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.

The attachment her teacher had to her was extreme. And with the first “true” episode’s revelation that the teacher is in a plural marriage, her looking forward to a “new family” on Gemenon would seem to indicate that perhaps that was her future. Did she know it? That remains to be seen. (And if the second episode answers that, shut up. It isn’t available until four days after broadcast on Hulu.)

Interesting point there: the Zoe-bot is a trinity. She is Zoe, she is Zoe’s avatar and she is the robot. Three sides of one, just like the Holy Trinity. To me, it’s a fascinating point, because I never understood the idea of the Holy Trinity. One scene in Caprica and I’m all, “Oh, THAT’S what that’s about.”

Obviously, the entire religion will coalesce around this Zoe-bot and as the robots are treated worse and the Soldiers of the One are driven further underground, she will become somewhat of a Jesus figure, no?

Another question: Why, really, did Cylons rebel?

That question was never really too hard to suss out, it’s your basic slave rebellion scenario. But, still, it’s interesting to see its roots rather than the aftermath.

And to see difference in how people react to the initial soldier robot. The one guy who’s all into Zoe and calls her a she and is trying to teach her, rather than order her around. Then there’s the other one, who just sees Zoe as a big hunk o’ metal that should just shut up and do what it’s told.

Amazing, of course, how little is learned from the Cylon rebellion in human society, with Capricans still maintaining their elite status within the Colonies by the time BSG rolls around in the timeline.

What I like most about Caprica so far is how although it’s connected to BSG through the character of William Adams — and I love to see glimpses of how his nature was formed through the Yin and Yang of his father and uncle (did you realize that was his uncle?) — it does stand on its own.

All the other characters are new. Even Joseph Adama is new, as he was past tense in BSG. In addition, the Joseph Adama we knew of obviously grew out of this tragedy and does not exist at this point. He has not yet become the man who begat, albeit intellectually, Romo Lampkin.

If Caprica continues along this path, it will be a rarity among prequels: Something equal to, if not surpassing, the original (used loosely, as the BSG we’ve come to love is a sequel to the BSG we knew and loved, cheese and all, in the 1970s).

Bookmark It

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.

Alternate (or is it?) reality

What, exactly, is this other reality we’re seeing where everything is the same, yet justatinybit different? Hurley lucky? Boone couldn’t get Shannon to leave Australia? Wait – Boone’s flying coach?

Some things aren’t different at all, though — Locke’s still paralyzed, Jack’s father is still dead, Charlie’s still a heroin addict (Charlie’s alive!!!!), Kate’s still a fugitive. Jin & Sun are still a troubled couple, with Sun still pretending she doesn’t know English. Does Rose still have cancer?

And was Desmond actually on the plane? Was he a figment of Jack’s imagination, a sliver of the other universe/reality coming through?

It was fun seeing Doc Arzt again. I know Lindelof & Cuse loved the character and have brought him back whenever they could, despite his being blown up by dynamite. I hope we get to see him a few more times. (It was even OK seeing Frogurt again.)

Whatever the case with Desmond, it’s obvious a little bit of the other reality is bleeding through. The paths of all the Losties are overlapping again. Jack’s father’s coffin is MIA and so is Locke’s bag o’ knives. That is NOT a coincidence. That is the island, underwater though it may be, exerting its power in some way.

But how does Juliet know reality reset? Did she, in her onthevergeofdeath state, somehow see this other universe where she had never come to the island?

And what does it really mean that reality reset? Obviously, it’s an alternate reality. Did that reality not exist until the bomb went off? In a quantum physics sort of explanation, there always was a reality where the bomb went off and this alternate reality always existed.

But we know that things are never as simple as mere quantum physics on Lost. The entire stream of the show has been the question of whether everything is predetermined or if we actually have some control over our fate. Not a simple question, and Lost is giving us its usual not-simple answer.

So I imagine that, somewhere, Christian Shepherd’s body is lugging around Locke’s bag o’ knives. And soon enough, that’ll rear its head and the two realities will come crashing together. The island still exists – Giant Foot Statue and all – albeit under the ocean (btw, WTF?).

I would imagine that sooner or later all our Losties end up hanging out back in the “real world,” even if they don’t know why. And will Jack cure Locke? I tend to think so.

