Monsters of Television

“It’s lame that he cares.”

The fact that “Beginner Pottery” aired out of order is probably a good thing. Last week I expressed concerns that the show was relying too heavily on the “friends as family” theme, and I saw the same concern expressed elsewhere (which is always reassuring). I asked for a variation on the theme or just a new theme all together. This week’s episode does neither. It doesn’t abandon the theme all together, but it doesn’t rely on it for the episode’s moral. Instead “Beginner Pottery” feels like a very smart gag delivery system that doesn’t let up for 22 minutes while still imparting a lesson about success in relation to the individual and the group. Read more »

“I’m following the law, not agreeing with.”

It’s a challenge to review a show when you don’t want to pause it or look away. You don’t want to stop the show’s pace in any way or remove yourself from that pace to scribble or type a note about a scene. You force yourself to take it all in as much as possible and hope that your brain can recall the experience, what you were thinking when someone arched an eyebrow or how an actor just hit the beat in a line especially well. Sure, you could always rewind the episode if you’ve got it recorded, but it may play differently out of context of that pace (don’t even get me started if you watch it live).

This week’s The Good Wife had that quality. It moved at such a near seamless clip that I didn’t want to write any notes. And it’s a different experience than with Lost, which often demands, no matter how well made, taking a second to jot down ideas about what happened. While I’ve argued that Lost is at its best when it focuses on its characters, because of its thematic concerns and genre trappings, it depicts its characters in personal but epic ways. The Good Wife is about character in personal and intimate ways. Read more »

“In this family, we don’t expect people to help us.“

So perhaps I was just feeling particularly cantankerous last night, but “The Deep End of the Pool” was not very good. Perhaps the novelty of the show is wearing off. Perhaps I’m (already) tired of feeling like Krause and Graham are shouldering much of the compelling work by themselves while everyone else plays around in the shallow end.

Some of it is the acting but most of it is the writing. Most of it, actually might be that the show’s two weakest storylines, belonging to Crosby and Julia, were featured this week and still offered very little reason to become invested in those stories and characters. Read more »

“Nothing personal, Mike. Now let’s see if you really did learn something from me.”

Mike may not have his BA, but he's still a badass

After the show came back from the Olympics, “Steel-Eyed Death” provided some character depth for Lupo while still remaining firmly rooted in its procedural aspects. The episode would’ve remained the same had Lupo’s history with violent crime scenes not been revealed. While it does give us a glimpse into Lupo’s life (as well as the limits of his relationship with Bernard), the formula remained in service of an overall crime narrative, not a character one.

This week the procedural aspects matter less than the character aspects. In particular, Cutter is given a significant degree of not only back story, but there are very real stakes in the episode due to the show’s tendency to drop characters with little warning (barring knowledge of non-diegetic dealings). Read more »

“I really hope that wasn’t me.”

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise is really running out of ideas.

Finally, someone let Casey out of his cage. The man has been trapped in the van for the better part of this season and it was time he had an episode that wasn’t a somewhat cheesy affair (like when it centered around his former sensei). Instead, we get some pretty heavy backstory, some Robert Patrick, and a dash of treason to whet our appetite for all things Casey. But, funnily enough, even when a story is Casey-centric, it all still reflects back on Chuck and Sarah.

I usually don’t do spoiler warnings since you, dear reader, are in fact reading a review of an episode post-first-run airing. But with so many things that happen for Casey’s character that are too good to just read about and not watch, I encourage you to peep the episode first before reading on so I don’t spoil any of the good stuff.

Read more »

“I’m being secretly undermined by Captain Jerksauce.”

One of these men is not like the others. One of these men just doesn’t belong.

Poor, poor Life Unexpected. Touted as the new family dramedy of the season and then so quickly dethroned by Parenthood. Granted, Parenthood has plenty of time to ruin itself since it’s only two episodes deep. But something tells me Lauren Graham and Peter Krause are going to be just fine.

Meanwhile, Life Unexpected is on the CW bubble despite some good traction in its Monday premieres and Wednesday encores. I suspect, however, its niche will not be in the family way that other show is running with. It’s going to find its own schtick.

Not to say this show hasn’t found a formula. The last few episodes have been formatted in one of two ways: (a) Baze gets upset about something and ends up nearly ruining some radio-show event Cate and Ryan host or (b) Baze tries to fix a situation but ends up lazily seeing it through only for it to end in disaster. This episode has both!

