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  • Mad Men review: “Flight 1”

    On February 20, 1962 at 14:47 UTC, the Mercury spaceship Friendship 7 containing Col. John Glenn set off from Cape Canaveral. This was the first American orbital flight, coming after several delays while the Atlas rockets were tested and ready for safe use. The five-hour mission was a complete success and the newly minted hero splashed down at 19:43 UTC.

    On March 1, Col. Glenn was honored with a ticker tape parade in Manhattan.

    But tonight’s episode wasn’t about heroic moments in American history. It was about obligations and expectations. On March 1, while John Glenn was enjoying his parade, American Airlines Flight 1 crashed into Jamaica Bay shortly after takeoff from Idlewild Airport (now JFK.) All 95 souls aboard were lost, and in the world of Mad Men, one of those souls was Pete Campbell‘s father.

    For the remainder of the episode, Pete tries to figure out how to behave, how to act, and what to do.

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  • Burn Notice Recap: “Comrades”

    Sergei Yablonovic. I am a friend of your Michael Westen and won’t tell you anything. They have beaten me, but I have told them nothing. But you, you all have the faces of traitors! What did you tell them?!

    The Recap

    I apologize. Michael’s brother Nate tells me I should speak to you after all.

    Reading through the file Michael received from his Pakistani friend, he discovers Carla’s cover in Kurdistan was as an irrigation consultant. He assumes she might be using the same cover in Miami and sends Sam to investigate. Sam spends $1300 wining and dining Harvey Gunderson until he finally waves a badge and says he’s with the DEA. One quick threat to call the USDA and have Harvey kicked out of his cushy positions and a list of names of irrigation experts in Florida is handed over. That gives Michael a P.O. Box.

    Meanwhile, Michael becomes involved in more pressing matters. His brother Nate returns from Fort Lauderdale and brings his brother in on a job, rescuing a kidnapped Ukrainian girl from human smugglers. The girl’s sister Katya needs the help before she gets herself killed attacking the gangster, Ivan, again.

    However, in order to find the girls Michael and Sam must coerce information from Ivan. That’s where I come in. With only three days to discover where the traffickers keep the girls before they are killed, Sam realizes he will not break Ivan quickly enough. So I am asked to go inside as another prisoner to gain Ivan’s trust. I do that the only way I know how: by fighting.

    The first snippet of information I manage to get from Ivan tells us where to find Takarov, who runs all operations in Florida. Fiona and Sam discover that the top floor of Romanov’s, which serves an excellent borscht, is heat shielded, so they arrange for Fiona to sneak in. Unfortunately, it is only a software pirating operation. So we step up the pressure on Ivan.

    I convince him we need to escape and try to warn Takarov. I crack a few of Nate’s ribs, pretend to kill him and Sam, and drive off with Ivan. We go to the safe house and I send Ivan along to tell Takarov the girls have been safely moved. Then Fiona, Sam, and I free the girls. Ivan did not live long enough to enjoy his new freedom.

    Character Counts

    Tonight saw the return of Nate Westen, played by Seth Peterson. Seth had originally read for the role of Michael and impressed Matt Nix, but didn’t quite fit what he was looking for in his burned spy. He did strike Nix as the perfect annoying little brother, though, and this role was created for him.

    That said, I’ve got to be honest; until last year’s season finale, I could not stand Nate. Then it finally hit me that he was playing his role perfectly. I was supposed to be annoyed by him. On re-watching the first season, I really appreciated his performance a lot more.

    Tonight we get some nice small moments between, and about, the relationship between the brothers. Nate’s got incredible respect for his brother, even if he doesn’t always like him and Michael finally sees how his own actions and behavior impact his brother, even if it does take a little prompting from Madeline. Seems Nate didn’t really get into big trouble until big brother left home.

    The growth between these two, slow and in spurts, feels natural and it’s a pleasure to watch.

    Chin Bits

    As much fun as Sam had this episode, he didn’t have a whole lot of killer lines. He was central to both stories, abusing his liver with Harvey Gunderson and running the interrogation of Ivan, so I suspect Nix and episode co-writer Jason Ning felt they didn’t need to give The Chin any zingers. I’d tend to agree. The glint in Bruce Campbell‘s eyes at the entire notion of interrogating someone was more than enough for me. He looked like a kid in a candy store.

