There’s a Lot of People Who Don’t Consider Salad a Food

Hurray! This week marked the return of my two favourite comedies – Community and Parks and Recreation. Oh how I’ve missed them both.

Spoilers below.

Community – “Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy” (B+)

First off I’d just like to start by saying how happy I am that both this show, and Parks and Recreation got renewed by NBC. I say this a lot but for my money those are the two best comedies on television right now, and it would have been a damn shame if they didn’t get renewed, and say... Outsourced did in their place.

But let’s get to the topic at hand – “Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy”. Annie’s baby shower was a strong way to kick off the episode. I wish Annie was in this one a little more actually. She and Pierce were both notably absent this week, but they both made good use of the limited screen time they were given. I liked Pierce’s quip that Joseph was “history’s greatest chump” (Joseph Kennedy that is) and I loved the groups new attempt to wean him off the racially insensitive remarks by allowing him to continue using “you people”. And then of course there were Annie’s two hilarious gifts to Shirley’s baby:

ANNIE: Well I wanted to get the baby a doll, and since the father might be Andre or Chang, I wanted all ethnic bases covered. So there’s a little African American girl, and there’s a very nice letter from the manufacturer promising to expand their selection.

The remainder of the episode was split into two main storylines. The first was between Abed, Troy, and Brita. It was kind of a cool pairing (I say pairing because Troy and Abed have had so many storylines together they’re practically a package deal )because outside all the full group scenes, I don’t think these three have ever shared a storyline before (hit me up in the comments if I’m wrong).

Anyways, Troy and Abed make a new friend named Luca, who they try to keep away from Brita because apparently she has a long history of dating guys they like and subsequently ruining those guys for them. Actually one of my favourite jokes in this episode was the long list of guys she had ruined for them.

BRITA: You guys have to believe me. He’s so much worse than tall Kyle.

And she’s right too. Luca is “a monster for realsies” (I use the word realsies all the time too – I thought I was the only one!) because evidently Luca committed genocide in the Balkan Islands. One of my favourite scenes was Brita finding out that very fact. It was so perfectly Brita the way she made him open up, and when she found out the truth about him her facial expression was priceless.

I also loved her big speech to the boys where she slowly went about concluding that it MUST have been Luca who took the Kick Puncher 3 DVD, only for Abed to interrupt her story with “we know you took the DVD Brita”. Luckily, it all worked out in the end though. Troy and Abed eventually came around when they heard the whole Luca/genocide story and they all made up just in time for Brita to ruin the ending to Catfish for everyone. Thanks Brita – I hadn’t seen that yet.

The other storyline this week involved Shirley and her attempts to get Chang to give up his parental rights. It was the weaker of the two stories, but it still had its moments. I think I liked Chang better when he was a professor. He was better when he was insane in a position of authority than now, when he’s just insane. It’s not that he’s not funny, he’s just not AS funny. He’s more hit or miss now. That’s not to say that I didn’t find it hilarious last year when it turned out he didn’t know how to speak Spanish at all, so I guess I can’t complain all that much. It’s not they like they could justify any of them taking another class with him.

A few more of my favourite parts of the episode:

-          Brita’s attempt at a Britney Spears song. Sooo funny.

-          Jeff “nipple play” Winger’s nipple guards – “Buddy I worked at a maximum security prison for 7 years, and those are still the gayest thing I’ve ever seen.”

-          “Yeah we wanted to get him a sawed off shotgun, but those are pretty expensive already.”

-          “Ugh girls are so undesensitized.”

-          The Greendale effect – “Our school motto is lower your standards.”

-          Andre’s solemn “Yeah” to Jeff assumedly rhetorical question “Did you know you can make an ash tray from nothing but a cigarette and a snitches forehead?”

Parks and Recreation – “Harvest Festival” (A-)

“Son, this horse has an honorary degree from Notre Dame.”

Parks and Rec had been building up to the Harvest Festival pretty much all season long, so it’s nice to see that when the time came the event didn’t disappoint. The festival grounds they created were fantastic and really went a long way in making you feel like you were in the middle of a real county fair. The walk through the festival with Joan Callamezzo was actually one of my favourite parts of the episode.

And whoever came up with the idea for that mini horse deserves some kind of recognition, because pretty much everything about Li’l Sebastian had me laughing my ass off. Ron was the best. His absolute giddiness around Li’l Sebastian is so contrary to his character that it made the entire gag for me.

