When my moment finally comes, and I am called to the Great Reckoner in the Sky (Desert Island Discs, I mean), my dilemma will be which songs to choose from Cabaret. So I was in showtune heaven this week, as Rachel and April went head to head on a tingly version of Maybe this Time. It wasn’t quite Liza, but it wasn’t half bad.

April, played by the versatile Kristin Chenoweth – last seen as a sensible media consultant in The West Wing – had been wheeled in by Will, partly because she was a charismatic fire-cracker of a performer who could replace Rachel, but mainly because Will had the hots for her back in the day at school. I have a secret affinity with Kristin, because we are exactly the same height (quite small – in fact the same as Judy Garland, to bring us full circle, except obviously I can’t sing and Liza lets the side down by being a bit tall at 5 foot 4).

Kristin sparkled as a boozy, tarty, tiny washed-up cougar. She had all the best lines: ‘Can I get you a drink? I just cracked open a fresh box of wine’. When accused of being ancient by the assembled Glee clubbers, she slurred, ‘Old, huh? You guys look like the world’s worst Benetton ad’, which is completely accurate. To Rachel, also complaining ageistly about her: ‘Talent doesn’t age, sweetheart’, with the naughtiest sidelong look in the history of sidelong looks.

Of course, Puck was delighted, as he is a renowned cougar-man. Everyone else was happy too, as April fronted Glee and brought down the house. But Emma – possibly not from the purest motives – convinced Will that April’s free handing out of drink, sex, and shoplifting advice was not in the students’ best interests, and so she had to go. Dammit, now the place is again nothing but tall people swanning about, being tall.

What a treat this episode was. Apart from pocket rocket April, there was Cabaret. I watched this film so many times in my teens that the video broke. That scene where both Michael York and Liza Minnelli confess to having slept with smarmy playboy Maximillian seemed to me the pinnacle of sexual sophistication. It wasn’t quite so cool with Rachel and Finn saying the lines, but it was a lot cuter.

Best of all Terri-ble didn’t appear all this week, and there was no mention of her hysterical (not in the amusing sense) pregnancy. That story-line is a tip-top drag and I am praying against the odds for a hasty conclusion, such as Terri-ble joining Glee Club for an Esther Williams homage, diving into the pool and banging her head. Will could be sad for a minute before being comforted by Emma and/or April. All sorted. I don’t know why the writers don’t hire me, frankly.

Rachel, meanwhile, got yelled at by Paedo Sandy, leading to her returning to Glee Club. This temporarily mystified me. I thought Sue and Sandy had plotted to keep Rachel out of the way, thus depriving Glee of her star quality. So why did they make it so easy for her to walk out? Then I remembered that actually, I don’t care. This isn’t a show where you want to worry about loopholes. When Rachel offered to understudy for April in the closing number – a cracking performance of Somebody to Love – Will said, ‘Get into your costume’, even though, having resigned from the club, she wouldn’t have the costume. This shiny element of non-reality makes me love Glee more than ever.

Posted by Qwerty

Nice start to the episode with Samuel giving the talk through at the beginning. There was a lot packed into the reminder part of the episode – which made you feel like a lot was going to happen…

So lets start with Peter and Hiro in this episode. It was great to see Peter trying to help Hiro, and ofcourse, both of them guessing that destiny has sent them to the other so that they can help the other…Make sense? As In Peter believes it is so he can save Hiro, and Hiro believes it is so that he has to help Peter, though maybe Emma. Who knows, but the point was that Hiro believes he is always there to help, as too does Peter, which is what Heroes is all about.  

With Peter absorbing Hiro’s ability it was great to see him Teleporting again, I do love that. It also lead to one of the small funny parts of this season, where Peter jumps but ends up in HRGs bathroom, startling HRG and Claire…And he follows it up with “It’s been a while since I teleported…” I liked that….We also got to understand why Claires blood simply wouldn’t do the trick for Hiro, and that made me feel like the writers have been thinking (as I was thinking all along “how long will it take for someone to think, Claires blood will save Hiro). So with this in mind, Peter is off teleporting with HRG to find a healer…only to find a healer who is struggling with his Powers, abandonded by the old company and now very much suffering for it…

It was a shame to see Peter still cannot get all his powers back, or access them, even when he is dying – though it did lead to him absorbing the healers powers and heading back to save Hiro…With this season being called redemption – I cannot feel that a lot of Redemption is about HRG and how he is getting back to what the company originally should have been about, people – not their abilities and we see him really looking for that redemption in this – and I guess next episode…

So onto Sylar in this episode…It does seem that if anyone watches Dollshouse, Sylar is in a similar Doll state. Not quite knowing anything, but not really truely away from his two personalities – Nathan and Sylar….I do think though that Nathan will win this mental battle – if only to carry on this part of the plot until the end of the season, which is fine with me. It was good to see Nathan morph in however briefly, and that he remembers being a politician….I do question though why Samuel needs or feels he needs to get the old Sylar back…After all, the old Sylar at the carnival would have a field day absorbing a hell of a lot of abilities and leaving the carnival, well without anyone there…

The house of mirrors was interesting – and Sylars response was also interesting, feeling sickened to his stomach. Though is that Sylars reaction or Nathans???

