Well, cut me open and splay my innards. This episode was awesome. Written by Joss Whedon’s little brother Jed and his wife Maurissa Tancharoen, this episode Topher develops morals and Sierra kills a client. Also, this episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes (of Star Trek The Next Generation) making it all around awesome.

The last time I recapped Dollhouse, I was pretty harsh saying the show has to give me something worth saving it for. Now I can say that for episodes like this one, its worth saving this show for more of this kind of stuff.

We open on Sierra displaying some of her art on the beach, when Dr. Nolan Kinnard (Vincent Ventresca) comes up to her and asks her out. Flash forward to a gallery showing of Sierra/Priya’s work. Priya wants to leave with Victor who has been imbued with the consciousness of an Italian Art Dealer.  Within minutes Dr. Nolan gets a little possessive and uppity demanding that Priya stay, harsh words are exchanged and Priya leaves.  Flash forward to the next year where Kinnard is seeing Sierra again, and I’m like: “Wait. There are no repeat engagements.”

Apparently Kinnard is a VIP, and is allowed multiple reservations. During a kindergarten class Sierra draws a black blotch on her drawing saying the black blotch is the “bad man” to Echo (Eliza Dushku).  Echo brings this to Topher so Topher investigates by talking to Boyd (Harry Lennix) about Sierra’s last engagement.  Its revealed that Kinnard is a doctor at a psychotic facility, and that Topher brought Sierra in from.

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With the departure of Marc Guggenheim, this leaves me a little dismayed with FlashForward and last night’s episode was a bit of departure and not that good. It did, however, expand on some characters, rather than just focusing on Fiennes and Cho. We spent time getting to know Courtney B. Vance’s character of Stanford Wedeck, who is Head of the FBI LA office, and Christine Wood’s character Janis Stark.

We open on Fiennes, Cho, Vance and guest star Barry Henley as Agent Vreede, walking out of some building.  Fiennes and Vance are talking and Vance says something about not telling anybody anything about his [Fiennes] flash forward or they are”d.o.a.” Fiennes is on the phone with Janis Hawk telling her something about funding.  Getting into a car, they are immediately set upon by a black SUV and hit with a Rocket Propelled Grenade blowing up the car, seemingly killing all four inside.

Cut back 39 hours, and the four of them are in a basement taking a lie detector test. Apparently they are in Washington, D.C for a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on what the various  agencies are finding on the black out case, and they have to take the test for the hearing.  After the test, Fiennes talks with his sponsor who tells him to go to AA meeting which Sophia Walger overhears the sponsor talking about while he fixes some stuff around the house.  He’s apparently helping them out around the house while Fiennes is away doing document support for Vance in DC.

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Jeez, a whole lot of nothing this week.  I can safely say I will be buying THREE books this week.  

From Marvel, I’ll buy the final issue to “World’s Most Wanted” in Invincible Iron Man. I don’t know, they milked the story into what, thirteen parts? Who cares! The previous issue finally went farther than “I’m Tony Stark and I convinced a computer to give me Alzheimer’s so I can save all of the heroes on the list I created from Norman Osborn.” You know he’s going to get it all restored at the end of this issue, but I just want to see how actually ends.

There’s another Deadpool book, its by the far the funniest and wild and that’s Victor Gischler’s Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth.  I say that if Daniel Way (who is doing a stellar job on the main Deadpool book) leaves the book he should be replaced by Gischler.

And the last book I’ll be getting is Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon’s Sugarshock.  This originally premiered on Myspace Dark Horse presents and it was a wild ride.  This is the Joss Whedon we all know and love, and is a truly wonderfully fun story.

Other than that, this week is a pretty light load.  I suppose there is plenty of Blackest Night books and Dark Reign books but I haven’t been reading those spinoffs so its disingenuous for me to recommend them. As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so leave us a comment and let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s comics. For a more complete list of what comes out this week, check out the one at Midtown Comics.

Superstar comic writer Geoff Johns is returning to the Smallville set this January, penning an episode which introduces the Justice Society of America to the long-running CW show.

Late last night, IGN revealed who will be playing the three members from the JSA appearing on the show, most of whom are Stargate alums. Hawkman will be played by Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson of Stargate fame), Brent Stait (Stargate Atlantis) will play Doctor Fate, and newcomer Britt Irvin will play Stargirl.  Johns created Stargirl in the pages of the JSA comic that he helped relaunch with FlashFoward co-creator David Goyer.

Previously, Johns wrote for the show last season, introducing the Legion of Superheroes. Currently, Johns is consulting producer on the Flash movie and is co-writing the screenplay with Jonny Quest writer Dan Mazeau. He’s also a producer on the Adult Swim show Titan Maximum which is brought to us by the guys behind Robot Chicken.

In the comics world, Johns is currently the man behind the Blackest Night event, and is bringing Barry Allen back to the Flash world in Flash: Rebirth.  He was voted Best Comic Book Writer at Spike TV’s Scream Awards, according to his Twitter.