They used Ben very well here as well. His character doesn’t get a ton of credit because he’s used as a straight man/outsider so often, but the way he frames how quirky this town is contributes a lot to what makes this show so funny.  Case in point:

BEN: Yeah, I’ve just gotta be honest, I don’t get what the big deal is.
LESLIE: Get out.

The fake curse was good for a few laughs and I really enjoyed watching Leslie try to put out all the fires. Her conversation with Ann was a highlight. I love that Leslie’s taken to calling her sweet beautiful Ann these days. For whatever reason it makes me laugh every time she says it. I also loved her press conference where she dispelled all the rumours about the festival, including making sure people knew there weren’t escaped convicts roaming around the grounds.

Sadly the side stories in this one didn’t always live up to quality of the festival itself. I was a little surprised with the “I love you” storyline so early in the Andy/April relationship. I thought maybe it was a little too soon for that kind of seriousness between those two. I was also a little torn on Andy’s reaction to April’s I love you. Andy obviously isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but even for him that was a little boneheaded. It would have been better if he was just too nervous to say it, but to not even realize why she was mad was a little over the top.

I had similar problems with Ann’s storyline. Like Ben, I read a lot of criticism about how she’s just not funny enough on her own, but I think her straight man role is incredibly important. Many times I’m laughing more at her reaction than I am at the character making the joke.

In this episode, prompted by her break up with Chris, we got to see Ann break free from her straight man role, and I wasn’t completely sold on the results. Now I’m not saying that Ann can’t be funny on her own, because she’s had plenty of funny moments before this episode, but I didn’t particularly like where they took her in this one. I get that she’s spiralling, but the Jersey shore wannabe they had her hooking up with was just maybe a tad too out of character.

I don’t want to make it sound like I didn’t like the episode though. Despite all my minor gripes, it was still quite funny. Even the storylines I had complaints about still had some really funny moments. Like always I’ll leave you with a few of my favourites.

-          Leslie explaining what happened the first time the town was exposed to Li’l Sebastian – “For the next few years, Sebastian was the number 1 boys name in Pawnee... and the number 3 girls name.”

-          Deep fried boulevard and the show’s continued shots at salads.

-          The map of atrocities committed by the Pawnee settlers.

-          “Over in this booth, Indiana basketball legend Larry Bird’s 84 year old aunt Tilda will be signing autographs for two hours on Thursday.” “You got Tilda?!?”

-          Ann dyeing a piece of her hair red after breaking up with Chris.

-          Leslie’s response to Ben’s question about whether the town really believes in curses – “Oh no no, we all just behave rationally and believe we are all in charge of our own destinies. Come on!”

30 Rock – “Queen of Jordan” (B+)

30 Rock attempted the reality show parody a few weeks back in “Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning”, but they took it a step further in “Queen of Jordan”, actually formatting the episode in the style of a reality show. As repetitive as it was, this offering perfected the earlier comedic style forged in “Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning”, providing a welcome departure from the show’s traditional format.

30 Rock is a hard show to review. I mentioned in an earlier review that this show pretty much sinks or swims on its one-liners, which often makes reviews of good episodes turn into a list of quotes. Well I’m going to do my best to review the show properly, but know this in advanced – this was one of the most quotable episodes of 30 Rock I’ve seen in a long time. If a list of quotes is what you’re looking for than just skip to the end now. I won’t be offended.

The episode centered on Liz’s attempts to get Tracey back from Africa. Seeing an opportunity with Angie (after Jack explained to her that opportunity), Liz attempts to coerce her into getting Tracey back from Africa. Liz’s natural discomfort with Angie provided for some hilarious moments between the two. Tina Fey’s Tracey Morgan impression was one amazing example. To the writers – please bring that back. It reminded me of when Alec Baldwin went about impersonating Tracey’s entire family a few seasons back. It was that good.

I also loved when Angie pulled out Liz’s hair and threatened to do it again because she’s contractually obligated to pull out 8 more weaves this season. Liz’s “it’s not a weave” response was priceless. Tiny Fey really sold it. Actually all round Tina Fey had a pretty great week.

Also notable in this episode was Susan Sarandon’s guest appearance as Frank’s old teacher with whom he had an affair. For those of you weirded out by that type of storyline – don’t be. Pete explained it best:

PETE: Guys, a teacher preying on a student is wrong... if the teacher is male and the student is female. What happened to Frank is awesome. Standing ovation.

Their story was well done, providing a number of delightfully quirky scenes and more than a few great quotes. They also seemed to set it up so that Susan Sarandon’s character could make a return, so here’s hoping we see that in the future.

