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.
Direct Link

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".


Direct Link

Image from here

Direct Link

Standing as the longest season of Futurama so far, with a whale sized serving of twenty six episodes it's rather difficult to review the entire of the sixth season without missing out some elements, however I'm going to do my best by looking at the high points and low points of the season.

I have to be honest, around the first two episodes of the show I was left thinking 'Maybe they shouldn't have brought the show back...'  The first episode, Rebirth is a middling affair with little good to recall about it, it's not terrible - but the jokes are pretty flat and there's a little too much time spent on pointless exposition.  This is Futurama, we don't need exposition or explanation, we need jokes and episodes that make us cry without warning.

The second episode, In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela is in my mind one of the worst episodes I've seen - it could have been a middle of the road episode with some good jokes, but the throwaway gag at the end of the episode - having Leela engage in sex with Zap - was the writing equivalent of taking a dump on the viewers, in their open mouths, while telling them to enjoy it.  Now I will skip That's Lobstertainment nine times out of ten, but I'm never watching In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela again, it has nothing worth going through that.  Proposition Infinity is a similar piece of fecal matter, this time breaking Amy and Kiff up for the purpose of the story, before 'returning everything back to normal' in that old sitcom cliched manner that I thought comedy writing was starting to grow out of.

There are other terrible episodes in this season, The Futurama Holiday Special is boring and fails completely to live up to the 'Tales of Interest' heights that occurred in seasons two and three; Attack of the Killer App seems like little more than a pointless shot at Apple and Consumerism and Yo Leela Leela turns from a fun episode into a preachy rant at reality shows and the quality of television writing in general - don't get me wrong, I'm not for reality shows as a whole, however Yo Leela Leela really doesn't have anything new to contribute to the discussion.

That's the awful taste of Futurama poop in your mouth there, and this is one of the problems with the season, there's a lot of episodes that are just not, not good enough - it didn't need to be twenty six episodes, twenty would have resulted in a superb season, but there are six turds floating around in the soup and that's a problem.

Fortunately there are also some real gems in the sixth season, Lethal Inspection is one of those beautiful tearjerker episodes that can hit you out of nowhere; Law and Oracle and Benderama are also personal favourites.  In fact most of the episodes that are Bender-centric tend to be a cut above the rest.

There is also one episode that stands up above the rest, stands head and shoulders above all else and ranks as possibly one of the best episodes of Futurama all time, if not the best.  I refer to, of course, 'The Late Philip J. Fry' the episode is exactly what makes Futurama great; it's funny, thought provoking, true to character and plays beautifully with mainstay science fiction concepts - in this case time travel and the big bang.  It's such a great episode that I can't help wish they'd used it to close out the season.  Overclockwise and Reincarnation are OK, the first one being a nice end to the 'cannon' storyline and the second being... well... just Futurama filler. But The Late Philip J. Fry should have been the last episode in the season, it's just that... right.  It's what Futurama always should be.

On the whole the sixth season of Futurama is great, the show is still among the best shows still airing at the moment, something we need in an increasingly stale world of television (is it a coincidence that the number of good shows going down coincides with a reduction in the number of female television writers?)  However the season has rough patches and really could have done with some objective quality control.

It does leave me hopeful for the seventh season, I expect some great episodes.  But I also have my sewer diving suit at the ready, because I'm expecting a few stinkers.
Direct Link

Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (later known as Two Guys and a Girl) is one of those shows that has for a long time seemed rather bipolar in my research about it.  Some people rave about it as being one of the best shows they've ever seen, but many others tend towards 'It's good, but not amazing'.  This is quite evident when you look at the ratings on IMDB (7.7/10) vs TV.com (9.1/10).  It's the difference between being a solid show that passes the time well and something that takes your socks and blows them away from their usual location inside your shoes.


It was enough to make me curious about the show, and so I researched a little and found out that it starred Ryan Reynolds, or as I like to call him 'The man who made Blade 3 watchable', Traylor Howard - from Monk and some guy called Richard Ruccolo who I recognise, but didn't know too well.


