Saturday, August 13, 2011
For Sons of Anarchy Fans
Three episodes in, we've just figured out what Sam Crow is (SAMCRO). Haha, we feel dumb. We just kept thinking, "Who is this Sam guy who seems to rule all?"
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Ern and her family deemed this “the perfect chick flick” and kept wanting to see it again. That includes the guys. Ern’s sister couldn’t stop talking about how hot Ryan Gosling was in it. “I couldn’t see it before, but now….” she said. Leeard, on the other hand, found it too predictable and guessed the most important twists. (Keep in mind that she’s a dynamite guesser and none of the friends who went with her had the same experience.)
One thing that we both hated: Most of the scenes with the teenaged babysitter and Steve Carell’s son. A lot of that was just a little ridiculous. We really cared more about the adults, so we felt like the movie got worse whenever it spent time on its youngest generation. We wouldn’t pull out their plot entirely if it were up to us, because it turned out to be important to the other plots and there were a few laughs. But it could have been reduced significantly.
One thing that we both hated: Most of the scenes with the teenaged babysitter and Steve Carell’s son. A lot of that was just a little ridiculous. We really cared more about the adults, so we felt like the movie got worse whenever it spent time on its youngest generation. We wouldn’t pull out their plot entirely if it were up to us, because it turned out to be important to the other plots and there were a few laughs. But it could have been reduced significantly.
We also think it's nice that someone finally made a romantic movie that is realistic to how people date and hook up nowadays. It focuses on the bar scene and the emptiness of the lives of the guys who hound the bars for one-night-stands constantly. Yeah, love does conquer all, but it's no pic-a-nic starting out in this cynical world.
Can we just mention how much we love Emma Stone? She always plays a smart, down-to-earth girl that normal women can relate to or at least want to be. Sure, she doesn’t always get the guys the way the sweet blonde would, but she always gets to keep her sense of humor and self-respect. And the actress pulls that off every time. She’s proof that we never need Lindsay Lohan back.
Of course, Ryan Gosling is always good in everything he’s in. Steve Carell does his usual thing and draws the laughs. The pacing is perfect. One of us teared up at one point. This is a hugely romantic movie totally focused on “true love” being the key to happiness, but we didn’t care, because it was funny and it had a good cast. This is a really sweet romantic comedy, and it’s funny enough that if a guy has to watch a chick flick, it ought to be this one.
Movie Grade: B+
Can we just mention how much we love Emma Stone? She always plays a smart, down-to-earth girl that normal women can relate to or at least want to be. Sure, she doesn’t always get the guys the way the sweet blonde would, but she always gets to keep her sense of humor and self-respect. And the actress pulls that off every time. She’s proof that we never need Lindsay Lohan back.
Of course, Ryan Gosling is always good in everything he’s in. Steve Carell does his usual thing and draws the laughs. The pacing is perfect. One of us teared up at one point. This is a hugely romantic movie totally focused on “true love” being the key to happiness, but we didn’t care, because it was funny and it had a good cast. This is a really sweet romantic comedy, and it’s funny enough that if a guy has to watch a chick flick, it ought to be this one.
Movie Grade: B+
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
We were surprised to find that the main character of this movie was NOT James Franco’s character. It was the ape. Played by Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings’s Gollum) who had his bodily movements all CGI’d for a realistic effect and performance, the ape stole the show and made you feel for his plight.
This is a great accomplishment for a movie with a premise that many would describe as “stupid.” This movie is anything but boring. No real apes were used in the filming, so the movie isn’t hypocritical either.
So yeah. While this might not be your topic of interest, it shockingly doesn’t suck. It’s a good action movie with good direction and a sympathetic animal main character. And this is coming from someone who hates 9/10 animal movies.
Grade: A-
This is a great accomplishment for a movie with a premise that many would describe as “stupid.” This movie is anything but boring. No real apes were used in the filming, so the movie isn’t hypocritical either.
So yeah. While this might not be your topic of interest, it shockingly doesn’t suck. It’s a good action movie with good direction and a sympathetic animal main character. And this is coming from someone who hates 9/10 animal movies.
Grade: A-
The Glee Project's Christian Dilemma
We are enjoying The Glee Project a lot more than most reality shows. First of all, it's entertaining and the kids are talented underdogs. Also, it doesn’t come across as needy for our approval or too flashy. It isn’t trashy either. It doesn’t have too many commercials, no one votes, it’s not a gross circus, and it has an intimate, safe feel to it. This is good, because it features young people getting a taste of the acting business.
We don’t want to see them hurt or exploited. We want to see them nurtured. Most reality shows gut the contestants and then toss them, ashamed, back into the world. We don’t feel like this one does.
In fact, we are pretty impressed with Ryan Murphy and his inclusiveness. He’s gotten a lot of heat from anti-gay people, including a lot of Christians, for his gay Kurt storylines. Granted, there was too much focus on Kurt in season two. Apparently, Murphy has received multiple death threats due to his gay storylines and messages on Glee.
Now, Christianity is not cool in the entertainment industry right now. Blame Pat Robertson, closed-minded Pharisees, and political Christian crusaders who feel as if God needs the government to save the world and make it more Christian. So it would be easy for Murphy to throw a Christian contestant under the bus when the contestant acted prude-ish. Any other reality show would. For example, look at any season of America’s Next Top Model with Christian girls. Granted, those girls were more obnoxious...but might they have been casted for being obnoxious and having a potential for drama? Murphy cast a Christian that all of the other kids really liked.
