TV Tyrant

Lost: The Lighthouse

February 26th, 2010 | by | tv shows

Feb
26

I was struck this week by how perfect the music is on Lost.

I think it came to mind because I finally watched, “There Will Be Blood” last weekend (why did everyone flip out about that milkshake line? I mean, really!) and the soundtrack reminded me of Lost.

It wasn’t so much that the music sounded like the soundtrack of the Best Show On Television, though there certainly were moments that sounded similar. It was how the music evoked a feeling the moment before the movie did.

Every music change on Lost prepares you for the next moment. It so perfectly sets up the next feeling, emotion.

That was in evidence this week, as the Lighthouse episode answered more bits and pieces and brought us justhismuchcloser to find out what on Earth is going on here.

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24: A tale of two episodes

February 23rd, 2010 | by | 24

Feb
23

The last two hours of 24 – 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. and 12 a.m. to 1 a.m. – have been both exhiliarating and a crapfest.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some fantastic moments in last night’s episode – Jack’s defense of Renee, his Jack Sack adjustment, his being freed even though he’d just attacked an official of the Justice Department – but it was so overwhelmed by the stupid Dana/Jenny plot as to be infuriating.

There have been many stupid side plots on 24, with Season 2′s “Misadventures of Kim Bauer” — which included her being framed for murder, being trapped by a mountain lion (cougar), being held hostage by Johnny Drama for about an hour and being a hostage in a convenience store robbery (really? the Kwik-E-Mart? Truth be told, that was even stupider than the cougar) — being the gold standard up until now.

Why is 24 wasting Katee Sackhoff on such a putrid storyline?

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Lost: The Substitute

February 18th, 2010 | by | lost

Feb
18

One of many things I love about Lost is that they are so meticulous about titling their episodes.

“The Substitute” works on so many levels.

Most obviously, Locke finds his calling, perhaps, as a substitute teacher (I’ll get to Ben later. Yowza!).

But then there’s the idea of the substitute Locke on the Island. He’s Smocke, and he can, it seems, take form as the Smoke Monster, but also as John Locke. According to Jacob’s bodyguard, he can’t take on the form of anyone else right now, though (of course) we have no idea why.

And then there’s the third level (ooh, a trinity!) – Jacob has been looking for a substitute all this time. Sawyer was a candidate. Jack. Hurley. Sayid. Jin (or Sun, but I’m guessing Jin). Locke (the real one). So many names crossed off. Noticed “Austen” wasn’t among the names Smocke pointed out. Is that because he must take the form of a man or because Kate isn’t “suitable”?

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Caprica: In Which Joseph Adama Becomes Badass

February 17th, 2010 | by | battlestar galactica, caprica

Feb
17

The most interesting thing, to me, about Reins of a Waterfall, is that we started, finally, to see the Joseph Adama who was hinted at in Battlestar Galactica.

Up to this point, the Joseph Adams/Adama we’ve seen in Caprica is a family man. Sure, he’s related to a major crime family, but he’s the legit one. Sure, he works long hours, but he loves his family and is trying to do right by his son.

We saw snatches of a more domestic Joseph before the bombing, talking with his daughter and wife on the cell. We see it in his attempts to bond with Willie. We see it in his tears for his daughter, whom he now believes to be gone forever.

But the Joseph Adama we heard about on Battlestar was different. He was badass enough to have produced Bill Adama, who joined the military – about as big a rebellion as he could find, it appeared.

The Joseph Adama we heard about seemed mythical, almost. Larger than life.

And in the final moments of “Waterfall,” we saw that man begin to emerge.

His admonition to his brother to “balance things out,” was downright chilling.

For the Graystones, the hurt is only just beginning.

For the viewer, things are really starting to get good.

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Lost: What Kate Does. Or Did. Or Something Like That.

February 11th, 2010 | by | lost

Feb
11

As usual, my brain hurt (in a good way) after watching Lost this week. Though it didn’t REALLY answer any questions, it did start to go in that direction, I thought.

