I finally got around to watching the pilot episode for Showtime's new drama/thriller series Homeland.  The show centers around Carrie Mathison/Anderson (Claire Danes), a CIA officer who suspects that the army Sergeant recently rescued from Iraq, one Nicolas Brody (Damien Lewis) has been turned during his eight year captivity and is planning an attack on US soil. The series has been greenlit for a full season, be warned - there are spoilers ahead for the episode.

It's a concept which plugs straight into the heart of a nation's experiences, concerns and fears.  Whilst terrorism is the least effective form of warfare (it tends to inspire defiance, strength and many noble traits in the people who have been attacked), it is a very real and constant threat in our current societies.  The insidious nature of the acts and the often civilian targets make it something that has the potential to hang over all our heads. Homeland takes this one step further, making the enemy not just a group of far away radicals or a Sleeper Cell, instead it gives the (potential) enemy an American face in Brody.

The cast is nothing short of fantastic, along with Danes and Lewis (sounds like an 80s cop buddy partnership), we also have Morena Baccarin (Firefly, V) as Brody's wife Jessica, Mandy Patinkin (Princess Bride, Dead Like Me, Criminal Minds) as Saul (Carrie's mento figure), David Harewood (Robin Hood, The Vice) and David Marciano (The Shield, Due South) amongst others.

The pilot unfolds in a manner that is reminiscent of The Shield's opening pilot, the punch comes in the last few moments (almost literally) and until then much of the episode is spent setting up the premise and introducing the characters.  It doesn't have the massive left turn that The Shield achieves, instead providing a huge indicator of guilt via flashbacks, but the result is similar - you're left in little doubt about Brody's Guilt/Innocence by the end of it.  I say little because this show, if it is going to run for any length of time, is probably going to be very twisty and turny.

However I do have concerns about Homeland, I'm going to watch it as I enjoy watching shows with bad people, and there is no doubt that both Anderson (Danes) and Brody (Lewis) are not decent people, not by any stretch of the imagination.  Anderson has severe mental problems that are only tempered by her brilliance, Brody is a suspected terrorist - even Jessica (Baccarin) is not without sin as she has been seeing Brody's friend Mike (Diego Klattenhoff) during the eight years that Brody has been MIA.  Make no mistake, this is a show about people with personal issues or political agendas.  It has the potential to take more turns and loops than the average season of 24 used to.

This is the problem, I'm not sure how far the concept can go, either Brody is going to turn out to be a 100% genuine threat to America and have to be dealt with, or he is going to be involved in a series of agent/double agent/is he/isn't he fake outs that if handled incorrectly will turn out terrible.  I'm interested in watching to see where this goes, but I can see myself dropping the show rapidly if it doesn't manage to click with me.  The cast is good, but the writing and plotting is going to be key here, especially if the show is going to run for more than a single season; but the writing team does not entirely fill me with confidence we have Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff.  The good news is that Gansa and Gordon have worked together for a long time, the bad news is they worked on the later part of 24, you know - the bit where the show jumped the shark repeatedly?  Gideon Raff was associated with 'Prisoners of War' the series that Homeland is based on, but I can find little information about that series on the web at this time. Raff's other work seems highly inconsistent.

It's enough to raise concerns, but the proof is in the pudding (so to speak) and as such I'm going to follow Homeland each week, at least until I've had enough - hopefully for the whole run.

For alternative takes on this have a look at Rob Buckley's review and Dan Owen's review.
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Whelp, that's another series over and done with for Doctor Who and while I land firmly in the 'bored with Alex Kingston/River Song/Melody Pond' camp (mostly because of Kingston's performance lacking any consistency or likability) I do have to say that it was pretty darn good.


The Doctor has decided that running away is enough and it's time to die, but instead of picking up where we left off last episode we're treated to a fantastical story told by a bearded Soothsayer/The Doctor to Caesar/Churchill in a reality where dinosaurs are alive, the Roman Empire hasn't reformed into the Catholic Church and is instead also the British Empire.  It's a world that's a compete mess and apparently a world where time never changes because it's dying.


The story was pretty darn good, there were plot holes, fallible events and huge leaps of faith/logic to deal with; but by the end of it it hung together pretty well.  The Doctor Who finales historically have been a mixed bag, under Rusty they were emotional triumphs that were let down by his inability to write science fiction without resorting to Deus Ex Machina to resolve everything (or in one case, a wonderful coffee shop conversation, surrounded by a terrible flying John Simm, and followed by an overly long death that felt 50% Opera swansong and 50% RTD swansong.  


This one was one of the better ones, there was a lot to follow and a lot to get your head around but it made sense, it was clever and it wiped clean a lot of the "damage" Rusty had caused over the time he was in charge of Doctor Who.  I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but Moffat's work has gradually been cleaning away the dramatic changes Rusty put into place when he regenerated the series.  The Daleks have returned to a more familiar form (as opposed to the loose analogs for religion they became) - even if they do now look like iPods and now The Doctor is due to return to the shadows and become a figure of mystery again - much like he was in the original series, where he could wander about and people often thought he was a harmless traveler.  That's pretty good, and all you have to do now Mr Moffat, is bring back the Time Lords, thank you very much.


I would be amiss if I didn't at least touch on the hanging threads left to tease future events.  In essence we've been told that the Eleventh Doctor will die (and regenerate) at Tranzalor - however it's worded as the 'fall of eleven' so there's still a little room for wiggle room - mind you it's not worth bothering too much about how it'll pan out, the Internet has created such a forum for speculation that it's impossible for any writer to surprise viewers when dropping hints like that.  People are very wise to foreshadowing unless it's done in a subtle fashion (see Arrested Development's second season and The Wire for the definition of subtle foreshadowing).  Moffat took a pop at this during the episode with a fun jibe about the speculation around River Song.


I do hope that this means the end of River Song in the series, as I have written before many times - I just don't like the character, she's rubbish - and I'm concerned about what it means for Amy and Rory going ahead (Amy's in essence a killer, that's something The Doctor doesn't tolerate in companions - even if it "hasn't happened" because it took place in an alternative time stream.


I think I'm very contented with "The Wedding of River Song", it was a well crafted piece that hung together brilliantly.  It was fast paced, exciting and faintly ridiculous - but it makes sense when you look at the overall picture, there wasn't a big button labelled 'reset to normal' here, instead there was a brilliant man coming up with a brilliant plan for his own survival - saving the universe and himself at the same time.  It's... to quote Ace... "Well devious".


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Image from here

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Image from here

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Image from here.

Last week's episode "Let's Kill Hitler" was not my favourite cup of Doctor tea, in fact it was the latest in a run of episodes that I've found to be substandard (everything since "The Doctor's Wife" I've found to be kind of sucky if you're interested), in fact I was reaching the point where I was getting tired of The Silence and River Song, well more tired than usual.

