Flow

Sometimes you search an entire year in vain for the film which will allow you to fall in love with cinema, and what it can be, all over again. Flow is that perfect film. Springing from the mind of writer/director Gints Zilbalodis and co-writer Matiss Kaza, Flow follows a nameless black cat, and the various other animals he will meet along the way, in the mostly abandoned woodland setting where a flood will displace everything. Featuring no humans, nor narration or dialogue of any language, Flow is a survival story told through its use of real animal sounds, and the sounds of the surroundings, helping to bring the characters and their world to life.

Sonic 3

Adding a bit of pathos and depth to the franchise with the addition of Shadow (Keanu Reeves), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is easily the best film of the franchise. A large chunk of the film is dedicated to revealing the tortured origins and motives of the games' famous antihero consumed with vengeance following his escape from the G.U.N. prison facility where he's been kept in suspended animation for the last 50 years. Reeves turns out to be a great choice to voice the character whose less murdery side is shown in a series of flashbacks highlighting his friendship with Maria Robotnik (Alyla Browne) which ended in tragedy prior to his incarceration.

Citadel: Honey Bunny - Home

While in 2000 we see Honey (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) return to her family home, flashbacks to 1992 continue with the mission that caused her to split from Bunny (Varun Dhawan) and Guru (Kay Kay Menon). The surprise news of her unexpected pregnancy weighs on Honey heading into the team stealing the Armada from Dr. Raghu (Thalaivasal Vijay) whose actions after she faints at dinner with him prove to her what kind of man he is as do Bunny's killing him on Guru's orders. Between Honey's horror at Bunny's actions and lies and Bunny's anger at her questioning their mission, any hopes for Honey sharing the news of her pregnancy fall apart.

Jenny Sparks #5

Taking break from the standoff between Jenny Sparks and Captain Atom, Jenny Sparks #5 works as something of an origin issue offering flashbacks to both Captain Atom's origins and to Jenny Sparks' recruitment by Superman and Batman. The latter provides the big laughs of the issue while the former helps reintroduce the character of Atom and restate the challenges Jenny has in dealing with him through her discussion of one of the hostages whose cancer he cured.

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place - Saved by the Spell

The best thing about this episode of sending Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown) to a non-magical school for the first time is the pun in its title (sadly the episode doesn't feature Billie stopping time and directly speaking to the audience). Despite being told "no magic," Billie uses plenty in her attempt to win over Roman's (Alkaio Thiele) best friend Winter (Taylor Cora) after striking out making friends of her own. Playing on the tease from the previous episode we also see a phantomus drawn to the school by Billie's magic and attack Roman (after he steals her wand).

Blink

After learning that three of their four children suffer from a degenerative eye condition which will gradually leave them blind, a family sets off around the world to pack a lifetime of experiences and wonders in a single year. The documentary from Edmund Stenson and Daniel Roher chronicles the French Canadian family's travels across the world through a variety of locales balancing the emotions of wonder and awe with fear, sadness, and impending loss.

Arcane - Paint the Town Blue

Fast-forwarding an indeterminate amount of time (weeks? months? a year?), Zaun has become occupied by the Piltover and Noxian forces harassing the citizens of the undercity searching for Jinx (Ella Purnell) who has retreated from the public eye with Isha (Lucy Lowe). Despite the pleas for Jinx to return, she remains missing until her precocious ward forces her hand by getting kidnapped at a rally along with several others in the undercity leading to Jinx to stage a rescue with Sevika (Amirah Vann) shocking her with the discovery of just how much her legend has grown in her absence.

Powerpuff Girls Winter Snowdown Showdown #1

Just in time for Christmas comes this holiday one-shot featuring the girls on their best behavior at holiday time while also splitting up to find the perfect Christmas gift for the Professor. Having promised to try to watch the violence and property damage (for both their dad and Santa), the girls find themselves in some unfamiliar territory as Blossom deals with the Rowdyruff Boys, Bubbles runs into trouble with Princess Morbucks, and Buttercup runs into Santa-dressed MoJo JoJo. The Professor also gets an unwelcome visitor of his own as well.

