Treme - Pilot, Do You Know What It Means?, S01E01

Treme has already been renewed for a second season off the strength of the reception of its premiere. I'm not at all surprised, considering the show balances the pain of distress and the healing of hope so well, putting it in the very relatable circumstances of those in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city.

Through both the writing and the camera work, we were given an appropriate sense of disorder. What has happened is clear, what will happen is not, but the people who remain are determined to move in a forwards direction, and at the moment that is the appropriate thing.

We also got a great sense of community. Those who remained behind banded together. The generosity based in the fact that most had little left to give gave hope that there is still a sense of decency in the world. The horror at the idea of the rest of the country abandoning the city and the people who wished to remain, when any one of us would fight for the restoration of our home in similar settings, was touching.

Will I watch again next week? No, I will not. But not because the show doesn't have everything that might make it quality. Simply because I watch television for escapism, and Treme touches reality far too much for my own tastes. But if you think you'd be interested, you will not be disappointed with the delivery.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Revelations, S01E12

The penultimate episode of Season 1 of Spartacus: Blood and Sand has set things up nicely for a very exciting and bloody season finale, entitled Kill Them All. Are you ready for a slave revolt? I know I am!

The episode started with a little bloodshed. Batiatus (John Hannah) continued to find favour in the Gods and in men as he not only watched his former champion, Crixus (Manu Bennett), successful again, but also saw his enemy Solonius (Craig Walsh Wrightson) executed by Spartacus (Andy Whitfield). Solonius fought and died well, and his last moments were sweet as he saw the champion of his enemy promise that Batiatus' favour was coming to an end.

There was a whole lot of plotting going on this episode, too, but, while most of it was initially successful, there were aspects that the plotters did not take into consideration.

Ashur (Nick Tarabay)'s manipulations are finally coming to fruition. Not only did he get Naevia (Lesley-Ann Brandt), but with her his long awaited revenge over Crixus. And though Naevia had her hair cut off and is being removed from the ludus and Crixus was badly whipped for his offenses, the events force Naevia to reveal to Doctore (Peter Mensah) what actually happened to Barca. The anger over that news will not only soon be felt by Ashur, but by Batiatus as well.

Ilithyia (Viva Bianca) was even less successful. Although she had her husband wrapped around her finger, planning a proper betrayal of Batiatus and Lucretia (Lucy Lawless), she had not anticipated that they had insurance. When Glaber (Craig Parker) refused Batiatus patronage, the latter produced the hand of Licinia, whom Ilithyia had murdered. Of course, getting in bed with that much hatred is not a great idea, but Batiatus clearly does not shrink from his goals. The only concern was whether or not Glaber would believe his wife capable of the act. Perhaps he thought no one would reveal such information without it being true, or perhaps her earlier comments about the lewd behaviours that likely got Licinia killed, forced him to believe the horror. And poor Ilithyia was left behind.

Spartacus' plotting will come into play next week. This week the presence of his best friend's wife prevented him from doing anything too stupid and getting himself and the rest of the slaves in the house killed. Good thing. With the latest events, Crixus will be more likely to side with him, and Doctore now also has doubts about the faith of his master. There will be lots and lots of blood on the sands.

And that is the debate. Who will die next week? I suspect Ilithyia, Batiatus, and Ashur will all fall, but I think that Lucretia may live. I'm not sure about what place she might have in next season, but losing her would be very very sad. And now that she is pregnant...well, Aurelia (Brooke Williams) did get rid of her baby, so the writers aren't afraid of killing babies...but what was the point of getting her pregnant if she is only to die next week? We shall have to see.

Stargate Universe - Divided, S01E12

Although Stargate Universe has maintained a plot line which I am interested and excited about since its return last week, I really with that a new development would happen to allow me to actually LIKE many of the characters.

The resemblance to BSG cannot be denied, but, where in BSG I always understood the different perspectives and the dilemmas, with SGU I have strongly sided with the civilians. The military has formed an uncompromising dictatorship and is creating the tensions on the ship by an unjustified self-righteousness. Frankly, despite the military's previous support of the Stargate franchise, it would not surprise me if the portrayal of the airmen and women in SGU resulted in the loss of that connection.

