Wrath of the Titans
Community: Digital Exploration of Interior Design
Community has a habit of revisiting ideas from previous episodes and expanding upon them in more bizarre and inventive ways. Last season they gave us a second paintball war in 'A Fistful of Paintballs/For a Few Paintballs More' and remixed Spaghetti Westerns with Star Wars. And early this season they took another stab at documentaries with 'Documentary Filmmaking: Redux'. Now comes 'Digital Exploration of Interior Design', which takes the blanket fort idea from 'Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design' and takes it a whole lot further. This time around we had a blanket fort and an exceptionally well designed pillow fort, which is way different so no one can be accused of repeating themselves.
The Secret Circle: Sacrifice
As The Secret Circle starts to fight its way to the finish line, it’s taking a lot to get the over arcing stories off the ground. Notwithstanding a few meagre plot devices, I think that fact that the show has finally found its feet with regards the bigger picture could mean that we’re about to enter the all-important make-or-break zone. Succeed, and we could be looking at a long-running drama that could easily run The Vampire Diaries off track, fail and it’ll join the likes of Point Pleasant and Tru Calling in the “sc-fi’s that had so much freaking potential” graveyard.
Game of Thrones Is Coming (Part II)
If the first clip from the upcoming Season Two premiere of Game of Thrones didn't strike your fancy, perhaps something a bit more scathing will do the trick. Click on for some patented Tyrion insults as we countdown to the most exciting thing to happen on a Sunday in April since the invention of Cadbury Creme Eggs.
I'm going to rate that a 10 creamy, chocolaty eggs out of 10. And now I'm picturing dragons popping out of my favorite seasonal candy, and I'm a little grossed out.
Fringe: Nothing As It Seems
“It is either a miracle, or an accident.”The Fringe showrunners have said that this season is a love letter to the show, and this episode’s extended callback to Season One’s “The Transformation” didn’t just revamp an old story, but complicated it, and extended it. It also shows just how far this show has come in terms of both individual scenes and larger ideas: “The Transformation” was a weak episode of a show that was finding its footing. “Nothing As It Seems” is a strong episode that plays on many, if not all, of a mature show’s strengths, including a delightful willingness to mix humor and pathos.
Awake: Oregon
“How can it be worse than not moving?”“Maybe you go backwards.”
Awake continued to settle comfortably into its procedural overcoat this week, offering a standard psycho killer + driven FBI agent + wrongly accused cop plot that, once again, equaled more than the sum of its parts, in part due to the astonishing amount of symbolic doubling that occurred throughout the episode.
Justified: Measures
"Theo Tonin sent a couple of guys down here to take out the trash."This was an oddly amusing episode, considering it basically consisted of different factions of nasty thugs running around threatening people and featured a gruesome murder with a katana, which is not something you see every day. The clever dialogue on this show just spoils me for other shows. Although I'll readily admit that I'm not as blown away by this season's mess as I was by the Bennett crime family last year, I have yet to be bored.
Game of Thrones Is Coming (Part I)
Game of Thrones returns on Sunday night for a second season that promises even more conspiracy, more blood, and more death. And (drumroll, please) dragons. If you think you can't wait the 54 hours that remain until the premiere (as of this posting), you might enjoy this clip of "The North Remembers." And more clips are coming!
On a scale of dragons--with 10 dragons being the most excited and 1 dragon the least--how excited are you?
Vampire Diaries: The Murder of One
“You beat him by being better than him.”After a weak entry last week, VD came back at full throttle this week as numerous threads tied together—and ultimately got nipped in the bud. (I mix metaphors with wild abandon. Wanna make something of it?) Our band of heroes has been attacked from all sides recently, but this episode, among other things, was a chance for most of them to come together for a common purpose.
Being Human: The War Child
Annie: “Hal isn’t a living thing.”It’s official: Being Human has been renewed for a fifth season. Despite a slight dip in ratings (compared with season three), fans appear to have taken to the new line-up like a duck to l'orange. Season five will be a shorter season – six episodes instead of eight – but that may not be such a handicap. In the past, extra minutes have translated into filler. Thankfully, tonight's episode was mostly useful, and saw the departure of Annie, our last surviving original character. Can a show survive with none of its original cast members? If this season's proved anything (apart from disco's not dead), the answer is probably yes.
Mad Men: A Little Kiss
"The torture's over, let the fun begin."Mad Men remains one of those rare series that exists within its own impenetrable bubble of mystery. Despite being off the air for nearly two years, only mere tidbits were revealed prior to its return, meaning half the fun of its season premiere is working out how far the show has jumped forward in time, as well as seeing how the lives of each character have been shaken up during the interim -- Pete's stock has grown, but his respect remains stagnant; Roger's problems have only gotten worse; while I don't think there's any more jarring image than the sight of Joan struggling to push her baby-stroller through the glass doors of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce...
