Have you ever been at a loss as to what to watch? Too many shows to pick from? We’re here to give you our opinions on what we feel is worth watching. Check it out and then let us know in the comments below what you’re choosing for tonight!
Kyle’s Choice #1
Early this morning, Amazon Prime Video launched the action/comedy series Jean-Claude Van Johnson. The series stars action movie icon Jean-Claude Van Damme playing a parody of himself. Van Damme is out of shape and has been retired for a couple of years but previously worked as a highly talented international black ops agent, using his movie sets as cover while performing undercover missions as Jean-Claude Van Johnson.
After a chance meeting with ex-partner/ex-lover Vanessa (Kat Foster, The Goodwin Games, ’Til Death), JCVD decides it’s time for him to get back in the game and asks handler Jane (Phylicia Rashad, The Cosby Show) to assign him to Vanessa’s mission. So he heads to Bulgaria to help stop a group of drug runners. For his cover, JCVD is starring in an action re-imagining of Huckleberry Finn. And supporting him on the mission are Vanessa – doing recon as his on-set hair stylist – and weapons expert/tech guy Luis (Moises Arias, Hannah Montana), who’s been inserted into the production crew. However, the team soon discovers that they have stumbled upon a plot much larger and more sinister than they imagined.
This series is so entertaining – it is equal parts comedy and solid action/thriller. Much of the humor comes from the overly dramatic acting, witty dialogue, and absurd situations that arise. Jean-Claude is hilarious and does a great job of poking fun at himself. His character is so in love with himself and never misses an opportunity to mention his previous work. However, sometimes JCVD starts to believe that all of the movie magic is real and overestimates his own abilities, getting himself into trouble. Jean-Claude also plays a second character in the series, one who literally had me laughing out loud.
The show is very self-aware, making fun of the tropes you see in all of those action films of the late 80s/90s. The first season follows a serialized story, with interesting and unexpected twists and turns that keep you guessing. While the show is quite funny, it also provides some incredible action sequences. Jean-Claude proves that he’s still got it – using kicks, spins, splits, and punches to take out the bad guys.
I can’t recommend this series highly enough. It’s a really fun and exciting romp that is definitely worth checking out. The first episode is available for free to everyone, but the rest of the season requires an Amazon Prime subscription.
Jump with us to see else we think you should watch.
Phoebe’s Choice
Already this year on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., they have taken a huge departure from their prior storylines in sending them ninety years into the future to live on a tiny space colony. The super cool reveals there being that the asteroid they were on was one of millions of fragments of what was once Earth, anddddd: Quake caused this disaster! But life was hard in the future, and Coulson, May, Mack, & Yo-Yo were all indentured slaves in the mines always living under threat of execution. Gemma meanwhile was a personal attendant for one of the blue-skinned alien Kree that rule this outpost. It was in this capacity that she was chosen to coach a young inhuman girl on how to use her powers of molecular density control. Only Daisy was free on the space station, exploring with the help of a native: Deke.
With Deke’s help, she was able to contact Yo-Yo, but she stayed on the lam. Coulson & May et al got sent on a run with native mine slave Tess. Plus one: their overseer Grill sent one of his enforcers along as well. Things got dicey, and they knocked him out. Tess feared that meant they would be executed when they returned. Gemma got the young inhuman girl, Abby, prepared for her “ceremony,†not knowing it would be a gladiatorial fight to the death. Awwwwww yeahhh!!! It was kind of brutal to watch this jugernaut of a mutant beast beating the crap out of a 12-year-old girl, but then, right before the kill blow? Abby focused enough to phase her hand into his chest to burst his heart and kill him.
Coulson’s away team had by then found a hidden comms device on the ship and intercepted some sort of signal that was being bounced off the surface of Earth. Tess said that was nonsense, that no one could survive on the surface. When they got back, they were about to be executed for mutiny, when Yo-Yo planted a gun on the enforcer they revolted against, leaving them off the hook and him doomed for death. Abby was sold to the Kree noblewoman whose gladiator she killed. Toward the end of the episode, Quake was betrayed into Kree custody by Deke, and Coulson decoded the message from Earth, presuming it is in fact intended for him and his team.
On tonight’s new episode, “A Life Earned,†Coulson and the team discover what their captors’ true intentions are; and in space, escape is not an option.
To learn the true intentions, tune in to ABC at 9:01/8:01c.
Other than this, I won’t be watching anything tonight, but I want to use this as a chance to say watch Star Wars Rebels and watch Future Man!!!
Megan’s Choice
MacGyver had me sobbing last week, and I was impressed with the incredible writing. It was a case that was custom built for MacGyver, and it was amazing to see him take lead. He talked the young science teacher through saving her students while they were stranded in the arctic. Unfortunately, the girl ended up dying because she sacrificed herself to seal the room off where there was a leak. Watching MacGyver talk to her while she was dying was incredibly emotional, and I was heartbroken for him.
On tonight’s episode, “Bullet + Pen,” the LAPD interrupts the team’s Christmas celebration to arrest Mac for terrorism when they find a body in a building destroyed by a bomb Mac built. Bruce McGill (Rizzoli & Isles) guest stars.
To see if the team can clear Mac’s name, tune in to CBS at 8/7c.
I’ll also be watching Hawaii Five-0, Hell’s Kitchen, The Exorcist, The Grill Dads, and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Kyle’s Choice #2
This morning, Netflix dropped quite a few seasons of TV as well, including Part 2 of the animated series DreamWorks Trollhunters. I was a big fan of the first season, devouring all 26 episodes in less than 2 days. Part 2 is only 13 episodes but still features the voice talents of the late Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) as fifteen-year-old Jim, who found a magic amulet that transformed him into the first human Trollhunter – the protector of the hidden troll world of Heartstone Trollmarket. In the first season, Jim and friend Toby learned that their world was inhabited by the Gumm-Gumms.
Their leader, the evil Gunmar the Black, was plotting to take over both the human and the troll worlds. The Gumm-Gumms were kidnapping humans and replacing them with Changelings. One of those who was taken was Enrique, the baby brother of Jim’s friend Claire. As the first season came to a close, Heartstone Trollmarket came under attack, and Jim’s mentor AAARRRGGHH!!! was killed. Jim felt guilty and responsible for putting his friends in danger, so he headed off into the Darklands alone to rescue Enrique and the others. However, the only way Jim will be able to leave the Darklands is by using the three Triumbic Stones to kill Gunmar.
Will Jim be able to complete his mission? What dangers await him in the Darklands? DreamWorks Trollhunters is an exciting show that is superbly animated and features a talented voice cast. I thoroughly enjoyed the first season, and I’m excited to see what this next chapter brings for Jim and the others and what new characters we will be introduced to. I have mixed feelings about the fact that Part 2 is only 13 episodes. I’m kind of happy because I have so many other things to watch but also sad because this show is quite entertaining. That said, I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens in Part 2, and where the story will be left going into next year’s third/final chapter.
I’ll also be watching/recording Wormwood and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
