Category: TV Action (Page 119 of 145)

Prison Break: “Sweet Caroline”

Man, this might just be the best episode of the season!

We finally got to hear what was on that tape.

WARNING: If you haven’t watched it yet, don’t read any further.

Go on, click another link.

Seriously, you don’t want ruin the surprise.

I mean it. Read anywhere else but down.

Gone? Good.

President Reynolds had sex with her brother!

Incest! The ultimate twist!

Holy smokes, I didn’t see that one coming. It wasn’t a surprise – it was a shocker. It was even more effective because it was part of a great scene with Michael, Mr. Kim and the President. It’s not often these three intermingle, and their back and forth made the reveal that much more intense. When Kim swooped in at the last second and told Caroline that he too knew her secrets, it sent the series off in a completely different direction.

On a side note, I was wondering why Lincoln’s buddy brought him a six pack. But when Reynolds resigned, and Linc screamed and threw the bottle against the wall, I had my answer.

As I suspected, C-Note survived his suicide attempt, which really isn’t that surprising considering he tried to hang himself in the middle of the day with the guards milling about. His storyline has shifted now that the other agent is trying to nail Mahone.

Speaking of Mahone – he is truly brilliant. I love the whole I’m-so-strung-out-on-tranquilizers act, which led to Sarah’s fake escape. I thought it was pretty silly that she didn’t mention the Mahone encounter to Michael when the two spoke on the phone, but she did just learn about the pardons, so maybe her mind was elsewhere.

Did T-Bag leave his brain in Alabama? Instead of just hiding out and waiting for Bellick to grab his bag and leave, T-Bag infiltrates the baggage area and gets into a fistfight with an airport employee. Seriously, all he had to do was go to the bathroom and drop a deuce and he’d be able to pick up his five million with no problem. However, from a plot perspective, it’s understandable. The money had to be put back into play, but I just hate it when smart characters do dumb things. The writers came up with that awesome incest twist, but couldn’t figure out a better way for T-Bag to lose his bag?

Anyway, Sucre and Bellick are going to go after the money, but they don’t know what name T-Bag was flying under or what the bag looks like, so they’ll run into a problem at the airport. Of course, Sucre can’t be seen there, so Bellick will be flying solo, so to speak.

Finally, does anyone have any idea why Scary Corporate Guy would have a file folder labeled “SONA”? What the hell does that mean?

Battlestar Galactica: “Maelstrom”

A maelstrom is defined as “a large, powerful or violent whirlpool” and also as “a restless, disordered, or tumultuous state of affairs.” Both definitions are appropriate for this intense episode, which gave us a reprieve from the rather mundane day-to-day stories we’ve endured the last few weeks.

In many ways, this is Starbuck’s signature episode. Katee Sackhoff’s acting was terrific throughout, from the pressure-packed cockpit scenes to the emotional moments with her dead mother. Jamie Bamber (as Lee) provided great support, especially in the scene in the hanger where the duo talked about the state of their relationship(s). And, once again, Edward James Olmos’ considerable acting chops were on display as he mourned his surrogate daughter’s death.

But back to the story: Leoben said something interesting when he first brought her back to see her mother – “All of this has happened before and will happen again.” This destiny-filled, cyclical thinking has been mentioned before (by Roslin) and it will be interesting to see how it is used as the series progresses.

So is Starbuck really dead?

I doubt it. She had her hand on the eject handle, so she could have launched herself into the atmosphere.

Or maybe she’s a Cylon and she’s going to wake up, reborn, on a resurrection ship.

Whatever happens, she did commit suicide, which falls in line with her mother’s opinion of her…that she’s a quitter.

Destiny is a bitch, isn’t it?

Rome: “Death Mask”

One of the very first scenes this week set the tone for the entire episode. During Jocasta’s wedding, while Antony winks at a not-that-attractive slave girl, Atia mentions to him that she’d like to get married. The point? Men and women are rarely on the same page.

Even though she’s an insufferable bitch, I actually felt sorry for Atia this week. First, Servilia lays the mother of all curses on her before committing suicide in front of her house. The real Servilia died of natural causes, but like Antony said, the fictional Servilia knows how to make an exit. Then Octavian arranges for his sister, not Atia, to marry Antony as a show of goodwill to the people of Rome. This, of course, does not sit well with Atia or Octavia. While in bed with his new wife, Antony had a great line that pretty much sums up the situation – “This is strange, isn’t it?”

Even with the marriage, it’s clear that the conflict between Octavian and Antony isn’t resolved.

Meanwhile, Eirene’s run in with Gaia led to a great scene between Titus and the slave girl. It seems that the temptress Gaia is looking to climb the social ladder, and she isn’t afraid to use all of her……um……assets to that end. When she laid the “she’s such a mouse of a woman and you’re such a lion of a man” line on Titus, I knew the big fella was going down. If nothing else, a man has needs and it certainly didn’t help that Eirene decided to withhold sex because the baby started moving. Just like Titus, I almost spit up my drink when Eirene said that he should beat Gaia the same way once a month to keep her in line.

The Timon/Levi storyline ended unceremoniously when Timon stabbed his brother to keep him from trying to assassinate Herod. Other than Timon’s decision to release Servilia, this storyline hasn’t had much of an impact on the show. It will be interesting to see how much of Timon we’ll see now that this thread with his brother has come to a conclusion.

