Starring:
Wendell Pierce (Det. William "Bunk" Moreland), Deirdre Lovejoy (Asst. States Attorney Rhonda Pearlman), Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale), John Doman (Maj. William A. Rawls), Lance Reddick (Lt. Cedric Daniels), Andre Royo (Bubbles), Idris Elba (Russell "Stringer" Bell), Frankie Faison (Deputy Comm. Ervin H. Burrell), Larry Gilliard Jr. (D'Angelo Barksdale), Dominic West (Det. James "Jimmy" McNulty) and Sonja Sohn (Det. Shakima "Kima" Greggs)

With:
Wendy Grantham (Shardene Innes), Tray Chaney (Malik "Poot" Carr), Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar Little), Corey Parker Robinson (Det. Leander Sydnor), Hassan Johnson (Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice), J.D. Williams (Preston "Bodie" Broadus), Leo Fitzpatrick (Johnny), Jim True-Frost (Off. Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski), Clarke Peters (Det. Lester Freamon), Domenick Lombardozzi (Off. Thomas R. "Herc" Hauk), Seth Gilliam (Det. Ellis Carver), Michael B. Jordan (Wallace), Clayton LeBouef (Wendell "Orlando" Blocker), Robert F. Chew (Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart), Michael Salconi (Det. Michael Santangelo), Steve Earle (Walon), Jefferson Breland (Basketball Coach), Micaiah Jones (Wintell "Little Man" Royce), Perry Blackmon (Perry), Maurice Blanding (Basketball Player) and Christopher J. Clanton (Savino)


Freamon gets Sydnor and Prez started on Barksdale’s money trail. They discover the usual ties to dummy companies, but they also find large sums of political contributions. Herc and Carver bust Wee-Bey holding $22,000, but only $15,000 is reported. Lieutenant Daniels discovers the discrepancy and orders them to find the money before morning roll call. Omar’s mission takes him to Proposition Joe where he promptly offers another recently stolen Barksdale stash to Joe in exchange for Barksdale’s pager number.

Read about money trails, East/West basketball matches and creative fishing beyond the link...

The Recap:

Avon and Stringer are at a local basketball court watching a prospective player perform. The young lad is talented and quite a few places have shown an interest, Avon indicates his own interest in the boy’s talents and then enquires about Omar. Stringer informs him that they can’t find Omar right now and even worse Omar’s been making friends by ripping off stashes and handing the product out for free. So no matter what they do someone will give Omar a heads up first. Stringer again suggests the truce and eventual hit he proposed last episode but Avon disagrees, he’s concerned about his reputation out on the streets. If they leave Omar out there for too long other people will start to get ideas and start attacking the Barksdales as well. They’re interrupted from talking further when the basketball player and his coach walk in, Avon is paying him ten thousand for the lad’s services and the coach manages to get five for the team. After the player leaves the coach gets himself a piece of the action with another five for himself for making it happen. Cue credits…

In the Pit Dee and Wallace are talking about what happened to Brandon. Dee tries to explain that what happened to Brandon isn’t on him, it’s not on either of them, it was going to happen regardless. But Wallace is tired of the life and the guilt, he wants out and is planning to return to school, all the way back to the ninth grade despite his age (sixteen). The conversation progresses on briefly to Stinkum’s demise at Omar’s hands before Dee hands Wallace some money to help him out.

In the basement Prez is working the phones with McNulty when Kima calls to let them know there’s a pertinent call coming in. It turns out that Wee-Bey is coming into the towers to make a pick up and this means game time for the Detail.

In the Pit Dee meets with Bodie and Poot, they want to know about Wallace and Dee tells them everything is good. They’re to leave the boy alone now. Dee’s pager goes off after complaining about the distance he has to walk to use a phone he heads off. It turns out the call is from Herc and Carver who have pranked him for the purpose of taking some photographs. In the basement Freamon dumps some files on Prez and Sydnor, it’s time for those two to follow the money. On the rooftops near the Pit Kima chats with Carver, she informs Herc and him that they might be making a pick up soon.

Bubbles is with Johnny and they see both Walon (played by musician Steve Earle) from the rehab meetings and Bodie. Johnny is naturally a littler nervous at this because Bodie was one of the lads who hospitalised him. Bodie throws the vials to give everyone a sample taste and a scramble breaks out. Afterwards Bubbles heads up to talk with Walon and offers him a vial if he wants it. But it turns out that Bubble’s assumption was wrong, the guy isn’t there for the drugs, he’s here to try and get his nephew straight. The pair of them share introductions.

Wee-Bey has arrived to make the pick up and McNulty asks Carver to pick the man up at a fair distance away. The plan is to avoid picking him up to early on in order to try and conceal any indication that there is a wire up on the Barksdales.

In the basement Freamon starts explaining how Sydnor and Prez are to follow up on the flow of drug money. He explains the entire process to both them and the viewer so we’re clear just what is involved and how it goes down. The main thing they’re looking for are names, specifically the name of the lawyer involved in these deals, while the Barksdales may be cautious, they’re likely to use the same lawyer for most things. A lawyer they trust, specifically Maurice Levy. From this they can follow other company filings that Levy has made and identify the other dummy companies. Additionally they are to chase up any land or properties owned by dummy companies. In essence, once they start following this money they have no idea where it’s going to end up. They could be looking at almost anything. Freamon himself is also following up the money, but he’s going to be looking for campaign donations. Suffice to say this following of the money trail has the potential to upset some very important people in the city.

Herc and Carver pull over Wee-Bey and find a bag filled with money. Wee-Bey protests innocence, claiming that he didn’t know the money was there and additionally he asks if they have no charge on him. Herc admits they have no charge, just his money and he’s unlikely to get it back. Wee-Bey just smiles and tells them to have a nice day.

Bubbles has managed to follow some dealers to the location of their day stash, a small amount of drugs kept somewhere secure to peddle on the streets. He’s approached from the rooftops and uses a fishing wire plus hook to snag the drugs and pull them up. Unfortunately for him he’s spotted just as he pulls the bag over the edge of the roof top. But fortune favours him after that when the dealers mistakenly attack someone else for his theft. Back in the apartment Johnny and he celebrate their victory. But their celebrations are caught short when they find out the drugs are just baking soda.

In the police parking lot Carver tears the bag while removing the money from the boot of the car. Herc stars musing about tips, he’s suggesting that they take a percentage for themselves and turn the rest in for evidence. But Carver points out there’s a wiretap involved, it’s likely the full amount of cash will be disclosed and then they’ll get caught out.

Freamon is in the basement briefing Kima and McNulty on the money trail so far. They’ve followed it to a large amount of empty store fronts and vacants. Daniels walks in and suggests that following the money may be a little premature. He’s concerned about what will happen after Burrel’s reaction to his pick up of Price’s money previously. But Freamon makes it clear that they need to start right now when a jubilant Herc and Carver arrive with “20 or 30 thousand” in cash. Notice they’ve disclosed a decent estimate compared to the amount mentioned in the summary. There’s no attempt to skim here and it’s quite clear they haven’t. McNulty asks about the photographs and muses that they’ll need a wiretap up on that new phone. Daniels is less than pleased because this means another thirty days in a case that’s ruining his career. McNulty doesn’t understand but Freamon attempts to make it clear.

Omar returns back to the place he’s calling home right now, a vacant house where he’s taking every precaution to ensure isn’t compromised while Herc and Carver goof off listening to a little phone sex on the wiretap. Prez reminds them that they should turn off any non-pertinent calls but the duo disagrees as they’re enjoying it too much. McNulty also comes in and reminds them they should switch off after ninety seconds of non-pertinent, but he doesn’t make them turn it off. I believe it is Bodie talking on the other end of the phone at this point, but I’m not certain. Regardless the phone call suddenly turns pertinent again when the callers talk about Wallace’s bugging out over Brandon’s death. Unfortunately it’ll be hard to explain the sex talk before as pertinent; it’s a stretch even to suggest it is code.

In the Pit Omar arrives in his own style, rolling into town like a cowboy in a western with his duster, shotgun and Kevlar. Everyone scatters and he steps outside the stash house, making it clear he’s going to keep coming back until they cave. They drop the stash and after checking it he leaves.

