Eureka: Phased and Confused

... in which Carter attempts to uncover the identity of “Captain Eureka,” the town’s new superhero.

After getting some closure on Stark’s death in the last episode, it was time to move on with business as usual in Eureka. I just wish we’d gotten a stronger episode to get us back into the wacky Eureka groove. Captain Eureka was goofy as all get out (his cool ability to walk through solid objects, notwithstanding), and his identity was painfully obvious from the get go. As soon as he showed up on the roof, I thought, “Let me guess. It’s Chuck, the recycling guy.” They did try to throw us a few red herrings with the parade of nerdy science types expressing interest in Lexi, but this mystery was pretty much a dud.

Unfortunately, the B-plot --- centered on a trio of super smart, yet incredibly stupid teenagers --- was even worse. I know Zoe was mad at Jack and wanted to assert her independence, but why on Earth would she think it was a good idea to go exploring a previously sealed-off area? Does she not remember what town she lives in? And what kind of brainiac idiot is her boyfriend? “What don’t you understand about ‘look, don’t touch’?” Are buttons on old equipment just that irresistible to geeky science guys? (Remember when Fargo and Spencer booted up the ultimate weapon of mass destruction back in Season 1?) Good grief. It was nice to see Zoe owning up to her supreme idiocy in the end, but what an annoying journey to get her to that point. I really hate stupid teenager plots. (So much for my hopes that Zoe’s job at Café Diem would put an end to her involvement in these sorts of things!)

At the very least, ‘Phased and Confused’ gave us some good movement on the Eva front. We learned that the underground complex seen back in ‘I Do Over’ was constructed in the 1930s, before the town was built, but was then buried and forgotten. Except by Eva, apparently. She told Zane she’d been researching it for a very long time. But why? What does the key do, and how is this related to the vial of purple liquid she’s got stashed in her safe? Whatever she’s up to, it must have incredibly personal stakes for her. I was absolutely stunned by the steely resolve in her “No,” when Carter said she needed to tell him what was going on. Wow. She’s got her mission and no one is going to stop her. At this point, I’m fairly convinced that her agenda isn’t something completely evil. She truly seems to care about the well being of the town’s residents. Last week she reached out to a grieving Allison, and this week, as soon as she knew that Carter’s daughter was at risk, she coughed up the information needed to rescue her. Like Carter, I do believe her when she says “I never wanted anyone to be hurt by this. You’ve gotta believe that.” Hopefully, we’ll learn more about her plans soon.

Other Thoughts

I enjoy Lexi and her dynamic with her brother, but she was WAY out of line giving Carter grief for telling Zoe she couldn’t skip school for a yoga retreat. Zoe is only 17, and Jack can most certainly tell her what to do. It is in no way Lexi’s place to tell Zoe it’s OK to skip school. She’s the aunt, not the parent. I’m glad that Carter completely called her out on it, and that she came to realize the error of her ways by the end.

“Why throw it away, when you can chuck it?”
Pretty clever recycling slogan, when your recycling guru is named Chuck.

I sort of wish we’d seen the flying bunnies, but I imagine the effects would have just made it look ridiculous. Some things are better left to the imagination.

The guy talking about Maureen the robotic whale was laugh-out-loud hilarious! “Here we are in Cape Cod. Oh, and look, this is us at SeaWorld --- we had such a good time!”

I’m really glad that Zane has gone back to being more than just Jo’s love interest, but it would still be nice to see the two of them interacting once in awhile. When is the last time they had a scene together?

The thing with the finger was pretty gross.

Lexi: “He put out the word? How? Bat signal?”
Jo: “No, better. He told Vincent and made him promise to keep it a secret. The crew of the space station probably knows by now.”

Allison: “Look, Carter, I can’t lose you.”

Final Analysis: I’m glad we are getting some movement on Eva’s story arc, but this was a pretty mediocre episode.

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Doctor Who: Spearhead From Space

“We deal with the odd, the unexplained, anything on Earth... or beyond”

After six years of monochrome adventuring through time and space ‘Spearhead from Space’ saw Doctor Who undergo a complete transformation.

Now broadcast in glorious colour (assuming, that is, you had a colour television in 1970) the entire format of the show was radically altered in order to keep production costs down as well as make the series grittier and more grown up. Taking inspiration from the likes of Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass serials outgoing producer Derrick Sherwin wanted to get away from ‘wobbly jellies in outer space’ by bringing the show crashing back down to earth.

Following his trial and conviction by the Time Lords at the end of ‘The War Games’ the freshly regenerated Doctor has been exiled to near future/modern day Earth (don’t ask), a far cheaper setting than all those alien quarries. Trapped in one place and time the Doctor now finds himself working alongside his old mates at UNIT, defending the earth from alien invaders and science experiments gone horribly wrong.

Before ‘The Eleventh Hour’ came along and made us all realise how undeniably cool bow times really are ‘Spearhead from Space’ was my favourite post-regeneration/new Doctor story. Much like Matt Smith’s introduction it works extremely well as a jumping on point for new fans. You don’t really need to have seen the previous six series to understand or enjoy it. Robert Holmes’ script cleverly covers all the basics you need to know without ever feeling like you’re being subjected to a massive info dump. At the same time it firmly establishing the legend that is Worzel Gummidge as the new Doctor.

Growing up Jon Pertwee was one of my favourite Doctors (partially because of the Worzel connection) but these days I’m not as enthusiastic about him as I used to be. At his absolute worst he could be a boorish, temperamental and patronizing old grump who, despite his flamboyant attire, is often more eccentric than extraterrestrial (I never got much of a Time Lord vibe with Pertwee). But when he’s at his best, as he is here, the Third Doctor is a charismatic, refined and debonair man of action as well as a compassionate do-gooder and ever curious scientist. He’s Bernard Quatermass crossed with Derek Flint, always happy to tinker with sci-fi gizmos, drive fast cars, knock back fine wines and karate chop bad guys across the head (obviously he never got the memo about the Doctor being a pacifist).

With Jamie and Zoe now mind-wiped and shuffled off back to their native times the Doctor gains a pair of brand new companions. The Brigadier is back, now on a permanent basis and as unflappable as ever.

Filling out the crucial role of female companion we have Miss Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Shaw. In terms of female characterization Liz Shaw is a step forward for the show. She’s a stronger and more mature character than the wide-eyed adolescent screamers the Doctor used to travel with, someone who’s more in tune with Woman’s Lib (albeit the show’s somewhat narrow understanding of it) and isn’t likely to be tolerant of the casual chauvinism of her UNIT colleagues. It’s just a shame I’ve never much liked Liz Shaw. It’s not that I hate her like I do with some other companions, I just can’t find anything to really like about her. Most of the time she comes across as an excessively sarcastic Scully, mocking our beloved Brigadier for believing in aliens and never once apologising for it when he’s proved right (bet she’s just jealous we love him more).

‘Spearheads from Space’ does have the unfortunate side effect of highlighting the major flaw with Sherwin’s more grounded, less fantastical approach to the series. As Malcolm Hulke was quick point out there’s very limited story potential in having the Doctor stuck on Earth all the time and working with UNIT. You can only do two types of story; alien invasion and mad scientist. This wasn’t a problem for Sherwin. He scarpered after this story to be replaced by Barry Letts.

Once the post-regeneration rigmarole is over and done with the last two episodes plays out like a condensed rehash of ‘The Invasion’. There are even a few bits and pieces of Quatermass II thrown in too such as the idea of aliens falling to Earth in meteorites, a factory being used to grow a creature and the government being infiltrated. But I’ve never let a lack of originality stop me from enjoying a Robert Holmes story before and I’m not going to start now.

The Autons themselves are quite a nifty concept. The idea of something as plain and everyday as shop window dummies coming alive and turning into instruments of death and destruction is brilliant and quintessentially Doctor Who. But, personally, I don’t think the execution quite manages to successfully live up to the idea. The final showdown with the Nestene’s perfect form/octopus-thingy is letdown by some special effects too dodgy even for this show and Jon Pertwee’s successful audition for the National Gurning Championship.

Notes and Quotes:

--As it now somewhat traditional, a new Doctor means a new title sequence, logo design and reworking of the theme tune.

--The Doctor steals his costume from the hospital lockers just like his Eighth and Eleventh incarnations. Along with the theft of Sexy and that hospital big wig’s fancy car this is further evidence that he’s something of a kleptomaniac.

--When he first appears the new Doctor is briefly seen wearing his predecessor’s wardrobe. Despite the noticeable height difference between Jon Pertwee and Patrick Trouhgton it fits him perfectly. Are the Doctor’s clothes also bigger on the inside?

--We learn for the first time that Time Lords have two hearts.

--Why do aliens invaders always seem to think that marching very, very slowly down the high street and zapping bus queues at random is a viable plan for global domination?

--That UNIT radar operator was seriously sweaty. Get some Lynx, man!

--The Doctor seems to have regenerated with both a tattoo and… tan lines?

--Did no one else find it a little farfetched that there was a famous civil servants section at Madame Tussauds? Are there any famous civil servants?

Liz: "You really believe in a man who has helped to save the world twice, with the power to change his physical appearance?"
The Brigadier: "I’m not sure. It might not be the same man."
Liz: "An alien who travels though time and space… in a police box?”

The Brigadier: "In the last decade, we've been sending probes deeper and deeper into space. We've drawn attention to ourselves, Miss Shaw."

Liz: "Do you know him?"
The Brigadier: "What? No. I thought I might do but he's a complete stranger. I've never seen him before in my life."
The Doctor: "Lethbridge-Stewart? My dear fellow, how nice to see you again."

The Brigadier: "Well at least he won't get very far."
Liz: "You mean before your men shoot him again."
The Brigadier: "I don't find that funny."

The Doctor: "Alright, alright, I assume you want to see my pass, well I haven’t got one. And I’m not going to tell you my name. You just run along and tell Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart I want to see him. Well don’t just stand there arguing with me man!"

Liz: "What are you a doctor of, by the way?"
The Doctor: "Practically everything, my dear."

Four out of four frilly shirts.
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Twin Peaks: Traces to Nowhere

“Who has the other half of this heart?”

