If you have no clue what's going on, I'm in the same boat. The season premiere brought up more questions than answers, but there is clear direction where everything is going.
Instead of flashbacks or flashforwards, the new thing is a parallel storyline where Faraday's theory is correct. Juliet detonating the warhead puts everyone back in 2004 and everything is fine. The only problem is that it really isn't. Kate is in trouble with the law, Jack is drinking, Charlie is whacked out, Jin and Sun are back to their old relationship, and Locke can't use his legs. Hurley, Sayid, and Sawyer seem to be doing fine, but that's going to change.. Since this storyline may or may not be happening (how could both occur?), I think the parallel story will show how Jack's idea that resetting everything is a terrible idea. Their lives were never good to begin with and staying on the island is the best option. Claire makes an appearance as Kate hops into her cab with a gun after escaping from the authorities. Jack and Locke bond over lost luggage,
If these events are not occurring, I'm not sure how I feel about it. The main purpose of the story would only be to reveal something about the characters, but what happens will not be important. Whether Kate escapes or gets caught has no consequence on Kate on the island. If the events occur in the same universe as the stuff on the island, that would be a far more satisfying twist. What if the detonation of the bomb created a universe where two sets of the islanders exist? Miles says Juliet wanted to say "It worked." Is she referring to the alternate universe? We don't know yet (correct me if I'm wrong) whether the plane story has truly reset to 2004. What if it is 2007? Could the pairs of characters meet somehow? Given how open ended the writers framed the episodes, there are endless possibilities where they can go. The only worry is the hard deadline of the series finale.
Back on the island in what I assume is the real story where the events are actually happening, everyone isn't dead from a nuclear explosion. They've been sent back to the present where everything is pretty much the same. Juliet is still under the rubble and Sawyer gets to have one last moment with her. The highly emotional scene came fairly early before the first hour was up, and the rest of the episode had everyone in confusion and/or despair. Sawyer accuses Jack of killing Juliet and in some regard he is correct, but as Kate points out later, Jack's just trying to help. This adds a new angle to the battle between Sawyer and Jack. Sawyer has evolved greatly and isn't as myopic as he was before. In the past he might have held a permanent grudge against Jack, and in the beginning of the episode, in his rage and grief, he does vow to kill Jack. In the temple near the end of the episode when he's wallowing in sorrow, he tells Kate he won't do anything to Jack and he'll let Jack suffer on the island with the rest of them. The combination of maturity and sadness has dampened his anger towards Jack, but at the same time, lets Jack take a beating. Pain does not have to be physical and Sawyer acknowledges that as he chooses for Jack to live and suffer rather than die instantly.
Jack is sitting there still in shock at what happened. In season 5, he had a drive to get back to the island and he succeeded. That ended in failure as he disrupted the Sawyer and Juliet, and got caught up in the Dharma mess. He then receded into apathy, not caring what happened. Then he got a second wave, deciding to save everyone by detonating the nuclear bomb. That too ended disastrously. Going back to the first season, Jack sees his failures and it wears on him, but as he tells Locke in the alternate world, "Nothing's irreversible." Jack has that never ending drive, and while he may suffer for a while, he's always bounced back.
Jacob pops up from the great beyond and tells Hurley to get Jin to bring them to the temple, so Sayid can be saved. They go to the temple where the Others beat them up and take them out to shoot them, but Hurley has an ace up his sleeve: Jacob's message and guitar case. The Japanese guy who's in charge breaks the ankh inside the case and pulls out a piece of paper, and asks everyone to say their names. They take Sayid to a spring inside the temple and dunk him in there. Apparently their revival method includes a bit of drowning. Sayid dies, but at the end of the episode, is alive again and asks "What happened?"
In the Lost "Last Supper" poster, Locke is positioned as Christ and Sayid as Judas. My theory--crazy as it sounds--is that like Smokey, Jacob has an ability to become a dead person except he can literally take over a body. In the island where good guys and bad guys have no real definition, Jacob could very well be the traitor while Smokey is the messiah. As Smokey says, all he wants to do is go home. His home is the temple, and we saw him dragging the French into his lair last season. This season, there's Others inhabiting the temple and preparing to defend it from Smokey. My guess is that the Others and Jacob kicked Smokey out and took it for themselves. Payback is a bitch.
