Friday, October 23, 2009

Week in TV Wrapup 10/19/2009

*Note: This week Bones and Fringe were not aired due to the Major League Baseball Playoffs. They will return early in Novemeber, until then I will review FlashForward + One other show for the next couple of weeks (which I hope isn't long!).

House, Season 6 - Episode 5: Brave Heart

When a police detective jumps off a building and is put in serious condition House and crew are called in to investigate his family history... and why all the males in his family die at age 40. Meanwhile House struggles with whether or not to become a doctor again as he begins to hear voices when he tries to sleep at night.

As far as the mystery goes this time around, the show seems to be lacking rather heavily on new ideas. Though there is one scene that's a surefire seat jumper, and pretty cool to say the least. This episode, like many this season, is entirely House cast centric, and I much prefer it that way. House's personal problems really strike a cord, and it's interesting to see the new ways in which he deals with each of them. At the same time we get to spend a little bit more time with the Cuddy/House dynamic/tension that's been rather lacking this season. Meanwhile Chase continues to struggle with the death of Dibala, and it looks like we'll be seeing a Chase meltdown in the upcoming episodes.

Episode Rating: 7.00/10

FlashForward, Season 1 - Episode 5: Gimme Some Truth

Called in to take part in a Senate hearing as the government tries to decide which department to put their trust behind, Mark must struggle with the secret he's been keeping from everyone: during his flash forward he was drinking and his "evidence" may not be so clean. Meanwhile a bit of Wedeck's darker past is revealed, and his odd relationship with the president (guest star Peter Coyote) may inspire some trouble for the team.

FlashForward is such a hard show for me to review. The story is amazing, each episode feels like a mini-movie in and of itself, and it is not taking its time lightly, while trying to grab all that it can from the series. As a character show though, it struggle so heavily. All the characters are so heavily one-dimensional it's almost impossible to get into them. They all have 1 strength and one weakness, and from that they always do one thing. This episode isn't all that different as we find out what Wedeck's one flaw is, and see Mark sweat a little bit in front of congress. Meanwhile the show roles back 2 episodes and deals a little bit more with the twist from episode 3, but once again forgets to attack the twist from episode 4. If they want cliffhanger ending shows they need to learn to get the flow down pat or they'll be off the air far to quickly.

Episode Rating: 6.75/10

Castle, Season 2 - Episode 5: When the Bough Breaks

Tensions run high as Castle is on the verge of the release of his new novel on his new heroine, Nikki Heat, based on his partner Kate Beckett. As well Castle may be resigning his services when he receives an offer to take over a reboot series for a certain "unnamed" British secret agent. As Beckett and Castle butt heads, the two must still solve the crime of a murdered woman, whose past is a sad and lonely one.

As a show Castle isn't really all the unique, something I do find annoying, but much like Big Bang Theory I'm willing to sacrifice that in favor of a stand out performer: Nathan Fillion. Fillion's got everything going for him in this episode, and it's one of the funner ones this season. Not necessarily perfect, but it has lots of heart, and the tension (sexual and confrontational) between Beckett and Castle is pretty hot in this one. Seems to be all over the main shows since Bones and Booth set the bar rather high last thursday. As for the crime this time around, it's captivating, but really not all the well planned out, and hardly matters in the overall scene. As a show though I'm not sure it's full season pickup was a statement of satisfaction from ABC or an acknowledgment that they just don't have anything else for that 10:00pm slot.

Episode Rating: 7.00/10


Other Shows:
Big Bang Theory: Great Wil Wheaton cameo, lots of fun, but not quite the laugh out loud humor it has had so far this season. 7/10

How I Met Your Mother: Some great moments, NPH dominates as the super american, but overall the episode didn't offer much, and Ted's droopiness is getting old. 6.75/10

Two and a Half Men: Charlie and Alan argue a lot. Some of it is funny, some of it isn't... 5.75/10

South Park: Drop dead hilarious. The gang starts their own wrestling show, gaining lots of popularity with some of the dumbest, cliche wrestling storylines you love. 8.00/10

So You Think You Can Dance: The top 20... It's about **** time, took you long enough! Animals were freezing over in the time it has taken for them to get down to the top 20. As far as the people in it go, meh. None of them stand out to me yet as people I want to cheer for. Though the Husband-Wife couple, I'll be rooting against the wife. Husband seems honest, wife seems more "conveniently" emotional in front of the camera than a Hilton. 7.00/10


If there's a show not on my list you absolutely think I have to watch (that doesn't contradict with the above which are almost dead locks) feel free to recommend away ;).

2 better thoughts:

Snipes said...

Stupid baseball, no Supernatural or Vampire Diaries! They better not cancel Smallville tonight!

Rae Kasey said...

This is off topic but I absolutely HAD to tell you since I know you're doing that feature on dumb things people say about movies that depress the hell out of you...or something.

While talking with an acquaintance about Invictus, Million Dollar Baby came up and this person actually said, I kid you not, "I didn't figure out that the boxer was his daughter until the very end when he told her what the name meant."

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