The focus of this episode is, quite reasonably, the people closest to Laura. James Hurley, Bobby and Mike, Donna, even Josie: these are the most logical people for Cooper to be interested in, as the average teenager is likely closest to the people in her peer group. They’re also the people most likely for us to be interested in, as armchair detectives—which is why this episode reveals more to us about these kiddos than even Cooper discovers.


I had forgotten this element Twin Peaks: it’s a well written detective story. It effectively negotiates the problem of knowledge: we sometimes know more than the authorities, which creates tension, but Special Agent Dale Cooper does interview the right people at the right time, deals with evidence as he finds it, and eliminate the unlikely suspects. He is generally a very good cop, which means he’s usually one step ahead of the viewers.

In addition to interviews and hard evidence, Cooper relies on his intuition. He knows James didn’t kill Laura because he senses James’s inner sweetness and honesty. That intuition will frequently serve him well, especially as it frequently prevents Cooper and Harry from disagreeing: Harry knows James probably didn’t kill Laura, either, because he has known James for quite a while. The Harry/Cooper relationship is still being established, but so far they seem to be in accord. (Doc Hayward, despite not knowing James, also seems to be a fan: whereas in the pilot he didn’t let Mike into the house, here he invited James to dinner. That tells us something about both Doc and James.)

Cooper’s intuition and Harry’s prior knowledge also point to Bobby and Mike as general nogoodniks—an assessment it’s hard to disagree with. Here the show indulges in some taunting: we know more about Bobby’s and Mike’s relationship with Leo and drug-running than Coop and Harry do. And if the kindly Major Briggs can slap Bobby—well, that’s sort of the reverse of Doc Hayward inviting James to dinner.

While the investigative focus might be the teenagers, Laura’s death isn’t forgotten—and neither are the wacky folks who populate Twin Peaks itself. We got a glimpse of what life with Nadine must be like for Big Ed, Pete Martell’s relationship with Josie his sister-in-law (complete with fish coffee!), Sherry Johnson’s daily domestic struggles, and Catherine Martell’s schemes with Ben Horne.

However, the most fascinating wacky townsperson is, for me, Major Briggs. Don S. Davis played Scully’s father on the X-Files (where he is just as wonderful), and was also in SG-1. Here, his distinct manner of speaking and general reasonable combine perfectly with his philosophizing. I’ve quoted nearly his entire monologue below, and a long monologue it is.

Cooper also met the Log Lady, whose…um…mysterious ways have become something of a byword for Twin Peak’s wackiness. Cooper doesn’t succeed with the Log Lady here: she has something to say, but Cooper’s reticence to fully embrace the weirdness prevents her (and her log) from being completely open and honest.

Doc Hayward’s autopsy report near the episode’s beginning keeps Laura’s death in the back of our minds. He delivered Laura and then had to watch her dissected, and to learn the slow, painful way that she died—a way so painful that it may have helped Ronnette slip into a coma. Twin Peaks doesn’t mince words when it comes to cruelty, but this doesn’t feel like the voyeuristic sadism of some more recent detective shows or even some later episodes. This feels like an awareness that Laura’s murder was a terrible, prolonged crime; that Laura suffered as no person should ever suffer; and that the people who are aware of the details and knew Laura are deeply troubled.

The reactions of the Palmers and the Polaskis were effectively contrasted. The Polaskis seem to be subdued in their grief, more beaten down than crazy. Sarah Palmer, however, seems to have either gone mad or turned psychic: she sees Laura’s face (cheaply) transposed over Donna’s, and hallucinates? sees? has a vision? of an impossibly creepy long-haired guy hiding behind the living-room furniture. That scene gave me shivers the first time and during my re-watch even though I knew it was coming. I kept checking behind me to see if he’d miraculously appeared behind my couch. Cats, protect me!

Meanwhile, Cooper met Audrey Horne, and certainly fell—at least a few feet—for her. It’s fascinating to see him turned on and then reining himself in as he realizes she violates two of his rules: she’s in high school, and she’s associated with his case. But the allure is certainly there. How can I blame him? Sherilyn Fenn is gorgeous, and Audrey was throwing herself at him. Cooper may be a wonderful detective, but he’s got a weakness for the ladies.



Bits and Pieces:

• Cooper: “Diane, it struck me again this morning. There are two things that continue to trouble, and I’m speaking now not just as an agent of the Bureau but also as a human being: What really went on between Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedys? And who really pulled the trigger on JFK?”

• Cooper: “I’d like two eggs over hard. I know, don’t tell me: hard on the arteries. But old habits die hard. Just about as hard as I want those eggs.”

• Major Briggs: “Rebellion in a young man of your age is a necessary fact of life. Candidly, a sign of strength. In other words, Robert, I respect your rebellious nature. However, being your father, I am obligated to contain that fire of contrariness within the bounds established by society, as well as those within our own family structure. Robert, I note your reluctance to enter into a dialogue with me, your father. There are times when silence is golden. Silence can be taken many ways—as a sign of intelligence. The quieter we become, the more we hear. [Slap] Now, I am a tolerant man. My patience has its limits. To have his path made clear is the aspiration of every human being in our beclouded and tempestuous existence. Robert, you and I are going to work to make yours real clear.”

• Laura: “I just know I’m gonna get lost in the woods again tonight.” I’ll bring up this quote in my review of episode 3, “Rest in Pain.”

• Nadine has discovered the secret to a completely silent drape runner. Cotton balls, with an emphasis on the balls.

• Laura used to tutor Josie Packard, too. How did Laura have all this time on her hands? She must have been the busiest teenager ever.

Clues and Questions

• Sherry found blood on Leo’s shirt.

• Leo had told Sherry that he was in Butte, Montana on the night Laura died, but Bobby told Mike that he saw Leo that night, so we know he was lying.

• Big Ed told Harry that Jacques Renault was tending bar the previous night, and might have slipped Big Ed a mickey. Significant?

• Hawk and Big Ed both rubbed fingers next to their eyes in the sheriff’s station. What’s up with that?

• Who is the one-armed man, where did he go, and what does he want? Perhaps Dr. Richard Kimble can help.

• Laura made tapes for Dr. Jacoby, who seems to really, really enjoy listening to her troubles. And he’s the one who found the necklace and took it—why? How?


Second episodes are always tricky. On a formulaic show, the second episode is typically an example of what the average standalone will be like. On a show like Twin Peaks, there really are no standalones, but this episode does reinforce that, despite the marketing campaign of “Who killed Laura Palmer?” this is a show that lives up to its name: it is about a town as well as a murder investigation. It’s not the most cohesive episode, as some scenes are about investigation, others are just about the tragedy’s impact, and others are about townspeople who don’t mention Laura at all. But it’s snappy, fast-paced, and filled with even more great dialogue than the long quotes I’ve included here.

Three and a half out of four damn fine cups of coffee.
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Eureka: Show Me the Mummy!

... in which an ancient mummy queen and the scientists studying her go missing, as Allison struggles on her first day back at work.

When I first saw the title for this episode, I was afraid we’d be forging ahead into another hilarious misadventure without any time for reflection or grief in the wake of Stark’s death, and quite frankly, I just wasn’t ready for that. But I needn’t have worried. Despite a goofy opening --- in which Fargo gets attacked by that ridiculously cheesy mummy hand --- ‘Show Me the Mummy!’ had a surprisingly high degree of emotional resonance, allowing us to grieve with Fargo and Allison and to say a final goodbye to Stark.

Salli Richardson-Whitfield really killed it in this episode. My heart was absolutely breaking for Allison as she tried to hold it together despite countless reminders of Nathan, including his beautiful gift and his brief “ghostly” visitations. The moment in the car really got to me, especially Eva’s moving attempt to provide some comfort and support. “The hard truth is, you can get past it, but you’ll never get over it, even if you have all the time in the world.”

Eva really surprised me this week. She seemed so genuine when she reached out to Allison, that it really made me question my impression of her thus far. She’s certainly working a secret agenda, but I’m starting to wonder if her motivations might not be as nefarious as they’ve seemed. When she came to enlist Zane’s help with the Cryptix puzzle, she seemed fairly emotional. Like she was barely holding it together. Was she really that upset about losing Dr. Marks and the tour exhibit, or does whatever she’s up to have something to do with her deceased husband?

I really appreciated that the writers allowed us to grieve, not just with Allison, but with Fargo as well. A lot of his fussy attention to the Nathan Stark Memorial Hallway --- A hallway? Seriously? Stark’s not worthy of a wing or an entire research lab? --- was played for laughs, but it was clear that the others recognized this was his way of coping, and that the loss of his revered boss was an especially difficult blow. It was a nice twist that his brush with the mummy’s curse wasn’t just another crappy accident to befall a Fargo, but actually allowed him to find some peace of mind regarding Stark. I was so touched by his attempt to reassure Allison that Stark was alright. “He’s OK Dr. Blake. You don’t have to worry. He’s OK.” I’m glad Allison, Henry, and Carter let him hold on to that notion, even though they knew he only saw the holographic projection from Allison’s necklace. It obviously gave him a tremendous sense of peace.

Other Thoughts

Wilding (re: Ancient Egyptians): “They were the first scientists! They should be honored for their achievements, not turned into a circus sideshow!”

And here I thought “Show Me the Mummy!” was just a fun episode title. I was amused when it was revealed as the title of Dr. Marks’s book.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Eureka really comes up with some disturbing corpses.

Sounds like Zane was in Egypt with Marks’s team. That must be why he wasn’t with Jo at Stark and Allison’s wedding.

I knew that when Henry refused to help Eva, she’d be knocking on Zane’s door next. “I’ve always been a puzzle guy.”

Carter: “Everyone OK?”
Zoe: “A little creeped out, but fine.”
Vincent: “Yeah, but my food isn’t. I’m gonna need some grief counseling.”

Well, now we know why the diamond was so important to Stark. A very sweet and romantic gesture, especially given their history. “I wanted to be sure, that no matter where you are, or where I am, I will always be with you.”

Holo Stark: “Ally, I will always love you. And I will never, ever leave you again.”
Allison (fighting tears): “Goodbye, Nathan.”

Well, that was another emotionally difficult ending. I’m glad they gave us Lexi’s music over the end credits to “soothe the soul on a wide range of frequencies.” I needed it.

