Previously on LOST: There are these two mysterious people running around - Bram and Ilana. They're not on Widmore's side, since Bram tried to stop Miles from signing on, but they're not quite with the Losties, either, since Ilana "arrested" Sayid and brought him on the plane. They know the answer to the question "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" - and so does Richard. So whose side are they on? And what will they have to do in the final season?
One of these things is not like the other: Miles, Frank, Richard, Sawyer. Lilia guessed Richard - right, but not for the right reason (Richard is the only one who knows the answer to the riddle).
In light of recently leaked news that Ilana is Jacob's kid, we agreed that Bram & Ilana are on Jacob's side, which jives with Ilana's mysterious hospital visit from Jacob. We also agreed that they probably know more about the Island than they let on - they know about the Nemesis and probably about the powers of Flight 316. We'll for sure be seeing more of them this coming season.
Monday, November 30, 2009
How'd It Get Burned This Week? (Nov. 30, 2009)
Good news, bad news, and we-don't-believe-it news for Nic Cage this week.
MTV brings some good news - Nic Cage is doing National Treasure 3!!! Yay, maybe now he won't have to sell his house. Perhaps the aforementioned treasure in this film will be a dinosaur skull.
Moviefone keeps the good news train rolling with a report that Nic Cage saved Christmas in Bath. We really don't have any punchlines for this one, except he did sell a house in Bath already.
Hollywood nice-guy Johnny Depp is reportedly helping out Nic Cage with his financial woes, but George Clooney tells DNA India that he wouldn't be caught dead giving money to He of the Big Forehead. Good for you, George, take a stand.
Moviefone makes its second appearance in HIGB this week with a list of Nic Cage movies that don't suck. Of 65 films listed on IMDb, Moviefone claims that 10 don't suck. Of these ten, Lilia's only heard of three of them. Of these three, Zach has seen two. Of these two, Zach says only one is really good. These are not good odds for Nic.
And that's how it got burned this week!
MTV brings some good news - Nic Cage is doing National Treasure 3!!! Yay, maybe now he won't have to sell his house. Perhaps the aforementioned treasure in this film will be a dinosaur skull.
Moviefone keeps the good news train rolling with a report that Nic Cage saved Christmas in Bath. We really don't have any punchlines for this one, except he did sell a house in Bath already.
Hollywood nice-guy Johnny Depp is reportedly helping out Nic Cage with his financial woes, but George Clooney tells DNA India that he wouldn't be caught dead giving money to He of the Big Forehead. Good for you, George, take a stand.
Moviefone makes its second appearance in HIGB this week with a list of Nic Cage movies that don't suck. Of 65 films listed on IMDb, Moviefone claims that 10 don't suck. Of these ten, Lilia's only heard of three of them. Of these three, Zach has seen two. Of these two, Zach says only one is really good. These are not good odds for Nic.
And that's how it got burned this week!
Weekend Watch - Dec. 4, 2009
Oh, goodness. That's really all we can say.
Armored - Directed by the aptly named Nimrod Antal, this is the story of armored truck drivers who fake a heist and split the rewards - until things go wrong. We feel like we have seen this movie before...
Brothers- The Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman vehicle about a POW who comes back to the States to find his brother living with his wife. This movie is basically begging for an Oscar nod. Zach thinks that he has seen the whole movie in the trailers, Lilia thinks this is going to be a great movie that sucks out all your emotion.
Everybody's Fine- It's a Robert De Niro Christmas movie. Do we really need to say more?
Transylmania- This National Lampoon flick was originally titled Dorm Daze 3. Another chest and death movie with some innuendos thrown in. Don't even waste your time...
Armored - Directed by the aptly named Nimrod Antal, this is the story of armored truck drivers who fake a heist and split the rewards - until things go wrong. We feel like we have seen this movie before...
Brothers- The Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman vehicle about a POW who comes back to the States to find his brother living with his wife. This movie is basically begging for an Oscar nod. Zach thinks that he has seen the whole movie in the trailers, Lilia thinks this is going to be a great movie that sucks out all your emotion.
Everybody's Fine- It's a Robert De Niro Christmas movie. Do we really need to say more?
Transylmania- This National Lampoon flick was originally titled Dorm Daze 3. Another chest and death movie with some innuendos thrown in. Don't even waste your time...
Tops at the Box Office - Weekend of Nov. 27, 2009
Welcome back from Turkey Break, everyone!
- The Twilight Saga: New Moon
- The Blind Side
- 2012
- Old Dogs (first weekend)
- A Christmas Carol
- Ninja Assassin (first weekend)
- Planet 51
- Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- The Men Who Stare at Goats
Friday, November 27, 2009
Zach's Nip/Tuck Procedure - "Alexis Stone, Parts I & II"
It’s a special double-dose of your “Nip/Tuck” procedure here at The Top Pop Stop, with a two-part episode that
Suicidal Sean gets the tables turned on him when Julia’s mother Erica Naughton (Vanessa Redgrave, who it turns out didn’t die back in Season Three) asks him to “Tell me what you don’t like about yourself.” But Sean insists he wasn’t trying to kill himself – he was just going for a swim. After Erica rattles off a litany of troubles plaguing Sean (just from this season alone), he admits he’s a little bummed but says he’s changed his mind. Erica, though, won’t authorize his release from the psych ward.
Mario Lopez (if his character has a name, I refuse to learn it) tells Christian he wants to ask Kimber to marry him. Christian says he doesn’t care, but when he fires Mario Lopez we know he’s still peeved. Christian bails Sean out, telling the doctors that Sean has aspirations to swim the English Channel, and he invites his buddy out for drinks, promising to kill Sean if he ever tries to commit suicide again. At the bar, Christian meets Alexis, bartender and patient-of-the-fortnight, confiding all the gritty details about Kimber. Alexis wants to help, so she hops into bed with Christian – he never could say no to that brand of therapy. Oddly enough, Alexis kicks Christian out when they’re all done.
Erica reveals that she wants custody over the kids, but Julia tries to placate her by saying that she recognizes Sean isn’t a good environment for the little ones. Meanwhile Erica visits Matt in prison, telling him that he needs to find a protector in the joint. Matt reveals that he doesn’t want his parents seeing him like this, but Erica tells him to stand up, be a man, and help her get custody. At the office, Liz tries to make nice with Christian, who initially doesn’t want any part of it but who eventually discloses everything about Alexis. But Liz declares she doesn’t want to hear any of that as Sean storms in, miffed about the custody proceedings. Sean continues by insisting that Christian re-hire Mario Lopez; he gives it a shot, but Mario Lopez reveals that he and Kimber are officially engaged.
Christian gets another surprise when Alexis shows up at the office and asks for a sex change operation – she wants to be a man. Alexis drops a bigger bomb – she used to be a man, had the snip-snip surgery to become a woman, and now wants to go back. She/He says that sometimes you don’t decide to change – sometimes it just comes out and surprises you. Christian asks him/her to leave.
Julia says she’s planning on moving to LA, but Erica doesn’t believe the two of them are in touch with reality. She introduces her new foreign beau Renaldo, who’s about half her age; the two have always wanted children, so why not take Sean and Julia’s? Speaking of kids that ought to be taken away from unfit parents, Kimber drops her brood off with Christian for a night off with Mario Lopez, who has agreed to do Alexis’s surgery. Christian suggests he wants Kimber back – again – but she’s not buying it. And Julia visits her mother to try to bribe her with Sean’s surgical skills – “my lost youth for your lost children,” Erica mutters with disdain. Julia shouts that Erica is trying to steal her daughter’s life.
Christian visits Alexis to try to dissuade her from the surgery by explaining the messy and difficult procedure of reversing a sex change. He also states that Mario Lopez isn’t the guy for the job; Alexis agrees. Meanwhile, Sean meets with Renaldo and asks what his angle is; Renaldo insists his motives are pure and that he just wants to be a father and make the kids happy. Sean decks him, and one of Renaldo’s amigos catches it all on tape for further use in court. And Erica reveals that Matt is testifying against his parents; Julia slaps her mother.
Kimber’s been fantasizing about Christian while she’s with Mario Lopez, who promises that they’re “going to be so happy together.” He wants to take Kimber and Jenna out on a picnic, but she’s turned off by the idea and gets upset that he doesn’t know her schedule well enough. She wants space, she says, and Mario Lopez freaks out because he thinks she’s getting cold feet. Back at the recovery suite, Alexis gets all dolled up in a suit to show Christian what a pretty boy she makes, but Christian’s not interested in switching teams – especially when Kimber shows up and asks to get the Mario Lopez tattoo removed from her shoulder.
Part Two begins with Matt starring in his own personal episode of “Oz,” when Christian visits and meets Matt’s new cellmate Kessler. Kessler promises that Matt is safe but asks Christian to give Matt breast implants so he can be a real pretty girl. “There’s a precedent for this,” the creepy prisoner declares as this show out-creeps itself. This is all Erica’s doing, we know; if she hadn’t put those crazy ideas into Matt’s head... well, he probably would have gotten into a whole new world of trouble by himself.
Suing for joint custody, Sean and Julia subject themselves to some brutal training-by-lawyer, who grills them to prep them for the court date. But if you ask this reviewer, these two don’t stand a chance, despite the emergency Botox Sean gives Julia to look youthful against Old-Timer Erica. Meanwhile, Christian sells his boat to some Saudis (WTEfron?) in order to come up with a “donation to prison reform” to help Matt out of his sticky situation.
Erica bribes Annie with new clothes and what looks like a new cover-up wig just as Sean and Julia visit and announce their plans to rent a house. Erica doesn’t like it, though, claiming it’s a fairy tale that hasn’t worked before. Upstairs, Renaldo photographs Annie in her new clothes, something that is more than a little creepy. At the jail, Matt gets transferred to a new cell, but Kessler’s still on hand to rough him up some.
Alexis – now Alex – visits Christian again and gripes that (s)he isn’t being taken seriously by people, who recognize she’s post-op but don’t know that she’s post-post-op. Alex wants her breast implants back so she can seduce straight men again (I’d be fibbing if I didn’t see this reversal of fortune coming). Christian starts thinking metaphorically about Matt’s situation, so he visits Matt, who’s been brutalized like nobody’s business in prison. Matt says the only way to help him is by giving him the operation, but Christian doesn’t want to believe it.
While Sean and Julia house-shop, we start to get the feeling that maybe these two might be on the way to a reunion, especially because no one else can stand to be with either one of them. Once they start making out and canoodling, there’s little question. Sean tells Julia they need to play dirty – “just like Erica” – if they want to keep their kids. Sean says he wants to plant cocaine on Renaldo and get him locked up for ten years, but Julia flips her lid and flushes the stuff. Meanwhile, Erica gets passports in the mail for Annie and Conor, but she discovers that Renaldo is hiding something – Annie’s underwear. Told you he was creeptastic. So the circle repeats itself; Annie’s doing the same thing to Erica that Julia did – stealing her youth.
Erica reveals that she’s dropped the custody proceedings and left Renaldo, and Sean and Julia realize that there was something absolutely indecent about Renaldo. In the surgical suite, Alexis tells Christian that implants are nothing but silicone bags that can be put in and taken out at will. Christian daydreams about performing the surgery on Matt but ultimately backs out, slipping Matt something at the prison – a bottle of pills that’ll interfere with Kessler’s libido.
Julia and Erica bond over growing old and not looking like the same person you know you are on the inside – Theme Alert! – but Julia kicks Erica out of the country and tells her that “you’re dead to me.” In prison, Kessler brings Matt a brassiere, but the pills are already starting to take effect. Unfortunately Kessler finds the pills and menaces Matt, but Matt strangles Kessler with the brassiere. When Erica goes to the airport, the security team finds the bag of cocaine in her purse. Turns out Julia didn’t flush it after all! That steely-eyed look on Erica’s face tells us that maybe we haven’t seen the last of her. (Then again, this is “Nip/Tuck,” the show that let The Carver escape to Spain after a season of serial rape and murder, so abandoned plotlines aren’t exactly new.)
Verdict? In two halves, this episode was one of the strangest ones Nip/Tuck’s done in a while – and I mean that in a good way. Part I was quirky and a little whimsical, but Part II was perhaps the darkest episode of 88 so far (there are going to be a total of 100). Having said that, I was glued to this two-parter, glad that I had waited to watch the episodes back-to-back. I miss Rose McGowan’s Teddy, but I’m fascinated by where they’re going with this “Matt in prison” plotline. It was also great to see Vanessa Redgrave step in as Mommie Dearest again; I think a lot of people forget that she’s one of the show’s best antagonists (though last year’s Colleen Rose will always have my heart). Let the saga of deranged nutcases continue, because I’ll be there.
Suicidal Sean gets the tables turned on him when Julia’s mother Erica Naughton (Vanessa Redgrave, who it turns out didn’t die back in Season Three) asks him to “Tell me what you don’t like about yourself.” But Sean insists he wasn’t trying to kill himself – he was just going for a swim. After Erica rattles off a litany of troubles plaguing Sean (just from this season alone), he admits he’s a little bummed but says he’s changed his mind. Erica, though, won’t authorize his release from the psych ward.
Mario Lopez (if his character has a name, I refuse to learn it) tells Christian he wants to ask Kimber to marry him. Christian says he doesn’t care, but when he fires Mario Lopez we know he’s still peeved. Christian bails Sean out, telling the doctors that Sean has aspirations to swim the English Channel, and he invites his buddy out for drinks, promising to kill Sean if he ever tries to commit suicide again. At the bar, Christian meets Alexis, bartender and patient-of-the-fortnight, confiding all the gritty details about Kimber. Alexis wants to help, so she hops into bed with Christian – he never could say no to that brand of therapy. Oddly enough, Alexis kicks Christian out when they’re all done.
Erica reveals that she wants custody over the kids, but Julia tries to placate her by saying that she recognizes Sean isn’t a good environment for the little ones. Meanwhile Erica visits Matt in prison, telling him that he needs to find a protector in the joint. Matt reveals that he doesn’t want his parents seeing him like this, but Erica tells him to stand up, be a man, and help her get custody. At the office, Liz tries to make nice with Christian, who initially doesn’t want any part of it but who eventually discloses everything about Alexis. But Liz declares she doesn’t want to hear any of that as Sean storms in, miffed about the custody proceedings. Sean continues by insisting that Christian re-hire Mario Lopez; he gives it a shot, but Mario Lopez reveals that he and Kimber are officially engaged.
Christian gets another surprise when Alexis shows up at the office and asks for a sex change operation – she wants to be a man. Alexis drops a bigger bomb – she used to be a man, had the snip-snip surgery to become a woman, and now wants to go back. She/He says that sometimes you don’t decide to change – sometimes it just comes out and surprises you. Christian asks him/her to leave.
Julia says she’s planning on moving to LA, but Erica doesn’t believe the two of them are in touch with reality. She introduces her new foreign beau Renaldo, who’s about half her age; the two have always wanted children, so why not take Sean and Julia’s? Speaking of kids that ought to be taken away from unfit parents, Kimber drops her brood off with Christian for a night off with Mario Lopez, who has agreed to do Alexis’s surgery. Christian suggests he wants Kimber back – again – but she’s not buying it. And Julia visits her mother to try to bribe her with Sean’s surgical skills – “my lost youth for your lost children,” Erica mutters with disdain. Julia shouts that Erica is trying to steal her daughter’s life.
Christian visits Alexis to try to dissuade her from the surgery by explaining the messy and difficult procedure of reversing a sex change. He also states that Mario Lopez isn’t the guy for the job; Alexis agrees. Meanwhile, Sean meets with Renaldo and asks what his angle is; Renaldo insists his motives are pure and that he just wants to be a father and make the kids happy. Sean decks him, and one of Renaldo’s amigos catches it all on tape for further use in court. And Erica reveals that Matt is testifying against his parents; Julia slaps her mother.
Kimber’s been fantasizing about Christian while she’s with Mario Lopez, who promises that they’re “going to be so happy together.” He wants to take Kimber and Jenna out on a picnic, but she’s turned off by the idea and gets upset that he doesn’t know her schedule well enough. She wants space, she says, and Mario Lopez freaks out because he thinks she’s getting cold feet. Back at the recovery suite, Alexis gets all dolled up in a suit to show Christian what a pretty boy she makes, but Christian’s not interested in switching teams – especially when Kimber shows up and asks to get the Mario Lopez tattoo removed from her shoulder.
