If you had told me back in 2007 that Chuck, one of the first primetime shows I started watching from the beginning would last 5 seasons, I wouldn't have been surprised. I didn't know better. But now that I do know better, I'm amazed this show has lasted as long as it has. By my count, the show has done about 5 different episodes that were designed to be series finales if the show got cancelled. And it seemed really likely that Chuck was a goner last season. But here it is, back for the final(?) time: the fifth chapter of the regular guy turned superspy.
Except this time around, things are a little different. Chuck and company no longer work for the government, thanks to the enigmatic Clyde Decker, and have started a freelance spy company with the fortune they were given by Hartley Winterbottom after he was freed from being stuck in the identity of criminal mastermind, Alexi Volkoff. Chuck also no longer has the Intersect, as Clyde has taken it from him, but he and Sarah are married. Chuck has also bought the Buy More, as a front for his spy business. Ellie is fully aware of Chuck's spy activities and is supportive. And Morgan has accidentally become the new Intersect, after putting on sunglasses that General Beckman had sent to Chuck. It's a bold new status quo and it opens up plenty of exciting possibilities for the final season. And judging by this premiere episode, we're in for a great conclusion.
We open with the members of Carmichael Industries in the midst of a mission: getting a rare vase and microchip from a bad guy played by Mark Hamill, of Star Wars fame. This scene shows where everyone is at and also shows that Chuck and company are still "working out the kinks" of their new business, including their new intersect. Morgan is a much different breed of intersect than Chuck, being more wanting to get into action than Chuck was at first, and less in control of his skills. He also prefers calling his flashes "Zoom's", hence the title of the episode. We don't see much of Morgan in action this episode, but when we do, we see that even with "kinks" to still work out, he's adjusting pretty good.
Not adjusting as good is Chuck, who is missing the intersect and is unsure of his role on this new team, now that he's ordinary again. Even though he's miles away from season 1 Chuck, he still feels inferior on a team with two superspies and an intersect. And much of his emotional arc for this episode has him figuring out who he is on this team: the leader. Before we can get to that point though, he has to be a masseuse on a mission for the bad guy's bodyguard, and step in to save the day on the main mission involving getting money back from a Ponzi-esque villain when Clyde Decker returns to freeze the bad guy's accounts, even though this will expose Chuck's team. This climax- where Chuck uses his brains to work out a plan to get his team out and insist that they leave him, before revealing that he's left his team a message insisting they not leave him and maneuvering them into a position where they can catch him as he causes a distraction, makes a run for it and jumps out a window- works beautifully and is easily the best part of the episode. Not just because it's awesome, but because it confirms what Ellie said and what we knew all along. The intersect
Meanwhile, Chuck is also trying to find a dream home for him and Sarah, without Sarah finding out. This "mission" (Operation: Toes In The Sand. You figure out the acronym.) doesn't go so well for the secrecy part, since Sarah is a super spy. But in the end, he does manage to find the perfect place. There's just one problem though: they're broke. You see, they had already used most of their money starting up the company and on various expenses, and because they made a donation to get into the bad guy's party, Clyde Decker was able to freeze all their leftover money. This is a good twist because it gives our heroes another factor to deal with, plus it makes the Buy More relevant again.
Because, honestly the show should've gotten rid of the Buy More a long time ago. It was fine for the first two seasons and even for the first 13 episodes of season 3, but after they blew it up at the end of season 3, they should've kept it that way. Rebuilding it as a CIA base in season 4 did practically nothing for the show. The Jeff and Lester subplot in this episode was a distraction, but luckily it was short and the conclusion was funny. And since they did keep the thing around, it now provides a source of income for Carmichael Industries. The only problem is Chuck needs to make the store profitable in order for this to happen. This is good for the show and should make for some nice stories going forward. And maybe Chuck and Sarah will even get their dream home someday.
In the meantime, Chuck gets it's final season off to a great start. As sad as I am that this is the final season, I'm grateful that the show has survived this long. And I know that the people behind Chuck can deliver a memorable send-off for the show. Even though I don't think that there's really been some big plan behind the events of the series as the last episode of season 4 and the last scene of this one imply, I for one am looking forward to seeing Chuck face his biggest challenge yet.
Grade: Captain Awesome (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Yeah, I changed the title of the great rating for this show from Totally Awesome to Captain Awesome (who was missing this week.). I felt it fit.
-Morgan's anti-baseball rant was surprisingly timely, considering that Chuck had to go up against game 7 of the world series and nobody saw that coming.
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Parks and Recreation: Meet 'n' Greet
Ever since Tom left the Parks department to form Entertainment 720 with Jean-Ralphio, the audience knew that it wouldn't last forever. The writers found pretty clever ways to keep Tom in the show, but Entertainment 720 had to end eventually. Especially, once we saw the company and how they didn't seem to have any clients or do anything useful. Meet 'n' Greet begins to pave the way for Tom to return by having Entertainment 720 finally go bankrupt. It also used this to create conflict between Tom and Leslie, in another great episode that spotlighted their friendship for the first time in a while, while also continuing the "Leslie for city council storyline" in a good way.
Basically, Leslie has hired Entertainment 720 to put together a meet 'n' greet for local businesses, so she can show she has similar values and get their support, particularly the support of the president of a business that makes rubber nipples. But when Tom gets a mysterious call from Jean-Ralphio (about the bankruptcy of the company, though that part is kept from the audience), suddenly the party seems to be more about Tom's company than Leslie's candidacy. His face and company logo is everywhere, he steers the attention away from Leslie when talking to the business people, and he interrupts her speech to show a video presentation about Entertainment 720, that includes him impersonating Mark Zuckerberg. Leslie is a very patient person, but eventually she has enough and tries to drown Tom in his mobile hot tub (it's built onto a limo). Of course, when she finds out that his company is over, she has much more sympathy for Tom. The final interactions between the two are sweet, especially when Tom shows off the video he had made to promote Leslie's campaign, which moves her to tears. Finding out that Tom bribed the rubber nipple guy into giving Leslie another chance was nice too. I've always liked the Leslie/Tom relationship and I felt it was put to good use here. The episode also did a good job with showing off the many dimensions of Tom's character. As Leslie puts it, "Tom Haverford is a selfish, unctuous, sleazy self-promoting… good-hearted, secretly kind and wonderful, tiny little person." Ain't that the truth.
Meanwhile Ben arrives home to find out that Andy and April are throwing a Halloween party and have neglected to tell him. "I knew I forgot to tell you something", says Andy. Ben isn't happy about this, but since he comes from a family that never says when they're upset and only subtly hints at what's bugging them, pretends not to mind. Andy knows something is up though, in a surprising moment of insight from the character, and after trying to get the information out of Ben by normal methods, he decides to wrestle Ben until he tells him. Ben is resistant to fight back and when he finally does, he accidentally breaks Andy's nose. Andy isn't bothered by this though, and after finally getting Ben to open up and say that he'd like to be treated with respect, (and after Andy tries to get $5200 to record a Mouse Rat album), Andy declares to the nurse that he and Ben are brothers. This was another nice storyline, and I liked the Andy/Ben dynamic.
And lastly, Ron is appalled by the state of the house, and decides to fix everything that is wrong as a late wedding present to April and Andy. Ann decides to help him out, and the two of them begin to develop a nice bond, as they fix things. In the end, Ron even gives Ann the new toolbox he had to get, because of the terrible state of April and Andy's toolbox (it includes a hammer, a baseball card, half a scissor, and a flashlight filled with jellybeans). We also saw more of Chris' relationship with Jerry's daughter Millicent, as he once again unintentionally made Jerry uncomfortable. The best part of this story was the sight gag of April turning around the mouth on Jerry's Mr. Potato Head costume to make a sad face. All in all, Parks and Recreation continues on the stride it's been on for a while now. And that's fine with me.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Leslie: "When in doubt, in Pawnee, slam salad".
-When Ron is in Lowes, he turns down an offer for help with 5 simple words: "I know more than you."
-Best joke of the night. Leslie: “Look, I don't like to throw around the word butthead too often. If you call everybody a butthead, then it kind of loses its impact. But I can say without hesitation that Tom is being a real dick.”
-Chris: “Jerry, I have decided to take your daughter home, and we may be having intercourse.”
Basically, Leslie has hired Entertainment 720 to put together a meet 'n' greet for local businesses, so she can show she has similar values and get their support, particularly the support of the president of a business that makes rubber nipples. But when Tom gets a mysterious call from Jean-Ralphio (about the bankruptcy of the company, though that part is kept from the audience), suddenly the party seems to be more about Tom's company than Leslie's candidacy. His face and company logo is everywhere, he steers the attention away from Leslie when talking to the business people, and he interrupts her speech to show a video presentation about Entertainment 720, that includes him impersonating Mark Zuckerberg. Leslie is a very patient person, but eventually she has enough and tries to drown Tom in his mobile hot tub (it's built onto a limo). Of course, when she finds out that his company is over, she has much more sympathy for Tom. The final interactions between the two are sweet, especially when Tom shows off the video he had made to promote Leslie's campaign, which moves her to tears. Finding out that Tom bribed the rubber nipple guy into giving Leslie another chance was nice too. I've always liked the Leslie/Tom relationship and I felt it was put to good use here. The episode also did a good job with showing off the many dimensions of Tom's character. As Leslie puts it, "Tom Haverford is a selfish, unctuous, sleazy self-promoting… good-hearted, secretly kind and wonderful, tiny little person." Ain't that the truth.
Meanwhile Ben arrives home to find out that Andy and April are throwing a Halloween party and have neglected to tell him. "I knew I forgot to tell you something", says Andy. Ben isn't happy about this, but since he comes from a family that never says when they're upset and only subtly hints at what's bugging them, pretends not to mind. Andy knows something is up though, in a surprising moment of insight from the character, and after trying to get the information out of Ben by normal methods, he decides to wrestle Ben until he tells him. Ben is resistant to fight back and when he finally does, he accidentally breaks Andy's nose. Andy isn't bothered by this though, and after finally getting Ben to open up and say that he'd like to be treated with respect, (and after Andy tries to get $5200 to record a Mouse Rat album), Andy declares to the nurse that he and Ben are brothers. This was another nice storyline, and I liked the Andy/Ben dynamic.
And lastly, Ron is appalled by the state of the house, and decides to fix everything that is wrong as a late wedding present to April and Andy. Ann decides to help him out, and the two of them begin to develop a nice bond, as they fix things. In the end, Ron even gives Ann the new toolbox he had to get, because of the terrible state of April and Andy's toolbox (it includes a hammer, a baseball card, half a scissor, and a flashlight filled with jellybeans). We also saw more of Chris' relationship with Jerry's daughter Millicent, as he once again unintentionally made Jerry uncomfortable. The best part of this story was the sight gag of April turning around the mouth on Jerry's Mr. Potato Head costume to make a sad face. All in all, Parks and Recreation continues on the stride it's been on for a while now. And that's fine with me.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Leslie: "When in doubt, in Pawnee, slam salad".
-When Ron is in Lowes, he turns down an offer for help with 5 simple words: "I know more than you."
-Best joke of the night. Leslie: “Look, I don't like to throw around the word butthead too often. If you call everybody a butthead, then it kind of loses its impact. But I can say without hesitation that Tom is being a real dick.”
-Chris: “Jerry, I have decided to take your daughter home, and we may be having intercourse.”
Friday, 28 October 2011
Community: Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps
After Remedial Chaos Theory, I finally forced myself to confront the fact that my levels of enjoyment with Community had reached how I feel about Arrested Development. It was one of the toughest things I've ever had to do, but I'm glad I did it because it actually helps me enjoy Community more. Moving on, last night was the third Halloween episode Community has done and it had a tough act to follow. Not only was it coming right after one of the best episodes the show has ever done (which was aired out of order, hence the similar story structure), but the previous Halloween episode Epidemiology is one of my personal favorite episodes so it had to prove to be a worthy successor to that one also. Luckily, Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps was more than up to the task.
Much like Remedial Chaos Theory, the episode uses a simple set-up to set-up several segments, which show us how each character views themselves and sometimes, each other. In this case, Britta has found out through the psych tests she recently had the gang fill out, that one of them has homicidal tendencies and plans to figure out which one by telling a scary story and seeing how they react. But her story is lame (it is Britta, after all) and everyone else starts telling scary stories. The horror anthology episode is something that The Simpsons perfected eons ago, but Community does it differently, by using each story to highlight things about each character.
So Abed's story is super logical and full of a smart hero (him) making wise choices, Annie's story has is full of lust between her and Jeff, Troy's story is full of things he thinks is awesome, Pierce's is racist, and features him as a well-endowed, well-loved-by-ladies character named Magnum, Shirley's is holier-than-thou, and is about the rapture, and Jeff's is just a half-baked excuse to try to calm everyone down once they know there may be a maniac amongst them. They all fit in with what we know about the characters, and they're all funny, filled with plenty of gags. My favorite story is probably Abed's, which is so logical it loses any tension, but Pierce's delusion, which isn't even horror-themed, is a close second, mainly for the reactions after his story (Jeff: "...What... in the hell... was that?"). I also really enjoyed the ultra-violent ending of Annie's story, where she turns out to be a werewolf and we see her describe in great detail to the group how she rips Jeff apart.
The episode even had a great triple twist ending. First we find that Jeff filled out the test at random, so his is probably the homicidal one. Then we find out that Britta britta'd (a verb the group uses when someone screws up, though Britta tries to unemphasize the magnitude of the mistake it takes to consistute a Britta) the tests by running them through the scanner wrong. And lastly, after the tests are computed properly, it turns out that everyone in the group but one person is crazy. They decide not to figure out who the sane one is, but the audience gets to learn that Abed is the only sane one in the group. That figures. All in all, this was another great episode of Community. It wasn't Remedial Chaos Theory amazing, but it was still a great episode, with lots of great moments. It just goes to show that Community knows how to do a Halloween show.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Financial Problems at Greendale: The Dean claims that he rigged the lights to flicker for "Halloween week". When Jeff asks if the lights will work come November 1st, the Dean simply says: "All Saints Day Month".
-Troy: "I heard the dean got taco meat from the army!" If the rest of the night after they went to the real party and the episode ended became Epidemiology all over again, that'd be awesome.
-Britta's narration was clear throughout her entire story. "An escaped mental patient has escaped."
-"Here we are. A log cabin I rented so we could be intimate in safety. Because it's not the fifties, so we don't have to neck in a car at inspiration point". I loved Abed's story, again.
-Britta in Abed's story: "I'm turned on by how logical you are." Abed: "I'm comforted by your shiny hair and facial symmetry."
-Because it doesn't make sense that they would turn on the radio and immediately hear important news, Abed hums a song for several seconds.
-Jeff in Shirley's story: "Oh man, my drugs are wearing off. Who's got more?" Cut to Britta with a big jar labeled Weed saying "Here you go baby".
-Britta doesn't care about the plagues because she lived in New York.
-"Troy and Abed sown together!"
Much like Remedial Chaos Theory, the episode uses a simple set-up to set-up several segments, which show us how each character views themselves and sometimes, each other. In this case, Britta has found out through the psych tests she recently had the gang fill out, that one of them has homicidal tendencies and plans to figure out which one by telling a scary story and seeing how they react. But her story is lame (it is Britta, after all) and everyone else starts telling scary stories. The horror anthology episode is something that The Simpsons perfected eons ago, but Community does it differently, by using each story to highlight things about each character.
So Abed's story is super logical and full of a smart hero (him) making wise choices, Annie's story has is full of lust between her and Jeff, Troy's story is full of things he thinks is awesome, Pierce's is racist, and features him as a well-endowed, well-loved-by-ladies character named Magnum, Shirley's is holier-than-thou, and is about the rapture, and Jeff's is just a half-baked excuse to try to calm everyone down once they know there may be a maniac amongst them. They all fit in with what we know about the characters, and they're all funny, filled with plenty of gags. My favorite story is probably Abed's, which is so logical it loses any tension, but Pierce's delusion, which isn't even horror-themed, is a close second, mainly for the reactions after his story (Jeff: "...What... in the hell... was that?"). I also really enjoyed the ultra-violent ending of Annie's story, where she turns out to be a werewolf and we see her describe in great detail to the group how she rips Jeff apart.
