Somewhere

The Week In TV 19/02/2012

30 Rock, Season 6, Episode 6: The Tuxedo Begins

A mostly fine episode of 30 Rock, albeit one that leans too heavily on an extended Dark Knight gag that comes several years too late.  When Jack is mugged by a seemingly respectful man, his gripes about New York becoming a cesspool of crime and decrepitude dovetails with Liz’s own grumbles that nobody follows the rules anymore.  As Jack decides to run for mayor/Batman, so Liz dresses up as an old bag lady/The Joker, shouting random words at people on the subway to reserve herself a seat.  That’s kind of it, really, although the skit is sporadically strange enough to warrant notice.  Much more enjoyable was the return of Paul, since his relationship with Jenna ground her in a way that 30 Rock should do more often.  After a misguided, but very funny, attempt to pass off typical couples activity as a new fetish called “normalling,” they decide to go on a “sexual walkabout,” which, if it leaves them unsatisfied after a few months, means that they will come back together and spend the rest of their lives together.  Alternating between sweet and filthy is a hard line to tread, but one this particular storyline does very well indeed.

Fringe, Season 4, Episode 13: A Better Human Being

It’s likely that “A Better Human Being” will be remembered as the episode that finally brought us back “our” Olivia.  And as much as any discussion of a Season 4 episode tends to get mired in arguments for and against the direction in which the writers have taken the show, it’s impossible to ignore here.  It would appear that the Olivia from this timeline has been flooded with memories of the Olivia from Peter’s timeline, not only that but she feels the same as the Olivia we remember.  There’s an undeniable power to the subsequent scenes, watching Peter struggle with this development as Olivia, surprisingly but movingly, embraces it.  Walter wonders if Peter is subconsciously “infecting” this Olivia with his own desires, but we, of course, know this has something to do with the nightly visits Nina has been giving her for several months.  Thankfully, especially given that Nina’s maternal relationship with Olivia is one of the more pleasing aspects to this new reality, it’s revealed that the real Nina has been kidnapped, just as Olivia is right after her and Peter throw caution to the wind.  What’s strange about “A Better Human Being,” an otherwise tense, strong episode, was a case-of-the-week that doesn’t really go anywhere.  It starts promisingly, with a young telepath who has been incorrectly diagnosed as schizophrenic, listening in on a murder.  The reveal that he is part of a hive mind that’s fiercely protective of the colony is potentially interesting, particularly in how it mirrors the apparent invasion of Olivia’s mind, but once the colony murder their donor father, the story pretty much fizzles out.  The episode could have been that much stronger by focusing solely on Olivia’s integration back into the Fringe universe.  But minor quibbles about focus pale in comparison to how excitingly this sets up the next episode, our last before a lengthy hiatus.

Glee, Season 3, Episode 14: Heart

Glee has had good luck with its previous Valentine’s Day episodes, and, generally speaking, episodes built around a theme rather than a storyline the writers have pulled out of their asses works in the show’s favour.  So this week’s episode, which provided a series of not-too-illuminating vignettes of its happy couples, was pleasing, if not as effective as last year’s “Silly Love Songs,” which focused on those left outside.  We also finally get to meet Rachel’s dads, half on whom is played by an on-form Jeff Goldblum, who practise some bizarre reverse psychology by allowing Finn to stay over, thus proving to the pair that living together isn’t as easy as they might have thought.  That this pivots on Finn needing to take a shit in Rachel’s bathroom, and that their subsequent reconciliation after an argument about their future together happens off-screen, speaks volumes about what kind of show Glee has become.  All attempts at serialised storytelling have pretty much been thrown out of the window at this point, which is why an episode like “Heart,” which is all about small moments, and doesn’t have to concern itself with its increasingly schizoid adult characters, works reasonably well.  Ever fond of pursuing its political points in ham-fisted ways, Glee also points to the hypocrisy of people’s acceptance of heterosexual couples necking versus Brittany and Santana’s polite peck on the lips.  It’s kind of a valid point, but one that might have been better served had it come parcelled with an actual storyline for its lesbian characters, which is surely just as much of a disservice, albeit in a different way.  Better was Mercedes’ decision to tell Shane about her and Sam, in addition to telling Sam that she needed to be single until she could figure out what she wanted from love.  Since this is Glee, I’m sure that this is just another excuse to drag the story out, but it provided Mercedes with a few decent emotional moments (plus a very good rendition of “I Will Always Love You,” which Ryan Murphy must be so pleased he scheduled for this particular week), even if she is somewhat stuck on a raft ever since the show forgot that she was ever friends with Quinn and Kurt.  I also – against my better judgement – enjoyed the God Squad, a religious group that we will doubtless never see again, and which existed purely to give space to another cast-off from The Glee Project, who needed to work out his feelings about singing a romantic song to a lesbian.  As ridiculous as this story sounds (and, in fact, was), it produced a few decent laughs, or enough to make me remember when Glee used to be a comedy.  Karofsky also pops up, in one of Glee’s more fully-realised continuing stories, as a potential Valentines for Kurt.  Glee has always handled its characters’ struggles with their sexual orientation well, and so Karofsky’s shaking hand reaching across the table proved for a surprisingly nuanced piece of character drawing.  The absolute worst element of “Heart,” was, of course, yet another attempt to make us care about two of its newest and most one-note characters.  Why both Artie and Rory would be so head-over-heels about Sugar is something the writers haven’t bothered to build to at all; it happens here because a Valentine’s Day special demands it, and having Rory sing a Michael Bublé song (especially after an empty promise of his imminent deportation) was, and there’s no finer way of saying this, the absolute worst.  Still, by Glee’s current standards, this was loopy and occasionally funny.  Sure, it’s a low bar that the show has set for itself, but it’s enough to make me not want to pull my hair out.

