You Had Me At Meat Tornado

Here’s what I watched on Wednesday and Thursday night.

Off the Map – “A Doctor Time Out” (B)

This was a better offering this week. The main the patient story – a pregnant wife with a husband stuck under a tree – started slow (not a fan of the mud slide thing), but certainly picked up towards the end of the episode with some great character moments.

Up until this point in the series Zach Gilford (I’m contractually obligated to mention him in every review. I signed this contract with myself) has been relegated mainly to comic relief, which is a shame because Gilford is really a terrific dramatic actor (for proof just check out the Friday Night Light’s episode “The Son”). So naturally I was happy to see him get a chance to flex his dramatic muscles in this episode. His scene with the pregnant wife at the end of the episode was well done, and a nice change of pace for his character.

We also got to see Tommy do some flirting with Ryan this week (played by Rachelle Lefevre – come on Twilight hits), which I was a fan of. I liked her “you have to take your shirt off to move a tree” comment. It’s actually kind of a relief to see a character on one of these shows not completely obsessed with sex (and willing to call out the genre for some of the ridiculous reasons it comes up with to show people naked).

Both actors seemed to have great chemistry with each other, so I wouldn’t mind seeing the two of them paired up more. On a strictly character basis these two are an interesting match anyways, with Tommy being a bit of a man whore and Ryan being raised by missionaries (this doesn’t guarantee she’s religious, but she seems to have her head on straight). The show seems to be dropping hints in this direction, so I’m going to go ahead and call this relationship now – that is if Ryan isn’t used as a wedge between Keeton and Lily first (who says they can’t do both).

The last big discovering in this episode was that Keeton lost a wife and a child just a couple of years ago. It certainly made his character a bit more interesting, and I think in the end it’ll help bring him and Lily closer together (despite her “he isn’t what I thought he was” comment in this episode) as both of them have recently lost someone.

 I think I’ll just resign myself to the fact that these two won’t spend an episode apart any time in the near future. I guess I can’t blame the writers for this – breaking them up for an episode may lose some of the momentum. It’ll be interesting to see who they bring along with them on the jungle trip next week.

Cougar Town – “Lost Children” (B)

I asked for more Tom and they gave it to me. I’d like to thank the writers of Cougar Town for what I can only assume is their loyal support of this blog. It means a lot to have such amazingly talented individuals as fans (Bill Lawrence I’m looking at you... hopefully... please).

Alright, there may be an outside chance that they came up with the idea of using a recurring character one more time on their own. I’m willing to admit that because I’m both a reasonable and humble individual – who can run a mile in three minutes and write poetry so breathtaking you’ll feel like you just touched the face of God.

Anyways, I’m glad Tom’s back – and for a whole episode too. I just love how mean they are to him, especially the ending where they made him go hide with no intention of ever looking for him. Is it weird that I take this much pleasure in a character being tortured?

I also liked that the show started calling itself out on its own conventions. Jules being bossy, Trav never being at college, and even the name of show were all referenced throughout the episode (I’ve said it before but if you still don’t watch this show because of its name you are seriously missing out). Grayson’s impression of Travis had to be my favourite of the references.

GRAYSON: Hey, I’m moody and sarcastic, and I’m home for the tenth straight weekend because I don’t understand how college works.

I also have to quickly mention Laurie’s “beef and bubbles” detective show idea. Busy Philipps’ delivery was hilarious and I love that Bobby got choked up after hearing it.

“Lost Children” was a good episode. Maybe not as laugh out loud funny as last couple episodes from the series, but still – you could do a lot worse.

Community – “Celebrity Pharmacology” (A-)

DEAN PELTON: I gotta tell you Annie – this is greatest chemical dependency program I have ever watched.

Dean – that was the greatest chemical dependency program anyone has ever watched.

Wow that play was funny. By the intermission, when they had the kids chanting “we want drugs” I didn’t think it could get any better, but then they put Chang on stage and gave what was probably one of the best lessons on drugs I have ever seen. I mean all comedy aside that was actually a pretty ingenious way of teaching kids about drugs.

Clearly the star of this episode was Chevy Chase. He doesn’t get to play the lead in this show very often, but he certainly took advantage of the opportunity here. Pierce was basically a quote machine – he even made the other characters funnier just by his presence.

PIERCE: There’s a rapist in the hallway.
ANNIE: That’s my landlord. And if he wanted to rape you, you’d be raped.

PIERCE: Let me answer your question with two of my own. What are you doing in an apartment above Dildopolis and when did they add a second location?

PIERCE: (to a group of school children) Ain’t no party without drugs!

PIERCE: Fired! Next time I’m at Dildopolis I will not be coming upstairs to say hi.

I also really loved their opening rehearsal. The writers on Community really know how to work this cast of characters. From Brita thinking that Annie was complementing her when she said that she didn’t respond to anything appropriately, to Abed thinking pot just made people “custom paint their vans and solve mysteries”, the whole sequence was like a highlight reel of all the hilarious eccentricities of these characters.

This show seems to be going through a creative high at the moment. The concepts of some these recent episodes have been downright brilliant, and the writers certainly deserve a lot of credit for coming up with some of the most creative episode ideas on television right now.

The Office – “The Seminar” (B-)

I wasn’t the biggest fan of this week’s episode of The Office. I think it’s because the A story, revolving around Andy and his attempt to throw a small business seminar, just didn’t do it for me. Kevin’s segment of the seminar just seemed a little too stupid for me. The part where he started throwing up because he jogged around the room for a couple of minutes just felt like a desperate ploy for laughs. Kelly’s short segment of the seminar was good though and Ed Helms did a great job with Andy this week – it just wasn’t enough to save the whole storyline for me.

The B story of this episode was actually a lot more entertaining, and it was all thanks to the wonderfully funny Ellie Kemper. Apparently Erin and Gabe play scrabble to see who picks their movies and poor Erin has never won a game. It was hilarious watching them all play scrabble, especially how Erin couldn’t grasp all the word suggestions coming from Oscar and Pam. Pam’s “it doesn’t have to just be cow stuff right” comment made me laugh out loud. I also loved Gabe’s theory on why Erin was doing so much better this game.

GABE:  The only thing I can think is Erin is living out some sort of Slumdog Millionaire scenario, where every word she’s playing has a connection to her orphan past.

The ending was sweet too, with Andy swooping in at the end and gaining some major brownie points with Erin (although I’ve gotta say, Gabe is not unlikable and this certainly isn’t a Pam/Roy situation). Her reaction to his movie suggestion was awesome.

ERIN: There’s a Shrek 2!

