24. Mad Men- Sal's Storyline
Mad
Men has won 4 primetime Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series, has an 8.6.
rating on IMDB, an 8.8 rating on TV.com, and has an average rating of
86.5 on Metacritic. It's a phenomenal show with intelligent writing,
subtle acting, and lots of intriguing storylines.
Sal's
storyline on Mad Men is actually quite interesting and one of my
favorite storylines on the show. My problem is how the storyline
concludes...or rather doesn't conclude. (WARNING SPOILERS!!!) Salvatore
Romano (Bryan Batt) is the art director at Sterling Cooper. He's
married. He's also a closeted homosexual. Let's remind you that this is
the 1960s. Sal's storyline is dealt with quite well as we see Sal
dealing with being someone who would be rejected by almost everyone in
1960s America. The storyline is mature and meaningful but also subtle
rather than heavy handed. In season 3, Sal begins to get estranged from
his wife as it's implied that she suspects he's gay. Then one of
Sterling Cooper's male clients comes on to Sal. Despite being gay, Sal
rejects his advances and Sal is fired so Sterling Cooper doesn't lose
their client. Then we see Sal calling his wife at night from a payphone.
He doesn't tell her that he's been fired, instead simply saying he'll
be working late. In the background d, there are presumably homosexual
men who start to leave and as they do, he hangs up the phone and
apparently follows them. After that episode, I was so excited to see
what was next in store for Sal. The
storyline possibilities were endless. Was he going to have a gay affair?
Would he be able to get a new job? What will happen to his marriage? He
didn't appear in the next episode but he never appeared in every
episode. But he didn't appear in the one after that or the one after
that or the one after that.There have been 43 more episodes and Sal
hasn't appeared or even been mentioned. His storyline was just starting
to get going and he's never seen again. The show's creator, Matthew Weiner, knows we miss Sal but doesn't care, saying "“If you liked the first season so much, go watch it again." The worst part, nobody even told Bryan Batt that he was being let go "I was supposed to be notified by December 31, and nothing." Nearly 4 years and 43 episodes later and we still don't know what happened to Sal and it sounds like we never will.
23. Southland- Characters being "Put on a Bus"
Southland
was the best cop show on the air from 2008-2013. It had a lot of great
characters, but also suffered from poor ratings and had to undergo
budget cuts to justify its continuation. This led to some main cast
members leaving the show rather abruptly. Sal is the head of an
anti-gang unit who also has issues with his wife and daughter. In season
3, Sal's storylines are abruptly dropped and his only scenes involve
him talking to other major characters. Then he's gone, presumably still
working, but never given another mention. Chickie went through the same
treatment. Did she ever make the S.W.A.T. team? All we get is a
throwaway reference about her transferring to metro. The recurring guest
stars weren't safe either. Officer Jones (Bokeem Woodbine) seemed like a
good ally to Sammy, then he just stopped appearing. Same with Captain
Rucker who seemed to be bringing something interesting to the show, only
for him to disappear to. And let's not forget Rene Cordero and Officer
Ferguson (the one played by Lou Diamond Phllips, not the fat one).
House of Cards is the first big hit from Netflix and seems destined to go down as one of the most beloved shows of all time. Relentless in its dark tone and cynicism, I thought I knew the basic idea of what to expect from the show which made the 11th episode (entitled Chapter 11) all the more jarring.
Our villain protagonist Frank Underwood has been working with a young Philadelphia congressmen named Peter Russo. It's a long story but to put it simply, Peter was arrested for a DUI, Frank used his police connections to get Peter out of prison and hide the arrest from the public, and made Peter his bitch. While running for governor, Peter succumbs to drugs and alcohol again. Peter ultimately decided to take responsibility for his actions and the mistakes he's made. Frank, realizing that Russo may implicate him, decided that the only logical response was to murder Russo and mask it as a suicide.
This created a big shift in the shows already dark tone. The idea of someone murdering someone else in this show was hard to imagine. But the thing that really bothered me was that Frank was such a manipulative bastard and was able to manipulate Peter and so many others in the past that it seemed silly for Frank to do something as risky as commit murder and out of character. I still feel like Russo's character could have been put to good use but this is ranked lower on the list because as I watch season 2, I've realized that maybe the show isn't as out of character as I thought.
Awake was one of the best tv shows of 2012 and despite only lasting 13 episodes, it was one of NBC's best shows ever. Original and terrifically acted, Awake had the makings of classic tv drama. That's why it's such a shame that the 2nd episode decides to reveal a key plot twist WAY too early.
