'TS-19' - The Walking Dead, Season One

The Walking Dead

Season One

Episode Six

'TS-19' - 9.0

This is like a role call for the show, with all but six of the thirteen characters seen here no longer with us. 

You can tell from any specific episode of The Walking Dead that this show is not the cheeriest piece of popular culture. Every one of the last three parts of this season has featured the death of at least one of the group of survivors. In 'Vatos' we lost Amy and Ed, 'Wildfire' left Jim on the roadside and 'TS-19' sees another of the group bumped off, along with new character Dr. Jenner.

But death and misfortune aren't in the focus until the last twenty minutes of the season finale, with the rest being oddly optimistic and happy. This doesn't include the out-of-place flashback which opens the episode, focusing on Shane as he tries to rescue a still comatose Rick from the hospital. At the time the hospital was being overrun by soldiers and zombies, and Shane's determination and desperation to save his friend juxtapose nicely to what he is today. He even braves the military as they begin to massacre the people still located in the building, staying long enough to search for any vital signs of Rick's, only to come to the conclusion that he's already gone. Deciding to protect his friend, despite his apparent death, Shane places the gurney seen in 'Days Gone Bye' in front of his door, to prevent the walkers from getting in.

What a lot of shows like to do is redeem a character who is originally portrayed as a villain to main heroes, but while Shane's actions are commendable, in my view it highlights how far he has sunk because of his relationship with Lori. I'm not overly sure what the intention of the flashback was, whether we are supposed to like Shane now or if we are supposed to still despise him. I just don't know. Nonetheless, it is the most action packed location of any scene to that point, presenting a chaotic, foggy mess of blood and pain and death, and our first look at the world during the actual spread of the infection, rather than what happened immediately before or after it.

Once the credits have rolled and we get into the present day, we cut to the point immediately following last episode's ending; the group entering the CDC near Atlanta. Rick and the other survivors are slightly disconcerted by the lack of staff located at the facility, with Dr. Jenner revealed to be the only scientist remaining, though you could have assumed that from 'Wildfire'. Soon enough though, everyone decides to enjoy the food, the power and the hot water provided, but to the viewers it is implied that something is very much amiss.

As the survivors acclimatise to a normal existence of bathing, reading and sleeping for entire nights, we spend about fifteen minutes exploring who these characters are once the horrors of the outside world behind them. Dale comforts Andrea more as she continues to struggle with the death of Amy, as well as her assumption from Jenner's words and mannerisms that the whole of civilisation has crumpled in its entirety. I like Andrea, if only for Laurie Holden's gripping performance and delivery, and how easily she turns from strong to broken.

Andrew Lincoln gets to portray a different side of his generally strong character, as Rick admits to Dr. Jenner that he had begun to lose hope in his and the others' survival. It is the first time we have seen the weaker side of our protagonist, and this is something I am very eager to see more of. Unflappable, honourable heroes are seriously dull. Watch Terra Nova for an example of how not to do a main character. In fact, I've had minor issues with the stereotypical way in which Rick Grimes was presented earlier in this season, but he's improved on a deeper level to become a very multi-layered hero, with both potential for good and bad under the surface.

The most powerful pre-disaster development at the CDC belongs to Lori and Shane. Shane demonstrated last episode how he feels about Rick's return, coming very close to putting a bullet in the man he tried to rescue only a few months ago. His relationship with Lori, if I were to make a guess, is the only thing that Shane can accept as a benefit from the destruction of life-as-he-knows-it, and thus the only thing that needs to be held on to. Of course, I could be reading into something that is just supposed to be a point of conflict, with no great underlying meaning, but the way in which Shane confronts Lori in 'TS-19' is almost brutal. Finding her alone in the recreation room, the very drunk man begins trying to explain to her why he thought  Rick was dead. There's a possibility that the flashback at the start of the episode was only there to give this scene sense and a context. After Lori refuses to accept that Shane told her that her husband had died in order to get her out of their town, he resorts to telling her how much they are in love with one another, cause that always works in the movies right? Soon enough, it gets worse once Shane starts literally forcing himself on (and maybe in) a frightened Lori, who manages to give her former lover a nice big scrape with her fingernails, thus ending the conversation. It was intense for a show I had thought would be just an action-horror when I first tuned in, and a brave move by the writers. The attempted rape doesn't really lead to anything in the episode, since problems quickly arise that are more pressing matters for the pair, but I can tell this is going to end very badly for someone.

Eventually the survivors begin demanding answers about the disease, it is the CDC after all. Dr. Jenner shows the group a video of the death and reanimation of TS-19. It's difficult to describe without seeing it, but the entire sequence of the subject's transition is absolutely perfect. There is no sound from the video itself, but there is a terrific score and Jenner's narration is reflective and beautiful. Hell, the whole thing was beautiful, colours, acting (especially from Andrea), script, lighting, every damn thing is immaculate.

From the video we lead directly to the big problem of the episode - when the power in the facility runs out, the building blows itself up. It's a great plot twist, though it was an obvious next step to keep the characters running. It also gives them all a chance to make a choice - eventually Jenner gives them the option of staying or going, with everyone but Jenner himself, Jacqui and Andrea deciding to make a run for it. With Andrea staying, Dale refuses to leave as well, forcing her to choose between surviving or killing them both. Dale's lecture of her was a marvellous performance from Jeffery DeMunn, and hints at a possible romance between in the two characters in the future, even if it is a little creepy.

Luckily Andrea relents and the two make it out of the CDC, just as it goes up in a massive ball of orange fire and black smoke that rises above them all in a glorious mushroom cloud that sends out the first season of this impeccable drama.  Sure, the CGI was a little wonky, but it still looked good and was as spectacular as they intended for it to be. I did like how they seemed to decide not to end on a cliffhanger, choosing instead to have the group simply moving on from another tragedy, and back into the real world.

I guess that is the final notion of the Walking Dead; the horrors are inescapable, and the only options you have sometimes are to survive, or to not. So 'TS-19' continued the groups constant fleeing from the end of the world, and even if it had a bit of a slow start - or middle, the flashback cold-open was pretty awesome - the episode was as softly spoken yet loud and callous as the show loves to be. There was the lovely mix of characters and their gain and loss that will definitely not end, and it was a fine instalment to go out on, leaving any viewer fervent for the show's sophomore outing. 

