Luck isn't exactly the easiest show to get into. The audience, from the very beginning, is tossed into another world--horse racing--without much guidance and it's a lot like swimming for the first time Characters are using obscure terms and we go from scene to scene without much semblance of structure. The first half of the pilot is a bit uncomfortable to watch, as it's not exactly clear what's going on. That's David Milch's style. But despite being tossed into this great expanse, everything starts jelling around the halfway point. We may not know characters' names or the details, but we get a general sense of who's who and what they're doing. What really shines are the horse races, the one thing that connects all the characters. They are pure beauty and generate a sense that a lot if riding on it, for the random spectators in the crowd, for the gamblers who stand to earn millions, and for the audience at home.
I wonder what Shameless would be like without Frank and I think it would be better. He's mostly deadweight as a character, much like he is to his family. He's a mean-spirited drunk who interacts with few people other than Sheila. Unlike all the other characters, he has no intentions of changing and instead does whatever it takes to keep drinking. There's nothing redeemable about him nor is there any insight from his character. I'd be perfectly fine without him. Aside from the usual Frank mess, I like where this season is headed. All the characters have their personal problems and it wasn't overly dramatic or wacky in this episode.
I said I wouldn't review House of Lies again until it changed, so I'll say it did change this week. With Roscoe coming with the team, the job of the week was pushed to the background, and we got to hang out with the characters much more than we usual do.
The culmination of The Good Wife's "Will might get indicted" arc came to an end, with both triumph and a sense that everyone got off too easily. After all the wrangling and Wendy Scott Carr coming back, beating her proved to be pretty easy, as she wasn't on top of everything and Kalinda had actually been on Will's side the entire time. Still, if Will and the firm did get off easy, the inquiries did shake the actual tenuous foundations of Lockhart Gardner and we know more trouble is coming.
Now the big ticket item, Chuck. In my mind Chuck was a happy show. It had its ups and downs, but mostly it was a happy show. Thus, I always envisioned the series finale, or at least the last 10 minutes, to be happy all-around. As any who watched the final episode can testify, it was anything but happy. Bittersweet maybe, soul-crushing even. We watched Sarah grow over the course of five seasons, from when Chuck was only a mission until she was his wife. And what happens in the last two episodes? She loses her memory and isn't the same person. We didn't get to see the Sarah we've come to know one last time.
Rationalizing, we can, with much optimism, presume that Morgan's kiss theory was right and that Sarah did regain all her memory. (In fact, I thought it would be really cool if they took all 3600+ minutes of the show and quickly played through it to show fans that we did remember). Or maybe Sarah would eventually remember everything, as she did remember some things from her past. But the alternative, Sarah remembering nothing or very little, and having Chuck tell her these stories, is incredibly sad. It just wouldn't be the same.
I began thinking afterwards and realized that Chuck was really sad, once the fun and humorous tone was taken away. The further into the spy life any character went, the more their personal life got destroyed. Casey, Stephen and Mary, Volkoff, Jill, Sarah, Bryce, Chuck, and everyone else. The highs of the show were really high and the lows were really low, and the final moments of the show captured this perfectly. There is hope that Chuck and Sarah will pull through and there's a chance they might not. Like the final scene of the pilot, they are on the beach and the future is unknown, except the roles are reversed this time.
The substance of the two final episodes was mostly a mixed bag. Quinn was one of the worst villains of the show, in his lack of menace, action, and gravitas. Beyond that, though, the recalls to the first episode were great, bringing everything full circle before the end. It rekindled my interest in Chuck, which has be waning for some time, and I want to go back and rewatch the show. All in all, the final two episodes were fantastic.
Spartacus is in the midst of big changes. On a story level, the gladiators have escaped, but they, and Spartacus, aren't sure what to do. Quintus is dead and Lucretia is miraculously still alive but damaged. Nobody is sure of what's coming next. On a production level, Andy Whitfield's tragic death means that his replacement, Liam McIntyre, must be able to fill in big shoes. The second season premiere sets up the situation and then ups the stakes by killing off Aurelia, so there's the vengeance that will carry through the season.
Fringe: In the middle of Peter showing up in this other world, I don't want to see even more elements introduced. Unfortunately, there is a new plot about the Observer telling Olivia she has to die and it's not a one-off thing. Olivia's fears came to a head in last week episode, where they find a girl who can see people's future deaths. This is important to Olivia, of course, but we still don't get a good idea of what anything has to do with the overall picture. It's clear the writers are making stuff up as they go and with the show possibly coming to an end this season, it's hard not to be wary of these new developments
Fox previewed Touch after American Idol, and it was pretty bad. I described it as "a bunch of pointless, transparently manipulative threads tying together," on Twitter. You can imagine how quickly the show devolves into a procedural. Each week new people are introduced and we see how they are interconnected by the end of the episode. Meanwhile, Jack Bauer hangs out with his son and restrains himself from beating others into a pulp.
Art got lots of actions scenes in Justified for a change, Carla Gugino's character was introduced, and the other bad guy from Limehouse was also introduced.
Southland: With the badass new captain who wants to get things done, there was lots of talk about the proper way to go about police business. Ben crossed that line, possibly motivated by the senseless shooting in the season premiere, while Lydia tricked the granny in order to get evidence, which she thinks was ethical.
Alcatraz continues to play out like an average procedural, which is probably not what people were looking for in the show. The big thing of the episode is that the doctor looks the same as he did in the past. Spooky.....
Monday, January 30, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Reviews 1/16/12 - 1/22/12
For its third episode, House of Lies continues on the same path--crude jokes, little story, and good acting. I probably won't say more about the show unless it changes.
Shameless: Frank is surely a bad person, but last night's episode took it to an extreme, as he denied Dottie a heart she should have had. Then she pays him to essentially kill her, and then he steals from the church. It's hard to stomach watching Frank each week when we know he deserves a lot worse than he gets. It's far more interesting to watch a character like Fiona--someone with an actual conscience--grapple with the decisions she makes. And that leads to the return of Steve, plastered in front of a completely unrealistic beach. (Seriously, that was comparable to the boat scene in the pilot of Ringer.)
It kind of feels like Once Upon a Time painted itself into a corner with this week's episode. In the fairytale world, Snow forgets about the prince at the end of the episode, and as we know they got married at the beginning of the series. So it's a long way before we reach that point, and when we can figure out more about the spell which sent them to Storybrooke. How much longer do we have to wait?
Sometimes, it's a good idea to look at the big picture of a show and evaluate where the show is. In Fringe's case, all we have to look at is the episode number, 9. 9 episodes into the season and the viewers have no clue why things are happening. Peter's stuck in this alternate place, by himself and with familiar but ultimately different characters. Now he's trying to get back, but it doesn't seem like he'll be getting home anytime soon, what with the new shapeshifters and other roadblocks in the way. So we stuck watching these characters who are different than the ones we watched for three season. But why are watching them? Because the show points out time and time again that they are different, it's hard to have any attachment for them, knowing they're part of a bigger plot device. While we get plenty of great scenes in the episode with Peter's mother and Walternate, it's hollow knowing something is dreadfully wrong with the position Peter is in. It demands Peter go back to where he belongs and leave behind these characters we've known for 9+ episodes.
If you needed confirmation that Grimm resets itself and the end of each episode, look no further than last week's episode. Following an episode in which Nick gets battered in his own home and sent to the hospital, everyone seems to forget what happened. Juliet is worried about the car parked outside, but it's no big deal. The main point of the subplot is that she's curious, not scared or worried or any feelings you'd expect after last week's episode. The writers don't do much with her character when she's the most disposable character on the show, and we end up with half-baked subplots.
After weeks of feel good episodes, Chuck dived back into the angst before its final hurrah four days from now. Sarah remembers nothing--oh noz! There's going to be a happy ending, of course, but not before serious problem solving. The sad thing is, this arc could have been switched with any number of arcs from earlier in the season. All had the same format--everyone's happy at the start, major problems in the middle, and back to being happy.
The Mentalist revisited O'Laughlin and gave him a final send off for Grace. We'll never really know what went on in his head--maybe when Red John is caught--but Van Pelt got the absolution she needed. As for the idea that the necklace has some embedded electronic device, I highly doubt it. It would really cheapen that final scene and the necklace must have been inspected before going into evidence.
The Finder, even airing after American Idol, got very average ratings. Unless its ratings stay perfectly stable at where it is, which is highly unlikely, the show will be canceled. The second episode suffers the same problem as the backdoor pilot, too much Bones. If we want Sweets, we can watch Bones. We know need his psychoanalysis and random comments about Walt.
There's not much to say about The Office. The pool stuff was okay, but Robert California was insufferable as always. I still don't get.
The Secret Circle took a big step, allowing Cassie to actually see the events of the infamous fire. And a lot of what she saw contradicted what people told her had happened.
The Vampire Diaries didn't really have that much going on other than introducing Bonnie's mother, but the episode ended with Elijah's return, so I'm happy.
Royal Pains has gone back and forth with Jill and Hank so many times. They like each other but work gets in the way, blah blah blah. Can't the writers just choose something so we don't have to watch the same dynamic repeat itself?
As always, the subplots on Criminal Minds are painfully underdeveloped, but the episode was bolstered by the most interesting case in a long time.
Modern Family: The whole deal with Lily cursing was stupid. The words were bleeped out since the writers don't want to be fined, and the situation was realistic enough. That said, Cam and Mitchell again had the worst plot. Balancing it out, though, were the other two plots--the hilarious doggy suicide and Claire failing during the debate.
Southland's return was better than Justified's, in my opinion. Lucy Liu was surprisingly good as a cop, and dash camera video was hard-hitting.
Justified introduced its new batch of villains and gave Winona a great incentive of getting out of town, being held at gunpoint. The loss of Margo Martindale will be big, so we'll see if the new bad guys can make up for that.
Glee's proposal episode was horrible--a musical spectacle with all the dumb platitudes one might expect and zero heart.
Castle took a fun turn when they busted into the phone sex place, but the episode took a dark, dumb turn into conspiracy land. Castle simply isn't good when it's in plot-heavy, serious mode.
I think it was a mistake to air two episodes of Alcatraz. The first episode had enough mystery and exposition to mask the fact that the show was just another supernatural procedural a la Grimm or Haven. Yeah, we could see the framework of a procedural, but it wasn't clear whether the writers would proceed in that direction. Then, the second episode aired and it was clear the show would have a procedural format, with each episode focusing on a time-traveled convict. This isn't bad or anything, especially with the revelation that Rebecca's grandfather killed her partner, but the procedural idea certainly takes away from the allure of a show about Alcatraz and time travel.
The second season premiere of Being Human was a lot less on the angsty side than I remember, which is probably a good thing, since I like the premiere and how light it felt.
Shameless: Frank is surely a bad person, but last night's episode took it to an extreme, as he denied Dottie a heart she should have had. Then she pays him to essentially kill her, and then he steals from the church. It's hard to stomach watching Frank each week when we know he deserves a lot worse than he gets. It's far more interesting to watch a character like Fiona--someone with an actual conscience--grapple with the decisions she makes. And that leads to the return of Steve, plastered in front of a completely unrealistic beach. (Seriously, that was comparable to the boat scene in the pilot of Ringer.)
