Robots and Vamps

We occasionally watch a bit of TV…. Alright… fine, we admit it. We watch A LOT of TV. So here is the weekly rundown of shows that we watched this week and the quick and dirty on what we thought of them. Is there something we should be watching that we are not? Let us know and we will check it out.

Dollhouse is on hiatus for the month of November.

V 1.1 “Pilot”

V starts of with a bang.. or rather a very large tremor.  This ships arrive causing a bit of hysteria. Jets crash, people scream, everything shakes a bit. You know, your run of the mill alien invasion.  At least it seems that way until the bottom of the ships turn into a giant flat screen TV and everyone is mesmerized.  Any creature who can create a TV of that magnitude must be amazing!  Note to all alien races: All you have to do to take over earth is distract the people with your awesome TV’s. Works every time.

The visitors are a little bit too friendly, giving tours of the ship, starting a peace ambassador program, and they look beautiful.  People who look pretty can’t be bad, right?  If only the unsuspecting humans knew what they looked like under that facade.  Creep scaly lizard people. Yick!  Some people know… the people who form the resistance  and the alien deserters who join them.

This show is interesting so far, will it stay that way?

Matt says:  I was somewhat disappointed by the pilot and fear for the future of the show.  This episode gave up way too many secrets.  I remember the original V mini-series and the eventually weekly TV series.  All of the good story and drama from the mini-series could not carry over into the weekly series.  The main reason was that by the end of the mini-series all of good plot threads were used up and it essentially became a battle between the humans and the visitors.  In the new pilot episode the creators went into warp speed by establishing that the visitors were the bad guys and that the resistance is already up and running.  Not sure what is left in cupboard?  I am also disappointed that the creators did not take a physiological approach to the show.  Sci-Fi is at it’s best when it mirrors society.

Flash Forward 1.7 “The Gift”

Ok so at the beginning of this episode we learn of a website www.alreadyghosts.com made by the secret underground of people who did not have flash forwards. ABC really missed the boat here as they could have created a really cool viral website to accompany the show, but nah… the link goes to the ABC site and there is a link to alreadyghosts.com but it is pretty weak.

So back to the show, the agents crash a blue hand freak party at an underground club, trying to figure out who shot Janice. Their undercover gig works for a bit, even going so far as to play a little russian roulette for the entry fee, but after about 5 minutes in the club, they break their cover and haul some people in for questioning. Well, that seems like it was totally worth it!

Aaron Stark starts to doubt his flashforward about his daughter when a friend from her unit shows up and brings him her pocket knife. He claims that he saw her die and assures Aaron that there is no way she could be in his flashforward. After getting Mike, the fellow vet a job, he goes home to find his daughter sitting at the table waiting for him.

Agent Gough keeps thinking about a phone conversation he had in his flashforward. A woman dies leaving 2 children without a parent. Somehow, he thinks this is his fault and decides he can’t live with whatever he has done to cause this. He takes a stroll up to the roof of the building and when the other agents figure out what he plans to do they rush up to stop him. Only his mind is made up. He says “I found a way to change the game” and he jumps. Which sucks ‘cause I really liked Agent Gough!

Matt says:  This show is starting to bore me seriously.  The Blue Man Group? Really? Nice idea of having people who have no future join together but they only throw some weird rave parties and are into S&M.  Not very creative.  Horrible pacing with Agent Gough jumping off the building.  This should have been the most dramatic scene in season one!  Basically, it proves that the future is not set.  I am very close to turning this show off.

Fringe 2.5 “Earthling”

A shadow-man is haunting people, sucking out their life force and leaving them to crumble to a pile of ash. Turns out a cosmonaut returned from space with the shadow alien. The cosmonaut is in a coma. His shadow-alien terrorizes people in the hospitals where his body resides, causing his brother to move him from hospital to hospital in order to keep him alive.

