dreamloom

Category: Reviews

Deeper, analytical pieces on shows and episodes.

  • Charlie Jade recap: “The Power of Suggestion”

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    Things are still moving a little slowly this week, and we have to make do with no narrator this week, but by episode’s end quite a lot will have happened. Watch closely.

    Four Funerals and a Riot

    Simultaneous funerals in Alpha, Beta, and Gamma verses for the victims of the three explosions. Julius out in the windswept desert, Essa shedding glycerine tears in her office, and of course a shot of paradise. Elliot Krogg gets his day in the sun as well, but it ends not in tears but screams as rioters arrive and disturb the proceedings, overturning his coffin and desecrating his corpse. Charlie and Karl watch from a distance as Karen (Elliot’s girlfriend) is taken away by 01 and Vex-Cor agents.

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  • Middleman Review: “The Accidental Occidental Conception”

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    Middleman: Personally, I’ve never had emo that didn’t interfere with the job.

    Wendy: I find that hard to believe. I mean that you’ve ever had emo.

    Wendy Watson sure does have a lot of emo in this episode, too. It opens with our heroic sidekick bailing Lacey out of jail. Wendy makes smalltalk with the desk sergeant – as two battlers on the side of law and justice – while Lacey is brought out. She’d exposed herself in a sushi restaurant to open the eyes of the world to the dangers of high mercury levels. In frustration, Wendy calls Lacey’s protests “pointless pranks” and Lacey tells DubDub she has “no idea what it takes to save the world.”

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  • Charlie Jade recap: “You Are Here”

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    (this recap was posted on Tuesday morning at 4 A.M. EST, just so it appears RIGHT after the show originally aired at 3 AM. Nice job, Sci Fi Channel!)

    After what was effectively a two-hour pilot to set up the universe, it’s time to get down to business and let poor Charlie Jade have a clue what’s going on.

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  • Middleman review: “The Pilot Episode Sanction”

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    Over the past decade or so, cable networks have been slowly figuring out that as long as the broadcast networks are going to cling to the outmoded Fall-to-Spring television schedule, they should counter program with new scripted shows in the summer. Several of the cable channels have realized that a different type of program is called for in the summer – lighter, bubblier, more fun and at least a little family-friendly.

    USA has been doing this for years, with Psych, Monk, and now Burn Notice. Even SciFi does it with the excellent Eureka. Now ABC Family is getting in on the fun with their new show, The Middleman.

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  • Charlie Jade recap: “Sand”

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    Two episodes in, and there’s still not much going on. The action will pick up in the next few episodes, but there were still too many questions left over from the pilot. Most remain unanswered – and we’ve gotten some more in the process – but I think the writers have given us just about enough at this point to move forward. If nothing else, we know more than Charlie does.

    When last we saw Charlie, he was lying unconscious in the desert, being poked by a weird little girl. That’s where he still is – dreaming about Jasmine, remembering the dead mystery girl, the accident, and the woman at the site. Weird little girl Jody pokes him again and he finally wakes up.

    You’re alive! You’re one of them, aren’t you?…The invisible people. I see them all the time.

    In Reena’s words

    For the rest of the episode, Reena narrates. Even when our focus is on Charlie, it’s filtered through her perspective.

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  • Charlie Jade pilot recap: “The Big Bang”

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    In last week’s preview of Charlie Jade, I focused a lot on generalities, like the cinematography and a cast overview. In a show so rooted in mystery, it’s important to let things play out slowly. Now that the premiere has aired, let’s explore the Jadeverse(s) and the clues we’ve been given so far.

    The show opens with a Spanish guitar picking out a slow and mournful tune over barren, windswept dunes. Cutting away from the desert vista to a huge underground facility, the music moves to the background and is replaced by the sound of hundreds of sprinklers and Charlie Jade’s opening narration. Where there is water, there is life. There is also Vex-Cor.

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  • SciFi’s “Charlie Jade” preview

    charliejadeWe all have a special love or two we wish we could share with the world. Sometimes, the world isn’t interested and no matter how many times you tell your wife that BSG is the greatest show in the history of shows, she leaves the room muttering about killer space robots. Sometimes, the world finally decides to listen to you just when Britney Spears shows up and ruins everything. Sometimes, your special love comes from another world and can’t be shared (legally) with anyone. The unaired pilot of Global Frequency is one of those special loves for me. Charlie Jade is another.

    Starting Friday, June 6, Charlie Jade won’t be my little secret anymore. Taking over the 8pm slot on the SciFi channel from The Sarah Jane Adventures, this hidden gem of a show will finally get the American showing it deserves.

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