Murphy says he is looking for a Christian character for the show. He said that he doesn’t think the show has fairly represented that group of people yet (however, Mercedes represents it pretty well). He wants a character who “holds fast to those beliefs.” Why? Inclusiveness. He wants to have a teen on the show that teen Christians can relate to, rather than just have a legalistic Christian character who is a bully, like Quinn.
So he had this Christian contestant on Glee named Cameron. He was an adorable, innocent little hipster boy with glasses, tight pants, and a guitar. He had a girlfriend and he really feels deeply about “not cheating on her.” Of course, as an actor, you sometimes have to play a character who will do things you will not do. Trouble started when Cameron was kissed by another contestant during the making of a music video. He cried and called his mom, because he felt that he had violated his morals. Ryan Murphy said that he liked that side of him and kept him on the show.
Now, as a Christian, this blogger thinks that Cameron was dead wrong. It’s acting. It’s part of the job. It’s not like he’s showing skin or exploiting women. He needed to know that most acting will involve a kiss at some point. Later, Cameron was pressured to kiss a girl again, and he refused. He started thinking, “Maybe I’m just a singer and not an actor,” because he wasn’t a strong actor. He landed in front of Ryan Murphy.
Some people are just too sensitive for reality TV. In addition to the kissing thing, Cameron was feeling homesick and pressured. We can understand him realizing that environment wasn’t for him. All of the other contestants really liked him as a person, and he had a good voice, but some people just aren’t cut out for the business. Cameron realized that this was him and asked to be let go from the show. We were sad, because he was one of our favorite contenders at the time.
Murphy, rather than painting him as a prude, sat down with him and said (in his John Malkovich-y voice) something like, “I want to keep you. I can write a Christian character for you. I admire you standing up for your beliefs and convictions. It’s very impressive in a kid your age, and I want that on my show.” Cameron turned him down, but we enjoyed that Murphy treated Cameron so gently, understanding that it was a hard, emotional time for him. Rather than make the kid look like a prude, Ryan Murphy protected him, lauded his choices, and let him exit the show. We really liked how Murphy is turning the other cheek rather than hating on religious people because of the ones who have spread some hate his way.
We don’t want to see them hurt or exploited. We want to see them nurtured. Most reality shows gut the contestants and then toss them, ashamed, back into the world. We don’t feel like this one does.
In fact, we are pretty impressed with Ryan Murphy and his inclusiveness. He’s gotten a lot of heat from anti-gay people, including a lot of Christians, for his gay Kurt storylines. Granted, there was too much focus on Kurt in season two. Apparently, Murphy has received multiple death threats due to his gay storylines and messages on Glee.
Now, Christianity is not cool in the entertainment industry right now. Blame Pat Robertson, closed-minded Pharisees, and political Christian crusaders who feel as if God needs the government to save the world and make it more Christian. So it would be easy for Murphy to throw a Christian contestant under the bus when the contestant acted prude-ish. Any other reality show would. For example, look at any season of America’s Next Top Model with Christian girls. Granted, those girls were more obnoxious...but might they have been casted for being obnoxious and having a potential for drama? Murphy cast a Christian that all of the other kids really liked.
Murphy says he is looking for a Christian character for the show. He said that he doesn’t think the show has fairly represented that group of people yet (however, Mercedes represents it pretty well). He wants a character who “holds fast to those beliefs.” Why? Inclusiveness. He wants to have a teen on the show that teen Christians can relate to, rather than just have a legalistic Christian character who is a bully, like Quinn.
So he had this Christian contestant on Glee named Cameron. He was an adorable, innocent little hipster boy with glasses, tight pants, and a guitar. He had a girlfriend and he really feels deeply about “not cheating on her.” Of course, as an actor, you sometimes have to play a character who will do things you will not do. Trouble started when Cameron was kissed by another contestant during the making of a music video. He cried and called his mom, because he felt that he had violated his morals. Ryan Murphy said that he liked that side of him and kept him on the show.
Now, as a Christian, this blogger thinks that Cameron was dead wrong. It’s acting. It’s part of the job. It’s not like he’s showing skin or exploiting women. He needed to know that most acting will involve a kiss at some point. Later, Cameron was pressured to kiss a girl again, and he refused. He started thinking, “Maybe I’m just a singer and not an actor,” because he wasn’t a strong actor. He landed in front of Ryan Murphy.
Some people are just too sensitive for reality TV. In addition to the kissing thing, Cameron was feeling homesick and pressured. We can understand him realizing that environment wasn’t for him. All of the other contestants really liked him as a person, and he had a good voice, but some people just aren’t cut out for the business. Cameron realized that this was him and asked to be let go from the show. We were sad, because he was one of our favorite contenders at the time.
Murphy, rather than painting him as a prude, sat down with him and said (in his John Malkovich-y voice) something like, “I want to keep you. I can write a Christian character for you. I admire you standing up for your beliefs and convictions. It’s very impressive in a kid your age, and I want that on my show.” Cameron turned him down, but we enjoyed that Murphy treated Cameron so gently, understanding that it was a hard, emotional time for him. Rather than make the kid look like a prude, Ryan Murphy protected him, lauded his choices, and let him exit the show. We really liked how Murphy is turning the other cheek rather than hating on religious people because of the ones who have spread some hate his way.
New Show: Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing
ABC. Tuesday nights starting on October 11 at 8 Eastern.
Starring: Tim Allen, Nancy Travis and Hector Elizondo.
Plot: Tim Allen is a real man living in a world where women rule and guys are metrosexuals. He has a bunch of daughters and a smart wife.
