Memphis Beat - That's Alright, Mama, S01E01

Man, I love Jason Lee. He's what really drew me to this show in the first place because he's hilarious and talented and I love him. And this premiere really proved that that love is not misplaced because not only was he funny - something he is generally known for - but he was also charming and serious, with just the right amount of anger and sensitivity. I had not expected to get hooked, but I already can't wait for next week's episode.

In the Memphis of Dwight Hendricks (Jason Lee)'s mind, the people take care of one another. It's a loving place, and while it's got its troubles, music and culture hold it together with its own, unique charm. It may not be so simple as that, but that notion works for Hendricks and makes him an awfully good detective.

And he is a good detective. He's not conventional, as the frequent run-ins with his new boss, Lt. Tanya Rice (Alfre Woodard) have shown, but he has great instincts. I loved how we saw that the rest of the force trusted those instincts, proving his track record, but we saw why he was so good. Despite being thrown off the case at least twice, he continued working it, methodically and with dedication, politely talking to the neighbourhood children to learn what they knew and playing Barbie with them to help them get over their shyness.

We really have the sense of a man who cares about his job because he cares about people. He wants the weak to be saved and the wicked to be punished so that the world is protected. Plus, he's got a great voice. But I think the real mark of who Dwight Hendricks is, and the best reason to keep watching the show, was his rousing speech which convinced the uniformed officers to care as much as he did about helping the victim of their case. She was a radio talk show host, and very famous. According to Hendricks, she was Memphis, and if she hadn't played the right song on the right day, those officers' parents might never have met, never have fallen in love.

It was charming, yet focused, dedicated and never over the top. I'm hooked; are you?

Pretty Little Liars - To Kill a Mocking Girl, S01E03

The themes of manipulation continued throughout this episode, as well as those of young ladies and older men and of the general difficulties of dating for 16 year olds. I continue to really enjoy the show, to question my understanding of the relationships, and to wonder how I would have responded to what I'm seeing when I was that age. Truly teenagers are stuck in a horrible place between adulthood and childhood. How much of that is where society places them and how much is what they are ready for.

I'm finally feeling for Hanna (Ashley Benson). Granted, whenever we see the flashbacks where she is supposed to be fat, I get annoyed because frankly Alison (Sasha Pieterse) is a bigger girl than she is. Neither of them are at all fat, and 16 year olds watching this have enough body image issues. But just because Hanna is now skinny (ie not wearing baggy clothes) doesn't mean those issues have disappeared. Her boyfriend doesn't want to sleep with her. Whatever his issues are, she's taking that to mean that he doesn't care about her, likely because she's still not physically perfect enough.

And what's worse is that she, at 16, feels that she should be having sex because otherwise her relationship is not valid. If sex is all your relationship is about, it's not valid either!

Emily (Shay Mitchell) is having the complete opposite boyfriend troubles. Ben (Steven Krueger) was pushing her to go places that she wasn't comfortable with, and when she said no, he didn't stop. I don't actually know how often this sort of thing takes place in real life, but in television there are a lot of boys who get sexually frustrated and violent when they are getting mixed physical signals. You have to wonder how much of that is due to the raging hormones, and therefore to what extent do they really have control over their actions? I'm not justifying it in any way, but how much of this problem is because society isn't acknowledging this sort of behaviour as typical and therefore creating more preventative measures that those "date-rape is wrong" videos they play in grade school?

Lucky for Emily, someone was there to help her out, but in the context of the show, the guy's got just the wrong mix of sweet-creepy for me to think it's not going to cost anything down the line.

Aria (Lucy Hale) continues to be my favourite character. Probably because she's not so caught up in the high school BS. Her issue is that she's far more mature than most 16 year olds and has interests far above that too. If Ezra Fitz (Ian Harding) wasn't her teacher, there really wouldn't be that much standing in the way of the relationship. Now part of that is presentation. Ezra really cares about Aria, and wants to do right by her. He isn't the kind of guy who would pressure her into doing something against her will. Then again, they are both at completely different points in their lives and if he expects her to behave as a 20 year old, therefore cramping her ability to react as a 16 year old will, that could be damaging in the long run.

Regardless, Aria's main problem is her issue with her dad and the bitchy woman he had an affair with who is clearly going after their family. I really wanted Aria to just pitch the drink in the woman's face, but I guess that would have made a scene and she really didn't want that.

Finally, Spencer (Troian Bellisario) is the one I consider in the most trouble at the moment. (Yes, even more so that Hanna after she crashed her boyfriend's car). Wren (Julian Morris) comes across as a nice guy, but he is so obviously a sleaze! Spencer is oblivious to his manipulations, claiming that he fell in love with the wrong sister. Please, he was engaged to her. They were planning their wedding and he decided that maybe he'd rather kiss her baby sister instead? And poor naive Spencer, thinking that he's so sweet and resenting her bitchy sister who is unfairly blaming her. Two people kissed, not one, and even if Spencer had spent the last 6 months trying to seduce him and succeeded, he would have let himself get seduced.

