Sunday (12/16)
Dexter
And sadly seasons have to come to an end. I am very glad that I picked up the first season of Dexter the week that the second season began because if I had let this show slip by me for another season I would have been disgusted with myself. After building towards the conclusion for what has felt like half the season, Dexter is somehow able to deliver on everything that has been promised. Doakes, Lila, Angel, LaGuerta, Deb, Lundy, Harry, and Dexter all get their season-long arcs dealt with in someway. Doakes’ death by explosion is disappointing only because it means that there will be no more Doakes next season. That being said, having it be Lila who kills him was sweet because it was another way to help and hurt Dexter at the same time. As for Lila, man, by the time that this episode ended I was begging for Dexter to take her out. Dexter may be a serial killer but that chick’s crazy. And the way that Dexter deals with her made everything worth it because Lila thought she had gotten away, she thought that Dexter wouldn’t track her down, and she thought what Dexter did was beautiful, but instead what Dexter did was shove a knife through her chest. There was also a nice moment where Deb comes to kids rescue and chooses her brother over taking off with Lundy. The relationship between Dexter and Deb is one of the best things on the show. The season ends with Dexter voiceovering that he has found a new path to walk on and that he no longer will be following Harry’s code, I cannot wait to see what means for the third season.
10 out of 10
Showing posts with label Television 2007-2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Television 2007-2008. Show all posts
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
TV from 12/9 - 12/15
Sunday (12/9)
Dexter
Man, it feels like Dexter has been driving hard towards the finale for over a month now. The pieces have been in place, Doakes in captivity, Lila as a crazed stalker, Rita inching back into Dexter’s life, revelations galore for Dexter, but each week brings more and more information that just clouds where the show is heading. This week saw Dexter nearly turning himself after some great scenes with Doakes. But at the same time the hatred Doakes has had for Dexter seems to be waning even though he has been locked up for days now. Watching them work together to take care of the drug dealers was fun and shows that there is a possibility that Doakes may live and not go to jail. But I still don’t see how the show can reconcile Doakes’s knowledge of Dexter without killing or arresting him. As for Lila, with her showing up at the cabin as the climax of her Dexter stalking has gotta mean she will be facing the sharp end of Dexter’s knife in the finale. Although it was nice even to see Deb berate her and tell her to leave town even if it doesn’t work. The finale cannot start fast enough.
9 out of 10
Thursday (12/13)
Why did this come back in the middle of December? If the CW had new episodes, they should have held on to them until 2008 when the rest of the networks are scrambling for shows. Not that this was even a decent episode. More awful clone storylines. Who cares? That plus no Lionel means a bad hour of television.
3 out of 10
Yeah, television has begun to disappear. Once Dexter ends this week, the holidays start and then when television should be coming back from the holiday break I have no idea how many shows that I watch will still be on. Thankfully The Wire pops up in January.
Dexter
Man, it feels like Dexter has been driving hard towards the finale for over a month now. The pieces have been in place, Doakes in captivity, Lila as a crazed stalker, Rita inching back into Dexter’s life, revelations galore for Dexter, but each week brings more and more information that just clouds where the show is heading. This week saw Dexter nearly turning himself after some great scenes with Doakes. But at the same time the hatred Doakes has had for Dexter seems to be waning even though he has been locked up for days now. Watching them work together to take care of the drug dealers was fun and shows that there is a possibility that Doakes may live and not go to jail. But I still don’t see how the show can reconcile Doakes’s knowledge of Dexter without killing or arresting him. As for Lila, with her showing up at the cabin as the climax of her Dexter stalking has gotta mean she will be facing the sharp end of Dexter’s knife in the finale. Although it was nice even to see Deb berate her and tell her to leave town even if it doesn’t work. The finale cannot start fast enough.
9 out of 10
Thursday (12/13)
Why did this come back in the middle of December? If the CW had new episodes, they should have held on to them until 2008 when the rest of the networks are scrambling for shows. Not that this was even a decent episode. More awful clone storylines. Who cares? That plus no Lionel means a bad hour of television.
3 out of 10
Yeah, television has begun to disappear. Once Dexter ends this week, the holidays start and then when television should be coming back from the holiday break I have no idea how many shows that I watch will still be on. Thankfully The Wire pops up in January.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
TV from 12/2 - 12/8
Sunday (12/2)
Dexter
Oh my lord does Lila suck ass. This has been building all season and it is only going to get worse before the end. And I still doubt that Dexter can kill her without exposing himself. Why she got to mess with Angel? Doakes is still caged throughout this episode, which leads to multiple great scenes between him and Dex. When Dexter butchers a drug dealer at the end, the effect on Doakes was fascinating to watch. This also played into the revelations about how Harry actually died. Dexter realizing that it was Harry seeing Dexter in action caused him to end his own life was a sweet twist. There was more Deb and Lundy uncomfortableness so we can move past that as quick as possibly. For the final 2 episodes it will be interesting to see how Dex does not get pinned as the Bay Harbor Butcher while dealing with both Doakes and Lila. Not the best of the season but still a solid hour.
7 out of 10
Monday (12/3)
Heroes
Finale time. I don’t think I have been impressed with a single Heroes finale yet. That’s not to say that this was a bad episode but they build and build and build but it gets difficult to deliver on all the promise. Of course the Bennet part for the episode was the highlight. Bob treating Elle like dirt, Elle turning to Noah, Noah showing up alive freaking his family out, and the badassness of Noah returning to the company. Hopefully he rolls with the Haitian and Elle now. Elle has the emotional development of a 7 year-old so all her scenes are fantastic and there needs to be more. The next best part was Sylar shooting Maya. That was therapeutic. I’ll even accept that she was brought immediately back to life because that moment was so great. Sylar does get his powers back but it was obvious because they showed the scene in the previews last week and then it was held off all the way to the preview of the next chapter but it wasn’t a shock. Peter and his buddy Adam was amusing because Peter got to whip out all his powers then use the force to open the safe that he could have phased into in 1 second. Peter is an idiot and it was annoying to watch him beat on Hiro then go so far as to force choke him on Adam’s instructions. Nathan saves the day and Hiro buries Adam alive, which is a phenomenal fate for him. I don’t care about the New Orleans storyline even if Nikki ends up dead. Nathan getting shot was a bit telegraphed for my tastes but I am hoping that the twist is that it was Noah who pulled the trigger as his first job back with the company.
7 out of 10
Life
We are running out of new episodes of good shows so thankfully NBC gives us 2 episodes of Life this week. It was a 2-parter but it was a 2-parter that still had 2 separate crimes of the weeks to solve so Life takes a couple of steps forward but still takes a step back for my taste. We get a murder in a spiritual center on Monday so Charlie gets to be completely in his element learning about whether he is actually here in the physical world. Mike Novick pops up which was nice even if he may have been the killer at one point. I don’t really care about the murder investigation, it turns out that Mike’s wife killed the man who got her pregnant, what a twist. The meat of the episode was Charlie no longer being the main suspect in Ames’ murder and then finding the name of the man who committed the murders he was sent to prison for. And Charlie gave his ex a horse.
7 out of 10
Wednesday (12/5)
Life
The second Life episode of the week was the better episode. Mainly because Charlie spends the whole hour dealing with the conspiracy against him while his current and former partners deal with the murder of the week. The man who committed the murders 12 years ago, Kyle Hollis, is played by Titus Welliver. Welliver is another Deadwood transplant, which means his performance is awesome. Charlie works him over then scares the crap out of him by digging what looks to be a grave right in front of his eyes. This causes Kyle to admit to the murders that Charlie’s lawyer hears over the phone. This allows Charlie to bring him in and completely clear his name. There is also a nice scene where Charlie lays it all down for Jack Reese while his own daughter is arresting Kyle. Jack doesn’t break though and we get the next layer of the conspiracy revealed which is that Kyle was raising the missing girl and now she is in Jack’s custody. I am always for more conspiracy and it was a great end to a great episode.
8 out of 10
When there are so few shows, there is no real reason to rank them against each other. I'm going to miss TV when its gone.
Dexter
Oh my lord does Lila suck ass. This has been building all season and it is only going to get worse before the end. And I still doubt that Dexter can kill her without exposing himself. Why she got to mess with Angel? Doakes is still caged throughout this episode, which leads to multiple great scenes between him and Dex. When Dexter butchers a drug dealer at the end, the effect on Doakes was fascinating to watch. This also played into the revelations about how Harry actually died. Dexter realizing that it was Harry seeing Dexter in action caused him to end his own life was a sweet twist. There was more Deb and Lundy uncomfortableness so we can move past that as quick as possibly. For the final 2 episodes it will be interesting to see how Dex does not get pinned as the Bay Harbor Butcher while dealing with both Doakes and Lila. Not the best of the season but still a solid hour.
7 out of 10
Monday (12/3)
Heroes
Finale time. I don’t think I have been impressed with a single Heroes finale yet. That’s not to say that this was a bad episode but they build and build and build but it gets difficult to deliver on all the promise. Of course the Bennet part for the episode was the highlight. Bob treating Elle like dirt, Elle turning to Noah, Noah showing up alive freaking his family out, and the badassness of Noah returning to the company. Hopefully he rolls with the Haitian and Elle now. Elle has the emotional development of a 7 year-old so all her scenes are fantastic and there needs to be more. The next best part was Sylar shooting Maya. That was therapeutic. I’ll even accept that she was brought immediately back to life because that moment was so great. Sylar does get his powers back but it was obvious because they showed the scene in the previews last week and then it was held off all the way to the preview of the next chapter but it wasn’t a shock. Peter and his buddy Adam was amusing because Peter got to whip out all his powers then use the force to open the safe that he could have phased into in 1 second. Peter is an idiot and it was annoying to watch him beat on Hiro then go so far as to force choke him on Adam’s instructions. Nathan saves the day and Hiro buries Adam alive, which is a phenomenal fate for him. I don’t care about the New Orleans storyline even if Nikki ends up dead. Nathan getting shot was a bit telegraphed for my tastes but I am hoping that the twist is that it was Noah who pulled the trigger as his first job back with the company.
7 out of 10
Life
We are running out of new episodes of good shows so thankfully NBC gives us 2 episodes of Life this week. It was a 2-parter but it was a 2-parter that still had 2 separate crimes of the weeks to solve so Life takes a couple of steps forward but still takes a step back for my taste. We get a murder in a spiritual center on Monday so Charlie gets to be completely in his element learning about whether he is actually here in the physical world. Mike Novick pops up which was nice even if he may have been the killer at one point. I don’t really care about the murder investigation, it turns out that Mike’s wife killed the man who got her pregnant, what a twist. The meat of the episode was Charlie no longer being the main suspect in Ames’ murder and then finding the name of the man who committed the murders he was sent to prison for. And Charlie gave his ex a horse.
7 out of 10
Wednesday (12/5)
Life
The second Life episode of the week was the better episode. Mainly because Charlie spends the whole hour dealing with the conspiracy against him while his current and former partners deal with the murder of the week. The man who committed the murders 12 years ago, Kyle Hollis, is played by Titus Welliver. Welliver is another Deadwood transplant, which means his performance is awesome. Charlie works him over then scares the crap out of him by digging what looks to be a grave right in front of his eyes. This causes Kyle to admit to the murders that Charlie’s lawyer hears over the phone. This allows Charlie to bring him in and completely clear his name. There is also a nice scene where Charlie lays it all down for Jack Reese while his own daughter is arresting Kyle. Jack doesn’t break though and we get the next layer of the conspiracy revealed which is that Kyle was raising the missing girl and now she is in Jack’s custody. I am always for more conspiracy and it was a great end to a great episode.
8 out of 10
When there are so few shows, there is no real reason to rank them against each other. I'm going to miss TV when its gone.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
TV from 11/25 -12/1
Sunday (11/25)
Dexter
The last 5-10 minutes were incredible. The rest of the episode was the usual greatness, but when Doakes shows up in the swamps to confront Dexter everything went to a whole new level. Doakes becoming the main Bay Harbor Butcher suspect was a thing of beauty. I may have complained about Doakes getting his own story arcs earlier in the season, but everything has come together nicely. Now we have a few episodes left and Dexter has to deal with Doakes while not exposing himself. You have to assume that Doakes will end up on the table for dissection but I am not even certain of that. Plus Dexter now has a bullet in his leg and how is he going to explain that? Lila pops up again and I have no idea how Dexter is going to deal with her. Deb and Lundy move along with their relationship that makes me go hysterically blind. I don’t even want to speculate about Dexter, I just want to watch new episodes as soon as possible.
9 out of 10
Monday (11/26)
Heroes
Well, there had to be a letdown after last week. On one hand they are building towards a nice conclusion for this chapter but on the other hand these are some of the dumbest mofos on television. Peter, Maya, and Mohinder are all calling out to be smacked upside the head. I can’t stand any of them right now. David Ander’s Adam is awesome but Peter blindly following him is just unacceptable. Adam shoots someone dead and Peter just shrugs his shoulders. Hiro shows up and tells him what he is doing is wrong and instead of listening he fights him. If he weren’t the star of the show I would hope that he is one of the characters on the chopping block for the finale. Maya has been an awful character with an awful power from the get go. Since Sylar is so damn awesome this whole storyline is not holding the show down. Hopefully he cuts her head open next week and takes her powers. As for Mohinder … screw that guy. I shot and killed you in front of your daughter for your own damn good. There is nothing worse than an idealist, but on the other hand he is just the right level of character that can be bumped off as a shocker for the finale. The magical iPod shows up in New Orleans again even if that whole storyline is weak. And Elle is still awesome with her busted arm. Should be a sweet finale this week.
7 out of 10
Tuesday (11/27)
Bones
And another episode of the Bones happened, there was nothing remarkable and there was nothing horrible. It was just a good episode.
5 out of 10
House
This may end up being my favorite season so far. They were able to get 9 episodes out of House choosing his new staff and pulled off a worthwhile conclusion to the whole process. Cuddy forces House’s hand but House works Cuddy so that he gets 3 of the final 4 instead of 2. Kumar, the plastic surgeon, and the chick known as 13 survive while the bitch finally walks the plank. House plays all sorts of the games with the 4 of them throughout the episode; it was fun to watch everyone squirm over his insane scoring method. Hopefully now that everything is settled, when the show returns Chase, Cameron, Foreman, Wilson, and Cuddy can now be brought back to the forefront. There was a rather weak Wilson storyline this week but at least it got some House and Wilson sparring with each other. Cameron and Chase get little more than a walk-on this week. I’ve put up with it and even praised the show but everything is settled and I want my old favorites to shine once again.
9 out of 10
The Unit
I made it to the end of the fall but I don’t think I will make it any farther. The show is a classic story of the week style and there isn’t much to write about from week to week.
Reaper
Much like Chuck, I am giving up on Reaper. I may still watch it but I don’t feel like reviewing it.
Wednesday (11/28)
Bionic Woman
Hooray, it came back. But sadly there is still no Sarah Corvus and Antonio looks to be really dead which is confusing as hell. What is left is a so-so show. It is still fun when her powers kick on, like when she rips the door off the car and throws it across the parking lot, but the rest of the show lacks. Maybe not all of it, the Berkut folks are constantly entertaining. The pieces are still there but they just haven’t been put in the correct order yet.
5 out of 10
Life
Hey, this came back this week. Shockingly this has become the most consistent of the new shows. I don’t think it will ever be able to overcome the one and done episode structure like House has, but it is still pretty damn strong. The conspiracy to lock Charlie up is still in the background so we do get movement on that nearly every week. There was some fun stuff between Charlie and Reese’s father, Charlie and IAD, and Charlie and Calamity Jane all revolving around the conspiracy. The murder of the week was a bit odd with the kitten-loving murderer and the child stealing fake father. Still, Charlie is fun to watch as he acts off and disturbs everyone around him.
6 out of 10
Dexter and House are clearly the head of the pack for the week. Dexter is flying towards some sort of insane finale. And I believe this is pretty much it; next week is about half of this week and then everything fades into the Writer's Strike wind.
Dexter
The last 5-10 minutes were incredible. The rest of the episode was the usual greatness, but when Doakes shows up in the swamps to confront Dexter everything went to a whole new level. Doakes becoming the main Bay Harbor Butcher suspect was a thing of beauty. I may have complained about Doakes getting his own story arcs earlier in the season, but everything has come together nicely. Now we have a few episodes left and Dexter has to deal with Doakes while not exposing himself. You have to assume that Doakes will end up on the table for dissection but I am not even certain of that. Plus Dexter now has a bullet in his leg and how is he going to explain that? Lila pops up again and I have no idea how Dexter is going to deal with her. Deb and Lundy move along with their relationship that makes me go hysterically blind. I don’t even want to speculate about Dexter, I just want to watch new episodes as soon as possible.
9 out of 10
Monday (11/26)
Heroes
Well, there had to be a letdown after last week. On one hand they are building towards a nice conclusion for this chapter but on the other hand these are some of the dumbest mofos on television. Peter, Maya, and Mohinder are all calling out to be smacked upside the head. I can’t stand any of them right now. David Ander’s Adam is awesome but Peter blindly following him is just unacceptable. Adam shoots someone dead and Peter just shrugs his shoulders. Hiro shows up and tells him what he is doing is wrong and instead of listening he fights him. If he weren’t the star of the show I would hope that he is one of the characters on the chopping block for the finale. Maya has been an awful character with an awful power from the get go. Since Sylar is so damn awesome this whole storyline is not holding the show down. Hopefully he cuts her head open next week and takes her powers. As for Mohinder … screw that guy. I shot and killed you in front of your daughter for your own damn good. There is nothing worse than an idealist, but on the other hand he is just the right level of character that can be bumped off as a shocker for the finale. The magical iPod shows up in New Orleans again even if that whole storyline is weak. And Elle is still awesome with her busted arm. Should be a sweet finale this week.
7 out of 10
Tuesday (11/27)
Bones
And another episode of the Bones happened, there was nothing remarkable and there was nothing horrible. It was just a good episode.