Part Two begins with Matt starring in his own personal episode of “Oz,” when Christian visits and meets Matt’s new cellmate Kessler. Kessler promises that Matt is safe but asks Christian to give Matt breast implants so he can be a real pretty girl. “There’s a precedent for this,” the creepy prisoner declares as this show out-creeps itself. This is all Erica’s doing, we know; if she hadn’t put those crazy ideas into Matt’s head... well, he probably would have gotten into a whole new world of trouble by himself.
Suing for joint custody, Sean and Julia subject themselves to some brutal training-by-lawyer, who grills them to prep them for the court date. But if you ask this reviewer, these two don’t stand a chance, despite the emergency Botox Sean gives Julia to look youthful against Old-Timer Erica. Meanwhile, Christian sells his boat to some Saudis (WTEfron?) in order to come up with a “donation to prison reform” to help Matt out of his sticky situation.
Erica bribes Annie with new clothes and what looks like a new cover-up wig just as Sean and Julia visit and announce their plans to rent a house. Erica doesn’t like it, though, claiming it’s a fairy tale that hasn’t worked before. Upstairs, Renaldo photographs Annie in her new clothes, something that is more than a little creepy. At the jail, Matt gets transferred to a new cell, but Kessler’s still on hand to rough him up some.
Alexis – now Alex – visits Christian again and gripes that (s)he isn’t being taken seriously by people, who recognize she’s post-op but don’t know that she’s post-post-op. Alex wants her breast implants back so she can seduce straight men again (I’d be fibbing if I didn’t see this reversal of fortune coming). Christian starts thinking metaphorically about Matt’s situation, so he visits Matt, who’s been brutalized like nobody’s business in prison. Matt says the only way to help him is by giving him the operation, but Christian doesn’t want to believe it.
While Sean and Julia house-shop, we start to get the feeling that maybe these two might be on the way to a reunion, especially because no one else can stand to be with either one of them. Once they start making out and canoodling, there’s little question. Sean tells Julia they need to play dirty – “just like Erica” – if they want to keep their kids. Sean says he wants to plant cocaine on Renaldo and get him locked up for ten years, but Julia flips her lid and flushes the stuff. Meanwhile, Erica gets passports in the mail for Annie and Conor, but she discovers that Renaldo is hiding something – Annie’s underwear. Told you he was creeptastic. So the circle repeats itself; Annie’s doing the same thing to Erica that Julia did – stealing her youth.
Erica reveals that she’s dropped the custody proceedings and left Renaldo, and Sean and Julia realize that there was something absolutely indecent about Renaldo. In the surgical suite, Alexis tells Christian that implants are nothing but silicone bags that can be put in and taken out at will. Christian daydreams about performing the surgery on Matt but ultimately backs out, slipping Matt something at the prison – a bottle of pills that’ll interfere with Kessler’s libido.
Julia and Erica bond over growing old and not looking like the same person you know you are on the inside – Theme Alert! – but Julia kicks Erica out of the country and tells her that “you’re dead to me.” In prison, Kessler brings Matt a brassiere, but the pills are already starting to take effect. Unfortunately Kessler finds the pills and menaces Matt, but Matt strangles Kessler with the brassiere. When Erica goes to the airport, the security team finds the bag of cocaine in her purse. Turns out Julia didn’t flush it after all! That steely-eyed look on Erica’s face tells us that maybe we haven’t seen the last of her. (Then again, this is “Nip/Tuck,” the show that let The Carver escape to Spain after a season of serial rape and murder, so abandoned plotlines aren’t exactly new.)
Verdict? In two halves, this episode was one of the strangest ones Nip/Tuck’s done in a while – and I mean that in a good way. Part I was quirky and a little whimsical, but Part II was perhaps the darkest episode of 88 so far (there are going to be a total of 100). Having said that, I was glued to this two-parter, glad that I had waited to watch the episodes back-to-back. I miss Rose McGowan’s Teddy, but I’m fascinated by where they’re going with this “Matt in prison” plotline. It was also great to see Vanessa Redgrave step in as Mommie Dearest again; I think a lot of people forget that she’s one of the show’s best antagonists (though last year’s Colleen Rose will always have my heart). Let the saga of deranged nutcases continue, because I’ll be there.
Zach's Gleecap - "Hairography"
Sue’s back, and that can only mean one thing – duplicity. And snarky remarks. Those, too.
The episode starts with a bang – Sue reappears with all the snarling charm we missed last week, demanding to see the set list for sectionals and installing Illiterate Brittany as a spy. What’s worse is that she seems to be leaking information to the competition. Will drives down to the detention facility – Competitor #1 – to speak with this week’s special guest star Eve, who takes umbrage at the allegation. To apologize, Will lets the JDs practice in his auditorium for a “scrimmage.”
These delinquents can deliver, with a “Bootylicious” performance and the strangest ad hoc costumes yet. They’re right – I wasn’t ready for this AT ALL. How ever will the glee kids match their wholesome image up against a veritable gang of singers? Rachel’s not worried, insisting that the other team is playing a smoke and mirrors game of “hairography.” Will’s solution, oddly enough, is to sing a song from “Hair” and wear giant wigs.
Puck steals a parenting book for Quinn, who swoons but wants acceptance and an elastic waistband; poor girl’s confused about her feelings for Puck. So Quinn asks Kurt to give pantsuited Rachel a makeover, and the fashionista scheming begins. While Terri continues her pregnancy charade but fears she won’t be able to keep it up for much longer, Kurt waxes Rachel’s eyebrows and aims to broaden her appeal. But when Rachel confesses she’s in love with Finn, Kurt knows exactly what to do – dress Rachel like Sandy in “Grease.”
Quinn drops the mother of all bombs on Terri – she’s planning on keeping the baby. The deaf school (guest star Michael Hitchcock, another hilarious Christopher Guest alum like Jane Lynch) knocks down Will’s door and gripes that his kids weren’t invited to the scrimmage. After a few hearing misfires, the battle is on. The baby battle, though, brews on, and Terri’s sister develops a top-notch plan: once Quinn spends five minutes babysitting, she’ll want to abandon her “mongrel” at first chance.
Rachel struts into school, and Finn’s head over heels. This gives Quinn the perfect moment to co-babysit with Puck, and Brittany finds out that she’s got a valid skill set – she’s a master of hairography (“cool epilepsy,” as she dubs it). Sue is most displeased with the “demeaning fruity hair-tossing” and threatens to return as co-director. Finn starts getting confused about Rachel’s new “sad clown hooker” look and admits that he likes the “sequined leg warmers.” Both of them realize that Kurt has been sabotaging the whole shebang since day one.
Babysitting turns out to be a disaster when Puck and Quinn get tied up by the three little hellions, but they bust free and serenade the tots with “Papa Don’t Preach” (which might not be the most appropriate song for three little kids, but just think of the symbolism). The night is a success, and Puck and Quinn learn that maybe this parenting thing isn’t all too complicated. Rachel confronts Kurt, who breaks the news that neither one of them has a shot with Finn. And Background Cheerleader #3 tells Quinn to back off of Puck, claiming they were “sexting” while P&Q were playing house.
The hairography number is a distracting mess of thrashing heads, and the deaf kids are not amused. Even Will seems slightly bamboozled. When the deaf kids take the stage with John Lennon’s “Imagine,” the singing isn’t pitch-perfect, but the mixture of sign language and inspiring messages tells the glee kids that they need to scale their performances down – and join in for a duet of sorts. When Quinn finds out that Background Cheerleader Santana wasn’t lying about Puck, she’s miffed – especially when Puck refuses to change. This is enough to change Quinn’s mind and give the baby to Terri after all.
“Can we be in love again?” Quinn asks Finn. Absolutely, he replies – there’s a big emotional hugging-it-out in the middle of the hallway. Kurt and Rachel lock eyes and get all depressed about being alone. And Will visits Sue, confessing that he was wrong about being showy, even introducing a “stool choir” number to the set, with Stutter-No-More Tina on lead vocals. But it turns out that Will wasn’t wrong at all – Sue IS trying to give the set list to the rival teams, who don’t bite initially but leave us at a cliffhanger.
Verdict? “Glee” has only got two episodes left to ramp up, but so far it hasn’t been able to live up to the inertia of the first few episodes. With sectionals around the corner, at least we’re starting to get a healthier mash-up of drama and comedy, but the show isn’t quite as funny as I’d like to see it. None of these, though, are buzzkills, since I’m still watching and almost certainly will be for the remainder of the season.
The episode starts with a bang – Sue reappears with all the snarling charm we missed last week, demanding to see the set list for sectionals and installing Illiterate Brittany as a spy. What’s worse is that she seems to be leaking information to the competition. Will drives down to the detention facility – Competitor #1 – to speak with this week’s special guest star Eve, who takes umbrage at the allegation. To apologize, Will lets the JDs practice in his auditorium for a “scrimmage.”
These delinquents can deliver, with a “Bootylicious” performance and the strangest ad hoc costumes yet. They’re right – I wasn’t ready for this AT ALL. How ever will the glee kids match their wholesome image up against a veritable gang of singers? Rachel’s not worried, insisting that the other team is playing a smoke and mirrors game of “hairography.” Will’s solution, oddly enough, is to sing a song from “Hair” and wear giant wigs.
Puck steals a parenting book for Quinn, who swoons but wants acceptance and an elastic waistband; poor girl’s confused about her feelings for Puck. So Quinn asks Kurt to give pantsuited Rachel a makeover, and the fashionista scheming begins. While Terri continues her pregnancy charade but fears she won’t be able to keep it up for much longer, Kurt waxes Rachel’s eyebrows and aims to broaden her appeal. But when Rachel confesses she’s in love with Finn, Kurt knows exactly what to do – dress Rachel like Sandy in “Grease.”
Quinn drops the mother of all bombs on Terri – she’s planning on keeping the baby. The deaf school (guest star Michael Hitchcock, another hilarious Christopher Guest alum like Jane Lynch) knocks down Will’s door and gripes that his kids weren’t invited to the scrimmage. After a few hearing misfires, the battle is on. The baby battle, though, brews on, and Terri’s sister develops a top-notch plan: once Quinn spends five minutes babysitting, she’ll want to abandon her “mongrel” at first chance.
Rachel struts into school, and Finn’s head over heels. This gives Quinn the perfect moment to co-babysit with Puck, and Brittany finds out that she’s got a valid skill set – she’s a master of hairography (“cool epilepsy,” as she dubs it). Sue is most displeased with the “demeaning fruity hair-tossing” and threatens to return as co-director. Finn starts getting confused about Rachel’s new “sad clown hooker” look and admits that he likes the “sequined leg warmers.” Both of them realize that Kurt has been sabotaging the whole shebang since day one.
Babysitting turns out to be a disaster when Puck and Quinn get tied up by the three little hellions, but they bust free and serenade the tots with “Papa Don’t Preach” (which might not be the most appropriate song for three little kids, but just think of the symbolism). The night is a success, and Puck and Quinn learn that maybe this parenting thing isn’t all too complicated. Rachel confronts Kurt, who breaks the news that neither one of them has a shot with Finn. And Background Cheerleader #3 tells Quinn to back off of Puck, claiming they were “sexting” while P&Q were playing house.
The hairography number is a distracting mess of thrashing heads, and the deaf kids are not amused. Even Will seems slightly bamboozled. When the deaf kids take the stage with John Lennon’s “Imagine,” the singing isn’t pitch-perfect, but the mixture of sign language and inspiring messages tells the glee kids that they need to scale their performances down – and join in for a duet of sorts. When Quinn finds out that Background Cheerleader Santana wasn’t lying about Puck, she’s miffed – especially when Puck refuses to change. This is enough to change Quinn’s mind and give the baby to Terri after all.
“Can we be in love again?” Quinn asks Finn. Absolutely, he replies – there’s a big emotional hugging-it-out in the middle of the hallway. Kurt and Rachel lock eyes and get all depressed about being alone. And Will visits Sue, confessing that he was wrong about being showy, even introducing a “stool choir” number to the set, with Stutter-No-More Tina on lead vocals. But it turns out that Will wasn’t wrong at all – Sue IS trying to give the set list to the rival teams, who don’t bite initially but leave us at a cliffhanger.
Verdict? “Glee” has only got two episodes left to ramp up, but so far it hasn’t been able to live up to the inertia of the first few episodes. With sectionals around the corner, at least we’re starting to get a healthier mash-up of drama and comedy, but the show isn’t quite as funny as I’d like to see it. None of these, though, are buzzkills, since I’m still watching and almost certainly will be for the remainder of the season.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Zach's Heroes Watch - "Thanksgiving"
Previously on Heroes: Nylar’s identity crisis gets better, and Samuel learns that you CAN get what you want. Now it’s time for the Heroes Holiday Super Special.
Hiro’s peeved with Samuel because he went back on word about Charlie, but Samuel is too busy arranging Thanksgiving dinner and being evil. Hiro gets relegated to setting the table with Lydia, who caucuses with Edgar about whether or not Samuel is evil (the audience would like to know, too). Hiro fears that “Naked Lady” is trying to seduce him, but Lydia says she can help find Charlie with her power, but she wonders why Samuel didn’t save Joseph. The two decide to go back and find out who killed Joseph.
Samuel notices that Lydia’s missing and figures out that she’s probably in the past. Back in the past, Joseph tells Samuel how dangerous he really is, but Samuel’s in love with the idea of being powerful. But Joseph will have none of it, having called a government agent (Noah?) to the carnival. Angry, Samuel kills Joseph just as Hiro and Lydia return to the present. Lydia wants to stand up to Samuel, but Hiro’s afraid for Charlie’s life.
At dinner, Samuel does dastardly deeds like stealing a piece of pie and declaring that Edgar killed Joseph. Hiro saves Edgar from Samuel, who doesn’t seem to suspect anything. Hiro deduces that Samuel needs Hiro more than Hiro needs Charlie and calls Samuel’s bluff, but the resident Rastafarian weirdo scrambles Hiro’s brain. Hiro disappears, much to Samuel’s chagrin.
Noah does some Thanksgiving shopping while being one of those irritating cell phone shoppers. It’s part of his plan to cheer up Claire, who’s bummed that Gretchen moved out. Once dinner’s arranged and Claire cryptically announces she has “something (she’s) been meaning to say,” Noah coincidentally runs into Partner Plot-Thread (Lauren), and the two reminisce about being Primatech baddies. Lauren agrees to help Noah cook dinner, which is great because Noah doesn’t have any “life skills.” Claire feels awkward about this plot twist, especially since she was banking on Tracy being her new step-mom, but Sandra brings her new beau (Doug) and it’s a big awkward mess up at Noah’s crib.
It’s evident there’s still some mojo between Noah and Sandra, and Claire just looks nauseated. Sandra tries to spill some beans about Primatech, and Doug reveals that he’s allergic to legumes – shocker of the season! Oh yeah, and Claire announces that she’s thinking of dropping out of college. Noah and Claire argue about this, but Sandra hasn’t been watching the show lately and can’t follow the conversation. Doug tries to butt in, and Claire pulls one of her “stab myself and heal” tricks that we fans love so much. Doug faints.
Lauren tries to buddy up with Sandra while Claire learns that Noah is planning to bag-and-tag Samuel. Their conversation is interrupted when Gretchen comes to the apartment. Gretchen jokes about how much she misses Claire, who creepily invites her back. The romantic tension in the room is thicker than pumpkin pie (sorry for the bad pun). The romance continues in the room when Lauren asks Noah to a movie, and Sandra lovingly dupes Doug into thinking he hallucinated the cutting incident. Claire and Gretchen decide to go on a road trip, with Samuel’s compass as their guide.
Nathan’s having nightmares, which could be the fault of his Sylar problems or of the empty bottle of vodka in his hand. Mama Petrelli shows up with a catering staff for a rich person’s Thanksgiving, and she pretends she doesn’t know what’s up with Mylar, Nylar, and all the other Sylars running around on this show. But what everyone wants to know is how Angela’s going to justify last year’s plotline, so she tries to explain while Peter looks brooding.
