nixsight

Prison Break Season 4: 03

You can tell that this season of “Prison Break” is a far cry from being as solid as previous ones – it’s taken us weeks to get round to watching just one more episode.

0403 – Shut Down: Still, though, this episode shows some glimmer of the series’ past brightness, though it goes to some lengths to create physical drama and tension out of nowhere, and the real strengths here are in some of the character moments.

The main focus of the episode is the fact that, with the team’s mission suddenly complicated, their handler Self struggles against his superiors to keep it active.

There is a diversion at a server farm, which puts Michael and new boy Roland in jeopardy and gives Lincoln a chance to show why his character’s impulsive and violent streak is useful. Otherwise, though, the scene is largely redundant.

There’s a bit of rushing about, a bit of the crew being chased around by feds, and a bit of Michael saving the day, but while that’s what takes up the time in this episode, the really memorable moments are all Mahone’s, as he tries to piece together who killed his son, and behave normally among the group. There are a few great scenes between him and a former colleague, and some lovely moments as Lincoln discovers and sympathises with Mahone’s loss.

It’s obvious that the writers are more into what’s going on with the Mahone character than they are with Michael and the rest of the team, and this is a shame – the production is still there, but the cohesion in the face of chaos of the show, which was part of what was so attractive about it before, is missing right now. Still, this episode was better than the last two, so we can hope for ongoing improvement…

Fringe Season 1: 03

0103 – The Ghost Network: I’m still a little nonplussed by “Fringe”. The pilot has thus far still been the best episode. The insistence on making the second episode so utterly conspiracy-plot heavy boggles my mind, though – it’s as if Abrams learnt nothing from “The X-Files” and his own show “Alias”.

However, this episode shows a lot more promise than the last.

It’s not that they’ve totally ditched their reliance on their central conspiracy plot, although this story widens that plot enough that I can see the potential for more self-contained stories – the Pilot and first episode proper seemed to be establishing “The Pattern” as a closed network or organisation, like a Bad Science version of Prison Break’s “Company”.

Events in this episode make it look a lot more like an ideological mindset than a secret society, though, which works well – parallels can be drawn between “The Pattern” and terrorism in general now, whereas previously it seemed obvious that “Massive Dynamic” were behind a lot of what was going on.

There’s also a little bit of intrigue for Lance Reddick’s Broyles to play with, and a small amount of back-story being filled in for Joshua Jackson’s Peter.

And I still love watching Anna Torv as Olivia.

Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles: 02-09

We watched the pilot for this ages ago, and it just made too many leaps from the source material for me to really get that enthusiastic about it.

However, people seemed to like the rest of the season, so I decided to go back and give it another try. I remembered the first episode well enough that I didn’t feel the need to rewatch it – and as it happens, that was smart, because the feeling I get from the rest of the season is that the pilot was really just a bridge from “T2″ to where they wanted to start the show proper. What followed was much more accomplished action TV.

I’m not going to break down every episode, because the show is designed in such a way, and I watched them in such a rush, that the story flowed quite naturally throughout. The writing, acting and production were consistent enough that the quality of each episode doesn’t bear dissection.

Actually, the production values on this show are generally pretty damn good – and as such don’t need much dissection. The CGI and general effects are nifty considering the medium, reminding me of the miracles that the BSG people managed to pull off in the first few seasons of that show.

Narrative-wise, the whole thing pulls together pretty well, too. Lena Headey makes for a much more layered and sympathetic Sarah Connor then Linda Hamilton ever did, and Thomas Dekker does a more than adequate job on John Connor, considering he’s, you know, a young actor. Summer Glau is just a joy to watch, as well – although for her to be playing such an odd-ball and morally complex character again seems risky so soon after “Firefly”. I have to wonder what she’d be like playing someone just… ordinary.

The wonderful Garret Dillahunt is well-cast as the terminator Cromartie. I’m starting to really love this guy, after seeing him play the downbeat cowboy in both “Deadwood” and “The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford”, as well as his decidedly more nuanced performance in “John From Cincinnati”.

The continuity and plot here is intriguing enough, as long as you don’t worry too much about it’s inconsistencies with the original source material. Very little of the actual action contradicts what has gone before – and in fact, the show pays homage and reflects back to the movies often, but not often enough that it gets in the way. But some of the key concepts from the movies, that must have required adjusting to fit this format, are wrenched in a new direction – the idea that there are multiple Terminators acting as sleeper agents on various missions is an interesting wrinkle, but the idea that travelling forward in time is viable in this universe seems to me to contradict the events of the movies.

Still, so far it’s been a one-time MacGuffin, and the whole time-travel aspect of the show has been handled well and inventively.