Broyles has seen this before. It was the case that ruined his marriage. The files are still locked in a rented storage unit. Here is what I want to know, why are top secret government files kept in a rented storage unit?

Shadow-alien kills the brother who has been taking care of his hosts body. Broyles finds the body and shoots the cosmonaut in the head. Killing the host and forcing the shadow-alien to disappear. Presumably, both are dead. Until we meet cranky CIA guy, who tells Broyles that the cosmonaut started breathing again and they sent him into space.

Um… Ok then.

Matt says: This was a OK episode for your the typical monster-of-the-week filler.  The characters dissolving into dust was some pretty special effects.  It looked pretty real.  Now it is time to get back to the Pattern investigations.

Vampire Diaries 1.8 “162 Candles”

There is a new vampire in town and her name is Lexi (really? Lexi? C’mon you can do better than that!). Lexi has come to visit Stefan for his birthday as she does every year. She is older than the brothers and therefore stronger. Damon is obviously threatened by her presence and comes up with a plan to dispose of her and the towns “vampire problem” all at once. He sets her up.

Damon goes to the sheriff and makes nice with a gift of vervain. During a party, a boy is attacked by Damon, but the police think it is Lexi and they haul her out of the bar to kill her. When they can’t quite get the job done, Damon stakes her. Stephan witnesses the staking and is beside himself with grief for his friend. He wants to kill Damon and starts to go after him but Elena stops him, saying “talk to me”, blah blah blah. She never wants to talk, she only wants to whine and finally when Stephan grows a pair, she suddenly cares what is going on. She is so infuriating! Get a grip Elena, everything is not about you!

Bonnie is learning some cool witch stuff from her grandmother. The talisman she wears is protecting her and no one can remove it from her against her will. She might actually turn out to be one of the coolest characters on this show. Who knows?

Supernatural 5.8 “Changing Channels”

Supernatural was kinda silly tonight. For the first two thirds of the show, the boys were stuck in TV land by means of the trickster. The trickster wants them to consent to being the vessels for Lucifer and Michael and he will release them from their current version of sitcom hell. A bit over the top silly, they appear in medical drama, Dr. Sexy MD, a Japanese game show and Knight Rider to name a few. Admittedly the Laverne & Shirley like opening was cracking me up and I love me some Knight Rider but Dude, I really hope there is a point to all this.

The last third of the show was the meat of the story. The Trickster really isn’t a trickster at all, but the Arch Angel Gabriel. He has been in a self imposed Angel witness protection program. When things in heaven got too tough for him, he came to earth and posed as a trickster. Now he just wants to get the apocalypse rolling so it can just be over with already! Whoa there Gabe… Let’s think about this for a minute. Not so fast. The boys figure out what he is and the trap him in the holy ring of fire. (note to producers: You should totally be playing Ring of Fire by Johhny Cash when this happens! Atleast play it once!)

Stargate Universe 1.7 “Earth”

Hmm, what will be the crew’s big problem to solve in this episode? How can Dr Rush continue to be a huge ass but still know more than everyone on the ship? Guess you don’t have to be nice to be smart.

After using the communication stones, Col. Young, Eli and Cloe get stuck on earth in other bodies while Col. Telford and his cronies try to fly the Destiny through a star to gather enough power to dial Earth. The success of this experiment is iffy. No one on the ship wants to proceed with out more testing, but the brass on earth want to see this through.

Somehow the communication system keeps having glitches and people are swapping bodies faster than you can blink. Here’s a tip: when using the alien communication stones, do not go home and have sex with your estranged wife using another person’s body. At any moment, you could be thrust back into your own consciousness and now there is a stranger having sex with your wife. Just a thought… Plus wouldn’t Col Telford be angry that you used his body in such a way without his permission? Apparently not, because when he gets back to his own body, he goes over the Col. Young’s wife’s house. Uh oh!

