07.00 Flight Of The Conchords
08.00 The Closer
09.00 Damages
10.00 24
11.00 Big Day
Flight Of The Conchords. Season 2, Episode 3. "The Tough Brets" Bret starts a gang.
The ideas in this series are wonderful: the logistics of playing a gig in a library, for instance. Wonderful, wacky ideas. Brings a wide grin to your face when you watch it. And then there are songs like "I got hurt feelings." Classic. And this is also the one that solidify's the rivalry between New Zealand and Austrailia and a nifty little camea from Alan Dale.
The Closer. Season 4, Episode 12. "Junk in the Trunk" A very large man is found dead in the trunk of his car.
A mixed bag of an episode. It has some severe flaws: the twist that the 'girl' will turn out to be a 'guy' is very, very easy to predict and the unprofessional behaviour of Sanchez in the squad room is difficult to swallow. It's just too darn crazy to work.
However... the opening sequence is genuinely hilarious, the bad-guy-of-the-week is one of the very best they have ever had on the show and the episode's real twist (where Fritz finds a way to nab the killer) is a doozy.
So... it's a mixed bag. The stuff that doesn't work falls flat, and the stuff that does work is off the chart excellent.
Bottom line: I enjoyed it.
Damages. Season 2, Episode 5. "I Agree, It Wasn't Funny" William Hurt takes a back seat, Tate Donovan directs and Ellen takes centre stage as she goes back to the site of her attack for the first time since the night it happened.
This is also the first episode to devote some screen-time to Walter Kendrick (who appears to be the big bad guy for season two) and Phil Grey (Patti's oft-seen, little heard, husband). With David Costabile (of Flight Of The Conchords) making a return (as the cop/killer from last season) this could be seen as the episode of the little guns (as opposed to the big guns like William Hurt, Glenn Close and Ted Danson). Part of the appeal of this show is the minor characters. We may have thought of Arthur Frobisher as the big bad guy of Season One but, when you come right down to it, Detective Rick Messer is the person who killed David. And since Ellen is our point of focus, as an audience, then that is what concerns us: Ellen finding Messer.
This is also the episode that ended with the obscure 'hit'. We see Wes shooting someone in a car, in the distance, and we have no idea who got killed or when it is happening. Brilliant.
24. Season 7, Episode 7. "2PM - 3PM" Jack's team follows the Matobo's and their captor's and starts an attack/rescue, while Janis bonds with the plant manager of a chemical plant in Kidron, Ohio. Meanwhile, the President's husband is re-captured and the writer's give Dubaku a personal life in the closing seconds of the episode.
Another winner. The action-adventure stuff is suberb. This is what 24 does best. It's nothing short of thrilling as Jack and his team go into action. Also: How cool is it to see Jack, Tony and Bill in the same shot? In action. Beyond cool, that's how cool.
The human-interest storyline, with Janis, wasn't too bad. It was a successful counterpoint to the action stuff with Jack's crew. Janis isn't a particularly warm character, which - I think - worked in the storyline's favour and stopped it from becoming too schmaltzy.
Seven episodes in, and not a weak one amongst them. It's time to relax and breathe a sigh of relief: 24 is back.
Big Day. Episode 1. "Pilot" We meet Danny and Alice on the morning of their wedding, as sundry misfits congregate around them.
What if 24 was a comedy series? This opening episode is amusing in places, but - sadly - the comedy is somewhat buried beneath the gimmick: "Events occur in real time," as Jack Bauer would say.
Highlight? 24 (Jack, Tony and Bill to the rescue)
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Thu, Feb 5, 09 - Flight Of The Conchords, Closer, Damages, 24, Big Day
