TV week (Glee, Bones, Fringe)
Thoughts upon --
Glee: Although I still think it's mightily uneven in both tone and logic, "Glee" improved considerably over the past couple of weeks. With "Acafellas," I didn't entirely trust my reaction, because it was bathed in the golden glow of Victorlove and thus was guaranteed to please, but it struck me as a better story overall -- with some better moments for Terri, which was a relief. Then this week's episode took yet another step up, letting Kurt take the spotlight by becoming both a fabulous football kicker and just plain fabulous. I'm triply encouraged that Kurt's first starring moment was the coming-out episode, because now, hopefully, they're going to be able to go some places with this character. I still think "Glee" needs a lot of work, particularly on its female characters, but I will definitely keep watching for a while.
Bones: A total filler episode, though a reasonably enjoyable one as such things go. Initially I was annoyed with the Wendell subplot, because I assumed Brennan would ride to the rescue after learning An Important Lesson about the needs of others -- and though she can be dense about human interaction, she's always been shown to have an acute memory of what it's like to do without. This was largely overcome by the ending, in which it turned out that everyone on the team was helping Wendell, but nobody wanted to admit it. The UST scene at the end surprised me, though -- not in its existence ("Bones" loves these) nor in its lack of forward motion (big relationship events happen during sweeps, for it is during November, February and May that a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love), but in the sheer level of charge the scene had. The premiere forced both characters to be aware of their feelings, and this revelation means that even jokey little scenes of them doing plumbing together now are almost erotic. I don't know how long they can keep the tension at this level, but I am very willing to see.
Fringe: This was the standout episode of the night for me, though in many senses it, too, was filler. Basically, "Fringe" has always seemed like another version of "The X-Files," in much the same sense that "The X-Files" originally seemed like another version of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," which was an edgier take on the concept than "Project Blue Book," and going on backward in time to whatever the very first show was about people looking at weird things. But "Fringe" had never really captured the uniquely spooky, unsettling feel that XF managed so well -- until last night. The technobabble was almost totally jettisoned in favor of unsettling images that will stay in the memory much longer, most particularly the creepy montage of the exhumed graves being intercut with a guy literally chewing through coathangers to form a noose. The relationship with Peter and Olivia, while always interesting, has edged closer to M&S, "you will never be able to read what vibe we are on, but we're on the same vibe," tender-but-edgy territory, and oh, I am a sucker for that. Evil Charlie had a nicely creepy vibe, too; Kirk Acevedo does creepy surprisingly well. In addition, although John Noble is always good as Walter, he seemed to have taken a double shot of awesome before every single one of his scenes last night. Him throwing out his arms in imitation of the scarecrow might be my favorite Walter moment ever.
I had a couple of quibbles, though. The smaller one was the weird inclusion of New Person in just one wordless scene; she's still so new that I'd think they would either not include her in an episode or give us a little more meat to the character. (Amy, right? Ironic if I can never remember THAT.) The bigger one was Peter having to physically rescue Olivia at the end by stabbing Scorpion Baby, and the fact that Olivia's needed a fair bit of rescuing in both of the first two episodes. I mean, logically, story-wise, I can see it: She's been injured, she's healing slowly, and at this point it makes sense that she's not at her best in a fight. But I hope this is purely a plot-driven situation, and not one motivated by some network-suit mandate to make her more "feminine" and "vulnerable," because I love my Olivia competent and bad-ass, thank you very much.
That said, I am very, very encouraged by what I have seen of S2 so far.
Going through my "leaving checklist" with my supervisor now. Wow.
Glee: Although I still think it's mightily uneven in both tone and logic, "Glee" improved considerably over the past couple of weeks. With "Acafellas," I didn't entirely trust my reaction, because it was bathed in the golden glow of Victorlove and thus was guaranteed to please, but it struck me as a better story overall -- with some better moments for Terri, which was a relief. Then this week's episode took yet another step up, letting Kurt take the spotlight by becoming both a fabulous football kicker and just plain fabulous. I'm triply encouraged that Kurt's first starring moment was the coming-out episode, because now, hopefully, they're going to be able to go some places with this character. I still think "Glee" needs a lot of work, particularly on its female characters, but I will definitely keep watching for a while.
Bones: A total filler episode, though a reasonably enjoyable one as such things go. Initially I was annoyed with the Wendell subplot, because I assumed Brennan would ride to the rescue after learning An Important Lesson about the needs of others -- and though she can be dense about human interaction, she's always been shown to have an acute memory of what it's like to do without. This was largely overcome by the ending, in which it turned out that everyone on the team was helping Wendell, but nobody wanted to admit it. The UST scene at the end surprised me, though -- not in its existence ("Bones" loves these) nor in its lack of forward motion (big relationship events happen during sweeps, for it is during November, February and May that a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love), but in the sheer level of charge the scene had. The premiere forced both characters to be aware of their feelings, and this revelation means that even jokey little scenes of them doing plumbing together now are almost erotic. I don't know how long they can keep the tension at this level, but I am very willing to see.
Fringe: This was the standout episode of the night for me, though in many senses it, too, was filler. Basically, "Fringe" has always seemed like another version of "The X-Files," in much the same sense that "The X-Files" originally seemed like another version of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," which was an edgier take on the concept than "Project Blue Book," and going on backward in time to whatever the very first show was about people looking at weird things. But "Fringe" had never really captured the uniquely spooky, unsettling feel that XF managed so well -- until last night. The technobabble was almost totally jettisoned in favor of unsettling images that will stay in the memory much longer, most particularly the creepy montage of the exhumed graves being intercut with a guy literally chewing through coathangers to form a noose. The relationship with Peter and Olivia, while always interesting, has edged closer to M&S, "you will never be able to read what vibe we are on, but we're on the same vibe," tender-but-edgy territory, and oh, I am a sucker for that. Evil Charlie had a nicely creepy vibe, too; Kirk Acevedo does creepy surprisingly well. In addition, although John Noble is always good as Walter, he seemed to have taken a double shot of awesome before every single one of his scenes last night. Him throwing out his arms in imitation of the scarecrow might be my favorite Walter moment ever.
I had a couple of quibbles, though. The smaller one was the weird inclusion of New Person in just one wordless scene; she's still so new that I'd think they would either not include her in an episode or give us a little more meat to the character. (Amy, right? Ironic if I can never remember THAT.) The bigger one was Peter having to physically rescue Olivia at the end by stabbing Scorpion Baby, and the fact that Olivia's needed a fair bit of rescuing in both of the first two episodes. I mean, logically, story-wise, I can see it: She's been injured, she's healing slowly, and at this point it makes sense that she's not at her best in a fight. But I hope this is purely a plot-driven situation, and not one motivated by some network-suit mandate to make her more "feminine" and "vulnerable," because I love my Olivia competent and bad-ass, thank you very much.
That said, I am very, very encouraged by what I have seen of S2 so far.
Going through my "leaving checklist" with my supervisor now. Wow.