It kind of feels like Once Upon a Time painted itself into a corner with this week's episode. In the fairytale world, Snow forgets about the prince at the end of the episode, and as we know they got married at the beginning of the series. So it's a long way before we reach that point, and when we can figure out more about the spell which sent them to Storybrooke. How much longer do we have to wait?
Sometimes, it's a good idea to look at the big picture of a show and evaluate where the show is. In Fringe's case, all we have to look at is the episode number, 9. 9 episodes into the season and the viewers have no clue why things are happening. Peter's stuck in this alternate place, by himself and with familiar but ultimately different characters. Now he's trying to get back, but it doesn't seem like he'll be getting home anytime soon, what with the new shapeshifters and other roadblocks in the way. So we stuck watching these characters who are different than the ones we watched for three season. But why are watching them? Because the show points out time and time again that they are different, it's hard to have any attachment for them, knowing they're part of a bigger plot device. While we get plenty of great scenes in the episode with Peter's mother and Walternate, it's hollow knowing something is dreadfully wrong with the position Peter is in. It demands Peter go back to where he belongs and leave behind these characters we've known for 9+ episodes.
If you needed confirmation that Grimm resets itself and the end of each episode, look no further than last week's episode. Following an episode in which Nick gets battered in his own home and sent to the hospital, everyone seems to forget what happened. Juliet is worried about the car parked outside, but it's no big deal. The main point of the subplot is that she's curious, not scared or worried or any feelings you'd expect after last week's episode. The writers don't do much with her character when she's the most disposable character on the show, and we end up with half-baked subplots.
After weeks of feel good episodes, Chuck dived back into the angst before its final hurrah four days from now. Sarah remembers nothing--oh noz! There's going to be a happy ending, of course, but not before serious problem solving. The sad thing is, this arc could have been switched with any number of arcs from earlier in the season. All had the same format--everyone's happy at the start, major problems in the middle, and back to being happy.
The Mentalist revisited O'Laughlin and gave him a final send off for Grace. We'll never really know what went on in his head--maybe when Red John is caught--but Van Pelt got the absolution she needed. As for the idea that the necklace has some embedded electronic device, I highly doubt it. It would really cheapen that final scene and the necklace must have been inspected before going into evidence.
The Finder, even airing after American Idol, got very average ratings. Unless its ratings stay perfectly stable at where it is, which is highly unlikely, the show will be canceled. The second episode suffers the same problem as the backdoor pilot, too much Bones. If we want Sweets, we can watch Bones. We know need his psychoanalysis and random comments about Walt.
There's not much to say about The Office. The pool stuff was okay, but Robert California was insufferable as always. I still don't get.
The Secret Circle took a big step, allowing Cassie to actually see the events of the infamous fire. And a lot of what she saw contradicted what people told her had happened.
The Vampire Diaries didn't really have that much going on other than introducing Bonnie's mother, but the episode ended with Elijah's return, so I'm happy.
Royal Pains has gone back and forth with Jill and Hank so many times. They like each other but work gets in the way, blah blah blah. Can't the writers just choose something so we don't have to watch the same dynamic repeat itself?
As always, the subplots on Criminal Minds are painfully underdeveloped, but the episode was bolstered by the most interesting case in a long time.
Modern Family: The whole deal with Lily cursing was stupid. The words were bleeped out since the writers don't want to be fined, and the situation was realistic enough. That said, Cam and Mitchell again had the worst plot. Balancing it out, though, were the other two plots--the hilarious doggy suicide and Claire failing during the debate.
Southland's return was better than Justified's, in my opinion. Lucy Liu was surprisingly good as a cop, and dash camera video was hard-hitting.
Justified introduced its new batch of villains and gave Winona a great incentive of getting out of town, being held at gunpoint. The loss of Margo Martindale will be big, so we'll see if the new bad guys can make up for that.
Glee's proposal episode was horrible--a musical spectacle with all the dumb platitudes one might expect and zero heart.
Castle took a fun turn when they busted into the phone sex place, but the episode took a dark, dumb turn into conspiracy land. Castle simply isn't good when it's in plot-heavy, serious mode.
I think it was a mistake to air two episodes of Alcatraz. The first episode had enough mystery and exposition to mask the fact that the show was just another supernatural procedural a la Grimm or Haven. Yeah, we could see the framework of a procedural, but it wasn't clear whether the writers would proceed in that direction. Then, the second episode aired and it was clear the show would have a procedural format, with each episode focusing on a time-traveled convict. This isn't bad or anything, especially with the revelation that Rebecca's grandfather killed her partner, but the procedural idea certainly takes away from the allure of a show about Alcatraz and time travel.
The second season premiere of Being Human was a lot less on the angsty side than I remember, which is probably a good thing, since I like the premiere and how light it felt.
Monday, January 16, 2012
1/9/12 - 1/15/12 Reviews
Shows are beginning to pile up, so there are a lot of shows missing and a lot of one-liners. Maybe I'll adjust the schedule of posting in the future.
House of Lies's second episode is a lot like the first. The characters are assholes who get the job done. It's amusing at times, but the content isn't anything to write home about.
A mix of Shameless's season premiere and this week's episode, bridging the gap between crazy behavior and actual drama, would be a solid episode. It would have all fun of the pot plot from last week while introducing the plot of the Gallagher's crumbling foundation as the younger ones grow up. As it stands, each episode is incomplete, with good stuff altogether but not as individual episodes. But I think that's the hardest thing for the writers. There isn't really an ongoing plot for the episodes to hang on, so the episodes maintain stand alone qualities, which will have the wackier behavior. At the same time, as we see in this episode, the writers want to add some drama to the family, something that might not happen if they're off making money.
With great awkwardness and spotty character building, Hell on Wheels finished its first season. Am I impressed? No. Do I think it's better than The Killing? No, actually. However, I think the show has more promise than The Killing. The cast is good, sets are great to look at, and there are plenty of story to tell.
Leverage brought back some old friends/enemies from the past to help with the last con of the season. It was supposed to be dramatic or something, but I found it mostly tedious since the plot sprang up out of nowhere. In fact, I think the overarching plot for this season was handled worse than Burn Notice's, as bad as it has been. So Nate gets justice and doesn't have to kill anyone, and they're back to their merry selves.
Once Upon a Time: How long will the exposition continue? How long with humor be barred from the script? The ratings are still exceptional, but man are the writers taking their time to develop whatever they want. Surely they can't introduce a different fairy tale character every week.
The Good Wife had another ripped from the headline story with a Bitcoin episode and while it wasn't as good as last week's plot, it was still enjoyable. Another fun thing was the three Mr. Bitcoins, one of whom was an "econophysicist." If you want to do physics, do physics, and if you want to do economics, do economics.
Pan Am's trip to Moscow was pretty funny. The Soviets are out of control authoritarian and is prepared to imprison Laura and Bridgett forever, but Kate manages to slip past them and save the day. Problem solved!
I think I'm done with Blue Bloods. Its Reagan elitism and in elitism in general is too nauseating to bear on a weekly basis.
Fringe is getting back into the swing of things (finally) with Lincoln and Peter heading to the alternate universe. Walternate might not be evil? Lots of thoughts to chew on during the episode which was equal parts exciting.
Ignoring the time travel mechanics, Supernatural's time travel episode was awesome from beginning to end.
The most important thing about last week's Grimm episode was Eddie finding the Grimm stash and using the rifle. But it's importance towards the show at large is dependent on what the writers want it to be. It seems like, from the dropped storylines (the captain, Eddie about to attack Nick's aunt at the hospital), all the writers want the show to be is a police story where they hunt fairy tale characters. At this time, I'd say it's a bit better than OUAT, which has less interesting stories and has globs of exposition.
Argh, we'll have to wait until February for Nikita's return when we'll find out what happens at Division. Nikita and Michael will probably be fine, so the writers, at least with them, are not going for a status quo change. On the other hand, plenty can happen with Oversight or Division... or not.
Chuck pulls another big bad out of nowhere... Yeah, yeah, he has parallels with Chuck, etc, becomes deranged and will have to be defeated. There's only two weeks left, so we can stop walking around in circles soon and end our dizziness.
The Mentalist showed its limitation, trying to balance Red John stuff with a crime story. The crime story was far too brief to get anything from it, with Jane popping in at the last second to save the day. The stuff with Jane getting Darcy off Red John's trail was great, though.
After the terrible backdoor pilot to The Finder last year, the actual pilot of The Finder was surprisingly refreshing. The story moved nicely and the setting was much different than usual procedurals. Add Geoff Stults portraying Walter's quirks and the pilot was quite good.
Bones once again managed to infuriate me. The plot was epic, if not completely implausible, with an evil genius as a villain, unseen since the great Gormogon days. Then there was Booth and Brennan. They're so annoying. Booth should just suck it up and realize that Brennan is loaded and can buy any house. That means she can buy whatever Booth wants and more. Choices, Booth, choices. No need to be a character from ABC's MAN comedies.
Caroline is my favorite character on The Vampire Diaries, so I hope Klaus doesn't damage her irreparably
The Secret Circle needs to kick one of the plots into high gear, because the teen drama isn't cutting it. And Jake returning isn't exactly not teen drama (double negative, I know).
The Office took a trip out of the office, and it was lots of fun, like most of the times when they're out of their usual setting. We got to see different sides of the characters and for once we see that the "dumber" characters might just have different skillsets.
Leslie's campaign on Parks and Recreation kicked off with her team and it wasn't pretty. But it was very, very funny and that's why we watch.
Rob is a show where Rob Schneider makes Mexican jokes and Mexicans made Rob Schneider jokes. Yeah, I don't think this will work.
Revenge returned to the target of the week format and Emily took down an author. Meanwhile, the other elements of the show continue to be developed, with Daniel wanting to marry Emily for money reasons and love, Conrad and Victoria plotting against each other, and Amanda possibly getting in big trouble soon.
It's been a few days short of a week since I watch Are You There, Chelsea? Honestly, I don't remember much about it other than talk about sex and alcohol, and very few laughs.
In the easiest possible twist to get rid of a romantic rival, NCIS ditches CI Ray by making him the murderer. Now that gives Ziva an easy choice...
Castle laid on the Castle/Beckett marriage stuff really thick, in an otherwise enjoyable episode.
House of Lies's second episode is a lot like the first. The characters are assholes who get the job done. It's amusing at times, but the content isn't anything to write home about.
A mix of Shameless's season premiere and this week's episode, bridging the gap between crazy behavior and actual drama, would be a solid episode. It would have all fun of the pot plot from last week while introducing the plot of the Gallagher's crumbling foundation as the younger ones grow up. As it stands, each episode is incomplete, with good stuff altogether but not as individual episodes. But I think that's the hardest thing for the writers. There isn't really an ongoing plot for the episodes to hang on, so the episodes maintain stand alone qualities, which will have the wackier behavior. At the same time, as we see in this episode, the writers want to add some drama to the family, something that might not happen if they're off making money.