Moving onto Emma – this was interesting and was great to see just how good Hiro is with helping others with their abilities. His magic trick was pretty impressive, and small things can make the show, so seeing everyone’s reaction to him making Emma disappear was classic… Though we aren’t sure how Emma could use her ability we do know that she will be an interesting character who no doubt interacts with Peter a lot more. And there is nothing wrong with that…Though watching Emma with Hiro was good, going back to save Charlie is a little weird….

Why weird? Well in season 1, am I the only person who remembers the reason why Hiro didn’t help Peter save the cheerleader? Well it was because he was trying to save Charlie the first time round. Which he didn’t manage to do, but she didn’t die because of Sylar, but a brain tumour, so how can he save her this time round? Hmmm

Well that was Tabula Rasa, which all in all was a good interesting episode, with a wierd name. So what can chapter 6 hold for us, Strange Attractors…Well I am guessing the healer story will continue and we will see HRG seeking redemption through his ability to help the young lad. Apart from that, I feel we have to catch up with Claire in the next episode, maybe Matt too…So onwards…

The fifth episode of The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love makes me question whether Jake Pavelka is all that into girls. And I don’t mean to imply that Jake is latently gay. The problem is most of the time I have a feeling that Jake is conducting numerous job interviews. It is as if these ladies are competing to fill the “position” of Jake’s bride. He comes off as a very mechanical kind of guy.

 Consider his first date with Tenley. Right at the point when the atmosphere was progressively becoming romantic, Jake chose to drill Tenley about her mistakes in the previous marriage. The girl became so uncomfortable, she practically took the blame for the fact that her “ex” cheated on her. It is important to note that as Tenley became unsure of herself and submissive, Jake became more confident and showed more interest. He later admitted to Chris Harrison that Tenley helped him relax. Let’s hope that she doesn’t turn into a symbolic mother figure and turn him off eventually. Talk about a conflictive personality, Jake is critical and easily bored. Not a good combination for making a positive decision. As I said before, this guy has trouble being satisfied with any girl.

 Then there was Jake’s two on one date with Vienna and Gia. Of the two, Gia is the girl with whom Jake seemed to have natural chemistry. Let’s face it, he was really into kissing with Gia. Kissing seemed natural, affectionate and held exciting promises. One wonders why he didn’t continue it, then we remember – Vienna interrupted. Personally, I feel that Gia was well into turning Jake’s critical tide. But don’t get me wrong; even though Jake obviously liked Gia, he took this developing relationship with caution and an open ear to what the other girls might “reveal” about Gia.

 At this point, I don’t think there is a lot of chemistry between Jake and Vienna. I do feel he was attracted to her physically at first, but then she started whining and I think with Jake that is a real no-no. In addition, she made way too many mistakes and scored negative points on the Vienna pros and cons chart. I think that if it were up to Jake, he would have eliminated her as well. The producers of the show might have warned Pavelka not to become too carried away with his power to eliminate. Just before the rose ceremony, the time when Jake is supposed to make the final decisions and clear any possible misunderstandings with the girls, Jake questioned Vienna about Gia. Even though Jake verbalized his intent to get more into Vienna, it did not come off as genuine.

 Corrie is the girl that was sent home. Even though Corrie seems to be a genuinely nice and sincere girl, there was no chemistry there. It appeared to be more of a play date and plain boring, if you ask me. I’m not sure whether it was Corrie that was boring or was it Jake? Part of the problem here is the dryness of Jake. He could stand to be more playful, romantic and debonair, if nothing else. Frankly, his character has little if no pizzazz. If a guy wants to see a little more action from a girl, he has to show a little more interest and be more exciting, otherwise a date is over before it gets started.

 Now here’s an interesting switch to the action. On the last date, Ali got to take charge and show Jake all her favorite places in San Francisco. Finally, I felt a little more hope for one of the girls. Perhaps she might bring him out of the critic’s chair, and they did appear to have some vestige of a connection. As an outdoor, physical guy, I felt Jake was attracted to the tomboy side of Ali; but I can’t help feeling he was thinking about Gia during the outing and wasn’t fully there. Too bad, hopefully something will spark between them in the next episode; otherwise this might turn out to be a wilted “wings of love.”

 Post note: during the preview for the next week Chris Harrison announced that (for the first time in the show’s history) there will be no rose ceremony. See what I mean by boring? That was one of the highlights of the show. Could it be that when Jake gets done with it, there will be no one to eliminate? Just joking!

Czech-American bachelor Jake Pavelka said it best, “It’s not about sex appeal. It’s about heart appeal.” Classic.

