Monday, October 31, 2011

Terra Nova: Season 1 Episode 6 - Bylaw


Seems like ages since we've visited Terra Nova, hasn't it?  We'll, we're back and for the most anti-climatic murder mystery of the ages!  One big misdirection after another and then a random resolution!  But that's not all!  More teen angst and the story of getting a pet Dino!  (I was a few episodes off on my Flintstones prediction which I don't remember if I made vocal then)   Don't get me wrong, it wasn't an awful episode, but it was far from fantastic.  And the worst part?  There weren't many memorable cheesy lines to talk about either!  But I'll figure out something for currently the only redeeming part of this weekly recap!  The show is still entertaining as a Family Sci-Fi action romp.  But, for anyone looking for more meaty mythological brain dumps, it's still just scratching the surface.  There are promises that it's coming though!   But for now, let's work with what we got this week!

The Walking Dead: Season 2 Episode 3 - Save the Last One

Greetings fellow Walkers!  WOW, another intense episode with a shocker of a final moment.  It was another slow burn of an episode on the farm and RV campuses accompanied by a stressful escape from the High School for Shane and Otis.  This show has definitely found a nice balance between deep character moments, comedy and goretasic scenery!  3 episodes in and I'm loving this season just as much as the last.  No reason to delay this any further.  Let's get into the quick recap!

Monday, October 24, 2011

The Walking Dead: Season 2 Episode 2 - Bloodletters

Greetings Walkers!  We had yet another entertaining hour of the end of days drama's second season!  I thoroughly enjoyed myself as always.  Maybe there will be a few complainers about the slow pace that they are deciding to take this season plot-wise, but I'm loving it!  For me, it just builds the suspense even more and adds to how the characters will respond in these tense situations.  We're already seeing hints that the group is getting antsy to get moving.  But for now, we have an injured Carl and still a missing Sophia and the drama is consuming the group as well as splitting them up from each other.  Let's discuss what went down in this light recap!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Terra Nova: Season 1 Episode 5 - The Runaway


Hello Terra Novians!  We're back for another fun-filled adventure with those wacky prehistoric future people.  I must say while we're still not charting into "Legendary Show" territory, I do feel an improvement with each episode that airs.  In this one, we spend some much needed time with Terra Nova's arch-nemisis "Sixers" and we dive more into the question of "Who really are the good guys?" which pretty much drives all of these types of shows these days.  It's sad to say but the cheesy line factor was way down from last week (which was just about every line of the show).  But don't you fear, there definitely was some stuff to save for the final section of this recap.  Anyway, let's cut to the cheese...umm...chase.  Sorry.  (Admit it, along with those eye rolls, some of you may have let out a tiny chuckle)  Recap time!

The Walking Dead: Season 2 Episode 1 - What Lies Ahead


Welcome Dead Heads after a looooong hiatus BACK to The Walking Dead: Season 2!  And WOW, what a way to start off the season.  The show has returned and has not missed a beat!  At every turn, there is that constant fear that these Zombie Apocalypse survivors will run into trouble.  And trouble they did find not too long into the episode!  The show continues to do what it did best in the 6 episode 1st season.  Using the zombies and constant tension as a backdrop to drive some deeply personal character stories.  And, they even found a way to throw some religion in there with a very clear message from the Almighty!  But we'll get there in due time. 

Now folks, last year this "recap" started as just a quick commentary because I couldn't keep the show to myself.  I needed an outlet to discuss.  It did evolve a bit as the 6 episodes went along.  But, I can't promise you the in-depth recaps you may have come to associate me with for this show.  Sunday is a busy night of television and I have to find a way on Monday to throw some commentary down for this whilst keeping other obligations (namely obligations that get me a direct deposit to my bank every 2 weeks!).  So, I'll do my best to get my thoughts down and start the discussion on a weekly basis.   On another note, I believe this season is getting chopped (pun slightly intended) into 2 halves due to the holidays.   So we'll get half of the 13 eps before the December holiday period and then the rest of them afterwards (all to be wrapped up, I'm sure before Mad men starts in March).  But hey, that works for me.  It's better than 6 episodes and then almost a 1 year wait for the next season! 

With all of that said, let's get into the "gory" details of this episode! 

Note: Some of the pictures in this recap may not be suited for a family audience or those who are squeemish.  But, you probably aren't watching this show if you fall into one of those categories!  