The episode even had a great triple twist ending. First we find that Jeff filled out the test at random, so his is probably the homicidal one. Then we find out that Britta britta'd (a verb the group uses when someone screws up, though Britta tries to unemphasize the magnitude of the mistake it takes to consistute a Britta) the tests by running them through the scanner wrong. And lastly, after the tests are computed properly, it turns out that everyone in the group but one person is crazy. They decide not to figure out who the sane one is, but the audience gets to learn that Abed is the only sane one in the group. That figures. All in all, this was another great episode of Community. It wasn't Remedial Chaos Theory amazing, but it was still a great episode, with lots of great moments. It just goes to show that Community knows how to do a Halloween show.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Financial Problems at Greendale: The Dean claims that he rigged the lights to flicker for "Halloween week". When Jeff asks if the lights will work come November 1st, the Dean simply says: "All Saints Day Month".
-Troy: "I heard the dean got taco meat from the army!" If the rest of the night after they went to the real party and the episode ended became Epidemiology all over again, that'd be awesome.
-Britta's narration was clear throughout her entire story. "An escaped mental patient has escaped."
-"Here we are. A log cabin I rented so we could be intimate in safety. Because it's not the fifties, so we don't have to neck in a car at inspiration point". I loved Abed's story, again.
-Britta in Abed's story: "I'm turned on by how logical you are." Abed: "I'm comforted by your shiny hair and facial symmetry."
-Because it doesn't make sense that they would turn on the radio and immediately hear important news, Abed hums a song for several seconds.
-Jeff in Shirley's story: "Oh man, my drugs are wearing off. Who's got more?" Cut to Britta with a big jar labeled Weed saying "Here you go baby".
-Britta doesn't care about the plagues because she lived in New York.
-"Troy and Abed sown together!"
The Office: Spooked
Fact. in eight seasons, The Office has only done 3 actual Halloween episodes, including Spooked. Season 5 and 6 had cold opens set on Halloween (Though the season 6 one was removed from the DVD for some reason, probably because the main joke involving Michael pretending to hang himself to teach kids that suicide isn't the answer could offend some.) but only season 2, 7, and now 8 have done full-fledged Halloween episodes. Apparently, Halloween just doesn't provide as much material for Office as Christmas does (The only season they haven't done Christmas episodes were the 6-episode season 1 and the writers-strike shortened season 4. And they had an episode planned for season 4). But when we do get a Halloween episode, it's usually a treat. Like this episode was.
Continuing this seasons trend of focusing more on different members of the ensemble, instead of solely focusing on the boss, this episode was Erin-centric as she tried to figure out why Andy has been more distant towards her, while hoping to impress him with the Halloween party, which she's been put in charge of planning. But Andy panics when he finds that Robert California will be in attendance, and after a first impression, that doesn't seem that positive, Andy asks for something more adult. Erin is worried that Andy is about to fire her. So Erin goes to Gabe, and the results are... unsettling. Hilariously unsettling. Especially when Gabe shows off his weird horror film, that shows that he somehow got into Stanley's car at some point. After Erin's last ditch effort at an "adult" party involves very adult playing cards, Andy reveals the true reason he's been distant from Erin: he has been dating someone. For a while actually. This is a surprising revelation, but it fits and Andy and Erin have a nice reconciliation scene afterwards that we see but don't hear. I've always liked Erin, ever since her debut, and her earnestness and naivety made this storyline work well. I also like that the writers have made Gabe's creepiness funny again.
But the real star of the show, was Robert California who we see throught the episode interacting with the various members of The Office, and figuring out their deepest fears for a reason that is kept unclear until the climax. Some fears are obvious (Kelly's fear of dying alone.). Others are less so (Kevin is terrified when he realizes Mummy's exist and Meredith is creeped out by Jim.). But he slowly learns them all, and proceeds to tell a ghost story that encompasses each and every one. It doesn't make much sense when you really think about it, but it disconcerts everyone in the office except for his 11-year-old son Bert, who I hope we see more of, as I enjoyed his interactions with Dwight. He also provides the closing montage with some interesting poetic waxing on fear and how we let it influence our lives.
The rest of the episode was an assortment of things that were pretty hit or miss. I enjoyed Dwight's interactions with Bert (and the montage of all his Halloween costumes that have been rejected for including weapons was classic.). I didn't get as much out of Jim and Pam debating the existence of ghosts, which just seemed in there to give them something to do (though I loved Pam's Kangaroo costume. Jim wearing a basketball jersey with Kevin and Daryll was OK, but I kind of wish that the writers would come up with a way to top "Bookface."). All in all, this episode of The Office was indeed a treat in an eighth season that continues to show that this show still has legs.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Meredith was in England for the royal wedding, skipping her sister's funeral. I can accept that.
- Toby: "Every Halloween I tell him the same thing; you can't bring weapons into the office, and every year he says the same thing; as soon as I get my weapons back I'm gonna kill you".
- Erin: "Pam, how would you rate me as a receptionist on a scale of 1 to 3" Pam: "Umm, Two?" Erin: "That's like the second-last thing I wanted to hear."
-Robert: "Everyone, this is Bert, my son. Bert, this is... a paper company".
-The skeleton crew dance was pretty funny, especially when we find out that Gabe just invited himself to be part of it.
-Kevin: "Why on earth would a MUSEUM put a MUMMY in it?!"
-Erin: “Get out of here, little kid party. Nobody likes you. And clean up your room. Grown-ups are going to use it later.”
-Phyllis: “Is she Asian?" Erin: "I don’t know, she’s from somewhere I bet.”
-Creed: "You don't live as long as I have without a healthy fear of snakes, Bobby."
-Robert: "I'm never uncomfortable".
Continuing this seasons trend of focusing more on different members of the ensemble, instead of solely focusing on the boss, this episode was Erin-centric as she tried to figure out why Andy has been more distant towards her, while hoping to impress him with the Halloween party, which she's been put in charge of planning. But Andy panics when he finds that Robert California will be in attendance, and after a first impression, that doesn't seem that positive, Andy asks for something more adult. Erin is worried that Andy is about to fire her. So Erin goes to Gabe, and the results are... unsettling. Hilariously unsettling. Especially when Gabe shows off his weird horror film, that shows that he somehow got into Stanley's car at some point. After Erin's last ditch effort at an "adult" party involves very adult playing cards, Andy reveals the true reason he's been distant from Erin: he has been dating someone. For a while actually. This is a surprising revelation, but it fits and Andy and Erin have a nice reconciliation scene afterwards that we see but don't hear. I've always liked Erin, ever since her debut, and her earnestness and naivety made this storyline work well. I also like that the writers have made Gabe's creepiness funny again.
But the real star of the show, was Robert California who we see throught the episode interacting with the various members of The Office, and figuring out their deepest fears for a reason that is kept unclear until the climax. Some fears are obvious (Kelly's fear of dying alone.). Others are less so (Kevin is terrified when he realizes Mummy's exist and Meredith is creeped out by Jim.). But he slowly learns them all, and proceeds to tell a ghost story that encompasses each and every one. It doesn't make much sense when you really think about it, but it disconcerts everyone in the office except for his 11-year-old son Bert, who I hope we see more of, as I enjoyed his interactions with Dwight. He also provides the closing montage with some interesting poetic waxing on fear and how we let it influence our lives.
The rest of the episode was an assortment of things that were pretty hit or miss. I enjoyed Dwight's interactions with Bert (and the montage of all his Halloween costumes that have been rejected for including weapons was classic.). I didn't get as much out of Jim and Pam debating the existence of ghosts, which just seemed in there to give them something to do (though I loved Pam's Kangaroo costume. Jim wearing a basketball jersey with Kevin and Daryll was OK, but I kind of wish that the writers would come up with a way to top "Bookface."). All in all, this episode of The Office was indeed a treat in an eighth season that continues to show that this show still has legs.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Meredith was in England for the royal wedding, skipping her sister's funeral. I can accept that.
- Toby: "Every Halloween I tell him the same thing; you can't bring weapons into the office, and every year he says the same thing; as soon as I get my weapons back I'm gonna kill you".
- Erin: "Pam, how would you rate me as a receptionist on a scale of 1 to 3" Pam: "Umm, Two?" Erin: "That's like the second-last thing I wanted to hear."
-Robert: "Everyone, this is Bert, my son. Bert, this is... a paper company".
-The skeleton crew dance was pretty funny, especially when we find out that Gabe just invited himself to be part of it.
-Kevin: "Why on earth would a MUSEUM put a MUMMY in it?!"
-Erin: “Get out of here, little kid party. Nobody likes you. And clean up your room. Grown-ups are going to use it later.”
-Phyllis: “Is she Asian?" Erin: "I don’t know, she’s from somewhere I bet.”
-Creed: "You don't live as long as I have without a healthy fear of snakes, Bobby."
-Robert: "I'm never uncomfortable".
Thursday, 27 October 2011
5 Things I Enjoyed About Survivor: South Pacific: Trojan Horse
Ok so the title is a bit incorrect. In this installment, I'll be listing 4 things I enjoyed about an episode I honestly enjoyed a lot, as well as the one thing I didn't really enjoy, but was memorable enough to list (It involves Adam Sandler).
1. God Helps Upolu Find The Already Found Idol: After last weeks decision to vote out Mikayla (who lost her duel to Christine, who more than ever has become a real force in this game.), Upolu tribe needs to be restengthened. And with Brandon letting Edna and Rick onto the clue he found for the idol, Coach, Albert and Sophie execute a ruse where they get the whole tribe to hunt for the idol and refind it so Brandon doesn't realize they had the thing all along. The best part? Coach gets the whole tribe to pray that they find the idol even though he already has it. So when they "find" it, it's proof for Brandon that God is with the tribe. Man, I love this show.
2. Blindfolded, Dressed to Match, and Promoting Adam Sandler: The Immunity/reward challenge was sponsored by the people behind Adam Sandler's upcoming movie Jack and Jill. Now I'll talk more about the reward in a second, but I really enjoyed the challenge. Basically, the tribes had to pair up and dress up like twins (an important element in Jack and Jill), then go blindfolded through an obstacle course, getting puzzle bags, bumping into things and solving the puzzle. So it's really entertaining to watch, especially with the twin element (Brandon and Albert dawn fake bikini tops and Sophie gets a beardline among other things.). It also has Cochran making a major mistake, hooking in Ozzy and Dawn to their harness thing wrong, which costs Savii the challenge. Coach getting his tribe on their knees to pray thanks while Ozzy kicks a wall: classic.
3. One Thing I Dislike: I'm not a big Adam Sandler fan. His movies are pretty hit and miss for me. Especially his more recent movies. And Jack and Jill just doesn't look good. The clips of it we saw while Upolu got to eat delicious movie food didn't appeal to me whatsoever. Much of Upolu Tribe seemed to enjoy the movie and that's good for them. If I was out surviving in the wilderness for half a month and got to take a break and see a movie, I'd probably enjoy it too, even if it was that one. But that wasn't the case so I just didn't enjoy this instance of product placement. Luckily the rest of the episode made up for this one not-so-great part.
4. Shall Savii Send The Court Jester?: Earlier in the episode, we see Ozzy tell Cochran that if Savii loses the challenge, he will volunteer to be voted out in order to try to send Christine home and even the odds assuming the merge is next. But after Cochran costs his team the challenge, it looks like the whole tribe is in agreement that Cochran has to go and try to redeem himself. They even have a real encouraging attitude about it. It'll take Ozzy having some sort of crazy dream to save Cochran now!
5. Ozzy Has A Crazy Dream. His Plan is Back On: So Ozzy decides that he needs redemption and he wants to go through with this after all. His tribe is not entirely onboard with the idea, but they all vote for him anyways and after giving Cochran his idol, Ozzy sets off to meet Christine. However, as Jeff points out at tribal, this entire plan is based on the idea that the merge is going to happen the next day and that the redemption island champ will return right away. Also they're assuming that Ozzy will be able to beat Christine. Savii is seriously tempting fate and if they're wrong, and they voted out their strongest player only to face another challenge before the merge, they're screwed. Boy, next weeks episode is going to be sweet.
1. God Helps Upolu Find The Already Found Idol: After last weeks decision to vote out Mikayla (who lost her duel to Christine, who more than ever has become a real force in this game.), Upolu tribe needs to be restengthened. And with Brandon letting Edna and Rick onto the clue he found for the idol, Coach, Albert and Sophie execute a ruse where they get the whole tribe to hunt for the idol and refind it so Brandon doesn't realize they had the thing all along. The best part? Coach gets the whole tribe to pray that they find the idol even though he already has it. So when they "find" it, it's proof for Brandon that God is with the tribe. Man, I love this show.
2. Blindfolded, Dressed to Match, and Promoting Adam Sandler: The Immunity/reward challenge was sponsored by the people behind Adam Sandler's upcoming movie Jack and Jill. Now I'll talk more about the reward in a second, but I really enjoyed the challenge. Basically, the tribes had to pair up and dress up like twins (an important element in Jack and Jill), then go blindfolded through an obstacle course, getting puzzle bags, bumping into things and solving the puzzle. So it's really entertaining to watch, especially with the twin element (Brandon and Albert dawn fake bikini tops and Sophie gets a beardline among other things.). It also has Cochran making a major mistake, hooking in Ozzy and Dawn to their harness thing wrong, which costs Savii the challenge. Coach getting his tribe on their knees to pray thanks while Ozzy kicks a wall: classic.
3. One Thing I Dislike: I'm not a big Adam Sandler fan. His movies are pretty hit and miss for me. Especially his more recent movies. And Jack and Jill just doesn't look good. The clips of it we saw while Upolu got to eat delicious movie food didn't appeal to me whatsoever. Much of Upolu Tribe seemed to enjoy the movie and that's good for them. If I was out surviving in the wilderness for half a month and got to take a break and see a movie, I'd probably enjoy it too, even if it was that one. But that wasn't the case so I just didn't enjoy this instance of product placement. Luckily the rest of the episode made up for this one not-so-great part.
4. Shall Savii Send The Court Jester?: Earlier in the episode, we see Ozzy tell Cochran that if Savii loses the challenge, he will volunteer to be voted out in order to try to send Christine home and even the odds assuming the merge is next. But after Cochran costs his team the challenge, it looks like the whole tribe is in agreement that Cochran has to go and try to redeem himself. They even have a real encouraging attitude about it. It'll take Ozzy having some sort of crazy dream to save Cochran now!
5. Ozzy Has A Crazy Dream. His Plan is Back On: So Ozzy decides that he needs redemption and he wants to go through with this after all. His tribe is not entirely onboard with the idea, but they all vote for him anyways and after giving Cochran his idol, Ozzy sets off to meet Christine. However, as Jeff points out at tribal, this entire plan is based on the idea that the merge is going to happen the next day and that the redemption island champ will return right away. Also they're assuming that Ozzy will be able to beat Christine. Savii is seriously tempting fate and if they're wrong, and they voted out their strongest player only to face another challenge before the merge, they're screwed. Boy, next weeks episode is going to be sweet.
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
How I Met Your Mother: Noretta
How I Met Your Mother uses a lot of gimmicks. It's just that kind of the show. Lots of them work and some don't work. Last night's gimmick of the gang (mainly Lily and Marshall) envisioning each other as their parents was... well pretty creepy. But other than that the episode worked pretty well, with more on Barney's relationship with Norah, plus more on the idea that Ted and Robin are too close (plus a Weird Al cameo!).
