Ratings: Hardly ‘Queens’ Worthy

Update: Proving once more that overnights are totally a thing of the past, Scream Queens soared in delayed-viewing ratings, gaining 65% (2 million viewers) in recorded viewing plus another 1 million viewers on Hulu and Fox Now for a grand total of 7.3 million total viewers. It proved to be the biggest grower of the night.

Social media can be a tricky bitch sometimes.

Those of us plugged into Twitter and other more traditional media outlets have been bombarded with ads and buzz surrounding last night’s premiere of Fox’s Scream Queens. So, it comes as a bit of a shock that Ryan Murphy’s series failed to dazzle in its 2-hour premiere. Not only did it fail to dazzle, it came in fourth.

From a Variety article:

Fox’s “Scream Queens,” which had generated the most social media buzz heading into premiere week, opened with a 1.6/5 in 18-49 and 4 million viewers overall from 8 to 10, though special “rush finals” ordered by Fox show the premiere at a 1.7 in the demo. It ran fourth in its timeslot in 18-49, while placing second in adults 18-34 (1.6/7). The horror comedy from Ryan Murphy opened with a 1.7 rating in 18-49 and then held at a 1.6 for its final three half-hours, according to the prelim nationals. It tied for the 18-49 lead in the New York market with “The Voice” (2.9/10).

The two-hour premiere provided some nice time period improvement for Fox, which struggled out of the gate on the opening Tuesday a year ago. Last night’s “Scream Queens” did 60% better than the net’s lowly 1.0 nightly average for “Utopia,” “New Girl” and “The Mindy Project.” Starting next week, new comedies “Grandfathered” and “Grinder” will open the night for the net, with “Scream Queens” airing at 9.

We here at ADTV were underwhelmed by the pilot which definitely had its moments but felt massively unfocused and bloated. Yet, the amount of publicity and advanced buzz hardly forecasted similarly underwhelming viewership. Now, these early numbers don’t include numbers from delayed watching, which almost certainly would increase viewership among the target audience.

So, what are your thoughts? Have we reached Ryan Murphy saturation? Was no one clamoring for horror camp? Does this bode ill for American Horror Story: Hotel‘s premiere in two weeks?

Sound off in the comments below!

Water Cooler Podcast: Episode 43 – Songs in a TV Key

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Glee. Grey’s Anatomy. Empire. Cop Rock.

What do these shows have in common? They’re all in one way or another variations of television musicals. Whether they’re designed from scratch to be musicals or whether they just dabble from time to time, each series has a specific take on the musical form. Some are smart meta commentaries. Some are deliberate cash grabs after opening up a new revenue stream for their production company (ahem, Glee). This week, the Water Cooler Podcast gang gather around the cooler and discuss the major, most popular examples of the genre – their successes and their miserable, dark failures. Join us in the conversation as we sing wistfully about our inner feelings. Just kidding, only Joey does that.

But first, we tackle the biggest shows coming out of Fall TV 2015 week one, including Scream Queens, Empire, and The Muppets. Sit back and enjoy!

02:16 – Fall TV Week One
13:07 – Musicals!

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Review: ‘Indian Summers’ a Worthy Diversion

When you are hungry for some truly compelling, fascinating, engaging drama, your stomach can growl with anticipation. Some of the TV we immerse ourselves with does not always keep us glued to the box, and can actually leave you feeling starved. Airing earlier in the year in the UK, Indian Summers begins this evening on Masterpiece PBS. I, for one, am craving the audience reception to this in America. As I may have mentioned before (via Downton Abbey) I hold my hands up and say period dramas revolving around the English is not always my cup of tea. I will give most things a try though, as I did with this 10-part feast.

The promotional build-up – teasers, trailers – here in the UK for Indian Summers (aired on Channel 4) was impossible to avoid. And like the overall feel of the show itself, in spite of how you sit with it in the end, it makes sure you are full to the brim with curiosity. Indian Summers turned out to be not only one of the most expensive ventures in Channel 4’s history, but also soon secured a second season after very decent ratings. Focusing on a time early last century in Northern India, the show delves into the social ramifications of the last chapter of the British rule, but an extensive knowledge of history is not really required here – thankfully. It keeps the setting confined, in Simla, a small ruffled community surrounded by beautiful scenery.