The Jake Tally

Bomber Jacket Jake 1
Black Turtleneck Jake 1
Shirtless Jake 1
“Window Shopping” Jake 1

On the 5th and lowest budgeted episode (no helicopters, RV’s, or major road trips) the remaining five contestants and their He-Man toured the manly city of San Francisco.

Nothing epic has changed since last time. Just more developed. Vienna is still the villain in which Jake refuses to send away. Tenley is still the obvious winner of this thing, with quotes from Jake like this:

“I’m starting to fall for Tenley.”
“Tenley is the girl I picture most as my wife.”
“I wouldn’t change a thing about her.”

And everything else is just details: A learning-not-to-talk-about-drama-involving-the-other-contestants Ali, a lack of chemistry Corrie, and a finger tip bandaged, third wheel Gia.

Episode five was less drama & action, and more funny quotes, aside from just the “heart appeal” quote I mentioned in the opening:

Gia to Vienna: “You can eat my salmon.”

Vienna to Gia: “I have a really strong relationship with Jake so it will be really hard for you.”

Vienna to cameraman: “I was in the dungeon room.”

Jake to Corrie: “I do see how this could work.” (That proved to be very promising.)

Jake to Ali: “Vienna goes out of her way to let me know she’s here for me.” (Hint, hint, Ali. That’s why you’re destined to go home.)

My favorite part of the episode was the creep cameraman who stalked Jake. It happened twice:

When we saw Shirtless Jake in the chamber of the castle, before Vienna got to him, the cameraman was already there.

Then again later in the episode back at the mansion, before Jake lets Vienna inside his bedroom before they walk out onto the balcony, the cameraman is already there.

Hmm.

Makes me think that either the cameraman is really fascinated by our shirtless hero…

Or…

Those scenes were staged. Surely not, though. Because I’m way too optimistic here.

So Corrie was sent home.  I was really starting to wonder if she won.  Because she continues to be one of the most searched for items on this site.

For anyone who stuck around for the closing credits scene, that was just weird. The opera singing duel between Tenley and Corrie. Almost scares me.

I will close with some of the more interesting keywords that people typed into Google which caused them to find my site. I love it. And by the way, thanks for reading. Last week was my highest trafficked ever.  The number beside the term shows how many different people searched for that phrase.

corrie adamson 10

tenley molzhan 3

youtube the bachelor jessie sulidis 2

corrie adamson religion 2

is gia allemand jewish? 2

bachelor wings of love scene 2 2

corrie adamson religion? 2

bachelor corey rose 2

tenley molzahn disney 1

corrie adamson quiet 1

Well after the dramatic end to the previous episode, this episode had some interesting promise to it, would Sylar be back or just lost in his own body? Will Peter and Emma get to talking? What is on Samuel’s mind?

Well it started off with more and more about Samuel. He seems determine to bring new people into the “family” but I wonder why he needs to fill Josephs empty seat. Something about the start of this episode had me thinking about “cults” and I just had to think maybe this is where Samuel is going – some sort of revenge / Magneto view on life – us and them…It was also good to see that Samuel won’t really listen to his members of his family, showing that he sees them as “tools” rather than family…

At the end of the episode we see that Samuel will go to any lengths to try and bring people into his family, which begs the question “why”. If his family is there to support each other and others with abilities, then why does he feel he needs to bring certain people in – and needs to go to such lengths to do so… The lengths I am referring to here is those he seems to have undertaken to ensure Claire feels isolated and needing to seek out Samuel and the carnival. It was good to see another invisible character introduced, and to be honest, I didn’t see this coming in the story line – invisible girl killing Claire’s roommate, exposing Grechine as a stalker etc. I had been thinking that Grechine was something to do with Samuel, but turns out Heroes hadn’t had a lesbian love interest and it was time to introduce one…It was a pleasant surprise to the storyline to be honest…

It was good to see Sylar back, though I think his Character should never have made it past hte end of season 1. In some ways I see the Sylar obsession as what holds Heroes back. But that aside, it was good to see him back and lost, more like the Gabriel we can imagine than the Sylar character that emerged. I also like the guy from Ghostbusters being in this episode, it did put a big smile on my face (sorry cannot remember his character in Ghostbusters, nor the actors name. Can anyone?) What was interesting is that as Nathan, Sylar hasn’t really accessed his own abilities at all, yet being shot he accesses them and as himself starts accessing them accidentally frequently. I am sure we will see Nathan returning to Sylars body – I’m just not sure how and what that means …

Its interesting to see Emma is becoming a character that we are drawn too more. Her seeing sound ability, am sure will have more manifestations as the season goes on. For me it’s great when new characters come in and interact to try and find out more about their abilities – especially when they interact with Peter and or Hiro for that fact. I can see – well hope to see the company taking off, but not with Angela at the helm, more Peter and Hiro, as I think they are the only two who seem to have a constant moral compass and compassion enough to help others with their abilities. I am curious why Emma has gone deaf, and I hope we find out. Was she born deaf? And who is Christopher? Was interesting seeing that Peter, as ever, tries to connect with others with abilities. Though his frustration at losing his speed ability was short lived when he realises he has met someone else with abilities (though not sure how this one will help him with work?)

