What You Should Have Watched #17

My Final Thoughts 
on the 2011-2012 Season

If you want a quick refresher, here were my plans at the beginning of the regular TV season that just ended, and here are my thoughts about how it started.

So, what changed between last August and now? Out of the 50 shows I had listed (which didn’t include Mad Men or any of the premium cable shows like Game of Thrones, Californication, etc.), I either dropped or totally ignored 11 of them. A couple (Glee, Burn Notice) were shows I had watched for a while but lost interest in by the end of the season’s premiere. Some (Grimm, Once Upon a Time, Ringer) had me deleting the show before the series premiere was halfway done. Alcatraz is still on my DVR. All of it. I don’t have the heart to delete it without watching the first episode, but I find myself not caring about it, especially since it was cancelled.

Most of the old stuff was solid this year. Shows like Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, and The Office were reliable. Some good episodes, some bad, but nothing earth-shatteringly great or awful.

Some shows, however, were incredible each and every week. Fringe and Castle didn’t let me down at all. I loved the way Fringe successfully did somewhat of a soft reboot of the show. I loved how the will-they/won’t-they interplay between Olivia and Peter had to be revisited. I loved Walter. I can totally understand why this show isn’t a ratings hit, because it’s not something that you can really casually watch. I am happy that the show is getting a final (albeit shortened) season in order to wrap everything up.

The worst thing Castle had going for it was the introduction of the new Captain, Penny Johnson as Victoria Gates. She wasn’t bad, it’s just that I didn’t much care for her character. Everybody else was consistently great, though. I started watching the show because of Nathan Fillion, but I stayed because of the entire cast and their characters. Again we’ve got the will-they/won’t-they, but it’s much more urgent this season. I don’t know how much to say about the finale without totally spoiling everything. My biggest hope about the next season is that they don’t sweep everything under the rug, that it doesn’t start a few months after the finale with…well, everything back to status quo. I have faith in the writer’s, though, that more good stories will come out of it.

There were some great comedies that I found it difficult to NOT watch the night they aired, despite whatever time I was able to relax in the evening. The best new comedy of the season, and quite possibly my favorite overall comedy of the season, was New Girl. As with a lot of the shows I enjoy, the main character is not the draw. Well, she got me there, but Jess’s roommates, especially Max Greenfield’s Schmidt, kept me around and gave me many cackling, laugh-out-loud moments. Lump in New Girl with great shows like Happy Endings, Cougar Town, Suburgatory, Community, Parks and Recreation, Big Bang Theory, The League, Louie, Archer, and Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apt. 23, this was a great time to be a fan of smart and wonderfully written situation comedies.

The biggest surprise for me was my first real foray into reality television. I tend to shun any and all reality shows. They all just come across as creepy. Watching people attempt and more than likely fail at their dreams, or watching so-called celebrities “live” their “lives,” it’s too tawdry for me. I can’t even get into educational shows on Discovery or The History Channel because, well, when I watch TV, I’m relaxing. I don’t want to learn. I don’t want to work. Then I found out about Drinking Made Easy, and my embargo on reality shows was lifted. It’s a fun show that follows host Zane Lamprey and bearded sidekick Steve McKenna as they travel the country and sample local brews, spirits, and cocktails. It’s two guys getting paid to get drunk. Awesome.

My biggest disappointment this season was Supernatural. It wasn’t bad, but it was probably the weakest season they’ve had. Season 6’s overall storyline was weak, but it had some great episodes. This season, though, was weak on all fronts. They got rid of Castiel in the first episode and waited too long to bring him back. They got rid of Bobby. Not enough Crowley. Too much Meg. The Leviathan as villains didn’t seem quite so…immediate. Although I liked the way James Patrick Stuart played Dick Roman, I just didn’t feel the urgency that I’ve felt in past seasons to defeat the Big Bad. The highlights of the season had to do with the guest stars, three women who are on or who have spent time on “The List”: Jewel Staite, Charisma Carpenter, and Felicia Day. I’m single, ladies! Call me! Day’s character is still alive, so I’m hoping she’ll show up again next season. Oh! And James Marsters was there, too!

