For the previous reviews in the Homicide series check here:
The Complete First Series (Seasons One and Two)
The Complete Second Series (Season Three)
The Complete Third Series (Season Four)

I'm trying to push on and finish reviewing the last of the two Homicide DVDs currently released in Region 2 before the Fall season hits and reviewing old DVDs becomes a thing of the past. I've only been doing it this summer because it's a slow time for television; there's been precious little to talk about apart from Burn Notice, Psych, Middleman and the excellent Generation Kill.


Starring:
Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch
Yaphet Kotto as Lieutenant Al Giardello
Kyle Secor as Detective Tim Bayliss
Clark Johnson as Detective Meldrick Lewis
Andre Braugher as Detective Frank Pembleton
Reed Diamond as Detective Mike Kellerman
Melissa Leo as Sergeant Kay Howard
Michelle Forbes as Dr Julianna Cox
Max Perlich as J. H. Brodie

The fifth season of Homicide marks the debut of a single new character the new chief medical examiner Dr. Julianna Cox (Michelle Forbes) and the promotion of J. H. Brodie (Max Perlich) from reccuring guest to main cast member. Additionally Megan Russertt (Isabella Hofmann) moves down to reccuring guest star as well.

Set a while after Pembleton's dramatic stroke during the final episode of the previous season he's returned to duty but is currently confined to his desk. Andre Braugher is one of the powerhouse actors in this series and his performance as the still stroke impaired Frank Pembleton is hauntingly powerful. At times it's genuinely uncomfortable to watch him struggle along with things he used to do with ease (mind you, he does recover very quickly and is back up to his original strength - which is a huge break from realism for the show - but it was done because of poor audience reception to the change. )

It's business as usual for the members of Baltimore's Homicide unit as the season runs through the usual mix of cases; including a hostage situation in a school, a prison riot, investigation into Mike Kellerman on charges of corruption and we discover a previous member of the Homicide unit's ultimate fate...

The fifth season continues the standard of exellence raised by the previous seasons and is also the one with the least disruptions when it comes to cast changes, as such the third, fourth and fifth seasons hang together exceptionally well. It's a great set of episodes from a stunning show.



Packaging:
I've always had a slight love/grip relationship with the region 2 Homicide sets from Fremantle Media Enterprises and series four is where the balance tips and my opinion slides off the edge of the see-saw and wallows around in mud and sewage. I do like the members of my boxed sets to sit on the shelf and hang together as a series. I know that not everyone cares about this as much as I do, but I don't think it's too much to ask for a little polished presentation in the product. Some pride you know?

Fremantle on the other hand obviously don't care about getting this season out with any kind of pride. Now I can almost forgive the switch in packaging style to using the generic plastic book style. It's a cost cutting exercise, but it does mean that the newer sets are nearly a full inch shorter than the older three. But they also decided not to include a cardboard dust sleeve, which means that not only are they smaller but they also look completely different on the shelf.

Additionally the back of the boxed set boasts not one, not two but three pictures from entirely the wrong seasons.


From top to bottom you have in picture one Stan Boulander (Ned Beatty) and in picture two Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin) both of whom left before the start of the previous season and the third picture features both of them and Crosetti (Jon Polito) who left after the first season. Additionally the blurb on the back claims to have "All 22 Episodes of Season 4..." Seriously, Season 4? Do they not have anyone who fact checks this stuff before throwing it out to the printers? It's season 5...

This is all a shame because I actually feel the black and neon styling used on the box art is superior to the American version. It's just a lack of consistency that lets the side down.

Extras:
None. See previous reviews, I shan't complain again here.

Details:
Run Time: 1056 mins approx
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Audio: 2.0 Stereo
Languages: English
Colour: Colour/PAL
Subtitles: English

Price:
This time it's HMV who win the price wars with a staggering offer of £11.99 for the complete fourth season. That's the lowest I've ever seen and it comes out at 1.13ppm, that's a new front leader in the highest amount of footage for your money and we're talking about quality footage here, Homicide is one heck of a good show. Seriously, wow. At that price I can ignore the packaging farce and just enjoy the quality of the show.


I'm torn in two directions by this, the show itself is an undoubted work of art; there's not a single duff episode amongst the lot and it's everything a fan of Homicide of police drama could wish for. But the product put out does not reflect the same standard of excellence. Now the old saying is, never judge a book by it's cover and it holds up here. But still, it's hard to be content with the final product when it has so many annoying gaffes.


Direct Link

For the previous reviews in the Homicide series check here:
The Complete First Series (Seasons One and Two)
The Complete Second Series (Season Three)


Starring:
Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch
Yaphet Kotto as Lieutenant Al Giardello
Kyle Secor as Detective Tim Bayliss
Clark Johnson as Detective Meldrick Lewis
Andre Braugher as Detective Frank Pembleton
Reed Diamond as Detective Mike Kellerman
Melissa Leo as Sergeant Kay Howard
Isabella Hofmann as Captain Megan Russertt



The Complete Third Series of Homicide contains all 22 episodes of the fourth season of the show as originally aired in 1995. Homicide is very much the spiritual predecessor to The Wire and is also an amazing show in it's own right. The fourth season brings with it some cast changes; Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin) and Stan Boulander (Ned Beatty) both leave the show before the season starts and it introduces Detective Mike Kellerman played by Reed Diamond (Terry Crowely - The Shield). The season also introduces one of the major kingpins/foils/recurring villains for the show in the form of Luthor Mahoney (Erik Dellums), who's presence both on and off screen is almost palpable.

Over the course of this season a huge range of events would rock the department; from a gas pipe explosion, the second crossover episode with Law & Order ("For God and Country), sniper attacks and even marriage. It's a stunning season filled with the gritty, understated brilliance that you come to expect from the show. There's a good reason why Homicide is critically considered to be such a brilliant, pivotal and influential show; watching it you can't help but appreciate why.


The UK version is produced by Fremantle and is the last of the UK editions to be packaged stylishly in my opinion. There is a rather questionable photograph used on the back cover as it's clearly taken from the first two series - Crosetti (Jon Polito) is in it along with Lewis (Clark Johnson) - which is just poor quality control. Crosetti is not in the fourth season at all; but he still appears three times on the artwork for this boxed set. Seriously Fremantle, who's in charge of double checking this stuff? It's such an obvious and irritating mistake and it's a shame because the rest of the product is ace.


Outside of this gaffe it's a superb piece of work; it's a fold out cardboard book contained within a cardboard dust sleeve. The entire thing oozes with style and matches up exceptionally well with series one and two. It's a pity I can't say the same about Series 4 and 5 but more on that later...

What extras? Fremantle decided to again deny the Region 2 viewers any of the amazing extras that the Region 1 viewers get. Yes, I am bitter about this. If you want the extras I'd recommend getting a region free DVD player and purchasing the Region 1 versions instead. Enough said about that matter.

The Details:
Run time: 1100 mins
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Full Frame
Audio: 2.0 Stereo
Colour: Colour/PAL
Subtitles: English - Hard of Hearing

Price:
The winner by absolute miles is sendit who have it at £17.89 (with free delivery as always) and that's a pretty insane 1.6ppm. I can't recommend picking it up enough at that price; especially if you enjoy police procedurals. In fact at that price I'd go as far as forgiving the lack of extras and the box art gaffe.

Additionally HMV occasionally put the Homicide boxed sets up for £15 a piece, but it's for limited periods. Just check your local high street store occasionally and you might even be able to get all of the series currently released for £15 a pop.

Season Three was were Homicide really began to hit it's stride, but season four is every bit as capable; it's a testament to how strong the writing and acting is when two major characters are lost but it doesn't even miss a beat. The problem with this boxed set are the exclusion of extras, the lack of attention on packaging art (tbh that's a minor gripe) and a sudden major change in packaging style which occurs with the next two series boxed sets. But I'll cover those later.



Direct Link

This is a continuation of what I'm loosely calling "Shield Fever" on my part, first of all before I get into the thrust of what I'm going to talk about today there's a post over on Alan Sepinwall's blog which has spoiler free thoughts after the experience of watching episodes one to eight of the final season (Direct Link). As these have been released to critics it seems inevitable that they will all get leaked onto the Internet within a month or so (which is what happened to episodes of The Wire's final season), but I doubt we'll see the final episode of the show make it up in advance because that's under serious wraps and not even the cast are talking about it (but some of them obviously want to). This means I might not run ahead and watch all of those episodes even if I get the chance. But I might watch them a day or two early so I can review on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday (which is often an incredible busy day for me).

Anyhow, first of all a general request to other TV bloggers out there, if you come across stuff about The Shield's final season that doesn't contain spoilers please, pass it on to me. Thanks.

Today I'm going to look at the various characters as they approach the final season, look at the situation they're in, what they have gained so far, how they've developed and what they have left to lose. Because let's face it, the final season of The Shield is going to be all about the losses. That's the mythos of the show - personal loss and dealing with it...

More beyond the link...

The Strike Team:

Detective Vic Mackey:

Since the very first episode of The Shield the stakes have been high for Vic. His shooting of fellow police officer Terry Crowley is the single largest crime he's committed and the one he hasn't really paid for in any shape or form yet. There are people with suspicious out there; David Acevada at the forefront but as IAD have failed to make a case twice against him for this it's likely that Shane is the one who'll end up dropping the ball and landing Vic in it if anyone.

Vic is one of the greatest examples of duality in modern media; he lands on both sides of the law at the same time. Willing to go to extraordinary lengths to protect and serve it's this attitude which probably slid him into the life he's involved in now. He's willing to break the law to bring criminals into justice but he's also willing to break the law to protect himself or his men. This duality of character continues into his personal life; he loves his family with such a passion and just about everything he does is ultimately for his kids. The money he steals mostly ends up funding tuition for his two younger autistic children and he's clearly a loving - but misguided - father. But Vic is also a terrible adulterer, he's just unable to help himself when it comes to other women and as such he's managed to lose close contact with his wife and his family. Even Danny Sofer - the mother of his illegitimate child - is unwilling to let him be too closely involved in her family life.

Vic has already lost almost everything in his life and he's in an intensely dangerous position at the start of the third season. Shane has not only arranged for a release of information if he ever dies - thus trapping Vic into protecting Shane or at least not killing him - but he's also gotten into bed with the Armenians, who are easily the most vicious members of the criminal community in The Shield and told them too much.

It's unlikely he's going to get off scott free given the nature of the show, but I'm not totally convinced that killing him will happen either. Now there are several suitable candidates for finally overturning Vic and I'll mention who they are in their relevant entries. I see four possible ways this could go; Vic being shot by a fellow cop - ironic, Vic retiring in disgrace and living his life alone separated from his children with nothing left - unlikely due to the blackmail material he has, the Armenians catching up with Vic and ending him for the money train heist and Shane's evidence being released, which would result in prison and most likely execution.

Ultimately I think that the line which may predict Vic's fate was uttered by Kavanaugh in season six.

"One day, the Universe will take out its trash."

The end of the show will spin around Vic's final fate and I love the character so much that I'd like to see him survive, but I'm not convinced it's possible. Still, there is one other possible outcome - Shawn Ryan has indicated in one Q&A session (on the Season 5 extras) that Vic might (and I do mean might) just walk away from everything and leave it all behind. I think I could appreciate an ending like that. But we'll have to see.

Shane Vendrell:

Shane is the second member of the Strike Team directly linked to Terry's death; while he did not pull the trigger he is responsible for conspiracy because he was the only other person present in the room at the time Vic pulled the trigger. Initially he did show remorse about this but as the show has progressed Shane evolved into the villain of the piece. This is one of the crowing achievements of the show, the biggest monster on it is the best friend of the lead character. Ironically the Shane of the later seasons is almost entirely a creation of Vic's influence; but the catalyst for the changes in his character is his wife Mara. After Mara came into the picture Shane became exceedingly selfish and has evolved into a grotesque caricature of what he pictures Vic as. The first major signs of this was the Tavon incident, where Shane cost the team a man who could have become one of their own given time and this is just the first in a long series of screw ups that Shane lands himself and the rest of the team in. In season four he gets in too deep with Antwon and has to be bailed out by Vic and Lem, which lands Lem under IAD investigation, which means Shane mistakenly believes Lem has turned and kills him, so Shane then spends a lot of time trying to avoid being discovered by Vic and when he is found out he runs to the Armenians for protection which once again lands Vic, Ronnie and Vic's family into the picture. A long chain of actions and reactions that were all triggered by Shane's actions.

Shane constantly attempts to emulate Vic, but suffers a lot because he's nowhere near as intelligent. The reason he consistently lands in hot water is because he just doesn't have the mental vitality of imagination, both to see the potential consequences and to maneuver his way out of problems. Vic is capable of political machination of a high degree, Shane is just capable of getting himself and his friends killed.

Ultimately Shane is very unlikely to make it out of the show and honestly doesn't deserve to. Just about every bad event that hits the Strike from the fourth season onwards can be directly traced back to Shane's actions. Something Vic himself realises once Shane reveals the truth about Lem's murder.

"I had the chance to pull the trigger on you once before; I didn't do it, and Lem lost his life because of it!"

Ronnie Gardocki:

Ronnie has always been something of a dark horse in the Strike Team and the viewers have learnt little about him beyond his work life. It's clear that he's intensely loyal to Vic and while he initially showed some doubts about breaking the law he's proven time and time again that he can take to it like a duck to water - unlike Lem and Shane who were tortured by the murder of Terry - Ronnie was only upset that Vic didn't tell him because if he'd known he could have helped protect Vic. Fans originally felt that Ronnie was in the show just to be killed off, but that belief has already been used to great effect when his face was burnt by Armadillo. He's also the only original strike team member left alive who's not directly involved in Terry's death and while he could go down for a lot of charges of corruption and the like as far as I know there's nothing linking him to killings... yet.