Course, the rumour is that the second season is already cancelled, so I picked a hell of a time to get into the thing, didn’t I?

Angel Season 1: 05-08/Buffy Season 4: 08
“Angel” continues to range from funny to dark to hip and not really settle on any one spot – an issue that didn’t really leave the show for most of it’s run. However, it’s still major fun to watch, and Girl One seems to be getting a kick out of it.

At this point in the series – which is around disc two of the boxset for anyone keeping count - the show hasn’t really got out from under the shadow of it’s predeccessor. The showrunners acknowledge this around the episode 7/8 mark with a story that offers a bit of closure to the poor miserable vampiric bugger.

0105 – RM w/a VU: Before we get to that fairly heavy crossover story, we get light relief. This episode is all about Cordy, and it’s probably the first really self-assured episode that the show has. We get a few insights into the team dynamic, but really, this is where the old Buffy Cordy and the new Angel Cordy are properly reconciled with each other. The transition from major bitch to sad, lost girl between the shows wasn’t as jarring as it could have been – mainly because we’d seen a softening of the character at the tail end of her time on “Buffy”.

There are some spooky moments, and a little bit of a closer look at Doyle, and one of the best “Star Wars” puns ever, that isn’t even directly referred to throughout the episode. Fun and scary and not bad at all.

0106 – Sense and Sensitivity: … And then we get an episode that should have been a bit of a misfire, focussing as it does on a character, and the titular character’s relationship with that character, that never really caught the audience’s imagination.

However, the episode works pretty well, thanks to a very funny script, and some great performances. As much as the story focusses on Kate, it’s also a bit of a gimmick or stunt episode – the premise is that a demon is hired to effectively brainwash the detective’s precinct into some very odd behaviour, but really it’s about seeing David Boreanaz playing Angel as spookily sensitive.

Episodes like this became stock in trade in later seasons of “Angel”, and “Buffy” features a perfect one in around three or four episodes.

0107 – The Bachelor Party: Doyle, apparently, was married.

Actually, this is the third episode in a row that takes one character and spins a story out of them. This is well and good, but it can knacker an action show if it persists – part of the appeal of a show like this over a soap is that it’s about the external situations that the characters get involved in, rather than the fuck-ups that they cause themselves.

I can’t remember whether “Angel” balances this out later on, but at least these first few episodes of this show are a lot of fun, as well as rounding out Doyle’s character a lot, building on the implicit tragedy of his lifestyle that was highlighted in 0105.

The humour here comes largely from an excellent guest performance by Carlos Jacott – as Doyle’s ex-wife’s new fiance, a pleasant-natured demon whose family traditions are unfortunately quite brutal. Jacott’s is a face that turns up in a few shows, and in fact he previously played a demon in the season 3 opener of “Buffy”.

Speaking of – this episode ends with Doyle having one of his painful visions. The subject? Buffy.

Buffy 0408 – Pangs: A bit of an odd episode, this, because it’s more notable for what it sets up than it’s actual content. Although there’s the obvious factor of it being the first part of a crossover, and as such setting-up the following “Angel” episode, that particular connection seems largely arbitrary.

The driving force of the crossover aspect is that Angel has had a warning that Buffy is in extreme danger, and travels to Sunnydale to keep an eye on her. This makes for a couple of nice scenes – mainly between Willow and Angel and Giles and Angel – but it never really comes to much else. The threat that Buffy and co face in this episode is just another entry-level menace, and not even one that affects more than a handful of people. There is never any real sense that Buffy wouldn’t have been able to sort it out for herself, so Doyle’s vision seems a little arbitrary, as does the rest of the crossover element of the episode.

Luckily, not much of the running time is given over to that. There’s an ancient native American revenge spirit story going on, and some excellent Giles/Willow conflict over it, but the real meat of the episode is in what foreshadowed story elements come through properly here.

For the first time, we get to see Xander in his new job as construction man – a role which represents his first step to becoming a true adult, after seven episodes of trying to find a place. We also see his relationship with Anya finally move into a more formal phase, as well as his supernatural syphillis.

And this is also when Spike first comes to the Scoobys for help, and although he’s acted as an ally under sufferance before, this is the first time that he has been fully involved in the group, albeit as an unwelcome guest. Of course, he gets all the best lines… especially when he gives his very shrewd speech about white middle class guilt.

0108 – I Will Remember You: This episode is the only true active crossover of the three episode arc that it concludes.

Wow, sorry about that incredibly awkward sentence, but I couldn’t think of a more natural way to say it. Buffy, having discovered that Angel was in Sunnydale without her knowledge, travels to LA to berate him.

