“I was her for a while. She’s like me but better.”
-Olivia
“Concentrate and Ask Again” made me seriously concerned about the direction in which “Fringe” is heading now that all Olivias are back in the universe where they belong. I know that during the first eight episodes of the season, I was clamoring for our Olivia to come home, but I’m not entirely satisfied with where the plot has gone since that even finally happened. Mostly, I’m concerned about how Peter and Olivia’s romantic relationship has become the focal point for the series mythology. Now don’t get me wrong, I may be quite geeky, but I also like my rom coms, and I am definitely a fan of Peter and Olivia getting together romantically. I also don’t mind genre shows exploring romance (in fact, I prefer it). I just don’t think that the romance is what the entire mythology and future of the series should hinge on. In this episode, the Peter/Olivia/Alt-livia triangle was revealed to be the crux of the entire series, and I don’t think I approve.
The episode opens with Nina going into a secret room, presumably at Massive Dynamic. The room is filled with William Bell’s belongings. She opens a safe (which even has a warning written on it to keep away), and in it she finds yet another copy of the book about the First People. She places the book with all the copies that Massive Dynamic have recently procured, and she and Olivia discuss the conundrum. They wonder if the story told in the books is true (about an ancient civilization that created a device to control creation and destruction) and why William Bell was interested in it. They also have some girl talk about Olivia’s issues with Peter. Olivia explains that she read Alt-livia’s files and didn’t have a problem with it because she can understand why Alt-livia would develop feelings for Peter. What troubles her is whether or not Peter still has feelings for Alt-livia. Nina advises Olivia to ask Peter this directly.
Next we get to the obligatory creepy and gross reveal of the crime of the week. This time, we see an office birthday party for a scientist named Warren. As he happily heads back to his office after the party, Warren’s assistant gives him a package that recently arrived in the mail. Warren figures it’s yet another birthday present, so he opens it without giving it much thought. Inside the box is a rag doll with a pull string. At first, I thought it was a voodoo doll. Warren pulls the string, the doll makes a creepy laughing noise, and then it shoots a sort of powder at Warren. Warren is instantly in horrible, agonizing pain. At first it looks like all his bones are spontaneously breaking, but we later find out that his bones were actually disintegrating. Painful way to die, to say the least.
Because this incident is creepy and gross, the Fringe team is obviously on the case. Both Olivia and Walter have important breakthroughs. Olivia, noticing that the package arrived by US Postal Service, has a breakthrough in identifying the suspect by looking at CCTV footage from the Post Office from which the package was sent. Walter has a breakthrough because, once again, he recognizes what is going on, this time thanks to an experiment he and William Bell did during the Nixon Administration. I think it’s interesting that they’ve brought back the concept of these strange things happening mirroring things Walter once did. That was a big focus in the early first season, and then it was kind of dropped in favor of racing towards the parallel universes story.
Putting their breakthroughs together, Olivia and Walter figure out that the suspect is a former Marine named Aaron. The FBI raids his house, but they just miss him. As the Fringe team combs through everything in the house, Olivia chooses the most inappropriate moment for a relationship conversation with Peter. It’s inappropriate because, hey, it’s a crime scene! She’s upset because when peter brought her coffee earlier that day, he brought her coffee with milk, not black coffee with one sugar. She (rightly) assumes that coffee with milk was Alt-livia’s usual order. Peter apologizes, and he insists that when he thinks about Alt-livia, he only thinks about her betrayal. I’m not sure I believe that, and I don’t think Olivia does, either.
While snooping around the second floor of Aaron’s house, Peter hears a noise and realizes that Aaron hasn’t left after all. Aaron jumps off the roof of the house, and Peter follows him. Aaron runs out to the street and suddenly gets hit by a car. The accident leaves Aaron in a coma, unable to provide any information to the team about what he has been doing and why. Walter thinks he might know of a way to question Aaron in spite of the coma, but he has to think about it for a bit. Meanwihle, Peter and Olivia question Aaron’s ex-wife. She’s horrified, but not surprised, when Peter and Olivia tell her what has happened. Apparently, Aaron had threatened to kill this particular scientist before. She had a late-term miscarriage due to a “DNA pathogen” passed on by Aaron. Aaron believed the pathogen came from his time overseas with a defense contractor working on a weapons project overseen by Warren.
Peter gets a rather odd phone call from Walter, who is randomly stranded on a highway in New Hampshire. He was on his way to visit a former Cortexaphan test subject who had show ability as a mind reader. Walter didn’t notice that the car was getting low on gas. Peter puts gas in the car, and they all head to the rural compound where the mind reader lives. The mind reader greets Walter with a gun, but luckily, Olivia, also with a gun, brings the situation under control. Like many telepaths in fiction, the mind reader, Simon, has been seriously affected by the constant cacophony in his mind when he his near other people. That is why he has chosen to live in the middle of nowhere. He can’t hear Olivia’s thoughts, though, probably because of her Cortexaphan exposure, so he doesn’t mind talking with her. She asks him to come to Boston to read Aaron’s mind, and he is hesitant. He thinks his mind would be overwhelmed in a city. Meanwhile, at a defense contractor’s office, another doll goes off in an elevator, killing three people.
Simon eventually agrees to help the Fringe team, and the process of getting any information from Aaron is quite painful for him. It is not entirely in vain, though. At first, all Simon hears is fractured images and words, but Olivia talks to Aaron to focus him, and Simon picks up the words “Project Jellyfish.” Broyles runs off to Nina to ask her about it, and she has a CIA guy look into it. He finds that Aaron got some land south of Boston in a Project Jellyfish-related settlement. We see two other ex-defense contractors continuing to work on weapons there. While Broyles is off learning about Project Jellyfish, Simon and Olivia have a talk about what else but romantic relationships. Simon says there’s a girl at a coffee shop that he likes, but he doesn’t want to pursue her because he would know exactly what she felt. Olivia says she wouldn’t mind that ability, and the both significantly look at Peter, who is in the next room.
The Fringe team goes to the farm Aaron received in the settlement, and it has been abandoned. It is obvious that something big was going on there. The Fringe team can see that the disgruntled ex-defense contractors were planning to deploy the Jellyfish material on a larger scale. Through some other words Simon picked out of Aaron’s brain, they figure out that the remaining members of the group are planning to attack a Congressman’s fundraiser at an art museum. Olivia, in a fancy black dress and red lipstick (very unusual for her), takes Simon to the fundraiser, hoping Simon can find the remaining two ex-defense contractors. Simon finds the first suspect, but he’s not the one with the vest of Jellyfish material. Olivia and Simon go onto the main party floor, and Simon finally hears the other suspect. Olivia, not as much of a crack shot as her doppelganger, shoots him perfectly in the neck, which was necessary to keep the vest from exploding and killing everyone.
At the end of the episode, Nina plays with anagrams of the author names for all her copies of the First People book and realizes that Olivia’s old bowling alley buddy Sam was the author. She pays him a visit at the bowling alley, and Sam says that whether the doomsday device will be used for creation or destruction will depend on which Olivia chooses to be with. Apparently the Olivia he chooses will affect which frequency he exists on or something. I found this to be kind of lame. I love the Olivia/Peter romance, but, like I said in the introduction, making it the crux of the mythology is too much. Chances aren’t looking quite so good for our Olivia being Peter’s choice. As he leaves to go back to his cabin, Simon hands Olivia a note. It says that Peter still has feelings for Alt-livia.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
The Big Bang Theory 4.14: "The Thespian Catalyst"
“Thank you, but cute is for bunnies. I want to be something with sex appeal. Like a labradoodle.”
-Raj
“The Thespian Catalyst” definitely had some funny moments. I especially liked the plot involving Sheldon and Penny, because Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco have such great comedic chemistry. The plot involving Raj had potential to be funny and provide much-needed character development, and it did have some amusing moments, but it was unfortunately sullied by a cloud of homophobia. All Raj plots since pretty much the beginning of season 3 have had this problem, but it was more prominent in this episode than it has ever been before, and it really took away from my enjoyment of the episode. Even a fun Bollywood number (which I usually love) couldn’t save it.
The episode opens with Sheldon trying to teach a class as a guest lecturer. He is incredibly condescending to his class (big surprise), and the students appear to be bored out of their minds. This is confirmed by the rest of the guys who are monitoring Twitter chatter about Sheldon’s class for the sheer entertainment value of it. Not one student liked the lecture, some even going so far as to tweet “kill me now.” Penny stops by the apartment to get the new password for Sheldon and Leonard’s wi-fi and joins in on the fun. When Sheldon arrives home, he is obviously oblivious to how much his students hated the lecture. He goes so far as to call the lecture “triumphant.” Penny wants to give Sheldon the “good” news, but Leonard says he promised that honor to Howard. Howard has Raj show Sheldon all the tweets and blog entries on his computer. Sheldon throws a rather minor fit, storming off to his bedroom.
The next day, Sheldon tells Amy about his predicament via Skype. Amy tries to cheer him up by using a “whimsical” aquarium themed Skype background and acting like she’s swimming while making fish faces. I think it’s the funniest Mayim Bialik has been on the show thus far. Odd that she does her best work in an episode where she is only in one short scene. I also liked that the scene served to further differentiate Amy from Sheldon. I can’t imagine Sheldon making fish faces over Skype to try and cheer someone up. The best he can muster is a monotone “there, there,” and even that takes a lot of effort. Anyway, when the whimsy doesn’t help, Amy starts offering more tangible suggestions including using a laser to burn the memory out of Sheldon’s brain and taking acting lessons. Sheldon decides to go with the latter suggestion.