Final Analysis: A somewhat weak main disaster plot, bolstered by a secondary focus on the emotional aftermath of Stark’s death.

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True Blood: She's Not There

Eric: "Who would you rather trust? A vampire or a politician?"

Everything felt different. Maybe because everyone had different hair.

Not that that's a bad thing. And I mean the story differences, not the hair. It just wasn't what I was expecting after the five hundred cliffhangers they left us with last season.

Sookie

The resolution of the previously goo goo fairy silliness was surprisingly satisfying when the fairies turned into extremely creepy-looking monsters. How were they going to "harvest" the hybrid humans? Recruit them? Eat them? What is going to happen to Barry Bellboy? Was Claudine part of the "resistance," like her brother?

As soon as they started offering Sookie that lumiere fruit, I knew things were going to be bad; there are myths that if you eat food in the underworld, you can never leave. (Which makes me think the fae were recruiting, not looking for snacks.) Smart of Sookie not to fall for it. Our brief acquaintance with the not-as-lucky Earl Stackhouse was surprisingly touching. Probably because he was played by the wonderful Gary Cole, who can handle any role from hero to idiot and make it work.

Sookie's honeys

So what's next for Sookie, other than part-time work at Merlotte's and lying to her friends? She's isn't going back to Bill. I hope. Bill is King? How the heck did that happen? Last season, they left us with a face-off between Bill and Sophie-Anne. Did he kill her? How could that possibly translate into Bill becoming King? Wouldn't he be executed by the Vampire Authority for regicide?

Eric was apparently the only one who believed Sookie was coming back, and cared enough for her that he bought her house -- and even spent a ton of cash fixing it up. Of course, he had an ulterior motive. He's back in her house, and now she can't make him leave. Why was he acting like such a jerk about it? Sookie won't take that "you are mine" crap lying down, pun intended. You'll never get her that way, Eric.

Witches

The witch stuff is in the books, of course, and I knew it was coming since they were obviously setting it up last season. One thing that bothers me about True Blood is that the episodes are too dense and there's too much going on, which means the stories I'm most interested in don't get enough air time. It was smart of the producers/writers to move several characters we already know -- Lafayette, Jesus, Holly -- into the witch part of the plot. We even have a spy for the new King hanging around the coven. I hope that'll mean less story fragmentation in season four, fewer tangents, and a stronger focus on the stories that interest me.

Marnie is certainly super creepy, even with the silliness of resurrecting her parrot. Was the poor bird pining for the fjords? (Are there Monty Python fans in the TB writing crew?) Anyway, great casting there. Shudder. I mean Marnie, not the parrot.

The gang at Merlotte's

I got bored with Sam's story last season, but seeing him handling his rage by running (so to speak) with other shifters? Loved it. I have no idea how Tommy ended up with Hoyt's mama, but they deserve each other. I bet Tommy is faking how bad his injury is in order to keep getting money out of Sam. Sort of can't blame him. Tommy has never had a good example to follow, or a decent home to give him stability. And Sam really blew it with Tommy.

Tara. Or as she is now known, Tony from Atlanta, with a brand new job. Eh. Glad she landed on her feet. But if she won't come back to Bon Temps for her best friend, I'm not thinking a whole lot of her right now, hot new girlfriend or no hot new girlfriend.

It's interesting that the honeymoon may be over for our lovebirds Hoyt and Jessica. That egg scene made me gag. And it's clear that she's going to be chowing down on a fangbanger sometime soon. Loved the way Pam was looking at her. :)

Speaking of too many subplots, I enjoy Terry and Arlene as supporting characters, but I'm very not interested in the Rosemary's Baby subplot. Even though the doll decapitation was funny. Very Dexter.

And finally... Jason

The biggest surprise was that Jason finally grew the heck up. He's not only a cop, he's a good cop. He was trying his best to keep Andy's V addiction under control (which is valiant but hopeless, as they'll tell you at Al-Anon, since you can't fix somebody else -- you can only fix yourself.) He even kept his promise to the still absent Crystal and helped the "Deliverance extras" in Hotshot. That altruism just bit him in the butt, so to speak. I actually care about Jason now. Who knew that would happen?

I'm glad the time slip wasn't more than a year. That's long enough for some serious changes, but not so long that we're disconnected. (For a moment or two, I was worried that it had been so long that Jason was married and had children or something.) Maybe I was ready for a change, because I enjoyed this episode. I liked the pacing, and I'm very encouraged by the different flavors of seasonal set up. It may have been their best premiere yet.

Bits and pieces:

-- Alexander Skarsgard's name just got moved from the long alphabetical list in the credits to the top tier of the cast. And yay. About time.

-- I gotta repeat, great casting of Sookie's grandfather, Earl. Gary Cole even looks like Anna Paquin and Ryan Kwanten. We knew Earl for five minutes, and I nearly cried when we lost him.

-- The queen of the fairies is Mab. Maybe she knew Shakespeare.

-- Barry Bellboy has a male fairy godmother named Lloyd. Maybe "godmother" is a title without gender implications in the fae dimension.

-- Sookie's house has really changed. Bill's house has really changed.

-- Eric's Fangtasia commercial reminded me of why I love him. Pam's Fangtasia commercial reminded me of why I love her.

-- The "Moon Goddess", where the coven hangs out, reminded me of the magic shop on Buffy. So did Jessica dancing uninhibitedly on the dance floor at Fangtasia.

-- I want Lafayette to be happy, but I don't trust Jesus or his motives. Especially since Lafayette clearly has a lot more power than the other witches. Except for Marnie.

-- Lafayette now knows what happened to Eddie. I think.

-- We finally met Portia Bellefleur, and they cast Courtney Ford, who has been showing up in a lot of my favorite shows lately.

-- I was hoping for news of Russell Edgington. Maybe later.

-- In this season's hair report, ooo la la. Bill went black, Eric went shorter (and thankfully, once again blond), Arlene went darker and shorter, Lafayette went Mohawk and it looked good on him. Jason acquired whiskers, and Jesus lost his. And Tara rethought her extreme makeover in last season's finale.

-- Pam in leather. Mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm. Toasty.

Quotes:

Claudine: "I'm your... godmother."
Sookie: "I have a fairy godmother?"
Claudine: "It's not all fun and parties. Some of us have to work."
Sookie: "Okay, if your job is to look after me, can I just say, you suck?"

Lafayette: "Smells like where old air fresheners go to die."

Arlene: "Decapitating Barbie dolls? What the hell kind of baby does that?"
Terry: "Boys! Regular, ordinary, curious boys. When I was a kid, I used to put squirrel heads on lizard bodies and invent new animals."

Pam: (deadpan) "The blood is warm, and so is the service."

Eric: "We're always more than happy to serve humans here at Fangtasia. And I don't mean for dinner."

Pam: "Toilets are for humans only. Do I need to explain why?"

Pam: "That tree with the plaid shirt. He has a name?"

Eric: "You. Are. Mine."

I'd say a solid three out of four ex-parrots. And I'm so happy True Blood is back,

Billie

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Eureka: I Do Over

... in which Allison and Stark’s wedding day turns into Groundhog Day for Carter.

Damn. I was enjoying this episode. Watching Carter do the Groundhog Day thing, and pondering the possible ways this latest rift could be tied back to previous time-space continuum disturbances. I was amused by the Doctor Who references paired with the revelation that the maintenance guy was GD’s time maintenance guy, and I was intrigued the possible directions the story might be taking us. Then about two-thirds of the way through, I realized this was that episode. The episode in which we’d lose Stark. And as all the intrigue and enjoyment went out the window, I started bracing for the inevitable, horrible end.

I so wasn’t ready for this. I knew that at some point in Season 3, Stark would go out in a heroic blaze of glory, saving the town from a time-space continuum disaster. I did not expect it to happen so soon. I thought he’d be around at least until the halfway point of the season. So the realization that this was it hit me like a ton of bricks. I also wasn’t prepared for how suddenly it happened, with so little dramatic build up. The episode was basically trucking along like they normally do, with Carter and the Global folks coming together to solve the problem in the nick of time like always. Then, all of a sudden, Stark was asking Carter to make sure Allison got the diamond and to be there for her, and before Carter or the audience could really process what was happening, he was gone. If I hadn’t known that this was really the end for Stark, I probably would have been left staring at the screen stunned, unable to understand what had just happened.

Even knowing what was coming, given the suddenness with which those final events unfolded, I expected the emotional impact to be muted. But Ed Quinn totally broke me. Just the pained look in his eyes and his parting words to Carter, “I’ll see you around, Jack.” *Sob.* It hit me hard. And the way he slowly disintegrated with that bittersweet half-smile still frozen on his face just made it all the worse. The soul-crushing capper, of course, was Carter breaking the news to Allison. Even if Stark’s final moments hadn’t done me in, this scene certainly would have. To see Allison go from the heights of happiness to stunned devastation absolutely killed me. Damn.

Other Thoughts

Jack’s sister, Lexi, is interesting. At first she seemed like a dippy hippy chick, but as we got to know more about her with each repeat of the day, I realized there’s more to her than meets the eye. I’m guessing she’ll be around for a little while and we’ll get to know her even better.

Nice to see Kevin getting some brief face time at the wedding. He looked happy.

Why wasn’t Zane with Jo at the wedding?

Interesting that the ketchup stain people kept assuming was a blood stain did become a blood stain in subsequent iterations of the loop.

The diamond necklace got mentioned so many times, I kept wondering if something about its singular nature would help solve the DOTW.

I’m glad we finally got some definitive clarity on Allison’s feelings for Carter and Stark. “I love Nathan. We have a history.” “You’ll always be my friend. My true friend.”

Carter: “We don’t have much time.”
Fargo: “Apparently we don’t have much sanity either.”
Carter: “I’m not crazy.”
Fargo: “Says the guy with crazy eyes and a gun.”

Carter: “Does your ego even fit in this building?”

Leo’s misdirection with Eva at least gave us a little update on what she’s up to. She seems to have found some manmade underground chamber system at the location with all the radiation. OK, then.

Carter: “You don’t know how to reverse it?! Isn’t that a little like jumping out of a plane and trying to invent a parachute before you hit the ground?”

