TV Reviews

Falling Skies – Sanctuary, Part 1

“Sanctuary,
Part 1,” like the series premiere, explored human frailty by pitting
survivors against each other. It also built on the current season
momentum and brought us more fighting sequences with the invaders.
However, unlike the pilot or the more recent “Silent Kill,” the episode
failed to make us care for most of the protagonists and delivered a very
predictable cliffhanger.

We have by now established that Falling Skies’
writers don’t take much care on their way to reaching some of their
goals. It is well known that human beings act irrationally all the time,
and we like it, if only for giving us wonderful TV plots. What is
annoying, however, is when a character’s irrational actions are
blatantly designed to create the backdrop for a storyline. It is
insulting to the character, and to some extent to the viewers who tend
to prefer when there is at least an effort to hide plot devices. The
attack on Dr. Glass was one such poorly concealed story elements. As it
often happens with the series, after the rocky introduction, the
development of the sub-plot itself was flawless. The attack led Anne to
reconsider her position toward guns and eventually welcome Margaret’s
help. Everything that passed between the good doctor and Margaret — who
is becoming one of my favorite characters — was pitch-perfect: It had
the right tone, was well-acted, and was extremely well-written
(Margaret: And if it conflicts with some Hippocratic oath, why don’t you stitch the bad guy up after you blast him?).

True Blood – I’m Alive and On Fire

True Blood
is on a downward spiral. After a decent enough episode last week, which
was still riddled with flaws, I was hoping that the show would pick
itself up by the bootstraps and multiply the positives that existed in
the weeks to come. Instead, it seems like Alan Ball has taken a couple
of weeks off. “I’m Alive and On Fire” had so many problems that
articulating them all into prose would be quite the challenge, but at
its core, the episode was not an episode. Character arcs can happen
separately from each other, and in fact all of the best television
around works by having a diverse and interesting universe, but at this
point, True Blood feels like five different shows stuttering into each other for fifty minutes.

Breaking Bad – Box Cutter

Breaking Bad kicked off their fourth
season with an episode that had just about everything you could
expect from the series. The dark humor, powerful drama, brilliant
acting, and emphasis on presentation were all apparent. The episode
wasn’t without its flaws, though, namely some scenes that dragged on
and broke the tension that was building so well from all the way back
in the third season finale. “Box Cutter” may not have done
everything right, but what it did get right made for amazing
television.

Haven – A Tale of Two Audreys

“A
Tale of Two Audreys” only won its title during the excellent last five
minutes, which is too short to deserve the word “Tale.” The episode
brought us a better than average Haven investigation with our
Audrey taking center stage, and the newcomer remaining largely a
bystander despite some efforts to the contrary. Granted, with the other
newcomer, there was some effort to start the season with an intriguing
additional layer, but for now, I would have to say that sub-plot
fizzled.

The
story picked up precisely where we left off in the previous season
finale. Audrey, Nathan, and an FBI agent pretending to be the real
Audrey Parker held each other at gunpoint, with the latter demanding
some explanation. The scene was flawless and because of the “pull
another gun” comment, it successfully established the connection between
the two Audreys in the two cops’ and in the viewers’ minds. With more
guns on their side, Audrey and Nathan handcuff New Audrey and are about
to bring her to the police station when it starts raining frogs. That of
course is the second of the ten plagues of Egypt, the first being water
turning into blood a few frames earlier at the reverend’s place.

Louie – Joan

“Joan” was probably the least
enjoyable of the second season episodes so far. But when the bulk of
the episode is a conversation with Joan Rivers and it’s still
watchable, then you’ve accomplished something. While it wasn’t the
most laugh-laden of episodes, “Joan” still showcased many of the
things the series does right. It also proved that C.K.’s recent
acknowledgment from the Emmy committee wasn’t unwarranted.