Some of the smaller storylines in this episode provided a few good laughs as well. I loved Jack’s gay baseball rambling, and Jenna’s reaction to a reality show filming in the office was perfectly in character. Her fake intervention was particularly well done. And who can forget Kenneth’s mind boggling glove conundrum. All in all it was a very enjoyable episode.

Now, as promised, a list of my favourite quotes from the episode.

ANGIE: Don’t tell me I can’t sing. What the fuck have you ever done? Who the fuck are the Beatles?

ANGIE: D’fwan, glue in the business weave.

D’FWAN: D’fwan forgot his catch phrase.

JACK: With Tracey gone, TGS will be airing another “best of” special.
LIZ: Actually legal says we can’t use the word best.

RANDI: I didn’t say it.
D’FWAN: You did.
(You had to see it)

JENNA: I drank all the throwing wine.

LYN (Susan Sarandon’s character): You live with your mother?
FRANK: Yeah, otherwise who would wake me up for work?

JACK: I thought this was a meeting to discuss your spin-off, where you do matchmaking for wealthy dogs.

LYN: Oh Frank, how did you know where I worked?
FRANK: It’s one of the benefits of being in love with a registered sex offender.

Fringe – “Stowaway” (A)

It’s been a long time since I liked a show so much. In a world of television mediocrity, Fringe shines like science fiction diamond.  While shows like The Event let me down every week, and The Cape fails to capture a wide enough audience to stay on the air, Fringe brings a consistently solid episode every single week.  Stowaway was no exception.  In fact, it’s one of the best from the show this season.

Stowaway picks up where our cliffhanger left us last week.  We are looking at the blue universe and William Bell's consciousness has returned to Olivia's body.  As I said last week, Anna Torv playing this character is truly a testament to her range as an actress.  Well I really enjoyed what she did again this week. I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea of putting Bell in Olivia's body because it eliminated Olivia from the show, but I believe that I need to put faith in the Fringe creators much like I put faith in Lost's creative team week to week.  Not only is the William Bell character well acted, but the dialogue truly makes me believe that Bell's consciousness is back. Not to mention the interactions with Walter and Bellivia (as I will call him/her) add some well placed comic relief.

Bell declares that he needs to find a suitable host for his consciousness and will remain in Olivia's body for 24-48hrs at most, but of course the team is sidetracked by a case.  Paula Malcomson (Deadwood) guest stars this week as a woman who is unable to die.  After coming back from the dead after multiple gunshot wounds in a home invasion that took the rest of her family, she is left without hope.  She tries to kill herself multiple times, and even tries to tag along with other people's suicide attempts.  All are failures.  She finds suicidal people by working for a suicide help line and meets up with these people to try to "ride their energy to the afterlife," or something along those lines.  In the end, she encounters a suicidal man who tells her that he has planted a bomb on a train before taking his own life.  Malcomson's character then uses the bomb to finally meet her family in the afterlife.  

The case was fantastic, due primarily to Malcomson's stellar acting.  Seth Gable (Agent Lincoln Lee - red universe) also makes an appearance this week as a blue universe Agent working for another department.  I’m hoping he joins the blue universe cast more permanently. I enjoy the small character differences between universes and his slightly nerdier version of Agent Lee fits well into the Fringe world.

But the most important part of the episode again came in the cliffhanger.  As Bellivia and Peter are talking over a cup of tea once the case has wrapped up, a church bell chimes and Olivia's consciousness momentarily returns.  She is quickly replaced by Bell again and he remarks that things may be more complicated than he first suspected.

It’s an interesting twist and it means that Anna Torv might be playing a little more of Bellivia in the coming weeks.  That’s ok with me.  I didn't think it would be, but this episode was fantastic.  Also, having the Bell character around seems to bring out the best in Walter which is great to see.

For those keeping track at home, the cortexiphan is not the magnet – the soul magnets were in the tea Olivia received when she first visited Bell.  A neat little piece that maybe shows forethought by the creators.  Or just a lucky coincidence.  Either way, good stuff.

I really look forward to next week's instalment.

Song(s) of the week

This week’s pick:

“Hayloft” by Mother Mother

Where I found Mother Mother: This was another one that my friend Alex first showed me. He saw them when they opened up for Matt Good (by the way – how good was Mathew Good Band). Alex is in Australia right now trying not to get bitten by spiders, stung by scorpions, or eaten by sharks. So far so good but it’s probably a good thing he showed me this song before he left.