    That said, we did get one awesome exchange where The Chin was the butt of the zinger. After causing a scene in Romanov’s so Fiona could slip upstairs, she got him out of the Russian goon’s grip with elan:

    Fiona: Take your hands off my father! He has dementia! Do you understand? Can’t you see his mind is gone? He doesn’t even know what he’s saying…
    Sam: Daddy?
    Fiona: Bet you never thought you’d hear me call you that.

    Important Lessons in Spycraft

    • Jobs in agriculture make convenient covers. The downside is you might have to become a chick pea expert
    • You can tell a lot about a tail by the moves they use
    • Torture’s like getting groceries with a flame thrower. Getting information is about creating a new reality
    • No makeup can simulate blood and bruises up close
    • The way a person fights can tell you a lot about where they’re from
    • One of the hardest things to do in a fight is make it look like you’re trying to kill someone without doing permanent damage

    Parting Thoughts

    Ah, Harvey Gunderson. Let’s review his titles, shall we?

    • Secretary/Treasurer Agricultural Association of South Florida
    • President Miami Water Resources Board
    • Vice President Board of Soil Scientists

    The always brilliant Larry Miller guests as the perfect foil for Sam. But I’m actually a little saddened by this, now that I have time to think about it. There’s just no reason to bring Harvey Gunderson back on the show. That means, no more Larry Miller. Damn.

    A good, solid episode that pushed forward on all fronts: Michael got more information on Carla, even if it is just a location to stake out; Michael and Nate had their bonding moment; and Sam gave Fi a nice compliment when he suggested she extract Ivan by herself. Plus, Fi tasered herself to take out Ivan. That’s hardcore.

    What did everyone else think?

    R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at his personal blog and stalked on Twitter.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Charlie Jade Headwriter Alex Epstein

    charliejade

    It’s no mystery that I’m a huge Charlie Jade fan. I don’t write those insanely long and detailed recaps on a show relegated to the 2am time slot for fame and fortune, that’s for sure. What is a little surprising is how I came to know and love the show.

    Like many others, I’m an aspiring screenwriter. In some ways it’s harder to break in today because there are more competitors for the few available slots; however, we have resources that weren’t available even five or ten years ago. There are dozens of accomplished writers blogging about their experiences as staff writers, writers’ assistants, and show runners. Some write from decades of experience and some give us play-by-play as they learn on the job. One of the longest-blogging writers out there is Alex Epstein, who keeps an ongoing conversation with fans, newbie writers, and others at Complications Ensue. I’ve been reading Alex’s blog for at least two years now and also own his book “Crafty TV Writing”. If you want to write for television, I highly recommend it.

    Once I started reading Alex on craft, I realized this was a guy who not only could teach me a lot, but who had similar sensibilities to mine. Odds were high that stuff he did, I’d like. And having seen a decent-sized chunk of his work now, I can tell you my instinct was right. Alex frequently discusses Charlie Jade, even using it to demonstrate how to break and beat a story in “Crafty TV Writing”. I’ve got to tell you, when I read about Charlie hopping dimensions, I knew this was a show for me.

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  • The Middleman recap: “The Cursed Tuba Contingency”


    Oom-pah oom-pah-pah, friends! Polka wouldn’t be polka without it. Neither would pep bands. In fact, I’d wager that of all the music in the world, a good .001% would be horrible without the basso profundo of the mighty tuba. What kind of tuba you say? Tenor? Four-valve? The tuba kind.

    Great Randolph Scott!

    Wendy Watson‘s got a big night ahead of her. The night prior, she killed a giant pig-insect hybrid in the back of the Middlemobile and now she’s got to muck it out. That leaves Middleman with an evening free to catch the twilight matinee at a neighborhood revival theater. His favorite hero, Randolph Scott, is gracing the silver screen in Ride Lonesome. But someone’s on his tail. And that someone is Lacey Thornfield.

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  • Charlie Jade recap: “Devotion”

    I have mixed feelings about this episode. It’s the best of the season so far, I think. A compelling case can be made for “And Not a Drop to Drink”, as it opens the kimono on inter-dimensional travel, 01’s unique abilities, and the importance of water to the scheme of things. But tonight…it’s something else.

