Before I talk about The First Time, which I actually really enjoyed, I want to get my one major complaint out of the way. Glee put on West Side Story too soon after the audition process for me to fully believe it. Yes, Glee isn't that realistic, at least in the performance sense, and yes, at least they didn't put the whole thing on in a week like last years Rocky Horror Glee Show episode, but it still kind of bugged me. High School kids can't put on something like West Side Story in less than a month. They just can't. They've stretched out the student council plotline longer than the musical! I did like the West Side Story plotline and I did appreciate that they extended it for as long as they could, but it still kind of bugged me. And now that we got my one major complaint out of the way, let's talk about The First Time, which for an episode that got a lot of attention because it was gonna be about sex, was actually quite tasteful.
I should probably start by bringing up my personal views on the issue, since I do use the word "opinion" after all. I'm one of those people who still believe in waiting for marriage before having sex, but I can accept the fact that waiting is no longer the societal norm and that most teenagers these days have sex. That's their choice and I'm fine with that. And since Glee does it's best to capture the teenage experience (though I'll still never believe that a Glee club would be that unpopular in reality), I was fine that it tackled this issue. And as I mentioned above, it was quite tasteful. They talked up all sides of the issue and the "sex scenes" at the end was more like the lead-up to it. They didn't even show as much of the process as they did back in season 1 with "Like a Virgin". I thought the starter to the "Rachel and Blaine set out to lose their virginity" story (Artie tells them that they're lacking passion in their performances during rehearsals for West Side Story, because they haven't had a sexual awakening.) was a bit contrived, but it led to some great moments between Finn/Rachel and Kurt/Blaine and good stories, so I'm willing to overlook it.
Blaine and Kurt's storyline got into full gear though with the return of the Dalton Academy Warblers and new member Sebastian. Their performance of Uptown Girls wasn't as good as the various West Side Story numbers but it was worth it for the introduction of Sebastian, who I'm enjoying better than Karofsky as an antagonist for Kurt (more on Karofsky who returned last night shortly), because he's openly gay so the conflict is more going to come from his advances on Blaine. I'm expecting more of him in the future (because I keep up with the latest Glee news and know there'll be more of him), and I'm looking forward to it. Anyways, Sebastian also furthered the plot by getting Kurt and Blaine fake I.D's to a gay bar, where after dancing with Sebastian for much of the night and getting a bit drunk (Kurt was designated driver and had no alcohol. Blaine had one beer.), Blaine made sexual advances on Kurt, which got rebuffed and led to an argument between the pair.
The gay bar scene also led to the return of Karofsky, who apparently had transferred schools so his teammates wouldn't hear rumours about him and just wants a normal senior year before coming out or something. The scene between Kurt and Karofsky was nice even though I never felt their conflict got properly resolved in season 2 (Karofsky's tearful apology to Kurt in Prom Queen felt a little unearned for my taste) and hopefully we'll see more of that bear cub in the future.
Meanwhile Finn and Rachel were planning to have sex, but after a romantic dinner, Finn got upset when Rachel mentioned that she was doing this to improve her performance and it didn't happen. So Rachel once again calls on the help of the Glee Club Girls (plus Brittany and Santana. No Mercedes this week, but that makes sense.) to figure out what she should do. Quinn and Santana want her to wait (though Santana just finds Finn terrible in bed.), and Brittany isn't much help, but a nice monologue from Tina (who needs more screentime.), intercut with I Have A Love from West Side Story (more on that coming up shortly.) helps Rachel know that if it's with someone she truly loves, it's the right thing to do.
Ultimately after the opening night of the musical and some nice conversations between the two couples, they both do the deed. The scenes leading up to this are both nice, with Finn having one of his best scenes in a when he reveals that he isn't going to be recruited to a college for football and he doesn't know what to do anymore.
One more thing about this story was that I really liked how the musical numbers were handled. Only Tonight, Uptown Girl, and America were straight up performances with the rest of the numbers being intercut with scenes that fit in with the song and created a good effect. Honestly, I enjoyed it so much, that it actually elevated the episode for me. Intercutting is a powerful tool when used effectively. Glee should come up with ways to use this more often.
There were other stories present too, but they were pretty minor. Coach Beiste's romance with a football recruiter was pretty much the only adult storyline this week. Will was barely in the episode at all, actually. Artie had a small storyline about how being a director validated him, which led to a nice scene where just as he begins to think everything is wrong, the cast brings him flowers and thanks him. And Mike Chang also had a minor plot this week where his father demands he quits the play and basically renounces him when he doesn't. Which is harsh, but means that Mike Chang should get even more screen time in the coming weeks, which I would love to see.
After Pot O' Gold wound up being kind of disappointing, I started to worry about Glee, but The First Time gets the show back on track. I really am enjoying the more character-based focus this season and hopefully, we'll see more of this kind of thing in the coming weeks.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Random Plot Point Re-emergence/Reference Alert: The auditorium is still named after April Rhodes apparently. Kurt brings up the time Blaine made out with Rachel. Less random but still counts: Rachel brings up the time she talked to the girls about sex in The Power of Madonna.
-Best Musical Number: America was fantastic.
-Worst Musical Number: Uptown Girls was only there so that the Warblers could re-enter the scene singing.
-Santana's opinion of sex with Finn: "It was like being smothered by a sweaty out-of-breath sack of potatoes that someone soaked in body spray."
- Not much Rory this week, except for a joke during the bit of what we saw of the actual performance where Beiste mentions they have to work on his diction.
-Besides no Mercedes, there was also no Sue or Shelby or even a reference to the fact that Puck and Shelby kissed. I expect to see all of these people/plot points next week.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
How I Met Your Mother: Disaster Averted
Bears, Slap Bet, Hurricane Irene, a romantic complication, Ted in silly boots, boogie boarding, more bears. These are just some of the things that Disaster Averted had to offer in another great episode.
