​The beauty of horror and science fiction, is that these two genres can explore the darkest parts of our imagination in poignant fashion. Because not only will these two genres scare us or explore the impossible, they leave us thinking when it comes to our greatest fears or the unknown and last night, The X-Files combined both genres once again to explore a part of our world that indeed keeps people up at night, the rise of artificial intelligence.
 
However, rather than give us a story that could play out in far more traditional fashion, the kind where robots rampage and murder because they deem us unworthy, the show instead took quite the original route, allowing for ‘Rm9sbG93ZXJz’ to take some chances and tell a standalone X-Files story in the most unique of fashion. Starting with how the episode was designed because this particular tale was nearly devoid of dialogue. Instead we were privy to Mulder and Scully’s reactions to the strange events surrounding them and their fine acting helped sell these wild moments through and through.
 
As an added bonus, this episode was also filled to the brim with fun homages. I was particularly fond of the Stanley Kubrick-esque shots that took place in the Sushi Bar since they set the tone for this tale in that Mulder and Scully were on their own this time around, and the tributes didn’t end there. After all, this episode did pepper in some fine humor to accompany the more intense moments in this tale and with robots coming to life and pestering this duo in chuckle-worthy fashion, I couldn’t help but notice that this one was slightly reminiscent of Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive from time to time.
 
But really, what stole the show in this episode were the robots themselves and kudos to the special effects team for making these baby ‘bots as memorable as possible since every single one of them had their own unique look and personality and most important of all, I adore the fact that minus a single exception, their goal wasn’t to murder with impunity, they simply wanted to belong and feel like they mattered and well, that was a refreshing take on artificial intelligence as a whole and it spoke to a larger message on the topic as well.
 
In essence, the takeaway here is that we have nothing to fear from A.I. if we treat it with respect and show it we are capable of great things and it was quite lovely to see The X-Files fire off such a positive ending and hopeful message for a change. Either way, this episode really was a blast through and through, and I really am enjoying the fact that season eleven of this iconic show continues to take risks and try new things and with only three episodes left in the season, here’s to hoping more unique episodes like this come our way before we return to the whole matter of saving the world from the Cigarette Smoking Man. Until next time.  

​Sometimes, I am filled with anxiety when I settle in to watch a particular television show. It could be in part due to the fact that I know an incredibly tough storyline is about to unfold, or it could be because a favorite character of mine is going to exit the show in heartbreaking fashion. But that kind of anxiety is easily overcome when the show comes to an end and I go back to my everyday life because hey, it’s fiction. But once in a great while, a television show reaches you on a fundamental level, with a tale so powerful that your emotions are amplified and that’s precisely what happened to me when it comes to the series finale of Waco, because ‘Day 51’ is an episode that filled me with dread through and through.
 
After all, this was it, the moment that we all knew was coming; that dark day when the Mount Carmel compound burned to the ground, killing 76 people and well, waiting for that disturbing series of events to come around was the equivalent of waiting for someone to punch you in the stomach and that feeling of unease and dread was only compounded by the fact that this particular chapter in this harrowing tale showed us a powerful last ditch effort to avoid confrontation. Because after finding a way to communicate with the outside world, wherein David and Steve were able to speak to their lawyer’s face to face, David saw this confluence of good fortune as the sign from God that he was waiting for, and he offered Gary quite the deal.
 
Give him a week to ensure that the Lord’s message can be properly put to paper so that he can share it with the world so that David’s experience within the compound isn’t in vain, and the Branch Davidians will surrender, and it’s a deal that Gary is more than happy to accept and at first it seemed as though a resolution to this whole mess was finally under way. Because David worked day and night to put the world of God to paper at a frenzied pace, but simply being told that Koresh is working on his scripture was not enough to satisfy Agent Prince, he demanded hard copies of his work and considering how poorly things went the last time the message was broadcast to the world, David refused to hand over any pages until his work was flawless and complete. 

​This it would seem, was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back since Prince and Mitch flew back to Washington to ask the Attorney General for permission to force the Branch Davidians out and unfortunately for everyone, the plan was approved, leading to Gary’s dismissal from the job so that Prince could handle this mess his own way and well, that brings us to the day in question. Wherein the FBI slammed assault tanks into the compound to release tear gas and well, this is where my internalized dread became justified because my goodness, this part of the story was incredibly difficult to watch. In part because of the intensity of the moment, but mostly because…this part of the tale held nothing back. 
 