Kima and Freamon meet up with Shardene while Poot sees Wallace out on the street and decides to find out what he’s been buying. On the rooftops Herc and Carver are talking while wondering where everyone is. Carver notices that the streets are empty and decides to roll out.

In the basement Shardene meets with Freamon, she’s quite interested in his doll house miniatures, the small furniture he makes in his free time. She clearly loves them on sight and is saddened that he simply makes and sells them. The moment is interrupted by Kima who tells them they can use Daniels office.

Bubbles is next seen walking through a nice neighbourhood before ringing on the doorbell, the woman who answers tells him “no” and it rapidly becomes clear that her and her daughter are relatives. Bubbles mentions he’s going to try and get clean again and was thinking about asking her for a place to stay. He turns to leave and she offers him a key to the basement, he’s only allowed to crash there, nowhere else.

Herc and Carver continue to travel through the deserted streets of Baltimore before they spot a young lad walking across the street, this leads to a crowded area filled with people watching a basketball match. It’s West vs. East projects, a match for bragging rights.

In the lieutenants office Kima and Freamon hit Shardene hard with the facts and start pushing her. They tell her the truth about Orlando’s and mention Keisha. They figure that they can get her to tumble and use her as an informant inside the club.

In the project basketball match things are going well, but it turns out that Avon isn’t the only person who got a ringer in. Proposition Joe has also done so and the pair of them share some harsh banter. Herc and Carver are enthralled with the match when Bodie and Poot spot them. They talk a little about the match, all roles in the system forgotten for the moment.

In the morgue Freamon and Kima show Shardene Keisha’s body, dumped after she died at Stinkum’s party. Used and then left to rot. They push Shardene a little further and she breaks down.

In the match a careless word from Poot twigs Herc onto the fact that Avon’s here at the match. Unfortunately neither of them have ever seen Avon in person yet but they call in the information to Daniels back in the basement. Daniels decides they should follow Avon as that’s how it’s worked in narcotics before. McNulty doesn’t bother to go with them, he disagrees – feeling that Avon is far too careful to go anywhere near the drugs or money and the only way to catch the man is by voice or not at all.

The match is looking bad for Prop Joe when he steps up to speak with Avon and suggests they move the bet up to a clean six figures. Avon agrees and Joe nods to a player on his bench, its clear Joe has more than one ringer planned. Sydnor and the Lieutenant arrive, Sydnor being someone who can make a positive id of Avon and he does. He lets the others know what Avon’s wearing while Joe’s new ringer makes short work of the West side team.

In the basement a call comes in that gets the Detail up on the stash but there’s no-one to confirm it. So McNulty writes in Sydnor as being on the roof at that time despite Prez’s protests. The match is getting close when the ref makes a call that Avon disagrees with, and he rips into him. The Eastside have won the game.

In the basement Shardene has started talking to Freamon about Keisha, Freamon explains that they need her help to get the Barksdales, the people who killed Keisha and he gifts her one of his miniatures to make her smile and seal the deal.

Daniels and Santangleo (remember him? He sort of drops in and out of the story in these episodes) start following Avon with Sydnor picking him up in addition with Herc and Carver in front. Avon just stops and parks, sitting and waiting before doubling back, he jumps a light and then loses all the tails for a while before driving past Daniels wagging a finger at him. Avon’s made it clear he’s no fool (but we already know that); he knows who they are and what they’re trying to pull.

In the basement McNulty and Freamon are discussing the calls and Shardene. Bubbles is sat in the basement of his sister’s house trying to overcome his cravings and get clean. Daniels admits to McNulty that Avon lost them and McNulty admits that he’s both a smart criminal and he’s proud to be chasing after him. Freamon runs through the situations and mentions that the haul was twenty two thousand. The money is clearly resulting in a massive amount of profit and there’s little sign of it. But Avon is fronting up contributions to various political causes.

In Dee’s Shardene packs up to leave and Dee doesn’t understand why, Shardene asks him if she looks like trash that could be rolled up into a rug and dumped before leaving.

Daniels is in his office when Herc and Carver come in; he has them sit down and plays a recording from the wire. It’s the dealers talking about how much they were hit for, twenty two thousand. But only fifteen thousand was handed in, the takings for two of the towers are missing. Daniels tells them they are to find the money and bring it back in, Herc and Carver are genuinely innocent of this but Carver still throws a quizzical look at Herc.

Omar arrives at Proposition Joes’s place with the stash bag; he places it in front of Joe who checks it. Joe is amazed that Omar is still stealing Avon’s stuff despite the reward on his head and asks what he’s done it for. Omar gifts it to Joe in exchange for a way to contact Avon. Omar’s plan is win-win for Joe and he agrees.

Herc and Carver strip apart their car searching for the money; Carver finds it in the trunk wheel well where it had fallen after the bag ripped.

In Orlando’s Avon is sat with Orlando and Wee-Bey counting money. Wee-Bey heads on out to get a burger while Omar watches. He then pages Avon an emergency page with Wee-Bey’s code. Avon heads out to check but then heads back in. Omar pages him a second time and Avon – after refusing the offer of Orlando’s phone – heads out to a payphone. Avon calls the number and gets a hang up while Omar heads towards him. Wee-Bey suddenly returns with the burger when Omar opens up. He misses and is winged by Wee-Bey.

The payphone receiver hangs, swinging…

The Catchphrases:
What the f*&k did I do? x 4
I’ve got a proposition for you x 2

The Review:

By now you must be pretty familiar with the score, Game Day is a transitional episode which serves a few purposes, first of all it makes the viewer a little more familiar with the way paper trails are followed up by the police, a rare piece of exposition for the show but a nessacery one for most viewers. It also introduces the character of Proposition Joe, another major player in the Baltimore drug trade and one positioned in opposition to the Barksdales.

Daniels is left clearly in an awkward position by the change in empathsis of the investigation, he’s looking for simple and clean police work which will catch Avon ‘doing the deed’ and wrap up the arrest without ruffling too many higher up peacocks. But the people who he’s working with are not that way inclined. McNulty is after Avon with his method, he’s convinced that the wire is the method of choice; Freamon on the other hand is showing his natural instincts by heading after the money trail. This is a pursuit which has two major results, first of all property seizures are always good for a police department. They result in money which helps operating budgets. But as Freamon himself has mentioned, the money goes everywhere and as such there is a very real chance they’re going to follow after someone who’s important and powerful enough to cause some real problems.

It’s very difficult to review this episode because in all honesty it is an episode without any serious major events for the case. Omar’s attempt on Avon’s life at the end of the episode is exciting and a great example of just how far Omar will go when pushed, he’s not a man who’s interested in the underlings as such anymore. He’s going for the head of the organisation now. But his failure means any further attempts on Avon’s life are going to be impossible, the already cautious Avon will be even more careful now. It’s good news for the Detail that Omar failed as well, if Omar had killed Wee-Bey or Avon then they’d be left trying to sniff after Stringer, a man who’s possibly even more cautious than Avon.

There are four episodes left in this season so there’s plenty to come before the first part of our journey is over. But if you’ve made it this far congratulations are in order, all that watching, the learning of characters and deciphering of the Baltimore slang (Po-lice, Five-O!) and following the plot as it goes is going to pay off soon big time.
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Boston Legal:
Another show gives us it's final hurrah this year and this time it's the often preachy but always silly Boston Legal. Of course they save the silliest moments of the show for the final episode, out doing themselves on just about every front. Now if I'm completely honest I thought last weeks offering was better overall, but finales are always a little unsatisfying as they represent death. No matter what happens now there are no new stories for Denny & Alan, Carl & Shirley and Jerry & Katie. This is the end of their tales, but as far as it goes it wasn't bad at all.

The main take-over plot thread was a little bit of a blindside, while the show had been hinting that Crane, Poole and Schmidt was in trouble the Chinese investors were essentially shoved in without much foreshadowing in context. Of course if you look at the world in general right now you can see the foreshadowing, China continues to rise and it's only going to keep getting stronger in the world arena as time passes. But still, it could have been handled better and maybe it would have been if the season had a full 22 episodes instead of 13.

