Friday, November 23rd, 2007
07:00 The Bionic Woman
08:00 30 Rock
08:30 Aliens In America
09:00 Kung Fu
10:00 Timeslip
The Bionic Woman. Season 2, Episode 15. Deserves to be considered a classic on the strength of Lindsay Wagner's performance. Not since her six-episode origin has Lindsay done such incredible work on the show. Jaime Sommers is behind bars, drugged and having a complete meltdown. The scene in the solitary cell, in particular, is really superb. Helped along by some stylish cinematography.
Meanwhile, Lisa Galloway (Jaime's evil doppleganger) has taken over every facet of Jaime's life. We see her at home with Jim, and at work with the kids. Lindsay gives Lisa a distinct personality and it's impossible not to fall under the charms of this imposter, as she starts to get softened by the life that Jaime Sommers leads.
30 Rock. Season 2, Episode 6. The show is on a roll again, and some of this is the most inventive and funniest stuff they have ever done. Like what? Well, how about all those scenes from the Lifetime movie: "A Dog Took My Face And Gave Me A Better Face To Change The World: The Celeste Cunningham Story". Much as I laughed at that, and at Jack's reactions while he watched the movie, I laughed even more when Kenneth donned a gorilla mask and scared the living crap out of a sleeping Lutz. Lutz, of course, awoke screamed "Ape Attack!" and grabbed a golf club to beat the living crap out of the ape. Before the writers - eventually - ran in and pulled him off poor bruised Kenneth.
Aliens In America. Episode 4. I like this show, but I sometimes wonder is it more than a Wonder Years / Malcolm In The Middle clone. This storyline could have worked just as well in either of those shows. The boys befriend the hottest girl in school (Whitney Anderson), which is shocking because she's normally not very nice to nerds like Justin. Under Raja's influence, however, she lets her brainy side shine though and she stops dressing provocatively (so much so that Justin's dad thinks she is Amish). All goes well until Justin gives in to the temptation to kiss her... The script in nicely layered, with references to Sleeping Beauty and Butterflies in there, and there are few good laughs to be had. Sadly though, this is yet another episode where Justin and Raja have a fight, and make up at the end. Getting tired real fast, that is.
Kung Fu. Episode 13. A muddled script with too many plots. Caine befriends some runaway children. He helps an Armenian find true love, after he has turned his back on it in order to follow his dreams. And he befriends (and later fights) a Brazilian who is searching for a stolen diamond. All these plots are connected and criss-cross in ineligant fashion. Disappointing.
Timeslip. Series 2, Episode 3 is (once again) completely devoted to things happening at the underground Arctic research complex, with no scenes set in the 'present day'. Simon is doing a lot of snooping around to see what's going on, but Liz has more personal concerns. She has met a future version of herself. And the Liz-of-the-Future is a very different person. Not very nice, and Liz wants to find out why. So does the audience. Engrossing stuff.
Highlight? 30 Rock.
30 Rock, Aliens In America, Kung Fu, The Bionic Woman, Timeslip
