06.00 Scrubs
06.30 Dexter
07.30 Friday Night Lights
Scrubs. Season 7, Episode 7. "My Bad Too" Turk learns Spanish, JD asks for Elliots advice but doesn't like it.
Typical episode. The space-invaders gag was fantastic. It looks like this is/was a great show to make.
Scrubs manages to tell good stories, make you laugh and get away with making the characters learn 'life lessons' without it ever becoming mawkish or false. In this one, when JD and Elliot learn their little lesson about 'friendship'... it works.
Dexter. Season 3, Episode 5. "Turning Biminese" Rita goes to hospital, Dexter goes fishing.
Dexter feels the pressure to sell his apartment, and buy a new house with Rita, now that they are getting married. He may be a serial killer, but his thoughts/fears/anxieties are the same ones that ever guy faces. The narration from this episode could have been used on thirtysomething, or Once And Again. And this is one of the great things about the show.
The plots advance, too, in this one. Debra convinces a kid to talk about Freebo, but somebody is watching them...
And, in a very exciting - very surprising - final scene: Miguel guesses Dexter's secret.
So, all in all, a very well balanced episode. The first third was mostly about Dexter's fears, the middle third advanced the plots and the final third showed Dexter's killer side and gave him a confidant.
What next?
One suspects that it will end badly (for Miguel) but, since that's just a rethread of last season (with Lila) I hope they find something else to do with the idea.
Friday Night Lights. Season 3, Episode 5. "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" Jason makes his first appearance this season, and Matt gets some bad news from Coach Taylor.
The pre-credits sequence for this episode had as much tension and excitement as a typical full episode of anything else on TV right now. The show opens in the middle of a game and Coach is trying hard to keep Matt in the game as much as possible, even though JD is emerging as the star of the team. In a very clever (and incredibly heartbreaking) conclusion: Matt is outstanding and - basically - wins the game, but the praise still goes to JD. Matt walks off the pitch, pretty much invisible, and then, finally, the opening credits roll.
Honestly, I felt as upset/enthused as I would be at the end of an episode of anything else.
The Matt storyline dominates the episode, as Coach Taylor is forced (by the other coaches, and common sense) to ask Matt to 'step down', as it were, and let JD lead the team. Watching Matt and Eric deal with their emotions through this painful transition was/is some of the best dramatic storytelling to be on television anywhere. The show is an incredibly accurate depiction of real life pains and joys. And it resists the temptation to turn it's content into Soap Opera at every turn. It's exceptional.
Highlight? Friday Night Lights (exceptional)
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A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
Sat, Apr 4, 09 - Scrubs, Dexter, Friday Night Lights
