Lost: The Variable

Sawyer: "Is he still crazy?"
Miles: "It's on a whole new level, man."

I have to say that I'm just floored. That Eloise. What a bitch.

Fringe: Midnight

“Alone in a darkened room.”
“I wanna tear you apart.”

We’ve only got two episodes left of this, our first season in the Fringe Division. Some major answers seem to be coming, and many of them appear to revolve around William Bell and the role of Massive Dynamics in the experimentations on human beings. Could it all be as simple as figuring out that William Bell is a bad guy? And how does that relate to our Theme of the Week, redemption?

Caprica: Pilot

I should tell you that I was hesitant about reviewing Caprica because of my disappointment of the final years of Battlestar Galactica. However, I have always been fascinated by history and this seemed like a window into Ron Moore’s vision of what life on the Twelve Colonies was all about.

Heroes: An Invisible Thread

Hiro: "Payback is very bitchy."

They didn't go flashy; they went smart. What an interesting choice for a season finale. Not that it wasn't cool, because it was. The second half in particular.

Chuck: Chuck versus the Ring

“The BuyMore is no more.”

It’s pretty much impossible—even if you live spoiler-clean—to avoid going into a season finale with certain expectations. All of us here on billiedoux.com seemed more apprehensive than anything else: how, with the sense of loose ends tied and threads snipped, could we get anything other than the series finale we’re all fearing?

The promos for the season finale made me expect an entirely wedding-centric episode, with a largish gun battle at the end, the victory of good over evil, and Sarah and Chuck walking happily into the sunset. Maybe Casey could even meet a special honey at the reception. Given Chuck’s ambiguous fate, I assumed the Powers that Be would wrap things up and, if necessary, reboot next fall.

I was dead wrong. (And please, don’t read the rest of this review until you’ve watched the episode.)

Summer reviewing plans, part one (2009)

The finales are coming. The summer television wasteland will be here before you know it.

Summer has always been my time to regroup and let my brain air out while I catch up on retro reviews. But this summer, it'll be different. It won't be just me. This summer, I have (let me pause while I rub my hands together and cackle) GUEST WRITERS. Mwa-ha-ha-ha.

Dollhouse: Haunted

Boyd: "So we can give you life after death."
Topher: "Only if we really like you."

The preview for this episode turned me off. Just a murder mystery with a twist, I thought. So I wasn't expecting it to be so good. Stories like this one are what I was originally hoping Dollhouse could be.

Supernatural: Jump the Shark

"He's a Winchester. He's already cursed."

Creepy. Nightmare-inducing. Also tragic.

Smallville: Stiletto

Lois: "Next time, I call myself Nike."

Fun, frothy episode. A lot of Lois and her superhero jones, which is always good. And some primo Lois and Clark stuff. Yay.

Fringe: Bad Dreams

“Gruesome.”

Cortexiphan, an experimental drug, heightens perception and can possibly allow transportation to a parallel universe. A hyperemotive part-time psychotic with suicidal ideations who is given the drug as a child can therefore cause his emotions to become contagious. A person with whom this Typhoid Mary of the mind had formed a childhood bond could then become part of the moment in which these emotions reach the crisis point, resulting in images of the crisis (murder, suicide, whatever) to be experienced by the bondee. Said person, coincidentally, is our heroine Olivia Dunham.

Heroes: I Am Sylar

Sylar: "Agent Talb is nothing. I don't like being a nothing."

Since Sylar shapeshifts using DNA, he's also acquiring personality traits as well as extra teeth. Not as much fun as Sylar thought it would be, huh? And it's funny how becoming someone else – a lot of someone elses – took Sylar back to who he originally was: his mother's killer. Hey, it always goes back to Mom in the end, doesn't it? Revisiting Virginia Grey the way they did gave her murder the emotional weight it deserved. And Sylar had to acknowledge that killing his mother is where he lost himself.

Chuck: Chuck versus the Colonel

“Do you want to be a loser for the rest of your life?”

So much happened in this episode that I don’t even know where to begin. Chuck and Sara on the run, hunted by Casey. Scott Bakula locked in a room (and who hasn’t dreamt of that?) and trying desperately to communicate with his son. Beautiful and sunny Barstow, which is now just a fireball memory. I keep harping on the sense of finality of these past few mythos-heavy episodes, but I don’t think I’m over-analyzing. In just 45 minutes, everything ended. And many other things began.

Plagiarism for fun and, well, not profit

I've been plagiarized.

