I hope all fathers out there had a great Father’s Day yesterday. And for all you non-fathers, well, I hope you had a nice weekend also.
Not much to chit-chat about, other than the fact that I have a minor, nitpicking Continuity Police installment. So, without further adieu, here you go:
CONTINUITY POLICE:
So we’ve seen more than a few times that Boston Legal, The Practice, Ally McBeal, and Boston Public are all “real” within the context of each other’s universes. In other words, Alan Shore is an actual, real person, and not a television character, as far as Ally McBeal is concerned. Hell, just a season or two ago, the principal from Boston Public appeared on Boston Legal, as the same character.
Yet, in the season finale of Boston Legal, Jeri Ryan portrays a famous actress accused of attempted murder. Yet Jeri Ryan also played one of the teachers on Boston Public. Just like my inaugural police edition with Seinfeld and Mad About You, the television universes just don’t add up.
Aside from that nit pick, I actually have a couple shows to discuss, as the Dead Zone had their season premiere, and The 4400 had their second episode of the season. Having new shows on over the summer rules!
THE 4400:
Alright, after being pretty critical of Isabelle’s acting job last week, I have to admit I found her far less offensive this go around. She’s still the weak link of the show in that regard, but it gives me hope that she’ll get better. I did get a pretty big kick out of the fact that, so far, she’s been very anti-clothing (no matter how socially unacceptable), yet decides that while swimming be the moment that she fully embrace clothing.
I actually quite enjoyed the storyline with Tom, particularly because of the fact that Diane, Alana, and everybody else came to terms with somebody with cloning capabilities in a realistic amount of time, given the context of the show. It’s a pet peeve of mine when characters in a show that focuses on supernatural activities never accept that something, ya’ know, supernatural could be responsible. Lana on Smallville is the biggest culprit of this.
I also liked how Alana was able to figure out which Tom was real.
Still disappointed with the lack of Kyle, who was one of the best developed characters last season. However, I did like the very valid point that Tom brought up, which is that Kyle is paying for a crime that, with all intents and purposes, he didn’t commit, which is why he can’t trust NTAC to take care of him.
I thought this week did a great job of adding intrigue to the whole Nova story arc. It was prominent, but not overbearing. I also like the idea of how Nova can easily convince vulnerable people that they’re on the right side of the fence, and that the government is the force of evil.
I also like it when Tom/NTAC works alongside Shawn/The 4400 Center. In a lot of instances, NTAC and The Center are pitted against each other, almost as if they’re on opposite sides. However, when push comes to shove, it seems like the two sides are able to put their differences aside and work alongside each other.
The stuff with Shawn and Isabelle was pretty good, actually. I was a little surprised by how seriously Shawn reacted to Isabelle’s, ahem, proposition, instead of just laughing it off.
Matthew continues to intrigue me. I really liked his line of “the dress doesn’t match your eyes, you should do something about that” to plant the idea that she can change her eye color. I am really interested in seeing who, or what, he is. Come to think of it, did we ever see or hear of him before Jordan died? Aren’t we just taking his word that Jordan instructed him to help out Shawn if anything ever happened to him? Seems like an awfully got way to get into the ear of a very influential young man. I’m also curious why he wants Isabelle and Shawn to remain close, and what he means by them being on opposite sides of the war.
The scenes with Richard were actually really, really touching. I especially enjoyed when he took Lily’s ashes to her grandmother’s grave (who he had previously been with), and said that he was set at ease that they’re now together. A very sweet, touching scene. I also thought his final scene with Shawn was fantastic.
This season is definitely shaping up as something great.
THE DEAD ZONE:
I’ll be honest, in the past I’ve felt like the Stilson story arc has dragged on, but the past two seasons they’ve added some interesting twists, such as the possibility that Stilson may just be overly ambitious, but not straight out evil. He seems remorseful and oblivious about many of these evil deeds, but ultimately is willing move past them due to his ambitious nature.
Janus is definitely an interesting character. Specifically, I like the way he seems to take advantage of Johnny’s abilities to manipulate him into doing or knowing that he wants. To use a cliché, it’s almost as if he’s playing chess, and Johnny is just a pawn.
I’m also enjoying Purdy’s character, as I always have. I like his complexity. He’s somebody who genuinely believes that, in the big picture, he’s doing the right thing for the right reasons. He’s willing to get his hands dirty, but only if he thinks it’ll help other people. For the most part, it doesn’t seem as if he does things for personal gain, it seems like he really does do it so he can get his message across, for the sake of his listeners.
As I understand it, this is supposed to be the last season of The Dead Zone. With that said, I’m looking forward to see where they take the show and how they wrap everything up. Count me very, very intrigued. I will miss this show, though.
Anyway, I’m going to wrap things up there. Once again, I hope everybody had a great Father’s Day.
Oh, and congratulations to Edge for having the #1 selling product on WWEShop.com! I firmly believe there’s a great possibility he’ll actually grab the title at Vengeance, and lets hope this reign lasts more than three weeks.
