The Watcher: 01/28/11 - 02/03/11

Evening, ladies and gents! Well, with this edition, I've ceased reviewing THE CAPE (cue collective cries from the readers) I know, I know - the show was just far too spectacular to review, and I just couldn't keep up with the pressure anymore. Nah, listen, THE CAPE did well last week, it did. I just don't have much incentive to watch and review it when there's superior, more enticing programming on at the same time. As it stands, I'm waiting to see the complete series on DVD [it's only a matter of time]. Also, starting up tomorrow because The CW are dumbies, new episodes of JUSTIFIED, SMALLVILLE and SUPERNATURAL! Finally, The Watcher will be jam-packed with shows to review, and it's not even all the ones I watch!*

S01E03 - "Something to Watch Over Me" (31 January 2011) - I'm still not entirely sold on the chemistry between our three leads, but otherwise, BEING HUMAN is beginning to grow on me. It's a faithful adaptation that's gradually growing into its own, and I'm digging it. Sally hangs around with another ghost and needs to confront the fact that she's dead, find new ways to maneuver through the world as a ghost, and find out why she's still stuck on earth. Okay, nice development there, and with ten episodes to go, I'd like to see Sally continue to receive such material. Josh and Aiden are their normal burdened selves, with Josh full of guilt over nearly strangling a dude during a neighborhood watch and Aiden doing everything in his power to not hurt people but inadvertently causing more harm than good. At least the chilling Bishop had that nice moment of showing up Aiden; I'm quite diggin' Mark Pellegrino's portrayal of Bishop, a man who can be threatening and also all warm and fuzzy at the same time. Interestingness. As for Aiden's storyline, I loved when he got 'killed' and came back full vamp mode - now that was pretty sweet. It was also nice to hear Aiden joke around a bit in the opening, but now it appears there will be much brooding to come. So far, so good.

S04E13 - "Chuck Vs. the Push Mix" (31 January 2011) - Now that felt more like a series finale than any of the previous season/series/I-don't-know! finales of the last two years. Not saying "Vs. the Push Mix" is a series finale, cos we got thirteen episodes more on the shows plate, but it felt very final, and whatever comes next can't help but feel sort of tagged on. We got the proposal, we got the reunion of the surviving Bartowski family, and we got Alexi Volkoff in jail - whew! What a episode! And it was a awesome one. I love it when Chuck has a brilliant master plan and everything comes together in the end, and I absolutely adore Timothy Dalton (and I hope he comes back for future episodes), so those two elements together made this ep pretty damn good. But then, we get Team Jeffster singing over the hospital intercom, and for the first time ever with those two, I laughed like crazy. It was brilliant! It was hilarious! It was blood genius! "Chuck Vs. the Push Mix" is my absolute favorite of the season. Why? Chuck kicks ass. Timothy Dalton is awesome. Nice character resolutions. My only nitpick: why or why did Sarah have to go back to blond? The brunette was so...hot...What? I'm supposed to review the actual show? Right, right - professionalism, gotta work on that.

S03E11 - "Reciprocity" (28 January 2011) - The first thought on my mind was surprise: surprise at how well that doomsday device actually looks. On paper, this big, massive thing looked like a production nightmare, and I just couldn't really see it realized. Turns out, I was wrong. Not only was it done well, but that things screams "I'm gonna end the world, suckha", and it sure as hell is freakin' frightening. Also frightening? Peter, when he's going out solo to kill him some shapeshifters. Sure, it's awesome, and it especially deepens the kickass personality that is Peter Bishop, but it also leads to the question Walter is asking himself now: what has happened to Peter? Did being in the vicinity of the device somehow change Peter, or activate him in some way? What are the repercussions of this? Ultimately, it was a decent episode that felt rather season one-ish instead of the mythology-layered and dimensional season three. That said, it was still awesome, and continues to make me giddy for the future. Well, the shows future.

But y'know that whole big FRINGE dilemma I had a few weeks ago, about what to watch: FRINGE or SUPERNATURAL? Well, that dilemma will face me tomorrow evening. I think I might go the SUPERNATURAL route, but FRINGE...Ugh! The agony!

S01E12 - "Free" (27 January 2011) - Yikes it feels like a eon and a half since I reviewed NIKITA on this blog. After one hell of a lengthily hiatus, NIKITA returns with a episode that doesn't deliver on the sheer awesomeness of "All the Way", but it keeps the story going so I can't necessarily fault it by any means. What I can fault, however, is the unnecessary 'Alex-has-hot-neighbor-wonder-if-they're-gonna-do-anything?' subplot that will undoubtedly be exploding in upcoming weeks. And why does he have to be a gorgeous man specimen? Why can't Alex just happen to fall for a geek like me? WHY? I know, it's the CW. Concerning the actual content of the show, I absolutely loved Nikita outsmarting Division - and by extension the brainy computer guy - once again by securing their pass codes and all that pertinent data. I just love how this gal works. When Nikita foils Division and everyone just shrugs and sighs, it makes me a happy viewer. That being said, "Free" didn't live up to the sheer awesomeness creatively and entertainingly as "All the Way." Good news is that next week looks poised to change that.

S01E03 - "Chris" (31 January 2011) - Chris has one hell of a frakked up life, and I'm not just saying that. His mom leaves him, he's left with $1,000 that he and his friends quickly blow for a absolutely crazy party, and in the end, he's left with nothing, even locked out of his own home by some dude who was sleeping in his bathtub. In the end, he ends up living at a teachers (?) house, who he may or may not fancy, and even is given a goldfish! It's not much, but it's a start. The most remarkably successful thing about "Chris" is that it paints this kids life as pathetic, but it doesn't feel forced or sappy like a regular television show or Hallmark film - it feels genuine, and the emotion comes from that. Not to forget mentioning that the actor playing Chris is fantastic, his bowed down head, mannerisms, and even his hollow voice speak volumes over inappropriate music or typical camera push ins. All in all, "Chris" wasn't the fun ride of "Tony" or "Tea", but it was nonetheless just as powerful, important, and exceptionally well crafted as its predecessors. Plus, Stanley got to see Michelle's breasts, itching us one step closer to the (hopeful) inevitable hookup between the two.

S02E04 - "Unholy Alliance" (1 February 2011) - A fiesta of bad visual effects and compositing. In "Unholy Alliance", Anna and her other well-suited crony meet up with the congregation at the Vatican to have them say 'anti-V attacks are wrong!' and then she showed them some pretty blue ball of lightning (what exactly was that, by the way?). I know they have a limited effects budget and limited imagination in regards to cinematography, but this was just bad. Hell, I'd say let's call Kevin Smith in and he'd write and shoot the best episode of V, old and reimagined series combined ('course, that would mean I'd have to watch the original series to do a proper comparison). Not a lot happened here other than the fact that everyone doesn't trust each other, Anna smiles her evil smile some more, a fifteen-year planted V sleeper agent promotes that the 'Soul is GOOD!', and that dude from THE MUMMY shows up but this time with gray hair, no sword, and no marks of the Medjai. It'd be great for someone in this show to do something that actually matters...