FlashForward - Believe, S01E09

This is the second to last episode of FlashForward before the winter hiatus. The hiatus, if you have not yet heard, is supposed to last a whole lot longer than originally planned, with the show resuming March 4th. There will then be less than 2 weeks before Noh (John Cho)'s supposed murder, and we will be a whole lot closer to April 29th than originally anticipated.

After watching episode 9, that may well be a good thing.

The main arc of the episode followed Bryce (Zachary Knighton) and Keiko (Yuko Takeuchi) from before the black out to present day. I really enjoyed following their story, seeing the pain they suffered and the hope they felt. They're warmth does not even have to be romantic really, because they entire relationship and attachment is based on the hope of a future where they are not stuck where they were when the black out occurred.

But while this storyline was charming and appealing, there were some major flaws. We learned that Bryce has severe cancer, that he'd been getting psychological help, and yet his co-workers had no idea. The hospital would have been informed after he smashed his car repeatedly into that of a jerk who pissed him off. And there's no way that no one would have noticed his previous reactions to the kemo. They knew from the beginning that they wanted to explain his plan to commit suicide, and yet I had had no idea; the plot device seemed only to come to life when it was wanted and needed.

And do I even want to mention the rest of the episode? The other scenes were equally emotional, only they reflected high stress, anger, and fear. Unfortunately, the scenes were kept so short that there was no believable build up. One minute context was being established, the next, someone - Noh, Olivia, Aaron, Mark, etc - was losing their cool and it was near impossible to believe.

But in the end, Bryce and Keiko's story won out. Really, take away all the mystery, the intrigue, or anything else you want and make me feel for the characters, and I will be stuck. Plots can be strong motivators, but if the characters aren't interesting, it doesn't matter. On the other hand, take the most boring storyline, but give it fantastic, appealing characters and they will be the centre of attention.

And so I go to watch the last episode of FlashForward of 2009, and I wonder if I'm going to be breathless with anticipation for March 4th, or simply tune in.

Getting back on top of things

When I took on this blogging project, I was very good about it, getting out at least 2 entries a day, which corresponded to the amount of TV I was watching. Though most of those shows are still on the list (and there will posts eventually talking about seasons so far), I have fallen behind on more than one program.

Excuse? I moved. I am still unpacking. These things take up time. Plus, I've been reading a whole bunch - working at a bookstore will do that to you. Just finished The Hunger Games, which is fantastic (will tell you more later), and a friend is bringing me a copy of Storm of Swords today (the third book in George R R Martin's Song of Ice and Fire). That is likely to distract me some...okay, a lot...as well.

But despite my distractions, my moving, my other projects, and the busyness that comes with the Christmas season, I will be better about my blogging. The daily posts will resume, and we will be getting some special ones wrapping up Fall television viewing and preparing for Winter.

So be prepared, and check back as often as you like.

Glee - Mattress, S01E12

I really enjoy Glee when it is spot on. It's delightful and funny, Sue (Jane Lynch) kills me with her attitude, and I relate to the characters. Lately, though, I haven't felt particularly passionate.

Perhaps it is the lack of songs, which once took up about a third of each episode. We spent the first 15 minutes of this episode songless, again, and when we did finally get some music, it was contrived and really felt like the writers noticed there was no music in the first have, and so picked an appropriate but random song to fix that.

And then you have Will (Matthew Morrison) finally finding out about Terri (Jesslyn Gilsig), which we've been waiting all season to have happen, and that didn't even feel right. He found the pillow, and though we know there have been signs that perhaps she's hiding something all season, he immediately comes to the conclusion she's faking. Even when Terri so reasonably explains the presence of the pillow.

That could have used a song, or at least a flashback to all the things that Will should have noticed. Instead, Will is furious and violent (which we did not know he could be) and he is too angry with Terri. She did think she was pregnant, and yes she lied when she found out she wasn't, but it wasn't until she said she was doing it to keep Will rather than out of a very powerful desire to be a mom that she actually was a truly bad person. Again, we've known for months, and that may have given us time to decide she was a witch, but the way Will just turned on her...I don't know...

Glee really has to pull it socks up when it comes back (next week is the last episode until April). It needs to decide that either A - it will have a cohesive storyline, or B - it will have really good independent episodes every week. And with either choice, bring back the music and the dancing my friends!

Are you still getting the same illogical pleasure you once got from Glee? or do you too feel that it's been heading down hill?

Game of Thrones by George R R Martin (Book and TV news)

If you have not yet read Game of Thrones and you are remotely interested in fantasy, history or reading, go read it now. I'll wait.

It won't take you that long. Not that the book isn't hundreds and hundreds of pages long, but you won't take notice as you devour the thing in all the spare time you have from the moment you pick it up. At least, that's what I did.

