Hi Everyone, it's Dan the original author of Across The Airwaves. I'm back and proud to welcome you to the new and improved Across The Airwaves (www.acrosstheairwaves.com if you are reading this at our old home on Blogger). Although before we get into details about this new site, I'd like to thank my buddy and soon to be Podcasting Co-Host Nico for posting on the Blog while I finished up my Film/Television Screenwriting degree at Columbia College in Chicago. In my opinion I think Nico did an excellent job and I'm psyched that you as in our loyal followers welcomed him with open arms.

As we delve into our new home, I want to draw attention towards the fact that it contains all the old features of our previous stomping ground including a search engine, a monthly archive of previous posts, our Twitter Feed and a way for you to follow our blog using Google Friend Connect. However, now on the new site we have added a Categories section which divides our posts into News, Opinions, Retrospectives and TV Series Updates. Plus we've got a way for you subscribe to Across The Airwaves by E-Mail, links for you to communicate with us by Twitter or E-Mail, a new way to comment on our site and a list of links to the resources that help make each of our posts possible. Also the list of resources contains links to places where you can watch your favorite shows online legally.

As far as what's coming soon to the website we've got our official Across The Airwaves podcast hosted by myself and Nico. The show is going to be structured like Pardon The Interruption but instead of Sports, it will cover our thoughts on current Television Shows on a weekly basis. These shows will include Chuck, The Big Bang Theory, Castle, V, Bones, Fringe, Supernatural, Smallville, Leverage, White Collar and a few others that will be added at the beginning of the 2010-2011 TV Season. Also in each episode we will discuss news and opinions about the Television Industry as a whole. So please keep an eye out on this site and iTunes for our first episode on Season Finales for the 2009-2010 TV Season.

On a final note to give you, our followers on the Internet all the great things we have coming down the pipe Nico and I please ask that you give us your patience. Currently we have three posts without pictures or links due to setting up this new site and putting our podcast into production. The site at times might also be momentarily unavailable due to us making sure that its features are working properly so bare with us for one to two weeks as we try to give you the best experience when visiting us on the web. With that out of the way everyone put on your seat belts because Across The Airwaves is on the air and running full speed ahead.

This last episode of Chuck was a lot of fun for everyone; the audience and the actors alike.  Dan and I loved how much fun Chuck and Sarah were having in this episode being pseudo-spies and trying not to let the other one know that they were still acting like a spy and sneaking out to investigate i.e. the scene with Sarah in the bathroom and Chuck climbing along the outside of the train.  Yvonne Strahovski, who plays Sarah, had some fun with that intentionally terrible Texas accent. Dan loved it.

Also, this episode played right into our theory that Team Bartowski will be like a family and that Morgan and Casey will continually team up for the remainder of the season.  Also, Dan and I think that the Chuck and Sarah relationship will help Sarah to gain back some of her humanity that was stripped out of her through her spy training and living with a conman for a father.  Who doesn’t have a favorite song?  Sarah doesn’t because she’s never stopped to enjoy the little things in life like music, film, or comic books.  Dan likes the idea that being with Chuck will bring out a geeky side of Sarah and in a future episode; she will surprise us all when she drops some super geeky knowledge on everyone.  I envision it being one of those scenes where everyone stops what they are doing and stares at her and then goes back to work.  It will be funny!!!

This episode answered a lot of questions on where the story is likely going for the remainder of the season.  However, it left the question of whether or not Ellie & Awesome are gone for good.  We think that they may return as guest stars in a later episode this season or even that Sarah and Chuck may end up doing a mission in Africa and running into them.  This would be brilliant.  It could also finally force Chuck to come clean with his sister about who he really is and what he has been doing for the last 3 years.  This could make for a good season finale or just an awesome episode.

As I have said many times before, I LOVE JEFFSTER.  This episode did not disappoint. John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” was amazing. Not as good as “Africa,” but amazing nonetheless.  I really hope they continue to do things like this in the future because, as I’ve said, this is at least one of this fan’s favorite things about Chuck. 

Finally, in the words of General Beckman, “It’s about time!!!!”

Smallville:

The last two episodes of Smallville have been excellent.  Last week’s episode was interesting for the future of the Clark and Lois relationship and yet was an excellent twist because they dealt with Clark’s secret getting in the way of the relationship completely differently than previously with the Clark & Lana relationship.  I felt that the writers learned from the debacle that was Clark & Lana and did must better this time.  Lois is in love with the Blur because it makes her feel like she is helping to save the world.  Ironically, she is in love with Clark (as the Blur) for who he truly is, the character we have been following for the last 9 + years, and she does not know it is him and it is causing her to question her relationship with Clark.  I feel like this is going to be an interesting storyline for the next season and two episodes (only two left this season, can’t believe the season is almost over).

Last night’s episode makes it seem like next year’s season will be about restoring Clark/Blur’s reputation because of human kind’s diminishing trust in superheroes due to the events that Zod will cause in the next few episodes.  Clark will be forced to restore human kind’s faith in the Blur/Superman and superheroes in general all of next season as he finally becomes Superman.  Dan and I both feel that he will switch back to the Red & Blue as part of this transition and that the Zod storyline will be resolved this season.  However, I think it will be carried over to the season 10 premiere like they did in previous seasons where they ended the season finale with a giant cliffhanger.  This is how I think they will end this season finale, but Dan thinks it will all be resolved in the finale.

With regard to the Zod baby, I was thinking that the plot was going to go a completely different way.  I thought that Clark was going to keep the baby safe and keep him from Zod.  This was going to be the final straw that led to Zod declaring war on humankind and Clark.  Instead, as everyone saw, Zod unwittingly killed his own progeny and then lied to his fellow Kandorians saying that the human Checkmate organization killed his son.  He used the death as a means to declare war on humankind.  Zod’s destiny is to allow his ego to destroy himself and his followers.  It is his need for followers and to rule them that will ultimately destroy him again as it did the last time when he destroyed Krypton just to prove a point. Each Kryptonian has a destiny, according to the comics, and they are destined to fulfill this destiny despite how they may struggle against that fate.  Clark/Kal El is different/separate from this concept because he is both a Kryptonian and a human because of his upraising as a human on Earth. 

