[SPOILERS] What makes a great episode of FlashForward? Well, considering the fact it still has a tough time making us care about anyone on a personal level, it's primarily whenever the show gives us big answers or bigger questions. The mid-season finale certainly delivered in terms of surprises, unpredicted development, some straight answers, and a decent cliffhanger, but it still didn't really connect on an emotional level. Nevertheless, "A561984" offered so much information that it all went down very smoothly...

The first surprise was seeing Lloyd (Jack Davenport) and Simon (Dominic Monaghan) hold a worldwide press conference and take the blame for the blackout, having been conducting a cutting-edge experiment at the exact time the event occurred. Assumedly they'll now be sued and financially ruined? Lloyd's a clever guy, but he has no common sense. Simon's actually not convinced they're to blame for the blackout, but Lloyd is adamant and determined to offload this burden in public. Needless to say, the news is greeted with a lot of anger and Lloyd becomes an immediate hate-figure, while Simon scurries to the FBI and offers Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance) his expertise in proving the blackout wasn't their fault. Wedeck reluctantly agrees to egomaniac Simon's help, as it's only matter of time before Mosaic is shutdown now culprits have stepped forward and promised no further blackouts will occur.

Adding to the mystery, while Simon recognises the FBI's aerial shots of those enormous towers in Somalia as something he theorized in 1992, such equipment has never been built to his knowledge, and the photo predates his idea by a year! Was someone else simply ahead of the curve, and has been willing to stay anonymous rather than bask in glory? That's what the FBI believe, and hypothesize that the enigmatic "Deacon Gibbons" is probably the man they're after. But, hey, he's an alternative theory for you all -- did someone, perhaps Gibbons, simply hop back in time with Simon's unmade invention, to use the technology to prevent a forthcoming global catastrophe? I'm just throwing this stuff out there. There's too much discussion about many-worlds theory and parallel dimensions to ignore the possibility that FlashForward's universe is actually a divergent reality someone created by altering the timeline in 1991.

In the major storyline, Benford (Joseph Fiennes) and Demetri (John Cho) arrive in Hong Kong to find the mystifying Persian lady who called Dem to warn him of his murder on 15 March. It's an unofficial mission that Benford accepts responsibility for, angering Wedeck nevertheless, and when they eventually track down their mystery caller, Nhadra Udaya (Shohreh Aghdashloo), she gives them a worrying addendum to her warning: that Demetri's killer will be his best friend Benford. She even proves her prediction by telling Benford the serial number of the murder weapon, his own Burea-issue handgun. Sadly, nobody thinks to ask how Nhadra knows all of this, but we do see her office has a similar wall of "clues" to the one Benford's piecing together in Washington? To my mind there's only one possible explanation for Nhadra's knowledge: she, like Gibbons (whom we see in her office in the closing scene), is a time-traveller and has painstakingly pieced together the events of 2009 for some reason. Any advance on that?

Like I said, FlashForward still isn't a show with character you feel particularly invested in, but there was better chemistry between Olivia (Sonya Walger) and Lloyd in this episode -- and it helps that Benford has proven to be so dull that I'm actively willing them to get together, just to make Benford cry. The scene where Lloyd realizes that, under slightly different circumstances, he may have met Olivia while he was at Harvard (but instead met his wife), was especially good work. And, again, it reinforces this idea of a "multiverse", which I'm now convinced is the explanation behind FlashForward on some level.

"A561984" leaves us with plenty of tantalizing notes: Benford and Dem's relationship now has a level of mistrust built-in (what will Dem do to make Benford want to kill him?); Simon will probably become the FBI's resident quirky scientist, determined to pin the blame for the blackout on someone else to save his career; Nhadra is in league with the chess-obsessed Gibbons (so why was she helping Dem by warning him about his murder?); Zoey (Gabrielle Union) went to see Dem's parents, and it was revealed that their shared vision of a wedding was actually Dem's funeral; and Lloyd's son was kidnapped by fake paramedics while being transferred by ambulance (who didn't see that coming, given how friendly-yet-shifty those medics were?)

It worked well as a mid-season finale, it has to be said. There was more than enough developments you keep you happy, and quite a few were surprising enough to lure you back for more. Indeed, the saving grace of FlashForward has been how it's had a steady stream of enticing reveals up it sleeve, ready to put them into play just when you grow exasperated by its haphazard plotting and generally bland characterizations. Sadly, audiences are falling away fast (on both sides of the Atlantic) and I somehow doubt ABC will be keen to greenlight a second season if the ratings continue to dwindle and the critical response remains very mixed, at best.

But I'm still watching. It's not great TV, but it's not totally boring, and the premise has its hooks firmly embedded in me now. I need to see how this ends, and it's fun to theorize about. I think the CIA are somehow involved, perhaps in league with that Jericho outfit, using technology created by Gibbons and financed by a cabal of rich Arabs who are perhaps related to Nhadra's character. I just wish I liked the people as much as I like the concept.


30 November 2009
Five, 9pm

written by: David S. Goyer & Scott M. Gimple directed by: Michael Nankin starring: Joseph Fiennes (Agent Mark Benford), John Cho (Agent Demetri Noh), Brian F. O'Byrne (Aaron Stark), Zachary Knighton (Bryce), Courtney B. Vance (Agent Stanford Wedeck), Sonya Walger (Dr. Olivia Benford), Genevieve Cortese (Tracy Stark), Barry Shabaka Henley (Agent Vreede) & Peyton List (Nicole)

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[SPOILERS] There's no denying the writers have softened Dexter Morgan's (Michael C. Hall) image over the past two seasons. I can't imagine the serial-killer we first met in season 1 being quite so eager to save a little boy's life, but the writers clearly want (or need) their character to evolve and grow -- partly to reflect changes in his lifestyle (his humanizing through marriage and fatherhood) and partly because it's easier to imagine the show continuing for longer if Dex is, ultimately, a heroic figure with fewer barbs. If you hate how the series has gradually turned its lead into a moral vigilante superhero, then you'll probably roll your eyes at some turns "Lost Boys" takes, but if you're happy to see Pinocchio slowly becoming a real boy over time, then it'll be easier to swallow...

