Terminator: To the Lighthouse

When this episode started, I thought the A-plot with Sarah, John, and Charlie was going to be more of the same, tired trend of fairly understated material. Part way through the episode, when Sarah was watching John sleep and remembering “fun times” in the jungle, I actually started channeling Dark Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and thought, “Bored now.” Fortunately, things picked up considerably when we learned the truth about Sarah’s tumor and all hell broke loose in Connor land. Not really a good turn of event for the characters (especially poor Charlie), but a great turn around for the episode as a whole.

In the end, Sarah’s story was about coming to terms with John’s growing ability to protect himself. The events at the lighthouse all but slapped her in the face with the truth that none of them can truly protect John. Ultimately, he can only rely on himself. Moreover, she was forced to recognize that she’s no different from Derek or Cameron when it comes to making mistakes that may put John in danger and result in others getting hurt. She’s not any more trustworthy than they are. Her insistence on pursuing the three dots is what ultimately led to the attacks in this episode and to Charlie’s death (the bullet pattern on his chest actually was the three dots). Sarah spent a lot of time pointing fingers at Derek and Cameron throughout the episode, but in the end, she’s the one that made mistakes that led the enemy right to their door.

It’s a shame that Charlie had to die to drive this point home for Sarah. He was a good guy who got dealt a pretty crappy hand by the Connors and Skynet. I liked his scenes with John. He was so fatherly; trying to share his pain to help John through his. I wish he’d been able to live a bit longer. “Maybe if things had been different...” The sad story of John Connor’s life.

While I wasn’t overly thrilled with much of the ‘A’ storyline this week, I was pretty intrigued and engaged by the assorted ‘B’ storylines. I loved the scenes between Derek and Cameron, and they finally managed to put together a pretty compelling plot with John Henry, Catherine, and Ellison.

The revelations that John Henry has a “brother” who was created by no less than Miles Dyson of Cyberdyne really made my jaw drop. I always love it when they throw us a curve ball and link back to the established movie history. Is this brother the pre-cursor to Skynet, and John Henry something else? Are the two intelligences the beginning of different factions of metal in the post-Judgment Day world?

What’s more, the writers seemed to suggest that the Cyberdyne Intelligence was behind the coordinated attacks on the Connor crew. The guy who was about extract Cameron’s chip was told that the diagram of the metal terminator was provided by his contact’s brother. Kind of a conspicuous reference after we just learned about John Henry’s brother. Sarah thinks that Winston implanted her with the transmitter (he did check out her scars when she was unconscious). Was he maybe working for the Cyberdyne Intelligence when he kidnapped her and not Catherine’s people as we thought? If Sarah’s had the implant this long, why wait until now to strike (how long has it been anyway)? Is it because the Cyberdyne Intelligence just learned what it needed to from John Henry?

On the Cameron and Derek front, she dropped a couple of massive bombs on him this week. First, she hit him with the pregnancy and miscarriage news. (Kind of begs the question was Jessie pregnant in Derek’s version of reality, too? Did his Jessie experience something similar to the Jessie we saw?) Then, she gut punched him with this little exchange:

Cameron: You know the location of the safe house. John’s location. If they tortured you...
Derek: That would never happen.
Cameron: It has before.

This was the revelation that most excited me this week. Are we finally going to learn what happened to Derek in that basement with the piano music? It sounds like Cameron knows about what happened to him there. I was starting to fear we’d never learn what that was all about. Especially with the series drawing to a close.

Of course, the combination of Cameron’s two revelations to Derek have my head spinning with time travel questions. The writers seem to have established that Derek and the Jessie we met came from different futures. Wisher existed in his reality, but not in hers, because Derek came back and changed the past. So how could Cameron know what happened to Derek in his reality *and* know what happened to Jessie in hers? If the one time Cameron met Jessie was what we saw in last week’s episode, then she was part of the reality Derek altered. If that’s the case, how would she also know what happened to him in his unaltered reality—in which Wisher was alive and chained to the floor with him? Perhaps the different realities are close enough that the key elements are the same. Or maybe she was referring to the experience Jessie's Derek had with Charles Fischer.

Other thoughts:

When John Henry started fritzing, I was fairly well convinced that Savannah was a goner. Thank goodness, the writers didn’t go that route. I think it would have been a little too much to take.

Did they have to show the dead dog when Sarah got back to the lighthouse? We already knew that seriously bad things went down. We didn’t need to see that.

Ellison lied to Catherine and John Henry about finding Sarah. Good to know he doesn’t quite trust them yet.

Final rating: 4 out of 5. I really liked the end of this one, and it left me feeling pretty positive about the whole episode, even though I was fairly bored through parts of it.

All of my Terminator reviews are archived here.
(Season 2, episode 20)

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Goodbye, Andy Hallett

Andy Hallett, who played Lorne on Angel for four years of its five year run, died last night of heart failure. He was only thirty-three years old.

To say that Lorne was a much loved character would be an massive understatement. I'll quote myself from my essay on Angel season two:

"The best character in season two, though, was Lorne, a.k.a. Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan, karaoke demon host extraordinaire. He functioned as both a psychotherapist and a stand-up comic, and he looked like he belonged in that makeup and wardrobe. From his debut in the very first scene right through the end of the season, I loved every scene Lorne was in and every word he spoke. He made me laugh out loud constantly, and I particularly loved the way he interacted with Angel -- calling him 'sweetie,' 'angel-face,' and 'a hunk of hero sandwich,' and asking him out to Elton John concerts."

And again, season three:

"Lorne (Andy Hallett) made every scene better just by being in it. This season, his karaoke bar was completely trashed (twice) and he ended up stuck at the hotel, delivering hilarious one-liners and helping Angel with the baby. Either Lorne got all the best lines or his delivery was just outstanding (probably both); whatever it was, I enjoyed the heck out him. I particularly loved the way he constantly flirted with Angel, and the way Angel bantered right on back (stop calling me pastries). Angel needed a friend like Lorne; Lorne was always there for him. The two of them co-parenting Connor was one of my favorite continuing plotlines in season three."

I saw Andy Hallett at an autograph event (with Alexis Denisof) in Santa Barbara back in 2002 (which is where I took the photo), and they were both delightful. I'm so glad I got to meet Andy. I'll miss him.

Billie
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Dollhouse: Echoes

Topher: "You haven't seen my drawer of inappropriate starches."

Yeah, yeah, yeah. "Naked Time," "Band Candy," character development 101.

This one had some fun moments, although not as many as I would have liked. Trampoline. Munchies. Topher in his underwear. He had the name "Adelle" written on one of his socks by that point, and I really, really don't want to know how that happened. I think my favorite part was Dominic repeatedly apologizing to Echo for trying to immolate her.

It was fun to see the dolls in authority, the inmates running the asylum, so to speak. But then they got it, too, and what did they get? Not giggles and munchies, oh no. They got trauma. That was exactly like the real life division between the Rossum Nazis and the dolls. One way and unfair. Experimentation, but in mental cages. Even when they were in crisis and had no idea if the condition was curable, Topher thought nothing of experimenting on Melanie. Human experimentation. It's what's for dinner.

In amongst the silly bits and the scary bits were informational bits. The Rossum Corporation (yes, okay, Wolfram & Hart) does human as well as animal experimentation, and they fund the Dollhouse. Both Caroline and Sam got into trouble with Rossum, and they were both young and pretty enough that Rossum offered them a deal they couldn't refuse. A deal that lasts for five years, and you get some bucks that would presumably keep your mouth shut. Unless the dolls don't usually make it to the end of five years. And hey, how would they know if Rossum kept them permanently when they don't even know who they are?

The story was balanced (or possibly overstressed) by finally giving us a lot about Caroline. Her last name is Farrell, she was an antiwar demonstrator and animal activist, she went to Freemont College for four years, she had a boyfriend named Leo. She knew Adelle for at *least* two years. I still think Adelle may be her mother; their relationship feels personal. If so, that makes Adelle pretty much subhuman.

Although Adelle apparently believes in what they're doing at Rossum. Maybe the staff are supposed to believe that Rossum is searching for a cure to certain diseases. And maybe they even are. Not that it matters.

Bits and pieces:

-- Eliza was wearing the superfishnet stockings we see in the credits. Or some that were remarkably similar.

-- We met Clive Ambrose, co-chairman of Rossum. The third richest man in the country. No doubt with a corner office and ungodly benefits.

-- Boyd plays the piano.

-- A doll named Foxtrot was mentioned, but not seen. We still don't know Melanie's handle, although a lot of us saw the name November in the casting lists.

-- Melanie broke up with Paul in the kitchen as he was cooking for her. More food. :) The last thing she told Paul was "Debbie might crash here." Another doll? Maybe it'll be Foxtrot.

-- Sam seemed suspicious to me almost immediately. He was just too good to be true. I even thought he was a doll at first. And now he is.

Quotes:

Topher: "He didn't take any. There's no way Dom would consciously try to have fun."

Topher: "Brown. Mined from the earth by the hardscrabble brown miners of North Brownderton."
DeWitt: "Omigod. I find lentils completely incomprehensible."

Topher: "Go check."
DeWitt: "I am your superior!"
Topher: "In every way. Go check."

