Category: External TV (Page 393 of 419)

Trapped like an animal

December 10, 2006 / Jason Zingale

Wow. I have to say that I totally didn’t see that coming. Michael killing Bodie, that is, but it definitely helps with keeping Marlo the boss for the time being. It doesn’t really matter how many bodies Lestor finds now, because he only needs one to put Marlo away for good, and it looks like he’s finally going to get the real help he needs with the return of Keema and McNulty to Major Crimes. Of course, Landsman would much rather Lestor stop adding red names to their clearance rate, but now that Chris and Snoop have been picked up by the cops, their luck might finally improve.

The return of McNulty is perhaps the bigger story, since fans have been clamoring for more of Dominic West since his unusual disappearance at the beginning of the season. Word is that he was off shooting the film “300” with Zack Snyder and will be back in full force for the final season. It certainly looks that way, anyhow, especially after finding out that he’s partly responsible for the death of Bodie, who was seen with McNulty by one of Marlo’s men. Of course, they didn’t really know that Bodie had agreed to snitch for McNulty, but their suspicions proved to not only be right, but it also set up Michael’s first kill. Now, Michael has been promoted, and has even been given his own corner to work.

To make matters worse, Marlo looks ready to move in and take control of Prop Joe’s co-op. After the stash was stolen by Omar last week (who then deals it back to Joe), Marlo doesn’t seem to believe the story and asks for a meet with the supplier. I’m not sure if anyone else was expecting this, but I had a sinking feeling that the Greek wasn’t done doing business in the city of Baltimore, and it seems to be true. Paul-Ben Victor is back as the Greek’s right-hand man, and it’ll be interesting to see what position he plays in the eventual downfall of Marlo Stanfield.

And in a twist of fate, it’s Duquan that seems to have hooked up with Michael as a corner boy, selling drugs instead of attending high school. I was almost certain that it would be Randy, since he’s so much like Stringer Bell, but he’s been thrown into a group home where everyone knows he’s a snitch. The future doesn’t look too bright for him. Then again, when has the future ever looked bright on “The Wire”?

External TV, The Wire, TV

Battlestar Galactica: “The Passage”

December 10, 2006 / John Paulsen

Before I dive into this week’s episode, I have to comment on what has become a growing (and disturbing) trend on television – overlay graphics. I’ve learned to live with the station identifier. After all, the Sci-Fi channel has a right to watermark “Battlestar Galactica” to give themselves some publicity if the show is recorded and traded over the internet. But this week, above the “Sci-Fi” overlay, there was another graphic – “The Lost Room: Premieres Monday” – that was there the entire episode. I’m not fond of advertisements during the actual episode, but I’ve also learned to live with the occasional in-show advertisement promoting another program, but this graphic was there for the entire show. Combined with the channel identifier, the two took up the bottom sixteenth of the screen, and that is simply too distracting to the eye.

Now, back to business. I had a feeling we were watching Kat’s epitaph once her storyline started and after Apollo explained how those radiation badges worked. At that point, I figured someone was going to die (or be on the brink of death), and it might as well be her. I’m not sure why she decided to basically commit suicide. It wasn’t to avoid telling the Admiral about her shady past, because she was willing to do just that when she was on her deathbed. Anyway, I’ve grown to like her character. She was the one person who could really get under Starbuck’s skin and she wasn’t afraid to call Cara out when she was being irresponsible. We’ll miss ya, Kat.

This episode was Gritty (with a capital “G”). Hunger, vomit, losing hair to radiation poisoning – you never saw this subject matter on Star Trek. I do wish that they had touched on the food shortage leading up to this episode. Last week, everyone looked pretty nourished as they punched each other over and over in the ring. I’m assuming more than a week passed between episodes, but it was still a little jarring to go from the boxing episode to a “gotta feed the fleet” episode.

Dr. Baltar returned this week and seems hell bent on discovering if he’s a Cylon. Xena keeps killing herself over and over so she can experience the time between death and rebirth, but all she has to show for it are a few Picasso-like sketches. Obviously, those scenes were just a setup for a future episode, so it will be interesting to see how that pays off.

It looks like next week is the “Fall Finale,” and the series will pick up again in late January and run thru March. The creators have always done a nice job with the season breaks, so it should be a good episode.

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

Heroes, Week 11: Here It Comes, This Is Your Destiny Calling

December 4, 2006 / Will Harris

So we’ve now seen the last “Heroes” of 2006…and, thankfully, it lived up to most expectations.

So Claire comes clean to her father about her abilities, only to have him admit more to her than, frankly, I would’ve expected. He was still evasive about what he’s done, saying only that “I’ve done some things I’ve not very proud of” to keep her safe, but he ends up telling her a hell of a lot. By episode’s end, it appears that the reason he’s done so is because, hey, it doesn’t matter what you tell someone if you’re gonna wipe their memories, anyway! For a moment, I thought sure we were going to find out that the memory wiping was done at Eden’s behest, but if the Haitian can be believed, it was indeed done at Mr. Bennett’s request. It appears, however, that our Haitian friend has an agenda of his own…which is good, since Eden has neither an agenda nor an ongoing existence any longer.

Actually, the presumption that Eden’s dead is based on next week’s preview rather than what I actually saw on the screen; I honestly couldn’t tell whether the blood spatter we saw belonged to her or Sylar, but the implication from the preview is that Sylar is the one who makes it out alive. Again, thanks for the spoiler, NBC…but, then, I really should know better than to watch those damned previews by now. By the way, the shots of Sylar in the cell toward the beginning of the episode, where he has multiple shadows, were particularly cool…though not as cool as the move where he punched through the glass and pulled Eden through. Definitely an “oh, shit” moment. You figured Sylar wasn’t completely powerless in that cell, but, still, seeing him finally act was completely kick-ass.