    Then again, this is also the last episode under Writing Regime #1 (WR#1). Things you’re starting to understand? Things that you’re figuring out? Some of that’s just going to change next week and beyond. And trust me when I say it will get a hundred times better and cooler. It takes a few episodes until the second team – Alex Epstein, Denis McGrath, and Sean Carley – really takes off, but even in next week’s episode, “Betrayal”, you can see marked improvement. That slowness that was evident early in the season goes away fast as things ramp up quickly.

    But that ramping starts tonight, even if it still looks like Charlie Jade is spinning his wheels.

    Missing Persons

    Charlie heads to the Glass Door to confront 01 Boxer about another missing girl. If you want me to point at the one thing obviously wrong in these first eight episodes, it is this: this is the first time these incredibly charismatic actors have shared a scene. Jeffrey Pierce and Michael Filipowich command the screen in subtly different ways.
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  • Mad Men review: “For Those Who Think Young”

    Fourteen months, thousands of cigarettes, and one beard later, we return to the offices of Sterling-Cooper and its denizens. In the first season of Mad Men, creator Matthew Weiner braced his agency against the rising tide of youth culture. But even against the backdrop of JFK’s generational campaign, 1960 was still dominated by the ways and mores of an earlier time. The few cracks that did show were personal rather than cultural.

    Now in early 1962, the future is seeping through a bit more.

    By making the timejump, Weiner has pulled a cover back over his characters. At the end of last season, we knew too much about these people. Less than we might know today about a stranger in a restaurant, carrying on a cellphone conversation oblivious to the people around her, but more than Weiner wants us to know about Don Draper and those around him. What we can surmise is that accommodations have been made all around:

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  • Burn Notice Recap: “Trust Me”

    Whooo damn, that was fun! Mike asked me to talk to y’all about tonight’s episode while he’s off eatin’ some chicken tikka with his new buddy Wasim, so let me tell you a little about myself. Name’s Davis Cullen. Daddy made his money in oil, but ain’t no way I’m livin’ like that. Up at four, in bed by nine. No, siree. I told him, “I don’t want your life” right before I left Texas. Lucky daddy’s always had a soft spot for me so I got a nice fat trust fund.

    The Recap

    Mike and Sam gotta get into the Pakistani consulate so Mike can get his hands on a file. Don’t matter what file, just anything’ll make the head of security take notice. So while Sam’s doing his best impression of – wassisname – Roger Murtaugh in the lobby, Mike slips back into this fellow’s office. Gets hisself a file and leaves a note.

    Next you know, Mike’s using all his spy expertise to sneak around his mama’s garage lookin’ for car parts. But his mama’s too good for that and catches him. Drags his butt inside where a bunch of hens are playin’ poker. Fiona got her butt whooped good, looks like. Then one of them ladies tells about another friend of theirs got a dumb kid in deep with a loan shark. Fi wants to help, so Mike and her meet the lady, Diane.

    Her boy Andy borrowed a heap of cash to invest in a club in Cuba. ‘Cept there was no club in Cuba. The whole thing’s a scam. Andy’s out 200 grand and the shark’s gettin’ hungry. Mike and Fi know all about the scam. They even tell Andy how it all played out. Sap didn’t even know he’d been had, till they told him!

    So Mike and Fi go to this club, Velvet. Fi figures she’s got the best shot to get back in his office, ’cause she’s hotter than a horned lizard in August, so Mike heads out to meet up with Wasim. But it turns out Zeke’s office needs one them magnetic cards like in a hotel, so she can’t get the money. Things ain’t much better for Mike. Wasim ain’t bitin’.

    The loan shark shows up at Diane’s house and roughs up Andy somethin’ awful. But Mike uses a copy of Cat Fancy to bust them up even worse. Baranski, that’s the loan shark’s name, gives them two days, but he puts the debt on Mike, too.

    Mike gives Wasim back his files, but he does it in the park where Wasim’s having a picnic with a cute little blond lady. Sam gets pictures so it looks like a payoff. When Mike picks up a dinner tab later, Wasim knows he’s been had. If he wants to stay in good with his bosses and stay in Miami, he’s gonna have to find them files on Carla that Mike wants.

    Now here’s where I come in. Mike figures I’m the kind of fella can get in good with Zeke, so I go to his club and just act natural. Eventually Zeke takes notice and asks Fi about me. Then we go back to the VIP room and party for a bit. I cut out to break into Zeke’s safe, but it’s just a dummy. A few hundred bucks and cut up newspaper. So I plant a bug and get the hell outta Dodge with Fi.

