A Day Late and a Trillion Dollars Short
Chuck
I’m assuming the show has made a deal for unlimited use of the Huey Lewis catalogue. Three songs in two weeks! But the cheesy upbeatness of the music suits the show well.
Captain Awesome took romance advice from Morgan? Hee! In fairness to Morgan, I don’t think his intention was to ruin Awesome and Elly’s evening. And we now know that Morgan’s crush has been going on for nineteen years with his emotional development apparently stopping around that same time.
Maybe it was all the years of watching Night Court, but I can’t quite see John Larroquette as fitting the James Bond mold. Still, I liked Roan and John did an excellent job of conveying a spy beyond his glory days, burnt out by the job, and burdened with a cynicism born of experience that Casey and Sara do not yet have.
I’m feeling as if Chuck and Sara either need to pursue a relationship, they obviously want to, or they need to decide to just be friends. This is only the second episode of the season and if they are going to tease the ‘Will they or won’t they?’ all season it’s going to become tiresome.
Bryce is back! I like Bryce. That’s all I have on that subject for now.
TSCC
I liked this episode, a lot, but I did have some issues with Sarah’s story. The intent was to show that it's easier for Sarah to deal with trying to save the room than having to deal with being a mom, but the execution of that idea had some problems. Marty is a smart kid. He knows someone is trying to kill him even if he doesn't know why and he understands Sarah saved him and was continuing to work to keep him safe. But that failing to complete his book report would be the thing to cause him to panic, rather than not knowing when he'd be reunited with his obviously distraught family, didn’t seem plausible. Nor did Marty bonding with Sarah so quickly and accepting her as a surrogate mother. And how does he explain to his parents and FBI that his abductor helped him with his homework?
Shirley Manson isn’t getting any better, is she? It’s a shame since I believe Catherine’s storyline is an interesting one. She seemed surprised (at least I think that was suppose to be a surprised reaction) to learning there were two terminators at the power plant. Cameron was under her radar.
John, Derek, and Bedell’s story fascinated me. If I try to think too much about the timeline I’ll be crippled by a headache, yet the series is hinting, again, at time paradoxes. I adore continuity and loved hearing Derek ask Sarah how many Sarah Conners were killed before the terminator found her? Presumably, Future John provided that information to Kyle and Derek. Did it just come up in conversation or did John know Derek would need that piece of information to convince Sarah to seek out and protect the Bedells? More importantly, did Future!John know that Martin would not only need to be saved, but be convinced to not abandon the military path he was on? It surprised me that John and Derek told Martin the truth, but, if they hadn’t, would Martin have run off with his girlfriend? Derek knew Martin went to West Point, but he might not have known why.
Derek was humanized. I’d always viewed Derek as being defeated, emotionally by the war, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. He’s experienced a lot of loss in his life, his family, his friends, his fellow soldiers, and he’s had to lock all that pain away in order to, forgive the pun, soldier on. When the cadet announces he’s eagerly awaiting his first kill, it forces Derek to relive the horrors he’s seen and it makes you aware that Derek became who he is, not out of a desire to be that way, but out of necessity. And his words to John, “We all die for you”, were chilling because he counts himself among those people, he just doesn’t know when his time will come.
I felt more sympathetic towards John after Derek’s declaration to him. To know that people in the present and future are dying every day to save you and they are doing so because they believe that you are the savior of humanity, it’s a hell of a lot for a sixteen year old to shoulder. And this is the first time that John has met one of these dying men.
Did Future!Martin sacrifice himself because he knew he had to? If Martin ended up being one of John's lieutenants because of John and Derek’s actions in the past, and if he is aware of that, then he would know he had to sacrifice himself so John and Derek lived.
Life
This was probably the best episode of the season thus far, but the bar has been set pretty low.
The Good: Reese seemed to be acting more like her old self. They focused once again on the conspiracy surrounding Charlie's imprisonment. And the murder mystery was somewhat interesting.
The Bad: Would Reese really call her father out at a family dinner? Then, instead of going to a bar and knocking back a bottle of vodka, scream in her car before getting her hair stuck in the door? And what is up with Constance? Besides the bad makeup. Is she being threatened and why not tell Charlie as Ted did?
The Ugly: Charlie destroying evidence by fooling around with the frozen corpse and having it be a big joke. Charlie breathing in possibly toxic chemicals so he can see his ex-wife everywhere and ruin Ted’s chance of getting some part of his old life back. I don’t know what the hell they are doing with the ex wife and might care if she were a better actress (like Claudia Black). And using a monkey for laughs. Really? A monkey?
According to Ausiello, 'The Mentalist' is on the verge of getting picked up for the season.
Both Mo Ryan at the Tribune and The TV Addict have announced they are done with Heroes. I can recall critics breaking up so publicly with a show before.
Finally, 'Battlestar Galactica' will be released on DVD in the U.S. on January 6th.
