Season's Review - Bones, Season 5

Welcome to the first posting in my Season's Review category. We've seen the season finales of all Fall/Winter season shows, and as we get into our Summer program, I want to take some time to think about the series we've been watching as a whole. Please let me know if you agree on my take, and if you have anything else you want to contribute.

First Season's Review - Bones, Season 5

As the saying goes, Bones has jumped the shark. It did so at the end of Season 3, when the story arc focusing on Gormagon ended. It wasn't because Zack (Eric Millegan) left, it wasn't because of the addition of Sweets (John Francis Daley) or the many interns, and it wasn't because the Gormagon plot line caused an end. It was because since the end of Season 3, there have been no real story arcs tying together the episodes and the seasons.

Since then, the focus has been on the characters. Will Bones (Emily Deschanel) and Booth (David Boreanaz) ever get together? What about Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) and Angela (Michaela Conlin)? In fact, the characters have been so much the focus that the individual episodes have suffered because not enough attention has been paid to the case, while too much was placed on some relationship dilemma.

In Season 5, it became clear that Bones had lost most of what made me watch it in the first place. The 100th episode, a gem amid the refuse of the rest of the season, only made the changes more obvious. We saw an analytical Bones, a surly Hodgins; we heard Booth call the team squints, and Zack claim that he didn't understand pop culture references. And the balance between the character development and the case gave those of us interested in solving mysteries enough to be satisfied. None of this remains.

The last episode was said to be a terrible end to a fantastic season. What season were those people watching? Besides, they weren't annoyed with the final episode, but with the time jump taking place during the break. The complaints weren't about how absurd Sweets break up with Daisy (Carla Gallo) was or about how strange it is that almost the entire team working at the Jeffersonian was able to take a full year off, just about the passage of time which we weren't going to get to see. Frankly, I think that aspect was the best choice made in the episode.

What could Bones do to get back on track? Give us another serial killer. Make the cases count. I don't want to watch a show about a couple who can't seem to realize they ought to be together - I've given up on Soap Operas. I watched Bones because I loved how, through forensics and evidence paired with the understanding of the human psyche, Bones and Booth worked together to solve cases. It's like a cake, where the icing was the character development. How many people really enjoy that much icing with almost no cake?

Despite the wonderful 100th episode, this season was mostly a waste of time. I give it a D.

If the Season 6 premiere isn't bloody brilliant AND doesn't promise a story arc for the season, I'm not watching anymore.

Persons Unknown - The Edge, S01E02

We are into week 2 of the 13 part mystery series about 7 individuals who have been kidnapped and trapped in a small town in the middle of nowhere. So far, no one has died, but that doesn't mean that we don't feel the threat and tension of mortal danger. And by the end of this episode, it really does feel like all the options for escape have been used up.

Last episode, we learned that all the prisoners were embedded with drug dispensers, causing them to pass out once they passed a certain point. Moira (Tina Holmes), the self-proclaimed psychiatrist, removed these from the back of everyone's legs. They were able to pass the point where previously 3 of them had passed out trying to leave the town, only for Janet (Daisy Betts) to have her face microwaved. Frankly, I preferred the drugs.

The episode really focused on that escape, with the group eventually making it past the microwaves after a lightning blot took out one of the guns and the stole the van belonging to the Chinese restaurant. Too bad that all that happened was that they drove in a big circle, arriving back where they started. If I ever get kidnapped, which I hope never happens, I really hope that I don't end up back in a place like that.

It wasn't until the very end of the episode that Janet's fortune was addressed. She was given a gun and the message to kill Joe (Jason Wiles) so that she might go free. Despite threatening him, she eventually just shot the camera in his room with all 6 bullets. Ominously, the camera was quickly retracted into the ceiling and replaced with an undamaged recorder.

As for what we know...we still don't know anything. But I think that makes it far more intense and frightening. What are your thoughts?

