What Happened, Yo!:
-Leslie and Ben have turned an abandoned spot of concrete into Indiana's smallest park.
-Ben informs Leslie that he is going to ask Chris that he doesn't want to work with the Parks Department as much anymore, because he still can't handle being around Leslie.
-Leslie refuses to accept this, and decides that she's going to drag the project out for as long as she can by turning public opinion against the park.
-But the public is surprisingly in favour of the tourist attraction and the forum about it lasts only 45 minutes. Even when Leslie gets them riled up by planning a lengthy list of activities to happen at the park, they're appeased when Ben just cancels all the activities.
-Ben says that Leslie is a steamroller who doesn't care about what anyone else wants as long as she gets her way and asks Chris to transfer.
-Ann tells Leslie that Ben is right and she is a steamroller.
-Leslie apologizes to Ben, and finally understands why he doesn't want to be around her. They end amicably...
-Until she asks him if he wants to start dating again, no matter how bad that will affect her career or campaign. Ben agrees and they kiss.
-Elsewhere Chris gets Tom and Jerry to "redesign" the parks department logo (as in choose the new font.). Tom decides to do some over-the-top redesigns but Jerry just wants to stick to the assignment.
-Tom keeps insisting that he should dream big and Jerry points out that's how he got into trouble with Entertainment 720 in the first place, which gets Tom depressed.
-Jerry tries to encourage Tom by saying the best thing for the job is to do everything the same. When he shows off his original ID badge that he still uses though, it gives Tom an idea to bring back the retro logo.
-Chris likes the idea and Tom gives much of the credit to Jerry. Awww.
-Meanwhile again, Andy is going to enroll at community college for one class and Andy and Ron are helping him pick.
-April encourages him to do something he'll be good at, like Guitar for Beginners, but he gets bored and can't pretend he's no good.
-Ron wants him to challenge himself so he tries Intro to Lasers, but gets upset when he learns that they don't actually get to use lasers.
-Andy picks a class at random and tries Women Studies. He enjoys it but is disheartened to learn that tuition is almost 1000 dollars, which he doesn't have.
-He decides to shine shoes again to try and get the money, but Ron gives it to him because he likes Andy and has the money. Awww again.
I Liked This:
This may be the best episode Parks and Recreation has done all season. All three of the storylines were strong, and all contained plenty of laughs. Pawnee citizens are always good for a laugh and this episode was no exception. Andy continues to be one of the shows funniest characters, and he gets many of the funniest lines this episode. It was also nice to see Tom be nice to Jerry for once (even if being nice to him meant Jerry becoming Tom's number 4 in place of number 3). And of course, Ron Swanson's soft side is always a treat, and him paying for Andy's class was a heartwarming moment. But the big thing this episode had going for it was the Leslie storyline.
As I've mentioned before, it's good that we get these storylines that remind us that Leslie isn't perfect. But this storyline took that one step farther by having Leslie being bluntly and directly confronting with this fact. It then had Leslie recognize this, accept this, and decides to make a change. And that's why this episode is so good. It has our main character realize that she has to improve herself, and it does it in a way that pays off the episodes that came before us. Leslie has reached a critical point in her character arc and it'll be interesting to see where she goes from there. Not to mention, now that she's coming clean, the possibilities of what could happen next are genuinely thrilling.
But...: I literally cannot think of anything I disliked about Smallest Park.
Bottom Line: Smallest Park didn't have as many laughs as Ron and Tammys. But it was a strong character story with some great emotional beats and some honest character growth. And for that I hereby call it...
Grade: Holy BLANK! (Perfect)
Memorable Moments
-Funniest Citizen Moment: The women who doesn't want a basketball course because it attracts a certain kind of people, who almost straight out says what kind of people she dislikes. With lots of black people around.
-Everyone but Jerry laughing when Chris said Tom could learn a lot from Jerry was great.
-.000003 square miles is a very small park
-Andy: "I did not graduate college because I did not attend it."
-Andy's reaction to learning Intro to Lasers doesn't involve using lasers was classic: "One of the most significant bummers of my lifetime", he says with a sad face.
-Leslie: "Your quiet supports means the world to me, as well as your tacit endorsement of all my behaviors."
-Andy: "Then it's settled. Andy Dwyer will be taking Women's Lasers."
-Ron: "April, where have you been? Over two phone calls came in unimpeded!"
-Ron: "My first day of college my father dropped me off at the steel mill. He didn't think I should go to college, but I hitched a ride, enrolled, and learned a lot."
Friday, 18 November 2011
Community: Documentary Filmmaking: Redux
What Happened, Yo!:
-The Dean has been given $2000 dollars to update the 16-year-old Greendale Commercial and has cast the study group, because they are "Greendale's brightest and coincidentally, most diverse (Hispanics notwithstanding) study group".
-Abed is filming this as a documentary because he believes the Dean will lose his sanity doing this commercial and wants to follow that, Hearts of Darkness style.
-Pierce is outraged to learn the shoot won't be catered and refuses to leave his trailer. When he learns he doesn't have a trailer, he rents one and refuses to leave until he gets a trailer he can refuse to leave
-Troy and Britta have to hug, which they really enjoy.
-Jeff has to play the Dean in the commercial and plans to use this opportunity to mock the Dean, but the Dean sees Jeff's performance as gold.
-All is fine and the commercial is almost done until the Dean learns that Greendales one famous alumni, Luis Guzman wants to appear in the commercial. This causes the Dean to want the commercial to be better than what they have, and he goes to re-write everyone's parts. Except for Jeff.
-By the next day they are 6,000 dollars over budget and everyone has been drawn into the commercial, with all classes being cancelled.
-The Dean slowly becomes crazier and crazier, rewriting things as they go, and demanding that Troy and Britta hug so many times to get that missing something, the two have emotional breakdowns.
-Jeff has kept on the bald cap for days and slowly finds himself incredibly attached to it.
-The board of directors tell the Dean that he'll be fired if the commercial isn't good enough, since this thing is taking so long.
