Monsters of Television

“You’re twice the man I thought you were.”

Imaginary friends.

Hm.

Certainly glad I stepped back from my typical rule and did the first half of this two-parter, because otherwise I would’ve just talked about the ending of this episode the entire time instead of enjoying what pleasures “The Rebel Flesh” offered. At least I was right when I said that “The Almost People” would take a sharp turn in tone (all those glorious horror gestures are all but gone here).

But here I sit, trying to decide if that ending really works for me.

The rest of the episode is pretty standard fare. Lots of running through hallways, the Doctor being clever and proving his points left and right (“No, I’ve helped him into an act of humanity.”), and it’s all very just kind of there. It’s just not particularly interesting, really, to me. Whereas “The Rebel Flesh” at least had style and mood going for it, “The Almost People” is so blandly by the numbers that it kind of offends a smidge.

But here I continue to sit. Mulling. Read more »

“For him. It’s my way of being close to him.“

Despite all his big talk, Dean has a horrible sense of what makes for a good first date.

Taking a break from the regular format for an episode that really stood out for a number of reasons, and to talk about its place within Supernatural‘s framework in general.

At its core, Supernatural is a show about family (at least so far, but I don’t see that changing). I mean, yes, its unifying relationship is about two brothers (and their father, of course) so it’s not that much of a stretch to make that claim.

Like I said in the review of the first disc, I really like the introduction of Jo and Ellen as another take on not only hunting, but also presenting a different gender take on the challenges. And “No Exit” gives an opportunity to explore those challenges.

Plus it’s pretty damn creepy, isn’t it?

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“My name is Dean Winchester. I am an Aquarius. I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women. And I did not kill anyone.“

"This is my hope box. It only has your picture in it, bro."

Not quite as strong a disc as the first one was, but still there’s a number of nice things going on each episode, even if some of them, as a whole, aren’t particular riveting or interesting.

I am picking up on a slight imbalance in the episodes’ focus this season. If last season was about Sam’s re-entry in the life of hunting and coping with all the stress that motivated and came about because of it, this season thus far as been about Dean dealing with the repercussions of John’s deal with Azazel.

And this is good stuff. I appreciate that this hasn’t just gone away, or been pushed down to pivotal episodes, and instead flows through many of the episodes as a subtext (later made text). But the show doesn’t seem to know what to dean with Sam now. He doesn’t do much computer legwork or journal referring, as much of it has been outsourced to Ash, and he spends more time protecting the Victim of the Week than battling off the demons.

The balance between the two, narratively speaking, was evener in season 1. It could just be the early goings for the season in which this happens, but I hope things shake out a bit soon, with a more collaborative approach to the hunting between the two. Likewise, Sam is taking John’s death significantly better, and that seems a little odd to me, despite their estrangement.

But that was just a quick look at a larger thought about the disc and its episodes. Thoughts on the individual episodes after the jump. Read more »

“Who can rule without wealth or fear or love?“

Sure. I could've picked something else. But why would I?

Hey, so I liked this episode.

I mean, I still had problems with the episode, but at least the boulder of exposition has been pushed down the hill and will begin to pick up speed.

I hope. I don’t know if I could tolerate the show suddenly falling back into exposition mode with only fours of story left for the season. That would totally kill all the really nice momentum this episode kicked up, and that would make me very cross.

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“It’s interesting that you refer to them as ‘it’ but you call a glorified cattle prod ‘she.’“

Bubble bubble toil and trouble indeed.

I normally don’t review the first part of a Doctor Who two-parter, but since I’m going to be doing it again the week after next for the mid-season break, I figure I might as well do it here.

The other reason, beyond setting a minor precedent for myself, is that I feel like the episode deserves a little defending. The reaction from a lot of folks I know was fairly cool, with someone using the phrase “tepid” to describe it on Twitter. And the episode isn’t great or even all that good, but it does some nice things that I think need to be acknowledged.

Of course, this review will be a little shorter than others, if only because there’s a little bit less to say as the episode is mostly just set-up for past 2. However, (All of that turned out to be false.) I have a feeling that part 2 will (heheh) depart from the cool vibe this episode engages, so we may get to two tonally different episodes. And I’ve gone through that anxiety recently enough that I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.

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“But who holds the straws?“

Why wasn't the episode about this?!

This show is exhausting, and I don’t really mean that in a positive way. There can be positively exhausting shows, shows that leave you wiped out but eager for more. Game of Thrones, increasingly, just leaves me tired after I finish an episode.

It’s a frustrating thing since they only have 10 episodes to compact a lot of story into. And that leads to plots and characters just kind of piling up, going to and fro, never settling down anywhere. Yet I feel increasingly claustrophobic watching the show (it’s a small favor that Viserys and Daenerys as well as Jon at the Wall aren’t in this episode to compound the problem) despite the fact that people keep moving around a lot.

Perhaps, like Robert, I’ve already grown tired of the backstabbing and the scheming. But like the Seven Kingdoms, it seems that backstabbing and scheming are all that’s holding the show together. I understand that’s it’s building to something (A Lannister coup, yes? Is winter still coming? No one’s mentioned it for a while.), but I just wish that they’d get on with it already. Read more »

My experience attempting to watch and blog about Supernatural season 1 was a bit of a disaster. I stopped after the ninth episode, and only then wrote about a small amount of the episodes. My time allowed to blog, my time allowed to watch, and how quickly I watch were in conflict with one another. I like doing an entire disc at once, but it’s tricky to write consistently and quickly when you do episodes that quickly.

So after the failure, I decided that the best way to approach blogging about season 2 was to adopt and adapt my methodology for watching the first season of Breaking Bad. Instead of having one post devoted to the entire season and updating it as I go along, each disc will have its own post, with thoughts on each of the episodes on that disc.

So, without, further ado, I give you the first four episodes of season 2 of Supernatural (and these episodes include some truly amazing titles).

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“It’s nothing. I’m over-worrying it.“

That wasn’t so bad, was it? Okay, yes, I wasn’t thrilled with the plot development at the end, but at least the promos allowed that rage to happen before watching the episode, and the sequence was remarkably well-filmed, so it does soften the blow a bit.

On the whole, the episode is pretty strong. Unlike the previous two episodes, the episodes feels nicely balanced. The lack of the political subplot has allowed the show’s soapier elements to come forward, and not necessarily in the best possible ways. Here, however, the political subplot comes in to fill some gaps, and thus gives the episode a nice sense of closure (even if I still have some niggling plot threads dangling). Read more »

This is a minor break from our regular scheduled programming, but something insanely funny just happened, and I felt that it needed to be shared.

It started off innocently enough, as news of The Good Wife‘s schedule shift to Sundays at 9pm prompted this tweet from Myles McNutt:

And then….things just got weird between me and Jace Lacob of The Daily Beast and Televisionary. Read more »

“Psyche.”

Back in 2005, the same year that How I Met Your Mother began, I had another blog, this one devoted to popular culture in general. That blog never took off very much (lack of dedication from all those involved), and it faded away. I did, however, write about HIMYM. I called it “high-concept (for a sitcom), funny, and surprisingly sweet” but concluded the bit with this thought: “It’s that sense of pre-destination that ruins the show. It can’t run but for two or three seasons at the very most.”

What the hell happened? Where did it all go wrong? How does a show that I came to love, one that reach delirious heights of romance and humor, with sophistication and wit, end its sixth season with, well, whatever the hell this is? Read more »