What I’m watching now

The hacking of my website has given me renewed interest in (almost) all things web.  Including posting more regularly.  So, I thought now would be a good time to talk about some of the (other than Supernatural) scifi shows I’ve been watching.

• Stargate: Universe—I’ve never watched any of the other SG shows, except for an occasional SG-1 episode, so I don’t really have anything to compare it to.  It’s one of those shows I watch on the DVR, so I can fast-forward through the stuff I don’t like, like the “3 stooges” (I didn’t think up this term, but it’s so appropriate!) who are currently lost from Destiny because they didn’t stay in one place.  What I do like is the juxtaposition of the military vs. the civilian scientists.  I’ll get into my thoughts on that in a later post.
• Merlin—I’ve always been a fan of the Arthurian legend, so I’m glad I found this show.  I don’t know why I never found it on NBC.  And I’m ok with the changes in the mythology.  After all, we already know the outcome of the legend, so something new and original is always welcome.
• FlashForward—yep, I’m still watching it, but only via DVR.  I do think it’s gotten better since its hiatus, and last week’s episode with Janis’s back-story was great.  I don’t think I hit the fast-forward button at all.  (I knew Janis  had to be a double-agent! )   But I still think it might be uneven.  I say this from a cursory look at this week’s episode.  It doesn’t look as compelling to me.  But I could be wrong.
• V—another series that warrants viewing by DVR only, although I do think it, too, is getting better.  I’m particularly enjoying all the double & triple lying going on, particularly with Lisa, whom I never thought I’d like.  I missed the introduction of Hobbs, again failing to realize the show had come back from hiatus.  So he’s still an enigma.  But my favorite character is Joshua.  He really needs to be made a regular.  Perhaps he can replace Chad the reporter.  (Don’t like him, don’t trust him.)
• Legend of the Seeker—I’ve already written about my mild enthusiasm for it this year.   And I got a comment that said my love life must suck because I criticized the show.  Hee!  I deleted the comment rather than post it because it violated not one, but two of my comment policies.  It was a personal attack (which actually made me laugh rather than bothered) and used “u” instead of “you.”  I still have access to it in my trash.  Perhaps I’ll pull it out one of these days to use as an example.
• Warehouse 13—ok, it hasn’t started its second season yet, but I’ll be there when it does!
• True Blood—the jury’s still out on whether I’ll watch the 2nd season or not.  I want to support Raelle Tucker, but I’m just not that into the series.

So, what shows are you watching?  Caprica?  Something else I’ve missed?  I’d love to know.

About damn time!

I finally got around to rewatching the Warehouse 13 season finale.  I don’t know why I kept putting it off.  I guess I just felt I wasn’t ready.  (Ready for what, I don’t know.  Maybe ready to write a review?)

The episode had so many locations—the wife’s house, the warehouse, the gravel road, the underground place; not to mention everything going on back at the warehouse—it felt a little disjointed.  But it also had Roger Rees.  He makes such a fabulous villain, and a great foil for Artie (and Mrs. Frederic), I could forgive the choppy editing.

And then, the ending was so freaking awesome, I forgot any complaints I might have had.  And that was before I saw the real ending!

Yes, it’s true.  After watching the episode two times, I thought the episode ended with the reveal of MacPherson’s helper.  And, as I’ve already said, it was awesome.

But upon reading the Warehouse 13 thread at Television Without Pity (I hope the show gets it’s own forum next year), I discovered there was some sort of fire involving the possible death of Artie.  What the heck?  Did my recorder cut off too soon?

Nope.  I’d just assumed the cut to commercial after Leena’s reveal signaled the end of the episode.  Turns out there was another 5 minutes!  Biggest.  D’oh! Evah!

So the real ending was more of a cliffhanger than I initially thought.  Although I dislike season-ending cliffhangers, they really have become de rigueur in the industry.  I was quite happy with the cliffhanger-suspense level of MacPherson’s escape and Leena’s reveal.  It gave me the whole… however long it is until season 2 starts… to think about the ramifications.  The actual ending was much more dramatic and the cliffhanger-suspense level on a whole new level, but I still have the same things to ponder.  Plus:

• Will Artie live?
• Will Pete & Myka make it out of the warehouse?
• Will Mrs. Frederic make it back in time to intercept MacPherson?  Or to save Artie?
• Where is Claudia?
• What will become of Myka’s ferret?