Two Guys and a Girl is a light hearted twenty minute sitcom created by Rick Wiener, Kenny Schwartz (both now involved in American Dad) and Danny Jacobson (Rosanne, Mad About You) about the trials and tribulations of a trio of twenty something friends living in Boston and "working" in a pizza place.  You have Michael 'Berg' Bergin (Reynolds) an aimless drifter through life who isn't sure what degree/career he wants, he's effortlessly brilliant but endlessly lazy, his flatmate is Pete Dunville (Ruccolo) a more regular guy, if a little highly strung and their friend from university (and upstairs neighbour) Sharon Carter (Traylor - side note: who calls their little girl Traylor?  Don't get me wrong, she's a fantastic actress, her work in Monk replacing Sharona was excellent - she filled the void admirably - but Traylor?  It's rather masculine and it also sounds a lot like trailer...) who works for a chemical company that 'kill the environment'.


Also joining this triplet are the regular supporting characters of Pete's girlfriend Melissa (Jennifer Westfeldt - 24), the pizza place owner Bill (Julius Carry) and the oddball Mr Bauer (David Ogden Stiers) who compulsively claims that his life is whatever movie he watched most recently.  Mr Bauer, for me, was the character who softened my opinion to the show, he's almost a one note character but I've loved Stiers' work since he played the is he evil or isn't he Reverend Purdy in the 'cancelled one season too soon' Anthony Michael Hall show 'The Dead Zone'.  It was his Jedi impression that swung me over, I guess despite falling out with Star Wars (over fiddled with these days) I still have a soft spot for a good Alec Guinness/Obi-Wan quote when applied correctly.  However, from what I've gathered so far, none of these characters make it into the second season.  So don't get too attached to them.


Two Guys and a Girl is a pretty lighthearted affair, unlike the traditional sitcom it does occasionally carry on the consequences of events from one episode to the next, but for the most part each episode is standalone.  That makes it easy to pick up and put down, but it can still be a tad confusing if watched in the wrong order.


Guess who watched the first season in the wrong order?


Despite this, I did enjoy the show, it has a humour that grows on you the more you watch it, initially I didn't see what the fuss was about, but having watched the first season I can say that I have adopted a few funny lines/quotes here and there (especially Pete's fish impression) and I am looking foward to watching the second season.


So I think I'd call that a bit of a success and I'll leave it at that until I take a look at the second season in a few weeks time.


(Incidently... Searching for pictures to this show is a minefield - even with Google images set to 'Moderate'.  I guess that's what happens when you go for such a provocative/risque name.  Git writers/creators!)
Direct Link

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.
Direct Link

Image From here

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?
Direct Link

Sometimes I feel that my watching of television is an endless quest to find replacement shows for old favourites.  I've tried out shows like Boardwalk Empire and Treme to replace The Wire and Southlands to replace The Shield and each time I've only found middling success.  However, Community has filled one hole - the one left be the ending of first Seinfeld and later Arrested Development.


Community's first season was a magical journey of realisation about how superb comedy is still out there being produced.  It was a season that mixed bitter cynical humour with optimism and light hearted comedy.  The second season had one hell of a bar to reach.


Spoilers:  It raised it.  In fact it raised the roof and threw it into the neighbours garden.  Crushing a small shed in the process.


I don't know how the third season is going to manage to top the second one, the season managed to introduce exciting new support characters, continue running jokes, bring new ones in and provide not only a stop motion episode but also a zombie movie, a western, Star Wars and more besides.


Starting with the gang returning to Greendale after the summer break we follow on from the events of the last season.  Senor Chang is no longer a teacher, Jeff and the guys are now studying Anthropology together instead of Spanish and things have both changed and stayed the same.  Jeff's relationship status is 'resolved' and everything kicks up into a higher gear.


There are just so many highlights in this season; "Basic Rocket Science" provides a superb space film homage; the superb "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" features good old Dean Pelton in a story so twisty that you'll stop caring about understanding what's happening and just enjoy the fun and "Paradigms of the Human Memory" puts a fresh spin on the clip show.


But the personal favourites for myself were "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" and the two part season finale which built on the brilliant paintball episode of the previous season ("Modern Warfare") with a first part that homages the Western Genre and a second part that just gives up pretending to homage and rips huge sections of Star Wars off - the best sections I might add.


As before, performances are class throughout - While Chevy Chase is known to be a bit of a handful off screen, his delivery on screen is spectacular and the use of Pierce as a villainous foil to the group works exceptionally well.  Likewise Senor Chang's new role is possibly better than his original one, the mixture of adoration and hate he has for Abed and Company is something to really relish.  But for me, the best part is the increased role Professor Ian Duncan has John Oliver is a class act all the way, and he's just perfect in Community, rating alongside
Professor Eustice Whitman (the brilliant John Michael Higgins) as one of my favourite characters in the show outside of the main cast.


