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:
Michael Hyatt (Brianna Barksdale), Tray Chaney (Malik "Poot" Carr), Michael Kostroff (Maurice "Maury" Levy), Domenick Lombardozzi (Det. Thomas R. "Herc" Hauk), Peter Gerety (Judge Daniel Phelan), Seth Gilliam (Det. Ellis Carver), Jim True-Frost (Off. Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski), Wendy Grantham (Shardene Innes), Clarke Peters (Det. Lester Freamon), Benay Berger (FBI Supervisor Amanda Reese), Eric Ryan (Michael McNulty), De'Rodd Hearns (Herbert De'Rodd "Puddin'" Johnson), Robert F. Colesberry (Det. Ray Cole), Susan Rome (Asst. State's Attorney Ilene Nathan), Doug Olear (FBI Special Agent Terrence "Fitz" Fitzhugh), Michael B. Jordan (Wallace), Delaney Williams (Sgt. Jay Landsman), Maria Broom (Marla Daniels), Edward T. Norris (Det. Edward Norris), Melanie Nicholls-King (Cheryl), Leo Fitzpatrick (Johnny), J.D. Williams (Preston "Bodie" Broadus), Hassan Johnson (Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice), Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar Little), Michael Salconi (Det. Michael Santangelo), William Shipman (Philadelphia Detective), Stephen F. Schmidt (Wee-Bey's Attorney), Curtis Montez (Sterling), Terrence Currier (Roy Brown), Pete Burris (Federal Judge), Kirk Penberthy (FBI Special Agent Arnold D. Paulette), Toni Lewis (F.B.I. Agent) and Jarvis George (Ronnie Mo)


Greggs finds the strength to finger "Little Man" as one of the men who shot her. Daniels and McNulty go to the feds with crushing evidence about some Baltimore politicians tied to Barksdale, thinking they finally have him. However, the Feds only want the politiicans and not Barksdale. D'Angelo can't swing a deal, and agrees to a possession charge and 20 years hard time after a talk with his mother. As the show concludes, business resumes in the pit with Bodie and Poot leading the way and using some of D'Angelo's wisdom and tactics.

Read about taking it federal, car alarms and unexpected returns beyond the link...

The Recap:

Kima awakens in the hospital to find Bunk and watching over her. Bunk talks with her a little before she looks at the spreads and ID’s Little Man. But when asked if she can ID Wee-Bey she hesitates before admitting she’s unable to do so. Bunk tells her just how close the case if where Wee-Bey is concerned, how good it would be if she’d ID Wee-Bey as well and the risks that will occur if she doesn’t provide a positive ID. Without Kima’s positive ID on both of them the case will be at risk, but Kima refuses to provide the ID, saying “Sometimes things just have to play hard.”

Hit the credits…

Herc and the uniforms are picking up many members of the Barksdales including Ronnie Mo, Carver saunters up to Herc and confirms that they’ve managed to round up everyone. Herc feels the need to assert his soon to be assigned authority, reminding Carver that Herc passed the exam. Carver’s expression is pretty comical.

In the basement, Prez is updating the list of arrests. They have twelve of the nineteen they’re after and it looks like there’s little chance of sweeping up anyone they don’t have already. Avon and Stringer look like they’re going to be walking and they need a new wire. But there’s little hope of managing anything as Burrell wants everything shut down. The phone rings for McNulty, it’s Ronnie telling him D’Angelo wants to talk.

Avon leaves the lock up and rolls with stringer and Levy to talk in a car park. Levy correctly suspects a wire and bugs because the information is too comprehensive and wide sweeping. Avon confirms that he never talked over the phones and instead talked in the back of the club, which is when they all suspect that the bug may have been placed there. In truth – as we know – there is a bug there, but it isn’t the thing which did the damage. None of them can figure out why Stringer wasn’t arrested and they then talk about Dee, Avon is convinced Dee won’t flip on them and he’ll come around. Levy starts talking about damage limitation.

Bunk talks to McNulty about Kima, asking if he’s been to see her yet and McNulty confirms he hasn’t talked to her yet but plans to. Bunk then tells her about Kima’s reluctance to finger Bey. Ronnie arrives dropping off some stuff; she gives McNulty a cold stare before smiling warmly at Bunk. Once again McNulty is in her bad books, which isn’t a surprise.

Avon and Stringer arrive in a funeral parlour to judge it’s suitability for a new headquarters. Avon is content with the place before Brianna arrives to talk with them. Avon wants to keep rolling and get everything back up fast, Brianna and Stringer disagree, they want him to take some time away from the business until things blow over. He agrees but wants good strong product put out. Brianna then tells Avon she’ll sort out Dee.

Dee is meeting with Ronnie and McNulty to provide information on the Barksdales. Ronnie makes it clear that he’s been helpful but they need more, they need information on the murders. Dee denies knowing anything about the death of Gant and is then shown photos of the security guard, Orlando and poor Wallace. McNulty can’t understand why Wallace was shot, Dee then hears the taped phone conversation about Wallace’s problems with Brandon’s murder and they slide across a photo of Brandon after he was dumped. Dee admits that Wallace fingered Brandon but didn’t know what would happen, Dee then goes on to admit his involvement and what happened and how it affected Wallace. How he attempted to protect Wallace and how he feels about this.

Bunk goes on to push, wondering why the young kids who lived with Wallace were missing (Poot moved them out) and then he’s shown pictures of Little Man and Wee-Bey. He tells them Wee-Bey is in Philly and asks if they’re finished. Ronnie reminds Dee and his attorney that this is entirely based on full cooperation before McNulty produces a photo of Dierdre and punctuated it with three taps on the table (the same “Tap, tap, tap” Dee vocalised when talking about her shooting), Dee correctly identifies her and then Bunk and Dee repeat the tapping. He then goes to talk about what happened, how he was used to set up Diedre for the fall. Gradually he describes what happened and the pieces began to fall into place, how the story he told to the lads back in the Pit was actually Wee-Bey’s story. Finally they have something they can hold over Avon.

Dee talks about his life, his family and his situation, explaining that this life is all he knows, all he lives with and how he’s tired of it all. He wants Wallace’s deal; he wants a fresh start where he can become a regular man. If he gets that he offers to give them everything.

Daniels receives a phone call about this interview; he’s thrilled because the case has broken open. But rather than use it to get back into Burrell’s good books he plans to instead reach out to the Feds and see if he can get them to pursue the case further. He then admits that Burrell knows about Daniels’s money but also that Burrell seems unwilling to push it further.

Ronnie is sitting in the car with McNulty and she’s completely thrilled with what’s happened. The case is massive and she’s willing to go federal with the entire thing as it’s a career case. McNulty attempts to talk to her about what happened at Levy’s before she pounces on him and they both celebrate in a very personal fashion.

Bunk and Freamon arrives to talk about a trap and trace in order to get after Bey. They’re told that it’ll take time and as they turn away they’re asked to explain why this case is so important. They do.

McNulty is meeting with Agent Fitz about turning the case federal, but Fitz tells him the FBI aren’t chasing after drug cases anymore. Fitz asks him why they don’t go through the DEA and McNulty admits he’s trying to do this without his bosses finding out and shutting it down. Fitz agrees to set up a meeting after McNulty vouches for Daniels.

Stringer is in the photocopy shop and a bag is passed over to him, in the back office he talks to one of his men about how to cut the drugs until they get a new stash up.

McNulty, Freamon and Daniels are meeting with the FBI who confirm that it’s a great case. There are a few missing pieces, the lack of evidence leading towards the supplier is a problem and then Fitz tells them they can’t go any further unless the case links to priority post-9/11 targets. Unfortunately for the Detail they don’t have anyone like that in Baltimore they know of, certainly not involved in the case so far. The word corruption is mentioned during the conversation and Daniels moves on it, asking what kind of corruption is needed.

In the Pit Bodie asks Poot if the re-up has arrived, they’re having problems with some other dealers who’ve arrived on their patch selling yellow tops. Bodie is tossed a baseball bat and they approach the new dealers. He hits one of them and tells them to get lost; the other dealers are unwilling to leave as the Barksdales have no product to sell. A fight breaks out while Herc and Carver watch from a nearby car. Carver comments that this is why the police can’t win; the pushers face far worse consequences for failure than the police force do (and also have greater rewards for success).

McNulty arrives in Kima’s room to talk with her, he briefly mentions her inability to ID Bey and then she asks about the case. He admits that the wire is dead and then provides good news about Dee’s flipping. Kima’s girlfriend Cheryl becomes angry at this and storms out of the room, Kima then confesses that Cheryl is indeed exceptionally angry and wants Kima to quit working as police. McNulty agrees that she’s probably right, because the case wasn’t worth Kima being shot. Kima then has a go at him for failing to turn up earlier, McNulty starts to admit that he feels guilty about the whole thing and if he could redo it he’d change things. Kima tells him that if she could do it over she’d tape her gun better. She then asks for a favour.

McNulty meets with Bubbles (Kima’s favour) to hand him over some money, Bubs takes some of it and then hands the rest back. McNulty asks if he’s sure and then Bubs keeps the whole lot before passing on his wishes, asking McNulty to not tell Kima that he’s using again.

