I've fallen way behind on television for the 20th time, so there are lots of shows left out that I wanted to comment on but didn't have time or shows I haven't watched yet--Breakout Kings season finale, Fairly Legal, Magic City, Bones, and maybe even some more in the backlog. As a general rule, though, the shows I left out are shows I don't have anything pressing to discuss--mostly comedies and other shows which aren't really good or really bad (though I liked Veep and Girls enough that I would have said something had I enough time).
Castle: If Andrew Marlowe hadn't gotten Castle and Beckett together at the end of this season, he would have had a revolt on this hands that would make Hart Hanson hate look tame. So he did the smart thing and did what everyone was asking for and finally pulled the trigger. Now, I won't give him much credit for such an easy decision, because he's bungled the show incredibly, but maybe the show is moving in the right direction. Maybe... but probably not. The whole SERIOUS episode tone made a return along with the conspiracy, so the plot was predictably the running around in circles stuff we've gotten to know.
Towards the end of House's seventh season, there was a planned arc where House would be on the road which was ultimately scrapped. I suspect the remnants of that story found its way into last night's episode, in which House and Wilson take a road trip, possibly their last, and have a good time doing various funny things. It was different than the usual episode, much like last week's episode in which Wilson went through serious treatment, and it had the needed somberness that lay behind the plot. Still, this plot feels forced, created only because of the hard deadline of a series finale. Imagine what could have happened had this plot been done 3 seasons ago and the possibilities that could stem from it. The rest of the episode focuses on Chase and he comes to the realization that he should go off on his own. Coupled with none of the series finale promo photos containing Chase, we're being led to believe he'll actually leave. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. He left in the past but came back later. Again, this is the series finale and the writers can do whatever they want without consequences.
I don't get why the central of Smash is cheating. It's happened so many times that either it's the only drama the writers know how to write or that they're telling us it's something inherent in theater. Now, since a lot of these people are working in theater, are they really telling us that infidelity is this prevalent in theater? And WTF is going on with Michael? Do the writers want us to dislike him more than Ellis? Also, Julia is an idiot. She's the one who got into the mess with Michael in the first place and now she think it's Tom's fault for saving the show. Are the writers actively trying to make us hate as many characters as possible?
I haven't said much about 2 Broke Girls for a very long time, and even after the season is over, I don't think much needs to be said about the show--it hasn't changed. The stereotyped characters are still there, the corny jokes are still there, and the plots are still the same. Well, it's a CBS comedy and the ratings are fine as is. The show certainly had potential to do cool things with the cupcake business, maybe turn it into a real plot instead of a plot device, but the writers were more comfortable regurgitating the same stuff over and over again than actually making progress. The season finale, like the pilot, pushes the cupcake plot one step forward. Now they have a semi-endorsement from Martha Stewart, which should be a big deal.
Though in its fifth season Mad Men still feels like a very fresh show, in large part due to Megan. She's a new character, far more developed than in the fourth season, and it allows us to have a new perspective on the old characters. Her decision to leave the firm for acting is the catalyst for exploration in her and other characters. For Don, it's a chance to get things right with a marriage and while he's unhappy, he takes it out on Peggy instead. His glances into the distance tell a different story than what he says to Megan, and the empty elevator shaft was ominous enough. Peggy, at first, does not understand why Megan is leaving, especially since her Heinz idea was so successful. Peggy reflects on her own experiences, how hard she worked to get into the door and then come up with good ideas, and can't understand why Megan would leave something like this. But in her conversation with Joan, who views Megan through a second-wife lens, Peggy states that Megan is good at everything. And maybe she is--maybe she'll succeed at acting like she did acting. Pete continues to flounder and finds himself in the arms of Beth, played by Alexis Bledel, whose unaffected acting style reminded me of January Jones. Once again, Pete finds himself following the footsteps of Don, but he's simply not Don. As hard as he tries, Pete can't make this thing with Beth permanent or even a multiple times fling.
Game of Thrones exposed major weaknesses in the characters. Most obvious is Theon, whose rein over Winterfell is as ineffectual as his beheading of Rodrick Cassel. While Ned knocked off heads in one blow, it takes Theon several chops, and then Osha completely fools him. Daenerys has even less is work with than Theon, who at least has some soldiers. All she has are a dubious claim to the throne and her dragons, which are stolen at the end of the episode, brought to the warlocks' place. Robb finds himself attracted to the nurse, but Catelyn reminds him of the deal with the Freys. Of course, were he to renege, that would mean drama, which is what GoT is all about. At King's Landing, the residents turn on Joffrey, the guards, and the other royalty, and Joffrey unable to retaliate, getting slapped by Tyrion once more. Jon is tasked to execute the wildling woman Ygritte but can't do it and finds himself huddling with her at first (love interest alert!). It's the peripheral characters who are the strongest--the Hound, Jaquen, Osha--and yet, they're not the ones in charge.
Book spoilers: The show continues to detach itself from the books as the season proceeds, and I'd say last night's episode had the largest departure, with Catelyn meeting with Robb, the dragons being taken, the extension with Ygritte the Theon plot retooled with no mention of Reek. The Reek twist is really cool in the book, as Ramsay Bolton is assumed dead. But I assume Ramsay is still around since Roose Bolton says his bastard will take care of Theon. It's increasingly likely that Talisa is Jeyne who Robb brings back to Riverrun in A Storm of Swords.
I think I'm done commenting on Once Upon a Time unless the season finale is notable. It's too stupid to warrant any meaningful thought.
Fringe: Yes, yes, everyone knows what I'll say first... the plot doesn't make sense and there are plot devices everywhere. Well, that's true, and I'll also say that the plot doesn't really matter at this point, given how much random stuff was make up on the spot through the years. So yeah, the return of William Bell, despite its plot deviceshness, makes for exciting television. He's supposed to be dead, he knows Walter well, and he's been behind DRJ the whole time. Why? Who cares, Olivia is cortexiphaning it up, Walter is sciencing it up--it's all quite fun.
Supernatural: Like with Fringe, I don't think the plot matters at this point. Maybe in the fifth season or even the sixth, but not anymore, what with Crowley, Lucifer, angels, demons, Leviathans all mashed into one unconceivable blob of general Winchester enemies. Last week's episode kind of just threw everything against the wall and almost all of it stuck. There was the return of Cas with Mischa Collins spitting great one-liners every minute, poor Kevin Tran who becomes a prophet overnight, a couple of Cas's old angel buddies, some demons, and finally Oscar the Leviathan who snatches Kevin.
Grimm usually has a twist on a fairy tale story, like the Rapunzel episode all the way back, but it basically did the full Cinderella story, only making Cinderella into a bat-like wessen. It made for an okay episode, bolstered by the cool screeching ability, with some development on Nick's parents front.
The Secret Circle peeled back the last layers to the Blackwell mystery and the show suddenly became a lot more interesting. It turns out that he's the ultimate bad guy, tricking everyone and using magic to get everyone pregnant. His plan has been years in the making, and will culminate when the crystal skull is assembled. This is serious business!
The Vampire Diaries: Finally, finally, finally(!!!!) Klaus is gotten rid of. Yes, I've been vocal about his uselessness, so I was of course pleased when he was spelled. He'll surely be back, but hopefully the situation in Mystic Falls will be different enough that his role is different. The rest of the episode was classic VD with hunter Alaric on the loose and all the characters running around the place doing their thing.
Midway through the season Awake appeared headed towards something big for Michael, with the hallucinations and whatnot, but it changed course and we're not bad in normal territory. While it's a bit different, as Rex's pregnant girlfriend is there, it's nowhere as urgent as prior indicators were. At this point, with anemic ratings, it's almost pointless to talk about the show as a whole, but it's worthwhile to say that Awake, as a procedural, is very solid, balancing the different characters wonderfully. We really get to know Michael, Rex, and Hannah. It was good to learn that the conspiracy turned out to be nothing more than a dirty cop, not something spanning both worlds. This is all a bit odd, considering Howard Gordon is the showrunner. Perhaps Kyle Killen has more control of the show than the titles would indicate.
I haven't said much about The Mentalist, but my impression of the second half of the season is that the writers decided to turn back and keep everything calm instead of doing anything too dramatic. At one point it seemed like Van Pelt would be shooting people up at any moment and she's fine now. The rest of the personal stories--Rigsby having a baby, and Cho and Summer--have felt awfully subdued. Even though the Cho and Summer story got pretty heated, it's over now and the subplot never felt like a big deal anyway.
Revenge turned things up a notch by giving Daniel full knowledge of his family's horrid past, and Emily knowing about this. Daniel's been the hapless guy, not too bright, and in the dark about most things. But by learning these things and continuing to defend his family, there are no excuses. Now the question is, does Emily care about him that much, to keep him alive even when he flies against the face of Emily's purported goals?
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 is quickly becoming my favorite new comedy of the season, over New Girl and Suburgatory. The show moves quickly, from one development to another, and it's all very fun and energized. June turning the tables on Chloe was great stuff, and continued to peel back the layers on Chloe, making her a more understandable character.
The strength of previous NCIS arcs was that the characters were not only involved but completely immersed in the arc. Tony and Jeanne--that actually matter to Tony. Ziva and Ari and Rivkin--again it deeply mattered. This Watcher Fleet plot, though, is trivial. Supposedly this is a major national security issue, but from the safety of a familiar NCIS office, it sure doesn't feel like it. The characters investigate as they usually do, as if nothing is wrong. And, really, from the audience's perspective this is nothing more than an extended case, nothing more than another bout of interrogations and computer magic.
Glee: Yes, it was a piece of utter, godawful crap. The domestic violence PSA plot ranks in the top 5 of worst things I've ever seen on television, out of thousands of episodes watched. Full stop. I don't want to insult Marti Noxon, but seriously, WTF? It's not that domestic violence isn't a big issue--it is. But you have to go about it the right way. The dialogue reads like a stupid, condescending guides to domestic violence, like one of the pamphlets Emma has. Worst of all this is Glee, which has little continuity. We barely know anything about Cooter, so the domestic violence seems more like an external problem that magically comes from nowhere. It'd be far better if someone we've know the whole time, say, Will, had been doing this to Emma for a while. That way, it would explain his patheticness and his ass would be thrown in prison and we'd never have to see him again. And like all Glee PSA's, it won't be revisited, which diminishes the issue again. Obligatory praise: Rachel botching her audition was incredibly powerful, not that it was unexpected, but because we've been following her and her dreams since the first episodes (hence the various callbacks to the Rachel quirks introduced in the pilot), and now we see them destroyed. So the lesson is: more continuity, better plot, less continuity, worse plot. It ain't that hard to understand, Glee writers.
Hawaii Five-0/NCIS: LA crossover: The Hawaii segment of the two-parter was about one might expect, running around the island looking for the smallpox. I haven't watched NCIS: LA regularly since the first season, but it felt the same to me. The comedic beats aren't quite right in the way NCIS's always are, and the entire show slows to revolve around these canned jokes.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Reviews 4/24/12 - 5/1/12
I'm not done watching everything yet and I probably won't have more time next week to fill in the gaps, so sorry if any show is left out.
As House winds down towards the end with a mostly new cast, the one thing that remains constant is House and Wilson, who now has cancer. This flips the show on its side, and the episode shows House and Wilson and their best, in sickness and in health. We're reminded, once again, that these characters don't have great lives, they'll end up without families, but they'll have each other... if Wilson survives.
I'm relieved Castle's season finale is next week, because I'm getting worn out. The zombie theme was okay while it lasted, but the crime part of the show bored me out of my mind. Stock characters, stock twists, and little else. The two Alexis scenes were great, for what it's worth.
If it wasn't clear enough, last night's episode of Game of Thrones, the midway point of the season, made it abundantly known that there will be a big battle soon and maybe more than one. A large portion of the episode is spent developing the plots directly regarding the war. Renly is killed by Melisandre's shadow, Tyrion catches up on the alchemists making wildfire, the Night's Watch waiting at the Fist of the First Men while Jon and others scout ahead, and Tywin scheming at Harenhal. There's a lot going on, so nothing really stuck out to me like certain events in the book did.
Book spoilers: It seems like the writers are giving Bran less to do by taking out the Freys and the Reeds, so it'll just be Bran, Osha, and Hodor. I'm sure many people were waiting to see the traditional Qarthean garb with a single breast exposed, but I guess they decided not to go with it.
After the previous week's trippy episode, Mad Men return back to normal--sort of. Although it didn't have any LSD or 3 stories of a single day, the episode had a clear focus on parents. There are tons of good things in the episode--Megan's brilliant idea, her seemingly disinterest in taking credit, her parents, Roger and Sally, Peggy and Loan--and it makes for an interesting episode that's lighter than the previous episode yet still with drama.
I think I'm done with The Killing. Part of me wants to find out what happens in the end, but it's taking far too much out of me to slog through the mess. At the end of the last episode, the music builds during the montage, as we see the various evildoers waiting in the wings. It's supposed to be dramatic stuff, tense for Linden, sad for Mitch, but I was half asleep by then and just wanted it to be over with. In the episode, we learn some more facts with the return of Jasper and his father, some evidence pointing towards them. But in the end, we're no better off than we were an episode ago or 10 episodes ago. This is a big reason why the character stuff for Linden and Holder doesn't work. The only motivating factor for them to change their behavior is time and frustration, not because of anything that actually happens. So when Holder recognizes Linden's attachment to the case because of her previous case, it's pretty arbitrary.
The third season of The Good Wife is probably the weakest of the three seasons from a plotting standpoint. The previous seasons had complete stories from beginning to end. It feels like the writers started too many plot threads this season, then decided to resolve some of them earlier, while leaving nothing towards the end. So, while the season finale had thematic coherence with the various things that have gone on, there isn't one strong story it really latched on to. Beyond the plot, though, the episode had lots of great moments--the elevator scenes, the dream team--and the trademark snappy pacing. One thing that bothered me is Kalinda's plot, and her mysterious husband. It's just hanging out there, unrelated to anything else.
The main thing that bothers me about Once Upon a Time's plot is how arbitrary it is and the random magic rules that are explicitly stated. It would be better if the magic were shrouded in mystery, but the writers go out of their way to make characters state the exact constraints of the magic, for no reason other than for plot convenience. That said, the twist of August being Pinocchio was damn good, and make even better because he was tasked to make Emma believe.
Fringe: I want to get the plot issues out of the way first. Yes, the whole DRJ problem, the Cortexiphan kids, and solution was one big plot device with little build up or explanation--that's the outcome of making stuff up on the fly. But I don't think anyone still watching has really cared too much about the plot since the second season (though, considering the drop in viewership, maybe some people did care). What "Worlds Apart" does is what the best Fringe episodes do, bring the characters together and really show who they've become. The episode excellently parallels the characters and their counterparts, and gives them a send off with the weight we've come to know. The writers have explored both worlds so much this season that, even though it is different world than the previous seasons, enough has happened so that we know and feel how important closing the bridge is.
Supernatural: Yes, I'm a fan of Felicia Day so of course I had to like the episode even thought I don't like the Leviathan storyline. I still don't get what the point of ghost Bobby is.
The end of last week's Grimm episode seemed to suggest a dark side to Nick. He shipped two Reaper heads to Germany, no easy task for a regular person. Now Nick is going outside of the law to not only kill people/creatures but to also intimidate.
The Secret Circle works pretty well as a horror show, with characters running around in the dark amidst bodies and blood. The final twist of Nick being alive was mostly unexpected and it signals that the plot will have to move forward.
Last week's episode of The Vampire Diaries featured a lot of the good and the bad of this season. The good was the characters and the way Alaric's near-certain death was handled. The show pulls back and looks at the big picture of his life and it is indeed very bleak, as Ester prepares to transform him. Meanwhile, Elena realizes she and Jeremy have no one left, another devastating view of a character's life. The bad, as has been the case this season, was the plot. Esther, after being absent for a number of episodes, returns with yet another plot and it's pretty random with no build up. But the plot does get moving and at the end of the episode at least we know something has to budge in the next episode.