With great awkwardness and spotty character building, Hell on Wheels finished its first season. Am I impressed? No. Do I think it's better than The Killing? No, actually. However, I think the show has more promise than The Killing. The cast is good, sets are great to look at, and there are plenty of story to tell.
Leverage brought back some old friends/enemies from the past to help with the last con of the season. It was supposed to be dramatic or something, but I found it mostly tedious since the plot sprang up out of nowhere. In fact, I think the overarching plot for this season was handled worse than Burn Notice's, as bad as it has been. So Nate gets justice and doesn't have to kill anyone, and they're back to their merry selves.
Once Upon a Time: How long will the exposition continue? How long with humor be barred from the script? The ratings are still exceptional, but man are the writers taking their time to develop whatever they want. Surely they can't introduce a different fairy tale character every week.
The Good Wife had another ripped from the headline story with a Bitcoin episode and while it wasn't as good as last week's plot, it was still enjoyable. Another fun thing was the three Mr. Bitcoins, one of whom was an "econophysicist." If you want to do physics, do physics, and if you want to do economics, do economics.
Pan Am's trip to Moscow was pretty funny. The Soviets are out of control authoritarian and is prepared to imprison Laura and Bridgett forever, but Kate manages to slip past them and save the day. Problem solved!
I think I'm done with Blue Bloods. Its Reagan elitism and in elitism in general is too nauseating to bear on a weekly basis.
Fringe is getting back into the swing of things (finally) with Lincoln and Peter heading to the alternate universe. Walternate might not be evil? Lots of thoughts to chew on during the episode which was equal parts exciting.
Ignoring the time travel mechanics, Supernatural's time travel episode was awesome from beginning to end.
The most important thing about last week's Grimm episode was Eddie finding the Grimm stash and using the rifle. But it's importance towards the show at large is dependent on what the writers want it to be. It seems like, from the dropped storylines (the captain, Eddie about to attack Nick's aunt at the hospital), all the writers want the show to be is a police story where they hunt fairy tale characters. At this time, I'd say it's a bit better than OUAT, which has less interesting stories and has globs of exposition.
Argh, we'll have to wait until February for Nikita's return when we'll find out what happens at Division. Nikita and Michael will probably be fine, so the writers, at least with them, are not going for a status quo change. On the other hand, plenty can happen with Oversight or Division... or not.
Chuck pulls another big bad out of nowhere... Yeah, yeah, he has parallels with Chuck, etc, becomes deranged and will have to be defeated. There's only two weeks left, so we can stop walking around in circles soon and end our dizziness.
The Mentalist showed its limitation, trying to balance Red John stuff with a crime story. The crime story was far too brief to get anything from it, with Jane popping in at the last second to save the day. The stuff with Jane getting Darcy off Red John's trail was great, though.
After the terrible backdoor pilot to The Finder last year, the actual pilot of The Finder was surprisingly refreshing. The story moved nicely and the setting was much different than usual procedurals. Add Geoff Stults portraying Walter's quirks and the pilot was quite good.
Bones once again managed to infuriate me. The plot was epic, if not completely implausible, with an evil genius as a villain, unseen since the great Gormogon days. Then there was Booth and Brennan. They're so annoying. Booth should just suck it up and realize that Brennan is loaded and can buy any house. That means she can buy whatever Booth wants and more. Choices, Booth, choices. No need to be a character from ABC's MAN comedies.
Caroline is my favorite character on The Vampire Diaries, so I hope Klaus doesn't damage her irreparably
The Secret Circle needs to kick one of the plots into high gear, because the teen drama isn't cutting it. And Jake returning isn't exactly not teen drama (double negative, I know).
The Office took a trip out of the office, and it was lots of fun, like most of the times when they're out of their usual setting. We got to see different sides of the characters and for once we see that the "dumber" characters might just have different skillsets.
Leslie's campaign on Parks and Recreation kicked off with her team and it wasn't pretty. But it was very, very funny and that's why we watch.
Rob is a show where Rob Schneider makes Mexican jokes and Mexicans made Rob Schneider jokes. Yeah, I don't think this will work.
Revenge returned to the target of the week format and Emily took down an author. Meanwhile, the other elements of the show continue to be developed, with Daniel wanting to marry Emily for money reasons and love, Conrad and Victoria plotting against each other, and Amanda possibly getting in big trouble soon.
It's been a few days short of a week since I watch Are You There, Chelsea? Honestly, I don't remember much about it other than talk about sex and alcohol, and very few laughs.
In the easiest possible twist to get rid of a romantic rival, NCIS ditches CI Ray by making him the murderer. Now that gives Ziva an easy choice...
Castle laid on the Castle/Beckett marriage stuff really thick, in an otherwise enjoyable episode.
Monday, January 9, 2012
1/3/11 - 1/8/11 Reviews
Part of me wants to believe Hell on Wheels is supposed to be a parody, poking fun at Westerns and the themes that often arise in them. Surely, no sensible, serious writers would serve us what we've seen thus far without it being a joke, would they? The opening scene seems to support this, in which the characters get in a big fight following last week's cliffhanger. It's a freaking montage, with song playing as the main characters defeat the Indians who have no clue how to fight and the extras die randomly. The fight comes from old action movies where the villains are big but dumb while the main character can't die despite the circumstances. But the music indicates this isn't any mere fight. It's an artsy fight, you see.
House of Lies is about what you can expect from Showtime these days and the perfect show to follow Shameless. The cast is credentialed and charming, the jokes are mostly crude, and it's about morality ambiguous people doing morality ambiguous acts, in ways people will find funny. There's no big message to glean other than that consulting has a bunch of douchebags (and who didn't know that already?).
The second season of Shameless isn't much different from the first. The Gallaghers break the law, have tons of sex, and drink. There's plenty of rambunctious fun, to be sure, but it's a show where nothing too important is going on and you'd probably be fine not watching all the episodes.
Pan Am is almost certainly going to be canceled, but I'm still watching. Unlike with Hell on Wheels, Pan Am rarely bothers me to the point where I question what the writers are thinking. It's clear what the show is. The gorgeous sets and costumes, Blake Neely's lush, full-bodied score, and the quick pacing lets the audience indulge in the time period rather than force them to dwell on the plot specifics of the week. And the plot specifics were quite good this week, with Colette and Kate each put in difficult situations.
Once Upon a Time needs to get out of exposition zone. We're eight episodes into the show and the writers are still setting the backstories of the characters one at a time. Yeah, it's cool to see where Rumpelstiltskin got his powers and his conniving political mind in the real world, but the plot is going nowhere.
The Good Wife delivers again. Alicia is tugged in numerous directions in the episode and you can tell she's definitely frazzeled and increasingly disillusioned with this world. She has loyalty to the firm, loyalty to the truth, loyalty to the law, and loyalty to herself. These loyalties aren't often in conflict as they were in the episode, but she made her choices as she saw fit.
The pilot of The Firm reminds us why television dramas are an hour long. It begins decently enough with two suited men chasing another suited man. Sure, they aren't running particularly fast, but it's a chase scene. After that, however, the episode devolves into generic legal drama land. The middle sections, probably taking up an hour forty, are a tedious bore. Other than a few key flashbacks it's stagnant and uninteresting. Then the end finally comes around and there's the twist we've been waiting for. If the pilot's going to be two hours long, there should be a very good reason. Either there has been be lots of exposition, because the setup is complicated--as was the case with Terra Nova--or the plot can actually fill the entire two hours. But no, introducing the characters and the backstory could have taken 15 minutes tops while the rest of the hour could be spent on the simply case of a teen killing another teen and a bit of the conspiracy.
Leverage is a fine show, but it should stop having these season-long enemies like Moreau last season or Lattimer this season who show up for 20 seconds to speak two ominous lines and leave. What's the point? Even worse, why bring back Saul Rubinek's character from the pilot who no one remembers?
I guess Bobby really is dead on Supernatural. Now, Supernatural is left with the brothers, whose drama has reached its end, and the Leviathan plot which remains boring. I used to be a big supporter of Supernatural--even last season--but Sera Gamble needs to do something to spice up the show soon.
Nikita's "twist" of Alex's mother being complicit was really obvious, but it fulfilled its role in bringing Nikita and Alex back together.
It looks like Chuck, after the defeat of Shaw, is taking an extended victory lap(s). There is some drama, but it's at a bare minimum, as all the characters get to be as happy as possible. Honestly, I don't really care anymore. The show hasn't been top-notch for years, so to end with this laxness won't be a deviation.
The Secret Circle upped the ante by making it abundantly clear that Cassie isn't just a pint-sized blond who can do magic. She's powerful and very dangerous--against her will. Good stuff for the future.
The Vampire Diaries again splits its season cleanly in half. Last week's episode felt like a season premiere, with the characters struggling to figure out what happened in the previous episode. By the end of the episode they realize the new paradigm, and move ahead. For Damon and Elena, that means the kiss everyone's been waiting for.
Revenge remains awesome. Whatever crazy things may happen, Emily always has an angle to exploit and it's always very fulfilling to watch.
How many times did Body of Proof bash us over the head with its message about body image?
Work It is simply awful. It's the third, and hopefully, last in ABC's line of MAN comedies. Between the unrealistic drag, unfounded jokes about women taking men's jobs, and general stupidity, there was literally nothing to like about the show. Usually, you can point out something about a show that makes it viable to see the light of being broadcast. Not with Work it. Think about how many steps it takes for a television show to get to air, from conceptualization to writing to casting to filming to editing to being aired. Along the way, no one high up at ABC looked at this atrocity, put his/her foot down, and said "no." Unbelievable.
House of Lies is about what you can expect from Showtime these days and the perfect show to follow Shameless. The cast is credentialed and charming, the jokes are mostly crude, and it's about morality ambiguous people doing morality ambiguous acts, in ways people will find funny. There's no big message to glean other than that consulting has a bunch of douchebags (and who didn't know that already?).
The second season of Shameless isn't much different from the first. The Gallaghers break the law, have tons of sex, and drink. There's plenty of rambunctious fun, to be sure, but it's a show where nothing too important is going on and you'd probably be fine not watching all the episodes.
Pan Am is almost certainly going to be canceled, but I'm still watching. Unlike with Hell on Wheels, Pan Am rarely bothers me to the point where I question what the writers are thinking. It's clear what the show is. The gorgeous sets and costumes, Blake Neely's lush, full-bodied score, and the quick pacing lets the audience indulge in the time period rather than force them to dwell on the plot specifics of the week. And the plot specifics were quite good this week, with Colette and Kate each put in difficult situations.
Once Upon a Time needs to get out of exposition zone. We're eight episodes into the show and the writers are still setting the backstories of the characters one at a time. Yeah, it's cool to see where Rumpelstiltskin got his powers and his conniving political mind in the real world, but the plot is going nowhere.
The Good Wife delivers again. Alicia is tugged in numerous directions in the episode and you can tell she's definitely frazzeled and increasingly disillusioned with this world. She has loyalty to the firm, loyalty to the truth, loyalty to the law, and loyalty to herself. These loyalties aren't often in conflict as they were in the episode, but she made her choices as she saw fit.
