That's all I could think of, too. I mean, come on, you're not trying to swat a fly. Plus she started way too high up (let gravity help you, Meg), and needs to work at making a notch, not just whacking the crap out of it.

In summer 1975 I was 11 going on 12, and Jaws was the movie all the kids in my age group wanted to see. My brother (9) and I and our two best friends - a brother and sister who were 12 and 10 respectively - obtained parental permission to see it (I guess those really were more innocent times, or else our parents…

So glad you're covering the rest of season one, Kate! I had heard about the show when it was running, but never really paid much attention, as it didn't seem my sort of thing; comments seemed to indicate it was Gladiator meets 300 liberally seasoned with soft-core porn. Earlier this year, though, I read an article…

"New" in that you've never seen this version before?

I was amazed and pleased to see it's being shown at 11.30am (I'm on the
west coast) on Sunday 20 July at the Cineplex 55 miles away in Kamloops.
I'm guessing that as the final show is that night, it's going to be a
live broadcast, and not a filmed version from earlier in the run?

Our one multiplex is extremely unlikely to show Life Itself or Snowpiercer - heaven forbid it has to have one less showing of the latest Transformers film - but being in Canada we also won't get America clogging up any screens, which is a Good Thing.

I fell in love with movies - and with Siskel and Ebert - when I started watching Sneak Previews around 1976. It wasn't until much later, when I began reading his essays, that I truly appreciated what a great writer Roger Ebert was. It's not often I feel gut-punched when I hear someone famous has died, but when I heard…

I'm getting teary-eyed just reading the review. When - not if - I see this, I'll have to have a box of tissues handy.

Oh, I agree completely. My son was only 10 when he saw the film, and the 'Who or what is Rosebud?' question was a pretty natural thing for him to want to have answered. However, he also admired the Greg Toland's cinematography; he's always noticed that in films, and appreciated the low angle and deep focus shots and…

I'm guessing that if Maude goes, Simon goes. And I'd think Vincent would be very glad to be rid of Simon, who's just a narcissistic troublemaker.

As someone commented above, I don't think Vincent was blaming Caliban for what happened, so much as realising (because he's not stupid) that Caliban's taken a lot of abuse while there (especially from the actor chap - Simon?), and snapped. While Caliban did attack Maude, at the end of the day Caliban knows his job and…

Right you are, boyo.

I've told this story on the AV Club before, but I watched Psycho with my son when he was [probably far too young to have watched it, according to many, but he was ready and we both knew it], and when he had no idea of the plot or ending or anything about the film (he just knew Alfred Hitchcock through the 'Three…

I really enjoy the comments here on the AV Club, particularly when it's a show like Penny Dreadful that presses so many buttons for me. It's a good group indeed.

Precisely. Universal healthcare is great, but damn, the TV service in hospitals here is - dare I say it - dreadful.

Good point. Maybe Vanessa is the daughter he wishes he'd had, or at least been able to acknowledge. The Mina of Dracula the novel is a very strong woman, but here she just seems a rather insipid character who's had bad luck.

Again, when you have an actress like Helen McRory specifically brought back for one scene after six episodes, it seems to be setting her up for next series. And why does she need the gun? Who - or what - is she protecting?

True story: the Monday after the premiere episode I checked myself into hospital in my small Canadian town because I had what my English mother-in-law would have called 'a turn'. Initial tests suggested heart attack, and I ended up being taken to a bigger hospital 55 miles away for an indeterminate period of time…

Exactly. If 'everyone' involved died, what does that make him?

Okay, maybe I'm being dense, but when Sir Malcolm said - just before shooting Mina - that he already had a daughter, did he mean Vanessa? Which would make a whole lot of sense, given that he had an affair with Vanessa's mother. Certainly the following scene between them in Sir Malcolm's study - when he said they…