Thank you, Kim Manners
Kim Manners passed away on January 25th, 2009.
In addition to his most recent work on Supernatural, Mr. Manners directed and produced numerous X-Files episodes—really, some of the best of the series. He also worked on dozens of other series, from 21 Jump Street to Charlie’s Angels to Baywatch.
Thank you, Mr. Manners, for so much wonderful TV. May you rest in peace.
Lost: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham
Cesar: "You know him?"
Locke: "Yeah. He's the man who killed me."
The major theme of this show is science versus faith. Faith appears to be winning. I mean, really. Killing yourself on the word of a strange, ageless guy is a pretty big step to take on faith. And Locke would have gone through with it if Ben hadn't stopped by and murdered him.
Heroes: Cold Wars
Noah: "You know me. I've always been comfortable with morally gray."
They're trying. I know they are. But it's not working for me. I like Noah *and* Matt. I should have been emotionally engaged in Noah's suffering and Matt's grief. And I just... wasn't.
I wonder if it's just too late for Heroes to save itself? A good television show lays foundation and builds. The characters and continuity on Heroes have just been fractured too many times; it couldn't carry the weight of this story. It was trying really hard to be like "Company Man", which is probably my favorite episode. But we've already been to this emotional place; we've already seen Noah's conversion to Claire's side. Going there again just didn't work for me.
And speaking of going there again, the ending made me feel like smacking my head. Daphne's alive. Again, lessening any possible dramatic impact by reversing yet another character death. Even worse, we've been in Isaac Mendez's flat before, looking at a painting on the floor of the destruction of an American city. Why are we back there again?
I did like some stuff. I enjoyed seeing Peter, Mohinder and Matt collaborating, although they fell out and destroyed a motel room way too quickly for me. I liked Peter as flying around errand boy. And Angela giving Noah a gold watch and a pension was pretty hilarious.
But (yes, there is more complaining) Nathan's motivations still don't make sense. I went around the bend, nearly killed my own brother, and now I want to make things right by putting him in superhero Gitmo? It doesn't even feel that Nathan is doing this because he hates himself, his own hero-ness. It just feels like they decided to make Nathan the villain because it would be cool, and forgot that they'd already established that he'd never do something like this.
And Peter thinks he can kill someone in cold blood? Um, no.
You know, I could probably write the resolution of "Fugitives" myself. Danko will capture Claire. Nathan will have to use his power to save her, and it will teach him a Valuable Lesson. Danko will die horribly and stay dead, unless his character is popular enough to keep around for later badness. The heroes will join together to save DC from the flames, and the president will give them a secret medal and stop asking his secret guys to put them in prison camps.
*sigh*
Bits and pieces:
-- Peter can still fly. So apparently there isn't a time limit; he just hangs on to the last power until it's overlaid by the next one. I kept wondering if he'd brush up against Mohinder and the next time he tried to take off, he'd plummet strongly to the ground.
-- Mohinder was captured, and is unable to break his chains. Why is that now? I didn't watch it twice; are they drugging him?
-- Again, with Danko and his thing for Claire. And he was just smacked in the face with the probability that Nathan can get places really, really fast. Like Peter. Oops.
-- Nathan: "I thought you'd enjoy the extra time with your family." Noah: "There's only so many crossword puzzles I can do." See I don't get that. If I didn't have to work all day, there's a *thousand* other things I'd be doing.
Two out of four sighs,
Billie
All of my Heroes reviews are here.
Chuck: Chuck versus the Best Friend
“Much as I respect your code of honor, there’s nothing I can do about it. Orders before honor this time.”
I usually don’t love the BuyMore interludes on Chuck, but I really enjoyed this episode. Maybe my previous distaste was due more to the odd ways the B-story and A-story would fit together? Either way, this was a great episode, and not just because Anna’s hair got progressively more odd.
The real emotional heart of this episode was Chuck’s relationship with Morgan, which has all the makings of a true bromance (as the kids say). Chuck’s hints about his parents’ utter non-involvement was interesting, too... but even more wonderful was Chuck’s unassuming willingness to spend the rest of his life paying Morgan back for some cheesecake. “Don’t you know who you are to me, what you mean to me, all that you’ve done?” Awww.
But it wasn’t all Chuck and Morgan—in a way, this episode felt more like a Valentine’s day love-a-thon than last week’s ironic send-up. Sarah’s horror at the exploding Nerd Herd vehicle was quite touching, as was Chuck’s willingness to be her best friend. Just a mission, eh? Anna and Morgan are meant for each other the way only lovable losers can be (and in fact, the same goes for Jeff and Lester). Even Ellie and Awesome got some luvin’.