"Lost Boys" finds Dex on the tail of Arthur (John Lithgow), intending to end his tyranny and, ultimately, protect his oppressed family by adding him to his list of victims. However, Arthur's movements take a curious turn and he abducts a young boy called Scott from a local arcade, disappearing before Dex can stop him. A bit of detective work leads Dex to deduce that the "Trinity Killer" is improperly named, as Arthur's kill cycle actually begins by abducting and killing young boys (a fact missed by Lundy). The kidnapped kids effectively play the role of a young Arthur himself -- innocent and pure before his family were all killed in a tragic domino tumble of accident-suicide-murder.

The last four episodes of every season are always great fun on Dexter, as they've all involved someone realizing Dex's secret -- but here the tables are flipped as it's Arthur who's aware "Kyle" is close to unmasking him. Of course, he's unaware that matters are more complex, as Dex can't just point the finger at Arthur once Scott's abduction becomes headline news, as explaining exactly how he came to that conclusion would be impossible if he wants to maintain his cover. The reason given for why Dex can't leave an anonymous tip-off wasn't adequately explained for me, but I'll assume Dex just can't have Arthur arrested and allowed to spill the beans about benevolent divorcee Kyle Butler. I mean, how would he explain all that?

So, "Lost Boys" was effectively a one-man search of Miami, with Dex having to balance his work commitments while sneaking away to try and locate where Athur's holding Scott captive. To do this, he enlists Arthur's son Jonah (Brando Eaton), who's frightened but keen to escape the "whale" he lives in, and starts searching various homes Arthur was researching online. Indeed, Arthur is keeping Scott (whom he renames "Arthur") in a bomb shelter of a new home garden, forcing the boy to play with an antique train set, wear '50s-era pajamas, and eventually eat a pot of ice cream he's poisoned. His aim being to bury the boy in the concrete foundations of a build site (preserving a symbol of his former innocence like a fly in amber?)

For once, the subplots were worth watching and quite tense and exciting in their own right. Ace reporter Christine (Courtney Ford) came under the suspicion of Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) as the person responsible for shooting Lundy dead, so she finally agrees to Christine's request for an interview about her ordeal. However, she instead uses the one-on-one interview to try and rattle Christine by presenting her with crime scene photos of Lundy's corpse and lightly questioning some peculiarities about the speed she got to the crime scene. As Angel (David Zayas) watches on a monitor, they both spot Christine's guilty body language and odd reaction, before finally matching her DNA to that of the Trinity Killer using her toothbrush.

Interestingly, in the scene where Christine goes to Arthur and reveals to him how close the police are to uncovering her crime, we're given a few nuggets of information that raised my eyebrows. Primarily, it turns out Christine was acting alone when she shot Lundy, so she's not in cahoots with her estranged father as widely predicted. Instead, it was all a bizarre effort to keep her dad safe from exposure, as she's always suspected he's a killer -- having witnessed one of his bath tub kills as a little girl (a hazy memory she explained away as a dream, until Arthur's latest "blood bath" killing occurred in the same house, exactly 30 years later.) No concrete reason is given for why Christine wouldn't call the police about her suspicions at that point, but it's inferred through Courtney Ford's twitchy performance that Arthur's been a negligent father but helping him get away with murder was a twisted way of earning his love and respect. I can just about go along with that, I guess. Just.

The episode ended with Christine arrested (and no doubt set to reveal her father as Trinity, as she's an easy nut to crack), and Dex managing to rescue Scott from a hole full of concrete, but unfortunately letting Arthur disappear into the night (his cry of "Arthuuuur!" was a little OTT though, wasn't it?) Right now, it's interesting to try and predict where the final two episodes will take us -- if the cops are pointed in Arthur's direction by Christine, surely his family will mention the mysterious "Kyle Butler" at some point and lead the investigation back to Dexter? History says that Arthur is destined to find himself on Dex's kill table before the finale, so will Trinity effectively vanish forever in the police's eyes when Dex disposes of his body? Isn't that too much of a disappointing end for the investigation storyline? The show has always found a way for the Miami Metro to mistakenly believe the season's case has been solved by them? And Deb's extracurricular snooping into her father's CI files reared its head again, so it feels likely we're being primed for her to discover her brother's related to the Ice Truck Killer.

Overall, I was sufficiently gripped and entertained by "Lost Boys", which was a tight and involving hour of television. It helps that I'm prepared to cut the show some slack in how it writes Dexter's character, too; so while I'm sad his grey areas are turning whiter over time, I'm viewing it as a necessary development to prevent stagnancy. Of course, if the show goes too far into rehabilitating Dexter into the perfect family man, or treating him as a proactive defender of innocents beyond children he identifies with, I may have to reconsider things.