We also briefly saw Barney's black brother James, who appears at the beginning of the episode to both set up a joke that the booth is too crowded with the gang, Norah, Kevin, and now James all at the same place and also to set up the main idea with the episode: the people we end up with tend to be like our parents. See, James was bothered by some of Norah's mannerisms, which were similar to his and Barney's mother, Loretta. Kevin points out that this is actually a common thing in relationships. Meanwhile Lily is feeling unsexy and Marshall is trying to turn that around. But when his idea to fix this is a board game, Lily can't help but picture her father trying to seduce her. And while Marshall assures her that the theory is crazy as she is nothing like his mother, he later realizes that she's kind of like his father. Creepy images. Creepy images.
Meanwhile in a much less creepy story, Barney is going skating with Norah, and it looks like they're finally going to take their relationship to the next level. But a bunch of comic misfortunes keep getting in the way and ruining the mood. First Norah breaks a tooth during ice skating. Then, after Barney takes her to an all-night dentist he knows, a rat climbs into her hair. Then after getting back to his apartment, where they take in the view with champagne, they see a suicide jumper. Of course Barney is still determined to turn things around and it looks like it's working, but then he notices Norah is like his mother without even hearing Kevin's theory. He still sleeps with her. He just doesn't look at her face. Oh Barney.
And in the third story, Kevin is getting bothered by how close Robin and Ted seem to be. Robin insists it's because Ted is lonely and in a fragile state, but after Ted interrupts their alone time to get them to watch a coin collecting documentary, gets Robin to give him a massage and invites her to a concert, Kevin can't take it anymore and confronts them on their closeness. Of course, it turns out that Robin is not the first person Ted has asked to come to this concert (It's a Weird Al Yankovic concert.). In fact, he's asked pretty much everyone he knows, including some people he doesn't really know before asking Robin and Robin is probably going to bail on him too. He really is a fragile, lonely guy. So Kevin pretends he's a big Weird Al fan and agrees to go to the concert with Ted, even though he has to put up with Ted referencing many of Weird Al's songs.
So all in all, despite the creepiness of the whole "getting romantically close with your parents" image, this episode works pretty well. It's not perfect, but it's solid and should be enough to hold me over until the long-awaited arrival of the Slutty Pumpkin next week.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-Ted complains that Kevin was standing in the apartment in his boxers. Turns out that was just because Kevin was shocked that Ted was walking through the apartment in only a bathrobe and spilled coffee on his pants.
-Apparently in the HIMYMverse, Ted gave "Weird Al" the idea for Like A Surgeon in a letter. This is shown in a great flashback to 1985, with "Weird Al" himself appearing. I love "Weird Al" so this appearance was more than welcome.
We also briefly saw Barney's black brother James, who appears at the beginning of the episode to both set up a joke that the booth is too crowded with the gang, Norah, Kevin, and now James all at the same place and also to set up the main idea with the episode: the people we end up with tend to be like our parents. See, James was bothered by some of Norah's mannerisms, which were similar to his and Barney's mother, Loretta. Kevin points out that this is actually a common thing in relationships. Meanwhile Lily is feeling unsexy and Marshall is trying to turn that around. But when his idea to fix this is a board game, Lily can't help but picture her father trying to seduce her. And while Marshall assures her that the theory is crazy as she is nothing like his mother, he later realizes that she's kind of like his father. Creepy images. Creepy images.
Meanwhile in a much less creepy story, Barney is going skating with Norah, and it looks like they're finally going to take their relationship to the next level. But a bunch of comic misfortunes keep getting in the way and ruining the mood. First Norah breaks a tooth during ice skating. Then, after Barney takes her to an all-night dentist he knows, a rat climbs into her hair. Then after getting back to his apartment, where they take in the view with champagne, they see a suicide jumper. Of course Barney is still determined to turn things around and it looks like it's working, but then he notices Norah is like his mother without even hearing Kevin's theory. He still sleeps with her. He just doesn't look at her face. Oh Barney.
And in the third story, Kevin is getting bothered by how close Robin and Ted seem to be. Robin insists it's because Ted is lonely and in a fragile state, but after Ted interrupts their alone time to get them to watch a coin collecting documentary, gets Robin to give him a massage and invites her to a concert, Kevin can't take it anymore and confronts them on their closeness. Of course, it turns out that Robin is not the first person Ted has asked to come to this concert (It's a Weird Al Yankovic concert.). In fact, he's asked pretty much everyone he knows, including some people he doesn't really know before asking Robin and Robin is probably going to bail on him too. He really is a fragile, lonely guy. So Kevin pretends he's a big Weird Al fan and agrees to go to the concert with Ted, even though he has to put up with Ted referencing many of Weird Al's songs.
So all in all, despite the creepiness of the whole "getting romantically close with your parents" image, this episode works pretty well. It's not perfect, but it's solid and should be enough to hold me over until the long-awaited arrival of the Slutty Pumpkin next week.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-Ted complains that Kevin was standing in the apartment in his boxers. Turns out that was just because Kevin was shocked that Ted was walking through the apartment in only a bathrobe and spilled coffee on his pants.
-Apparently in the HIMYMverse, Ted gave "Weird Al" the idea for Like A Surgeon in a letter. This is shown in a great flashback to 1985, with "Weird Al" himself appearing. I love "Weird Al" so this appearance was more than welcome.
Friday, 21 October 2011
5 Things I Enjoyed About Survivor: South Pacific: Free Agent
Boy, plenty of memorable moments last night in another solid episode of Survivor: South Pacific. I'm actually enjoying this a lot more than Redemption Island and I enjoyed Redemption Island a lot. But if I can only pick 5 things, here's what I enjoyed the most about last night in (mostly) chronological order:
1. Ozzy Has A Tantrum: Ozzy is really ticked off that his closest ally has been voted off and in the aftermath, gets mad at Keith and Whitney for keeping this from him, declares himself a free agent, and then reveals he has the idol. And it takes him until after the duel at Redemption for him to realize that he's made a big mistake, and rebuild his alliance with Keith. His tantrum also gives Cochran the opportunity to call Ozzy a "little bitch", which is really funny.
2. Brandon's Idol Hunt: Brandon finds a clue to the hidden immunity idol, but unbeknownst to him, Coach already has the idol. So he tries to get Coach and Albert to help find it. Of course they just watch him go and decide not to tell him, because of how emotionally unstable he is. Classic.
3. Christine Knows How to Take Encouragement... Not: During the Redemption Island duel of Christine vs. Elyse (Christine won, again), Rick shouts some encouraging words. She responds by subtly flipping the bird at him. This is really funny, but it also shows that Christine coming back from Redemption Island is bad news for her former tribe.
4. Loyalty vs. Strength: After Upolu loses the immunity challenge, Coach wants Mikayla gone, because she sucked at the challenge and didn't listen to his instructions. Plus he believes Edna will do anything he asks. Albert and Sophie think Edna should be gone though, because she isn't that strong and since the next challenge is likely to be the last one until the merge, they need the power that Mikayla brings. Brandon is with Coach, because they made a promise to Edna (even though he knows Edna SHOULD be going). The only undecided factor is Rick, who gets more screentime and dialogue this episode than he ever has. Ultimately he chooses loyalty though and Mikayla is voted out, but not before...
5. Brandon Has Another Tribal Council Episode: Man, Brandon is insane. He wanted to show another side of the Hantz family and he has done that, but it's not necessarily a positive side. His speech about how half a lie is still a lie and how people also think a bit of drugs or alcohol is OK, but it isn't was crazy. I found it really funny, but it was still crazy. Maybe Upolu should finally start thinking about sending him to redemption.
Well that's it for now. Next opinion will be for HIMYM I think. It might change, but probably not.
1. Ozzy Has A Tantrum: Ozzy is really ticked off that his closest ally has been voted off and in the aftermath, gets mad at Keith and Whitney for keeping this from him, declares himself a free agent, and then reveals he has the idol. And it takes him until after the duel at Redemption for him to realize that he's made a big mistake, and rebuild his alliance with Keith. His tantrum also gives Cochran the opportunity to call Ozzy a "little bitch", which is really funny.
2. Brandon's Idol Hunt: Brandon finds a clue to the hidden immunity idol, but unbeknownst to him, Coach already has the idol. So he tries to get Coach and Albert to help find it. Of course they just watch him go and decide not to tell him, because of how emotionally unstable he is. Classic.
3. Christine Knows How to Take Encouragement... Not: During the Redemption Island duel of Christine vs. Elyse (Christine won, again), Rick shouts some encouraging words. She responds by subtly flipping the bird at him. This is really funny, but it also shows that Christine coming back from Redemption Island is bad news for her former tribe.
4. Loyalty vs. Strength: After Upolu loses the immunity challenge, Coach wants Mikayla gone, because she sucked at the challenge and didn't listen to his instructions. Plus he believes Edna will do anything he asks. Albert and Sophie think Edna should be gone though, because she isn't that strong and since the next challenge is likely to be the last one until the merge, they need the power that Mikayla brings. Brandon is with Coach, because they made a promise to Edna (even though he knows Edna SHOULD be going). The only undecided factor is Rick, who gets more screentime and dialogue this episode than he ever has. Ultimately he chooses loyalty though and Mikayla is voted out, but not before...
5. Brandon Has Another Tribal Council Episode: Man, Brandon is insane. He wanted to show another side of the Hantz family and he has done that, but it's not necessarily a positive side. His speech about how half a lie is still a lie and how people also think a bit of drugs or alcohol is OK, but it isn't was crazy. I found it really funny, but it was still crazy. Maybe Upolu should finally start thinking about sending him to redemption.
Well that's it for now. Next opinion will be for HIMYM I think. It might change, but probably not.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Modern Family: Go Bullfrogs!
So I didn't have time to talk about Modern Family last week, but I enjoyed it. This time, with lots of shows not being on this week, I have plenty of time to talk about Go Bullfrogs!, which I also enjoyed, even without Luke who was at a sleepover this week.
The episode did have plenty of Phil though, as he takes Hayley on a tour of his old college. Phil and Hayley alone is not a pairing you see often and it worked well here, as Phil let Hayley go off to a party with kids her own age, only to panic when he learned through GPS tracking that she was at a frat house. Of course the party is completely safe, as Hayley's drinking ginger ale and talking to a boy that Phil used to coach in T-Ball, as his dad watches on. So Hayley is of course, really embarassed, but after a heart-to-heart, where Phil says that he just wants to keep his daughter safe for as long as possible and Hayley points out that he won't be able to do that once she's in college, before forgiving him for his sweetness. Then they slide down the hill on lunch trays. Aww. The story had plenty of comedic moments too, like Phil mistakening someone blocking the sun with his hand as an offer for a high five or chilling with undergrads in the bar.
Meanwhile, with a rare night alone, Claire decides to go out with Mitchell, Cam and some of their gay friends instead of watching Gone With the Wind with the other moms. But when most of them cut out, she winds up spending most of her time with a man who turns out to be anything but gay (though he is french.), much to her shock. She also winds up embarassing herself in front of the other moms, who now think she hasn't changed since high school. This wasn't the best story, but it was pretty entertaining, as was Mitchell and Cam realizing that they took the wrong car from the valet and it seems to belong to someone who has a much more exciting life than they do. Of course, the owner of the car also has a scorned wife who beats up the car with a golf club, not knowing who's in it.
And in a final story, Gloria and Jay are settled down to watch a columbian soap opera, but Gloria is distracted because Manny has gotten a mysterious package. The funniest part of the story is realizing just how engrossed with this soap opera Jay really is, to the point that when he has to go check on Manny, he calls the housekeeper to find out why one of the characters shot another character. This is a delight and the revelation that Manny had ordered a device from the internet that is supposed to make you taller was great. All in all, this was a solid episode that, while not perfect, delivered on the laughs. And as long as it does that, I won't feel slighted.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-No mention of Claire running for town council, which was introduced last week. That's fine, as this will be the first real story arc (apart from the second adoption thing) the show is tackling and this is a new thing for them.
-Phil corrects Claire's butchering of his high school's team name (They're the bulldogs, but Claire calls them bullfrogs): "When I talk to my old friends from college, do we croak or do we bark?"
-Cam: "I think we're going to head home. Claire: "What? Why? It's 9:30". Mitchell: "It's 9:30?!"
-Foreshadowing. Claire: "Alright ladies. Go home, roll up your hair and clap off the lights because this guy, who I just met, is gonna show me a good time". Mitchell: "If he was straight this would be just like high school".
-Claire: "I just wanted to spend my night with some fun gay people. It's not my fault this one decided to be straight!"
-Gloria: "I cannot believe he spent 50 dollars on this". Jay: "I know! He could've gotten a two-year subscription to Playboy for that."
-At the end, Cam and Mitchell run into the guy who has their car. When he sees the state his is in, he simply says: "I see you've met my wife."
The episode did have plenty of Phil though, as he takes Hayley on a tour of his old college. Phil and Hayley alone is not a pairing you see often and it worked well here, as Phil let Hayley go off to a party with kids her own age, only to panic when he learned through GPS tracking that she was at a frat house. Of course the party is completely safe, as Hayley's drinking ginger ale and talking to a boy that Phil used to coach in T-Ball, as his dad watches on. So Hayley is of course, really embarassed, but after a heart-to-heart, where Phil says that he just wants to keep his daughter safe for as long as possible and Hayley points out that he won't be able to do that once she's in college, before forgiving him for his sweetness. Then they slide down the hill on lunch trays. Aww. The story had plenty of comedic moments too, like Phil mistakening someone blocking the sun with his hand as an offer for a high five or chilling with undergrads in the bar.
Meanwhile, with a rare night alone, Claire decides to go out with Mitchell, Cam and some of their gay friends instead of watching Gone With the Wind with the other moms. But when most of them cut out, she winds up spending most of her time with a man who turns out to be anything but gay (though he is french.), much to her shock. She also winds up embarassing herself in front of the other moms, who now think she hasn't changed since high school. This wasn't the best story, but it was pretty entertaining, as was Mitchell and Cam realizing that they took the wrong car from the valet and it seems to belong to someone who has a much more exciting life than they do. Of course, the owner of the car also has a scorned wife who beats up the car with a golf club, not knowing who's in it.
And in a final story, Gloria and Jay are settled down to watch a columbian soap opera, but Gloria is distracted because Manny has gotten a mysterious package. The funniest part of the story is realizing just how engrossed with this soap opera Jay really is, to the point that when he has to go check on Manny, he calls the housekeeper to find out why one of the characters shot another character. This is a delight and the revelation that Manny had ordered a device from the internet that is supposed to make you taller was great. All in all, this was a solid episode that, while not perfect, delivered on the laughs. And as long as it does that, I won't feel slighted.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-No mention of Claire running for town council, which was introduced last week. That's fine, as this will be the first real story arc (apart from the second adoption thing) the show is tackling and this is a new thing for them.
-Phil corrects Claire's butchering of his high school's team name (They're the bulldogs, but Claire calls them bullfrogs): "When I talk to my old friends from college, do we croak or do we bark?"
-Cam: "I think we're going to head home. Claire: "What? Why? It's 9:30". Mitchell: "It's 9:30?!"
-Foreshadowing. Claire: "Alright ladies. Go home, roll up your hair and clap off the lights because this guy, who I just met, is gonna show me a good time". Mitchell: "If he was straight this would be just like high school".
-Claire: "I just wanted to spend my night with some fun gay people. It's not my fault this one decided to be straight!"
-Gloria: "I cannot believe he spent 50 dollars on this". Jay: "I know! He could've gotten a two-year subscription to Playboy for that."
-At the end, Cam and Mitchell run into the guy who has their car. When he sees the state his is in, he simply says: "I see you've met my wife."