The episode used the same structure, most recently employed by The Ducky Tie. As the A-story is told in a series of flashbacks, the B-story in the present constantly interrupts. In this case, Kevin is curious as to why MacLarens has a sign up that says "Absolutely No Boogie Boarding". Since he has to get to his mom's birthday, he wants the story to be as long as possible so we find out about what happened to the gang when Hurricane Irene blew into town. Meanwhile, Barney wants to take of the ducky tie, and is willing to add an extra slap to the slap bet. He then goes to great lengths to get Marshall to waste his final slap, so an extra one would be necessary. Both stories are funny and full of great moments.
In the flashback, we see that Ted is already to flee the city with Irene on it's way, and he wants the gang to come with him, but Barney wants them all to stay in the city so they can party New York style. And other members of the gang don't see the storm as that big a deal. According to Robin, it's BBQ weather in Vancouver. Lily wants to party (She isn't pregnant yet.). And Marshall won't go without Lily, because his health insurance has expired (he's unemployed at the time), and with a couple weeks to go until he joins her plan, he's become "a really Edgar Allen Poe". This means he wants to follow Lily everywhere and fears bear attacks from outside, inside, and the bathroom. The recurring bear was possibly the funniest bit of the episode.
As the episode proceeds, various members of the gang change and re-change their mind about evacuating. Things are said. People get mad. Barney fakes a call as Robin's dad to get her to admit that she's jealous that everyone else's parents have called to check in, but not hers. And things get even more complicated when Ted decides to give up Barney's seat to a girl he met in the hall, just as Barney decides he wants to go (though he approves of Ted leaving him behind for a random girl.), leading to more arguing, leading to Ted trying to leave on his own only to find out it's too late.
So the gang stays together in Barney's apartment to ride out the storm and make up from their arguments. And after Marshall gets mad when Lily calls him too clingy, Lily offers the gesture of a nice, shared bubble bath and that's the story of how they conceived their baby in Barney's apartment. Oh, and then once much of the storm has passed, they go boogie boarding by MacLarens and Marshall (now no longer obsessed with not hurting himself) crashes through the front window. Hence the no boogie boarding sign. And we find out from future Ted that if they had evacuated New York to Ted's house, they probably would've been crushed from the oak tree that crashed into the living room.
Meanwhile, while the story is being told, we get Barney trying to get out of his ducky tie deal, by offering an extra slap. As a fan of the ongoing slap bet, I was glad to see it re-emerge here in a non-Thanksgiving setting. And Barney's attempts to get Marshall to use up his fifth slap were great, and even affected the A-story when flashback Lily tries to sleep with flashback Barney and we learn it's Barney messing with the story. In the end, Kevin deduces that Barney is meeting Norah's parents and doesn't want to wear the tie for that. So Marshall and Lily strike him a deal: 3 extra slaps. Barney agrees only to immediately to regret it when he gets slapped twice. With two remaining. Which means this should end right near the end of the series (assuming the show ends with season 8, which I'm suspecting is going to happen.). Excellent!
And even after all that, there's more. We find out that after Barney apologizes to Robin for pretending to be her dad on the phone, he cheers her up and they almost kiss, only to be interrupted by Robin's dad calling. Then as they joke about how they averted disaster back in the present (Kevin's gone at this point and they're sharing a cab.), they actually kiss. This is an interesting development, and it should be fun watching the fallout of this in the next episode. All in all, Disaster Averted was a great episode that's one of the best season 7 has done so far. And again, I can't wait for what's next.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
- Barney invents an elaborate excuse at the beginning as to why he doesn't have the tie on that we get to witness without understanding the context right away. It's over-the-top and awesome.
- Ted: "Luckily, you guys are friends with a former Boy Scout. And a Boy Scout is always, what?" Robin: "Unpopular?" Lily: "Beaten up?" Barney: "Going to the movies with his mom?" Ted: "A Boy Scout is always prepared." Robin: "Prepared to spend lunch in his locker?" Marshall:"Prepared to die a virgin?" Barney: "Prepared to paint his sister's nails?" Classic exchange.
- Marshall defends his behaviour and making Lily read her books aloud to him with this comeback: "Hey, it's been no picnic for me either. You don't even do the voices."
-Barney: "So it comes to this. You could help a friend, but instead you're choosing the hot girl in the tight tank top. Your training is complete; I'm so proud!"
- Ted: “I want you guys to know, and I really mean this: I wish I’d branched out and made more friends in my 20s.”
The episode used the same structure, most recently employed by The Ducky Tie. As the A-story is told in a series of flashbacks, the B-story in the present constantly interrupts. In this case, Kevin is curious as to why MacLarens has a sign up that says "Absolutely No Boogie Boarding". Since he has to get to his mom's birthday, he wants the story to be as long as possible so we find out about what happened to the gang when Hurricane Irene blew into town. Meanwhile, Barney wants to take of the ducky tie, and is willing to add an extra slap to the slap bet. He then goes to great lengths to get Marshall to waste his final slap, so an extra one would be necessary. Both stories are funny and full of great moments.
In the flashback, we see that Ted is already to flee the city with Irene on it's way, and he wants the gang to come with him, but Barney wants them all to stay in the city so they can party New York style. And other members of the gang don't see the storm as that big a deal. According to Robin, it's BBQ weather in Vancouver. Lily wants to party (She isn't pregnant yet.). And Marshall won't go without Lily, because his health insurance has expired (he's unemployed at the time), and with a couple weeks to go until he joins her plan, he's become "a really Edgar Allen Poe". This means he wants to follow Lily everywhere and fears bear attacks from outside, inside, and the bathroom. The recurring bear was possibly the funniest bit of the episode.
As the episode proceeds, various members of the gang change and re-change their mind about evacuating. Things are said. People get mad. Barney fakes a call as Robin's dad to get her to admit that she's jealous that everyone else's parents have called to check in, but not hers. And things get even more complicated when Ted decides to give up Barney's seat to a girl he met in the hall, just as Barney decides he wants to go (though he approves of Ted leaving him behind for a random girl.), leading to more arguing, leading to Ted trying to leave on his own only to find out it's too late.
