Monsters of Television

I know next to nothing about Supernatural. I know it has Dean from Gilmore Girls. I know it involves Dean and his brother (who is also named Dean, making this very confusing) hunting demons. I know at some point a giant teddy bear tries to commit suicide. And I know one episode takes place in a haunted hotel that is hosting a Supernatural fan convention, and people assume the two brothers are actually cosplayers, not the actual brothers. But that’s about it.

So I approach Supernatural with practically no biases or pre-conceived notions of what the show is, except for thinking that Jared Padalecki is dull to watch (he is on Gilmore Girls anyway). Unlike The Wire or Mad Men, both of which I watched this year on DVD, Supernatural wasn’t something people thought I needed to watch to be a knower of all things in contemporary American television.

And that’s exactly why I selected it. So each week (or perhaps more than that), you’ll get treated to my impressions about the series as I go through it. I’m suspecting it’ll be an episode a week, unless I’m just not that busy during a particular week, and the posts will probably go up on Saturday afternoons. So this won’t be like my Mad Men recaps which were often just impressions on a whole season. Also: Karen will be chiming in occasionally as well to give a Supernatural veteran’s take on episodes. This will hinge entirely on her interest in the episode and her schedule, but I look forward to her contributions.

So without further ado… Read more »

“We’re not done yet.”

Among some of the folks I follow on Twitter, noticeably Daniel Walters and Justin Fowler,  there’s been discussion of how much impact a season finale can have on a particular season and our reception of it. Debate centered around whether or not a bad finale could hamper an otherwise strong season, or if a great finale helps elevate a murky season (see: Lost, season 3 (though it was getting progressively better before the finale, but that finale is amazing)). Likewise, a bad finale can only make a bad season seem all that worse (see: Battlestar Galactica, season 4 (at least in my opinion)).

The other central point that people discussed was the over-emphasis placed on the finale as an end-all be-all determiner of quality of a season. This is a silly mentality to take, of course. A season finale can’t wipe out all the good that has come before it (nor can a series finale for that matter (well, maybe)), and it shouldn’t be thought of as doing so.

Which is exactly the mentality I have about “The Fortress of Deception”: it may’ve been action-packed, but it wasn’t at all what the season had been leading up to recently. Read more »

“Alcohol just makes people sad. It’s like the Lifetime movie of beverages.”

One thing that has been mentioned about this season of Community is that it seems every new episode is “the best episode of Community ever.” I certainly don’t think this is true, and I don’t think “Mixology Certification” enters that discussion, either. I do, however, think that is a very good episode of the show, one whose character and setting beats work better than other episodes, like “Accounting for Lawyers” earlier this season.

Much like “Accounting for Lawyers,” “Mixology” is a remarkably standard sitcom episode, with very little in the way of what we normally think of when we think of Community. And while I do love Community for its joyful embrace of meta humor and homages, there’s something  very refreshing about watching the crackerjack cast and writers pull back from their general approach to tell a very simple, straight story.

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“Why isn’t anyone ever just whelmed?“

I haven’t really read comic books in years, and even then I was a Marvel guy (though I’ve been reading bits of DC lately). That said, I’ve always enjoyed DC’s animated work.  Batman The Animated Series was my Batman (and his rogues gallery, of course) more than Michael Keaton’s performance or Frank Miller’s takes. While I’m not a Superman fan, I appreciated the animated series (great voice work), and the Justice League series were very good. In fact, with the exception of The Batman (interesting ideas, but never liked the execution), I’ve enjoyed most of the DC animated series.

Needless to say, I’ve been looking forward to Young Justice for a little while. Part of this stems from the above, but the behind-the-scenes crew (Greg Weisman (Gargoyles, Spectacular Spider-Man (actually pretty good if you haven’t seen it)! Please, and thank you) is very solid as well, creating a one-two punch that really can’t be denied.

The pilot 2-parter is, as expected, well-made and entertaining from an action perspective. And while only the pilot, it hints at the narrative and character richness that marked the Justice League shows. I’m pretty optimistic about the show’s development.

