Showing posts with label Television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Television. Show all posts
Friday, September 11, 2009
Can We Start A Twitter Trending Topic Called #DeanWinchesterKicksAss?
Supernatural: Sympathy For the DevilSeason 5, Episode 1
It's difficult to get excited for a television premiere when it doesn't feel like the show went anywhere during the summer break. Longtime Supernatural fans will cry out that the show, in fact, has been gone for the entire summer. Ok, ok, for you longtime Supernatural fans the summer must have been GRUELING but for us Johnny-come-lately fans the summer was an excuse to watch the entire series for the first time. I'll fully admit that I initially wrote this show off as average CW teeny bopper drama until I heard that some of my favorite The X-Files producers we working on this series. So I gave it a shot. Damn. Am I glad I did. Without going into too much gushing fanboy-ism, I'm hooked. Explaining the series to friends as being like if The X-Files and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer made sweet, sweet love and the culmination of that fateful night was offspring that wasn't as whiny as Mommy Buffy and just as kick-ass as Daddy Mulder is a good indication of how seriously I take this series.
So, the Winchester boys haven't been gone this summer. No, they've been playing consistently in my DVD and Blu-Ray player for the entire summer. When we last saw the Winchester brothers, Sam and Dean, it was the end of the divisive fourth season. Sam decided to harness his demon powers to stop Lilith with Ruby at his side, unwittingly breaking the final lock holding Satan. With Ruby (and her awful acting) and Lilith dead, the boys are now facing the Prince of Evil himself, Lucifer.
Many fans didn't seem to enjoy the fourth season of the series, and maybe I have a different perspective since I watched the entire season over the course of a week, but I quite enjoyed the demon/angel war presented last year. This year seems to be pushing in much the same direction with the Winchesters at odds with both the demon world and the angels who apparently pushed for war in an attempt to finally defeat Lucifer once and for all.
One of the reasons I loved the fourth season was the way that it made the ongoing story of the previous seasons congeal into a compelling mythology that wasn't entirely visible previously. It gives the older seasons' arcs more gravitas in retrospect and truly feels like this year is the final chapter of a pre-planned story. Regardless of whether the show continues into a sixth season (and all indications are that it will) this five season arc will go down as being very well done and compelling. Maybe not as well thought out as say Babylon 5's arc, but close enough for me to make the connection.
Without going into too many plot specifics(if you haven't watched yet, go!) I will say that this episode was simultaneously satisfying and aggravating. The boys are rescued from the monastery and Castiel is brought back to life by some mysterious third party. It makes me think that the Twitter trending topic #Godishere was more than Twitter Christians reacting to the Supernatural fans trending #luciferiscoming. Viral marketing on behalf of the show, perhaps? Hmm, methinks so.) which is by far the most compelling thing to happen in the episode.
Meg Manning's demon makes her return as our first "face" demon that the boys must go up against. Bobby is possessed and breaks free from control long enough to use the demon killing knife on himself. Bobby doesn't die (Thank God!) but is told by doctors that he will never walk again.
The biggest news that is ACTUALLY spoken (not just implied like Castiel's resurrection by mystery person) is that the Archangel Michael is just itching to get into a brawl with Lucifer but needs a willing person to serve as his host. Not just any person, someone deemed to be Michael's Sword: Dean Winchester. Of course, after Zachariah showed his true colors last season, the last thing Dean wants to agree to is being a meat-suit for an angel throw down.
Lucifer, however, finds a host by convincing a depressed widow (Mark Pellegrino of Lost and Dexter)that God abandoned him and could have saved his late wife and child. It's an interesting dynamic that I cannot wait to see play out over the season. But seriously, if Lucifer shows up at your doorstep and says, "Bro, God's totally a dick, he totally lied about me being the prince of lies," don't believe him!
The big problem I have with the episode is that Dean seemingly forgives Sam early in the episode only to tell Sam later that he will never trust him again. I'm all for a rift between the boys - season four focused on that quite a bit and it turned Dean into my favorite character. Here it seems silly and contrived. The world is ending. Lucifer is rising. Shit is going down. The Winchesters need to man up and save the world. The rift itself wasn't even the big problem, it's just that it occurred at the very end of the episode. We didn't get a cliffhanger of any sort and this Dean/Sam fight seems to happen so frequently that I kind of felt like we'd been down this road before.
In the end the good outweighs the bland. I'm still on board for the rest of this season.