Fake Locke is on the warpath and reveals himself to be the Smoke Monster. Ben figures out he's been played, but there's nothing much he can do. Smokey comes out of the foot as confident as ever, takes out Richard with ease, and walks toward the jungle. We can assume he is going to the temple to take it back (or kill everyone). This is where the show becomes unclear. The Smoke Monster had previously been seen as a mere entity that enforced rules or went around doing random things. Ben knew how to call upon it to help him against the commandos in season 4. Last season it told Ben to follow Locke which plays into his ultimate role of killing Jacob for Smokey. Before season 5, it seems the writers didn't know what Smokey was and just had it kill people or almost kill people. Now that they've decided who Smokey is, but its actions are inconsistent with what they were before. That's the problem with a show that wasn't planned out from the very beginning.
Score: 9.5/10
Random thoughts/observations:
Are the people in the temple really Others or a completely separate group? They look similar, but what they do seems different than typical Others fare.
Rose+Bernard=awesome, but where are they on the island?
Two separate ships: Jate on the island, Skate in the other universe. Would that satisfy everyone?
I hope the old characters--Boone, Charlie, Claire--aren't there for the sake of them being there. They're in the story which isn't "real," so that's disappointing.
I'm still mad Libby's story won't be resolved.
Why did Desmond pop up on the plane and then disappear?
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Review - NCIS Season 7 Episode 14 Masquerade
Don't worry, I'll have a review for Lost up later tonight. I'm just NCIS out of the way first.
Corporal Vega's exploded car is found with traces of nuclear material. This sets off a huge search across Washington D.C. and for the first time in a while, the stakes are real, and many people could be a risk. It turns out Vega isn't dead and is still at large carrying out terrorist acts. Instead, Sergeant Cook was the one in the car. The investigation leads to a dentist, but the list of suspects isn't large. "Masquerade" took the route of the criminal being someone who showed up in the beginning and was absent for most of the episode. In this case it was a contractor who faked the entire situation to get a bigger contract.
M. Allison Hart was back stiring out trouble and Gibbs seems to have fallen into her trap. Gibbs thinks she is deliberately trying to cross paths with her, and from what he finds out, that isn't too far from the truth. She shows up at his house and they are about to kiss as the episode ends. I hope Gibbs has better self control, but it looks like he's fallen for her charms. He even got out the paperwork!
I don't know why, but the writers are content with doling out Ziva's story in Somalia slowly. It's the fourteenth episode in, and this is probably the first time she's brought it up. She doesn't like how people justify actions to defend something. In the case of Saleem, the Somalian terrorist, he did things to protect his way of life. Tony pushes on the issue, but she leaves it at that.
Score: 9.0/10
Corporal Vega's exploded car is found with traces of nuclear material. This sets off a huge search across Washington D.C. and for the first time in a while, the stakes are real, and many people could be a risk. It turns out Vega isn't dead and is still at large carrying out terrorist acts. Instead, Sergeant Cook was the one in the car. The investigation leads to a dentist, but the list of suspects isn't large. "Masquerade" took the route of the criminal being someone who showed up in the beginning and was absent for most of the episode. In this case it was a contractor who faked the entire situation to get a bigger contract.
M. Allison Hart was back stiring out trouble and Gibbs seems to have fallen into her trap. Gibbs thinks she is deliberately trying to cross paths with her, and from what he finds out, that isn't too far from the truth. She shows up at his house and they are about to kiss as the episode ends. I hope Gibbs has better self control, but it looks like he's fallen for her charms. He even got out the paperwork!
I don't know why, but the writers are content with doling out Ziva's story in Somalia slowly. It's the fourteenth episode in, and this is probably the first time she's brought it up. She doesn't like how people justify actions to defend something. In the case of Saleem, the Somalian terrorist, he did things to protect his way of life. Tony pushes on the issue, but she leaves it at that.
Score: 9.0/10
Review - How I Met Your Mother Season 5 Episode 14 Perfect Week
Cook Pu. If you didn't laugh at that, you were probably annoyed by the constant reference to the name, but if you are like Ted and the rest of them, you were probably laughing or at least smiling the entire episode. It was brought up constantly to remind Ted of his own shortfalls, and was a quick one-liner to shut him up.