Since Penny is the only actress Sheldon interacts with on a regular basis, he asks her for acting lessons. And he almost doesn’t get his wish because he can’t hold back insults about Penny’s lack of a career. Penny is in the process of shoving him back out the door and into the hallway when he says he’ll pay her $40.00. That’s all Penny needs to hear to agree to take Sheldon on as a student. Predictably, their first lesson does not go well. Sheldon basically refuses to go along with anything Penny suggests they try. She wants to start with some movement exercises, but Sheldon insists he’s more comfortable just standing still. Penny then tries to move on to improve, creating the character of a shoe saleslady. Sheldon instead asks for frozen yogurt, and when Penny tries to turn her fake business establishment into a shoe and frozen yogurt store, Sheldon accuses her of being insane.
The second acting lesson is where the real meat of this episode takes place. Penny has assigned a scene study from “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in which Sheldon has absolutely no interest. Instead, he wants to perform a scene from a Star Trek fan fic he wrote when he was ten years old. Penny is astounded that Sheldon could think his own childhood fan fic could be better than Tennessee Williams, but I guess it’s really not so surprising. Sheldon really is the ultimate narcissist. To make Sheldon finally get at least somewhat out of his comfort zone, Penny says that Sheldon will play his mother and she will play Spock (Sheldon had wanted to be Spock, of course). Sheldon’s impression of his mother actually isn’t half bad, and Penny’s attempt at being Spock is amusing too because it shows she’s been hanging out way too much with the guys! Things go haywire when Penny suggests that the character of Mary Cooper should at least be a little upset that Spock is taking her son to the 23rd Century. Sheldon starts having a conversation between himself and his mother and reliving painful moments from his childhood. Penny ends up having to call Sheldon’s mom to get her to break Sheldon out of it. This is definitely the best part of the entire episode.
Meanwhile, Raj spends the episode confronting his feelings for Bernadette. At dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, Raj makes a comment about a time he accidentally found himself in a gay bar and he still didn’t get hit on. When Bernadette stops by the table, Howard tells her Raj needs a girl. Bernadette says that shouldn’t be a problem because he’s cute. With that one comment, Bernadette sets off a barrage of fantasies that will take Raj through the rest of the episode. First he daydreams that Howard got a two year fellowship in Israel and asked Raj to keep Bernadette satisfied while he was gone. Then he daydreams about Howard getting hit by a truck and his dying wish being that Raj take care of Bernadette. The final daydream is a really cool Bollywood number featuring Raj and Bernadette. I would find most of this funny if Raj didn’t keep saying “I’m definitely not gay” every time he came out of a daydream. I think a Howard/Bernadette/Raj love triangle could be interesting all on their own. In the twenty-first century, someone questioning their sexual orientation should not be the basis for jokes.
-Raj
“The Thespian Catalyst” definitely had some funny moments. I especially liked the plot involving Sheldon and Penny, because Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco have such great comedic chemistry. The plot involving Raj had potential to be funny and provide much-needed character development, and it did have some amusing moments, but it was unfortunately sullied by a cloud of homophobia. All Raj plots since pretty much the beginning of season 3 have had this problem, but it was more prominent in this episode than it has ever been before, and it really took away from my enjoyment of the episode. Even a fun Bollywood number (which I usually love) couldn’t save it.
The episode opens with Sheldon trying to teach a class as a guest lecturer. He is incredibly condescending to his class (big surprise), and the students appear to be bored out of their minds. This is confirmed by the rest of the guys who are monitoring Twitter chatter about Sheldon’s class for the sheer entertainment value of it. Not one student liked the lecture, some even going so far as to tweet “kill me now.” Penny stops by the apartment to get the new password for Sheldon and Leonard’s wi-fi and joins in on the fun. When Sheldon arrives home, he is obviously oblivious to how much his students hated the lecture. He goes so far as to call the lecture “triumphant.” Penny wants to give Sheldon the “good” news, but Leonard says he promised that honor to Howard. Howard has Raj show Sheldon all the tweets and blog entries on his computer. Sheldon throws a rather minor fit, storming off to his bedroom.
The next day, Sheldon tells Amy about his predicament via Skype. Amy tries to cheer him up by using a “whimsical” aquarium themed Skype background and acting like she’s swimming while making fish faces. I think it’s the funniest Mayim Bialik has been on the show thus far. Odd that she does her best work in an episode where she is only in one short scene. I also liked that the scene served to further differentiate Amy from Sheldon. I can’t imagine Sheldon making fish faces over Skype to try and cheer someone up. The best he can muster is a monotone “there, there,” and even that takes a lot of effort. Anyway, when the whimsy doesn’t help, Amy starts offering more tangible suggestions including using a laser to burn the memory out of Sheldon’s brain and taking acting lessons. Sheldon decides to go with the latter suggestion.
Since Penny is the only actress Sheldon interacts with on a regular basis, he asks her for acting lessons. And he almost doesn’t get his wish because he can’t hold back insults about Penny’s lack of a career. Penny is in the process of shoving him back out the door and into the hallway when he says he’ll pay her $40.00. That’s all Penny needs to hear to agree to take Sheldon on as a student. Predictably, their first lesson does not go well. Sheldon basically refuses to go along with anything Penny suggests they try. She wants to start with some movement exercises, but Sheldon insists he’s more comfortable just standing still. Penny then tries to move on to improve, creating the character of a shoe saleslady. Sheldon instead asks for frozen yogurt, and when Penny tries to turn her fake business establishment into a shoe and frozen yogurt store, Sheldon accuses her of being insane.
The second acting lesson is where the real meat of this episode takes place. Penny has assigned a scene study from “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in which Sheldon has absolutely no interest. Instead, he wants to perform a scene from a Star Trek fan fic he wrote when he was ten years old. Penny is astounded that Sheldon could think his own childhood fan fic could be better than Tennessee Williams, but I guess it’s really not so surprising. Sheldon really is the ultimate narcissist. To make Sheldon finally get at least somewhat out of his comfort zone, Penny says that Sheldon will play his mother and she will play Spock (Sheldon had wanted to be Spock, of course). Sheldon’s impression of his mother actually isn’t half bad, and Penny’s attempt at being Spock is amusing too because it shows she’s been hanging out way too much with the guys! Things go haywire when Penny suggests that the character of Mary Cooper should at least be a little upset that Spock is taking her son to the 23rd Century. Sheldon starts having a conversation between himself and his mother and reliving painful moments from his childhood. Penny ends up having to call Sheldon’s mom to get her to break Sheldon out of it. This is definitely the best part of the entire episode.
Meanwhile, Raj spends the episode confronting his feelings for Bernadette. At dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, Raj makes a comment about a time he accidentally found himself in a gay bar and he still didn’t get hit on. When Bernadette stops by the table, Howard tells her Raj needs a girl. Bernadette says that shouldn’t be a problem because he’s cute. With that one comment, Bernadette sets off a barrage of fantasies that will take Raj through the rest of the episode. First he daydreams that Howard got a two year fellowship in Israel and asked Raj to keep Bernadette satisfied while he was gone. Then he daydreams about Howard getting hit by a truck and his dying wish being that Raj take care of Bernadette. The final daydream is a really cool Bollywood number featuring Raj and Bernadette. I would find most of this funny if Raj didn’t keep saying “I’m definitely not gay” every time he came out of a daydream. I think a Howard/Bernadette/Raj love triangle could be interesting all on their own. In the twenty-first century, someone questioning their sexual orientation should not be the basis for jokes.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Fringe 3.11: "Reciprocity"
“It’s a song lyric. Fauxlivia ruined U2 for all of us.”
-Walter
I’m still not quite sure what to think about “Reciprocity,” even though I’m writing this about twelve hours after viewing the episode. It was definitely mythology focused. Even what could sort-of be construed as the mystery of the week was all about the mythology. I think the reason I’m unsure about this episode is because I don’t really like where they’re going with Peter. As Olivia herself says in this episode, Peter has an innate goodness- that and his fun exasperated banter with Walter is what makes him work as a character. I don’t like that the doomsday device is changing that. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that one potential way this story could go is that Peter is going to have to make a huge sacrifice, perhaps his life, to save both universes. I just wish the writers wouldn’t tear him down on the way there.
Showing just how mythology heavy this episode is going to be, the episode opens with the Fringe team arriving at what can only be described as a secret base. They’re all questioned by imposing-looking military types on the way in. Nina and a team from Massive Dynamic are doing the actual research, though. They’ve been trying to get Walternate’s doomsday device up and running. There’s just one not-so-minor problem. They can’t find a power source. This problem seems to be solved, however, when Peter starts to get a little too close to the device. Everything starts to shake violently, and the device begins to move and light up. It was kind of cheesy looking, actually. Although on a TV budget, and a Friday night TV budget at that, I guess I shouldn’t expect too much from the effects department. Oh, and in addition to all the shaking and the glowing, Peter’s nose starts to bleed.
This development naturally leads the Massive Dynamic folks to want to run some tests on Peter. Brandon hooks up some monitors to Peter, and it seems like he wants to put Peter in a machine that looks sort of like an MRI. He says something to Walter about wanting to measure Peter’s brain waves (I’m not science-y enough to really translate it accurately) to see if that’s what set off the device. Walter freaks out about the whole thing. Specifically, he’s worried about the radiation Peter will be exposed to during this test. Which I guess makes the machine more like a CT than an MRI. It’s not a whole lot of radiation, but Walter has always been super-paranoid about Peter’s health. Peter’s still determined to go through with it, and Nina provides a distraction for Walter. He asks Nina for help on Project: Regrow Brain because he thinks William Bell might have done some relevant research. Olivia also stops by before Peter’s test. She’s unusually friendly towards him- I guess they really did make some progress in the last episode- and she mentions that she tried to call him recently, but he didn’t answer.
