TERRIERS: Pilot

I really enjoyed the “Terriers” pilot and am pleasantly surprised by how serialized this show is from the very beginning. I know we’re going to have some procedural, case-of-the-week elements thrown in, but it’s comforting to know there’s also a long term arc in place that we’re going to be following for awhile.


Co-stars Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James have a very cool and comfortable chemistry with each other that immediately sucked me in. There’s a great sense of history between these two without the need for a whole bunch of exposition to convey it. Longue and Raymond-James are close friends in real life and actually lived together during production, which is undoubtedly one of the reasons their camaraderie feels so authentic; namely, because it is. You can even tell in the way Hank interacts with Britt’s girlfriend Katie, that this woman has come to think of Hank as a natural extension of Britt, an inextricable part of the whole. She has no problem discussing personal details of her relationship with him.

While Raymond-James is solid and charming in the pilot, I don’t yet have as clear a sense of his character as I do of Hank. Just one episode in, and this show has already made me love its protagonist. There were some great, defining moments for Hank:

-Loved Hank's reaction to finding out his ex-wife is getting remarried. The anguish and desperation that washes over his face is absolutely brutal and perfectly played by Donal Logue.

-I love the sense of pain and regret from Hank every time his drinking is referenced. This is a man who has made really bad, self-destructive choices in his life, and they’re mistakes he thinks about every day.

-Also love the scene where Katie cracks a joke about Britt being hopeless because Hank is his mentor, in reference to Hank’s own painful past. Katie can see she’s hurt Hank’s feelings right away, but Hank views his problems as his problems, and he quickly sucks it up, chooses not to lay any of it on her, and gives her some words of encouragement.

-I love the whole idea that Hank has become a better, redemption-seeking person because of his personal failings. His outrage over what happened to his friend in the final scene with Lindus is palpable. This is a man who has been through hell and caused hell, a man who has crossed a threshold and just can’t handle seeing another injustice or another person taken from him. When he tells Lindus he’s going to destroy him, I believe him.

Despite how satisfying outspoken heroics might feel to Hank, I’m not sure it was the best strategy to tell Lindus that they’re coming after him. After all, this man just had 2 people killed. What exactly is stopping him from having Hank and Britt killed next? This is an huge risk they’re taking, but then, these two like to gamble.


-Side note: Hank Dolworth obviously has a little Vic Mackey in him with the way he had his partner plant that gun.


Overall, I think this was a solid and entertaining pilot. I enjoy these characters and this universe, and I see no reason to think I'm not in it for the long haul with this show. Looking forward to next week.

SONS OF ANARCHY: "So"

First off, I just want to say I’m thrilled SAMCRO is back on the air. Along with Breaking Bad and Mad Men, it’s one of my three favorite current shows. And I think Tuesday’s premiere did a terrific job of seizing on the emotional intensity of last season’s finale, specifically the final ten minutes, and using it to propel the narrative and the tone of season 3.

Season 2 ended with a desperate chase to stop Cameron Hayes from absconding with Jax’s son Abel. The final image of Jax on his knees screaming in anguish was devastating. Season 3 picks up just a few days later. I love this decision because it allows us to experience the initial devastation of our characters; their emotions at their rawest. I also think situations like this are what define characters. Through the choices Jax makes during this crisis, we’ll learn which father he’s becoming, John Teller or Clay Morrow-and the final moments of the episode might lead us to believe it’s Clay.

In the chase for Abel at the end of season 2, we saw Jax in front of the motorcycle pack, as well as being the first one down the docks to stop Cameron. The point is—he had fire in his belly. His fear and anger and adrenaline propelled him. But three days later, all that fire appears to be gone. This is a problem in Jax’s circle. Showing weakness, even in response to something like losing your son, can be fatal. Jax spends most of this episode feeble and weak: someone who seems to have no fight left in him:


-The guys first find him drunk and incapacitated. They have to run the shower over him just to get him conscious.

-On their way down to Cameron’s boat, Jax lags behind. Clay has to ask, “You with us?” That question has large implications, such as, “Are you one of us?” and “If you are, you better start acting like it.”

-When the two gangsters show up for Cameron’s boat, Jax is the last man after them. Moreover, he stops the first chance he gets, ostensibly to help Opie untangle himself, but really because he wants no part of the impending melee.

-When the Sons are cornered by the rival gang who now own Cameron’s boat, Jax convinces them to talk, not through intimidation or cunning, but through pity, through the look and tone of a man who is genuinely desperate and terrified. And those are two things a SAMCRO VP can’t afford to be.


Clay tries to help Jax by gently prodding him through most of the episode. But after Jax’s display, Clay senses that if Jax doesn’t pull himself out of it now, he might lose his reputation forever. So he cuts through the bullshit and tells him the men need to see him angry. Doesn’t matter if it’s because Abel’s dead and he wants revenge, or if it’s because Abel’s alive and Jax “will kill to get him back.” The point is, all Sons from all charters are watching Jax and wondering what kind of man he is. In the world of SAMCRO, the only acceptable response to a tragedy of like this is lethal fury. It’s a gauge of masculinity, pure and simple.

In the episode’s final scene, it’s clear that Clay’s speech worked, and also that Jax had been suppressing his anger, and that it was always there and ready to explode. Jax beats the assassin’s head into the concrete like a mad man, very possibly to death. Thus erasing the question of whether he’s weak, and begging the question of whether he’s unstable: a much better question to have hanging over you in the world of SAMCRO.

I wouldn’t assume Clay’s motives are purely altruistic, though. Keep in mind, while it’s been about a year since Clay & Jax’s near-war for most of us, for them it’s only been a couple weeks. Clay may see a golden opportunity to make Jax forget about John Teller once and for all. That’s my biggest concern for Jax after the episode: In the search for Abel, will he go so far and lose himself so deeply that he ceases to be the man who questions the reasons behind the violence? Will he cease to be the man who wants reform? I, personally, have invested myself in Jax’s long term struggle to achieve Michael Corleone’s dream and make his family business legit. So I’m hoping Jax won’t lose the thing that makes him Jax.

But part of our anti-hero wants to lose himself in the anger and depression. That's part of why he tried to send Tara away. One reason, to be sure, was his stated one, a deep sense of guilt about bringing her into this life and putting her in danger. But part of it is also that if Tara stays, if he still has to see her on a daily basis, he’s not going to be able to lose himself completely. He’ll have to keep it together for her. Trying to end that relationship was a self-destructive act on Jax’s part.

Ironically, insisting on staying may be a self-destructive act on Tara’s part. She’s also experienced a great trauma and is struggling to deal with it. She even breaks down during an operation and has to excuse herself. But how is she supposed to deal with it, except by going back to the people who have become her family? That’s what’s so terrifying to her about Jax breaking up with her, not just losing him, but about losing her whole network of support and community at the moment she needs it most.

But at the same time, she’s deluding herself if she thinks she’s a better person with Jax than without him. Without him she was a doctor. With him, she’s a doctor who breaks down during surgery, punches her boss in the face and threatens the woman's children. Tara’s letting herself believe this lie because the alternative-dealing with everything she’s going through alone-is just too scary. But it may cost her a couple more pieces of her soul in the long run.

Charlie Hunnam was amazing throughout the episode and it seems like season 3 may center around Jax even more than the first two. Jax’s transition from incapacitating grief to terrifying rage was front and center throughout and totally riveting.

Gemma was pushed to the side a bit this episode, not even being told that her grandson is missing. But she's still been through a trauma just as much as Jax and Tara. Gemma is coming to grips with having just killed someone and with being framed and having to flee from the police. It’s clear that being trapped in a motel doesn’t agree with her. Also, Gemma doesn’t have her family to lean on in the same way Jax and Tara do because of her fugitive status.

We see a lot of parallels between mother and son in the way Jax and Gemma handle their respective traumas. Jax ends the episode with a psychotic act of violence misdirected (albeit at someone who still completely deserves it) from the person he really wants to kill. Similarly, we see Gemma stab that poor man in the groin just for stopping her from stealing his car. By the end, we see that Gemma has the same desire to retreat that Jax does. She returns to her father where she doesn’t have to be the strong, powerful matriarch. She can be a kid again. Note the way she calls him “daddy” and the way she rests her head against his knee in the closing montage.

The scene between father and daughter was surprisingly affecting, considering we'd just met the man. He's lost his mind to dementia and his wife has just passed away (I believe she saw her mother’s obit in the paper and then went to see her father…but I wouldn’t bet my life on that). When she hears her dad call out for his wife, "Rosie," with no clue that she’s gone, Gemma realizes he needs her as much as she needs him.

The episode’s final scene was definitely in keeping with Sons of Anarchy tradition. I wonder if we should now start to expect some horrific tragedy at the end of every season premiere? Poor Hale is dead just like that…so much for his hopes to reform Charming (which functioned so well in tandem to Jax’s desire to reform SAMCRO itself). Guess the island was finished with him. Prediction: Jacob Hale is responsible for the attempt on SAMCRO and inadvertently for his own brother’s death.

If this episode was all about how our characters initially cope with thtragedy, the next episode should help clarify their long term trajectories.


Other thoughts:

-Gemma had some great moments: every scene with her dad; stabbing that man; admitting to being a little crazy; and her awesome line, “If I wanted him dickless, it’d be layin’ on the ground next to him.”

-Really enjoyed Half-Sack’s funeral with everyone wearing their jackets and Half-Sack’s cut laid on top of his coffin. All that ritual and tradition really conveys the history and sense of brotherhood behind the club. Reminds me of a mob funeral.

-This was a very good episode for Tara. Her breakdown and both of her scenes with Jax were highly charged. Strange moment when the hospital administrator Tara bloodied catches her falling apart. I wonder if that was just an interesting moment or if the administrator will have a substantive role this season.

-Was good to see Paula Malcomson, a.k.a. Trixie from “Deadwood.” I wonder how the Charming and Belfast story lines will string together. I just hope they work in tandem rather than feeling like 2 separate stories. But Kurt Sutter has done nothing to shake my confidence so far.