The pilot of The Firm reminds us why television dramas are an hour long. It begins decently enough with two suited men chasing another suited man. Sure, they aren't running particularly fast, but it's a chase scene. After that, however, the episode devolves into generic legal drama land. The middle sections, probably taking up an hour forty, are a tedious bore. Other than a few key flashbacks it's stagnant and uninteresting. Then the end finally comes around and there's the twist we've been waiting for. If the pilot's going to be two hours long, there should be a very good reason. Either there has been be lots of exposition, because the setup is complicated--as was the case with Terra Nova--or the plot can actually fill the entire two hours. But no, introducing the characters and the backstory could have taken 15 minutes tops while the rest of the hour could be spent on the simply case of a teen killing another teen and a bit of the conspiracy.
Leverage is a fine show, but it should stop having these season-long enemies like Moreau last season or Lattimer this season who show up for 20 seconds to speak two ominous lines and leave. What's the point? Even worse, why bring back Saul Rubinek's character from the pilot who no one remembers?
I guess Bobby really is dead on Supernatural. Now, Supernatural is left with the brothers, whose drama has reached its end, and the Leviathan plot which remains boring. I used to be a big supporter of Supernatural--even last season--but Sera Gamble needs to do something to spice up the show soon.
Nikita's "twist" of Alex's mother being complicit was really obvious, but it fulfilled its role in bringing Nikita and Alex back together.
It looks like Chuck, after the defeat of Shaw, is taking an extended victory lap(s). There is some drama, but it's at a bare minimum, as all the characters get to be as happy as possible. Honestly, I don't really care anymore. The show hasn't been top-notch for years, so to end with this laxness won't be a deviation.
The Secret Circle upped the ante by making it abundantly clear that Cassie isn't just a pint-sized blond who can do magic. She's powerful and very dangerous--against her will. Good stuff for the future.
The Vampire Diaries again splits its season cleanly in half. Last week's episode felt like a season premiere, with the characters struggling to figure out what happened in the previous episode. By the end of the episode they realize the new paradigm, and move ahead. For Damon and Elena, that means the kiss everyone's been waiting for.
Revenge remains awesome. Whatever crazy things may happen, Emily always has an angle to exploit and it's always very fulfilling to watch.
How many times did Body of Proof bash us over the head with its message about body image?
Work It is simply awful. It's the third, and hopefully, last in ABC's line of MAN comedies. Between the unrealistic drag, unfounded jokes about women taking men's jobs, and general stupidity, there was literally nothing to like about the show. Usually, you can point out something about a show that makes it viable to see the light of being broadcast. Not with Work it. Think about how many steps it takes for a television show to get to air, from conceptualization to writing to casting to filming to editing to being aired. Along the way, no one high up at ABC looked at this atrocity, put his/her foot down, and said "no." Unbelievable.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Reviews 12/27/11 - 1/1/12
Hell on Wheels
It's tiring to see the writers do everything in their power to create "anti-stereotypes." The former Confederate soldier is actually not racist--in fact, the Union soldier is--and he's only a tortured soul trying to get justice. He even teaches the black guy how to shoot! There's Lily, the pretty British woman who is not a damsel in distress but someone who can stand the wilderness, and the prostitute who is so nice she'll sleep with a black guy. Individually, these characters aren't that bad--heavy-handed but workable to an extent. Altogether, they form a painful bunch of characters, so cliched it's impossible not to laugh.
In the post Mad Men, Breaking Bad era, AMC has been seen a paragon of basic cable programming, able to challenge HBO and the best of premium cable. After The Killing and Hell on Wheels, though, I'm ready to say the first two critical successes were mere flukes on AMC's part, lucky guesses which happened to pan out in the best ways possible. Mainly, it seems like the problem is that the showrunners aren't particularly experienced. Looking at various showrunner's IMDB pages--Veena Sud (The Killing), Tony Gayton (Hell on Wheels), Jason Horowitch (beginning episodes of Rubicon)--it's obvious they don't have the experience as Matthew Weiner (Mad Men) and Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), especially with regards to serialized television.
Leverage had a fun con with Hardison running the team for a change and failing. While his gimmicks are lots of fun, setting up a video game situation for the marks, the marks see through the plan. Nate saves the day with a far easier plan and it's all good.
Sanctuary hasn't been renewed for a fifth season yet and I'm not sure I really want to see another season. The show's really spiraled out of control since the beginning of the fourth season with plots and characters coming from nowhere. The situation with the abnormals from Hollow Earth isn't explained well, like where they're staying where no one would notice, and plots and characters pop up from out of nowhere. Damian Kindler certainly has good ideas, but the sloppiness is clearly evident.
The most annoying recurring plot device of Chuck are when the characters keep secrets from each other which leads to bad things happening. Even more annoying is in last week's episode, where Chuck knows Sarah has a secret, Sarah tells him she has a secret, and then she doesn't tell him. Come on... you'd think they'd learn by now, especially since they're married. But no, the ridiculous secret keeping leads to major drama.
It's tiring to see the writers do everything in their power to create "anti-stereotypes." The former Confederate soldier is actually not racist--in fact, the Union soldier is--and he's only a tortured soul trying to get justice. He even teaches the black guy how to shoot! There's Lily, the pretty British woman who is not a damsel in distress but someone who can stand the wilderness, and the prostitute who is so nice she'll sleep with a black guy. Individually, these characters aren't that bad--heavy-handed but workable to an extent. Altogether, they form a painful bunch of characters, so cliched it's impossible not to laugh.
In the post Mad Men, Breaking Bad era, AMC has been seen a paragon of basic cable programming, able to challenge HBO and the best of premium cable. After The Killing and Hell on Wheels, though, I'm ready to say the first two critical successes were mere flukes on AMC's part, lucky guesses which happened to pan out in the best ways possible. Mainly, it seems like the problem is that the showrunners aren't particularly experienced. Looking at various showrunner's IMDB pages--Veena Sud (The Killing), Tony Gayton (Hell on Wheels), Jason Horowitch (beginning episodes of Rubicon)--it's obvious they don't have the experience as Matthew Weiner (Mad Men) and Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), especially with regards to serialized television.
Leverage had a fun con with Hardison running the team for a change and failing. While his gimmicks are lots of fun, setting up a video game situation for the marks, the marks see through the plan. Nate saves the day with a far easier plan and it's all good.
Sanctuary hasn't been renewed for a fifth season yet and I'm not sure I really want to see another season. The show's really spiraled out of control since the beginning of the fourth season with plots and characters coming from nowhere. The situation with the abnormals from Hollow Earth isn't explained well, like where they're staying where no one would notice, and plots and characters pop up from out of nowhere. Damian Kindler certainly has good ideas, but the sloppiness is clearly evident.
The most annoying recurring plot device of Chuck are when the characters keep secrets from each other which leads to bad things happening. Even more annoying is in last week's episode, where Chuck knows Sarah has a secret, Sarah tells him she has a secret, and then she doesn't tell him. Come on... you'd think they'd learn by now, especially since they're married. But no, the ridiculous secret keeping leads to major drama.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
12/19/11 - 12/27/11 Reviews
Agonizingly, The Closer ended the first half of its final season without revealing who Goldman’s leak was. At this point, it’s almost impossible to know who it is. The ones who “shouldn’t” be are Sanchez, Tao, and Provenza (and maybe Flynn too), while the ones who “could” be are Gabriel, Taylor, and Pope. My money’s on Gabriel, for what it’s worth. Although we didn’t learn who the mole was, Goldman got put in his place several times, which was a plus.
This week’s Leverage was very simplistic, the con barely entailing more than 3 steps, and even then, the job probably could have been done with even less effort. Without any advanced security system or dangerous enemies, it was easy pickings for the crew.
This is the kind of thing Sanctuary has been building towards since the beginning—the rest of the world knowing about abnormals—but the writing for the episode was painfully weak. Most notable, Magnus wants Will to join Baldouche, telling him he can feed her information. In the very next scene, Will is sitting at his new desk, and then all hell breaks loose and Will has no clue what’s going on. Qhat the hell? Will doesn’t know what Magnus is doing and neither does the viewer.
Last week’s Chuck episode got tons of hype—in my memory the most since the second season—but I was disappointed with it. That’s not to say it wasn’t a good episode, which it was, just my expectations were high and it didn’t live up to them. The problem with the episode is the same with all other Chuck episodes, and especially those of the final season—it doesn’t make sense. Without a stable, fully understandable plot, the episode is shaky, as the plot creaks forward and it soon dawns that the writers either made it up as they were going or have no idea how to create a season-long story where the ongoing story isn’t linked solely by the beginning and ends of each episode. Instead of a single, cohesive story, the story is tediously strung together by cliffhangers. A problem arises at the end of each episode, often sprouting out of nowhere, it’s fixed in the next episode, and then the new problem arises. This kind of plotting, when the writers want to make it seem like a big conspiracy is afoot, is awkward for the viewer who tries to piece things together. And when the viewer does piece things together, the idea that there is a long chain of villains and events leading up to the climax is pretty dumb. The Omen virus turned out to be a massive plot device which was hazily defined by the writers and served its purpose to get rid of Shaw’s Intersect.
But I can understand why this episode would stick out. First, it’s a Christmas episode and it’s a perfect holiday for a show that emphasizes family. Secondly, Shaw makes a better villain than the grab bag villain of the week, with his history and recognizable personality. There’s real danger in the episode several cool fights. In the end, however, plot is a critical part of television. It’s probably less important than in movies, but still something everyone pays attention to. No matter how great the characters are, there has to be a feasible plot to be a top episode.
The first season of American Horror Story was bizarre to say the least, and the season finale was no exception. There were little frights in the season finale, the majority taking place in the first half of the episode when the Harmons were chasing the new family away. The rest of the episode was rather mellow, with Christmas and the oddly soothing idea that they are happier dead than alive. So everyone ends up dead while Constance raises the Antichrist who is already killing people. Thus ends a truly batshit season of television. American Horror Story, for the most part, was terrible. The underpinning of the show is that anything messed up that’s sex or death related should happen, regardless of how that point is reach. Random crap happened and then, “Oh, they’re having sex. Oh, she’s killing him.” It’s not particularly imaginative.
If Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck were providing commentary on the current state of American horror movies, which are mostly mindless scares, then I’d probably be more lenient. This was no parody or commentary, only rehashed content revolving around sex and killing. It is this tone-deafness which has turned Glee into a farce and will likely continue.
The good news, announced the next day, is that the second season will not be a continuation but rather something completely different with some of the same actors playing different characters. Hopefully the writers will try out new things and less of the sex and murder. Ryan Murphy also said there was a hint in the last three episodes where the second season would take place. The obvious guess would be Roanoke, which would be very cool since the best parts of the season were the flashbacks with the Montgomerys.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The unambitious Terra Nova
With all its resources, Terra Nova should have been amazing. Big budgets, big sets, big names, big expectations. But no, Terra Nova turned out to be a unvarnished turd, neither engaging the audience with plots or nor creating distinguishable characters. I would attribute this to a lack of ambition on the writers part--a general agreement not to exit a tight, comfortable box.