BTW anyone hear those rumors that Jensen "Dean Winchester" Ackles might be playing Captain America? I'm behind anyone who's previously uttered the words, "Criss Angel is a douche," playing Cap.
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Thursday, March 5, 2009
The Calm Before...
Lost: LaFleurSeason 5, Episode 8
Now, THIS is how you make a classic Lost episode. I'm hesitant to use too much hyperbole (an unfortunate snap judgement of Daredevil being "better than Spider-man" has made me cautious of it) in my praise of this episode, but I think I can safely say that this will go down as one of the best episodes of this series.As I said in a previous review, Lost fanboys have been rushing to claim every new episode the greatest ever. Any praise heaped upon this episode is justified. Fanboys gush away.
As always, spoilers after the jump.
Since Locke knocked the frozen donkey wheel back onto it's axis and escaped the island, we return to Sawyer and the gang where we left them last. One two more flashes and the group is back to living time in it's proper forward fashion.
Of course, we've known since the premiere that the group was going to end up in the glory days of the Dharma Intiative. Sure enough, the group is stuck in 1974. Groovy.
The episode itself didn't really have any large reveals. There were some fantastic hints at things that we've wondered about for a while but nothing earth shattering, which is fine.
Oftentimes I complain when Lost tries a simple character based story. Usually they are slow and bland like Jack's story in 316. But here the main concept is Sawyer's story melding into the Dharma Initiative, taking care of his people and falling in love with Juliet.
I've been critical of Sawyer in the past. His character was used mostly as a one-note nickname generator. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have stated that he is their Han Solo, except that I never hated Solo. I hated Sawyer. He was funny, sure, but everytime he became the likeable rogue the writers insisted on reverting him back to being a dick (See: The Long Con).
Our story is split between the "current" time on the island and a jump to three years later. Presumably the three years later stuff is where the timeline will stay, bringing everyone (except Locke, who seems to have only lived a few months in that time)into the same time frame. Three years older and hopefully wiser.
Here we Sawyer not as a reluctant leader, but as a leader. He's freed himself from the shadow of Kate, Jack and Sawyer. He's in love with Juliet and most importantly he's happy. He's gotten himself a spiffy new job as head of Dharma security and things seem good. Except Jin has found Jack, Kate and Hurley. Less than 24 hours after Sawyer admitted to letting Kate go, thinking that she would never return, she comes back. He's clearly happy with Juliet, he's made his peace with Kate leaving and never returning, but you can see the look on his face when he sees her step out of that Dharma van. He's happy but pained. Josh Holloway did more in that one scene to make Sawyer an empathetic character than any of the dialog the writers have ever given him.
Of course, we know that Kate and Jack are going to upset the happy balance on the island. I can honestly say that for the first time in the series history, I don't want anything bad to happen to Sawyer...
Some other thoughts
- The four toed statue returns! Of course, we only see it from behind and just for a moment. It sorta looked like the Egyptian god(or Goa'uld if you prefer) Anubis, which would be interesting since...
- Amy(played here by Reiko Aylesworth)'s late husband in the episode had an Egyption Ankh around his neck, making the symbol an official motif in this series(it also appeared on the Swan's countdown clock).
- Speaking of Aylesworth, great seeing her on TV again since her untimely end on 24. Here's to hoping we see more of her on this show.
- So the Dharma Initiative brokered a truce with "the Hostiles?" Interesting.
- Loved the meeting between Richard Alpert and Sawyer. That's got to have some significance on future events in the series.
- Juliet delivered Aylesworth's baby on the island! So what is the issue with pregnant women on the island and does it occur after 1977?
- Comcast can suck a fat one since their DVR service doesn't work half the time. I missed this episode on it's first run. Thank God for ABC.com
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Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Who Needs Warm Milk
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Some Must Watch While Some Must SleepSeason 2, Episode 16
I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but I watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles for stories about the impending apocalypse and the take over of SkyNet. I'd like the stories in a series called TERMINATOR to involve actual terminators as opposed to silly dream-terminators. You know what, I'd just like the series to be GOOD. Which, sadly, it hasn't been in a really long time. I'm not asking for GREAT, that ship sailed long before the series started(the writers have never really been as well versed in Terminator mythology as most fanboys are, myself included). I just want the show to be about killer robots from the future and John Connor kicking ass. Is that so hard to ask for? Apparently so, because for the fourth episode in a row we've be witness the most boring stories that I've seen in a long time.Look, I know Sarah Connor's name is in the title of the show, but for crying out loud so is the word Terminator. Sarah Connor as played by Lena Heady is boring and morose. I know Heady can be a good actress and I'm not laying the blame on her solely but she can't carry this show. She shouldn't have to! Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, Richard T. Jones are all good enough actors. Hell, Brian Austin Green owns every scene he is in. Yeah, I know, I was shocked too. But, it's true, Brian Austin Green is one of the most compelling things about this program. Yet here we are with another episode that is 95% Sarah Connor and the only other characters we see are John and Cameron.