RUBICON: "The Truth Will Out"

I enjoyed Monday’s “Rubicon,” though I wasn’t quite on the edge of my seat the way I have been the last 2 weeks. This episode, “The Truth Will Out,” slowed the pace of the story down so that we could get to know our characters a little better. A mole hunt, in which each character is forced to answer a series of personal questions while strapped to a polygraph, is a perfect device to accomplish this.

“Everybody has secrets,” Maggie tells Will at the end of the episode, and the desire to keep those secrets is what this episode was all about.

Each character was terrified that some piece of baggage from his or her past, something about them, would signal them as the guilty party and cause their downfall. Tanya was so nervous that the polygrapher had to ask her what her name was several times before he could get an accurate reading. She was terrified her substance abuse would be exposed. She makes it through the polygraph because the question she is asked, "Have you ever used any illegal drugs," allows for the possibility that it was all in the distant past. But she may not make it through the drug screening Will set up for her (if indeed that hasn't happened yet off-screen?). Either way, protecting this secret is going to be an ongoing problem for Tanya.

Miles is so paranoid and self-deluded that he actually thinks he might be the mole the FBI is looking for because he accidentally left a file in a cab. Rather than getting to know “facts” about Miles, as with his two colleagues, we got to learn what it was like to be inside his head, and it was not pleasant. Miles lives in a constant state of anxiety. He always feels that in some way, shape, or form, the sky is going to fall on him. I loved the shock on Miles’ face when he was informed he would only be suspended for about a week, and he realized he wasn’t the mole. Miles is definitely someone in danger of becoming like Ed and letting the codes crack him.

We learn that Grant may have cheated on his wife. He insists the machine is wrong, but the polygrapher tells him that even if he didn’t cheat, he’s going to and is already thinking about it-otherwise the needle wouldn’t have jumped. And this comes in the middle of a day in which Grant has already been obsessing about unintentionally letting down both his wife and daughter. Whether he has cheated or not, it’s clear that his exchange with the polygrapher left him shaken to the point where he was afraid to go home after the FBI left. Let’s see if this was just a random bit of character insight or if it comes up again, because Grant struggling with monogamy might not organically mesh with the central plot lines of this series.

The only two people who are not remotely nervous for their polygraphs, Kale and Spangler, are probably the two people with the most to hide. But because these two are so experienced and formidable, they know they’ll have no problem beating the polygraph no matter what they’re asked.

Overall, this was a good episode and I was happy to take some time to get to know these characters. But I wouldn’t mind if the focus now stayed on our central plot lines for the remainder of the season, and the story was allowed to build as much momentum as possible without slowing down. That's not to suggest that I don't want character moments, just that I'd like them in the context of the serialized story we've been watching for the home stretch.

Other thoughts:

-Katherine Rhumor’s scenes were even more noticeably separate from the rest of the show than in episodes past. There was no cross-over between the two storylines. And I couldn’t even figure out what Rhumor was doing during her scenes. It seems like she figured something out, I’m just not sure what.

-Miles finally admits that he’s separated, even if only to the polygrapher. Then we see Julia cross his path again…looks like that relationship might actually be heading somewhere.

-Very suspenseful scene where Will switches out the CD in Spangler’s office. He’s taking a lot of chances. But it seems he finally realizes Spangler is the big bad he’s been looking for.

-Spangler got to be awesome and intimidating once again. Loved the line, “The FBI couldn’t find a mole if one was in a cardboard box at their doorstep!”

Mad Men: "The Suitcase"

I’ve just finished re-watching last night’s “Mad Men” and have confirmed my initial reaction: “The Suitcase” is now my all-time favorite episode of this incredible series. The episode centers around Peggy and Don, and results in the kind of powerful emotional connection both of these closed-off characters have tried and failed to achieve since the show began.


“The Suitcase” is a prime example of something serialized television can do, that a 2 or 3 hour movie simply cannot. It’s an hour of drama that absolutely requires every single other episode that came before it, since the series pilot, for it to be as powerful as it is-and I don’t think “Mad Men” has ever been more powerful.

- If we don’t see Don spend 3 ½ years destroying virtually every single chance for genuine intimacy that’s crossed his path-Anna is the exception-then this episode isn’t as powerful as it is.

-If we don’t spend those years watching Don and Peggy’s tempestuous relationship, and all the hills and valleys it entails, from mentor/protégé to Liston/punching bag and back again, then this episode isn’t as powerful as it is.

-If we don’t see Don visit Peggy in the hospital, and be there for her during her darkest hour, this episode isn’t as powerful as it is.

-If we don’t know about Don’s hidden past and his complex relationship with Anna, if we don’t know that she’s dying tonight, then this episode isn’t as powerful as it is.

In short, “The Suitcase” is my favorite episode because I the entire hour is an emotional climax this series has been building towards since we first met Don Draper; it's the moment he removes his mask, lets another human being in, and has that intimacy reciprocated. That last part, Peggy’s full reciprocation of that trust and that intimacy, is what separates this episode from the moments when Don revealed his past to Betty (with disastrous results) and when he ever so briefly gave Rachel Menkin a glimpse at Dick Whitman. Betty and Rachel both ran off soon after Don opened himself up. But Don and Peggy’s connection is not ephemeral, and if he ever truly does let her leave SCDP, it might really be his darkest hour.

The episode starts with a debate over the 2nd fight between Muhammad Ali (widely still referred to at the time as Cassius Clay  by white people who refused to acknowledge his change in identity) and Sony Liston. Don prefers Liston because he sees him as the strong, silent type. Don disapproves of Ali’s self-promotion (“I’m the greatest…Not if you have to say it”). The fight mirrors the internal conflict that has always existed within Don: talking vs. silence, his intense desire to keep his past hidden vs. his desire for an honest human connection. We saw that battle take place in this season’s premiere, which is bookended by two interviews given by Don, the first in which he stonewalls the reporter, the second in which he openly shares his triumphs. But Don gave that second interview out of obligation, not desire. In “The Suitcase,” Don chooses to open himself up to Peggy out of trust and desire, not out of obligation. Ali’s victory over Liston parallels his own transition from a closed book to someone who can open up. The somewhat on-the-nose final scene of Don asking Peggy to leave the door open symbolizes his own shift from a Liston to an Ali.

Last week I worried about Don’s mistreatment of Peggy. I predicted this situation would come to a head, conceivably resulting in a firing or a resignation. And I must confess, with the direction this episode seemed to be headed early on, I was worried. Don has been getting drunker and meaner all season. In this episode, he shows up over two hours late, and cringes when the non-alcoholic coffee Ms. Blankenship laid out for him offends his pallet. Don telling Peggy, “I’m glad this is an environment where you feel free to fail,” was a brutal moment, and this has been a season full of them.

Don’s abuse only gets worse: fueled by alcohol, grief over Anna’s imminent death, and the whole downward spiral he’s been on since his marriage ended. Peggy finally reaches a tipping point and has to fight back. I was stunned when she yelled, “You have no family, no friends!” I was afraid Don would fire her right there on the spot. She continues by complaining about her lack of credit for the Glo-Coat ad, which she has resented Don for all season. It was an amazing acting moment for Jon Hamm, one of many this episode, when he hits Peggy back with a combination of his recent repulsive behavior and some genuine tough love. I harked back to his hooker-like treatment of Allison when he responded to Peggy’s desire to be thanked with, “That’s what the money’s for!”

But what hit Peggy closer to home were some words of genuine wisdom and tough-to-handle truth,

“You gave me twenty ideas and I picked out one of them that was a kernel that became that commercial!”


&


“You’re Young. EVERYTHING to you is an opportunity.”

These are realities Peggy needs to accept. She doesn’t know everything. She isn’t a master yet. She needs to be patient, to learn, and to wait her turn. Don remembers her contribution to Glo-Coat but points out that it wasn’t nearly as significant as she’s making it out to be. All she had was the germ of an idea; Don was the one who ran with it and made it a commercial. She complains that Don accepted the CLIO, but after Don’s response, she realizes the reason Don got the CLIO is because Don earned the CLIO, not her. She has to wait not only for the recognition she wants, but for the ability to deserve it. She’s only 26. Everything is before her, and it's all opportunities and learning experiences. On the one hand, this undercuts Peggy’s sense of her own accomplishments and current value to the firm, on the other, Don is making her face reality and is once again stepping into the mentor’s role.

Hearing her value questioned comes at a particularly bad moment for Peggy, after she has sacrificed her relationship with Mark for Don and for her job. But she forgives Don in a hysterical scene where the two of them listen to Roger’s notes for his autobiography. The fact that Matthew Weiner and co. were able to find an appropriate moment for humor in the middle of such an emotionally charged episode, without the drama losing any momentum, is pretty amazing. Cooper has no balls? Roger had a fling with Ms. Blanklenship who was the “queen of perversions?” Freaking hilarious.

At the end of the scene, Don confesses he grew up on a farm, Peggy’s first glimpse of Dick Whitman. Don then invites Peggy out for the kind of intimate birthday dinner she wanted, as opposed to the surprise attack Mark tried to spring on her. It’s important to note that Don understands Peggy as well as she understands him. Mark doesn’t know her at all. He completely undercuts what Peggy wants for her own birthday so he can get in good with her family, whom Peggy hates. That lack of connection is the reason Peggy lets him go and the reason she was never that into him in the first place. Don understands that Peggy would much rather have a quiet dinner with someone she can connect to than a surprise party. He understands that, like him, the most important part of her day goes on in that office. And he understands what she went through at her absolute lowest, after she had given her baby up for adoption and was stuck in the hospital in a traumatized state, because he’s the one who helped her through it. That’s why she chooses him throughout the episode, several times over Mark and once over Duck.

The scene with Duck was no less hilarious than the one in Roger's office. I loved seeing Peggy try to deal with the two important alcoholic men in her life; Don is vomiting on one side of her, while Duck is attempting to crap on the other. Don and Duck’s half-assed brawl was comically pathetic. What's important is that Duck calls Peggy a whore, while Don fights for her honor, so at the end Peggy gets rid of Duck and goes back with Don.