-Annie, who is the script supervisor begins to believe that the Dean really is a genius in a case of Stockholm Syndrome
-Pierce takes over the trailer they've gotten for Luis Guzman
-On Day 12, they finally get to Jeff's scene, but when the Dean decides he wants Jeff's character to have hair, Jeff won't take off the bald cap, leading to him being replaced with his self-proclaimed understudy Ben Chang. This leads Annie to finally realize the Dean is insane and Britta to call the whole production a violation of human rights. The Dean says everyone who wants to leave can leave so everyone leaves.
-Luis Guzman shows up to a mostly empty school. The Dean (who now has an possum in his office) shows him his rough draft of his commercial, which is a big mess. Luis Guzman decides he can't do the commercial and advises Abed to help the Dean.
-The Dean freaks out when he sees Luis doing Abed's documentary (He's already got rid of the trailer with Pierce still inside). Luis tells him he thought the old script was good and the Dean says that's because Luis went to Greendale.
-Luis tells the Dean that the Dean is ashamed of Greendale, that Greendale is a special place and the Dean doesn't deserve to be there.
-The Dean gets Abed to film him confessing that he failed the school because he thought he was better than it. And the only thing wrong with the school is that it's run by an insecure wreck who thinks it's not good enough. But he goes on to call Greendale the best school in the entire world, burns his university diploma, stips down, and covers himself in the ashes.
-When the Dean goes to show the representatives from the board his confession, he finds that Abed has put together footage from the first day of shooting with footage from his documentary and made it into a good enough commercial.
-Abed has realized that documentarians influence the story because they decide to tell the story and decide how it ends.
-The study group forgives the Dean after seeing the footage of his breakdown and hug. Troy and Britta remain in their hug longer than anyone else.
-In the tag, we see Pierce has been towed all the way to Hollywood, where he stumbles out declaring to be a star.
I Liked This:
This episode was a spotlight on Dean Pelton, and it was probably Jim Rash's best performance yet. I liked how the episode humanized the Dean, especially after showing him go over-the-top insane. I also liked how the documentary format the episode used wound up being relevant to the story in a much more profound way than the last time they used it (Though that was still a great episode). As much as it was the Dean's story, it was also a story for Abed too, and it was nice to see him decide to ultimately step in and save the Dean. And of course, the episode was really, really, really funny. After Remedial Chaos Theory, this was probably the next best episode of season 3 so far. And I'm sure there'll be plenty of more classics to come this season.
But...:
This episode was so good (though not perfect), it just made me more upset that NBC is "benching" Community for the time being come mid-season. Curses, NBC! At least let them get to season 4!
The Bottom Line: Documentary Filmmaking: Redux was a great episode, with a good spotlight on the Dean as a character. If only more people watched this show.
Grade: Zounds! (Almost Perfect)
Memorable Moments
-Abed: “As a student of character I have a feeling that making this commercial may cost the Dean his sanity. And my camera follows the fire, not the smoke. Ever seen Hearts of Darkness? Way better than Apocalypse Now.”
-Dean: “This isn’t Hollywood, Pierce. If it were, my glasses would be tinted and I’d be friends with Stevie Nicks.”
-The Dean can't think of the word he wants Shirley to be more of. Shirley: "The word he's looking for his sassy. He better pray he don't find it."
-The Dean gets fed up with Troy and Britta not being able to deliver the performance he wants. “Okay, you get it wrong one more time, I’m segregating the school.”
-Chang: "Jeff thinks he has it bad? As Jeff's understudy, I have to wear a Jeff wig on top of my Chang hair and then my bald cap on top of that!"
-Jeff: “I’ve become a stranger to myself. I’m bald now. I’ve always been bald. I only dreamt of having hair. And now the bald man is awake.”
-The Commercial ultimately went $16,000 over budget.
-Abed: "Some flys are too awesome for the wall."
-The Dean has been given $2000 dollars to update the 16-year-old Greendale Commercial and has cast the study group, because they are "Greendale's brightest and coincidentally, most diverse (Hispanics notwithstanding) study group".
-Abed is filming this as a documentary because he believes the Dean will lose his sanity doing this commercial and wants to follow that, Hearts of Darkness style.
-Pierce is outraged to learn the shoot won't be catered and refuses to leave his trailer. When he learns he doesn't have a trailer, he rents one and refuses to leave until he gets a trailer he can refuse to leave
-Troy and Britta have to hug, which they really enjoy.
-Jeff has to play the Dean in the commercial and plans to use this opportunity to mock the Dean, but the Dean sees Jeff's performance as gold.
-All is fine and the commercial is almost done until the Dean learns that Greendales one famous alumni, Luis Guzman wants to appear in the commercial. This causes the Dean to want the commercial to be better than what they have, and he goes to re-write everyone's parts. Except for Jeff.
-By the next day they are 6,000 dollars over budget and everyone has been drawn into the commercial, with all classes being cancelled.
-The Dean slowly becomes crazier and crazier, rewriting things as they go, and demanding that Troy and Britta hug so many times to get that missing something, the two have emotional breakdowns.
-Jeff has kept on the bald cap for days and slowly finds himself incredibly attached to it.
-The board of directors tell the Dean that he'll be fired if the commercial isn't good enough, since this thing is taking so long.
-Annie, who is the script supervisor begins to believe that the Dean really is a genius in a case of Stockholm Syndrome
-Pierce takes over the trailer they've gotten for Luis Guzman
-On Day 12, they finally get to Jeff's scene, but when the Dean decides he wants Jeff's character to have hair, Jeff won't take off the bald cap, leading to him being replaced with his self-proclaimed understudy Ben Chang. This leads Annie to finally realize the Dean is insane and Britta to call the whole production a violation of human rights. The Dean says everyone who wants to leave can leave so everyone leaves.
-Luis Guzman shows up to a mostly empty school. The Dean (who now has an possum in his office) shows him his rough draft of his commercial, which is a big mess. Luis Guzman decides he can't do the commercial and advises Abed to help the Dean.
-The Dean freaks out when he sees Luis doing Abed's documentary (He's already got rid of the trailer with Pierce still inside). Luis tells him he thought the old script was good and the Dean says that's because Luis went to Greendale.
