The Event: Season 1 Episode 15 - Face Off

Well friends, when a show is bad I'm happy to talk about it.   Laughable plot lines and acting?  Yep, I'm gonna talk about it.  But, when a show steps up its game and shows us the potential that it has should it be renewed, well I'm going to talk about that too.  FINALLY, The Event showed signs of hope to me.  One could argue that the 14 episodes of build up is what led to a satisfying episode such as this.  And yes, for the most part, they would be right.  But it's such a shame that an episode like this, one I would say is the best episode yet, has come after so many have abandoned the show.  Is NBC even considering a renewal at this point?  It feels like deja vu all over again with Flashforward a year ago.  The best episodes came after the LONG hiatus and the ratings had no chance of improving.  The retooling or just phase 2 of their story is just what the doctor ordered to get The Event out of its stale redundant funk. Sean and Vicky's paring?  CHECK!   EBEs vs. Government and sympathy on both sides?  CHECK!   Dempsey out of his office and doing something interesting?  CHECK!   Plot moving forward more quickly? CHECK!  Suspense and excited to see what happens next?  Put another oddly shaped V into that box too.   Nothing further I can really add to this except that if you had considered not getting back into The Event after the hiatus, maybe you want to check it out again before it rides off into the sunset.   Let's move on to the recap!

Fringe: Season 3 Episode 18 - Bloodline

Welcome Fringe Fans!  We're back for another recap of another fantastic episode.  But I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't pause to reflect on some news that was provided by executive producer J.H. Wyman Thursday night causing an explosion on Twitter:

"@JWFRINGE: #Fringewas picked up!! Thanks Fringedom!"

There you have it folks, the reason you should all sign up for Twitter.  Real-time notifications of the things you care about!  Ratings be damned, season 4 is a go!  Fox is totally happy with the performance of Fringe on Friday nights and insist that their Friday nights overall have improved because of the show.  I'm not sure how much truth there is to that but I do know that they have a fan in Kevin Reilly (Fox Prez) and I don't think he was willing to let the show die.  If you want to read an interview with the producers, go right ahead.  While, I am excited for the season 4 renewal, I am a bit hesitant about the show living much past that.  But, let's just call this battle won for now and worry about season 5 next season!  If Pinkner and Wyman say they have ideas that could get us to 8 seasons, well then I would like to see what they have in mind!

Anyway, let's get to this episode which brought us back OVER THERE.  It would seem as this season is drawing to a close that we will be dealing with the show's mythology more than our procedural/mythology inter-fused episodes.  This one dealt with Fauxlivia's pregnancy and the potential life threatening issues with it.  Of course, things got all FRINGEY and crazy with that pregnancy and we'll get to that.  The episode also follows Lincoln and Charlie as they grow more suspicious of the events that have occurred in Alternaville over the past season. (though, they didn't refer to it as a SEASON naturally because they don't realize they're on a television show.  DUH!)   Lots of stuff to discuss so let's get right on to it!

The Event: Season 1 Episode 14 - A Message Back

Hello Eventers!  Welcome back to your weekly dose of Dempsian Dissection!  This is an episode that felt like they provided a lot of answers but once the hour was up, we found out we really didn't learn much at all.  And the worst part, the episode didn't even end!  It's like it reached its climatic moment and then rolled the credits.  An oddly paced episode indeed.  Of course, I definitely want to tune in next week to see how the conflict resolves.   But, I'm feeling like there really isn't much to discuss with this one.  Sure, there's lots of acting and contrived plots to playfully tease, and there are some potential plot points that sound interesting. But, I'll admit it.  With this show's inevitable fate of cancellation getting stronger each week, it's getting tougher for me to get the motivation to fill this recap out. One thing the show has going for it is that I'm still enjoying it, whatever they're trying to accomplish.  So, we'll see how things go.  Wish me luck!