Another reason Peggy stays is because she can tell how much pain Don is truly in, even if no one else can. It’s not just about the Samsonite commercial, it’s also about recognizing that Don is in trouble. As the night wears on they both let their guards down. They each share how they saw their fathers die. And Don lets Peggy see more and more of the real him. There was genuine excitement with each new nugget of Dick Whitman that Don left for her. And at each step along the way I was afraid one of the two of them would emotionally close up shop, and they’d both wind up right back where they started. I was nervous when Peggy prodded him about Allison and even more scared when Duck showed up. But Peggy stayed with him through all of it, and Don sleeping in Peggy’s lap was an incredibly tender moment.

In the middle of the night, Don sees a spectral image of Anna visiting him, smiling, and walking off. Whether this is Anna’s actual ghost smiling at the sight of her Dick Whitman having found someone else to connect to, or just a drunken image seen by Don as a result of alcohol and his subconscious, is irrelevant. Either way it signals a transition. Anna may have been the only person who truly knew Dick Whitman, but after that night, Peggy is now the only person who can claim that. On a certain level, Don and Peggy have always understood each other as kindred spirits, but “The Suitcase” marks a definite turning point in terms of truly opening themselves up to each other.

When Don wakes up, still on Peggy’s lap, he chooses to call Anna in front of her, rather than going to another room or asking her to leave. Don wants her there for that moment when he finds out Anna is gone. And after it’s done he breaks down crying and allows himself to be vulnerable in front of Peggy. He says Anna was the only person who truly knew him. But Peggy points out, “That isn’t true.” Especially after that night. In fact, if you consider Don Draper a genuine part of the Draper/Whitman persona, which I do, then Peggy knows Don even better than Anna did, since Peggy’s gotten to experience both sides.

As touching as that moment was, I was still scared when Don briskly sent her home. I was afraid that as soon as Peggy came back Don would act as though it never happened, much like he did with Allison. When Don shows Peggy his ad for Samsonite it seems to be business as usual. But then something unexpected happens, as Don puts his hand on top of Peggy’s and they both look at each other. For me, this was the most moving moment of the series to date. Don acknowledges everything that happened between them the night before as something genuine and real. The end, where he asks Peggy to leave the door opened, may have been a little overt intellectually, but emotionally it worked just fine.

I don’t think this means that Don is now fixed or that he will cease to have a drinking problem and get his life back on track immediately. But I do think rock bottom is now in his rearview mirror. I believe this will prove to be a turning point for Don, and that Peggy will be instrumental in his turn-around. This episode marks a shift not only from the drunken jack-ass Don has been all season, but from the closed book Don has been all series.

Other thoughts:

-It seems less likely than ever that a Don/Peggy romantic relationship will actually happen. Their relationship seems to be built on more of a father-daughter bond. Still, I wouldn’t object if the show went that route in the future, so long as it was handled seamlessly.

-Ms. Blankenship’s racist joke fell a bit flat for me. I’m not sure how much more mileage they can really get out of the terrible secretary joke. Though I did like the reference to her as “the queen of perversions.”

-Poor Duck is so pathetic with his useless business cards and his, “I need you, baby.” Hard to imagine Peggy stayed with him for as long as she did…however long that is.

-Jon Hamm and Elizabeth Moss were both absolutely astonishing throughout. I fully expect this to be the episode they submit to the Emmys next year. And quite frankly, if they don’t win, it will be ridiculous. Not just for their performance this episode, but for their performance all season long. Jon Hamm has never had to portray Draper undergoing as much tumultuous change as he has this season, and every part of it has felt organic. With Bryan Cranston ineligible, and this incredible episode to submit, I think 2011 will be Hamm’s year.

-Just in general, I’ve loved the way this season has oscillated back and forth in tone, from hilarious episodes to episodes like this. There were times during season 3 when I thought the show was dragging, but this season has been gaining momentum as it’s progressed.

-“Breaking Bad” remains my favorite show on TV, but after last night’s episode, I may have to start considering “Mad Men” #2 again…We’ll see when “Sons of Anarchy” premieres tomorrow night. One of the reasons I sometimes rank “Mad Men” below other shows of similar quality is because of the nature of Draper himself, which is so distancing. It’s integral to his character that he keeps everyone from the “real him” and that he shuts down genuine intimacy, but that same quality has left me a little cold and distant as a viewer at times. But after “The Suitcase,” I feel kind of like Peggy, more fully immersed and invested in the story of Don Draper than ever before.

RESCUE ME: Finale or Premiere?

I had really enjoyed the last few episodes of "Rescue Me" leading up to tonight. It seemed to be returning to a top-notch character drama, which quite frankly, it hasn’t consistently been for a number of seasons. But tonight’s finale…I’m not even sure where to begin with all the problems I had with it. Do I begin with what it didn’t do? Or with what it did do? Because both bothered the hell out of me. I think I’ll start with what it didn’t do.


Last week’s penultimate episode finished Damien’s tug-of-war arc about whether or not to remain a fireman. On the one side, Tommy was pushing him to continue following in Jimmy’s footsteps and remain a firefighter. On the other side, Sheila and Mickey were trying to pull him out and convince him to pursue a safer career. In the end, Tommy won the battle for Damien, and as a result, Damien literally met a crushing end. This tragedy befalling one of the show’s most likeable and innocent characters set up what should have been a  powerful and emotionally draining finale.

Here are the powerful dramatic moments I was expecting to see:

1) Sheila learning what happened to her son, resulting in the emotional tour de force acting I’ve come to expect from Callie Thorne. Presumably, Tommy would have been the one to break the news to her, making the moment all the more powerful.

2) Sheila’s rage towards Tommy manifesting itself in putting all the blame on him.

3) Tommy being driven back to the brink of the bottle because of his own massive sense of culpability for what happened.

4) Janet’s initial reactions of rage and jealousy at seeing Tommy try to help Sheila after Damien’s tragedy drove him back to her as a protector.*

5) The very serious treatment of the reaction of everyone in this universe, and the toll Damien’s accident took on them.

#4 we did get, but because it was so much later, Janet is able to take a much firmer and more reasonable stand against Tommy's priorities. It would have been more compelling to see her dealing with the ambiguity of having these feelings while simultaneously knowing it was inappropriate to tell Tommy not to be there for his godson and his godson's grieving mother right after the accident.

These are the moments that would have made for a riveting, emotionally powerful piece of drama. These are the moments that would have completed the season long story this show has been telling. In short, these are the moments that would befit a finale.

Instead, what we got functioned far more like the opening chapter to season 7 than the closing chapter to season 6. It’s true that the episode’s opening scene was sufficiently powerful, with Sheila breaking down in agony, and then the shocking pan over to Damien, who I’d assumed was dead from Sheila’s phone conversation, but is instead crippled and brain damaged in a wheel chair, completely unable to speak. The image of this condition was far more horrific than an actual death would have been. As such, I expected the issue to be treated with the utmost seriousness. I was severely disappointed to learn that we were picking up two months after Damien’s accident, and as a result missed out on all the powerful dramatic moments that should have followed last week’s episode.

Moreover, after that opening scene, Damien’s condition was tastelessly treated as a joke. It was repulsive to see the boys using Damien to pick up chicks, and then arguing over who got to use him as a wing man on which nights. But the most disturbing piece of disrespect thrown Damien’s way by the writers was when Tommy attempted to mimic him over the cell phone to Sheila by emitting a panged squeal. These jokes, this general attitude of making light of Damien’s situation, are things I probably could have accepted in the season 7 premiere...you know, after we’d been given an entire finale dealing with this tragedy in a very serious way. And after I’d had several months distance from the show in between seasons and time to process. But the fact that two months elapsed for our characters before they made these jokes is fairly irrelevant to how I perceived their behavior. For me, Damien’s tragedy just happened last week. For me, this is still fresh. And to see the show come back a week later and spend the entire hour making fun of this poor, 18 year old kid, who heroically gave up everyhting in the line of duty, and who I’ve come to like and care about over the last several seasons, was disgraceful. I needed catharsis. I needed closure. And I felt the writers somewhat spat in the face of that.

Moreover, the episode in general functioned more as a setup for the upcoming season than like the conclusion of this one. We learned that Tommy has been neglecting his family in favor of other duties and Janet is pissed off. We learn that Sheila is more addicted to medications than ever and is obsessed with finding a miraculous cure for Damien’s paralysis. We learn that Mickey couldn’t take what happened and vanished for 2 months, that Colleen is having trouble staying on the wagon, and that Lou has been ignoring his doctor’s warnings to stay off the job. Again, every single one these feels like the kind of establishing drama we would get in a premiere, and not at all the emotionally powerful closure we deserve from a finale.

To make matters worse, Teddy shows up once again to become Colleen’s new sponsor. I wrote last week that it bothers me every time he shows up, because I find it completely absurd that everyone has just accepted what he did to Tommy as if it’s no big deal…and that’s not even to mention the fact that for some reason there was no police investigation into Tommy's shooting. So the notion that Colleen would agree to have Teddy, the man who literally shot and killed her father, become her new AA sponsor, is an absolute absurdity and completely detracts from the realism of the universe for me.

This makes three straight "Rescue Me" finales that have massively disappointed me. But as ludicrous as Teddy’s shooting of Tommy was in last season's final episode, the complete and utter disrespect shown to a beloved character last night makes this finale the worst of all. I hope they find a way to end next season in a more fitting way, because as it happens, it will also be the end of the series.


So very disappointed. And I’m out.

RUBICON: “Look to the Ant”

How do you know a show has gotten really, really good? Answer: When you’re approaching the end of the hour and you feel bitter disappointment because you just don’t want it to end. That’s where Rubicon is at for me right now, after what was admittedly a pretty slow start to the series.


Sunday's “Look at the Ant” followed up on last week’s sporadic moments of intense fear and paranoia, with an entire episode full of it. I loved  Will's response to finding out his place was bugged. He went full-on Harry Caul (Gene Hackman’s protagonist from The Conversation) on his apartment: ripping out fire alarms, unscrewing electric sockets, and dismantling his phone.