Parks and Recreation: Leslie!!! After an up and down campaign, Leslie finally got a chance to debate Bobby Newport, and the debate resembled the campaign--mostly downs but some ups. When all seems hopeless, Leslie lets rip a speech for the ages. It's a Leslie speech, full of hope and the can-do spirit she embodies, and everyone, Bobby included, is wowed. At that point, I thought to myself that Leslie would win the election. The writers wouldn't have her come this far just so she doesn't win, wouldn't they?
I'm a big fan of Community theme episodes, and the Law & Order episode was no exception. With the characters filling in the roles of the lawyers/detectives and the plot actually having some complexity, allowing for multiple suspects, the episode played out nicely.
The events on Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23 are pretty outlandish, like June dating Chloe in the previous episodes and the shenanigans in the followed, but it's something that could conceivably happen in a general sense. Last week's episode took a big turn, however, when Chloe somehow adopts a girl. It's explained in a flashback, but it's still far from realistic. From there, the episode continued along this weird path until the end.
The cynic in me says Glee did a Whitney episode so it could sell another album. Maybe this would be less likely in the first season, when the plot seemed to matter, but the show has become so glitzy, so decentralized, so devoid of heart, that I wouldn't be too surprised. The vast majority of the episode was bad, Will's pathetic scenes especially so. The one bright spot was Kurt's scene with his father.
As House winds down towards the end with a mostly new cast, the one thing that remains constant is House and Wilson, who now has cancer. This flips the show on its side, and the episode shows House and Wilson and their best, in sickness and in health. We're reminded, once again, that these characters don't have great lives, they'll end up without families, but they'll have each other... if Wilson survives.
I'm relieved Castle's season finale is next week, because I'm getting worn out. The zombie theme was okay while it lasted, but the crime part of the show bored me out of my mind. Stock characters, stock twists, and little else. The two Alexis scenes were great, for what it's worth.
If it wasn't clear enough, last night's episode of Game of Thrones, the midway point of the season, made it abundantly known that there will be a big battle soon and maybe more than one. A large portion of the episode is spent developing the plots directly regarding the war. Renly is killed by Melisandre's shadow, Tyrion catches up on the alchemists making wildfire, the Night's Watch waiting at the Fist of the First Men while Jon and others scout ahead, and Tywin scheming at Harenhal. There's a lot going on, so nothing really stuck out to me like certain events in the book did.
Book spoilers: It seems like the writers are giving Bran less to do by taking out the Freys and the Reeds, so it'll just be Bran, Osha, and Hodor. I'm sure many people were waiting to see the traditional Qarthean garb with a single breast exposed, but I guess they decided not to go with it.
After the previous week's trippy episode, Mad Men return back to normal--sort of. Although it didn't have any LSD or 3 stories of a single day, the episode had a clear focus on parents. There are tons of good things in the episode--Megan's brilliant idea, her seemingly disinterest in taking credit, her parents, Roger and Sally, Peggy and Loan--and it makes for an interesting episode that's lighter than the previous episode yet still with drama.
I think I'm done with The Killing. Part of me wants to find out what happens in the end, but it's taking far too much out of me to slog through the mess. At the end of the last episode, the music builds during the montage, as we see the various evildoers waiting in the wings. It's supposed to be dramatic stuff, tense for Linden, sad for Mitch, but I was half asleep by then and just wanted it to be over with. In the episode, we learn some more facts with the return of Jasper and his father, some evidence pointing towards them. But in the end, we're no better off than we were an episode ago or 10 episodes ago. This is a big reason why the character stuff for Linden and Holder doesn't work. The only motivating factor for them to change their behavior is time and frustration, not because of anything that actually happens. So when Holder recognizes Linden's attachment to the case because of her previous case, it's pretty arbitrary.
The third season of The Good Wife is probably the weakest of the three seasons from a plotting standpoint. The previous seasons had complete stories from beginning to end. It feels like the writers started too many plot threads this season, then decided to resolve some of them earlier, while leaving nothing towards the end. So, while the season finale had thematic coherence with the various things that have gone on, there isn't one strong story it really latched on to. Beyond the plot, though, the episode had lots of great moments--the elevator scenes, the dream team--and the trademark snappy pacing. One thing that bothered me is Kalinda's plot, and her mysterious husband. It's just hanging out there, unrelated to anything else.
The main thing that bothers me about Once Upon a Time's plot is how arbitrary it is and the random magic rules that are explicitly stated. It would be better if the magic were shrouded in mystery, but the writers go out of their way to make characters state the exact constraints of the magic, for no reason other than for plot convenience. That said, the twist of August being Pinocchio was damn good, and make even better because he was tasked to make Emma believe.
Fringe: I want to get the plot issues out of the way first. Yes, the whole DRJ problem, the Cortexiphan kids, and solution was one big plot device with little build up or explanation--that's the outcome of making stuff up on the fly. But I don't think anyone still watching has really cared too much about the plot since the second season (though, considering the drop in viewership, maybe some people did care). What "Worlds Apart" does is what the best Fringe episodes do, bring the characters together and really show who they've become. The episode excellently parallels the characters and their counterparts, and gives them a send off with the weight we've come to know. The writers have explored both worlds so much this season that, even though it is different world than the previous seasons, enough has happened so that we know and feel how important closing the bridge is.
Supernatural: Yes, I'm a fan of Felicia Day so of course I had to like the episode even thought I don't like the Leviathan storyline. I still don't get what the point of ghost Bobby is.
The end of last week's Grimm episode seemed to suggest a dark side to Nick. He shipped two Reaper heads to Germany, no easy task for a regular person. Now Nick is going outside of the law to not only kill people/creatures but to also intimidate.
The Secret Circle works pretty well as a horror show, with characters running around in the dark amidst bodies and blood. The final twist of Nick being alive was mostly unexpected and it signals that the plot will have to move forward.
Last week's episode of The Vampire Diaries featured a lot of the good and the bad of this season. The good was the characters and the way Alaric's near-certain death was handled. The show pulls back and looks at the big picture of his life and it is indeed very bleak, as Ester prepares to transform him. Meanwhile, Elena realizes she and Jeremy have no one left, another devastating view of a character's life. The bad, as has been the case this season, was the plot. Esther, after being absent for a number of episodes, returns with yet another plot and it's pretty random with no build up. But the plot does get moving and at the end of the episode at least we know something has to budge in the next episode.
Parks and Recreation: Leslie!!! After an up and down campaign, Leslie finally got a chance to debate Bobby Newport, and the debate resembled the campaign--mostly downs but some ups. When all seems hopeless, Leslie lets rip a speech for the ages. It's a Leslie speech, full of hope and the can-do spirit she embodies, and everyone, Bobby included, is wowed. At that point, I thought to myself that Leslie would win the election. The writers wouldn't have her come this far just so she doesn't win, wouldn't they?
I'm a big fan of Community theme episodes, and the Law & Order episode was no exception. With the characters filling in the roles of the lawyers/detectives and the plot actually having some complexity, allowing for multiple suspects, the episode played out nicely.
The events on Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23 are pretty outlandish, like June dating Chloe in the previous episodes and the shenanigans in the followed, but it's something that could conceivably happen in a general sense. Last week's episode took a big turn, however, when Chloe somehow adopts a girl. It's explained in a flashback, but it's still far from realistic. From there, the episode continued along this weird path until the end.
The cynic in me says Glee did a Whitney episode so it could sell another album. Maybe this would be less likely in the first season, when the plot seemed to matter, but the show has become so glitzy, so decentralized, so devoid of heart, that I wouldn't be too surprised. The vast majority of the episode was bad, Will's pathetic scenes especially so. The one bright spot was Kurt's scene with his father.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
4/17/12 - 4/23/12 Reviews
I complain all the time about Glee and how terrible it has become, but if there's one thing it has over Smash, it's the ability to make the viewer have an opinion, good or bad. With Smash, everything kind of just passes by. Eileen and her boyfriend, boring rehash. Ellis being evil, boring rehash. Leo not being a teenage boy, boring rehash. Karen being overly enthusiastic, boring rehash.
House ended with a major bombshell, Wilson having cancer. We get it, Wilson is the only one House has left after Dominika found out the truth, and this is supposed to signal big changes. The problem is, the show is ending soon and it's not like this twist will do much in terms of character development. What would be funny is if this turned out to be a big joke, like Wilson getting back at House for faking his son. The rest of the episode was of stuff we've already seen- plenty of times before-debate over relgion--and more of this weird obsession over Park and sex. Park and Chase are actually pretty funny, but the writers have pigeonholed her character badly.
I forgot to say anything about Girls in the rush last week, so I have some thoughts this week. First off, there is some negative buzz surrounding the show regarding nepotism. Well of course there is some nepotism--this is Hollywood, the one place that makes Washington D.C. look saintly. Maybe there could have been better actresses, maybe not--I don't see serious flaws in the casting. Second, there is backlash over the lack of minorities. Again, this is Hollywood and they don't add minorities unless they serve an explicit purpose. (Glee has minority characters but has never focused on minority culture, which seems to be in opposition to the super-liberal, accept everything theme. Instead, minorities are used in a generic sense, like Asian guy and Asian girl--diversity! And when there was a semblance of Asian culture, Mike's father wanting him to go to a good school, Glee essentially tossed that under the bus, emphasizing how much better Glee culture is.) I think these two themes about Hollywood--consciously or not--are perfectly reflected by the show. The characters are direct and we as the audience get to see everything they do. They rarely interact with minorities and they're spoiled rich girls. That's Hollywood in a nutshell. So when people want to complain about Girls, they should appreciate that Girls is upfront about things, not deviously exploitative like Glee.
Now that that's over with, I think the show is great. It's an amusing show with amusing characters who say amusing things. It isn't laugh out loud funny, nor is it trying to be. We follow around the characters to random places and hear the things they have to say, and if the writing is good enough as it has been, the show will be good.
Veep doesn't exactly feel like an HBO show, but it's a decent satire. I didn't find it particularly funny or as endearing as Girls, but I'll check the show out again if I have time.
This week's episode of Game of Thrones moved the plot, and the characters, quite a bit. There is Dany in front of the gates of Qarth, Arya moved to Harrenhal, and Robb fighting in the west. At King's Landing, Tyrion continues to get a leg up over his sister while Joffrey goes off the deep end. The episode, juggling many characters, manages to put characters in new situations and give us a little insight into how far they've come.
Book spoilers ahead: Again, major deviations from the book. I like how the show focuses on characters who don't get their own chapters in the book. It's necessary to keep tabs on all characters so we can see them change. It sure would be awkward if we never saw Robb again until the third season when he comes back with a wife. One thing I'm confused about is the shadow in Renly. The chronology in the book is that Catelyn and Brienne are there when the shadow kills Renly. Then, after Stannis takes over Renly's army, he splits his forces and joins the siege of Storm's End. When that doesn't work quickly enough, then Davos takes Melisandre under the castle to kill the guy in charge. My assumption is that, in the show, Renly is in Storm's End, and the birthed shadow will kill them inside while Catelyn and Brienne are also there. Another change is how Joffrey acts, showing his real sadistic side. My impression from the Tyrion chapters is that he's not super-evil but a puppet. Here, we see him going crazy with power.
Newly added (sorry): Mad Men once again proved it can be a innovative, diverse show, presenting the characters in different way than usual. It's one of those episodes where we see three different characters--Peggy, Roger, and Don--through the course of a day, and since this is Mad Men, the episode turns out to be utterly fascinating. The writers, never being ones for hand holding, approach this in a manner you wouldn't see on network television, immediately starting with Peggy's day and jumping right into Roger's day afterwards. What's weird about the whole thing is that each story fastforwards a bit towards the end from the afternoon to nighttime, making the experience a bit uncomfortable The three go in vastly different directions--Peggy staying in the office, Roger to an LSD party, Don to Howard Johnson's--but the common theme is that their days sucked. It's a testament to how great these characters are, when you can split them up into three completely separate parts and let them do their thing, it turns out great. The punchline of the episode is that these characters are in flux, unsure of what their futures hold. Their struggles through the episode are not transient events but something more structural about them as people. It's summed up at the end of the episode with Bert verbally pimp slapping Don, and the audience comes to the realization, as the office continues to bustle, that Don might not be the advertising guy he used to be.
The Killing proved, definitively, that it is the same show as it was last season. The writers tried, they really did, but in the end, they couldn't drag out the inevitable truth: they suck at writing. The potential red herring turned into a red herring, and now the new potential red herring points to Mitch. And really, who the fuck cares anymore?
It doesn't really feel like The Good Wife is heading towards the season finale next week, as there doesn't seem to be any particularly urgent storylines, but there are big things happening around the office. It seems like the show has branched out a bit too much to make anything seem like a big deal. In particular, Kalinda's plot about Lemond Bishop killing her feels rushed. It surely didn't feel like anything would really happen, unless a massive twist happened to fall on top of the show. It was used as an excuse for Kalinda and Lana to kiss, once again making Kalinda's only purpose to be the foxy lady.
I keep forgetting to comment on Magic City, but not this week! You can tell from Magic City and Boss that Starz wants to be an edgier HBO, with the same artistic qualities, acting, and writing, only juiced up a bit. While this is an admirable goal, something beyond Showtime's aspirations to churn out similar shows featuring well-known actresses, the network still has a ways to go. It looks beautiful and the setting is done nicely, but writing deficiencies are evident. The weakest link lies in an odd distribution of screen time for the characters, mainly Stevie. Why, exactly, is he so prominent? I get it, he's having sex with Ben Diamond's wife, but that's about the only thing we see him do. Why is he more important than Danny? Another enigma is Ben Diamond. He's supposed to be super powerful, but from what we've seen of him so far, he's awfully dense, unable to notice something is up with Lily and Stevie, who is far too jumpy for his own good. On the plus side, Ike is still the main character and he's a far more interesting character than the rest of the them. His relationship with Vera, in particular, is something we rarely see on television.
Fringe has been rolling along this ambiguous path this season, weaving stories of two altered worlds, Peter, and new developments, all of which seem rather pointless on a large scale. Does Fringe even have a large scale? Nothing really fits together so it's hard to say what's going on. It's pretty obvious the writers make things up as they go along, so I guess the last episode wasn't too surprising. Apparently, we got the punchline of the whole show: the Observers, in the future, will travel from the further future to take over, and Peter and Olivia's daughter is a Fringe agent. Now, there was never any indication that the Observers would do this and how any of this relates to DRJ, but it's about par for the course of making stuff up. That isn't to say the show isn't interesting and enjoyable, just the plot isn't coherent.
The episode serves up the usual dystopia tropes--emotionless occupiers, no liquid coffee, etc--and, like all dystopia stories, sets up a compelling world where the audience can root for the characters. It's always fun to enter a new world (one of the reasons why I like TV pilots) and there enough connections to the Fringe we know to make it relatable. While this storyline might not be relevant and will probably never be fully realized, it stood on its own as a standalone episode.
After almost a whole season of ungracefully dancing around the fact that it doesn't want the audience to know jack until the actual reveal, Grimm finally told us the deal with the creatures and their power structure. There are these royal families and a resistance, and the fight has come to America. The "mystery dialogue" hinted that Grimms were helping the royals, though, awkwardly, this was never discussed afterward. Now we're getting somewhere!!!!!!!!
I really don't know what to do with Supernatural anymore. I don't like the Bobby as a ghost or Leviathan story. As such, a lot of these episodes are okay, but has a portion which really bothers me. The problem with Bobby as a ghost is a serious lack of clarity and direction. He's a ghost, he's following the Winchesters, now Dean is pissed, and... ? The best thing to come out of this story is that we actually got to see how ghosts live.