In the basement Herc is disappointed because he isn’t getting his promotion where as Carver has managed to get it. The phone rings and Prez answers while Freamon walks in with Shardene, it is clear his moves have worked on Shardene. Prez walks over to him with the number for Bey’s house and Freamon closes the door while Carver stares with an incredulous look on his face.

The Detail (Freamon, Daniels, McNulty and Ronnie) are meeting to see if they can further the case on the lines of corruption, they talk about what they’ve found out about the various properties and the FBI agent admits that while it’s a lot to work with, it is enough. But the key question is if Dee can finger the senator or provide stuff on the money. It becomes clear that the FBI want to turn Barksdale, Stringer and the others into cooperators with the intent of going after Clay Davies. To say that the Detail is less than happy about this is an understatement and they quickly decide to go elsewhere to push their case.

Brianna meets with her son Dee, she tells him that Avon will take the fall if Dee is ready to step up. Dee tells her he’s no longer willing to do that and instead he’s been offered a chance to start afresh. Brianna attempts to guilt him into doing the right thing by Avon and her.

Carver and Herc are preparing in the basement for Wee-Bey’s arrest when Daniels comes in and asks to talk with Carver privately. Daniels asks Carver if there’s anything he wants to admit, he then goes on to tell Carver that he knows there is a leak in the Detail heading directly to Burrell and additionally last week’s bug caught Burrell on the hop. This means whoever was reporting to Burrell wasn’t present that week, Carver was away at this time. Carver is the leak in the Detail and he confesses. Daniels talks to him, telling him that he’s going to be in command soon and that Carver will be showing these men the way they should work, he’ll be the example they follow. He tells Carver that eventually he’ll have to decide which is more important, the Law or the promotions. Daniels then heads out to talk with Prez about Bey’s arrest and to hand him back his gun.

In Philadelphia the Detail and uniforms set up to catch Bey, they do it by having Carver break the window of Bey’s car to draw him outside. After a struggle Bey is caught, he’s not happy they busted up his car to arrest him.

Ronnie is having breakfast when she receives a call about Dee, apparently there’s a problem with the Lawyer regarding Dee. Unfortunately Brianna’s talk with Dee has turned him back and it’s Levy on the phone now.

McNulty arrives in Rawls’s office, Rawls tells him he heard about Bey’s arrest and he’s pleased with the clearances. But also he’s heard that there are people are less than pleased with McNulty and his decision to try and take the case federal. Rawls tells him he’s a good detective and tells him he wants to see McNulty land ok. He asks McNulty where he doesn’t want to go.

Levy is meeting with Ronnie, Daniels and others about the case, Levy is confident that they can’t touch Barksdale. He goes on to explain how things will most likely go down, including various sentences on lower level dealers and of course Mr Brice (Wee-Bey as Daniels explains to Ronnie) on murder charges and Kima’s shooting. Wee-Bey will offer sole responsibility for many murders and also a lot of assests are offered up, but most of the money and real estate will remain on the streets in the hands of Stringer Bell (and of course Levy). It seems Avon is just getting a few years.

Avon is eventually charged with possession of a kilo of heroin and a seven year sentence. As Ronnie reads out the charges Stringer, Brianna, Dee and McNulty all watch. McNulty leaves, disgusted.

Bunk is talking with Bey about the shootings, he’s looking at life with no parole and in order to get parole he has to offer Avon or Stringer up, which he’s unwilling to do at all. He’s then told by his lawyer that anything he doesn’t confess to here won’t be part of the deal. So Bey confesses to additional murders in exchange for some more food. These include Little Man, the security guard and William Gant.

Ronnie Mo is now being sentenced for conspiracy while everyone watches in court.

Cedric is met by Cantrell, who has been promoted into the Major’s position which was originally offered to Daniels. His decision to follow the case has cost him the promotion. He then walks into his offices and hears Herc talking to a bunch of newish recruits about the job, Herc is clearly proud about his involvement in the Barksdale case.

Outside the court room McNulty is sitting when Stringer walks out, Stringer leans over and tells him “Nicely done” before leaving.

Bodie is out in the Pit talking on the phone about the situation, he’s waiting for a re-up, clearly working as a lieutenant for the Barksdales now.

Rawls is talking to Freamon, it turns out that Freamon’s hard work and intelligence in the case has been noticed. He’s getting the position that McNulty is vacating.

In the Pit Poot is sat on the couch watching. He notices one of the lads who works for him taking the money and serving him at the same time. He passes on the same advice and orders Dee did near the start of the season; one man takes the money, the other serves. Poot’s learnt from working under Dee.

Outside the courtroom Judge Phelan walks past McNulty and congratulates him on the case before leaving. Inside the room Dee is being charged as McNulty sits back down. Dee is being punished for going back on a lot of his willingness to help and he’s now facing the maximum twenty years. Bunk arrives to tell McNulty that Wee-Bey has taken the fall for a huge amount of murders including William Gant. It’s clear Bey’s just taking the fall for the murders because there’s nothing worse he can face. This way Bird might be released on Gant’s murder charge.

As Avon walks out of the courtroom he nods acknowledgement to McNulty. Bunk and McNulty exchange catchphrases and we reach the end of season montage.

• Johnny and Bubs are still grafting for copper pipes.
• Santangelo is now working the beat in uniform.
• Carver is promoted to sergeant thanks to his leaking information about the detail.
• Prez packs up the board putting the money train trail to rest before switching off the lights
• Kima stands at a window in the hospital, watching the lights of a patrol car head past outside before walking off aided by a frame.
• Bunk and Freamon head over to see McNulty who’s been sent out on a boat, exactly where he didn’t want to be.
• In the funeral parlor Stringer now heads the Barksdales.
• On the streets nothing has changed, money still changes hands and drugs are sold.

Finally a familiar refrain is whistled in the streets, Catcher in the Rye, and the man whistling it speaks in a distinctive voice. Throwing down his hood suspicions are confirmed. Omar has returned…


Happy now bitch? x 4
What the fuck did I do? x 6

The Review:

So that’s it, that’s the finale episode of the first season finished and as such the first chapter in the show brought to a close. Next week I’ll review the season as a complete entity and also look at the journeys some of the characters have taken during these thirteen episodes but for now we’ll just focus on this final one.

Sentencing is best looked upon as an epilogue to the season, many of the major events occurred during ‘Cleaning Up’ and as such Sentencing serves more to show us the repercussions of various events which were brought to a head in the previous episode. As you can see, in The Wire not everything runs smoothly for the "good guys". Stringer and Levy are still out and pretty much untouchable, Avon is only doing seven years with potential parole in three or four and Bird may even end up back on the streets.

You really do have to echo McNulty's sentiments here, was all of this worth the cost? Daniels has lost any chance of a promotion, McNulty is stuck on harbor patrol, Wallace is dead, Bubs is back using, Kima will be in physio for a long time and might not even return to duty and Santangelo, who really hasn't done much wrong was caught in the crossfire and is now a beat cop, which is a huge fall from Homicide. Just about the only members of the Detail who have made progress are Freamon (for his brilliance) and Carver (for his betrayal).

Everything could have been left wrapped up after this first season, it's a very complete structure in itself, yes there are threads hanging loose, but that's life. Nothing wraps up neatly in life and The Wire reflects this. But fortunately for those of us who've enjoyed this first season and come insync with it we have another four seasons to watch after this one and they're brilliant.

Next Sunday will be a season reflection involving a semi-review and a look at each major character in the series, what happened to them, why and what this means.

Direct Link

Quite a few shows on this week's TWTW (any ideas as to how on Earth you'd pronounce that? It reads like an owl who dislikes vowels...) as a lot of shows have returned.

How I Met Your Mother:
This week's episode was definite Seinfeld material, it's impossible to tell if the plot similarity was an accident, a homage or just a straight rip off of the Seinfeld story which had Elaine and Jerry trying the same thing as Robin and Ted. Marshall's B story pretty much stole the show mind you (again I believe Seinfeld did this one first as well), it combined with Barney's constant Freudian slips and television breakage to provide the vast majority of the comedy.

Scrubs:
Another two episodes this week and as such Courtney Cox's character has already departed from the show, if her appearances had been spread over three weeks she might have made more of an impact, instead she feels like a flash in the pan. She was good but she's already gone. Neither of the two episodes aired compared to Glynn's star turn as the dying patient George last week but they were both quite satisfactory.

Damages:
Damages review is located here, I've come to realise on a re-reading I might sound a little harsher on the show than I intended. It was still a good episode, I just have concerns that the show hasn't realised it's errors last season and taken steps to correct them.

Supernatural:
Supernatural this week returned with a spin on a haunted house that really worked. Often the show isn't as frightening as it could be because it's hard to consistently provide a serious level of threat for the Winchester boys all season. But this week they managed it with the addition and involvement of the family who were just moving into the house. It was a fine effort and a strong return for the show.