Fortunately the preview for "Night Terrors" outlined an episode that looked like it was going to be old school Doctor Who, a monster, scary stuff and fun lines.  Unfortunately it was written by Mark Gatiss, writer of "The Unquiet Dead" (genuinely good), "The Idiot's Lantern" (pretty poor) and "Victory of the Daleks" (awful with a few moments of brilliance).  So the quality of writing was not ensured - Datura summed it up well when she commented at the start of the episode "Mark Gatiss, his writing is always a mess."

I sound like I'm going to open up another round of episode bashing don't I?  Well I'm not, because "Night Terrors" was actually quite a decent standalone story that ticked most of the boxes a Doctor Who needs to.  At it's core it was a retelling of "Fear Her", but this time the story was told in a stronger fashion.  In fact, looking back on the episode it hangs together exceptionally well - creating a piece that's about adoption, childhood fears and the love of a parent.  Daniel Mays, as Alex the father of George was given the bulk of the story to carry on his shoulders, this episode was about Alex and George, with The Doctor supporting them while Amy and Rory provided a little classic 'companion peril'.  Daniel delivers; he's very, very good in the role and more than capable of carrying the acting burden, this is always a risk in an episode that is focused around a one off character, how can you manage to round out their personality without ham-handed exposition and what happens if the actor miss-sells the character in some fashion?  We're in good hands here as Daniel takes the character of Alex and fills out the dialog and plot with some superb character acting.  I'm buying him as the concerned father, I'm buying him in bulk.

If I had any criticisms (which I inevitably do), I would say that the story wobbles only on a few points, first of all it moves away from being scary and into being funny a little too quickly (oversized lantern & wooden pan), the CGI is weak at all times in the episode (carpet and doll landlord in particular) and the 'monsters' (as such they were) look awful, not scary, not creepy, just awful.

But these are minor complaints in an episode that was a breath of fresh air to a stale cupboard.  I'm happy with "Night Terrors", it was classic Doctor Who with fun dialog, peril, a plot that hangs together and touching scenes between a father and his son and that's exactly what the show needed at this point in time.

A second successful Doctor Who story for Mark Gatiss me thinks.
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I'm writing the first paragraph for this prior to watching the episode.  This is because I'm not entirely certain that 'Let's Kill Hitler' is going to be a classic piece that I'll recall fondly for the years to come.  The previous half series of Doctor Who was a wildly inefficient piece that paled compared to the series before it.  There was a great deal of effort expended in making sure that the metaplot hung together, but instead of being subtle and mysterious like the scene from 'Forest of the Dead' it came across as forced and ham-fisted - the very traits that cause me to have an issue with 'Bad Wolf'.  As a consequence I'm not completely certain that the remaining part of the series is going to hold up well.  Mix in the title of this episode, a tired trope if there ever was one, and it doesn't look good.


On the other hand...  Steven Moffat must know that people would fear the title as being old hackneyed ground.  So maybe he has something special planned.


Lets come back after watching the episode.


...


Sigh.  No.


While the episode did indeed sidestep the tired trope of time travelling to kill Hitler, by virtue of stashing the dictator in a cupboard and then forgetting about him. (Just as well considering his accent that threatened to dismantle the illusion of reality - yes, yes I know the TARDIS translates, but come on).  It really wasn't what it should have been.


I wanted to like the episode, I wanted to enjoy it as much as Dan Owen clearly did (http://danowen.blogspot.com/2011/08/doctor-who-68-lets-kill-hitler.html).  However I find myself leaning more towards Myle's take on the episode (http://cultural-learnings.com/2011/08/27/fall-premiere-doctor-who-lets-kill-hitler/).  Except a bit more brutal in my thoughts and feelings.


Some of the good points first. Most of the good moments, revolve around Rory.  I'm pleased he's evolved beyond the Moffat-Man-Child archtype that most leading men he writes fall under.  In fact I'm sold on (Arthur Darvill) as the reluctant hero, I'd go to see an action film just on the strength that he was in the leading role.  His Nazi sucker punches channeled pure (pre-Nuke) Indiana Jones and his Miniaturisation Ray observation was spot on and hilarious.


Matt Smith also had his fair share of strong moments, the Doctor stopping off to change into top hat and tails, complete with Sonic Cane was a wonderful touch.  However it was impossible to feel any real sense of danger for him, we've already got the Sword of Damocles hanging over us in the spaceman shooting.  Threatening his existence even further doesn't really ramp up the tension, it instead makes me feel frustrated and worn out.


Speaking of which, the show is in vast danger of becoming overwhelmed by this series's mystery.  I, for one, am getting more than a little tired with it.  It's sucking the fun out of the show.  Please, I want more of 'The Doctor's Wife' and less of 'The Doctor's Death'.


Karen Gillan was relegated a little to the sidelines here, yes she got to play a robot simulacrum of herself.  Run around a bit, look in danger and then act in a way that would have murdered several hundred people if they hadn't had an escape button (is it OK for a companion to intend to murder people but fail through no fault of her own?  I'm not sure...)  This is no bad thing, it's nice to have focus on other characters at times, Amy Pond is a cracking character, but so is Rory and The Doctor.


On to the elephant in the room.  Melody, Amy's friend (Ret-conned into the plot a little ham-fistedly, but I'll over look that) - aka Melody Pond, Amy's Daughter - aka after a gut shot regeneration Melody Pond II (Pre-River Song).


I'm sorry, I really am, but I am tired of Alex Kingston, sick and tired of her performance and her character as a whole.  Once it was interesting and sweet, but her delivery of lines has grated on me to the point that I'm tempted to watch Silence in the Library again just so I can see her die once and for all.  The concept is fun, the character is well written, but at the end of it - it just does nothing but tire me.  If there were more Doctor Who episodes per series I'd probably be pressing the 'Skip' button the moment I see her on screen.  Datura (the lovely wife) agrees with me, she's also sick of River Song.  I'm hoping that this half series wraps things up and we get to move on from her.


The problem from here on in is this, there's not much else to the episode - it was an episode that started out as a cheeky time travelling trope that should really be left alone (but could be fun) and degenerated into little more than a vehicle for River Song and more mysterious hints.  Outside of the Justice department (which made me think of Red Dwarf's Inquisitor) there was little else to the episode - apart from Rory punching Hitler.  That was pretty fun.


So, 'Let's Kill Hitler' was not the episode I hoped it would be, it hasn't moved the series away from the rather awful end of the first half and at this point Doctor Who is in serious danger of drowning in its own mythos.  That's almost ironic, because I've always wanted more ongoing story lines in the show, I just wanted them to be more like Murder One or The Shield (interesting, balanced with other items) not murky and frustrating (like Lost became in the second season).