This is immediately evident in the heart of the show, the Shannons. Jim was jailed for several years, then illegally crossed into Terra Nova. Surely this would cause problems. His kids would hardly know him, his wife wouldn't have seen him for a long time and they'd likely be more distant, and the Terra Nova authorities would hold something against him. There could have been plenty of conflict and drama with Jim. Instead, after a few episodes, Jim is great with his kids, wife, and Taylor. Problems solved! From there it gets worse. Elisabeth is a doctor and does doctor duties. That's it. In the third episode, the writers introduced Malcolm as a potential rival with Jim for Elisabeth, but that was resolved instantly, and he became the pointless lab monkey. The kids, while doing stuff on occasion, are actually worse than Elisabeth--they're actively annoying with bad dialogue and unlikable traits. Josh is a douche who cares about this 2149 girlfriend we met for two seconds in the pilot, Maddy is a generic girl who likes this guy, and Zoe says five-year old things.
The rest of the characters follow roughly the same trajectory. Taylor is the hard ass commander who has problems with his son, but really has a heart of gold. Washington is the generic second in the command who we never get to learn about. She dies and it's supposed to be sad, but what has she done besides do her job? She's even replaced by another female soldier soon afterwards. Lucas got the plot rolling, but it's not like he amounted to much. He was more crazy than scary, and then died after stabbing Taylor who survives. The "best" character is probably Skye, oddly enough. The stuff with her mother wasn't actually bad, with her allegiances being pulled in different direction. That's more than you can say for every other character. Unfortunately, the writers treated her mother like a plot device and abandoned her in the final two episodes. You'd think Skye would be concerned about her amidst all the chaos.
Aside from momentary conflicts in the middle of random episodes, the characters never fought, rarely disagreed and always ended up happy at the end of the episode. So they travel from 2149 to the distant past and now they're happy. Basically, the conflict lies in the setting of 2149, not the characters. And since the show isn't set in 2149, they're perpetually happy.
You can see why the writers would want it this way. Believable drama is hard, and some shows that really try fall flat and seem worse than if they didn't do any drama at all. Stringing together character dynamics from one episode to the next, with varying plots, while balancing the characters is probably the hardest part of television. Though there is great difficulty, we've seen it accomplished, sometimes spectacularly, in the past. However, the Terra Nova writers took the easy way out. If everyone is happy at the end of the episode and nothing changes between the characters, writing the next episode is easy. They start with the same slate of generic characters and start again. For all the money spent on the show, the writers decided they didn't want to deal with character difficulties and bailed out on any attempt to give them nuance or shade them any differently. Trying would at least earn my respect, but not trying at all is just pathetic.
This is immediately evident in the heart of the show, the Shannons. Jim was jailed for several years, then illegally crossed into Terra Nova. Surely this would cause problems. His kids would hardly know him, his wife wouldn't have seen him for a long time and they'd likely be more distant, and the Terra Nova authorities would hold something against him. There could have been plenty of conflict and drama with Jim. Instead, after a few episodes, Jim is great with his kids, wife, and Taylor. Problems solved! From there it gets worse. Elisabeth is a doctor and does doctor duties. That's it. In the third episode, the writers introduced Malcolm as a potential rival with Jim for Elisabeth, but that was resolved instantly, and he became the pointless lab monkey. The kids, while doing stuff on occasion, are actually worse than Elisabeth--they're actively annoying with bad dialogue and unlikable traits. Josh is a douche who cares about this 2149 girlfriend we met for two seconds in the pilot, Maddy is a generic girl who likes this guy, and Zoe says five-year old things.
The rest of the characters follow roughly the same trajectory. Taylor is the hard ass commander who has problems with his son, but really has a heart of gold. Washington is the generic second in the command who we never get to learn about. She dies and it's supposed to be sad, but what has she done besides do her job? She's even replaced by another female soldier soon afterwards. Lucas got the plot rolling, but it's not like he amounted to much. He was more crazy than scary, and then died after stabbing Taylor who survives. The "best" character is probably Skye, oddly enough. The stuff with her mother wasn't actually bad, with her allegiances being pulled in different direction. That's more than you can say for every other character. Unfortunately, the writers treated her mother like a plot device and abandoned her in the final two episodes. You'd think Skye would be concerned about her amidst all the chaos.
Aside from momentary conflicts in the middle of random episodes, the characters never fought, rarely disagreed and always ended up happy at the end of the episode. So they travel from 2149 to the distant past and now they're happy. Basically, the conflict lies in the setting of 2149, not the characters. And since the show isn't set in 2149, they're perpetually happy.
You can see why the writers would want it this way. Believable drama is hard, and some shows that really try fall flat and seem worse than if they didn't do any drama at all. Stringing together character dynamics from one episode to the next, with varying plots, while balancing the characters is probably the hardest part of television. Though there is great difficulty, we've seen it accomplished, sometimes spectacularly, in the past. However, the Terra Nova writers took the easy way out. If everyone is happy at the end of the episode and nothing changes between the characters, writing the next episode is easy. They start with the same slate of generic characters and start again. For all the money spent on the show, the writers decided they didn't want to deal with character difficulties and bailed out on any attempt to give them nuance or shade them any differently. Trying would at least earn my respect, but not trying at all is just pathetic.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Thoughts on shows 12/12/11 - 12/18/11
This week, I'm bolding shows' names for reading convenience.
After not watching Boardwalk Empire since the seventh episode, I finally caught up last week. It's really a show that gets better as you keep watching episode after episode. The first couple episodes felt sluggish and I was just waiting to get the episodes done, but by the season finale, I was disappointed there were no episodes left.
Of course, I also have a bunch of criticism. First, the show is somewhat inapproachable in that none of the characters are likable and it feels as though the viewer is always at arm's length from the show. Nucky is a cold, deceitful gangster, and the other characters mostly fit into the mold. Cold and deceitful isn't always a losing combination, but Nucky isn't charming or menacing either. He's just mean. Probably the most expressive character, Jimmy, always has something on his lingering in his mind that he's distant most of the time. The only character who seems like a good person is Margaret, but she's only one character out of many. These characters being unlikable is hard to swallow when the plot isn't exactly moving fast.
Second, the decision to kill off Jimmy seemed a bit much. While I understand how this is a huge step for Nucky, killing off his adopted son as a signal to those watching, Jimmy was a great character. He'd inject life into the show, when other characters were being their calm selves, and Michael Pitt was a clear stand out. Without Jimmy, the show will be very different.
Homeland's excellent season finale capped a terrific first season, paralleled by few shows. There are actually some criticisms out there, so I wanted to make some points.
1) Homeland is a character-driven show. The show isn't about unlocking Abu Nazir's web of conspiracies, finding his lair, and killing him. The show isn't about gun fights and explosions. It's about characters dealing with the unique situations given to them. It doesn't matter how Abu Nazir formed his plan, how long he's been planning the specific plot. Yeah, it seems a tad far fetched, but we don't know the details. In place of plot machinations, we got an intimate glimpse into the War on Terror, Saul, Brody's family, Brody, and Carrie.
2) Brody must live. The writers don't want Homeland to be 24. There aren't moles in every corner, or an evil, white villain glaring from atop a skyscraper. Think what happens if Brody does die. A new villain? That's... original. By keeping Brody alive, the writers can continue to push the Carrie-Brody plot--something that has as much potential now as it did in the middle of the season--in addition to the billion other unexplored things about Brody. And who doesn't want to watch Damian Lewis for another season?
3) The vest malfunctioning was a big plot device, yes, but a plausible one. The vest wasn't exactly an expensive, machine-manufactured suicide vest--as there are none. It was built by hand in a basement and has exposed wires all over the place. Obviously, while Brody was jostled around, the wires got loose.
4) The season finale of The Killing is much different than Homeland's. Does it matter who killed Rosie Larson? The answer, emphatically, is no. There was literally a suspect a week and by the end, after all the tedious runarounds, anyone could have been the murderer. In Homeland, we know the linchpin of the plot is Brody. He was ready to kill himself, actually flipped the switch, but later decided to save himself, ready to take the political mantle in the second season. Things will definitely change, in line with the idea that a second season should be different than the first. On the other hand, the second season premiere of The Killing could well serve as the next episode of the first season.
I was surprised to learn in Hell on Wheel's preview that there are only three episodes left this season. Is that it? This piece of information compounds everything wrong with the show. Nothing's really happened. Troubles randomly pop up, troubles are solved, and it's all good. The drama, conflict, and backstory feel so manufactured, I'd argue they're worse than in Dexter.
Speaking of Dexter, the season finale fit with the rest of the season. It was bad. Travis was more goofball than villain, and the plot was tepid. The season did end with a good twist, though, with Deb spying Dexter killing Travis. But that couldn't make up for a season of missteps and continued mistakes from previous seasons like the terrible supporting characters. This interview with showrunner Scott Buck just about summarizes how clueless he is. Worst of all he says this of Deb-Dex: "I’m not aware that there’s an ick factor, but that’s certainly not going to affect where we go with that story." Really? Really?? Really??? Really???? Dexter and Deb have been brother and sister since they were kids. They're not biologically related, but obviously there is a social stigma related to incest regardless of blood. Maybe he's saying that to absolve something from his own life... or Professor Gellar is in his mind too.
The counterpart to last week's Leverage episode was the male-centric episode and while the main plot wasn't as good, I liked seeing how everything fit together. It's a cool way of telling stories, a two-parter of sorts where the pieces intersect occasionally.
Chuck had a plot-heavy episode and like previous of the type, it wasn't good. It was exactly bad, but I don't watch Chuck for plot and there weren't that many character interactions in the episode.
Grimm had a poorly-constructed episode which was out of character for the show. The girl in the woods with the long hair, the Grimm version of Rapunzel, could have had potential, but led to an episode where there were way too many extra characters and parts that were never dealt with.
My memory with regards to when I last commented on The Mentalist is hazy, but I have some general comments on this season since the show won't be back until January. The fourth season isn't as strong as the third season, which started with a heavy emphasis on Red John, and has generally stayed with the standalone cases. That said, Jane is must less of a dick than he was in the second season. Last week's Mentalist episode was about Jane being a dick after losing his memory. His roughish behavior hasn't exactly changed, but the end result--which for him is usually positive--is very mean towards the Lisbon, Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt who were trying to help him. The sad thing is that he needed his family to die for him to be a good person and productive member of society. I'm curious to see whether Jane will remain the way he is, without memories, for a few more episodes, or whether seeing the Red John face brings him back to normal.
I guess Viven dying on American Horror Story was something worth talking about. Other than that, it was more or less the same. The writers don't specify the rules by which the house operates, so they make up whatever shit they want as they go, under the guise that the house is haunted.
Glee's Christmas episode was..... crap. There was zero plot other than random references to things and the whole thing stunk of indulgence. The characters became dolls to participate in a generic medley of computer generated Christmas music.
Enlightened ended its first season without much fanfare in the media, but I'll admit that I was enlightened. When the series first began, I remember not knowing what the show was or what would happen beyond the introductory pilot. Even after watching 10 episodes, I don't know another show like it, with little plot movement but so many somber moments.