Spoilers! though it's only at the end of the 2nd episode, but whatever. Anyways, it's revealed that Michael's police captain, Tricia Harper, was responsible for the car crash that badly injured Michael and killed either his wife or son (Michael is living in two seperate realities, one where his wife survived and one where his son survived). This revelation means nothing as we only just met Harper earlier in the episode and thus didn't care about her enough to feel betrayed. Ricky's Tacos would have been a better episode for the twist as we got a very emotional scene with Harper trying to get a young girl to admit her father sexually assaulted her. Or maybe just wait until the end of the season. Instead, we're left with this info about Harper and there's no reason why we should know this so early.
20. Friday Night Lights- the "El Acidente" episode
I'm having this instead of the controversial season 2 storyline that all FNL fans remember. I actually liked the season 2 storyline. Not at first, but the acting was so good that the storyline ultimately worked. Anyways, Friday
Night Lights is a show famous for having developing characters in a
serialized storyline. The concept of the episode is intriguing enough.
One of the football players, Bobby Reyes beats up a kid named Kurt for
saying that football is not a big deal. To justify what he did, he
claims Kurt hurled racial slurs at him. (Racial slurs actually were
hollered at him, but it was by a fellow player minutes earlier). Kurt is
a friend of Landry and Matt and they've never heard Kurt say a racist
thing before in his life so they realize Bobby is lying.
The
problem with the episode is that both Bobby and Kurt are characters
we've never seen before. They randomly introduce these two characters
and have this episode dedicated to them but then we never see them
again. (At least not at the end of season 1, the only season I've seen).
The abrupt introduction of these characters is bad enough. The
abandonment of them soon after is even worse
19. Justified- Ava's probation
I
think Justified is one of the best dramas on TV right now and one of
the most underrated shows of all time. In my mind, seasons 2, 3, and 4
all deserved Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series. Season 1 was
really good but it was a procedural for the first half and had crap
like what I'm about to tell you happens:
The
Sopranos is constantly praised as being one of the greatest television
series of all time and for good reason. It's a show that's both a crime
and a family drama, helmed by James Gandolfini's superb performance
(R.I.P.). The concept of the episode is interesting enough. Tony and his
buddies go to Naples, Italy to make a business deal with a crime family
in that area. The plot is intriguing but the end result is an extremely
boring episode where nothing interesting happens. The only important
thing that happens is the introduction of Furio. The only apparent
purpose of the episode was to have more tourists come to Naples due to
the episode's HEAVY emphasis on the location and the characters being
toured around everywhere.
17. 24, season 1- Teri's Amnesia
I
could do a bad season of 24, like the stupid plot holes of season 6 or
the pro-torture propaganda of season 7. But the thing is season 1 was
actually a GOOD season. In fact, season 1 is my 2nd favorite season of
24's 8 seasons. Season 5 will always be 24 at its best but season 1
started it all and was such an amazing experience, including having one
of the best endings in television history.
24
has the gimmick that each episode takes place through an hour and each
season is 24 episodes so each season takes place through one day. 24
episodes is a lot of episodes and the writers often times add in
pointless subplots because they don't want their show to be called 15.
I'm going to talk about season 1 because it's the 2nd best season of the
series and has far less pointless subplots than the other seasons do.
The
writers realized that Teri Bauer, Jack's wife, had a solid storyline
but it was basically coming to a close. SPOILER ALERT! This was
unacceptable so the writers took desperate measures to keep Teri on.
Teri thinks she sees her daughter die in a horrible car accident. She
faints and wakes up with no memory of anything, including her name. It's
like the Bourne Identity but we know all the facts so it's not
interesting at all. A few hours (episodes) later, a crazy guy shoots and
wounds a friend of hers and she instantly remembers everything that
happened. It's easily the worst part of an otherwise very strong season.
Boardwalk Empire is arguably HBO's best Drama right now and is nearly on the same level as The Wire and The Sopranos. The season 2 finale, To the Lost, is an excellent episode with a very controversial ending. Spoilers be warned! alrighty roo, so Nucky and Jimmy have had a bit of a falling out to say the least since Jimmy kind of tried to kill Nucky and all. So Nucky gets his revenge and shoots Jimmy in the head at the end of the season, killing him. This bothered many people, since Jimmy was such a fan favorite and it seemed like his storyline was just getting going. I mean the episode prior revealed that he and his attractive mom had sex. It turns out that this was never a plan from the start. The Commodore (Dabney Coleman) was supposed to be the head guy in taking down Nucky, but after Coleman got throat cancer and was unable to speak for long periods of time, Jimmy ended up being the leader of the "I hate Nucky" movement. The Commodore was given throat cancer and did little for the rest of the season. And Jimmy had to die since "when you take a shot at the king, you best not miss" (who gets that reference). Some fans swore to never watch Boardwalk empire again after that. I still watch it and I still love it, but I miss Jimmy and I'm left wondering what could have been if Jimmy survived to season 3.
