Monday, May 3rd, 2010
07.00 30 Rock
10.00 24
11.00 24
01.00 The Incredible Hulk
24. Season 8, Episode 15. "6:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m."
Some nice performances from Cherry Jones and Anil Kapoor, plus a couple of nice twists.
The show finally gives Jones some nice material to play with. It's a good storyline, weakened somewhat by the fact that Weiss and Brucker are inconsequential characters. Brucker was just introduced, and Weiss has been a bland presence all season. Sure, I was gripped by their betrayal but it would have carried more weight if either one of these characters mattered to me.
Like Ethan, for example, who matters a hell of a lot to me and who the show successfully uses to make me feel tense and nervous (wondering if the poor guy is gonna die or not).
The scene where Dana nearly killed Arlo was another highlight.
Start to finish, this was a strong episode.
24. Season 8, Episode 16. "7:00 a.m.-8:00 a.m." Jack leads a team to rescue Hassan.
The show does the best action sequences, and the best twists, on tv. The closing quarter of this episode is a prime example of both, as Jack's team races against time to save the kidnapped foreign president.
Necar Zadegan (great in the previous episode) is superb here as her character waits for word on her husband. It's been a long, stressful day for the poor woman. Rarely - if ever - has 24 sustained a cast of guest characters so long. Usually the show switches casts when it moves from story arc to story arc, but this season has stuck with Hassan and his supporting cast of lovers and haters from Hour One. And, to this fan, it's been a great breath of fresh air. Sometimes the viewer is only beginning to 'enjoy' a bad guy when a bullet (or something else) takes them out. This season has been different: Mido Hamada has been around for a long time and his character's conversation with the President carries a lot of emotional weight because of it. Samir ranks as one of my favourite 24 villains.
As does Dana. This episode opened with her making her break for freedom, shooting anyone who got in her way. Nice. That's what we expect from our 24 moles.
But what makes the episode great is the ending. Seeing Jack and his team approach the building from multiple fronts is cool, and unique to this show. And the ending, the twist, is very sad. It's great storytelling, and I applaud that, but I watched the closing credits with a heavy heart.
In order to end this story well I hope/suspect that the show will make use of the Necar Zadegan character.
The Incredible Hulk. Season 2, Episode 11. "Wildfire" Oil
The story is average, but the guest cast is great, there's a funny Hulk Out, superb character writing and a spectacular final quarter.
It's the sort of story that came to be used on lots of A-Team episodes: a small time operation is about to be run out of business by a big corporation that isn't afraid to resort to dirty tricks. And it's a tale that pops up on quite a few TIH episodes also. As such there's really nothing special about it.
Christine Belford, John Anderson and Billy Green Bush make up the guest cast. Each one is given good material and each one is terrific. You really do feel that, as the credits roll, you've gotten under the skin of these characters and would quite like to spend another hour in their company sometime. The character writing (particularly on the daughter and on the bad guy who changes sides) is much better than you would expect with such a story. Really and truly, there's no reason to flesh out the characters so well. It doesn't drive the plot at all. But it sure as heck makes for a much better story, and gives the the actors something to bite into. And it shows in the end product.
The first Hulk Out is one of my favourites. It occurs on the back of a pick up truck late at night and - after rapidly dispatching the thug who's kidnapped Banner - the Hulk becomes entranced by the sounds coming from the radio in the middle of the night. Even going so far as to change channels. We all hate when something that starts off sounding good turns out to be an ad, and our green friend is no different: A well-timed surge of anger ends the sales spiel of the lady DJ and brought a hearty laugh to this particular viewer.
The episode's climax is pretty darn spectacular with explosions and fire and mayhem everywhere. I'm sure some of the footage is lifted from other sources but most of the shots seem specific to this episode and all of them are very exciting.
On paper it's not a story to get excited about, but the execution is rather superb and lifts the whole up to be a very enjoyable episode.
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24, The Incredible Hulk