I have trouble recapping Lost in any sort of normal way – I suppose that’s because it’s anything but a normal show, so I’m going to do what I did last week and break it into two parts: Alternate Reality and The Island. Since we didn’t get anything with Ben and the Others with him or Smokey Locke with Richard, I’m not going to say too much about them, except for some fascinating thoughts about Richard in this post from JOpinionated.

OK, so, let’s start with the

Alternate reality

Further evidence that this group of people are drawn together and that no matter how reality changes, some things stay the same.

Remember how Kate was the one who delivered Aaron in the jungle first time around? No coincidence that she’s there when Claire almost gives birth. She and Claire have a strong connection. That stuffed animal, the orca whale in Claire’s bag? Didn’t Aaron have one just like it when he was living with Kate?

And Claire is fated to raise her child, at least off-island. The couple who were supposed to adopt suddenly split just before Claire flies to the states? And the wife doesn’t bother to call to say, “Nevermind”? That’s because Claire was supposed to get on that plane. I can’t help but think that somehow Jack will find out Claire is his sister (trust me, I’m chomping at the bit to get to that part, too, but patience!) and they’ll be drawn together.

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24: Can you say, “Awesometastic,” boys and girls?

February 9th, 2010 | by | 24

Feb
09

OK, let me start by saying that the entirety of Monday night’s episode was about as far from Awesometastic as you can get.

In fact, I almost fell asleep a couple of times. Or would have, anyway, if I hadn’t been liveblogging.

But that 30 seconds or so — you know what I’m talking about — were among the best 30 seconds in the history of this storied show.

Let’s recap, shall we?

Renee stabs the crap out of Leoben Vlad, ’till he’s dead and bloody on the floor. Jack comes in, Renee stabs him in the gut.

Oops.

Jack slumps to the ground.

Suddenly, a bad guy bursts in! Without missing a beat, Jack slides the knife out of his gut and flings it across the room as only Jack Bauer can, stabbing the bad guy in the throat. I think he got pinned against the wall, even.

But wait, there’s more.

Jack and Renee leave the room, whereupon Jack shoots two more bad guys — to death! By the way, he’s bleeding a lot.

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Caprica: Rebirth

February 7th, 2010 | by | battlestar galactica, caprica

Feb
07

The fascinating thing about a prequel is that it can answer so many questions.

In the case of Caprica, there were many questions never answered by Battlestar Galactica, and it appears we are getting those explanations. Starting to, at least.

For one, why did the Cylons believe in one god rather than many?

Well, Zoe Graystone, who is both Adam and Eve for the Cylons, was a member of the Soldiers of the One, a monotheistic group who believed terror was the means to an end. And she was more than just an enthusiastic foot soldier, I believe.

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Lost: LA X

February 4th, 2010 | by | lost

Feb
04

First, let me just say this about Lost’s return to the airwaves for its final season:

Wow.

Forgetting for a moment all the questions it answered and new ones it raised, I find myself continually amazed at the skill of the writers, actors, directors – hell, even the Best Boy deserves an Emmy so far as I’m concerned.

This two-parter was gorgeously filmed. Impeccably acted. Fantastically – and minimally – written. Surprises were truly surprises. Neither acting nor writing telegraphed what was going to come next.

And hear this, Emmy voters: If you do NOT give Elizabeth Mitchell an Emmy this time around, I will personally come to your houses and insist you give me an explanation. There’s no way that I should have cried when seeing Juliet die even in the “previously on Lost,” scenes. Oh, and Josh Holloway? Going back and forth between his alternate universe “Hey there, pretty lady” personality and his utterly changed James Who Loved Juliet, I think he may be the best actor on a show filled with amazing actors. If he doesn’t get one, I’m also gonna camp out on Emmy voters’ lawns.

It’s so hard to dissect an episode of Lost. There’s so much there and it takes repeated viewing to truly get everything. And this was TWO HOURS. So I’m just gonna go through it all by location and probably will have to come back later and do another post.

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