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We’re getting to the point in the Rogue One marketing blitz where we’ve basically seen all the footage we’re going to see outside the theater, and any new details will be brief in between mostly remixed trailer fodder. One of those short bits of new material in the promotional teaser for the start of early ticket sales (now open!) seems to contain a pretty big reveal.

Did you catch it? Remember that shot from the early trailers of the Death Star’s main weapon dish being maneuvered into position? Well, this trailer gives us another view of that operation, over the shoulder of …

An Imperial officer who appears to be Grand Moff Tarkin, as pointed out by Anthony Breznican at Entertainment Weekly. Due to the costume, Vader’s a lot easier of a villain to bring back in logistical terms, but it appears that the team behind Rogue One is planning to put Tarkin back on screen, as well. John Knoll, Rogue One‘s visual effects supervisor, had previously teased to EW that there would be some particularly fancy effects work in the movie, so it’s possible the character could be recreated with CGI.

That seems like going a bit far for a character who also appeared in Revenge of the Sith, with nothing more than a bit of makeup work:

But with December nearly upon us and the movie’s release just under three weeks away, we’ll find out soon enough!

(via Entertainment Weekly, featured image via screenshot)

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Based on what happened by the end of the episode, I’m not sure if everything will be fixed.

Recap

Prologue 1886

Zachariah Webb (Julian McMahon) experiments with the machine that Dirk (Samuel Barnett) and Todd (Elijah Wood) put together last week.  By cranking too many times on his generator, he kills his pet bird and cat.  The dog is spared when he cranks it only once and the machine disappears, then reappears with the same symbols that were drawn around the animal transfer unit and a note from Dirk.  Here’s what the note says:

Sorry

Went bad

Tried buy (spelling Dirk darn) same way

Wrote this last time? (hard to read that last word)

SHIT

Dirk Gently

Present Day

Detective Estevez (Neil Brown Jr) is still reeling from his partner’s death.  The Captain (Eric Keenleyside) however, doesn’t seem to be that upset about Zimmerfield’s demise and wants to go by the book before going back to the animal transfer unit, even though he has a dead cop on his hands and his other detective is saying there are a lot of dead bodies.  Estevez even goes so far as to accuse the Captain of being involved somehow.  That gets him fired. Estevez leaves pissed of course.  Proving Estevez right, the Captain calls Gordon Rimmer (Aaron Douglas) saying they have a problem. Bastard!

Todd and Dirk arrive back at his place.  Dirk suggests that Todd tells Amanda (Hannah Marks) now instead of later his secret and meet him and Farah (Jade Eshete) at the Spring mansion.  Todd goes in just as Farah is going out. They catch each other up on what’s been happening. Todd also gives her the theory that Rimmer switched Lydia’s (Alison Thornton) spirit with his dog Rapunzel’s.  Todd will bring Amanda with him to the Spring mansion.  Farah gives him silver knuckles to defend himself and the keys to her SUV.  Farah and Todd go their separate ways, hopeful they can save Lydia.

These are my Confessions

Amanda walks in excited to tell Todd what’s been going on with her and her night with Farah.  Todd blurts that he didn’t have Pararibulitis.  As expected, Amanda didn’t take it too well.  Todd even offers her the lottery ticket to help make up for his lies but she takes it the wrong away.  Amanda is understandably upset.  When Todd then tells her that they need to leave, she closes herself in the bathroom.

Estevez, tipsy on that whiskey, figures out that Lydia must somehow be the corgi.  Lydia/Rapunzel confirms by barking appropriately to his questions.  The corgi also confirms that Todd and Dirk helped her escape from Rimmer.  The former detective has more questions for Todd, so goes to his apartment.

Amanda and Todd reminisce about a night that Amanda thought she ruined because of Todd’s “disease.” Amanda doesn’t know her brother anymore.  Todd still insists that his place isn’t safe anymore so they need to meet Dirk and Farah.  Some people are after them but Amanda thinks he’s referring to the two CIA operatives.