The Office:
So, Dwight and Angela's secret is out and this week Andy finds out as well. Frankly I'm happy that the writers have decided to move beyond the secret love tryst/triangle as I wanted to stop feeling sorry for Andy. I still do feel sorry for him, but after his duel against Dwight and the awesome method he used to gain the upper hand it feels like he's a returning a little to form.

Michael spent most of the episode at Corporate headquarters talking about his methods as his branch is the only successful one in the company. Needless to say he has no idea why he's succeeding

30 Rock:
Flu Shot was the title of this week's mayhem at 30 Rockafella Plaza and the episode was on the whole pretty average. There were no stand out funny moments during this as such. Jack's romance with his nurse simmers away without delivering major laughs, but that's OK because it does add some depth to his character, while Liz's attempts to be liked by the teamsters are spoiled by her own actions. Kenneth once again had some of the better moments but I'm also enjoying the burgeoning friendship between Tracey and Jenna.

The Beast:
I wrote about The Beast's pilot episode yesterday, I think the brief highlights are. Swayze is great, the show has promise but it needs to iron out a few issues in it's plot and it's slightly OTT moments and the second lead character Dove isn't very interesting. It's one to keep an eye on as a lot of shows which begin with the word "The" turn out to be good.

The Guild:
Speaking of good shows beginning with the word "The", The Guild continues from strength to strength. The seventh episode of the second season brought potential crisis for Codex when Vork's issues with Zaboo meant that Zaboo might be kicked out and as such would return to Codex's house. The lass isn't confrontational enough to keep Zaboo out if he returned, but with judicious application of advice from her psychiatrist (via the phone), she manages to solve the problem. As well observed and as funny as ever, and I'm glad Zaboo didn't return to Codex's because the Vork/Zaboo dynamic is far more hilarious than the creepy stalker Zaboo/Codex vibe.

Other News:
I'm planning to sit down and watch BSG's season opener tomorrow after I finish reviewing the first season of The Wire. I might write about the episode itself on Monday, but it's more likely that I'll just let others talk about it as I rarely have much to say about BSG beyond "I like Cylons more than the Humans" and "Roslin is an annoying pain in the arse."

I picked up Bones - Season Three this week and also the entire of My So Called Life. Those two are probably amongst the last of the DVD purchases I'm going to be making until after I've moved home next month, but there might be something which catches my eye and changes my mind.
Direct Link

I've never been much of a fan when it comes to Patrick Swayze's work, I never really forgave him for Dirty Dancing and Ghost, films I've had inflicted on me more times than I care to count by various women, not even Point Break was enough to make up for those two. So I initially heard about 'The Beast' I wasn't that fussed or excited. But the show's name cropped up enough times that it officially landed 'on my radar' and became a show I wanted to pay attention to and maybe try. Well the pilot aired last night and I've just finished watching it.

This is going to be split in two, I'm going to put a general review up in the first part of this post and then talk a few spoiler specifics behind a cut later on.

The Beast stars Patrick Swayze as Charles Barker, an FBI agent with questionable methods and Travis Fimmel as Ellis Dove, his junior partner. Charles hand picked Dove and spends most of his time barking orders at the younger agent with little or no explanation as to the whys.

The show opens explosively enough and remains reasonably gripping if not brilliant. The real draw is without a doubt Swayze himself who is... well the phrase performance of a lifetime would probably apply here if it didn't sound so cliched and a little morbid considering Patrick's unfortunate battle with cancer. But it does seem he's funnelled at least some of this into his role. He genuinely looks worn and tired, like an experienced veteran agent and he's brought an edge into his performance that he's never had before (not even in Road House). Swayze is without a doubt the number one reason to watch the show, he's fantastic.

But, there are problems and I'd be lying if I didn't at least acknowledge them, some of the scenes are highly confusing. Especially the one involving Larry Gillard Jr, it's difficult to follow what's happening and why (Larry is brilliant in it mind you). Likewise the show feels a little gratuitous on occasion and an incident involving an SUV, Swayze and a RPG leaves you asking more questions than the cool was actually worth.

Likewise Ellis Dove is not a very interesting character, he's another 'bewildered kitten' character and this is unfortunate because he's the narrative tool here. We're following him around most of the time and Barker only occasionally. The glimpses into Barker's life and his questionable actions are far more interesting than Dove's attempts to get it on with the girl in the same building.

Alan Sepinwall has described the show as "...a dumber version of "The Shield."" But honestly it felt like a more intelligent version of '24' for a lot of the time. I was mentally drawing parallels between Barker and Bauer for a while and wondering if this would be worth watching beyond the first episode.

Then the final few minutes kicked in and the show came into focus, it stopped being trashy television action drama and began to feel like there was potential placed underneath this initial, halting start. The rest I'm going to have to put behind a spoiler, but I can stop here and at least say I think the show has enough potential that if you enjoyed '24', 'The Shield' or films like 'Training Day', 'The Recruit' and so forth -- shows with dubious characters and amoral decisions -- then you should at least give a few episodes of 'The Beast' a try.

Read on for the spoiler section which is located in the full post here...

Final warning here now, I will be giving spoilers here.

As I wrote above, the episode was entertaining but I wasn't sure what the point was until the final six minutes. This is when Dove got on board the train after a hellish day and was confronted with pretty much all of the faces he'd met during the day. Nick (Larry Gillard), Caesar (Sticky Fingerz) and more. For a moment I was pretty confused and wondered if Dove was supposed to be dreaming or freaking out from the pipe he'd smoked earlier in the episode. But then the woman flashed her FBI badge and began to speak.

Apparently the entire operation was set up by FBI internal affairs as a way to assess Dove, they have their suspicions about Barker and some proof that he's corrupt. They want Dove to help them out, but he refuses. Then he decides to head into the evidence locker to check the money from the launcher deal was all handed in, it was. But a highly sensitive drive filled with the names of various government agents was gone.

This is where the show actually became interesting and also where Alan's comparison with The Shield began to really make sense. One thing I've often wished about The Shield was that the events of the pilot episode had in fact happened halfway through the first season. I've also wondered what The Shield would be like if it was a show about investigation into corrupt cops rather than just about corrupt cops. (Not that I would ask for The Shield to be any different apart from my pilot episode wish).

The Beast seems to be directly inspired by The Shield and somewhat in the vein of Damages as well. You have an initial first episode to set the characters and introduce us to some slightly underhand acts from Barker, you then flip the plot on it's head at the end and turn things around. I was genuinely engaged during the last few moments of the show. Still, a few things still don't make any sense at this point, especially the role of Larry's character Nick who is apparently an undercover FBI agent (and serious method actor) and the purpose his scene served in the pilot. Time and more episodes might clear things up here.

If the show can make Dove more interesting and dial down some of it's slightly more gratuitous moments, plus deepen the cast beyond the initial few characters, there is a really good show waiting to turn up here. Just like The Shield took a little while to find it's feet and didn't really take off properly until the second season and just like The Wire required nearly a full season before it clicked. The Beast has the same seed of potential in it and fueled by Swayze's brilliance this could become amazing. Or it could fall into the mire 24 landed itself in. I hope it's the former as this show could join the ranks of 'Amazing shows begining with the word "The"'.

Direct Link

Damages continues this week with a deepening of it's plot and the trademark twist-revelations which both make the show entertaining to watch and sometimes frustrating to follow. Ellen and the FBI continue to try and hook Patty with the infant mortality case while Patty's interest in the circumstances around Daniel's life and his wife's murder grows.

Read about pay offs, sinister cupboards and marital problems beyond the link...

I sometimes feel like Damages resides in the 'uncanny valley' of television, I'm sure you're familiar with the concept; which applies to realism in human like objects, robots and computer game graphics for example. The closer you get to human in appearance the more attractive the object is to the human eye, but as you get very close to human there's this dip in attractiveness where the thing looks too human without being human enough.

Well I judge shows on a similar scale. Here's an approximation of it and where Damages resides:


I've put a few sample shows on here so you can judge roughly where it stands, now just because Damages is down in the uncanny valley doesn't mean it's a bad show, far from it indeed. It just means I'm comparing and holding it up to a standard which is much higher than the one I judge shows like My Name is Earl or Sledge Hammer with. I find myself judging this show on a expected deliverance around the level of The Wire and The Shield. Everything seems to add up to an amazing show, the cast are superb and the new Ellen is at least two hundred percent more exciting than first season Ellen. But then it pulls some daft stunt and annoys me by breaking my immersion in show's storylines.

Like the moment which occurred when Wes (unsurprisingly) turns out to have this cupboard filled with clippings about last season's Frobisher case and then the camera peels back to reveal that he has guns, lots of guns in it. At this point I'm not feeling surprised because I've already realised there's always going to be some 'big' twists and turns, but this scene isn't the thing which annoyed me, it's the music played over the top. There's some big distorted guitar chords that herald "DUN DUN DAAA. EPIC TWIST!" But I found myself thinking both, "Ugh there's no need to hammer this point home, understated would be best. " and "I'm not really convinced I need to worry about Wes yet because the story is going to twist and turn another four or five times over him before it finally settles on who he is and what he's up to."