Caroline: "This is Rossum. They don't care about souls. Human or animal."

Fun was had, for sure. But I wasn't blown away,

Billie

All of my Dollhouse reviews are archived here.
(Season 1, episode 7)

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Supernatural: It's a Terrible Life

Zachariah: "You get to change things. Save people, maybe even the world. All the while you drive a classic car and fornicate with women. This isn't a curse. It's a gift."

Zachariah left out the most important thing: that Dean does all this with his brother, whom he loves more than anyone else on earth.

The angels need Dean. The world needs Dean. Zachariah staged that whole scenario for Dean. No one seems to need Sam. But Sam was the reason Dean went to Hell in the first place. Sam was the one who got the goods from Alastair. And here, Sam was the one who dreamed about fighting demons, who acted, who pushed, who figured it all out. Sam even got the ratty job in the basement in a tiny cubicle that barely fit his shoulders, while Dean was the director of sales and marketing with big office and a view. Heaven and hell again, only in an office this time.

This episode was like a great big pep talk, and Dean certainly needed it. Hey, life could be worse, you could work in a cube. And I just loved the little karmic reward the Winchesters got from the Ghostfacers, who were clearly pissed off in a big way about the magnet ruining their best footage ever. Dean and Sam taught the Ghostfacers how to get rid of ghosts, and Ed and Harry in turn (and involuntarily) gave the knowledge back to them when they really needed it.

Dean Smith and Sam Wesson. Smith and Wesson. Very funny. Zachariah has a sense of humor. And I thought Uriel was the funniest angel in the garrison.

Bits and pieces:

-- Dean, always beautiful, looked extra yummy in those clothes. Loved the suspenders. Sam managed to transcend the ugly yellow shirt just because of the way he's built.

-- Dean actually ate salad. :)

-- Nice touch that Dean's family was Bob, Ellen, and Jo. And Madison was Sam's fiance.

-- Dean and Sam had both been at the company three weeks. I think it would take longer than that to heal from the massive injuries Dean had, so Castiel or Zachariah must have healed him.

-- Ohio Bicentennial license plate, so Sandover Bridge & Iron was in Ohio. Probably Cleveland, since there's another Hellmouth there. And I thought having the ghost just be the workaholic former head of the company was a nice touch.

-- Major grossout deaths. Microwave. Ick. And you could just feel that elevator thing coming.

Quotes:

Sam: "I'm sorry, man. You just look really familiar."
Dean: "Save it for the health club, pal."

Sam: "I dreamt that I saved a grim reaper named Tessa from demons."
Ian: "Classic! How much D&D did you play when you were a kid?"

Dean: "Look, man. I don't know you, okay? But I'm going to do a public service and let you know that you overshare."

Guy: "I'm telling you, man, I'll never eat popcorn again."

Sam: "It's like we've done this before."
Dean: "What do you mean, before? Like Shirley MacLaine before?"

Harry: "The Winchesters still suck ass, though."
Ed: "Affirmative. Suckage, major."

Ed: "Illegal in some states."
Harry: "All states."
Ed: "Possibly all states."

Dean: "Very creative."
Zachariah: "You should see my decoupage."
Dean: "Gross. No, thank you."

Another outstanding episode. Last week's was terrific, too. I got a lot of mail about my not loving it. So I had trouble watching Dean torture someone, what can I say,

Billie

Screencap credit: http://caps.oxoniensis.org/

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Smallville: Hex

Lois: "One year closer to the sweet release of death."
Chloe: "How wonderfully morbid."

Watchtower, huh? Chloe is the big Justice League space station? :)

Good episode, fun to watch. The body-switching thing (sorta kinda) has certainly been done and they didn't do a whole lot of original stuff, but it was nice to see them resolve Chloe's lifelong ambition to be a reporter at the Planet as well as her Lois envy. She got past her Jimmy issues, too. Working with Oliver and the League on a permanent basis? Much more exciting. And I'm for anything that suggests Chloe will be around permanently.

And hey. Part of me has always wanted to see Chloe with Clark. The other part of me wants Lois with Clark. And I kind of got both in this episode -- except that nothing really happened. I guess it's just as well because if it had, then that would be like admitting that Chloe in her own body isn't pretty enough for Clark. Which she most certainly is.

Since I've never heard of Zatanna before, I had no idea throughout if she were good or bad. Apparently, she's pretty cool; according to Dan, she's one of the coolest characters in the DC universe and has a love/hate relationship with Clark. I'm down with that. I was mildly disturbed that Clark wouldn't even consider wishing Jonathan back. And we never found out what Oliver's wish was, although we could all guess that it would involve a gruesome, painful death for Lex Luthor.

And I liked the re-focus on Clark and Lois. It's like those episodes with Lana never happened. Clark is making puppy dog eyes at Lois? He framed her rules of reporting from his first day on the job? And the rooftop scene made me laugh out loud.

So -- pretty good. And hey. Still no Lana,

Billie

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Lost: He's Our You

Sawyer: "How are you doing?"
Sayid: "A twelve-year-old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich. How do you think I'm doing?"

Son of a gun. They just did the classic time travel question: if you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it? For Sayid, the answer was, well, yes.

Sayid is a fascinating character. There is such darkness in his soul. He sees himself as a bad man (he said so under the truth drugs). He was the one that the Losties depended on to do the rough stuff, like torturing Sawyer for the location of Shannon's inhalers. It's still unclear to me whether or not Sayid enjoys killing. I don't think he does, even though he seemed oddly disappointed when Ben told him he'd finished the job. He may be a killer, but Sayid is always trying to do the right thing. He just killed an abused child, because he believed he was saving a whole lot of people's lives. (Or for revenge.) (Okay, probably both.)

I'm still confused about the time travel crap. Is it even possible for Sayid to kill young Ben? If not, how are they going to get around a bullet hole in the center of Ben's chest? If Sayid actually did kill young Ben, what then? Does history rewind and replay itself? No Dharma massacre? Will Ana Lucia and Libby still be alive? What about all those people Sayid assassinated on Ben's orders? We still don't know the full story about Nadia's death, either. Ben has been responsible for so much carnage that I can't even come up with an estimate. Would the Lost writers be bold enough to do that?

The Oceanic Five wouldn't even be in 1977 if Ben hadn't taken them to Eloise Hawkins. Argh!

The first time through, I kept wanting to shake Sawyer for not trying harder to get Sayid out, no matter what it did to his perfect little Dharma life. The second time I watched the episode, though, I had to concede that Sawyer did try pretty darned hard. Sayid refused to play along because he was waiting for young Ben to get him out. So he could kill him.

Kate nearly told Sawyer why she came back to the Island but was cut off mid-sentence by the flaming VW microbus. Did she go back for Sawyer? Juliet endeared herself to me even more than she already has by stating the obvious to Sawyer. Good for her. She's brilliant, brave, interesting and beautiful as well as good; she shouldn't settle for second best, anyway.

Who knows? Maybe while Sawyer never let on that he was waiting for Kate, Juliet never let on that she was waiting for Jack. That would actually be rather cool.

Character bits:

-- The flashbacks covered practically all of Sayid's life. Tikrit, Moscow, Santo Domingo, Los Angeles. That was new and fun. Especially Ben and Sayid in Moscow. Ben looked like an international man of intrigue with that hat.

-- Ben was 12 years old in 1977, so we can all do the math now. And he ran away four years ago, when he was eight. This episode also established that Roger's abuse of Ben was not just verbal. What a prick.

-- Like nearly everyone else on Lost, Sayid has daddy issues. His father was a "hard man" like Ben's father. I honestly think Sayid felt sympathy for young Ben, watching him being abused. He probably had sympathy for the chicken, too.

-- Ilana said she worked for the family of the man Sayid killed in the Seychelles. Was she lying? Does Ilana work for Ben or not? She's obviously a good actress or she wouldn't have taken Sayid in. He's not gullible or easy to fool.

-- Radzinsky is a serious asshole. Totally paranoid, ready to kill anyone. If he hadn't been around, I bet Sawyer could have talked Horace out of killing Sayid.

-- Radzinsky's first name is Stu. Which probably makes him the S.R. mentioned in "Live Together, Die Alone", the one who moved the ping-pong table.

-- Sawyer called Horace "H" and Sayid "Chief." No other nicknames to report.

Bits and pieces:

-- My favorite scene by far and away was Sayid telling Horace and the others the absolute truth about who he was and where he came from. And laughing. Sayid never laughs. And they didn't believe him; they thought it was an overdose.

-- The resident Dharma torturer and psychopath ("he's our you") was called Oldham, played by another Deadwood alum, William Sanderson.

-- Dharma Central Command is in Ann Arbor. We knew that already, but I'm mentioning it because it jumped out at me.

-- In the flashback where Ilana picked him up, Sayid was drowning his sorrows with MacCutcheon scotch, at $120 a glass.

-- The flashback to Sayid, his older brother, the chicken and the cleaver reminded me strongly of Echo and Yemi.

-- Where did the flaming VW microbus come from? Was twelve-year-old Ben smart and daring enough to do that? He must have been.

