Rhymes With Steve

This is in response to my initial reactions to the start of this year’s TV season. Don’t read whichever TV shows’ respective paragraph if you want to avoid spoilers.

Prison Break — Surprisingly, the writer’s salvaged a lot of the third season. It started off terrible, what with that whole Sara and her severed head issue. Even the mobster who (I think) cut off a few of Michael’s toes in the first season got a better goodbye than that! It did, though, help the narrative. It gave Michael his resolve to escape — not for freedom, but to hunt Susan. He went from liberation to retribution. And when he finally had Susan in his sights along with a loaded gun he — he choked. So much for that. Still, I’m willing to give this new darker, grittier Michael a shot and see where it goes. (Skip this next sentence if you want to avoid highly-publicised yet still spoilerly season four spoilers.) There’s also the messed up fact that Sara is supposed to be coming back, which will definitely be interesting to watch for the story but also to see how the writers will fix this missing noggin conundrum.

Heroes – This season was dreadful to watch. I think what really did me in was that whole Claire’s blood = Deus Ex Machina plot device. Now anyone can live and all the suspense has diminished. Oh, and if Hiro goes back to Feudal Japan one more time, I’ll go back there and get him myself!

Bionic Woman — Ahahaha. Okay, I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t laugh. I think I saw the first three episodes and gave up. And evidently, so did America. There’s still Knight Rider (2008), I guess.

Pushing Daisies – Great show. ‘Nuff said.

Smallville – How could the creators do that to the audience? Seriously, season Six was hands down the show’s best ever. And they follow it up with a subpar mess like this? I really had high hopes for this season. Even though one of the loves of my life, Martha, left, and the Green Arrow wasn’t given a main character slot, it looked good. I thought it was an excellent and natural evolution for the show to introduce Kara. Ever since season 5, the show has actually been going somewhere, and with season 8 being reportedly the last season, they meshed a good base of DC Comics mythology and traces of the last few years before Clark is to don the cape (which I’m hoping happens in the series finale). But season 7 had no direction. Kara was useless even though I think the fellow Canuck could have handled a bigger role. And Lana was back to her sometimes smart, most times ‘meh’ character arc. Still, the Descent of Lex was a joy to watch. I personally think he is the best Lex Luther ever portrayed. And so was Lionel. But now both of them are seemingly gone and I’m yet again lost — and not in the good kind I’ll get to in a sec.

CSI – Better than average, I’d say. It was sad to see Sara go. She was a person saturated in a field that she inherently couldn’t handle. And her departure was fantastically handled. I think killing characters off isn’t the best writing technique since it’s kind of a slap in the face to the audience. Woah, they died — guess their part is done. It just usually doesn’t justify the means or push forward the storyline. Warrick’s, on the other hand, I accepted. It didn’t seem wrong at all. His character spiraled immensely this season, and while he did redeem himself moments before the bang AND cystalize the fact that he was always apart of the good guys, the story demanded it. Now it’s time to see where and how the writers are going to build from it.

Lost — I think I only counted one pointless episode this season. Season three had “Stranger in Strange Land” where we learned the intricate, jaw-dropping details of Jack’s tattoos, and this season’s was “Something Nice Back Home” — and it actually wasn’t all that bad. I mean, the show juggles romance, comedy, action, mystery and etc. We’re dedicated to these two star-crossed lovers, so we have to follow them and see how they evolve. This season had way more flashforwards than I thought it would. I thought we’d only get a few but it’s clearly become à la mode at this point in the mythology. And after four seasons, the show is still wonderfully intact. The way the flashforwards jump completely differently in time sticks with the disorienting formula. And considering Locke is going to die sooner or later (which assumingly means the island wanted him to die considering it can control life/death off the island as we saw in Michael’s flashback), something’s up with the island. And what happens when they do indeed get back? I’m salivating as I type.

(I’m going against my ‘one paragraph per show’ rule but Lost undoubtedly had the best season of the bunch.) I suspect the next season is going to deal with the hostiles (or other others) because:

• Season 1: Survivors Vs. Unknown
• Season 2: Survivors Vs. Machine (the button)
• Season 3: Survivors Vs. Others (Dharma Initiative others/a few hostiles)
• Season 4: Survivors Vs. Freighters
• Season 5: (?)