The spy stuff felt very by the book and was, for me at least, quite unmemorable. Josh Schwartz, you know it's OK to occasionally switch up the format, right? We can handle a week without exploding tennis balls and mint-flavored knock-out gas. Then again, maybe you should keep the spy stuff in: those two devices were pretty cool.
Random thoughts:
“I’m meeting Condoleezza for cosmos.” Shudder.
“The heroic imbecile took the bomb with him.” Casey seems to like Chuck a bit more lately.
Loved Jeff’s inspirational Eminem quote. And was “sibilants” from the Aerosmith Wayne’s World sketch with Tom Hanks?
I’d really hoped that Jeff and Lester would astonish everyone with their skill, รก la Jack Black in High Fidelity. But maybe this was better.
Three out of four Sibilants.
All of my Chuck reviews are archived here.
(Season 2, episode 14)
Terminator: Desert Cantos
This episode was not terribly interesting. In general, I appreciate the slower pacing of the series, especially when it gives us time to explore the psychological impacts on our characters, but this one was a little too slow for my tastes. Certainly, it makes sense that the Connor crew would continue to look into the mystery warehouse and its destruction, but this was a very long and awkward hour just to get to the major revelation at the end.
No doubt, the discovery of the drone in the pond was a pretty awesome moment. I loved that all four of them saw it. Now, the others (and the audience) can’t doubt Sarah. I can’t wait to see where this takes their efforts to thwart Skynet. Skynet seems to be stepping up its game, if it is creating such advanced drones before Judgment Day. I’m certainly curious about where the drone was getting carted off to at the end. Is the truck driver now a rogue human working against Skynet, instead of for them (however unwittingly)? Or is he working for a Skynet faction other than Catherine’s? Very curious.
Other than the drone revelation, not much happened this week. I did like seeing some of the emotional fallout for Sarah regarding the death of the security guy. I wonder if the revelation that he was a bad, bad man will make her feel less guilty about killing him. Especially since it was essentially self-defense.
The sequences with Catherine Weaver weren’t overly compelling. In fact, the scene with her daughter struck me as totally bizarre. If Savannah is back to behaving somewhat normally, why keep trying to “mother” her? What’s the point? Hopefully, her feigned and incredibly fake “emotional moment” raises some warning flags for Ellison. I’d like it if he started catching on to her.
Other thoughts:
I liked the very brief exchange between Derek and Sarah, about their unwillingness to let Reese go.
We need more Cameron. She has not had near enough to do the last two weeks. I miss the stuff with her interest in the soul and the human condition. I miss her kicking ass and taking names.
How long has it been since last week’s episode? Sarah seemed to recover from her near fatal wound pretty quickly. I didn’t notice her limping at all. Hell, she was climbing in windows!
I had to smile when Catherine’s “OSHA investigator” told Derek he was an ex-cop from Baltimore. The actor, Max Perlich, used to be on Homicide: Life on the Street, which was a cop show set in Baltimore (one of my favorite shows, back in the day). He didn’t play a cop, but it was still a nice nod to that series---even if it was unintentional.
Final rating: 2 out of 5. I didn’t really like this one. I hope they pick up the pace again next week. And, please more Cameron. Seriously.
Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock
Roslin: "Omigod, that's Ellen Tigh."
Hot Dog: "How many dead chicks are out there?"
This episode was like a soap opera in space. Amusing, and rather sad. Sort of annoying, too. I was disappointed to see Ellen revert to type and spend the entire episode making an ass of herself. Not that Tigh was much better. The Final Five are most emphatically not godlike. Or maybe the message was that gods can be petty and jealous, too.
Lost: 316
Frank: "Wait a second. We're not going to Guam, are we?"
Well, color me shocked. And delighted. I thought we'd have to wait until the end of the season to see the Oceanic Six return to the Island. Actually, I thought they might make us wait until next season. They could have made seventy hours last a year and a half. I wouldn't put it past them.
Heroes: Building 26
Sylar: "You've really got to stop trying to be my friend, or I'm going to have to kill you."
There was good stuff. There was "why are they even bothering" stuff. And there was stuff kind of in the middle, where they were setting future stuff up.
It's always a bad sign when the villain is the best part of an episode. Sylar made me laugh several times while still remaining true to his evil self. This road trip is already a lot more fun than the one with the super-twins. I still don't like Luke, but I did like Sylar's lecture on the proper way to use evil powers, as well as his excuses for rescuing Luke in the end. Interesting little tidbit: Sylar's father apparently *sold* him. To the Company, I suppose, who then set Sylar up with the Grays?
