05:30 The Middleman
06:30 Doctor Who
07:30 Kyle XY
08:30 Supernatural
01:00 Greg The Bunny
The Middleman. Episode 1. "The Pilot Episode Sanction" is a blast from start to finish. It's easily the best pilot I'm seen this Summer so far and I can't wait to see more. It's quirky, funny and full of references to everything I love: sixties TV, comics, movie icons. A young woman (the gorgeous Natalie Morales) becomes sidekick to a mysterious superhero (Matt Keeslar) and helps him defeat a talking gorilla with designs on world domination (by killing mob leaders and leaving bananas at the murder scenes!). Javier Grillo-Marxuach has had a hand in some of the very best TV shows of the past decade and this looks like a worthy addition to the list.
Doctor Who. Season 28, Episode 8. "The Impossible Planet" is pure Doctor Who. The Doctor (and companion) arrive at a remote space station/space ship/outpost of some sort. They meet lots of characters, something evil is at work and people start dying. It's a classic Doctor Who set-up and this episode is a perfect execution of the idea. With some truly huge ideas thrown in to blow you away: a planet that obits a black hole!? What the frak?!
Kyle XY. Season 2, Episode 8. "What's the Frequency, Kyle?" Kyle XY is one of the best written shows on TV, and it also has one of the best casts. Bruce Thomas is normally overlooked by the scripts on this show, but he really gets a chance to shine in this one, when Stephen's father goes into a coma and dies leaving lots of things unsaid between the two men. It's a very human story and (although the show uses Kyle's powers to offer some solace) I applaud the show for telling a sad story where nothing much gets resolved. Stories like this are closer to real life and have much more impact than implausible death-bed reconcilliations.
Jaimie Alexander does her best work so far in this episode as Jessi starts to come to terms with her actions. Specifically: her attack on Lori in the previous episode. Jessi is in major turnoil for most of this episode and Alexander is pitch perfect. The ending of this plotline was also quite sad. What exactly is going to happen to Jessi? Are they going to wipe her mind? Which, effectively, kills the girl who has been on the show this season? I hope not. I hope she kicks ass, breaks free and starts to deal with her mistakes.
Finally, none of this would work if Matt Dallas wasn't so frakkin' great in the central role. He brings such an innocence and wonder to the role of Kyle, and his voice-over narrations set the whole ponderous tone for the show. I love the type of stories this show is able to tell. Small family-driven tales wrapped up in a sci-fi envelope. And the show tells then without creating false tension. When Kyle starts to receive messages from the dying man, Stephen doesn't resist them. A lesser show might have created "conflict" by setting it up so that Kyle had to win Stephen over or something. Thus wasting our time with something we've seen many times before. Instead, the show concentrates on the wonder of what Kyle can do. And it's all rather cool. And makes for great stories.
Supernatural. Season 2, Episode 2. I have mixed feelings about "Everybody Loves A Clown". Following the episodes with the father was always going to be difficult but I'm not sure that this was the way to go. The case-of-the-week was average. But, on this show, 'average' is really quite good. Killer Clowns are an interesting idea, which crops up from time to time. It works fine here, but I wonder if every kid would really invite a clown into their house in the middle of the night? In this day and age? Hmmm...
The character-work between the brother was top notch. And the real joy of this episode was in watching the brothers closely to see how each was coping with the violent and sudden death of their father. In this respect the show did not disappoint. It never does.
No, what bugged me about this episode were the supporting characters. Who appear (from this episode) to be a bunch of new regulars for the boys to work with on occasion. This is exactly what the show does not need! And all three of the new characters are straight from the Big Book of Bad TV Clichés: a cute girl, a nerd and a mother figure. Yuck, yuck and double yuck! Chad Lindberg is particularly annoying in his role as the computer geek. Alona Tal is cute. Way too cute for this show. She's just wrong. And while Samantha Ferris is very good in her role, I hated the character because it felt like the she was being offered up as quick replacement for the boys' father. Not something I want to see. In the episode after his death or in any future episode.
What the show needed here, I feel, was an episode where the boys are alone and devastated. Where they find their way forward - together - by doing what they do. Instead they have their newest case handed to them by Ellen. And I lost interest. The appearance of this sudden family unit takes away a lot of the lonliness of their situation.
Also, the world of Supernatural is uniquely male. The undercurrent of the show has always been the love between brothers and the love between father and son(s). Plus, the world of the hunters has always been shown to be a world of lonely solitary men, driven by a need to destroy evil. Men with not much else in their lives. Now, suddenly, we learn that they have a bar to go to and swap notes. And there's a cute girl in the middle of all this, too. No, thanks! We've already had that show. It's time to do a different take on this. Hopefully, this pseudo-family won't be around for long... I'm more tempted than ever to check spoilers/cast lists for future episodes to see where all of this is going, but I'm better off not knowing I suppose.
Greg The Bunny. Episode 6. "Rabbit Redux" Wow. This is one of the episodes I missed first time round. Wow, again. A great episode. Funny, and with surprising depth. Wow. Who'd a thunk it? Rochester returns. The rabbit who was fired, thus giving Greg his big break on TV. Rochester has fallen on hard times. So Greg, feeling guilty, gets him back on the show. Then Rochester has a heart attack and dies. And the final half is about how everyone deals with it. And it's really well-written. Warren (so my favourite character at this stage) gives a great eulogy and I really feel like I've seen something rather great. Wow.
Highlight? The Middleman
Sun, Jun 22nd, 2008 - The Middleman, Doctor Who, Kyle XY, Supernatural, Greg The Bunny
