Week in Review, May 10 to 16

The Week in Television

What's that? NBC renewed Chuck for a fourth season and finally put Heroes out of my misery? Awesome.

Also good news: this television season is nearly at its end.

Monday, May 10th
Liked: The Big Bang Theory (3x21), Chuck (3x16), House (6x20), How I Met Your Mother (5x22)

"Chuck Versus the Tooth" had some interesting ideas and cool dream sequences, and it makes sense that the Intersect would fuck with Chuck's brain like that, but this episode's biggest flaw was that there were no hints of this storyline in previous episodes. One or two similar dream sequences in the past couple of episodes would have gone a long way toward making this episode a winner. The best thing to come out of this episode was Ellie's storyline and how that is leading to the return of Chuck's dad.

"Robots Vs. Wrestlers" was another iffy How I Met Your Mother episode. Lots of funny stuff, sure, such as Mexican Wrestler Ted and Pretentious Ted in his element, but the episode had a bizarre message that I can not support. Enjoying the company of fellow intellectuals makes you a douchebag? No.

The first half of The Big Bang Theory's "The Plimpton Stimulation" was terrific, with Sheldon welcoming his new lady friend (but not in that way) to their apartment, and Leonard getting a surprise visit in the night. The episode went a little off the rails in the second half, although Raj did his best to redeem it, and it was lacking an ending in a big way.

This week's House episode, "Baggage," the first I've commented on in ages, was actually quite good, with the writers finally remembering that House was in mental institution for two hours at the beginning of the season--although if they expect us to believe that House has been in therapy this whole time, they should maybe have mentioned that once or twice. I liked the slick way the therapy session was entangled in the medical mystery of the week. And I enjoyed the return of Alvie, although that character is definitely a case of a little goes a long way.

Tuesday, May 11th
Liked: Glee (1x18), Lost (6x15)

"Across the Sea" was easily the biggest disappointment of the season for many Lost fans. How could the origin story of Jacob and the Man in Black be one of the lesser episodes of this season? For those expecting an episode on the level of the Richard Alpert centric "Ab Aeterno," it wasn't to be. Awkward acting, very few solid answers--instead, we got answers that are still vague and confusing--and a story that could have been told in half the time. Having said all that, I still liked it quite a bit and felt it was thematically consistent with the series, but I'm one of a select few. With only 3.5 hours left in the series, which I am still very much looking forward to, it remains to be seen if this episode will look better in retrospect, or if it will look much, much worse.

Glee's "Laryngitis" had a couple of great storylines (Puck being a dick, and anything involving Kurt and his dad) and one completely awful storyline (Rachel losing her voice, but being inspired by a paralyzed friend of Finn--really, show, really?). The music was above average this week with great renditions of "Jessie's Girl," "The Lady is a Tramp," and "[Kurt]'s Turn," but also included a questionable version of "One" that tied into the awful paralyzed guy story. (Nintendo fanboy nitpick: if you are going to make jokes referencing the Super Mario Bros series, do better research! Star World was introduced in Super Mario World, not Super Mario Bros 3. Sheesh!)

Wednesday, May 12th
Liked: Modern Family (1x23)

"Hawaii" wasn't as good for me as last week's airport-based Modern Family, but it still had plenty of good moments. Phil's futile efforts to turn the family trip into an overdue honeymoon for him and Claire was the strongest through story, and easily had the best ending with a surprisingly well-handled dramatic moment. Also excellent: Manny and Luke as mismatched roommates.

Thursday, May 13th
Loved: Fringe (2x22), Parks and Recreation (2x23)
Liked: 30 Rock (4x21), The Office (6x25)
Meh: Survivor (20x14)

The best thing on TV this week was Fringe's "Over There, Part One," the first part (obviously) of a very cool game-changing season finale. Awesome: two universes, two Walters, and two distinct Fringe teams, as well as the return of the Cortexiphan kids (with a nod to Heroes), the ZFT, Peter reunited with his real mother, and William Bell. Not quite so awesome: the Heroes are all dead, already?--dammit show!

Parks and Recreation introduced new cast members Rob Lowe and Adam Scott with the fun "The Master Plan," where proposed budget costs threatened Leslie's world and, hilariously, amused Ron to no end. April's birthday party led to the best moments, including Tom's hopeless attempt to court a bar full of women, Ann getting wasted drunk, and April and Andy still unable to get in sync.

The Office's "The Chump" was anther solid episode. The Dwight and Angela storyline was quite funny, and had the best payoff when it tied into Jim and Pam's sleeping on the job storyline. Pam's plan to keep Michael's spirits up after the expected end of his relationship with Donna was amusingly elaborate, and Andy's terrible plan to introduce Michael to Donna's husband brought the awkward in a big way. Also good: Toby hate.

30 Rock's absurdly titled "Emanuelle Goes to Dinosaur Land" was very funny. Liz's attempt to give her old boyfriends second chances worked out about as well as would be expected, with "future husband" Wesley somehow looking better and better to her because the only thing wrong with him is that she hates him. Brilliant.

This week's Thursday Survivor was pretty uninteresting, with the next member of the jury being obvious from the start, and no major moves made to change shit up. Family reunion episodes always come up a little short for me, because I don't fucking care about these people's families, although I did laugh at how pissed Colby got with his brother during the challenge. And it's very lame that the show kept setting up immunity challenges that strongly favoured tiny Parvati.

Friday, May 14th
Loved: Party Down (2x4)
Liked: The Ricky Gervais Show (1x12), Stargate Universe (1x17)

Stargate Universe's "Pain" was an okay episode, well-constructed for the most part, with good character development for Chloe, Scott, and Rush, as well as less used characters Volker and James. Greer's storyline was the weak link for me, and when the episode devolved into Greer taking Rush and Camile captive, it lost my interest.

If you hire Party Down to cater a funeral, you get what you deserve. "James Ellison Funeral" was full of ridiculous moments, many cringe-worthy and awkward, but just as many laugh out loud funny.

Saturday, May 15th
Loved: Doctor Who (5x7), Legend of the Seeker (2x21)

"Amy's Choice" was a pretty fantastic standalone Doctor Who episode, with a terrific villain in the Dream Lord, crazy old people doing their best zombie impressions, a cool twist ending that actually makes beautiful sense, and good characterization of everyone. I'm still really enjoying the addition of Rory to the crew of the Tardis.

I certainly did not expect the big two-part season/series finale of Legend of the Seeker to go the direction that it went in "Unbroken," but after my initial WTF-ness, I completely got behind this concept and enjoyed the hell out of it. And, holy shit, that was a pretty bleak ending, leaving a lot hanging off the cliff for part two to pull up. The biggest problem with taking an alternate universe approach to the story telling is that they did the exact same thing with the first season finale. Way to rip yourselves off, guys! Next week: the last Legend of the Seeker ever... sad.

Saturday, May 16th
Liked: Survivor

This Sunday was the big three-hour Survivor finale event. Which means, as is typical: shit loads of filler, such as the 15-minute recap of the season and the silly and boring walk of fallen tribe-mates; the jury being bitter; and the least deserving of the final three winning the game. The reunion show was actually the most enjoyable of the three hours, with Russell being an ass about wanting to change the rules of the game to favour his shitty social play style. But the best thing about the three-hour Survivor finale event: this means that the show is over for a few months--yay! It was a good season, well above average, but watching Survivor is overall a thoroughly empty experience. I probably won't be back in the fall; I'll wait for the next all-stars season.