That sense of being watched, of someone coming for Will around every corner was palpable throughout the hour. And in some cases, people were literally coming for him around corners. I thought after last week’s episode that Spangler had dropped the surveillance on Will. I guess he must have subsequently learned that Will is still on the hunt. In any event, the scene where Will confronts his pursuer was just epic. The last time he confronted someone following him, he got a fierce right fist to the solar plexus. Even though he ignored that man's warning not to confront the next person following, this time he's at least smart enough to bring a loaded gun with him. I imagine the fantastic, threatening speech Will gave him, followed by the picture he took, terrified this guy almost as much as Will, himself, was terrified. And isn’t it so fitting in this world of espionage, deceit, and ambiguous information, that this guy had no clue why he was following Will and couldn’t have coughed up any meaningful information even if he wanted to?

The episode’s title, “Look to the Ant”, undoubtedly refers to the social nature of that particular insect. This if fitting, given the desolately solitary life that people in Will’s field are wont to lead. Indeed, Sunday’s episode found various isolated characters craving some form of companionship, and reaching out to get it, only to regress back to isolationism in the end.

Maggie was left alone in her apartment for the first time in a long time, when her ex-husband took her daughter for the evening. Her first instinct was to reach out to Will, whom we know she has a thing for from previous episodes. Will complimenting the way she looks at work that day undoubtedly spurred her on. When Will, too flummoxed by his own justifiably unnerving situation, blows her off, she reaches out to a man from her night school class that she doesn’t even like. She even goes so far as to jump his bones for a deeper sense of connection. However, it’s clear immediately upon finishing the act, that there is no connection. She turns on her side and faces away from him, as he pathetically tells her how “nice” it was.

To make matters worse for Maggie, a terrified Will shows up at her place wanting to spend the night, even if it was purportedly only on her couch. Will catches her with her night school nerd and promptly takes off. Maggie immediately and callously throws her one night stand out of the apartment like a piece of trash. The arrival of the man she actually wanted highlights for her just how much she doesn’t want the man currently wrapped in her sheets. Moreover, she was probably upset that Will catching her like that damaged a chance at a relationship between them in the future. And that’s not even to mention her realization that if she had just waited, Will would have spent the night after all. In the end, Maggie’s forged connection was ephemeral at best, and shw wound up feeling even more isolated than before her night began.

Miles, meanwhile, is so lonely at API that night he finds himself wheeling around the surveillance room in his chair. When George Beck turns out to be speaking Urdu instead of German, Miles needs someone to translate. The image of him frantically running through the halls of API in search of another living human being to help him was a wonderful visualization of the episode’s central theme, and of the toll that life takes on all its participants.

Unfortunately, Miles is entirely unable to accept the true state of his marriage, which appears to be almost certainly over. Because of this self-delusion, he blows his shot with fellow analyst Julia by flashing his ring when she inquires about his status. I’m not sure yet whether this plot line was simply meant to illustrate Miles’ present state of being, or whether we’re going to see this woman again as a potential love interest. My money is on the latter. But at the end of the day, Miles’ attempt at connection, like Maggie’s, ends in failure.

Katherine Rhumor has been alone ever since her husband supposedly blew his brains out. This isolation has been amplified by having to undertake her search for the truth behind her husband’s death all on her own. But this episode finds her connecting with a fellow widow whose husband died under the exact same circumstances as Tom. For a brief moment, the two widows share the sorrow and anguish they’ve both experienced. When Katherine discovers this other man not only served on the same board as Tom, but also died with a four leaf clover on his desk, she chooses not to share this information with her new friend, but instead rushes off to once again pursue her investigation on her own…an investigation that is leading her to Atlas McDowell and undoubtedly to Will. But like Miles and Maggie, Rhumor finds herself alone again at episode’s end.

Will, himself, has been more isolated than anyone since the death of his family. What’s the worst thing that can happen to a lone wolf like Will? Answer: to be put in a situation that makes you genuinely terrified of actuallybeing alone. When Will shows up at Maggie’s apartment he tells her he just “doesn’t want to be alone.” Unfortunately, Will’s attempt at companionship is more short-lived than anyone else’s, as Maggie’s man scares Will off before he can even get through the front door.

The last part of the episode I want to address is Kale. I know a lot of people viewed last night’s episode as proof that he wants to do the right thing, but needs to limit the extent of his involvement to avoid being put at risk. While this is a distinct possibility, I’m not entirely convinced yet. Last week’s episode revealed that Kale is now mistrustful of Spangler and Mr. Roy. We also know from this week’s episode that part of Kale’s motivation is to protect his ex-lover Donald Bloom, and by association, himself. The other part of his motivation might be to protect his country from enemies “both foreign and domestic,” as he so eloquently puts it. But I’m not positive yet that Kale’s motivation isn’t more selfish, that he might not be waging some personal war on people he feels have betrayed him. We’ll find out in coming weeks I’m sure.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Excuse me while I go unscrew some outlets.

HUNG: “This is America or Fifty Bucks”

Last night’s Hung was just okay.


Like my favorite critic, Alan Sepinwall, I have a big problem with stories that require their protagonist to be unrealistically stupid. Last night’s episode did just that. Moreover, it impinged upon a specific pet peeve I have in TV shows and movies. I absolutely hate it when the following happens:

a) A character’s secret gets exposed to someone.

b) That secret either has mitigating circumstances or in some cases is outright false.

c) The character doesn’t take the time to reveal the mitigating circumstance or explain that the secret the other party thinks he or she knows is entirely untrue.

In last night’s episode, “This is America or Fifty Bucks,” Lenore confronts Ray about stealing her cut from his business with Frances. Ray, we know, has had nothing to do with this and is learning about it for the first time as Lenore tells him. He makes one feeble attempt to say he didn’t do it. But other than that, he lets her walk away having threatened to destroy his life. Anyone…ANYONE would have chased her down the hall and vigorously and convincingly explained that Tanya duped them both. Then again later, when Mike accuses Ray of having betrayed and plotted against him, Ray makes virtually no attempt to explain the situation. So that bugged the hell out of me.

Secondly, I’m really not sure what to think of Tanya becoming such a terrible human being. I’m not sure Lenore’s accusation of her being a sociopath was entirely inaccurate. I was disgusted with the way Tanya spoke to Ray after he caught her in her betrayal. Ray, as we know, is a genuinely good person who never wishes ill will on anyone. And he certainly doesn’t deserve to be lumped together in the same moral realm as Tanya. I hope he has the good sense to go with Lenore over Tanya in next week’s finale.

Ronnie’s meltdown at the dermatology award ceremony would have caused me to shield my eyes in horror if I remotely liked Ronnie. He has derailed his entire marriage and now the respect of his peers as well. And of course his tirade drives Jess straight out of the room and into Ray’s arms.

I’m also a little disappointed that the whole idea of Ray learning to become a successful male escort has been dropped entirely.

Truth be told, not much in that episode worked for me. Hopefully, next week’s finale will be better.

ENTOURAGE: Meh

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

MAD MEN: “Waldorf Stories”

Tonight’s Mad Men wrapped up on AMC around the same time it was winning its 3rd straight Emmy over on NBC, and fittingly, “Waldorf Stories” was terrific. (Whether its excellent 3rd season deserved the Emmy is another story, as there are a few shows I found more spectacularly entertaining and dramatically powerful than Mad Men last season…one of which wasn’t even nominated, and thanks to its showrunner’s recent anti-emmy tirades, probably never will be.) “Waldorf Stories” was, above all else, frakking hilarious. I was laughing out loud almost the entire episode. But it was also filled with powerful character moments, fascinating backstory revelations, and had a thematically coherent narrative.

The theme of “Waldorf Stories” was the need to feel one’s self-worth. Throughout the episode we saw our characters seeking validation of their status: Don’s desire to win the CLIO; Pete’s desire to be acknowledged as a full partner by both Lane and Ken; Peggy’s desire to be acknowledged by Don for her talent and contribution and to be seen by Stan, the new condescending art director, as the free spirit she prides herself on having become; Roger’s desire to be acknowledged as an important part of the firm; and even Danny--that new dope Don stole from and then hired--wanting to be considered worthy of a job. In the end, everyone but the man who actually won an award came away with at least some semblance of the self-worth they were craving.


Let’s start with those who achieved some portion of their goals this episode:


It has become clearer and clearer as this season progresses, and this has actually been going on since season three, that Peggy feels severely underappreciated by Don. In the season three finale it seemed that Don had rectified the situation by telling Peggy he would spend the rest of his life trying to hire her, which in turn convinced her to join SCDP. But this season we’ve see that wasn’t enough to buck the trend, whether it’s Don yelling at her for the publicity stunt she pulled in this season’s premiere, or the betrayal we now know Peggy feels for Don not acknowledging her role in the Glo-Coat ad that won him an award. Don, being the drunken jerk he seems to have become (and yes, I know this is a vast oversimplification of an incredibly complex character), forces her to work all weekend on a campaign rather than getting to enjoy the CLIOs with everyone else. On this front, Peggy achieves no success and remains vastly underappreciated by episode’s end. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this situation come to a head in the next few weeks.

But Peggy also prides herself on who she’s become as a person. We saw earlier this season how happy she was to be able to hang out with the hippie crowds, whether it was arguing with pretentious starving artists, casually fending off lesbian advances, retreating to back rooms for near-quickies, or smoking pot in public. So when her new partner accuses her of being too uptight to be comfortable with her own body, and even compares her to the pope, she feels deeply offended. He really crosses a line when he tells her she should be ashamed of her body. She calls his ultra-liberal bluff and strips down naked right in front of him, daring him to follow suit. When he complies, revealing an erection, she knows she has at least gained validation as an attractive woman, making Stan eat his words about her body. But she doesn’t gain validation about the liberal, free-spirit she has become until she is able to make Mr. Phony so uncomfortable in his own naked body that he has flee to the bathroom to get dressed. It was great to see Peggy use all her feminine wiles, from her cunning to her sexuality, to turn the tables on that smug son-of-a-bitch. Who’s the uptight one now? It was also a great comic moment at the end of the episode, when she added insult to injury by not-so-subtly referring to Stan’s genitalia as a “teeny change.”