A feature-length opener for starters steadies the pace so we don’t choke too early. Any series with a pretty hefty ensemble cast of characters ought to walk us through it the first time we meet them. Indian Summers just about feeds us enough here, although perhaps none of the characters appear larger than life or over-the-top, we are given a clear instant idea of some of their traits and dilemmas.

The steam train brings many of the English to the Indian village, this includes Alice (Jemima West), angelic and troubled all at the same time. Her brother Ralph (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) is the Private Secretary to the Viceroy in India – so quite a big deal here basically. His somewhat arrogant, ruthless demeanor is miles away from his sister’s seemingly quaint, charming aura. Both have secrets that have to spill out eventually. A rather frustrated Sarah (Fiona Glascott) feels like a spare part as she arrives with husband Dougie (Craig Parkinson) – he teaches the Indian kids and is blatantly in love with the beautiful Leena (Amber Rose Revah). Then we have the civil servant worker Aafrin (Nikesh Patel), he’ll soon find himself embroiled in matters of politics and romance. His rebellious sister Sooni (Ayesha Kala) speaks her mind and rallies with the rest of the angry locals about the plight of their countries ruling. The most recognizable face is Julie Walters, as the empowered local club owner Cynthia, but don’t get too excited, she plays a rotten cow – and my goodness does she nail it.

The narrative is paced nicely, simmers more than it bubbles over. Which is helpful to an audience who may feel a little at sea at times. The dialogue is also a welcome aid, often explaining current society and its predicaments without the characters sounding like they are reading from a life manual. These are normal people living in a rather precarious state of affairs, but there is a hell of a lot going on here so you need to keep on track. The various plots interweave, but sometimes drift off a little. Not necessarily a terrible thing, I mean, an onion with many thin layers can still contribute to a satisfying supper.

What Indian Summers does not do is force red herrings down your throat, it certainly lacks the pretentious vibe we’ve seen elsewhere – its subtle promises are kept for the most part. There is not a lot of room for upper class etiquette either, the majority of the characters no matter their social status tend to fumble around, nobody is really sure of their place. That makes for encouraging viewing of a level-headed nature, we can judge and praise these people for their views and choices, that they could be just like us. There’s ample amounts of joy and romance too, don’t worry. There is also racism and malaria, so this is not a perfect world.

There is more than character conflict and affections to this though. The breath-taking scenery is photographed so invitingly, so majestically, you can almost feel the heat. It is cinematography so grand you may find yourself a little hypnotized on occasions. The luscious art direction and costume design follow suit. This has captured the era and the climate perfectly – I would imagine. That is to say the production values are so vivid and appetizing you are not meant to make much effort to feel you belong there.

In the end Indian Summers is a little light relief as far as TV drama goes. Whatever is on your menu this fall, be it an action-packed platter of a crime thriller or a juicy bacon double cheeseburger of a family drama, it might not hurt to leave a bit of room for Indian Summers – an refreshing, alluring, vividly colorful salad of a period piece, with perhaps just the right amount of drama and intrigue to fulfil your palette. Try it, and if Indian Summers is not to your tastes, you can always order something else next time. Bon appetite.

Indian Summers premieres Sunday at 9/8c on Masterpiece PBS.

X-Files Flashback: ‘Paper Hearts’

Season 4, Episode 10
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Vince Gilligan

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“A dream is an answer to a question we haven’t yet learned how to ask.”

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This is a line bantered back and forth between Mulder and Scully as they wrestle with an imprisoned serial killer playing games with Mulder. Writer Vince Gilligan refashions an entire episode dedicated to exploring an alternative take on the disappearance of Samantha Mulder, who Mulder believes to have been abducted by aliens. Buoyed by a fantastic Gilligan screenplay and a hypnotic performance by Tom Noonan (Michael Mann’s Manhunter), “Paper Hearts” is another intriguing entry in Vince Gilligan’s brilliant portfolio of oddball entries into The X-Files.