Bob's Burgers - Dog Christmas Day After Afternoon

Any Christmas where your family drives around in a hearse and your son almost kills a puppy is likely to be a memorable one. The situation starts with Louise (Kristen Schaal), Gene (Eugene Mirman), and Tina (Dan Mintz) not getting the game console they wanted for the holiday. Hoping to brighten everyone's spirits, Linda (John Roberts) suggests driving around to look at the Christmas lights which becomes problematic when their car won't start. However, their neighbor allows them to borrow theirs. And so that's how to get a hearse driving around a neighborhood on Christmas night creeping the hell out of everyone.

I Saw the TV Glow

Writer/director Jane Schoenbrun's I Saw the TV Glow examines themes of obsessive fandom, despondency, isolation, familial dysfunction, and dysphoria all through social outcasts Owen (Ian Foreman and later Justice Smith) and the slightly older Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) who bond over a late-night teen horror show called The Pink Opaque. 

NCIS: Origins - Vivo o Muerto

The case of a Navy seaman abducted by a human trafficking ring leads Gibbs (Austin Stowell) and Dominguez (Mariel Molino). However, things get more interesting when cartel responsible is revealed to be the same cartel that killed Gibbs' family. "Vivo o Muerto" plays the "everyone on deck" trope with lots of work in the office while Gibbs and Dominguez, and eventually Franks (Kyle Schmid), work to track down not only the seaman but several other women all held by the cartel whose members include the man Gibbs has been hunting since his return from overseas.

Batman: Dark Patterns #1

After three years patrolling the streets, the new twelve-issue maxi series opens with a Batman jaded to the problems of Gotham City he can't solve while continuing his crusade to help where he can. Batman: Dark Patterns #1 brings the latest victim of a serial killer to Batman's attention, killed, like the others, by literally being tortured to death. After running into more trouble that he should looking into the first victim of the killer, the Dark Knight Detective makes a connection between the lawyer and the other victims.

Interior Chinatown - Kung Fu Guy

At first Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang) is ecstatic at his new role of Tech Guy. Other than short interruptions by Turner (Sullivan Jones) and Green (Lisa Gilroy) to enhance evidence, Willis is left alone to explore hours of video of his brother (Chris Pang). Lana Lee (Chloe Bennet) also joins him his as well, spending more time together looking into his brother, what exactly he was doing for the department, and any reference to the Painted Dragons. However, an odd clip of the two detectives (Maury Sterling and Spencer Neville) who recruited him leads Willis down a rabbit hole forcing him to question everything he knows. And then, just to confuse him further, one last new piece of evidence leads him to the last place he ever expected: home.

Skeleton Crew - Way, Way Out Past the Barrier / Very Interesting, As an Astrogation Problem

The second and third episodes of Skeleton crew provide the first experience of space for Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), and KB (Kyriana Kratter) who find themselves lightyears away from home. Taken to a nearby pirate space station by the ship's droid, who recognizes Fern as captain, the foursome discover trust is a commodity in short supply, although Wim does make the acquaintance of the marginally Force sensitive imprisoned former pirate captain (Jude Law) who he mistakes for a Jedi (and is all to willing to let that misconception stand). Escaping the port together, Jod, Silvo, Captain Jack, or whatever you want to call him, agrees to help the kids find their home believing the legends of treasure to be found on the lost planet of At Attin.

Maria

Maria explores the final days of renown opera singer Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie) looking back on her life in a self-medicated haze that blurs fantasy and reality in her quest to rediscover the voice she lost years ago. The standouts here are Jolie's performance, for which she trained 7 months to learn to sing opera (a mix of both Jolie and Callas' voices are used throughout the film), and the film's amazing look courtesy of cinematographer Edward Lachman, set decoration by Sandro Piccarozzi, and costumes by Massimo Cantini Parrini.

Kraven the Hunter

Following the lackluster Morbius and the disastrous Madame Web, and limping into theaters as the news breaks that Sony is abandoning it's wider Spider-Man Universe comes Kraven the Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as super-villain Sergei Kravinoff reimagined here as something closer to the Punisher targeting, hunting down, and murdering criminals like his father (Russell Crowe). If there's praise to be levelled at Kraven, it's that the film is better than either Morbius or Web. However, that's a dubious distinction.