-Luis tells the Dean that the Dean is ashamed of Greendale, that Greendale is a special place and the Dean doesn't deserve to be there.
-The Dean gets Abed to film him confessing that he failed the school because he thought he was better than it. And the only thing wrong with the school is that it's run by an insecure wreck who thinks it's not good enough. But he goes on to call Greendale the best school in the entire world, burns his university diploma, stips down, and covers himself in the ashes.
-When the Dean goes to show the representatives from the board his confession, he finds that Abed has put together footage from the first day of shooting with footage from his documentary and made it into a good enough commercial.
-Abed has realized that documentarians influence the story because they decide to tell the story and decide how it ends.
-The study group forgives the Dean after seeing the footage of his breakdown and hug. Troy and Britta remain in their hug longer than anyone else.
-In the tag, we see Pierce has been towed all the way to Hollywood, where he stumbles out declaring to be a star.
I Liked This:
This episode was a spotlight on Dean Pelton, and it was probably Jim Rash's best performance yet. I liked how the episode humanized the Dean, especially after showing him go over-the-top insane. I also liked how the documentary format the episode used wound up being relevant to the story in a much more profound way than the last time they used it (Though that was still a great episode). As much as it was the Dean's story, it was also a story for Abed too, and it was nice to see him decide to ultimately step in and save the Dean. And of course, the episode was really, really, really funny. After Remedial Chaos Theory, this was probably the next best episode of season 3 so far. And I'm sure there'll be plenty of more classics to come this season.
But...:
This episode was so good (though not perfect), it just made me more upset that NBC is "benching" Community for the time being come mid-season. Curses, NBC! At least let them get to season 4!
The Bottom Line: Documentary Filmmaking: Redux was a great episode, with a good spotlight on the Dean as a character. If only more people watched this show.
Grade: Zounds! (Almost Perfect)
Memorable Moments
-Abed: “As a student of character I have a feeling that making this commercial may cost the Dean his sanity. And my camera follows the fire, not the smoke. Ever seen Hearts of Darkness? Way better than Apocalypse Now.”
-Dean: “This isn’t Hollywood, Pierce. If it were, my glasses would be tinted and I’d be friends with Stevie Nicks.”
-The Dean can't think of the word he wants Shirley to be more of. Shirley: "The word he's looking for his sassy. He better pray he don't find it."
-The Dean gets fed up with Troy and Britta not being able to deliver the performance he wants. “Okay, you get it wrong one more time, I’m segregating the school.”
-Chang: "Jeff thinks he has it bad? As Jeff's understudy, I have to wear a Jeff wig on top of my Chang hair and then my bald cap on top of that!"
-Jeff: “I’ve become a stranger to myself. I’m bald now. I’ve always been bald. I only dreamt of having hair. And now the bald man is awake.”
-The Commercial ultimately went $16,000 over budget.
-Abed: "Some flys are too awesome for the wall."
Thursday, 17 November 2011
5 Things I Enjoyed About: Survivor: South Pacific: Running the Show
Oh, Survivor. Getting me to think that Albert might change the game only to have it not happen was cruel. But it did lead to some killer suspense in an episode, where the outcome would otherwise be expected once Dawn and Whitney barely lost out on immunity. And it was still a solid episode in a very good season so I can still think of 5 things I liked.
1. Who's Running The Show?: When Jim mentions that Upolu is the closest thing to a cult he's ever seen, my one thought was that he obviously didn't see Redemption Island, which featured a much worse cult than what Coach has set up. Coach doesn't state that he's the leader though former Savii members may disagree with this statement (And Coach later calls himself a mob boss, which I'm pretty sure is a leader, Coach.). So I found the various points of view on whether or not Coach was the leader quite enjoyable and interesting. Especially Albert's Tribal statements when he suggests Coach may just be a figurehead. Or a puppetmaster.
2. Sharing the Screen: I also liked that this episode gave more screentime to people like Whitney and Sophie, who we haven't seen that much of since the game began (though Whitney was in danger of going to Redemption, and Sophie won both immunity challenges, so I guess the extra screentime was a given.). Still not much of Rick though, but I can accept that.
3. Tons of Challenges: There was the redemption island duel, where Ozzy managed to balance his boards, and score a win over Keith and Jim and stay alive in the game. There was the main challenge, where people had to balance rice on their heads and cross teeter totters, which was fun to watch and had Sophie score a win by gambling on being able to carry a massive amount of rice. And then there was the extra immunity challenge, where they were asked survival questions and Sophie managed to win again, sealing Whitney's fate. All the challenges had a good amount of tension, which made them enjoyable. Which is why they're here.
4. Albert Gets My Hopes Up: Albert considers getting Cochran, Dawn and Whitney on his side when it comes time to vote, by voting out Edna instead of them. He even gets Sophie in on it and it looks like they're really going to go through with it. Of course they don't, but the tension wondering whether or not they'll go through with it made for excitement. And also Coach making sure his original alliance knows anyone who goes against the family is dead.
5. Jim wants to go to Double Secret Redemption Island: If only, Jim. If only. It doesn't exist but his hope for Double Secret Redemption Island was probably the best line of the night. I'm sad to see Jim go. Ozzy is staying alive and staying strong out there, but I sort of wish Jim or Keith had won out. Hopefully, Dawn or Whitney will win the day next time, just to shake things up.
1. Who's Running The Show?: When Jim mentions that Upolu is the closest thing to a cult he's ever seen, my one thought was that he obviously didn't see Redemption Island, which featured a much worse cult than what Coach has set up. Coach doesn't state that he's the leader though former Savii members may disagree with this statement (And Coach later calls himself a mob boss, which I'm pretty sure is a leader, Coach.). So I found the various points of view on whether or not Coach was the leader quite enjoyable and interesting. Especially Albert's Tribal statements when he suggests Coach may just be a figurehead. Or a puppetmaster.
2. Sharing the Screen: I also liked that this episode gave more screentime to people like Whitney and Sophie, who we haven't seen that much of since the game began (though Whitney was in danger of going to Redemption, and Sophie won both immunity challenges, so I guess the extra screentime was a given.). Still not much of Rick though, but I can accept that.
