Young Rock Season 1, Episode 2 “On The Road Again” Review
This week’s episode of “Young Rock” teaches the viewer a valuable lesson. That is, after the huge spotlight of a major star is over, they have to wrestle at smaller scale shows.
That is the focus for this episode of “Young Rock” as Dwayne Johnson told the story to the reporter about taking Karen on a date to a wrestling show. Teenage Rock wanted to do as much as he can to convince Karen to go out on a date with him. When she does, the most interesting aspect of professional wrestling is on full display.
“Young Rock” did not shy away from the reality of wrestling that the casual fan would never know. And Karen was exposed to this when she saw where the actual show took place. It was at a local carnival where there were less than fifteen people at the show. Even though Karen did not like the environment, Teenage Rock was also there to support Rocky Johnson and this shows that anyone should support their family and friends no matter how big or small the crowd is.
Fifteen people or not, what mattered most is that everyone left home happy. Not everyone did as Rocky Johnson was stiffed out of pay from the shady promoter. The promoter promised Rocky Johnson more money than what he paid him and they both had a conversation about that. Shady independent wrestling promoters are still like this to this day so I was not surprised to see this went down the way it did.
I also started to root for Teenage Rock when he punched the kid at the school hallway for poking fun at Rocky Johnson’s appearance at the independent show. Rock did this while also saying the same words Andre The Giant said to him when he was younger about the “F” word.
Also during this episode, Rocky Johnson had matches against Ric Flair and Roddy Piper that are told in flashbacks that I enjoyed.
Overall, I enjoyed “On The Road Again” far better than the pilot as it showed the trials that every professional wrestler has to go through. It affects them in each level no matter how big of a star they are, or was. Some may see this like a step down to the fans that idolizes the mega stars. But this should be a valuable lesson to every fan of wrestling once they see this episode. Professional wrestlers are normal people too and they have families to support.
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Knjs 287: Keda Birthday Bash 2/19/21 with Rob Base
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Young Rock Season 1, Episode 1 “Working The Gimmick” Review
A biopic of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson sounds like it should be made into a feature film. But there is too much history of the professional wrestler turned actor to cover in ninety minutes. Which is why Young Rock works better as a series than a film.
Young Rock created by Dwayne Johnson and Nahnatchka Khan, tells the story of The Rock in three different decades as he grows up while his father Rocky Johnson (Joseph Lee Anderson) is a worldwide star in the wrestling industry.
The first episode titled “Working The Gimmick” sets the tone for what to expect for the rest of the season. Dwayne Johnson in the year 2032, is running for president. The TV Host that is interviewing Dwayne Johnson is portrayed by Randall Park as Dwayne explained his upbringing to the TV Host. The first story took place in 1982 as 10 year old Dwayne (Adrian Groulx) and his mother Ata Johnson (Stacey Leilua) witnessed Rocky Johnson defeating Afa Anoai at a wrestling event. Rocky was seen as a superstar in the viewers eyes. But outside of the ring, Rocky Johnson was a normal person that took care of his wife and son.
It is here where the viewers get a first look on the reality of the world of professional wrestling as the big stars have to keep a persona up whenever they are seen in public. Even if you have to stay at an old hotel for one night, that is how the business was that time.
The most comedic part of this portion of the episode, is when Young Rock sees Iron Shiek, Wild Samoans, Junkyard Dog, and Andre The Giant hanging out and playing cards with Rocky Johnson. I must say that the actors that portrayed the wrestlers were spot on with the mannerisms and how they acted and sounded like the real life wrestlers at that time. The amount of research and history that went to the production of this show is amazing and I give them credit for doing so.
Rocky was only supposed to be there for a few minutes, but he ended up going out with the rest of the boys even though he promised Young Rock a trip to the ice cream store. I also love the back and forth comedy between Young Rock and Andre The Giant after Rock making a comment about wrestling not being real.
Dwayne Johnson later told the story of his teenage self (Bradley Constant) in 1987 stealing from stores, his alias Tomas while he wanted to get Karen’s attention in high school, and even buying an old car that barely even worked. I believe here , is when he starts to get a sense of how much time Rocky Johnson has been on the road since he was doing an autograph signing the day that this happened. But he did not forget his mom Ata when Teenage Rock picked her up at the bus stop.
Teenage Rock hopes to give his mom Ata everything one day and Dwayne Johnson went on record numerous times on interviews that he was always close to Ata and that is really showcased here on the first episode. Towards the end of “Working The Gimmick”, Dwayne Johnson begins to go over the beginning of his college football run in 1990. Adult Rock (Uli Latukefu) meets the players and the coach of the team.
He finds out that Rocky Johnson was there earlier in the day to tell lies about Dwayne Johnson being on the cover of Wheaties cereal. It did slightly upset him, but he used what Rocky Johnson told him for years and that is, to work his gimmick wherever he is to let them make believe that you are who they say you are. He did this by also beating the record for the most reps at the gym and proceeded to do the eyebrow that he is known for to this day after he beat the challenge.