The season 2 finale of Six Feet Under ends with a massive cliffhanger. The final shot is of Nate as he begins to undergo surgery for his life threatening AVM. Season 3 starts off right where season 2 ends, then Nate dies and in typical Six Feet Under fashion, a title card flashes saying "Nathaniel Samuel Fisher Jr.1965 - 2002". This is followed by a surreal sequence as he sees himself in several possibilities involving what could happen to him with the surgery, such as surviving but becoming a vegetable or surviving but being unable to speak. After briefly speaking to his dead father and asking if he's alive or dead, we finally get an answer. The "-2002" is erased from Nate's title card. He survived the surgery and the show cuts to several months later, he's perfectly healthy and now married to Lisa and raising his daughter.
The whole idea of exploring alternate scenarios is great but the fact that the title card tells us that Nate is dead and then simply undoes it like it's no big deal is quite annoying. The time jump has been equally irritating for some but I got used to it after about 10 minutes.
14. Dexter- the Season 2 finale
I
could always discuss a bad season of Dexter, like season's 5's
plotholes or season 6's predictable plot. But Season 2 was a really
strong season of Dexter. At least it was until having the most
anti-climatic, lazy season finale possible. Ok, SPOILERS AHEAD! Dexter
is in a serious tough spot at the end of season 2. Dexter is put into a
tough spot. Sgt. James Doakes knows that Dexter is a vigilante serial
killer and Dexter is keeping him locked in a cage. Dexter is juggling
numerous choices. Does he kill Doakes, even though Doakes doesn't fit
his "code" of who deserves to die? Does he frame Doakes for his crimes,
making him rot in prison for murders that he didn't commit? Or does he
turn himself in to the police and let Doakes get back to being a
detective, something that he's damn good at? The writers wrote
themselves into a corner, so Dexter's Narcotic's Anonymous sponsor and
sorta lover, Lila West finds the kidnapped Doakes and discovers Dexter's
secret. She decides to kill Doakes to protect Dexter by causing an
explosion in the cabin where Doakes was held. When Miami PD arrive at
the scene, seeing both Doakes' body and the dismembered body of a wanted
murderer, they see this as enough evidence that Doakes is the killer
and close the case. Dexter know longer has to make a difficult choice
because a British plot device named Lila West made the choice for him.
13. The Walking Dead- The season 3 finale
The
Walking Dead is the highest rated cable drama in tv history with the
season 3 finale getting 12.4 million viewers. Too bad that the season
finale was one of the worst episodes in the entire series. Spoilers,
obviously!
The season 3 finale was being hyped as something epic and action packed. No character was going to be safe when the final battle between Rick and the Governor began. The characters on the show literally spent the last few episodes talking about and preparing for this big battle. Andrew Lincoln (Rick) said that 27 people would die in the season finale.
Talk about disappointment.
1. there is no battle. The governor's group invades the prison then Maggie and Glenn scare them away with their machine guns but magically manage to not hit a single person. The Governor gets pissed off and murders all but 3 of them. This accounts for 23 deaths in the episode. The other 5 consist of Carl shooting a random kid we've never seen before (the scene is actually the only good scene in the finale as it brings a good moral discussion), recurring character Allen which I saw coming from a mile away, Milton, and Andrea. So basically two important people died, Milton and Andrea. Andrea dies in a very anti-climatic way from her own stupidity (you can talk to Milton and get free from the chair at the same time, you know) while Milton's death is the only one that seems to work. now I wasn't expecting 27 main characters to be killed, but I was expecting something more than what I got. The Governor lives another day, so his storyline that's already been way too dragged out gets dragged out even more.
12. Damages- Attempted murder is just business
11. Sons of Anarchy- NO BABY NO!
I will be discussing the season 5 premire of Sons of Anarchy so spoilers duh. Ok, so anyways, at the end of season 4, Tig accidentally killed the daughter of a ruthless Oakland gangster named Damon Pope, while trying to kill her gang banger boyfriend Laroy who he mistakenly believed had shot the club MC Clay. Pope doesn't care if it's an accident. He brings both Tig and one of his daughter's to a secluded area, dumps gasoline onto his daughter, and says "know my pain, Mr. Traeger, before throwing a cigar onto Tig's daughter and watching her burn to death. What follows is one of the funniest reactions of all time. Tig screams "Ah, Baby, ah, no! NO!!!" Tig's initial response is rather nonchalant for a guy who's daughter is burning to death before his eyes. The reaction would be more appropriate if Pope got his daughter pregnant. Then near the end, it takes the opposite direction and veers into camp, as Tig's screams of anguish aren't believable at all. It's strange since Kim Coates is a great actor on the show yet completely fails this scene. I heard that he had done so many takes that he just thought "screw it" and didn't even try anymore.