The episode ended with Gaia buying a concoction that presumably causes a miscarriage. Obviously, she intends to use this on Eirene. But what’s her end game? Does she truly want Titus, or does she just want to screw up Eirene’s life?

And how will Vorena’s actions affect Lucius? What will he do when he discovers his daughter’s betrayal?

“The Black Donnellys” is worth a look

Tonight, NBC is showing an encore presentation of the pilot for “The Black Donnellys.” Here’s how the network describes the crime drama:

Meet the Donnelly brothers: Tommy, Jimmy, Kevin and Sean. There is nothing these four Irish brothers wouldn’t do to protect each other, and for them that means lying, cheating, stealing and, occasionally, calling the cops. Narrated by wannabe gangster Joey “Ice Cream,” this gritty series bears witness to the Donnelly brothers’ sudden involvement in organized crime, focusing on how they go from boys to mobsters, and showing how their new life affects their relationships with friends, family and lovers.

Paul Haggis, who wrote “Crash,” “Casino Royale” and “Flags of Our Fathers,” and Bobby Moresco, who produced “Crash” and “Million Dollar Baby,” serve as the show’s executive producers. Haggis also directed the first three episodes.

The pilot is strong. With four brothers around the same age, it was a bit tough at the start figuring out who is who. But by the midpoint of the episode, everything falls into place.

The show is about organized crime, so it’s darker than your normal network fare. It might eventually carry the torch once “The Sopranos” is done for good. Like it’s predecessor, “The Black Donnellys” has a sense of humor. And with Haggis and Moresco on board, the show has a chance.

24, Hour 11: “Hi, my name’s Morris.” “Hi, Morris.” “And my ex-wife is a bloody nutcase.”

Man, I wish I were blogging “Heroes” instead. That show rules. My wife and I always watch that first, and not just because I have to sit down and write the “24” blog after watching each night’s episode. We watch “Heroes” first because we’re emotionally involved in it…and God, how can you not be involved in an episode like the one they showed tonight? Poor Claire. Hasn’t she suffered enough?

Oh, right, CTU. Sigh.

Jack sends Heidi Petrelli and Jack Jack back to CTU, and the first thought I had was, “They’re going to get ambushed.” Man, I hope I’m wrong about that, but this show is all about the ambush (Teri and Kim, Audrey Raines and her father, etc.). Jack and Heidi share a tender moment away from Jack Jack, and Jack tells Heidi, “He reminds me of you.” Afterward, I swear I heard Jack mutter under his breath, “But mostly me.”

There’s a power struggle taking place at CTU, with Nadia becoming highly suspicious of Morris and his binge drinking. That’s an interesting choice for a girl whose rights were recently restricted because of her race, but hey, we’re not ones to judge. Is the fact that Milo gave her his clearance ever going to come back into play? You don’t write something like that into the story without following up on it.

One quick note on Chloe’s obsession with proving Morris’ guilt, however justified it may be: they have to stop with this whole bait-and-switch thing. They set up Morris as guilty from the first frame, only to turn it on Chloe in the end when she bursts into the men’s room to accuse him. That trick is all well and good, but don’t go to the well too often. And by too often, I mean every single opportunity. See my ambush comment above.

The subplot involving President Buck Buck Brawwwwwwk, so far, is a dud. He’s a reformed man, or so he says, and yet he’s fingering a strait-laced Russian as an ‘in’ (an ‘in’ that’s also a convenient, untraceable back door) to Miss Gredenko and the nukes. The fact that the line he quotes in the mirror is also highlighted in his Bible, however, is a sign that there is far greater significance to everything, a la Michael Scofield’s taped message to Sara in “Prison Break.” Is Logan tired of house arrest and his Hussein-style beard, and hopes that the Ruskies will bust him loose? That’s a gutsy move, but then again, they have already set it up so that the US has no sovereign power at the meeting place, which could facilitate Logan’s escape rather well. Wouldn’t he miss his beloved First Lady of Crazy? Or did he have her fed to rabid dogs before he struck his deal? You just never know with that man.

Which brings us to the White House, where all the killing is taking place. Mr. Swank is dumber than he would care to admit, and not because he tried to take out Assad without hurting the President: he’s dumb because forensics will examine the scene and conclude that the man who brought in the tape recorder is the one who made the bomb, and the record will show that that man was brought into the bunker by…Mr. Swank. The Biscuit, meanwhile, is trying to foil the plan by causing a pressure surge on some pipe or other in the seemingly off-the-grid pipe room, and all I could think was him thinking to himself, “Damn…these…stumpy…legs!” The hit man warns him, “You try that again, I’ll kill you.” Pansy. Any contract killer worth his salt would have killed the Biscuit right then and there, and dealt with the consequences later.

The President was badly injured in the blast (curiously, they mentioned nothing about Assad’s condition, even though he was in between the bomb and the President), which appears to be paving the way for Senator Roark to assume control and lock all the coloreds up once and for all. And this all might make for interesting television but…

…why is it that I want Jack Bauer to die?

Kiefer Sutherland himself said two or three seasons ago that no one should be untouchable on this show, not even Jack. I think it’s high time they play that card, since a cat only has nine lives after all. The only problem is that they haven’t set up anyone to take his place, and anyone they could have groomed for the role during the show’s run is now either dead (Curtis) or missing a forearm (Chase Edmunds). Damn, I knew they killed Nina Myers too early.

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