Lily and Marshall scare off another couple because they reveal they share a toothbrush. Everyone is disturbed by them, and rightfully so. Then it turns out Ted was also using that toothbrush, and then Robin reveals she used that toothbrush. It's so disgusting, I wanted to rinse my mouth while watching the episode.
The two gags never went anywhere, but set a nice backdrop for the main story which was funny and sad at the same time. About to be fired, Barney sleeps with women to take his mind off things. He imagines sportcaster Jim Nantz doing the play-by-play for his "perfect week." There wasn't much to the story as with the rest of the episode. Barney sleeps with a girl on Day 1, he talks with Jim Nantz, and so on until the last day when New York Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher comes in. Lily distracts the girl long enough for Ted and Robin to sit with Nick. Barney gets the girl and becomes only the second person ever to have a perfect week.
Score: 9.0/10
Lily and Marshall scare off another couple because they reveal they share a toothbrush. Everyone is disturbed by them, and rightfully so. Then it turns out Ted was also using that toothbrush, and then Robin reveals she used that toothbrush. It's so disgusting, I wanted to rinse my mouth while watching the episode.
The two gags never went anywhere, but set a nice backdrop for the main story which was funny and sad at the same time. About to be fired, Barney sleeps with women to take his mind off things. He imagines sportcaster Jim Nantz doing the play-by-play for his "perfect week." There wasn't much to the story as with the rest of the episode. Barney sleeps with a girl on Day 1, he talks with Jim Nantz, and so on until the last day when New York Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher comes in. Lily distracts the girl long enough for Ted and Robin to sit with Nick. Barney gets the girl and becomes only the second person ever to have a perfect week.
Score: 9.0/10
Review - Damages Season 3 Episode 2 The Dog Is Happier Without Her
Ellen and Tom? That's what last night's episode hinted at, but I think it's one of the numerous misdirects of the show. The flashforwards show the hobo with Ellen's bag. He refers to her as Tommy's girl and Ellen goes to Tom's house and asks his wife if anyone else knows about us. At face value, it's clear what that means, but in the world of Damages, that could mean anything. The medical examiner finds that Tom died of drowning and we see Ellen on a pier looking out into the bay. Does that mean she killed him? Does she know who killed him? We see how that could happen. Ellen helps Tom with the investigation, meeting him several times and giving him the name of the mysterious DMM. She's moving back to Patty through Tom and something could happen between them.
Phil is back and he squabbles with Patty over the divorce, and of course Patty won't give anything up, and will fight tooth and nail to get what she wants. They have a long talk and it's going well until Phil asks to fix their relationship. Obviously Patty says no, and uses a colorful phrase telling him to find a dog breeder.
It's obvious Joe Tobin is slowly becoming a bad guy just like Tom is. Their morals are being compromised for various reasons. Tom does anything to please Patty, and Joe protects his family. Patty uses Ellen's information quickly and tells Joe the name of DMM: Danielle Marchetti. Joe asks his father who basically tells Joe where to look. Joe shows up at the house and confronts Danielle who instantly threatens to call the police. As Joe is leaving, Danielle's cat runs out, so she runs out after it, getting hit by a drunken Joe in the process. It's a really artificial way for him to further compromise his morals, but it could work in the end.
Score: 8.8/10
Phil is back and he squabbles with Patty over the divorce, and of course Patty won't give anything up, and will fight tooth and nail to get what she wants. They have a long talk and it's going well until Phil asks to fix their relationship. Obviously Patty says no, and uses a colorful phrase telling him to find a dog breeder.
It's obvious Joe Tobin is slowly becoming a bad guy just like Tom is. Their morals are being compromised for various reasons. Tom does anything to please Patty, and Joe protects his family. Patty uses Ellen's information quickly and tells Joe the name of DMM: Danielle Marchetti. Joe asks his father who basically tells Joe where to look. Joe shows up at the house and confronts Danielle who instantly threatens to call the police. As Joe is leaving, Danielle's cat runs out, so she runs out after it, getting hit by a drunken Joe in the process. It's a really artificial way for him to further compromise his morals, but it could work in the end.
Score: 8.8/10
Numbers of Interest - Television Ratings for Monday 02/01/10
CBS won the night with How I Met Your Mother (3.7), Accidentally on Purpose (3.0), Two and a Half Men (5.1), The Big Bang Theory (5.4), and CSI: Miami (3.7).
