The Vampire Diaries - "Into the Wild" - Review

Ultimately one of the reasons that we lose interest in a show is because we can predict what’s going to happen. We’re taught the structures and patterns by which it’s going tell us its stories. And by the third or fourth season if a show isn’t continuing to be ambitious and bold, it’s probably going to peak and will either coast or decline.

There’s an added layer to this with The Vampire Diaries. Part of its fundamental nature is the fact that it thrives on constant cliffhangers and twists. It tries to shock us regularly. And when it does, it achieves it almost unlike any other series out there. But when it fails, it just feels like good old Vampire Diaries trying to scare and surprise us. How quaint!

The show would be finding itself saddled with this problem even if it weren’t having significant plotting problems this season.  But it’s an added element playing against the show. There remains to be scenes and moments that are great. But holistically episodes have been leaving a lot to be desired.  Part of that problem has to be chalked up to ineffective cliff hangers, i.e. cliff hangers that are easily overturned or don’t advance the plot.  

Very few scenes or sequences of late have truly made me go OH MY GOD! The stakes just don’t feel nearly as high. There’s not a single character who feels like they’re fair game to die anymore. I still remember when Jenna died at the end of the second season that that was a death I never expected and it was shocking, emotional, and a great plot decision. With vampires, werewolves, hybrids, and witches running amuck, people should at least feel like they could die at any moment. But this sense of hanging dread that anyone could die at any moment doesn’t exist. When Bonnie and Jeremy get taken as hostages by Shane at episodes end, it just feels like the series saying “Okay, what big cliffhanger can we leave it on this time?”

The only scene that completely took me unexpectedly was Klaus attacking Caroline. Klaus is so deeply in love with her that it’s not something I didn’t anticipate. It makes sense that he would do it out of frustration and anger, and it’s pretty inspired that he creates a situation in which he’s the only one that can save her. But Caroline has been around for so long that she’s become a mainstay of the series (and one of its best characters). 

Not only did it take me by surprise, but it leads to the great scene between Klaus and Caroline, and it’s played so well by both Joseph Morgan and Candice Accola. When Caroline starts talking about the good she sees in Klaus, it doesn’t strike me as being entirely a lie to save herself; she seems to, on some level, truly feel sympathy for him, but, the other hand, she still can’t overlook all the awful things Klaus done. Caroline is such a sincere and good natured person that the gesture is just her being her typically honest self.

Now why Caroline and Tyler weren’t included on the excursion to find the cure, I’m not entirely sure other than for the desire to create a subplot. Though the storyline feels really disconnected from the A-plot, it’s still interesting enough that it’s not a distraction. The scenes between Tyler and Klaus are also great. Watch as they have an angry stare off that ends with the great Klaus line, “Let me tell you, your mother was a fighter”.  Equally well done is the scene where Tyler begs for Caroline’s life, offering up himself in order to save her. 

Elsewhere, we finally got some necessary backstory on Shane and his whole deal. Shane’s addition to the story, much like April’s, has never felt well-integrated. He’s been more of a plot device than a real person. Sure, he’s mentioned that wife and son of his before, but we never really got a good sense of what made him so obsessive about finding Silas and the cure. Here we’re given some flashbacks that don’t necessarily provide as much information as they probably ought to but fill in some gaps of information.

And, lastly in Love Triangle News: I’m not sure what’s going on with Elena and Damon anymore at this point. It could have been potentially very interesting to confront whether Damon wants to take the cure or not and what that means for the relationship, but it gets annoyingly, overly melodramatic and lacks nuance. The show should settle on this love triangle thing for at least a little while; it was intriguing earlier in the series and the writers have handled it well in the past but ever since the sire bond twist, the show has consistently been murky on the matter. 

Murky is an apt word for this episode in general. This is an episode too hesitant to know what it wants to be, and filled with too much stalling that is so very clearly stalling. 

Stray Observations:

-The whole deal with the Native Americans on the island was a little strange.

-May be it was just the setting, but much of the scenes in “Novia Scotia” felt very awkwardly shot.

-“It’s all an act. Being a vampire is miserable” - The Rebekkah-Steffan's scenes are great though. Rebekkah becomes a better and better character with each episodes. Her explanations for her unhappiness and desire for the cure are very revealing.