The show tends to always have some kind of main obstacle the survivors face. And, actually, now that I think about it, I suspect next season to revolve around the outside world. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: the show could survive off story lines dealing with the characters readapting to home life, alone. While I always wanted there to be a kind of epilogue season dealing with just that, it wouldn’t feel right, which is why I’m thinking next season will handle issues back at home — bringing the fourth season’s flashforwards into the present — and will culminate the fifth season with the fourth season’s last few moments (like they did with the third season’s flashback and the fourth season’s opening). The sixth and final season will then head back to the island, in theory, and resolve all loose ends and thus be: Survivors Vs. Island/Hostiles; the original and ultimate challenge. That would be fantastic. And don’t even get me started on the mysterious four-toed statue.

(Spoilerphobes for Prison Break are HIGHLY advised to discontinue the reading of the next two paragraphs.)

Wow, wow, wow. Err, jump the shark much!? Seriously, it was bad enough that the Sara character died on show but how on earth are the writers going to manage this one? Either way, the third season of Prison Break was already an utter disappointment and I presume bringing back this character couldn’t ruin it any further.

Actually, now that I think about it, I probably won’t have too hard a time warming up to it. Clearly Sarah was missed. She represented the goodness of season one, and by bringing her back it could signify a fresh start. But if anyone decides to kidnap Lincoln’s son again, I just won’t be able to take it. Oh, and I hope Paul (the bad/good FBI guy) comes back.

*shock* Paul and Sara (characters) both basically share the names of their respective actors playing them. Thank you, IMDB.

I’ve watched an onslaught of movies recently which I’ll probably never have time to properly review so I better make my acknowledgments before anyone else does. I’ll explain that previous sentance: you know those situations when you’ve genuinely enjoyed/did/had an opinion on/etc. something and you just never made it apparent to the people around you and then someone brings it up and you agree but now they think you’re only saying that because they did? Okay, I can’t convey that with words. Either way, I’ll now have documented proof of my opinions and beliefs through this. So there!

I saw The Mist (2007) recently and what an ending! (This paragraph spoils an otherwise decent movie, I think you’re better off experiencing it for yourself sans prior knowledge of the ending. But hey, that’s just me.) Could that have been sadder? Personally, I didn’t like it just because it was illogical. For characters that risked it all, just giving in like that is out of character. Wouldn’t you at least search around a bit and then kill yourselves if you ran into any trouble? Don’t kill off the good guys. Then there were a few problems I had with the script regarding the scenes inside the grocery store which should have been longer. The monsters shouldn’t be scary in this movie, we should. True to the novel or not.

I saw Enchanted (2007) finally. It was one of those movies that I feel ashamed not to have seen in theatres simply because of how much word of the mouth it got. Thoroughly, I enjoyed it. It’s a very, very cute movie and Amy Adams is clearly destined for stardom. On the same ‘holy crap, which rock was I under when this came out’ category, I Am Legend is a movie good for at least one viewing.

Futurama: Bender’s Big Score (2007) was lovely. I don’t understand the title but I’m sure that’d due to the fact that the plot jumped around so much that it’s probably better with a second viewing. While The Simpsons are obviously great, I believe the Futurama series found proper footing as well. It’s easy to compare the two but aside from animation, they have key differences in comedy. It’s either you get it or you just don’t. Apparently this movie is supposed to be 4 episodes squished in one so it was very awkward on the whole. Still, it’s back and the creators haven’t lost their niche humour (ahem, opening Fox-bashing scene) and that’s all that matters.

I am contemplating whether or not I should download the Airplane (1980, 82) movie series. I know it’s generally considered illegal and whatnot, but I did buy them back then on VHS. So why must I repurchase something I’ve already gotten? Argh, but now I’ve found them together on eBay for an okay price… damn it.

Speaking of that series, I can’t believe no one knows about it. I watched the sequel years ago, which is literally just the first movie but in space, and it was on Family Channel a few times. Don’t people still watch that channel? Anyway, I rewatched it today and I just can’t believe how funny it is.

I watch all these new movies like Superbad (2007), Knocked Up (2007), and The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) and I understand the humour, but it just doesn’t click. (Wow, this is going to be a fun entry to tag.) Except for this one eye-popping scene in the Virgin movie during the speed dating scene and basically all the scenes involving the female lead and her boss in Knocked Up, which were quite funny. But when I watched Airplane and its sequel, I actually LOL’d… a lot. I miss that.

I love it when cops come into my work to buy something. Seriously, cops must be the most laid back authority figures on this planet. See, I was joking around with them near my checkout asking why they didn’t get the day off, it is Family Day after all. And then we began suggesting that the Toronto police force should just shut down for the day, meanwhile a woman near the end of the line just looks at us with her mouth wide open. Oh, good times. You kind of had to be there to laugh… In other words: I’m ever so important that I was apart of an in-joke and you weren’t, so I must wipe it in your face.