Terra Nova remains shockingly boring. Between "I need to do homework!!!!" and Skye being caught and given a slap on her wrist, there's hardly anything worth watching anymore. From the outset, the writers made a couple critical mistakes. None of the characters ever went beyond their stereotypes and nothing surprising ever happened. There was always a happy ending, no matter what happened. From there, when things did get rough, there were still no consequences for the notable characters. Everyone's still fine, doing their boring things.
I got around to watching the Bag of Bones miniseries and it was better than I expected, though my expectations were pretty low. The novel didn't have a strong plot anyway, relying more on imagery than tangible things happening, and while the adaptation tried to put more meat on the story, it didn't really work. Four hours was just too long for what paltry plot was there to be sustainable.
After not watching Boardwalk Empire since the seventh episode, I finally caught up last week. It's really a show that gets better as you keep watching episode after episode. The first couple episodes felt sluggish and I was just waiting to get the episodes done, but by the season finale, I was disappointed there were no episodes left.
Of course, I also have a bunch of criticism. First, the show is somewhat inapproachable in that none of the characters are likable and it feels as though the viewer is always at arm's length from the show. Nucky is a cold, deceitful gangster, and the other characters mostly fit into the mold. Cold and deceitful isn't always a losing combination, but Nucky isn't charming or menacing either. He's just mean. Probably the most expressive character, Jimmy, always has something on his lingering in his mind that he's distant most of the time. The only character who seems like a good person is Margaret, but she's only one character out of many. These characters being unlikable is hard to swallow when the plot isn't exactly moving fast.
Second, the decision to kill off Jimmy seemed a bit much. While I understand how this is a huge step for Nucky, killing off his adopted son as a signal to those watching, Jimmy was a great character. He'd inject life into the show, when other characters were being their calm selves, and Michael Pitt was a clear stand out. Without Jimmy, the show will be very different.
Homeland's excellent season finale capped a terrific first season, paralleled by few shows. There are actually some criticisms out there, so I wanted to make some points.
1) Homeland is a character-driven show. The show isn't about unlocking Abu Nazir's web of conspiracies, finding his lair, and killing him. The show isn't about gun fights and explosions. It's about characters dealing with the unique situations given to them. It doesn't matter how Abu Nazir formed his plan, how long he's been planning the specific plot. Yeah, it seems a tad far fetched, but we don't know the details. In place of plot machinations, we got an intimate glimpse into the War on Terror, Saul, Brody's family, Brody, and Carrie.
2) Brody must live. The writers don't want Homeland to be 24. There aren't moles in every corner, or an evil, white villain glaring from atop a skyscraper. Think what happens if Brody does die. A new villain? That's... original. By keeping Brody alive, the writers can continue to push the Carrie-Brody plot--something that has as much potential now as it did in the middle of the season--in addition to the billion other unexplored things about Brody. And who doesn't want to watch Damian Lewis for another season?
3) The vest malfunctioning was a big plot device, yes, but a plausible one. The vest wasn't exactly an expensive, machine-manufactured suicide vest--as there are none. It was built by hand in a basement and has exposed wires all over the place. Obviously, while Brody was jostled around, the wires got loose.
4) The season finale of The Killing is much different than Homeland's. Does it matter who killed Rosie Larson? The answer, emphatically, is no. There was literally a suspect a week and by the end, after all the tedious runarounds, anyone could have been the murderer. In Homeland, we know the linchpin of the plot is Brody. He was ready to kill himself, actually flipped the switch, but later decided to save himself, ready to take the political mantle in the second season. Things will definitely change, in line with the idea that a second season should be different than the first. On the other hand, the second season premiere of The Killing could well serve as the next episode of the first season.
I was surprised to learn in Hell on Wheel's preview that there are only three episodes left this season. Is that it? This piece of information compounds everything wrong with the show. Nothing's really happened. Troubles randomly pop up, troubles are solved, and it's all good. The drama, conflict, and backstory feel so manufactured, I'd argue they're worse than in Dexter.
Speaking of Dexter, the season finale fit with the rest of the season. It was bad. Travis was more goofball than villain, and the plot was tepid. The season did end with a good twist, though, with Deb spying Dexter killing Travis. But that couldn't make up for a season of missteps and continued mistakes from previous seasons like the terrible supporting characters. This interview with showrunner Scott Buck just about summarizes how clueless he is. Worst of all he says this of Deb-Dex: "I’m not aware that there’s an ick factor, but that’s certainly not going to affect where we go with that story." Really? Really?? Really??? Really???? Dexter and Deb have been brother and sister since they were kids. They're not biologically related, but obviously there is a social stigma related to incest regardless of blood. Maybe he's saying that to absolve something from his own life... or Professor Gellar is in his mind too.
The counterpart to last week's Leverage episode was the male-centric episode and while the main plot wasn't as good, I liked seeing how everything fit together. It's a cool way of telling stories, a two-parter of sorts where the pieces intersect occasionally.
Chuck had a plot-heavy episode and like previous of the type, it wasn't good. It was exactly bad, but I don't watch Chuck for plot and there weren't that many character interactions in the episode.
Grimm had a poorly-constructed episode which was out of character for the show. The girl in the woods with the long hair, the Grimm version of Rapunzel, could have had potential, but led to an episode where there were way too many extra characters and parts that were never dealt with.
My memory with regards to when I last commented on The Mentalist is hazy, but I have some general comments on this season since the show won't be back until January. The fourth season isn't as strong as the third season, which started with a heavy emphasis on Red John, and has generally stayed with the standalone cases. That said, Jane is must less of a dick than he was in the second season. Last week's Mentalist episode was about Jane being a dick after losing his memory. His roughish behavior hasn't exactly changed, but the end result--which for him is usually positive--is very mean towards the Lisbon, Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt who were trying to help him. The sad thing is that he needed his family to die for him to be a good person and productive member of society. I'm curious to see whether Jane will remain the way he is, without memories, for a few more episodes, or whether seeing the Red John face brings him back to normal.
I guess Viven dying on American Horror Story was something worth talking about. Other than that, it was more or less the same. The writers don't specify the rules by which the house operates, so they make up whatever shit they want as they go, under the guise that the house is haunted.
Glee's Christmas episode was..... crap. There was zero plot other than random references to things and the whole thing stunk of indulgence. The characters became dolls to participate in a generic medley of computer generated Christmas music.
Enlightened ended its first season without much fanfare in the media, but I'll admit that I was enlightened. When the series first began, I remember not knowing what the show was or what would happen beyond the introductory pilot. Even after watching 10 episodes, I don't know another show like it, with little plot movement but so many somber moments.
Terra Nova remains shockingly boring. Between "I need to do homework!!!!" and Skye being caught and given a slap on her wrist, there's hardly anything worth watching anymore. From the outset, the writers made a couple critical mistakes. None of the characters ever went beyond their stereotypes and nothing surprising ever happened. There was always a happy ending, no matter what happened. From there, when things did get rough, there were still no consequences for the notable characters. Everyone's still fine, doing their boring things.
I got around to watching the Bag of Bones miniseries and it was better than I expected, though my expectations were pretty low. The novel didn't have a strong plot anyway, relying more on imagery than tangible things happening, and while the adaptation tried to put more meat on the story, it didn't really work. Four hours was just too long for what paltry plot was there to be sustainable.
Monday, December 12, 2011
12/5/11 - 12/11/11 Reviews
Weekly reviews again! Again, I'll go backwards in the week and I'm not covering everything I watched--just whatever comes to my mind (and, yes, that means shows later in the week will have a greater chance of being remembered). No, I still haven't caught up on Boardwalk Empire or watched Luck, but I will have a post on them when I do, hopefully later this week.
Homeland: Claire Danes has been very impressive thus far, but I suspect last night's episode will be her Emmy submission. It begins with her going right off the edge of the cliff--after being on the edge for most of the season--before she mellows out during the middle part of the episode. It is at this point when everything hangs in the balance, and then she calls Brody, which leads into everything going into ruin and the brilliant final scene where everything explodes. If Carrie had just been manic in the way she was the first minutes of the episode, Claire Danes probably wouldn't have gotten as much praise from me. But as the episode progresses, so does her behavior once she starts coming to grips with herself and the medication kicks in. One of my favorite parts of the episode is how people react to her: they treat her like a normal adult, not someone who needs to be locked up, despite her erratic behavior. The sad thing about all this is that Carrie is right--Abu Nazir has a huge plan brewing.
Hell on Wheels continues to be weird and infuriating. This week it featured a bunch of cookie cutter Native Americans and religious people, while sidelining Bohannon, easily the most interesting character on the cast who isn't cut from the same stereotype cloth most other characters are. Worst is these awkward spectacles in each episode. Last week, it was the fight lasting half the episode and this week was the John Henry moment where the Native American on a horse races the train. What is that supposed to tell us? That trains are faster than horses? That machine prevails over nature? Duh?
Dexter: I think most people would agree how horrible Travis is. But take a moment a think about the other plots potentially worse than Travis. Deb in love with Dexter, video game/hand guy, LaGuerta being a bitch for the 100000 time.
I liked how Leverage let the girls have an episode for a change and brought back Tara. Fun stuff as usual.
The Good Wife has had some interesting cases as of late, and last night's episode was no exception, with the plot about potential jury tampering. On top of that, Wendy Scott Carr using her position as special prosecutor--appointed by Peter--to investigate Peter played out nicely.
I haven't said anything about Once Upon a Time on the blog, so I'll repeat what I said about it on Twitter last night. I like the tone of the show--the grand, majestic sweeping fairy tale kind versus the humerus fairy tale. There isn't anything overtly funny, but it has enough charm not to be depressing. Each episode moves along quickly, and is enjoyable to watched, granted you don't think too carefully. My biggest problem with the show is the lack of nuance with the characters. Sure, these characters' origin stories are different than the ones we know them by, but that's all that's different. Their characterizations are generic and what they do is as expected.
I haven't said anything about Grimm, the other fairy tale show, so here are some thoughts as well. The twists on fairy tale characters combined with the police work is turning out pretty good. What stands out on the show is its use of darkness and shadows, which provides a tone the show wouldn't otherwise have. I'd say Grimm gets the most value added from its lighting than almost any show out there. The Pied Piper violin episode was good as was Friday's episode, but I have a small quibble about it. It seemed like Nick was more lenient towards Angelina than the pig.
Boss's first season ended, and while it has already been renewed for a second season, I'm not exactly holding my breath for it. It seems like producers and directors were far more interesting in a distinctive visual style than telling a good story. Kane's wife was barely developed--at least not enough to explain her devotion to Kane--and his daughter, a plot device.
I like this season of Chuck so far. Sure, the plot still makes zero sense, but that's been the case since day one. What has changed, though, is that Chuck and Sarah are firmly together and it doesn't diminish how likable they are, as individuals and as a couple. Quite impressive, considering how painful Bones has handled Booth and Brennan.ly
The Office's Christmas episode wasn't as painful as previous weeks' episodes, because Robert California seemed almost normal in the episode. That said, it was as aimless as ever, with Andy being a dufus and other people do what they usually do.
Now on to the good Christmas episodes! Both Community and Parks and Recreation, while vastly differing in styles, were awesome. Community had the musical episode poking fun at Glee, and Parks had a very heartwarming episode with all our favorite characters pitching in for Leslie's Christmas present.