It’s funny but Erin is one of the most enjoyable characters on the show these days. She has great chemistry with a lot of other characters and her dim-wittedness is endlessly lovable. I think it’s because she’s such a relatively new character that everything she does feels so fresh, even when dealing with characters who’ve been around since the show’s inception.

Now I can’t finish this review without mentioning the Ricky Gervais cameo this week. The scene was really well done. I’m glad they had him playing his original character David Brent. It was awesome to see how quickly he and Michael bonded. I love how his “that’s what she said” comment impressed Michael so much it prompted a hug from him. It was good that they got this cameo in before Steve Carell leaves the show – it just seems fitting for some reason.

Parks and Recreation – “The Flu” (A)

Where do I even start? Seriously – I have no idea how to condense how funny this episode was down into a single review. Almost every main character in this episode had at least one laugh out loud moment – many had more than one. Here are some of my favourite moments by character:

Leslie

-          “I think my allergies are acting up... I’ve already vomited like 5 times today”.

-          Watching her wear her jeans like a scarf as she attempted to escape the hospital.

-          After Tom asks her if she wants a ride to the hospital: “Was I wearing a tiara when I came in here, because if you happen upon it will you have Lady Pennyface retrieve it and send it post hence”.

-          This exchange:

LESLIE: If I was sick would I be doing this?
ANN: (as she just sits there) What are you doing?
LESLIE: Cartwheels... am I not doing them?
ANN: No...

April

-          “My blankets are on the floor”. Awesome.

-          “Help, this slutty nurse is trying to smother me to death with a pillow”.

-          April responding “That’s the most I’ve ever liked Ann” after Ann freaks out on her.

Ron

-          Visiting April in the hospital: “Here, I didn’t know what to bring you so I just got some magazines and lipstick... women’s stuff.

-          As he looks for someone to replace April with: “Now I know I’m not going to find someone who is both aggressively mean and apathetic. April really is the whole package”.

-          “You had me at meat tornado”.

Andy

-          His super straw – hilarious.

-          After Ron asks him to fill in for April: “Do I have to tuck my shirt in, because honestly that’s a deal breaker”.

-          “Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the thing up here, and it says you could have network connectivity problems”.

-          Watching him and Ron run away giggling after setting off a car alarm.

Chris

-          Telling an old man struggling down a hospital hallway “way to go buddy. Way to go” as he runs off.

-          “The microchip has been compromised”.

-          The entirety of his complete physical breakdown montage.

-          This exchange with Ann:

ANN: Hey have you seen Leslie?
CHRIS: I had a dream, that she came into this room, stole all my flu medicine, told me not tell you, and then disappeared through that hole in the wall.
ANN: The door?

Next week I may just type out the script. Honestly, I don’t think it would make that big of a difference. Either way, great episode.

30 Rock – “Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning” (B)

Not a bad episode this week. The story focused around Liz and Tracey dealing with Angie’s reality show coming to the set. The story itself was more of a medium to present all of Tracey’s hilarious one-liners. I loved that Tracey literally phoned it in during rehearsal. I also laughed at what Tracey “wasn’t” going to be doing if Liz hadn’t needed him that night.

TRACEY:  I wasn’t going to buy two blimps and crash them into each other to see what sound they made.

So randomly hilarious. I also have to mention the great Lost shout out when Tracey included Charles Widmore in the group of rich guys with their own islands.

I found it interesting that both Tracey and Liz feel as though they saved the other one`s respective career. Normally we only get Lemon`s perspective on this one, but Tracy made a good point to. Plus it gave them a great excuse to start talking about hugs and boob pressing, a topic we can all get behind.

The other sub-plot had Jack filming a celebrity telethon for a disaster that hadn’t happened yet. Robert De Niro’s cameo was hilarious – the string of fake disasters they came up with for him were all pretty entertaining. I also liked watching Jenna beautifully sing what the song-writing software had written for her.

Well that’s it. Did you think Parks and Rec was as funny as I did? Did Community help you say no to drugs? Do I have an unhealthy obsession with Zach Gilford? Let me know what you think in the comments.

See you next week!

Song(s) of the week

This week’s picks:

“Acid Tongue”, “Rise Up With Fists”, and “Godspeed” by Jenny Lewis

Where I found Jenny Lewis: A friend of mine first put her on my radar back when we were in first year residence together. I was a casual fan of her band Rilo Kiley for a while, but for some reason I never really got into her solo stuff. That is until a couple of years ago, when I checked out her MySpace page and got absolutely hooked on her Acid Tongue album.

What I like: I think one of the biggest compliments you can give a songwriter is that you’re jealous you didn’t write their song. Well I’m jealous I didn’t write all of these songs. Jenny Lewis has to be among the best straight-up songwriters around today. I’m a huge fan of the way she uses huge sweeping background harmonies in her choruses. Both “Rise Up With Fists” (with the Watson Twins) and “Acid Tongue” use them, and it absolutely makes those songs for me.

Fun fact—my band still covers “Acid Tongue” whenever we play a show. If you like what you hear check out her MySpace page. She’s got a lot more good stuff. Happy Listening!

Acid Tongue - Jenny Lewis

Rise Up With Fists - Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins

Godspeed - Jenny Lewis

The Stains Are Intentional... I Asked

Ryan wrote two thirds of this post despite being pretty busy with school this week. As you’ll find out in his Bob’s Burgers review, Ryan goes to vet school. So every time you complain that there’s not a new review of Fringe up, remember – you just killed a gerbil.

Spoilers ahead.

Shameless – “Aunt Ginger” (A)

Poor Tony.

This was an absolutely phenomenal episode. It was funny, it was sweet, it was downright inappropriate, but most of all, it was the break out episode this series truly needed.

Fiona’s aforementioned love triangle with Tony and Steve was the perfect example. Watching her try to choose between the perfectly nice guy she grew up with and the troublesome new guy who excites her was absolutely heart wrenching. For the record I was cheering for you Tony. I mean I knew it was never going to happen, but I was cheering for you. I love how according to every other character the only two reasons Fiona could have possibly slept with Tony was either mercy or to get back at Steve. Kev’s reaction to the news was by far my favourite.

KEV: You hooked up with Tony? How charitable of you.

And it all led up to an absolutely spectacular ending, with Fiona watching Tony from a distance, wondering why this perfectly nice guy, who is crazy about her, just doesn’t do it for her the way Steve does. It was an absolutely relatable storyline, and when she goes back to Steve against her own better judgement, you can completely understand why.

And honestly, if that was all we got from this episode it still would have scored high in my books, but there was much, much more here. The rest of the main plot, about Frank stealing his long dead Aunt Ginger’s social security checks was extremely well done as well.