Once again I am forced to lament the end of Awake in the wake of yet another good, albeit different, episode. This time, instead of the breakneck pace of previous episodes, it focused on the Brittons and their relationship. With the solid acting by Jason Isaacs and Laura Allen, the episode felt really nice, before the storm that is sure to come once they move to Oregon.
Community sometimes goes for those weird episodes where it focuses on certain characters in an odd place. Last week, the episode used the dreamatorium to put a spotlight on Abed and Annie. It wasn't the funniest episode, but the use of the dreamatorium was clever and the character emphasis was great as it always is.
One thing The Secret Circle handled poorly through the season (among others) was the parents. They'd be in one episode, scheming and doing really bad things, then gone in the next, as if they weren't threats. The lack of consistency slowed the momentum down (similarly to the Originals on The Vampire Diairies) and they never seemed to fit in. Now, it seems like their role is to provide a bridge between Blackwell and the kids.
The Vampire Diaries went off the rails as soon as Klaus was no longer a villain, and the show seemed more about creating reasons to keep him alive than anything else. Last week's episode brought things back to basics, with focus on characters instead of plot. Not much happened, but there were plenty of those character moments that resonate far more than the recent plot machinations.
As far as Elena and Damon go, io9 sums it up nicely. Let's face it. Damon has done innumerable bad things in the recent past, like rape bad, and no I'm not trying to be controversial. If you use your powers on women and compel them to sleep with you, that's pretty similar to rape. Now, I know the writers aren't condoning rape. Instead, they're following the characterizations they've always had, characters ignoring everything else for the one's they love. In this case Elena is in love with Damon so she'll excuse his behavior and her earlier proclamations never to associate herself with him again. So blame Elena if you want, she's not exactly the sharpest person.
Revenge: I'm having a hard time believing is Daniel in serious trouble. Didn't Tyler have a gun on him at some point? Wasn't he declared by a doctor to be medically unstable? As long as we accept that, though, the rest of the show flows nicely. Bringing Mason Treadwell back was a good move as well as showing us the darker side of Emily. One thing that was a bit out there was Victoria and this artist. We'll see where the story leads.
Glee actually tackled the problem of what various characters will do after high school, so last week's episode wasn't completely bad and it was a bit unexpected. On the other hand, the show did go the expected route with the message that everyone should follow their dreams. Unfortunately, you can see how that turns out for a lot of people, looking at signs that many OWS protesters have.
NCIS: It seems like my deal as of late has been to criticize overarching plots and I'm beginning to bored even myself... but NCIS's latest attempt with the Watcher Fleet stuff continues to bug me. The biggest problem is that the show doesn't need the story. It's a procedural with plenty of good characters, each with their own personal demons. External problems do little to help with the synergy of the show. What's wrong with solving crimes like they usually do? The second thing is that the Watcher Fleet makes little sense. The writers dole out small morsels of information, cloaked in the all too abundant "mystery dialogue." There's some nonsense about rogue agents and these chips, but it's all pretty lame when the characters go back to their usual routine after the episode. So is the biggest threat to national security ever or just another thing to fix in an instant? That brings us to last week's episode in which the rogue agents exploited bad wiring to cause fires. Why...?
House ended with a major bombshell, Wilson having cancer. We get it, Wilson is the only one House has left after Dominika found out the truth, and this is supposed to signal big changes. The problem is, the show is ending soon and it's not like this twist will do much in terms of character development. What would be funny is if this turned out to be a big joke, like Wilson getting back at House for faking his son. The rest of the episode was of stuff we've already seen- plenty of times before-debate over relgion--and more of this weird obsession over Park and sex. Park and Chase are actually pretty funny, but the writers have pigeonholed her character badly.
I forgot to say anything about Girls in the rush last week, so I have some thoughts this week. First off, there is some negative buzz surrounding the show regarding nepotism. Well of course there is some nepotism--this is Hollywood, the one place that makes Washington D.C. look saintly. Maybe there could have been better actresses, maybe not--I don't see serious flaws in the casting. Second, there is backlash over the lack of minorities. Again, this is Hollywood and they don't add minorities unless they serve an explicit purpose. (Glee has minority characters but has never focused on minority culture, which seems to be in opposition to the super-liberal, accept everything theme. Instead, minorities are used in a generic sense, like Asian guy and Asian girl--diversity! And when there was a semblance of Asian culture, Mike's father wanting him to go to a good school, Glee essentially tossed that under the bus, emphasizing how much better Glee culture is.) I think these two themes about Hollywood--consciously or not--are perfectly reflected by the show. The characters are direct and we as the audience get to see everything they do. They rarely interact with minorities and they're spoiled rich girls. That's Hollywood in a nutshell. So when people want to complain about Girls, they should appreciate that Girls is upfront about things, not deviously exploitative like Glee.
Now that that's over with, I think the show is great. It's an amusing show with amusing characters who say amusing things. It isn't laugh out loud funny, nor is it trying to be. We follow around the characters to random places and hear the things they have to say, and if the writing is good enough as it has been, the show will be good.
Veep doesn't exactly feel like an HBO show, but it's a decent satire. I didn't find it particularly funny or as endearing as Girls, but I'll check the show out again if I have time.
This week's episode of Game of Thrones moved the plot, and the characters, quite a bit. There is Dany in front of the gates of Qarth, Arya moved to Harrenhal, and Robb fighting in the west. At King's Landing, Tyrion continues to get a leg up over his sister while Joffrey goes off the deep end. The episode, juggling many characters, manages to put characters in new situations and give us a little insight into how far they've come.
Book spoilers ahead: Again, major deviations from the book. I like how the show focuses on characters who don't get their own chapters in the book. It's necessary to keep tabs on all characters so we can see them change. It sure would be awkward if we never saw Robb again until the third season when he comes back with a wife. One thing I'm confused about is the shadow in Renly. The chronology in the book is that Catelyn and Brienne are there when the shadow kills Renly. Then, after Stannis takes over Renly's army, he splits his forces and joins the siege of Storm's End. When that doesn't work quickly enough, then Davos takes Melisandre under the castle to kill the guy in charge. My assumption is that, in the show, Renly is in Storm's End, and the birthed shadow will kill them inside while Catelyn and Brienne are also there. Another change is how Joffrey acts, showing his real sadistic side. My impression from the Tyrion chapters is that he's not super-evil but a puppet. Here, we see him going crazy with power.
Newly added (sorry): Mad Men once again proved it can be a innovative, diverse show, presenting the characters in different way than usual. It's one of those episodes where we see three different characters--Peggy, Roger, and Don--through the course of a day, and since this is Mad Men, the episode turns out to be utterly fascinating. The writers, never being ones for hand holding, approach this in a manner you wouldn't see on network television, immediately starting with Peggy's day and jumping right into Roger's day afterwards. What's weird about the whole thing is that each story fastforwards a bit towards the end from the afternoon to nighttime, making the experience a bit uncomfortable The three go in vastly different directions--Peggy staying in the office, Roger to an LSD party, Don to Howard Johnson's--but the common theme is that their days sucked. It's a testament to how great these characters are, when you can split them up into three completely separate parts and let them do their thing, it turns out great. The punchline of the episode is that these characters are in flux, unsure of what their futures hold. Their struggles through the episode are not transient events but something more structural about them as people. It's summed up at the end of the episode with Bert verbally pimp slapping Don, and the audience comes to the realization, as the office continues to bustle, that Don might not be the advertising guy he used to be.
The Killing proved, definitively, that it is the same show as it was last season. The writers tried, they really did, but in the end, they couldn't drag out the inevitable truth: they suck at writing. The potential red herring turned into a red herring, and now the new potential red herring points to Mitch. And really, who the fuck cares anymore?
It doesn't really feel like The Good Wife is heading towards the season finale next week, as there doesn't seem to be any particularly urgent storylines, but there are big things happening around the office. It seems like the show has branched out a bit too much to make anything seem like a big deal. In particular, Kalinda's plot about Lemond Bishop killing her feels rushed. It surely didn't feel like anything would really happen, unless a massive twist happened to fall on top of the show. It was used as an excuse for Kalinda and Lana to kiss, once again making Kalinda's only purpose to be the foxy lady.
I keep forgetting to comment on Magic City, but not this week! You can tell from Magic City and Boss that Starz wants to be an edgier HBO, with the same artistic qualities, acting, and writing, only juiced up a bit. While this is an admirable goal, something beyond Showtime's aspirations to churn out similar shows featuring well-known actresses, the network still has a ways to go. It looks beautiful and the setting is done nicely, but writing deficiencies are evident. The weakest link lies in an odd distribution of screen time for the characters, mainly Stevie. Why, exactly, is he so prominent? I get it, he's having sex with Ben Diamond's wife, but that's about the only thing we see him do. Why is he more important than Danny? Another enigma is Ben Diamond. He's supposed to be super powerful, but from what we've seen of him so far, he's awfully dense, unable to notice something is up with Lily and Stevie, who is far too jumpy for his own good. On the plus side, Ike is still the main character and he's a far more interesting character than the rest of the them. His relationship with Vera, in particular, is something we rarely see on television.
Fringe has been rolling along this ambiguous path this season, weaving stories of two altered worlds, Peter, and new developments, all of which seem rather pointless on a large scale. Does Fringe even have a large scale? Nothing really fits together so it's hard to say what's going on. It's pretty obvious the writers make things up as they go along, so I guess the last episode wasn't too surprising. Apparently, we got the punchline of the whole show: the Observers, in the future, will travel from the further future to take over, and Peter and Olivia's daughter is a Fringe agent. Now, there was never any indication that the Observers would do this and how any of this relates to DRJ, but it's about par for the course of making stuff up. That isn't to say the show isn't interesting and enjoyable, just the plot isn't coherent.
The episode serves up the usual dystopia tropes--emotionless occupiers, no liquid coffee, etc--and, like all dystopia stories, sets up a compelling world where the audience can root for the characters. It's always fun to enter a new world (one of the reasons why I like TV pilots) and there enough connections to the Fringe we know to make it relatable. While this storyline might not be relevant and will probably never be fully realized, it stood on its own as a standalone episode.
After almost a whole season of ungracefully dancing around the fact that it doesn't want the audience to know jack until the actual reveal, Grimm finally told us the deal with the creatures and their power structure. There are these royal families and a resistance, and the fight has come to America. The "mystery dialogue" hinted that Grimms were helping the royals, though, awkwardly, this was never discussed afterward. Now we're getting somewhere!!!!!!!!
I really don't know what to do with Supernatural anymore. I don't like the Bobby as a ghost or Leviathan story. As such, a lot of these episodes are okay, but has a portion which really bothers me. The problem with Bobby as a ghost is a serious lack of clarity and direction. He's a ghost, he's following the Winchesters, now Dean is pissed, and... ? The best thing to come out of this story is that we actually got to see how ghosts live.
Once again I am forced to lament the end of Awake in the wake of yet another good, albeit different, episode. This time, instead of the breakneck pace of previous episodes, it focused on the Brittons and their relationship. With the solid acting by Jason Isaacs and Laura Allen, the episode felt really nice, before the storm that is sure to come once they move to Oregon.
Community sometimes goes for those weird episodes where it focuses on certain characters in an odd place. Last week, the episode used the dreamatorium to put a spotlight on Abed and Annie. It wasn't the funniest episode, but the use of the dreamatorium was clever and the character emphasis was great as it always is.
One thing The Secret Circle handled poorly through the season (among others) was the parents. They'd be in one episode, scheming and doing really bad things, then gone in the next, as if they weren't threats. The lack of consistency slowed the momentum down (similarly to the Originals on The Vampire Diairies) and they never seemed to fit in. Now, it seems like their role is to provide a bridge between Blackwell and the kids.
The Vampire Diaries went off the rails as soon as Klaus was no longer a villain, and the show seemed more about creating reasons to keep him alive than anything else. Last week's episode brought things back to basics, with focus on characters instead of plot. Not much happened, but there were plenty of those character moments that resonate far more than the recent plot machinations.
As far as Elena and Damon go, io9 sums it up nicely. Let's face it. Damon has done innumerable bad things in the recent past, like rape bad, and no I'm not trying to be controversial. If you use your powers on women and compel them to sleep with you, that's pretty similar to rape. Now, I know the writers aren't condoning rape. Instead, they're following the characterizations they've always had, characters ignoring everything else for the one's they love. In this case Elena is in love with Damon so she'll excuse his behavior and her earlier proclamations never to associate herself with him again. So blame Elena if you want, she's not exactly the sharpest person.
Revenge: I'm having a hard time believing is Daniel in serious trouble. Didn't Tyler have a gun on him at some point? Wasn't he declared by a doctor to be medically unstable? As long as we accept that, though, the rest of the show flows nicely. Bringing Mason Treadwell back was a good move as well as showing us the darker side of Emily. One thing that was a bit out there was Victoria and this artist. We'll see where the story leads.
Glee actually tackled the problem of what various characters will do after high school, so last week's episode wasn't completely bad and it was a bit unexpected. On the other hand, the show did go the expected route with the message that everyone should follow their dreams. Unfortunately, you can see how that turns out for a lot of people, looking at signs that many OWS protesters have.
NCIS: It seems like my deal as of late has been to criticize overarching plots and I'm beginning to bored even myself... but NCIS's latest attempt with the Watcher Fleet stuff continues to bug me. The biggest problem is that the show doesn't need the story. It's a procedural with plenty of good characters, each with their own personal demons. External problems do little to help with the synergy of the show. What's wrong with solving crimes like they usually do? The second thing is that the Watcher Fleet makes little sense. The writers dole out small morsels of information, cloaked in the all too abundant "mystery dialogue." There's some nonsense about rogue agents and these chips, but it's all pretty lame when the characters go back to their usual routine after the episode. So is the biggest threat to national security ever or just another thing to fix in an instant? That brings us to last week's episode in which the rogue agents exploited bad wiring to cause fires. Why...?
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Reviews 4/09/12 - 4/16/12
I fell behind on television again, so the reviews are a day late.
The Killing continued the inquiry into tattoo guy and the mob. They actually catch the tattoo guy and find his drawing of Rosie. Another red herring? Could the show have been fixed? I guess we'll find out soon enough.
A common complaint non-Mad Men watchers have about the show is that it's boring and just people sitting around talking. Yes, it is people sitting around talking, but have you ever been so entertained by people sitting around and talking? I think not. There's something mystical about the show's ability to do so much with so little. Have Peggy take all of Roger's money--instant smiles--then this week have her exclaim that Lane is beating up Peter--instant smiles. The episode takes a step back and look at four men--Peter, Don, Lane, and Ken. All are very different people in very different places. The episode focuses more on the three who aren't Don, and because of a glancing look at Don, it seems like he has a much better life than the rest of the them.
Game of Thrones: Varys has a great conversation with Tyrion about power (one of the highlights of the book, IMO), and he concludes that power is an illusion. Indeed, despite people's proclamations of fealty or piety, they couldn't care less. What matters is how far up the ladder they can be in the future. We see this illustrated in the next scene, as Yoren and others are killed without a second thought. They're supposed to be the Night's Watch, a group all the kingdoms are supposed to support, and they're supposed to be allowed to make it to the Wall unimpeded. But does Amory Lorch care? Not in the least bit. He's going to help the Lannisters who currently hold King's Landing.
Major book spoilers ahead, read at your own peril: There were again many deviations from the book. There was stuff with Loras, Renly,and Margaery that clearly wasn't in the book, but the additions don't change the plot on a large scale. What really caught my attention, however, was Shae becoming handmaiden for Sansa. In the book, over halfway through, Shae becomes handmaiden of Lollys after Lollys gets rape by the mob after they send Myrcella off to Dorne at the docks. This seemed like a pretty big deal in the book, a culmination of the growing unrest at King's Landing that had been building, setting the stage for an unruly King's Landing before Stannis's assault. Is the show going to skip over this? Another less important deviation was Arya, Gendry, and the others getting captured at that point. They're suppose to run away for a bit before getting caught later, but it's not important.