“Paper Hearts” begins with Mulder dreaming of a red light guiding him into a park in Virginia where the body of a young girl is supposedly buried – an experience which immediately calls to mind the novel Alice in Wonderland, not specifically because the light spells out “Mad Hatter” but also because the viewer has the overall sense that Mulder is being led down a rabbit hole of sorts. The next morning, Mulder has a forensics team dig in that location to reveal the long-deceased body of a little girl – just as the dream had indicated. Missing from the dress is a heart-shaped section of cloth, the M.O. of a man Mulder had already arrested for murdering 13 girls – John Lee Roche (Noonan). After discovering Roche’s collection of his victims’ hearts, Mulder and Scully determine that Roche killed 16 girls, not 13 as originally thought.

When approached, Roche taunts Mulder with details surrounding the night his sister, Samantha, was abducted. Roche insinuates that he killed Samantha, which drives Mulder nearly insane. After digging up one additional body that turns out not to be Samantha, Mulder decides to escort Roche to his father’s home to determine finally if Roche did indeed abduct her. Roche begins giving excruciating details of the night she went missing, but Mulder has tricked him by taking him to a house Mulder’s father bought years before – not the house from which she was originally abducted. Mulder speculates that Roche was able to see his dreams and thoughts in order to use the memory of Samantha for his own personal gain. Later, Roche plays a dream trick on Mulder and is able to escape in reality.

Realizing that Roche was attracted to a young girl he saw on their plane, Mulder tracks Roche down to the town where Roche used Mulder’s stolen identification to abduct the young girl. Mulder finds the two – the girl unharmed – in a school bus graveyard. Roche has a gun pointed at the young girl’s back and taunts Mulder further, telling him he has no intention of going back to prison. Torn between returning Roche to jail and the risk that Roche would kill the little girl, Mulder shoots Roche in the head. As we close the episode, Mulder regards the final cloth heart with uncertainty whether or not it belonged to Samantha.

The screenplay to “Paper Hearts” is an intriguing concoction by Gilligan in that it introduces plausible deniability into the case of Samantha Mulder while still introducing an element of the supernatural into the story. As with other Gilligan-penned scripts, it’s not the supernatural that dominates the story. Instead, here, it is the character of John Lee Roche, a chillingly forthright and playful serial killer embodied by the very talented Noonan. Yet, the construction of the story isn’t its only successful element. In addition, the cinematography and the imagery of the cut-out hearts (fabric all of them – not paper) burns into the brain and makes a heart-wrenching mental association.

You realize that these hearts represent 16 little girls without having to see 16 dead bodies. In an interesting side note, given that these hearts aren’t actually paper and the fact that Roche was a salesman (and a conman), you have to wonder if the title isn’t a sick allusion to the 70s-era classic Paper Moon. In my dreams, I imagine that this was completely intentional, a brilliant trick dreamed up by the twisted mind of Vince Gilligan.

X-Files Flashback: ‘Terma’

Season 4, Episode 9
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz

The X-Files‘s overarching mythology is now all about “the black cancer,” the mysterious oily black substance hidden in Martian rocks and sealed tubes that infects human hosts. The subject and direction of the recent mythology episodes has lurched from topic to topic – bees, aliens, human/alien hybrids, smallpox, etc – and I’m assuming they all somehow tie in together to make a logical conclusion. Or maybe they don’t. Maybe The X-Files goes the way of Lost by wrapping up the series but explaining nothing at all. Time will tell… In the meantime, the incremental pieces that forward us along toward any kind of conclusion become more varied, frustrating, imaginative, and outlandish episode by episode. “Terma” resides more one the frustrating side.

Despite hopping all over the world to multiple locations, not a whole lot happens in this episode. We return to Russia where Mulder has seemingly recovered from his experience with the “black cancer,” the black oil substance we’ve encountered multiple times now over the course of the series. He manages to escape the prison and captures supposed double-agent Krycek along the way, although they become separated after Mulder has an accident in his getaway vehicle. Mulder is taken in by kindly Russian peasants while Krycek, ever the object of beatings and torture, meets a group of test subjects who have all removed their arms to avoid further testing. They forcibly cut Krycek’s arm off to save him from further treatments. Gee, guys. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

We discover that the mysterious Russian man who evaded Mulder and Scully in the last episode is actually a former KGB agent who kills a doctor working with the Syndicate to develop a vaccine against the black cancer. He then tries out the vaccine on known sufferers before killing them. Mulder returns to America, saving Scully from further contempt-of-court imprisonment in her Senate hearings, and the pair attempt to track down the KGB agent by following his trail of bodies. They are eventually led to an oil field in which a massive explosion destroys the remaining black oil-containing rocks. The KGB agent evades capture and returns to Russia where it is revealed that he was hired by Krycek all along.

