Category: TV Action (Page 124 of 145)

Rome: “These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero”

January 29, 2007 /

I was wondering about last week’s long, drawn out shot of the slaves in Octavian’s caravan, but that turned out to be Lucius’ children, who are actually alive. They weren’t on screen much prior to that, which is why I didn’t recognize them. Lucius is floundering right now, but expect that news to get him back on track. It’s tough to see his friendship with Titus in such bad shape, but he’s just lashing out at everyone who loves him, and at this point, Titus is the only person that falls into that category.

Duro – the slave boy trying to assassinate Atia – turned out to be working for Servilia. On that subject, what’s with all the man rape? This week we saw Duro and his boss, heard about some child prostitution and saw another rape that starts a gang war. I can only take so much of that.

Cicero sure got the last (cowardly) laugh on Mark Antony, though I wonder if that’s where the saying, “don’t shoot the messenger” comes from. The series jumped forward three months and Antony has fled the city (with Lucius). Now, he prepares for a war with Octavian, but my guess is that neither man’s blood will be shed.

Speaking of Antony, he had a couple of great lines when he met Atia in the bathroom. When he arrived, he said, “Uh-oh, wine in the bath. This can’t be good.” When she questioned his tardiness, he quipped, “Revise your expectations and I will always be early.”

I’m going to try that line on my wife next time I’m late getting home!

External TV, Rome, TV Action, TV Dramas

Heroes, Week 12: Back in the Saddle Again

January 23, 2007 /

Maybe it’s just because I’ve had a lot going on in my life for the past month or so, but it really seems like forever since the last new episode of “Heroes” aired; I almost feel like this should be the second season rather than just a continuation of the first. Wisely, the producers of the show made the decision to let a certain amount of time pass on the show as well…two weeks, to be precise.

Peter spends most of this episode in the hospital, where he’s been since almost immediately after his collapse at the end of Week 11, with his mother, his brother, and the object of his affection – that’d be Simone – variously standing by his bedside. He’s being barraged with reruns of the vision he had in episode 11, which eventually lead him to awaken, scream like a fucking banshee, then sneak out and decide that he needs to leave town for the sake of New York. (I laughed when he mused, “So they did the nuclear testing in Nevada, right?”) Before he can skip, however, he runs across a strange man – played by the 9th Doctor Who, Christopher Eccleston – who possesses the power of invisibility as well as some possible mental problems.

Niki and Jessica are now battling each other constantly, to the point where they bounce back and forth. It’s solid acting by Ali Larter as she flips from one personality to the other – her freak-out when she can’t hug Micah is particularly fantastic – and it’s disconcerting enough just for me as a viewer that it was a given that she’d end up in a psych ward. Presumably she’ll sneak out quickly…but in the meantime, at least she got in that kick-ass episode-closer of a line. Meanwhile, D.L. apparently owes Mr. Linderman a favor despite having returned his money, which you know he’ll call in soon. I’m not ecstatic about the newly-minted subplot of Micah having problems at school, however; it seems like maybe they’re stretching things too thin.

Claire seems to be successfully pulling one over on her father, keeping him convinced that she did indeed have her memories wiped by Brother Voodoo. It seems risky for her to be meeting with BV on a regular basis…but not as risky, mind you, as her trying to rekindle her friendship with Zack. (Brother Voodoo does confirm, alas, that he cannot return the memories of those he’s wiped.)

So Sylar didn’t manage to escape after slaying Eve. We don’t get much of an impression that he’s capable of any sudden moves…but count on him making a major comeback much sooner than later.

Matt’s battle with Claire’s dad is really escalating, to the point where his association with the FBI is pretty much dead in the water. If he’s going to continue his obsession, it’s going to go badly, I feel certain…unless, that is, Brother Voodoo decides that it might be worth his while to bring Matt into his confidence. On a confidence-related note, surely it’s gonna bite Matt in the ass that he’s told his wife of his mind-reading abilities.

Hiro finally gets to meet the dinosaur while holding his sword aloft…except the dinosaur is in a museum, and the sword is a fake…but just when you think it’s gonna be a complete anticlimax, we get the reveal that the actual sword is in the possession of the elusive Mr. Linderman. It’s an interesting development that Hiro’s powers have declined dramatically over the past two weeks; the big question is, will the sword really assist him in getting back to full strength…? The conversation Hiro has with Nathan is hilarious, particularly the bit where Hiro can’t pronounce “villain” properly.

And the tension between Mohinder and Claire’s dad is palpable. I’m hoping we get more from Monider in the coming weeks; it feels like most of his appearances lately have been really short.

