Archive for February, 2007
By fred | February 23, 2007
(S03E09) After the great & very mysterious Desmond’s “flashbacks� episode last week, for sure this week’s Lost was gonna have a hard time to top it. I’m not sure this episode did succeed that way or not, I suspect many might not have liked it much, but I actually liked it – that might be because of the way I’ve seen it though, and I might be totally wrong about it of course.
It seemed this episode was a Jack centric one. More precisely, not Jack but his tattoos were at the center of this episode, it was almost not flashback’s of Jacks but of his tattoos. And for sure, that wasn’t very exciting.
Sure, in Lost pretty much everything has a hidden deeper meaning, and Jack’s tattoos aren’t any exceptions. Yet, did they deserve a full episode? Were questions such as “How/when did Jack get his tattoos?� or “What does those tattoos mean?� really big questions on viewers mind?
They were definitely not on my mind.
But here’s the thing, as I said before, while watching this episode I came up with my own way of “seeing it�, I made my own “interpretation� of this episode, and to me it wasn’t about Jack’s tattoos at all.
It was about Jack, it was about the Others, and it was about cons. Two of them, first one being on us, fooling us into thinking that whole thing was about some stupid tattoos. Read the review of “Tattoo or not tattoo ?” »
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Shows: Lost
By fred | February 21, 2007
(S06E10) Seriously, this season of 24 really sucks. I know 24 has never been a “great� show, filled with Bauer’s heroic moments, unrealistic actions and unbelievable plots; but none of this ever really mattered because it’s 24, it’s Jack Bauer, and it’s great entertainment !
Or at least, it was. When the season started I was quite happy, because even though many things didn’t change (such as same characters, or everything happens in Los Angeles: firstly people from CTU LA had to be in charge in the return of Jack, but somehow terrorists always both target and live in LA…) there was some new & interesting development, some exciting ideas (such as having the action started before the first episode of the season, having Jack killing a friend, or a bomb to actually go off on US soil…)
Yet all of this new excitement faded away as soon as the very first episode. But it was just a mix, during the first episodes there was both great ideas, and lame plots. Obviously we could do without those, it’d be much better, but still things evened out and the show was still compelling to watch.
Lately though, things have changed. Enormously. Main reason is, the great ideas are gone. No more interesting twists, or stimulating plots. And the worst part is, they’re even asking viewers to believe things that no one can believe, even the most hardcore fans. Read the review of “Please, someone kill Jack Bauer!” »
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Shows: 24
By fred | February 20, 2007
After last week episode I was confident with the future of Studio60. Well, let’s not be as positive as that, since certainly things weren’t done yet, but it did showed some great potential as they proved they knew how to do things right.
There was still a real challenge up : they now had to bring all that’s great into the actual stories of the show, not stucked on flashbacks. They had to know what to keep up and what to get ride of (Harriett), but there was hope. Because back when it started Studio60 had a pretty great quality level, because writers, directors & actors on the show can be great work, and because when people were raging at the show NBC still let it on the air, willing to give it a real chance.
I was quite anxious when watching the last episode (S01E16), and while watching it I got really torn between two different reactions.
Basically, it seems Studio60 is a show that always had a (strong) reaction on people. Some love it (count me in), some hate it (you can count me in at times, too – but overall I love it), but it didn’t leave viewers indifferent.
And further than this, I believe quite a few people really had a love/hate relationship with the show. Depending on the episode, and even within one same episode, at times you would love it, and at times you would hate it. Read the review of “Studio60: Love it or Hate it” »
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Shows: Studio 60
By fred | February 17, 2007
(S01E15) I watch a lot of TV, and another show I watch regularly is Supernatural. It’s like a very nice mix of everything teenagers love, with horror, blood, monsters, etc as in X-Files or those horror movies, but it’s not too teen-targeted that not only 14yo will like watching it.
At the last episode was a bit different that it used to be. The show went to a quite different direction this week, targeting comedy. Not that the show has ever lacked humor anyways, but it wasn’t he main point of the show, obviously.
This time it was, more than the usual hunting the “bad guy� story or anything. And it was brilliant! Especially because they pretty much nailed it every time.
I was talking about X-Files just before, and yes this episode definitely had a taste of X-Files Bad Blood, since both didn’t feature the story as it happened, but portrayed trough the eyes/memory of the main characters.
And just like on X-Files, it lead to a lot of funny somewhat different vision of things each time, and all were really real done, kudos to the actors who did a great job there.
I have to say, one thing that really killed me for quite a while was when Dean was telling the story, and it went pretty much that way :
Hot Girl: My God you are attractive !
Dean: Thanks.