The season 3 finale was being hyped as something epic and action packed. No character was going to be safe when the final battle between Rick and the Governor began. The characters on the show literally spent the last few episodes talking about and preparing for this big battle. Andrew Lincoln (Rick) said that 27 people would die in the season finale.
Talk about disappointment.
1. there is no battle. The governor's group invades the prison then Maggie and Glenn scare them away with their machine guns but magically manage to not hit a single person. The Governor gets pissed off and murders all but 3 of them. This accounts for 23 deaths in the episode. The other 5 consist of Carl shooting a random kid we've never seen before (the scene is actually the only good scene in the finale as it brings a good moral discussion), recurring character Allen which I saw coming from a mile away, Milton, and Andrea. So basically two important people died, Milton and Andrea. Andrea dies in a very anti-climatic way from her own stupidity (you can talk to Milton and get free from the chair at the same time, you know) while Milton's death is the only one that seems to work. now I wasn't expecting 27 main characters to be killed, but I was expecting something more than what I got. The Governor lives another day, so his storyline that's already been way too dragged out gets dragged out even more.
12. Damages- Attempted murder is just business
I will be discussing the season 5 premire of Sons of Anarchy so spoilers duh. Ok, so anyways, at the end of season 4, Tig accidentally killed the daughter of a ruthless Oakland gangster named Damon Pope, while trying to kill her gang banger boyfriend Laroy who he mistakenly believed had shot the club MC Clay. Pope doesn't care if it's an accident. He brings both Tig and one of his daughter's to a secluded area, dumps gasoline onto his daughter, and says "know my pain, Mr. Traeger, before throwing a cigar onto Tig's daughter and watching her burn to death. What follows is one of the funniest reactions of all time. Tig screams "Ah, Baby, ah, no! NO!!!" Tig's initial response is rather nonchalant for a guy who's daughter is burning to death before his eyes. The reaction would be more appropriate if Pope got his daughter pregnant. Then near the end, it takes the opposite direction and veers into camp, as Tig's screams of anguish aren't believable at all. It's strange since Kim Coates is a great actor on the show yet completely fails this scene. I heard that he had done so many takes that he just thought "screw it" and didn't even try anymore.
10. Avatar: The Last Airbender- The Series Finale
Avatar: The Last Airbender is praised as one of the best animated children shows in years because it is. The plot is surprisingly serialized, the characters develop over the course of the series, and the animation is beautiful. The season 1 episode, "The Great Divide" is probably the most infamous episode of the series, because it's a filler episode. Nothing important happens. There's some random beef with 2 Earth Kingdom tribes. However, my problem is the series finale, an episode (technically 4 back to back episodes) that is loved by almost everybody.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is praised as one of the best animated children shows in years because it is. The plot is surprisingly serialized, the characters develop over the course of the series, and the animation is beautiful. The season 1 episode, "The Great Divide" is probably the most infamous episode of the series, because it's a filler episode. Nothing important happens. There's some random beef with 2 Earth Kingdom tribes. However, my problem is the series finale, an episode (technically 4 back to back episodes) that is loved by almost everybody.
I'm
sure many Avatar fans will freak out at me for saying this. Perhaps I
just don't "get it" or it's a kid's show. But that series finale was
garbage. I had watched 58 episodes waiting for the epic finale...and
that was it. I felt cheated and betrayed and angry. SPOILER ALERT!
obviously. It's the series finale. Ok, so Aang has to fight Fire Lord
Ozai since Ozai is a big mean jerk. In the episodes leading up to the
finale, Aang, a pacifist realizes that he'll probably have to kill Ozai
in order to save the world. It's an interesting dilemma to set up.
Sometimes one must compromise their own morals for the greater good.
Aang being forced to kill Ozai could have been a powerful scene showing
Aang's loss of innocence (remember, he's 12 years old). But the writers
were REALLY determined to have Aang not kill Ozai. So in the 2nd part of
the 4 part finale, an island which is actually a lion turtle (makes
sense in context...sorta) gives Aang the power of Energybending. What
the hell is energybending? It's something that was NEVER mentioned or
even alluded to on the series before. At the end of the series, Aang
uses energybending as a non-lethal way to defeat Ozai. Energybending
stripped Ozai of his firebending, making him powerless. So he's taken
prisoner and the day is saved. HOORAY! The last minute introduction of
the lion turtle and energy bending ends up making one of the biggest
deus ex machina finales that I've seen in years. I understand that it's a
kid's show but people had died on the show before. Couldn't he have
just fallen of a cliff or something? Or perhaps the writers could have
come up with a more intelligent way to not kill Ozai?