Although this season of Fringe hasn't exactly been my favorite, I've accepted this new format and I've grown to like it. Yes, the writers threw away three seasons of development--which was part of confusion over Broyles since he did die last season--but it's fine for the most part. It turns out that Broyles was not a shapeshifter but was helping Jones in exchange for saving his son's health. Unlike Walter, though, Broyles mostly owns up to it quickly, turning himself in to the other Broyles. The other big development was Jones continuing to cause trouble, culminating with the revelation that he wants to destroy both universes. OK... I have no clue what that's about...
Grimm: Lots of people liked last week's episode and it's quite understandable. Nick's new gang, consisting of himself, Monroe, and now Rosalie, is awesome and with the fast pace and the great humanization of Adalind, the episode had a lot going for it. That said, the overarching plot with Renard and Adalind and the key is awful. The master plan was for Adalind to seduce Hank to put him in a coma to somehow get Nick to turn over the key. Whose terrible plan was this? Why not go after Juliette? Why not provide back up? And we still don't know who the fuck Renard is.
Awake is definitely not coming back for another season, but even in the first season it seems like the show is headed towards a wild conclusion. The Brittons in the red world are moving to Oregon, breaking the locational link between the two worlds.
Up All Night's first season wasn't groundbreaking and it was never a show I watched for laughs, but it had a comfortable, welcoming feeling. Christina Applegate and Will Arnett had amazing chemistry from day one and eventually even Maya Rudolph fit in.
With talk that The Office will be completely overhauled--the current cast reduced to recurring and a new batch coming in--I actually think that wouldn't be too bad. We've seen the show struggle greatly in Michael's last seasons and especially since his departure. Andy clearly isn't a suitable replacement, as he has all of Michael's bad traits without the cluelessness that made Michael a fun character. I wouldn't mind if Creed was given center stage for once.
Psych's season never had a SERIOUS episode, a staple on the show since "An Evening with Mr. Yang" back in the third season, not that it ever needed one. The season finale is mostly a light affair, but it dives into Henry's past and ends with him getting shot. Now, this being Psych, I don't think Henry will die. But if he did, it would fit
Justified: Now that's a finale! Fast, twisty, and of course bloody. Very bloody with the way Quarles left the world. At the same time, the shock of Quarles getting his armed chopped off was tempered by Quarles still alive, reaching for his arm, and Raylan pulling it back--funny stuff we've come to expect behind the mayhem of the show. I was surprised Arlo survived, but with Raylan stating that Arlo shot at person with the hat without recognizing the face pretty much puts him on the short list of people Raylan needs to kill.
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 was pretty great. There's Krysten Ritter as the eponymous bitch and James Van Der Beek as the Beek himself. Chloe becoming "friendly" with June happened a little too quick, but I'm not sure it would be even possible in thirty minutes to turn someone from total bitch to semi-friend.
I haven't commented on New Girl (or any comedy, really), but I wanted to say how much I like the characters together. We really get the sense that these characters know and like each other a lot and want to hang up.
I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, but, yeah, Glee sucked. The plots were again contrived and the songs overproduced (and for once, badly lip synced). The one saving grace--a big one, I'll admit--was Matt Bomer. His lesson about pointing had me cracking up.
The way NCIS ended last week was a bit weird. It seemed like the episode would end with a raid on the warehouse, allowing the heroes who'd been shot at earlier a chance to shootup the cartel. Instead, we just see Gibbs looking at a news report.
See how pleasant Bones can be when the characters aren't arguing over trivial things? The show will never have a plot as cool as Gormogon, but I hope it keeps up.
Being Human's second season was a big letdown. Maybe it would have been better if any of the three plots were any good but they were all equally bad. None were particularly exciting or interesting or emotional or anything.
Castle staged a Firefly reunion, bringing Adam Baldwin to play a Detective Slaughter. It was cool to see Mal and Jayne reunited, the dinosaur toy, and the brown coat, but the episode stood on its own because Slaughter was such a different character. The episode got bogged down in stupid Beckett drama, but it didn't hinder the episode as as whole.
Smash continues having the problem with too many characters and too many uninteresting storylines. The arrival of Rebecca Duvall was done well, as the first thing she does is sing out of key. From there, we see that she clearly shouldn't be in the role and has an attitude, but also that she could play the part adequately.
House, the show and the character, tried to deceive everyone by bringing in Wilson's son. We're led to believe that this kid is perfect and Wilson will have a son who is everything he wanted. Only, this is House, the show and the character. The show has basically resigned itself to never tackling anything of importance, and the character is a long string of pranks. So in the end it was a big prank and we can all go back to what we were doing before. For a while during the episode, I thought the kid might actually be real, considering this is the last season. Maybe the writers would take a chance towards the end of the series. But no, we should never overestimate these writers, and just assume the lowest denominator to be true.
Interesting, in this week's episode, the writers give a little nod towards House and Donika, with House throwing away her INS letter. Well at least something came about another overwrought discussion of everyone's love life.
The Killing continued the inquiry into tattoo guy and the mob. They actually catch the tattoo guy and find his drawing of Rosie. Another red herring? Could the show have been fixed? I guess we'll find out soon enough.
A common complaint non-Mad Men watchers have about the show is that it's boring and just people sitting around talking. Yes, it is people sitting around talking, but have you ever been so entertained by people sitting around and talking? I think not. There's something mystical about the show's ability to do so much with so little. Have Peggy take all of Roger's money--instant smiles--then this week have her exclaim that Lane is beating up Peter--instant smiles. The episode takes a step back and look at four men--Peter, Don, Lane, and Ken. All are very different people in very different places. The episode focuses more on the three who aren't Don, and because of a glancing look at Don, it seems like he has a much better life than the rest of the them.
Game of Thrones: Varys has a great conversation with Tyrion about power (one of the highlights of the book, IMO), and he concludes that power is an illusion. Indeed, despite people's proclamations of fealty or piety, they couldn't care less. What matters is how far up the ladder they can be in the future. We see this illustrated in the next scene, as Yoren and others are killed without a second thought. They're supposed to be the Night's Watch, a group all the kingdoms are supposed to support, and they're supposed to be allowed to make it to the Wall unimpeded. But does Amory Lorch care? Not in the least bit. He's going to help the Lannisters who currently hold King's Landing.
Major book spoilers ahead, read at your own peril: There were again many deviations from the book. There was stuff with Loras, Renly,and Margaery that clearly wasn't in the book, but the additions don't change the plot on a large scale. What really caught my attention, however, was Shae becoming handmaiden for Sansa. In the book, over halfway through, Shae becomes handmaiden of Lollys after Lollys gets rape by the mob after they send Myrcella off to Dorne at the docks. This seemed like a pretty big deal in the book, a culmination of the growing unrest at King's Landing that had been building, setting the stage for an unruly King's Landing before Stannis's assault. Is the show going to skip over this? Another less important deviation was Arya, Gendry, and the others getting captured at that point. They're suppose to run away for a bit before getting caught later, but it's not important.
Although this season of Fringe hasn't exactly been my favorite, I've accepted this new format and I've grown to like it. Yes, the writers threw away three seasons of development--which was part of confusion over Broyles since he did die last season--but it's fine for the most part. It turns out that Broyles was not a shapeshifter but was helping Jones in exchange for saving his son's health. Unlike Walter, though, Broyles mostly owns up to it quickly, turning himself in to the other Broyles. The other big development was Jones continuing to cause trouble, culminating with the revelation that he wants to destroy both universes. OK... I have no clue what that's about...
Grimm: Lots of people liked last week's episode and it's quite understandable. Nick's new gang, consisting of himself, Monroe, and now Rosalie, is awesome and with the fast pace and the great humanization of Adalind, the episode had a lot going for it. That said, the overarching plot with Renard and Adalind and the key is awful. The master plan was for Adalind to seduce Hank to put him in a coma to somehow get Nick to turn over the key. Whose terrible plan was this? Why not go after Juliette? Why not provide back up? And we still don't know who the fuck Renard is.
Awake is definitely not coming back for another season, but even in the first season it seems like the show is headed towards a wild conclusion. The Brittons in the red world are moving to Oregon, breaking the locational link between the two worlds.
Up All Night's first season wasn't groundbreaking and it was never a show I watched for laughs, but it had a comfortable, welcoming feeling. Christina Applegate and Will Arnett had amazing chemistry from day one and eventually even Maya Rudolph fit in.
With talk that The Office will be completely overhauled--the current cast reduced to recurring and a new batch coming in--I actually think that wouldn't be too bad. We've seen the show struggle greatly in Michael's last seasons and especially since his departure. Andy clearly isn't a suitable replacement, as he has all of Michael's bad traits without the cluelessness that made Michael a fun character. I wouldn't mind if Creed was given center stage for once.
Psych's season never had a SERIOUS episode, a staple on the show since "An Evening with Mr. Yang" back in the third season, not that it ever needed one. The season finale is mostly a light affair, but it dives into Henry's past and ends with him getting shot. Now, this being Psych, I don't think Henry will die. But if he did, it would fit
Justified: Now that's a finale! Fast, twisty, and of course bloody. Very bloody with the way Quarles left the world. At the same time, the shock of Quarles getting his armed chopped off was tempered by Quarles still alive, reaching for his arm, and Raylan pulling it back--funny stuff we've come to expect behind the mayhem of the show. I was surprised Arlo survived, but with Raylan stating that Arlo shot at person with the hat without recognizing the face pretty much puts him on the short list of people Raylan needs to kill.
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 was pretty great. There's Krysten Ritter as the eponymous bitch and James Van Der Beek as the Beek himself. Chloe becoming "friendly" with June happened a little too quick, but I'm not sure it would be even possible in thirty minutes to turn someone from total bitch to semi-friend.
I haven't commented on New Girl (or any comedy, really), but I wanted to say how much I like the characters together. We really get the sense that these characters know and like each other a lot and want to hang up.
I feel like I'm beating a dead horse, but, yeah, Glee sucked. The plots were again contrived and the songs overproduced (and for once, badly lip synced). The one saving grace--a big one, I'll admit--was Matt Bomer. His lesson about pointing had me cracking up.
The way NCIS ended last week was a bit weird. It seemed like the episode would end with a raid on the warehouse, allowing the heroes who'd been shot at earlier a chance to shootup the cartel. Instead, we just see Gibbs looking at a news report.
See how pleasant Bones can be when the characters aren't arguing over trivial things? The show will never have a plot as cool as Gormogon, but I hope it keeps up.
Being Human's second season was a big letdown. Maybe it would have been better if any of the three plots were any good but they were all equally bad. None were particularly exciting or interesting or emotional or anything.
Castle staged a Firefly reunion, bringing Adam Baldwin to play a Detective Slaughter. It was cool to see Mal and Jayne reunited, the dinosaur toy, and the brown coat, but the episode stood on its own because Slaughter was such a different character. The episode got bogged down in stupid Beckett drama, but it didn't hinder the episode as as whole.
Smash continues having the problem with too many characters and too many uninteresting storylines. The arrival of Rebecca Duvall was done well, as the first thing she does is sing out of key. From there, we see that she clearly shouldn't be in the role and has an attitude, but also that she could play the part adequately.
House, the show and the character, tried to deceive everyone by bringing in Wilson's son. We're led to believe that this kid is perfect and Wilson will have a son who is everything he wanted. Only, this is House, the show and the character. The show has basically resigned itself to never tackling anything of importance, and the character is a long string of pranks. So in the end it was a big prank and we can all go back to what we were doing before. For a while during the episode, I thought the kid might actually be real, considering this is the last season. Maybe the writers would take a chance towards the end of the series. But no, we should never overestimate these writers, and just assume the lowest denominator to be true.
Interesting, in this week's episode, the writers give a little nod towards House and Donika, with House throwing away her INS letter. Well at least something came about another overwrought discussion of everyone's love life.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Reviews 4/4/12 - 4/9/12
I totally forgot to review Shamless and House of Lies in a rush of things last week, so I'll have a few comments on them, though I won't get too detailed. Their finales were both quite different than the bulk of the seasons, which were pretty wild for the sake of being wild. In contrast the finales really brought out the essence of the characters and framed the story to fit them.
Game of Thrones is still in the building up stages of the season, so there wasn't too much going on in terms of big plot developments. The big developement was Theon going back home to a chilly welcoming and a hilarious joke by his sister. Mainly, the characters stayed put with smaller developments like Tyrion scheming, Davos hiring Salladhor Saan, Arya telling Gendry her real name, and Jon finding out what happens to the baby.
Major spoilers for the book, so don't read ahead if you don't want to be spoiled. There were quite a bit of diversions from the book, notably Stannis and Melisandre. Having just read the book, I can clearly remember that not happening. If they indeed did have sex which Melisandre claimed would bear a son, that would explain events later in the book, when Davos brings her under Storm's End and she births out the shadow. In his monologue, Davos says he knows where the shadow came from, and I had thought he meant that the shadow was cast from himself (since during the boat ride they were arguing over light and shadows). One of the things the writers seem to be doing is differentiating Littlefinger from Varys. They seem pretty similar in the books, gathering information and the like, but in the show Littlefinger is more willing to physically harm people and is far more brutal. The biggest change I don't understand is the naming of Asha to Yara. Maybe people would confuse Asha with Osha, but in context nobody should be confused.
The Killing is now turning towards Stan's mob friends and the mysterious tattooed person. More red herrings?
I'm having a hard time deciding what made me most happy about Mad Men last night, the Peggy getting $400 from Roger and counting it, or Greg the rapist leaving for good. While Peggy finds out that Dawn is fine and not a thief and Joan finally frees herself from Greg, Don's plot ends with far more uncertainty. Andrea, a former flame whom he and Megan see at the beginning of the episode, serves as a reminder of who Don is. He isn't a great guy. He's smooth and interesting, sure, but certainly not trustworthy. And we even see those darker impulses of his which sometimes come out, when he strangles Andrea to death, before it is revealed to be a dream.
Fringe: Lincoln has been the odd man out since he joined the show. He joined late and all his pining for Olivia was all for naught. So I was very pleased to see how the writers dealt with him. They gave him his own episode, leaving Peter and Olivia back at home, allowing he to operate individually in the other world alongside his counterpart. And then the writers gave themselves an opening for the future, killing off the other Lincoln, so our Lincoln could replace him, at least temporarily, which frees up time in the next episodes to focus on Olivia and Peter.
Fairly Legal is one of those shows that doesn't require a comment every week. Mainly, the show depends entirely on how Kate acts. And her behavior is very predictable--she's crazy. One something doesn't go the way she exactly envisions, she throws a fit, and does anything, says anything to get things the way she wants to be. We don't even know why she wants the things she wants, like why she hates Lauren so much, but we have to roll with that.
The Finder was moved to Friday and its ratings were far worse than they were before. So now it's even more likely to be canceled. I like what the show tried to do in an age of science procedurals where random science terminology is bandied around by the actors. There is mention of Walter doing a Fourier transform, but the procedural element is Walter's mystical ability to find things without any strict rules.
Aside from the cliches from all directions, Scandal has a very workable formula. The Shonda Rhimes style works in DC, with quick pacing applied to high-profile cases and people.
Awake once again proved it can be pushed further. Britten is beginning to lose himself between worlds and we realize that his situation may not be tenable. This is really interesting stuff for a show certain to be canceled.
The conclusion of Community second blanket fort episode was perfectly executed. In the Ken Burns PBS documentary style, the show allowed us to see how the war transpired and gave us a funny look at how the auxiliary characters acted during it.
Justified has built up so much through the course of the season that the second to last episode of the season went as one one might expect--with pure uncertainty. Everyone has so many secrets that no one really had a clear grip on what everyone else was up, so even when they tried to make deals, the whole thing blew up, leaving the sheriff dead and Quarles, Boyd, and everyone else on the loose.
