05.30 Prison Break
10.00 Friday Night Lights
11.00 Worst Week
11.30 Worst Week
Prison Break. Season 4, Episode 8. "The Price" is one of the most satisfying episodes of Prison Break. Sara and Gretchen have their first face-to-face meeting since Sara escaped capture and the results are informative and dramatic. Roland Glenn meets his final demise in this outing, too, having turned traitor to the whole team. Glenn was a minor character, little more than a plot device. He existed to be the person who created that magical device we have seen in almost every episode this season. Now that the story no longer needs that device, it no longer needs him and he (having formed no bonds with anyone) turns on them and is killed for his trouble. It's an unsatisfying character arc, but it's of no great consequence when everything that is happening around it is so good.
Don Self gets some great stuff again this week. Self is now one of my all-time favourite characters on Prison Break. His face-off against Gretchen was almost as cool as his face-off with The General on an earlier episode. I did not suspect it when he first joined the show but Self is cool.
Not as cool as Alex, of course. And Alex gets the episode's best moment all to himself, as he takes down the man who killed his son. Thrilling stuff. Very satisfying. The lead up to it, with Michael laying the trap (in the laptop) and calling out to Alex when the trap was sprung, was incredibly enjoyable.
The final moments of the episode were solid, too. Michael holding the hand of the dying man. Very good storytelling.
Friday Night Lights. Season 2, Episode 4. "Backfire" Average episode. We get to see how guilty Landry and Tyra are feeling, as various scenes show us how paranoid they have become. Julie finds out that her boyfriend is... a normal guy, who's not that interested in her. Lyla tries to help a kid who's just gotten out of prison and Buddy steps in to help her help him. Down in Mexico, Street and Riggins investigate the possibility of surgery on Street's spine.
All good. But none of it particularly great.
The end was great, though. The (now-fired) rival Coach shows up on Eric's doorstep to remind him (before he drives out of town) that he has a family to worry about, too. It's a powerful, very real moment. Almost the only good thing to come out of this Eric-works-in-another-town storyline.
Worst Week. Episode 4. "The Truck" Sam continues to be a really likable hero, and this episode highlights both him as an outsider (to the family) and a part of a strong team with Melanie. The previous episode introduced his buddy (who is likewise cursed with bad luck and the ability to do things that hurt/annoy Dick) and this episode adds his nemesis to the mix. In the form of Chad, the annoying son-in-law who can do no wrong in the eyes of Dick. The early part of the episode shows us the family all together for the first time after the arrival of Chad. And what an annoying little bunch they are. Watching all this (and totally bemused by it all) is our hero and (most importantly) his girlfriend. Sam and Melanie form a very distinct team in this outing and the bad luck that befalls poor Sam is really the bad luck that befalls both of them. Watching this episode you can see that they are a good couple and you can understand why they are compatible and why they love one another.
The story is well told and the big joke at the end (the explosion that destroys Dick's truck) is extremely well set-up. Information about the underside of the truck getting very hot is given to us in a very funny slapstick sequence, while the piling up of the leaves is done in a way that draws no great attention to the act itself. This makes the final explosion all the more unexpected and all the more funny. A really great episode.
Worst Week. Episode 5. "The Club" moves the story of Sam and The Claytons forward one month. And it does so with a jolt. I had assumed that we would actually get to see the night of Dick's Birthday, since the show had spend four episodes building towards it. Not the case. Did CBS skip an episode, I wonder? It seems strange that we don't get to see the havok that Sam must surely have caused on the big night...
Never mind, jolts aside this is a fun episode. The show teams Sam and Dick on a mission for the first time with enjoyable results. At this stage in the run, several things are a given in the world of Sam Briggs: crazy bad luck, and well-meaning lies causing things to spiral out of control. This time out, Sam's white lie about his wedding being cancelled ends up causing the wedding party to lose the place they had booked for it. He and his future father-in-law try to get it back, while his future mother attempts to stall Melanie with some... well-meaning lies that soon spiral out of control.
Highlight? Prison Break (Alex and Wyatt)
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Tues, Oct 21, 08 - Prison Break, Friday Night Lights, Worst Week