Fox was second with House (4.8) and 24 (3.1). With negotiations coming up soon, I hope 24 can keep its numbers up to stay viable.
ABC was third with The Bachelor (4.1) and a repeat of Castle (2.2). The repeat of Castle as almost as high as the new episodes were in the beginning of the season.
NBC was last with Chuck (2.4), Heroes (2.0), and The Jay Leno Show (1.1). Chuck was down .1 from last week. It's looking like we're moving back to the place we were in last year. The ratings are dropping slowly but steadily. Heroes improved .1 from last week, but with the season/series finale next week, there's not much that can be done.
Fox was second with House (4.8) and 24 (3.1). With negotiations coming up soon, I hope 24 can keep its numbers up to stay viable.
ABC was third with The Bachelor (4.1) and a repeat of Castle (2.2). The repeat of Castle as almost as high as the new episodes were in the beginning of the season.
NBC was last with Chuck (2.4), Heroes (2.0), and The Jay Leno Show (1.1). Chuck was down .1 from last week. It's looking like we're moving back to the place we were in last year. The ratings are dropping slowly but steadily. Heroes improved .1 from last week, but with the season/series finale next week, there's not much that can be done.
Review - House Season 6 Episode 13 Moving the Chains
The medical story was very average and clearly not the focus of the episode. A football player comes in, he wants to be drafted, but his medical problems may prevent him from trying out. He misses the tryouts and is disappointed, but as House reminds him, he still has a degree and no student loans.
The bigger issue Foreman's brother Marcus getting out of prison. Foreman doesn't want anything to do with his brother who was given chance after chance, and blew it every time. From that, Foreman isn't inclined to engage his brother on any level, but House, in his usual games, hires Marcus as an assistant. At first Marcus teases Foreman a bit and tells House stories from their past. As House pushes Foreman's buttons, we see Marcus protect his younger brother. He really isn't that bad. In the end, Foreman visits him at the half-way house and offers him a place to stay.
An idiotic soldier comes in wanting House to diagnose him so he can get out military service. His contract was extended already due to stop-loss, and he has a child on his way. There's no way he'll be deployed, so he shoots himself in his foot. House tells him that losing a single toe won't get him discharged. The solution? Let the infection spread and cut off the entire foot. Now his wife has a baby and a one-footed husband to take care of.
One more reason to dislike Lucas this season. It's okay if he's relegated to being Cuddy's boyfriend, but pulling all those potentially dangerous pranks on House and tripping House at the hospital? Way too much, and there's no going back. Lucas is now a malicious son of a bitch instead of the cool private investigator. We expect House to be a bastard, but not Lucas.
Score: 8.7/10
The bigger issue Foreman's brother Marcus getting out of prison. Foreman doesn't want anything to do with his brother who was given chance after chance, and blew it every time. From that, Foreman isn't inclined to engage his brother on any level, but House, in his usual games, hires Marcus as an assistant. At first Marcus teases Foreman a bit and tells House stories from their past. As House pushes Foreman's buttons, we see Marcus protect his younger brother. He really isn't that bad. In the end, Foreman visits him at the half-way house and offers him a place to stay.
An idiotic soldier comes in wanting House to diagnose him so he can get out military service. His contract was extended already due to stop-loss, and he has a child on his way. There's no way he'll be deployed, so he shoots himself in his foot. House tells him that losing a single toe won't get him discharged. The solution? Let the infection spread and cut off the entire foot. Now his wife has a baby and a one-footed husband to take care of.
One more reason to dislike Lucas this season. It's okay if he's relegated to being Cuddy's boyfriend, but pulling all those potentially dangerous pranks on House and tripping House at the hospital? Way too much, and there's no going back. Lucas is now a malicious son of a bitch instead of the cool private investigator. We expect House to be a bastard, but not Lucas.
Score: 8.7/10
Monday, February 1, 2010
Review - 24 Season 8 Episode 6 Day 8: 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
We're six episodes in and it's safe to say the Renee story far outclasses the other storylines. There's no competition, and I doubt the rest of the stories can make up for the slow start. Not only is there more time dedicated to Renee's story, there is also a difference in quality. I don't see the big picture for the other stories, but there is a distinct direction of Renee's story.
