Thursday, November 29th, 2007
08:30 Damages
09:30 Samantha Who
10:00 House
11:00 Seinfeld
01:00 Baywatch
Damages. Episode 10 opens with another one of those gimmicky dream sequences they are so fond of. In this one poor doomed David thinks he is having sex with Patti (the 'evil' boss of the law firm). Okay, we get it. He thinks Ellen will turn into Patti. Hmm. Based on what happens later in this episode, he may have a point.
I love a lot of things about this show. I love all those conversations where we get to watch the characters spouting untruths and half-truths at each other. Case in point: Patti informs Ray at the start of this episode that Gregory Molina has been murdered. We know a lot more about Ray's relationship with Gregory than Patti does. Or so we think. Her parting comment makes it clear that she knows enough.
This is also the episode where Patti decides to dispense with Ellen. As she explains to Tom, Ellen was useful as a bridge to Gregory Miolina. He's dead. Ellen's out. Poor Ellen. I didn't warm to her at first. But, ten episodes in, I absolutely love her to bits. When she told Patti what was on her mind, I cheered at the screen and as she went out on her own (after being fired) and contacted the Deep Throat witness she was forbidden to speak to I was as excited as I would be watching Jack Bauer take on a team of terrorists. Even better than that: Seeing her confront the Deep Throat guy and see through his crap makes me admire, and root for, her all the more.
The same goes for Arthur Frobisher, the supposed bad-guy that Patti, Ellen and Tom (the good guys) have their sights on. This episode puts pay to the Arlington storyline. What exactly happened back there? We - the audience - are never told. We know that Patti and the gang think there was a cover-up. But we are never told. Maybe Frobisher was really just doing the right thing by the dead girl's family? Maybe he's a lot closer to the decent guy he, clearly, thinks he is than would first appear.
All this, and the shock accusations in the "present day" portion of the storyline. Did Patti really try to have Ellen killed? What the Frak is up with that? I don't know. But I do know that this is one of the most intelligent shows to grace televison this year.
Samantha Who. Episode 7 was the one where Samantha (the girl with amnesia) asked Todd (her ex-boyfriend) to coach her for a date with Kevin (a potential new boyfriend). And he did it. And it was achingly romantic to watch them together, before she headed off to win Kevin's heart. Sigh.
House. Season 4, Episode 9. This show has done arcs before. It has brought in new characters before. Used those characters in great storylines and then bid them adieu. It has done all of that before. But never, in four fantastic seasons, have they created such an amazing character as "Cuthroat Bitch". I can't believe she's gone. I really am heart-broken.
Seinfeld. Season 8, Episode 6 contains some of the most memorable imagery from the whole series. Frank (George's dad) talks about his days as a cook in Korea. And they whole thing is filmed as if it were a graphic war film. Even better, the scenes come back to haunt him in the shows final minutes and lead to an awesome climax. Those are some of my favourite images from the history of the show.
The bit under the closing credits is probably my second favourite one, ever, in the history of the show. George is standing up to deliver a speech. He has the wrong speech in his hands. Jason Alexander says very little. He mumbles a few words and with consumate comic skill checks and re-checks the papers in his hands. And it cracks me up each and every time I see it.
Baywatch. Episode 12. Three music montages and two strong plots indicate that the Baywatch formula is well in place at this stage in the run. The b-plot is nonsense (Eddie gets involved with car thieves) but it feeds brilliantly into the a-plot at the end of the episode and serves to bring about the resolution of that storyline. Great storytelling.
A short scene at the very start highlights the easy-going chemistry of David Hasselhoff and Parker Stevenson. Soon, a girl they once fought over is back in town and Mitch is falling in love all over again. Without taking the subject head on, the two best friends are soon fighting about other matters while those around them try to find a way to get them to sort it out. Well written and well played, this storyline is a winner from start to finish.
Highlight? House.
Baywatch, Damages, House, Samantha Who?, Seinfeld