American Horror Story continued with the "a bunch of crap happens each week" format, but I actually liked the way they revealed Violet's death, making it overwhelmingly meaningful to Violet, even if viewers had already figured it out.
Suburgatory's Christmas episode was another strong episode, compared to Modern Family which was again pretty bland. Suburgatory has rather simple formula--put likable, recognizable characters in awkward, semi-realistic situations--and it works well.
Sectionals on Glee wasn't that bad, but it's clear that some moves, like bringing back Mr. Trouty Mouth, was purely to placate the fans. Okay, fine, I'll admit it. It was crap, especially Mike Chang's resolution. I've actually thought of some ratios Glee sticks by. 1) Every conflict must be resolved in three scenes or less. 2) For every good episode, there must be seven bad ones.
I think Syfy should stop doing these holiday episodes. The ratings were below what the shows would normally get and the episodes aren't that good themselves.
I've been watching Covert Affairs, but nothing has really stood out about its second season. I really liked the first season, which had Annie stepping into a huge, unknown world and trying to make her way in it. The second just had Annie doing her spy thing, with some boring office subplots thrown in.
The biggest disappointment--and I think everyone else's too--was the season finale of Sons of Anarchy. It started badly with the hilariously bad deux ex CIA, and promptly plunged into Plotdeviceville, where Potter saves Charming through sex toys.The episode ends with Jax taking over, the implication that Tara is becoming Gemma, and Clay alive and kicking.
Castle and Beckett handcuffed together made for a fun episode. The writers could have turned this into another one of those episodes where they almost kiss in the face of imminent death, but instead made it funny.
Enlightened took a delightful turn when it focused on Amy's mother, Helen, in the same way an episode would focus on Amy. We get to learn about her backstory and her reflections on her daughter.
How I Met Your Mother was widely talked about on Tuesday, and for good reason. The episode was heartbreaking in many ways, as we learned Robin would never have children. It was, however, a very uneven episode. It fluctuated wildly, from "wow, this is really sad and Cobie Smulders is a great actress," to "fuck you, writers, for playing around with us again." There was the sex twist, then the pregnancy twist, to the no kids twist, and many in between. How long until there's a new twist, destroying the one before it?
Homeland: Claire Danes has been very impressive thus far, but I suspect last night's episode will be her Emmy submission. It begins with her going right off the edge of the cliff--after being on the edge for most of the season--before she mellows out during the middle part of the episode. It is at this point when everything hangs in the balance, and then she calls Brody, which leads into everything going into ruin and the brilliant final scene where everything explodes. If Carrie had just been manic in the way she was the first minutes of the episode, Claire Danes probably wouldn't have gotten as much praise from me. But as the episode progresses, so does her behavior once she starts coming to grips with herself and the medication kicks in. One of my favorite parts of the episode is how people react to her: they treat her like a normal adult, not someone who needs to be locked up, despite her erratic behavior. The sad thing about all this is that Carrie is right--Abu Nazir has a huge plan brewing.
Hell on Wheels continues to be weird and infuriating. This week it featured a bunch of cookie cutter Native Americans and religious people, while sidelining Bohannon, easily the most interesting character on the cast who isn't cut from the same stereotype cloth most other characters are. Worst is these awkward spectacles in each episode. Last week, it was the fight lasting half the episode and this week was the John Henry moment where the Native American on a horse races the train. What is that supposed to tell us? That trains are faster than horses? That machine prevails over nature? Duh?
Dexter: I think most people would agree how horrible Travis is. But take a moment a think about the other plots potentially worse than Travis. Deb in love with Dexter, video game/hand guy, LaGuerta being a bitch for the 100000 time.
I liked how Leverage let the girls have an episode for a change and brought back Tara. Fun stuff as usual.
The Good Wife has had some interesting cases as of late, and last night's episode was no exception, with the plot about potential jury tampering. On top of that, Wendy Scott Carr using her position as special prosecutor--appointed by Peter--to investigate Peter played out nicely.
I haven't said anything about Once Upon a Time on the blog, so I'll repeat what I said about it on Twitter last night. I like the tone of the show--the grand, majestic sweeping fairy tale kind versus the humerus fairy tale. There isn't anything overtly funny, but it has enough charm not to be depressing. Each episode moves along quickly, and is enjoyable to watched, granted you don't think too carefully. My biggest problem with the show is the lack of nuance with the characters. Sure, these characters' origin stories are different than the ones we know them by, but that's all that's different. Their characterizations are generic and what they do is as expected.
I haven't said anything about Grimm, the other fairy tale show, so here are some thoughts as well. The twists on fairy tale characters combined with the police work is turning out pretty good. What stands out on the show is its use of darkness and shadows, which provides a tone the show wouldn't otherwise have. I'd say Grimm gets the most value added from its lighting than almost any show out there. The Pied Piper violin episode was good as was Friday's episode, but I have a small quibble about it. It seemed like Nick was more lenient towards Angelina than the pig.
Boss's first season ended, and while it has already been renewed for a second season, I'm not exactly holding my breath for it. It seems like producers and directors were far more interesting in a distinctive visual style than telling a good story. Kane's wife was barely developed--at least not enough to explain her devotion to Kane--and his daughter, a plot device.
I like this season of Chuck so far. Sure, the plot still makes zero sense, but that's been the case since day one. What has changed, though, is that Chuck and Sarah are firmly together and it doesn't diminish how likable they are, as individuals and as a couple. Quite impressive, considering how painful Bones has handled Booth and Brennan.ly
The Office's Christmas episode wasn't as painful as previous weeks' episodes, because Robert California seemed almost normal in the episode. That said, it was as aimless as ever, with Andy being a dufus and other people do what they usually do.
Now on to the good Christmas episodes! Both Community and Parks and Recreation, while vastly differing in styles, were awesome. Community had the musical episode poking fun at Glee, and Parks had a very heartwarming episode with all our favorite characters pitching in for Leslie's Christmas present.
American Horror Story continued with the "a bunch of crap happens each week" format, but I actually liked the way they revealed Violet's death, making it overwhelmingly meaningful to Violet, even if viewers had already figured it out.
Suburgatory's Christmas episode was another strong episode, compared to Modern Family which was again pretty bland. Suburgatory has rather simple formula--put likable, recognizable characters in awkward, semi-realistic situations--and it works well.
Sectionals on Glee wasn't that bad, but it's clear that some moves, like bringing back Mr. Trouty Mouth, was purely to placate the fans. Okay, fine, I'll admit it. It was crap, especially Mike Chang's resolution. I've actually thought of some ratios Glee sticks by. 1) Every conflict must be resolved in three scenes or less. 2) For every good episode, there must be seven bad ones.
I think Syfy should stop doing these holiday episodes. The ratings were below what the shows would normally get and the episodes aren't that good themselves.
I've been watching Covert Affairs, but nothing has really stood out about its second season. I really liked the first season, which had Annie stepping into a huge, unknown world and trying to make her way in it. The second just had Annie doing her spy thing, with some boring office subplots thrown in.
The biggest disappointment--and I think everyone else's too--was the season finale of Sons of Anarchy. It started badly with the hilariously bad deux ex CIA, and promptly plunged into Plotdeviceville, where Potter saves Charming through sex toys.The episode ends with Jax taking over, the implication that Tara is becoming Gemma, and Clay alive and kicking.
Castle and Beckett handcuffed together made for a fun episode. The writers could have turned this into another one of those episodes where they almost kiss in the face of imminent death, but instead made it funny.
Enlightened took a delightful turn when it focused on Amy's mother, Helen, in the same way an episode would focus on Amy. We get to learn about her backstory and her reflections on her daughter.
How I Met Your Mother was widely talked about on Tuesday, and for good reason. The episode was heartbreaking in many ways, as we learned Robin would never have children. It was, however, a very uneven episode. It fluctuated wildly, from "wow, this is really sad and Cobie Smulders is a great actress," to "fuck you, writers, for playing around with us again." There was the sex twist, then the pregnancy twist, to the no kids twist, and many in between. How long until there's a new twist, destroying the one before it?
Monday, December 5, 2011
Thoughts on shows from 11/28/11 - 12/4/11
I'm going backwards in the week like I did last week. And no, I still haven't caught up on Boardwalk Empire.
The Good Wife was rolling along just fine, with a case about a professor fired, possibly, for religious reasons, the return of Michael J. Fox, and the investigation into Will getting a little deeper. But the episode takes a wild turn past halfway into the episode, as it's possible that Grace has been abducted or something like that. As one could expect, all hell breaks loose and everyone scrambles to find Grace. Only, nothing happens in the end. Grace is fine--more than fine, actually. She's being baptized! While this brief but tense episode provides Alicia perspective on her parental role, I can't help but feel cheated--that the writers would gin up this situation only to have it resolve so easily.
Hell on Wheels is starting to lose me. This week, Bohannon and Elam have a fight lasting the entire second half the episode. So what? One the Irish brothers cheated to win lots of money? Meanwhile the main dramatic force seems to be the Indians, basically the generic outsiders who speak funny and are there to disrupt things.
Leverage's Office was a good bit of fun. There were some parts of the episode where it looked identical to the place where Jim and Dwight sit in Dunder Mifflin.
It's increasingly clear that Dexter has nothing left. The bad guys are boring--and even laughable--the side characters are still boring and laughable, and Dexter is becoming boring.
Boss is seemingly written in the "fictional but possibly realistic" style, but this week's episode clearly strayed from that. Kane turned into the Devil himself, crawling from the asehs and busting out all sorts of information that saves him. He destroys his daughters life and magically has incriminating pictures Zajac. Just like that he's back in business.
Is Bobby really gone on Supernatural? After Jim Beaver put up a great performance, it'd be a shame to see him gone for good like other great characters in the past, namely Cas.
Nikita's midseason finale ended with a big shocker, Alex's mother still alive. On a show where family bonds are fraught with many complications, it'll be interesting to see where this all goes.
I still don't understand Robert California on The Office. He shows up in the office, yells at Andy not to hire his wife, then spends the rest of the episode trying to get his wife hired. He makes no sense.
Parks and Recreation was a little sappy, but as a Leslie and Ben fan, I liked how the episode played out.
It's a shame no one watches Community, because it had another top-tier episode, with both the Dark Knight DVD and foosball plots.
American Horror Story is a bad show. It's like the writers never sat down for more than two minutes to actually discuss what the show is about. But that's part of the allure of the show--that there's a certainty random crap will happen each week. The episode ended with a hilarious revelation about the Pope and the Antichrist. Horrible? Yes. Horrible enough to be interesting? You betcha.
Psych had another good episode in this very strong season with the arrival of Juliet's father. Once again, though, the show's central premise of Shawn lying about psychic abilities is troubling. Juliet's father is a conman, someone who consistently let down his father. What about Shawn and his constant lies? Surely this subject has to be touched on eventually.
All the secrets got revealed on Sons of Anarchy, setting up what is sure to be a doozy of a season finale. Jax will have to kill Clay, right?
Sanctuary continues to have bad ideas, featuring a virtual world where Adam Worth's avatar resides. That makes perfect sense.......
