Lost: One of UsOh those wacky Others--they're always toying with your head when you're not looking. Or even when you are looking.
Man, that Ben is one manipulative guy. So, in the course of this episode's flashbacks, we find out that he's manipulated Juliet into staying on the island long after her tour of duty was completed. I guess if you have control of the submarine and all access off the island, you can do that. Plus that whole threat of bringing back the sister's cancer probably had a lot to do with it. Though you'd think Juliet might try to figure out what magic secret Ben has that allows him to cure cancer and maybe smuggle some of that back. She could have tried this when Michael and Walt left. Of course, this is Lost, so she could have tried to do that and it didn't work. I bet we get a flashback episode about that.
Anyway, Juliet heads over to the camp of our heroes and immediately finds that everyone is pretty mistrusting. Yeah, having your people kidnap and terrorize all of the castaways will tend to make them less than trusting. But we find out Jack trusts her and so he feels that everyone should totally accept Juliet because of that. Never mind that Jack stayed behind with them of his own free will and struck a deal with their leader to go home. I am thinking thse guys missed that episode of
X-Files where Deep Throat told us to "trust no one." I do find it odd that no one once questions why Jack was held and why he stayed behind of his free-will. Instead, he just throws around his weight as the leader of the tribe and tells them all to accept Juliet.
Oh yeah, and no torturing her...at least not yet.
But it seems that faith is totally misplaced. Man, Jack can't win for losing with women, can he? Everyone he opens up to hurts him in some way. I wonder if he's starting to delibarately pick unavailable women after the break-up with Sarah to keep himself from getting hurt again.
So, Juliet is part of some super secret plot with Ben. She's going to gain the trust of the camp, heal Claire and then figure out secrets in a week before the rest of the Others come. So, is that why they took Locke? Did they fear Locke's natural, uber-man, back-to-nature superpowers of doom and Ben is playing him to keep him away from the group? Would an alliance of Jack and Locke be just too much for the Others to handle? And can anyone recall if Sawyer still has the gun stash hidden? If so, seeing Juliet make a move to try and get him to reveal where they are is only going to not end well when Jack catches wind of it. And you know he will....
The Shield: Baptism by FireThe tag line for last season was "Conscience is a killer."
Interesting to see the tag line apply to the "villain" of the season and not to Vic.
In the end, Kavanaugh bends the rules to set up Vic and is taken down by his own ethical code. He wants to bust Vic so badly he loses sight that it has to be done the right way and, in the end, Vic gets the victory. Of course, at some point, you have to wonder just when the Teflon coating on Vic is going to wear off and something is going to stick. I begin to wonder if he'll be taken down for something minor just like Al Capone was taken down for tax-evasion.
Until that happens, this show is still compelling as all get out to watch. Watching Vic's ragged determination to find Lem's killer and bring him to justice has been the driving force in these firt two episodes. I also love watching Shane squirm everytime Vic's obsession with Guardo comes up. Oh, that is going to be a killer scene when Vic finds out that Shane killed Lem.
Friday Night Lights: StateThe first season ends on a high note and leaves me hoping and crossing my fingers we'll get more.
The Panthers compete for the state title, facing off against VooDoo. Seeing them fall down by a large chunk in the first half was to be expected, as was the huge rally to win it all. Seeing the trust that Eric has in Sarcasen was a great moment in an episode full of great moments. That the play worked was not a shock, though as it unfolded I wondered if it might be like the Titans in the Super Bowl a few years back--one yard short.
Meanwhile, I'd like to thank the NBC promo department for ruining the reveal that Tami is pregnant. Good job there, guys. At least they didn't show us the entire scene between Eric and Tami. Again, another great scene among many.
I think my favorite thread was the Landry is going to the game with Tyra. His elation soon turns to horror as he gets to take Tyra, her mom, the sister, Matt's grandmother and Lillah. The scenes in the car were a riot.
That said, did we have get any consequences to Lillah taking out three or four cars at her dad's dealership a few weeks ago? I am guessing not since I doubt her dad would give her a new car if he knew it was her. That said, we never saw any follow-up on that....
Man, I hope this show gets another season. I heard a rumor it may go to HBO (there was an LA Times article this weekend about it). Not sure if that's a great fit, but anything that keeps the show going is good by me.
Labels: friday night lights, Lost, The Shield, tv shows
posted by Michael Hickerson at 4/16/2007 07:00:00 AM |
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