Gossip Girl, Season 5, Episode 15: Crazy, Cupid, Love

And just like that, Gossip Girl sidesteps any awkward questions about the forced nature of the Grimaldi marriage.  The episode opens with Blair returned from honeymoon, seemingly free from Louis, with the exception of a female minder who – no surprise here – is in love with the prince.  Since the show has done such a dreadful job of making Louis seem anything other than a complete waste of time, Blair’s unwanted marriage doesn’t contain nearly enough of the requisite drama to make the proposition of her sticking to a year-long contract either interesting or, indeed, plausible.  We might hate Louis because he’s dull, but surely the story demands us to hate him for the way he’s treated Blair?  Unfortunately, the show itself seems to have dealt her a poorer hand, and Leighton Meester is relegated to bringing Dan and Serena back together this week.  It’s a plan that seems to work until Georgina (by far the best character at the moment) decides to ruin it by, in a series of slick(ish) manoeuvres gets Dan to kiss Blair, Blair to admit to having feelings for Dan, arrange for Serena to witness to whole thing, and show an incriminating photo to Chuck.  Since the Blair/Dan pairing is one of the few signs of life that Gossip Girl has left, I’m all for the writers pursuing this particular pairing.  Less interesting was the return of Charlie, who – naturally – bumps into the real Charlotte Rhodes, who is herself stuck in the death zone that is Nate’s love interest.  This doesn’t promise much in the way of intrigue, especially since there’s nothing to reveal to the viewer that they didn’t already discover way back in Season 4, but expect some heavy-handed drama to be wrung out of the proceedings, since the show seems intent on making Charlie sympathetic rather than all-out evil when the latter option would be far more fun to watch. 

Revenge, Season 1, Episode 15: Chaos

This is what we’ve all been waiting for, and although perfectly engineered, this week’s engagement party climax can’t help but disappoint slightly.  Turns out it was Tyler who stole Emily’s box of secrets, kidnapping Amanda as well in order to reveal to her that it was her best friend rather than Victoria who framed her for arson in the hope of getting rid of her.  Amanda is one of the few characters on Revenge that hasn’t always been best served by the writing, but her ambiguity worked well here, since we were never really sure where her loyalties lay.  Sure, she felt betrayed by Emily, but does she really trust Tyler?  Using her to help him force Emily to pay over a hefty ransom to have her treasure chest returned to her might not have been the best move…The episode ends with the reveal that it wasn’t Daniel who had been killed, but Tyler.  It seems obvious in retrospect, and almost like a cop-out in some ways.  Tyler was such a great villain, that he didn’t really deserve being relegated to mid-season twist.  Of course, the back end of Season 1 will now concern itself with who killed Tyler.  We have at least two suspects in Amanda, who Jack finds her hunched over the body, and Daniel, who stumbles across the sand dunes covered in blood.  “Chaos” cleverly brought together several long-running storylines here, including Charlotte’s continuing disenchantment with her family, Jack’s mixed feelings for Amanda, and Victoria’s fractious relationships with just about everyone.  If anything, the episode felt like too much of a well-oiled machine.  It’s an odd criticism, especially considering that the show’s carefully thought-out plotting and structure is one of its strongest points, but the final twist felt slightly perfunctory in its table-setting for episodes to come.  And whilst I don’t doubt that the remaining episodes will be as slickly enjoyable as everything that’s come before – and Revenge has always excelled at keeping its various, complicated intrigues tied into its primary story arc – “Chaos” didn’t feel quite like the climax it was surely intended as.

