Sorry this was a day late. I chose sleep over posting. Never again... never again.
Californication – “The Last Supper” (A-)
Once again, Californication did a great job this week. It's almost pointless to write a review. It’s a great show. I've never met someone who has watched it and said to me "well it has some real plot holes" or "it’s just not that funny." It’s great. It knows what it is. It uses Duchovny's strengths exceptionally well and the writers continue to move the show in a good direction.
This week the episode begins with Karen flipping open her laptop to a celebrity gossip site to find the news that Hank has been found guilty. It is an interesting social commentary that someone like her would find the news first on a website. It says a lot about the current state of news media in North America.
So Hank thinks about running away and even gets in his car to do so. On his way out of town he is called by Karen or Becca or someone with an emergency that he must attend to at their house. When he arrives, Karen, Marcy, Runkle and Becca are waiting with a surprise dinner. What was supposed to be a congratulations you are innocent party has turned into a goodbye party.
They progress through the evening with the usual sexually driven banter that is characteristic of the show and end with Karen and Hank having sex for what Karen calls "the last time."
Next week is the Finale, so we’ll see how it all ends up for Hank.
As I’ve said all season, I hope they put into play some plot changes where Hank gets his act together.
Modern Family – “Boys' Night” (A-)
Modern Family is always at its best when it’s blending humour with heart. The show has sometimes been guilty of being a little too overly sentimental this season, but when they find the right balance you can see exactly why they won that Emmy for best comedy last year. “Boy’s Night” was a perfect example of just that, firing on all cylinders throughout the entire half hour.
Hayley had a hilarious week in my books. I loved her indignant speeches to Cameron about how betrayed she felt that he didn’t trust her when in reality she was straight up responsible for exactly what he was accusing her of. The best one was in the after credits sequence when Cameron pulled out Dylan’s shoes right at the end of her little spiel, and she went from aggressively offended to apologetic at the turn of a dime.
And Hayley wasn’t the only Dunphy kid having a good week because Luke was on fire in this episode as well. His discussions with Walt, the crotchety old neighbour were all really well done. I especially liked when he held his breath entering the old guys house because he thought he needed an oxygen tank.
This plotline also brought out the best in Phil and Claire as their fear of Walt led to a great back and forth between the two. My favourite moment in the entire episode was when Phil pushed Claire into Walt’s house. The cowardliness of Phil was epic and Julie Bowen sold the stumble perfectly. And the ending of this storyline is exactly what I was talking about when I said this show is at its best when it blends heart and comedy. Their final conversation with Walt, where he revealed he was an ex-fireman who would never hurt a kid was quite touching, and an excellent way to cap off the storyline.
Watching Mitchell bond with Jay was also a really great moment for both of those characters as well, even if Jay was less than thrilled about it the next morning. I was worried when they were setting up the premise of this story that it would just be a bunch of Jay-is-uncomfortable-around-gay-people jokes, but the writers took a much smarter route. It was infinitely more entertaining watching him enjoy himself with Mitchell’s friends. Kudos to the writers for putting a cool spin on a storyline that otherwise would have been fairly stale.
Oh and just a quick shout out to Gloria who wasn’t in this one that much, but pretty much stole every scene she did get. I loved watching her sell out Jay the next morning, especially the joy on her face as she did it. Her best line though came as Manny questioned why he had to try new things if Jay didn’t.
GLORIA: You see what you’re doing. You’re tearing this family apart!
I just love the overdramatic delivery from Sophia Vergara.
Some of my other favourite parts of this episode:
- Manny’s line after Jay’s crab cakes story – “Wow, are the movie rights available for that one?”
- Hayley confusing an oncologist with an optometrist while talking to Mitchell on the phone.
- Luke going through the knives as Hayley went about convincing Mitchell she was responsible enough to babysit Lily.
- Phil’s favourite kind of movies – “Oh I love Westerns! The bloodier the better. That’s my favourite type of movie. That and anything set against the backdrop of competitive cheerleading.”
- “They’re gay. They know what shoes they own!”
- “I’m still growing into my tongue.”
Off the Map – “Everything’s As It Should Be” (B-)
I knew Mina and Tommy couldn’t do the friend thing. Although I guess the romantic feelings are pretty one-sided at this point. Really Minard... that guy. What were you thinking? I actually thought it was a little mean of her to stick her head out of the shower at the end of the episode. I guess it was her response to Tommy telling Pher that she had a boyfriend, but I’m still in Tommy’s camp here. I can just tell a Mina/Tommy pairing would be hilarious to watch. I mean look at them fighting in this episode – it was pretty entertaining.
Brenner certainly enjoyed it. She was actually pretty busy herself this episode. First she unknowingly partook in a black market organ transplant, and then she went about rekindling her romance with Mateo (more on that later). I actually thought this was the best plotline of the episode. Her conversation with the patient who sold the kidney was a really solid scene. The patient’s little monologue about taking opportunities when they come to you was good, and it clearly impacted Brenner, but what I really loved was Brenner’s line after she gave the girl the money from her wallet.
LILY: I’ve done a lot of things down here I thought I’d never do.
And with that she was off to visit Mateo. Well Mateo’s mother to precise, but it turns out that lady is sneaky, and it was all just a ruse (yes ruse) to get Brenner and Mateo back together. I like this move by the writers. I doubt the relationship will last, but at the moment Brenner feels like a broken character, and it was quite empowering to see her “take her shot” despite all her previous apprehensions.
