Monsters of Television

Love the scarf, Damon.

So I was out of town last week, which means this week is a SUPER SPECIAL TWO-FER!!!! That’s right, two eps of The Vampire Diaries [TVD], two reviews. Super exciting, I know.

This episode was sort of okay.  Needed more vampire Caroline (instead of “trying to be a good friend but secretly working for Katherine” Caroline).  Needed more Damon (amazing how the dude brightens a scene, despite being so dark).  Needed way less of the flashbacks of mooning teenagers in Civil War garb. But there were some good moments, to be discussed after the jump…

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“Then you’re not listening because his has lasers.”

It appears it was “Let’s talk about religion!” week for some broadcast comedies and Glee (nailed it). It’s an odd trend to just have happen at once (Modern Family dealt with religion this week as well, but I don’t watch Modern Family so I can’t comment on it) and even Community got wrapped up in the trend.

I’ve seen a lot of discussion on Twitter about how television fiction handles religion. Typically it’s done in a one-off episode and is then never mentioned again (unless you’re Bones, and then you mention it in passing constantly, but that’s because you’ve got two sensible characters discussing differences of beliefs). But sitcoms tend to follow the one-off formula a little more than others, a semi-very special episode as it were that helps bring a story around to the central idea expressed in Glee‘s “Grilled Cheesus” and this episode of Community: It’s okay not to believe in God, but for the love of God, please believe in something. Read more »

“It’s ok, you can say it. Best sidekick ever”

The thing that’s going to keep No Ordinary Family afloat is something that the show has, in only two episodes, has proven it does extremely well: ground everything into relatable, realistic terms. Even on a show about people who can read minds and run at super speeds, the core of the conflicts and resolutions are rooted in real people.

Jim and Steph have a very believable marriage despite the fact that many of their recent arguments are somehow centered around the use of their powers. Jim has always been overzealous about the use of his abilities while Steph has remained more cautious. But a role reversal brings to light many issues average marriages face everyday: hypocrisy, lies and the need for validation.

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“Then I’ll get to disabusing.”

While I got to see “Taking Control,” the season 2 premiere of The Good Wife, I was unable to write a review for it so as to conserve energy for sitting on a bus for 22 hours (I was attending a conference in Austin). I apologize for missing it, but Tuesday night was the last chance for legitimate sleep until the following Sunday, and I love sleep more than The Good Wife.

But not by much.

After the jump I’ll do a brief review of “Taking Control” (even shorter review: excellent) and then a regular sized review of “Double Jeopardy.” Read more »

“Old Chuck, new Chuck. Bad Chuck, good Chuck.”

Everyone on Gossip Girl is a horrible person.

We love to watch the fights and the breakups and the schemes but when a real person, a legitimately good person is thrown into the lions den that is the Upper East Side it becomes very clear that the characters we love really are a bunch of vicious animals. Poor Eva. All the twists and turns of the episode tried just as hard to wreck her image as Blair was. But she really was an angel. And now she’s gone, leaving nothing but destruction and heartache in her wake.

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“Rumor has it that you’re pregnant. Is there room in that womb for two?”

Sarah, once again, caters to the male fantasy. And that’s okay.

I toyed with the idea of forgoing the entire plot of the show in order to tie in Bronson Pinchot’s all-too-short appearance in this episode to the major threads of the series. Like that Pinchot was reprising his role as Balki and that he was a Greek spy, his cover being a rural farm boy from Mypos. That was, in fact, the last surviving member of the Ring and a major player in the Russian syndicate Chuck is trying to topple. The knowing look from him being more than just blip of a homoerotic gaze. Oh, it was going to be grand.

Instead, I’m actually going to talk about the show and how, though some things change, the quality of the threads are still the same. Like how the most interesting is still Casey and Morgan. And how Chuck and Sarah are dangerously close to becoming annoying sit-commie blandness. And how the reintroduction of Jeffster will reinstitute the Buy More as what we all feared: the unrelated comic punchline to the series.

That being said, I’m glad to see those boys back, even after their Halo:Reach escapades. Read more »

“They’re like The Notebook sad.“

Meh, you win some, you lose some.

“Any Which Way But Zeus” is a smattering of jokes, none of which really come together, even at the end of the episode which is often when the show salvages itself with a solid turn of the screw. Part of the problem is structural, as all the characters are kept separated from one another  but since there’s three on-going plots, none get developed to the point of providing laughs or emotions. It all falls flatter than that Zeus cardboard cutout. Read more »

“Could it be I’m paranoid?”

I don’t have a whole lot to say about “In Whom We Trust.” It’s not the episode isn’t good, because it’s up the level of quality that Rubicon has been consistently meeting all season. It’s just that, like what I hit with Community last season, I’m running out of ways to say positive things.

However, as things begin to merge and the endgame somehow comes into focus, the big block in my notes, and what spurred on a conversation on Twitter, was how to classify Rubicon‘s narrative structure, especially given the dual-focus nature of the show. So, really, that’s what I’ll tackle below. If you follow me, Jeremy Mongeau and/or Dan Winclechter on Twitter, then you’ve seen some of this already. Read more »

“You will not live in between.”

I don’t think I even know where to really start. There’s just so much.

While my favorite episode of the season is still “The Suitcase” (with “The Rejected” being a close second) a ton happened in this episode. Myles McNutt said he tried to keep his review as concise as possible by only focusing on Pete and Joan in this episode. Honestly, I don’t think I have he strength to be so restrained. I mean, I feel like this episode is just as much about the people who are in it as the one person who is noticeably, painfully, perplexingly absent.

But I’m going to try to not effuse too much.

From the title you can guess that there is a lot of begging in this episode: begging for life, begging for mercy, begging for discretion. This week is a scare for what Don has coming and he is not ready. The collapse of Don’s life is foreshadowed here, if for anything because he’s become more careless about his secret identity.

Yeah, I just linked to opening to the old Jerry O’Connell series My Secret Identity. If I have it stuck in my head, you should, too.

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“You can always count on a well-read man, hmm?“

It’s getting delicious, isn’t it?

Because of how deftly the storytelling is executed (if you’re still complaining about the pace of the show, I think you’re watching it at half speed) and how the threads are starting to connect together (Katherine gets Spangler’s name and API, Will gets Tom’s name) it feels like we’re about to run up against the last two hours of the show, not the last four.

Yes, there’s only four episodes left of the first season of Rubicon. I am really excited. Read more »