I'll miss Boston Legal for sure, the final season paired everything back, gave us a cast which worked, situations which were fun and not too much liberal ranting. It's not the best show that ended in 2008 but it's up there.

How I Met Your Mother:
'The Fight' was an absolutely awesome episode that gave everyone in the cast plenty to do, Robin and Marshall in particular were given some great lines and moments that really nailed their characters. Even Ted himself was pretty interesting (I always rag on Ted for being the show's boring straight man) and Will Sasso (from MADtv) was fantastic as Doug. Providing just the right amount of support for the cast without taking over (as some guest stars can do).

The final sequence in particular was ace. "Here's your coco!"

House:
A pretty good episode overall from House, which is just as well because the current House:The Thirteen Show, story arc sucks gigantic donkey reproductive organs and then some. She's becoming more and more boring and whingey as time is passing. I have absolutely zero sympathy for her character and even less tolerance.

Leaving that aside the more interesting thread has been the Cuddy/House will they won't they thing. Normally I can't stand will they won't theys. But this one I quite like because the odds are firmly on the "won't".

Once again the patient wasn't very interesting, and the episode even managed to spoil itself by putting in a "not-a-revelation" moment which pushed the entire plot towards a hidden teen pregnancy long before even House got there. Still the final section of the episode included some tender moments and even House allowed himself to be human, it's possible he's lost out on anything with Cuddy now due to the arrival of this child.

Oh and the "virgin conception" moment was delivered with a superb level of fake-out and snideness from House. Good stuff.

The Office:
I don't know if I enjoyed the Christmas episode of The Office or not, I was thrilled with the return of Jim's cold opening gag. This time it had him Christmas wrapping Dwight's desk with a neat twist. But the episode on the whole, it had good points and not so good points. The main, Meredith drinks too much storyline wasn't that interesting, likewise Phyllis' blackmailing of Angela and the subsequent revealing of Angela's affair was awkward. Good, but awkward. I kind of hope it means they're bringing that storyline to a close as the love triangle has gone on long enough.

Most of the best moments were more throw away ones. Michael's continued mistreatment of Toby, Jim & Pam's talking head interview and Dwight's fire marshall moments were funny. It's not their best Christmas episode, but it was ok.

30 Rock:
I really, really dislike any storyline in 30 Rock with Jack's mother in them. Now all due respect to Elaine Stritch, she's a fantastic actress but the relationship her character has with Jack isn't funny. It's borderline boring. As such the good parts of the episode had to come elsewhere; Griz and Dot Com's 'bounderies' moment, Frank's Hat (as always) and this time Jenna's failed attempt to stand up to Jack. (ftr I like Jane Krakowski a lot, she manages to play a great little self centered starlett without being too much).

On the whole it was... Weak.

The IT Crowd:
I caught most of The IT Crowd this week after missing last weeks episode, this week was good. Very good in fact. Matt Berry was given a meaty (bad pun) storyline which played well to his strengths and his character's traits. Likewise Moss and Roy had a decent plot/gag when Jen was asked to give a speech as Employee of the Month and they decided to have her show the stockholders the Internet (a black box with a flashing light). It was great as episodes of the show go, funny and light. I especially enjoyed Berry's fight sequence.

In other stuff I picked up "The Planet Earth" for a meagre £12 yesterday and I've been watching the odd bit of King of the Hill, you know that other, other, other cartoon for adults. The one which isn't The Simpsons, Family Guy or Futurama. I only watch it occasionally so I rarely can recall what happened in each episode, which makes it feel like I'm watching it for the first time again.
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Today I make a push towards finishing reviewing DVDs for the most excellent BBC Sci-Fi Comedy Hyperdrive... Wait, no. That's not most excellent, it's average at best. I meant Red Dwarf.

For the previous series review see the following:
Series I
Series II
Series III
Series IV



Starring:
Chris Barrie as Arnold Rimmer/"Ace" Rimmer
Craig Charles as Dave Lister
Danny John-Jules as "The Cat"
Robert Llewellyn as Kryten
Hattie Hayridge as Holly


Located firmly within the 'sweet comedy spot'; Red Dwarf's Vth Series is one of the best, only the two series' either side of it compete for the spot as 'Best Series'. The Fifth season includes some of the most iconic episodes the show has ever produced and in my opinion is only bettered by the series which follows it.

Holoship is the first episode and one which allows the viewer to explore a new part of Rimmer's psyche, the crew encounter the titular holoship. A spaceship constructed entirely of light and populated by holograms (like Rimmer); Rimmer has a chance to explore the ship, experience what it's like to touch and feel things again, he experiences sex for the second time in his existence and ends up stooping to cheating in order to try and get on board. The Inquisitor includes one of the series more iconic villains, a rogue self repairing simulant (sort of a cyborg-android-humanoid) who survived until the end of time and decided that the only goal of existence was to live a worthwhile and fulfilling life. His sights are set on the crew of the Red Dwarf, and boy are they in trouble. Terrorform is another episode which focuses heavily on Rimmer, this time he's trapped on a psi-moon, a planetoid which reshapes itself to match the psyche of the first person to interact with it. Needless to say Rimmer's own self loathing and wretched persona make this a very unpleasant place to go. Quarantine is quite possibly the funniest episode of the entire series, after contracting a holo-virus Rimmer's sanity is gradually eroded away from him. But unfortunately for the rest of the crew he's in charge of the ship and he's put them in quarantine. Only judicious use of positive viruses could possibly allow Lister, Cat and Kryten to escape the flippers of the terrifying Mr. Flibble. In Demons & Angels a mishap with a matter transporter splits the ship into two versions of itself, one populated with the perfect versions of the crew and the other with the most deviant and perverse versions of themselves they'll ever meet. "First I'm going to whip you to within an inch of your life and then I'm going to have you."
Finally the series ends with an incredible episode called Back to Reality. Suffice to say that this episode had myself and my friends talking about it for weeks after it aired.

Series five is a superb episode that mixed the right amount of comedy and occasional touching moments, followed by more comedy. It built on the brilliance of series four and improved on it; the two series are so well constructed that I still have trouble remembering which episode is from which, they're so similar in style and awesomeness.


The Packaging:
Exactly like the other boxes in this set, there are no switch ups or changes where the BBC packaging is concerned. Only the colour is altered here to distinguish it on the shelf; everything else is kept consistent and as such it just all looks darn great when you have them all together. I have no complaints, the two DVDs and the booklet are held well and it's exactly the right size.

The Start up and Menus:
As always the BBC start up anti-piracy warning scrolls up, it's a far less aggressive version of the FACT one that's located on the Fox DVDS. Then the BBC logo plays and a short introduction video has Starbug landing in the bay of the Red Dwarf and moving to a heavily damaged drive room where Holly spouts a few non sequitur one liners in her wonderful fashion. The loop is short and while amusing it can get a little tiresome, but at least it doesn't jar too badly when it repeats itself. Most of the other menus take place on various screens in the drive room but the individual episodes have their own area for menus. There are two Easter eggs on the first disc and one on the second.

The Extras:
As always with these the BBC have outdone themselves. Not only do we get the usual (and quite brilliant) cast commentary on each episode but there is also a bonus set of 'fan commentary' on Back to Reality. Additionally there is a whole host of extras crammed onto the second disc.

The full list is:
Cast Commentary
Fan Commentary on Back to Reality
"Heavy Science" Original Documentary
Deleted Scenes
Smeg Ups (Out-takes)
"Dwarfing USA"
Documentary on the Making of the US pilot
"Bag Guys" Featurette
The SFX of Red Dwarf V
Trailers, Idents and Episode Intro
Raw FX Footage
Isolated Music Cues
"David Hollins" Radio Sketch
Photo Gallery
Weblink

Plus Easter Eggs and Collector's booklet.

The Details:
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Regions: 2 + 4 (PAL UK)
Runtime: 165 mins (plus 180 mins of extras)
Sound: Stereo
Subtitles: Snglish SDH
Rating: 12

The Price:
Sendit have everyone else spanked right now where the price is concerned. It's an astronomical price of £6.89 right now.


