Author: John Paulsen (Page 61 of 79)

The Office: The Diwali

November 3, 2006 /

This episode didn’t move the Pam/Jim storyline forward, but there were several funny lines leading up to and at the Diwali.

Michael: “You know, Stanley, come Kwanzaa time, I’ve got you covered.”
Stanley: “I don’t celebrate Kwanzaa.”
Michael: “Well, you should. It’s really fun.”

Kevin: (about the Indian godess) “She looks like Pam from the neck down.”
Michael: “Pam wishes.”

Michael is the king of awkward, and I had to cover my eyes when he asked his girlfriend to marry him. His proposal became even more absurd when we discovered it was the couple’s ninth date.

I think my favorite line was when Michael and Pam were sitting on the steps and Michael leaned in to kiss her.

Pam: “What are you doing?”
Michael: “What are you doing?”
Pam: “I’m rejecting your kiss.”

The Office, TV, TV Comedies

Prison Break: One step forward…

October 31, 2006 /

This week’s episode was kind of a filler, but the story did move along a bit. LJ and Lincoln were caught by the law, after ditching a perfectly good car to hop on a train, exposing themselves to a bunch of people at the station. Sure, the girl at the rest stop might have been able to describe the make and model of the car, but they would have been much better off stealing another one down the road. However, this boneheaded move was completely in character for both of them. Neither guy has proven to be very sharp, so it is to be expected that they would trip over each other to a certain degree, and Michael will probably have to clean up the mess.

One question: have Lincoln and LJ ever had a conversation about Veronica’s death? That seems like something you might want to talk to your kid about.

I thought the “sundown” in “SUNDOWN/HOT” was the time of the meeting, but it turned out to be the name of a hotel. Sarah is all over this one and apparently has already caught a flight to New Mexico for the meet. She doesn’t know when the meet is, but she knows the location. Meanwhile, Mahone (with some help from Agent Evil) figured out the city, but at this point they have no idea where the meet is. Hopefully Michael picked a big town, but something tells me it’s small enough for random encounters.

But Mahone’s eye isn’t exactly on the ball right now. Michael threw him off when he called the agent from his ex-wife’s cell phone. (By the way, she was played by the lovely and talented Callie Thorne, of “Rescue Me” fame.) The last shot we see is Mahone digging up the dead body. Shouldn’t he be on a flight to New Mexico? Or is he going to let Michael go to keep that skeleton safely in the closet – er – ground?

It appears that T-Bag stashed the money somewhere, which was quite crafty for a guy dumb enough to look up his ex after escaping from prison. I’m sure Bellick will enjoy beating the information out of him. I get the feeling that this money is going to change hands a few times before it’s all said and done.

Finally, I thought C-Note’s storyline was a little iffy this week, but his wife’s line at the reunion was great – “What now?” she says. Exactly. C-Note doesn’t have any money and now he’s got his family on the run. What’s he going to do next? He thinks Sucre has the cash – will he and his crew go after him? Now that would be an interesting road to take.

External TV, Prison Break, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

Battlestar Galactica: “Collaborators”

October 29, 2006 /

At some point someone had to make contact with Gaeta to set things up. How did the resistance know that the dog bowl was the signal? How did they know to look in the drawer for the information? Gaeta could have anonymously contacted someone, but he would have been much better off approaching the Chief on the level so that he had some protection once the occupation was over (or during a resistance attack on the President’s ship while on New Caprica). Once everyone was back on Galactica, I’m surprised it was still such a secret who the leaders of the resistance were – Gaeta needed to seek them out and clear his name. Of course, he didn’t know that there was a circle of six executing people, but still – you’d think he’d want to set the record straight.

Another thing that’s confusing: one of the women from the circle was in the mess hall and it seemed like she overheard Gaeta tell Starbuck about the dog bowl, yet she didn’t say anything to the rest of the circle. Starbuck also failed to mention this important piece of information when she joined the circle, but she isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, so it’s within the realm of her character to neglect such things.

Tigh is losing it. He’s freaking out on the bridge and proclaiming people guilty while barely looking at the evidence. It’s obvious he’s affected by the loss of his wife, but he needs to pull it together. I still think an eye patch would do the trick.