I’d usually now rhetorically ask you why I worked today followed by an answer, however, I know exactly why I got up at 7 a.m. today on a holiday — ka-ching. Ummmhhhmmm, time and a half. I love money. I know it’s not everything, but try using that line on a university payment (among other obvious necessities). Exactly.

So it’s the first Family Day ever. It’s kind of great knowing I’ve started with a clean slate but also kind of worrisome. I must must must do something special today that I can turn into a yearly tradition. Again, usually I’d ask a rhetorical question followed by more answering but today is different. I couldn’t think of anything original so a random movie (along with Prison Break’s semi-season 3 finale!!!) shall do. Until the next family Day…

It’s funny, I know that Halloween is right around the corner when I begin to see Christmas decorations being sold everywhere.

Wow, it’s only almost November? Time does indeed go by so slowly. But this means that November sweeps is coming up, which means my epic TV schedule is in for a treat. Let’s see how I am doing so far:

Prison Break - I am thoroughly disappointed. It was a guilty little pleasure to begin with, but now has descended into pure awfulness. Why do season threes of anything suck, at least at the beginning? There is some positivity in there, I guess. Lincoln, the brother who was the one they were trying to get out for the longest time, reversed and is playing the Michael role for the 3rd season. I am actually slightly lowering my cold shoulder to this whole ‘we’re back in jail’ thing, but not by much. The team truly failed me. First, why in the world kill off Sara? I know she had a baby in real life and all, and that’s great and dandy, really, but damn it. Severed head? Oh no you didn’t. We invested seasons into this character but then the bun leaves the oven and it’s all over? I’m sorry, but you failed. This is why no one takes TV seriously. If you commit to a show, commit to it. If you believe it’s art you’re doing, do it! I’m not happy.

Heroes - Well, it’s not bad but it’s no spectacle either. The first season finale did me in, it just didn’t live up to its hype/unite all the characters in a pleasing way. I am enjoying Claire’s life most of all. I love her, I just love her. I’m not digging Hiro’s arc. He’s funny, yes, but his plot line getting stale and repetitive. I like the new girl who can mimic anything she sees (or is it watches?). But the twins crossing the border bit isn’t making much sense. Their power is too… I dunno. But, I felt the same way last year during some of the plot twists and usually ended up embracing them, so we’ll see…

Bionic Woman - *sigh*. Okay, it has its moments. It looks stunning, first of all. But the story’s a bit out of whack. Just where are they going with this? I also had a problem with some musical decisions. “Breathe me” by Sia was terribly used. Maybe it’s because it’s one of my favourite songs ever, or it just can’t reach the power factor it had with Six Feet Under’s amazing use, but it was just wrong. The second episode was bit rushed yet fun. I think once they get the direction of the season nailed down, I’ll understand it and maybe, just maybe, look forward to it.

Pushing Daisies - I. Love. This. Show. Man, I’m G-L-A-D I got into this. It’s a mixture of Dead Like Me, Six Feet Under, and something else quaint. It’s just brilliant, especially considering I originally found the whole idea quite bland. Now, I find the mechanism works with the plot nicely. Did I mention I LOVE it? Ahhh, I love Chuck. I am also having an affair with the house Chuck’s aunts live in — how cool is that house!? I love this show.

Smallville - I guess all good things come to an end. Season six was too good be true. I’m okay with Kara. She actually possesses this snarky charisma to prove challenging to Clark. But please tell me she’s not evil. She can’t be, okay? He finally has real family, let him be happy. I’m not digging this Lana thing, even though I thought I would. The plot has been done to death. I like her hidden dark side, but is ‘retribution’ (as Lionel said) what this is really all about? Regardless, I’m sure this is her last season. She has been tainted. Meh, at least there’s still Chloe. Ahhh Chloe, you make me doe-eyed.

CSI - Bland, bland, bland. The premiere was great, along with it’s promo. I love promos. I love trailers. Trailer/promo-making is an art. I can’t believe Sara is leaving. I LOVE Sara. But, I guess this was inevitable. We finally get the Grissom and Sara romance, it was too good to be seen. The shows itself is a hodgepodge. They have done EVERY type of crime, it’s getting boooooooooring. I want more ‘Toe Tags’-esque episodes. I hope there’s another Miniature Killer-type storyline. I love those.

TV isn’t all THAT bad so far. There are a few highs, it just needs time. Oh, there’s also Pushing Daisies. Did I mention how much I LOVE that show? November should prove interesting. TV in review then.