At last: the “24” trailer.
Category: TV Dramas (Page 130 of 235)
If you’re an Anglo-centric sci-fi fan, then I won’t be telling you anything you don’t already know when I say that “Torchwood” is one of the best shows of its type to come around in ages. Spun off from “Doctor Who,” the series focuses on the Cardiff branch of the Torchwood Institute, an organization which was founded in 1879 by Queen Victoria to research and combat alien threats to the British Empire. If you’ve never watched “Torchwood,” it’s time to start playing catch-up. Season 1 is already available on DVD, and Season 2 makes its DVD debut on September 16th.
In conjunction with the Season 2 release, we were granted the opportunity to speak to one of the show’s cast members: Naoko Mori, who plays computer specialist Toshiko Sato. Like everyone affiliated with Torchwood, Toshiko…or Tosh, as she’s more familiarly known…has gone through quite a lot in her time with the Institute, but she definitely had more than her fair shares of issues in Season 2. We spoke with Ms. Mori about how she came aboard “Torchwood” in the first place, asked what it was like working during James Masters, quizzed her on her favorites episodes of the show, and – perhaps most crucially – asked if she still gets secretly excited when she recalls how she had a role in “Spice World.”
Stay tuned for…
After last week’s episode set up the arc for the rest of the season, tonight’s show was a little more laid back. That isn’t to say that nothing happened, but it wasn’t quite as jaw-dropping as the events that transpired in the season premiere. No chopped-off feet to speak of, and no crazy shootouts in the middle of Farmington. There were plenty of confrontations (Dutch and Billings, Vic and Corrine, Danny and Tina), however, but nothing we haven’t seen before. Still, I love that the writers make the most of the Dutch and Billings pairing, because even though the latter may get on Dutch’s nerves most of the time, you have to admit that when he tries, Billings is a damn good detective. Unfortunately, Dutch’s character has fallen to the wayside over the last two seasons (to the point that his character is almost as insignificant as Danny, Tina or Julian), and though this season is first and foremost about how Vic is going to save his badge, I’d like to see Dutch become involved in the fate of Vic’s future before the end.
With the Armenian/Mexican gang war in motion, Vic decides that it’s high time to get Aramboles out of the country, so he orders Shane to set up “travel arrangements” to Mexico with the same coyotes that were originally going to get Lem across the border. I’m not exactly sure why Vic is helping Aramboles (he’s already set him up as the fall guy, so why go through all the trouble?), but it probably has something to do with the fact that he just doesn’t want to give Pezuela the pleasure of killing him. Speaking of which, Vic’s carefully plotted gang war is already beginning to spin out of control when the Mexicans greenlight a hit on Rezian. Worried that Rezian’s death will result in the Armenian mob’s second-in-command following through with the assassination of his family, Shane visits the Armenian number one in prison to warn him, thinking that by doing so, he’s insured his loyalty to him. Instead, Rezian simply confirms his fears: if he dies, so do Shane and Vic’s families.
As if things couldn’t get worst, the mayor has just initiated a Most Wanted list that ranks the area’s top ten gangs. Vic is worried that it will only create competition (he likens the list to the sports standings, with every team making a push for the playoffs), and he’s right. Within hours, a white businessman is gunned down for no good reason, and before the afternoon is over, another white couple is shot in the middle of gangland. When an old woman comes forward as a witness to the second shooting and fingers two youngsters wearing Spook Street colors, Vic brings in the gang’s leader, Jamal, for questioning. As it happens, Jamal really doesn’t know anything about the hits, but when he learns that Homeland Security is involved due to an Al Qaeda-related threat tied to the murders, he realizes that an earlier joke involving the terrorist group might have been taken out of context as an order. Whoopsie daisy, indeed.
Of course, there is some good that comes of this. By relieving the pressure on another gang leader (Moses) suspected of the murders, Vic is able to call in a favor to some of his guys in lockup to keep Rezian safe. Meanwhile, Shane visits the accountant testifying against the Armenian mob boss, and though the deputy sheriff is sitting in the room with them the whole time, he still manages to threaten the man’s life (along with his family’s) should he refuse to recant his testimony. I’m actually kind of surprised the accountant was able to understand the intended threat, but kudos to Shane for relaying the message without actually saying a whole lot. Of course, that deputy sheriff is an idiot if she didn’t notice the change in the accountant’s behavior after Shane mentioned the livelihood of his daughter, but maybe she’s unfamiliar with the concept of a crooked cop.