Angela promises pie, but it’ll have to wait, because Sylar takes control of Nathan and finally comes back into his own body, replete with electric face change – “it feels good to finally be me again,” he declares as he sits down for a piece of pie. Hope it’s pumpkin! Actually, make that an entire pie. Sylar tries to carve open Angela’s skull, but there’s evidently still some Nathan inside there fighting for control. Nathan wins – for now – but he’s probably going to be stuck fighting Mind Sylar for the rest of the season. Peter promises to find his brother.
Verdict: This was basically the Heroes version of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” We learned this episode that bad guys eat pumpkin pie, which bodes ill for this reviewer. We got a better understanding of what Samuel’s up to, and we finally have a clear sense of the trajectory for the rest of the season. AND we found out that Mr. Muggles is still alive! What more could you want out of an episode of Heroes.
Hiro’s peeved with Samuel because he went back on word about Charlie, but Samuel is too busy arranging Thanksgiving dinner and being evil. Hiro gets relegated to setting the table with Lydia, who caucuses with Edgar about whether or not Samuel is evil (the audience would like to know, too). Hiro fears that “Naked Lady” is trying to seduce him, but Lydia says she can help find Charlie with her power, but she wonders why Samuel didn’t save Joseph. The two decide to go back and find out who killed Joseph.
Samuel notices that Lydia’s missing and figures out that she’s probably in the past. Back in the past, Joseph tells Samuel how dangerous he really is, but Samuel’s in love with the idea of being powerful. But Joseph will have none of it, having called a government agent (Noah?) to the carnival. Angry, Samuel kills Joseph just as Hiro and Lydia return to the present. Lydia wants to stand up to Samuel, but Hiro’s afraid for Charlie’s life.
At dinner, Samuel does dastardly deeds like stealing a piece of pie and declaring that Edgar killed Joseph. Hiro saves Edgar from Samuel, who doesn’t seem to suspect anything. Hiro deduces that Samuel needs Hiro more than Hiro needs Charlie and calls Samuel’s bluff, but the resident Rastafarian weirdo scrambles Hiro’s brain. Hiro disappears, much to Samuel’s chagrin.
Noah does some Thanksgiving shopping while being one of those irritating cell phone shoppers. It’s part of his plan to cheer up Claire, who’s bummed that Gretchen moved out. Once dinner’s arranged and Claire cryptically announces she has “something (she’s) been meaning to say,” Noah coincidentally runs into Partner Plot-Thread (Lauren), and the two reminisce about being Primatech baddies. Lauren agrees to help Noah cook dinner, which is great because Noah doesn’t have any “life skills.” Claire feels awkward about this plot twist, especially since she was banking on Tracy being her new step-mom, but Sandra brings her new beau (Doug) and it’s a big awkward mess up at Noah’s crib.
It’s evident there’s still some mojo between Noah and Sandra, and Claire just looks nauseated. Sandra tries to spill some beans about Primatech, and Doug reveals that he’s allergic to legumes – shocker of the season! Oh yeah, and Claire announces that she’s thinking of dropping out of college. Noah and Claire argue about this, but Sandra hasn’t been watching the show lately and can’t follow the conversation. Doug tries to butt in, and Claire pulls one of her “stab myself and heal” tricks that we fans love so much. Doug faints.
Lauren tries to buddy up with Sandra while Claire learns that Noah is planning to bag-and-tag Samuel. Their conversation is interrupted when Gretchen comes to the apartment. Gretchen jokes about how much she misses Claire, who creepily invites her back. The romantic tension in the room is thicker than pumpkin pie (sorry for the bad pun). The romance continues in the room when Lauren asks Noah to a movie, and Sandra lovingly dupes Doug into thinking he hallucinated the cutting incident. Claire and Gretchen decide to go on a road trip, with Samuel’s compass as their guide.
Nathan’s having nightmares, which could be the fault of his Sylar problems or of the empty bottle of vodka in his hand. Mama Petrelli shows up with a catering staff for a rich person’s Thanksgiving, and she pretends she doesn’t know what’s up with Mylar, Nylar, and all the other Sylars running around on this show. But what everyone wants to know is how Angela’s going to justify last year’s plotline, so she tries to explain while Peter looks brooding.
Angela promises pie, but it’ll have to wait, because Sylar takes control of Nathan and finally comes back into his own body, replete with electric face change – “it feels good to finally be me again,” he declares as he sits down for a piece of pie. Hope it’s pumpkin! Actually, make that an entire pie. Sylar tries to carve open Angela’s skull, but there’s evidently still some Nathan inside there fighting for control. Nathan wins – for now – but he’s probably going to be stuck fighting Mind Sylar for the rest of the season. Peter promises to find his brother.
Verdict: This was basically the Heroes version of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” We learned this episode that bad guys eat pumpkin pie, which bodes ill for this reviewer. We got a better understanding of what Samuel’s up to, and we finally have a clear sense of the trajectory for the rest of the season. AND we found out that Mr. Muggles is still alive! What more could you want out of an episode of Heroes.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Biggest LOST News Ever
I wish I'd gotten this up earlier, but TV Overmind is reporting the news we've all been waiting for: LOST is coming back February 2, 2010 - that's a Tuesday - at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. Central). Head over for all the details, but at least this is finally confirmed by an actual showrunner - not a dumb rumor mill product.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Zach's Gleecap: Ballad
Glee’s been juggling humor and drama all season, but they haven’t been able to match the dexterity of the first few episodes as far as keeping plates spinning goes.
“Ballads are stories set to music” – because Rachel writes tons of letters to show choir committees, the glee club has to perform a ballad at sectionals. So Will puts everyone’s names in a hat and pairs them up. In awkward news, cheerleaders have to sing to each other, Finn gets paired up with Kurt, and Rachel gets paired up with Will. Will and Rachel sing “Endless Love” to demonstrate what the assignment actually is, but Will gets weirded out when Rachel gets too far into it – crush on teacher!
We meet Quinn’s parents, who are a little preppy, obsessive, and crazy – not only does Mom fret about Quinn’s waistline, but Dad is a big Glenn Beck fan. The folks are inviting Finn over for dinner – trouble is brewing, especially when Rachel gives Will a necktie. Back from “Heroes,” Emma counsels Will on the Rachel situation. Will has a history of fragile psychopaths falling in love with him, and Emma wants him to sing it out so that we don’t get a repeat of his worst schoolgirl crushing – Suzy Pepper.
Finn has problems singing to Kurt, but he finds that he has emotions about his unborn daughter, so Kurt advises him to sing “I’ll Stand By You.” Singing to the sonogram, though, is Finn’s own creepy idea, but he didn’t expect his mom to figure it out so quickly. Beans get spilled. Kurt keeps trying to convince Finn to give up girls, but Finn’s too dense to notice, something Kurt finds terribly attractive anyway.
Will sings a mash-up of “Young Girl” and “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” to try to get the message across, but Rachel’s so lovestruck that all she can think about is how dreamy Will is. Emma agrees. Will’s awkward. Suzy Pepper is back, and she’s not happy with Rachel. Meanwhile, Kurt and Finn bond over fashion, and Kurt again tells Finn to sing it out. And Terri invites Rachel over to the house for dinner, hoping to manipulate Rachel into doing the household chores – “it’s win-win for everyone.” But Will drives Rachel home and finds out she has her “sights set much higher.”
Puck’s rehearsal with Mercedes is distracted by “Babygate,” especially when Puck confesses to Mercedes that he’s the father, not Finn. Finn has his own Babygate-related drama while at dinner at the Fabrays; he’s about to sing to Quinn, and he lets rip “You’re Having My Baby.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist for the Fabrays to put one and one together. We have to wait an entire commercial break to find out that Mom and Dad are kicking Quinn out of the house. “Glee” amps up the emotion with some extra-powerful scenes between Finn and Quinn.
Then the comedy kicks back in when Suzy Pepper tries to convince Rachel not to fall in love with Will. “Trust me,” Suzy declares metafictionally, “I’m a cautionary tale.” Will stops her in her tracks when he tells her that her behavior is inappropriate, but Rachel has already come to this conclusion on her own, delivering “Sorry I was acting crazy!” flowers and getting a heartwarming “there’s someone for everyone” message.
The glee club band together to share a message of unity and togetherness – “Lean on Me.”
Verdict? I’ll be honest – this episode had me weeping for Dido. Somebody get Dianna Agron an Emmy nomination for taking Quinn from stereotypical bitch to three-dimensional in the thirty minutes it took her to pack up her things. Not the funniest episode in the world, but perhaps the most awkward. I also really miss Sue Sylvester – was Jane Lynch busy this week? I can’t help but wonder, though – now that the audience is on Quinn’s side 100%, how much longer will she be lying to Finn about the fact that he’s not really the father? (Season finale cliffhanger, anyone?)
“Ballads are stories set to music” – because Rachel writes tons of letters to show choir committees, the glee club has to perform a ballad at sectionals. So Will puts everyone’s names in a hat and pairs them up. In awkward news, cheerleaders have to sing to each other, Finn gets paired up with Kurt, and Rachel gets paired up with Will. Will and Rachel sing “Endless Love” to demonstrate what the assignment actually is, but Will gets weirded out when Rachel gets too far into it – crush on teacher!
We meet Quinn’s parents, who are a little preppy, obsessive, and crazy – not only does Mom fret about Quinn’s waistline, but Dad is a big Glenn Beck fan. The folks are inviting Finn over for dinner – trouble is brewing, especially when Rachel gives Will a necktie. Back from “Heroes,” Emma counsels Will on the Rachel situation. Will has a history of fragile psychopaths falling in love with him, and Emma wants him to sing it out so that we don’t get a repeat of his worst schoolgirl crushing – Suzy Pepper.
Finn has problems singing to Kurt, but he finds that he has emotions about his unborn daughter, so Kurt advises him to sing “I’ll Stand By You.” Singing to the sonogram, though, is Finn’s own creepy idea, but he didn’t expect his mom to figure it out so quickly. Beans get spilled. Kurt keeps trying to convince Finn to give up girls, but Finn’s too dense to notice, something Kurt finds terribly attractive anyway.
Will sings a mash-up of “Young Girl” and “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” to try to get the message across, but Rachel’s so lovestruck that all she can think about is how dreamy Will is. Emma agrees. Will’s awkward. Suzy Pepper is back, and she’s not happy with Rachel. Meanwhile, Kurt and Finn bond over fashion, and Kurt again tells Finn to sing it out. And Terri invites Rachel over to the house for dinner, hoping to manipulate Rachel into doing the household chores – “it’s win-win for everyone.” But Will drives Rachel home and finds out she has her “sights set much higher.”
Puck’s rehearsal with Mercedes is distracted by “Babygate,” especially when Puck confesses to Mercedes that he’s the father, not Finn. Finn has his own Babygate-related drama while at dinner at the Fabrays; he’s about to sing to Quinn, and he lets rip “You’re Having My Baby.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist for the Fabrays to put one and one together. We have to wait an entire commercial break to find out that Mom and Dad are kicking Quinn out of the house. “Glee” amps up the emotion with some extra-powerful scenes between Finn and Quinn.
Then the comedy kicks back in when Suzy Pepper tries to convince Rachel not to fall in love with Will. “Trust me,” Suzy declares metafictionally, “I’m a cautionary tale.” Will stops her in her tracks when he tells her that her behavior is inappropriate, but Rachel has already come to this conclusion on her own, delivering “Sorry I was acting crazy!” flowers and getting a heartwarming “there’s someone for everyone” message.
The glee club band together to share a message of unity and togetherness – “Lean on Me.”
Verdict? I’ll be honest – this episode had me weeping for Dido. Somebody get Dianna Agron an Emmy nomination for taking Quinn from stereotypical bitch to three-dimensional in the thirty minutes it took her to pack up her things. Not the funniest episode in the world, but perhaps the most awkward. I also really miss Sue Sylvester – was Jane Lynch busy this week? I can’t help but wonder, though – now that the audience is on Quinn’s side 100%, how much longer will she be lying to Finn about the fact that he’s not really the father? (Season finale cliffhanger, anyone?)
Zach's Heroes Watch: "Brother's Keeper"
Previously on Heroes: Sylar thinks he’s Noah, Tracy wants to go to the carnival, Matt tried to kill himself, and Samuel kidnapped Charlie to get Hiro to help save Mohinder.
Nine weeks ago, Mohinder was going through a geography lesson – and about change (THEME ALERT) – and we find out that the mystery video Samuel wants has to do with Mohinder’s father’s involvement in the Coyote Sands research from the no-longer irrelevant plotline last year. We also find out that the video involves Samuel and the theory that people with superpowers can amplify their powers by hanging out together – since Baby Samuel was born at Coyote Sands, he’s got super superpowers.
By researching this special force and following a special compass that he invented (mystery resolved!), Mohinder ends up breaking his marriage. But we know that Samuel could be unstoppable if he surrounds himself with enough supers – which he already has. Mohinder finds his way to the carnival and meets up with Joseph (played by a B-list version of Liam Neeson), who’s covering up that his brother is special, and with Samuel, who was kind of a shrimp back in the day. Turns out Joseph is covering up everything about Samuel’s powers so Ambitious Samuel doesn’t know. Joseph kicks Mohinder out of the carnival to try to keep everything under wraps, but Samuel was eavesdropping!
Mohinder feels like he made a mistake and wants to back off before Samuel finds out, so he takes some lighter fluid out of the minibar and burns the video – or is about to before Hiro stops time and switches the video for some nondescript film. Evil Butterfly Man arrives and menaces Mohinder. Jealous that his brother is “playing king,” Samuel kills Mohinder with rocks, or so it seems – Hiro stopped time, put a bulletproof vest on Mohinder, and saved his life. Hiro brings Mohinder up to speed on the season’s important plotlines and then hides him in a mental hospital for a few weeks.
Samuel wants Hiro to prevent him from killing Mohinder eight weeks ago because Mohinder has some mystery video from 1961. But Hiro just looks constipated because he’s having problems teleporting. Fortunately, we know that Hiro has changed time – he’s got the video and he saved Mohinder from a fate worse than cancellation. He presents a film can to Samuel and asks for Charlie to come back, but Samuel doesn’t deliver.
Meanwhile, Tracy wants to run away and join the circus because her superpowers are acting up. Somebody get this girl some antifreeze. While Claire does laundry at her dad’s apartment (where the heck do these people live, anyway?), she finds Tracy flipping out. Tracy takes a bath, but the whole thing freezes over, and Tracy ends up freezing Claire. That’s cold, Tracy. But this episode is weird and crazy because Claire’s foot falls off while she’s frozen, which Tracy ends up thinking is super funny – good thing Claire has a sense of humor about all this.
Tracy and Claire chill out (get it?) in their bathrobes while they figure out that Tracy’s problem is psychological. Tracy’s having an identity crisis, too, so she and Claire bond over knowing Samuel and wanting to go to the carnival. Noah comes home, and he’s slightly weirded out over the fact that there’s a severed foot on the table – can we please get a sitcom spin-off called “Same Old, Same Old” starring these three?
Tracy meets Samuel at a diner (favorite setting of the season?) and ends up scoring an invitation from Samuel to join the carnival.
Nathan/Sylar is puzzled over who he is and what the heck he was doing in a carnival. Rene the Haitian arrives with the exposition for this episode, promising “the truth.” Turns out Mama Petrelli wants all these messy memories erased, but the Haitian’s not buying it. Instead, he sends Peter on a quest to a storage facility – where the real Nathan’s body is stored. Nylar touches the body and starts to get memories from it. They know Matt Parkman has the answers, but it’s too bad he’s in critical condition; fortunately Peter has healing powers!
The Petrellis skulk around a hospital until they find Matt, who Peter heals. But Mind-Sylar is ecstatic because his body is right within sight. Matt spills the beans, but Sylar takes over and wants to put the moves on Nathan. In short, Matt’s trying to stop Mylar from touching Nylar to become Sylar again. My head hurts, but at least it makes sense. So Nathan’s identity crisis gets worse when he realizes he doesn’t actually exist. Nathan accidentally touches Matt, but it’s not clear who’s who for the moment.