I also loved the small scene between Angela and Peter, Peter trying to talk to his mother and explain how he is feeling etc. Only to find she isn’t listening – and as ever, only thinking about Nathan. I know that she is thinking about him as in “hmm where is he, is something wrong”, but also as a retrospect that Nathan is in fact dead. I can’t help but think that Angela will somehow hold the key to Peter finally getting his true ability back (well I hope he gets it back!).

So onward to the next episode, Tabula Rasa which means, well I don’t know…

That’s right Glee! That’s what we want to see. This episode boasted a number of sensational musical renditions from the Glee club with some absolutely show stopping performances from April Rhodes in the bowling alley all the way to Rachel in the final scene. GLEE IS BACK! We saw it in the first episode and we’re getting right back on the horse with this one. No distractions with pointless pregnancies, nor did the episode focus around the lives of the teachers, but today was all about Glee. Okay so April Rhodes, a washed up alcoholic, returned to the Glee club after 15 years, but her presence not only helped deliver a few astounding performances, but also to re-inforce Rachel as a key member of Glee allowing her to belt out the best voice we’ve heard from her yet. I think it’s safe to say she’s back too, no philandering between star roles, she’s back at the place she loves the most. With Finn at her side and music at the other there’s no way she’d leave again (especially after she told everyone ‘the magic of friendship is greater than being a star’ – there’s not much she can do to get out of that now!).

The lack of Sue Sylvester was actually welcomed for once this week. Although she provides nearly all the comedy to the show we needed to remember the foundations of Glee today, which I think Will demonstrated very well. Glee is about the high school and their music. Okay so I’m aware that there needs to be some plot and scandal, but it never hurts to sit back and exhale and just enjoy a little bit of music. In-fact in this case there was a lot of music with fully run top songs, wonderful harmonies and great impromptu performances throughout the show. Well done Glee! Hopefully we wont have to wait another 4 episodes, before they give us another show stopper!

Episode 5:

In Kamistan, General Wasid, a leader of the insurgency, takes a call from Farhad, as the news on television reports on the failed assassination attempt on Hassan. Wasid says it’s all over; his men are being arrested by Hassan’s security forces. Farhad says not to worry; he’ll have the uranium soon, so long as Wasid agrees to transfer the money to the Russians today. Wasid reluctantly agrees.

I could be wrong, but I don’t ever recall a 24 episode that actually showed a scene in the Middle East like this. I thought this scene was great for the storyline in regards to showing foreign communication.

Josef tells his father, Bazhaev, that Oleg – his younger brother, the one who is dying of radiation poisoning from the control rods – needs a doctor. He has found one in Mr. Vernon whose family he can threaten so he’ll keep his mouth shut. Bazhaev is skeptical; how will Josef keep anybody else at the clinic from finding out? If Oleg dies, then so be it. Josef protests Oleg’s dying alone, in a cold room behind the kitchen, and Bazhaev consents for Oleg to be taken to the country house. Farhad enters and says the money will be transferred shortly. When can he take possession of the rods? As soon as they have the money, says Bazhaev. Farhad says it will be five hours. Bazhaev nods, satisfied, and has Farhad pass the time with a pair of prostitutes.

Again, maybe I’m being very tough on criticism here because I’ve seen every 24 season, but I think the doctor will blow the cover of the 2 Russian brothers. I hope it doesn’t turn out that way because this seems predictable.

As Jack and Renee cauterize and bandage Ziya’s wound, Jack begins to call Hastings to tell him to abort the operation; Renee’s obviously not ready for this. Renee says she’s still the best chance CTU has of finding the uranium. Ziya begins to wake up. Jack puts his phone away, and says he’ll be listening from the car. Ziya wakes up, screaming. Renee says she did him a favor – she got the parole bracelet off. He can whine about it, or he can be rich. Two, three million dollars. Suddenly, he’s interested, and agrees to bring Renee to where Vladimir might be.

I actually thought this scene very good. The interaction between Jack and Renee is great. They have very good chemistry in this scene. I think this Ziya guy is a great 24 character. We probably wont remember him when we look back at the 24 franchise outside of Renee cutting his hand, but he deserves credit.

They go in Ziya’s truck, with Renee driving… and Jack following. Jack reports to Chloe, who wants to know how to handle Ziya’s probation officer. Jack hesitates, then decides not to tell Chloe what happened. He just tells her that Renee got the results she wanted. He asks if his cover profile is ready. Chloe says Dana’s nearly finished. However, Dana gets a call from Kevin, demanding that she come home right away, or he’ll call Cole and tell him her secret: she’s an ex-con, accessory to murder. He gives her 30 minutes to get home. Panicked, she asks Arlo a favor, who again hits on her. Shrugging it off, she says she has to go home for a while, and asks him to cover for her by finishing Jack and Renee’s profile. As she leaves, Arlo notes with interest her zagging to avoid Cole.