Close to the pinnacle of Red Dwarf, series five is a must have for any fan of the show and a must watch at least once for everyone who enjoys well scripted and exceptionally hilarious comedy. I would almost be tempted to call it the best series of the show, but that title is held for another.
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In a continued effort to shove share the brilliance that is HBO's The Wire with as many people as possible I'd like to report that /Film's 29th episode of /Filmcast is a three hour extravaganza all about The Wire.

It features Dave, Devindra, and Adam along with special guest critics Alan Sepinwall and Myles McNutt.

It's a superb listen for fans of the show and the first section is even accessable to people who've not seen the show, are curious and don't mind a few light spoilers.

The link to the page where the podcast is located is here. Enjoy.
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Today we have a review on a series I've been watching for a while and I've felt somewhat prompted to write about now that Time Magazine has voted it into their top 10 best TV episodes of 2008. Additionally I like to try and mention the odd web based video show (quick props for Zero Punctuation) as I do feel web based shows are worth supporting.

Education:

1. The act or process of educating or being educated.
2. The knowledge or skill obtained or developed by a learning process.
3. A program of instruction of a specified kind or level: driver education; a college education.
4. The field of study that is concerned with the pedagogy of teaching and learning.
5. An instructive or enlightening experience: Her work in the inner city was a real education.

Entertainment:

1. The act of entertaining.
2. The art or field of entertaining.
3. Something that amuses, pleases, or diverts, especially a performance or show.
4. The pleasure afforded by being entertained; amusement: The comedian performed for our entertainment.
5. Archaic. Maintenance; support.
6. Obsolete. Employment.

Edu-tainment:

1. An almost meaningless buzz word used in some educational circles and bandied about elsewhere without real understanding
   
2. The effect of watching "You Suck At Photoshop".
   

You Suck At Photoshop is a series of short web tutorials which follows a well used educational psychological principle, if you make something enjoyable and fun while learning then those you are teaching will interact with and absorb more of the information you're trying to transmit. Photoshop is a complicated tool with thousands of possibilities, but it's not exactly intuitive or easy to use.

Enter Donnie Hoyle; who's brought us this series of tutorials, each episode of which teaches a new method or methods that can be applied on Photoshop. But Donnie is not your average dry straight talking instructional teacher. No he's a man with problems; a lot of problems and as each episode unfolds these problems encroach into the episode and provide the comedy. You see Donnie is a man utterly crushed by his own life, it's spiralled out of control and he's ended up trapped in a marriage he hates and a job he loathes. His life is dished out to the viewer in little snippets each episode as the next unfortunate event hits him and sends him spiralling off into a panic attack. It's a great blend of dialog comedy combined with an honest to goodness tutorial that might just teach you a new feature of Photoshop.

There are two ways to rate You Suck At Photoshop, the first would be looking at how well it instructs the viewer. I'm no Photoshop expert; I understand a bit beyond the basics, stuff like layers, levels, paths, masks, filters, opacity etc. But I couldn't claim to know enough to even be considered a rank amateur at the thing, I still find myself struggling with it at times. So I can only talk about what it's like to learn as a novice, I can't state for certain that you're being taught the best way to do things. I can only say that the methods taught work.

On the other hand there is the comedy in this show; Donnie is best described as (and this is the official term) a complete loser. He's a hapless victim in just about every situation he lands in and is unable to handle any confrontational situations that arise. He's quite literally walked on by everyone and has this desperate layer of anger underneath it all. He's the kind of person who just suddenly snaps one day and goes out on a spree, then later on when being interviewed all his friends, co-workers and neighbours would say "He was such a quiet man."

There are a few other characters who make "appearances" (vocal appearances at least) in the episodes, the most prominent of these is Sn4tchbuckl3r, a member of Donnie's online guild. Sn4tchbuckl3r will often interrupt Donnie's tutorials with Skype and hold brief conversations, either about things that are happening in their MMO (I think it's probably World of Warcraft, but I'm not sure) or circumstances that have been happening in Donnie's life itself. It's clear from the short conversations that Sn4tchbuckl3r is Donnie's closest friend and confident, it's also clear that Sn4tchbuckl3r doesn't exactly respect Donnie.

You Suck At Photoshop set out to do two things, teach people how to use the various features in Photoshop and also provide comedy and entertainment at the same time. Honestly it's succeeded on both counts and is well worth watching even if you're not a Photoshop user.

You Suck At Photoshop is written, starring and created by Matt Bledsoe and Troy Hitch, and is available to watch at My Damn Channel. The first episode is located here.

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So Time Magazine (who do have exceptionally good taste) have released their yearly Top 10 of everything.

The lists that interest me break down as follows.

(Following the links risks spoilers for the shows listed)

Top 10 TV Shows:
1. The Shield
2. Mad Men
3. The Presidential Election
4. Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog
5. The Wire
6. Breaking Bad
7. Lost
8. Battlestar Galactica
9. Architecture School
10. Chuck

That's a great list. I have no idea what Architecture School is and I don't really enjoy Lost, but the rest of those items are just brilliant shows. Seriously, you can't go wrong with watching that lot.

Top 10 TV Episodes:
1. Lost - The Constant
2. The Shield - Family Meeting
3. The Wire - Late Editions
4. In Treatments "Alex --- Week Eight"
5. Breaking Bad - Pilot
6. Battlestar Galactica - Revelations
7. The Colbert Report - Jan 22 Episode
8. 30 Rock - Cooter
9. Mad Men - A Night to Remember
10. You Suck at Photoshop "Distort, Warp and Layer Effects"

Again there's some great stuff here, plus some stuff I've not watched yet. It's another selection of can't go wrongs.

The full set of top 10 lists can be found here.

Got any top 10 lists you'd like to see from Rev/Views before the end of the year?
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A week or two ago; while looking at my DVD collection in it's entirety something started nagging at my mind, then last week while watching TV another unrelated thought suddenly linked itself with the previous one and I stood up to consider my collection again.

I realised, I really don't like modern British shows and in fact the only kind of British shows I enjoy watching are sitcoms and documentaries. I rarely watch any British drama and when I do it's often with a mix of derision and scorn, I'm very harsh at poor old Doctor Who for one.

The current running shows that I manage to watch are My Family, Moving Wallpaper, Mighty Boosh and Gavin & Stacey (all which I only catch when they are released on DVD). Occasionally I also watch Q.I., Top Gear, Doctor Who and Live at the Apollo but more often than not I forget what time these shows are on and instead. I did used to watch Skins but I've decided the cast change has soured interest in the next season, and I can only mention just one decent drama in recent times - Life on Mars.

I did also watch Deadset but felt mostly let down by it, it's not something I'd ever want to watch again.

The complete list of British shows I own on DVD is even more damming:
Black Adder, Black Books, Coupling, Darkplace, Extras, Fawlty Towers, Gavin & Stacey, Green Wing, Marion & Geoff, Jeeves & Wooster, Mighty Boosh, Monty Python, Moving Wallpaper, My Family, The New Statesman, Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights/Max & Paddy, Red Dwarf, Spaced, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Sharpe (I've not watched the newest two yet), Skins, Spaced and a range of BBC Wildlife Documentaries.

The vast majority of these have now ended with no sign of a return and quite a lot of them are from the previous decade as well. My American shows on the other hand covers a range of genres, drama, sitcoms, police procedurals, sci-fi, cartoons etc etc.

So I've spent a bit of time trying to figure out why I prefer shows released by our American cousins over ones from this wet, dour country that I so love.

I think it boils down to a few simple things; length, resources, depth, guns and channels.

American seasons are simply longer than British ones, often by a factor of three or more. The American show will normally have either around a dozen episodes or two dozen, while the British show will have six or eight. This time is important, you've got longer to pan out any story arcs and set up situations and it also means you get a lot more bang for your buck when it comes time to pick up the DVD set. Paying £15 for 22 episodes of Seinfeld just feels better than the same for 6 episodes of The Mighty Boosh.

