Vampire Diaries: The Descent

“You’re my existential crisis.”

This is what I said in my last review: “I like Rose, and I like her vampires-with-benefits relationship with Damon. But to kill off a character whose departure I’d thought was already a foregone conclusion doesn’t seem like the riskiest writerly choice. Will her death send Damon on a mission of werewolf vengeance? That could be neat.” Now that I’ve seen how deeply Rose’s death affected Damon, I feel like a heartless bitch.

Chuck: Chuck versus the Gobbler

“I love a good suicide mission.”

I’ve written elsewhere about how little I like the proleptic cold open in which we see the inexplicable—Dark Sarah beating up Casey!—and then rewind to find out how on God’s green and verdant earth such a thing could have happened. It’s a device designed to ratchet up the tension, which often means that the plot, in chronological order, wouldn’t be too scintillating without some narrative trickery. And, indeed, this week’s entry felt blah, and I didn’t laugh once.

Being Human: Lia

Annie: “You saved me.”
Mitchell: “You saved me, too.”

A solid season opener. Apart from the gang moving to Barry Island (what’s occurin’?), it was pretty much business as usual. Annie’s still in purgatory, Mitchell's still a brooding hunk of... whatever, and George and Nina are still in love. Tonight they even ended up doing it doggie-style during their time of the month. Nasty! But Being Human does seem to have rediscovered its mojo. After the comparative darkness of season two, tonight's episode felt like a return to form. After the relative success of Being Human US, I'd forgotten how good this show can be.

Being Human: There Goes the Neighborhood, Part 2

Josh: "What's the point of any of this? Of playing house, of drinking beers, of joining Costco, if you're just going to kill all of our friends?"

Much of this one was a rehash of BH/UK. I want new stuff, but it's probably too soon. At least the house isn't pink. I rather like the house. And I love Sam Witwer and Mark Pellegrino. I rather like Sam Huntington. Not sure about Meghan Rath.

Star Trek: The Deadly Years

Kirk: "Tell me. Am I getting old?"

This episode was innovative when it first aired, and fortunately, it has aged well. (Pun very much intended.) The extreme make-up effects still work, and the cast did a fine job turning into grumpy old men.

Buffy Season Eight: Last Gleaming, Part 5

[This is the final issue of Buffy Season Eight.]

Faith: "You're the only slayer. You always were."

Synopsis:

San Francisco. Buffy is waitressing at the "Pick Me Up," a coffee/book place. A customer trips her, but she manages to maintain the tray of hot stuff upright and serve the customers anyway -- with her foot. The customer is a former slayer who hates Buffy.

Fringe: The Firefly

Roscoe: “Are you sure you don’t know what I’m supposed to do for you?”
Walter: “No idea.”

What a delightful episode. I had been a bit worried that Fringe would start to lose its shine now that Bolivia is back in her Bearth. (See what I did there?) But this episode managed to neatly balance on the fine line between mystery of the week and high-powered mythology.

Buffy Season Eight: Last Gleaming, Part 4

Xander: "Giles, I'm all for rash acts of nobility-- but you can't get between those two."

Synopsis:

Willow is chanting a spell to protect the Seed, which I want to call the Big Red Egg because that's what it looks like. Buffy and Angel are fighting, and Spike vamps out and attacks Angel. Angel grabs Spike and takes up into the air; it's still daylight, and Spike begins to burn. Buffy arrives and knocks them apart. Spike is either sucked into the sphere ship, or Buffy deliberately tossed him there, or both.

Buffy Season Eight: Last Gleaming, Part 3

Buffy: "It's not enough to side with our original big bad -- now we're working for him."

Synopsis:

Angel is fighting the Phoenix-like Higher Being Twilight whatever. It complains that Angel abandoned It, and that its mother, Buffy, abandoned It, too. It wants Angel to bring It the Seed, its soul. (Aha, says Billie.) The demons and monsters pouring in are a bit premature; they're anticipating the removal of the Seed.

Chuck: Chuck versus the Balcony

“It’s time to come clean.”

A good TV show, just like a good public speech, a good book, a good poem, should create audience desire. We, as the audience, should be guided into knowing what to hope for—do we want the main character to be happy, or sad? Do we want the couple to stay a couple, or break up? Should the bad guy die, or be redeemed? A strong show creates these tensions for us by effectively creating characters we can actively love or hate, arcs that have pep, sub-plots that keep us interested.

Being Human: There Goes the Neighborhood, Part 1

Josh: "We'll have full moon parties. We'll invite the neighbors over and eat them."

I've been feeling torn by the advent of the new Being Human. I love the UK original (hereafter referred to as BH/UK). It's unique and wonderful and we're reviewing it. Reboots of good stuff usually suck, and I was totally prepared to hate this new version. But – surprise – I don't. It's good.

Being Human (Syfy)

Being Human, the North American Syfy Channel version, ran for four seasons (2011-2014); I reviewed only four episodes of season one (links below). If you prefer the original British version of Being Human, I have good news: Paul Kelly reviewed all five seasons.