(…)
Sam: Dean, what do you think you’re doing? This a pretty serious investigation! We don’t have time for your blah blahblah! Blah blah blahblah blahblahblah. Blahblahblah! Read the review of “When scary becomes funny” »
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Shows: Supernatural
By fred | February 16, 2007
(S03E08) I’ve read that lots of people, fans included, actually liked the previous episode, Not In Portland. I was a bit surprised reading this, because I did not. But I’m sure all of them loved this episode even more, and this time, I couldn’t agree more.
This one was simply freaking fantastic, it was excellent, it was right there, on the subject, it was all the reasons I love Lost so much !
Last time I said I didn’t like the fact that we were getting more and more questions & new mysteries, I said how much I was getting frustrated by this. Well we had kind of the same during this episode: brand new mysteries & questions, many of them, things you don’t really understand (fully), or not yet.
But there is a HUGE difference with the last episode, well two in fact. For starter, we’ve got a new lists of questions indeed, but it didn’t came along, it came with answers as well! That is always really enjoyable, obviously.
And also, all those questions & mysteries were more than welcome, because we were right on what Lost is all about, what the show deals with, what & why we’re obsessed with it. I don’t think one could get “annoyed� when getting new mysteries when it’s done that way, you might even get the opposite effect, in fact : we want more !!
Because this episode dealt with Desmond, why he sees the future, what happened (to him) when the hatch imploded, what happened in Desmond’s past (or was it?), and yet all of that was somehow not really about Desmond, not only, it was about the Island. About what’s going on in that Island, and why. It dealt with everything that is Lost, that turned regular people, otherwise referred to as viewers, into real fans, into complete addicts, analyzing episodes frame by frame and writing books about their new theories…
Writers were not throwing at you brand new mysteries that came from nowhere, and didn’t really make sense, it wasn’t “tada… the foot of a statue!�, “tada… a couple of scientists in an igloo!�, “tada… a brand new island!� or “tada… a room for brainwashing people!� ; no this time it was part of the story, it all made sense.
Well. At least you could sense it did for those we knew what was behind all that, and it really felt like they did, knew was it was all about. Read the review of “Lost is back, for good” »
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Shows: Lost
By fred | February 14, 2007
(S01E15) So I’ve been saying how Studio60 was really on a bad road lately, and then came this episode. It wasn’t a complete revolution, I won’t say now things are back on a better road, but.
Yes, there’s a but. A pretty good but, even though there’s actually a but within that but. Men do I love but’s…
Anyways, this week we had another kind of show within the show in a form of a flashback. And to sum things up, it both worked & didn’t worked at the same time. Looking at what occurred during the flashback scenes, it sure worked. But looking at the flashback itself, and how it was part of the show, it didn’t.
It pretty much seemed to me like they realized that the show was really not in a good place, and they’d wish they could start over, forget about all the crap they wrote in the past episodes and start fresh, and that’s what they did!
Using the form of a flashback, they were able to forget about all the lame plots they made us suffer through during the last episodes, and made the show what it should have been in the first place.
And when they did that, one thing got pretty clear: they obviously know how to write a great show, they know what to do to make things great, interesting, funny even.
The show we had during the flashback was the one I was wanting to see when I first heard of Studio60, it was what I was expecting from Aaron Sorkin and his team, it is was Studio60 should be, always. Read the review of “What Studio60 could have been” »
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Shows: Studio 60
By fred | February 13, 2007
It was, and I don’t think it was intended. This week was a special week for 24, since we get to see not one but two whole hours of the new day of Jack and his family. And it was supposed to be a big deal, a great thing.
I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who got excited hearing about this, and maybe thought there would be a huge event or some kind of great twist that would happen somewhere during those 2 hours. Probably at the end, but still, something. And…
Well let’s start by the good old daddy Bauer. I am sill in shock with the whole stupid plot, how in God’s name could not one person have any suspicion, why does no one even wants to interrogate him!??
Seeing how things happened, the only explanation that they don’t instantly suspect him and thinks he has, or at least he might, killed Graham.
Oh but, he said “if you guys killed my son…� ! So obviously he didn’t do it. Makes perfect sense, if you’re a moron.
Not questioning him, even to only ask what happened, is pretty unbelievable. But they also let him walk around CTU, go see Graham’s body where he’ll be able to get his phone and erase some data, steal some other cards and things that could help CTU.
Seriously, what’s up with the writers?? I mean despite his touching stupid confession, Graham was a suspect, someone that was supposed to be interrogated some more once within CTU building, so as soon as they got his phone and shit, some CTU agent should have take them to try if there was any information that was valuable, I mean hello people, we’re on alert, a nuclear bomb went off, four more could follow, maybe it is not the best time to take another coffee break! Read the review of “It was torture…” »
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Shows: 24
By fred | February 11, 2007
Ok, here we are. The so long wait is finally over, and Lost is back! I finally got to watch it, and this episode left me as, I’d say, surprised, and disappointed.
Here’s the thing, and may be I’m wrong and it’s only me, but I have some feelings about how things usually occur with the show.
