Tuesday, October 30

Fall 2007 - week 4 & 5 quick review!

Journeyman - continues to be not only my favorite NEW show of the year, but also my favorite show of the year overall. for all my complaints about it moving too fast, it keeps coming up with more personal stuff to pile on, and so i'm alright with it (especially since who knows how long it'll be on the air). every episode has him finding out a bit more about what might be going on, and a lot of personal (but very real-life) stuff in his small web of friends and family. there is at least one VERY personal/dramatic scene each episode, and they are perfectly written, acted, and staged. oh, and we found out in episode 4 Sam Beckett our hero is not (with the planting of the gun and the "do anything it takes" attitude). there's more to say but i'll just say this - i love this show.

House - his team is pretty much 6 people now, and they're all pretty cool. it's really cool watching them play off one another since they're all totally different. however, Foreman is returning this week so we might see the return of the old team sooner than i would have liked. oh well.

Damages - had its season finale last week and i have to say... good stuff. this show was one of the best new shows of the summer. it's only faults are that it stretched a little long (13 episodes, should have been 8-10) and sometimes was a little twist-happy (too many twists). however, the perfect acting and near-perfect story more than make up for it. i could go on about it but will save it for its own post (if i ever have the time). i'll end with this: it's supposedly coming back for another season, but i don't know if i'll tune in. this season wrapped up pretty neatly and next season there's a black-and-white in place (one character is good, the other is bad) that wasn't there for part of this season... and this show is at its best when it operates in those shades of gray.

South Park - its in the midst of a 3-part story right now about terrorists hijacking our imaginations and it's PURE GENIUS. i think they could have probably done the whole thing in just 2 episodes instead of 3, but oh well. this new half-season of South Park is GOOD.

Bionic Woman - was really good 2 weeks ago, but last week it lost me a bit. they're introducing a love interest and i don't think she needs one at all - in fact, i think it goes against her trying to be an independent, strong, BIONIC woman, raising her sister on her own, saving the world on her own... and now she needs a man. ugh. and i'd be fine with it too if she just ran into him once in a while, but the preview for this week's episode shows him in it AGAIN. not cool.

Life - if you're not watching it, watch it. i'm afraid it might get canceled and IT CANNOT GET CANCELED. there's enough in place for a 5+ year storyline and i want it to be told!

The Office - missed the final hour-long episode 2 weeks ago, but saw the first 30-minute episode of the season this past week and it was pretty solid. in fact, what's funny is that after seeing all the hour-longs it felt like the 30 minute episode could have been longer!

all settled in to the new season of television. Damages is done... so is Mad Men (my favorite new show of this past summer) but i missed the final 4 episodes of that, so i'll have to post my feelings on it later. also keep forgetting to download Prison Break (i'm a few weeks behind on that), so more on that later as well. what i'm catching on TV, i'm liking.

- kawitchate

Heroes - week 6

another week, another good Heroes. feel the same way about this week's Heroes as i did last week's - the stories march on, one or two things are revealed, and many more questions arise.

notes:

- Claire's dad being a total bad ass and stepping over a line in this episode had to be my favorite part this week (maybe of the entire season). he's back to being a tough guy, but he's doing it for completely different reasons this time.

- The Company changing their ways seems to be a new theme (as it was brought up numerous times in this episode). is it true? could they really be under new management?

- i liked Suresh's storyline this episode, where he refused to inject the girl with the mutated virus. Nikki showing up to be his bodyguard/spy for the company however... not so much. i thought it was going to be someone that could read minds or something (which would make more sense if The Company wants to keep an eye on Suresh).

- thought: if the mutated virus is supposed to suppress powers (or get rid of them completely), is that what happened to Sylar? did The Company get him, inject him with the stuff, and then leave him on his own to see how it works?

- pretty bored with Claire's storyline this week. was pretty bored with Hiro's as well until the very end where we find out he may have screwed up things in the past. most of you know, i'm a sucker for time travel stories... mainly for all the things that could go wrong (or be put right) from time traveling.

- got to see a glimpse of the remaining paintings but couldn't really tell what was going on in them other than Hiro facing off with Takense. the others? pure speculation, but one of them had a hand that looked to be holding a test tube (maybe of the mutated virus?)... another looked like Nikki trying to break out of a window... and another was some haggard-looking dude with a gun (my guess is it's Peter or Alejandro).