'Ties That Bind' - Revolution, Season One

Revolution

Season One

Episode Eight

'Ties That Bind' - 1.5

This is a group of people who all need to die slow, painful deaths. 

No. Just fucking no. I'm tired of giving the stupidity of this horrid attempt at storytelling a pass. Revolution is just every type of idiotic, using every single cliché and over-used trope to give itself a sense of adventure and action, but in the end it is just sad.

Take the shoot-outs we see during 'Ties that Bind'. First, Miles realises he and his friends are heading towards an ambush, and rather than run straight away opts to continue moving closer to the trap, pushing themselves onto a bridge, preventing them from scattering. I swear you used to be a fucking strategist, and now you decide that you'd rather force your crew to run from gunfire in a straight line than let the enemy know they've been made too early. COME ON!!! General Strauss kind of sucks too, because they could have tried to AIM. This is one of those overused tropes I mentioned: action film bad guys can never, ever aim, despite supposedly being trained to do so. It's maybe a bit more passable in a story where guns are hard to come by, but they had machine guns and their targets were fleeing as a group in a straight-fucking-line. FUCKINGLY FUCKING FUCK.

The second and final shoot-out had pretty similar issues. Namely, why not aim? They had clearly been behind Miles and the crew for a while, but they decided that they'd rather fire a few warning shots, instead of taking out someone who could fight back. Yes, I know they wanted Miles alive, but not Charlie or Aaron. Aren't they supposed evil? Isn't that the terribly written idea here, that the militia is immoral and totalitarian and actually needs to be defeated, instead of just being like the police. That's right, according to the laws of the Monroe Republic, Charlie and the gang are criminals! I am yet to actually feel bad for anyone.

The total fail is exemplified when Nora shows up, knifes some guy in the back, takes his gun and TAKES OUT THREE MEN WITH THREE BULLETS. Screw you, show. That's not how real life works, at least one good guy needs to die. Kill Aaron, no one gives a shit about him.

I've said that sometimes watching a show with your brain deactivated can be a relaxing experience, but I have issues when the show's brain is deactivated. If apparent experts don't know how to hold themselves in a fire fight then I'm likely to pull a hissy-fit. It certainly isn't helping that I find Miles to be insufferable, both in the way he's written and the way he's played. Despite his experience, I feel like he should be dead, along with his moralistic niece. Nora, oddly enough, is possibly my favourite character.

Note that that doesn't mean I like her.

With the whole introduction of her sister, I did think that they might kill her off, and I came to the quick conclusion that either she was going to die, Mia was going to die and finally cause some character development, or the two of them were going to ride off into the sunset together. It's probably a good thing that none of this happened, instead Mia turned out to be a fraud who was working for Sergeant Strauss in order to save her sister's life. Fair enough, and I didn't predict it. For once, I did understand why Nora leapt back to go help her friends, ditching her desperate sister standing alone. The realisation that Mia had never actually been to Texas and found their father was probably more affecting though, and I'm practically begging the writers to play on this somehow, and build some of Nora's character up. Finally. 

This show seems to underestimate the intelligence of its viewers, and I've come to the conclusion that it is like an IQ test. If you don't notice the logical failures then you have below average intelligence, i.e less than 100 IQ points. If you do, then congrats you have at least 100 IQ points, like half the world. Anyway, it's patronising, infuriating and nonsensical at times, to the point that I can no longer ignore the stupidity of its writers. They don't even make it cheesy! If it was like Xena or Buffy-type ridiculous I'd probably really enjoy it, but they play it STRAIGHT.

I'VE JUST REALISED: 'Revolution' isn't a failed epic adventure, it's a failed comedic farce! That makes me feel better.

'Wildfire' - The Walking Dead, Season One

The Walking Dead

Season One

Episode Five

'Wildfire' - 9.5

Best day to be an extra ever. 

The Walking Dead doesn't have main plots or subplots, instead it really is just documentary-like A-B storytelling. That is reductive, of course, because it is a complex show underneath, with some of the best characters on screen at the moment. What I find is best about them is that they aren't just likable or not, they have personalities with negative and positive attributes. Rick has detractors, and Daryl has benefits, for example.

After the horrors that drew 'Vatos' to a thrilling and distressing end, 'Wildfire' opens with a slow, reflective tone as the survivors deal with the zombie attack on the camp. Of course the most poignant of the characters right now is Andrea, who is mourning the death of Amy, who died of her bites in her sister's arms. As the episode begins, morning has broken on the camp and Andrea has knelt over the corpse for the entire night, without doing anything to prevent her from rising again. Lori, Rick and Dale all attempt to comfort the grieving woman, but the former two don't get any edgeways. Lori is entirely ignored as she tries to convince her to let Amy be disabled, while Rick gets a gun pointed at him before he could finish a sentence. Dale has more luck, relaying the sad tale of his wife's gradual passing to cancer, and he and Andrea have a sweetly written and very true - if a little trite - conversation about whether either is to blame for their respective loved one's deaths.

Something we learnt in the second episode 'Guts' was that Amy's birthday was coming up, and if you can remember Andrea took a small mermaid necklace as a present. Well of course, this very day is the poor girl's birthday, and Andrea chooses to be uber depressing by solemnly draping the pretty thing over her sister's blood-stained neck. It is touching, but I'm a bit tired of shows making sad events more tragic and cruel by ruining happy days.

Other characters get a little screen time to deal with the previous night's disaster as well. Carol says goodbye to her abusive husband the nicest way she can; by desecrating his remains repeatedly with a pickaxe. The onscreen destruction of the man's skull - a man we kind of met, no less - was incredibly gross, and even I have my limits. Sure, we aren't supposed to like this guy, but it is just plain disrespectful to anyone to show their brains exploding again and again all over the camera. DEAR GOD NOW IT WON'T GO OUT OF MY HEAD.

