Well crap. Intelligence was cancelled in favor of another season of The Mentalist. That makes yet another show down the drain. My Current SciFi category is going to be significantly smaller next season. Let’s look at the count.
Let’s get straight into it.
CyberCom to the rescue!
Once again, this week’s has little to do with the real CyberCom mission (keeping America safe, one email at a time), but rather the threat of a chemical attack. In a bit of a switch up, director Lillian Strand (Marg Helgenberger) travels to San Francisco with Gabriel and Riley, while Jameson stays back with the doctors Cassidy. Lest you think Lillian is brave and necessary to the mission, she’s on board because her daughter lives there. There’s some angst about whether to tell her daughter to leave the city to avoid the potential attack, but the show’s Voice Of Reason (Riley) tells her to act like a mother and not a bureaucrat.
The actual case is one of Intelligence‘s more interesting ones. Someone is orchestrating individuals in witness protection to build and release a chemical bomb which will leave many of San Fran’s citizens completely paralyzed. He’s using a network of security, surveillance, and CCTV cameras to track everyone’s progress. When Gabriel and Riley check one of the potential bomb-making sites, Gabriel spies the camera and taps into the feed, putting him into the same network as our “orchestra conductor” (also called “rider” here, as in the rider/mule/carrot/stick paradigm). The rider uses the opportunity to call Gabriel on his “head phone.” The conversation gives Gabriel some insight into this guy.
Ok, the Doctor Who-athon is over. Now I’m just waiting for the Christmas special. What with that and getting ready for the holidays, I’ve neglected the site and the shows. What have I missed?
Almost Human: Only two episodes, “The Bends,” and “Blood Brothers.” And one contained full-frontal nudity! (Funny how that’s the main thing I remember.)
Sleepy Hollow: Oh good, just “The Golem.” That’s not too bad.
Agents of SHIELD: Again, only one, “The Bridge.” It’s nice when a series gets a week off. Thank you, ABC.
Supernatural: I’m up to date! But then, “Holy Terror” was so incredible, it had to be discussed immediately.
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: Whoa! I’ve really been neglectful here. “Heart of Stone” received only a small Quick Take. I still have “Who’s Alice,” “Bad Blood,” and “Home” to go.
And let’s not forget Defenders of Berk! I’m even further behind with it than with Once … in Wonderland. But then, I kind of planned that.
Guess I better get crackin’! The winter hiatus doesn’t last forever.
Mulch & Bucket return after a too-long absence.
Thursday is my big night for television. First there’s DreamWorks Dragons: Defenders of Berk, then Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. Next is Project Runway All Stars, followed by Elementary. (Granted, the last two aren’t SciFi Chicks-worthy, but they nicely round out an evening of enjoyable television.) Last Thursday was extra special, as Defenders of Berk was featuring a two-parter, with the return of Mulch and Bucket.
At around 5:00 pm, the lights flickered a couple times, then went totally dark. Fortunately, my What-a-Light and Olde Brooklyn lanterns provided enough light to work on Christmas cards. When the electricity still hadn’t returned by 8:00, I went out for dinner, figuring the lights would be back on when I returned at 9:00. They weren’t. So I continued with the Christmas cards. Of course, the lights finally came back on at 11:00, just after every show had aired.
OnDemand has allowed me to catch up, but I seem to prefer making Christmas cards to reviewing the shows. (You heard me right—making Christmas cards! Pretty impressive for someone who hasn’t sent out Christmas cards in many years.) It’s actually quite addictive. I shall try to catch-up during the hiatus.
Speaking of Christmas, and our first snow of the season, you’ll notice SciFi Chicks has gotten into the spirit with falling snow. It’s the kind of snow I like, the kind you don’t have to shovel.
So much has happened in TV-land since my internet modem crashed last week. I was able to post a couple reviews I’d already started (Agents of SHIELD and Supernatural—and a reply to Natalie) during interludes of access, but that’s it. Now that things appear to be stable, here’s a super-duper brief roundup.