Pete is a full-fledged partner now that he brought in Vick’s, but he doesn’t yet feel he’s being treated like one. Lane decides to bring in Pete’s old rival, who Lane once chose over Pete, behind Pete’s back. Lane’s assurance that he has always liked Pete went some way towards Pete’s personal validation. But Mr. Campbell needed one more thing to truly feel like a partner, an acknowledgment of his superiority by the man who once defeated him, Ken Cosgrove. It was tough to watch the anguish wash over Ken’s face as he was forced to acknowledge Pete as his boss, or perhaps master is a better word for it, based on the way Pete described it. One of the episode’s funniest moments came right after Pete got Ken to bow down to him. Pete leans back in his chair the like big man in the room, and pretends to be a gracious, magnanimous winner by smugly asking Ken about his marriage. Vintage Campbell: always trying to get over on someone, no matter how petty it is.

We know from last week’s “The Chrysanthemum and The Sword” that Roger has been feeling threatened by his increasingly dwindling importance to the firm. Sure he’s responsible for “Lucky Strike,” the linchpin of the whole company; but it’s become widely and tacitly acknowledged by the other partners that beyond “Lucky Strike,” Roger doesn’t have much else to contribute. Lane concedes as much when he explains he needs to bring in Ken because “Roger Sterling is a child, and we can’t have you pulling the cart all by yourself.” After Don wins his CLIO, Roger sits miserable at the bar, depressed at all the credit being heaped on Don and how much he seems to be enjoying it. Making matters worse, Don didn’t even thank Roger for his role in the company and for giving Don his start in the business. When Don admits he was wrong and that Roger is valuable, Roger gets the validation he needs.

Now let’s get to the big fish. Donnie boy. Oh, Don. How far have ye fallen from grace? Last week featured a Don Draper at the peak of his powers, and left us to wonder if Don had truly begun to pull himself out of his freefall or if this was just a momentary resurgence of vintage Don. “Waldorf Stories” gives us our answer as Don sinks deeper into the bottle and into debauchery than ever before.

When Don first wins his CLIO he exudes pure elation, and perhaps for a short time, it was genuine. In particular, his drunken high-off-of-victory pitch to Life Cereal was riotously funny. When he started vamping on his pitch and slurring his words at a million miles per hour, I was half laughing and half covering my eyes in fear of what he might do. When he started rattling off new slogans one after another, I thought that was it, the moment he drove the clients right out the door in horror. I mean, it seemed like he might be throwing out slogans for the rest of the episode. Just when I thought the scene couldn’t get any funnier, he plagiarizes the slogan from Danny, the wannabe ad man whom Don mocked mercilessly earlier in the episode. And what could make the scene even funnier than that? THE “LIFE” PEOPLE LOVED IT!!!!!

It was after his miraculous pitch to “Life” that his apparent jubilance transformed, or perhaps revealed itself to have been all along, a cover for his overwhelming sense of not deserving the award. There are two huge pieces of evidence for this. 1) He literally leaves his award at the bar as he stumbles to a hotel room with an apparent advertising groupie who wanted to sleep with him just for being Don Draper. But as we know, he is not Don Draper, the man who was given the award, he is Dick Whitman, which brings us to our second piece of evidence. 2) When Don wakes up on Sunday beside a completely different gorgeous woman from the brunette we saw before, she refers to him as Dick, not Don. In his drunken state, his true feelings had unintentionally emerged…something I’m sure most of us can relate to. He doesn’t feel like Don Draper, a deserving winner of a prestigious advertising award. He feels like Dick Whitman, the undeserving fraud who stole another man’s life. Side note, I thought the transition from night-to-morning was seamless, and when we learn he is now lying next to a blonde instead of a brunette, my jaw dropped. Sex and Booze. Booze and Sex. This is what Don Draper’s life revolves around now as we learn that he blew off his weekend with his kids for one of hedonism and self-loathing. He is so drunk he doesn’t even remember he stole Danny’s slogan, and as a result he is forced to hire this untalented hack the next day (though he is still able to spin it to Roger as if it were a favor for him).

We get another glimpse of why Don feels like a fraud with the episode’s flashbacks of how he got into the advertising business in the first place. We’ve often wondered how Don made that transition. Was it by giving an incredible speech? Showing Bert or Roger a portfolio of incredible pitches? As it turns out, Roger scoffed at his portfolio and left it on the hotel room floor. But Don’s entry into Sterling Copper was no less stunning or brilliant. He sweet-talked Roger into having a drink with him at ten in the morning. He then got Roger so drunk that he couldn’t possibly remember anything the next day. And then, in the episode’s utterly mind- blowing final scene, he just shows up at Sterling Cooper the next day and claims he’s been given a job. Can you believe the balls on this guy? Wow. Just. Wow. And Roger is either too embarrassed, or perhaps just doesn’t care enough, to argue with it. I mean what was the worst case scenario? That Don sucks at his job and Roger fires him a few weeks later. No biggie. And I know some people have been writing online that maybe Roger did say “welcome aboard” off-camera and then just forgot about it. But give me a break, if that really happened there would be absolutely no dramatic reason in the world not to have shown it. And the look Don gives Roger in the elevator, nervous and making sure his story was bought, seals the deal. And so began the legend of Don Draper in the advertising world. A total con. It’s no wonder Don feels like a fraud accepting this award.

As brilliant as this episode was, it was much lighter fare than some of this season’s earlier episodes. In fact, this makes two episodes in a row where the A-plot was built around comedy rather than drama. I would expect Mad Men to return to a more serious mode next week, lest it veer too far off in the other direction.

Other Thoughts:

-Absolutely loved that after Don learned he had stolen Danny’s ad, he tried to buy him off for 50 dollars, and then had the gall to act outraged when the kid wouldn’t settle for a hundred. Unfortunately for Don, Danny is not as dumb as he acts. Who knows, maybe he’ll turn out to be the next Don Draper. After all, he got his start in the biz in a remarkably similar way, as a result of his new boss’s drunken blackout. And he’s already come up with one slogan that sold. Still, seems unlikely.

-Poor Duck is still a drunken mess. It was both hilarious and ironic to see Don taking such sadistic pleasure in it. After all, Duck is merely a mirror of Don’s own present state of being. Don’s pleasure in Duck’s failure was similar to the glee he took from Danny’s hilariously incompetent portfolio. Don’s life is a train wreck and misery loves company.

-Ted Chaough was at the CLIOs, still acting as smug as ever…guess Don didn’t destroy him completely. Loved the verbal spelling of his bizarre name.

-Did Don’s drunken pass at Faye Miller wreck his chances with her? I suspect not.

-Don’s poor kids…they really have TWO awful parents, don’t they?

-Is Don still rattling off slogans for LIFE? Here’s one for him: “LIFE, it sucks when you’re sober, kids.”

BURN NOTICE: “Guilty as Charged”

I enjoyed the Burn Notice summer finale, but then again, I always enjoy Burn Notice. And “Guilty as Charged” didn’t provide me with the extra adrenaline rush I typically get from the show’s climactic chapters. Part of that is because the bulk of the episode was devoted to a standalone case-of-the-week plot line, which is typical of a Burn Notice episode, but atypical of one of their finales. Another reason is because the character of John Barrett had just been introduced a few weeks prior, which means he couldn’t get the same mythological buildup as previous Big Bads of the series, like Carla, Victor, and Simon. The result was that he didn’t have the same intimidation factor or pose as understandable a threat to Michael as bad guys past. Moreover, Barrett, for all the evils he’s supposedly responsible for, has never done anything to wrong Michael personally, and so the satisfaction of personalized vengeance was absent as well. I didn’t fear Jesse’s retribution against Michael either, because Jesse has been established as such a good guy over the course of the season that I couldn’t see him actually trying to kill Michael (though the final scene leaves some ambiguity about that).


The standalone story involved the kidnapping of a little girl and Michael’s attempt to rescue her. It was very enjoyable, and had it appeared in a mid-season episode I’d have no issue with it. In typical Burn Notice fashion, Michael’s client decides to ignore his advice and completely screws up the rescue attempt. Why don’t these people ever learn? Just kidding. Obviously I get that each one only makes this mistake once and has no way of learning from the errors of past clients. I thoroughly enjoyed the execution of plan B, however. The kidnapper agrees to trade the girl in exchange for Michael breaking his murderer brother out of prison. I loved the whole notion of the fake prison break, as Michael and friends were able to setup a fake police transport vehicle, with a fake prisoner inside (whose head Fiona shaved and doused with blood to make him look like the brother from a distance), and stage a fake assault and rescue on their own fake van. It was both clever and a lot of fun to watch.

It was tough to see Michael continuing to refuse to look at what he’s done to Jesse. All season long, when confronted with it by Fiona and Madeline, Michael justified it by saying it was in the service of the greater good. Now that Jesse’s found out the truth, Michael still refuses to examine his actions by claiming that his tasks at hand require all his attention. And when he finally meets Jesse face to face, Michael gives what is arguably the lamest apology in the history of the world, if it can even be considered an apology at all. Michael justifies his non-apology by claiming, “I know you’re in no mood for an apology.” The truth is that an admission of wrong-doing and a sincere, well thought out apology might have meant a lot to Jesse.

I don’t believe Michael is acting this way because he’s a bad person. I just think he’s afraid that if he actually stops to confront what he did-bringing all the misery he, himself, has experienced these past 4 years onto someone else-he won’t be able to live with the guilt. So he’s set up many layers of defense mechanisms to prevent himself from facing the truth.

Did Vaughn’s betrayal come as any surprise? I’m surprised Michael didn’t plan for that contingency, given his discovery last week that Vaughn has been lying to him all along about how and when he came into Michael’s life. Vaughn’s betrayal proved not only that Michael can’t trust him, but that Vaughn is clearly willing to sacrifice Michael’s life to get what he wants.