So the gang stays together in Barney's apartment to ride out the storm and make up from their arguments. And after Marshall gets mad when Lily calls him too clingy, Lily offers the gesture of a nice, shared bubble bath and that's the story of how they conceived their baby in Barney's apartment. Oh, and then once much of the storm has passed, they go boogie boarding by MacLarens and Marshall (now no longer obsessed with not hurting himself) crashes through the front window. Hence the no boogie boarding sign. And we find out from future Ted that if they had evacuated New York to Ted's house, they probably would've been crushed from the oak tree that crashed into the living room.
Meanwhile, while the story is being told, we get Barney trying to get out of his ducky tie deal, by offering an extra slap. As a fan of the ongoing slap bet, I was glad to see it re-emerge here in a non-Thanksgiving setting. And Barney's attempts to get Marshall to use up his fifth slap were great, and even affected the A-story when flashback Lily tries to sleep with flashback Barney and we learn it's Barney messing with the story. In the end, Kevin deduces that Barney is meeting Norah's parents and doesn't want to wear the tie for that. So Marshall and Lily strike him a deal: 3 extra slaps. Barney agrees only to immediately to regret it when he gets slapped twice. With two remaining. Which means this should end right near the end of the series (assuming the show ends with season 8, which I'm suspecting is going to happen.). Excellent!
And even after all that, there's more. We find out that after Barney apologizes to Robin for pretending to be her dad on the phone, he cheers her up and they almost kiss, only to be interrupted by Robin's dad calling. Then as they joke about how they averted disaster back in the present (Kevin's gone at this point and they're sharing a cab.), they actually kiss. This is an interesting development, and it should be fun watching the fallout of this in the next episode. All in all, Disaster Averted was a great episode that's one of the best season 7 has done so far. And again, I can't wait for what's next.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
- Barney invents an elaborate excuse at the beginning as to why he doesn't have the tie on that we get to witness without understanding the context right away. It's over-the-top and awesome.
- Ted: "Luckily, you guys are friends with a former Boy Scout. And a Boy Scout is always, what?" Robin: "Unpopular?" Lily: "Beaten up?" Barney: "Going to the movies with his mom?" Ted: "A Boy Scout is always prepared." Robin: "Prepared to spend lunch in his locker?" Marshall:"Prepared to die a virgin?" Barney: "Prepared to paint his sister's nails?" Classic exchange.
- Marshall defends his behaviour and making Lily read her books aloud to him with this comeback: "Hey, it's been no picnic for me either. You don't even do the voices."
-Barney: "So it comes to this. You could help a friend, but instead you're choosing the hot girl in the tight tank top. Your training is complete; I'm so proud!"
- Ted: “I want you guys to know, and I really mean this: I wish I’d branched out and made more friends in my 20s.”
Terra Nova: Nightfall
Man, that was a big dinosaur! That was one of my first thoughts after finishing Nightfall, which resolved the mystery of what's inside the box (sort of.), introduced some new elements, had some solid stories about the family, and most importantly gave us the "Go Away Spider" song, which was adorable.
Basically, a falling meteor served as an EMP and wiped out all the technology in Terra Nova and the surrounding area. This comes at a bad time for our characters, because Jim and Zoe are in "The Eye" (a virtual encylopedia/roller coaster simulator.), which locks electronically, Elizabeth is about to perform surgery on Hunter (appearing for the first time since a dinosaur almost killed him in the Pilot), while a nervous Skye watches on, Maddy and Reynolds are out on an unauthorized date somewhere, and Taylor has nothing but the fence to protect the colony from threats. Also Mira finds out that the colony is unprotected and marches a massive dinosaur to the gates. Seriously, that thing was enormous.
The Jim and Zoe plot was a nice bonding moment for the pair, who haven't really had a story together so far. I bought Zoe as a scared 5-year-old, so I wasn't annoyed by her constant wondering about what an EMP would do or her fear of spiders. And as I mentioned above, the song Jim invented in order to get her to go through the small access hatch and let them out, so he could be there for the climax was adorable. Since this is a show about a family and Zoe was a big part of the set-up for this show, it was good to see the father/daughter dynamic between the pair develop.
Maddy and Reynold's date wasn't that exciting, but it had some nice moments in it. It also introduced the idea of camoflauging "stink mud" and furthered along the Maddy/Reynolds relationship (obviously), which I'm assuming is going to pay off in some way by the seasons end. Skye's story was also significant, if only because it's the first time since the pilot that she's interacted with anyone besides Josh for a significant amount of time. Watching her help Elizabeth and form a bond of sorts with her was interesting and it'll be nice to see if this affects the season in any way. It also has her confronted with the fact that she loves Josh, as Hunter points out at the most inopportune time (though it was necessary to raise the stakes.). Also, the parasite inside Hunter was disgusting... in a good way.
As far as the Taylor story goes, I'm fine with the bartender getting some extra depth, as he may have worked for Taylor at some point. I'm a bit more iffy with the idea of a chip generator machine, which seemed a little too convenient as a solution to the problem, but I can accept it for story purposes. And they had to fix the chip machine first, so at least it wasn't super easy. I also liked the climax with Taylor coming up with a fire shield of sorts to fend off the titanic Dinosaur, only to realize that it was all a Sixer diversion to get the box. The bartender saving Taylor was a nice touch, which shows that the bartender isn't completely on the Sixers side. I'm even beginning to suspect that he isn't the mole! And the sixers do wind up with the box, and they give it to the one man who can open it... Taylor's son, whose name I've forgotten at the moment, but I want to say Lucas! So he opens up and we see... mysterious technology which is left mostly unexplained! I'm fine with this, because I'm sure we'll get an explanation soon. The interesting thing is that the box wasn't affected by the EMP, despite containing all Technology. Hmmm...