I dared to hope that the second season would surpass the first one, and it did.  Last time I wrote about Community I called it the best sitcom on air right now.  I feel justified in this opinion, it's sheer class.
Direct Link

Spoilers, I've come to the conclusion that NBC's half hour sitcom Community was at the very least the best new comedy show of 2009 and it's possible that it was the best sitcom of that particular year. The show completely caught me by surprise last Autumn with just how good it was and most recently I caught up with the entire season in a marathon weekend session that solidified the shows place amongst my all time favourites.

The premise behind Community is based on the creator/writer Dan Harmon's personal experiences in community college. He found himself gradually becoming attached to a group of disparate people who had very little in common apart from the subjects they were studying. "...I was in this group with these knuckleheads and I started really liking them," he explains, "even though they had nothing to do with the film industry and I had nothing to gain from them and nothing to offer them." (read more here).

In the show it's currently disbarred lawyer Jeff Winger (Joel McHale - The Soup) who plays Dan's analogue. Jeff is a cynical, independent, disdainful, womanizing individual who's only come to Greendale community college in order to gain a proper law degree and return to the job he loves. The attractive Britta (Gillian Jacobs - Choke) catches his eye and he invents a Spanish study group in order to get close to her. Unfortunately for Jeff Britta invites Abed (Danny Pudi - Greek) to the group and he in turn invites Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown - Drake & Josh), Troy (Donald Glover - writer, 30 Rock), Pierce (Chevy Chase - you should know where he's from) and Annie (Alison Brie - Hot Sluts - seriously, check it out here, it's in the category 'so intentionally bad it's kinda good' and of course Mad Men). This study group is not what Jeff wanted from community college, he was looking to just coast through on the bare minimum, sleeping with hot women and avoiding as much human interaction as possible. Instead he finds himself the head of a group of people devoted to passing Senor Chang's (Ken Jeong) Spanish class together.

Community is a phenomenal comedy show, it's a creation that's partially driven by the excellent cast, partially driving be pop culture references that are both nostalgic and on the pulse, partially by excellent plotting (especially in the genre of sitcom) - but it's mostly driven by a layered core of morals. Jeff is an excellent protagonist lead and the show plays up to his faults and strengths with exceptional skill. The show delivers moment after moment that at first appears hopeful and optimistic, but then you realise Jeff is doing it for selfish reasons, so it becomes cynical, but then he can turn around and just do something selfless that compromises his original intentions. It's rare you find a character who can turn around on the spot and alternate being sympathetic followed by being a complete arse without feeling like a flip-flopper or a detestable shrew. Joel McHale nails the role and gives you an exceptionally complete and rounded character with a lot of complexity.

But, whilst Jeff is the lead, Community is an ensemble show and without great performances from the rest of the cast and the supporting characters the show just wouldn't hold up. Fortunately just about every other character in the show is memorable and fun to watch. Abed is a wonderful portrait of Asperger's Syndrome and just a fantastic character and possibly my favourite (I also adore Jerry Espenson from Boston Legal, but I myself display many traits of Asperger's and fall just short of 'qualifying' - so it's no wonder I have such a connection with these two characters). Abed is a lot of fun, especially thanks to his film knowledge resulting in close to fourth wall breaking moments, describing situations in the form of television tropes and even saying that he was going to 'lay low for an episode' at one time.

Donald Glover's performance as Troy is one that takes a little time to warm up, he's a character that is very controlled and almost prim due to his lack of experience amongst people who don't idolise him. Now it did take a bit for me to warm up to Troy, but his connections with Piece and Abed really shine out and the various end of episode sketches he performs with Abed/Danny are without exception brilliant. Yvette Nicole Brown is instantly adorable as Shirley, she displays a mixture of mother-ish traits combined with an almost girlish glee that comes from someone reconnecting with the world and themselves. You can often count on Shirley to provoke the unexpected response from others (and herself) and when she squeals in delight at something you just can't help but smile.

Britta and Annie are two other characters that take a while to bloom, Annie grows a lot faster than Britta and thanks to Alison Brie's obvious talent. Annie's repressive and barely restrained nature results in some excellent inappropriate outbursts and she's a character who just grows in strength from one episode to the next. Britta on the other hand is a little uneven, she's fun and snappy but she's stuck mostly in the role of the group's spoil sport/kill joy - functioning often as the 'straight man' of the show, but the occasions where she gets to go off the page are great and Gillian Jacobs shows her comedy chops well at times.