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
How I Met Your Mother: Mystery Vs. History
Technology has advanced a lot in several years. Seriously. Social Networking, and smart phones and the rise of texting. Even the internet in general. None of this stuff was around/popular in the early 00's. It's crazy. That's why I'm glad that tonight's HIMYM started with a flashback to a similar time: 2005. It also used the information era for one of it's big stories this week, as Ted tried to go on a date with a girl without researching any info about her ahead of time, but Barney and Robin had other ideas. We also saw Marshall and Lily try not to find out the sex of their baby, while Kevin (Robin's therapist boyfriend) couldn't stop himself from looking at the group's serious mental issues. This all led to a solid episode, that was a step up from last weeks.
So Ted meets a girl and decides he wants to go on a date with her, except he doesn't want them to google anything on each other before hand. The girl quickly agrees to this, which concerns Barney and Robin who always do background checks on Ted's dates, ever since accidentally finding out that one used to be morbidly obese. So Ted dates this girl, but can't think of anything to talk about, except menu fonts. Luckily the girl also can't think of anything to talk about. Meanwhile Barney and Robin research the girl anyways and find out something surprising, that they feel Ted should know. Ted attempts to resist, but gives in and finds out that this girl is incredibly smart, wealthy, heroic, and accomplished. The girl realizes Ted looked her up, when he becomes obviously intimidated by her and slowly loses coherent speech. Ted regrets looking and decides from now on, he'd rather have mystery over history.
Meanwhile Marshall and Lily have an envelope with the gender of the baby, but they refuse to open it. So they paint the nursery a gender-neutral yellow (which Lily hates), while Barney pesters them to let him find out the gender of the baby. They eventually cave and let Barney and Robin find out, before deciding they want to know for themselves. But Marshall changes his mind last second and throws the card with the gender on it out the window. That should be the end of that (assuming Barney and Robin never slip up), when the paper gets stuck to Ted's shoe later and the gender is displayed for all to see: Boy.
Between these two plots, we see more of Kevin (Robin's therapist boyfriend), as he gets alarmed with and later points out all of the gang's disturbing mental behaviour (among other things, they're co-dependent, and meddle in each others lives far too much.). He takes on the role of the "Real Person reacting to TV characters", that pops up from time to time in television (Like Frank Grimes on Simpsons. Or Todd on Community a couple weeks back.). The pointing out of the gangs various mental issues is pretty funny, and Kevin is put to good use this week, eventually just muttering some funny asides as Lily says she hates the yellow colour they're using, while he's painting (That's what you want to hear", he deadpans, though he's never told to stop). All in all, this was another solid week of How I Met Your Mother. We didn't get much progress in any of the main storylines (other than the baby's gender of course.), but we had a good time, and that's what matters.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-We get another flashback to Robin's traumatic childhood, as her father drops her in the Canadian wilderness and makes her fight her way back to civilization for 3 days.
-Barney: “They’re six minutes into the date. Ted’s probably already told her that he loves her!”
-One of the gangs issues: Survivor Guilt (Lily watched Survivor without Marshall.)
So Ted meets a girl and decides he wants to go on a date with her, except he doesn't want them to google anything on each other before hand. The girl quickly agrees to this, which concerns Barney and Robin who always do background checks on Ted's dates, ever since accidentally finding out that one used to be morbidly obese. So Ted dates this girl, but can't think of anything to talk about, except menu fonts. Luckily the girl also can't think of anything to talk about. Meanwhile Barney and Robin research the girl anyways and find out something surprising, that they feel Ted should know. Ted attempts to resist, but gives in and finds out that this girl is incredibly smart, wealthy, heroic, and accomplished. The girl realizes Ted looked her up, when he becomes obviously intimidated by her and slowly loses coherent speech. Ted regrets looking and decides from now on, he'd rather have mystery over history.
Meanwhile Marshall and Lily have an envelope with the gender of the baby, but they refuse to open it. So they paint the nursery a gender-neutral yellow (which Lily hates), while Barney pesters them to let him find out the gender of the baby. They eventually cave and let Barney and Robin find out, before deciding they want to know for themselves. But Marshall changes his mind last second and throws the card with the gender on it out the window. That should be the end of that (assuming Barney and Robin never slip up), when the paper gets stuck to Ted's shoe later and the gender is displayed for all to see: Boy.
Between these two plots, we see more of Kevin (Robin's therapist boyfriend), as he gets alarmed with and later points out all of the gang's disturbing mental behaviour (among other things, they're co-dependent, and meddle in each others lives far too much.). He takes on the role of the "Real Person reacting to TV characters", that pops up from time to time in television (Like Frank Grimes on Simpsons. Or Todd on Community a couple weeks back.). The pointing out of the gangs various mental issues is pretty funny, and Kevin is put to good use this week, eventually just muttering some funny asides as Lily says she hates the yellow colour they're using, while he's painting (That's what you want to hear", he deadpans, though he's never told to stop). All in all, this was another solid week of How I Met Your Mother. We didn't get much progress in any of the main storylines (other than the baby's gender of course.), but we had a good time, and that's what matters.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-We get another flashback to Robin's traumatic childhood, as her father drops her in the Canadian wilderness and makes her fight her way back to civilization for 3 days.
-Barney: “They’re six minutes into the date. Ted’s probably already told her that he loves her!”
-One of the gangs issues: Survivor Guilt (Lily watched Survivor without Marshall.)
Terra Nova: The Runaway
After a couple weeks of episodes that mostly expanded on the colony life and the family adjusting, last night's Terra Nova brought the Sixers back into the fold (after a brief appearance at the end of last week) and expanded on the mystery of them, while introducing a new mystery in the box. Add in some mostly solid family stuff, one scene with a dinosaur, and some more info on the differences between how Terra Nova lives and how the Sixers live and you have another solid episode.
Much of the action this week was generated by the arrival of Leah Markos, a little orphan girl who at one time was part of Terra Nova, but has been with the Sixers for some time. After apparently running away, because she wants to go back to the future, she is found in the jungle by some of Taylor's soldiers, and is brought back to Terra Nova, where Elizabeth is able to get her to co-operate. We learn that to the children with the Sixers, Taylor is considered to be "The bad man", but this is to be expected. Leah is sent to live with the Shannons and bonds with the family. But soon, Mira comes knocking, having apparently been tipped off that Leah is in Terra Nova. She captures Washington and another soldier in the jungle, who have been looking for Leah's bag and demands an exchange. When Leah says she'd rather be in the colony, Mira relents, releases the prisoners and leaves, but not before Taylor warns her that the next time she threatens the colony, he'll declare war.
All seems fine and dandy, with Leah remaining with the Shannons for the time being. Then Leah breaks into Mira's old house and steals a mysterious box. Uh oh. Turns out this whole thing was a set-up. But Leah claims she only did it because Mira threatened her younger brother, and a note she left at the Shannons confirms this. So Jim sets out to find the Sixers and get her brother back, only to get caught in a trap and almost chomped on by a dinosaur before the Sixers arrive and take him. This leads to a cryptic encounter with Mira where she tells him that Taylor has ticked off some very powerful people in the future and it's her job to get rid of them. She mentions that if she does her job, she'll get to see her daughter who is back in 2149. So family is being used against her, the same way she used it against Leah. She also hints at the true purpose of Terra Nova, but won't say what it is, when asked directly, because that kind of information is too important to be revealed in episode 5 of a 13 episode season in a non-sweeps month. She only tells him to not end up on the wrong side of history, before letting him and Leah's brother go. So Leah and her brother get adopted and the box is safe for the time being.
There's also a couple plots involving Maddy to fill out the episode. In one, Maddy tries to apprentice as a doctor with her mother, but doesn't have the stomach for prehistoric injuries (and who can blame her, really?). This was amusing, but I'm not sure if it'll come back to affect future storylines. In the other story, Reynolds announces his intentions to court her in a comically awkward manner. This probably will come back in the future, though we'll see if it turns out to be relevant to the actual master plot of the season in an interesting fashion.
All in all, this was another good outing for the show and a step up from the previous weeks installment. Hopefully the mysteries they're setting up will get addressed soon, as I would like to know what's in the box and why Mira needs it. But that's the fun of serialized shows. They always keep you hooked, by withholding answers.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
Dinosaur Scene Count: 1, but it was a gooder.
Best Dinosaur Moment: The dinosaur jumping up to try and get at Jim, but failing and falling on it's back.
-No Skye this week. Assumedly will return next week, as Josh continues his attempt to get his girlfriend back from the future.
-Josh was kind of annoying this week complaining about having to give up his room, but I suppose that's to be expected.
Much of the action this week was generated by the arrival of Leah Markos, a little orphan girl who at one time was part of Terra Nova, but has been with the Sixers for some time. After apparently running away, because she wants to go back to the future, she is found in the jungle by some of Taylor's soldiers, and is brought back to Terra Nova, where Elizabeth is able to get her to co-operate. We learn that to the children with the Sixers, Taylor is considered to be "The bad man", but this is to be expected. Leah is sent to live with the Shannons and bonds with the family. But soon, Mira comes knocking, having apparently been tipped off that Leah is in Terra Nova. She captures Washington and another soldier in the jungle, who have been looking for Leah's bag and demands an exchange. When Leah says she'd rather be in the colony, Mira relents, releases the prisoners and leaves, but not before Taylor warns her that the next time she threatens the colony, he'll declare war.
All seems fine and dandy, with Leah remaining with the Shannons for the time being. Then Leah breaks into Mira's old house and steals a mysterious box. Uh oh. Turns out this whole thing was a set-up. But Leah claims she only did it because Mira threatened her younger brother, and a note she left at the Shannons confirms this. So Jim sets out to find the Sixers and get her brother back, only to get caught in a trap and almost chomped on by a dinosaur before the Sixers arrive and take him. This leads to a cryptic encounter with Mira where she tells him that Taylor has ticked off some very powerful people in the future and it's her job to get rid of them. She mentions that if she does her job, she'll get to see her daughter who is back in 2149. So family is being used against her, the same way she used it against Leah. She also hints at the true purpose of Terra Nova, but won't say what it is, when asked directly, because that kind of information is too important to be revealed in episode 5 of a 13 episode season in a non-sweeps month. She only tells him to not end up on the wrong side of history, before letting him and Leah's brother go. So Leah and her brother get adopted and the box is safe for the time being.
There's also a couple plots involving Maddy to fill out the episode. In one, Maddy tries to apprentice as a doctor with her mother, but doesn't have the stomach for prehistoric injuries (and who can blame her, really?). This was amusing, but I'm not sure if it'll come back to affect future storylines. In the other story, Reynolds announces his intentions to court her in a comically awkward manner. This probably will come back in the future, though we'll see if it turns out to be relevant to the actual master plot of the season in an interesting fashion.
All in all, this was another good outing for the show and a step up from the previous weeks installment. Hopefully the mysteries they're setting up will get addressed soon, as I would like to know what's in the box and why Mira needs it. But that's the fun of serialized shows. They always keep you hooked, by withholding answers.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
Dinosaur Scene Count: 1, but it was a gooder.
Best Dinosaur Moment: The dinosaur jumping up to try and get at Jim, but failing and falling on it's back.
-No Skye this week. Assumedly will return next week, as Josh continues his attempt to get his girlfriend back from the future.
-Josh was kind of annoying this week complaining about having to give up his room, but I suppose that's to be expected.
Monday, 17 October 2011
Community: Remedial Chaos Theory
Life is full of choices and decisions. But sometimes when you have to make a tough choice, you turn to chance. You flip a coin or roll a die. You act based on what chance decides. But what if you made the other choice? Is there an alternate timeline where you made the other choice and something totally different happened. Last Thursday's Community was all about alternate timelines and alternate choices, showing us all the things that could happen, based on a seemingly inconsequential choice: who leaves the group for a minute to get the pizza. And it was also probably one of the best episodes of Community ever (and the first episode I talk about to get a rare perfect rating. But that's getting ahead of myself.).
Remedial Chaos Theory was the first "experimental" episode Community has done this season, but it was also a simple bottle episode and a character study, as we learned new information about most of the characters and saw them relate with each other. It's also an episode that demands multiple viewings in order to catch all the foreshadowing before events happen and all the jokes, background and foreground. Plus you'll probably want to see it again anyways. It's that good.
The episode starts off simple enough, as we find ourselves at Troy and Abed's new apartment (which should always be said to the tune of Troy and Abed in the morning.) for their housewarming party. Right away, we notice little details that are going to get expanded upon later. Shirley is busy baking, which doesn't seem to be welcome. Annie has taken the brick that keeps the outside door open, and jumps when the buzzer rings. Britta is overly into Abed's scale model of the rolling boulder scene from Raiders. Pierce casually mentions that Troy used to live in a mansion with him. Jeff cracks a joke at Troy's expense and Troy calls him a "fellow adult". The gang is ready to play some Yahtzee (Or Peuortan Rican chess), when the pizza guy comes, meaning someone has to go down and get the pizza. No one wants to go. Then Jeff picks up a die and things get interesting.
"Ok, starting on my left with one, you're number comes up: you go." "Just so you know Jeff, you are now creating six different timelines." "Of course I am, Abed".
So he rolls the die. 2 comes up. Annie goes. Britta puts on Police classic "Roxanne" and her attempts to sing along are thwarted by Jeff. Pierce mentions he slept with Eartha Kitt in an airplane bathroom. Troy sees a gun in Annie's purse. His concern distracts him from Pierce's housewarming gift. No one seems interested in Shirley's pies. Britta goes into the bathroom, and when she comes out seems strange (plus the bathroom smells weird.) This alone could be an interesting episode, but when Abed wonders how things are going in the other timelines and Jeff insists there are no other timelines, we hear the sound of the door buzzer and well...
"Ok, starting on my left with one, you're number comes up: you go." "Just so you know Jeff, you are now creating six different timelines." "Of course I am, Abed".
And so we move through all seven possibilities. Sometimes they end fine, like when Britta and Troy share a moment when Troy expresses frustration about Jeff always treating him like a kid, when he's 21. Sometimes they end bad, like when Shirley learns that the gang doesn't want her to have an identity based around baking, has a bit of a breakdown and storms out or most of the gang ends up mad at each other. Sometimes they end weird, like when Britta comes back from getting the pizza to announce she's fallen in love with the creepy pizza delivery boy and plans to marry him.
Along the way, we learn more and more details. Pierce is resentful that Troy moved out and his gift to Troy is a norwegian Troll doll, that Troy is terrified of. Britta is high and gets more high whenever she goes into the bathroom. Shirley thinks baking is all she's good for in the group. Annie's apartment is really dangerous and part of her attraction to Jeff may be because he reminds her of her father. Jeff sees Troy as a threat, because as a man, Troy could challenge him for leadership of the group. There are also constants. Pierce always mentions he slept with Eartha Kitt and Jeff always hits his head on the ceiling fan. Britta always tries to sing along to Roxanne (except when she goes for the pizza) and is always immediately shut down by Jeff. And of course, there are plenty of Chekov's Guns if you will (That's a minor plot point/detail which turns out to be important later on for those not in the know.). The rare liquor, the cigarettes, the boulder from the model, the norwegian troll doll. And of course, Annie's actual gun. This all comes together when Jeff rolls a 1, Troy leaves and chaos ensues. Sweet glorious chaos.
But ultimately, after seeing all the timelines, we go back to the true timeline where Abed catches the die, and gives a beautiful speech about how they should be weathering the chaos together, instead of creating more of it. He then points out that Jeff's system ensures that he never has to go get the pizza, so Jeff has to leave. He still hits his head on the fan, but Annie shows him no sympathy this time. Troy organically sets up Pierce for his Eartha Kitt boast, but Pierce decides not to and ultimately throws out his bitter housewarming gift (out the window actually, if you pay close attention), while everyone sings and dances to Roxanne. Jeff sees this after getting the people, and amused, watches on after saying "See what happens when I leave you guys alone?" This points out the ultimate constant in the alternate, mostly worse timelines: Jeff. When Troy leaves, we get the worse timeline. When Jeff leaves, we get the best timeline. The implications of this are staggering and hopefully, we see more of this down the road.
