Monsters of Television

“Who is she? What is she?“

One of the big draws of Law & Order is that it would strive to set up a dialectic that the characters, and then the audience, would engage in as they debated particular social norms, issues of right and wrong and ideas about justice, even if it were compromised. It’s this kind of an approach that allows procedurals to say something beyond a self-contained story: it’s their way of getting to larger social issues.

While The Good Wife certainly draws on hot-button issues (Wikileaks, for example), it doesn’t always set up a dialog for its characters to engage one another one. So “The VIP Treatment” is certainly a refreshing change in that regard (though it still draws on hot-button issues, this time Al Gore), as Will, Dianne, and Derrick play off one another in attempt to figure out Ms. White’s story (notice she only becomes Lara after they decide to take the case?). However, after playing the sides and the discussion, the episode just kind of lets it go in the final scene once the writers realize that this is an episodic procedural and character serial: can’t have a court case lasting too long. Read more »

“Goodbye, Little J. I look forward to never seeing you again.”

Was anyone, character or audience, actually glad to see the return of Jenny Humphrey? While she may not be my favorite character I was certainly excited by her return. She always managed to screw Chuck stuff up as a regular presence and so her sudden return to the Upper East Side was sure to be rife with drama.

And it was.

Blair has blamed Jenny for her series of unfortunate events lately but it seems that her worst enemy is herself. “Easy J” explores how we’re often the harbingers of our own doom, a lesson that Serena, Juliet and even Chuck would have to learn.

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“I love our little give-and-take. Classic Ross and Rachel.”

Nothing can be scary anymore unless it’s a technique developed in Asia.

Dear Chuck, pick a tone. Stick with it. Love, Nick

The highs and lows in this episode have been good (for this season anyway) but, when they start robbing effect from each other, that’s when you know your tone is off. With some of the episodes of late, I was just getting used to conceding that Chuck was going to become the Big Bang Theory of hour-long dramas: broad, broad comedy with a hot girl to anchor it. The spy stuff was going to be the buzzing bee that gave it separation from the rest of its broad comedy brethren, maybe even a bit of heart.

But then some of the Chuck’s mom stuff was good, if eye-rolling material at times. The stakes were raised, the deception and double-crosses created tension, and we had yet another time where the B-story fed into the A-story. People, this had the makings of continuing the good they did last week.

And then it went goofy. The stakes were blunted. And I think it was because they didn’t want to have to decide between their slapstick idea and their real drama. “We can do both, right?”

As I see it, no.

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“We sold ourselves to vampires!“

This is not the way to go into a month-long hiatus, The Venture Bros.

It isn’t that “The Silent Partners” is a bad episode, but it’s just not particularly good. It’s the kind of flabby, aimless storytelling that has marked the show for much of this season, and some of last. I don’t object to the in media res storytelling (Billy’s working at a hospital? He and Pete suddenly have tons of cash?) since the episode does explain it, but I do object to the lack of throughline in the episode’s purpose. Read more »

Hard to find a male mentor around here, huh?

Quick Take: Whoa!  The Vampire Diaries has yet again proven it has some guts.  “Plan B” featured reversals of fortune, shocking twists, and a good deal of heartbreak.

In his review of TVD for The A.V. Club at the beginning of the season, Todd VanDerWerff compared TVD to Smallville, stating both are the kind of program he could watch at the beginning and end of the season only, yet still manage to keep up. I have never watched Smallville, so I can’t speak to that issue, but for TVD, I have to disagree. Sure, the “previously on” features may provide a cliff’s notes guide to the main plot points, but experiencing them in this form would remove all their shock, their impact, and their resonance. I know what some of you may be thinking…resonance?  Don’t worry–I know TVD ain’t all that deep, but it does excel at surprises—as this episode demonstrates.  TVD may not be world’s deepest show, but it is seriously competing for world’s most entertaining.

Characters were getting taken down all over the place here. Katherine is proving herself most dangerous in how she gets others to do her will—guess that shouldn’t be surprising considering her history with manipulating the Salvatore brothers. But seriously, I think she was in two scenes during this episode, yet she still managed to inflict quite a bit of damage through direct or indirect interference. By the end of the episode, Elena was crying, Stefan was crying, Jeremy was looking all determined, Caroline was crying, Mason was…well, if you want to know what all the fuss is about, come on in.

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“All of this is false.”

I am a sucker for dream episodes. I can’t tell you why because I have no idea. Some of it, I’m sure, it stems from the fact that it offers character insight through vague symbolism that then allows the audience to try and puts things to go, or it simply crystallizes character motivations or anxieties. And, since it’s a dream, it allows the show to go a little crazy without it feeling like tonal whiplash.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed “Shaman of Fear.” After last’s week high octane episode (Get it? It was about cars, remember? Octane. Cars. Yeah.), this episode takes it nice and slow while still telling a fairly taunt story with creepy imagery and character backstory. Even the battle at the end is one of the show’s best so far. Read more »

“Found something to worry about.”

Well. Everyone has an off day.

“Cleaning House” is a creaky, kind of lazy little episode that suffers from a lack of focus and, frankly, anything really interesting happening until the last minute. The episode isn’t busy, and since nothing really pops in the episode, it feels like it’s taking a leisurely pace to get to conclusions that we all know are coming, or simply don’t expect because of red herrings.

Like last week’s Community, I’m okay with great shows having so-so episodes. They happen, and you can only roll with the punches, and hope next week will be better. Read more »

“We were unable to stay ahead of the narrative.”

Not exactly a great title for what could potentially be your last episode, Rubicon (and I didn’t think being meta was something you were interested in). But, boy, what a great finale in either case.

As we move into a discussion of the finale, and the season as a whole, let’s remember that Rubicon let its characters fail. And now that they failed on a personal level, we expect them to fail and struggle on a personal level, but that they failed to do their jobs because they couldn’t find that one pattern, that one detail that would make the necessary links is all to ballsy of a show on the edge of cancellation. But as this episode demonstrates, despite the big explosion happening last week, the fallout is even more exciting and surprising. Read more »

“Exciting mishap! This is live!“

I wasn’t keen on a live episode of 30 Rock since live episodes of television shows today tend to feel over-rehearsed and, dare I say it?, stagy (in the worst meaning of that word) since no one wants to screw up. Saturday Night Live avoids this feeling since, well, they’re not too rehearsed and because the writing is pretty horrible. I can remember, for instance, the live E.R. being incredibly dull and lifeless: mimicked vérité style seems to work better than a semi-actual vérité style in fictional television programming.

“Live Show” more or less lived up to those expectations. It was still a funny episode of 3o Rock, but the liveness kind of sucked all the liveliness out of the show’s humor.

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