1.1 There Goes the Neighborhood, Part 1
1.2 There Goes the Neighborhood, Part 2
1.3 I Want You Back (From the Dead)
1.4 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Me Killing You

Being Human renewed

Buffy Season Eight: Last Gleaming, Part 2

Spike: "So what do you say, luv... fancy a bit of exposition?"

Synopsis:

In his stateroom on the sphere ship, Spike fills Buffy in on the Seed of Wonder, which is the source of all the magic in the world. It has been in Sunnydale since before humans and before The First. The world was overrun with demons and horrors, a spillover from another dimension. The Seed kept the demons/monsters from seeping back into the old dimension. The Seed is like a key. (I'm getting Dawn flashbacks.) Or maybe it's a cork. (And now I'm getting Lost flashbacks.)

Buffy Season Eight: Last Gleaming, Part 1

Buffy: "The last time I saw Spike, he died saving me and my people."
Angel: "He told me like four thousand times."

Synopsis:

Angel flies through a dimensional rift and lands on an O in the Hollywood sign. He looks out over L.A. and expects to see ruins, but no -- everything appears to be normal. (If you can call L.A. normal.)

Being Human: Bad Moon Rising

George: “You shouldn't have gone for Mitchell. It got my -- attention.”

Everyone came of age tonight. Mitchell took responsibility for his past sins and agreed to a fight he could never win; Annie turned down death and developed some gnarly new powers; and George fooled us into thinking he was running away -- only to confront Herrick alone, and save Mitchell and Annie. Like we ever believed he'd desert them.

Billie's Ten Rules of Television

Many moons ago, I mentioned off-hand that something was one of my "television rules." I didn't really have a list of rules, but it sounded good. Awhile later, I did it again. And then a third time. And then I decided maybe I'd better keep track of the rules, and if I ever had ten, I'd post them. And then I had ten, and kept forgetting to post them. (This article is quickly turning into "Ten reasons why Billie procrastinates.")

Buffy Season Eight: Twilight, Part 4

Buffy: "And I wanna just make sure we're not somehow standing here in my mind, or in some dream where I'm the snowglobe at the end of St. Elsewhere."

Synopsis:

Buffy and Angel are in a beautiful Eden-like but alienish landscape. Buffy is expecting the worst, that the orcs will come over the mountain at any time, but no. Their toga clothes change to something exotic. A gorgeous sun is going down. The world they're in is called 'Twilight'.

Being Human: Where the Wild Things Are

Annie: “Owen's won. I can't touch him. He just keeps killing me.”

Disillusioned with mankind, Mitchell almost went over to the dark side tonight. Convinced that Herrick's plan of voluntary recruitment could work, he returned to the fold -- only to find he didn't belong there any more. Despite past indiscretions, Mitchell's no monster. Unlike Herrick. His secret stash of humans was the final straw for Mitchell. The façade finally crumbled. Just in time for the cavalry of gay ninjas to arrive.

Buffy Season Eight: Twilight, Part 3

Xander: "And that's the universe's grand plan? Giving Buffy super-powers so she can have destiny sex?"

Synopsis:

Willow teleports the gang to Twilight's HQ, where they reunite with Giles, Andrew, and a bloodied Faith, who is magically healed from her injuries in her fight with Angel.

Buffy Season Eight: Twilight, Part 2

Twilight: "This isn't just another fistfight, Buffy. This is history."

Synopsis:

And we're still in Tibet. Xander is trying to make Buffy feel better with snacks, encouragement and logic. Buffy feels that since she's sucked the power from all those dead slayers, it makes her a vampire. (Gee, foreshadow the next few scenes much?) Xander gives her Pa Kent's encouragement speech from Superman I. Willow remotes in as a big giant head and says they're losing time.

Star Trek: Friday's Child

McCoy: "Say to yourself, 'The child is mine. The child is mine. It is mine'."
Eleen: "Yes. It's yours."

I've always been fond of this one. But I don't think I ever really thought much about what was going on with the plot. It's basically a morality tale about survival of the fittest versus an advanced society's compassion for its weakest members.

Buffy Season Eight: Twilight, Part 1

Dawn: "See, the Monkey's Paw is starting! Just like I said!"

Synopsis:

Buffy and Xander are in the woods (still in Tibet) testing out exactly what superpowers Buffy has. Buffy runs faster than a speeding bullet, lifts a locomotive, and leaps over a tall Tibetan monastery in a single bound (carrying Xander). They try mind reading (no), x-ray vision (no), and heat vision (no).

Gleeful Moments of 2010

It’s 2011... how did that happen? I feel as if 2010 went by in the blink of an eye, perhaps because I was distracted by the awesome TV we were treated to throughout the year. For now I’m going to focus just on Glee, because my love for it fills its own 'best of' list.

Josie's Best of 2010

2010 was a year in which I thought, perhaps too much, about television. As the heady rush of Lost’s final days turned into the mock scavenger hunt of Persons Unknown, I started to have a serious crisis of faith in my second-favorite medium. The best shows were long over, or the best parts of very good shows were coming to completion. A show I thought was genre-changing (yes, Lost) wound up being merely good, a come-down that left me bemused at best.