Nurse Jackie

The series has returned as if it had never left. There is no tangible time rift, action is fluid, addiction unchanged, relationships had, are still in troublesome stages. Maybe that is why the brief moment of hallucination is something I almost forgot when I thought about what to write. I gotta sit on this one a bit longer. Please check back soon though. I will post a review by next week's episode.

U.S. States of Tara

EXCITED!!!

Colette is back and the series opened very strong. Now, if you have not been following the lives of the Gregson's in Kansas City's Overland Park before, this 2nd season opener might have left you... uncertain.

Dark and gloomy, beautifully eerie-shot yes had fast-paced, colorful inserts. Life affirming montages intercut with a woman's shadowy, nebulous figure walking through the lifeless house of a dead man. All hopes and dreams of normalcy not destroyed by actual scenes with Tara's other personalities (yet), but by the tangible looming return of insanity that stands behind all of this often painfully funny series. This show did not open season 2 with big action, big money, big shock, but very dark and subtle.

The final scene in the first season's final episode had the family at a bowling center. All together and at ease, but Gimme, the evil and rambunctious infant was hiding under the bench seat and the other alter-egos draped themselves around the family. No matter how much you embrace the weirdos in your life and yourself, something will always be hiding under the bench seat.

We never did get to the actual cause of Tara's MPD, and I doubt we will be given an answer this season, but, it stands to reason that, with the neighbors suicide being an alarming trigger, sexual assault may not be the (sole) reason for Tara to lock herself away sometimes and let others drive.

I am eager to see where the ride will take us viewers this season. Stay tuned for new reviews on a weekly basis.

Justified

I am starting to see where this show might be heading, but first I wish to say that the episode in and of itself was a bit on the weak and ordinary side. The similarities between In Plain Sight and Justified were even more obvious, but hey, nothing new under the sun, right.

Early into this show, two topics of interest have emerged for me thus far. Religion and Nostalgia.

Let me talk about religion first, because this is where I actually find merit in the series. It is shown ambiguously, shown as dangerously easy to manipulate. One could take the hospital speech as both the turn to good and the character's salvation in God, or, which is how I read it and see it played out, a possible future excuse for this maniac to do bad in the lord's name. Because we have seen this character wittingly abuse, not believe in, the bible in the previous episode, the ease with which the word can be tweaked, changed, altered is all to obvious. Religion then is rather a social point of view, and a tool of power, than a believe system in the world of Justified. But even smart religious people will tell you that religion has often been abused and used. So, while nothing new, I like that this series nonchalantly shows this.

Now I am waiting to see 'church goin' folks' and the other end of the spectrum.

The nostalgia is clearly manifested in the vestige of a rather classic Western Masculinity. Honor, love, and a sense of control, invincibility, and constrain are powerful ideas generated here. The calm demeanor of the elderly perp when facing the marshall, the simple interaction between Raylan and his superior, and the smirking ex-husband making fun of his ex-wife's new husband's non-masculinity all make us aware of a simpler time, one in which rules were laid out more clearly and perps could be handled, gender was defined by norms... While I'd like to have more order, I certainly do not want this skewed intolerant world image to return.

Unpredictable drug addicts and gun wielding racists are too often treated as fumbling idiots in the first two episodes. They do not really pose a threat. Is this because the show simply magnifies the superiority of the Stetson wearing marshall, or is it lulling the viewers into believing this simpler and very white washed world actually exists. I will stay tuned to see what will be next.

Made of Fire

I was hoping for something a bit bigger than what ‘Ghost in a Machine’ delivered. Some storylines are still stuck. There are to many storylines that are on hold, but I expect that the brief revisit of Amanda and Clarice, and the meet in V-World of Zoe and Lacey were just put in place to remind us that these plots are still there, waiting for our and the writers’ attention. If nothing else, this episode puts most of its characters in their place, setting the stage for what is to come. We should be in for a treat next week at the mid season finale. I sure hope they deliver, as the series is in grave danger to be cancelled.

This morning SyFy’s Craig Engler started a tweet-line on twitter to promote the show, generate new audiences, and briefly talk about live and DVR viewing. If the show cannot pick up an audience over the 1Mio it has currently, the future of Caprica is bleak, for us that is, because it may not have one.

The writer’s openly admitted in NY this week that they may have been too ambitious, too may storylines were introduced too quickly. And the show suffers by making it hard for new audiences to jump in even now, where the first season is not even at its mid point. But this richness of text also promises something big, something that may blow BSG out of the water, if, and only if, a real rhythm can be established within the show.

