Kara McCoy

Alright, folks. It's season finale time, so let's just cut to the chase. Finales are all about tying up loose ends, and tonight's episode of THE BASTARD EXECUTIONER was no exception. First there's that little issue of vengeance that's been hanging over Wilk and Toran's heads since pretty much the pilot. Would tonight finally be the night to avenge their butchered wives? Well...Actually...No. And turns out, I am so okay with that, because all season long, I couldn't help but look at Leon and Locke and think, y'know what, they kinda seem...not...that...bad...? In the first of many showdowns tonight, Toran confronts Locke about his wife's slaughter. Locke admits that he acted under orders, but totally owns what he did. He takes responsibility, but he seems sorry for it--even if he doesn't come out and say it. He doesn't beg for mercy because he knows he doesn't deserve it. Toran, in turn, says that Locke has at least earned himself a fair fight. Which was really nice of him, but I don't think he actually expected to lose. Lucky for him, Locke is a pretty honorable guy and chooses to spare Toran's life, on the agreement that their score is now settled. So. There's Toran's vengeance. Check.

It's been two full weeks since Lovekin became Facebook official-yes, 'Lovekin,' I worked really hard on that, okay?--so you'd think tonight's episode would be all about the forbidden romance between our favorite baroness and executioner. But no! 'Broken Things/Toredig Pethau' focuses a pretty big chunk of its attention on the FX drama's original power couple: Annora and the Dark Mute. I'll be honest, I always find myself more interested in what's happening inside Ventris Castle that out of it, but it was satisfying to finally unravel some of the mystery around the healer and her mutilated beau. 'Some,' being the key word.

A few big things happened in tonight's episode, and most of them had nothing to do with Milus Corbett. What. A. Bummer. But we're gonna talk about him anyway. I am so sorry for anyone who reads my recaps and doesn't like Milus. I'd like to actually take this moment to publically apologize to you. But he's my fav. How can you not crack up at just about everything he says? Cozying up to Lady Love like, 'soooo... you're going to marry Pryce now, riiiiight?' And hey! We found the guy who killed Lady Trula! Things are looking up! TIME FOR A WEDDING! CAN I BE YOUR MAID OF HONOR, OR IS THAT WEIRD?! Okay, Corbie, simmer down. Lady Love brushes off the wedding plans for now, and asks to see the rebel who has confessed to Lady Trula's murder. Milus acquiesces, even though he doesn't know what else the guy could possibly tell the baroness. Such a sly guy, he's out of control.

Welp. Jessamy's acting weird. Must be a Tuesday. Last week's episode ended, you may recall, with Ventrishire's resident besotted kook walking in on her paramour getting all snuggly with Lady Love in the chapel. Tonight it becomes very clear that Jessamy is jealous, as well as delusional. When Wilk, Maddy, whatever she wants to call him, tells her that he and Toran are off on a boys' trip to trade some grain, Jessamy totally gives him the side-eye. 'Oh, yeahhhh? Any pretty girls gonna be there? Hmmmm?' You can practically see the 'What are you wearing, 'Jake from State Farm'?' in her face, it's actually a bit fantastic. And when Father Ruskin announces to the village that Lady Love's pregnant, man oh man, daggers just about shoot out of her eyes. It's wonderful. She's so wacky.

Jessamy Maddox talks in her sleep. This is shocking to probably no one, but as she tosses and turns murmuring her husband's name, who exactly is she seeing in her dreams? Gawain, or Wilk? If I were Wilk, I'd feel super awkward. Thank goodness there's a crying baby to distract him from her nighttime rumblings. And watching him rock the Maddox baby tugs at our heartstrings, however gently, because this should have been Wilk all along. A father. He was this close before Reeve Tell snatched that life away by murdering his wife. Sad. He still sees visions of Petra, which is sweet and everything, until the illusion falls and it's actually Jessamy he's making out with. Oops.

In last week's series premiere of THE BASTARD EXECUTIONER, Wilkin Brattle and company swore to avenge the slaughter at the shire. Wilk knows who killed his wife Petra, and wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, is now basically working side by side with the guy as Ventrishire's newest executioner. So vengeance should be...pretty easy. Right?