Deb (Emma Kenney) was the standout of this storyline. Her reaction to discovering Aunt Ginger was dead was the funniest moment of the episode for me.

DEB:  Noo!
LIP: You’ve never even met her.
DEB:  And now I never will!

A close second to this moment would have to be watching the family shop for a new grandma at the nursing home.

Not only was the storyline funny, but it was really sweet as well. Like I said, Emma Kenney was the standout of the episode, and the way Deb grew attached to the new grandmother just goes to show how desperate these kids are for any sort of parental guidance. When they finally took the new Aunt Ginger back to the nursing home, the way Deb broke down was absolutely heart breaking. It was just the perfect combination of heart and humour.

Ian’s storyline was more of the same. After rejecting the advances of Mandy she sends her brothers after him in order to kick his ass. I really liked the scene where Lip stood up for his brother and took a beating as a consequence. The look that went over his face right before he basically called her slut was perfect, as was the reaction of his girlfriend (or whatever they are) Karen getting out of the way after he said it.

The final few scenes where Ian informs Mandy he’s gay were also really well done. It was cute the way Mandy offered to pretend to be his boyfriend at school in order to protect him. It’ll be interesting to see that relationship in action.

Californication – “Home Sweet Home” (B+)

My first thought in the first few minutes of “Home Sweet Home” – this is a dream. I could not figure out why Karen was being nice to him, why they had sex, why she was letting him sleep at home again.  But of course, the writers as usual stayed one step ahead of me and had the "Hank has fucked up again" storyline all ready to go.  I knew that it was too good to be true, but it was nice to see Karen and Hank enjoying their fucked up life together for about 15 minutes.

We left Hank collapsed on the floor with way too many pills in his system last week and this week we find him waking up in the hospital to a concerned Karen who takes him home to make sure he is ok.  They play off the "death made me realize how much I love you" storyline and Hank and Karen enjoy 5/6ths of an episode together.  Of course in the end, it comes out that Hank did not actually try to commit suicide, he just drank too much and "miscalculated" the amount of drugs in his system.  So where does this leave us? With one of Californication’s best plot driving scenes to date. 

HANK: "Wait it was more romantic when you thought I wanted to kill myself? How fucked up is that?"

KAREN: "It’s completely fucked up, which is why I can't be with you anymore.  You're fucking toxic Hank."

HANK: "Look I know I've done something that makes it impossible for you to live with me.  But I can't keep apologizing for something I can't change.  All I can do is keep moving forward and try to become someone you can love again."

KAREN: "Well good luck with that."

And with that two things happened.  

First, Hank got his balls back. It’s about time he said what I’ve been thinking forever.  How many times can he apologize?  I know he fucks up a lot, but as Becca said in another season (and I'm paraphrasing here), "you have to love him for who he is, not who he can be". I know he needs to change, but the dude really seems to care.  It’s weird that as a viewer I can care for a sleazebag like Hank, and it’s all the more impressive that women viewers seem to like him.  I think Duchovny said it best in my favourite BS report in the last few months – Californication is a world driven by the women.  Hank is under their spell, their control.  He fucks up, and much of that is on him – the drinking, the drugs, the lack of willpower – but    Californication has an oddly large number of strong, yet manipulative women.  By saying “but I can't keep apologizing for something I can't change”, Hank is asserting some control.  Finally.  Let’s hope he can turn it around.  This show is probably going 6 seasons (again out of the Duchovny BS report).  By the end, I wouldn't mind seeing a reformed Hank.  It’s a change, but it’s a good one.

The second thing that happened was Hank was sent back out on his own.  We see him check into a hotel with his typewriter and start hammering out a script.  Moody is back, and he's writing.

Also in "Home Sweet Home" Runkle continued his quest for triple digits, this time sleeping with a woman who wanted it from behind so that she could check her blackberry at the same time.  Ridiculously funny.   If Hank ever reforms Runkle could easily carry the insanity forward.

Who am I kidding?  Hank will never change.

Fringe – “The Firefly” (A)

“Firefly” was a set-up episode, but probably the best set-up episode in television history.  I can't complain about anything this episode did.

Christopher Lloyd guest stars in an episode that featured time travelling (great stuff) and Walter finally giving up his desperate attempt to keep Peter safe no matter what the consequences.  Walter has changed as the observer noted and I think it’s for the best.  

“Firefly” dives further into the ripple effects caused by Walter's decision to save Peter and take him from the other universe.  We see that he’s responsible for one of his idol's losing a son, and consequently the breakup of his favourite band.  Now the repercussions are hitting closer to home.  There are no reality tears, like in the alternate universe, but things are different.  Peter and Olivia continue to struggle with the repercussions of the other Olivia having a love affair with Peter and seem to slowly be making progress.  She obviously still really cares for him. 

I truly believe that this is developing into one of the best sci-fi shows ever.  I like it as much as I liked Lost in its last few seasons.  It has intrigue and a plot that is unique and yet just familiar enough to stay within the sci fi comfort wheelhouse.  I hope that the Friday night time-slot switch doesn’t mark the end of Fringe.  The previews for next week's episode show the Doomsday device in full force and that’s certainly something to look forward to.  

I can honestly say I’m not sure where this whole thing is going.  I have some theories and I will lay them out for you right now, but I like that I’m sure my theories are wrong and ill formed.  Unlike Lost where I felt as though I had a handle on their creative style and could predict some plot points I have nothing here.  I could be totally right or totally wrong.  Either way, if you’re not watching Fringe you’re an idiot.  

1.  The other universe: So we know that the 'Doomsday' device is meant to destroy one of the universes and that Peter is the special one who can control it. I think that somehow, Peter will prevail and use the device to save the Universes.   It’s either that or in the next season, Peter will be evil and both Universes will be working towards destroying him/returning him to normal. The doomsday device is the ultimate power, and power corrupts, so who knows.

2. The Observers: We have seen that the observers can travel through time, they know Peter is special, they submit to the “millions of possible futures are all happening simultaneously” theory of time and that the decisions made will shape those futures.  I think that the Observers are a “system” built in to reality.  Their job is to record important events and most importantly, keep the universe on the right track.  However, I believe that within the Observer group there’s conflict in regards to how large of a role the Observers should play.  So some take a more hands on approach, and some just want to watch. Ultimately, I think that there’s potentially a two world experiment. The Observers monitor the experiment and direct it towards a conclusion – “the war between worlds”.  They want to see if it can play out in a peaceful manner.  How are there lots of Doomsday pieces scattered around and how are there these "prophecies" with Peter's face on it?  Well that’s because”all this has happened before and all this will happen again” – thanks Battlestar.  I knew you’d come in handy.