I realize I’ve not mentioned any offerings from Showtime, Starz, or HBO. Quickly, then. Dexter was awful this season. The Deb/Dexter stuff was creepy, and not in a good way, and I groaned, sometimes out load, whenever Colin Hanks came on screen. He is not a good actor. Most of the other stuff that I watched (Californication, Shameless, Spartacus) was solid. Nothing great, but always enjoyable. HBO debuted Girls and Veep, and I’m really enjoying Veep. Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays somewhat of a combination of Elaine and Old Christine, and that’s comedy gold when you put the character as next in line to the presidency of the United States. Girls, though, is harder to get behind. It comes off a lot like a hipster version of Sex and the City, and I hated Sex and the City. The four main women were all awful people in some way, and I felt incredibly bad for the men that fell for them. With Girls, the main characters are a bit more likeable and the men slightly less likeable than their SatC counterparts. I’m still watching it, though. I heard Donald Glover will be on next season, so that right there is a way to keep me around.

And we’ll end with HBO’s Game of Thrones, which airs its season finale this Sunday. Holy crap. This season has been phenomenal. There’s just not enough room to talk about how awesome Tyrion and Arya are, or how much I hate Joffrey and Theon. I read the first book when the first season ended, and that was going to be my plan with the other seasons and books. I’ve since decided that I can’t wait, and I’ll be doing my best to catch up on the rest of the series this summer.

Now that the main season is over, I’ll be cleaning out my DVR. I’ve got some Mad Men, Magic City, Shameless, and Alcatraz that I need to get through. After that, unless AT&T brings my monthly bill down back to where they said it would be, I’m getting rid of cable all together. I’ll be reliant on Netflix, Hulu+, and Amazon Prime. I’m pretty sure the only way this’ll affect me is that I won’t be able to watch the premium stuff as it airs or stuff on CBS. The premium stuff I’ll be able to watch on Netflix, but CBS kind of pisses me off. The other major networks are great about offering their shows online, but CBS is really hit-or-miss, and for the shows I watch (Big Bang Theory and Person of Interest) it’s miss. I’ll even be able to watch Supernatural by hooking my netbook up to my TV. Yay!

Also, in case you've forgotten: When I can remember to add this to the bottom of my posts, I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But when you click ads, I get a little bit of money, and as a single father of three, every penny from every source helps. So I’m going to keep this tiny bit of begging at the bottom of my posts, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. The only thing it costs you is time. :) Thanks so much!

What You Should Have Watched #1

And now we come to the television part of our blog.

Bad TV Made Better, Good TV Made Awesome, Awesome TV Made…Awesomer?

How’s THAT for a post title?

As many/most of you might know, I watch TV. A lot of it. Way more than I should. And with the amount of TV I watch, there are going to be a few craptastic shows that I catch each week. But why, if I know they’re craptastic, do I continue to watch them? Two words: eye candy. Guys do it, girls do it…don’t act like you don’t. You’ll make excuses, call it your guilty pleasure, but you’re just watching a craptacular show for the eye candy.

The most craptastic show I tune into each week is probably Smallville. I’m a comic book geek, so I started watching this show when it began, what, nine years ago? because I felt it was my duty as said comic book geek. And in the beginning, the show wasn’t half bad. Sure, it seemed to be more Dawson’s Creek than Heroes, but it worked. It WAS about a high-schooler, after all.

And the eye candy was there from the start. Now, I think the going consensus was the Kristen Kruek (Lana Lang), was the show’s reigning hottie, but I always preferred Allison Mack (Chloe Sullivan). She seemed a little more real, maybe a little more approachable. And she had a cute little crooked smile. But then Erica Durance was cast as Lois Lane, and you could just hear the other women channeling Bill Paxton (Game over, man! Game over!). Now, as the storylines get more and more ridiculous and gimmicks seem to take precedence over good storytelling, the eye candy is pretty much the only reason to stick around.

But I consider most of what I watch to be entertaining. Maybe not week in and week out, but mostly. And it’s the eye candy that helps these mostly entertaining shows stay on the DVR schedule when there are more out weeks than in ones.

