Sorry for the late posting, but it’s been a really, REALLY busy weekend for me, and all day Sunday and today my computer has been going extremely slowly, making all internet-related activities (such as posting this column) a real task.
In light of that, I’m going to make this a short introduction. First off, thanks to anybody who contacted me on my birthday last Wednesday, it was really appreciated. Secondly, thanks to all my friends and family who celebrated with me over the weekend, it was a great time.
CONTINUITY POLICE, VOLUME 8:
This week’s example is going to be a little different from past editions, which have always pointed out story line inconsistencies. Instead, this week I’m going to look at a very interesting editorial (I assume) mistake, which I discovered while rewatching the Smallville season premiere earlier this week (also, read my recap/review of that episode!) Anyway, during the new opening credits, I noticed that it said “Kristen Kreuk.” Doesn’t sound too interesting, right? Except for the fact that every episode before that, in every form of the opening credits, it has said “Kristin Kreuk.” Also, on the WB website, on IMDB.com, and on every other form of information, her name is spelled “Kristin” and not “Kristen.” So, either she suddenly decided to spell her first name differently, or somebody messed up when they made the new opening credits. It’ll be interesting to see if this mistake is fixed next week.
LOST:
I forgot to mention this last week, but I really liked the reference to the Pilot (the episode, not the character) where Kate slowly counted to five when she was being lowered down the hatch. It was a nice little homage.
There has been some debate about this episode, with a few people critical of the fact that there really wasn’t much progress made between this episode and the premiere. While that’s a valid argument, I really, REALLY liked the episode, and felt that it worked really nicely. I greatly enjoyed the formula, where it’s essentially the same time frame as the premiere, just from other people’s perspectives.
I was talking with a few fellow InsidePulse columnists on the staff forums about this episode last week, and I believe it was Matthew Romanada who said that he hated Michael’s back story because the story has already been hammered home, and we get the point: Michael loves his son, but was forced to give him up even though he didn’t want to. Again, a very valid point. Truth be told, I didn’t mind Michael’s story, but the fact remains that it really didn’t give us any new information, and we really didn’t walk away with any knowledge we didn’t already know. But aside from that, I think it was necessary for the episode to revolve around him and his emotional struggle. I’m also wondering if Michael giving little Walt a stuffed polar bear was a cute, tongue-in-cheek moment, or if it’s actually significant. Nevertheless, that flashback probably seemed more appropriate that episode that the two of them were being attacked by a real polar bear (incidentally, that episode also revolved around Michael’s flashbacks).
I think few will argue that Sawyer was the highlight this episode. I really enjoyed his rarely seen selfless, heroic side. Despite the fact that he was just SHOT IN THE SHOULDER, he immediately yelled out wondering where Jin was. Then, he swam over to Michael and saved his life. Side note, but I really liked how they showed Sawyer lining up Michael’s chest before giving him compressions for CPR. It added a lot of realism to the scene, since Sawyer is not a doctor or somebody in the medical or lifesaving business (and thus would not instinctively know where to push down, like Jack or Boone would). Anyway, I really enjoyed seeing that side of Sawyer, but at the same time was pleased that it did not completely envelope his scenes.
Another thing I enjoyed was the fact that Sawyer was able to piece together the circumstances of Walt’s kidnap. He recognized that the type of boat that the kidnappers were on is not meant to travel far distances, therefore it wasn’t likely pirates or fishermen. He also brought up the fact that the French woman mentioned that The Others are coming for the child, and that child was likely Walt (instead of Claire’s baby, like everybody assumed). Again, this showed a side of Sawyer we’re not used to seeing. He was a great balance to Michael’s frantic, emotionally distraught character. But, again, he was still able to act like a prick, with great lines such as “got a band-aid?” (After taking the bullet out of his shoulder) and “What are you going to do, splash me?” Some great Sawyer moments.
There’s also been some criticism towards Michael for the way he acted this episode, but I actually didn’t mind him. Before Sawyer brought up the fact that it was probably The Others who took Walt, for all Michael knew, there was no chance he would ever see his son again. And even when Sawyer brought that up as a possibility, he had to have been in denial, or at the very least hesitant to get his hopes up. Finally, in the end, he accepted that it was his own fault (which is arguable), and fell apart emotionally. Coming to that conclusion, he promised himself that he would save his son. Sure, the flashbacks didn’t give us any new information, but it was still very relevant to the situation he was in: He was afraid of losing his son again, due to circumstances outside of his own control.
In the end, I liked Sawyer and Michael’s unspoken truce/bond. The way Sawyer trusted Michael with the gun in case the shark tried to get him, and the way Michael put all of his effort into protecting Sawyer (after the gun wouldn’t initially go off). Then, when Sawyer reached the raft, how he helped Michael get onto it. I hope that this reluctant friendship lasts when they rejoin the rest of the group.