-- Young Ben gave Sayid a copy of Carlos Castaneda's A Separate Reality to read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Separate_Reality

Quotes:

Sayid: (to adult Ben) "If I see you again, it will be extremely unpleasant for us both."
No kidding.

Jack: "What happened?"
Sawyer: "Three years, no burning buses. Y'all are back for one day..."
Yes, another vehicle crash. There's usually one per episode.

Sayid: "He's a liar, A manipulator. A man who allowed his own daughter to be murdered to save himself. A monster responsible for nothing short of genocide."
Ilana: "Why would I work for somebody like that?"
Sayid: "I did."

This episode flew right by. Just excellent,

Billie

All of my Lost reviews are archived here.
(Season 5, episode 10)

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Heroes: Cold Snap

Ando: "You be cold daddy. I'll be warm mommy."

Much, much better. I enjoyed this episode more than I've enjoyed a Heroes episode in a long time.

The writing has definitely gotten tighter and there were many cohesive elements. The most noticeable was the recurring "cold mommy" theme. Hiro finally told Ando about what happened with his mother, and was finally able to be warm daddy to baby Parkman. Peter rescued *his* cold mommy, Angela, out of an elevator. (I liked that one a lot.)

The big one was Micah. It made sense that Rebel was Micah, and that he was obsessed with freeing his "mom." (Note how he said over and over that Tracy wasn't his mother, as if he was trying to convince himself.) Tracy is a very cold mommy, indeed. But obviously not dead, even though she just let them make ice cubes out of her. Creepy.

And it worked, Tracy not dying, because of Daphne's honest to goodness permanent and actually moving death. I didn't even see it coming and was thrown when Matt started flying. I wonder why they brought back Janice in the very same episode? As well as changed their minds about Janice's baby being Matt's? We'd been led to believe it wasn't, back in season two. (And note the "cold mommy" theme again.) Are Matt and Janice destined to get back together?

Hiro and Ando were actually funny and endearing again instead of annoying. Loved the wheelbarrow. The ET tribute with the stuffed animals in the closet was a little much, but still okay. They even found a way to give Hiro back some of his powers, but not all. Yes, let's fix our writing mistakes, shall we? Hopefully, this means no more magical time travel fixes.

Plus we had other fun stuff. Danko shaving, followed by Noah with shaving cuts; great little unspoken comment on their relationship. Angela losing her umbrella, stealing an umbrella, borrowing an umbrella and stuck in the rain as she lost her home and her freedom. And she and Peter hiding in the Statue of Liberty? About as obvious as symbolism gets.

Bits and pieces:

-- The opening close-ups with Danko shaving were practically a Lost "eye" scene.

-- Who gave Puppet Guy to Danko wrapped in a big, red satirical bow?

-- Noah Gray-Cabey's voice has changed. By the way, really liked the bank machine talking to Tracy. It was just fun.

-- They introduced Swoosie Kurtz as Angela's friend Millie. I'm sure it was for more than a brief appearance at lunch. Loved Angela's hair in that scene.

Quotes:

Ando: "How could Matt Parkman be a baby?"
Hiro: "On the Next Generation, it was a transporter accident."

Hiro: "He's toddler touch and go. He touches and makes things go. Like a baby Genesis Device."

Millie: "You look like you've been mugged, and the first thing they stole was your dignity."

This episode reminded me of why I got into Heroes in the first place. A solid three out of four stars,

Billie

All of my Heroes reviews are archived here.

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Terminator: Today is the Day, Part 2

I wasn’t real jazzed by this two-parter. Despite some intriguing moments, it was much more low key than I would have expected or wanted at this point in the season. I found the second part particularly underwhelming. It seems strange to say that for an episode that featured a liquid metal terminator, a break room riot, several key confrontations, and the likely death of a major character at the hands of another. And yet, in the end, I was left feeling rather ho hum about the whole thing.

I do have to give the episode credit for bringing the Riley and Jessie story to what felt like a fitting conclusion. John and Derek learned the truth, we learned Jessie’s motivations, and she paid for her crimes. The tale even featured some surprising twists: John already knowing about Jessie and laying in wait for her; learning that Jessie lost a baby in the future/past; and learning that Future John tries to join forces with a faction of liquid metal terminators.

There were other things to enjoy in the episode as well. I loved John’s initial conversation with Derek about his chances against Cameron. What a great way to make Derek understand that Cameron didn’t kill Riley, and to begin convincing him that maybe Jessie did. I also really liked Jessie and Derek’s final scene. I knew he’d kill her when he found out what she’d done, but I liked the way they revisited his history with Andy/Wisher and the fact that she’s from a different future to explain why he’d go through with it (I honestly think he did). It’s always interesting to get some insight into the inner workings of Derek’s mind and how he justifies his actions. We even got a great scene at the end in which John finally lets himself grieve for Riley. It was nice to see him turn to Sarah for comfort rather than Cameron (even if she’s not necessarily better equipped to provide it).

Once again, the John Henry, Catherine, and Ellison material felt like it didn’t quite fit with the rest of the episode. That said, the writers did pique my “what’s really going on here?” radar when John Henry told Catherine that Ellison agreed to leave him turned on and she said “Well, that’s progress.” I’m starting to think that she’s not interested in John Henry learning morality at all, but rather learning how best to manipulate humans emotionally. She seems to want Ellison to see John Henry as more than just a machine. In retrospect, John Henry’s comments about “the eyes being the window to the soul” and his “friendship” with Ellison seem designed to break down Ellison’s preconceived notions about his pupil. In that context, I suppose their scenes did provide a nice counterpoint to Jessie’s experiences.

Other thoughts:

The lack of background music in several of the scenes was very conspicuous.

Jessie to Cameron: “What the hell are we fighting for, if telling you is the same thing as telling Connor? You’re a damn machine. You’re not the same. It’s not the same.” It’s pretty hard to argue with that point. Between that and losing her baby, it’s no wonder Jessie thought things would be better if she split up John and his “metal bitch.”

And with the demise of Captain Queeg, yet another actor from The Wire meets an unfortunate fate on Terminator. This one was pretty easy to see coming.

Final rating: 3 out of 5. I’m hoping the last few episodes step things up a little.

All of my Terminator reviews are archived here.
(Season 2, episode 19)

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Chuck: Chuck versus the Predator

The General: “We are in the midst of a secret war with Fulcrum, and I believe that the outcome of this fight will rest squarely on your shoulders.”
Casey: “Argh.”

Chuck is still plotting his escape (and how), but it’s looking more and more like the General won’t let him out of the spy game. His attempts to track down Orion were successful enough for Orion to “come out of the cold,” with rather troubling results.

And on the BuyMore front, it’s war.

My past few reviews have focused on the arc of the show, but this episode really stood out as being great for the mythos and the dialogue. The BuyMore War was hilarious, from the baudy French farce of the masked burglars to the Beverly Hills vs. Burbank disses.

Chuck’s fervor to find Orion was suspenseful, to say the least—I actually found myself gripping the arm of my couch in the downtown scene. The General was punchy and intimidating, albeit small. The Fulcrum agent was deadpan. Really, absolutely everything went absolutely perfectly (except the mission itself).

A lot of this episode felt like the inmates were running the asylum, especially when Chuck was given the chance to plan his own mini-mission to recapture the Orion computer, which was paralleled with Big Mike letting Emmett run Operation Vandalism. "Calm and collected" it was not, which really ratcheted up the suspense and the humor.

According to my cursory Internet Research, it doesn’t look like there’s been any decision made on whether or not to renew the show—and the ambiguity is making me even curiouser and curiouser about how this season is going to end. Will Chuck escape his misery? Will he realize he likes it? Will Ellie and Awesome ever get married?

Fun Stuff:

• The Predator Drone really does look like a lumpy penis with wings.

• The BuyMore PowerWalk.

• The Orion theme music sounded vaguely like the Usual Suspects score. Even the fedora was very Keyzer Soze.

• The Beverly Hills BuyMore sign read: “BuyMore. Because you can!” And another one read: “Proud to help you spend your parent’s money.”

• The weird symmetry between the Hong Kong scene and the episode of Heroes that aired right after this. I watched Heroes first, which made it even weirder.


Quotes Gone Wild:

• “Your plan necessitated that we do actual plumbing. And, for the record, none of us actually know how to plumb.”

• “We admit nothing. Although we are in Burbank—that should be a crime.”

• Chuck: “Look, you’re not going to shoot anyone, right?”
The Fulcrum Agent: “It would be unprofessional not to.”

• “We will be calm and collected when we burn that motherloving store to the ground.”

• “Wake up, Casey. The eighties are over.”

• “Don’t scream. I have a splitting headache.”

• “I love the smell of Burbank in the morning.”

• Barclay: “Speaking for my store, and the city of Beverly Hills as a whole, we do not approve of your methods.”
Morgan: “Well, you’re not from Burbank.”

Four out of four Beverly Hills.

All of my Chuck reviews are archived here.
(Season 2, episode 17)

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Dollhouse: Man on the Street

Man on the street: "Everyone's got their fantasies, right? A guy wants to know what it's like, you know, to be with another man. Just once, nothing queeny, two guys checking it out, and then the other one forgets. That could be sweet for some guys."

Echo and Paul had a "cute meet" and beat each other up. How very Buffy and Angel.