Colonel Young (Justin Louis) is, of course, the biggest problem. I just want someone to kill him because not only is he completely unreasonable when it comes to his demands upon the civilians, but he is so unpleasant as to have become irredeemable. Leaving Rush (Robert Carlyle) to die was a most heinous act, but it was also only the most recent bad choice the Colonel has made. Every time Rush suggests anything, based on the understanding of the complex system that is Destiny, Young ignores him out of sheer spite. He knows best because he is a colonel (a feat I cannot imagine how he accomplished), let any logic or reason besides his own be damned. I am very surprised he did not somehow manage to blow up the entire ship while Rush was MIA.

I have also recently developed a dislike for Eli (David Blue). Until now he has been the clever comic relief, but in this episode he sided with the military and not the civilians. What, he considers Rush's attempt to dethrone Young as a worse offense than Young's attempt to murder Rush? Chloe (Elyse Levesque) I have actually begin to like because she chose what she believed was right over her boyfriend!

I am very interested to see what the writer's are planning and how they are going to get the people on destiny out of this mess. The tension seems irresolvable (unless, I say again, someone simply offs Young). I hope, however, that the resolution will not be a cheap return to Earth to get some sort of ruling from the Pentagon. Although the use of the communication stones - to bring in an expert surgeon to operate on Rush - was actually cool and interesting, I still want them to be destroyed so that the writers do not revert to using them for very uninteresting plots.

Oh, and I was pleased (although not fully satisfied) that we finally got a mention about the conclusion of episode 8 - apparently it did happen, and although we only got to watch the 1st and 2nd attempts, the 3rd which we did not see must have had a happy ending.

Are you equally pleased with where the show is now going? What are your continued reservations?

Miami Medical - 88 Seconds, S01E02

Two episodes in, and it looks like the ratings have remained steady, which is quite impressive considering the show airs Friday nights. And the quality and content has also remained on par, something that is also not particularly common.

One of my biggest problems with most medical shows is the focus on the characters and their personal lives. I have a problem with procedurals that do the same thing. If I wanted to watch a show about the social interactions of characters who just happened to be doctors or police men or whatever, I could still be watching General Hospital. I want to watch a show that is about medicine.

Yes, I want the characters to be real and I want to relate to them, but I want the show to be about the choices they are making while they operate, the effect the job has on them personally, not about who they are sleeping with this week. And so far, Miami Medical has done that perfectly.

When the resident, Dr. Warren (Elisabeth Harnois), was left to fend for herself - "I've never done anything solo." "Alright, page me if you get into trouble," Dr. Proctor (Jeremy Northam) said to her. When she left, he asked the nurse to page him 2 minutes before she got into trouble - she had to make some tough choices. First, she gave into another doctor's demands against her better judgment, and then she worked hard enough to know how to save the patient when his safety became compromised. There was a little bit of the goofiness of inexperience, but medicine was the prevailing force.

At the end of the episode, when the primary victim's life is in great danger, we also had Proctor stop in to do some simple medicine. Her kidney was useless? Remove the kidney, she doesn't need it, she has another. Simple solution, and medically sound.

And so far, the show has addressed death perfectly. Two episodes, two deaths in the OR. The first was a burn victim to far gone to try to save, the second was a shooter who had tried to commit suicide. He succeeded, but the brilliance of the scene was how fully engaged the doctors were in trying to save him (yes, despite his crimes), and how quickly it came to a halt the moment they realized he was already gone. Sure, we aren't dealing with someone we are emotionally attached to, but the honesty of the doctors moving on the moment they know it's over was spot on.

So keep watching, and hopefully the ratings will be this high next week too.

Vampire Diaries - Let the Right One In, S01E17

And a Darkness fell over the inhabitants of Mystic Falls as the season finale quickly approaches and things start to get a lot more serious, and a lot more interesting.

When Stefan (Paul Wesley) gets kidnapped by the idiotic Vamps recently escaped from the church, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) refuse to sit by idol. And since Damon can't get into the house, and he refuses to allow Elena to put herself in danger, they acquire an unlikely ally - Alaric (Matt Davis). And, with a vampire at his side, he makes a good showing, even though not everything goes according to their plans.

The most irritating moment of the sequence was when Elena went in the house after Stefan, even though Damon had asked her not to and explained that it was because he wouldn't be able to save Stefan if he was also worried about protecting her. Stupid women trying to be heroic; she's lucky that it worked out despite her efforts.

That is, if you consider "worked out" Stefan almost dying and being forced (by Elena) to drink her blood so that he might live. Of course, after drinking the blood, he was strong enough to protect them both, though not necessarily with any control.

