August 8, 2008 · 4:32 pm

Burn Notice – “Scatter Point”

“Scatter Point”

August 7th, 2008

When it comes to integrating the Carla storyline, it is generally used in one of two things thus far in Burn Notice’s second season: either to allow Michael opportunities to show off various skills and technologies that aren’t really applicable to normal missions, and to serve as a distraction from his more pressing client obligations.

What we see in “Scatter Point” is both of these examples, along with some further answers about Carla’s whereabouts and Michael’s ability (or inability) to track her down. And yet, while it may distract Michael, it isn’t really distracting for the review; this episode isn’t quite as indulgent as last week’s, which offered a bit more to just kind of sit back and enjoy, but this remains an example of how Burn Notice can maintain its quality while delving into somewhat more serious storylines and with an extra hint of danger to the proceedings.

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August 8, 2008 · 1:40 pm

Season Finale: My Boys – “John, Cougar, Newman Camp”

“John, Cougar, Newman Camp”

August 7th, 2008

After a bit of a non-starter of a season wherein the opening resolution to the cliffhanger never went anywhere, and where the relentless drive towards this wedding finale never felt like any sort of natural progression, we have a finale that wants to bookend things cleaner than the season actually was.

And it’s successful – as far as season finales go, it is a smart choice of letting its various characters serve the right roles in Bobby’s march to holy matrimony, and even though the ending is entirely predictable the episode offers our gang of friends enough opportunities to interact that it doesn’t feel like a total cheat. It still doesn’t feel like any type of finale, serving just as a tease for the continuation to come likely early next year, but it does achieve at least a good sense of character within its contrived plotting.

So while I can’t say I’m any more excited about the final cliffhanger as I was when I presumed it would happen weeks ago, the combination of a decent continuation of last week’s threads with some funny gang stuff rises above the median but does little to change the season’s overall quality.

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August 7, 2008 · 10:52 pm

Finale: Who Won So You Think You Can Dance Season Four?

“Season Finale: Results”

August 7th, 2008

After one of the most well-structured pieces of fan service I’ve seen in a reality finale, emphasizing reliving past dances, seasons and even careers for its judges, it’s come down to this.

Could Twitch emerge from a few Bottom Three placements to win the day? Can Courtney overcome her technical deficiency with her charm and determination? Is Katee’s technicall brilliance a hindrance or a benefit with voters? And will Joshua’s feel good story and versatility win over America?

The votes are in, and it’s hard to argue with the decision.

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August 7, 2008 · 2:38 am

Project Runway Season Five – “Episode Four”

“Summer Olympics Wear”

August 6th, 2008

So…didja hear that the Olympics are coming up? Because I dare say that NBC wants us to know that the Olympics are coming up.

In a grasp at corporate synergy, something they won’t be able to do once the show jumps to Lifetime in the fall, it’s Olympic fever at Project Runway. While this may be thematically strong, it’s a bit of a challenge to take people used to high glamour or cocktail dresses and tasking them with creating something more akin to athletics.

And this group is no different than many others who have failed to grasp tasks that ask them to meld fashion with other interests – when Daniel has never even seen an opening ceremony in his life, is it any surprise that his garment has no relation to it?

In the end, a few designers are up to the challenge, but seeing these people so fully fail at things isn’t quite as entertaining as sometimes the show thinks it is.

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August 6, 2008 · 10:16 pm

Performance Finale: So You Think You Can Dance Season Four

“Performance Finale”

August 6th, 2008

I haven’t blogged about what I deemed the summer’s guilty pleasure all those weeks ago, thus riling up a sizable segment of the show’s fanbase who viewed the term was disaffectionate. Well, needless to say, it was not intended as such – sitting around and watching So You Think You Can Dance has become a weekly ritual, first with some friends and then eventually with my parents as I’ve been spending a few weeks visiting at home.

It’s a show that you grow into more than perhaps any other reality program – there is a combination of personal achievement and massive variety that is unparalleled, and the limited audience involvement in selecting candidates keeps the dead weight out. This is a show where people are brought on for talent: not for how they play to the audience, not for their condescending attitude, but for their ability to dance.

And that means that, even with some surprises along the way, you get a finale of four strong dancers who offer up a great deal of entertainment and where all of the intense nepotism and laudatory comments usually dominating finales seems justified and deserved. I won’t pretend to know everything about dancing, but I have been watching enough to know where things might shake down for the impending final results.

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August 5, 2008 · 10:56 am

Weeds – “I Am The Table”

“I Am The Table”

August 4th, 2008

One of my most common issues with Weeds is not necessarily the content we receive, but rather the abrupt and often miniscule portions in which we receive it. Right now, the show is juggling five storylines: you’ve got Silas and his Cheese MILF, Shane adjusting to a new environment, Andy and Doug working on their Coyote business, Celia trying to keep herself conscious, and Nancy cavorting with Esteban south of the border.

