The Closer- This show has really started gaining in popularity and critical acclaim. It is for this reason, I'm sure, that the network ordered a bigger season and decided to split it into 2 halves of 10 episodes each. What they had been doing since Season 2 was showing 13 episodes in the Summer and then a 2-hour special finale in December. I loved this setup and thought it
worked really well. This new arrangement, though, means that we get more episodes, which can only be a good thing. So the first part of Season 4 aired from July to September. I would say that my favorite episodes were: 1) "Time Bomb," episode 10- They seriously stepped it up for the mid-season finale. The body of a teenager is found, which leads to the uncovering of a terrorist plot involving the dead boy and one of his friends at school. Brenda seems to have figured out everything, but as she is tying up a loose end, she realizes that a third boy was involved and that he was about to launch an attack on the mall. Her team goes into action to stop him, and Sanchez is shot while acting as a human shield for Lt. Provenza.
2) "Dial M for Provenza," episode 5- Lt. Provenza goes undercover and is hired by a woman (played by Jennifer Coolidge) to kill her husband. The evidence gets stolen, and hilarity ensues.
3) "Sudden Death," episode 7- Heartbreaking. Sanchez's younger brother is killed, so it becomes a very personal case that Brenda and the squad are determined to solve.
4) "Controlled Burn," episode 1- For the reasons that I mentioned in my previous post, mainly Jason O'Mara's return as Billy Kroelig.
5) "Split Ends," episode 8- The death of a hairdresser in Hollywood. I liked this one a lot because Brenda's parents were visiting, pressing Brenda and Fritz to set a date for the wedding and start having kids.
Mad Men- Season 2 presented interesting journeys for all the characters, and slowly but surely, the past was unraveled. We got to learned what Peggy went through in the hospital after she had her baby. We met another person connected to Don's former life as Dick Whitman. We saw some of what Betty's family life had been when she had to return home to see her father after he had a stroke. Pete's humanity was developed more, through his interactions with his wife, Trudy, and their attempts to get pregnant, as well as through his father's death in a plane crash (on an airline that Sterling Cooper represented). My favorite episodes:
1) "The Mountain King," episode 12- Don is AWOL from Sterling Cooper after his business trip to California. He stays there for a few weeks with an old friend, Anna Draper (the wife of the real Don Draper), remembering all the things he missed from his life and trying to decide what is most important when he returns to New York.
2) "Meditations in an Emergency," episode 13- Betty finds out that she's pregnant. Don finally comes home. Peggy tells Pete that he got her pregnant and that she gave the child up for adoption. The future of Sterling Cooper and its employees is uncertain after a merger.
3) "Six Month Leave," episode 9- Everyone is dealing with the news that Marilyn Monroe committed suicide. We see once again what kindred spirits Don and Peggy are.
-I thought this season was great, but I didn't love the first half of the season because Don's affair with Bobbie was very jarring for me. Don Draper is a fascinating man, but I like him the most when he's being honorable- which, to me, always seems to be when he's with his family- or when he's being brilliant- which happens when he's working on an ad campaign. I do not like him when he is having affairs.
Desperate Housewives-
The 5-year leap forward has created an abundance of material for them to address this year in Season 5, some of it good and some of it bad. I don't enjoy this season as much as I did Season 4, and certainly not as much as Season 1 (still one of the best stand-alone seasons of television that I've ever had the pleasure of watching). Nevertheless, I am invested enough in these characters' lives to continue watching, and I have found some of it to be very interesting. These are the current stories of each housewife:Susan- She and Mike are recently divorced. They broke up because, one night as they were driving to dinner for their anniversary, they got into a collision that killed the woman and child in the other car. Susan's guilt caused her and Mike to fight until they just couldn't be together anymore. Upset over the failure of her marriage to the man who was undoubtedly the love of her life, she began sleeping with the guy who was painting her house, Jackson (played by Gale Harold). At first, they both just wanted a physical relationship, but his feelings for her began to grow. When he broached the subject of his moving in, she refused. He realized that even though he loved her, she never wanted to be with him long-term, so he left. (This may or may not be the last we will see of Jackson, but it is for the time being because the actor was recently in a motorcycle accident and suffered severe injuries.) Meanwhile, Mike is still in the picture for M.J., his and Susan's adorable 5-year old son. In the last episode we saw, he began renting Mary Alice Young's old house right across the street from Susan so that he could be closer to his kid.Bree- This woman has been through more than any of her friends, from Rex's death, to her alcoholism, to the terrible things her children have done. In flashbacks, we have seen that Orson went to prison for 3 years so Bree would forgive him for what he did to Mike. While he was gone, Danielle returned. She had gotten her life together and married a lawyer, and she took Benjamin away. Things really couldn't get worse for her. So, for some balance in Bree's life, Marc Cherry has improved her situation substantially. She runs a successful catering business with Katherine. She just released a cook book. Her son, Andrew, is working as her manager. Orson served his time in jail and has returned home. On the surface, everything seems to be great, but, up-close, her seemingly perfect life has many problems (Isn't that what this show is about, after all?). Her success has made her friends jealous. Katherine, in particular, resents her because they were supposed to be partners but Bree has gotten all the credit. Orson is mad that she didn't fight harder to keep Benjamin.
