The Bumper Family Size Finale Bonanza

Been a while since I blogged last, but never fear faithful readers, I haven't been watching less TV and movies, I just haven't been writing so much. Anyway, in the last couple of weeks a couple of TV shows have finished. Some just until til the next season comes on; some for good. Here's my views on the 4 I've watched recently. Oh, and from here on in there be spoilers.

Lost: The End

I say again, BIG FREAKING LOST FINALE SPOILERS.

IF YOU STILL READ THIS, DON'T COMPLAIN TO ME IF I SPOILED IT FOR YOU. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.



After a couple of weeks to mull it over, I can honestly say that I am 100% happy with how Lost ended. I wasn't at first, but as I thought about it a lot since watching it, I think it ended the only way it could've really.

In the end, it wasn't about the island, and the revelation of all the mysteries the show ever had (which is why some people have hated it), but it was all about the characters. Specifically Jack. Ostensibly the main character of the show, that the series ended with him closing his eye, nicely bookending the entire series, the finale was really all about Jack, and his acceptance of his role. The man of science became the man of faith. Which was really the running theme to the whole series.

Jack did what he always wanted to do, save his fellow Lostaways (some of them anyway) and became protector of the island, for a short time at least. He had fulfilled his purpose and could move on.

The one exchange I loved in the whole episode was between Jack and Smoke Monster Locke, when Jack told him that everything original Locke had said was right, and that the Man in Black was disrespecting all of what John Locke was by wearing his face. It's shows a Jack that has had a complete 180 from the first time we met him. And there really is a beautiful symmetry to the whole thing.

And we got a cool fight between them too. Proper Matrix Revolutions one at that. Only, you know, not crap.

The revelation that the flash sideways universe wasn't in fact an alternate one created by the bomb going off, but in fact some sort of purgatory/in limbo place, was a tough one to wrap my head round. But ultimately I think it fits. It might be a little happy clappy for some people, but for me, and I know this is hardly deep analysis, but it just felt right. I can't find any better way to describe it than that. It's just quite comforting and a nice thought that these island folks waited for each other before moving on.

And who didn't get a kick out of seeing all the characters we've come to know and (possibly) love over the 6 years of Lost have their moment of realisation. And I'm man enough to admit, that Claire and Charlie reunion choked me up big time.

And Kate in the short dress didn't hurt either.

And yes, there are mysteries unsolved that'll be annoying for some (like Walt, that's the only one I'm annoyed about) but for me, the finale came back to being all about the characters, and for that Lost will always be in my top 10 TV shows.

24 Day 8 3.00pm-4.00pm



On to 24, which by this stage had gotten so ridiculous, the only reason you tune in is to see what Jack would do this week. However, for the end of one of the biggest shows of this century so far, the finale was somewhat understated. Not in a bad way, just not your usual 24 episode with gun fights, explosions and terrorist plots getting foiled in the nick of time.

The peace deal stuff had become fairly boring in the past few weeks. With President Taylor believing that the deal must be signed, as if a piece of paper would end all the world's problems. It was never a great idea to build a plot around but when the moment came where she decided whetgher or not to sign the treaty, it was rather tense, even though we knew she wouldn't. So kudos to all involved for making that scene what it was.

Again though, this finale comes down to Jack. Getting his revenge on the people who killed Renee was the driving force in the previous 6 or so episodes. The finale was about Jack hanging on to his humanity and not just becoming a killer. Although that point is arguable.

That the last conversation of the show was a heartfelt one between Jack and Chloe really made the ending quite emotional. More so than most episodes of 24. This season won't be remembered as one of the greats, but it was another improvement on season 7 which itself was a great improvement on 6.

The clock counting down to 0 was also a brilliant touch.

See you in the multiplexes Jack.