Things don't look good for our deranged psychic Jim either, who is discovered to have been bitten by some zombie in the attack. He seems OK at first, but it doesn't take him long to deteriorate, the effects of which are shown through sweat, retching and frightening Exorcist-like flashes of disturbing images. I don't know why this is, but flashes make scary scenes infinitely more frightening; i.e. the slow exploration of the abandoned space ship in the sci-fi Sunshine. And they were just flashes of pictures featuring the ship's original crew! Anyway, Jim's condition is a catalyst for Rick's idea to take the camp and go to the CDC, which is apparently near Atlanta. This sparks a debate amongst the entire group, with Shane and Rick both wanting to go completely separate ways from one another, but it is poor Lori who winds up in the middle of the alpha-dog humping match. Of course she ends up siding with her husband, but that isn't without a good talking-to for Rick. To be honest I don't really like Lori much, she seems a bit moralistic and pushy.

Rick and Shane's disagreement comes to a subtle head as they go to scour the woods for any lost zombies. With Rick up ahead, Shane spends a brief moment with his sights set literally on his former friend and colleague, and it is kind of tense for a second. While I never expected Rick to end up dead at this point, I wasn't sure if Shane would try or not, and it was pretty touch and go for second there. In the end Shane does come to his senses and lower the gun, but not before being spied by a very confused and concerned Dale, who doesn't really make a big deal or anything, but it does hint towards problems for Shane down the line. This short lapse of judgment is the first clear and explicit depiction of his growing anger towards Rick, and it looks like this is only going to get worse as things go on.

In my favourite scene of the show so far, Amy does finally rise from death. It is quiet, without music and scored only by the soft sounds of her body reanimating. I was infinitely impressed by the show's ability to turn such an iconic zombie-film trope into a scene of true cinematic beauty, and the shot of Amy's eyes slowly opening to reveal the pale, dead stare of a walker is absolutely stunning. This single event is what the episode had led up to, with most of the sequences involving Andrea keeping her dead sister just in frame, if only to make us tense while we wait for her to leap up and eat somebody, but her real rise from the dead is so anticlimactic, it's almost sweet. Laurie Holden is perfect, like really perfect, as she says goodbye to what her sister has become, before putting the gun to the side of Amy's head and pulling the trigger. I wish the zombie-genre did more amazing scenes like these, because it is a disturbing but oddly heartwarming  depiction of human emotion and love.

As the group finally agrees to head to the CDC (well, most do), we flash to the very place in question, where scientist Dr. Jenner gives a video diary about the spread and status of the disease. I don't know if he actually named it 'Wildfire', but 'Wildfire' was declared 194 days prior, but that would be like saying 'Cholera was just declared'. Do they say that? Anyway, what really interested me was that whatever-it's-called went global sixty-three days ago, which means it was contained for what, 131 days? You couldn't kill all the zombies in like four months? Seriously?

Jenner is a clearly disheartened individual, obviously stumped by the disease and unable to find a cure, or a reason to keep searching. His last specimens are destroyed when the lab goes into 'full contamination' and he is also left without a way of researching it further, and in presumably his last webcast he describes his desire to end his own life, maybe.

Meanwhile, Jim finds himself unable to take the voyage, and asks to be left on the side of the road to die. If there is one thing to love about this show, it's its characters. We only really met Jim last episode, but in just this one scene he makes his farewell from the group a memorable one, if not for shocks or twists, but for the emotion of it all. Most members of the group say a final, heartfelt goodbye to their friend and leave him under the shade of a tree as they drive into the distance. I did remember for a second that Jim was psychic last episode? Maybe he knows what's waiting for them at the CDC? I don't know.

Something that seems to prevail this episode is guilt. Rick is clearly guilty over his late arrival to the camp the night before, and he asks many other characters whether he did the right thing or not, and you could argue that guilt is fueling his need to try and save Jim. Jim himself notices Rick's tendency to blame himself for everything that goes wrong, and in a sweet piece of dialogue attempts to absolve him, explaining that he is being left behind according to his own wishes. Andrea is also incredibly guilty, describing to Dale how she had never been there when her sister needed her, and as Amy rises again all she says 'I'm here now' repeatedly before putting her down. Even Jenner seems a bit of a slave to guilt, and there are implications - not that he caused the disease, mind you - but that he at least feels like he could have done more to slow the spread of the pandemic. I don't normally like themes, unless they are as seamlessly integrated as they are in 'Wildfire'. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was always good at burying its themes and messages deep enough so that you could ignore them if you wish, and 'Wildfire' manages that type of thematic content immaculately, and it ends up adding to the story rather than detracting from it.

In the final scene Rick and the survivors arrive at the CDC, which is pretty dead. There is a brilliant performance from Andrew Lincoln, as Rick bangs on the doors of the building as a horde of walkers begins to move in while darkness begins to fall. Jenner watches from his security cameras, but for whatever reason is reluctant to allow them in. It is very tense, and for a while it begins to look like there might be another massacre on the cards, but we wouldn't have met Jenner unless he was going to be a little important. In the end he opens the doors for the screaming Rick and the crew, bathing them in a brilliant and poetic white light as the episode draws to a close.

I think a two and a half page review indicates my feelings towards this fantastic, touching episode that manages to mix action, emotion, a great script and some perfect performances effortlessly and subtlety. My  only concern is small, in that I found the pick-axe brain fuck of Ed by his wife very cathartic, but also entirely too long and disgusting. It was important for Carol, but the extent of the violence was too much, and rids 'Wildfire' of the perfect ten the episode should deserve. 

'History Repeating' - The Vampire Diaries, Season One

The Vampire Diaries

Season One

Episode Nine

'History Repeating' - 7.0

'We are never telling Elena we did THAT'

Something I notice about most ‘The Vampire Diaries’ fans is that they refuse to admit that the show has some dodgy episodes. Hell, they'll refuse to admit it has dodgy scenes. It's a generalisation, so it is not entirely fair, but have a glance at the forums or the wikis and you’ll see they can be pretty ravenous. I wonder if this is the Justin Beiber demographic?