All this being said, the two main narratives followed in this week’s episodes were simply fantastic. The slow and steadily rising tension in Zoe as her father tries to manipulate her, so that she will give away that she does reside within the robot body, was, like everything in theBSG universe to the point and 100% relatable. While I believe to have earlier written about the mute Zoe, it here becomes more obvious then ever that there is but a child in the young woman, one that throws temper tantrums, and one that is now made of metal. This is not a teenager in love, or manipulatively so, as she was shown in the last episode. This Zoe is full of hate for her parents and full of regret. Graystone’s need to communicate with his daughter, have proof, even if this means he’ll torture his little girl, deepens the gap between him and his child. His attempts at reason and showing his love de facto push her in a corner even more. But, who takes parenting 101? The question is whether she will strike out; use the power her robot body has? Is Graystone not only the master of the machine, but also the reason for its madness and loathing?

Adama’s daughter is not unwilling to talk to him, rather, she called for him and now cannot be found. Her signs on the wall are obvious markers of her existence, he knows for sure she is there, but yet he is equally unable to talk to Tammy. He is in a world he does not understand, and her signs may reflect her maturing in this world, no longer daddy’s little girl that may need protection. Meanwhile he begins to adapt and ‘train’ for something possibly unwanted at this point. I was sad to not get a glimpse of Tammy this week or last, for her character is the most fascinating for me. She is thrown into this unwillingly, unknowingly and struggles to understand, use her powers, be herself, alone in the ‘verse. She also stands for all that is/was good and now is being corrupted, or at least she has her eyes opened to depravity. This may be part of her ancestry, but clearly she and her brother were kept far away from Tauron customs and way of life. What will innocence do when faced with the abyss of human immorality? Why was she not followed at all for two continuous weeks if she had just “awoken”?

Zoe, as Daniel Graystone pointed out, has partaken in the murder of hundreds of innocent people. Her character is that of a juvenile wanna-be-hero. Her reasons sound valid, but her reasons, as so much we see in both BSG and Caprica are fueled by fear and anger, and at the very very last by actual reason. She is a teenager. Fear and anger are overtaking all women in this serial: Grandma Adama, Amanda Graystone, Zoe, Tammy, and maybe Lacy. When you look at these women and toss in Clarice with her ambition, semi-power (as a woman of the cloth), and addiction to both opiates and religious power (she believes she can lead the movement)…

I wonder sometimes… but I believe this is the first female-centric, female-driven narrative Sci-Fi show there is…BG

Caprica - the uphill battle

Promises lie ahead. The next two episodes of Caprica are bound to be fast, explosive and leave us with a mid season cliff hanger that hurts us in all the right ways.
I think the attached blog nailed it.
The multiple layers were actually what alienated me in the first episode of the actual serial run (and the story-in-itself-opening-credits). The memories of a show that began so slowly and so contained as BSG did, were fresh in my mind and not to compare was hard.
BUT, Caprica is easily one of the best shows on air. It tackles all basic narratives known to mankind and the V-World is the manifestation of all the bad there is. A wonderful concept, the oldest concept, show us what we need to see but hide in something fantastical.
To paraphrase the show on what V-World is, it is: "a place where you can blow someone's head off", and yet you hurt no one. Or to take the other route, it is where everyone can build their own, private, man-made-heaven. (The concept of sharing does not, however occur to the fanatics crated for the show ;-) That heaven, however, BSG fans know, is more like the tower of Babel. This knowledge allows you to interact deeper with the show. Yes, you kind of know where the bid scheme of things is going, but it is how you get there...
That being said, it has some major problems, as I did point out in my last blog on Caprica.
If it doesn't begin to take it's audience more serious, a second season may be in danger. No Quality TV audience of around just a million has made cable networks happy, not with that price tag attached anyways.

And, writing that allows for such subtleties as the first episode's sexual orientation side by the most masculine man ever, and that doesn't heavily linger on the trinity speech, and guides us into a world so fantastically crafted, shouldn't have to talk about Viagra so blatantly, that it rips you out of the story entirely. It is like they address all the important issues in the best possible manner, by not attracting attention to those things truly trivial in a bigger scheme of things, and then they need to draw a hit-you-in-the-face with-it line between Caprica and our reality.

Growing pains aside, if you read this and haven't watch it, you certainly should.
BG

French Television uses Milgram Experiment Model for Reality TV

This article is in German, but here the English in brief:
France 2, in a documentary, discussed the most perverted reality TV competitions. Shows in which people free willingly hurt themselves, are degraded, degrade their 'opponents', public dissections... you get the gist. The directors wanted to finally end discussion about the power of television and proof that TV erodes our minds. A public execution, by the masses, through TV.
While an interesting experiment, the fact that the Milgram experiment reached the same numbers, without a TV set, just makes this somewhat trivial. Still worth a read.