What I like: I’m always on the lookout for different sounding hooks. That’s what first caught my eye in “Hayloft”. I love the voices of all the singers (Ryan Guldemond, Molly Guldemond and Debra-Jean Creelman) on this song. They all have this super quirky delivery throughout the whole song that gives it this really fresh sound.

I also have to commend the guitar on this song. Guldemond has a style almost onto himself and it’s that style that brings out a unique character in “Hayloft”. Actually I’m wrong to say it’s just the guitar because the rhythm coming from the drums and bass adds a lot as well. Either way, this is just one of those songs you have to hear for yourself to really understand. Hopefully, you’re as enamoured by it as I am.

Hayloft - Mother Mother

Farewell V... Please Don’t Write

Just a short post today, but I figured I’d get it out of the way before tonight’s barrage of shows.

Spoilers.

Off the Map – “I’m Home” (B)

Mateo’s back. I can’t say I’m surprised, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy watching Brenner and him interact as she went about treating his mother – who by the way is an extremely interesting character in her own right. I think my favourite scene in this storyline was the scene where she rationalized why she started growing cocaine to Lily. It was a kind of complexity I honestly didn’t expect from this show. Brenner put it best – “I’ll probably never agree with it, but I get it.”

They also followed up on the Tommy and Mina hook up again this week. It was really funny watching all their awkward sexual tension with each other. Both Zach Gilford and Mamie Gummer had some great facial expression, and a few killer lines. I loved Tommy’s discussion with Brenner about how he can’t stop picturing her naked. It led to a great exchange between Mina and Brenner later on.

MINA: He keeps staring at me. What is he staring at?
LILY: Not your boobs.

In the end the two of the decided to try and go back to being friends. It was a good bonding experience and I like that our original 3 jungle newbies are starting to become good friends.

Keeton and Clark returned from New York this week as well. I was a little surprised that they decided to skip over New York altogether. I mean they shoot in Hawaii so it’s probably the cheaper alternative, but I figured they would use Keeton’s absence from the clinic as a story premise for this episode. Well either way, they didn’t do that, but we were left with wasn’t bad either.

It was really a story about Clark learning her limitations. She kept pushing her limitations throughout the episode (I liked it when she tripped up the huge prisoner), eventually collapsing in the middle of an operation. The ending was fine, but I didn’t particularly like it when Keeton freaked out on her. I’ve been quite happy with the way they’ve written his character so far. He doesn’t have a huge ego like many of the attendings on other medical dramas, but his explosion in this episode wasn’t a good moment for his character. He quickly apologised after, but I could have done without that one particular scene.

And last but not least we had this week’s patients. The story of the two prisoners talking between cells was sweet, but there were moments where it felt a bit slow. I did enjoy their final sunset together however, and Cole and Zee, who were the doctors involved in this particular storyline, had a good week with each other – there wasn’t any nauseating dialogue to be heard of. I also really liked Cole’s line to the American girl as she thought about escaping:

COLE: Don’t mix up running with being free.

I’m sure that works on a few levels with this show.

V – “Mother’s Day” (B-)

Wow, they really let the bodies fly in this one. It was probably too little too late, but they did not hold back. It’s odd that this will probably be the last episode of the series because the way the writers have set it up they’re clearly looking to retool the show and try again next season.

And you can tell because they’ve attempted to eliminate as much dead weight in this episode as they could. Both Ryan and Tyler seemed to drag the show down this season, and both of them got eliminated in this finale. The funny thing is though, usually when a show has a major character death you... hmmm, what’s the word I’m looking for here... care. But none of these deaths felt all that meaningful. There were no heroic sacrifices – everyone’s death came as they fell victim to Anna’s wrath. Even for characters that weren’t all that liked it felt very anti-climatic.

The other thing I find interesting, is that despite repeated criticism that this show never lets its main characters win, they allowed them to fail again in this episode with yet another attempt on Anna’s life. I thought for sure in the finale they would give the Fifth Column some sort of win, but it was all Anna in this one.

I think that’s one of the fundamental reasons this show has never been able to truly get its footing. The writers really can’t ever allow the Fifth Column to succeed because they’re goals are always quite high. They’ve had at least two attempts on Anna’s life this season alone, which of course failed. They were given such close access to Anna so early on in the series that they’ve never given the organization any room to grow. There are no incremental accomplishments. Since the start of the second season it’s been all or nothing, and because all means the show is over, it’s always ended up nothing.

I will hand the writers this though – Anna’s revenge on Lisa was quite well done. It was chilling the way she made her watch new Lisa have sex with Tyler and then kill him. It’s only too bad that came after she foolishly allowed Anna to live in a very poorly executed standoff in an abandoned warehouse.