In the comics, he realizes that he is different while living with the Kryptonians on the New Krypton.  This difference makes Superman such a great ambassador to other alien races in the comics.  This is why I love Dan; he knows all these great little things from the comics and educates me every time we talk about them.

Next week will be the return of Martha Kent!!  Dan feels that she is going to say to Clark that she is proud of him and all he has accomplished, but that it is time to take off the gloves and take on the Kandorians.  Dan is also hoping for a Martha Kent and Chloe scene where essentially Martha will say that Chloe needs to show the human race why she originally had such faith in Clark, how she saw him as a symbol of the entire human race and everything we can become.  It will have to be Chloe who will help the Blur fix his reputation and fight the negative public image after Zod’s actions in the final two episodes this season (maybe Lois will be involved with this too if she gets her job back at the Daily Planet).  The scene where Chloe and Tess were locked in Watchtower explains that Chloe has lost her faith in humanity and that seems to be why she has lost her faith in Clark.  Dan and I feel that she has finally turned the corner as far as being frustrated or blaming Clark and has begun to regain her faith in Clark and thus, the human race.

Since Dan and I both have said that we believe that Zod will die in the season finale, the question remains how will Zod die?  Oliver killing Zod is a real possibility, especially after Green Arrow told Zod that if he ever crossed him again, he would change his mind on not killing him.  Dan and I think that Zod may be on the verge of killing Clark and thus Oliver would be justified in killing Zod to save Clark.  Oliver will say something like, “The world needs Clark Kent.”  We think that it needs to be a human that kills Zod because Clark will not intentionally kill Zod.  Think about Doomsday!  Even to the bitter end, he could not intentionally kill Doomsday.  Dan and I threw around the idea that if Zod killed Chloe (remember our earlier theory that she may die in the finale) and Oliver may kill Zod because of this.  I argued that this would be less justified for Oliver because if he kills Zod because of Chloe’s death, then it is revenge and that would not be a justified reason.  Despite the fact that Clark gave Zod a second chance by saving his life by giving him his blood and Zod has wasted that second chance, neither of us can see Clark killing Zod.

We shall see how the huge fight at the finale goes.  Rumor has it that Michael Shanks makes a return as Hawkman.  Awesome!!!

Fringe:

I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this last week’s episode with the detective noir theme.  I usually do not like these gimmicky episodes, but this one was surprisingly well done (well except Olivia).  What was interesting about this episode was that it was told from the Walter’s perspective on everyone in his life and how he sees them and sees the world.  The episode was random because it was created from Walter’s head and he was stoned off his rocker.  Olivia (Anna Torv) was terrible in the noir setting, showing her lack of acting range.   She is just not a good actress! Dan felt that this episode was written as it was because the storyline needed a show where Peter was gone for a time, but Olivia is so terrible that they could not do an episode without Joshua Jackson (Peter).  Dan and I can’t think of another show that we have ever seen that is as successful as Fringe where so many fans hate one of the main characters/actress.  Dan and I are not alone in our distaste for the quality of acting by this leading lady.  I imagine many of you agree with us on this matter as well.

Going back two episodes to where Peter figured out who he was and where he came from, Dan loved the fact that the writers did not make Peter look stupid, but rather brilliant to be able to piece it all together and realize he was from the other side on his own.  Peter reacted exactly like we would expect his character to react, by getting pissed off and disappearing.  We both feel that he will return after next week’s episode where he works a Fringe case by himself and realizes that he can do it on his own, but it is better when he is working as part of his team with Walter and Olivia.  It will be a long time before things get back to where they were two episodes ago before he knew, but I think that Peter and Walter will eventually get back to a good relationship and Olivia and Peter may even get together romantically...though they need to work on building this relationship instead of just forcing it on the characters.  It needs to feel organic, not rushed.

FlashForward:

I LOVE JANICE!!!  I love that she is actually a double agent working for the CIA.  This allows me to root for her again and proves my previous theory/assessment that Janice and Demetri are the best developed characters on the show.  But will she really kill Mark to keep her cover?  I don’t think so; she’ll have to find a way to delay killing him until she can get out of it.

This last episode needed more Demetri. I was especially surprised to not see Demetri after they saved him last episode. Where was he; off recuperating?  I guess I just missed the second best character on the show.

This episode was very much like a LOST episode with this being a Janice centric flashback episode exactly like LOST is famous for doing.  This change in storytelling is going to save FlashForward.  Dan and I have been harping on the idea that this show needed to be more character centric and these flashback episodes allow for greater character development than a purely linear timeline.  Next week’s episode will be a Simon centric flashback episode where we will learn about his past and his relationship with his sister.  I anticipate it will be a great episode.

Gaius Baltar returns, sort of.  The addition of James Callis as Gabriel McDow was perfect for the storyline, which is another plot device that will give us insight into Olivia’s back-story.  Dan and I anticipate flashback episodes for each main character and feel that a Simco episode needs to happen soon to do some character repair because many fans hate this character and feel he’s expendable.  Each week, I’m liking this show more and more and can only hope that ABC will give it a second chance second season. 

Well that is all I have for this week.  Enjoy the week of TV and in the words of General Beckman, “It’s about time!!!”

Sorry for not posting last week.  I had some post-operative issues from my recent throat surgery and was not feeling up to it last weekend, so I hope you’ll forgive me the lack of a blog post last week.

Smallville:

The Checkmate episode was a good episode despite being a Tess centric episode.  It really was a good episode for Oliver to have the final scene where he shuts Tess down, shuts the door on that chapter of his life and removes her from his life.  Despite my hatred for the character of Tess, Dan and I both agree that the scenes with Tess and Oliver were much more palatable than the scenes with Tess and Zod.  Those scenes are terrible and make me want to change the channel, or in reality fast-forward because I usually watch on my DVR.  I really cannot wait till the Zod plot line is complete and they kill of the Tess character.  I may even throw a party the day they kill Tess off the show!  Is that terrible to say? Naw.