Where's the show I loved gone?
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Based on Elmore Leonard's written work, Justified revolves around the US Marshal Rayland Givens. Rayland is the lead character in the books 'Pronto', 'Riding the Rap', the short story 'Fire in the Hole' and is best described as a cowboy sheriff thrust into the modern age. Timothy Olyphant stars as Rayland in Justified, bringing the character to life with a great deal of ease; as Timothy is, of course, no stranger to playing the part of a sheriff - his performance as Seth Bullock on Deadwood is an integral part of that phenomenal series.

After a semi-controversial shooting of a button man named Tommy Bucks and the ensuring bad publicity Rayland is reassigned back to Lexington, Kentucky, a place he swore never to return to. There he's placed under the command of Chief Deputy Art Mullen (Nick Searcy) working alongside Rachel Brooks (Erica Tazel) and Tim Gutterson (Jacob Pitts), reconnects with his ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea) - who also swore never to return to Kentucky - and becomes involved with the Crowder family in various degrees after Ava Crowder (Joelle Carter) shoots her husband Bowman Carter, while Ava's ex-brother-in-law Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) and past friend of Rayland proves to be an exceptionally dangerous individual after blows up a church and then shoots his accomplice dead.

Justified is a mixture of old west philosophies and modern day life, Rayland has many of the traits of the old classic small town sheriff, the most obvious of which are his hat and his ability to quick draw, he also shows a great deal of old school ethos in his dealings with criminals and civilians alike. So it is more than fair to draw comparisons between Justified and the western genre as a whole - it's not just Art Mullen's poster of the fantastic movie Tombstone that evokes the feel of the old west.

Timothy Olyphant is magnetic as Rayland Givens - he's had a great deal of practice playing a forceful and strong lawman in the past and in some ways his portrayal of Rayland is a natural extension of his past experiences as Seth Bullock - I know if you've enjoyed watching him in Deadwood you'll enjoy him here. The remainder of the cast are all solid, they give believable supporting roles - Erica Tazel is wonderfully understated and Joelle Carter is just adorable as the sweet-but-tough Ava. But the strongest performance amongst the cast belongs to The Shield alumni Walton Goggins, watching his abilities as an actor go from strength to strength on The Shield was a delight and I'm pleased to say he's a great fit here in Justified as Boyd Crowder as he's given an interesting and challenging role as one of the primary antagonists.

Structure-wise Justified is a mixture of standalone episodes and a serialised storyline that is built during the pilot episode and builds momentum in the latter part of the season. The pilot episode is fantastic, but the standalone episodes vary in quality, the earlier ones are only middling to decent at best but the later ones are pretty great and when the show gives way to its serialised story in the final few episodes and everything comes to a head it's just fantastic, ending with poise and grace that is almost poetic at times.

Justified is the very definition of a grower, at the start it's a solid, thoughtful piece with some great dialogue and fun moments but as the series progresses it becomes an elegant take on the modern western with characters who evolve and grow as the series does. As such, I'm certainly looking foward to the second season.
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Chuck is one of those shows that I'm glad is around, in part because it's nice to have a light-hearted, semi-serious spy show on the air and in part because Adam Baldwin should always be on our screens as some angry individual with barely contained violence inside him. John Casey isn't as great as Jayne Cobb, but he'll do in a pinch (hey, they both share the same initials!)

The third season picks up after Chuck downloaded the Intersect 2.0 and spouted that famous line from that film with the two terrible sequels "I know kung fu." I did note at the time that Zachary Levi's martial arts skills weren't really up to the job, there was plenty of camera trickery to try and conceal this, but as long as the show took the time to train him up in time for the third season I wouldn't have a problem with it.

Good news everyone! They did, and Chuck's action sequences are now tighter than ever, they're not quite at the standard of say - Kung Fu Hustle, but they're believable and high energy. They're also tight enough that when there is a deliberate punch/kick being pulled 'in character' you can identify the difference immediately - that's as close as I'm going to get to writing about that moment.

I'm also glad to report that there is plenty of character development for just about everyone in the cast, Devon (Ryan McPartlin) and Morgan (Joshua Gomez) become privy to some huge secrets while Sarah's (Yvonne Strahovski) past is expanded on a bit further and we get some resolution to the will they/won't they between her and Chuck. Brandon Routh joins as the newest member of 'Team Bartowski' and even Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) gets to do more than just look put upon and bewildered.

There are also some exceptional guest stars, including the brilliant Scott Bakula back as Stephen J. Bartowski and the superb Swoosie Kurtz has a star turn in one episode as half of the super spy couple team, Brandon Routh is also pretty good as Agent Shaw, his performance being a key element of quite a few scenes and he's admirably up to the task.

The pacing in this season is a little off, but it's no more so than any of the seasons, Chuck often seems to have a ponderous and slow start to the season before it kicks up into a decent gear. The third season is no exception, but once it is rolling the episodes become phenomenal and the final stretch of them is something to behold as everything on the show comes together in a perfect blend of action, romance, emotion and comedy.

If I had one other complaint it's that the Buy More sections of the show are quite lacking this season, as the show has evolved the Buy More has faded in importance to the point where it feels a little superflous to the plot, it should be an entertaining distraction from the spy action part, and at times - like the Fight Club incident - it is, but also quite often it feels a little like padding. In particular the character development for Morgan and the loss of Anna as a regular has made the Buy More less significant and that's left the weight of the Buy More sequences on Big Mike along with Jeff and Lester. They're two admirable creeps and a source of a lot of laughs, but they're too shallow to hold things up by themselves.

The set is pretty much a Chuck DVD by the numbers, the case is significantly easier to use than the horror that the original first season set came in (I still have problems opening that box) and the extras are relatively spartan in their quantity but enjoyable. It's not going to wow you, but they are interesting to watch.

The issues of the season are little compared to the glorious whole that is Chuck, it's not the most intelligent show on television right now, but it is one of the most fun and it's for that reason I'm giving Chuck's third season two thumbs up.
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The French thriller film Nikita was one of those great films I still have fond memories of watching, while it's not quite as brilliant as its cousin Leon it's only a small whisker behind the latter film. Likewise I also have positive memories of La Femme Nikita, a show that managed to have sophisticated plotting and dialogue driving behind it when it could have simply fallen into the pattern of brainless action/thriller. So when I was given a chance to check out and review Nikita's pilot episode I was quite happy to do so.

"Nikita" is a show that takes a slightly new slant on the classic story of the female assassin, instead of dealing with Nikita's induction, training and development the pilot episode sets Nikita (Maggie Q) as a fully fledged, rogue agent on the run from the agency that created her (known as Division). The episode also chooses to follow a young street girl named Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca) who is 'recruited' by Division after her involvement in a robbery homicide where it is presumed by the police (and Division) that she is the shooter - in truth her partner, who escapes, is the shooter.