They just moved Paul out of the fringes and into the story, and hallelujah. According to Echo's secret imprint, someone is trying to bring the Dollhouse down from within, and that person wants to work with Paul. It can't be Echo herself, can it? Claire, who is smart and compassionate, is probably my favorite candidate. Or maybe it's Topher's gopher. Who knows.

But what the frak was Paul doing confiding all that confidential FBI information to a civilian, Melanie, whom we just discovered (not a surprise) is also a doll? Did Paul know or guess what she was? Was he feeding her information that would get him the attention he wanted? I hope so. But I doubt it.

The "people on the street" interviews that started each segment explored the possible pros and cons of being a doll. Yes, it could be nice to be Rebecca Mynor for the day and have your fondest dream fulfilled by your loving husband. And hey, I'm sure there are a lot of us out there who would jump at the chance to seduce Tahmoh Penikett.

But the cons are brutal. Sierra was raped repeatedly by her handler. And Victor, because of an involuntary reflex in a shower, was nearly sent to the Attic because he didn't know enough to defend himself. Volunteering means nothing. Every assignment, even the ones not involving sex or violence, are dangerous because they cannot choose or think for themselves. The dolls are helpless, even when they're imprinted, but especially when they're not.

I wonder if this series would work better for me if the dolls were special agents, private or governmental, programmed with special *additional* skills on top of their own to carry out missions. Something more important than fulfilling the sexual fantasies of a billionaire. Well, for all I know, Joss Whedon could be going in that direction. Who knows.

Bits and pieces:

-- Echo told Paul that there are twenty dollhouses, and it dates back to the 1980s. That's not just an aberration, then. One Dollhouse is really bad; twenty is uber-evil.

-- I really liked Eliza Dushku's cute performance as Mynor's wifey. ("Porn!") And I liked Mynor's insinuation that Paul had a romantic fantasy about rescuing Caroline, ending with the two of them living happily ever after. Did Mynor's ridicule push Paul into bed with Melanie? I bet it did.

-- I like Melanie, too. Except that we don't know what she's really like, any more than we know what Echo, Sierra and Victor are really like. DeWitt said that Melanie was in love with Paul. How can Melanie possibly be in love with Paul? Unless "Melanie" is her original personality? That would explain the "three flowers in a vase" extra programming.

-- Boyd was taken off duty while Echo was out confronting Paul. What an amazing coincidence.

-- Topher made a comment about beauty and glanced sideways at Claire. Like it was her fault that her face was scarred. Topher thinks of women as objects, even the ones who aren't dolls. And duh.

-- Big, huge fight scene destroying a kitchen with much slamming of bodies, and no bruises or cuts on Echo afterward, at all? Not even a discreet cut on the forehead or chin? Paul was undoubtedly pulling his punches in an effort not to hurt his dream girl, but still.

-- Sorry I was a bit late with this one. I probably shouldn't have watched this right after the finale of Battlestar Galactica wrung me out. Seeing Tahmoh Penikett and Mark Sheppard again less than an hour later actually distracted me, and that never happens to me.

Quotes:

Melanie: "I get that I'm not the gold standard in L.A."
Paul: "Please. You're gorgeous."
Melanie: "But I do have access to important government information that I don't understand."

Paul: "A few years ago, she was a student. And then she had her identity ripped from her so she could play love slave to every loser with a wad of cash."
Mynor: "But then the brave little FBI agent whisked her away from the cash-wielding losers and restored her true identity. And she fell in love with him."

Victor's handler: "Maybe she's broken. You figure she's broken?"
Boyd: "They're all broken."

Mynor: "This is the internet establishment. You put me in front of a judge, he'll take you down. He'll throw the Kindle at you."

The episodes keep getting better, and that's good,

Billie

All of my Dollhouse reviews are archived here.
(Season 1, episode 6)

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Supernatural: On the Head of a Pin

Castiel: "I know our fate rests with you."
Dean: "Well, then you guys are screwed."

Three -- count them, three -- major revelations. So to speak.

They finally jumped off the story cliff they've been teetering on the entire season, and now we know that there's an actual angel civil war going on. That's one. And that Dean himself was the first seal that got broken, making him the only one who can end the approaching Apocalypse. That's two. I'm genuinely impressed. It made sense, and explained a lot.

It's not easy to pull off an episode as heavy as this one, and I'm not completely sure that they did. I hated seeing Dean torture *anyone*, even his own torturer. But at least it was mostly holy water and salt, which is how Dean usually fights evil. A bit easier for the audience to take, I assume, although not for Alastair.

Castiel broke Dean down completely, and then finished him off by dropping the weight of the world on his shoulders. Dean looked dead inside, like his soul was slowly being shredded. All that, and Sam had to come in and save the day. Any self-esteem Dean had left was just trampled into the dust. Poor baby.

I honestly thought Castiel was going to end up toast by the end of the episode, so I was surprised and pleased that he not only made it, but he and Anna have hooked up, so to speak. I like both of them a lot, and they feel right together, since they're both too emotional and care too much about humans to follow orders blindly any more. They're sort of forming their own angel faction. Factions, factions, everywhere.

Not to be outdone in the big plot reveal department, revelation number three was that, um, Sam is addicted to demon blood? Really? I don't like this at all. The similarity to vampirism must be intentional. How long until Sam becomes a demon himself?

Geez. I just did the math. Sam killed Alastair instead of sending him back to Hell. If only angels can kill angels, does that mean only demons can kill demons? Is Sam a full-fledged demon already? No, he couldn't be. I'm confused.

Bits and pieces:

-- John Winchester was supposed to be the one to break the seal. He held out for a hundred years, in comparison to Dean's paltry little thirty. (Once again upstaged by Daddy. Poor Dean.) If Dean hadn't broken, would they have tried Sam next? I guess not; his demon blood would have disqualified him.

-- Ruby is deliberately turning Sam into whatever it is he is becoming. She was treating Sam like he was her child as he drank her blood. Like nursing. That was mildly disturbing.

-- Apparently, Latin incantations can send angels back to heaven, just as they can send demons back to Hell.

-- Uriel and his fellow bad guy angels have murdered seven good guy angels. How many angels in a garrison? How many garrisons? How many bad angels, how many good, how many on the outs like Castiel and Anna?

-- Everyone was suddenly calling Castiel "Cas". A nickname out of the blue.

-- Some great visuals in this episode. Loved the black ashy outline of the absolutely immense dead angel wings. The devil's trap with the chains. I also liked Castiel slowly realizing what was really happening during two discussions in the bleak, snowy outdoors. It fit really well.

-- No sympathy for Alastair. But I kept thinking about that poor guy that Alastair was inhabiting. He certainly didn't deserve what happened to him.

-- The building where Dean tortured Alastair had a sign that said, "American United Meat Processing." Very funny.

-- Gold acting stars for Jensen Ackles again. That was a lot of complex emotion to portray. And Christopher Heyerdahl did a fine job as Alastair... although at times I couldn't quite make out what he was saying, what with Brando and the lisp and salt and blood in his mouth.

Quotes:

Dean: "Home crappy home."

Uriel: "I think I'll go seek... revelation. We might have some further orders."
Dean: "Well, get some donuts while you're out."

Dean: "You guys don't walk enough. You're gonna get flabby. (Castiel doesn't react) You know, I'm starting to think Junkless has a better sense of humor than you do."
Castiel: "Uriel's the funniest angel in the garrison. Ask anyone."

It's not that I prefer suicidal teddy bears and alligators in the sewers to the heavier topics, but I didn't like this episode. I just hated seeing Dean broken this way. But it was certainly an important episode in the arc,

Billie

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Smallville: Turbulence

Chloe: "Jimmy and I made it out of the dark forest and from now on, it's going to be one long happily ever after."

Chloe tasered Jimmy to protect Davis. No wonder that marriage is over. It's something of a relief, too. I never liked Chloe with Jimmy, anyway.

Not that she's destined to find happiness with Davis the murderous monster EMT. Yes, it's somewhat cool that Davis is at least attempting to channel his rage into taking bad guys off the streets. (Much like Dexter.) It's only going to make us more emotionally engaged when we get to Davis' inevitable showdown with Clark. Sam Witwer is doing such a great job with this part; Davis' hyper-emotionalism and romantic obsession with Chloe is creepy, as well as fun to watch.

Again, there was a parallel between Davis' descent and Clark's ascent. Clark is having a ball as the Red Blue Blur, and has perfected his fast change, which of course he had to do at least once in a phone booth. I gotta say that one of the best things about this season is Tom Welling in a gorgeous suit instead of plaid. Loved the glimpse of a blue tee under his shirt.

Tess told Clark he could trust her right before she set up that plane crash. Frankly, I'm tired of Tess; they didn't do a good job establishing her character, and their attempts to make her even slightly sympathetic aren't working for me like they are with Davis. I wonder why they showed Clark jumping out of the plane with an unconscious Tess in his arms, but didn't follow up with anything when we're all waiting for Clark to get past his fear of flying?

Bits and pieces:

-- Tess was abused as a child and has a knight in shining armor syndrome. Or so she says. I wonder if they're planning to have Tess turn the tables and come down on Clark's side when the chips are down? Nah. She's the one setting up the game.