Ringer, Season 1, Episode 13: It’s Easy To Cry When This Much Cash Is Involved

I’m still at a loss to understand the appeal of Ringer.  It’s not good.  It’s not so bad that it’s good.  And even I have my limits in terms of following Sarah Michelle Gellar anywhere (Suburban Girl anyone?).  Ringer is a show that started stupid, and just became increasingly ridiculous and incoherent.  This week threw a particularly clunky twist into the mix, with Juliet revealing that she’s been lying about the rape all along and that she is, in fact, in cahoots with her teacher and Tessa in order to extract money from her father.  Not only are there plenty of flaws to the scheme itself, but the motivation behind it appears all but non-existent from Juliet’s perspective.  What is she planning to do with this money?  And for a character that up until now has been depicted as troubled but sympathetic, gradually warming up to Siobhan as a mother figure and generally trying to pull herself together, does this make even a lick of sense?  No, but since Ringer never saw a predictable twist it could pass up, suddenly we’re stuck with another mystery to drag down the series.  Elsewhere, Bridget comes to the conclusion that Siobhan and Charlie were friends (didn’t we already know this?) and that someone might still be trying to kill her.  This involved the cello teacher from Cruel Intentions, a gun range where Charlie is conveniently listed as shot of the month (or something), and a coffee shop chess table filled with people’s wishes.  Meanwhile, Siobhan appears just as committed to lying to Henry as ever, telling him that the switch was a mutual decision.  At least she reveals her master plan, though.  It’s to steal some money from Andrew, since apparently Henry and Gemma’s money wouldn’t be enough to sustain them in the lifestyle to which she’s accustomed.  It’s beginning to feel as if the writers believe that character motivation must either be sex or money, with no grey area, and a central mystery that is as slow-moving as it is interesting.  There’s something appealing about just how naff Ringer is, especially since it appears to be aiming for adult drama rather than camp.  In a world where all camp is presented to us in inverted quote marks, and a trashy soap opera like Revenge is one of the most consistently written shows airing at the moment, it’s Ringer that is the closest TV comes to genuine camp.  So incompetently is it written, so sloppily is it presented, so lazily does it throw kinks into its already kink-heavy plot, it exerts a strange sort of fascination, not least for dragging down one of 90s TV’s most enduring icons down into the morass along with it. 

Smash, Season 1, Episode 2: The Callback

I’m sure many people were expecting the show to drag this decision out a lot longer, but “Callback” seems to answer the question of whether Ivy or Karen gets to play Marilyn.  This second episode of NBC’s new Great White Hope largely builds on the successes and failures of the pilot.  The bulk of “Callback” rests on the comparisons the show makes between its two potential leading ladies.  Karen has a knock-out voice and a naiveté key to playing Marilyn.  Ivy looks the part, has been on Broadway for ten years, and brings a wounded nature to the role that’s just as important as the innocence.  On paper it doesn’t seem like much of a competition.  Whilst Katherine McPhee has an easy sort of charm, she’s not nearly as good a performer as Megan Hilty, whose reading of Marilyn for her Joe DiMaggio scene marked the first time where the audience caught a glimpse of the star quality the rest of the characters are all clamouring to insist upon.  So I’m thankful, then, that Ivy wins the part.  But everything surrounding this win suggests this won’t be the last of it, not least because the show seems to position her sleeping with Derek as contributing to her eventual hiring.  Since these are two women in very different stages of their career, the show’s idea of pitching them against one another feels wrong-headed, especially since showing two very different sides to the life of a Broadway actress would be more interesting than the same one twice over.  Slightly more troubling was the insistence of continuing with Julia’s adoption storyline, which completely changes tack from last week (now it’s her husband that’s not fully committed) and includes some bizarre justification from their teenage son as to who will look after his baby sister if they don’t.  It’s baffling and, in the show’s closing moments where Julia is required to read aloud a letter to her daughter’s biological mother, treacly and unsympathetic.  Why does this successful couple with a well-adjusted son want another child in the first place?  I’m not sure the show has really answered this for us.  These subplots – including a rehearsal that runs overtime so Karen has to miss a big dinner date with Dev, Anjelica Huston’s ongoing divorce proceedings, Ivy’s stock supportive friends – feel soapy without being terribly entertaining.  This is a shame, because most of the Broadway material plays well, from Julia and Tom’s forehead-furrowing over the correct song order for the musical, to Derek’s criticism of Karen’s wishy-washy acting and the original songs.  Smash needs to have more confidence in what sets it apart, because this is far more engaging and better put together than the family drama one assumes is in place to reel in those not so keen on the idea of watching another musical.  Why a musical that takes place behind the scenes of a Broadway production need be embarrassed of its very setting is a mystery, but the more padding it’s given, the less convincing its best bits become. 