I don't think any other theories are ready.  Those are half formed at best but I figured it was time I put something out there.  Hopefully I can retool those two theories over the next few weeks and we can get a sense of where the show is going.  If you have any ideas please share them in the comments.

Bob's Burgers – “Sacred Cow” (B+)

Wow Bob.  You really picked up your game this week.

So a little background here – I haven't eaten beef for a couple years now.  As a general rule, I eat grass fed beef, and this is because I don't want to cut out wonderful steak completely and the ecological footprint of grass fed cattle is supposedly lower (this is now under debate in the scientific community).  So needless to say this week’s episode featuring a documentary film maker accusing Bob of murdering "100,000 hamburgers worth of cows" was close to my heart.

I’m also a veterinary student and one of the challenges we face daily is balancing the need to provide a safe and healthy food supply to the public with a proper concern over animal welfare. Those are topics for another blog, or perhaps one day a book, but just know that the subject matter covered in Bob’s Burgers this week was very much a relevant topic in our society.  These jokes coupled with the now running gags of Louise maliciously attempting to get her father in trouble and tease her autistic sister, Gene's insanity and Bob's complete lack of regard for his children's feelings made this episode great.

The plot of the episode was simple.  Documentary film maker shows up with a cow in a wig (for extra cuteness) and accuses Bob of having blood on his hands.  A few jokes about bloody meat, Louise repeatedly accusing her father of being a murderer, the cow communicating to Tina through his shit and Bob eventually showing that he cares about the animal.

What I liked most is that in the end, the cow dies of a heart attack right as Bob needs to make the decision of whether to send it to slaughter or save it.  This is a fact that is often lost in the vegetarian/carnivore debate.  Often times, the best thing for a food animal is to go to slaughter.  I'm not suggesting that we should needlessly kill animals, or that there aren’t some issues with the food production industry that need to be worked out, I’m just saying that in the end, animals die, and an old age death is not a pretty one for a food animal.  They don't just peacefully go. For anyone who has lost a family member or a pet, often times old age illnesses are horrific to watch, manage and go through for all involved.  Now picture that with a 650kg cow.

This show really did an excellent job of exploring a relevant issue while maintaining its running jokes.  I can’t wait to see what they do next week.

House – “Carrot or Stick” (C+)

This wasn’t House’s best effort. Too much of the story revolved around Chase’s story – a quest to find who posted unflattering photos of him on the internet – which just fell flat. There were a few laughs, but nothing I couldn’t do without. To be honest I can’t really see why nobody suspected House as the culprit. This kind of stuff is right up his alley, and even though he wasn’t there for the picture, it wouldn’t have surprised me if he had somehow obtained a copy.

But alas it ended up being the sister of one of the girls Chase had slept with. The way they flirted at the end there definitely suggested that something may happen between them.  I thought it may happen at the end of the episode (thankfully it didn’t) but maybe we’ll see old what’s-her-face (did she have a name?) again in subsequent episodes.

The patient of the week wasn’t that entertaining either. To be honest, I don’t really watch this show for the patients anymore. The show has done so many episodes there aren’t a whole lot of places left to go. And that’s kind of where this episode rang in – both the twist and the disease (the classic rare genetic disorder) had been done many times before. The important part of the patient’s role now is how they relate to the doctors’ stories that week, and I didn’t feel like the drill instructor and his student really helped in that regard.

I did enjoy watching House’s story though. His scenes with Cuddy’s daughter were hilarious, and I love that his idea of helping his girlfriend is cheating her daughter into preschool. It was also great, that after calling her daughter a “paste eater” for most of the episode, he began to act like a proud parent because of the child’s ability to lie to her mother. It’s interesting character development and perfectly in tune with House’s character.

Castle – “Knockdown” (B)

Knockdown was a letdown.  It wasn’t horrible or unwatchable, but I feel like it could have been way better.  This is supposed to be the conclusion to the whole "Beckett's Mom" storyline, or at least another step forward towards finding the person pulling the strings, but it lacked that certain something that makes monumental episodes... monumental.

Beckett gets a call from the detective on her mother's murder.  Turns out him and his old cop buddies were involved in some bad stuff back in the day, and they killed her for getting too close.  But he’s silenced by a bullet before he can tell her anything of value.  Now the hunt is on for the man who shot him and hopefully the link to the person pulling the strings behind Beckett's mom's murder.  In the end, this guy is caught, but he’s a pro and won't talk.  So we end up back where we started.  The person really responsible (maybe the mayor, or Barack Obama) is still hidden in the shadows and making sure that Beckett doesn't get any closer to finding the truth.

Beckett and Castle also kiss in this episode.  It’s pretty dramatic but it‘s only a cover done so that a door guard doesn't shoot them.  But still, there is that "wow" moment after the first kiss.

When are they going to do it already?

I Called Shotgun. Everybody Heard Me!

Let’s throw this post into the better late than never category and call it day.

Hilarious spoilers below.

The Big Bang Theory – “The Love Car Displacement” (B+) by Ryan

I am going to write this week's Big Bang Theory review because Brian is not sure he has much to say about the show anymore.  Unfortunately for him, I think this is a great episode to write about.  My history with this show is as follows: I watched the entire first 2 seasons on DVD over a couple weeks 2 years ago.  I’ve been watching seasons 3 and 4 on a weekly basis since.  

I don't know what it is about the show that keeps me coming back but I really like it.  I think it’s because a) I am a giant comic book geek who would do things like weigh the options of deleting a back catalogue of Battlestar Gallactica from my DVR vs. installing an additional hard drive and voiding the warranty (I would probably void the warranty just like Sheldon) and  b) I study science at an academic institution,  so pretty much all the jokes are in my wheel house.

That being said, this week had an unusual number of penis jokes.  I don't know why, but it did.  The best one is when Raj gets into bed with two tissues in his hand, gets under the covers as if he is about the masturbate and then bam... he’s watching Bridget Jones' Diary and the tissues are for his tears.  

I’m also enjoying Amy Farrah Fowler more than I did before.  Her lack of social skills combined with Sheldon's makes for some pretty good laughs.  "Sometimes I want a penis for convenience" is a great line.

This episode gave me 3 or 4 laugh out loud moments.  Still rooting for the Penny, Leonard marriage.  We have 3 more seasons confirmed though, so maybe a Ross and Rachel ending is more in store.

Community – “Asian Population Studies” (B+)

Another great episode of Community. We had Theo from the Cosby show (there’s an old reference), an inappropriate use of the men’s room (mezzanine!), and the return of Troy and Abed in the morning (you couldn’t tell, but I sang that as I wrote it).

