Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
05.00 Modern Family
05.30 The Closer
06.30 House
11.30 Arrested Development
12.00 Castle
Modern Family. Episode 2. "The Bicycle Thief"
Ty Burrell shines even more in this second episode, which - overall - is much funnier and more enjoyable than the patchy pilot. I'm still not warming to Mitchell and his boyfriend, who seem to be stuck in the same one-joke rut (Mitchell is embarrassed by Cameron).
No matter. Everything that happens in the plot with Ty Burrell and (the insanely gorgeous) Brandy Ledford is hilarious.
The Closer. Season 5, Episode 10. "Smells Like Murder" Body in cooler.
It's always interesting when a show breaks with formula. The Closer has a particular way of starting out each episode: a long, slow look at the police at the crime scene. From time to time they deviate from this, and it always serves to heighten the action that follows. Case in point: a body is delivered to Brenda's office.
Her niece, meanwhile, who I adore, pulls a prank and gets into lots of trouble. After five seasons, the show has found a new way to show Brenda and Fritz on the homefront. Amazing.
House. Season 6, Episode 5. "Brave Heart" A cop who predicts that he will die at 40.
House has a very, very rigid formula for it's stories and the show's genius lies in it's ability to hide that formula successfully, or - at least - make you forget that you are watching the same story every week. This is one of the best. The patient dies mid-way through the episode. Which is a hell of a jolt (as they successfully make you believe that the focus will switch to saving his son instead). However, this is sleight of hand and... the patient is still alive. But, by the time they reveal this, you are now 100% committed to the story.
Clever.
Arrested Development. Season 3, Episode 13. "Development Arrested" The final episode.
As well as bringing the story of the Bluth family to a conclusion, this episode is full of parallels with the pilot episode and goes some way towards explaining how the Bluth's wound up on TV in the first place.
More important: after 3 seasons on tv, the show goes out with an episode that is every bit as funny as the one they began with. Quite an achievement. In fact, it's probably funnier and more impressive given that it accomplishes more than just making us laugh.
Castle. Season 2, Episode 5. "When the Bough Breaks" Rick gets an offer to write something other than Nikki Heat books.
Which would mean leaving the police, and leaving Beckett.
In many ways this felt like a more logical season ender than the one they actually left us with last season, which I loved but which felt really abrupt. In fact, last season I wasn't really sure if there was more episodes or not.
This, however, felt final. Even though it had no cliff-hanger. Go figure.
Castle is an unusual show. The comedy is large and obvious, while the romance and emotions are painfully subtle and slow-moving.
Not that I mind. In fact, despite the fact that it's crimes and comedy are more and more over the top, it's relationships are firmly grounded in reality. The two main characters in this story behaved more like real people and less like TV people than I would ever have imagined possible on a show in this genre.
Superb stuff.
Highlight? Arrested Development (the final episode)
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Modern Family, The Closer, House, Arrested Development, Castle