Black Doves - A Little Black Dove

There's an awful lot to like in "A Little Black Dove" which gives us a terrific kitchen confrontation between Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) and the hired assassin (Paapa Essiedu) who killer her lover but also flashbacks to Helen's recruitment into the Black Doves, her first meetings with both Sam (Ben Whishaw) and Mrs. Reed (Sarah Lancashire), and the first assignment which went a little too well and ended up changing her life forever. By the end of the episode we not only have far more context for Helen's career as a spy but also a measure of victory in her besting the assassin. 

Red Sonja #16

As both Kulan Garth and Erlick separately search for her leaving valleys of bodies in their wake, Red Sonja heads through the wetlands into the mountains with Unnar, and with the warrior Atali on her heels. Despite death taking a grip on her, Sonja continues along fighting her own visions (which she discovers the ability to alter), Kulan Garth's shadows, and giant monsters standing in the way of her path to the Afterworld.

Arcane - Finally Got the Name Right

Despite promising Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) that the quest to take down Jinx (Ella Purnell) wouldn't change her, events in the undercity lead Caitlyn (Katie Leung) to putting the life of a child at risk to get her revenge. Unwilling to let her go that far, Jinx escapes, the bombs she placed around the city go off leading the to the toxic gas Piltover has been pumping underground for years to reach the surface, and playing right into the hands of the now quite desperate Ambessa (Ellen Thomas) as the episode teases more of the Black Rose and suggests that Ambessa is after something in the undercity that might offer her a chance to fight back.

Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg

Told through the use of an unpublished memoir found after her death, Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg looks back at the life of model, actress, and Rolling Stones' muse Anita Pallenberg with a large section of the film devoted to her relationships with Brian Jones and Keith Richards. The documentary from Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill is most notable for the vintage photos and video footage of Pallenberg's life incorporated into the film.

Bob's Burgers - They Slug Horses, Don't They?

Sisters is the theme of "They Slug Horses, Don't They?" as Louise (Kristen Schaal) and Tina (Dan Mintz) get in an escalating argument after Louise borrows Tina's toy without asking, and then breaks it when attempting to give it back to her sister. Her attempt to avoid apologizing by creating a cartoon of them as the characters of each of their toys (Louise as a slug and Tina as the horse) that blames Louise for everything only escalates the argument further. Unexpectedly, it's Gail (Megan Mullally) who plays peacemaker between the girls providing an example of her own struggles with their mother.

The Irrational - Stan by Me

Although it provides almost nothing for the assistants to do, other than to laugh at Owen's (Arash DeMaxi) fandom, I enjoyed the main story of "Stan by Me" featuring Alec (Jesse L. Martin) and Rose (Karen David) working together to solve the murder of a fan one of her former clients, a renown K-pop star (Kirstin Leigh) who becomes the prime suspect. Sadly, I was far less interested in the B-story involving Marisa (Maahra Hill) and her struggle getting along with her new boss at the FBI which, in procedural fashion, fixes itself by the end of the episode and thus turns out to be mostly pointless.

Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #12

When the old Gotham Opera House becomes haunted by the Phantasm, preventing the sale of the property, the owner reaches out to Mystery, Inc. to investigate. One of the potential buyers, Leslie Thompkins, also reaches out to an old friend to lend a hand leading to another team-up between the gang and Batman. Splitting into pairs, with Batman this time working with Velma, the group discovers the truth of what's happening at the theater.

NCIS: Origins - Sick as Our Secrets

The primary focus of "Sick as Our Secrets" deals with  Gibbs (Austin Stowell) and Randy (Caleb Foote) being assigned the protection detail for a priest (Jonah Wharton) who knows the identity of a killer but cannot share it because it came through the confessional. The episode really exists to explore the guilt Randy has been carrying around for months, volunteering for every protection detail, after another agent took his place protecting Gibbs' wife and daughter. As for the case of the week, it's fine, and includes an interesting segment of Gibbs and Randy mistaking a pair of robbers as killers, but ultimately anticlimactic as the pair end up not protecting him from the killer and the priest simply gives them the name (meaning no one is asked to solve a crime). 