It's an important thing for any remake of a story, especially one that has been told three times previously, to have an interesting and fresh take. Nikita's pilot episode certainly seems to deliver on that front, we're thrown straight into the middle of a blooming situation with a fully capable and confident Nikita on the loose. I think if the show had attempted to retell the training of Nikita yet again I probably wouldn't have been as favourably disposed towards it, so this new slant on the tale - with the added 'learning character' of Alex is an excellent mix and one that I believe will work.

The pilot episode on the whole is a solid affair with occasional sparks of brilliance, it comes together very well by the end of the episode and the hook that occurs there is enough to make you want to come back and find out what's next. But the setting as a whole feels a little unformed at this point, yes it's an early show, but for something that is designed to have so much history as part of it's plot it doesn't feel like there's a weight of time behind the characters. There's a little bit too much tabula rasa involved, but this is something that time and later episodes should address.

The nature of exposition that is present is also of a concern, on occasion it's done quite well and there is signs of a deft touch behind a few of the plot points and reveals, but more often than not it's a little bit to heavy-handed and on-the-nose. As I'm looking at just the pilot episode here that's a forgivable sin, Nikita doesn't have an extended pilot to work with so they do have a lot of ground to try and cover. It's just a shame that for an episode that is almost entirely exposition and set up it's not more polished. But, as I mentioned previously this is something that can be forgiven given time to grow.

The cast in particular shows great potential, Maggie Q as Nikita is every bit as great as you'd expect her to be after seeing her various film performances; but Maggie is only shouldering half of the lead plot - the remainder laying with Lyndsy Fonseca as Alex. Lyndsy I've previously seen briefly as 'Ted's Daughter' in How I Met Your Mother and I've wanted to see her in a bigger role outside of HIMYM and The Young and The Restless. Fortunately for Nikita both female leads are superb, Maggie is confident and believable as the rogue assassin Nikita in action scenes (thanks to her background in martial arts courtesy of Jackie Chan) and she has great presence throughout any dramatic scenes. Lyndsy on the other hand is just magnetic as the street child rescued by division and I feel is one to watch in the coming episodes - I'm confident that given time she'll end up being a break out character and a firm favourite.

Speaking of favourites, ex-24 cast member Xander Berkeley is also a great casting, I really grew to appreciate his performance as George Mason on 24 and he's well cast here as Percy the head of Division. And amongst others I was pleased to see memorable Firefly guest star Melinda Clarke as Division trainer Amanda. Both of them are great and the cast as a whole seems solid.

Nikita looks like a great television show in the making, while the pilot episode is a little empty in places and occasionally the exposition is a little too full on there's a lot of potential locked up and waiting to be unleashed. As The CW have committed to airing a full 22 episode season along with great female leads, strong action and solid dialogue that means Nikita is a show worth investing time in watching.

Nikia is being broadcast in the UK on Living
Nikita's official site is located here: http://www.cwtv.com/shows/nikita
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Over the past week I've spent just over nine hours catching up with the third season of the Glenn Close tour de force that is Damages. As I mentioned previously I have a great deal of respect and enjoyment for the first season, but I felt that the second season - despite some excellent performances from the cast - wobbled more than a few times and came dangerously close to falling over thanks to weak plotting and poor editing choices.

It wasn't a deal breaker, but I was concerned that the third season would also suffer from similar issues.

Spoilers, it doesn't. In fact it's everything the second season wanted to be and more. Damages continues with it's own indomitable style; strong female leads, non-linear plotting, twist revelations, shocks and high stakes in the world surrounding the law courts.

This time the show focuses on the Tobin family, who are involved in a ponzi scheme that has bankrupted everyone who was involved in it. Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and Tom Shays (Tate Donovan) are given the task of recovering the money for the various victims while Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), now working for the DA's office, is involved in the criminal side of the investigation.

Sadly the adorable Anastasia Griffith does not return as Katie Conners, but Ted Danson does as Arthur Frobisher, and he's not the only familiar face who graces our screens as the plot moves along by touching on events from the past. There's also a host of superb guest stars, including Campbell Scott, Martin Short, Len Cariou and my all time favourite actress Tara Summers - who I can unashamedly say is utterly brilliant in every moment she is on screen.

Performances are throughout, superb, in particular I have to praise Rose Byrne - who previously has struggled to bring any real emotion or rounded characterisation to her performance as Ellen Parsons, something I've often felt was caused by her need to maintain a US accent (she's from Australia). She's more comfortable with the new, slightly evolved, Ellen - and she's able to play someone who's learnt about the manipulation game from the best. Yes, that's right - Ellen is becoming a schemer of epic proportions in her own right, a much warranted and superb development for the character. In fact, every core character gets some deserved character development, we delve further into Patty's past while also gaining a broader perspective on both Ellen and Tom's lives.

The third season of Damages is everything you've come to expect from the show; it's dark, exciting and clever with strong characterisation layered on top of a plot so twisted you might as well call it a pretzel. It's one of the current cream of the crop drama shows out there and it's one of the few running a genuinely serialised plot over it's thirteen episodes. In fact the serialised nature of the show makes it a better experience on DVD than when it's shown weekly, you can dive into the murky depths of Patty's world and only come up for air when you choose to. As such I can highly recommend picking up a copy of the boxed set and settling down to enjoy a dark tale of deception, embezzlement, lies, fraud and more than a few murders. It's Damages and it's great.


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For a review of the first season go here. Be warned there will be spoilers about events from the first season in this review.

Damages had a first season with an exceptionally unique style of show, I personally appreciated the ambiguity in characters, their goals and personalities not being a clear cut case of Good/Evil but having instead greyer shades. Yes, by the end of the season we had clearly defined villains and a heroine but the journey there was far from straightforward and the last episode of the season is one of my favourite episodes of all time.

The second season then needed to build on the original season's style by evolving its use of non-linear narrative and ambiguous characterisation without straying too far from the format. It's a tall order, because if the season just re-treads old ground you'd end up with something that doesn't engage and if you deviate from the established format you risk losing established viewers. Not an easy line to walk.

So, Damages brings in more big names capable of fantastic performances - joining the returning cast of Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Tate Donovan, Anastasia Griffith and Ted Danson we get the fantastic selection of William Hurt (A History of Violence, Dark City and so much more), Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood), Marcia Gay Harden (Royal Pains), John Doman (The Wire) and Clarke Peters (The Wire, Treme). A huge wadge of quality talent descending onto our screens and promising great performances.

Following on from the fantastic season finale the second season sees Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) now cooperating with the FBI in an investigation into Patty Hewes (Glenn Close). Ellen naturally has good reason to be involved in this after Patty attempted to have Ellen murdered. Ellen is not only using her position to investigate Patty, she's also maneuvering to expose Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) as the man behind the murder of David Conner, Ellen's fiancé. Ellen has plenty of reasons to remain close to Patty at this time.