Again, this Dana storyline is just very tough to take. This is like the 3^rd or 4^th time that Arlo and Chloe has watched Dana suspiciously and not done anything. It seems like they keep repeating these actions and don’t add much of anything new. By now I would have expected Chloe to do something, but she hasn’t. One of those 24 mysteries…

At the UN, Weiss informs President Taylor and Kanin that Farhad is trying to get a hold of weapons-grade uranium on US soil. Kanin thinks that explains Hassan’s actions back in Kamistan – arresting and executing the opposition and shuttering news organizations; practically declaring martial law. Taylor is worried his actions will de-legitimize the peace process. However, when she voices her concerns to Hassan, he is angered. Power is the only thing his people understand. The peace process depends upon his continued leadership; he cannot appear weak. Taylor says that the coalition will fall apart if he reneges on his human rights violations. He asks to see his family.

I thought this scene was very good. I thought the explanation by Hassan regarding declaring martial law was believable when looking at it from his perspective. Both Hassan and President Taylor had great chemistry in this scene.

Ziya says he’s surprised Renee would take another deal with Vladimir after what he did to her. There is nothing good one can say about Vladimir. Renee won’t be drawn on the subject and just asks how much farther. Ten minutes. Chloe calls and uploads his profile; Arlo just finished it. Jack asks her to look into Renee’s profile and find out exactly what happened with Vladimir.

Josef is driving Oleg to the country house. Oleg tells Josef not to feel bad; there’s nothing he can do. The family shouldn’t have to pay for his mistake. He thanks Josef for always looking out for him. Josef suddenly swerves. He’s going to take Josef to the doctor. He doesn’t care what Papa said; he won’t let Oleg die without a fight.

This car a scene with the two brothers was good. I thought this scene was nice, and makes the 24 viewer sympathize with these 24 villains for at least a few moments.

At the UN, Dalia is packing to leave. Kayla is staying. Hassan enters and asks for time alone with Dalia. He admits to his affair, and says it’s over. He begs Dalia not to go. She was always his best counsel. There is a tender moment between them, but she says it’s too late, and continues packing.

This was another good family scene with the Hassan family. I thought everything in this scene was believable.

Renee and Ziya arrive at the chop shop where Vladimir is now working. Ziya goes in first, leaving Renee time to consult with Jack. Jack demands to know what happened between Renee and Vladimir, but she won’t talk; she just asks for her cover story. Jack’s a Munich-based arms dealer named Ernest Meier. They met in Mexico City.

Ziya quickly finds himself with Vladimir’s gun to his forehead, angry to see Ziya. He’s been underground for five years. Ziya explains about Renee and the deal she’s offering. Lugo, Vladimir’s parter, thinks Ziya is too stupid to make up such a story; it’s Renee he’s never trusted. She showed up out of the blue, and sixteen months later the feds were breathing down their throats. Vlad doesn’t think she’s the one who sold them out. He tells Ziya to bring her to him.

I thought this scene was great. This was a really believable scene. This Vladimir guy seems like a very smart 24 villain. Unfortunately this scene sorta told me that Ziya might be a dead man soon. Poor guy.

Dana arrives home to find that Kevin’s invited a buddy of his to stay at her place. She offers him a thousand dollars to go away. He’s insulted, and slams her against the wall. He says she owes him. She insists she didn’t testify against him. The only reason she got out earlier is because she was sentenced as a minor. Kevin calms down, and tells her he knows what her job is, and that she has access to bank accounts, manifests, and the stock exchange. He wants a six figure payout, and then he’ll go away forever.

I honestly cannot stand this storyline. This scene seemed like it was a cross between 24 and one of those daytime soap operas. Absolutely awful. The 24 writers have done a very miserable job of advancing both of these characters from episode to episode.

Renee is taken before Vladimir, while Chloe fills Jack in: Vladimir abused her, put her in the hospital. He may have tried to rape her. Jack’s worried that Renee, who attempted suicide after leaving the FBI, no longer cares what happens to her. Inside, Jack feeds Renee info on the Mexico City underworld via her comm unit. Vlad thinks there is something different about Renee… something in her eyes, her skin. She doesn’t look well. There’s a name that Jack can’t feed her right away, and there’s a tense moment as Renee stalls, claiming she’s tired of paying these games with Vladimir. The name finally comes through. Vlad seems satisfied… but then orders Lugo to tie her and Ziya up and put them in his trunk. Jack and Chloe lose her signal; either the car’s armored or the comm shorted out. Jack follows Vlad’s car, and asks for backup.

I thought this scene was excellent. I liked especially the parts with Jack feeding Renee the answers to the questions. There was a lot of suspense in this scene. Mid-way through Renee feeding the answers to Vladimir I could see that Vladimir was suspicious and trying to trap Renee. Top to bottom a great scene and at the end throwing Renee and Ziya into the trunk was great.