All in all, this was another good week for Terra Nova, that once again left me wanting more. As we head into the back half of the season, my hopes are high and I am confident that they will deliver.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
Dinosaur Scene Count: I wanna say 4. I forget how many times we saw the massive dinosaur.
Best Dinosaur Scene: Anything with the aforementioned Ginormous dinosaur.
That Was A Stupid Idea: Really, Hunter? You're going to tell a girl you want to be more than friends as she tries a tricky parasite extraction? Really?
-"Go away spiders, go-go-go. "We don't like you, no-no-no."
-Taylor's son is resentful of his father. Figures.
Basically, a falling meteor served as an EMP and wiped out all the technology in Terra Nova and the surrounding area. This comes at a bad time for our characters, because Jim and Zoe are in "The Eye" (a virtual encylopedia/roller coaster simulator.), which locks electronically, Elizabeth is about to perform surgery on Hunter (appearing for the first time since a dinosaur almost killed him in the Pilot), while a nervous Skye watches on, Maddy and Reynolds are out on an unauthorized date somewhere, and Taylor has nothing but the fence to protect the colony from threats. Also Mira finds out that the colony is unprotected and marches a massive dinosaur to the gates. Seriously, that thing was enormous.
The Jim and Zoe plot was a nice bonding moment for the pair, who haven't really had a story together so far. I bought Zoe as a scared 5-year-old, so I wasn't annoyed by her constant wondering about what an EMP would do or her fear of spiders. And as I mentioned above, the song Jim invented in order to get her to go through the small access hatch and let them out, so he could be there for the climax was adorable. Since this is a show about a family and Zoe was a big part of the set-up for this show, it was good to see the father/daughter dynamic between the pair develop.
Maddy and Reynold's date wasn't that exciting, but it had some nice moments in it. It also introduced the idea of camoflauging "stink mud" and furthered along the Maddy/Reynolds relationship (obviously), which I'm assuming is going to pay off in some way by the seasons end. Skye's story was also significant, if only because it's the first time since the pilot that she's interacted with anyone besides Josh for a significant amount of time. Watching her help Elizabeth and form a bond of sorts with her was interesting and it'll be nice to see if this affects the season in any way. It also has her confronted with the fact that she loves Josh, as Hunter points out at the most inopportune time (though it was necessary to raise the stakes.). Also, the parasite inside Hunter was disgusting... in a good way.
As far as the Taylor story goes, I'm fine with the bartender getting some extra depth, as he may have worked for Taylor at some point. I'm a bit more iffy with the idea of a chip generator machine, which seemed a little too convenient as a solution to the problem, but I can accept it for story purposes. And they had to fix the chip machine first, so at least it wasn't super easy. I also liked the climax with Taylor coming up with a fire shield of sorts to fend off the titanic Dinosaur, only to realize that it was all a Sixer diversion to get the box. The bartender saving Taylor was a nice touch, which shows that the bartender isn't completely on the Sixers side. I'm even beginning to suspect that he isn't the mole! And the sixers do wind up with the box, and they give it to the one man who can open it... Taylor's son, whose name I've forgotten at the moment, but I want to say Lucas! So he opens up and we see... mysterious technology which is left mostly unexplained! I'm fine with this, because I'm sure we'll get an explanation soon. The interesting thing is that the box wasn't affected by the EMP, despite containing all Technology. Hmmm...
All in all, this was another good week for Terra Nova, that once again left me wanting more. As we head into the back half of the season, my hopes are high and I am confident that they will deliver.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
Dinosaur Scene Count: I wanna say 4. I forget how many times we saw the massive dinosaur.
Best Dinosaur Scene: Anything with the aforementioned Ginormous dinosaur.
That Was A Stupid Idea: Really, Hunter? You're going to tell a girl you want to be more than friends as she tries a tricky parasite extraction? Really?
-"Go away spiders, go-go-go. "We don't like you, no-no-no."
-Taylor's son is resentful of his father. Figures.
Saturday, 5 November 2011
The Office: Doomsday
When I first heard about the basic plot of Doomsday way back before the season started, I was a little worried. Dwight building a machine that would shut down the company if it made too many mistakes seemed a little too absurd and cartoonish for The Office to base a whole episode around it. But I decided that I would wait before judging it, and I'm glad I did, because the actual execution of this episode was plenty in tone with what The Office has already established, and it also provided a rare glimpse at Dwight's softer side.
Doomsday was Dwight-centric (obviously) and had him getting dissatisfied with his number 2 position. This has been something that's been there since he lost the job of manager and it was good to see it present there. Anyways, when Robert tells Andy that he's surprised at the amount of errors committed on a daily basis, Dwight offers to help by installing an "accountability error", which adds a strike everytime someone screws up. 5 strikes in a day equals a home run. Which means the machine will send out an e-mail to Robert that contains many of the e-mails the office has been sending making fun of Robert, and probably lead to the closure of the branch. Despite the staff pointing out that this is basically a doomsday device, Andy installs it. Unfortunately, The Office is under so much pressure not to screw up, they wind up making 5 mistakes (Technically 4. Oscar made a mistake on purpose to test if the machine actually worked.) and learn that they have until 5:00 to try to stop the e-mail, because Dwight won't stop it.
The story does succeed in making Dwight's intentions clear. It's not that he wants everyone to get fired. He just feels that there should be a certain standard of competence to be held up in the office and genuinely thought they could do it. So Dwight goes back to the farm, and Pam, Andy, Kevin, and Erin follow him to try and get him to change his mind, while Jim heads to try and stop Robert from getting the e-mail. Pam and Dwight actually have a bit of a friendship going on, that we see from time to time and it was nice to see it get called back here. Pam and company first give Dwight a new hat (which he throws in the dirt), then help him dig a horse grave and engage in small talk over pie. Pam doesn't make any overt attempt to get Dwight to change his mind, but simply reaches out to him as a human being and it works. Dwight insists to the camera that he doesn't like his co-workers in the end and will probably have to work with them forever, but as we see him carefully dig up and wear the hat he had rejected, we're reminded that deep down he cares. It's a bit like the end of Dwight's plot in last seasons China (where we see he helped Pam beat him, as we hear him insist he didn't do it out of mercy), but it's still effective.