With Rezian safe for the short-term, however, Vic is more than happy to gloat about it to Pezuela. He’s also ready to renegotiate a new deal, and for every week that Vic’s tenure isn’t preserved, Pezuela will have to cough up $10,000 for his services rendered. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced Pezuela cares about money (he was willing to take a hit financially by ordering the hit on Rezian), so if Vic thinks that draining his pockets will do him any good, he’s in for some bad news.
There’s a tendency among viewers to see the name “J.J. Abrams” and instantly consider it to be a mark of quality television. This is called “The ‘Lost’ Effect,” so named because Abrams is so intrinsically linked to “Lost” that those of us who are fans of the series – and, yes, I consider myself to be one – will tend to shrug off his failures because, hey, the guy was still responsible for “Lost,” so we’ve gotta at least give his stuff a shot, right? Now, in the interest of fairness, we should acknowledge that there are other individuals who subscribe to “The ‘Alias’ Effect” and “The ‘Felicity’ Effect”…though, oddly, you don’t hear much about “The ‘What About Brian’ Effect.” But I digress. My point here, really, is this: when it comes to the latest series to have Abrams’ name listed a producer, Fox’s “Fringe,” let’s all just try to keep things in perspective, view the show on its own merits, and try not to love it or hate it solely because he’s a part of it.
As it happens, “Fringe” has the advantage of featuring a couple of other names which give it added credibility, particularly amongst sci-fi fans: Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Fox has really been pushing the fact that the duo wrote the script for “Transformers,” but for some reason, they don’t mention that they were called upon by Zack Snyder to assist with the script for “Watchmen.” Funny, that. Probably more important than either of those credits, however, is their longstanding working relationship with Abrams, having done time with him on “Alias” as both writers and executive producers and writing the screenplays for both “Mission: Impossible III” and the new “Star Trek” film. The collaboration has worked out well in the past, so there’s every reason to be hopeful that…
Dammit! See what I mean? I almost fell into being optimistic about “Fringe” just because Abrams is involved. Granted, he was only a third of that particular equation, but even so, I don’t want to do that. Not again. I did it with “Six Degrees,” and 13 episodes later, I was left a bitter shell of a TV critic. I can’t handle that kind of heartbreak a second time…particularly not when “Fringe” reminds me so much of still another show that was canceled too soon: “Threshold.”
I couldn’t place it last week, but Wyatt (the company’s hitman who is trying to track down the Brothers) seems to be channeling Laurence Fishburne from “The Matrix” series. So, from now on, I’m going to refer to him as Morpheus.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on to the episode, which was actually a little bit of filler. As Don (the FBI agent) struggled to keep the operation alive, Michael had to break into an internet hub in Anaheim to retrieve a couple of emails (because Roland’s stealth data collector just happened to run out of hard disk space as it downloaded those emails). Anyway, with Sara in trouble at the front desk, Michael pulls the fire alarm to create a distraction. He returns to the server room, and he and Roland get trapped there when the room is locked down. The two almost die because all of the air is being sucked out of the room to prevent the servers from burning. Now it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that the server room locked down after Michael returned, but hey, this is “Prison Break.” Lincoln does what he does; he grabs and axe and smashes the window, freeing his brother and the “douche.”
At the beginning of the episode we were treated to a shot of Don twiddling with his wedding ring and a later shot of him gazing at his wife’s photo, so count on his marriage coming up later on. (Maybe “The Company” killed his wife?)
Morpheus now knows that the Brothers are in Los Angeles. For some reason Bruce (R.I.P.) knew they were in L.A., but he didn’t know where. Other than a convenient plot device to get Morpheus to the City of Angels, why would Bruce know where they were? Doesn’t that knowledge only put them in danger?
T-Bag’s idiotic “blood feud” has brought him to Los Angeles and now he’s trying to get a bonus check from the Gate Corporation. God only knows what’s going on there.
This week’s “you must suspend disbelief” moment goes to Mahone, who somehow knew (before the team had even acquired the emails, mind you) that the meeting of the six Scylla cardholders would take place at a power plant in Newport Beach, so he asked his former partner to hide the files he requested within walking distance of the power plant. Either (a) Mahone knew where the meet would be or (b) it was a totally lazy (or overlooked) plot progression that the writers must have assumed that the audience wouldn’t notice. All they had to do was show him driving off in the stolen cab, and have the drop point at some location other than the powerplant/docks (that don’t exist in Newport Beach, by the way), and this would have been totally reasonable. Sometimes I wonder if the creators watch the episode before it airs or if they even think about these things as they’re shooting (or as they’re writing the script).
Anyway, the gang now has video of all six Scylla cardholders, so the operation is back on.
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