Fargo offering to do the manual fix and Stark telling him “I always knew you had it in you” was a really nice moment. I’m sure getting that validation from Stark means the world to Fargo.

The echoes between the first scene in the wedding tent and the last were very nicely done. Comments that started as innocent and fun --- “Momentous, huh?” and “You look pale” and “I’ll always be here for you --- no matter what” --- suddenly became far more ominous and painful.

I’m really going to miss Stark. Especially his friendly antagonism with Carter. Given that he “died” trying to repair a time-space anomaly, I’m holding out hope that maybe he could return someday.

Some quietly mournful end credit music this week.

Final Analysis: A very strong, but devastating hour. One I fervently wish hadn’t come so soon.

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The Killing: Orpheus Descending

“Every piece of this place hurts me.”

Look on the season finale of The Killing, ye Mighty, and despair!

I've put off writing this review because even thinking about this episodes just made me so angry I couldn't type. I can't remember the last time a TV series pissed me off as much as this. I'm actually surprised that I managed to hold back on the excessive swearing and ranting. But there's been enough excessive swearing and ranting about this finale already (not that there won't be some swearing).

So I'm going to keep this review short and to the point. This episode was bad. Really bad. Maybe the worst season finale I've ever seen. After enduring thirteen weeks of endless rain, numerous red herrings, perpetual misery and Darren Richmond we got absolutely zero return on our investment. Instead all we got was a great big slap in the face. Let me try and explain its awfulness in completely made up television mathematics. Basically, you take everything Heroes did after season one + Lorelai marrying Christopher in Paris x THIS ÷ ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! = 'Orpheus Descending'.

To date we still don't know who killed Rosie Larsen. That's been saved for season two. It wasn't enough that the writers made us wait this long, now they expect us to wait a whole year to find out who killed bloody Rosie Larsen. Well, to paraphrase Howard Beale, the eminent philosopher and poet, I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to watch The Killing anymore.

I'm done. Finished. No more for me, thank you very much.

The final deal breaker for me wasn't the show's refusal to finally reveal whodunit. My spider-sense had been tingling for a while on that one. No, the deal breaker was that 'shocking' final twist; Stephen Holder is working with a mysterious someone to actively frame Richmond for Rosie's murder.

I think I speak for everyone when I say, “What the fuck, Veena Sud?”

When I first started watching I feared I'd get something like this. That the writers would end with season with a massive twist that was more shocking than it was logical. But I never in a million years thought they'd do something this absurd. Holder was the only reason I was ever considering reviewing season two. Now we're being told he's a traitor. And a really stupid traitor at that. His plan to frame Richmond is so deeply flawed its almost moronic. Did he not think that someone might notify the police about the cameras being broken that weekend? He's the one who gave them Linden's number for Christ's sake!

Other Crimes and Misdemeanours

--Yesterday Linden was threatening Helo with child abduction. Today it was all “I hope you guys are having fun.” Again, What the fuck, Veena Sud?

--Gwen, of course Richmond would've been soaking wet when he got back to the hotel. Because in Seattle is never, ever stops raining.

--Mitch decided that her family didn't need her and left to walk the earth like Kane from Kung Fu or something. Stan didn't object or try to explain that he'd spent their savings on a house. So after losing their sister, Denny and Tommy have now been abandoned by their mother and will likely see their father go to jail for a very long time. I see a lot of therapy in their respective futures.

--Oh, and just so they could end things on a cliff-hanger, Belko, upset by the collapse of the Larsen family and all out of rocks to punch, watched Taxi Driver one too many times and decided to Jack Ruby Darren Richmond.

And so ends my time reviewing The Killing. It's been an up and down experience to be sure. Thank you to everyone who's stuck with me on this seemingly endless Odyssey of disappointment and rage. If any of you want to continue, then I wish you the best of luck and offer you my deepest sympathies.

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Twin Peaks: Pilot

“Mr. Cooper, you didn’t know Laura Palmer.”

Twin Peaks is both cultish enough and popular enough that there’s a thrill every time one fan meets another—and those thrills aren’t too far between. When it premiered in early 1990, people went wild. Remember when we were all so excited about Lost? Move those conversations to the water coolers instead of the internet, add some hairspray, and that’s about it.

And just like that, it was gone. After the initial adoration, viewers quickly drifted away or were turned off by the more surreal aspects. When the show’s second season finished (completing a total of just 30 episodes), viewership was way, way down. The follow-up movie, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me did okay…and yet the die-hard fans remained as intense as only fans can be.

I only experienced those early days by proxy. I was deemed too young to watch the show (looking back, I agree with that decision, but it made me so angry at the time—if I could watch Murder, She Wrote, why not this?), but my father loved it. My father lets himself get involved in exactly one TV show at a time. Sometimes he picks a clunker—The Event was his choice in this past season, poor guy—and sometimes he strikes gold: 24, Twin Peaks, The Sopranos. Back in the day, he loved Twin Peaks enough to buy the soundtrack, which he frequently played on our family’s only CD player, in the living room. My pre-teen years were scored by Angelo Badalamenti. No wonder I turned out so odd.

My first real Twin Peaks experience was in high school, when the boyfriend recommended we watch the prequel (made after the episodes aired) Fire Walk With Me to prepare for seeing Lost Highway in the theater. FWWM was okay, given that I had no back-story (fore-story?), but Lost Highway was great. It appealed to my desire to dissect things. (Well, not living things. I’m squeamish.)

It took me five years to finally watch Twin Peaks, the series. The only copies in the town I then lived in were on VHS, rented from the tiny independent video store housed in a house. (When they went out of business, I owed them a late fine of $2. I still feel bad about that.) I promptly got the bug, watched the tapes as fast as I could rent them, and theorized like mad with the one person I knew who also liked the show, a kindly bartender. He explained the finale to me over strong drinks, and then I was done with the show. This was before the internet was fun, so it didn’t occur to me to look elsewhere for more theories and speculations, much less a fan community. I haven’t re-watched it in the many years since.

All of that backstory is by way of warning: I’m not a die-hard Peakean. In fact, I don’t even know if TPers have a name for themselves. That’s all information I could easily find out, now that I’m used to spending my days glued to a computer screen, but I’m oddly disinclined to eavesdrop on 20-year-old arguments, get tangled up in sides, camps, or even the dreaded ‘shipper wars that every show has. When I review this show, I want to watch the show and talk about the show. I don’t want to pick sides, start fights, or invest in a SuperDuperGold DVD set. Twin Peaks isn’t that kind of show for me.

What kind of show is it, then? The pilot episode doesn’t do justice to the delightful zaniness that is to come. Frost and Lynch shot the pilot, Lynch did a movie (Wild at Heart), and then Frost and Lynch began work on the first non-pilot episode. The pilot establishes important characters and a few of their relationships. It welcomes us to the town of Twin Peaks, pulls back the lace curtains a bit—but not all the way—and leaves me with a strange impression of humor-laced tragedy. In other words, even in the face of tragedy, people still make bad jokes, still have bizarre personality tics, and generally still live their lives.

That tragedy, of course, is Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), who is found dead in the show’s opening minutes. Laura Palmer is screen-siren beautiful even in death, and just as inscrutable. We learn in the pilot that she is a homecoming queen who dates the football quarterback, a tutor, and a beloved daughter.

But for some reason, no one seems surprised that she is dead: At the end of the episode, her secret boyfriend James Hurley told Donna, Laura’s best friend, that “It all made some sort of terrible sense that she died.” Even before that, her mother’s panic in the morning when she can’t be found feels like she had been waiting for that moment for months, and her father, once warned of Mama Palmer’s panic, tells the sheriff that his daughter is dead, rather than the other way around. Even the opening lines, when Pete Martell tells Sheriff Truman “She’s dead. Wrapped in plastic,” the first question isn’t “Who?” but “Where?” When Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) and James (James Marshall) see the police at school, their first thought is of Laura, and their first reaction is to cry.

The overall impression is of a town, and a girl, on the brink. Laura finally tipped over into something—shocking but not surprising itself. The town, meanwhile, continues on its way for a while, but might never be the same. With a population just over 50,000, Twin Peaks may be “a town where a yellow light still means ‘slow down’ instead of ‘speed up,’” but the main industry is intrigue (with a healthy dose of tourism and logs).

And the intrigue industry is definitely impacting the tourist and log economies. The Hornes, who own The Great Northern hotel, are trying to con some Norwegians into building a golf course (with houses), but son Johnny has “mental issues” and daughter Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) is one breakdown away from a borderline-personality diagnosis. Meanwhile, Benjamin Horne is working with Catherine Martell to take down Josie Packard (Joan Chen), Catherine’s sister-in-law who inherited the mill. The Sheriff is dating Josie Packard, while his friend Big Ed (James’s uncle) is cheating on his crazy wife Nadine with sexy Norma (Peggy Lipton). Norma, of course, is Shelly Johnson’s (Madchen Amick) boss—and Shelly is married to a crazy truck-driving maniac who beats her and just so happens to come home with blood on his shirt after Laura’s death.

While the adults play those games, the teenagers follow suit. Laura was dating Bobby in public and James in private; Donna was dating Bobby’s best friend Mike in public and falls for James in the pilot. Bobby and Mike, unfortunately, are terrible actors: I sometimes wonder if the director just said, “Give up acting! Just stare and vibrate a little without blinking!” This makes their teenage rages and exaggerated misbehavior all the more disturbing, as they seem just like the cartoon villains one would find on a Lifetime special. No wonder Donna’s dad doesn’t let Mike in the house.

In life, that was Laura’s world. Now that she’s dead, her place in that world—and whatever else it might encompass—has to be discovered by a hero, a man who should need no introduction, the greatest detective who ever lived: Special Agent Dale Cooper.

Special Agent Dale Cooper is a straightforward man who appreciates good coffee, good pie, plain speaking…and absolutely loves the process of detection and discovery. In the pilot, some of his smiles seemed horribly inappropriate, until I realized he was So Very Happy that he had found a clue—he is certainly not haunted by Laura Palmer’s death, at least not in any traditional sad-detective way. How he will come to relate to Laura and the circumstances of her death is one of the main arcs of the series.