With the termination of Kevin Hiatt Ronnie is now in charge of the Strike Team and it will be interesting to see how things develop for him. As the seasons have progressed he's taken a larger and larger role in the show and I suspect the seventh season will either be the making or unmaking of him. He's certainly a level head as shown when Shane sets up his incriminating documents and reveals Vic's murder of Terry Ronnie's reaction is to side with Vic but attempt to look for a peaceful method of solving the problem between the three. Hopefully Vic will cut Ronnie lose to save him from any devastation and he'll have a chance to either start over or walk down the same path as Vic.

Julien Lowe:

Julien is the one current member of the Strike Team who's on the level, but even he isn't completely immune to the corruption that infests the Barn. His past struggle with homosexuality (he 'fought' against it due to religious reasons) has brought out something of the brute in him. In the past his desire to conceal his sexual orientation even sparred Vic when he caught the Strike Team stealing cocaine during a bust. On the whole Jullien knows that Vic, Shane and probably Ronnie are not clean. But it's Vic who he has the most ire for. It's this distrust of Vic combined with a violent temper and past history that means he would probably shoot Vic if the situation warranted it. I think he'd prefer a clean shooting if he had the chance, or a legitimate arrest, but ultimately Julien just wants to see the back of Vic one way or the other.

Tavon Garris:

Tavon is worth a mention here because he is confirmed as returning to the show for the final season. Tavon is the second biggest lost the Strike Team have suffered after the loss of Lem, both of which were facilitated by Shane. It's difficult to speculate any further with regards to Tavon. Last we saw he was seriously injured; possibly to the point of forced retirement, and he had been convinced that his injuries were caused by an accident.

Tavon was a capable and brilliant cop who would have fitted right in with the rest of the Strike Team given trust and time. While it's hard to tell if he would have gone over the line all the way he was happy to be involved in illegal wiretaps and often eager to dish out justice through any means necessary. His involvement in the final season is going to hinge on if he recalls the fight with Shane and Mara, if he does then he's going to be a serious issue for Shane to deal with.

Either way I welcome the return of the character as I was very fond of Tavon.

The Officers:

Claudette Wyms:

Claudette has gained so much in the show as the seasons progressed, she's moved from a successful detective career into a well deserved Captaincy and she's not once compromised her sense of ethics or morals and has always remained firmly on the side of the law. No matter what it's cost her in the past she's always been a completely straight arrow, even when Kavanaugh had Vic bang to rights with some planted evidence Wyms refused to use it because she was unwilling to use fake evidence, even if it would mean bringing down a dirty cop for good. There are no compromises with Wyms and in a show of such moral ambiguity she's the one true beacon of justice.

What the seventh season has in store for her I don't know, the Barn is in trouble and if that goes down she could lose her Captain's rank. She's also a serious candidate for dealing with Vic once and for all and if someone was going to bring him down legally I'd have her or Dutch as the front runners.

Holland 'Dutch' Wagenbach:

If any character has managed to evolve over the seasons it's Dutch, but his path has never been straight and true. He's certainly been more corrupted by events than his past partner Claudette, but it's departmental/political maneuverings that involve most of the more underhand tactics he's employed. He has a serious history with Vic and the two have something of a playground relationship; with Vic being the bully, Dutch the target of his cruel taunts. Dutch also has a tendency to ride on Vic's coat tails with regards to women, he's often expressed interest in women who've also dated Vic.

If anything Dutch is closer to the line than any other detective, he seems to spin along the edge of the line between law and crime like a penny which hasn't stopped yet. Dutch understands killers, he spends hours dealing with them in the show and this interaction has taken it's toll on him. The cat killing scene in particular was a very disturbing low for him and while it didn't go much further there has always been a question mark over him. How far would/will he go? Would he pull the trigger on Vic if he had to? Will he manage to find out that one thing which ends Mackey's reign?

The sixth season ended with him kissing Danni, a pursuit that's almost as old as the show itself depending how this turns out it could make a huge difference on events. There is the irony of Dutch ending up raising Vic's child with Danny and that's quite a delicious concept...

Steve Billings:

Billings is a genuinely underhanded wretch of a man, not only content with fleecing the department members via his own vending machines; he's also stood by while a murder occurred, set Dutch up to get hurt by paring Tina with Haitt then arranging for Dutch to see the whole thing and at the end of the sixth season he announced he was suing the department itself for injuries sustained when a brawl between Kavanaugh and Vic caused him to hit his head on a desk. The injuries seem genuine, but Claudette doesn't believe so and suspects him of attempting to defraud the city. Given Billing's character this is very possible.

Now he has left the barn, but Billings's law suit has major potential to affect everyone in the Barn as such a high profile lawsuit could spell the end for the project. It may well be the straw that breaks the camel's back and causes the end of the Barn.

David Acevada:

David has stood the test of time as a foil to Vic, but he's never quite proven himself strong enough to win a decisive victory. As it stands now Acevada is in quite a predicament, the oral rape from season three still hangs over his head and while he could have spun it in the past to his advantage, his actions that followed - shooting Ricky and having Juan murdered by Antwon's men - have dug him into a hole that Vic is more than happy to manipulate and Vic is a master of manipulation.

Despite initially noble intentions Acevada has become heavily corrupted by both his desire for success in politics and his contact with Vic. As such he's now in a precarious position, disposing of Vic would be ideal for him, it would serve to cut all ties with the past and allow him to move on towards the Mayor's offive. But it's going to be very difficult to manage due to the sheer amount of blackmail material Vic now has on him and other politicians.
Direct Link

As the most macho - no make that MACHO (is that macho enough?)- show on television is returning for it's final season next week I thought that this would be a good time to take advantage of all the watching those DVD reviews involved and recap the show before it grabs it's viewers by their nether regions and twists until it's all over. If you've not watched the show at all I'd recommend you don't read beyond the link as it's going to be exceedingly spoiler heavy, instead check out my 'Why You Should Watch... The Shield' feature and if you like the sound of the show play catch up by watching the DVDs instead (first season here for £9.99, sorry I don't know enough American stores to be able to suggest a good place to start over the pond). The show is so good that you really don't want to go spoilering events in it before watching.

For those of you who have watched the show up to the end of season six the rest lays beyond the link...


Starring:
Michael Chiklis as Detective Vic Mackey
Walton Goggins as Detective Shane Vandrell
Kenny Johnson as Detective Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky (Seasons 1 to 5)
Benito Martinez as Captain David Aceveda
CCH Pounder as Detective Claudette Wyms
Catherine Dent as Officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer
Jay Karnes as Detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach
Michael Jace as Officer Julien Lowe
and David Rees Snell as Detective Ronnie Gardocki

Guest starring:
Glenn Close as Captain Monica Rawlings (Season 4)
Forest Whitaker as Lt. John Kavanaugh (Season 5 + 6)

Season One:

The first season introduced us to the LA district of Farmington, it's police headquarters - nicknamed 'the Barn' and the radical anti-drug squad called 'The Strike Team'. The Strike Team consisted of the team leader Vic Mackey, his number two Shane Vandrell, Curtis "Lemonhead/Lem" Lemansky, Ronnie Gardocki and Terry Crowley (Reed Diamond). In the pilot episode the first important plot point occurs, Terry is covertly investigating into the Strike team for Captain Acevada on accusations of corruption. But at the climax of the episode Terry is shot by Vic (who was tipped off by Assistant Chief Gilroy) with only Shane as witness to the murder.

The remainder of the season deals with the fallout from Terry's death and Aceveda's suspicions. While Detectives 'Dutch' and Wyms track down a serial killer and Officer Sofer is assigned new recruit Julien Lowe to train, training which is complicated by Julien's struggle against latent homosexuality.

The season ends with riots breaking out and Acevada forced to co-operate with Mackey (a theme which reoccurs often in later seasons) both to quell the riots and to deal with Gilroy's attempts to pit them against each other.

Season Two:

The main thrust of Season two deals with the Armenian Money Trail Heist, this is the second of the major events to occur in the show and it plays out over multiple episodes. While the Armenian's appeared in the first season it's the appearance of the shows first kingpin - a sadistic feet loving individual by the name of Armadillo - who positions them into a serious place in the storyline. Armadillo directly attacks the existing drug trade in Farmington which has a knock on effect on the Strike Team, who support certain members of the local drug trade to supplement their income. As they investigate into the Armenians they discover the existence of the money train and the plan begins to fall into place, but it doesn't run entirely smoothly - especially after Vic burn's Armadillo's face and as a consequence get's Ronnie's face burnt in retaliation. After this an additional member is brought into the Strike Team, one Tavon Garris and he remains part of the team until events in the third season hospitalise him (well Shane does)
Eventually Armadillo is caught, but he escapes...

Elsewhere in the Barn Gilroy skips out on bail after illegal estate scamming and is smuggled out to Mexico by Vic, Dutch and Claudette continue to investigate cases and some of them begin to take their toll on Dutch's strength of character, Acevada continues to struggle between proving Mackey's corruption and working with him while Sofer and Lowe continue to patrol the streets and deal with more domestic cases.

The season ends with the heist going off successfully and the Strike Team making it away with a huge amount of cash.

Season Three:

But no-one can expect to steal that amount of cash and not have consequences. In this case the Armenian response is visceral and the body count in Farmington begins to spiral out of control. This is a serious problem for the Strike Team who have decided to play things by the book from now on as they're sat on a massive amount of cash and set for life if they play things right. This is a problem for Tavon who feels that he's not a part of the team and they're excluding him from something. It's a shame because Tavon is ideal 'real' Strike Team material and if he'd joined them earlier the team would have had another co-conspirator to share the burden. Eventually Shane and his shrew of a wife Mara seriously injure Tavon and hospitalise him, ending his role in the series... Actually, that's not the case - I can reveal that Tavon will be returning for the seventh season in some way.

Acevada brings in the Decoy team - another specialist task force - with the intent of replacing or reducing the influence that the Strike Team have and begins to make maneuvers towards a place on the city council. Armadillo realises that the Strike Team will eventually find and kill him, so he surrenders to the police instead, but Vic arranges for a prisoner to get a shiv and Armadillo is killed. Which has a major impact on Sofer's career, because she was the one who searched the prisoner and as such is held responsible.

Wyms and Dutch discover that a D.A. was a heavy drug user; information which makes all of her cases questionable and while Dutch is willing to suppress this Wyms isn't, which puts her in the s**thouse and really compromises her chances of further promotion. But this is typical of Wyms who is one of the straightest characters in the show, she follows the letter of the law and to heck with the consequences.

There is also another event which has major repercussions along the way, during a raid on a drug house Acevada remains behind alone and is attacked by two gangers, Juan and Ricky. Juan forces Acevada to perform oral sex on him at gun point and the pair are set to kill him when the Strike Team arrive and save him. He covers up the facts of the rape immediately.


By the end of the third season poor Lem's nerves have had enough with all the pressure and the final episode ends with him taking the only action he can think of to save his only family (the Strike Team) from both the Armenians and any investigations; he cracks and burns most of the money in a furnace that the Strike Team had used earlier in the season. The rest of the Strike Team fail to stop him in time.

Season Four:

This season brings major changes to the landscape, not does Acevada leave the position of Captain and become a councilman but the Strike Team has disbanded and Vic is left a shadow of his former self in his job. This season introduces Detective Billings (who is an underhanded yes man) and Captain Monica Rawlings (Glen Close) who is determined to turn things around in Farmington. Meanwhile Acevada continues to try and deal with being a rape survivor by taking revenge on the two who were involved (killing Ricky in a shoot out robbery and arranging for Antwon to kill Juan after he's arrested and attempts to blackmail Acevada).

On the street the One-Niners have risen back up to the top of the pile with the help of one Antwon Mitchell. Who has Shane (now in Vice) and his partner 'Army' over a barrel, potentially in the frame for murder as Antwon used their guns to kill a young girl named Angie.

The main important events of this season are based around the reforming of the Strike Team and Lem going the extra mile for Shane but putting himself into a seriously bad situation when doing it. He illegally confiscates a block of heroin while trying to lever information about the location of Angie's body and it's noted and swapped with a fake by an investigating officer sent by Rawlings.

Eventually Antwon is brought down and imprisoned; Shane is in the clear (but Lem has a price to pay for this), Rawling's controversial search and seizure plans end her career, Dutch passes up a chance to become Captain of the Barn out of loyalty to Wyms and things appear to be looking solid for the Strike Team in the future.

Season Five:

After Captain Rawlings retired Billings rose up to fill the Captaincy after Dutch refused to become the 'yes man'. Throughout the season it becomes clear that Billings is not the right man for the job, so eventually Claudette Wyms is given the position she deserves and the Barn gets it's second female Captain.

The major thrust of this season returns to two things; Lem's confiscating of the heroin without handing it into evidence control and Terry Crowley's death. Both of which are being investigated by Internal Affairs Detective John Kavanaugh, who intends to use Lem's charges as leverage to break him and get Mackey over Crowley's death. But Lem is completely loyal to his family and genuinely ignorant of the truth in Crowley's death (as is Ronnie). As the season progresses Kavanaugh grinds into Lem and mounts more and more pressure towards the Strike Team. The season is very much a charting of the fall from grace of Kavanaugh as it is the downfall of Lem. One of the major points in this is Lem actually saves Kavanaugh's life from a stray grenade, showing how good a person Lem actually is - because if Kavanaugh had died the invesigation would have been over. Eventually Kavanaugh realises that Lem would never crack and is somewhat ashamed over his actions, he comes to like and respect Lem.