5 out of 10
House
This may end up being my favorite season so far. They were able to get 9 episodes out of House choosing his new staff and pulled off a worthwhile conclusion to the whole process. Cuddy forces House’s hand but House works Cuddy so that he gets 3 of the final 4 instead of 2. Kumar, the plastic surgeon, and the chick known as 13 survive while the bitch finally walks the plank. House plays all sorts of the games with the 4 of them throughout the episode; it was fun to watch everyone squirm over his insane scoring method. Hopefully now that everything is settled, when the show returns Chase, Cameron, Foreman, Wilson, and Cuddy can now be brought back to the forefront. There was a rather weak Wilson storyline this week but at least it got some House and Wilson sparring with each other. Cameron and Chase get little more than a walk-on this week. I’ve put up with it and even praised the show but everything is settled and I want my old favorites to shine once again.
9 out of 10
The Unit
I made it to the end of the fall but I don’t think I will make it any farther. The show is a classic story of the week style and there isn’t much to write about from week to week.
Reaper
Much like Chuck, I am giving up on Reaper. I may still watch it but I don’t feel like reviewing it.
Wednesday (11/28)
Bionic Woman
Hooray, it came back. But sadly there is still no Sarah Corvus and Antonio looks to be really dead which is confusing as hell. What is left is a so-so show. It is still fun when her powers kick on, like when she rips the door off the car and throws it across the parking lot, but the rest of the show lacks. Maybe not all of it, the Berkut folks are constantly entertaining. The pieces are still there but they just haven’t been put in the correct order yet.
5 out of 10
Life
Hey, this came back this week. Shockingly this has become the most consistent of the new shows. I don’t think it will ever be able to overcome the one and done episode structure like House has, but it is still pretty damn strong. The conspiracy to lock Charlie up is still in the background so we do get movement on that nearly every week. There was some fun stuff between Charlie and Reese’s father, Charlie and IAD, and Charlie and Calamity Jane all revolving around the conspiracy. The murder of the week was a bit odd with the kitten-loving murderer and the child stealing fake father. Still, Charlie is fun to watch as he acts off and disturbs everyone around him.
6 out of 10
Dexter and House are clearly the head of the pack for the week. Dexter is flying towards some sort of insane finale. And I believe this is pretty much it; next week is about half of this week and then everything fades into the Writer's Strike wind.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
TV from 11/18 - 11/24
Sunday (11/18)
Dexter
I keep trying to figure out how Dexter is going to stay one step ahead of the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation, but this episode seemed to guarantee that he would at least become a legitimate suspect. I can see him turning it on Doakes since he wasn’t apart of the force and anything he removes from Dexter house can’t be proved. Still, the end of this episode wasn’t cheery for Mr. Morgan. I am trying to conveniently forget about Deb and Lundy because it is impossible to think about without having my skin crawl. The Lila disaster didn’t take long and this is only a problem for Dexter because he can’t kill her because it can be easily traced back to him. This wasn’t my favorite episode because the first half of the episode was downright boring but I am completely intrigued with where they are going next week and beyond. I just don’t understand how they can possibly catch Dexter and still have a show but I’ll wait and see.
7 out of 10
Monday (11/19)
Chuck
I officially don’t care anymore.
Heroes
And that is why I follow this show even when it bores me to tears. This was the second best episode in the shows history; I don’t know if any episode will ever beat Company Man with the explanation of Bennet’s back-story and the ridiculously badass scene where Claire walks out of the burning house with no skin. And shockingly, Bennet is the main player in this great hour. I cannot tell you how much I wish Heroes was just about him and him alone. From turning West into his running buddy in about 5 minutes, to beating the hell out of Mohinder because he deserves it, to his scene with a trapped Elle, to the prisoner exchange where he shoots Elle and was about to shoot Bob before Mohinder finally makes a decision and it is the wrong one, to Claire finally realizing that her dad rules, to me contemplating never watching the show again for 10 minutes before he pops up in the final scene, Bennet elevates this show. Of course there were 2 other arcs going on but thankfully 1 of them was really good and the other was short enough not to hinder the whole episode. Hiro trying to stop Sulu’s death was nice because it was another step in Hiro’s journey plus he finds out that Adam killed his father. Parkman becoming an asshole that bends people’s will to his own was boring as usual but it is fun that he practices his mind control on Molly who he supposedly loves. His scene with Mama Petrelli was good because her character is a helluvalot more fun than his. If only all Heroes episodes were this good. Plus Elle needs to be a main character because Kristen Bell is unbelievable in every one of her scenes.
10 out of 10
Weeds
That was a disappointing finale. It wasn’t a bad episode by any means but the show was building and building for the last month and this was a letdown. There is a very obvious method to every Weeds season, it starts with Nancy’s life in turmoil, she gets her shit together, only to have the season end with her back into another pile of shit. The 3rd season ends with her losing all her product, burning down her house, packing the family up, and Celia giving her up to the DEA. Celia sucks and I'm glad that we got back to that because not hating her over the last episode and a half was making me nauseous. There was a cool conversation between Nancy and Guillermo that was the highlight of the episode but that is all that is worth mentioning. I’m sure the 4th season will come back strong, see ya next summer.
6 out of 10
Tuesday (11/20)
Bones
It was nice for them to actually move on the cannibal storyline that they began the season with. And because of that connection, this episode felt more important than most. There were a bunch of revelations about the cannibal or cannibals as the story went on. Plus having Sweets running around the lab was a nice change. More nonsense with Bones and her family is always fun and this had a nice conclusion with Booth helping them out. Weird ending since it felt like a cliffhanger but I doubt that next week will be a true continuation of the cannibal plot. There will be another skeleton of the week.
7 out of 10
House
This was another great episode that completely ignores Chase and Cameron. On top of that, Wilson gets about 2 scenes and Foreman just hangs around in the background and worse of all Cuddy is a major part of the story but she barely gets any screen-time. This is going to get old but at the same time they are eliminating all the new faces so hopefully everyone can get back onscreen soon enough. Since there are only 5 hopefuls left, all of them get their time to shine. Kumar repeatedly defies House but is proven right and keeps his job, the dog killer may have a terminal disease but she drugs House and gets to keep her job, and the Mormon works a backroom deal with Cuddy and gets fired for it. House asking for Cuddy’s panties in order to gain immunity was good enough but it was made even better by Foreman telling them that that is how he got hired and House’s way of finding out if the Mormon actually got the real deal. And the answer to everything was lupus, which has been 4 years coming. It was nice to see House makes a big deal about it.
8 out of 10
The Unit
Williams is dead lets move on and not even bring it up. And with that, I can slip back to barely paying attention to the hour. There was some decent gang stuff with Grey but the highlight of the main story was Bob and Jonas working the investigator already on the case. The scene where Bob acts like Jonas’ superior was cool. The other side of the episode was Tiffy getting beat up and Mack seeking revenge with the Colonel at his side. Yawn but at least it seems like it will be bring that triangle to a conclusion. Oh well, I can’t love every show I watch.
6 out of 10
Now that is a manageable week. Heroes is a clear number 1 with their best episode of the season. House takes second again because I love the new season even if I am the only one. Television armageddon is quickly approaching so soon there will be no reviews a week.
Dexter
I keep trying to figure out how Dexter is going to stay one step ahead of the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation, but this episode seemed to guarantee that he would at least become a legitimate suspect. I can see him turning it on Doakes since he wasn’t apart of the force and anything he removes from Dexter house can’t be proved. Still, the end of this episode wasn’t cheery for Mr. Morgan. I am trying to conveniently forget about Deb and Lundy because it is impossible to think about without having my skin crawl. The Lila disaster didn’t take long and this is only a problem for Dexter because he can’t kill her because it can be easily traced back to him. This wasn’t my favorite episode because the first half of the episode was downright boring but I am completely intrigued with where they are going next week and beyond. I just don’t understand how they can possibly catch Dexter and still have a show but I’ll wait and see.
7 out of 10
Monday (11/19)
Chuck
I officially don’t care anymore.
Heroes
And that is why I follow this show even when it bores me to tears. This was the second best episode in the shows history; I don’t know if any episode will ever beat Company Man with the explanation of Bennet’s back-story and the ridiculously badass scene where Claire walks out of the burning house with no skin. And shockingly, Bennet is the main player in this great hour. I cannot tell you how much I wish Heroes was just about him and him alone. From turning West into his running buddy in about 5 minutes, to beating the hell out of Mohinder because he deserves it, to his scene with a trapped Elle, to the prisoner exchange where he shoots Elle and was about to shoot Bob before Mohinder finally makes a decision and it is the wrong one, to Claire finally realizing that her dad rules, to me contemplating never watching the show again for 10 minutes before he pops up in the final scene, Bennet elevates this show. Of course there were 2 other arcs going on but thankfully 1 of them was really good and the other was short enough not to hinder the whole episode. Hiro trying to stop Sulu’s death was nice because it was another step in Hiro’s journey plus he finds out that Adam killed his father. Parkman becoming an asshole that bends people’s will to his own was boring as usual but it is fun that he practices his mind control on Molly who he supposedly loves. His scene with Mama Petrelli was good because her character is a helluvalot more fun than his. If only all Heroes episodes were this good. Plus Elle needs to be a main character because Kristen Bell is unbelievable in every one of her scenes.
10 out of 10
Weeds
That was a disappointing finale. It wasn’t a bad episode by any means but the show was building and building for the last month and this was a letdown. There is a very obvious method to every Weeds season, it starts with Nancy’s life in turmoil, she gets her shit together, only to have the season end with her back into another pile of shit. The 3rd season ends with her losing all her product, burning down her house, packing the family up, and Celia giving her up to the DEA. Celia sucks and I'm glad that we got back to that because not hating her over the last episode and a half was making me nauseous. There was a cool conversation between Nancy and Guillermo that was the highlight of the episode but that is all that is worth mentioning. I’m sure the 4th season will come back strong, see ya next summer.
6 out of 10
Tuesday (11/20)
Bones
It was nice for them to actually move on the cannibal storyline that they began the season with. And because of that connection, this episode felt more important than most. There were a bunch of revelations about the cannibal or cannibals as the story went on. Plus having Sweets running around the lab was a nice change. More nonsense with Bones and her family is always fun and this had a nice conclusion with Booth helping them out. Weird ending since it felt like a cliffhanger but I doubt that next week will be a true continuation of the cannibal plot. There will be another skeleton of the week.
7 out of 10
House
This was another great episode that completely ignores Chase and Cameron. On top of that, Wilson gets about 2 scenes and Foreman just hangs around in the background and worse of all Cuddy is a major part of the story but she barely gets any screen-time. This is going to get old but at the same time they are eliminating all the new faces so hopefully everyone can get back onscreen soon enough. Since there are only 5 hopefuls left, all of them get their time to shine. Kumar repeatedly defies House but is proven right and keeps his job, the dog killer may have a terminal disease but she drugs House and gets to keep her job, and the Mormon works a backroom deal with Cuddy and gets fired for it. House asking for Cuddy’s panties in order to gain immunity was good enough but it was made even better by Foreman telling them that that is how he got hired and House’s way of finding out if the Mormon actually got the real deal. And the answer to everything was lupus, which has been 4 years coming. It was nice to see House makes a big deal about it.
8 out of 10
The Unit
Williams is dead lets move on and not even bring it up. And with that, I can slip back to barely paying attention to the hour. There was some decent gang stuff with Grey but the highlight of the main story was Bob and Jonas working the investigator already on the case. The scene where Bob acts like Jonas’ superior was cool. The other side of the episode was Tiffy getting beat up and Mack seeking revenge with the Colonel at his side. Yawn but at least it seems like it will be bring that triangle to a conclusion. Oh well, I can’t love every show I watch.
6 out of 10
Now that is a manageable week. Heroes is a clear number 1 with their best episode of the season. House takes second again because I love the new season even if I am the only one. Television armageddon is quickly approaching so soon there will be no reviews a week.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
TV from 11/11 - 11/17
Sunday (11/11)
Dexter
A whole lot of stuff went down this week. I would say that the best point of the episode was Dexter playing Doakes like a fiddle and getting him suspended from the force. Of course this isn’t going to stop Doakes from digging into his life, but watching Dexter antagonize Doakes into attacking him the middle of the office was a thing of beauty. On the other end for Dexter is Lila going into full-on crazy girlfriend mode which was great in that she was naked again but not so great in that the more you screw with Dexter the better chance he is going to kill you. And since Dexter is a complete psychopath he has already seen through her manipulations. I’m still not comfortable with what is going on with Deb and Lundy. Thankfully Rita booted her lunatic mother. All of those character moments were going on along with some nice movement on the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation. It was just another great episode.
8 out of 10
Monday (11/12)
Prison Break
What a surprise! Lots and lots of stuff was teased but in the end barely anything has changed. The formula of Prison Break drives me insane. The evil shadow company assaults Sona and nothing happens. Michael stops Whistler from escaping and then the helicopters leave. The big change is Michael is taken out of Sona and the end of the episode … ooooh what could that mean? All the other characters are still in Sona, do you think we’ll never see them again? I don’t care. Lincoln and Sucre do stuff but since no one escapes it doesn’t really amount to much. They did buy a shack so maybe they will live happily ever after together. Thankfully Prison Break is going on hiatus but sadly it will come back before 24 so I won’t get my Fox Mondays back for many more months.
5 out of 10
Chuck
Marshall is an evil ex-gymnast who now poisons people for a living? Well if that’s what it takes to get Kevin Weisman some work, fine. He was the threat of the week which existed merely to give everybody truth serum so that the revelations could commence. In the end all that will matter is that Sarah was able to lie to Chuck and hide her feelings for him so that he will now get a real girlfriend. Or something like that, I was fast-forwarding without fear. Harry Tang looks to have been written off the show, which was weird even if he is a part of the Dexter cast. He’s better on Dexter so I’ll take it. It was another ho-hum episode.
6 out of 10
Heroes
What a surprise this episode did not live up to all of its hype. I am shocked. The problem for me is that when it wasn’t about the Petrelli family the whole thing lost steam. There was too much time spent on the bleeding eyes siblings and what happened to D.L. Who cares about either of those things? Maya and her brother have been the absolute worst storyline in the show’s history and that includes Parkman’s marital problems last season. And the D.L. arc just annoyed me because he survived a shot to the gut in order to die later by being shot in the gut. But the whole episode wasn’t a waste because there was plenty of good stuff with Peter and Nathan. That was a nice twist to have the burnt face Nathan kept seeing early in the season be his own face instead of him thinking about Peter. But still if he was healed magically like that why has he turned to the bottle over the fate of his brother? Wouldn’t Peter be the first person he thought of after he is mysteriously cured? Peter in company prison with Adam was fantastic. David Anders is great in this role and Kristen Bell finally returns and kills it with her interactions with Peter. And the Haitian pops up again and even speaks! There is always enough to keep me interested and this week had more good than bad.
7 out of 10
Weeds
Weeds keeps on rolling to another crazy finale. I don’t even know where to start. Should I go with Conrad and Vaneeta dealing with an annoying neighbor blaming Jews and talking about how cute little black babies are? Or maybe Celia turning to Heylia in order to use her new drug money? Or better yet Nancy turning to Guillermo for protection and keeping up her drug business-negotiating tactic of drinking an iced coffee during the meetings? There was also Silas stealing Conrad’s gun, Shane still talking to his dead dad, Heylia finding out about Nancy and Conrad, and Andy actually showing some backbone for his family. And the episode ends with Guillermo setting fire to the biker’s crops causing a wildfire. Awesome.
9 out of 10
Tuesday (11/13)
Bones
Alright, an episode full of 80s jokes. That is about it; some funny jokes and cute moments with Booth and Bones in therapy but nothing groundbreaking. It is really hard to review this show since I have nothing to say about it. I enjoy it then I forget it.
6 out of 10
House
Well that was encouraging. Michael Michele doesn’t join the show instead she pops up for another episode to destroy House’s mind before getting fired at the end. House having to depend on Foreman because he doesn’t trust himself when she makes suggestions was sweet. It is still obvious that all of the new faces will be slowly eliminated throughout the season but at least it looks to be a season-long storyline. This week we got the spotlight on the plastic surgeon and there are revelations aplenty before he impresses House by constantly disagreeing and working against him. They all get some funny moments when being filmed by the documentary crew and even that has a great conclusion with all of the House footage edited to make him look like a nice guy. They were somehow able to fit in Cuddy, Wilson, Chase and Cameron around the edges of the main storyline. Who the hell knows where Cameron’s admittance of love towards House will lead if it leads to anything at all. Not the best of the season but still another good episode.
8 out of 10
The Unit
This was probably the best episode of The Unit that I have seen. They actually made Williams’ death mean something. And it wasn’t even having Jonas go after the man whose soldiers kill Williams; it was the last segment of the episode where each character was shown preparing for his funeral then showing the funeral itself. This was all very well done. I have to take some points off for Jonas turning into a one-man A-Team by building a super truck to invade the enemy’s compound. Really? This was balanced with solid storylines for Mack and Bob, one dealing with William’s autopsy and one breaking through a journalist’s Stockholm syndrome. It would be nice if all The Unit episodes were this good.
8 out of 10
Reaper
This is one of the better episodes of Reaper just because of the Sock/Gladys storyline. This allowed for plenty of great Sock moments but culminated with the hilarious dream of them going at it on her couch that Gladys put in his head. His reaction to find this out at the DMV was perfect. There was more Sam and Andi nonsense that is just more stalling before putting them together. The main storyline was good because it lead to a nice moment where the Devil shows Sam what happens at the end of a deal with the devil. Not good for Sam’s future.
7 out of 10
Wednesday (11/14)
Bionic Woman
Well that was just completely unexpected. On one hand this was the first good episode without Sarah Corvus but it ended with the death of Antonio. And that sucks because Isaiah Washington was creating one of the best characters on the show. Maybe he isn’t dead or maybe he’ll become bionic or maybe he is moving on to a different show. Who knows? Jaime and her CIA boyfriend is still dragging down the show but it didn’t kill this episode and even had a couple of nice moments where she whips on some CIA folks who were spying on her. It was nice to see Curtis Manning show up even if only for an episode. So it looks like I won’t be abandoning Bionic Woman yet.
7 out of 10
Life
Well that was a bit of a disappointment. With the way that the episode was previewed I thought the whole thing would be about the murder of the detective who arrested Charlie, but instead we got half of that and half investigation of the week. The usual was the usual and I don’t have much to say about it. While the other half of the episode was as good as I hoped it would be. There were great scene after scene with Charlie and Calamity Jane, Charlie being questioned by IAD, Charlie meeting Reese’s dad, Ted clearing out Charlie’s closet of paranoia before it was searched, and Charlie finding out how bad the DA wants to take him down. Damn this episode could have been great if it was only about Charlie.
