11.00 Friday Night Lights
12.00 Battlestar Galactica
01.00 Lost
Friday Night Lights. Season 3, Episode 2. "Tami Knows Best" Tami starts to defend her decision (to solve the financial problems at school), Tyra goes for the lowest common denominator in her bid for school council, and Smash starts to find his football skills returning.
Another superb episode. More than other show I'm watching at the moment, Friday Night Lights reminds me of the pleasure I used to get from watching brand new episodes of St. Elsewhere and Homicide. Quality shows that never do anything flashy in order to tell exciting stories. I love shows like 24, Battlestar Galactica, Prison Break and Lost but they tend to have subject matter that lends itself to exciting, gut-wrenching television. I'm not saying they have it easy. In fact, there are many shows that cover much the same ground (as that quartet) without any of the rich dividends. Friday Night Lights, St. Elsewhere and Homicide are examples of another type of television storytelling. More than anything else all three resemble soap operas in the way that they focus on people's relationships and use that as the fodder for their tales. What's remarkable, however, is that all three show are capable of giving the viewing just as much of an emotional punch in the stomach as any of the deaths or twists on 24 or Prison Break.
The Jumbotron in a case in point: Tami's confrontations with the Mayor and - later - Buddy are among the most exciting scenes I have seen on TV all week. And, really, there is no reason why a dispute over budget matters in a small town in Texas should be so gripping. Unless, of course, you are in the hands of master storytellers.
The Smash storyline continues to be a high point in the series for me. Most of the exchanges between Smash and Coach Taylor were amazing.
It seems that in Season Three, with a slimmer cast and a return to low-key storytelling, Friday Night Lights has hit it's stride. Watching Eric and Tami together and apart is wonderful. He is the school coach and she is the school principal. We get to see their daily struggles, and through characters like Smash and Tyra we get to how they impact on the upcoming generation.
Battlestar Galactica. Season 4, Episode 14. "Blood on the Scales" Gaeta and Zarek are in charge.
When somebody says a story in predictable it usually means that the story is bad. Not in this case. I can honestly say I predicted about 90% of what happened in this episode ahead of time. I can also say that I have looked forward to this episode for the last seven days like nothing in recent memory. And I can conclude by saying that I loved every second of what I saw on screen. It was predictable, yes, but it was also horrific and bleak. And, more than anything else, it was...
Magnificent.
Truly an example of television storytelling at it's finest. Right now, in my eyes, Battlestar Galactica is far above Lost as the best show on television. Lost always stumbles when it does episodes that feature all the characters. This is probably why they don't do it very often. BSG, however, has no such problems. This epic two-parter gave scenes to every major character and many supporting characters and it never lost it's sense of cohesion and focus for one second. Heck, they even found time to create a meaningful storyarc for a totally 'new' character and have it fit into the whole story.
When the seeds of this mutiny were first sown, I mistakenly assumed that show was starting up new story arcs in it's final episodes and I was confused. I see now how wrong I was. This two-parter has merely been used to bring many ongoing elements of the series to a conclusion. Tom Zarek is gone. Gaeta is gone. The Council is gone (man, that was a rough scene). And given the removal of two prominent crew members earlier this season we can see that she show is making the core group smaller and smaller with each passing episodes.
And then there is Anders. I've never been overly fond of the guy. In fact, half the time I was stuck to remember his name. He was just there. Yet, I gasped out in sadness when he was shot and lay (presumably) dying in Starbuck's arms. I may never have been emotionally invested in him, but I'm very deeply invested in her and - even with their crazy history - this was a heartbreaking thing to watch.
Indeed, much of what happened was heartbreaking to watch. Heartbreaking because it is real. Because this is what happens. This is civil war.
Lost. Season 5, Episode 4. "The Little Prince" Jack teams up with Kate to find out who is after Aaron, while Daniel and his crew keep time-jumping.
The time-jumping stuff is getting a bit tedious now, I hope they are not going to be doing this for the rest of the season. The mainland scenes were very good. It's always good to see Jack and Kate together in an episode. Especially when one of them is doing something to help the other. In this one, it is Jack coming to the rescue. Or trying to. In the end, he accoplishes nothing. But, what is important is that he was there for Kate and that will remain between them...
The storytelling is clever. Since the lawyer showed up at Kate's door we've been pretty sure that Ben was pulling the strings. It was the only thing that made sense. However, in the last minute the show very cleverly pulls as switch and makes us think, very briefly, that Ben is not responsible. It only lasted for one scene, but I have to applaud them: they fooled me.
Highlight? Battlestar Galactica (with only six episodes left to air, can they possibly surpass what they have accomplished here?)
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
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Yet Another Film Review Blog
A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
Sat, Feb 7, 09 - Friday Night Lights, Battlestar Galactica, Lost