In the midst of all this Julien becomes the training officer for a pretty young policewoman named Tina Halon - who flirts with Dutch all season and Danny is pregnant but won't reveal who the father is.

The final episode of The Shield is the single most tragic episode in the entire run; at the climax of the episode a harried and stressed out Lem is blindsided by Shane, who kills him with a grenade as he's afraid Lem has turned on the team (something Lem would never do). This holds all kinds of irony, Lem saved Kavanaugh from a similar fate earlier in the season (if Kavanaugh had died Lem would have been in the clear and safe) and also even more tragically Shane has killed Lem because Lem saved Shane's career. If Shane hadn't screwed up so badly in the fourth season Lem would never had moved outside the lines and would still be alive.

Vic's snarled words to Shane and Ronnie set the tone for the next season:

"We're gonna find whoever did this, and we're gonna kill 'em."

Season Six:

Season Six was originally intended to be the second part of season five, but it was broken up and turned into a separate season. It deals mostly with the fallout after Lem's death and charts the final fall of Kavanaugh, who becomes corrupt himself in his rabid pursuit of Mackey. Something that he confesses to Claudette Wyms, who despite her misgivings about Vic remains true to her morals and arrests Kavanaugh for planting fake evidence. Wyms remains the pillar of morality in this show (and is a serious candidate for toppling Mackey in the end)

The rest of the season deals with Vic and Ronnie's tireless pursuit of Lem's killer and Shane's attempts to at first conceal his actions and then later set things up to avoid Vic taking vengeance on him. (I think Shane might do well to watch out for Tavon coming in from the left field as well...) There is a new detective brought in to replace Vic (who's facing retirement still) and Julien is promoted into the Strike Team as well. Billings continues to manipulate things while working with Dutch, twisting the knife into both his now partner Dutch's back and the Barn.

Vic discovers about Acevada's rape and uses it to form an uneasy alliance between the pair, with the intent of allowing Vic to keep his job.

Worst of all, Shane continues to act in a stupid fashion that endangers everyone around him as he gets into bed with the Armenian mob.

That's it, you should be entirely up to speed with everything that matters in The Shield and you should be ready to get going for the final season's gut wrenching fallout...

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(There's no Burn Notice reviews for a few weeks after this one because BN is going on hiatus while the US Open is on. But there will be two more episodes after that.)

This week Michael is reunited with a previous client and is asked to help retrieve some anti-viral medication for a children. It's a pretty "burn notice" light episode; in that it deals more with the events of the case and less with the ongoing search for who burned Michael and why...

More after the link...

Direct link to the Crimespree Cinema short review here.

This week I'm trying to cut down on the length of my review, because it was getting pretty out of hand. When I realised that I'd written near on three thousand words last week I thought I should try and scale back a little. Hopefully this one will be a little more concise and less of an essay to read.

Unlike previous weeks where the plot has felt a bit 'bursting at the seams' this weeks episode deals mostly with the events of the client case and has just a small (but entertaining) sideline set of scenes dealing with the sniper rifle from the previous week. Michael is meeting up with an arms dealer called Seymour (Silas Weir Mitchell - most famously known for his portrayal of Haywire on Prison Break, but also from Dexter and My Name is Earl), Seymour doesn't seem to quite understand (or maybe want to understand) what Michael is there for. He spends most of the episode using Michael as kind of a bodyguard and the scenes with them both in are particularly entertaining, just like Valentine (Method Man) and Victor (Michael Shanks) from last week's episode he's an interesting enough character that would be nice to see reoccurring occasionally.

Speaking of reoccurring characters, this week's episode features one. Virgil and you'd be forgiven for saying 'who?' because I'd pretty much forgotten all about him myself. He's an Ex-Navy Seal with a bit of a thing for Madeline and he'd previously appeared in the first season episode "Unpaid Debts". He's played ably by Chris Ellis, but obviously he'ss not that memorable an actor because I'd completely forgotten about him until this episode brought him back (mind you I forget about most clients quickly because Burn Notice doesn't really refer to it's history/backstory/previous episodes much).

The triangle of interactions between Michael, Virgil and Madeline provide some of the lighter moments in the episode. But at times the interaction is a little stretched and doesn't feel realistic. It's a fine line between the two and Burn Notice doesn't always quite hit the right note here.

On the other hand, the scenes where Virgil is working with Michael and/or Sam are fantastic, especially the golf shop scene where a little 'creative golfing' piles enough pressure onto the store owner which gets him to reveal that a criminal named Gerard is behind the original anti-viral heist.

In comes Sam Axe as Chuck Finley! Which is always a delight, as I adore the scenes where Bruce gets to dress up in a suit and act like some big shot. He really sells it all the way to the market and back. This episode is no exception and Sam's scenes with Gerard are just top notch, he's pitch perfect with his delivery in these scenes and it really shows how much Bruce needs to be given another show all of his own (or a 4th Evil Dead Movie, I'd go for one of those). Anyway, Sam finds out that the gang is too late to try and set up a buy for the medication, it's already been sold - but it hasn't been shipped yet.

So the gang come up with a plan, but they need an inside man for a fake heist and as usual Sam volunteers Michael for the job. So the persona of 'Jackson' is created (it's possible this is a reference to Daniel Jackson - Michael Shank's character on Stargate) and Jeffrey gets a chance to showcase some acting skills. Jackson is a cowardly, asthmatic and timid chemist who's unwilling to get involved unless he's forced. Jeffrey's performance as Michael is excellent; he stammers all over the place, physically changes the way he holds himself and overall shows that he's got more in his acting range than just Michael and bad accents.

Virgil poses as the target for the operation, a boat courier/smuggler who's transporting "steroids on steroids" and things are looking pretty smooth. Except that Gerard is pretty tight lipped on the information and it turns out the only way to find out where the medication is being stored is by actually going through with the heist. Because Gerard won't let 'Jackson' out of his sight Michael has to interrupt Fi's date plans (with a mysterious paramedic who's probably Victor) to get a message across to Sam and Virgil. It looks like the heist will have to become a real one and actually happen.

So we're treated to some great scenes where Sam and Virgil doctor up some fake canisters with a selection of special effects and commandeer Michael's fridge to transport them. Then it's off to sea with Michael, Gerard and some mooks. But there's another hitch, it turns out that Gerard (in a scene where he's vocally channelling Brock Samson) plans to ensure there's no witnesses. Michael thinks fast and manages to weasel his way into getting his hands on a gun. Which is soon uses to fake shooting Virgil before tossing him overboard (with a handy explanation that Navy Seals can hold their breath for a long time). There's a great moment in amongst this where Michael realises that the fridge being used is his own one, he doesn't look to impressed at it.

Then back at the warehouse where the new meds are stored Michael discovers two problems, it's huge and the other meds are spread all over the place in locations that Gerard refuses to reveal. So it's time for Chuck Finley to make a return appearance!

This is a great little scene where 'Jackson' turns up and starts blubbering about how Chuck Finley is some kind of Keyser Söze and how he's going to take all the meds and then kill everyone. So Gerard and the crew move in, which is when Sam strikes while Fi ensures the police will be there on time.

Finley rolls in right during the unloading with a truck while Jackson surmises that there must be men in it. So Gerard's men turn the truck into Swiss cheese with machine guns and while they're distracted Michael drops his facade, fells one of Gerard's men, shoots the truck (where explosives are mounted) causes it to blow up and takes off with the meds in the truck. Gerard and his men end up getting arrested, but they're still alive - which makes a change for this season.

Finally we're treated to one last scene with Haywire Seymour and Fi. Throughout this entire episode there's been quite a bit of tension between Fi and Michael over her date; it's been nicely understated as well, present if you look for it but not so obvious as one of them outright talking about it. There's a great little moment before the door where Michael tells her she looks beautiful and they both pause awkwardly before Seymour's bodyguard-dude opens the door and lets her in. In a tense scene we find out that there was a place in Miami where someone could get a high powered Russian sniper rifle calibrated (was being the important word there, fire tends to make things go up in smoke) and Michael leaves with a name.

After previous episodes which felt sometimes overburdened with stuff it was nice to have one which scaled back a little on the burn notice part and instead gave us a little character development for Madeline (with Virgil) and some good wholesome fun in the style of the first season. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the way this season has managed to marry the brun notice metaplot with client cases (this time last season there was narry a whiff of the burn notice plot) but it is nice to have an episode where one can relax and just enjoy things without masses going on at once.

I enjoyed it a lot and I'm happy to give it a 3.5 for classic Burn Notice and reoccurring characters.



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On general release in the UK on the 25th of August (yes, that's right I'm actually reviewing something before it comes out for once.)

Starring:
Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester
Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester
With:
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as John Winchester
Jim Beaver as Bobby Singer
Katie Cassidy as Ruby
Lauren Cohan as Bela Talbot



I talked a little about Supernatural previously; mostly it was about how apprehensive and unsure I was about the series. I liked the concept of the show but I was concerned about the cast (very small with two exceptionally photogenic/pretty boys) and I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it. But I managed to pick up a copy of the first season cheaply and was very quickly hooked into it.

When Sam and Dean were young, their mother was killed in a fire. But it was no ordinary fire; this fire was of a supernatural origin and nearly killed them as well. But their father John Winchester (The awesome Jeffery Dean Morgan) managed to save them. Over the years John raised Sam and Dean to be hunters and fighters; champions against the unnatural, eventually Sam rebelled against this life while Dean continued to fight alongside his father.

But; one day that old life comes back to haunt Sam, it turns out there's no escaping it and alongside his brother the two of them seek to find their father and avenge their mother's death.

The first two seasons of the show were fantastic and the third season of the show has raised the stakes once again, I was worried that a show with such a small core cast couldn't threaten it's characters effectively. But I was wrong about that, while Sam and Dean have a somewhat jaded, brazen and 'been there, done it' attitude towards many of the creatures they encounter - which in itself is quite hilarious at times - there are things and events which effect them hard. The finale of the previous season was one such set of events and the third season is based around dealing with them; literally.

Something that always impresses me about the show is how well it manages to combine a sense of realism with a tongue in cheek understanding that the show is a bit silly. The characters themselves often make reference to things that viewers will have noticed as well, including the strange weaponry they use:

Here's an example of this from the second season, this is in the excellent episode "Hollywood Babylon" where Sam and Dean have been drawn to a Hollywood set where a crew member was found dead. The conversation directly references the actual methods used in the show; but it highlights the absurdity of the notion. If you think about it for too long it stops making sense, so you just accept shotguns loaded with rock salt because they look cool.


It's touches like this that make the show something special.



Consistency is the name of the word when dealing with the packaging of Supernatural, each season looks very similar in design, the spines of each set are almost identical and the layout of the front and back is kept in a similar template with varied box art. I'm a stickler for how DVDs look on the shelf and I'm always pleased when they look good together as a set. Season three is a five disc set containing fifteen episodes (writers strike cut it short) with the discs placed in slimline (not slimeline!) dvd cases. There's a mildly amusing bit of quality control failure as the third set apparently contains discs 5 (plural?) and while that's a minor error at best it's still a little disappointing to see things going out with mistakes like that on them.

Extras:
There is a nice selection of extras in this set:
From Legends to Reality - a look into the special effects in Supernatural
Supernatural Impala - which gives viewers a closer look at the Chevrolet Impala used in the show (nicknamed the Metallicar by many viewers)
A Closer Look - Segments that showcase favourite aspects of specific episodes
Ghostfacers! Confessionals - A Minifeaturette Gallery
and a Gag Reel

Edit: Just to confirm for those people coming from TWoP all of these extras are present and accounted for on my Disc 5 of the UK release. They all also work as I watched them today. I would post this myself on the forum, but my registration hasn't cleared yet.

Price:
It's available now from Play.com for only £17.99 and it runs for 624 minutes. That's 2.9p per minute, which is very respectable for a brand new release. But of course it won't stay like that for long. So grab it while it's hot.


Supernatural is one of those shows that on paper seems like a really silly idea, two handsome young brothers travel around in a car solving mysteries and fighting monsters. But, as I said; I'm thoroughly impressed with Supernatural and I'm glad I gave it the chance to prove my initial doubts completely wrong. It's brilliant fun and worth watching for anyone who previously enjoyed shows like Angel or Buffy, horror films/novels or for people who just enjoy good solid drama with a dark sense of humor that doesn't take itself too seriously.

4 TVs for the third season of Supernatural, great stuff!
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In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. In 1995 Charlie Crews was sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit, for twelve years he struggled as an ex-cop in prison until he won his appeal and was cleared of all charges. His settlement is substantial; including a large amount of money and reinstatement as a detective in the LAPD.

Now is an excellent time to get into Life as it's about to start it's second season with a relaunch "pilot", this is to provide an entry point for those of you who missed the first season. This episode will be launched on the 29th of September, so if you're inclined you can get up to speed in the five weeks you have left quite easily.