Lynette- Zzzzz. Oh, I'm sorry, what was I saying? Perhaps how bored I have been with
Lynette's story this season? Honestly, I don't understand how they could let Felicity Huffman go from having the best and most complicated arc in Season 1 that let her explore all the nuances of a "desperate housewife," to this snooze fest. Lynette's experiences in seasons 2-4 were intensely dramatic, bordering on ridiculous. Tom discovered that he had a daughter named Kayla from a one-night stand before they met. Kayla's mom died in a hostage situation at the local supermarket, during which Lynette was also shot, so Kayla had to come live with them. Kayla turned out to be a demon child that hated Lynette and pretended that she had been abused so that Lynette would get taken away. Tom decided to leave the advertising business and open a pizza parlor. Lynette quit her job, too, so she could help him run it. They hired a cook for the restaurant, and Lynette sort of fell in love with him. Lynette got cancer. A tornado demolished her house. It's just too much! But the alternative has been to make her story irrelevant. Oh no, her teenage sons get wild sometimes. Oh no, her husband is going through a mid-life crisis. Blah.
Gaby- And the winner of the "Housewife with the story I am not annoyed or bored with" award is...Gabrielle Solis! What a fantastic idea to take the stunningly beautiful woman who was all about the material things in life and to turn her into a mother, now too tired to worry about her appearance. We have gotten to see a whole new side of her, as she takes care of her 2 daughters and Carlos with more love than we knew she possessed. She hasn't completely changed, though. Upset that she was losing her social status, she and Carlos crashed a party at the country club. Bringing her blind husband in through the service entrance because she hadn't told him that they were not really invited, she wanted enough people to see her there so that they thought she was still somebody, but she stayed too long and Carlos was thrown out by security. We saw last week that Gaby's period was late. She was getting angry, and her daughter Juanita asked her why: "Mommy has a friend who visits her every month, and she's late. And that's bad because she's the one who assures me that you won't get a baby brother or sister. Mommy really misses her friend, and Mommy's going to be sad if she doesn't show up soon. Now go downstairs and play, Mommy has some praying to do." At the end of the episode, Carlos told her that he was hoping they would have a baby boy. After seeing how much Gaby has grown as a person, I hope that happens, too.
-Unfortunately, Nicollette Sheridan and Dana Delany have been vastly underused this season. Edie returned to Wisteria Lane after her expulsion 5 years ago because her new husband insisted that she mend her relationships with her former friends- and bringing her back seemed to be just an excuse to introduce him. This husband, Dave Williams (played by Neal McDonough), is our obligatory dose of creepy this season. All we know about him is that he recently got out of a mental institution because he has rage issues. He puts on the air of a very calm guy who wants to assist everyone on the road to self-improvement, but he has released his irrational anger a couple times. We don't know why he wants so badly to be on Wisteria Lane, but he has a plan that somehow involves being in a band with Tom and Mike. Katherine has not had anything to do this season except to resent Bree. It's so tragic- I want more Dana Delany!
Brothers & Sisters- I am sad to say that I have not been drawn in by Season 3. It's the kind of thing where I will watch it if I have time, but if I miss it, I probably will just read the recap the next day. Kitty and Robert are in the process of adopting a child. Justin and Rebecca are in the early stages of their relationship. Kevin has quit his job at his law firm because he wanted to make partner but his bosses were having issues
with the fact that he's gay. Sarah quit Ojai and is now adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom. Saul quit, too. The entire Walker family is curious about Ryan, but we haven't met him yet. (They're saving him for November sweeps, of course.) Whatever...
