Terminator: To the Lighthouse


When this episode started, I thought the A-plot with Sarah, John, and Charlie was going to be more of the same, tired trend of fairly understated material. Part way through the episode, when Sarah was watching John sleep and remembering “fun times” in the jungle, I actually started channeling Dark Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and thought, “Bored now.” Fortunately, things picked up considerably when we learned the truth about Sarah’s tumor and all hell broke loose in Connor land. Not really a good turn of event for the characters (especially poor Charlie), but a great turn around for the episode as a whole.

In the end, Sarah’s story was about coming to terms with John’s growing ability to protect himself. The events at the lighthouse all but slapped her in the face with the truth that none of them can truly protect John. Ultimately, he can only rely on himself. Moreover, she was forced to recognize that she’s no different from Derek or Cameron when it comes to making mistakes that may put John in danger and result in others getting hurt. She’s not any more trustworthy than they are. Her insistence on pursuing the three dots is what ultimately led to the attacks in this episode and to Charlie’s death (the bullet pattern on his chest actually was the three dots). Sarah spent a lot of time pointing fingers at Derek and Cameron throughout the episode, but in the end, she’s the one that made mistakes that led the enemy right to their door.

It’s a shame that Charlie had to die to drive this point home for Sarah. He was a good guy who got dealt a pretty crappy hand by the Connors and Skynet. I liked his scenes with John. He was so fatherly; trying to share his pain to help John through his. I wish he’d been able to live a bit longer. “Maybe if things had been different...” The sad story of John Connor’s life.

While I wasn’t overly thrilled with much of the ‘A’ storyline this week, I was pretty intrigued and engaged by the assorted ‘B’ storylines. I loved the scenes between Derek and Cameron, and they finally managed to put together a pretty compelling plot with John Henry, Catherine, and Ellison.

The revelations that John Henry has a “brother” who was created by no less than Miles Dyson of Cyberdyne really made my jaw drop. I always love it when they throw us a curve ball and link back to the established movie history. Is this brother the pre-cursor to Skynet, and John Henry something else? Are the two intelligences the beginning of different factions of metal in the post-Judgment Day world?

What’s more, the writers seemed to suggest that the Cyberdyne Intelligence was behind the coordinated attacks on the Connor crew. The guy who was about extract Cameron’s chip was told that the diagram of the metal terminator was provided by his contact’s brother. Kind of a conspicuous reference after we just learned about John Henry’s brother. Sarah thinks that Winston implanted her with the transmitter (he did check out her scars when she was unconscious). Was he maybe working for the Cyberdyne Intelligence when he kidnapped her and not Catherine’s people as we thought? If Sarah’s had the implant this long, why wait until now to strike (how long has it been anyway)? Is it because the Cyberdyne Intelligence just learned what it needed to from John Henry?

On the Cameron and Derek front, she dropped a couple of massive bombs on him this week. First, she hit him with the pregnancy and miscarriage news. (Kind of begs the question was Jessie pregnant in Derek’s version of reality, too? Did his Jessie experience something similar to the Jessie we saw?) Then, she gut punched him with this little exchange:

Cameron: You know the location of the safe house. John’s location. If they tortured you...
Derek: That would never happen.
Cameron: It has before.

This was the revelation that most excited me this week. Are we finally going to learn what happened to Derek in that basement with the piano music? It sounds like Cameron knows about what happened to him there. I was starting to fear we’d never learn what that was all about. Especially with the series drawing to a close.

Of course, the combination of Cameron’s two revelations to Derek have my head spinning with time travel questions. The writers seem to have established that Derek and the Jessie we met came from different futures. Wisher existed in his reality, but not in hers, because Derek came back and changed the past. So how could Cameron know what happened to Derek in his reality *and* know what happened to Jessie in hers? If the one time Cameron met Jessie was what we saw in last week’s episode, then she was part of the reality Derek altered. If that’s the case, how would she also know what happened to him in his unaltered reality—in which Wisher was alive and chained to the floor with him? Perhaps the different realities are close enough that the key elements are the same. Or maybe she was referring to the experience Jessie's Derek had with Charles Fischer.

Other thoughts:

When John Henry started fritzing, I was fairly well convinced that Savannah was a goner. Thank goodness, the writers didn’t go that route. I think it would have been a little too much to take.

Did they have to show the dead dog when Sarah got back to the lighthouse? We already knew that seriously bad things went down. We didn’t need to see that.

Ellison lied to Catherine and John Henry about finding Sarah. Good to know he doesn’t quite trust them yet.

Final rating: 4 out of 5. I really liked the end of this one, and it left me feeling pretty positive about the whole episode, even though I was fairly bored through parts of it.

Goodbye, Andy Hallett


Andy Hallett, who played Lorne on Angel for four years of its five year run, died last night of heart failure. He was only thirty-three years old.

Dollhouse: Echoes


Topher: "You haven't seen my drawer of inappropriate starches."

Yeah, yeah, yeah. "Naked Time," "Band Candy," character development 101.

Supernatural: It's a Terrible Life


Zachariah: "You get to change things. Save people, maybe even the world. All the while you drive a classic car and fornicate with women. This isn't a curse. It's a gift."

Zachariah left out the most important thing: that Dean does all this with his brother, whom he loves more than anyone else on earth.

Smallville: Hex


Lois: "One year closer to the sweet release of death."
Chloe: "How wonderfully morbid."

Watchtower, huh? Chloe is the big Justice League space station? :)

Lost: He's Our You


Sawyer: "How are you doing?"
Sayid: "A twelve-year-old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich. How do you think I'm doing?"

Son of a gun. They just did the classic time travel question: if you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it? For Sayid, the answer was, well, yes.

Heroes: Cold Snap


Ando: "You be cold daddy. I'll be warm mommy."

Much, much better. I enjoyed this episode more than I've enjoyed a Heroes episode in a long time.

The writing has definitely gotten tighter and there were many cohesive elements. The most noticeable was the recurring "cold mommy" theme. Hiro finally told Ando about what happened with his mother, and was finally able to be warm daddy to baby Parkman. Peter rescued *his* cold mommy, Angela, out of an elevator. (I liked that one a lot.)

The big one was Micah. It made sense that Rebel was Micah, and that he was obsessed with freeing his "mom." (Note how he said over and over that Tracy wasn't his mother, as if he was trying to convince himself.) Tracy is a very cold mommy, indeed. But obviously not dead, even though she just let them make ice cubes out of her. Creepy.

And it worked, Tracy not dying, because of Daphne's honest to goodness permanent and actually moving death. I didn't even see it coming and was thrown when Matt started flying. I wonder why they brought back Janice in the very same episode? As well as changed their minds about Janice's baby being Matt's? We'd been led to believe it wasn't, back in season two. (And note the "cold mommy" theme again.) Are Matt and Janice destined to get back together?