Vladimir is as crazy as he is on file and starts latching onto Renee, who is clearly reluctant to do anything with him, but this is her job and she'll get it done. Without fulfilling her obligations to crack the case, she has nothing to live for. He wants sex, and she goes along with whatever he wants. She ditches the communication device which is good news for Jack who would go ballistic if he heard everything that went on. Jack, pretending to be a German arms dealer, meets up with Vladimir's goons and takes them out with the help of Cole before they can take him out. Renee manages to cajole Vlad into keeping the deal alive.
Hassan is looking more and more than any old tin-pot dictator. He's still cracking down back home despite President Taylor's warning, and he's even taking it to the next level, arresting one of his own inner circle members whose cousin was arrested. Hassan may be justified in taking extra precautions because there was just an assassination attempt, but he's using tactics any authoritarian ruler would do. He's makes a bigger deal out of something so he can justify the most stringent of actions. The good thing is one the guys around him makes a call to Hassan's daughter. Could there be a coup coming?
The story with Dana/Jenny is still moving at a snail's pace. Her plan to get Kevin the money is to provide him easy access to steal it. You'd think she'd be to come up with an electronic method, but no, she decides to give him schematics and a key card to a place where money from a drug bust is locked up. The lecherous scoundrel Arlo is finally doing something other than making passes at Dana. He decides to be nosy and pokes around the surveillance footage and finds Dana talking with Kevin. Chloe had about one line the entire episode and it was a good one. She tells off Arlo in Chloe fashion with her passive-aggressive attitude and scowl.
I'm not sure what the hell is going on with Sergei and his sons. He has the nuclear material so he is significant to the season, but the story is going in circles for the sole purpose to show he is ruthless. Josef's brother, Oleg, seems to be doing well when his father's men come in the clinic and grab him, killing everyone else there in the process. Back at their HQ, Sergei kills Oleg. He's dangerous, he's unhinged, and he'll kill anyone. We get it.
This season with exception of Jack and Renee has been bland, and that's part of the problem with reviewing individual episodes of a heavily serialized show. There is usually some form of payoff for everything that happens further down the road, but we can't see it yet. Everything is building to something. In the grand scheme of things, stories that don't seem good in the beginning can become better in the end by default of the story playing itself out or because it is enforced by intersection with another story.
Score: 8.6/10
Vladimir is as crazy as he is on file and starts latching onto Renee, who is clearly reluctant to do anything with him, but this is her job and she'll get it done. Without fulfilling her obligations to crack the case, she has nothing to live for. He wants sex, and she goes along with whatever he wants. She ditches the communication device which is good news for Jack who would go ballistic if he heard everything that went on. Jack, pretending to be a German arms dealer, meets up with Vladimir's goons and takes them out with the help of Cole before they can take him out. Renee manages to cajole Vlad into keeping the deal alive.
Hassan is looking more and more than any old tin-pot dictator. He's still cracking down back home despite President Taylor's warning, and he's even taking it to the next level, arresting one of his own inner circle members whose cousin was arrested. Hassan may be justified in taking extra precautions because there was just an assassination attempt, but he's using tactics any authoritarian ruler would do. He's makes a bigger deal out of something so he can justify the most stringent of actions. The good thing is one the guys around him makes a call to Hassan's daughter. Could there be a coup coming?
The story with Dana/Jenny is still moving at a snail's pace. Her plan to get Kevin the money is to provide him easy access to steal it. You'd think she'd be to come up with an electronic method, but no, she decides to give him schematics and a key card to a place where money from a drug bust is locked up. The lecherous scoundrel Arlo is finally doing something other than making passes at Dana. He decides to be nosy and pokes around the surveillance footage and finds Dana talking with Kevin. Chloe had about one line the entire episode and it was a good one. She tells off Arlo in Chloe fashion with her passive-aggressive attitude and scowl.
I'm not sure what the hell is going on with Sergei and his sons. He has the nuclear material so he is significant to the season, but the story is going in circles for the sole purpose to show he is ruthless. Josef's brother, Oleg, seems to be doing well when his father's men come in the clinic and grab him, killing everyone else there in the process. Back at their HQ, Sergei kills Oleg. He's dangerous, he's unhinged, and he'll kill anyone. We get it.