Chuck has replaced Las Vegas as my guilty pleasure show. It’s fun, and it’s fast-paced, but the stories aren’t all that good, and the acting could be better. I started watching the show because of Adam Baldwin. I loved him as Jayne on Firefly, Marcus Hamilton on Angel and Taye Digg’s ex-partner on Daybreak. But his character is a little too one-dimensional to keep me coming back each week. Enter Yvonne Strahovski. If you were a fan of Alias and are missing your weekly dose of Jennifer Garner in a skimpy spy outfit, well, here’s your replacement. She’s obviously not the focus of the show, so she doesn’t get the screen time that Garner got as star of her own show, but it’s definitely a welcome presence after staring at Baldwin, Zachary Levi or Joshua Gomez for too long.

Two other shows, Criminal Minds and The Big Bang Theory, fall into this same category for me. They’re both good shows, they’re just not great. Matthew Gray Gubler, who is wonderful as Dr. Spencer Reid, can only carry the show for so long now that Mandy Patinkin is no longer on the show. And yeah, Joe Mantegna is good, but he’s no Patinkin. So it’s nice to have Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss) and A.J. Cook (J.J.) around. I knew Brewster before this after enjoying her on Andy Richter Controls the Universe and a brief stint on Friends, so seeing her in a serious role was weird. As for TBBT, while I love all the geek-centered jokes (y’know, being a bit of one myself), it’s nice to have those moments punctuated by Kaley Cuoco (Penny).

Then there are the awesome shows. How do I concentrate on the awesome (and possibly extremely involved and multi-episode) stories when there is so much prettiness to look at? Fringe has Anna Torv as Agent Olivia Dunham…but it has excellent writing, crazy-ass episodes, and scenes stolen by John Noble’s Dr. Walter Bishop. And when she’s constantly wearing smart little pant-suits, it’s easy to forget that, yeah, Ms. Torv is pretty hot.

Then there’s Lost, where despite months and months stranded on a weird, deserted island, Evangeline Lily’s Kate Austen remains incredibly sexy. But I can’t focus on her, because I’ve got to stay focused on every OTHER detail of the show to attempt to figure out what the hell is actually going on.

Now, this is by no means a complete list of all the attractive women on all the shows I watch. We’d be here forever. Hell, almost all the female cast of Friday Night Lights would have to be mentioned.

So fess up…what crappy shows do you watch just for the eye candy?

Next week? The guys. I mentioned it before that I only started watching Chuck because of Adam Baldwin. There are a couple of other shows that had me tuning in because of the actor. Any guesses on which ones?

TV Reviews for the Week of Nov. 30, 2008 Pt. 1

I had to bring this one back. I had stopped reviewing it, but I never stopped watching it. This week’s episode was a true return to form. It was episodes like this that made me tune into the show for the first time. When Carl was talking about breaking the fourth wall, Denny and his Alzheimers, Jerry with his emotional closing, Jerry FINALLY getting a date with Katie, Betty White’s character, all the talk of cancellation...it was a fun episode through and through. And next week they’re going back to the Supreme Court. So is this in trouble of being cancelled?

Totally mediocre episode, except when Homer blew up the bridge. I’m pretty sure that was the only laugh that the show got from me.

Ah, don’t you just love it when Jonas and the gang get to put someone in their place? I really enjoyed the quick cuts to when the group was planning various scenarios, and we actually got to see the scenario played out. And Kim ended up pretty deep in her little undercover mission. Bob finds out about that and it’s another strike for the Colonel.

"Those seven years of MacGuyver finally paid off."

One thing that always gives me a little smile is when actors who played characters I enjoyed on shows that are no longer around show up on shows that I now enjoy. This episode of Chuck had two: the black guy from Alias (and the voice of Martian Manhunter on the JLA cartoon) and Bruce Boxlightner (sp?) from Babylon 5. Excellent. Too bad it was only a so-so episode. Most everything seemed to fall flat: the Buy More contest, Casey vs. Chuck and Sarah’s feelings for Chuck. I really liked the last 30 seconds, though, when Chuck vowed to find his and Ellie’s father. I wouldn’t think it would be all that difficult if he could get Sarah to use some of the equipment in the Castle.

"You kids today with your rock and roll and your obsession with medieval siege weapons."