Anyway, that is beside the point, because 'History Repeating' isn't too bad, in fact I did kind of enjoy it. It was Bonnie-centric, which would normally spell doom since Katerina Graham really needs to do a few more acting lessons, but some of the set pieces and revelations are actually fairly momentous. Of course the most notable would be that Katherine is in fact alive, and is simply locked in a tomb beneath Fell's church. On a related note, does Fell's Church mean Logan Fell's ancestors were like pastors and priests? So that means that those religious occupations translated to journalism? Is that a bit of religious commentary there, Vampire Diaries, are you trying to be clever?

We see a lot more of Bonnie's amber necklace tonight which has been a major plot device since 'Family Ties', although this was kind of built up as its final appearance. In just the one episode, the poor thing is squabbled over by Caroline and Bonne, thrown into a paddock, involved in a possession then blown to smithereens. Big night for it.

Since Bonnie is Bonnie, she's beginning to freak out more and more because of her fledging-witch abilities, as well as the visions of her great-great-something-or-other Emily brought on by the necklace. Emily has been trying to direct her to Fell's Church in all kinds of 'creepy' ways, well... Vampire Diaries creepy, which isn't really very tense or scary just... I don't know. Not good. So Bonnie, fed up with the constant magical antics, hocks her family's antique necklace as far as she can into some random paddock in what seems to have been supposed to be an emotionally heavy scene, but in the end it was boring and kinda pointless. That very night the necklace is back in her bag for Caroline to find and be a bitch about.

There was a séance. How they got there, I'm not sure. It was Caroline's idea, but it was one of the most idiotic decisions anyone has ever made ever. We have a ghost? Awesome, a séance always seems to fix these problems in the films! I think at this point in the show, Caroline is actually mentally handicapped. As you'd expect, the séance makes everything awful - candles flair up, windows bash open, the necklace disappears then baits Bonnie into getting locked in a bathroom and inhabited by the ghost of her ancestor. Wow  I wish that my manicure parties with the girlfriends ended with demonic possession. Come on, TVD, you had a terrific (if kinda contrite) opportunity to pull some actually frightening scenes on us, but you chose to do some lightweight jump moments while that freaking foul score played over the top. Put some more money in your orchestra, cause right now your music is either disappearing under the scenes or completely over shadowing it with buckets of horrid ear-murder.

You know what was impressive though? Bonnie, now possessed by Emily, heads over to Fell's Church, gives Damon a good supernatural shove then obliterates the crystal in a fiery and very dramatic crowning moment of awesome. There was even a flaming pentagram, though I don't know if many of this show's viewers would get the significance. In fact I don't know if the writers did either, since Bonnie spends the scene telling Damon she won't bring evil upon Mystic Falls, while standing in a giant devil's symbol that had appeared around her. Right, OK. The whole scene was pretty amazing, and we did learn one pretty epic secret - Katherine is alive, and locked in a tomb under the church! As well as twenty-six other vampires, but who cares because KATHERINE! Although I don't know if she'll ever escape now that the crystal is destroyed, but come on, this is Vampire Diaries, they aren't going to leave something like Katherine locked away for long.

Did anything else happen? Well Stefan and Damon spent the episode bonding of sorts, playing darts and football and being brothers, and I was just like... wow, look at all the fucks I give. I don't even care why Damon's in Mystic Falls, though now I know it's for Katherine I'm cool with it. Still I had a brief moment when I didn't despise Damon with every single aspect of my being, and that was at the very end of the episode where he's just sitting in the forest all alone and sulky cause Emily effectively just sealed the love of his life in a tomb for eternity. Ian Somerhalder didn't do too badly, and I really got the fallen-from-grace and hopeless vibe. Paul Wesley did a good job too, since almost all the characters end up crying at the end there, Stefan's much more emotional reaction to the events of the episode was a surprisingly adept acting job from someone who's really only acted as passively interested so far.

So this episode did bring us a hell of a lot of plot - Katherine is alive, but the necklace needed to free her has been destroyed, Logan's alive, and maybe a vampire? There's a new history teacher, Alaric Saltzman, who has like a vampire ring-thing, and didn't come into Jenna's house, maybe because he wasn't invited. Both Damon and Stefan said that they'd leave town, though I doubt either will for very long. Bonnie is informed of all the crazy in the world (that Elena's aware of). That's a lot of stuff for one episode of a show like this, so that can't be a bad thing.

'A Good Soldier' - Homeland, Season One

Homeland

Season One

Episode Six

'The Good Soldier' - 7.5

Ug. 

Very good. Not perfect, just very, very good. I'm neither feeling up to reviewing or recapping, but I guess I can give it a go today. Homeland is one of those shows that is just so marvellously consistent that it is difficult to talk about what makes each episode worthwhile, almost entirely because it is the same aspects every episode.

So what happened in 'The Good Soldier'? Well following Afzal Hamid's suicide in the interrogation room Carrie has organised polygraph tests for everyone involved in his transport or questioning. She is confident that this will catch Brody out as the man responsible, and thus as a national security threat.

I enjoyed every single polygraph scene, they were all pretty indicative of the character's personalities. Carrie is surprisingly eager about doing hers, but she seems to fail on the questions about illegal drugs. Estes clearly just wants to be somewhere else, and doesn't react particularly well when asked about his marriage. Saul goes so far as to storm out of his first one, apparently you have to be in the right mood for one of these things. He fails in every question, including both his name and the question about the blade. We do have to wonder for a moment though, he was in the room with him the most; couldn't it have been him? Of course, his wife Mira had not long told him that she wanted to move to India without him, which can't help someone's stress levels. He gets through alright the second time though.

The Brody family attends a memorial service for Thomas Walker, the over half of Brody's sniper pair and the man he killed during their captivity. It is his job to deliver a friend's eulogy, a scene that I will admit I was a bit bored during. Funerals aren't the most interesting of events, and one for someone I've never actually met is even less so. Brody's speech was... awkward? It started with a jarring and brief flashback to his murder of his friend which cut into the heavy silence that prevails at these functions. It was almost a jump moment, and I believe completely unnecessary. We haven't forgotten he killed Walker, you don't need to remind us. Once Brody gets into the eulogy, it was entirely without gripping moments or dialogue, with his decision to do a roll call at the end almost... embarrassing, in its awkwardness.

