24: Day Four, 2-3 p.m.
I'll admit it--not every episode of
24 thrills me to the core of my being. There are missteps and blind alleys in every season. I keep thinking about this as season four unfolds because, so far, there haven't been really any major missteps (such as Kim and the cougar or Jack's long trip to Mexico last season). And then, there's an episode like this one, where the plotlines are firmly in place, barrelling along at a good clip and things are happening, developing and spiralling out of control. I think I have a new CTU hero in Edgar. Last week, he comes up with a computer program to save most of the nuclear plants and this week he outs the CTU mole. I love his dogged loyalty to Sarah and his willingness to stick his neck out to help a friend--something we sort of saw him do with Chloe earlier this year. I have a bad feeling that at some point during this day, it's all gonna come back to bite him somehow.
Meanwhile, we find out what's happened to Tony in the interim and why he's so bitter. This is not the Tony we knew back, but I can see how he became that way--pardoned from prison, becoming bitter and drinking too much, losing Michelle. And the scene where he went and took the phone away from his new girlfriend showed just how far off the path Tony has wandered. But, in the end, we see the good man come out as he offers to help Jack. I think the whole "I didn't save you so you could die now," thing was a guy-thing. Tony doesn't want to look un-macho to Jack, who is the uber-male to end all uber-males.
Working at CTU takes a toll on everyone who is there--esp. being the boss. George died averting a nuclear tragedy in season two and Tony's life ain't exactly a bed of roses. Maybe Jack did well not to take the job and let Driscoll have it. Of course, I can only wonder what the cost of her being head of CTU will be...
Did anyone else cheer when they captured Aeisha? I was so happy to see her smoked out and how they did it. Great move. Bet she was wished she'd ponied up for those remote locks at the end of the episode, huh?
Battlestar Galactica: You Can't Go Home Again
Last week, we spent an hour setting up why Adama and Apollo would be so driven to rescue Starbuck and this week we get the payoff. Adama'a endangering the fleet to save one person is nicely done, as was his slow aliennation of the everyone up and down the chain of command. Even his conversation with Apollo that if it was Apollo out there, Adama would run the fleet out of fuel and leave them open to Cylon attack was a nice moment. I also liked seeing Roslin come and chew Adama out about it.
That said, there were a lot of small things that didn't add up. As my good friend, Barry pointed out, stuffing something into hole of a ship as Starbuck does ain't gonna seal the hole when you go flying around deep space. Also, there is NO set-up of Starbuck's little trick to reveal who she is to the fleet. I'm not saying we see her painting the word Starbuck on the ship, but a hint of it would be nice. Set it up so that it doesn't seem like you're pulling an ending out of the air. Because that really bugged me.
Not so much that it ruined the entire episode for me, mind you.
The other thing that bugged me was how Adama went from so incredibly angry at Starbuck last week to it being swept under the rug a bit too quickly this week.
Also, the storyline on Caprica is beginning to intrigue me. Where did Boomer go when Helo woke up? Is he going to put it together that she's not Boomber but a Cylon? And is Boomer helping or hindering his chances to get back to Galactica? And why are the Cylons so interested in a single, downed pilot?
Stargate SG1: It's Good To Be King
Wayne Brady guest stars?!? Now, I think Wayne Brady is one of the funnier people wandering the planet right now--just watch any episode of
Whose Line and you can see that--but I wasn't quite sure why he was cast here. He did a decent job, but I was sorry to see his character get killed off without at least making up a silly song or insulting Colin's lack baldness.
OK, that said, one of the good things about coming to
SG1 late and not seeing all the episodes that led up to this one, I had no expectations of meeting Harry again. I have to admit I liked what this episode did and that it was a diverting hour of television. There was a sense of humor and fun to the dangerous situation that reminded me a bit of
Farscape, which is always a good thing. O'Neill's reaction, "If I only had a nickel..." at being surrounded by people with weapons pointed at him was great.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 2/08/2005 08:43:00 AM |
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