Rich (Greg Cromer) was back at Greendale again this week as Annie’s potential love interest, and while the two of them didn’t work out, it certainly helped generate a lot of comedy from Jeff of all places. I personally love the fact that a season and a half into this series no real long-term relationships have formed between any of the shows principle characters. This goes against my own conventional thinking, but the show generates so much humour out of the almost relationships that I can’t help but make an exception.

But back to Jeff. His scene where the girls kept walking in on him in the bathroom was hilarious, as was his attempt to campaign against Rich getting into the study group (I love footballs), but the real gem of this episode was his wonderfully subversive ending scene with Rich, where he asked him to teach him how to be a better person so he could “abuse it”. I love that he talked Rich into doing it because if he didn’t he would be a bad person. These two have developed quite a rivalry over the past season (although it’s fairly one-sided), so I can’t wait to see where this relationship will lead us.

Also notable this week was Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s first guest appearance as Shirley’s ex-husband Andre. I love that his character wore a sweater all episode in a hilarious shout out to the Cosby show. At one point he even remarked that it was his dad gave who gave it to him. Also hilarious was watching Troy try to figure out when he and Shirley first had sex, only to fail because “his mind is like a fortress”.  His character has the potential to be recurring so here’s hoping we see him again sooner rather than later.

Parks and Recreation – “Go Big or Go Home” (A)

I mention quite a bit how I think Community is the best comedy on television right now, and throughout the first half of this season the show has consistently lived up to this praise, but at the same time I’ve always said that Parks and Recreation could definitely give them a run for their money. In fact, the only real knock I have on Parks is that it spent the first half of this season on hiatus. Now that it’s back I really can’t wait to see these two shows duel it out each week (that’s right, I’m starting the rivalry now).

And it looks like Parks and Rec was well worth the wait. While I didn’t really get the reason for the whole “previously on” segment at the top of the episode, watching Leslie get the gang back together was maybe the funniest sequence I have seen all year. From Leslie throwing Jerry’s painting in the water to Tom hitting on ladies at Foot Locker (see the quotes section), the show managed to capture everything I missed about it in two minutes.

I never really realized how much I missed Andy either. Watching the contrast between how he and Ron coach a team was awesome, as was his celebration after winning an obviously fixed game (the self-Gatorade shower was priceless). And don’t even get me started on the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness, which was so unbelievably funny I could never fit it all into this review (IGN posted a picture of it here).

On a side note I just want to say how much I love how this show embraces its history. There was the obvious call back to Leslie’s gay penguin fiasco at the bar (it was cute damn it), but also, if you watch closely, in the background of Andy’s shoe shining corner you can see last year’s Parks and Recreation catalogue as well as a cut out of the newspaper article of when Andy killed the possum.

Anyways, this episode was endlessly quotable so I’m going to leave you off with a few of my favourites.

TOM: And that’s why they call me Prince Charming – cause I always find the glass slipper for my Cinderella.
WOMAN: These are way too tight.
TOM: Well the real Cinderella didn’t have hippo feet!

RON: Fish meat is practically a vegetable.

LESLIE: I need to be out on the street, plantin’ trees and crackin’ skulls.

ANDY: April! Hey it’s me Andy... Dwyer. Uh, this is like the 200^th message I’ve left you without a response, so if you’re trying to tell me something... I do not know what it is because you won’t call me back.

The Office – “Ultimatum” (A-)

Amy Ryan really seems to bring out the best in this show. It’s almost as if she gives the writers permission to make Michael seem a little more competent. I think my favourite scene from this episode had to be when Michael called Holly, Kevin, and Creed into his office, and quickly managed to apologise to Holly without having to awkwardly acknowledge why it was necessary. I always love these flashes of brilliance out of Michael (like when he sold the Michael Scott Paper Company) – they really help to keep his often irrational character grounded.

Speaking of Kevin and Creed, both of them had stand out episodes this week. Kevin’s broccoli eating scene was one of the better conference room gags I’ve seen in a while. I also love that it was so traumatizing for him that he wouldn’t be surprised if he never ate a vegetable again. Creed’s cartwheel resolution was exactly the kind of weird irrelevant storyline I’ve come to enjoy out of his character. His freak out after Erin successfully completed a cartwheel made me laugh out loud.

I’m also liking all the various odd couple pairings the show is juggling these days. I really love the weird father/daughter dynamic that Erin and Michael have going. The happy and sad boxes were good for a laugh (who knew gummy worms were happy and gummy bears were sad). I also loved watching the two of them celebrate to Michael’s happy video.  His dance off with himself was hilarious.

The other odd friendship I’ve been enjoying lately is the one between Andy and Darryl. Along with Dwight this week they decided to hit the book store to pick up some “loose woman”. I love the way they kept talking up places like they would be great ways to meet woman (sex already, whoa). Despite the fact that this friendship has grown out of Darryl tricking these guys, you can still tell that he’s having fun, which is why it’s so fun to watch.

It’s unfortunate that this recent string of great episodes from The Office is all leading up to Michael’s departure. Hopefully the show can use the change in personnel to come up with some fresh new story ideas and keep this little renaissance going.

30 Rock – “Mrs. Donaghy” (B)

This was a pretty decent episode this week. Liz and Jack end up accidently married and naturally start warring with each other, Kenneth gets caught in the middle of Danny and Jenna sharing a dressing room, and Angie gets her own reality show.

Most of the humour generated was obviously from the Liz and Jack fiasco. My favourite part of the episode had to be the NBC priority chart. I straight up laughed out loud at NBC’s second priority – “make it 1997 again through science or magic”. What makes it so funny is how true it is.

The circumstances surrounding how they accidently got married were all appropriately ridiculous as well, including Liz Lemon’s reason for saying yes:

LEMON: Well one of my New Year’s resolutions was to say yes. Yes to love, yes to life, yes to staying in more.

I can get behind staying in more.

I also really liked how Liz was ragging on the flower girl at the wedding, because “at 4 years old you should know how to pace your pedal distribution”.

My other favourite line came from Tracy and Jack’s emergency meeting.

TRACEY: I’m sorry I’m 4 hours late, but my alarm clock didn’t go off because it died in a cock fight last night.

Other than those few one liners though, this was a pretty average episode of 30 Rock. I don’t know why it didn’t pop out at me more – perhaps because the rest of the NBC line-up was so extraordinarily funny this week – but even an average episode of 30 Rock is better than most shows on TV today, so I guess I shouldn’t really be complaining.

Bye Bye Nice Moment

Here’s Wednesday night’s crop of shows.

Spoilers!

Cougar Town – “A Thing About You” (B+)

I am really starting to love this show. That’s right, I said love. It’s pretty obvious if you’ve been following my reviews over the past few weeks that the feelings were there, mustering on the surface. It was only a matter of time really until I said it.