“Working The Gimmick” is a fun introduction to the series. A great key here, is that the timeline was not all over the place as it started with his 10 year old self and finished when he was in college. I hope that this structure continues for the rest of the series with more stories to be told. It also makes me think if Dwayne Johnson himself will actually run for president one day. An amazing start of “Young Rock” which is a must see series, and NBC hit a goldmine to tell Dwayne Johnson’s story!
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The Walking Dead Season 10, Episode 17 “Home Sweet Home” Review
It has been a pretty long time since the last time The Walking Dead graced our screens on Sunday nights. But the wait is finally over. The Walking Dead returns on February 28th on AMC (February 21st on AMC+) and there is a ton to look forward to. I recently got the chance to watch the first two of six episodes of the extra episodes of season 10 and I will review one of them in this article. Be warned that there are spoilers ahead for these episodes of The Walking Dead.
10×17: Home Sweet Home
“Home Sweet Home” picks up right where “A Certain Doom” left off. The long awaited return of Maggie Rhee has been anticipated for a long time and she is the central focus on this episode. Her and Daryl even caught up as Maggie told Daryl everything that happened with her and Georgie over the last five years. We learn that Maggie and Georgie eventually went to Tennessee with a group to live there for a few years until their community was ambushed. They have been hunted down ever since and Maggie has not seen Georgie since the attack. I also started to feel for Maggie again when she talked to Daryl about Hershel Jr. asking her about Glenn and what happened to him.
I like that there was a big story for what lead to Maggie returning with her original family. There was no delay to it as Daryl wanted to know right away after the walker conflict. Maggie is not only joined by Elijah who debuted on “A Certain Doom”, she is also accompanied with Cole. Negan and Maggie with Hershel Jr. crossed paths at the beginning, and at the end of the episode. Their tension is really building for a big conversation between the two. It was quite fulfilling to see Negan at the end of the episode watching Maggie and Hershel Jr. enter Alexandria while he is still doing yard work as a prisoner over there compared to earlier in the episode when Negan had his badass jacket on talking to Maggie.
I am a Negan fan, but I felt it from Maggie when she seen him. The first thought that must of ran through Maggie’s head would be “who in the hell does this man think he is talking to me at this moment.” I do have a strong feeling that Maggie and Negan will have that scene within the next few episodes, or sometime in season 11. If there is one thing that you should know about The Walking Dead, it is that Maggie and Negan will never work together clearing walkers. Overall, Their encounter from their first meeting in years should have been a bigger deal than it was. But I am open to see the next time they have an encounter.
There is also a good amount of action on “Home Sweet Home” that I like, but also rolled my eyes on one of those scenes. The walker clearing in that enclosed area, and with The Reaper sniper. The Reapers is the group that Maggie mentioned that are hunting them down. They kidnapped Hershel Jr. during the episode and it is time for Maggie and everyone else to get him back. Now the battle with that sniper gave me flashbacks to The End boss battle from Metal Gear Solid 3, or Quiet from Metal Gear Solid 5.
He is unseen at first as he took out two members of the group and I liked where they were going with the battle as it really got me engaged to see what happens next. The battle becomes a full fledged fight once he reveals himself. But then my brain started to kick in when he killed himself with the grenade.
I watched too many war movies, and know first hand knowledge of grenades due to one of my family members serving in the army during the late 1980’s. Maggie, Daryl, Kelly, and everyone else were too close to the sniper when he exploded himself. One of the members of the group should have been part of that explosion in that range because how it happened on that episode, is just not realistic. It looked phony and ridiculous when I watched that happen.
There are some dialogue coming from the characters that I did like. Kelly and Elijah are relatable since they both lost their sisters (P.S Connie is alive) so they have something in common. Kelly also assured Elijah to not be scared facing the current threat. I did not expect to see Elijah unmask for that brief moment, but it added more context to how much he is scared on the inside compared to how much of a badass he is on the outside while masked. A small bit of Elijah is learned through the conversation Kelly and Maggie had towards the end of the episode. There is also a quick funny moment involving Daryl and another character that had me laughing as well.
“Home Sweet Home” is a decent episode as it laid the groundwork for the upcoming extra episodes, and for the next season. I do however feel that the structure of this episode is too outdated by The Walking Dead standards, but I believe that fans will be happy either way that the show is back on Sunday!
And finally, Hershel Jr. talks and he is adorable!
Also to note, the episodes were filmed on digital instead of film for the first time. My MacBook has 4K settings and I used it while I watched the two episodes and it looks crisp and sharp. The quality is amazing and I hope that the next two home releases of The Walking Dead seasons 10 and 11 will have an optional 4K feature for the episodes!
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