-- After five weeks of painkillers, Jimmy is taking drugs and running red lights. Yeah, he's bad.

-- No Lois again. :(

Pretty good episode. And hey. Still no Lana,

Billie

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Battlestar Galactica finale: Daybreak, part two

Adama: "What do you hear, Starbuck?"
Starbuck: "Nothing but the rain."

This finale was a masterpiece. From darkness, to light, to oblivion. I wish I felt better about it.

For some reason, it really bothered me. What did I expect, though? Certainly not a happy ending. A series finale is a difficult thing, especially for a show as complex as Battlestar Galactica. Maybe I would have felt better with high tragedy, Adama going down with the ship, perhaps, after the space battle to end all space battles. Although we did get a space battle to end all space battles.

The raid on the Colony ship was massive, gripping, and well done; it reminded me a bit of that final, intense battle in Serenity. I was always conscious of the fact that the humans, Cylons, and Centurians were carrying out a rescue of one small child together. And the realization of the "opera house" moment, in the CIC covered with Cylon accoutrements and the Final Five at the "altar", was quite moving. Exchanging Hera for the technology of Resurrection was like the genetic superbowl, an echo of the original evolutionary exchange of immortality for sexual reproduction. Except that the "bad" Cylons didn't get Resurrection, after all, because the Final Five screwed it up by being all too human.

I wanted answers to the religious questions, and I suppose I got them. Affirming the existence of "God" was a brave writing choice, and Hera the holy child as Mitochondrial Eve was a beautiful combination of science and faith. It certainly explained her importance and why "God" would send angels to Gaius and Caprica Six to ensure her survival. If I understand the concept of Mitochondrial Eve correctly, some of the Colonials and Cylons and possibly even the primitives were our ancestors as well; it wasn't just Hera, of course. And I rather liked that it made Helo and Athena into a literal Adam and Eve.

My favorite part of this finale was Gaius and Caprica Six; especially the moment she told him she was proud of him, they kissed, and then they saw each other's angels. It's astonishing that until this episode, we still didn't know what was in Gaius' heart. His role in the destruction of the colonies was inadvertent, after all; he did it all for love. Seeing Gaius at peace with becoming a farmer again was quite touching. Beginnings and endings.

Even though we knew it was coming, I got chills when Kara put it all together and punched in those numbers. But I was disturbed and actually rather angry that she was apparently an angel, too. We saw Lee and Kara's beginning as well as their end. I wanted them to have *something.* They never had anything.

If you've read any of my reviews, you know I'm a wuss. I got choked up over and over again. Roslin saying goodbye to Cottle. Adama giving his stars to Hoshi. Starbuck kissing Anders goodbye, and him guiding the fleet into the Sun. Adama in a viper, leaving Galactica for the last time. Adama and Lee saying goodbye forever. Roslin dying during that lovely "Out of Africa" moment, and Adama putting his ring on her dead finger. At least she made it to the end of the journey. Adama built that cabin for her, after all.

And there were fun moments, too. Romo Lampkin as the new president. The five men lying in the grass together, talking about reproduction. The extreme beauty of ancient Africa and all of the abundant wildlife as a vibrant contrast to the sterile life of danger and deprivation in the Fleet.

No dropped plot threads. Tory finally paid the price for killing Callie. Tyrol lost both Tory (whom he had loved in his past life) and Boomer (whom he had loved in his present life) in the space of a few minutes. Did Athena really have to execute Boomer? What harm could she have done on Earth? Maybe Tyrol wouldn't have ended up alone. And it was particularly upsetting to spend most of the finale thinking Helo had died during the raid. I'm glad he didn't.

I completely understand why the Colonials and Cylons chose to do what they did, to break the cycle once and for all. But the more I thought about it, the more it disturbed me. By destroying all of their ships and scattering into small groups around the globe, they chose to completely obliterate their culture. It was like they never existed; only some of their genes remained. Kara Thrace really did lead them to their end. And the ambiguous coda in Times Square suggested that the cycle may very well assert itself here on Earth, today.

So it disturbed me. Hey, Battlestar Galactica has always been about "disturbing." It was still an excellent finale.

Bits and pieces:

-- 150,000 years ago, Tanzania. The info on Mitochondrial Eve wasn't exactly right. The theory was recently disproved and now they're saying there are 18 Mitochondrial Eves. I have a close friend who's into this stuff.

-- Ron Moore (who did a cameo in the final Times Square scene) worked on Star Trek. I kept thinking of the "prime directive" during the planet scenes.

-- Racetrack and her partner died. And destroyed the Colony inadvertently after their death. Maybe that was the hand of "God," too.

-- I loved that they gave the red stripe Centurian slaves the base star and their freedom. And it worked. It's been 150,000 years and they never came back.

-- We never learned for certain if Starbuck was Daniel's daughter. I would have liked to have known for certain. And really. Where did the song come from, then? "God" gave it to Starbuck's father?

-- Where did Tyrol go? Scotland? Further north?

-- The medic was played by Jamie Bamber's wife, Kerry Norton. She appeared in several earlier episodes, as well.

-- There were ads for the Caprica pilot, available on DVD in April, and Battlestar Galactica: The Plan for this fall. You know, at this moment, I honestly don't want any more. It's over. I'm not sure I can promise I will review anything else Battlestar-related. Maybe I'll feel better when I've had time to digest this finale.

Quotes:

Roslin: "The night is young. Apparently, so are you. Let's see what happens." I'm not sure what the point of this was. Screw teaching, I'm going into politics? Yeah, I know, beginnings and endings.

Cottle: "I don't know what to say."
Roslin: "Don't spoil your image. Just light a cigarette and go and grumble."

Boomer: "Today I made a choice. I think it was my last one."

Gaius: "I see angels. Angels in this very room. Now I may be mad, but that doesn't mean that I'm not right."

Gaius: "God is a force of nature, beyond good and evil."

Cavil: "I don't mean to rush you, but you are keeping two civilizations waiting."

Lee: "What does scare you?"
Kara: "Being forgotten."
Lee said later that she wouldn't be forgotten. But the thing is, she was. They all were.

Cottle: "Their DNA is compatible with ours."
Gaius: "Meaning we can breed with them."
Adama: "You got a one track mind, doc."
Gaius: "Listen. I'm talking about the survival of the human race, actually. Not some get-together with the natives."
Adama: "You also have no sense of humor."

Lee: "If there's one thing we should have learned, it's that, you know, our brains have always outraced our hearts. our science charges ahead, our souls lag behind. Let's start anew."

Harvey Six: "Let a complex system repeat itself long enough, eventually something surprising might occur. That, too, is in God's plan."
Harvey Gaius: "You know he doesn't like that name. Silly me. Silly, silly me."
This exchange confused me. What did the silly me bit mean?

Four out of four stars,

Billie


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Fringe: The Equation

Stretch...knuckle-crack... exhalation. Fringe has been on hiatus for a while (it returns April 7th), so now seemed a good enough time as any to wrap up a few of those episodes I didn’t get a chance to review at the beginning of the season. But don’t worry if you’re catching up on back episodes—I’m keepin’ it spoiler-clean for those that follow.

The Theme of the Week wasn’t just mind control: it was manipulation of others for personal gain. The director of the mental institution manipulated Walter into further insanity—probably because of some sort of power trip. Janet Ostler manipulated Ben into finishing the equation through truly unmitigated cruelty. Even Walter manipulated, albeit with little success, Dashiell Kim into revealing the truth behind his abduction.

Poor befuddled Walter was the shining star of this episode—his hesitant insistence on not being “really back” in St. Claire’s was quite touching, and was a great example of the kind of subtle gesture that a great actor can use to create a sympathetic character despite his flaws.

But as Peter says, “After some of the things I’ve seen in the past three months, Walter’s one of the sanest people I know.” Because Walter’s not crazy crazy. He’s just a slightly amoral and misunderstood genius. He didn’t even start seeing things until after they medicated him.

As far as the main storyline is concerned…well, child abuse is never a friendly topic, but it does slightly decrease the suspense: I trust that network TV shows won’t kill off a young boy—it’s just too brutal. (Not that I’m complaining.) So the real suspense gets shifted to whether or not Ben will complete the equation, and what the equation might mean. The equation means apple. Must be that new math.

Things of Fun:

Peter: “The US Government had you working on mind control?”
Walter: “It wasn’t the government…it was an ad agency.”

The face Peter made when Olivia said she’d played the oboe for six months and then quit was priceless.

“Mathematical equations are not conducive to my mental stability.” I say something like that every time I try to balance my checkbook.

Peter is left-handed. As you probably know, left-handed people are better than regular people.

I saw the Ostler equals Hotel Name coming. My left-handedness knows no boundaries!

Three out of four apples.

All of my Fringe reviews are archived here.
(Season one, episode eight)

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Lost: Namaste

Jack: "What do you think?"
Kate: "I think we should listen to Sawyer."
Hurley: "I vote for not camping."

This episode felt like part two of "LaFleur." It was a "getting us from there to here" type of episode. Nothing wrong with that. It was still fun to watch.