So, “I Am The Table” can’t possibly satisfy all of these stories, and as a result one can’t expect it to. I’ve often wondered how this show would play as an hour-long, and I really think that it would do many parts of it a lot of favours.  At the same time, however, the short format did lead to some great comedy here: the Shane and Celia stories, in particular, are well served with just some small moments of really great comedy, and with Elizabeth Perkins and Alexander Gould up to the task it’s hard to argue that there isn’t entertainment.

I just sometimes wish that the glacial pace of everything else had either Nancy and Esteban’s passion or the aforementioned humour.

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August 5, 2008 · 12:28 am

The Mole (2008): “Episode Nine”

“Episode Nine”

August 4th, 2008

The most memorable task to ever appear on The Mole took place in this equivalent week during the first season. Trapped in separate rooms in a hotel, Steven, Jim and Kathryn are forced to use what they have in their hotel rooms to escape, which involves a whole host of weird little clues. It was a ridiculous task that they failed miserably at, which made it an extremely easy con for The Mole.

Unfortunately, there isn’t quite as fantastic an event this time around. The tasks here are more about running around and luck than they are about really figuring out clues. This might be for the best, though, because this isn’t the sharpest bunch around: what really made this episode stand out was the mistakes people made, and the ways in which these tasks kept this show entertaining this season. The various human interactions that made the show almost unbearable earlier this season are better in small doses, as people struggle or succeed in isolation.

So while it isn’t quite the poetry I sometimes want, it still provides plenty of Mole-related entertainment to be had in the penultimate episode.

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August 4, 2008 · 4:44 pm

Generation Kill – “Combat Jack”

“Combat Jack”

August 3rd, 2008

We’re now over the halfway point with HBO’s miniseries, and things remain relatively the same in terms of my opinion: fantastic production values, strong writing and some great performances have stabilized, and as the show delves further into the war it is only allowing these elements to expand further. With a series that is so contained in itself, telling the same types of stories without grand character arcs, there isn’t the usual concerns over a show jumping the shark so to speak; with only seven episodes, there isn’t room for any of that type of manuevering, at least not to this point.

And so, “Combat Jack” is the closest we might get to a complete diversion, as Bravo is separated from Alpha, who go on a side mission that demonstrates further the lack of foresight behind the broader military command. It’s not an overly complicated lesson (“Liberation Army” being a buzzword for abject failure), but it’s one that does feel in tone with the series trajectory, and while it does mean spending a little bit less time with the core group it seems that chronology and the slavish attention paid to it by Simon and Burns (And Wright, for that matter) dictate that we take this little journey.

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August 4, 2008 · 1:14 am

Mad Men – “Flight 1”

“Flight 1”

August 3rd, 2008

If last week was about the dueling crises of Betty and Don Draper, the sophomore episode of Mad Men’s second season is all about how the show’s other two primary characters are dealing with crises of their own own. Pete and Peggy’s fates are no doubt intertwined in this series, from the premiere’s tryst to the finale’s birth, and while they share only a brief conversation and one long look during one of Pete’s lower moments, their connection is apparent throughout.

Mad Men is all about reactions: to the times, to the people, to tragedy, to triumph, and everything else in between. We don’t see Flight 1 crash into Jamaica Bay, but we see the reactions of the people at Sterling Cooper and through the impact it has on Pete’s family. Much like the second season from a conceptual level, the show isn’t about showing us every event, but rather slowly pulling back the curtain on the ways that those events change these characters. It’s a show where a plane crash is never just a plane crash not because of some sort of electromagnetic field, but rather due to the show’s ability to emphasize the widespread impact of events both big and small on the characters it knows so well.

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August 2, 2008 · 4:17 pm

Burn Notice – “Comrades”

“Comrades”

July 31st, 2008

When I was a guest on the /Filmcast on Monday night, at least for a brief period, I gave Burn Notice a qualified compliment in my discussion of Mad Men’s season premiere with Devindra Hardawar: I said that it was a fun show, and one with a lot of potential, but that Mad Men is simply in a different league. I stand by this statement, no question, but I want to make sure that this isn’t seen as a slight to this great show.

I’ve been slow to watch Thursday’s episode, but I am glad I finally got to it. “Comrades” is an extremely strong episode of a show that has been playing to its strengths all season. It’s worth hammering home, even though I’ve mentioned it the last few weeks, how great this balance is: even in an episode that adds extra helpings of Michael’s family to the equation, the balance between the normal clients and the ongoing serialized Carla storyline is in perfect form.

And when all of the various elements are working together in this type of comradery, it’s hard to beat Burn Notice for a more escapist (but still “great”) show.

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