Meanwhile, the event that really starts off this episode’s investigation is back to the creepy and gross we normally expect of “Fringe.” A man leaves a fancy urban building, perhaps for lunch break, and pauses for a second by a fish pond. He soon notices, to his horror, that all the fish are dead. To make matters worse, there’s a dead, seemingly human, body in the pond too. Olivia is called away from Massive Dynamic to meet Broyles about the dead guy and the fish (which sounds like the beginning of a really lame joke). This is a Fringe case because all the fish were killed by mercury poisoning. The dead guy was actually a shapeshifter. The shapeshifter’s data storage unit was removed, which takes a killer with knowledge about shapeshifters. Olivia and Broyles think there must be a mole somewhere among the Fringe or Massive Dynamic teams. When Peter hears about the mole situation, he seems unusually enthusiastic about ratting him or her out. He suggests that the FBI interview the doctor who was running the tests on him. The doctor is found all right. Dead. And shapeshifter-y.
The Fringe crew has decrypted the files on Alt-livia’s computer thanks to Peter coming up with good password suggestions (the password turned out to be a U2 lyric, to Walter’s chagrin), but there are thousands of pages of notes to go through. Broyles asks Astrid to take on the task of looking through the files for possible leads on the dead shapeshifter case. He also warns her to be discrete because of all the information about Peter and Alt-livia’s relationship that is likely contained in the notes. Since Peter and Olivia are on such shaky ground already, Broyles doesn’t want to rock the boat by exposing Olivia to too many details about what happened. Olivia’s not terribly happy about this arrangement. She feels that since she likely thinks the same way as Alt-livia, her insight could be useful.
In response to Walter’s request for William Bell’s brain-regrowing research, Nina gives Walter a choice between three serums. Only one of them is the serum Bell specifically made from Walter’s DNA. She says it will take Massive Dynamic some tiem to figure out which one is the right one. Walter doesn’t want to wait that long, so he just grabs one and snorts it. Unfortunately for Walter, he chose a serum that was made from chimp DNA. He’s convinced it won’t make any difference, but then he starts craving bananas and making odd noises. It’s a great comedic performance from John Noble, who is truly fearless. Despite beginning to take on some chimp behavior, Walter does make an important discovery. There is blood under one of the victim’s fingernails. This means that a human is killing the shapeshifters.
Olivia and Peter are still fairly awkward when they’re alone together, which I guess is to be expected, considering Peter cheated on Olivia with her doppelganger. Inexplicably, at one point in this episode, Olivia apologizes to Peter. She says that she’s been so caught up in what Alt-livia did to her that she hadn’t thought about how Alt-livia’s actions must have hurt Peter, too. She has a point, but she’s got a whole lot more grace about the situation than I would have. I still think it’s horrendous that Peter never recognized that he wasn’t sleeping with his Olivia. As Olivia herself recognized a few episodes ago, he should have seen something in her eyes. Peter, understandably, is quite happy that Olivia seems to be warming to him again, but he rushes off anyway.
Walter figures out that the blood he found is A negative. He mentions that he has A negative blood himself- it runs in his family. This little comment obviously turns out to be important later. The team then figures out that Brandon, who has been doing most of the interrogating, is the only Massive Dynamic employee who has the right blood type and access to Alt-livia files (which contain lists of names, some of which could be shapeshifters). There’s a very well done sequence where the confrontation and interrogation with Brandon (who turns out to be innocent, just like he insists he is) is intercut with Peter killing another shapeshifter from Alt-livia’s list. He has become quite sinister. I mean, Peter has a somewhat dark past- he used to be a con man after all- but this seems to be a new level of dark, even for him.
Peter had told Walter that he was going to Massive Dynamic for more testing, but the jig is up when Nina calls the Bishop house to schedule the testing that has not, in fact, taken place yet. Walter knows Peter was lying, so he starts snooping around Peter’s room. He finds the lists from Alt-livia’s files printed out on his desk with circled names. The circled names match the shapeshifters who have been killed. Meanwhile, Olivia finally convinces Astrid to let her look at Alt-livia’s files, and it pays off. She figures out a code based on her childhood nick name, Olive, which allows her to figure out which names on the list are shapeshifters. Her rather melancholy mood goes away with the victory, and she becomes quite happy, smiling as broadly as usually only Alt-livia smiles.
Peter is on another shaeshifter-killing mission, and this time the shapeshifter almost gets the best of him. There’s a knock-down-drag-out fight, and Peter isn’t holding up as well as he’d like. Peter is saved by Walter showing up and providing just enough of a distraction to give Peter time to kill the shapeshifter. Peter justifies what he has done by saying that the shapeshifters are human, even as Walter says in no uncertain terms that what Peter is doing is wrong. They leave the scene just as Olivia and her team arrive to find the dead shapeshifter and still no clues about who has been doing the killing.
Olivia makes a stop to the Bishop house to vent about how frustrated she is that all the shapeshifters are gone, and Peter doesn’t say a word about what he has done. Olivia also reveals to Peter that she read Alt-livia’s files and he shouldn’t be embarrassed. Alt-livia saw in him exactly what she saw in him. And this is where I want to glare daggers at Peter just like Walter is. After Olivia leaves, Walter tells Peter his theory about what happened. He thinks that coming in contact with the doomsday device has changed Peter. Specifically, he thinks it has weaponized Peter.
-Walter
I’m still not quite sure what to think about “Reciprocity,” even though I’m writing this about twelve hours after viewing the episode. It was definitely mythology focused. Even what could sort-of be construed as the mystery of the week was all about the mythology. I think the reason I’m unsure about this episode is because I don’t really like where they’re going with Peter. As Olivia herself says in this episode, Peter has an innate goodness- that and his fun exasperated banter with Walter is what makes him work as a character. I don’t like that the doomsday device is changing that. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that one potential way this story could go is that Peter is going to have to make a huge sacrifice, perhaps his life, to save both universes. I just wish the writers wouldn’t tear him down on the way there.
Showing just how mythology heavy this episode is going to be, the episode opens with the Fringe team arriving at what can only be described as a secret base. They’re all questioned by imposing-looking military types on the way in. Nina and a team from Massive Dynamic are doing the actual research, though. They’ve been trying to get Walternate’s doomsday device up and running. There’s just one not-so-minor problem. They can’t find a power source. This problem seems to be solved, however, when Peter starts to get a little too close to the device. Everything starts to shake violently, and the device begins to move and light up. It was kind of cheesy looking, actually. Although on a TV budget, and a Friday night TV budget at that, I guess I shouldn’t expect too much from the effects department. Oh, and in addition to all the shaking and the glowing, Peter’s nose starts to bleed.
This development naturally leads the Massive Dynamic folks to want to run some tests on Peter. Brandon hooks up some monitors to Peter, and it seems like he wants to put Peter in a machine that looks sort of like an MRI. He says something to Walter about wanting to measure Peter’s brain waves (I’m not science-y enough to really translate it accurately) to see if that’s what set off the device. Walter freaks out about the whole thing. Specifically, he’s worried about the radiation Peter will be exposed to during this test. Which I guess makes the machine more like a CT than an MRI. It’s not a whole lot of radiation, but Walter has always been super-paranoid about Peter’s health. Peter’s still determined to go through with it, and Nina provides a distraction for Walter. He asks Nina for help on Project: Regrow Brain because he thinks William Bell might have done some relevant research. Olivia also stops by before Peter’s test. She’s unusually friendly towards him- I guess they really did make some progress in the last episode- and she mentions that she tried to call him recently, but he didn’t answer.
Meanwhile, the event that really starts off this episode’s investigation is back to the creepy and gross we normally expect of “Fringe.” A man leaves a fancy urban building, perhaps for lunch break, and pauses for a second by a fish pond. He soon notices, to his horror, that all the fish are dead. To make matters worse, there’s a dead, seemingly human, body in the pond too. Olivia is called away from Massive Dynamic to meet Broyles about the dead guy and the fish (which sounds like the beginning of a really lame joke). This is a Fringe case because all the fish were killed by mercury poisoning. The dead guy was actually a shapeshifter. The shapeshifter’s data storage unit was removed, which takes a killer with knowledge about shapeshifters. Olivia and Broyles think there must be a mole somewhere among the Fringe or Massive Dynamic teams. When Peter hears about the mole situation, he seems unusually enthusiastic about ratting him or her out. He suggests that the FBI interview the doctor who was running the tests on him. The doctor is found all right. Dead. And shapeshifter-y.
The Fringe crew has decrypted the files on Alt-livia’s computer thanks to Peter coming up with good password suggestions (the password turned out to be a U2 lyric, to Walter’s chagrin), but there are thousands of pages of notes to go through. Broyles asks Astrid to take on the task of looking through the files for possible leads on the dead shapeshifter case. He also warns her to be discrete because of all the information about Peter and Alt-livia’s relationship that is likely contained in the notes. Since Peter and Olivia are on such shaky ground already, Broyles doesn’t want to rock the boat by exposing Olivia to too many details about what happened. Olivia’s not terribly happy about this arrangement. She feels that since she likely thinks the same way as Alt-livia, her insight could be useful.
In response to Walter’s request for William Bell’s brain-regrowing research, Nina gives Walter a choice between three serums. Only one of them is the serum Bell specifically made from Walter’s DNA. She says it will take Massive Dynamic some tiem to figure out which one is the right one. Walter doesn’t want to wait that long, so he just grabs one and snorts it. Unfortunately for Walter, he chose a serum that was made from chimp DNA. He’s convinced it won’t make any difference, but then he starts craving bananas and making odd noises. It’s a great comedic performance from John Noble, who is truly fearless. Despite beginning to take on some chimp behavior, Walter does make an important discovery. There is blood under one of the victim’s fingernails. This means that a human is killing the shapeshifters.
