Sunday, April 25, 2010

Smallville Return of Metallo: Why so much Red Kryptonite?

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!!!!
Sunday, April 11, 2010

Shaw is finally Dead; Across the Airwaves Rejoices

Everybody sing: ding-dong the Shaw is dead, the wicked Shaw, the Shaw is dead!

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.

Did anyone see this coming?

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.

Morgan and Beckman, a match made in heaven. Not!

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.


Check out this video for what's coming down the pipeline on Chuck.

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.



Let's hope the relationship on the left doesn't end up like the one on the right.

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.

What do you think of Chloe and Oliver in a relationship? Let us know.

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.

After almost ten years of Meteor Freaks, Luthors and whatever else, this barn really needs a security system.

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.

Will Zod posing as The Blur return our Hero back to his red and blues? Tune in Fridays at 8/7c.

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).


Between these three men, who do you think is the Father of Janice's baby?

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.


Need help in understanding the the cause of the Flash Forwards? Then call the Doc.

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.

Will this romance save the world?

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.

Emotions, an evil V's brand of Kryptonite.

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.


Chad Decker, what's this guy's deal?

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:

Mark Valley as Christopher Chance and Amy Acker as Chance's lost love, Katherine Walters.

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!”
Saturday, April 3, 2010

Fringe Returns in Retro Style



Check out the awesome retro intro for this week's Fringe.

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.

Root Beer, one of Dr. Bishop's favorite cravings.

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.

Speaking of alternate realities, did you know that the Empire State Building is used as a docking station for Zeppelins on the other side?

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.

Will Sarah murdering Shaw's wife force Chuck to kill?

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.


Does Jeff and Lester have a future in espionage? Keep watching Chuck to find out.

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.

(Sigh) Did Beckett have to be naked in the bathtub?

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.


If the alien baby on the new V looks anything like the one on the original (above), I'm changing the channel.

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.


Is Lisa capable of being a hero like her Kryptonian counterpart? I guess time and V getting a 2nd season will tell.

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.