Weaver, Ellison and John Henry are fast becoming important and intriguing components of the series, yet they are completely ignored in this story. I want to see more of them. God help me, Shirley Manson is a horrible actress, but her T-1000 is such a compelling an fascinating figure. Leaving these characters out of the story is downright criminal.
There has got to be some irony in the fact that Sarah's story revolved around her having insomnia and going to a sleep clinic. I've got a sure fire way to cure that insomnia, WATCH THIS EPISODE! We flitted between Sarah trying to sleep and Sarah being held captive by Ed Winston, who we were led to believe was dead...since we saw sarah, ya know, kill him. The big question was which of these stories was bogus, and the even bigger question is: why do we care? Seriously, on one hand we have Sarah in a sleep clinic in a plot that totally rips off at least TWO Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes and on the other hand we have Sarah facing Mr. Should-Be-Dead. I mean, we wasted an hour last week attending this dude's funeral, it just felt like a slight to have him alive and well(despite being shot by Sarah in the fall finale) with absolutely no explanation.
So, to summarize: Television program about killer robots from the future - killer future robots = a sleepy Billy. I've said it before and I'll say it again here. Kiss this show goodbye, because it's not coming back for another season. Thank you, Josh Friedman. You shat all over War of the Worlds and you've done shat on Terminator. What's next? Robbing my house and killing my kitty cat? I love that cat.
0 Billy's cats out of 5
Ain't he a cutie?
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Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Killin' Time With 24
24: 6:00P.M.- 7:00P.M./ 7:00P.M.- 8:00P.M.Season 7, Episodes 11 & 12
Welcome to "Killin' Time With 24." A weekly morning-after 24 discussion hosted by your faithful That's A Wrap editors, Billy and Jim.Every Tuesday morning we get together to discuss the previous evening's episode of 24. What we liked, disliked and where we would like to see the series go while avoiding any real work. It's like a virtual coffee break.
Sit back and let us do the complaining for you.
(10:10:59) Jim: so, 24...
(10:11:09) Jim: 2 Action Packed Hours
(10:11:16) Billy: of nonsense
(10:11:43) Jim: Breaking into the White House should not be that easy.
(10:12:00) Billy: Apparently the White House is easier to break into than the Russian embassy in season six...
(10:12:11) Billy: Than Chinese embassy in season 5
(10:12:24) Billy: And any number of other embassies
(10:13:05) Jim: at least we can lay to rest whatever hope we had that this season would improve as we approached the second half
(10:13:45) Billy: well, I figure Juma AKA Tony Todd AKA Worf's brother, will be dead by next hour
(10:14:09) Billy: and then Jon Voight will become the bad guy
(10:14:24) Billy: So, yeah, this season ain't gettin' better
(10:15:00) Jim: why isn't Bill Buchanan dead?
(10:15:15) Billy: The whole night I was thinking that it was the big two parter, none of our cast has died and Bill and Aaron are in the white house with terrorists
(10:15:24) Billy: one of them is a goner
(10:15:48) Billy: it's kinda sad that the only way this show shocks me now is when they don't kill a main character.
(10:15:49) Jim: but neither of them buy it
(10:16:06) Billy: Bill had better not die
(10:16:18) Billy: I need closure about his wife!
(10:16:29) Jim: yeah, I hope in the resolution of this current hostage crisis somebody more important than the dad from That 70s Show dies
(10:16:56) Jim: does Aaron really have anything left to live for? I think not.
(10:17:04) Billy: He has a son!
(10:17:14) Billy: Palmer always talked about him!
(10:17:46) Jim: Yeah, but his son is fine sitting on the bench for the Dillon Panthers... no worries there.
(10:18:11) Billy: The writers also got their "number of administrations" that people worked for wrong.
(10:18:23) Billy: With both Jack and Aaron.