New Girl finally gave Winston something to do!
Glee continues to burn off its goodwill from "The First Time" with yet another horrible episode. Can't say I'm surprised.
One episode away from the season finale, Terra Nova serves up an episode as boring as the ones at the beginning of the season. It's truly awe-inspiring to see the writers bumbling around such fertile ground.
The Good Wife was rolling along just fine, with a case about a professor fired, possibly, for religious reasons, the return of Michael J. Fox, and the investigation into Will getting a little deeper. But the episode takes a wild turn past halfway into the episode, as it's possible that Grace has been abducted or something like that. As one could expect, all hell breaks loose and everyone scrambles to find Grace. Only, nothing happens in the end. Grace is fine--more than fine, actually. She's being baptized! While this brief but tense episode provides Alicia perspective on her parental role, I can't help but feel cheated--that the writers would gin up this situation only to have it resolve so easily.
Hell on Wheels is starting to lose me. This week, Bohannon and Elam have a fight lasting the entire second half the episode. So what? One the Irish brothers cheated to win lots of money? Meanwhile the main dramatic force seems to be the Indians, basically the generic outsiders who speak funny and are there to disrupt things.
Leverage's Office was a good bit of fun. There were some parts of the episode where it looked identical to the place where Jim and Dwight sit in Dunder Mifflin.
It's increasingly clear that Dexter has nothing left. The bad guys are boring--and even laughable--the side characters are still boring and laughable, and Dexter is becoming boring.
Boss is seemingly written in the "fictional but possibly realistic" style, but this week's episode clearly strayed from that. Kane turned into the Devil himself, crawling from the asehs and busting out all sorts of information that saves him. He destroys his daughters life and magically has incriminating pictures Zajac. Just like that he's back in business.
Is Bobby really gone on Supernatural? After Jim Beaver put up a great performance, it'd be a shame to see him gone for good like other great characters in the past, namely Cas.
Nikita's midseason finale ended with a big shocker, Alex's mother still alive. On a show where family bonds are fraught with many complications, it'll be interesting to see where this all goes.
I still don't understand Robert California on The Office. He shows up in the office, yells at Andy not to hire his wife, then spends the rest of the episode trying to get his wife hired. He makes no sense.
Parks and Recreation was a little sappy, but as a Leslie and Ben fan, I liked how the episode played out.
It's a shame no one watches Community, because it had another top-tier episode, with both the Dark Knight DVD and foosball plots.
American Horror Story is a bad show. It's like the writers never sat down for more than two minutes to actually discuss what the show is about. But that's part of the allure of the show--that there's a certainty random crap will happen each week. The episode ended with a hilarious revelation about the Pope and the Antichrist. Horrible? Yes. Horrible enough to be interesting? You betcha.
Psych had another good episode in this very strong season with the arrival of Juliet's father. Once again, though, the show's central premise of Shawn lying about psychic abilities is troubling. Juliet's father is a conman, someone who consistently let down his father. What about Shawn and his constant lies? Surely this subject has to be touched on eventually.
All the secrets got revealed on Sons of Anarchy, setting up what is sure to be a doozy of a season finale. Jax will have to kill Clay, right?
Sanctuary continues to have bad ideas, featuring a virtual world where Adam Worth's avatar resides. That makes perfect sense.......
New Girl finally gave Winston something to do!
Glee continues to burn off its goodwill from "The First Time" with yet another horrible episode. Can't say I'm surprised.
One episode away from the season finale, Terra Nova serves up an episode as boring as the ones at the beginning of the season. It's truly awe-inspiring to see the writers bumbling around such fertile ground.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Thoughts on shows from 11/18/11 to 11/27/11
I guess I'll make this a weekly thing, commenting on various shows that come to mind. As always, I have more to say on Twitter, so check that out. Last week I started from Sunday and went forward, but this week I'll start from yesterday (Sunday) and go backwards.
Dexter was awful. There is a problem with the twist and these "identity twists" in general. When 24 did these twists, everyone was surprised, and for good reason. These twists came out of the blue, with zero indication of something amiss. This is problematic, because you'd assume a mole would exhibit mole-like characteristics prior to the viewers finding out. Then there's the way Dexter did it, showing viewers large hints, but never explicitly telling us until now. Those of use who caught the hints were not only unsurprised but disappointed. Even master-sycophant Michael Ausiello was disappointed.
Neither of these options--popping it on the viewers randomly and genuinely surprising them, or giving viewers hints and not surprising them--are particularly good. Both have their flaws and few remedies. I will say, though, that the first option would probably be a better choice. 24's earlier identity twists were pretty good, shocking and fitting with the "anything goes" attitude of the show. Their weaknesses came in the later seasons, when viewers could already expect such twists.
For Scott Buck to treat the viewers with such impunity is a shame. Did he really think it'd be a good twist, 9 episodes into the season, after showing us hint after hint in each episode?
I don't get Hell on Wheels. Bohannon has a shoot out with Harper, then returns, while the rest of the characters continue to mill around doing nothing.
Once Upon a Time has been quite enjoyable, but its format is troubling. Each week's episode has a familiar pattern, the fairy tale story filling in the background of a character while the modern plot moves very slowly. Some deviation would be nice.
I don't want to sound all negative, but, yes, I have complaints about Homeland as well. A good part of Homeland was built upon this abstract idea that Brody was in Iraq and somehow turned. While there have been some twists here and there, this remains true--up until the last episode. Everything was peeled back, as we learned Brody's exact motivations, revenge for Abu Nazir's son. Is it compelling? Kind of. Is it hammy? I'd say so. The biggest problem is that Brody is now far, far less mysterious. I guess this is the natural progression of a show, but it shattered one of the illusions surrounding him.
The first half of The Walking Dead's second season hasn't been great, and has largely been hindered by the characters staying at the farm for so long, but the final scene was perfect. There's Shane, yelling like a crazed man--except he makes sense. They're living in a horrible world, with horrible conditions, with horrible zombies trying to eat them. What's left? So he opens the barn, letting out the zombies and everyone is forced to slaughter them all. Meanwhile, we can imagine how Herschel is feeling, as he clearly expressed his thoughts on zombies earlier. After they're done killing the zombies, out comes Sophia. The girl they're been looking for for weeks is not only dead but a zombie, feral, slowly walking towards them. The characters are stunned as should be every viewer. While Rick has been hanging back the whole time, wishing to respect Herschel, he finally gives in, blowing out Sophia's brains.
The Sanctuary musical episode was really bad. The writers have never been particularly skilled and it definitely showed. They don't have the creativity or finesse to pull off a musical episode that is both plausible and fun.
Suburgatory's Thanksgiving episode was fun and crazy, and remains a great pleasure to watch.
Opie finally snapped on Sons of Anarchy, putting a couple bullets into Clay. Whether he dies is something to be seen later, but there's no doubt that things will change.
Castle had the kind of serious episode is needs to have more often--not the trumped up, "will everyone die???" kind but the psychological one. The episode was by no means perfect, but it was better relative to the previous serious episodes. Excellent acting by Stana Katic in the scenes that demanded it, which is saying something, because she's usually very wooden.
Hawaii Five-0 was crazy and incredibly entertainly. Rebels in North Korea, taking a helicopter to North Korea, Jenna being a total idiot? What part of the episode made sense? But the episode had a plenty of action and amazing cinematography, so it was all good, in true Hawaii Five-0 spirit.
Terra Nova was more interesting than usual since it touched on Taylor's son and the mystery, but it's still not that interesting.
Dexter was awful. There is a problem with the twist and these "identity twists" in general. When 24 did these twists, everyone was surprised, and for good reason. These twists came out of the blue, with zero indication of something amiss. This is problematic, because you'd assume a mole would exhibit mole-like characteristics prior to the viewers finding out. Then there's the way Dexter did it, showing viewers large hints, but never explicitly telling us until now. Those of use who caught the hints were not only unsurprised but disappointed. Even master-sycophant Michael Ausiello was disappointed.
Neither of these options--popping it on the viewers randomly and genuinely surprising them, or giving viewers hints and not surprising them--are particularly good. Both have their flaws and few remedies. I will say, though, that the first option would probably be a better choice. 24's earlier identity twists were pretty good, shocking and fitting with the "anything goes" attitude of the show. Their weaknesses came in the later seasons, when viewers could already expect such twists.
For Scott Buck to treat the viewers with such impunity is a shame. Did he really think it'd be a good twist, 9 episodes into the season, after showing us hint after hint in each episode?
I don't get Hell on Wheels. Bohannon has a shoot out with Harper, then returns, while the rest of the characters continue to mill around doing nothing.
Once Upon a Time has been quite enjoyable, but its format is troubling. Each week's episode has a familiar pattern, the fairy tale story filling in the background of a character while the modern plot moves very slowly. Some deviation would be nice.
I don't want to sound all negative, but, yes, I have complaints about Homeland as well. A good part of Homeland was built upon this abstract idea that Brody was in Iraq and somehow turned. While there have been some twists here and there, this remains true--up until the last episode. Everything was peeled back, as we learned Brody's exact motivations, revenge for Abu Nazir's son. Is it compelling? Kind of. Is it hammy? I'd say so. The biggest problem is that Brody is now far, far less mysterious. I guess this is the natural progression of a show, but it shattered one of the illusions surrounding him.
The first half of The Walking Dead's second season hasn't been great, and has largely been hindered by the characters staying at the farm for so long, but the final scene was perfect. There's Shane, yelling like a crazed man--except he makes sense. They're living in a horrible world, with horrible conditions, with horrible zombies trying to eat them. What's left? So he opens the barn, letting out the zombies and everyone is forced to slaughter them all. Meanwhile, we can imagine how Herschel is feeling, as he clearly expressed his thoughts on zombies earlier. After they're done killing the zombies, out comes Sophia. The girl they're been looking for for weeks is not only dead but a zombie, feral, slowly walking towards them. The characters are stunned as should be every viewer. While Rick has been hanging back the whole time, wishing to respect Herschel, he finally gives in, blowing out Sophia's brains.
The Sanctuary musical episode was really bad. The writers have never been particularly skilled and it definitely showed. They don't have the creativity or finesse to pull off a musical episode that is both plausible and fun.
Suburgatory's Thanksgiving episode was fun and crazy, and remains a great pleasure to watch.
Opie finally snapped on Sons of Anarchy, putting a couple bullets into Clay. Whether he dies is something to be seen later, but there's no doubt that things will change.
Castle had the kind of serious episode is needs to have more often--not the trumped up, "will everyone die???" kind but the psychological one. The episode was by no means perfect, but it was better relative to the previous serious episodes. Excellent acting by Stana Katic in the scenes that demanded it, which is saying something, because she's usually very wooden.
Hawaii Five-0 was crazy and incredibly entertainly. Rebels in North Korea, taking a helicopter to North Korea, Jenna being a total idiot? What part of the episode made sense? But the episode had a plenty of action and amazing cinematography, so it was all good, in true Hawaii Five-0 spirit.
Terra Nova was more interesting than usual since it touched on Taylor's son and the mystery, but it's still not that interesting.