29 November 2009
Showtime, 9/8c

written by: Charles H. Eglee & Tim Schlattmann directed by: Keith Gordon starring: Michael C. Hall (Dexter Morgan), Julie Benz (Rita Bennett), Jennifer Carpenter (Debra Morgan), Desmond Harrington (Det. Joey Quinn), Lauren Vélez (Lt. Maria Laguerta), David Zayas (Sgt. Angel Batista), James Remar (Det. Harry Morgan), Christina Robinson (Astor Bennett), Preston Bailey (Cody Bennett), Sarah Grant Brendecke (Nanny), J.R. Cacia (Officer Gordon), Kathy Christopherson (Jill), Brando Eaton (Jonah Mitchell), Courtney Ford (Christine Hill), John Lithgow (Arthur Mitchell), Kavita Patil (Doctor) & Katie Grant (Woman)

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The Children Of Earth five-part special was so successful that... they're not going to do it again. Well, for now. Instead, the BBC are bringing Torchwood back for a fourth season of 13 episodes. John Barrowman made the announcement as a guest on Steve Wright's afternoon radio show. I'm glad, really. I liked COE, but I don't think it filled five hours that brilliantly, and I much prefer the idea of 13 individual stories (with a few two-parters, say.) Maybe we'll just get five-part specials whenever the Torchwood team need a break? It's a good way of allowing busy actors like Barrowman to do other things, without being indefinitely tied into Torchwood every single year.

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Considering the fact everyone will be descending on the shops to buy Christmas presents this month, it's not the best month for DVD/Blu-ray releases in the UK -- or is it just me?

7 DECEMBER

G.I Joe: The Rise Of Cobra
Gavin & Stacey: Series 1-3
Harry Potter: Year 1-6
Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince
Inglourious Basterds
James May's Toy Story
Terminator 1-4 Box-set
The Hangover
The Tudors: Season 1-3
The Tudors: Season 3

14 DECEMBER

Big Bang Theory: Season 2
Breaking Bad: Season 1

21 DECEMBER

Final Destination Collection
The Final Destination

28 DECEMBER

An Englishman In New York
District 9
Family Guy Presents: Something Something Something Dark Side
Life: Season 2
Misfits: Series 1
The Hurt Locker

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Can you believe it? Britain now exports £980 million worth of TV formats every year. In the old days it used to be steel and tin we'd give the world, but now it's talent shows and celebs eating kangaroo genitals! Okay, that's not really fair -- there's a fair amount of drama that international broadcasters are keen to buy, too -- such as Spooks, Torchwood and Doctor Who (which is sold to 93 countries.)

I find it amusing that Poirot, Miss Marple and Midsomer Murders are apparently very popular around the world -- but never underestimate how much those cozy shows reaffirm foreigner perceptions of quaint Olde England. 120 countries buy the trifling Inspector Morse spin-off Lewis alone! More understandable is the appetite for Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and Masterchef (which has proven particularly popular in Australia).

America remains the prime importer of British formats, buying 36% of our TV exports -- such as American Idol, Supernanny, Hell's Kitchen, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Top Gear, Life On Mars, Primeval, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here, and Dancing With The Stars. But, Australia and New Zealand are growing in stature, fuelled by the fact they purchased a lot of UK television to fill schedule gaps created by the US writers' strike. Rounding out the global picture: Asia (up 57%), eastern-Europe (up 43%), Canada (up 43%) and France (up 29%).

I know we have a fairly broad international readership here, so what's the feeling about the British TV format "invasion"? Do you even notice/care that a format came from the UK? Do most of our formats only work with the key British talent involved (i.e. would Hell's Kitchen and American Idol have been as big without Ramsay and Cowell?) And what about the success rate of translating UK formats? Dancing With The Stars is a worthy remake of Strictly Come Dancing (and superior in a few areas), but the I'm A Celebrity remake was savaged by US critics (are Ant n' Dec that integral to its success?), and Top Gear has been successfully remade but the original is the undoubted top dog (currently seen by a mindspinning 350 million people every week.)

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Callum Keith Rennie (Battlestar Galactica) will take the lead in the Canadian continuing drama Shattered, playing a homicide detective with multiple personality disorder. His co-stars include Molly Parker, Camille Sullivan, Karen LeBlanc, Cle Bennett and Martin Cummins. The crime series will air on Canada's Showcase channel, and is currently being shopped to international broadcasters.

I've enjoyed Rennie's performances in everything I've seen him in since he came to my attention on BSG, playing a creepy Cylon. He definitely favours taciturn crazies, as he's played such in The X Files: I Want To Believe, Harper's Island and FlashForward just recently. I'm not sure if that's because he's been typecast and takes whatever work is offered him, or if his range is actually somewhat limited*. Shattered will see him playing a character with psychosis again, but at least he'll be the hero of the piece, and will assumedly get to show a mix of personalities that are very different to the brooding villain he's known for. Anyway, I look forward to seeing him stretch himself in a leading role.

Shattered itself sounds like another implausible gimmick-based detective show (why would anyone employ a cop with MPD?!), but it's admittedly an attention-grabbing idea that will attract the curious. Are you one of them?

* See comments below: Rennie's clearly not a limited actor, but my knowledge of him is. ;-)

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Pick of the Week: "Live At The Apollo" – BBC1, Fri @9.30pm

MONDAY 30th

Young Hairdresser Of The Year (BBC3, 10.30pm) Five young hairdressers compete to become the nation's best.

TUESDAY 1st

Delia's Classic Christmas (BBC2, 9pm) The popular chef returns for a festive culinary series, for the first time since 1990.
We Need Answers (BBC4, 10pm) Comedy quiz hosted by Mark Watson with Tim Key and Alex Horne. In this opener, Radio 4's Jenni Murray competes against rugby player Martin Offiah.

WEDNESDAY 2nd

Big Top (BBC1, 7.30pm) Sitcom about a travelling circus. Stars Amanda Holden, John Thomson, Tony Robinson, Ruth Madoc & Bruce Mackinnon.
The Man Behind The Masquerade (BBC4, 9pm) Documentary looking at artist Kit Williams, who sent Britons on a nationwide treasure hunt in 1979 when he buried an expensive golden hare in the ground and presented a riddle to its whereabouts in his book Masquerade.

