The Strain
Season 2 Episode 6: “Identity”
Directed by Howard Deutch
Written by Justin Britt-Gibson
Created by Chuck Hogan, Guillermo del Toro
Starring Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Mia Maestro, Kevin Durand, Richard Sammel, Jonathan Hyde, Miguel Gomez, Natalie Brown, Ruta Gedmintas, Jack Kesy, Ben Hyland, Lizzie Brocheré, Robin Atkin Downes, Robert Maillet, Joaquín Cosio
FX
Air Date: Sunday August 16th, 2015, 10pm

Last week on The Strain, we met newly elevated Kelly Goodweather’s (Natalie Brown) scuttling vampre kids, and nobody could catch or kill them. Dutch (Ruta Gedmintas) and Nora (Mia Maestro) get Fet (Kevin Durand)out of jail, and all three are recruited to help the “clean Red Hook phase.” I really think they are going through with the budding romance story between Palmer (Jonathan Hyde), and Coco (Lizzie Brocheré), and I don’t like it. I’m waiting for her agenda to appear.

The Lizzie Borden Chronicles
Episode 1.6 “Fugitive Kind”
Directed by Howard Deutch
Written by David Simkins
Starring Christina Ricci, Clea DuVall, Cole Hauser, Bradley Stryker, Jeff Wincott, Dylan Taylor, John Ralston
Lifetime
Air Date: Sunday, May 10, 2015, 10pm ET

Last week on The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, the tableau I mentioned really was art. Isabel (Olivia Llewellyn), sprawled, newly killed on the bed, with Spencer’s head tucked neatly between her legs. That’s not the kind of thing you can unsee. The lesson here is… check behind doors when you hear a suspicious noise. When Lizzie (Christina Ricci) was revealed behind that door, I screamed “Run!” at the TV. And even though Hilliard (Jeff Wincott) had been with Siringo (Cole Hauser) pretty much the whole time, it seems Siringo is damned. I KNEW she was dead meat as soon as she and Siringo hit the hay, and talked of the future. They will not get a happy ending. That is not this show.

One thing that is surprising is how long Skipjack (Bradley Stryker) has lasted. I pegged him to be offed in Episode 2.

Check out the “Body Count” video and the clip from last week’s episode below.

My Best Friend’s Girl
Unrated Edition
Directed by Howard Deutch
Starring Dane Cook, Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs, Alec Baldwin, Diora Baird
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Release Date: January 13, 2009

I’m going to get something off my chest that I’ve been holding onto for quite awhile: I don’t hate Dane Cook. Not totally, anyway. In the past I have found the humor in his not so subtle brand of comedy. It’s stupid, juvenile, and gets old after awhile (especially when every idiot in the country tries to quote him incessantly), but I’ve had a laugh. That being said, his movies are garbage. Mr. Brooks and Dan in Real Life were good in their own right even with his inclusion, but they worked because he was left on the sideline — which is a nice way of saying he didn’t ruin them. The problem with the movies he has headlined is that his stand up doesn’t translate to the screen at all. So even if you like his routine, the movies suck. And if you don’t, they really suck. There is an argument in that thought about him being one dimensional and unfunny and his movies being proof of that, but I don’t have the strength to discuss it. Partly because I’m not trying to defend him and partly because it doesn’t matter. The point is, as easy a target as it would be to jump on the I-wouldn’t-piss-on-Dane-Cook-if-he-were-on-fire bandwagon, any problems My Best Friend’s Girl has actually aren’t his fault. Not totally, anyway.

Tank Turner (Cook) provides a service. When guys have somehow screwed up their relationships, he is the guy they hire to date their exes. His service is that he takes these unsuspecting girls on dates and is purposely such an asshole that they are left with no choice than to run back into the arms of their former boyfriends. Call it making them look good by default. It’s a pretty good little racket and the dates make for some of the funnier moments in the movie.