The island storyline – at the Temple

First off, what what year is it on the island where our Losties are? We all assumed it was current time where Sun and Frank and Ben were. But Cindy’s long hair and mention of “the first plane” (nevermind that some other random guy we’ve never seen before is in charge, which would seem to indicate perhaps a couple of changes in Others leadership have occurred, made it seem as if we were maybe 10 years in the future? Maybe more, as some Others don’t really seem to age on the island. Or maybe that’s just Richard.

And just how many planes have crashed on the island? Flight 815 was just “the first.” Whaaaa? Obviously, modes of transport have crashed there for a long time, boats before planes, what with the Black Rock and Rousseau’s boat (please, please, please can we see Rousseau at least one more time? I love that crazy French chick!).

So, the water in the healing pool is supposed to be clear, as Mr. I-Don’t-Like-The-Taste-Of-English’s assistant indicates. Is it unclear because Jacob’s dead? It seems they didn’t know if it would still heal because Mr. IDLTTOE has to slash his hand to test the water.

What I found even more interesting than the fact that they didn’t know why the water had changed color was that they thought Sayid was dead. They didn’t know he’d come back to life.

And what, exactly, was in the note? Obviously, it didn’t indicate that Jacob was dead. And, as always, WHY are these people so important? Why were Jack, Hurley, Jin, Kate & Sayid all on the note? How did Jacob know all of them would be there? (I’m guessing Miles & Sawyer were on there, too, and thus they were jacked and brought back to the Temple.)

Sayid especially, why did he have to be saved, when so many before him haven’t been important enough to save?

The island storyline – with Smokey Locke

OK, so the man in black IS the smoke monster. And he hasn’t inhabited Locke’s body, he merely takes Locke’s form. He can only take the form of dead people, though? Or is it just that it’s more convenient?

I had almost forgotten this, too – the smoke monster, masquerading as Alex, told Ben to do everything that Locke said from now on. So the MIB told Ben to do everything he said without Ben ever knowing.

Was Ben unable to ever see Jacob because he was under the thrall of Smokey? Remember, Ben had full access to Smokey. When Charles Widmore’s men came and killed Alex, Ben went downstairs into that ancient room and let loose the beast: Smokey. I wonder if Jacob chose Ben as the leader of the Others after Widmore was banished and Eloise left (did Eloise leave willingly?) so he would be able to keep a closer eye on Smokey, but then realized Ben was irredeemable?

Obviously, Smokey can’t cross the line of ash for whatever reason (in Supernatural, demons can’t cross a line of salt), so that’s why Jacob’s cabin was always surrounded by a circle of ash. And Jacob needed help because he was basically trapped in his cabin, wherever he chose to move it, because of Smokey’s control over Ben. I think, anyway.

So now Ben is TOTALLY confused. He now sees that Locke is Smokey and now Smokey has Richard and we know that Richard was once locked up in chains, but we have no idea why. Though the assumption is that Smokey had him locked up. Is that why Richard never ages? In return for being freed, he will always serve Jacob. And that means ALways?

So this all brings us to … Sayid.

Yes, Sayid, who is in the temple and is alive. Well, alive in some way. “Alive” doesn’t mean the same thing on Lost as it does on other shows.

Jacob needed Sayid back on the island so badly that he sent the mean chick with the gun to get him. Remember? That’s how Sayid ended up coming back. The pretense of having to go to Guam for some trial or whatever, she made sure Sayid was on the plane. And then Jacob makes sure that Hurley and Jin get Sayid to the temple. Jacob needs Sayid.

Which is interesting, because Sayid is perhaps the MOST flawed of all the Losties, though he’s also perhaps the least flawed. He’s the most flawed, as he became the best torturer in the Republican Guard in Iraq. Perhaps the least flawed, though, because he’s more aware of all his flaws and under no delusion that he’s a “good guy.”

Is this self-awareness the reason why he’s a good host for Jacob’s spirit?

The only good thing about this being the final season is that all these questions should be answered in some form in a mere 16 weeks.

One last note: Please, Damon Lindelof and Carleton Cuse: Make sure Jin & Sun (the new J&S, not the pre-crash couple) and Desmond and Penny (PENNNAH!) are together in the end? PLEASE. PLEASE? PLEEEEEEAAAASE??

These are the two most romantic stories ever in the history of mankind. Especially Desmond and Penny. They make Romeo and Juliet look like a pair of pikers. Really.

Bookmark It

The first episode back after the winter break gave us a very different view of the brothers than we’re used to. Each had to come to grips with the demons (pardon the pun) they face, in his own way.

I think what I liked best about this episode was that just when we thought we knew what it was about, we were wrong. More than once.

