Terminator 206: The Tower is Tall but the Fall is Short

I had stopped watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles after a few episodes in Season 1 because Ms. Connor was just too mopey. I missed the tough Linda Hamilton. Sure, Lena Headey is eye candy, but that's never what I loved about Sarah Connor. John Connor was much too emo, too. I had decided that cute, little Summer Glau wasn't enough to keep me a fan.

Last night, though, I wanted to watch something "new." I had heard good things about this show. I didn't really trust those "good things" though, since the accolades came even when I wasn't enjoying the show. Still, I gave the latest online episode a shot.

So many pleasant surprises! Brian Austin Green plays John's uncle and Kyle's brother, Derek Reese, and he's come a long way since 90210--he no longer looks like he's trying too hard to be cool. Shirley Manson plays a T-1000 (I am assuming that's her model) trying to connect with the child of the woman whose body she is imitating. Cameron has an amazing fight with another terminator, which ends up with the other terminator being Kama Sutra'ed out. This was far more exciting than I remember, so I'm giving season 2 a try.

The Office 503: Baby Shower

I suppose for comedic purposes, Jan shall ne'er return from cuckoo-land. But if I missed Season 1 in any way, Angela reminded us of her Anne Geddes fetish with her attempted "Nature's Bounty" baby photo shoot.

If the awkwardness of hurt feelings is the show's signature, this episode did it well--though I wish Michael felt a connection with Astrid, as the situation certainly wasn't the kid's fault. Still, all was salvaged when Michael asked Holly out, despite Jan's request. Or was it inspired by Jan's request?

Speaking of romances, the Jim-Pam relationship has officially crossed the line tonight into hamville. Make it funny or make it die.

Heroes 305: Angels and Monsters

• Looks like someone is spreading The Wire love, as Andre Royo, aka Bubbles, appears in this episode as Vortex man. Let's get Lance Reddick in, too, please!

• I don't like Parkman (Jr.), I don't like Daphne; but when you combine them, I like them both. What an interesting chemistry equation!

• Maya earned some smart points when she left Suresh's apartment quietly, after she saw the blood tracks. Then she went all horror-movie heroine by coming back alone.

• Hiro piercing Ando with a sword just like that? Completely out of character.

• I thought maybe the writers forgot Sylar's super-hearing. They certainly didn't show it, but somehow he knew what was going on with Noah, Claire, and Bubbles. So was it the ears that tipped him off?

• I like how Meredith thinks she can do anything because she's got sweaty palms.

The writers have yet to grasp that there is so much you can do with these characters without forcing 2-4 plot twists every episode to keep us interested. I really can't keep up with all the machinations.

Supernatural 404: Metamorphosis

How fortunate the monster-of-the-week has amazing parallels to Sam's plight so that we can explore his psyche and descent. My concerns this week, besides that this episode being a snoozer, were as follows:

1. The two Rugarus we knew of married normal humans, but their babies seem to be 100% Rugaru. What happened to the 50% gene split? The Rugaru gene should get diluted with time. Even if Jack Montgomery's father was 100% Rugaru, he should only be 50%, and his baby 25%. Of course, these are supernatural beings, and genetics be damned, but they are not so different from humans that they can't breed with us.

2. I've perhaps beat the Rapist Sam angle to death, so let's discuss Ruby. When demons take over human bodies, presumably they don't feel what a human would feel, because the human could be dead and the demon inhabiting the person could still truck on (this is arguable, but let's just assume for the sake of argument). So do demons get horny? I suppose centuries of not having sex could do that to an ex-human demon. But could they really feel human pleasure (sex) if they don't feel human pain? (Though if they can't it doesn't mean they won't have sex just to mess with someone, like, say, Sam.) And who's to say that a demon can only inhabit bodies of people of the same gender? Maybe Ruby was really a man. Demons lie, don't they? This demon Ruby certainly lies down.

3. Let's have a little more respect for the girl Ruby possessed, shall we? Not only is Sam doing deeds with her in the dark, frustrated Dean goes after her with a knife exactly two weeks after he hears from Meg's spirit? R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Even though Dean wants Sam to quit using his powers, it would be nice to have Sam send Ruby back to hell so this girl can get her life back, if Ruby hasn't damaged the body beyond repair already.