Olivia and Peter are still fairly awkward when they’re alone together, which I guess is to be expected, considering Peter cheated on Olivia with her doppelganger. Inexplicably, at one point in this episode, Olivia apologizes to Peter. She says that she’s been so caught up in what Alt-livia did to her that she hadn’t thought about how Alt-livia’s actions must have hurt Peter, too. She has a point, but she’s got a whole lot more grace about the situation than I would have. I still think it’s horrendous that Peter never recognized that he wasn’t sleeping with his Olivia. As Olivia herself recognized a few episodes ago, he should have seen something in her eyes. Peter, understandably, is quite happy that Olivia seems to be warming to him again, but he rushes off anyway.
Walter figures out that the blood he found is A negative. He mentions that he has A negative blood himself- it runs in his family. This little comment obviously turns out to be important later. The team then figures out that Brandon, who has been doing most of the interrogating, is the only Massive Dynamic employee who has the right blood type and access to Alt-livia files (which contain lists of names, some of which could be shapeshifters). There’s a very well done sequence where the confrontation and interrogation with Brandon (who turns out to be innocent, just like he insists he is) is intercut with Peter killing another shapeshifter from Alt-livia’s list. He has become quite sinister. I mean, Peter has a somewhat dark past- he used to be a con man after all- but this seems to be a new level of dark, even for him.
Peter had told Walter that he was going to Massive Dynamic for more testing, but the jig is up when Nina calls the Bishop house to schedule the testing that has not, in fact, taken place yet. Walter knows Peter was lying, so he starts snooping around Peter’s room. He finds the lists from Alt-livia’s files printed out on his desk with circled names. The circled names match the shapeshifters who have been killed. Meanwhile, Olivia finally convinces Astrid to let her look at Alt-livia’s files, and it pays off. She figures out a code based on her childhood nick name, Olive, which allows her to figure out which names on the list are shapeshifters. Her rather melancholy mood goes away with the victory, and she becomes quite happy, smiling as broadly as usually only Alt-livia smiles.
Peter is on another shaeshifter-killing mission, and this time the shapeshifter almost gets the best of him. There’s a knock-down-drag-out fight, and Peter isn’t holding up as well as he’d like. Peter is saved by Walter showing up and providing just enough of a distraction to give Peter time to kill the shapeshifter. Peter justifies what he has done by saying that the shapeshifters are human, even as Walter says in no uncertain terms that what Peter is doing is wrong. They leave the scene just as Olivia and her team arrive to find the dead shapeshifter and still no clues about who has been doing the killing.
Olivia makes a stop to the Bishop house to vent about how frustrated she is that all the shapeshifters are gone, and Peter doesn’t say a word about what he has done. Olivia also reveals to Peter that she read Alt-livia’s files and he shouldn’t be embarrassed. Alt-livia saw in him exactly what she saw in him. And this is where I want to glare daggers at Peter just like Walter is. After Olivia leaves, Walter tells Peter his theory about what happened. He thinks that coming in contact with the doomsday device has changed Peter. Specifically, he thinks it has weaponized Peter.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Fringe 3.10: "The Firefly"
“There are things that I know. But there are things that I do not. Various possible futures are happening simultaneously. I can tell you all of them, but I cannot tell you which one of them will come to pass. Because every action causes ripples. Consequences both obvious and unforeseen.”
-The Observer
While “The Firefly,” which happened to be the first episode of “Fringe” to be aired in the infamous FOX Friday night death slot, may have been a shout-out to a former death-slot dweller, the episode was not really at all like its namesake. The themes it tackled were not the same themes Joss Whedon explored in “Firefly.” “Firefly” was all about the triumph of the individual spirit, while this episode of “Fringe” was about desperately trying to avoid the consequences of mistakes. The feel of the episode was also much darker than “Firefly” generally was. “Firefly” could be grizzly (I still have trouble rewatching “Ariel” and “War Stories,” but the companionship and “found family” feel among the Serenity crew always provided some warmth. While Peter, Walter, Olivia, and Astrid are a sort of “found family,” that family is pretty broken right now thanks to Alt-livia. And I fear that particular situation is going to get much, much worse before it gets better.
The episode opens with Walter setting up an experiment in his house in the middle of the night. Whatever it is involves Walter injecting himself with something, and since I hate needles, it immediately squicked me out. Peter wakes up and stumbles into the room to ask Walter what he’s doing. It turns out that Walter is trying to figure out a way to compensate for the pieces of brain he lost. He feels like he needs to be smarter to go up against Walternate. He doesn’t think it’s a fair fight at the moment. Peter reminds Walter that he himself asked for those parts of his brain to be removed because the information they contained was too dangerous, but Walter doesn’t really seem to care.
For once, the introduction to the case of the week actually isn’t really creepy and gross. We see a rather disheveled older man, Mr. Joyce (played by the great Christopher Lloyd), in a nursing home. Nursing home staff are watching the CCTV when they see Joyce out and about in the hallways- definitely cause for concern. Then they see a second person appear in front of him. The two men have a conversation, and then as quickly as he appeared, the second man disappears again. It turns out that the second man was Joyce’s son, Bobby, who died in the 1980’s. We then switch an outdoor scene. The Observer is talking to Bobby, and it’s pretty clear that we’re back in the 1980’s. The Observer brought Bobby forward in time to deliver an important message to his father.
Before the Fringe team gets involved with the case, we have a brief aside with Olivia. She is at her apartment when she gets a knock on the door. She has a package delivery. Olivia is rather surprised, especially when she opens the package and sees that it’s a book from Peter. It comes with a note that simply says “Because you asked.” This book turns into a bit of a thing throughout the rest of the episode. Olivia looked at the packing slip and noticed that Peter ordered it before Olivia returned from the Other Side, so she gives the book back to him, saying it wasn’t for her. Peter explains that he sent it because Alt-livia had asked him about his favorite book. He explains that the book wasn’t meant for Alt-livia, though. Peter doesn’t open up easily, and he meant for the person he had been getting to know for three years to know about his favorite book, not an imposter. That doesn’t placate Olivia in the moment, but by the end of the episode, she seems to soften a little, asking Peter about why this particular book is his favorite.
Anyway, it wouldn’t be an episode of “Fringe,” if the team didn’t get called to the strange happening of the week. It turns out that Joyce is a mucial hero of Walter’s. Walter most definitely geeks out over meeting him, which is quite amusing. Joyce explains about how his son appeared to him with a message, but he can’t remember what that message was. Walter brings Joyce to the lab so he can try some hypnotherapy on him. Walter actually gets him into a trance, then sits him in front of a piano. Walter claims that Joyce thinks through music, but everyone suspects Walter just wants a free concert. Joyce starts to play the piano for the first time in years, and just at that moment, Olivia’s cell phone rings. The Observer has been spotted in Brookline. Walter is kind of pissed that Olivia ruined the concert, but Olivia and Peter have to rush off, so he doesn’t have time to be mad at her.
It turns out that the Observer has at least part-time turned to fighting crime. He stopped a heist at a fancy store in Brookline and gave a tied up/gagged store clerk her asthma inhaler before he left. He then goes to meet with another Observer. This conversation makes it apparent that the Observer hasn’t just developed an altruistic streak. He stopped this crime because he wants to set off a chain reaction series of events. This kind of reminds me of that episode that took place on the Other Side earlier this season where the guy could kill people by setting off perfect chain reactions. I think it might have been a bit too soon for the writers to revisit that concept. The chain reaction here is meant for Walter, but the second Observer doesn’t think Walter will do what the first Observer is hoping he’ll do. I found the dialogue in this scene to be really forced and stilted. It wasn’t just the actors’ delivery- Observers are supposed to speak in a monotone- the word choice was just really over-the-top.
Back at the lab, Joyce finally remembers what Bobby said after a little more piano playing jobs his memory. Bobby told Joyce that he would meet Walter and that Walter needed to help him. The two men then bond over their mutual love of strawberry milkshakes, which I found pretty adorable. Walter sends Astrid out to get the ingredients for the recipe that he’s taken years to perfect. As Astrid leaves the lab, the Observer arrives. He needs to have a chat with Walter. Walter and the Observer have a walk and talk, and Walter voices his fears about Peter’s future. Walter’s fears are perfectly legitimate given there’s a drawing of Peter with flames coming out of his eyes (I was going to make a “Clue” joke there, but it just didn’t seem to fit).
The Observer explains that while he can see futures, he doesn’t know which future will happen. He illustrates this by telling a story about how when he saved Peter from the car crash, he didn’t know Peter would catch a firefly, and catching that firefly would start a chain reaction that would lead a pedestrian to be killed when he was struck by a pick-up truck. The Observer leaves Walter with the advice that “when the time comes, give him the keys and save the girl.” This felt kind of “Wonderfalls” to me. It reminded me of how the Muses would tell Jaye what to do, but the meaning of their message would change throughout the episode.
Walter starts to really put all the pieces together when Peter calls him to tell him about the Observer fighting crime. He thinks that Bobby is the person who was hit by the truck, and the sales girl the Observer saved was the little girl who was meant to catch the firefly Peter caught.
Walter calls Peter back because he wants to talk to the sales girl and confirm his theory. She’s not in the car with Peter and Olivia, though. She’s in a police car in front of them. As Peter and Walter are talking, there’s a huge accident. The police car is damaged much worse than Peter and Olivia’s car, but Walter panics when Peter stops talking to him to deal with the accident. Walter is so upset that he shows up at the accident scene. Peter tells Walter to give him the keys and save the girl. Remembering what the Observer told him, Walter fears the worst. He has this really severe emotional reaction and almost refuses to give up the keys.
Peter goes off after the Observer, and it turns out Walter had good reason to be worried. When Peter gets out of Walter’s car to continue the chase on foot, he barely avoids getting hit by other cars three times. That whole sequence was just over-the-top and lame. It reminds me of those early episodes of “Chuck” where Bryce Larkin just.would.not.die. Peter eventually catches up to the Observer, who says “It must be very difficult, being a father” before shooting Peter with some sort of beam that knocks him unconscious. I suppose the surface reading of the Observer’s line is that he’s talking about Walter’s love for Peter, but I swear, if Peter knocked up Alt-livia, this show and I just might be done. After I finish blogging this season for you (few) readers, I suppose.
