06.00 The Sarah Connor Chronicles
07.00 The Twilight Zone
07.30 The Hitchhiker
08.00 Logan's Run
The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Season 2, Episode 7. "Brothers of Nablus" Another winner. No big events in this one, but a solid advancement of several running themes. Cameron gets to be bad-add cool (again) and kill some kids who picked the wrong house to rob. Sarah gets to make a very bad decision (from the heart) and give Cromartie a solid lead towards finding them. Derek gets to hold some secrets from the others and voice his dissatisfaction about how John is growing up, and how Sarah is handling things. Ellison gets attacked, but saved.
The Twilight Zone. Season 3, Episode 2. "Extra Innings" DELIGHTFUL. Marc Singer stars as a time-travelling baseball player. He lives a double life: in modern times, he is a failure with a broken marriage, but in the past he is the star of his baseball team. It's a real treat. I love time-travel stories in general but this one is a hoot. Usually, I hate the boring story-device of the cranky unsupportive wife/girlfriend who just doesn't 'get' the importance of what the male hero does. Yes, I know that the world does have women just like that, but on TV it's a lazy storytelling device.
In this story, however, it works. For several reasons. Singer's character is an obsessive collector of baseball cards. He's a hobbyist. And it doesn't matter if it is baseball cards or comic books (my own weakness) the sad fact of it is: women don't get it. They don't understand the hobby, or why you must keep these things in mint condition or why you must always be searching for ways to complete the collection. When TV Cops or TV Doctors are saddled with unsupporive wives it bores me. While many real-life relationships can have problems caused by work committment, I think TV storytelling uses this device a disproportionate amount of times. So much so that it doesn't always work.
But it works here. He collects babeball cards, he's obsessed with them and he's refusing to move on with his life. I totally understand why his wife is ready to bail. But, cos it's Marc Singer, I still like the guy and root for him. Plus, he time travels and that's frakkin' cool.
The story has other elements that really work, too. His best friend is a twelve-year-old girl. And the tale makes no point on this. It just happens that that is the case. And that's refreshing to see, too. A grown man who had a friendship with a child. Why not? A female child, too. Even better. It's a pretty cool friendship. She's wise beyond her years and he's basically a kid at heart. I liked all of their scenes together and the ending of cool, too (he stays in the past forever and becomes a star).
State Of Mind was the last TV show (I remember) to make the point that's it's okay, normal and healthy for grown men to like children and make friends with them. He's a perfect example. A strong friendship forged over a common hobby.
Another great little story from the syndicated version of The Twilight Zone. Another reminder that the CBS seasons were rather poor by comparison.
The Hitchhiker. Season 3, Episode 2. "Out of the Night" Stylish and interesting. A man (Ricky Paull Goldin) who appears to be on the run from a cop for an unspecified crime takes refuge in - what appears to be - a very odd hotel. He runs from room to room having a series of surreal encounters and is tormented on an ongoing basis by a strange magician (a superb Kirstie Alley). It's odd stuff. It looks great. The whole thing has a peculiar dreamlike quality and the ending predictable. But still satisfying.
Logan's Run. Episode 6. "Half Life" Guest work from Kim Cattrall and William Smith can't help this weak episode. It pays lip service to deep themes and feels like a rip-off of much better Star Trek episodes. Logan, Rem and Jessica take refuge in a society where each person has been divided into two seperate beings: the good half and the bad half. The good ones live inside the gleaming city and the bad ones live outside like savages. There's not much in the way of logic to the events of the story. Only Jessica is processed for some reason and this means Logan and Rem spend the episode trying to rescue her. Along the way they are (somehow) able to convince the entire society that this is not the correct way to live, that they should reunite and destroy the technology.
Huh?
Daft, simplistic nonsenese. Easily the weakest episode so far in the run. It doesn't really have anything to say. Logan's half-hearted observations that you need both halves of yourself to be a complete person (or something) are hardly profound and it seems incredible that this one thought is enough to unravel an entire belief system and unite both factions.
Highlight? The Twilight Zone (delightful)
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Wed, Nov 5, 08 - Sarah Connor, Twilight Zone, Hitchhiker, Logan's Run