Persons Unknown - Pilot, S01E01

Persons Unknown reminds me a little of Harper's Island. It's a 13 episode miniseries which revolves around a mystery, and has the potential of being fabulous. Harper's Island did not meet that expectation due to some serious scripting and plot issues. Will Persons Unknown realize the potential that a show with its premise has, or will it disappoint me?

The premiere was good, though odd. I had expected something more along the line of Cube - 7 people locked in a building, cut off from the outside world, and that was it. Instead, we have been getting glimpses of the places left behind. Janet (Daisy Betts) has a daughter, a daughter who was the tool of her own abduction. I absolutely loved the fear that built up inside of me as Janet panicked, thinking her daughter was missing, only to have Janet kidnapped while her child was left behind.

Now that daughter is living with Janet's mother, a woman who I would not let near any child.

It isn't only the daughter we get to see. A journalist has also taken an interest in Janet's disappearance, and he is planning on pursuing her story. Will we learn more about what's going on from the outside than we do from the inside? Will the series end with him riding in, white knight style, to save our hero-victims? Or will any of them be left by that time?

That's right, death was introduced from the start. No one died, but Janet was promised, via fortune cookie, that she would be released if she killed her neighbour. Who exactly that note meant, I can't be certain, but is getting home to rescue her daughter worth her committing murder?

And, as interesting as Janet and her daughter and the missing husband are, let's not discount the rest of the cast. Joe (Jason Wiles) has a strong military vibe, comfortably taking control of most of the situations, but refuses to talk about where he came from. Sgt. McNair (Chadwick Boseman) comes across as a trained grunt, preferring to follow Joe's commands than take his own initiative, but he's also willing to risk himself to help his fellow prisoners. Is it all an act?

Moira (Tina Holmes) claims that she's a councilor, but her actions and behaviour hints at her being a patient. Tori (Kate Lang Johnson) seems to be a useless socialite, but perhaps she's more than just a pretty face? Blackham (Sean O'Bryan) came onto the scene as an aggressor, but he quickly teamed up with Charlie (Alan Ruck), and Charlie, the most interesting after Joe and Janet, wants to be in control, but is also the most unstable element of the lot.

So we've got 7 different and bizarre members of a forced household, as well as our outside forces, but we also have more people on the inside. What is with the group of Chinese people who run a restaurant? Or the night watchman? I really hope that those factors are also given proper weight and attention.

So, a successful premiere, giving me enough to bring me back, but not making it so wild as to scare off the milder element. Start watching it, because in 13 episodes we'll know what's what and it seems to me that we'll want to know it all.

Miami Medical - Diver Down, S01E10

Although this episode is #10, it clearly was originally intended for earlier in the season. I guess that's why it felt like Tuck (Omar Gooding)'s attack happened so quickly - because some of that time was taken away when the series was reduced to 8 episodes. It's a shame; it was a good episode which showed Serena (Elizabeth Harnois) handling herself well in an unexpected scenario.

I am not a fan of water. I am even less a fan of drowning, so the first few minutes of the episode, when some divers when underwater clearly fated for some dramatic event sure to land them in trauma, I was disturbed and upset. Let's just say that Serena's reaction to being enclosed in a small room would be similar to mine if I was in that same closed room while it filled up with water. I was just glad that we had injuries, rather than drowning victims needing resuscitation.

Of the 4 involved in the accident, only one of them ended up with the bends, a sickness caused by ascending from a deep pool of water too quickly. The surgeons, however, believed that 2 did. This left Serena alone in a decompression tank with a patient recovering from the bends and another quickly deteriorating. Turns out that victim got tetanus from a dirty needle. I don't know why people think it's a good idea to get piercings or tattoos when they are on vacation - if you wouldn't walk into a sketchy tattoo parlor in your own city, don't walk into a sketchy place anywhere in the world. It's not worth it.

The part I liked best about the episode was that it was actually quite an advertisement for marriage. 2 of the victims were a couple - the chick with tetanus and a guy who had something embedded in his arm. When the young lady's situation was starting to look bleak, Eva (Lana Parrilla) had to ask the young man about his fiancée's next of kin. Despite the fact that the couple had been engaged for over 6 years, they were not married and therefore he had no legal rights to make decisions for her. I'm not sure what the laws about common law marriage in the states are, but if that situation is possible, I say that there is more reason than having kids or a desire for a big wedding to tie the knot.