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“We don’t share information any more?”

It’s like the Kings decided to reward me for mainling The Wire this summer with this episode. Between listening to wiretaps, dealing with drug dealers, sifting through corrupt politicians, and a J.D. Williams cameo, “On Tap” is indeed a big splashy acknowledgment of the HBO drama.

I don’t have all that much to say about this particular episode, so this will not only be brief, but more recappy than my normal pieces. But sometimes a recap is simply more fitting of an episode than an in-depth navigation of it. In my opinion. Read more »

“The time is now…Tetris?“

I am of two minds about “Operation P.R.O.M.” and I bet you can guess which ways I’m leaning.

This season has been pretty frustrating due to the long breaks between halves, the low lows, and the high highs. It’s only fitting then that this episode captures all of those joys and annoyances in a single episode. Compounding my anxiety is whether or not this is a season finale, which it is billed as or if it’s a series finale, which it very well cold be (Adult Swim hasn’t ordered a fifth season). Read more »

“Parallelogram!“

I had a very brief conversation to find out the song used at the end of tonight’s episode (another musical coup for the show this week, and I’ll address it in a little bit), and the responder to my query said it was his favorite episode so far. I don’t think he’s far off base saying that. I’m still very partial to “Shaman of Fear” and “Shadows of Youth”, but I think “Lessons in Love” is a remarkably strong “stand alone” episode, if I can use that term (and I’ll justify its use, too).

I will say this though: “Lessons in Love” proves you should be watching Sym-Bionic Titan if you’re not already. Read more »

“I’m sure we can all think of examples where revenge has worked splendidly.”

I received a pretty high compliment from Justin Fowler on Twitter a few days ago: “One of the reasons I like your blog is that you guys write about shows most other blogs don’t. No Mentalist, tho.”

I like that we write (and now talk) about shows that don’t get a lot coverage at the more visited blogs (though A.V. Club’s new leadership will be adjusting some of that I think). In any case, I decided to thank Justin for his compliment by reviewing this week’s The Mentalist. This was a bit of fun because I’ve never seen an entire episode of The Mentalist (Pysch for life, yo). Based on the promos, I expected a reasonably light, but not too light, procedural about a stylish guy who is seeking the man who murdered his family.

I think I got a different kind of episode than what is normal for this show, as it appears I stumbled onto an episode concerned in some way with the Red John storyline and it was a little darker than I was expecting, especially Patrick Jane himself. Read more »

“You tried to Nancy Screw me out of my free credit!“

My face still hurts from laughing. And my belly. I’m still laughing about some of it while I try and type.

“Conspiracy Theories and Soft Defenses” may not be an episode that people think back to when they rank episodes of Community, but for my money it’s easily one of their single funniest episodes of any sitcom I’ve seen in a while. It’s clever without being overly clever, grounded while still being silly, and allows for yet another glimpse into the characters without making the episode completely about the characters. Read more »

“In lock-up, they won’t let you tweet.”

This is the best episode of The Good Wife so far this season.

Part of this is because it had pretty much everything I’ve come to love in the show. But the other part was that the episode  didn’t have any of the stuff I hate. (Read: There were no Blake and Kalinda shenanigans in this episode. None. Zero. Zilch. So glorious.) But yes, “Bad Girls” had everything in it that marks an episode of The Good Wife: political maneuvering,  law firm maneuvering, a solid case, reasonable Kalinda investigating, good family beats.

There’s a delicate balance to crafting a show with so many things going on at once, and what often happens is that some things fall to the wayside (did Jackie break her hip?) while others gain prominence. Overall, I feel that The Good Wife does a good job of giving all things equal weight though, after sleeping on the episode, I do see the critiques the episode might perhaps try and overreach here.

I still think the episode is considerably stronger than the past few episodes have been, so don’t let my acknowledgment of the critique seem like I’m discounting how much I enjoyed the episode.

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