Black Canary: Best of the Best #1

The idea of pitting Black Canary against Lady Shiva has been done before, most notable during Gail Simone's Birds of Prey run. I'm all for a single issue to see the warriors square off, under the right circumstances with motives that make sense for both characters, but a six-issue mini-series setting up a prize fight seems a bit much. 

Interior Chinatown - Tech Guy

While Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang) continues to use the Delivery Guy disguise to gain access to the police department looking for the evidence of his brother's case which is set to be destroyed, Lana Lee (Chloe Bennet) struggles in attempts to connect with Green (Lisa Gilroy) hoping to avoid becoming more than the latest in the line of recurring characters replaced after a few months. Through his disguise, Willis manages to make real friends in the department who were originally hostile to him. However, despite the number of free meals he delivers, he's unable to find the evidence before it gets destroyed. Thankfully, with the help of his new friends, he'll find a way to level up at the end of the episode into "Tech Guy."

Skeleton Crew - This Could Be a Real Adventure

After producing The Acolyte, what would become the most divisive Star Wars series (and one that I enjoyed for the most part), it appears Disney has retreated to more familiar territory. Skeleton Crew feels like a Disney Channel series with a Disney+ budget. The opening episode, "This Could Be a Real Adventure" introduces us to Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), his best-friend Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), and a pair of slightly older girls in Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and KB (Kyriana Kratter) who, at least so far, is the only useful member of the foursome. Most of the premiere sticks with Wim giving us the basic dreamer/screwup son disappointing his father (Tunde Adebimpe) who isn't a bad guy but far from a great dad.

The Order

Based on true events, The Order is a solid drama about burnt out FBI Agent Terry Husk (Jude Law) sent to the Pacific Northwest to take it easy in an assignment where nothing ever happens... until he connects a series of robberies with a radicalized offshoot of a white power organization with a charismatic leader (Nicholas Hoult) and big plans for changing the world.

Black Doves - To Love Then

The new Netflix series opens with a triple murder and a mystery as to the reason behind it before introducing us to Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), the wife of the British Defense Secretary (Andrew Buchan) and potential future Prime Minister who also happens to be a spy working for a shadowy organization know as Black Doves. On of the three people murdered one turns out to be Helen's lover. Also, something about the proceedings figures into the death of the Chinese Ambassador and his missing daughter (Isabella Wei). In an attempt to keep Helen alive, and her lucrative cover intact, her overseer (Sarah Lancashire) sends an old friend in roving assassin Sam (Ben Whishaw) who steps foot in his home country for the first time in 7 years.

Hawkeye - The Complete First Season

Of all the Disney+ series created for the MCU, Hawkeye is easily my favorite. Casting two likable stars and throwing them together in an odd couple pairing at Christmas with an entire city's underworld after them provides humor, action, thrills, and tons of fun especially once it also begins to mix in Yelena (Florence Pugh) as well. 

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory - Up the River / All Night Long

On their way up the river to find the dino facility, Ben (Sean Giambrone), Kenji (Darren Barnet), Darius (Paul-Mikél Williams), Yaz (Kausar Mohammed), Sammy (Raini Rodriguez), and their new friend Zayna (Anaiya Asomugha) run into trouble first from a hippopotamus and then from a Suchomimus. In the chaos, Yaz gets separated from the group who discover too late she is missing forcing her to stay alive on her own until they return for her creating some of the creepier moments of the season.

Hendo Art - Cel Shade Makeup

The Question: All Along the Watchtower #1

Tied into the launch of Justice League Unlimited, The Question: All Along the Watchtower focuses on Renee Montoya being hired by the league to be the sheriff of the Justice League Watchtower while also looking into a feeling of some of the core members of something being wrong with the new version of the League (also foreshadowed in Justice League Unlimited #1).