But what is Life about? Well, as the introductory paragraph suggests it's a police procedural drama centered around one Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis - Band of Brothers). A man who's spent a considerable amount of time in prison after being framed. After being released thanks to the tireless efforts of his lawyer Constance (Brooke Langton - Melrose Place, Friday Night Lights) and has had his job in the LAPD returned to him as part of his settlement. Charlie returns to the world a changed man - having absorbed many teachings of Zen Buddhism - but he's very unwelcome in the police force as many of them feel he is in truth guilty. Charlie is placed under the supervision of Lieutenant Karen Davis (Robin Weigert - Deadwood) and partnered up with Detective Dani Rees (Sarah Shahi - Teachers, The L Word, Alias). The LAPD cannot fire Charlie for any old reason, but Davis makes it clear that they will use anything as an excuse to get rid of Crews. Detective Rees is also not keen to be partnered with Charlie as she's both suspicious of him and finds him annoying.

Life follows a mix of typical police procedural cases; many of them interesting - a personal favourite being the episode where a man is found "standing" dead next to a fridge in an almost empty house without his legs - and an over-reaching metaplot where Charlie attempts to find out who framed him and why. It's this gradual voyage of discovery that keeps the hooks running from one week to the next, but it's not the primary reason to watch the show.

Lewis is powerful and commanding as Charlie Crews; he brings an intensity to the screen that portrays a man divided. Charlie is driven by a thirst to discover 'why'; but he also attempts to follow the teachings of Zen, which tells him to let go. He's an outdated man who's been unable to keep up with developments in the world and has emerged into an almost alien world filled with high tech computers and mobile phones. He has been compared to House and Monk in some reviews as there are echos of that style of character in him, but he's not a clone of them - just similar.

The supporting cast all give excellent performances themselves. Sarah Shani is excellent as Dani Rees; she portrays a gradual acceptance of Crews with great skill and provides a good partner for him on screen. Adam Arkin as Ted is fantastic as well; Ted met Charlie in prison and now handles his finances. He provides a level head for advice and Charlie trusts him completely with his money, despite the fact that he's an ex-con.

Robin is almost unrecognisable when compared to her role in Deadwood, before she was the drunken slurring Calamity Jane. Here she's a hard nosed piece who's been stuck with the bad penny and she's been given orders to get rid of Crews if possible.


Life is a slick and enjoyable show to watch; it's not the most sophisticated show out there, but it is entertaining. Damian Lewis is the main reason to watch this; he's intense and captivating, but there's plenty more to like.

The show started out strong and is still young, so while it's not got the hype of Heroes, Lost or Dexter it is still worth putting on your radar. Especially if you're a fan of Lewis or Police dramas.

I for one will be looking forward to the premiere of the second season and will probably be recapping events in it periodically.
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For reviews of previous seasons see here (spoiler potential for each season in the reviews):
Season One
Season Two
Season Three
Season Four
Season Five
A Why You Should Watch (I recommend reading this if you want to know a bit more about the show without spoilers) and a direct link to the short entry for the show in My Top 50 Shows.

Complete review after the link:

Starring:
Michael Chiklis as Detective Vic Mackey
Walton Goggins as Detective Shane Vandrell
Benito Martinez as David Aceveda
CCH Pounder as Captin Claudette Wyms
Catherine Dent as Officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer
Jay Karnes as Detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach
Michael Jace as Officer Julien Lowe
David Rees Snell as Detective Ronnie Gardocki
Alex O'Loughlin as Detective Kevin Hiatt
and Forest Whitaker as Lt. John Kavanaugh


Following on directly from the earth shattering events of the previous season, season six gives us a world in turmoil. The department has refused a full funeral for Lem and Claudette has been ordered to hold all officers in overtime so they cannot attend, Vic is determined to find Lem's killer and bring him to justice, Shane is attempting to hide the truth about his actions, Kavanaugh is driven to bring Vic down, a mass murder in Farmington has Dutch and his new partner Billings distracted from investigating Lem's death and new blood is recruited into the strike team.

The season is as intense as it's ever been; Vic is battling against grief, anger, Kavanaugh, forced retirement and Shane. He's determined to find and kill whomever caused Lem's death, but he's not yet aware that Shane is the guilty party. Kavanaugh's fall from grace becomes complete this season when he plants evidence in an attempt to bring Vic down for good.

Meanwhile Julien is promoted to the Strike team along with Detective Kevin Hiatt who is drafted in to become the new Strike Team Captain. This brings additional pressure to the Strike Team as it becomes harder for Vic, Shane and Ronnie to communicate. Shane in particular spirals out of control with grief; his actions become more and more wild as the season progresses and you're left wondering when he's going to crack. Needless to say, by the end of the season he's placed everyone in such a dangerous situation.

It's rather interesting the way Shane and Vic progress in this season, Vic starts out completely unhinged - willing to throw his life away if it means he'll bring justice to Lem's killer - but as the season progresses he regains control of his emotions and by the end he's relatively composed (considering the situation) able to maneuver a long time enemy Acevada into an alliance. While Shane loses control more and more as the season progresses until he's painted himself into a corner with the worst possible bedfellows - the Armenians.

This season is shorter than most of the previous seasons because it was initially intended to be shown as the second part of season five. This does mean that the season feels a little lighter than expected and it runs by with incredible pace, at the end of the final episode you're left feeling a little 'is that it?' Which is a shame, but when you realise that this is really the second half of a season it's understandable.

It's still a fantastic set up for the events of the final season. Thirteen episodes starting September 2nd!


After the strange and frankly terrible colour scheme used for Season 5 we're fortunate that the style is back closer to the original four seasons. While there are differences the predominate theme is white text on a black backdrop. The spine fits perfectly with the rest (See the post on season five for an example) and it's a lot better than the early art that was bandied about...

Seriously, while that shot is a fantastic piece for style and mood it's utterly spoiler-tastic - that's obviously Lem's face! I'm not sure if the R1 boxed set actually has this front piece or not, but it's pretty bad news for someone who's watched the first four seasons without seeing season five. There are enough spoilers in this age of the Internet without the shows spoilering themselves unintentionally. But thankfully R2 users get a less spoiler-riffic shot that shows a clearly grief stricken Vic in a slightly ambiguous pose.

Now there is was a second problem with this set being bandied about and it's about the wonderful people at Sony's editing room. Not content with cutting about thirty minutes from the previous season finale it was thought that they had cut more material from the sixth season. But I can confidently deny this now, the run time for the season is 9 hours and 52 minutes for ten episodes; that's what it should be. So don't worry about that, while we did lose stuff from the previous season finale and that sucks hard we get all of this season. It's just shorter than the previous seasons by a few episodes.

Extras:
There are not a lot of extras in this season boxed set. There are a total of four featurettes and that's it. Which is a bit of a 180 compared to previous seasons and most annoyingly there's no commentary here; which is a real shame because I do enjoy watching stuff with commentary on at least once. There's not much else to talk about, the featurettes are good - but it's not enough.

Price:
Amazon win out this time @ £14.97 (Play are next @ £16.99 and HMVfont> have the best 'street' price @ 17.99). This is 2.5p per minute, which is very reasonable but not surprising because the boxed set has been out for about a year now.


While not as stunning as the previous two seasons, season six still delivers it's punches well and stands like a giant above most other television. It's proven time and time again that it can twist the plot in directions you wouldn't expect and it's been consistently able to raise the stakes every season. Which is no mean feat when you consider the set up of the first few seasons.

It's not the best season, but it does include some of the best moments and it's every bit as essential to watch as the rest are.



4.5 for the overall package; both the season and the DVD itself are a little below standard. But that means they're still well above most other shows out there.
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Starring:
Michael Chiklis as Detective Vic Mackey
Walton Goggins as Detective Shane Vandrell
Kenny Johnson as Detective Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky
Benito Martinez as Captain David Aceveda
CCH Pounder as Detective Claudette Wyms
Catherine Dent as Officer Danielle "Danny" Sofer
Jay Karnes as Detective Holland "Dutch" Wagenbach
Michael Jace as Officer Julien Lowe
David Rees Snell as Detective Ronnie Gardocki
and Forest Whitaker as Lt. John Kavanaugh

For reviews of previous seasons see here (spoiler potential for each season in the reviews):
Season One
Season Two
Season Three
Season Four
A Why You Should Watch (I recommend reading this if you want to know a bit more about the show without spoilers) and a direct link to the short entry for the show in My Top 50 Shows.

Right, I'm going to round off reviewing The Shield's previous seasons before the final season starts, first of all I'm placing this one behind the cut because this season has a lot of impact on the final two and it's impossible to talk about it without spoiling events for people who want to watch the series from the start.

Full review after the link:


Final warning here, this is not for someone who hasn't already seen this season.

The Show:

"Remember, the Team comes First" - Detective Vic Mackey

The fifth season of The Shield raises the stakes of the show even higher and sets in motion events which will finally come to a head in the final (seventh) season. Tensions in the Barn are high when the Internal Affairs cop Lieutenant John Kavanaugh (Forrest Whitaker) arrives with the intent of bringing down Vic Mackey. This harks back to the shooting of Terry in the pilot episode and also links with Lem's illegal confiscation of heroin during the fourth season. Things may have been gone for a while, but they're not forgotten.

Kavanaugh is a driven man, obsessed with taking down Mackey and willing to go to any lengths to manage this. A large thrust of the season is about Kavanaugh's fall from grace as he attempts to take down Vic, it seems he's willing to go to almost any lengths in an attempt to expose Vic for what he is. But in doing so he plays directly into Vic's hands, turning the game into one that Mackey is a pro.

Elsewhere in the Barn things are equally strained, Claudette and Dutch's partnership breaks down, Danny is pregnant but refuses to reveal the father and Julien has to deal with a new rookie for a partner. All of this; with Kavanaugh's actions on top bring things to a boiling point and it looks like something has to give.

It does, Kavanaugh's one serious hook into the Strike Team is Lem; he has the man bang to rights on a charge of confiscating heroin without checking it into evidence. This happened in the previous season while Lem was attempting to assist Shane by locating the body of a young girl named Angie. The girl had been killed by Antwon Mitchell (see season four) with Shane and Army's guns; forcing them to work for him.
Kavanaugh uses this as a lever to try and force Lem to turn on the rest of the team, because “...cops always give it up at the threat of jail… always.” But Lem shows the strength of his character throughout this, even saving Kavanaugh's life from a grenade during a bust by throwing it away seconds before it detonates.

Lem never turns on the rest of the Team, even when arrested and threatened with jail. Kavanaugh sinks to an even lower level by apparently arranging for Lem to be locked up with Antwon, who will clearly have Lem murdered if he gets the chance. But eventually Kavanaugh realises that Lem would never turn on his fellow officers and is impressed with the strength of character Lem shows. Sadly by this stage it's too late and Vic arranges to meet up with Lem in order to help him escape the country.
But Shane, thinking mistakenly that Lem has turned on the team meets up with him first and in the most gut wrenching scene of the show kills Lem with a grenade. Lem survives just long enough for Shane to realise and regret what he's done, but at this point it was too late.

Later when Lem's death is discovered Kavanaugh taunts a grief stricken Vic (one of the few times he cracks in the show) Vic loses it, attacks Kavanaugh and after being torn away from him vows to Shane and Ronnie that they'll find Lem's killer.

I've gone into this in more detail than I normally do because this is the season which affected me more than anything else in television. I was left stunned for a long time afterwards and I still struggle to watch it. There's no doubt that it's a storytelling masterpiece; it charts the fall of John Kavanaugh and Lem with great care and attention. It sets up an incredible sixth season and marks the end of hope in the Strike Team, if it can happen to Lem - the conscience of the group - all bets are off for everyone.

The Other Stuff:

"Until now I've tolerated you. Come near my men again... I'm gonna lose patience. " - Detective Vic Mackey

While the material in the fifth season is probably the finest level of gut punching brilliance you'll get in the show. The UK release of the DVD is subject to quite a few strange decisions. For a start the standard colour scheme used for The Shield's boxes is black, white with heavy yellow/gold - this evokes the feel of the show plus the broken brass badge logo - but unfortunately someone in marketing or design decided to use the image styling you see at the top of this post. It's almost a negative image of the standard set. This means it looks terrible on the shelf when placed with the rest...


...and it also signals just how ground shaking and significant the season is when compared to the rest. You know straight away that something massive has to happen in this season, and in my opinion that's a pretty poor decision to make for the box art. Especially when (as you can see) the sixth season returns to the standard spine style.

The second, even poorer decision made is in the editing, the UK version is missing a full 30 minutes from that earth shattering finale and it's not just inconsequential events that are cut, there's some major stuff in there that is relevant in the following season. It's a completely inexcusable decision made and as such it's hard to recommend buying the UK/Region 2 version of this boxed set. I'd go as far as recommending you purchase the American version instead - while it still has that strange colour choice at least you get the full experience as originally aired...

These two strange issues aside the fifth season brings a lot of extras, you get:
Commentary on all episodes from a wide range of people involved in the show
Featurettes
Deleted Scenes with optional commentary
The prequel for season 6 (and final hurrah for Lem)
Special Behind-the-Scenes featurettes

These extras are up to the standard set by the previous lot and at times exceed them. The Shield never skimps on it's extras. Ever.

The Final Word:

The fifth season of The Shield is the show at it's finest, it even manages to excel ahead of the previous season by giving solid continutity, cause and effect delivered in a way which hits the viewer in the hardest place possible. Of all the strike team members, Lem is the hardest one to lose outside of Vic and certainly the least deserving. He's always been the conscience of the team, the one who looks to the rest as his family and to have Shane - the one who's always been the problem case in the team - actually perform the deed makes it even harder to take.