Matt busts out of the hospital by using his powers, and Nylar takes Peter to a set with the Grand Canyon superimposed on the backdrop. More touching – Peter gets Nylar’s power(s). Matt makes a call to his wife and says all the craziness is over. Problem solved? What a strange ending – Nathan knows he’s Sylar but is afraid of how Peter feels about that. Complicated.
Verdict? Another fantastic episode from Heroes, if a bit complicated. A lot of plotlines are coming together, and we’re getting a sense of how the writers really do know what they’re doing this year. The cast is exceptional this year, and Robert Knepper really got a chance to shine by playing Past Samuel. But I couldn’t be more excited for next week, when Samuel reveals who killed Joseph (prediction: Samuel did it, but he’s going to blame Lydia or Edgar).
Nine weeks ago, Mohinder was going through a geography lesson – and about change (THEME ALERT) – and we find out that the mystery video Samuel wants has to do with Mohinder’s father’s involvement in the Coyote Sands research from the no-longer irrelevant plotline last year. We also find out that the video involves Samuel and the theory that people with superpowers can amplify their powers by hanging out together – since Baby Samuel was born at Coyote Sands, he’s got super superpowers.
By researching this special force and following a special compass that he invented (mystery resolved!), Mohinder ends up breaking his marriage. But we know that Samuel could be unstoppable if he surrounds himself with enough supers – which he already has. Mohinder finds his way to the carnival and meets up with Joseph (played by a B-list version of Liam Neeson), who’s covering up that his brother is special, and with Samuel, who was kind of a shrimp back in the day. Turns out Joseph is covering up everything about Samuel’s powers so Ambitious Samuel doesn’t know. Joseph kicks Mohinder out of the carnival to try to keep everything under wraps, but Samuel was eavesdropping!
Mohinder feels like he made a mistake and wants to back off before Samuel finds out, so he takes some lighter fluid out of the minibar and burns the video – or is about to before Hiro stops time and switches the video for some nondescript film. Evil Butterfly Man arrives and menaces Mohinder. Jealous that his brother is “playing king,” Samuel kills Mohinder with rocks, or so it seems – Hiro stopped time, put a bulletproof vest on Mohinder, and saved his life. Hiro brings Mohinder up to speed on the season’s important plotlines and then hides him in a mental hospital for a few weeks.
Samuel wants Hiro to prevent him from killing Mohinder eight weeks ago because Mohinder has some mystery video from 1961. But Hiro just looks constipated because he’s having problems teleporting. Fortunately, we know that Hiro has changed time – he’s got the video and he saved Mohinder from a fate worse than cancellation. He presents a film can to Samuel and asks for Charlie to come back, but Samuel doesn’t deliver.
Meanwhile, Tracy wants to run away and join the circus because her superpowers are acting up. Somebody get this girl some antifreeze. While Claire does laundry at her dad’s apartment (where the heck do these people live, anyway?), she finds Tracy flipping out. Tracy takes a bath, but the whole thing freezes over, and Tracy ends up freezing Claire. That’s cold, Tracy. But this episode is weird and crazy because Claire’s foot falls off while she’s frozen, which Tracy ends up thinking is super funny – good thing Claire has a sense of humor about all this.
Tracy and Claire chill out (get it?) in their bathrobes while they figure out that Tracy’s problem is psychological. Tracy’s having an identity crisis, too, so she and Claire bond over knowing Samuel and wanting to go to the carnival. Noah comes home, and he’s slightly weirded out over the fact that there’s a severed foot on the table – can we please get a sitcom spin-off called “Same Old, Same Old” starring these three?
Tracy meets Samuel at a diner (favorite setting of the season?) and ends up scoring an invitation from Samuel to join the carnival.
Nathan/Sylar is puzzled over who he is and what the heck he was doing in a carnival. Rene the Haitian arrives with the exposition for this episode, promising “the truth.” Turns out Mama Petrelli wants all these messy memories erased, but the Haitian’s not buying it. Instead, he sends Peter on a quest to a storage facility – where the real Nathan’s body is stored. Nylar touches the body and starts to get memories from it. They know Matt Parkman has the answers, but it’s too bad he’s in critical condition; fortunately Peter has healing powers!
The Petrellis skulk around a hospital until they find Matt, who Peter heals. But Mind-Sylar is ecstatic because his body is right within sight. Matt spills the beans, but Sylar takes over and wants to put the moves on Nathan. In short, Matt’s trying to stop Mylar from touching Nylar to become Sylar again. My head hurts, but at least it makes sense. So Nathan’s identity crisis gets worse when he realizes he doesn’t actually exist. Nathan accidentally touches Matt, but it’s not clear who’s who for the moment.
Matt busts out of the hospital by using his powers, and Nylar takes Peter to a set with the Grand Canyon superimposed on the backdrop. More touching – Peter gets Nylar’s power(s). Matt makes a call to his wife and says all the craziness is over. Problem solved? What a strange ending – Nathan knows he’s Sylar but is afraid of how Peter feels about that. Complicated.
Verdict? Another fantastic episode from Heroes, if a bit complicated. A lot of plotlines are coming together, and we’re getting a sense of how the writers really do know what they’re doing this year. The cast is exceptional this year, and Robert Knepper really got a chance to shine by playing Past Samuel. But I couldn’t be more excited for next week, when Samuel reveals who killed Joseph (prediction: Samuel did it, but he’s going to blame Lydia or Edgar).
Monday, November 16, 2009
How'd It Get Burned This Week? (Nov. 16, 2009)
All quiet on the forehead front - but good news for Nic Cage!
Cinema Blend wins Headline of the Week (as well as Best Photoshop and Best Logo) with "The Bank Of Depp To Bail Nic Out Of His Cage." Media sources are buzzing that Hollywood's Mr. Nice Guy Johnny Depp has offered his friend Nic Cage "whatever it takes" to fix his fiscal woes. Oh, Johnny Depp. He's just so nice. Cinema Blend thinks this might not be true, but we've heard this story all weekend with no rebuttal from Camp Depp.
Oh, and Nic's new "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" opens in limited release, co-starring owl lover Eva Mendes.
Cinema Blend wins Headline of the Week (as well as Best Photoshop and Best Logo) with "The Bank Of Depp To Bail Nic Out Of His Cage." Media sources are buzzing that Hollywood's Mr. Nice Guy Johnny Depp has offered his friend Nic Cage "whatever it takes" to fix his fiscal woes. Oh, Johnny Depp. He's just so nice. Cinema Blend thinks this might not be true, but we've heard this story all weekend with no rebuttal from Camp Depp.
Oh, and Nic's new "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" opens in limited release, co-starring owl lover Eva Mendes.
Weekend Watch - Nov. 20, 2009
Lame, lamer, and lamest at the box office this week.
Planet 51 - The aliens invade - and it's humans! Feel-good kids movie of the week, starring The Rock as The Human who lands on an alien world.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon - Skip.
The Blind Side - Sandra Bullock (falling fast from "The Proposal") and Tim McGraw (now only relevant for being the title of a Taylor Swift song) take in a disadvantaged inner city kid and teach him to play football. Basically the track listing from every country album ever.
Planet 51 - The aliens invade - and it's humans! Feel-good kids movie of the week, starring The Rock as The Human who lands on an alien world.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon - Skip.
The Blind Side - Sandra Bullock (falling fast from "The Proposal") and Tim McGraw (now only relevant for being the title of a Taylor Swift song) take in a disadvantaged inner city kid and teach him to play football. Basically the track listing from every country album ever.
Tops at the Box Office - Weekend of Nov. 13, 2009
- 2012 (first weekend)
- A Christmas Carol
- The Men Who Stare at Goats
- Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
- This Is It
- The Fourth Kind
- Couples Retreat
- Paranormal Activity
- Law Abiding Citizen
- The Box
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Zach's Nip/Tuck Procedure - "Abigail Reynolds"
With Teddy and Matt all with ambiguous fates from last week, you just know this show’s going to get its crazy on this week.
We start right off with a trippy disorienting surgery on Matt intercut with flashback fill-ins from last week explaining how Sean and the kids survived Teddy’s carbon monoxide attempt but not how Sean or Christian can ethically operate on their own son Matt (those of you who are just tuning in may not know that Sean and Christian have equal claims to Matt’s parentage).
Sean gets disturbing news about Teddy’s fate – police found a human heart with her hair sample nearby. Of course, on this show, such certainty means she’s almost certainly not dead (if only for shock value). Sean cries (almost as much as Jack on “Lost”), but he wouldn’t feel so bad if he knew she were trying to kill him – or if he could read the credits and see that Rose McGowan is still listed as a cast member. So he channels his emotions by watching Road Runner cartoons and by getting a visit from Julia, his ex-wife who we haven’t seen in about a season. Within moments they’re back to bickering.
Christian wants Matt to go to prison because it’ll set him straight. He, too, fights with Julia over whether or not Matt is a good kid – and Matt heard the whole conversation.
Patient of the week is Abigail Sullivan, who wants the remnants of her in utero parasitic twin “Moira” removed. Her crazy mother never had the extra bones and tissue removed from her living daughter, and Abigail’s having problems separating her identity from “Moira.”
Sean and Julia are unpacking Teddy’s life, and they realize that he knows almost nothing about his allegedly deceased bride. They have a lot of talk about truth and healing (theme alert!) before agreeing to turn Matt in to the police. But Christian calls – Matt’s booked from the recovery suite, and no one knows where he is. Christian does the surgery on Abigail, stating somewhat overhandedly, “Now all she needs is the courage to be herself.”
Sean finds Matt at home packing and popping his sutures. Sean bandages up Matt and agrees to let him go – touching emotional moment. Sean cries some more. Police arrest a suspect who had Teddy’s head in a box – Sean vomits. This is the single most bizarre way that Nip/Tuck has ever wrapped up a storyline. Sean confronts the murderer, who reveals both that he’s a sociopath and that Teddy told him about her plan to kill Sean; in a flashback, we actually see Teddy get murdered, so maybe she’s dead after all. But of course Sean doesn’t believe the killer’s story
Matt sneaks in to visit his daughter, but Kimber catches him and asks to run away with him. She promises they can be a family again. Meanwhile, Abigail gets a look at her surgery and recounts a dream she had in which her mother accused her of killing her sister. She requests the “remains” of “Moira,” which Sean unethically relinquishes.
Matt agrees to take Kimber with but later gets cold feet about being Bonnie & Clyde; Kimber talks him into letting them stay. But it turns out Christian followed him, and he encourages Matt to turn himself in. Matt pulls a gun, and Christian backs off. Back in LA, the cops have uncovered Teddy’s shady past as a black widow, killing her doctor-husbands and reaping the benefits of their life insurance policies. Sean tells the police to burn the remains.
Abigail returns to the doctors after her stitches rupture during her big concert, but it wasn’t an accident; she took the little hand that belonged to her “sister” and forcibly reinserted it. Sean agrees to fix the stitching but not to fix the psychotic twin fixation. “Why is it that we see what we want to believe but we don’t want to believe what we see?” he asks philosophically. “Because the truth sucks,” Liz delivers matter-of-factly. In a little motel somewhere, Matt stitches himself up but, wracked by pain, reaches for his handgun, but he calls Sean and asks for help. Sean agrees to fix Matt’s stitching, too, but what he doesn’t say is that he told the cops where Matt was. How many convenience stores did Matt rob to merit a full squad on hand to arrest him?
Rather than scatter Teddy’s ashes at sea, Sean dumps the remains in a garbage can. Julia takes the kids out of the house, and Sean walks into the ocean for either a swim or a suicide attempt.
Verdict? What a depressing episode, all about accepting who you are and facing reality. I like my Nip/Tuck fun and quirky, not angsty and gloomy (I’ll go read “Twilight” if I want that). Please be fun again, Nip/Tuck!
We start right off with a trippy disorienting surgery on Matt intercut with flashback fill-ins from last week explaining how Sean and the kids survived Teddy’s carbon monoxide attempt but not how Sean or Christian can ethically operate on their own son Matt (those of you who are just tuning in may not know that Sean and Christian have equal claims to Matt’s parentage).
Sean gets disturbing news about Teddy’s fate – police found a human heart with her hair sample nearby. Of course, on this show, such certainty means she’s almost certainly not dead (if only for shock value). Sean cries (almost as much as Jack on “Lost”), but he wouldn’t feel so bad if he knew she were trying to kill him – or if he could read the credits and see that Rose McGowan is still listed as a cast member. So he channels his emotions by watching Road Runner cartoons and by getting a visit from Julia, his ex-wife who we haven’t seen in about a season. Within moments they’re back to bickering.
Christian wants Matt to go to prison because it’ll set him straight. He, too, fights with Julia over whether or not Matt is a good kid – and Matt heard the whole conversation.
Patient of the week is Abigail Sullivan, who wants the remnants of her in utero parasitic twin “Moira” removed. Her crazy mother never had the extra bones and tissue removed from her living daughter, and Abigail’s having problems separating her identity from “Moira.”
Sean and Julia are unpacking Teddy’s life, and they realize that he knows almost nothing about his allegedly deceased bride. They have a lot of talk about truth and healing (theme alert!) before agreeing to turn Matt in to the police. But Christian calls – Matt’s booked from the recovery suite, and no one knows where he is. Christian does the surgery on Abigail, stating somewhat overhandedly, “Now all she needs is the courage to be herself.”
Sean finds Matt at home packing and popping his sutures. Sean bandages up Matt and agrees to let him go – touching emotional moment. Sean cries some more. Police arrest a suspect who had Teddy’s head in a box – Sean vomits. This is the single most bizarre way that Nip/Tuck has ever wrapped up a storyline. Sean confronts the murderer, who reveals both that he’s a sociopath and that Teddy told him about her plan to kill Sean; in a flashback, we actually see Teddy get murdered, so maybe she’s dead after all. But of course Sean doesn’t believe the killer’s story
Matt sneaks in to visit his daughter, but Kimber catches him and asks to run away with him. She promises they can be a family again. Meanwhile, Abigail gets a look at her surgery and recounts a dream she had in which her mother accused her of killing her sister. She requests the “remains” of “Moira,” which Sean unethically relinquishes.
Matt agrees to take Kimber with but later gets cold feet about being Bonnie & Clyde; Kimber talks him into letting them stay. But it turns out Christian followed him, and he encourages Matt to turn himself in. Matt pulls a gun, and Christian backs off. Back in LA, the cops have uncovered Teddy’s shady past as a black widow, killing her doctor-husbands and reaping the benefits of their life insurance policies. Sean tells the police to burn the remains.
Abigail returns to the doctors after her stitches rupture during her big concert, but it wasn’t an accident; she took the little hand that belonged to her “sister” and forcibly reinserted it. Sean agrees to fix the stitching but not to fix the psychotic twin fixation. “Why is it that we see what we want to believe but we don’t want to believe what we see?” he asks philosophically. “Because the truth sucks,” Liz delivers matter-of-factly. In a little motel somewhere, Matt stitches himself up but, wracked by pain, reaches for his handgun, but he calls Sean and asks for help. Sean agrees to fix Matt’s stitching, too, but what he doesn’t say is that he told the cops where Matt was. How many convenience stores did Matt rob to merit a full squad on hand to arrest him?
Rather than scatter Teddy’s ashes at sea, Sean dumps the remains in a garbage can. Julia takes the kids out of the house, and Sean walks into the ocean for either a swim or a suicide attempt.
Verdict? What a depressing episode, all about accepting who you are and facing reality. I like my Nip/Tuck fun and quirky, not angsty and gloomy (I’ll go read “Twilight” if I want that). Please be fun again, Nip/Tuck!
Zach's Gleecap: "Wheels"
It’s been so long since I did a Gleecap, I almost don’t remember how. Oh, well – let’s give it a shot.
Quinn’s still in regular clothes, weirdly watching the Cheerios practice. It helps take her mind off of how much money the baby’s going to cost; what’s even quirkier is that she hasn’t even told her parents yet. Meanwhile, Jewish journalist Jacob (still smarmy as always) interviews Sue about the Quinn controversy while Will confronts Principal about money for a special wheelchair-compatible bus.