They certainly did their best to end the show on an exciting note but I wasn’t buying the whole project Ares thing. It seems kind of foolish that we’re only finding out about this huge governmental task force now, and from the brief glimpse we got of the organization its already looking supremely stupid. Case in point, and I’m paraphrasing:

“Hey everyone, gather round. This computer’s telling me something’s happening to people.”

No, I think I’ll be alright with this one getting cancelled. They gave it shot. They had a few promising plot developments that never really paid off. But now I guess it’s time for this show to make its exit. So long V.

Do You Know Free Bird?

Holy smokes!  Everything seems to be coming back this week so you can expect a flurry of reviews coming your way. Today we’ve got new episodes of Shameless, Fringe, The Event, Californication, House and The Big Bang Theory.

Enjoy!

The Big Bang Theory – “The Prestidigitation Approximation” (B+)

Not a bad episode, but not their best.  There were fewer awesome pop culture references and more plot in this one.  That’s never a good thing for this show.  Maybe they’re suffering from the drama surrounding their "brother from another mother" Charlie Sheen.  Well don't worry Big Bang Boys, he’s fine.  In fact he’s winning.  Now you gotta get back to making awesome Raj driven pop culture reference laden episodes so you can win too.  I won't accept this mushy mumbo jumbo.

Probably the best line of the episode was when Leonard asked Pria if it was racist for him to go for Indian food with an Indian woman.  That was a pretty good exchange.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Pria.  She is a talking Raj, which is nice because I like when Raj talks, but I don't see what she adds to the show anymore.  In fact now all she adds is plot drama and I don't know if this show needs that.  It doesn’t thrive on it because the characters can't drive through it with moving dialogue.  In fact the show just seems to end whenever there is a big issue and picks up after that issue has been resolved.  The same things happened here.  Pria wants Leonard to cut the cord with Penny. Of course he can't but lies about it and Pria gets mad.  But instead of seeing how that resolves I am assuming that next week we will get the standard "Oh yeah Pria is still mad at me about that thing with Penny" line.

For many shows this would be a killer.  The cut fastball that strikes it out every time at the plate.  But for the Big Bang, it’s just another sac-fly on the way to hilarity.  The episode sucks for now, but I know they will come back with more.  The question remains though about what Pria adds.  If she just adds drama and the show keeps "popping out" then they will never be in position to get a sac-fly – they’ll all just be fly outs.

Shameless – “Nana Gallagher Had an Affair” (B)

So it turns out Monica has a heart. It certainly was an emotional finale to an episode – maybe not as gripping as the week before but emotional nonetheless. The final scene between Monica and the children was especially well done, with Monica conceding to their wishes to keep Liam and be left alone. I don’t think anyone with a functioning heart could make it through that scene without feeling a little sympathy towards the Gallagher’s mother. Even Fiona gave her a nod.

I have to commend the writers for coming up with a good three dimensional character for the mother of the Gallagher children. It would have been very easy to write her an absolute deadbeat runaway mom stereotype, but they resisted that urge and instead gave us an enormously flawed woman, but a woman who definitely still cares about her kids.

The storyline wasn’t without a few blemishes though. It was a little muddled with all the paternity testing – I didn’t particularly care for Liam being Frank’s child (they threw that aside way to quickly). I guess what it was really meant to do was to get Lip and Ian to the testing center, but even the advent that Ian wasn’t Frank’s child didn’t really add up to a whole lot in the end.

Frank had a very funny week however. He had a few distractions of his own in this episode, but all of them were funny. His reaction to Carl telling him he had a broken arm was hilarious, as was his use of poor Carl’s situation to get rid of the guy following him for his disability cheques. I also liked the fact that he still doesn’t know who Steve is, despite the guy having dated his daughter the entire season.

The real comedic gem of this episode was the dinner sequence though. Frank was just killing through the entire scene. I especially loved his reaction to finding out Monica cheated on him while she was on PCP.

FRANK: You did PCP... without me? You promised we would do that together!

With the Gallaghers dealing with their family issue it left Sheila and Karen off on their own this week. I really enjoyed the ending of this storyline as well. I thought it was sweet the way Sheila stood up for her daughter and without realizing it stepped outside. It was a great way to help get her over her agoraphobia and it spoke volumes about her character.