    We’re gonna have to do this the hard way, so I gotta get in on Zeke’s scam. Me and my lawyer Chuck Finley go talk to Zeke. You might know Chuck. Been around Miami for a bit, good guy to have in a scrape. ‘Cept Chuck’s got the purse strings on my trust fund and makes it hard for me to invest in this here club. Oh wait, that’s right. The club in Havana’s a scam and we’re supposed to make it look like we’re hard to convince. Damn!

    See, what we’re gonna do is put $200K in an escrow account, then Zeke’s gonna have to match those funds. So all we gotta do is get $200K. And fast, ’cause Baransky’s kidnapped Andy’s mama.

    That $200K is as good as got, ’cause Mike and his buddy “Bad Check Barry” the money launderer are talkin’ again. It’s good to see that, ’cause they’d been on the outs. But Barry’s gonna transfer some money from a closed bank account. It’ll only be a few minutes before someone notices it’s fake, but Mike figures that’s all it’ll take.

    See, what’s gonna happen is this:

    • I go to the house Zeke and his partners rented.
    • I call Barry and he transfers the money.
    • Zeke calls his partners to come on in and pretend to be Feds and bust Zeke.
    • But Sam and Fi jump them first and blow up their car.
    • Zeke sees that, and I tell him *my* partners are ex Delta Force guys who just killed a couple of Feds. They’re gonna want their money.

    Me and Zeke head to Velvet and he hands me all the cash in the real safe, almost $250K. After I leave, I got no idea what’s gonna happen to him, but I’d guess his partners ain’t gonna be none too happy. But I’ve got the money for Mike and that’s all I care about.

    Mike pays off the loan shark with the money, minus $300. He bought him a subscription to Cat Fancy, just to give him a reminder to keep his “hands off people’s mothers.” I suspect Baransky’s not gonna bother Andy and his mama.

    Character Counts

    Tonight continues the aftermath of Fiona and Michael’s breakup. He can claim they weren’t dating all he’d like, but in fact and deed they were. It’s pretty clear tonight that Michael’s regretting the breakup even more than we might have guessed he would from the season premiere, but he’s not going to let that show. Much.

    Madeline’s upset by it all, because she thinks Michael’s better, almost happy, when Fiona’s around. His unwillingness to open up and meet her half way make him just like his father. A second week running, we see a bit more of how much Madeline does love *and* understand her son. But as much as she wants Michael to be happy, she understands Fiona’s need not to be the second most important thing in his life. From experience.

    When Michael finally talks to his mother about the breakup, he thinks she’s upset because he won’t be giving her grandchildren. But that’s not Madeline’s concern:

    Michael: This is about grandchildren.
    Madeline: No honey. It’s not about me. It’s about you. Life is hard if you have to live it alone. And having kids makes the ride more fun.
    Michael: I was fun?

    The smile and gentle stroke on the cheek Madeline gives is all the answer to that question he, or we need.

    Chin Bits

    So, did I mention I’m in Vegas tonight? Away from my Tivo and ability to replay the show to get these great lines? Here’s what I got.

    • “Couldn’t it be Jamaica, those guys are probably very easy going.”
    • “Hey, smooth is smooth”

    And my favorite Sam exchange of the night, where Michael actually gets the zinger after telling Sam to leave his cellphone on to bug Zeke’s office:

    “How’s Ronnie supposed to get in touch with me?”
    “Tell her to try the bar at Carlito’s”

    Important Lessons in Spycraft

    Huh. You think it was tough to catch all the great Bruce Campbell bits? Imagine how much harder it must be to get all the lessons in spying!

    • Low-level agents get traded, not prosecuted
    • Stay away from embassies and consulates
    • Bureaucrats get worried about pissed off journalists
    • The head of security in a consulate is almost always a spy
    • A cellphone makes an excellent bug in a pinch, but it uses a lot of juice. An unused USB port can keep it charged
    • A hairpin can open many locks
    • A low-end safe can be opened with a hammer, but if it’s already open that’s probably overkill

    Parting Thoughts

    Michael’s got a file on Carla now. She’s still got the advantage, but he’s no longer completely blind. He knows, at least, what cover she used in Kurdistan. It also seems likely to me that Michael actually does have a friend in the Pakistani intelligence community now. Or at least someone who might consider Carla a common enemy.