Ringer: Let's Kill Bridget
"Don't be so Welsh. You can say you got shot -- it'll give you street cred."Part of the problem with a show that roots its foundation in fake-outs is that you end up spending most of your time trying to spot the fake-out before it arrives. Throughout it's nineteen episodes, Ringer has gone out of its way to set up shock cliffhangers, before pulling back and revealing a frequently annoying sleight of hand. But it's become so routine that any effect they once had has rapidly vanished. "Let's Kill Bridget" opened with three separate cliffhangers. We saw Andrew making out with Catherine, Henry being interrogated by the police, and Bridget (or is it Siobhan?) lying dead on the ground with a bullet in her chest. Maybe ten episodes ago we would still see all this and be mightily intrigued, but at this point you just wait for the inevitable truth to come flying at you.
Castle: 47 Seconds
“To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.” Abraham Lincoln
Community: Contemporary Impressionists
While last week's episode tried to spread the love around and give everyone a plotline, this episode wisely kept the focus on Abed and Jeff, the problems they were not dealing with and Tory and Britta's efforts to look out for their friends. This left Annie and Shirley drifting in the background, while Pierce and Chang were given things that maybe could be considered sub-plots.
Breaking Bad: 4 Days Out
"Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby?"And the moral of the story is, never ask Jesse to put your keys in a safe place. Well, and never go into the desert to do something illegal without a second car. No, wait. The real lesson is that when your honey wants you to go have fun during the weekend, you go.
Once Upon a Time: Hat Trick
“It’s hard enough to live in a land where you don’t belong, but knowing it, holding conflicting realities in your head, will drive you mad.”If ‘Heart of Darkness’ drew the battle lines, then ‘Hat Trick’ erased them and then drew them again, except bigger, and broader than they ever were before. An already fascinating world, still rife with unexplored territory, was expanded and characters and their places in the series were called into question.
Fringe: A Short Story About Love
“It’s every human being’s right to know love.” Alan Carr locked his victims in what appeared to be an iron lung crossed with a ricer in order to distill their pheromones and experience the love of his victims’ partners for a few brief moments. While his deeds were despicable, it was impossible not to sympathize with him and his silent, conversation-less existence: he rarely spoke and was rarely spoken to. He was quietly, desperately, lonely.
The Hunger Games
Incredibly faithful adaptations are a mixed blessing, especially if it's from a book that you've read and loved. For me I tend to tick off a checklist of my favorite moments; what did they get right, what did they get wrong, and so forth. With The Hunger Games, it became such a problem for me to try and figure out how I felt that I had to see it a second time. Thankfully, the second time around I got a much better grasp on my opinion.
Supernatural: The Born-Again Identity
A little riding around in an old car, a little smiting here and there, and it all comes back to you.
Doux News: March 25, 2012
This week: Jenna who? -- Renewal and cancellation rumors -- Josie made me post this -- Baby news -- The Sherlock rip-off -- New at Doux
Awake: Kate is Enough
“Something must have really turned her around.”This week, Awake presented us with one likely possibility for what’s going on, and one mythological long shot. Kate’s radically different fates in both worlds seems to confirm that one of these realities is a dream, since her paths diverged before the accident that claimed Rex’s and/or Hannah’s life/lives. On the other hand, we could argue that this means there are two universes that exist regardless of Britten’s personal experience, and Britten just happens to exist in both of them, perhaps because his double died in the accident that didn’t kill him.
Vampire Diaries: Break on Through
“Something to keep the killer in you at bay.”“Break on Through” focused on three separate storylines, none of which I’m in love with. In fact, this episode—for the first time in my VD-watching history—felt long. Right up until the last few minutes, that is, when the emotions really got going. VD hasn’t lost its touch. Right? And my favorite characters are all going to be okay? Rainbows, unicorns, and blood frenzies?
The Secret Circle: Curse
This episode was clearly the show’s attempt at putting an end to the never-ending chit-chat about prophesised events, and actually exploring them, and in some cases changing their meaning completely. As a single entity, the episode was definitely one of the more successful ones, but the implications that some of this week's events could have on the series makes me wonder where The Secret Circle is actually heading.
Justified: Guy Walks Into a Bar
"This is the nature of Harlan County politics."Well, Neal McDonough certainly earned his acting salary this week.
