Monday, September 26, 2011

TV Report: Supernatural Weekend

Monday is already almost over and I still haven't talked about some of the TV shows I saw over the weekend! So here are my thoughts on two season premieres and a penultimate episode. Interestingly enough, I pretty much felt the same for all them: good, but not overly exciting or even noteworthy. Basically, I'm hoping for better next week!


Fringe:
"Neither Here Nor There"


A bit of a messy premiere, but the strong acting and some intriguing hints of the things to come made me hand wave some of the flaws. I wished that the premiere was a bit more action-packed and a little bit less cerebral and heavy handed. The audience is expecting some forward movement on the whole "Where did Peter go?" and we didn't really get it except for some clunky commentary from the Observers and some weighted phrases from Walter and Olivia. The Monster of the Week, a different breed of shape-shifters, was a bit on the dull side, but it offered the show to reintroduce us to Agent Lincoln Lee. Through his new eyes, the show was able to recap what the Fringe division does as well as show the gateway that connects the two universes together. I'm hoping Peter comes back sooner rather than later because as much as I like seeing how our characters would've been liked without him, we've already fallen in love with them and changing their core this far out is a bit frustrating. That said, I do have to repeat how great the acting was, especially by last year's MVPs, John Noble and Anna Torv. B-


Supernatural:
"Meet the New Boss"


I should probably tell you right off-the-bat that I wasn't a big fan at all of the meandering-to-nowhere previous season and that the only redeeming parts were Castiel-related including the finale where he turned into God. That's where the show opens up in the new season with Castiel thinking he's God and confronting, smiting, and giving vengeance. He leaves the boys alone with Dean going straight to the bottle and anime porn and Sam dealing with his hellish hallucinations. Death makes a welcome and refreshing appearance, but in the end Castiel becomes the star of the episode deadpanning himself to crazy town. We find out that the souls inside, most notably the age-old Leviathans, are killing him. His last act as Castiel is to apologize to the Winchester and give up all of the souls he took. He promptly dies (making me scream) also for the Leviathans within him to raise him back (make me scream). Unfortunately, it seems good ol' Castiel and in his place are the Barty Crouch-like Leviathans. No idea where this is going, but color me intrigue, especially as a Misha Collins fan. B-


Doctor Who:
"Closing Time"


Many are calling this a filler episode and they aren't wrong, but I believe that's not exactly a negative thing. With a season full of River Song mythos and a lot of hearbreak involving Amy and Rory, a "light" episode in between last week's goodbye and next week's epic finale is probably just what the Doctor ordered, pardon the pun. Plus we get to re-visit one of the Doctor's more fun "partners" in Craig now with baby in tow (named Alfie but liked to be called Stormageddon). The episode is a preamble to the Doctor finally accepting his destiny which is apparently to die by an impossible astronaut in Lake Silencio. So he hangs out with his buddy, solves his baby issues, and his little problem with Cybermen, etc. We even get a little bit of man-on-man-sorta action which was well done by the two actors. The surprise appearance of Amy and Rory in the mall was nice as it let the Doctor see that they are moving on. The very end with River was just a bit too... easy. I'm expecting a twist in there somewhere. Is she really the impossible astronaut that kills the Doctor? Can't wait to see what Steven Moffat has up his sleeves to tie up, really two season's worth of plot build-up. B-

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