9. Game of Thrones- The Sexposition
Game
of Thrones is an epic tv show with spectacular production design, a
complex premise, wonderful actors and sex. A LOT of sex. Sometimes the
show feels like a softcore porn film with a really well written story.
Sex
doesn't bother me. A tv show can have a thousand sex scenes as long as
they serve a purpose. In Game of Thrones, some of the nudity involved
Daenerys and her weird sexual relationship with her new husband. This
served a purpose to Daenerys' character. The rest of the nudity tended
to involve prostitutes, but it was understandable since it made sense
for these chauvinist pigs to spend a lot of time with whores.
But
the 7th episode "You win or You Die" took it too far. The character of
Littlefinger provides exposition about his life and motivations to two
prostitutes...while the prostitutes have sex with each other. The scene
is so gratuitous and unnecessary. There's absolutely no reason for him
to not just talk to them. They don't need to being having sex as he
talks to them. But they do, so the term "sexposition"
was born. The ironic thing is that the rest of the episode is
absolutely phenomenal. This one scene is just so ridiculously stupid.
8. Misfits- the Nazi episode
There's
a throwaway line a few episodes earlier about some old Jewish guy
planning to go back in time to assassinate Hitler. Well the show thought
that it'd be great to make a pointless stand alone episode about that
that creates a timeline that ruins the entire series. Basically, the
Jewish guy tries to kill Hitler, fails, Hitler sees the guy's cell phone
and somehow uses that technology to win WWII. When we see modern day
England, it's under Nazi rule, so we have an entire episode involving
the Misfits fighting modern day Nazis (with English accents). The
episode is almost completely devoid of humor and the ending completely
ruins Kelly. Since this is a Kelly from an alternate universe, the fact
that she stops Hitler from obtaining the cellphone and winning the war
and thus alters time back to how it was prior to the Jewish guy's
intervention, doesn't change the fact that she knows no life outside of
Nazi rule. Ok, it's hard to explain but basically if Kelly in the main
series, we'll call KellyA and she's from Timeline A while the Kelly from
the nazi timeline is called KellyB from Timeline B. However, KellyB
stops Hitler and turns the universe into TimelineA by doing that. But
she's still KellyB, all of her subconscious and thoughts are from
Timeline B (as she establishes that she beat up Hitler). So the Kelly
that we knew and loved for the series is gone forever. Well, kinda,
except this whole Nazi fiasco is never referenced again and KellyB has
all the knowledge that KellyA would have. So basically, this episode can
be skipped because NOTHING HAPPENS!
7. The Shield- the Arab couple storyline
Most
people think of Vic Mackey and his corrupt cop antics when they think
of The Shield, but many seem to forget that the show is an ensemble with
many characters having different storylines. The character of Officer
Danny Sofer probably had the most pointless and tedious storyline in the
show's second season. Danny and her partner Julian go to the house of a
Middle Eastern immigrant after a neighbor accuses him of being a
terrorist, claiming that she smells deadly chemicals in his house. When
the man, Zayed, asks them if they are profiling him because he is
Arab, Danny responds "No, sir, you're a suspect because 19 guys who
look like your twin brother killed 3,000 Americans." The Shield has repeatedly dealt with prejudice and the man's response, a sarcastic "god bless America" indicates to me that the show's intention wasn't to support what Danny said. The problem is that this line is that the line feels completely out of character for someone like Danny and the reason she said that is never explained. Did she lose someone in the 9/11 attacks? Is she just kinda pissed off? (This aired in 2003). Nothing is explained. Anyways, although it's determined that the smell is simply from food,
the confrontations with the 2 neighbors continue and the Arab man snaps,
comes out of his house waving a gun around and is shot and killed by
Danny.
But
it couldn't end there. The next few episodes involve the Arab man's
wife harassing Danny as vengeance. It's never explicitly stated but it's
heavily implied that she vandalizes Danny's car, plants Marijuana in
her car, and even makes a prank phone call about her mother dying. Every
other character on the show has much more interesting issues, like
dealing with a serial rapist gang member or planning to steal mob money.
The writers apparently realized how stupid the storyline was so the
charges filed against Danny are dropped and the story is never mentioned
again. They also apparently realized that Danny is just not an interesting enough character to have her own storyline so this ended up being her only "individual" storyline on the show.