I can't see Supernatural playing as far as Season 5, since Dean = God's Helper vs. Sam = Demon Spawn is pretty darn epic. How do you top that? Then again, Smallville seems milked to death but just keeps going, and going, and going . . . not unlike an Energizer demon (who hasn't met the wrath of Sam).

Supernatural 403: In the Beginning

That's young Jeffrey Dean Morgan to the left, and Matt Cohen, who plays young John Winchester, to the right. Not too bad. In fact, young Jeffrey Dean looks a bit like Dean.

As much as I felt for the young Winchesters and the Campbell family, I wished the show would tread the path less taken. Young Mary sealed the deal with the yellow-eyed demon for the life of John, who was killed by the demon only moments before. This bargain-for-life deal has been done in this show so many times before that I was hoping for something more intricate. But, everything must have its precedent, and so we begin at (possibly) the first such deal made in the Winchester family.

This was an emotional episode, and I felt as Dean did when he returned to the future; I was really disappointed that he couldn't change anything, and that his parents weren't alive. I suppose I will have to watch Season 2's "What Is and What Should Never Be" for my fix of the near-perfect Winchester life.

Heroes 304: I Am Become Death

Being a Heroes watcher but not avid follower & theorist, I am having a lot of difficulty keeping track of the various futures. At least all of us who thought the woman in the paintings resembled Daphne were correct, and some watchmakers/watch repairers out there are pretty psyched.

As for Sylar, sweet Sylar, I have one word for "Gabriel" kissing his dog: ROFL. I suppose there was no way to keep the bad boy a villain forever, because he is pretty much unstoppable. He had to have survived the Costa Mesa explosion if Claire did, but I'm not sure we're returning to that future again.

I have a suggestion for Peter. Since he can absorb anyone's powers, why doesn't he just (1) absorb, (2) cut open his own head, (3) look into a mirror and figure things out, and then (4) heal himself. That way he can satisfy his hunger into learning how things work, plus not hurt anyone. If he wants to understand more than just powers, I can't help him there, but what more does he really need? He can read minds. He can dissect his own brain. If he's still hungry, he should lick the brain of a McDonald's "cook."

The Office 501: Weight Loss

Special salute to the McCrary/McGuire twins, fat Elvis, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Big Momma, Jabba the Hutt, and pig.

Good to have y'all back, and yes, y'all are beautiful!

Supernatural 402: Are You There God? It's Me, Dean Winchester

I, for one, am happy that vengeful ghosts like to talk the protagonists ears off before going for the heart like Mola Ram. We sure got to hear some juicy stuff; for example, Meg's background, and perhaps a rape accusation?

Meg: You know what really pisses me off, Sam? You saw how I suffered for months. I thought you must have learned something. I thought I died for something.

Sam: Meg--

Meg: But what you're doing with that demon, Ruby . . . [a "knowing" nod] How many innocent bodies has Ruby burned through for kicks? How many girls just like me? And you don't send her back to hell? You're a monster!

This is pretty open to interpretation, but I think Sam has indeed been sleeping with Ruby, and Meg is reminding him to think about that other girl in Ruby's body. I guess time will tell.

Time will also tell if, when rewatching this episode a year or two later, I will laugh at "$5 gallon o' gas Apocalypse." Oh, Dean.

Heroes 303: One of Us, One of Them

The myriad characters that inhabit this world are not all interesting; some are downright annoying--like Daphne. French fries are more French than that girl. But without all these characters, how can the writers ensure that as little happens as possible in each episode?

Nice, though, to see Jamie Hector, aka Knox, aka Marlo Stanfield from The Wire. Having absorbed the realism of The Wire, I was unable to watch certain shows that I started right after, such as Veronica Mars (Veronica was such a user and yet remained popular, despite her declarations to the contrary) and Prison Break (I was told this was a great show if you can suspend your disbelief, but I just wasn't able to). Speaking of Veronica Mars, I don't mind seeing more of Elle, though I guess there's no more Weevil/Jesse to see.