The reception is held at the Brody house, probably just so the production crew didn't have to scout for another location. Of course it ends badly, with some asshole veteran getting into Brody over what happened to Walker and the foils of war and all that shit. He was just a drunk asshole, angry and jealous about his fellow soldiers sudden rise to fame over an unnecessary war. Anyway, during his tirade he lets slip that one of the marines present had wonderful sex with Jess, a suggestion that warrants a pummelling - from Mike. Oh yeah, that's keeping things under wraps. I'm pretty sure Brody knew before, but he reaction during the reception is pretty violent, pulling Mike off the asshole and giving his friend a few hard punches, as Jess watches from the sidelines.

Back at Langley, the investigation into Raqim Faisel has uncovered the existence of a Caucasian girlfriend, a statistical irregularity for an Arabic terrorist. The girl, Irene Margaret Morgan, we find to be the real ringleader of the pair, having received formal training in bombs and espionage. After being tipped off to the CIA's imminent raid of their home, the couple had fled to what they'd been told was a safe house. Ultimately this proved false, as the door was tripped to cause a bomb to go off, but luckily for Faisel, Irene was able to discern this before entering the house, but it did mean that their own side was not out to silence them.

Morgan and her man go to the nearest hotel to discuss their next move. Faisel wants to turn himself in, fearing that they will just be running forever, or just end up captured or dead. Irene is more keen on Mexico, wishing to avoid torture and incarceration at Guantanamo Bay. They never really get to come to a compromise in the end, because while Irene's in the bathroom a car pulls up, filling the room and Faisel full of holes, but leaving her unscathed. She manages to crawl out a window and to safety, probably about to make her way to Mexico.

After Brody's melt down at the reception, he storms out and hides in some dive, giving Carrie a call asking not to have to do the polygraph. Carrie comes to see him in person, and the two get to some serious talking that culminates in a shocking tryst in the back seat of her car. Seriously, it was a 'what the fucking fuck?' moment. I mean sure, they have acid/base chemistry going on, but sex on like the fourth time they've ever met is... Maybe Carrie's a whore? Regardless, it did allow for an incredibly awkward polygraph for Brody, especially once he passes the razor blade question without a hiccup. Carrie freaks, forcing the poor guy to ask him the same question over and over, each time Brody doesn't show a single sign of lying. We are left wondering though, as Carrie has the conductor ask Brody if he was faithful to his wife, which he answers with a lie, yet doesn't trip the heart monitor. So, Brody's worked out a polygraph machine? Probably makes sense for a sniper.

The episode ends with a disgruntled Carrie being found wandering the parking lot by an angry-looking Brody, who tells her almost threateningly to get in his car, which she seems happy to do. Kinky.

So what do I think? I don't. Really. It was fun and full of intrigue the way that Homeland always is, but 'The Good Soldier' seemed entirely built around Carrie and Brody hooking up at the bar, a moment of weakness for both that will no doubt have lasting and irreparable consequences for both. I thought the acting in the polygraph scenes were all fantastic, and I loved the look Brody gave the surveillance camera when he was asked about his fidelity. Ha! Look at all that menace. This guy's so evil.

'The Transformation' - Fringe, Season One

Fringe

Season One

Episode Thirteen

'The Transformation' -9.0

I've grown weary of the blue tinge. MY KINGDOM FOR SOME WARM COLOURS!

I do slightly remember watching this episode from the first time, and I remember thinking how stupid the idea of a man turning into the porcupine thing was. How then was I so impressed this time around? My best guess is that I didn't actually remember how I really felt about 'the Transformation', since the start of the episode bears so little resemblance to how it goes out.

It is always logical to start a review with the start of the movie, or episode. Whatever. In this case, the cold open was... interesting. Some guy for some reason or another, decides to freak out an airplane of crew and passengers by asking for weapons and sedatives, you know, pretty standard airplane protocol. Next thing you know, he's a giant porcupine.

What did I think? Well, as I said in the introduction, it's a bit stupid. Nonetheless, the creature's reveal was very well handled - a brief lull in the hushed conversation between two stewards heralds his eruption from the lavatory, followed by a hazy rampage through the passengers. It was a bit like something out of a creature feature, the old cheap ones that couldn't afford to show us the beast because he looked like a man in a costume. The last three or so seconds of the opener are what make it worthwhile, as well as the short scene after the title sequence which shows the plane careening down over a soccer pitch and landing in a fiery explosion behind a nearby forest. For a brief moment, all we could see was the reflection of the doomed jet in the tinted glass of some soccer mum's SUV, and it was terrific.

Somehow, this plane crash turns into a bioweapons sale in Chicago; something about the man's transformation being caused by a synthetic compound which has been weaponised. Maybe? Anyway, that doesn't really matter, what matters is that by some weird John Scott-related means they discover another man who is on the cusp of his own crazy metamorphosis and Walter is able to slow the transition down. But who cares about that?

John Scott? Yes, his memories are still stuck in Olivia's pretty head, and they mean she knows that John knew the man who transformed on the plane, and thus so does she. Being Olivia and completely selfless, she goes back into the tank she enters in the Pilot and 'the Dreamscape', endangering herself to the horrible side effects associated. So far all these sequences have been fantastic, very atmospheric and foreign, and at first this one seems comparatively more rushed and erratic. By its end, however, things get weirder than they have in the others. John Scott full on talks to Olivia while Peter and Walter start to worry about her signs. Before we now it, John Scott is actually aiding his former partner in finding 'Conrad', the mastermind looking to see the porcupine-serum. Turns out Scott isn't as evil as we thought, and that in reality he is an undercover NSA agent who's task was to take out Conrad while infiltrating the FBI for some reason. Who knows, right?

With the help of some other NSA guy John Scott's memories led them to, we find out where the sale of the weapon is going down, and we are presented with one of the finest pieces of television I have watched; Olivia and Peter head in on a sting operation to find the weapon and apprehend all involved, perhaps even Conrad. It is so well written and so well acted, one of the tensest and most captivating things I've seen in a long time, and credit should be given to the writing staff and to Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson. Everyone did an amazing job crafting one sequence that makes the entire episode worth watching. I can't stress enough how perfect it was.

