Category: TV Dramas (Page 148 of 235)

Jericho 2.3 – He’s back! (And so is he, and so is he, and…)

February 27, 2008 /

First off, if you didn’t see last week’s write-up, there’s a perfectly good reason for that, but to find out what it is, you’ll have to click here.

Are you back? Excellent. Let’s move on, then, shall we?

Hey, everybody, Dale’s back! I always thought the guy was a little squirrelly because, well, he is squirrelly. But, wow, the guy’s really grown up over the course of the past few months. One trip to Missouri, and he’s become a man. And by “man,” I mean he’s actually about one evil look away from being a full-fledged bad-ass. I think I’ve said it before, but, seriously, you don’t want to be around that guy when he’s finally fed up.

Y’know, I’ve heard some people say that D.B. Sweeney is too damned likable to accept as the devious Goetz, but, personally, I think the combination of this against-type performance and a disconcertingly dark second season of “Jericho” makes him exceptionally off-putting in the role…which I mean as a compliment, if that wasn’t evident. Jake’s hatred of Ravenwood is understandable, given his history with the organization in Iraq, but it doesn’t take long for the majority of the town to turn against them when they start screwing with Dale’s shipments of the Hudson River Virus vaccine. (More on that in a moment.)

Hey, everybody, Jimmy’s back! Or, to put it another way, “Narc, narc, who’s there? Jimmy!” Not that we should’ve expected him to anything other than tell Beck what he knew about Sarah Mason, but what wasn’t expected was the way Hawkins decided to handle the situation: by bursting into Beck’s office and saying, “You’re killing my investigation!” It’s actually a good ploy, given how readily Hawkins has had lies spill forth from his lips during the course of the series, but in this case, it’s for the greater good, as he attempts to pick and choose bits and pieces of the facts at his disposal in order to sway Beck into realizing that the government isn’t telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It’s a slippery slope he’s treading, but Major Beck’s conversation with Thomas Valenti was clearly sufficient to sway Beck into believing Hawkins’ story. And as long as we’re speaking of Beck, I like him a little more each episode, especially after the scene with him and Heather in the waning minutets of the episode

Hey, everybody, Dr. Dhuwalia’s back! The guy’s not a very good liar, though, and he’ll clearly break under pressure at the drop of a hat. Still, I love the character, so I’m glad to see him return. Plus, even though he’s got the kind of loose lips that sink ships, the whole issue with the virus made for great drama, from the transmission Heather received that clarified just how bad things had gotten to the tension-racked scenes in the warehouse.

So Bonnie’s going the Kerouac route and hitting the road with Jennings & Rall, eh? Well, we did get our first full-fledged CBS’ing of Season 2 with the way the music swelled during the front porch conversation between Stanley and Bonnie, but we also got a bit of heretofore-unrevealed information about how Stanley and Bonnie lost their parents, and I’m sure fans – like, say, myself – enjoyed getting those details. It’s nice to see that the cute girl from J&R seems to have some scruples; at least it looks like Bonnie will be in good hands.

So who’s this mysterious person on the other end of the line from Hawkins…? Time, as they say, will tell…

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Jericho, Reviews, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

The Wire 5.8 – Clarifications

February 24, 2008 /

Let’s not beat around the bush: Omar Little is dead. Understandably, that’s going to piss off a large percentage of fans, but not exactly how you might think. You see, David Simon has already stated that Omar was never meant to play a major part in the series (in fact, he was only supposed to appear in a handful of episodes), and as such, I was wholly expecting his eventual demise. But at the hands of a three-foot corner boy? To use the term anti-climactic wouldn’t do it justice. Sure, the shot to the back of the head was pretty cool, but to see a badass like Omar taken down by some random pre-teen ranks right up there with the senseless drowning of Charlie in last year’s season finale of “Lost.” Still, it was bound to happen – just like Clay Davis’ acquittal the week before – and if nothing else, Omar’s death may just be the break McNulty needs to catch Marlo.

After helping Bunk fast track some lab work on his murder investigation (which, by the way, resulted in a warrant for Chris Parlo), Bunk decides to repay the favor by gifting McNulty a piece of paper he found on Omar’s body. The information doesn’t seem to be anything new (it’s mostly just names and designated hangouts for all of Marlo’s major players), but every little bit helps, right? Maybe not.

the_wire_5-8

Following a trip with McNulty to the FBI in order to retrieve a criminal profile for the homeless serial killer, Greggs gets to work on paring through all the potential suspects. Embarrassed that Greggs would even be willing to waste so much time on a bullshit case, McNulty pulls her aside to tell her the truth. As you can imagine, Greggs doesn’t take the news very well, but McNulty is willing to stick it out for a couple more days – especially now that the mayor has granted him unlimited resources, including surveillance teams and rental cars with GPS.