The thing that affected my heart the most about the book was that it so obviously takes inspiration from the War of the Roses, with characters based on Edward IV, Richard III, Elizabeth Woodville, Edward V, etc. Woodville's brothers are well represented, and it would not be off to even make comparisons to the Duke of Clarence or Buckingham. And yet, the events do not work out the same way. If you are familiar with the history, the story is not spoilt, for what you know is only a basis and everything can change by simply having one character make a slightly different choice, or by bloodlines not working out quite as they did historically.

And if history doesn't interest you, you will be reading through the eyes of a variety of incredibly compelling characters. Just try to dislike Tyrion, the queen's dwarf brother, who, while sometimes compared to a demon monkey, has more sense and a better drive than his family. And even those characters whom you are brought to hate, you will delight to hate, for they are either deliciously evil or so bloody useless you can only hope and pray and beg for their death.

With so many voices, it is also impossible not to find at least one with whom you identify.

Now, As I've said, the book is brilliant and a page turner, but if you are not a reader, but a TV watcher, do not fear. HBO has gained the rights for the Song of Ice and Fire (the book series to which Game of Thrones is the premiere) and will hopefully be putting the first season to air sometime in 2010.

Why is this news SO fantastic that I am beside myself with delight? Well, because Sean Bean (who I fell in love with when he portrayed Boromir) will be playing Eddard Stark. Eeeee!

In fact, the entire cast is SO great - Mark Addy (whom you ought to know from A Knight's Tale and the Full Monty, among others) will be King Robert; Lena Headey (the sexy queen from 300) will be the even more sexual Queen Cersei; and Harry Lloyd (Will Scarlett from the BBC's Robin Hood) and Jason Mamoa (Ronan from Stargate Atlantis) are also some names I am familiar with already. Not one of these actors has not already proven themselves to me, and the rest seem to be made from the same cloth!

So HBO will have a hard time screwing this up, and considering their work with True Blood, let's just say that I'm not worried, but, again, ridiculously excited.

How about you?

Dexter - Lost Boys, S04E10

Though not the heart-stopping, emotionally devastating episode of last week, the 4th season of Dexter continues to be on par with the 1st.

Arthur Miller (John Lithgow) is a villain for the ages, and a terrific counterbalance to Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall)'s dark passenger. Last week, we learnt that Arthur terrorized his family; this week, we learn that he is not actually a trinity killer - he kills in 4s. A little boy, representative of him, is preserved (while still alive) in concrete, to remain pure for the ages.

However awful Arthur Miller was before, he continues to become even more so. Such a horrid monster who still manages to hide in our world, to exist with students and congregations, to appear not normal, but better than that. And he has killed children, young women, mothers, and fathers again and again and again. And yet, when Dexter had to chose between eliminating his prey, present before him, and saving the boy from the concrete, he picked the boy.

Dexter may have a dark side, and a deep need to kill, but not only is it directed at monsters, it is not so deep as his desire to protect the young. He sees his sons, Cody and Harrison, but most of all he sees himself, and his way of preserving a child's innocence is by preventing him from coming in contact with the horrors he and Arthur suffered as children.

Harry (James Remar) - who helped focus Dexter's urges - may not have taught Dexter a perfect way to exist - there are errors in his thinking- but he did help forge a serial killer who lacks some of the things that would make one call him psychopathic.

Only two more episodes left - will Arthur be killed by Dexter or will he end up in jail? And will Dexter's secret remain so? What are your thoughts?

Dexter - Hungry Man, S04E09

A week ago, Sunday, the most enthralling episode of Dexter graced the television screen as Dexter (Michael C. Hall)'s newest idol, the terrifying Trinity Killer, Arthur Miller (John Lithgow), feel from his pedestal.

Dexter has met with quite a few deranged friends whom he idolized and whom he thought he could trust - Brian, Lila and Miguel in seasons 1, 2 and 3. He was taken in by all of them, but never for long, and as much as he admired them, he never wanted to be them. But Arthur was different - oh, Arthur kills innocent people, and for that he cannot live, but his life, his perfect family, his ability to be adjusted in this world while Dexter struggles so hard, that he envied, that he wanted.

But it was all a lie. It began with temper directed at his son, Jonah (Brando Eaton). Dexter saw Arthur be stern with the young man and followed him. Jonah revealed to Dexter that he was suffering under the oppression of his father, as well as fearing him. And when Dexter showed up at Thanksgiving at the Millers to protect Jonah if he could, he discovered that the entire family was mad. The wife was cowed and terrified, the daughter locked in her room and trying to escape - her preferred method was to offer sexual favours to the men her father befriended.

In the house of insanity, where Dexter tries to play the good guy, his dark passenger also gets riled up, and when Arthur starts to strangle Jonah, Dexter pulls him into the kitchen, intent on stabbing him to death then and there. Luckily (maybe?) the mom and daughter appear just in time to stop him.