3. Tons of Challenges: There was the redemption island duel, where Ozzy managed to balance his boards, and score a win over Keith and Jim and stay alive in the game. There was the main challenge, where people had to balance rice on their heads and cross teeter totters, which was fun to watch and had Sophie score a win by gambling on being able to carry a massive amount of rice. And then there was the extra immunity challenge, where they were asked survival questions and Sophie managed to win again, sealing Whitney's fate. All the challenges had a good amount of tension, which made them enjoyable. Which is why they're here.
4. Albert Gets My Hopes Up: Albert considers getting Cochran, Dawn and Whitney on his side when it comes time to vote, by voting out Edna instead of them. He even gets Sophie in on it and it looks like they're really going to go through with it. Of course they don't, but the tension wondering whether or not they'll go through with it made for excitement. And also Coach making sure his original alliance knows anyone who goes against the family is dead.
5. Jim wants to go to Double Secret Redemption Island: If only, Jim. If only. It doesn't exist but his hope for Double Secret Redemption Island was probably the best line of the night. I'm sad to see Jim go. Ozzy is staying alive and staying strong out there, but I sort of wish Jim or Keith had won out. Hopefully, Dawn or Whitney will win the day next time, just to shake things up.
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Memorable Moments: New Girl: Thanksgiving
Quicky Opinion: Thanksgiving was probably the strongest episode New Girl has had to date. Partly because it didn't end with a variation of the climax of the pilot, but also because it allowed us to see new sides of the character. Justin Long was fun in his first guest appearance as basically male Jess, and Schmidt was as enjoyable as ever. I also liked the last-minute twist of the dead body in the neighbors apartment. Hopefully, New Girl will do episodes like this more often. Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
- Jess: "What you doing for Thanksgiving?" Paul: "Well I always spend it with my Grandmother, but -" Jess: "That's so nice!" Paul: "She just died."
-Paul's grandmother died right as he was writing the Halloween Madrigal, which made it very deep. "What's it all about? Is there any point? Do we start dying the moment we were born". Those words sung by kids in monster costumes make for a great sight gag.
-Nick: "No, Jess. We're not doing Thanksgiving. We talked about this. We're just going to watch football, drink beer, and then we're going to Best Buy for Black Friday". Winston: "Or as I like to call it, Friday"
Memorable Moments
- Jess: "What you doing for Thanksgiving?" Paul: "Well I always spend it with my Grandmother, but -" Jess: "That's so nice!" Paul: "She just died."
-Paul's grandmother died right as he was writing the Halloween Madrigal, which made it very deep. "What's it all about? Is there any point? Do we start dying the moment we were born". Those words sung by kids in monster costumes make for a great sight gag.
-Nick: "No, Jess. We're not doing Thanksgiving. We talked about this. We're just going to watch football, drink beer, and then we're going to Best Buy for Black Friday". Winston: "Or as I like to call it, Friday"
Glee: Mash Off
What Happened, Yo?:
-Puck is "Hot For Teacher". Shelby is a sub in one of his classes, because apparently she needs more to do than just coach Troubletones.
-Sue is running absurdly ridiculous attack ads against Burt Hummel, and tells Kurt that he doesn't have a chance winning the election, because he refuses to play dirty.
-New Directions and Troubletones will be facing off at sectionals, so Will and Shelby decide to have a friendly "mashoff" competition.
-Quinn is suspicious as to why child protective services haven't come yet.
-Rachel gets Shelby to write a letter of recommendation for Rachel's college application. She mentions that other kids wanting to get in won't have a prayer without a lot of activites like Rachel has.
-Kurt is still mad at Rachel for being in the student president race.
-Santana is insulting Finn and the two decide to gather their Glee clubs for a dodgeball match.
-Shelby tries to underplay Puck's feelings as just a crush, but Puck insists he has strong feelings. Shelby does admit that Beth likes him.
-Quinn still playing nice with Shelby.
-Dodgeball! Set to both clubs doing a mash-up of One Way Or Another and Hit Me With Your Best Shot. Troubletones win and then beat Rory with dodgeballs for some reason until Kurt gets them to stop.
-Mercedes officially becomes leader of Troubletones and demands Santana apologize to Finn and start playing nice.
-Santana gives a series of increasingly thinly veiled insults-disguised-as-apologies to Finn, until Finn uses the one weapon he has and says Santana only tears people down, because she tears herself down, because she's in the closet, and in love with Brittany who may not love her back.
-New Directions performs an Hall and Oates Mash-up.
-Puck admits to Shelby that Quinn planted a bunch of things in the apartment because she wants Beth back.
-Class President debates. Kurt rallies to ban dodgeball as the first step to stopping bullying. Rachel drops out of the race to support him for never playing dirty..
-Rachel and Kurt make up.
-Shelby tells Quinn off and hopes it'll be a wake-up call for her.
-Santana learns that the niece of one of Sue's competitors overheard Finn telling her to come out of the closet and her lesbianism is about to be used as part of an attack ad against Sue, outing her to everybody.
-Troubletones does an Adele mash-up. It's beautiful.
-Santana notices Finn whispering to Rachel. Though he's just whispering how good he thought Santana was, she yells at him, slaps him and yells some more declaring that because of him, everybody will know.
-To be continued.
I Liked This:
There was a bunch of stuff I liked in this episode. All the mash-ups, Santana vs. Finn, Rachel dropping out of the class president race to support Kurt, Sugar trying to copy Santana and saying she sounds exactly like Adele, Puck telling Shelby what Quinn's doing, and Shelby reprimanding Quinn. I even appreciated the over-the-topness of Sue's campaign ad. But for me, the best part of the episode was Naya Rivera and the ending.