Also effective is Jim playing Squash with Robert, despite having no clue what he's doing in an effort to intersect the e-mail, which provides John Krasinski a great chance to play physical comedy. He ultimately fails to intersect an e-mail, but it had nothing to do with the doomsday e-mail, so it's all good. The one weak plot of the episode was Gabe's attempt to court a new warehouse worker that Daryll may also been interested in. It was awkward, but not in a good way. Hopefully if it gets revisited in the future, this thread'll be handled better. The one good thing was we got to revisit the new warehouse workers, which is a sign that we'll se more of that world again, after it pretty much disappeared following Daryll's big move upstairs. All in all, this episode turned out a lot more nicely than I initially suspected, which just goes to show the strength of this show's writers. They may not have had an all out classic installment yet, but I'm sure it's coming.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-The "Closing Time" cold open started out good, and actually got better once we find out that Stanley loves the song, purely because it means he can go home.
-Dwight had a dream in which number 2 was the most powerful number in the world. He figures it was about his fear of immigrants.
-Dwight: "They’re trying to make me out to be a Bond villain. I like to think of myself as a brilliant scientist, who’ll stop at nothing to remake the world.… Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll, not them…Dr….”
-The best exchange from Gabe's plot. Gabe: "I’ll tell you her last name tomorrow, because she’ll be screaming it tonight." Toby: "She’ll be screaming her own last name?"
-Jim's suprisingly in-depth knowledge about Dwight continues tonight as he knows that Dwight's mothers name is Hedda.
-Dwight instructs how to dig a horse grave. "If you've hit another horse, you've gone too far."
Doomsday was Dwight-centric (obviously) and had him getting dissatisfied with his number 2 position. This has been something that's been there since he lost the job of manager and it was good to see it present there. Anyways, when Robert tells Andy that he's surprised at the amount of errors committed on a daily basis, Dwight offers to help by installing an "accountability error", which adds a strike everytime someone screws up. 5 strikes in a day equals a home run. Which means the machine will send out an e-mail to Robert that contains many of the e-mails the office has been sending making fun of Robert, and probably lead to the closure of the branch. Despite the staff pointing out that this is basically a doomsday device, Andy installs it. Unfortunately, The Office is under so much pressure not to screw up, they wind up making 5 mistakes (Technically 4. Oscar made a mistake on purpose to test if the machine actually worked.) and learn that they have until 5:00 to try to stop the e-mail, because Dwight won't stop it.
The story does succeed in making Dwight's intentions clear. It's not that he wants everyone to get fired. He just feels that there should be a certain standard of competence to be held up in the office and genuinely thought they could do it. So Dwight goes back to the farm, and Pam, Andy, Kevin, and Erin follow him to try and get him to change his mind, while Jim heads to try and stop Robert from getting the e-mail. Pam and Dwight actually have a bit of a friendship going on, that we see from time to time and it was nice to see it get called back here. Pam and company first give Dwight a new hat (which he throws in the dirt), then help him dig a horse grave and engage in small talk over pie. Pam doesn't make any overt attempt to get Dwight to change his mind, but simply reaches out to him as a human being and it works. Dwight insists to the camera that he doesn't like his co-workers in the end and will probably have to work with them forever, but as we see him carefully dig up and wear the hat he had rejected, we're reminded that deep down he cares. It's a bit like the end of Dwight's plot in last seasons China (where we see he helped Pam beat him, as we hear him insist he didn't do it out of mercy), but it's still effective.
Also effective is Jim playing Squash with Robert, despite having no clue what he's doing in an effort to intersect the e-mail, which provides John Krasinski a great chance to play physical comedy. He ultimately fails to intersect an e-mail, but it had nothing to do with the doomsday e-mail, so it's all good. The one weak plot of the episode was Gabe's attempt to court a new warehouse worker that Daryll may also been interested in. It was awkward, but not in a good way. Hopefully if it gets revisited in the future, this thread'll be handled better. The one good thing was we got to revisit the new warehouse workers, which is a sign that we'll se more of that world again, after it pretty much disappeared following Daryll's big move upstairs. All in all, this episode turned out a lot more nicely than I initially suspected, which just goes to show the strength of this show's writers. They may not have had an all out classic installment yet, but I'm sure it's coming.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-The "Closing Time" cold open started out good, and actually got better once we find out that Stanley loves the song, purely because it means he can go home.
-Dwight had a dream in which number 2 was the most powerful number in the world. He figures it was about his fear of immigrants.
-Dwight: "They’re trying to make me out to be a Bond villain. I like to think of myself as a brilliant scientist, who’ll stop at nothing to remake the world.… Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll, not them…Dr….”
-The best exchange from Gabe's plot. Gabe: "I’ll tell you her last name tomorrow, because she’ll be screaming it tonight." Toby: "She’ll be screaming her own last name?"
-Jim's suprisingly in-depth knowledge about Dwight continues tonight as he knows that Dwight's mothers name is Hedda.
-Dwight instructs how to dig a horse grave. "If you've hit another horse, you've gone too far."
Community: Advanced Gay
Advanced Gay was a bit more of a standard Community adventure after the last couple high concept episodes. Or as standard as an episode featuring Black Hitler and fatal heart attacks being played for comedy can be. This isn't a bad thing, as things like Remedial Chaos Theory can't happen all the time. In fact Advanced Gay was quite enjoyable, with the first (and last?) appearance of Pierce's dad Cornelius, and the return of Vice Dean Laybourne. It also managed to be about both Pierce and Jeff's issues with their fathers.
