Television

Californication – Monkey Business

Pregnancy, autoerotic asphyxiation, a dead monkey, and new love interests for both Hank and Karen make this episode one of the best of the series, if not the very best. Our characters grow and evolve all the while the show tells two entertaining stories that exemplify why this show is just so great. While Monkey Business may not as be important to the overall narrative as say The Apartment, last season’s perfect episode, it is funnier and tells a story all its own while complicating the running storylines of the season.

Fringe – “Reciprocity”

Fringe delves deeper into the psyche of Peter Bishop in one of the most bipolar ways in television history. One minute he is this sweet man that is being used as a pawn in an inter-universal war and the next he turns into Anakin from Revenge of the Sith. Continuing to progress the main plot line, Massive Dynamic rebuilds the mystery weapon that we were introduced to back in the Season Two finale (A.K.A: The McGuffin 2000; Order now and receive a copy of Crisis on Infinite Earths). We still don’t know what it does, how it works, or why Peter is the ammo for the weapon, but that’s what our heroes try to find out… and Peter ends up going through some serious stuff before the end of the episode. 

The episode opens up with the Fringe team being taken to Area 51 where M.D. has recreated the ancient super weapon (brilliant idea!). As soon as Peter steps into the main room, the device releases some kind of tremor which they believe has been affecting Peter’s body in some way. The episode is then divided into two equally important stories: Peter’s health and how Walter is dealing with his son being used as a lab rat; and Olivia’s investigation into the executions of undercover shapeshifters that could have been leads. 

The Cape – Dice

This week The Cape introduced a new feature: The Celebrity Guest Villain!  Back in the 60’s, the old Batman show used to hire well-known actors to play the weekly bad guy, and it was one of the most entertaining running gags on the show.  Now The Cape has hired its first recognizable face for a villain: Meena Suvari as “Dice”.  Hopefully the producers will make this a regular event, because fleshing out the cast with some extra talent will help things out, and the show certainly needs someone more interesting for The Cape to fight than his regular nemesis Chess.

Archer – Swiss Miss

Strap yourselves in, we are about to return to the danger zone. That’s right, Archer is back and better than ever (and that’s saying something). The season premiere follows the entire Isis crew as they are forced to protect the head of video tech and his nymphomaniac daughter who seems to want nothing more than to put Archer in jail. As you can imagine, hilarity ensues.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Overlords

Liam Neeson? Check. Qui-Gonn talking to Obi-wan? Check. The two of them hinting at Anakin’s destiny? Check. Welcome to yet another kick ass episode of the Clone Wars! This particular episode centers around one of the concepts from the prequels that they never truly looked into. During all three of those movies, Anakin is hyped up as the chosen one. He is put up on a thrown and told he is awesome and he will bring balance to the force.

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena – Missio

Somehow when recapping Spartacus last week, I forgot to mention the final scene, which probably had the most actual significance going forward to the political maneuverings that do a lot of the plot’s heavy lifting. Batiatus had been trying to curry favor with Tullius, a noble in charge of the upcoming gladiatorial games. But when his best fighter, Gannicus, bests that of Vettius, a rival lanista (is this enough Roman words yet?), Tullius offers to buy him from Batiatus. He refuses at first, and the response is not kind – Tullius has Batiatus captured and severely beaten as Vettius watches with him, before pissing on his face and telling him that if he doesn’t sell him Gannicus, he will never get to compete in the games.

The Office – The Seminar

I’ve heard people say that Ricky Gervais’ (as David Brent) appearance on The Office last night was too short, but I thought it was perfect. It didn’t need to be any longer, it was enjoyable just to see him and Michael meet, and it was perfect how they managed to quickly bond over racial stereotypes and silly sex jokes. It also had the right note of melancholy, as Brent is apparently looking for work these days. In some ways it was just another cold open, and I liked that it didn’t go too far in pointing out to the audience what was happening.