This season with exception of Jack and Renee has been bland, and that's part of the problem with reviewing individual episodes of a heavily serialized show. There is usually some form of payoff for everything that happens further down the road, but we can't see it yet. Everything is building to something. In the grand scheme of things, stories that don't seem good in the beginning can become better in the end by default of the story playing itself out or because it is enforced by intersection with another story.
Score: 8.6/10
Review - Chuck Season 3 Episode 6 Chuck Versus the Nacho Sampler
After next week's episode, there won't be any new episodes until March 1. I'll be disappointed, but be happy at how the writers started off the season. So far this season, I am loving the character development, and "Nacho Sampler" was a great example of why. Chuck has new powers, a supportive CIA, and a new determination for his purpose in life. He's still fun, has a sense of humor, and isn't totally unfeeling like other spies. Those two facets of Chuck's life come into conflict which leads to better character development than before. He also sees into the spy world which he had previously only seen as an asset. On the other side of the game, he sees how real spies operate and he remembers the way Sarah treated him in the beginning.
Chuck befriends a guy named Manoosh (Fahim Anwar) who is receiving money from the Ring. This is Chuck's first asset and Sarah doesn't think he's up to it. She's been protective of Chuck the past couple episodes, but Chuck hasn't been tested in totally destroying someone's life (Laszlo doesn't count). He's done the action stuff and the undercover stuff, but never the role traditionally played by Sarah or Casey.
Chuck is now in the position Sarah was three years ago, and both of them realize that. Sarah is apprehensive as she sees Chuck lying with ease to Ellie and becoming friends with Manoosh through deceit. Everyone including Chuck knows he is a spy now, but Chuck may not yet realize what he is becoming. He still thinks he is the same guy with slight changes, and that's the nature introspection. Large changes aren't as evident to the person experiencing them. Sarah on the other hand is a bystander who sees Chuck tumbling down this path where all spies go, and that scares her. At the beginning of the episode, she tells Chuck she liked how he was sweet and naive when she first met him. That has changed. At his core, Chuck is still the same guy, but the position the CIA places him and his great responsibility to the world has pushed him to become a different person. At the end of the episode, we see Sarah three years ago thinking how easy of a target Chuck is. Now Chuck is the one thinking how easy targets are. How Sarah reconciles this with her feelings for Chuck will determine where they go from here.
Manoosh has a cool pair of sunglasses imbuing him with Intersect powers. Naturally he goes to Weap-Con to sell them. Weap-Con personifies the shows views of weapons. They're awesome. Casey already has a pamphlet and can now write off the trip. He revels in the latest generation in guns and gadgets which comes in handy once the Ring minions arrive. I love how all the convention attendees wrote off every display of arms as just a demonstration. Chuck uses his cool new powers to stop the Ring agents. There is still one thing to be done though. Manoosh had already destroyed the sunglasses to prevent the Ring from taking them, but he still has the knowledge inside his head on how to build them. Chuck lets him go and can't seem to pull the trigger on the tranq gun, but does so in the end. It's the crucial point where Chuck determines he isn't going to be Manoosh's friend. He will be the cold-hearted bastard who essentially ends Manoosh's life.
The Buy More guys quickly latch onto Hannah, but Morgan is the first to make a move on her. He orders Lester and Jeff, the professional stalkers, to find out all they can on her. It turns out she likes classical music, French movies, and sushi--nothing Morgan likes. Nonetheless, he is prepared and makes an instant impression with her so they hit it off. I like Hannah and Kristin Kreuk is surprisingly good, but I don't think it'll last. She's far too naive to be simply There has to be something up with her like there was with Lou and Jill though I'm guessing the malignancy of Hannah will be somewhere between the two.
Ellie is slowly closing onto Chuck and his spy world. She finds Chuck's plane tickets to Paris (Chuck the spy is still as careless as ever.) and her inquiry begins first with Awesome who is clearly not in Chuck's league of lying and his face tells her exactly what she needs to know. Chuck and Devin are hiding something big from her. At the same time, Hannah lets slip to Morgan that Chuck went to Paris. His investigation begins and intersects with Ellie's. Ellie can't be much by herself, but with Morgan and his stalkers, he could potentially uncover Chuck's secret and completely turn the show on its back. I'm guessing they will think Chuck is doing something else shameful and Chuck will feed that lie. Awesome learning about Chuck's real life is fine, but Morgan and Ellie is too much for now.