Just like the previous season the show is divided into a past storyline that builds up towards the shocking present 'teaser' storyline. The 'teaser' storyline in this case initially opens with Ellen pointing a gun at an unknown person or persons and talking before pulling the trigger twice. It's a marked change from the Ellen of the first season and the film noir undertones of the scene are nicely played. As before, the past storyline pushes forward towards the teaser while the teaser expands on events and gradually reveals more of the situation to raise more questions for the viewer. It was an exeptionally effective ploy in the first season, but if I'm honest it's not as well done here - the performances from the actors are superb, but the editing is very ham-fisted, in particular the music used for certain moments is completely mood breaking.

In all, despite the superb cast, the second season is not as strong as the first one - watching it on DVD was a superior experience to watching it 'live' (one episode per week), just like the first season Damages is a show better watched in bursts rather than one part at a time, but the second season shows a poor choice of direction by the editing and directing staff. It's rare that a superb cast cannot overcome technical and plotting issues, but in the case of the second season of Damages it has happened. Fortunately I'm now watching the third season on DVD and I can say that many of the problems and issues the second season has are resolved.

So Damages Season Two is something that needs to be taken at value, yes it has flaws, yes it is not as good as the first season, but it is an enjoyable experience and it is most certainly worth watching.
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Damages was one of those shows that crept up on my radar after I discovered that Glenn Close and Ted Danson were appearing in it. Both actors who have exceptional pedigres on screen, I had most recently enjoyed Glenn Close's performance in the fourth season of "The Shield" and Ted Danson was, of course, fan-flipping-tastic in "Cheers" back in the day, so I was keen to see how he'd perform in a serious drama.

The show focuses around the dynamic between titanic lawyer Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), a young associate named Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) and their class action lawsuit against the wealthy Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). Frobisher is accused of lying to his employees and attempting to profit from insider trading.

The series is most notable for it's unusual use of time, the vast majority of the show's scenes are set in the past - with only a few key scenes being set in the present time. These present day scenes are used as 'shocking' teasers designed to raise questions for the viewer while also teasing unthinkable events and placing characters in bizarre situations. It's an interesting concept that demonstrates just how important the journey can be when you're understanding how someone got there, not entirely original in the media of film (Memento being the classic example for playing with time and the perception of it).

Patty Hewes is a sharp, dangerous litgator at the top of her game, she's aided by her right hand man - Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan) and her Uncle Pete. As time passes Patty comes to allow the young Ellen Parsons further and further into her business and her life, with events that suggest (given the unusual timeline in the show) a bad end for Ellen and her fiance David Conner (Noah Bean).

Damages is an intense, fun ride of a show through a twisty plot that barely enters the courtroom at all. It's somewhat surprising at first, but despite being a legal drama very little of the action takes place in the courts. The show instead looks at the surrounding work involved in building a case, especially when dealing with someone as powerful, clever and duplicitous as someone like Patty Hewes. The show racks up the tension with every passing moment and thanks to clever dialog and brilliant characterisation it works beautifully. Cumulating in a stunning season finale that brings everything to a head, answering the questions you will have had along the way and then leaving you wanting more while wondering 'what's next for these characters?'

Particular praise must be lumped onto Glenn Close, her performance is key to the show and she really excels in the role. Damages came into being after her appearance in The Shield's 4th season and I think it is fair to say her observations and experiences near Michael Chiklis's blistering (and career defining) portrayal of Detective Vic Mackey have had some influence on Patty Hewes. At times she manages to display the same duality of purpose and even on occasion she holds similar facial expressions to Vic's. This is not to take anything away from Glenn herself, she's an accomplished and quite brilliant bunny boiler - but like any great actor she's capable of cribbing from others and improving on her game.

Ted Danson is likewise fantastic, his performance as Arthur Frobisher is a long leap from the bartender Sam but he handles it with aplomb and poise. He walks a fine line between being a detestable cartoon villain and being a reasonable (if unpleasant) human being with understandable objectives and believable motives. I know Frobisher is one of the outright bad guys of the piece (being the target of the class action suit etc etc), but I still can't help but appreciate the guy.

One of my favourite cast members is Anastasia Griffith whom I think is just wonderful as Katie Conner, but the powerhouse performances come from Glenn Close, Ted Danson and the brilliant Zeljko Ivanek (as Ray Fisk). Zeljko in particular is a favourite of mine from the superb 1990s show Homicide: Life on the Street and I'm thrilled to say he's as good in Damages as he was in that show, but it's hardly surprising as Zeljko tends to be superb whenever he's on screen.

In fact the only cast member I'd say feels a little out of her depth is Rose Byrne, she's adequate as Ellen - but at times her performance is a little wooden. As she's often in a reactive role this isn't too bad to deal with, but occasionally I do find myself feeling unengaged with her character because of it. I'm not sure if this is an intentional performance or just caused by a lack of experience as a leading character in a TV series, but it is a shame at times.

This minor grip aside, the first season of Damages is a whistle stop tour of a story told through time, space and the world of lawyers. It's an awesome experience that will get the blood rising and leave you wanting more.

It also has one of the best (and most appropriate) TV Themes of all time. So what are you waiting for? Hurry up and check out the first season of Damages, otherwise - by the time I'm through with you, there won't be anything left!



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Originally I wanted to write about just Dragonchasers, it's an episode worthy of a review/analysis all by itself, but my previous entry in the Urban Jungle series didn't include the episode Throwaway, so initially I'm going to write a little about that episode before moving onto Dragonchasers - the most important episode of the first season after the pilot episode.

Throwaway is the first episode that has the Strike Team dealing with a mess that isn't created by Shane, in this case it's Lem's **** up, shooting a man who turned out to be both a) unarmed, b) completely innocent and c) brother to a hot latina hairdresser. He shoots the man because he believes that he's armed with a gun and about to shoot Vic; this is the start of the pattern for Lem, he tends to get into trouble when he's protecting the people he cares about. In this case it's Vic, the man Lem considers to be something of a brother and a father figure. Lem himself has little family outside of the Strike Team and as such more than any of the others he considers the guys to be his family.

It is also the first episode to give Claudette (side note: Claudette was originally scripted to be a man, C.H. Pounder's performance convinced Shawn Ryan to change the characters gender with minimal other changes - one of the reasons Claudette is the strongest female personality on the show by a long margin, she's given the dominant role in the Claudette/Dutch relationship). It's also the moment where the Julien/Danny rift comes to a head, only resolved when Acevada himself steps in and breaks their heads against each other (figuratively) to force a resolution to the situation. For these two this is something of a turning point, the episode allows them to move forward and cements the foundation of a strong working and personal relationship. Julien and Danny working together is an important part of the show, they're often required to provide the story that contrasts with the Strike Team's high energy acts and Dutch and Claudette's tendency to journey in really dark places.