Supernatural - Swan Song



Sam and Dean. Dean and Sam. While I love Supernatural, I feel that the pacing of this season has been all over the place. I know the show only has a limited budget and can't really show all out Apocalypse week in week out, but something a bit grander and a bit more consistent would have been good. To use Buffy's second season as an example, Spike and Dru were continually hatching schemes over the course of the season but you still knew tehy were the big bad. However, in Supernatural's case, it was the Devil they were dealing with, so maybe he's not so much with the schemes. More of the click fingers, it's all over kind of thing.

Anyway, the finale, despite all my problems with this season as a whole, was great. Sam saying yes to Lucifer allowed for some great mirror image stuff between him and Sam, Bobby's delight at getting his legs back was also fun, as well as Castiel's "Hey, ass-butt!" That the Impala sort of saved the day was a nice touch as well, if a little melodramatic. Incidentally, before the sixth series was comissioned, this was going to be the last ever episode of the show, hence the "Swan Song" title. If it was I reckon I would have been pretty happy. That a sixth series is a go now means that Sam has returned, in some shape or form, and I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen in season 6.

Kudos for this season goes to Mark Pellegrino for his role as Lucifer, as well as Misha Collins for CAstiel, who I hope will return next year for at least a couple of episodes.

Oh, and also...is Chuck capital g, God? Certainly looks that way.

Doctor Who - The Big Bang



And onto the finale of the 11th Doctor's first series, and it was magnificient. Never once stopped for air until the whole thing was over. This new series has been a breath of fresh air in a series that wasn't really in danger of becoming stale, but probably needed a jolt of energy anyway.

Right from the off, when it was Amy revealed to be in the Pandorica, the timey wimey shenanigans were in effect. The scene at the start with the Doctor appearing to Rory were a pure comic delight, and if you ignore the slight paradox it creates (who let the Doctor out in the first place?), a great way of tying up the Doctor's imprisonment at the end of the last ep. And also, time travel stuff like that confuses a lot of people, and I love that. And am always reminded of Bill and Ted whenever someone does that thing that they did to get the screwdriver back ("Put it in Amy's coat pocket").

Another thing I loved was that there was no big bad to defeat in the episode and that it all revolved around saving the universe, not saving the universe and defeating the big bad. Nice refreshing change.

And, and, the thing we all specualted on for a while after the weeping angels episode; the bit where the Doctor comes back to speak to Amy is confirmed, as it's revealed he's crossing his own time stream. Hooray for all us nerds that spotted something was amiss when that episode aired.

Rebooting the universe, brilliant.

Rory as the lone Centurion was another lovely touch I felt. Rory watching over Amy in the Pandorica for 2000 years, and is then revealed to still be alive.

And also, the "Something old..." bit was pure genius, after the lovely conversation 11 had with little Amy as he was contemplating his own erasure from existence.

So much happened in this episode I can't actually remember it all. Just go watch it. However, if you're a Who fan, you've watched it already. Well, watch it again.

I'll be there Christmas Day on the Orient Express, watching our trio battle with an Egyptian goddess. In space. Will you?

In defence of Tom Cruise

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, over the past few years following an altercation for evermore known as the couch jumping incident, Mr Cruise has been the subject of ridicule, be it for his professions of love to the really quite annoying Katie Holmes (who does look as if she trapped in the marriage to be fair) as well as telling all and sundry about his Scientology beliefs, but people seem to have forgotten that he's a damn fine actor. I mean really if you look at the list of films he's been in over the last 15 years, you'd be hard pressed to find an absolute stinker. So, for your consumption I offer an analysis of these films from the last decade and a half to truly show that no matter what type of person Mr Cruise is like in real life, as an actor, he's pretty damn awesome.

Mission Impossible (1996)



In the movie going world, Bourne hadn't yet been made, and the Bond movies hadn't had their reboot yet and was still in the realm of the slightly silly. Mission Impossible fell somewhere in between the two, and in the movie ol' Tom is impeccable throughout. Betrayed and on the run, the movie (as many of Tom Cruises movies do) hangs togetehr though the strength of Ethan Hunt alone. No mean feat, whenever you consider how much is going on in the movie. But the whole running time, you're with Tom as he tries to wade through the confusion and double crosses. Never once is the audience in a position of superiority over the characters, and Ethan Hunt is played beautifully, conveying the confusion and realisations perfectly. If you want a specific scene to showcase just how good he is in it, find the restuarnt scene where Ethan is talking to the IMF agent who has set him up.