Oh!  And who thought it’d be a good idea to put a “Reverse” button on the cryogenic-bronzing gizmo?  At what point in time would one want to reintroduce history’s greatest criminals back into society?  Isn’t that just a tad bit reckless?

This and that

A little bit about several things:

Suzanne has posted her review of the terrific Supernatural episode “The End” at Damsel Undistressed.  As usual, it’s great.   Television Without Pity really needs to hire her to replace the current Supernatural recapper.  First of all, it’s the following Thursday and he still hasn’t posted his full recap.  And when he does, half of it will be spent on inane, redundant verbal exchanges with Raoul, the imaginary gay dragon, which add absolutely nothing to the recap (other than making it longer).  [Ok, since I wrote this, the TWoP recap has been posted, but still!.]

I’m not sure I’ll continue watching FlashForward.  How many “I won’t cheat on you” speeches did we hear last week?  It ended up feeling like nothing but time-filler.   I really like Joseph Fiennes and Courtney B. Vance (see, there is life after Law & Order: Criminal Intent), but I’m not sure it’s enough to overcome the annoyances.

Yes, I’m way overdue on my Warehouse 13 season finale thoughts.  But I do have them!  I just need to rewatch the episode to refresh my memory.

I’ve been looking for the Sookie Stackhouse novels (from which True Blood was born).  Ellis Flynn keeps urging me to read them.  The early ones are always checked out from the library.  So I decided to pick one up at Barnes & Noble; but they didn’t have any.  However, I did find the first of Charlaine Harris’s Lily Bard novels, Shakespeare’s Landlord.  It’s not scifi or paranormal based, but it was so good (she’s a terrific writer), I subsequently read the second novel, Shakespeare Champion.  I highly enjoyed the murder mystery, but was disappointed by the turns in Lily’s love life.  Sort of like how I’m not liking the coming changes in Sookie’s love life.

3 shows, 3 comments

True Blood

I finally watched “Frenzy” at normal speed.  I am still not impressed.  Even more so because the actress who plays Queen Sophie-Anne is really awful.  But, kudos to Bill for winning the penis-mearuring contest with Eric.  And kudos to Eric for this episode’s line of the week, “Goodnight, tiny humans. ” (Let’s not forget the wink!)

Warehouse 13

More to come on “Regrets.”  The show really seems to be finding its groove.  This is about the 4th or so episode in a row that I really loved.  And the Dartmouth hoodie returned!  (I missed it last week.)

Supernatural

I stopped at Target on the way home from work and bought the season 4 DVD set.  (It was the last one out, as far as I could tell.  So, good timing, me!)  I will be spending the rest of the evening in front of the tv drooling.

Warehouse 13 & Supernatural crossover

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m rewatching old Supernatural episodes every day.  (I think I’ll start calling this my “Summer ’09 Supernatural Retrospective.”)  Over the weekend I watched, among others, “Metamorphosis.”  Lo and behold, Joanne Kelly was one of the guest stars, playing to soon-to-be rugaru Jack’s wife in “Metamorphosis.”  The actress seems to be quite busy.  She guest starred on an episode of Castle I watched a week or so ago.  (I wanted to see if it’s worth my time.  It’s not.)

See what happens when Sam Winchester says "Bloody Mary" 3 times in front of a mirror?

But the crossover doesn’t end there.  The Warehouse 13 episode “Duped” really did it for me.  Not only did I thoroughly enjoy it, it had a couple great references to Supernatural classic moments.  First was Claudia’s reference to the Bloody Mary legend, briefly assuming that’s why Artie was afraid to look into the mirror.  In Supernatural, “Bloody Mary” had a whole episode named after her.  And it was the first episode to establish that Sam Winchester had mysterious psychic abilities.

Then there was the uber-awesome “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane/Starship.  With all the song’s references to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, it made perfect sense in an episode about Louis Carroll’s mirror.  And its pronounced beat and strong chords matched Crazy Alice’s determined walk through the Warehouse.  In Supernatural, the song was used to underscore the creepiness of the “psychic kids” and heighten the gruesomeness of poor, pretty Scott Carey’s demise.  And it was awesome.