Fringe: Season 3 Episode 17 - Stowaway

Hello Fringe Fandom and welcome back for another recap of the world's craziest and most fantastic show! This season has certainly gone in paths that we never could have expected, and last week's cliffhanger was one of the most random AND inspired moments leading to this fabulous episode.  Anna Torv has now taken on a 3rd character and she did it phenomenally.  Seeing Walter and Bellie at work was just as hysterical as I had hoped for.  I'm looking forward to some more of that!  The case this week tied into the current theme of the show with the investigation into the soul.  By the end of the episode, we learned that it also had hints of some LOST themes as well as The Adjustment Bureau (fantastic film if you haven't seen it yet).  So yes, Fringe has now taken a leap into religion as its predecessors have, but it did it from a scientific point of view.  And the result was "magnetically" enthralling! (Look at me trying to get all fancy with my words)  Not much else to do but to get into the recapping so let's do it!

The Event: Season 1 Episode 13 - Turnabout

Hello Eventers!  Much much more like it!  I love joking about this show as much as the next person, but they put together a really solid hour of television tonight.  And, as I suspected, much of it had to do with moving the pieces around in the last 2 episodes to give us some fresh perspective.  The chess match between Sophia and Thomas has reached violent new heights.  President Martinez is taking an "over the top" bold new approach to his Presidency.   Sean is off on his own and faced with a decision on how much he wants to be involved.  And of course, the weak link still remains in Michael Buchanan's daughter, Leila.  But, the reduced screen time helped the episode keep the momentum going. There were actually a couple "ANSWERS" hidden in the episode for anyone that still looks for those on shows like this!  So, no sense in delaying, let's dive into the recap.

Fringe: Season 3 Episode 16 - Os

Hello Fringe Fanatics!  It's great to have this show back after a 1 week hiatus isn't it?  This episode got back to its good ol' formula of investigating one crazy case of another crazy scientist.  But, behind the scenes, the story kept advancing forward.  Fringe truly has mastered their self-dubbed "Mythalone" style episodes!  And did I mention the awesome guest stars?  Just having Jorge Garcia for the cold open would have been plenty but they brought in Ferris Bueller's best friend as our villain of the week!  Alan Ruck ladies and gentlemen!  Awesome stuff (and yes yes, I know Alan has been in plenty since then but he'll always be Cameron to me). Do we wait until the end of the recap to talk about the crazy ending?  I mean how crazy was that?!  Some people are ready to hand Anna Torv the Emmy already.  I thought she was great, but I thought it was more comical than anything!  Yes, very important to the story and I'm totally buying it.  But, that voice was hysterical!  You just never know what's going to happen when you strike William's Bell! (ba dum ching!)  Well, let's just hope we can live long through this recap and then propser in the discussion of it all down there.  (Feels like it's going to be a "Bad Pun" kind of day)   Let's dive into the recap folks!

The Event: Season 1 Episode 11- And Then There Were More / Episode 12 - Inostranka

Hello Eventers!  It's been a long long long long wait for this show to come back.  Some probably had given up and just assumed that NBC did too.  And based on not too much promotion for its return (besides the same 30 second promos that show some cataclysmic "event" over and over again which I'll refrain from spoiling in case somehow you missed it), I don't think NBC has much faith in its potential to live on beyond season 1.  There is always hope for the show, though.  It does happen to live on the least successful of the 4 major networks.  NBC might be more willing to give The Event a long leash.  And let's not forget that Charlie Sheen has made certain that no one will be tuning in to CBS at 9:00 unless they want to see reruns of the crazed "winner!"  One thing you can rely on though is that I shall continue to recap for the remainder of the season!  I hate to not see things through when I start them.   And personally, I have to say I enjoyed its return.  Everything that I seemingly complained about in the first 10 episodes, were quickly adjusted in these 2 hours.  I'll go through the list as we go through the recap.  Yes, I have already tweeted that some of the acting was down right laughable.  And I will not take that back.  Hal Holbrook's assistant?  OUCH!  The Inostrankans?  "YEAAAH!!!.....YEEAAAH!!!   YEAAAH!!!!"  But that didn't deter from enjoying the episode on a whole.  Anyway, enough of my blabbing.  Let's talk about the episode.