THURSDAY 3rd

Bang Goes The Theory – The Human Power Station (BBC1, 8pm) A special episode where the team illustrate how much power the average family waste by secretly wiring a home's entire electricity supply to 80 human cyclists.
Natural World (BBC2, 9pm) Documentary looking at the wildlife of the Scottish Highlands.

FRIDAY 4th

Live At The Apollo (BBC1, 9.30pm) Fifth series of the stand-up series from the Hammersmith Apollo. In this opener, Jason Manford hosts and Michael McIntyre is the guest performer.
Walking The Baby Mammoth (Channel 4, 9pm) Documentary about the discovery of a preserved baby mammoth found in a Siberian river, that died 37,000 years ago.

SATURDAY 5th

Being Alan Bennett (BBC2, 9.30pm) Renowned writer Alan Bennett celebrates his 75th year by offering this look into his daily life.

SUNDAY 6th

Nothing.

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This week, my Box-Eyed column at Newslite.tv takes a quick look at BBC2's silly-yet-endearing old-school sitcom Miranda, based on comedian Miranda Hart's Radio 4 comedy series Miranda Hart's Joke Shop.

"Miranda Hart plays a comic version of herself; a posh-accented owner of a small joke shop who delegates the everyday running to her friend Stevie (Sarah Hadland), while essentially trying to get her thirtysomething singleton life on-track. Think a girly Black Books with penis-shaped pasta instead of books, and no alcoholism." Continue reading...

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[SPOILERS] I'm glad this tenth episode spent some time looking at the Arthur (Bradley James) and Gwen (Angel Coulby) relationship, if only to reaffirm it. That certainly helped this otherwise forgettable episode pass by smoothly. I certainly wasn't bored by anything in "Sweet Dreams" (it worked quite well as a knockabout love farce), but the story felt like a combination of ideas we've seen tackled before, and better...

In Camelot, peace talks are being held between rival kingdoms. King Alined (David Schofield) arrives with his dogsbody jester Trickler (Kevin Eldon), determined to undermine the possibility of a treaty that will be detrimental to his war-orientated finances. To do this, they plan to enchant Prince Arthur with a love potion and make him infatuated with Lady Vivian (Georgia Moffett), the beautiful daughter of overprotective King Olaf (Mark Lewis Jones), to create a diplomatic faux pas. Complicating matters further, with Arthur enchanted and plotting to sweep Vivian off her feet, Merlin (Colin Morgan) mistakenly believes his master's interest lies with Gwen (Angel Coulby), whom he passes a love-note to, and when King Alined realizes Vivian doesn't fancy hunky Arthur... well, he's forced to bewitch her, too...

"Sweet Dreams" was an entertaining wrong-end-of-the-stick comedy, nursed along by the usual mix of engaging guest performances, although I've personally grown tired of Kevin Eldon trotting out his unctuous underling schtick (didn't he play essentially the same character on Robin Hood earlier this year?) Georgia Moffett was a pleasant diversion, particularly when she was put under a love spell and allowed to sashay around the castle talking like a squeaky-voiced, besotted twelve-year-old. David Schofield was sadly underused as the warmonger King Alined, though, but I guess it made a change to have the villain essentially get away with their plot for once.

For me, the major failing of "Sweet Dreams" was how it felt like nothing we haven't seen before – particularly as it shared obvious similarities to the "Beauty And The Beast" two-parter: Merlin sought counsel from the digital-Dragon (John Hurt) and was given a similar solution to the problem (to break the spell the afflicted must have their true feelings made known to them), Trickler was the clichéd henchman we see every other week, and it all climaxed with another of those overplayed duels-to-the-death Arthur seems to accept with tedious regularity. So, while there was some good stuff cooking away on the sidelines (although even the Gwen/Arthur stuff didn't massively develop what we knew from "The Once And Future Queen"), most of this episode felt over familiar and humdrum.

Overall, "Sweet Dreams" was a big improvement over last week's debacle, but it was still below the high-standard this series was achieving until very recently. Still, it was watchable and innocuous fun for the majority of the time, and I'm sure a great many will have enjoyed it. I just feel like my time's wasted when episodes are retreading old ground so incontrovertibly, particularly as there are so many new and exciting directions this show could be taking instead. Hopefully the remaining three episodes will shift this series back into gear, pushing the mytharc and characters down fresh and exciting avenues.


28 November 2009
BBC1, 6.05pm

written by: Lucy Watkins directed by: Alice Troughton starring: Colin Morgan (Merlin), David Schofield (King Alined), Georgia Moffett (Lady Vivian), Kevin Eldon (Trickler), Bradley James (Arthur), Anthony Head (King Uther), Richard Wilson (Gaius), Mark Lewis Jones (King Olaf), John Hurt (Dragon, voice), Angel Coulby (Gwen) & Katie McGrath (Morgana)

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[SPOILERS] More than anything else, the pedigree of this comedy pilot is by far the most interesting thing about it. Very much an Anglo-American venture, it finds Anglophiles co-writing and directing a one-off pilot that didn't feel at all deserving of a full series...

David Cross (Arrested Development) plays the eponymous Todd Margaret, an American office drone mistaken for a go-getting salesman by his obnoxious boss (Will Arnett), and sent to London to front the company's UK arm with a Korean energy drink called 'Thunder Muscle'. Lured by the six-figure salary, Todd goes along with the folly and arrives in Britain, only for his life to spiral out of control through a combination of culture shock, bad luck, and plain incompetence. His luggage is mistaken for a bomb and blown up, he discovers his sales team consists of one unhelpful Brit called Dave (Russell Tovey), and he has less than a week to shift dozens of drinks crates before his uselessness is exposed.