Mix into this a fantastic heist/set up performed by the Strike Team and Throwaway is a solid episode that works well and develops some of less well developed characters somewhat. Learning more about Claudette, especially Dutch's reactions towards her father, is welcome and entertaining; likewise having Julien and Danny come to some form of balance in their relationship as trainer/trainee is very important as it sets up one of the key elements in the following episode.

Dragonchasers is one of the episodes of The Shield where I experienced a television revelation, the very first episode was, of course, Pilot which stepped over the line of what was considered acceptable to show on television by having the lead character murder a fellow police officer at the culmination of it. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, The Shield then takes some time to distance itself from the pilot episode showing the return to normal that occurs after a fellow officer is killed on the job. Now, you'd be forgiven if you thought that considering the fact that Terry was murdered was going to be a large part of the shows initial thrust, but the truth of the matter here is that with only two people knowing the truth and a solid cover up clearing the evidence for every character in the show Terry's death looks exactly like it does on the surface - the bust went bad, Terry got killed. Police Officers die in the line of duty, everyone at the station knows that is a fact and they've all experienced it before - so they move on and back to the daily grind.

I've digressed, so I'll return to Dragonchasers and why it is the second episode in The Shield that changed the way I perceive television and raised the bar for what I accept as good story writing. Dragonchasers contains two monumental story lines in it, but for the first time neither one belongs to the Strike Team - instead the storys revolve around Julien and Dutch.

Up until this point in the series I considered Dutch to be little more than light relief and Julien to be a secondary character. Julien's antagonistic relationship with Danny (and being set against Vic for a while) made it difficult to access him as a character and Dutch for a long time had little more in the way of defining characteristics outside of "stereotypical nerd-cop".

Dragonchasers changes the game for both of them, for Julien the episode brings together his conflicted and angry emotions about being gay along with his new found resolve to do right by his patrol partner Danny. After a transvestite (played by Jazzmun) bites Danny (attempting to give her HIV - which he blames the police force for) Julien eventually agrees to throw the perp a 'blanket party' - a savage tradition where the perp is covered under a blanket in the back of a police van and then beaten with nightsticks. Julien not only cuts loose here, but his conflicted emotions over his own sexuality (and his commonly misguided notion that transvestites are the same as homosexuals in general) results in his turning the perp into himself in his mind. The resulting violence is exceptionally harsh, while the scene doesn't play out in graphic detail, the damage caused by the beating (as described by Danny) show just how far Julien went over the edge.

The real meaty story though belongs to Dutch, bringing to a head the 'face down' serial killer mini-arc, the initial thrust occurs when Julien and Danny happen upon a man masturbating in an alley - they let him go with a warning, but when mentioning the anecdote to Dutch he makes a connection most wouldn't. The man was jerking off near where one of the serial killings occurred (or at least where the body was dumped), this fits with the profile he was considering for the killer.

After first scoping Sean (the suspect) out Dutch has him come in, not to charge him with anything, but to sound him out and try to see if the man has any levers he can push. What follows is a tour-de-force performance from both Jay Karnes and Michael Kelly (as Sean), Dutch is quite literally broken apart by the intuitive and merciless Sean who disassembled every part of Dutch's personality in an exceptional level of mental bullying and showboating. Dutch himself sits there, trying to regain purchase and being humiliated - this humiliation is compounded even further when the rest of the station start watching Sean's performance for their own entertainment. You're left wondering why on Earth Dutch is willing to sit there and take this kind of abuse, is his obsession with finding the serial killer that large? Is he so desperate that he'll put up with anything to achieve this?

The revelation comes in the eleventh hour, when (watched by almost the entire force via CCTV) Dutch admits that he only took this tirade of abuse and humiliation with the intent of buying time to get a search warrant for both Sean's house and his aunt's. Once found out Sean soon changes track, admitting to everything and laying claim to his body count. The rest of the force watch as Dutch nails Sean and bags himself one serious serial killer - he walks out of the interview room to the sound of applause from his fellow officers. All of them are impressed with what Dutch did.

This just makes the closing scene of Dragonchasers all the more poignant, Dutch - still being congratulated - heads to his car and sits down inside before breaking down in tears. He may have scored a decisive victory (not just for Sean's victims, the public and the law in general, but also for himself and his status in the station), but Sean's attacks and how close they cut to the truth of Dutch's life, took their toll on him. Dutch may stand victorious but was it worth the price?

This entire storyline is amongst one of the best that Dutch and Claudette have, it's a great piece that portrays a lot about a man without needing to spell it out in a simplistic and 'dumbed down' fashion. Dutch doesn't need to vocalise his pain, it's all there for you to see in his actions and expressions.

Quite frankly it's a stunning performance and that's why Dragonchasers is one of the best episodes of The Shield (and possibly one of the best procedural episodes in the genre, it's certainly in a similar league to Homicide's Three Men and Adena).
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I recently got my Wii set back up and it's now become my standalone BBC iPlayer. I suppose I could use it for other things, but I can't really figure out what else it would be any use for (having grown tired of the balance board that came with it). Fortunately for me the BBC iPlayer works pretty well on it and as such I've been using it to explore the various BBC programs that are on offer. On Demand viewing is pretty much my preferred viewing method these days, I don't want to be tied to watching the television at a fixed day and time, I want television to suit my lifestyle and my choices. If I want to go out for a cycle or an impromptu gathering I don't want to go through the hassle of having to remember to record any shows I miss.

Sure, I could set up series links and what have you, but again that doesn't suit my temperament. I prefer to look at a list of shows and pick one to watch immediately rather than draw up a list of shows that I want to record in order to watch at some point. I can now dip in and out of shows, taking a chance on things like Cowards, Mongrels (more on this one next week for sure) and returning to shows such as My Family and Armstrong & Miller whenever I feel like it.

This is how I came across the BBC 2 show Vexed; something about its entry in the comedy section of the iPlayer made me decide to click the play button. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the synopsis provided - "Police detectives Jack and Kate have very different approaches to the job and life in general. In fact they disagree on everything" - that just sounds, well bloody awful. And I know it wasn't the cast - I've never heard of Lucy Punch, Toby Stephens, Ronny Jhutti, Roger Griffiths or Rory Kinnear before and looking at their imdb entries it's not really surprising - none of them have performed any monumental roles, though they've all appeared in episodes of shows I have watched.