Why We Are Excited: The preview looks pretty funny, and we do think that the “real man” is a dying breed. Tim Allen is a sitcom legend, and this should please his fans, as well as fans of things like Everybody Loves Raymond.
Why We Are Not Excited: We are not fans of shows like this, generally. We find them old fashioned. So, while this might be good, it’s just not our taste, and we don’t think the premise is that original. We will watch a few when we catch it on, but it’s not gonna be our next favorite comedy. We think the preview says it all. If you like that kind of show, this will be great for you.
Preview:
Anticipation Score (for us): 3/10
Anticipation Score for grandmas and sitcom lovers: 9/10
Be sure to click on the "##Upcoming Shows## link in the cloud so you can stay apprised. And let us know if you think you will be watching any of them!
ABC. Tuesday nights starting on October 11 at 8 Eastern.
Starring: Tim Allen, Nancy Travis and Hector Elizondo.
Plot: Tim Allen is a real man living in a world where women rule and guys are metrosexuals. He has a bunch of daughters and a smart wife.
Why We Are Excited: The preview looks pretty funny, and we do think that the “real man” is a dying breed. Tim Allen is a sitcom legend, and this should please his fans, as well as fans of things like Everybody Loves Raymond.
Why We Are Not Excited: We are not fans of shows like this, generally. We find them old fashioned. So, while this might be good, it’s just not our taste, and we don’t think the premise is that original. We will watch a few when we catch it on, but it’s not gonna be our next favorite comedy. We think the preview says it all. If you like that kind of show, this will be great for you.
Preview:
Anticipation Score (for us): 3/10
Anticipation Score for grandmas and sitcom lovers: 9/10
Be sure to click on the "##Upcoming Shows## link in the cloud so you can stay apprised. And let us know if you think you will be watching any of them!
Vampire Diaries Promo
Yeah, it's short, but we see a lot. We're referring specifically to Caroline's doings. So don't watch it if you want to remain spoiler-free. Ern is posting this, but she can already hear the scream of Leeard when Leeard watches it. Not because it's particularly juicy, but because that's how excited Leeard gets about this show.
Enjoy
Friday, August 12, 2011
Grey's Anatomy Spoilers
We know that lots of you guys watch Grey’s Anatomy and are missing it, so we thought we’d bring up the most recent spoilers. Stay away from this post’s comments if you don’t want to know. They aren't really that exciting, but it's better than nothing.
Go to the comments for more.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
True Blood - Cold Grey Light of Dawn discussion
Debbie and Alcide: Joined the local werewolf pack and then went looking for Sookie to make sure she was safe. They got a front-row seat to Sookie and Eric having sex in the woods. They went home to have their own sex, and Debbie started crying because she thought Alcide had feelings for Sookie. Debbie seems to have really turned her life around, but she is probably going to lose Alcide to Sookie, and then she will have glorious, insane, drug-fueled, lycanthrope revenge. We feel bad, but we are looking forward to that.
Jesus and Lafayette: Lafayette is a medium and Jesus’ dead uncle possessed Lafayette temporarily in order to save Jesus from rattlesnake poisoning. But don’t worry, Jesus’ evil grandpa would never actually want to kill Jesus. Jesus is his last witchy hope to leave a legacy, descendant-wise. Lafayette went back to Merlotte’s and saw, through his new skills, that Arlene’s evil baby has an evil ghost lady following him around and causing trouble. You mean that evil baby stuff is actually going to turn into a real plot line? A serious one? Wow, ok. Good.
Pam: Has to get daily injections to promote healing, stop her rotting, and start looking better again. She had to let Tara and Naomi go because a bunch of humans showed up and would have put her killing spree on the internet with their cell phone cameras. Can’t have that.
Tara: Dumped Naomi for Naomi’s own safety and joined Petunia Dursley and the other witches to help take out the vampires, especially since Pam is personally gunning her. We find this surprisingly useful and bad ass for Tara. We still don’t like her though. In fact, we are wondering if there is anything this character can do to redeem herself in the eyes of viewers after her uselessness in previous seasons.
Sam and Luna: Figured out that Tommy is a skinwalker and that Luna never slept with the real Sam, after a funny cell phone conversation where he didn’t know that she thought he was the ultimate jerk. We like that they didn’t drag that reveal out. After all, Sam had all the ingredients to figure out the truth. 1) He knows about skinwalkers and how they are created. 2) He knows Tommy killed family members. 3) He knows Tommy is the freaking worst. Sam went home and kicked Tommy out, after choking him for a little while and saying, “I wish I could forget everything about you.”
Now, we are not Tommy fans, by any means, but we actually felt bad for the kid there. He looked genuinely heartbroken to lose Sam. But we are also worried that Tommy will take Sam’s “kill Sam and take everything he has by pretending to be him” plan into his head. After all, what else does Tommy have to go to or to do? Stupid move, Sam.
Bill: Found out about Petunia Dursley’s possession by powerful, dead necromancer Antonia through Luis shooting him in the chest and saying “resurrection.” Bill healed and sent all of the vampires (except a few) out of town and bunkered down with Jessica. He ordered all remaining vampires to chain themselves down with silver so that Petunia Dursley wouldn’t raise them from the dead and have them walk out into the sun when dawn came. He stopped by Sookie and Eric’s to warn them to do it too, and that was nice. Who knew Bill would make such a good and trustworthy king?