On top of this you have the excellent Forrest Whitaker providing a stunning foil to Vic, the way he plays Kavanaugh's fall from grace in this series is stunning. Vic corrupts everything he touches and Kavanaugh is no exception.
It's stunning season of television and it's just a shame that poor choices on the part of Sony have marred the final product somewhat.

Price wise the winner is sendit who have it up for £12.89. It runs at 468 mins so that's 2.7ppm. Impressive. But if you're an avid fan with a region free dvd player (like me!) I'd seriously consider the US version which is 498 mins @ £19.99 (ish) 4ppm (but you get the extended final episode).

The Final Score:

4.5 - I want to give it more; the season deserves a 5, but the boxed set brings it down.


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As I've reached the 25th DVD review since I started this blog (back in September of last year) here are the tables for the current front runners.

To see all the reviews go here.

Highest overall scores:
1. The Wire: The Complete Fourth Season
2. The Shield: Season 3
3. The Shield - Season 4
4. The Shield, Season 1
5. The Office: An American Workplace. Season 3
6. The Wire: The Complete Third Season
7. Spaced: The Collectors Edition
8. Futurama: The Complete Collection
9. Skins: The Complete First Series
10. Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

Yeah, I know. I show a serious bias towards Police Dramas that break the procedural mould (OK, serious bias towards The Wire and The Shield - but it's for a good reason). (Highest scores are a little subjective because I switched scoring systems partway through).

Best Value for money (pence per minute):
1.5 ppm - The Complete Adventures of Tintin
1.6 ppm - Homidice: Life on the Street - The Complete Second Series
1.9 ppm - Homicide: Life on the Street - Series 1 & Sugar Rush (The Complete Series 1 + 2)
2 ppm - Skins: The Complete First Series & The Shield, Season 1
2.3 ppm - The Wire: The Complete First Season
2.4 ppm - The Shield - Season 4 & The Wire: The Complete Third Season
2.5 ppm - The Wire - The Complete Second Season

Now obviously these prices were worked out at the time of purchase and some have changed since. But it's a dominating run for The Wire, The Shield and Homicide - this is because they are all shows with 45 min to an hour long episodes and many of them have been out for quite a while now so they're lower in price. Whether they will keep their positions after the next 25 reviews remains to be seen but I'm confident that it'll take one heck of a deal to knock Tintin from the top slot or Homicide from the number 2 slot. It'll take a show with 20 odd hour long episodes for under £20 I suspect.

Now it's time to work towards 25 more reviews so I can see how the table shapes up!
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Next week I'll actually be reviewing a new release. Shock!

For the previous series review see here:
Series 1

Starring:
Chris Barrie as Arnold Rimmer
Craig Charles as Dave Lister
Danny John-Jules as "The Cat"
and Norman Lovett as Holly



The second series of Red Dwarf is very similar to the first one in style, feel and quality. Both of the first two series are slow paced and character driven in their style. But the second series concentrates less on the interactions between Lister and Rimmer and instead expands a little to include more sci-fi experiences.

Kryten is the first episode and it introduces a character who will return in the third series and stay with the show for all the remaining episodes. But the Kryten who appears in this episode is played by a different actor and is very different from the one who appears next series. The episode is one of the best of these six, probably the second best one and it's a very strong start. It's followed up by the sentimental episodes Better Than Life and Thanks For The Memory; both of which look more deeply into Rimmer's personality and hang ups. BTL shows how deeply twisted he is, while TftM demonstrates what a difference love could make to Rimmer (indeed to all of us) when Lister gives Rimmer the (misguided) gift of 'The memory of one of Lister's ex-girlfriends' (effectively making Rimmer believe he dated the girl). These episodes are both slow ones that have some laughs, but not as many as the first one.
Stasis Leak is a little more complex, playing around with time lines as the "dwarfers" find a way to travel back to before the accident that wiped out the rest of the crew and ending in a truly superb scene with no less than three Rimmers and three Listers on screen at the same time.


Queeg is the fifth episode; after an accident places Lister's life in danger the emergency back up computer 'Queeg' replaces Holly and begins running the ship efficiently. This one is by far the funniest of the entire season and really showcases the awesome comic timing of Norman Lovette. Finally comes Parallel Universe, which is a solid episode to end the series and manages to tie up some events that occured in the first series episode Future Echoes it's also notable because it's the last appearance for Norman (for a while) and marks the appearance of Hattie Hayridge as Hilly. Hattie ended up take over the duties of Holly for the third, fourth and fifth series when Norman left.

The second series is enjoyable but it's a very different show from the one that appears in the later series. It's not until the third series that Red Dwarf really finds it's stride. It's worth watching for sure, but if I'm honest it might be better for people to get into Red Dwarf by watching the third series first then watching the first and second in retrospect.



The second series comes in standard DVD box that matches with the rest of the series. It's almost identical to all the rest except for a change in colour, stills and spine (the full set makes the Red Dwarf logo when you put them together). It also has a small booklet filled with stuff about the episodes.
Much like the first series boxed set the second series is crammed to the gills with extras and this is where it shines. You get a DVD with the series and the commentary on it and a second one filled with extras.

Here's the list:
Cast Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Smeg Ups (Out takes)
Original Trailer
"Red Dwarf A-Z" Documentary
Doug Naylor Interview
"Alternate Personalities" Featurette
The full uncut video for the song 'Tongue Tied'
Raw footage for special effects
Isolated Music Cues (yeah, wth?)
Talking Book Chapters
Photo Gallery
Weblink
Hidden Easter Egg

It's a mighty haul of extras and there's stuff there to keep the most avid Dwarf-aphile glued to his TV screen for hours (and away from the normal populace which is good, because they're weird and scary).

Both Play.com and Zavvi have the series currently priced at £7.99, which is pretty good in my opinion. It works out at a respectable but not amazing 4.6p per minute, but that's not including the extras or re-watching with the commentary on (the commentary is rather good - despite the slightly annoying food references when someone is hamming it up and the use of woofers to represent funny lines).



I adore Red Dwarf, it's British Sitcom at it's best and has managed to hold up well against the test of time. As I said before this series (and the first one) are not the finest examples of the show, while there are some fantastic comedy moments in them it's the next series onwards (3 through to 6) that have the true comedy gold episodes in them. But it is still fun and at a meager 174 minutes it's worth watching them so you get the back story a little more solidly.

The Final Score:

3.5 for Series 2.
Direct Link

For the previous seasons check here:
Season One
Season Two
Season Three
And Why You Should Watch... The Wire

Starring:
Dominic West as Jimmy McNulty
Wendell Pierce as 'Bunk' Moreland
Lance Reddick as Cedric Daniels
Deirdre Lovejoy as Rhonda Pearlman
Sonja Sohn as Shakima 'Kima' Greggs
Clarke Peters as Lester Freamon
Seth Gilliam as Ellis Carver
Michael K. Williams as Omar Little
Andre Royo as Bubbles
Jim True-Frost as Roland 'Prez' Pryzbylewski
Jamie Hector as Marlo Stanfield
Gbenga Akinnagbe as Chris Partlow
Chad Coleman as Dennis 'Cutty' Wise
Aidan Gillen as Thomas Carcetti
Felicia Pearson as Felicia 'Snoop' Pearson
Robert F. Chew as Joseph 'Proposition Joe' Stewart
Jermaine Crawford as Duquan 'Dukie' Weems
Tristan Wilds as Michael Lee
Julito McCullum as Namond Brice
Maestro Harrell as Randy Wagstaff
and J.D. Williams as Preston 'Bodie' Broadus




The third season saw the effective end of the Barksdale organisation when 'Stringer' and Avon turned on each other. But everything in The Wire is circular in nature so when one organisation goes down another rises to the top. In this case it's the ambitious young Marlo Stanfield who's risen up and become the king.

But the focus of the fourth season is not just on the constant war between the Baltimore Police Department and the street dealers. It expands to look at the politics that cast their shadow over all events and more importantly the show introduces us to four young kids growing up in Baltimore - Randy, Namond, Michael and Duquan aka 'Dukie'. These kids and their experiences are just as integral to the story as anything that happens during Councilman Carcetti's campaign, Marlo's dealing or the P.D.'s investigations because the focus of the fourth season is on the education system and the experiences of children growing up in it.

It's a testament to the power of the writing in how quickly and naturally these kids integrate themselves into the show. Over the course of the season the viewer comes to understand, identify and care about these four lads. They become every bit as important to the story and the viewer as returning characters do.

The main focus of the police/street is all on the Stanfield organisation, the drug Co-op, bodies that begin to turn up in vacant lots and political maneuvering. Jimmy has stepped down from active duty as a detective after his perceived 'failure' over 'Stringer' Bell and is now contented with being a standard patrolman, he's a completely different McNulty when compared to the stressed, martyr complex, bug up his arse, jerkathon of the previous three seasons. He actually appears to be happy a lot of the time. The Major Crimes Unit has been scaled back, Kima and Lester have transferred to Homicide and Prez retired after the accidental shooting last season and is now teaching. In all the focus of the department is mostly turned inwards at the start of this season because Rawls and Burrell are determined to make the most of the political landscape.

In the streets life goes on as usual, but with a new group at the head of things. Marlo's star is most certainly on the rise and his constant need for more combined with the skills of his ambitious enforcers Chris and 'Snoop' cause a lot of friction between the Stanfield organisation and the rest of Prop Joe's co-op. Boadie has managed to get himself a solid position in the Stanfield organisation, Dennis 'Cutty' Wise has retired completely from banging and now runs a boxing gym for kids and Bubbles continues to struggle with his addiction almost completely alone.

The fourth season is just a phenomenal thirteen hours of television. It holds up the corruption and hypocrisies that is so evident in all levels of life in Baltimore for everyone to see. No-one is safe from the corrupting influence of drugs and people who desire power for themselves. Every episode is just simply staggering in it's depth and detail; no stone is left unturned, no corner is skipped and the experience of watching these four young lads grow up in such a place is close to heartbreaking at times.

This season punches low and hard and never lets up, it grabs you at the start of the first episode and doesn't let go, not even in the final moments. It holds on tight and never leaves you, not ever...


The set of five discs comes in a standard dvd case with two multi-pages for the DVDs (one per side), all contained within a cardboard dust sleeve. The style of the case matches up with the previous seasons while also contrasting nicely. The shot of the four lads on the front cover shows them either looking thoughtful, depressed or smiling but all around is the streets are tinted red in colour and the ominous words 'No corner left behind' (a play on the current American Policy of 'No child left behind') lurk in the foreground.

There are a grand total of six sets of commentary on this set:
Boys of Summer, with David Simon and Ed Burns
Margin of Error, with Dan Attias and William F. Zorzi
Refugees, with Kate Sanford, Karen Thorson and Jim True-Frost
A New Day with Robert Chew, Jermaine Crawford, Maestro Harrell, Julito McCullum and Tristan Wilds
That's Got His Own with Joe Chappelle and George Pelecanos
and Final Grades with David Simon and Nina K. Noble

Plus there is an hour long two part behind-the-scenes documentary titled "It's all connected" and "The game is real"

This is a bit more like it, the commentaries range in quality but all of them have insightful things to say about the making of the show and the stories in it. The final three episodes in particular have excellent commentary.

The current best UK price for season four of The Wire is with Zavvi who have it at £24.99.
The others are: Play & HMV @ £28.99 and sendit @ £27.89. Which means it's 3.2p per minute of the highest quality TV you can ever possibly watch.


Season four is a powerhouse production, standing proudly alongside the second and third seasons and possibly even being the best season of the show overall. But as always with The Wire it's not about which season is best; because you can't watch one season without seeing the previous ones, everything ties together as part of one tapestry. So all that can really be said is "watch The Wire", do it now! Do it!



I have no problem giving this one the magical five golden TVs - making it the second item I've reviewed on this blog to score the highest possible score (the other being Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog).



Direct Link

It turns out that Cardiff University (Wales, UK) are holding a 3 day conference on Doctor Who and it's spin offs. I've decided to go for the full three days, if nothing else it'll be an excuse to break out the old digital recorder and then write about it here. It's being held on the weekend starting 14th of November this year.

Details are located on the following page:
http://www.dedoc.net/WhoniversalAppeal/

Direct Link

We're now over halfway through the current run of Burn Notice; there are just three episodes left after this one and then the season goes on hiatus for a while. It's similar to the trick that BSG has pulled with season four and I don't entirely approve, but it does mean that I'll be able to take up reviewing The Shield season seven (alongside Dexter) as and when it happens instead.

In this week's Burn Notice Michael is asked to catch an embezzler who is stealing from a charity belonging to a hip-hop mogul.

More after the link...

We open with the crossword from the end of last week's episode which is being carried by Michael as he goes for a meeting. Again we have some evidence of Carla's wry humour as her designated meeting point is "tidy pelican", essentially the cartoon character who is on at least one of Miami's bins and tells people not to litter. But it turns out that it's not Carla at the meeting, but a man who identifies himself as 'Victor'. Michael immediately pushes Victor, in part to see how far he's willing to go and I suspect in part because the contact phone he's been offered is... Well, a bit effeminate. But Victor pushes back because apparently Carla was the carrot and he's the stick. Victor the Stick it is then!

Once the title screen finishes Michael meets up with Sam who's just bought a pre-owned car because Veronica has taken back the caddy after Fi's wonderful advice drove them apart last week. Michael's concerned about what might happen to his friends and family so he gets Sam to move in with his mother; poor Sam, he really doesn't get a break right now does he? Living with Michael's mother could either turn out to be amazing luxury or an absolute nightmare, knowing Sam's current luck it'll turn out to be the latter.