Even in the episode itself twisted around on his character by having him getting it on with Ellen in a rather dysfunctional manner. Showing that whatever he did up until then wasn't huge enough to warrant the "super-evil" music he got and it seems to jar with Ellen's personality as well. So either he's deceiving her in the future still (in which case we have some confrontation between them in the final episode), she's flown off the rails and become a cartoon villain (which I just cannot see happening) or the writers haven't made their mind up yet and they're going to make it up later or just use it as a red herring.

If it sounds like I'm being harsh and that I disliked the episode, I am, but I didn't. I did enjoy watching 'Burn It, Shred It, I Don't Care' a lot. A LOT. There were so many great moments, but there are also things like this closet moment which just feel engineered to add more mystery for no reason other than this.

OK, OK. Enough negative Nancy now, let's be positive about things. We've found out who Marcia Gay Harden will be playing, she's Claire Maddox and as such part of the company/conspiracy thing which caused Christine's demise (if she knows about that connection or not remains to be seen) and she's also having an affair with Daniel. That is an interesting development and we're now left wondering if Christine's death is related to Daniel's work or to his personal life. Additionally we're shown Daniel burning something after digging a hole in the present timeline, I'm not sure what it is at this point.

Ellen is still obsessed with going after Frobisher, given Wes's still undetermined interest in Frobisher as well it seems like his crossing paths with her is not something which happened by accident. But it's also not looking likely that he's the person who she fires at.

Patty's involvement with Daniel has allowed her to dodge the FBI bullet case which was aimed at her through the infant mortality, first she palms it off to Tom but then she manages to pull him out of the fire as well just before he handed over the pay off and brought future charges over his head. You have to wonder if she's already aware that the infant mortality case is a Trojan horse or not because that's a double whammy escape she's engineered there. Either she has her suspicions (remember she is having Ellen followed) or she's the luckiest woman alive.

Overall, once I got past my annoyance with the music sting I found the episode quite enjoyable. I have to keep reminding myself that despite the amazing cast and brilliant performances this show isn't being written by George P. Pelecanos, David Simon, Shawn Ryan, Ed Burns or Adam Fierro. It feels like it should be in the biggest league, but actually it's one step behind them.

Close to greatness, but not there yet.

Short Thoughts:
• I assume Daniel meeting Michael Hewes is a moment which will pay off later.

• Likewise I expect the moment with the FBI agent and his marital problems will come to have bearing.

• No sign of Frobisher this week, but with the revelation about Wes it seems we have another tie which links him to Ellen's life.

• I do like Tom Aldredge as Patty's "enforcer" Uncle Pete. It's great the way he seems to float around the problems dealing with things without anyone really commenting on the amount of time he seems to spend with Patty.

• No Katie Conner yet, how is she going to get sucked back into this?
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As BSG's final season (or second half of the first season if you like) will be returning this week I've decided to review the previous/first half on DVD. For the rest of this review I'm going to plump with calling this the fourth season, I predict that the DVD set for the remaining shows will either be called the final season or the fifth season.


Starring:
Edward James Olmos as Admiral William "Husker" Adama
Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin
Jamie Bamber as Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama
James Callis as Dr. Giaus Baltar
Tricia Helfer as Six
Grace Park as Lieutenant Sharon "Athena" Agathon
Katee Sackhoff as Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
Aaron Douglas as Chief Galen Tyrol
Tahmoh Penikett as Captain Karl "Helo" Agathon


By now you should be aware of Battlestar Galactica in one shape or form, the remake of this 1980s sci-fi fun fest has exceeded all expectations and has revealed itself to be above most sci-fi shows in depth and quality. Having said this, the third season of BSG was not the best one the show had to offer, the extended length of the season resulted in a lot of filler episodes which were frankly awful. Much of the third season can be ignored, events on New Caprica, the Eye of Jupiter, Starbuck's incident and Baltar's trial are the only important parts of the previous season. The engineering accident and boxing match episodes in particular were complete rubbish.

But here's the good news, this season run is back down to ten episodes so there is no sign of human interest/filler episodes at all. As such the season is joy to watch, running from one exciting moment to the next and holding your interest throughout.

Before I go any further it's worth mentioning that this set also contains the standalone movie Razor, which can be annoying for those of you who purchased Razor separately. It's a pretty underhand move by the DVD release company to be honest and the box should have written on it "WARNING: CONTAINS RAZOR".

At the end of the previous season four of the final five Cylons were revealed with one remaining unknown. This season deals with those final four while also constantly teasing you about the fifth. The final five are meant to know the way to earth and as such both the humans and the cylons want to get their hands on them. I shall not be revealing anything further about the identities of the final five at this point to avoid spoilering anything for those who've either not watched the show or not watched the previous season.

As such it's difficult to talk about the season in full, it's filled with monumental events which turn everything upside down and then shake it about. There is nothing but quality writing and acting from the cast and most importantly, Laura Roslin finally stops being a completely petulant, self-centered and unlikable moose and finally does something corrigible. As I've not written about BSG much previously you won't be aware of my deep and unrepentant hatred of Roslin who's become increasingly more corrupt and whingy as time passed. But this season finally redeems her character somewhat.


The Packaging:
All of the BSG sets are packaged in a similar fashion except for the mini-series. Apart from the changes in colour to distinguish seasons they're well tied together. The artwork clearly highlights the religious theme of the show, both on the front cover (as seen above) and the uncomfortably sacrilegious 'last supper' photo shot on the back (pictured below).


These scenes serve to highlight the religious undertones the show holds with the followers of the "Greek" gods and the worshippers of the one god. This theme permate parts of the show and they're more present this season than ever before with "Ladies love Baltar: The Cult" making a heavy appearance.

The major issue with the boxed set is the material that the cardboard sleeve is constructed from, due to it's reflective foil nature it might look good but it picks up fingerprint smudges like it's an FBI file. Even with completely clean and dry hands you're still going to leave marks on the set. Irritating, but not a deal breaker.

The Start Up and Menus:
The start up for BSG is a quick and relatively painless affair for a DVD which has the FACT logo on the back, this is because the anti-Piracy movie is located after the episodes. It's the utterly hilarious "Pirates are out to get you" propaganda.



It's skippable, but so funny that it's worth watching at least once. I'm still waiting for some show to parody this one, but maybe it's already parodied itself.

I almost forgot to mention the menus because, well, they're rather forgetable. There's a loop which plays the same images from BSG on each menu, in short they're all exactly the same. I would have prefered something more interesting and engaging like the later Simpsons menus, or something simple and clean like the Living Planet ones. In the end they don't really offend, but they don't enspire either and as such they don't leave much of an impression.

The Extras:
There are a smattering of extras across the discs of the set. The first disc, which is the Razor disc, includes commentary, deleted scenes and minisodes. The final disc includes deleted scenes and a really short trailer/sneak peek for the final season.

The Details:
Aspect Ratio: 1.18.1 Anamorphic
Sound: 5.1 Surround
Regions: 2, 4 & 5 PAL
Rating: 15
Subtitles: English SDH
Runtime: 8 hours 38 mins

The Price:
HMV have it available for £24.99, but you might also want to check Zavvi - who have it priced in store at £27.99 but with 20% off due to their clear out sales. From HMV it works out at 4.8ppm, which is ok but not amazing.


Season four of Battlestar Galactica is a welcome return to the form of the first two seasons, it's well written, superbly acted and constantly entertains. The season paces well, gradually building up to a great season finale which will leave the viewer hooked in anticipation of the final season. It's all thriller, no filler.
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So the Golden Globes are over and I'm going to take a few moments just to look at who got what.

Best Television Series - Drama
Winner: Mad Men
Nominees: Dexter, House, In Treatment, True Blood

In all honesty Mad Men is the only deserving show out of the ones listed here. Dexter's latest season was highly inconsistent, House is currently in one of the worst storylines it's ever had ("The Thirteen Show"), I can't comment on In Treatment except to say I wasn't impressed when I tried it and True Blood is just not award winning material yet.

I am disappointed The Shield didn't even get a look in here, but the nominations were a while ago so I won't say anything again.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama
Winner: Anna Paquin - True Blood
Nominees: Sally Field – Brothers & Sisters, Mariska Hargitay – Law & Order, January Jones – Mad Men, Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer

In all honesty this list just shows how weak the television has been this year. Janurary Jones is the best one of the lot, but the rest are really meh nominations and Anna Paquin's win? Seriously? Please someone explain to me how she's put in the best drama performance in this year. Go on.

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama
Winner: Gabriel Byrne – In Treatment
Nominees: Michael C. Hall – Dexter, Jon Hamm – Mad Men, Hugh Laurie – House, Jonathan Rhys Meyers – The Tudors

From this list I would have put either Jon Hamm or Michael C. Hall up there, Jon's performance in Mad Men is nothing short of spectacular while Michael C. Hall remains the most magnetic thing in Dexter with great ease. But both of them paled behind three other male actors who I won't mention here.

Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Winner: 30 Rock
Nominees: Californication, Entourage, The Office, Weeds

No surprises here to be honest, but I really cannot understand why Entourage is on the list at all.