The huge piece of the puzzle is Chevy Chase's role as Pierce, Pierce is outright the funniest and most outrageous member of the group. He's set in his ways, closeted, inappropriate, mildly racist, delusional and at times downright offensively ignorant. But there's a vulnerability to him that keeps him from turning into a complete toad, he genuinely wants to connect with other people - he's just lacking the right tools at times to do so (a bit like Michael Scott from The Office). His outbursts are almost always hilarious and the moments where he genuinely connects with other members of the group helps humanise him. The most impressive thing is his total lack of fear about making a fool of himself, he makes a lot of poor choices and then commits to them wholeheartedly (something he has in common with Chevy himself) and it's this trait that's the most endearing part of him.

Edit: Matt Murrell (@mattmurrell) quite rightly pointed out that I've done Senor Chang a crime by not writing about him in detail. Senor Chang rocks very hard and is frankly hilarious, I could go into this with more detail, but instead I shall share the youtube video Matt used to educate me with a gentle reminder on why Senor Chang rules.


In the supporting cast there are three notable members who deserve a great deal of praise, the first is Jim Rash as the sexually ambiguous and often inappropriate Dean Pelton, John Michael Higgins as the brilliant Professor 'seize the day' Whitman (John is almost always great in everything I've seen him in, I love his performance as Mentok the Mindtaker from Harvey Birdman) and John Oliver as Jeff's friend Professor Ian Duncan.

The episodes are often brilliant, considering it's a show about the low end of the education system and a small group of disparate individuals there's a remarkable scope in the situations and style of episodes that are employed. The show even manages to lampoon Die Hard and war movies in one excellent episode in a way that hasn't succeeded since Spaced did it. It's a show with some genuine talent behind the writing and it's always a delight to see each new episode.

Community has fast become one of my favourite shows, one of my top ten sitcoms and the best new show I saw in 2009. It's a quality piece that deserves to be trumpeted from the rooftops and I hope it runs for many years to come.
You'll enjoy Community if you like Arrested Development, The Office, Spaced, Black Books, How I Met Your Mother and 30 Rock.
Direct Link

I just recently had a chance to check out a few of the fall American shows that are beginning to grace the shores of Blighty, frankly I'm thrilled that more and more legitimate ways to watch these shows are being set up quickly via platforms like iTunes. The world certainly is, as the cliche goes, a smaller place and the electronic world is even smaller again.

The Big Bang Theory is one of the shows that's having its latest season promptly shown on E4 (airing started November 4th) and I've had a chance to see the first four episodes. What follows is a series of mini-reviews about each episode and then some thoughts on what's to like and what's improved in comparison to the earlier seasons.

Episode One: The Robotic Manipulation

"Howard, slow down, the robot hand is stuck on your what?"

Carrying events on from the Sheldon/Amy (or "Shamey") incident The Robotic Manipulation is a solid opening episode with some great moments. In particular I'm glad that the writers decided to put some work into the character of Amy, The Big Bang Theory - like Chuck Lorre's other show Two and a Half Men, suffers from interesting secondary characters being brought in and then dropped without explanation. This could still happen to Amy, but at least she's being given a chance as a character to grow and explore.

Some of the funniest moments in the episode don't entirely rest on Sheldon, while I adore Jim Parsons and his character I do think it's important that the rest of the cast get their fair share of the light and laughs. Howard gets a huge slice of them here with his "theft", use and then horrific misuse of a robot arm. It ends with him having to experience one classic trope in the form of a hospital visit and the classic line "I slipped and fell" that is resolved with another equally classic trope (without giving too much away, think I.T. Crowd) - the nurse in the scene is so great that I hope she'll make later appearances on occasion. There are also some superb Penny/Sheldon interactions, including a fruitless discussion about the triple knocking habit Sheldon has and her interest in Sheldon's relationship with Amy is equally endearing (especially when Sheldon begins to speculate and calculate Penny's romantic bedroom entanglements over her lifespan.)

Episode Two: The Cruficerous Vegtable Amplification

"For your convenience I disassemble into four pieces."