Plus, now she's cheating on her test papers because her life is in shambles so she can't concentrate but the fear of doing poorly is too much for her to simply hand in something half-assed.

So, despite all the complications with Alison's murder, the 4 leads are going through some pretty normal teenage crap. Who do you most relate with?

Season's Review - Chuck, Season 3

For a season which was originally given a 13-episode order because at the end of Season 2 it was almost cancelled, Chuck made sure to show NBC that that would have been a terrible mistake. It got 6 more episodes added to the order, and was renewed for Season 4 before the run was over. And it absolutely deserved it.

Now, I know that some people are going to point out some of the strange choices that were made. Chuck (Zachary Levi) decided that it meant more to him to be a spy than to be with Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski), so their relationship ended, and he worked really really hard and finally became a spy, but as soon as that happened, and he and Sarah got together, they considered running from the spy game. Realizing neither wanted this, they continued working until Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) discovered Chuck's secret, and finally made him promise to get out. He did, but will now have to use all that he learned to find his mother...He just won't have CIA or NSA backup, unless you could Sarah and Casey (Adam Baldwin). It's all a little confusing.

Also, Chuck and Sarah's on again, off again relationship was a little tiresome. Chuck's other choice was hardly around at all before he essentially realized that she wasn't Sarah and so it wouldn't work out. But, they did end up realizing that they loved each other, that they wanted to be together, and that nothing was going to stop them.

More shows need to realize that you can get your main couple together and not lose everything that makes your show amazing (unless you show has nothing else going for it). The challenges that Sarah and Chuck now have to face as a couple, but the strength they can draw from each other gives me a greater incentive to watch the show than simply wondering when they'd eventually hook up ever did.

Finally, the transformation of Chuck, from asset to full out spy, the involvement of the rest of his friends and family, as Morgan (Joshua Gomez), Ellie, and Devon (Ryan McPartlin) discovered his career, and the psychiatric issues Chuck suffered as a result of what the intersect was doing to his mind, all of these were beautiful and brilliant story arcs. Also, the revival of Daniel Shaw (Brandon Routh) was a perfect parallel of the return of Bryce Larkin in the first season.

Chuck continues to be the perfect action-comedy, sparing neither the great fight segments and explosions, nor the many opportunities for hilarity. Can't wait to see what Season 4, the search for Chuck's mom, will bring.

Persons Unknown - The Way Through, S01E03

At first, this episode was pretty predictable...I thought. I guessed at what was going to happen next, and was right, and despite the increase in the scale of psychological terror on the 7 victims, it didn't actually seem uniquely desperate, but those last moments, in which we learnt the name of Janet (Daisy Betts)'s deadbeat husband, those were fantastic.

Don't get me wrong, the whole bate and switch with the gas masks was interesting and entertaining. It was a great opportunity to see some character development - Graham (Chadwick Boseman) gave his to Moira (Tina Holmes), Charlie (Alan Ruck) refused to give his up, and Blackham (Sean O'Bryan) was willing to do anything to have one. And Blackham certainly deserved to get a face full of gas when the mask betrayed him (though Moira and Tori (Kate Lang Johnson) didn't). Plus, I love how much Joe (Jason Wiles) continues to support Janet.

But the real excitement was with our investigative reporter, Renbe (Gerald Kyd). Not only did he get his life threatened a second time when he refused to drop the story on Janet, but he also found info about the mom and daughter on the corrupt Private Investigator's computer.

Too bad the PI got him right back. Is Renbe Janet's disappeared husband? Is that why he has taken an interest in this case? Or is the entire thing a ploy on the part of the P.I.? Either is very possible!

Which do you think it is? Is the P.I. simply trying to make more trouble, or have we finally located Janet's errant husband?

True Blood - Beautifully Broken, S03E02

True Blood is really a show about a community, focusing primarily on the adventures of Sookie (Anna Paquin), but never neglecting the wide variety of people who populate her home town. And while there are so many stories being told, this only heightens the sense that the lives of everyone we know are meandering down their own paths, occasionally allowing us to share the chaos.

It is clearly apparent that each of our main characters - Sookie, Bill (Stephen Moyer), Eric (Alexander Skarsgard), Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll), Tara (Rutina Wesley), Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), Jason (Ryan Kwanten), and Sam (Sam Trammell) - have major goings-on in their lives which aren't very much connected. Yet, with the appearance of Tara's unintroduced vampire, her story has suddenly become very closely connected to Bill's story in Mississippi, which connects straight back to Sookie and to Eric, each in their separate ways.