With Carver personally assigned to run point, the surveillance teams are working like a well-oiled machine. Unfortunately, they haven’t really resulted in any big breakthroughs. That is, until Sydnor makes one hell of an accidental discovery. While following one of Marlo’s men through an unfamiliar part of the city, he stops by the side of the road to check out his map. By pure luck and pure luck alone, he happens to realize that the clock images Marlo and Co. have been using for communication directly correlate to a book of Baltimore maps. Having officially cracked the code, Lester has not only made his first giant step towards building a case against Marlo, but has also uncovered the citywide monopoly he’s built between Monk on the Westside and Cheese on the Eastside. How exactly this will be used against Marlo is still uncertain, but with only two episodes left, we won’t have to wait very long to find out.

External TV, The Wire, TV, TV Dramas

Lost 4.4 – Eggtown

February 21, 2008 /

We knew it was coming. After all, not even the best season of “Lost” could deliver solid gold each and every week, and if we were going to be subjected to a lackluster episode, it might as well be a Kate-centric one. Seriously, though – am I the only one who finds Evangeline Lilly’s character absolutely dull in comparison to guys like Sayid, Locke and Desmond? Perhaps it’s that silly love triangle she has with Jack and Sawyer, or maybe it’s just that Kate hasn’t had an interesting backstory since season two. Whatever the case, Carlton Cuse and Co. certainly gave it their best shot this week with a last-minute reveal meant to dominate the watercooler talk tomorrow morning.

In her second flash-forward appearance of the season, tonight’s episode followed the ex-fugitive during her long-awaited trial. Charged for no less than six different criminal acts (including fraud, arson and murder), Kate’s fate seems to be sealed, despite her celebrity status as one of the Oceanic Six. When her lawyer suggests that Kate’s son (what?) be in attendance to help persuade the jury to show pity, Kate refuses. Instead, he calls Jack to the stand, who not only lies about the actual crash (i.e. only six survived), but also states that Kate was responsible for rescuing them all. It’s the one mystery that I’m actually curious to find out more about, but it looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer for an actual answer – probably at least until they’ve revealed the other two survivors.

As the trial progresses, Kate’s mother comes to visit, but when Kate refuses to make a deal that would prevent Mrs. Austen from testifying in exchange for allowing her to see her grandson, she doesn’t anyway. And with no key witness, Kate’s lawyer is open to make a deal that includes absolutely no jail time and only 10 years probation. Not bad, especially since that laundry list of crimes could probably include kidnapping as well. What’s that, you say? Well, allow me to enlighten you. You see, Kate’s son isn’t actually hers – it’s Aaron. As in Claire’s Aaron. As in, Claire’s probably going to die real soon. Oh well. One less pointless character to worry about, especially now that Charlie’s out of the picture.

Of course, while the writers’ room was probably covered in goosebumps as they wrote the night’s big twist ending, anyone could have seen it coming – especially since it was more or less telegraphed in the first ten minutes. While helping Claire hang-dry some laundry, Kate is asked to hold Aaron for a bit. She refuses, claiming that she wouldn’t know what to do, but from that moment on, I was certain it wasn’t Jack or Sawyer’s baby (like the dialogue later in the episode suggested), but rather Claire’s baby. It just made sense, in that messed up, “Lost” kind of way.

The other major subplot of the night involved Kate as well. After speaking with Miles about whether or not he knew about her past, Kate makes a deal with the paranormal smartass so that he may speak with Ben. Using Sawyer as a decoy, Kate manages to sneak Miles into Locke’s basement where Ben is hidden, but the discussion is nothing what you’d expect. Instead of barraging Ben with questions (like Locke has been doing for days), Miles simply makes a proposition: in trade for faking his death, Ben will have to pay him $3.2 million. It’s a pretty odd amount (and Ben even goes so far to ask why), but, again, I’m sure we’ll all find out in time. It’ll probably be sooner rather than later, however, since Locke (clearly pissed off that he’s being kept out of the loop) has just shoved a live grenade in Miles’ mouth. Good luck, dude.

External TV, Lost, TV, TV Dramas

A belated look at “Knight Rider”

February 20, 2008 /

First off, my apologies for waiting until Wednesday afternoon to write up a movie that aired on Sunday night.

I really did try to get an advance look at NBC’s new 2-hour “Knight Rider” movie, but I was denied. This wasn’t just a case of my not having enough pull: no-one got a look at it beforehand. The stock answer for why screeners weren’t being made available was that the special effects were being worked on right up until the last minute, but, truth be told, someone should’ve spent less time on the effects and more time trying to figure out who this movie was being made for…but I’ll get to that.