Jack used to be the leader and the doctor, while Sawyer was just a con man who was good with a gun. Now Sawyer is head of security, in control of his life, an intellectual quoting Winston Churchill, and Jack is nothing. Sawyer made cutting (and possibly well-deserved) comments about Jack's leadership style, too. Did Sawyer just use his advantage to make his romantic rival a janitor? Yes, the recruitment of a new doctor would be harder to fake, but wouldn't Jack be better suited to, well, pretty much anything else?

(For a moment, I thought Juliet was going to sabotage Kate, too, but it's hard to believe that Juliet would be that mean to anyone. Then again, she did try to talk Jack into killing Ben a couple of seasons ago, didn't she?)

Sawyer, Juliet, Miles and Jin have integrated into the Dharma Initiative. I can't imagine it'll be all that easy to insert three more people. Especially Jack, who won't accept his new career without a fight. And that love quadrangle isn't going to just go away. Although if everyone would just act like a grown-up about it, Kate and Jack could move in together and go play canasta with Sawyer and Juliet every Friday night.

I think the biggest problem is going to be teenage Ben. (And is he creepy, or what?) I assume that young Ben is already flirting with the Others, just from the way he was acting. Will he try to break Sayid out? (Maybe there's a file in that sandwich.) Or does Ben know that Sayid isn't really a hostile? The Losties all know what Ben is going to do someday; I can't believe they won't at least *try* to stop the massacre of all those people, no matter what Faraday said. And Christian is apparently about to show Sun and Frank how to get to 1977. What will happen when they show up? Nowhere to hide. There won't be another batch of recruits for six months.

Why were the Oceanic Five separated at all? Why did Sun end up in 2007 with Ben and the passengers from coach? For that matter, why did Locke end up there as well? If it were just Ben, I'd think it was because there couldn't be two of him in one place. But that doesn't explain Sun and Locke.

I loved Sun whacking Ben with an oar; definitely my favorite moment in the entire episode, even though I could see it coming. Maybe it's just Ben's destiny to go through life with injuries. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Character bits:

-- Whose story was this? There really was no specific emphasis on any one character. For awhile there, I thought it would be Frank, whose valiant effort to land flight 316 reminded me of the Miracle on the Hudson.

-- I loved that Hurley put on a sleep mask as the plane started to shake. He truly didn't want to see what happened. But really. Who would do that?

-- We finally met Radzinsky, Inman's Hatch partner who was mentioned in "Live Together, Die Alone." Radzinsky created the invisible map on the hatch door, and edited the Orientation film. And killed himself, if I remember correctly. Radzinksy is nasty and obnoxious. Not much of an improvement on Patchy.

-- Amy and Horace named their new baby Ethan. So much for that little mystery.

-- As she regained consciousness after the crash, Ilana said the name "Sarah." The only Sarah I know of so far in the story is Jack's ex-wife. It's probably not her.

-- A lot of us have theorized that Miles was Dr. Pierre Chang's baby. We don't know what's going on with Miles, so I suppose it could still be true. Uncomfortable for him, though, if he has to avoid his parents and younger self. If he's been born yet.

-- Faraday was mentioned, but Sawyer said he was gone. In the season opener, Faraday was working with Dr. Chang when the Wheel was discovered. Has that happened yet? If it hasn't, then the baby, whoever it is, hasn't been born yet, either.

-- Phil the security guy is very nosy. They'd all better watch themselves around him.

-- In this week's hair report, Jack's hair is longer than it's ever been. It makes him look different, somehow.

-- As they were reunited, Sawyer called Hurley "Kong" almost immediately, and then backtracked and fondly called him Hugo. And he *didn't* call Kate "Freckles." He also called Radzinsky "Quick Draw." Very appropriate, considering how gung ho Radzinsky was with the guns.

Bits and pieces:

-- As 316 was crashing, you could hear "4 8 15 16 23 42" over the radio. Is that right? Wasn't it turned off?

-- The Dharma security code for the hostiles is "14J."

-- The new recruits were greeted with "Ride, Captain, ride upon your mystery ship." How appropriate.

-- One of the TV monitors at the Flame was running The Muppet Show.

-- Hurley's Dharma jumpsuit had the word "chef" on it. Kate's said "motor pool," so she'll be working with Juliet. There's a car crash waiting to happen.

-- There were whispers for Sun and Frank right before Christian showed up, backlit so you couldn't see his sneakers. We've seen Christian so many times now that he almost feels like a normal guy. Yes, it's just Jack's dead father walking and talking, nothing to see here, move along.

-- The Swan is being built. Radzinsky had plans and models in the Flame. And he was upset that a hostile might have seen them.

-- Even though we didn't see the Monster, we heard it. In 2007. Still haven't seen it in 1977.

-- There was a woman with blondish hair standing in the shadows behind Sun in the wrecked Rec Center. I really had to look for it the second time I watched the episode. Was it deliberate? Was it someone we know?

-- Frank: "I thought you trusted this guy?" Sun: "I lied."

Fun episode. Not as wonderful as "LaFleur," but I'm really enjoying the cast as undercover hippies,

Billie

All of my Lost reviews are archived here.
(Season 5, episode 9)

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Terminator: Today is the Day, Part 1

I often find it difficult to rate the first part of a two-part episode. Typically, the first part is stuffed with set-up material for the next part of the story, leaving the real “page-turning” action for the next episode. As a result, Part One can sometimes feel somewhat dull. Or at the very least, it can feel so incomplete that it is hard to judge on its own merits. I thought this episode did an able job of following up on last week’s events, and started some interesting new threads with Jessie, but it wasn’t nearly as compelling as ‘Ourselves Alone.’

For me, the best part of this episode was Jessie’s story. I really enjoyed watching her interactions with Derek. I was wondering how she was going to explain her absence and all the bruises from her fight with Riley. I loved her solution: pick another fight in a public place and have Derek come bail her out. I also really liked the snippets of her future/past mission on the submarine. Is the mission to retrieve the box really a mission from John? Or is their terminator shipdriver taking orders from a different source? The scene with the team going to retrieve the box was tense. What the hell is that thing?

I’m hoping that however the situation plays out, we’ll finally get a little more insight into the real motivations behind Jessie’s trip to the past. Is she working against Team Connor because she thinks Future John’s tactics (particularly his use of reprogrammed metal) are screwing up the war? Or is she working for the metal? I’m leaning more towards the former this week, but am withholding final judgment for now.

This episode also kept me waffling about my thoughts on Cameron’s real mission. Last week I started thinking her real mission was to die at John’s hands. But early in this week’s episode, I was leaning towards the view that maybe she *is* just there to teach John how to work with and program the metal. After all, if Jessie wants John to kill Cameron to further her objectives, that can’t be Future John’s agenda, too. Can it? But after Cameron’s conversation with Sarah, I’m once again thinking her mission is to die. To have John recognize that he needs to be alone and cut his emotional ties. What does that mean for Sarah? Probably nothing good.

The sequences with Catherine, Ellison, and John Henry were odd. It was nice to get back to that part of the story, but the game of hide-and-seek wasn’t overly compelling. I guess, in the end, it was meant to show John Henry is starting to make progress in his understanding of Ellison’s morality. For me, the most interesting aspect was Catherine’s facial expressions during the game. She seems completely incapable of expressing convincing emotions when dealing with her “daughter,” but when watching John Henry learn, her face just lights up. Fitting, seeing as how he’s more her child than Savannah.

Other thoughts:

Jessie genuinely seems to feel bad about killing Riley. Interesting.

I wasn't really feeling John's pain this week. I probably should have been more moved by his grief than I was, but I'm glad Riley is dead. And his freaked out reaction to Cameron-as-Riley on the phone was way more interesting than his scene at the morgue.

I liked the scene between Cameron and Sarah out by the garage. Their confrontations always have such an interesting dynamic. I love it when they throw their cards on the table.

How awesome is it that the terminator driving the submarine is named Queeg (the infamous captain from Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny)? Did John name it that as a joke after changing its programming? Not necessarily a good sign for its continued “mental health.”

Final rating: 3 out of 5. I may reconsider after seeing how it works as part of the overall two-part story, but for now, it just felt average.

All of my Terminator reviews are archived here.
(Season 2, episode 18)

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Kings 1.01: Premiere

Kings is a new, high-budget show on NBC about a superpower (Gilboa) led by a king (Silas) who is assisted by a young farm boy (David). It’s full of biblical allusions, and is something of an allegory for modern America…well, no. It’s set in a place that’s basically the same as modern America, but this alterna-verse isn’t really saying anything groundbreaking about, y’know, the state of our nation.

And what better way to deconstruct a weird allegory than to offer a play-by-play? In the spirit of “if it’s new, I’ll review it,” I offer you two solid hours of my thoughts on this compelling show. With commercial breaks.


8:00 Okay, we’ve got a farm boy named David and a…

8:01 My goodness, a king! And it’s a king who likes God (and is liked back).

8:02 The king appears to be a good father: “You won’t be warm enough” is classic Parent Talk.

8:03 This America-imitation country is called Gilboa, and its new capital is Shiloh. Gilboa sounds Portuguese (if there’s a biblical analogue, I’m not catching it), which is interesting—it hints at a possible re-writing of the history of conquest in the New World. In other words: Take that, Spain and England!

