Monday, April 18, 2011

The Event: Season 1 Episode 17- Cut Off the Head


Hello Eventers!  Are there any of you still out there?  Well, if there are then I'm sure you're in the same boat as I am.  Content (or at least have accepted) that the show will probably not be returning, but enjoying the ride of what's left!  You've probably also have accepted that parts of the show will indeed be laughable, and almost hope for it to happen!  But, then you also realize that there is a great show hidden somewhere in there just screaming to come out.  Those are all the things that went through my head as I watched this week's episode.  I will continue to say that since reshuffling the deck during the hiatus and putting different characters with each other, things have certainly gotten a little more exciting.   So let's not waste any time and let's dive into the reap.

Government Stuff / Alien Stuff
Is the 1st Lady a Sleeper?
Okay, so we've gone back and forth on this one.  In the first half of the season, some shady things were said about the 1st lady's past and we started suspecting that the aliens had infiltrated that far into the US Government and that she certainly was a sleeper.  Then, she was not in like 10 straight episodes (out of sight out of mind).   Then, all of a sudden, Senator Virginia Madsen (Lewis??) starts suspecting her last week when she refuses to take a test that the rest of the White House staff had to take. 

So, then I start thinking it can't be that easy, right?  They're going to focus a whole episode on determining whether she's a sleeper.  So, there must be a twist right?  Well, yeah, there certainly was a silly twist, but then of course they twisted again with a sillier twist!   So, in the end, I think we were all right on this one! 

  • Of course, The President is going to have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that his wife may be a sleeper and he has been duped for years.  
  • But Senator Lewis had the facts, or lack of facts in the file she dug up.  And she noted that the 1st Lady had not aged a day since a picture from Katrina 6 years ago.  

  • Martinez starts to get suspicious and starts to feel her out with some questions about their honeymoon and other things and she gives some shady answers.  
  • So, in the end he takes the file and then asks her to come clean with whatever dirt she's hiding.  She is afraid to come forth and then she finally says "I'm not Cuban"...so, I then interrupt her by screaming out "I'm Moroccan!"   I wasn't too far off, she said "I'm Dominican!"  Wow, that was cheesy, right?   But we all saw it coming.  We knew she wouldn't just come out and say she was an alien.  And we knew the writers wouldn't do that either. 

  • But, the last look said it all, the First Lady embraced an "all smiles" President and made a face as if she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep up this charade. 

So, is she an alien?  Yeah, it's looking that way.   I said last week that either way they went with the storyline, it wouldn't really be a surprise based on the way they handled it.  The only surprise is how much time they're actually going to spend on dragging it out!  Of course, if they kill off Martinez (highly doubtful), it would seem pretty pointless to have his wife be an alien sleeper!   

Off with his head! 
Meanwhile Sophia is telling her board of trustees (that seems to rotate in new blood every time we see them) how she plans on making room for all 2 billion aliens.  There needs to be a significant reduction of human population.  She wants it done quickly and efficiently!   



  • One issue, the dude that was closest to finding a way of killing off a bunch of people has gotten caught by the FBI and had to destroy his findings and jump out a window!  No fear, he uploaded his findings to Sophia before he died. 


  • So, while some aliens are finishing that research, Sophia has a bigger plan to get rid of their biggest adversary (The United States Government).  She needs to permanently eliminate President Martinez.   But it doesn't stop there, she needs to get someone in the office that she can control.  So she reached out to Mr. Gullible Patriot - Vice President Jarvis.  
  • Talk about a comical scene - when he picked up his phone, "Who is this, how did you get this number"   "It's not important. This is Sophia."  Jarvis was already mad at the caller before he knew who it was!  Seemed like the lines were a bit out of order there.  But whatever!  Of course, he puts up this whole nobel act but still goes to meet her in a hotel room giving off the appearance to the Secret Service that he's meeting a call girl or something.  And then pulls a gun on her???   You can't make this cheesiness up!  (Well, I guess someone did!) 




  • Seriously, if he wanted to make things right, why wouldn't he tell Sterling and Martinez Sophia just called him and then they could have set up a sting to capture her?  But no, he tries to do everything all shady like, so when Sterling and Martinez get all angry with him he sees no way but to go with Sophia and kill off the President and allow himself to become President.  You know, for the sake of sparing the USA and killing off a few other countries instead. 
  • It didn't sound like Sophia was necessarily going to keep that bargain though after she eliminated Martinez.  
By the way, we STILL don't know what The Event is!  

The Physical Comedy of Leila Buchanan
Oh, where to begin?  We knew that Leila and Simon were going to have to meet up somehow.  I guess Leila knew that if she injured herself she would end up in the same place as her.
  • I laughed pretty hysterically at Leila slicing her hand open and claiming she did it while cutting fruit.  And how dumb is this security guard that has been assigned to her?  First he falls for this?  And then later is even worse! 


