Enterprise: Cold Station 12
Echoes of the original series episode "
Space Seed" abound in this one--I guess if you're a product of genetic engineering, you have to attempt to kill someone else in order to make the good guys do what you want.(Also, did anyone expect Malick at some point to say, "I have five times your strength. You are no match for me.") Also, Malick's throwing Archer around like a rag-doll was reminiscent of Khan beating the stuffing out of Kirk in engineering, though Archer doesn't have the luxury of a small, blunt object to pull out and use as a weapon against Malick. I also found myself reminiscing about one of my favorite episodes of all-time, "
A Taste of Armageddon" with Archer held prisoner and shouting order to T'Pol over an open comm channel (Wouldn't it have been great to hear him call out something with the number 24 in it, since this is the General Order that Kirk gives Scotty to target and take out all the cities on Eminiar VII?)
That said, I found part two of this three part story to be not quite as involving and compelling as "Borderlands" last week. I guess a lot of it was because we didn't really cover that much new ground here--you had to figure that they'd start setting up Soong to be disappointed with the Augments and the Augments to realize that maybe they didn't share the same morality that Soong does. Also, the fact that Archer and company would try a dramatic rescue was fairly much a given from the beginning. Now reading that, you might think I didn't like the episode. Absolutely untrue. I enjoyed it a great deal, but it just wasn't quite as compelling as last week. There was a lot I did like--Brent Spiner's chewing scenery as Soong was great work--especially the teaser where we see Soong with the younger Augments. Also, Archer connecting with Lokesh worked very well--and even though you saw his death coming a mile away, it still worked on an emotional level. This one ends on far more of an immediate cliffhanger so it should be interesting to see how they wrap all this up next week. I'm hoping we're not headed for another
Trek concluding episode disappointment.
Lost: The Moth
I'll give you that the metaphor used for Charlie overcoming his drug addiction was pretty transparently presented to us by Locke early in the episode, but dang nabbit if J.J. Abrams and company don't still make it compelling and entertaining television viewing. I'll also give you that Charlie's plotline was a bit predictable but they threw in some nice little curve balls along the way--the scene of him confessing at church about his rock-star lifestyle to start the episode was nicely done. Slowly seeing Charlie's descent into the lifestyle that almost destroyed him worked fairly well, though you could have mapped out most of it from the first scene with his brother. What did I did like a great deal was Sayid's attempts to finally trangulate the signal and figure out if they could shut it off. Of course, someone knocks Sayid out as he figures it out, but we don't see who did it. The obvious choice is Sawyer did it, but then I start thinking--that's too obvious. Kate certainly might not want to get off the island, but she was busy helping Jack dig free. And Jack and Charlie are in a cave. Right now, I'm guessing Locke or Sun did it--Locke because he may go back to the wheelchair if they leave and Sun because she has a lot to lose by getting off the island. Of course, with J.J. Abrams in charge, it could be the dog somehow hitting Sayid....cause he likes it there and he doesn't want to go back to suberbia.
Survivor: Vanutau
Give Ami come credit--she is the Godmother of the island at this point. She's making offers that no one can refuse and none of the women see how they are pawns in her game. The men do, but only because Rory was over there with them and sniffed out what Ami is up to. And we see where that got him--booted from the island in a vote so obviously rigged by Jeff Probst to be "shocking" that it was really anything but. Meanwhile, it appears Sarge will now flirt with anyone who shows a passing interest in him. First he's stunned that Julie would cuddle up to him and then not five minutes later (screen time, not real time) he's baring his butt on the beach with her. Also, Twila and Sarge get flirtatious down in the jungle. How much you wanna bet Sarge ain't gonna be in a flirting mood this week? I must also say I got some weird vibe off Scout and Twilia. Scout was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too happy that Twila was still there and really seemed to be a bit too cuddly and all over Twila once the tribes merged.
The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror 15
Thank you baseball for yet another year of putting the annual Halloween themed epsiode of
The Simpsons AFTER Halloween. Kind of loses some of the magic, don't you think?
OK, now that I've let that go, I have to admit this year's Treehouse of Horror had the best segment early--the Kang and Kolos segment with the boss coming over for dinner. That was a riot and then using the theme from Perfect Strangers to open the show just had me on the floor laughing. And the opening segment, "The Ned Zone" was very funny, especially Homer in heaven with God being told to not eat the three bean salad (a throwback to the forbidden doughnut segment from years ago? Possibly). As for the other two, they had some chuckles but weren't much to write home about. It felt like they were trying too hard. But hey, I'll take a trying too hard episode of
The Simpsons over just about any other comedy just simply trying these days.
Arrested Development: The One Where Michael Leaves
I'll admit that I sporadically tuned into this struggling comedy last year--espeically over the summer when it aired after repeats of The Simpsons. And I'll admit that I laughed at least once per episode. Plus, any show that gives Henry Winkler good work is OK in my book. Shockingly enough, it made it to a second season and I figured I'd tune in again. And it's still funny and it makes me laugh, so I may be hooked in for the full ride this year. Seeing Michael's attempts to leave town and the old comedy chestnut of humor through a mis-understanding (Three's Company, anyone?) all worked well here--I loved seeing Tobias thinking Blue Man Group was a support group for depressed men and then painting himself blue to become an understudy.
Two And A Half Men: A Kosher Slaughterhouse Out in Fontana
I usually watch and enjoy Two and a Half Men but it's rare that I comment about it. I have to say that this week's episode was worth commenting about. It had me on the floor laughing. Cameryn Manheim as Berta's sister Daisy Ray was an absolute riot. This is definitely an episode to watch for in repeats. And let's face it, with
Raymond only doing approximate four episodes this year, there will be lots of room for repeats of this heir apparent to the
Raymond throne.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 11/09/2004 08:09:00 AM |
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