Read more »

“This isn’t going to stop until Pictionary bans the word ‘windmill.'”

The big laughs this week build, as do the show’s sweet and tender character moments. Community isn’t structuring itself like Seinfeld, where the plots converge into one final freeze-frame joke, and nor should they (unless they intend to do a Seinfeld-parody episode, something I’d be all for them attempting), but the show nicely lays the groundwork for jokes across an episode, even if the episode overall isn’t spectacular.

First and foremost, an East Asian rabbi is, by definition, funny. Funnier than an East Asian teaching Spanish (“This is who I am!”). That the joke of the two Changs in occupations you wouldn’t necessarily find them in isn’t overplayed, and instead allows Pierce’s latent Nazism to express itself by drawing a Swastika in place of a windmill during the Pictionary tournament. There’s enough of a gap between seeing Rabbi Chang and the tournament that you forget that Rabbi Chang is around, creating another punchline. That it results in an off-screen fight that is bad enough to summon the police is simply icing on the cake.

Second is Britta and Troy. A good comedic combo already, Britta’s white liberal guilt leads her to get a switch after she feels she’s disrespected Troy’s grandmother. It’s an amusing idea, though that Britta has no idea what a switch is, and that she doubts Troy’s grandmother will use it seems a bit weird, but I was willing to roll with it after the pay off of Britta being spanked, Troy watching while cry talking, only to have Jeff and Amber (Pierce’s swindling ex-stepdaughter) stumble in while making out added another sexual element to a scene that was already uncomfortably sexual anyway.

Story-wise, the show continues to drive home the of the study group as family, as Pierce and Jeff finally acknowledge that they are the same person, but at different stages in their lives. That Jeff still indulges in jackassery by sleeping with Amber (albeit only once; he wanted to do it twice) but feels bad about isn’t a step backwards, but a consistent character trait. Pierce’s confession that he probably would’ve done the same absolves Jeff of the guilt, and provides acceptance. It’s a nice moment, but one I feel that the show has firmly established at this point. I’m ready for it to move onto another thematic concern, or provide more variation on it (somehow).

Finally, if Jeff Winger doesn’t see the appeal of Glee, I don’t know why anyone else should.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• The Human Being with a tinier, female version of itself: creepy. (And until you know that it’s Family Day, it’s REALLY creepy.)
• The episode did suffer a bit from a lack of Annie. I guess her family doesn’t care about her after that time in rehab.
• Cry talking is the show’s tradmark gag, and Don Glover is a master at it (McHale isn’t bad either).
• Line of the episode: “Disappointing you is like choking the Little Mermaid with a bike chain.”

MEGADESK!

Save our show.

Let’s make a sandwich, shall we?

Something good, something good. Oh, so this felt like a great dedication to actual work environment. It’s been so long since we’ve seen The Office actually tackle common issues of the American workplace rather than get wrapped up in its own idiosyncrasies. I know the theme of the season has been how much the economy has devastated business but what makes The Office enjoyable (and, probably, the reason for its being) is that, like Office Space or any other workplace comedy, it hits on the commonalities of working in an office. Everyone has been in that situation where either they are new or a higher-up is in town and you don’t want to be the first one to leave, no matter how much work you have left. For them do it while dressed up for St Patrick’s Day, which is, let’s face it, a lesser holiday, makes it feel all the more ridiculous. There was a strong showing by the bit part characters in this episode, especially Meredith (one of those characters that rarely gets enough screen time). Michael showed up by eventually standing up to Jo and dismissing his employees. Completely believable and true to Michael’s character. Which makes the entire first act strange.

Read more »

“That, my friend, was a Chicago defense. Get used to it.”

It's like he can see through my soul with his awesomeness

I will freely admit that my unbridled love of this episode stems largely from the fact that it was an episode that allows Josh Charles to dig into a script and just tear up his scenes. It’s not that the other actors on the show aren’t good; it’s just that Charles is vastly superior to them. (I kid. The cast is a very solid ensemble.)

So if I remove my mancrush from the equation, is this still a good episode? Absolutely.  The episode has a bit of everything in it, from the troubles at Stern, Lockhart & Gardner (soon to be Lockhart, Gardner, & Neutral Third Party) to solid courtroom scenes to debates about ethical client representation to Alicia and Peter’s home life and navigating family management (and planning!). Read more »