TV Tyrant

Fringe: Blowing minds since … always

May 9th, 2011 | by | fringe, science fiction, season finale

May
09

I didn’t really expect Fringe to become my No. 1 show.

The first season finale, however, put it there, and with the end of Lost and Battlestar Galactica, it’s been cemented at the top. (Supernatural and Doctor Who are extremely acceptable seconds, though.)

Friday night’s third season finale has made my brain hurt, in the same glorious tradition of the Lost “flash-forward” finale. Just when you think you kind of sort of know what’s going on, Peter flashes out of existence and the Observers are all tilting their heads like cats and telling September how he was right.

But there’s this: If Peter never existed, how were the two universes brought together? If Peter never existed, why did Walter go Over There in the first place? If Peter never existed, why does my brain hurt so much and who is this Polivia everyone’s been kvelling about all season?

I wouldn’t be stuck on the paradox of Peter’s nonexistence if Walter hadn’t made such a big deal about how he couldn’t not send the machine back because of the paradox it created. It may just be that Walter was wrong – that Walter didn’t have to send the machine back in time (by the way, the fact that Walter, Astrid and Ella were the First People? LOVE THAT.), but did because he thought he had to.

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Fringe: The Return of Altlivia and Walternate

September 24th, 2010 | by | fringe

Sep
24

It’s been far too long since Fringe came to an astoundingly amazing second season finale.

While it didn’t have the same punch to the gut the first season finale did — for a New Yorker, nothing will compare with the sight of the Twin Towers still standing there in an alternate Big Apple, with Spock standing there next to Olivia — it still left us yearning for more, as Altlivia took her place in “our” universe and our Olivia begged Walternate to let her out of solitary confinement somewhere far, far from home.

NEW YORK - AUGUST 25: Actress Anna Torv attends the series premiere party of FOX's 'Fringe' at THE XCHANGE on August 25, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

We came into last night’s episode wondering how Olivia would break free (not if, but HOW) and were not disappointed when she faked not being able to breathe and then took out a room full of doctors and punched a soldier in the throat and took his gun.

Naturally, Olivia had managed to tuck the passcode in the recesses of her mind to get into the elevator and out of Walternate’s headquarters on … Liberty Island!?!?!?

And then, again, the sight of the Twin Towers, reminding us just how different this universe is.

Meanwhile, in our world, Altlivia is hanging out with Peter and Walter. I thought for sure when Peter kissed her that he’d realize she wasn’t our Olivia. Who knows – it’s still possible he already realizes it.

Knowing Olivia as we do, I can’t help but wonder when – not if, but when, Altlivia will realize Walter is not the enemy and the “war” was caused by one father’s pain in losing his son. Truth be told, two of the same fathers, losing both their sons in different ways.

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Lost: The additional 12 minutes

August 9th, 2010 | by | lost

Aug
09

After false lead after false lead, I finally found a version of the 12-minute Lost “epilogue” floating around online and I’m very glad I did.

If you want to wait for the official DVD/Blu-Ray version to find out what happened, stop reading now. In other words: SPOILERS AHEAD, DIVERT DIVERT DIVERT!

OK, so if you’re still reading, you either have watched the video or you want to know what’s in it (I won’t link to it here, as I don’t want to contribute to the takedown hunt — plus, for all I know, the version I saw has been taken down anyhow.)

So … were there answers?

Sorta. But enough more was settled that it made me feel even more comfortable with the ending as it was. Except I’d have loved to have seen Lapidus rappelling out of a helicopter or something. Not that it would have had ANYthing to do with ANYthing, but c’mon, that would have been great.

(Note: If you’re as big a Lapidus fan as myself, check out FYeahLapidus.)

OK, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system.

Here’s what I got out of the 12 minutes:
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Eureka tries time travel

July 11th, 2010 | by | eureka, science fiction, season premiere

Jul
11

I truly love this little town in the middle of nowhere in Oregon; I have since the first episode.

Mar 16, 2010 - New York, New York, USA - Actress SALLI RICHARDSON WHITFIELD and Actor COLIN FERGUSON at the 2010 Syfy Upfront Party held at The Museum of Modern Art New York. © Red Carpet Pictures

Eureka’s one of those scifi shows firmly grounded in science and reality (of sorts). It seems like the kind of place you just might get if you gathered the finest scientific minds of their generation and put them all in one place with, more or less, unlimited resources.

It was obvious from the very first episode that Allison and Carter were going to get together, sooner or later. And in Season 2 when they got married and Allison got pregnant, it seemed they weren’t going to tease us with the Sam and Diane scenario for years.

Then, in order to save the town, the timeline, everything, Carter and Henry had to lose their loves to save it all, well, I was willing to go along with it. I was even willing to deal with the detour that was Nathan Stark, as he obviously loved Allison and they did, after all, have a child together.

So when Carter and Tess broke up at the end of Season 3 and Allison had had proper time to grieve, it seemed it was time.

Then, Season 4 had a fabulous opener that did a variety of things:
• gave us insight into the creation of Eureka
• gave us James Callis doing one helluvan American accent
• gave us a time travel paradox
• gave us Allison and Carter kissin’ and lovin’ and Jo kicking some SERIOUS ass.