I’m assuming the show has made a deal for unlimited use of the Huey Lewis catalogue. Three songs in two weeks! But the cheesy upbeatness of the music suits the show well.
Captain Awesome took romance advice from Morgan? Hee! In fairness to Morgan, I don’t think his intention was to ruin Awesome and Elly’s evening. And we now know that Morgan’s crush has been going on for nineteen years with his emotional development apparently stopping around that same time.
Maybe it was all the years of watching Night Court, but I can’t quite see John Larroquette as fitting the James Bond mold. Still, I liked Roan and John did an excellent job of conveying a spy beyond his glory days, burnt out by the job, and burdened with a cynicism born of experience that Casey and Sara do not yet have.
I’m feeling as if Chuck and Sara either need to pursue a relationship, they obviously want to, or they need to decide to just be friends. This is only the second episode of the season and if they are going to tease the ‘Will they or won’t they?’ all season it’s going to become tiresome.
Bryce is back! I like Bryce. That’s all I have on that subject for now.
TSCC
I liked this episode, a lot, but I did have some issues with Sarah’s story. The intent was to show that it's easier for Sarah to deal with trying to save the room than having to deal with being a mom, but the execution of that idea had some problems. Marty is a smart kid. He knows someone is trying to kill him even if he doesn't know why and he understands Sarah saved him and was continuing to work to keep him safe. But that failing to complete his book report would be the thing to cause him to panic, rather than not knowing when he'd be reunited with his obviously distraught family, didn’t seem plausible. Nor did Marty bonding with Sarah so quickly and accepting her as a surrogate mother. And how does he explain to his parents and FBI that his abductor helped him with his homework?
Shirley Manson isn’t getting any better, is she? It’s a shame since I believe Catherine’s storyline is an interesting one. She seemed surprised (at least I think that was suppose to be a surprised reaction) to learning there were two terminators at the power plant. Cameron was under her radar.
John, Derek, and Bedell’s story fascinated me. If I try to think too much about the timeline I’ll be crippled by a headache, yet the series is hinting, again, at time paradoxes. I adore continuity and loved hearing Derek ask Sarah how many Sarah Conners were killed before the terminator found her? Presumably, Future John provided that information to Kyle and Derek. Did it just come up in conversation or did John know Derek would need that piece of information to convince Sarah to seek out and protect the Bedells? More importantly, did Future!John know that Martin would not only need to be saved, but be convinced to not abandon the military path he was on? It surprised me that John and Derek told Martin the truth, but, if they hadn’t, would Martin have run off with his girlfriend? Derek knew Martin went to West Point, but he might not have known why.
Derek was humanized. I’d always viewed Derek as being defeated, emotionally by the war, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. He’s experienced a lot of loss in his life, his family, his friends, his fellow soldiers, and he’s had to lock all that pain away in order to, forgive the pun, soldier on. When the cadet announces he’s eagerly awaiting his first kill, it forces Derek to relive the horrors he’s seen and it makes you aware that Derek became who he is, not out of a desire to be that way, but out of necessity. And his words to John, “We all die for you”, were chilling because he counts himself among those people, he just doesn’t know when his time will come.
I felt more sympathetic towards John after Derek’s declaration to him. To know that people in the present and future are dying every day to save you and they are doing so because they believe that you are the savior of humanity, it’s a hell of a lot for a sixteen year old to shoulder. And this is the first time that John has met one of these dying men.
Did Future!Martin sacrifice himself because he knew he had to? If Martin ended up being one of John's lieutenants because of John and Derek’s actions in the past, and if he is aware of that, then he would know he had to sacrifice himself so John and Derek lived.
Life
This was probably the best episode of the season thus far, but the bar has been set pretty low.
The Good: Reese seemed to be acting more like her old self. They focused once again on the conspiracy surrounding Charlie's imprisonment. And the murder mystery was somewhat interesting.
The Bad: Would Reese really call her father out at a family dinner? Then, instead of going to a bar and knocking back a bottle of vodka, scream in her car before getting her hair stuck in the door? And what is up with Constance? Besides the bad makeup. Is she being threatened and why not tell Charlie as Ted did?
The Ugly: Charlie destroying evidence by fooling around with the frozen corpse and having it be a big joke. Charlie breathing in possibly toxic chemicals so he can see his ex-wife everywhere and ruin Ted’s chance of getting some part of his old life back. I don’t know what the hell they are doing with the ex wife and might care if she were a better actress (like Claudia Black). And using a monkey for laughs. Really? A monkey?
According to Ausiello, 'The Mentalist' is on the verge of getting picked up for the season.
Both Mo Ryan at the Tribune and The TV Addict have announced they are done with Heroes. I can recall critics breaking up so publicly with a show before.
Finally, 'Battlestar Galactica' will be released on DVD in the U.S. on January 6th.