- finally, we get to see where this season is headed: another freakin' large-scale problem in New York City just around the time the season's over. now, i've been pretty quiet about how this season is pretty much a rehash of last season in terms of storytelling and pacing... but this just takes the cake. COME ON! the only thing worse they could have done is had "save the _____, save the world" again. i'll give it a chance, but i'm not liking it right now.

- there IS a plus. there's a new, unseen character: Adam. the bald guy working for The Company had a file with his name on it in this episode, and he's the one that left a note for Peter in Montreal (hell, he might be the guy that gave Peter and his girlfriend the vision of New York). could he be Adam as in "Adam and Eve," the first hero??? whoever he is, i'm intrigued.

missed the preview for next week, so i'm completely in the dark as to what's coming. and i'm still pretty excited.

- kawitchate

Tuesday, October 23

Heroes - week 5

not much to say about this week's Heroes other than the stories keep marching on. there were a few twists and a new character, but all in all a pretty run-of-the-mill episode. not disappointing, not surprisingly great... a good, solid episode.

notes:

- i like the new girl (chick from Veronica Mars). she was such a goody goody on her last show it's nice to see a complete 180. i also like that she's working for "daddy." and who IS daddy? my guess is the bald guy that's the face of The Company this season... either that, or she's Parkman's half-sister.

- Hiro's story was unnecessary this week. should have either told more (and finished it off) or kept it out.

- Peter's story is getting better. what's up with Montreal? why is he getting pulled/being led there? has there ever been a mention of that city before?

- really cool twist was when Suresh showed up at the "copycat's" door. be interesting to see where it leads.

- Nathan and Parkman going to confront Parkman's dad, getting duped by him, and then facing their nightmares and battling each other was pretty cool... though i actually saw that exact same setup (2 friends battling each other thinking they were in a nightmare) on an anime recently. weird.

- again i ask: who or what does the "burnt Nathan" represent? was that how Peter looked as he blew up? was that how Nathan looked after the blast and someone healed him (maybe his mother, whose power we still don't know)? or is it just a personification of the guilt inside him?

- so glad we got a break from Claire this week.

- where did it look like Claire's dad and the Nigerian man were? somewhere in Europe? Russia maybe? very interesting.

very solid episode that wasn't TOO heavy-hitting, but not really lacking either.

- kawitchate

Tuesday, October 16

Fall 2007 - week 3 quick review!

- Journeyman was good, but again i'm worried that they're going too personal, too soon. in a perfect world i would have had the wife not even believing he time-traveled until like mid-first season, and THEN you start in on the problems with the web of characters. i guess it's good i'm worried about the longevity of the show because that means it's good enough that i want it to LAST! :)

- House was again good. he gambled with the life of a patient and lost. oh, and House died and didn't see the white light. pretty interesting. also, the team of candidates is still entertaining. however, one of his former team members got fired from their job SO i'm guessing they'll be back sooner than i expected/wanted.

- Damages was EXCELLENT. i believe we're finally 2 episodes away from the finale (it's been a long time coming - my only complaint about the show) and WOW what a twist. just when you think you know something, the rug is pulled out from under you and it turns out you were completely wrong... and they're not all cheap twists either, twists for the sake of twists. these are genuine twists. great show.

- this week's South Park was probably the best of season 11 so far! the entire thing was full of double meanings (the episodes that have double meanings are the best, have the most to say about society as a whole). and maybe it also hit home with me because i really hate Bono of U2. the whole thing was genius - from the Emmy message that kept popping up on the screen to Bono answering the phone "Hello Hello!" it was all priceless. totally looking forward to the rest of the season now!

- Bionic Woman moved from the run-of-the-mill episode of last week to one that really mattered, that fit in with the overall story. alliances were formed, enemies were made... it was really well done. if Bionic Woman can keep the formula fresh - run-of-the-mill missions mixed with overarching story that matters - i'll be a happy camper.

- Life continued with its formula of "cases that aren't that interesting and are wrapped up in one episode, but characters that are rich and deep enough to sustain seasons of the show" this week. really liking this show.