Right off the bat, Louie
was showing it can do what Wilfred
has forgotten how to do since its pilot: make toilet humor funny.
The standup segment in which Louie confesses he’s always within a
forty-eight hour window of having diarrhea was hilarious. He managed
to take something crass and elevate it, with an excellent sense of
timing, and the heart that comes from C.K.’s self-deprecation. When
Louie and Wilfred started out this season, they seemed like a great
match, both for their use of dark comedy and witty twists on
juvenile humor. As the season moved on though, Louie
is proving to be alone in its ability to add something more to crude
jokes, or at least not rely so heavily on them. That difference is
making Wilfred stand
out as the lesser of the two shows, while making me wonder if Louie
doesn’t deserve to be in better company.

Wilfred – Acceptance

This episode did see improvement over
the last two, but Wilfred is
still suffering from the same problems it has had since the pilot.
Namely an overabundance of juvenile humor that doesn’t come with the
subtle twist necessary to take that kind of comedy out of the gutter.
A strong finish and the return of one of its funnier characters helped “Acceptance” tremendously, but not enough to completely
get it over the show’s existing flaws, or another humorless guest
star.

Falling Skies – Silent Kill

With “Silent Kill,” Falling Skies
has undoubtedly delivered its best episode so far. This is true for the
writing as well as for the story structure and its execution. The
episode has also established — through its most obvious flaws — that
Noah Wyle is several notches above all the other cast members. Those
like me who thought Ben — Tom Mason’s harnessed son — would be used for
a while as some kind of tantalizing out-of-reach object couldn’t have
been more wrong. The episode starts with preparations for the rescue
operation both from the medical perspective (drugs resupply) and the
strictly military angle (planning of the attack). The opening scene
actually shows Hal and Margaret returning with the medical supplies. It
is an expedition that would have taken a whole episode if the writers
had stuck to the pace of the series until now. The leap ahead didn’t
impress me right away because it was followed by slow battle planning
scenes and some conversations that seemed to have “nifty delaying trick”
written all over them. It wasn’t until Dr. Anne Glass killed the
skitter that I realized things were markedly different this time around.

True Blood – If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin’?

True Blood
has a problem. Last week I praised the show for setting up a large
narrative giving every character the chance to become the focal point of
an episode. What seemed like a good idea then, however, is just
becoming irritating now. The issues don’t stem from the quality of the
show as a whole. In fact, some of the character moments coming out of
“If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin’?” were perhaps the strongest of the
season thus far. The problem is that some of them are. The core
of main characters have the strongest storylines, as they should have,
but relative to the supporting cast, the storylines are too strong.
Sookie, Bill, Eric, Jessica, Hoyt and the coven all have consistently
engaging moments on screen right now, but everyone else is just burning
air time. The writers are trying to balance the story out and not have
it be just about vampires, something that they should obviously aspire
to, but it isn’t working.

Louie – Moving

While every episode of Louie
has something great to offer, it seems like the episodes with a
single storyline are usually more enjoyable. “Moving” continued
that tradition by earning more laughs than last week’s
“Bummer/Blueberries” while still eliciting the emotional
reactions the series does so well. The episode also saw the return
of two great recurring characters, as well as a little time with
Louie’s hilarious daughters.

Louie’s
urgent need to find a new place to live drove the episode, which
started out with a playfully painful moment between him and his
daughter, Jane. After she matter-of-factly explains he can’t move a
desk without asking mom first, Louie is driven to finally vacate what
had been his – and still is to his daughters – marital home. The scene
tugged at the heartstrings, but the harshness coming from such an
innocent source always makes it comedic. One of the funniest aspects
of their interactions is how Jane always manages to win the argument,
or at least get the last word in, because Louie is left bewildered by
her sheer naivety. She did it again here, nonchalantly striking
a ballet pose as Louie turns away with the familiar look of
disbelief.

Wilfred – Fear

We are three episodes into Wilfred’s
first season, and it seems like each one has been a step down from
the last. Though there are still some laughs to be had, they are
becoming rarer, just as the particularly unfunny moments have been
coming with more regularity. “Fear” suffered from the same
problems the series has had from the beginning: crude humor that’s
all crass and no cleverness, and an over reliance on broad comedy.
Also bringing the episode down was an equally stale plot and guest
role.