Game of Thrones is still in the building up stages of the season, so there wasn't too much going on in terms of big plot developments. The big developement was Theon going back home to a chilly welcoming and a hilarious joke by his sister. Mainly, the characters stayed put with smaller developments like Tyrion scheming, Davos hiring Salladhor Saan, Arya telling Gendry her real name, and Jon finding out what happens to the baby.
Major spoilers for the book, so don't read ahead if you don't want to be spoiled. There were quite a bit of diversions from the book, notably Stannis and Melisandre. Having just read the book, I can clearly remember that not happening. If they indeed did have sex which Melisandre claimed would bear a son, that would explain events later in the book, when Davos brings her under Storm's End and she births out the shadow. In his monologue, Davos says he knows where the shadow came from, and I had thought he meant that the shadow was cast from himself (since during the boat ride they were arguing over light and shadows). One of the things the writers seem to be doing is differentiating Littlefinger from Varys. They seem pretty similar in the books, gathering information and the like, but in the show Littlefinger is more willing to physically harm people and is far more brutal. The biggest change I don't understand is the naming of Asha to Yara. Maybe people would confuse Asha with Osha, but in context nobody should be confused.
The Killing is now turning towards Stan's mob friends and the mysterious tattooed person. More red herrings?
I'm having a hard time deciding what made me most happy about Mad Men last night, the Peggy getting $400 from Roger and counting it, or Greg the rapist leaving for good. While Peggy finds out that Dawn is fine and not a thief and Joan finally frees herself from Greg, Don's plot ends with far more uncertainty. Andrea, a former flame whom he and Megan see at the beginning of the episode, serves as a reminder of who Don is. He isn't a great guy. He's smooth and interesting, sure, but certainly not trustworthy. And we even see those darker impulses of his which sometimes come out, when he strangles Andrea to death, before it is revealed to be a dream.
Fringe: Lincoln has been the odd man out since he joined the show. He joined late and all his pining for Olivia was all for naught. So I was very pleased to see how the writers dealt with him. They gave him his own episode, leaving Peter and Olivia back at home, allowing he to operate individually in the other world alongside his counterpart. And then the writers gave themselves an opening for the future, killing off the other Lincoln, so our Lincoln could replace him, at least temporarily, which frees up time in the next episodes to focus on Olivia and Peter.
Fairly Legal is one of those shows that doesn't require a comment every week. Mainly, the show depends entirely on how Kate acts. And her behavior is very predictable--she's crazy. One something doesn't go the way she exactly envisions, she throws a fit, and does anything, says anything to get things the way she wants to be. We don't even know why she wants the things she wants, like why she hates Lauren so much, but we have to roll with that.
The Finder was moved to Friday and its ratings were far worse than they were before. So now it's even more likely to be canceled. I like what the show tried to do in an age of science procedurals where random science terminology is bandied around by the actors. There is mention of Walter doing a Fourier transform, but the procedural element is Walter's mystical ability to find things without any strict rules.
Aside from the cliches from all directions, Scandal has a very workable formula. The Shonda Rhimes style works in DC, with quick pacing applied to high-profile cases and people.
Awake once again proved it can be pushed further. Britten is beginning to lose himself between worlds and we realize that his situation may not be tenable. This is really interesting stuff for a show certain to be canceled.
The conclusion of Community second blanket fort episode was perfectly executed. In the Ken Burns PBS documentary style, the show allowed us to see how the war transpired and gave us a funny look at how the auxiliary characters acted during it.
Justified has built up so much through the course of the season that the second to last episode of the season went as one one might expect--with pure uncertainty. Everyone has so many secrets that no one really had a clear grip on what everyone else was up, so even when they tried to make deals, the whole thing blew up, leaving the sheriff dead and Quarles, Boyd, and everyone else on the loose.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Ratings/Cancellation Comments
I've been meaning to make this post for a while, but never got around to it. I have time now, so here it is, before networks announce their decisions. This list is not exhaustive, but of the shows left out, you can figure out whether they will be renewed or canceled. So a show like Suburgatory, while not officially renewed, doesn't need to belong on the list because everyone knows it'll be renewed.
ABC
Body of Proof: It bared squeezed by last season, getting low 2s. Now it's getting mid 1s, sometimes close to 2. I don't see it coming back.
Once Upon a Time: Safe for renewal.
Castle: Its ratings are pretty low, but it's close to syndication, which means lots of money.
Pan Am: Crashed and burned.
Missing: Ashley Judd brought the star power, but it's a goner.
The River: I guess the Paranormal Activity message never got out. I don't see a second season in the future.
Cougar Town: It may gotten a reprieve last year, but with the rest of ABC's comedy block in the 2s or higher, I can't see it getting another season.
GCB: If the ratings are any indication, GCB won't replace Desperate Housewives. Maybe ABC will try to pair if with comedies during the weekday--if it gets renewed.
Private Practice: Its ratings continue to decline, but that's been the case for all networks. I would be surprised if it were canceled, but not completely.
FOX
Terra Nova: Canceled and it's highly unlikely anybody else--another network, Netflix, DirecTV, what have you--will pick up up.
Alcatraz: If it maintained the same ratings it was getting at the beginning of the season, it would be safe. As it stands now, it is on the canceled side of the bubble.
The Finder: Almost certainly a goner. Its backdoor pilot wasn't well-received and the ratings for the actual pilot weren't great, following the winter finale of Bones. But the episode airing after American Idol didn't do well either. I'm quite surprised by that.
Touch: Ratings have remained good since the premiere, it should stay around.
Fringe: I'd like to see a final season, but the ratings have been really low. Maybe a final 13 episode season for the fans?
Breaking In: I'm not sure what Fox expected from it, but the ratings have been bad.
NBC
Community: Could go either way, but I'm fairly certain it'll be renewed Critics like it, fans like it but few watch. Syndication is on the horizon, however, and the ratings have been good since its return so that could push it to be renewed.
The Firm: Started off bad, moved to Saturday, and is still bad, so pretty much canceled
Whitney: It started off fairly strong, but the move to Wednesday hurt it. Still, with NBC's low standards, it has a fighting chance.
Are You There, Chelsea?: Whereas Whitney is more or less in the center of the bubble, Chelsea will likely be canceled, never getting decent ratings except for the premiere.
Bent: I don't know why, but NBC basically gave up on it before it even aired and burned it off in 3 nights.
Harry's Law: It was miraculously renewed last year, but that surely won't happen again.
30 Rock: NBC will likely bring it back, even if it is for a final season.
Awake: The show is pretty awesome, in my opinion, but the ratings definitely are not. I don't see it getting another season.
The Office: Normally, I wouldn't have to say anything about the show and just assume that NBC is bringing it back. But with cast members and writers leaving in droves, it less than certain what will happen in the future. That said, I'm sure the show will be renewed and will likely be retooled. It's still an excellent performer and NBC is in desperate need for any kind of ratings success.
CBS (completely left it out before, lol)
CSI: Miami/NY: I think it's more likely one of these is canceled than both renewed or both canceled. It's hard to tell which one, however.
Rob: It's doing well, but CBS likes to jettison comedies that aren't doing extremely good, so it's up in the air.
Rules of Engagement: CBS has kept it around this long, but it's hard to tell what they're going to do with it.
CW
Ringer: Sarah Michelle Gellar's return to television hasn't turned out that well, and the ratings have been low enough to warrant cancellation.
Hart of Dixie: Its ratings have also been low. It probably closer to getting renewed than Ringer, so there is somewhat of a chance.
Secret Circle: I can't imagine the CW not giving it another season, even if it is moved to a less populated night like Friday.
Supernatural: I haven't liked this season at all, but the CW should be committed to the show
Nikita: This one is probably the trickiest out of the CW's action-y shows. Its ratings are around the same as Ringer and Hart of Dixie, but it's on a Friday. Like with Hart of Dixie, it isn't looking great, but a renewal is not out of the picture
ABC
Body of Proof: It bared squeezed by last season, getting low 2s. Now it's getting mid 1s, sometimes close to 2. I don't see it coming back.
Once Upon a Time: Safe for renewal.
Castle: Its ratings are pretty low, but it's close to syndication, which means lots of money.
Pan Am: Crashed and burned.
Missing: Ashley Judd brought the star power, but it's a goner.
The River: I guess the Paranormal Activity message never got out. I don't see a second season in the future.
Cougar Town: It may gotten a reprieve last year, but with the rest of ABC's comedy block in the 2s or higher, I can't see it getting another season.
GCB: If the ratings are any indication, GCB won't replace Desperate Housewives. Maybe ABC will try to pair if with comedies during the weekday--if it gets renewed.
Private Practice: Its ratings continue to decline, but that's been the case for all networks. I would be surprised if it were canceled, but not completely.
FOX
Terra Nova: Canceled and it's highly unlikely anybody else--another network, Netflix, DirecTV, what have you--will pick up up.
Alcatraz: If it maintained the same ratings it was getting at the beginning of the season, it would be safe. As it stands now, it is on the canceled side of the bubble.
The Finder: Almost certainly a goner. Its backdoor pilot wasn't well-received and the ratings for the actual pilot weren't great, following the winter finale of Bones. But the episode airing after American Idol didn't do well either. I'm quite surprised by that.
Touch: Ratings have remained good since the premiere, it should stay around.
Fringe: I'd like to see a final season, but the ratings have been really low. Maybe a final 13 episode season for the fans?
Breaking In: I'm not sure what Fox expected from it, but the ratings have been bad.
NBC
Community: Could go either way, but I'm fairly certain it'll be renewed Critics like it, fans like it but few watch. Syndication is on the horizon, however, and the ratings have been good since its return so that could push it to be renewed.
The Firm: Started off bad, moved to Saturday, and is still bad, so pretty much canceled
Whitney: It started off fairly strong, but the move to Wednesday hurt it. Still, with NBC's low standards, it has a fighting chance.
Are You There, Chelsea?: Whereas Whitney is more or less in the center of the bubble, Chelsea will likely be canceled, never getting decent ratings except for the premiere.
Bent: I don't know why, but NBC basically gave up on it before it even aired and burned it off in 3 nights.
Harry's Law: It was miraculously renewed last year, but that surely won't happen again.
30 Rock: NBC will likely bring it back, even if it is for a final season.
Awake: The show is pretty awesome, in my opinion, but the ratings definitely are not. I don't see it getting another season.
The Office: Normally, I wouldn't have to say anything about the show and just assume that NBC is bringing it back. But with cast members and writers leaving in droves, it less than certain what will happen in the future. That said, I'm sure the show will be renewed and will likely be retooled. It's still an excellent performer and NBC is in desperate need for any kind of ratings success.
CBS (completely left it out before, lol)
CSI: Miami/NY: I think it's more likely one of these is canceled than both renewed or both canceled. It's hard to tell which one, however.
Rob: It's doing well, but CBS likes to jettison comedies that aren't doing extremely good, so it's up in the air.
Rules of Engagement: CBS has kept it around this long, but it's hard to tell what they're going to do with it.
CW
Ringer: Sarah Michelle Gellar's return to television hasn't turned out that well, and the ratings have been low enough to warrant cancellation.
Hart of Dixie: Its ratings have also been low. It probably closer to getting renewed than Ringer, so there is somewhat of a chance.
Secret Circle: I can't imagine the CW not giving it another season, even if it is moved to a less populated night like Friday.
Supernatural: I haven't liked this season at all, but the CW should be committed to the show
Nikita: This one is probably the trickiest out of the CW's action-y shows. Its ratings are around the same as Ringer and Hart of Dixie, but it's on a Friday. Like with Hart of Dixie, it isn't looking great, but a renewal is not out of the picture
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Reviews 3/26/12 - 4/2/12
I finally caught up on the shows that I missed, so I have reviews for most things I've watched, in addition to shows from last night, so I have thoughts and two Mondays worth of shows.
Southland's ratings this season have been even lower than the last, and the last renewal was already a surprise for TNT which regularly gets much higher ratings for original, scripted shows. The ending this season didn't provide too much closure, as there were plenty more places the show could have gone, but through these four seasons, I think we got a lot out of each character. I think a large part of this season's success was Lucy Liu. While it may have seemed like stunt casting initially, she quickly proved her worth
Awake's ratings have been the toilet, but it's a far better show than Touch, which airs on the same night, has similar vibe, and almost three times the 18-49 ratings. The show does what few are able to do--bring out poignant, meaningful moments without seeming forced. Detective Britten's problems with his wife or son, in alternative realities, blend nicely with the crimes he's solving.
Grimm hasn't exactly broken out of its formula yet--and the scenes with the captain and the Hexenbiest blonde remain out of place due to their serial infrequency--but the greater usage of Nick's girlfriend actually puts some things at stake. Now, it is a bit late, considering the fact that Nick's aunt warned him at the beginning of the show. But it's better than nothing...
The second season of Breaking In, oddly enough, isn't about breaking in. With the Megan Mullally and Erin Richards, it's primarily about the office where lots of funky stuff happens. It seems like there isn't anything central to the show anymore, just a bunch of characters hanging around doing what comes to their minds.
Bones: Booth and Bones have been insufferably stupid the whole season and last night was no exception. It was actually the worst we've seen them, Bones refusing to go to a hospital and walking around--even wading into a crowd of inmates--minutes before going into labor, and Booth being stubborn as usual. It's sad to see them like this, arguing unreasonably now that they are together.
Game of Thrones: I've read a tad more than half of A Clash of Kings so I think I have a pretty good idea of what will happen for most of this season and what's going to happen to the characters. Like the beginning of the book, the second season of Game of Thrones doesn't have too much action or wild twists. It sets the situation up, with all the intricacies, and lets it all hang there. So here's where we're at. There are four people in Westeros who've declared themselves kings: Robb, Joffrey, Stannis, and Renly, who we've yet to see. Stannis we're introduced to in a couple scenes, along with Melisandre, his priestess/sorceress. Daenerys also thinks she's king, and is following the comet out into the wasteland, Jon Snow is beyond the Wall along with Mormont and the rest of them, and Tyrion shows up at King's Landing. In terms of plot development, not much happens, mostly threats and insinuations, but there is the richest and dept to the world that we've come to know
Potential spoilers for the book ahead, so if you don't want to be spoiled, skip ahead. About the differences between the book and show, I realize that the place where I'm at currently in the book may cloud my impressions. Certain characters, Cersei and Joffrey mostly, in the first episode are more prominent--and more dangerous--than I'd remember; however, this may be because they become marginalized as the book progresses and that's what is most fresh in my memory. Or perhaps these traits are actually more important at the end of the book, which is why the writers on the show are emphasizing these traits now. In terms of easy comparisons, the Melisandre scenes are reversed in the book and Craster parts are more dense. I don't know if they'll be staying at Craster's Keep in the next episode, but I liked the part where they talk about how Craster stays safe and what he does with his sons. Perhaps the biggest part added were Robert's children being killed on screen (well, maybe a hair off screen), versus the dialogue in the book where it's revealed. The visceral effect is much needed in television and was a great way to end the episode
With no Betty in Mad Men's season premiere, the second episode of the season spent quite a bit of time on her, using January Jones's pregnancy for a plot about Betty becoming fat. Now, I can imagine this not being the original plot envisioned, but it fits well into the episode. Betty relents at the end of the episode and eats Sally's sundae, indicating that she has changed and accepts it. Likewise, Don comes to terms with his age and age difference with Megan. We also got lots of Peggy, who is more awesome than Betty, and it was fun to see her navigate between Don, the potential new hire, and Roger.
The Killing got huge backlash at the end of its second season and for good reason. The series began with two detectives investigating a murder. This would if fine--if they didn't have a new suspect each week with irrefutable evidence of guilt. Inevitably, these suspects were all cleared at the beginning of the next episode without much being learned. Instead of layers of new evidence, it was mostly just irrelevant information placed beside each other. Then at the end of the season, after cycling through numerous people, they came upon Richmond, who was a big figure through the course of the season, but never a prime suspect. They got him with a photo--later revealed to be faked by Holder--and then Richmond got shot. In actually getting to the bottom of what happened to Rosie, the entire season, all 13 episodes, was pretty much a wash.