(10:18:58) Billy: I'm going to sound like a crazy fanboy here, but in season 2 Aaron clearly states that he's been in secret service since Reagan.
(10:19:06) Billy: That's more than five.
(10:19:21) Billy: we've seen at least five on the show!
(10:20:02) Jim: Nice catch
(10:20:30) Billy: So, Jon Voight
(10:20:35) Billy: has a package
(10:20:44) Billy: that Juma's men can render useless
(10:21:01) Jim: and is more important than risking implication in an assault on the White House
(10:21:03) Billy: Nuclear, Nerve, or Bio?
(10:21:25) Billy: Let's play WHICH WEAPON WILL COME NEXT!
(10:21:25) Jim: I'm going Nuclear
(10:21:32) Jim: it feels like it's been a while
(10:21:46) Billy: Yeah, Voight didn't really think his plan through
(10:22:20) Billy: attacking the U.S. after a crazy Candyman--er, General Juma takes the president hostage
(10:22:32) Billy: might not be the best time to accomplish your goal
(10:22:46) Jim: It's rather convenient that Juma and his laptop wielding buddy control the only means of interior or external communication in the White House. Which hopefully for Voight cannot be traced
(10:23:19) Billy: My favorite line of the night: "Get me a secure channel!"
(10:23:51) Billy: Oh Juma, this is 24, not Star Trek....
(10:24:58) Jim: and apparently the writers are so dedicated to hammering the Torture is Right/Wrong debate into every instance of the show, Senator Red Foreman needs to debate it with Bill while they are being held hostage.
(10:25:01) Jim: That was nice.
(10:25:42) Jim: I'd be satisfied if they could limit the ends justify the means debate to just three conversations per show.
(10:25:51) Billy: The whole "You won't face the evil by torturing it, cause you're a big sissy" diatribe by Bauer was SUPER obnoxious
(10:26:29) Billy: Guys, you are on the precipice of losing the liberals
(10:26:35) Jim: I would absolutely love for Jack to torture the wrong person just ONCE like his buddy Robert Carlyle did. The idea that on the show just ONCE the ends didn't justify the means.
(10:26:41) Billy: especially when you sound like Rush Limbaugh
(10:27:59) Billy: Jack giving Bill the stink eye about him not wanting to torture someone was really funny.
(10:28:10) Billy: because...look where you are Jack!
(10:28:27) Billy: Behind prison bars. Torturing that guy worked out SO well.
(10:28:58) Jim: and Jack's trying to coerse him to do it with someone else in the room!
(10:29:19) Jim: What's Bill supposed to say, "That's a very good point actually, pal."
(10:29:41) Jim: so who has the best odds of surviving the crisis? Jack leads the way at about 1,000,000-1 and Jum's men on the opposite end of 1-50,000,000 against. Who will live? Who will die?
(10:30:12) Billy: I don't know
(10:30:17) Jim: they've introduced the VP, so even Taylor is on the table
(10:30:18) Billy: I think Bill is dead.
(10:30:30) Billy: The VP is a no-name
(10:30:39) Billy: so I don't think Taylor is dead
(10:31:03) Billy: Maybe they will continue to shock us by NOT killing anyone
(10:32:05) Billy: Last night felt SO long
(10:32:25) Billy: Two of the most boring ridiculous hours of my life
(10:32:40) Jim: I say Aaron buys it. My hierarchy of survival is: Jack, Taylor, Renee, Taylor's Daughter, Bill, Senator Red Foreman, Moss, Juma, Aaron, the rest of Juma's men
(10:33:16) Billy: I could honestly stop watching this show right now and not care enough to find out what happens next.
(10:33:29) Jim: Maybe I could, but I won't
(10:33:34) Billy: I won't
(10:33:36) Billy: I know
(10:33:46) Billy: I'm too much of a 24 whore
(10:33:57) Billy: but I really wish the fan phone was still working
(10:34:02) Jim: despite all our just criticism, someday this season will be on sale on DVD for $15-20 and we'll buy it
(10:34:55) Billy: I feel slightly upset that I spoke to Jon Cassar[Executive Producer and Director] in season 4.
(10:35:18) Jim: yeah, now is time we feel the need to get in touch with them
(10:35:22) Billy: cause I would have given him an ear full
(10:35:26) Billy: this season
(10:37:40) Jim: at least Jack and Renee might be back on track... I think you might at least get a happy ending there. The fact that the writers felt the need to have Moss remind her that POTUS was the priority and not Jack feels like leading by the hand to that eventual point of joy.
