TV week in Review: Quick Thoughts
Quick thoughts on Heroes, Fringe, Lost, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Terminator: TSCC, and Battlestar Galactica.
Beware of spoilers.
Heroes - Trust and Blood
There is an opportunity here for Heroes to become a bad ass show again but somehow I feel they're going to totally blow it. Overall, however, I thought this episode of Heroes was pretty good but still so much is left to be desired. This week I really can't break down the character stories because everyone was pretty much together this week, which is also the cause for a much improved episode since everything was more contained.
Starting off with they Sylar story - AWESOME! He's got a new apprentice to teach his Sith ways to. In short, the Sylar story is totally kick ass and I can't wait to see more. I love the interaction he has with Luke, played by Dan Byrd, while he was teaching him how to be a bad ass villain. I can see great things happening with these two characters in the coming weeks.
The plane crash brings together all of our characters - Peter, Matt, Mohinder, Hiro, and the newly created hero Ando, are now the front line in a war between the humans and the X-Men... umm ... Seriously though, I love the scene at the park table, or whatever it was, when they started talking about what to do next. I thought it was fantastic how Peter is basically taking that leadership role we all want him to take and hopefully he doesn't wussy his way through it like he has been this entire series.
Speaking about Peter, I hate the fact he can only absorb and hold on to one power at a time. That's sooooo stupid. The writers really screwed the pooch with that writing fubar.
Last, the mystery text to Claire is stalkerish and Daphne's death was stupid. It's a total waste of a cute character.
Fringe - Ability
Sadly this is the last new episode of Fringe until April but without a doubt, it will most definitely be worth the wait because Fringe has really become a fantastic show and it's episodes like this that prove that.
Mr. Jones returns but is apparently dying from transporting out of the German prison to where he is now, however, so it seems he's dying because we find out something different happens to him, we just don't know what it is. It is a JJ Abrams series after all - maybe we just saw the creation of the Cloverfield monster ... nah.
Did you notice The Observer this week? I did. He was right there when that news paper stand gentleman died.
The biggest event in this episode was the reveal that Olivia has some sort of ability, hence the title, but it isn't exactly clear what that ability is. Somehow I doubt it's from metachlorians, but whatever it is, she can do things with her mind. The abilities, however, were introduced to her when she was just a baby because Mr. Jones injected her with some drug that I'll never be able to spell. The character development for Olivia continues to grow strong and I'm very excited to see what April's episodes hold for that total hottie of an FBI agent.
There is also a large development for Walter - During the episode we were read excerpts from a kind of science manifesto were it was revealed at the end of the episode that Walter apparently wrote it. What that could mean in the future of Fringe, who knows.
Fantastic episode for sure!
Lost - This Place is Death
Hmm, where to begin. So much happens in these episodes of Lost that it can sometimes be hard to write as hard as it is trying to actually understand what happens in each given episode. Basically, we saw how Jin dealt with time travel, learning about his wife, and discovering some kind of ancient temple were the smoke monster lives. The temple, you'll notice, has writing all over it which look like hieroglyphics, however, I don't know what they are. They could be Egyptian, or something totally different. How about Atlantian??? That's the running theory I'll have until the show ends. The island is a remnant of Atlantis.
Charlotte, the poor girl, died this week or so it seems. According to her, Daniel will see her again but only when she was just a kid. That will also explain the premiere when we see Daniel helping with the building around the... wheel of energy that moves the island and transports people off the island but if put out of place causes the island to travel back and forth through time... yeah - oh and Jack's father hangs around it.
Now that Locke is off the island, or so it appears, what is the island gang going to do next? Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be fun and exciting.
Back in the real world, Jack and Ben seem to be having a difficult time trying to get the Oceanic 6 back together. The best part of that part of the story was Ben losing his cool. Mr. smooth is getting tired of being mistreated but we all know he deserves it because he just won't come out and tell us what the deal is. On the other hand, he could really be trying to help. Jack, Sun, Desmond, and Ben are now hanging out with the old chick who might be Daniel's mom but what does she know that could help us, ... we'll find out more next week.
In anycase, once again Lost was great.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Blue Shadow Virus & Mystery of a Thousand Moons
Blue Shadow Virus - It's a well known fact that everyone hates Jar-Jar. Many believe it's George Lucas's way of saying "hehe, you guys suck so here is a retarded character to piss you off". With that in mind, here is another episode that features Jar-Jar and Senator Amidala. Without a doubt, the first 15 minutes of the first half hour episode were pretty awful and boring. I wanted to shoot myself while watching Jar-Jar be an idiot and Padme trying to be a strong female character which she's not and that's coming from a guy who LOVES strong female characters.
Things only get good when Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and the clone troopers begin their attack on a mad scientist with a cliche German accent that dressed like he was in the SS. As usual, the fighting looked awesome but overall, I'll probably never watch this episode again.
Next...
