Monsters of Television

“You’re surrounded by walkers. That’s the bad news.”
“There’s good news?”
“No.”

Even the walkers get stereotyped.

Well, it was about time for Atlanta’s representative racist hick to come out and play small-time antagonist. I suppose we could do worse that Michael “The Rook” Rooker to portray him but I would’ve preferred him to not be there at all what with all the over-pronounced drawls everywhere else. But there he was, dropping the “N” word just so we could all be educated about how old divisions blurred when they had a new enemy to hate. Instead of pouring your generations-descended loathing onto classes and race, funnel your hatred into killing ghouls instead.

Last week, I described how a horror series could do things a horror movie could not, specifically build deeper emotional connections and construct stronger characters. Unfortunately, this is not an episode that does very much of that at all. In fact, it sounded and functioned more like the end of the first act of a B zombie flick. Where the pilot felt more like an AMC show (subtle as a show of this bent could be while never talking down to the viewer), the follow-up is very specific and very obvious. I’d say it’s forgivable, however, as long as this was just a way to get the new group out of the city and into some deeper plot. Otherwise, we’re looking at some serious disappointment.

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Come on--he's too pretty to be scary.

The Vampire Diaries took a bit of a break this week from its record-setting pacing. Instead, it allowed the characters to reflect on the many changes that have occurred in the past few weeks. At school, Tyler and Awesome Vampire Caroline are forced to stare at reminders that two girls died last week. Jeremy learns that there are limits to what Bonnie can do—and his subtle flirtation with her continues to develop intensity. Elena gets world’s chattiest vampire kidnappers to tell their their entire life history—a rather unrealistic series of conversations that provided the exposition needed to introduce new bad guys now that Katherine is out of the picture (for a brief moment).  Basically, a bunch of taking stock, reflecting, and conversing.  Little action.  Not necessarily a critique–more of an observation.

Meanwhile, in the episodes best subplot, Damon and Stefan take a little road trip to rescue Elena. I would have been perfectly content if this entire episode had focused on Damon and Stefan in that car. Amidst jokes about the requisite bonding that accompanies all road trips, our boys delve into the dangerous territory of Damon’s feelings for Elena and their own history of betrayal.

I’ve got some concerns about the direction the series seems to be taking, and I’ll discuss them below, but I loved the heck out of Stefan and Damon this week. Neither man has aged in 150 years, but they mature nevertheless. Their mutual recognition of their bond allowed them to move past so much nonsense—good acting and strong writing that deserve to be commended.

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“But you, you with that big beautiful brain, you saved me.”

“He’ll be back. He always comes back.”

So I missed out on “Showdown at Sherman High” because of the Rally For Sanity and/or Fear last weekend. I have since corrected that, so you get a double review tonight with “Shadows of Youth.”

I enjoyed both episodes thoroughly.  I feel like the show has finally settled on a very consistent tone, one that’s a bit more in line with its narrative. Earlier episodes were a little too bright, a little too young-skewing. This slowly faded away, and by “Shaman of Fear,” I thought the show had figured itself out pretty well. With these two episodes, I’m very sure of it. Read more »

“Double bounce me! DO IT!“

Is it wrong that I kind of enjoyed “Aerodynamics of Gender” about as much “Epidemiology”? I’m not suggesting that this week’s episode is better than last week’s, but they’re doing different things, and I just happen to enjoy this week’s goals, overall, more than last’s week.

Which shows the flexibility of the show. It can do a splashy postmodern zombie romp, and do it very well, one week and then do this significantly less splashy episode (solid RoboCop work aside) that still has some good character beats in it. And that’s why I love this show so much: it can both of these things, and when it does them well, it does them really well. Read more »

“Even his stubble looks smug and self-righteous.”

I feel you, buddy.

Eww.

Barring a miracle, we’re looking at a lame duck series. Just about every other series on the CW not rounding out a decade on the network and choosing its own destiny got a full season pick up while Life Unexpected still waits to hear is almost certainly cancelled. TV by the Numbers has marked it dead in the water for weeks, even positing that this show has less of a chance than the Melrose Place reboot (or at least that it’ll go out sooner than it did). To look at the tweets of LUX showrunner Liz Tigelaar, you might be led to believe that the constant wining and dining of her writers, taking them out on the town, is like a farewell tour. “Thanks for everything, guys. Stay tuned for the next thing.” Or maybe that’s just my assumption based on all my information.

Now, there’s no way those behind the show could know what position they would be in come the middle of their order. They had no idea that they would be an intra-network loser to a show that once featured a hospital worker prat-falling, dumping a human heart from a cooler, and helplessly watching a dog in the hospital eat the organ in front of the transplant patient. Yeah, that happened on One Tree Hill. But if this episode is any indication, they are not going to go quietly into the night. They are going out with a bang. A giant, disgusting, bang of wrong.

