It’s good to be back.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed this little break away from television. It’s given me a chance to discover even more shows on DVD.
Yes, that’s right. I’ve managed to pick up four new series over the break, the by-product of writing perhaps the greatest Christmas list of all time. I can’t stress enough how phenomenal this list was – when I was writing it there was a brief moment where it felt like I’d left my body, and I was just floating there, watching myself just own it. That’s some pretty heavy stuff.
Between juggling all these new shows (I’m still not even close to done watching any of them) and pwning newbs on Call of Duty (there’s just so many to pwn) I’ve managed to discover a few interesting facts from my experiences.
- A PS3 is an excellent substitute for a space heater if left on for 16 hours a day.
- You can get shell shock from a video game, but no one will give you any sympathy for it – no matter how traumatizing it was getting killed right before you were about to get dogs.
- You probably shouldn’t stare at a television for more than 8 hours at a time, but if you manage to keep going past 10 your eyes will mutate and you’ll become a special new type of human being capable of staring at LCD screens for exorbitant amounts of time. I can’t even begin to comprehend the full potential of this, but it probably involves a secret identity and a costume with really tight pants.
Ah, good times.
Anyways, there is some exciting news here at Stuck on a Channel – we’ve added a new member to the Brain Trust. Yes, the trust now has two brains, which is great news for everyone because I don’t think it’s technically a trust if there’s only one.
Our new contributor Ryan will be covering Fringe and Castle for us. Ryan is a fellow television fanatic and a lover of animals. You can read his first ever review of Castle below and if you like what Ryan has to say you can find even more of his crazy opinions (his words not mine) at televisionloveaffair.blogspot.com. Bon Appétit!
(I may have watched Julie and Julia over the break)
Spoilers below.
How I Met Your Mother – “Bad News” (B+)
Wow, what an ending.
It took what was a fairly underwhelming episode of How I Met Your Mother and made it one of the more notable episodes of the season.
The moment in question (and if you haven’t seen the episode yet STOP reading right now), where Marshall finds out his dad has died, had literally been counted down to the entire episode, and with good reason. The scene was wonderfully acted by both Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan, and the way it was subtly foreshadowed throughout the episode was brilliant.
I’m happy to see the writers find something interesting to do with Marshall’s character. There have been some rumblings that Jason Segel is getting bored with the character, and I guess I can understand why. Marshall’s been a bit stagnant over the past couple of seasons – I think once a marriage sets in a lot of characters become harder to write for – so hopefully this gives him some more material to work with.
It’s not your typical sitcom ending, but we’ve been with these characters for a long time, so I don’t mind a dramatic moment like this every once in a while.
(Our new contributor Ryan tells me he cried a little at the ending. It was a manly cry though. I think he punched a wall.)
Castle – “Nikki Heat” (B+)
As if the show could not add any more tension between the characters, this episode featured a famous actress slowly adopting Beckett's mannerisms throughout the show, making a pass at Castle, and in a shocking turn of events, getting turned down.
This is my first post here at Stuck on a Channel so let me fill all of you brainies in on something.
I love Castle. I love it because Stana Katic is beautiful and I love it because Nathan Fillion is a comic genius with great range as an actor. I’ve said it before – if you like cop shows, dramedies, or shows revolving around a love affair that never seems to simmer, watch Castle.
This week's episode was a decent one. Laura Prepon (That '70s Show) guest stars as Natalie Rhodes – the actress playing Nikki Heat in the upcoming 'Heat Wave' movie based on Castle's book. She is a method actress who follows Beckett around learning her behaviours and mannerisms.
The episode had its humourous moments, like when all 4 of them are watching Prepon's character practice being Beckett through a window, but overall this was not the best episode of Castle. It did however lay some important groundwork. Castle turned down Natalie Rhodes when she wanted to sleep with him as part of her "character research" which Beckett seemed to find endearing. The dialogue also dropped some more not so subtle "Castle and Beckett should be together" hints.
Beckett: Next thing she'll steal my boyfriend and my job.
The next thing Beckett sees is Castle and Rhodes kissing. Her jaw drops. If that’s not suggesting Castle as the one who she really cares about her stealing than I don't know what it is.
But the Castle-Beckett chemistry will get old if they don’t eventually do something with it. Personally, I think they are one serious issue away from doing it. I thought it was coming when Beckett's apartment exploded and I thought it was coming when Castle got kidnapped, but so far no luck. I don't know how long they can keep this up. I hope they get it on soon.
On a side note... detective Ryan has Natalie Rhodes on his list of celebrities he can sleep with and get a free pass. That makes for some interesting moments as he bumbles his way through conversations and gets in trouble with the girlfriend. It really begs the question, who would put on your list of 5 celebrities? I know my fellow Brain Trust member could narrow his list down to one which rhymes with Patalie Nortman, but I don't know who would make my list. It’s a real toughie. Any ideas? Please share in the comments.
V – “Red Rain” (C+)
This show had a pretty average first season, but it did have its moments. However, it’s been so long since the last time I’ve seen a new episode of this show, I completely forget what those moments are.
I don’t know how much of that matters anyways – you can really tell they’ve tried to do some retooling. They’ve abandoned quite a few of the developments from last season’s finale.
If I recall correctly (and I may not, like I said it’s been a while) Ryan was starting to become influenced by Anna’s bliss. They’ve kept the guts of that storyline – she now controls him by holding his child hostage – but the key difference here is in motivation. Ryan’s character is more redeemable if he betrays the group to save his child than if he betrays the group to get high on Anna’s bliss. I’ll reserve judgement on whether this is a good change for the moment, but it does bug me when shows abandon story arcs like this.
And along those lines, they also managed to miraculously revive Joshua in a way only a sci fi show could pull off. It’s a little stupid I know, but Joshua was one of the standout characters from the first season so I’ll let it go... but I’m not shedding any more tears if he dies again.
The meat of this episode however was the introduction of two new characters – Anna’s mom (didn’t catch her name) and a generic scientist named Sidney. While Anna’s mom was there more for cliffhanger purposes, Sidney was front and center in this episode. Although his scenes seemed a little forced in this episode – things seemed to move along a little too gingerly for my tastes –overall I have to say the science angle was interesting.
I have a hunch the main reason this character was brought in was to add a little comic relief, which I think is a great idea. Even though the humour fell a little flat in this episode, the one thing this show could use is a little levity.
While this wasn’t the best episode I’ve ever seen I’ll give this show the benefit of the doubt for now. Serialized shows like this shouldn’t really be reviewed on an episode by episode basis. What could seem like a terrible episode early in a season can end up providing crucial plot development for some terrific episodes later on.
Alright, that’s it. The song of the week should be coming shortly, so look forward to that.
No comments:
Post a Comment