Glee is returning to the airwaves while being extra sympathetic toward Artie and his handicap, so not only do we get plenty of attention to people being selfish and not taking his wheelchair into account, but Artie gets his own solo (“Dancing with Myself”), during which we continue to get hints that a Wheels/Asian romance might not be out of the question.
Tensions brew when Kurt volunteers to compete with Rachel for the lead in their new number. But Will wants to remind us that we’re all in this together, so he forces all the Glee kids to spend time in a wheelchair, as well as do a wheelchair-themed number and – worst of all – host a bake sale. Between facefuls of pasta and baseball bats to the head, Wheelchair Week isn’t looking well for the kids, but Quinn and Puck get cozy in home ec, even though Quinn vows to swear up and down that Finn’s the father while creaking eggs on Puck’s mohawk. Food fight ensues, and things get sticky when Finn shows up.
Kurt’s sort-of-tolerant (“I hope it’s not a guy, because I’m not ready for that conversation”) father encourages him to cross-over and try for the lead anyway despite being “queer as a three-dollar bill.” So Will consents to an audition – “it’s on.” Between moments of hilariously uncoordinated wheelchair navigation, Kurt’s dramatic cross-legged pose, and Brittany’s confusion of right and left, things are heating up for a diva-off.
Sue hates wheelchair ramps, but Principal wants Sue to hold open auditions for Cheerios to open up diversity. With cupcake sales down, Quinn and Finn start feuding again. Auditions for Cheerios go horribly awry, with no clear contestant better than anyone else; Sue admits disabled Becky, even though her jump rope skills leave a lot to be desired. And a wheelchair fight breaks out when Puck accuses Finn of not doing enough to take care of his baby-to-be.
The disastrously uncoordinated wheelchair antics continue as Artie encourages us to “just go for it.” Artie also delivers a sensitive backstory that involves a car crash that deprived him of the use of his legs, but the moment gets lightened when Artie reassures us that he’s still sexually capable. But Kurt’s moment of high-note ecstasy is wrecked when his dad gets an anonymous crank call. And Rachel gets an idea for how to help Finn out of his fiscal failings while Puck’s new cupcakes with a special recipe are suspiciously selling like hotcakes – thanks to a special ingredient (marijuana) supplied by Sandy.
Sue drops all kinds of hilarious innuendoes – suggesting both that she auditioned for “Baywatch” and served as a sniper spotter in the Falkland Islands – while growing frustrated with Becky’s inability to jump rope. The diva-off gets started, but what’s terrifying for the voters is how similar Kurt and Rachel’s voices are. But at least it’s not blatantly obvious who’s going to win, at least not until Kurt purposely blows the High F (which his dad thought was a “Kool Aid or a Hi-C”).
Puck keeps putting money into Quinn’s hands to prove he’s not a deadbeat, but Quinn knows the money came from the cupcake fund. Meanwhile Finn reveals Rachel’s mystery plan: coerce companies into hiring Finn by threatening a civil liberties suit if they discriminate against him. We also learn that Sue’s got a disabled sister in a nursing home and that Tina has been faking her stutter (which upsets Artie).
The wheelchair number turns out to be “Proud Mary” – which fits perfectly with all this rolling imagery in the episode. The number is a huge success, and everybody loves everybody.
Verdict? We’ve said that “Glee” has two kinds of episodes: funny episodes and character episodes. “Wheels” was definitely one of the latter, with not a lot of funny moments but plenty of material to give the characters more of a heartbeat. While this wasn’t Glee’s best effort (which may account for my admittedly lifeless commentary this week), at least this wasn’t a cheesy “yay diversity” episode like it could have been.
Quinn’s still in regular clothes, weirdly watching the Cheerios practice. It helps take her mind off of how much money the baby’s going to cost; what’s even quirkier is that she hasn’t even told her parents yet. Meanwhile, Jewish journalist Jacob (still smarmy as always) interviews Sue about the Quinn controversy while Will confronts Principal about money for a special wheelchair-compatible bus.
Glee is returning to the airwaves while being extra sympathetic toward Artie and his handicap, so not only do we get plenty of attention to people being selfish and not taking his wheelchair into account, but Artie gets his own solo (“Dancing with Myself”), during which we continue to get hints that a Wheels/Asian romance might not be out of the question.
Tensions brew when Kurt volunteers to compete with Rachel for the lead in their new number. But Will wants to remind us that we’re all in this together, so he forces all the Glee kids to spend time in a wheelchair, as well as do a wheelchair-themed number and – worst of all – host a bake sale. Between facefuls of pasta and baseball bats to the head, Wheelchair Week isn’t looking well for the kids, but Quinn and Puck get cozy in home ec, even though Quinn vows to swear up and down that Finn’s the father while creaking eggs on Puck’s mohawk. Food fight ensues, and things get sticky when Finn shows up.
Kurt’s sort-of-tolerant (“I hope it’s not a guy, because I’m not ready for that conversation”) father encourages him to cross-over and try for the lead anyway despite being “queer as a three-dollar bill.” So Will consents to an audition – “it’s on.” Between moments of hilariously uncoordinated wheelchair navigation, Kurt’s dramatic cross-legged pose, and Brittany’s confusion of right and left, things are heating up for a diva-off.
Sue hates wheelchair ramps, but Principal wants Sue to hold open auditions for Cheerios to open up diversity. With cupcake sales down, Quinn and Finn start feuding again. Auditions for Cheerios go horribly awry, with no clear contestant better than anyone else; Sue admits disabled Becky, even though her jump rope skills leave a lot to be desired. And a wheelchair fight breaks out when Puck accuses Finn of not doing enough to take care of his baby-to-be.
The disastrously uncoordinated wheelchair antics continue as Artie encourages us to “just go for it.” Artie also delivers a sensitive backstory that involves a car crash that deprived him of the use of his legs, but the moment gets lightened when Artie reassures us that he’s still sexually capable. But Kurt’s moment of high-note ecstasy is wrecked when his dad gets an anonymous crank call. And Rachel gets an idea for how to help Finn out of his fiscal failings while Puck’s new cupcakes with a special recipe are suspiciously selling like hotcakes – thanks to a special ingredient (marijuana) supplied by Sandy.
Sue drops all kinds of hilarious innuendoes – suggesting both that she auditioned for “Baywatch” and served as a sniper spotter in the Falkland Islands – while growing frustrated with Becky’s inability to jump rope. The diva-off gets started, but what’s terrifying for the voters is how similar Kurt and Rachel’s voices are. But at least it’s not blatantly obvious who’s going to win, at least not until Kurt purposely blows the High F (which his dad thought was a “Kool Aid or a Hi-C”).
Puck keeps putting money into Quinn’s hands to prove he’s not a deadbeat, but Quinn knows the money came from the cupcake fund. Meanwhile Finn reveals Rachel’s mystery plan: coerce companies into hiring Finn by threatening a civil liberties suit if they discriminate against him. We also learn that Sue’s got a disabled sister in a nursing home and that Tina has been faking her stutter (which upsets Artie).
The wheelchair number turns out to be “Proud Mary” – which fits perfectly with all this rolling imagery in the episode. The number is a huge success, and everybody loves everybody.
Verdict? We’ve said that “Glee” has two kinds of episodes: funny episodes and character episodes. “Wheels” was definitely one of the latter, with not a lot of funny moments but plenty of material to give the characters more of a heartbeat. While this wasn’t Glee’s best effort (which may account for my admittedly lifeless commentary this week), at least this wasn’t a cheesy “yay diversity” episode like it could have been.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Zach's Heroes Watch - "Shadowboxing"
Previously on Heroes: Peter has a new power, Matt is dueling with Imaginary Sylar while Real Sylar chills with Samuel, and Claire deals with the worst sorority rush of all time.
Back at the carnival, Sylar still thinks he’s Nathan and is having some weird nocturnal face-changes. Samuel discloses to
Claire and Gretchen bamboozle Paris and Nicole by claiming they’re just seeing things because of some drugged water bottles, and the two stare longingly at each other. Back on campus, Claire and Gretchen try to figure out why Invisible Becky is evil, figuring out that baby powder will make Becky visible. The plot thickens! Noah and The Haitian are already at Becky’s sorority house, having wiped all their memories clean.
Noah’s back in full bag-and-tag mode, with a plan to keep Becky away – The Haitian cancels out powers, so he’ll protect Claire. “This is not my first rodeo,” Noah says – best line ever. Not that much of this matters – Gretchen’s packing up to go home, even though Claire gives Gretchen a touching speech about needing each other. Just when Claire’s at her loneliest, Samuel shows up!
Samuel answers a few questions by revealing that the carnival is more of a family than any blood relations. He tells Claire Becky’s sob story origin, when we also learn that Noah killed her father. But watch out, Noah, you’re about to star in your very own horror movie scene, co-starring Invisible Becky. This time, it’s personal. After learning that Becky’s out to destroy him, Noah finds Samuel and Claire chatting and does what he does best – he pulls a gun.
Samuel also reveals that Danko killed Joseph (something we called a while ago), but he’s still being ambiguous about the value of the compass. While trying to bag-and-tag Samuel, Becky attacks Noah and Claire, but Samuel stops her and successfully pits Claire against her father for a moment. But it seems that this dispute is short-lived, because Claire and Noah are buddy-buddy in the next scene.
Peter’s control over life and death comes in handy as a paramedic, but Emma’s still upset about something. Seems she and Maya are members of the “I hate my superpower” club. But Emma starts on the path to becoming a real medical practitioner by suturing up a walk-on from “Grey’s Anatomy.” But all this people-saving is taking its toll on Peter, who’s wearing out faster than a wet paper bag in a windstorm. “Be ordinary,” says Emma, who we learn is a med school dropout.
When a little girl’s found passed out, it seems like Peter’s just going to fix her with his magic powers, but Emma knows the medical procedure the girl needs and fixes everything. Emma piano-s it out with her power and gives us her backstory, too – there’s a drowning nephew in her past. We get a lot of lovey-dovey “you saved me” bonding, especially when Peter piano-s it out, too.
Sylar’s taken control of Matt’s body and is bodynapping him to
By odd coincidence or by brilliant design, Sylar bodynaps Matt to the same diner in
At the end of the episode, Samuel reveals that all of what just happened was part of the plan, but what he’s not ready for is the fact that Sylar is missing. We also find out that Noah’s been tracking Samuel for some time; you can’t, it seems, keep a good man down forever. And finally, Peter gets a surprise visit from Nathan, who thinks he’s in trouble but can’t place why.
Verdict? Can we give Robert Knepper an Emmy or something? Samuel is one of the most fascinating characters on television, and he’s one of the main reasons “Heroes” is redeeming itself this season. Also, the Matt/Sylar plotline gets what seems like a satisfactory conclusion, with a morally complicated self-sacrifice, to boot. Another spectacular episode – I’m ready to declare this the best season of “Heroes” yet.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Mysteries of LOST: Healing Properties
Previously on LOST: From Day One, we've known that the Island has healing properties. Once crippled, Locke can now walk. The island's cured Jin's infertility and Rose's cancer. But we know that the island is choosy. Sometimes Locke can't walk, and for some reason Ben (who was cured back in 1977) was able to develop a tumor on his spine. Why does this happen?
One of these things is not like the other: Ana Lucia, Ben, Locke, Rose. Lilia guessed Ben, but it turns out that Ana Lucia was the only person NOT healed by the island.
So why the selective healing? We started off divided - Lilia thought Jacob was behind the healing, while Zach suggested that The Nemesis might have a hand in manipulating healings to further his ultimate goal of killing Jacob. Both of these theories have their merits.
Then Lilia dropped a bomb - what if Richard heals people, especially people who will do good for the island? We know that Richard was on hand when Ben was healed as a child, but Ben's policies fell out of favor with the island, we know. And Locke could have been healed because Richard already knew Locke would be a good leader for The Others - Locke told him so himself.
Let's hope the last season doesn't disappoint. Dear Lost: Please use our ideas!
One of these things is not like the other: Ana Lucia, Ben, Locke, Rose. Lilia guessed Ben, but it turns out that Ana Lucia was the only person NOT healed by the island.
So why the selective healing? We started off divided - Lilia thought Jacob was behind the healing, while Zach suggested that The Nemesis might have a hand in manipulating healings to further his ultimate goal of killing Jacob. Both of these theories have their merits.
Then Lilia dropped a bomb - what if Richard heals people, especially people who will do good for the island? We know that Richard was on hand when Ben was healed as a child, but Ben's policies fell out of favor with the island, we know. And Locke could have been healed because Richard already knew Locke would be a good leader for The Others - Locke told him so himself.
Let's hope the last season doesn't disappoint. Dear Lost: Please use our ideas!
Lost Episode Titles?
We're trying to stay spoiler-free over here at The Top Pop Stop, but some things are too good to pass up. DarkUFO, whose info is usually pretty reliable, has posted episode titles for the first seven of 18 episodes.
Just to be safe, take it with a grain of salt, and those who want to remain totally unspoiled should abstain from reading these titles.
Just to be safe, take it with a grain of salt, and those who want to remain totally unspoiled should abstain from reading these titles.
- LA X
- LA X (two-part episode; note the space between LA and X!)
- What Kate Does
- The Substitute
- Lighthouse
- Sundown
- Dr. Linus
How'd It Get Burned This Week? (Nov. 9, 2009)
With Nic Cage's financial situation in dire peril, we take a look back at some things that Nic has once owned - and is probably selling now. Plus, Nic on SNL! (sort of)
Associated Content tells us that Nic is selling yet another of his properties - a castle he owns. The article does not state how many other castles he owns.
With an opening paragraph so good it could have been written by The Top Pop Stop ("Sadly, the majority of headlines that Cage has been generating these days have not been for his punching prowess while wearing a bear suit or his intense hatred of bees but rather his recent stretch of bad financial luck."), New York Magazine takes a peek at some of the odder things Nic has owned. Action Comics #1? Check. Dinosaur skull? Check. Shrunken heads? Ch--what?!
Moviefone adds "owl" to the list. Eva Mendes, costar in Nic's new "Bad Lieutenant," apparently admires the owl: "I said, 'You know what, it would be so cool to own an owl,'" Mendes says. "He's like, 'I had an owl for a couple years.' He's that guy that had an owl for a couple years."
Finally, Nic got satirized on Saturday Night Live. Host Taylor Swift played Kate Gosselin opposite Andy Samberg as Nic with both guest-starring on "The View." We leave you now with... the video, courtesy of NBC and The Examiner.
Associated Content tells us that Nic is selling yet another of his properties - a castle he owns. The article does not state how many other castles he owns.
With an opening paragraph so good it could have been written by The Top Pop Stop ("Sadly, the majority of headlines that Cage has been generating these days have not been for his punching prowess while wearing a bear suit or his intense hatred of bees but rather his recent stretch of bad financial luck."), New York Magazine takes a peek at some of the odder things Nic has owned. Action Comics #1? Check. Dinosaur skull? Check. Shrunken heads? Ch--what?!
Moviefone adds "owl" to the list. Eva Mendes, costar in Nic's new "Bad Lieutenant," apparently admires the owl: "I said, 'You know what, it would be so cool to own an owl,'" Mendes says. "He's like, 'I had an owl for a couple years.' He's that guy that had an owl for a couple years."
Finally, Nic got satirized on Saturday Night Live. Host Taylor Swift played Kate Gosselin opposite Andy Samberg as Nic with both guest-starring on "The View." We leave you now with... the video, courtesy of NBC and The Examiner.
Weekend Watch - Nov. 13, 2009
If you like explosions, music, or foxes, this weekend will be heaven for you.
2012 - Roland Emmerich's latest disaster porn picture finds John Cusack in the middle of the end of the world. Will he save his family in time? More importantly, what national landmarks will Emmerich destroy this time???
Pirate Radio - The true story about an offshore radio broadcasting banned music into Britain in the 1906s. With an all-star cast (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh), the movie looks entertaining and might even be an indie contender for the Oscars.
Fantastic Mr. Fox (limited release, opening wide 11/25) - The Wes Anderson adaptation of the Roald Dahl book features foxes battling farmers for control of the chicken coop. looks cute, funny, and has a top lineup of voice actors.