7 out of 10
Thursday (11/15)
Smallville
It is nice to see that Smallville can suck even without concentrating on Lana. Clark is an idiot and resurrects his mother even though he knows its going to lead to something bad and even after it starts turning to shit he is blind to it because he has his fake mother back. Zor-El was decent but not good enough to carry the episode. Lionel only got a scene and a half so that’s a disappointment. There was also some extended nonsense with Lois and the editor, which leads to Lois taking her job seriously and Lex hiding his brother from Lionel. Yeah okay fine. And worse of all Clark takes his mom to Oliver Queens’ old place and all it does is remind us of another decent character who is not around anymore.
4 out of 10
This will be the last big week until the writer's strike ends. Next week is Thanksgiving so half the week is shot. This week saw the end of Prison Break and the Weeds ends next week. These are all good things. I'll give Weeds the top slot and put Dexter in right behind it.
Dexter
A whole lot of stuff went down this week. I would say that the best point of the episode was Dexter playing Doakes like a fiddle and getting him suspended from the force. Of course this isn’t going to stop Doakes from digging into his life, but watching Dexter antagonize Doakes into attacking him the middle of the office was a thing of beauty. On the other end for Dexter is Lila going into full-on crazy girlfriend mode which was great in that she was naked again but not so great in that the more you screw with Dexter the better chance he is going to kill you. And since Dexter is a complete psychopath he has already seen through her manipulations. I’m still not comfortable with what is going on with Deb and Lundy. Thankfully Rita booted her lunatic mother. All of those character moments were going on along with some nice movement on the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation. It was just another great episode.
8 out of 10
Monday (11/12)
Prison Break
What a surprise! Lots and lots of stuff was teased but in the end barely anything has changed. The formula of Prison Break drives me insane. The evil shadow company assaults Sona and nothing happens. Michael stops Whistler from escaping and then the helicopters leave. The big change is Michael is taken out of Sona and the end of the episode … ooooh what could that mean? All the other characters are still in Sona, do you think we’ll never see them again? I don’t care. Lincoln and Sucre do stuff but since no one escapes it doesn’t really amount to much. They did buy a shack so maybe they will live happily ever after together. Thankfully Prison Break is going on hiatus but sadly it will come back before 24 so I won’t get my Fox Mondays back for many more months.
5 out of 10
Chuck
Marshall is an evil ex-gymnast who now poisons people for a living? Well if that’s what it takes to get Kevin Weisman some work, fine. He was the threat of the week which existed merely to give everybody truth serum so that the revelations could commence. In the end all that will matter is that Sarah was able to lie to Chuck and hide her feelings for him so that he will now get a real girlfriend. Or something like that, I was fast-forwarding without fear. Harry Tang looks to have been written off the show, which was weird even if he is a part of the Dexter cast. He’s better on Dexter so I’ll take it. It was another ho-hum episode.
6 out of 10
Heroes
What a surprise this episode did not live up to all of its hype. I am shocked. The problem for me is that when it wasn’t about the Petrelli family the whole thing lost steam. There was too much time spent on the bleeding eyes siblings and what happened to D.L. Who cares about either of those things? Maya and her brother have been the absolute worst storyline in the show’s history and that includes Parkman’s marital problems last season. And the D.L. arc just annoyed me because he survived a shot to the gut in order to die later by being shot in the gut. But the whole episode wasn’t a waste because there was plenty of good stuff with Peter and Nathan. That was a nice twist to have the burnt face Nathan kept seeing early in the season be his own face instead of him thinking about Peter. But still if he was healed magically like that why has he turned to the bottle over the fate of his brother? Wouldn’t Peter be the first person he thought of after he is mysteriously cured? Peter in company prison with Adam was fantastic. David Anders is great in this role and Kristen Bell finally returns and kills it with her interactions with Peter. And the Haitian pops up again and even speaks! There is always enough to keep me interested and this week had more good than bad.
7 out of 10
Weeds
Weeds keeps on rolling to another crazy finale. I don’t even know where to start. Should I go with Conrad and Vaneeta dealing with an annoying neighbor blaming Jews and talking about how cute little black babies are? Or maybe Celia turning to Heylia in order to use her new drug money? Or better yet Nancy turning to Guillermo for protection and keeping up her drug business-negotiating tactic of drinking an iced coffee during the meetings? There was also Silas stealing Conrad’s gun, Shane still talking to his dead dad, Heylia finding out about Nancy and Conrad, and Andy actually showing some backbone for his family. And the episode ends with Guillermo setting fire to the biker’s crops causing a wildfire. Awesome.
9 out of 10
Tuesday (11/13)
Bones
Alright, an episode full of 80s jokes. That is about it; some funny jokes and cute moments with Booth and Bones in therapy but nothing groundbreaking. It is really hard to review this show since I have nothing to say about it. I enjoy it then I forget it.
6 out of 10
House
Well that was encouraging. Michael Michele doesn’t join the show instead she pops up for another episode to destroy House’s mind before getting fired at the end. House having to depend on Foreman because he doesn’t trust himself when she makes suggestions was sweet. It is still obvious that all of the new faces will be slowly eliminated throughout the season but at least it looks to be a season-long storyline. This week we got the spotlight on the plastic surgeon and there are revelations aplenty before he impresses House by constantly disagreeing and working against him. They all get some funny moments when being filmed by the documentary crew and even that has a great conclusion with all of the House footage edited to make him look like a nice guy. They were somehow able to fit in Cuddy, Wilson, Chase and Cameron around the edges of the main storyline. Who the hell knows where Cameron’s admittance of love towards House will lead if it leads to anything at all. Not the best of the season but still another good episode.
8 out of 10
The Unit
This was probably the best episode of The Unit that I have seen. They actually made Williams’ death mean something. And it wasn’t even having Jonas go after the man whose soldiers kill Williams; it was the last segment of the episode where each character was shown preparing for his funeral then showing the funeral itself. This was all very well done. I have to take some points off for Jonas turning into a one-man A-Team by building a super truck to invade the enemy’s compound. Really? This was balanced with solid storylines for Mack and Bob, one dealing with William’s autopsy and one breaking through a journalist’s Stockholm syndrome. It would be nice if all The Unit episodes were this good.
8 out of 10
Reaper
This is one of the better episodes of Reaper just because of the Sock/Gladys storyline. This allowed for plenty of great Sock moments but culminated with the hilarious dream of them going at it on her couch that Gladys put in his head. His reaction to find this out at the DMV was perfect. There was more Sam and Andi nonsense that is just more stalling before putting them together. The main storyline was good because it lead to a nice moment where the Devil shows Sam what happens at the end of a deal with the devil. Not good for Sam’s future.
7 out of 10
Wednesday (11/14)
Bionic Woman
Well that was just completely unexpected. On one hand this was the first good episode without Sarah Corvus but it ended with the death of Antonio. And that sucks because Isaiah Washington was creating one of the best characters on the show. Maybe he isn’t dead or maybe he’ll become bionic or maybe he is moving on to a different show. Who knows? Jaime and her CIA boyfriend is still dragging down the show but it didn’t kill this episode and even had a couple of nice moments where she whips on some CIA folks who were spying on her. It was nice to see Curtis Manning show up even if only for an episode. So it looks like I won’t be abandoning Bionic Woman yet.
7 out of 10
Life
Well that was a bit of a disappointment. With the way that the episode was previewed I thought the whole thing would be about the murder of the detective who arrested Charlie, but instead we got half of that and half investigation of the week. The usual was the usual and I don’t have much to say about it. While the other half of the episode was as good as I hoped it would be. There were great scene after scene with Charlie and Calamity Jane, Charlie being questioned by IAD, Charlie meeting Reese’s dad, Ted clearing out Charlie’s closet of paranoia before it was searched, and Charlie finding out how bad the DA wants to take him down. Damn this episode could have been great if it was only about Charlie.
7 out of 10
Thursday (11/15)
Smallville
It is nice to see that Smallville can suck even without concentrating on Lana. Clark is an idiot and resurrects his mother even though he knows its going to lead to something bad and even after it starts turning to shit he is blind to it because he has his fake mother back. Zor-El was decent but not good enough to carry the episode. Lionel only got a scene and a half so that’s a disappointment. There was also some extended nonsense with Lois and the editor, which leads to Lois taking her job seriously and Lex hiding his brother from Lionel. Yeah okay fine. And worse of all Clark takes his mom to Oliver Queens’ old place and all it does is remind us of another decent character who is not around anymore.
4 out of 10
This will be the last big week until the writer's strike ends. Next week is Thanksgiving so half the week is shot. This week saw the end of Prison Break and the Weeds ends next week. These are all good things. I'll give Weeds the top slot and put Dexter in right behind it.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
TV from 11/4 - 11/10
Sunday (11/4)
Dexter
This show delivers like nobodies business. The previous Doakes storylines come to the forefront now because LaGuerta assumes Doakes is stalking Dexter because Doakes is crazy not because Dexter is actually the Bay Harbor Butcher. That was a nice plot point. Dexter, Rita, and Lila blow up in a spectacular fashion. This is fun because the only reason Dexter went to NA was to please Rita but now through working with Lila he has made some realizations about himself that have pushed him away from Rita. That and he got back to killing for the first time in a few weeks. And he no longer fully believes in Harry’s code so this kill was the first he chose to do instead of fulfilling some kind of need. Plus his conversation with his copycat was more topnotch work by Michael C. Hall. Dex also sleeps with Lila and breaks up with Rita which has been building for weeks. And there was a nice storyline with Deb and Lundy where Deb mistook Lundy working with Dex as replacing her instead of him just hating Masuka because he is an ass. Now that Damages is gone, Dexter has slid right into the best show airing right now.
9 out of 10
Monday (11/5)
Prison Break
Aw man, 2 hours? Alright lets get this over with. First things first, after all the advertising and 2 hours of the show, there was no prison break. There was an attempted break but in the end Michael is still behind bars and Lincoln is still without his son. The only changers were Michael now has to work with his new partner Lechero while finding a way to deal with the two-faced Whistler plus Linc has to deal with lying to his brother. It does look like they found a way to free the entire cast next week with what looks like a military strike on Sona. And Sarah looks to really be dead with continues to be just an awful decision no matter what type of friction it causes between Michael and Linc. I can’t wait for the writer’s strike to stop new episodes of this.
5 out of 10
Chuck
Um, what happened here? Chuck had to go back to Stanford and it was really painful for him. We learned that Bryce may have actually been a good friend to Chuck and that there are many heavily armed Stanford students who actually work for the CIA. That’s good to know. I’m still bored.
5 out of 10
Heroes
Now that was what I was waiting for. The show may be spinning its wheels this season, but at least David Anders gets to be Sark again as the newly revealed big evil Adam Monroe. Does it make up for the interminably long Hiro in ancient Japan storyline? Hells no but at least its over. The other highlight this week was more Professor X style telepathy between Parkman and his dad. I love the idea of locking someone inside their worse memory. That is such a badass power. And so ends the good stuff this week. The rest included Claire turning into every annoying teenage television stereotype, Mohinder becoming spineless, and Peter finds out that he has to stop the end of the world again. And he compounds that by ditching his girlfriend in the apocalyptic future, you suck dude.
6 out of 10
Weeds
Weeds has definitely reestablished itself as the show that I loved during the first 2 seasons. As is the norm for Nancy, every thing goes to shit this week. She runs out of the good weed, the new supplier’s weed sucks, the new supplier then beats the shit out Silas to warn Nancy, and Shane has gone insane. So we now get to switch back to the other great part of Weeds, Nancy scrambling to keep everything afloat. I am pissed that they made Celia enjoyable this week but that was bound to happen when she gets to play scenes against Heylia. I hope the rest of the season continues to have multiple Heylia scenes because she delivers every single time. Nancy’s U-Turn tattoo makes my mourn his passing all over again.
8 out of 10
Tuesday (11/6)
Bones
A George Mason sighting automatically makes this a worthwhile episode. And playing completely against type, he is a jackass in a suit. Please bring him back throughout the season. The other highlights were Angela’s magical abilities kicking in allowing her to see the murder victim immediately after looking at a skull, Booth going on about his gift of a universal remote, and all the Gormagon jokes. Good episode.
7 out of 10
House
Well that was interesting. Definitely one of the lesser episodes this season mainly because when you remove House from the hospital you also remove all of the great scenes he can be having with the rest of the cast. We still got another great House/Wilson conversation with House letting the government know about Wilson smuggling heroin in from Afghanistan. House working with the CIA was fun but it concentrated more on him hitting on Michael Michele than him pissing off G-Men. The Foreman story was weak but had a great ending with House actually supporting him and the random minion without a personality was revealed to be crazy about polio before departing the show. Michelle showing up for a job at the end was weird and I wonder where that will lead. Meaning the cast is already bursting at the seams.
7 out of 10
The Unit
What the hell? After 2 plus seasons without killing any significant cast members, now they start killing folk? If it is followed up on it can improve the show by adding that level of danger to their missions but I highly doubt Jonas, Bob, or Mack will ever be on the chopping block. Goodbye secondary black guy, I never knew anything about you. I fast forwarded through all the stuff back at the base so I have no idea what the wives were doing.
6 out of 10
Reaper
What the hell? Is Andi MacGyver’s daughter? Of all the characters to build a hidden lounge inside all of the television boxes in storage, I would never have guessed Andi or guessed at all because it was just stupid. At least this week’s episode was funnier than last weeks with all the 70s jokes. Still, I don’t really have a lot to say about Reaper.
5 out of 10
Wednesday (11/7)
Bionic Woman
Ah well, I knew this was where the show was going but it still disappointed me. I miss Sarah Corvus and replacing her with Jaime whining about her new boyfriend is not an equal trade. The Paris plotline just grinded to a halt with all of her annoying actions but once again she whips out a version of a hurricarana and I can’t stay all that mad. Jonas signing out her sister after she was caught drunk driving was fun because Jonas rules. Please get back on track.
5 out of 10
Life
Nina Myers! I love you Nina, come back to 24. So it was great to see Nina pop up but an extended scene where people play Prince of Persia? Really? That was just odd. And once again the overarching investigation by Charlie is sidelined and it hurts the quality of the episode. The little that is revealed is interesting because it implicates his partner’s father. That could be fun down the line. Plus next week looks to be heavy into that story instead of the crime of the week.
5 out of 10
Thursday (11/8)
Smallville
God, I knew this was coming but evil Lana is just awful. The whole episode collapsed once she started wearing dark clothes and stalking Lex with her new powers. There was some fun stuff around the edges. Clark and Lex having a nice moment talking about who Lana has become. Plus there was more Lionel out-acting the entire cast. And Chloe gets to have a nice moment where she threatens Lana if her actions hurt Clark. The Lois subplot is just a waste of Erica Durance even if it does lead to her walking out of a hospital with her gown open in the back. Hey, but at least Brainiac will be returning soon.
4 out of 10
Well that was the first bad week. Only Dexter and Weeds deliver quality episodes while everyone else range from bad to okay. Man, Showtime has become a really good channel for original programming. Once this season of The Wire airs, HBO will lose its place as the best pay channel.
Dexter
This show delivers like nobodies business. The previous Doakes storylines come to the forefront now because LaGuerta assumes Doakes is stalking Dexter because Doakes is crazy not because Dexter is actually the Bay Harbor Butcher. That was a nice plot point. Dexter, Rita, and Lila blow up in a spectacular fashion. This is fun because the only reason Dexter went to NA was to please Rita but now through working with Lila he has made some realizations about himself that have pushed him away from Rita. That and he got back to killing for the first time in a few weeks. And he no longer fully believes in Harry’s code so this kill was the first he chose to do instead of fulfilling some kind of need. Plus his conversation with his copycat was more topnotch work by Michael C. Hall. Dex also sleeps with Lila and breaks up with Rita which has been building for weeks. And there was a nice storyline with Deb and Lundy where Deb mistook Lundy working with Dex as replacing her instead of him just hating Masuka because he is an ass. Now that Damages is gone, Dexter has slid right into the best show airing right now.
9 out of 10
Monday (11/5)
Prison Break
Aw man, 2 hours? Alright lets get this over with. First things first, after all the advertising and 2 hours of the show, there was no prison break. There was an attempted break but in the end Michael is still behind bars and Lincoln is still without his son. The only changers were Michael now has to work with his new partner Lechero while finding a way to deal with the two-faced Whistler plus Linc has to deal with lying to his brother. It does look like they found a way to free the entire cast next week with what looks like a military strike on Sona. And Sarah looks to really be dead with continues to be just an awful decision no matter what type of friction it causes between Michael and Linc. I can’t wait for the writer’s strike to stop new episodes of this.
5 out of 10
Chuck
Um, what happened here? Chuck had to go back to Stanford and it was really painful for him. We learned that Bryce may have actually been a good friend to Chuck and that there are many heavily armed Stanford students who actually work for the CIA. That’s good to know. I’m still bored.
5 out of 10
Heroes
Now that was what I was waiting for. The show may be spinning its wheels this season, but at least David Anders gets to be Sark again as the newly revealed big evil Adam Monroe. Does it make up for the interminably long Hiro in ancient Japan storyline? Hells no but at least its over. The other highlight this week was more Professor X style telepathy between Parkman and his dad. I love the idea of locking someone inside their worse memory. That is such a badass power. And so ends the good stuff this week. The rest included Claire turning into every annoying teenage television stereotype, Mohinder becoming spineless, and Peter finds out that he has to stop the end of the world again. And he compounds that by ditching his girlfriend in the apocalyptic future, you suck dude.
6 out of 10
Weeds
Weeds has definitely reestablished itself as the show that I loved during the first 2 seasons. As is the norm for Nancy, every thing goes to shit this week. She runs out of the good weed, the new supplier’s weed sucks, the new supplier then beats the shit out Silas to warn Nancy, and Shane has gone insane. So we now get to switch back to the other great part of Weeds, Nancy scrambling to keep everything afloat. I am pissed that they made Celia enjoyable this week but that was bound to happen when she gets to play scenes against Heylia. I hope the rest of the season continues to have multiple Heylia scenes because she delivers every single time. Nancy’s U-Turn tattoo makes my mourn his passing all over again.