Poor Dexter. He had been so intent on learning how to be a better man that he did not realize that Arthur was all in all a monster. His lesson from Harry, be sure and then take care of it, applies in both senses. Know that your victim deserves it (and is not an innocent like the man Dexter offed not too long ago) AND get rid of him so he can hurt no one else.

The emotional rollercoaster in the Miller household was one of fear and pity. And the question remains - can Dexter be a good husband and father despite his dark passenger? Arthur clearly couldn't.

If that wasn't enough of a reveal for you, Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) also made her own discovery. Arthur did not shoot her and Lundy; it was Christine, the annoying journalist, as I posited in my last Dexter entry. Of course, I has said it was out of a need to get a good story, but she is even more crazy than that. Turns out Arthur Miller is her dad. Can't really dislike her so much now that I picture such a terrible upbringing for her.

But where do we go from here? Christine and Arthur are both crazy and need to be killed or go down. Deb is after Christine - does this mean she's stopped looking into Harry's past and will not discover anything about Dexter's mom? And what about LaGuerta and Angel?

Stargate Universe - Life, S01E09

I have been a huge fan of the Stargate franchise since it began, and still consider SG1 to be my favourite show ever. I expected to love Stargate Universe, to enjoy a crew of not exactly qualified people visit different planets in different galaxies, to discover new things about the Ancients and to have entire new mythologies of the newer galaxies play out before me.

We did not get that.

And even when I realized that the conflict would be among the passengers of the Destiny, as well as issues with the ship herself, I thought that could be interesting too.

And last week, with the episode Time, we actually got something worthy of the name Stargate. There was a time issue, and alien squid to fight and tension and interest. And it ended with a cliffhanger.

And where did it pick up this week? Last week might as well not have happened - the sickness, the planet, none of it was even addressed. Did I miss an episode? I can't find mention of it anywhere. So instead of giving us a follow up to a good episode, they ignored it and gave us yet another boring and useless episode.

I am so disappointed with SGU. I want to like it. And I do love some of the actors, don't get me wrong. I though Ming-Na's portrayal of Camile Wray was quite moving this week - she makes me care, which most of the time I must make a great deal of effort to do in the series.

But I don't think I can keep watching this show - it's too disappointing. If I want to watch relationship drama, I'll tune back into Melrose Place. Give me science fiction! Give me fantasy! Try the stupid machine of the ancients that you found instead of giving crappy psych evals that waste a bunch of time and serve no other purpose.

The most action we had was when Col. Young beat up Col. Telford.

It's trying to be a whole lot of things, and failing at all of them, but the worst part is that Stargate Universe does not seem to be trying to be a show in the Stargateverse.

Are you equally dissatisfied? Or am I missing something that you feel makes the show worthwhile? Let me know

Glee - Hairography, S01E11

A show stopping number is often enough to redeem a floundering musical, encouraging audiences to go back despite a great many issues to see a moment so bright that the rest does not matter.

This did not quite happen on Wednesday's episode of Glee.

Don't get me wrong, the pregnancy plot line actually tore at my heart springs this week, with Quinn (Dianna Agron) deciding to give up her baby because Will (Matthew Morrison) was the best dad her baby could hope for, and Will giving up an awesome car to get a minivan for the whole family. But this moment, like the show stopper, did not make me forget the rest of the episode.

I just couldn't get into it. The first 6 minutes, I was almost tempted to turn it off - and would have if it had been a premiere and not a show I was already invested in. And the opening number, not performed by our guys, but by another school - I'm not sure if it was the intention, but the singing and dancing really did nothing for me, and all that hair flipping did not distract me from how boring it was. The same goes for our heroes' hairographied number later in the episode. Hair tossing is not actually an interesting enough concept to build an entire episode around, guys, sorry.

Then let's address the Rachel (Lea Michele) makeover thing. Okay, I know Kurt (Chris Colfer) is in love with Finn (Cory Monteith), but it's getting a little tiresome that he is getting so possessive and trying to sabotage the competition. Rachel looked positively terrifying in her Grease outfit, her hair fit for a brothel. Plus, I'm getting tired of everyone continuing to find Rachel grating, and for the Glee kids to continue to be so disconnected. This group would get nowhere in the real world because they wouldn't actually be able to perform as a team, so keen on destroying each other.

But, though the show stopper did not make me forget my complaints and my earlier boredom, it did make my heart swell. A group of deaf kids signing Imagine, with one saying the words rhythmically, and then our kids joining them, singing and signing as well. That was a number to remember. One of peace and happiness and togetherness. A message that Glee might project, but often does not have follow-through for. It was amazing.

So I'll watch that number again, that's for sure, but the rest of the episode? It might also be fun to bash my head against the wall a few times. What did you think?