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Winner: Tina Fey – 30 Rock
Nominees: Christina Applegate – Samantha Who?, America Ferrera – Ugly Betty, Debra Messing – The Starter Wife, Mary-Louise Parker – Weeds

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
Winner: Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock
Nominees: Steve Carell – The Office, Kevin Connolly – Entourage, David Duchovny – Californication, Tony Shalhoub – Monk

Again with these two I can't really complain (except for Entourage's continued presence) and I can't really be surprised either. The industry loves 30 Rock

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: John Adams
Nominees: A Raisin In The Sun, Bernard And Doris, Cranford, Recount

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Laura Linney – John Adams
Nominees: Judi Dench – Cranford, Catherine Keener – An American Crime, Shirley MacLaine – Coco Chanel, Susan Sarandon – Bernard And Doris

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Paul Giamatti – John Adams
Nominees: Ralph Fiennes – Bernard And Doris, Kevin Spacey – Recount, Kiefer Sutherland – 24, Tom Wilkinson – Recount

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Laura Dern – Recount
Nominees: Eileen Atkins – Cranford, Melissa George – In Treatment, Rachel Griffiths – Brothers & Sisters, Dianne Wiest – In Treatment

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Tom Wilkinson – John Adams
Nominees: Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother, Denis Leary – Recount, Jeremy Piven – Entourage, Blair Underwood – In Treatment

These five include a big sweep for John Adams and a single win for Recount. I expected Recount to do better, but if I'm honest I haven't watched John Adams so I can't really judge if it's a deserving winner. I'll have to get my hands on it some point. Yay for NPH!

The full list including movie awards is located here.
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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:
Tony D. Head (Maj. Bobby Reed), Seth Gilliam (Det. Ellis Carver), Isiah Whitlock Jr (State Senator R. Clayton "Clay" Davis), Michael Salconi (Det. Michael Santangelo), J.D. Williams (Preston "Bodie" Broadus), Wendy Grantham (Shardene Innes), Corey Parker Robinson (Det. Leander Sydnor), Michael B. Jordan (Wallace), Jim True-Frost (Off. Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski), Clarke Peters (Det. Lester Freamon), Domenick Lombardozzi (Det. Thomas R. "Herc" Hauk), Tray Chaney (Malik "Poot" Carr), Michael Kostroff (Maurice "Maury" Levy), Michael Hyatt (Brianna Barksdale), LaTonya Borsay (Orlando's Dancer), Giselle Watts (Darcia Wallace), Joe Gerrety (State Trooper), Justin Hinnant (Neighborhood Kid), Doug Roberts (State's Attorney Steven Demper), Jarvis George (Ronnie Mo), Ingrid Cornell (Nakeesha Lyles) and Marcis Turner (Police Officer)

After the Barksdale's supply gets confiscated in another bust, Stringer gives more new rules to the crew. Avon and Stringer meet with Levy to discuss the next steps, which include the elimination of any and all persons that can connect Barksdale to the drugs. Wallace goes back to the pit and asks to be let back in but Stringer has another plan for Wallace. Stringer then asks Bodie to take Wallace's old job.

Read about development, cleaning house and the paper trail beyond the link...

The Recap:

Daniels walks out of the hospital ward and meets with McNulty, he tells McNulty to pay his respect to Kima and then get his head back in the game. McNulty confesses he’s lost enthusiasm with the job and goes on to admit the entire thing was just an exercise in “show(ing) everyone how smart I was and how f**ked up the department was”. This entire thing, the trigger for it was entirely McNulty and he’s finally willing to admit this egotism out loud. Daniels responds in the same direct manner he always uses, he tells McNulty he already knew this and he doesn’t care. The results will happen no matter what caused it. McNulty is willing to give up on this entire case now but in a role reversal it’s now Daniels who’s determined to push the case no matter what. They’ve changed positions and the only thing which has changed is Kima’s situation, McNulty feels guilty because it was his selfish instincts which eventually lead to the shooting. Daniels on the other hand is no longer reluctant about this case and wants to see it to the bitter end.

Cue credits…

Dee and Bodie are talking about their situation, the stash is low and they’re missing a re-up. Stringer arrives and confiscates their pagers, Poot complains and Stringer tells him to clear off. He then hands over cell phones to Bodie and Dee and explains that they’re not to use the mobiles for anything other than arranging a meet. They’re given three numbers to call for the various situations. The Barksdales are switching everything up in response to the hit on their main stash. Before leaving Dee asks for a re-up and Stringer tells him there isn’t going to be one before leaving.

In the basement Freamon is sorting out Shardene with some contacts so she can see clearly when McNulty arrives and notices no-ones watching the pager clones. Freamon joins him and confirms his suspicions; the Barksdales are cutting out all their potential leaks and the Detail has even lost Prez who’s been assigned elsewhere now.
He then introduces McNulty to Shardene and explains how she’s been helping out. Shardene is scared about this but Freamon sooths her, Sydnor offers to get her a cup of coffee but Freamon heads him off at the pass by doing it himself. You have to admire the man’s moves.

Avon is talking with Levy and Stringer about his situation, he’s angry about what’s happened but Levy explains that he needs to cut out the dead wood and clean up anything which might hurt him further. As I said in an earlier episode review when he hit Dee around the head after the lad almost cracked in the interview room, Levy is more heavily involved in this entire thing than surface appearances would seem. While he might not directly get his hands dirty, the Barksdales wouldn’t have operated so cleanly and quietly for as long as they did (until McNulty got a snifter of them) without the Po-lice finding out about them. Stringer and Avon might be smart but Levy is a past master of this game as he reveals throughout this entire scene.

He tells them to walk away from the club, Stringer then (correctly) assumes that this all started when Dee’s court trial over the initial shooting occurred and they talk about Nakeisha Lyles. Levy makes it clear that she needs to “disappear” and leaves. Stringer talk about their men, Bird is already in, Wee-Bey is unbreakable and Savinio is just taking three years, which is nothing for a man like that. Orlando is dead, likewise Little Man.

In Burrell’s office Daniels wants to push for the full ninety days, but Burrell is determined to scale back the operation. He allows Daniels to keep Freamon and Prez, taking back Sydnor and Santangelo; then he tells him that every move has to be briefed. He then goes on to let Daniels know there’s a potential promotion space for him coming up.

Ronnie is meets with Patrick and States Attorney Demper and about the Barksdale case. It seems that people have noticed about the following of the money trail and they are not happy. While the information is in public reports and Ronnie was not aware she is still handed some returned cheques in order to avoid any problems. Ronnie attempts to deflect the blame away from her and she’s told to make sure he’s kept in the clear from any investigations. It’s pretty clear he’s been taking contributions from less than reputable sources and turning a blind eye but he’s now covering his arse from any potential fallout.

Dee is called into Orlando’s office to meet with Stringer and Avon about Wallace. Wallace is the lad who called in Brandon to Dee and stayed look out while the snatch happened. Dee tells them they don’t have to worry because Wallace has left and even if he hadn’t he would be solid. Dee knows nothing good can happen to Wallace if Stringer and Avon get to him, he asks them to leave him be and then leaves the office. Shardene watches as he walks out.

It turns out she’s fiddling with her wire and Freamon is listening at the other end while Sydnor and Herc talk about hot dogs. They’re causing no end of disruption to Freamon’s concentration and he lets them know it clearly.

Back outside the office some more members of the Barksdales have arrived and are mouthing off a little. Avon tells them to clam up and get inside the office.

Meanwhile two uniformed officers have found a body, it’s Nakeisha – she’s been silenced forever.

Shardene leaves the dressing room and Freamon notes that it’s going to be hard to get anything useful because no-one talks about anything major outside of the office and Shardene can’t go in there easily. Shardene arrives as the van a little freaked out, Freamon soothes her again and lets her know she won’t have to wear a wire anymore. She just needs to do one more thing.

The following day in the Pit Wallace has returned. Bodie and Poot are pretty pleased to see them back while Dee is more concerned. Wallace wants to get back in the game, but Bodie tells him he has to start back as lookout. Dee disagrees and tells them both Wallace is back on the money if he wants it. The lads joke a little more and head off, happy.

In the basement, McNulty, Freamon and Daniels are being told about Nakeisha by Bunk. They immediately understand that Avon’s pulling a major bout of house cleaning. Bunk immediately asks about Wallace and Daniels panics, he phones to find out about Wallace, asking the local police to check if Wallace is still there. Daniels also asks about Shardene, asking for protection for her. Freamon is just so slick here, immediately mentioning that he’d have no problem offering her a place around his. Daniels reminds him of his duty and Freamon indicates he understands.

Dee is explaining the situation to Wallace. Wallace wants to come back full time and Dee lays it straight up for him, telling him he needs to keep quiet and play it straight. Dee’s mother arrives with some food for him and after thanking her he returns to Wallace.

Daniels arrives in a meeting room and is greeted with the faces of Burrell and Senator Clay Davies. Clay wanted to have a face to face meeting with Daniels in order to cover his backside. As you can see all of the Baltimore politicians are closing up various sphincters in an attempt to distance themselves from any dirty money. Clay in particular needs to do this because it was one of his aides who was picked up earlier with money direct from the towers. The conversation naturally takes a turn towards Damien Price; Clay claims that Damien had the money before he even went to the towers. Daniels already understands what’s happening here, he’s being snowballed by the two men. He’s unwilling to completely bend towards them, but Burrell and Clay want him to completely shut it down. Clay goes as far as admitting he takes dirty money as he can and at this Daniels leaves. Clay then moves on to tell Burrell he needs to make Daniels see reason.