I didn’t think I was going to like this episode. I thought that it was going to be extremely cheesy, all of the sudden having a Terminator in the 1920s. But I thought it actually turned out well. I like that the Terminator did what he had to do in order to eventually fulfill his mission. And as much as I don’t want to see Cameron end up being another Data, I’m enjoying watching her learn about humanity.

"Best. Day. Ever."

I totally dig Seth Green, and Brecken Meyer isn’t all that bad either, but all the scenes at the comic shop just smacked of...I don’t know, not necessarily geekiness or nerdiness, but just plain old goofiness. I liked the idea of Hiro going there to read up on his past, but looking at the comics to figure out what to do next just feels like cheating. And I guess in the real world that’s what you’d do, but it feels like a crutch, and once it’s gone you’ve got to catch your brain up and get it back into shape for problem solving.

"Come and get it."

Where this show kept letting me down last season, it keeps surprising me with awesomeness this season. The group’s paranoia is starting to run rampant, but it looks to be well-founded. I had figured this episode would be the last new one until after the first of the year, but apparently they’re not letting up. Last week’s ending would have been a great cliffhanger, and this week’s ending would have been an awesome cliffhanger, but we only have to wait one more week to watch the boys (and girl) go up against Self.

"He’s been like that all day. It’s been awesome."

Cool, cool stuff. Walking through walls, teleportation. As much as I enjoyed the X-Files, I’m enjoying this show WAY much more. I know I’ve seen the actor who plays Walter before, but I just can’t place him. He’s excellent. His expression when he remembered his son’s childhood illness and recounted it, it was great. I’m even liking Joshua Jackson. I’ve just got an inherent and irrational dislike for anyone from Dawson’s Creek.

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Listening to: Avril Lavigne - Hot
via FoxyTunes

TV Reviews for the Week of Nov. 23, 2008 Pt. 1

Jack Bauer is back! Yeah!!!!!! This is one of the most unrealistic and ridiculous shows that has been on TV in the last, what, 6 years? But damn, the action, the suspense, the backstabbing…it’s riveting. This was a very good teaser for the new season in January. It was very much a stand-alone story, where you didn’t have to know anything about Jack or his past. But it’s very good at making you want to come back in January to see how it ends up. What’s going to happen to Jack? What’s going to happen with the coup and who are the Americans that are funding it? Why did the outgoing President not consult with the President Elect since everything transpired within hours of her inauguration? These are the questions that’ll bring me back in January. These and the fact that Jack kicks much ass: lobbing dynamite, stabbing people, withstanding torture and red-hot machetes, and killing people with one leg.

So now Riley is from the future, too? Damn, John just can’t catch a break. I think having Cromartie as the mouthpiece for John Henry is a good idea. That’ll end up creeping people out.

Who knew transporting a bride to a wedding could be so hazardous? That part of the episode was good, but it seemed to be going through the motions. The meat of the show was actually what was going on back home. Bob and Kim are working together to see what’s going on with Kim’s employer. He’s now got Bob working for him, and he’s trying to get into Kim’s pants. Oh, and his last nanny just turned up dead. Hmm.

“I’m so excited right now that I’m sporting a yule log.”

I’m not much of a Christmas special kind of guy, but I’m very much a Stephen Colbert kind of guy, so this is a no-brainer for me. The one thing I’m not enjoying is the laugh track. I’m actually just into this for Stephen and his persona’s un-PC views. I can actually do without the guests (well, Jon Stewart can stay) and musical numbers. Okay, Willie Nelson as a wise man with the gift of pot was pretty funny, and the song was pretty damn good. And the Jon Stewart bit, and John Legend’s nutmeg. Maybe I dismissed the songs too quickly. I think I’m going to have to get the soundtrack for this. This version of Peace, Love and Understanding probably tops A Perfect Circle’s version as my favorite.

Yet another excellent Sheldon episode. I actually expected him to ruin Leonard’s relationship, but kudos to Sheldon. And I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m glad they quickly dropped the Leonard/Penny thing. It’s actually probably better for the show that they went and got through it early on so it wouldn’t rear up and destroy the show during later seasons.

“You already broke my heart. Is it necessary for you to shoot it, too?”