8:05 My attention is drifting. Time to Google. According to Wikipedia, Gilboa is the mountain range where Saul battled the Philistines. In other words: I’m sorry, Spain and England. You may have your colonialism back.

8:06 Wow, in this imaginary land, touching people you’ve never met on this face is evidently a-okay. God bless real America.

8:08 Gath is Canada. It’s pronounced “gaaath,” like it’s being uttered by Robert Forester (Peter and Nathan’s dad on Heroes). It’s also an allusion to the home of Goliath, whom David slew. Here, a Goliath is a tank. And I think our farm boy might be up to something.

8:13 Is this show actually about how duct tape can save the world? Because I’m a fan of that premise.

8:16 David is rescuing the king’s son Jack. And David defeated the Goliath.

8:25 Wow, look at all those spoons.

8:26 I should email Billie and tell her how much I like the new banner on the home page.

8:27 Jack the Prince is not-so-much a prince. More of a spoiled brat. The LA Times review compared him to Chuck Bass, and I really can’t top that.

8:30 King Silas is quite the tyrant. He disregards his daughter’s petition and feels like he owes nothing to no one, as John Wayne surely said once. Will David help him learn something about himself?

8:37 Interesting…we got some back-story on this Nation of Allegory. There was a unification war less than a generation ago, and army service is not compulsory. If this series lasts a season, I’ll wonder if we’ll get a flashback episode.

8:38 David looks like he’s a fan of the king, but we know from the opening that he puts work and duty (repairing that guy’s car) ahead of admiration and star-gazing. Since that guy is the Reverend, this could be useful for David, who of course wouldn’t think of it as pragmatically “useful”—the good guys are never that plotting.

8:42 Leonard Cohen was right. David does know the secret chord that pleased the Lord. Well, the Lord’s daughter.

8:52 Commercials? I shall defeat you, Mammon of capitalism, by catching up on my Bible reading. The David and Saul story, which is pretty long by Bible standards, looks like it will indeed make for good TV. Jealousy, lust, dancing…and something going on between Jonathan (who is Prince Jack, right?) and David. The story starts at I Samuel 17, but beware of spoilers!

8:54 Ian McShane does chew the scenery, doesn’t he? Every thing he says is a declamation, even in the family kitchen. This drove me crazy about Deadwood, too.

8:59 David now has the most important position in the military. Homeboy hero made good! His role is mostly that of a figurehead, of course—he’s just supposed to read what’s on the teleprompter.

9:00 Or maybe he’s supposed to go off-script and answer in a way that, unintentionally on his part, makes the royal family look good. Sneaky. Don’t those royals know that corrupting the innocents always just gives them the ammunition they need to eventually topple those in power and usher in a glorious paradise of donuts and puppies?

9:05 David’s brother is potentially in trouble, but Gath is offering a peace treaty. I imagine any mid-season replacement has both a thirteen-episode plan and a five-year-or-so plan. Where’s this show headed? Are we supposed to hope for the end of monarchy, that evil beast so inimical to quality of life and reserved for such backwards places as Norway? Is this going to be a show about revolution?...

(9:10 Well, it’s certainly going to be a show about David and Silas’s daughter.)

9:11 …Revolution, or the actual horrors of war, seem a bit too messy for this show. It’s so glossy, and focused so specifically on the royals, that a revolution would feel distant—assuming, of course, that this tone and premise stay constant.

9:12 Is Jack gay? His dad certainly seems offended by his homosociality, if not his homosexuality. The role of young princes and kings with too many male friends who have too much fun is pretty interesting. Edward II died a brutal death. Richard II was deposed and killed. Yes, my mind wanders.

9:17 The proclamations are written in pseudo-Shakespearean archaisms on a PDA. Why?

9:18 CrossGen, which stands for the entire military-industrial complex, has a stake in war with Gath, and that evil CrossGen guy has just bribed King Silas into continuing the war for the sake of a war economy.

In an essay on the mode of allegory, Erich Auerbach notes that true allegories are always a bit unsatisfying: the story that stands for something else is filled with irrelevancies—his example is of the knight Yvain who, while on a journey, turns left. Left has no relevance for the reader. It doesn’t refer to any absolute direction the reader could relate to, like north. It’s just in there to make the point that Yvain isn’t on the right path.

This CrossGen thing feels the same way—a bloated allegory of the modern American dependence on the manufacturers of war. But it’s not an allegory that tells us anything new: the symbolism is just describing what we already know, and not very well.

9:27: “We are king, and we do what seems right in mine eye.” Just because it sounds old, doesn’t mean it’s poetic. It just means it’s derivative and not innovative.

9:29 The Reverend is getting hot under the collar. I wonder if this is a Christian society. The obvious answer is yes, but no one’s mentioned anything particularly Christian, and there haven’t been any crosses. It would be kinda cool to see them invent a new religion to go along with their imaginary country of Gilboa.

9:34 David is surrendering. That’s pretty gutsy, and a damn interesting twist. I thought he was going to bring King Silas the foreskins of the Philistines.

9:36 Shakespeare, great guy that he is, has bequeathed us a horrible legacy: generation upon generation of overwrought actor has convinced us that the height of art—grand art that describes the human condition in epic strokes—is composed of shouting, declarations, and heroic last stands. This can sometimes be true, but isn’t there something at least a little heroic in the casual, non-self-aggrandizing gesture? Great art doesn’t have to be stiff.

9:52 Shiloh is a bit more than a capital city, isn’t it? It’s really the metropole, as though the rest of Gilboa is just the provinces. Is Gilboa really a superpower? Or is it a much smaller country than the US?

9:55 Help! I’m being attacked by butterflies!

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Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak, Part 1

Anders: "Find the perfect world. The end of Kara Thrace. End of line."

I swear, I honestly didn't think the end was getting to me. But when Roslin, barely able to walk, crossed that red line, I started to cry. All of the characters I care about are planning to take a disintegrating ship on a suicide mission. If Ron Moore stays true to form, there could be a Shakespearean bloodbath.

There was a real bookend-y feel to this one, a return to the pilot episode with flashbacks to Caprica City before the fall. It felt so strange, going back, like we were seeing an alternate universe; our characters are such different people now. And some of it was satisfying. Lee meeting Starbuck for the first time. Gaius' first date with Caprica Six.

But so much of it was about death and loss. Starbuck was with Zak, who was soon to die. And Laura Roslin lost her entire family in a car accident. Numb with grief, she walked into a fountain in her pajamas and let the fountain cry for her. In the present, seeing the stripped memorial wall and abandoned photographs of the forgotten dead pushed Adama over the edge and into what may be his final command decision.

The red line scene was powerful, probably because they didn't do anything as hokey or unrealistic as having everyone volunteer. (And it again echoed that "So say we all" moment in the pilot.) Adama wants to go down with his ship, doesn't he? I don't think he's consciously planning to die -- his son and "daughter" are going along, too -- but I think he truly needs Galactica's death to mean something. What a way for Galactica to go out.

Gaius was the only major character who didn't go, obviously because he wants political power. And he's going to get it, because no one is left to oppose him. Harvey Six told Gaius that he was going to write humanity's last chapter. And there was a lot said about Gaius never doing anything truly selfless. All set up for the finale, I assume.

There were images interspersed with the action. The episode began with an expanding galaxy, a bird, a planet, rain. Many shots of water, which is life, but we saw them in relation to death. That scene in the fountain, Roslin's IV drip, Hoshi's spilled coffee. Lots of alcohol, too. In the flashbacks, Roslin, Lee, and Gaius were all drunk. There was the trapped bird in Lee's apartment, too, and broken glass.

This was the penultimate episode. No real reason for pointing that out; I just like to use the word "penultimate" in a sentence, and I don't get to do it very often. It was a heavy one, too. Next week's series finale is going to be intense, I can tell.

About the flashbacks:

-- So Gaius really did grow up poor and on a farm. Caprica Six gave Gaius exactly what he needed most: a solution to his parental problem. Are we finally going to learn how much Gaius knew when he gave Caprica Six the codes? Next week, I assume, since this is frakking it?

-- On their first date, Gaius was all in white and Caprica Six in black. Just saying. Writers and directors make choices like this for a reason. Gaius mentioned that he couldn't remember Six's name. Will they tie up that loose end, too?

-- Roslin fell into a new career for herself with Adar's campaign on the phone while eating sushi. You don't often see actors eating sushi in a scene. Who is Sean Ellison, the younger guy she agreed to go on a blind date with? I hadn't heard that name before.

-- Adama appeared to be interviewing for something that would only take an hour of his life.

-- Anders, as a professional athlete, was only interested in achieving perfection, not winning. His true nature as a scientist expressing itself. His present self was also talking about perfection. I think that means he's regaining consciousness. Or maybe not. I bet his hybrid state and connection to the ship is going to be important in the finale.

Bits and pieces:

-- This week's survivor number: 39,516. No battle drum preview this time.

-- Cottle volunteered, and Adama wouldn't let him. That was touching.

-- Lee looked so right back in his uniform. And was Harvey Six in "the" red dress? All we saw were the straps.