The last two weeks the blogosphere was all a twitter with the question of whether it was Clark’s or Chloe’s fault that she was captured.  I propose that it was in fact a combination of the two.  It was Chloe’s fault because she would never have been on Checkmate’s radar if she had not been doing all the illegal hacking and surveillance with the Watchtower.  But it also appears that Checkmate knew enough about Clark to know that they could use Chloe as leverage to force Clark to join them.  Thus, it was a little of both Clark and Chloe’s own fault that Checkmate abducted her in this episode.

Speaking of Chloe, Dan and I both agree that we are getting a little sick of Chloe constantly holding a grudge against Clark for turning his back on her and Oliver at the beginning of the season.  We’re over the betrayal, she needs to get over it as well.  Dan loves Chloe, and Alison Mack for that matter, but really does not feel that her character would hold this grudge against Clark for this long and thus the writers need to cut this out.  As a plot device and a means to move the story forward, we feel that Chloe being captured was a good storyline, but there is no need for the bloggers to be assigning blame.

Dan really enjoyed this episode visually and said that the slow-motion flash scenes made it feel like a comic book.  My feelings on the use of the slow-motion was that it was excellent and very well done for the scenes  with Clark and seemed appropriate for him and his super speed and being a superhero.  For that same reason, I felt that the use of the slow-motion/flash scenes for the opening scene with Tess was unnecessary and even inappropriate.  She is not a superhero and thus should not be given the superhero treatment with the special effects.  That being said, the effects were visually stunning and Dan and I enjoyed them greatly.

It was nice to see the Martian Manhunter using his powers in this episode.  I was unaware of his ability to wipe people’s memories, but it was very useful in this episode.  Dan informed me that this is indeed one of his powers that he’s used on two or three occasions in the comic books… yet again exposing my ignorance of comic books.  I was a little concerned with him being aligned with someone other than Clark.  Dan says there is a rumor that it may be that the Martian Manhunter is partnered with Clark’s Mom, which would be awesome.  He should be loyal to Clark, but seems not to trust Clark enough to tell him who he is working with. Martian Manhunter has orders from Jor El to protect Clark, so should he not also trust Clark?  Dan thinks that the clone of Jor El may have contacted the Martian Manhunter and maybe gave him new orders in order to keep Clark safe and keep the other Kryptonians secret and thus safe as well.  This could be a viable theory, but I’m not so sure because the clone of Jor El was not aware of Clark until he learned of him on Earth, so he probably had not given orders to Martian Manhunter or may not even have known of him at the time he was cloned.  I do like the theory that it is Martha Kent that the Martian Manhunter is aligned with and feel that this would be much less of a betrayal to Clark if it turns out to be true. Not to mention that this would give an excellent plotline for the return of Martha Kent later this season.

The Metallo episode last week was excellent and Dan and I both were happy to see the return of Brian Austin Green.  Neither of us was very happy to see the use of Red Kryptonite and indeed I told Dan that when I first saw it, “it really pissed me off.” The show has done this too much already and I am sick of Clark being affected by different colors of Kryptonite.  Dan pointed out to me that every major turning point in the show has involved Red Kryptonite.  After he said this we looked back and indeed this is true:
1) In season 2 it was used to hold off the Clark & Lana relationship from progressing
2) In the season 2 finale it was used to have Clark run off at the end of the season and learn how destructive his powers can be if used incorrectly
3)In season 4 it led to Chloe learning of his secret when he caught the car in front of her
4) In season 6, Lana learns of Clark’s secret when he attacks her and Lex and Lex hits him with the crowbar
5) Now Zod learns of the Fortress of Solitude and also gives the Kryptonians powers… potentially leading to the war we all saw in the future.

I have to agree with Dan’s assessment.  In the past, Red Kryptonite was used by Jor El as a training device to show Clark the devastating power of his abilities.  He learned this lesson in season 2 and again in season 6.  So why now?  Was the Red Kryptonite used by the writers because Clark’s confidence in himself was shaken last season when things went all wrong and he needed to get his mojo back?  Isn’t the show past this?  Dan and I felt that it was used to fuel Clark’s teenage angst and he is past the teenage years and is an adult now.  This week’s use of Red Kryptonite was a mistake by the writers.  Red Kryptonite was a teaching tool and Clark should be beyond teaching tools at this point in his journey toward becoming Superman.  If Clark needed to learn something, it should have been how to fly or at this point in his life he should be learning like most adults learn, from their mistakes.  This is how we all learn in our lives, why does Clark need Red Kryptonite as an adult to learn in his life?

Dan and I both loved the first Metallo episode, but felt that the writers made Metallo too much of a hero in this episode.  He was a sympathetic villain in the first episode and we felt that this worked very well for the talented Brian Austin Green, but this episode the writers crossed the line from sympathetic villain too far toward a hero, which Dan and I both feel is too much of a departure from the comic book villain that is Metallo.  One of the most compelling things about John Corbin becoming Metallo was the whole issue of him seeking revenge for the death of his sister and this episode completely ignored this topic.  Red Kryptonite was the culprit for why they were unable to address this matter in this episode.  There were just too many other plotlines going on to focus on John Corbin’s sister, despite it being such a compelling storyline. In my opinion, this was yet another missed opportunity by the writers in this episode.  Dan and I were both disappointed with how small of a role Brian Austin Green played in this episode.  We both have become unabashed fans of him in recent years after his work on Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles as Derek Reese and as John Corbin/Metallo.  His skill as an actor was grossly underused in this episode and greatly frustrated me.

The writers have an opportunity to redeem themselves from the portrayal of Metallo as a hero in this episode because they gave him a Red Kryptonite heart at the end of the episode… the only good use of Red Kryptonite in this episode.  Metallo will become the villain he should be because the Red Kryptonite will corrupt his brain and cause him to do something terrible that he will be unable to live with when he is no longer under the influence of the Red Kryptonite and rather than dealing with the terrible thing he had done, it will drive him insane and he will become a supervillain to escape the guilt.

Finally, The Rumor of the Week:  Lois Lane will learn Clark’s secret before he becomes Superman.  This could be by the end of this season or a major theme/plotline next season.

Fringe:

Two weeks ago episode was great, especially for Dan who loves the Dr. Bishop character.  I do not normally enjoy episodes that do the Time Warp phenomenon, but this episode was very well done and I enjoyed it.