Jerry Maguire (1996)



Now, Jerry Maguire isn't a perfect film by any means, but it's the only film in which I really cared for one of Tom Cruise's charcters. Not to say that I don't in other movies, but at least in this one he's a 'real' person, not a secret agent or LeStat. There are some heartbreaking and heartwarming moments in Jerry Maguire that Cruise nails, quite frankly. And his comic timing in this has never been better. Well, maybe in one film which I'll get to later.

Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia (1999)

Two very very divisive films. Two possibly great films, if you can stick with them. Having said that I've only seen them both once each, however Frank Mackey is possibly one of the greatest douchebags of all time, yet gets his reconciliation with his father nd by the end you don't hate, when really you should. And Eyes Wide Shut is just a masterclass of acting. Do yourself a favour and rent it.

Vanilla Sky (2001)



A remake of the Spanish original, Vanilla Sky is nonetheless a triumph of a film. Once again, you're with the protagonist the whole way, working out basically what the hell is going on. You think he's a tool at the beginning, you want him to get together with Penelope Cruz though, you hate him but also feel bad for his when he gets disfigured, you rejoice when he gets the surgery, and you certainly want him to 'open his eyes' at the end of it all. Vanilla Sky is perhaps my favourite Tom Cruise performance as there's so much for him to do in the space of 2 and a bit hours, and he does it with aplomb. Best scene:



Great line, superbly delivered.

Minority Report (2002)



Watched this recently, still holds up after 8 years. Cruise wholly convinces as the grieving man on the run, while still able to make you feel genuine emotion for him in what could have become Total Recall 2 (another Phillip K Dick story; don't get me wrong, I love Total Recall but it ain't what you'd call subtle). I think this movie illustrates, best of all, Tom Cruise appeal: you never forget that it's Tom Cruise you're watching, but somehow you feel he could just as easily be a man on the street.

Collateral (2004)



You might think Tom Cruise would go over the top for his first major bad guy role, but no. He reigns it in as quiet killer, Vincent in Michael Mann's second best film. He's the epitome of a charming villian, the guy who'll kill you with a smile. He's a bastard to be sure, but a loveable one. At least he is when he's being driven around. The switch in the last half hour of the movie makes him full on chilling. And it's a true testament to the performance that you really do feel a tinge of sadness when he meets his end on the train. Not an explosive one, but rather a quiet contemplative one. He not redeemed, and certainly not likeable, but it's still quite emotional.

War of the Worlds (2005)



Perhaps his most convincing ordinary bloke role, it says something about the movie in that we care more about his character surviving with his daughter than the alien invasion, which was always meant to play second fiddle anyway. As the man just trying to stay alive, it's an acting tour-de-force especially in the scenes follwing the Tripods initial appearance, as well as the scenes with Tim Robbins. The post killing perfomance is pitch perfect.

Mission Impossible 3 (2006)



The best of the trilogy? Undoubtedly. Admittedly, a lot of this has to do with Phillip Seymour Hoffman's brilliant turn as the villain of the piece, but as we're following Ethan Hunt, it's still Tom's movie and he carries it well. Again, as proof of his great acting, the scene in which PSH is going to kill Ethan's wife is probably the best.

And now the funniest performance of Tom's career:



Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder.

And I am thorughly looking forward to Knight and Day, cause it looks like a great fun actioner with Tom Criuse playing a cross between Ethan Hunt and Vincent. And it looks awesome.



Also, he does most of his own stunts and is a bit of a mad man. And for that I think he brilliant.

Anyway, the defence rests.

Oh, and Mission Impossible 2 stinks. But that would have hurt my argument.

My favourite New Who moments

So, here's be my list of my favourite moments of the RTD era of Doctor Who. Please add to them/agree/disagree.