Having just watched through Community season 2 on DVD, I've noticed that Pierce actually has been more likeable this season than he was in season 2. He's still not the most likeable character, but he's not flat-out antagonistic. So it was easy to sympathize with Pierce as he finally began to strike out on his own once he found out how popular his wipes had become with the gay community and throw a party (he also became as openminded as one could expect of Pierce), only to be talked into cancelling said party once his father (who as Shirley puts it is "the Abed of racism") arrives. And when the party happens anyways because of Jeff (more on that in a minute), one feels bad watching Pierce about to announce his support of the gay community only to completely reverse his position only because his father shows up.
Meanwhile Jeff clearly has unsettled issues with his own dad. An "edible complex" as Britta calls it. And so, he begins resenting Pierce's dad as a substitute for his own, leading to the point where he stands up to Pierce's dad for him in the climax in a nice, powerful moment... which then leads to black humour at it's darkest as Cornelius Hawthorne has a heart attack, and when Jeff confidently declares it's fake (Pierce is known to fake heart attacks, and Cornelius says he taught him that), we cut to Cornelius' funeral, where Pierce's eulogy finally has him ready to step out of his fathers shadow. Of course his fathers dead, but it's still a good moment, and Pierce and Jeff's father issues are looking to continue on past this point, which should be interesting.
Meanwhile, Jerry (the janitor we see from time to time who tried to get Troy to become a plumber in season 1) returns and tries to get Troy into plumbing again. And Pierce enjoys it. But his skills are noticed by a member of the air conditioning annex, and soon Troy has been kidnapped and thrown into the intentionally surreal world of Vice Dean Laybourne, who is looking to recruit Troy for his own school. This plot leads to many great moments (The aforementioned "Black Hitler" and an Astronaut cooking Panninis, plus the definitive Room Temperature room among other things.), and leads to a nice Troy and Abed scene, where Abed convinces him he needs to do what makes him happy. Which for now is spending time with Abed and not becoming a plumber or an air conditioning repair man. But he still has his gift for fixing things and Vice Dean Laybourne isn't about to give up on Troy yet. This plot does a good job of establishing Laybourne as a nemesis for more than just Dean Pelton. He could threaten the whole group yet, and this should be interesting.
All in all, this was a solid episode of Community that told a good story, while developing the season-long plot threads further. Community's third season has been great so far and I expect to see it rise even greater.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-Shirley: “Yes, I’m always nice to the gays. They may live in defiance of God, but I’ll die before I let a woman touch my hair.”
-Cornelius: “These are your friends, Pierce? Minorities? Jewesses? The unseasonably tanned?”
-Pierce is apparently short for Piercenault, which is awesome.
-Priest at Cornelius' funeral to Britta: "You're the worst." Britta just can't catch a break.
-Inspector Spacetime continues to be a hilarious runner.
Having just watched through Community season 2 on DVD, I've noticed that Pierce actually has been more likeable this season than he was in season 2. He's still not the most likeable character, but he's not flat-out antagonistic. So it was easy to sympathize with Pierce as he finally began to strike out on his own once he found out how popular his wipes had become with the gay community and throw a party (he also became as openminded as one could expect of Pierce), only to be talked into cancelling said party once his father (who as Shirley puts it is "the Abed of racism") arrives. And when the party happens anyways because of Jeff (more on that in a minute), one feels bad watching Pierce about to announce his support of the gay community only to completely reverse his position only because his father shows up.
Meanwhile Jeff clearly has unsettled issues with his own dad. An "edible complex" as Britta calls it. And so, he begins resenting Pierce's dad as a substitute for his own, leading to the point where he stands up to Pierce's dad for him in the climax in a nice, powerful moment... which then leads to black humour at it's darkest as Cornelius Hawthorne has a heart attack, and when Jeff confidently declares it's fake (Pierce is known to fake heart attacks, and Cornelius says he taught him that), we cut to Cornelius' funeral, where Pierce's eulogy finally has him ready to step out of his fathers shadow. Of course his fathers dead, but it's still a good moment, and Pierce and Jeff's father issues are looking to continue on past this point, which should be interesting.
Meanwhile, Jerry (the janitor we see from time to time who tried to get Troy to become a plumber in season 1) returns and tries to get Troy into plumbing again. And Pierce enjoys it. But his skills are noticed by a member of the air conditioning annex, and soon Troy has been kidnapped and thrown into the intentionally surreal world of Vice Dean Laybourne, who is looking to recruit Troy for his own school. This plot leads to many great moments (The aforementioned "Black Hitler" and an Astronaut cooking Panninis, plus the definitive Room Temperature room among other things.), and leads to a nice Troy and Abed scene, where Abed convinces him he needs to do what makes him happy. Which for now is spending time with Abed and not becoming a plumber or an air conditioning repair man. But he still has his gift for fixing things and Vice Dean Laybourne isn't about to give up on Troy yet. This plot does a good job of establishing Laybourne as a nemesis for more than just Dean Pelton. He could threaten the whole group yet, and this should be interesting.
All in all, this was a solid episode of Community that told a good story, while developing the season-long plot threads further. Community's third season has been great so far and I expect to see it rise even greater.
Grade: Awesome! (Good)
Memorable Moments
-Shirley: “Yes, I’m always nice to the gays. They may live in defiance of God, but I’ll die before I let a woman touch my hair.”
-Cornelius: “These are your friends, Pierce? Minorities? Jewesses? The unseasonably tanned?”
-Pierce is apparently short for Piercenault, which is awesome.
-Priest at Cornelius' funeral to Britta: "You're the worst." Britta just can't catch a break.
-Inspector Spacetime continues to be a hilarious runner.