Now if the episode had ended there, it'd be almost perfect, but the tag pushes it over the edge. We go back to the darkest timeline, where Pierce has died from his gunshot wound, Annie has gone insane from guilt, Shirley is a drunk, Jeff has lost his arm in the fire, Troy's lost his larynx from trying to destroy the burning troll doll by eating it, and Britta has put a blue streak in her hair. The funniest, most chaotic sitcommy scenario has turned into the darkest, funniest, most realistic (?) thing ever. Abed regrets not catching the die and has a plan for the study group to go evil (complete with fake goatees until they can grow their own), and try to get back to the prime timeline and replace their past selves. No one is amused with this or wants to go with it. No one except Troy. "Evil Troy and Evil Abed". Wow (if the show ever finds a plausible way for these guys to return, I'll be psyched).
I could say more about this episode, but I won't. Because in the end, all you really need to see is this:
Grade: HOLY (BLANK)! (Perfect)
Memorable Moments
-I wanted to list lots, but this took a long time to write, so I'll only put a few down.
-Troy and Abed read a book on how to throw the perfect party. Advice given includes "Avoid difficult topics, like the Negro issue." The book was written in the 40's.
-Pierce: "Man, pizza boys are getting worse and worse. I guess all the good ones went into porn".
-Before Britta meets the pizza guy, everyone else points out how creepy he is.
-I'll be more timely with the next episode, which has been delayed a week to coincide with Halloween.
Remedial Chaos Theory was the first "experimental" episode Community has done this season, but it was also a simple bottle episode and a character study, as we learned new information about most of the characters and saw them relate with each other. It's also an episode that demands multiple viewings in order to catch all the foreshadowing before events happen and all the jokes, background and foreground. Plus you'll probably want to see it again anyways. It's that good.
The episode starts off simple enough, as we find ourselves at Troy and Abed's new apartment (which should always be said to the tune of Troy and Abed in the morning.) for their housewarming party. Right away, we notice little details that are going to get expanded upon later. Shirley is busy baking, which doesn't seem to be welcome. Annie has taken the brick that keeps the outside door open, and jumps when the buzzer rings. Britta is overly into Abed's scale model of the rolling boulder scene from Raiders. Pierce casually mentions that Troy used to live in a mansion with him. Jeff cracks a joke at Troy's expense and Troy calls him a "fellow adult". The gang is ready to play some Yahtzee (Or Peuortan Rican chess), when the pizza guy comes, meaning someone has to go down and get the pizza. No one wants to go. Then Jeff picks up a die and things get interesting.
"Ok, starting on my left with one, you're number comes up: you go." "Just so you know Jeff, you are now creating six different timelines." "Of course I am, Abed".
So he rolls the die. 2 comes up. Annie goes. Britta puts on Police classic "Roxanne" and her attempts to sing along are thwarted by Jeff. Pierce mentions he slept with Eartha Kitt in an airplane bathroom. Troy sees a gun in Annie's purse. His concern distracts him from Pierce's housewarming gift. No one seems interested in Shirley's pies. Britta goes into the bathroom, and when she comes out seems strange (plus the bathroom smells weird.) This alone could be an interesting episode, but when Abed wonders how things are going in the other timelines and Jeff insists there are no other timelines, we hear the sound of the door buzzer and well...
"Ok, starting on my left with one, you're number comes up: you go." "Just so you know Jeff, you are now creating six different timelines." "Of course I am, Abed".
And so we move through all seven possibilities. Sometimes they end fine, like when Britta and Troy share a moment when Troy expresses frustration about Jeff always treating him like a kid, when he's 21. Sometimes they end bad, like when Shirley learns that the gang doesn't want her to have an identity based around baking, has a bit of a breakdown and storms out or most of the gang ends up mad at each other. Sometimes they end weird, like when Britta comes back from getting the pizza to announce she's fallen in love with the creepy pizza delivery boy and plans to marry him.
Along the way, we learn more and more details. Pierce is resentful that Troy moved out and his gift to Troy is a norwegian Troll doll, that Troy is terrified of. Britta is high and gets more high whenever she goes into the bathroom. Shirley thinks baking is all she's good for in the group. Annie's apartment is really dangerous and part of her attraction to Jeff may be because he reminds her of her father. Jeff sees Troy as a threat, because as a man, Troy could challenge him for leadership of the group. There are also constants. Pierce always mentions he slept with Eartha Kitt and Jeff always hits his head on the ceiling fan. Britta always tries to sing along to Roxanne (except when she goes for the pizza) and is always immediately shut down by Jeff. And of course, there are plenty of Chekov's Guns if you will (That's a minor plot point/detail which turns out to be important later on for those not in the know.). The rare liquor, the cigarettes, the boulder from the model, the norwegian troll doll. And of course, Annie's actual gun. This all comes together when Jeff rolls a 1, Troy leaves and chaos ensues. Sweet glorious chaos.
But ultimately, after seeing all the timelines, we go back to the true timeline where Abed catches the die, and gives a beautiful speech about how they should be weathering the chaos together, instead of creating more of it. He then points out that Jeff's system ensures that he never has to go get the pizza, so Jeff has to leave. He still hits his head on the fan, but Annie shows him no sympathy this time. Troy organically sets up Pierce for his Eartha Kitt boast, but Pierce decides not to and ultimately throws out his bitter housewarming gift (out the window actually, if you pay close attention), while everyone sings and dances to Roxanne. Jeff sees this after getting the people, and amused, watches on after saying "See what happens when I leave you guys alone?" This points out the ultimate constant in the alternate, mostly worse timelines: Jeff. When Troy leaves, we get the worse timeline. When Jeff leaves, we get the best timeline. The implications of this are staggering and hopefully, we see more of this down the road.
Now if the episode had ended there, it'd be almost perfect, but the tag pushes it over the edge. We go back to the darkest timeline, where Pierce has died from his gunshot wound, Annie has gone insane from guilt, Shirley is a drunk, Jeff has lost his arm in the fire, Troy's lost his larynx from trying to destroy the burning troll doll by eating it, and Britta has put a blue streak in her hair. The funniest, most chaotic sitcommy scenario has turned into the darkest, funniest, most realistic (?) thing ever. Abed regrets not catching the die and has a plan for the study group to go evil (complete with fake goatees until they can grow their own), and try to get back to the prime timeline and replace their past selves. No one is amused with this or wants to go with it. No one except Troy. "Evil Troy and Evil Abed". Wow (if the show ever finds a plausible way for these guys to return, I'll be psyched).
I could say more about this episode, but I won't. Because in the end, all you really need to see is this:
Grade: HOLY (BLANK)! (Perfect)
Memorable Moments
-I wanted to list lots, but this took a long time to write, so I'll only put a few down.
-Troy and Abed read a book on how to throw the perfect party. Advice given includes "Avoid difficult topics, like the Negro issue." The book was written in the 40's.
-Pierce: "Man, pizza boys are getting worse and worse. I guess all the good ones went into porn".
-Before Britta meets the pizza guy, everyone else points out how creepy he is.
-I'll be more timely with the next episode, which has been delayed a week to coincide with Halloween.
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Parks and Recreation: Pawnee Rangers
Parks and Recreation delivered again last night in an episode that once again gave us an insight into Ron Swanson (in this case, his idea of what a camping weekend for young boys should be.) and an insight into the ultra competence of Leslie Knope. We also got a storyline for Jerry and Chris, where we finally met one of Jerry's daughters and Tom, Donna, and Ben got a great story, that led to one of the funniest images I've seen on this show in a while (since moustache-less Ron): Ben crying in a full Batman suit. Man, this episode was good.
The set-up is simple. Ron is a scout master for the Pawnee Rangers. Their handbook consists of three words: Be a man. Leslie is the leader of the Pawnee Godesses, which exists because a girl was rejected from the rangers 5 years ago. Leslie wants to have the better group and the two have their events close to each other. The boys have to make their own shelters out of a tarp and a box. The girls have a nice cabin. The boys eat beans by a fire. The girls eat nice Korean food. The girls have a bunch of great activities planned (including a puppet show about the bill of rights set to Party in the U.S.A ). The boys have one activity planned: Try not to be killed. Pretty soon one of the boys wants to defect to the Godesses. And when Leslie rejects him, her girls point out that that's just like what happened when the Godesses were formed. Knowing they're right, Leslie holds a debate about the thing and eventually lets all the boys in for their puppy party. Ron chooses to stay by himself though, even when Leslie apologizes for maybe going too far and invites him in. Because he's happy where he is. So Leslie starts a group for kids just like Ron: The Swansons. And they set off to learn how to dig a perfect trench. It's a funny story, that once again shows how Ron and Leslie get along, even though they are quite different people.
Elsewhere Donna finally gets to be part of a story in more than a "the whole ensemble gets their moment" way as she and Tom set out on their annual "Treat Yo Self" day, where they indulge in things like shopping sprees and massages. Donna has noticed that Ben seems to be stretched incredibly thin and needs to relax. So she makes Tom take him along with them. Of course, Ben is very different from Tom or Donna (That's why him and Tom are such a stellar combination actually) and the spa doesn't help him at all, especially when he tries Acupuncture. And when they go to a posh mall in Eagleton, Ben only buys socks. White socks. So Donna gets him to say what he would buy to treat himself with big money. Cut to Ben in a full Batman suit. As he realizes he needed to treat himself, he breaks down and starts to cry. Batman can't cry, but Ben in a Batman suit certainly can and it's hysterical. This does lead Ben to confess to Donna and Tom that he recently ended a relationship and has been feeling down. Again, another good story.
And in a last plot, Chris goes out to lunch with Jerry and his daughter, Millicent. Chris and Millicent hit it off (They both like charity bike rides, are both really positive, and use the word literally a ton). So Chris decides he is going to court her. However he also decides that not only is he going to ask Jerry permission (When he gets it, he hugs Jerry and Jerry's expression before he returns the hug is priceless), he's going to give Jerry details about every part of the process. Including informing him when Millicent stays the night at his house. The idea of Chris unknowingly, subtly torturing Jerry by giving him all this information is priceless, and it sealed the deal on this winner of an episode.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Ann has a funny runner, where she just can't impress Leslie on the Goddess camping trip. ("I wasn't competing for that", says Ann after getting the badge for 2nd Flyest Hairstyle. "I'll say", Leslie replies)
-“And I am Mother Nature’s brother, Brother Nature. But you can call me Andy. Or Brother Nature. Your call.” Andy can't decide on what the boys should call him.
- Ron: “On principle, I never say anything that another person is obviously trying to get me to say. My first wedding ceremony took two hours because after the priest said, ‘Repeat after me,’ I fell silent.”
-Donna wonders if they cancelled Game of Thrones and that's why Ben's upset. Ben's defense of why they would never cancel Game of Thrones takes his nerdiness to new heights.
-Leslie: “I’ve taught them too well. I’ve created a mob of little Leslie Knope monsters. I’m so proud. And a little annoyed. But mostly proud... 70/30.”
-Donna: "Uh oh. Batman's crying."
The set-up is simple. Ron is a scout master for the Pawnee Rangers. Their handbook consists of three words: Be a man. Leslie is the leader of the Pawnee Godesses, which exists because a girl was rejected from the rangers 5 years ago. Leslie wants to have the better group and the two have their events close to each other. The boys have to make their own shelters out of a tarp and a box. The girls have a nice cabin. The boys eat beans by a fire. The girls eat nice Korean food. The girls have a bunch of great activities planned (including a puppet show about the bill of rights set to Party in the U.S.A ). The boys have one activity planned: Try not to be killed. Pretty soon one of the boys wants to defect to the Godesses. And when Leslie rejects him, her girls point out that that's just like what happened when the Godesses were formed. Knowing they're right, Leslie holds a debate about the thing and eventually lets all the boys in for their puppy party. Ron chooses to stay by himself though, even when Leslie apologizes for maybe going too far and invites him in. Because he's happy where he is. So Leslie starts a group for kids just like Ron: The Swansons. And they set off to learn how to dig a perfect trench. It's a funny story, that once again shows how Ron and Leslie get along, even though they are quite different people.
Elsewhere Donna finally gets to be part of a story in more than a "the whole ensemble gets their moment" way as she and Tom set out on their annual "Treat Yo Self" day, where they indulge in things like shopping sprees and massages. Donna has noticed that Ben seems to be stretched incredibly thin and needs to relax. So she makes Tom take him along with them. Of course, Ben is very different from Tom or Donna (That's why him and Tom are such a stellar combination actually) and the spa doesn't help him at all, especially when he tries Acupuncture. And when they go to a posh mall in Eagleton, Ben only buys socks. White socks. So Donna gets him to say what he would buy to treat himself with big money. Cut to Ben in a full Batman suit. As he realizes he needed to treat himself, he breaks down and starts to cry. Batman can't cry, but Ben in a Batman suit certainly can and it's hysterical. This does lead Ben to confess to Donna and Tom that he recently ended a relationship and has been feeling down. Again, another good story.
And in a last plot, Chris goes out to lunch with Jerry and his daughter, Millicent. Chris and Millicent hit it off (They both like charity bike rides, are both really positive, and use the word literally a ton). So Chris decides he is going to court her. However he also decides that not only is he going to ask Jerry permission (When he gets it, he hugs Jerry and Jerry's expression before he returns the hug is priceless), he's going to give Jerry details about every part of the process. Including informing him when Millicent stays the night at his house. The idea of Chris unknowingly, subtly torturing Jerry by giving him all this information is priceless, and it sealed the deal on this winner of an episode.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Ann has a funny runner, where she just can't impress Leslie on the Goddess camping trip. ("I wasn't competing for that", says Ann after getting the badge for 2nd Flyest Hairstyle. "I'll say", Leslie replies)
-“And I am Mother Nature’s brother, Brother Nature. But you can call me Andy. Or Brother Nature. Your call.” Andy can't decide on what the boys should call him.
- Ron: “On principle, I never say anything that another person is obviously trying to get me to say. My first wedding ceremony took two hours because after the priest said, ‘Repeat after me,’ I fell silent.”
-Donna wonders if they cancelled Game of Thrones and that's why Ben's upset. Ben's defense of why they would never cancel Game of Thrones takes his nerdiness to new heights.
-Leslie: “I’ve taught them too well. I’ve created a mob of little Leslie Knope monsters. I’m so proud. And a little annoyed. But mostly proud... 70/30.”
-Donna: "Uh oh. Batman's crying."
Friday, 14 October 2011
The Office: Garden Party
Last night's Office delivered a lot of things I liked about the show. It provided insight into one of the characters (In this case, Andy's desire for approval from his parents is finally shown, after a couple years of it being implied.). It had a trip to Schrute Farms (and even some Moze! Who we can't see as much these days because Greg Schur is busy over at Parks and Recreation). It had an elaborate prank on Dwight (With Dwight never catching on). It had some spotlight on the supporting characters (Kevin's Toupee is back. And Gabe had some of the the best material he's had in a long time.) And there was a nice emotional beat at the end. Of all the season 8 episodes so far, this is probably my favorite, so far.
After a really funny cold open, involving the vandalism of the new Dunder Mifflin billboards, made easy by Andy (and Dwight in the only billboard we actually see in the vandalized state)'s questionable-in-hindsight poses, we jump into the action. Andy is throwing a Garden Party at Schrute Farms and wants everyone on their best behaviour. We see that his father has recently thrown his younger brother (Josh Groban in a good guest role) a flashy garden party, complete with a viral impromptu, father-son duet. And though it seems that Andy is mainly throwing this party to impress Robert California, we soon realize that he's a lot more concerned with impressing his parents.