Citadel: Honey Bunny - Spy Game

While offering flashbacks to a past mission involving a scientist in which Honey (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) goes missing, "Spy Game" features those after Honey and Nadia (Kashvi Majmundar) catching up to them at their safe house (which it turns out wasn't all that safe). The sequence provides the bulk of the episode's action with Honey taking out the attackers by a variety of means. Despite being injured, Honey makes it out with her daughter with the assassins still after them and Bunny (Varun Dhawan) and Chacko (Shivankit Singh Parihar) still too far behind to help.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3 continues the trend of focusing on a single turtle after the brothers split and scattered across the world, eventually bringing Leonardo back into contact with both Raphael and Michelangelo, leaving Donatello to be the focus of the fourth issue. We find Leonardo in India on the banks of the Ganges River looking for peace and enlightenment, and perhaps death, among the corpse-eating mud turtles of the region.

Arcane - Watch It All Burn

The focus of the second episode of the show's Second Season remains split. Although we see Jinx (Ella Purnell) make peace with Sevika (Amirah Vann) as the chem-barons war amongst themselves for control of the undercity, and breakdowns after she see's her sister leading a group of enforcers to kill her, her story doesn't advance much and given that no characters of real importance died in the explosion from last season the focus of the episode is stretched to the limit attempting to work in all the various storylines necessary to keep events moving forward.

The Irrational - The Wrong Side of Maybe

In an episode that sees Simon (Max Lloyd-Jones), Owen (Arash DeMaxi), and Phoebe (Molly Kunz) struggling to find a new status quo all working together, Alec (Jesse L. Martin) is approached by an employee of a company which uses science-forecasting for predictive analysis who believes a train disaster is imminent. While the company's owner is against any action which she believe might cause greater harm, Alec and the others look for ways to bypass the disaster which they discover someone close to the company is helping along.

West Coast Avengers #1

The new volume of West Coast Avengers introduces a team led by Tony Stark (wearing some classic, if underpowered, armor) including War Machine, Spider-Woman, Firestar, and a pair of former villains in the Ultron and the new character Blue Bolt (showcasing the idea for the team to try and reform villains and turn them into heroes using their powers for good). The result of the teams actions in the field, so far, are mixed. And as for Ultron... it seems the redeemed robot has a new hobby not likely to win over new friends.

Murder in a Small Town - Sleep While I Sing

The season finale of Murder in a Small Town picks up the thread of the unsolved murder of the woman posed in the woods by delving into the same suspects suggested the previous week. The suspicious behavior of Cassandra's (Kristin Kreuk) friend from out of town Roger (Lucas Bryant) makes him the leading suspect, but stumbling into a connection between the art on display in the gallery and previous victims pushes Karl's (Rossif Sutherland)  focus to the high school art teacher (Noah Reid) whose behavior towards Devon (Alisha Newton) also takes a dangerous turn leading to a standoff between the chief and the killer.

Galaxy Quest

Far from a flop, but not the box office family comedy smash the fledging DreamWorks Pictures was hoping for, Galaxy Quest came and went in the winter of 1999 and early 2000 with marginal success. Those lucky enough to see the film in the theaters were in for a treat that stayed around the top 10 of the box office for several weeks earning positive reviews from critics and earning back double its production costs.  Without really knowing what they had on their hands, bungling the marketing of the film and hamstringing its release, DreamWorks had nevertheless produced the best Star Trek movie ever made.

NCIS: Origins - One Flew Over

"One Flew Over" is more memorable for the Gibbs' (Austin Stowell) storylines than the murder of the week involving an elderly woman with dementia found dead in the woods. For Gibbs we get a present involving him taking care of an injured bird while flashbacks tie back, in an not-so-subtle metaphor, to the soldier's early interactions with Franks (Kyle Schmid) after returning home and his frustrations with the murderer still roaming free. Before the end, we'll also see Franks being unable to let a personal case go providing some understanding and commonalities between Franks and his probie. 

Justice League Unlimited #1

Taking a page from the Justice League Unlimited TV-series, Justice League #1 reboots the Justice League as a worldwide group of heroes helping to fight threats around the world from the Watchtower. After a quick tour of the tower by the Flash for newbie Air Wave, a group of members (Superman, Wonder Woman, Black Lightning, Firestorm, Kid Flash, and Star Sapphire) is sent to deal with an issue in South Africa involving a terrorist group calling itself Inferno (who it appears will be sticking around for awhile). 