Friday, 4 November 2011
Parks and Recreation: End of the World
Earlier this week, I purchased the Parks and Recreation book Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America. It was hysterical with lots of laugh-out moments and information about the town I'm not ever sure will make it into an episode (at one point in time, the town confused the news with a radio drama and petitioned for the death of Bessy Truman, leading to a brief time of martial law.), but made for great reading. One section of the book talked about the cult that enslaved Pawnee in the 70's: Reasonablism. So when last night featured the "Zorpies", I was on the lookout to make sure they stayed accurate to the book (only because the book boasts complete accuracy), and sure enough they were true to what they had already stated. This attention to detail helped make for another great episode that was less about the Zorpies and more about the characters thinking about where they want to be/what they'd want to do at the end of the world.
The premise is simple. Every couple years the remaining Zorpies, who are all old men predict the end of the world and have an all-night vigil in one of the parks. While this is going on, Leslie gets panicked when Shauna Malwae-Tweep takes an interest in Ben, April decides to help Andy with his bucket list and Tom decides to throw one last big party before he and Jean-Ralphio lose E720. We also drop in on the vigil from time to time as Ron, Ann, and Chris spend time with the Zorpies.
The three main storylines worked pretty well, as they all kind of reflected on the idea of "the end of the world" without much direct contact with the Reasonablists (although Leslies story starts at the vigil and has it's big emotional revelation at the vigil.). The funniest one in terms of jokes was April and Andy's, as we got to see exactly what Andy wanted to do before he died. This included things as simple as holding a thousand dollars in his hands and as crazy as wanting to be an action star. The action star scene, which involved Andy actually jumping through a sliding glass door to rescue April from evil Russian Jerry, while April's sister filmed it, was probably the funniest of these, especially with the return of Bert Macklin and Janet Snakehole. And the end of their story with them driving out to see the Grand Canyon was a beautiful ending, topped by Andy wondering where all the carvings of heads of presidents were.
Tom's storyline also had laughs, coming through the over-the-topness of this final party Tom is throwing. It also had a good story for Tom in it, as he kept hearing what an amazing party he had thrown, but kept feeling it was missing something. Then old flame Lucy drops in from graduate school in Bloomington and they reconnect, and even kiss. Tom may not know where he's heading, but he sure knows how to throw a party (and he'll probably land back at the Parks department before too long). And this story also had a nice moment when Tom and Jean-Ralphio embrace because Jean-Ralphio invited Lucy, only to immediately have it undercut by Jean-Ralphio admitting to the cameras that he forgot Tom and Lucy had dated and was planning to make a move. Classic.
Leslie's story isn't as funny as the other two, but it's a good story with the first significant Leslie/Ben interaction since they broke up. Leslie's jealousy over Ben possibly getting together with Shauna was good and her trying to claim that an abandoned gas station was owned by Mick Jagger was quite funny. But ultimately the story is about Leslie realizing that the romantic part of her relationship with Ben is over, but they can still be friends and that part of the story is effective, especially Leslie's talk with Ron after Ben tells her he doesn't think the two of them can be alone anymore.
Overall, End of the World wasn't the strongest episode of Parks and Recreation this season in terms of laughs, but it was still a solid episode with a lot of heart. Just the way I like them.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Leslie: “They have an all-night vigil in the park. It's super-annoying. Turns out when you think the world's ending, you don't aim so carefully in the porta-potties.”
-Leslie: “Ben and I don't hang out that much these days. Big deal. Lots of people don't hang out. Jerry and April. Obama and Madonna, probably? We're in good company.”
-Jean-Ralphio: "You had me at '…every dime we have left.' "
-April: “Yeah, I'm trying to find a way to be annoyed by it but I'm coming up empty.”
The premise is simple. Every couple years the remaining Zorpies, who are all old men predict the end of the world and have an all-night vigil in one of the parks. While this is going on, Leslie gets panicked when Shauna Malwae-Tweep takes an interest in Ben, April decides to help Andy with his bucket list and Tom decides to throw one last big party before he and Jean-Ralphio lose E720. We also drop in on the vigil from time to time as Ron, Ann, and Chris spend time with the Zorpies.
The three main storylines worked pretty well, as they all kind of reflected on the idea of "the end of the world" without much direct contact with the Reasonablists (although Leslies story starts at the vigil and has it's big emotional revelation at the vigil.). The funniest one in terms of jokes was April and Andy's, as we got to see exactly what Andy wanted to do before he died. This included things as simple as holding a thousand dollars in his hands and as crazy as wanting to be an action star. The action star scene, which involved Andy actually jumping through a sliding glass door to rescue April from evil Russian Jerry, while April's sister filmed it, was probably the funniest of these, especially with the return of Bert Macklin and Janet Snakehole. And the end of their story with them driving out to see the Grand Canyon was a beautiful ending, topped by Andy wondering where all the carvings of heads of presidents were.
Tom's storyline also had laughs, coming through the over-the-topness of this final party Tom is throwing. It also had a good story for Tom in it, as he kept hearing what an amazing party he had thrown, but kept feeling it was missing something. Then old flame Lucy drops in from graduate school in Bloomington and they reconnect, and even kiss. Tom may not know where he's heading, but he sure knows how to throw a party (and he'll probably land back at the Parks department before too long). And this story also had a nice moment when Tom and Jean-Ralphio embrace because Jean-Ralphio invited Lucy, only to immediately have it undercut by Jean-Ralphio admitting to the cameras that he forgot Tom and Lucy had dated and was planning to make a move. Classic.
Leslie's story isn't as funny as the other two, but it's a good story with the first significant Leslie/Ben interaction since they broke up. Leslie's jealousy over Ben possibly getting together with Shauna was good and her trying to claim that an abandoned gas station was owned by Mick Jagger was quite funny. But ultimately the story is about Leslie realizing that the romantic part of her relationship with Ben is over, but they can still be friends and that part of the story is effective, especially Leslie's talk with Ron after Ben tells her he doesn't think the two of them can be alone anymore.