Sure, in the end, the identity of the wraith was obvious, but what’s that they say about hindsight being 20/20? I’m consistently impressed by how original the show manages to be.

First, I want to say this about the episode’s final scene: I loved how it made Dean FINALLY forgive Sam, even though that’s not what it was about on the surface. Dean’s entreaty to Sam, “Are you WITH me?” wasn’t simply a question. It was a question, an invitation, a plea.

Those four words were Dean’s way of saying, “You’re my brother. What’s past is past. We have a world to save and the only way we can do it is together. I love you.” Well, that’s what it meant to me, anyway.

The show has spent so much time with Dean making cracks about Sam sucking down demon blood and trusting Ruby more than him, Dean took a real step here. And maybe part of it was that he gave himself a little therapy in the form of his imaginary (hot) doctor. Have to admit, we should have realized the second his doctor introduced herself that she was a figment of his insanity – she was way too attractive to have been the doctor. Not that psychiatrists can’t be attractive, but I even thought to myself, “Figures Dean would get a hottie for a doctor.”

In the end, though, the wraith was right: She ramps up the crazy in her victims, but the special brand of crazy that exhibits itself is all theirs. Dean is frakkin’ ANGRY. And I don’t think it’s because of what he’s done or that Lucifer is waiting to use him as his vessel.

He was born to be Lucifer’s vessel. Or, at least, after the demon blood was dripped onto him. Just like Dean is the vessel for the archangel Michael, and so no matter what he thinks he wants to do, he does the Right Thing, so Sam is the vessel for Lucifer and he bears this extreme rage inside him – the rage that Lucifer has felt against God since his fall.

Wow. Just got really philosophical there for a moment.

Think about it, though. Dean pretty much always tries to be bad, but he just always does the right thing and has dedicated his life to hunting demons and protecting people. Sam is always mad and when he didn’t have his brother around to watch over him, he crossed a line and drank demon blood.

Sure, in a way you can’t really blame Sam. He believed Ruby and thought he was doing the right thing. And I don’t mean it as a slam against Sam. But he was the reluctant hunter. I can’t help but think that the part of him that is Lucifer’s vessel made it so that he would be the one to spring Lucifer from hell, that didn’t really want to go around killing demons. It wasn’t really that he wanted to be “normal,” it was that he was the vessel for the greatest Demon of all.

I’d love to hear what others think. I basically came up with everything I wrote here as I was writing it and haven’t thought this through AT ALL. So please feel free to dispute what I’ve said.

Bookmark It

It’s funny how one scene can really turn an episode on its ear and turn it from meh to must-watch.

It’s a shame I had to wait through the entire episode to get there with this week’s 24, but the mano-a-mano between Renee and Vlad, as she’s on her knees next to the river and Vlad has a gun pointed at her face, demanding the truth was riveting.

My TV signal on Monday kept cutting out, so I only caught little snatches of the episode, mostly involving the crappiest sideplot since what may or may not have happened in Denver in Season 6.

I finally got to catch up on Hulu tonight and couldn’t believe how much Annie Wersching sold that final scene. You saw how tortured she was inside and she was actually telling Vlad the truth – if he didn’t go for the deal, she really didn’t have anything left.

The background of being undercover with the Russian mob and Vlad’s abuse of her makes her relatively fast acceptance of Jack last season make a little more sense. And it gives a different tone to the scene where she berates Jack for his methods, asking if he doesn’t care about anybody.

With the death of Mr. FBI Goody Two-Shoes boss last season, the last person she cared about, other than Jack, was gone. Two of her colleagues turned out to be moles, she went all Jack Bauer on a bunch of guys and Jack almost died.

I think the most amazing thing about Wersching’s understated performance was the over-the-top theatrics of the Dana Walsh/Jenny-oh-I-just-don’t-CARE-what-her-name-is storyline. The only good thing to come out of that insane scene was that we know why, supposedly, CTU didn’t know about her background – she was a minor when she went to prison.

Of course, given that it was for attempted murder and her employer is, oh, CTU, you’d think that the agency would have the resources to uncover such a past. Particularly given how many moles they’ve employed in the past. Someone so susceptible to blackmail? This is like Lynne back in, what, Season 5?

Was I the only one who was watching, thinking, “Come ON, Starbuck, you can totally take this guy. Why are you whimpering like a little girl?”

Sigh.

And president Hassan’s wife leaving him in the midst of a huge international crisis? I mean, I know the guy cheated on you and all, but your timing really sucks, lady.