The second best part of the episode was the way too short scene where our secret Heroes platoon (Peter, Matt and Mohinder) kidnapped Noah. I liked the idea of the guys working together and having an actual plan and everything, and I wanted more of that. Next week, I guess.
The "why are they even bothering stuff" was the after school special let's stop a wedding in India sequence. The best part of it was that wild-looking pink and green wedding cake with the elephants. (I want one of those. Seriously.) Yes, not-special Ando is now special and Hiro is not. Yes, Hiro can still be a hero without powers. You know, I used to love Hiro, but now I find him somewhat boring. I think the Kensei plotline last season just wore me out. Come to think of it, this India thing had Kensei vibes.
The Building 26 plotline and Abby Collins from Homeland Security was apparently just to show that there's a limit to the bad things Nathan will do. Maybe it was supposed to be a current events parable about torture and constitutional rights and people with abilities as terrorists. Whatever. Danko is itching to capture Claire. Noah is certain Claire is in serious danger. Maybe she is.
It was nice that Claire told Sandra the truth, even if it broke her parents up. I certainly can't blame Sandra for throwing Noah out; she certainly put up with way more than nearly anyone would. And I did sort of like Alex, the comic book guy that Claire saved. Although I thought it was odd that he had Sylar-like eyebrows, while Luke doesn't look like Sylar at all. Maybe Daddy Mysterious visited Costa Verde at some point twenty some years ago. Whatever.
Bits and pieces:
-- Alex's power is to breathe under water. I always wanted that one.
-- They hinted that Ana-whatever, the reluctant bride, was in love with her partner at the bakery shop. A lesbian sub-theme. That was nice.
-- Mystery Dad is into birds. I think Sylar is hoping Mystery Dad is a serial killer, so Sylar will have someone to blame himself on.
-- Sylar's road music was "Born to be Wild" and "Psycho Killer." A bit obvious, but still fun.
-- I've mentioned it before, but what is with Claire's hair? Did Hayden Panettiere get a buzz cut or something? Whatever it is, her hairline looks so fake that it distracts me. Maybe Claire's plotlines have worn me out, too.
Quotes:
Sylar: "I'm not a serial killer."
Luke: "Well, you've got a pattern, you go after specific victims, you collect mementos..."
Sylar: "Okay, technically I'm a serial killer."
Noah: "I know you're lying."
Claire: "Well, I did learn from the master."
*sigh*
Billie
All of my Heroes reviews are here.
Chuck: Chuck versus the Suburbs
“I’m sure someone, somewhere, is having a worse Valentine’s Day.”
In Dante’s Inferno, Virgil describes life in one of the less painful circles of Hell: “Without hope, we live in desire.” Turns out this is true of cover-couples in the suburbs, as well—Chuck once again got his hopes dashed as Sarah put their job before their passion.
It’s pretty amazing that they can keep us caring about the Chuck/Sarah pairing. Basically, the story hasn’t changed in a while: Chuck likes Sarah, and she knows it. Sarah likes Chuck, and he has no idea. They’re a cover-couple, so they can’t be a real couple. But they get many of the perks of coupledom, including, perforce, a horrible Valentine’s date.
Relationships like this (minus all the spy stuff) are fairly common. Usually they’re brief and passionate friendships dependent on sexual tension, an overabundance of commonalities, and a perceived lack of symmetry in leagues. After a while, they fizzle out and become just regular friendships, or nothing at all. Painful and weird as those relationships can be, at least when we’re in them, or out of them, we’re masters of our own destiny. Chuck, however, doesn’t have that choice: as he told Ellie, Sarah’s not going anywhere. So all he has are the moments where he can hope it is real, and the after-moments of desire.
It certainly felt real when Chuck held Sarah to protect her from the Fulcrum over-download. Wow. I don’t know if we want to dissect the possible sexual symbolism, but the pulsing red lights and backbeat music sure meant something. An interesting counterpoint to the lovin’ that Big Mike had with Morgan’s mom.
All that mushy Valentine’s stuff, of course, was just the icing on a pretty good spy-story cake. The real plot of this episode was the Evil Suburb, reminiscent of such stellar episodes as X-Files 6.15 (Arcadia), Alias 4.5 (Welcome to Liberty Village), and Angel 5.17 (Underneath). Andy Richter and Jenny McCarthy, plus Brian Thompson, the Judge from Buffy, were guest-stars in Evil-ville (Eville?), which is located—you guessed it—in the Valley.