- The Office had its funniest episode of the season. it seems like they're going to run with the theme of bringing Dunder Mifflin into the 21st century and on to the world wide web, and that's kinda cool. in past seasons there wasn't much of an overarching story, but it could work this season, especially since things are getting a little stale and Jim and Pam are together... of course, another thing they did to make it more interesting in the relationship category is break up Dwight and Angela, which is pretty interesting in itself.

pretty good week of television. here's to hoping for a repeat!

- kawitchate

Heroes - week 4

all i can say is hopefully this will be the episode i point to a little later down the line as to when the season REALLY got going.

this. episode. ROCKED. and it was a different kind of rock... it was a lot darker than Heroes usually is, and i liked that.

notes:

- gone were Hiro and Peter, and i've got to say thank god. their stories were getting old, running 3 weeks straight. i'm glad the show seems to be back to focusing on half the heroes one week, and half the next (hopefully).

- i hope they explain how this happened later (he was in a jungle and 3 days later he's in the desert???), but Sylar joining up with the South American twins was pure GENIUS on the part of the writing staff. the power the 2 of them have seem like something that Sylar would LOVE to get his hands on.

- something's bugging me with Sylar however (other than his sudden appearance in the middle of the desert). last episode he seemed to remember WHO he was, it's just that he didn't have his powers. this episode he was acting more like he's got memory loss - calling himself Gabriel and looking at his watch (with "Sylar" written on it) as if he recognized it, but didn't know what it meant... and then the tic-tic-tic that came later seemed more instinctual than anything, as if he was surprised by it. i don't know. it was also the first time i remember that he heard the ticking on a normal human before he killed them...

- they promised that we'd learn more about the original 12 and we DID! not only that, but we know who the nightmare hero is! way to deliver on a promise!

- i like semi-cleaned-up Nathan trying to get his life back. very nice. oh, and the face he saw in the mirror... what do you think? i think it's either what he saw happen to Peter OR Nathan's got healing powers (given to him somehow by Peter?)...

- making Parkman (the cop) more important to the story - AND explaining a bit more what happened between him and his wife in between seasons - was awesome. i like the actor and also the character.

- i could do without the New Orleans story simply for the fact that it seems like they're abusing the Katrina catastrophe instead of just setting a story there and letting post-Katrina New Orleans be the backdrop (like K-Ville is doing... even though i don't like K-Ville for other reasons). also i'm not that invested in the girl or her story yet, but we'll see.

- still not liking Claire's story (with her new boyfriend and how he's going to turn her against her father) BUT it was a little more tolerable this week. i just don't understand why the father wouldn't come right out to Claire and show her the painting... the 2 of them seemed closer than ever when the season started. also, he knows that the painting is the last in a series, and the first painting just happened a few days (a week?) ago, so he should have some time before the 8th painting comes to fruition - so he should nip it in the bud while he can! ...oh well.

and that's it! overall a lot less complaints about this episode and lots more questions than previous weeks.

all that said and i STILL liked Journeyman just a bit more (it really stepped it up this week too). do yourself a favor - if you're not watching Journeyman, start.

- kawitchate

Monday, October 15

a good time to be a fan of (my kind of) music

i can't tell you the last album i was excited about. there's been a few here and there that i discovered and liked a lot - disasterpeace, The Action Design - but none that i had been really looking forward (i couldn't be excited for disasterpeace or The Action Design because i didn't know the bands existed, thus i couldn't be excited for something i didn't know was out there).

and all of the sudden there's 3 i'm excited for.

Dethklok - The Dethalbum. came out a few weeks ago, and man was i excited for its release. it's an album by the guys that created the cartoon Metalocalypse on Adult Swim. since the cartoon is about a death metal band, they decided to create a full-length album and put it out under the name of that fictitious band.

and wow does it kick ass.

i was actually expecting it to be a little more death metal, but it's surprisingly accessible (more metal than death metal - well, maybe "death metal lite"). some of the riffs you can tell came from other songs they did for the show, but all in all, pretty good effort from guys that created a cartoon.

then this week Thrice's new album is finally coming out. for those that don't know, Thrice is one of my favorite bands - some might call them screamo, i call them awesome.

i guess the new one is a concept album about the elements (earth, wind, fire, water) on 4 discs - something like that. i'm expecting it to fluctuate between melodic and hardcore even more than they did on their last album. here's to hoping the concept works.

and finally, next week Coheed and Cambria's new album comes out! this band is another favorite of mine, but i was a little let down with their last album because it sounded the same as their older stuff. so i'm excited for the new one, but cautiously so.

yay for new music!