Estevez comes knocking just when Amanda has another attack, this time thinking she’s drowning.  Todd tries to keep Estevez calm by answering his questions but when Amanda starts kicking on the door Estevez starts to lose it.  He punches Todd but Todd insists on getting into the room.  The dog is barking like they need to get into the room quick.  Estevez finally opens the door and takes Amanda out wondering what’s wrong with her.  Todd explains that she is “drowning.” They go outside to try to help her but get ambushed by Ed (Christian Bako) and Zed (Michael Adamwaite).  The Rowdy 3 (Michael Eklund, Osric Chau, Viv Leacock and Zak Santiago) come to the rescue again, helping Estevez escape with Lydia/Rapunzel.  While Ed and Zed are temporarily out, they suck the disease energy out of Amanda so she can breathe again.  Todd tries to hug her but she gives him the cold shoulder. Amanda doesn’t want to see Todd again, so she leaves with the Rowdy 3.  This leaves Todd at the mercy of Ed and Zed, who recover enough to kidnap him.

 A moment

Farah makes sure that they are not being followed. Stuck in traffic, Dirk in his own way recruits her into his agency.  Super excited that they are close working everything out, he yells, much to Farah’s chagrin, his name and stands up in his seat.  Just then Bart (Fiona Dourif) gets on the hood of the Jeep with a gun aiming at Dirk.  Fortunately, she misses and Dirk runs away.  Farah follows.  Bart keeps shooting Dirk but the bullets don’t hit him.  He runs up a set of the steps to a dead end.  Farah orders Bart to stop but Ken (Mpho Koaho) pushes her down so Bart can finish her mission.  Farah kicks Ken’s butt and gets her knife out.

Bart has reached the top of the stairs as well and explains to Dirk that she’s supposed to kill him.  They both eventually say “everything is connected.”   They both talk at once saying mostly the same thing about how they are one of the others, they are different, yet the same. Farah interrupts the moment by stabbing Bart in the leg and throws her over the stairway.

Bart and Ken manage to get back to their hotel room.  It’s a wonder considering how Bart was screaming in pain!  She thinks the universe is broken because she got injured and she’s unable to kill Dirk.  Ken points out how the universe is still working in their favor considering the crowd nor the hotel noticed her screaming in pain and her with a stab wound.  He also saw a news report about the guy that got hit by the car last week had kidnapped women holed up at his house.  See, the universe still wants her to kill bad guys.  She’s determined to go after Dirk again, even though Ken believes that maybe that’s not what they need to do with him.

Back to Dirk and Farah.  Thank goodness, the machine was still there when they made it back to the Jeep.  Farah calls Agent Weedle (David Lewis) thinking he will be able to help them.  While waiting in the middle of the woods Farah gets concerned that Todd hasn’t checked in yet.  Dirk thinks that’s her way of indicating that she “likes” Todd.  Dirk shows her the machine when she turns it on by flipping some switches there are three dates:  08/03/16 when Patrick Spring dies, 07/17/01 when Spring’s wife died, and 08/23/96.

Just then Agent Weedle arrives.  When he starts talking weird, Dirk realizes too late that he’s one of Rimmer’s goons. Weedle knocks out Farah and kidnaps Dirk.

Being Supreme

Rimmer and the Captain meet each other by the river.  The Captain thinks it was a bad idea that Rimmer betrayed Rainey, their leader.  He also warns that Estevez will still be going after Rimmer.  Now that Rimmer has the other machine, he’s the “Supreme Being” now. There was nothing ever spiritual about what they were doing, it was about power and being in control.  He orders the Captain to get any lingering followers to meet him at the temple.

Back at the animal transfer unit, both Todd and Dirk are brought into a room with cages and pet carriers.  Dirk doesn’t know where Farah is, and Todd tells Dirk that Amanda is gone.  Todd is starting to sport a shiner.  Dirk believes that when Rimmer walks in with his dirty fur coat on waving a gun at them, that they will finally get answers.  However, it’s Rimmer who has even more questions for the two of them.  Todd is honest about answering four of those questions. As Rimmer is going on about the machine and them being around at the same day Patrick Spring died Dirk starts putting the pieces together of what the machine is.  He tells Todd that they can get out of there.  Someone has driven up to the building.  Rimmer gets Zed and Agent Weedle to find out what’s going on.  Todd makes his move and attacks Rimmer getting the gun away and punching him with Farah’s silver knuckles Dirk runs into the next room with the soul switching machine and he has the other machine.  Todd barricades them in the room.  Dirk wants him to touch the machine. He solved the case, they are going to fix everything.  The machine wirs, lights up and they disappear.  That’s the end of the episode!

