Regarding Battlestar Galactica, what adequate explanation can there be that Tory Foster, one of the five final cylons, is the only one not to have an interesting storyline in season four? Scratch that – not to have a storyline at all. She offed Cally and she has now spent the last few episodes doing nothing in particular except to utter the line “I wanted to ask him about that frakking song.”
Dollhouse: “The Target” (Steven S. DeKnight)
I laughed several times during this and only once when I was supposed to (“four brothers, none of them Democrats”). I laughed the most at the cut from Echo loosing the arrow and failing on top of Richard after a bout of sex.
I also cringed several times. Mark Sheppard is consistent – consistently bad. He was bad in the X-Files, Firefly, Bionic Woman and Battlestar Galactica. People just love him though and I don’t understand at all – I groan every single time I see him in the credits and then again when he kills a scene. He does these accents and they are all atrocious. The clichéd scene in the cabin was painful followed up by an equally painful one in the FBI office – the dialogue here was terrible. The next cringey scene was with Miracle Laurie as the woman with lasagne. I can only hope that Joss Whedon was lying to us about her not being cast as an active any more because she may as well be a blank – standing behind her door waiting for the neighbour she pines over to come home – a seriously not interesting character. The final cringey scene involved our Russian mobster friend (who can only be intriguing if he too is still cast as a doll) and his face-sucking girlfriend who can’t stop until he shoves her away.
I thought Eliza Dushku was better than in “Ghost” although her reading of “they won’t wake up” was poor. Harry J. Lennix is keeping my interest in the show above meh. He is plain excellent and his relationship with Echo is going to matter to my attachment to the show should that moment of attachment arrive.
Considering that Olivia Williams casting as Adelle was the most exciting news for me, I continue to find her off. I don’t like her long hair or her delivery (and I know she is a superb actress) but most of all I don’t like that she has been shown as not particularly competent.
Topher is really obnoxious as the Marshall without the charm, the wit and the good looks. In fact, I am not alone in being reminded strongly of Alias with Echo as Sydney, Boyd as Dixon and Topher as the nerdy one. However, Marshall always made me laugh.
I love watching this show in real time. It was easy to immerse myself in Firefly having heard excellent word-of-mouth and knowing even as I sat through “Shindig” there were definitely better episodes to come. With Dollhouse, I may have just watched “Out of Gas” and the rest are all “The Messages” and “Hearts of Gold”.
And please, no more “Did I fall asleep?”, “For a little while.” exchanges.
Mad Men – “For Those Who Think Young”
I would happily see more of Francine
Mad Men is back on British screens but not too explosively or even particularly sparkling. I wonder how such a low-key opener worked on new viewers. There were plenty of good moments but there were too many scenes of Don pontificating obscurely about advertising as if it is important. I’m afraid that Don and his charm will never persuade me that it is.
I’m not sure if I like where Betty might be heading this season. I liked her taking charge while ordering room service but what she did with the mechanic was dangerous. I’m not sure I even believe in the scene, it felt completely off-kilter. I did think she was offering him sex but I now think that isn’t what she was doing which leads me to ask just what she supposed to me playing at?
Most of the time I find myself reluctantly not liking Peggy. She was so nasty to Don’s secretary (Lois) but I did feel for her when Pete asked her if she wanted children. Pete is such an idiot. He has no notion of how unhappy Trudy is because she cannot conceive.
I’m never sure of what to make of Joan. I thought she was mean to Lois too but then she put the photocopier in Peggy’s office so she can’t be that bad.
Sal being married is interesting. I wonder if they will make his wife oblivious or suspicious.
Don is having a midlife crisis and can’t get it up. This is not a particularly thrilling or unusual storyline but maybe we will see Betty benefiting from this or getting into trouble with someone less nice than the mechanic. Who is Don sending poetry to? I have a notion who it isn’t. Rachel
My favourite scene was in the lift (although I do find it hard to believe that even now two men would speak so lewdly and crudely in front of strangers in such a confined space). I did like that instead of Don drawing attention to the woman by directly telling them off, he made a big deal of it the hat pointing out how awful their behaviour was.
Writing about this episode has made me realise how much is packed into each 45 minutes. I’ve just remembered the sequence of different characters as they watched Jacqueline Kennedy in the White House (“where’s her husband?” asks Sal) until it stopped at Pete who was watching something else.
Hell’s Bells (Rebecca Rand Kirshner)
Another divisive episode, which seems par for the course in season six. I like a great deal of it. I’m not keen on the notion of the demons at the wedding and how they could possibly pass for any kind of human. And what kind of explanation could there be for the slaying of a demon in full view of all the guests? I think Willow’s rescue of Tara is handled in a ham-fisted way because Tara (in her green dress) looked formidable rather than in need of help.
The green dresses are hideous and they are the clearest indication that the costumer (Cynthia Bergstrom) was having a laugh. No way would Anya want to ruin her wedding by having to look at those.