2012 - Roland Emmerich's latest disaster porn picture finds John Cusack in the middle of the end of the world. Will he save his family in time? More importantly, what national landmarks will Emmerich destroy this time???
Pirate Radio - The true story about an offshore radio broadcasting banned music into Britain in the 1906s. With an all-star cast (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh), the movie looks entertaining and might even be an indie contender for the Oscars.
Fantastic Mr. Fox (limited release, opening wide 11/25) - The Wes Anderson adaptation of the Roald Dahl book features foxes battling farmers for control of the chicken coop. looks cute, funny, and has a top lineup of voice actors.
Tops at the Box Office - Weekend of Nov. 6. 2009
- A Christmas Carol (first weekend)
- This Is It
- The Men Who Stare at Goats (first weekend)
- The Fourth Kind (first weekend)
- Paranormal Activity
- The Box (first weekend)
- Couples Retreat
- Law Abiding Citizen
- Where the Wild Things Are
- Astro Boy
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Zach's Nip/Tuck Procedure - "Jenny Juggs"
What kind of crazy stuff can Nip/Tuck throw at us this week? How about mime crime, attempted murder by carbon monoxide, and psychotic feminist strippers? I’ve got my popcorn and my Dr. Pepper (the ideal TV snack), and I’m ready to go.
Sean wants Matt to get a real job because he thinks (like all of us do) that mime is ridiculous. But when Matt procures a wad of cash, it seems everything is copasetic. But his life as the supercriminal “The Mime” is starting to get to him, as is the pressure of child support for his child with Kimber.
Money troubles continue on the show (how timely), but Sean and Teddy are moving in together at a new place. Sean’s son Conor is coming to town, too, which means there will either be a happy family reunion or Teddy’s potentially murderous plans are coming to fruition. Poor lonely Christian drowns his sorrows at a strip joint where he meets patient of the week, the juggernaut-chested and more than appropriately named Jenny Juggs, who Christian invites into the surgical suite for a reconstructive procedure. This is his worst pick-up line yet, but I’ll bet that he beds this “tit terrorist” before the hour is up.
Meanwhile, Annie is still being a bitch, this time about being a vegetarian. But everyone has to clean up their act when Conor shows up. He’s awful shy, and Teddy realizes she really has no in with these kids. So let’s start over, she says, and let’s go camping! The last time an evil step-mother went camping was “The Parent Trap,” and we all remember how that ended up.
With his neck in traction, Christian feels he was unlawfully assaulted by Jenny Juggs, and so he’s out to prove that crime doesn’t pay (the theme of the episode). As Linda shows Liz her new iPhone, Jenny shows up at McNamara/Troy fresh out of lockup. Turns out that she has major psychological issues and a complete body-image misfire, so she’s here for a breast reduction, which Christian consents to after being heavily guilt-tripped about “healing” her.
Teddy has her heart set on this camping trip, under the guise of getting closer to Annie. Though Annie’s really gotten despicable this season, we don’t want to see her get whacked by Evil Teddy. But when Sean and Christian go down to the boardwalk to see Matt’s act, they learn that someone dressed like a mime has been robbing people. They leave Teddy alone with Annie, which is a seriously bad move, because Teddy’s threatening the little girl with admission to a camp for mentally disturbed teenage girls.
Matt gets put into a mime line-up, which devolves very quickly into an absurdist pairing of silent acting and accordion music. But the Chinese florist can’t remember who robbed her, so Matt’s off the hook. Sean and Christian aren’t convinced, though, because – let’s be serious – Matt hasn’t exactly been the most clean-cut character on this show (and that’s saying something). Matt pulls the mime-up card and gets cleared of suspicion with his two daddies.
On the camping trip, Teddy jams some pharmaceuticals into the s’mores, and the recipe even wins over Annie Anorexia. Back at home, Christian goes through some post-op counseling with Jenny, who’s still a neurotic mess despite going down to a C-cup. She dumps a bedpan on Christian, who decides to press charges on the psychotic stripper. And lit only by moonlight, Teddy smiles like a real creeper and fantasizes about kid-killing and inheritance-stealing. She takes the batteries out of the carbon monoxide alarm, cranks the heat up, and gets her kill-face on, locking the McNamaras inside the trailer just in time for a commercial break.
Teddy goes and makes nice with a neighboring camper who’s playing some opera. She must watch a lot of CSI, because this is a solid alibi. Back in the trailer, Annie wakes up as Teddy follows Camper Jerry into some creepy woods to watch a meteor shower. Some solid juxtaposition as far as direction goes, as singing, stars, and suffocating McNamaras all collide in an ooky montage. Just as the McNamaras bust out, Teddy gets abducted by Jerry and runs back to the now-empty camping trailer as Jerry lurks out of focus.
With Teddy unaccounted for, the McNamaras are rescued by a passing patrolman, and Matt resumes his life of mime crime. But Matt’s target has a shotgun hidden under the counter, and things don’t look good for Bloody Mime Matt by the end of the episode.
Verdict? Wow. This episode reminded me a lot of the Season Three finale, when we learned the identity of season-long serial killer The Carver in a fantastic montage scored by a non sequitur tango track. Here we’ve got a lot of the season’s storylines building to a head, all with operatic tra-la-la’ing in the background. Things don’t look good for anyone on the show, but the show continues its climb from dredgy drama up into the realm of that perfect comedy/drama blend we’ve come to expect from the most superficial show on the tube.
Sean wants Matt to get a real job because he thinks (like all of us do) that mime is ridiculous. But when Matt procures a wad of cash, it seems everything is copasetic. But his life as the supercriminal “The Mime” is starting to get to him, as is the pressure of child support for his child with Kimber.
Money troubles continue on the show (how timely), but Sean and Teddy are moving in together at a new place. Sean’s son Conor is coming to town, too, which means there will either be a happy family reunion or Teddy’s potentially murderous plans are coming to fruition. Poor lonely Christian drowns his sorrows at a strip joint where he meets patient of the week, the juggernaut-chested and more than appropriately named Jenny Juggs, who Christian invites into the surgical suite for a reconstructive procedure. This is his worst pick-up line yet, but I’ll bet that he beds this “tit terrorist” before the hour is up.
Meanwhile, Annie is still being a bitch, this time about being a vegetarian. But everyone has to clean up their act when Conor shows up. He’s awful shy, and Teddy realizes she really has no in with these kids. So let’s start over, she says, and let’s go camping! The last time an evil step-mother went camping was “The Parent Trap,” and we all remember how that ended up.
With his neck in traction, Christian feels he was unlawfully assaulted by Jenny Juggs, and so he’s out to prove that crime doesn’t pay (the theme of the episode). As Linda shows Liz her new iPhone, Jenny shows up at McNamara/Troy fresh out of lockup. Turns out that she has major psychological issues and a complete body-image misfire, so she’s here for a breast reduction, which Christian consents to after being heavily guilt-tripped about “healing” her.
Teddy has her heart set on this camping trip, under the guise of getting closer to Annie. Though Annie’s really gotten despicable this season, we don’t want to see her get whacked by Evil Teddy. But when Sean and Christian go down to the boardwalk to see Matt’s act, they learn that someone dressed like a mime has been robbing people. They leave Teddy alone with Annie, which is a seriously bad move, because Teddy’s threatening the little girl with admission to a camp for mentally disturbed teenage girls.
Matt gets put into a mime line-up, which devolves very quickly into an absurdist pairing of silent acting and accordion music. But the Chinese florist can’t remember who robbed her, so Matt’s off the hook. Sean and Christian aren’t convinced, though, because – let’s be serious – Matt hasn’t exactly been the most clean-cut character on this show (and that’s saying something). Matt pulls the mime-up card and gets cleared of suspicion with his two daddies.
On the camping trip, Teddy jams some pharmaceuticals into the s’mores, and the recipe even wins over Annie Anorexia. Back at home, Christian goes through some post-op counseling with Jenny, who’s still a neurotic mess despite going down to a C-cup. She dumps a bedpan on Christian, who decides to press charges on the psychotic stripper. And lit only by moonlight, Teddy smiles like a real creeper and fantasizes about kid-killing and inheritance-stealing. She takes the batteries out of the carbon monoxide alarm, cranks the heat up, and gets her kill-face on, locking the McNamaras inside the trailer just in time for a commercial break.
Teddy goes and makes nice with a neighboring camper who’s playing some opera. She must watch a lot of CSI, because this is a solid alibi. Back in the trailer, Annie wakes up as Teddy follows Camper Jerry into some creepy woods to watch a meteor shower. Some solid juxtaposition as far as direction goes, as singing, stars, and suffocating McNamaras all collide in an ooky montage. Just as the McNamaras bust out, Teddy gets abducted by Jerry and runs back to the now-empty camping trailer as Jerry lurks out of focus.
With Teddy unaccounted for, the McNamaras are rescued by a passing patrolman, and Matt resumes his life of mime crime. But Matt’s target has a shotgun hidden under the counter, and things don’t look good for Bloody Mime Matt by the end of the episode.
Verdict? Wow. This episode reminded me a lot of the Season Three finale, when we learned the identity of season-long serial killer The Carver in a fantastic montage scored by a non sequitur tango track. Here we’ve got a lot of the season’s storylines building to a head, all with operatic tra-la-la’ing in the background. Things don’t look good for anyone on the show, but the show continues its climb from dredgy drama up into the realm of that perfect comedy/drama blend we’ve come to expect from the most superficial show on the tube.
Zach's Heroes Watch - "Once Upon a Time in Texas"
Previously on Heroes: Samuel has some past-fixin’ to do, and so does Hiro. Enter destiny and special guest star Charlie.
Hiro successfully travels back in time, and he’s ready to save Charlie from a fate worse than Sylar. Cue the boy-meets-girl flashback, and since good guys wear white hats Hiro gets mixed up in a whole slew of appropriate imagery (see, Grey’s? That’s how it’s done.). We also get a nice little reminder that Charlie had a power – super-memory, which sounds really nice right in time for finals week.
Retcon alert! Noah used to have a partner besides the Haitian, and we revisit some of that good old “lying to our families sucks” dialogue we’ve come to know and love. Except Lady Partner (Lauren) thinks Noah is flirting with her – is he? We also get some fantastic reminders of how close the Sylar chase was back in Season One and how close the show is coming to eclipsing its original greatness.
Remember Eden and Isaac? They’re all back, too! ...in alternate history form. It’s too bad that I don’t remember Season One all that well, because Noah asks Isaac to do something that we probably already saw, but I can’t honestly remember. What’s definitely new is that Noah’s partner has the hots for our bespectacled buddy, feelings that don’t seem to be reciprocal unless the writers want to hook them up in subsequent episodes.
Noah’s much more interested in reconnecting with his daughter, and we learn that Noah’s a Shakespeare buff (I like him more already, even though he quoted my least favorite of Will’s plays). After Claire tells him to do what makes him happy, it looks like Noah’s about to get busy with his partner, but we know he’s not all morally grey. He keeps it in his pants and puts his family first. No lovin’ for Lauren, who has her memory wiped Haitian-style to make things easier.
Back in the present day at the Creepy Carnival, Old Man Arnold is ready to shuffle off the mortal coil, which has Samuel irked because he didn’t buy a big enough cemetery plot. Samuel, whose superpower seems to be “convinc[ing] an apple it’s an orange,” knows he needs Hiro because Lydia’s tattoo told him so, so he’s off into the past to try to convince Hiro to join up with him.
So Samuel wants to tell Hiro that “Suzie Flapjacks” isn’t worth making history go “kablooey,” even though Hiro doesn’t believe him. Hiro stops time right before Sylar can kill Charlie – just before the commercial break. When we return, Hiro wheels Frozen Sylar out of the restaurant and into a Greyhound bus’s luggage compartment. But he puzzles over this whole “kablooey” thing that time travel fiction has always grappled with, as Samuel broods in a shadowy corner.
The solution? Be menacing and pretend to be Future Hiro to tell Past Hiro to... oh, my brain’s exploding. What is this, Lost? Suffice it to say, it works. But Samuel finds a flaw in the situation, speaks some Japanese, and sends Hiro to fix potentially-broken things with Ando before Hiro and Charlie go off on a world tour. But the super-memory kicks in and something is definitely wrong with Charlie (hint: it’s not the fact that she’s got a show on a rival network).
Unfrozen Trunk Sylar wakes up and menaces Hiro, but it turns out that Sylar is no match for Hiro’s chronal on/off switch. It’s absolutely hysterical watching these two face off in a superpowered version of Old West gunslinging. They reach a truce in which Sylar agrees to cure Charlie for a peek at the future. And hey, it worked! Hiro makes good on his deal and goes all fortune-cookie on Sylar, warning him about a bleak future that awaits him.
The plan, of course, backfires. Charlie is upset that Sylar is going to keep on killing, and she feels like her new life with Hiro is “cheating... and selfish.” Poor Hiro has his heart broken – if only he’d been watching Glee. He’d know this wasn’t meant to be after all; she’s in love with Will the glee coach, after all. Hiro turns to root beer and has an existential conversation with Noah at the diner. But at the last second, Charlie comes back to the diner looking for “our happy ending” – hooray!
But it’s not all kisses and origami cranes. Samuel abducts Charlie to get to Hiro but then admits that he sort of lied about the whole thing. Trapped in the carnival, Hiro flips out and learns that Arnold trapped Charlie in time just before he died. Samuel reveals that he’s going to blackmail Hiro into helping him erase his “Evil Butterfly Man” past. With that, Hiro goes over to the dark side to help Samuel erase his worst transgression – killing Mohinder (now we know why he wasn’t returning Matt’s calls).
Verdict? This episode was compared to “Company Man” before its airing, and I’m thinking this episode would have looked really awesome in black and white. Maybe that’s just the visual culture guy in me, but it would have been pretty striking. This was another good episode from the Heroes crew; the Noah plotline felt a little like a waste (although my bet is that we’ll see Lauren again), but the Hiro/Samuel interaction is gold. I cannot wait to see where this plotline goes, especially because we’re STILL not sure what side of the fence Samuel is on. And the hope for a happy ending, even if this is the last season, gets me all giggly inside.
Hiro successfully travels back in time, and he’s ready to save Charlie from a fate worse than Sylar. Cue the boy-meets-girl flashback, and since good guys wear white hats Hiro gets mixed up in a whole slew of appropriate imagery (see, Grey’s? That’s how it’s done.). We also get a nice little reminder that Charlie had a power – super-memory, which sounds really nice right in time for finals week.
Retcon alert! Noah used to have a partner besides the Haitian, and we revisit some of that good old “lying to our families sucks” dialogue we’ve come to know and love. Except Lady Partner (Lauren) thinks Noah is flirting with her – is he? We also get some fantastic reminders of how close the Sylar chase was back in Season One and how close the show is coming to eclipsing its original greatness.
Remember Eden and Isaac? They’re all back, too! ...in alternate history form. It’s too bad that I don’t remember Season One all that well, because Noah asks Isaac to do something that we probably already saw, but I can’t honestly remember. What’s definitely new is that Noah’s partner has the hots for our bespectacled buddy, feelings that don’t seem to be reciprocal unless the writers want to hook them up in subsequent episodes.
Noah’s much more interested in reconnecting with his daughter, and we learn that Noah’s a Shakespeare buff (I like him more already, even though he quoted my least favorite of Will’s plays). After Claire tells him to do what makes him happy, it looks like Noah’s about to get busy with his partner, but we know he’s not all morally grey. He keeps it in his pants and puts his family first. No lovin’ for Lauren, who has her memory wiped Haitian-style to make things easier.
Back in the present day at the Creepy Carnival, Old Man Arnold is ready to shuffle off the mortal coil, which has Samuel irked because he didn’t buy a big enough cemetery plot. Samuel, whose superpower seems to be “convinc[ing] an apple it’s an orange,” knows he needs Hiro because Lydia’s tattoo told him so, so he’s off into the past to try to convince Hiro to join up with him.
So Samuel wants to tell Hiro that “Suzie Flapjacks” isn’t worth making history go “kablooey,” even though Hiro doesn’t believe him. Hiro stops time right before Sylar can kill Charlie – just before the commercial break. When we return, Hiro wheels Frozen Sylar out of the restaurant and into a Greyhound bus’s luggage compartment. But he puzzles over this whole “kablooey” thing that time travel fiction has always grappled with, as Samuel broods in a shadowy corner.