How the town relates to that death and those circumstances is equally important. In the pilot it emerges that Laura did not die alone: Ronnette Polanski lived through whatever rape and torture killed Laura, but remains comatose. Ronnette gets short shrift in the town’s imagination, perhaps because the cast of characters the show focuses on knew Laura better, perhaps because Ronnette was working-class and Laura came from Twin Peaks’s small aristocracy.

In the pilot, the town is like a live wire. When the kill site is discovered, there’s a quick shot of the train car surrounded by men who aren’t police officers, holding rifles as though they expect the killer to still be inside. The pilot effectively captures the way each member of a small community can be struck differently but with equal virulence by the same tragedy. Likewise, it introduces the idea that no one can really know Laura Palmer, not James the secret boyfriend who claims she wasn’t acting like herself, perhaps not even Donna who claims to know her better than Laura realized. And if we can’t know Laura, perhaps we can’t know anything that’s going on in this tiny town.

Bits and Pieces

• Quick shout-out to the folks at the Sheriff’s Station: Lucy, Andy, Hawk. We’ll see more of them.

• Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn), wacky shrink, was rubbing a very inappropriate place on his hula-dancer tie.

• Crazy Nadine seems to have a fixation with her drapes.

• The severed moose head on the table in the bank. Yep, it’s a David Lynch TV show.

• Zooming in on an image to catch a reflection of the person taking the film is equally Lynchian, as are the flickering light in the morgue (symbolizes a reality-shift or a personal satori) and the stoplight.

• Diane, to whom Special Agent Dale Cooper dictates his every move and every thought—I do not envy your job.

Clues?

• Laura’s diary entry for a few weeks previous said she was “nervous about meeting J tonight.” Who is J?

• Cooper says that the letter “R” under Laura’s finger matches her case to that of Teresa Banks, a year ago in another part of the state.

• Laura’s half of the broken-heart necklace was found in the traincar on a mound of dirt with a scrap of paper on which was written, in blood, “Fire walk with me.”

• Ronnette Polaski advertised her services in Flesh World, and Laura kept a copy.

• According to James, Bobby had told Laura that he’d killed someone.

For all its atmosphere, the pilot episode of Twin Peaks does not give an accurate picture of where this series is headed—and, trust me, it’s going to some very weird places. Having said that, it does a very impressive job of establishing relationships both covert and overt, and focusing on the two emphases of this show: Laura Palmer and the town itself. The final shots, of an unidentified hand taking James’s half of the heart necklace from the woods, of the stoplight, and of Mrs. Palmer’s sudden screaming as though she has seen something—in the living room? The scene in the woods?—are just a hint of the mysteries to come.


Three and a half out of four Douglas firs.


(Let’s try to keep spoilers for future episodes out of the comments. There might be someone out there who still doesn’t know who killed Laura Palmer.)

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Interview with the Vampire

[This review includes spoilers.]

Lestat: "God kills indiscriminately. And so shall we."

I was a huge fan of Anne Rice's vampire books back in the day, and when this movie was released, I expected the worst. I was wrong. Interview is an excellent adaptation of Anne Rice's novel. Everything I loved in the book is also in the movie.

A vampire with a soul

Louis (Brad Pitt) is a young widower who longs for death. I've always loved the early scene when he actually opens his shirt to his attacker; it's a perfect character moment. Louis cannot accept what he becomes, and is eternally tormented by his own nature... although it's interesting that he is outright suicidal as a human, but not as a vampire, when all he would have to do to end it all is walk outside during daylight. Louis wants vampire life to be elevated, intellectual. He doesn't want to be a killer or a monster. He wants to find meaning in love, and he cannot love Lestat.

This is Brad Pitt's movie. Louis in the books is a tortured soul who is so physically and emotionally beautiful that everyone wants him. Brad Pitt manages to do this in every frame of this movie. In my opinion, he nailed it.

A vampire with an attitude

Lestat is my favorite vampire in literature. In this movie, he appears to love what he is; he even literally dances with death. And yet, he says more than once that he was turned against his will, implying that it is something he never would have chosen. We also get hints throughout that Louis's story is slanted. It's tantalizing.

Tom Cruise is never my first choice for any role, especially that of a character I love as much as I love Lestat. But he did acquit himself well. (Except for his appalling French pronunciation. Seriously, Tom. Mon dew? Chewrie?) I've always assumed that Tom Cruise was cast as Lestat because of the sequels we didn't get. Interview is about Louis, but Lestat is the main character of the following few books.

(And that was a smart choice by Rice, by the way. There is so much more to Lestat than what Louis sees; it's just too bad that we never got to see it on the screen. The Queen of the Damned sequel didn't star Cruise, and didn't do the books justice.)

Why is Lestat so obsessed with Louis? Clearly, even a vampire so in tune with his predatory nature needs love and companionship. Rice's vampires are androgynous, seductive, romantically possessive even though they don't have sex. The eroticism is centered around drinking blood. All they care about is blood, and each other.

A vampire who will never grow up

Lestat creates Claudia to save his "marriage" to Louis, just like a troubled couple having a baby for the wrong reasons. Louis and Claudia are almost like Lestat's abused wife and battered child. Claudia becomes a parody of her human self, victimizing humans by acting like a lost, helpless child; she and Lestat kill together, again as a parody of a real family, like a father taking his son out hunting in the woods.


Kirsten Dunst, only eleven years old at the time, did exceptional work as Claudia, who was only five in the book. It's doubtful that any actress young enough to pass for five could pull off a character as complicated and adult as Claudia. It was smart of Neil Jordan to make Claudia a little older in order to cast the perfect actress.

Interview was Anne Rice's first book, and arguably her best. Interestingly, and tragically, it was written after the death of her five year old daughter from leukemia. When this correlation was pointed out to her, Rice was reportedly surprised, and said it wasn't intentional.

A vampire movie with depth

The story and the characters are special, but that's not all. Neil Jordan created such a beautiful movie. The actors, the dialogue, the plantation, Paris, the costumes and make-up -- it's just stunning. And the symbolism is marvelous. The flight into the air as Louis ascends into godhood. The dead crawfish on the floor. The sex-as-death scene with the two prostitutes and the coffin. Claudia's dolls. Louis' obsession with sunrise.

I always liked the first part of the movie more than the second. I'm all about the twisted family life. The European adventure and the Theatre des Vampires always loses me a bit. I tend to skip ahead emotionally to Louis' rampage in the crypt, which is also beautifully filmed. It is Louis facing the loss of Claudia head-on, and finally accepting himself as the vampire he is.

Bits and pieces:

-- The best lines from the book were also in the movie. Not a surprise, since Anne Rice also wrote the screenplay.

-- When someone becomes an Anne Rice vamp, they immediately become gorgeous. Like the super immortal hair styling for Claudia. Only better, because it lasts forever.

-- Lestat can read minds, but Louis cannot. The gift varies.

-- Lestat's irritation with Louis's despair becomes quite funny. ("Still whining, Louis!")

-- River Phoenix was originally cast as the interviewer. After his untimely death at the age of 23, Christian Slater took over the part.

-- There's only one thing about this movie that I don't like, and that's Antonio Banderas' immense head of black hair. What were they thinking? Armand in the movie is also nothing like Armand in the books. I like Antonio Banderas, but this was disappointing.

Quotes:

Lestat: "Evildoers are easier. And they taste better." This is interesting. Because aren't criminals who are always aware of evil intentions harder to kill? Why would they be easier? This is a major clue that Lestat isn't as evil as Louis sees him.

Lestat: "They all go to heaven."
Louis: "All but us."

Lestat: "Claudia! What have we told you?"
Claudia: (chastened) "Never in the house."

Louis: "Vampires pretending to be human pretending to be vampires."
Claudia: "How avant-garde."

There are several television series about vampires that I love, but Interview is the only vampire movie I've seen numerous times. Four out of four rats and poodles,

Billie

(This is one of Billie's Favorite Movies.)

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Eureka: Best in Faux

... in which Carter investigates exploding robotic dogs and an earthquake that only he felt.

So, yet another week of getting slammed over the head with the theme. Last week it was “balance,” and this time out it’s all about “pressure” (cue up either Billy Joel or Queen, depending on your preferences). Pressure can be a very destructive force! It makes magma and volcanoes! People crack under pressure and do crazy things! But it can also be good for you! Pressure can make diamonds! I actually lost track of the number of times the word “pressure” was used in this episode. Man. Have they always been this heavy-handed with the themes?

Still, ‘Best in Faux’ was an entertaining episode that brought back some familiar faces and introduced an engaging new character in Dr. Hood. It is always a pleasure to see the wonderful Alan Ruck as a guest star and I just loved him as Dr. Hood. Other than Taggart, we don’t get too many rough and tumble science types in this town. His interplay with Carter was very funny, and his excitement about getting dirty again was infectious. I was genuinely upset when it looked like the diamond-making pressure wave was killing him! I know he said he can’t live in the Global Dynamics pressure-cooker environment anymore, but I hope we get to see Dr. Hood again someday.

This was also another one of those episodes, like ‘Duck, Duck, Goose,’ in which a number of seemingly disparate threads comes together as either the cause or the solution for the disaster-of-the-week. As soon as I saw Henry melting copper with acoustic waves, I knew it would somehow tie into the magma pocket situation, but I didn’t expect the logic diamonds, the robotic dogs, the tunneler, and the synthetic mucus to all tie into the resolution. I love it when everything comes together in a way that doesn’t feel forced.

Other Thoughts

It was so delightful to see Carol Taylor and Dr. Young again! They weren’t as fun as they were back in their introductory episodes, but having repeat tertiary characters makes the world of Eureka feel more fully formed. Plus, Dr. Young did get some choice snark. “Well. Looks like the bitch is back.”

Eva sure didn’t waste any time making use of Henry. Nice to see that Henry was immediately wary of her suspicious behavior, even though she was a very, very smooth liar. (Loved the jump cut from the shot of Eva to Dr. Young yelling “She’s a liar!” in reference to Carol Taylor.) Of course, we still have no idea what Eva’s deal is. Her interest in the radiation is obviously tied to what she saw on the historical footage last week, but why? What did Henry’s information about the abundance of different radiation types tell her? I guess now that Henry and Carter are on the case, we’ll find out. Eventually.