"GotalSaiyajin" on TV.com has been stealing my reviews of numerous shows: Lost, Alias, Buffy, Angel, Battlestar Galactica, Dexter, Highlander. Since he's put up a couple of hundred reviews, I haven't even had time to document all of the word thievery. But after some analysis, I can report that he also steals consistently from a reviewer named Samuel Walters at DauntlessMedia. (Why were Sam and I so lucky? Maybe we should be flattered.)

Here is the plagiarist. His profile, which he took down after I started complaining about him a few days ago, said that he's a dental student from Romania. (As I said in my most recent Lost review after that filling killed poor Alvarez, I knew dentistry was evil.) (Okay, dentistry isn't evil. Sorry about that.) The plagiarist's latest blog entry says he was upset because he wanted to copy someone's test paper and that person wouldn't let him and wasn't she mean? Clearly, he sees nothing wrong in stealing someone else's work.

http://www.tv.com/users/GotalSaiyajin/profile.php

Because I've been asked to supply details, here's the nitty gritty. And this was only a few selected pages. There are two hundred reviews in there, and obviously, nearly every review was stolen; I could have spent all day documenting this crap. A few of the earliest reviews, poorly written and full of grammatical errors, might be his own work.

If you'd like to keep up with this situation, I plan to post updates at the bottom -- so feel free to skip the nitty and go down to the end.

I'd also like to thank MovieMark for bringing the whole situation to my attention. I never would have known if it weren't for him.

http://www.tv.com/users/GotalSaiyajin/history.php?pg_user_reviews=0

Alias "The Nemesis"

His review:
Lauren is now free to focus on the Lazarey murder, but she can't tell Vaughn she's doing it. Vaughn knows who killed Lazarey, but he's forced to protect Sydney and lie to Lauren. It's having an effect on their marriage already. And Vaughn gave Sydney a lingering look while he was fastening the X-cam necklace. A romantic implosion must be approaching. We can only hope. Allison is alive, and miraculously healed after six months in a Covenant hospital in Marseilles. Is it me, or does she have too much of an attitude now that she's not pretending to be Francie any more? Too bad Sydney didn't kill her.

Two paragraphs from my review, which is much longer:
http://www.billiedoux.com/alias3x6.html
Lauren is now free to focus on the Lazarey murder, but she can't tell Vaughn she's doing it. Vaughn knows who killed Lazarey, but he's forced to protect Sydney and lie to Lauren. It's having an effect on their marriage already. And Vaughn gave Sydney a lingering look while he was fastening the X-cam necklace. A romantic implosion must be approaching. We can only hope.

Allison is alive, and miraculously healed after six months in a Covenant hospital in Marseilles. Is it me, or does she have too much of an attitude now that she's not pretending to be Francie any more? Too bad Sydney didn't kill her.

-------------------------------

http://www.tv.com/users/GotalSaiyajin/history.php?pg_user_reviews=5

Alias "Cypher"

His review:
Irina continued to manipulate away, and I think she's making progress with Sydney. But she certainly isn't getting anywhere with Jack, at least not yet; whatever Irina was trying to sell Jack with that speech about their marriage, he wasn't buying. I was sorta hoping for more fireworks. Ah, well; the season is young. Vaughn and Will finally met, and Will almost instantly picked up on Vaughn's feelings for Sydney. Will seems to be handling the complete obliteration of his former life with humor and aplomb. He's also bunking with Sydney and Francie; that's a situation fraught with possible peril.

Two paragraphs from my review:
http://www.billiedoux.com/alias2x3.html
Irina continued to manipulate away, and I think she's making progress with Sydney. But she certainly isn't getting anywhere with Jack, at least not yet; whatever Irina was trying to sell Jack with that speech about their marriage, he wasn't buying. I was sorta hoping for more fireworks. Ah, well; the season is young.

Vaughn and Will finally met, and Will almost instantly picked up on Vaughn's feelings for Sydney. Will seems to be handling the complete obliteration of his former life with humor and aplomb. He's also bunking with Sydney and Francie; that's a situation fraught with possible peril.

-------------------------------

http://www.tv.com/users/GotalSaiyajin/history.php?pg_user_reviews=10

Now, this page is a multi-show extravaganza of rip-off.

