Sunday, July 5th, 2009
06.00 The Big Bang Theory
06.30 Doctor Who
07.30 Legend Of The Seeker
08.30 Supernatural
01.00 Superboy
The Big Bang Theory. Season 2, Episode 19. "The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition" Valerie Azlynn guests as a pretty new neighbour that casts a spell over three of the boys.
Pretty girls on TV rarely get along. They are jealous of one another and end up fighting. (Of course that can happen in real life, too, but that's a topic for a different kind of blog.)
This episode features Valerie Azlynn as a sexy new girl in the building. Pretty soon, she has Leonard, Koothrappali and Howard doing all sorts of favours for her. In much the same way as Penny has been doing for almost two seasons now. The similarity is not lost on Penny, who eventually stands up and fights for her boys/territory. Literally 'fights'. The girls end up rolling around on the floor (much to Howard's great pleasure).
There are several things to be loved about this episode. Sheldon is written as being immune to Alicia's charms. Which makes sense, and adds to his character. It also serves to deliver many hilarious Sheldon/Penny scenes. Sheldon is very much the show's best/funniest character. And he works well with any character in the show, but - for some reason - he really works well with Penny. They come from such different worlds, I guess. He engagements with the three boys are similar in nature: they know him very well, they are tired of his trying ways but, at least, they do understand him. Penny is deep in uncharted territory when she has to deal with Sheldon and it makes for really great comedy.
The third thing I loved about this episode came in the scene where Penny finally stood up to Alicia and started to tell her to back off. She referenced 'Star Trek'. Much to her own surprise. It was great. Very funny. A series high-point actually, when you think about it.
Does Penny 'use' the boys? She pretty much does, I suppose, but it's an unfair definition of the character. Sometimes the writers employ the Leonard-does-Penny-a-favour set-up as a means towards getting Penny into the boys apartment and into storylines. Also, women do like to get men to do jobs for them. Nothing much wrong with that. Penny is nice and, as shown in this episode, she really does care about the boys.
Doctor Who. Season 28, Episode 12. "Army of Ghosts" 'Ghosts' are walking the earth and being welcomed with open arms. And the mysterious Torchwood organisation has a hand in it.
A classic Doctor Who story model: the doctor arrives to find the whole world in the grip of some new scientific development. He, and he alone, suspects that something is wrong. I half expected Jon Pertwee to pop up!
Torchwood, which has been name-checked a few times all season, finally takes center-stage in the form of Tracy-Ann Oberman (who has amazing cleavage, it must be said, and looks great in center-stage). Her character means well, but is helping out some nefarious forces. What those forces are isn't made clear until the final seconds in a truly superb cliff-hanger.
Legend Of The Seeker. Episode 5. "Listener" Kid who reads thoughts.
Standard adventure fare, with a strong guest star: Benson Jack Anthony.
Zedd goes undercover with the bad guys in this one, leaving Richard and Kahlan to look after the boy and get him to a safe haven. Along the way he does a bit of mind-reading and reveals to each character (and to us, the audience) that they have strong romantic ties to one another.
Supernatural. Season 4, Episode 11. "Family Remains" Family in haunted house.
Inspired casting, a great story and several scary scenes make for a top notch SN episode. Only the bit-at-the-end drags it down.
If you were making a movie about a family moving into a haunted house the ideal casting - for the parents - would be Helen Slater and David Newsom. By including them the show pushes exactly the right buttons. And, for the first half of the story, we are treated to some wonderful set-ups and scares from all the horror movies you have ever seen. And it's wonderful.
Then... it's gets better.
SN throws a major twist into the mix and turns a very good story into a truly great one.
Not only that, but many of the scenes are scary. Both before and after the twist/reveal.
It was only in the final minutes, when the story was over and Dean started to talk (again) about his time in Hell, that I was less-than-impressed. Sorry, SN-fans, but this 40-years-in-Hell just ain't doing it for me at all.
Never mind. From start to (near the) finish this is an A+ episode and an example of Supernatural at it's very best.
Superboy. Season 2, Episode 4. "Young Dracula" Superboy and Lana cross paths with a young vampire trying to make a life for himself and control his 'disease'. But an older vampire is on his trail.
Superb story, superb cast, lots of fun.
Stacy Haiduk is gorgeous in this episode. Beautiful beyond belief. She gives a great performance, too. Lana falls under the spell of the handsome vampire. It's not a major story point, but it serves to get her involved in the action and Haiduk is great: gazing at Kevin Bernhardt with a mixture of adoration, lust and crush. She pushes it to the edge of almost-funny, but keeps it in check.
Kevin Bernhardt makes a great guest star. So much so that I wonder was this conceived as a spin-off series? It certainly would have made a watchable show, with Bernhardt as a vampire on the run from his past, helping people as he moves from town to town (Forever Knight, done as The Incredible Hulk). Bernhardt is handsome, likable and mysterious. He and Gerard Christopher have great on-screen chemistry and the episode feels, in many ways, like a team-up episode featuring a guest super-hero from another show.
Lloyd Bochner makes a great bad guy and, like absolutely everyone in the cast, he is 100% committed to his role. Sure, the FX are basic and the action scenes are pedestrian but the actors make the show work nonetheless. Haiduk and Christopher can carry every episode, but it's great to see them up against a strong guest cast.
Ilan Mitchell-Smith gets a bit more to do than usual in this one. Normally he's comic relief, but this time out he gets to thank Clark for saving his life and the chemistry between the actors makes the scene really work.
Highlight? Supernatural (scary)
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The Big Bang Theory, Doctor Who, Legend Of The Seeker, Supernatural, Superboy
