Monday, September 16, 2013

Worst moments from Great TV shows

After watching so many television shows, I've learned that there's a lot of great stuff on tv. Enough to even out all the crap that's on tv. but no show is without sin, no matter how perfect it may seem and here are some of the most notable examples of that. Please note that it was incredibly difficult to make an order from least bad to worst so don't focus so much on the order as much as simply what I talk bout.

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).

22. House of Cards- The ending of Chapter 11
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.

21. Awake- Revealing a key twist in the 2nd episode
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:

Prior to the first episode, Ava Crowder was in an abusive marriage. Her husband Bowman Crowder (What kind of a name is that?) was abusive. He got drunk and beat her. Eventually, she had enough and shot and killed him with a rifle (not a spoiler, this is all mentioned in passing in the first episode). Regardless of the morals involved in killing Bowman, it was first degree murder. Everyone knew it. The evidence was right there. Instead of going to prison, Ava is put on probation, which suggests that the writers have no idea how the law works. It's illegal to murder someone, even if they're a jerk and deserve it. You can argue that what Ava did was morally right but it was still legally wrong. You don't get probation for first degree murder yet Ava doesn't spend a day in jail. While this has happened before (Gary Plauche executing Jeff Doucet is a real life example), it's extremely rare and nobody even comments on how strange the sentencing is.


18. The Sopranos- the "Commendatori" episode
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.



16. Boardwalk Empire, the season 2 finale, or rather the scene in the rain
 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.


15. Six Feet Under- He's dead, but not really
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.



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.
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
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.


4. Veronica Mars- The rape storyline
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.




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.



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.

Great shows you haven't seen: Southland


This poster perfectly represents Southland, a dark gritty cop drama that pulls no punches. I, like many people, am sick of the 5000 cop shows on television. Each year a bunch get cancelled and are replaced by new ones. Let's look at CBS' dramas

With the exception of Under the Dome, Person of Interest, The good Wife, all of these are cop dramas. Some deal with police consultants, the FBI, or special units,  but they all follow the same formula of solving crimes each week. CBS recently cancelled 3 other cop dramas, Vegas, Golden Boy, and CSI: New York.


Anyways, enough about CBS. This was an NBC show...at first. Southland was different because it wasn't just about the crimes. It was about the people. The characters had backstories and a life outside of the job. The police work itself was just as interesting. We saw these cops deal with truly horrible people and sometimes more sympathetic characters and it varied each week. We saw drug dealers, gang members, rapists, thieves, methheads, psychos, and sometimes just assholes.


One thing that separates Southland from other cop shows is how gritty it is. There's no fluff. People get shot. They die. It's not taken lightly. It's not just escapist entertainment. My heart skips a beat watching the intense action sequences. Many real life officers have praised the show for its realism. The show also shows 3 different kinds of cops. Lydia Adams (Regina King) and Russell Clarke (Tom Everett Scott) mainly focus on rape and murder cases in LA suburbs. Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy) and Nate Moretta (Kevin Alejandro) focus on gang related crimes. John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) and his rookie partner Ben Sherman (Benjamin McKenzie) are patrol officers and encounter a bit of everything.



Southland first began with a 7 episode season on NBC. It suffered from low ratings throughout its short run but was eventually renewed for a 2nd season. Before the 2nd season premiere, NBC decided to cancel it. However, episodes had already been filmed so TNT bought the episodes, giving Southland a short 6 episode 2nd season. TNT saw potential in the show, so they renewed it for a 3rd season and gave Southland the chance it deserved.



 Unlike some shows, Southland only got better with each season. Characters became more developed so their storylines become more interesting, at times happy, other times tragic. All of the actors are great. Regina King, Benjamin Mckenzie, Shawn Hatosy, and Kevin Alejandro, Anthony Ruvivar, Lucy Liu, and Gerald McRaney are are among the many actors giving worthy performances, but it's Michael Cudlitz as John Cooper who stands out the most.