(10:38:07) Billy: Why did they break into the white house....oh my lord. Why couldn't the Prez been at division or FBI headquarters. Anywhere but the white house. Totally killed the whole night for me. So that one sewer is the key?
(10:38:23) Billy: Yes. Renee and Jack.
(10:38:40) Billy: Except that Jack has been such a massive dickhole this season
(10:38:56) Billy: Giving him a happy ending just doesn't seem right.
(10:39:47) Jim: it isn't Jack fault. they've had every random person under the sun debate interrogation methods with him is a big part of that. I have expect him to stop at a hot dog vendor that asks, "So Chinese water torture... your thoughts?"
(10:40:02) Billy: Wait. You’re the hot dog vendor?
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Friday, February 27, 2009
Fillin' Gaps. Get Your Mind Out Of The Gutter!
Lost: The Life and Death of Jeremy BenthamSeason 5, Episode 7
It's a testament to the terrific pace of this season thus far that a slow episode such as this one doesn't completely derail my enjoyment of Lost.Yes, Lost Fanboys are pathetically proclaiming EVERY new episode of this season as the best yet and while it's not as lame as it was during season 2 ("Dave" was a worthless episode, deal with it) it's starting to make me abhor the fandom of this brilliant show.
Yes. I called Lost brilliant and I still didn't care for this episode. It wasn't because it was a BAD episode. Far from it. Terry O'Quinn was terrific. It was just...well, why did we waste an entire episode showing Locke visiting the Oceanic 6? We knew how those meetings went, we knew how it affected Jack. The bulk of the episode was dedicated to showing up the story gaps that we could already piece together from the last season and a half of the show.
The major issue I have with the episode and truthfully it's a small quibble, is that now 90% of the people who left the island have now returned. It's sort of like what "Battlestar Galactica" did when the fleet made it to Earth with ten episodes to go in the final season. Where are they headed? Who knows. I'll give the Cuse and Lindelof a free pass for now, I have to see where this is headed.
So what did we learn? Not a whole lot, but what was revealed was highly intriguing. Firstly, the frozen donkey wheel apparently shoots everyone out of John Malkovich's head onto the New Jersey Turnpike...wait, wrong story. Actually the frozen donkey wheel apparently always drops it's users in Tunisia. Charlotte found a Dharma polar bear skeleton in the Tunisian desert, so yeah. Somehow a polar bear used the donkey wheel. Good to know.
Charles Widmore apparently knows where the wheel deposits it's users and has set up surveillance of the area. It does, however, beg the question of why Chuckles didn't have those camera's a few years ago when Ben first left the island...hmmm. Charles has his men pick up Locke when he appears and they fix up his broken leg. Our first big shocker of the evening comes when Charles informs Locke that he actually wants to help him get the Oceanic 6 back to the island. Apparently Ben tricked Widmore into leaving the island where he was the leader of The Others. Widmore's motives are not entirely lucid, much like Ben we are left wondering if he's the good guy or the bad guy of the story. If Locke wasn't such a sucker, I'd be inclined to say that he's the good guy and everyone else are the baddies.
Matthew Abbadon (played by Lance Reddick who, I am contractually obligated by Jim to mention, was previously seen on "The Wire" and is now serving time on "Fringe," poor soul) gets to play chauffeur for Locke as he takes a fun trip around the world. He doesn't get much to do here 'cept be AWESOME and find people. Find people like...Locke's long lost fiance, Helen. Sadly for Locke (and Helen) she's livin' six under. Shortly thereafter, Ben kills Abbadon. Goodbye, interesting character (who was previously on "The Wire").
And finally we learn how Locke dies. Surprise. It was Ben. Yes, if you had half a brain (I'm talking to you Lost Fanboys!) you surely saw this coming. Locke was about to do the deed until Ben barged in and saved him. But his reason behind the save was merely to squeeze Locke for info (namely his contact, Eloise Hawking, and proof that Jin was still alive) and once that was taken care of...well, so was Locke. Except not quite. Since the Island does that voodoo that it do so well. Seeing Locke alive on the Hydra station island as HIMSELF and not a smoke-monster created golem made for a great plot development.
Does that mean that Christian Sheppard (who died in Australia and had his body deposited on Crap-hole island by the plane crash) is ACTUALLY Christian Sheppard as well? God, I hope so. It would give me "B" in my Lost Plot Theory Bingo game.