- kawitchate

yes i read my comments

for those of you NOT commenting on my blog because you wonder if i even read the comments - and for Ben who WAS commenting and wondering if i even read them - yes i do. and i'll do my best from now on to respond to them ASAP.

Ben, check the posts you commented on - i responded! wow!!!

- kawitchate

Monday, October 8

Heroes - week 3

- good to see Nikki and Micah back, but their scenes were a little melodramatic and stilted. also, Micah's father is dead? damn, didn't see that coming (though i'm not particularly broken up about it). be interesting to see what comes of Nikki going to the Company.

- speaking of melodramatic and stilted, is it just me or have there been a large number of these types of scenes so far this season? Nikki and Micah, Peter and that Irish chick, Hiro and that girl, Claire and her new boyfriend... i don't remember there being so many scenes like this last year, and when there WAS a melodramatic scene, it was better written/acted than they have been this year so far.

- also good to see Sylar back, and i'm glad that at least something is preventing him from getting back to his old tricks again so soon (what that something is, i have no idea). who saved him? the girl mentioned something about employers, or the people she worked for... the Company?

- Hiro ALMOST came back to the present and i was ALMOST happy. then he stayed in the past. and i was sad. that story had better get a lot more interesting, and fast.

- Peter staying with the Irish folk on his own free will? god it's almost a worse plot device keeping him from moving forward as a character than the memory loss! ugh. that said, every time he uses his powers... super-cool.

- that brother and sister better get out of Mexico and into the states soon, because i'm losing interest in their story as well (since it's followed the same pattern of "oh, roadblock, how do we pass it?" "oh, there goes my powers... people are dead..." "it's ok, i'm here to take it away, let's keep going" every episode so far).

- NOT liking the direction the Claire/Claire's father relationship is headed. she HAD to have known that he did some pretty nasty stuff in the past, and now she's letting some new boy in her life manipulate her, pitting her against her father (well he hasn't started yet but you know he's going to)? she's stronger than that. it just doesn't fit. and i don't like it. that said, if it turns out that this boy knew all along who her father was and is turning her against him on purpose, trying to get closer to the one that hurt him (the father)... then it might be cool enough to pass. we'll see.

- one old Star Trek crew member leaves the cast and another joins. cool.

- next week we find out more about the First Ones, the one hunting them down, and the man from that little girl's nightmares. and clean-cut Nathan is back. let's do this.

overall, another good episode that wasn't great... par for this season so far.

- kawitchate

Fall 2007 - week 2 quick review!

just to let you all know, i don't plan on writing paragraph after paragraph about EVERY show i watch - that first week was just special is all, being the week where most of the shows i watch premiered. i'll dive in and write more on a show when i get the itch to, have the time to, or have something more to say about it (good OR bad).

that all said, i'm still going to try and write longer reviews of Heroes (since i sorta started that last year with a few of you via email)... and i'm also going to try and do these quick reviews. if i don't have anything to say about a show i watched, i won't say anything.

so here we go. Fall 2007 - week 2 quick review!

- Prison Break was par for the course. lots of stuff happened - more than i think should be happening if they want to have something interesting to show in a few weeks (the show moves too fast for its own good in my opinion) - and there was a twist at the end. what's in the box? if they killed off...

- House i liked that he's got like 20 people he's picking from to create a new team, and they all have their own personalities and histories (well, maybe like 6 of them do so far). what i didn't like is that they're bringing back his old team too quickly. they should have stayed out of the picture just a bit longer and let House be about House. my guess? they'll be back together for November sweeps.

- Damages continues to twist and turn and there's STILL no end in sight. my guess is that there's maybe 2-3 episodes left - 2-3 episodes longer than the show really needed to go. still good though!

- South Park came back with the first episode of the second half of season 11. while it was funny, i still have that sinking feeling that the show is growing old on me (felt that way all last season). still, it was one of the better episodes of season 11.

- Bionic Woman got into the groove of things, having her join the team and go on her first mission. there's a nice blend of light comedy along with the dark drama that keeps it from going too dark. liked it quite a bit.