9 into 10
I loved the Ninth Doctor, I really did. And was quite sad to see him go. So much, in fact, that I hated David Tennant already even after him only having about 20 seconds of screen time. “Barcelona.” Shove off, new guy. But when I watch it now, it makes me smile a huge smile. And as a big emotional, but understated (as much as a regeneration can be anyway), moment you can’t do much better than this.



Ten makes his first ‘real’ appearance.
After being bedridden for most of his first full episode (The Christmas Invasion) Ten walks out of the TARDIS, just in time to save the day. It’s cheesy but it works. And that’s the moment when most of us knew Ten was going to be alright. The Lion King bit helped too though.



The end of The Girl in the Fireplace
Pretty much all of this episode is concerned with why these clockwork droid things are obsessed with Madame de Pompadour. And it’s only at the very end that the viewer is shown why. The ship itself is called the SS Madame de Pompadour. I still don’t fully understand it (I’d need to watch the episode again) but I always remember thinking that was a really beautiful moment.



The beach scene in Doomsday
This episode was never really about the Daleks versus Cybermen. This is what it was really all about. Everything from Rose nearly being sucked into the Void to Ten not getting to finish his sentence before disappearing is terrific viewing. It’s television designed to make you cry. And it does. NOTE: this isn't the actual real clip. It's a fan edited one omitting Donna at the end, but you get the jist.



Opening the roof in Gridlock
An episode that doesn’t get a huge amount of love (possibly due to Father Dougal being made up to look like a cat) but it does have another great moment. All of the released cars ascending through the roof and singing a hymn of thanks, ostensibly to the Doctor. It’s sounds really corny but in the context of the episode it’s a really powerful and moving scene.



The fake out in The Family of Blood
A terrific two parter this, filled with plenty of scary moments (the scarecrows) as well as emotional ones (The Doctor/John Smith after some DNA jiggery pokery, seeing visions of his future with Joan). But my favourite moment is when the Doctor, supposedly still as John Smith, going to The Family’s ship and pretending to be a bumbling fool. When he reveals himself as actually being The Doctor you can’t help but smile, and think “You guys are so screwed.” I also love the Doctor’s rage denouement, trapping each family member for an eternity.



The conversation with the DVD in Blink.
A slice of pure wibbly wobbly timey wimey genius. And it’s great because people that understand it just get it first time, and we can hold that knowledge over those that can’t wrap their heads round it. See also; Back to the Future 2. “The angels have the phone box. I’ve got that on a t-shirt.”



Working out what the Face of Boe’s message meant.
Brilliant, wasn’t it?



Martha saving the world in The Last of the Time Lords
Martha really got the short shrift in the world of Doctor Who I feel. She was basically the rebound companion for most of the series, in both the eyes of a lot of viewers as well as the Doctor. However, she did get her greatest moment in her last episode as a regular companion. After scouring the world for a year during the Master’s reign she tells everyone the plan that will help the Doctor become his normal self again (hard to explain that without using the word ‘regenerate’). It’s a brilliant moment, and a favourite of mine, as it’s not something blowing up something that fixes the problem but prayer (of a sort), and I really dug that.



Doctor and Donna meeting again in Partners in Crime
It’s funny; plain and simple. After having just missed each other at various points in the episode when they see each other it’s comedy gold. And it sold me on Donna (who I hadn’t been sure of before this) right there and then.



Oh, and the mime goes something like this: I came here, trouble, read about it, internet, I thought, trouble = you! And this place is weird! Pills! So I hid. Back there. Crept along. Looked. You. Cos they...And then they get caught out.

The switch in Midnight
An episode which is a master class in racking up the tension. And the moment it reaches its peak? After the entity possessing Sky has copied everyone in the shuttle, then spoke at the same time as them, then just the Doctor, and then when the switch comes it’s an incredible moment and sends shivers down my spine.



