(Season 1, Episodes 21-24)

Another fun guest appearance in these last four installments of Season One. And a welcome return. Doug Hutchison was truly one of the creepiest monsters of the week as Eugene Tooms (I’m still checking my vents every night before I go to bed), so it was great seeing his creepy performance again.

I was even more surprised, though, to see Zeljko Ivanek as a mentally challenged twin in “Roland.” He gave a stellar performance, so convincing that if I hadn’t already seen him elsewhere I might have thought they got a truly autistic man to play the role. It’s nice to know that he was just as good at giving the creepiest stares back then as he is now.

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The tide continues to turn for Heroes, albeit slowly. This week, “Into Asylum” brought something of a mixed bag to the party. With the return of Sylar, and I mean that both in the literal and figurative sense, we were treated to one third of a great episode. The remaining two thirds… not so much. That part of the episode brought some new information that will be important going forward, but did it in a rather dull way. That being said, the newfound partnership between Sylar and Danko is more than enough to carry an episode. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a tricky bit of business, reviewing shows on the internet. In the past, I’ve always steered away from shows that I wasn’t really a fan of. In part because it requires some attention to detail, but also because nobody wants to come to a site and listen to someone bitch about their favorite show every week. That being said, I’ve always been more than willing to call bullshit when things are going off the rails, like we saw last week with Heroes. That was easily the low moment of the show for me. This week though, the news is much better. I hesitate to say that Heroes is back to its season one form, but a number of stories took a turn for the better. That’s a good start. Read the rest of this entry »

The kids over at Heroes had a pretty rough go of it with the first half of their season. Ratings were down, complaints were up, and it seemed much of the shine was off of the show. Ah, but not to worry. Tim Kring sent word that everything was going to be just ducky with this new chapter, “Fugitives.” We’re a few episodes in now, and it’s as good a time as any to talk about where this latest installment has hit, and missed, the mark. Read the rest of this entry »

I did it! I’ve finally broken the spell. After a season of self-loathing and a hiatus spent first forgetting and then looking forward to its’ return, I have freed myself from the hold that Damages had on me. Whew! It feels good to get that monkey off my back.

Though I suppose I should really be starting with an apology. To my wife, for promising for thirteen episodes that it would get good and we’d enjoy it, and short of that that there wouldn’t be a second season, I’m sorry. She left me on my own for season two, and in hindsight, I see that she wasn’t being crazy.

I realize I’m a bit late to the party here. Everyone’s settling in to the new season, looking forward to episode three. I only had the opportunity to sit down and watch the nine-minute season one recap this week, because I had to keep it from the wife. I was left more confused than I had been following the summary, but I figured that nine-minutes just couldn’t do it justice. So Thursday, while my wife was out and the baby napped, I settled in to catch up with Patty, Ellen, Tom, Frobisher and the ghost of Ray Fiske (Zeljko Ivanek strikes again!) Read the rest of this entry »

(Season 5, Episode 9 – “Last Resort”)

What did I think about the fancy opening of the week? I still love the experimenting they are doing, and the slow motion pan of the hospital clinic was a nice touch. We knew right away we were going to get something very different this week, since the cold open never takes place in the hospital.

I think the theme of the week was neat and tidy, with some very tight writing, the way I like it. But, I bet that it was more subtle for those of you who’ve been getting hit over the head with it. Am I right?

I think the “last resort” refers obviously to Gun Guy (I’m almost sure his name was Jason but I can’t find it anywhere online to confirm it and I think we were purposely supposed to think of him as “Gun Guy”) and Thirteen, but even House, too; but we’ll get to that.

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CBS

(Season 1, Episode 1 – Series Premiere)

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about The Mentalist when I first heard about it. It sounded like just another CSI/Criminal Minds retread with maybe a dash of Psych or Monk if we were lucky. But it turns out to be a lot different than any of those shows. It’s only been one episode so far, so I can’t say it’s the plots. The reason why this show comes down to two words.

Simon Baker.

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