Dan loved the scene where Dr. Bishop was speaking with Dr. Alistair Peck (Peter Weller) about the consequences of going back in time.  We both feel that this may have been the best scene to date in the entire series.  The emotions of both Dr Bishop and Dr. Peck made this scene amazing.  Dr. Bishop expressed that he wants forgiveness from God, which surprised many viewers because they don’t expect a scientist to be a religious man.  As a Catholic and scientist myself, I know that Dr. Bishop and I are greatly in the minority of scientists these days.  Dan really commends the show’s creators that they were not afraid to go the religious route… much like Battlestar Galactica did (which we both loved and discussed weekly when it was still on TV).

The ending of this episode was amazing.  Dr. Peck worked it out that the only way he can go back is to be in a secluded area with no humans around and that he cannot save his fiancé and thus chooses to die with her rather than live without her.  Also, sending Walter the White Tulip was an amazing ending of the episode… got to love time travel episodes for the little things like that.

Fringe may not return this fall and rather we will have to wait all the way until January 2011 for new episodes after the season finale coming up on May 20th.  The show runners for Fringe felt that the momentum for the show this last fall was greatly hurt by the frequent breaks and lack of a consistent schedule due to the baseball postseason and other interruptions to the schedule.  With a January start, the show will be able to run virtually straight through to the end of the season with only a two week break for sweeps.  While this is probably better for the show and building momentum, I’m not sure I will want to wait until January for new Fringe episodes.

FlashForward:

It has been a while since I talked about FlashForward on the blog, so I will merely hit the high notes today.  First off, the two moles was a brilliant move both from a writers standpoint and from a strategic standpoint of the bad guys.  Brilliant!  When I saw the mole episode, however, my first thought was that maybe Janis was not really a mole, but had somehow learned that Simon had killed his uncle and was messing with him to get leverage on him and that she was not truly a second mole.  Dan thinks that this is a possibility, but not likely.  Either way, it made for a great discussion point and because Janis is one of the few characters that Dan and I actually care about, sort of turned us on our ears.  I really enjoyed this twist.

Mark was better in the episode two weeks ago and Dan and I both loved his speech to the new agents on their first day.  It was also great to see how Demetri and Mark became partners; very cool that Demetri respected him so much that he traded to be his partner.  Had a very Lost-ish feel and thus, I loved it.

Dan and I both agree that we would not be opposed to the writers writing Olivia and Simco off the show.  I actually yelled at the TV, “Oh! You stupid slut,” when she kissed Simco.  I loved Sonya Walger as Penny on LOST, but am not liking her as Olivia on FlashForward and really would not bat an eye if they wrote her off the show… this also stems from my feeling that besides Janis, Aaron Stark and Demetri, I am not really vested in any of the characters on this show and they could kill any of them off and I would not care.  Also, the line about Simco being Lancelot and Olivia being Guinevere was pure cheese.

Dan thinks (prior to this last week’s episode) that Demetri is the father of Janis’ baby.  I think that this would be great for the story, but do not think it is actually the case.  I think this because when Janis told Demetri about her being pregnant, he was still offering his services (as it were).  As I said, it would be great for the plotline to push the story forward, but I’m not so sure it is going to happen.  Can’t wait to see where they go with this plotline.

V:

Dan and I are becoming more and more convinced that Lisa is going to turn against Anna.  Our theory that her relationship with Tyler was causing her to have true feelings was all but confirmed this last week when she failed Anna’s emotions test.  Dan really wants to see Lisa turn against Anna and “really stick it to her.”

Dan asked an important question that I could not answer.  Can the Vs make their human skin appear like an actual living human (clone themselves to look like someone on earth)?  Dan was proposing that maybe Tyler’s dad was replaced by a V that looked exactly like him for the night in which Tyler was conceived and that is why the blood work comes back that Tyler’s dad is not his true dad but Erica has never been with anyone else.  I love this theory that Dan has come up with and think it is a great explanation of the situation.  This theory builds on our earlier theory that Tyler is a hybrid.  There are some holes in this theory, the most glaring one being that Erica was the human mother and to our knowledge was not dosed with the necessary potassium to bring the birth to full term… like Ryan and his fiancé.  We’ll just have to wait and see where this storyline goes in future episodes.

Dan and I both are big fans of the Doctor Joshua character on the V ship.  He is the defacto leader of the Fifth Column aboard ship and Dan and I both fear that he will eventually become a martyr to the cause.  He will only be able to keep his actions secret for so long before he is exposed and Anna will make an example of him for his betrayal.

As for Georgie, I felt that he needed to die in the episode before this last episode to show the Vs really mean business and cast them in a scary, evil light.  The death of Georgie also acted to accelerate the conflict on the side of the resistance.  Ryan, Fr. Jack, and Erica were enraged by the torture and death of Georgie and decided that “the next blood to be spilled will be theirs.”

Dan and I have a theory that since the show is called V, there is the potential for the death of many characters without hurting the entire concept of the show.  Despite that, we believe that Erica, Fr. Jack, Lisa, Tyler, and probably Anna and Chad Decker will be around for the long haul.  Ryan, the terrorist, Ryan’s fiancé, etc could all die to progress the show forward.  I wonder if Anna could die before the eventual series finale… I hope not, because Morena Baccarin is amazing as Anna.

Well that is entirely too much for a single blog post, so I’m going to end it there.  Keep up with the emails, tweets, voicemails, and comments.  Until next time, NO MORE RED KRYPTONITE!!!!

Dan and I cannot be happier that Shaw is dead and gone from the show. Those of you that read this blog regularly know we have been calling for the removal of Shaw from the storyline for the last few weeks and are ecstatic that it has finally happened. We were a little surprised that it was Chuck that actually shot and killed Shaw but we understand that it was all heroic and everything… still just surprised by it. Dan and I both understand why Chuck did it and agree we would have made the same decision if someone was threatening the love of our lives. Chuck felt bad about what had to be done, he hesitated and tried every other option, but ultimately it was the only way it could go down and Chuck did what had to be done. Last week when we were discussing how we thought this episode was going to go, Dan thought that if Chuck killed Shaw that it would be an accidental shooting or that Casey would do it. I agreed about the Casey thing because we both thought that Chuck killing Shaw would ruin Chuck and Sarah. I like the way things went down and realize that the only reason Chuck went through with killing Shaw was for Sarah and that he tried to avoid it multiple times. All that being said, Dan and I loved the “shut up and kiss me” scene at the end of the show and felt that it tied the whole episode together.