Rush ends up outsmarting everyone and faking a near catastrophic event. The three imposters rush to the stones to turn off the communication device and save their own hides. When they are gone, Rush lets everyone know that it was just a ruse. Nice. But people still hate him and don’t trust him. He is not a popular guy but he usually seems to be able to get the job done.

Matt says:  I really enjoyed this episode.  At least nothing broke on the Destiny but nothing new got fixed.  So by all accounts the crew of the Destiny had a good week.  I like the power struggle between the Earth government and the command inside Destiny.  I feel this situation will not resolve itself anytime soon.  Dr. Rush is so cool as the mad scientist. Robert Carlyle’s acting is pitch perfect for this part, I am still not sure if he is crazy or he is really trying to get Destiny back into working order.  I suspect it is alittle of both.

Dexter 4.7 “Slack Tide”

I find it very disturbing that Dexter is taking parenting advice from the Trinity killer. I mean what? You are both serial killers, neither should really be trusted to give child rearing advice. They go lumberjacking in the everglades (which I am pretty sure is illegal) and Arthur “Trinity” runs into a deer. He can’t put it out of its misery and Dexter has to do it for him. Whoa Whoa Whoa…. Trinity can kill people but not Deer? Well, I guess they are cuter but C’mon. What a wuss!

Dexter gets a call from the office and has to run off to investigate a dead alligator with an arm in its belly. The arm belonged to a model who was recently murdered. After some rushed investigating Dexter concludes that a fashion photographer killed the models after the photo shoots and he exacts his own form of justice, as usual. Only the next day, a murder suspect is arrested. Turns out it was the photographer’s assistant, not the photographer. Dexter murdered an innocent man.

Well, at least Deborah got Dexter’s old apartment so Rita won’t be yelling at him about that anymore.

Matt says: This season got off to a great start but it has kinda bogged down in the last couple of episodes.  I am getting bored with the whole Trinity mentor thing.  It was nice for awhile but we need to move on.  I would like to see Deb get hot on the trail of Trinity and interfere with Dexter.  Dexter also needs to do some soul searching, this whole married with children scenario is causing him to be sloppy.  My guess is that the marriage will not survive the season.

Heroes 4.8 “Shadowboxing”

Peter is using that dead kids healing power to heal everyone who comes in the ER. But it is draining him quickly, leaving him exhausted. Pretty lights girl stumbles across a kid who isn’t breathing and she and Peter save her the old fashioned way. Why did Peter make her do a thoracotomy if he can just lay hands on her and heal her? Lazy!

Parkman is trapped inside his own mind and Sylar is running the body. It is the great battle over Parkman’s body! We will call this version of Sylar, Sykman. Sykman is trying to find out how he got stuck in Parkman’s body and is threatening Matt with using his body to kill innocents. After much sabotage, Parkman figures out how to end the game. He kills himself, effectively killing Sylar too. Yay, the big meanie Sykman is gone!

Oh, but wait, over at the carnival Nylar is waking up and realizing who he is, Nathan Petrelli. He leaves the carnival in search of Peter.

Gretchen has had a bad day. That Becky chic tried to kill her and she wants to leave and go home. The Haitian has come to erase everyone’s memories and negate Becky’s power if she gets too close. The Haitian is awesome! Best character on this show next to Noah! And it turns out he has a name… his name is Renee.

Becky has been terrorizing Claire to get back at HRG for killing her dad years ago. Samuel comes to explain things to Claire and get her on his side. He thinks he is on the right track with winning over Claire, but I am not so sure about that.

Everything is going so well, no Hiro this episode, Parkman is gone… but in the previews for next week, we see Peter using his healing power to heal Sykman…Oh… Hell…

Matt says:  YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Matt Parkman is dead, Matt Parkman is dead…Yeah! I saw it with my own two eyes…there is no take backs.  Oh, I forgot this is Heroes and no one ever dies.  They where this close to getting rid of Parkman and with Hiro dying it was a dream come true.  I hate you Peter, I really, really hate you.