In the basement Herc is celebrating his pass at the sergeant’s exam and he can’t wait to rub Carver’s face in it (Carver is away for training at the moment). Daniels congratulates him while Freamon muses on this promotion. The phone rings and Daniels is informed that Wallace has been missing from his grandmother’s for two days.

Bodie is down at the towers asking about the chance of a re-up. There’s nothing going on, he sees Stringer pull up and heads over to talk to him. After getting in the car they talk a little about Wallace. Bodie explains Wallace isn’t really cut out for the game, but he is. Stringer asks him if he’s ready to step up and use a gun.

McNulty and Daniels head in with some uniforms into the vacant house Wallace used to use. There’s no sign of life there because Wallace is heading up to a different place where he’s moved with the kids he and Poot look after. They’re having Chinese.

In the Basement the Detail talk about their difficulties locating Wallace, he then tells Santangelo that he’s free to return. McNulty warns him to watch out for Rawls, Santangelo shrugs and asks, what’s the worst he can do? Santangelo provided the clearances he was asked for. He did his job.

After he leaves they talk about switching things up where Orlando’s is concerned, they have access to the building adjacent and plan to put in some fibre optics similar to the ones used by the FBI earlier in the season (remember the scene with the four guys cutting powder around a table on CCTV?) Freamon then asks Herc to get some string and a ruler.

Poot and Bodie are speculating about why Wallace returned, they’re also talking in a vague manner about Stringer’s talk with Bodie.

Ronnie then meets with Daniels to talk about the returned cheques, she also wants to know what they’re doing which has her boss so worried. She wants to know why they didn’t say anything and then leaves. On the way out she passes Shardene who’s pacing about with a piece of string tied around her ankles.

Bodie and Poot meet with Wallace and talk in the diner with him a little. The three of them finish up and head out to have some fun.

Shardene returns from the club to the van later this evening. She provides the distance walked around inside the club so they have exact measurements, the building next door is vacant on the third floor as well, this means they don’t even need a warrant for what they’re planning next.

Wallace, Bodie and Poot arrive in a taxi, refusing to pay as they leave.

Inside the vacant next door to Orlando’s Herc is drilling a hole in the wall for the fibre optics while Freamon and Daniels watch. McNulty arrives with an address for Wallace’s mother and Daniels leaves with him.

Inside the building Wallace is using as a home now he arrives calling out to ask about the kids, they’re not around. It’s just Bodie, Poot and Wallace here, Bodie and Poot exchange glances while heading up the stairs. Wallace continues to search for everyone, heading into the bedroom and picking up a player. As he picks it up and turns around Bodie pulls out his gun and cocks it. Bodie tells him he should have stayed away, Wallace begs. Bodie initially can’t pull the trigger on Wallace, but Poot shouts at him and he fires a round into the boy before taking the gun off him and finishing the job with another two rounds. They then leave.

Daniels and McNulty arrive outside his mother’s and enquire about his whereabouts, Wallace’s mother is a clear user. They hand a card over to her and leave.

Avon and his boys arrive the following morning in Orlando’s, this time they’re being watched by the Detail. Who are forced to sit there while Avon takes everything out and packs up.

Poot gets his girl to call on the payphone and tell the emergency services that there’s a hurt animal in the house where Wallace is.

Avon meets with Dee in the office and talks with him about the situation. Dee is going to be making a pick up for some drugs, but this time the BPD know all about it.

Bunk arrives at the scene of the reported hurt animal and finds Wallace’s body.

While Sydnor sets up a tracking device onto the car Dee will be using Daniels receives a call about Wallace. It only takes a single word from McNulty and they both know the situation.

Next door to Orlando’s Prez finishes eating and dumps the rubbish along with a newspaper into the bin by Freamon, he notices the headline and a major piece of the puzzle falls into place. There’s a huge planned redevelopment scheme that’s going to be occurring around the properties Avon’s been buying up. He stood to make millions in legitimate cash from it.

Daniels and McNulty talk about Wallace while they wait for Dee to head out. Dee arrives and starts up the car.

A short while later Dee is pulled over by a pair of uniforms, they want to know why he was in New York for less than half an hour. As they search him Daniels and McNulty arrive, you can see from the look in his eyes that he realises the situation he’s now in.

And sure enough he’s back in the interview room, he immediately asks for a lawyer. Dee’s considerably tougher than he was the previous time he was here. They let him know exactly where he is, and what situation he is in. Dee refuses to talk until Levy arrives. As McNulty and Daniels leave they drop a bombshell on him, letting him know in an almost off-hand manner about Wallace’s shooting. Dee doesn’t believe them.

Dee’s mother Brianna is less than please with what’s happened to him and she’s letting Avon know. Avon tells her that if she wants to keep what she loves, Dee’s going to have to stand tall and take the hit. Brianna changes her tact at this and tells Avon will have nothing to worry about. She might care about Dee, but not enough to give up her life and luxuries as they stand.

Dee is talking with Levy and Stringer about his arrest. He wants to know who’s going to take the weight of the hit and more importantly he wants to know where’s Wallace. He pushes repeatedly only to get no response. He tells them to leave at this, knowing that clearly now McNulty wasn’t lying, Wallace is dead.

Daniels meanwhile is meeting with Burrell, Burrell is unhappy about the bug being planted in Avon’s office. This is one of the few things he’s been unaware of, so that should be enough information to work out just who the leak in the Detail is. Daniels tries to push and see what he can get, but Burrell wants this shut down. He’d be happy with just the shooters, but Burrell isn’t going to cooperate now the Detail has gone after the money trail. Burrell throws some FBI field reports onto the table and reveals that he knows about the money Daniels came into and he is willing to do him. Daniels stands up to him and calls him on this, he tells him that he isn’t afraid of this, there are plenty of other dirty stories out there and he’ll keep doing his job until the time on the wiretap is up.

A strike team is sent into Orlando’s while Avon and Stringer watch on the CCTV. They failed to get the safe out in time. Avon has Stringer open up the safe in order to avoid the police blowing it open and ruining it.

Outside, McNulty and Daniels are watching the SWAT move into position. They get fed up of waiting and decide to both go in together. They stroll past the SWAT Officer and tell them there’s no need to come in, after knocking they’re let in by the bouncer. Upstairs they meet with Avon and Stringer, McNulty searches through the desk and then checks the now open safe, removing the money while Daniels cuff’s Avon. They don’t pick up Stringer and McNulty tells String “Catch you later” before exiting the office. On the stairs out he hesitates for a moment before leaving the building.

In the basement Freamon connects the final pieces of the puzzle on the board for Prez, Sydnor and himself to look at. Sydnor tells them they have Avon, but no Little Man or Wee-Bey. Sydnor talks about how this is the best case he ever did, but it’s not enough, it feels unfinished. Prez stares at the board before walking out of shot.

In the Pit, the orange couch sits empty…

The Review:

It’s no spoiler to say that The Wire’s first season pay off comes in this episode. This episode is filled with some major events. The most dramatic of which are of course around poor Wallace, if the boy hadn't returned then he'd be still alive at this point. But instead he's been shot, which is a major hit for not just the investigation but for D'Angelo personally. It's hard to say which of the two scenes is stronger, the one where Wallace is killed or the later one where Dee repeatedly shouts "Where's Wallace?" Two words that would sound almost funny in any other context (Where's Waldo/Wally?) are here reduced to their components and made to speak volumes.

So much has brought us up to this point and it seems incredible that there's an episode left. There are such heavy punches pulled throughout this episode that even now, on my third or fourth watching of the episode I'm still left somewhat dumb struck by it and everything that's been building towards this. I genuinely feel sorry for Wallace and Dee, they've both been left out with their arses hanging in the wind by the rest of the Barksdales. The very organisation they trusted betrays them both from the inside one way or another.

The entire episode is epochal, it reveals just how sophisticated a game Avon, Levy and Stringer were playing with the property purchases and political donations. It also shows that the corruption from the streets runs anywhere and everywhere, it even runs all the way up to the senator and as a consequence runs down into the police department itself in the form of influence and political power.

While the Detail have Avon and Dee, they don't have Wee-Bey or Stringer. At this point I'd also like to note just how well done Avon's arrest scene is done. We're given the stereotypical SWAT team line up ready to burst in and kick ass, but the entire thing is thrown aside. There's no big action based confrontation, instead Daniels and McNulty knock on the door, walk in and arrest Avon without any violence or resistance. How many other shows would be able to resist such a moment, abandoning the big explosive pay off for a quieter one that's ultimately far more satisfying in it's nature?

That's the beauty of The Wire, it doesn't give you many of these big exciting moments, it doesn't give you one dimensional villains who are EVIL. It presents you with people, both good and bad, flawed insitutions and half finished cases. Much like real life, there isn't always a solid resolution to a situation , everything isn't always wrapped up in a nice pink bow and parcelled out to the viewer as a 'happy ending'. Just as Sydnor said "it feels unfinished".