Mystery of a Thousand Moons - The second part to this hour long Clone Wars is basically the same as "Blue Shadow Virus". In this one, however, the virus is released and Obi-Wan and Anakin set out to find a cure. Granted most of the stuff is the same from the last episode with nothing fun going on, the big development is we find out were the Emperor got the idea for the planet destroying device on his Death Star. Other than that, there wasn't anything special with these two episodes and I was kind of disappointed. Hopefully the next new episode will kick more ass.
Again, I'd like to say I really love this series overall.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Good Wound
I'm so happy that TSCC is back and I'm hopeful that the back half of season 2 is going to be strong in the ratings with the attachment of Dollhouse. Hopefully when Monday comes, we'll have some good numbers keeping TSCC alive.
The second half kicks off with more of an emotional episode instead of a big action episode like we saw with the season premiere "Samson and Delilah". Just because it wasn't an action packed episode it doesn't mean it wasn't good because the emotional aspect along with great character development for Sarah made the half season premiere awesome.
This episode follows up on Sarah getting shot. For months we've seen the promos that show some kind of return of Kyle Reese and his patchy beard. Sarah's subconscious brought up an image of Kyle to lead her through the pain and agony she was feeling from the gun shot and now, after seeing the episode, it's safe to say it worked out so well. How awesome was it hearing those lines Kyle spoke in Terminator 1 again? In a way it might seem cliche but for any Terminator fan who especially loves this series, it's a total treat. Those moments were definitely the cherry of this episode.
Derek Reese is awesome! He blows shit up and that's the deal. I'm not sure if the reveal that Kyle is John's father to Derek was meant to come off big, but considering that he already knows it didn't seem that important - still it's also a great development for Sarah. I wonder if they'll build on that a little bit more.
The whole thing with Riley and Jessie is so not worth talking about, so I'm not. Unfortunately, Riley's story interacts with John's and Cameron's but they weren't in the episode that much, yet it's worth mentioning that Summer Glau is so hot and I was really happy to see her on screen again looking so goddamn hot. Shame on the writers, however, for giving us a Summerless episode after such a long wait but kudos to the writers for making an emotionally satisfying episode.
Lastly, there goes hopes for a Connor Trinneer recurring role... but it wasn't like I was cheering for one, I'm just a fan of Star Trek and Stargate... that's all.
Battlestar Galactica - No Exit
Wow, were could one actually begin with this episode. I probably should write a full review for the episode but a quick thought should be good enough for now. So much happened in this episode that it's really difficult to write about it especially after seeing it only once. I'm going to rewatch "No Exit" a couple more times, when I get a chance, but I think to sum up how I felt about this episode in one word, it would be - satisfying.
Everything makes so much more sense and the saying, "all will be revealed" really does mean all will be revealed because it basically was. Everything from Kobol, the exodus of Kobol, the 13th tribe which were all Cylons, to the destruction of the 13th tribe, up till everything that's happened within the last 50 years in the colonies have now been explained. Whether people like the explanation or not, at least you have to give big kudos to Ron Moore and his team for keeping it all straight but also leaving more to be desired. Again, for my part, I was totally satisfied and I was really digging what Anders told all of us. I also totally see a DVD movie on the final 5's exodus from the 13th tribe to warn the colonies about artificial intelligence or the Cylons.
Moving on the the Ellen Tigh story - Between Anders story and the story of the newly resurrected Ellen Tigh, so much information about the final 5's story and how the human Cylon models creation was thrown at us. It's really a lot to take in but it was also all cool stuff. It's so awesome to see Kate Vernon change up her character from the self destructive Ellen that we've seen all these seasons, to basically a scientist from the ancient 13th colony - there's so much weight behind that, that I feel like there isn't enough episodes left to really grasp at it, however, I'm sure Ron Moore will give us something special at the end. I wonder how pissed, if at all, she'll be when she finds out that her husband knocked up Caprica 6... after all, Ellen and Tigh have been married two life times basically.
I feel really bad for Adama and in a way I feel his pain. The Battlestar Galactica has been beaten all of these years and is starting to fall apart and fold in on itself and the worse part about it, the Galactica's only chance is from Cylon technology. The Galactica was created to protect the colonies from the Cylons, now the Cylons may be the only hope for the Galactica but I feel like, in the end, the Galactica is going to have a totally honorable end whatever that end is.
I'm not sure, but I think the last thing to be revealed is, what is Kara Thrace? I think since she landed on the 13th tribe which were all Cylons, whoever is still on that planet used what was left of Starbuck, created a new body and downloaded her into it. Anders did after all say the 13th tribe created and then recreated resurrection. They rebuilt her Viper, and pointed the way for the fleet. I'm going to guess that's the story that will create the finale for the series. Not that story I wrote, but the Kara story in particular.
Last, who is Daniel? Could Daniel be Daniel Graystone? Probably not, but that might be a way to introduce us to Caprica. [Caprica wiki]
By the way, the new opening shown during the episode is really fantastic. I wonder if that's the new prologue for the rest of the season.
Until next week!
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I was surprised by what the lady doc did on TSCC. I stopped watching Heros after the retcon episode. Glad they might be clawing their way up again. But I’ll wait till the season is done and then maybe watch when everything else is on break.
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