What I was a little more confused about was Karen’s motivations. I had originally assumed that she was just going to this purity ball thing so that she could get his car. I never expected her to take what her dad said so personally. Even when each of the girls were describing their sexual indiscretions (the pipe girl was especially funny), I thought it was all going to be a big set up for Karen to stick it to her dad with her own confession. Am I wrong here, or was it obvious she was feeling closer to her dad?

Steve was remarkably quiet in this episode, but I feel like a storm is brewing. This show has a lot of rogue elements which makes it very hard to predict, but I’m going to take a shot at a theory and we’ll see how it goes. It’s clear Tony isn’t all that happy about Steve dating Fiona (for obvious reasons), and in this episode they showed him pulling Steve over. I feel like they’re setting the groundwork for Steve to get caught, perhaps with Lip, by Tony in the season finale. With Shameless getting picked up for another season, it would be a great way for the show to go out on a bang. Just a thought – let me know what you think in the comments.

Fringe – “Os” (A)

Great episode this week.  I don't really want to write a spoiling review because I feel that not many readers watch this show and so there is no point in talking about each plot point in detail.  I do want to say three main things though.

1. Fringe does an excellent job of moulding its cases of the week into the plot of the show.  The "bad guy" in this episode being a man who is blurring moral lines to help his son is an elegant parallel to our protagonist's lives.  When his son turns away from him with disgust once he’s been caught it’s another parallel to the differing moral compasses of father and son that are so entrenched into this show.

2. This part is a bit of a spoiler so skip it if you haven't seen it.  The piece with William Bell and the Soul Magnets (great band name) is kind of odd to me.  I like it in that I think it is a cool idea to bring that character back without needing to bring back the actor and it is unique in terms of a plot device.  What I don't get is why they chose Olivia.  Wouldn't an interaction between Olivia and Bell be a good one?  Their interactions are what started Fringe on a path to greatness.  Before Olivia gets transferred over to the other side in Bell's office, the show was just your average sci-fi piece.  That scene, where we start to understand the complexity of the universes began Fringe on its fantastic journey.  I would think that having them interact again would be sweet.  However, it shows Anna Torv's range, something I didn't think she had at the beginning of the show but has really come to show us with the addition of Fauxlivia and now William to her repertoire.  So I am very divided on the decision to bring him back in her.  I wonder where it will take us.  Am I to believe that the cortexiphan is the magnet?  Will Olivia ever come back or is Bell's consciousness permanent now?  That is a neat way to eliminate one of the Olivias.

3. This show is going places I’ve never seen before.  The thing with Olivia and William Bell is just one example.  THIS IS FANTASTIC!

The Event – “Turnabout” (B-)

Honestly, The Event had been gone for so long I didn’t remember anything save for the basic premise of the show. But I figured with Ryan and I sort of sharing writing duties on The Event I’d jot down a few thoughts on how I’ve felt about the show since its return from hiatus.

I actually think I enjoyed last week’s episode a lot more than Ryan did. That’s probably because I forgot most of the details of what happened in the first half of the season (well played NBC). I’m sure if I remembered more I would be a little more frustrated with the continuity, but what the heck. I’ll give the show another shot.

You can really tell they’re trying hard to address all of the show’s early criticisms. They promptly wrapped up Sean and Leila’s pursuit of finding her younger sister last week, and this week they tried to address President Martinez perceived weakness when it came to his dealing with the NTBs. They’ve also added a much more distinct action element to the show. Thomas leads a lot of assaults these days.

But the problems aren’t entirely fixed. They still have no idea what to do with Sean and Leila. They had almost an entire sequence to themselves this week (from commercial break to commercial break) and it was, at times, eye rollingly bad. I thought when Leila went with her dad it would put her in the middle of the action a little more (figuratively – I don’t expect her to start shooting people anytime soon), but she spent most of this episode on the sidelines.

And I don’t know what they were thinking with Sean but he’s even farther removed from the main story than he was before. Perhaps they needed to take him out of the mix to team him up with Vicky but his storyline in this episode suffered because of it.

My suggestion – have him discover some actually important information with Vicky and get him working with the President’s team or something. It’d be nice for his character to gain some sort of importance in the battle between the government and the NTBs. They need to throw him into the loop of a storyline that the audience actually cares about, where he’s obtaining information at the same rate as everyone else on this show.

I’ll commend the writers for finding a quick way to make a change in the Presidents attitude, but making the President angrier doesn’t necessarily make him a better character. They have to be careful how they play this. If his character becomes super reactionary he’ll become even worse than he was before. It’s a balancing act, but what I saw this week has me a little nervous.