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Fringe: Season 4 Episode 4 - Subject 9


Hello Fringe fandom!  Episodes like last night are the reason the frustrated fans stick around.  The payoffs! Yes, we are still surrounded by total confusion, but we definitely got an awesome moment of television.  And some very interesting new tidbits of this new "Peter-less" reality.  All I have to say is WOW!  Fringe has brought it and raised the bar once again.  Bravo!  We'll have a break for a week due to the World Series before the next episode so it's good that this one has left us with much to talk about!  No sense in delaying, let's get to it!! 

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Terra Nova: Season 1 Episode 4 - What Remains


So, I planned on writing a recap for Terra Nova tonight but I totally forget what I was going to write.  In fact, I don't even know what Terra Nova is.  So, I'm just going to write a recap about LOST again because that's where my mind is right now!  Okay, obviously kidding.  In all seriousness, I thought this week's episode was going to be a disaster and the clinching nail in the coffin for any ounce of hope that this could be a decent show.  I was happily proven wrong.  Don't get me wrong, we're not marching off to the Emmy's or anything but this episode was far more enjoyable to me than the attack of the killer bird-o-saurs last week.  The cheesy lines were still there but some of them, I couldn't resist laughing at even whilst rolling my eyes in a cheery way.  As some have stated, this isn't really going to be a show to take TOO seriously.  It does have its serious moments in advancing people's agendas, which we saw a little bit this week.  That's all I ask for folks!  We can have our silly weekly stories, but let's move that plot along a bit too!  I still don't see much reasoning for a full fledged story recap again this week.  Not sure we'll ever be at that level with this show.  But I'll highlight the things that I found important or amusing!   Here we go!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Fringe: Season 4 Episode 3 - Alone in the World


Hello Fringe freaks and welcome back!  We got another solid episode last night, but I'll admit that it was a little weirder than usual.  I know, calling a Fringe episode "weird" is actually a compliment, right?  The mythology advancing material was great and we got a nice tidbit of information of what caused Peter to not exist in this world, but the case of the week was just flat out bizarre!  I can see where they were trying to tie this to the current themes running through the show, but it was still weird!  That all being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself and I'm going to enjoy every moment of Fringe while I can.  I'm just not sure how FOX is going to respond to the ratings it's getting.  The ratings did increase 8% this week, but had dropped 20% the week before, so we're still down.  The 2 things it has going for it is that it's not alone with suffering in the ratings (they're down across the board) and the show is still a critical/cult favorite with strong DVR numbers.  (So maybe that's 4 things??)  I think most of us would agree, it's time to get Peter back on the show.  Based on the final moment of this episode, they seem to be promising that it's going to be in the imminent future!  So with all of that said, let's get on with the recap!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Terra Nova: Season 1 Episode 3 - Instinct


Hello prehistoric bird watchers, welcome to Terra Nova - Comedy Edition!  I can't even sugarcoat it folks. That was one painful episode of television to endure.  I know, you don't usually hear this coming from the "I love everything I write about!" blogger.  But, I never had to endure the first post-pilot episode of Terra Nova before tonight either!  I guess they realized that they spent all of their budget for 2 seasons worth of episodes in that pilot, and this is what we get in return for the 3rd hour?  Yikes.  A lot less action and a lot more of the cheese that we were willing to overlook last week.  Don't get me wrong, I was laughing the entire hour, but it was for all of the wrong reasons.

The minute that Jim and the Mrs. were getting interrupted from their "night-time festivities", I think we all could have figured out how the episode was going to end!  But, don't let me spoil the big twist ending for you guys! We'll get there in due time.  A fair warning to all of you hardcore Terra Novians out there, there is no way that I can recap this episode in any kind of serious way.   I am aware that there are going to have to be episodes like this scattered across the 12 episode order of season 1, and I am optimistic that they will counter-balance episodes like this with more mythology expanding episodes.  But when we stumble upon a stinker like this one, there is only so much that I can say!   So, with that in mind, let's get to it!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Fringe Season 4: Episode 2 - One Night in October


Hello Fringe freaks!  Welcome back as we continue to delve into season 4.  The 2nd episode, for me, was no less awesome than the premiere.  In fact, I think it gave us a better look at how season 4 is going to continue to play out.  Both universes working together on cases, relationships developing between alternate selves and of course figuring out what is going on with Peter Bishop!  What I find continuously awesome about this show is that the episode's case of the week will often seem to be a stand-alone case but then by the end the overall theme of the case ties strongly into the current overarching themes of the show.  And surprisingly, the show didn't get overly cheesy having Anna Torv playing two roles against each other for a majority of the episode.  Gotta love having a nice special effects budget!  Anyway, the episode gets another WOW from me and let's move on to the recap!