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The real love story at the heart of TVD

Pop quiz: If The Vampire Diaries mated with Rubicon, what would they produce? World’s fastest paced show with world’s slowest paced? Would create pretty much every other show on TV. Man does this show know how to advance a plot. And taking a page from Rubicon, it seems to be developing its characters more, too. Bonus!

This week’s episode featured collateral damage—dead people, bleeding wounds, and heartbreak—all over the place. It also featured some pretty nice character development for the show’s least interesting characters. Perhaps my theory that TVD needs to kill all its bad characters to improve them missed another option—distract the bad characters (and us) from their annoyingness by making them sexy. Still pretty sure there’s no hope for Matt. But you never know with this show.

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“Oh, cool. A tiny weapons standoff!”

Interesting that Chuck’s Brunette that Ruins Everything of the season is actually his mOH MY GAH did they light Frost so that her hair would look blonde like Sarah’s to further beat the point into us?

What is this I’m feeling? There’s this disquiet. Loudness in my voice after the show ends. I — is this — actual anticipation for next week?

Chuck finally dished out an all-purpose good episode. There might have been a few stumbles here and there but, for what we get, I think finally shows some direction and gets into what this season is supposed to be.

But why am I surprised? Chuck did the same thing last season with its slow start. They are the San Diego Chargers of television, constantly digging out of the hole they put themselves in so they can make the playoffs. It’s like they have the talent to field and the pieces in place but they just can’t make it all come together until everyone’s written them off for the season. Maybe that’s why NBC picked up the back half of their episodes since they know the show is capable of making a run. Hopefully, Chuck won’t leave its audience the way the postseason usually leaves Philip Rivers: broken-hearted. End extended sports metaphor.

But what is it about this episode that makes it different from the rest? Why is it so good that we curse Matt Lauer for pre-empting it next week for a dumpy interview with a former president? Stakes, my friend. Or at least what appears to be stakes. Ten dollars says what was lost in this episode will be regained within the next couple. But there’s also ten bucks in meowing loud enough to make that old guy turn around.

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“You cozy?”

Downtown Atlanta after the zombie apocalypse: parking is still a hassle.

The Walking Dead holds a special interest for me. I’ve never read the comic. I’m not really a horror or zombie movie fan. Media properties operating in a dystopic post-apocalypse are exhausting.

But that tank scene at the end was shot two blocks from my old apartment.

Before I moved to LA two months ago, I lived in the metro Atlanta area for 17 years, inside or on the fence (I-285) for 11. I know a lot of people that have either worked in the production as extras, PAs, or other minor roles as well as people that have worked on the post-production of each episode (apparently they shot A LOT of footage in order to get every angle of walker attacks). I’ve been through their struck sets and watched people made up as ghouls amble toward Five Points station. Atlanta is a city I am very familiar with.

For instance, I know that the the scene where Rick rides the horse “into” town (the one also depicted on the poster) shows him on Freedom Parkway heading into downtown while everyone else seems to be heading toward Little 5 Points, as if commercialized bohemians were going to save them. And that he’s facing I-85, not coming from it.

All that aside, I feel like The Walking Dead does do something special for the horror genre. While it doesn’t necessarily tread new ground in an industrial sense, it does do something that horror movies have trouble achieving in their 90-minute running time. Here, they have the opportunity to build complex characters and stories at AMC speed.

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“I just wanna put it out there in case I inadvertently squirt pheromones in your direction.”

One of the reasons anti-The Big Bang Theory idiots people do not like the show is because it perpetuates negative stereotypes of nerds/geeks/etc. That’s a debate best held for anther day. There is another movement that this episode buys into that is becoming increasingly prevalent in the media: the emasculation of the male protagonist.

“The Irish Pub Formulation” featured an interesting role reversal that contributed to the pathetic downfall of Leonard this season. Being the only one in that group with a girlfriend is a very sad position to be in and with Bernadette’s failed attempt to set him up with one of her friends in last week’s episode “The Desperation Emanation” things were looking rather bleak.

Enter Raj’s sister, Priya.

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“Troy, make me proud: Be the first black guy to make it to the end.”

“Epidemiology” is an instructive example in pop culture roulette. In fact, when you consider it in relation to “Modern Warfare” and “Basic Rocket Science”, you realize the three levels of how pop culture roulette.

I know, I know. I’m about to suck all the joy out of a zombie episode with ABBA music talking about how Community deploys homages and who it positions characters within it. But why else do you come here if not for me to suck the joy out of your viewing experiences?

…The episode was pretty great, though. Read more »