Alright, that’s a lie. I literally said the same thing in my last review. But I mean it. There was a point even early in this season where Cougar Town was nothing but an afterthought for me – just the show that came after Modern Family. And while I’ve clearly overuse the word love, it doesn’t change the fact that this show has become a serious contender in its own right. If I haven’t made it clear yet you should be watching this show.

This week’s episode may not have topped last week’s brilliance, but it was still quite funny in its own right. One of the things I’ve come to enjoy most about this show is watching Travis get advice from the older generation. An older generation that for the most part is just as clueless as he is (except for Andy, who is an evil genius). Watching the guys try to come up with romantic things to do was awesome. I also really liked Kirsten’s retelling of their last date:

KIRSTEN: Trav, our last date was watching the first season of Community, and staying up all night watching nine Emilo Estavez movies.

I’ve been on that date.

I also thought the basic premise of who makes better friends was an interesting one (it’s guys). I laughed pretty hard when Laurie mentioned that she had literally dumped a friend at the drop of a hat (she dropped her hat in a puddle). All in all I thought all the subplots worked this week, and each had their own moments.

Modern Family – “Caught in the Act” (B)

Another good outing for the Dunphy family this week. It was a great story idea to have their kids walk in on them. I feel like normally, when a bit like that is done on television or in movies you only really get to see how it affects the characters that walked in on the sex (mostly because the two people they walked in on were for some reason disgusting). In this episode we got to see how both sides reacted to the incident, and that led to some seriously hilarious moments.

I really enjoyed seeing the Dunphy children get a few scenes alone with each other. Normally they’re always paired up with at least one of their parents. Their gift of a door lock really made the episode for me. I love how it makes a distinct locking sound whenever it’s in use and Luke’s final line about it was hilarious:

LUKE:  It’s hard for me to look at Dad afterwards.

Like last week though, the stories from the other families just weren’t as entertaining. Gloria and Jay’s story this week intercepted with the Dunphy family, and I liked watching Phil react to all the double entendres mistakenly flowing out of Gloria, but I’d hardly say these two made the episode for me.

And again this week Cameron and Mitchell were stuck in another stale storyline. I said it last week too, but they really need to pair these guys up with a few different characters for a week. Whatever happened to the days where Cameron was hutting balls to Jay and Mitchell was jumping into Claire’s arms in a mock figure skating routine? Just give me something other than watching these guys overreact to an awkward social situation.

Off the Map – “Smile. Don’t Kill Anyone” (B-)

I didn’t enjoy this week’s episode of Off the Map as much as I did last weeks. It’s not that the episode was all bad – it’s just that I’m starting to see the beginning of what I hope won’t turn into more formulaic writing.

This week continued the show’s trend of using more conventional diseases (again with one major exception), which is something I liked in my review of the pilot because I thought it would bring more focus to the characters. To some extent it’s done just that, as our new doctors are beginning to see and evaluate themselves through the perspectives of the local population. My qualm is if the show begins to overuse the whole Dances with Wolves storyline (or Avatar for those of you who haven’t seen it) then it will grow old very quickly. Off the Map doesn’t need to ignore the cultural aspects of tropical medicine, or become apolitical, they just need to acknowledge that when they do a storyline like this their characters grow from the experience and don’t need to be constantly reminded that where they come from is different from where they are now.

I wasn’t too keen on the Anaconda storyline either. I think transporting a patient with a snake wrapped around their body was maybe too much, too soon for this show. I don’t know that much about the case history related to snakes, but I’m pretty sure using a snake as a tourniquet doesn’t happen all that often.

On the other hand I’m a really big of Lily’s character (played by Caroline Dhavernas). Dhavernas is really likable, and she’s done a great job of playing a character that if not done right could easily come off as irritating. Her back story surrounding the loss of her fiancé has been interesting to watch, and I particularly liked the origin of the episode’s namesake (a text message sent her by her fiancé right before he died).

Keeton (Martin Henderson) has also been done well so far, but the writers need to be careful not to pair him with Lily too often. I understand they’re probably putting them together in these earlier episodes to develop some chemistry between the characters, but I don’t want that to turn into the two of them running off into the jungle with each other every episode. They should use a few more new character pairings next week, and maybe keep Keeton in the hospital for an episode as well.

Stay tuned! I’m running behind this week but I should have Thursday night’s shows done by either tomorrow or Tuesday.

Song(s) of the week

This week’s picks:

 “Wolf Like Me” and “DLZ” by TV on the Radio

I’ll admit it – I haven’t heard much of this bands material outside of these few songs, but I did have a friend speak very highly of them a couple of years ago. It’s a shame I didn’t check them out sooner because everything I’ve heard, I’ve loved.

Where I found TV on the Radio: There are certain songs you here on TV that you love all the more because of the scene they’re used in. This is one of those songs. I got the first two seasons of Breaking Bad for Christmas (do not ruin the third season for me) and I found this song playing over the tenth episode of the second season. Now if don’t keep a mental list of the numerical order of Breaking Bad episodes, this is in the scene I’m talking about.

WALT: Stay out of my territory.

So awesome.

What I like: When I listen to music atmosphere is really important to me. These guys know how to invoke a tone. I also really love the energy and rhythm they use in their vocal lines. From what I’ve heard this band rarely writes the same song twice, which earns them major respect in my books. It isn’t easy to write in that many different styles.

Wolf Like Me - TV on the Radio

DLZ - TV on the Radio

Spoon Full Of Sugar... Grow Up

Another week, another gigantic post. Enjoy!

Spoilers follow.

How I Met Your Mother – “Last Words” (A-)

What a great follow up to last episodes emotional ending. I was really wondering what they were going to do with this episode considering the tone of its subject matter, and I think they struck the perfect balance between comedy and addressing the obvious elephant in the room (Marshall’s dad died).

Robin’s role as “vice girl” was definitely the comedic highlight of the episode for me. Watching her slowly turn into a dealer was hilarious, especially how excited she was about it.

ROBIN: I’m gaining a reputation!

So perfect.

I also really liked Marshall’s somber lawyereds as each character went through the last words their fathers said to them. Robin’s excitement that her dad remembered her birthday was a great follow-up to her story (Cobie Smulders was really on her game this week).

And it all led to what was a very satisfying ending. While I think it was obvious that Marshall’s dad would eventually say something after the pocket dial, it didn’t make it any less enjoyable for me. I particularly liked that he saved his father’s last words for himself and made his eulogy funny instead. I’m a fan of a little levity at funerals. Marshall’s dad was right too – Crocodile Dundee 3 totally still holds up.