But lucky for us it means Sharon Gless is going to get a bit more screen time as she's not had much to do so far this season, in fact she was entirely absent last episode. Sam arrives at her house and sees a man with a load of wires in the living room, I immediately think "tv repair man" but Sam immediately thinks "spy" and decides to go in with his gun out. It turns out we're both wrong; the man is Ricky, a friend of Michael's and is helping Madeline install her home theatre system. I guess I was closer than Sam was in my guess, but I'm not the one who's living in Miami and friends with an ex-Spy who has a tendency to get people killed. If I was, I guess I'd open up conversations with a gun as well at times.

Michael then meets up with Madeline, Sam and Ricky outside a bar. Sam and Madeline come up with a convenient excuse to leave involving VRCs - do those things even still exist outside of museums and my sister's house? It turns out that Ricky is definitely no TV repair man, he's now an accountant and very clearly the client in this episode, so just wait for those captions to arrive under his face. Wait for it... Apparently two million has been stolen from a hip-hop mogul's (called Valentine) charity account and Ricky is the one being left holding the bag. Fortunately there is only one other possible suspect - one Eddie Ash - but unfortunately he's Valentine's number two and trust buddy. Ricky needs Eddie's books so he can prove that it's Eddie who's embezzling; I find it a little unlikely that Eddie would keep proof of his thievery in his books, but we haven't met Eddie yet so it's hard to gauge if he would. Ricky offers ten thousand dollars and those magic words are enough to coax out the old "Client" caption (that caption is a sucker for bleeding hearts and money). It looks like the job is on!

Michael meets Fi outside of Valentine's offices and she fills him in on the details. Moments later Cheese Wagstaff, Method Man , Clifford Smith Valentine walks out. Apparently Cheese is doing a lot better than we thought after the final episode of 'The Wire', he's changed his name and opened up a record label and a clothing line. A pretty impressive feat all things considered, someone better tell Slim Charles about this! (I promise, no more Wire references in this review...)
Eddie is also with him and turns out to be some bearded goof with overly flashy sunglasses; I guess he'd better enjoy those while he can because Michael's track record this season has left a lot of corpses behind him.

Michael has to go meet the Stick (Victor) down the beach, Stick has a few things to reveal - first that Michael will be involved in a hijacking job for the people who burned him and second that the phone he's been given is not only a "bit" girly but it also allows them to keep a constant track on him with GPS.
So Michael proceeds to take apart the phone but finds a small love note in it for him, well a note that tells him to leave the GPS in anyway. So he decides to use call forwarding instead while Fi fills him in on Valentine's operation and demands a new pair of shoes for payment, knowing Fi a pair of old training shoes are not going to cut it.

Michael calls a bomb scare in the building next to Valentine's in order to get the building cleared out without raising too much suspicion. The bomb squad also provide a handy helping hand for Michael; they jam all electronic signals in the area as a part of procedure and that means all the wireless cameras in Valentine's building are now useless. Michael heads inside and locates the files inside a filing cabinet (just like in the Pakistani embassy a few episodes back, but padlocked this time), but things never run smooth as Eddie turns up and tells the security to get back inside the building pronto.

After making his escape via the sub ceiling Michael meets up with Ricky and reveals that there was nothing incriminating in the files. It seems that Eddie isn't the kind of idiot who keeps his criminal activities on record in his office, it's almost a relief to learn this as only an asinine goober would do that. Instead Eddie is seeking a front for his laundered money, perhaps he could sink it into property development or selling custom wheel rims? So Michael decides to insert himself directly into the equation and convince Eddie to wash his money via Michael, which requires another chat with Barry!

I'm not sure why I like to see Barry on the screen, I guess it's because he's the only recurring character from the first season who's made it into more than one episode. It's nice to see a little permanence in the show beyond Michael, Fi, Sam and his family. It's also great to see how Michael is going to use Barry and land him in more trouble. Something Barry is happy to point out himself. Barry has two offers for Michael; $5K gets him a meeting with Eddie and $3K gets him a meeting if he can promise nothing will happen to the intermediary. Michael being Michael he plumps for the $5K option plan.

It turns out that Sam is having a whale of a time living with Madeline; he's taken to the domesticated life like a duck in a bathtub. But I guess my hope that Sharon would get a little more screen time isn't going to get helped in this scene; she literally walks in, speaks one line and walks out. It was a pretty funny appearance, but I mean 'Come on!' She's a headlining character in this series...

Sam has set up a cover identity for Michael and it's time for him to meet with Eddie and make his pitch. While one can always hope for an amusing accent I'm not sure we're going to get one this week and we don't. But Michael does put on a bit of a persona and voice for the whole thing as 'Jimmy' (McNulty? Ok, ok, I'm sorry!) so I'll live with that. It's just a shame he didn't get himself a fake moustache for the role as well.

Jimmy works Eddie by showing him an empty condo and pitching the whole shebang to him; Eddie is a little cautious and clears off without making an offer. Which is very convenient for Michael because just as Eddie walks out of view Ricky phones, he's concerned about a meeting that Valentine is about to hold. Fi and Michael head off to monitor the situation from outside the build, Fi's first plan is to storm the place shooting like Axel Foley. Perhaps that could be kept as a back up plan? It turns out that Valentine is pretty angry at one Marcus who's attempting to steal a band from his label and for the moment Ricky isn't in the firing line.

I'm just going to take a step out here and talk about Method's performance in this scene, he pretty much nails his performance right on the head here. But it's not surprising that he does, because he's clearly channelling performances from people he's worked with in the past. I have to reference The Wire again at this point because the show has had a massive influence on his acting abilities and it's evident here in this scene. He manages to bring out a mix of Stringer, Avon and Marlo in this and I half expected him to produce a baseball bat De Niro style and club Marcus to death. I wasn't too far off as he chose to bust one of the platinum records over Marcus's nogging instead.

Things escalate, Valentine throws everyone out of the meeting room apart from Ricky and Fi kicks off at this. Taking her shotgun, wrapping it up and heading in while Michael tells her to wait. Valentine gives Ricky two days to produce the cash and Michael manhandles Fi away from the building.

Jimmy's second meeting with Eddie is interrupted by an unwelcome visitor, the Stick has turned up and he lays down the law with the heart phone, it is to stay with Michael at all times - because it brings out his eyes I guess. Stick then pushes things further by spouting off in front of Eddie and making it sound like Jimmy is either in bed with the Feds or at least under surveillance. I'm pretty sure acting like this is going to get Stick killed, Burn Notice only has room for one colossal jerk and that role is already filled by Michael.
Damage limitation is the order of the day now and Michael goes for it in the way he knows best and so 'Jimmy' accuses Eddie of ratting him out to the Feds.

Sam and Madeline step up to the plate and provide slightly obvious surveillance of Eddie; well Sam does, Madeline on the other hand thinks that they're going out looking for a new place for Sam. While Michael gets to meet with Stick and has the plan explained, apparently he's running lookout for Stick while the 'object' is retrieved. Michael is naturally curious about it, so we're treated to a little more spy excitement as he turns the trunk of his car into an x-ray machine.

Eddie calls Jimmy and they meet up again, Eddie's nervous thanks to Sam's photography and Madeline's big dark glasses. He wants Jimmy to move his money off shore to safety, but Jimmy is reluctant and Eddie is forced to coerce Jimmy into helping him. Eddie also reveals that he's planning to make a move on Ricky and Michael quickly reacts by sending Eddie off to get a bottle so he can warn Fi to get over to Ricky's place. Fi initially plans to use some firepower to solve the situation, but Michael doesn't want it to look like Ricky has help so she has to try something else. Fi being Fi she settles for driving wildly, shouting in an atrocious accent and throwing a rock through a window.

But now it's clear that Eddie won't move the money if Ricky is still alive, so Michael and Fi explain to Ricky that they're going to violently kill him off in order to get Eddie to make a move. Jimmy meets with Eddie and sets up the hit, providing the gun, target and reasoning. He then pushes Eddie just enough to provoke a fight and then get Eddie determined to take out Ricky himself. The scenes where Michael allow himself to be beaten up are always amusing and this one is no exception.

The next scene is a Burn Notice classic, we have Sam Axe in full distraction rant mode going toe to toe with Valentine. While Fi hangs around in the background until it's time to produce a gun and take Valentine for a ride. It's a short scene, but a fantastic one and I couldn't help but wish it was longer. Method and Bruce bantering was just excellent. I wonder where they're taking Valentine? That's a hard one to figure out...

Back at Ricky's place Eddie has the gun and it's time for some action with funky spy music playing. Ricky and Eddie get a little bit of interplay as Ricky convinces Eddie to spill the beans like a Bond villain explains his plan and reveals what he did and why before shooting Ricky with blanks. An exceptionally calm Valentine walks in at this point and Eddie realises what he's done and said.

Eddie gets to take a ride on a yacht and doesn't come back, which is pretty much the same as 'going upstairs' and going to Fort Lauderdale in this show. Fi gets the money to cover some new shoes but Michael declines to take the rest of the cash. He's turned into a real bleeding heart this season, well except for all the bodies he leaves behind him...

Last of all it's time for Michael and Stick to pull the job, but Michael has a few extra surprises planned for Stick. Most of them are the explosive kind as we're treated to not just one, but three explosions before Stick and Michael makes their get away with a rather light looking wooden crate. Stick isn't very happy with Michael's performance, it seems Stick prefers to kill people where possible - in fact it seems that Stick is pretty close to bat-shite crazy - but he lets it go and leaves.

Back at Madeline's place Sam has just finished cooking for Michael and Madeline, when he leaves Mady makes it very clear she knew what he was actually doing there and after he's gone she tells Michael that he should keep her in the loop. Hopefully this means she gets a little more screen time instead of being constantly stonewalled by Michael over every single little thing.

Finally we get to see what was inside the crate with Michael's makeshift x-ray. One military sniper rifle. I'm not sure why they needed to steal that specific one; or why they had to steal one at all, but I guess time will tell.

The episode was a pretty good one on the whole, not the best one so far but pretty decent. It had some decent action and an impressive performance from Method Man really kept things spiced up. It also kept a blistering pace and never seemed to lag, events thundered past and most scenes were over in moments. But this pace did make certain things seem forced, the Eddie/Ricky/Valentine scenario wasn't treated with as much detail as most one off plots are and in some ways that was a shame because the best scenes were the ones that revolved around those three.

Stick/Victor isn't a very interesting character in comparison to Carla, I'm hoping he's just around for the odd episode and if I'm honest I'm not sure why they chose to introduce him to the mix instead of having Carla do the job. It's possible that there is method to their madness and we'll find out why soon. But ultimately he just feels like he's there to get 'sent to Fort Lauderdale' with all the other missing people and as such he's a bit redundant.

3/5 for this one. Solid but not inspiring.

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This week's Burn Notice appears to be the first of the season where Matt Nix (the show's creator) hasn't had direct input into writing the script, it's also got a lot to live up to after last week's Sam Axe-centric episode which pretty much rocked all the buttons (except for maybe parts of the Larry/Bruce dinner scenes which weren't as funny as I'm sure they were supposed to be.) So Ben Watkin's script needs to deliver... And it does.

More after the link...

We open almost with the scene that we closed with last week, Michael and Fiona are pulling surveillance on the PO box (or whatever it's called in the US ;) that's apparently linked to Carla. After Fi abuses Michael a little more - I warned you Michael, never cross an Irish lass - an elderly looking female operative secretary is spotted making a pick up from the box and it's time to tail!

Michael and Fi follow the lady to a non-descript building with a noticeable lack of noticeable security. Of course, just because they're not dressed as security guards it doesn't mean they're not present and Michael clocks them quickly with the ingenious use of a poor (relatively) innocent pizza delivery man. The scene cuts to the logo before we get to see the guy get threatened with a gun by one of the security men, but it's pretty clear that the pizza guy is going to get into at least a small amount of trouble before he gets away. Michael's been landing a lot of people in sticky situations this season.

After the logo (I love how short the credits are for this show) we cut to Sam and Michael; they're having a conversation about surveillance for the building - at least Michael is trying to, Sam's quite interested in showing off his new watch and bragging about how well things are now going with Veronica. Just wait Sam, I'm sure Michael will bone things up for you soon enough!
Back at his place Michael is approached by an ex-con (wheelman) named Trevor who has a problem; he's gone clean and he wants to stay that way, but an ex-employer named Timo wants him for a job and won't take no for an answer. Michael seems exceedingly unwilling to assist him, but Trevor makes a long, heartfelt speech about promising his son he'll stay on the straight and narrow. Michael listens and then; in a really nice touch the camera focuses on Trevor's face before dropping those classic words across the screen "Trevor, The Client" and Michael accepts.

In the next scene we're introduced to the rest of the crew; there's C.J. who's a hustler, Gilbert Kessler the safe cracker, Kandi the muscle (don't you just hope Fi and her will go one on one?) and Timo. Michael's initial plan is to disrupt the group by putting police pressure onto one member (Gilbert) which should result in the job being called off. Step one is to introduce Fi to Gilbert, because what man in his right mind would say no to being chatted up by a pretty Irish nutjob? Apparently Gilbert would, so Sam comes up with a second plan and picks a fight with Gilbert - one which he has to keep walking back into because the local policemen are looking the other way. So Sam gets a pasting before Fi decides to scream and get the attention of the cops, of course Fi doesn't scream too soon as where's the fun in that?

