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.

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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.

True Blood: I Will Rise Up

What’s not to love about this episode?  Maryann.  And maybe Tara and Eggs by association.  And Eric’s manipulation of Sookie.

Sookie, don’t you think you could have just pulled the shrapnel out of Eric’s body with your fingers?  Well, I suppose if I’d just survived a suicide bomber, I probably wouldn’t be thinking clearly either.  But Eric certainly was.

I am no fan of Eric, but this was definitely Alexander Skarsgård’s night to shine.  From opportunistic self-serving asshole, to smug satisfaction at one-upping Bill, to tender lover (I think I heard half the country explode during Sookie’s dream), to fiery protector, to anguished, grieving soul.  (That is, if vampires even have souls.)

Oh episode, let me count the ways loved you.

1. Sookie and Jason’s heart-to-heart talk.  I was the crying right along with both Stackhouses.  (And it was nice to give Ryan Kwanten something other than Jason’s bare ass, or his inability to think with his upstairs brain).
2. Hoyt and Jessica.  (Does everyone else get this goofy-assed grin on their faces when these two are on screen?)  Hoyt standing up to his mama.  Jessica saying she became a vampire against her choice.  But Mama Fortenberry just wasn’t having any of it.
3. Sam’s escape from jail.  Boy, it sure must be nice to be a shape-shifter when you’re stuck in jail.  (I actually thought Sam would turn into a rat, but a fly was so much better.  You don’t have to worry about gravity.  And people don’t jump on a chair shrieking when they see a fly.)   I’m wondering if Sam is going to finally corroborate Andy’s pig/orgy story.
4. Lafayette.  Just because he’s Lafayette.  And he loves his cousin.  And he’s a bad ass.  And his mesh shirt with matching glove-like thingie and denim vest so rocks.
5. I even loved the Newlins, appearing on tv with a big ol’ bruise from being paint-balled between the eyes last week.  Ha!  And Sarah trying to establish her ownvoice behind Steve’s yabbering, but it only coming out as gibberish.  Double ha!  Bonus love points for Jason seeing them for the nutcases they are.

And Godric’s goodbye.  I loved it so much, it doesn’t even get a number.  A lot of people are tired of Sookie’s “damsel in distress” mode, but I love her big, open heart, feeling the need to be with Godric at the end because he saved her life.  In the process, she saw Eric’s vulnerable side.  The bond between Godric and Eric was so beautiful, “Father, brother, son.”  I suppose seeing Eric’s enormous grief will soften Sookie towards him.

True Blood: Release Me

So, HBO has received 99 prime time Emmy nominations, eh?  And several for True Blood?   There better not be a nomination for make-up in there.  Good grief, Bill has looked positively horrible this year.  And not horrible as in “Ooh, scary vampire!” but horrible as in “Geez, that make-up is so fake and overdone.”  Granted, I’m watching this season in high-def, but even last year I noticed Eric’s pasty face abruptly end at his hairline.   You’d think for such a popular tv show on a premium cable channel, they’d at least find a way to blend vampire coloring into the scalp, wouldn’t you?  And how is it that Bill looks paler than Eric, who’s 900 years older?   And Godric, whose 2000 years old?  Well, maybe Godric is still going through puberty.

Oh!  And let’s not forget Arlene’s hideous heavily applied green eyeshadow.  Yikes!

If you’ve read my True Blood reviews at the previous SciFi Chicks [site is gone], you know I love me some Raelle Tucker.  She wrote last year’s two best episodes, and then this year’s fabulous “Scratches.”  So I expected “Release Me” to be an excellent episode.  For the most part, it was.  It looks like the Church of the Light Fellowship of the Sun (whatever the heck it’s called) crap is finally coming to a head.  I was actually able to watch some of the Jason Stackhouse moments without fast-forwarding. “We know who you’re working for!”  “The road crew?”  Ha!   The spy was revealed.  Maryann was revealed (but still not “outed”).  But the Lorena and Bill crap has gone on way too long. I don’t care if it’s only been one episode, that’s way too long.  And please!  Enough with the flashbacks!

I really felt Raelle Tucker’s Supernatural roots in the scene where Daphne tells Sam about Maryann.  So, she’s a maenad.  That means jack-squat to me, so I pull out my Bullfinch’s Mythology (oh,  like you don’t have copy in your house!), which tells me zip.  But, it does mention Dionysus.  (Ack!  Too much information, Mr. Bullfinch!)  And while Bullfinch doesn’t say so, Daphne tells Sam that Dionysus is also known as the horned god.  Sam makes the leap from horns to devil.  So does that mean that wine is evil?

Of course, Hoyt and Jessica are just too stinkin’ adorable for this world.  I really disliked Jessica when she first turned, but she’s grown on me.  (Maybe it’s the humanity that Bill is teaching her.  I don’t think she got any of that while living with Eric and Pam.) I love how, even though she’s a vampire, she’s still at heart a teenage girl.

I think I’m beginning to see the appeal of gay fanfic.  Two words:  Eric, Godric.