 Michael Cudlitz' performance mirrors the TV greats like James Gandolfini, Michael Chiklis, and Bryan Cranston. John Cooper is easily one of the best written characters in TV history. He's likable but flawed in the most believable ways. I can't get into details because it's best to see them unfold yourself. I don't want to spoil anything. However, there are few characters like John Cooper. Cudlitz should have won an Emmy by now but instead he never got an entire nomination over Southland's 5 year run.



I know I've been mainly focusing on the serious gritty feel of Southland, but it's not afraid to inject humor in when appropriate. Often times humor comes from the crazy people that the patrol officers encounter. One episode has a  guy at a tattoo parlor call the cops because the tattoo artist accidentally tattooed "Dennis" on his back instead of Denise. 


or the uterus scene


Southland was cancelled by TNT after the 5th season but fortunately managed to produce 43 episodes of near perfection. Southland has emotional weight that most cop shows lack as we see storylines develop each episode and we see that things don't always end happily. Being a cop can be a thankless job, with crazy civilians, dangerous criminals, and incompetent fellow cops. You can never truly know the feeling of being a cop just by watching TV, but I almost felt like I did. Southland was seen by few but will be remembered by all who saw it as one of the greatest television dramas ever made.

The A-Team review (2010)


The A-team is an adaptation of the classic tv series from the 80s. I’ll say right now that I was a fan of the show. It was mindless, stupid, silly, hell, it could even be argued that the show glorified violence, but I still enjoyed it immensely.  So The A-Team movie has a great cast. We got Liam Neeson (Schindler’s list, Star wars, Kinsey or more recently Taken) replacing George Peppard as the cigar smoking leader John “Hannibal” Smith. Bradley Cooper (Alias, The Hangover) replaces Dirk Benedict as Face, the ladies man/whore. He more or less serves as a female eye candy. MMA fighter “Rampage” Jackson plays B.A. Baracus (AKA Mr. T). The best performance however goes to Sharlto Copley (District 9) as the apparently insane pilot Murdock. He was played wonderfully by Dwight Schultz in the tv series, but I actually thought that Sharlto Copley was slightly better. Neeson, Cooper, and Rampage all give fine performances, but their passable in comparison to their TV counterparts.
 
Other cast members include Jessica Biel as Face’s former lover and a first lieutenant in the DCIS who spends most of the movie pursuing The A-team. She probably gives the worst performance, because I didn’t by her as this strong, independent, tough military type of woman for a damn second. It's not that I don't think a woman could be that kind of character, I just didn't buy Biel as that kind of character. We also got Patrick Wilson playing a CIA agent named Lynch and does fine with what he’s given. In the end, despite Wilson's talent (Hard Candy, Watchmen, Angels in America), it's still disappointing since it's not as good as it should be.



So to the movie itself. Well…not a big fan of how it starts off. B.A. baracus drives an awesome sports car, beats some guys up, then replaces the sports car for a soccer mom van which he really loves for some reaosn.. It’s supposed to be based off of their signature van for the show, but I just though “What the hell” during that scene. So the team is introduced than 8 years later The US is pulling out of Iraq. (Weird right. How did they know?) There’s some stuff with concurrency plates and shit like that. The A-team is ordered to steal them and that guy dies blah blah blah. They get framed as thieves, dishonorably discharged, arrested. Stuff like that. We don’t really give a damn about that crap. We came here for explosions and shootouts, right?
…yeah…
Well so this is when the movie kicks in. They escape and work with agent Lynch with clearing their names and shit. So the action scenes pile up, but here’s the first problem that I noticed. THE CGI! This movie has way too much CGI and it doesn’t look that great either. Clearly Director Joe Carnahan has some things to learn. He should watch a Tony Scott Movie. If you take away CGI, it saves money and the film looks cooler. The A-team television series didn’t have any CGI. Still, most of the action scenes are admittedly pretty fun. It’s implausible, but what did you expect?