Of course Keeton took the organ transplant harder than anyone. I guess it was probably because one of his oldest friends tricked him into doing it, and then proceeded to lambast him for keeping his wife on life support just to keep the clinic running, but I could be misreading it. In the end he decided he needed to let go of his wife but wasn’t sure if he could.
I wasn’t really sure how to read that last line. Whether it meant he was going to break up with Ryan because his heart wasn’t entirely in the relationship, or whether he’s finally going to pull the plug on his wife. There are two ways the pull the plug storyline could go so stick with me here. First off, he could pull the plug and she could die, and then the story is about him getting over his wife and trying to keep the clinic alive at the same time. OR, he pulls the plug and his wife wakes up, and there’s an epic love triangle/rhombus (if you throw Brenner in there too) for the show to tackle. That last one would be quite the twist, although maybe a little out there.
And finally, Zee and Cole shared a patient story once again this week. I can’t get a good read on these two. From scene to scene they go from endearing to downright irritating. I didn’t like their conversation in the garden at the beginning of the episode, but watching them demonstrate sexual positions to an older couple was definitely pretty funny. They just need to work on the consistency of these two.
The Event – “A Message Back” (C+) by Ryan
I am all for giving a show its props when it deserves it. Look at my Cape reviews. I call that show exactly what it is, and give it the kudos it is due for being its corny self. It has its merit. I was even willing to review The Event somewhat favourably in the past, based on the potential it had. But I am done with that. Maybe I am bitter that SyFy has decided to cancel an actual alien show with promise and intrigue in Stargate Universe, and the fact that NBC still airs The Event is just getting under my skin.
So often have good shows been cancelled that I can't understand why this show is getting the time of day. Here is what makes the Event a bad show:
1. You know how great shows show you things rather than tell you. They let you figure it out on your own instead of spelling it out. The Event does none of that. It uses corny dialogue to drive its plot home. It treats its viewers like tiny insignificant morons. The Event tries to follow in the vein of 24 and Lost. This is no secret. I think it is a poor copy of both, but it tries and in the past I have given it props for that. But Lost let its viewers figure things out on their own. It dropped clues, hints, ideas in their minds. It had people theorizing on the internet every week between episodes. The Event spells things out and then they’re done with it. The writers use dialogue rather than an entire scene to drive home their points. For example, Martinez has to come out and tell Sterling that he is changing to be more assertive and hardcore. WE KNOW THAT. WE SAW THAT. Don't tell us in a pointless conversation again. As if we might have missed it the first time around. Again, Sophia explains to Michael that "Simon played me for a fool" and that the President won't trust her. WE KNOW THAT. YOU SHOWED US LAST WEEK. Stop making me feel like a moron by having the characters discuss the things we have already seen.
2. Back in the Fall The Event was starting to use back stories to give us insight into the characters. This was a good idea. What happened? All of a sudden the characters are as deep as you want them to be? I know relatively little about every character. I know that Sterling had a wife who was a traitor/spy, that Vicky has a family, that Sean is a hacker and that there are some aliens somewhere. Couldn't this have gone in a good direction? This is spoiled potential. You are already a copy of Science Fiction television everywhere, why not just jump on board and play the Lost-style flashbacks. Imagine this – every week we can drive the story forward by getting some back story, eventually showing us life on the planet that the NTBs come from. Why did they leave? By abandoning the flashback the writers have left themselves no choice but to at some point explain that entire situation to us in a conversation. That is going to be insanely boring. Good decision writing staff.
Those two points basically sum up my opinion that the plot is slowly disintegrating, the writers are making desperate grasps at intrigue and that the characters have zero depth. Therefore the show is bad. I am still pissed at the cancellation of SGU and the fact that this garbage stays on the air is a disgrace to television.
Also, I disagree with Brian's assessment that "the President has the upper hand." Sure it might seem like that, but this show would go nowhere if the NTBs were all captured again.
And how has no one pointed out that these "aliens" are able to breed with humans, speak perfect English from the moment they landed and don't just look like us but appear to have the exact same physical set up on their planet. What I mean by this is that Thomas helps the humans develop nuclear weapons as if on their planet the exact same elements in the same conformation lead his people to develop the same technology. What a ridiculous idea. Also here is a lesson in biology – two populations that are able to produce viable offspring are essentially the same species (to make it a short answer). So therefore, the aliens evolved from primates and have had exactly the same conditions on their planet that lead to no differences in their genetic makeup that allow for them to breed with us. I am someone who was willing to suspend my disbelief when a Cylon and a human had a baby, but that was because of the mythology behind the Cylons. This ridiculous idea that these aliens come from another planet but are a genetically viable match with us to produce offspring and they speak English and etc etc. is just too much.
Despite all this, I did not give a failing grade to the show this week. Why? Well, I agree with two of the things that Brian said. First, Jason Ritter finally has a decent storyline. It’s better with Vicky than it was with Leila. Second, there was a cliffhanger that made me want to come back for more. It’s so sad that I will watch this again next week. However, I don't think I will be writing a review again. This is not a good state of mind to be in. I feel that the Event had so much potential and has just cheapened itself every week. It makes me sad. There is so much they could have done with that show if they’d just sat down with a story board.
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