And while all this was going on, we had some bizarre plot line going on with Caroline (Candice Accola). She got her car stuck in the mud while trying to drive around on back roads. But Vampire Diaries is to clever to do anything that pointless - in her attempt to walk back to town and to help, Caroline fell in the ditch and discovered a body - Vicki Donovan.

While Vicki's disappearance did not cause a great disruption to life, the discovery that she had been dead the entire time will cause painful repercussion to all involved. Matt's bond with Elena is much more poignantly felt, but his relationship with Caroline is still too new for him to trust her with his pain. Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) has now betrayed Anna (Malese Jow), since she figured out he wanted to be a vampire so that he could be with Vicki, not with her. Regardless of how old Anna is, the pain of feeling used, even if Jeremy is actually confused about his feelings for both women, is likely to have very very bad results.

The only question is, will that be as bad as what is likely to happen to Stefan now that he's fallen off the wagon? Can't wait to know the answer to that!

The Mentalist - Aingavite Baa, S02E18

Leave it to Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) to manipulate a woman who was shot in the head and, as a result, has amnesia into revealing who shot her in the first place.

Oh Jane, I do so enjoy watching you work, but sometimes it is just irritating how much you get away with and how easily you figure out details which escape the rest of your police trained team. Despite the fact that I know Lisbon (Robin Tunney), Cho (Tim Kang), Rigsby (Owain Yeoman), and Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) are all good at their jobs, they have yet to break a case without Jane having manipulated the players.

But I will continue to watch, regardless, as it amuses me to see what kind of trouble Jane will get into next.

I may not continue to watch, however, if Lisbon's hair style is not changed soon. It does not suit her character at all - she looks like a poodle!

And, of course, regardless of the outcome of the case, the big issue of this episode was what would happen to Rigsby and Van Pelt. The pair were finally forced to choose between each other or their jobs. Although it seems a very complicated choice, leave it to Cho to explain things to Rigsby in very clear terms. "Van Pelt or the job."

And Rigsby chose Van Pelt. No surprise there, since he's been in love with her since the moment they met. How could Rigsby make any other choice? But Van Pelt had other ideas. She knew that someday he would resent his choice, resent her for being the reason he had to make it. So she broke things off, despite the fact that it broke his heart, despite the fact that it broke her own heart.

And now they will continue to have to work together, despite the heartache! I wonder how that will work out?

Bones - The Parts in the Sum of the Whole, S05E16

While this milestone episode, #100!!, was absolutely awesome and amazing and nothing can take that away from it, it was also a revelation as to what has really been missing for me the last two seasons of the show.

The entire concept was wonderful, to finally get to see the first case Booth (David Boreanaz) and Brennan (Emily Deschanel) worked on together gave answers to questions we did not know we had. Why did Brennan not want to work with Booth again? What had happened that first time?

The sexual tension was so right. The idea that they had been aware of the attraction at first, and that things had just gone very wrong with them made the length of time between their second case and the first time either realized there was something more going on make much more sense.

And I even loved the conclusion. Booth finally put his heart on the line, and Brennan could not take it. I hope that the openness now explored will stay through the rest of the season and through other relationships the two might become involved in.

So you must be asking, what is my problem?

My problem is that this episode was structured very much like the original ones were, and so the differences between the early episodes and the most recent ones was very easy to notice.

Brennan's journey from socially unaware to somewhat conscious of normal conventions has made us lose the contrast between her and Booth. We no longer have the "average Joe" FBI agent working with a bunch of super intelligent, but awkward squints. The clear divides between them all have dissolved, giving us a bunch of very normal and boring people.

Booth refused to pay much mind to science, relying primarily on his instincts. Brennan gave no credit to anything but the barest of facts. Zach (Eric Millegan) was the only character who maintained his unwavering ability to perfectly understand the very complex while missing the things that we, as a normal audience, could easily pick up. And then he was reasoned into doing great evils.

Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) no longer goes on about his conspiracy theories, and Angela's sexual ccomfort was lost in a wave of abstinence.

These very polarized characters worked well together and created a dynamic that was interesting a unique. But as that polarization faded, as they all merged towards one conglomeration of characters with very similar opinions and perspectives, that was lost. Combining that with the focus on that characterization and lack of interesting forensic development, and you have a show that has lost its spark.

Episode 100 recovered that spark because it was set before the merger, when amusement was so easily derived from variety. And after such a peak, I feel like its all going to be downhill from now on, and not in a good way.