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Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Killin' Time With 24
Welcome to "Killin' Time With 24." A weekly morning-after 24 discussion hosted by your faithful That's A Wrap editors, Billy and Jim.Every Tuesday morning we get together to discuss the previous evening's episode of 24. What we liked, disliked and where we would like to see the series go while avoiding any real work. It's like a virtual coffee break.
Sit back and let us do the complaining for you.
Also don't forget to check out the first regular episode of the That's A Wrap Podcast
24: 4:00P.M.-5:00P.M.
Season 7 Episode 9
(10:15:08) Billy: such excitement!
(10:15:28) Jim: well, not how I'd phrase it
(10:15:42) Billy: No, not at all.
(10:15:51) Jim: a time killer episode
(10:15:57) Jim: built around the mole fake out
(10:16:18) Billy: I'd like to refer back to the first one of these talks we did where I called this 24: Greatest Hits
(10:16:26) Jim: this shit's like battlestar - it's all happened before and will all happen again" only, you know... not as good.
(10:16:33) Billy: because we've done this before
(10:16:37) Billy: RIGHT!
(10:17:32) Billy: How long before Dubaku's girl shivs him?
(10:18:02) Billy: I'm seriously waiting for Jack to turn to Renee and ask her if she's ever had deja vu.
(10:18:27) Jim: I never did trust that guy from Entourage... he was a dick on that show too
(10:18:38) Jim: never trust characters played by people that only play dicks
(10:18:59) Billy: never trust characters with slicked back hair!
(10:20:03) Billy: I just wish for once that the mole was someone we DIDN'T know
(10:20:15) Billy: How many goddamn moles can there be?!
(10:20:40) Billy: Back in season 3 it was cute to joke about the number of moles, now it's pathetic.
(10:21:51) Jim: well, we were being set-up for this since the main goal of the season has always been finding the moles
(10:22:15) Jim: but you are right, not a good idea to revolve virtually the entire plot of the season around your most laughable cliche
(10:23:11) Billy: Sure, high level moles, not slicked back hair moles in our SMALL inner circle, and by the way, having a combination lock on you desk drawer SHOULD be a huge clue to who the mole is.
(10:25:58) Billy: It was nice to see some familiar faces from the past(though Aaron Pierce being in DC on this particular day is a stretch, since we last saw him living with Martha Logan in L.A!)
(10:26:49) Billy: Seeing Morris was cool, but the kid...Prescott? Really? Palmer's VP was Jim Prescott...maybe he's named after him for some odd reason.
(10:27:09) Jim: wow, i did not catch that
(10:27:58) Jim: yeah, when aaron piece showed up Nick raised his hand for a high five and I literally ignored him and went "Ugh."
(10:28:20) Jim: we do not need to repeat the mistakes of previous years by bringing everyBODY back in completely unnecessary ways
(10:28:28) Billy: I LIKE Pierce...but this stretches credibility
(10:29:13) Billy: Plus, I particularly loved how the President's daughter knew that Pierce was retired from active duty just from his name...
(10:29:27) Jim: she mentioned "his credentials"
(10:30:43) Jim: but yeah, just happened to be in dc... how nice. See in the last couple years He started in LA caring for the mentally unbalanced former first lady, then on Friday Night Lights he ehlped his son torch the family station wagon to cover up a murder, now in DC... I wonder what other adventures he had crossing this great nation of ours?
(10:31:48) Billy: Well, he did get attacked by the Decepticons a few years back at a military base.
(10:31:55) Billy: The dude has been around.
(10:35:10) Billy: I'm begging the writers to quit with the emo-Renee crap.
(10:35:40) Billy: Everytime she looks in a mirror or talks to HeadFBIGuy she gets all sullen
(10:36:22) Jim: Yeah, the why, oh why am I doing this angle is really grinding my last nerve
(10:37:16) Billy: We get it, you hate what you've become. just follow Homer Simpson's advice "Just squeeze your rage into a bitter little ball, and release it at an appropriate time. Like that day I hit the Referee with the whiskey bottle. Remember that?"
(10:37:32) Jim: since none of the actors really sell it, it's all the more worse... what part of escapist entertainment don't you get, people? We knew back in year two in reality we would never support a government agent doing most of what Jack does... but IT. IS. FICTIONAL.