Every week the story seems to revolve around the Ring, but we learn virtually nothing about them. Fulcrum is only one part of the Ring, but what is the Ring? A bigger version of Fulcrum? The various missions seem to have no connection to each other and could be interchanged with international arms dealer, mob boss, etc. I get that the Ring is the main villain now, but there's no point in a new villain if it is as generic as the other bad guys.
The episode had its share of jokes, but it was focused on Chuck and his mission. It wasn't dark though on another show the exact same plot could have been made into something very dark. Chuck is growing up and Sarah doesn't like it, but it'll happen no matter what.
Score: 9.2/10
Random thoughts/observations:
Did anyone catch Scott Rosenbaum's name on one of Morgan's posters? I'm guessing it was for his departure from Chuck to V.
What does Shaw do that doesn't involve Team Bartowski?
Sarah's shirt with the words "Frak Off" was awesome.
Was anyone wondering if Veridian Dynamics from Better Off Ted was at Weapons-Con?
Budget cuts=no Big Mike
Chuck befriends a guy named Manoosh (Fahim Anwar) who is receiving money from the Ring. This is Chuck's first asset and Sarah doesn't think he's up to it. She's been protective of Chuck the past couple episodes, but Chuck hasn't been tested in totally destroying someone's life (Laszlo doesn't count). He's done the action stuff and the undercover stuff, but never the role traditionally played by Sarah or Casey.
Chuck is now in the position Sarah was three years ago, and both of them realize that. Sarah is apprehensive as she sees Chuck lying with ease to Ellie and becoming friends with Manoosh through deceit. Everyone including Chuck knows he is a spy now, but Chuck may not yet realize what he is becoming. He still thinks he is the same guy with slight changes, and that's the nature introspection. Large changes aren't as evident to the person experiencing them. Sarah on the other hand is a bystander who sees Chuck tumbling down this path where all spies go, and that scares her. At the beginning of the episode, she tells Chuck she liked how he was sweet and naive when she first met him. That has changed. At his core, Chuck is still the same guy, but the position the CIA places him and his great responsibility to the world has pushed him to become a different person. At the end of the episode, we see Sarah three years ago thinking how easy of a target Chuck is. Now Chuck is the one thinking how easy targets are. How Sarah reconciles this with her feelings for Chuck will determine where they go from here.
Manoosh has a cool pair of sunglasses imbuing him with Intersect powers. Naturally he goes to Weap-Con to sell them. Weap-Con personifies the shows views of weapons. They're awesome. Casey already has a pamphlet and can now write off the trip. He revels in the latest generation in guns and gadgets which comes in handy once the Ring minions arrive. I love how all the convention attendees wrote off every display of arms as just a demonstration. Chuck uses his cool new powers to stop the Ring agents. There is still one thing to be done though. Manoosh had already destroyed the sunglasses to prevent the Ring from taking them, but he still has the knowledge inside his head on how to build them. Chuck lets him go and can't seem to pull the trigger on the tranq gun, but does so in the end. It's the crucial point where Chuck determines he isn't going to be Manoosh's friend. He will be the cold-hearted bastard who essentially ends Manoosh's life.
The Buy More guys quickly latch onto Hannah, but Morgan is the first to make a move on her. He orders Lester and Jeff, the professional stalkers, to find out all they can on her. It turns out she likes classical music, French movies, and sushi--nothing Morgan likes. Nonetheless, he is prepared and makes an instant impression with her so they hit it off. I like Hannah and Kristin Kreuk is surprisingly good, but I don't think it'll last. She's far too naive to be simply There has to be something up with her like there was with Lou and Jill though I'm guessing the malignancy of Hannah will be somewhere between the two.