  • But, she gets her wish and ends up in "Sick Bay" AKA the house down the street.  They use some magical scar healing bandage on her and she's all better.  But, she still "feels woozy" so she wants to stick around for a bit.  This allows her to sneak in to an unguarded Simon's room.  Really!?  
  • Anyway, Simon tells her that she needs to find a cell phone (off of a Lieutenant) and call the authorities and warn them of a mass genocide.  

  • Simon knows of this weapon they're looking for.  It's somewhere in Siberia, and there was a woman written on one of the maps called Irina Bogdanov.  
  • So, Leila heads back to her quarters.  But, she has another brilliant plan in mind.  She tells Mr. Security Guy that she needs a drink and he decides he does too.  She asks for his jacket and he considers it then thought "yeah....that's a good idea!!"   Naturally, his cell phone was in his jacket so, Leila gave him the corkscrew and excused herself stealing the cell phone along the way. 


  • 911 was useless because the GPS on the device was disabled and Leila had no idea where she was.  But surely, they heard some guy coming after her!  The guy knocked over the door and fought pretty hard to get that phone back.  Of course Leila was able to outsmart him.  Why wouldn't she?  She hit him over the head with a lamp and got out of the house. 

Stay tuned! 


The Final Test of Sean Walker
So, last week, we kind of deduced that Dempsey was testing Sean Walker for a bigger mission with all of these antics he had recently cooked up.  It turned out that we were absolutely, right!  Sean, arrived at the Chateau and was able to sneak right through the highly guarded gate, and then walk right into the burning house.  He rescued Vicky and got her far enough away from the house where he could start his CPR that he learned while creating video games for a living.   And he got some free smooches out of it too!  Good news, Vicky is alive! 




  • Then there was Dempsey congratulating Sean for a job well done and his sneaky body guard jumped right in and took Sean's gun.  Good job bodyguard! 


  • Then, Dempsey spilled the beans on what he has been doing.  He said it was all for the greater good of mankind.  He said he was one of many sentinels that were here to protect the human race from these aliens.  He said Sophia is a major threat and while she seemed to be a force for good, their deductions were that eventually she would turn to what's best for her people.  


  • They just deduced that?  Did they have an advanced copy of the script?  Do they have the gift of foresight?  Time Travel?  Or perhaps are just a collective of very smart individuals who have seen these trends over 3 millennia to know what the deal is? 
  • So, are the sentinels not human either?  The vibe I was getting was that they were something else all together too.   Cue the ANGELS debate again.  (real or metaphoric or perception)  
  • Anyway, Dempsey said that there is one person that is qualified enough to take on Sophia and that person is him, Sean Walker.  And finally, SOMEONE brought up the elephant in the room!  He talked about Sean having no resources but he was still able to go toe to toe with all the big wigs of the world.   Hey, at least they've admitted it now!  
  • So, Dempsey knows there is no way to prove to Sean he's being honest based on everything Walker has been through.   Vicky thinks the man is nuts too.  So, he decides the only way to earn his trust is to take his bodyguard's gun and put a bullet in his own head.   And that's exactly what he did! 


  • RIP Dempsey!  For what it's worth, I kept saying that Dempsey had to be only in the plan for 1 season.  There was no way they could keep him around forever.  But he was definitely the most interesting character that we had for a majority of this season.  And I'm sure there is much evidence that will be left from him to go off of for future plot lines.   And apparently, there are more "sentinels" too.  And if they were in the loop, it would seem they will be allies of Sean's.   
  • Anyway, once Dempsey shot himself, it sounded like the authorities were heading in their direction (and to the direction of the flaming mansion!).  So they run off with Dempsey's bag of goodies which contained the ancient scroll, passports and some other unknown stuff at this juncture.  
  • Sean starts to suspect that Dempsey may have been telling the truth to which Vicky isn't a believer just yet. 

  • What convenient timing!  Leila called Sean with phone call #2 to give him the information he needed.  Sophia bad!  Going to destroy all humans!  Don't worry about me, I don't know where I am!  Find Irina Bogdanov!  Help me Sean Walker, you're my only hope.   And then Michael comes out of nowhere and grabs Leila, forcing her to hang up the phone. 


  • Michael doesn't think he can protect her from Sophia this time! 
  • But at least she did something useful and set up Sean and Vicky's next mission.  It's off to Siberia! I'll bet they may even have access to Dempsey's funds now! 

The Cliffhanger
So, we see that the EBEs have dug something up in Russia and it's a body that is very bizarre looking.  Is this the source of their weapon?  Is it a preserved alien body?  Eh, I have no idea.  Seemed pretty random, but it's probably worth noting. 