This leads to a scene where Andy toasts Robert in an effort to get Robert to toast him, only to have a bunch of other people toast Robert and other things, and Robert toasting everyone. His effort to force a father-son duet also fails, and soon Walter Sr. has gotten Walter Jr. to join them, even though the carefree, innocent, Walter Jr. just wants to get to know Andy's friends (He calls Jim Tuna constantly, and mistakens Meredith and Phyllis for Pam). When his father tells Andy that he won't say he's impressed that Andy's the regional manager of a small paper company in Scranton, and Andy has to stop craving his approval, which the employees accidentally overhear through the baby monitor, we now fully know why Andy is the way he is (Oscar calls it Andy's "Rosebud moment". Daryll disagrees with what Rosebud represented in a funny interview. I'm in Daryll's camp, by the by.). And the scene with the employees accepting him is expected, but still sweet.
Meanwhile, we see a bunch of little stories and comedic bits to round everything out. Jim has somehow printed up a professional book on throwing a garden party under the alias James Trickington and has sold it to Dwight, who takes it very seriously. This leads to scenes like Dwight announcing the names of the guests in loud fashion (The funniest of these parts: "James, Pamela, and Pee Pee Halpert!"), or Dwight dancing with one of the hired helps, or a Tableau or the closing ceremonies. Gabe is upset that other people are stealing his tricks for sucking up to the boss. Pam and Angela have picked the same name for their baby boys and clash about this. Moze takes all the cars to a cornfield and almost jumps over them on a motorcycle, before decided to just run over them. All in all, this episode is my favorite of season 8 (as I've already mentioned.) and is one of the funnier "The Office leaves Dunder Mifflin episodes", though not as classic as Niagara or Booze Cruise. I'm very happy after last night's Office. Very happy indeed.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Jim: “If there’s an opportunity for the graffiti artist to work in a phallic shape interacting with the artwork, it’ll happen.”
-We also got a great Stanley laugh out of the cold open.
-Also the streetside view of Schrute Farms was a great sight gag. "They don't warn you when the cameras are driving by", Dwight says after we see him and Moze caught Seesawing.
-Jim: "Announcing guests as they enter is the height of decorum. The more volume displayed, the more honor is bestowed upon everyone at present."
-NBC has posted Jim's book (or parts of it, here, by the way.) They mix a couple things up, but it's still solid.
-Jim: “One of the host's most important duties is as dancemaster.”
-Ryan: “I’d like to make a toast to the troops. All the troops, both sides.”
-Dwight tells Robert California he can get him exotic meats, before confiding it'll all be goat.
After a really funny cold open, involving the vandalism of the new Dunder Mifflin billboards, made easy by Andy (and Dwight in the only billboard we actually see in the vandalized state)'s questionable-in-hindsight poses, we jump into the action. Andy is throwing a Garden Party at Schrute Farms and wants everyone on their best behaviour. We see that his father has recently thrown his younger brother (Josh Groban in a good guest role) a flashy garden party, complete with a viral impromptu, father-son duet. And though it seems that Andy is mainly throwing this party to impress Robert California, we soon realize that he's a lot more concerned with impressing his parents.
This leads to a scene where Andy toasts Robert in an effort to get Robert to toast him, only to have a bunch of other people toast Robert and other things, and Robert toasting everyone. His effort to force a father-son duet also fails, and soon Walter Sr. has gotten Walter Jr. to join them, even though the carefree, innocent, Walter Jr. just wants to get to know Andy's friends (He calls Jim Tuna constantly, and mistakens Meredith and Phyllis for Pam). When his father tells Andy that he won't say he's impressed that Andy's the regional manager of a small paper company in Scranton, and Andy has to stop craving his approval, which the employees accidentally overhear through the baby monitor, we now fully know why Andy is the way he is (Oscar calls it Andy's "Rosebud moment". Daryll disagrees with what Rosebud represented in a funny interview. I'm in Daryll's camp, by the by.). And the scene with the employees accepting him is expected, but still sweet.
Meanwhile, we see a bunch of little stories and comedic bits to round everything out. Jim has somehow printed up a professional book on throwing a garden party under the alias James Trickington and has sold it to Dwight, who takes it very seriously. This leads to scenes like Dwight announcing the names of the guests in loud fashion (The funniest of these parts: "James, Pamela, and Pee Pee Halpert!"), or Dwight dancing with one of the hired helps, or a Tableau or the closing ceremonies. Gabe is upset that other people are stealing his tricks for sucking up to the boss. Pam and Angela have picked the same name for their baby boys and clash about this. Moze takes all the cars to a cornfield and almost jumps over them on a motorcycle, before decided to just run over them. All in all, this episode is my favorite of season 8 (as I've already mentioned.) and is one of the funnier "The Office leaves Dunder Mifflin episodes", though not as classic as Niagara or Booze Cruise. I'm very happy after last night's Office. Very happy indeed.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Jim: “If there’s an opportunity for the graffiti artist to work in a phallic shape interacting with the artwork, it’ll happen.”
-We also got a great Stanley laugh out of the cold open.
-Also the streetside view of Schrute Farms was a great sight gag. "They don't warn you when the cameras are driving by", Dwight says after we see him and Moze caught Seesawing.
-Jim: "Announcing guests as they enter is the height of decorum. The more volume displayed, the more honor is bestowed upon everyone at present."
-NBC has posted Jim's book (or parts of it, here, by the way.) They mix a couple things up, but it's still solid.
-Jim: “One of the host's most important duties is as dancemaster.”
-Ryan: “I’d like to make a toast to the troops. All the troops, both sides.”
-Dwight tells Robert California he can get him exotic meats, before confiding it'll all be goat.
5 Things I Enjoyed About Survivor: South Pacific: Taste of Victory
So last week, I mentioned that I wanted to talk about Survivor more, but it takes a really long time because I get really into every detail and want to list every detail. I also mentioned that I was going to try a couple new things format-wise. So behold the first installment of 5 Things I Enjoyed About... in which I list 5 highlights of the most recent episode of Survivor (I may try this with other shows later down the line). And last night's episode had lots of highlights. So here we go in chronological order.
1. Stacy's Last Hurrah: Stacy was pretty bitter about being voted off last week and before the redemption island duel between her and Christine (who won again.). So she exposed the power structure of her tribe to Savii, letting them know that Coach and Albert were running the show. And she did it in a ridiculous fashion with references to "Chucky the Cheese" among other things. Oh, Stacy. You'll be missed.
2. Coach: Coach has been much better this season than he has ever been. Tonight we got a glimpse of his crazier side though, as he freaked out when he learned that Stacy and Christine were calling him Benjamin repeatedly (and that he would be a big post-merge target). Things turned around for him again though, in a good way when Albert shared the immunity idol clue with him and Sophie, and subsequently found the idol. While I still don't want to see a returning player win the season, I could watch this version of Coach for the rest of the season.
3. The Meat-Eating Challenge: Holy crap, that was disgusting. But strangely I couldn't look away. As both tribes had to rip off chunks of meat from a roasted, BBQ sauce covered, pig, and drop it in a basket, we got a good look at the whole affair and it got gross, as people eventually were taking meat from each others mouths and from the floor.. It was also a really close challenge, as Savii lost by 2 ounces. Basically, one bite. Wow. What would've happened if it was a tie? I don't think I want to know.
4. Jim: This is kind of breaking chronological order, but Jim reading into Ozzy's suggestion that Coach should get rid of Albert, one of the stronger players as a sign that he'll get rid of Jim and Keith when he can, and using it as ammunition to get Keith over to his side and get the vote needed to get out Elyse, Ozzy's closest ally was genius. Jim is a great player and character for the show. Can't wait to see him in future weeks, as Savii just suffered a major shake-up.
5. Blindside: The tribal council where Elyse got voted out in the first real blindside of the season was great, especially when Keith and Whitney decide to only half-betray Ozzy by voting for Dawn, instead of Elyse or Cochran, hoping they can use this to wiggle back into his good graces. We'll see how that works out. Good job, Survivor. Good job.
1. Stacy's Last Hurrah: Stacy was pretty bitter about being voted off last week and before the redemption island duel between her and Christine (who won again.). So she exposed the power structure of her tribe to Savii, letting them know that Coach and Albert were running the show. And she did it in a ridiculous fashion with references to "Chucky the Cheese" among other things. Oh, Stacy. You'll be missed.
2. Coach: Coach has been much better this season than he has ever been. Tonight we got a glimpse of his crazier side though, as he freaked out when he learned that Stacy and Christine were calling him Benjamin repeatedly (and that he would be a big post-merge target). Things turned around for him again though, in a good way when Albert shared the immunity idol clue with him and Sophie, and subsequently found the idol. While I still don't want to see a returning player win the season, I could watch this version of Coach for the rest of the season.
3. The Meat-Eating Challenge: Holy crap, that was disgusting. But strangely I couldn't look away. As both tribes had to rip off chunks of meat from a roasted, BBQ sauce covered, pig, and drop it in a basket, we got a good look at the whole affair and it got gross, as people eventually were taking meat from each others mouths and from the floor.. It was also a really close challenge, as Savii lost by 2 ounces. Basically, one bite. Wow. What would've happened if it was a tie? I don't think I want to know.
4. Jim: This is kind of breaking chronological order, but Jim reading into Ozzy's suggestion that Coach should get rid of Albert, one of the stronger players as a sign that he'll get rid of Jim and Keith when he can, and using it as ammunition to get Keith over to his side and get the vote needed to get out Elyse, Ozzy's closest ally was genius. Jim is a great player and character for the show. Can't wait to see him in future weeks, as Savii just suffered a major shake-up.
5. Blindside: The tribal council where Elyse got voted out in the first real blindside of the season was great, especially when Keith and Whitney decide to only half-betray Ozzy by voting for Dawn, instead of Elyse or Cochran, hoping they can use this to wiggle back into his good graces. We'll see how that works out. Good job, Survivor. Good job.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Monday Quicky Opinions Time, Yo!
Hey everyone. I've been feeling under the weather these past couple days, and have been putting a lot of work into my forthcoming Breaking Bad season 4 review (which should be up tomorrow-ish). Add in some computer issues and I decided that reviews of last night's episodes of Terra Nova and How I Met Your Mother will be given in quicky opinion form to save time. This won't be a regular thing, though. I only use quicky opinions when I feel it's necessary to do so. So here we go.
Terra Nova: What Remains
I was still in shock after seeing the Breaking Bad finale, so I wasn't paying full attention to the first quarter of last night's Terra Nova, but it was a fine episode. The whole main amnesia virus storyline wasn't as good as the main storylines in the last couple episodes but it still had its moments and the Jim/Malcolm tension was better handled this week. It also added to the backstory of Commander Taylor, as we learn from his amnesia that he fought in some future war in Somalia, and that his wife died for some reason I bet will be addressed at some point in the future. We also glimpsed Mira and the Sixers again, at the conclusion of the otherwise minor (well at least it was minor this week) "Josh tries to get his girlfriend to Terra Nova" story. Seems she has the local bartender as an ally and plans for the son of the new sheriff. Intrigue. One last note. The dinosaurs looked pretty good this week, as we never got any prolonged look at them. Grade: Awesome! (Good) Quicky Dinosaur Scene Count: 4.
How I Met Your Mother: Field Trip
Tonight's episode was a little weaker than last week's episode, which was a little weak, but there was still plenty of laughs to be had and plenty of intrigue for future storylines. Of course Barney would take Norah's dislike of ewoks as a sign that she is 37 and lied about her age. His big slideshow about Ewoks was the highlight of Ted's story about trying to inspire his class on a field trip. Well that and the "Edward vs. Jacob" argument that turned out to be Ted and Barney debating the first name of Edward James Olmos. Robin dating her therapist was OK, but not that exciting. It was good to see more of Marshall's new job and the revelation that Marshall and his boss go on to save the world has me excited for how this will happen eventually. So good episode. Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Other Items of Note
-No Glee or New Girl until November 1st. Just a heads up.
-Fringe coverage will return this Friday, just as it looks like Peter is about to return.
-Starting this next week, I will be talking about Pan Am for at least, until The Simpsons returns.
-Breaking Bad Season 4 Review coming soon. And not to spoil anything, but expect a very high grade for a very great season.
Terra Nova: What Remains
I was still in shock after seeing the Breaking Bad finale, so I wasn't paying full attention to the first quarter of last night's Terra Nova, but it was a fine episode. The whole main amnesia virus storyline wasn't as good as the main storylines in the last couple episodes but it still had its moments and the Jim/Malcolm tension was better handled this week. It also added to the backstory of Commander Taylor, as we learn from his amnesia that he fought in some future war in Somalia, and that his wife died for some reason I bet will be addressed at some point in the future. We also glimpsed Mira and the Sixers again, at the conclusion of the otherwise minor (well at least it was minor this week) "Josh tries to get his girlfriend to Terra Nova" story. Seems she has the local bartender as an ally and plans for the son of the new sheriff. Intrigue. One last note. The dinosaurs looked pretty good this week, as we never got any prolonged look at them. Grade: Awesome! (Good) Quicky Dinosaur Scene Count: 4.
How I Met Your Mother: Field Trip
Tonight's episode was a little weaker than last week's episode, which was a little weak, but there was still plenty of laughs to be had and plenty of intrigue for future storylines. Of course Barney would take Norah's dislike of ewoks as a sign that she is 37 and lied about her age. His big slideshow about Ewoks was the highlight of Ted's story about trying to inspire his class on a field trip. Well that and the "Edward vs. Jacob" argument that turned out to be Ted and Barney debating the first name of Edward James Olmos. Robin dating her therapist was OK, but not that exciting. It was good to see more of Marshall's new job and the revelation that Marshall and his boss go on to save the world has me excited for how this will happen eventually. So good episode. Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Other Items of Note
-No Glee or New Girl until November 1st. Just a heads up.
-Fringe coverage will return this Friday, just as it looks like Peter is about to return.
-Starting this next week, I will be talking about Pan Am for at least, until The Simpsons returns.
-Breaking Bad Season 4 Review coming soon. And not to spoil anything, but expect a very high grade for a very great season.
Saturday, 8 October 2011
The Office: Lotto
Daryll Philbin has always been a great character. So when he got promoted towards the end of season 6, I was very happy. Daryll in the office meant more scenes with Daryll. And it was great. I thought Daryll would make a great replacement for Michael, but suddenly in Search Committee, he seemed unlike himself, not having a resume and whatnot. What happened? This is something that Andy points out towards the end of Lotto, in a great scene where he confronts a depressed Daryll who wants to be fired or given Andy's job. Daryll stopped pushing and became complacent. The executives noticed. This scene helped make for another solid season 8 episode.
After a funny cold opening, involving Oscar and others trying to help a dog that's been left in it's owners car with no windows open, we jump right into the action. The warehouse staff has won the lottery playing Daryll's birthday and quit. Since moving into the office, Daryll is no longer part of their lottery pool and doesn't get to quit, which of course makes him to depressed to do his job and hire new warehouse workers. So Andy tries to help him in the process by calling in the applicants for an interview. But Andy doesn't know anything about hiring warehouse workers (at one point he asks if anyone has a degree in warehouse sciences) and whenever Daryll speaks to them, he's either telling them what happened to the old workers or telling them not to settle for a job in the warehouse. Eventually, the applicants have all left and Andy makes a couple hasty hires, including Nate (Dwight's helper from last season) and a buff guy from the gym, as recommended by Oscar.
Andy has a bigger issue though, when Daryll is demanding that Andy fire him, which is not something that Andy is willing to do. When he asks what will get Daryll to stay, Daryll asks for Andy's job, which leads us to the scene I mentioned at the beginning of this opinion. This scene and story in general, works because of the acting and because a good part of season 7 was spent building the relationship between Andy and Daryll. Andy confronting Daryll on how he's become complacent, and how he doesn't have the business experience or people skills for the job, and didn't even ask for business classes. This is a solid scene, and in the end Daryll is out of his funk, and will hopefully go back to being the old Daryll we know and love.