Sookie: Had plenty of sex with Eric and then comforted him during the big incident. The two new lovers have a conversation about whether Sookie will still want Eric if he regains his memory. Her answer was pretty much, “Maybe. I hope so.” That’s promising. That means that her memory of who he is underneath his experiences and her memory of their time together might trump the times he acts like a jerk. And, really, he was adorable when he was a jerk most of the time anyway. So, who cares? We know they are going to be together for a while. We hear that it’s that way in the books. The only person who will be sad about that is Bill. We think he’s handling things well this season and being an honorable guy, but we don’t want Sookie back with him.
Jessica: Had a hard time with the silver, and it was sad. She confessed her doubts about her relationship with Hoyt to Bill and then thanked Bill for turning her and being her vampire daddy. Bill didn’t chain her up securely, so she managed to get up and out the door when the sun came up. We ended on that “cliffhanger.” We put that in quotes, because we are pretty sure that Jason is going to save her.
Jason: Jason is still crushing on Jessica. When Jason heard from Sookie that the vampires would rise, he ran off to save Jessica. Because, yes, the witches wasted no time in getting a circle together and trying to kill of the vampires. There was a really funny moment with Hoyt’s mom where one of her neighbors walked out into the sun with curlers and a bathrobe on. She burst into flames and Hoyt’s mom exclaimed, “I knew it!” Good stuff. Maxine is a great character. There's so much hilarity to be had there, and we feel like almost every episode delivers as far as Maxine goes.
This season has wasted no time getting things to happen, getting characters to realize things, and moving the show along. We approve. This episode left us wanting more. It's safe to say this show is back as far as quality summer entertainment goes.
Jesus and Lafayette: Lafayette is a medium and Jesus’ dead uncle possessed Lafayette temporarily in order to save Jesus from rattlesnake poisoning. But don’t worry, Jesus’ evil grandpa would never actually want to kill Jesus. Jesus is his last witchy hope to leave a legacy, descendant-wise. Lafayette went back to Merlotte’s and saw, through his new skills, that Arlene’s evil baby has an evil ghost lady following him around and causing trouble. You mean that evil baby stuff is actually going to turn into a real plot line? A serious one? Wow, ok. Good.
Pam: Has to get daily injections to promote healing, stop her rotting, and start looking better again. She had to let Tara and Naomi go because a bunch of humans showed up and would have put her killing spree on the internet with their cell phone cameras. Can’t have that.
Tara: Dumped Naomi for Naomi’s own safety and joined Petunia Dursley and the other witches to help take out the vampires, especially since Pam is personally gunning her. We find this surprisingly useful and bad ass for Tara. We still don’t like her though. In fact, we are wondering if there is anything this character can do to redeem herself in the eyes of viewers after her uselessness in previous seasons.
Sam and Luna: Figured out that Tommy is a skinwalker and that Luna never slept with the real Sam, after a funny cell phone conversation where he didn’t know that she thought he was the ultimate jerk. We like that they didn’t drag that reveal out. After all, Sam had all the ingredients to figure out the truth. 1) He knows about skinwalkers and how they are created. 2) He knows Tommy killed family members. 3) He knows Tommy is the freaking worst. Sam went home and kicked Tommy out, after choking him for a little while and saying, “I wish I could forget everything about you.”
Now, we are not Tommy fans, by any means, but we actually felt bad for the kid there. He looked genuinely heartbroken to lose Sam. But we are also worried that Tommy will take Sam’s “kill Sam and take everything he has by pretending to be him” plan into his head. After all, what else does Tommy have to go to or to do? Stupid move, Sam.
Bill: Found out about Petunia Dursley’s possession by powerful, dead necromancer Antonia through Luis shooting him in the chest and saying “resurrection.” Bill healed and sent all of the vampires (except a few) out of town and bunkered down with Jessica. He ordered all remaining vampires to chain themselves down with silver so that Petunia Dursley wouldn’t raise them from the dead and have them walk out into the sun when dawn came. He stopped by Sookie and Eric’s to warn them to do it too, and that was nice. Who knew Bill would make such a good and trustworthy king?
Sookie: Had plenty of sex with Eric and then comforted him during the big incident. The two new lovers have a conversation about whether Sookie will still want Eric if he regains his memory. Her answer was pretty much, “Maybe. I hope so.” That’s promising. That means that her memory of who he is underneath his experiences and her memory of their time together might trump the times he acts like a jerk. And, really, he was adorable when he was a jerk most of the time anyway. So, who cares? We know they are going to be together for a while. We hear that it’s that way in the books. The only person who will be sad about that is Bill. We think he’s handling things well this season and being an honorable guy, but we don’t want Sookie back with him.
Jessica: Had a hard time with the silver, and it was sad. She confessed her doubts about her relationship with Hoyt to Bill and then thanked Bill for turning her and being her vampire daddy. Bill didn’t chain her up securely, so she managed to get up and out the door when the sun came up. We ended on that “cliffhanger.” We put that in quotes, because we are pretty sure that Jason is going to save her.
Jason: Jason is still crushing on Jessica. When Jason heard from Sookie that the vampires would rise, he ran off to save Jessica. Because, yes, the witches wasted no time in getting a circle together and trying to kill of the vampires. There was a really funny moment with Hoyt’s mom where one of her neighbors walked out into the sun with curlers and a bathrobe on. She burst into flames and Hoyt’s mom exclaimed, “I knew it!” Good stuff. Maxine is a great character. There's so much hilarity to be had there, and we feel like almost every episode delivers as far as Maxine goes.
This season has wasted no time getting things to happen, getting characters to realize things, and moving the show along. We approve. This episode left us wanting more. It's safe to say this show is back as far as quality summer entertainment goes.