Converse to the Leonard/Penny situation in Big Bang Theory, I really want Chuck and Sarah to end up together. You know what they say, “The family that spies together, stays together,” or something like that. I will miss seeing Jordana Brewster, though. I’m sure she’ll rear her gorgeous head again.

This was probably the funniest episode of the season so far. I just wish I had an opportunity to use the naked man. Hell, I guess if Lily can use it, so can I.

This season may actually surpass the first season in its greatness. Of course, it doesn’t take much to top the crap that they gave us last year. Every time there has been a double-cross or a new trick pulled out of a random hat, it’s made perfect sense. ALL the guys in the vault with Scilla (sp?) when it only looks like Michael is there. Agent Self showing his true colors. That lady turning out to be that guy’s daughter (yeah, so I don’t know EVERYONE’S name). Good acting, good stories, good twists…I’m looking forward to what is coming next for our heroes.

Good but average episode. Mohinder and his cocoon was disgusting. I’m interested in seeing how everyone gets their powers back, whether it’s natural or if it’s Mohinder.

Oh, that’s awesome. I always wondered how you set a swimming pool on fire. And who didn’t see the confrontation with the preacher coming (pun slightly intended)? I was surprised that they went and got the wedding finished this episode. It makes me wonder if there are any other episodes left, because they seemed to gloss over a lot of possible misadventures at the reception.

“I just got an erection.”

Normally I’d rail on a show using a clever device more than once within months of each other, especially when it’s the first season for the show. But they used the memory tank thingy differently this time with different results. Nice. And once again I’m floored by Walter and his social ignorance. As for the science, well, Eleventh Hour used the hallucinogenic frog trick earlier…but not near as well.

Andre 3000 is a good actor. Too bad we won’t get more of him against Aceveda. From the beginning of this episode I had this horrible thought of Shane killing his wife, killing his kid, then killing himself. His frame of mind, the choices he has left, I have no doubt that he would do it. As I type this I’m only an hour into the episode with 45 minutes left. I’d like to think I was wrong, but I don’t think it’s going to go that way. Shit. And it looks like I wasn’t wrong. Dammit. But I couldn’t see any other way out of it. After Vic told him he and Ronnie had immunity, it was all over. I just hope Vic doesn’t take care of the Ronnie situation by taking him out. I know Vic is the “hero” of this story, but I hope he doesn’t get off scott free. His family is gone, so that’s one thing, but Shane was right…he’s not the high and mighty family man that he claims to be. Oh holy crap Vic is in Hell. A cubicle, a desk, a suit, no weapon, no family, no friends, no contacts…Shane’s option may look pretty viable right now. At the end, you could see him weighing all of his options until it hit him…this is the best it will get for him.

Fuck the Sopranos. There, I said it. Fuck the Sopranos. You want a superb drama with a bad guy at the center, something that hits every episode with top-notch acting, great stories, and believable characters, start renting (or heck, it’ll be worth your money to buy them) each and every season of The Shield until you’re done watching it. Then go back and watch it again, because Tony Soprano ain’t got shit on Vic Mackey, and Christopher Montisani (sp?) ain’t got shit on Shane Vandrel. I only wish I could watch this for the first time again. It was so good that I want to get amnesia, forget I ever saw it, then watch the whole damn thing all over again. Fuck the Sopranos.

This may sound mean, but this is the best I’ve ever seen Clea Duvall look. She actually looks pretty, rather than mannish in Heroes, The Faculty or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This episode was a bit tricksy. One murder leads to another one that happened decades ago. It was some good writing that, at the end, paralleled the older woman with Clea’s character. Judith Light scares me. She needs to eat a burger or something.

TV Reviews for the Viewing Week of Nov. 16, 2008 Pt. 1

"Will and shorts, two things I’m no longer allowed to change by myself."

Homer’s new job was a lot funnier than Lisa’s crossword addiction. Homer or Ralph, those are the two characters that’ll make an episode for me. Doesn’t matter if they’re the focus of the episode or just show up to make a couple of quips.