But it turns out getting Gilbert banged up for violating his parole isn't enough (it never is) and Timo is still going ahead with the job. So Michael decides to use the opening created by the loss of Gilbert to get himself inserted into the group as a new safe cracker. Do you think we're going to be treated to another awful accent flavoured with a terrible cover identity? We can hope so!

After Michael installs a webcam on the roof of a building nearby to Carla's Sam notices a single point in the security routine that Michael can exploit and then he heads out for dinner with Veronica. A dinner that goes a little too well, as when Sam lays the charm on Veronica responds by asking him to marry her. Something he seems a little reluctant to respond to right now...

Michael works on his safe cracking skills a little before meeting up with Timo (Timo's name makes me think of the Timosil song as sung by Dr. Fünke’s 100% Natural Good-Time Family-Band from Arrested Development) and the gang; sadly he doesn't put on an accent this time, but he does use a rather amusing style of conversation for his cover identity - 'Joseph' (not Joe). Timo wants proof of 'Joseph's' skills but getting him to crack the safe in a small store but Michael pushes the situation further by refusing to do so. Soon enough both 'Joseph' and Trevor are being threatened at gunpoint and Michael proves his skills by cracking the safe (I was kind of hoping he'd say "This safe is for amateurs, I'll crack something that's actually challenging') and is given an address for the meet.

At the meet 'Joseph' is introduced to C.J., given a new phone and is told about the plan. Actually, he's told almost nothing about the plan what-so-ever as Timo is a total secrecy and control freak. Instead 'Joseph' has to try and get whatever information he can by prying for details about the safe, he's told what make it is and when it was installed. Then the meeting is over and Trevor has to stay behind, perhaps for lines in detention "I must not recommend rude safe crackers."

Back at Michael's place Trevor provides the last piece of information that the gang needs to locate the target. Sam agrees to sort out finding the location (Sam's well connected isn't he?) but he's also rather anxious to talk about his dinner-date with Veronica. Michael provides his usual level of advice with a "Say 'Yes'" followed by a "Say 'No'". Sometimes you have to wonder why Sam's still friends with Michael, so far he's done nothing but cause him trouble and even now he's completely unwilling to give his friend any advice. But then again Michael's always been a bit of a jerk and that's kept him alive so far.

The next complication to rise up its head comes from C.J. who's already worked his way inside the organisation like some kind of faceman (actually thinking about it the entire of Timo's gang reminds me of the A-Team somewhat - I guess it's because Burn Notice reminds me of the A-Team in it's style) and this means they can't easily tip off the target (a jewelry store) without Timosil finding out. Michael puts on a brave face, but once Trevor's gone the mask drops and we see just how difficult things are looking (or how fed up Michael is with this job, maybe both).

Next up it's time for one of the Sam/Fi car conversation specials. I love these conversations and this one doesn't disappoint. Sam asks for Fi's advice on Veronica's proposal but at first refuses to give details as it's "grown up stuff you (Fi) wouldn't understand." Then he promptly caves and reveals the truth; it turns out Sam's already technically married (and has been since the 1970s) but didn't get a divorce as he didn't think he was the marrying type... At least until now. So Fi tells him to fess up to Veronica and deal.
Meanwhile the young lad that Sam bribed at the start of the scene (did I mention that? I'm sure I did...) creates the window for Michael to get inside Carla's building, but a phone call from Timosil means he has to abandon the plan and get back to the boathouse.

It turns out that the plan is on and Trevor is freaking out about it. So Michael makes a promise that Trevor will never have to worry about Timosil again; considering Michael's track record this season it seems likely this will happen as the body count has been a lot, lot higher this season (something I've not really talked about because it seems everyone and their grandma wants to talk about how "Michael is getting people killed" and I like to buck trends). Michael leaves a note for the gang and then heads off to do the job.

The fake A-Team are let in by C.J. under the disguise of workmen from Montaro Heating and Air and after getting inside the security gate they surprise the guards with some shiny guns. Then things go a little weird due to some unusual choices in cutting and music. I had to rewind the scene to make sure I hadn't wandered into the wrong show by accident when Timosil just disappeared from view and some kind of cyberpunk theme broke out. This entire scene is filled with strange cutting and editing techniques, I guess with the intent of making it more exciting than it really is; but it doesn't work. Eventually Sam saves us from this by cutting a wire to trip the alarm and the F-team bails out without stealing anything after torching the van to remove evidence.

The F-Team split up and head for their cars, but Timosil's tires have been let down by Sam and he's left stranded near the scene. The rest of the crooks meet up and 'Joseph' lands Timosil in it by informing C.J. and Kandi that he gave the jewels to him. Michael gives the signal and Fi blows up the boat house, making everyone fall over. Kandi is none to impressed with this and her follow up meeting with Timosil ends with her making an explosive point to him. Trevor seems pretty content with it all and decides not to ask too many probing questions before leaving.

So we cut to Michael's apartment with Fi and Michael getting ready to go out for the job on Carla's place. Sam turns up - having acted on Fi's advice - with bags, Veronica didn't react very well to his confession about already being married (I was wrong! It was Fi who ruined things for Sam this time!) Last of all Michael manages to get inside Carla's building only to find out she's already gone - having already spotted him on his first failed attempt and she's left him a gloating photo message, some balloons, champagne and another crossword...

Looks like Carla has another job for him...

The episode was a pretty darn solid one; it had a nice mix of action and smart dialog, while also remaining pacy enough to avoid any dragging sections. There were some very nice touches in the interaction between the trio and it was a lot of fun to watch.
But the section where the heist itself starts was pretty disjointing to watch; you get used to the occasional split-second freeze frame in BN but the editing and effects in that section were way beyond the norm. It started to feel like 24 or Mission Impossible (the film) and the editing cut where Timosil just vanished in a quick fade was completely jarring.

In all I'd give it a solid 3.5


It's also time to review what we know about Carla:

‣ She's an accomplished spy who's clearly well informed about Michael
‣ She consistently stays one or two steps ahead of him and has him under constant surveillance. Surveillance he often fails to notice
‣ She works with a skilled team who are willing to abandon assets if Michael gets too close
‣ She has quite a wry sense of humour and is willing to push, taunt and tease Michael
‣ The job/target that she's got Michael running errands for requires serious security data and professionally made high tech security key
‣ Information on her is very high security, the Pakistani head of security was very reluctant to hand anything over

Now just speculating here, but I wouldn't be surprised if Michael is set up as a scapegoat for the job at the end of this season. He certainly seems to be constantly on the backfoot where Carla is concerned, so far he's only managed two minor victorys against her that she doesn't seem to be aware of (the duplicate keycard and the file on her) .

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Burn Notice review this evening when I get back from work and watch it. It might be a little shorter than the previous ones because I have around ten thousand words to write by the thirteenth elsewhere. But I'll try to do the awesome show justice.

Anyway, I've woken up far to early for work so I'm going to do something productive in the extra hour I have left. It's that time of year for me, the one where I closely scrutinise the upcoming fall lineup and decide what to watch and what to let fall by.

And here they are (with comments).

Monday:

Prison Break - Miss
(Premieres September 1st)
I loved the first season of Prison Break, it was amazing. But I stopped watching halfway through the third season (shortly after Sarah died because the series lost whatever chemistry it had left) and even the teaser trailer suggesting they've brought her back isn't enough to make me return to the show. It's just gone on too long now and I want it to finish.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Maybe
(Premieres September 8th)
I found the first season surprisingly enjoyable and as I've always been a fan of Terminator 1 + 2 I'm certainly going to watch this when it's shown over here in Blighty. But it's not top of my list and I won't be upset if I don't see it.

Heroes - Hit!
(Premieres September 22nd)
Yes last season was rather weak, yes I'm annoyed that it seems Nathan Petrelli has survived being killed off yet again *YAWN*! But I'm still going to watch it and keep watching it as long as Sylar and Noah stay in the show. It's their performances I watch the show for as they are the most interesting characters there.

How I Met Your Mother - Hit!
(Premieres September 22nd)
No doubt about it, I love this show with a passion and I'm thrilled it's going to a fourth season. Neil Patrick Harris is a television god. This is one of the best comedy shows on television right now.

Boston Legal - Hit!
(Premieres September 22nd)
Yes, last season wasn't the strongest season of Boston Legal and yes, it's gotten weaker as time goes on. But this is the final hurrah for Denny, Alan, Jerry and the gang. Boston Legal has suffered immensely from it's cast changes and really it's become a victim of it's own switching about. But ultimately I want to see how it all ends and I know it will be fun to watch.

Life - Hit!
(Premieres September 29th)
Last season this was the surprise break out hit show for me personally and I've been looking forward to seeing the second season all year. Damien Lewis is a fantastic actor and the show manages to provide interesting cases, strong meta plot and just an overall fun experience to watch. Plus it has Zen Buddhism teachings!

Tuesday:

Fringe - Holding Judgement
(Premieres September 9th)
Sorry, but JJ's work has flopped one too many times for me to even consider watching this. I'm predicting one good season followed by 3-4 ones of complete tripe. I'll just watch Regenesis instead.
(Edit: Dan's convinced me to give this one a few more episodes before I judge on this one.)

House - Hit!
(Premieres September 16th)
After last season how could I not watch? I want to see how the new team develops and David Shore has even promised to bring back Chase and Cameron for a little more screen time this season. Hugh Laurie is fantastic, now I just wish they'd give Stephen Fry a guest starring spot in the show for an episode (yeah, yeah, I know... Stunt casting, but who cares?)

The Shield - Hit! Hit! Hit!
(Premieres September 2nd)
This is the show I've been waiting for all year. I'm both simultaneously excited that it's almost here and sad because it'll be all over for good soon. The Shield is my favourite show on television and it was the gateway show that brought me full on into the world of television watching. I absolutely love The Shield and I've been waiting to see how it all ends since the last season finished.

Wednesday:

Bones - Hit! (sort of)
(Premieres September 3rd)
I'm actually going to wait until this is out on DVD before I watch it. I like watching Bones on DVD, but it's not high enough on my important list to watch as it comes out. Basically it's getting pushed aside till a later date because I already have too many other shows to watch.

Thursday:

My Name is Earl - Hit!
(Premieres September 25th)
Last season was a bit of a roller coaster ride; at times it was brilliant and at times not so exciting. But overall the experience was most enjoyable and I think the show is so well written that I'd be crazy not to watch it.

Supernatural - Hit!
(Premieres September 18th)
I was completely blown away by how good Supernatural turned out to be (see here) and the 3rd season comes out here in the UK just in time for me to get on board with the 4th season. So I certainly will do so (and then get it on DVD and watch it again).

The Office - Hit!
(Premieres September 25th)
I love The Office and I can't wait to watch more. Since the second season it's never had a bad episode.

30 Rock - Hit!
(Premieres October 30th)
I recently reviewed the first season of 30 Rock and I'm keenly awaiting the second one on DVD. So of course I'll be watching the third season!

Life on Mars - Miss
(Premieres October 9th)
I'm sorry, I know I should probably watch this. But I'm just not interested in yet another remake. Even if the amazing Harvey Keitel is attached to the show; I'm sure I'd enjoy it but I can't bring myself to watch this. Maybe one day I'll watch it on DVD instead.

True Blood - Maybe
(Premieres September 7th)
I haven't decided about this one, it should be good. It's Alan Ball and HBO, they gave us Six Feet Under, but the pilot episode seemed a little lackluster and the concept is... uninspiring. I might let it fall by the wayside and then catch up in the summer.

Dexter - Hit! Hit! Hit!
(Premieres September 28th)
The first season was ball-shockingly amazing and the second season was so good it could make you super-fertile just through the act of watching it so you'd have to be utterly deranged to want to miss out on the third season. Once The Shield is gone from our screens this will probably be the best show we have. I cannot wait for this one.

Family Guy - Hit! (sort of)
(Premieres September 28th)
I'm looking forward to seeing "Something, something, something dark side" as Blue Harvest was amazing. The rest of the season I'll watch out of loyalty (and because it's occasionally still funny). But I'm not exactly hanging off the edge of my chair waiting for this one.

American Dad - Hit!
(Premieres September 28th)
It's like Family Guy, but right now it's just better.

Is there anything you think I should be watching? Do you agree or disagree? I'd love to hear your opinions, so speak up!

(In case I haven't mentioned your favourite show the full tv.com listing guide of the fall season is here)
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Kyle Chandler as Coach Eric Taylor
Connie Britton as Tami Taylor
Gaius Charles as Brian 'Smash' Williams
Zach Gilford as Matt Saracen
Minka Kelly as Lyla Garity
Taylor Kitsch as Tim Riggings
Aimee Teegarden as Julie Taylor
Adrianne Palicki as Tara Collette
Jesse Plemons Landry Clarke
and Scott Porter as Jason Street




In the small town of Dillon, Texas every day matters but only one night counts; Friday night, when the lights go up and the Dillon Panthers head on the football field.

Friday Night Lights is an award winning show adapted from the book (and in some way film) of the same name. It's based in the fictional Texas town of Dillon and revolves around the lives of their high school football team, new head coach, star quarterback and the people involved with them. It currently stands at two seasons (37 episodes) and is confirmed for a third one, which will return in the fall.

I'm afraid I'll have to slightly spoiler the pilot episode as it's the events in that episode which set up the entire series. So if you feel your experience of the show will be harmed in some way if you know what happens in the first 40 odd minutes then don't read any further.

The Dillon Panthers are at the top of their game at the start of the series, Coach Taylor has just been promoted to head coach for the team and Jason Street is their star quarterback. With him at the head of the team and backed by 'Smash' Williams and Tim Riggings they look set to win the state championship with relative ease.