8 out of 10
Tuesday (11/6)
Bones
A George Mason sighting automatically makes this a worthwhile episode. And playing completely against type, he is a jackass in a suit. Please bring him back throughout the season. The other highlights were Angela’s magical abilities kicking in allowing her to see the murder victim immediately after looking at a skull, Booth going on about his gift of a universal remote, and all the Gormagon jokes. Good episode.
7 out of 10
House
Well that was interesting. Definitely one of the lesser episodes this season mainly because when you remove House from the hospital you also remove all of the great scenes he can be having with the rest of the cast. We still got another great House/Wilson conversation with House letting the government know about Wilson smuggling heroin in from Afghanistan. House working with the CIA was fun but it concentrated more on him hitting on Michael Michele than him pissing off G-Men. The Foreman story was weak but had a great ending with House actually supporting him and the random minion without a personality was revealed to be crazy about polio before departing the show. Michelle showing up for a job at the end was weird and I wonder where that will lead. Meaning the cast is already bursting at the seams.
7 out of 10
The Unit
What the hell? After 2 plus seasons without killing any significant cast members, now they start killing folk? If it is followed up on it can improve the show by adding that level of danger to their missions but I highly doubt Jonas, Bob, or Mack will ever be on the chopping block. Goodbye secondary black guy, I never knew anything about you. I fast forwarded through all the stuff back at the base so I have no idea what the wives were doing.
6 out of 10
Reaper
What the hell? Is Andi MacGyver’s daughter? Of all the characters to build a hidden lounge inside all of the television boxes in storage, I would never have guessed Andi or guessed at all because it was just stupid. At least this week’s episode was funnier than last weeks with all the 70s jokes. Still, I don’t really have a lot to say about Reaper.
5 out of 10
Wednesday (11/7)
Bionic Woman
Ah well, I knew this was where the show was going but it still disappointed me. I miss Sarah Corvus and replacing her with Jaime whining about her new boyfriend is not an equal trade. The Paris plotline just grinded to a halt with all of her annoying actions but once again she whips out a version of a hurricarana and I can’t stay all that mad. Jonas signing out her sister after she was caught drunk driving was fun because Jonas rules. Please get back on track.
5 out of 10
Life
Nina Myers! I love you Nina, come back to 24. So it was great to see Nina pop up but an extended scene where people play Prince of Persia? Really? That was just odd. And once again the overarching investigation by Charlie is sidelined and it hurts the quality of the episode. The little that is revealed is interesting because it implicates his partner’s father. That could be fun down the line. Plus next week looks to be heavy into that story instead of the crime of the week.
5 out of 10
Thursday (11/8)
Smallville
God, I knew this was coming but evil Lana is just awful. The whole episode collapsed once she started wearing dark clothes and stalking Lex with her new powers. There was some fun stuff around the edges. Clark and Lex having a nice moment talking about who Lana has become. Plus there was more Lionel out-acting the entire cast. And Chloe gets to have a nice moment where she threatens Lana if her actions hurt Clark. The Lois subplot is just a waste of Erica Durance even if it does lead to her walking out of a hospital with her gown open in the back. Hey, but at least Brainiac will be returning soon.
4 out of 10
Well that was the first bad week. Only Dexter and Weeds deliver quality episodes while everyone else range from bad to okay. Man, Showtime has become a really good channel for original programming. Once this season of The Wire airs, HBO will lose its place as the best pay channel.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
TV from 10/28 - 11/03
Sunday (10/28)
Dexter
We got lots and lots of revelations in another great Dexter episode. I don’t know if I am in support of Harry maybe being Dexter’s biological father, but the journey taken to get there is well worth it. The confrontation between Dexter and the surviving killer of his mother was another fantastic scene. Numerous great scenes supported this with Dexter and his sponsor on their road trip to this meeting. There was a good story for Deb this week with her flipping out on her boyfriend when she misconstrues the title of his next book. They even calmed some of my annoyance over LaGuerta screwing her way to Lieutenant by having Doakes call her out. Doakes rules. There looks to be some great Bay Harbor Butcher stuff this week.
8 out of 10
Monday (10/29)
Chuck
Let’s get this over with. We get Chuck messing around with his evil counterpart while being annoyed with both his handlers. There was also another Morgan storyline where he needs to grow up which at least had a ridiculous scene with him and Captain Awesome. Best part was using Bond movies as a running joke; that will always get you on my good side. I'm still no caring about Chuck.
5 out of 10
Heroes
Damnit. I thought that having a strong Bennet storyline would create badassness again, but it just can’t overcome my lack of caring for other arcs. Bennet torturing his Russian mentor was as good as I hoped it would be. There were a bunch of great moments with the Haitian just being such a great weapon and it was topped off with the excellent final moments where Bennet acknowledges what he is doing before killing the guy. After Bennet, I’d go with Sylar as the next best arc in the episode. I may not care about the eyes bleeding black siblings, but I will always get behind using the brother’s inability to speak English as an excuse to just tell him that he will be killing his sister soon. Hiro in ancient China is still dragging ass. Mohinder choosing not to poison the New Orleans mimic is not a big reveal at all. Plus that is one magical iPod if it contains any action that she will ever want to learn. And Peter jumps to the future so we can finally learn what needs to be stopped this time around. Maybe this big revelation will lead to stronger and more focused episodes. Where’s Electro Mars?
6 out of 10
Weeds
Now we are freaking cooking with gas. Outside of way too much Conrad ass, I have absolutely zero complaints with this episode. This show is so much better when Nancy at least has the allusion of control. I’ve been waiting years for her to put that knife to Celia’s throat, but the wait was worth it. This was made even better when Nancy had to go back to Celia in order to use her home as a grow-house. Celia’s a punk. It was great how just about every secondary character on the show ran into each other at Celia’s. And once again the formula works, multiple scenes of Heylia and Conrad equal a great episode. I even liked the Andy storyline because it is obviously leading to the next hurdle for Nancy to jump. Fantastic episode.
9 out of 10
Californication
Californication definitely redeemed itself with quality episodes down the homestretch and then delivering a better than expected finale. There were some obvious choices that could have been made, but they avoided having Hank making a scene or Mia sending Hank to jail so I was all in favor of this episode. Hank’s dreams at the beginning were weak because they were obvious but they did get rid of the Hank sweeping Karen away at her wedding scene. Instead Hank was awesome at the wedding, putting the ball in Karen’s court, dealing with Becca’s first period, putting Charlie and his wife back together, and defusing Mia’s breakdown. Mia still sucks and I am still annoyed that she is going to get away with stealing Hank’s book but at least she is not sending Hank to jail. The ending was fun because it easily leads into the second season since Karen did marry Bill even if she runs off with Hank. Bill sucks almost as much as his daughter.
8 out of 10
Tuesday (10/30)
Bones
Bones in a Wonder Woman costume, Angela in whatever her costume was, and Cam dressed as Catwoman automatically make this an improvement over last week. Throw in a Rider Strong appearance and we have the makings of a great episode. Azura Skye bounces from House to Bones this week and acts completely insane as usual. Bones, Hodgins, and Zack sending everyone out of the room to use logic in peace was a great moment which got even better when Zack recognizes Einstein as an acceptable source when they start making assumptions. This was one of the better Bones episodes of this season
7 out of 10
House
I was prepared to be letdown with this week’s episode. The return of Foreman could have ruined the great chemistry that this season had but for now everything is still working smoothly. I actually like the idea that by the end of the story Foreman has accepted the fact that he is House Jr. and this is where he belongs. As long as House can continue to manipulate his new minions this season will continue with its greatness. The magic patient revealing everyone’s inner truth was weak, but it did lead to the best moment of the episode where House and Cuddy use the guy to test who has the power in their relationship. This comes after the great conversation House tells Cuddy that he knows when she swaps his Vicodin but does she know when he switches her birth control. House rules. I am starting to get annoyed with the lack of Wilson in these episodes hopefully this will be rectified before it causes a shitty episode.
8 out of 10
The Unit
Now that was just a weird story. Crazy pop singer secretly performs in Iraq? Is this based on something that really happened? If not, this was not that good especially when Jonas changes her life with the power of his convictions. Bah. The other main storyline did work. Bob and Randy Couture were amusing if only for Couture running around in a suit. That’s just funny. And once again we dilute the episode even more by having a third arc going on with Hector getting a girlfriend. This is acceptable only for the big reveal at the end where he sees Mack’s wife leaving a hotel room with Robert Patric. Hey that storyline began back when I was watching this show during the first season!
5 out of 10
Reaper
This would have been the worst episode of the season if it weren’t for Patton Oswalt at least making it amusing. Or it could be that only I will like it because he was the man who shot President McKinley. I love historical humor! And from that point Patton is just making as many jokes as he can possible fit into an episode. This covers the fact that the other escaped soul wasn’t even developed and the rest of the time Sam was snapping at everyone. It was a boring hour and was probably the worst episode so far.
4 out of 10
Wednesday (10/31)
Life
The Dani storyline bored me to the point of fast forwarding about half of the episode. I think I only stopped to watch Charlie on a stakeout with Lt. Calamity Jane and Adam Arkin reading the book about his crimes. And since those were about 5 minutes of the episode, I can’t say that I liked this episode. Drunk Dani should work as a character arc but I just don’t seem to care.
5 out of 10
Thursday (11/1)
Smallville
How the fudge did Clark get the crystal? And why the hell is he keeping it from Kara? I will never be able to buy Clark as evil. Plus they are going full steam with this shifty Lana stuff and it is killing me. Its also shaping up to be the major story for the season. Kill me now. Hey except for these 2 points, I liked this episode. Lionel shows up for another episode and continues to be the best thing on the show. He has great scenes with Clark, Lex, and gets to kill the wacky federal agent. Helen Slater gets to be another Super-returning star as old school Supergirl gets to be Clark’s mom. As for keeping track of the girls, lots of Kara, normal amount of Lana, minimal Chloe, no Lois. Bah.
6 out of 10
I should cut the amount of shows I review down to 10 because this was 11 and it was much easier. 10 would be a walk in the park. We'll see how I feel about Chuck, The Unit, Reaper, and Life in the next few weeks. Weeds was easily the best show this week and I'll put Californication in second place since it is the final episode of their season.
Dexter
We got lots and lots of revelations in another great Dexter episode. I don’t know if I am in support of Harry maybe being Dexter’s biological father, but the journey taken to get there is well worth it. The confrontation between Dexter and the surviving killer of his mother was another fantastic scene. Numerous great scenes supported this with Dexter and his sponsor on their road trip to this meeting. There was a good story for Deb this week with her flipping out on her boyfriend when she misconstrues the title of his next book. They even calmed some of my annoyance over LaGuerta screwing her way to Lieutenant by having Doakes call her out. Doakes rules. There looks to be some great Bay Harbor Butcher stuff this week.
8 out of 10
Monday (10/29)
Chuck
Let’s get this over with. We get Chuck messing around with his evil counterpart while being annoyed with both his handlers. There was also another Morgan storyline where he needs to grow up which at least had a ridiculous scene with him and Captain Awesome. Best part was using Bond movies as a running joke; that will always get you on my good side. I'm still no caring about Chuck.
5 out of 10
Heroes
Damnit. I thought that having a strong Bennet storyline would create badassness again, but it just can’t overcome my lack of caring for other arcs. Bennet torturing his Russian mentor was as good as I hoped it would be. There were a bunch of great moments with the Haitian just being such a great weapon and it was topped off with the excellent final moments where Bennet acknowledges what he is doing before killing the guy. After Bennet, I’d go with Sylar as the next best arc in the episode. I may not care about the eyes bleeding black siblings, but I will always get behind using the brother’s inability to speak English as an excuse to just tell him that he will be killing his sister soon. Hiro in ancient China is still dragging ass. Mohinder choosing not to poison the New Orleans mimic is not a big reveal at all. Plus that is one magical iPod if it contains any action that she will ever want to learn. And Peter jumps to the future so we can finally learn what needs to be stopped this time around. Maybe this big revelation will lead to stronger and more focused episodes. Where’s Electro Mars?
6 out of 10
Weeds
Now we are freaking cooking with gas. Outside of way too much Conrad ass, I have absolutely zero complaints with this episode. This show is so much better when Nancy at least has the allusion of control. I’ve been waiting years for her to put that knife to Celia’s throat, but the wait was worth it. This was made even better when Nancy had to go back to Celia in order to use her home as a grow-house. Celia’s a punk. It was great how just about every secondary character on the show ran into each other at Celia’s. And once again the formula works, multiple scenes of Heylia and Conrad equal a great episode. I even liked the Andy storyline because it is obviously leading to the next hurdle for Nancy to jump. Fantastic episode.
9 out of 10
Californication
Californication definitely redeemed itself with quality episodes down the homestretch and then delivering a better than expected finale. There were some obvious choices that could have been made, but they avoided having Hank making a scene or Mia sending Hank to jail so I was all in favor of this episode. Hank’s dreams at the beginning were weak because they were obvious but they did get rid of the Hank sweeping Karen away at her wedding scene. Instead Hank was awesome at the wedding, putting the ball in Karen’s court, dealing with Becca’s first period, putting Charlie and his wife back together, and defusing Mia’s breakdown. Mia still sucks and I am still annoyed that she is going to get away with stealing Hank’s book but at least she is not sending Hank to jail. The ending was fun because it easily leads into the second season since Karen did marry Bill even if she runs off with Hank. Bill sucks almost as much as his daughter.
8 out of 10
Tuesday (10/30)
Bones
Bones in a Wonder Woman costume, Angela in whatever her costume was, and Cam dressed as Catwoman automatically make this an improvement over last week. Throw in a Rider Strong appearance and we have the makings of a great episode. Azura Skye bounces from House to Bones this week and acts completely insane as usual. Bones, Hodgins, and Zack sending everyone out of the room to use logic in peace was a great moment which got even better when Zack recognizes Einstein as an acceptable source when they start making assumptions. This was one of the better Bones episodes of this season
7 out of 10
House
I was prepared to be letdown with this week’s episode. The return of Foreman could have ruined the great chemistry that this season had but for now everything is still working smoothly. I actually like the idea that by the end of the story Foreman has accepted the fact that he is House Jr. and this is where he belongs. As long as House can continue to manipulate his new minions this season will continue with its greatness. The magic patient revealing everyone’s inner truth was weak, but it did lead to the best moment of the episode where House and Cuddy use the guy to test who has the power in their relationship. This comes after the great conversation House tells Cuddy that he knows when she swaps his Vicodin but does she know when he switches her birth control. House rules. I am starting to get annoyed with the lack of Wilson in these episodes hopefully this will be rectified before it causes a shitty episode.
8 out of 10
The Unit
Now that was just a weird story. Crazy pop singer secretly performs in Iraq? Is this based on something that really happened? If not, this was not that good especially when Jonas changes her life with the power of his convictions. Bah. The other main storyline did work. Bob and Randy Couture were amusing if only for Couture running around in a suit. That’s just funny. And once again we dilute the episode even more by having a third arc going on with Hector getting a girlfriend. This is acceptable only for the big reveal at the end where he sees Mack’s wife leaving a hotel room with Robert Patric. Hey that storyline began back when I was watching this show during the first season!
5 out of 10
Reaper
This would have been the worst episode of the season if it weren’t for Patton Oswalt at least making it amusing. Or it could be that only I will like it because he was the man who shot President McKinley. I love historical humor! And from that point Patton is just making as many jokes as he can possible fit into an episode. This covers the fact that the other escaped soul wasn’t even developed and the rest of the time Sam was snapping at everyone. It was a boring hour and was probably the worst episode so far.
4 out of 10
Wednesday (10/31)
Life
The Dani storyline bored me to the point of fast forwarding about half of the episode. I think I only stopped to watch Charlie on a stakeout with Lt. Calamity Jane and Adam Arkin reading the book about his crimes. And since those were about 5 minutes of the episode, I can’t say that I liked this episode. Drunk Dani should work as a character arc but I just don’t seem to care.
5 out of 10
Thursday (11/1)
Smallville
How the fudge did Clark get the crystal? And why the hell is he keeping it from Kara? I will never be able to buy Clark as evil. Plus they are going full steam with this shifty Lana stuff and it is killing me. Its also shaping up to be the major story for the season. Kill me now. Hey except for these 2 points, I liked this episode. Lionel shows up for another episode and continues to be the best thing on the show. He has great scenes with Clark, Lex, and gets to kill the wacky federal agent. Helen Slater gets to be another Super-returning star as old school Supergirl gets to be Clark’s mom. As for keeping track of the girls, lots of Kara, normal amount of Lana, minimal Chloe, no Lois. Bah.
6 out of 10
I should cut the amount of shows I review down to 10 because this was 11 and it was much easier. 10 would be a walk in the park. We'll see how I feel about Chuck, The Unit, Reaper, and Life in the next few weeks. Weeds was easily the best show this week and I'll put Californication in second place since it is the final episode of their season.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
TV from 10/21 - 10/27
Sunday (10/21)
Dexter
Well, there was bound to be a letdown after the previous week. This was my least favorite episode of the season. There were a couple points that I just didn’t like. The main one was the revelation that LaGuerta was sleeping with Pascal’s fiancée just to screw with her mind so she will get fired. That is just too soapy for me. The other revelations with Dexter and Rita’s mom and Dexter and his sponsor were fine. Dexter is at its best when he is scrambling to cover his ass. The side story of Doakes killing a fellow soldier felt like they just wanted to give him something to do since he isn’t involved with the Bay Harbor Butcher. There is always time for naked Deb.
7 out of 10
Monday (10/22)
Prison Break
More of the same, there really isn’t much to distinguish between episodes of Prison Break. Michael schemes for a way out, Linc schemes of a way out, T-Bag schemes in general, and all the other characters pop in and out. I did like how even though he is out of his mind; Mahone finds the information that Michael needs to escape. Mahone and Michael working together will be fun if they go in that direction. I have no idea where T-Bag’s arc is heading. The previews for the next episode show Linc manhandling that chick that has been giving him orders which is about time. Plus it means that maybe there is going to be some overall movement on the season’s story.
5 out of 10
Chuck
I really wish I like this show more. It seems like it has everything I would want but I just don’t get excited to watch new episodes. This week we get Chinese food and Chinese spies. There is some nonsense with Morgan being and awful salesman along with Chuck not being there for his sister or his friend. But everything works out in the end and Sarah gets to here how important Mother’s Day is to Chuck and his sister. Monday at 8 o’clock is not delivering the goods.
