The season five finale of 30 Rock threw in all of the things I like about the show, and found a way to make a very tight, cohesive story out of them. Along for the ride are guest stars Victor Garber, and the food network’s Ina Garten. There are four stories going on this week, and every one of them is well-written.
It really didn’t take that long for Deangelo Vickers to turn into a
full on Will Ferrell character. And while it’s a bit disappointing that
that’s what he ended up being, it’s okay because this was his last
episode. These last couple weeks are going to explore the question of
who takes over running the Scranton branch now that Vickers is in the
hospital with apparently serious brain damage (the closing segment with
Ferrell wandering into the office one last time in a hospital gown and
failing to produce a cogent sentence was both funny and quite sad, if
you really look at it), but obviously it’s not going to be someone
particularly famous. They’re bringing a few big names on to celebrate
seven years of The Office for a little bit, but no movie star, or even
established TV lead, is going to want to take over somebody else’s show
in the eight season. Darryl or Andy or Dwight (probably not Jim, I don’t
think) will be the new boss, and the show will trundle on without its
leader. I think it’s a mistake to go this route, but there’s no stopping
it. We might as well just enjoy the talent they’ve brought on for a
moment, and I had quite a few laughs last night.
It took all year but paintball finally returned to Greendale this week as Community’s
“A Fist Full of Paintballs” hit the airwaves. To say I was excited for
the beginning of the two-part season finale would be a dramatic
understatement given how phenomenal season one’s “Modern Warfare” was,
and much to my complete and utter lack of surprise, it absolutely
killed. Possibly not the best episode of the season as it has some
fierce competition, but an absolutely outstanding twenty minutes of
television nonetheless.
I will admit I have a soft spot for the sweetness and tenderness in Smallville. It might be because of the show’s initial goal – turning a special teenager into a responsible superhero –
or the fact that these moments have remained over the years one of the
very few things the show always does right. Whatever the reason, the
opening scene of this episode of Smallville with Lois and Clark made me forget about last week’s painful experience and hope for the best.
Assembling for the big finale of their first season, The Avengers head to Asgard to take down the mysterious ultra-villain who has plagued them for the last 26 episodes. This action-packed trilogy of episodes closes off just about all of the plot threads in a satisfying way, yet leaves us with a doozie of a cliffhanger at the same time.
Last night’s rock solid episode of Game of Thrones was paced a bit
slower than the first two, but it was still an engaging and well
produced hour of television. There was less in the way of major
revelations, but we learned more about some of the characters, met a few
new ones, and got to see a little bit of how things normally work in
King’s Landing before they inevitably go to hell as the plot wears on.
As
a rule, I avoid exposure to any material about an upcoming episode
before it airs, even promos. That is why when the week’s episode starts,
memories from the previous one rush through my mind, sometimes
triggering a flurry of excitement, especially if there was some type of
cliffhanger. It happened this week and as it did, the reason behind one
of the major differences between stories set on This Side and those set
on The Other Side dawned on me.
When I first heard the premise of this week’s Nikita I was less than thrilled at the idea. Only 20 episodes into its first season, the show had seemingly already recycled the same plot twice. The basis of the entire show is that Nikita had her love stolen from her by Division and is on the warpath for revenge. Getting too close to an outsider is about as taboo as it gets when it comes to the life of secret assassins, and the use of that plot device to drive an episode that wasn’t actually about Nikita seemed kind of lazy. At its core, “Glass Houses” focuses on Nikita’s quest for another one of Percy’s black boxes. After Michael is ordered to surveil a female guardian, Nikita goes in ahead of time only to discover that the target isn’t where she’s supposed to be. After a humorously clever fake bank robbery, (yet again a device that has been used in the show before) Nikita finds the super killer and learns that not only is she not where she is meant to be, but she isn’t alone. Having discarded her duties as a guardian, she has become domesticated, with a boyfriend and his son.
How you feel about this episode obviously depends on how you feel
about Michael Scott as a character. I’ve always thought that while he
got himself into a lot of the same excruciating situations as his
British counterpart played by Ricky Gervais, Steve Carell’s take on the
general idea of a boss who tries too hard to be funny and doesn’t know
the limits of what’s acceptable for a man in his position has always
been a little more benign, and ultimately more likable. So while it’s a
bit odd to see all of these other characters sing a song to a boss who’s
mostly embarrassed and offended them for the last seven years, and
especially for a couple of them to tear up when they find out he’s
secretly leaving a day early, I ultimately bought it.
Although this week’s episode of 30 Rock featured a cameo appearance by a former US Secretary of State, the true star of the episode was Kim Jong Il, Glorious Supreme Leader of the Illustrious People’s Republic of Korea. I speak for all Americans when I say I was truly honored that the Supreme Leader lowered himself to appearing on our lowly western televisions.
