The missile base is destroyed.
The bad guy is in custody.
Father and daughter are reunited
and…
Continue reading “A Supervillain's Fantasy: Taking A Swing At The President”
Category: On TV
Things on TV
Ben Linus Would Rather Be Dead [Is Dead]
I’m sitting here, 20 minutes after the ending of tonight’s episode of Lost, Dead Is Dead, wondering what to say.
As with any episode of Lost featuring Ben or Locke, it was a solid episode. Throw in some exposition about Ben’s past along with hints at some longtime island mysteries, and you have an awesome episode.
I was on the edge of my seat all night, and before I knew it, this episode was over. And I couldn’t really think of anything to say about it. So I’ll start with this:
If, like Ben, at the end, we’re judged by the hairstyles we had earlier in our life, I’m in trouble.
And if you’ve ever seen the Superman curl that I had earlier in life, that’s big trouble.
But enough about me. Back to Lost…
Jonas Hodges. On The Balcony. With The Whiskey Bottle.
Throughout tonight’s episode of 24, I kept on waiting for some action. More specifically, some action involving Jack Bauer.
Sure, we had Special Agent Larry Fine’s staredown with the Starkwood security team. And we had Tony sneaking into the bunker with the help of Doug something-or-other (played by the guy who was Hank Jennings). But the first 40 minutes of tonight’s episode was pretty light while Jack Bauer stood around in FBI headquarters suffering from the early effects of Mad Cow disease.
But then [My Name Is] Jonas Hodges went to go have a little talk with Doug and things picked up considerably.
Continue reading “Jonas Hodges. On The Balcony. With The Whiskey Bottle.”
The Reyes-Straume Roundtable Will Address Whatever Happened [Happened]
Usually, when Lost throws a Kate episode out there, I get very bitter afterwards, wishing the episode had focused on someone more integral to the show’s overall mythology.
Don’t get me wrong, I still think there are plenty of other characters on the island (everyone but Sun) who has a more interesting story and who is more integral to the Lost saga. But at least tonight, after Whatever Happened, Happened, I’m not bitter. For a Kate episode, it was not that bad.
There are a few reasons for this; The continued self-assertion of Sawyer as leader of the survivors. DHARMA. The continued downward spiral of Jack into the biggest idiot on the island. The Others. But most of all, the two conversations between Hurley and Miles discussing time travel and whether they’re living in their own future or their past. (And by the way, Miles is right, he just doesn’t know why. I think)
Continue reading “The Reyes-Straume Roundtable Will Address Whatever Happened [Happened]”
Jack Bauer vs. Mad Cow
I don’t know why. And I can’t say when. But all I know is that somehow, in the past few hours of 24, the horrible experience that was last season has been erased from my memory and any residual bitterness has been patched over and replaced with hope that Jack survives against [My Name is] Jonas Hodges and his airborne version of Mad Cow Disease.
He's Our You [All Everybody]
I don’t know about you, but if someone told me they were from the future, I’d listen to what they had to say. I’m not saying I’d believe them, but I’d let them talk.
And if even they happened to talk about things (I think) they weren’t supposed to know about and get a few details right and then end their rambling with an omnious preminition along the lines of, oh, I don’t know, “You’re all gonna die,” I’d let them keep talking. I’d maybe even take some notes, ask a few questions. Again, I wouldn’t believe them outright, but I’d listen.
Well, in tonight’s episode of Lost, He’s Our You, the DHARMA Initiative proved why they didn’t stick around on the Island all that long.
A Waste Of A Great Supervillain Moment
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that this season’s villain [My Name is] Jonas Hodges could be the best yet bad guy we’ve seen on 24 because he is similar to Ernst Stavro Blofeld, nemesis of James Bond.
Well the comparison stays apt, because one of the few interesting scenes in tonight’s episode of 24 showed Hodges acting in a Blofeldian manner, even if (forgive the pun) the execution wasn’t all the same.