Episode grade: A-
Breaking Bad- Bullet Points discussion (better three days late than never)
Skyler is quickly becoming our second-favorite character. If she keeps being such an asset, this show is going to go from “cautionary tale” to “good ideas, as long as you have a great wife/assistant to consider every detail of your cover story”. She made Walt learn how to count cards and join a 12-step program to help with his gambling addiction. She wrote out two scripts to perfectly lay out their car wash cover story to Hank.
She rehearsed pertinent things with her husband in a scene that might have been too long. But it's only episode four of this season, and they have to drag things out a little, right? Apparently, Skyler thinks that Walt is just going to finish his cooking contract and they are going to be quietly left with the money he made off of that, and that he can just walk away from the business. She's brilliant, but wishful thinking can trick anybody.
Hank bought the story and he and Walt bonded over the Gale evidence. Hank's spirits have been rejuvenated by the case. We got to see a truly sad karaoke video made by Gale in the process too. Even though Hank thinks that Gale was Heisenberg, Walt still freaked out to Saul Goodman about the general direction of his life. Saul told him that he knew a “disappearer” who could hook Walt and his family up with new identities and hide them if things got too bad.
Walt went to find Jesse to ask him about what happened at Gale’s house, step by step, so that Walt could ascertain whether Jesse left incriminating evidence before or after he shot Gale. Of course, this triggered irritation and sad PTSD in Jesse, and Jesse paid some of his homeless druggies to throw Walt out. Yes, homeless druggies.
Then Jesse got a visit from Mike, who recently had the top of one ear shot off, because Gus has been dealing with cartel retaliation. Mike tied up one of the druggies who had been living in Jesse’s house and stealing money from Jesse. Mike implied that he was going to kill the druggie. He got no reaction out of Jesse, and this worried him. Also, Jesse has cut his hair very short, which is hardly ever a good sign. Mike went to Gus and reiterated that Jesse is a liability.
The episode ended with Walt going to look for Jesse and realizing that Jesse is gone. At this point, in her chat with Leeard, Ern started typing, “No no no nononononono nooooooo.” But thank God, Jesse is still alive. Except he is in a car with Mike, headed for the desert. And Mike is driving. And it’s Mike. And it doesn’t look like Jesse cares if he lives or dies at all.
We will say it again: Do not kill off the only truly sympathetic character left on the show. Sure, Marie can elicit sympathy sometimes, but we don’t care about her nearly as much as we do about Jesse. And Aaron Paul is too good of an actor to die! We are actually worried at this point. There is a huge part of us that thinks that Jesse can’t die, but there’s another part of us that thinks the show will go there if it wants to.
Hank bought the story and he and Walt bonded over the Gale evidence. Hank's spirits have been rejuvenated by the case. We got to see a truly sad karaoke video made by Gale in the process too. Even though Hank thinks that Gale was Heisenberg, Walt still freaked out to Saul Goodman about the general direction of his life. Saul told him that he knew a “disappearer” who could hook Walt and his family up with new identities and hide them if things got too bad.
Walt went to find Jesse to ask him about what happened at Gale’s house, step by step, so that Walt could ascertain whether Jesse left incriminating evidence before or after he shot Gale. Of course, this triggered irritation and sad PTSD in Jesse, and Jesse paid some of his homeless druggies to throw Walt out. Yes, homeless druggies.
Then Jesse got a visit from Mike, who recently had the top of one ear shot off, because Gus has been dealing with cartel retaliation. Mike tied up one of the druggies who had been living in Jesse’s house and stealing money from Jesse. Mike implied that he was going to kill the druggie. He got no reaction out of Jesse, and this worried him. Also, Jesse has cut his hair very short, which is hardly ever a good sign. Mike went to Gus and reiterated that Jesse is a liability.
The episode ended with Walt going to look for Jesse and realizing that Jesse is gone. At this point, in her chat with Leeard, Ern started typing, “No no no nononononono nooooooo.” But thank God, Jesse is still alive. Except he is in a car with Mike, headed for the desert. And Mike is driving. And it’s Mike. And it doesn’t look like Jesse cares if he lives or dies at all.
We will say it again: Do not kill off the only truly sympathetic character left on the show. Sure, Marie can elicit sympathy sometimes, but we don’t care about her nearly as much as we do about Jesse. And Aaron Paul is too good of an actor to die! We are actually worried at this point. There is a huge part of us that thinks that Jesse can’t die, but there’s another part of us that thinks the show will go there if it wants to.
We think Jesse is on his last leg with the show. Where can he really go from here? And how long can they drag it out? He can either be redeemed and get out of the drug life or go to the police or contact Saul's "disappearer," or he can die horribly. It's starting to look like this could be his last season, either way. We know this is a dark show, and we like that, but we are really rooting for the redemption possibility over the death possibility.
Jesse has come so far and his face just before he shot Gale really let us know how human he still is. The real possibility that Breaking Bad will kill him makes things all the more intense. But he still might live, because we don't have an ensemble cast here. We have two main characters and some mostly annoying ones causing trouble for them. The show just can't afford to lose this guy, especially when taking care of Jesse is the only unselfish thing Walt ever does anymore.
What do you think? Do you think Jesse will survive season four?
Episode grade: B+
Skyler is quickly becoming our second-favorite character. If she keeps being such an asset, this show is going to go from “cautionary tale” to “good ideas, as long as you have a great wife/assistant to consider every detail of your cover story”. She made Walt learn how to count cards and join a 12-step program to help with his gambling addiction. She wrote out two scripts to perfectly lay out their car wash cover story to Hank.