The humor, at least the scenes with Sharlto Copley, are also quite good and I’m glad that the film didn’t take itself too seriously. However, as the plot develops, we get some apparent plot twists that really aren’t that surprising as well as a really big plothole. Also, BA Baracus doesn’t even have his signature Mohawk for 90% of the goddamn movie. Then he takes this whole vow of not killing people which really bothered me. Not because I’m pro-violence, but this movie is about escapism. Now it’s trying to be deep and it takes some of the fun out of the action scenes.

And now I’m sounding picky I know, but it didn’t quite have the character depth that the show had. In the show, I really loved the characters and really wanted them to succeed. In the movie, they’re fine. I liked Sharlto Copley a lot, but I just didn’t have the same emotional connection.

All this aside, The A-team is generally faithful to the tv show. Its noisy, silly, and dumb, but none the less fun and amusing. It’s nowhere near as good as the best action films., but it’s passable entertainment.

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5

SPOILER ALERT!




Ok. Here’s the plothole that I’m talking about. The A team retrieves the plates for Agent Lynch and they’re about to give it to him. So what does he do? He decides to betray them and attempt to kill them? Why? I have no idea. They were about to give him the goddamn plates. Why not kill them after they gave him the plates? Jesus Christ.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Before Sunrise (1995) Review


How can a film so simple be so complex at the same time? How can a film where so little happens be so intriguing. On paper, Before Sunrise should be super boring, but instead it's one of the most believable and entertaining films ever made and arguably the greatest romance of all time.

Before Sunrise begins on a train heading from Budapest to Vienna where Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a young American who will be catching a flight back to the United States the next day, strikes a conversation with Céline (Julie Delpy), a young French woman heading back to Paris after visiting her grandmother. They have some chemistry as they talk but the train arrives at Vienna, which is Jesse's stop. Jesse encourages Céline to leave the train with him and she ultimately complies.

The rest of the film follows their day together as they discuss love, politics, gender differences, family, and many philosophies. The majority of the film is basically walking and talking, as Jesse and Céline tour the beautiful city and discuss the many topics mentioned above. This may sound boring, but these conversations feel so real that it's hard to do anything but watch. I don't know how much is improved vs. scripted, but Hawke and Delpy make their characters into completely 3-dimensional human beings. The best scene in the movie is easily the telephone scene for me, but it's impossible to describe why it's so perfect. You'll just have to see it for yourself.


Richard Linklater directs the film with natural flair. He doesn't rush anything. He lets the characters' conversations play out. There are many long takes, as the camera simply stays static on Jesse and Céline as they talk. No crazy edits or anything. It allows the audience to get really attached to them, as we forget we're watching a movie.

I can't think of any complaints with the movie, except for one scene where they commit a petty crime, which just seemed unnecessary. This movie is straight to the point. No subplots. No time wasted. 100 minutes of a beautiful love story unfolding. If you like romance films, watch this. If you hate romance films, watch this anyways. It's no ordinary romance movie. Nothing feels forced. It's a travesty that Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy were all snubbed from most award shows.

This film has been followed by two sequels. Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). I plan on seeing them both very soon.

Overall rating: A+, 10/10, 5/5, 100%

Monday, September 2, 2013

Somewhere Review

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Somewhere. Few films are quite as divisive. Critics like Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper, and A.O. Scott absolutely loved the film, praising nearly every aspect. Many reviews show absolute hatred of the film, using lines such as  "'Somewhere' goes nowhere", calling it boring and pointless. That said, I loved Sofia Coppola's previous effort, Lost in Translation, and I consider Stephen Dorff to be a very underrated actor (who is best known for his roles in indie films like Backbeat, I shot Andy Warhol, and Felon, but has also had mainstream roles such as playing the main villain in Blade) so I gave it a shot.

Stephen Dorff in Somewhere

Somewhere tells the story of Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), an actor who's finally achieved the stardom he's been searching for but is now suffering from an existential crisis and is now staying at a celebrity hotel. He's also recovering from a minor injury on his arm (the cause of the injury is never explained). His ex-wife suffers an unexplained breakdown and goes away, leaving him to care for his 11 year old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning).