Dan and I throw out quite a few crackpot theories each week and many of them are dead wrong. So when we actually get something correct, I have to mention it. We totally called the fact that Casey and Morgan would team up to save the day and this week’s episode was just the first in a series of times that this will happen. In fact, it was Casey who recommended Morgan become a permanent member of Team Bartowski, which shows that Casey has some genuine feelings for Morgan and Chuck. Also, now that Morgan is an official part of the team, we think that this will allow for some great scenes and a lot of fun between Morgan and General Beckman.


This last week’s episode was originally scheduled as the season finale in case the show was canceled and because they were not originally scheduled to return until after the Olympics, but now they have been given an additional 6 episodes, which is probably the reason for the 3 week hiatus that we now have to suffer through. Things Dan and I expect to see in the next 6 episodes include: Chuck’s Dad will return, we will see how Morgan fits into the picture and becomes a member of the team, neither of us is really thrilled about the whole Chuck being insane… taken to the asylum preview snippet, and are excited to see how Jeff & Lester will fit into the team. We both agree that Jeffster will not be on the team in an official capacity like Morgan is now because they are not really CIA material, but they will play an important role nevertheless.


Being a romantic at heart, one thing that makes TV interesting, but I hate about the way TV shows deal with relationships, is that when two main characters finally get together, they invariably throw some plot twist into the mix that screws everything up. I’m not sure Chuck is going to follow this pattern because I think the fans, myself especially, might riot. I think Chuck & Sarah are going to be together for the long haul (few episodes at a minimum), but the writers will have to find a way for Chuck & Sarah to work together without being all emotional and coupley (yep, I made that word up) while on missions. Dan thinks that Chuck and Sarah will be much looser, have more fun, and work better together now that everything is out in the open and they can be together. Chuck is still going to be Chuck, both the character and the show, but Chuck & Sarah is a good thing and the fans really want them together. Dan and I want to emphasize that this is not going to be like the Clark & Lana catastrophe with them constantly fighting and all the secrets.


While any couple will have disagreements and I’m sure we will see a few between the happy couple in future episodes, this will not be the out-of-control fighting or anger we saw in the later stages of the Clark & Lana saga. Dan proposes that the Chuck writers will use the Fantastic Four comic model (not the movies) of a family like team centered around the Reed Richards and Sue Storm relationship. The characters on Chuck seem to have a similar family feel. The team members may have fights, like any family has, but the Chuck & Sarah relationship at heart will keep this family together. Over the next 2 seasons, Dan and I believe that the storyline will build to a Chuck & Sarah marriage and feel that this will be an amazing ending to the series and an opportunity for them to walk away from the spy game. I like this possibility.

Finally, Dan thinks that there is going to be a new focus on Morgan’s love life, especially with the return of Anna in last week’s previews. Also we believe that Morgan will be in every episode for the remainder of the season… no more of these episodes where he is missing in action.

Needless to say, this last week’s episode was an amazing episode and we will all have to suffer through the next 3 weeks without our beloved Chuck.

Smallville:

Last week’s episode was an OK episode, but nothing special in the scheme of things. Dan does not like the Silver Banshee villain from the comics and felt that it was really forced in this episode of the show for very little payoff. The best part of this episode was that Clark and Chloe were finally acting like friends again, having conversations like real friends should have, which we have not seen in a while. For example, the conversation about Clark’s issues with having sex shows how great of friend Clark & Chloe really are to be able to discuss such intimate details. Also, the bathroom scene was great. Dan described the embarrassment between Clark & Chloe like a brother and sister moment. Yeah, I’ll pass on seeing my sister naked. Dan and I felt that the character material from this episode was excellent and that we will see more Oliver & Chloe in the next few weeks (which was correct if you have seen this week’s episode). This could make for an interesting subplot for the remainder of the season.


I was rooting hardcore for Zod to kill Tess in the scene in Clark’s barn where he was holding her up by the throat, but of course it did not happen. The Tess and Zod scenes this week were even more annoying than usual for a Tess scene and were completely unnecessary to the plot line for this week’s episode. Dan brought up an excellent question… why are they meeting in Clark’s barn? That is kinda silly. Why not meet at the mansion? It made much more sense for Zod to be at Clark’s house at the end of the episode because Zod sees Clark as his enemy/competition and he was doing recon on his enemy.


Zod wants to become a version of Superman or a perversion of Superman… what he sees Superman/Blur to be. Zod wants the worship of the humans, but does not necessarily want the responsibility of being the Blur/Superman and will use his new powers to attempt to usurp Clark as the Blur. Dan and I believe that Zod will act as the Blur and that will be what ultimately causes the conflict between them to come to a head and lead to Zod's death in the season finale.

Zod is going to reveal himself to the world as the Blur and attempt to usurp Clark’s role in protecting Metropolis and the world and we believe that in this struggle Chloe may be killed as a result. Dan suggested that since Chloe is Clark’s only tie to Smallville and his life back there, that Zod may kill her in hopes that this will remove his motivation to be the Blur. If this occurs, it will more likely be the event that forces Clark to become Superman in Season 10. That will be a great final season!

FlashForward:

FlashForward from two weeks ago was excellent. I really enjoyed this episode because it pushed the plot forward. We learned about the original test in Africa, that they killed all the original subjects of that experiment to keep it secret, we learned that Demetri might be the father of Janice’s baby (some thought Stan or Simon, but Demetri could be awesome). Dan and I thought from the Charlie Benford vision that CIA Agent Marshall Vogel might be the mole, but I soon realized that this is unlikely because he wasn’t around in the early part of the show; however he shot the guy in Africa and prevented his vision from coming true. (NOTE: For those of you who have seen this past week’s episode, you know who the mole is and we will discuss this in detail next week).



