Television

Community – Geography of Global Conflict

Community provided more than a few laughs this week with a quirky, clever little episode which managed to entertain and amuse without needing a great plot or dramatic theatrics.

At the start of last week’s episode, the cast of Community told us, by way of song, that this year would be just as awesome, but a little less weird. I couldn’t help but feel concerned by that declaration. As much as last year’s theme episodes went a bit over the top with their frequency, season 2 of Community was no less funny than season one. So, to be told that the show would be getting a bit “less weird”indicated that the writers might be pandering to the demands of the critics (the fans were certainly not complaining about the paintball episodes). But we can put those worries to bed. This episode helped remind viewers that Community doesn’t need a clay animation set-up for it to still be funny (and weird) in all the right places.

Fringe – One Night in October

It
might be the slightly more advanced tech. It might be the way they
dress. It might be Fauxlivia’s gung-ho attitude and her deriding
smiles. It might even be the particular orchestral music in the
background, or it might be all of the above. The fact is that whenever
an episode of Fringe is set on The Other Side, there is an
extra quality to it. And when the story is as well put together as “One
Night in October” was, we are in for a treat.

The
episode starts on This Side with Lincoln used once again to bring us up
to speed on past events of the current timeline. We discover that our
Olivia was kidnapped and replaced by Fauxlivia for (only) two weeks, so
there was no voluntary trip to The Other Side to retrieve a nonexistent
Peter or someone else. Walter still has a weakness for baked Portuguese
food, and after Fauxlivia returned to The Other Side with some stolen
parts, the machine created a bridge instead of destroying This Side as
they apparently hoped. Still no detail, however, on whether the machine
needs a specific person’s DNA to function.

Unforgettable – First Impressions

Unforgettable is a CBS police procedural with a genre twist starring Without a Trace cast member Poppy Montgomery. She plays Carrie Wells, a woman with a medical condition giving her the ability to remember everything, literally. While the particular circumstances of the pilot episode didn’t allow for reliable first impressions of the series, the second episode had all the main players in place and showcased more accurately what seems to be the series specific brand of investigation.

In the pilot, we are introduced to Carrie Wells, a woman living in Queens, New York who spends her days volunteering at a nursing home and her nights in casinos. As the first person at the scene of her neighbor’s murder, she is called in as a witness and meets Al Burns (Dylan Walsh) the lead detective of Queens PD who also happens be to her former boyfriend and partner at the Syracuse PD.

Parks and Recreation – Ron & Tammys

Not the ‘stache, Ron, not the ‘stache!
It’s been mere months since watching that glorious piece of facial
hair go up in flames, now tragedy has struck again in the latest
episode of Parks and Recreation. “Ron & Tammys” took
us on a journey back to the genesis of our favorite libertarian, and
the women that made him what he is today – or in some of their
cases, what he isn’t. Any time Ron is taking center stage an episode
is almost guaranteed to be a winner, and while one of the episode’s
subplots did fall short, the other more than made up for it. What
can I say? This episode was Snapple, baby.

Alphas – Original Sin

Alphas‘ season finale “Original Sin” was full of surprises. Even more than the previous two episodes, it dramatically advanced the main storyline and left everyone wondering what will become of the team and, more importantly, what sort of world the second season will be set in.

The story starts with Dr. Rosen’s team chasing down Isaac, the Red Flag assassin responsible for the murders that, in the previous episode, triggered their arrest and incarceration in Binghamton. While the team is after the killer because of the sudden disappearance of many Red Flag leaders, the man himself is on the trail of a young woman, Dani, who has apparently stolen something from Red Flag. Dani turns out to be an Alpha and, to everybody’s surprise, Rosen’s daughter.

Terra Nova – Genesis

Terra Nova made up for all the delays and bad press that spurred skepticism by delivering a strong two-part premiere. “Genesis” wasn’t perfect, but it conveyed a distinctive sense of desperation while in the 22nd century and an appropriately restrained sense of awe when introducing the Late Cretaceous. In addition, the second part laid out enough for us to actually care about what will happen to our settlers of a new kind.

A few minutes into the episode, the show was already impressive, featuring strong performances by all cast members and fine attention to details in the rendition of the 22nd century. However, it must be said that between the obviously fake moon shot right at the beginning and the baffling raid of the Shannons’ apartment, things didn’t start that well. What was baffling wasn’t that the raid happened at all, but how clumsily the family tried to hide Zoe despite clearly having anticipated the event. Everyone apparently assumed the toddler would understand the situation and stay quiet! A similarly contrived premise was used when in Terra Nova (the settlement), the teenage son, Josh, suddenly started acting up by showing anger toward his father, though none of that was apparent while in the 22nd century. The two events seemed to have happened only because the writers desired the consequences: get the father in jail and justify a rebellious behavior.

The Walking Dead Web-Series to Premiere October 3rd

While its October 16th premiere is still over two weeks away, fans of The Walking Dead will have an earlier opportunity to see new material from the zombie drama, as a web-series related to the show is set to premiere on amctv.com on October 3rd.

The web-series is touted as a prequel to the show, focusing on Hannah (Lilli Birdsell), known to fans as “Bicycle Girl,” the legless zombie that Rick Grimes encountered shortly after first waking up in the hospital during the show’s pilot episode. Her name is, of course, drawn from her vicinity to the bicycle that Rick took, since lacking any legs, she wasn’t doing much riding herself. Per AMC, “Fans will learn about Hannah’s life before the apocalypse, her struggle to survive and protect her family as the world begins to fall apart, and her ultimate demise into zombie-hood.”