Guttman) dying, and then a much more serious problem of freshly turned vampire Denis and his insatiable appetite. With that happening on this plain of existence, Eugene, aka Arseface (Ian Colletti) is trying to sneak out of Hell along with Adolf F*cking Hitler (Noah Taylor).

Spoilers for the Season 2 Finale of Preacher below:

Blood Drive
Season 1 Episode 13: “Finish Line” (Season 1 Finale)
Created by James Roland
Directed by David Straiton
Written by James Roland
Starring Alan Ritchson, Christina Ochoa, Thomas Dominique, Marama Corlett, Colin Cunningham, Andrew Hall, Darren Kent, Renee Castle, Alex McGregor
Syfy
Air Date: Wednesday, September 6, 2017, 10pm

Blood Drive on SYFY has gained a cult following since debuting over the Summer. Created by James Roland, the grindhouse series captures the essence of the grit and grainy genre, feeling like a companion piece to the Video Nasty sub-culture of the late ’70s and ’80s. The retro vibe influenced its die hard super fans to adopt the nickname Bleeders on social media. This is the final stretch of the Blood Drive, as the racers are now on course, heading straight toward the evil Heart Enterprises. The unlikely alliance of Grace (Christina Ochoa), Arthur (Alan Ritchson) and Slink (Colin Cunningham) is looking to destroy Heart once and for all.

Last week, Arthur was “Primo,” the Blood Drive King. That was until Grace helped him realize he was being set up to slaughter. Christopher (Thomas Dominique) betrayed him”¦ but it was a Heart-produced robot Christopher, the real one locked away in Heart’s dungeons, along with his cybertronic girlfriend Aki (Marama Corlett). I have to be honest, this is awfully bittersweet. Blood Drive started as pure guilty pleasure, but evolved into a truly unique and memorable viewing experience, each week playing off a different grindhouse sub-genre. It very quickly became my favorite show of 2017. Hopefully, the relentless work of the Bleeders to trend #RenewBloodDrive will get to those in high places and it can somehow gain a second season.

Check out my review for the Season 1 finale of Blood Drive here below.