Anyway, as I said, the end of the episode totally redeemed it and I am completely in love with Annie Wersching, even though she only cut off that guy’s thumb and not his whole hand, as I’d originally thought.

Oh, and having Leoben from BSG and Sark from Alias on board? w00t! I’m a happy girl.

Bookmark It

The first four minutes of the Lost season premiere:

Bookmark It

I haven’t had a chance to finish writing up my thoughts about the Caprica telemovie, but I had to post, in advance of tonight’s first “real” episode, two amazing clips from SyFy.

First, a “season” preview:

And then, this is a preview of tonight’s episode, which I won’t be able to watch until it’s on Hulu:

Looks awesome, no?

Bookmark It

As the season premiere edges ever closer, there’s been tons of great fan-created “Lost” stuff around.

Here’s some of the best:

1) The Crash of Flight 815, in real time, 24-style:

2) The Lost subway map, via John Cabrera:

3) Everything John Locke said in Season 5, from Esquire.com.

4) Esquire got No. 3 from Unlikely Words, which also has Everything Hurley Said and Everything Sawyer Said.

5) io9 has some great stuff, too:
a) The Lost Off-Island Character Coincidences, mapped out
b) The Top 10 Weirdest One-Off Characters on Lost
c) The brand-spankin’ new JJ Abrams Board Game! (Good for Fringe and Alias fans, too!)

6) You can buy a seat on Oceanic Air’s flight 815 from Sydney to Los Angeles through the travel site Kyack, Mashable reported.

Find any other goodies? Please share!

Bookmark It

Sorry for the delay; what with four hours of 24 and lots of other stuff going on, we didn’t get our carnival off the ground the same way we usually do.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have some good entries.

Let’s start with the first Motivational Posters of Season 8, by Adam at The Jack Sack. While all are wonderful, as usual, the one entitled “Dissonance” is brilliance. Really. Brilliance. And I have to, once again, share the fantastic Bauertar poster Adam did previously:

OK, anyhow, BuddyTV can’t quite compete with that, but has an amusing Jack Bauer “Damnit” Security Advisory System, even though they misspelled Dammit. Yes, technically, the word is spelled Damnit, but every Jack Bauer fan for, like a decade almost, has been spelling it Dammit. So, Dammit, get with the program, BuddyTV!

Our very own The Man found this one, for the boys (and some girls, of course), on Funny Crave: The Women of 24. It has every single one of ‘em: Michelle, Starbuck, even Janis Gold. Yes, EVEN JANIS GOLD. This post was, as The Man said, “What Wyatt was doing this weekend.”

Steve over at The Magic Lamp continued his completely over-the-top and chock-full of detail and humor summaries: 4 pm to 5 pm; 5 pm to 6 pm; 6 pm to 7 pm; and 7 pm to 8 pm. Warning: You may need four hours to read through all four episodes’ worth.

Booker Rising has a mini-rant about this season so far, but admits that some of it is just a matter of the usual suspension of belief one must have in order to be a 24 fan. If you read the comments, he also notes that bad 24 is better than most other shows anyhow, which we here at TV Tyrant and Blogs 4 Bauer have often said. And what 24 fan doesn’t rant about the show now and again?

Then, there is my commentary on the first four hours and two videos that sum up the first four hours in about five minutes.

Finally, there were our two live blogs: Sunday’s two hours and Monday’s two hours — each of which has gotten nearly 300 replays. Yeah, people replayed the liveblog. TRUE STORY. We were brilliant, obviously. Either that or Nancy Pelosi can’t get enough of B4B. We prefer to think both, of course.

And our Point/Counterpoint series kicked off Season 8 with
• Jack Bauer is a bad influence on his grandchild, By Grandpa Oscar and
• Jack is a Great Grandpa! by Teri Bauer

And, the first Cap This! of Season 8.

Stop by in a couple hours to join us for tonight’s liveblog.

Bookmark It

These appear to be either official Fox videos or, at least, officially Fox-sanctioned videos. Funny stuff.

First, 4:00 p.m. to 6:p.m. (gotta watch through the end, with the plinking clock):

After the jump, the next two hours.

Bookmark It

It was a bit surreal seeing Jack and Chloe in New York, I must admit, after so many seasons in Los Angeles and then a brief detour to Washington, D.C., last year.

D.C. wasn’t so odd, considering the president always played a major role and, you know, the president spends more time in D.C. than in Los Angeles in the real world. Not that the real world has ever held much sway over the events on 24.