Oh and by the way. Two cars escorting the nuclear rods – are you kidding me? I get that they were trying to look inconspicuous but come on. Martinez is the President of the United States. He wanted to set a trap not minutes before this sequence. He could have had a chopper escort ready and waiting. There’s no way Thomas should have been able to get away with a ground assault on the convoy. That’s just sloppy writing.

I do like Michael Buchanan’s expanded role however, and I think Sophia attempting to collaborate with the President is full of potential. And I’m also in agreement with Ryan that Sterling is one of the better characters on this series. Having just finished watching the first season of Damages I’ve become a huge fan of Zeljko Ivanek.

I certainly don’t have the same strong dislike I used to have for this series. Like I said before, chalk that up to time apart, but if they can manage to string together a few good episodes to close out the season maybe they’ll do the impossible and salvage what’s left of this series. I really don’t know if it has a realistic shot at renewal but I’d be happy with just an entertaining finish to the season.

Californication – “The Trial” (A)

A good episode with some good back stories.  Getting to see Hank in his spiral was a great way to go about the testimonies in the trial.  Charlie did a great job in this episode and was very funny despite not sleeping with any odd women.

Overall I don't have much to say, just that I enjoyed the way they did this and once again everyone hates Hank.  It’s a great yo yo trick that he pulls.

The X-Files reference at the beginning was great for any fan of Duchovny's work.

As I have said all season.  I am rooting for this guy.  I'm thinking he's going to jail for at least some time though.

Good luck Hank.  Don't drop the soap.

House – “Out of the Chute” (B)

It was a mixed bag of an episode this week. I was initially unimpressed with how they went about handling the House/Cuddy split, but his hotel stay did grow on me. He certainly had a few funny scenes with the hookers and his main man at the hotel Carnel (not sure how to spell that). I always enjoy when he holds his diagnostic sessions in horribly inappropriate places, and you can add naked in a hotel bed with a hooker to the list of my favourites.

I also really enjoyed two main scenes that book ended the episode. The introduction to the patient is standard in pretty much every episode of House, and I thought that this one was the best ones I’ve seen in a while. Actually, I really liked the patient this week. He had a really neat bravado to him. I thought his scene in the MRI was pretty intense, and his scene with House where he told him he’d just find something else to love was a particularly strong addition to the episode.

The other sequence I am referring to is of course House’s balcony jump. First off, I love the Arcade Fire, and I love “My Body is a Cage” in particular. I hadn’t heard Peter Gabriel’s version before now but it did an excellent job of setting the mood of the scene. I think a lot of people may have felt cheated by House landing in the pool but I don’t really see it that way. In a sense it was a sort of metaphorical suicide. House is giving up on his life as it was, and turning down a much darker path. That’s why watching Wilson walk away at the end was so powerful.

What I didn’t think worked here though was all the manoeuvring and gauging of how everybody was feeling. Normally I like House’s discussions with Wilson as they’re both excellent counterpoints to each other, but this episode ended up feeling like a high school breakup with the way Wilson kept bouncing back and forth between Cuddy and House.

I also didn’t really like Masters crush on the patient in this episode. I mean, it’s hard not to have a crush on the guy – he’s pretty dreamy – but the way they set it up in the script made it feel really put on. Masters is normally a bit bumbling, but she’s not a giddy schoolgirl. Her conversations with the patient were just way to transparent for my liking.

So like I said, a mixed bag this week. The one thing I will say is that this show needs to make sure that wherever this storyline ends up, it ends up with some real character development. They can’t keep spinning their wheels. They need a new direction to keep this show fresh, even if that means changing the status quo a little.

Song(s) of the week

Na na na na na na na na song of the week. Na na na na na na na na song of the week. Song of the weeekkkk, song of the weeekkkk, song of the weeekkkk. Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na song of the weeeeekkkkkk.

That was stupid. This week’s pick:

“November Was White, December Was Grey” by Say Hi

Where I found Say Hi: One of my favourite new shows this year is Shameless, and part of the reason for that is the incredible assortment of music played week in and week out on the show. This is one of those musical gems Shameless has brought to my attention. I won’t pretend to know a whole lot of this band’s back material. I quickly wikipediaed them before I wrote this and discovered they have like 7 albums, so I apologise to any of their diehard fans for not being up to date on their entire catalogue but I promise to go exploring after I finish this article. If the rest of their stuff is anything like this song then I can tell you right now I’m a fan.

What I like: Wow, where to start. The lyrics speak to me. I love whatever they’re using on his voice, and the harmony they throw over the chorus has this awesome sense of timing. I love the keyboard fill right after the first chorus, and I love the overall tone of the song. It’s very laid back and contemplative, which really complements the lyrics.