Thoughts and Theories

There were two times in this episode where I was like:

via GIPHY

The first time was when Farah called Agent Weedle.  That talking to that he gave her left an impression for some reason that he could be trusted.  The red flags he raised got eliminated in the face of Agent Weedle hitting her vulnerabilities.  Unfortunately, it was too late for Dirk to even say anything because she was knocked out.  I’m hoping she’s not in the same situation we saw her in at the beginning of the series, especially considering how awesome she was when she beat up Bart and Ken earlier in the episode.  Hopefully Weedle left her with the Jeep.

The second time I wanted to yell at the screen “What are you doing?!” was when Amanda tore up the lottery ticket.  That was $10,000 she just let go to waste! Todd should’ve kept that ticket in the picture frame.  Sigh…

The way that the universe worked in this episode it was probably a good thing that Amanda didn’t go with Todd.  I’m glad the Rowdy 3 rescued her again.  I don’t blame her reaction to Todd’s news at all.  What made Todd and Dirk think that Amanda would want to go with him after confessing a big lie like that I don’t know.  How could she trust whatever he told her after that?  At least the secret is out now and not dragged out.  Great scenes between Marks and Wood.  At least the Rowdy 3 could protect Amanda and help her if she shows symptoms of her disease.

I felt so bad for Estevez because he has no one to really turn to except maybe Farah at this point.  It was a good thing that he escaped with Lydia in tow.  I’m hoping he gets closure as well for his partner’s death.  It was cute and sad at the same time that he was confiding with the Corgi, especially when he got the dog to confirm that it was really Lydia.  I wonder how long it took to do that scene?

I wasn’t expecting Bart and Ken to finally catch up with Dirk so soon but I’m glad that it happened.  Their conversation was adorable and I wish they had more time with each other.  I’m hoping that Ken can convince Bart that maybe her mission isn’t to kill Dirk Gently, since when she does, she’s vulnerable to getting hurt. I’m also glad that Ken will stick with her.  It was pitiful seeing Bart so defeated and thinking the universe failed her.  Ken had a good pep talk with her so she can get back on track.  Dourif killed it in those scenes!  Maybe they will meet up with Amanda and the Rowdy 3 at some point, or even  Riggins and Friedkin.   I’m wondering if Bart and Dirk seeing each other will happen once or twice a season.

Rimmer is a little more pragmatic than I gave him credit for.  I understand him a little better now that I know he’s been pretty much used for years while their original leader has been taking advantage with him and the drones.  I did think it was funny considering Dirk’s expectations when Rimmer asked them all kinds of questions instead!

The scene with Dirk and Todd is obviously set to go back in time to the day of the murder.  From Rimmer’s questions, it sounds like both Dirk and Todd where there when Patrick Spring died. I hope this means that we get to finally see what happened that day in gory detail and that moment again when Todd sees himself in the next episode.  From the note we saw in the prologue, the struggle is real to get back to their own time. I wonder if they will see what happened to Edward Spring and Patrick Spring’s wife as well?

The prologue has made me realized how much the animals have been treated like crap for Webb’s and Rimmer’s cult experiments.  Webb got on my bad side when he got the cat killed.  It was bad enough that the poor bird was the first to go.  Even Patrick Spring has memorialized his rhino’s spirit as a guard to a door in a secret tunnel.  How messed up is that? At least we have an idea through Webb’s experiments how the spirit initially leaves the body in spiritual attack mode.  I’m still worried about the kitten. Can we make sure that the kitten is okay? I don’t like the feeling of it being lost in the woods somewhere.

What did you think of the episode?  How do you feel about Bart and Dirk finally meeting?  Sound off your thoughts about the show in the comments!

Photos courtesy of BBC America/AMC Networks

Earlier this month, we were part of CTRL+ALT, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s pop-up culture lab in the former Pear River Mart location in SoHo. Along with Clark University’s Betsy Huang, our fearless leader Keith Chow co-hosted a reading lounge in which they held workshops, panels, and salon discussions with other artists. We’ll be bringing you these sessions over the next few weeks, starting with this one-on-one conversation between Keith and renowned comic artist Jamal Igle.