Dexter- The best aspect of this show is still (and will forever be) Michael C. Hall. Nobody except Dexter has anything particularly interesting
going on. Deb still wants to get her Detective badge. Some cop girl keeps trying to get her to spy on one of her fellow officers. She keeps denying that she will ever be a rat. Angel made Sergeant. Masuka wants more respect. Nothing of consequence for any of them, really. Dexter, on the other hand, is dealing with something huge- he's going to be a father. This took a long time for him to come to terms with. How could a man with no emotions help raise a child and teach him/her anything about life in this world? But he's sticking by Rita and preparing himself for the responsibility because, in spite of his sociopathic nature, he knows that he is not completely bad man. He would do anything for Rita and Cody and Astor and his future son or daughter. He even proposed to Rita and is getting ready to join his new family in a new house, knowing that he will have to sacrifice the freedom and independence he has always possessed. On the "Dark Passenger" side of things, Dexter accidentally killed a man in the premiere who got in the way of getting his intended victim. This man turned out to be Oscar Prado, the younger brother of Sheriff Ramon Prado and Assistant District Attorney Miguel Prado. Miguel (played by Jimmy Smits) has remarkably become the closest thing Dexter has ever had to a best friend. The crazy thing is that he understands who Dexter is- he does not know that Dexter killed his brother, but he knows that he brings bad people to justice- and believes that he is doing good. I wish that there were more interesting storylines for the supporting characters, but I guess you can't ask for everything.
Chuck- I am absolutely loving Season 2 of Chuck.
It is my probably my favorite show at the moment because, somehow, they have gotten me to the point where I am in love with every single character and care so much about what they are going through. All the episodes have been as enjoyable as the last, not to mention an impressive list of guest stars, from Nicole Ritchie and Ben Savage in "Chuck vs. the Cougars," to Michael Clarke Duncan in "Chuck vs. the First Date" and Michael Strahan of the NY Giants in "Chuck vs. the Break-Up." I don't know how long he will be staying for, but Tony Hale (Buster from Arrested Development) was introduced last week as the new Assistant Manager at the Buy More. He is hi-larious. If I had to pick, I would say my favorite episode thus far has been "Chuck vs. the Seduction," in which Melinda Clarke from The O.C. played a
woman called "The Black Widow," whom Chuck was supposed to seduce. A suave, older gentleman agent came in to help Chuck on his romance tactics. Everything this season has been building towards a way to get the Intersect out of Chuck's head, even though we know that once that happens, Casey has been assigned to kill Chuck because he knows too much of the government's secrets.(In other Josh Schwartz news, I have abandoned his other show, the ever-trendy Gossip Girl. I just can't take anymore of the ludicrous web of relationships and teen angst and the struggles of that unfortunate life on the glamorous Upper East Side. I do miss Chuck Bass, though, so I read the weekly recaps to see how much tension there can be between him and Blair.)
Heroes- Welcome back to the show I became addicted to in its spectacular first season! Everything has been turned upside down: there is a formula for a drug that gives abilities to non-heroes. Mohinder has taken it and is now quite powerful, and evil. Mr. Petrelli was revealed to be the top villain- he steals people's powers. For Adam Monroe, this meant that he disintegrated from his supernaturally long life (Farewell, David Anders! It was nice while we had you!). Peter Petrelli is now powerless. Sylar appears to have had a change of heart after discovering that he is actually a Petrelli. With this newfound family, he has started trying suppress his hunger for understanding and power and has (almost) stopped killing. He has been working for the Company as HRG's partner, hunting down people with dangerous abilities. As much as I love HRG, he keeps trying to kill Sylar, refusing to trust that he, or anyone else, might have changed. This has begun to make Claire doubt her father (I have disagreed with some of his decisions, as well, but he reminds me too much of Spy Daddy to make me question his motives- those kinds of dads always want to protect their daughters first and foremost). As for Sylar, I would say that I think this change of heart is all an act to acquire even more powers, but Peter went to the future and Sylar was a sweet, loving father of a little boy. I don't know what's going on with Claire. In the future, she was a cold-hearted killer. Her disillusionment is happening gradually. Ali Larter has lived on, but not as Niki- she is her sister (separated at birth) and has the ability to freeze things. Nathan survived being shot (by Future Peter, as it turned out) and believes that he was saved by God. He is now serving the people as the Junior Senator from New York. Matt Parkman, usually a moral compass, is now a bit of a wuss. He went on a spirit walk in Africa and saw his future in which he was the father of a baby girl and was married to the speedster, Daphne. In the present day, though, she is a
villain working for Mr. Petrelli, and Parkman wants so badly to get to that happy future that he is allowing her to trick him into thinking she has changed her ways. Wake up, Parkman! With everything that's gone on, it's hard to distinguish between who is good and who is bad, a line that Heroes has always blurred, especially in this, its Villains chapter. The only person I have faith in is Hiro, who is still trying to pursue his destiny as a hero who saves the world.-The coolest thing about this season: we finally learned Mrs. Petrelli's power! She dreams the future. That is awesome.
Coming soon: my take on Samantha Who?, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Friday Night Lights, The Office, and Grey's Anatomy
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