Hiro and Ando were actually funny and endearing again instead of annoying. Loved the wheelbarrow. The ET tribute with the stuffed animals in the closet was a little much, but still okay. They even found a way to give Hiro back some of his powers, but not all. Yes, let's fix our writing mistakes, shall we? Hopefully, this means no more magical time travel fixes.

Plus we had other fun stuff. Danko shaving, followed by Noah with shaving cuts; great little unspoken comment on their relationship. Angela losing her umbrella, stealing an umbrella, borrowing an umbrella and stuck in the rain as she lost her home and her freedom. And she and Peter hiding in the Statue of Liberty? About as obvious as symbolism gets.

Bits and pieces:

-- The opening close-ups with Danko shaving were practically a Lost "eye" scene.

-- Who gave Puppet Guy to Danko wrapped in a big, red satirical bow?

-- Noah Gray-Cabey's voice has changed. By the way, really liked the bank machine talking to Tracy. It was just fun.

-- They introduced Swoosie Kurtz as Angela's friend Millie. I'm sure it was for more than a brief appearance at lunch. Loved Angela's hair in that scene.

Quotes:

Ando: "How could Matt Parkman be a baby?"
Hiro: "On the Next Generation, it was a transporter accident."

Hiro: "He's toddler touch and go. He touches and makes things go. Like a baby Genesis Device."

Millie: "You look like you've been mugged, and the first thing they stole was your dignity."

This episode reminded me of why I got into Heroes in the first place. A solid three out of four stars,

Billie

All of my Heroes reviews are archived here.

Terminator: Today is the Day, Part 2


I wasn’t real jazzed by this two-parter. Despite some intriguing moments, it was much more low key than I would have expected or wanted at this point in the season. I found the second part particularly underwhelming. It seems strange to say that for an episode that featured a liquid metal terminator, a break room riot, several key confrontations, and the likely death of a major character at the hands of another. And yet, in the end, I was left feeling rather ho hum about the whole thing.

I do have to give the episode credit for bringing the Riley and Jessie story to what felt like a fitting conclusion. John and Derek learned the truth, we learned Jessie’s motivations, and she paid for her crimes. The tale even featured some surprising twists: John already knowing about Jessie and laying in wait for her; learning that Jessie lost a baby in the future/past; and learning that Future John tries to join forces with a faction of liquid metal terminators.

There were other things to enjoy in the episode as well. I loved John’s initial conversation with Derek about his chances against Cameron. What a great way to make Derek understand that Cameron didn’t kill Riley, and to begin convincing him that maybe Jessie did. I also really liked Jessie and Derek’s final scene. I knew he’d kill her when he found out what she’d done, but I liked the way they revisited his history with Andy/Wisher and the fact that she’s from a different future to explain why he’d go through with it (I honestly think he did). It’s always interesting to get some insight into the inner workings of Derek’s mind and how he justifies his actions. We even got a great scene at the end in which John finally lets himself grieve for Riley. It was nice to see him turn to Sarah for comfort rather than Cameron (even if she’s not necessarily better equipped to provide it).

Once again, the John Henry, Catherine, and Ellison material felt like it didn’t quite fit with the rest of the episode. That said, the writers did pique my “what’s really going on here?” radar when John Henry told Catherine that Ellison agreed to leave him turned on and she said “Well, that’s progress.” I’m starting to think that she’s not interested in John Henry learning morality at all, but rather learning how best to manipulate humans emotionally. She seems to want Ellison to see John Henry as more than just a machine. In retrospect, John Henry’s comments about “the eyes being the window to the soul” and his “friendship” with Ellison seem designed to break down Ellison’s preconceived notions about his pupil. In that context, I suppose their scenes did provide a nice counterpoint to Jessie’s experiences.

Other thoughts:

The lack of background music in several of the scenes was very conspicuous.

Jessie to Cameron: “What the hell are we fighting for, if telling you is the same thing as telling Connor? You’re a damn machine. You’re not the same. It’s not the same.” It’s pretty hard to argue with that point. Between that and losing her baby, it’s no wonder Jessie thought things would be better if she split up John and his “metal bitch.”

And with the demise of Captain Queeg, yet another actor from The Wire meets an unfortunate fate on Terminator. This one was pretty easy to see coming.

Final rating: 3 out of 5. I’m hoping the last few episodes step things up a little.

Chuck: Chuck versus the Predator


The General: “We are in the midst of a secret war with Fulcrum, and I believe that the outcome of this fight will rest squarely on your shoulders.”
Casey: “Argh.”

Chuck is still plotting his escape (and how), but it’s looking more and more like the General won’t let him out of the spy game. His attempts to track down Orion were successful enough for Orion to “come out of the cold,” with rather troubling results.

And on the BuyMore front, it’s war.

My past few reviews have focused on the arc of the show, but this episode really stood out as being great for the mythos and the dialogue. The BuyMore War was hilarious, from the baudy French farce of the masked burglars to the Beverly Hills vs. Burbank disses.

Chuck’s fervor to find Orion was suspenseful, to say the least—I actually found myself gripping the arm of my couch in the downtown scene. The General was punchy and intimidating, albeit small. The Fulcrum agent was deadpan. Really, absolutely everything went absolutely perfectly (except the mission itself).

A lot of this episode felt like the inmates were running the asylum, especially when Chuck was given the chance to plan his own mini-mission to recapture the Orion computer, which was paralleled with Big Mike letting Emmett run Operation Vandalism. "Calm and collected" it was not, which really ratcheted up the suspense and the humor.

According to my cursory Internet Research, it doesn’t look like there’s been any decision made on whether or not to renew the show—and the ambiguity is making me even curiouser and curiouser about how this season is going to end. Will Chuck escape his misery? Will he realize he likes it? Will Ellie and Awesome ever get married?

Fun Stuff:

• The Predator Drone really does look like a lumpy penis with wings.

• The BuyMore PowerWalk.

• The Orion theme music sounded vaguely like the Usual Suspects score. Even the fedora was very Keyzer Soze.

• The Beverly Hills BuyMore sign read: “BuyMore. Because you can!” And another one read: “Proud to help you spend your parent’s money.”

• The weird symmetry between the Hong Kong scene and the episode of Heroes that aired right after this. I watched Heroes first, which made it even weirder.


Quotes Gone Wild:


• “Your plan necessitated that we do actual plumbing. And, for the record, none of us actually know how to plumb.”

• “We admit nothing. Although we are in Burbank—that should be a crime.”