The solution? Be menacing and pretend to be Future Hiro to tell Past Hiro to... oh, my brain’s exploding. What is this, Lost? Suffice it to say, it works. But Samuel finds a flaw in the situation, speaks some Japanese, and sends Hiro to fix potentially-broken things with Ando before Hiro and Charlie go off on a world tour. But the super-memory kicks in and something is definitely wrong with Charlie (hint: it’s not the fact that she’s got a show on a rival network).
Unfrozen Trunk Sylar wakes up and menaces Hiro, but it turns out that Sylar is no match for Hiro’s chronal on/off switch. It’s absolutely hysterical watching these two face off in a superpowered version of Old West gunslinging. They reach a truce in which Sylar agrees to cure Charlie for a peek at the future. And hey, it worked! Hiro makes good on his deal and goes all fortune-cookie on Sylar, warning him about a bleak future that awaits him.
The plan, of course, backfires. Charlie is upset that Sylar is going to keep on killing, and she feels like her new life with Hiro is “cheating... and selfish.” Poor Hiro has his heart broken – if only he’d been watching Glee. He’d know this wasn’t meant to be after all; she’s in love with Will the glee coach, after all. Hiro turns to root beer and has an existential conversation with Noah at the diner. But at the last second, Charlie comes back to the diner looking for “our happy ending” – hooray!
But it’s not all kisses and origami cranes. Samuel abducts Charlie to get to Hiro but then admits that he sort of lied about the whole thing. Trapped in the carnival, Hiro flips out and learns that Arnold trapped Charlie in time just before he died. Samuel reveals that he’s going to blackmail Hiro into helping him erase his “Evil Butterfly Man” past. With that, Hiro goes over to the dark side to help Samuel erase his worst transgression – killing Mohinder (now we know why he wasn’t returning Matt’s calls).
Verdict? This episode was compared to “Company Man” before its airing, and I’m thinking this episode would have looked really awesome in black and white. Maybe that’s just the visual culture guy in me, but it would have been pretty striking. This was another good episode from the Heroes crew; the Noah plotline felt a little like a waste (although my bet is that we’ll see Lauren again), but the Hiro/Samuel interaction is gold. I cannot wait to see where this plotline goes, especially because we’re STILL not sure what side of the fence Samuel is on. And the hope for a happy ending, even if this is the last season, gets me all giggly inside.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Oscar Hosts Announced
Since everyone else is talking about it: The New York Times is reporting that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin have been picked as the hosts for next year's big Oscar ceremony. The announcement comes a few days after British funnyman Ricky Gervais was named as the host for the Golden Globes ceremony.
Now, these three are all very funny individuals, so the shows should at least be entertaining. With Adam Shankman of Hairspray fame aboard to direct the Oscars, it's going to be an interesting night.
But Nikki Finke over at Deadline.com broke the story that Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. had declined to host. Despite Stiller starting to lose his edge, that duo would have been quite a sight to see, especially after their biting Oscar satire in Tropic Thunder. Even better - if Downey had hosted in character as Lincoln Osiris.
Now, these three are all very funny individuals, so the shows should at least be entertaining. With Adam Shankman of Hairspray fame aboard to direct the Oscars, it's going to be an interesting night.
But Nikki Finke over at Deadline.com broke the story that Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. had declined to host. Despite Stiller starting to lose his edge, that duo would have been quite a sight to see, especially after their biting Oscar satire in Tropic Thunder. Even better - if Downey had hosted in character as Lincoln Osiris.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Mysteries of LOST: Pregnancy
Previously on LOST: Pregnancy mystery alert! It seems people can't have kids on the island, but this is complicated. If the baby is conceived off-island - like Rousseau's Alex or Claire's Aaron - the baby can be born on-island, no problem. Babies conceived on-island have to be born off-island, or the mother and the baby will die by or within the third trimester; fortunately, Sun had her baby off-island and so survived with Ji Yeon.
One of these things is not like the other: Locke, Rousseau, Horace, Claire. LILIA WON!!! The correct answer is Locke, because he's never had a baby on-island.
So what's the deal with pregnancy? Actually, the show has given us a lot of answers already on this one. We know who can and can't have babies on the island, and we know when. What we don't know is why.
One key character is Amy, Horace's wife. Amy had a baby back in 1977, so obviously people could have babies up until 1977. So what changed? The Incident? Or was it something Jacob's nemesis did? A surprising number of unanswered questions spring up in relation to what seemed initially to be a straightforward and already-answered mystery. It's probably not The Incident, we agreed, but it might be the Nemesis doing something fishy.
We're not wholly confident that this mystery will get answered this final season. With so many other big-ticket storylines to be resolved, pregnancies might fall through the cracks. If this issue's going to come up, it'll have something to do with Jacob's mystery child - who could it be?
One of these things is not like the other: Locke, Rousseau, Horace, Claire. LILIA WON!!! The correct answer is Locke, because he's never had a baby on-island.
So what's the deal with pregnancy? Actually, the show has given us a lot of answers already on this one. We know who can and can't have babies on the island, and we know when. What we don't know is why.
One key character is Amy, Horace's wife. Amy had a baby back in 1977, so obviously people could have babies up until 1977. So what changed? The Incident? Or was it something Jacob's nemesis did? A surprising number of unanswered questions spring up in relation to what seemed initially to be a straightforward and already-answered mystery. It's probably not The Incident, we agreed, but it might be the Nemesis doing something fishy.
We're not wholly confident that this mystery will get answered this final season. With so many other big-ticket storylines to be resolved, pregnancies might fall through the cracks. If this issue's going to come up, it'll have something to do with Jacob's mystery child - who could it be?
How'd It Get Burned This Week? (Nov. 2, 2009)
Nic Cage headlines in abundance this week.
Zach saw "Knowing" this weekend - full review coming soon. Suffice it to say that this could have been a really good movie if a different leading man had been cast.
Josh Wigler over at MTV Movies Blog tells us about Nic Cage's latest, "The Hungry Rabbit Jumps." Nic plays a vigilante out to avenge "something untoward" done to his wife. Get ready for another angry hot mess from the man with the strangest hairline in Hollywood.
Reuters tells us that stripper-named January Jones of "Mad Men" fame is joining Nic as his wfie in "Hungry Rabbit," marking the beginning of the end for this rising star's career.
Jones's addition to the cast leads Entertainment Weekly to speculate - does Nic Cage have the kavorka? Even though Sean Penn accused the star of defecating on the entire profession of acting (now that may be a tad harsh), Nic's had a bevy of attractive co-stars in his movie, from Penelope Cruz to Jessica Biel. Maybe his plan is to hope that audiences are too busy ogling his lovely leading ladies to notice his forehead and/or total lack of acting ability.
The Examiner reports: Nic Cage says he is financially ruined. In related news, The Top Pop Stop was voted "Most Influential Pop Culture Radio Show" in terms of controlling celebrities' fates.
And Nic told the Montgomery Advertiser all about why vampires are dominating the pop culture scene: "'The vampire is always going to be fascinating. It's like the vigilante cop, or it's like the cowboy or the Western. It's part of the fabric of society,' said Cage, who starred in 1989's 'Vampire Kiss' and was one of the producers of 'Shadow of the Vampire' from 2000."
And that's how it got burned this week in Nic Cage news.
Zach saw "Knowing" this weekend - full review coming soon. Suffice it to say that this could have been a really good movie if a different leading man had been cast.
Josh Wigler over at MTV Movies Blog tells us about Nic Cage's latest, "The Hungry Rabbit Jumps." Nic plays a vigilante out to avenge "something untoward" done to his wife. Get ready for another angry hot mess from the man with the strangest hairline in Hollywood.
Reuters tells us that stripper-named January Jones of "Mad Men" fame is joining Nic as his wfie in "Hungry Rabbit," marking the beginning of the end for this rising star's career.
Jones's addition to the cast leads Entertainment Weekly to speculate - does Nic Cage have the kavorka? Even though Sean Penn accused the star of defecating on the entire profession of acting (now that may be a tad harsh), Nic's had a bevy of attractive co-stars in his movie, from Penelope Cruz to Jessica Biel. Maybe his plan is to hope that audiences are too busy ogling his lovely leading ladies to notice his forehead and/or total lack of acting ability.
The Examiner reports: Nic Cage says he is financially ruined. In related news, The Top Pop Stop was voted "Most Influential Pop Culture Radio Show" in terms of controlling celebrities' fates.
And Nic told the Montgomery Advertiser all about why vampires are dominating the pop culture scene: "'The vampire is always going to be fascinating. It's like the vigilante cop, or it's like the cowboy or the Western. It's part of the fabric of society,' said Cage, who starred in 1989's 'Vampire Kiss' and was one of the producers of 'Shadow of the Vampire' from 2000."
And that's how it got burned this week in Nic Cage news.
Weekend Watch - Nov. 6, 2009
Lots of pictures landing at the box office this weekend, so let's get this ball rolling.
A Christmas Carol - Jim Carrey plays almost everyone in this 3-D motion capture adaptation of Dickens's Christmas classic. Robert Zemeckis directs this version of the story "like you've never seen it before." (Hint: it's in 3-D but otherwise it's pretty much the same.)
The Fourth Kind - Milla Jovovich stars in this spooky UFO picture with elements from the shaky cam genre. Opening a week too late, this flick promises a few mild jump moments and audiences shaking their heads.
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire - Opening in "Give me an award" release, this flick is about an overweight girl sent to a new school to turn her life around.
The Box - Cameron Diaz and Corny Collins - er, Jason Marsden - receive a mystery box from Frank Langella. If they push the button inside, they'll get a million bucks, but someone they don't know will die. Twist ending alert! Fans of The Twilight Zone should give this one a try.
The Men Who Stare at Goats - This Coens-esque comedy stars Ewan McGregor as a journalist tracking an Army experiment to develop ESP-gifted soldiers who can explode goats with their minds.
A Christmas Carol - Jim Carrey plays almost everyone in this 3-D motion capture adaptation of Dickens's Christmas classic. Robert Zemeckis directs this version of the story "like you've never seen it before." (Hint: it's in 3-D but otherwise it's pretty much the same.)
The Fourth Kind - Milla Jovovich stars in this spooky UFO picture with elements from the shaky cam genre. Opening a week too late, this flick promises a few mild jump moments and audiences shaking their heads.
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire - Opening in "Give me an award" release, this flick is about an overweight girl sent to a new school to turn her life around.
The Box - Cameron Diaz and Corny Collins - er, Jason Marsden - receive a mystery box from Frank Langella. If they push the button inside, they'll get a million bucks, but someone they don't know will die. Twist ending alert! Fans of The Twilight Zone should give this one a try.
The Men Who Stare at Goats - This Coens-esque comedy stars Ewan McGregor as a journalist tracking an Army experiment to develop ESP-gifted soldiers who can explode goats with their minds.
Tops at the Box Office - Weekend of Oct. 30, 2009
- This Is It (first wide weekend)
- Paranormal Activity
- Law Abiding Citizen
- Couples Retreat
- Saw VI
- Where the Wild Things Are
- The Stepfather
- Astro Boy
- Amelia
- Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Heroes Headlines: The End Is Nigh?
Airlock Alpha reports what can best be described as "good news, bad news."
Apparently, a source at NBC suggests that Heroes may be in its home stretch. The show's had a fantastic season so far, and it looks like this could be the last one. That's right; we at The Top Pop Stop have long suspected this might be the last season of Heroes, and this mysterious anonymous source at NBC is confirming our suspicions.
Of course, that's bad news for those of us who love the path the show is taking, but it's good news in the sense that the show will at least be going out on a high note. Remember what happened when Michael Jordan came back to basketball? Ouch. At least these writers know what they're doing and can wrap up the story in a satisfactory manner; imagine the disaster if last season's writers were tasked with writing the finale. I almost don't miss Jeph Loeb (who left after Vol. 3).
(Noticing a pattern here? Heroes, Lost, and Nip/Tuck are all in their final seasons... we insist that The Top Pop Stop's endorsements are not kisses of death; if they were, we'd start hailing Izzie as our favorite character on Grey's Anatomy.)
Apparently, a source at NBC suggests that Heroes may be in its home stretch. The show's had a fantastic season so far, and it looks like this could be the last one. That's right; we at The Top Pop Stop have long suspected this might be the last season of Heroes, and this mysterious anonymous source at NBC is confirming our suspicions.
Of course, that's bad news for those of us who love the path the show is taking, but it's good news in the sense that the show will at least be going out on a high note. Remember what happened when Michael Jordan came back to basketball? Ouch. At least these writers know what they're doing and can wrap up the story in a satisfactory manner; imagine the disaster if last season's writers were tasked with writing the finale. I almost don't miss Jeph Loeb (who left after Vol. 3).
(Noticing a pattern here? Heroes, Lost, and Nip/Tuck are all in their final seasons... we insist that The Top Pop Stop's endorsements are not kisses of death; if they were, we'd start hailing Izzie as our favorite character on Grey's Anatomy.)
Zach's Nip/Tuck Procedure: "Briggitte Reinholt"
It’s the show that keeps on topping itself, so here’s how the show will outcrazy itself this week. Drug addictions, bankruptcy, on-and-off engagements, and mime robbery – it’s the stuff of any other show’s season-long story arc, but on Nip/Tuck it all happens in a single episode.
Patient of the week is a foreign plastic-surgery-addicted cougar who Doctor Mario Lopez hits on. Briggitte wants some special leech treatment post-op, which fills our “wacky quota” for the week. And we’re not even two minutes in. Christian’s freaked out, but evidently he hasn’t been watching the show; this is the least weird thing the show’s done since the transgendered mentor Matt wooed back in Season Two.
What Christian’s really irked about is that Mario Lopez is dating Kimber. What bugs Mario Lopez is that Kimber’s still hooked on Christian. Christian sets some diabolical plan of seduction in motion, and now he and Kimber are back on. Teddy and Sean are back on, too – in fact, they just got back from their two-day elopement. Christian thinks they’re going “down with the ship,” but Liz and Linda are happy for them.
Kimber’s upset that Mario Lopez is too perfect, so she doesn’t open up to him long enough to give him time to be not-perfect. But she sees right through Christian’s jealousy. Meanwhile, Sean’s daughter Annie’s in town, and she’s got her iPod on full blast while she rocks the Avril Lavigne look. Annie’s upset about the divorce and also about Teddy, but there’s no excuse for her fashion disaster and her total lack of manners.
Teddy recognizes Briggitte from her last-season secret identity as Dixie the Vegas surgeon. So she gasses the patient as quickly as she can and covers with Sean, but if anyone looks shifty on this show it’s Rose McGowan.
We find out that Annie wears her ugly black hat because she’s a nervous hair-puller and her scalp is a mess. Meanwhile Sean experiments with leeches for no apparent reason and gets philosophical by telling Christian that he belongs with Kimber, his soulmate. They meet Patient No. 2, a transvestite named Steve who wants to look more like his alter ego Modesty. No procedures for this guy: he wants an actual mask he can wear.
Christian gets an idea; he tells Mario Lopez to dress like a woman in order to better seduce Kimber. This is going to get ugly fast.
Matt tries to amuse Annie with the art of mime, but the coffeeshop he robbed two weeks ago was more entertained than Little Miss Pin-Popper and her “box of brattiness.” But Annie’s stomach starts hurting real bad, something that’s been going on all episode. Turns out that not only does she pull her hair out – she eats it, too. Harry Potter’s going to have to come in and get the bezoar out of her stomach. Fortunately, Sean remembers that he’s a surgeon, and he goes in himself to get the disgusting little hairball. I told you this show was messed up.
Sean starts guilt-tripping and kicking himself, something he does every week. But Christian’s clearly having a ball setting Mario Lopez up for a big transvestite moment of awkwardness. But transvestites are people, too; Christian bonds over sports with the sales(wo)man. Mario Lopez comes out in fishnets and a bustier, making a really ugly girl. Christian giggles.