It’s possible that there were things about tonight’s episode that I wasn’t seeing, but for the most part, I found it boring, especially in the White House scenes. All of that drama was between the President, the Sherri Palemeresque First Daughter and the (soon to be former) Chief of Staff.
Jack and Tony met up with lucky to be alive security guard Karl before taking on a team of Blofeld Hodges’ lackeys over a shipping container full of Sentox Nerve Gas a mystery chemical or bacterological agent. That action, taking place in the last 15 minutes of the hour was interesting. Although, I was befuddled as to why Jack and Tony didn’t take on team terror right away. Or at least make it look like Karl killed the goon (hey, it could’ve happened!) so as not to arouse suspicion that they were on the case.
Other than the final scenes involving the shootout and Jack’s theft of the big rig, the only other interesting part of tonight’s episode was Hodges’ meeting of SPECTRE the Starkwood Board of Directors. Hodges was quite animated during this meeting, even taking some time to deal with a dissenter on the board who looked like Bryan Cranston (the guy who played Dr. Tim Whatley on Seinfeld). The one thing that surprised me about this scene was we didn’t see the Whatley wannabe die–either in front of the rest of the Starkwood Board or during their private moment together. Even after Whatley accused him of murdering Senator That 70s Show, Hodges kept his cool and didn’t have Whatley walk over a gimmicked bridge that fell into a shark pit. Hodges makes a great villain, but that was his moment to shine, and he dropped the ball.
One other thing about this episode- at the end when Jack was on the horn with Special Agent Larry Fine, I was wondering- is Jack now off the hook? You think that Larry would call the White House and clear up the situation. But then again, this is Larry we’re dealing with.
I leave you tonight with an image of a man and his truck.
What did you think?
Namaste, Aloha and the Muppet Show
In the realm of Lost, as well as the rest of TV, I enjoy episodes that are either action or mythology-oriented. For the most part, I lose patience with episodes centered around emotions and relationships.
Even though I’d call tonight’s episode of Lost, Namaste, emotional, my reaction was different. I enjoyed it. It was a lot like a ‘set-up’ episode of 24, where characters and devices are introduced so the plot can shift into the next gear for the next episode. Even though that’s usually a recipe for a so-so episode, that didn’t happen tonight.
First of all, things started off pretty quickly.
A: A Bulldozer, A Screwdriver and A Two-By-Four
Q: What are three things not to leave laying around when Jack Bauer’s coming after you?
So Jack Bauer escaped from the hospital and is fighting for his life at a construction site, Secret Agent Larry Fine is having a helicopter escort him all around DC, the folks in the White House are going through damage control with the media and what is Tony Almeida doing?
Enjoying himself a nice mocha latte.
Heck of a season it’s shaking up to be for 24.
Continue reading “A: A Bulldozer, A Screwdriver and A Two-By-Four”
Ode To Bill
I have to admit, when Bill Buchanan showed up at CTU all those years ago (season four, anyone?) as a division stooge, I wasn’t a fan. But over these years, Bill has grown on me. And now, he’s gone.
Usually, when 24 introduces a character, I know right away whether I like them or whether I want Jack to put us out of our misery by crushing their windpipe with his legs. I have to admit, I was wrong about Bill. Maybe it’s because even though he was a division guy, he didn’t get in the way. Maybe it was because even though he was “seeing” Michelle, that was all water under the bridge between him and Tony. Or maybe it was because he was one of the few authority figures who saw the benefits in letting Jack be Jack.
Well, after five seasons, Bill is gone, having gone out in a selfless (typical Bill) blaze of glory in a successful attempt to liberate the White House and it’s hostages.
At least he got a silent clock. And in an effort to memorialize Bill, I’d like to quote something that I wrote in an episode recap from February of aught-six:
I read James Morrison, the guy who plays Buchanan, is a yoga instructor and poet. Because of this, I imagine Buchanan lives in a sparsely-decorated home, and sleeps on a stone tablet. Bill Buchanan is the man.
Yes Bill, in a television world where 95 percent of government authority figures are portrayed as idiots, you were the man.