Vexed is best described as a comedy/drama/police procedural with an irrelevant sense of humour. It's a mild spin on the old cop buddy format with two somewhat disparate partners pushed together - in this case you have the talented and dedicated but somewhat neurotic DI Kate (Lucy Punch) partnered up with a man who seems to be permanently stuck in the 1970s with his misogynistic, womanising, lazy, cut corners attitude - DI Jack (Toby Stephens). It's an old formula and while it's not really a stretch for a show to partner a woman with a misogynistic pig it is one that works. The relationship provides a lot of bounce between the characters (as long as the man isn't too much of a tw*t).

Vexed has just three episodes at this time and with its production company Greenlit Right Productions in administration (or greenlit for termination as The Shield would have it), it's hard to say if there will be any more episodes - especially given the mixed critical reaction. I know that Dan of Dan's Media Digest had a rather adverse reaction when I tweeted about liking Vexed - I believe he threatened to unfollow me! Certainly many critics and reviewers have had negative things to say about the show, in particular about Toby's performance as Jack.

But frankly I disagree, I felt the show had a certain charm from a police based television series that I hadn't seen since Police Squad - Vexed is certainly grounded more in reality than Police Squad was, but DI Jack has a Frank Drebin feel to him - an ironically charged, ham-fisted performance that is over the top - but it's still pretty darn hilarious to watch him in the same way it's hilarious to watch Frank over act in every single scene. He's supposed to be charming and great with the ladies, but instead he tends to come across as ignorant, useless and piggishly chauvinistic and I think we all know those are traits that some women are drawn to like moths to flame. (I said some ladies, I didn't mean you of course!)

Lucy Punch's performance as Kate is the more grounded of the two performances, she's a lot of fun - a mix of a strong woman combined with a neurotic wife desperate to keep her home life together. She's the smarter of the pair by a long margin and tends to use her head in problematic situations - Jack instead seems to rely on a mix of intuition and dumb luck, he's a man who can't remember how to plant a tracking device properly, carries a gun without training (and then loses it) and electronically stalks women to pick them up. An awful piece of work if you met him in real life, but pretty darn hilarious on screen.

It is more than likely that Vexed won't have any more episodes after the third one, the combination of critical panning and the large factor of the production company being in administration seems the right mix to result in it being killed off before it has a chance to develop and that's a shame in my opinion, because there's a lot right about Vexed. It's something different enough to get my interest and it's one of the few new British shows that I found myself enjoying - it's energetic, crude, offensive and born in a timeless fashion that makes it feel like it would be just as much at home in the 1970s or 80s as it is in this day and age.

The three episodes that have been recorded cover a trio of cases - the first involves a serial killer hunting single women, the second a depressed banker under threat of assassination (in a rehabilitation clinic) and the kidnapping of Gemma G - a member of a girl band. Each episode is 60 minutes long and self contained.

In all I'd say you should consider giving Vexed a try, it's an uneven show that is in its infancy but there are times where the dialog and characters shine out with sheer genius and show what it could grow into. Jack/Toby and Kate/Lucy have some solid on screen chemistry that bubbles up in exceptional ways at times, especially when they are dealing with Jack's general incompetence. It's a fun show and something a little different - so spend three hours of your time and give it a go. I'm glad I did.
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Starring:
Woody Harrelson
Elias Koteas
Michael Kelly
Sandra Oh
Kat Dennings
and Clark Johnson

The superhero genre is riding on a fair high at the moment, with the Marvel and DC heroes all making appearances in their respective films, films that range from the awesome (Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand) to the truly awful (The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2) - wait, did I get that the right way round?

These films tend to cover exceptional individuals gifted with abilities that set them apart from the norm, Spider-Man has some kind of genetic ju-ju that powers his physical strength and then another suit that turns him into an Emo.


Superman on the other hand has a whole range of abilities, the core of which is being a colossal jerk and even 'ordinary man' Bruce Wayne has the super power of being mega ridiculously rich.

But, if you span back far enough you reach a different kind of superhero film, I of course refer to the most excellent Mystery Men. A film that deals with a lower key kind of superhero, those one step above 'the man on the street'.

Well the Canadian born movie Defendor has echoes of Mystery Men in it's construction, and along with it's showboating compatriot Kick-Ass the film deals with a more honest form of superhero, a man who has nothing more than his natural abilities as a human, marbles, wasps and a whole lot of heart.

Woody Harrelson stars as the titular Defendor/Arthur Poppington, a kind hearted but slow man by day and a masked vigilante by night. Defendor uses a catapult, marbles, jars of wasps and his grandfather's trench club in his tireless search for 'Captain Industry', the man who killed his mother.

Despite the subject matter of costumed avengers Defendor is an exceptionally low key movie, Arthur casts a stark contrast when compared against any of the more typical superheroes. He's a below average man of limited intellect who dons the persona of Defendor as a way of escaping from himself. His optimism and determination are pretty much all that keeps him going out onto the streets time and time again. There's no high level heroics, there's no dodging of bullets, there's just one very ordinary man doing extra ordinary things.

Comparisons to Kick-Ass are pretty much inevitable when you're looking at Defendor, but I honestly prefer Defendor. Kick-Ass is a film that may have originally had some real intent behind it's message (maybe), but Defendor wins out due to it's exceptional heart, sad story of a lonely man seeking to connect with a world that looks down on him and the powerhouse performance that Woody Harrelson brings to the screen.

Woody is no stranger to playing "lesser intellect" characters, as he's often taken the role of the below average man in the past, but this takes nothing away from his time on screen as Arthur/Defendor. He delivers a scorchingly painful performance that is both touching and funny. It would be easy to make Arthur seem like a character worthy of nothing more than comedic effect and pity, but Woody rounds out Arthur and makes you engage with him as a human being.

As the story unfolds Defendor meets a prostitute (Kat Dennings), who draws him into a conflict by revealing the location of Captain Industry. He spends time interacting with the always awesome Clark Johnson (Police Captain Fairbanks), hunting after and tangling with a rogue police officer (Elias Koteas) and being interviewed by a psychiatric (Sandra Oh) after he assaults a man in broad daylight. Defendor has his share of successes and failures during the course of the movie, nothing comes easy to him but he shines out as much as he falls behind.

Defendor is an exceptional movie with a great deal going for it. It's able to make you laugh and feel sad at the same time, it can engage you both viscerally and intellectually and it has a meaningful story with a real point to it. Add to this the driving powerhouse that is Woody's performance and you have an enjoyable movie that will stay with you after it has finished.
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The middle stretch of The Shield's first season is an interesting selection of stories. They establish just about everything you need to know about all of the core characters and their motivations. Dawg Days is a rather fun episode that demonstrates how difficult it can be for a police officer to work as the "landlord" to drug dealers, things get out of hand when one of Vic's "informants" Rondell Robinson opens fire at a party where Lem and Danny are both moonlighting security. Lem knows to keep his mouth shut about Rondell's involvement but Danny - as a good, straight cop - implicates him. This results in Vic having to call in some favours with Danny, playing on the intimate relationship between them to get Rondell out of trouble. Dawg Days is also notable as the first appearance of the character Kern Little (played by " Sticky Fingaz") Kern will make multiple appearances in many seasons and remain important to Vic for a long time. His introduction here is particulary memorable, mostly due to his exit from the storage container near the end of the episode.