6. The Shield- The Co-pilot episode
The "Co-Pilot" episode of the Shield is the 9th episode of the 2nd season and is boring and pointless in all the worst ways. I won't give any spoilers, but the episode prior "Scar Tissue" was amazing and I was so excited to see how the plot would develop. Instead, we got an ENTIRE episode that's 100% flashback, showing Vic Mackey and co. when The Barn first opens and they all meet each other. I never really cared about how any of these characters met each other and the way that they meet eachother isn't particularly interesting either. They just get introduced to each other. "Hi I'm Dutch" "Oh Hi, I'm Claudette". No real insight into any of the characters. The only thing of any relevance in the episode is that Vic wasn't always a dirty cop but after forming the Strike Team, he felt the need to frame a suspect he knew was guilty and it just continued from there. This could have easily been shown in a 2 minute flashback, but it also contradicts what we saw with Joe Clark, which implied that it was Joe who taught Vic corrupt policing. The only real purpose of the episode is to give FX enough episodes for the season as they required 13 episodes, but apparently only had 12 episodes worth of story. And the episode contradicts with the timeline already established, since Aceveda and Julian were supposed to be relative newcomers to the barn at the beginning of the series. In additon the pilot episode implied that the strike team had been around long enough to become popular in the Barn and have a presence on the streets with connections to drug dealers like Rondell Robinson. Yet the pilot episode implies that Terry joined the strike team after their first case, so he never really qualified as a new guy. I could go on and on about how little sense the episode makes. I don't want to.
5. Sons of Anarchy- Agent June Stahl
The "Co-Pilot" episode of the Shield is the 9th episode of the 2nd season and is boring and pointless in all the worst ways. I won't give any spoilers, but the episode prior "Scar Tissue" was amazing and I was so excited to see how the plot would develop. Instead, we got an ENTIRE episode that's 100% flashback, showing Vic Mackey and co. when The Barn first opens and they all meet each other. I never really cared about how any of these characters met each other and the way that they meet eachother isn't particularly interesting either. They just get introduced to each other. "Hi I'm Dutch" "Oh Hi, I'm Claudette". No real insight into any of the characters. The only thing of any relevance in the episode is that Vic wasn't always a dirty cop but after forming the Strike Team, he felt the need to frame a suspect he knew was guilty and it just continued from there. This could have easily been shown in a 2 minute flashback, but it also contradicts what we saw with Joe Clark, which implied that it was Joe who taught Vic corrupt policing. The only real purpose of the episode is to give FX enough episodes for the season as they required 13 episodes, but apparently only had 12 episodes worth of story. And the episode contradicts with the timeline already established, since Aceveda and Julian were supposed to be relative newcomers to the barn at the beginning of the series. In additon the pilot episode implied that the strike team had been around long enough to become popular in the Barn and have a presence on the streets with connections to drug dealers like Rondell Robinson. Yet the pilot episode implies that Terry joined the strike team after their first case, so he never really qualified as a new guy. I could go on and on about how little sense the episode makes. I don't want to.
5. Sons of Anarchy- Agent June Stahl
Just
the character. Just a bad character. June Stahl is an ATF Agent
determined to take down the Sons of Anarchy motorcycle club due to their
gun trafficking operations. Stahl was single minded in her pursuit but
essentially just doing her job which made things interesting as the
morality became increasingly grey.
This would not do apparently, so events happened to make Stahl as unlikable as possible. SPOILERS INCOMING!
First off, she decides to make Opie look like a rat in hopes that Opie would actually turn rat. He doesn't and it leads to Tig killing Opie's wife Donna in her car (he thought Opie was in the car). This wasn't that bad as Stahl genuinely just wanted Opie to turn informant and didn't want anyone to get hurt. But then in the season 2 finale she shoots an IRA guy in the back and then frames his death on Gemma. THEN, at the end of season 3, to cover up her involvement in that death and get Gemma off the hook (a deal was made), she shoots and kills another ATF agent and put the blame on her. Not only that, but the ATF agent was Stahl's girlfriend (Stahl is bisexual). This turned Stahl into a villainish cartoon character and made the morality as black and white as could be. SUPER BIG SPOILERS! at the end of season 3, Opie finally gets his revenge and kills Stahl. This comes off as very justified due to Stahl's recent actions but it would have been far more interesting to see grey morality if Stahl's only crime was accidentally getting Donna killed.
This would not do apparently, so events happened to make Stahl as unlikable as possible. SPOILERS INCOMING!