Ellie is slowly closing onto Chuck and his spy world. She finds Chuck's plane tickets to Paris (Chuck the spy is still as careless as ever.) and her inquiry begins first with Awesome who is clearly not in Chuck's league of lying and his face tells her exactly what she needs to know. Chuck and Devin are hiding something big from her. At the same time, Hannah lets slip to Morgan that Chuck went to Paris. His investigation begins and intersects with Ellie's. Ellie can't be much by herself, but with Morgan and his stalkers, he could potentially uncover Chuck's secret and completely turn the show on its back. I'm guessing they will think Chuck is doing something else shameful and Chuck will feed that lie. Awesome learning about Chuck's real life is fine, but Morgan and Ellie is too much for now.
Every week the story seems to revolve around the Ring, but we learn virtually nothing about them. Fulcrum is only one part of the Ring, but what is the Ring? A bigger version of Fulcrum? The various missions seem to have no connection to each other and could be interchanged with international arms dealer, mob boss, etc. I get that the Ring is the main villain now, but there's no point in a new villain if it is as generic as the other bad guys.
The episode had its share of jokes, but it was focused on Chuck and his mission. It wasn't dark though on another show the exact same plot could have been made into something very dark. Chuck is growing up and Sarah doesn't like it, but it'll happen no matter what.
Score: 9.2/10
Random thoughts/observations:
Did anyone catch Scott Rosenbaum's name on one of Morgan's posters? I'm guessing it was for his departure from Chuck to V.
What does Shaw do that doesn't involve Team Bartowski?
Sarah's shirt with the words "Frak Off" was awesome.
Was anyone wondering if Veridian Dynamics from Better Off Ted was at Weapons-Con?
Budget cuts=no Big Mike
Time to worry about Caprica ratings
Well the ratings for the second episode are in and it isn't pretty: 1.411 million viewers and 0.5 for 18-49. The pilot had 1.6 million viewers and 0.4 for 18-49, so in some respect there was an improvement. I thought there would be a large jump since many had watched it on DVD and online, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Those who already watched the pilot found the best use of two hours watching something they've already seen. More power to them.
As the season progresses, the prognosis on Caprica should be clearer, but based on the two episodes, it isn't doing too hot. The good thing is that the critics love the show and there's still time to attract more fans, so don't panic yet (but feel free to worry).
As the season progresses, the prognosis on Caprica should be clearer, but based on the two episodes, it isn't doing too hot. The good thing is that the critics love the show and there's still time to attract more fans, so don't panic yet (but feel free to worry).
Review - Big Love Season 4 Episode 4 The Mighty and Strong
Bill is a terrible person, and that's where the writers are taking his character. Increasingly, there is less and less logic to his actions and he's more out of touch than before. Bill's competitor for the state senate, Representative Colburn, starts a full on investigation into Home Plus, and finds some non-employees getting health care. They are Bill's other wives, so Bill asks Don to take the fall for him and admit he's a polygamist. The scene immediately cuts to Don telling the public the lie Bill told him to say. It was a bit shocking to see such a fast transition and it was effective.
There is much more focus on Margene this season and she's all over the place. Her jewelry business is probably dead now that she completely broke down on live television and her marriage to Bill is now in peril since her kiss and feelings for Ben came out in the open.
The long awaited consequences of Sarah's miscarriage from last season finally came out in the form of the Indian baby she kind of took. She wants to have that baby and the baby she has is a surrogate.
Alby's creepiness factor miraculously increases each week. This week, his sneaks into Dale's home and they talk a bit. They're still trying to deal with their attraction to each other and their other obligations, so there wasn't anything new.
As always, the Juniper Creek madness was pretty stupid. J.J. marries Nicki's mom with Alby's consent and Bill's parent's bird smuggling ring may be in jeopardy after Jodeen let them out.
Score: 8.9/10
There is much more focus on Margene this season and she's all over the place. Her jewelry business is probably dead now that she completely broke down on live television and her marriage to Bill is now in peril since her kiss and feelings for Ben came out in the open.
The long awaited consequences of Sarah's miscarriage from last season finally came out in the form of the Indian baby she kind of took. She wants to have that baby and the baby she has is a surrogate.
Alby's creepiness factor miraculously increases each week. This week, his sneaks into Dale's home and they talk a bit. They're still trying to deal with their attraction to each other and their other obligations, so there wasn't anything new.
As always, the Juniper Creek madness was pretty stupid. J.J. marries Nicki's mom with Alby's consent and Bill's parent's bird smuggling ring may be in jeopardy after Jodeen let them out.
Score: 8.9/10