Blowback can seem less important on the first viewing, but it's actually one of the major start points for the show - the introduction of the Armenian gangster/foot fetishist Margos Dezerian (played by Katey Sagal's husband Kurt Sutter creator of The Shield's sister show Sons of Anarchy), "The Dezerian" and his Armenian cohorts eventually grow to be major parts of the show, especially in seasons 2, 3 and 7. Dezerian himself would go on to make just three appearances, but he remains one of the most memorable criminals of the show and the Armenians themselves eventually became one of the greatest potential threats to Vic and his boys.

It also helps that Margos is one heck of a creepy character. Blowback is also one of the episodes where the Strike Team come close to exposing themselves after they steal two bricks of heroin from the Armenian bust but are seen doing so by Julien. The interplay between Julien, Acevada and Vic continues throughout the entire run of these episodes, ending in Cupid and Psycho when Vic blackmails Julien into changing his story.

Cherrypoppers is a journey into one of the sickest stories The Shield ever touches on, dealing with a ring of people involved in 'Cherrypopper' movies - films that involve young girls and lets just leave it at that. The Shield often attempts to move Vic towards the role of protagonist by having the people he's set against seeming far worse than he is. Cherrypoppers is one of those episodes (like the pilot) dealing with sexual predators hunting after and abusing young girls. It's a primal form of manipulation but it does work well, you have to understand that many people eventually 'forgot' just how dark, twisted and criminal Vic actually was. In the end some of them even began to mistakenly think of Vic as a 'hero' rather than the cop killing, brutal drug lord with a badge that he was.

Shane's racism, which was touched upon back in The Spread, flares up in a more prominent fashion during Pay in Pain, as mentioned earlier Shane's racist attitudes would often become a major problem for the Strike Team, especially for Vic. Vic doesn't care what skin colour someone is, he only cares if they're an asset or a threat to him, so Shane's "un-business-like" (and frankly backward) attitudes towards non-Caucasians is a problem. The general Strike Team attitude is 'doesn't matter where you're from if your money is green and plentiful', so Shane is a problem. Of course, Shane being a problem is something of a reoccurring issue in The Shield and Pay in Pain is not the last time it will surface.

Julien continues to struggle with his homosexuality, something that stands at odds with both his spiritual life and his work one. He's drawn to Thomas, but he's also repulsed by who he is and he's deathly afraid of being discovered by his colleagues. The police force is (as we're reminded by Danny) a brotherhood, and there's quite a few things that can get you ostracised from it, being a rat or being gay are two of them. Julien has managed to be both of these and it's Cupid & Psycho where these two issues come together - in the hands of Vic Mackey.

But Vic continues with the information in the way he always does, it's a tool to be used. He actually doesn't care that Julien is gay, not one bit - but it is a lever he can use to get Julien to drop his testimony against the Strike Team on the drugs, he plays a fantastic game and pushes Julien all the way to recanting - no matter the consequences. Afterwards Vic turns it on it's head by suggesting that Julien 'did Vic a favour' and now Vic has his back. It's a classic case of manipulation and Vic won't go telling people that Julien is gay as long as Julien isn't a threat to him. Vic even goes as far as to consider Julien a 'buddy' now that he has control of him.

It's a just another example in the way that Vic manipulates people and uses them as resources, if you're in someway of use to Vic he'll keep you sweet, if you're of potential use he'll manipulate the situation until you're in his control, if you're a threat he will eliminate you one way or the other. Ultimately everything Vic does is about control and protection for himself.

These episodes also establish a further driving motivation for Vic apart from his sociopathic consequentialism. His son Matthew is diagnosed with autism, a serious issue for a young child and an expensive one for any family to deal with, Matt's autism fast becomes one of the major driving forces behind Vic's all consuming need to get money and as much as possible. It also legitimises his actions both in his mind and in the minds of many viewers. He might do bad things, but he's doing them to ensure his son gets the life he deserves.

Of course, things are not perfect at this point, the lack of early character development due to that "missing season 0" (The season pre-Crowley's shooting) means that some of the relationships between the characters feel a little forced. Vic and Gillroy is a great example of this, it feels like Vic is nothing but a problem for Gillroy so you're left wondering why on Earth the man protected Vic at any time, his announcement that he's removing any assistance he might give Vic during the end of Cupid & Psycho seems almost redundant, why he helped Vic and the Strike Team up till now seems almost impossible to understand.

David Acevada is given some exceptional character development during this period, he goes from being 'the man after Vic for some reason' to a politically ambitious man who desires advancement in politics, exposing Vic is one of the fastest ways he can secure the popular vote - something Terry Crowley alluded to in the pilot episode. Now his hard on for Vic becomes something more understandable and his anger over Julien's retraction all the more vivid.

Dutch is also given some extra focus and direction, his obsession with catching the 'face down' serial killer continues and escalates when he asks for the assistance of the FBI. His frustration at an inability to succeed here, something that is compounded by two lads using the police force to play a practical joke on each other, pushes him towards using a psychic for help. It won't be the last time his obsession with serial killers will take him to unusual places.

Dutch also gains some personal growth from an unusual source during the Claudette/Vic, Shane/Dutch pairing, Shane's advice on how to land some 'hot widow' action is very offensive and immature, but Dutch is desperate enough to give it a go and in Cupid & Psycho it pays off, giving Dutch his first relationship of the show. You'd be right if you thought that anyone listening to Shane is desperate, but the world is full of desperate people just looking to make a connection with someone, anyone, and Dutch is one of those people.

These five middle episodes for the first season give us a taste of what the show is like during 'business at usual' hours, it's energetic, fun and filled with scrapes that almost get the Strike Team into trouble. Almost like a grim and gritty version of The Three Stooges, but it's also capable of going to profound places, surprising you with a revelation about a character or showing you an insight into one member of the force - often through physical means. Some of the looks and shots of the characters show exceptional depth, expressing more than their words or even their actions do, this is a hallmark of Clark Johnson's work and it's his deep influence that is felt right across the show with the long wordless moments that convey an ocean of emotion.

While the plots of The Shield are quite often breakneck and thin (due to the number of stories in a single episode) the characterisation in the show is of exceptional depth. Especially when you're dealing with key characters like Acevada, Shane, Lem, Dutch, Claudette and of course, Vic himself. It's these powerful performances that make re watching the show such a deligh as there are hidden depths to every scene.
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