Spartacus, Season 2, Episode 4: Empty Hands

This week was a good one for Ilithya.  With Spartacus stuck in a holding pattern of sorts, lost in the woods and attempting to flee the Roman guards with Naevia in tow, so the bulk of the action took place in the ludus.  With several new characters added to the mix this season, a return of focus to the upper classes and their complex power plays was much needed this week.  With Glabus’ power on the wane, Ilithya sets her sights on Varinius, a praetor with considerably more promise than her husband.  After proving her strong stomach by calmly, and bloodily, dispatching with a capturing gladiator where younger rival Seppia faltered.  After extracting a promise from Varinius that he would consider her were she to dissolve her marriage to Glabus (what would happen to the baby remains a troubling question mark), Ilythia discovers Lucretia having sex with her father.  Ostensibly, Lucretia is doing so in order to obtain the divorce that Ilithya is craving, although I’m willing to bet there’s a very different endgame playing on Lucretia’s mind here.  One of Spartacus’ strong points has always been its strong grasp of characterisation and its understanding that it needs this in order to sell the melodrama. “Empty Hands” further expands the world of the show, in a season that has been characteristically unafraid of forging a new path for itself both inside and outside of the ludus.

Switched At Birth, Season 1, Episode 17: Protect Me From What I Want

A subtle but nevertheless superb example of what all well-written family dramas should be aiming for.  When an art dealer visits town, Regina insists that he look at Bay’s paintings.  He’s impressed by her technique, but – he argues – she’s still a sixteen year-old girl who is yet to find her voice.  He’s much more interested in one of Regina’s own works, a painting she made whilst recovering from her alcoholism.  The way this played out, with Regina straightforwardly explaining to Bay that her art lacks a maturity that will come in time.  Bay’s heartbreak (beautifully played, it must be said), and Regina’s subsequent disagreement with Kathryn about how this information should be presented to their daughter were finely-tuned pieces of conflict, and this particular mother/daughter relationship (coloured as it is by Regina and Bay’s affinity for art) has a huge amount of potential.  Bay was also having problems with Emmett this week, whose problems at home felt a little squeezed out by what was going on around.  An adorable getting-to-know-you session with Kathryn, prompts him to realise that Bay and Ty were more serious than he originally thought, which, combined with his parents’ situation at home, makes him question if his relationship with Bay will stand the test of time.  Like Daphne, another character introduced as a seemingly absolute force of good, I’m pleased that the writers aren’t afraid to have Emmett act selfishly or immaturely, his cold attitude towards his girlfriend eventually thaws as he admits to being in love with her.  We also finally saw Simone’s true colours who, after finding her watch, doesn’t own up even when Daphne’s friends are banned from using the locker room and then, when cornered by Daphne’s guilt, lies to the coach that it was Daphne’s idea.  A competition between the two for point guard, which Daphne wins with ease, and Bay’s very believable story about a worryingly insidious form of bullying that Simone enacted against another girl from their class, seems to do away with the nascent friendship for good.  But since Simone is still dating Toby, I doubt this is the last we’ve seen of her.  Speaking of Toby, he was given an obvious, if effective, storyline of his own this week, as he struggles to make his father take his music seriously.  Toby is so good at baseball, John can’t understand him “wasting” this gift.  Dreams pursued, and a parent’s job in either nurturing these dreams or exposing them to cold reality ran throughout the episode, with both Toby and Bay’s stories running parallel to each other but never feeling as if the writing was forcing a comparison.  This, and the fact that the court case wasn’t mentioned once, made for a nicely-observed, if uneventful, instalment.  And, as Switched At Birth has proven, it doesn’t need big events to remain compelling television. 

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