First off, she decides to make Opie look like a rat in hopes that Opie would actually turn rat. He doesn't and it leads to Tig killing Opie's wife Donna in her car (he thought Opie was in the car). This wasn't that bad as Stahl genuinely just wanted Opie to turn informant and didn't want anyone to get hurt. But then in the season 2 finale she shoots an IRA guy in the back and then frames his death on Gemma. THEN, at the end of season 3, to cover up her involvement in that death and get Gemma off the hook (a deal was made), she shoots and kills another ATF agent and put the blame on her. Not only that, but the ATF agent was Stahl's girlfriend (Stahl is bisexual). This turned Stahl into a villainish cartoon character and made the morality as black and white as could be. SUPER BIG SPOILERS! at the end of season 3, Opie finally gets his revenge and kills Stahl. This comes off as very justified due to Stahl's recent actions but it would have been far more interesting to see grey morality if Stahl's only crime was accidentally getting Donna killed.
Veronica Mars is one of many shows that was cancelled too soon. Great storylines and a great title character. Veronica Mars is tough, smart, and independent, the kind of girl I find attractive. She's a teenage girl who moonlights as a private detective with her father (the former sheriff who was ungraciously kicked off the force). Now let's get to the problem: The first episode of the series established that Veronica was drugged and date raped at a party. At the end of the season, Veronica finally investigates what happened to her and it's kinda complicated. GHB was brought to the party by Logan and Luke. Dick put some into his girlfriend's drink, because he wanted to loosen her up (but not rape her). Madison didn't like Veronica so she spit in the drink and handed it to Veronica. Veronica drank it and passed out. Dick discovers a passed out Veronica and encourages his virgin younger brother Beaver to rape her, but Beaver refuses to. Logan drugged Duncan as well to loosen him up and he and Veronica had sex while both in a drugged state. It's an interesting revelation with a clear conclusion to make: Dick is a huge bastard for encouraging his younger brother to rape Veronica.
...or not.
Dick is basically a token character in the first season. Appears a lot in the background and tosses in a few lines but never a major character. in season 2, he's promoted to the main cast and given storylines. He becomes the cocky dumb blonde guy and a comic relief character. Veronica knows what happened to her but she doesn't seem to care about what he did at all. Actually, her anger is directed towards Madison for giving her the drink, even though Madison didn't know it was drugged. Creator Rob Thomas eventually addresses this in an interview explaining how the allegations against Dick are claimed by Beaver and Sean, two characters who prove themselves to be less than trustworthy people. So basically Dick never encouraged Beaver to make that up. It was a lie (SPOILER ALERT!!! It's revealed that Beaver actually did in fact rape Veronica before she had consensual sex with Duncan and he's a psycho mass murderer).
So this helps make Dick's comic relief character a lot easier to watch on screen, knowing that he's not the horrible person we thought he was. But Veronica doesn't learn the truth until the end of season 2, so she spent a whole YEAR thinking that Dick encouraged Beaver to rape her, but it just didn't bother her for some reason.
3. 24 season 2- the cougar
If you've seen 24, then you saw this one coming. While Jack Bauer is fighting terrorists and trying to stop a nuke from going off in Los Angeles, Kim Bauer's nanny job has taken a left turn as the father of the girl she nannies for is kind of a psycho. The writers were determined to keep Kim on the show but knew it'd be stupid to have her be kidnapped again, so this existed. Then she gets stalked by a mountain lion. It's...shameful. Everyone on the writing staff has admitted how stupid it was. This wasn't the first random thing in 24, but it was easily the stupidest.
If you've seen 24, then you saw this one coming. While Jack Bauer is fighting terrorists and trying to stop a nuke from going off in Los Angeles, Kim Bauer's nanny job has taken a left turn as the father of the girl she nannies for is kind of a psycho. The writers were determined to keep Kim on the show but knew it'd be stupid to have her be kidnapped again, so this existed. Then she gets stalked by a mountain lion. It's...shameful. Everyone on the writing staff has admitted how stupid it was. This wasn't the first random thing in 24, but it was easily the stupidest.
2. LOST- That damn Thailand episode
Were
you wondering how Jack got his stupid tattos on LOST? I wasn't
wondering either but apparently the writers thought we were since we got
a whole episode dedicated to the "secret" of Jack's tattoos, when so
many other questions are still unanswered. When showrunner Damon
Lindelof admits that the episode sucks, then that's saying something.
"Jack is in Phuket, Thailand where he meets a local woman named Achara (Bai Ling); the two soon enter into a relationship. After finding out that she works in a tattoo parlor and claims to be able to see who people really are, Jack demands that she give him a tattoo. Achara is hesitant to give him a tattoo, but she does so anyway and tells him there will be consequences. The next morning, he is beaten up by her brother and other locals and told to leave."
That's the summary from wikipedia. That's literally the whole story. It's the worst time filler in the entire show and doesn't add anything new to Jacks' character and doesn't move the plot forward in any way. The present day storylines aren't much better. Jack's is still held hostage and Kate and Sawyer SLOWLY make their way back to camp.