My last observation is that the segment with the new hero – the bit that was used as a tease to get people to watch the episode of “Deal or No Deal” that aired immediately before “Heroes” – felt tacked on. I mean, I’m curious about this chick, ’cause her powers are definitely cool, but it seemed like NBC demanded that the producers give them something for that teaser segment and they said, “Well, we don’t want to give away any of the ongoing plot points, so here’s a fresh one that people won’t really care about.”

But that’s just a minor annoyance. Overall, it was a damned fine return, “Heroes.” It’s good to have Must-See Mondays back.

External Entertainment, External TV, Heroes, TV, TV Action

Prison Break: “John Doe”

January 23, 2007 /

“Prison Break” is back from break and this episode picked up where we left off last year, with Agent Evil helping the brothers escape almost certain death at the hands of Agent Mahone. AE left Mahone for dead (bad idea!) and he and the brothers jetted up to Montana to pay a visit to the President’s brother.

Once they had Terrance in custody, AE went on some long spiel about how Terrance couldn’t be identified as himself, something about his cheekbones being raised and his ear lobes being lowered. He also talked about his DNA, and how that wouldn’t help, but I don’t see how DNA samples from the President and Terrance wouldn’t be able to prove that the two are related. AE is good, but he isn’t that good.

Anyway, Terrance conveniently gets the drop on the trio by stealing a gun that was conveniently tucked into the back of Lincoln’s jeans. Then he shoots himself in the head. I suppose the fact that his brains splattered over a painting he was admiring moments earlier was supposed to be poetic, but this is “Prison Break.” We are way past poetic.

So the guys are on the run again and it’s not clear what their next move will be. We did find out that AE had a long-standing crush on the President, and even asked her to marry him. That’s an interesting and unexpected twist that should pay off somewhere down the line.

Meanwhile, Mahone has flipped out…and I love it! It would have been pretty lame if he had responded to the attack on his son by “getting back to work.” But it looks like he’s hell bent on tracking down Mr. Kim, and possibly taking down the President. I like how the show has turned all of these relationships on their heads. It has made for some very strange bedfellows.

Of the other three storylines – Bellick, C-Note and T-Bag – Bellick’s is the most interesting. It’s fun to watch the former prison guard fend for himself in lockup, which is just another example of the shifting paradigms of the show. C-Note spent the whole episode on the phone and, now that his wife is in the system, it looks like he may go to Alaska to work in a fishery (huh?). (Putting his homey’s legal advice aside, I don’t see how a prosecutor wouldn’t waive the charges on Kacee if C-Note agreed to turn himself in. That’s just silly.) Meanwhile, T-Bag has lost his mind. He could take the money and retire to a sleepy beach town somewhere, but instead he decides to take his old family hostage, meaning that it shouldn’t be long before the $5 M is once again in play.

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

“24,” Hour 5: O brother, where art thou

January 23, 2007 /

Now that, I did not see coming. Gray, last season’s Bluetoothed leader of the Overseers, is none other than Graham Bauer. I turned my head doglike when I heard Jack mention a brother, and within a matter of seconds, they do the Big Reveal. Brother hates brother! Son hates father! Brother had a fling with brother’s wife before being betrothed (more on that later)! It’s like “24” has suddenly turned into “Rome.”

The general storyline didn’t move much – the President deals with the aftermath of the bomb, while southern Californians run for their lives – but some pretty colors have replaced the shades of gray. The tastefully coiffed Hamir Al-Assad gave CTU the name of a Russian contact named Gradenko (while Police fans everywhere laughed out loud), and a cursory search of Gradenko’s call history pulled up none other than Jack’s father who, we discover, hasn’t spoken to his son in over nine years. Well, he hasn’t spoken to Jack, anyway. Whether he’s in direct contact with Gray has yet to be determined. Meanwhile, Abel pays a visit to Cain for info about their father, exchanges a longing look with Heidi Petrelli (yep, that’s Rena Sofer playing Gray’s wife)…and then ties his brother up in a chair in order to “extract” information from him. I don’t remember the exact exchange, but it was something like:

Jack: Don’t make me hurt you.
Gray: You’re already hurting me.
Jack: Trust me, I’m not.

Sweeeet.

Meanwhile, over at the local Minority Round-Up, Sandra Palmer’s boyfriend Walid is coerced into cooperating with the authorities (i.e. wear a two-way transmitter) after a tip he provided to the Feds revealed that there were four other suitcase nukes. The Feds do a good dog and pony show in order to give Walid some street cred, beating him up in the bathroom (and giving him the transmitter at the same time), and Walid bravely chats up one of the men he suspects has terrorist ties. Walid goes fishing for links to Fayed, but the man doesn’t bite. Still, the man welcomes Walid to meet the other men in his group, men who don’t trust Walid at all. The whole setup screams “dead informant.”