Angel "City of"

His review:
One of the advantages of a spin-off series is that the actors and writers are already comfortable with their characters. Boreanaz really knows his character by now, and it shows. I couldn't help but notice that Angel seemed a lot more comfortable as a dark hero in L.A. than he did as a teenager's love interest in the sticks. He was definitely able to carry the lead role, and I think they're going to let him stay in touch with his inner monster. I've always rather liked Cordelia, too, and I think her shallow materialism and uninhibited narcissism complements Angel's angst and depression very well. Poor Cordy isn't used to failure, and that was rather endearing. I really enjoyed the scene where she figured out in fairly short order that Russell was a vamp. She didn't grow up in Sunnydale for nothing.

Two paragraphs from my review:
http://www.billiedoux.com/angel1x1.html
One of the advantages of a spin-off series is that the actors and writers are already comfortable with their characters. Boreanaz really knows his character by now, and it shows. I couldn't help but notice that Angel seemed a lot more comfortable as a dark hero in L.A. than he did as a teenager's love interest in the sticks. He was definitely able to carry the lead role, and I think they're going to let him stay in touch with his inner monster.

I've always rather liked Cordelia, too, and I think her shallow materialism and uninhibited narcissism complements Angel's angst and depression very well. Poor Cordy isn't used to failure, and that was rather endearing. I really enjoyed the scene where she figured out in fairly short order that Russell was a vamp. She didn't grow up in Sunnydale for nothing.

Battlestar Galactica "Daybreak part 2"

His review:
I completely understand why the Colonials and Cylons chose to do what they did, to break the cycle once and for all. But the more I thought about it, the more it disturbed me. By destroying all of their ships and scattering into small groups around the globe, they chose to completely obliterate their culture. It was like they never existed; only some of their genes remained. Kara Thrace really did lead them to their end. And the ambiguous coda in Times Square suggested that the cycle may very well assert itself here on Earth, today. Roslin saying goodbye to Cottle. Adama giving his stars to Hoshi. Starbuck kissing Anders goodbye, and him guiding the fleet into the Sun. Adama in a viper, leaving Galactica for the last time. Adama and Lee saying goodbye forever. Roslin dying during that lovely Out of Africa moment, and Adama putting his ring on her dead finger. At least she made it to the end of the journey. Adama built that cabin for her, after all.

Two paragraphs from my review:
http://www.billiedoux.com/bsg4x20.html
[bottom]
I completely understand why the Colonials and Cylons chose to do what they did, to break the cycle once and for all. But the more I thought about it, the more it disturbed me. By destroying all of their ships and scattering into small groups around the globe, they chose to completely obliterate their culture. It was like they never existed; only some of their genes remained. Kara Thrace really did lead them to their end. And the ambiguous coda in Times Square suggested that the cycle may very well assert itself here on Earth, today.
[middle]
If you've read any of my reviews, you know I'm a wuss. I got choked up over and over again. Roslin saying goodbye to Cottle. Adama giving his stars to Hoshi. Starbuck kissing Anders goodbye, and him guiding the fleet into the Sun. Adama in a viper, leaving Galactica for the last time. Adama and Lee saying goodbye forever. Roslin dying during that lovely Out of Africa moment, and Adama putting his ring on her dead finger. At least she made it to the end of the journey. Adama built that cabin for her, after all.

The Knight Rider review at the bottom is stolen from Samuel Walters, Dauntlessmedia.net:
http://dauntlessmedia.net/knight-rider/102-journey-to-the-end-of-knight-review.html

-------------------------------

http://www.tv.com/users/GotalSaiyajin/history.php?pg_user_reviews=15

This page has reviews stolen from Samuel Walters, DauntlessMedia. Here are two.

X-Files:
http://dauntlessmedia.net/x-files/season1/179-pilot.html

Lost:
http://dauntlessmedia.net/lost/413-theres-no-place-like-home-parts-2-3.html

-------------------------------

http://www.tv.com/users/GotalSaiyajin/history.php?pg_user_reviews=35


Here, he returns to plagiarizing me -- Lost reviews "Orientation", "Adrift", "Man of Science, Man of Faith." I don't really need to quote paragraphs at this point, do I?

http://www.billiedoux.com/lost2x1.html
http://www.billiedoux.com/lost2x2.html
http://www.billiedoux.com/lost2x3.html

-------------------------------

http://www.tv.com/users/GotalSaiyajin/history.php?pg_user_reviews=45

The first Dexter review is apparently stolen from MovieTome, although I can't access it because I'm not a member. Search a quoted line on Google and see for yourself.

The second Dexter review of "Seeing Red" is two paragraphs of my review.
http://www.billiedoux.com/dexter1x10.html

Personally, I want this Gotal character gone. And I would like to assure him that from here on out, I'll be searching random selections of my reviews online every few weeks to make certain it doesn't happen again.

