It’s kind of an off week for TV. I think everyone’s gearing up for May sweeps. Luckily there were a few new shows on this week, including the return of The Event. Enjoy!
Spoilers.
Shameless – “But at Last Came a Knock” (A-)
There’s always been a fundamental question Shameless has left unanswered. We know Frank is a horrible father and we know this requires Fiona to basically raise her brothers and sisters on her own, but we’ve never really seen what happened to the mother of these kids save for a brief mention of her leaving. Well tonight we finally found out, and it was good. Really good.
But first things first – I have to give a ton of praise this week to young Emma Kenney. Debbie had a great episode and large part of it was thanks to her. On top of her discovery that her mother was in town (we’ll get to the mom stuff in a sec) she and Steve (or should I say Jimmy?) had a few very funny and eye opening scenes together. Watching her blackmail the guy was pretty hilarious – she’s a sharp one that Debbie – and she’s totally right about Steve kissing his mom on the lips. That’s super weird.
Speaking of Steve, his character got a little more back story this week and I’ve got to say it didn’t do much to help his likability. I have to wonder whether the med school marks his mother was bragging about were real or just a lie that he’s fed her. Either way, before Steve was just stealing cars to make a living – a means of survival – but now we find out that he has all kinds of opportunity (and not just med school either, he clearly comes from a family of means) but he steals cars instead. Add that to all the lying he’s doing to Fiona (although she’s thrown in a few herself... computer class anyone) and at the moment you’ve got a character walking on some shaky moral ground.
We’re little more used to shaky moral ground with Frank, who had a somewhat so-so outing this week. A lot of his jokes fell flat in this episode, but I did find his scene with his lawyer pretty entertaining. Frank spouts out a lot of bull shit, but there are a few people who know how to put him in his place. Fiona’s one of them (she had an excellent “shut up Frank” in this episode – his reaction was priceless) and clearly so is his lawyer. There no nonsense meeting in her office was a funny scene, particularly the part where the lawyer reminded him that he can’t have a job because his ankle injury has prevented him from working.
And it was that settlement money that required him to bring Monica back into the picture. I wasn’t a huge fan of Frank’s planning as it didn’t make a whole lot of sense (I liked Kev’s line “did you even have a plan back there”), but as soon as Monica saw the kids again the whole episode really picked up.
Fiona’s monologue at the end of the episode was tragic. It’s no secret that these are her kids, and the idea that one can be taken away from her on a whim is absolutely heartbreaking. I can’t say enough good things about Emmy Rossum’s performance here. You could really see Fiona’s anguish in that moment.
It should be exciting to see what she does without the kids, if only for an episode. I fully expect Fiona to be back with the rest of the family fairly soon, but I hope her character takes away something from her independence – she deserves a life of her own. I guess it all depends on how long it takes her to find out about Steve. I could see Deb using what she knows as a way to get Fiona back.
Californication – “Another Perfect Day” (A-)
For the first time this season, Hank spent an episode doing nothing to ruin his life.
This week, Hank was kicked out of the hotel he was living in when his credit card was declined so he stayed with Karen and Becca and taught Becca to drive. At night Karen has a date so Hank watches Pearl and Becca. When he falls asleep on the couch, the girls steal his car and crash it.
In the Runkle and Marcy storyline, Stu invites Runkle and his CRAZY date over for dinner, just so Marcy can tell Charlie she’s pregnant. Needless to say, Charlie is fucking pissed. But don't worry little bald man, eventually you will realize it’s your baby when he comes out looking EXACTLY like you.
This week the show proved its versatility again. Hank had a couple funny lines as the family man and Charlie and Becca were able to drive the plot forward with their antics. I really think this is a feasible direction for the show to head in. The actors are fantastic and their range allows them to take on these different roles, or more precisely, expand the ones that they’re already in.
Their best stroke of luck has been with the actress that Madelein Martin has developed into. She started off the show portraying an excellent 13 year old, but now she plays a 17 year old rebel and has aged quite well into the role. She gives her character a very real edge which is great to see from a young actress. Again, I have no idea where the show is headed but it would be nice to see it go this way.
House – “Bombshells” (B)
“Bombshells” may have been a different episode of House, but different doesn’t always mean better. With Cuddy in the hospital as a patient this week, it gave the writers a chance to really tear at the seams of this show, but what we got instead was a rather mixed affair that save for a few gimmicky dream sequences didn’t stray all that far from the status quo.
The dream sequences were interesting, I‘ll give them that, but in the end they added very little to the episode as a whole. It was like they were just there to be there. I thought the sitcom sequence with House, Wilson, and an older Rachel was the best, but mostly just because it was the funniest. The others varied in my level of enjoyment, and really didn’t pack the emotional punch I assume the writers were going for.
The ending was where the real drama happened. I don’t think it was that surprising that Cuddy ended up being okay – I don’t recall hearing anything about Lisa Edelstein leaving the show – but House going back to Vicodin was a different story. It should be interesting to watch this little self-destructive spiral now that Cuddy isn’t there to brace the fall.
Ultimately I think the writers have to bring them back together. I’m a fan of the two of them as a couple. I know that’s not true for everyone, but I think House achieving some sort of happiness is dependent on that relationship. First they need him to realize he can’t use drugs as a crutch though, and I think that’s what this bump in the relationship is all about. That’s just my theory though.
With House busy with Cuddy this week, the regular patient story focused on Taub and his relationship with a 16 year old patient. I’m a fan of Taub’s recent storylines but his dilemma this week over whether or not to turn in his patient just wasn’t all that compelling. It felt like they were spinning their wheels a bit with this one. Perhaps with all the drama surrounding House and Cuddy Taub’s story got caught in the shuffle.
The Event – “And Then There Were More & Inostranka” (B-) by Ryan
Seriously? Are you kidding me?
I get it. Shows need to take a break in the middle. Lost used to do it all the time. It killed me during that time. It killed Brian even more. But when it came back we were nothing short of smitten with what was happening on the screen. The Event however, seems even more lost than before the hiatus.
Here’s what I took away from that episode:
-Jason Ritter is still a bad actor. That or the writing for him is JUST TERRIBLE! When he tells Leila "let’s just go to bed and you can decide later" I turned to my dog and said, "he’s going to be gone in the morning." It was written all over his face, he didn't sell it. He didn't sell anything in that episode. He just looked really uncomfortable the whole time. Like he had to defecate really, really badly.
-Director Sterling is way sweeter of a character than I realized. I started to come around at the end of the first half of the season to like him a bit more, but now I'm fully on board. He is just cool. His back story is sweet, his actions now are hardcore. He was really good this episode.
-The president is a really weak version of David Palmer.
-The old man is way more intense than I remembered.
-The plot appears to be going nowhere.
So two good things, but quite a few bad. They need to fix the plot. Hire Brian K Vaughn to write an arc for you. Figure it out!!!
They need to phase Jason Ritter out of the show but since he’s billed first in the cast, that isn’t happening. People aren't watching this show for him. He's not even good looking... is he? Come to think of it he kind of looks like Brian.
The thing with the old man and the weird stones on the table was cool. That’s a nice moment that I hope they build on. Go back to giving back stories and fix your plot. THE EVENT HAS POTENTIAL, but if it keeps going like this it’ll turn into the first episode of V and when the aliens arrive they’ll just show V reruns instead of new episodes.
Well I don’t know about Ryan but I’ve always thought Jason Ritter exerts a very raw sexual charisma.
No comments:
Post a Comment