Honestly, all of that seems like a complete waste of two episodes to me. In The X-Files, unless you’re taking a time-out with a “monster of the week” episode, each mythology episode has to advance the plot in some fashion. I’m not really sure that either recent episode actually did that. At the end of “Terma,” we are nearly back where we started with only an antidote and an armless Krycek to gain. Did we know Krycek was bad? Of course we did. Did we know he was a double agent? Probably – it’s not a surprise anyway. The sojourn to Russia didn’t really tell us anything unless we are to revisit the camp later in the series, and it offered up a whole nest of plot improbabilities – Russian peasants helping Mulder return to America undetected – that the writers clearly wanted to avoid.

“Terma” is entertaining, of course, as Chris Carter is becoming more adept at delivering a balance of action and conspiracy drama. And it’s becoming a perverse joy watching all the nasty things they do to Alex Krycek that he completely deserves. Yet, the black oil/cancer is starting to feel like Lost‘s smoke monster – much ado about absolutely nothing. At least my expectations have been properly set, allowing me to appropriately react to these episodes when they pop up.

Early Review: A Return to ‘The Affair’

Note: This is an early review of the Season Two premiere of Showtime’s The Affair. This review contains mild episode spoilers.

The Affair‘s Season Two premiere marks an evolution of the series beyond the boy-meets-girl thread that carried viewers through Season One into a darker exploration of a broken marriage’s debris. Those who have come expecting answers to last season’s murder subplot, for which Noah Solloway (Dominic West) was arrested in the first season finale, need to adjust their expectations. There are traces of that story here in the second season premiere, but the themes of the episode draw more from the destructive power of divorce and its aftermath on those left behind.

It is telling, then, that Noah’s new love Alison (Ruth Wilson) is only briefly seen in the episode. This portion of the story isn’t hers to tell – she has a uniquely different relationship to explore, a different path to travel than Noah. Part One of the premiere, taking place well in advance of his eventual arrest, focuses on Noah and the mechanics of his pending divorce. We begin with a nightmare-inducing sequence that could have easily come from An American Werewolf in Montauk: Noah drives a sports car down a winding road during a foggy night. As he speeds into the unseen, a figure emerges from the mist, and he slams on the breaks, waking before we witness the outcome. We then experience the next 5 or so minutes of the episode in complete, stark silence as Noah prepares for his day: bad meetings with his publisher who is unhappy with the latest revisions to the end of Noah’s eventual best-selling book, with his mother in law (Kathleen Chalfant, giving a smart, wicked performance) who rages and spits venom at him, and with Helen (Maura Tierney) over divorce arbitration.

It is the arbitration that forms the crux of the episode. Here, it is told from Noah’s perspective with Helen holding her trust fund over him as he always felt her family did. The arbitration is facilitated by a clownish attorney who claims they deserve kudos for putting their marriage “humanely to sleep” rather than rage and fight to end it. When the subject of custody comes up, Helen questions Noah’s living arrangements, and she belittles his money-making potential from his novel. Yet, it is the children who are clearly suffering the most with the eldest son experiencing dread-induced stomach aches, the eldest daughter refusing to speak to Noah, and the youngest son completely crushed that his “parents will get back together” fantasy will likely not come true. Back at his ramshackle cabin, Noah’s salve from the difficult day is Alison, who has prepared him dinner and slow dances with him by the lake. As he sits quietly nursing a beer, an ominous storm (on which the camera lingers a little too long, making the effort a tad on the nose) appears just around the corner, foreshadowing future trauma.

We return to the present day where the arrested Noah is in a holding cell awaiting a bail hearing. The arresting officer encourages Noah to take a plea deal – two years probation max and a fine. He even admits to Noah there isn’t much evidence linking him to the crime, but Noah demands an attorney.