Sylar is still the main attraction. I wish the writers would stop humming "It's a Small World" and make everyone related. And Sylar's "hunger"--some powers just seem a bit unnecessary given the ones he already has. Does he need a sonic boom voice when he can effect the same strength with telekinesis? Perhaps if he's bound but not gagged. He has forgotten about some of his abilities, too, or perhaps he's on the road to recovering some still. We don't see him using his super-hearing ability or his paint-the-future ability.

Painting the future was always one of the shittier abilities, not necessarily in a story sense but in an imagine-if-I-had-a-power sense, but now we have discovered an even shittier one--being able to paint the future of only Parkman. And since when does this finished product . . .



require this startup . . .



? Where are my beautiful black blots in the final painting? We need to see more care in the production of this once-interesting show.

Heroes 302: The Butterfly Effect

The Good Tracy's ruby red lipstick Maya's body Telepathic turtle English as universal language Claire's brain (good enough to carry over to this episode)	The Bad Sylar incapacitated yet again Strange subtitle placement Time travel General weirdness*
The Ugly Removable warts Elle's wig Motherly love The desire to now watch Ashton Kutcher's The Butterfly Effect

I kid; I like the Butterfly Effect movie.

*General Weirdness

1. Claire's birth mother, instead of hugging Claire, said hello by exhibiting a flaming palm? Hugs first, explanations later, please.
   
2. Claire's adoptive dad, Noah, claimed he was so worried about Claire, but didn't bother checking up on her first?
   
3. Future Peter cannot teleport himself until he has taken a few steps forward and is asked where he is going. Save yourself the energy and leave already.
   

Why am I still watching?

Heroes 301: The Second Coming

I would like to nominate Heroes for best set decoration. If not for the jars containing the green, yellow, red, and blue liquids, I might not have believed it to be a real lab.

Season 2 was so horrendous that I only started watching Season 3 to see how the writers might attempt to salvage a train wreck. One thing they did right is to bring back Sylar. Despite (or perhaps because of) his overacting, Zachary Quinto's villain always sends me chills. However, there may be no quick fixes; even a title that begs you to forget Season 2 won't do it. Bad dialogue and borrowed plotlines are still abound. Dr. Suresh, Jr. injecting himself with powers? Done better in 4400. Too bad 4400 was canceled. Still, check it out--better late than never.

Supernatural 401: Lazarus Rising

Is Sam a Rapist?

Was there any reason Ruby was in her underwear when she opened the door besides . . .? And if Ruby is who we think she is, that means she took over some brunette's body, and a body is never a demon's own. That brunette did not have the ability to consent. Sam, you've shown you're dark, but I hope not that dark.

The Acting

A lot of good face contortions from both Sam and Dean this episode. When Dean dug himself out of his grave, he looked as if he were giving birth and being born at the same time. Kudos! Sam mixed in some evil face twitches with his regular consternated twitches. The boys are at their best, though, when they're feeding off each others' reactions; e.g., when Dean assures Sam that he is not invited to the private party with Pam.

Ruby seems extremely toned down to me. Katie Cassidy was somewhat hyper/spastic/cocky in her portrayal of Ruby. Genevieve Cortese, on the other hand, exudes calmness, so I'm having a difficult time believing these gals are the same demon.

The Path

Being a Buffy/Angel fan, I couldn't help but wonder why the storylines always require characters to become, well, more. Like Willow turning into a powerful witch. Cordelia & Fred possessed. And now Dean is an agent of God? I won't complain because I'll buy any reason they give just to have Dean back. And ok, I've never really minded these character enhancements, except when possessed Cordelia slept with Angel's kid. Gross.

CW Internet TV

After watching a lot of shows online, CW has a lot to fix. For one, CW allows full screen mode, but that defaults back to the little box when an ad comes on. Not only does that require the viewer to reset the mode to full screen when the episode resumes, but that deprives the ads of screen space. Admittedly, the former problem concerns me more than the latter, but the latter should motivate CW to change the settings.

I'm not so incredibly lazy that I won't click a button, but I do have my laptop hooked up to the television, so I do have to make a trip up to click the button. But if that's the only way I'm getting my exercise, maybe I'll settle for the status quo.