Burn Notice, etc.

Last week, I watched the first season and a half of Burn Notice in time for the midseason premiere on Thursday night. By that point, I was way hooked on this fun and exciting show about a spy named Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) who has been "burned," which means that he not only lost his job but is also stuck in Miami so that the government can keep an eye on him. He doesn't know who put out the burn notice on him--or why--but he is determined to find out. And until he does, he makes his living doing odd jobs to help people who have been wronged and cheated. This often involves him going undercover and making nifty gadgets out of toothpaste and cell phones. Michael is like the hotter version of MacGyver. He has some help with his work from an old spy buddy of his, played by the incomparable Bruce Campbell. Sam preys on wealthy divorcees and widows, but he's got a good heart. He and Michael have saved each other's lives on more than one occasion. Also in the mix is one of Michael's ex-girlfriends, Fiona. She likes any excuse to shoot/beat someone, but her devotion to Michael is clear. It looks like that will be paying off for her very soon because, as much as Michael says they were never good together, the chemistry and tension between them has been building for some time. Michael's mother and brother live in Miami, too, providing many uncomfortable moments for Michael but showing another side to his character.

Season 2 features the loveliest of the Cylons, Tricia Helfer, as part of a powerful organization that basically controls Michael's life right now. She is his handler, sending him on mysterious errands. He plays along to protect his friends and family, in addition to helping him find out the truth about his burn notice.

Other stuff:

Bones returned last week with double episodes of awesomeness. The circus episode, "Double Trouble in the Panhandle," was so joyous because Booth and Bones went undercover as knife-throwers named Buck and Wanda Moosejaw. Best moments: When Booth was doing their act in front of the crowd and he was so nervous about hitting Bones but she kept making him aim at smaller and smaller targets. When Booth drove a motorcycle with Bones in the sidecar!!!! It doesn't really get any better. The second episode indulged David Boreanaz's

love of hockey. The case itself was not very intriguing (the guy confessed at the end without putting up a fight at all!) But at the end, Booth takes Bones ice skating and they hold hands and he says he would never let her fall... :) Next Thursday's episode sees the return of the Gravedigger, with Booth as the victim this time. I predict that my heart will stop at least once and that tears will be in abundant supply.

In my next post, I will recap the thoroughly amazing time-traveling extravaganza that is the beginning of Season 5 of LOST.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions for what my next new show should be? It can be currently airing or not. I'm thinking The Wire, House, or Six Feet Under. Hmm...decisions, decisions.

The Beginning of the End: Battlestar Galactica

It's been a very long time since the fleet's hopes (and ours) were shattered by the revelation that Earth was not the Promised Land. For 3 years, Galactica has been searching the galaxies far and wide to find a home for the remaining 40,000 survivors. They have endured Cylon oppression, personal loss, political upheaval, and everything else imaginable, but they knew that everything would be okay once they found Earth. At first, most people didn't even believe in the prophecies that told about the lost planet of the 13th tribe. But President Roslin's faith was unwavering. And soon everyone believed.

So where do they go from here? In the case of last night's Season 4.5 premiere, many have simply given up. Dee left the desolate planet, sobbing, but once back on Galactica seemed like she was optimistic. She had a heart-to-heart with Lee, they enjoyed a fun night together, Lt. Gaeda noted that she was "glowing," and then she shot herself. I have not felt such a physical and emotional upheaval in a long time. After that, everything just seemed to be crumbling. President Roslin burned her book of prophecy one page at a time. She skipped her cancer treatment and couldn't have cared less. Admiral Adama was walking down the halls of the ship as his crew was fighting and crashing around him. When Laura shut him out, he got very drunk and tried to enrage Tigh so that he would shoot him. Death would have been a welcome presence on Galactica, and that was more shocking to me than the truth about Earth.

The Cylons were having an alternate experience than the humans. They lingered on Earth because, looking around the wreckage, they were having flashbacks to their previous lives.

2000 years before. On Earth. It would seem that the 13th tribe was made up of Cylons because the remains found, although they appeared to be human bones, were later confirmed by Baltar to be Cylons. No human bodies found anywhere.

Except for 1. Starbuck went off on her own search for the source of some signal, accompanied by Leoben, and started finding pieces of her Viper. Then she found the cockpit with a body in it. Completely charred, but with some leftover blonde hair. And around the neck, her pilot tag and wedding ring. She made a huge bonfire and burned what was left of the body, perhaps afraid of the implications if someone else found it. Then she would surely be thought to be the Final Cylon. I haven't entertained the possibility of Starbuck being the Final Cylon for a long time. I was positive that she wasn't, even after she came back in the brand new Viper. I admit, last night, I started to have my doubts. But then Tigh walked out into the sea, contemplating the idea of letting the tide carry him away, and he stopped, because he had a flashback. Ellen was there. On Earth 2000 years before as the nuclear attack was happening, she told him not to worry because they would be reborn together.

So the big reveal happened. I'm not sure how I feel about it at this point. On the one hand, I trust Ronald D. Moore unconditionally. He has never disappointed me before. This is probably the closest thing to a perfect show that I will ever see. And yet, I can't understand what the implications are of Ellen being the 5th. When we saw at the end of Season 3 that Anders, Tyrol, Tigh, and Tory, were Cylons, that was a huge deal because they were all intimately connected to the fleet. Now that we know Ellen is one, it explains some things about her character and actions, perhaps, but who will this matter to except for Saul? That has not been determined, so I withhold my judgment until everything plays out. I have a feeling it will be bigger than I expect. With Battlestar Galactica, it always is.