At least that's what I thought the film was about. Cleo is actually barely seen in the first half of the film, which mainly focuses on scene after scene of Marco's loneliness. He promotes his new film, watches twin sisters pole dance, having sex with strangers, attending a party, and gets a massage among other things.


The first half has some entertaining moments, the best being the few moments with Cleo and the funny massage scene. The insight into show business life and Johnny's general behavior is at times well shot and meaningful. It was great to see Johnny's lack of purpose, after all, he's achieved the fame he's been looking for and he's not sure if it's quite what he expected and he's unsure as to what to do next. That said, things are ultimately more boring than interesting, with many scenes dragging on way too long. For example, we have TWO scenes where Johnny brings pole dancing strippers into the hotel where he's staying and we see their entire dance. Both dances are about 2 minutes but the film could have easily just shown the last 20 seconds of the dances and still make the point they were going for with Johnny's unusual reactions. And don't get me started on the unbelievably tedious makeup scene. We see a group of makeup artists cover Johnny's face in latex (for reasons never explained), then they leave and we see THIS for over a minute. Just the camera zooming in...



However, while the first half of the film film teeters the line between being a tedious film about nothing happening and an interesting film about ennui, everything comes together once Cleo enters the picture. I don't know how much (if any) of the dialogue was improved, but Elle Fanning and Stephen Dorff have such natural chemistry that they feel like a real life father and daughter. Seeing the way Marco develops as a character from his time as Cleo is done in a very believable manner.

There's virtually nothing known about the film that Johnny is starring in. All that we see is a poster of him giving a brooding stare while standing next to his female co-star played by Michelle Monaghan.
The film appears to be about Italian-Americans (Marco is probably Italian, considering his last name) and may or may not be a reflection of "post modern globalism". The film is never named by any of the characters but from what I could make out from the poster, it was "______ Agenda".

But the lack of the details in some ways actually help the film because it shows how Johnny just does not care at all. His relationship with his co-star is shown to be less than stellar as we see them smile together while promoting their movie and it makes you wonder how genuine any of those photos are of actors together promoting a movie in real life. Are they just smiling for the camera?
The film is quite similar to Sofia Coppola's universally acclaimed Lost in Translation. Both are about lonely actors who try to get out of their shells with the help of a younger female and have a few language barrier issues when in a foreign country (a portion of Somewhere is set in Italy while Lost In Translation is set in Japan). Lost in Translation is definitely the better film, as Somewhere often times lacks focus. You can't expect too much focus in a "Slice of life" film, but Lost in translation still had enough to keep the viewers interested for the entire running time. Another similar thing to Lost in Translation is the ambiguous ending and you can feel free to interpret that in any way you like. I have no idea what it means. Coppola is a fine director, though as mentioned before, she does let some scenes go on too long. Despite this, it'd be nice to see her start exploring some new themes (I have not seen her most recent film, The Bling ring, but it doesn't seem to be about loneliness which is refreshing).

All this said, Somewhere is still an entertaining film thanks largely to the performances and chemistry between Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning, and the engaging themes of Hollywood's celebrity culture, ennui, and parenthood. As mentioned before, the first half lacks the focus that made Lost in Translation so interesting to watch, but there are still enough emotional and lifelike scenes to make it an enjoyable experience. While, I'm not sure that I loved it as much as a handful of critics did, I definitely don't understand some people calling it one of the worst films of all time either. Johnny Marco, despite his subdued personality and celebrity status, felt like a real human being and one I could really relate to and because of that, this is a hard film just to forget. Even the first half is starting to grow on me, the more I think about it. It's somewhat a difficult film to recommend, due to some VERY negative reviews, especially on IMDB, but its a film tht I certainly enjoyed. During some momets in the first half, I was wondering when the film would be over, but in the 2nd half, I was almost sad as it was ending, because a film like this wouldn't have a Johnny Marco sequel, so we'll never explore this fascinating character again.


7.5/10