UPDATES:

So far: A TV.com moderator has assured me that they'll be looking into this situation on Monday.

UPDATE SUNDAY NIGHT: Mr. Serial Plagiarist is obviously reading my blog because he started deleting the reviews I specifically mentioned. And to think he told me that he *couldn't* delete them because his roommate put them up! What a load of hooey. Guess he can tell what's coming. Maybe he doesn't know that even if he deletes them, TV.com still has access to them.

UPDATE MID-DAY MONDAY: I've been checking off and on and I just noticed that *all* of Mr. Serial Plagiarist's reviews are now gone! Yay!

UPDATE MONDAY NIGHT: A TV.com rep has told me that Mr. Serial Plagiarist has gotten a five day suspension. That's it. Five days, and he gets to come back and do it all again. They have rules about progressive moderation, and apparently, stealing 200 reviews isn't enough to get booted. What do you have to do to get booted from TV.com? Stalk someone? Shoot puppies? I personally feel that such excessive plagiarism is more than enough. I also feel that I spent a lot of time on this problem, and as a member of TV.com, I have not been fairly treated.

I was one of the original featured reviewers on TV Tome before it was bought out by TV.com. I've posted reviews here and there since the buy-out just to keep my hand in, and I do get referral hits from TV.com now and then. But I'm very tempted at this point to just close up my tent, remove my reviews, and delete my account.

FINAL UPDATE, TUESDAY NIGHT: I have been told by a TV.com rep that Mr. Serial Plagiarist has been banned from TV.com, after all. I'm pleased that TV.com came through and took this action, and not just because of me. Thinking he can get away with stealing other people's work would not do him any favors in life. Plagiarism could lose the guy his career. I wish him... I was about to say I wish him well. I don't. But I hope he learns something from this experience.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE, THURSDAY NIGHT: Just when I thought it was over, I got an email last night from another alert reader (thank you so much, Shabeeh) who found another person on TV.com who was also plagiarizing my reviews. I reported it last night. I was told tonight that the reviews are now gone and the person has been disciplined or moderated or something. I was encouraged to use the "report abuse" button if this happens again.

I'm starting to think the format of TV.com has something to do with this. If you can't write and you want points -- and you have no conscience -- what do you do? I can't be the only writer that has been plagiarized like this on TV.com. I was just lucky enough to find out about it.

Lost: Some Like It Hoth

Hurley: "It all could have been avoided if they just, you know, communicated. Let's face it. Ewoks suck, dude."

Nice backstory for Miles. I've grown to like Miles. But I don't think we really learned much about him that we didn't already know.

Chuck: Chuck versus the First Kill

“NSA, Fulcrum, the CIA—they’re all the same. They all lie.”

Things are really heating up for Chuck. His attempts to get his father back led to his first, and second, kill (the Morgan really is a doozey), as well as a firefight to end all firefights. Enemies united in an attempt to save our hero, and Casey got to act like a window-washing badass. All good things and great television.

Heroes: 1961

Angela: "Say good night, Alice."
Alice: "Good night, Alice."

I thought at first that this episode was Heroes continuing to reinvent itself. But instead, it took us back to the core story and filled in a lot of holes. And it got the Petrelli family back together, which is a good thing.

Caprica

Caprica was a brief (2010-2011) spinoff of Battlestar Galactica. There was one season of 18 episodes.

Here are links to our smattering of Caprica reviews:

1.1 Pilot
1.10 Unvanquished
1.1-1.10 A rundown review of the first ten episodes

Fringe: Unleashed

“Monsters aren’t real, right?”

Sometimes, watching Fringe, I go momentarily crazy and start seeing allusions and connections everywhere. In this episode, it started off with Olivia reading the book to her niece, just like Willow reading Jack London in…some episode of Buffy (‘Beauty and the Beasts’?). Then it was onto every horror movie ever made with the security guard getting sucked back into the room, and every suspense film ever made with the upside-down shots of the car crash—the girl yelled, “We have to go back!” and you know where that’s from. Even the first-person camera angle was reminiscent of the first Halloween (and Doom, if you play shoot ‘em up video games). And animal liberation? Yeah. Walter’s reference to a hell-beast woman in Cleveland sealed the deal on my insanity, and I vowed to quit seeing allusions in every shadowy corner. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Terminator: Born to Run

Given Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles’ ratings struggles this spring, it seems a near certainty that this episode wasn’t just the season finale, but also the series finale. If that’s the case, I think it performed ably on both counts. As a season ender, this was an outstanding episode with great emotional beats and some fantastic action sequences. Many of the slow-burning plot elements from this season were paid off, and it left us in a place rife with great possibilities for continuing the story. As a series ender, it wasn’t quite so successful, leaving us with many questions and no true sense of closure. However, I felt it effectively wove in bits from the full spectrum of the Terminator series (movies and television show) and, thankfully, didn’t leave us with a massive cliffhanger. It is certainly disappointing that we will likely never see where the story was heading, but the show ended on a strong note.

Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead

Carmen: "No, but you be careful, because your song is ending, Sir. It's returning. It's returning through the dark and then Doctor, oh, but then. He will knock four times."

According to Russell T. Davies, 'Planet of the Dead' was the Doctor's last chance to have some fun. It's common knowledge now that the Doctor's just four episodes away from his end, so this was Ten's last chance to embark on one last old-fashioned romp, before the serious business of his dying begins in earnest. Something is returning. Carmen doesn't specify what, but we can be almost certain that whatever it is, it'll mean the end of the road for David Tennant.

Dollhouse: A Spy in the House of Love

Echo: "Sometimes it is about the pain."

This episode was just electrifying, in a brain wipey sort of way.

Heroes: Turn and Face the Strange

Nathan: "When your grandmother has a dream, it's a good idea to pay attention."

Three decent episodes in a row. So it's not a fluke. Clearly, someone who knows what they're doing is back at the helm. (And yes, I know who it is.)

Lost: Dead is Dead

Locke: "If everything you've done has been in the best interest of the Island, then I'm sure the Monster will understand."

Dead is dead. Dead isn't dead. I'm so confused.

Fringe: Inner Child

“Your mother raised you well.”

Yes, Fringe did return last night—and if you managed to slog through 8 minutes of American Idol, you were in for a belated treat. This return episode was slower than the average Fringe, but the pacing (finally) didn’t feel off. Which is ironic, given that, thanks to American Idol, my TiVo cut it off right at the climax. Grrr.

Chuck: Chuck versus the Dream Job

“I’m sorry for the technical delay. Must be my rock star magnetism.”

Chuck dipped its toe in darker waters this week. Chuck’s dad has some issues: not quite the crazy kind, but certainly the tragic spygame kind. Ellie’s confusion at the prospect of dealing with a father she doesn’t know anymore, and who abandoned her, was well-played and felt authentic. Chuck’s own conflicted issues about how to deal with his dad focused more on his desire to please him—Chuck’s face lit up when his dad praised him, and especially when his dad put into words all the angst Chuck has been feeling about the Intersect.

Terminator: Adam Raised a Cain

Now that's what I’m talking about! I thought this was an outstanding episode, despite a completely shocking turn of events that, quite frankly, has taken me a few days to process. This one started out on an emotional note, ended on an emotional note, and took us for quite a ride in between. Not only did it have great action and suspense, but even the simplest character conversations were loaded with tension and things left unspoken. Best of all, this episode finally brought the John Connor and John Henry plots together.

Dollhouse: Needs

Dominic: "It's easy to become attached to your assigned active. In fact, it's necessary. But don't think of them as children. Think of them as pets."

Like dogs that might need to be put down, as Sophie the handler said. Pampered pets that can't be allowed out on the streets alone.

Supernatural: The Monster at the End of this Book

Chuck: "I am so sorry. I mean, horror is one thing, but to be forced to live bad writing?"

I loved this episode so much that I actually stopped taking notes for my review. That almost never happens.

Smallville: Eternal

"I need you to help me die."

This was the most exciting episode of Smallville I've seen in a long time. It was complex, sexy, and as deep as a field full of corpses. It had a lot of "beauty and the beast," which I love. And a lot of Davis Bloome, who is starting to get to me.

Lost: Whatever Happened, Happened

Locke: "Hello, Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living."

Geez, Sayid. Heart and head! What sort of half-assed assassin are you?

Chuck: Chuck versus the Broken Heart

“To discuss this further would be to violate protocol.”

I didn’t think it was possible to replace the sunny, sexy, curvaceous in all the right ways Yvonne Strahovski. But I guess I hadn’t thought of the stunning, gamine, superhot Tricia Helfer from Battlestar Galactica and Burn Notice. Wow.

Heroes: Into Asylum

Danko: "If we do this, if we succeed, you'd be the only one left."
Sylar: "Funny how that works."

And again with the better. An episode with charm as well as much needed character development. Or, more accurately, character repair. If this was intended to make us like Nathan and Angela again, then it pretty much worked for me.