With only 3 unviewed episodes left, I again indicate that I am quite sad that Miami Medical wasn't a greater hit, but I guess that's what happens when you pick Friday night to air a program.

Murdoch Mysteries - The Tesla Effect, S03E13

What a FANTASTIC season finale! Not only did Pendrick (Peter Stebbings) return to complicate things, but we also go the inevitable visit of Mr. Myers (Peter Keleghan), the operative of the Canadian government, and the return of Nikola Tesla (Dmitry Chepovetsky), whom we hadn't seen since the pilot.

While we did get some moments of delightful humour regarding the use of microwaves, particularly George Crabtree (Jonny Harris)'s suggestion they be used to cook potatoes and yams, even if every house required an additional room completely devoted the the practice, the tone of the episode was fairly serious. Of course, what else can you expect from an episode involving a death ray?

While William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) searched for said death ray with the help of Tesla, he noticed yet again that James Pendrick was involved. Still, Pendrick would not give him the information he needed, and only using his superior knowledge, as well as that of Tesla, was he able to accomplish anything at all. And yet they got nowhere.

When Pendrick escaped from custody, Murdoch ran to the aid of Sally Pendrick (Kate Greenhouse), but upon his arrival, he found the house empty. Pendrick arrived soon after, determined to convince his wife of his innocence before fleeing the charges. Both came to the sad conclusion that Sally, not James, had been the guilty party since the beginning. I might say it was amazing how quickly Pendrick forgave Murdoch for his vendetta, but clearly the crimes were connected to his family, and Pendrick had been even more taken in by his wife's charms than Murdoch had.

In a rather spectacular battle, in which Pendrick was shot (and thus got over his lingering feelings for Sally), and Murdoch managed to explode the death ray without harming his horse, Sally managed to escape the scene. We are promised the return of Pendrick at some point in the near future (hopefully, he and Murdoch will be friends next season), and possibly a future encounter with Sally as well. I would say that all worked out for the best, but that would be ignoring William's struggling relationship with Julia Ogden (Helene Joy).

Throughout the season, we have noticed a distance between the couple, despite their declared relationship. Although we had suspected it before, Julia is unable to have children, and she does not consider herself a suitable partner for William because she cannot fulfill his desire to be a father. Along with that, she has grown weary of working on dead bodies, and, when offered the chance to go work at a children's hospital, could hardly not take the offer, despite it being in Buffalo.

Her confession to William about all this was too much for him to consider in one moment, and though both were in tears, his duties tore him away, seemingly unable to cope with her news. But we know William, the moment he had a second to think, he bought a ring and declared that she was the only woman he would ever love, and that they could adopt, so why be so concerned. Naturally, Julia said yes to his proposal, and, although it happened a little more quickly than seemed right, all was well. Until, again, we realized that the visualization of our desire, and William's, was no more than a dream, and Julia had already departed.

So Murdoch was left with only a semi-victory against evil, and without the girl. Can't wait to see how this works in Season 4!!!

Stargate Universe - Incursion, part 2, S01E20 - Season Finale

For a series that started off so far from what I wanted and expected, the season finale was absolutely fantastic! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and am far more angry about the cliffhanger I've been left with than that at the end of any season of any of the other Stargates. And that is a good thing, as I am desperate to find out what happens next.

A hostage situation on a spaceship is bad enough, but the tension between the Lucian Alliance and the SGU team was made worse by the force that disintegrated a man last episode. Apparently gamma radiation from a near-by star is about to wipe out all those on the Destiny, and since the two groups weren't going to work together nicely, all their fates hung in the balance.