However, things get out of hand at the close of their argument, when a demon assassin enters the scene. One thing leads to another, and Angel gets infected with demon blood, which has the unusual effect of making him human. Of course, this changes the outcome of his and Buffy’s decision to stay apart – they can now finally have a chance at the normal relationship that has eluded them since they first met – but events conspire against them, and Angel has to make the sacrifice to become a vampire again to protect Buffy.

There’s a lot of melodrama in this episode, as you can imagine, and a smidge of overwriting, but ultimately it’s a potent episode – the emotion of the scenes in which the two are able to be together are convincing if a little over-the-top, but Boreanaz carries the subtle but terrible tragedy – that only Angel will ever know about – and makes it very real. And although I’m certain that it comes up again, this episode gives some emotional closure to the Angel/Buffy love affair, and allows this series to move on into it’s own territory.

True Blood Season 1: Pilot

0101 – Strange Love: We caught this pilot to the new HBO series in the week, and I have to say, it’s intriguing, well acted and of very high quality.

Based on a series of books, and created by Alan Ball, the writer of “American Beauty” and “Six Feet Under”, this show is a bit of a genre departure from those previous projects. Set in Louisiana, the series follows Sookie Stackhouse, the young psychic waitress who finds herself drawn to – and in this episode saving the life of – a charming vampire who has moved into her neighbourhood.

In this version of our world, vampires have recently outed themselves, now that they have found a way to synthesise blood. This hasn’t all gone smoothly, though – in this episode, the enigmatic Bill faces small-town anti-vampire bigotry, as well as being attacked for his blood – which has supernatural properties when consumed by humans – by a nasty redneck couple.

Thrown into this are some fairly fetishistic sexual practices, a lot of groundwork on the various colourful characters in the region, and the murder of a local goodtime girl by Sookie’s errant brother. It’s a full and involving first episode, that does a good job of making it’s bizarre physical and moral “world” seem real enough that you find your feet quickly, and can tell when characters are behaving out of synch with that world.

Instrumental in grounding the audience is Anna Paquin’s sympathetic performance as Sookie. It would have been so easy to oversell this character, or let her sink into a saccharine pool of cutesy or stereotypical characteristics, but the script and Paquin manage to find a strong and upright core to the character that allows her to take her place as the show’s anchor.

It’s also lovely to see William Sanderson in a supporting role here, though it remains to be seen if we’re going to get him at his best in this show.

But whatever, another great HBO show. I’m watching this one with great anticipation…

CSI NY Season 5: 01

So, the last season of “CSI:NY” ended with a great guest-spot by Elias Koteas – who is one of my favourite actors – and an exciting – if a little contrived – cliffhanger.

The new season opens with the second part of that story, and it’s not bad. Hang on… better do this bit:

0501 – Veritas: Season openers are a peculiar animal, in a show that deals with continuity, and that enjoys the cliffhanger. On the one hand, a season premiere is normally a good place to reassert the characters and show dynamics for any potential new viewers, and provide a fresh jumping on point. It’s also a good place to establish any new ideas that are going to run through the season, such as a theme or a long arc.

On the other hand, a really popular show will sometimes jump into a new season feet-first, assuming that the majority of it’s viewers are regulars, and that anyone else will be able to pick things up from the “previously on”.

As with the bluntly abbreviated “Prison Break” storyline, powered by the oddly paced premiere this season, “CSI NY” chose to do away with any dramatic tension built up by their tail-twisting season 4 cliffhanger, in this case removing the threat to Mac Taylor’s life even before the close of the cold-open. In “Prison Break”, this rushed opening served to utterly rearrange the format and environment of the show – in “CSI: NY” it’s done to make sure that the status quo is reasserted before the credits even roll.

It’s not a terrible episode, but it’s largely forgettable, which is a shame. All of the key players are present, though in many circumstances woefully underused – with Mac and Stella taking center stage throughout. The only real step in a new direction here was the introduction of a precocious wrong-side-of-the-tracks sister for Don Flack – and people familiar with the franchise will recognise this trope from “CSI: Regular”, and Jim Brass’s daughter.

Elias Koteas does okay, here, but there’s an attempt to build a rivalry and relationship between his character and Gary Sinise’s that is entirely in the dialogue and nowhere in the on-screen action.

Of all the “CSI” shows we’ve seen, this branch of the franchise has always been the furthest from science and the closest to science fiction, and that isn’t as unenjoyable as it might sound. But it does mean that the show relies more on it’s characters to administer the real draw for wider audiences, and this first episode lets those slide a little. I hope it gets better, but I’ll be content with it just not getting worse.