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This week’s episode opens on the day of the FlashForward in a park, with some weird-ass Bjork playing over the background. In this opening you witness everyone pass out, some planes explode and a bus drive into a pond.  In the bus, the blacked out people are drowning except for one guy who rescues a blonde.

And now this guy, Ned, is at the hospital being interviewed for some internal bruising by Dr. Olivia Benford and her resident surgeon Bryce who before the blackout was trying to kill himself. Bryce asks what Ned saw in his flash forward which was seeing himself as a black man, which is pretty strange considering Ned is about as white as Kenneth the Page from 30 Rock.

Cut to back at the Benford house where Joseph Fiennes does some Dad-humor with an egg that I didn’t really understand and Olivia makes a crack about him not exactly being the Shakespeare of Dad-humor. Considering his role as Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, this was a little cringe-worthy.

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Man, oh man, there are a lot of great books coming out this week. From DC Comics, we have a slew of “Blackest Night” Batman books if you’re into that kind of thing, which I’m not. Adventure Comics also looks intriguing, but other than that and Green Lantern Corps, I’m not interested in much else from these guys.

From IDW, The ACT-I-VATE Primer comes out and if you like some Indy Comics this book is for you. ACT-I-VATE is a webcomic collective founded by Dean Haspiel (aka Zach Galifianakis’s character on Bored to Death). In this book you will get some high quality indy comics from the likes of Haspiel, Nikki Cook, Joe Infurnari and Michael Fiffe.

My pick of the week is Liberty Comics which features some great previews from new books. All proceeds go to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which protects comic book creators’ First Amendment rights, among others. A worthy cause if there ever was one. Most especially in this book, I’m looking at the preview of my good friend Ben McCool’s new book with Ben Templesmith, titled Choker. I can tell you: when this book hits stands sometime early next year, you want it.

From Marvel Comics there is a ton of great stuff. Marvel continues to feed my sick obsession, and empty my wallet with new Deadpool comics. Most importantly, Deadpool #900–I know! How did it get to #900 when the character has only been around since the early 90s? Regardless, that book has a slew of talent telling all kinds of stories.  Like Jason Aaron, Victor Gischler, Charlie Huston, Fred Van Lente and Kyle Baker. The book just looks gorgeous.

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Fan favorite, Joss Whedon’s TV show Dollhouse, is kind of like going back for a third date with someone you know can’t get it up. This week’s episode, “Belle Chose”, has the plot of a porno. Echo (Eliza Dushku) takes the implant to be an English student, and is contracted by a lonely English teacher. Yet another Battlestar Galactica alumni Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh) guest stars on this episode and he has issues with Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams), the woman who runs this particular Dollhouse.

She informs Tigh that his nephew is a serial killer who kidnaps people that look similar to their family. He’s a dangerous guy, having smashed a woman’s skull with a croquet malet at the beginning of the episode. After the bludgeoning, Serial Killer gets hit by a car trying to kidnap another woman to replace the woman he just killed.

This puts him in a coma, and Tigh hires the Dollhouse to reconstitute his consciousness in an Active — which they do in Victor. He eventually tells Tahmoh Penikett how he (the Serial Killer) did it. Though Tigh releases him, and Victor escapes him on foot. Its at this point that Xander, I mean Topher, gets the idea to do a remote wipe of all the actives so that Victor doesn’t get all serial killer on someone.

This works, but Echo and Victor’s personalities exchange and Victor becomes a 19 year-old co-ed at a dance club, and Echo becomes the serial killer. Eventually, she flips out among the kidnapped women, and as she loses control of her multiple personalities she manages to hold back the Serial Killer until her Handler (Penikett) comes to the rescue.

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As a new feature here on The Flickcast, Dave Press, who normally does our comic book recommendations, will be doing recaps of some of our favorite TV shows. Enjoy — Ed

The new Lost clone brought to us by Batman Begins writer David S. Goyer and Star Trek Deep Space Nine creator Brannon Braga is actually better than Lost. Which is really not hard to do. You know the premise: the entire planet blacks out for 137 seconds and everyone sees their individual futures for the date of April 29, 2010.

Joseph Fiennes, Shakespeare himself from the Oscar winning Best Picture Shakespeare in Love, leads a team of FBI agents that includes Seth McFarlane and “New Sulu” John Cho, to investigate the blackouts.

The first episode starts with Fiennes and his team encountering their blackouts. Fiennes, in his blackout, sees his board  in his office with various random and completely ridiculous names and numbers and pictures creating a mosaic of clues. As of the first episode his character is a recovering alcoholic, and as he drinks in his flash forward, his office is being invaded by Dead Presidents with machine guns and laser sights. Spooky.

