Category: TV Dramas (Page 123 of 235)

Prison Break 4.9: “Greatness Achieved”

November 4, 2008 /

This episode felt a little like Season One, with Michael and the gang wandering around the guts of a building, trying to engineer their way to Scylla. Michael had his MacGyver moment when digging under the water pipe turned out to be a fruitless endeavor. “Maybe we can go through it,” he says gruffly.

“You and the fellas head down the hole and I’ll stay up here and use my Southern wiles to keep the po-po off our tail.”

It’s not often that one of my predictions comes true, so I feel compelled to point it out when one does. Three episodes ago, I wrote the following:

I’m giving 2 to 1 to any brave bettors that his [Don’s] wife is dead and that he listens to that voicemail every so often to remember her.

Don’s wife is indeed dead. She and her unborn baby died during child birth. This is important because Don talks Mahone down off the edge of the cliff with regard to Morpheus. Mahone’s quest for vengeance has been one of the best things about this season of “Prison Break” and it came to fruition tonight. I loved the abruptness of Morpheus’ little speech at the end. Mahone didn’t want to hear it so he just pushed him in the bay. It sort of reminded me of the way villains would always try to kill James Bond. Instead of just putting a bullet in his head, they come up with some elaborate way of murdering him. For Mahone’s sake, hopefully Morpheus is gone for good.

Boy, there was some serious creepiness between the General and Gretchen in his office? What was with all the “my girl” talk and the open-mouth kiss? Yuk.

I’m guessing that Gretchen’s actions in the office were just a part of her overall plan to take down the General and his Company and make a crapload of money in the process. I’m not sure why she’d buy his line of reasoning after he was the one that sentenced her to death a month or so ago. Suddenly, she’s his “girl” again. Come on.

Lastly, we bid farewell to Bellick tonight. I could tell something was up when he had a couple of little moments with Lincoln. First, there was the line about how Linc should be more respectful of Roland’s death and then there was the bit where Bellick asked Linc about what it was like to be away from LJ. Bellick has been a survivor for the entire series run, so I find it hard to believe that he would sacrifice himself for the greater good like he did in this episode. Oh well… rest in peace, Brad.

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

Bullz-Eye’s All-Time Favorite TV Punching Bags

November 4, 2008 /

In nature, the weaker members of a species are often ostracized so they cannot reproduce and dilute the gene pool. Lions, for example, do not keep an omega male around to be the butt of the joke for the rest of the pride, like we humans tend to do. And while that makes sense in a Darwinian way, our way is a lot more fun. It may be cruel, but imagine how boring life would be if we lived in a world without the human equivalent of a punching bag. Admit it: you all know someone who fills this role in your life, and you relish it. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t.

The world of television has a near-inverse proportion of punching bags as there are in nature, and this makes sense; it is much easier – and fun – for the writing staff to designate one character as the target for random acts of misfortune and malice, though not necessarily in that order. If you ever wondered why every show features at least one character that the other characters would likely never associate with in real life, now you know.

So bring us your sad, your weak, your insecure; your clueless, your obnoxious, your desperate, your slow-witted, and we will celebrate them for their inherent loserness. Get your boxing gloves on as we present to you Bullz-Eye’s all time favorite TV punching bags.

Actors, Actresses, Celebrities, Curb Your Enthusiasm, External Entertainment, External TV, Humor, South Park, The Office, The Sopranos, TV, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, TV DVDs

The Shield 7.9 – Moving Day

October 28, 2008 /

To call this week’s episode of “The Shield” a disappointment would be to admit that the cast/crew did something wrong, and, well, that’s just not the case. Nevertheless, I found it to be less eventful than most shows, and that probably has something to do with the fact that with four episodes to go, Shawn Ryan and Co. seem to be holding off on playing their final hand. This is something that I warned against a few weeks back, and though it isn’t so bad that it feels like the characters are just standing around waiting for the end to come, this week’s episode felt like it was stretching out the story a little more than usual.

The spotlight was shifted to Shane this week now that he’s on the run from the cops, and though his initial check-in with Corrine doesn’t go as planned (he knows Vic is there coaching her the minute she asks too much), Shane really seems to have a handle on how to properly evade capture. For starters, he’s not planning on leaving LA anytime soon, since he knows the entire police department is out searching for him, and he’s quick to trade in his flashy Lexus for another car with clean papers. The wrench in his plans, however, is that Mara forgot to bring Jackson’s medicine with her before leaving, and the kid’s whooping cough could escalate into pneumonia at any minute. This forces to Shane to head to a nearby pharmacy to pick up new medicine, and when that causes some bad reaction, Mara begs him to take Jackson to the hospital. It’s there that Vic finally catches up with him, but when he pulls out his gun to take Shane down, a squad car pulls up and the cops arrest Vic instead.