Anyway, when Peter and Olivia are back at the house chatting (here’s hoping their relationship is beginning to be repaired for good), Peter accidentally drinks some milk that contains the serum Walter was developing in the beginning of the episode. He immediately collapses and starts convulsing. Olivia calls Walter in a panic, and Walter has to talk Olivia through how to save Peter over the phone. She handles it capably after only a minor freak-out, thankfully. Walter doesn’t really feel guilty for what happened to Peter, given that Peter is fine. He thinks that the Observer must have started this whole chain reaction to get Peter to drink the serum instead of Walter. If Walter had taken the serum, he would have died. He happily feeds Peter some chicken soup, not realizing how wrong he is. The two Observers are outside, and their conversation reveals that the whole chain reaction was actually an experiment to see if Walter would be willing to give up Peter in the future when it was necessary.
-The Observer
While “The Firefly,” which happened to be the first episode of “Fringe” to be aired in the infamous FOX Friday night death slot, may have been a shout-out to a former death-slot dweller, the episode was not really at all like its namesake. The themes it tackled were not the same themes Joss Whedon explored in “Firefly.” “Firefly” was all about the triumph of the individual spirit, while this episode of “Fringe” was about desperately trying to avoid the consequences of mistakes. The feel of the episode was also much darker than “Firefly” generally was. “Firefly” could be grizzly (I still have trouble rewatching “Ariel” and “War Stories,” but the companionship and “found family” feel among the Serenity crew always provided some warmth. While Peter, Walter, Olivia, and Astrid are a sort of “found family,” that family is pretty broken right now thanks to Alt-livia. And I fear that particular situation is going to get much, much worse before it gets better.
The episode opens with Walter setting up an experiment in his house in the middle of the night. Whatever it is involves Walter injecting himself with something, and since I hate needles, it immediately squicked me out. Peter wakes up and stumbles into the room to ask Walter what he’s doing. It turns out that Walter is trying to figure out a way to compensate for the pieces of brain he lost. He feels like he needs to be smarter to go up against Walternate. He doesn’t think it’s a fair fight at the moment. Peter reminds Walter that he himself asked for those parts of his brain to be removed because the information they contained was too dangerous, but Walter doesn’t really seem to care.
For once, the introduction to the case of the week actually isn’t really creepy and gross. We see a rather disheveled older man, Mr. Joyce (played by the great Christopher Lloyd), in a nursing home. Nursing home staff are watching the CCTV when they see Joyce out and about in the hallways- definitely cause for concern. Then they see a second person appear in front of him. The two men have a conversation, and then as quickly as he appeared, the second man disappears again. It turns out that the second man was Joyce’s son, Bobby, who died in the 1980’s. We then switch an outdoor scene. The Observer is talking to Bobby, and it’s pretty clear that we’re back in the 1980’s. The Observer brought Bobby forward in time to deliver an important message to his father.
Before the Fringe team gets involved with the case, we have a brief aside with Olivia. She is at her apartment when she gets a knock on the door. She has a package delivery. Olivia is rather surprised, especially when she opens the package and sees that it’s a book from Peter. It comes with a note that simply says “Because you asked.” This book turns into a bit of a thing throughout the rest of the episode. Olivia looked at the packing slip and noticed that Peter ordered it before Olivia returned from the Other Side, so she gives the book back to him, saying it wasn’t for her. Peter explains that he sent it because Alt-livia had asked him about his favorite book. He explains that the book wasn’t meant for Alt-livia, though. Peter doesn’t open up easily, and he meant for the person he had been getting to know for three years to know about his favorite book, not an imposter. That doesn’t placate Olivia in the moment, but by the end of the episode, she seems to soften a little, asking Peter about why this particular book is his favorite.
Anyway, it wouldn’t be an episode of “Fringe,” if the team didn’t get called to the strange happening of the week. It turns out that Joyce is a mucial hero of Walter’s. Walter most definitely geeks out over meeting him, which is quite amusing. Joyce explains about how his son appeared to him with a message, but he can’t remember what that message was. Walter brings Joyce to the lab so he can try some hypnotherapy on him. Walter actually gets him into a trance, then sits him in front of a piano. Walter claims that Joyce thinks through music, but everyone suspects Walter just wants a free concert. Joyce starts to play the piano for the first time in years, and just at that moment, Olivia’s cell phone rings. The Observer has been spotted in Brookline. Walter is kind of pissed that Olivia ruined the concert, but Olivia and Peter have to rush off, so he doesn’t have time to be mad at her.
It turns out that the Observer has at least part-time turned to fighting crime. He stopped a heist at a fancy store in Brookline and gave a tied up/gagged store clerk her asthma inhaler before he left. He then goes to meet with another Observer. This conversation makes it apparent that the Observer hasn’t just developed an altruistic streak. He stopped this crime because he wants to set off a chain reaction series of events. This kind of reminds me of that episode that took place on the Other Side earlier this season where the guy could kill people by setting off perfect chain reactions. I think it might have been a bit too soon for the writers to revisit that concept. The chain reaction here is meant for Walter, but the second Observer doesn’t think Walter will do what the first Observer is hoping he’ll do. I found the dialogue in this scene to be really forced and stilted. It wasn’t just the actors’ delivery- Observers are supposed to speak in a monotone- the word choice was just really over-the-top.
Back at the lab, Joyce finally remembers what Bobby said after a little more piano playing jobs his memory. Bobby told Joyce that he would meet Walter and that Walter needed to help him. The two men then bond over their mutual love of strawberry milkshakes, which I found pretty adorable. Walter sends Astrid out to get the ingredients for the recipe that he’s taken years to perfect. As Astrid leaves the lab, the Observer arrives. He needs to have a chat with Walter. Walter and the Observer have a walk and talk, and Walter voices his fears about Peter’s future. Walter’s fears are perfectly legitimate given there’s a drawing of Peter with flames coming out of his eyes (I was going to make a “Clue” joke there, but it just didn’t seem to fit).
The Observer explains that while he can see futures, he doesn’t know which future will happen. He illustrates this by telling a story about how when he saved Peter from the car crash, he didn’t know Peter would catch a firefly, and catching that firefly would start a chain reaction that would lead a pedestrian to be killed when he was struck by a pick-up truck. The Observer leaves Walter with the advice that “when the time comes, give him the keys and save the girl.” This felt kind of “Wonderfalls” to me. It reminded me of how the Muses would tell Jaye what to do, but the meaning of their message would change throughout the episode.
Walter starts to really put all the pieces together when Peter calls him to tell him about the Observer fighting crime. He thinks that Bobby is the person who was hit by the truck, and the sales girl the Observer saved was the little girl who was meant to catch the firefly Peter caught.
Walter calls Peter back because he wants to talk to the sales girl and confirm his theory. She’s not in the car with Peter and Olivia, though. She’s in a police car in front of them. As Peter and Walter are talking, there’s a huge accident. The police car is damaged much worse than Peter and Olivia’s car, but Walter panics when Peter stops talking to him to deal with the accident. Walter is so upset that he shows up at the accident scene. Peter tells Walter to give him the keys and save the girl. Remembering what the Observer told him, Walter fears the worst. He has this really severe emotional reaction and almost refuses to give up the keys.
Peter goes off after the Observer, and it turns out Walter had good reason to be worried. When Peter gets out of Walter’s car to continue the chase on foot, he barely avoids getting hit by other cars three times. That whole sequence was just over-the-top and lame. It reminds me of those early episodes of “Chuck” where Bryce Larkin just.would.not.die. Peter eventually catches up to the Observer, who says “It must be very difficult, being a father” before shooting Peter with some sort of beam that knocks him unconscious. I suppose the surface reading of the Observer’s line is that he’s talking about Walter’s love for Peter, but I swear, if Peter knocked up Alt-livia, this show and I just might be done. After I finish blogging this season for you (few) readers, I suppose.
Anyway, when Peter and Olivia are back at the house chatting (here’s hoping their relationship is beginning to be repaired for good), Peter accidentally drinks some milk that contains the serum Walter was developing in the beginning of the episode. He immediately collapses and starts convulsing. Olivia calls Walter in a panic, and Walter has to talk Olivia through how to save Peter over the phone. She handles it capably after only a minor freak-out, thankfully. Walter doesn’t really feel guilty for what happened to Peter, given that Peter is fine. He thinks that the Observer must have started this whole chain reaction to get Peter to drink the serum instead of Walter. If Walter had taken the serum, he would have died. He happily feeds Peter some chicken soup, not realizing how wrong he is. The two Observers are outside, and their conversation reveals that the whole chain reaction was actually an experiment to see if Walter would be willing to give up Peter in the future when it was necessary.
Monday, January 31, 2011
The Big Bang Theory 4.13: "The Love Car Displacement"
“You know, for a smart guy, you really seem to have a hard time grasping the concept ‘don’t piss off the people who handle the things you eat.’”
-Penny
“The Love Car Displacement” was one of the better episodes of this season of “The Big Bang Theory,” although I don’t think I would rank it above my all time favorites. I will say that Bernadette and especially Amy grated less than they usually do. I think Amy showed more humanity than she has in the past, and I appreciate that she’s beginning to develop layers. This was definitely an episode that was all about the character development, as opposed to plot, which is quite rare for a Chuck Lorre show. If only I thought this character development would really inform future episodes. We also got our requisite Sheldon antics, although I didn’t find him nearly as obnoxious as he was in “The Bus Pants Utilization.” Although, come to think of it, some of the things he did in this episode were worse, especially in the way he treats Raj. I guess because so much of that behavior was off screen this go round, it was more palatable.