Naya Rivera is great as Santana, who has become one of my favorite characters on the show. And this episode gives her lots of comedic material to work with. But in the last five minutes of the episode, when she finds out she's about to be outed to everyone in Ohio, goes to deliver one of her best musical performances in Rumour Has It/Somebody Like You, and then freaks out when Finn whispers something to Rachel, slaps him and shouts at him, Naya also gives perhaps the best performance she's ever given. It really elevates the episode as a whole. The ending itself is one of those well-earned legitimate twist endings you don't see coming (Maybe the first one Glee has done since Mattress. Mercedes joining Troubletones was a twist, but it wasn't unexpected.), and is very powerful stuff, but it's Naya Rivera who truly gives it an impact. If the whole episode was on par with this last scene, Mashoff would get a perfect rating easily.
But...: The whole episode isn't like the last scene and I still have some complaints. I continue to be annoyed with Quinn's big villainous turn. I really hope this is leading somewhere good for the character, because Quinn has turned into early season 1 Quinn again and I don't like early season 1 Quinn. Plus, whether he's 18 or not, I still have issues with the Puck/Shelby romance. I did like the scene where he confesses what Quinn has done, and his scenes with Beth were cute, but I did not care for the opening sequence at all. And Kurt's "Let's ban dodgeball" speech was overly preachy (even for Kurt) and felt shoehorned in, in order to give the earlier dodgeball sequence more purpose than just being an excuse to do a musical number and finally justify the dodgeball motif the season's iTunes singles have been using. As was the crowds enthusiastic reaction to it.
Bottom Line: Honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt about this episode of Glee until the final minutes. There was good stuff and there was bad stuff, and I was hovering around giving the "pretty good" grade again, but that final sequence was well done enough to make me not care so much about the negative parts of the episode and give it a solid...
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-Best Musical Performance: Rumour has it/Somebody like you. No question.
-Worst Musical Performance: Was not a fan of Hot For Teacher. Just didn't think it was well done.
-Fun Fact: Rumour Has It/Somebody Like You is Glee's 300th musical performance.
-Fun Fact #2: This is the 3rd time that Glee's 6th episode of the season has been a mash-up episode.
-Santana: “You guys, hurry up. Go get some wet towels, We have to keep Finn wet before we can roll him back into the sea.”
-Rory is not good at insults. “You’re skinny like all the crops failed on your family’s farm failed.”
-Brittany on Adele: “She sounds like what banana cream pie sounds like when it sings.”
-One last thing: I also liked that it's unclear who's at fault for outing Santana. Finn did say it in public, but Santana provoked him heavily, and neither of them could've predicted what would happen. Personally, I think they're both at fault, but it wouldn't surprise me if the show comes back in 2 weeks clearly on the side of "It's all Finn's fault".
-Puck is "Hot For Teacher". Shelby is a sub in one of his classes, because apparently she needs more to do than just coach Troubletones.
-Sue is running absurdly ridiculous attack ads against Burt Hummel, and tells Kurt that he doesn't have a chance winning the election, because he refuses to play dirty.
-New Directions and Troubletones will be facing off at sectionals, so Will and Shelby decide to have a friendly "mashoff" competition.
-Quinn is suspicious as to why child protective services haven't come yet.
-Rachel gets Shelby to write a letter of recommendation for Rachel's college application. She mentions that other kids wanting to get in won't have a prayer without a lot of activites like Rachel has.
-Kurt is still mad at Rachel for being in the student president race.
-Santana is insulting Finn and the two decide to gather their Glee clubs for a dodgeball match.
-Shelby tries to underplay Puck's feelings as just a crush, but Puck insists he has strong feelings. Shelby does admit that Beth likes him.
-Quinn still playing nice with Shelby.
-Dodgeball! Set to both clubs doing a mash-up of One Way Or Another and Hit Me With Your Best Shot. Troubletones win and then beat Rory with dodgeballs for some reason until Kurt gets them to stop.
-Mercedes officially becomes leader of Troubletones and demands Santana apologize to Finn and start playing nice.
-Santana gives a series of increasingly thinly veiled insults-disguised-as-apologies to Finn, until Finn uses the one weapon he has and says Santana only tears people down, because she tears herself down, because she's in the closet, and in love with Brittany who may not love her back.
-New Directions performs an Hall and Oates Mash-up.
-Puck admits to Shelby that Quinn planted a bunch of things in the apartment because she wants Beth back.
-Class President debates. Kurt rallies to ban dodgeball as the first step to stopping bullying. Rachel drops out of the race to support him for never playing dirty..
-Rachel and Kurt make up.
-Shelby tells Quinn off and hopes it'll be a wake-up call for her.
-Santana learns that the niece of one of Sue's competitors overheard Finn telling her to come out of the closet and her lesbianism is about to be used as part of an attack ad against Sue, outing her to everybody.
-Troubletones does an Adele mash-up. It's beautiful.
-Santana notices Finn whispering to Rachel. Though he's just whispering how good he thought Santana was, she yells at him, slaps him and yells some more declaring that because of him, everybody will know.
-To be continued.
I Liked This:
There was a bunch of stuff I liked in this episode. All the mash-ups, Santana vs. Finn, Rachel dropping out of the class president race to support Kurt, Sugar trying to copy Santana and saying she sounds exactly like Adele, Puck telling Shelby what Quinn's doing, and Shelby reprimanding Quinn. I even appreciated the over-the-topness of Sue's campaign ad. But for me, the best part of the episode was Naya Rivera and the ending.
Naya Rivera is great as Santana, who has become one of my favorite characters on the show. And this episode gives her lots of comedic material to work with. But in the last five minutes of the episode, when she finds out she's about to be outed to everyone in Ohio, goes to deliver one of her best musical performances in Rumour Has It/Somebody Like You, and then freaks out when Finn whispers something to Rachel, slaps him and shouts at him, Naya also gives perhaps the best performance she's ever given. It really elevates the episode as a whole. The ending itself is one of those well-earned legitimate twist endings you don't see coming (Maybe the first one Glee has done since Mattress. Mercedes joining Troubletones was a twist, but it wasn't unexpected.), and is very powerful stuff, but it's Naya Rivera who truly gives it an impact. If the whole episode was on par with this last scene, Mashoff would get a perfect rating easily.