Meanwhile, Phyllis has a massive order that could cost her a client if it doesn't get out. So Jim, Dwight, Erin, and Kevin have to go work in the warehouse and get 300 boxes of paper onto the truck. But Dwight crashes the forklift into the wall, in an effort to show off his strength and no one notices the other loader, so they have to figure out how to do it. This is a silly plot, that mainly serves for physical comedy bits, but it works well enough with all the physical bits landing, and great pay-off at the end, with them showing off their method for getting boxes onto the truck (it involves sliding the boxes on a lid along a greased-up floor), as it cuts to Phyllis frankly informing us she lost the client. There's also a runner with the employees (mainly Jim and Pam) imagining what it'd be like to win the lottery, that's mostly flat, but has it's moments. All in all, season 8 continues to deliver on the goods. There hasn't been any flat-out classics yet, but I'm confident that one will be right around the corner. Keep it up, Office.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-No James Spader this week. That's fine, as he's only supposed to be in 15 episodes this season, so might as well get one of his absenses out of the way early.
-Oscar: I bet this guy didn't leave his weed in the car.
-Dwight's impression of Jim and Pam winning the lottery: "Hey Pam, let's buy expensive bathrobes and hug."
-Creed: "I already won the lotto. I was born in the U.S of A, baby. And as a back-up have a Swiss passport.
After a funny cold opening, involving Oscar and others trying to help a dog that's been left in it's owners car with no windows open, we jump right into the action. The warehouse staff has won the lottery playing Daryll's birthday and quit. Since moving into the office, Daryll is no longer part of their lottery pool and doesn't get to quit, which of course makes him to depressed to do his job and hire new warehouse workers. So Andy tries to help him in the process by calling in the applicants for an interview. But Andy doesn't know anything about hiring warehouse workers (at one point he asks if anyone has a degree in warehouse sciences) and whenever Daryll speaks to them, he's either telling them what happened to the old workers or telling them not to settle for a job in the warehouse. Eventually, the applicants have all left and Andy makes a couple hasty hires, including Nate (Dwight's helper from last season) and a buff guy from the gym, as recommended by Oscar.
Andy has a bigger issue though, when Daryll is demanding that Andy fire him, which is not something that Andy is willing to do. When he asks what will get Daryll to stay, Daryll asks for Andy's job, which leads us to the scene I mentioned at the beginning of this opinion. This scene and story in general, works because of the acting and because a good part of season 7 was spent building the relationship between Andy and Daryll. Andy confronting Daryll on how he's become complacent, and how he doesn't have the business experience or people skills for the job, and didn't even ask for business classes. This is a solid scene, and in the end Daryll is out of his funk, and will hopefully go back to being the old Daryll we know and love.
Meanwhile, Phyllis has a massive order that could cost her a client if it doesn't get out. So Jim, Dwight, Erin, and Kevin have to go work in the warehouse and get 300 boxes of paper onto the truck. But Dwight crashes the forklift into the wall, in an effort to show off his strength and no one notices the other loader, so they have to figure out how to do it. This is a silly plot, that mainly serves for physical comedy bits, but it works well enough with all the physical bits landing, and great pay-off at the end, with them showing off their method for getting boxes onto the truck (it involves sliding the boxes on a lid along a greased-up floor), as it cuts to Phyllis frankly informing us she lost the client. There's also a runner with the employees (mainly Jim and Pam) imagining what it'd be like to win the lottery, that's mostly flat, but has it's moments. All in all, season 8 continues to deliver on the goods. There hasn't been any flat-out classics yet, but I'm confident that one will be right around the corner. Keep it up, Office.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-No James Spader this week. That's fine, as he's only supposed to be in 15 episodes this season, so might as well get one of his absenses out of the way early.
-Oscar: I bet this guy didn't leave his weed in the car.
-Dwight's impression of Jim and Pam winning the lottery: "Hey Pam, let's buy expensive bathrobes and hug."
-Creed: "I already won the lotto. I was born in the U.S of A, baby. And as a back-up have a Swiss passport.
Friday, 7 October 2011
Parks and Recreation: Born and Raised
Parks and Recreation has one of the best television settings ever: Pawnee, Indiana. Over the course of over three seasons, the town has become more and more fleshed out beyond the world of local government (which has also been fleshed out). From it's insanely racist history of atrocities against the local natives to it's position as the 4th fattest town in America, Pawnee is possibly the greatest fictional town since Springfield. Born and Raised is an episode about Leslie and her roots. But it's also about Pawnee and there are plenty of nods to the show's history, which is why the episode is so good.
Basically, we learn that Leslie has written an extremely detailed book about Pawnee (which I think is supposed to become a real book at some point) for her own reference, but has had it released as part of her campaign. She's going on Pawnee Today, where she's hoping that Joan Callamezzo will add it to her book club (She's hired Tom's company for this reason), which will guarantee it's success. But when word gets out that Joan is going to call out a mistake in the book, she panics and gets everyone to fact-check to ensure accuracy (including sending Jerry to redo every interview in the book.). Of course when she gets on the show, she finds out that Joan has gotten a tip that Leslie wasn't actually born in Pawnee. As a proud Pawnee citizen, Leslie stakes her reputation on her being born there and sets out with Chris and Andy to set the records straight by getting her long-form birth certificate.
This means a trip to Eagleton, the affluent, rival town of Pawnee, where the birth certificates for the county are stored. And when Leslie and Chris are both unable to acquire the documents, Andy springs into action as Bert Macklin ("You thought I was dead. So did the President...'s enemies".), and sneaks into the room where the birth records are, obtaining the birth certificate and some guy's briefcase. This leads to she shocking revelation that Leslie was born in Eagleton, because the Pawnee hospital was infested by racoons at the time (another callback). This mortifies Leslie, who is sure that her political career is finished now. But Chris assures her that she is more representative of Pawnee than anyone else he knows and that it's not where you're born, it's where you're from. So she comes clean and after a speech, cementing her status as a citizen of Pawnee, gets the support of the people and a book club sticker. Though it also has a Gotcha! sticker on the back.Meanwhile, Tom and Ben try to get that sticker by taking Joan out to lunch. There we get the culmination of a long-time runner (Tom's flirtation with Joan who is married), when it turns out that Joan is getting divorced and desires Tom, which of course is terrifying to him. As she gets drunker, Tom gets Ben to try to stop it by talking about Star Trek, but it only makes Joan want them both, which she expresses in a very-long beeped-out sentence. With her dangerously drunk, Tom and Ben have to take her home, which of course is filled with pictures and portratis of Joan (including at least one nude one). This plot was really funny and continued to give this episode the feel of one recalling past history perfectly, without locking out new viewers.
And in a third story, Ann tries to get one minute of small talk from Ron and April. This wasn't the funniest storyline, although it had it's moments near the end of the episode. It did serve to show that Ann is getting more stories that don't involve her in a relationship or being a foil to Leslie and that was a good thing. It also showed how similar Ron and April are. All in all, this was a great episode of Parks and Rec and a worthy follow-up to last week's fantastic episode.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-The episode also has a great cold open, which expanded on Pawnee's media by introducing the public radio station, complete with Dan Castellaneta as the substitute announcer and a song from Lesbian Afro Norwegian Funk Duo: Nerfertiti's Fjord. Leslie: "Oh wow. They are terrible." Dan's Character: "Oh yes, they're quite awful. But they are lesbians so..."
-"Leslie, could one say that a book is nothing more than a painting of words that are the notes on the tapestry of the greatest film ever scopted?" "One could say that... but should one?"
-Ron: “Usually I only read nautical novels and my own personal manifestos, but I’m proud to make this exception.”
-Entertainment 720's latest swag: Pillowcases that say "Never Stop Dreaming"- Tom Haverford. Chris: "I never do- Chris Traeger".
-Also in Joan's book club is The Time-Travelers Optometrist: a heart-warming story about a caveman eye doctor who travels to modern day Cincinatti and can see everything except love. Unreadable, but the sticker made it a best-seller.
-Joan's over-the-top Gotcha! journalism, complete with dancers and a theme song was hysterical.
-Joan leaves lunch to powder her nose and other things. Ben stripping the situation of subtlety: "Is she going to powder her vagina?"
-"Who else was born in Eagleton? Voldemort, probably."
-The tag at the end with a proud Jerry half-way done on his fact-checking assignment, even though he missed his daughter's birthday, getting Leslie's go-ahead to complete the job was also hysterical. Leslie: "He just looked so happy".
Community: Competitive Ecology
One of my favorite moments from the last season of Community is when Shirley has to give birth in the Anthropology classroom. As the gang gathers together, we see a few of the supporting characters like Starburns, Vicki, and Fat Neil who say something to the effect of "We almost had a class that wasn't about them". It's funny and it also gives insight into how the study group is seen by the rest of the school. Because if there was a group of people in real life like the study group or other groups of friends from ensemble comedies, we'd probably view them as a self-centered, obnoxious clique. Tonight's episode was about how the study group really only wants to be with each other, but at the same time, they're constantly at conflict with each other and how this "weird love" drives an outsider, who is probably the nicest guy in the world to an emotional breaking point. It's really funny.
We see more of the Biology professor, Marshall Kane this week as he assigns the class their first project: a Terrarium ("It's kind of like a diorama", he says, elicting loud groans from everyone who took Anthropology last year. "You guys have weird reactions to stuff", he marvels.). He then assigns everyone to pair up with the person directly across from them as their lab partner for the entire semester. Unfortunately, this means our favorite study group is getting paired with 7 complete strangers. They quickly get out of this and get permission to pair up within themselves. So they break up with their old partners in a great sequence (The funniest of these reasons is Abed saying he may have a developmental disorder, shortly followed by Jeff saying the same thing, complete with Abed impression.) But since there's only 7 of them, Pierce is stuck with his original partner, a good natured fellow named Todd. But everyone quickly tires of their current partner (Annie finds Jeff too disinterested, Troy and Abed have been spending too much time together now that they live together, Shirley has too many pictures of her son and Britta is Britta.) and wants to change, so they all gather under the excuse that it wasn't fair to stick Pierce with Todd (who doesn't take offense to their various insults towards having to work with him.)
This sequence in the study room is great, because it allows all the various characters to bounce off each other, while Todd's patience is increasingly worn down. No matter what they try, they can't agree on partners. When they all list their preferred pairings from 1 to 8, Abed pairs them up, and everyone gets distracted again when they realize he paired up popular people with unpopular people. And Jeff freaks when he finds out Todd is the popular one in their pairing (Todd is 4. Jeff is 5.). So they argue some more and attempt to find out who picked who until Britta sets the paper on fire and drops it into the container with Todd's turtle, the only thing anyone had gotten in terms of completing the project. This is Todd's breaking point and he rants to the study group about how he thought they were friends and how their love is weird and destructive, before going home to hold his wife and baby. The group pretty much ignores what he said, and Jeff prepares to leave too when he realizes that class is in 15 minutes.
So ultimately Professor Kane labels the study group the "mean clique", and decides that they will all work together with one set of supplies and get one grade. They also fail the Terrarium project. This should be an interesting development for the course of the season, with their academic fates now tied more closely than ever before. If anything, Biology looks to be a much tougher course to pass than Anthropology was and that's a good thing. And now the group that only wanted to be together gets what they wanted. And they all bond again, by making fun of Todd again, who is right in front of them and can hear everything they say. Soo cruel but soo funny.
Meanwhile Chang continues his life as a security guard, deciding he wants to make detective. When he's informed there is no such thing as security guard detective, he begins narrating his day, like a noir detective film and through a series of unrelated incidents, becomes convinced that he has uncovered a massive conspiracy involving the Arizona Match Company. This is a fine and funny story, as it continues to show Chang is a good comedic fit in a non-teaching position of power. The best part of this story is the pay-off, as Chang accidentally sets fire to the closet he's been secretly living in as part of his agreement with the Dean and assumes it was part of the conspiracy. His boss thinks there is a squatter on campus, which breaks a lot of health codes, but rather than call the cops, the Dean claims there must be a conspiracy in order to cover his tracks. Unable to take the Dean enabling Chang, who he believes to be seriously mentally ill, the head security guard quits, leading to the Dean promoting Chang to head of security. As the Dean wonders if he's done the right thing for the school in his internal monolgue, Chang's has been replaced with insane laughter. Uh oh. All in all, another great week for season 3.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Greendale now has pay water fountains with two-drink minimums reflected in tuition.
-Troy's excuse for breaking up with lab partner: "I really need to catch up on Breaking Bad". Yes, you do Troy.
-Troy really wants to be partners with Britta. Hmmm.
-Jeff: "Now before anyone goes putting Todd last, remember he comes with a turtle".
-Based on Abed's calculations, the rankings looked like this: 1. Annie. 2. Abed 3. Troy 4. Todd 5. Jeff 6. Britta 7. Pierce 8. Shirley
-Annie to Jeff: "Who are you always texting? Everyone you know is in this room".
-Magnitude made his season 3 debut this week. Pop Pop!
Wednesday Quicky Opinion Time, Yo!
Kenny Sage here (Of course). So I've had this blog for about a month now and have a pretty good rhythm for posting regular opinions of shows. But sometimes I just get busy and miss a opinion here or there. (I haven't seen Ringer since Pilot. Don't think that will become regular despite my initial claims.). So I'm experimenting with a few things. The first thing I'm trying is called an opinion quicky. Ir's where I quickly talk about shows that I: A. don't usually talk about all the time B. Just didn't have time to talk about. So this week, I'll be quickly talking bout' Modern Family, Suburgatory, and Survivor: South Pacific.
Modern Family: Door to Door
I really wish I had time to write a full opinion this week because it enjoyed this episode a lot. David Cross showed up for his first episode since getting a recurring role as a city councilman and he was fantastic. Phil and Luke teamed up again. And Cameron and Gloria had a great story involving looking for the dog Stella (Cameron quickly gets caught up in a whirlwind of Streetcar Named Desire references, including an encounter with a little girl named Blanche.). This show is still great and I will talk about it more fully next week, when I'm not doing silly things like practicing for my Learner's test. Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Suburgatory: The Barbeque
I didn't intend to talk about Suburgatory regularly, but if it keeps up the quality, I may talk about it more often this winter. Anyways, this episode has Tessa dealing with an unwelcome attraction to dumb jock neighbor Ryan Shay, while George finds out he has to throw a barbeque, lest he be shunned by the suburbs. This was a quality episode with lots of great jokes, and a couple funny new hopefully recurring characters (including father of Ryan and Lisa Shay, played by the great Chris Parnell and a couple of husbands who are probably closeted). Keep it up, Suburgatory. Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Survivor: South Pacific: Survivalism
In future weeks, I plan to list my five favorite moments each episode of Survivor, because this is turning out to be even better than Redemption Island. Less focus on Brandon Hantz this week, which is welcome because that guy is paranoid. Actually, there was a bunch of focus on people who hadn't had much screen time to date, like Stacy and Dawn. And it was sweet. I was a bit sad when Stacy was voted out this week, but it had to be done. Here's hoping for more awesomeness from this season. Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
So that's it for quicky reviews for now. Stay tuned for my NBC Thursday reviews to be up shortly.
Modern Family: Door to Door
I really wish I had time to write a full opinion this week because it enjoyed this episode a lot. David Cross showed up for his first episode since getting a recurring role as a city councilman and he was fantastic. Phil and Luke teamed up again. And Cameron and Gloria had a great story involving looking for the dog Stella (Cameron quickly gets caught up in a whirlwind of Streetcar Named Desire references, including an encounter with a little girl named Blanche.). This show is still great and I will talk about it more fully next week, when I'm not doing silly things like practicing for my Learner's test. Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Suburgatory: The Barbeque
I didn't intend to talk about Suburgatory regularly, but if it keeps up the quality, I may talk about it more often this winter. Anyways, this episode has Tessa dealing with an unwelcome attraction to dumb jock neighbor Ryan Shay, while George finds out he has to throw a barbeque, lest he be shunned by the suburbs. This was a quality episode with lots of great jokes, and a couple funny new hopefully recurring characters (including father of Ryan and Lisa Shay, played by the great Chris Parnell and a couple of husbands who are probably closeted). Keep it up, Suburgatory. Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Survivor: South Pacific: Survivalism
In future weeks, I plan to list my five favorite moments each episode of Survivor, because this is turning out to be even better than Redemption Island. Less focus on Brandon Hantz this week, which is welcome because that guy is paranoid. Actually, there was a bunch of focus on people who hadn't had much screen time to date, like Stacy and Dawn. And it was sweet. I was a bit sad when Stacy was voted out this week, but it had to be done. Here's hoping for more awesomeness from this season. Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
So that's it for quicky reviews for now. Stay tuned for my NBC Thursday reviews to be up shortly.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
New Girl: Wedding
Wedding mainly does 2 things differently from the last episodes of New Girl. It: A. sets the entire episode at a wedding (except for the first scene where they establish they're going to a wedding and set up the stories for the wedding), and B. switches it up at the end, so Jess helps all her roommates instead of them all helping her. This helps and makes this episode of New Girl the most successful one yet. Probably even better than the pilot. Crazy talk that a show would start to improve I know, but true.