The episode actually doesn’t open in the university cafeteria or Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment, but it still opens with the group having a meal. They’re eating at the Cheesecake Factory. Sheldon is really grumbly about the service. He’s nitpicking everything Penny says to the group as she tries to take her order. Penny makes the very good point that if Sheldon wants reasonably hygienic food, he ought to stop digging at the people who are supposed to serve it to him. I found it somewhat funny that Sheldon actually believed restaurant workers took an oath of cleanliness, and that gave him license to treat them like crap. While all this is going on, Amy finds a chance to ask Penny if she would be her “plus one” to a science conference the whole gang is supposed to speak at. Amy says she wants Penny to come along because Penny is her “best friend.” This is news to Penny, which surprises Amy, because Amy posted about it on her blog. Penny eventually agrees when she finds out that the conference will be at a fancy spa in Big Sur.
We next see the gang in Sheldon and Leonard’s living room, with Sheldon preparing the group for their immanent road trip to Big Sur. Sheldon has this fancy touch screen board to show everything from car assignments to the locations of pre-determined rest room breaks. Sheldon is the “travel supervisor,” so of course everything is planned to minute detail. This was probably the height of Sheldon’s visible obnoxiousness in this episode, but it was still funny because of the graphics on the touch screen. Penny is surprised to find out that she’s in the “lead car” with Sheldon, Leonard, and Amy. It turns out Amy wanted her “bestie” in the same car. Penny kind of grumbled about the car assignment, but she would later come to appreciate the car assignment.
I thought the car trip sequence was pretty funny, although there wasn’t a whole lot of substance to it. There were a lot of amusing little moments, such as Leonard calling Howard to tell him that Raj (who was in the back seat of Howard’s car) texted him to ask him to tell Howard to explain to Bernadette that when Howard says “nap,” he actually means “sex.” It sounds kind of convoluted when I write it out here, but it was funny on screen, I promise! In the lead car, Penny dares to question why Sheldon was allowed to become “road trip God.” Leonard explains that the group vote happened late at night, Leonard was tired, and Sheldon was “threatening to filibuster” if he wasn’t named travel supervisor. None of this is really surprising, but the exasperated way in which Leonard says it is pretty funny. Penny dares to suggest that the rest of the group should rebel against Sheldon, and she gets sent to Howard’s car for her trouble. Howard’s car has been dubbed the “Love Car,” and he and Bernadette spend most of the trip singing “I Got You Babe,” much to Penny’s chagrin.
The major drama of the episode goes down in the hotel check-in line. Bernadette runs into Glenn, who was played by Rick Fox. Apparently the producers met him during the episode Eliza Dushku guest starred in (they’ve been dating for a while now) and thought he’d be a good fit for the show. Glenn is Bernadette’s former professor…and ex boyfriend. The height difference between Rick Fox and Melissa Rauch is quite comical. I have met Melissa Rauch in person, by the way (she did a stand-up act at my undergrad once), and she really is that tiny. But so am I, so I can’t really talk! Howard is not thrilled about Bernadette and Glenn’s history, and when he and Bernadette get to the hotel room, Howard feels quite inadequate. He ends up majorly sticking his foot in his mouth when he tells Bernadette that he thought he would have these sorts of issues dating “a girl like her.”
What follows can only really be described as hotel room musical chairs. Bernadette is upset with Howard, so she asks if she can stay in Penny and Amy’s room. Penny originally agrees to share a bed with Amy to make room for Bernadette, but Amy’s night terrors turn out to be too much for Penny to handle. Penny then goes to Sheldon and Leonard’s room and agrees to share a bed with Leonard as long as Leonard agrees to acknowledge “the neutral zone.” Sheldon freaks out over Penny being in the room, and he asks Penny and Leonard if they can promise that they won’t have sex at any point that night. Penny immediately responds “yes,” but Leonard says “no.” And he has the most adorable gleeful little boy smile on his face when he says it. I’m not sure whether to be amused or annoyed that Leonard is so set on having sex with Penny, who clearly states she’s not interested. Sheldon goes to Raj’s room and interrupts Raj’s watching of “Bridget Jones’ Diary.” Great movie, by the way. Raj then ends up in Leonard and Penny’s room (walking in on their actually about to have sex…Penny changed her mind, of course) because Sheldon kicked him out.
Needless to say, after all this drama, the panel in which the gang is supposed to participate is quite a disaster. Everyone (Sheldon excepted, of course) talks about what went down, only thinly veiled as discussions about science, and eventually the references are not veiled at all. From the audience, Penny shouts out a request for someone to drive her back to L.A. Glenn says he’s heading back to L.A. that night, and Bernadette gleefully makes introductions between the two of them. The funniest moment of the episode is when Leonard suddenly realizes that Glenn is going to throw a wrench into his plans to reunite with Penny. He jumps up and screams “nooooooo!” The car ride home isn’t any more fun than the panel. Howard finally has it with Sheldon constantly babbling to him over the walkie talkie and throws the device out the window, and in the lead car, Leonard gets pulled over for speeding.
-Penny
“The Love Car Displacement” was one of the better episodes of this season of “The Big Bang Theory,” although I don’t think I would rank it above my all time favorites. I will say that Bernadette and especially Amy grated less than they usually do. I think Amy showed more humanity than she has in the past, and I appreciate that she’s beginning to develop layers. This was definitely an episode that was all about the character development, as opposed to plot, which is quite rare for a Chuck Lorre show. If only I thought this character development would really inform future episodes. We also got our requisite Sheldon antics, although I didn’t find him nearly as obnoxious as he was in “The Bus Pants Utilization.” Although, come to think of it, some of the things he did in this episode were worse, especially in the way he treats Raj. I guess because so much of that behavior was off screen this go round, it was more palatable.
The episode actually doesn’t open in the university cafeteria or Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment, but it still opens with the group having a meal. They’re eating at the Cheesecake Factory. Sheldon is really grumbly about the service. He’s nitpicking everything Penny says to the group as she tries to take her order. Penny makes the very good point that if Sheldon wants reasonably hygienic food, he ought to stop digging at the people who are supposed to serve it to him. I found it somewhat funny that Sheldon actually believed restaurant workers took an oath of cleanliness, and that gave him license to treat them like crap. While all this is going on, Amy finds a chance to ask Penny if she would be her “plus one” to a science conference the whole gang is supposed to speak at. Amy says she wants Penny to come along because Penny is her “best friend.” This is news to Penny, which surprises Amy, because Amy posted about it on her blog. Penny eventually agrees when she finds out that the conference will be at a fancy spa in Big Sur.
We next see the gang in Sheldon and Leonard’s living room, with Sheldon preparing the group for their immanent road trip to Big Sur. Sheldon has this fancy touch screen board to show everything from car assignments to the locations of pre-determined rest room breaks. Sheldon is the “travel supervisor,” so of course everything is planned to minute detail. This was probably the height of Sheldon’s visible obnoxiousness in this episode, but it was still funny because of the graphics on the touch screen. Penny is surprised to find out that she’s in the “lead car” with Sheldon, Leonard, and Amy. It turns out Amy wanted her “bestie” in the same car. Penny kind of grumbled about the car assignment, but she would later come to appreciate the car assignment.
I thought the car trip sequence was pretty funny, although there wasn’t a whole lot of substance to it. There were a lot of amusing little moments, such as Leonard calling Howard to tell him that Raj (who was in the back seat of Howard’s car) texted him to ask him to tell Howard to explain to Bernadette that when Howard says “nap,” he actually means “sex.” It sounds kind of convoluted when I write it out here, but it was funny on screen, I promise! In the lead car, Penny dares to question why Sheldon was allowed to become “road trip God.” Leonard explains that the group vote happened late at night, Leonard was tired, and Sheldon was “threatening to filibuster” if he wasn’t named travel supervisor. None of this is really surprising, but the exasperated way in which Leonard says it is pretty funny. Penny dares to suggest that the rest of the group should rebel against Sheldon, and she gets sent to Howard’s car for her trouble. Howard’s car has been dubbed the “Love Car,” and he and Bernadette spend most of the trip singing “I Got You Babe,” much to Penny’s chagrin.
The major drama of the episode goes down in the hotel check-in line. Bernadette runs into Glenn, who was played by Rick Fox. Apparently the producers met him during the episode Eliza Dushku guest starred in (they’ve been dating for a while now) and thought he’d be a good fit for the show. Glenn is Bernadette’s former professor…and ex boyfriend. The height difference between Rick Fox and Melissa Rauch is quite comical. I have met Melissa Rauch in person, by the way (she did a stand-up act at my undergrad once), and she really is that tiny. But so am I, so I can’t really talk! Howard is not thrilled about Bernadette and Glenn’s history, and when he and Bernadette get to the hotel room, Howard feels quite inadequate. He ends up majorly sticking his foot in his mouth when he tells Bernadette that he thought he would have these sorts of issues dating “a girl like her.”
What follows can only really be described as hotel room musical chairs. Bernadette is upset with Howard, so she asks if she can stay in Penny and Amy’s room. Penny originally agrees to share a bed with Amy to make room for Bernadette, but Amy’s night terrors turn out to be too much for Penny to handle. Penny then goes to Sheldon and Leonard’s room and agrees to share a bed with Leonard as long as Leonard agrees to acknowledge “the neutral zone.” Sheldon freaks out over Penny being in the room, and he asks Penny and Leonard if they can promise that they won’t have sex at any point that night. Penny immediately responds “yes,” but Leonard says “no.” And he has the most adorable gleeful little boy smile on his face when he says it. I’m not sure whether to be amused or annoyed that Leonard is so set on having sex with Penny, who clearly states she’s not interested. Sheldon goes to Raj’s room and interrupts Raj’s watching of “Bridget Jones’ Diary.” Great movie, by the way. Raj then ends up in Leonard and Penny’s room (walking in on their actually about to have sex…Penny changed her mind, of course) because Sheldon kicked him out.