-“If I took the cure it wouldn’t be for her, it would be for me”

-Damon hasn’t gotten to torture anyone in a while. Not sure what it says about me that I find these scenes to usually be pretty entertaining.

-“I’ve caught myself wishing I could forget all the terrible things you’ve done”

Grade: C+

The Office - "Couples Discount" - Review

I had pretty much forgotten Andy existed until he returned in tonight’s episode. I’m also entirely indifferent to his return. Andy has become such a broad character that I don’t really care about him anymore. It was sweet when he was courting Erin. But now I’m far more interested in Erin and Pete as a pairing. 

Andy’s return is just strange. He looks like a Rastafarian and apparently smells like he’s homeless. Not to mention the fact he’s been gone for 3 months. The whole thing feels like an afterthought. He doesn’t return until the episode does a whole brief plot about the office workers getting their nails done (a storyline that could have been a full episode's plot if the writers wanted it to be but is probably better off not going any longer). By which point there’s not much to really to do with him. He loses a major account and pisses everyone off, which leads to him getting duped by his co-workers into believing they’ve started doing some crazy things while he’s been away, my favorite being Phyllis’s suggestion that they’ve been selling balloons.  

However, this does lead to the episode’s best scene where Erin breaks up with him while he’s on a conference call with David Wallace. Having been talked out of breaking up earlier, seeing her run up and tell him off was nice to see (and also  hilarious).

Though I’m baffled by the point of Brian being introduced (this doesn’t seem to be going anywhere to justify his introduction), it does lead to a surprisingly sweet moment where Pam tells Jim not to go to Philly, “I want us to have a fight” (a line that sounds very weird out of context, and doesn’t stick as well as I feel the writers intended it to, but it’s still touching).

Grade: B-

Parks and Recreation - "Ann's Decision" - Review

There are plenty of instances where you may like something, but you find it impossible to articulate why that is. You know it’s good, but you just can’t put your finger on it. Explaining your feelings episode to episode, while maintaining variety and trying to not to fall into the same old patterns, can make it difficult at times to write about a show. If an episode is just flat out spectacular or if it bombed like crazy, you’re going to have good deal to plumb from it. But when an episode isn’t doing anything particularly special, but it’s still good and still representative of the show, well, what do you say then?

My most recent review of Cougar Town is quite frankly a total mess. It fails to capture exactly what I wanted to say; it’s too vague in places and it leaves out a few ideas that in hindsight should have been put down. But I’m fine with leaving it a bit haphazard-like because I’m attempting to use this blog in part as a learning tool. Hopefully the more I write, the better equipped I’ll be to address what makes a series and individual episodes work or don’t work. 

Which is to say, Parks and Rec was very good but I couldn’t say why I liked it much beyond I really enjoy this ensemble and I think the writers give them material that plays really well to their strengths. Not much changes really from episode to episode. The biggest things to happen this season are Ron dating Xena Princess Warrior, and Leslie and Ben getting engaged. These big events happened, got absorbed into the show’s DNA, and then the series has carried on undisturbed. Yes, we’ve had episodes that are suggestive of preparing for the eventual wedding but they play out like any old plot the series would be doing anyway. Down the line we’ll probably get a big, fabulous, adorable wedding and I’m sure the series will manage to invert the concept in such a way that it fails to be “stunt”-like. 

But otherwise, though this episode isn’t the most outstanding episode the series has produced, it’s still very, very funny. 

The food tasting scene is filled with great little character jokes; Ben failing to recognize that breaded Italian dish is calzones; Tom “Instagram”-ing his food rather than eating it and describing one dish as “a good book I would likely not read, but would probably enjoy the movie version of”. Funnier still is the day after where everyone but Tom finds themselves with food poisoning. Nick Offerman’s calculated movements to show his physical discomfort is a great piece of physical comedy. 

April dressing up as Leslie is not only amusing but also speaks to her aspirations to be like Leslie. When Andy purposely does a misdirect and hides Leslie’s outfit in order to force April to handle the town hall meeting in her own way, I was smiling a big ‘ole grin. Especially when right after April asserted herself and shut down the usual loonies at these kinds of meetings (most memorably one who wants a “topless park”).

We also get the return of the always welcome Nick Kroll as “The Douche”, Pawnee radio personality, who, to Leslie’s chagrin, is suddenly baby-crazed Ann’s top candidate as a sperm donor.

