Sunday, September 9th, 2007
09:00 Californication
09:30 Scrubs
09:55 Death Note
10:20 Friday Night Lights
11:10 The Bionic Woman
12:00 WKRP In Cincinnati
Californication. Episode 4. Hank's girlfriend Meredith (Amy Price-Francis, who was also great in a Corner Gas I watched recently) wants to take their relationship out of the bedroom, so they head to a fund-raiser. The mother of his daughter and another ex-lover are also in attendance. We watch with baited breath, waiting for Hank's self-destructive tendencies to ruin everything. But things don't play out that way. Instead, we learn that Meredith is using Hank to make her other lover (a married guy) jealous. What happens when Hank finds out? He takes it in his stride, looks after a very drunk Meredith, takes her home, tucks her into bed and ends the night with a (touching) telephone conversation with his daughter.
Along the way, Hank (previously shown to be both promiscious and immature) rejects the advances of a married woman, and advices his agent (and friend) against adultery - advising him instead on ways to save his marriage.
As Hank gets more complex, so does the series. At first, I think, we liked Hank on the strength of the performance of David Duchovny but all that changes with this episode. There's more to Hank than self-destructive stupidity. And I just can't wait to see where the show goes from here.
Scrubs. Season 6, Episode 14. The stunning Mircea Monroe (from Drive) guests as a "hot nanny" that causes problems for Turk and Carla, when Turk can't keep his eyes off her. This being Scrubs, he not only can't keep his eyes off her, he also brings a video of her to the hospital to show to (what appears to be) hundreds of the male staff. Elliot has a great storyline where she finally resolves her ongoing feud with Kelso. But the killer storyline of this episode goes to Cox and Laverne who spend the episode debating over God, religion and the eternal question of why do bad things happen to good people.
Death Note. Episode 5. Almost my favourite show at this stage, the previous episode ended with the implication that Kira (who has previously killed only criminals) might actually kill the FBI agent on his tail. Would our "hero" actually kill one of the "good Guys"? This installment answers the question, in gripping style, as Kira confronts that poor FBI agent, in a crowded subway station, and proceeds to use his power to kill not only him, but all twelve FBI agents on the task force tracking him. The animation and soundtrack for the confrontation scene is nothing short of breath-taking. Where does the saga go from here?
Friday Night Lights. Episode 12. The best show on television. FNL tells stories of heartache and heartbreak week after week after week and it never resorts to cliché and it never puts a foot wrong. A daughter getting into a physical fight with her mother's current (abusive) boyfriend, former close friends at odds because of a lawsuit, and a teenage boy struggling to look after his grandmother and (sadly useless, but apparently well-meaning) father are just some of the highlights of this moving installment. Nearly every scene is a conversation between two people in a lot of pain. And all of this would, itself, be painful to watch if not for the fact that some of those scenes have one person (somehow) managing to reach out (in some way) to the other and (if possible) lessen their burden. It doesn't happen in every storyline, but when it does... it brings a tear to the eye.
The Bionic Woman. Season 2, Episode 11. Jaime is working undercover in a police station which is positively riddled with foreign spies (who are on a mission to kidnap a visiting dignatory). The pace is fast, there's a cool action-highlight with Jaime hanging onto the back of a speeding car, and it all concludes with a genuninely sweet scene between Lindsay Wagner and guest star George Maharis. Much better than the previous episode (which saw Jaime undercover at the academy) this one is still plagued with lots and lots of obvious over-dubbing (which I hate), but it still manages to be a lot of fun to watch.
WKRP In Cincinnati. Episode 56. Arthur Carlson gives a boring speech and the staff daydreams while he talks. It's not the funniest episode, but it's a good character episode and there a lot of fun to be had from watching the regulars playing different parts.
Highlight of the night? Friday Night Lights.
Californication, Scrubs, Death Note, Friday Night Lights, The Bionic Woman, WKRP In Cincinnati