Now, I find it hard to believe that every cop within the city limits wasn’t shown a picture of Shane before heading out on patrol, but even if they didn’t recognize him in the dark, don’t you think one of the officers would have at least pulled Shane and Mara aside to take down a statement? It seems like a pretty sorry excuse for Shane to get away, especially considering the circumstances. Still, he’s free for the time being, and though he suggests that Mara go turn herself in so that she may properly take care of Jackson, she refuses, claiming that family sticks together. And for all the trouble that Mara has caused over the last few years, you’ve got to respect that she’s still standing by Shane’s side.

The only really interesting Strike Team-related event of the night is when Claudette, officially tired of all of Ronnie’s lying, gave him an ultimatum: either tell her the truth about why Shane was gunning for him or risk losing his job. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ronnie tells her just enough (including Shane’s murder of Lem) without incriminating him or Vic. I’m not exactly sure Claudette actually buys into or not, but at least Ronnie has bought himself a little more time at the Barn. Unfortunately, he no longer has a Strike Team to run now that Claudette has disbanded the team, leaving him chained to a desk until Shane is captures, and Julian forced to head back to the street with Tina.

The rest of the episode was made up of little mini-subplots that weren’t especially productive, but they still proved to be more interesting than the main story. Dutch still believes he can prevent Lloyd from turning to the Dark Side; Billings taps into his inner Vic Mackey in order to get a registered sex offender thrown back in jail; and Aceveda wrestles with Pezuela over his increasing control of his campaign. Pezuela is starting to get really cocky now that his boss is in town (“The dick is up your ass, and I am the one who decides if and when it comes out.”), and it’s only a matter of time before DEA takes him down. Or is it? They’ve already screwed it up once before, so what’s to say they won’t do it again? And where in the world is Danni? She was clearly planning on skipping town at the end of last week’s episode, but has anyone actually realized that she’s gone?

External TV, The Shield, TV, TV Dramas

Heroes 3.7 – Repeat after me: “Robert Forster is AWESOME.”

October 27, 2008 /

Robert Forster is a god among men…and I’m not even talking about his character of “Heroes.” I don’t know what it is about the guy, but he just brings something to his roles where he can deliver more coolness than ought to be allowed by law, and “Heroes” is certainly no exception to that rule. Mind you, even with that ability, he still couldn’t pull off that awful line that was teased in last week’s preview (“Son, until you change that attitude, you’re grounded”), but I refuse to believe that there will be a funnier delivery of a line by any other character this season than his delivery of the punchline, “Have you met their mother?” Genius. But while Papa Petrelli’s scenes this week with Peter and Sylar were great, his best moment came with his handling of Maury Parkman. Wow. Nice knowin’ ya, Maury.

Claire and Mom have bonded over her handling of the Puppet Master, but it doesn’t stop Mom from being hesitant to accept the idea of Claire going on a road trip with her new best gal pal, Elle. And, really, can you blame her? Elle’s got a villainous past. Still, you have to like the fact that everyone from Claire’s little brother on up is aware that all they have to do to stop Elle is pour water on her.

There was a time when I would’ve heard Claire deliver that line about how “something’s wrong with us” and I would’ve figured it was just the writers being lazy…or possibly Claire just being stupid and somehow forgetting that her problems didn’t start until Sylar sliced into her brain. But, no, it appears that she’s actually being smart for a change and blatantly using Elle to get her own problem fixed, even if its origins aren’t the same as Elle’s. But speaking of stupid, I couldn’t believe the ridiculousness of Claire and Elle flying on a commercial aircraft while Elle’s powers were sparking left and right. I have to believe that the entire scene only existed because someone in the writer’s room was too proud of the “please turn off all electronic devices” joke to let it go unused.

While I’m glad that Mohinder seems to be working his way back to being the same guy we remember from the earlier seasons, it seems like somewhat of an abrupt about-face. Maya’s quivering speech about how he needs to redeem himself for his previous actions is presumably supposed to be the impetus for his return to good-guy status, but it’s going to take longer than an episode or two to erase the whole MohinderFly thing from my memory…especially as long as those cocoons are still hanging around his pad.