But...: The whole episode isn't like the last scene and I still have some complaints. I continue to be annoyed with Quinn's big villainous turn. I really hope this is leading somewhere good for the character, because Quinn has turned into early season 1 Quinn again and I don't like early season 1 Quinn. Plus, whether he's 18 or not, I still have issues with the Puck/Shelby romance. I did like the scene where he confesses what Quinn has done, and his scenes with Beth were cute, but I did not care for the opening sequence at all. And Kurt's "Let's ban dodgeball" speech was overly preachy (even for Kurt) and felt shoehorned in, in order to give the earlier dodgeball sequence more purpose than just being an excuse to do a musical number and finally justify the dodgeball motif the season's iTunes singles have been using. As was the crowds enthusiastic reaction to it.
Bottom Line: Honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt about this episode of Glee until the final minutes. There was good stuff and there was bad stuff, and I was hovering around giving the "pretty good" grade again, but that final sequence was well done enough to make me not care so much about the negative parts of the episode and give it a solid...
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-Best Musical Performance: Rumour has it/Somebody like you. No question.
-Worst Musical Performance: Was not a fan of Hot For Teacher. Just didn't think it was well done.
-Fun Fact: Rumour Has It/Somebody Like You is Glee's 300th musical performance.
-Fun Fact #2: This is the 3rd time that Glee's 6th episode of the season has been a mash-up episode.
-Santana: “You guys, hurry up. Go get some wet towels, We have to keep Finn wet before we can roll him back into the sea.”
-Rory is not good at insults. “You’re skinny like all the crops failed on your family’s farm failed.”
-Brittany on Adele: “She sounds like what banana cream pie sounds like when it sings.”
-One last thing: I also liked that it's unclear who's at fault for outing Santana. Finn did say it in public, but Santana provoked him heavily, and neither of them could've predicted what would happen. Personally, I think they're both at fault, but it wouldn't surprise me if the show comes back in 2 weeks clearly on the side of "It's all Finn's fault".
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Terra Nova: Proof
What Happened, Yo!:
-There's a big establishing shot with Dinosaurs in it, and then no more Dinosaurs for the rest of the episode. Lame! And no, the Swordfish and the Komodo Dragon don't count as dinosaurs.
-Taylor and Jim are out fishing and Jim almost gets pulled into the ocean by a swordfish.
-A group of scientists are returning from a 6-month expedition, including Maddy's idol, Dr. Ken Horton. Since Elizabeth is testing him to make sure everything's OK, she lets Maddy meet him and he soon lets her become an intern for him.
-Some of the Sixers are quite sick so Mira calls in the favour she needs from Josh: he must steal a very rare, very protected medicine from the infirmary.
-Josh is reluctant to do it and Skye tries to persuade him not to, but Mira shows him proof that she can get Kara to him by letting him talk to her for a moment so he breaks in and steals the meds.
-On their way back from fishing, Jim and Taylor notice a makeshift campsite and stumble into an injured Curran (the exiled soldier from Bylaw). Taylor stays back while Jim heads on home.
-Jim thinks a drug addict has taken the medicine. Josh learns that without the medicine, a patient of his mothers will die. Josh starts feeling bad about what he's done, even though he gets word that Kara coming back is a sure thing now.
-Boylan gets a barfly who owes him money to look like he's the one who stole the medicine, but Jim quickly gets him to reveal that Boylan put him up to it.
-Meanwhile, Maddy begins to get concerned when Horton forgets some things he wrote in his books and in a letter he had sent her. When getting the letter so he can make a copy for his archives, she also notices that his signature is different on it than it is on the book he just signed for her. Elizabeth believes it's just because of the stroke he suffered, but Maddy isn't so sure. Zoe just thinks Horton is a vampire.
-Maddy gets more suspicious when she finds out her letter has been burned and gets some of Horton's DNA so she can test it with the DNA from the envelope his letter came in, but the DNA is a match. Horton has secretly seen her do this however.
-Maddy begins to think that maybe Horton had an assistant who mailed her letter and stole Horton's identity. So she goes to The Eye and figures out that Horton did have an assistant who disappeared right before Horton went to Terra Nova, and an unidentified body was found around that time too. Uh-oh.
-Fake Horton finds her, but Maddy escapes. So Fake Horton checks Zoe out of school so Maddy will have to go find him.
-Maddy sends Zoe off with a coded message for Jim, who comes in to save the day just as Fake Horton is about to kill Maddy, by use of a poisonous spider. Disappointingly, Jim uses his fists to rescue Maddy and not the "Go Away Spider" song.
-Taylor saves Curran from a Komodo Dragon and then sends him to infiltrate the Sixer's and indentify the mole, promising to let him back in if he succeeds, and threatening to kill him if he fails.
-Maddy wonders if Fake Horton's claims that the real Horton was a bad person were true, but Elizabeth reminds her that no matter who the real Horton was, he took the time to write to a little girl who was a fan, so how bad could he have been?
-Josh confesses his crimes and explains everything. Jim confronts Boylan who insists that Mira can contact the future.
-Taylor reveals to Jim that his son was working on a way to contact the future before he disappears. Jim suggests Mira may have in, but Taylor implies the truth may be more complicated by that.
-Later, Maddy picks up an apple that Fake Horton had helped prepare to harvest and we're done.
I Liked This:
Lots to like here. First and foremost, I liked that Maddy finally had a major storyline that did not involve teenage romance (her medical internship was not a major story.). I liked that the idea of the favour introduced last week came into play this week and that the major characters became aware of what Josh is up to, because it shows once more that Terra Nova is not going to drag out all these mysteries and is going somewhere (assumedly) interesting with this. So I also liked watching more pieces of the puzzle come together this week. I actually didn't mind Josh this week and felt his plotline was handled well. And I liked the scene of Taylor facing off against the Komodo Dragon, because it was often (even if it wasn't a dinosaur he was facing off against.).