Less a comedy pilot, more the first act of a low-budget British indie made by calling in favours with American talent, The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret just wasn't particularly funny or encouraging to go to a full series. The half-hour was packed with famous faces -- Sharon Horgan (Pulling) as Alice the café waitress, Matt King (Peep Show) as a taxi driver, Kayvan Novak (Fonejacker) as a bomb disposal expert, even Kristen Schaal (Flight Of The Conchords) had a blink-and-miss cameo – but the strength of material just wasn't there to justify this star-power.

Cross was actually very good as the bewildered, schlubby Todd Margaret, and his exasperation well captured as he stumbled from one mishap to the next. He was certainly a likeable and sympathetic lead, but there was nothing about this episode that I felt demanded we see more of his British misadventures. The title should perhaps have been "The Increasingly Silly Decisions Of Todd Margaret" as the script, co-written by Cross with Brit Shaun Pye (Monkey Dust), slowly disintegrated into pieces once Todd was ranting to old folk in a café after gulping down too much energy drink. It was also frustrating in how it ended too abruptly with an exhausted Todd pissing his trousers while lying on the floor of a filthy B&B – and I have no idea why his huge salary resulted in him staying there, anyway!

Overall, this felt like a project where Anglophiles just relished the chance to come to the UK, have some fun with a flawed script, work with actors from their favourite British shows, and then jet back home. However, given the fact the teaser featured Todd in court being charged with various crimes (conspirary to cause explosions, funding terrorists, treason, blackmail, possession of biological weapons), and the entire episode was a flashback to "14 Days Earlier", are we to believe the writers are confident a full series will be greenlit? I mean, why else structure your pilot in such a way? Perhaps Channel 4 will give us more of this cringe-comedy, if only to milk its associations with Arrested Development, but I'm not sure it really deserves it.

Sadly, I didn't really laugh or feel compelled by any of the situations being presented; I just played spot-the-celebrity for awhile.


27 November 2009
Channel 4, 10pm

written by: David Cross & Shaun Pye directed by: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo starring: David Cross (Todd Margaret), Sharon Horgan (Alice), Will Arnett (Todd's Boss), Russell Tovey (Dave), Kayvan Novak (Policeman) & Matt King (Taxi Driver)

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The Twilight Saga: New Moolah

In the US: The big news is the absolute decimation of the box-office by the so-called "Twi-hards", who sent THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON rocketing to #1 with an astonishing $143m. It had the best opening day ever ($72.7m), and the third best weekend opening (behind Spider-Man 3 and The Dark Knight)... sports movie THE BLIND SIDE didn't have a bad opening, either, ratcheting up $34m to take #2... and the CGI animation PLANET 51 was essentially released to die against New Moon, in at #4 with just $12m...

US TOP 10

(-) 1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon $143m
(-) 2. The Blind Side $34.1m
(1) 3. 2012 $26.4m
(-) 4. Planet 51 $12.3m
(2) 5. A Christmas Carol $12.3m
(3) 6. Precious: Based On The Novel By Sapphire $10.9m
(4) 7. The Men Who Stare At Goats $2.83m
(7) 8. Couples Retreat $1.94m
(6) 9. The Fourth Kind $1.75m
(5) 10. This Is It $1.62m

In the UK: British "Twi-hards" also sent THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON to the top of the chart with an fantastic £11.6m... the Coen Brothers' latest movie, A SERIOUS MAN, opened to £321,000 and #8... and Steven Soderbergh's THE INFORMANT! debuted at #10 with a meagre £179,000...

UK TOP 10

(-) 1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon £11.6m
(1) 2. 2012 £3.4m
(2) 3. A Christmas Carol £2.2m
(3) 4. Harry Brown £724k
(4) 5. Up £642k
(6) 6. Fantastic Mr. Fox £454k
(5) 7. The Men Who Stare At Goats £430k
(-) 8. A Serious Man £321k
(8) 9. The Fourth Kind £181k
(-) 10. The Informant! £179k

UK RELEASES THIS WEEK

BUNNY & THE BULL

Comedy. A young shut-in takes an imaginary road trip inside his apartment, based on mementos and memories of a European trek from years before.
Director: Paul King Starring: Edward Hogg, Simon Farnaby, Richard Ayoade, Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding & Rich Fulcher.

LAW ABIDING CITIZEN

Crime thriller. A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.
Director: F. Gary Gray Starring: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Colm Meaney, Leslie Bibb, Regina Hall & Bruce McGill.
Tomatometer: 25% (Rotten; based on 127 reviews) "Unnecessarily violent and unflinchingly absurd, Law Abiding Citizen is plagued by subpar acting and a story that defies reason."

PARANOMAL ACTIVITY

Horror thriller. After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.
Director: Oren Peli Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Ashley Palmer & Amber Armstrong
Tomatometer: 84% (Fresh; based on 153 reviews) "Using its low-budget effects and mockumentary method to great result, Paranormal Activity turns a simple haunted house story into 90 minutes of relentless suspense."

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I thought it might be nice to get to know the regulars here a bit better. So many of you use "handles" and lurk behind cartoon-y avatars. And, beyond your general taste in TV/film, I don't know much about anyone personally -- especially some of the newer commenters. I don't want a full biography (and I realize some of you value anonymity, which is fine), but it would be nice just to know ages and locations at the very least. I was surprised to realize 4LeafClover is from Romania today, for instance! And what does everyone do for a living, or are there more students reading than I realize? If so, shouldn't you be studying?

Anyway, it's up to you if you want to share a bit about yourself. I'll let this run over the weekend. Age, sex, location -- that's not too much to ask, is it? You'd be surprised how wrong my impressions are of you all, so please help set me straight.