• Chuck: “Look, you’re not going to shoot anyone, right?”
The Fulcrum Agent: “It would be unprofessional not to.”

• “We will be calm and collected when we burn that motherloving store to the ground.”

• “Wake up, Casey. The eighties are over.”

• “Don’t scream. I have a splitting headache.”

• “I love the smell of Burbank in the morning.”

• Barclay: “Speaking for my store, and the city of Beverly Hills as a whole, we do not approve of your methods.”
Morgan: “Well, you’re not from Burbank.”

Four out of four Beverly Hills.

All of my Chuck reviews are archived here.
(Season 2, episode 17)

Dollhouse: Man on the Street


Man on the street: "Everyone's got their fantasies, right? A guy wants to know what it's like, you know, to be with another man. Just once, nothing queeny, two guys checking it out, and then the other one forgets. That could be sweet for some guys."

Echo and Paul had a "cute meet" and beat each other up. How very Buffy and Angel.

Supernatural: On the Head of a Pin


Castiel: "I know our fate rests with you."
Dean: "Well, then you guys are screwed."

Three -- count them, three -- major revelations. So to speak.

Smallville: Turbulence


Chloe: "Jimmy and I made it out of the dark forest and from now on, it's going to be one long happily ever after."

Chloe tasered Jimmy to protect Davis. No wonder that marriage is over. It's something of a relief, too. I never liked Chloe with Jimmy, anyway.

Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak, Part 2


Adama: "What do you hear, Starbuck?"
Starbuck: "Nothing but the rain."

This finale was a masterpiece. From darkness, to light, to oblivion. I wish I felt better about it.

Fringe: The Equation


Stretch... knuckle-crack... exhalation. Fringe has been on hiatus for a while (it returns April 7th), so now seemed a good enough time as any to wrap up a few of those episodes I didn’t get a chance to review at the beginning of the season. But don’t worry if you’re catching up on back episodes—I’m keepin’ it spoiler-clean for those that follow.

Lost: Namaste


Jack: "What do you think?"
Kate: "I think we should listen to Sawyer."
Hurley: "I vote for not camping."

This episode felt like part two of "LaFleur." It was a "getting us from there to here" type of episode. Nothing wrong with that. It was still fun to watch.

Terminator: Today is the Day, Part 1


I often find it difficult to rate the first part of a two-part episode. Typically, the first part is stuffed with set-up material for the next part of the story, leaving the real “page-turning” action for the next episode. As a result, Part One can sometimes feel somewhat dull. Or at the very least, it can feel so incomplete that it is hard to judge on its own merits. I thought this episode did an able job of following up on last week’s events, and started some interesting new threads with Jessie, but it wasn’t nearly as compelling as ‘Ourselves Alone.’

For me, the best part of this episode was Jessie’s story. I really enjoyed watching her interactions with Derek. I was wondering how she was going to explain her absence and all the bruises from her fight with Riley. I loved her solution: pick another fight in a public place and have Derek come bail her out. I also really liked the snippets of her future/past mission on the submarine. Is the mission to retrieve the box really a mission from John? Or is their terminator shipdriver taking orders from a different source? The scene with the team going to retrieve the box was tense. What the hell is that thing?

I’m hoping that however the situation plays out, we’ll finally get a little more insight into the real motivations behind Jessie’s trip to the past. Is she working against Team Connor because she thinks Future John’s tactics (particularly his use of reprogrammed metal) are screwing up the war? Or is she working for the metal? I’m leaning more towards the former this week, but am withholding final judgment for now.

This episode also kept me waffling about my thoughts on Cameron’s real mission. Last week I started thinking her real mission was to die at John’s hands. But early in this week’s episode, I was leaning towards the view that maybe she *is* just there to teach John how to work with and program the metal. After all, if Jessie wants John to kill Cameron to further her objectives, that can’t be Future John’s agenda, too. Can it? But after Cameron’s conversation with Sarah, I’m once again thinking her mission is to die. To have John recognize that he needs to be alone and cut his emotional ties. What does that mean for Sarah? Probably nothing good.

The sequences with Catherine, Ellison, and John Henry were odd. It was nice to get back to that part of the story, but the game of hide-and-seek wasn’t overly compelling. I guess, in the end, it was meant to show John Henry is starting to make progress in his understanding of Ellison’s morality. For me, the most interesting aspect was Catherine’s facial expressions during the game. She seems completely incapable of expressing convincing emotions when dealing with her “daughter,” but when watching John Henry learn, her face just lights up. Fitting, seeing as how he’s more her child than Savannah.

Other thoughts:

Jessie genuinely seems to feel bad about killing Riley. Interesting.

I wasn't really feeling John's pain this week. I probably should have been more moved by his grief than I was, but I'm glad Riley is dead. And his freaked out reaction to Cameron-as-Riley on the phone was way more interesting than his scene at the morgue.

I liked the scene between Cameron and Sarah out by the garage. Their confrontations always have such an interesting dynamic. I love it when they throw their cards on the table.

How awesome is it that the terminator driving the submarine is named Queeg (the infamous captain from Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny)? Did John name it that as a joke after changing its programming? Not necessarily a good sign for its continued “mental health.”

Final rating: 3 out of 5. I may reconsider after seeing how it works as part of the overall two-part story, but for now, it just felt average.

Kings: Premiere



Kings is a new, high-budget show on NBC about a superpower (Gilboa) led by a king (Silas) who is assisted by a young farm boy (David). It’s full of biblical allusions, and is something of an allegory for modern America…well, no. It’s set in a place that’s basically the same as modern America, but this alterna-verse isn’t really saying anything groundbreaking about, y’know, the state of our nation.

And what better way to deconstruct a weird allegory than to offer a play-by-play? In the spirit of “if it’s new, I’ll review it,” I offer you two solid hours of my thoughts on this compelling show. With commercial breaks.


8:00 Okay, we’ve got a farm boy named David and a…

8:01 My goodness, a king! And it’s a king who likes God (and is liked back).

8:02 The king appears to be a good father: “You won’t be warm enough” is classic Parent Talk.

8:03 This America-imitation country is called Gilboa, and its new capital is Shiloh. Gilboa sounds Portuguese (if there’s a biblical analogue, I’m not catching it), which is interesting—it hints at a possible re-writing of the history of conquest in the New World. In other words: Take that, Spain and England!

8:05 My attention is drifting. Time to Google. According to Wikipedia, Gilboa is the mountain range where Saul battled the Philistines. In other words: I’m sorry, Spain and England. You may have your colonialism back.

8:06 Wow, in this imaginary land, touching people you’ve never met on this face is evidently a-okay. God bless real America.