I enjoyed the ending as well, since it seemed to be built as the final time we will see John Scott, which is a great thought. Walter revealed to Olivia that her brain was ridding itself of Scott, and that soon her mind will purge itself completely of him. Olivia being Olivia, she turns it into a reason to go back in the tank. I think it's her favourite place now, she always ends up there somehow. The location for their final meeting was well scouted, it was truly a beautiful stagnant lake - and no, that isn't sarcasm, it was really pretty. As much as I hate Mark Valley, the scene - which was essentially a marriage proposal - was heartbreaking for Olivia, as the second he said those clichéd words he vanished, and she was free of him forever, even though that's not what she wanted anymore. Ah, I thought it was well done, despite it being about Scott.

'Belle Femme' - Boardwalk Empire, Season One

Boardwalk Empire

Season One

Episode Nine

'Belle Femme' - 8.0

Pictures are getting harder and harder to find as the series goes on

These recaps are beginning to eat away at my soul. I occasionally enjoy venting my feelings about these episodes, but in reality I feel like I need some sort of work to keep me going, something to stop myself watching like ten episodes of things a day.

'Belle Femme' doesn't really have any faults. We have definitely continued on from the constant exposition and entire lack of action, with the episode featuring a major character's incarceration and another D'Alessio brother attack.

Margaret's character has grown considerably over the last few instalments, and she’s really beginning to come into her own as a woman in a position of power. Tonight her power is finally called upon as Madame Jeunet of La Belle Femme desires for her to convince Nucky to cut her some slack. It's by no means high risk, but it is good to see her really learning - and enjoying - having influence and say in society. After at first being entirely ignored by Nucky, she manages to convince him when she pretends that she personally wants the store to remain where and what it is. At her next visit, she even unsubtly asks for remuneration for herself once Madame Jeunet offers her something for her daughter instead. In her own words 'My daughter didn't help you'. This new Margaret could be fun.

As usual there is a lot of political conversations I understand very little of. For whatever reason, Nucky doesn't want to keep the current Mayor of Atlantic City in his position, offering Bader the position. I don't know who that is, really, all I know is that I recall hearing the name before. Perhaps he's evil, and can raise the dead? Dragons? The Bringer of fire and darkness? I don't care, to be honest. Unless he's one of those things. I'm sorry, but I really am a genre guy, I like a little degree of the impossible thrown into my shows, pure drama generally bores me. That said, I do enjoy Boardwalk Empire, and for a drama it is pretty fantastic, even if I don't understand everything that's said.

Jimmy doesn't have too much fun tonight, arriving back in Atlantic City with his own conditions for re-employment under Nucky's regime, that being that he wants Richard Harrow on the job with him. Nucky doesn't appear to give a rat's arse about his conditions, he only wants his protégé back in the fold, initiating him with a simple chore; rid the world of the D'Alessio brothers, who have been identified as the culprits behind the casino heist last episode. Jimmy starts his job by using his mother to trap Lucky Luciano with his pants down. Gillian is able to take his gun and leave him entirely unarmed and unaware, as Jimmy walks in with a splash of boiling hot coffee and a pointed gun.

It wasn't meant to be, however. I don't have any big issues with Lucky, he's actually kind of cool, but the show wouldn't be overly damaged by the loss of the secondary character. Lucky gets away, regardless, as while Jimmy heads out of his mother's apartment, Agent Van Alden bursts in, taking Jimmy in for the massacre from the first episode.

Agent Sepso had actually intercepted the telegrams Jimmy had tried to send to Nucky and his wife, but had failed to inform his partner as early as he could, hiding the messages and claiming that a higher officer was nervous about the investigation into Hans Schroeder's murder, and that he feared that the case may jeopardise both their jobs. Van Alden doesn't take that shit, throwing one of his trademark tantrums by throwing a bagel or something at the floor, and tearing into his colleague. It works out fine though, and with Jimmy in custody and a witness from the massacre on hand, the agents look set to make a serious conviction. It doesn't work out that way, with Sepso taking the witness out on a long trip to a safer location, obviously on Nucky's money roll. Intriguing.

That's not the only shooting however, as in the final sequence of 'Belle Femme', Nucky, Margaret and Eddie are exiting a dinner with Bader. This might be a good point to explain how much I love the 1920s entertainment, it's so vaudeville and over-the-top, and the comedy routines are often laugh-out-loud funny, especially the one we see tonight. Sorry, sidetracked, but as the three characters stroll down the thriving and colourful boardwalk they are distracted by a man interested in Nucky. Next second, a man in the crowd pulls out a gun and points it right at Mr. Thompson. Luckily Eddie reacts quickly, pushing it out of the way, with the shooter getting some poor innocent lady instead, who falls into Margaret's arms and spills blood all over her free dress from Madame Jeunet. Eddie manages to put a bullet in the shooter's leg as he gets away, so that will no doubt be a plot point later on, but as of right now the killer or attempted-such has escaped. We don't even get confirmation that it was the D'Alessio's responsible, considering shows like this like to pull such manipulative moves. We shall see.

If anything, it was like the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the true beginning of what is bound to be all out warfare between two rival factions in Atlantic City. I certainly can't wait for the real fighting to get going, as this show is pretty fucking awesome without constant action, so imagine what it will be like when people start hitting the ground. There are still the odd characters who haven't grown from their expository phases, like Angela, who I'd be interested in seeing in the thick of things, but I guess this show can't focus on everyone. It is unfortunate though, since there are a hell of a lot of fantastic actors and actresses here, many of whom are simply standing on the sidelines waiting for the right moment to do something.

'Blind Spot' - Homeland, Season One

Homeland

Season One

Episode Five

‘Blind Spot’ – 9.5

Claire Danes giving her best pedobear impersonation. 

In just one episode, Homeland turned from an OK television show with a great pilot to an all round fantastic series. ‘Blind Spot’ brings back the sense of suspense and mystery that had been allowed to fall to way side in the last few weeks, interrogating a terrorist and one of Brody’s captors in some tremendous scenes.