Hank bought the story and he and Walt bonded over the Gale evidence. We got to see a truly sad karaoke video made by Gale in the process too. Even though Hank thinks that Gale was Heisenberg, Walt still freaked out to Saul Goodman about the general direction of his life. Saul told him that he knew a “disappearer” who could hook Walt and his family up with new identities and hide them if things got too bad.
Walt went to find Jesse to ask him about what happened at Gale’s house, step by step, so that Walt could ascertain whether Jesse left incriminating evidence before or after he shot Gale. Of course, this triggered irritation and sad PTSD in Jesse, and Jesse paid some of his homeless druggies to throw Walt out. Yes, homeless druggies.
Then Jesse got a visit from Mike, who recently had the top of one ear shot off, because Gus has been dealing with cartel retaliation. Mike tied up one of the druggies who had been living in Jesse’s house and stealing money from Jesse. Mike implied that he was going to kill the druggie. He got no reaction out of Jesse, and this worried him. Also, Jesse has cut his hair very short, which is hardly ever a good sign. Mike went to Gus and reiterated that Jesse is a liability.
The episode ended with Walt going to look for Jesse and realizing that Jesse is gone. At this point, in her chat with Leeard, Ern started typing, “No no no nononononono nooooooo.” But thank God, Jesse is still alive. Except he is in a car with Mike, headed for the desert. And Mike is driving. And it’s Mike. And it doesn’t look like Jesse cares if he lives or dies at all.
We will say it again: Do not kill off the only truly sympathetic character left on the show. Sure, Marie can elicit sympathy sometimes, but we don’t care about her nearly as much as we do about Jesse. And Aaron Paul is too good of an actor to die! We are actually worried at this point. There is a huge part of us that thinks that Jesse can’t die, but there’s another part of us that thinks the show will go there if it wants to.
Hank bought the story and he and Walt bonded over the Gale evidence. We got to see a truly sad karaoke video made by Gale in the process too. Even though Hank thinks that Gale was Heisenberg, Walt still freaked out to Saul Goodman about the general direction of his life. Saul told him that he knew a “disappearer” who could hook Walt and his family up with new identities and hide them if things got too bad.
Walt went to find Jesse to ask him about what happened at Gale’s house, step by step, so that Walt could ascertain whether Jesse left incriminating evidence before or after he shot Gale. Of course, this triggered irritation and sad PTSD in Jesse, and Jesse paid some of his homeless druggies to throw Walt out. Yes, homeless druggies.
Then Jesse got a visit from Mike, who recently had the top of one ear shot off, because Gus has been dealing with cartel retaliation. Mike tied up one of the druggies who had been living in Jesse’s house and stealing money from Jesse. Mike implied that he was going to kill the druggie. He got no reaction out of Jesse, and this worried him. Also, Jesse has cut his hair very short, which is hardly ever a good sign. Mike went to Gus and reiterated that Jesse is a liability.
The episode ended with Walt going to look for Jesse and realizing that Jesse is gone. At this point, in her chat with Leeard, Ern started typing, “No no no nononononono nooooooo.” But thank God, Jesse is still alive. Except he is in a car with Mike, headed for the desert. And Mike is driving. And it’s Mike. And it doesn’t look like Jesse cares if he lives or dies at all.
We will say it again: Do not kill off the only truly sympathetic character left on the show. Sure, Marie can elicit sympathy sometimes, but we don’t care about her nearly as much as we do about Jesse. And Aaron Paul is too good of an actor to die! We are actually worried at this point. There is a huge part of us that thinks that Jesse can’t die, but there’s another part of us that thinks the show will go there if it wants to.
Episode grade: A-
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Pretty Little Liars - Picture This review
Tonight, we had Leeard’s favorite summer show, Pretty Little Liars. The show got dissed in the New York Post a while ago as having no redeeming social qualities for young viewers. We disagree. Emily alone is a redeeming social factor, because she’s nice and might help young gay girls feel better about themselves. The show also promotes having as few secrets and lies as possible so that no one can hold them against you. Also, we’ve seen the girls stand up to Alison in flashbacks (Ali was afraid of Spencer because she was strong) and most of the girls have stood up to her memory, showing girls that they should put bullies in their place whenever they can. But one of us can see the paper’s point.
The opening of the episode didn’t do much to help its case though. It started with the worst sight we could ever see (on an abcfamily show, anyway). Aria in her bra making out with Ezra, in bed. We thought for a moment that the show decided to answer the “have they slept together” question with finality, but we quickly realized it was a dream when Ezra turned into Jason.
Just when the dream had gotten hotter, it ended. The other three were in the hospital, dressed as candy stripers again, looking for the missing morgue files page and suspecting Jason of murder. Then, Jenna showed up and indicated that she might be able to see soon (with a surgery, if she is a candidate). Would this make her more or less scary?
While Emily was throwing out everything A might have poisoned with HGH, there was a nice nod to Hanna’s past stealing amid all of her great one-liners. She and Caleb are a match made in sketchville. In the school halls, Emily and Aria talked about Aria’s crush on Jason while rocking the same, in-style hairstyle that we are a little sick of seeing (long waves that start at the chin and frame the face). Spencer’s waves have been a little different than that the past couple of episodes, and we approve. It turns out that Aria is only lusting after Jason because her relationship with Ezra still has obstacles. Bleck. We thought she had grown taste. After all, her outfit was saner than usual in that scene.