- Life also got into the groove of things, but faltered a bit. the case that the detectives worked on was a little lame, but the characters themselves... wow. the main story of this guy trying to figure out who set him up - along with the side story of his self-destructive partner - is just amazing. i fear that the cases that they have week to week won't be so amazing. liked it.

- The Office had its second hour-long episode in a row (and i think there's 2 more to go) but unlike last week, this one had enough material for the entire hour. this episode really should have been the season opener - it was a lot stronger than the first episode and had more stuff happen in the lives of the characters than usual. very weird. still a little worried that it's getting a little old, but this episode in particular was great.

that does it for me.

- kawitchate

Monday, October 1

you got your Heroes in my Journeyman

yes, unfortunately, the header pretty much sums it up - Heroes was like a prelude this week to something better, an appetizer to the main course. maybe it's because Journeyman is still brand new and Heroes is suffering a bit from the sophomore slump, maybe the writing is slipping on Heroes, or maybe i'm just a sucker for time travel stories. at any rate, i liked Journeyman this week a lot - and Heroes?

- Heroes -

now granted, i missed the first couple minutes of the show because i was late in getting home from work, but i seriously doubt i missed anything SO pivotal as to change my mind about the episode as a whole.

notes:

- last year i think they did a good job juggling tons of characters, only showing the stories of maybe half of them (or less) each week. THIS year they've decided to focus on the same handful of heroes now for 2 straight episodes. it's weird, and i don't like it. granted, next week we saw that Jessica and Sylar are back, so that's a change, but still... weird.

- they're focusing WAY too much on Claire (probably because she's one of the more popular heroes and they're trying to get the younger crowd in), but it's just BORING. and, i hate to say it, but i feel the same way about Hiro's story. things only JUST got interesting with the white samurai turning out to have healing powers of his own... but damn did it take long.

- it all feels like stall tactics, like everything that happened in the last 2 episodes could have been done in one.

- as much as i don't really like Peter's memory loss story, i do have to admit - it was really, really cool seeing him unleash his powers on those bad guys and being like "what the... ?" that's what i really like about the show: heroes discovering their powers. we need more of that this year.

- i know i just said i like seeing heroes discovering their powers, and the Guatemalan (Mexican? where the hell are they?) twins are interesting... but the writers are taking too long with revelations there. again, it's just too slow... stall tactics.

- the Haitian is back. i seriously thought they were going to make the mistake of killing him off just to show how powerful this virus thing is. man am i glad they didn't, especially since he's teamed up again with Claire's dad.

- the scene between Claire's dad and her mother was really cool. no secrets between them anymore. i like the change.

so i guess it boils down to this: there's a lot going on underneath the surface, but the writers are focusing too much on the wrong characters and neglecting others. also, they're not revealing enough, and i was actually getting bored watching parts this week... but next week looks to change that. i hope at least.

- Journeyman -

tonight we got a better idea of what the formula of the show looks to be, and here it is in a nutshell: guy travels back in time 3-4 times crossing the path of one person's life, and changing it a little bit each time (or at least learning something that will help him ultimately change it). however, he can't control when he leaves, so this causes problems at home. ALSO causing problems is the fact that he keeps running into himself and his web of friends back in the past, stirring up old feelings. oh, and his supposedly dead fiance is also a time traveler... or something... so you get a few clues as to what's going on there each episode as well.

it's a formula that i think will work as long as some episodes stay away from all the personal stuff and just tackle the case he's on, the person he's supposed to save. otherwise things could get old quick, like the wife saying "where were you?!?" for the 30th time, when she KNOWS where he was, and what he was doing.

it's a formula that worked wonderfully tonight.

the one minor problem? a time travel one. ok, so the guy traveled back and went to his old apartment to charge his old cell phone that he brought with him from the future (so he could use it when he travels back in the 90s - he had the phone not the charger). however, his younger self came in and interrupted so he stole the cell phone charger.

now, if the writers would have added a line like "so that's where my charger went!" when he stole it, that would have been smart writing... because, you know, you think you'd remember the theft of something like a cell phone charger (i mean this thing was huge, not like today's chargers). but nope, they missed it, and i caught it.

oh well, maybe the guy's got a bad memory.

- kawitchate