Dan and I have the theory that the FlashForward visions that everyone had were possibilities of the future and the show is the whittling down of possibilities to the actual/true timeline and that this theory makes for a very viable plotline for the remainder of the season. However, the future is not going to magically happen on its own, rather you still have to make your future happen. This seems to be the theme of the show as we go forward. If you see your future, you can always change it. This is a classic science fiction theme and every SciFi plot that has dealt with the future has shown that the future is always in motion… the future can always be changed. Dan and I call this the Back to the Future idea. Mark and Demetri’s futures do not have to play out the way they have seen them.


We still feel that the show is failing to get us interested in the characters and Dan is specifically worried about the lack of consistent character development. We are both worried that if the FlashForward plot is resolved at the end of the season (by stopping the next FlashForward or finding the perpetrators), there will be nothing to keep the show going because the audience is not vested in the characters. This could cause the show to run into a Heroes scenario where the audience asks… How many times can we save the world? 24 anyone? How many times can they prevent another FlashForward?

V

This week’s introduction of Tyler’s father to the plot was significant because both Dan and I believe that the dad storyline is going to play a big part in the future of the show. We learned from this episode that Tyler’s dad, played by Nicholas Lea of X-Files fame, is not the jerk that we were led to believe from earlier episodes. He left Erica and Tyler, but now we don’t know why and are greatly intrigued. (NOTE: I’ve been misnaming Tyler and calling him Kyle for some unknown reason so looking back at the last few posts substitute Tyler for where I accidentally called him Kyle).


Nicholas Lea as Agent Alex Krycek on the X-Files (left) and Joe Evans on V (right).

I have a crackpot theory that Tyler is half V and half human. This would mean that he would have to have been adopted by Erica and Joe Evans and that he may actually be the son of John May and a human woman who did not survive the pregnancy… we learn about the issues from Ryan and the V doctor. This theory has plenty of holes in it, but I still think it has some validity, especially after the comment between Erica and Joe about telling him who he is, where he comes from. What exactly does that mean? Does Anna know? (No, and likely he is not half V or it would have come to their attention when doing those tests on him, unless him being a hybrid rather than a V in human skin hides him from their scans… see some validity). What is Anna’s plan for Tyler? Dan and I discussed the obvious assumption that she wants Tyler to father a child with Lisa that would be a hybrid half human half V child. We also discussed the possibility that Lisa will have be carrying a hybrid child with emotions and wondered if maybe she would be overcome by the emotions of the fetus (like Darla in the Angel series was overcome by the soul of Conner while she was pregnant with him because his soul was inside her and made her feel all the evil she had done as a vampire).

Lisa maybe already becoming susceptible to human emotions and Dan thinks that this may become more apparent as she spends more time off the ship at Tyler’s dad’s house. I think their romance will lead to both of them realizing that Tyler is not fully human and she may begin feeling emotions and rebel against her mother because she realizes the power and goodness of having these emotions. Both Dan and I think regardless of how it happens, both Tyler and Lisa will become intricate in the resistance against the Vs.


Villains inevitably show their Achilles heel and we believe Anna’s will be emotions. As the resistance grows and the fifth column grows bolder and stronger, she will become angrier and angrier and will lose the control over her own emotions. Anger will be Anna’s downfall.


Finally, it was good to see Fr. Jack reach out to the report Chad Decker. Dan and I both think that Chad will eventually come over to the resistance side once he sees the light. We think that he may stay in his position as the “patsy reporter,” but stealthily feed information to the resistance. He will continue to act as Anna’s patsy on TV, but actually will be working against her and for the resistance… once he finally get wise to what they are actually up to.

Will they kill Georgie off or rescue him? I think they will rescue him, but it may be too late and he will have caved to the torture and exposed at least one of their identities, but I don’t think they all will be exposed. Georgie may surprise us and not give in to the torture or will provide false intelligence and completely lead the Vs on the wrong path. We will just have to see on Tuesday.

Human Target:


This week’s show is going to be awesome!!! Amy Acker will be guest staring… I LOVE HER. We will finally see Chance’s origin story and see how he went from hitman to hero/protector. Also we will see the origin stories of Winston and Guerrero. Amy Acker is going to be the Katherine character we have heard so much about in the last few episodes and the love interest that changed Chance’s life forever. Dan and I are both very excited to see this week’s episode.

Well that is way more than enough for this week. Keep up the participation. Until next week, “shut up and kiss me!”

Fringe returned this week with the story of how Peter came to be in our reality. This was an amazing episode from the retro intro to the realization that it was Peter’s mother that convinced Dr. Bishop not to return him to his parallel dimension. This episode provided great insights into the character of Dr. Walter Bishop, a character that is especially beloved by both Dan and Nico. In fact, Dan loves Dr. Bishop and was worried about this episode because it seemed like the Dr. Bishop we were going to meet tonight was a complete jerk from all the things that Peter had alluded to in previous episodes. Thankfully, the Dr. Bishop we were presented with in this episode was roughly the same character that we have both grown to love, just not quite as goofy yet because he has not had his brain dissected by Dr. Bell (Leonard Nimoy) yet. There were no random comments about food cravings at inappropriate times… Dan and I love that stuff.


From this episode, we also gain some understanding as to why Walter acts the way he does toward Peter, why he acts so over-protectively toward his grown son. We understand that he lost him once and does not ever want to lose Peter again. It was interesting to see that it was the mother who ultimately made Walter break his promise and keep Peter in their dimension. It was when she asked him not to take Peter away, that he realized that he could not keep his promise to the mother in the other dimension because he could not bear to lose Peter again. This episode showed Dr. Bishop to be a good father; a caring father and we will still yet have to see why the present day Peter believes him to be something different. Was the falling out between them after this point? It most obviously must have been and I theorize that it occurs after William Bell removes the pieces of Walter’s brain and makes him go insane that this change occurs.


This was a great episode, but Dan thinks that the show may have been better served to air this episode earlier in the series. I am of the opinion that this would have been a mistake. We needed this episode to follow directly after the last episode when Olivia realizes that Peter is from the other side. This episode would not have had as much of an emotional impact had it not followed as I just described. Dan and I really liked how the Observer (credited as September) fit into tonight’s storyline. It was essentially the Observer’s mistake that led to the entire Walter crossing the dimensional bridge and bringing Peter back to our dimension. It’s interesting that the Observer’s screw-up led to the dimensional war that is coming. Finally, the casting for the young Peter character was excellent and looked very much like a young Joshua Jackson.


