Friday, November 9th, 2007
07:00 The Bionic Woman
08:00 Seinfeld
08:30 Samantha Who?
09:00 House
10:00 My Boys
12:30 Timeslip
The Bionic Woman. Season 2, Episode 14. Deserves to be considered a classic for six reasons. First, Lindsay's performance. She gives every scene her full conviction and commitment. This is remarkable. She is largely playing all her scenes alone and, despite the apparently limited story setting, she is asked to convey a large range of emotions. Jaime goes through a lot in this episode. A lots of highs and lows, a lot of pain, a lot of terror and frustration and pity and sorrow and fear. Lindsay nails every one of them. And it's a joy to watch.
Second, the setting. A large computer complex/compound which is 8 levels in depth and several miles in area. Third, the story. Jaime goes up against a computer. Fourth, the scope. The story takes the whole world to the brink of doom and - despite the arrogance of trying such a feat - actually manages to convey what it sets out to do. Kudos to Kenneth Johnson, who wrote, directed and produced. He clearly had a vision. And he executed it.
Fifth, the voice. Alex 7000, the computer that Jaime goes up against, has a haunting voice. Perfect casting: Guerin Barry. Sixth, the ending(s). The episode has three endings. A false one, which leads to a twist I did not see coming. A ending for the action-adventure portion of things. And, a downbeat thoughtful ending. This, of course, is the best.
Seinfeld. Season 8, Episode 1. Susan is dead and George can move on with his life. Not! Thanks to a well chosen "Star Trek" quote from Jerry in the graveyard, George finds himself dogged by the legacy of Susan. Literally. A great start to the first non-Larry-David season. Any doubts/worries we had back then soon disappear and this season contains some of my favourite episodes/moments/ideas.
Samantha Who? Episode 4. I'm more in love with the character, the actress and the show than ever. Samantha doesn't remember ever having sex, so she sets out (with help from her best friend, mother and stalker) to have some. The show never puts a foot wrong. The laughs come hard and fast, the sentiments are honest and the simmering love-story-arc gets better every week.
House. Season 4, Episode 6. With two fascinating A-plots, there was enough material here for two seperate episodes. Or a two-hour episode. Man, it was good. This was the episode that pushed Andy Comeau's Brennan ahead of "cutthroat bitch" to be my favourite new character and then, in the closing the seconds, the show pulling a truly stunning twist ending. And he's gone. Bang! You're out! Meanwhile, the other A-plot ending up by... pulling a truly stunning twist ending. And we've a fascinating new regular character. For a show to make you go "Wow!" outloud at the end of the story is remarkable. To do it twice, within two minutes... Well, that's just showing off, that is.
My Boys. Episode 21. The best new sitcom of last season. Ahead of Notes From The Underbelly and 30 Rock. Two plots, continued from last week, drive this episode: Andy is still depressed over the arrival of his second child, and what it means for his life in suburbia. Meanwhile, the awesome Michael Landes (from Special Unit 2) is somewhat awesome as he tried to fit in with gang. This show never fails to nail real life situations. And the scene where Evan (Landes) tried to fit it, while totally failing to get the rhythm of the gang, was one of the best written and best played I've seen in the show.
Timeslip. Series 2, Episode 2. Time-travelling teens Liz and Simon (think Hermione Granger and Harry Potter) return from their mini-adventure 20 years into their own future. Aside from the cool gimmick of time-travel, the strength of this series is the well-written characters. And none is better than Commander Traynor the bad good-guy (anti-hero? or possible villain, who knows?). The episode takes place in the present day. Liz's parents have forbidden any more excursions through the time-barrier and forgidden Traynor to have contact with the children. There are lot of well-written conversations between various characters are they deal with the absurdities of the things that have happened, and as Liz and Simon appear to grow closer romantically, but the episode is dominated by the performance of Denis Quilley as Traynor attempts to manipulate three of the other regulars, so that he can get the kids back into the future again. The multiple manipulation in the morning scene alone is magnificent to watch.
Highlight? House. (Even with The Bionic Woman and Timeslip both being brilliant, there is absolutely no contest. House rules!)
House, My Boys, Samantha Who?, Seinfeld, The Bionic Woman, Timeslip