----In other news, shows are just starting to come back, so I don't have a lot to report on. But I would just like to mention how stellar the first episodes of The Office and Grey's Anatomy were. In The Office, Michael (of course) was the one to tell Andy about Angela's affair with Dwight. So the 2 guys (of course) decided to have a duel. My favorite moment was when Oscar realized that Dwight and Angela had engaged in their "activities" on his desk. And Grey's was just really enjoyable this week, I'm sure due to the presence of Derek's mom, the awesome Tyne Daly. Izzie was trying to help Meredith be bright and bubbly (result: "alarmingly high ponytail"), but Mer eventually came clean and said, "Look, mom's don't like me. I'm not a cheerful person. I'm someone who feels sorry for serial killers." And this was all it took for Mrs. Shepherd to know that she was the right girl for her son. Sloan told her about his relationship with the 24-year old Lexie ("the one with the juice box"), and she assessed the situation for him, asking Lexie if she was "a good girl." Meredith and Cristina aren't on friendly terms, but we know they still care, especially when Cristina tells Meredith that her ponytail looks ridiculous. And in other Cristina news, her interactions with Hunt this week were especially awesome. He asked her on a date. She asked him what his best surgery was. He showed up to her apartment drunk and took a shower with all his clothes on. Soaking wet, he told her that about his best surgery on a soldier with holes in his body that he saved but the guy later killed himself. So she got into the shower with him. With all her clothes on.

Next week: LOST + Bones + more Battlestar = much rejoicing

True Blood

A couple of months ago, I was talking to my sister on the phone, and I asked her if she had completed any television marathons since she got to college. She said that, yes, she had watched the entire first season of True Blood in a week. I was like, "Claire, that's only, like, 10 episodes! That's not a marathon!" To which she responded, "Shut up, it was 12 episodes!" Then I laughed at her.

Anyways, she told me that I just had to watch this show. I thought to myself, "Hmm, Alan Ball is the creator of Six Feet Under. This is a good sign. But it's a show about vampires. So it can't possibly be as good as Buffy. Plus, I just finished reading Twilight at my sister's recommendation, and that made me want to gag the entire time." Well, I was really bored one night and wanting to watch something new, so I decided to start True Blood and, in the process, show my little sister how a television marathon is done. 2 days and 12 episodes later, I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed the show. It is very strange at times- exorcisms, people getting high on "V juice" (vampire blood)- but it keeps things interesting.

True Blood takes place in a world where vampires not only exist, but they are out in the open. They can go into a bar and order a bottle of O-negative that comes in the form of a synthetic blood drink called Tru Blood. On the news, political pundits argue about the merits of a "Vampire Rights Amendment." The story follows the life of Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), a waitress in Bon Temps, Louisiana, who is burdened by the ability to hear other people's thoughts. Then she meets a vampire named Bill (played by Stephen Moyer), and he is mysterious, as all the good vampires are, and introduces her to an entirely different lifestyle that fascinates her. She takes refuge in the fact that she cannot hear his thoughts. But Bon Temps is not as open-minded as Sookie. Season 1 revolves around the murders of people who associate with vampires, and Sookie becomes involved in investigating because the police and most of the people in the town believe that her brother, Jason, is the killer.

Paquin is a fantastic actress. I love her as Rogue in X-Men, but I would say her portrayal of Sookie is the best performance I've ever seen her give. She did win an Oscar for The Piano, but she was just a little girl and has matured so much since then. The most moving scene of Season 1: Sookie eating her grandmother's pecan pie after her funeral.

Episode 5, "Sparks Fly Out," and episode 8, "The Fourth Man in the Fire," were my favorites. In the former, Bill does a favor for Sookie's grandmother by coming to speak about his experiences as a Confederate soldier to her Descendants of the Glorious Dead group. In the latter, Sookie goes with Bill to the vampire bar Fangtasia ("There was a time when puns were the highest form of humor") to help a high-ranking vampire with her telepathic skillz, which leads to Bill taking extreme measures to protect her life.

It is interesting to see what aspects of vampire lore a show/book/movie uses and which ones they dismiss. In Buffy, vampires can be killed by a wooden stake in the heart, by setting them on fire, or by cutting off their heads, all of which will cause them to turn into dust; they are repelled by crucifixes and holy water; they have to be invited before they can enter a mortal's home; they have no reflection in a mirror; and they burst into flames in sunlight. In True Blood, vampires are killed by a wooden stake through the heart or by setting them on fire, both of which cause them to become a disgusting geyser of blood and guts; the mirror/crucifix/holy water factors are all rumors vampires made up to help them if they ever needed to prove that they weren't, in fact, vampires; they also have to be invited before they can enter a mortal's home; and sunlight drains them of their energy until they are barbequed. (Another Buffy-True Blood comparison: at one point, Bill is telling Sookie about how vampires can persuade humans to bend to their will by "glamouring" them, and she wants him to try it on her. He stares deep into her eyes for several seconds, slow music playing in the background, and says, "Sookie, can you feel my influence?" I just laughed and shook my head and thought about how Angel would NEVER say something like that. Bill is hot in his own way, but c'mon. Seriously. Angel is so the superior vampire.)

I'll be looking forward to Season 2 this summer.