In the climactic scene, Jesse actually does shoot Michael with a sniper rifle, though apparently only to get the henchman who was choking Michael from behind, while intentionally missing Michael’s vital organs. But at the end of the episode, after Michael has veered Barrett’s car off the road, killing him, an unidentified man grabs the suitcase containing the bible and flees, leaving Michael there to bleed to death. My money is definitely on Jesse, and if I’m right, that means Jesse really was willing to let Michael die for his betrayal.

Burn Notice doesn’t come back until November 11th, so we’ll have to wait until then to find out who took the bible, where things stand with Jesse, what Vaughn’s prerogative truly is, and oh yeah, whether Michael lives or dies. Just kidding about that last one. The odds of Michael dying are exactly zero percent. And that refers to a true death, not to a temporary heart failure followed by resuscitation which seems almost mandatory on shows nowadays.
Until November.

RESCUE ME: “Goodbye”

After a disappointing first half of season 6, Rescue Me has come on strong and is back to being a top-notch character drama. The season’s penultimate episode, “Goodbye,” consisted of three plot lines: Damien’s decision to stay or leave the firehouse, Lou’s inability to leave the job behind despite knowing it will cost him his life, and the age-old triangle of Janet, Tommy, and Sheila. And all three worked like gangbusters for me (the fact that Teddy was nowhere to be found didn’t hurt either; I’ll explain my objections to his role this season at the bottom).


The common thread through these plot lines is well summed up in the episode’s title, as we see various characters unable to say goodbye to dangerous and addictive relationships. For both Lou and Damien, that relationship is with the FDNY and their comrades within. For Sheila and Tommy, that relationship is each other.

Rescue Me has never shied away from giving truly important scenes the proper time to breathe. You’ll seldom see an 11 minute scene on any television show, but that’s what we got from the opening scene of “Goodbye” and it was well worth it. The scene was full of the traditional, hilarious, Tommy Gavin bullshit as he tried to get himself out of an impossible situation; first by intentionally choking on a piece of food to distract everyone from the bomb Mickey was about to drop, and then through his usual stammering and doubletalk.

But the best part of that scene is the way Sheila was able to put all the blame on Tommy after Mickey revealed he had caught the two of them half-naked and squirming on top of each other. Sheila didn’t accomplish this by lying, but by brilliantly framing the truth in just such a way that made her look innocent. “I told him to stop.” When Janet and Mickey ask Tommy if this is true, all he can say is yes. “I told him I had no more feelings for him and to get out.” Again, all Tommy can do is admit it. “He grabbed me and kissed me and I told him I felt nothing, so he threw me onto the couch and ripped my dress off.” Again, technically true. And yet, anyone who saw that scene in the previous episode knows full well Tommy went over there to end things for good, and then Sheila pushed every one of his buttons to manipulate him to her purpose. And since Sheila is much, much smarter than Tommy, she of course got her way. I’m not whitewashing what Tommy did; he has free will as much as anyone else. But Sheila was the true instigator of that encounter, and the way she used “the truth” to her advantage once she was caught, while simultaneously throwing Tommy under the bus, was magnificent.

Sheila was of course able to earn some quick forgiveness from Mickey, and Tommy should consider himself lucky Janet chose to forgive him…or unlucky, depending on how you feel about Janet. The condition for Janet’s forgiveness, he has to truly say goodbye to Sheila once and for all. No more contact. No more nothin’.

Despite that command, Tommy calls Sheila one more time to apologize for all the times he’s let her down (and there have been A LOT). Despite Sheila’s earlier insistence that she’s over Tommy and is ready to move on with Mickey, the phone call makes it abundantly clear who she still has that passion for. “Did you ever really love me?” she asks. Tommy admits he did, but says that at the end of the day, he loved Janet more, though not in so many words. Sheila’s façade cracks as she breaks down crying and tells Tommy that she hates him and he should never call her again. Somehow I doubt this is the last we’ve seen of these two together.

Sometimes, writers can go back to the same well once too often when they can’t figure out how to take characters in new directions. Rescue Me has fallen victim to this on a number of occasions, whether it’s Tommy’s repeated attempts to stay on the wagon, his hot and cold relationship with his estranged wife, or Franco’s multiple failed attempts to find a relationship that means more to him than sex. That being said, I will never feel that way about Tommy and Sheila. When those two are in a room together, there is so much heat, so much anger, so much wounded passion and sizzling chemistry, that the writers can go back to that well as many times as they want and I won’t complain. I always thought Tommy was a fool for choosing the ice queen over a woman with so much fire and passion, even if she is tightrope-walking the borderline of crazy.

Janet has one final test for Tommy, as she presents him with two glasses of liquor posing as a consequence-free last drink, a veritable Trojan horse. Tommy sussed out the trap (I’ll admit I was scared he wouldn’t for a moment) and poured both glasses down the sink. Having said goodbye to two dangerous addictions, Sheila and alcohol, he is ready to make one final go of it with Janet, and she appears willing to give him the chance.

Damien and Lou, however, were less successful in their bids to extricate themselves from dangerous situations. After Lou’s second heart attack on the job, the doctor tells him, in no uncertain terms, that if he doesn’t quit immediately he’s going to die. Lou makes one feeble attempt to bring up retirement with Needles, but when Needles makes an offhanded joke about rookies getting the jitters and wanting to quit, in reference to Damien, Lou backs down and fails to bring it up. I imagine this is a psychologically accurate portrayal of how hard it is for guys in that line of work to let go. Between saving people’s lives, the addiction to danger, and more than anything, the camaraderie that forms between friends in the same firehouse, it is difficult to say goodbye. To someone like Lou, who puts his life on the line every day, the threat of death by heart attack might be less intimidating than the threat of losing the only way of life he's ever known. Having a family, or even a woman in his life to go home to, would certainly make that transition easier; but Lou has never been that lucky. He managed to forego his demise this episode, but if he can’t muster up the courage to quit soon, he won’t have much time left.

Now, Damien. Oh boy. If there was one person I didn’t think was in imminent danger (though in hindsight, I should have), it was Damien. Damien is a confused young man. Last week, we saw how he had to take directions every step of the way from his girlfriend, while he had sex for the first time in his life (side note, if he is in fact dead, thank god he got to do that first). And in “Goodbye,” we see that Damien is just as confused and malleable about his direction in life as he is about sex. After weeks of working on him, Sheila and Mickey convince Damien the job is too dangerous, and that he should turn in his papers. But the truth is it’s too late. Damien loves this job. He’s already begun to feel the camaraderie and the addiction to excitement the other guys no so well. All it takes is a couple of war stories, one actual war story Chief Feinberg, and a great anecdote from Tommy about a practical joke Damien’s old man played on him when they were just starting out, and Damien knows he’s not ready to let this go.

In the episode’s climactic scene, I fully expected Lou to have his third heart attack and die right there. When he can’t breathe, and then a pile of metal coffins literally falls on top of him, he seems to be a goner for sure. But I should’ve given the show more credit than to think it would be that predictable. As the rest of the guys try to help out a clearly still-breathing Lou, Damien calls out from a short distance away, while foolishly clutching his helmet in his hand instead of wearing it on his head, “Come on guys, we gotta go!!!” Just then, debris crashes through the ceiling from the floor above, crushing Damien to the ground. Alive or dead, it’s hard to imagine Sheila truly forgiving Tommy for pulling her son back into the job (after having been the one to bring him in, in the first place). And if Damien is dead, I’d expect nothing short of a tour de force from Callie Thorne in next week’s finale. There’s no telling how Damien’s tragedy will affect those around him. It may drive Tommy back to the bottle. It may knock Sheila completely off the razor’s edge of sanity. And if nothing else, it will hopefully make Lou see the danger of staying on duty when he’s not equipped to handle the job. Even if he doesn’t die himself, it’s an inevitability he’ll get someone else killed. After all, if the guys weren’t helping Lou up, then Damien doesn’t double back to tell them they have to go, and he’s still alive. I’m not going to write off Damien yet, though. Not after one of this season’s earlier episodes ended with Lou lying on the ground after a heart attack, not moving and with his eyes wide open, looking deader than dead, only for me to find out the next week that he was alive and kicking.

As promised, my issue with Teddy this season. This is a 2-parter, and both have to do with last season’s finale in which he shot Tommy in the gut, and forced everyone in the room to sit there and watch him die, which he did for several minutes. I expected Teddy to be in jail at the start of this season, seeing as how he shot someone to death in a room full of witnesses. But not only is he not in jail, the police don’t even seem to be looking for the shooter. When someone is brought into the emergency room with a gunshot wound, there is a police investigation. It strains all credulity and story logic to think this guy would be running around with nobody looking for him. But making matters worse, and this is part 2, is the fact that nobody in Teddy or Tommy’s life seems to be saying boo about the fact that Teddy shot him to death. Even Tommy seems to be having reasonable conversations with Teddy as if nothing happened. And when I hear Teddy tell Tommy that he loves him and that he only shot him for his own good, and I see that accepted by Tommy and everyone else as the truth, I kind of want to throw my remote at the screen. Or better yet, jump inside the screen and yell, “HELLLOOO???? HE SHOT YOU!!! WITH AN ACTUAL GUN!!! THAT HAD ACTUAL BULLETS IN IT!!! TO DEATH!!!!!!!! DOES ANYBODY CARE????” In short, the more they keep Teddy off the screen in the finale, the way they have these past few weeks, the happier and less distracted I’ll be.

Lighting a candle for Damien.

RUBICON: "Connecting the Dots"

“Connecting the Dots” was easily my favorite episode of Rubicon to date. Will now realizes he has gotten himself involved in something very dangerous: kill orders, assassins, top-secret C.I.A. files, etc. And for awhile during this ep, it sure seemed like he was gonna do the smart thing and let it drop. But in the end, that’s not how he’s built and not why he entered the business he did.