The suburban send-ups were a bit predictable (The Talking Heads? That’s the best they could do?) but still funny. Funniest of all was Sarah’s belted khaki skirt and tucked-in polo shirt. No, funniest of all was the use of Peggy Lee’s “Fever” whenever Jenny McCarthy was putting the moves on Chuck. Hmmm…it might be a tie.
More info got downloaded into Chuck’s brain, which must be near capacity by now. I wonder if all of this Fulcrum information will play a role in a larger arc?
Two lines of dialogue worth highlighting:
• “You’d better be careful, Sarah. One day you might turn into a real girl.” I am going to choose to live in a universe in which this insulting, demeaning, and sexist silliness did not occur. Ahh, it is better here. I knew it would be.
• “No excuses, General. We pooched it.” Adam Baldwin, you rock my world.
This was a good episode—maybe even a great episode—except for the strange feeling of disjointedness that came from the BuyMore interludes. The comedic supporting actors are hilarious, but the characters and premise aren’t quite interesting enough to warrant an entire story line.
Three out of four Pooches.
All of my Chuck reviews are archived here.
(Season 2, episode 13)
Dollhouse: Ghost
“There’s nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.”
My expectations for this episode were rather absurdly ambivalent. On the one hand, I’ve been ecstatic since I first heard that Joss was coming back to TV (and the wait felt like it was killing me). On the other, I knew that pilots in general aren’t my thing; that Whedonverse pilots (or even first episodes of any season) are never the best of the bunch; and that Joss re-did this pilot after some talks with Fox. So then I found myself hoping that the pilot would be accessible enough for non-genre fans, so at least we could get as much Dollhouse as possible.
Battlestar Galactica: No Exit
Ellen: "What are you doing?"
Boomer: "Forgiving you."
There was so much information in this episode that I kept saying to the screen, "Slow down! What was that again?" (And in fact, this is the revised version of my original review because I missed so much the first two times I watched this episode. The third time was the charm. It was just too frakking complicated.)
Terminator: The Good Wound
Welcome back, Sarah Connor fans! After a two-month break, the second half of the season picks up pretty much where we left off. Most of the episode was spent dealing with the aftermath from “Earthlings Welcome Here”: Sarah’s gunshot wound, her discovery of a major Skynet operation, and Riley’s attempted suicide.
I very much enjoyed the “return” of Kyle Reese. Having him as Sarah’s inner voice was a great device, and it tied in nicely with the last episode. She spent much of that episode reflecting on who she used to be and how she got to her current state of being, so of course Reese would be on her mind. The events of her short time with him are directly responsible for the death of her old life and the start of her new one. I loved the heavy reliance on his actual dialogue from the Terminator movie. It gave me a little thrill to hear it again, and it makes perfect sense to use those words, given that Sarah’s entire history with Reese was basically one night. Plus, from some of the camera angles, Jonathan Jackson even looked a bit like young Michael Biehn, especially in that trench coat.
Interesting that Sarah considers Reese a source of strength, when her life basically became a living hell after meeting him. I suppose the machines are truly at fault, but I think in her place I’d blame him just a little bit. Of course, her inner voice did briefly consider this point, when she told the doctor that Reese wasn’t the one who hurt her and he said, “That’s not completely true. If it weren’t for me …” But she pushed that thought away. Decisively.
The actual events surrounding the treatment of Sarah’s wound weren’t nearly so interesting as her internal dialogue. It became obvious pretty quickly that the doctor was abused, and that the sheriff was likely the guilty party. And the “Mexican standoff” between the doctor, Derek, and the sheriff was kind of cheesy. (Why did he want her to put down the gun anyway? Because she seemed to be defending the escaped patient?) But, regardless, I still found most of Sarah’s scenes compelling.
John Henry and Catherine Weaver provided my other favorite moments this week. John Henry was at his creepy, childlike best and Catherine was awesome as a one-“woman” clean-up crew. Her bloody annihilation at the warehouse made for a fantastic sequence (if you want something done right, …). The staging of the first murder was particularly effective. They totally made it seem like the guy was going to fall victim to another “urinal attack,” so when he made it out of the bathroom, I momentarily thought he was out of the woods. Then she quickly slit his throat from off screen! Great misdirecton and good way to build the tension.
I also loved John Henry’s fascination with the toys and the ball-and-socket joint. His questions for Ellison and God have me now agreeing with some of my readers that Ellison’s notions of faith and morality may be too simplistic for the likes of John Henry. It should be interesting to see how it all blows up in Ellison’s face. Maybe that is what Catherine is anticipating. Maybe, as another of my readers theorized, it’s what leads to Judgment Day.