Tied into this is the issue of resources, Britian has some incredible writers but suffers greatly when it comes to implementing ideas. Our country is small and lacks the natural resources America has, so not only do special effect budgets suffer and overall budgets are smaller as well. There's not much that can be done about that unless someone out there decides to create a British TV industry city. (A Brit-Hollywood so to speak)

Depth is a personal peeve and one I understand doesn't influence everyone. I like shows which are intelligent and challenge the viewer, I more than appreciate that most people just want to be entertained - and they're well catered for in the current world of quick fix TV. But for every five or so reality TV shows, sketch shows and so forth, there should be an intelligent show with a real story to tell. Where's my British show with the depth and scope of The Wire? We've got skilled enough crime authors and writers to do this, so why isn't it happening?

Guns, well guns is an interesting one. I'm not writing that guns are a selling point for me, no I don't need guns to make things exciting. But it's more the case that British shows keep trying to bring in guns, this is something that normally looks very unnatural on the screens as guns are a rare thing in the UK (thank goodness). Torchwood's penchant for the metal phallus is a great example of how not to do it, Marion & Geoff on the other hand managed to include a gun in it's story lines in an intelligent and entertaining manner. I guess I'm saying guns should be an exception in British shows, not the rule.

Channels, now this is probably where the biggest problem lies. Most British channels are essentially repeat or syndication machines designed for giving us other people's programming. There are exceptions, but a lot of new material ends up being pushed onto the side channels (E4, BBC3 etc) and poorly advertised.

Now I'm not totally bashing UK TV here, there are some bright spots, the BBC (thanks to Sir David Attenborough's influence) produces amazing unrivaled wildlife documentaries with superb narration (Attenborough again and Jack Davenport). We also do a brilliant cynical, grubby, low key comedy which often has unpleasant people being unpleasant to each other in hilarious manners. So there are bright spots, but there's a lot more trash on UK TV now than ever.

I've mentioned this before, but I'll repeat myself here. I really think that the UK needs something like a UK equivalent of Showtime, FX or HBO over here. A subscription channel that's dedicated to making quality original programming, heck do it in co-ordination with an American channel if the funding is needed. I'd love a HBO-UK for example (HBO & BBC worked together for Extras). I'd even get off my critic horse and write some scripts if that happened, I'm that starving for some quality storytelling set in the UK. Oh and Law & Order: UK doesn't cut it if that's what you're thinking.

So, what do you think? Should I just get my head out of the sand and embrace UK TV, am I wrong in my perception that it's all comedy quiz shows, reality voting shows and repeats from the past? Am I missing some real genuine gems?
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Starring:
Wendell Pierce (Det. William "Bunk" Moreland), Deirdre Lovejoy (Asst. States Attorney Rhonda Pearlman), Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale), John Doman (Maj. William A. Rawls), Lance Reddick (Lt. Cedric Daniels), Andre Royo (Bubbles), Idris Elba (Russell "Stringer" Bell), Frankie Faison (Deputy Comm. Ervin H. Burrell), Larry Gilliard Jr. (D'Angelo Barksdale), Dominic West (Det. James "Jimmy" McNulty) and Sonja Sohn (Det. Shakima "Kima" Greggs)

With:
Clarke Peters (Det. Lester Freamon), Domenick Lombardozzi (Off. Thomas R. "Herc" Hauk), Seth Gilliam (Det. Ellis Carver), Peter Gerety (Judge Daniel Phelan), Antonio Cordova (Sean McNulty), Brandon Price (Anton "Stinkum" Artis), Hassan Johnson (Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice), Corey Parker Robinson (Det. Leander Sydnor), Maria Broom (Marla Daniels), Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar Little), Tray Chaney (Malik "Poot" Carr), Michael B. Jordan (Wallace), Wendy Grantham (Shardene Innes), Eric Ryan (Michael McNulty), Jim True-Frost (Off. Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski), Tony D. Head (Maj. Bobby Reed), Clayton LeBouef (Wendell "Orlando" Blocker), Donnell Rawlings (Damien Lavelle "Day-Day" Price), Micaiah Jones (Wintell "Little Man" Royce) and Christopher J. Clanton (Savino)

The Summary:
McNulty has his sons play the game of “front and follow” with Stringer Bell as the target, and they get Bell’s license plate number for their efforts. Greggs and Carver bust a driver for picking up a large amount of cash from the towers, only they’re forced to return the money on orders from the Deputy Commissioner. Avon finds out about Orlando’s inquiries to branch out into “dirty” business, and makes it clear to Orlando that that’s not the plan.

Read about front-and-follow, a desceased smell and sixty days beyond the link…

The Recap:

McNulty at the market with his two sons Mikey and Sean when he notices Stringer Bell in the place and tells his lads that it’s time to play ‘The Spy Game’. It’s clear that this is a ‘game’ McNulty has taught his boys a long time ago and one they’ve played many times. But it seems that this is the first time he’s ever stooped to send them after a genuine criminal. While they follow an oblivious Stringer his pager goes off and he heads outside. McNulty signals that he’ll get the car, leaving his children following Stringer unsupervised.

Now it might seem very careless of McNulty to send his boys off following Stringer unsupervised, but there are a couple of things you have to bare in mind here. McNulty is a man driven, obsessed with catching Avon and Stringer, so much so that it interferes with his ability to be a good father. It’s also worth noting that his lads are experienced with this game and more importantly Stringer doesn’t know what McNulty’s two kids look like (or even if McNulty has children) so he’s not going to pay attention to them. Now in another TV show you might have seen an abduction moment happen here, but The Wire isn’t just another TV show, even if Stringer did know who these boys are there’s no way he would ever harm them personally, especially not in a public place, so for the most part these boys are quite safe.

It’s still an irresponsible act for a parent mind you…

McNulty is delayed in the car park by other people’s cars while his sons continue to ‘front and follow’ Stringer who has turned and gone back into the market. McNulty arrives outside and is immediately concerned that he can’t see his boys because they’ve followed Stringer back out of a different exit to his car. Mikey gets a little closer and writes down Stringer’s license plate (Maryland: JLY 488 if you’re curious) before he drives off. By now McNulty is concerned and has spoken to security and an announcement is put across the market speakers. Cue credits…

Back in the basement Freamon, Prez and Greggs are discussing the two payphones that were torn out at the same time. They’re not entirely sure why both payphones from the Pit have been torn out, but they suspect (rightly) it’s because they’ve spooked the Barksdales somehow. Kima and Prez point out that they still have both the Tower phones and Stringer’s pager but Lester reminds them that this is a prime example on how cautious this organisation is. It’s something they need to keep in mind at all times, remember the Barksdales operated for a long time without drawing any attention to themselves and if it hadn’t been for D’Angelo’s misstep and McNulty’s ranting in the first episode they might still have been under the radar.

In the main part of the basement Herc and Carver are chatting about the sergeant’s test they both plan to take when Prez asks them to follow some of the Pit crew to the new payphones they’re using. Naturally Herc and Carver are less than interested in performing this, in part because of their test and in part because they’re straight up lazy. So instead of getting up and heading out as Prez requested they lay into him and remind him just what a screw up he is then Kima heads out and tells them the same thing.

Elsewhere in the city Wee-bey and his boys have broken into Omar’s apartment and are tossing it over, they find some close photos of Omar and his now deceased boyfriend Brandon. Omar himself is over the road with the young mother who asked him for money previously and watches calmly as they torch his white van.

In homicide a jovial McNulty rolls in and immediately starts ripping into Bunk’s choice of shirt colour - Frankly I agree with McNulty on this one, any man who comes into the office wearing pink is asking for a friendly roasting – before sitting down and looking up the license plate Stringer was using. He proudly tells the story of his boys down the supermarket while Bunk listens with a mixture of concern and amusement. But despite Bunks disapproval McNulty now has the license plate of a car driven by Stringer, a car that belongs to a woman, not Stringer.