(10:41:37) Billy: Well, I don't mind the creators trying to imbue a little leftist morality into what is essentially a conservative wet dream
(10:41:51) Billy: I just can't stand how it's being handled
(10:42:09) Billy: especially since I want Renee and Bauer to end up together
(10:42:29) Jim: Yeah, I can't stad it being presented through the same four or five lines repeated ad nauseum by every character and Renee looking heartbroken
(10:42:56) Billy: right
(10:43:22) Billy: Was last night the eighth episode of the season?
(10:43:48) Billy: I'm wondering when we are finished with the pre-strike episodes.
(10:44:29) Jim: I thought it was last week or this.
(10:44:30) Billy: My hope is that the season picks up with the post strike episodes, but if THIS was a post strike episode...eep.
(10:45:29) Jim: Yeah, not a good sign... hopefully this one was pre-strike... because if this is the level of the remainder of the season, they are pushing me away from this show with everything they got
(10:46:06) Billy: Agreed, I turned to Melissa after the totally obvious mole reveal and said I was done.
(10:46:36) Billy: Of course, I'm like an abuse victim
(10:46:39) Jim: That's a bit reactionary. I mean you're still going to watch it every week.
(10:46:42) Billy: always coming back for more
(10:47:12) Billy: But, I'm to the point where I probably won't buy this season on DVD
(10:47:17) Jim: Yeah, I've really felt that way the last couple weeks on Mondays with 24 and Heroes... How I Met Your Mother really needs to hurry back into my life
(10:47:44) Billy: or at least not until its super cheap...like $15, like season 6 was when I bought it.
(10:48:02) Billy: Certainly not ponying up for Blu-Ray.
(10:48:43) Billy: Though between the two shows you mentioned, 24 is way more tolerable.
(10:51:13) Jim: True, but it fell from a loftier position
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Friday, February 6, 2009
I Don't Really Care About Those Six, Get ME Back to the Island!
Lost: The Little PrinceSeason 5: Episode 4
Lost continues the season long arc that sees our main cast members split up into two groups. We have the Oceanic 6 (plus Ben and Desmond) who have left the island trying to return to "crap-hole island," and the survivors still on the island who are flashing through time.This weeks episode focused mostly on the plight of Kate and like every other Kate-centric episode, I really couldn't care less about her story.
Spoilers after the jump.
There's not much to say about the story off the island. Desmond and Penny aren't seen this week, Hurley is in county lock up(in the snappiest orange jumpsuit) and is only seen for a few moments. Jack has brought Sayid back from the brink of death following his being tranquilized in the past episode.
Kate is still on the run...again...this time from the evil lawyer who wants a blood sample from Aaron. For some reason Aaron annoys the hell out of me. I know he's just a little kid, but hearing "mommy!" every five minutes is just about as obnoxious as hearing his mother screech "My BAY-BEE!"
Sayid is attacked by someone carrying Kate's address in his wallet, so Jack goes to find her. She's actually stalking the lawyer. Long story short, Ben hired the lawyer to scare Kate. The last thing we see from the mainlanders is the entire group at the marina(sans Hurley, of course), Sun has a gun. Things will not be pretty.
Back on the Island, however, things are moving. Through time! Zing! Charlotte's cliffhanger nosebleed-blackout clears up just long enough to get the group moving again. But, what's this? Miles has a nosebleed now? Faraday raises the possibility that the onset of the nosebleed indicates the length of time spent on the island. So, is Miles Dharma video guru Dr. Chang(or Wickmund,Candle or whichever alias you like)'s son?
Locke theorizes that the flashes through time are happening because the Oceanic 6 left, and that if he can go to the Orchid he can leave the island and bring them back. The plan is typical Locke bullish nonsense, we can presume that the island being unstuck in time is a result of Ben using the frozen donkey wheel at the end of season four. So what difference does it make if the Oceanic 6 come back?
On the way towards the Orchid the group flashes back to the night Claire gave birth to Aaron. They see the Hatch light(Locke suddenly goes all Doc Brown on us and wants to avoid bumping into himself) and Sawyer gets to see Kate assist Claire with the delivery.
Along the way, the group flashes into what is presumably the future, the camp is trashed and row boats sit on the beach. Water bottles from an Ajira Airlines are in the boats. Not wasting any time, the group snatches a boat and heads towards the Orchid. Of course, nothing is so simple, the "other Others" give pursuit and begin shooting at the boat. By virtue of another time shift the group escapes. The big question here is who is this new faction, will we see them at some point this season or next?