The first thing we see in ‘Blind Spot’ is the apprehending of Afzal Hamid in Islamabad, Pakistan, the last known survivor of the compound from which Sergeant Brody was rescued from. Hamid’s capture interrupts the personal lives of two of our major characters; Carrie’s malicious visit to her father is cut short, even though she had really only gone to try and pilfer some of his meds, while Saul is called in while trying to drive his wife Mira home, who has just arrived at the airport from India. 

Something that Homeland strives at is creating realistic and well-rounded characters, every single person in the show could easily be someone we know, will all of them having both beneficial and negative character attributes. For example, Saul is nurturing and wise, but he is also patronising and distant. Jessica Brody is loving and patient, but she is also judgemental and difficult to please. The ability to not only write such detailed characters, but also to depict them easily and accessibly is a true gift, something as a writer I would love to have. It is refreshing to see a show with both a gripping storyline and enthralling characters, as a lot of shows have either one or the other.

Tonight, however, the dialogue and atmosphere are on display, because ‘Blind Spot’ is all about the interrogation of Hamid, which Carrie and Saul are tasked with. For a second it looks like we are going to finally get some answers, as the two characters who suspect that Brody may not be who he says he is will be able to question someone who would know the truth, but it doesn’t work out that way for two reasons; Estes is watching the entire thing by feed, and worse, he’s put Brody on the job as well. He believes – quite logically, really – that Brody will be able to provide detailed information about Hamid, things that they can use in the interrogation. Carrie is obviously pissed by this development and she worries Brody will compromise the subject, while Saul sees it as an opportunity, since they will be putting him under a high pressure environment that they essentially control.

Everyone meets up at a secure location, which is interestingly not at Langley. When Brody arrives Carrie pretends that the two of them have not meet or interacted outside of the briefing in the first episode, an act that throws Brody off just a little bit. Damien Lewis does an especially good job, especially once he gets a look at Hamid, who turns out to be none other than his own guard, who at times peed on him and beat him with a stick wrapped in barb wire. Lewis appears legitimately angry, but there is that level of doubt that we are afforded; is he genuine? Frightened by him? Frightened he might be found out? Angry about the eight years of torture? Angry about Hamid actually getting captured? We don’t know, and that’s the whole point.

When the actual interrogation happens, it is a thing of beauty, even if Brody isn’t actually in the room. Saul is the one who asks the questions, with each one being answered by Brody through a headset while Hamid gives little but silence. The idea is that the information gives Hamid the idea that his questioners already have all the answers, they just need him to admit to them. It was impressive how quickly Mandy Patinkin went from being the father-figure to being this intimidating authority who has all the answers. He was the CIA Wizard of Oz or something. Despite Patinkin’s magical abilities, Hamid does not budge, and Saul calls it for the night leaving Carrie to take the night shift watching for any flinches.

The filming of Hamid’s torture was amazing. It isn’t brutal or foggy like Brody’s torture, rather it was modern and clean, but nonetheless cruel. I don’t know if this is what the CIA actually does to people, but Hamid had to sit in a room all night in his underwear with the air-conditioning on full, while the lights flicked on and off slowly and booming heavy metal music is played intermittently. Impossible conditions to get comfortable in, let alone sleep, and it is the next morning before the poor guy makes a move. The blaring noises and the ever changing conditions in the room are presented to us like we are there as well, a clear anti-torture message that comes through like the screaming of the musician Hamid is forced to listen to. 

The team manages to get eight names from the guy, all written with the crayon he was given to prevent him from killing himself with a pen or pencil. Saul says it isn’t enough, explaining in no uncertain terms that they will need more, or Hamid’s family will not be protected from the inevitable wrath of Abu Nazir. Hamid caves, providing an email address that leads – eventually – to one place; the department of Raqim Faisel at Bryden University, the man Carrie cased out the last episode. They all jump on this revelation, with Carrie sending Virgil into his office to try and find his house, discovering that it is where they had driven past while tailing Faisel only days before. Virgil, Carrie and that other guy all sit in their little van outside the house waiting for signs of life, but hearing none.

While Raqim Faisel is tracked down, Brody tries to organise one-on-one time with Hamid. He tells Estes that all he requires is to look the guy in the eye and prove that he won, which is fair enough I guess, but what’s weird is that Estes LETS HIM IN. WHAT?!! The morning after Hamid’s night of undesirable noises, the guy he freaking tortured saunters in with a smug grin on his face. Yeah, that was worth it for Brody, but is there not a serious potential security breach lurking under the surface here? Whether or not Brody is an evil terrorist bent on bringing the American government to its knees – again – someone without training as an interrogator shouldn’t be allowed to visit with the prisoners. I know he was a soldier, but wasn’t he a sniper? That doesn’t scream liaison or anything.

Sure enough, fighting ensues. Brody says some things and takes away Hamid’s dinner/breakfast/I-don’t-know-what-the-time-is, getting a nice big loogey in the face and entirely beating on his former captor. Hilarious yo! It seems that’s all Brody wanted though, and he cheerfully exits the room after the fight’s been broken up. Sadly though, it’s shown Brody chose to punch his tormentor in the face rather than watch his kid get a new belt in karate, though I’m sure this is only relevant because Matt went instead.

Not too long after, Carrie receives a worried call from Saul, who has gone back to Hamid’s compound to find him dead on the floor of the interrogation room, a tiny fragment of a razor blade used to slice his arms open. Gross people. Carrie uses this bad news to get authorisation from Saul to storm Faisel’s house, worried that whoever slipped Hamid the blade could have warned him. As it turns out, that may have been the exact case, since the house is completely abandoned.

Saul and Carrie have a lovely, emotional confrontation in Saul’s home regarding Estes’ decision to let Brody in to see Hamid. It doesn’t help that it happens immediately after – well, kind of during – a soft-spoken semi-break up between Saul and Mira, who wants to take a job in India because of her husband’s long, arduous and never-ending hours at the CIA. Anyway, Carrie essentially tells Saul she is going to take the investigation into Brody higher up, informing Estes, which he believes would jeopardise both their careers. The two get in a heated argument that shows Claire Danes and Patinkin at their respective bests, with both characters damaging a relationship with someone they trust dearly, as well as threatening the jobs that mean everything to them.