For starter, that they do like, when they know people are waiting for more on some story, to go somewhere else, to tell another story. Not that it will be a let down, might be just the opposite, whether or not it eventually gets link to the original source of desire viewers had.
So I was actually pretty sure that this first episode would not deal with Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Ben, Juliet and the others. Wouldn’t have any revelations about the statue or the scientists in their igloo either of course, but I had my money on the new Others, those left on the beach. Story about Locke sounded right to me…
But they decided otherwise and went with the latest in that old story we left so many weeks ago. That explains the first half, why I got surprised.
Now the big part.
I have the feeling that whenever there was much expectations regarding Lost, besides the usual I mean, they always delivered. That on occasions such as the beginning or end of a season for example, when people really expect either something (huge/important) to take place, or to learn something (huge/important) about the show, the story, the characters, whatever, it happened.
And there used to have one scene, yeah just one, remember: it’s Lost, we get things done slowly, but there was one scene that would make you go “wow!�. Just like the opening of this season, which actually started 6 episodes ago with a bunch of people in a nice little village.
Oh wait, they were the Others. The day that plane split itself in two and crashed. Oh and, yeah they’re in fact on that damn island!
That scene was a wow-er, it was the scene everyone would remember and talk about. Because it was huge, and great, and wow! Sure it brings a huge lots of new questions to our lists, it also gives a few answers, not much, sure more questions, but it was simply worth it.
But this new episode has been different, in that way. There was no such scene this time. It’s like this episode was only the seventh one of the season, the one that came after the sixth first, after the last one we saw. Only that was weeks ago, because ABC decided to do this very stupid thing.
So those 6 episodes were more like a first mini-season on their own, in a way. And this episode definitely felt like a comeback, a start, a new season almost.
Or that’s how I felt before watching it. That’s how it should have felt, but that’s not what happened. It was just the next episode of the season… Read the review of “No start for Lost comeback” »
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Shows: Lost
By fred | February 9, 2007
Once again one of the convicts got caught, and therefore lost his life. Haywire (Silas Weir Mitchell) was always a little bit crazy, but also a pretty cool character. Actually, at one time I even thought, or hoped?, he could be one that would find his way, just disappear from the news and got forgotten.
And he did find his way to some kind of peace & freedom, somehow. I was sad to see him go, and so was Mahone it seemed, but I also kind of enjoyed the way he went.
First off, because that scene was really well done, the whole thing and the music in the background, everything was just great, it really was another great moment of television.
Secondly, because he didn’t get shot. That’s probably the more “classical� way that Mahone had in mind for him when he was heading there.
But because Haywire is who he is he ended up up there, lost & scared like a little kitten, then curious people gathered around to watch, so adjustments had to be made. And as Mahone was talking him into suicide, we could actually feel a real connection between the two.
When Mahone (William Fichtner) told him he knew how he felt, being trapped in a situation he had no control over, wishing he could just escape it, go away, you could tell it was no lie. Read the review of “Fly away home…” »
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Shows: Prison Break
By fred | February 7, 2007
Another hour in the new day of not only Jack Bauer but his whole family went by, and it wasn’t really exciting. It’s not that nothing happened, because obviously quite a few things occurred with the Bauer’s, it’s that we all saw it coming.
Starting with the fact that daddy Bauer is not such a nice guy after all. Truth be told, he might just be even worst then his son Graham, and we all know he was highly ranked on the bad-guys list.
But the problem is that it was no shocking revelation, when we finally saw Phillip (James Cromwell) unmistakably revealing his dark side, we knew – or at least highly suspected – for a while that he was one of the bad guy. And it was even a bit weird to see CTU special agent Jack Bauer not realizing his father just killed the guy.
I mean when both of them escaped from the two “bodyguards� ordered by Graham to kill them, Jack used the gun of one of the two to kill the second one, then the gun got sent away from the two as they fought. Jack then sent him to the ground, and goes to nicely ask him a few questions when out of nowhere Phillip, using the gun of the dead bodyguard, just shot him.
Plain & simple. No hesitation, no warning, he executed him when he was no threat to him or Jack, when he wasn’t even armed, and right before Jack could question him. It was really obvious he did it fully alert of everything, because he didn’t want to let Jack question him, or actually risk having him giving Jack answers!
Sure it’s his father, and he wants to believe he’s a good guy, but still Jack is highly trained and should have seen something was odd. Because the guy wasn’t armed or threatening, and Phillip wasn’t over-stressed on his own, I mean his bodyguard was already lying dead, he had time to take his gun & see what’s going on.
And he seems to know how to handle a gun, so Jack has to know he does, and that was a shoot to kill. A bit weird, but after all Jack is known for his bad judgment when it comes to people close to him, I mean his “mistress” was a mole who killed his pregnant wife after all… Read the review of “The family drama continues…” »
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Shows: 24