Ok, maybe I’m really stretching it to say the Warehouse 13 events were references to Supernatural.  But it always tickles me when two of my fandoms collide.  Even if it’s only in my head.

Warehouse 13: Implodingly Duped

I missed talking about last week’s Warehouse 13 episosde, “Implosion,” perhaps because it felt a little disjointed.  Like Myka, I wasn’t crazy about Artie’s backstory, but I guess it’s needed to bring the character out of the Warehouse and give it something to build on.  But really, how can you complain about a show with an invisible wielding sword, mesmerizing pinwheel fireworks and Roger Rees?  While there might not have been quite enough of Artie’s nemesis, the door’s wide open for his return.

Had I written this “review” last week, I would have complained about the show completely dropping Myka’s ferret.  And look what happened—two mentions in one episode!  Yay!

And that’s not the only thing there was to love about “Duped.”

I liked the continuity the show kept with Artie’s arm still in a sling.  The Warehouse artifacts were beyond awesome:  the Studio 54 disco ball that automatically plays Donna Summer’s “I Will Survive” when it’s moved; and Louis Carroll’s mirror (or, “looking glass” for the purists) that allows Pete to play ping-pong with himself.  (Didn’t we see Pete playing ping-pong with himself/it in an earlier episode as well?)   While the magical see-the-future coin wasn’t nearly as interesting, it was necessary to the episode.

A lot of people complain about Joanne Kelly’s acting, but I thought she did a fine job here.  She had to play a myriad of characters and did them all entertainingly well.  Even if the drunken bimbo at the door was a bit over the top, all is forgiven for the awesomeness of crazy-mad Alice marching through the Warehouse to destroy the mirror, all to the tune of “White Rabbit.”  (I have got to get that song on my iPod.)

Joanne Kelly as Myka Bering as Crazy Alice

All in all, one of my favorite episodes so far.

[Screencap courtesy of Krissie's Caps.]

Warehouse 13

Oops.  What was the title for this week’s episode?  Oh, IMDB says it’s “Burnout.”  That makes sense.

I actually thought it was pretty good.  Ok, maybe that’s an overstatement.  It was reasonably good.  I even shed a tear at the end, when Rebecca opened the box from Jack to find a diamond ring.  Maybe everyone else saw it coming, but I didn’t.  Aww.

This episode did a good job of highlighting Pete and Myka’s relationship.  There’s a nice chemistry there, but it’s a friendship/partner vibe, not a romantic vibe.  I like that.  Both Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly did a great job in the scene where the electric-lobster-spine thingie was killing Pete.  Myka’s voice broke when she said she just couldn’t lose another partner.

As much as I like Rebecca, I’m glad she didn’t accept Artie’s invitation to stay at the Warehouse.  That would have been uber-hokey since they just added Claudia to the team.  (Although I’m not sure where that’s headed with that since Allison Scagliotti is still listed as a guest star.)

I am beginning to enjoy this show.

Warehouse 13: Elements

Fellow Sci Fi Chick Sandy has been disappointed with Warehouse 13.  She was hanging on until Joe Flanigan guest starred, but now she’s done with it.

I admit, Warehouse 13 is not on my “must see tv” list, and I don’t stay up to watch it on Tuesday nights.  But it is a pleasant enough entertainment filler for Wednesday evenings.  As a testament to this week’s episode, I missed a few key elements (pun intended) and am actually planning to rewatch it.

It was nice to see guest stars I recognized (even though I never watched Stargate Atlantis).  I found the plot fairly interesting, but I’ve always been interested in American Indian artifacts and art.  I liked that Artie was wrong about Jeff Weaver.  He really was a philanthropist trying to atone for his con-man father’s sins.  I liked Claudia being able to challenge Artie.  Let the battle of brains begin.  And I loved Leena’s homespun mystical psychology.  I look forward to more of these.

I’m ok with the characters not being particularly well defined right now.  It gives them something to build on.  Of course, to become interested in the characters, you have to have good actors.  While the actors on this show may not be award-worthy, they haven’t bothered me yet.  (Except for a prolonged shot of the inside of Joanne Kelly’s heavily collegenated upper lip.)  So I’m still in the game.

But where is the ferret from the series’ premiere?  I want the ferret!