Wallace is woken up in his room by Sarah, one of the kids he looks after to help with homework, the homework is simple addition and subtraction involving passengers on a bus, he tells the girl to ‘do it in yer head and attempts to go back to sleep. Almost immediately Poot walks in, Wallace’s absence in the Pit has been noted and Poot’s been covering for Wallace but that’s not going to cut it for much longer. Wallace isn’t interested, his part in ‘s beating, murder and dumping has affected him hard, so he tells Poot he’ll be down later and asks for a loan. I love the term used here, “let me hold $10”, it’s a great piece of dialog. Poot leaves and Sarah continues to guess the answer out loud. Wallace sighs and reframes the question in a manner she’ll understand. He runs through the numbers but uses vials and re-ups instead of passengers and pick ups; Sarah gets right it immediately and Wallace is slightly amazed that she can do that version but not the other. Sarah explains “Count be wrong, they’ll #&@% you up.” It’s very much a matter of personal relevance, being a bus driver is an abstract concept without any risks, but dealing in vials is something real and dangerous to Sarah.

In the basement Lester, Kima and Sydnor are listening to Stringer talking with someone down in the towers via the tower wiretap. Little Man is rolling out of the 221 in about thirty minutes with twenty something to hand on to someone called Day. They speculate about why product would be leaving the towers - normally it’s an import market there - and then head on out to intercept.

At the Pit sofa Poot is talking with Dee about Wallace, he’s concerned and feels that Dee should talk to Wallace. Dee on the other hand isn’t that concerned, as he says it’s not like anyone has a gun to Wallace’s head, he can do what he likes. But Poot knows that Wallace doesn’t have any other life or way to earn money, so Dee agrees to talk to Wallace if he comes to see him just as an SUV arrives.

On the rooftops near the tower Sydnor and Herc are undertaking surveillance; Herc is running through a list of ‘what if ____ doesn’t happen?’ But Sydnor tells him to shut up in an appropriate manner.

The SUV in the Pit contained Wee-Bey and Stinkum; they tell Dee to come with them on a beef run, so he leaves Poot in charge. Needless to say Poot’s pleased with the authority. Back at the towers a Lincon arrives to make the pick up and Kima moves out to follow him, while Wee-Bey, Dee and Stinkum are celebrating Stinkum’s earning on points. Wee makes it clear to Dee that if he carries on doing well that he’ll start earning points on his packages as well and Dee then mentions Orlando’s proposition. Wee and Stink both tell Dee that he should talk to Avon before he does anything and the guys plan a celebratory night out at Orlando’s.

Kima and Carver have pulled over the driver and then after questioning him they take the bag out from the car and arrest him. McNulty meanwhile is stat outside 4117 Howwell Road, scoping the place out when he is paged and heads back into homicide where Carver and Kima are looking as pleased as a pair of Punches. The driver turns out to be one Damien Lavell Price, a legislative aide and when Daniels arrives they explain that they caught him picking up twenty thousand dollars in cash from the tower. They expected drugs but they got money instead. Daniels explains that he knows Damien, he was the man who bragged about cracking cribs in the fundraiser party Daniels attended in episode . Damien requests his lawyer and Daniels leaves to explain a little about what he knows to Carver, McNulty and Kima. As Damien hasn’t claimed the cash is his Daniels plans to keep the money and provide a receipt, it’s unlikely that Damien will be able to explain why he has that much money in cash so it will keep the moolah from returning to the Barksdales. Suddenly the celebratory atmosphere is broken by the arrival of Major Reeds, IID. A man described by Daniels as the angel of death…

In the back room of Orlando’s Avon has a serious talk with Orlando over his proposed drug connect. Avon needs Orlando to remain clean, he’s the front for the business and Avon won’t risk him getting dirty and bringing the attention of the police to the place. He makes sure that Orlando gets the point and then kicks him out onto the floor infront of Shardene and some of the other girls who work in the club.

Daniels is in a meeting with the Deputy Ops Burrell and Reeds about Damien, he explains that Damien has a criminal history, is now working for Senator Clay Davies and has been caught leaving the towers with drug money. Daniels plans to keep the money on civil forfeiture but Burrell notes that they have no criminal charge and tells him to hand the money back. Daniels is understandably upset about this, the money is drug money, they have it bang to rights but Burrell orders him to hand the money back and write it up as an unwarranted stop. He then goes on to tell Daniels how displeased he is with this entire operation and how it’s a) gotten out of control and too expensive and b) gone places it’s not supposed to go by chasing after a senatorial aide. Now there is something to pay careful attention to here, Burrell is very well informed about this and it tells you two things. First, someone inside the detail has been keeping Burrell informed on the detail’s operations and second, whoever it is was involved in today’s operation.

A disgruntled Kima returns the money to Damien and then demands to know what happened. So McNulty heads out after Daniels and finds out. McNulty explains that the Senator hasn’t complained, that it’s clearly drug money and he doesn’t understand why Daniels would even make a peep about this to Burrell. Daniels attempts to explain it as following the chain of command and McNulty calls him on that particular piece of b***s***. Daniels has skipped out the chain of command in this and McNulty knows it. McNulty even goes as far as suggesting (correctly) that Burrell has something on him.

Dee is ‘enjoying’ Stink’s party, there’s women and product everywhere but he’s mostly disturbed with what he sees. The Barksdale rules are no using, but Stink claims it’s a ‘special occasion’. Dee then catches Orlando’s eye, but Dee is clearly not Orlando’s favourite person right now, so he attempts to talk to Wee-Bey. But is ignored as Wee-Bey has got something else on his mind and is busy ushering a young lady into the bedroom.

Daniels on the other hand is sat at home in silence when his wife comes in to talk with him about his problem. She tells him he should try and explain to Burrell and he lays it out, he just can’t, the case is far bigger than Daniels thought. But Burrell knew where it would go. Daniels has finally realised just how bad this case is for him and his career, it goes everywhere and dips into everything. It’s already out of his control and it’s going to ruin him.

Back in the house with Dee things have wound down by the time he’s returned from a booze run. Dee notices that the girl Wee was with is now still and after he checks he realises that she’s dead. He turns to Wee and says his name and the silence that comes in response says it all.

Down in the courthouse McNulty and Kima arrive at Judge Phelan’s office, he wants to know why the operation is shutting down, McNulty and Kima lay out the situation and explain how little they have. They then go on to explain that they’re being shut down because they arrested one of Clay Davies’ aides with the money and the higher ups are not pleased with this turn of events. Phelan lays it out; he calls up Burrell and strips into him. He explains that there are sixty days of surveillance and the court will have its sixty days or he’ll pull Burrell up on charges. “Who’s your Daddy now?”

McNulty is back at 4117 when he receives another pager call from Daniels, it’s clear that McNulty is following up this lead with a lot of personal surveillance from this shot. Daniels wants to know what’s happened and is sure that McNulty engineered this; McNulty tells him that it was entirely Phelan and Daniels can talk to Kima if he doesn’t believe that. Just as he says this Stringer arrives in a taxi, McNulty’s perseverance has paid off. Stringer does use the car regularly. In the basement Daniels tells Kima to get things back up and running and asks her to confirm how this happened. She tells him “This time the judge.” McNulty follows Stringers in his car.

Herc and Carver are sat talking about the sergeant’s test, Herc is confident that the job is common sense and demands that Carver ask him a question, any question. Carver immediately throws him by using the numbers and codes; it’s a multiple choice question about a sexual harassment charge against a theoretical partner. Herc plumps for none of the options and puts forward an exceptionally dumb one of his own. All Carver can do is look incredulous.

McNulty successfully follows Stringer, to BCC, that’s Baltimore County College, where Stringer is taking a class in business, specifically an ‘Introduction to Macroeconomics.” Herc and Carver themselves are involved in a familiar educational scene of their own, they’re taking the test. Carver is very serious about it while Herc is joking about.

We’re taken next to a new location, Fell’s Point Copy Cat, where Stringer is talking with his staff about a lack of copying work orders being filled. The guys he’s got working for him are corner boys and aren’t interested in doing the job but Stringer isn’t happy with that. He fills them in on the nature of elastic and inelastic products and draws the line. This place is not just a front; it’s to work like a real business.