The fake regeneration:
The biggest shock new Who has ever pulled. No-one, and I mean no-one, expected it. And the massive TO BE CONTINUED made it the most infuriating moment on this list. We had to wait a week to see what would happen. A whole bloody week. The collective sigh of relief the following week was when Ten didn’t regenerate into Robert Carlisle, Jimmy Nesbitt or Richard E Grant.



He will knock 4 times
Actually, maybe this was the biggest shock of new Who. Poor old Wilf. Lovely Wilf. Poor old lovely Wilf. The person who caused Ten’s demise, (and not the Master like we all thought) and he does it through helping someone else. Gut wrenching, as Ten thought he had escaped the prophecy, only for Wilf to tap-tap-tap-tap on the glass. But of course the Doctor had to save him. That’s who he is; the person who would give his life to save one of us ‘ordinary’ people. Beautifully acted and one of the saddest moments in new Who.



“I don’t want to go”Not ashamed to admit this…I was so incredibly close to tears watching this. Ten, alone, in the TARDIS, scared witless and not really ready to regenerate. The visits to previous companions just before this really ramped up the emotion, as well as the fact that the line had a double meaning as we had all known for a while that David Tenant was leaving and that the line probably was half Doctor, half Tennant. As the end of Ten’s life as well as the RTD era, I think it was pretty much perfection.

"Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the doughnut!"

To get the full Iron Man 2 feeling, you should really read this review while listening to this.



Anyway, the movie itself. I was pretty excited for it to be honest, having loved the first, and number 2 did not disappoint.

As much as people say they go for the action, I went to see this for RDJ. He is literally perfect in the role, a smarmy smug A-hole but yet you can't help but like him. My favourite scenes in the movie were the ones in which a lot of characters are talking at once and then Tony comes in with a great one liner. My favourite being the scene in the bar at the Monte Carlo track, with Tony, Pepper, Hammer and the reporter from the first movie ("Yeah, she did a spread last year for me. Wrote an article too" or something like that. Genius.)

As brilliant as RDJ was, the other actors weren't too shabby either. Sam Rockwell was great as the almost Tony Stark but not quite chacrter, Justin Hammer. Although he was just a smug smarmy A-hole. Don Cheadle was pretty good as War Machine is this, taking over from the other guy in the first movie (don't remember his name); he's pretty much playing the straight man, but has a good couple of moments both in and out of the suit. I also liked that Jon Faverau's role as Tony's bodyguard was bumped up as I think Faverau's funny in anything he does. And to be fair if I were the director of the movie I'd probably try and put myself into a scene with ScarJo if I could, so fair play to him. On to Scarlett; well, she was really a bit pointless in this movie, and is just basically serving as a springboard to the forthcoming Avengers movie. However, her one big action scene has a great pay off gag at the end (pepper spray). And she's hawt, which didn't hurt. Gwyneth Paltrows role in Iron Man 2 wasn't as great as in the first but she still had some great comedy sparring scenes with Tony.



And Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury was just Samuel L Jackson playing every role he's played in the past ten years. He's sort of become a parody of himself, but it's SAmuel L jackson, he's so damn cool he just about gets away with it.

And now on to the action: a lot of people complaing that there wasn't enough. Rubbish. Those people are the ones who can't watch five minutes of a movie without something blowing up. Go watch Transformers 2 then. Obviously the Monte Carlo bit was a highlight, with the suitcase suit, which was awesome.



See?

The final fight was pretty cool, with the drones chasing Tony and War Machine unwittingly chasing him as well. A different spin on a chase scene which was nice. However the fight with Whiplash was pretty dull and a rehash of the first movie climactic battle too.

Whiplash in the previous 2 hours however was great. Mickey Rourke giving him just enough quirkiness while never losing the menace or turning into a pantomime villian even when he was wielding his skipping ropes of death.

Overall though, it's my favourite movie so far this year. And if you didn't stay for the post credits scene, Here it is. The geeks among you will know what it's about. Everyone else will be all WTF?

You and me are done professionally, man.