Dr. Levine is getting ready to go home when Josef and Oleg burst into his office. When Dr. Levine tries to call an ambulance, Josef draws a gun and tells him nobody must know about this. He tells the doctor he knows his address… and there are men outside his gate. His daughter’s bedroom light just went out ten minutes ago. Levine says he’s not sure what he can do; Oleg’s radiation poisoning is very advanced. He asks what sort of uranium it was, and Josef tells him it was weapons grade 235.

I did like this scene, but I can’t help but think something will go wrong for the brothers at some point.

Jack is following the car, but suddenly hears Ziya and Renee again, and it sounds like they’re stopped. He’s following a decoy car. Chloe finds another car left five minutes after the decoy did; they didn’t notice because all eyes were on the decoy. It’ll take ten minutes for the tactical backup to reach where the real car has pulled over, by the river. Jack listens in mounting horror as a pair of gunshots ring out. Vlad has killed Ziya. Vlad looks at Renee. Amazing; she didn’t even blink. Renee tells him to get it over with. “Don’t do this,” begs Jack. Vlad wants to know who she really is. Renee laughs bitterly. She’ll tell the truth: Vlad’s right – she’s sick. Sick of living like this. She has nowhere to go and nobody to go to. All she has is this deal, and if he doesn’t want it, he should go ahead and pull the trigger. He wouldn’t be doing anything she hasn’t already tried herself. Vlad is finally persuaded. Jack, sweating, tells CTU to call off the tac team. Renee’s in.

This whole sequence was great. I have to admit I was fooled and didn’t think Jack was following a decoy car. My only problem with this sequence is that if the villains thought someone was waiting to follow then why did they not try to attack Jack? Poor Ziya got killed as expected. I thought the interaction between Vladimir and Renee in this scene was top notch. My only issue with this scene is that we were all 99% sure Renee was going to survive so that kinda took away the suspense. My personal opinion is that I don’t think Vladimir was persuaded by her and still doesn’t trust her, but wants to use her for some other job purpose.

Overall:

I thought this episode was alright. The suspense fell short in the last scene because I think we all knew Renee was going to survive. The Dana/Kevin storyline still stinks. For me there’s still something missing from this season that has been in seasons 1, 2, 3, 5, 7. I don’t know what is exactly, but this season just isn’t great so far.

Don’t hesitate to comment. Your opinion is valued.

Dre

Episode 5

Episode 6

PEACE

“Chuck vs. First Class”

January 25th, 2009

One of the things that Chuck has always been good at is effectively telling the same stories without actually, you know, telling the same stories.

The show has always been about a hapless spy who oscillates between, to quote Daniel Shaw, “Bond and a Jerry Lewis Movie,” and whether or not Chuck is capable of handling himself has always been a point of tension. And yet after slightly more than two seasons, I still enjoy that dynamic, and feel as if the show has maintained the charm of Chuck’s incompetence without feeling as if he has made no progress. While Chuck has grown progressively more competent with time, including with his recent developments made possibly via the Intersect 2.0, his response has more or less been the same, and it’s allowed the character to grow without fundamentally changing.

So when “Chuck vs. First Class” starts with Shaw announcing that Chuck would be going on his first solo mission, I had to wonder whether the show was interested in upending the balance of these efforts, and whether Chuck’s success (since we knew he’d be successful) would lead to a newfound self-confidence or even cockiness.

However, the episode manages to offer a series of events that are absolutely familiar and yet which surround emotions and responses that reflect a growing emotional complexity in Chuck that shows maturity without taking away what makes the show work so well.

The action on the plane in “Chuck vs. First Class” was a lot of fun: Steve Austin is a great presence in a role like this one, and Chuck tapping into the Intersect to learn fencing, ending up in a coffin with a dead man, and then being all set to use his nunchucks only to have his plans ruined by some shifting luggage, were all humorous and enjoyable. Chuck struggled with the mission in a way that was as hapless as we’d expect, so watching him try to drug Hugo and failing nicely walks that fine line between dangerous and laugh out loud funny. There are no “huge” action setpieces in the episode, as that luggage set was actually quite tiny and simple at the end of the day, but the action was well-plotted and showed a good understanding of what makes his character work in these situations.

However, what I liked most about how the “mission” part of the episode was handled was that Chuck was very much aware that he couldn’t have done it without Shaw and Sarah’s help on the ground with their magical flight control stick that happened to be hidden in the desk at Castle. While setting Chuck up on his first solo mission could have completely upended their dynamics, instead it demonstrated how much the team needs each other; he isn’t entirely dependent on them, at least not in a problematic way, but he also isn’t the kind of spy that can single-handedly handle a mission that is going to adapt and change with time. However, the episode makes a compelling argument that no one can truly handle their situation alone, and everyone is looking for an ally to pass time on a flight of shame across the Atlantic, or to bolster against workplace insurgents, or to help make the solitude of living the life of a spy more bearable.

