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.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
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
Fred Claus
Is Vince Vaughn strong enough to carry a PG movie? No, he is not. And really what the hell man? Of all the topline comedic actors out there right now, he is the last one that I would look to tone his act down to PG level. Yet here is Fred Claus to undercut his skill and deliver a by-the-book family oriented holiday film. And those last 7 words means I am not a fan.
In the end Fred Claus felt like the outline was written, Santa’s sketchy older brother runs amuck, then the cameras were turned on and Vince was expected to do all the work. He tried hard and gets a couple of those Vince Vaughn scenes, his first scene berating the girl after repossessing her television and … I can’t think of anything else. It is all just a blur of bland jokes that you see all the time. If it weren’t for the couple of truly interesting moments, Siblings Anonymous with Frank Stallone, Roger Clinton, and Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Spacey wearing a Superman cape, Elizabeth Banks’ outfit, and that’s about it. There was some chemistry with Vaughn and Paul Giamatti as the Claus brothers. In fact I liked Giamatti as the worn down Santa who is trying to hold on to his job. And that is Kevin Spacey lending his credibility as the man trying to shutdown the North Pole. All of the roles are filled by talented folks; John Michael Higgins, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates, Ludacris, and Miranda Richardson all do fine. Its just that there wasn't anything to work with.
Overall the casting was not the problem, it was the story and the jokes. Nothing really made sense, not that the story needed to be airtight, but how does Spacey have the power to end Christmas? Why is Rachel Weisz a meter maid in Chicago with a British accent? Do people really emigrate from England for that profession? And, damn, Kathy Bates was just about the worse mother ever and she never learns her lesson. What the heck is that? And after about the third normal sized guy in an elf’s world joke I checked out. Plus I don’t think I need to elaborate how I am just not a guy who enjoys PG rated comedies.
So, yeah, Fred Claus is not a good movie. I am a Vince Vaughn fan but I am not a blind loyalist to anyone and I cannot honestly say this was worthwhile. There is a reason why I ignore PG movies like the plague and Fred Claus just reinforces that rule in my head.
4 out of 10
In the end Fred Claus felt like the outline was written, Santa’s sketchy older brother runs amuck, then the cameras were turned on and Vince was expected to do all the work. He tried hard and gets a couple of those Vince Vaughn scenes, his first scene berating the girl after repossessing her television and … I can’t think of anything else. It is all just a blur of bland jokes that you see all the time. If it weren’t for the couple of truly interesting moments, Siblings Anonymous with Frank Stallone, Roger Clinton, and Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Spacey wearing a Superman cape, Elizabeth Banks’ outfit, and that’s about it. There was some chemistry with Vaughn and Paul Giamatti as the Claus brothers. In fact I liked Giamatti as the worn down Santa who is trying to hold on to his job. And that is Kevin Spacey lending his credibility as the man trying to shutdown the North Pole. All of the roles are filled by talented folks; John Michael Higgins, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates, Ludacris, and Miranda Richardson all do fine. Its just that there wasn't anything to work with.
Overall the casting was not the problem, it was the story and the jokes. Nothing really made sense, not that the story needed to be airtight, but how does Spacey have the power to end Christmas? Why is Rachel Weisz a meter maid in Chicago with a British accent? Do people really emigrate from England for that profession? And, damn, Kathy Bates was just about the worse mother ever and she never learns her lesson. What the heck is that? And after about the third normal sized guy in an elf’s world joke I checked out. Plus I don’t think I need to elaborate how I am just not a guy who enjoys PG rated comedies.
So, yeah, Fred Claus is not a good movie. I am a Vince Vaughn fan but I am not a blind loyalist to anyone and I cannot honestly say this was worthwhile. There is a reason why I ignore PG movies like the plague and Fred Claus just reinforces that rule in my head.
4 out of 10
American Gangster
And here lies the dangers of anticipation. I wanted American Gangster to be one of the best movies that I have ever seen and that is just a completely unfair level of expectation. What I was left with when I walked out of the theater was an inexplicable level of disappointment over seeing a great film. What the hell is wrong with me? This has a great story, great direction, and great acting, and it wasn’t enough for my greedy ass.
Is there a better genre than cops and gangsters? If I was forced to choose a movie completely based on genre, this is what I would choose. It is such a solid base for a film that once the names Ridley Scott, Denzel Washington, and Russell Crowe appeared I couldn’t help but get excited. And honestly I have been following American Gangster through all of its iterations over the last few years, Don Cheadle and Joaquin Phoenix directed by Terry George and then Denzel Washington and Benicio del Toro directed by Antoine Fuqua, but the final trio probably allowed for the biggest and best version of the story.