5 out of 10
Heroes
Oh my god does the show need to cull about half the cast. I am starting to doubt if this show can be great again if there continue to be 5 separate storylines in every single episode. This week we get the mimic of New Orleans, Mohinder and Molly, Matt’s evil Dad, Ando and ancient Hiro, and Veronica Mars as Electro. That means we had no movement on the Bennets or Sylar. There were a few good moments this week. Matt’s dad pulls a Professor X so that was fun to see how far they will push the power of telepathy. It was nice to see Kristen Bell since she is a great actress and I wonder if that was Keith Mars on the phone. Peter is going to Canada now? That is his big journey this season? Micah and his cousin were boring me but with Mohinder showing up we will finally see some movement with that arc. The Hiro stuff is plodding along and losing steam. All of this will be forgotten if next week is all Daddy Bennet rolling with Haitian.
7 out of 10
Weeds
It is nice to hate a character as much as I hate Celia. The writers have to be doing this on purpose and the previews show Nancy putting a knife to her throat so they understand what will pop their audience. After a season of Nancy scrambling, it is fun to see her in control and being comfortable in her drug dealing shoes. Watching her admonish her son as an employee then switch and console him as his mother was fantastic. Celia and Heylia together were awesome and I pray it leads to Heylia kicking her ass at some point. Best episode of the season.
9 out of 10
Californication
What a great recovery for Californication after that craptastic episode a couple of weeks ago. Mia and Dani are still awful to the point that it has to lead to a huge confrontation. Although it looks like Mia may actually regret what she is doing to Hank even thought no matter what she is Hank is screwed over the whole sex with the underage daughter of your wife’s fiancée thing. Becca moving in with Hank was done well and it led to some good scenes with Hank and Karen. I also liked that Charlie wasn’t an idiot and recognized that Mia was selling Hank’s book. The nice comeback has made me look forward to the season finale.
7 out of 10
Tuesday (10/23)
Bones
Hey look its Tasha Yar! You can’t get much better than that. Well, there was a nice interrogation moment where they got to reveal to the killer that she didn’t kill her father’s lover instead she killed her half sister. That was good times. I don’t know about Bones and Booth going to a psychologist but at least it lead to a bunch of good lines. Not much more to say, this was your basic Bones episode.
6 out of 10
House
This is shaping up to be my favorite season so far. I never would have thought that the show would still be great if you removed Chase, Cameron, and Foreman as House’s minions. But here we are and there hasn’t been a bad episode yet. Giving House all of these doctors to abuse has given the writers new opportunities to show House at his manipulative best. Sadly this week had about 5 seconds of Wilson, that is not enough time for he and House to work their magic. In his place we have Foreman getting his comeuppance for ever thinking he was better than House. Watching him get denied for every position he applied for was fun but Cuddy hiring him back makes no sense. It is clear that House is putting together a new team, which is what she wants, but now she hires back Foreman without talking to House first. We’ll see how things work out. It is also great that all of the newbies are starting to gain personality before their eventual firing. As for this week, the patient was in the last season of Buffy so that was cool and who doesn’t like a diagnosis of hallucinations caused by poisoning? Plus they dug up a corpse and the Mormon punched House … great episode.
9 out of 10
The Unit
It was bound to happen so I am not shocked to watch an episode of The Unit where much of it was in fast forward. There were multiple stories back at the base, which means that I can skip Bob trying to be dad and husband and Tiffy needs a job. Though Tiffy stripping could be fun. The unit in action was decent but nothing all that memorable. It was more about Mack than Jonas so that is a step down. Hopefully it can back up to speed next week.
5 out of 10
Reaper
Neon green slime soul was the bad special effects monster of the week. This was decent because the vessel was bad Christmas sweater and the 3 guys had to go dumpster diving to find the missing sweater. There was some nice movement on the overall storylines, with Sam’s dad acting nefarious and Andi growing tired of Sam’s disappearances. The way this show goes, she must truly love him for her to even speak to him after all the times he has no-showed her. On top of all that, we got a nice menacing final scene where the Devil actually acts like the Devil.
7 out of 10
Damages
Ah, I wouldn’t call this a letdown but this was not where I thought things were heading. I should have seen it once they showed that the older lawyer that Ellen trusted was working with some unknown party. The whole compass of the show changes if Patty really ordered a hit on Ellen which is clear she did with Uncle Pete letting the killer in and Patty breaking down at the cottage over it. But then again, The Shield has survived having Vic kill a fellow cop in cold blood in the initial episode while not even turning Vic into the bad guy. I also don’t know if there was a need to introduce Patty’s dead baby unless it was just to compare how her baby died and now she tried to kill daughter-like underling. The flipside was how great the scene between Patty and Frobisher. Close and Danson did some unbelievable work throughout this season. I hope they find a way to keep Frobisher alive if there is a second season. Even though I am not completely behind the plot-twist, Ellen working for Patty again so that she can prove who killed David while trying to bring down Patty could work.
8 out of 10
Wednesday (10/24)
Bionic Woman
Now I am not so sure about this show. I knew Sarah Corvus was not going to be there for much of the first season because Katee Sackhoff has the more important Battlestar Galactica to film. What that means for Bionic Woman is that they have to go in another direction and they chose Jaime gets a secret agent boyfriend. That is definitely a step down. If it wasn’t for great scenes with Antonio and Nathan, this could have been an outright bad episode. And how the hell did Jaime go away to college for what looks like at least a week without her sister wondering what the hell is going on? Worse than that, it looks like next week will be more of the same. Still, there was a great fight scene with Jaime getting jumped by the mind-controlled guy and that is what I ask from this show.
6 out of 10
Life
Yes! Garret Dillahunt is one of my favorite actors coming out of Deadwood. If his Roman character becomes reoccurring, Life has just jumped up a bunch of rungs on the ladder. For his scenes alone this was a fantastic episode. You had the scene where they bring him in while he sits alone eating in his club’s kitchen, all of his interrogation room scenes, and his phone call to Charlie at the end. Charlie tracking down and beating the guy who attacked his lawyer was okay but I prefer Charlie going after the conspiracy as his side story. And it looks like Roman’s phone call will lead to something next week.
7 out of 10
Thursday (10/25)
6 out of 10
This is a little disappointing because I would have hoped that that the season finale of Damages would be the best episode of the week. But that is not the case. I'll give Weeds the top slot with House falling into right in the second slot. With Damages ending with Weeds and Californication following soon and the World Series screwing things up, this should be the last week of insanity (14 reviews) until the new year.
Dexter
Well, there was bound to be a letdown after the previous week. This was my least favorite episode of the season. There were a couple points that I just didn’t like. The main one was the revelation that LaGuerta was sleeping with Pascal’s fiancée just to screw with her mind so she will get fired. That is just too soapy for me. The other revelations with Dexter and Rita’s mom and Dexter and his sponsor were fine. Dexter is at its best when he is scrambling to cover his ass. The side story of Doakes killing a fellow soldier felt like they just wanted to give him something to do since he isn’t involved with the Bay Harbor Butcher. There is always time for naked Deb.
7 out of 10
Monday (10/22)
Prison Break
More of the same, there really isn’t much to distinguish between episodes of Prison Break. Michael schemes for a way out, Linc schemes of a way out, T-Bag schemes in general, and all the other characters pop in and out. I did like how even though he is out of his mind; Mahone finds the information that Michael needs to escape. Mahone and Michael working together will be fun if they go in that direction. I have no idea where T-Bag’s arc is heading. The previews for the next episode show Linc manhandling that chick that has been giving him orders which is about time. Plus it means that maybe there is going to be some overall movement on the season’s story.
5 out of 10
Chuck
I really wish I like this show more. It seems like it has everything I would want but I just don’t get excited to watch new episodes. This week we get Chinese food and Chinese spies. There is some nonsense with Morgan being and awful salesman along with Chuck not being there for his sister or his friend. But everything works out in the end and Sarah gets to here how important Mother’s Day is to Chuck and his sister. Monday at 8 o’clock is not delivering the goods.
5 out of 10
Heroes
Oh my god does the show need to cull about half the cast. I am starting to doubt if this show can be great again if there continue to be 5 separate storylines in every single episode. This week we get the mimic of New Orleans, Mohinder and Molly, Matt’s evil Dad, Ando and ancient Hiro, and Veronica Mars as Electro. That means we had no movement on the Bennets or Sylar. There were a few good moments this week. Matt’s dad pulls a Professor X so that was fun to see how far they will push the power of telepathy. It was nice to see Kristen Bell since she is a great actress and I wonder if that was Keith Mars on the phone. Peter is going to Canada now? That is his big journey this season? Micah and his cousin were boring me but with Mohinder showing up we will finally see some movement with that arc. The Hiro stuff is plodding along and losing steam. All of this will be forgotten if next week is all Daddy Bennet rolling with Haitian.
7 out of 10
Weeds
It is nice to hate a character as much as I hate Celia. The writers have to be doing this on purpose and the previews show Nancy putting a knife to her throat so they understand what will pop their audience. After a season of Nancy scrambling, it is fun to see her in control and being comfortable in her drug dealing shoes. Watching her admonish her son as an employee then switch and console him as his mother was fantastic. Celia and Heylia together were awesome and I pray it leads to Heylia kicking her ass at some point. Best episode of the season.
9 out of 10
Californication
What a great recovery for Californication after that craptastic episode a couple of weeks ago. Mia and Dani are still awful to the point that it has to lead to a huge confrontation. Although it looks like Mia may actually regret what she is doing to Hank even thought no matter what she is Hank is screwed over the whole sex with the underage daughter of your wife’s fiancée thing. Becca moving in with Hank was done well and it led to some good scenes with Hank and Karen. I also liked that Charlie wasn’t an idiot and recognized that Mia was selling Hank’s book. The nice comeback has made me look forward to the season finale.
7 out of 10
Tuesday (10/23)
Bones
Hey look its Tasha Yar! You can’t get much better than that. Well, there was a nice interrogation moment where they got to reveal to the killer that she didn’t kill her father’s lover instead she killed her half sister. That was good times. I don’t know about Bones and Booth going to a psychologist but at least it lead to a bunch of good lines. Not much more to say, this was your basic Bones episode.
6 out of 10
House
This is shaping up to be my favorite season so far. I never would have thought that the show would still be great if you removed Chase, Cameron, and Foreman as House’s minions. But here we are and there hasn’t been a bad episode yet. Giving House all of these doctors to abuse has given the writers new opportunities to show House at his manipulative best. Sadly this week had about 5 seconds of Wilson, that is not enough time for he and House to work their magic. In his place we have Foreman getting his comeuppance for ever thinking he was better than House. Watching him get denied for every position he applied for was fun but Cuddy hiring him back makes no sense. It is clear that House is putting together a new team, which is what she wants, but now she hires back Foreman without talking to House first. We’ll see how things work out. It is also great that all of the newbies are starting to gain personality before their eventual firing. As for this week, the patient was in the last season of Buffy so that was cool and who doesn’t like a diagnosis of hallucinations caused by poisoning? Plus they dug up a corpse and the Mormon punched House … great episode.
9 out of 10
The Unit
It was bound to happen so I am not shocked to watch an episode of The Unit where much of it was in fast forward. There were multiple stories back at the base, which means that I can skip Bob trying to be dad and husband and Tiffy needs a job. Though Tiffy stripping could be fun. The unit in action was decent but nothing all that memorable. It was more about Mack than Jonas so that is a step down. Hopefully it can back up to speed next week.
5 out of 10
Reaper
Neon green slime soul was the bad special effects monster of the week. This was decent because the vessel was bad Christmas sweater and the 3 guys had to go dumpster diving to find the missing sweater. There was some nice movement on the overall storylines, with Sam’s dad acting nefarious and Andi growing tired of Sam’s disappearances. The way this show goes, she must truly love him for her to even speak to him after all the times he has no-showed her. On top of all that, we got a nice menacing final scene where the Devil actually acts like the Devil.
7 out of 10
Damages
Ah, I wouldn’t call this a letdown but this was not where I thought things were heading. I should have seen it once they showed that the older lawyer that Ellen trusted was working with some unknown party. The whole compass of the show changes if Patty really ordered a hit on Ellen which is clear she did with Uncle Pete letting the killer in and Patty breaking down at the cottage over it. But then again, The Shield has survived having Vic kill a fellow cop in cold blood in the initial episode while not even turning Vic into the bad guy. I also don’t know if there was a need to introduce Patty’s dead baby unless it was just to compare how her baby died and now she tried to kill daughter-like underling. The flipside was how great the scene between Patty and Frobisher. Close and Danson did some unbelievable work throughout this season. I hope they find a way to keep Frobisher alive if there is a second season. Even though I am not completely behind the plot-twist, Ellen working for Patty again so that she can prove who killed David while trying to bring down Patty could work.
8 out of 10
Wednesday (10/24)
Bionic Woman
Now I am not so sure about this show. I knew Sarah Corvus was not going to be there for much of the first season because Katee Sackhoff has the more important Battlestar Galactica to film. What that means for Bionic Woman is that they have to go in another direction and they chose Jaime gets a secret agent boyfriend. That is definitely a step down. If it wasn’t for great scenes with Antonio and Nathan, this could have been an outright bad episode. And how the hell did Jaime go away to college for what looks like at least a week without her sister wondering what the hell is going on? Worse than that, it looks like next week will be more of the same. Still, there was a great fight scene with Jaime getting jumped by the mind-controlled guy and that is what I ask from this show.
6 out of 10
Life
Yes! Garret Dillahunt is one of my favorite actors coming out of Deadwood. If his Roman character becomes reoccurring, Life has just jumped up a bunch of rungs on the ladder. For his scenes alone this was a fantastic episode. You had the scene where they bring him in while he sits alone eating in his club’s kitchen, all of his interrogation room scenes, and his phone call to Charlie at the end. Charlie tracking down and beating the guy who attacked his lawyer was okay but I prefer Charlie going after the conspiracy as his side story. And it looks like Roman’s phone call will lead to something next week.
7 out of 10
Thursday (10/25)
Smallville
Unless evil Lana turns out to be her clone, this may be the storyline that gets me to stop watching. That’s a shame because outside of that horrendous plot point this was a decent episode. The evils of comic book geeks was a little on the nose, but the Lionel, Lex, and Lois scenes more than made up for it. Lionel is always money and this week he beats his captor to death then has a great scene menacing evillllll Lana. It is still fun to see Clark and Lex interact so Lex the Warrior Angel fan was amusing. Lois got to play dress-up to snoop on Lex and that was awesome. The crazy fan trying to force Clark into being a true superhero was a lot better than him being given a red cloak. The fan was made even better because he wouldn’t give Clark up to Lex.6 out of 10
This is a little disappointing because I would have hoped that that the season finale of Damages would be the best episode of the week. But that is not the case. I'll give Weeds the top slot with House falling into right in the second slot. With Damages ending with Weeds and Californication following soon and the World Series screwing things up, this should be the last week of insanity (14 reviews) until the new year.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
TV from 10/14 - 10/20
Sunday (10/14)
Dexter
This is the first episode that I have reviewed of any show this season that is getting full marks. On top of this being a great episode, Michael C Hall delivered the best performance of the year in his speech at the end of the episode. It was a truly amazing speech about his addiction and the dark passenger that he lets take control was mesmerizing. Plus it lead to the great moment where Doakes thinks that Dexter is a drunk or drug addict and no longer suspects him for anything more devious. There was also a great storyline of Dexter hunting and killing a car salesman that included great moments where he ends up buying a minivan and doesn’t know why. Plus there was some good Bay Harbor Butcher detecting by Debra and Keith Carradine. Sweet episode.
10 out of 10
Monday (10/15)
Chuck
This was the first episode of Chuck that I really liked. I’m still not totally sold on the show, but for one night I was fan. Could it be because the rogue agent kept taking off her clothes throughout the episode? Maybe. On top of that fantastic plot point, there were some decent action scenes with the heist and then the showdown at the hotel. Until I actually choose to like the show, I don’t have much to say.
7 out of 10
Heroes
And the bloated cast makes itself known once again. This was a whole episode with nothing on Hiro or Peter, who are probably the 2nd and 3rd storyline behind Claire. Because of this we have too much Mohinder/Molly/Parkman and Mexican adventures. Both of these arcs at least delivered some good moments. The Molly plotline moved forward the whole previous generation of powers story so that’s good even if it means that Parkman’s dad is one of them. While Sylar is now rolling with the bleeding eyes siblings so at least he will break things up by killing folks. Micah’s new life in New Orleans also happened and if it weren’t for Rey Misterio I would have tuned the whole thing out. I am still unsure about where the Bennet story is going because Daddy Bennet should always see right through lies and Claire is just lying to his face now. Well Kristen Bell shows up next week so things are looking up. Hopefully Powers Boothe doesn’t show up and have her skull cracked because it is that and not Veronica Mars that I remember her for.
7 out of 10
Weeds
Well this episode finally started to clarify where this season was leading towards. Nancy royally pisses off 2 people by the end of this episode, and living the life that she does it is not good to give people a reason to mess with you. Having Celia see Nancy and Matthew Modine in action was cool since I hate Celia, but the whole pension argument between Nancy and Peter’s ex was annoying. This has all been thrown together so fast so I just don’t care about that woman yet. There was a nice Conrad/Silas scene and Doug getting audited was cool. We’ll see how the season finishes up.
6 out of 10
Californication
This is 2 in a row that has severely disappointed me. I think I watched the entire thing on fast forward and that was before I knew that there was a threesome involving Hank and his wacky bald agent. That never needed to happen and I don’t think it really did. Plus now not only is Mia pissing me off but also the agent’s Suicide Girl assistant is flying up the annoying scale. There was a little Hank and Karen at the conclusion so hopefully we can get back to that next week.
4 out of 10
Tuesday (10/16)
The Unit
Another solid effort by The Unit and for once the dual storylines both delivered the goods. Now this probably happened because Jonas was holding down the arc back on base. Actually Jonas’ story was really good with him boot-camping his daughter to get her ready before she enlists. The story with the rest of the team was interesting because people were lost and Bob, Mack, and Hector all got to have their moments to shine. I am starting to like this show a lot more than when I first watched it 2 years ago.
7 out of 10
Reaper
I still don’t have much to say about Reaper. There is usually amusing dialogue between Sam, Sock, Ben, and Andi so each episode goes by quickly. This week had a bunch of good scenes involving Spanish and the bird that Sam needed to capture the escapee. The Sam and Devil interplay over his contract was all right but not the best the show has done. Overall this was just a decent episode.