Next week will be the final episode of this season, see you then.

Direct Link

The Week That Was returns to it's usual spot at 'Sometime on a Saturday'.

This week is pretty sparse, shows are just starting to return to normality after the Christmas break, so it's going to be pretty light this week.

Scrubs:
There were two episodes of Scrubs this week and it's clear that in both of them that the dedicated decision to scale back the wacky and return to the tone of the first few seasons has been followed. The first episode introduced Courtney Cox as Kelso's replacement and a whole batch of new interns. Cox is very good, but the new interns are all best described as the Rude One, the Annoying One, the Brown Noser and The Rest. I'm not fussed on them.

The second episode guest starred The Wire's Glynn Turman as George (at least I think that was his name) a dying man who's kept company by JD and Turk. It was the better of the two episodes, both for the comedy moments and the more thoughtful ones. Glynn gave the entire thing a real sense of gravitas and dignity, it's been a while since the show has had such a strong actor playing a one-off patient. I have a good feeling about this season of Scrubs, but I do hope it's the last one if Zach is leaving.

My Name is Earl:
Sometimes I find myself wondering why I keep watching 'My Name is Earl' and for some of the latest episode this was one of those times. I guess I'm not the worlds biggest fan of forumlaic shows and My Name is Earl is pretty much the pinnacle of forumlaic alongside House M.D. and CSI. But then I got swept up in the story of Earl's attempt to get a young lad he was responsable for causing the pregnancy of (there must be a better way to write that) to fly straight and grow up. It was fun and the B story of Mr Turtle being lost was entertaining as well.

I just wish that Earl would resist going back to the start every single episode, this is a show that's meant to be about someone growing and making amends for what they've done, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere and the characters don't grow much either. Maybe I'm just expecting too much from this, I've already seen three and a half seasons so I shouldn't be surprised anymore...

30 Rock:
Also returning this week is the businesses favourite comedy 30 Rock. Salma Hayek joins the cast as Eliza, a nurse Jack has hired to look after his mother. Liz on the other hand meets a UN Member (name forgotten and not present on the imdb) played by Peter Dinklage when she mistakes him for a little boy. The show is filled with some excellent comedy, overall a little weak plotwise but there were so many funny moments I didn't really care. 30 Rock continues to be a little up and down with it's quality, but when it's on it's so good that it more than makes up for the lulls.

The Guild:
Rounding up this comedy edition of TWTW is the Web based show 'The Guild', I've written a little about it in the past and I've enjoyed it enough that I wanted to find a way to support it each week. As each episode is just less than ten minutes in length it's hard to write a full review on each episode. So I'm just going to give it a slot in TWTW each week instead.

We're up to episode six at this point and I have to say this second season is a lot sharper and funnier than the first season. Paring up Vork and Zaboo together has been nothing but comedy gold, Zaboo is inappropriately homo-erotic towards Vork constantly and the dysfunction between them constantly has me laughing. Add to this Clara's repeated griefing of Vork, her sleep deprived delusions and the awkward attempts by Codex to get to know her stunt man/martial artist/all round awesome neighbour after she puked on him and it's amazing to think these episodes are so short. They're packed with as much action as an episode of Treehouse of Horror or Harvey Birdman.

You can watch the full episodes for free on msn or via Xbox Live.

Other News:
In other news my copy of BSG Season 2 arrived damaged, I thought about complaining but it turned out I would have to return the product and then wait for a new one, costing me both time and money. I decided to use an iron, glue and good old skill to repair it instead. You'd never know it was broken now.

I also purchased season four of Battlestar Galactica as well because I honestly haven't watched Razor or the fourth season yet -- That's for next week. Amusingly this means that part of my collection looks like this now:


Yes, that's right. I don't own the third season, I just have a gap instead. (I'm also missing the final season of The A-Team still, I keep meaning to get it and then putting it off.) For the curious who don't recognise everything up there on sight, if you click the picture there's an 800 x 600 version. (For the doubly curious, the dragon doesn't have a name, but I like to celebrate my nationality! Call him Welshie after the Futurama character.)

I'm also waiting on deliveries of RescuMe's second season and the first two series of Wire in the Blood. I'll probably write about them at some point. RescuMe in particular has really grown me, despite the fact that I can't write it's name correctly and have given up trying.
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I caught up with the first season of Damages over Christmas after Dan's review brought it to my attention, the short version of my thought could be summed up as 'I really, really enjoyed it'. The longer version will be left for a later review of the rather excellent DVD set.

The first episode of the second season Premiered on Wednesday, unfortunately due to other commitments I'm not able to find the time to watch it until Friday. So this is when my Damages review will be out each week. Before we push into the episode itself I'd just like to mention that I've found myself being followed on Twitter by both Patty and Ellen, which is rather intimidating, but I'll try not to let the fear cloud my judgement.

To avoid major spoilers for those who've not watched the first season or this episode everything else will be kept behind the break.

Read about beards, guns and revenge beyond the link...

The end of the first season handed us the revelation that Patty had arranged an attempt on Ellen's life but failed, Ellen had realised this and was now working with the FBI to bring down Patty from the inside. Arthur was shot out on his land by Larry and Art's attorney Ray Fiske killed himself in Patty's office.

Naturally the second season picks up from this and moves the story forward; at the start of the season Ellen has agreed to work with the FBI by staying on at Hewes & Associates while Patty has decided to take a break from law in order to concentrate on some charitable work.

Now I have to get my one gripe out of the way before we move on. I was secretly hoping that the twin storyline past/present format of the first season was going to be a one off thing and then we'd move into a more present based storyline for the later seasons. Damages is sticking with the split time lines, that's fine, it's not what I wanted to see but I can accept that this is the medium they're using to tell the story with. This is the only time I'm going to complain about it, I'm moving on.

The episode opens with the teaser of a rather femme fatal looking Ellen talking directly to an off camera person. She chats a little to this person and then reveals a gun. The dialog seems to indicate that this person has told a lot of lies and seems to suggest it might be Patty, which of course I don't buy for a second. Unless Damages is going for a two season story (which feels unlikely, the show genuinely feels like it'll finish on an odd numbered season) it's not going to be Patty at the end. Still, I'm intrigued enough already and it's a good hook.

We push onto the past storyline, which is the one we'll spend most episodes following. As I mentioned above, Patty is now looking to start a charitable foundation while Ellen is working with the FBI to expose the truth about Patty. Glenn Close really gives a great performance in this show, my previous experience with Glenn's work is from the fourth season of The Shield, where she's very warm and human. But in Damages time and time again she manages to look completely dead behind her eyes, it's a fantastic performance.

Rose Bryne is also excellent as Ellen, she's already turned her character away from a quiet confused victim type into someone who's developed an edge and a taste for revenge. I did appreciate her not doing anything with Frobisher when she had the chance, it's better for her to not sink to murder. But this act of mercy or forgiveness was hard to accept in full because by the end of the episode we already know she gets herself a gun and starts monologuing at someone before shooting them.

The other big -- well I can't call it a surprise because it was talked about before the show returned -- moment is of course Arthur Frobisher's survival after being shot by Larry. Even when he was shot I wondered if they planned to keep him in the show because the shot was low and in an often non-fatal area. True enough Ted Danson does return, he spends the first episode stuck in bed after multiple surgeries. I can't help but wonder where they're going to go with Frobisher now, are we getting a montage of his gradual recovery? Will 'Eye of the Tiger' play as he learns to walk again?

Joking aside Danson is an exceptional actor and I'm happy he's remaining in some form, even if I'm not sure what he's there for right now. Same applies to Zeljko's guilt 'haunting' of Patty, it's very much in the frame of Six Feet Under and Rescue Me (...still typoing that as Rescume...) but it also fits in with the slightly dream driven nature of the show as well. The first season had quite a few dream sequences and I've liked Zeljko since I started watching Homicide.

In all I found it a gripping and exciting premiere, I'm interested to see where it leads. We have William Hunt's character Daniel and his work related problems leading to tragedy, we've got the superb Timothy Olyphant as Wes. Will he be a red herring, is he the man set to keep an eye on Ellen or is it something else? At this point I don't know where things will go and I'm very interested to find out.

Short Thoughts:
• Ted Danson looks great with a beard, when is he going to do a Santa Claus type movie?

• I enjoyed the little hint at the end of the episode which suggested that Patty set Lily up in order to bring Arsenault back to support her charity. Not only did she stitch up the daughter of a friend without a second thought but she also milked him for more cash and got the name order on the charity flipped from Arsenault/Hewes to Hewes/Arsenault.

• Speaking of which, Arsenault? Oh boy that's going to keep me laughing for ages. I have no idea if it's intentional or not but here in the Queen's Isle that name is pretty hilarious.

• I wonder if Glenn took something away from her time spent with Michael Chiklis on The Shield, because she can really pull a full "Vic" when she wants to.