The largest part of the episode's humour rests on the shoulders of Sheldon and his "robotic manipulation" which occurs when he decides to try and expand his lifespan (with the intention of reaching the singularity and thus potential immortality) by sheltering his physical form from the outside world by interacting with it via a "virtual presence" (effectively a monitor, camera and microphone on tracks.) This is without exception the funniest episode of the entire show to date, Jim and Johnny Galdeki's interactions reach a new level of comedy throughout this - Sheldon's overjoyed expression on the monitor is sidesplitting in itself, but his obvious joy in experiencing the outside world without having to actually be in it is comedy gold.

Needless to say the episode culminates in a suitable form of hubris for Sheldon, and although the situation is resolved I do find myself hoping that virtual Sheldon makes another appearance at some point in the future.

Episode Three: The Zazzy Substitution

"You should lend him your copy of Bombay Ba-donk-ba-donks!"

This is the episode I was worried about, the one where the promise of "Shamey" is dropped in favour of returning to the status quo. Sure enough, after discovering irreconcilable differences (due to the equally massive egos of Sheldon and Amy) the pair split up and Sheldon transforms into a terrifying cat person.

I shouldn't have worried, things are resolved in a more than satisfactory fashion (and a neat closing gag), due to Sheldon's ability to consistently underestimate his mother's intelligence and shrewd understanding of all things Sheldon.

In addition, this was a fantastic episode for Rajesh - the situations where he manages to interact with Penny are always hilarious (mostly because he's drunk and offensive). In fact the entire four episodes have a lot of great moments for Rajesh - Kunal Nayyar is an understated piece of brilliance in The Big Bang Theory and it feels like he's been given stronger lines in these episodes and he's risen to the occasion.

Episode Four: The Hot Troll Deviation

"An entire subcontinent where cows work in the street and nobody has had a solid bowel movement."

Penny's willingness to embrace all four of the guys and try to assist them is something I've enjoyed watching as time progressed, in particular the subtle change in relationship between Howard and Penny - since he's stopped continuously sleazing at her and showed a little emotion the dynamic has improved a lot.

The Hot Troll Deviation is a welcome episode on this front, but it's also exceptionally welcome for another reason, the return of Melissa Rauch as Bernadette. Bernadette's appearance and involvement with Howard was a great leap forward for the show and heralded a great deal of promise. Howard needs something else to move him beyond the hormonally imbalanced semi-stalker that he is and Bernadette was a great fit. It also helps that Melissa Rauch is just adorable in every aspect and perfect for the show. I'm hoping her return results in many more appearances.

Rajesh's work relationship with Sheldon also pays off dividends when Rajesh decides to turn the screws onto Sheldon with an audacious piece of furniture. The tit-for-tat that follows is hilarious and Kunal plays them beautifully, but it's nothing compared to the superb guest starring roles George Takei and Katie Sackhoff take as icons of Howard's fantasy and manifestations of his unconscious mind. Katie is pretty good, she is limited by the role of 'cheesecake fantasy figure' in this situation (I can't wait for the episode where she actually plays herself and Howard mistakes her for another fantasy) but she plays what she has with gusto. George Takei on the other hand grabs his part with both hands and shakes all the awesome out of it everywhere. Just about everything he says is hilarious and serves as additional insight into the usually one dimensional Howard.


I've enjoyed The Big Bang Theory ever since the writer's strike managed to get the show to kick itself into a different gear, and while the show has now embraced Sheldon as the primary character I'm pleased to be able to say that everyone else is getting a fair share of the plot and the funny (though Leonard is a little sidelined at the moment due to the post-Penny fallout removing a lot of his character motivation, he's no longer chasing after Penny so he's left to just observe and snark at Sheldon. I'm sure that'll change given time.)

In particular the continuation of more supporting character incidents, especially endearing ones like Bernadette and Amy; along with Penny taking a stronger interest in Sheldon and Howard's relationships and an expansion of comedic stories for Rajesh means that the fourth season of The Big Bang Theory feels stronger and fresher than ever.

(Image originally from the most excellent "The Televixen" check her out here)
Direct Link

Recently I had a chance to check out the The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Here by shortened to Avengers:EMH) mini-series, a 20 part series that provides the back stories for each member of the line up and the creation of the super team. The Avengers is a pretty well established team, existing as the analog for DC's Justice League (and vise-versa). As the animated series Justice League and it's continuation into Justice League:Unlimited are two of my favourite cartoons (especially the latter Unlimited series) I thought I owed it to myself to try out the mini-series so I could decide if I wanted to plunge into the complete show when it starts airing.

