"You'd look good on that bike..."
So. Sharpe movies on BBCA are apparently aired in two parts. Got the first part yesterday. Hopefully part two will be ready by the time I get home today. Sharpe's Challenge opens in India and I'm sitting there thinking, "Wait, wasn't Sharpe in India before the Napoleonic wars?" and it takes Richard introducing himself as Sergeant Sharpe for it to dawn on me that duh, flashback. Nice parallels to what is probably my favorite of the series, Sharpe's Eagle. Simmerson was in both of them and clearly no fonder of Sharpe now than before. Loved seeing how Colonel Sharpe was far less inclined to merely stand and grit his teeth at Simmerson's bullheaded obstinacy and far more inclined to stand and shout at him. Heh. And lovely to see that at least among the lower ranks, Sharpe's reputation has favorably preceded him.
There are also a few lines and scenes that were undoubtedly intentionally echoed from Eagle as well. The original exchange Hogan had with Gibbons, for instance - "Well, [death]'s certainly the penalty for striking that officer." - paralleling Sharpe's new exchange with Bickerstaff. There's the recurrence of Sharpe's abhorrence of flogging and his lecture instructing the troops how to properly fire three rounds a minute. Lovely to see Harper again, looking after his colonel again. Nice to see Wellesley and Ramona, too. I've missed all these people.
* * *
House - Due to the sheer volume of things I watched last night, I think most of this episode failed to sink into my long term memory. What I mainly got out of the ep was this:
Cameron still has no clue what the term "professional" means. She did nothing medical related that I can recall for the entire episode.
The only possible reason for having Foreman taking lead on this case - and subsequently acting like a complete and utter prat- was to demonstrate how much better Chase is at this sort of thing than he is.
Chase did his usual background scenery thing, always more focused on the case before the other two, etc. Highlights were his sheepish apology to the poor folks they ran out of the chapel and the fact that he was the only duckling to pick up his coffee cup and bring it with him when House's diagnostic session goes walkabout. Also, he so totally tried to bolt out the door ahead of the other two when it became clear that House was going to make them put the screaming kid through the MRI of Doom. Hee!
The whole carpet saga was beyond silly, but Wilson's put-upon expressions every time he walked in on House commandeering his office were priceless. "Thanks for dropping by." Hee!
And the ending was hopelessly hokey. And really didn't work at all for me.
* * *
Eureka - It was inevitable from the moment Fargo showed Carter the house that SARAH would eventually go HAL on them all. I'm only surprised that it took them this long to get to it. Nice character moments for Henry and Nathan though. I don't think they'd ever told us before that Nathan had once been Henry's student. Beverly's ill-conceived comment aside, I do think the two of them did come to a better understanding of one another here.
The highlight of the episode, however, was one of Taggart's throw-away lines comparing the smell of the sewers to two other places he'd been. One was somewhere I couldn't place exactly but assume was Australian. The second was "...the sulfurous stench of Waiotapu..." Which I expect precisely three other people on my flist to immediately get and a majority of the Eureka viewing audience to go "Eh, whatever". Hee! I love this show and its random esoteric references.
* * *
Smith - I have to conclude that the only reason I'm watching this show is for Simon and Johnny. Two eps in and I can't manage to care about any of the rest of them. I also have to admit that while slash isn't something I go looking for and can rarely see anyway (I get the Jack/Daniel but still totally fail to see any Sheppard/McKay), there are definitely some slashy vibes with Jeff and Tom. Also, Jeff has the impulse control of a neurotic chimpanzee. He clearly subscribes to the Faith motto of: See, like, want, take, have. Which runs its course in about 3.2 seconds. You can actually see the moment he decides to take the bike. First the biker winks at him. Jeff has a flicker of "huh?" and then an immediate flip to "eh, okay" with a shrug that shouldn't be nearly as endearing as I found it to be and a practically simultaneous move towards the biker. And then the flow from walking forward with what everyone -except perhaps Tom- would assume was an intention to talk/flirt with the biker to slamming him into the pavement was absolutely seamless. In the amount of time a normal, well-adjusted person would take to process "Nice bike. I like it. I need one of those." Jeff just seems to go "Nice. Mine." and is already riding off on it. Also, I love the completely reckless, happy-go-luck grin he has throughout the motorcycle chase. And then there's Tom and the car and the crash and the growling at the biker and the giving Jeff an "I love you dearly but you need to grow up" look.