8:08 Gath is Canada. It’s pronounced “gaaath,” like it’s being uttered by Robert Forester (Peter and Nathan’s dad on Heroes). It’s also an allusion to the home of Goliath, whom David slew. Here, a Goliath is a tank. And I think our farm boy might be up to something.

8:13 Is this show actually about how duct tape can save the world? Because I’m a fan of that premise.

8:16 David is rescuing the king’s son Jack. And David defeated the Goliath.

8:25 Wow, look at all those spoons.

8:26 I should email Billie and tell her how much I like the new banner on the home page.

8:27 Jack the Prince is not-so-much a prince. More of a spoiled brat. The LA Times review compared him to Chuck Bass, and I really can’t top that.

8:30 King Silas is quite the tyrant. He disregards his daughter’s petition and feels like he owes nothing to no one, as John Wayne surely said once. Will David help him learn something about himself?

8:37 Interesting…we got some back-story on this Nation of Allegory. There was a unification war less than a generation ago, and army service is not compulsory. If this series lasts a season, I’ll wonder if we’ll get a flashback episode.

8:38 David looks like he’s a fan of the king, but we know from the opening that he puts work and duty (repairing that guy’s car) ahead of admiration and star-gazing. Since that guy is the Reverend, this could be useful for David, who of course wouldn’t think of it as pragmatically “useful”—the good guys are never that plotting.

8:42 Leonard Cohen was right. David does know the secret chord that pleased the Lord. Well, the Lord’s daughter.

8:52 Commercials? I shall defeat you, Mammon of capitalism, by catching up on my Bible reading. The David and Saul story, which is pretty long by Bible standards, looks like it will indeed make for good TV. Jealousy, lust, dancing…and something going on between Jonathan (who is Prince Jack, right?) and David. The story starts at I Samuel 17, but beware of spoilers!

8:54 Ian McShane does chew the scenery, doesn’t he? Every thing he says is a declamation, even in the family kitchen. This drove me crazy about Deadwood, too.

8:59 David now has the most important position in the military. Homeboy hero made good! His role is mostly that of a figurehead, of course—he’s just supposed to read what’s on the teleprompter.

9:00 Or maybe he’s supposed to go off-script and answer in a way that, unintentionally on his part, makes the royal family look good. Sneaky. Don’t those royals know that corrupting the innocents always just gives them the ammunition they need to eventually topple those in power and usher in a glorious paradise of donuts and puppies?

9:05 David’s brother is potentially in trouble, but Gath is offering a peace treaty. I imagine any mid-season replacement has both a thirteen-episode plan and a five-year-or-so plan. Where’s this show headed? Are we supposed to hope for the end of monarchy, that evil beast so inimical to quality of life and reserved for such backwards places as Norway? Is this going to be a show about revolution?...

(9:10 Well, it’s certainly going to be a show about David and Silas’s daughter.)

9:11 …Revolution, or the actual horrors of war, seem a bit too messy for this show. It’s so glossy, and focused so specifically on the royals, that a revolution would feel distant—assuming, of course, that this tone and premise stay constant.

9:12 Is Jack gay? His dad certainly seems offended by his homosociality, if not his homosexuality. The role of young princes and kings with too many male friends who have too much fun is pretty interesting. Edward II died a brutal death. Richard II was deposed and killed. Yes, my mind wanders.

9:17 The proclamations are written in pseudo-Shakespearean archaisms on a PDA. Why?

9:18 CrossGen, which stands for the entire military-industrial complex, has a stake in war with Gath, and that evil CrossGen guy has just bribed King Silas into continuing the war for the sake of a war economy.

In an essay on the mode of allegory, Erich Auerbach notes that true allegories are always a bit unsatisfying: the story that stands for something else is filled with irrelevancies—his example is of the knight Yvain who, while on a journey, turns left. Left has no relevance for the reader. It doesn’t refer to any absolute direction the reader could relate to, like north. It’s just in there to make the point that Yvain isn’t on the right path.

This CrossGen thing feels the same way—a bloated allegory of the modern American dependence on the manufacturers of war. But it’s not an allegory that tells us anything new: the symbolism is just describing what we already know, and not very well.

9:27: “We are king, and we do what seems right in mine eye.” Just because it sounds old, doesn’t mean it’s poetic. It just means it’s derivative and not innovative.

9:29 The Reverend is getting hot under the collar. I wonder if this is a Christian society. The obvious answer is yes, but no one’s mentioned anything particularly Christian, and there haven’t been any crosses. It would be kinda cool to see them invent a new religion to go along with their imaginary country of Gilboa.

9:34 David is surrendering. That’s pretty gutsy, and a damn interesting twist. I thought he was going to bring King Silas the foreskins of the Philistines.

9:36 Shakespeare, great guy that he is, has bequeathed us a horrible legacy: generation upon generation of overwrought actor has convinced us that the height of art—grand art that describes the human condition in epic strokes—is composed of shouting, declarations, and heroic last stands. This can sometimes be true, but isn’t there something at least a little heroic in the casual, non-self-aggrandizing gesture? Great art doesn’t have to be stiff.

9:52 Shiloh is a bit more than a capital city, isn’t it? It’s really the metropole, as though the rest of Gilboa is just the provinces. Is Gilboa really a superpower? Or is it a much smaller country than the US?

9:55 Help! I’m being attacked by butterflies!

Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak, Part 1


Anders: "Find the perfect world. The end of Kara Thrace. End of line."

I swear, I honestly didn't think the end was getting to me. But when Roslin, barely able to walk, crossed that red line, I started to cry. All of the characters I care about are planning to take a disintegrating ship on a suicide mission. If Ron Moore stays true to form, there could be a Shakespearean bloodbath.

Dollhouse: True Believer


Senator Boxbaum: "Your active will be perfectly safe."
DeWitt: "In a fanatical religious cult?"

Again, a tired, overused plot: undercover with a religious cult. And again with the twist.

Supernatural: Death Takes a Holiday


Dean: "You and me, we're like the poster boys of the unnatural order. All we do is ditch death."

We had a cool story about reapers, Dean and Sam got to be invisible, there was brotherly conflict as well as a return to the "angel-demon dance-off". Add in the tragic death of a continuing character, and what more could a Supernatural fan ask for?

Watchmen: Who Watches the Watchmen?


Dan Dreiberg: "But the country's disintegrating. What's happened to America? What's happened to the American dream?"
The Comedian: "It came true. You're looking at it."

Watchmen isn't what you'd call a "child friendly" superhero movie. Malin Akerman (who plays Silk Spectre II in the movie) said in an interview that the film belongs in a genre of its own and she was probably right. If superheroes did exist (and apologies to those of you who actually think they do), then this is probably what they'd be like. Horrendously flawed, disturbed, troubled individuals, desperately trying to save the world; but not always doing the right thing.