But...:
Still have a few minor complaints. The swordfish CGI at the beginning was horrible. I didn't really buy that Zoe's teacher would release her to Horton without proof that Maddy had sent him. Plus, why would Zoe even willingly go with Horton if she thought he was a vampire? And they kind of ran the whole "Zoe thinks Horton is a vampire" thing into the ground by the end of the episode (though it was really enjoyable for most of the episode.) I also feel they could've made more use of Skye this week.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
Dinosaur Scene Count: 1. I still refuse to count the Swordfish or the Komodo Dragon. Those aren't dinosaurs! They're prehistoric creatures!
Best Prehistoric Creature Moment: The Komodo Dragon/Taylor face-off.
Boy, That Was A Stupid Idea: C'mon, Zoe's teacher. Don't they have "Stranger Danger" in Terra Nova? If you had let something like that happen in 2011, you'd have gotten in trouble.
-There's a big establishing shot with Dinosaurs in it, and then no more Dinosaurs for the rest of the episode. Lame! And no, the Swordfish and the Komodo Dragon don't count as dinosaurs.
-Taylor and Jim are out fishing and Jim almost gets pulled into the ocean by a swordfish.
-A group of scientists are returning from a 6-month expedition, including Maddy's idol, Dr. Ken Horton. Since Elizabeth is testing him to make sure everything's OK, she lets Maddy meet him and he soon lets her become an intern for him.
-Some of the Sixers are quite sick so Mira calls in the favour she needs from Josh: he must steal a very rare, very protected medicine from the infirmary.
-Josh is reluctant to do it and Skye tries to persuade him not to, but Mira shows him proof that she can get Kara to him by letting him talk to her for a moment so he breaks in and steals the meds.
-On their way back from fishing, Jim and Taylor notice a makeshift campsite and stumble into an injured Curran (the exiled soldier from Bylaw). Taylor stays back while Jim heads on home.
-Jim thinks a drug addict has taken the medicine. Josh learns that without the medicine, a patient of his mothers will die. Josh starts feeling bad about what he's done, even though he gets word that Kara coming back is a sure thing now.
-Boylan gets a barfly who owes him money to look like he's the one who stole the medicine, but Jim quickly gets him to reveal that Boylan put him up to it.
-Meanwhile, Maddy begins to get concerned when Horton forgets some things he wrote in his books and in a letter he had sent her. When getting the letter so he can make a copy for his archives, she also notices that his signature is different on it than it is on the book he just signed for her. Elizabeth believes it's just because of the stroke he suffered, but Maddy isn't so sure. Zoe just thinks Horton is a vampire.
-Maddy gets more suspicious when she finds out her letter has been burned and gets some of Horton's DNA so she can test it with the DNA from the envelope his letter came in, but the DNA is a match. Horton has secretly seen her do this however.
-Maddy begins to think that maybe Horton had an assistant who mailed her letter and stole Horton's identity. So she goes to The Eye and figures out that Horton did have an assistant who disappeared right before Horton went to Terra Nova, and an unidentified body was found around that time too. Uh-oh.
-Fake Horton finds her, but Maddy escapes. So Fake Horton checks Zoe out of school so Maddy will have to go find him.
-Maddy sends Zoe off with a coded message for Jim, who comes in to save the day just as Fake Horton is about to kill Maddy, by use of a poisonous spider. Disappointingly, Jim uses his fists to rescue Maddy and not the "Go Away Spider" song.
-Taylor saves Curran from a Komodo Dragon and then sends him to infiltrate the Sixer's and indentify the mole, promising to let him back in if he succeeds, and threatening to kill him if he fails.
-Maddy wonders if Fake Horton's claims that the real Horton was a bad person were true, but Elizabeth reminds her that no matter who the real Horton was, he took the time to write to a little girl who was a fan, so how bad could he have been?
-Josh confesses his crimes and explains everything. Jim confronts Boylan who insists that Mira can contact the future.
-Taylor reveals to Jim that his son was working on a way to contact the future before he disappears. Jim suggests Mira may have in, but Taylor implies the truth may be more complicated by that.
-Later, Maddy picks up an apple that Fake Horton had helped prepare to harvest and we're done.
I Liked This:
Lots to like here. First and foremost, I liked that Maddy finally had a major storyline that did not involve teenage romance (her medical internship was not a major story.). I liked that the idea of the favour introduced last week came into play this week and that the major characters became aware of what Josh is up to, because it shows once more that Terra Nova is not going to drag out all these mysteries and is going somewhere (assumedly) interesting with this. So I also liked watching more pieces of the puzzle come together this week. I actually didn't mind Josh this week and felt his plotline was handled well. And I liked the scene of Taylor facing off against the Komodo Dragon, because it was often (even if it wasn't a dinosaur he was facing off against.).
But...:
Still have a few minor complaints. The swordfish CGI at the beginning was horrible. I didn't really buy that Zoe's teacher would release her to Horton without proof that Maddy had sent him. Plus, why would Zoe even willingly go with Horton if she thought he was a vampire? And they kind of ran the whole "Zoe thinks Horton is a vampire" thing into the ground by the end of the episode (though it was really enjoyable for most of the episode.) I also feel they could've made more use of Skye this week.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
Dinosaur Scene Count: 1. I still refuse to count the Swordfish or the Komodo Dragon. Those aren't dinosaurs! They're prehistoric creatures!
Best Prehistoric Creature Moment: The Komodo Dragon/Taylor face-off.
Boy, That Was A Stupid Idea: C'mon, Zoe's teacher. Don't they have "Stranger Danger" in Terra Nova? If you had let something like that happen in 2011, you'd have gotten in trouble.
Monday, 14 November 2011
How I Met Your Mother: Tick, Tick, Tick...
What Happened, Yo!:
-Barney and Robin's kiss led to them sleeping together and they both feel bad about it. They decide to deny it, but they also realize they have to be on a 3-hour boat cruise with the people they cheated on that night.
-On the cruise, they manage to keep it a secret, but ultimately decide they need to tell them, only to change their mind when Kevin accidentally got a drink thrown on him and Norah got a small wine stain.
-They decide to tell them after all, once they've gotten off the boat and then use this as an opportunity to get back together. But then before they can tell them, Kevin tells Robin he loves her and Norah's parents show up a day earlier than expected.