With Part Two, instead of the expected Alison story, we shift for the first time in the series to the Helen perspective. Here, she has rebound sex with Noah’s seedy best friend, Max (Josh Stamberg), who represents everything Helen hates about her life – namely the money and privileged lifestyle expected of her by her mother. Yet, the life he offers is the wrong choice, clearly. Depressed and unhappy, Helen cries in the shower like a broken woman after a bout of unfulfilling sex with Max. Next, the mediation with Noah is cast in a different light with Helen generously offering to arrange for a more suitable home for Noah in the city to facilitate their child exchange. It is Noah who is terse and short in this sequence, demanding time to finish his book before re-admitting the kids in his life. This side of Noah is most definitely the starkest contrast between the two versions of the event.

As Helen’s section closes, she is brought closer together to Max through a social event orchestrated by her mother. When she goes home later than night, she looks at an empty spot on the wall where a picture owned by Noah once hung. The scene is devastating because the storm of emotion that rages under Helen’s visage is quiet compelling – some excellent non-verbal acting by Tierney who has wildly impressed me with her participation in this series and, here, she wows me again, proving she may be the star of Season Two. Back in the present day, Helen has arranged for a high-profile attorney (Richard Schiff) to support Noah as they prepare to fight the pending charges.

The first thing that came to mind as I revisited The Affair is how the framing device would work while incorporating different perspectives. Season One focused on two sides of the same story that eventually led to murder, and the details that Noah and Alison omitted/embellished/forgot became one of the aspects that propelled us forward through the narrative. However, in Season Two, writer Sarah Treem knows the device of the multiple perspectives must remain – it’s a hallmark of the show – but it cannot simply focus on the murder. Now that we know Noah and Alison end up married with a child of their own, the perspectives now must focus on the aftermath of the seismic split between Noah/Helen and Alison/Cole (a yet-unseen Joshua Jackson).

We are now focusing on the darker, more emotionally resonant effects of divorce, naturally overlaid with the ongoing murder story, which deepens the story and gives it room to breathe. The broadened perspectives, I suspect, will give the show avenues to explore that won’t feel redundant to the brilliant premiere season. Is The Affair’s second season as intoxicating as its first? No, but separations and divorces aren’t as intoxicating as illicit romance and falling in love all over again. If Season One is about finding and rekindling passion, then Season Two appears to focus on rebuilding after admittedly selfish choices tear lives apart. The season premiere didn’t “wow” me as much as the pilot episode did, but I’m not sure that it ever could. But it may prove to be more emotionally honest and resonant in the long run. At any rate, the season is off to an accomplished start thanks to sharp writing and two beautifully drawn female characters (Helen and her mother) who are performed to perfection by accomplished actresses.

This may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it suited me just fine. And I look forward to drinking it in for the rest of the season.

The Affair Season Two premiere is now available on YouTube and through other avenues. It officially premieres on Showtime October 4 at 10pm ET.

Podcast Preview: Songs in a TV Key

Monday’s Water Cooler Podcast features a deep-dive into a topic equally loved and loathed by many: the television musical. We will explore the various ways music is used within television shows from the furthering the plot kind (the Buffy musical episode) to the diversification of income kind (Glee’s penchant for selling hundreds of thousands of tracks on iTunes). In addition to Buffy and Glee, we’re also going to look at the infamous Smash, the spectacular failure Cop Rock, and the music-filled and musical Grey’s Anatomy. In addition, we’ll look at how music drives current shows like Empire, American Horror Story, and the upcoming Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Join us on Monday and warm your vocal chords. We know you’ve got a spring in your step and a song in your heart. Or, at the very least, complete disdain for those things.

X-Files Flashback: ‘Tunguska’

Season 4, Episode 8
Director: Kim Manners
Writer: Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz

The mythology episodes of The X-Files are, to borrow a recently used phrase, like a box of chocolates – you literally never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes, they’re action-packed extravaganzas that overshadow the narrative weaknesses. Sometimes, they’re deadly serious, turgid dramas in which the audience is swallowed by wordy drama. With “Tunguska,” its latest entry into mythology, the results are pleasantly somewhere in between. Achieving the right balance of action and dramatic tension, the episode is surprisingly good, topping out as one of the best mythology offerings in its four seasons.

