Deeper, analytical pieces on shows and episodes.
Ai-ight. That’s more like it. At this point, I’m wondering whether Rogers, Downey, and Devlin have a mind probing satellite in geosynchronous orbit. A satellite tuned to my brain waves so they can put a show on the air specifically tailored to my tastes. Because this one? This one was exactly up my alley.
Look, man! You’re lucky on this deadline I didn’t give you a baking soda volcano.
Remember in last week’s review, when I expressed my concern that Leverage might wear out its welcome if every episode involved helping out someone from the team’s past? That’s because I’d already seen “The Miracle Job” and knew that two consecutive episodes had done that very thing. It’s a small complaint, but I would really rather see strangers taking advantage of the services of Leverage Consulting & Associates.
However, if they were all going to be as much fun as this one, I wouldn’t make much of a fuss over it.
Oh Jiminy Jehoshaphat! I went out on a limb for you people. A tree limb, jutting from a cliff with my limbs dangling over certain death. So don’t leave me dangling with Dwight’s disappearance.
In a break from format, tonight’s episode of Pushing Daisies eschewed the MoW and was all the stronger for it. Tying up loose threads, before dropping some new ones, tonight was all about Charles’s disappearance and Dwight’s death.
Vivian, as innocent and naive as ever, asks Emerson for help tracking down her missing paramour, Dwight Dixon. But Emerson already knows where Dwight can be found, six feet underground where he left him. But treating Vivian roughly to convince her she’s been abandoned doesn’t work: she hires The Norwegians.
Sophie: I don’t know what comes of chasing the past, Eliot.
Eliot: Well Sophie, sweetie, I don’t think you and Nate get to serve me that particular meal.
If I had to highlight one concern I have about the legs on Leverage, it would be on display in tonight’s episode. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a finely crafted hour of television with some twisty goodness, but its entire premise is that someone on the team has to help someone from his past. I don’t want to spend every week learning about Eliot’s lost love or Hardison’s old buddies in the AV club, or Parker’s…whatever psychiatric nurse she really liked in her youth. Instead I want strangers tracking down Leverage Consulting & Associates – preferably talking to Nate while he wears kooky disguises – and asking for help.
Eliot’s got history with Willy and Aimee Martin, a history of a future derailed. He was engaged to be engaged to Aimee, guest star Jaime Ray Newman (Heroes, Veronica Mars,) but hit the road and never returned. Eliot’s chosen profession doesn’t lend itself to domesticated bliss, and he apparently spent some time undergoing “enhanced coercive interrogation techniques” when he should have been back home tending his relationship. Ain’t that always the way? You meet a girl, give her a promise ring, and then get captured and beaten over a monkey.
Yes, there are only four more Dirty Sexy Money episodes left to air before ABC finally pulls the plug. And dammit! It’s just getting good. Last night’s, “The Plan”, left us with a classic cliffhanger – who gets shot? We’ve been promised one is killed, one has amnesia and another is in a coma.
I have two theories. One, Chase gets killed, Karen has amnesia and Patrick is in a coma. Chase gets hit by a police officer’s bullet. It’s a convenient way to get rid of Patrick’s ‘problem’ and the Darlings avoid a messy investigation into Ellen’s death. Karen, after being knocked out, forgets she was going to even marry Simon Elder and is able to pursue Nick without any resentment. And Patrick, comatosed, is tucked away for a while, earning public sympathy making it easier for him to get together with Carmelita when he wakes up.
Theory number two: Carmelita is killed, Chase is in a coma and Patrick has amnesia. Carmelita is out of the way and Tripp no longer has to worry she will ruin his son’s political career. Chase is unable to expose what he thinks is his sister’s murder but the threat still hangs in the background for the Darlings. Patrick has amnesia and doesn’t even know his wife is dead.
What do you think? Who do you think bit the dust last night? And how in the world can we convince ABC to change their minds and renew Dirty Sexy Money?
A pie is simple it’s limited. Just a bit of pastry and filling. Cake is complex, layered with treasures waiting to be discovered. Which one do you choose?
Pushing Daisies is just bold enough that I believed there was a small chance Chuck would leave with her father tonight. Not forever necessarily, but at this late date it might as well be. I honestly did not know whether Chuck would choose cake or pie, so when she told Ned her spoon landed right where she was, I was glad. But I didn’t buy that her father was going to be happy about it. He’s chosen too, and his spoon is taking him, and Ned’s car, elsewhere.
Doc, he’s cool. I found him on the Internet.
Yes, that never goes badly.
The second episode, airing in its regular slot on Tuesday nights finds the team scattered around the world. That’s not really a shock as they aren’t a team yet. Sophie’s still “acting”, auditioning for a soap commercial with all the subtlety and nuance she can muster, Parker’s stealing art, and Eliot’s off hurting people. Only Nate and Hardison are back at home setting up the offices of Leverage Consulting & Associates, founded by the very handsome and leonine Harlan Leverage, III.
Nathan: My job is helping people. I find bad guys.
Sophie: Well go find some bad guys. Bad guys have money. Black King. White Knight.
As Nathan Ford sits in an empty lounge waiting for a flight, self-medicating from his stash of mini bottles, he’s approached by Victor Dubenich (Saul Rubinek) with a job. Victor knows quite a bit about Nathan.
Victor runs development at Bering Aerospace and claims five years of development on a new short haul domestic airliner have been stolen by his rival at Pierson Aviation. He’s hired three thieves and needs “one honest man” to take charge of them. Nathan only agrees when Victor tells him Pierson is insured by his old company. This job isn’t just about money: it’s about revenge.
What Nathan doesn’t see is that Victor’s a stone-cold bastard.
For the last 3 weeks, the fate of my Grey’s Anatomy DVR season pass has lain in the balance. The whole Denny Duquette ghost storyline confused me. I couldn’t buy into the fact that Izzie Stevens suddenly became sensitive to the other side and began conversing with the dead. Next, I got seriously pissed when Brooke Smith was quietly whisked away from view. While it was a bit odd Callie had recruited McSteamy to be her teacher in the ways of Lesbian love, I did enjoy Callie and Hahn’s actual relationship. I thought Dr. Hahn was a great addition to the cast. So, since her last appearance, I’ve been waiting to see if I will continue watching or if Grey’s will be permanently removed from my DVR lineup. (more…)
Young Ned’s lesson tonight is one we could all stand to learn: “even a forkful of immediate gratification can lead to a world of grave consequences.” Young Ned learned while opening the oven at the Longborough School for Boys and letting the aroma of pie waft through the night. It was a lesson Chuck could have used before opening her father’s grave and letting a very different aroma waft on the night breeze.