Ringer: That Woman's Never Been a Victim Her Entire Life
"I think you're a liar and a sociopath."After staggering plotlines far longer than what is reasonably sane, Ringer seems to be burning through the lingering story arcs in time for its approaching finale. As a result, there's a definite sense of forward momentum that pulses through this episode. Just like the pushing of financial hooey a couple of weeks back and the repetition of one-sided phone calls in... every damn episode, there was a definite over-reliance tonight on characters vanishing without a trace, but the show did a neat job of tying together the frequently scattered ensemble cast, all of whom interacted with each other in at least some capacity this week.
Community: Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts
And we're back.
Missing: Pilot
That had to have been one of the most entertaining yet horribly written pilots I've seen in my life. So many things just felt off about this hour and yet, I couldn’t stop watching. And hey, I didn’t check my watch once so there’s definitely something here.
Newsflash: Jenna-Louise Coleman Cast as the Doctor's New Companion
Not about the casting, I was completely in the dark about that. But I knew Moffat was trolling us with all this Sophia Myles nonsense. Bad Moffat!
Today it was announced that 25-year-old actress Jenna-Louise Coleman will be replacing Karen Gillan (and Arthur Darvill) as the Doctor's new companion in Season 7. Coleman is best known for playing lesbian Jasmine Thomas in British soap Emmerdale (a fact The Sun was very prompt to point out). Her other Waterloo Road, a minor role in Captain America: The First Avengers and Julian Fellow's upcoming Titanic mini-series.
More details about Coleman's casting, and a few potential spoilers for Season 7, can be found here.
Are you excited by this news? Disappointed that it's not Myles? Or furious that you let Moffat trick you again?
Being Human: Making History
Cutler: “Softly softly, massacre monkey.”It seems strange that after six weeks of theorising over Cutler’s plans and motivations, it all comes down to Hal. Since 1950, he's been a malign influence in Cutler's life. (Despite being presumed dead for most of it.) In fact, this whole season’s been about Cutler trying to live up to his sire’s expectations. As well as conditional immortality, he wants historic immortality too. He wants statues erected in his honour. He wants Brazil. He wants the world to know that the defeat and mass conversion of humankind was all his idea. In short, he's disappeared up his own megalomaniacal arse -- and it's all Hal's fault.
Revenge: Scandal
"When you stare ahead and darkness is all you see, only reason and determination can pull you back from the abyss."Quite the effective hour. It's funny but it truly feels like I've been watching Revenge for years (and I sure hope it goes on for a while) because the writers have crafted a fascinating web of deceit and intrigue. While this episode wasn’t exactly mind-blowing, it was another strong offering from a show that’s been quite impressive all season long.
Lost Girl: Lachlan's Gambit
Bo: "I really gotta do this, don't I? This is on me, isn't it?"Kenzi: "Yes, it is. But we have all got your back Bo. From a very, very safe distance."
After last week's excellent episode, this one felt a little disjointed. Perhaps it is because all the events didn't start in this episode, and none of them ended, either. That's a problem inherent in bridge stories, and it takes a real depth of skill to overcome that obstacle. Which is sort of unfortunate, because we lost two big characters in this episode. And neither of their deaths had the impact they should have had.
The Walking Dead: Beside the Dying Fire
Hershel: “It’s my farm.”Rick: “Not anymore.”
Nothing like a huge herd of zombies to make you give up on your property rights.
Once Upon a Time: Heart of Darkness
“Evil isn’t born, it’s made.”What’s the opposite of directionless? The EP’s recently made allusions to ‘Heart of Darkness’ being the pivotal turning point of the season, the episode where things really start to pick up steam, and it seems they lived up to their promise. ‘Heart of Darkness’ was all about evil, and how it’s a path that’s decided upon, not one that you fall on to, but it was the switch-up of power that made this episode the fundamental phase in Once Upon a Time’s story that it was.
Doux News: March 18, 2012
This week: Doctor Who and the possible new companion -- Renewals and cancellations again -- Last week's poll and this week's classiest actor -- Other casting news -- John Carter again -- New at Doux and comment of the week
Supernatural: Out With the Old
"I'm pas de done."Was this a Supernatural all you can eat buffet? Not that it wasn't good, because I definitely enjoyed the entire episode. But it was several pieces instead of a cohesive whole.
Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
[Although I don't reveal whodunit, this review contains many spoilers.]"Like the flashbacks on Lost, Eric's Viking memories had broken into the flow of the current story."
Awake: Guilty
“I love you, and that’s what I’m going to hold onto until I see you again.”Three episodes in, Awake has pulled off a delightful episode that combines the emotional weightiness of the pilot and a more effective detective story than we’ve seen with some fascinating, subtle clues about what is—and what is not—happening to Michael Britten.