 Californication – “Suicide Solution” (A-)

What a great episode.  Hank's continued troubles with the law drive him further down a self destructive path than we‘ve seen in quite some time.  After finally getting his reunion with Becca, he comes to the realization that she loathes him for what he’s done and that redemption can’t come in the form of a brand new Les Paul.  Hank continues work on the film adaptation of Fucking & Punching and meets with actor Eddie Nero (Rob Lowe) to play the role of "Hank" in the film.  The addition of Rob Lowe to the cast this season is an impressive casting call and the role that Lowe plays truly speaks to his versatility as an actor.  The normally clean cut Lowe is decked out in the Brad Pitt style beard and "rock star" style clothing, a serious variation from his normal on-screen suit and tie.  I have been a Lowe fan since the West Wing days and thoroughly enjoyed his cameo in Thank You For Smoking, so I have high hopes for him this season.

As Hank's serious legal troubles continue, so does the sexual tension with his lawyer Abby Rhoads (Carla Gugino).  With Hank formally being charged with statutory rape, Rhoads' role in the series becomes a lot more interesting. Carla Gugino has done a fabulous job on Entourage for the last few seasons (a show I will be covering for Stuck on a Channel once it returns this summer... look forward to that sports fans.)  Her feud with Ari Gold as Amanda Daniels, Vince's one time lover and former agent, is one of the great on screen rivalries.  She plays the power suit better than any woman I can think of (our friend @Maxmillien, writer for SportsHaze and fantasybasketball.com, is all over that – man loves the ladies in power suits),  so who better to play the female 'suit' in Hank's life than the sexiest business woman in showbiz?

The legal troubles plaguing Hank this season also provide a nice opportunity for the writers to discuss an ongoing theme throughout modern day Hollywood.  Athletes seem to consistently find themselves in sexual scandals and while I cannot think of a Hollywood star who has committed statutory rape, I can think of countless stars in some kind of trouble with the law.  Whether the writers will take that route and create some kind of social commentary remains to be seen.  The show in itself is often a commentary on the plagues of success.

This episode ends on a seriously dark note as Hank steals pills from Sasha (playing Mia in the movie and his current tryst) and takes way too many while writing his apology note to Becca.  The note itself is a fabulous piece of writing, ending with the line "its getting dark, too dark to see" from 'Knocking on Heavens Door'. The narration done by Duchovny while his character is literally spiralling downwards towards the floor is fabulous.  Since there is still a whole season to go, I have no fear that Hank is dead.  However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the show end with a dead Hank one day.  Duchovny said on the BS Report that they are never sure whether they’ll get another season, so the writers try to wrap each season up as if it were a series finale rather than just a season finale.  Since last season they were willing to let him go to jail as an ending, I worry that a happy ending is not in store for Hank.  Personally I want to see him back with Karen and Becca but that seems entirely unlikely.  Maybe Carla Gugino's character offers Hank his best shot at redemption.

Shameless – “Frank the Plank” (B)

I think I’m finally starting to get an understanding of what this show’s all about. I was a little confused about where last week’s episode was taking the series, but clearly it’s not meant to be as serialized as I thought it was. That’s okay though, as what they’ve brought to the table is still interesting and more importantly, quite funny.

In this week’s episode we got a better look at Frank (William H. Macy) as we watched him wake up on a park bench in Toronto (woo Canada). I thought it was a pretty funny bit, and I laughed pretty hard when they revealed the CN Tower in the background. For the record though, Canada doesn’t have Mounties roaming around the streets on horseback. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that.

The one sequence I particularly enjoyed was watching Frank rant about all the things he pays for only to have Lip calmly refute everything he says. On top of being pretty hilarious it’s a perfect character moment for Frank (of course he feels like he’s the victim), and also demonstrated just how self-sufficient these kids are.

Also funny was the fact that this family only seems to watch the Discovery Channel – I love how into Deadliest Catch they are – and when they cheered as they discovered the dead body wasn’t Franks.

The last thing I want to briefly mention is how good the music on this show has been. Apparently their music supervisor and I have really similar tastes because I’m pretty sure so far somewhere around 90% of the music that’s been played on this show is already on my iTunes.  Keep up the good work.

Episodes – “Episode 2” (B-)

Episodes is not doing that much for me.  There are more funny moments in the second episode than in the first, but none of them are laugh out loud funny.  Matt Leblanc seems good in his role.  They gave me the Joey joke I was looking for which made me chuckle and his character seems to have potential to save the show from the mostly dull humour of its British leads.  Their shock at Hollywood culture got old very fast.  The recurring joke about their gatekeeper not knowing who they are is the funniest dialogue they seem to engage in. All the rest seems to drive the plot of them getting screwed over and has very little comedic relief.  Again I will tune in once more next week to see where the show is going.  I was listening to an AV club podcast and one of the contributors had seen the whole season and claims that the show gets much better after the pilot.  So for that reason I am willing to hang on for at least one more week.

House – “Larger Than Life” (B)

I know a lot of you would write House off as your typical patient of the week show, and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong either (it has an obvious formula), but for my money House is still one of the most interesting characters on television. Now sure, he’s maintained his familiar gruff exterior, but don’t mistake that for a lack of character development. His characterization may have remained the same, but over the past couple of seasons (starting with a phenomenal episode in a mental institution) House has slowly started turning his life around. This was capped off in last season’s finale, in which House and Cuddy finally started a relationship.

Which leads me into this week’s episode, where House got the unfortunate experience of meeting Cuddy’s mother (Candice Bergen) for the first time. This show has gotten really funny in recent years (I watch it for the comedy almost as much as I do for the medical drama), and I can’t think of a better example of how hilarious this show can be than watching House drug both Cuddy’s mom and Wilson at Cuddy’s birthday dinner. I especially liked how Wilson started defending the drugging right before he realized he was drugged himself.

I also have to say I’m enjoying the new med student Masters (played by Amber Tamblyn). I like the dynamic she has with the other characters. She can compete with House on an intellectual level, but at the same time she’s also a med student, and needs one of the other doctors to be with her whenever she’s performing a procedure. It led to a great moment in this episode where Forman and Chase realized that even though they didn’t support her theory (and she was annoying the crap out of them) one of them had to go with her to test it.

Now I want to talk about one last thing that’s a little off topic (they let you do that on blogs) – I had read before that House was based in part on Sherlock Holmes, but it never really hit me how much they were alike until I watched the Sherlock Holmes movie the other day. There were times where it felt like Robert Downy Jr. and Jude Law were almost channelling House and Wilson in their performances (obviously Sherlock Holmes the character came first, but House came before that movie). I just thought it was cool – if you get a chance check it out and let me know if it’s just me who sees it.