Hmm, a couple of call-backs early on. You’ve got Cleveland in his bathtub falling out of his house, and you’ve got Frank Sinatra, Jr. singing with Brian. Okay, if you can find it, it’s probably on YouTube, that news special that Stewie did is actually based on an actual news feature. Otherwise it was a pretty lackluster episode. Maybe it’s just my mindset lately, but it’s taking a lot to impress me.

Good for Mac, but I’m wondering what will end up happening to Col. Ryan. Will he stay as their commanding officer? If not, I would hope they would find a role for him in some capacity. Robert Patrick is a good actor.

Ah, poor Wolowitz. Always unlucky in love. But good for Leonard. And seriously, why didn’t someone just pick something that would beat Spock?

Angie made a comment while walking through the room, and it was so obvious, yet I hadn’t seen it. It’s a weekly dose of Meet the Parents/Fokkers. Except this guy is more likeable than Ben Stiller. Actually, all the actors are more likeable than their movie counterparts.

Of course. Something was going right for Chuck, so there had to be something wrong about it. I guess we won’t be seeing as much of Jordana Brewster as I was hoping we would...although we saw a decent amount of her toward the end of the episode. Same with oh my God I have forgotten the blonde’s name. Sarah, that’s her. Yeah, shower scene. Not all that sexy, but still.

Hmm, not a bad episode, but not all that great. I do need to start implementing conference calls at the office. I just don’t think my company is big enough or I’m important enough to actually get away with it, though. I forgot how Barney and Ted met. Would anybody believe that they’re best friends rather than Ted and Marshall?

On the surface, I am really enjoying this season. But underneath, fundamentally, there are flaws. Now, I don’t know if this is because it’s trying to cram in things that were supposed to happen last season but didn’t because of the strike, or if the writers are just trying to do too much, or if the writers are just sloppy. Gabriel and Elle were cured of their bat-shit craziness way too easily. I mean, it’s good that those two crazy kids (pun not intended, but enjoyed by the writer nonetheless) found each other and are able to know love and blah blah blah, but really, they were cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, and one bowl doesn’t magically cure that. I’m very excited about next week. Seth Green shows up, and it’s a shame that there’s been too little of Seth Green on TV.

Watching Gretchen and the General together seriously nauseates me. The last half of the episode was pretty intense. The fact that there was no dialogue and no sound other than some mood music really ramped up the tension. You knew something bad was going to happen, but Sucre’s slip-up still got to me.

Well, if I’ve heard correctly, this show has been cancelled. I would have thought it would have at least gotten a full season, what with Slater’s star power. And of course after the cancellation notice, we get more into a conspiracy against Edward/Henry, going back to the murder of his parents by the KGB.

"I guess that depends on if he has succeeded in killing himself yet."

Another excellent episode with a brief look into Walter’s time at the institution. It seems as if there is something hinky going on with Walter’s former doctor. He was too eager to keep him locked up, and not just because he thinks Walter isn’t fit for human interaction.

Wow. Now that’s an inventive way to kill people. I personally enjoyed the, how many was it? Five? Five hyenas that killed the rapper. Who knew that animal smuggling was such a high-risk, high-dollar enterprise. And all that work just to teach Stabler the importance of family.

"How much memory does that thing got?"

The look on Blondie’s face when Vic tells her about killing Terry and then about reselling confiscated drugs, oh my God that was priceless. And her boss in the back room? The realization that Vic was a master criminal with a badge? Fuckin’...priceless. Oh, and then there are Claudette and Dutch when they hear that Vic has full immunity on everything he confesses to. It’s too bad about Ronnie, though. He’s followed Vic through everything, even after getting his face burned. And as things seem to have all worked out in Vic’s favor, everything has gone to shit for Shane.

Are John and Cameron going to hook up? That would be weird. Would the Terminators make themselves anatomically correct? Is it just some inherent flaw in robots that they always want to be human? Considering what John grows up to do, it would be incredibly kinky and messed up if he hooked up with a Terminator. I always enjoy seeing Buffy alums working, even though they usually don’t get major parts.

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Listening to: Free - All Right Now
via FoxyTunes

TV Reviews for the Viewing Week of Nov. 9, 2008 Pt. 1

"That’s your trouser devil talking."
"He’s not talking, he’s yelling."