My expectations for this movie were high. I think everyone's were. The burden Zack Snyder must have felt filming Watchmen (the only graphic novel to appear in TIME magazines list of the top 100 English novels) must have been enormous. In fact, you could almost feel the weight of expectation as the lights dimmed in the movie theatre and a reverent hush descended on those assembled.

We needn't have worried. The film was an absolute belter from beginning to end.

Watchmen is set in an alternate 80's America. The most obvious departure from orthodox US history is the existence of superheroes (or "masks"), who help America win in Vietnam and subsequently secure Nixon a third term as president. But then, superheroes fall out of favour with the public, and legislation is introduced to outlaw them. Whilst most of the heroes slip off into early retirement, some continue to practise their craft by finding employment within official government agencies. Others however, like Rorschach, continue their work outside of the law.

The film begins with one of the "masks," ex-Minuteman, the Comedian, being killed. Rorschach begins an investigation into his murder and soon comes to the conclusion that someone's out to kill all "masks." Rorschach quickly warns his ex-comrades, and the rest of the movie is essentially the story of the gang reforming and tracking down their would-be killer.

The movie has an 18 certificate, so right away you know what to expect. There are sex scenes, nudity, and moments of such graphic violence that even I, hardened film watcher that I am, cringed at a few of the set pieces. Severed arms... broken bones... and at one point a cleaver being repeatedly thrust into the top of someone's skull... all make you realise that Snyder isn't pulling any punches with this film. It's pretty full on.

Being based on a graphic novel, as you'd expect, the flow of the movie is generally even throughout. The plotting, character development and exposition are so densely packed together that at times you're afraid to look away from the screen for fear of missing something. I went for a drink in the middle of the movie and came back half way through the prison rescue scene... which looked simply astounding from the back of the theatre. The look of the film is beautiful. It's dark, it's brooding and most importantly, it's seriously cool.

But it's the characterisation which sets this film apart. These heroes are real. Their stories don't fit the usual superhero template. The Comedian, in addition to burning people alive in Vietnam and assassinating JFK, has the murder of a pregnant woman and an attempted rape on his less than impressive Curriculum Vitae. Dr Manhattan, an almost God-like being, spends virtually the entire movie naked (for some reason you don't notice... apart from one rather obvious full frontal), and as the film progresses, he slowly becomes more and more detached from humanity; to the point where he seems unsure of whether he cares for them at all. These are not heroes you're immediately drawn to. In fact, some of them are hard to like at all. But the characters are so well drawn, at least you understand why they behave as they do.

Apart from Dr. Manhattan, none of the other heroes actually have super powers per se. But they have costumes and kick ass nonetheless. The combat set pieces are superbly choreographed. I was expecting Matrix-style fight scenes, but what I got was a lot harsher than that. The violence is exaggerated, almost grotesquely so, but it doesn't seem out of place. It just adds to the brutal landscape of screwed up America; where the doomsday clock is on five minutes to midnight and the Russian threat has never seemed so real.

This isn't a film for everyone. If you were turned off by the gratuitous violence of movies like 300 and Sin City, then doubtless you'll have problems with this film too. But if you're a fan of Alan Moore's work (V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell and The Ballad of Halo Jones), or are a fan of Zack Snyder's other movies (300 and Dawn of the Dead), or simply fancy something different; then this is definitely a worthwhile movie to check out.

Smallville: Infamous


Lois: "How could someone with x-ray vision be so blind?"

Really good episode. I loved it. And I haven't said that about a Smallville episode in a long time. It was like the writers were apologizing for forcing that Clark-Lana craptasm from the past on us. I didn't even mind the inevitable "Clark tells the world so you know they'll take it back in the end" re-set button.

Terminator: Ourselves Alone


This was a very intense episode, filled with dread and foreboding. A sense of doom hung over every quiet moment, slowly and steadily building towards Riley’s death. I could feel it coming the whole time, it was just a question of who would do it.

I completely believed for much of the episode that Cameron would kill Riley. The scene in the shed had me on the edge of my seat. The opening sequence with the accidental murder of the bird perfectly set us up to expect the worst in this confrontation. Every time Cameron’s hand twitched, I was expecting her to snap Riley’s neck. I was actually surprised when John showed up in the nick of time.

When Cameron didn’t kill Riley, I briefly thought Sarah would do the deed. After she murdered Winston in cold blood and began to accept the price of protecting John, I thought it would be a bold writing choice to have her take Riley out. I loved the short scene in which Sarah was clearly struggling with the decision to do just that. But I suppose that would be a step too far for her at this point. Willingly killing a man who is clearly an enemy agent is one thing. Gunning down your son’s girlfriend in front of him, even if you suspect her of being a traitor, is quite another.

In the end, it felt right that Jessie was the one to do it. She’s the one that’s been pulling Riley’s strings and controlling her destiny all along, so she should be the one to end things. I loved the revelation that Jessie’s real mission for Riley was for her to die at Cameron’s hands. What a wonderfully sick and twisted strategy, although unbelievably cruel to Riley (the poor fish caught by the bear). Skynet is getting much more resourceful and sophisticated with its anti-John Connor plotting. (I still believe Jessie is working for Skynet.) I can’t wait to see how she spins this unplanned event to work to her advantage. No doubt she’ll still try to pin the blame on Cameron.

I have to confess that I was glad to see Riley die (because I think her death will serve the story better than her continued existence), but I give her credit for showing some major cojones this week. As frightened as she must have been, she still stood her ground with Cameron in the shed and with John outside the house, noting that she’s not the only one keeping secrets. Then she confronted Jessie with her betrayal (brave, but stupid) and fought hard for her life. She showed some real spirit and made me wonder if, without all the lies, maybe she could have been good for John. Perhaps things will work out better for her in a different iteration of the ever-evolving time loop.

Even though Riley’s death was the major event in this episode, I was thrilled that Cameron *finally* got a chance to shine again. Her scenes with John were especially strong and gave me lots to ponder. Her revelation about John being ahead of schedule in what he has to learn got me thinking about her overarching mission again. What did Future John really send her back to do? I don’t think it was just to be his protector. Based on the events of this episode, I’m actually starting to think her real mission is a lot like Riley’s. To die. Only she knows it. John has to kill her to become the mythic John Connor. He has to learn to make the tough choices; to take the life of someone he cares about and give up his strongest protector. And she’s now given him the tools to do just that.

Other thoughts:

I had this sudden suspicion that maybe Jessie isn’t just working for the metal. Maybe she *is* the metal, made in the image of someone Derek cared about. I kept expecting her to be revealed as some kind of terminator during her fight with Riley. Perhaps not, but an interesting thought.