FX's highly anticipated medieval drama THE BASTARD EXECUTIONER kicks off this week with its two-hour series premiere event. Set in 14th century Wales, the epic follows Wilkin Brattle, played by newcomer Lee Jones, a former warrior now turned executioner who traverses a world dominated by religion, politics, and violence, while struggling to protect his own identity and seek a greater destiny.

I think it was Thomas Edison who said that series premieres are 99% anticipation and 1% reservation. Or he would have had he lived to see the dawn of television. There's some truth to that; however, as I found myself counting down the days to the airing of Kurt Sutter's latest FX pilot, I felt like I needed to amend that statement to reflect a more equal distribution of expectation. As a massive SONS OF ANARCHY fan, I was obviously excited to learn that cable TV's favorite bad boy would be hitting our screens again. At the same time, as a massive SONS OF ANARCHY fan, I wondered if THE BASTARD EXECUTIONER could possibly match up to one of the greatest dramas in recent television history (is that too strong? Maybe. But I'm sticking with it.) Did tonight's series premiere provide the answer?

I'm going to cut to the chase here: tonight's season finale of OUTLANDER was hard to watch. I mean, really hard to watch. It made 'Wentworth Prison' look like an episode of 'Full House.' I'm pretty sure my skin was crawling for the entire 60 minutes, starting with that first shot of Jamie staring dead into the camera. Jamie, whose dashing heroics and boyish humor charmed us all season long, now broken, with empty eyes and mangled hands. And as the camera slowly pans up to reveal a naked Jack Randall lying beside him, we come to understand. We didn't need to see exactly what had preceded this moment because the look on Jamie's face says it all. And maybe we even gave a tiny sigh of relief that we didn't see what happened. But that doesn't last long. Not to compare Jamie's experience to our own watching the episode, but it seemed like the audience was meant to undergo some psychological torment, too, with enough subsequent images to send us directly into the shower to wash off that Black Jack grime as soon as it was over.

Is it possible that only last week we watched Claire deliver a Scotch-ified 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy' while dressed in drag? Do I have that right? I find that so hard to believe after sitting through 'Wentworth Prison,' the season's penultimate episode, and a different beast altogether. For fans of the book who already knew exactly what would go down at Wentworth, I'm sure this was something of a highly-anticipated episode. It was for me, anyway, and even though I knew what to expect, it's one thing to read it on a page and another to see it played out on screen. Tonight's episode was, in a word, heavy. Ha, and only one week ago I called 'The Search' 'kooky.' Take me back to simpler times. Alright, I'm being dramatic. In all seriousness though, 'Wentworth Prison', if you look past the obvious--which I will certainly be getting to--was a very good episode.

Tonight's episode of OUTLANDER was, in a word, different. Yeah, I already know what you're thinking. 'Different.' That's like what you say when your friend shows you her terrible new haircut. Oh! It's...different! Get that idea out of your head, because that's not what I mean. It was just different. A little kooky, a little--dare I say--funny, and, okay, a little uneven. I might even go so far as to label it a filler episode, which pains me slightly, because that 'f' word has such a negative connotation in TV world, doesn't it? But with only two episodes left in the season, I guess it was inevitable. That being said, however, filler or not, different or uneven, 'The Search' was definitely entertaining. 

Tonight's OUTLANDER picked up right where Episode 12 left off, which was great, because last week's 'Lallybroch' ended with one doozy of a cliffhanger. Three guys pulling pistols on Jamie, the Laird of Lallybroch, mind you, in his own home! Well, I never! Before the situation can escalate any further, Jenny walks in, clearly unfazed by the scene in front of her. Not only that, but she seems to know the pistol-wielding intruders. They may be friendly, but not that friendly, because Jenny introduces Jamie to them as her cousin. Jamie catches on quickly, calling himself MacTavish. One of the newly arrived crew tells Jenny that they thought Jamie was a robber--because what else could Jamie possibly be, right?--so, heh, sorry for the misunderstanding.