Because this story more or less took us inside the compound to show us what this disastrous day was really like, and despite the fact that some elements in this account were changed for dramatic effect, what matters here, is that 76 human beings, 25 of them children, lost their lives in a tear gas assault that went terribly wrong. The FBI simply pumped in too much gas, to the point where these people could no longer breathe and well, to see people struggle with something so simple, and then know their fate was sealed when the fire began, made for a sobering experience to say the least, one that absolutely brought this reviewer to tears. Because…none of this needed to happen.
 
When all is said and done however, what made this six-part miniseries so powerful, is the sheer fact that it is still relevant today. We are still having a debate over the appropriate use of force from law enforcement, and whether or not they should be heavily armed, but what I found far more relatable in this re-telling, is how neither side could come to a compromise. It served as a fine reminder of how in this day and age our view is the only view and your view be damned and really, a day after watching this one, what sticks out in my mind the most when it comes to this series is a quote/question that came from Ron Engleman, the DJ at KGBS; ‘We are, all of us, Americans. When did we start seeing each other as the enemy?’ and that quote hangs in my mind because Ron is right…when did we? 

​When we last left President Tom Kirkman on Designated Survivor, the situation was grim. After all, he had just received a phone call informing him that his beloved wife Alex had been killed in a car crash and well, this unfortunate and harrowing twist brought about all kinds of questions in our minds. After all, there’s a chance such an act was orchestrated by Patrick Lloyd from beyond the grave. But more importantly, I think we were all left wondering exactly how the tough-as-nails President was going to handle Alex’s loss in both his personal and professional life and thankfully, last night’s midseason premiere of the show, ‘Grief’, took the time to answer all of our burning questions.
 
The first one on our minds, revolving around conspiracy, was cleared up in a matter of minutes when we came to learn that the man responsible for killing Alex was simply texting while driving and by removing anything suspicious from the circumstances surrounding her death, it freed the story up to explore far greater things when it comes to death and grief and loss, and it even allowed for the plot to set up the perfect crisis for Kirkman to deal with in order to overcome the pain surging through his veins and in all honesty, we’re going to spend little time talking about the Cuba portion of the story today. Because what this episode accomplished when it comes to Tom Kirkman, made for some powerful storytelling.
 
This episode truly turned out to be a character study for the ages and one that quite frankly I believe made Kirkman one of the most relatable characters on the small screen right now simply because, the man is going through hell when it comes to losing his wife and what we saw on display in this episode, is stuff that we have all done when we’ve lost someone incredibly important to us. I mean come on, the guy was literally using the powers of his office to put people out of harm’s way, and that’s something we see often when it comes to grief and loss, the need to play it safe so that we can have some sense of security and safety to heal our ailing hearts.
 
But the show didn’t end there when it came to exploring Tom’s battle with grief. Since he outright blamed himself for Alex’s death, he began to second guess just about every single decision placed in front him and that kind of uncertainty more or less crippled his Administration and well, all of this stemmed from the fact that Tom outright refused to own up to his pain or his grief. He did everything within his power to bury it down and project a strong image to his staff and the nation because that’s what he believed the country needed, and it took a tense crisis for him to realize that what really needed to happen was the opposite. He needed to face the pain in his heart head on and when he finally did, lives were saved, and problems were solved.
 
When all is said and done however, I have to admit, this episode blew me away. Because not only did Kiefer Sutherland deliver a performance for the ages, it’s just rare to see a political drama deal with matters such as these, and it was just so refreshing to see Tom go on a journey as realistic as this, and I’m honestly hoping that in having Tom deal with his internal pain that somehow he inspired and helped members of the audience going through something similar right now. Either way, it just goes to show that this series will go to whatever places necessary to tell an incredible story, and now that it seems that Kirkman is on the mend, I have no doubt that greater challenges await him on the horizon, and it should be interesting to see how Tom will utilize everything he learned in this episode when the next crisis arrives. Until next time.