Following the argument, Carrie turns up at her sister’s in the middle of a breakdown, worried that she has effectively quit her job and ruined her and Saul’s rapport forever. It is really hard to describe just how good Danes is as the so-obviously mentally ill CIA agent, it’s just one of those performances that hits you with a tonne of bricks and forces you to pay attention. In the final few sequences of the night, Carrie decides to stay the night at Maggie’s, receiving a warm and excited welcome from her two nieces. Watching Carrie be jovial and caring with her family is like watching butter slay a butter knife, it just doesn’t seem right, yet Danes is able to make it look like a realistic facet of her character’s personality, and that’s really it with this show. Yes, the story is amazing, the intrigue is strong and the characters are fascinating, but for those who tuned in for any of that stayed just for Claire Danes and Carrie. This is her show, rather than Lewis’ or Brody’s, and it’s becoming more and more apparent.

'The No-Brainer' - Fringe, Season One

Fringe

Season One

Episode Twelve

The No-Brainer - 6.0

There's a masturbation joke here somewhere. 

When I decided to write these as a series of blog entries, I originally intended for them NOT to sound like the review section of a half-arsed university newsletter. I don't mean five star quality literature, I mean I wanted to add a little personality to what I write, while ensuring that they were only reviews on the surface, and could double as a blog entry underneath. Sadly, my life is exceptionally boring so in the end, it is far more interesting to focus solely on what happens in the television I watch and how it made me feel. Well, you might think it's sad, I don't really. For the time being I am an aspiring film maker who is doing something I actually love to do; watching TV.

Fringe is one of the many shows I love to watch, and to be honest I'm not good enough at analysing media to tell you why. I enjoy the characters, the story, the acting, the special effects, yatta yatta yatta. It'd be great to say that I love how thematic it is or whatever, but I'm not the artsy type you might think an aspiring film maker to be, generally themes bore the crap out of me. I like fast, I like action, violence, sex, bright colours and shiny things. Does that make me shallow? God I hope so.

'The No-Brainer' is the twelfth episode of Fringe's premiere season, and so far we've come to know and love FBI Agent Olivia Dunham, mad scientist Walter Bishop and his son-with-a-colourful-past Peter, along with the secondary cast Astrid Farnsworth, Charlie Francis, Philip Broyles and Nina Sharp. By this point in the show, we have learnt too much and seen too much to be able to sit down and allow an hour of this wonderful sci-fi 'procedural' to go by without advancing the greater plot a little. Does this episode give us that? I don't really think so. We get a better look at antagonist Sanford Harris, who continues to impede Olivia's attempts to do her job, and we are led to believe Walter receives closure for a devastating event from his past, but in my opinion neither of these events constitute an adequate leap forward.

I've decided to be a bit lenient, mostly because of the previous two episodes which shot the story in the right direction with a freaking cannon, and it is strange for a semi-procedural to have three important episodes in a row, especially right in the middle of a season. I didn't expect this to be a game-changer, and it wasn't.

It started relatively simply, with some teenager talking with his friend over the computer. In typical Fringe fashion, everything goes pear-shaped pretty damn fast and a couple of viewer-minutes later we come to know that the kid had his brain sucked out of his head by a program his computer had downloaded. The scene itself didn't really enlighten us, it only confused us, but I guess I'm cool with that. There was at least a nice visual with the hand slowly reaching out from the computer screen and grabbing his head, all the while the suspenseful score dramatises the brain-suck moment. Yum.

What is kind of a surprise is exactly how many different instances there are of the programming cranial assault - the boy, a car salesman, some woman's new husband and nearly Olivia's own niece and the programmer himself. And the episode didn't even seem filled! I was a little impressed, sometimes that many separate events can leave one exhausted or desensitised, but not here. Each new death and almost-as-such is handled differently, and we don't suddenly come down with a case of been-there-done-that. Still, it wasn't particularly interesting at the start. The best sequence by far was Peter's discovery that the program was being downloaded at Olivia's own apartment, where her sister and niece, Ella, were staying. There was a thrilling race interspersed with Ella playing what is undoubtedly the best computer game of all time - 'Paint a Pony' - which reinforced the notion that we had only known the young girl and her mother since the last episode, and there were by all means expendable. Of course, a show like this wouldn't cover the main character's apartment in the brains of her young niece, and we were at least a little aware of this. When Olivia rushes in and manages to distract Ella from the screen, we aren't really surprised, but we are relieved.

At episode's climax, it is revealed that True Blood's Chris Bauer is the perpetrator of these horrible acts. I don't mind True Blood, but Bauer is the most annoying SOB on the entire show, and he doesn't really break character here. The acting was off and unbelievable, and I wasn't upset by his kind of accidental suicide, even when his kid found him like that. Eh, he killed your step dad and your best friend, I'm sure you'll come to understand the justice served here. Is there anything else that really needs to be said about the week's bad guy?

You know what was more annoying than Bauer? Walter's dead-lab assistant sub-plot. Look, Fringe, I know and remember why he was in the mental institution, I just didn't care that much. Don't spend ten minutes of the episode building up a mystery then revealing it to be the dead girl's mother. Yay, emotion. Sometimes a little softer plot is great, but when the main plot isn't that action-packed a saccharin story about redemption is a not gonna enthral me. BAH. And was anyone else a bit disturbed when Astrid performed a serious invasion of privacy on Peter by reaching into the trash to pick up his letter? I don't even really know you, you scheming wretch, stop messing in the affairs of important characters!

So why does the episode score relatively high? It's simple really, because while the episode's entire plot verged on boring, it never went over the edge. The acting from the main cast was exemplary as usual, and I did enjoy the episode's aesthetic with the hand and stuff. I also really like the moment where Olivia was looking into the security camera when our bad guy pulled a gun on her - you'd have to see it, I thought it was a striking image.

As a final note, I'm going to suggest that it be made a law that unnecessary Beyonce on television should be a crime. I don't mind the woman, but her music was pointless and distracting. I'll Single Ladies you Ms. Knowles, don't try me.