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Revamping the Tyrant

June 29th, 2010 | by | 24, battlestar galactica, canceled, eureka, jack bauer, lost, science fiction, season finale, series finale, supernatural, warehouse 13

Jun
29

You probably noticed the site looks a little different today. I just upgraded to WordPress 3.0 and upgraded my theme and decided I wanted to get away from the old snow in the background I used to have, as it was rather harsh on the eyes anyway. I haven’t decided what background to go with yet, but it made no sense to reinstall that old background.

I’m not fond of this neon orange, so don’t worry – it’s not here to stay. :-)

I’ve been rather lax in updating the blog in the past month, as you’ve likely noticed.

The end of two of my all-time favorite shows – Lost and 24 – left me unsure about what I wanted to blog on next. June is a pretty crappy month for TV anymore and though I love Burn Notice and In Plain Sight, I just don’t have a lot to talk about. I’d gotten so used to the analysis of Lost and Battlestar and the mocking of or cheering on for 24 that I don’t really want to go back to the recap route.

Fortunately, Warehouse 13 and Eureka start up soon, and I think both will provide plenty of fodder for good TVT posts.

Erika is hiding in a corner, crying out of sheer joy that there will be more Jensen Ackles next season. Seriously, though, I didn’t think they could get another decent season out of Supernatural after the apocalypse this season, but that final scene last month convinced me otherwise.

I’m also watching some stuff via Netflix, so I might start blogging about that. And I still have Season 2 of Torchwood to plow through. But I don’t want TVT to become an archival TV blog. Or, wait – that might be kinda cool.

Anyway, as you can see, I’m trying to figure out the direction to go in. I love TV (well, certain TV shows anyhow) and I do enjoy writing about it. I appreciate all the discussions and comments and everything we’ve had here, and they will continue, I promise.

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Lost: I cried for two and a half hours

May 24th, 2010 | by | lost, series finale

May
24

Before I get into the meat of the matter, I have to ask this of the folks out there who didn’t like the finale of Lost last night:

You didn’t like the Battlestar Galactica ending either, did you?

I ask that not to accuse you of just not liking finales to shows you’ve loved. I ask that because in both cases, I believe the ending was absolutely the culmination of everything that came before.

The endings MADE SENSE. Yes, you can nitpick and complain about little things here or there that didn’t make sense. When you’ve unraveled as much string as both of these shows did, it’s hard to get it all back into a neat little ball of yarn.

Not all questions were answered, and in some cases that was infuriating (from both shows).

But, in the end, the show was what it was always about: The people. Love. Fate. Free will. The afterlife.

The only way to tackle last night’s action-packed ending is by bullet points. I’m emotionally exhausted and I still have two hours of 24 to watch tonight, and that promises to be as equally emotionally wrenching. Read full story

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Lost: And now … the end is near …

May 19th, 2010 | by | lost

May
19

We’re down to the last 2.5 hours of one of the best shows in the history of television (1- that’s not hyperbole and 2- even if it were, I’m allowed). If you haven’t watched Tuesday’s ep yet, LEAVE NOW.

So, we had two very distinct sets of stories going on last night and they’re hurtling toward one another, faster and faster, ready to culminate in … what?

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Lost: Across the Sea

May 12th, 2010 | by | lost

May
12

Didn’t watch? Get the frak outta here!

OK, so this episode answered soooooo many questions, even as it raised others. The biggest question it answered (and theory it put to rest) was the identity of the island’s “Adam and Eve” – Jacob’s adoptive mother and his brother, the actual MiB.

Loved that it flashed back to that scene from Season 1 where Jack and Kate found the skeletons in the caves and Locked dubbed them Adam and Eve, reminding anyone who may not be keeping detailed notes about the show (all five of you). The “Rose and Bernard are Adam and Eve” theory was shot to hell there. (Also, nice foreshadowing of Flocke; he was still the Locke we knew and loved at that point.)

No time warp, no one we knew – but extremely important to the history of the island.

By the way, remember when Locke was dragged into the ground by Smokey in Season 1 or 2, but was dragged back out and said he’d seen the heart of the island and it was beautiful? Yeah, he was doomed all the way back then.

Here’s what we learned and questions I have:

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Lost: The Candidate

May 5th, 2010 | by | tv shows

May
05

Usual spoiler alerts. Do I even need to say that?

Anyway, I’ve seen a lot of hate the last couple of days for Tuesday’s episode, but I loved it.

Yes, at least three beloved, probably four (Frank), characters met their demise in Davy Jones’ locker. No, we don’t feel all that much closer to finding out what’s going on. Yes, it was unnerving that we just wanted to punch Sawyer and say, “JUST LISTEN TO JACK ALREADY!”

But this show has never been about happy endings. In fact, I suspect that Sayid, Sun & Jin’s endings are about as happy as one could expect from Lost.

Sayid was under the thrall of Flocke the last few episodes. It was nice to see him break free of that psychological hold and give his own life to save his friends. They are his friends and he was never going to be with the love of his life, in this reality or any other. He realized that. If there is an afterlife, then Sayid can be with her there. And maybe he will be, Star Wars-style? (I wouldn’t mind Hurley “seeing” the two of them, smiling, holding hands, before the end.)

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