The action begins, as the pretentious would say, “in medias res” with Scully testifying in front of a congressional hearing, refusing to divulge Mulder’s current location. We flash back 10 days to a generic government employee trying to enter the country in Honolulu and becoming detained by customs. Carrying a mysterious briefcase, the man is provided a full body cavity search as customs agents break into the briefcase, revealing its contents to be the mysterious black oil substance. Later, Mulder and Scully participate in an FBI crackdown on an operation suspected of planning to build a large bomb. After arresting many, Mulder finds Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) in the midst of the action and arrests him. Krycek and Mulder become tied at the hip for much of the episode, resulting in an odd buddy road trip comedy.

They eventually end up in Russia to investigate a massive mining operation that may contain an alien object that fell from outer space a hundred years ago. A portion of that asteroid was secured by Mulder and Scully earlier and was tested in a lab. After it was cut open, the black oil erupted and bled into the investigating agent, rendering him in a waking coma. While Scully deals with that, Mulder and Krycek are eventually captured in Russia and are nearly tortured. The episode ends on a cliffhanger where the captured Mulder and others are pinned down in chicken wire and doused with the black oil. We close as it seeps into Mulder’s body.

As I’ve said before, it’s difficult to judge 2-part episodes without knowing the entire picture. However, this first half is fast-paced enough and often crazy enough to warrant a pass from me. I liked the exchanges between Mulder and Krycek as well as the persistent spreading of the black oil. The more strict conspiracy aspects of the episode – mostly dealing with the Smoking Man interacting with Skinner and the Well-Manicured Man – seem to interfere in the intriguing actions related to Mulder and Scully. The Smoking Man’s activity all seems to be aligned with underscoring the danger and risk Mulder and Scully are entering into with their covert actions. It’s not something that really needs to be underscored, honestly. We clearly know the agents are risking their lives. The non Mulder/Scully scenes just feel superfluous.

Overall, “Tunguska” is a good start, and we’ll have to see how it settles in the next chapter. I applaud the writers putting Mulder directly at risk with the black oil experiment. We know that it can leave bodies without harming them. It will be interesting to see what they actually do with this development in the very near future.

Review: HTGAWM – Moving On Is Hard to Do

Say you’re the hottest show of the television, and you need to figure out how to recapture the feverish presence for your sophomore season. What do you do? If you’re involved with the megahit, incredibly tweet-worthy How to Get Away with Murder, you dive right back into the scandal and the craziness that made your show such a phenomenon in the first place. Let’s not forget: we were left with a dead body at the very end of Season One, and this premiere promised us to reveal the killer.

One of the first things we see in the premiere is Rebecca getting a plastic bag tied around her face. That disturbing and graphic image pulls us immediately back into How to Get Away’s complicated web, but that’s not the only thing that has us tweeting/texting/screaming WTF and OMG. Normally, a thriller like this would have a quiet or demure period in the first few moments, or it might take the episode an entire half hour before it tries to shock us. Not the case with this ABC drama.

Sure, the students pretty much hate each other as they attempt to pick up the pieces from events that took place in the first season. Everyone assumes that Rebecca has successfully disappeared, but Wes’ behavior is making everyone a bit suspicious. In a tense early scene, he arrives late to Annalise’s class and yells at her when she asks him to answer a question. Connor stands by Oliver after he is diagnosed with HIV, and it’s pretty brave for ABC to introduce such a bold storyline. Is there another show promoting such conversations about safe sex and healthy relationships—you know, amid murder investigations and backstabbing?

So, does How to Get Away with Murder deliver in its second season premiere? You bet your trophy-grabbing ass it does! There is a lot of mystery going on here already. Yes, we find out who Rebecca’s killer is (Bonnie sure doesn’t care about winning Employee of the Month anymore), but it almost feels like a bait and switch in the best way. Famke Janssen makes a strong debut as Eve, a Harvard Law colleague of Annalise’s that is defending Nate in his trial. We soon learn, though, that Annalise and Eve were more than classmates, and that’s just the first of two late twists that have Twitter buzzing. When will we find out who Eggs 911 is?! Why does he have such an awful name? Are we going to get more details about Anna/Eve?! The suspense is killing me already!!!

Last season, I recapped this show, and it’s hard to review it from a distance this time around. Last season, it was THE show that people wanted to talk about. People would start conversations about it, and recommend the show to other people immediately to get them in on the scandal and gossip. That’s how we know it’s sensational, and this promises to be no different. It’s the kind of TV that makes you gush and want to just be shocked together, and this cliffhanger guarantees to nab viewers. I’m hooked all over again.