And poor Dr. Baltar, stuck on the Cylon ship. Biers was the first to talk to him and it seemed like she was coming on to him, which was odd. Number Six later laid out some clothes for him, so I’m guessing she decided to let him stay. It will be interesting to see how long he stays with the Cylons. One of the most interesting parts of the series is how Baltar interacts with the humans, but he is going to have a tough time earning their trust again.

Battlestar Galactica, TV Action, TV Dramas

Rikki, please lose that number

October 25, 2006 /

First they skewered Owen Wilson in an open letter to his brother, Luke. Now the guys from Steely Dan (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker) have set their sights on Wes Anderson, writer/director of “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.” Apparently, Steely Dan is a big fan of Anderson’s first film, “Bottle Rocket,” but they feel that his subsequent films have been progressively worse.

These follow-ups have all concerned themselves with the theme we like to call “the enervated family of origin”©, from which springs diverse subplots also largely concerned with the failure to fulfill early promise. Again, each film increasingly relies on eccentric visual detail, period wardrobe, idiosyncratic and overwrought set design, and music supervision that leans heavily on somewhat obscure 60’s “British Invasion” tracks a-jangle with twelve-string guitars, harpsichords and mandolins. The company of players, while excellent, retains pretty much the same tone and function from film to film. Indeed, you must be aware that your career as an auteur is mirrored in the lives of your beloved characters as they struggle in vain to duplicate early glories.

Steely Dan goes on to outline two strategies to “help” Anderson get back on track, providing lyrics to two separate songs that they’ve written for his next project. But before they agree to work with Anderson, there are a few conditions…

Same thing for the mandolins and the twelve-string stuff and the harpsichord, they’re out. You yourself may be partial to those particular instruments. We’re not. Remember, we saw “Tom Jones” in its original theatrical release when we were still in high school, we had to listen to “Walk Away Renee” all through college and we fucking opened for Roger McGuinn in the seventies, so all that “jingle-jangle morning” shit is no big thrill for us, OK?

I find these letters fascinating, not so much for their flowery words or content, but for the simple fact that these guys from Steely Dan actually think that anyone gives a fuck what they think about a movie.

The only explanation I can come up with is that somewhere in this universe, there is a tear in the space/time continuum, which leads to a parallel universe where the guys in Steely Dan are highly respected film critics. And somehow these letters got through…damn wi-fi.

External Movies, Humor, Movies

Prison Break: I must…suspend…disbelief!

October 24, 2006 /

All in all, I thought this was a pretty ridiculous episode. Would a man with one good hand be able to pull a switcheroo with a bag full of money without anyone noticing? What are the chances of a guy getting his foot caught under a log in a stream? Between T-Bag’s unlikely theft of five million dollars – five million! – and Sucre’s ability to bend the laws of physics, the writers are really stretching the limits of reality.

But there were some nice surprises. It turns out I was dead wrong with my prediction that Agent Evil was going to save Sara. Turns out she doesn’t need saving, she just needs some conveniently placed bug spray. She is one tough cookie.

Agent Evil is back to being evil, so all is right in the “Prison Break” world. He’s in cahoots with Agent Mahone, who turns out to be more of a mercenary than an actual FBI agent. Mahone’s instructions are to kill all of the escapees, which certainly raises the ante for this season. When he murdered Tweener in the last episode, I gave up any hope of a Tommy Lee Jones-in-“The Fugitive” vibe, but maybe it’s more interesting this way.

I bought Sucre’s act in the garage and really thought he was going to take off with the money. Of course, when Scofield ran into him in the forest, it was clear it was all an act (even though at first they tried to make it seem like Scofield was going to attack him). That was a nice moment of friendship – that is, until they opened up the bag. Crap, outsmarted by the hick again!

So now T-Bag is a millionaire. He’s so smart, he can steal the money from a genius, but he’s so dumb that he’s going to head back to his ex’s place to confront her. All he has to do is drive to Mexico – buy a bungalow on the beach, ice down some beer in a bucket – and he’s got himself the Corona commercial that everyone wants when they retire. Instead, he’s going to go to the one place anyone would think to look for him. What a joke.

It looks like Lincoln has a few brain cells after all. Setting up the fight to free LJ seems like a playcall from his brother’s playbook. So Agent Evil has lost LJ, which means finding Sara is now doubly important. So far, we have the following code:

RENDEZVOUS/SUNDOWN/HOT/??????????

Where do we go from here?

External TV, Prison Break, TV Action, TV Dramas

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