Is that enough or should I keep going? I’ll tell you what, why don’t just listen for yourself. Happy listening!

November Was White, December Was Grey - Say Hi

You’re Like This Legend of Weirdness

This week’s reviews of Off the Map and V. Enjoy!

Spoilers.

Off the Map – “There’s Nothing to Fix” (B+)

Oh Mina, how I adore you so. I’m sorry I keep rehashing this point week after week, I really am. I’d love to talk about something else in these reviews but quite frankly each week she just ups her game. I’m probably biased but there just aren’t enough characters on TV portraying emotional shut-ins like myself. We finally have a voice. An awkward, monotone voice.

And being that I’m also a fan of Ryan – who just happens to be the exact opposite of Mina – I had a good time watching them pair up this week to deal with a jerk patient. There was so much I loved about this pairing I made a list, and, since you’re already reading, I guess I’ll share it with you.

-          The part where Ryan tells Mina that the pizza joint the patient owns is just a place where Americans go because they’re too afraid to try the local cuisine, and Mina responds “the pizza’s actually not that bad.”

-          When the angry patient tells Mina her chicken is the only thing that depends on her and she responds “that’s not true, I have a god daughter.” Great call back to last episode.

-          The sweet ending scene between Mina and Ryan abruptly ended with an “okay bye” from Mina.

-          The entirety of the funeral scene – “Come on! I basically yelled the guy to death.”

Tommy’s story on the other hand was all over the map this week, or should I say off the map (huh, see what I did there). I couldn’t really peg it. At times it was great, like when he gave his own blood to save the patient, and at times it wasn’t so great, like his freak out upon first discovering the patient. Overall I’m glad they showed his remorse over cheating on Alma, I was just a little iffier on the execution.

I still don’t like Cole and Zee as a couple. I enjoyed the way they got back together last week, but together there’s just something grating about the two of them. I think Valerie Cruz does a great job with her character, and Cole seems to be alright when he’s on his own, it’s just the writing for them when they’re together doesn’t do either of them justice. Take this week’s story for example – it is way too early in that relationship for them to be talking about babies. I know they probably had a history before the show began, but they just got back together. Give it a week.

The subject of having kids was clearly brought up more so they could relate to the patient story, but what it ended up doing was making Cole seem irritating. It may have set up a nice future storyline for Zee’s character, but there were a number of ways they could have introduced the fact that Zee can’t have children, and the way they ended up doing it weakened the episode.

And of course last but not least there was Brenner, who this week was pretty much all on her lonesome. Caroline Dhavernas is such a wonderful actor (actually there’s a lot of strong acting on this show), and she did a pretty decent job of playing how devastated Brenner was over the loss of her patient (and I suspect a little over the loss of her relationship). Her breakdown at the end of the episode was a little out of nowhere, but Dhavernas sold it. It could have been a lot worse.

It should be interesting to see the clinic without Keeton next week. I can’t wait.

V – “Devil in a Blue Dress” (C+)

Is it just me or has this show devolved into a formula?

It seems like every week our team comes up with some sort of plan to attack the visitors, almost always explained through some horribly clunky dialogue, attempt to execute that plan, fail, and then start getting ready for the next week when they’re really going to bring it to the Visitors. It’s actually becoming so bad that it’s come right back around to being funny again.

This week was more of the same. First we got an incredibly forced scene where Sid, our local scientist, describes Concordia, the visitor’s brand new power plant. The writers of course set up the mission, what would be the obstacles, what would be the reward, all in expository dialogue so unnatural you couldn’t possibly misunderstand them.

My favourite part of the episode was when Sid, simply by touching two small blue energy balls together concluded that blue energy was a “particle anti-particle construct.” Are you kidding me? You got all that from a light show?

And then there was Erica’s freak out after the mission failed. First off, you’re the one who ordered to abort the mission, so you really shouldn’t be taking it out on your entire team. And second, can you explain to me why the rest of the Fifth Column leadership, who doubted your ability to lead not two episodes ago, continue to follow you despite failure after failure?

I assume the ending scene with Diana was supposed to be exciting – all the Fifth Column in the same room – but it didn’t really feel that way. Next week is the season and most likely series finale. Just judging by what I’ve seen up to this point, my guess is this show will go out on with whimper rather than a bang. Oh well, I still love you Elizabeth Mitchell. We’ll always have Lost.

Is Your Voice Dressed Up For Halloween?

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.