Poor Derek was once again resigned to background duty. Laying the groundwork for future episodes. I can’t wait to see how he reacts when he finds out the truth about Jessie. Because it is going to happen at some point. I wouldn’t be surprised if he kills her.

Final rating: 4 out of 5. A promising start for the next run of episodes.

Heroes: Shades of Gray


Nathan: "I have been helping you out all along. You and everyone else."
Tracy: "And doing a fabulous job of it."

Way predictable. I knew every single plot twist ahead of time. But at least it was fun to watch.

I knew Darth Sylar would turn on his young, and I even knew when -- the moment Sylar let it slip that he was immortal and invulnerable. What evil mastermind dying of cancer would pass that up? But it was fun to watch Sylar outwit and defeat Gray. And John Glover was perfect casting; he *looked* like he could be Sylar's evil superpop, probably because of all the practice he's had as the father of Lex Luthor. I hope this is the end of Sylar's search for his roots. Enough, already. Move it along.

And I knew for weeks that Danko would find out about Nathan and go for Claire, but again, I still liked that last scene with Nathan hovering in the air, holding his daughter in his arms; there was an emotional jolt to it that worked for me. I have every confidence that Danko is no match for Angela Petrelli. Unless Danko has superpowers. They mentioned him unexpectedly surviving an "incident" in Angola. That would be a... okay, a predictable twist.

Apparently, Rebel is an equal opportunity superhero rescuer. The B plot with Doyle the icky puppet guy was also predictable, but less fun. I knew Doyle's conversion was too good to be true. Claire working at the comic book store was semi-fun, although as a sci-fi geek myself, I really dislike the stereotype of us as homely maladjusted losers. So I have a Star Fleet uniform in the back of my closet. I'm still cool, let me tell you. And this is the perfect time to segue into how incredibly cool the Star Trek trailer was (it aired in the middle of the episode). Zachary Quinto looked so Spocky that I couldn't believe it.

Bits and pieces:

-- Superheroes helping other superheroes was a theme, along with superparents and superkids. Sylar and Gray, Angela and Nathan and Claire. And Hiro and Ando and baby Parkman.

-- Geez. Leaving by roof access in front of Danko? Really subtle, Nathan. No, I'm not flying anywhere; I'm just catching my invisible helicopter.

-- The first scene with Claire showed her face pretty much bare, without the heavy adult make-up. I don't think I realized until that moment how overkill it is. She's a beautiful young woman. Do they really need to put that much makeup on her?

-- Yes, I love John Glover, but it was hard seeing suave, handsome Lionel Luthor, one of the two reasons I got into Smallville, as a trailer trash taxidermist. If the character hadn't been so distasteful, I'd be hoping they'd add him to the cast. You know, they should have... as Arthur Petrelli. If they had, that character might have worked.

-- What was that bit about two blue-eyed parents being able to have a dark-eyed child? I thought it was the opposite, that two dark-eyed parents could have a blue-eyed child, not the other way around. Did I completely zone out high school biology?

-- Gotta mention it again. Star Trek trailer, best part of this episode. I watched the trailer three times. I did not watch the episode three times.

Quotes:

Comic book store guy: "Put simply, what type of hero are you?"
Claire: "I don't know."
I'm starting to wonder, too. Claire's stories have been distinctly boring lately.

Danko: "I'm sure you've grown close to the Petrelli family."
Noah: "The Petrellis were never exactly a warm and fuzzy bunch."

Sylar: "I'm sorry. You're just small game."
That poor bunny reminded me of number eight bunny on Lost.

Better. We shall see,

Billie

All of my Heroes reviews are here.

Chuck: Chuck versus the Lethal Weapon


“We’re dead. Bartowski’s got a gun.”

Agent Cole Barker has gone back to the UK, and Agent Chuck Bartowski is stuck in Burbank. Cole’s arrival and action in LA did something to Chuck, who just a few episodes ago was all gung-ho for the spy games. But realizing (however falsely) that Sarah wasn’t into him has made him hate the Intersect—he even referred to it as a nightmare.

What Chuck doesn’t know does hurt him. Sarah’s “not the kind of girl who cheats on her cover boyfriend,” however appetizing the temptation (who turned out to be not evil—my bad). But all that Chuck knows is that he can’t have the girl he wants.

Chuck’s got two problems, the Intersect and the Sarah. Which really bothers him more? I think he doesn’t hate the spy stuff, and would make a pretty decent analyst, although that would be a much duller show. Maybe it’s the two things together:

“One day I am gonna get this thing out of my head, and when I do, I’m going to live the life that I want with the girl that I love. Because I’m not going to let this thing rob me of that.”

The big reveal of the episode was that Perseus was just the George Bush to Orion’s Dick Cheney: now Chuck has at least a code name for the man behind the curtain who can really make his Intersect problem go away. The bigger reveal was that Chuck is keeping track of all his flashes, in a way that Sarah and Casey don’t seem to be doing. That Tron chart just might figure in the next episodes leading up to the season finale, which might prove to be something of the tipping point for Chuck’s willingness to sacrifice his life and his love for the US government.

We’ll find out in two weeks, when Chuck returns.

Fun Stuff and Not-So-Fun Stuff:

• “He clipped his ankle on a windowsill. It’s as pathetic as it sounds.”

• “I have to say, Chuck: you are truly the most…special agent I’ve ever worked with.”

• “Did you know IKEA has seventeen different types of home shelving? I can only pronounce two of them…” Was this product placement? Bleh.

Four out of four Trons.

All of my Chuck reviews are archived here.
(Season 2, episode 16)

Castle: Flowers for Your Grave (Premiere)


Dear Nathan Fillion,

You must know how wonderful you are. You are handsome, kindly, handsome, Canadian in that way that gives your accent a subtle hint of the South, handsome, a great singer, and—O, Captain! My Captain!—look great in tight pants.

You’re spectacular at playing the self-deprecating bad boy with a heart of gold. You outsmarted the Operative. You took on that slithery thing in Slither. You drove quickly, amid many zooming cameras, in Drive. You were married to Kate (OK, you weren’t much of a bad boy there). You were in Desperate Housewives, which I haven’t seen, but I’ll bet you were great there, too. You’re a damn good singer, especially in gloves, and a very scary priest, especially when your eyes go all black. You defeated the Reavers!

We—and I speak for all fandom here, as any blogger must—love you because you seem like a genuinely nice guy. In your spare time, we assume you get kittens out of trees, help old ladies cross the street, and always get the check while never drawing attention to your inherent awesomeness. Your smile is sweetly sardonic, but we never get the sense that you are laughing at us.