Speaking of Mohinder’s place, the scenes that took place there, with Nathan and Tracy meeting up with HRG and Meredith, worked better than I had anticipated. They felt more…real, I guess. Instead of the “Heroes” equivalent of a comic-book crossover, where one hero’s adventures cross path with another hero’s adventures, it felt weirdly casual. (“So, you’re her biological dad, you’re her adopted dad, and she’s her biological mom…?”) That feel lasted into the scenes were Nathan and Tracy met up with Peter and Claire, when Claire offered up that great line, “Dads aren’t always what they seem.” Actual drama in “Heroes” rather than melodrama? Will wonders never cease!

I’m not sure what to make of the whole Matt / Daphne love story. I don’t blame Matt for being naively hopeful that the future he’s seen will come to pass, but how naive is he going to be, and how much is he going to let Daphne get away with? I did enjoy the scene where he pulled a fast one on Knox; it’s been so long since Matt really had a chance to let loose with his abilities that I’d forgotten he could even do that. Or was this the first time we’d really seen him do something as profound as that? I noticed that he made a comment about how his dad could do it, but maybe we hadn’t actually seen him use his own powers on such a level before this.

As for the Peter / Sylar sibling rivalry, Peter definitely got the better one-liner this week (“Just kick his ass, and let’s get out of here”), but I’m interested to see where the Sylar storyline will go. He’s getting to be more of a Mama’s boy each week, reaching a point this episode where Mama Petrelli played to his desire for motherly approval in a big way, but it looks like Papa has his ear at the moment. Then again, Sylar’s so freaking wishy-washy that he’ll probably switch sides half a dozen more times before the end of the season.

Lastly, there’s Hiro and Ando, who served as the episode’s bookends. As much as I could do without another trip through time, the series’ flashback episodes have always proven to be a lot of fun, and the idea of seeing Malcolm McDowell, Robert Forster, and Eric Roberts in the same episode is too much to resist.

Actors, Actresses, Celebrities, External Entertainment, External TV, Heroes, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

The Shield 7.8 – Parricide

October 21, 2008 /

If there was ever any doubt that “The Shield” was really coming to an end, tonight’s episode stamped it out with the boldest statement they could make: Vic’s decision to call it quits as a cop. I don’t think anyone imagined that he would give up fighting for his badge (even when his official termination had been all but confirmed), but after the events that transpired, it makes sense that Vic wouldn’t want the restrictions of law enforcement to get in the way of what needs to be done.

It didn’t take very long for Shane to go forward with his retaliation on Vic and Ronnie, and after setting up an alibi with Mara, he heads to Vic’s house to exact revenge. What he doesn’t know, however, is that Two-Man’s assassination attempt on Ronnie didn’t go as planned. Ronnie escaped unscathed, while his date just caught a stray to the arm, and when Vic gets a call about the situation outside of his house, Shane is there to watch as his chance slips away right in front of his eyes. What I don’t understand is why Two-Man didn’t take a similar approach. Granted, the last thing I want to see happen is Ronnie getting shot for all the shit that Vic and Shane have dragged him through, but it just doesn’t make sense that the guy would try and kill someone from afar when he could have just as easily done it at point blank range.

Nevertheless, with both Ronnie and Vic still alive, Shane is forced to go on the defensive – especially when Two-Man is captured and brought to the Barn for questioning. Dutch and Billings fail to trick him into confessing the first time around, but with the help of Vic (who suggests they just lie about having witnesses), they eventually get Two-Man to take the bait and give up Shane. Unbeknownst to everyone else in the captain’s office, however, Shane has already gotten the hell out of dodge. Claudette is curious as to why Shane would even want Ronnie dead, but as expected, Vic and Ronnie are both mum on the subject. In fact, Vic is so certain that Claudette will tie him to a desk for his final week on the job, that he just decides to up and quit right there, since it means he can go after Shane himself. Claudette warns him against it, but really, who’s going to stop him?

Of course, Shane has taken certain precautions as well. Though it seems he really did destroy that file he created on the Strike Team several months back, he sends Mara over to Corrine’s house to deliver a message: either Vic and Ronnie help Shane evade capture or he’ll testify against them in court. One thing he hasn’t considered, however, is Vic just killing him. I mean, that would solve all their problems, right? Perhaps Vic is worried about having to deal with Mara, but if he truly wants to move forward and make his current gig with the feds a permanent thing, he’s going to have to make Shane disappear – one way or another.

External TV, The Shield, TV, TV Dramas

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