There's an interesting bit of conversation that indicates Tom is closer to Jeff's family than Jeff himself is. Jeff's dad wants them both to come to dinner. Heh. And finally there's the scene at the end in which Annie calls Tom Jeff's "keeper" and he pretty much agrees. Apparently Tom handles Jeff's share of the money too. The two of them are definitely a package deal. So, yeah. Interesting relationship.
I'm also intrigued by the FBI hunt for Bobby's gang. Though mostly I'm amused that Jeff is being identified by his non-existent tattoo.
There are also a few lines and scenes that were undoubtedly intentionally echoed from Eagle as well. The original exchange Hogan had with Gibbons, for instance - "Well, [death]'s certainly the penalty for striking that officer." - paralleling Sharpe's new exchange with Bickerstaff. There's the recurrence of Sharpe's abhorrence of flogging and his lecture instructing the troops how to properly fire three rounds a minute. Lovely to see Harper again, looking after his colonel again. Nice to see Wellesley and Ramona, too. I've missed all these people.
* * *
House - Due to the sheer volume of things I watched last night, I think most of this episode failed to sink into my long term memory. What I mainly got out of the ep was this:
* * *
Eureka - It was inevitable from the moment Fargo showed Carter the house that SARAH would eventually go HAL on them all. I'm only surprised that it took them this long to get to it. Nice character moments for Henry and Nathan though. I don't think they'd ever told us before that Nathan had once been Henry's student. Beverly's ill-conceived comment aside, I do think the two of them did come to a better understanding of one another here.
The highlight of the episode, however, was one of Taggart's throw-away lines comparing the smell of the sewers to two other places he'd been. One was somewhere I couldn't place exactly but assume was Australian. The second was "...the sulfurous stench of Waiotapu..." Which I expect precisely three other people on my flist to immediately get and a majority of the Eureka viewing audience to go "Eh, whatever". Hee! I love this show and its random esoteric references.
* * *
Smith - I have to conclude that the only reason I'm watching this show is for Simon and Johnny. Two eps in and I can't manage to care about any of the rest of them. I also have to admit that while slash isn't something I go looking for and can rarely see anyway (I get the Jack/Daniel but still totally fail to see any Sheppard/McKay), there are definitely some slashy vibes with Jeff and Tom. Also, Jeff has the impulse control of a neurotic chimpanzee. He clearly subscribes to the Faith motto of: See, like, want, take, have. Which runs its course in about 3.2 seconds. You can actually see the moment he decides to take the bike. First the biker winks at him. Jeff has a flicker of "huh?" and then an immediate flip to "eh, okay" with a shrug that shouldn't be nearly as endearing as I found it to be and a practically simultaneous move towards the biker. And then the flow from walking forward with what everyone -except perhaps Tom- would assume was an intention to talk/flirt with the biker to slamming him into the pavement was absolutely seamless. In the amount of time a normal, well-adjusted person would take to process "Nice bike. I like it. I need one of those." Jeff just seems to go "Nice. Mine." and is already riding off on it. Also, I love the completely reckless, happy-go-luck grin he has throughout the motorcycle chase. And then there's Tom and the car and the crash and the growling at the biker and the giving Jeff an "I love you dearly but you need to grow up" look.
There's an interesting bit of conversation that indicates Tom is closer to Jeff's family than Jeff himself is. Jeff's dad wants them both to come to dinner. Heh. And finally there's the scene at the end in which Annie calls Tom Jeff's "keeper" and he pretty much agrees. Apparently Tom handles Jeff's share of the money too. The two of them are definitely a package deal. So, yeah. Interesting relationship.
I'm also intrigued by the FBI hunt for Bobby's gang. Though mostly I'm amused that Jeff is being identified by his non-existent tattoo.