Of course, Jo is into weddings! Given all we know about her repressed inner girly girl, why would we ever expect any different? Tee hee!

Carter (to Stark): “Who raised you?!”

Carter: “Sounds good. What’s all that gonna tell us?”
Stark: “Nothing. We just like sounding smart.”

Even before Allison confessed to Carter that she feels like she can’t breathe, her extremely snippy attitude with nearly everyone made it pretty clear that she was feeling the pressure. (Pressure can get to you!) Between Eva, her new role as Director of Operations, the wedding planning, and the latest DOTW, she’s got a lot going on. I wasn’t quite sure how to interpret her “Pressure makes you do crazy things” comment. Are the writers trying to suggest that’s why she’s marrying Stark? If so, consider me baffled. She’s obviously still got some conflicted feelings about Carter, but her interactions with Stark seem very genuine. Like she loves him and wants to marry him. So what gives? Am I just reading too much into an innocent comment?

What’s up with Kevin these days? Have Allison or Stark even mentioned him since the new season started? All the focus has been on Henry’s end-of-season deceptions, but how’s Kevin been since the Artifact-ectomy? And what does he think about Allison and Stark getting remarried?

Carter: “I got dogs exploding all over town.”
Dr. Hood: “[Laughs heartily.] That’s a dog show I could get into.”

The effects shot of the lava streaming into the lake was just poor. Ridiculously fake looking.

Fargo cheating with a real dog was hilarious.

Henry: “I do not keep secrets from my friends. Anymore.”

So is that it, then? All his past deceptions and sins get swept away by simply acknowledging that he’s turned over a new leaf? Does that mean that Henry mind-wiping Carter is just “bygones” now? After all the angst I invested in the Carter-Henry relationship rift last season, I don’t think I’m entirely cool with this seeming turn of events. I mean, I want Henry and Jack to get back to their old dynamic, but I feel like some major unresolved issues need to be addressed.

Final Analysis: I’m getting a bit tired of the flashing neon episode themes, but I still rather enjoyed this outing. Pressure!

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Doctor Who: The War Games

"NO!!!! Stop! You're making me giddy! No, you can't do this to me! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!"

Epic in both length and content ‘The War Games’ is, in this humble fan’s opinion, the best Patrick Troughton story that still exists in its entirety. Bringing to an end one era of the show while neatly setting the stage for the next, this would be the final story in black and white, the last story of the 1960s and the final regular appearance of Second Doctor and his ever faithful companions, Jamie and Zoe.

Naturally, being a mammoth ten episodes long the pace does begin to drag now and again. You could start a drinking game based on how many times the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe get captured, accused of being spies, manage to escape only to get captured and accused of being spies all over again. And that’s just the World War I scenes. After that we get into lots of tedious running back and forth between the different war zones before the War Lords are fully introduced and the main story really starts to get going.

The one thing that ‘The War Games’ is still best remembered for is finally shedding some light on the Doctor’s mysterious past by introducing his people, the all powerful Time Lords. But they don’t really show up until the end of episode nine, leaving the Doctor’s trial and subsequent exile to Earth as nothing more than an epilogue to the main story. Plus, it has to be said, despite their immense and terrifying power the Time Lords themselves are a bit on the dull side.

Patrick Troughton is at the absolute top of his game throughout. No real surprise there, he was always amazing. Even during this less than stellar season I never once caught him slouching off or phoning it in. It is a tragedy that more of his stories didn’t survive the BBC’s merciless purging of their back catalogue. Trouhgton might not have been the first actor to play the Doctor but there’s no doubt in my mind that he was the very first actor who truly was the Doctor. Even to this day you can still see the traces of the loveable cosmic hobo in every subsequent Doctor’s DNA, most evidently in Matt Smith. Bow ties only became cool because Patrick Troughton wore one.

One of the reasons this period in the show’s history was so memorable was because of the partnership between Troughton and his kilt wearing straight man, Fraser Hines. Together, the Second Doctor and Jamie were the finest double-act the series ever produced. No other Doctor and companion will ever develop the same kind of pitch perfect chemistry that these two shared (although David Tennant and Catherine Tate come pretty close).

It’s impossible not to love Jamie. Out of all the Doctor’s male companions he’s by far the best (sorry, Rory fans). He might’ve been raised as a simple piper’s son from the highlands of 18th century Scotland but Jamie possessed a brave heart, down to earth common sense, a willingness to accept the unbelievable (even if he didn’t always understand it) and a killer pair of legs. The man sure knew how to work a kilt.

The final goodbye scene is a heartbreaking gem, made all the better by how understated it is. It’s touching the way Jamie wants to still keep on fighting, to make one final attempt to escape, right until the end. After all they’ve been through together he remains unwavering in his loyalty to the Doctor. But the Doctor is consigned to his fate. He knows that he can’t beat the Time Lords and he would never dare risk his companions’ lives in doing so.

Beside the regulars most of the supporting characters are either outrageously over the top or decidedly one note and forgettable. Only the bad guys manage to standout. Reminding us why he was the best thing in ‘The Krotons’ Philip Madoc more or less steals the entire show as the War Lord, despite not even showing up until Episode 7. Meanwhile, Edward Brayshaw’s War Chief could almost be seen as a proto-Master. After all he’s a renegade Time Lord with aspirations of galactic conquest, a fondness for Nehru jackets, a questionable choice of facial hair and a history of sorts with the Doctor. If he wasn’t gunned down by the War Lord’s gimp goons you could almost argue that he actually is the Master (not that a little thing like death has stopped some fans theorising).

On the production side of things, the WWI scenes are simply amazing. Grim and gritty with an authentic feel for the period. Sadly, the American Civil War Zone just comes off as a bunch of RADA actors hanging out in a barn set practising their ‘Yankee’ accents while the Roman Zone is just the same footage of galloping Centurions recycled over and over again. But I do love the pop art design of the War Lords’ base, especially the Security Chief’s groovy office. You can easily imagine it doubling for a nightclub on weekends when everyone wants to kick back and have some fun after a busy week of warmongering.

Notes and Quotes

--David Troughton (son of Patrick) appears in the minor speaking role of Private Moor. He'd previously been an extra in 'The Enemy of the World' and would later go on to appear in ‘The Curse of Peldon’ and ‘Midnight’.

--For once we get to see the Doctor actually uses the Sonic Screwdriver to actually unscrew an actual screw. Sonically!

--There seems to be an abundance of dry ice on Gallifrey.

--This story establishes that Time Lords can recognize one another regardless of regeneration.

--In a story loaded with dodgy accents David Garfield gets the top prize for not just one appalling accent but two. Rudolph Walker gets the runner-up prize for repeatedly slipping into his natural Caribbean while Michael Napier-Brown is awarded the ‘Least Convincing Mexican Stereotype’ prize.

--The childish game of one-upmanship between the War Chief and the Security Chief is a personal highlight. Especially the War Lord’s amused reaction to their petty squabbling.

--Honestly, the Doctor and his companions have to be the worst hiders ever.

--The Doctor’s trial in Episode 10 features cameos from all the Doctor’s biggest enemies; the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Ice Warriors, the Yetis and… the Quarks???

--Bernard Horsfall previously appeared in ‘The Mind Robber’ as Gulliver. He’ll later appear in ‘Planet of the Daleks’ and ‘The Deadly Assassin’.

--Like Neil Gaiman, I love the Doctor’s little telepathic card cube Time Lord communication thingy.

The Doctor: "I have to go!"
Jaime: "Now look, if you’re gonna be in trouble, you’ll need me to look after you."
Zoe: "Me too."
All together now, Awwwwww…

The War Lord: "Don't worry. When the Time Lords get him, he'll wish you had killed him... they're coming."

The Doctor: "It is a fact, Jamie, that I do tend to get involved with things."
Jamie: "Aye, you can say that again. Whenever there’s any trouble, he’s in it right up to his neck."

The Doctor: "(to Time Lords) Oh, good. I’m glad to see your sense of justice still prevails, (to Jamie and Zoe) even though they’ve lost their sense of humour."

The Doctor: "All these evils I have fought, while you have done nothing but observe! True, I am guilty of interference. Just as you are guilty of failing to use your great powers to help those in need!"
Time Lord: "Is that all you have to say?"
The Doctor: "Well, isn’t it enough?"

The Doctor: "Goodbye, Jamie."
Jamie: "But Doctor, surely we could…"
The Doctor: "Goodbye, Jamie."
Jamie: "I won't forget you, you know."
The Doctor: "I won't forget you. Now don't go blundering into too much trouble, will you?"
Jamie: "You're a fine one to talk!"

Four out of four groovy offices. ... Read full post

Yes, It's Vampire Month

Welcome to our second annual Vampire Month!

This July, we'll be observing Vampire Month with reviews of the fourth season of True Blood premiering tomorrow, and my review of my favorite vampire movie, which will be posted this weekend. (Aren't you curious?) Since we won't be doing retro reviews of two other vampire shows like we did last summer, we've come up with several vampire-related polls (below). What's the greatest human/vampire romance? Which vampire has the weirdest eyebrows? Inquiring minds want to know!

Note -- you'll need to click VOTE for each individual poll. We're not big with the technology here. And if we didn't list your answer, feel free to post write-in answers in the comments.

POLLS ARE NOW CLOSED! Here are the poll questions with their responses, plus some snide comments in italics by me.

Do you prefer...

59% Vampires,
26% Witches,
13% Zombies,
32% Aliens, or
25% Intelligent cybernetic organisms bent on world domination?

[Since this is the site that Buffy built and the title of this post is "Yes, It's Vampire Month", I'm not surprised that vampires swept this category. We sort of had it wired.]

Sexiest vamp, or, The vamp you'd most like to bite you:

4% Angel (Buffyverse)
11% Darla (Buffyverse)
2% Drusilla (Buffyverse)
31% Spike (Buffyverse)
0% Mitchell (Being Human)
0% Aidan (Being Human - the other one)
2% Mick St. John (Moonlight)
0% Josef Kostan (Moonlight)
1% Bill Compton (True Blood)
21% Eric Northman (True Blood)
8% Jessica Hamby (True Blood)
1% Pam de Beaufort (True Blood)
13% Damon Salvatore (Vampire Diaries)
1% Stefan Salvatore (Vampire Diaries)
2% Caroline Forbes (Vampire Diaries)
2% None of the above
1% You missed mine (post a comment!)