And, for all those reasons, I watched Castle last night.

Your new show is charming in a Bones and Moonlighting kind of way. Your portrayal of Rick Castle, best-selling author of thrillers in the style of James Patterson (who made an awkward guest appearance) is sexy and funny. You are smart but not pretentious, and you have a rather inordinately huge knowledge of criminology and psychology. It is, of course, high improbable that any author is: A) that good looking, B) that sought after by the ladies, or C) that well-connected. But who cares? TV isn’t supposed to be real.

You’re partnered with Stana Katic, who manages to be gorgeous and smart at the same time. Your character has a drunken mother who seems to be a caricature of the drunken mother on Arrested Development. You have a smart young daughter who plays the voice of reason to your irrepressible playboy celebrity self.

Your new show is shot in that grainy, translucent style that’s been so popular since Traffic. I have nothing more to say about that.

The writing is mediocre, in more ways than one. The jokes fall a bit flat, even with your charmingly wry delivery. The plot, which was cheekily self-referential, also had a glaring hole in that the real killer who modeled his series of victims after your books seemed to not know who you were, even after you were introduced. If you get a chance, Mr. Fillion, you might want to mention to the writers that mystery fans notice weird things like that, and they do not like them.

I had hoped, Captain Tightpants, for a smallish Daylight Saving Time miracle in this show: perhaps it would rise above my expectations—and the genre—and astonish me with its wit, incisive and creepy mysteries, thrilling plots, and finely drawn characters. Perhaps you could make it better than it should be.

But instead, I simply say thank you—for trying, for being so cute—and better luck next time.

Dollhouse: Gray Hour


Echo: "I'm not broken."
Boyd: "No, you're not."

Again, a classic (or depending on your viewpoint, overdone) plot, the bank heist gone wrong. And again, Echo transcended her programming. For me, the best part was how Echo connected with the injured guy, who got himself some instant karma for his kindness toward her when she escaped and took him along with her.

Battlestar Galactica: Islanded in a Stream of Stars


Tigh: "She was a grand old lady."
Adama: "The grandest."

It's time to say goodbye to this series, and it has started with the Galactica herself. It had to happen, but it just feels awful. It feels like the end. Maybe because it is.

Lost: LaFleur


Faraday: "It doesn't matter what we do. Whatever happened, happened."
Sawyer: "Thanks anyway, Plato."

I got a huge charge out of this episode. It was surprising. Fun. Sort of delicious. Complicated. Also confusing. But hey, way fun. Maybe I was just ready for a Sawyer episode after the doom and gloom and religious symbolism of the last episode. Or maybe I just like Sawyer better than Locke. Probably both.

Chuck: Chuck versus the Beefcake


“Come with me if you want to live.”

Or, as Andre 3000 has it: when arrows don’t penetrate, Cupid packs a pistol.

This episode had all the same component parts of the average Chuck episode, but this time the spy stuff, the love stuff, and the BuyMore stuff all gelled nicely into coherent goodness, like a Jell-O mold with a great soundtrack.

All my previous angst about the quickie resolve of Chuck’s dismay over Sarah’s use of lethal force now feels silly: the situation wasn’t wrapped up too neatly; Chuck just loves Sarah and will forgive her for anything. What he doesn’t see, of course, is how frequently she’s forced to do the dance of morally gray to save him—that he’s the priority, not the mission.

Sarah, however, has some inner conflict of her own: now it’s not Love versus Spycraft, but Love versus the Raw Animalistic Brit, who looks sexy while bleeding, easily withstands torture, and utters hackneyed lines from Terminator movies with sincerity and not a little double entendre. And mad props to Yvonne Strahovski for not overplaying the lust; she managed to be obvious but not comic. Come to think of it, while we usually get a fair amount of dialogue helping us understand Chuck’s inner turmoil, Sarah’s is typically all in her facial reactions.

Is this a love quadrangle? Sarah, Chuck, the Fate of the Nation, and now Burbank’s answer to James Bond? Even Chuck doesn’t quite know what he wants…or rather, he knows what he wants, is sure he can’t get it, and so is willing to do what seems like the emotionally healthy thing (disengage from a dead-end relationship) even though we know that the great god of Eros is surely plotting an eventual happy ending. O, dramatic irony, how bitter are thy pills!

For all my bluster about mythology on other shows, it’s these little arcs that really make Chuck worth watching: not the strange guest-star exes, but the emotional back-and-forth and constant tension that evident are even in the titles of all the episodes. The family and friends side of things provided some comic relief, but also helped play up Chuck’s dismay both at having to resume his cover relationship and at having to hide it from Ellie, Awesome, and poor naked Morgan.

Even the spy stuff felt very real, or at least like it had real consequences. The ambush car crash was very Alias, and the beautiful Fulcum agent’s decision to kill herself was darker than this show usually is.

Random Bits of Neatness:

• Adam Baldwin’s cynical comments were almost gumshoe/noir—he even called Sarah a “good girl.” He’d make a great Phillip Marlowe.

• Sarah cutting the banana in the Orange Orange. There’s nothing wrong with a little phallic symbolism to scare our hero.

• Jeff’s Fatal Attraction bit. Shudder. And I say again: Shudder.

• I’m often amazed by the soundtrack of this show; the song playing in the Standard’s bar was pretty darn cool. If only I had one of the iPhones that could tell me what it was…

And speaking of the Standard (a too-cool-for-you ritzy hotspot hotel in West Hollywood), did some of those lines, particularly the one about the Jacuzzi tub, feel like an advertisement?

I’m really excited to watch next week’s episode—I hope the MI-6 agent doesn’t turn out to be inherently evil or something, because romantic tension is a good thing.

Four out of four quadrangles (you thought I’d go for James Bond in the rating, didn’t you?).

All of my Chuck reviews are archived here.
(Season 2, episode 15)

Heroes: Exposed


Claire: "You were incredible."
Sandra: "It's nice to know I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

I've been so discouraged and disappointed with Heroes lately that I was surprised that I didn't hate this one. But I didn't love it. And the ending, with Matt and the dynamite, made me sigh again. So Matt is going to be forced to blow up Washington? I'm really tired now.

Lots of Sandra. I like Sandra a lot, don't get me wrong. It's nice to see her out from under Noah's shadow and the Haitian's mind control. But she was practically a superwoman, except without a superpower. Forging an ID. Stashing secret guns. Hideouts in the wall. As Sandra kept doing one incredible thing after another, I kept thinking about Candice and wondering if something was up; I was waiting for the shoe to drop. And it didn't.

