"You like when I do the whole cryptic thing."

The 17th season of NCIS certainly ended with just that kind of vibe. The showrunners did a great job of keeping secret that Ziva would show up in the very last frame of the season. Everyone was sure she was dead, and while that's often no reason not to bring back a character in the fantasy genre, it doesn't often work in something like this. It brings up a lot of questions that were not going to be answered for several months. How is she still alive? Why is she here? Is she now a good guy or a bad guy? I'm sure you spent the summer with plenty of questions that didn't get answered for a long time. But it's finally aired, and now the whole story is out for home video as CBS releases the 17th season of NCIS. The team has changed faces over the years. Few of the original members remain, but as long as Mark Harmon remains in the starring role of Gibbs, there's life in this show yet. This season sees no real change in the characters of the show, but it does allow for even more growth for those still on the train. NCIS is about to enter into its 18th season in just a short time. That in itself is a remarkable accomplishment in the days of short attention spans and hundreds of shows to keep that attention.

"It's crazy the things that happen at work."

The beginning of 2020 certainly created some crazy things everywhere in the world. A pandemic arrived and shut down productions all over the globe. Films are missing long-anticipated release dates, and most network television shows were forced to close down early to protect their casts and crews. Seasons have been called with whatever episodes were already finished. Most of those shows will continue to shoot those episodes as part of their next season when they are finally able to get back to work. That won't be the case for Hawaii Five-O. Late in this 10th season it was decided the show would wrap it up for good.  We got 22 episodes, and they even managed to get out a series finale. If it all feels a little rushed, that's because it was. This wasn't the best year to have to say goodbye, and it certainly adds to the sadness for the show’s participants and fans. Now CBS is offering those final episodes before we all say aloha.

After enjoying Shudder’s revival of Creepshow, I’ve been looking forward to seeing what else they’d be bringing to their streaming service.  When Belzebuth came along, I’ll admit I wasn’t exactly excited about the title. At first glance it seems like yet another possession/exorcism movie.  Maybe it’s because I went into this with lowered expectations that this film managed to make an impact on me, but one thing is for certain, nothing about this film is “typical”.  Recently I has reviewed Season 1 of Evil, and I’m glad that show is still simmering in the back of my mind, because Belzebuth is a nice companion to the show with one big exception. Belzebuth doesn’t pull its punches, and I’ll say this right now: it’s not for everyone, and it’s a film that will get under your skin. Grab your crucifix and keep a bottle of holy water nearby, because this little film out of Mexico isn’t afraid to show us what evil may really look like.

Let me start by saying that my daughter was all about this movie. Leading up to the watching of the film, she literally asked me almost like clockwork when we were going to watch the movie. With me there is always a bit of reservation when it comes to animated films since becoming a parent. I suppose you can call it bias, but I prefer the cartoons (as we used to call them in my day) of my childhood over the present content. I think that opinion is one many share. To Trolls World Tour’s credit, it does impart a lesson that I believe is very important in the present climate that the world is facing. To that end, I can say that I found the film to be quite enjoyable. The comedy was more of a situational variety and very clearly directed towards a younger audience, which meant that most of it went over my head, but the aforementioned lesson that the film taught was time-honored and showed the importance of diversity and tolerance. Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake reprise their roles from the 2016 original film and are joined by a host of celebrities that include Kelly Clarkson, Sam Rockwell, Rachel Bloom, and music legends Mary J. Blige and George Clinton.

In the local newspaper here in the Tampa Bay area there has been a long-running series of articles called One Tank Trips or something of that nature. The idea is that the writer would introduce you to some natural or otherwise splendor that you could visit in a relatively short distance but which you might not even know exists in your own back yard. I can't exactly make the connection, but that series kept intruding on my thoughts as I watched the first season of these little experimental Star Trek shorts. The idea appears to take us to places in the television universe of Star Trek to small events that we didn't even know were going on but which might have even had a large impact on the things we did know about. The first of them were pretty much extras on the Star Trek: Discovery DVD releases and told prequel/side stories directly related to episodes of the main show. They play pretty much like the kind of release extras you might get with any home video release. Somewhere along the way someone got the idea that these side trips could go beyond the current episode supplement idea and reach across the world of Star Trek, leaving the window open for almost any era, place, or character to show up, often in some unexpected form. An idea like that has great potential, but it's fraught with the danger of a very uneven presentation, and that's the inherent blessing and curse you will find in this single-disc DVD release of Short Treks.

From the creators of The Good Wife comes a show that attempts to explore if demonic possessions, miracles, and other supernatural occurrences are real or simply manifestations of the mind.  This is one of those topics that have always fascinated me, being brought up Catholic and with what some might consider an unhealthy obsession with horror.  It was a no-brainer growing up that I would gravitate to The X-Files, and over the years there have been several shows attempting to capture the dynamic of the skeptical FBI Agent Dana Scully and the true believer agent on a crusade, FBI Agent Fox Mulder.  Evil just may have the potential to be the show that explores the unknown and deliver the same quality drama, though I wouldn’t say it deserves the cult hit status just yet. Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) is a clinical psychologist who is typically used by the local D.A. to testify on the sanity of a subject who is on trial.  A big deal is made about her being a climber that has reached numerous summits, but nothing is really done with this aside from making it a plot device we never get to see her put into action.  Her husband is absent from a good portion of the show because he is taking time off to climb Everest, leaving behind their four daughters in the care of Kristen.  To help Kristen take care of the girls, her mom, Sheryl (Christine Lahti) steps in to play babysitter.