All in all it’s another pleasing episode carried by the charm and chemistry of a strong cast and writers who utilize them well. It’s all the more impressive an episode for carrying three storylines. In the hands of less competent writers, three stories would make this feel overstuffed and none of them would get their fair due. But everyone is still given some nice moments (even Ann who despite my affection for Rashida Jones is usually my least favorite character but has been well used this season), and none of it feels rushed or forced. 

Grade: A-

Community - "History 101" - Review

When Cougar Town moved to a new network, there was the question of whether it would remain the same show it had always been. Thus far the series has stayed fairly true to the makeup and quality that we anticipate from the series. 

Similarly, when Community creative braintrust Dan Harmon was given the boot by NBC, it was impossible not to question whether the series would remain the same without him. David Guarascio and Moses Port were brought in as showrunners for the series’ fourth season. And the question now is can the show survive without Harmon? 

Well, I hate to say it but tonight’s episode was bad. 

This is not Community. This is imitation Community. A knockoff brand trying so hard to be the original product. This is someone trying to do everything the series has always attempted (the weird jokes, the high concepts, et al.) and failing to understand the basic nucleic acids that made the series tick and work. 

The Hunger Games idea is a good idea in of itself, but it just doesn’t work. The episode only superficially goes through with the concept, and it comes off as only a half-hearted effort. Even when the show faltered in the third season, what let you at least appreciate it was that the series went for broke with every single concept. And sometimes that meant it would fall flat on its face, but the series put in the full, balls-to-the-wall effort to be something bold and audacious and high-concept. It tried so damn hard. 

And this is all the trappings of a good episode with none of the substance underneath to really make it successful. We can see it in the whole joke about going inside of Abed’s head. It’s another good idea in theory, but the execution feels like: Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to see inside Abed’s head! (In fanboy-esque fashion) And then failing to come up with a decent reason to justify it happening. 

Whether it was paintball or fake clip shows or alternate time lines the series had been smart enough to tie these things back to these characters. Often times the episode wasn’t particularly out there or crazy. Much of the first season had some out there jokes, but it wasn't until “Comparative Religion” that the show came into its own and became the show we know it to be, and the only kind of high concept episode before that is “Debate 109” which has glimpses of what the series will be but in many ways holds back. 

This is high-concept for the sake of high-concept with a tacked on heart. The cast tries very hard with the material given to them but the writers seem to have a much worse grasp on how to utilize these characters. 

Grade: B-

Cougar Town - “Runnin' Down A Dream” - Review

There are plenty of in-character and funny moments in “Runnin' Down A Dream” but it doesn’t exactly add up to a satisfying whole.

Cougar Town is a show about incremental changes. The world isn’t saved on a regular basis, allegiances haven’t shifted, etc. etc. Earth shattering changes never occur (and would honestly feel out of place and offputting). The best episodes reveal a new side of a character or a relationship, and challenge and evolve it in subtle ways. Arguably this season’s best storyline was in “Between Two Worlds” where Bobby confronts how inadequate he feels about his life. After trying on the alternate personality of one “Ron Mexico”, Bobby ends up opening up about the fact that he wishes he were someone else.  Bobby is still carrying on status quo, but it’s those little glimpses where we see what makes people tick that elevate the show above just any old sitcom. These are characters but their problems and their relationships, and how they deal with them hit close to home even as they’re trying out different gags.   

Two of the three storylines have nice emotional resolutions and character developments, but they don’t feel like the best stories to explore more about the characters. 

Jules recognizing she misses working for herself and then goes out and lands a sale makes the icing swilling and outlandish bartending self-created roadblocks to admitting that she’s unhappy. It’s this underlying sadness and realism that lets Cougar Town take turns into the more manic. The only problem is that we haven’t seen Jules selling real estate since who knows when, and it’s ceased to be an important or defining feature of her character. If the people she ultimately dealt with weren’t guest stars may be the moment might have rung more true. 

The Andy-Travis-Laurie storyline feels even less compelling. The art snobbery angle feels a bit played, and it’s not the best note to be played by Travis and Laurie. Andy admits at the end that he sometimes wishes he had a dream that he could call his own. That his humdrum job crunching numbers sometimes could use a bit more excitement. It’s heartbreaking and it’s all the sadder coming from carefree Andy, but it does feel like a resolution that comes out of nowhere.  