Basically, Jess is going with the guys to a wedding as Nick's date. The idea is for her to scare off Caroline, so Nick doesn't get hurt by her again. The guys however request that she not act like herself (she has props like fake hillbilly teeth ready to go.). Meanwhile Winston is taking his duties as an usher at the wedding super seriously, so people don't ask him questions about what he's doing now but he butts heads with a small boy who also takes his usher duties seriously. And Schmidt finds Brooke, a woman he always wanted to sleep with is at the wedding, as is Gretchen, a girl he dislikes but always ends up sleeping with at weddings.
Jess playing the role of Nick's girlfriend is funny. Of course, after it seems to have scared off Caroline, who seems kind of jealous, Nick decides that he's ready to talk to her alone. Of course this goes poorly when Jess tries to intercede on her own (the other two guys are distracted) by acting betrayed and Caroline assures her that she's not into Nick and has a new boyfriend. This revelation causes a drunk Nick to take over the nearby photo booth in a funny sequence, that shows Nick as being more than the straight man.
Meanwhile Schmidt finds that Brooke has changed from when he last saw her (She's sober now) and pretends that he is also not drinking. When Jess tries to get his attention, he claims Jess is an ex and a bit crazy. This backfires on him when Brooke encounters Jess in the bathroom trying to cut off the little girl bicycle shorts she's wearing to fit into her dress. Jess nicely tells her not to hurt Schmidt, but inadvertently threatens her with a knife, scaring her off completely. This means he'll inevitably wind up sleeping with Gretchen and he gets angry with Jess. And Winston gets into a dance-off with the kid usher that turns really creepy, really fast. In a funny way. With all the guys mad at Jess, she gets mad back and tells them she's happy being herself.
Of course, there has to be a happy conclusion so Winston talks to Jess and assures her that they're all happy to have her, even if they don't always act like it. Jess tells Schmidt that maybe Gretchen isn't so bad (She later rejects his attempt to ask her out because she's just using him for his body.) and she talks Nick out of the photo booth, where he finally gets the nerve to break things off with Caroline completely. Then they all dance together with Jess' modified chicken dance (She pecks her head forward instead of clapping because it's more realistic.
Once again, Schmidt was thefunniest non-Jess character. But Winston was way funnier than he was last week, and his scene with Jess was genuinely sweet. Nick was a lot funnier this week too. All in all, this episode shows that New Girl was definitely deserving of getting that full-season plus 2 pick-up. Honestly, I'm this close to having one of my infamous "Moments of Truth" with this show. It's growing on me.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-No Cece this week. Assumedly, she'll pop up next week as the episode is called Cece Crashes.
-Schmidt: "When I see you, I want to be thinking, " Who let the dirty slut out of the slut house?" Jess with hilarious British accent: Probably the slut butlah, raaaight?
-Jess: “One more time- Carol Lee? Cara Lou? Coraline?”
-Gretchen was a funny character. Hopefully she comes back to say more things like: "I'm gonna tie you down and show you pictures of my river rafting trip. It's a two-hour slide show."
-Jess: “I’m just cutting off my underwear—girl stuff.”
-Nick: “The photobooth is a liar, FYI.”
Basically, Jess is going with the guys to a wedding as Nick's date. The idea is for her to scare off Caroline, so Nick doesn't get hurt by her again. The guys however request that she not act like herself (she has props like fake hillbilly teeth ready to go.). Meanwhile Winston is taking his duties as an usher at the wedding super seriously, so people don't ask him questions about what he's doing now but he butts heads with a small boy who also takes his usher duties seriously. And Schmidt finds Brooke, a woman he always wanted to sleep with is at the wedding, as is Gretchen, a girl he dislikes but always ends up sleeping with at weddings.
Jess playing the role of Nick's girlfriend is funny. Of course, after it seems to have scared off Caroline, who seems kind of jealous, Nick decides that he's ready to talk to her alone. Of course this goes poorly when Jess tries to intercede on her own (the other two guys are distracted) by acting betrayed and Caroline assures her that she's not into Nick and has a new boyfriend. This revelation causes a drunk Nick to take over the nearby photo booth in a funny sequence, that shows Nick as being more than the straight man.
Meanwhile Schmidt finds that Brooke has changed from when he last saw her (She's sober now) and pretends that he is also not drinking. When Jess tries to get his attention, he claims Jess is an ex and a bit crazy. This backfires on him when Brooke encounters Jess in the bathroom trying to cut off the little girl bicycle shorts she's wearing to fit into her dress. Jess nicely tells her not to hurt Schmidt, but inadvertently threatens her with a knife, scaring her off completely. This means he'll inevitably wind up sleeping with Gretchen and he gets angry with Jess. And Winston gets into a dance-off with the kid usher that turns really creepy, really fast. In a funny way. With all the guys mad at Jess, she gets mad back and tells them she's happy being herself.
Of course, there has to be a happy conclusion so Winston talks to Jess and assures her that they're all happy to have her, even if they don't always act like it. Jess tells Schmidt that maybe Gretchen isn't so bad (She later rejects his attempt to ask her out because she's just using him for his body.) and she talks Nick out of the photo booth, where he finally gets the nerve to break things off with Caroline completely. Then they all dance together with Jess' modified chicken dance (She pecks her head forward instead of clapping because it's more realistic.
Once again, Schmidt was thefunniest non-Jess character. But Winston was way funnier than he was last week, and his scene with Jess was genuinely sweet. Nick was a lot funnier this week too. All in all, this episode shows that New Girl was definitely deserving of getting that full-season plus 2 pick-up. Honestly, I'm this close to having one of my infamous "Moments of Truth" with this show. It's growing on me.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-No Cece this week. Assumedly, she'll pop up next week as the episode is called Cece Crashes.
-Schmidt: "When I see you, I want to be thinking, " Who let the dirty slut out of the slut house?" Jess with hilarious British accent: Probably the slut butlah, raaaight?
-Jess: “One more time- Carol Lee? Cara Lou? Coraline?”
-Gretchen was a funny character. Hopefully she comes back to say more things like: "I'm gonna tie you down and show you pictures of my river rafting trip. It's a two-hour slide show."
-Jess: “I’m just cutting off my underwear—girl stuff.”
-Nick: “The photobooth is a liar, FYI.”
Glee: Asian F
About a week ago, last night's episode of Glee was sent out to critics. Or at least, the TV news guys like TV Line, EW, and E! Online. And all of them pretty much had the same opinion: one of the best episodes in a long time (E! went as far as to call it possibly the best episode ever). So throughout this past week, I kept hearing things about this episode and it got hyped up for me. So going into this week I had high expectations for this episode. So did it meet them? Mostly. I wouldn't say it was the best episode of Glee ever, but it probably would be on a Top 10 list for me. And it definitely threw my hope for Glee back in full swing.
One of the reasons (probably the biggest reason) I enjoyed this episode so much was because of it's focus on one of my favorite characters, recently promoted series regular Mike Chang. Back in season 1, he barely said a word (though he said more than other male background character Matt.), but during season 2 he began getting more and more lines, plus a duet of sorts and a couple dance numbers. This episode saw him finally take the spotlight (for part of the episode at least) and it was glorious. We get a look into his home life, where we see all the pressure he's under from his parents, primarily from his father. We get a glimpse into why he likes dancing so much. And we see him get his first solo as he auditions for West Side Story, showing off how much he's practiced his singing since last we saw him. Man, he has a sweet voice now. His story of struggling to follow his dreams, while meeting his parents extremely high expectations was a nice one, and the scene where his mother encourages him to follow his dreams and he teaches her some dance was genuinely sweet. And with him getting the role of Riff, we're sure to see him get more focus in the future. And I could not be happer about that.
Of course, the big focus of the episode was on a character who also hasn't been getting enough attention as of late: Mercedes. Despite being one of the original members of New Directions, Mercedes hasn't gotten that many stories of significance since season 1. The show's even aware of this and has commented on it in their typical self-aware fashion. But now they actually seem to be trying to put her back in focus and that's a good thing. This episode continues the auditions for West Side Story that started last episode. We see more of Marcus (Mercedes boyfriend who was very briefly introduced in the season premiere) and we see him encourage her to want more and to take the spotlight back. Suddenly, Mercedes Diva-ness which was her major trait in season 1, and made a brief resurgence in season 2 is back in full swing. She feels she deserves the role of Maria and more respect from a group that always seems to favour Rachel (and we see that she is getting pushed harder in booty camp.). She gives her all in the audition and the directors are unable to decide between Mercedes and Rachel so they give them a call-back.
Meanwhile Mercedes diva-ness continues until she refuses to continue at booty camp, calls Will out for his favourtism of Rachel and very nearly gets kicked out of New Directions (Or maybe she did get kicked out. Not sure because after her Dreamgirls fantasy sequence everyone has left the auditorium.). She and Rachel both kick butt at the callback, but Rachel is confident that Mercedes beat her. Based on promos I was sure Rachel had won but suprise, suprise, they both won. Artie, Beiste and Emma decide to doublecast the role and double the number of shows so they can both be Maria. Everyone's happy, right? Not Mercedes who convinced that this is just their way to appease Rachel refuses the part, and goes to join Shelby's new Glee Club. I liked this plot, because it fell in line with her character and even though Rachel and Mercedes have clashed before (and everyone quits the club at some point), the show was still able to make this feel like this was different. Like everything's going to change... for a while at least. Plus, even though Mercedes decisions were kind of unlikeable, at least I was able to figure out the process by which she made those decisions and her motivation. That's something that didn't happen much in season 2.
Meanwhile, Kurt has come to terms with the fact that Blaine is meant to be Tony (though we can see he's still disappointed when the cast list is posted in a great wordless scene) and is confident about his chances in the upcoming school election, as the only candidates so far are him and Brittany and he's 11% ahead of Brittany. Then, Brittany, who's running on a platform of female empowerment, gets the attention of the female population of McKinley, through a flash mob number of Run the World (Girls) that seems to elevate her chances. And to make matters worse, Rachel (who at this point is sure she lost the part to Mercedes) decides out of desperation that she's going to enter the race to ensure her chances of getting into that New York school. This is a decision that, like Mercedes decision to join the other Glee Club is actually understandable, because we know why she's doing it. It becomes less understandable though, when she chooses to stay in the race even after getting the part (her justification at this point is a lot weaker), and now Finn is in an unenviable position: does he vote for his girlfriend or his brother? More on this to come, surely.
And in a last story, Will is confused as to why Emma won't let him meet her parents . Thinking she's embarrassed by him, he takes action to invite them himself. Turns out her dad is Ralph Malph (well, played by Don Most, who was Ralph Malph on Happy Days) and both her parents are ginger supremacists (in another absurd plot point that only Glee could pull off). They're also pretty unintentionally cruel to their daughter and suddenly, we see where Emma's OCD may have come from. This also retriggers Emma's OCD and suddenly all the progress Will's made has pretty much disappeared. Will still wants to help Emma though and the episode ends with a great rendition of Coldplay's "Fix You".
Again, this wasn't the best episode Glee has ever done (That honour probably goes to Wheels. Or maybe Sectionals or Journey). I still have some quibbles about the episode, like Rachel's decision to stay in the race and another thing I'll mention below, but it was still an extremely solid episode. As good as the best episodes in Season 2, and many great ones from Season 1. Glee has yet to miss a step this season, and while things could still go wrong when the show returns November 1st (We'll see how they handle the first Glee Project winner to get an extended role on the show, irish Damien and how they handle Nov. 8's Rachel and Kurt lose their virginity episode), my confidence in this show has been utterly restored.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Abruptly Resolved Subplot Alert: Santana is suddenly back in New Directions after getting kicked out, having secretly reaffirmed her allegiance. Please tell me that this isn't a sign that the writers are going back to season 2 habits and that there's more to this story.
-Random Plot Point Re-emergence/Reference Alert: Tina still pretends to be a vampire to intimidate Figgins. Huh. Also Mike brings up the time she faked a stutter for 9 episodes back when the show started.
-Best Musical Performance: Cool impressed me but the best number was probably either Fix You or Rachel and Mercedes Callback song Out Here On My Own.
-Worst Musical Performance: Was not that big a fan of It's All Over. It was still good, but not as good as the other numbers.
-No Sugar Motta this week, but she's bound to pop again soon now that Mercedes has joined her Glee Club.
-No Sue this week either, outside of a brief non-speaking cameo during Run the World, but it looks like she'll be back in full force November 1st.
-Emma's description of double-casting Maria: "It's like the special Olympics. Everyone wins!"
-I briefly mentioned it above but the whole scene with people reacting to the cast list was terrific. Especially Mike's joyous reaction and Rachel's solemn one, knowing what getting the part cost her.
And in a last story, Will is confused as to why Emma won't let him meet her parents . Thinking she's embarrassed by him, he takes action to invite them himself. Turns out her dad is Ralph Malph (well, played by Don Most, who was Ralph Malph on Happy Days) and both her parents are ginger supremacists (in another absurd plot point that only Glee could pull off). They're also pretty unintentionally cruel to their daughter and suddenly, we see where Emma's OCD may have come from. This also retriggers Emma's OCD and suddenly all the progress Will's made has pretty much disappeared. Will still wants to help Emma though and the episode ends with a great rendition of Coldplay's "Fix You".
Again, this wasn't the best episode Glee has ever done (That honour probably goes to Wheels. Or maybe Sectionals or Journey). I still have some quibbles about the episode, like Rachel's decision to stay in the race and another thing I'll mention below, but it was still an extremely solid episode. As good as the best episodes in Season 2, and many great ones from Season 1. Glee has yet to miss a step this season, and while things could still go wrong when the show returns November 1st (We'll see how they handle the first Glee Project winner to get an extended role on the show, irish Damien and how they handle Nov. 8's Rachel and Kurt lose their virginity episode), my confidence in this show has been utterly restored.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Abruptly Resolved Subplot Alert: Santana is suddenly back in New Directions after getting kicked out, having secretly reaffirmed her allegiance. Please tell me that this isn't a sign that the writers are going back to season 2 habits and that there's more to this story.
-Random Plot Point Re-emergence/Reference Alert: Tina still pretends to be a vampire to intimidate Figgins. Huh. Also Mike brings up the time she faked a stutter for 9 episodes back when the show started.
-Best Musical Performance: Cool impressed me but the best number was probably either Fix You or Rachel and Mercedes Callback song Out Here On My Own.
-Worst Musical Performance: Was not that big a fan of It's All Over. It was still good, but not as good as the other numbers.
-No Sugar Motta this week, but she's bound to pop again soon now that Mercedes has joined her Glee Club.
-No Sue this week either, outside of a brief non-speaking cameo during Run the World, but it looks like she'll be back in full force November 1st.
-Emma's description of double-casting Maria: "It's like the special Olympics. Everyone wins!"
-I briefly mentioned it above but the whole scene with people reacting to the cast list was terrific. Especially Mike's joyous reaction and Rachel's solemn one, knowing what getting the part cost her.
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