For a while, it seemed CTU had managed to do the impossible: Find a director who outshone Erin Driscoll and Ryan Chappelle in his utter hard-headedness and inability to listen to Jack or Chloe.

By the end of hour four, however, Hastings proved he might turn out to be a CTU director more in the Bill Buchanan (R.I.P.) mold: Once he was proven wrong, he realized the error of his ways, apologized to Jack and Chloe and will be their best ally now.

But I get ahead of  myself.

The story so far: The president of “The Islamic Republic” is being set up for an assassination attempt by his brother, via the Russian Mafia. Yes. His brother, who has the worst hair on TV since the 70s (nickname: Hairbib Schwartzmann, as he looks remarkably like Jason Schwartzmann, albeit with worse hair) makes Wayne Palmer seem like the best presidential brother in the world now.

When the brother hasn’t yet been found out, but is afraid he will be, he stabs a guy in the neck and runs away, his sister-in-law and niece shrieking in dismay.

Did I mention that the aforementioned Islamic Republic President is having an affair with Jessica Stein? Really.  And he seems to love her. This affair led to red herring No. 1 for the season.

Red Herring No. 2 was when Jack got to the house where Davros, the Russian hit man in charge of killing the IR’s president, had killed a cop and his wife not long before and Herc from The Wire shows up and is REALLY pissed off. So he decides to tie up and beat the crap out of the one man on the planet you should never do that to: Jack Bauer.

Jack, tied to a chair, knocked out and punched around, manages to regain his consciousness just in time to attack Herc and break his ribs. I love Jack Bauer.

Fortunately, Herc’s partner isn’t a moron and his Spidey sense tells him Jack’s telling the truth about some plot to blow up the United Nations.

Fast forward, the good cop ends up driving Jack to the U.N. from Queens via the Queens-Midtown wormhole. But even the presence of an anomaly that bends space and time isn’t going to get them there fast enough, so Jack transfers his special brand of insanity via cell phone (there’s an app for that) to Sarah Michele Gellar’s husband, who immediately drives like a maniac to put his car in the path of the IR’s president’s limo so that his car gets blown up and he saves the day.

Everyone except the guy with a pen in his neck survives. Oh, and Davros, who gets the drop on Mr. Gellar but is shot from behind by Jack.

Did I mention that Jack is waiting for his Super Shuttle ride to JFK so he can move back to Los Angeles with Kim? And Kim ends up being the one to convince him to stay behind in New York and save the world because there sure as hell isn’t anyone else who can do it? Kim, by the way, is married to the good vampire from The Vampire Diaries. True story. I don’t think she’s been turned yet. Either that, or she’s a daywalker.

This leaves but two storylines yet unmentioned:

• Starbuck. She may be a mole. Or a Cylon. Either way, she’s engaged to Freddie Prinze “Chico” Jr. and is also being blackmailed by her ex-boyfriend, who just got out of prison. Her name isn’t actually Dana, it’s Jenny, and her ex definitely has her number. And it’s definitely not 867-5309. And now he’s staying at her apartment. And some guy named Arlo is hitting on her at work. No, really. This is this season’s cougar storyline. Look, I love Katee Sackhoff, really I do. But this character and storyline makes me want to bang my head against a wall. Repeatedly. In the first season, the Kim Bauer storyline was stupid at first, but was integral to the overall plot. But starting with Season 2, this show has had a side plot, often involving Kim, which is so stupid and has nothing to do with anything (Chase’s baby?) that it makes you want to just say, WHAT?

• Renee “Red Hot” Walker.

There was little doubt at the end of last season that she was the heir to the Jack Bauer legacy. Though she didn’t show up until Hour 4 this season, she reinforced it in more ways than one.

First off, she’s haunted by what she’s done.

Second, she’s basically been forced out of her job, albeit voluntarily, because she had a hard time not killing a supervisor during a debriefing.

Third, SHE CUT A MAN’S HAND OFF. Sure, she didn’t use a hacksaw, but she used what was handy. In fact, wasn’t that a portable sander? And she did have the presence of mind to suggest to Jack that he cauterize the wound so our connection to Vladimir (Leoben!), head of the Russian Mob wouldn’t, you know, die.

And that, my friends, is why I love this show.

Thoughts? Questions? Disagreements?

Full disclosure: First image via FOX Television. Second image masterfully ’shopped by my friend and yours, Adam of The Jack Sack.

Bookmark It