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[SPOILERS] The least compelling episode so far, but still not without ribald charm and absorbing moments. Ostensibly focused on Alisha (Antonia Thomas), but finding time to give gobby Kelly (Lauren Socha) and timid Simon (Iwan Rheon) something to do, episode 3 found the gang struggling to move the dead bodies they buried under the motorway flyover, before the council discover them while building an "environmental monitoring centre"...

The interesting thing here was seeing the angle writer Howard Overman takes with Alisha's contentious super-power (turning men into sex-crazed loons if they touch her.) It's initially shown to be a mischievous power trip for Alisha, as she drifts through nightclubs firing her own brand of Cupid's arrow into everyone around her. Alisha's the good time girl who can now get sex on a whim with no fuss, but it's actually proven to be something of a curse, because Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) reveals he has genuine feelings for her but is reduced to a lusting bag of testosterone whenever he gets close.

It was also a clever idea to write Alisha as the sexual predator (didn't she essentially rape Curtis when she touched him on purpose, "forcing" him to have sex with her in a toilet cubicle?), but there's still the danger that she'll touch men she can't dominate and accidentally condemn herself to rape. There's definitely some fascinating ramifications of Alisha's power and how she must deal with it (what happens when she touches family relatives?!), and this episode ends with Curtis and Alisha deciding to give romance a go without tactile contact. It's the Pushing Daisies dilemma with the specter of sexual molestation hanging over it.

Lauren is asked by probation worker Sally (Alex Reid) to make amends with a girl called Jodie she's bullied, but even Lauren's ability to hear her enemy's thoughts doesn't iron the situation out. Later, Lauren is shocked to discover all her hair falls out while showering, forcing her to wear a wig and baseball cap that Nathan (Robert Sheehan) soon whips off to expose her baldness. What's going on? Well, turns out Jodie was likewise caught up in the storm and can now infect those she disliked with the Alopecia she suffers from. It's a ridiculous super-power, no doubt, but another good example of the angle Misfits is taking on the superhero mythos -- where the abilities all compliment the owner's traits and fears.

We also got some unexpected movement on Simon's mysterious internet chat-buddy "shygirl18", who turns out to be probation worker Sally. Apparently the missing Tony was her boyfriend, and she suspects the young offenders know what happened to him. So, she's been trying to unnerve them with "I Know What You Did" flyers and dig for the truth by befriending Simon online. Fortunately, Simon has hidden their tracks well by using Tony's credit car to book an airline flight, making it look like he simply fled overseas. But surely Sally just has to ask the airline if Tony boarded the flight he booked?

Simon himself spent the episode trying to endear himself to the others by recounting a few of his clever ideas, but just faced more acerbic backbiting for his efforts. There was also a nice attribute revealed to Simon's power of invisibility, in that he's so painfully shy he can't turn invisible in front of people who are watching. This essentially means even Simon's super-skill is something he can't share or impress anyone with, as he simply fades into obscurity when alone and sits around waiting for the effects to wear off. Aren't we all invisible when nobody's there to see us? Ooh, philosophical.

Overall, episode 3 was pretty decent and included some worthwhile developments. The gang have dug up their dead bodies and are intending to replant them just before the council pour concrete into the foundations being built for the monitoring centre, and through this there were signs the teenagers are starting to learn how to work together as a team. Curtis and Alisha are now an item, Kelly isn't as icy towards Simon (who himself is quite keen to make friends with everyone), so it's only really loudmouth Nathan keeping everything tense and edgy -- and all that's just habituated, immature bluster. So, we're already half-way through the series and Misfits has proven to be a refreshingly honest, witty and interesting twist on the overplayed superhero genre, and next week's episode looks fantastic.


26 November 2009
E4, 10pm

written by: Howard Overman directed by: Tom Harper starring: Antonia Thomas (Alisha), Lauren Socha (Kelly), Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Curtis), Iwan Rheon (Simon), Robert Sheehan (Nathan) & Alex Reid (Sally)

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Virgin Media have announced plans to partner with TiVo, the PVR market leader in the US. TiVo actually launched in the UK back in 2000 (partnering Thomson Multimedia and Sky), but their boxes never really took off with the British public. It was left to Sky to push the idea of PVR's into British homes alone, via Sky+ in 2001, which people were far more willing to upgrade to. Virgin Media followed Sky's lead a few years later with V+ (formerly TVDrive). But now Virgin are teaming up with TiVo, as outlined by this press release:

It's exciting news for VM subscribers in the UK, mainly because TiVo have better PVR technology and capabilities. However, VM are obliged to keep using their current TV Navigator EPG until at least 2011 on all existing receivers. It's likely that the first true Virgin/TiVo PVR will be a new model you'll have to buy, so don't expect a free upgrade. Having just bought a V+ PVR this summer, I'm not sure I'll be willing to shellout another few hundred quid so soon.

While I'm not enough of a technophile to be able to compare TiVo to Sky+ or V+ in any detail (let alone BT Vision's broadband-based system), my layman understanding is that TiVo has a lot more options in terms of searching, recording, storing and series-linking. Basically, remember when you first heard about PVRs and people would say you can do things like set your box to record everything starring your favourite actor? That never came about in the end, but it should become reality if TiVo put their technology inside Virgin-branded PVRs. Setting your recordings via the internet, searching for TV shows by keyword, and having the PVR record recommendations based on what it knows you like? That all might happen, too. Basically, everything you imagined Sky+ and V+ would be in the first place!