Jamal chats with Keith about collaborating with Larry Hama on their “Fan Fiction” contribution to the CTRL+ALT Reading Lounge, a take one Carl Barks’ classic Junior Woodchucks comics.

They also discuss the history — and necessity — of Jamal’s creator-owned comic series Molly Danger and his latest creation, the Kickstarter-funded series Black. In addition, Jamal reveals why he’s an SJW (that would be Social Justice Warlord) and why it’s important now more than ever to use his position in the comics industry to stand up for marginalized communities.

All this and more on Hard NOC Life! Watch it on your screen, hit “play,” and check this.

Special thanks to Lawrence Minh-Bui Davis and Adriel Luis from the Smithsonian APA for inviting us to be a part of CTRL+ALT!

Watch this space every Friday for new episodes of “Hard N.O.C. Life” and go to our YouTube channel to subscribe! You can also download the audio podcast on iTunes or Soundcloud!

Warning: Dirk Gently spoilers follow. Only read on if you don’t mind knowing what happened on the latest episode!

For the first ten minutes of this week’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency from BBC America, it looked like the show was heading towards its third straight disappointing installment, where the action and excitement of the story took a back seat to needlessly rehashing previous events and offering up already established characterization. However–and fittingly considering its title, “Fix Everything”–the episode quickly recovered and ended up being lots of fun.

After the pre-credits scene that finally introduced the time travel element of the story we knew was coming ever since the first episode when Todd saw a second version of himself from the hotel elevator, we were treated to back-to-back scenes of Todd explaining in-depth events that we already know all about. First, to Farrah, he recapped what happened to him last week; and then he again confessed all of his past lies, but this time to his sister Amanda.

In both cases the scenes could have just been joined in the middle, with the two women reacting to what he had said, and it would have spared us rehearing things we just saw in the last episode. Both scenes felt like they were done for the benefit of the audience and not because they were actually needed, but none of what Todd said was required for us to continue following along. Yes, the plot is all over the place and there are numerous moving parts, but the confusion of what is happening is more fun than knowing what is happening. They didn’t trust the audience to be engaged enough to move forward without another step back, and it resulted in a tedious opening.

Embracing the ever-growing madness is when the show is at its best, and retelling is when it is at it’s worst.

Which was proven true later in the episode, when Dirk anticipated that Gordon was going to be able to answer all of the questions Dirk and Todd themselves have, but instead all Gordon had were more questions. It was the show’s funniest scene yet, and it was especially the best meta-joke the show is fond of telling. This mystery is absurd madness, and the ending was the complete opposite of the start. It was exciting, insane, and loads of fun, everything we have liked about it.

But there was also lots to enjoy in-between the start and finish, like an emotionally damaged Estevez putting together the illogical pieces of this nutso puzzle and running amok with the dog/Lydia Springs, and also of Bart and Ken (finally!) taking the next step in their story. It was hard to believe that Bart was ever going to kill Dirk, but her failing spectacularly and having something totally new and unexplainable happened to her was an interesting development those two characters needed to keep them engaging.

As for their “connection,” the backstory of both Bart and Dirk, as well as the Rowdy 3, is what it is at this point. We’d love our Dirk to be unique and different unto himself, but there’s no point in continuing to complain about the inclusion of that story strand. We just hope it will be a minor factor as we head to the finale and not a major one.

There are only two episodes left and there are still, fortunately, lots of questions to be answered. We have no idea just how important Amanda is to everything, or what made Bart screw up and go after Dirk. Also, we know that at some point Todd, with that tank top and fur coat, is going to end up back in time at the hotel with Dirk on the day that Patrick Spring was killed (and also that Patrick Spring was in two places at the same time). Plus we still have Lydia inside a dog, a kitten/hammerhead shark on the loose, and some original souls causing all of these problems.

We know all of these things, and if the show doesn’t worry about making sure that we do, and instead just worries about what we don’t know, it could make for a great ending.

But what did you think of this week’s episode? Head into our comments below and let us know.

Images: BBC America