Fourth of July weekend? Really? I’m getting bored with the show. The best part was when Bart and Lisa were acting like an old married couple.

"I’m Peter Griffin, and I am the Greatest American Hero. My special power is being somehow memorable after a very short run on TV."

The Lincoln bit was priceless, and the Jackass stuff was pretty funny. Mumm-Ra, right out of left field, just what I like about this show.

Holy crap, I knew these guys were hard-core, but I didn’t realize they had a code of killing an officer who was found sleeping with one of their wives. This was a fierce, fierce episode. The kidnapping, Betsy consciously leaving a blood trail, Col. Ryan getting injected with radiation and getting taken hostage, Jonah going postal on the Bedouin roadblock, and Molly haranguing the shit out of Tiffy. This show just doesn’t stop, and that’s why it’s one of my favorite dramas.

"Oh, c’mon. Everybody loves lolcats ‘cause they’re cute and can’t spell...’cause they’re cats."

I do! I do love icanhascheezburger! I’ve even got a link to it on the right side of the page. And I will say this every week: Kaley Cuoco is gorgeous. And you know, the writing is so good on this show, I actually buy it that her character would hang out with these guys.

So it looks like we’ll be seeing more of Jordana Brewster, that’s a good thing. It should make for some interesting confrontation between her and Sarah. And Chuck is really getting screwed over by the CIA this year. I’m thinking that’ll have ramifications by the end of the season.

Eh, just a so-so episode. I didn’t even think any quotes were good enough to pull out. As usual, Barney’s scenes seemed to be the best. Lily wasn’t cute as a baby, she was just pitiful.

Had Bellick died in either of the previous two seasons, I’m doubting any of the other characters would have given him a second thought. But he really stepped up this season. Heck, even T-Bag almost got weepy. I’m surprised that hot secretary chick is actually an FBI agent. So Don already knew that that organization had something to do with the Company? Hey, whatever, as long as we get to see more of the secretary.

"I lied. It’s not your mother’s recipe."

Okay, so my timeline for this show is all messed up. How long has it been from the first episode to the present? It couldn’t be all that long if a year ago Claire’s birth mom (who happens to be the sister of blue flame guy) was caught by the Company, but by the time we get to the middle of the first season, she’s not in custody. Ah, that’s why. At first I was thinking that she started the fire that Claire pulled the guy out of in the first episode, but that’s the wrong timeline. No, no, no. By the time Claire saved the guy from the train fire, Nathan’s dad was already dead...wasn’t he? Well, I am enjoying the symmetry between this episode and the various scenes from the first season. I wasn’t expecting the ending, though. African dream-time guy is killed by Arthur, who now has Hiro in his clutches...literally.

Good episode with Henry and Edward’s problem about to be found out. We also meet another agent, and we found out what happened when an agent is terminated. I think we also found out what Henry/Edward may have in their future family-wise if they aren’t extremely careful. I also thought the son’s bo staff fight was pretty damn cool.

"I’d be willing to try, but not here. My breath is atrocious."

This was an excellent episode. The parasite around Loeb’s heart was extremely creepy looking, like a giant centipede. Bishop’s fascination with his breath, talking with the dead guy and Peter remembering that his dad experimented on him when he was a kid, all excellent touches. I like the multiple uses for mind altering drugs they’ve come up with, and I love just how insane and smart Bishop is. I think I already like this more than I liked the X-Files.

Okay, these actresses playing the pregnant girls are great; I want to smack all of them, multiple times, about the face and head. I usually think these pulled from the headlines stories are giant schlock fests, nothing more than ways to get people to watch so they can say, "Hey! I remember that!" But this one was pretty good. It was pretty heartbreaking, not just for the needless death, but for the attitudes of the girls who were in the pregnancy pact, and for Tina, who ended up with both her brother and mother in jail. But there was still a bit of light at the end, as the baby’s grandfather wanted to take her in rather than see her and the baby go into foster care. Really, one of the better SVU episode in a long time.

Oh the tangled webs we weave. Everybody’s machinations are coming unglued. Everything is building and building and building until it’s all going to come crashing down around EVERYONE.

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Listening to: Tantrum 1997 - (01) Banned In The USA
via FoxyTunes