So I finally figured out that this episode is all about being who you are and not wearing a mask. Pretending to be someone else can be disastrous. Teddy/Dixie throws out all of her Vegas gear and agrees to just be herself; Matt’s mime act is starting to get a little old and criminal; and Steve/Modesty is contracting for that mask, which Teddy steals in order to kill Briggitte while going incognito. She gets away with it, because the coroners chalk it up to “the things people do to be beautiful.”
Christian’s plan backfires: Kimber’s totally turned on by Mario Lopez as a lady, and their relationship is even stronger. Mario’s ready to be a full-out crossdresser just because Kimber’s into it, and he finds out that Christian never really crossdressed but doesn’t tell that he knows.
Sean doubles his life insurance policy, which puts a smile on Teddy’s greedy little face. This is going to backfire horribly. Annie and Connor get money in the will, but Matt doesn’t (because of his spendthrift history with “Scientology, his porn star wife, and methamphetamines”). Teddy’s peeved because she’s not a beneficiary, either. So she suggests that Annie and Connor – the “rugrats” – stay with them, which means she’s probably got kid-killing on the brain.
Verdict? Last week I decried the show for not being as “fun” as it had been in years previous, but the show’s back to not taking itself seriously. We also finally get a sense of the season’s trajectory with Teddy stepping out as our new antagonist; I probably should have seen this coming, but I guess I was too dazzled by Rose McGowan’s poutiness to suspect anything villainous from her vixen-like visage. Mixing off-beat oddities with soap opera drama, Nip/Tuck is slipping back into the scalpel once more.
Patient of the week is a foreign plastic-surgery-addicted cougar who Doctor Mario Lopez hits on. Briggitte wants some special leech treatment post-op, which fills our “wacky quota” for the week. And we’re not even two minutes in. Christian’s freaked out, but evidently he hasn’t been watching the show; this is the least weird thing the show’s done since the transgendered mentor Matt wooed back in Season Two.
What Christian’s really irked about is that Mario Lopez is dating Kimber. What bugs Mario Lopez is that Kimber’s still hooked on Christian. Christian sets some diabolical plan of seduction in motion, and now he and Kimber are back on. Teddy and Sean are back on, too – in fact, they just got back from their two-day elopement. Christian thinks they’re going “down with the ship,” but Liz and Linda are happy for them.
Kimber’s upset that Mario Lopez is too perfect, so she doesn’t open up to him long enough to give him time to be not-perfect. But she sees right through Christian’s jealousy. Meanwhile, Sean’s daughter Annie’s in town, and she’s got her iPod on full blast while she rocks the Avril Lavigne look. Annie’s upset about the divorce and also about Teddy, but there’s no excuse for her fashion disaster and her total lack of manners.
Teddy recognizes Briggitte from her last-season secret identity as Dixie the Vegas surgeon. So she gasses the patient as quickly as she can and covers with Sean, but if anyone looks shifty on this show it’s Rose McGowan.
We find out that Annie wears her ugly black hat because she’s a nervous hair-puller and her scalp is a mess. Meanwhile Sean experiments with leeches for no apparent reason and gets philosophical by telling Christian that he belongs with Kimber, his soulmate. They meet Patient No. 2, a transvestite named Steve who wants to look more like his alter ego Modesty. No procedures for this guy: he wants an actual mask he can wear.
Christian gets an idea; he tells Mario Lopez to dress like a woman in order to better seduce Kimber. This is going to get ugly fast.
Matt tries to amuse Annie with the art of mime, but the coffeeshop he robbed two weeks ago was more entertained than Little Miss Pin-Popper and her “box of brattiness.” But Annie’s stomach starts hurting real bad, something that’s been going on all episode. Turns out that not only does she pull her hair out – she eats it, too. Harry Potter’s going to have to come in and get the bezoar out of her stomach. Fortunately, Sean remembers that he’s a surgeon, and he goes in himself to get the disgusting little hairball. I told you this show was messed up.
Sean starts guilt-tripping and kicking himself, something he does every week. But Christian’s clearly having a ball setting Mario Lopez up for a big transvestite moment of awkwardness. But transvestites are people, too; Christian bonds over sports with the sales(wo)man. Mario Lopez comes out in fishnets and a bustier, making a really ugly girl. Christian giggles.
So I finally figured out that this episode is all about being who you are and not wearing a mask. Pretending to be someone else can be disastrous. Teddy/Dixie throws out all of her Vegas gear and agrees to just be herself; Matt’s mime act is starting to get a little old and criminal; and Steve/Modesty is contracting for that mask, which Teddy steals in order to kill Briggitte while going incognito. She gets away with it, because the coroners chalk it up to “the things people do to be beautiful.”
Christian’s plan backfires: Kimber’s totally turned on by Mario Lopez as a lady, and their relationship is even stronger. Mario’s ready to be a full-out crossdresser just because Kimber’s into it, and he finds out that Christian never really crossdressed but doesn’t tell that he knows.
Sean doubles his life insurance policy, which puts a smile on Teddy’s greedy little face. This is going to backfire horribly. Annie and Connor get money in the will, but Matt doesn’t (because of his spendthrift history with “Scientology, his porn star wife, and methamphetamines”). Teddy’s peeved because she’s not a beneficiary, either. So she suggests that Annie and Connor – the “rugrats” – stay with them, which means she’s probably got kid-killing on the brain.
Verdict? Last week I decried the show for not being as “fun” as it had been in years previous, but the show’s back to not taking itself seriously. We also finally get a sense of the season’s trajectory with Teddy stepping out as our new antagonist; I probably should have seen this coming, but I guess I was too dazzled by Rose McGowan’s poutiness to suspect anything villainous from her vixen-like visage. Mixing off-beat oddities with soap opera drama, Nip/Tuck is slipping back into the scalpel once more.
Zach's Heroes Watch: "Strange Attractors"
Previously on Heroes: Noah and Peter became Big Brothers to a healer, Claire and Gretchen made out and joined a sorority chaired by Samuel’s evil invisible friend, and Sylar’s identity crisis got one step closer to being resolved, but he’s still peeved with Matt.
Despite the fact that he’s still got Sylar in his head, Matt has time to get it on with his wife, but he has a weird dream/vision where he imagines himself as Sylar, who we find out has a major Adam-and-Eve complex about “forbidden fruit.”
Sylar taunts Matt about switching bodies during the lovemaking incident and warns that he’s going to do something worse next time he takes over Matt’s body. This could get ugly. So Matt decides to pack up and leave just to make sure that he doesn’t do anything he can’t control. He’s looking for answers; maybe the turtle can help him get rid of Imaginary Sylar, who’s almost as good a character as Samuel. And Matt tries to set up a reunion with Mohinder for the November Sweeps.
Matt figures out that he can hurt Sylar by knocking back a few beers – a really lame weakness compared to Kryptonite but it’s a pretty clever story twist, and it’s a lot of fun seeing it executed. So Drunk Imaginary Sylar starts losing motor skills while Matt gets totally smashed. Drunk Imaginary Sylar evaporates, and Matt passes out just in time for his partner and Janice to find him. Luckily, they forgive him for killing all those bottles, but W-T-Efron? Sylar’s not actually gone?? He’s taken over Matt’s body to give us our creepiest character ever – SylarMatt. (Mylar?)
Meanwhile, Noah’s new little buddy Jeremy gets put into lock-up, which poses problems for Noah’s redemption course. So Noah makes one of his mysterious phone calls for back-up. When the convertible rolls into town, it’s Tracy, who’s either his new Company partner or his new girlfriend. Noah gives Tracy the recap and sets her up as Jeremy’s Aunt Tracy.
But Jeremy’s upset that he thinks Noah betrayed him, which isn’t exactly out of character for him, but Jeremy’s scared that he’s going to kill again. Time for some serious redemption for this kid, so it’s a good thing that Tracy accidentally killed someone back in Season Three – it’s cute how they can connect over that while Noah’s duking it out with the stereotypical cops over whether Jeremy’s a good kid or a bad seed.
But Samuel’s following Tracy around for some reason, just in time to eavesdrop on her phone call to a friend named Dennis for “a favor.” Samuel invites Tracy and Jeremy to the carnival, which it seems he can just conjure up whenever he wants. That’s a pretty awesome power. Basically, Samuel wants Tracy to embrace her otherness and join the people like her. He gives her a compass to help her come back, and Creepy Hat Sylar recognizes Tracy from Nathan’s life.
Noah sets Jeremy up with a new identity and a new place but warns him to keep his power a secret (this never works). And what’d I tell you? Jeremy mind-kills someone while he’s leaving the precinct, but he turns himself in rather than saving the guy he just killed. Noah feels like he’s just made a spurious real estate investment. Poor Jeremy gets abducted by the cops, who drag him along the streets until he’s roadkill. Striking emotional moment – ten to one this pushes Tracy into Samuel’s camp.
Tracy wants to break up with Noah, who feels bummed that he can’t save everyone (remember how Peter was feeling the exact same way earlier?). And look at that – Tracy gets out the compass.
Claire’s feeling conflicted; we can tell because she’s not sleeping. It seems she’s afraid of nocturnal “kiss attacks” from Gretchen. Here comes the most awkward conversation in Heroes history – Gretchen’s a good kisser, but Claire feels awkward about making out with her new best friend. The conversation gets interrupted when some ninjas bust in, except the ninjas turn out to be sorority sisters out to “kidnap” them as part of some extreme hazing. Claire goes “Buffy” but dials it down in time for the commercial break.
Gretchen gets tied up and locked in a trunk with Claire, which is pretty much her biggest fantasy. They have a bonding moment but still feel conflicted. Hell Week, we find out, consists of a “Screamin’ Scavenger Hunt,” but what’s being sought or who will be doing the screaming is still unclear. What is clear is that the girls have been locked in an abandoned warehouse (Saw) with creepy music (Halloween) and ditzy recruits (Sorority Row). But Gretchen looks like she’s watched a ton of horror movies, so she’s ready for the creepy locker test.
Are we supposed to believe a bunch of sorority sisters set this creepy warehouse test up? I guess when you’re invisible you can get a lot done, especially creep on Claire and Gretchen as they have a heart-to-heart about liking girls. But then it gets awkward when we find out that Gretchen has had more boyfriends and more “experience” than sweet innocent Claire. Put the relationship shenanigans on hold – someone invisible is trying to kill the girls, probably Gretchen since Claire’s invincible.
Claire confesses that she “needs” Gretchen just in time for a spooky chain to come out and strangle Gretchen and Invisible Becky to reveal herself as she impales Claire, who’s been through tougher scrapes. But Paris and Nicole (clever) catch Claire healing herself – “what’re we going to do?”
At the end of the episode, Samuel strolls into the police station where Jeremy was killed, wearing his snakeskin boots and his guyliner. He’s dressed all in black, right down to his fingernails, and he destroys the police station with his powers. The American flag waves in the background, and he storms off.
Verdict? Excellent Halloween episode. Some spooky moments, especially with the creepiest sorority rush ever and the ending that’s going to set up the rest of the season. The Heroes crew have put together another bang-on episode, and the cast is stepping up to the challenge. Brownie points to Samuel, who’s now the most interesting character on the show.
Despite the fact that he’s still got Sylar in his head, Matt has time to get it on with his wife, but he has a weird dream/vision where he imagines himself as Sylar, who we find out has a major Adam-and-Eve complex about “forbidden fruit.”
Sylar taunts Matt about switching bodies during the lovemaking incident and warns that he’s going to do something worse next time he takes over Matt’s body. This could get ugly. So Matt decides to pack up and leave just to make sure that he doesn’t do anything he can’t control. He’s looking for answers; maybe the turtle can help him get rid of Imaginary Sylar, who’s almost as good a character as Samuel. And Matt tries to set up a reunion with Mohinder for the November Sweeps.
Matt figures out that he can hurt Sylar by knocking back a few beers – a really lame weakness compared to Kryptonite but it’s a pretty clever story twist, and it’s a lot of fun seeing it executed. So Drunk Imaginary Sylar starts losing motor skills while Matt gets totally smashed. Drunk Imaginary Sylar evaporates, and Matt passes out just in time for his partner and Janice to find him. Luckily, they forgive him for killing all those bottles, but W-T-Efron? Sylar’s not actually gone?? He’s taken over Matt’s body to give us our creepiest character ever – SylarMatt. (Mylar?)
Meanwhile, Noah’s new little buddy Jeremy gets put into lock-up, which poses problems for Noah’s redemption course. So Noah makes one of his mysterious phone calls for back-up. When the convertible rolls into town, it’s Tracy, who’s either his new Company partner or his new girlfriend. Noah gives Tracy the recap and sets her up as Jeremy’s Aunt Tracy.
But Jeremy’s upset that he thinks Noah betrayed him, which isn’t exactly out of character for him, but Jeremy’s scared that he’s going to kill again. Time for some serious redemption for this kid, so it’s a good thing that Tracy accidentally killed someone back in Season Three – it’s cute how they can connect over that while Noah’s duking it out with the stereotypical cops over whether Jeremy’s a good kid or a bad seed.
But Samuel’s following Tracy around for some reason, just in time to eavesdrop on her phone call to a friend named Dennis for “a favor.” Samuel invites Tracy and Jeremy to the carnival, which it seems he can just conjure up whenever he wants. That’s a pretty awesome power. Basically, Samuel wants Tracy to embrace her otherness and join the people like her. He gives her a compass to help her come back, and Creepy Hat Sylar recognizes Tracy from Nathan’s life.
Noah sets Jeremy up with a new identity and a new place but warns him to keep his power a secret (this never works). And what’d I tell you? Jeremy mind-kills someone while he’s leaving the precinct, but he turns himself in rather than saving the guy he just killed. Noah feels like he’s just made a spurious real estate investment. Poor Jeremy gets abducted by the cops, who drag him along the streets until he’s roadkill. Striking emotional moment – ten to one this pushes Tracy into Samuel’s camp.
Tracy wants to break up with Noah, who feels bummed that he can’t save everyone (remember how Peter was feeling the exact same way earlier?). And look at that – Tracy gets out the compass.
Claire’s feeling conflicted; we can tell because she’s not sleeping. It seems she’s afraid of nocturnal “kiss attacks” from Gretchen. Here comes the most awkward conversation in Heroes history – Gretchen’s a good kisser, but Claire feels awkward about making out with her new best friend. The conversation gets interrupted when some ninjas bust in, except the ninjas turn out to be sorority sisters out to “kidnap” them as part of some extreme hazing. Claire goes “Buffy” but dials it down in time for the commercial break.
Gretchen gets tied up and locked in a trunk with Claire, which is pretty much her biggest fantasy. They have a bonding moment but still feel conflicted. Hell Week, we find out, consists of a “Screamin’ Scavenger Hunt,” but what’s being sought or who will be doing the screaming is still unclear. What is clear is that the girls have been locked in an abandoned warehouse (Saw) with creepy music (Halloween) and ditzy recruits (Sorority Row). But Gretchen looks like she’s watched a ton of horror movies, so she’s ready for the creepy locker test.
Are we supposed to believe a bunch of sorority sisters set this creepy warehouse test up? I guess when you’re invisible you can get a lot done, especially creep on Claire and Gretchen as they have a heart-to-heart about liking girls. But then it gets awkward when we find out that Gretchen has had more boyfriends and more “experience” than sweet innocent Claire. Put the relationship shenanigans on hold – someone invisible is trying to kill the girls, probably Gretchen since Claire’s invincible.
Claire confesses that she “needs” Gretchen just in time for a spooky chain to come out and strangle Gretchen and Invisible Becky to reveal herself as she impales Claire, who’s been through tougher scrapes. But Paris and Nicole (clever) catch Claire healing herself – “what’re we going to do?”
At the end of the episode, Samuel strolls into the police station where Jeremy was killed, wearing his snakeskin boots and his guyliner. He’s dressed all in black, right down to his fingernails, and he destroys the police station with his powers. The American flag waves in the background, and he storms off.
Verdict? Excellent Halloween episode. Some spooky moments, especially with the creepiest sorority rush ever and the ending that’s going to set up the rest of the season. The Heroes crew have put together another bang-on episode, and the cast is stepping up to the challenge. Brownie points to Samuel, who’s now the most interesting character on the show.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)