Fiennes’s wife, played by Sonya Walger, sees herself with another man, which disturbs her and causes tenson between her and her husband. John Cho’s character doesn’t see anything, which frightens him to the point of thinking that he won’t be alive on April 29.

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We have a decent load this week, from the conclusion to the exceptional Planetary to quite a number of Marvel books worth your time. Planetary #27 is the conclusion to Warren Ellis and John Cassaday’s brilliant series.  Combining pop culture commentary, with a twisted spin that Ellis is known for and the direction of Astonishing X-Men artist John Cassaday.  There was a preview in the back of Ex Machina #45, which had me excited for this issue.

From Marvel, there is a ton of good stuff. First, we have the premiere of Phil Jimenez on Astonishing X-Men alongside Warren Ellis. Its weird, you know? We have a Planetary/Astonishing X-Men crossover this week and I am looking forward to that ten fold.

Now I’m a giant Rick Remender fan, and this premieres his new ongoing series at Marvel, Doctor Voodoo with Billy Tan.  If you like this I strongly recommend Rick’s series Fear Agent and The End League from Dark Horse. Following that we have Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #3.  The first two issues were spectacular, and David Lafuente was born to draw Spider-Man.  This is easily one of the best reads in comics.

Finally, we have the return of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips Criminal with “The Sinners.” As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so leave us a comment and let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s comics. For a more complete list of what comes out this week, check out the one at Midtown Comics.

Happy Reading!

There is quite a bit of good stuff coming out this week, most especially is the collected edition of one of my favorite current series. Dark Horse has the collected trade of Umbrella Academy Dallas. This Eisner Award winning book written by My Chemical Romance front-man Gerard Way, and drawn by Casanova‘s own Gabriel Ba is a gem of a series.

No matter what you may think of Way’s music, his comic writing is top notch. And if you’ve read Casanova then I shouldn’t have to convince you in regards to Mr. Ba.

From DC, we have the Absolute Promethea edition, its 100 bucks, but the least I can do is turn you on to the real Comics Curmodgeon’s (Alan Moore) ground breaking work with the awesome J.H. Williams III.  We also have the Sleeper Season 2 trade paperback, which if you like Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal and Incognito series for Marvel’s Icon, this is their first meeting. Trust me, you want this.

From Marvel, we have the constantly awesome Secret Warriors, and the Shang Chi Master of Kung Fu one shot. From Boom! Studios we have Die Hard #1. I just have to check this out, as this continues the adventures of John McClane in comic book form.

Could be forgettable, could not be, but at least you’ve got to give Boom credit for trying new things like this and Philip K. Dick’s Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep. As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so leave us a comment and let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s comics.

For a more complete list of what comes out this week, check out the one at Midtown Comics.

For previous installments of Dave’s Weekly Comic Book Recommendations, go here.

Slim pickings yet again this week. From DC Comics, we have the entire Blackest Night Tales from the Corps for $7.99, and the final issue of the exceptionally wonderful Wednesday Comics.

From Marvel we have the third issue of the exceptionally fun Immortal Weapons, and the first issue of Spider-Woman #1 comes out. If you haven’t been watching the “motion comic,” via the iTunes download, then get the series in this more traditional format. Its a lot better. Especially with the former Daredevil team Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev at the helm.

From last week, the softcover of Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel’s The Alcoholic came out from Vertigo. For those of you who caught the new HBO series Bored to Death and are interested in Jason Schwartzman’s character’s work in graphic novel form, you ought to pick that up.

And well, to be honest, there isn’t anything else that interests me this week so that’s about it. As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so leave us a comment and let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s comics. For a more complete list of what comes out this week, check out the one at Midtown Comics.

Because we want to keep things fresh, we’ve decided to bring you an edition of The Pull List by guest reviewer Dave Press today. Keep it here tomorrow for another guest reviewer! –Ed

EX MACHINA #45
Rating: 7.5

My favorite series of the last couple of years is beginning to wind down and I’m getting quite sad about it. This issue picks up where we left off with New York City Mayor Mitchell Hundred discussing the effects of the previous arc and how Village Voice reporter Suzanne Padilla may be on to the White Box.

Our Mayor who can talk and control machines created The White Box around his election night.  Padilla was convinced that it helped elect Hundred as Mayor.  What happened was the White Box went off and implanted itself in Padilla’s brain, in a similar manner that the device that gave Hundred his powers.

Ex Machina is essentially The West Wing mixed in with some super heroics and tracks a retired super hero during his first and only term as New York City mayor. With five issues left, Padilla possessed by the White Box, she is slowly picking off members of Hundred’s cabinet.  Who knows what she has planned or for that matter Vaughan.

The question we have now is what will Vaughan be doing after Ex Machina concludes? He’s left the writer’s room for Lost and his spec script, Roundtable, is a modern day re-imagining of the Arthur legend.  To say the least his life as a writer is expanding and if he has any time for comics now post-Ex Machina I’ll be quite pleased.

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