"Jack is in Phuket, Thailand where he meets a local woman named Achara (Bai Ling); the two soon enter into a relationship. After finding out that she works in a tattoo parlor and claims to be able to see who people really are, Jack demands that she give him a tattoo. Achara is hesitant to give him a tattoo, but she does so anyway and tells him there will be consequences. The next morning, he is beaten up by her brother and other locals and told to leave."
That's the summary from wikipedia. That's literally the whole story. It's the worst time filler in the entire show and doesn't add anything new to Jacks' character and doesn't move the plot forward in any way. The present day storylines aren't much better. Jack's is still held hostage and Kate and Sawyer SLOWLY make their way back to camp.
1. Homeland- Season 2
Ok,
where to begin with this. Yes, the whole season of Homeland. I'm sorry
but the whole season was just so uneven that the Emmy nominations
surprise me. 5 acting nominations, outstanding drama series. I
mean...just come on.
Where to begin? What about Claire Danes' acting. Just look at the photo above. She goes so ridiculously over the top in her crying and screaming that it gives me a headache. As for the story itself, well we have a stupid storyline involving Brody's daughter Dana, as she deals with teen stuff, then a hit and run. Eventually, we see her literally cry over spilled milk because the writers enjoy torturing us. We have Abu Nazir forcing Brody, now a U.S. congressmen, do the dirty work of transferring the bombmaker from the first season since his terrorist buddies are busy with other things. We have Brody answer a phone call from his wife while killing a man. We have Brody secretly text Abu Nazir while in the White House Situation Room, while other White House officials are right next to him, watching a video where they attempt to assassinate the man Brody is protecting. We have Mike, Brody's friend, who doesn't seem to have an actual job but simply pops in whenever Jessica feels estranged from her husband. We have Hezbollah working with Al-Qaeda since the writers apparently did zero research. We have Jessica basically call Brody a traitor for converting to Islam and Brody making no effort to defend himself. We have Abu Nazir kidnap Carrie in broad daylight alone in the most implausible way possible. We have Vice president Walden get assassinated by terrorists HACKING INTO HIS PACEMAKER! We have Brody, a famous face all over America, get a fake identity without making any effort to change his appearance. And we have the Q&A episode, which is one of the finest hours of television that year.
So yeah, I'm a bit skeptical about season 3 and I don't know how much longer this storyline can drag on.
0. Breaking Bad- Nothing
Haha. Breaking bad can do no wrong. Ok, there have been issues, but nothing big enough to warrant an inclusion on this list. Good job, Breaking Bad. Keep being awesome television, ok. Also, The Wire (but I'll have to finish The Wire to make a full judgement).
The takeaway here is that there's no such thing as a perfect show. Every show is going to suck at least a little bit so....be prepared I guess.
Next time, I'll talk about Token characters in television.
Where to begin? What about Claire Danes' acting. Just look at the photo above. She goes so ridiculously over the top in her crying and screaming that it gives me a headache. As for the story itself, well we have a stupid storyline involving Brody's daughter Dana, as she deals with teen stuff, then a hit and run. Eventually, we see her literally cry over spilled milk because the writers enjoy torturing us. We have Abu Nazir forcing Brody, now a U.S. congressmen, do the dirty work of transferring the bombmaker from the first season since his terrorist buddies are busy with other things. We have Brody answer a phone call from his wife while killing a man. We have Brody secretly text Abu Nazir while in the White House Situation Room, while other White House officials are right next to him, watching a video where they attempt to assassinate the man Brody is protecting. We have Mike, Brody's friend, who doesn't seem to have an actual job but simply pops in whenever Jessica feels estranged from her husband. We have Hezbollah working with Al-Qaeda since the writers apparently did zero research. We have Jessica basically call Brody a traitor for converting to Islam and Brody making no effort to defend himself. We have Abu Nazir kidnap Carrie in broad daylight alone in the most implausible way possible. We have Vice president Walden get assassinated by terrorists HACKING INTO HIS PACEMAKER! We have Brody, a famous face all over America, get a fake identity without making any effort to change his appearance. And we have the Q&A episode, which is one of the finest hours of television that year.
So yeah, I'm a bit skeptical about season 3 and I don't know how much longer this storyline can drag on.
0. Breaking Bad- Nothing
Haha. Breaking bad can do no wrong. Ok, there have been issues, but nothing big enough to warrant an inclusion on this list. Good job, Breaking Bad. Keep being awesome television, ok. Also, The Wire (but I'll have to finish The Wire to make a full judgement).
The takeaway here is that there's no such thing as a perfect show. Every show is going to suck at least a little bit so....be prepared I guess.
Next time, I'll talk about Token characters in television.
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