• Clarke Peters is apparently in episodes ahead. Chalk Damages up as another show who's taken on one of The Wire's allumni. I adore Clarke Peters as cool cat Lester Freamon, he's one of my favourite characters.

• I still love the opening sequence and title track, it's fast becoming one of my favourite opening sequences alongside Mad Men, Dexter and The Wire (season 1 and 5 ftr).

• I'll probably get more detailed in these reviews as time passes with this show, I always struggle to get the names of characters early on in a series. Especially newer ones introduced in with an existing cast, so if things seem a little light on detail here it's because I'm still trying to get a position on everything and organise who's who in my head.

• For an additional take from yours truly check here at Crimespree Cinema.

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As I settle into my new pattern of work and reviewing over this year I'm going to be putting out the DVD review on Wednesdays, leaving Friday for Damages, Sunday for the Wire and Monday plus whenever else for other stuff. The Week That Was will also make a return on Fridays, but it's likely to be lighter in content for a while because I'm honestly not watching that many shows right now. TV is a little... sparse.

This week I'm going to review the latest Simpsons DVD set. I'm unlikely to go back and review the previous seasons because there's little difference between each season. Only the packaging and menus really change, everything else is as formulaic as it ever is.



Starring:
Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson
Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson
Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson
Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson
Harry Shearer as Mr Burns & Various
Hank Azaria as Moe & Various

(Seriously these guys do so many characters each I can't be bothered to list them all, follow the links instead you lazy so and so. Stop expecting me to do all the work!)



I'm not really sure I need to go into much detail about The Simpsons, everyone who's watched TV will most like have watched an episode or two of this and the show doesn't seem likely to stop running until Dan Castellaneta passes away or a terrible tradgedy wipes out the entire cast. We already know the drill, Homer's stupid, Marge is repressed, Lisa is a genius, Bart is a troublemaker and Maggie is cute.

The Eleventh season contains some major events for the show, including a new family for one character and the loss of a loved one for another. The Simpsons lives in this strange state of twilight where people don't age but children can be conceived and born. You've almost certainly seen many of these episodes which were originally aired between September 1999 and May 2000, this is also the season where David X. Cohen and Matt Groening left to focus on (...the greatly superior as far as I'm concerned...) Futurama. But the show is still in it's best period during this season, it doesn't begin to lose it's lustre for a few years yet.

Heck, if you want to know what happens in this season, here's the wikipedia episode list. I'm not sure I have much more to say about The Simpsons which hasn't been said before. But I'm not writing this to talk about the show, onto the DVD set!


The Packaging:
Here's the reason I decided to write about this set. Now the DVD releases of The Simpsons have always included some seriously dubious decisions over the years, the "special edition" utterly useless head shaped DVD sets are one of the more ludicrous ideas that have been used (and are still used to this day). I'm not going to comment heavily on them except to say I always avoid purchasing the special edition version because it's a seriously awful idea. You could offer me one at half the price and I'd still take the non-special version. They don't fit on any kind of DVD shelf at all, they don't stack, they break easily. Ugh, they're utterly useless.

But even the normal editions haven't avoided some of the clearly drug induced decisions that have occurred over the packaging. Every single season includes this thin, flimsy back cover sheet that is sort of hooked over the back of the box. Now it wouldn't be so much of an issue if this was some disposable advert or a duplicate of the back cover on the box. But it isn't, it's actually the full details of the box contents, episode list, special features, details. All of it is on this easily lost and torn piece of paper. On what planet is that actually a good idea? Needless to say the eleventh season continues this particularly wretched piece of clown-****ery and I'm sure the rest of them will as well. I expect it's some big joke on the part of the Simpson DVD department.

But, if that wasn't enough the Eleventh season has even managed to take another cunning step into the world of ass-hatted packaging production. All previous seasons have used a combination of plastic and cardboard to create attractive looking fold out sheets which protect the discs well. Obviously someone looked at this and asked "Can we do this smaller, with less costs and cut out the packaging", then after months of meetings someone else brought in an envelop with a DVD in it and said "How about this?" Lo the season eleven box DVD holder was born.

It's a cardboard strip with admittedly attractive and fun scenes depicting a carnival. There's lots to look at and quite a few jokes. But it's not the appearance that's the problem. It's the system used to store the DVDs, it's based from those cheap newspaper cardboard envelopes. Now this does mean that season eleven takes up half the space any other season does on the shelf. Some props there, but when you're trying to actually take the DVDs out of their snug little cardboard holders all hell breaks loose. It's like a little puzzle designed to make you not want to watch the show.

Worst. Packaging. Ever.

The Menus and Start Up:
In contrast to the terrible packaging the start up and menu options for this set are very trouble free. Even Fox's usual strategy of jamming anti-piracy propaganda down the throats of people who've bought legitimate copies seems to be toned down here.

The menus for each disc are likewise attractive, for many sets the menu creators struggled to get the right set up for The Simpsons. The first season was boring and useless, the second season was gimmicky and irritating, but the third and fourth seasons were nice looking and funny. The eleventh season menus are great, they're filled with gags. There's a set which run once when you open the menu and then a well designed loop of short gags which is completely seamless. As such you could leave the menu on for a fair while and not figure out exactly where it loops.

The Extras:
There are a lot of extras on the discs for you to watch, every episode has commentary (which is often mocked by the Futurama commentary for good reason) and there's more besides.

The full list is as follows:
Special Introduction from Matt Groening
Commentaries on every episode
A Star on Hollywood Boulevard Featurette
The Many Faces of Krusty Featurette
Deleted Scenes with Commentary
Multi-Angle Animation Showcase
Original Sketches
Special Language Feature

There's an extended disc by disc breakdown over here.

The Details:
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Runtime: 469 mins
Region 2
Rating: 12
Sound: 5.1
Subtitles: Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, English HoH.

The Price:
Sendit have it for £29.89 right now, that's 6.4ppm. Not brilliant, not awful. If you're willing (or want) the special edition version you can have it for a pound less.


A must have for fans of The Simpsons or people who purchase the DVD sets so they don't end up watching it on the TV whenever it's on (like myself). The Eleventh Season is a great season wrapped in a really poor package. It's like getting an intelligent and beautiful woman inside a dog crap cake.
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The previous post in Filling the void dealt with the two shows I felt had the most depth and realism to genuinely fill the gap left by the passing of "the two best shows to ever air on television ever".

Today I'm going to be offering a slightly lighter pair. One of which is well established, but I don't hear too much about these days and the other I've honestly had a sort of on again off again relationship with - but I'm definately 'on' with it these days.

Rescue Me:
(Currently 4 seasons have aired, the fifth is due in March 2009 and will be 22 Episodes long)

Rescue Me (Which I keep typoing as Rescume) first aired on FX in 2004, it's been on my radar for quite a while - it stars Denis Leary as Tommy Gavin a New York firefighter still haunted with the repercussions of 9/11 where he lost his best friend and cousin Jimmy Keefe. Tommy is a somewhat haunted character, both figuratively and literally. In a Six Feet Under style twist he often has conversations with the now deceased Jimmy and sometimes even the phantoms of other desceased people.

It's hard to truely suggest that Rescue Me will give you the same level of satisfaction as watching The Shield and The Wire does, but I can honestly say that it's about as entertaining as Weeds, Burn Notice and Six Feet Under, it seems to operate in around that level of depth. Semi-realistic characters, slightly unrealistic situations and a large dollop of somewhat black humour. Kind of semi-light entertainment with an edge.

Now I've only seen the first season so far, but I very much enjoyed watching it and I fully intend to pick up the other three seasons on DVD with the plan of being up to speed by the time the fifth season airs. It's pretty enjoyable overall and will pass the time decently enough while you're waiting for the next dickensian masterpiece to arrive on our small screens.

Plus it has Callie Thorne in it!

Life:
(Second season currently halfway through)

Now Life is something I really have had a somewhat tumulous relationship with, I loved the first season and was very disappointed that the writer's strike cut it short. But the last few episodes of that season were just so amazing I couldn't wait for it to come back.

Then season two arrived and the show was all over the place, Damien Lewis was just as fantastic as always - but one man does not make a show alone. The plots were exceptionally stand alone and apart from the occasionally brilliant macabre image or sharp joke many of them fell flat. A couple of the episodes were so annoying that I just couldn't stand to watch them (especially the one with the rich kid and the motorbike, I hated that one). So I shelved the show and decided to not try watching it until both Dexter and The Shield had finished.

After putting a little distance between myself and the start of the season I then sat down to marathon watch the back six or seven episodes that ran up to the Christmas break. I don't know if the time away helped, but the show had certainly returned to form. The characters were clicking better the plots were interesting and there was a large amount of the very interesting conspiracy moments. The show just began to work and Damien wasn't the only horse carrying the cart anymore.

By the time the mid season mini-finale aired the show had returned to the same level of quality it held this time last year. Life has managed to be fast, fun, clever and witty before now but once Trapdoor arrived everything hit another level beyond anything the show had previously demonstrated. I'm really looking forward to Life returning and I've already forgiven it for it's rocky start this season.

You can also read my Why You Should Watch... feature on the show for an earlier take on things and some additional information about the cast and so forth.

More potentially filling shows soon!
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