The group lands the boat on shore where they find wreckage...from a French vessel. Methinks they have landed back in 1988. But of course they have! The next thing we see is a group in a life boat picking up a castaway in the water. Who are the life boat people? Who is the adrift castaway? Well, the answer to both questions is fairly simple and totally bad ass. The castaway is a totally not-dead Jin, and the lifeboat folks? Danielle Rousseau's science team. Yes, we get to meet a VERY pregnant Danielle Rousseau when she first arrived on the island.
Some final thoughts:
- No flashback for the long-dead Danielle, but it looks like we'll get to see what happened to her group after all(I hope!).
- Why does Locke want JUST the Oceanic 6 back? We know that he visited Walt before he died, so why don't they want him back on the island. Why not Desmond for that matter?
- Who were the Ajira airline people? Some internet folks are predicting that the Oceanic 6 take Ajira airlines back to the island. I don't know about that since they are all meeting at a pier, I assume they are boating back to the island.
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Thursday, January 29, 2009
Everything Right Is Wrong Again, But Damn Does It Feel Right
LOST: JugheadSeason 5 Episode 3
Everything right is wrong again
Every movement false, every four is waltz again
Every five and dime's been gained and spent
Tell me that you like my float upstream
Draw the line dividing laugh and scream
You know everything that I know so I know
You've heard the voice that makes the silent noise
That says that
Everything that's right is wrong again
~They Might Be Giants
Spoilers for last night's Lost after the jump.
I've had a love-hate relationship with Lost ever since the season one reveal of 'The Hatch.' I loved the first eight episodes of the series but when show co-creator JJ Abrams left to direct Mission Impossible 3, I felt the brakes were applied to the story and the characters became obnoxious twits.
Flash forward (no pun intended) to the end of season 3 where the producers revealed that at least some of the castaways had, at some point in the future, gotten off the island. This reveal reinvigorated the series for me, but Lost, for me, is always at it's best when it's pushing a science fiction story and from season 3 onward the series has had some interesting tales to tell with time travel.
Before season 5 the time travel was only slightly used but now with the island (or rather the castaways) being "unstuck" in time Lost is no longer merely skirting the science fiction genre. No, now Lost is diving head first into the deep end of the science fiction swimming pool
Time travel is always a tough literary technique to get a grasp on but thankfully Executive Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have saved the show from becoming a mess of time paradoxes like other television shows that use the conceit(cough cough Heroes) by essentially saying that time is a closed circuit and that anything that is, was, or will happen cannot be changed...mostly. The one caveat to the closed circuit time-line is the relationship between previously unstuck Desmond Hume and Physicist Daniel Faraday, who can apparently slightly alter their path's because of previously meeting while Desmond was traveling into the past.
This season thus far has been all about the 815 survivors still on the island moving willy-nilly from time period to time period, and the Oceanic 6 having their own off island adventures. The show seems to have completely shucked they flashback/flashforward template that it used for it's first four seasons. This change is a great move for the series, I was at once elated and intimidated by this new order. For the first time in years I actually feel nervous about the fates of particular characters. The island has been particularly fun with Locke running into a veritable who's who and what's what of the island's past(seeing both the drug smuggler plane crash and being shot by long dead Ethan) before meeting up with Richard Alpert. Alpert, of course, realizes what's going on an gives Locke a compass(the same compass he used in the test on young Locke in the episode "Cabin Fever") to use as proof that they have met before or will meet later, rather.
Everything is terribly complicated this season, way more complicated than the show has been in the past. The thing is, it's also way more compelling that Lost has ever been before. I couldn't help but think of the They Might Be Giants song 'Everything Right Is Wrong Again' while watching this episode. Things are happening out of order, people are telling other people about meetings that haven't happened for us to witness. It's a great way to subvert our expectations for the rest of the season.
For the first time in many years, I am extremely positive about the direction a Lost season is taking and that makes me feel a confidence for the series' end game that I've never had before.
Some random thoughts:
- Desmond and Penny have kid and he's named after Charlie! Nice reference since Charlie sacked himself to speak to Penny in season 3.
- Is the busted H-Bomb, Jughead, still somewhere on the island?
- Charles Widmore was an Other? Guess this conflict between Ben and Chuckles really has been going on for longer than Desmond can imagine.
- Is Ellie the Other a younger version of Eloise Hawking from The Lie and Flashes Before Your Eyes?
- And more importantly is SHE Faraday's mother?
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