For starters, I have to say that I loved Bill's prison. The lavishness, the decadence, the pure silver doors! What a classy way to prevent a vampire from leaving. And the blood champagne and gelato? Who knew vampires had such fancy cuisine. Naturally the appearance of Lorena (Mariana Klaveno) was in bad taste, and while I hope that Bill did light her on fire with an oil lamp, I couldn't help but think that the scene had only taken place in his mind. Or maybe I hope that because I'm afraid of what will happen to him if it didn't.

Secondly, I LOVE JASON. He is so adorable. When he found out that werewolves he existed, not only did he wonder then about Bigfoot, but mostly he was interested in the existence of Santa! Then, as he took care of his sister (so wonderfully making up for all the stupid things he did in season 1), he said that they just had the two of them, and it would always be him and Sookie. That is until she married Bill, at which point it would be Jason, Sookie, and Bill.

And finally, I am sure that every one of your hearts were atwitter when Eric suddenly slammed Sookie into the wall of her house demanding to be allowed to enter, and Sookie bit him enter in the most formal way imaginable, suddenly aware of the danger he already felt. Shivers!

I could speculate on how long it will take for the overarching plot line to be truly visible, but I'd rather guess at how many episodes will pass before I get to see more nude Eric. 3 episodes tops?

Scoundrels - And Jill Came Tumbling After, S01E01

You win some, you lost some. Although I enjoyed last night's premiere of the Gates, Scoundrels left me feeling uninterested and slightly annoyed. I'm not particularly fond of any of the characters, which never helps, and I didn't think any of the actors shined either. Plus, the script wasn't exactly a gem.

Cheryl West (Virginia Madsen) decides to make her criminal family walk the straight and narrow after her husband goes to jail for 5 years. Lesson #1 don't trust your insecure cousin JJ to get your sentence shortened like he promised.

It's not a bad premise, exactly, but the goal is one of boredom and entertainment will be derived more from how often they fall of the wagon than any of their successes.

Then you have the cast of not so interesting characters. Cheryl is organized, but she doesn't come across as very strong, and that I blame on the actor or the director, rather than the dialogue. I just couldn't believe she really had strong convictions or that she was truly invested.

We didn't really get to know her husband, but by the end of the episode, when he was laughing at the notion that his wife might succeed in her endeavour, I couldn't help but think he was a prick and that should ought to divorce is jailed ass.

As for the kids - the perfect lawyer, his twin the screw up, the blond ditz, and the young smart ass who skips school to work on her own projects - well, for one thing they are really bad stereotypes, and for another, they mostly weren't likable.

And that was generally my problem. All sorts of things went wrong in one day, bringing a family from crime to redemption, but no real plot surfaced, and none of the characters had enough going on to sink your teeth into.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. If any of you really enjoyed the pilot, please let me know and tell me why.

The Gates - Pilot, S01E01

Although the Twilight franchise comprises (unfortunately) the only successful Vampire movie releases of late, television is flooding with supernatural shows - True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Being Human, etc. And where there are Vampires, Werewolves surely follow. But while those two creatures may be becoming quite common, it is the changes in circumstance and situation which allow new shows like The Gates to still find a place.

The premise is that the Gates are a gated community in which some of the residents have supernatural secrets. In the premiere, we've already become familiar with vampires, werewolves, and witches. And we've yet to discover what other things live within the walls. We may not yet really know why, but most of these creatures seem to desire to live something approximating a normal human life. The community, with its privacy and ability to keep enemies out, offers just that.

But don't fear, the show does not promise to be boring vampire housewives trying to out gossip their werewolf neighbours as they all make friendly on the golf course. Already there have been 2 deaths - the one by a vampire who could not resist fresh blood, the other (the former chief of police responsible for the community) in unknown circumstances. Lives, both figuratively and literally, are on the line.

The reason I'm inclined to stick with this show and see where it takes me is mostly because I'm particularly intrigued by Claire Radcliff (Rhona Mitra, straight off her stint on Stargate Universe). She is a vampire, able to walk in sunlight when wearing a powerful sun-blocking agent, and she is craving the hunt. Blood is not so much an issue, but the mundanity of casseroles and book clubs just doesn't get her blood going the way she wants it to. But she and her husband, Dylan (Luke Malby), also a vampire, have an adopted little girl, and outside of the Gates, she would not be accepted by the vampire population. I'd like to see things play out.

I'm also interested in knowing more about who killed the former police chief, about the rules made by the werewolves (who can change whenever they like, and sometimes when they don't like, regardless of the phase of the moon), and about the tensions between the witches. There is an entire community of stories to be told, and likely one will work for you if supernatural is your thing.

If you did see it, which storyline caught your interest?