Matt and Peter as the mind control frontal assault tag team was fun. But it lacked ... I don't know, something. Coherence. Good writing. Anything resembling feasibility, maybe. It was odd that "Rebel" helped them find Daphne, but not Tracy and Mohinder. At least Danko did exactly as expected; he took over and got deadly (President Worf's orders, I assume) while Nathan flailed around and got ignored. And rescued Peter *again*. While still trying to convince himself that he was doing the right thing by wanting to imprison him. *sigh*

Sylar, still on his voyage of discovery, found a pretty heavy memory he had suppressed. He now remembers his father selling him to someone, and killing his mother in an oddly familiar way. I can hear myself saying "I like Sylar, don't get me wrong..." but I feel like we've been watching Sylar search for his past forever; it's completely disconnected from the D.C. plot and I'm not sure why we're seeing this. Will Sylar kill his own evil father (Darth Sylar) and turn into a good guy? Is it wrong of me to want Sylar really evil again? At least Sylar cut Luke loose without killing him, which was sort of nice. Not that Luke the nasty human microwave is any benefit to humanity.

(I have to say again that with all the people, guest stars and cast, who were supposed to be relatives of Sylar, Alex is the first one who actually *looks* like him. If Alex isn't Sylar's secret little brother, they're wasting a set of perfectly good eyebrows.)

Cliffhanger with Puppet Guy in the Bennett house. That's okay, Sandra can take him down, no problem.

Bits and pieces:

-- "Rebel" is Hannah Gittelman, right? I can't believe I didn't think of that before. I bet all of you thought of that several episodes ago.

-- I saw the underwater mouth to mouth coming, but it was still cute, anyway.

-- Frankly, my favorite part of the episode was Mister Muggles stalking the sandwich under Claire's bed.

I have fallen out of love with this series and I'm worried that I'm not being fair. Am I giving it too little credit?

Billie

All of my Heroes reviews are here.

Dollhouse: Stage Fright


Echo: "Hey, you wanted to die. This would be a 'careful what you wish for' moment."

Eliza Dushku can sing. Maybe she'll be available for part two of Dr. Horrible, when Joss Whedon gets around to it.

Terminator: Some Must Watch, While Some Must Sleep


This is the kind of episode that keeps you guessing the first time through, and provides some interesting insights on a second viewing. On initial watch, I spent the whole episode trying to figure out which scenario was reality and which was the dream. Both scenarios had elements that made them seem real, but each also had elements that made them seem like they could be in Sarah’s head. Right up until the very end, I thought we’d learn the whole episode was in her head and that something else entirely was going on.

Overall, I like where they went with it. The events with Winston have much more significance for Sarah as reality, plus we got a little more information about Skynet’s operation. Likewise, the dream sequence at the sleep clinic gave us an interesting look at the various fears that are apparently keeping Sarah up at night.

The whole episode was chock full of references to Sarah dying or her willingness to die for John. She repeatedly said she’d die to protect John, and Winston even said, “Hell, it’s what she wants,” before he attempted to kill her. There were also several references to how dying won’t help. Sarah’s roommate, Dana, said about her dreams, “I’ve died a thousand times. It doesn’t get any easier,” and the clinic nurse (who looked more like doctor to me) said “I’m sure you’d like that. To die. It’s never that easy.”

In the end, both the dream and reality were all about Sarah coming to terms with the fact that her willingness to die for John isn’t enough. Dying is too easy and ultimately won’t protect him. To truly defend him, she has to be willing to kill for him, which is what Derek and Cameron have been telling her all along. And now she has. Sarah’s finally become what she’s always appeared to be to the outside world: a bad bitch.

I was glad to have the voiceover monologues back this week. Even though they only appeared at the beginning and the end, they very effectively “chronicled” Sarah’s passage from being a victim of the witching hour demons to becoming one the demons herself. Her initial descriptions of the creatures from the shadowlands said they come when we cannot move, “they lay on us, press on us, and take from us what is most precious.” All of which perfectly fit her experiences with Winston and her nightmare sleep clinic. But by the end, she was the one “sitting on a man’s chest” while he is paralyzed with fear, taking away all he has, even his life.

The sleep clinic sequences provided an interesting glimpse into Sarah’s deepest fears and insecurities. Aside from her issues coping with Winston’s “death” and her concerns about her ability to protect John, Sarah’s chief fears seem to stem from Cameron’s continued presence and her experience with the drone. The repeated scenes showing John and Cameron as extremely “cozy,” as well as some of her discussions with John, point to a fear of becoming useless and being replaced by Cameron. Moreover, the entire notion of the sleep clinic as a Skynet facility to study humans while they are most vulnerable seems connected to a fear of what the machines may have done to her when the drone “scanned” her after she was shot. Since we still have no real idea what the drone may have done to her or how she got to the hospital afterward, this fear seems pretty valid to me.

I suspect the sleep clinic hallucination was based, at least in part, on an actual visit to a sleep clinic. In her first phone call with John, he said “I was hoping you were asleep” even though she clearly wasn’t at home, and she said “It didn’t take,” which is the same thing she later said to her nurse/doctor about therapy. So maybe she gave the sleep clinic a cursory try, decided it wasn’t working before really giving it a chance, checked herself out, and went back to hunting the machines. So when she got captured and drugged by Winston, it was fresh in her mind, forming the basis of her nightmare.

Other thoughts:

Sarah’s escape and fight with Winston were truly cringe-worthy. I thought her graphically biting her wrist and breaking her hand to escape the cuffs was one of the nastiest things I’d seen since the Season 1 resurrection of Cromartie. Then she jabbed the needle in Winston’s eye. Ack.

Dana’s dreams about burning alive seemed like a nod to T2 Sarah’s dreams about Judgment Day, in which she gets annihilated at the playground. She’s died a thousand times, too.

Winston was probably just parroting Skynet propaganda when he said the enemy was like a weed and you have to kill the root to truly destroy it, but I think Sarah should take it to heart and turn it back on them.

I was glad that Cameron got a few moments this week to ponder the nature of dreams. Too bad it turned out to only be in Sarah’s head.

Final rating: 4 out of 5. Even though it took me most of the episode to sort out what was really going on, the end sequence and what it likely means for Sarah going forward was well worth it. Plus, the episode is pretty intriguing the second time through.

Also, I wanted to give everyone a quick heads up that I will be on vacation this week, so I may not get to see the 3/6 episode and post a review until later next week. I will do my best to get the review up before the 3/13 episode.

Battlestar Galactica: Someone to Watch Over Me


Piano Guy: "Just because you don't know your direction doesn't mean you don't have one."

Seems like forever since we had an episode about Starbuck. This was a really good one. And it may very well have given us one of the Big Answers.