My favorite John Henry and Catherine moment was when he confronted her with his knowledge of her true identity. Her calm, clipped response had me on the edge of my seat, and her “Everything I do, I do for you,” was chilling. (Even though it immediately made me think of that Brian Adams’s song from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.) I want to see more scenes with those two together.
The episode didn’t linger too much on the immediate fallout from Riley’s attempted suicide, but the few moments we had were kind of interesting. I especially loved the short scenes with John and Cameron “discussing” their next moves. Cameron’s bluntness about Riley’s presence was outstanding: “Future you has more important things to do,” and “No, we don’t need to find her.” I also really liked the look Cameron exchanged with Riley before leaving the hospital room. Intense!
I know I speculated that Riley's suicide attempt was a ploy to get to John, and she suggested as much to Jessie, but I don’t think I believe her. If anything, it seems more like a ploy to get to Jessie. Regardless, I liked her reference to the suicidal girl from Season 1. I was never a fan of that boring interlude, but I definitely appreciate the writers' efforts to keep all things from the past in play. It gives me hope that even the most tedious or innocuous plot points can have some payoff somewhere down the line.
Other thoughts:
How the heck did Sarah get to hospital? I’ve watched the episode twice now, and I can’t quite piece it together. It seems like she showed up in her vehicle, unconscious with a gunshot wound (since they had the vehicle and didn’t know anything about the warehouse until they listened to the recording). Did she drive herself to the hospital? Given all her subsequent actions, it doesn’t seem likely to me that she would willingly go to the hospital in the first place. Did she go to kidnap a doctor, but pass out before she could do it?
I found the dream sequence with Sarah and Kyle at the tree very odd. The tree made me think of the evil apple trees from The Wizard of Oz. Was that the point? Was the scene supposed to mean something in particular? Because the significance was lost on me.
Were the names “Kyle” and “Derek” even mentioned in the episode? It was always “Reese” or “him.” And Sarah literally saw Derek as Kyle when she first woke up after the surgery. Interesting.
I guess Jessie wasn’t the one that killed Alan Park and the hypnotherapist. I doubt the timing would have worked, given that she was with Derek when he got the news about Riley. Depends on how far away Sarah was.
Garrett Dillahunt is just great. The way he delivers his dialogue is so precise and yet full of childlike wonder. I had to laugh at the way he described the character features of the various toys. And his “blank” smiles are priceless.
Final rating: 3.5 out of 5. I didn’t think this was an outstanding episode, but Reese’s presence made it better than average for me.
Dollhouse premiere: Ghost
DeWitt: "I'm talking about a clean slate."
Caroline: "You ever try to clean an actual slate? You always see what was on it before."
Yes, it held my interest. It has potential.
Fringe: The Cure
“You’re probably way ahead of me on this, but I’m noticing some uncomfortable similarities between this and some of the other incidents we’ve been covering lately.”
Yes, Peter. There are similarities: evil doctors, evil corporations, Walter’s obsession with childhood foods.
Fringe: The Ghost Network
“Well, I’ll take what I can get.”
The pilot gave us a plane crash with melty people. This episode gave us a bus crash with frozen people. It’s totally different. The frozen people were attacked with something like sarin gas. But this is a different type of gas. John Scott is a traitor, but a different kind than Robert Hanssen. One of the victims was in a clandestine relationship with her traitorous co-worker, which is not different at all from Olivia’s recent situation.
And Walter continues to be a different kind of crazy.
Lost: This Place is Death
Robert Rousseau: "What is that?"
Jin: "Monster."
Was Jin right? The Island is death. So many of the characters on Lost have met a horrible, flamey, gruesome, and/or painful death. Like Charlotte. Who's next? Will the Oceanic Six return to the Island only to get picked off, one by one?
Lost: The Little Prince... Untangled
This week's review will be posted momentarily. In the meantime, here's a word from our sponsor.
Confused about the time travel on Lost? Check this out. Hilarious and informative.
Fringe: Power Hungry
Electromagnetism is a pretty hot topic in genre shows these days. I’d love to see a renaissance in stories that focus on the mystic allure of gravity. So powerful, so ubiquitous, so unstoppable!
Fringe: The Arrival
“It’s disturbing, but you get accustomed to it.”
Let’s take this one plot-line at a time.