Interior Chinatown - Delivery Guy

The second episode of Interior Chinatown begins to explore the rules of the world as we see the limitations put on both Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang) and Lana Lee (Chloe Bennet) who seem stuck in small supporting roles to a larger story. While Lana can offer insight and advice to Green (Lisa Gilroy) and Turner (Sullivan Jones), she is stuck firmly in the role of a sidekick. As for Willis, the pair ignore him completely and his access to parts of the city (here the police department) is blocked. However, after spending most of the episode unable to get into the department, Willis uses a stereotypical Asian role to gain entry, opening the door a bit wider to his access in the world.

Moana 2

Offering more of what was delivered in Moana, albeit without a memorable musical number, Moana 2 delivers more adventure for the titular character in continuing her journey into the wider world. After bringing her people out of isolation and back to the ocean, Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) continues to search for other people leading to her next quest following the footsteps of her ancestors' greatest wayfinder Tautai Vasa in searching for the lost island capable of reuniting the people of the ocean.

Jenny Sparks #4

Following the same format of the previous issues, Jenny Sparks #4 splits time with another Jenny Sparks flashback (this one dealing with the Spirit of the 20th Century taking out some aggression on corporate greed contributing to the housing crash of the late 2000s) and her present situation still attempting to talk down the deranged would-be god who just knocked off the Justice League.

Arcane - Heavy is the Crown

The Second Season of Arcane: League of Legends picks up immediately after Jinx's (Ella Purnell) attack which managed to somehow only kill the minor supporting characters leaving Jayce (Kevin Alejandro), Caitlyn (Katie Leung), and Mel (Toks Olagundoye) largely unscathed and the other counselors only wounded - although Caitlyn does suffer the loss of her mother. Not knowing about his friend's secret experiments, Jayce blames the attack for Viktor's (Harry Lloyd) unusual condition.

Murder in a Small Town - Family Concerns

After a couple of weeks with no murders within the town, "Family Concerns" offers two with the unrelated murders of two women found in the woods. The explanation of one turns out to be obvious enough with Karl (Rossif Sutherland) uncovering an affair and an unfortunate escalation of a disagreement between the victim and his lover's daughter (Natalie Malaika) which left the woman dead. Despite the father's (Ryan Allen) attempts to take the fall, after failing to pin the crime on the murderer of the earlier victim, the truth is far too easy for Karl to see once the facts emerge. 

MaXXXine

Reveling in 80s style, writer/director Ti West completes his X series with MaXXXine featuring Mia Goth reprising her role from X. Having built up a name for herself as a pornstar, Maxine Minx finally gets her big break in an auteur's (Elizabeth Debicki) horror film but that's when her past comes to call in the form of a degenerate private investigator (Kevin Bacon) and his mysterious employer (Simon Prast) who know the secrets from Maxine's past she wants to stay buried.

The Outrun

Saoirse Ronan stars in director Nora Fingscheidt's stylish memoir based on Amy Liptrot's true story. Jumping around her timeline to showcase various moments of Rona's (Ronan) life from childhood to present provides context to how she ended up one one of the most remote Orkney Islands fighting her addiction with alcoholism and building a new life. While following her inner journey, the film also examines life on the island and nature beyond as her relative isolation brings her a peace she hasn't seen in years.

Gladiator II: Electric Boogaloo

But, why? Fans of 2000 film will remember that both the primary protagonist and antagonist die in Gladiator. Usually everyone being dead is a pretty good reason not to have a sequel. Not only that, but Maximus Decimus Meridius' entire quest to avenge the death of his family and remove control of Rome from the hands of a corrupt emperor succeeds in every way imaginable. The self-contained story is complete. So why, more than two decades later, are we getting a sequel?

Cross - Ride the White Horsey

While being so riled up with his wife's killer fucking with him, and working on finding the missing phone which is now in the hands of the dead man's baby mama, Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge) nearly shoots his daughter. And the poor girl, distrustful of anyone who could actually help her, runs into a hitman staying the same hotel who eventually gets bored of waiting and just kills her. So, it's not a great week for the master detective. Meanwhile, our serial killer (Ryan Eggold) targets his next victim which will complete the bizarre recreation set by targeting her at a coffee shop and over a dating site. However, a clue found by Cross will allow the actual investigation to get started.