-Barney tells Norah anyways and she breaks up with him.
-Meanwhile, Ted, Marshall, and Lily are going to a concert and Ted has gotten them "sandwiches", but Lily turns it down. Marshall secretly has a "sandwich" and they plan to keep it a secret.
-When Lily sends them to get Nachos, they keep lining up at the Women's bathroom, and freaking out. Ted thinks Marshall just needs to relax, but Marshall insists on finding the nachos. They split up, but seperate encounters with a guitar-playing creepy guy in black cause them to reconcile.
-Ultimately, they believe they missed the concert but Lily informs them that they've barely been gone for two minutes.We then realize that they just thought time was going fast because of the "sandwiches", and take it as a sign that they still have plenty of time to do everything.
-At the bar, it's revealed that Robin ultimately didn't tell Kevin, after he interrupts her and gives a speech about how he doesn't care about what she's done in the past, he just cares about her, and how he hopes she'll one day see herself the way he sees her.
-Barney sadly leaves. Ted soon leaves too and notices Barney packing up rose petals and candles he had placed in Robin's room. Awww.
I Liked This: I really enjoyed this episode for the most part. I thought both of the stories built to strong finishes. I liked how Barney and Robin's story this season got tons of progression, and the poignancy of the ending was classic HIMYM. I really enjoyed the revelation of how Ted and Marshall's story actually played out. I also liked how Future Ted's talk at the beginning about how sometimes it feels time is going faster or slower than it actually is came back into play at the end, both in a hilarious way (The big twist at the end of Ted and Marshall's story), and a tragic way (Barney's longest second.). The episode was full of good jokes, and I always like it when Sandy Rivers makes an appearance. Great episode!
But...: Only a couple complaints this time out. While I wound up liking both of the stories, sandwiches as a metaphor for marijuana is a bit overplayed at this point. And I wasn't that big a fan of Barney and Robin almost giving away their secret at the beginning of the cruise, because it felt too sit-commy and conventional for this show. And keeping Robin with Kevin at this point feels a bit like prolonging the inevitable, but I can look past this because of how well done it was.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Barney: "What's that saying about two wrongs making a right?" Robin: "Two wrongs don't make a right?" Barney: "No that's not it."
-According to Ted, the tickets to the concert smell like cloves and mediocrity.
-Barney and Robin find themselves dancing to a song that seems to exactly describe their situation, even calling Barney out with “yes, you in the suit.”.
-A distracted Barney describes himself for Norah's parents: “Suits, lazer tag, I say wait for it a lot.”
-Ted gets nachos from the creepy guitar guy and a passerby tells him it's a sign. In truth, the passerby is literally telling him the guitar guy is just a sign.
-With my new format, I was able to get this up the same night I watched it, even with my limited computer access, but don't expect same night opinions to happen often.
-Barney and Robin's kiss led to them sleeping together and they both feel bad about it. They decide to deny it, but they also realize they have to be on a 3-hour boat cruise with the people they cheated on that night.
-On the cruise, they manage to keep it a secret, but ultimately decide they need to tell them, only to change their mind when Kevin accidentally got a drink thrown on him and Norah got a small wine stain.
-They decide to tell them after all, once they've gotten off the boat and then use this as an opportunity to get back together. But then before they can tell them, Kevin tells Robin he loves her and Norah's parents show up a day earlier than expected.
-Barney tells Norah anyways and she breaks up with him.
-Meanwhile, Ted, Marshall, and Lily are going to a concert and Ted has gotten them "sandwiches", but Lily turns it down. Marshall secretly has a "sandwich" and they plan to keep it a secret.
-When Lily sends them to get Nachos, they keep lining up at the Women's bathroom, and freaking out. Ted thinks Marshall just needs to relax, but Marshall insists on finding the nachos. They split up, but seperate encounters with a guitar-playing creepy guy in black cause them to reconcile.
-Ultimately, they believe they missed the concert but Lily informs them that they've barely been gone for two minutes.We then realize that they just thought time was going fast because of the "sandwiches", and take it as a sign that they still have plenty of time to do everything.
-At the bar, it's revealed that Robin ultimately didn't tell Kevin, after he interrupts her and gives a speech about how he doesn't care about what she's done in the past, he just cares about her, and how he hopes she'll one day see herself the way he sees her.
-Barney sadly leaves. Ted soon leaves too and notices Barney packing up rose petals and candles he had placed in Robin's room. Awww.
I Liked This: I really enjoyed this episode for the most part. I thought both of the stories built to strong finishes. I liked how Barney and Robin's story this season got tons of progression, and the poignancy of the ending was classic HIMYM. I really enjoyed the revelation of how Ted and Marshall's story actually played out. I also liked how Future Ted's talk at the beginning about how sometimes it feels time is going faster or slower than it actually is came back into play at the end, both in a hilarious way (The big twist at the end of Ted and Marshall's story), and a tragic way (Barney's longest second.). The episode was full of good jokes, and I always like it when Sandy Rivers makes an appearance. Great episode!
But...: Only a couple complaints this time out. While I wound up liking both of the stories, sandwiches as a metaphor for marijuana is a bit overplayed at this point. And I wasn't that big a fan of Barney and Robin almost giving away their secret at the beginning of the cruise, because it felt too sit-commy and conventional for this show. And keeping Robin with Kevin at this point feels a bit like prolonging the inevitable, but I can look past this because of how well done it was.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Barney: "What's that saying about two wrongs making a right?" Robin: "Two wrongs don't make a right?" Barney: "No that's not it."
-According to Ted, the tickets to the concert smell like cloves and mediocrity.
-Barney and Robin find themselves dancing to a song that seems to exactly describe their situation, even calling Barney out with “yes, you in the suit.”.
-A distracted Barney describes himself for Norah's parents: “Suits, lazer tag, I say wait for it a lot.”
-Ted gets nachos from the creepy guitar guy and a passerby tells him it's a sign. In truth, the passerby is literally telling him the guitar guy is just a sign.
-With my new format, I was able to get this up the same night I watched it, even with my limited computer access, but don't expect same night opinions to happen often.
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