[Nice spread on this one, although note the concentration of votes on the vampire "bad boys". Even Caroline did better than Stefan Salvatore. Spike won! Of course Spike won.]

Greatest human/vampire romance:

2% Bella/Edward
3% Beth/Mick
27% Buffy/Angel
45% Buffy/Spike
7% Cordelia/Angel (come on, we dare you to click this one)
5% Hoyt/Jessica
0% Sookie/Bill
7% Sookie/Eric
3% Blade and that woman whose name you'd already forgotten by the end of the first movie
1% You missed mine (post a comment)

[And Buffy/Spike sweeps the category!]

Which vampire has the weirdest eyebrows?

41% Edward Cullen
14% Damon Salvatore
7% Bill Compton
12% Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi in Dracula, 1931)
25% Count Chocula from boxes of Dimitri's favorite cereal
2% You missed mine (post a comment)

[I am totally not surprised that Edward Cullen took this one to the bank. Robert Pattinson's eyebrows really are something special.]

What character do you think would benefit the most from becoming a vampire? (inspired by Caroline on Vampire Diaries)

6% Erica Evans (V)
7% Olivia Dunham (Fringe)
31% Rachel Berry (Glee)
11% Rhys Williams (Torchwood)
20% Sansa Stark (Game of Thrones)
1% You missed mine (post a comment)
23% I am completely befuddled by this poll question

[I loved this question. And that Rachel Berry won.]

What's your favorite currently running vampire show?

12% Being Human (BBC)
1% Being Human (the other one)
50% True Blood
31% Vampire Diaries
1% You missed mine (post a comment)
6% I hate vampire shows

[True Blood did have an unfair advantage, since it's running right now.]

What's your favorite vampire show of all time?

25% Angel
0% Being Human (BBC)
1% Being Human (the other one)
69% Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2% Forever Knight
3% Moonlight
9% True Blood
1% Vampire Diaries
2% You missed mine (post a comment)
1% I hate vampire shows

[This doesn't surprise me. As much as I love Being Human, True Blood and Vampire Diaries, Buffy is still my favorite show. I'm pleased that Angel did so well, too.]

Happy Vampire Month! Bite me!

... Read full post

Eureka: What About Bob?

... in which Carter is tasked with finding a researcher who’s gone missing after 11 years living in Global’s top secret underground biosphere.

So, in case you missed the 20,000 references, this week’s theme was “balance.” Feeling out of balance. Trying to find the perfect balance. Restoring balance. According to Eva Thorne, you need to remove the ailing parts to preserve the health and balance of the whole, but as GD’s biosphere residents and our favorite Eurekans can attest, sometimes changing a single element in a system can throw the whole thing out of whack.

Down in the biosphere, a small shift in the light spectrum contaminated the water and subsequently started causing the residents to devolve into snakelike creatures. For all its freaky horror, this disaster-of-the-week didn’t do much for me. I was certainly creeped out by Bob’s prehistoric jungle plants and Snake Man Bob was pretty darn gross, but the other biosphere residents were a fairly flat and lifeless group, and the mystery of Bob’s disappearance spooled out in rather blah fashion. The best part of the “down under” events was seeing Carter and Henry working together again! Just like old times.

Back on the surface, it was nice to see Zane finally getting to deliver on his initial promise as a GD researcher, and I was entertained by the Café Diem crowd treating the biosphere happenings as a sort of Truman Show reality program. But I was most interested in Eva’s corporate downsizing machinations. The “corporate fixer” outsider who doesn’t understand how our beloved town functions could be a thankless stock role, but Frances Fisher brings a certain spark to Eva, and even though the character seems to be up to evil shenanigans, I can’t help liking her. She’s tough and sassy, but is also a keen observer, who’s smart enough not to marry herself to a “one size fits all” strategy for creating a “lean and commercially productive” organization. “I’m not your normal corporate fixer, you know.” By the end, Eva seemed to take Jo’s and Zane’s advice to heart, restoring the free food at Café Diem and getting Henry pardoned and bringing him back home where he belongs. Yea?

I’m thrilled to have Henry back in the mix (although I’m still wondering if we’ve really resolved the Carter-Henry issues from last season), but I’ve got serious doubts about the purity of Eva’s motives. “I hope it’s worth it.” She’s obviously up to something, and I think the real reason she brought Henry back is to capitalize on his synergy with Carter and Stark to accomplish her nefarious goals. Whatever they may be.

Other Thoughts

As noted above, it is so nice to see Zane getting some science stuff to do! Although, given that he considers theoretical research the real mind candy, I’m surprised he’s been doing so much practical application lately.

Why is Eva so high on Zane? Does she just like his rebellious, risk-taking spirit, or is there something more to it?

How was Henry controlling his holographic avatar? Did Zane create some sort of electronic head gear he could use from the prison?

Allison’s disgust at Snake Man Bob coming on to her was really funny. “Ew.”

Zane: “Carter, Henry, and Stark. That’s your money team.”
And yet, the one who saved the day was Carter. Henry and Stark just sort of watched from the sidelines. I guess Stark brought Carter the gun.

Gorgeous, gorgeous sunset. Was that Buntzen Lake again? Or one of the many other gorgeous lakes in the Vancouver area?

Henry: “I’m not even sure I should have come back.”
Carter: “Of course you should! You’re home.”

Why was Eva watching old films from the historical museum? Was she just trying to find a new way to improve efficiency by understanding the town and its history, or was it something more sinister? And what exactly did she see that gave her pause? Was it the nuclear testing in general? Was it the streaks coming down from the sky in the one shot of the super flashy nuclear explosion? Was she surprised that Eureka was involved in the development of the atomic bomb, or that the town was around in 1938? (I thought it was founded in 1947.)

Final Analysis: The tale of Snake Man Bob wasn’t an overly compelling disaster, but it was great to see Henry in action again. If only I could shake the feeling that this is just the calm before the storm.

... Read full post

Haven: Harmony

“The patients have taken over the asylum.”

This week’s brand of crazy (pun intended) was a little more interesting than last week, although just as out there. I’m beginning to realize that I like my supernatural stuff on the traditional side. I think the over-the-top weirdness of some recent shows has left me a bit overdone. However, this week’s mini mystery was fun and I’m getting hooked by the larger story. I’m also starting to really like the characters, which is always a good sign.

This week the patients at Haven’s psychiatric facility, “the Freddy” have an unusual reaction to what we first believe is a drug spill. They get better. Unfortunately, the previously “sane” doctor becomes violent and compulsive, a comment, which I appreciate, on how we are all very close to “crazy.”

The patients that are chosen for this story are a bit odd, if stereotypical. The focus is on Lily, a talented composer before she was submerged in cold water for more than 8 minutes because of a car accident (cars in the water are a theme for this show). Now Lily is compulsive and sometimes violent. The other two patients in focus are severe catatonics, Mr. Sperry and William. The patients are interesting because true catatonics are rare: to have two in this particular little hospital is, well, weird (I know I use this word too much, but it is so appropriate). It is also rare for psychiatric patients to be violent, especially as violent as Lily. I’m not sure if the choice of mental health issues was purposeful or just lazy.

What isn’t unusual is for psychiatrists to develop mental health issues themselves, but this is Haven so it isn’t just the psychiatrist, but lots of other people--including everyone in a bar that Lily happens to go to while she is coming out of one of her sane periods. I enjoyed this bit of the episode. The patrons of the bar shoving cars and ripping off doors, a woman throwing darts at a man who doesn't seem perturbed to be a dart board (would we all be violent if we suddenly developed mental health issues?)--but my favourite thing is that Audrey walks in and out of the bar, as do others, and totally ignores the man full of darts. Just another day in Haven. My other favourite bit in this section of the episode is that we get to see the dark side of Nathan as he burns his arm with a lighter and lunges after Duke, who is charged with babysitting him until the “crazy” wears off. Duke gives us a clue that a darker side of Nathan might have already been evident when he says “Does she (Audrey) know you’re not a real boy? I mean, does she know about the things you’ve done?”

Eventually we find out that the source of these happenings is Lily’s husband, Ray, whose “trouble” seems to be the music he makes and the effect it has on people. When he plays an instrument people who have mental health issues get better and “sane” people lose their minds. So he can save his Lily, but at the cost of damaging others. The solution is for Ray, Lily, and some other patients (William and Mr. Sperry) to go off on a boat where they are away from other people. Again, I may be a person who likes the science in science fiction but I would like some explanation for why this works. The weekly “troubles” don’t seem to have much depth to them and they mostly become vehicles for the larger story arc and getting to know the characters. I feel a bit cheated by this as each “trouble” could be better expressed and given more depth.

I am enjoying the larger story arc and the characters. We are getting a better idea of the troubles, how they play themselves out, and what havoc they can create. We are also learning about Haven and the capacity of the townsfolk to tolerate weirdness. Audrey fits right in. She actually enjoys the mystery of the town. Her relationship with Nathan is deepening as a partner, and now they have a third Muskateer in Duke, who is just as interested in finding out what is going on. This week we also got a name for the woman who might be Audrey’s mom - Lucy. Mr. Sperry used to sell her flowers.

Bits and Pieces

Crazy Nathan is much hotter than sane Nathan - just saying. Duke walking around with his shirt off doesn’t hurt the show either (of course this is just my perspective). Only Haven would have two bars called the Rust Bucket and the Shiny Scupper, oh and a psychiatric hospital called “the Freddy”. And this week we had another man with a New England accent. They seem to just throw them in randomly.

Quotes

Nathan: “Nice work on the cat lady call this morning.”
Audrey: “Who knew I had such talent with drunken women in housecoats.”

Nathan: “I think they laughed their fourth grade asses off.”

Nathan: “We can’t shoot the doctor?”
Audrey: “No.”
Nathan: “And we can’t go in that room, so why are we sneaking up on him?”
Audrey: “Because Haven doesn’t have a SWAT team. It has a dispatch lady that calls you 'hun' so we’re following FBI protocol.”