The third story, Ellie’s story where she badmouths Bobby’s customers is the only plotline that doesn’t work at all because it never goes anywhere. Ellie never claims to feel guilty and it’s not acting as a distraction from something more deeply felt (i.e. desire for independence or yearning for lost dreams – even ones for lousy stand up). So it serves no other purpose than an attempt to be funny and give something for a character to do. It’s the story most in line with the typical laid back, hang out vibe the series does well, but why would anyone pay to get insulted; it comes out of nowhere and then it’s never brought back to what it’s supposed to say about the characters. 

There can be weird and crazy stories and the characters can do and say terrible things, but the stories can’t just be stories for the sake of a story. They have to be brought to bear on the characters even if by the next episode it’s like nothing ever happened. Here these stories don’t deal with anything significant enough that it feels like its warrants drawing attention to it, and the resolutions are nice but don’t stem logically from everything that came before them in the plot. 

Stray Observations:

-Tom is back to being the gang’s whipping boy.

-“You could put in a Jacuzzi. You could put in 10 Jacuzzis. You could turn a whole room into a Jacuzzi”

-The “stranger touch” is totally something I could see these guys doing, as well as something that they’d be completely oblivious to the potential consequences of.

-What’s better, Laurie’s monologue about being turned into prostitute in a compound in Yemen or Jules’ reaction: “What’s a Yemen?”

-Bobby’s Burgers sounds oddly close to Bob’s Burgers.

-“Stan has a harness but he eats glass”

-“He pays me back by being surly and stealing my shirts”

-Bobby warms the burgers under his armpits.

-Everyone steals drinks when Grayson isn’t in the bar.

-“I don’t think there’s a huge market for whores in their 40’s”

-“I think you’ve make a great whore, mom… did I just say that?”

-“I just have trouble pulling off the pretentious part”

-The Latin Kings ordered a cake from Laurie: “Lil Choke doesn’t like caramel”

-“She’s been doing that to me since before it was cool”

- “You’re probably nervous because Bonnie has some drinking issues”

Grade: B-

New Girl" - "Table 34" - Review

There are certain moments a television series can never really escape from. Whether you’re a fan of the Jess and Nick kiss from last week’s “Cooler” or not, that moment is going to color everything the series does from this point forward. There’s no going back from it.

Cece and Schmidt is a similar pairing that once brought together it irrevocably changed how the show would handle those two characters. We’re still seeing the ripple effects from them dating and eventually breaking up. If the show were to have opened up the possibility that they may have sought relationships (at least meaningful ones) with other people, maybe we could have been lulled into a false sense of security. But Cece was never truly interested in Robbie, and Schmidt has either been numbing the pain from losing her or chasing after her. So is it really surprised they’re back together? 

I’m a shipper so I can dig it, but I’d prefer a potential coupling be brought together or torn apart in meaningful or interesting ways. Cece and Schmidt’s coupling was handled decently to begin with and the break up (though it could have been handled better) was well-played. But what’s the point if it’s all inevitable; if the plot so blatantly is spelling out that hey these two are gonna date! Case in point: was there ever any doubt as to Cece and Schmidt at least hooking up again (and likely getting back together)? No. The stars have been aligning to achieve exactly that since the beginning of the season.

The Nick-Jess side of the episode though is much more interesting. The series handles it smartly; jumping in immediately from where we last left off, and giving us a glimpse of the morning after where equally panicked Nick and Jess are trying to wrap their head around the kiss. It’s that moment we’ve all had in life. Where some holy shit piece of drama lands in our lap, and we’re now forced to confront what the hell we’re to do now. They both decide to go talk to the other, but this leads to them bumping into eachother awkwardly in the hallway. Nick “panic moondances” away (an amusing reoccurring gag retconned in) back into his room. 

It appears as if the two plan to put this real talk til later, but of course the fates that be end up bringing together everyone; this time at an “Indian Wedding Convention” of all places. Cece is continuing her quest for a nice Indian guy that she should realize by now is doomed, Schmidt is continuing his attempts to win back Cece, Nick and Jess are put onto a collision course to deal with the problem, and Winston is just along for the ride, glowing after having great sex the previous night with an absent Brenda Song. 