    There is, of course, no way that Michael and Fiona are going to stay apart for too long. She’ll start dating someone – I can probably even tell you who, and who will be playing him, but that’s cheating – in the next few weeks and that’s going to gnaw at Michael. He loves her. He knows it and so does everyone else. He just needs to put her first, or get her to accept coming in second.

    What did everyone else think?

    R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at his personal blog and stalked on Twitter.

  • Charlie Jade recap: “Diamonds”

    Surprise…Charlie Jade is not a force of nature. Neither is he a man with no name. He’s flesh and blood, and filled with contradictions. Like anyone, Charlie has a past that informs who and why he is and this week we get a peak into it.

    Diamonds are Forever

    Remember that gangster’s pinkie ring Charlie wears? The one he pawned to pay for his sweet ride? Charlie hits the shop, looking to retrieve it. Instead he finds the owner dead and the ring missing.

    A flashback to five years earlier shows us Charlie as a soldier of some sort, on a sweep with his partner. Charlie lags behind as she bursts through a door and opens fire, killing a man and his wife. She scans his implant, then cuts that recognizable ring from the man’s hand, passing it over to Charlie with a smile on her face. Charlie hears steps at his back and spins, weapon at the ready. He finds a small child in his sights and recoils. Happy partner takes the kid out with one quick shot.

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  • Middleman Recap: “The Boy-Band Superfan Interrogation”

    Fuzzy Porn

    Lacey wants to watch SMACC (Supremo-Destructo Martial Arts Combat Channel), because the martial arts are the most confrontational of all the arts. But she can’t adjust their satellite dish and comes back in when Wendy Watson sees fuzzy porn. Turns out, it was just Varsity Fanclub. Then Lacey demonstrates her fandom by dancing along with the five perpetually pubescent harmonizers.

    Pip drops by to invite the gang to his gallery show, Deus ex Pip, at The Gate. But, “his” paintings are Wendy’s! Uh, but the armed gorilla is still in the illegal sublet Wendy shares with another young photogenic artist. How’s the Pipster pulling this one off?

    (more…)

  • MythBusters: Shark Special

    Adam and Jamie in the water
    Adam and Jamie in the water – Copyright Discovery Channel

    It’s that time of year again. The time when a young man’s fancy turns to sun, sand, and surf. And though I try to honor Tracy Jordan‘s challenge to “live every week like it’s Shark Week,” even I need a gentle reminder once in awhile. Fortunately, Discovery Channel is happy to oblige.

    This year, Shark Week kicks off with the two-hour MythBusters: Shark Special on Sunday, July 27 from 9-11pm ET/PT. The MythBusters test seven myths about the great predators using their standard formula of scientific whimsy mixed with insane experimentation. There’s madness to their method and that’s what makes the show fun for us. Sometimes scary for them, but fun on the safety of our La-Z-Boys.

    Myth #1: Eye Gouge

    Is it even possible, under the thrashing and duress of an attack, to find a shark’s eyes to ward it off?

    To test the myth, they decide *not* to climb into the gaping maw of a real man eater. Instead, Master Busters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage build a 17-foot, robotic Great White. Using a replica fiberglass shark made from a life cast and cutting it into segments that can be articulated, the guys make a robot suitable for the test. The robot includes real chomping and thrashing action, too.

    Starting off with a mouthful of custom cut steel teeth, sharpened and serrated just like nature’s own, the guys test out bite strength on a surfboard and pig’s carcass. But that’s not the reason they’re in SF Bay. Adam swaps out the steel choppers for some rubber ones and he and Jamie rope Grant Imahara into taking Bruce on his maiden voyage. Not to worry. Adam’s turn will come soon enough.

    Myth #2: Is Playing Dead a Good Strategy in Shark-infested Waters?

    Based on the experience of one of the survivors of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis (CA-35), the Junior Busters will determine whether playing dead in the water is a viable strategy, at least when other survivors are thrashing nearby.

    Down in the clear blue waters of the Bahamas, Grant and Tory Belleci gear up with chain mail and scuba tanks and hop in the water while Kari Byron chums it. Cute Redhead + Dead Fish = Crazy Hot. It also equals plain crazy. I have to say, I now believe there is something a pretty girl could ask me to do to which I’d say no: jumping in chummed water and thrashing about while sharks swim by. But these guys are game. Scared, but game.