But; as wise words once stated - when you're at the top, you only have one place to go - and indeed this is the case. In the season's opening match things take a dramatic turn for the worse; with events that will impact on the lives of everyone in the town, but especially the lives of Coach Taylor, Jason Street and reserve Quarterback Matt Saracen. During the match against Westerby Jason is hit hard during a tackle and ends up being taken to hospital. Leaving the untried and untested Matt Saracen the huge task of stepping up into the role of QB.

It's the ascension of Coach Taylor to Head Coach and the loss of Jason Street (to a spinal injury) that set events in motion for the entire season. What was going to be a relatively safe and easy states run for the Panthers becomes an uphill struggle, Coach Taylor faces pressure from just about every member of the community - all with opinions of their own to put forward - while Matt Saracen is suddenly thrust into the limelight and has to develop his skills both as a player and a leader rapidly. For the people of Dillon failure will not be tolerated from these two and they are held up to such an impossibly high standard that it seems impossible for them to match.


Jason Street himself has huge problems of his own, his life seemed to be mapped out for him. Football was his ticket through life, it would have provided for everything. But this has been taken away from him and now he needs to come to terms with the loss, as does his girlfriend Lyla (who doesn't seem to comprehend fully that their lives have totally changed) and best friend Tim (who has taken to drinking heavily out of guilt).

I really have very little common ground with Friday Night Lights, I've seen a grand total of one single (American) Football match, I've never been to Texas, I've never experienced life in America, let alone life in a small Texan town, I've never seen the fuss where team sports are concerned (I prefer individual ones like boxing, fencing and martial arts) and honestly I have no real background to appreciate this show from. But I absolutely love watching it, the show is incredibly accessible, even for someone who's so isolated from the life it represents as I am. I have no problem clicking with the show at all, I enjoy the conversations, I understand the importance of the team to the town, I even get enough of the matches to understand what's going on. In short, unbelievably enough I can relate.

This is because Friday Night Lights is not just a show about football, it's a show about being human and what's important to people. It's a show that cares about the little things and is willing to paint a realistic feeling picture, from the dialog and make up all the way to the camera work so much effort is put into making things feel authentic. At times you could be forgiven for thinking that FNL was a documentary, it's that realistic. From it's wonderful opening track (and some incidental music) scored by Explosions In the Sky to the sheer depth of the characters in the show FNL comes across as a show that really cares about it's subject. It cares about what it has to say; just like a sports fan it's loyal, passionate and real and truthful about it. It really is a thing of beauty and joy to watch, even when it's dealing with the really ugly things in life it's still amazing.

Now I do have a single complaint to give with regards to this show, much of the camera work is 'shaky cam' as if it was recorded with a home camera. I know this is done to highlight authenticity and add to the realism, but at times it's a little too much and I have to take the odd break because it makes me feel (slightly) unwell. But this is a minor personal gripe and despite it I will still happily sit down and watch this show again and again.

This is one not only for fans of football but for anyone who enjoys character driven drama with heart and balls. It's one that has won much critical acclaim but still hasn't been recognised by the general viewing public (just like The Wire's plight). But if you're a bit more cerebral than the average viewer and enjoy watching something that attempts to engage you while entertaining you well, Friday Night Lights might just be the show for you.

For previous entries in the Why You Should Watch range go here.
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Starring:
Chris Barrie as Arnold Rimmer
Craig Charles as Dave Lister
Danny John-Jules as "The Cat"
and Norman Lovett as Holly

Red Dwarf is one of those shows that almost never was, at the time of it's conception the concept was pretty much unheard of. The BBC didn't really do much Sci-fi and they certainly didn't consider the concept of a Sci-Fi/Comedy to be worth pursuing. So the show very nearly didn't happen. But, fortunately for us it eventually did and the rest is history.

Red Dwarf is the story of Dave Lister - the last human left alive, Arnold Rimmer - the hologrammatic recreation of his former bunk mate, "The Cat" - a creature that evolved from Dave's pet and Holly - the (now senile) ships computer. The first series starts with the events that lead up to Dave's predicament and deal mostly with his attempts to adjust to his new life. It's a very slow paced, character driven sitcom that is mostly powered by the interactions between Dave and Arnold. Over the course of the series Dave discovers he's the last human alive, that he's been in suspended animation for over three million years, his pet cat's descendants evolved into human-like creatures and he was the creator of an entire religion (plus the cause of religious wars.) He also experiences visions of the future, intense hallucinations that become solid and not just one, but two Rimmers.

The first series's style is very much a traditional British sitcom, you have the dysfunctional 'couple' who's interactions drive most of the story alongside the 'wacky' characters who provide either exposition or just comedy. The characters are all deeply flawed and actually quite an unpleasant bunch. Dave Lister is essentially the laziest slob in existence ever, 'Cat' is little more than vanity on legs, Holly is alternately senile, sarcastic and occasionally cruel and Arnold. Well Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie) is the centerpiece of the show, a deeply flawed individual who's a petty minded, rude, cruel and pathetic little jumped up snot of a man. A distillation of the worst roommate you could ever experience combined with everything unpleasant you could experience in a superior. It's a tribute to the man's skills that he can play such a nasty little toad and still be sympathetic and likable.

The performances from the other actors range greatly, Craig Charles is very inexperienced at this point in his career and as such the bulk of the work tends to lay on Chris's shoulders. But it's not like he's bad, he's just not fully grown into the role at this point. Danny John-Jules is fantastic as the Cat, but this isn't difficult for him because the role is a very physical one and as a dancer he's eminently suited to it. As for Norman Lovett; he's superb as Holly, selling the right balance of senility and comedy into his performance. He's nothing more than a talking head/voice over but his presence is easily the equal of the rest when he's performing.

It's also worth mentioning the model shots at this point, all of the work for exterior shots in the first series of Red Dwarf is done entirely with model shots and it's a tribute in this CGI infested age just how realistic (if you can call a ship in space realistic) they look. On the other hand, the interior sets are decidedly simplistic and ropey but that really adds to the charm of the show. Rather than making space travel look all flash and shiny Red Dwarf manages to highlight how mundane the truth of working in space would become with it's dull grey minimal sets. They look cheap, but it's the kind of cheap that works. Adding to the series rather than taking away from it.

The first series is a slow start and is not the best example of the show, it's in fact a very different beast when compared to the one that starts to evolve in series 3 (and peaks in series 6), but it does contain some absolutely classic comedy moments and it's a superb piece of character driven comedy. There really is (almost) no better place to start experiencing Red Dwarf than here.


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Last week Michael (eventually) managed to get his hands on some files about Carla, this week we open with him reading through the remains of them (they've suffered heavy redaction of course) and sifting what information he can get. Fi joins him (Michael is like the easiest spy in the world to locate if you know who he is), they discuss how Carla might be using her previous cover as an irrigation consultant in Miami and Fi points out that he has a tail (see what I mean?). We then get a little bit of exciting action as Fi drives, Michael bails from the car and then throws a rickshaw in front of the tail. It turns out to be Nate, Michael's brother. This is the first appearance from Nate (Seth Peterson) since Loose Ends (the first season finale) and predictably enough he's got a problem for Michael to solve.

It turns out that a Russian lass named Katya has 'lost' her sister. By lost I mean she attempted to get herself illegally smuggled into America with the aid of gangsters and now they're demanding a lot of cash to release her. More money than a pretty, but poor Russian receptionist can afford. So Katya turned to Nate and asked him where she could get a gun (the girl has spirit, her response to the demands was to swing a crowbar at them) in order to solve her problem. Nate instead suggested Michael, as he solves these kind of things everyday... Well not everyday but often enough.

Michael goes to meet up with Sam and they discuss the job and the file a little. Sam mentions one Harvey Gunderson and we get to see a picture, why it's a photo of comedian Larry Miller. I'm sure Harvey won't be making an appearance in this episode then, no sir!

Michael, Nate and Katya meet up with Fi to check out Ivan - the human trafficker. Fortunately for everyone Ivan likes to wear a selection of Russian prison tattoos that nicely advertise all his skills and crimes. These include stealing, working as an enforcer and killing people; I think there was also one which explained how he likes long walks on the beach and cuddling in front of the fire. But I might have just imagined it. Needless to say Ivan is a nasty piece of work, but that's not quite enough to scare off Katya, her response to finding out Ivan is a killer is pretty... feisty.

Meanwhile Bruce Sam meets up with Larry Harvey over dinner and attempts to get information on the irrigation consultants working in Miami, but Harvey isn't an easy fish to land. He's determined to milk Sam for as much food and drink as he can before releasing the information. It's a short scene (as many of these have been so far) but a pretty good one. I've always enjoyed Larry's work since I saw him in "The Doorman" (he's also pretty good in the few appearances he's made as Edwin Poole in Boston Legal).
Needless to say, Michael is not too impressed with the bill but it's Sam's explanation of what happened that really shines. Bruce is just awesome as Sam, he really is. (Quick trivia question. What other show have both Jeffery and Bruce guest starred in. Hint: They were not in the same episode. Answer at the bottom of this post.) Anyway, Fi's surveillance has revealed that Ivan keeps his distance from the kidnapped victims so the guys hatch a plan that involves kidnapping Ivan and then interrogating him while pretending to be government officials. A plan that Sam really takes a shine to. It's Fi who pulls the abduction job (almost) solo, she entices Ivan over into range and then attempts to hit him with a stun gun. But things don't go entirely to plan and she ends up in a Mexican standoff. She has the gun in range of Ivan and has the drop on him, but she can't zap him without zapping herself because he has a hold of her leg. Her solution is to zap him anyway and let Sam cart them both away unconscious.

It's quite possible that this electric shock has pushed Fi even closer to the edge. She's certainly all kinds of crazy in the following scene. (Gabrielle sells it so well imo). But it seems that Sam is also getting a little 'excited' as he's rather enthusiastic about the upcoming interrogation.
Sure enough he really puts it full on while interrogating Ivan (in a brilliant scene), but it's no good. Sam's a trained expert when it comes to interrogation and he realises quickly that Ivan isn't going to break in the short time frame of three days. So he hatches up a new plan, Michael is going to be put into the 'cell' with Ivan as another member of the Russian organisation and we're treated to a rather impressive scene where Jeffery shows off his skills in language and martial arts before winning the trust of Ivan (through the age old classic method of accusing the other person of being the leak/mole/traitor when it's actually you).

Next we get another one of those great Fi/Sam in a car conversations, it's wonderful how well the pair play off each other and I'm glad the writers have decided to build on this by continuing to give them scenes. They're scoping out the location where the girls are kept but the conversation ranges from Sam's continued failures with Harvey to Fi's pervy neighbour. I just love how natural the whole thing feels.
Once inside the restaurant where the girls are being kept (on the top floor) they use a similar plan to the one used by Michael and Sam last week. In short Sam causes a scene with some loud and annoying complaining while Fi sneaks in while everyone is distracted. But it turns out that the girls are not being kept behind heat shielding and instead it's a piracy ring (it turns out FACT are right! Piracy really does fuel crime, in fictional media at least anyways...) So she leaves with Sam, who was getting his face acquainted with the bar.

This episode really is a showcase of Bruce's talents, he's pretty much running both story lines by himself and it's done so well that you might not even realise how Sam-centric this episode actually is. One of the great things about Burn Notice is because Jeffery is providing narrative in mamy scenes - including ones he's not present in - it's possible to have plenty of stuff going on for the other characters without taking the focus from Michael.

We're treated to a pair of scenes with Sam center stage, the first of which is another interrogation scene with Ivan and the second is a truely fantastic scene where Sam changes tack on Harvey and twists him hard where it hurts. By threatening his career. It's a great little scene which is funny and showcases how great these two men are at their job.
Meanwhile, Michael works on Ivan a little more and learns enough to realise that there's no way they'll get the location of the girls in time. Ivan discloses that the girls will be killed if anyone other than him approaches the safe house and also that the girls will be killed on Friday regardless. So Michael talks to Nate about another change of plan, it's time to let Ivan engineer an escape. Nate is not to happy with this and has a bit of a go, so Michael walks off and it's up to his mother to talk some sense into him, while she doesn't have a big role this week Sharon Gless is very good in the scenes she does have.

The escape plan goes exceptionally well, Michael, Sam and Nate sell it and Ivan just can't wait to buy up every last bit of it. So Ivan agrees to bring Michael to the safe house while Fi and Sam follow in Michael's (not so discrete) car. Ivan agrees to move the girls and then heads off to tell the boss man, leaving Michael with his men. Men who are blindsided by Michael attacking them and then Sam and Fi turning up. Michael opens the van the girls were contained in and lets them out.

Most of the Russians skip town, Ivan "goes upstairs" (which doesn't sound like it was a pleasant experience) and Katya is reunited with her sister. Everyone lives happily ever after, except for Ivan who turns up in a dumpster.

All in all this is easily the best episode of the season so far; while Sharon (Madeline) still had to sit on the sidelines a little she did have a couple of good scenes. Seth (Nate) had plenty to do as well, but the real meat of the story was handed over to Gabrielle and of course Bruce. And both of them rose up to the challenge; not only meeting it but exceeding it with ease. Bruce in particular was stunning in this episode, he's always a delight to see on screen and this was no exception.



I have no hesitation in giving this one 4.5 TVs.

Answer to trivia: The show they've both guest starred in is Homicide: Life on the Street. Jeffery played a criminal on a rampage (with a twist) and Bruce played a cop in a two parter the following season.
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