Torchwood Returns and Other TV Thoughts

I've been meaning to talk about the return of Torchwood since I saw the premiere last week, but I guess the lead-up and then the reaction to the Emmy nominations sapped my energies regarding TV. Since then though I've seen the second episode and a bunch of other TV shows. My thoughts on them all below!

The first two episodes of Torchwood gave me a lot of hope that this season could be great. I enjoyed the first episode, but there was so much set up and hand-holding for new viewers for me to really get into it. Never mind the fact that after all this time, I'm STILL recovering from the trauma that Children of Earth inflicted (in a good way!) and so I also needed a bit of hand-holding to bring me back to Jack, Gwen, and the world of Torchwood. This season's arc of people unable to die is epic, intriguing, and just plain engrossing. That's been my favorite thing of the season so far, seeing how this "miracle" is affecting humanity from the small to the global, from the benign to the horrific. Gwen has been given plenty of moments to shine from her gun/rocket launcher skills in the first episode to her taking lead in making the anecdote in the second and I love her for it. Bill Pullman is creepy as all hell and I'm so uncomfortable watching him, which is to say he's doing a wonderful job. It's slow-going for me to warm up to Mekhi Phifer's character, but I'm thinking now that he is forced to work together with Torchwood, he'll turn around. Plus I'm still giggling over his "Wales is the New Jersey of Britain!" line from the premiere. Right now I'm just thinking the sky is the limit when it comes to this season. I'm expecting lots of shocking twists and turns to come.

Now just some brief thoughts on other TV shows:

True Blood - Other than the whole Jason storyline, I've pretty much liked-loved everything this season has to offer. The most latest episode though, I want to give kudos to Alexander Skarsgard for playing an amnesic-smiling-confused-adorable Eric Northram to perfection. Lovely to see Alcide again. Claudine's death was very unexpected.

Weeds - The scene I was most looking forward to was the reunion between Silas and Nancy and while it was nothing special, at least it didn't disappoint. There's lots of complicated emotions at play and both Hunter Parrish and Mary Louise Parker are treading them nicely. Also, yay for more gratuitous Silas-in-underwear scenes.

Alphas - Saw the first episode last Monday and it was just okay. I'm a sucker for these type of show aka humans with superabilities. At the moment it all feels a tad dour even if they tried to shoehorn some funny into the pilot. I'll probably give it an episode or two, but this summer I've gotten impatient. Speaking of, I really should catch up on Falling Skies.

So You Think You Can Dance - We're down to the top 10 which means the couples are broken up and everyone is now playing for themselves. My favorites (Melanie, Marko, Jess, Sasha, and Ricky) are all still around so that's good. The whole star guest judge though has been mixed this season, but next week's Neil Patrick Harris will surely be amazing.

Friday Night Lights - It's been months since I saw the series finale, but it aired on NBC this past Friday and I just wanted to say that I thought it was a fitting end to a great show. I, sadly, never really warmed up to the new kids except for perhaps Jess, but all I really needed was a happy ending for Mr. & Mrs. Coach and that's what we got. Though one pet peeve I had... no reunion scene with Landry and Tyra? Really? REALLY?

Breaking Bad - The premiere is tonight! The premiere is tonight! You need to be watching this show.