Which is why I think Walid knows more than he’s letting on.

The scene where Walid is talking with the man who calls him brother (IMDb isn’t giving up his name yet) is shot very carefully. They show you Walid talking to the man, and they show the man answering Walid’s questions, and they show you the security feed that’s taping them. But they never show the two men in the same shot. Walid tells the man, rather convincingly for a reluctant stool pigeon, that the Feds found Fayed’s name in his wallet, and asks if he knows who Fayed is. The man says no, but still invites him to meet the others. What Walid just did is a dead giveaway that he’s a mole, which is why I think there was some non-verbal communication between Walid and the man that we, and the security cameras, didn’t see. Ten bucks says he mouthed the word “No” to the man after he asks about Fayed. The man takes the cue, and brings Walid into the group, knowing that they can blow so much smoke in the Feds’ faces through Walid’s transmitter that the government won’t have a chance to find the bombs before it’s too late. (The one pushy Fed chortles about how it usually takes weeks to get an informant into a situation like that. Methinks that’s about to bite him in the ass.) As an added bonus, this makes for two great subplots. Sandra Palmer spends the whole show defending her boyfriend’s innocence only to discover that he’s guilty, and Wayne has to deal with the fallout of his sister’s lack of judgment, much like David Palmer had to deal with the evil machinations of Lady MacBeth when she denied that elderly politician his meds and he subsequently died.

Let’s get back to Gray’s family for a second. Is there anyone who doesn’t think that Josh Bauer is Jack’s son and not Gray’s? That would certainly explain the bad blood between the two brothers and the awkward conversation between Jack and Josh, not to mention Heidi Petrelli’s frosty but heated look at Jack. I remember a shot from the pre-season clips that showed Jack embracing a brunette. Mystery solved. The show is getting back on track. Whew.

Oh, and IMDb accidentally revealed that Old Yeller is slated to return next week. Good dog. (Actually, they have him listed for tonight’s show, too. Did anyone see him?)

24, External TV, TV, TV Action

Battlestar Galactica: “Rapture”

January 22, 2007 /

“Battlestar Galactica” is back with nine new episodes. I like the fact that they plan to show them consecutively, while only taking off one week for the Super Bowl.

This episode picked up right where they left off last year, with the tense standoff between Adama (with his nukes) and the Cylons (and their Raiders). This is what I would call a “versus” episode, with lots of one-on-one conflicts throughout the show.

Dee vs. Starbuck

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who found it hugely ironic that Lee ordered his wife to risk her life in trying to save his mistress. Dee’s interaction with Starbuck was terrific, right down to that slap when Starbuck was starting to get punchy from the drugs. Once they got back to the ship, it was nice to see Lee embrace Dee (wow, it just occurred to me, “Lee and Dee”) in the hanger. Lee needs to cut all romantic ties with Starbuck. She’s a complete mess.

Sam vs. Lee

Most of this conflict happened in the previous episode, and for the most part, Sam and Lee worked as a team to fight the Cylons. I don’t know what it is, but my skin crawls when those toasters appear on screen. I think the creators have done a terrific job of painting them as killing machines, and have used them judiciously, so that they keep their impact.

Helo vs. Roslin

How great of a moment was it when Helo slowly walked towards Roslin, blaming her for their current situation? There were no guards around, and this is a guy that just shot his wife. All Adama has to do is put his hand out and Helo (pretty much) stops. That was a powerful scene.

Boomer vs. Athena

I wasn’t expecting Boomer to flip out like that, but I guess that’s what a few weeks with a crying baby will do to you. Caprica’s decision to help Athena and Hera escape threw me for a loop. Now she and Baltar are on Galactica…this should be interesting.

Biers vs. Baltar

So who is the Chosen One? Biers? Baltar? The Chief? Biers was the one who saw the five Cylon faces, but she only recognized one. What clues can we garner from what she said? “You. Forgive me. I had no idea.” Obviously, she was apologizing to someone she felt she had wronged…so who would that be? She’s had limited interaction with the humans. It’s doubtful that it was Baltar, because she seemed genuinely surprised, and Baltar had been blathering on and on about being a Cylon. Though, when she touched the Cylon’s hand, she ended up holding Baltar’s.

One thing’s for sure, the fact that she recognized a face means that we’re in for at least one more huge surprise before the series ends.

Battlestar Galactica, External TV, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

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