Hanna isn’t talking to her father or Isabel. Isabel wants Hanna to be a bridesmaid. We think it’s nice of Isabel to insist on this. Spencer spied on Jason and found out that he’s hiding something in his locked shed. These girls are no good at spotting red herrings. Aria pretty much jumped Ezra in his office, so it’s safe to assume that they rekindled their lust by going to whatever base they’ve gone to before, at least. After that, Aria had another naughty Jason dream. We guess that answers the question of how good Ezra is in bed? Though we're now pretty sure that Aria and Ezra haven't had sex, since dream Aria made a reference to it "finally" happening. Aria had a run-in with Jason the next day and threw him out of her house quickly, probably afraid he would notice her lady boner.
Samara is starting to bore us. We miss bad girl Maya. Samara brings Emily chocolate though, so Emily is probably going to keep her around for a while. Hanna’s mom offered E and S the house so that they could have their big, gay party. What do lesbians do when they have the house to themselves? Play cards and eat popcorn. Sorry male PLL viewers…. A then sent Emily a text saying “if Zoey leaves without your digits, your test results go viral,” meaning that everyone will find out about Emily’s human growth hormone-infested body if she didn’t ruin her relationship with Samara. Ugh, A is the worst.
Emily caved and gave Zoey her number. A girl with feathered earrings (Quinn) saw the transaction. We’re pretty sure she had to kill at least three birds to get those. Quinn told Samara, and it broke them up. Random rant: What kind of a name is Ezra anyway? We know lots of nice, normal names come from the Bible (including both of our real names), but that one is TOO Biblical. Why don’t we just start naming characters “Abednego”? Anyway, Ezra is an old man name. Back to the episode.
In parent news, Byron Montgomery decided to be awesome for a second when he told his wife that Mike’s actions are his own fault, not hers. He then went upstairs to pound on Mike’s door and talk to him. Mike was lying in bed, looking depressed (and feminine. We were like, “Who is that girl?”) What is wrong with him? Is A poisoning HIM now? That would probably be pretty awesome, actually. One of us really wants A to start interacting with the other characters.
Mike’s father stopped being awesome and just invited him down to dinner, rather than beating his ass. Then he warned Mike not to lock his door. Ok, obviously his girlfriend just broke up with him, he’s secretly gay, he’s A, or he just realized how much like a girl he would look with hair. We sort of wish he were in love with Aria or something. We need incest back on this show, and REAL incest this time. They have to give the New York Post something to talk about, right?
Hanna spotted the guy who was following Caleb giving Caleb his card and shaking his hand. Turns out, he’s a private investigator hired by Caleb’s mom to find him. Predictable. Caleb sulked about his mom who he hasn’t seen in 12 years. Hanna encouraged him to hear his mom out. He did it and they had a great conversation, even though they didn’t go into why she left him in the first place.
Caleb teared up recounting how his mom apologized for taking so long to find him and how she told him his voice sounded just like his father's. His mom invited him to California for a reunion. “When?” Hanna asked. “Tonight,” he said. Awwww, poor Hanna. And bye bye to another PLL guy….at least for a while. Will Hanna wait for him? We are sad to see him go, but at least he left for a good reason and on a sweet note, rather than because of A (OR IS IT?), a misunderstanding, or a mean breakup. Then Hanna called her dad. Predictable, but still sweet.
Spencer tried to get rid of her mom so that she could sneak off and snoop on Jason’s property. “You seem tense,” Mrs. Hastings said before she left the house. Umm, have you met your daughter? She’s always like that. Back to Byron Montgomery. He has decided that Mike is depressed like his brother was. We think his brother must have killed himself or something. We like when a teen show tackles depression, because lots of teens experience it. It's ALSO a socially redeeming quality, so suck it, New York Post.
Back to Spencer. She and Emily went into Jason’s shed. Inside were pictures of Aria’s body parts, close up, and creepy jars. It was Jason’s darkroom. It looked like he was using his surveillance equipment to spy on Aria while she was sleeping. TRUST ARIA TO FALL FOR THE ONLY GUY SKETCHIER THAN EZRA. This girl has a definite type. Jason noticed the break-in and went to buy a padlock for his shed. On his way home, he bumped into Aria and got out of his car to talk to her. The show cut to Garrett and Jenna spying on the two of them. This show is so freaking creepy.
Spencer and Emily tried to call Aria as she spoke to Jason, suspecting that she was knee-deep in creepers. Jason confessed that he cared about Aria and then kissed her. Aria shut him down in favor of Ezra. Spencer and Emily rushed back to Jason’s shed to get the pictures to show Aria. Stupid. They were all gone and only the flashlight they had dropped in there remained. As the show ended, we got our glimpse of A’s shenanigans. A was developing a picture of Emily and Spencer in Jason’s shed.
So, now we have two of our girls single in the span of one episode. That should open up lots of new plot opportunities while this show stalls its big reveals as long as it possibly can. But hey, we don’t want this show to be gone, so we aren’t complaining too much. One of us will not admit that Ezra is a better choice than Jason yet. There still might be an explanation!!!! One of us will go to the grave with the Ezra hate. Lots happened and the episode was entertaining, soooo.....
Episode grade: A
While Emily was throwing out everything A might have poisoned with HGH, there was a nice nod to Hanna’s past stealing amid all of her great one-liners. She and Caleb are a match made in sketchville. In the school halls, Emily and Aria talked about Aria’s crush on Jason while rocking the same, in-style hairstyle that we are a little sick of seeing (long waves that start at the chin and frame the face). Spencer’s waves have been a little different than that the past couple of episodes, and we approve. It turns out that Aria is only lusting after Jason because her relationship with Ezra still has obstacles. Bleck. We thought she had grown taste. After all, her outfit was saner than usual in that scene.