So, I recently watched Terminator Salvation again. It's an alright movie, nothing spectacular or anything but it reminded me of this (if you havemn't heard it, have a listen):



Admittedly, the first few times you hear it, it's pretty funny to hear Bale ranting like a madman, mainly for the "Oooooooh, goooooooooood for you," "Ah-da-da-da-da-da" and the way his accent changes from American to his normal English one and back again several times, but after that it just becomes uncomfortable to hear him lay into the DP. If Christian Bale called me a prick I would lay into him, and tell him to light the movie with the light that supposedly shines out of his arse.

And the gall of him to be calling the shots on the scene, then when someone tells him to calm down, he loses it again. I think Bale's a good actor, but in this he just comes across as a massive tool. And things reach a head when it sounds like he tries to take a swing at the DP.

Christian, what don't you f*ckin' understand? Quit taking your 'job' so seriously. You get paid to play dress up and make believe. And it's not as if Terminator Salvation is a particularly emotional movie. Chill out dude, or you and me, we're done professionally.

Douchebag.

However, if it hadn't happened, we wouldn't have these:



And this is my favourite, "You punch your mother with that mouth."



Anyway, genius.

Come Dine With Me? No ta, I'll get a Chinese.

If there were a show that I’d like to disappear from the TV schedules and never return, it would be Come Dine With Me. In fact, I despise it so much that I’d like to have access to a time machine just so I could go back in time to kill the person that came up with the idea.

Not a day goes by with at least half an hour of CDWM being broadcast on some channel. Most annoyingly of all the daily dose of CDWM is on a half 5 – exactly the time that I’m usually sitting down to have my dinner. And my parents always watch the show, so I am forced to. I am usually found sitting, shovelling my dinner into me as quick as possible to get away from the mind numbing, soul crushing nature of the show.

Week in, week out it’s exactly the same show. People throw a dinner party for 3 other total strangers, they rate each others food, argue, bitch, moan and at the end of it all, the person with the highest score wins a grand.

But not only is the entire premise of the show repeated ad nauseum, the types of people they have on are always the same. Here’s a run down of the types of people the show has on continually.

The Dumb One: the most common of them all. One person who while all the others are making conversation, will be sat in the corner smiling and nodding. There was one woman the other night who, completely seriously and without knowing how stupid she sounded, described herself as a food ‘cricket.’

The Weird One: one woman had her own placenta in her freezer. And she showed her guests. Nuff said.

The Posh One: the one who will have a massive house, and will get his butler to serve his guests. Will more than likely alienate the common one in the group with his over the top-ness. Never usually wins as the less posh people hate him.

The Foody: the one who will not be happy with anything presented to them and criticises the food every chance they can. However, this normally backfires whenever it’s their turn to host and the guests all are expecting 5* food and he gives them something equivalent to a dog turd in a bun.

The B*stard: the aggressive one who more often than not thinks everything is an argument and flies off the handle at the slightest provocation. Incidentally, he’s the most fun to watch. Until it gets uncomfortable and he starts calling the hostess ‘fat and ugly’ which has actually happened before.

The Slutty One: this category is mostly populated by ladies in the 40 and over age group. Mainly thinking that there will be men that have been invited and this will be their chance to impress them, show plenty of leg and cleavage on show despite the fact that there a good few years over the hill and should probably cover them up. For all our sakes.

The Drunk One: a lot of the time this is connected with the slutty one, and is usually also the one person who really dislikes the food that has been prepared and just drinks all of the hosts wine instead. One woman actually fell asleep at the table the other night.

The Cheating One: the person who despite everyone else liking the food, refuses to give that nights host a good score because it might jeopardise her (I say her, because it usually is) own chances of winning. Again, one of the most common, because, well, people are greedy really.

The Two Blokes Who Try To Out-Bloke Each Other: self explanatory really. And the word bloke could be substituted for anything else really. Posh, Cooks, Idiots.

The only saving grace of the show is the voiceover guy, but even he’s starting to get on my nerves.

Come Dine With Me? I’d rather eat on my own, thanks.

Silent clocks, WW2 Daleks and Hot alien reptiles

For Whom The Silent Clock Tolls.