Is anyone in the UK excited by this news? Any Sky subscribers thinking TiVo is enough to make them defect to Virgin? Are there any US TiVo owners willing to sing its praises, or is TiVo perhaps overrated? Has anyone ever used all three PVRs? If so, how do they compare? And how will Sky counter this VM/TiVo partnership? I'm guessing they'll invest in improving their own Sky+ box by copying some of TiVo's features, so could they get the jump on Virgin by launching an improved PVR before 2011?

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[SPOILERS] I've gone space-crazy. My consciousness drifts in and out of Defying Gravity now; a glazed expression descending every time Donner (Ron Livingston) gives us another of his easygoing, patronizing voice-overs. It's all very didactic and stilted. Anyway, it's Halloween (prematurely scheduled in the US, belatedly so in the UK), and "Fear" revolved around the Antares crew having to act in a live, televised commercial for a confectioners who have pumped $10 billion into the mission. I guess selling chocolate is big business in 2052; maybe everyone who isn't affiliated with NASA are fat, chocoholic couch potatoes glued to the mission on TV?

"Fear" was dull, sadly. Worse, while it featured an abundance of the hallucinations that have kept my interest during all the boring episodes before now, they were cumulatively just as tedious. It's all dusty helmets, Martian storms, crying babies and trapped girls, which has just become monotonous. The only vision that piques my interest is of the Russian astronaut seeing what looks like herself in a fake beard -- is her tragic back-story that she used to be a man?

Defying Gravity keeps reminding us that mysterious cargo "Beta" is having an adverse mental effect on everyone, and it's now belabouring the point. The only upside here is that events spiraled so out of control (with the live advert ditched when they all freeze in various states of reverie before a space-walk), that they all had to admit what's been going on. Maybe now the show will progress and start giving us some firm answers about what "Beta" is. But I'm not sure I really care now, and I've never trusted the show to give us a good answer anyway. If one does materialize -- thank God for small mercies. If one doesn't -- I'm going to throw a brick at the screen. Why weren't the crew just told about "Beta" and its affects, anyway? Ted (Malik Yoba) was later briefed and he didn't react angrily to the news, so why not just tell them what's going on?

I've been told the show suddenly becomes very watchable from hereon in, as the mission approaches its end, but we'll see...


21 November 2009
BBC2/BBC HD, 10.40pm

written by: Chris Provenzano directed by: Jeff Woolnough starring: Ron Livingston (Maddux Donner), Malik Yoba (Ted Shaw), Andrew Airlie (Mike Goss), Paula Garcés (Paula Morales), Florentine Lahme (Nadia Schilling), Karen LeBlanc (Eve Weller-Shaw), Ty Olsson (Rollie Crane), Eyal Podell (Dr. Evram Mintz), Maxim Roy (Claire Dereux), Dylan Taylor (Steve Wassenfelder), Christina Cox (Jen Crane), Laura Harris (Zoe Barnes), Ari Cohen (David Sellner), Barclay Hope (Candy Exec), William C. Vaughan (Arnel Poe), Dante Lee Arias (Roy Shaw), Michael St. John Smith (Board Member), Lara Gilchrist (Sharon), Bruce Dawson (Vapor Trails), Nicole Muñoz (Palestinian Girl) & Bob Paris (Beta Tech)

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[SPOILERS] Here it is, the final episode of V before its four-month hiatus. Perhaps if they'd known earlier this opening quartet could have been crafted as a purer mini-series (echoing the genesis of the '80s series), but it instead feels like a handbrake has been pulled too soon. The appropriately-named "It's Only The Beginning" ends with two surprises intended to get us excited about the show's return, but they're not enough to keep you on tenterhooks until March.

Things begin in media res with a car park shootout involving V resistance members Georgie (David Richmond-Peck), Ryan (Morris Chestnut) and Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell); an affective narrative trick if used properly, but more often a rather lazy way to re-use an upcoming dramatic scene twice. They only really work if the scene is genuinely shocking, or takes on a different meaning when we see it again in context (see: Mission Impossible III), but it was used pretty badly here. The big dramatic moment in question arrived after a mere 15 minutes, and was inconsequential anyway.

The crux of the episode involved the newly-formed resistance cell getting together to land their first blow against the aliens. Anna (Morena Baccarin) has announced that her people will begin distributing a drug that can enhance the human immune system, effectively preventing the onset of many diseases and infections. If it sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. Ryan realizes that the V's have started manufacturing a dangerous drug called "R6" and are going to spread it amongst the world's population.

Having later discovered a warehouse where the V's are storing the R6, the resistance realize the V's actually have a bait-and-switch plan -- as the R6 is intended for the humble 'flu vaccination and their immune-boosting drug is safe. Even better, the entire supply of R6 is contained in this tiny warehouse, guarded by one man, so it's incredibly easy to blow up the warehouse and, I guess, claim a small victory. Of course, beyond the fact it feels ridiculous that the V's would put all their eggs in one basket, it's surely not beyond them to simply manufacture some more? Indeed, the resistance feel like a flea fighting an elephant so far, and while I'm prepared to support an underdog, it just doesn't feel plausible they could ever win. Maybe if we got a sense that the V's resources are finite because they can't just hop back to their homeworld and restock supplies, equipment and personnel it would work better?

There's an interesting enough moment when Georgie suggests they capture and "skin" a V to prove to everyone the aliens are... well, liars at the very least, if only because Ryan reacts angrily that Georgie raised the idea. I myself have been wondering why Ryan doesn't offer to reveal his true reptilian form to the word, actually, and while we don't get a definitive answer to that question... I'm going to assume the process of getting yourself "skinned" to look human is irreversible and would result in death. That's the only explanation I can come up with for why members of The Fifth Column don't just whip off their masks on live TV.