Duke to “Crazy” Nathan: “You may want to consider switching to decaf.”

Nathan: “Maybe you’ll fix me some day.”
Audrey: “I don’t think so, nobody can fix you.”

I am particularly enjoying the fact that Audrey is not interested in being a romantic partner for either Nathan or Duke. She is totally straightforward and her own woman. Shirts off and vulnerability don’t seem to have much effect on her. ... Read full post

Game of Thrones: Reviewer Melee

In the week between “Baelor” and "Fire and Blood" I found myself checking the blog more than usual. I kept returning to the quotes at the top of the “Baelor” review, the way I might return to a lovely image or poem. Those paired snippets of conversations are stark, simple, and completely in character for the speakers. But what I loved most was that they disagreed.

I don’t mind a good “idea” novel every now and again (Vonnegut, Robertson Davies, House of Leaves), but I prefer a great story with interesting characters, strong writing, and that ineffable something that keeps me up at night, turning pages. (Robertson Davies does not keep me up at night.) George R.R. Martin’s series keeps me reading, so many of the more philosophical questions it raises—about power, the meaning of life, the impossibility of honor, the structure of a society in the early days of capitalism—take a backseat to my affection for Tyrion, the Hound, Ned Stark, and Arya.

But reviewing the series has brought some of those big-picture ideas to the fore (mostly because an entire review of “How awesome is Tyrion, right?” would be dull for you and for me). And the more I examine the questions that Game of Thrones raises, the more I am impressed that it refuses to answer them simply.

After all, questions about life, death, power, honor, and so forth don’t have answers—any universal answer to those questions turns into a platitude or bromide. Game of Thrones raises questions, and lets each character work out a series of answers depending on their circumstances. That makes the TV show just as fascinating as the novels, which change perspective with each chapter. That the show is adapted from a series of novels also means that there is less impulse to create a false sense of closure. Like life, these stories continue, meander, take sudden detours, and sometimes have sudden endings. That’s beautiful.

In the spirit of contradictions, different opinions, and raised questions, a few of the billiedoux.com writers have contributed their takes on the series. Let the melee begin!

Ben

First let me say I am a big fan of fantasy literature and movies, but I haven't read Martin's novels. Although he did once stop me at a convention and ask me to lead him back to whatever party I had just come from. Now the fact that I had no shirt on and was wearing a top hat covered in plastic fruit may have had something to do with it, but I think he simply sensed I was a kindred spirit. But I digress.

All that (probably too much) said, I found Game of Thrones a bit tenuous to get into. The thing is with fantasy is that it is wholly made up, with no connection to the real world or even a pretense of it. This is good and this is bad. It's easier to accept in a novel because you can draw it so richly. It's harder on screen where you have to rely on folks just getting it. The season suffered from the lack of either a real narrative through-line or protagonist (if you are beheaded in episode 9 you were never really the protagonist). The last episode had it emerge that the Daenerys story was, perhaps, the true lead narrative here: the return of the dragons, if you will. The rest of the season was really just getting all the chess pieces on the board. It is all very interesting but awfully wasteful of episodes and interesting characters. Let's take Syrio, for example, great character and fun scenes but then discarded. I know this may follow the book, but slavish interpretation of the material is no virtue, and the character could just as easily be rotting in a dungeon somewhere to return in season 3. It's hard to care much about characters who come and go with such alarming frequency and it also loses its impact narratively. Again it works in a book, where a minor character can still get 30 pages of appearances but less so on television. Did I still tune in and watch the show as each episode was broadcast? Absolutely, but am I concerned I will drift away from the show over time? Absolutely.

Finally just let me say, Martin still owes me a hat.


Harry

I knew this story had me completely in its grip when I was listening to the audiobook to drift off to sleep with and sat up in bed shouting “No he f***ing didn’t!” at 2am. No prizes for guessing what part I was listening to. I love fantasy with grit, and despite the white walkers and dragons, the story feels very realistic; medieval power struggles which you win, or you die. Game of Thrones has been pretty faithful to its source material, so coupled with some perfect casting (I’m looking at you Peter Dinklage) it’s quite hard not to fall in love with this show.

My main disappointment this season has been things left out of the book, and it’s pretty obvious that all the decisions were made with either running time or budget constraints in mind. It’s difficult to make a TV series with so many detailed characters; things like dream sequences, flashbacks, direwolves and Dothraki hordes get whittled down or cut to compensate for the sprawling cast. I am hugely looking forward Season Two, I just can’t fathom how they’re going to pack that huge book into a measly ten episodes!


Mark of House Greig

These are the words of Mark of the House Greig, first of his name (I think, genealogy isn't one of my strong suits). ‘Twas the casting that first me to this series drew, and that is what I have come here to praise.

I first heard about George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series when Sean 'tis but a scratch' Bean was cast as Eddard Stark. Then I read about Peter Dinklage, Lena Heady, Aidan Gillen and Jason Momoa joining the cast as well. Next thing you know the first book is sitting on my shelf, gathering dust, just waiting to be read. Eventually I got off my backside, read it, loved it, bought the rest and then had to endure the agonising wait for future books just like everybody else.

What I love most about Martin's books is the characters and I am so happy to see them all brought to life so well. Even the ones I despise. There just isn't a single miscast role. So what if Dinklage can't pull of an English accent, there still isn't anyone who could play Tyrion any better. While it was the likes of Bean, Dinklage, Heady, Gillen and Momoa that first got me interested, it's the younger actors that have impressed me the most. Still hard to believe that for Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, John Bradley and Kit Harington this was only their very first TV work.

Of course, being British it’s a thrill just seeing the likes of Julian Glover, James Cosmo, Donald Sumpter, Peter Vaughan, Iain Glen, Clive Mantle and Charles Dance pop up throughout the season in major and minor roles. If the series does manage to cover all seven books I can imagine every living British actor will eventually have a role in it at some point. In which case I demand that Keith Allen be cast as Balon Greyjoy. Come on, you all know it makes perfect sense.

And then there's Jerome Flynn, going a long way to redeeming himself for his musical career by stealing every scene he's in as Bronn. That may be Game of Thrones' greatest achievement of all, actually making me love a Jerome Flynn performance.


Jess

As several failed attempts to succinctly express my thoughts on the first season of Game of Thrones have now taught me, I could easily go on at length about how much I enjoyed the series and how thrilled I am that it actually lived up to my very high expectations. But to spare you the effusive gushing, I’m going to give brevity another go and limit myself to my three main thoughts on Season 1. Once more unto the breach!

Casting. Obviously, the showrunners had strong source material, but I think one of the greatest factors in the show’s success has been its uniformly excellent casting. So many of the actors cast have perfectly inhabited characters I already loved or loathed, bringing them to life in delightful fashion. Some of them have even caused me to develop attachments to characters I previously didn’t have much investment in. I have to give special kudos to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime, Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont, and Richard Madden as Robb Stark in this category. Jaime was a character I actively disliked in the first book, but NCW brings such charm, shading, and depth to him in the show, that I find myself looking forward to every appearance, even though he’s often playing the roguish villain. Similarly, Iain Glen and Richard Madden have brought a certain charisma, gravitas, and humanity to Jorah and Robb, making them pop for me in a way they never did on the page. Well done, gentlemen.

I’m now eagerly anticipating Season 2, not just because I want to see George R.R. Martin’s A Clash of Kings rendered on screen, but because I want to see Kit Harington’s Jon, Emilia Clarke’s Dany, Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion, and especially Maisie Williams’ Arya experience the next step on their epic journey. I want to see more of NCW’s Jaime, Glen’s Jorah, and Madden’s Robb. I want to see Michelle Fairley’s Catelyn struggling to balance her need to save her children with her need for revenge. I want to see Conleth Hill and Aiden Gillen dance another pas de duex as Varys and Littlefinger. I want to see John Bradley’s Samwell bringing some light and heart to the darkness beyond the Wall. I want to see Jerome Flynn’s no-nonsense mercenary, Bronn, mixing it up in King’s Landing. I even want to see Jack Gleeson being perfectly awful as King Joffrey. And I can’t wait to see who they cast for several key roles next season! (Any chance we could get Ian McShane as Stannis? Too old?)

Length. The first season was just too short. It covered the main beats of the plot arc well, and added in some very nice new material to flesh out characters and relationships not seen via the point-of-view-character structure used for the books. Unfortunately, these additions came at the expense of depth for several important characters. I understand that it’s hard to translate the intimate understanding of characters you get from reading their thoughts, feelings, and memories on the page, but I feel like we barely scratched the surface with some of the characters we come to know so well in the books. Particularly Bran. If memory serves, Bran seemed like such an important and central character on the page, even though he wasn’t caught up in much of the action. In the television series, however, Bran became little more than the catalyst for the story. (Did we even learn his direwolf’s name?) When I’d discuss the show with my husband, I’d often forget that Bran was a character at all. I know that Bran’s dreams and interior monologues were probably particularly tricky to effectively convey on screen, but at this point he seems like a plot device, not a character, and that’s a huge disappointment for me.

Backstory. I’ve also got some concerns about the way the history of Robert’s Rebellion is being doled out. Namely, I’m concerned that a lot of important information readers learned about that history in the first book has gotten lost in shuffle or been entirely absent in the series --- specifically, some backstory that hints at a possibly significant connection between two otherwise unconnected characters. Unfortunately, since many of these hints were gleaned from Ned’s thoughts and fevered dreams in the books, I’m left wondering how or if the information will be introduced later. Hopefully, there’s some kind of a plan to bring it up down the line, because I’ll be extremely disappointed if GRRM told the producers it’s alright to drop these tidbits because they are insignificant. (Of course, that’s more an issue with the overall story, and not necessarily the show.) In general, I think the history and the role of characters we know in that history is important context for what’s happening now, and I hope we get a better sense of that past next season. (Unless it means more “sexposition.” I could certainly do with far less of that. You’ve got some seriously gifted actors, Benioff and Weiss. Please, give them a chance to deliver exposition without all the distracting working girls in the background.)

OK. Clearly, brevity’s not my thing. But Game of Thrones definitely is. I can’t wait for Spring 2012!


And now, gentle readers, it’s your turn. What did you think about Game of Thrones?
... Read full post