Last week's episode of OUTLANDER was wild. Witches. Time travelers. Courtroom drama. 'Lallybroch' was basically the complete opposite, but not in a bad way. It gave us all a chance to catch our breath--the calm before yet another eventual storm, I'm sure. It wasn't particularly action-heavy, but neither was 'The Wedding' earlier this season, and much like episode seven, what 'Lallybroch' lacked in momentum, it made up for in development, focusing more on characters and relationships. Plus we finally got to see Lallybroch, which was great, because Jamie just would not shut up about it, y'know...

It may be a bit early to call it, having only reached the third of an eight-episode long homestretch, but I'm going to do it: the latter half of OUTLANDER's premiere season has exceeded all of my expectations. I'm not totally sure what they were to begin with, but they've all been tossed out the window by this point anyway. Already this show has topped itself, with each new episode since the September mid-season finale proving to be stronger than the last. Tonight's installment, intriguingly titled 'The Devil's Mark' was--yup, yup, I'm doing it--the best so far. I'm probably going to kick myself next week, if we keep up this momentum, but I'm just too darn excited about it.

A lot went down on tonight's episode of OUTLANDER. And I mean a lot. So much, in fact, that it felt like the type of episode that would pave the way for one heck of a season finale. But guess what, folks? We still have six episodes to go! So if this is Ronald D. Moore's idea of a typical filler episode, well then my goodness, color me impressed.

Welcome back to the 18th century, my fellow lads and lasses! If you, like me, spent the last 6-ish months in a state of downright painful anticipation, the wait is finally over. The STARZ hit OUTLANDER is back and ready to dominate TV screens once again. When we last saw our favorite new “it couple,” you may (definitely) recall, Claire had been captured by the British, specifically by the super evil and super skeevy Black Jack Randall, only to be saved by her dashing new beau Jamie at the last second. The mid-season premiere picks up where we left off, more or less. It opens with a voiceover from Jamie, which is a bit different; Claire's typically the one who handles the disembodied introspection and such. Now it's Jamie's turn to contemplate, making it clear right from the get-go that this episode will be Jamie-centric.

By now, you may know his voice, and you probably know his face, but you definitely know his name. To the delight of everyone with an internet connection and a Netflix account, 'Benedict Cumberbatch' has finally become more than just an overly abundant collection of silly syllables. It's become a household name (insert obligatory 'no matter how kooky of a name it may be' joke here). Today, he's easily one of the busiest men in Hollywood. A bonafide movie star. An Oscar nominee. And that's great. Because I'm a huge fan. You should be too. Here's why.

Alright, folks. Let's just cut right to the chase. Tonight's the SURVIVOR finale, and as I look back on the last 12 episodes, I feel more underwhelmed than nostalgic. I'm not saying the nothing happened this season, but...it kind of feels that way, doesn't it? A little bit? Usually I approach the finale with some sense of the contestant I'd like to win, or at least of the one I definitely don't. This year...I don't really care. And it's not because each of the remaining survivors deserves it; it's because they've all played this game at the same level of eh-ness. Should Baylor win? Eh. How about Missy? Eh. Jaclyn? Ehhhhh.

I tend to be overly verbose when it comes to, well, just about everything. So today, I'm going to try something different. I'm going to keep this short and sweet. After the two-hour SURVIVOR fest last week, I think we all deserve it. And honestly, there's only one point that I think I need to make at this stage of the game. So here goes: Natalie needs to accomplish something tonight.

I would have loved to have been in the room when SLEEPY HOLLOW was first pitched to FOX execs. I can only imagine how that conversation went. 'So, picture this. It's Ichabod Crane, and it's demons, and it's Benjamin Franklin, and it's witchcraft, and it's cell phones.' If a modern-day, evil-battling Ichabod Crane sounds a little zany to you, you're not alone. But now, a season and a half later, this surprise hit is still delivering, culminating in an exciting, if a bit uneven, fall finale that had me and fellow recapper Courtney Henley talking. Check out what we had to say, but beware the spoilers!