    She keeps them in the water for 10 minutes and they’re clearly thrilled to get out. Then she shows her sadistic side. I mean, they can’t be sure the experiment was definitive unless the boys get back in and switch roles, right?

    Myth #3: Do Magnets Repel Sharks?

    Sharks have a network of jelly-filled canals in their bodies called Ampullae of Lorenzini. With these, sharks and rays are able to detect electromagnetic fields and temperature gradients. The theory is that magnets may be able to repel sharks by interfering with their electomagnetic sense in some way, so Adam and Jamie test it out.

    They first test with small sharks, but decide they need to run a full-size test with Lemon and Tiger sharks. Chum boxes are studded with magnets and Adam climbs into a shark cage. I’m not sure how he and Jamie decided who’d be the water monkey for this – a coin toss, short straw, roshambo – but I guess you could say Adam won? The Hyper Host gets to see the sharks up close while his colleague, Ol’ Calm Sideburns, only gets to hear about it over the radio. Then again, Jamie’s safe on deck and not feet away from swarming, hungry sharks.

    Grant and Kari with RoboDog - Copyright Discovery Channel
    Grant and Kari with RoboDog – Copyright Discovery Channel

    Myth #4: Do Dogs Attract Sharks?

    First a robot shark, and now a “barking, urinating, swimming, canine robot.” The Junior Busters start off by building a tank and filming Kari’s dog swimming so they can duplicate its movements. For science. After all, they want a doggie robot that does a proper doggie’s doggy paddle. Nobody wants a Daggett that drowns.

    Grant eschews an electic motor for the ‘bot so as not to interfere with those Ampullae of Lorenzini, opting to power the guts of the mechanism with air. He includes a remote system for deploying syringes of dog blood, dog urine, and… well… alright, I’ll tell ya. Kari took her pups to the vet to have their anal glands “expressed”.

    Ever wonder why dogs sniff each other’s butts? It’s for the incredible stench emanating from those glands. A stench that might just attract sharks as well as Shar Peis.

    Myth #5: Do Flashlights Attract Sharks?

    On night dives, you really need a flashlight. But sharks hunt at night and might be attracted to the light, or possibly the EM fields given off by the lights. So Kari, Tory, and Grant dive on two successive nights, once without flashlights and once with.

    On both nights, their dive location – a wrecked ship – is lit by low-level lights to simulate moonlight. On the second, the three slice through the inky depths with flashlights. For 20 minutes they stay down, counting sharks. I can imagine few sensations as claustrophobic and horrifying as standing underwater in near darkness, counting sharks as they suddenly appear. That’s the price of doing science, though. And entertainment.

    Myth #6: Do Hot Chilies Repel Sharks?

    The Cuna Indians of Panama trail strings of habanero chilies behind their canoes to deter shark attacks. So Adam and Jamie decide to test chilies out as a deterrent. Pureed habanero is loaded into biodegradable balloons attached to the top of chum boxes.

    Mmm! I think it’s time for sushi. I could go for some spicy tuna.

    Myth #7: Do Flapping Fish Attract Sharks?

    Adam and Jamie tested this once before, but too scientifically for Jamie’s tastes. Pumping out a 40Hz tone isn’t quite the same as a fish flapping. Unfortunately no one builds a robot for this test. But Adam does get to freak out on the ocean floor while Jamie splashes dangling fish from a rubber dingy.

    Tory and RoboShark - Copyright Discovery Channel
    Tory and RoboShark – Copyright Discovery Channel

    Final Thoughts

    I’m not a regular viewer of MythBusters, but I’ll occasionally find myself on a lazy Saturday catching a marathon. When I do, I usually spend two, or three, or four hours enthralled by the crazy lengths the guys go to in order to bust or prove myths. I appreciate not just the goofiness they bring to bear – using a pig carcass to test Bruce the Great White’s bite pressure and building a Robot Dog with real anal extract being just two examples – but their commitment to the scientific method. They make science approachable and entertaining which is something we desperately need as fewer and fewer kids care to pursue careers in the sciences.

    Not to get all preachy, but I’d love if even one child watched this just to see the cool sharks and decided to study them himself. Or saw the articulated shark and thought she’d like to study robotics. It doesn’t hurt to remind adults that learning about the world through play is worthwhile, either.

    Plus? Kari in a bikini, y’all.

    R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at his personal blog and stalked on Twitter.