Now that I’m thinking about it, the title of this episode, The Broken Man, works on a literal level. Each storyline featured a male character that is broken in some role. Jaime is missing a hand. Theon is mentally broken. The Mountain might have lurked in the background but he’s a zombie and you could make the argument that Jon Snow is as well. The title is surprisingly on the nose. Well, at least we got Bronn back.
Author: Steve Murray
Game of Thrones: Blood of My Blood Review
Last week, everybody was left crying at the conclusion of Game of Thrones. This week, there was far less crying and even a few exciting, fist-pumping moments that were balanced out by some pretty intriguing twists. Sadly, no Littlefinger to bring us those plot twists. Westeros’s other resident master schemer did, though.
Wednesday Link-Off: Vigilante
You know, I’m getting pretty bad at remembering to finish off blog posts. The whole of the links were done but I forgot to actually write the intro and hit publish. The good news is that I’m working on a bunch of stuff for next week so something will be ready to publish if I remember to hit publish. For example, E3 is coming soon so expect those previews and recaps starting Sunday.
Recently uncovered documents suggest that the Edward Snowden did try to whistleblow through the proper channels but was ignored by the American government. (The Liberty Conservative)
It’s not just Flint. Up to 33 other US cities might have high levels of lead in their drinking water. (The Guardian)
The incoming President of the Philippines sure sounds like he’s going to encourage vigilantism. (The Journal)
The Fastest Cars in Pop Culture (Infographic)
I don’t know if you noticed but we’re pretty fond of cars around here at The Lowdown. We’re fans of the former Top Gear and soon to be The Grand Tour as you can probably tell by the blatant inspiration drawn in our podcast and blog. So when we found this infographic on Reddit, it was a matter of when, not if, it was going up. Just what are the fastest that we’ve seen famous cars go in pop culture? Someone sought to answer that in this infographic.
RBI Baseball 16 Review: Texas Leaguer
While it’s one of the big four sports, baseball fans have gotten a pretty raw deal when it comes to video games. For the last three years, there hasn’t been a triple-A multi-platform baseball game. Since 2K let their MLB license expire, the only triple-A baseball game has been Sony’s MLB: The Show series. Over the last couple of years, Major League Baseball has taken it upon themselves to try to fill the gap in the market by publishing their own multi-platform baseball game with a revival of the classic baseball franchise RBI Baseball.
Sunday Link-Off: Crime and Punishment
You know, somehow, I forgot to have the weekly Game of Thrones review post on Friday. The change of month screwed up the post scheduling so expect a double dose of GoT this week. We’ll also have the start of E3 news at the tail-end of the week. Next Saturday will probably be a Saturday Link-Off rather than an ELO because Sunday will be E3 previews.
Anyway, since it’s Sunday, we have to do the links. Let’s kick things off with Salma Hayek.
A Secret Service agent from the Clinton White House is writing a tell-all book. That’s probably not good for the Clinton campaign. (Daily Mail)
By the way, Hilary hasn’t held a press conference in half-a-year. (Washington Free Beacon)
Make sense of this: A judge sentenced a Stanford student who raped an unconscious woman to six months in prison because a lengthy prison sentence would have a “severe impact” on him. (New York Magazine)
The Walking Dead: Michonne – Episode Three Review: We Deserve Better
After a short couple of months, Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Michonne miniseries reaches its conclusion with Episode Three: What We Deserve. If you’ve read reviews of or played the first two episodes, you would know that Telltale is really struggling to capture the essence of one of The Walking Dead’s trademark characters. That’s still apparent in the final third of TWD: Michonne. To use an in-universe metaphor: It’s stumbling home like it’s a walker.
Wednesday Link-Off: No Fists, Just Flip-Flops
A lot of politicians have a reputation for flip-flopping but this has been exceptionally good week for people changing their mind. The problem is that people changing their mind don’t come off well in politics for whatever reason. Thinking is considered a weakness but that might have to do with general distrust of politicians so they assume they’re up to no good.
Anyway, it’s Wednesday so it’s time for the links. Let’s kick off with Jessica Simpson. Remember her?
It took a while but former US Attorney General Eric Holder is finally glad that Edward Snowden revealed America’s surveillance state issues to the world. (CNN)
Hilary’s emails could really sink her campaign, especially with her tendency to lie about it. (PolitiFact)
Facebook is so powerful that Mark Zuckerberg has been likened to being a dictator. I’m not sure everyone would call him a benevolent dictator. (Fortune)
StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops – Mission Pack 1 Impressions: Sniped
While the story of StarCraft II ended with Legacy of the Void and the Into the Void epilogue, Blizzard hasn’t ended the stories it wants to tell in the StarCraft universe. The first return to the Koprulu sector takes place several years after the conclusion of Legacy of the Void. One of the long-lost Blizzard projects was StarCraft: Ghost which was supposed to introduce Nova as the player character. The game was eventually scrapped and Nova was introduced in Wings of Liberty and a StarCraft: Ghost novel.
Many years after Ghost’s cancellation, Nova finally gets her long-awaited solo project. It’s not a shooter but it’s a real-time strategy game in the same way that we’ve come to know from StarCraft II but with an episodic twist.
F1 Monaco Grand Prix: Better Lucky than Good
Twenty years ago, the Monaco Grand Prix featured a downpour, changing conditions and only three cars running at the end of the two-hour time limit. Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix looked like it could go the same way but the difference was that 15 cars finished. A series of strange moments throughout the race saw Lewis Hamilton luck his way into his first win of the 2016 World Championship.
The Lowdown 