Did anyone else find it strange that we got to witness President Martinez putting sweetener in his coffee at the beginning of the episode?  Well, it was all a setup for things to come!  Jarvis went to an arranged Doctor visit of Sophia's to acquire an exchange of goods.  A sweetener packet filled with poison!! OH NO!!   Jarvis heads into the War Room early and changes the sweetener on the President's mug right before Martinez enters the room.   GAME ON!!


And that's that.  Obviously, I don't think Martinez will be written off that easily.  But, we'll see how it all goes down next week.  Not a bad episode.  Definitely some unintentionally funny moments!  We should have about 5 more episodes to go.  What kind of closure will be provided?  I guess only time will tell.  But, I've still been enjoying the ride.  And with that, I'll call it a day!  Check out the End Credits for shows I'm watching and possibly considering writing about in the future.   Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week! 

  • Follow me on Twitter for any future blog postings and any interesting news I find. @TVAddictsBlog
  • Fringe may just be the best show you're not watching!  And if you do watch, you should be checking out my recaps!  This summer would be a perfect opportunity to catch up for anyone who hasn't watched. Season 4 is definitely coming!   
  • I'll definitely be there when The Walking Dead returns, but that's most likely in the fall! AMC has been reairing the show though so if you ever catch it, you can find my recaps at the link. DVD/Blu-Ray of the 6 episode 1st season is now available.  Check it out. You won't be disappointed! 
  • Shows I'm watching right now (and might comment on time permitting): Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Big Bang Theory, The Office, Community, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Smallville and others that I won't mention out of embarrassment!
  • I also have taken up watching THE KILLING on AMC.  Fabulous murder mystery being played out over a 13 episode season.  I highly recommend tuning in! 
  • Game of Thrones started Sunday April 17th.  And they're rerunning it like crazy.  First episode was good, but the critics who have seen advanced copies of future installments have said it's nothing short of spectacular.  I can vouch for the first 3rd of the book that it is really good source material!  Check it out! 
  • Upcoming shows I'm looking forward to:
    Terra Nova
      (FOX) - Pilot moved to air in Fall 2011 with rest of season 1
    Breaking Bad (AMC)
    Rescue Me (FX)
    Alcatraz - with Jorge Garcia in lead role
    Odd Jobs with Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn (If it ever happens.  This has been put on hold.  Both Emerson and O'Quinn have other shows this fall that I will be checking out.)  
  • I know it's sometimes looked at as a blemish based on my other recapping habits, but I am still watching American Idol.  I have recently come out of retirement to do some quick recaps on the LIVE shows.  Just can't resist.  Come check it out if you dare! 

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

MIke,
I don't know how you find the time to do these recaps and responses, thanks.

1. I'm not convinced those were aliens in Russia. Maybe sentinel related. But, you may have picked up on something I missed.
2. I thought it pretty funny when Sophia was basically calling the VP a patsy.
3. Interesting that the sentinels have been around for 3000 years, definitely after the pyramid time frame. Much younger than most thought. I googled that 1000BC time frame and found a few things, such as the beginning of the iron age, King David, Assyrians starting their moves.
4. The reference to the tapestry of life by Dempsey to Sean was interesting.
5. If the show were being picked up next season I would say the Prez lives. But with only a few eps left, I'm not sure. It looks like the protagonist/antagonist are Sean/Sophia.
6. When Dempsey was telling Sean that basically the future of mankind rests with him, some Banner/Hulk ideas came to mind.
7. Was it just me, or was anyone else disappointed at how excited Sean was at hearing from Leila? I mean after all he's been through with Vicky and with her being all nice.... BTW, I would vote for Taylor Cole to take over for Megan Fox in Transformers.

Richard

Mike V. said...

@Richard
I really don't know either! The Event one isn't too difficult though lol I don't write long diatribes about anything so I flew through last night's in about an hour (then just had to snap a few pictures to throw into the recap) Fringe has been a chore with its Friday airing. The Mrs. and friends of mine aren't too thrilled having to work around my TV schedule! lol So, I do what I can. The final 3 weeks of Fringe may be really tough for me but I'll do my best.

1.) You could be right. I really didn't know what was going on there, so I just threw out a quick speculation lol
2.) Yeah the whole Sophia/VP thing was flat out comical!
3.) Interesting indeed. You were more interested in researching than I was! So kudos to you!
4.) Yeah, it certainly was interesting.
5.) Well, that's the thing. It doesn't seem like THE EVENT is going to factor in this show ending this season or not. You would think they would have received notice by now either way. I'm guessing they're going to end with a cliffhanger and if it gets cancelled, they'll share with us what their plan was for the rest of the show. I believe Nick Wauters has made comments recently to imply that.
6.) I didn't catch the Hulk vibe on that one, but I guess it does apply! lol
7.) Well, Megan Fox won't be in the 3rd Transformers. They got some Victoria's Secret Model to take her place. But yeah, she definitely would have fit well into Transformers Franchise. It was sad to see him excited by Leila's call, but I think they're setting up an inevitable love triangle for Sean. I was paying more attention to Vicky's reaction that Leila was calling. She seems to be developing some feelings for the man that saved her life.