6 out of 10
Damages
This is building towards one helluva conclusion. This week’s episode was the first that actually made me think that there will be a second season. I had no idea how they were going to reconcile the Patty and Ellen relationship but they cleared that up with one conversation; Ellen never thought Patty played any part of her fiancée’s death, she was just saying that to get Patty back into the city. The final scenes between the 2 of them were great because after the entire season Ellen had flipped their roles and was completely using Patty. We also got to see just how and why David was killed which also revealed just how far Frobisher will go. On the other hand I am not too sure about Patty’s son showing up randomly but I will trust the show to make it all work. I am definitely amped for the finale this week.
9 out of 10
Wednesday (10/17)
Bionic Woman
This is just clipping along. There was just some serious information dropped this week. Jaime has an expiration date and Jonas has no answers at the moment. There was a real good fight scene between Jaime and Antonio, which capped off a decent little Central American journey for the 2 of them. I’ve seen the whole lying to the people you care about on Alias but the relationship between Jaime and her sister hasn’t annoyed me yet so that’s a positive. We are a bunch of episodes in and Sarah Corvus is still a more interesting character than Jaime Sommers; its not so much a problem but eventually that needs to switch.
7 out of 10
Life
I wouldn’t call this the first bad episode but it definitely was the first one that I didn’t care for. It was probably because there was more time spent on the case of the week than on Charlie searching for answers. There was a good scene with Charlie and the cop that arrested him but that it was short. The stuff was his lawyer was passable but I am more interested in the mystery. The case was the case and I don’t have much to say about it.
5 out of 10
Thursday (10/18)
Smallville
Hooray! This season will have at least one episode that I truly liked. Like many things in life, I give all the credit to Dean Cain. Whether or not his immortal will actually be Vandal Savage doesn’t matter at the moment, this was a real strong story. There were great scenes between Clark and Chloe and Clark and Lex because of the evil doctor. On top of that, we got some decent Martian Manhunter versus Supergirl scenes. This even included a horribly forced attempt at getting the name Martian Manhunter out there. No Lois 2 weeks in a row along with another wacky Lana storyline coming up still shows that there is not such thing as a flawless Smallville episode.
7 out of 10
Dexter and Damages go 1 and 2 for the second week in a row. This time they flip flop though because the Dexter episode was incredible. No Fox shows mean that there is no clear cut show to be in slot number three. Next week should be the last of the insanity with Damages concluding and I believe the Monday Showtime shows at their penultimate episodes.
Dexter
This is the first episode that I have reviewed of any show this season that is getting full marks. On top of this being a great episode, Michael C Hall delivered the best performance of the year in his speech at the end of the episode. It was a truly amazing speech about his addiction and the dark passenger that he lets take control was mesmerizing. Plus it lead to the great moment where Doakes thinks that Dexter is a drunk or drug addict and no longer suspects him for anything more devious. There was also a great storyline of Dexter hunting and killing a car salesman that included great moments where he ends up buying a minivan and doesn’t know why. Plus there was some good Bay Harbor Butcher detecting by Debra and Keith Carradine. Sweet episode.
10 out of 10
Monday (10/15)
Chuck
This was the first episode of Chuck that I really liked. I’m still not totally sold on the show, but for one night I was fan. Could it be because the rogue agent kept taking off her clothes throughout the episode? Maybe. On top of that fantastic plot point, there were some decent action scenes with the heist and then the showdown at the hotel. Until I actually choose to like the show, I don’t have much to say.
7 out of 10
Heroes
And the bloated cast makes itself known once again. This was a whole episode with nothing on Hiro or Peter, who are probably the 2nd and 3rd storyline behind Claire. Because of this we have too much Mohinder/Molly/Parkman and Mexican adventures. Both of these arcs at least delivered some good moments. The Molly plotline moved forward the whole previous generation of powers story so that’s good even if it means that Parkman’s dad is one of them. While Sylar is now rolling with the bleeding eyes siblings so at least he will break things up by killing folks. Micah’s new life in New Orleans also happened and if it weren’t for Rey Misterio I would have tuned the whole thing out. I am still unsure about where the Bennet story is going because Daddy Bennet should always see right through lies and Claire is just lying to his face now. Well Kristen Bell shows up next week so things are looking up. Hopefully Powers Boothe doesn’t show up and have her skull cracked because it is that and not Veronica Mars that I remember her for.
7 out of 10
Weeds
Well this episode finally started to clarify where this season was leading towards. Nancy royally pisses off 2 people by the end of this episode, and living the life that she does it is not good to give people a reason to mess with you. Having Celia see Nancy and Matthew Modine in action was cool since I hate Celia, but the whole pension argument between Nancy and Peter’s ex was annoying. This has all been thrown together so fast so I just don’t care about that woman yet. There was a nice Conrad/Silas scene and Doug getting audited was cool. We’ll see how the season finishes up.
6 out of 10
Californication
This is 2 in a row that has severely disappointed me. I think I watched the entire thing on fast forward and that was before I knew that there was a threesome involving Hank and his wacky bald agent. That never needed to happen and I don’t think it really did. Plus now not only is Mia pissing me off but also the agent’s Suicide Girl assistant is flying up the annoying scale. There was a little Hank and Karen at the conclusion so hopefully we can get back to that next week.
4 out of 10
Tuesday (10/16)
The Unit
Another solid effort by The Unit and for once the dual storylines both delivered the goods. Now this probably happened because Jonas was holding down the arc back on base. Actually Jonas’ story was really good with him boot-camping his daughter to get her ready before she enlists. The story with the rest of the team was interesting because people were lost and Bob, Mack, and Hector all got to have their moments to shine. I am starting to like this show a lot more than when I first watched it 2 years ago.
7 out of 10
Reaper
I still don’t have much to say about Reaper. There is usually amusing dialogue between Sam, Sock, Ben, and Andi so each episode goes by quickly. This week had a bunch of good scenes involving Spanish and the bird that Sam needed to capture the escapee. The Sam and Devil interplay over his contract was all right but not the best the show has done. Overall this was just a decent episode.
6 out of 10
Damages
This is building towards one helluva conclusion. This week’s episode was the first that actually made me think that there will be a second season. I had no idea how they were going to reconcile the Patty and Ellen relationship but they cleared that up with one conversation; Ellen never thought Patty played any part of her fiancée’s death, she was just saying that to get Patty back into the city. The final scenes between the 2 of them were great because after the entire season Ellen had flipped their roles and was completely using Patty. We also got to see just how and why David was killed which also revealed just how far Frobisher will go. On the other hand I am not too sure about Patty’s son showing up randomly but I will trust the show to make it all work. I am definitely amped for the finale this week.
9 out of 10
Wednesday (10/17)
Bionic Woman
This is just clipping along. There was just some serious information dropped this week. Jaime has an expiration date and Jonas has no answers at the moment. There was a real good fight scene between Jaime and Antonio, which capped off a decent little Central American journey for the 2 of them. I’ve seen the whole lying to the people you care about on Alias but the relationship between Jaime and her sister hasn’t annoyed me yet so that’s a positive. We are a bunch of episodes in and Sarah Corvus is still a more interesting character than Jaime Sommers; its not so much a problem but eventually that needs to switch.
7 out of 10
Life
I wouldn’t call this the first bad episode but it definitely was the first one that I didn’t care for. It was probably because there was more time spent on the case of the week than on Charlie searching for answers. There was a good scene with Charlie and the cop that arrested him but that it was short. The stuff was his lawyer was passable but I am more interested in the mystery. The case was the case and I don’t have much to say about it.
5 out of 10
Thursday (10/18)
Smallville
Hooray! This season will have at least one episode that I truly liked. Like many things in life, I give all the credit to Dean Cain. Whether or not his immortal will actually be Vandal Savage doesn’t matter at the moment, this was a real strong story. There were great scenes between Clark and Chloe and Clark and Lex because of the evil doctor. On top of that, we got some decent Martian Manhunter versus Supergirl scenes. This even included a horribly forced attempt at getting the name Martian Manhunter out there. No Lois 2 weeks in a row along with another wacky Lana storyline coming up still shows that there is not such thing as a flawless Smallville episode.
7 out of 10
Dexter and Damages go 1 and 2 for the second week in a row. This time they flip flop though because the Dexter episode was incredible. No Fox shows mean that there is no clear cut show to be in slot number three. Next week should be the last of the insanity with Damages concluding and I believe the Monday Showtime shows at their penultimate episodes.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
TV from 10/7 - 10/13
Sunday (10/7)
Dexter
I finally found the right price to purchase the first season of Dexter, so I was able to speed through it then watch the first couple of episodes of the second season. This is definitely a show that I regret not watching last year. I don’t really have a good reason other than I don’t even remember when it debuted so by the time I found out about it the season was half over. Still, this is a show that is meant for my viewing pleasure. A serial killer that works for the police and only kills bad people, that is my kind of premise. This week’s episode has Dexter reeling from the authorities stumbling upon where he sinks his victims along with trying figure out his inability to kill since offing his brother in first season finale. Lots of good stuff, Dexter’s attempts to kill Little Chino, all of his scenes with his sister, Keith Carradine showing up, Dokes’ maniacal stalking of Dexter, this is a great show.
9 out of 10
Monday (10/8)
Prison Break
Well I think I have to be kind to this week’s episode because they did insinuate that it was Sara’s head in the box. I don’t believe it because she is too important of a character to kill off screen, but that is what has been said so far. Nothing else really relevant to talk about it is just the regular stuff, Michael scheming, Linc scheming, T-Bag scheming, Sucre whining, whatever. The whole thing is repetitive.
4 out of 10
Chuck
Blah. This is not growing into a show that I will follow through to its conclusion. I am already watching the whole thing in fast forward. There doesn’t seem to be any emphasis on a show or season long storyline. Instead we get secret agent plot of the week. This time Chuck dances and that’s about all I remember. The action isn’t good enough to make up for the show’s deficiencies so I am starting to sour.
5 out of 10
Heroes
This is still moving at a snail’s pace, which is just a conceit of the show. The highlights for this week were some movement with Mohinder’s story, Jack finding out what is in store for him, the return of Sylar, and another Star Trek cameo. The Mohinder/Jack taking on the Company is probably the best thing going right now. I will remove my support for this plot if Jack dies; there is no Heroes if Horn-Rimmed Glasses man is not around. I was also a big fan of Sylar murdering the illusionist because she deserved it for screwing with Sylar. I have nothing to say about Grandma Uhura. On the other hand; Maya boring, Irish Peter boring, no Haitian, no Nathan, and ancient Japan is not all that interesting. But that is just the way Heroes go, some good, some bad.
6 out of 10
Weeds
This has been such a weird season. It isn’t building to anything, yet there is only a few episodes left. Peter’s death is still hanging around ready to screw Nancy’s life, but it seems like the show is waiting for Nancy to put her business back together before the DEA comes knocking. Well, this week started putting all of those pieces in place. Nancy is going full steam with selling weed again, the 38-pound Olson twin joins the team while Silas becomes Conrad’s bitch. I have high hopes for that arc because it hopefully means more Conrad and maybe even Heylia in every episode. I hate Celia so I don’t care about Dean becoming an invalid. The Nancy and Peter’s ex-wife may end up being worthwhile. I hope they are building to something decent to end the season.
7 out of 10
Californication
Damnit. This was not a good follow-up to last week’s fantastic episode. It could be that the show is better without Mia or Bill involved. Hank losing the material he had written because he was carjacked is a really lame excuse for making sure his life stays screwed up. The Hank and Karen scenes were painful because Hank is more fun when he is being a dick or when he is trashed. Charlie’s wife is a lesbian now? Huh? I do not look forward to the revelation that Hank slept with Mia because it is wrong that I am supporting the adult. But man Mia is an awful person.
6 out of 10
Tuesday (10/9)
Bones
Horse fetish? Is that what Bones has become? My hope that the cannibal society from the premiere episode would turn into a season-long arc was stupid and I should have known better. At least the chick that murdered her pony/guy/lover was hot. The Angela hypnosis story was fine but forgettable. All and all in was a rather dull hour.
5 out of 10
House
Have I mentioned how much I am loving this season? After last year became too serious, it seems like the mood has lightened. This has righted the House and Wilson relationship so that their interactions are back to being the best part of the show. This week it was Wilson’s saying “Good times” after being invited to an eye removal, plus Wilson fixing up then stepping in for House after he stuck a knife in the light socket. The Foreman B-plot was just more confirmation that he belongs with House since he is House Jr. or maybe Black House. The potential hires subplot is still holding up so I have no complaints.
8 out of 10
The Unit
I knew that we were going back to the usual episode structure this week, so I was just hoping that the first one would be strong enough to keep me interested. Surprisingly, this was still fun. The flying scenes include some cool maneuvers. Watching the Colonel and Mack abuse the guy trying to rebuild the command center was amusing. And Jonas in the Hazmat suit worked. I am still at a loss about what is going on with Mack and his wife, so that drags in every episode. Plus Bob’s wife at the radio station was fast forward material. Still, the whole package was good enough.
6 out of 10
Reaper
I don’t have much to say here. It is fun enough to bring me back week after week, but it is not excelling at anything. Ray Wise is the best part every week. But once the Devil disappears it becomes just a kind of funny buddy show. The bounty this week was chick made of bugs so we got some bad CG. Kind of drawing a blank, so that tells you how memorable this show is to me.
5 out of 10
Damages
Another freaking fantastic episode, I am going to feel the loss of this show a couple of weeks from now. There are just 2 episodes left and I still have no idea how this season or series is going to conclude. If there is going to be a season 2 then there has to be some sort of the reconciliation between Patty and Ellen but that seems very unlikely. This week we got to see enough of Patty after the fiancé’s death that I doubt she had anything to do with it. It looks like her breakdown may have been caused by Ray blowing the back of his head off right in front of Patty. I did not see that coming at all. Not much Frobisher this week, but with Ray’s suicide we are building to something with Frobisher and his lawyers. That is made even more obvious with Jack McCall from Deadwood showing up to replace Ray, that dude is a menace. Damages kicks ass.
9 out of 10
Wednesday (10/10)
Bionic Woman
I really like where this show is heading. Everything seems to be falling into place and the structure looks to be more about moving Jaime’s story along instead of dealing with a threat of the week. That makes it the style of show that I enjoy. The Jaime Sommer/Sarah Corvus interactions were great this week. Lots of information was revealed and it is nice that Sarah seems to be a grey character instead of pure evil. Plus we got a couple more sweet training sequences with Jae and even got attacked by a pipe-wielding Isaiah Washington. I hope they can keep it up and build something memorable here.
7 out of 10
Life
I’m still here and I am starting to like this more than Chuck or Reaper. This is very unexpected but I am really digging Charlie tracking down who ruined his life. The cop procedural stuff doesn’t really interest me, but shows like House and Bones have overcame my bias to that stuff so it is not unheard of. Charlie confronting the detective who worked his case was by far the best scene of the episode. But it was still fun to seem him purchase that tricked out car, pull over the man who married his ex-wife again, and the coyotes were amusing too. Maybe this show will stick around.
6 out of 10
Thursday (10/11)
Smallville
Aw yeah. This is the craptastic show that I fast forward through week after week, year after year. No Lois is an automatic deduction. Limited Chloe also hurts the cause. Extensive Lana makes it the worst possible combination of the three. I guess I can be nice and say that I was expecting much worse out of this Supergirl plotline. Nice Guy Lex can only work if they stick with it long enough. Hey look Jimmy came back! Well, at least there were bikinis but bikinis with out Lois seems like someone screwed up.
Dexter
I finally found the right price to purchase the first season of Dexter, so I was able to speed through it then watch the first couple of episodes of the second season. This is definitely a show that I regret not watching last year. I don’t really have a good reason other than I don’t even remember when it debuted so by the time I found out about it the season was half over. Still, this is a show that is meant for my viewing pleasure. A serial killer that works for the police and only kills bad people, that is my kind of premise. This week’s episode has Dexter reeling from the authorities stumbling upon where he sinks his victims along with trying figure out his inability to kill since offing his brother in first season finale. Lots of good stuff, Dexter’s attempts to kill Little Chino, all of his scenes with his sister, Keith Carradine showing up, Dokes’ maniacal stalking of Dexter, this is a great show.
9 out of 10
Monday (10/8)
Prison Break
Well I think I have to be kind to this week’s episode because they did insinuate that it was Sara’s head in the box. I don’t believe it because she is too important of a character to kill off screen, but that is what has been said so far. Nothing else really relevant to talk about it is just the regular stuff, Michael scheming, Linc scheming, T-Bag scheming, Sucre whining, whatever. The whole thing is repetitive.
4 out of 10
Chuck
Blah. This is not growing into a show that I will follow through to its conclusion. I am already watching the whole thing in fast forward. There doesn’t seem to be any emphasis on a show or season long storyline. Instead we get secret agent plot of the week. This time Chuck dances and that’s about all I remember. The action isn’t good enough to make up for the show’s deficiencies so I am starting to sour.
5 out of 10
Heroes
This is still moving at a snail’s pace, which is just a conceit of the show. The highlights for this week were some movement with Mohinder’s story, Jack finding out what is in store for him, the return of Sylar, and another Star Trek cameo. The Mohinder/Jack taking on the Company is probably the best thing going right now. I will remove my support for this plot if Jack dies; there is no Heroes if Horn-Rimmed Glasses man is not around. I was also a big fan of Sylar murdering the illusionist because she deserved it for screwing with Sylar. I have nothing to say about Grandma Uhura. On the other hand; Maya boring, Irish Peter boring, no Haitian, no Nathan, and ancient Japan is not all that interesting. But that is just the way Heroes go, some good, some bad.
6 out of 10
Weeds
This has been such a weird season. It isn’t building to anything, yet there is only a few episodes left. Peter’s death is still hanging around ready to screw Nancy’s life, but it seems like the show is waiting for Nancy to put her business back together before the DEA comes knocking. Well, this week started putting all of those pieces in place. Nancy is going full steam with selling weed again, the 38-pound Olson twin joins the team while Silas becomes Conrad’s bitch. I have high hopes for that arc because it hopefully means more Conrad and maybe even Heylia in every episode. I hate Celia so I don’t care about Dean becoming an invalid. The Nancy and Peter’s ex-wife may end up being worthwhile. I hope they are building to something decent to end the season.