Later that day Stink and Wee-Bey are setting up a shooting, clearing out Stink’s new territory and just as it’s all about to go down Omar rolls out of an alley and guns down Stink, injuring Wee-Bey as well. Wee-Bey has to flee before the police arrive. Lester hears the entire thing and is less than pleased with this, as Stink was one of the links in their case. In a simulacrum situation, Avon is also less than pleased and increases the bounty in value and opens the reward up to anyone. After everyone else rolls out Stringer expresses his opinion, he feels that Avon shouldn’t go out for blood making things personal, he should cool it down and pretend that he’s looking for a truce then cap him later.

Kima and McNulty head on over to the remains of Omar’s van and leave a message for him. He then heads over the basement and claims innocence on the entire thing. Omar runs through what he feels the rules are, no mistakes, no taxpayers killed, no bystanders watching. Lester notes that losing the gun afterwards as well would be a rule and Omar agrees. McNulty and Kima then explain just how bad it is for them that Omar killed Stink, so they ask him to hang back and he explains that he can’t.

At Dee’s Shardene talks to him about Keisha, the girl who died at Stink’s party; and all Dee has to say about it is how he should possibly get out of this game. Once again he repeats the sentiment that McNulty voiced to him back in that interview room. Shardene mentions how she wants to get out of her job as she won’t be pretty forever, but Dee tells her that she’s pretty now. They are interrupted by the phone and the answering machine informs them that Stink has been got.

In homicide McNulty informs a deflated Bunk that Omar is the shooter. McNulty lays the land out for him, either they scupper the Gant case by prosecuting the witness – Omar – on a murder charge of his own or they string Cole out with an empty promise. In short Cole’s going to have Stink’s name in red forever. Bunk is the one who has to do this as well because McNulty can’t afford to offend Rawls again. So Bunk heads over and talks with Cole then McNulty and Bunk go out for drinks. After talking a little about how badly they’ve had to screw Cole McNulty heads off, Bunk on the other hand has seen a pretty woman who’s interested in him and asks McNulty to cover for him with the wife.

In the basement Kima heads into the computer room to talk with Lester about how she feels she may have screwed up earlier in the investigation. She’s not sure if Omar is lying about being a witness or not, but Lester feels that the gun matches and Omar’s testimony is consistent with the other witness so it’s not a huge mistake. He then explains a little about how difficult interrogations can be, there’s no real hard and fast rules to how they’re performed. He then shows her the dancers from Orlando’s club and asks which girl Kima would try to turn. Kima picks Shardene, because she has no record and is a likable citizen.

McNulty is woken up in his room with a phone call from the woman Bunk picked up. Apparently he’s blind drunk and McNulty finds him asleep on the toilet in a pink dressing gown, he’s been burning his clothes to destroy the trace evidence of his indiscretion. Bunk is hilarious.

Outside Orlando’s Orlando leaves the club while Omar watches.

Finally McNulty takes Bunk back to McNulty’s and sticks him in the bottom bunk. Before turning the light out Bunk tells him that “he’s no good for people.”

The Review:

Lessons is an episode where many previous moments set up begin to pay off, you may have wondered why we were shown the scene in episode, where Daniels went to a fundraising party had Senator Clay Davies pointed out to him and had a conversation with the ex-con turned aide Damien Price. Now you know there was more to it than the throw away joke reveal at the end of the scene. This is one of the hallmarks of The Wire, all the pieces matter, things become clearer on the re-watch and the devil is in the details. Likewise there is the dawning realisation that there is a mole in the detail who is feeding direct to Burrell, this is the point where we have clear evidence of it in action, Burrell didn’t get the full picture about this arrest until it all went down and as such he was forced to swing in a very heavy handed manner to try and recover ground. But it’s more than possible to miss this fact, you could watch the first season without realising that there is someone leaking in the detail. It’s an exceptionally subtle thing and you’re left all by yourself to spot it and work out whom. I’m not going to tell you who it is here, you can wait for a bit on that (or Google if you’re not afraid of wading through future events or possible spoilers).

The performances in this show are just so staggeringly brilliant that it’s unbelievable that more of the cast haven’t been picked up for shows. But The Wire has had a pervasive influence on the world of television; more and more members of the cast are being picked up and used in other shows. Character actors every one of them and each is skilled with sheer brilliance.

As I’ve said before many times, The Wire is a show that rewards the dedicated viewer. It has gifts for the observant; it leaves you to make your own inferences and understanding of the situations. You may actually disagree with my interpretation of certain events and you’d be right. This show really leaves you to breathe your own reality into the events and hopefully by getting this far you’ve show that you’re dedicated and intelligent enough to appreciate what this show is doing.

Don’t be afraid, you’ll be rewarded for watching in full many times over before this season is done and then thousands of times more as the four seasons after it grow, bloom and depart.
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Dexter:
I don't really know what exactly to say with regards to Sunday's episode of Dexter. It should have been a gripping and exciting episode that left me worrying about what's going to happen to our dear protagonist. But the knowledge that there is another two confirmed seasons in the bank after this one means that the threat against Dexter just doesn't feel real.

Now the twist that's brought us here is great, it's tied things up very nicely, but having Dexter being the target of the Skinner's abduction just doesn't raise the tension for me at all. Intellectually I know it should be a worrying and tense moment, but emotionally I already know he's going to get out of it fine. Compare this to season one (Deb) and season two (Doakes) and it's just not as gripping, they are both characters who could be lost to the show (in fact one of them was) so any threats to them are quite real. Dexter on the other hand is going to escape this.

Now if it was the final season of the show, all bets would be off and I'd be worrying here. But instead I'm confident Dexter will get away, kill the Skinner, kill or neutralise Prado (most likely kill considering the ends of the previous seasons) and get married.

Boston Legal:
Oh wow, just wow. Last weeks antepenultimate episode was an interesting and fun mix up of the format but this weeks penultimate episode was a tour de force for everyone involved. Yes, some people may have found Carl Sack's case attacking the networks for failing to provide programming for the over 50s a little self indulgent and preachy. But I for one enjoyed and appreciated his speech, it raised some wonderful points while skating along the edge of the fourth wall

"The only show on TV with starring roles over 50 is Bo--."
Carl points at the camera.
"Well, I can't say the rest...it'll break that wall."

Denny's Alzheimer's is advancing and this provides the thrust of the story for Alan and Denny, they attempt to get Denny access to an experimental non-FDA approved drug and after several set backs it ends up with the pair realising that they're going to be heading to the Supreme Court for, as they put it, their Grand Finale.

Finally Jerry and Katie work together on the case of a young girl who used Ritalin to enhance her score so she could get into Harvard. Once she admitted to doing this in a paper her admission was rescinded. It's a case with personal echoes for Jerry as he both went to Harvard himself and is on medication to help him function. While it's fun, it's not Jerry's best storyline this season, but. That said it does have a wonderful moment where Katie asks Jerry out for a drink and when he assumes they'll be doing it as "just colleagues" she corrects him. Jerry running out of the office after her was a great moment to watch.

Honestly Boston Legal has had it's ups and downs over time, it's been to preachy and pretentious at times, it's suffered far too much cast attrition and this hurt the chemistry of the show. But this final season has paired things back to the cast members that matter, it's given them all things to do, stories, cases, fun moments, touching ones. It's just a shame that it's taken five seasons and the impending end of the show to get it to happen. Next week is the two hour finale for the show and honestly, I'm going to miss it when it's gone.

2008 has seen the end of some giants in television, I think Boston Legal can be called one of them.

House:
I caught up with House this week by watching last week's episode as well, I was pretty pleased to see Željko Ivanek (Damages, Homicide) as he's a great actor. Sure enough he didn't disappoint, and the episode was pretty decent. But it was slightly marred by still running off and teaching "Thirteen" another lesson about herself. Hopefully she'll stop being such a whingy moo-cow now and we can get on with interesting patients plus unusual and horrible diseases.

This week's episode on the other hand was better on the staff story front but had a weak patient who was exceptionally uninteresting. The most entertaining part of the show right now is the awkward and amusing interactions between Cuddy and House. They're interested in each other (which has been obvious since the start of the show) but House is a jerk and Cuddy is concerned about that. Add into this mix House alternating between being sweet (in his way) and being House and you can't be exactly sure where this is leading. Which makes it fun to watch (and a lot more entertaining than that insipid House/Cam Club thread on tv.com is - but, sadly there's now a "Huddy" thread as well...) still one shouldn't judge a show on the merits of it's fan base.