The second season of isn't that much different and the premiere felt like a breather before heading back into the same pattern. There's this new angle of a larger conspiracy at work and someone leaving Rosie's backpack at the Larsen's doorstep, but any of these things could have happened in the first season. There is nothing to indicate why this had to happen at this time, no real sense of progression. Instead, it was the same resetting we saw numerous times last season.
Spartacus ended its season with a total bloodbath much like it did the first season. Everything that happens demands a new setting and characters in the next season. Capua isn't even anymore, and it's time for Spartacus to turn to Rome. All the villains from the first season--Batiatus, Lucretia, Ilythia, Galber, Ashur--are dead, and some good guys--Oenomaus, Mira--are dead. Shockingly, Lucretia was actually batshit insane the entire season, hiding her true intentions for Ilythia's baby. She cuts the baby out, grabs it, and leaps off the edge of the cliff.
You can always count on Supernatural for good acting, and that's what DJ Qualls brought in his second appearance as Garth. The Bobby ghost stuff was again awkward at best. The writers kill him off rather randomly, give him an entire episode, constantly hint at him being a ghost, and finally show him as a ghost. What's the point?
Fringe took a trip into a past--going diagonally back in time, I would say--to revisit a case that happened in the season one, but never in this world. By the end of the episode, we get a whole new group of people, cultists who want to advance mankind through mutations. I'm again wary of yet another new development, but the episode was interesting enough.
Nikita has built up so many enemies that Amanda and Ari's quick fall from grace doesn't dampen the momentum the show has build up. Percy's return to power shows how much more he understands than Amanda, that it takes more than tricks and manipulation to win. The clear difference between the two is that Percy pretends to care about Division and its people. Amanda, on the other hand, showed a blithe disregard for their lives and was never careful with her words. She seems to have forgotten that she is one person and everyone else has guns as well.
Community's return to the blanket fort had a much different approach than the first time. Instead of an event to bring people together, it drove Abed and Troy apart, sparking underlying feelings about their friendship Troy has been harboring. The Subway story reminded me of Better Off Ted and the funny ways a corporation can dehumanize its workers, and of course it means the show is getting good money for the product placement.
The Secret Circle is easily the most interesting when it's dealing with serious witch problems, when there's actually a chance of someone getting hurt. The relationship stuff all feel superfluous, especially when the characters can bust out elixir plot devices whenever they want. Blackwell has gotten more interesting, though, so that's something.
The Vampire Diaries is doing everything it can to keep Klaus alive and it's tedious. I get it, he's a charming guy who can dish out one-liners with the best of them. But as a villain, his time is up. He's menaced the town, menaced Elena, menaced her friends, and hit on Caroline. He's done these things multiple times with the same recognizable pattern. We know about his past, how cruel he can be, but also how persuasive and manipulative he can be. What more is there to him that forces the writers to keep spinning the wheels week in and week out? The new "twist" is that killing one Original kills the entire bloodline he/she sired, so killing all the Originals means all vampires die. And even if they don't know Katherine's bloodline, Tyler is for sure from Klaus's.
The third season of Justified has been pretty hectic with all the different factions vying for control without bringing too much attention upon themselves. Then Quarles snapped, which put more wrenches in everyone's plan. That led to last week's episode in which thugs from Detroit showed up, and they weren't even the ones who dealt with Quarles in the end.
Castle seemingly has these weird, unreasonable rules seemingly set in stone. 1) Episodes can be cleanly divided between serious and non-serious episodes. 2) A potential Castle and Beckett relationship is never explored unless it is a serious episode. So, like clockwork, last week's episode sets up a situation where Castle is ready to spill his guts to Beckett, but--surprise!!!--Ryan interrupts him right before he gets the words out. Then Beckett, in the process of an interrogation, lets slip that, even during trauma, her trauma to be exact, people remember everything, and Castle hears it all. It's gimmicky, awkward, and not fun at all.
This week's episode was a bit different. It was neither funny nor serious. The detective work was put into the background, so Beckett could be silently disgruntled about Castle. In other words, it was a pure relationship episode. And as one might expect, it was a turd. Now Castle has his blond and Beckett goes on a date with Scotland Yard guy. Once again, the writers create some stupid reasons why they can't be together for no apparent reason. It's been four seasons of semi-flirting and SERIOUS episodes--it's time to move things along.
The biggest problem with Being Human this season is that it was no longer a show about three supernatural beings living together. More, it was about three supernatural beings doing their own things and crossing paths occasionally at a central location. While it's too late in the season to fully redeem the season, last week's episode showed how good the show can be when their living situation is put in danger and the characters are forced to make tough decisions.
This week's episode went back to the three separate stories format, but the stakes were heightened in the run up to the season finale next week. Josh's plot, which has been the best this season, was the most potent, combining the aspects of Aidan and Sally's plots. Like Aidan, Josh loses his love and like Sally, he it was a result of his actions. While I liked Julia (and Natalie Brown, who played her), what happened to Josh will make a large impact on him.
Alcatraz ended its first season, and it wasn't terribly impressive. The action was pretty good and learning about Lucy was nice, but it was mainly the same things we've seen before, only with a larger budget. With the low ratings, I'm not expecting another season, nor do I really care. Mainly, the characters never came to life. They were pleasant, nice people, to be sure, but never terrible interesting. We got to learn about them--mainly the facts about them you could write on a piece of paper--but nothing more, no reason why we should care about them.
The thing about Smash that bothers me the most is the makeup of the characters and their likability. There are plenty of unlikable characters--Ellis, Julia, Michael, Ivy sometimes, Julia's son due to his annoyingness--a fun villlain-y type in Derek, Tom and Eileen who are mostly agreeable, and Karen who is written to be absolutely perfect. So the episodes swing wildly from WTF character to WTF character--from Ellis, who is seemingly pure evil yet with no coherent plan at the same time, to the other spectrum, Karen, who is always friendly and never objects to anything. The main thing that has held the show together has been the plot, the Marilyn musical which miraculously kept all these characters. With the musical stalling these past few weeks, however, the show hit a low point, trying to focus on the characters instead. Although some of it worked--Julia's scenes, some of Ivy's--most of it was reinforcement--Michael being a scumbag liar, Ellis scheming--and then the downright awkward--Ivy and Karen singing together.
Southland's ratings this season have been even lower than the last, and the last renewal was already a surprise for TNT which regularly gets much higher ratings for original, scripted shows. The ending this season didn't provide too much closure, as there were plenty more places the show could have gone, but through these four seasons, I think we got a lot out of each character. I think a large part of this season's success was Lucy Liu. While it may have seemed like stunt casting initially, she quickly proved her worth
Awake's ratings have been the toilet, but it's a far better show than Touch, which airs on the same night, has similar vibe, and almost three times the 18-49 ratings. The show does what few are able to do--bring out poignant, meaningful moments without seeming forced. Detective Britten's problems with his wife or son, in alternative realities, blend nicely with the crimes he's solving.
Grimm hasn't exactly broken out of its formula yet--and the scenes with the captain and the Hexenbiest blonde remain out of place due to their serial infrequency--but the greater usage of Nick's girlfriend actually puts some things at stake. Now, it is a bit late, considering the fact that Nick's aunt warned him at the beginning of the show. But it's better than nothing...
The second season of Breaking In, oddly enough, isn't about breaking in. With the Megan Mullally and Erin Richards, it's primarily about the office where lots of funky stuff happens. It seems like there isn't anything central to the show anymore, just a bunch of characters hanging around doing what comes to their minds.
Bones: Booth and Bones have been insufferably stupid the whole season and last night was no exception. It was actually the worst we've seen them, Bones refusing to go to a hospital and walking around--even wading into a crowd of inmates--minutes before going into labor, and Booth being stubborn as usual. It's sad to see them like this, arguing unreasonably now that they are together.
Game of Thrones: I've read a tad more than half of A Clash of Kings so I think I have a pretty good idea of what will happen for most of this season and what's going to happen to the characters. Like the beginning of the book, the second season of Game of Thrones doesn't have too much action or wild twists. It sets the situation up, with all the intricacies, and lets it all hang there. So here's where we're at. There are four people in Westeros who've declared themselves kings: Robb, Joffrey, Stannis, and Renly, who we've yet to see. Stannis we're introduced to in a couple scenes, along with Melisandre, his priestess/sorceress. Daenerys also thinks she's king, and is following the comet out into the wasteland, Jon Snow is beyond the Wall along with Mormont and the rest of them, and Tyrion shows up at King's Landing. In terms of plot development, not much happens, mostly threats and insinuations, but there is the richest and dept to the world that we've come to know
Potential spoilers for the book ahead, so if you don't want to be spoiled, skip ahead. About the differences between the book and show, I realize that the place where I'm at currently in the book may cloud my impressions. Certain characters, Cersei and Joffrey mostly, in the first episode are more prominent--and more dangerous--than I'd remember; however, this may be because they become marginalized as the book progresses and that's what is most fresh in my memory. Or perhaps these traits are actually more important at the end of the book, which is why the writers on the show are emphasizing these traits now. In terms of easy comparisons, the Melisandre scenes are reversed in the book and Craster parts are more dense. I don't know if they'll be staying at Craster's Keep in the next episode, but I liked the part where they talk about how Craster stays safe and what he does with his sons. Perhaps the biggest part added were Robert's children being killed on screen (well, maybe a hair off screen), versus the dialogue in the book where it's revealed. The visceral effect is much needed in television and was a great way to end the episode
With no Betty in Mad Men's season premiere, the second episode of the season spent quite a bit of time on her, using January Jones's pregnancy for a plot about Betty becoming fat. Now, I can imagine this not being the original plot envisioned, but it fits well into the episode. Betty relents at the end of the episode and eats Sally's sundae, indicating that she has changed and accepts it. Likewise, Don comes to terms with his age and age difference with Megan. We also got lots of Peggy, who is more awesome than Betty, and it was fun to see her navigate between Don, the potential new hire, and Roger.
The Killing got huge backlash at the end of its second season and for good reason. The series began with two detectives investigating a murder. This would if fine--if they didn't have a new suspect each week with irrefutable evidence of guilt. Inevitably, these suspects were all cleared at the beginning of the next episode without much being learned. Instead of layers of new evidence, it was mostly just irrelevant information placed beside each other. Then at the end of the season, after cycling through numerous people, they came upon Richmond, who was a big figure through the course of the season, but never a prime suspect. They got him with a photo--later revealed to be faked by Holder--and then Richmond got shot. In actually getting to the bottom of what happened to Rosie, the entire season, all 13 episodes, was pretty much a wash.
The second season of isn't that much different and the premiere felt like a breather before heading back into the same pattern. There's this new angle of a larger conspiracy at work and someone leaving Rosie's backpack at the Larsen's doorstep, but any of these things could have happened in the first season. There is nothing to indicate why this had to happen at this time, no real sense of progression. Instead, it was the same resetting we saw numerous times last season.
Spartacus ended its season with a total bloodbath much like it did the first season. Everything that happens demands a new setting and characters in the next season. Capua isn't even anymore, and it's time for Spartacus to turn to Rome. All the villains from the first season--Batiatus, Lucretia, Ilythia, Galber, Ashur--are dead, and some good guys--Oenomaus, Mira--are dead. Shockingly, Lucretia was actually batshit insane the entire season, hiding her true intentions for Ilythia's baby. She cuts the baby out, grabs it, and leaps off the edge of the cliff.
You can always count on Supernatural for good acting, and that's what DJ Qualls brought in his second appearance as Garth. The Bobby ghost stuff was again awkward at best. The writers kill him off rather randomly, give him an entire episode, constantly hint at him being a ghost, and finally show him as a ghost. What's the point?
Fringe took a trip into a past--going diagonally back in time, I would say--to revisit a case that happened in the season one, but never in this world. By the end of the episode, we get a whole new group of people, cultists who want to advance mankind through mutations. I'm again wary of yet another new development, but the episode was interesting enough.
Nikita has built up so many enemies that Amanda and Ari's quick fall from grace doesn't dampen the momentum the show has build up. Percy's return to power shows how much more he understands than Amanda, that it takes more than tricks and manipulation to win. The clear difference between the two is that Percy pretends to care about Division and its people. Amanda, on the other hand, showed a blithe disregard for their lives and was never careful with her words. She seems to have forgotten that she is one person and everyone else has guns as well.
Community's return to the blanket fort had a much different approach than the first time. Instead of an event to bring people together, it drove Abed and Troy apart, sparking underlying feelings about their friendship Troy has been harboring. The Subway story reminded me of Better Off Ted and the funny ways a corporation can dehumanize its workers, and of course it means the show is getting good money for the product placement.
The Secret Circle is easily the most interesting when it's dealing with serious witch problems, when there's actually a chance of someone getting hurt. The relationship stuff all feel superfluous, especially when the characters can bust out elixir plot devices whenever they want. Blackwell has gotten more interesting, though, so that's something.
The Vampire Diaries is doing everything it can to keep Klaus alive and it's tedious. I get it, he's a charming guy who can dish out one-liners with the best of them. But as a villain, his time is up. He's menaced the town, menaced Elena, menaced her friends, and hit on Caroline. He's done these things multiple times with the same recognizable pattern. We know about his past, how cruel he can be, but also how persuasive and manipulative he can be. What more is there to him that forces the writers to keep spinning the wheels week in and week out? The new "twist" is that killing one Original kills the entire bloodline he/she sired, so killing all the Originals means all vampires die. And even if they don't know Katherine's bloodline, Tyler is for sure from Klaus's.
The third season of Justified has been pretty hectic with all the different factions vying for control without bringing too much attention upon themselves. Then Quarles snapped, which put more wrenches in everyone's plan. That led to last week's episode in which thugs from Detroit showed up, and they weren't even the ones who dealt with Quarles in the end.
Castle seemingly has these weird, unreasonable rules seemingly set in stone. 1) Episodes can be cleanly divided between serious and non-serious episodes. 2) A potential Castle and Beckett relationship is never explored unless it is a serious episode. So, like clockwork, last week's episode sets up a situation where Castle is ready to spill his guts to Beckett, but--surprise!!!--Ryan interrupts him right before he gets the words out. Then Beckett, in the process of an interrogation, lets slip that, even during trauma, her trauma to be exact, people remember everything, and Castle hears it all. It's gimmicky, awkward, and not fun at all.
This week's episode was a bit different. It was neither funny nor serious. The detective work was put into the background, so Beckett could be silently disgruntled about Castle. In other words, it was a pure relationship episode. And as one might expect, it was a turd. Now Castle has his blond and Beckett goes on a date with Scotland Yard guy. Once again, the writers create some stupid reasons why they can't be together for no apparent reason. It's been four seasons of semi-flirting and SERIOUS episodes--it's time to move things along.
The biggest problem with Being Human this season is that it was no longer a show about three supernatural beings living together. More, it was about three supernatural beings doing their own things and crossing paths occasionally at a central location. While it's too late in the season to fully redeem the season, last week's episode showed how good the show can be when their living situation is put in danger and the characters are forced to make tough decisions.
This week's episode went back to the three separate stories format, but the stakes were heightened in the run up to the season finale next week. Josh's plot, which has been the best this season, was the most potent, combining the aspects of Aidan and Sally's plots. Like Aidan, Josh loses his love and like Sally, he it was a result of his actions. While I liked Julia (and Natalie Brown, who played her), what happened to Josh will make a large impact on him.
Alcatraz ended its first season, and it wasn't terribly impressive. The action was pretty good and learning about Lucy was nice, but it was mainly the same things we've seen before, only with a larger budget. With the low ratings, I'm not expecting another season, nor do I really care. Mainly, the characters never came to life. They were pleasant, nice people, to be sure, but never terrible interesting. We got to learn about them--mainly the facts about them you could write on a piece of paper--but nothing more, no reason why we should care about them.