Yep, all these shows are discussed (to a limited degree) under the cut.
Similar to its mother show, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland does a nice job peeling back the layers of the characters. Last week we learned the Knave of Hearts started life as Will Scarlet, and of his relationship to the Red Queen. (Only this week I made the Scarlet-Red connection. D’oh!).
This week was devoted to Jafar’s back story. To celebrate, Naveen Andrews no longer has to wear that hideous wig. Thank you, show!
Tada! Now we know why Alice calls the Knave of Hearts “Will.” He’s Will Scarlet from the Robin Hood legend! In true Once Upon a Time fashion, though, he’s not the Will Scarlet of lore. Better yet? That’s not even the biggest surpise of the episode!
Will Scarlet becomes a Merry Man.
“Forget Me Not” was written by Richard Hatem, who wrote a couple of excellent early Supernatural episodes, “Phantom Traveler” and “Asylum.” (He’s also worked on Grimm.) His talent shows. This was the best episode yet, with savvy heroes, surprising twists, great puns, and the beginning of a some key longer-term stories. (Let’s hope the show is around long enough to flesh them out.)
So, Will gets a back story. He joins Robin Hood’s band of Merry Men in the Enchanted Forest. (Have they run into Peter Pan and the Charmings yet?). In a mash-up of Robin Hood, Sleeping Beauty, and Alice in Wonderland, Will uses the Merry Men to break into Maleficent’s castle to steal the Looking Glass. He then abandons the Merries, but not before getting a morality lesson from Robin.
In the show’s best episode to date, we get a back story for the Knave of Hearts. And, boy, is it a doozy! I have a review/recap in draft and will post it later today.
I confess, I fast-forwarded through about 7/8 of it. Yeah, yeah, zombies running amok. Yeah, yeah, Adalind, Hexenbiest, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah, Zombie!Nick running amok. All that fast-forwarding caused me to miss Sgt. Wu, though. I’ll rewatch for any Wu-isms—and Monroe-isms—but probably won’t review the episode.
Holy crap, that was one lavish production! Do they plan on keeping it up week after week? I’m not sure I can stand that much foggy Victorian London extravagance week after week. (Just kidding. Of course I can.) I’m just not sure the atmosphere will resonate with modern day viewers. Then again, it does have Jonathan Rhys Meyers. And tons of sexiness. I might post a review early next week.
Dandy Lion! Or dandy lion? Either way, I’m easily amused.
A Clothes Horse, the Fairy Ferry, the Dandy Lion, an origami bird, and a scarf merchant with a two-camel garage! Ha!
Damn it! I’m kind of liking this show. Would it fare better in a different time slot? ABC should just give up the ghost and air repeats of Shark Tank at 8:00 (ET) Thursdays.
Yes, I was underwhelmed with the pilot, but I actually enjoyed the second episode. The CGI wasn’t quite as awful, and the Red Queen didn’t send me running from the room. Then again, the pilot set the bar pretty low.
Hey, at least it’s not called “Pilot.”
I lost interest in Once Upon a Time last year, so I wasn’t particularly keen on catching this show. However… oh heck, here’s what I said at the New Stream of Conscience:
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (ABC). Since I’m lukewarm about Once Upon a Time, I wasn’t particularly interested in this show. However, its preview is intriguing. It appears to have beautiful special effects (something the original Once Upon.. lacks), and the story is unexpected, making me want to see more.
Evil lobotomy-loving tropes, er, doctors.
Were my expectations met? That would a resounding No. The special effects were not beautiful, they were horrendous. Perhaps that’s the look the franchise is going for, since it is fantasy. But I don’t think so.
The premise is a nice twist on the story. Grown-up Alice is in a mental institution because her father refuses to believe her stories about Wonderland. She escapes with the Knave of Hearts just before the evil psychiatric doctors perform a lobotomy.
SciFi Chick (s) 