The Avengers is (as I'm sure most people will know) the big boy league for Marvel, containing all of the greatest heroes from the Marvel universe of comics. Avengers:EHM is set up with the classic line-up for the team - containing Thor, The Hulk, Iron-Man, Wasp, Ant-man/Giant-man, Hawkeye, Black Panther and Captain America. The mini-series provides an episode for each of these, but The Hulk shares his with Hawkeye and Ant-man shares his with Wasp and Black Panther.

The Avengers are formed when a series of simultaneous prison breaks occur in the four S.H.I.E.L.D. prisons for super heroes, this frees a whole host of top level villains (and other minor ones), including one particularly dangerous master of gravity named Graviton. SHIELD themselves play a major part in the series, especially Nick Fury, often interacting in antagonistic ways with the various members of The Avengers.

At this point comparisons to the Justice League cartoon are inevitable, the two shows share a very similar art style and they're both about the same core concept, albeit with different brands. The art style in particular is a surprise, it is animated by Marvel Animation, but at times it's almost indistinguishable from Justice League. This is actually a bonus; because Justice League's art style, while exceptionally stylised, is without a doubt fantastic. So Avengers:EMH is an exciting and beautiful show to watch, I don't completely appreciate Wasp's look, there's a little bit too much of the Wapanese anime style creeping in where she is concerned but look of The Hulk, Thor and Captain America more than make up for any shortcomings elsewhere.

One of the areas I felt that Justice League came up short in the first two seasons, was the way that the show felt like it took place in isolation from the rest of the DC mythos. Many different villains made an appearance but on the whole the show felt like it was about the Justice League and almost every other superhero in the DC universe just didn't exist. This was addressed with Justice League:Unlimited and the added weight of all those extra heroes helped make the show feel more weighty and interesting. Characters like Green Arrow, Booster Gold, The Question and Doctor Fate were superb additions to the rotating roster and in many cases more interesting than some members of the original line up (although Hawkgirl was made far less one dimensional once JL:U started, which helped).

Avengers:EMH takes on the the entire weight of the Marvel universe from the very start, and it achieves it in quite a subtle fashion. Much exposition and explanation of who the various heroes/villains are is passed over, if you happen to recognise people like Constrictor, Blizzard and Wonder-man then fantastic, but if you don't it's not spelt out who they are. This even applies to more prominent characters from the Marvel universe; Wolverine makes an appearance that's wonderfully understated and references to characters like The Punisher are genuine Easter Egg 'blink-and-you'll-miss-them' affairs. It's this acknowledgement that there is a larger world beyond just the immediate characters and their own stories that helps cement the realism.

Avengers:EMH has also decided to make an exceptionally bold move by introducing multiple, long-term and over arcing villain plots; HYDRA, The Masters of Evil, Loki and Kang are all present and each one seems to have a long game scheme in mind. I for one always applaud serialisation of TV shows, I think the mix of stand-alone episodes and long term stories is a great compromise for viewers. I prefer shows that tell long, involved stories that draw you in and hold you (like that perennial classic The Wire), but I do appreciate that shows need to be 'dippable' in order to catch and hold the attention of the attention span deprived channel swapper that has become an ever increasing issue. Standalone episodes, which can be picked up and then discarded, combined with multiple episode (or even season) arcs is a good compromise and one that might perk up the interest of the casual viewer enough to get them to want to watch the next episode.

Ultimately Avengers:EMH is a children's show, it's aimed at kids and comic book fans (big kids!) primarily, but for someone like myself, who has a moderate to passing interest in superheroes there's plenty of good characterisation, fun moments and solid dialog to keep you interested. The action in the show in particular is building shattering in it's scale, the fights really do feel quite epic (even if a little ridiculous at times) and this makes every action moment great fun to watch. When Graviton makes the erroneous error of claiming to be 'The strongest one there is', even a layman like myself can't help but perk up and think 'You've made a mistake now sir!'

As a consequence the mini-series was a complete success for myself, it's drummed up enough interest that I want to watch the upcoming episodes and see where this show goes, because if it carries on as it's started then it'll become one of my favourite cartoons alongside other greats like Justice League, Frisky Dingo, TMNT 2K3 and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.

A promising start for the Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Direct Link

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.


Direct Link

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.
Direct Link

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!



Direct Link

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).
Direct Link