-- Tyrol had an interesting debate with Helo about the nature of the Eights. I was on Helo's side this time. Maybe Boomer will ultimately jump the right way in the end.

-- Has Hot Dog ever had a scene with Adama? Did they want to get one in there before the series ended? (Hot Dog is played by Edward James Olmos' son.)

-- Doral and Simon were back, along with Cavil. Will we get to see Leoben one more time in the series finale?

Quotes:

Helo: "My wife, Athena, is a person."
Tyrol: "She's a blow-up doll, Karl. They all are."

Cavil: "Dots. Lots and lots and lots of... dots. She's clearly very gifted."

Adama: (to Starbuck) "I know what you are. You're my daughter. Don't forget it."

Anders: "Perfection. It's what it's about. It's about those moments when you can feel the perfection, the creation, the beauty of physics, the wonder of mathematics, you know, the elation of action and reaction. And that is the kind of perfection I want to be connected to." What an interesting glimpse of Anders' buried personality controlling his programmed one.

Any episode that makes me cry gets four stars,

Billie


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Dollhouse: True Believer

Senator Boxbaum: "Your active will be perfectly safe."
DeWitt: "In a fanatical religious cult?"

Again, a tired, overused plot: undercover with a religious cult. And again with the twist.

The "Children of the Temple" cult was another transparent metaphor for the Dollhouse; the cult members had willingly given up their freedom and their choices, just as the dolls have. Echo was, of all things, a blind camera -- a contradiction, completely helpless, not even in control of her own eyes, which we all know are the windows of the soul. She was entirely into her imprint until the moment when her life was threatened, when she again shook off her programming and turned into Faith the Vampire Slayer. I wonder if that's why her "tabula rasa" state isn't holding, too, because Echo feels her life is threatened? Echo is on the same path as Alpha. Will Echo turn into a killer, too?

The B plot with the, um, man reaction, was actually pretty funny, right up until it got disturbing. We saw Claire and Topher in a silly situation -- going through three months of shower tapes watching for erections -- and it told us a lot about their characters. Topher is uncomfortable with any mention of sexuality, which is unsurprising considering that he acts like a child most of the time with his toys and his drink boxes. Is Topher's prudery the reason why the dolls have no sexuality in "tabula rasa"?

Claire's reaction was interesting, too. She was matter of fact, a physician doing her job. But at the beginning of the episode, Claire expressed worry about Echo -- enough that it made me think that she cares about her. If Claire had thought the situation with Victor and Sierra through and realized what Topher would do to Victor as a result, would Claire have kept her mouth shut?

Finally, I was relieved that the writers have started giving Ballard a personality. And now he's seen Echo on the news. He has a real lead on Caroline. The preview for next week's episode looked very interesting.

Bits and pieces:

-- The opening scene, with the nasty townies attacking the non-violent culties, felt so familiar. I could practically hear "One Tin Soldier" playing in the background.

-- One of the Dollhouse's influential clients is a Senator Boxbaum, and he is apparently in DeWitt's pocket. That might explain why the Dollhouse is so far off law enforcement radar.

-- Victor was imprinted with the same personality for a "valentine op" eight times. But I don't think that satisfactorily explained his attraction to Sierra.

-- Why does Dominic hate Echo to the point of going undercover to kill her? He's always been nasty toward her, but why so vicious?

-- "Melanie" delivered his prescription to Ballard as well as "left over" manicotti. That was a lot of manicotti. I'd probably do anything for someone who constantly brought me Italian food.

-- I kept wanting to call this episode "Tru Believer."

-- Did they leave that camera in Echo's head?

Quotes:

Topher: "If she was any more relaxed, she's be ooze."

Claire: "It's possible one good sneeze could bring on a seizure."
Topher: "Or even worse, a sneezure."

Topher: "I gotta go. Something came up."

Topher: "Naked... part.... shower... Victor..."
Claire: "Victor had an erection?"
Topher: "I prefer 'man reaction'."

Claire: "Of course. If it had been a snake... pretend I didn't say that." That sort of went with all of the references to a garden. The dolls in "tabula rasa" are like Adam and Eve before the apple; in a beautiful garden with no knowledge of good and evil.

Again, a watchable episode that certainly held my attention. But I'm starting to realize how uncomfortable I am with the series format. I want Echo, Sierra and Victor to regain their original personalities, to rise up and destroy the Dollhouse, and I want it now. I don't know if I could keep watching our main characters being so dehumanized for several seasons.

Billie

All of my Dollhouse reviews are archived here.
(Season 1, episode 5)

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Supernatural: Death Takes a Holiday

Dean: "You and me, we're like the poster boys of the unnatural order. All we do is ditch death."

We had a cool story about reapers, Dean and Sam got to be invisible, there was brotherly conflict as well as a return to the "angel-demon dance-off". Add in the tragic death of a continuing character, and what more could a Supernatural fan ask for?

I thought at first that we'd get that scary-looking Reaper from season one's "Faith." But instead, they gave us a Reaper that we wanted the boys to save: pretty Tessa from the outstanding season two opener, "In My Time of Dying." Dean's flirtation with her and her continued interest in him as the one who got away reminded me of Dean's suicidal tendencies, his feelings of unworthiness. Castiel revealed that he had recruited the Winchesters in the first place because there were places angels feared to tread (like the funeral home angel-proofed with demonic invisible ink). This again suggests that Dean may not be chosen or special, after all; the Winchesters are just being manipulated by the Powers that Be. Literally.

Sam has been taking over the family business lately, choosing the jobs, all well and good, maybe it's his turn. But what he did here started making me uncomfortable. Sam yanked Alastair out of his stolen body easily -- fine -- but then he lied to Dean about it. He lied to that little boy about death, too. Even Pamela saw evil in Sam's intentions. I still can't see where power over demons and the ability to save someone from demonic possession is a bad thing, but Sam's powers have increased exponentially, and we all know power corrupts. And Sam is starting to *feel* bad. I don't like it.

Death Takes a Holiday is a classic old movie about, well, Death taking a holiday, and it turning out to be not such a good thing. Death is tragic, but it has a purpose. I think up until this point, what with the "dicks with wings" and Dean's visit to Hell, that the existence of Heaven in the Supernaturalverse was a given. But Tessa's revelation that there are no miracles, that people lie about going to a better place -- which I took to mean that there may be no Heaven -- was outright chilling. Where did Tessa send Cole, then?

I was worried about the boys being out of their bodies with only a blind woman to watch over them. Which was, of course, the point; if Bobby or Ruby had been there, weapons at the ready, it would have seriously decreased the dramatic tension. Dammit, I liked Pamela Barnes. People who hang out with the Winchester brothers tend to die horribly. And this particular death was made more poignant by what Tessa told Dean. Pamela just helped the angels defeat evil. If she deserved heaven and there is none, where did she go? Supernatural never holds back with the creepy and disturbing, that's for sure.

Bits and pieces:

-- We got two more Alastairs before the last one was taken by Castiel; loved the white lightning. (I'm picturing the auditions: actor after actor doing Brando with a lisp.)

-- Dean really enjoyed the astral projection, Sam, not so much.

-- Tessa brought Dean's memory of her back with a kiss. It reminded me of the Crossroads deal, which was sealed with a kiss. What are reapers, anyway? They're not angels or demons. If they transport death, how can they die?

-- Cole called Sam "Haley Joel." In the past, Dean has also called Sam "Haley Joel."

-- Disembodied Dean and Sam were on the other side of the iron and rock salt this time.

-- This week: Greybull, Wyoming. The Broken Saddle Motel was understated and dull, distressed wood, scraped off paint, instead of the usual kitsch or garish or tacky. Visually very interesting. The perfect place to astral project.

-- "We dedicate the entire season to Kim Manners. We miss you, Kim."

Quotes:

Guy: "Now, you two said you were bloggers?"
Sam: "Yes, sir. Floored-by-the-Lord dot com."
Dean: "All of God's glory fit to blog."
Interestingly enough, Dean really was floored by the Lord, wasn't he?

Dean: "We're no different than anyone else."
Sam: "I'm infected with demon blood. You've been to Hell. Look, I know you want to think of yourself as Joe the Plumber, Dean, but you're not. Neither am I. The sooner you accept that, the better off you're gonna be."
Dean: "Joe the Plumber was a douche."
I quite agree.

Sam: "Pamela, you're a sight for sore eyes."
Pamela: "Aw, that's sweet, Grumpy. What do you say to deaf people?"
If I remember correctly, Bobby called Pamela a sight for sore eyes right before she was blinded, too.

Dean: "Oh, I'm so feeling up Demi Moore."

Dean: "Am I making you uncomfortable?"
Sam: "Get out of me."
Dean: "You're just a prude."

Dean: "I say we hit Victoria's Secret and get our peep on."

Dean: "I'll meet you back at Mr. Miyagi's."
Cole: "Who's Mr. Miyagi?"

Dean: "Dude! You are so Amityville."

Dean: "What the hell?"
Castiel: "Guess again."

Dean: "If it's any consolation, you're going to a better place."
Pamela: "You're lying."

Another really excellent episode. Am I being repetitious if I give this one four stars, too?

Billie

Screencap credit: http://caps.oxoniensis.org/
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