7 out of 10
Californication
Damnit. This was not a good follow-up to last week’s fantastic episode. It could be that the show is better without Mia or Bill involved. Hank losing the material he had written because he was carjacked is a really lame excuse for making sure his life stays screwed up. The Hank and Karen scenes were painful because Hank is more fun when he is being a dick or when he is trashed. Charlie’s wife is a lesbian now? Huh? I do not look forward to the revelation that Hank slept with Mia because it is wrong that I am supporting the adult. But man Mia is an awful person.
6 out of 10
Tuesday (10/9)
Bones
Horse fetish? Is that what Bones has become? My hope that the cannibal society from the premiere episode would turn into a season-long arc was stupid and I should have known better. At least the chick that murdered her pony/guy/lover was hot. The Angela hypnosis story was fine but forgettable. All and all in was a rather dull hour.
5 out of 10
House
Have I mentioned how much I am loving this season? After last year became too serious, it seems like the mood has lightened. This has righted the House and Wilson relationship so that their interactions are back to being the best part of the show. This week it was Wilson’s saying “Good times” after being invited to an eye removal, plus Wilson fixing up then stepping in for House after he stuck a knife in the light socket. The Foreman B-plot was just more confirmation that he belongs with House since he is House Jr. or maybe Black House. The potential hires subplot is still holding up so I have no complaints.
8 out of 10
The Unit
I knew that we were going back to the usual episode structure this week, so I was just hoping that the first one would be strong enough to keep me interested. Surprisingly, this was still fun. The flying scenes include some cool maneuvers. Watching the Colonel and Mack abuse the guy trying to rebuild the command center was amusing. And Jonas in the Hazmat suit worked. I am still at a loss about what is going on with Mack and his wife, so that drags in every episode. Plus Bob’s wife at the radio station was fast forward material. Still, the whole package was good enough.
6 out of 10
Reaper
I don’t have much to say here. It is fun enough to bring me back week after week, but it is not excelling at anything. Ray Wise is the best part every week. But once the Devil disappears it becomes just a kind of funny buddy show. The bounty this week was chick made of bugs so we got some bad CG. Kind of drawing a blank, so that tells you how memorable this show is to me.
5 out of 10
Damages
Another freaking fantastic episode, I am going to feel the loss of this show a couple of weeks from now. There are just 2 episodes left and I still have no idea how this season or series is going to conclude. If there is going to be a season 2 then there has to be some sort of the reconciliation between Patty and Ellen but that seems very unlikely. This week we got to see enough of Patty after the fiancé’s death that I doubt she had anything to do with it. It looks like her breakdown may have been caused by Ray blowing the back of his head off right in front of Patty. I did not see that coming at all. Not much Frobisher this week, but with Ray’s suicide we are building to something with Frobisher and his lawyers. That is made even more obvious with Jack McCall from Deadwood showing up to replace Ray, that dude is a menace. Damages kicks ass.
9 out of 10
Wednesday (10/10)
Bionic Woman
I really like where this show is heading. Everything seems to be falling into place and the structure looks to be more about moving Jaime’s story along instead of dealing with a threat of the week. That makes it the style of show that I enjoy. The Jaime Sommer/Sarah Corvus interactions were great this week. Lots of information was revealed and it is nice that Sarah seems to be a grey character instead of pure evil. Plus we got a couple more sweet training sequences with Jae and even got attacked by a pipe-wielding Isaiah Washington. I hope they can keep it up and build something memorable here.
7 out of 10
Life
I’m still here and I am starting to like this more than Chuck or Reaper. This is very unexpected but I am really digging Charlie tracking down who ruined his life. The cop procedural stuff doesn’t really interest me, but shows like House and Bones have overcame my bias to that stuff so it is not unheard of. Charlie confronting the detective who worked his case was by far the best scene of the episode. But it was still fun to seem him purchase that tricked out car, pull over the man who married his ex-wife again, and the coyotes were amusing too. Maybe this show will stick around.
6 out of 10
Thursday (10/11)
Smallville
Aw yeah. This is the craptastic show that I fast forward through week after week, year after year. No Lois is an automatic deduction. Limited Chloe also hurts the cause. Extensive Lana makes it the worst possible combination of the three. I guess I can be nice and say that I was expecting much worse out of this Supergirl plotline. Nice Guy Lex can only work if they stick with it long enough. Hey look Jimmy came back! Well, at least there were bikinis but bikinis with out Lois seems like someone screwed up.
3 out of 10
Damages holds on to the top spot but Dexter shows up and bumps House out of the second slot. Thankfully next week all the Fox shows are skipped for baseball so this won't have to be so much damn work. Then once October ends, Weeds, Californication, and Damages seasons finish so I might be able to get the reviews under 10 a week.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
TV from 9/30 - 10/6
Monday (10/1)
Prison Break
What’s in the box?!?!? I can definitely say that this show is consistent. The problem is that it never improves. I appreciate that they have trimmed the amount of secondary storylines. Since the majority of the cast is in prison, their arcs keeping connecting which makes the show a helluvalot easier to watch. Michael is losing hope, T-Bag is scraping by, Whistler can’t be trusted, Mahone is losing his mind, Sucre is a drunk, and Linc failed in his mission. But none of this matters because they cliffhanged the show on the dreaded unknown box delivered by the evil people. What’s in the box?!?! I doubt it will be as cool as having it be Sara’s head.
5 out of 10
Chuck
I guess I’ll stick around but I am not all that excited about Chuck. There was nothing particularly wrong with the second episode, but at the same time there definitely wasn’t anything great. The dinner scene went on forever and the action wasn’t memorable. Still, Adam Baldwin working at the fake Best Buy is great. The female agent working at the hot dog joint with all the young boys just staring at her was amusing. Zach interacting with his sister, his buddy, the agents, are all usually funny enough so hopefully this show can find a groove soon.
5 out of 10
Heroes
The second season is starting off just as slow as the first season. The show is just good enough to keep me coming back but it took nearly half the season last year before it really delivered that knockout episode. I hope they can improve that schedule this time around. Still Claire cut her toe off and that ruled. Jack is still working at the Copy Kingdom and that rules. The Haitian was brought back and re-teamed with Jack, which is like giving me a gift of pure joy. I’m not interested in Maya and her bleeding eyes death power yet. Peter in “Ireland” is weak so far. I hope they can deliver on this Power that killed Sulu and is attacking Mama Petrelli. The ancient Japan plot is not as good as it should be although Kensei’s power revealing itself should kick things into gear. Cast gets huge again with at least Niki coming back next week so lets see if they can continue to juggle all these characters.
6 out of 10
Weeds
Celia gets naked… that’s bad nudity, bad bad nudity. I am not sure if there is much else that needs to be said about the entire episode. Well, Shane and Isabella getting high, touching boobs, and sharing tender moments was a nice scene. The porn set stuff just seems to be something for Andy to do for a couple of episodes. Hopefully stalker Nancy will lead to something good. There is still not enough Helia and Conrad and that is holding the show back.
6 out of 10
Californication
I complain last week and what happens this week? Hank is snorting lines of the back of a hooker. Hank is also drunk the majority of the episode, which just makes the show much more enjoyable. This was the episode where we got to see where Hank and Karen went wrong while at the same time putting them that much closer to being back together. By closer I mean they had sex. It is a good sign that the show was able to make the reading of the letter from Hank’s dad as emotional as was. This was easily one of the best episodes of the show so far.
8 out of 10
Tuesday (10/2)
Bones
This was just a by-the-numbers episode of Bones. There weren’t really any standout moments. Hodgins inability to deal with the hot FBI agent was amusing enough and Bones seeing her father in jail was okay but could have been better. Really the only thing I would want to watch again was drunk Booth at the end. It is still weird how they are tacking on these green-screen scenes with D.C. landmarks in the background.
5 out of 10
House
I am really enjoying this new season; much more than the beginning of last season. They have been able to make me rethink whether or not everything will be reset within a handful of episodes. Maybe Chase, Cameron, and Foreman won’t run back to be House’s pet monkeys. We’ll see. I can definitely take House abusing all the potential candidates for the rest of this month, especially if Kal Penn sticks around. Wilson continuing to abuse House is fantastic and that is the way their relationship should work not House screwing over Wilson to point of sending him to jail from last year. After all of 2 weeks, House is easily having the best season of the network shows I am watching.
9 out of 10
The Unit
This may be the last time I will really enjoy The Unit for a while. Instead of a mission a week, this was the culmination of how last season ended and the first 2 episodes of this year. Everyone is trying to expose who in the government is screwing over The Unit. Which lead to the awesome scene of them infiltrating the muckety muck dinner and showing The Man that they can get to him whenever they want to. Great stuff. The Mack torture scenes were good too, even if still don’t know what the hell happened between him and his wife. Please keep the Cerrano look.
7 out of 10
Reaper
Maybe Reaper will succeed. The tone of the show works with all the jokes and goofing off, instead of taking all the devil’s bounty hunting seriously. I hope they continue to injure Spanish every week since him getting shot by a nail-gun was one of the funnier scenes. Ray Wise makes the Devil menacing enough since most of his scenes are humorous with just the slightest bit of evil. I’m not too sure about the Workbench boss, but if it leads to Sock destroying merchandise to calm down it should work. Missy Peregrym has very white teeth, but is still hot. Reaper is holding steady at #2 of the new shows
6 out of 10
Damages
Damages is head-and-shoulders the best show that I am watching right now. There have been 10 episodes so far and none have disappointed. This week we finally got he big confrontation between Hewes and Frobisher. Somehow Glenn Close and Ted Danson were able to deliver by having the deposition slowly build to Frobisher exploding. This is capped off with Frobisher flipping out on his wife for sending the divorce papers to him the morning of his deposition. Ellen quitting then going to get drunk with friends was also very well done. They still got me wondering just what the hell happened to Ellen and her fiancé after the trial. I still hope Tom is not working against Ellen but there are still a few episodes left to make a bunch of reveals.
9 out of 10
Wednesday (10/3)
Bionic Woman
Although Bionic Woman hasn't put all of its pieces together yet, I still think that it is the best new show of the season. Right now it is because of potential. That awful human being yet good actor Isaiah Washington was introduced as Jamie’ handler this week. He’s another good character for the show. There was a damn decent training scene with Jamie and that guy who survived the Elecktra movie. The Sarah Corvus storyline looks like it will continue for a while so that’s a good thing. Jamie’s relationship with her sister is not dragging down the show. And I just love shadowy agencies that do good and the shadowy agencies that they stop. It’s the Alias fan in me.
7 out of 10
Life
I am giving Life a reprieve for at least one more week. This is based nearly entirely on this episode spending almost as much time on Charlie trying to figure out what was done to him and why than on the crime of the week. That along with the great scene where Charlie going to the barbecue at his old partner’s house, getting yelled at by the guy’s wife, then finding out that his partner kept his badge and his gun for him. The weekly crime was okay but nothing that you haven’t seen in a Law and Order or CSI. I hope they keep the larger storyline a major part of every episode because then I will stay till the show is cancelled before Christmas.
6 out of 10
Dirty Sexy Money
This gets the chop. I may continue to record it but I have no interest in reviewing it. Maybe if it survives past midseason I will check back in.
Thursday (10/4)
Smallville
Hey, we got a step up from last week. But since last week’s episode was awful, this is not high praise. I appreciate that they are not dragging out the awful Lana storyline, but at the same time find it hilarious that they push the reset button so hard that last year’s Lana/Lex arc is now gone. It was also good to see Clark visit the Fortress of Solitude because any Terrence Stamp is a good thing. The ending could also lead to something good as long as the secret government program has nothing to do with the Luthors, please be CADMUS, or Waller, or Brianiac. This week’s awful list; Lana was cloned, another Daily Planet editor that is not Perry White, possibly evil Supergirl, no Lionel.
4 out of 10
Big Shots
Adios. Take your place next to Dirty Sexy Money.
2 weeks in a row with Damages in first place and House in second. Plus we got an unexpectedly great Californication episode. Dirty Sexy Money and Big Shots are off the list. I am also not going to review Boston Legal and I recorded but haven't watched Pushing Daisies and Dexter.
Prison Break
What’s in the box?!?!? I can definitely say that this show is consistent. The problem is that it never improves. I appreciate that they have trimmed the amount of secondary storylines. Since the majority of the cast is in prison, their arcs keeping connecting which makes the show a helluvalot easier to watch. Michael is losing hope, T-Bag is scraping by, Whistler can’t be trusted, Mahone is losing his mind, Sucre is a drunk, and Linc failed in his mission. But none of this matters because they cliffhanged the show on the dreaded unknown box delivered by the evil people. What’s in the box?!?! I doubt it will be as cool as having it be Sara’s head.
5 out of 10
Chuck
I guess I’ll stick around but I am not all that excited about Chuck. There was nothing particularly wrong with the second episode, but at the same time there definitely wasn’t anything great. The dinner scene went on forever and the action wasn’t memorable. Still, Adam Baldwin working at the fake Best Buy is great. The female agent working at the hot dog joint with all the young boys just staring at her was amusing. Zach interacting with his sister, his buddy, the agents, are all usually funny enough so hopefully this show can find a groove soon.
5 out of 10
Heroes
The second season is starting off just as slow as the first season. The show is just good enough to keep me coming back but it took nearly half the season last year before it really delivered that knockout episode. I hope they can improve that schedule this time around. Still Claire cut her toe off and that ruled. Jack is still working at the Copy Kingdom and that rules. The Haitian was brought back and re-teamed with Jack, which is like giving me a gift of pure joy. I’m not interested in Maya and her bleeding eyes death power yet. Peter in “Ireland” is weak so far. I hope they can deliver on this Power that killed Sulu and is attacking Mama Petrelli. The ancient Japan plot is not as good as it should be although Kensei’s power revealing itself should kick things into gear. Cast gets huge again with at least Niki coming back next week so lets see if they can continue to juggle all these characters.
6 out of 10
Weeds
Celia gets naked… that’s bad nudity, bad bad nudity. I am not sure if there is much else that needs to be said about the entire episode. Well, Shane and Isabella getting high, touching boobs, and sharing tender moments was a nice scene. The porn set stuff just seems to be something for Andy to do for a couple of episodes. Hopefully stalker Nancy will lead to something good. There is still not enough Helia and Conrad and that is holding the show back.
6 out of 10
Californication
I complain last week and what happens this week? Hank is snorting lines of the back of a hooker. Hank is also drunk the majority of the episode, which just makes the show much more enjoyable. This was the episode where we got to see where Hank and Karen went wrong while at the same time putting them that much closer to being back together. By closer I mean they had sex. It is a good sign that the show was able to make the reading of the letter from Hank’s dad as emotional as was. This was easily one of the best episodes of the show so far.
8 out of 10
Tuesday (10/2)
Bones
This was just a by-the-numbers episode of Bones. There weren’t really any standout moments. Hodgins inability to deal with the hot FBI agent was amusing enough and Bones seeing her father in jail was okay but could have been better. Really the only thing I would want to watch again was drunk Booth at the end. It is still weird how they are tacking on these green-screen scenes with D.C. landmarks in the background.
5 out of 10
House
I am really enjoying this new season; much more than the beginning of last season. They have been able to make me rethink whether or not everything will be reset within a handful of episodes. Maybe Chase, Cameron, and Foreman won’t run back to be House’s pet monkeys. We’ll see. I can definitely take House abusing all the potential candidates for the rest of this month, especially if Kal Penn sticks around. Wilson continuing to abuse House is fantastic and that is the way their relationship should work not House screwing over Wilson to point of sending him to jail from last year. After all of 2 weeks, House is easily having the best season of the network shows I am watching.
9 out of 10
The Unit
This may be the last time I will really enjoy The Unit for a while. Instead of a mission a week, this was the culmination of how last season ended and the first 2 episodes of this year. Everyone is trying to expose who in the government is screwing over The Unit. Which lead to the awesome scene of them infiltrating the muckety muck dinner and showing The Man that they can get to him whenever they want to. Great stuff. The Mack torture scenes were good too, even if still don’t know what the hell happened between him and his wife. Please keep the Cerrano look.
7 out of 10
Reaper
Maybe Reaper will succeed. The tone of the show works with all the jokes and goofing off, instead of taking all the devil’s bounty hunting seriously. I hope they continue to injure Spanish every week since him getting shot by a nail-gun was one of the funnier scenes. Ray Wise makes the Devil menacing enough since most of his scenes are humorous with just the slightest bit of evil. I’m not too sure about the Workbench boss, but if it leads to Sock destroying merchandise to calm down it should work. Missy Peregrym has very white teeth, but is still hot. Reaper is holding steady at #2 of the new shows
6 out of 10
Damages
Damages is head-and-shoulders the best show that I am watching right now. There have been 10 episodes so far and none have disappointed. This week we finally got he big confrontation between Hewes and Frobisher. Somehow Glenn Close and Ted Danson were able to deliver by having the deposition slowly build to Frobisher exploding. This is capped off with Frobisher flipping out on his wife for sending the divorce papers to him the morning of his deposition. Ellen quitting then going to get drunk with friends was also very well done. They still got me wondering just what the hell happened to Ellen and her fiancé after the trial. I still hope Tom is not working against Ellen but there are still a few episodes left to make a bunch of reveals.
9 out of 10
Wednesday (10/3)
Bionic Woman
Although Bionic Woman hasn't put all of its pieces together yet, I still think that it is the best new show of the season. Right now it is because of potential. That awful human being yet good actor Isaiah Washington was introduced as Jamie’ handler this week. He’s another good character for the show. There was a damn decent training scene with Jamie and that guy who survived the Elecktra movie. The Sarah Corvus storyline looks like it will continue for a while so that’s a good thing. Jamie’s relationship with her sister is not dragging down the show. And I just love shadowy agencies that do good and the shadowy agencies that they stop. It’s the Alias fan in me.
7 out of 10
Life
I am giving Life a reprieve for at least one more week. This is based nearly entirely on this episode spending almost as much time on Charlie trying to figure out what was done to him and why than on the crime of the week. That along with the great scene where Charlie going to the barbecue at his old partner’s house, getting yelled at by the guy’s wife, then finding out that his partner kept his badge and his gun for him. The weekly crime was okay but nothing that you haven’t seen in a Law and Order or CSI. I hope they keep the larger storyline a major part of every episode because then I will stay till the show is cancelled before Christmas.
