Beltalowda - A podcast for The Expanse - 311 – Fallen World

Another spectacular episode of The Expanse this week in “Fallen World”. The episode is remarkably well paced, makes zero g environments feel truly alien and threatening, and offers solid character developments, particularly in the relationship between Ashford and Drummer. Anna even gets a moment to be awesome. Anna! Can’t wait for next week’s episode, we’ll see you then!

Watching Westworld - 209 – Vanishing Point

This week’s episode of HBO’s Westworld, “Vanishing Point” does a excellent job of setting up next week’s finale. That finale has a lot riding on it, with seemingly endless permutations of possibilities of who’s a host, who’s a human, what’s real and what’s simulated that have to be coalesced down to a single possiblity. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, because if you watched this episode purely for it’s plot mechanics you missed out on a lot of wonderful writing and acting that lead to some amazing character development for most of the main cast, revealing brand new relationships we didn’t even know were there, giving more depth to the ones we had, and utterly shattering a few more. And yeah, there are just a ton of theories involving who is a host and what will happen in the Valley Beyond next episode! Can’t wait to discuss it all with you then!

Beltalowda - A podcast for The Expanse - 310 – Dandelion Sky

SyFy’s The Expanse goes full on 2001: A Space Oddity on us, and we couldn’t love it more. “Dandelion Sky” covers a lot of territory even as it’s physically constrained to the inside of The Ring. “Miller’s” nature, the origins of the protomolecule, Holden embracing his role as reluctant hero, Amos having no fear, the struggle for the command of Behemoth. We discuss all this and much more. See you next week!

Bald Move Pulp - Incredibles 2 (2018)

Cecily and A.Ron are back to discuss Incredibles 2, a sequel that’s been a long time in the making. Brad Bird returns to direct the original cast and some fun new cameos. If you liked Incredibles, this is more of it in every way.  More supers, bigger action scenes, more Mr. Incredible angst, super teenage dating, and the best animal control scene in movie history. The script is literally the same script from the first, with the same twist at the mid-way point, but the plot is really secondary to the pleasure of watching the characters metaphorically and literally bounce off each other.

Watching Westworld - 208 – Kiksuya

This week’s episode of HBO’s Westworld was truly a thing of beauty. Learning about the long and winding journey of Akecheta, exquisitely played by Zahn McClarnon, in his search for truth, meaning, and his long lost love, was as profound a watching experience as I’ve had these past few years. Along the way he unlocks his own consciousness, meets god and the devil, and learns about a path his people may take to be free forever. Will he reach The Door? What, and who, will he find there? And will Maeve make it to be reunited with her daughter currently under Akecheta’s protection? We discuss this, you feedback, and the theories and speculation everyone’s buzzing about on this week’s pod!