So why did I wait so long to watch it? Well, you know how it is: Monday was President’s Day, my wife was off work, my kid was home with us, and, basically, the day got away from me. But you want to know why I didn’t watch it Tuesday, and…well, the truth of the matter is that I was scared.

My wife was battling a case of insomnia on Sunday, and she watched part of it without me; when I asked her how it was, she said, “Not good. The two leads didn’t have any chemistry, and David Hasselhoff is still one of the worst actors ever.” Fair enough…but I didn’t watch the original show for The Hoff. I watched it for The Car. But, still, reports on the flick kept popping up all over the ‘net, and they were all universally awful. More and more, I wondered if it was even going to be possible for me to enjoy this movie that I’d originally excited as hell about watching. After much delay, I finally decided that, as a professional critic, I was quite capable of rising above the opinions of others and could not only still manage to establish my own opinion about this film but, indeed, might possibly find something to like where others could not.

So I watched it.

Continue reading »

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

Jericho 2.2 – Well, hellooooooo, Mr. President!

February 19, 2008 /

You know, you’d think it would be awesome to get advance screeners of TV shows…and, okay, yeah, for the most part, it IS pretty awesome. But there’s one problem with it: you forget when shows are actually on. That, in case you were wondering, is why this entry is mysteriously appearing in the archives almost a week after the episode originally aired. Not that you’d know this without my telling you, since it’s actually been backdated to seem as though it was posted more or less on time, but I feel guilty enough about the ruse that I felt I needed to acknowledge it upfront.

There, now that’s out of the way. Now, let’s talk about how happy I am about the way “Jericho” is continuing to maintain this seriously dark tone.

It didn’t start dark, of course. The lighthearted breakfast scene with Stanley and Mimi was funny, thanks to Stanley’s well-intentioned but poorly-phrased observation, “That’s probably the most boring story I’ve heard in months.” It seemed a bit odd that the President’s team needed to land their helicopter in Stanley’s front yard to ask if “Condor” could make his speech on the front porch of the farmhouse. What, couldn’t they go through channels with the military instead of using the Whirlybird Express? But let’s stay on our original topic and keep talking about the Stanley / Mimi relationship. Once again, Stanley has proven to be a lunk-headed sweetheart, accidentally putting his foot in his mouth about who Mimi might invite to the wedding, then trying to backpedal by seeing if he might be able to use Jennings & Rall to find some of Mimi’s family. Last season, they might’ve CBS’ed things by miraculously discovering her mom or even a long-lost cousin, but not so this year: even with the resources of J&R, it’s a big ol’ goose-egg on the family front. It’s depressing, but I applaud the producers for not shoehorning in a happy ending.

Okay, back to the Presidential visit. Y’know, I realize that they were trying to show that the President’s men weren’t screwing around with their security measures, but it seemed a little over the top when one of them snapped at the local sheriff, “Sir, nobody told you to move.” Really? Not any respect for local law enforcement…?

Hawkins’s buddy, Chavez, got busted in his guise as Lieutenant Parker, which I think we all figured would happen sooner than later. I definitely like this new relationship between Hawkins and his wife, but I still find it weird that we haven’t heard so much as a whisper about their kids so far. By episode’s end, of course, Chavez was out of custody and on his way to Texas, but not before stepping up the mystery about this Project Boxcar.

As a Democrat, it probably won’t surprise you that I snickered at the suggestion that the new government would immediately attempt to rewrite the textbooks in order to make it look like America screwed up by not attacking the Russians during the Cuban-Missile Crisis and by pulling out of Vietnam too early. Do I really think the Republicans would do something like that? Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t think so. But, then again, Bush got elected to a second term by riding on his post-9/11 high, so what do I know?

Okay, enough personal politics. How about the situation with the journalist? From “okay, I’m in” to “okay, I’m dead” just a few short hours. Now that’s what I call an effective cover-up. Again, though, I was shocked that he met his end as quickly as he did; I’d really anticipated that that plot thread would go on for several episodes. I guess this is another case of a short season paying off in terms of rapid-fire plot progression; there’s definitely no moss growing under anyone’s feet this time around. At least Writer Boy managed to leak the info to Jake about the progression of the Hudson River virus.

As things wrap up, Gray leaves for the constitutional convention in Cheyenne and grants Eric the status of interim mayor, and we get the return of the dastardly Goetz. Yep, he’s made good on his ominous assurance from Season 1 that Ravenwood would be called in to help the U.S. Government put the nation back together again. Boo, hiss, etcetera. Can’t wait for next week.

Actors, Actresses, External TV, Jericho, Reviews, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

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