It also seems as if Michael, Sawyer, and Jin have made it back to the island (also, I should note that I liked the way that they kept you wondering what happened to Jin. His character really would have hindered the story on the raft, so it was necessary and clever to keep him apart from it). Matthew Romanada actually has a fantastic theory, that it is NOT The Others who are holding them captive, but instead the survivors from the tail end of the plane, who have some maniacal Lord of the Flies mentality going on. I think that’s a wonderful prediction, that the tail end survivors don’t have it as well as the group of survivors we’re familiar with, and in turn have a much more aggressive method of survival.
Like I said at the beginning of this review, I really enjoyed the way that we got a different perspective of events we’ve already seen. We now know the specifics of what happened to Kate, and the interaction between Locke and Desmond. When Desmond came into the room and asked “Are you him?” you just KNEW Locke would say yes. It just seemed like such a Locke thing to do.
Also, a somewhat funny moment is that in the finale, Hurley predicted that there would be Twinkies and TV dinners in the hatch, and he ended up not being that far from the truth. This was actually an excellent way of providing the survivors with food (assuming they somehow get out of the hatch with it), and I’m very curious what will happen next. For whatever reason, I also LOVED that Kate took the time to eat that candy bar, it just seemed like such a real, human thing to do. And, strangely, the fact that she nearly had an orgasm from it only made it more realistic.
The big question seems to still be who is Desmond, and why is he in the hatch? He did ask whether people were sick, and he is in quarantine, so that may be why he’s in the hatch. Locke asked him as much, but he didn’t answer. I’m looking forward to next week.
Oh, and I rewatched the premiere, and you can actually hear Kate yelling out to Jack when he walks into that room with the computer. Of course, you have to know you’re listening to it, otherwise you’d miss it. I found that to be a very fun and well done tidbit.
THURSDAY NIGHT LINE UP:
A fun episode of The OC, in my opinion. I said from the start that there was something creepy and suspicious about Taylor’s relationship with the Dean, so I wasn’t too surprised when Summer saw the two of them making out. Also, I really loved Seth’s comments during Taylor’s speech at the dance. “Don’t worry, she’s not going to take credit for it…. Okay, she’s taking credit for it.” And then when Taylor said she could not have done it without somebody’s help, he says “See, she’s going to give you credit” only for her to thank the Dean, with Seth responding with “Oh, right…” And, finally, after Taylor said “This truly is the end of Summer,” Seth says “Yeah, you kinda walked right into that.” That boy’s a great character. Not much to say about the whole Marissa/Ryan thing, other than the fact that something is obviously going to go down with Marissa and that girl’s boyfriend. I also have to say that overall, I think Ryan was in the wrong here. Also, once again, I liked how Marissa actually showed some affection for Julie. It’s been a nice breath of fresh air. And it looks like we finally know what Charlotte’s deal is.
I must say, I think that this was the strongest episode of Reunion yet. I was about to criticize the show again for having the interrogation scenes guide the flashbacks, but after that shocking twist that the guy investigating the murder was actually the son of the guy killed in the car accident in the first episode, they actually made some sense out of it. It was a twist I did not see coming, and it helped fill in some logistical gaps. I was starting to think that this guy was the world’s worst investigator, where he’s fascinated with finding out what people were up to 20 years ago before even asking what the person was doing at the, ya’ know, time of the murder. So right now we know that Carla, Will, and Aaron are alive, and next week we find out who was murdered. I think they want us to think that Craig was murdered, which means it was probably Sam or Jenna. Jenna’s the real dark horse, so it’ll probably be Sam.
My one real complaint about the show, though, is that not much in progressed in real-time terms. I mean, we’ve seen what, three years ago by at this point? And we still have the love triangle between Craig, Sam, and Will without any real progression (Will still hasn’t told Craig about him and Sam, Sam still hasn’t told either of them about the baby, and it doesn’t seem like any of them have had any relationships in the meantime), and we still have the love triangle between Jenna, Aaron, and Carla without any real progression (although this one is not quite as guilty). It almost seems as if the writers have forgotten their own model, which is that a year has passed within each episode. Overall, though, I’m definitely a fan of this show.
Oh, and what the crap is with both of these shows not returning until November? Stupid baseball with stupid Don Mattingly and his stupid sideburns….
I actually completely forgot about ER, so I missed it this week.
Also, the Sunday night line up was pretty much all commercials, and American Dad was a tad weaker than it has been the past few weeks. That said, I think I’m going to close things up now.
TV FUN FACT OF THE WEEK:
Let’s take a look at Growing Pains, and what an annoying prick Kirk Cameron turned into when he found religion (a shot at Cameron, not religion):
Between the 88-89 season cliffhanger and 89-90 season premiere, Kirk Cameron had a religious awakening and demanded that Julie McCollough’s character of Mike’s fiancée be written out of the show because of McCollough’s real-life Playboy Magazine past.
Apparently this caused a lot of resent from McCollough towards Cameron (rightfully so), and the producers had to practically beg her to make an appearance later on to give some more closure to that relationship.
Anyway, that’s it this week. I’ll be back with my Smallville review later this week, be sure to give it a read. It looks like it’s going to be a mighty strong season (possibly its last), so you should check it out while we’re still early in the season.