The thing about Smash that bothers me the most is the makeup of the characters and their likability. There are plenty of unlikable characters--Ellis, Julia, Michael, Ivy sometimes, Julia's son due to his annoyingness--a fun villlain-y type in Derek, Tom and Eileen who are mostly agreeable, and Karen who is written to be absolutely perfect. So the episodes swing wildly from WTF character to WTF character--from Ellis, who is seemingly pure evil yet with no coherent plan at the same time, to the other spectrum, Karen, who is always friendly and never objects to anything. The main thing that has held the show together has been the plot, the Marilyn musical which miraculously kept all these characters. With the musical stalling these past few weeks, however, the show hit a low point, trying to focus on the characters instead. Although some of it worked--Julia's scenes, some of Ivy's--most of it was reinforcement--Michael being a scumbag liar, Ellis scheming--and then the downright awkward--Ivy and Karen singing together.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Reviews 3/20/12 - 3/26/12
I'm no longer busy and I'm beginning to catch up on all the shows I've missed. There are still a lot of episodes I need to watch, but I'm getting there.
True story: I haven't watched a complete episode of Mad Men since the season four finale on October 17 of 2010--a year and a half ago--so my memory was a little hazy on what happened back then. Luckily, Matthew Weiner eases viewers into the new season. We get a glimpse of each character at the beginning of the season premiere, they're living situation, what they're up to, and a hint of the conflicts. The biggest change, of course, is Megan. The decision to have Don propose to her was really abrupt during the end of the last season, especially with all the other things that were going on. But I'm happy with how they deal with her character in the first two hours. There's nothing immediately obvious about her character--unlike season four Betty who's just a pain--but there are indications at the beginning of the episode of how opportunistic she is, how she doesn't really know Don. Her enthusiasm about Don's party soon devolves and as the premiere heads into the second hour, it's clear that neither Don nor Megan is having an easy time. The episode ends with the two together, but sex is what's holding them together. Without Betty in the episode, it's impossible to say that Don has other options, but his marriage with Megan will surely not be smooth.
While introducing Megan was a big part of the premiere, there were several other interesting stories. Pete and Sterling are doing battle, the young guy with the accounts versus the old guy with nothing left. Pete's always been ambitious and Roger represents the next obstacle in his way. Joan eventually made it into the office, after mistaking a personal ad towards a rival firm for the firm looking to replace her. She wasn't the only one to mistake the ads, as the episode ends with blacks in the lobby with job applications. Kind of out of nowhere is Lane's story. He's unhappy with his marriage and while returning a wallet, gets a bit too friendly with the "girl" of the man's wallet. There really is not indication whether this will be an ongoing thing or just a deeper illustration of a marriage on the rocks like Roger's.
I'm not sure if I'm going to watch the third season of Shameless. The show is a lot like Karen--it can turn on a dime. All the money was stolen last week, but that doesn't seem to be a problem, and this week pretty much a potpourri of people being ridiculous.
The Good Wife has been drilling in this idea the whole season that it's better not to know the truth--or at least let it out into the public. Alicia begins her role on the panel seriously questioning the veracity of the witnesses, and uncovers some serious injustices. The others on the panel don't want this to escalate, but she keeps pushing and pushing. She is Alicia, after all. But then the uncomfortable truth comes out--that not only was her husband involved but also Eli Gold. To her, some things are better left hidden--even if there will always be a wronged victim.
Considering how great Supernatural just two seasons ago, it's really disappointing to see what's happening now. No Cas? No problem. He's reintroduced, without memories, then swapped with Sam. Now he's the one with Lucifer in the head and in the mental ward. What a cheap, easy way to wrap up two stories.
Fringe is supposed to be a science show. Not really hard science fiction, but a show where people on the show, namely Walter, did real science with chemicals and whatnot. The villain of last week's episode was a science guy, trying to find the right blend of pheromones and ultimately failing. This was supposed to parallel Peter and Olivia, two people undeniably attracted by something unseen by the eye. But if the plot was about pheromones--a scientific concept--why would the Observer talk about love--an abstract concept which is being used as an easy fall back? Is there something scientific about love which brings Peter and Olivia together regardless of other circumstances and Lincoln forever relegated to unrequited feelings? And what about the memories?
At this point, it feels like The Vampire Diaries is just spinning around in circles. The ring stuff is okay, but it's obviously was inserted to finally get rid of the most egregious plot device. Bonnie's plot was stale once again, although the acting contributed to that. And the supposed main story--the Originals--was pretty tepid until the end. Without Klaus or his hybrids menacing the town, there really doesn't seem to be much urgency.
Behind Community's outright cartoonishness during the impersonations episode, Abed and Troy's friendship is going through some problems. Yes, Abed is really cool and knowledgeable, but Troy is beginning to realize that Abed he wants is someone who can also come back to the real world. That's not the Abed in the present.
Given NBC's treatment of Bent, burning it off in a competitive timeslot during the spring, it's clear the show won't last. Indeed, the ratings sucked, and less than three million people watched it. But given NBC's treatment of Whitney at the beginning of the TV year, it is a bit confusing. Bent is not bad at all, featuring a good cast and an overall pleasantness. It's never particularly funny, but definitely not cringe-worthy like ABC's Tuesday crop of comedies or Whitney.
Justified: Quarles completely unhinged is truly a sight to behold. I wouldn't say he's better than Mags--yet--but he's one of the most exciting villains on television right now.
Well, that's the end of The River. I'd be very, very, very, very surprised if Netflix somehow scrounged up enough money for it. The end of the season/series was a wild mess, with some really crazy scenes. In the end, not much was explained except that the Bouina doesn't want them to leave. In an age where most science fiction on television is shoehorned into a procedural format (Alcatraz, Warehouse 13, etc), I appreciate what The River brought. It wasn't always coherent and the characters were boring, but it wasn't afraid to be crazy and unconventional.
Alcatraz ends its first season tonight and the show likely won't be returning. The good thing is, the last episode ended with Lucy waking up, hopefully a development which spurs the show ahead. Maybe the mythology will actually be expanded.
House had yet another good episode this season, pulling back the layers on House's parentage, before ending it right there. There are always going to be things about House we don't know about and why he ended up the way he is. Park's hallucinations were pretty fun and Michael B. Jordan really sold his lines, as cheesy as the story was.
True story: I haven't watched a complete episode of Mad Men since the season four finale on October 17 of 2010--a year and a half ago--so my memory was a little hazy on what happened back then. Luckily, Matthew Weiner eases viewers into the new season. We get a glimpse of each character at the beginning of the season premiere, they're living situation, what they're up to, and a hint of the conflicts. The biggest change, of course, is Megan. The decision to have Don propose to her was really abrupt during the end of the last season, especially with all the other things that were going on. But I'm happy with how they deal with her character in the first two hours. There's nothing immediately obvious about her character--unlike season four Betty who's just a pain--but there are indications at the beginning of the episode of how opportunistic she is, how she doesn't really know Don. Her enthusiasm about Don's party soon devolves and as the premiere heads into the second hour, it's clear that neither Don nor Megan is having an easy time. The episode ends with the two together, but sex is what's holding them together. Without Betty in the episode, it's impossible to say that Don has other options, but his marriage with Megan will surely not be smooth.
While introducing Megan was a big part of the premiere, there were several other interesting stories. Pete and Sterling are doing battle, the young guy with the accounts versus the old guy with nothing left. Pete's always been ambitious and Roger represents the next obstacle in his way. Joan eventually made it into the office, after mistaking a personal ad towards a rival firm for the firm looking to replace her. She wasn't the only one to mistake the ads, as the episode ends with blacks in the lobby with job applications. Kind of out of nowhere is Lane's story. He's unhappy with his marriage and while returning a wallet, gets a bit too friendly with the "girl" of the man's wallet. There really is not indication whether this will be an ongoing thing or just a deeper illustration of a marriage on the rocks like Roger's.
I'm not sure if I'm going to watch the third season of Shameless. The show is a lot like Karen--it can turn on a dime. All the money was stolen last week, but that doesn't seem to be a problem, and this week pretty much a potpourri of people being ridiculous.
The Good Wife has been drilling in this idea the whole season that it's better not to know the truth--or at least let it out into the public. Alicia begins her role on the panel seriously questioning the veracity of the witnesses, and uncovers some serious injustices. The others on the panel don't want this to escalate, but she keeps pushing and pushing. She is Alicia, after all. But then the uncomfortable truth comes out--that not only was her husband involved but also Eli Gold. To her, some things are better left hidden--even if there will always be a wronged victim.
Considering how great Supernatural just two seasons ago, it's really disappointing to see what's happening now. No Cas? No problem. He's reintroduced, without memories, then swapped with Sam. Now he's the one with Lucifer in the head and in the mental ward. What a cheap, easy way to wrap up two stories.
Fringe is supposed to be a science show. Not really hard science fiction, but a show where people on the show, namely Walter, did real science with chemicals and whatnot. The villain of last week's episode was a science guy, trying to find the right blend of pheromones and ultimately failing. This was supposed to parallel Peter and Olivia, two people undeniably attracted by something unseen by the eye. But if the plot was about pheromones--a scientific concept--why would the Observer talk about love--an abstract concept which is being used as an easy fall back? Is there something scientific about love which brings Peter and Olivia together regardless of other circumstances and Lincoln forever relegated to unrequited feelings? And what about the memories?
At this point, it feels like The Vampire Diaries is just spinning around in circles. The ring stuff is okay, but it's obviously was inserted to finally get rid of the most egregious plot device. Bonnie's plot was stale once again, although the acting contributed to that. And the supposed main story--the Originals--was pretty tepid until the end. Without Klaus or his hybrids menacing the town, there really doesn't seem to be much urgency.
Behind Community's outright cartoonishness during the impersonations episode, Abed and Troy's friendship is going through some problems. Yes, Abed is really cool and knowledgeable, but Troy is beginning to realize that Abed he wants is someone who can also come back to the real world. That's not the Abed in the present.
Given NBC's treatment of Bent, burning it off in a competitive timeslot during the spring, it's clear the show won't last. Indeed, the ratings sucked, and less than three million people watched it. But given NBC's treatment of Whitney at the beginning of the TV year, it is a bit confusing. Bent is not bad at all, featuring a good cast and an overall pleasantness. It's never particularly funny, but definitely not cringe-worthy like ABC's Tuesday crop of comedies or Whitney.
Justified: Quarles completely unhinged is truly a sight to behold. I wouldn't say he's better than Mags--yet--but he's one of the most exciting villains on television right now.
Well, that's the end of The River. I'd be very, very, very, very surprised if Netflix somehow scrounged up enough money for it. The end of the season/series was a wild mess, with some really crazy scenes. In the end, not much was explained except that the Bouina doesn't want them to leave. In an age where most science fiction on television is shoehorned into a procedural format (Alcatraz, Warehouse 13, etc), I appreciate what The River brought. It wasn't always coherent and the characters were boring, but it wasn't afraid to be crazy and unconventional.
Alcatraz ends its first season tonight and the show likely won't be returning. The good thing is, the last episode ended with Lucy waking up, hopefully a development which spurs the show ahead. Maybe the mythology will actually be expanded.
House had yet another good episode this season, pulling back the layers on House's parentage, before ending it right there. There are always going to be things about House we don't know about and why he ended up the way he is. Park's hallucinations were pretty fun and Michael B. Jordan really sold his lines, as cheesy as the story was.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Reviews 3/12/12 - 3/18/12
Again, really busy so a lot is left out.
The Walking Dead ended its second season with a surefire statement that things are going to change. Chased off of the farm and the fodder killed, the gang has to find new arrangements. Rick asserts his leadership and the camera pans to the prison. Hopefully that's more interesting than the farm.
Shameless: It's not often that a television character is pure evil, but Monica is as close to one as they come. When she's alone she's trying to find an edge, and when she with other people she's constantly manipulating, all without regard for consequences. What's more confusing is why any stands to put up with her in the slightest.
If Supernatural wants to do an episode about cursed objects, fine, that's cool. If Supernatural wants to do an episode about cursed objects which somehow dovetails into the Leviathans, that's just stupid. The two stories weren't even tied together, related only because they happened in the same town. And how did this major coincidence happen? Beats me.
Well, looks like The Vampire Diaries is finally getting rid of the ring plot device, as it turns the wearer into a killer. The Stefan and Klaus flashbacks were good, but it feels like the overall plot has no juice. There's not much urgency with Klaus or Bonnie's mother. Everything is just hanging out there.
Community is back and the ratings were good!
Missing is truly a bizarre show. It goes from Lifetime-style musical montages to brief spurts of fighting and back to to musical montages. I don't get it.
I don't know what The River's long-term plans were, but as it stands the show won't be getting a second season. What's more odd is that the second to last episode of the season introduces an entire new story--scientists performing unethical medical studies and create zombies--gets Emmett back, and then concludes the new story as everyone hops back onto the boat. Why the rush? Humans creating zombies is far more interesting than ad hoc magic in the jungle.
Smash's ratings have stopped falling for the most part, but, in my opinion, the quality hasn't. I don't know what the writers' conception of love is, but Michael pestering Julia until she sleeps with him was pretty creepy, not to mention they are both married with kids. While he rest of the episode was okay, Michael's overbearing attitude was too much.
The new wrinkle in Alcatraz is that the doctor actually turns innocent prisoners (well, one at least) into actual killers. The seems more interesting than the usual fare, so hopefully we'll learn more. But we probably won't since the ratings keep falling. The problem is that the expectations of the show were high--that it would be an exciting, Lost-like adventure produced by JJ Abrams. Instead, it turned out to be a procedural with mystery elements on top. For people who poured over Lost, looking for tiny hints even if there were none, this surely was not enough. And those who do watch procedurals--people who didn't like the serialized nature of Lost and having to keep up every week--were already not watching.
The Walking Dead ended its second season with a surefire statement that things are going to change. Chased off of the farm and the fodder killed, the gang has to find new arrangements. Rick asserts his leadership and the camera pans to the prison. Hopefully that's more interesting than the farm.
Shameless: It's not often that a television character is pure evil, but Monica is as close to one as they come. When she's alone she's trying to find an edge, and when she with other people she's constantly manipulating, all without regard for consequences. What's more confusing is why any stands to put up with her in the slightest.
If Supernatural wants to do an episode about cursed objects, fine, that's cool. If Supernatural wants to do an episode about cursed objects which somehow dovetails into the Leviathans, that's just stupid. The two stories weren't even tied together, related only because they happened in the same town. And how did this major coincidence happen? Beats me.
Well, looks like The Vampire Diaries is finally getting rid of the ring plot device, as it turns the wearer into a killer. The Stefan and Klaus flashbacks were good, but it feels like the overall plot has no juice. There's not much urgency with Klaus or Bonnie's mother. Everything is just hanging out there.
Community is back and the ratings were good!
Missing is truly a bizarre show. It goes from Lifetime-style musical montages to brief spurts of fighting and back to to musical montages. I don't get it.
I don't know what The River's long-term plans were, but as it stands the show won't be getting a second season. What's more odd is that the second to last episode of the season introduces an entire new story--scientists performing unethical medical studies and create zombies--gets Emmett back, and then concludes the new story as everyone hops back onto the boat. Why the rush? Humans creating zombies is far more interesting than ad hoc magic in the jungle.
Smash's ratings have stopped falling for the most part, but, in my opinion, the quality hasn't. I don't know what the writers' conception of love is, but Michael pestering Julia until she sleeps with him was pretty creepy, not to mention they are both married with kids. While he rest of the episode was okay, Michael's overbearing attitude was too much.