The show has, of course, dealt with all of these points before: Chuck has often lamented how his life as a spy has separated him from his family and the people he cares about, and his trip to Paris where he wasn’t even able to get off the plane was another reminder that being a spy means, effectively, not being Chuck. And there’s something about that which offered a nice counterpoint to Chuck’s slight sense of newfound independence, as he needs his team in order to complete his mission but yet remains tied to them even when he wants to be able to stow the key in a locked box of its own and head off to see the sights with Hannah. Chuck wants to be a real spy, but he also wants to have a real life, and while the show succeeds at integrating the world of Chuck’s friends and family into the spy world, Chuck isn’t as capable and it hurts him. And so he’s left with a model of the Eiffel Tower, and a “meet cute” that might never turn into anything.

Except, of course, the end of the episode, as Kristen Kreuk’s Hannah shows up at the Buy More looking for a job (or so we presume – she might just be there to see Chuck, having managed to get a job somewhere else). I had my doubts about Kreuk going into her guest spot, considering that she spent most of her recent time on a show that I have very little affection towards (Smallville), but I thought she was effortlessly charming here. My notes for the episode keep suggesting she “looks charming,” which doesn’t make any sense out of context but which I think works. There’s no sense that she’s there as some sort of object of Chuck’s desires, and yet she is imminently desirable, and she and Chuck share a nice rapport. The writers have given her a sense of history, and a position of disappointment similar to Chuck’s, that makes her someone we as an audience can connect with and that Chuck himself would find interesting, so the idea that she’ll be sticking around for a while is a good sign for the season’s immediate future.

The story with Shaw and Sarah, meanwhile, was interesting in how it demonstrated both the authority and fallibility of Shaw as a character. Brandon Routh is strong at selling both, but it’s the latter that I found really interesting. He obviously knows enough about Sarah to be able to read her file and understand her hangups, but it’s interesting how his own damage in regards to his wife’s passing (Eve Shaw, killed amidst the investigation to stop The Ring) blinds him to Sarah’s lie. He relates with Sarah because she also made the mistake of falling in love with a spy, and yet he doesn’t see that she’s actually done it twice, which is why she was off-grid in Lisbon. Shaw is a character so focused on his singular goal and on his wife’s tragic death that he isn’t able to see what’s right in front of him, and who you could argue places Chuck’s life in danger in order to expedite the retrieval of the key that could unlock the secret to help him achieve those goals, and it makes for an interesting character dynamic that helps raise particular themes in new ways: it raises issues of Chuck and Sarah’s relationship, for example, without turning it into a “thing.”

And although there were plenty of fun moments in the A-story, I thought the B-story was an extremely enjoyable turn of events that finally leveraged the potential of John Casey working at the Buy More as Morgan unwittingly allows Casey to practice his insurgency uprooting skills on Lester and the Buy More Mafia. The story nicely tied into the theme of needing someone, as Morgan reaches out to Casey in an effort to solve his problems with the minions, but it was also just a lot of fun: the antics were humorous (Morgan glued to a chair, Morgan in the crane game, Lester getting interrogated), and it was enjoyable to see the worlds of Casey and Morgan collide on common ground for the first time ever. The show continues to find really fun pairings amongst its cast, and this one (while always there so long as they were colleagues at the Buy More) was nicely brought into focus without taking the Buy More story into particularly challenging territory. It never “connected” with the main story as some of the best ones do, but it felt like a nice addition to the story that never served as a distraction.

I don’t know if I’m ready to say it’s the best episode of the season thus far, but I think “Chuck vs. First Class” is the episode that nicely transitions the show from its present position into the rest of the season, which is not an easy job and one the episode was well-suited for.

Cultural Observations

• It’s plenty cheesy, but I thought using the game of trying to figure out who all of the various people in first class might be as a way of introducing Hugo Panzer was well-played, especially getting in the comment about how he looks like a professional wrestler (since, in case you weren’t aware, Steve Austin spent a large number of years as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in the WWE).
• Speaking of which, isn’t Hugo Panzer an awesome name?
• I shall wait anxiously for the Volleyball incident at the company picnic to play an important role in a Casey episode.
• I probably don’t comment on this enough, since there’s usually a guest star or two to take away those paragraphs, but Zachary Levi was really great here: not only did he sell the physical comedy stuff, but his conversations with Kreuk really sold someone who was too excited to be going to Paris to be sitting in First Class, and her read of Chuck would have been cheesy if Levi wasn’t so good at selling that side of his character.
• Really enjoyed that Lester has a framed photo of Jeffster on his bedside table.
• I will say two things right now: if Hannah turns out to be a Ring agent, I am going to be extremely frustrated. I would be only mildly annoyed, however, if Shaw’s wife turns out to be alive. Furthermore, I have no opinion of Hannah ending up being the daughter of the Ring’s big bad.

“Rewind”

January 20th, 2010

Airing out of order, “Rewind” is either trying to complete the trains, planes and automobiles trifecta for Christopher Chance’s various missions or trying to simply put the show’s best foot forward in its second episode out of the gate behind American Idol. I’d be worried if it was the former as the show can only go so far when Chance is trapped on a moving mode of transportation with no chance of escape, but I think the latter is their primary goal here.