Since the Lucian Alliance weren't likely to compromise, it was up to Camile Wray (Ming-Na) to give into their demands, with Col. Young (Justin Louis) giving in with the hope that it might just be the thing that saved everyone. Young continued to be an incompetent leader for most of the episode, starting from the point where he yelled at all the scientists because something was wrong with the ship to the end where he was in a prison cell with the most of the military staff (strangely missing Lt. James (Julia Benson)). Telling people to make something work without having any consideration for the difficulty of the matter is no way to gain loyalty, and patiently waiting while men with guns surround you, clearly ready to kill everyone, is also pretty useless.

I really enjoyed the scene where Scott (Brian J. Smith) and Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) spoke about devotion. Greer follows Young blindly, fully believing that any call his superior makes is the right one. Young hasn't done much to earn this trust, but I don't think Greer would function properly (it would resemble the loose-hingedness of the first few episodes) without that kind of authority. Scott, meanwhile, is beginning to question. It may not be a good thing in the military, but when leaders are as incompetent as Young, it's rather necessary.

So the situation goes badly, Rush (Robert Carlyle) doesn't recover full control over the ship after the rest of our heroes have surrendered, while Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips) and Commander Kiva (Rhona Mitra) shot each other - Telford to protect our heroes, Kiva because she finally realized Telford was betraying her. Kiva is still alive, but badly wounded. She is carried to TJ (Alaine Huffman), but the soldiers there don't just wait to be killed, and soon everyone in the room is one the floor. TJ's bleeding and it looks to be from her stomach area.

If that's not bad enough, Eli (David Blue) has had to abandon Chloe (Elyse Levesque) after trying for so long to protect her. If he doesn't help Greer and Scott get back inside the ship before another gamma wave hits, then they are dead. Chloe, even though I still don't like her much, is dangerously close to death, while Greer and Scott are quickly running out of time.

And if all the imminent death wasn't enough, even if they survive the next 10 minutes, if Rush cannot reengage the FTL drive and get them back on the move, the gamma waves will kill everyone on the ship anyway.

So fantastic cliffhanger, as I said. The other thing I want to commend is how great a military man Telford is, and how loyal a man. Had he not been brainwashed, he would have been the most excellent leader of the expedition, far better than Young. Too bad it appears he's already dead.

So SGU, you have me hooked even though you had a rocky start. Take what was good from this season and focus on that!

Stargate Universe - Incursion, part 1, S01E19

Although Colonel Young (Justin Louis) continues to be a useless and pathetic excuse for an officer, Stargate Universe continues to progress, shaping more and more into the kind of show I expect from the Stargate franchise. Now if only we could get a little bit more humour...

It was really neat to finally be able to see the relationship between the conscious and the bodies they are possessing. When Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips), in Rush (Robert Carlyle)'s body, began to react to the lack of atmosphere in his room, Telford's body suffered as well. If one died, the other would too. And while this understanding did, sort of, lead to Young's decision not to vent the atmosphere on the Lucian Alliance, which would have killed both Telford and Rush, I absolutely loved watching O'Neall (Richard Dean Anderson) finally tell Young off for being a terrible officer.

Really, though, it was another example of how useless Young is, and his conclusion at the end of the episode, to attack now, may end up being just another poor decision. The only indication that it's not complete garbage is that Rush, a man we all do consider intelligent, has backed it.

Meanwhile, Chloe (Elyse Levesque) is bothering me again. I'm sorry but I just don't like her enough to care that she might be slowly dying from a bullet in her leg and from lack of air. Eli (David Blue), I care about, but not Chloe. They just better do something incredible to save the day and make all her weakness worth having suffered through.

Finally, what vaporized that Lucian Alliance guy? Is it some weird defense system built into the Destiny? Did Eli do that when he pressed those random buttons? Is in an ancient who ascended but stuck around the ship? Does it have to do with those fish aliens? Or is it something completely new and unexpected? As long as it's not a replicator I'm happy.

So, one more episode left, and it's going to end with a massive cliffhanger (or at least, that's what I've heard). The thing is, Stargate Universe has gotten to be so good (unlike the first 10 episodes) that it doesn't need to leave me tense and desiring answers to have me back when it resumes. But it does so love leaving us desperate for more.