Needless to say, after all this drama, the panel in which the gang is supposed to participate is quite a disaster. Everyone (Sheldon excepted, of course) talks about what went down, only thinly veiled as discussions about science, and eventually the references are not veiled at all. From the audience, Penny shouts out a request for someone to drive her back to L.A. Glenn says he’s heading back to L.A. that night, and Bernadette gleefully makes introductions between the two of them. The funniest moment of the episode is when Leonard suddenly realizes that Glenn is going to throw a wrench into his plans to reunite with Penny. He jumps up and screams “nooooooo!” The car ride home isn’t any more fun than the panel. Howard finally has it with Sheldon constantly babbling to him over the walkie talkie and throws the device out the window, and in the lead car, Leonard gets pulled over for speeding.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Pilot Season Preview: Five Intriguing Greenlit Pilots
It’s a very interesting time of year in the television world- pilot season. Networks are greenlighting pilots, and major roles are beginning to be cast. It will be a while before we know which of all these pilots we’re hearing about will actually be picked up to series, but this year there have been an usually high number of pilot premises that sound especially intriguing to me. These pilots all sound so great that honestly, at the moment, I’m more excited about next TV season than I am about the current season. In this post, I’ll be taking a look at the five pilot reports I’ve read about that intrigue me the most. Some of them are intriguing because of the premise alone, some because of the showrunner (and sometimes it’s both the premise and the showrunner), and some because of an actor tied to it. If even two or three of these pilots make it to series, I will be a very happy TV viewer, and you (one, maybe two) readers will have some very interesting recaps from me next season.
Aaron Sorkin Project for HBO
There’s been buzz for quite a while that Aaron Sorkin was working on a project for HBO, and the pilot has finally been greenlit. The premise is behind the scenes of a cable news show, similar to the now-cancelled “Countdown” with Keith Olbermann. It strikes me as something that could be a sort of amalgam of previous Sorkin works “Sports Night” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” Both shows dealt with the behind-the-scenes of television, the former with a cable sports show and the latter with a sketch comedy show. Here’s hoping this new project is closer to “Sports Night” than “Studio 60.” Now before you all start flaming me, I did actually like “Studio 60.” It had some especially excellent episodes, like “The Christmas Show,” but as a whole, I think “Sports Night” worked better because the show the characters were supposed to be producing felt more believable. Sorkin does especially well when his characters are dealing with politics, and unlike “Studio 60,” this project should provide an appropriate forum for the characters to do so. I think this will lead to a more believeable “show within the show.”
For more information:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/01/28/aaron-sorkin-cable-news-network-hbo/?hpt=T2
Grimm’s Fairy Tales Pilot for NBC
NBC has greenlit a pilot from “Angel” executive producer David Greenwalt. I’m always up for trying any show that someone from the Joss Whedon stable of writers is involved with, so this was exciting to me before I even read the premise. The premise makes it even better, though. This particular pilot is a cop drama (not especially exciting), but is set in a world that includes characters like those in the Grimm fairy tales. It seems like it has potential to be dark and fantastical. I love attempts in television and movies to make fairy tales adult, such as “Pushing Daisies” and “Stardust,” and given how dark the original Grimm fairy tales were (Cinderella’s evil stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to fit in the glass slippers, people!), I think this could be the perfect example of the “Grown Up Fairytale” genre. I’m not thrilled that it’s being fit into the mold of a crime procedural, but “Pushing Daisies” didn’t suffer by having a mystery of the week for Emerson and friends to solve- the mystery was secondary to the characters and the beautiful world they lived in.
For more information:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/01/28/buffy-grimm-nbc/
http://www.tvline.com/2011/01/breaking-nbc-orders-brothers-grimm-themed-pilot/
“Grace” for ABC
“Grace,” which was recently greenlit by ABC, is a family drama set in the world of professional dance. I think this is an extremely original premise. Family dramas are a dime a dozen on television, but I think adding the ballroom dance culture into the mix could create something really interesting and entertaining. Carrie Ann Inaba, one of the judges on “Dancing With the Stars” is an executive producer, so she should lend some authenticity to the show. Most exciting to me is the fact that the writer of this pilot is Krista Vernoff, current head writer (and co-showrunner) of “Grey’s Anatomy.” “Grey’s” and I have a rocky history, but Vernoff is one of my very favorite TV writers, along with Aaron Sorkin, Bryan Fuller, and Joss Whedon. In fact, she once worked for Bryan Fuller when she wrote for “Wonderfalls.” I especially love her sharp, snarky dialogue. I’m excited for her to finally get out on her own and to see what she can do with a show that’s entirely her creative vision (not withstanding studio and network interference, of course).
For more information:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/abc-picks-two-pilots-police-71691
“Alcatraz” for FOX
“Alcatraz” is yet another pilot from the very prolific Bad Robot (J.J. Abrams’ production company) machine. “Lost,” “Fringe” and “Star Trek” are all Bad Robot productions that I have enjoyed in the past. This particular pilot isn’t going to be written by J.J. Abrams himself but by former “Lost” writer/producer Elizabeth Sarnoff. I think this may be the first Bad Robot show with a female showrunner, which I find to be very cool. The premise is that a group of Alcatraz prisoners and guards have traveled forward in time, and an FBI team that is pursuing them. I always like a plot that involves, as the Tenth Doctor would say, “wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.” This show promises to be good fun. I also think it’s interesting that this pilot was picked up by FOX. FOX is generally very genre-friendly in the sense that they take risks on pilots with interesting genre premises. As “Wonderfalls,” “Firefly,” “Sarah Connor Chronicles,” and “Dollhouse” show, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll stick with the show for the long haul. Here’s hoping this one breaks the mold.
For more information:
http://www.deadline.com/tag/jj-abrams-alcatraz/
“Ringer” for CBS
“Ringer” could potentially mark Sarah Michelle Gellar’s first return to series television since “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” This would be the pilot that I would place in the “interesting because of casting” category. It would be wonderful to see Gellar back on television. She was, at one point, cast in the HBO pilot “The Wonderful Maladys” with Nate Corddry, but that particular pilot was not picked up to series. Here’s hoping this one fares better, even if it doesn’t quite fit in with the CBS “brand.” Beyond the casting, “Ringer” also has a rather promising premise. Gellar will play twin sisters. One has fared much better in life than the other. The less successful sister is on the run from the FBI, and she ends up taking the place of her sister who lives a ritzy life on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It looks like this could be a fun family drama with some legal intrigue. The fact that Gellar will get to take on two characters also gives this pilot the potential to be quite the showcase for her talent.
For more information:
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Sarah-Michelle-Gellar-1028494.aspx
Aaron Sorkin Project for HBO
There’s been buzz for quite a while that Aaron Sorkin was working on a project for HBO, and the pilot has finally been greenlit. The premise is behind the scenes of a cable news show, similar to the now-cancelled “Countdown” with Keith Olbermann. It strikes me as something that could be a sort of amalgam of previous Sorkin works “Sports Night” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” Both shows dealt with the behind-the-scenes of television, the former with a cable sports show and the latter with a sketch comedy show. Here’s hoping this new project is closer to “Sports Night” than “Studio 60.” Now before you all start flaming me, I did actually like “Studio 60.” It had some especially excellent episodes, like “The Christmas Show,” but as a whole, I think “Sports Night” worked better because the show the characters were supposed to be producing felt more believable. Sorkin does especially well when his characters are dealing with politics, and unlike “Studio 60,” this project should provide an appropriate forum for the characters to do so. I think this will lead to a more believeable “show within the show.”
For more information:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/01/28/aaron-sorkin-cable-news-network-hbo/?hpt=T2
Grimm’s Fairy Tales Pilot for NBC
NBC has greenlit a pilot from “Angel” executive producer David Greenwalt. I’m always up for trying any show that someone from the Joss Whedon stable of writers is involved with, so this was exciting to me before I even read the premise. The premise makes it even better, though. This particular pilot is a cop drama (not especially exciting), but is set in a world that includes characters like those in the Grimm fairy tales. It seems like it has potential to be dark and fantastical. I love attempts in television and movies to make fairy tales adult, such as “Pushing Daisies” and “Stardust,” and given how dark the original Grimm fairy tales were (Cinderella’s evil stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to fit in the glass slippers, people!), I think this could be the perfect example of the “Grown Up Fairytale” genre. I’m not thrilled that it’s being fit into the mold of a crime procedural, but “Pushing Daisies” didn’t suffer by having a mystery of the week for Emerson and friends to solve- the mystery was secondary to the characters and the beautiful world they lived in.
For more information:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/01/28/buffy-grimm-nbc/
http://www.tvline.com/2011/01/breaking-nbc-orders-brothers-grimm-themed-pilot/
“Grace” for ABC
“Grace,” which was recently greenlit by ABC, is a family drama set in the world of professional dance. I think this is an extremely original premise. Family dramas are a dime a dozen on television, but I think adding the ballroom dance culture into the mix could create something really interesting and entertaining. Carrie Ann Inaba, one of the judges on “Dancing With the Stars” is an executive producer, so she should lend some authenticity to the show. Most exciting to me is the fact that the writer of this pilot is Krista Vernoff, current head writer (and co-showrunner) of “Grey’s Anatomy.” “Grey’s” and I have a rocky history, but Vernoff is one of my very favorite TV writers, along with Aaron Sorkin, Bryan Fuller, and Joss Whedon. In fact, she once worked for Bryan Fuller when she wrote for “Wonderfalls.” I especially love her sharp, snarky dialogue. I’m excited for her to finally get out on her own and to see what she can do with a show that’s entirely her creative vision (not withstanding studio and network interference, of course).