And it works really well, because the hour is certainly an improvement over the already solid pilot. Not only does “Rewind” feature one of the most extensive uses of in media res storytelling I’ve seen in television for a while, but it also taps into both the potential comedy and the potential mythology present in the series. It is a ludicrous hour of television from a physic perspective, but in terms of delivering action and suspense while maintaining a light-hearted sense of humour and revealing some deeper shades of Christopher Chance and the work he does the episode is quite successful.

There is a lot of intelligent stuff in this episode in terms of how it was structured. First and foremost, you have the choice to make Chi McBride’s Winston play flight attendant, which creates some great humour in general and allows for Chance to be in the cockpit while still having a reason to go back to the plane. Second, you have the choice to join the story in media res, which was not just a simple “eight hours later” structure but rather a constant shift between the present and the past in order to figure out how we got to that point in the story. It was more comprehensive than I was expecting when the episode started, and I thought they did a nice job of playing with our expectations surrounding the flight attendant by the time we got back to the “present” and the story picked up from there. The episode made for a nice narrative ride, with the action scenes exciting enough to sell the lack of suspense (and the “how’d they get here?” story having some twists of its own, like Chance ending up in handcuffs).

But the best parts of the episode were about establishing that the show is capable of selling us on characters we’ve just met and convincing us to care about Christopher Chance and his journey. On the former point, Laura (played by Courtney Ford, who was so annoying on Dexter this season but who was great here) gets her own sendoff of sorts, and because we spend most of the episode with her it’s important that we get to know her. However, the episode goes one step further and gives her a story that reflects Chance’s own back story, as she finds herself trapped in a life of crime (killing the actual flight attendant who was supposed to be on the plane) and Chance offers her a way out (like, we learn, Winston offered him a way out years before). It’s an interesting arc that Ford sells well, and which is almost completely sold through the use of Bear McCreary’s immense talents in order to deliver an emotional moment.

You can read Bear’s entire post on the score for this episode at his blog, but the idea that he composed a theme for a character who we will only meet in this episode, and that said theme will recur when we start to learn more of Chance’s back story, is just the frakking coolest thing I’ve seen in a while, especially on a show like this. We’ve known how fantastic McCreary’s work has been for a while now (it is, after all, a subject I’ve written about in the past), but he’s going some great (and noteworthy) work selling this show and its world right now. When Laura was about to fall out of that wheel well, I could hear the score providing something that felt more meaningful than one would expect of a character we’re never going to see again, and sure enough Bear’s post confirmed that the music was hinting at something deeper, in the process giving her death more than enough weight to make it an important moment in the episode and in the series as a whole.

It’s a good sign for the series, because telling straightforward action stories like this needs to be done with an attention to detail, and a slow reveal of information. Yes, I could watch a show where Mark Valley kicks ass, Chi McBride makes wise, and Jackie Earle Haley threatens people without changing the intonation of his voice. However, I’d rather watch a show that hints at something more in the process, and McCreary’s music combined with some sharp plotting are assisting in making the series seem expansive enough to keep my attention beyond the initial adrenaline rush. So, considering me on board for the long haul on this one (although it will be two weeks before the show finally lands in its normal 8pm Wednesday time slot, so that long haul will require some rerouting).

Cultural Observations

• Based on the Variety article linked above, I think McCreary might finally be in line to pick up his first Emmy (in fact, his first Emmy nomination). The Academy has shown interest in “old school” scores in the past, and the sheer amount of nominations that 24 has garnered demonstrates that they’re interested in action scores.
• The show’s “science” is still more than a bit sketchy, and a “skeleton key to the internet” was as ridiculous as it sounds, but I think it adds to the fun of the show – I thought they used the various elements quite nicely, so it’s not as if they stopped the episode dead or anything. So long as it serves the story, they can flip commercial airliners any time they want (although that might get old).
• In other McCreary news, his post about scoring the new Capcom game Dark Void really makes me wish the game looked a lot less generic than it does (although I’d consider the prequel, Dark Void Zero, if I had a DSi).

Episode 5 is in the books.  I’ll be honest, it’s not our best effort.  Both Shelby and I were feeling a bit under the weather, but we powered through and put out the best podcast we could this week.  Will and Peter are also with us to talk about what we’ve been playing, Metroid coming out in 2010, Mega Man 10 bosses, Mario sales and much, much more.  Despite the illness plagueing the show I hope you enjoy it.

Episode 5 Run Time: 55:55

Hosts: Tony, Shelby, Will, Peter

If you’d like to leave feedback, comments or answer the Question Block send us an email at podcast@nintendo-okie.com.  You can also follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Nintendo_Okie, or head on over to the forums at http://nintendo-okie.justforum.net and talk to us there.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

source: Bestiz / post: linh @ ABM forum

reposted on blog by: absolut_joon @ ABM