What’s great about this scenario is that Nick and Jess don’t run head long into eachother’s arms. When Jess keeps denying her feelings for Nick as she’s recounting the ordeal with Cece, we know that she’s lying (“I saw through space and time for a minute,” she says with hyperbole) but we can understand where it’s coming from. She’s become very close with Nick (and all her roommates) and she doesn’t want to screw everything up. On top of which, she’s still dating someone (nonentity Sam – but still another person none-the-less), and it would just be mean and cruel (and totally out of character) for Jess to immediately break things off with him. But at the same time, Jess doesn’t take the out here when Nick comments how the kiss was equivalent to “kissing a cousin”. When you have feelings for someone it will fuck with whatever intentions and plans you may have. And so Jess chooses to complicate things further and act inquisitive and doubtful about the kiss meaning nothing; “It must have meant something,” she says.  

This tickles Nick’s fancy: Jess’ fixation has got to mean the kiss was significant to her. “Admit the kiss meant something to you!” Nick keeps repeating. The accusation isn’t completely about feelings they may have for eachother; instead, it’s, in part, a back to basics return for the dynamics between these two. They quibble and fight like siblings on a regular basis, and, in this instance, they project their typical one-ups-man-ship onto the complications of their kiss. The arguing and pettiness of course is concealing the obvious that they do have feelings, but the timing is terrible. Even when Sam is gone, it doesn’t form an easy opening for Nick to swoop in and take advantage of. No, it just makes him look like more of a jerk than he already does. 

And how about that hug at episode’s end? It’s so awkward; it almost makes you want to squirm. 

Awkwardness should exist though. That’s realistic for what might happen in the wake of two friends kissing and regretting it. You can try to put a bandaid on it, but the cut still remains.

Stray Observations:

-“I didn’t even use my hands”

-“I didn’t even kiss him back… Fine! I kissed him back”

-Previous awkward moonwalk away occasion: “Man, terrorism …”

-Schmidt’s limited Hindi knowledge imparts such verbal gems as “Can you tell me where the white person’s toilet is?”

-Nick tells Winston about kissing Jess and he proceeds to punch him in the balls.

-“I miss your body and the things I used to do to it… I’m talking about sex”

-Cece’s most notable modeling gig was in a Lil’ Wayne music video where she was “the girl throwing strawberries in slow motion”

-“I always thought we’d go bowling before we went to an Indian wedding convention”

-“I’m a man. Pink robes are my catnip!”

-“I will Cal-cut-a bitch!”

-“Is there another doctor in the house ? … With this crowd I’m sure there is”

Grade: A

"Re-Animator" - Film Review

By no stretch of the imagination is Re-Animator a good movie. In fact, at times it’s very bad, and for nearly the first half of its run-time, it’s barely watchable.

The plot is an unfocused mess and, besides Jeffery Combs’ Herbert West, none of the characters are all that interesting or well realized (A problem that remains throughout the entirety of the film).  Bruce Abbott as Dan Cain and Barbara Crampton as Megan Halsey never get developed what-so-ever beyond the typical hey look protagonists!-sort of going through the motions plot mechanics. Likewise David Gal’s Dr. Carl Hill eventually shifts to the film’s villain and the change comes out of absolutely nowhere.

And then something strange happens…

The film becomes bizarrely entertaining. Almost enough to make up for how distractingly one dimensional it’s been (and will primarily continue to be). There’s a number of horror setpieces and over the top gore effects that are actually kind of inspired. The scene with the clearly fake cat being tossed around and scratching up people is so damn funny and weird and over the top, and everyone is so committed to it and later scenes that the film starts to win you over just a little bit. 

There’s an Evil Dead sensibility to the film’s over-the-top nature. The blood and guts are so obviously unrealistic and so clearly excessive that it renders itself into the absurd. This lends it a dark, weirdly comical tone that it maintains throughout and saves the film from being a total disappointment.  

I don’t know if I’d recommend Re-Animator, but it’s unique and quite unlike anything else. For those fans of extreme gore, horror comedies, or H.P. Lovecraft (it’s adapted from his story “Herbert West-Reanimator”), it may be worth seeing the cult film, but for everyone else: it may not be your cup of tea. 

Grade: B-