6 out of 10
Dirty Sexy Money
This gets the chop. I may continue to record it but I have no interest in reviewing it. Maybe if it survives past midseason I will check back in.
Thursday (10/4)
Smallville
Hey, we got a step up from last week. But since last week’s episode was awful, this is not high praise. I appreciate that they are not dragging out the awful Lana storyline, but at the same time find it hilarious that they push the reset button so hard that last year’s Lana/Lex arc is now gone. It was also good to see Clark visit the Fortress of Solitude because any Terrence Stamp is a good thing. The ending could also lead to something good as long as the secret government program has nothing to do with the Luthors, please be CADMUS, or Waller, or Brianiac. This week’s awful list; Lana was cloned, another Daily Planet editor that is not Perry White, possibly evil Supergirl, no Lionel.
4 out of 10
Big Shots
Adios. Take your place next to Dirty Sexy Money.
2 weeks in a row with Damages in first place and House in second. Plus we got an unexpectedly great Californication episode. Dirty Sexy Money and Big Shots are off the list. I am also not going to review Boston Legal and I recorded but haven't watched Pushing Daisies and Dexter.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
TV from 9/23 - 9/29
15 goddamn shows just this week. I am a sick bastard. Hopefully going forward I can get this done before the new week starts.
Monday (9/24)
Prison Break
We are jumping in on the second episode. I lost my chance to rant about how they literally reset the show back to the beginning. One of the brothers is in jail, one of them is trying to break the other out, and there is an evil conspiracy using them. It is so past ludicrous that it works for Prison Break. Episode 2 brought more of the same. Michael is the smartest man alive and can fix every situation, this time he MacGyver’s the broken water pipes. Linc gets to know shadowy organization #2. The annoying Sucre/Maricruz storyline is hopefully wrapped up cause it bores me to tears. Sucre working with the brothers is definitely a better use for his character. The best thing about the show right now is that Bunny from The Wire is the head convict in charge. He improves the show just by standing around. His butting heads with Michael should continue to anchor the show for me.
5 out of 10
Chuck
I hate pilots. All the characters have to be introduced, the premise needs to be clearly explained, and the status quo needs to be established but it still has to come in at less than an hour. So everything is smashed together to fit and it always feels rushed. Lets judge the 3 parts. The characters are good enough; Chuck seems to fit the role, the dueling agents are okay, and there are plenty of supporting characters to provide humor. The premise seems to be a one-note joke about a nerd saving the world. Will he always save the world straight from the floor of not-Best Buy? I was hoping for better action, but I always want better action. 24 and Alias has spoiled me. Plus there is another big government conspiracy to bother with again too. I’ll give it a few more weeks.
5 out of 10
Heroes
I came pretty dang close to despising the season 1 finale. Every single character coming together, multiple characters in mortal danger but no one clearly dead, and the time travel ending left me feeling annoyed instead of intrigued. Were any of these things fixed? Well no. The Hiro in ancient Japan plot was made better because of Sark as Hiro’s hero. On the other hand, it looks like no one died in the finale. Instead we get another secondary character killed. This grows tiresome; eventually someone big has to go. So I am still stuck with way too many people to keep track of which leads to storylines that I will check out for. I did like the new stories for Claire and Jack Bennet. In fact I want a whole episode to take place in Copy Kingdom. Nathan Petrelli’s beard is fantastically fake and ridiculous. Parkman still bores me. I am unsure about Mohinder. We’ll see about the new chick. I know Ali Larter will be back soon but do we need the kid? I miss Sulu already.
6 out of 10
Weeds
First Post-U-Turn episode and the show definitely suffers in his absence. His funeral is still the best scene even when he’s dead. Nancy grieving with the other gangbangers, Marvin trying to take control … U-Turn is a huge loss. That being said, Nancy and Marvin going to the summit with the Mexican gang was great. The porn set should have been funnier. The Matthew Modine story is still boring when Nancy isn’t involved. The Christian indoctrination school and the Olsen twin fits the show but it seems to be taking the place of Heylia and Conrad. I still love the tone of the show.
7 out of 10
Californication
The tone of this show is starting to confuse me. We are only halfway through the first season and instead of Hank being completely out of control, the story has already shifted to Hank trying to put his family together. Is it just going to be constant setbacks? That will get boring. Maybe I miss the constant nudity of the first episode. Or maybe Mia is just that annoying. Or maybe I don’t care about Hank’s agent. I do like when Hank spars with the director. Eh, it’s a half-hour that follows Weeds so I’ll stick around.
5 out of 10
Tuesday (9/25)
Bones
This show has constantly improved since it began airing. Which is a good thing since I have zero tolerance for procedurals. And one of the important aspects of a procedural is the need to get everything back to normal, so by the end of this episode Booth and Bones are a team again and Zack is back from Iraq. That means that there is nothing new here so it all comes down to the case and this week its cannibals. Good stuff with an actual hint at a larger case for the season to deal with. I’m intrigued, not so much the green screen stuff at the end but still intrigued.
7 out of 10
House
Just like how last season began with House walking; this season starts without his minions. I don’t trust it and am biding my time till everyone is back in the fold. Cameron, Chase, and Foreman are coming back eventually so all I can hope for is that their absence leads to good stories. Does it this time? Hells yes. The guitar kidnapping by Dr. Wilson is enough to make this a great episode. This included one of the best House/Wilson scenes of all-time, which is when he gives the sound that a guitar string makes when it is wound too tight. Plus switching bodies, House dickishness, and Cuddy proving to House he needs a team. The abuse of the potentials hires should carry the next few episodes.
8 out of 10
The Unit
I’m jumping back in after taking the second season off. Thank you second DVR box. Automatic high score because Jonas shaves his head and gives me Pedro Cerano flashbacks. If he threw in the Cuban accent this would have been the best hour of television all week. The wives sections still lose my attention. I have no idea what happened between Mack and his wife. But it is still fun to watch all the team members do their thing. Come on, Bob hid in the casket and shot the assassin checking Jonas’ non-existent dead body. I assume everything will reset after the second episode. But maybe they’ll surprise me.
7 out of 10
Reaper
This seemed interesting enough. Plus Kevin Smith directing was hook enough to get me to record it for future viewing. Devil’s bounty hunter seemed to be a damn decent premise. President Logan’s VP is the devil which you would think should have been the other way around. The star and his buddy seem to have good timing with the buddy being real funny in this role. It’s still the CW so everything skews young and not that deep. Plus I don’t know if the budget will allow them to do decent special effects for the demons and shit. Still for a pilot it didn’t bore me, so I will return for a little while longer.
7 out of 10
Damages
I may not watch every FX show but it seems like everyone I have checked out were well worth the effort. Damages seems to be the first one since The Shield to actually get me to come back week after week. The performances are so good, from Glenn Close to Tate Donovan to Ted Danson to Rose Byrne to Zeljko Ivanek to just about anybody who shows their face. The only real negative I have for Damages is that I am not a fan of the format; telling the story of the case while slowly revealing the horrible conclusion where Ellen’s fiancé is dead and we don’t know how or why yet. It works though. This week’s episode includes showing Patty breakdown in the future, the continuing revelation that Ellen can’t trust Patty or Tom, and just more awesome work by Ted freaking Danson. I still have no idea how this is going to wrap up while at the same time I have no idea how there can be a second season.
9 out 10
Wednesday (9/26)
Bionic Woman
So I have been trying to replace Alias for 2 years now. 4 years if you want to remove the last 2 years of Alias from the record books. Here’s hoping Bionic Woman can do the job. After the pilot, I am not jumping ship so that is a good start. As a pilot, this avoided many of the pitfalls. By the end of the episode I really didn’t know how each hour would go down which I liked. Jamie Sommers was introduced, fucked up, then rebuilt using magical technology. Another world famous shadowy conspiracy was introduced. Evil doctors, sketchy doctors, kung fu dude, whiny sister, evil bionic woman, and no Isiah Washington were all introduced without feeling forced. I was hoping for a better fight scene at the end but it didn’t suck and hopefully the show can grow into great action. I could do with out the aggressive soundtrack playing over every important scene. Still I feel pretty good about this show at least lasting the season.
7 out of 10
Life
Second most precarious show, if it doesn’t vastly improve over the next week or so I will not stick around. It is just a cop drama with the all-necessary twist. I don’t have much to say. Calamity Jane and the overarching mysterious conspiracy may keep me coming back but it is touch and go right now.
4 out of 10
Dirty Sexy Money
This is a step above Life but still behind Bionic Woman, Chuck, and Reaper for new shows that I am going to follow. I like Peter Krause and I like Donald Sutherland so here we go. It could be fun. Lots of Darling children running around acting crazy, William Baldwin sleeping with a tranny hooker, priests with illegitimate children, and other real soapy situations. Then again the soapy nature will probably be the reason why I fall off this show. Then again the omnipresent conspiracy over Peter Krause’s dad’s death might keep me coming back.
5 out of 10
Thursday (9/27)
Smallville
Still crap and I am still watching. Smallville has not improved and in fact has probably worsened. Another female is added to the cast so there will be even less time for Chloe or Lois which sucks. Of course Bizarro was finished off before the end of the episode because there is a new season to start building even though the conclusion will be rushed and lead to nothing for next season. And the Lana reveal at the end was just awful. How stupid do they assume the audience is if they feel that people believed she was dead and would be shocked by her still being alive? There is nothing promising about this season.
2 out of 10
Big Shots
This is the worst new show that I watched. I will record next week’s episode and that will be the final call. Outside of Vaughn from Alias, I have nothing positive to write. Christopher Titus in a semi-serious role? Yet he is still doing his stand up? Do we need more tranny hookers on ABC? This seems like more soapy drama that doesn’t interest me at all. I do not have high hopes.
3 out of 10
Damages wins for the week with House coming in second. I wasn't blown away by any premiere but at the same time I have nice slate of shows to follow.
Monday (9/24)
Prison Break
We are jumping in on the second episode. I lost my chance to rant about how they literally reset the show back to the beginning. One of the brothers is in jail, one of them is trying to break the other out, and there is an evil conspiracy using them. It is so past ludicrous that it works for Prison Break. Episode 2 brought more of the same. Michael is the smartest man alive and can fix every situation, this time he MacGyver’s the broken water pipes. Linc gets to know shadowy organization #2. The annoying Sucre/Maricruz storyline is hopefully wrapped up cause it bores me to tears. Sucre working with the brothers is definitely a better use for his character. The best thing about the show right now is that Bunny from The Wire is the head convict in charge. He improves the show just by standing around. His butting heads with Michael should continue to anchor the show for me.
5 out of 10
Chuck
I hate pilots. All the characters have to be introduced, the premise needs to be clearly explained, and the status quo needs to be established but it still has to come in at less than an hour. So everything is smashed together to fit and it always feels rushed. Lets judge the 3 parts. The characters are good enough; Chuck seems to fit the role, the dueling agents are okay, and there are plenty of supporting characters to provide humor. The premise seems to be a one-note joke about a nerd saving the world. Will he always save the world straight from the floor of not-Best Buy? I was hoping for better action, but I always want better action. 24 and Alias has spoiled me. Plus there is another big government conspiracy to bother with again too. I’ll give it a few more weeks.
5 out of 10
Heroes
I came pretty dang close to despising the season 1 finale. Every single character coming together, multiple characters in mortal danger but no one clearly dead, and the time travel ending left me feeling annoyed instead of intrigued. Were any of these things fixed? Well no. The Hiro in ancient Japan plot was made better because of Sark as Hiro’s hero. On the other hand, it looks like no one died in the finale. Instead we get another secondary character killed. This grows tiresome; eventually someone big has to go. So I am still stuck with way too many people to keep track of which leads to storylines that I will check out for. I did like the new stories for Claire and Jack Bennet. In fact I want a whole episode to take place in Copy Kingdom. Nathan Petrelli’s beard is fantastically fake and ridiculous. Parkman still bores me. I am unsure about Mohinder. We’ll see about the new chick. I know Ali Larter will be back soon but do we need the kid? I miss Sulu already.
6 out of 10
Weeds
First Post-U-Turn episode and the show definitely suffers in his absence. His funeral is still the best scene even when he’s dead. Nancy grieving with the other gangbangers, Marvin trying to take control … U-Turn is a huge loss. That being said, Nancy and Marvin going to the summit with the Mexican gang was great. The porn set should have been funnier. The Matthew Modine story is still boring when Nancy isn’t involved. The Christian indoctrination school and the Olsen twin fits the show but it seems to be taking the place of Heylia and Conrad. I still love the tone of the show.
7 out of 10
Californication
The tone of this show is starting to confuse me. We are only halfway through the first season and instead of Hank being completely out of control, the story has already shifted to Hank trying to put his family together. Is it just going to be constant setbacks? That will get boring. Maybe I miss the constant nudity of the first episode. Or maybe Mia is just that annoying. Or maybe I don’t care about Hank’s agent. I do like when Hank spars with the director. Eh, it’s a half-hour that follows Weeds so I’ll stick around.
5 out of 10
Tuesday (9/25)
Bones
This show has constantly improved since it began airing. Which is a good thing since I have zero tolerance for procedurals. And one of the important aspects of a procedural is the need to get everything back to normal, so by the end of this episode Booth and Bones are a team again and Zack is back from Iraq. That means that there is nothing new here so it all comes down to the case and this week its cannibals. Good stuff with an actual hint at a larger case for the season to deal with. I’m intrigued, not so much the green screen stuff at the end but still intrigued.
7 out of 10
House
Just like how last season began with House walking; this season starts without his minions. I don’t trust it and am biding my time till everyone is back in the fold. Cameron, Chase, and Foreman are coming back eventually so all I can hope for is that their absence leads to good stories. Does it this time? Hells yes. The guitar kidnapping by Dr. Wilson is enough to make this a great episode. This included one of the best House/Wilson scenes of all-time, which is when he gives the sound that a guitar string makes when it is wound too tight. Plus switching bodies, House dickishness, and Cuddy proving to House he needs a team. The abuse of the potentials hires should carry the next few episodes.
8 out of 10
The Unit
I’m jumping back in after taking the second season off. Thank you second DVR box. Automatic high score because Jonas shaves his head and gives me Pedro Cerano flashbacks. If he threw in the Cuban accent this would have been the best hour of television all week. The wives sections still lose my attention. I have no idea what happened between Mack and his wife. But it is still fun to watch all the team members do their thing. Come on, Bob hid in the casket and shot the assassin checking Jonas’ non-existent dead body. I assume everything will reset after the second episode. But maybe they’ll surprise me.
7 out of 10
Reaper
This seemed interesting enough. Plus Kevin Smith directing was hook enough to get me to record it for future viewing. Devil’s bounty hunter seemed to be a damn decent premise. President Logan’s VP is the devil which you would think should have been the other way around. The star and his buddy seem to have good timing with the buddy being real funny in this role. It’s still the CW so everything skews young and not that deep. Plus I don’t know if the budget will allow them to do decent special effects for the demons and shit. Still for a pilot it didn’t bore me, so I will return for a little while longer.
7 out of 10
Damages
I may not watch every FX show but it seems like everyone I have checked out were well worth the effort. Damages seems to be the first one since The Shield to actually get me to come back week after week. The performances are so good, from Glenn Close to Tate Donovan to Ted Danson to Rose Byrne to Zeljko Ivanek to just about anybody who shows their face. The only real negative I have for Damages is that I am not a fan of the format; telling the story of the case while slowly revealing the horrible conclusion where Ellen’s fiancé is dead and we don’t know how or why yet. It works though. This week’s episode includes showing Patty breakdown in the future, the continuing revelation that Ellen can’t trust Patty or Tom, and just more awesome work by Ted freaking Danson. I still have no idea how this is going to wrap up while at the same time I have no idea how there can be a second season.
9 out 10
Wednesday (9/26)
Bionic Woman
So I have been trying to replace Alias for 2 years now. 4 years if you want to remove the last 2 years of Alias from the record books. Here’s hoping Bionic Woman can do the job. After the pilot, I am not jumping ship so that is a good start. As a pilot, this avoided many of the pitfalls. By the end of the episode I really didn’t know how each hour would go down which I liked. Jamie Sommers was introduced, fucked up, then rebuilt using magical technology. Another world famous shadowy conspiracy was introduced. Evil doctors, sketchy doctors, kung fu dude, whiny sister, evil bionic woman, and no Isiah Washington were all introduced without feeling forced. I was hoping for a better fight scene at the end but it didn’t suck and hopefully the show can grow into great action. I could do with out the aggressive soundtrack playing over every important scene. Still I feel pretty good about this show at least lasting the season.
7 out of 10
Life
Second most precarious show, if it doesn’t vastly improve over the next week or so I will not stick around. It is just a cop drama with the all-necessary twist. I don’t have much to say. Calamity Jane and the overarching mysterious conspiracy may keep me coming back but it is touch and go right now.
4 out of 10
Dirty Sexy Money
This is a step above Life but still behind Bionic Woman, Chuck, and Reaper for new shows that I am going to follow. I like Peter Krause and I like Donald Sutherland so here we go. It could be fun. Lots of Darling children running around acting crazy, William Baldwin sleeping with a tranny hooker, priests with illegitimate children, and other real soapy situations. Then again the soapy nature will probably be the reason why I fall off this show. Then again the omnipresent conspiracy over Peter Krause’s dad’s death might keep me coming back.
5 out of 10
Thursday (9/27)
Smallville
Still crap and I am still watching. Smallville has not improved and in fact has probably worsened. Another female is added to the cast so there will be even less time for Chloe or Lois which sucks. Of course Bizarro was finished off before the end of the episode because there is a new season to start building even though the conclusion will be rushed and lead to nothing for next season. And the Lana reveal at the end was just awful. How stupid do they assume the audience is if they feel that people believed she was dead and would be shocked by her still being alive? There is nothing promising about this season.
2 out of 10
Big Shots
This is the worst new show that I watched. I will record next week’s episode and that will be the final call. Outside of Vaughn from Alias, I have nothing positive to write. Christopher Titus in a semi-serious role? Yet he is still doing his stand up? Do we need more tranny hookers on ABC? This seems like more soapy drama that doesn’t interest me at all. I do not have high hopes.
3 out of 10
Damages wins for the week with House coming in second. I wasn't blown away by any premiere but at the same time I have nice slate of shows to follow.
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