Television

Falling Skies – Sanctuary, Part 2

“Sanctuary,
Part 2” took from the previous episode the bad and left out the good.
The conclusion to the two-parter essentially failed to make us care for
the story and for the characters who were in danger. With the Sanctuary
getting more screen-time than the 2nd Mass, the episode also reinforced a
notion I touched on before: Less of Tom Mason is bad for Falling Skies.

Tom
Mason’s children are well-developed characters, but they are so badly
portrayed that I find myself caring about them by proxy, meaning through
their father, and preferably when he is around. Other characters — like
Rick — just stand around, not saying much, obviously waiting for the
plot to decide to use them. The third group of hopeless cases is
represented by Rick’s father, Mike, who is so inconsistent that his
actions are clearly dependent on whatever the writers need (in the plot)
at any given time. With this assortment of characters in the Sanctuary,
a place filled with strangers who all looked suspicious, I found myself
hoping for lines from (and shots of) Lourdes, the normally tiresome
fervent believer.

True Blood – Me and the Devil

Last week’s True Blood
was probably the worst episode in the show’s history. With basically
nothing at all happening and avenue upon avenue of potential being
closed, I was less than interested in seeing what the vampire drama had
in store on Sunday. Much to my surprise “Me and the Devil” didn’t suck,
but it was still only a stepping stone towards the level that the show
needs to be at to make the fourth season one that anyone should watch
again. The strengths of the episode actually came largely from the
supporting characters and perhaps the best of all of the storylines came
from Tommy and Sam.

Entourage – Home Sweet Home

So Entourage
is back. Following what was undoubtedly the weakest season in the
show’s previous seven, I was skeptical about the eighth and final season
of the show really having anywhere to go with Vince crashing out on
cocaine and getting booked for possession. Sufficed to say, I was wrong.
With only eight episodes in this final season there really is no time
for the show to mess around in getting to its point and that urgency was
more than reflected by the writers in “Home Sweet Home,” making it one
of the best episodes of the show that I can recall.

Breaking Bad – Thirty-Eight Snub

Where the season premier’s greatness
lied in just two scenes, this episode’s enjoyment was spread
throughout. “Thirty-Eight Snub” was a study in the reactions
people experience after a traumatic event, and though its subject was
not lighthearted, the writing found some moments of mirth. The
subplots failed to entertain, but this episode’s core focus – the
effect last week’s events have had on some of the characters –
deserved the screen time it got.

The episode again wasted no time in
explaining how it received its title. Besides revealing Walt’s
current mindset, the act of him buying a gun in the cold open could
have felt drawn out, if not for some clever dialogue to keep the
viewer entertained. Jim Beaver (Supernatural)
also assisted the scene and his witty repartee with Walt was
giving me flashbacks to his character in Deadwood.
Walt’s own reaction to seeing Gus kill Victor is a knee-jerk defense
mode. Walt may have once tried to avoid murder and look for another
solution, but those days are behind him. Now he readily accepts it
as the only way out of his problem.

Louie – Country Drive

Louie has always been known as a
show able to find humor in taboo subjects, almost as well known as it
is for doing very much with very little. “Country Drive” took
both of those aspects to new levels. Essentially with just three extended
scenes – including C.K.’s standup segment – the episode proved, like
all Louie episodes, that
if you need bells and whistles to entertain an audience, you aren’t
trying hard enough.

The
first third of the episode saw
Louie and his girls, Jane and Lilly, on the road to visit Louie’s Great
Aunt Ellen. Jane was a pretty steady source of humor, and more
for just her repeated “I’m bored!” line. There was also some
great flute playing overlaying the trip that felt like the perfect
theme for the montage of road scenes. The real musical highlight,
though, came with Louie lip-synching to The
Who’s “Who Are You?” For nearly three minutes, he
emphatically sang along to the track, while “air guitaring” and
making erratic gestures at Jane and Lilly. And every single second
of it was gold. The only thing topping Louie’s show was the girls’
reactions to it. They both scored great laughs, as Jane tries – and
fails – to cover her own giggling, and Lilly shifts from complete
apathy, to looking as though she is fearing for her life when Louie’s
performance reaches its most intense moments.

Haven – Fear & Loathing

The
general expectation for the episode following a season premiere is a
drop of intensity and overall quality. If you take into account the fact
that last week’s episode — though more than acceptable — was slightly
disappointing, you will understand why my expectations for “Fear &
Loathing” were rather low. I must admit, however, that I couldn’t have
been more wrong. Haven followed through with a gripping story
in which no frame was wasted, no dialogue missed the mark, and no drop
of intensity occurred. I have liked many episodes of Haven
before, but it was always because some characters and some aspects of
the storyline stood out and drowned the rest. Until now, no episode
stood the test of a more “structural” approach because they all
invariably failed in at least one of what I would consider the basic
building blocks of storytelling on TV.

Comic-Con TV 2011: The Walking Dead Season 2 Trailer

The cast and crew of the hit AMC series
arrived at Comic-Con to a horde of fans salivating for news
on The Walking Dead’s second season. The panel drew in both
the television and comic fans in attendance at the annual convention
in San Diego -as well as anyone there with a love of zombies. In
addition to hearing the series discussed, those lucky enough to
actually get a seat for the panel were first to see the trailer for
the second season.