Adrianne Palicki

Audiences should consider themselves warned that “SOS”, the two-part season 2 finale of Agents of SHIELD, does not mess around. Five named characters (plus two very unlucky SHIELD redshirts) die, Coulson loses his forearm like Ash from Evil Dead, and Simmons is dragged off Drag Me to Hell-style by that mysterious Kree stone. (Did the writers have a Sam Raimi marathon just before writing this episode?) A few storylines get resolution, like the May-Dr. Garner relationship and Cal protecting Skye, but there is also a lot of set-up for season 3 in the midst of this epic showdown between SHIELD and Jiaying. For everything it is setting up, however, the episode never loses steam for an exposition dump, nor does it rush to resolve season 2’s story arcs. It easily tops the season 1 finale “Beginning of the End”, and really, “SOS Part 1 & 2” are the best two episodes that Agents of SHIELD has produced so far.

“A Hen in the Wolf House” steps back the amount of action from “Face My Enemy” but makes up for it with more Kyle MacLachlan, Simmons’ undercover work at Hydra, and the reveal of Mockingbird. The writers also squeeze in Skye discovering Coulson’s two big secrets, Fitz and Simmons reuniting, and another Skye-Ward interrogation scene. With so much going on, “A Hen in the Wolf House” should feel rushed and over-stuffed, but everything dovetails so neatly that none of the action or plot points feel forced.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick Directed by Jon M. Chu USA, 2013 The latest blockbuster sequel to a mildly profitable first film that doesn’t actually have an enthusiastic fan base, G.I. Joe: Retaliation is admittedly not on the same level of terrible as its Stephen Sommers-directed predecessor. It is still …

Over the years, numerous cartoons from the 80s have been granted a second life on the big screen. Among them was the cartoon G.I. Joe, which saw a rebirth in the form of 2009’s Stephen Sommers blockbuster G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The film’s success spawned a sequel, titled G.I. Joe: Retaliation, with Jon M. Chu taking over in the …

Red Dawn Directed by Dan Bradley Written by Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore USA, 2012 Apparently, the original script for the 2012 remake of John Milius’ 1984 Red Dawn intended the invading forces to be Chinese, but MGM changed it to be North Koreans in post-production so as to not offend the ever-growing Chinese market; …

Supernatural Review, Season 7, Episode 2: “Hello, Cruel World” Written by Ben Edlund Directed by Guy Bee Airs Fridays at 9pm (ET) on the CW This week, on Supernatural: Jimmy goes for a swim, Lucy plays with Sam, and Doctor Sexy, MD strikes Last week’s Supernatural episode functioned more as the season six finale than …