Overall, End of the World wasn't the strongest episode of Parks and Recreation this season in terms of laughs, but it was still a solid episode with a lot of heart. Just the way I like them.
Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)
Memorable Moments
-Leslie: “They have an all-night vigil in the park. It's super-annoying. Turns out when you think the world's ending, you don't aim so carefully in the porta-potties.”
-Leslie: “Ben and I don't hang out that much these days. Big deal. Lots of people don't hang out. Jerry and April. Obama and Madonna, probably? We're in good company.”
-Jean-Ralphio: "You had me at '…every dime we have left.' "
-April: “Yeah, I'm trying to find a way to be annoyed by it but I'm coming up empty.”
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Survivor: South Pacific: Double Agent
That's right, Survivor is getting a full write-up this week. Part of this is to compensate for the big quicky review I gave for the last 5 issues. And part of this was because this was the best episode of the season so far. And it's all because of Cochran.
The episode doesn't waste time before getting to the duel so we can find out if Ozzy's big plan to make the tribes even for the merge will work (I had seen promos, so the suspense of if the merge was coming was gone). Ozzy actually beats Christine quite easily and the tribes go into the merge completely even. Now for the second stage of Ozzy's plan: have Cochran convince Upolu that he is going to flip in an effort to get information from them. Except there's only one problem: Ozzy's effort at Duel to convince Upolu that Cochran had betrayed the tribe was incredibly poorly-acted. And no one falls for it. So Coach attempts to get Cochran to flip for real after calling his bluff, in order to avoid a tie, in which case the person ousted is determined by random chance. And based on his fear of having to pick a rock, and the fact that he's still at the bottom of his tribe and goes through much bullying, he considers it. He also tells all of Upolu that Ozzy did get himself voted out. And as Cochran considers switching sides, Dawn (who has felt bad that she hasn't stood up for Cochran that much so far) considers joining him.
After the duel, in which Dawn and Ozzy outlast everybody to win immunity, Savii is feeling good about their chances and decide to use their idol to give Whitney immunity so that there's only a small chance that one of them will go to redemption. Little do they suspect that Cochran is still seriously considering betraying them, telling Sophie exactly what they plan to do and making sure he has top sleeping arrangements. Meanwhile Dawn decides that she won't go through with betraying the tribe and tries to convince Cochran to stay loyal. But Cochran really doesn't want to pick rocks and Dawn winds up just not saying anything to the tribe, hoping that maybe Cochran will have a last-second change of heart.
Tribal Council is intense and much of the talk is about the merits of switching. They also talk about how bad Ozzy's acting was with Sophie even saying that she was offended by it. Then everyone goes to vote, Ozzy plays the idol on Whitney... and it's a tie between Rick and Keith. Cochran's tribe loyalty is getting strong. So they vote again... and Cochran switches sides once and for all sending Keith to redemption and getting Jim to declare him a coward. Which leads to Brandon actually having a nice moment where he points out that talk like that led to Cochran switching in the first place. So Cochran proves to be a triple agent and completely changes the course of the game. Not bad for a nerd. Of course, there's no way he's going to win now since much of Savii will be in the jury and judging on the preview for next week, are all pissed at him. But he made a bold move that finally makes him worthy of not being known as John. And for that, I applaud him. Man, I love this show.
Grade: Zounds! (Almost Perfect)
Memorable Moments
-Merged tribe name is Te Tuna. Kind of stupid, so I won't be using it much.
The episode doesn't waste time before getting to the duel so we can find out if Ozzy's big plan to make the tribes even for the merge will work (I had seen promos, so the suspense of if the merge was coming was gone). Ozzy actually beats Christine quite easily and the tribes go into the merge completely even. Now for the second stage of Ozzy's plan: have Cochran convince Upolu that he is going to flip in an effort to get information from them. Except there's only one problem: Ozzy's effort at Duel to convince Upolu that Cochran had betrayed the tribe was incredibly poorly-acted. And no one falls for it. So Coach attempts to get Cochran to flip for real after calling his bluff, in order to avoid a tie, in which case the person ousted is determined by random chance. And based on his fear of having to pick a rock, and the fact that he's still at the bottom of his tribe and goes through much bullying, he considers it. He also tells all of Upolu that Ozzy did get himself voted out. And as Cochran considers switching sides, Dawn (who has felt bad that she hasn't stood up for Cochran that much so far) considers joining him.
After the duel, in which Dawn and Ozzy outlast everybody to win immunity, Savii is feeling good about their chances and decide to use their idol to give Whitney immunity so that there's only a small chance that one of them will go to redemption. Little do they suspect that Cochran is still seriously considering betraying them, telling Sophie exactly what they plan to do and making sure he has top sleeping arrangements. Meanwhile Dawn decides that she won't go through with betraying the tribe and tries to convince Cochran to stay loyal. But Cochran really doesn't want to pick rocks and Dawn winds up just not saying anything to the tribe, hoping that maybe Cochran will have a last-second change of heart.
Tribal Council is intense and much of the talk is about the merits of switching. They also talk about how bad Ozzy's acting was with Sophie even saying that she was offended by it. Then everyone goes to vote, Ozzy plays the idol on Whitney... and it's a tie between Rick and Keith. Cochran's tribe loyalty is getting strong. So they vote again... and Cochran switches sides once and for all sending Keith to redemption and getting Jim to declare him a coward. Which leads to Brandon actually having a nice moment where he points out that talk like that led to Cochran switching in the first place. So Cochran proves to be a triple agent and completely changes the course of the game. Not bad for a nerd. Of course, there's no way he's going to win now since much of Savii will be in the jury and judging on the preview for next week, are all pissed at him. But he made a bold move that finally makes him worthy of not being known as John. And for that, I applaud him. Man, I love this show.
Grade: Zounds! (Almost Perfect)
Memorable Moments
-Merged tribe name is Te Tuna. Kind of stupid, so I won't be using it much.
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