Fringe: In Which We Meet Mr. Jones
In one of his popular essays—it might be “Anthropologist on Mars,” from the book of the same name—neurologist Oliver Sacks describes a test performed by one of his colleagues on a high-functioning autistic man. That man had an obsession with light switches, so his doctor doctored up a device to track his eye movement while watching a romantic, Douglas Sirk-style movie. In the movie’s climax, as the couple finally kissed while swelling music played, the testee’s eyes tracked to the upper right frame, where—unnoticed by probably anyone, ever—a light switch was visible. The true importance of the moment was lost to him; or, to him, the moment was important for another reason.
Sometimes, watching Fringe, I feel like a light-switch-obsessed blogger.
Fringe: Ability
“What was written, will come to pass.”
Our theme of the week is texts. We had a newsstand owner/victim and an uber-useful bookseller—one of my favorite type-characters. We also had the meta-text, if an episode-long allusion to Alias counts as being meta-textual. And if you think I’m overreaching, I refer you to the floor the bomb was on, and the destined female spy whose parents subjected her to childhood tests.
Heroes: Trust and Blood
Claire: "So I get a pass. And everyone I know just disappears."
This episode was typical Heroes, in that there wasn't a cohesive beginning-middle-end of the episode. There was meandering around the crash site, and lots of running around ineffectively in the surrounding woods. As they were all fleeing for their lives, Matt stopped, found some art supplies, and created elaborate cartoon panels. (In that kind of rush, he can't scribble stick figures?) Daphne, with Ando in hand, dashed to the rescue (from Tokyo to Arkansas, over an ocean or two) and promptly got shot.
And I was again struck by all of our young superheroes being dark-haired guys of multiple ethnicities, plus three blonde white women -- all of whom were taken out. Daphne died, which was a surprise. The ambivalent side-changing Tracy was captured, and she should just stay there and out of the way before she does any more harm. And Claire... went home to Costa Verde. Being the daughter of not one but two of the villains can be handy, since she can now spend all of her time organizing the upcoming clandestine superhero rebellion with the help of Rebel, the mysterious text messager.
At least Nathan and Noah are conflicted. Nathan appeared to truly believe he was saving the world from the superheroes, while Noah confessed he was only in it to keep his family safe. Nathan's nasty cohort Danko (what a great name; it evokes dankness) thinks people with abilities should be put down like rabid dogs. But Nathan does *not* think people with abilities should be put down like rabid dogs. I'm still not on board with Nathan as the villain, but at least his motivations are complex. And possibly coerced. Is it really just ambition? Or is President Worf behind it all?
And at least Sylar is moustache-twirling serial killer evil again, which is something of a relief after his ambivalence in the last volume. Sylar's new little buddy and possible relative, Luke, doesn't know what he's getting himself into. But since he's a waste of space who just microwaved poor Agent Simmons to death, I don't think I care.
Bits and pieces:
-- Peter told Tracy that he can only hang on to one power at a time. (I was right.) Is it deliberate? Because what if he brushed against, say, Matt, right before he needed to fly? And what if he touched Sylar? Would he get them all?
-- Noah let Peter go not once, but twice.
-- Tracy's loyalties are extremely flexible. I'm not sure anyone should bother rescuing her. I wanted to like Ali Larter's new character more than her old one. Why are they making her so unlikable?
-- Sylar's possible new father was apparently the tomcat of the neighborhood. Does Luke have more than one power? He was talking without moving his lips, wasn't he? Did I hallucinate that?
-- I liked how decisive, angry and focused Peter was. He's acting like the natural leader. At the same time, I thought Hayden Panettiere was *too* angry; her acting felt off, sort of like the stomping around school of acting.
-- This week's Most Obvious Symbolism: Sylar gave Luke a plastic superhero action figure to melt.
Not quite a three, but at least it was fun to watch,
Billie
All of my Heroes reviews are here.
Great Expectations: The Return of Sci-Fi Friday
I don’t have a reputation for being the world’s most positive person. In fact, my friends have in the past accused me of having my very own “little black rain cloud.” But as the premiere of FOX’s new Friday night combo of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse approaches, I’ve been feeling like Little Mary Sunshine in a sea of Doubting Thomases!
Ever since FOX announced that these two shows would be partnered on Friday nights, critics and fans have been downright gloomy about their prospects:
“Friday is where shows go to die.”
“I don’t know why Joss even bothered getting into bed with FOX again. This show is as good as cancelled.”
“Guess we aren’t getting another season of Terminator.”
People can’t even mention the premiere of Dollhouse without cynically grumping that we’ll be lucky to get four episodes. That’s right. The first episode hasn’t even aired and people are already writing the series’ obituary.