The Cape – “Kozmo” (B+)

This week we saw the writers of The Cape plant some potentially massive plot points.  Orwell (Summer Glau) appears as if she could be Chess' daughter and Vince's wife is starting to find the trail of his framing (obviously with a little help from The Cape himself).  We received some more information on the origin of the cape and a second villain (distinct from the Ark crime contingent) has been introduced. 

This week in Palm City we found ourselves confronted with the former owner of the cape, Gregor the Great, an escape artist trained by Max.  But the cape brought out the evil in him and he went to prison.  Being an escape artist that obviously did not last very long, so Gregor returns to Palm City to find Max and retrieve his cape.  Obviously, he can't have it back as it has a new owner and who’s using it for more noble purposes.  The Cape wins out in the end, but it is understood that Gregor will be back for his cape.

With this type of storyline, The Cape is further defining its role on television.  On the same podcast I mentioned in my Episodes review, they also discussed The Cape.  They hated it much like every other critic I have read but one of the contributors did mention an article that discussed why television super heroes rarely succeed and if I understood it correctly it’s because the shows try to appeal to too wide an audience.  The Cape is succeeding in my opinion because it is not trying to take it too far.  It knows what it is – a fun, action packed superhero show.  It sticks to the superhero formula and introduces new characters and plot points at appropriate intervals.  This is not the Oscar winning Dark Knight, but it’s also not the old school Adam West Batman either.  The show has enough of a dark side to appeal to modern audiences but still has enough of the old school comic mentality to appeal to that niche audience.  The Cape is truly bringing the comic book format to the screen.

For those of you who do not understand how comics work I will give you a little rundown.  Comics are published monthly or sometimes twice a month (The Amazing Spiderman is one of the only titles I can think of that’s published twice a month).  The story arcs go for about 3-6 issues, but sometimes if it’s a major "event" they’ll go a bit longer.  An "event" is something that shakes up the comic book world, like Marvel's superhero civil war, or DCs Blackest Night.  The storylines are self contained but follow within the timeline of a given character.  For example, a recent Spiderman storyline had him fight against the Kraven family (Kraven the Hunter's wife and children) as they hunted all of the "Spiders" (Spiderman, Spidergirl, etc etc.) in an effort to prevent Kraven from coming back to life.  Some heroes die, Kraven comes back, and Spiderman fights him off in the end – all in all a typical story arc.  I know how cheesy that sounds, but it was a good fun read.   It’s not about the dialogue – it’s about interesting plots and great imagery.  

The Cape does the same thing for TV.  Each episode is a mini story-arc that follows within the overall timeline of The Cape.  There are the main arch villains (Chess) and the mini villains (Scales, Gregor and likely more to come).  In each episode there are on-screen titles which dictate the chapters of the story arc or the individual issues.  Each one provides us with a little insight on Cape and pushes the plot forward toward a culminating event, probably a fight scene with the villain of the day.  If the Cape fails to get rid of a villain for good, we know they will be back some day.  We know what his overall goal is and this is how each episode fits into the timeline of The Cape.  Like Spiderman wants to live a normal life and Batman wants to rid Gotham city of evil, the Cape wants his family back.  Each episode will bring us closer to that point, but the path is not a straight line.  We will get more cape lore, more understanding of the background and depth of the characters, and we will continue to be immersed in the Palm City world.

My hope is that Chess will be defeated by the end of the year, but that Tarot (some crime contingent they mentioned in episode 2) will emerge as the overall target for The Cape.  The nice part about a superhero story is that it can evolve in any number of directions. By season’s end Vince could be back with his family and acting as Palm City's guardian angel.  More likely is that his wife falls in love with her boss, but that is another story all together.  By season 4 we could jump ahead 20 years to where Vince is training Trip to be the new cape, just like how Robin is now Batman, and Bruce Wayne is now creating a global Batman army (yes this is the real, current, Batman storyline).  This is what’s wonderful about creating a superhero.  The lore of the cape is what can drive the show.  That is what makes people fall in love with certain heroes.  

Wolverine is my favourite because of where he comes from and what he stands for (and also because he is the best there is at what he does, bub).  Spiderman is still one of the most popular comics out there because of his back story, what he stands for, and because twice a month people know they can pick up a book and simply be entertained.  I know that barring any serious plot writing catastrophes or plummeting ratings, I can tune in every week and simply be entertained by The Cape, and that’s exactly why I will continue to watch.  The Cape is a good comic book show and I'm kind of tired of hearing otherwise.  So I'll see you next week, same cape time, stuck on the same channel. 

V – “Laid Bare” (B-)

This show gained points this week for doing all the things I hoped it would do in my last review. First off, the writers had our local chapter of the Fifth Column finally start making some more difficult decisions. I really liked that the show brought our characters into a more morally gray area, specifically in Erica and companies decision to torture an undercover V agent for information. You may remember this is exactly what Anna did last season to an undercover Fifth Column member. I like that this show is comparing the methods of its heroes with its villains – it keeps both sides accountable and makes for a far more thought provoking hour of television.

Lisa’s story this week was along these same lines. She had to essentially torture a human to death or risk exposing her secret Fifth Column leanings to her mother. This led to what I thought was a very well done ending, where each of Erica and Anna’s respective children went to the other for comfort. The juxtaposition of these two relationships was a great stylistic choice, while simultaneously setting up a chilling image of what’s to come. Major props to whoever came up with it.

The other development I liked in this episode was the addition of Chad to the Fifth Column. Not just because this finally gives his character something interesting to do, but because this group desperately needed to increase its membership. His eventual introduction to the rest of our main characters was a promising scene, and Chad’s increased proximity to the main storyline will hopefully help make his character a little more noteworthy.

The only reason this episode didn’t score even higher for me is because V continues to spend a huge amount of its time covering up for its various plot holes. V DNA starts to disintegrate, so you can either find out her mission or help your son. She’s been drugged, so she will conveniently never remember any of this. Please start using more natural plot progressions so you don’t have to spend half the episode covering up your holes in logic.

Bob's Burgers – “Human Flesh & Crawl Space” (B+)

This review will be short and sweet.

Watch Bob's Burgers.  Seth McFarlane doesn't need another TV show (Family Guy is great but the other 2 take the formula and beat it to death), the Simpsons are almost out of ideas and South Park cannot carry us forward forever.  We need another comedy, so watch this show.  It’s fresh and I really enjoyed the first 2 episodes.  It has some really great subtle moments like the sign in “Human Flesh” that says "Don't taste me bro" or the Child Molester Burger that comes with candy on the side.  The most you can say for any pilot is that it has great potential.  This show has great potential so give it a watch.