My favorite moment of the episode, and of the series to date, came after Will had followed Donald Bloom to a restaurant. Though I should say I had an issue with Will’s plan, given that he has a 9-5 job, and obviously wouldn’t be able to do any sort of a thorough all-day tail job. In any event, Will got lucky (or unlucky, depending on how things go) and was able to track him to a restaurant where Bloom had a lunch date with Kale, apparently an ex-lover. The moment where Will spots Kale and Kale spots him right back was truly terrifying. Isn’t this the man responsible for David’s death? Does this mean Will is now going to be targeted? Will panicked and fled. What else could he do?

I also loved the scene right after where a still shaken Will goes to Maggie for information. Will's fear and paranoia are absolutely palpable. James Badge Dale has done a wonderful job with such a taciturn character, able to convey mountains of thought and feeling with nothing more than a look. And poor Maggie has been put right in the middle of something she doesn’t understand. She has Kale grilling her for info on Will, and now vice-versa. It seems she hasn’t chosen a side yet as she’s neglected to inform on either one of them. (Remember, she lied to Kale and didn’t tell him about Will’s problems moving on from David’s death.)

A more fascinating character than Maggie who also seems not to have chosen a side is Kale, himself. Earlier in the season I had assumed he was fully complicit in David’s death. But in his choice not to tell Spangler about the incident with Will, followed by his warning to Will, it seems that Kale may have a genuine concern for our hero’s well being. Moreover, near the end of the episode, we see him spying on Bloom and Spangler. There’s no way of knowing exactly what was going through Kale’s head when he saw them emerge from their secret meeting, but it seems clear that this went on behind his back and that it constitutes some form of betrayal in his mind.

Meanwhile, it has become clear that Spangler is the mastermind behind the whole conspiracy. After his brilliant tie speech and overall political maneuvering last week, we know this man if a force to be reckoned with. And he seems to be one step ahead of Will all the time, getting to David’s Houston file and shredding it before Will can get his hands on it.

The scene between Will and Ed was a powerful one. When Will sees what this conspiracy is doing to Ed, and we get a glimpse of how the “codes cracked him,” he makes the choice to take Ed out of the equation. He lies and tells Ed they’ve been following a dead end. But based on Ed’s reaction, I’m not convinced this will bring him back from the brink as opposed to, say, driving him to suicide. The unexpected benefit to Will is that Spangler was listening, and now views Will as a non-threat.

What I’m wondering is if Will was simply lying for Ed’s sake, or if he had truly planned to stop, himself. If the latter, it’s possible that Kale’s comment about not wanting to see Will involved in any “mayhem” could have convinced Will to get back in the game. Whatever the case, it was both exciting and creepy to see Will constructing his own “connect the dots” puzzle. He is closer than ever to solving this jigsaw, but also closer than ever to losing his mind.

While I’d still like to know more about Miles and Grant as characters I’m really enjoying Tanya. She’s clearly good at her job and, as Will said, was way ahead of the curve on Geogre Beck. Despite her success with Spangler, Will may be right that she’s not cut out for this business. Even her victory drove her to drinking. I’m guessing the blood test Will ordered for her will measure her blood-alcohol level, rather than just testing for actual drugs.

Ms. Rhumor has finally joined the rest of the cast. It appears she may be the next target for assassination by Donald Bloom on orders from Spangler. Unlike Will, who truly lives this life and understands what he’s getting himself into, Katherine is getting herself involved in something she can’t possibly understand and is hopelessly ill equipped to contend with. I'm glad she's finally starting to mesh with the A-plot, but it's taken a bit too long for that to happen.

As far as the conspiracy itself goes, I’m very interested in the cover-up, but remotely intrigued by the thing being covered up. Go codes for assassinations, shredding of documents by API, Will being recorded and followed-that’s all great stuff. But the second I hear about oil I start to roll my eyes. Why is it always about friggin’ oil? Every show, every movie. If there's a conspiracy, dollars to donuts, it's about oil (re: almost every season of 24).Why can’t it be about a shadow government or cheesecake or something? Really, anything would be preferable to oil at this point.

That being said, this episode has me excited to see how these dots will connect down the home stretch of the season.

WEEDS: “Felling and Swamping”

I enjoyed this episode much more than the season premiere, in which almost nothing happened. I feel like these 2 episodes should have been condensed into one, with the events of the premiere occupying roughly the first 5 minutes. Either way, the Botwins have successfully fled (for now) and are ready to start their new lives.


I loved the way Nancy was forced to begrudgingly admit being glad Pilar was murdered, even though she qualified the statement by saying she wished Shane hadn't been the one who did it. Let’s face it, Pilar threatened to kill Silas and Shane. And I see no reason to believe she wouldn’t have made good on that threat before Nancy figured out a way to stop her. I don’t have a problem with Shane killing her; it was certainly a form of self defense. It’s Shane’s response I find disturbing. Instead of being tortured, he is bragging about being a murderer-wearing it like a badge of honor. I’m skeptical that Shane is a full-blown sociopath. I predict he will have a delayed guilt reaction some time later in the season.

Poor Silas has had his life ruined again and again by this dysfunctional family. He’d probably be better on his own, now that he has his fake I.D. Even if the Botwins, I mean the “Newmans,” manage to start a whole new life for themselves, how long can it really be before Nancy derails it all over again? It’s just who she is. It’s inevitable.

I enjoyed the bonfire scene of all the Botwins burning their old identities. And I still love the chemistry between Nancy and Andy. I think 5 seasons of teasing us is enough though, it’s time for them to get together.

So now both Esteban and the FBI are looking for Nancy. I still can’t tell if Esteban wants to kill Nancy and take his son from her cold, dead hands, or if he wants both of them back. He has always been on the fence about loving her or wanting her dead, and now that ambivalence seems kicked up another notch.

But “Felling and Swamping,” unlike the premiere, has me looking forward to whatever adventure the Botwins/Newmans have in store for them this year.

HUNG: “Third Base or The Rash”

I enjoyed last night’s Hung, a solid 6, which is pretty much always my reaction to that show. After all the lore of Ray’s legendary days on the diamond, it was great to see him poke one out of the park, even if it was just a set-up.


I loved the scene with Ray fingering Ms. Preggers in the bath tub, and really enjoyed some of those underwater camera angles. It seems like he’s learning to be more of a professional, given the way he was able to push through his torn rotator cuff and finish her off. I will confess that for a few seconds I thought he actually broke his fingers while they were inside her, which would have been epic. It’s unclear to me whether he actually got paid for that. If he didn’t, I suppose I’d have to retract my statement about him learning to be a professional.

I’m glad Mike and Frances were able to work things out. Tanya running across the diamond and climbing over the centerfield fence was the comic highlight of the episode. I’m assuming Frances witnessing that clarified for her what had actually been going on all this time. I don’t really see how Mike can stay on the show as a regular after this episode, given that his plot line has come to a natural conclusion, which is too bad.

I loved Ronnie telling Ray, “People like me rule the fucking world.” I just wish Ray had come back with, “You’re a dermatologist, you don’t rule shit.” (No offense to any dermatologists out there, you're job is very important and we thank you...but if you thought you ruled the world, consider this your bubble being burst) Ronnie can feel his wife slipping away, but I can’t feel too bad for him given that he’s brought it all on himself. He’s treating her like a vessel for him to store a baby in, since it has to be clear to him by now that it’s not what she wants. If this is a deal breaker for him, then he should get a divorce and find someone who can give him the kind of family he wants. Bullying his wife into having his baby is not a reasonable route to take, nor is it an ethical one.

I’m still enjoying the burgeoning flirtation between Ray and Jessica and hope to see something happen on that front. But I still can’t shake the feeling that season 2 Jessica is too drastically different from season 1 Jessica. Don’t get me wrong, I vastly prefer this new incarnation with, you know, a soul. But the shift feels a bit inorganic.

Only 2 episodes to go.

Two Consecutive Halfway Decent Episodes of Entourage: Who Knew That Was Still Even Possible?

After hating almost every episode of this show for the past five years, I’ve suddenly become interested (albeit mildly) in the direction the series has taken. While I’m long past being able to laugh at the show’s juvenile and chauvinistic sense of humor, the dramatic plot lines of both Ari and Vince suddenly have legs. The best aspect of Entourage has always been its handling of the business of Hollywood. Ari is caught in a professional quagmire, as everyone he’s ever wronged is coming out of the woodwork to take him down. His marriage, which has always seemed contentious but impregnable, is suddenly in genuine jeopardy as a direct result of his disgusting behavior at work. Ari’s hubris may end up bringing him to his knees. Let’s see if he can fight his way out of it this time.


Vince, who last season had nothing to do but bang a different random girl each episode, suddenly finds himself in a genuine freefall: cocaine, porn stars, terrible business decisions and a seeming death wish. This is Entourage, not Breaking Bad, so of course he’ll pull himself out of this muck eventually. But it may not happen this season. He may seriously damage his career and could easily get his heart squashed by the delectable Sasha Grey, just like he did by Mandy Moore back in season 2.

I continue to be disinterested in both Drama and Turtle’s plot lines, but I’ll take what I can get from this show.

WHY I'M DONE WITH THE BIG C

So I’ve watch two episodes of this terrible show and I think I’m done. I first thought the “C” in the title stood for cancer, but it’s become clear that Crap is a much more fitting substitution.


I continue to be amazed at the lauding of Laura Linney’s completely absurd, one-note performance. Every scene she’s in and line she delivers teems with the same phony, self-assured, jubilation. I don’t buy that this woman has cancer. Not for one second. She doesn’t even seem bothered she’s gonna die. Who knew the actual stages of grief were Denial, Anger, Cartwheels, Acceptance? Is she sad? Does she even care? I’d like to see an ounce of nuance rather than Linney making the exact same acting choices in every single scene.

In the show’s second episode, whose title I really don’t care enough to look up, Linney proved that her character, whose name I really don’t care enough to remember, is an absolutely terrible person. What she did to her son in storming onto his school bus and talking about how close they were when he was an infant, in front of all his classmates, was unforgivable. She basically guaranteed in no uncertain terms that his social life will be a living hell for the rest of high school. And she's a high school teacher, so it's not like she doesn't understand the gravity of what she's done to him. If my mom had done that to me, I’d have refused to ever go back to that school. I’m serious. I’d have said, “Put a gun to my head. An actual gun with bullets. And then maybe, maybe, we’ll talk. Because truancy and juvie hall is a far better option right now.” That’s on top of throwing her husband out of the house and only giving him the explanation that he leaves the kitchen cabinets open. The list goes on: burning her son’s clothes, storming out of the therapy session, etc.