Sarah Michelle Gellar seemed very relaxed in this angst-free episode (for her anyway) and this shows in her performance. I delighted in Buffy’s inability to think on her feet (“You know, he’s half-minister, half-doctor, he’s a-a mini-tor. Not, of course, to be confused with a Minotaur! Because he’s all, you know, man, this doctor minister man, no, no bull parts whatsoever.”), her playing charades (with horns) and juggling! Buffy juggling, it doesn’t get any better really. Buffy and Spike speaking civilly to each other is such a treat too.
Oh Xander, what have you done? He is scared he will turn into his father and I appreciate that it was himself that he hated in the visions and not Anya who was portrayed as unfaithful. However, the worst thing to come out of this episode is the Xander who turns up in “Entropy” who thankfully we haven’t seen since season five. He is my least favourite Scooby.
OK, enough of the main plot onto the best scene which is another to add to my all time favourites from BtVS . They don’t all involve Tara and Willow because this one involves Anya as well. So there. Anya is rehearsing her ridiculous sounding vows and as Willow helps Tara button up Anya’s wedding dress, they smile and laugh at Anya until they realise that she is genuine and they start to look thoughtful instead. The actresses play the scene so sweetly that it just warms my cockles. They then realise how lovely she looks, despite the mask, and she flaps her hands because she is so thrilled to be marrying the love of her long life: she is cute, funny and heartbreaking.
“Okay. Blah, blah, blah, misogynistic. Blah, blah, ‘I do however entrust you…, um, with my heart. Take care of my heart, won’t you please? Take care of it because, it’s all that I have. And, if you let me, I’ll take care of your heart too.”
“Okay. It’s just I’m so excited and I want to share it all with my best friend. I get to be with my best friend forever! Yay!”
Dollhouse: “Ghost” (Joss Whedon)
This was better than an average episode of Angel but since I think Angel is the biggest let down ever then maybe I’m not sounding too positive. However, I did like most of it and I hope what I didn’t like won’t be a major problem for future episodes. I mean, I didn’t like Adelle’s hair and make-up and I didn’t like the reams of exposition but I’m going to get used to Adelle’s hair and the exposition is no longer necessary.
Joss Whedon completely swiped the idea of a kidnapped and sexually abused child growing up to be an expert in the field from his clearly highly generous pal Tim Minear who dealt with a whole series on the subject called The Inside. I was surprised to see in the first scene how Echo/Caroline became a doll and I think, studio interference or not, that was an error. Too much, too soon.
I think all the characters were interesting and intriguing with the exception of Paul Ballard and Laurence Dominic. I haven’t much to say about Laurence except the role seemed a standard clichéd henchman type. I have reams to say about Paul Ballard. I want to like Tahmoh Penikett because he seems like such a nice bloke but his performance as Helo and now Paul show that he is rather limited as an actor. It doesn’t help that two of the scenes he was in were by far the worst in the episode. They were terrible. Really terrible. The kickboxing intercut with Paul talking to his superiors was as bad as Buffy and Riley having sex intercut with Buffy and Riley fighting the Polgara demon. Oh, the subtlety. Look at Paul! He’s tough, he’s manly, he can even keep those shorts up. Look, he’s down and out! Oh no, look at that comeback! He’s so hard! Apparently a bare-chested Tahmoh is supposed to appeal to the laydees in the same way as a micro-skirted Eliza is supposed to appeal to the chaps but I just think it’s cheesy, tacky and childish.
Paul’s second terrible scene had horrible dialogue and the lamest last line “wash your hands…and your shoes”. Please do better by Tahmoh, Joss, because he may end up like Apollo on BSG in that I glaze over whenever he is on screen.
Despite my reservations about Eliza’s range I thought she was fine, not great, but good enough. Actually, thinking of The Inside I am reminded of Rachel Nichols who was fine, not great, but good enough.
I am bothered by my own lack of discomfort about the concept of mind-wiping and using these people as objects for other people’s desires and needs. I’m not sure if this episode managed to get across the skeeviness of it all. There is the scene with Sierra being erased for the first time but I was distracted by the ease in which Echo got up the stairs and into that area of the Dollhouse and by Dr Saunders lurking in the shadows (to what end?) so its impact was actually lost on me. However, my reaction to the first job we saw Echo on was to ask but what about venereal disease?
I can think of things that bother me at the moment but may prove to be suppositious. I will say that one thing that saddened me was the dropping of the character of the active called November to be played by Miracle Laurie, in favour of a new character who will be “playing against (and pining for) Tahmoh’s character, Paul Ballard“. That doesn’t sound boring, does it?
My favourite bit was the transition from successful hostage negotiator to brainwashed doll:
PS: to every person who says that pilots generally suck (and just why would that ever be true? pilots are supposed to hook you in), I say Dead Like Me.
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