24, eh? I’ve stuck with it through the highs and the (very) lows. And despite the fact that I know it won’t reach the once great heights it achieved back in its first three seasons, there are the occasional episodes where the show takes you by surprise. And last night’s was one of them.

It reminded me of what I love about 24 without it becoming daft. Jack and team discovered where Hassan was being held and had to get to him before he was executed live over the internet. It was tense, it was exciting and it had me on the edge of my seat. The reversal of our expectations however was beautifully played. Not only did Jack not save the day in the nick of time as he usually does but the head terrorist bloke get away, and it was discovered that the ‘live’ broadcast was actually on a delay of a few minutes and Hassan had already been executed. It was gut wrenching, heart breaking and bloody awesome. Perhaps the best hour of 24 this season.

Yes, you could argue that the show did the same thing with Chappelle back in season 3(still my favourite 24 moment ever, for the sheer sucker punch effect it had) but it didn’t make it any less emotional, and reminded the audience that 24 isn’t, and has never been, afraid to do big things within its own universe. And for that, I applaud it.

RIP Hassan, you and your amazing hair will be missed. The silent clock was well deserved.

“WOULD. YOU. LIKE. SOME. TEA?”



So, after a fantastic first episode for Matt Smith, a stuttering second, he has his first plain bad one. Not that he isn’t good in it or the ideas raised are bad, just the whole episode felt like a bunch of ideas thrown at the screen and hoping they made enough sense to form a good story.

They didn’t.

The WW2 setting didn’t really add much apart from allowing the show to shoehorn Winston Churchill in. It really could have been set in any time period and would still have had the same effect. And also, I was distracted by the actor playing Churchill’s flabby jowls the whole time too.

So, yeah, Daleks. Again. I’m not one to complain about the overuse of Daleks in Who, but there inclusion here just seemed like an excuse to create more Daleks (as they’ve been completely wiped out a few times now) for when they inevitably return later down the line, in much greater numbers most likely. And that alone was not plot enough for a whole episode.

One thing I did like however, was the notion that Amy didn’t remember the Daleks from before (the whole stolen planet thing) and that she should. Interesting little plot point, obviously related to the cracks in time thing that has been in the three episodes thus far. Hopefully they’re not making her special in some way like they did with Donna. It worked for her, but doing it again would be far too soon.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the Mighty Morphin’ Power Daleks. (see above)

A missed opportunity. Hopefully next weeks ‘Blink’ sequel doesn’t mess up the weeping angels.

Lost, "Everybody Loves Hugo"



Much like the past few weeks of 24, Lost has also been on a roll. After last weeks tremendous Desmond episode we had a not-as-good-as-last-weeks-but-still-better-than-most-of-this-series-so-far episode. And it was a Hurley one. And who doesn’t like Hurley?

Again, this episode feels like it’s moving the plot along, even if it’s doing it very slowly. The flash sideways universe is still interesting and (much like last weeks) is segueing into the main island plotline too. With only a few episodes left though, the show’s got a lot of ‘splaining to do.

I don’t have much else to say about this episode as I feel I can’t really comment upon in much without viewing it in the wider context of the whole premise of the show. So I’ll just say it was very nice seeing Libby again and her reunion and date that never was with Hurley was quite sweet. Seeing Michael again was another welcome surprise, but annoyed me in that seeing him reminded me that we’ll probably never get an answer to Walt’s specialness before the show ends.

Oh, and why the hell did alt-Desmond run alt-Locke over?

V



I watched the first episode of V on the SyFy (ugh, seriously?) Channel during the week, and was quite impressed by it. I remember watching the original during the 90’s at some point when it was repeated. So, I knew the basic alien reptile folk disguised as human folk story. And it seems like this reboot is trying to do a BSG, and I’m quite hopeful that it keeps running. Not sure how long they can stretch the premise out for, but I reckon I’ll stick around.

And also, if the aliens looked like Inara off Firefly and Kara off Smallville, I’d welcome them in a heartbeat. Even if they wanted to rip off my face.