Do you think the kid on the left works as a younger Joshua Jackson? Tell us your thoughts.


Chuck:

Next week’s episode has the potential to be the best episode of Chuck yet. Finally, next week we will see the end of Shaw. Will Chuck be forced to kill him to save Sarah? In our opinion, Chuck will not kill Shaw, even to save Sarah, but Dan and I both think that Casey will probably once again end up doing the dirty work for Chuck so that he can maintain his no kill policy. Dan and I still believe that Chuck will be leaving the CIA before the end of this season and maybe this situation with Sarah being ordered to kill Shaw’s wife as her “Red Test” might just be that issue that pushes Chuck to leave and start Team Bartowski.


Team Bartowski may be the Buy More employees, Chuck, Morgan, Casey, and Sarah working together as we’ve previously described. Dan and I loved the inclusion of Jeff & Lester in this week’s episode as the “master stalkers” and think that this is how Chuck will use them in the future. They will be oblivious to why Chuck is asking them to follow people or to hold down the Buy More, or create a diversion, but will do these things for their own crazy reasons. This will allow for hilarity to ensue…often. Casey will probably remain a civilian for the foreseeable future, especially if Team Bartowski happens. Dan likes the way this story arc is progressing and I have to agree that it makes sense for where we believe the plot of the show is headed. Best part of next weeks show will definitely be the end of the Shaw character. Can’t wait till Monday.


Castle:

Well we were completely wrong with our theories for this last week’s conclusion to Castle… Beckett was not kidnapped, the FBI agent was not killed. The story worked regardless of us being completely wrong. However, we wish there had been some time where Castle thought Beckett was dead. It would have made for an opportunity for a more dramatic reaction than what occurred. Dan mentioned that the scene went to goofy too quickly with Beckett being naked in the tub and making Castle turn around.


I suggested that the scene could have been better if Castle had found Kate unconscious in the tub, rescued her, wrapped her in his coat, carried her out of the burning building to the ambulance where she woke up in his arms and then realized that she was naked an he had seen her naked. That would have made for a more heroic scene and then he could tease her about having seen her naked later when it was appropriate to joke about it. Also, the FBI agent not dying was consistent with the tone of the show, but does not fit with my theory of secondary characters and too much personal information being revealed. Oh well, even I am not perfect.

V:

The return of V was good. I love where this show is heading and will be looking forward to each week’s episode. Dan mentioned in an earlier blog post about the original series having a famous alien V birth scene and this new re-imagination show will be recreating that scene in a future episode. Dan is not thrilled about this decision, despite knowing that it is a necessary throwback to the original show and fans, but he doesn’t think it is needed in the new show. He does not believe it works in the modern TV model, though he admits that this is his only problem with the show. I think that if they use the V hybrid baby story as a plot device that moves the overall story forward and not as a rating gimmick or merely for shock effect, that it could be very successful. Dan agrees with me on this point and feels that a possible storyline might be that the V’s will become aware of the Hybrid Baby after the birth and will abduct him leading Erica (Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell) and Ryan (Morris Chestnut) to bond over the V’s having “abducted” their children… Ryan’s baby literally and Erica’s son Tyler through brainwashing. This would be an interesting development.


Dan and I discussed the possibility that Lisa (Smallville's Laura Vandervoort) could betray her Mother Anna (Firefly's Morena Baccarin) in the future storyline. Dan thinks that because of the way she reacted to seeing Kyle’s emotions and reactions when in the memory machine that she might feel differently than Anna about the “efficiency” of not having emotions. However, what might cause Lisa to betray her mother is that she will fall in love with Tyler. This means that when he finds out the V’s are a threat to humanity and confronts Lisa about it, she will have to choose between the human she loves or her mother’s plan. Lisa will betray Anna and join the Fifth Column/resistance fighters to be with Tyler, who will join his mother (Erica) when he learns the Vs are up to no good. On the other hand, Lisa may be the ultimate villain because her innocent nature might be concealing the fact that she could be the real villain, as in the mastermind behind the whole scheme with her mother, Anna. That would be an awesome plot twist.



Well that’s all I have for this week. Keep up the comments, emails, tweets, and voicemails. Still waiting for the first quality voicemail to include in the blog! Also watch Fringe Thursdays at 9/8c on Fox, Chuck Mondays at 8/7c on NBC, Castle Mondays at 10/9c on ABC and V Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC. Until next week, Stay Classy San Diego.

FlashForward:FlashForward returned two weeks ago with a two hour episode. In this episode, we finally got some more information about Mark’s FlashForward. Dan thinks that they used the fact that Mark was drunk in his FlashForward to reorganize the show and fix some of the problems and plot holes by adding some new items to the board and using Mark being drunk as a reason for it not being clear on the board previously. I tend to agree with Dan’s assessment because of the whole Red Panda and the Hydra things, and a few others that we will discuss in the coming weeks. Also, they added the whole Simcoe and Mark discussion about D. Gibbons, but Dan and I agree that this change was probably always intended and was not part of the re-organizational changes previously discussed.




One thing that really pissed me off about the mid-season premiere was the lack of informatn about the whole Demetri death storyline. The lack of addressing this topic was inexcusable and lazy writing. It was such a huge part of the story at the mid-season finale that not addressing it in this two hour episode was an unbelievable letdown. Dan tried to explain it was because the timeline was out of sync and that the story was no longer in real time, so we had not reached the March 15 date of Demetri’s death yet despite being there in real life. This is the problem faced by shows when they try to do things really interesting like this. Ultimately the network and circumstances always seem to intervene and screw things up. ABC usually does not screw up like this, but the Haiti tribute and a few other circumstances prevented them from sticking to their initial spring schedule and essentially FlashForward is paying the price. Thankfully, this last week’s episode started to address the Demetri storyline and I am thankful for that.