The problem, if you want to even call it a problem, was that American Gangster did not become my favorite, Ridley Scott, Denzel Washington, or Russell Crowe movie. The three of them all delivered exactly what you would expect. It hovered near greatness but never truly stepped over the line. The movie looked authentic and never felt long. Ridley kept everything moving even if it meant that many of the great actors were there for just a line or 2 and never fully explored. Denzel turned Frank Lucas into a Denzel character. That has its good and its bad aspects. For one it’s Denzel and he is as consistent as you get but the bad is that he never truly transcends here like he did in Training Day. As for Russell, well the man is game for anything and he takes the lesser of the 2 roles and turns Richie Roberts nearly into Frank Lucas’ equal. Washington and Crowe’s one-on-one scene almost reached the level of DeNiro and Pacino at the coffee shop in Heat and I know no greater level of praise. Oh and before I move on, I want to complement Josh Brolin. That man has truly raised his game this year and was pitch-perfect as the bent cop leaning on Lucas.
Fine, there was all that important stuff to deal with but lets get to the real goods of American Gangster. Should I start with RZA? Because he was there and he had the 70s clothes, and hair, and he was just the RZA except not so much. Plus I would assume the clothes and the hair were all Bobby Digital and there was no wardrobe or wig action going on there. Or how about Joe Morton with the wispy mustache and smoking a pipe? A PIPE! If that doesn’t do it for you then I’ll give you Stringer Bell transported 30 years into the past and acting like Stringer Bell in the late 60s. Okay fine you want more, well maybe you can tell me how with all the Italian actors out there the name that was pulled for American Gangster was Armand Assante. Has he been in a major motion picture since Stiptease? And of course Lucas’ heroin connection would be Ric Young. He is a go-to guy for that role. Just tons of great periphery stuff going on here.
There is a chance that when I look back on American Gangster I will reevaluate my grade. I brought such a high level of anticipation into the theater that I'm unsure that I am grading it with a level head at the moment. There is not much to criticize here but at the same time I am not giving this a 10 out of 10. So I must have wanted something more and I can't for the life of me figure out what it is. I should go back and see it a second time, maybe that will clarify things.
9 out of 10
Is there a better genre than cops and gangsters? If I was forced to choose a movie completely based on genre, this is what I would choose. It is such a solid base for a film that once the names Ridley Scott, Denzel Washington, and Russell Crowe appeared I couldn’t help but get excited. And honestly I have been following American Gangster through all of its iterations over the last few years, Don Cheadle and Joaquin Phoenix directed by Terry George and then Denzel Washington and Benicio del Toro directed by Antoine Fuqua, but the final trio probably allowed for the biggest and best version of the story.
The problem, if you want to even call it a problem, was that American Gangster did not become my favorite, Ridley Scott, Denzel Washington, or Russell Crowe movie. The three of them all delivered exactly what you would expect. It hovered near greatness but never truly stepped over the line. The movie looked authentic and never felt long. Ridley kept everything moving even if it meant that many of the great actors were there for just a line or 2 and never fully explored. Denzel turned Frank Lucas into a Denzel character. That has its good and its bad aspects. For one it’s Denzel and he is as consistent as you get but the bad is that he never truly transcends here like he did in Training Day. As for Russell, well the man is game for anything and he takes the lesser of the 2 roles and turns Richie Roberts nearly into Frank Lucas’ equal. Washington and Crowe’s one-on-one scene almost reached the level of DeNiro and Pacino at the coffee shop in Heat and I know no greater level of praise. Oh and before I move on, I want to complement Josh Brolin. That man has truly raised his game this year and was pitch-perfect as the bent cop leaning on Lucas.
Fine, there was all that important stuff to deal with but lets get to the real goods of American Gangster. Should I start with RZA? Because he was there and he had the 70s clothes, and hair, and he was just the RZA except not so much. Plus I would assume the clothes and the hair were all Bobby Digital and there was no wardrobe or wig action going on there. Or how about Joe Morton with the wispy mustache and smoking a pipe? A PIPE! If that doesn’t do it for you then I’ll give you Stringer Bell transported 30 years into the past and acting like Stringer Bell in the late 60s. Okay fine you want more, well maybe you can tell me how with all the Italian actors out there the name that was pulled for American Gangster was Armand Assante. Has he been in a major motion picture since Stiptease? And of course Lucas’ heroin connection would be Ric Young. He is a go-to guy for that role. Just tons of great periphery stuff going on here.
There is a chance that when I look back on American Gangster I will reevaluate my grade. I brought such a high level of anticipation into the theater that I'm unsure that I am grading it with a level head at the moment. There is not much to criticize here but at the same time I am not giving this a 10 out of 10. So I must have wanted something more and I can't for the life of me figure out what it is. I should go back and see it a second time, maybe that will clarify things.
9 out of 10
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.
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