Is the economy bringing everyone down? Or have years of genre TV fandom beaten folks to a pulp? Things are not right in the world when *I'm* the voice of positive thinking!
Why can't we look forward to these shows without fretting about their possible end? Why is it so hard to just enjoy the ride while it lasts? However short it is. Maybe Dollhouse will be awesome, but get crappy ratings and we only get a few episodes. Or maybe it won’t be any good at all. If so, let's cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, can't we just hope for the best without preparing for the worst?
Don't get me wrong, I understand why people are gun shy. I’ve been burned by FOX before. Was I bummed that Wonderfalls only aired four episodes before being cancelled? Yes. Do I feel pretty bittersweet about only having 13 episodes of that fun and quirky series to continually enjoy? Yes. But at the same time, I'm so grateful for those 13. Same goes for shows like Firefly and Invasion. Yes, it sucks that these shows didn't get more time to shine---and I do at times feel pretty wistful about what could have been---but I will always be glad I got to spend time in those worlds. At least for a little while. And I like to approach new shows with that same hope for something great, even if it is short-lived.
I, for one, am eagerly anticipating the premiere of FOX’s Sci-Fi Friday. I understand ratings aren't likely to be stellar. But ratings expectations probably won't be as high either. I can’t wait to see what Joss has in store for us with Dollhouse---even if it does get cancelled after four episodes. And I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of Terminator, Season 2. Even if that’s all we ever get, at least we got to enjoy two seasons of some awesome ass-kicking and surprisingly character-focused storytelling. And for that, I'm grateful.
So how about some positive thinking?
Battlestar Galactica: Blood on the Scales
Gaeta: "It stopped."
Incredibly cool conclusion, following last week's incredibly cool part one. This might have been their best two-parter ever, and that's saying a lot.
Smallville: Requiem
Oliver: "Well, if it isn't Metropolis' newest power couple."
Truck go boom. Is Lex dead? Come on. Do they really think we'll believe that Lex is dead? How stupid do the writers think we are?
Supernatural: Sex and Violence
Dean: "The middle of Basic Instinct, and you bang Sharon Stone?"
Dean finally got to investigate a case with strippers. The preview made it look like a romp. And then they went and got deep on us. When you think about it, it's amazing that a show about two brash young men hunting monsters can be so poignant.
Lost: The Little Prince
Sawyer: "Who came in these? Other Others?"
Juliet: "Don't look at me."
And we have French people.
Chuck: Chuck versus the Third Dimension
Well, hello, Cleveland. Chuck really didn’t pull any punches with this return episode. We had nightmare almost-sex, real almost-sex, some crazy Led Zeppelin-style guitar riffs, crowd surfing, emotional confessions, elevators, ex-cons, and a rock star played by Dom—
[We interrupt this review to bring you an unscheduled moment of fangirl glee: woo-hoo! It’s Charlie! And he’s hilarious! And adorable! And bringin’ the Manchester in full force!]
—inic Monaghan, all in three exciting dimensions.
Well, three dimensions for those viewers who bothered to get the glasses (does this have something to do with the SuperBowl?). I didn’t, out of laziness and a weird conviction that TV viewing shouldn’t require accessories. Without the glasses, there was a rather annoying yellow glow around some objects, and some people. But with the glasses, I would have been subjected to a 3D 6-foot long submarine eating contest. So I’m cool.
Despite all the spectacle and all the Dominic Monaghan, I didn’t love this episode. It felt too big, too forced. And the pacing seemed somehow off: I kept thinking it was almost over. But individual scenes and lines were quite good:
• “No touching!” (A nod to all Arrested Development fans.)
• The countdown clock for the grenade.
• The darts. And Dominic Monaghan’s reaction to them.
• “Have I made a mistake?...Better question, where am I?”
• “I may be a rum-soaked narcissist, but I’m also the best wingman you’ll
ever have.”
• “Hello, Cleveland!”
“Actually, it’s Burbank.”
“Well, I’m dyslexic.”
• The music playing over the BuyMore competition for the Golden Ticket.
• And the Sgt. Pepper-reject jacket.
This really wasn’t an episode about characters, but Chuck’s confession about his own fears and frustrations to Sarah, as well as his own decision to stay in the spy game, was a nice resolution to the emotional cliffhanger of the last episode—or an easy out. I’m not sure which.
Hmmm…how to rate an episode when the parts are better than the whole?
Two out of four dimensions.
All of my Chuck reviews are archived here.
(Season 2, episode 12)
Heroes: A Clear and Present Danger
Peter: "Did you ever get the feeling, like, you're meant to do something extraordinary?"