Hanna isn’t talking to her father or Isabel. Isabel wants Hanna to be a bridesmaid. We think it’s nice of Isabel to insist on this. Spencer spied on Jason and found out that he’s hiding something in his locked shed. These girls are no good at spotting red herrings. Aria pretty much jumped Ezra in his office, so it’s safe to assume that they rekindled their lust by going to whatever base they’ve gone to before, at least. After that, Aria had another naughty Jason dream. We guess that answers the question of how good Ezra is in bed? Though we're now pretty sure that Aria and Ezra haven't had sex, since dream Aria made a reference to it "finally" happening. Aria had a run-in with Jason the next day and threw him out of her house quickly, probably afraid he would notice her lady boner.
Samara is starting to bore us. We miss bad girl Maya. Samara brings Emily chocolate though, so Emily is probably going to keep her around for a while. Hanna’s mom offered E and S the house so that they could have their big, gay party. What do lesbians do when they have the house to themselves? Play cards and eat popcorn. Sorry male PLL viewers…. A then sent Emily a text saying “if Zoey leaves without your digits, your test results go viral,” meaning that everyone will find out about Emily’s human growth hormone-infested body if she didn’t ruin her relationship with Samara. Ugh, A is the worst.
Emily caved and gave Zoey her number. A girl with feathered earrings (Quinn) saw the transaction. We’re pretty sure she had to kill at least three birds to get those. Quinn told Samara, and it broke them up. Random rant: What kind of a name is Ezra anyway? We know lots of nice, normal names come from the Bible (including both of our real names), but that one is TOO Biblical. Why don’t we just start naming characters “Abednego”? Anyway, Ezra is an old man name. Back to the episode.
In parent news, Byron Montgomery decided to be awesome for a second when he told his wife that Mike’s actions are his own fault, not hers. He then went upstairs to pound on Mike’s door and talk to him. Mike was lying in bed, looking depressed (and feminine. We were like, “Who is that girl?”) What is wrong with him? Is A poisoning HIM now? That would probably be pretty awesome, actually. One of us really wants A to start interacting with the other characters.
Mike’s father stopped being awesome and just invited him down to dinner, rather than beating his ass. Then he warned Mike not to lock his door. Ok, obviously his girlfriend just broke up with him, he’s secretly gay, he’s A, or he just realized how much like a girl he would look with hair. We sort of wish he were in love with Aria or something. We need incest back on this show, and REAL incest this time. They have to give the New York Post something to talk about, right?
Hanna spotted the guy who was following Caleb giving Caleb his card and shaking his hand. Turns out, he’s a private investigator hired by Caleb’s mom to find him. Predictable. Caleb sulked about his mom who he hasn’t seen in 12 years. Hanna encouraged him to hear his mom out. He did it and they had a great conversation, even though they didn’t go into why she left him in the first place.
Caleb teared up recounting how his mom apologized for taking so long to find him and how she told him his voice sounded just like his father's. His mom invited him to California for a reunion. “When?” Hanna asked. “Tonight,” he said. Awwww, poor Hanna. And bye bye to another PLL guy….at least for a while. Will Hanna wait for him? We are sad to see him go, but at least he left for a good reason and on a sweet note, rather than because of A (OR IS IT?), a misunderstanding, or a mean breakup. Then Hanna called her dad. Predictable, but still sweet.
Spencer tried to get rid of her mom so that she could sneak off and snoop on Jason’s property. “You seem tense,” Mrs. Hastings said before she left the house. Umm, have you met your daughter? She’s always like that. Back to Byron Montgomery. He has decided that Mike is depressed like his brother was. We think his brother must have killed himself or something. We like when a teen show tackles depression, because lots of teens experience it. It's ALSO a socially redeeming quality, so suck it, New York Post.
Back to Spencer. She and Emily went into Jason’s shed. Inside were pictures of Aria’s body parts, close up, and creepy jars. It was Jason’s darkroom. It looked like he was using his surveillance equipment to spy on Aria while she was sleeping. TRUST ARIA TO FALL FOR THE ONLY GUY SKETCHIER THAN EZRA. This girl has a definite type. Jason noticed the break-in and went to buy a padlock for his shed. On his way home, he bumped into Aria and got out of his car to talk to her. The show cut to Garrett and Jenna spying on the two of them. This show is so freaking creepy.
Spencer and Emily tried to call Aria as she spoke to Jason, suspecting that she was knee-deep in creepers. Jason confessed that he cared about Aria and then kissed her. Aria shut him down in favor of Ezra. Spencer and Emily rushed back to Jason’s shed to get the pictures to show Aria. Stupid. They were all gone and only the flashlight they had dropped in there remained. As the show ended, we got our glimpse of A’s shenanigans. A was developing a picture of Emily and Spencer in Jason’s shed.
So, now we have two of our girls single in the span of one episode. That should open up lots of new plot opportunities while this show stalls its big reveals as long as it possibly can. But hey, we don’t want this show to be gone, so we aren’t complaining too much. One of us will not admit that Ezra is a better choice than Jason yet. There still might be an explanation!!!! One of us will go to the grave with the Ezra hate. Lots happened and the episode was entertaining, soooo.....
Episode grade: A
Monday, August 8, 2011
Bad Bloggers
For the past five days, one of us was busy travelling 3,000 miles and moving into a new apartment and one of us DIDN'T HAVE INTERNET. It was horrible. But that has been rectified. We will be playing catch-up for a few days.
Also, we just found out that Sons of Anarchy is on Instant Netflix now. Yessssss. We have until September to watch it (so we can be caught up).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)