I hated the character of Jackie when Nurse Jackie came out. I thought she was an utterly despicable person. But at least the show was up front about it. It didn’t expect me to like her as she cheated on her husband and stole people’s organs. I feel I’m somehow expected to like Laura Linney’s detestable character…CATHY!!! Glad I remembered that, now I can die happy. To be clear, I gave up on Nurse Jackie eventually as well, once I realized she truly had no remorse for anything she’d done. But at least I was able to stick around longer than 2 episodes.

I also hate Cathy’s over-the-top, clichéd brother. He’s the most boring homeless person I’ve ever seen in my life. Save the whales, stop global warming, I only eat garbage and dried shit…blah, blah, blah. I get it already. Tone it down.

I also find the show’s handling of cancer massively offensive. I should say upfront that my dad is the executive editor of the Skin Cancer Foundation, so I happen to know a little bit about this. There are abso-friggin-lutely treatments for melanoma at her stage. No dermatologist would tell a patient who was more than a year away from death that there's no viable plan of attack. I’m not saying those treatments would necessarily work, but they would absolutely be tried by any competent doctor and patient who isn’t crazy. My dad has informed me that in the week since The Big C aired, the foundation’s blogs and message boards have been flooded with posts from actual melanoma patients who are outraged by its representation on this show. The creators clearly just played Pin The Tail On The Donkey in choosing what brand of cancer to give Linney, and then decided it wasn’t worth doing a single second of research about it.

In summation, I am done with this show….FOREVER.

Good night and good luck.

True Blood: "I Smell a Rat"

Eric Northman continues to be the most compelling character on True Blood. Not only does he bring a natural charisma to every scene he’s in, but he has a genuine internal struggle going on. I am still unclear on where his true loyalties lie, and I suspect that’s because Eric, himself, is unclear. He first acts the stalwart protector of Sookie, warning her about Bill and refusing to give him over to Russell at Pam’s request. And yet, the episode closes with Eric heaving her over his shoulder like a sack of bread and locking her in his private dungeon. Is he planning on giving her over to Russell after all? Is he protecting her? Or is he just keeping her within reach while he figures out how to use her as a weapon? My vote goes to option #3. Of course I had to laugh at Sookie’s stupidity when she screamed, “I’m not some prisoner you can just lock up any time you feel like taking off.” She fled from a house where she was protected right into the arms of a serial murderer with a dungeon, and then dared him to use it. Well done, as always, Ms. Stackhouse.


I also enjoyed the scene where Eric leaves his life savings to Pam. We get to see both sides of the character. He genuinely cares about his progeny and wants to make sure she’ll be taken care of. But the very next second he behaves monstrously towards Yvette, calling her a gold digging whore, not that anyone actually cares about Yvette.

Sookie’s scenes with Eric continue to have far more heat than her scenes with her real life newbie husband, Stephen Moyer, a.k.a. Bill. I’m reminded of Joey Tribiani’s maxim in Friends, where he insists that when two actors are sleeping together off stage, they don’t have any heat left for their on-stage performance. Substitute screen for stage and you have yourself a Bill-Sookie romance. There are always a few lines of cringe-worthy dialogue between those two-this week they were, “It is not your blood I love. I love you. Your mind (insert joke here). Your heart. Your soul.” Real subtle writing.

We’ve heard a lot of references to Sookie not being able to trust Bill, whether it’s from Eric or from Sookie’s own subconscious. Eric repeatedly asks Bill to tell her the truth. My question is this: Is the big secret Eric’s referring to simply the fact that Bill was sent to Bon Temps to spy on Sookie for Sophie Anne Leclerq? Or is there more to it that we don’t know yet? Because if the former, I have no problem believing that Bill has subsequently developed genuine love for Sookie, or that he would easily be able to convince her of that fact if he simply told her the truth. His actions throughout the series have indicated his willingness to give his life for her. If there’s more to Bill’s “secret” than how he originally came into her life, I’d like to know what it is.

I wasn’t happy with the way a lot of the revelations were handled in this episode, either to us or to the characters. The episode’s very first line, “I’m a fairy? That is so fuckin’ lame,” bugged the hell out of me. After an entire season of buildup and frustrating teases about Sookie’s true nature, I wasn’t pleased that we entered the episode after the actual revelation. The whole scene felt rushed and expositional. “That is so fuckin’ lame,” had a bit of truth to it, though not because of the revelation itself, just because of the perfunctory manner in which it was delivered. I also felt that Jason’s confession to Tara was a bit rushed. “I shot eggs” felt like a statement that should have been left to sit for a moment. A little silence was called for. Instead Jason immediately began demanding a response from her. It felt unnatural.

Crystal and her fucked up family continue to annoy me. I’ve never liked the way I was expected to buy into her connection with Jason immediately, despite knowing nothing about her and the complete lack of discernible chemistry between them. And I’ve liked her less as I’ve gotten to know her. Her family’s backwards thinking epitomizes offensive Southern stereotypes. Lafayette’s declaration, “Dem fuckers is a whole new dimension of trash,” was both hilarious and spot on. I had to cover my eyes a bit when her father said, “You aint gotta love him. You just gotta lie under him and bear his children.” Again…subtle. Though, I did enjoy her transformation into a panther at the end of the episode. I just wish we had gotten there before episode 10. Too much of that plotline has consisted of vague references to what she is. At least we finally know.

I’ve always liked the character of Sam and enjoyed learning about his violent past. It explains both his beating of Crystal’s father and how he was able to buy the bar (though I could’ve sworn we learned in season 2 he got that money from Maryanne. Somebody help me out here?). I like the idea that Sam wasn’t always the great guy he now seems to be, and that he’s on a redemption journey. I hope the writers find something a little more interesting for him to do going forward, as his plot lines have seemed disjointed from the whole all season long. I’d also like to know what happened after his double homicide to turn him into the man we’ve come to know.

I continue to care nothing about Lafayette’s relationship with Jesus. It just strikes me as another outlet for the homo-erotica that has become a week-in,week-out staple of this show. Sometimes, as with Eric & Russell & Talbot, this feels germane to the story. Other times, as with Jesus or Russell’s encounter with the prostitute, the homo-erotica feels like it’s there for its own sake. Lafayette and Jesus’s V-trip was both incomprehensible and interminable. Lafayette’s ancestor was a shaman and Jesus’s grandfather was a sorcerer, do I have that right? I wish they had conveyed that more clearly and succinctly, or even better, not conveyed it at all. In any event, I don’t really care about any of it or see what it has to do with anything else in the show.

Hoyt and Jessica are sweet together, but I tend to believe she’s right that if he knew all she’d done, he wouldn’t want to be with her. And why did he run out of the bar? He asked her to look him in the eyes and tell him she didn’t love him. It seemed to me she wasn’t able to do that.

The scene between Arlene and Jessica is an example of the show dropping the ball on its original thematic goal. I get the sense I was supposed to side with Jessica when she told Arlene she didn’t like skinny, narrow-minded bitches. Yet, the very fact that Jessica unleashed her fangs and threatened Arlene while making this statement pretty much made Arlene’s point for her.

Those are my thoughts on "I Smell a Rat." I’m hoping against hope that the show gets more tightly focused in the season’s two remaining episodes.

True Blood: Overall Feelings About the Show

I loved season 1 of True Blood.  But as time has gone on, I have grown increasingly disenchanted with the show, even as its popular reception has improved. Part of that is obviously due to the initial freshness of being immersed in a new fictional universe--a freshness that inevitably wears off.

But it’s more than that.

In season 1, I loved how the show functioned as a social critique. It was a metaphor for the intolerance that continues to exist in our society, with vampires standing in for the oppressed minority, and more specifically for the gay rights movement. The season's villain turned out not to be a vampire, but a vampire-basher. However, the show has largely abandoned this critique, as it has become clearer and clearer that in the world of True Blood, vampires are in fact murderous, dangerous creatures. Those who initially seemed different, such as Jessica and Mr. William Compton, have revealed themselves to be murderers whose demise would almost certainly save human lives. Even the spokeswoman for the movement, Nan Flanagan, has turned out to be a hypocrite who DOES feed on human blood. Not that this is necessarily their fault; after all, the food chain is the food chain. But the notion that vampires can peacefully coexist with humans and pose no threat to them has certainly proven to be a falsehood. As it turns out, we should have been rooting for the Fellowship of the Sun all along.

More troubling than the show’s abandonment of its original thematic intent, is how diffuse the drama has become. The world of True Blood has expanded exponentially, and its writers apparently feel obligated to give equal import and screen time to all its myriad subplots and characters. While some shows pull off such expansions magnificently, with True Blood the result has been that none of the plots seem to build any momentum. How can I sink my teeth into any individual plot line when it’s only given 2 or 3 scenes per episode? In The Wire, for instance, the show’s expansion worked because its various strands of plot were intricately connected and impacted one another. In True Blood, too many of the subplots feel completely isolated from the whole, such as Lafayette’s new romance, Sam’s relationship with his biological family, Jason and his mysterious new love interest, Jessica and Hoyt’s on-again, off-again relationship, and even Tara’s strange odyssey with Franklin--a.k.a. Vampire Paul Raines from "24" (as I continue to think of him).

Another aspect of the show that has expanded exponentially: the stupidity of Sookie Stackhouse. It’s difficult to care about a character who has lost the ability to think. There is a reason that great shows tend to boast brilliant protagonists, or at least protagonists that possess a certain type of brilliance applicable to their milieu: Vic Mackey, Al Swearengen, Walter White, Don Draper, Tony Soprano, etc. Intelligent characters are far more complex and compelling.

So why am I continuing to watch? Because I've invested too much time and energy in the show to quit now, and because despite my issues with it, I still usually find it an entertaining hour of television. However, I may not post long responses every week.