dreamloom

Category: Reviews

Deeper, analytical pieces on shows and episodes.

  • Mad Men: “The Mountain King”

    Don has nearly come through the other side of the hero’s quest. Last week’s sojourn to the desert saw him tempted by worldly pleasures which he tasted but did not succumb to. In the end, his fever broke and he sought out the one person who could guide him back onto the right path.

    Turns out everyone was right guessing who Don called. It was a former wife (sort of) and it was the Real Don Draper’s™ wife. It was the woman in the used car dealership and it was another pretty blond. It was his savior and his mother.

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  • ‘Charlie Jade’ recap: “Flesh”

    Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. – Matthew 26:41

    It’s all over, right? Charlie’s come back to Jasmine – and just as quickly realized he belongs in Beta – 01’s out of jail, and Essa’s in shackles. Everything is right with the verses. So why, I must ask, is that countdown clock still running? The Vexcor link countdown clock that 01 now controls.

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  • Mad Men: “The Jet Set”

    What started 10 episodes ago, with a copy of “Meditations in an Emergency”, appears to be coming to a head in one more week as Dick Whitman pays a call on his past. Director Phil Abraham framed the penultimate shot of Don on the couch in Palm Springs as a mirror-image of the reverse angle of Don that ends the opening credits. As surely as Mad Men is about Don Draper, next week will be about his alter ego.

    But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There was a beautiful hour of television between those two shots.

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  • Pushing Daisies: “Circus Circus”

    A brighter-colored, quicker-paced episode than the season premiere, tonight was at about 80% strength. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed both episodes, but Olive’s too isolated in the convent and no one’s broken into song yet. As soon as Kristin Chenowith gets her butt out of that habit and into the habit of singing again – or Ellen Greene blasts out a number or Raúl Esparza comes back and sings Air Supply ((Okay, that only makes sense to about a dozen people, but they got a giggle out of it.)) – then I’ll know Pushing Daisies is fully back on track. Still…

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  • Charlie Jade recap: “Bedtime Story”

    Forget it, Jade. It’s Cape City.

    Remember what Charlie does for a living? In case it’s been so long that it’s slipped your mind, this week’s episode should refresh your memory.

    Back in his own bed and his own universe, lying beside Jasmine, Charlie finds himself unable to sleep. He’s anxious and confused and guilty, wondering what to do to save Beta. The water doesn’t even taste right to him, but spirits do the trick. Both in his glass, and haunting his memory. Blues comes to him in the night and tells Charlie he can go back to being the man he was, but Charlie’s not so sure. So he tells her a story.

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  • Mad Men recap: “The Inheritance”

    The only thing anyone can be sure of inheriting from their parents is their genes. We can also be sure of keeping scars as reminders of the ways in which they failed us – ways in which their parents failed them – growing up. Those of us who are lucky have only a few, faded scars. Then there are the Petes and Betties of the world.

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  • NatGeo Carves a Larger Niche


    I’ve got a new favorite network, I think. Time was, a geek like me could get his fix of funky stuff on TLC or Discovery, but dinosaurs and interior decorators rule the waves over there. Don’t get me wrong; I’ll still watch MythBusters or the occasional special, but for wonky engineering stuff – bridges, skyscrapers, nuclear reactors – I’m headed to National Geographic Channel. Or, in the hipster patois: NatGeo.

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  • Pushing Daisies: “Bzzzzzzzzz!”


    W00t! In six minutes, almost all of season one was recapped in the pithiest bit of exposition I’ve seen in a while. The universe, the characters, and their relationships were laid out with the usual charm and panache (always helped by Jim Dale’s marvelous narration.) Toss in a little foreshadowing about Emerson and his missing daughter and before my favorite coroner can say, “mmhnn,” last year’s quirkiest show is off and running.

    Having spent a really long time with these characters this spring and summer while banging out a spec script, I know their voices like my own. There were nights I went to bed and heard them speaking to me – not a bad thing when it’s Chuck or Olive, but a little off-putting when Emerson wanted his say. It’s been a while since I polished off that spec, so the voices had faded a bit. Now, they’re deliciously fresh again.

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  • Charlie Jade recap: “Spin”

    Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. – Nehemiah 9:2

    Remember when we thought 01 Boxer was the epitome of evil?

    Sure, 01 is a crazy bastard and has killed more than his share of people, but if we’ve learned one thing over the last two months it is this: 01 kills to save the multiverse. He kills to save billions. He kills to protect a way of life and peace and harmony with nature.

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  • Mad Men recap: “Six Month Leave”

    If you ever wondered what happened to Happy Loman, he ended up pissing his pants before a big Samsonite meeting and getting kicked to the curb.

    Joel Murray’s always worked in his older brothers’ shadows, but tonight he showed he has all of their skills at mixing comedy with pathos. Freddy Rumsen’s always been a joke around Sterling-Cooper, in both the show’s reality and ours. But Murray’s full range was in play tonight letting us see the most human person at SC.

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