The new wrinkle in Alcatraz is that the doctor actually turns innocent prisoners (well, one at least) into actual killers. The seems more interesting than the usual fare, so hopefully we'll learn more. But we probably won't since the ratings keep falling. The problem is that the expectations of the show were high--that it would be an exciting, Lost-like adventure produced by JJ Abrams. Instead, it turned out to be a procedural with mystery elements on top. For people who poured over Lost, looking for tiny hints even if there were none, this surely was not enough. And those who do watch procedurals--people who didn't like the serialized nature of Lost and having to keep up every week--were already not watching.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Reviews 3/5/12 - 3/11/12
I'll be very busy for the next few weeks, so I'll won't have much to say about the shows.
The Walking Dead: Now we're getting somewhere. Shane has been on the fence this entire, neither evil villain nor good guy, but he kept being painted as being dangerous. Indeed, he did kill Otis and as much as admitted it to several people. He finally snapped, and it ratcheted tension up several notches. With Dale and Shane dead and pack of zombies near the farm, it looks like things will start happening.
Shameless: I don't know about other people, but Monica is too mean and uncaring to be likable, even when she's supposed to be silly. Other than that, the episode was on point with the ghost business and Estefania phone sex.
I like how The Good Wife handled Caitlin. She wasn't a manipulator or scheming in the least bit--she was just doing her job. The writers, through Alicia, kind of led us into this direction where there would be this major confrontation between Alicia and Caitlin once Caitlin unveiled her master plan. But that never happened. Caitlin explains why she quitting the firm--because she's pregnant and has a loving fiance--and walks off, leaving a stunned Alicia. It's a fitting contrast to Alicia, who thinks she has something to prove, but is now unsure of the path she's on, a message greatly enhanced by the possibility of rebuying she old home and seeing the marks of how tall everyone in the family was.
Without another love story about people who had to stay apart, Once Upon a Time was much more enjoyable last night. The Storybrooke stuff was somewhat forgettable, especially because it was all setup, but the Red story was gruesome and fun.
For whatever reason, possibly as as test, The Mentalist aired on both Thursday and Friday. The first episode was more potent because it had the specter of Darcy doing something in secret, which was eventually revealed to be the FBI investigating Jane for his ties to Red John. The second episode was a mix of everything, with more focus on Rigsby and Cho for a change.
Awake ends its second episode with a clear message: there's a conspiracy. Given how many shows have tried conspiracies and not gotten them right, I'm a bit wary about this. On the other hands, the anemic ratings indicates there won't be a second season anyway.
Psych's horror movie homage was all sorts of good. It was actually scary at times, funny at other times.
In a very cool episode of Justified, Raylan gets trapped by Quarles and the FBI (which is indirectly Quarles doing), and narrowly makes it out. I like how Limehouse is playing it. While Quarles and Boyd are duking it out and putting themselves in the crosshairs of law enforcement, he's playing it cool, trying to keep things calm for his people before making any hasty decisions.
I assumed that Lucy Liu wouldn't be staying on Southland for another season, and this seems even more certain now that she signed onto a pilot. Now there's a plot that signals Tang's potential exit. Cooper is intent of getting to the bottom of the shooting, whether she removed the cap from the gun.
Last week's episode of The River was the strongest episode yet, including the pilot. My initial thought was that the episode should have come earlier. But looking back, the episode was right where it belonged. The meager character development in previous episodes actually paid off well in the episode as we look on the tapes of the past. Everyone has some stake in what's going on, and the characters hearing Emmett talk was quite potent. The final twist of the abandoned compound was pretty sweet also, although the bad ratings probably means we won't see more beyond the final two episodes.
After Alcatraz's latest two episodes, I told myself I'd be fine seeing it come back for another season. The episodes seemed to have more grit than previous ones
Smash wavers between earnest and way too dramatic, and this incongruity is unnerving. I want to like the show, but there are times when it's really annoying.
Being Human's second season has been all over the place. Each of the three characters have their own stories, and, aside from some chance intersections, haven't really interacted to the extent that they should. This disconnect leads to a general sense of the plot never moving, as a whole and in individual episodes. It feels like brief snippets and then the episode is over.
The Walking Dead: Now we're getting somewhere. Shane has been on the fence this entire, neither evil villain nor good guy, but he kept being painted as being dangerous. Indeed, he did kill Otis and as much as admitted it to several people. He finally snapped, and it ratcheted tension up several notches. With Dale and Shane dead and pack of zombies near the farm, it looks like things will start happening.
Shameless: I don't know about other people, but Monica is too mean and uncaring to be likable, even when she's supposed to be silly. Other than that, the episode was on point with the ghost business and Estefania phone sex.
I like how The Good Wife handled Caitlin. She wasn't a manipulator or scheming in the least bit--she was just doing her job. The writers, through Alicia, kind of led us into this direction where there would be this major confrontation between Alicia and Caitlin once Caitlin unveiled her master plan. But that never happened. Caitlin explains why she quitting the firm--because she's pregnant and has a loving fiance--and walks off, leaving a stunned Alicia. It's a fitting contrast to Alicia, who thinks she has something to prove, but is now unsure of the path she's on, a message greatly enhanced by the possibility of rebuying she old home and seeing the marks of how tall everyone in the family was.
Without another love story about people who had to stay apart, Once Upon a Time was much more enjoyable last night. The Storybrooke stuff was somewhat forgettable, especially because it was all setup, but the Red story was gruesome and fun.
For whatever reason, possibly as as test, The Mentalist aired on both Thursday and Friday. The first episode was more potent because it had the specter of Darcy doing something in secret, which was eventually revealed to be the FBI investigating Jane for his ties to Red John. The second episode was a mix of everything, with more focus on Rigsby and Cho for a change.
Awake ends its second episode with a clear message: there's a conspiracy. Given how many shows have tried conspiracies and not gotten them right, I'm a bit wary about this. On the other hands, the anemic ratings indicates there won't be a second season anyway.
Psych's horror movie homage was all sorts of good. It was actually scary at times, funny at other times.
In a very cool episode of Justified, Raylan gets trapped by Quarles and the FBI (which is indirectly Quarles doing), and narrowly makes it out. I like how Limehouse is playing it. While Quarles and Boyd are duking it out and putting themselves in the crosshairs of law enforcement, he's playing it cool, trying to keep things calm for his people before making any hasty decisions.
I assumed that Lucy Liu wouldn't be staying on Southland for another season, and this seems even more certain now that she signed onto a pilot. Now there's a plot that signals Tang's potential exit. Cooper is intent of getting to the bottom of the shooting, whether she removed the cap from the gun.
Last week's episode of The River was the strongest episode yet, including the pilot. My initial thought was that the episode should have come earlier. But looking back, the episode was right where it belonged. The meager character development in previous episodes actually paid off well in the episode as we look on the tapes of the past. Everyone has some stake in what's going on, and the characters hearing Emmett talk was quite potent. The final twist of the abandoned compound was pretty sweet also, although the bad ratings probably means we won't see more beyond the final two episodes.
After Alcatraz's latest two episodes, I told myself I'd be fine seeing it come back for another season. The episodes seemed to have more grit than previous ones
Smash wavers between earnest and way too dramatic, and this incongruity is unnerving. I want to like the show, but there are times when it's really annoying.
Being Human's second season has been all over the place. Each of the three characters have their own stories, and, aside from some chance intersections, haven't really interacted to the extent that they should. This disconnect leads to a general sense of the plot never moving, as a whole and in individual episodes. It feels like brief snippets and then the episode is over.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Reviews 2/28/12 - 3/4/12
It's hard to get excited about The Walking Dead these days. The episodes seem to have progressively more grating moments as the season goes on. Take this week's episode. The theme of the episode--what to do with a potential dangerous prisoner--isn't exactly exciting, but it's workable. What results, however, is an hour where all the debates turn into annoying screeds from Dale who flits from one person to the other, trying to explain to them why they would support his position. It's fairly tedious as it drags on, nestled between an even dumber plot, Carl being an idiot. In an obscenely telegraphed scene, we see Carl lure out of the mud the zombie who eventually gets Dale.
What struck me about this week's The Good Wife episode is how much the show is dependent on a really good law plot. The suicide video was pretty good, but it never grabbed me in a way the main plots often do. There were no moments when I was on the edge of my seat, gleefully thinking how great it was. The twists were few and not very potent. So I found myself apathetic to the episode even though I found the rest of the plots quite interesting, though obviously not the best the show has given us. The show is still setting up the plots for the end of the season and we can see all the complications arising, from Peter's political aspirations interfering with professional and personal codes to Alicia's potential jealously (not sure if that's the right word to use) of Caitlin.
For all of the controversy over GCB's previous name--Good Christian Bitches--the show was a lot less crass than I expected it to be. In fact, the show really doesn't seem that noteworthy. There are the typical soap opera plots and then the religious stuff is tacked on in an attempt to show some contrast. The result is a show which is actually not that bad, but definitely not must-watch television.
Okay, so Once Upon a Time delivered yet another underdeveloped yet supremely sappy love story, but I have to comment on one thing: dwarves coming from eggs. How great was that?
Charlie's death at the end of Breakout Kings season two premiere sets the tone for the rest of the season--that this is serious business--but it's hard to say whether this was an inspired creative decision or simply a budgetary matter or Laz Alonzo wanting out. But what we end up with is a smaller cast, allowing for slightly more focus on the remaining characters and a criminal on the loose. Breakout Kings will never be that special of a show, especially in comparison to other offerings on Sunday nights; what it offers, though, is a decent procedural on Sunday for those who don't want to slog through CSI: Miami.
The theme of Spartacus was woman issues. It all seems rather unrealistic--as most of the show is--but I guess that's never really the point of the show. So we got some interesting scenes with the women and a couple advancements of plot.
I'd like Grimm to, just once, explain to viewers what the characters on the show actually see. From what I can tell, it's arbitrary what the rules are. Mainly, I want to know whether wesens can instantly recognize Nick as Grimm and if not, how they eventually tell, and whether Nick sees them in creature form. I don't even want to know who the captain is! It bothers me so much to see all this stuff going on that seems to be for cheap effects for the audience and not for the characters.
I'm ready to call The Office's Sabre Florida experiment a bust. It's far too wacky to be taken seriously, and none of it is really that funny. One thing the plot could have done is to allow the people back at Scranton something worthy to do, but instead they're just as silly those who went away.
Parks and Recreation was very fun with the arrival of Kathryn Hahn's character and unique way Pawneeans drink from the water fountain.
Psych's return reminded me of how fun the show is. The Indian Jones-esque plot was good and Despereaux return, death, revival, and escape was all nicely done.
I haven't really said much about Criminal Minds this season, mostly because there hasn't been much to say, but last week's episode was notable for its sheer awfulness. Criminal Minds writers and directors sometimes get caught up in this idea that people pretending to be normal can be more terrifying than people killing others, and we get these shots of people's blank faces and we're supposed to understand that there's something dark and sinister hiding underneath the eyes. This is fine--as long as it doesn't take up the whole episode. Unfortunately, last week's episode had a whole lot of people's faces and not much else.
Justified: Quarles is a great villain. On the outside, he seems like a cool, level-headed guy, with a mechanical contraption to make carefully executed kills. However, as we learn more about him, he doesn't have to all together.
Breaking Bad's Badger as Agent Dorneget on NCIS was hilarious and he meshed well with the rest of the team. This is his second time on the show so I hope we see him more often.
Smash's fourth episode seem a bit different than the previous episodes, more flowery and unrealistic, almost Glee-like. Ivy being mean to Karen could have been expected, but two parts--Karen getting new friends and them teaching her things and performance at Lyle's place with Lyle helping--were far more than the grounded show we saw before.
Castle can be quite a dynamic show in the number of weird/funky scenarios it throws at the audience in one episode. Last week's episode dove into fairy tale world (possible in an attempt for some cross-promotion with Once Upon a TIme) and into the past, and it came together nicely in the end.
I like that How I Met Your Mother is finally moving Ted forward. It looks like it'll be a while before we learn who the mother is, but we're getting there, slowly but surely.
What struck me about this week's The Good Wife episode is how much the show is dependent on a really good law plot. The suicide video was pretty good, but it never grabbed me in a way the main plots often do. There were no moments when I was on the edge of my seat, gleefully thinking how great it was. The twists were few and not very potent. So I found myself apathetic to the episode even though I found the rest of the plots quite interesting, though obviously not the best the show has given us. The show is still setting up the plots for the end of the season and we can see all the complications arising, from Peter's political aspirations interfering with professional and personal codes to Alicia's potential jealously (not sure if that's the right word to use) of Caitlin.
For all of the controversy over GCB's previous name--Good Christian Bitches--the show was a lot less crass than I expected it to be. In fact, the show really doesn't seem that noteworthy. There are the typical soap opera plots and then the religious stuff is tacked on in an attempt to show some contrast. The result is a show which is actually not that bad, but definitely not must-watch television.
Okay, so Once Upon a Time delivered yet another underdeveloped yet supremely sappy love story, but I have to comment on one thing: dwarves coming from eggs. How great was that?
Charlie's death at the end of Breakout Kings season two premiere sets the tone for the rest of the season--that this is serious business--but it's hard to say whether this was an inspired creative decision or simply a budgetary matter or Laz Alonzo wanting out. But what we end up with is a smaller cast, allowing for slightly more focus on the remaining characters and a criminal on the loose. Breakout Kings will never be that special of a show, especially in comparison to other offerings on Sunday nights; what it offers, though, is a decent procedural on Sunday for those who don't want to slog through CSI: Miami.
The theme of Spartacus was woman issues. It all seems rather unrealistic--as most of the show is--but I guess that's never really the point of the show. So we got some interesting scenes with the women and a couple advancements of plot.
I'd like Grimm to, just once, explain to viewers what the characters on the show actually see. From what I can tell, it's arbitrary what the rules are. Mainly, I want to know whether wesens can instantly recognize Nick as Grimm and if not, how they eventually tell, and whether Nick sees them in creature form. I don't even want to know who the captain is! It bothers me so much to see all this stuff going on that seems to be for cheap effects for the audience and not for the characters.
I'm ready to call The Office's Sabre Florida experiment a bust. It's far too wacky to be taken seriously, and none of it is really that funny. One thing the plot could have done is to allow the people back at Scranton something worthy to do, but instead they're just as silly those who went away.
Parks and Recreation was very fun with the arrival of Kathryn Hahn's character and unique way Pawneeans drink from the water fountain.
Psych's return reminded me of how fun the show is. The Indian Jones-esque plot was good and Despereaux return, death, revival, and escape was all nicely done.
I haven't really said much about Criminal Minds this season, mostly because there hasn't been much to say, but last week's episode was notable for its sheer awfulness. Criminal Minds writers and directors sometimes get caught up in this idea that people pretending to be normal can be more terrifying than people killing others, and we get these shots of people's blank faces and we're supposed to understand that there's something dark and sinister hiding underneath the eyes. This is fine--as long as it doesn't take up the whole episode. Unfortunately, last week's episode had a whole lot of people's faces and not much else.
Justified: Quarles is a great villain. On the outside, he seems like a cool, level-headed guy, with a mechanical contraption to make carefully executed kills. However, as we learn more about him, he doesn't have to all together.
Breaking Bad's Badger as Agent Dorneget on NCIS was hilarious and he meshed well with the rest of the team. This is his second time on the show so I hope we see him more often.
Smash's fourth episode seem a bit different than the previous episodes, more flowery and unrealistic, almost Glee-like. Ivy being mean to Karen could have been expected, but two parts--Karen getting new friends and them teaching her things and performance at Lyle's place with Lyle helping--were far more than the grounded show we saw before.
Castle can be quite a dynamic show in the number of weird/funky scenarios it throws at the audience in one episode. Last week's episode dove into fairy tale world (possible in an attempt for some cross-promotion with Once Upon a TIme) and into the past, and it came together nicely in the end.
I like that How I Met Your Mother is finally moving Ted forward. It looks like it'll be a while before we learn who the mother is, but we're getting there, slowly but surely.