Justified

Alright, so we got another Clint Eastwood-ian outsider-crusader on TV. From the very first moment it is clear that this man, Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) does not belong in Florida. He looks like the lone ranger, the music and actor choice are indicative of Deadwood, and placing him in Kentucky (and focusing so clearly on a lower class) are also somewhat reminiscent of the most salient and replicable traits of the HBO show.
That being said, the show was absolutely enjoyable, while not terribly special on first sight. The characters are superbly crafted, the ease with which relationships are established (kind of they aren't) is indeed reminding me of work of the Coen Brothers, some say it has attributes of The Shield. I am just thankful it is not the camera moevement.
Subtle and maybe not clearly visible on first sight, the characters are so wonderfully contradictory and supply rich conflicts; Olyphant's demeanor is cold as ice, which is spot on for the lonely gunslinger, the background of his character already being spun from two different angles ... What is not to enjoy.
Justified is a justified item to record on your DVR. If nothing else it is great entertainment. I am interested to see where this goes.
I'd like to point out, however, that there are some interesting politics shown in this first episode of FX's new series. The bad guys are not only racists, but come across as being about as intellectually sound as the tea party, or Fred Phelbs. Raylan tells Boyd, his childhood-friend-gone-big-bad-guy, that he knows his friend was out for money in bombing an ethnic church, which in turn makes him smarter than religiously driven fanatics. Let that statement sit a while. Criminals are smarter then religious fanatics. I tend to agree. In fact the placement of the false sermon in a church that has been trashed by fascism and poverty and all their trappings is quite perfect. Hiding behind the facade of righteousness and the bible. Raylan tells Boyd that he knows he'll do with the Bible what he wants, use it as another faced to 'justify' his behavior. Politics and Religion are what makes this show something special to watch at this time.
Justification is what Justified is all about.
I hope these conflicts nestled in binaries the series explores is a staple of the show and the 'name will be program'.
Let's see where FX will take it this time.

Scathing review, here.
Praise and Background Review, here.

For more on the show, the books it is based upon etc. Check out FX's website.

The Pacific

The series is just taking of, and it already holds much promise to become as acclaimed as Band of Brothers. The show even drew very clear and obvious visual connections to its counter piece, such as the sequence in which the boats make their way to the landing area. Normandy was much later and yet we as audience members are reminded of the blood bath immediately. And more specifically, we are reminded of the visuals presented to us by producers and directors before. A set of memories imprinted that now may confuse our very non-existent participation in either war.
What The Pacific did excellently, however, is the clear demarcation of this violence, and the one we are accustomed to in European Theater WWII imagery. The shooting at the single Japanese soldier, the use of human bodies as warning and to demoralize the troops...
It will take some time to see, how violence and the value of the human body will progress in the series...
Read review here.

Big Love - Over For Now

This final episode left me mildly entertained, but oddly surprised at the end. Oh no, not the J.J. thing. I believe I guessed right about three weeks ago, or so... Not that surprising, really.
I was surprised that all that female power-house struggle of the young was for nothing? Still they stand by the man? The only one striking out is the one woman who held power all along. Great moment Adalene, but we are not surprised you'd go that far if really threatened/hurt. Her borders were finally crossed and revenge was hers.
But I am going back to that last image of Bill and his wives, the emptying space in front of the podium, four people looking into nothing... It is not even that it leaves me mad, or I want to respond to the writers. I simply feel as if, this is just another excuse to string us along for another year of re-worked base-narratives that go nowhere, that lead nowhere, that answer nothing about these wonderfully created characters that always appear, if just for a moment, to actually change, transform, and grow. But constant retreat renders their actions almost useless and they remain, in the end, stuck where they began.
Should the following season be the last, and should it be done right, I think they seeded something great, though via obnoxious reinforced repetition, but... after being in it for all prior seasons, I am going to give it a chance. If the next season is neither the end, nor engaging with something brand new, I will walk on. This melodrama lives solely from its characters and their development. The meta-narrative is simply their show case. If they don't work, I don't really care what else could happen to them...
Read more and get a sneak on Season 5

War of The Russians

So it has been over 60 years ago that the War of the Worlds created a wide spread panic among listeners of Orson Welles's radio program, but the power of mediated sounds and images has not changed at all. A Georgian station decided to present a 30 min. 'what if' spiel on a Russian Invasion of Ossetia. They somehow forgot to keep rolling reminders of the nature of the programming on air. Way to go media power! #Facetious