24: Day Six, 11 a.m - 12 p.m.Ummmmm, guys you do remember that small detail that a nuclear bomb just went off in an L.A. suburb, right? Because from what I've seen the last two weeks, with the exception of some shots of a dissapating mushroom cloud, we've not really dealt with this.
I've read in various places that 24 tends to break down the day into arcs. So, I wonder if this epiosde was about changing arcs. It really felt like we were moving characters into place for the next big 24 event to happen.
I will give 24 credit--it's calmed my fears of a shark-fin sighting a good deal this week. Having Graem reveal he's been playing both Jack and Daddy Bauer was a nice reveal. And 24 is just one of those shows that excels at giving you little details you wish they'd follow up on--like Graem's line of "Remember when you abandoned Dad, Jack?" I sat up, wanting to know more about this. I assume we'll find out about it later, but it's still pretty cool.
And I do wonder some things--is Graem more involved in the bringing the suitcase devices to th United States than just as the broker for the deal? And if he is, how long until Jack goes completely Bauer on him. You have to admit, these two know how to get under each other's skin with Graem taunting Jack about Terry's death. (Playing dirty there...do any TV siblings get along?)
There were a few things about this episode I didn't buy. One is how easily Tom got Karen to resign. It didn't seem in character for her and while she's loyal to Bill, it's hard to believe she'd so easily step down, especially in the light of how wary she is of Tom's agenda. She just found out Tom has railroaded in extra secruity measures for those of Arab-descent and she quickly steps down. I felt like the scene when she went to talk to Wayne would be her revealing what had happned to Wayne and asking for help, not resigning. Did I miss something here?
I am glad the Waylid plotline is over. Talk about a complete blind alley. Was there any point to this other than to give the Palmer sister something to do? Could we please write her of the show yesterday? She's really getting on my last nerve and that plotline adds nothing to the show. Nada, zip, zilch, zero..you get the point.
And anyone else think that Milo giving Nadia his security clearance won't come back to bite him? Yeah, I didn't think so. Though I do get a weird Tony/Michelle type of romantic tension between these two. I guess an intense day like that will do that for you....
Heroes: The FixI hate NBC's marketing department. First of all, they leak out that George Takai will guest-start as Hiro's father, thus ruining all the intrigue of the Hiro plotline. Knowing that George Takai would be in the episode and who he was took all the mystery out of who was pursuing Hiro and Ando. It took what should have been a fun reveal and completely ruined it.
The second this is--I avoided the television promos for the show, having been burned by Friday Night Lights last week. But then, they advertise on the radio and give away that Claire finds her birth mother during my morning commute on Monday! Ugh! I hate you NBC marketing department.
That said, the episode itself was not a lot to write home about. It's another place holder, content to tread water as it attempts to set up some things for the next few weeks. I find it hard to believe that DL could slip into and out of prison at will to see Niki like he does here. And Micah's power is what we all suspected. And how long until the police show up to ask questions on that based on the security camera footage of the ATM he ripped off? You'd think the kid might have thought the plan to take the money through a bit more.
At least Christopher Eccleston is given a bit more to do. He's apparently going to be some kind of Obi-Wan to Peter's Luke. I did enjoy the nice homage to
Doctor Who with Eccleston's "Fantatsic!" But again, this plotline stagnates until the last three minutes when suddenly it all revs up just in time to say "To Be Continued"
And along the way, it goes as predictably as possible. Matt and his wife are expecting now (umm, weren't they barely speaking two weeks ago? Is the kid actually his? Will they bring this up or just hope we forget?) and Micah's being a brat. Sylar escapes and HRG is up to no good. Yeah, anything new there? Not really.
So far, this whole "Who is on the list" question hasn't proved nearly as interesting as the "Save the cheerleader, save the world" plotline from the first 11 episodes. I can see that we're trying to expand the
Heroes universe a bit, but so far I'm just not that interested.
Dresden Files: The Boone IdentityI found out this week that SciFi is airing these episodes out of order, which explains a lot. Seems that last week's episode wasn't intended to be a pilot--that will come in late February.
Frustrating, but not unexpected. They pulled the same stunt with
Eureka. When will these networks ever learn?
This week's episode stumbled a bit. It was too derivative. I'm not sure what it is with genre shows and having the second episode be one about some entity jumping from person to person, but the pattern holds true here.
Angel did it,
Torchwood did it and now
Dresden Files.
I think part of it was that every time they mentioned Anubis, I kept wondering where the
Stargate team was. Were there no other ancient gods whose names we could have used?
I wanted to like the episode, but found it a bit lacking. It was predictable and I guessed early on what the game was. I also found myself having issues with the differences between the novels and the show (esp. Harry's use of black magic here). But that is more a personal thing and I try not to hold it against the show. (The show is different and changes must be made...but I don't have to like all of them) It felt like more of a way to pass time until Battlestar came on and the Baltar plotline just blew this out of the water.
The best part of the show was Bob. Terrance Mann steals every scene he's in as Bob. Let's hope we get more of him in the future.
Battlestar Galactica: Taking a Break From All Your WorriesI wrote about it for the 2 Guys Talking TV Blog.
So, please check out what I said there.
Veronica Mars: Poughkeepsie, Tramps & ThievesI wrote about it for the 2 Guys Talking TV Blog.
So, please surf over and read my thoughts, if you're interested.
Labels: 24, battlestar galactica, dresden files, heroes, tv shows, veronica mars
posted by Michael Hickerson at 1/31/2007 09:17:00 AM |
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