For more information:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/abc-picks-two-pilots-police-71691
“Alcatraz” for FOX
“Alcatraz” is yet another pilot from the very prolific Bad Robot (J.J. Abrams’ production company) machine. “Lost,” “Fringe” and “Star Trek” are all Bad Robot productions that I have enjoyed in the past. This particular pilot isn’t going to be written by J.J. Abrams himself but by former “Lost” writer/producer Elizabeth Sarnoff. I think this may be the first Bad Robot show with a female showrunner, which I find to be very cool. The premise is that a group of Alcatraz prisoners and guards have traveled forward in time, and an FBI team that is pursuing them. I always like a plot that involves, as the Tenth Doctor would say, “wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.” This show promises to be good fun. I also think it’s interesting that this pilot was picked up by FOX. FOX is generally very genre-friendly in the sense that they take risks on pilots with interesting genre premises. As “Wonderfalls,” “Firefly,” “Sarah Connor Chronicles,” and “Dollhouse” show, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll stick with the show for the long haul. Here’s hoping this one breaks the mold.
For more information:
http://www.deadline.com/tag/jj-abrams-alcatraz/
“Ringer” for CBS
“Ringer” could potentially mark Sarah Michelle Gellar’s first return to series television since “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” This would be the pilot that I would place in the “interesting because of casting” category. It would be wonderful to see Gellar back on television. She was, at one point, cast in the HBO pilot “The Wonderful Maladys” with Nate Corddry, but that particular pilot was not picked up to series. Here’s hoping this one fares better, even if it doesn’t quite fit in with the CBS “brand.” Beyond the casting, “Ringer” also has a rather promising premise. Gellar will play twin sisters. One has fared much better in life than the other. The less successful sister is on the run from the FBI, and she ends up taking the place of her sister who lives a ritzy life on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It looks like this could be a fun family drama with some legal intrigue. The fact that Gellar will get to take on two characters also gives this pilot the potential to be quite the showcase for her talent.
For more information:
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Sarah-Michelle-Gellar-1028494.aspx
No Ordinary Family 1.13: "No Ordinary Detention"
Our guest blogger, Sarah, is back for another "No Ordinary Family" recap. This time, it's "No Ordinary Detention." Two Eighties movies will enter, and only one will survive. Or something like that...
***
“Don’t you see Joshua? Either way, this little flirtation with a normal life will soon be over.”
- Victoria
Upon reflection, I found only one of the three major plots of this episode really interesting. And if you haven’t figured out by now, it’s not the mini Powell plot of the week. Anyway, it will become readily apparent in short order which plotline this week I found intriguing. We start with Stephanie in the kitchen making eggs. She’s hoping for a nice family breakfast, but she is quickly dismissed by the kids. Daphne has a student council meeting and J.J. is meeting Natalie to study. Jim says he’d love to eat breakfast with Stephanie, but of course George has to call and interrupt. There’s four escaped convicts, and Jim has to stop the ringleader before he gets away or hurts anyone. Jim does this rather successfully by knocking the guy off a motorcycle.
Meanwhile Daphne is giving a history presentation that sounds rather boring. She hears Chris (the kid who almost got blamed for his brother’s drug possession) thinking how boring she is. He ends up in detention and Daphne ends up there with him for talking during another student’s presentation. J.J. and Natalie are texting during math class and they both get sent to detention for it. I guess the writers needed to have all the kids in one place [ed. note: or the writers couldn’t resist creating their own version of “The Breakfast Club”]. They end up playing truth or dare. Bailey, the girl Daphne beat out for student council president, is there as well, for some unknown reason.
Anyway, Daphne ends up getting dared to kiss Chris and sees a flash of his memory involving a car accident and him getting arrested (he had just denied ever having been arrested). J.J. finds out that Natalie is a foster kid and doesn’t stay in one place for long. She has to keep her grades up in order to get into a good college to get out of the system. It is why she broke up with J.J. (in detention). J.J. in turn, after some sulking and hanging out with Chris, reveals a secret. He uses his super brain to make fake snow. It’s significant because that was a memory of Natalie’s that made her feel really happy. Unfortunately for J.J., Natalie still doesn’t want to date him. Bailey on the other hand, wouldn’t mind so much. The end of Daphne’s arc for the episode involves Chris explaining that he’d been out with his dad who had had a lot to drink. Chris took the keys and ended up driving home and crashing into a tree. He obviously felt guilty about it and embarrassed and Daphne tries to be nice to him. Who knows where that will be going in the future?
Later that morning, Stephanie gets a call from a rather distraught Katie. “Joshua” is sick and refusing to let Katie take him to the doctor. Stephanie says if Katie can get him to the lab, she’ll take a look. Katie does in fact manage to get him to the lab by saying she left her wallet in her desk. They arrive at the lab and are immediately cornered by Victoria. Victoria feigns interest in why Katie didn’t take the Miami job and acts like she’s never met “Joshua” before. They end up in Stephanie’s lab for maybe two minutes before the entire place goes on lock down because of some sort of radiation leak (which we see Victoria initiate). Katie is freaking out over the lock down while Stephanie examines “Joshua”. He’s really not looking very good. He’s burning up and looking really sweaty and icky. The power comes back on just as Victoria shows up and manages to get Katie to go with her to the specimen room with Stephanie’s key card. That obviously will not end well.
Meanwhile, Jim has gotten to the police station and is filling George in on what happened with the convict. He’s quite proud that he took down the guy without being seen. Unfortunately, IAB is investigating a bunch of the arrests made by the department lately. All arrests instigated by Jim. Naturally, George is protective and tries to keep Jim out of it when he meets with the IAB investigator (played by Joanne Kelly (of SyFy Warehouse 13 fame amongst other things).
Later at the police station, Jim catches sight of the guy he helped bust that morning and hopes he’s not seen. Jim ends up in the bathroom splashing water on his face to try and keep calm. Unfortunately, just as Jim is trying to calm down, the cons escape and take over the squad room. And thus begins the Die Hard reenactment, complete with about five mentions of “Die Hard” in the rest of the episode. The bad guys barricade the squad room and lock all the cops up.
George has managed to get himself tied up with the rest of the hostages. And I have to admit it’s kind of a funny scene where George convinces the lead bad guy that he (George) will be their lawyer. The lead guy is distrusting at first, not believing the cop negotiator will give him the money and airplane he wants. He gets one guy to go get a pregnant woman some food. Jim uses the air vents to ambush lackey #1 and knocks him out (complete with partial Die Hard quote). I mean I’m a fan of the first Die Hard movie because let’s face it; Alan Rickman makes one hell of an awesome bad guy. But really, did we need a recreation? I really don’t think so. Jacobs (the IAB investigator) is complaining to George that she could have sworn Jim was around when the bad guys took over. It gets rather annoying as it goes on.
Katie and Victoria are still gone as Stephanie continues to examine “Joshua’. She makes the comment she’s seen some of his symptoms before and asks what drugs he’s on. He denies being on drugs (which is only kind of true) and basically makes a break for it. He tries to use his powers to open the door when Katie shows up. She tells him she wants him to feel better and kisses him. He’s not fooled though. He pushes her away and she shape shifts back into Victoria. “Joshua” demands to know where Katie is and we see her for a brief glimpse lying unconscious on the floor of the specimen room. “Joshua” and Victoria have a little skirmish but it’s really very one sided. He’s getting weaker by the minute. She says in about twenty minutes he’ll be dead. So she leaves him lying in the hallway, a syringe of the injection used to give him his powers lying on the floor near him. She’s really evil. I think I preferred her on LOST.
Stephanie is still in her lab when Katie shows up and tries to get Stephanie to inject “Joshua” with stuff from the plant but Stephanie says they don’t know how it would affect people. Just as Katie says that Stephanie would do it in a heartbeat if it was Jim, Daphne or J.J., Joshua stumbles into the room and promptly collapse after warning Stephanie to not trust Katie. Stephanie uses her powers to go grab some ice packs to try and bring “Joshua’s” temperature down and Katie looks surprised by it. She tries to hide the shock by rushing off to see what’s taking so long with getting them out.
Back at the police station, Jim takes out another of the bad guys which only makes the lead bad guy angry. Again, Jacobs tells George she thinks Jim is behind taking out the bad guys. George denies it again, but it’s not much use. Jacobs claims that Jim’s actions are hurting the hostages more than helping. Jacobs is trying to reason with the bad guy by saying he’ll never know who is taking out his guys if he shoots her. Unfortunately, she gets shot in the arm for her trouble and Jim reveals himself. We got another Die Hard reference in this scene. I mean, I liked seeing Joanne Kelly on my TV for a little while but her character was rather boring and the bad guys were stereotypical and kind of two-dimensional. The bad guys are getting what they want from the negotiator. He takes Jim and Jacobs to the parking garage and Jim takes them out. Jacobs sees it and tells Jim she thinks he’s a hero and won’t be pursuing her investigation into the department.
And now we get to possibly my favorite exchange in the whole episode. Katie shows up and rambles about waking up on the floor of the specimen room just as a second Katie walks in another door. The two Katies are hilarious. They end up doing a quiz and for the first few questions both of them get them right. Then Stephanie asks what happened for the first time the week before. The real Katie steps forward and Stephanie believes her just as Victoria knocks her out with a pipe. Victoria attacks Katie and it looks pretty bad. Victoria is trying to stab Katie with some sort of syringe. It’s not obvious what is in the syringe but considering Victoria is evil and a lackey of Dr King so it’s not good. Just as things are about to go horribly wrong, Joshua gets to his feet, races to the hallway and injects himself in the arm. His powers are back and he saves Katie by sending Victoria flying through a glass wall. Katie is kind of shocked and confused but she gives very vague details to Stephanie when she wakes up. I’ll be really interested to see what happens next with her and “Joshua”. She knows he has powers now. Will she keep it to herself or share it with Stephanie? And once again, the Katie plot is far more interesting than the entire Powell family put together.
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