The ratings for FlashForward are not where they need to be for this show to be secured for a long run. Dan and I both think that it is an excellent show that we both enjoy watching and discussing, however we feel that it just has not found its audience yet and needs an opportunity to catch on to a wider audience. LOST is one of the best shows of last decade and Dan and I both felt that FlashForward had the potential to have the same success as LOST. We still feel that it could have the same success if the show progresses as we expect that it can. The problem is that LOST is very character driven and the audience was drawn into the storyline because we could relate to and root for the characters. This same thing can not be said about FlashForward. FlashForward is plot driven and most of the time I can not wait to see where the story is going, but feel that the show is really lacking the character driven element that made LOST such a success. There is not one character on FlashForward that really grips my attention and thus, while I am excited to see where the plot goes, I am not vested in any of the characters. This could be a problem that ultimately spells doom for the show despite the great concept and plot. Dan describes FlashForward as an old fashion slow grow show, which is a great technique, but it needs to get moving and get into gear or it will be canceled before it can really reach its potential. I hope this does not happen because I really want to see where they are going with the storyline.


Do these shows compare? Tell us your thoughts.

Finally, Dominic Monaghan was amazing in this two part episode, especially the 2nd hour. I really like him as an actor and loved him as Charlie on LOST and am liking him as the pseudo bad guy Simon Campos. Dan likes him too, but felt that his part in the first hour of the premiere was unnecessary and seemed a little excessive. He did not like the whole kidnapping and cutting his finger off parts and felt that they did not really move the story forward. I tried to explain that the amazing second hour with Dominic Monaghan would not have been possible without the setup in the first hour. Thus, while it may have seemed a little out of place or excessive to Dan, I think it was necessary to move the plot forward. We both agreed by the end of the discussion that the excessive first hour was ultimately needed to make such a killer second half.

Watch FlashForward Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC. Dan and I will discuss it in our next week’s phone conversation and I will discuss the next two weeks worth of FlashForward next time on the blog.


Chuck:



This week’s Chuck was a good episode, but not the greatest of the season (probably Chuck Vs. The Beard was the best). It appears that the writers are attempting to do something in each episode to keep Chuck and Sarah apart while they try to resolve the whole Shaw storyline. In this last episode, Shaw was pissing Dan and I off something wicked, especially when he was interjecting himself into the conversations between Chuck and Sarah when they were on the stakeout. Like I keep saying, Shaw has got to go!!!!

Dan had a theory that Casey’s family may return in a future episode and that this return will help with the return of Chuck’s Dad to the show. Rumors have been swirling about Scott Bakula’s return as Chuck’s dad (Steve Bartowski ), but I believe Dan told me this has been confirmed…maybe not. We’ll leave it as a highly likely rumor for now. Ultimately, the return of Chuck’s Dad may be the impetus that pushes Chuck to strike out on his own and form Team Bartowski, separate from the CIA.


Dan’s Team Bartowski theory for how the show may be heading, seems to gaining some credence. My only question with regards to this theory is how will this work with all of the supporting characters? Will Chuck still work at the Buy More as a cover if he strikes out on his own? How will they keep Jeff & Lester a part of the show if Chuck is no longer at the Buy More? Jeffster is so over the top hilarious and such a fan favorite (especially me) that the show can not lose them without losing a part of itself that makes Chuck the show that fans love. In reality, if the show is going to lose any supporting characters, unfortunately, the two that would be the least disruptive to the show would be Ellie & Awesome. I really would hate to see Awesome go and hope this is not the case. Also, this was a strange episode for Morgan to be MIA. He should have been in this episode to be there in support as the best friend while Chuck took his big test, but alas he was not in this episode. His absence was strange. Dan and I both hope this does not mean that maybe Morgan is being squeezed off the show, which would be a travesty.




Anyway, watch Chuck Mondays at 8/7c on NBC and I’ll leave the discussion this week with the best line from the last episode: “I’m a naked spy”

Castle:
Dan and I were correct in our hypothesis that the cliffhanger for this week’s episode would be the explosion and we would be wondering if Beckett is dead. Of course Beckett is not dead! Dan is coming around to my theory that the killer used the explosion as a means to kidnap Beckett. Actually, Dan and I both thought the scene where the guy committed suicide was going to be the explosion scene as we were watching the episode because just prior to that scene we learned that the FBI agent (Guest Star Dana Delany) was a mother. Her random declaration that she is a mother, which is unnecessary personal information about a guest star or secondary character, usually means that the character is going to die. Thus Dan and I both believed that the FBI agent was going to die in the explosion as she was arresting the guy in the building with Kate and Castle outside watching. This, of course, did not happen, but we both believe she is going to be killed in the next episode based on my theory of excessive information and based on the previews.




Speaking of theories for next week’s episode, Dan believes that it is going to fall to Castle to solve the mystery and rescue Beckett. I agree with this theory. I still think that this killer could lead to a nemesis character and that they don’t need to necessarily catch him this week, but Castle will rescue Beckett. Dan believes we may see a little Malcolm Reynolds emerge from Castle this week…playful, but very driven demeanor… goof around to relieve tension, but very focused on figuring this case out and rescuing Beckett. Castle hit it off with the FBI agent in this episode so that it is not out of character for him to be his goofing around self whilst trying to find Beckett in the next episode.


Also, I think Castle was making nice with the FBI agent intentionally to make Beckett a little jealous… and jealous she got. Maybe she began to realize that she had more feelings than just annoyance and actually has turned to true fondness for Castle. I’m not saying romantic feelings (yet), but a true fondness and friendship has developed and thus she got jealous of Castle's interest and playfulness with the FBI agent.




Best scene from the episode: When Ryan & Esposito are questioning Castle about why he was at Beckett’s apartment and Castle calls them in for a huddle to say, “Tell you guys a secret…. NOTHING HAPPENED!” Great stuff! Along those lines, Dan and I have a crackpot theory that Beckett and Castle will eventually get together and when they do, Castle will get writers block since he can no longer use Beckett as his muse. Castle will have to ultimately decide whether to kill off the Nikki Heat character or end his relationship with Beckett so that he can go back to objectively writing the character. We think this is an excellent 3rd or 4th season overarching plot line. Watch Castle Mondays at 10/9c only on ABC.

Well, that is more than enough for this week. Keep up the comments, voicemails, and tweets. @AcrossAirwaves, AcrosstheAirwaves@gmail.com. The first good voicemail with a crackpot theory about any of the shows we discuss will be featured on blog, so please participate. Til next week, “I’m a naked spy!”