Mohinder: "I used to. Turns out I was mistaken."
So there I was, apprehensive, but ready and willing for Heroes to win me back. And you know, they may have done it. I wasn't blown away, but I wasn't turned off, either. And I watched the episode twice, something I couldn't bring myself to do earlier in the season. Cautiously optimistic, that would be me.
What worked?
Loved the way they retconned Peter's powers. They set it up in the opening scenes, where Peter (now a paramedic, a slightly more macho health care job than nurse) couldn't save someone because he wasn't "strong enough". And they paid it off in the final sequence, where Peter got superpower hits off Mohinder and Tracy. Clearly, Peter is still empathically acquiring superpowers (and a big yay to that) but now he has to actually touch someone. And he doesn't appear to retain them; he lost his superstrength when he touched Tracy, and was clinging desperately to that net in the plane, a big clue that he can't fly any more. He may even have trouble controlling them, what with accidentally freezing the plane fuselage and all.
Mohinder is still superstrong and, thankfully, scale-free; in a way, he's the new and improved Nikki. Matt managed to pick up Isaac Mendez's power along with his own, because apparently, we can't have Heroes unless someone is drawing or painting the future. It might as well be Matt; I like Matt. I wonder if they're also going to retcon the way too powerful Hiro, too? If he ever gets his powers back, that is.
Setting up all of the superheroes as fugitives will indeed force them to work together for their own survival. Even, quite possibly, Sylar. I was pleased that Sylar was still around, still evil, and still looking for mommy and daddy. I'm assuming Samson Gray, taxidermist, was just a set-up to capture him? Except there was a childhood photo of Sylar and a snow globe there, which was just weird. Whatever. I suppose we'll find out.
What didn't work?
The big problem for me was Nathan and Noah as the bad guys. I rambled on about that in my last review so I won't repeat it now, but I hated Nathan exchanging nasty barbs with Peter, not to mention capturing him. (Nathan hugging Peter felt Arthur-like to me; I could probably handle Nathan evil a lot better if I knew he was possessed by Arthur.) Noah turned against Claire, too, and that felt even worse; I can only hope he was undercover or something. I guess if Nathan and Noah really are the bad guys this time, at least we love the actors and the characters already and it's better than adding new villains that don't work. I think.
And then there's the obvious rip-off resemblance to X-Men. I don't read comics, but even I know about their being persecuted and treated like second class citizens by the government. Yes, let's have a Nazi-like round up the freaks and send them all to superhero Gitmo. So it's a rip-off. If the story works, I won't complain.
Bits and pieces:
-- Really liked the cab scene. It felt like a message from the producers that yes, we were going back to the beginning and trying again. Peter was even wearing the same trenchcoat.
-- So the bad guys are Claire's real father and Claire's adopted father. And her grandmother. Like I said before, Claire is the Heroes nexus.
-- Matt and Daphne were practically doing an episode of Bewitched, with her all wanting to use her powers and him trying to make her stop. Come on, Matt. She loves her superpower, and who can blame her. Stop making her feel bad about it.
-- Tracey talked to "the Governor", i.e., Bruce Boxleitner. I hope they bring him in this season.
-- Hiro's GPS chip is going to be important, since their plane is crashing and all. Isn't it lucky he did that?
-- Hiro's attempt to get Ando to go completely superhero was somewhat cute. The firehouse thing sounded familiar. Yeah, I know, Ghostbusters, but wasn't there a superhero who worked out of a converted firehouse, too?
-- Come on. Even I knew immediately that the password had to be 'ando'.
-- Are the soldier bad guys the red jello guys? They kept getting into locked homes and sneaking up on superheroes. The all-over soldier outfits were similar to the sensory deprivation suits they put on our heroes, too.
-- Who was the someone from Memphis?
-- Pointed reference to Claire getting her GED. She was also wearing more adult make-up. Claire's a grown-up now. Message received. She certainly took the initiative rescuing everyone the way she did.
-- Why hasn't Matt painted that dingy apartment? The stuff on the walls looks like camo. Maybe he likes the unrestrained growing mold look. And where's Molly, by the way?
-- In this week's hair report, Peter's is shorter than season one but longer than season two. It's practically perfect in every way.
Quotes:
Nathan: "I'm a god-fearing man. I just want what's best for our country." A deeply religious political figure who does the wrong thing because he thinks he's doing God's will? Why does this sound so familiar?
Noah: "You want to live? Get in." Direct reference to Terminator. But then he turned around and betrayed Mohinder. This is so wrong.
Three out of four stars,
Billie
All of my Heroes reviews are here.
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