30 Rock:
Reunion was a great episode with two story lines; the first involved Liz's reunion and the discovery that she wasn't the school nerd, in fact her defensive sniping at people hurt them all very badly. At the same time Jack pretends to be someone he isn't at the reunion and begins to wonder if his life is all it's cracked up to be. Back at 30 Rockerfeller Plaza Tracy and Jenna become insecure about Kenneth's popular elevator jokes and feel he's threatening their status as actors and the focus of attention. Good stuff, no heavy use of guest stars and the only thing I missed was the presence of the other characters, I do enjoy any scenes involving Pete and Frank especially.

The Office:
The Office is my comedy highlight of the week, every single episode this year has had me laughing, nodding and even occasionally squirming at the antics that go on in the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton branch. This week was no exception, Oscar comes into Michael's office and explains that there's a budget surplus that needs to be spent before the end of the day. The Office divides between a new photocopier and new chairs (most notably Jim is pro-copier while Pam is pro-chair), and Michael is unable to make a decision. Meanwhile Dwight shows Andy and Angela the site for their marriage ceremony and almost manages to turn Angela around on the subject, before he pulls another Dwight special and drives her right back.

Also, this episode had one of the best editing cuts it's ever had right near the end of the episode. Oh and it was hilarious that Michael was pouring sugar into a diet coke.

My Name is Earl:
"Reading is a A Fundamental Case" was rather average for an episode of My Name is Earl. The episode ran as a parallel to the story of Tarzan, or at least the knock off copy of the book anyway. The idea of knock off classic books is a pretty funny one in itself. I'm not sure if it's a parody of the poor quality DVDs or titles of adult films, but regardless it's a good joke. On the other hand the rest of the episode just wasn't, most of the story was pretty lackluster for me, I think my favourite moment involved Darnell, and he just had a single line joke himself. I'd like to see this season do something, even if it's just a few two-part episodes.

Other Stuff:
I've still not watched this week's Heroes, it's no longer high on my priority list to see, maybe Fuller will be able to fix the mess that Kring has made, maybe not. But right now the show is a steaming pile. In the DVD front I watched Harvey Birdman again, it's incredibly easy to sit and watch through that entire show thanks to the ten minute episodes and the exceptionally fast plots plus high joke content.

I'm gearing up to watch Sons of Anarchy next week, I'll have the verdict on the show once I've watched the entire first season. I'm also planning to catch back up with Life over Christmas, it may have improved now they know they have a full run to play with.
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A while back I posted a short ish review of 'The Guild' a web published show that was about a group of people who were all members of an online guild. I sort of enjoyed it despite not having a frame of reference for many of the jokes due to their MMO nature.

Well the second season has started airing and it's available to watch either on XBOX Live (woo!) or here on MSN Video.

Here's a direct link to the first episode. Enjoy!
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Starring:
Rob Brydon as Keith Barret

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Starring:
Emily Deschanel as Dr Temperance 'Bones' Brennan
David Boreanaz as Special Agent Seely Booth
Michaela Conlin as Angela Montenegro
T.J. Thyne as Dr. Jack Hodgins
Eric Millegan as Zack Addy


Bones is a forensics procedural vaguely based on the real life experiences of Kathy Reichs starring Emily Deschanel as the titular 'Bones' a brilliant forensic anthropologist with poor interpersonal skills, David Boreanaz as the more worldly and charismatic Special Agent assigned to work with her, Michaela Conlin as Angela (the pretty assistant), T.J. Thyne as Jack (the beardy/hipster assistant) and Eric Millegan as Zack (the nerdy annoying wretch assistant).

The show mixes a stereotypical procedural format with a dark sense of humor and an unusual method of recreating crimes. Each episode gives us the old 'crime of the week' to solve and will normally be wrapped up by the end of the episode. Most long term plots involve exploration of the characters on the show and a 'will they won't they' romantic sub-plot between 'Bones' and Booth. Occasionally reoccurring characters will make reappearances and there is another major plot that deals with Bones' parents, and for the most part things are neatly solved by the credits (but not always).

David is as brilliant as you'd expect from his past performances, he's always made for a charismatic and likable lead, while Emily is also very good as Bones. I still can't decide if she's attractive or just mannish, but no matter what she looks like she's a very good actress. The rest of the cast are also solid and you'll almost certainly have a favourite 'squint' within a few episodes.

As an aside, I'm also exceptionally fond of the title music used in the show. The Crystal Method is one of those bands I love to listen to but have never been able to/got round to getting my hands on their albums.


The Packaging:

As you can see the packaging theme in this set is two main things, white and bones. Pretty appropriate styling really. If I'm honest the skeleton used on most of the pictures (including the front cover) is rather, well CGI looking. It's honestly looks a bit cheap. Likewise the photos, while more interesting, are heavily photoshopped in an obvious manner. Hey, call it stylistic choices if you like, personally I think that this makes for a stylish cover, not obviously photoshopped photos. But what do I know?

Inside the dust jacket the 6 DVDs are held in slimline DVD cases in pairs, one per side. The front of each has a different picture of the cast while the back has the same cheesy CGI skeleton along with details of the episodes contained on the discs. I'm not the biggest fan of packaging but at least it isn't as bad as some of the stuff used on the US versions of The Office has been...

The Start Up & Menus:

The incredibly annoying and frankly offensively placed FACT "You wouldn't steal an _____" video is sadly in attendance here. I believe I've made my opinions on this piece of propaganda quite clear before but to just reiterate my key point. It will not deter people who intend to pirate the DVD and they are more than capable of cutting it out of their pirated versions so people who don't care about intellectual licensing won't even see it. In this end this means that it's just those of us who pay for legitimate copies that get punished. Way to go FACT you bunch of donkey-ass-hats. In fact if you must put a video like that on a DVD please put it after the episodes have all aired and use this one or this one instead.

Fortunately it's skippable, unfortunately the two FACT screens that follow aren't.

The main menu isn't that impressive to be honest, you get a shortened loop of the Crystal Method theme music playing over a static shot. The loop on the music isn't even set up to run seamlessly so the general plan is to get out of the menus asap and start watching additionally there is no "Play All" option

Each of the sub menus has it's own language and scene selection placed over another static image taken from the episode in question. Our ears are treated a little bit here because the music loop isn't present. Just blessed silence. I might like the theme, but it soon loses its novelty when twenty seconds of it is looped over and over.

The Extras:

There's not a lot of extras in this set. They are as follows:

Commentary on the "Pilot" Episode by Barry Josephson and Hart Hanson (Show Creator)
Commentary for the Episode "Two Bodies in The Lab" with Davide Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel.
Squints Featurette
The Real Definition Featurette
Bones - Inspired by the Life of Forensic Anthropologist and Author Kathy Reichs Featurette
Character Profiles

I've listened to a little of the commentaries but on the whole I wasn't that bothered about checking out these extras so I can't comment too closely. I know, I know. I should watch them to give you the full scoop, be happy I'm willing to mention them.


The Details:

Runtime: 920 Mins approx
Number of Episodes: 22
Sound: 5.1, Commentary in 2.0
Language: English
Subtitles: Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and English
Number of discs: 6
Region: 2

The Price:
Zavvi are the winner this week with a price of £15.99, but they are unfortunately out of stock right now. The next best I've found are both HMV and Play.com who are priced at £24.99. I think it's worth holding out for Zavvi to get back in stock personally, £24.99 seems a little high for what you get.

At £15.99 it's 1.7 ppm.


Bones is a show I like to watch during the quieter TV periods of the year, in some ways it's much like House, CSI. NCIS and other procedurals. Incredibly formulaic plots that are spiced up with strong characterisations, occasionally disturbing images and sharp, witty dialog. It doesn't really tax the viewer at all and sometimes that's just what you're looking for in a show. The first season is good fun and the time will just fly by while you watch it, definitely something for fans of the investigative show genre.
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