The Secret Circle: Lucky
This episode was a little strange. One could argue that it got basically nowhere, and pretty much everything that happened had very little impact, but as far as I’m concerned this was all about set-up. From the bubbling love triangle, to Cassie’s struggle with her dark side, it all seemed to promise that the journey was about to reach a major turning point, but how soon that point will arrive remains to be seen.
Vampire Diaries: 1912
“...or as I like to call it, last time Mystic Falls had a serial killer on its hands.”They might as well have called this episode “Hard Truths,” or “Sudden Surprises!” or “See? This is What Happens When Klaus Finally Leaves Us Alone. Happy Now?” It was an uncomfortable episode, in other words. Distressing, in terms of what’s going on with some of my favorite characters. And upsetting, in terms of what this means for the show’s long-term plans.
Awake: The Little Guy
After an extremely strong start, Awake — weirdly enough — didn’t have many expectations to live up to. As Jess said, it was so lovely, and yet the mythology was so apparently untenable, that we can be grateful for what we got. We all agreed it was wonderful, but very few of us seemed to be expecting much. (Finally, we have learned that the path to general contentness is littered with dead expectations.) Justified: Loose Ends
"Are you trying to cut a deal with me while I'm standing on a land mine?"A land mine in a garage and a political debate. Explosive and fun.
Star Trek: Wink of an Eye
"I found it... an accelerating experience."I've always rather liked this one, for a couple of reasons.
Ringer: What We Have Is Worth the Pain
"Do what the guy from Hot Tub Time Machine did in that old movie. Stand outside her hotel with a radio over your head and tell the world that you want a second chance."I don't know if Ringer's quest to pull from continuity is really such a good thing. It's great in theory, finally confirming that the writers seem to know where the story is going and that they've been planning all of this for months -- but in execution you get a ton of awkward flashback scenes to episodes as far back as the pilot. It's the show stumbling into that strange contradiction where things are horribly sign-posted while simultaneously convoluted. Generally, this episode was mighty convoluted, opening with inauspicious exchanges about flash-drives and CEO crookery, before becoming sort of entertaining. In the midst of all this were enough personality changes to generate concerns for schizophrenia, but somehow it all washed over me.
Being Human: Puppy Love
Emrys: “When your time comes, remember: it might not be a good thing you have to do.”Now there’s a tantalising piece of dialogue. Whether we’re supposed to interpret it as a piece of general advice, or as a portent of things to come, I’m not altogether sure. Annie offing Kirby two weeks ago does seem to have changed her attitude towards killing. But didn’t Annie get rid of her unfinished business when she solved her own death back in season one? I was under the impression her continued existence on earth was more to do with free choice than it was her being stuck here. I hope this isn't a hint Annie will be leaving the show at the end of the season.
Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks
I don't often say this, but don't bother watching 'Death to the Daleks'. I mean it, don't bother. Just skip past this one. There's nothing here you haven't seen done a hundred times before.
The Walking Dead: Better Angels
Rick: “That kind of honesty is rare and brave.”This episode was jam-packed but oddly unnerving for me. Finally, it seems that some of the group wakes up and gets down to business. It seems that Shane was right. They were all still living in la la land. Unfortunately, Shane has been staring reality in the face for a while and it has driven him mad.
Once Upon a Time: Red-Handed
“What kind of monster is this?”Visually impressive, but ultimately useless, ‘Red-Handed’'s message of finding your true purpose ended up making no real sense at all, though the strangely appealing mystery captivated me a lot more than any of Ruby’s personal struggles. It boasted a significant change in tone after our trip to Happyville last week, but as a chapter of a bigger story, it’s a little disposable.
Breaking Bad: Better Call Saul
"Conscience gets expensive, doesn't it?"Walt and Jesse acquire a lawyer in a very Breaking Bad sort of way. That is, unintentionally, and with a lot of comic relief.
Lost Girl: Truth and Consequences
Wow, that was an intense episode. It might have been the best episode of the series, but because the tone was so different I don't know if I should give it that honor. Lost Girl didn't do that well wrapping up their arc last season. The stuff with Bo's mom felt a little silly, which was a shame considering how well they built it up. This season's Garuda plot seems to be shaping up to be far better. With only a few episodes left in the season, I can't wait to find out what happens next.
Doux News: March 11, 2012
This week: Happy birthday, Buffy! -- Justified, Community, Terra Nova -- But what about Torchwood? -- Great casting news -- Poll stuff -- Readers of the Week -- New at Doux
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