Watching Matt and Peter go back and forth with their psychic powers was pretty cool, with the apparent “feedback” resulting from Matt trying to used his power and Peter suddenly discovering that he had the same power. Greg Grunberg and Milo Ventimiglia were both acting their asses off. It was awesome. I’m not entirely sure what to make of that last scene with Peter, though…or why he had the vision that he did. Whose abilities was he accessing?

Hiro and Ando meeting Isaac was pretty cool…particularly when Hiro greeted Isaac with the Vulcan salute of “live long and prosper.” (Is it me, or are you already psyched to see the battle between Hiro and a dinosaur?) It’s a testament to how you begin to feel for these characters that I was genuinely smiling when Isaac realized for certain that he didn’t need drugs to access his abilities.

We didn’t get too much Mohinder this week, though his connection to Eden made his two brief appearances notable; also, the scenes with Niki, Micah, and D.L. were okay, but, damn, get together with the rest of the gang already!

January 22nd seems a lifetime away…

External TV, Heroes, TV, TV Dramas

Damn. I don’t even watch “24”…

December 4, 2006 / Will Harris

…but even I might have to tune in this year, given how many people are going to be in the cast this season.

Now signed on: Rick Schroder.

According to this morning’s Fox press release, Schroder will play forceful CTU Operative Mike Doyle, who teams with Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) to execute crucial field operations. He joins a list of notable newcomers this season, including Chad Lowe (“ER”), Powers Boothe (“Deadwood”), Peter MacNicol (“Ally McBeal”), Regina King (“Ray”), James Cromwell (“Babe”), Kal Penn (“Harold & Kumar”), Marisol Nichols (“In Justice”), Alexander Siddig (“Syriana” / “Deep Space Nine”), David Hunt (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) and Harry Lennix (“Commander in Chief”). Emmy nominees Jean Smart and Gregory Itzin return for another day as First Lady Martha Logan and President Charles Logan, while Eric Balfour and Carlo Rota reprise their respective roles as CTU contractors Milo Pressman and Morris O’Brian.

The clock for “Day Six” starts ticking with a highly anticipated 2-night, 4-hour television event Sunday, Jan. 14 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and Monday, Jan. 15 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (The show’s regular time period premiere is Monday, Jan. 22, at 9:00 PM ET / PT.)

24, External TV, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

Chad Lowe James Cromwell Kal Penn Kiefer Sutherland Peter MacNicol Powers Boothe Regina King Rick Schroder

“That’s all there is to it?”

December 3, 2006 / Jason Zingale

The above quote perfectly describes the feeling I had before realizing that there was indeed going to be one more episode following this week’s, and the set-up couldn’t have been any better. Before I get into any specifics, I have to say that the opening scene had to be one of the best in the show’s history. Watching Snoop and Chris chase down Michael with guns in hand triggered a sudden state of confusion for me. What exactly did Michael do to warrant Marlo handing out a death sentence? Perhaps he found out about the diamond ring that Michael got off Officer Walker? Or maybe he’s just pissed off that his friend snitched about Lex. Actually, neither. Michael is being put through the usual regiment of training, and the guns in question are actually just paint guns. When I saw Chris get splattered with red, however, I was almost certain that Michael had just shot him. Then, it came to me. A very smart red herring by the writers.

Anyways, now that Michael’s slowly being ushered in as part of Marlo’s new generation of thugs, the kid’s gotten downright brutal. He’s moved out of his mom’s place and isn’t acting the same. When Namond discovers that his Lt. (that little hoodrat named Kenard) ripped off his stash, he employs Michael’s help to get it back, but when Michael starts beating the shit out of the little kid, Namond runs for his life. Later on, Namond tries to regain his alpha status by teasing Duquan at Cutty’s gym, but Michael isn’t about to have any of it, and starts smacking (yes, open handed smacking) Namond in the face. Cutty forces Michael to leave and Namond falls to the ground crying. Oh, sweet justice.

Meanwhile, the battle on the streets finally gets some much needed momentum with the actual uncovering of Lex’s body, but the higher ups don’t appreciate ‘ol Lestor adding another body to their piling heap of unsolved case loads. To make matters worse, Lestor is trying to get his detail back into gear, but Herc is forced to leave when he’s picked up by IAD, and Kima is plenty happy with homicide. It looks like Jim McNulty is ready to make his grand reentry, but we probably won’t see it actually happen until the next season. Still, none of this would have ever happened if it weren’t for Randy opening his big mouth, and he paid for it big time when his house was burned down by a bunch of Marlo’s thugs. Randy survived unscathed, but his foster mother wasn’t so lucky.

And with Duquan now out of a home as well, it looks like both will be shacking up with Michael, who will no doubt convince them to join up with him and Marlo. To put it in “The Wire” terms, Michael is probably going to become the next Avon Barksdale, with Randy as his Stringer Bell. The comparisons make perfect sense, and they also have a very similar childhood friendship. And what of Duquan? Who knows, but there’s a very good chance that Prez might adopt him before long. At least, that’s what seems to be happening with the fourth member of their circle of friends, Namond, who will no doubt go to live with Bunny Colvin after that ugly scene with his mother.

As usual, there’s plenty more that I could go on about – like Carcetti’s trip to D.C. to beg for education money, Omar’s impending takedown of Prop Joe and Marlo, or Bubble’s meaningless struggle to get clean – but that would only cheapen the more important events that took place tonight. One more week, and hopefully all of our questions will be answered. And because you know it’s going to happen, feel free to speculate on who you think won’t be lucky enough to stick around for the fifth and final season.