We'll see! Thanks for the comments as always Richard!

Anonymous said...

I'm annoyed at myself for continuing to watch this show! And now they killed off the most interesting character. Sigh. I think I'll skip the show and watch your blog instead.
J

Mike V. said...

@J - I appreciate the indirect kudos but what you're suggesting really isn't fair is it? Sure, it resolves the torture you're going through but it means I still have to endure watching the show to write the recaps!! LOL :-)

They definitely killed off the most interesting character, but I really think it was an inevitability...I think he was just the tip of the iceberg of these "sentinels" though. Of course, how much really will they get into in the next few episodes before "hoping" they'll get a season 2? no clue.

Anonymous said...

God, if they try to introduce some bizarre love triangle we'll know this show has gone to pot. Better written shows have tried and failed. These guys really shouldn't bother.

Mike V. said...

You could be right Anonymous. Then again, to counter balance any crazy stuff going on on the show, it's good to have romantic stakes involved too for the casual viewer. A little will they/won't they goes a long way on these shows. I'll bring up LOST again....obviously, the show got really crazy and I totally loved that. But on a more basic level, some people were just tuning in to see who Kate would pick. And in the most untraditional way, we did get to see her choice in the finale lol

MJ said...

Loved your "You can't make this cheesiness up! (Well, I guess someone did!) "

Loved how Sohpia just popped into a DC or DC area hotel so quickly - cause I'm pretty sure that Alienville is not all that close to such heavily populated areas. Too funny.

I guess it's possible they are just old and smart and can deduce possible future actions by trending of some sort - kinda reminds me of Rubicon.

What gets me is that Sean then grabs Dempsey's gun ! Hello - if you get stopped you have the weapon that just killed a man. The authorities are not going to assume suicide if the gun is not in the dead guys hand.

Yeah - they had gained some steam with the show but seem to be losing it again to silliness. I'm just telling myself that they are now putting the pieces and people in place for the set-up fo The Event - which I still very much want to see

Mike V. said...

@MJ

Thanks for enjoying my bad humor! lol

That is pretty funny that Sophia popped up in DC. Didn't even think about it. They were in California but then they took that Portal to wherever Alienville is. I'm trying to remember if we knew where it was. But you raise a very good point! The logistics on this show never cease to amaze me.

You could be right with the Old and Smart vibe. I did enjoy Rubicon. It's a shame it wasn't renewed. The only AMC flop!

LOL on Sean grabbing Dempsey's gun. Of course, it IS Sean, he can get himself out of anything due to his extensive Video Game programming experience!!

yeah...the show is definitely silly. I'm still enjoying it but the only thing that would annoy me at this point is if they didn't reveal to us what THE EVENT is. To see it would be even better! If it's back next season, great. If not? No big loss. I'm not even sure I'd do full recaps in season 2 anyway. There are too many potentially good shows coming out next season!

Nicola said...

I just wanted to thank you for these re-caps every week. I watch the show (it's aired on Monday evenings here in the UK) then come on here straight after for your verdict and always enjoy the read. just wish it had a chance of being renewed!

Mike V. said...

Thanks Nicola! Always nice to hear there are people reading this thing! Every once in awhile, this show gives me a glimmer of hope at the show it has the potential to be. Tonight was one of those glimmers, so I'd join you in that wish of it getting renewed. Of course, next week it could just annoy me again! lol It doesn't sound like it's on any of the major site's "Wish Lists" for renewal though, so chances have to be pretty slim. We'll see! Off to recap tonight's ep!

Nicola said...

ah we're clearly a week behind you guys, I have to wait until next Monday for ep18... not looking good for renewal when the network has moved it from Mondays at 11pm to midnight... hmm it gets better haha. looks like it'll have a fate similar to FlashForward :(

LostFamily said...

Mike, your recaps are always spot on - we're out here reading them even if we don't always summon the energy to reply. I am enjoying the show, despite its flaws. The story is intriguing and this week did keep you guessing. I was kind of chuckling that the VP was able to get maintenance in there (what seemed like pretty) quickly to clean up the spilled coffee. I wish I could get someone to vacuum the carpet at my office!

Mike V. said...

@LOST Family - Good to hear from you! I appreciate you taking the time to read the recaps. Yeah, I think they would have had to recarpet the place to get rid of all evidence of that huge stain! lol BTW, I think you commented on last week's episode, but it's all good! lol

Mike V. said...

err...i mean last week's episode recap! you commented ABOUT "THIS" week's episode lol