On the New York mothership, Anna is told that Dale was murdered by someone, so she tries to wheedle out the culprit by threatening to kill a random member of the medical team, but the guilty Joshua's (Mark Hildreth) cover is maintained when a brave colleague steps forward to take the blame and is skinned/killed for his treachery. It was nice to see the show is at least keeping the reptilian form of the aliens a secret for now. I expect we'll only get to see one properly in the season finale next summer, and hopefully they won't resemble the Sleestaks from Land Of The Lost.

The subplots were either tedious or predictable, really. Tyler (Logan Huffman) was taken by Lisa (Laura Vandervoort) to meet her mother, surprised to find her parent is spokeswoman Anna herself. Erica's himbo son is obviously being groomed to have a significant role in the V's plans, but it's not clear what that entails just yet. A part of me suspects the V's want to create human/V hybrids, so need Tyler to be the figurehead for interspecies relations -- and who better than a clean-cut boyfriend of Anna's daughter?

However, in another subplot, it's revealed that Ryan's girlfriend Valerie (Lourdes Benedicto) is pregnant with his child, so isn't a hybrid already on the way? But maybe hybrid babies are impossible to bring to term? After all, why aren't there more hybrid kids around if members of The Fifth Column (and the V's own undercover spies) have been living amongst humans for decades already? Are they all told not to procreate? Maybe there are hybrids around who we've yet to meet? In which case, I have no idea why Anna and Lisa need Tyler.

Reporter Chad (Scott Wolf) is also diagnosed with an aneurism by the V's medics, and Marcus (Christopher Shyer) insists they can operate in order to prevent the blood clot from ever developing. As the problem is something that can't be detected by human science until it's too late, Chad is basically being forced into a position where he either trusts the V's (and is likely given medical treatment in return for media favours he's uncomfortable with), or refuses to believe them and risks his own life.

And remember the mention of "Bliss" last week? I theorized that it's basically a drug that all V's cherish, perhaps manufactured from humans (hence why they don't just eradicate us.) Well, we're given a little insight into it here, as Anna strips naked and bathes alone in a column of light, apparently transferring orgasmic feelings to her fellow V's. Maybe she was merely the telepathic conductor of the "drug" she was bathing in, so my theory still stands a chance of coming true.

"It's Only The Beginning" ended on two notes designed to keep the audience loyal until next spring: having returned to his church after successfully helping blow up the stocks of R6, Father Jack (Joel Gretsch) was stabbed by a V who followed him home. While it seems likely he'll live, I guess it's interesting the V's now know the identity of one of the resistance. And, finally, there's an extensive zoom-out from Anna's ship across the galaxy, eventually settling on a gigantic armada of V ships. Are they waiting there as reinforcements? Are they an all-out attack force if Anna's diplomatic methods fail? Whatever they are, it now feels even more unlikely that Erica and three men can defeat a planet full of organized, highly-advanced aliens.

Overall, V is off to a rocky start, but there are signs of improvement and a lot of potential in the idea. Whether or not the writers can tap into that, in interesting and fresh ways, is up for debate. There's really been nothing here we haven't seen before, and not just because V's a remake. The concept is an old chestnut that you can vaguely predict every step of the way, so V will need to up its game if it's going to surprise an audience who have grown up with alien invasion TV shows and films. I'd also like to see them ditch the distracting use of greenscreen in the V mothership, which I'm sure helps cut costs, but it makes everyone look like they're acting in a late-'90s video-game cut-scene. It's all very false and the architecture is bland, blurred grey-whites. A few real sets, perhaps extended using greenscreen, would be preferable.

When the show returns next year, Scott Rosenbaum (The Shield, Chuck) is in charge and he's promising a lot more action, pace(!), mythology-building, and at least one big surprise in every episode. Big talk, but can he walk the walk? Tune in next March to find out.


24 November 2009
ABC, 9/8c

written by: Cameron Litvack & Angela Russo-Otstot directed by: Yves Simoneau starring: Elizabeth Mitchell (Erica Evans), Morris Chestnut (Ryan Nichols), Joel Gretsch (Father Jack Landry), Lourdes Benedicto (Valerie Holt), Logan Huffman (Tyler Evans), Laura Vandervoort (Lisa), Morena Baccarin (Anna), Scott Wolf (Chad Decker), David Richmond-Peck (Georgie), Christopher Shyer (Marcus), Craig Fraser (Peter Combs), Mark Hildreth (Joshua), Ryan Kennedy (David), Giles Panton (V Med-Tech) & Jesse Wheeler (Brandon)

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Fox have announced that 24's eighth (and possibly last?) season will debut with a two-hour special on Sunday 17 January 2010, then move to its regular Monday night slot from 25 January. Must... resist... "the clock is ticking"... closing remark...

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[SPOILERS] A kind of precognitive Casualty, sci-fi thriller Paradox got off to a solid if unexceptional start. It's another BBC genre show that doesn't offer too much outright originality, but is just content to put a humdrum fantastical twist on a police procedural. This can sometimes lead to great things (Ultraviolet, Life On Mars), but it can also lead to Crime Traveller. There's evidence that Paradox has the potential to blossom into something fun, though, and this first episode was punctuated by a laudably bleak ending and built itself a compelling tailwind...

Dr. Christian King (Emun Elliot) is another unlikely TV science geek who'd look more at home in a Gillette commercial, currently monitoring solar flare activity in a den of computers. While at work, his company's satellite "Prometheus II" apparently steals the fire of future-knowledge from the Gods, by downloading a stream of random images to King's video-wall. The inappropriately-named atheist believes that these fuzzy pictures predict the future when he notices one snap features a mobile phone displaying a time 18 hours hence. A faulty, damaged phone -- yes? No, it's a photo from the future, okay?

A little peculiarly, King asks for a police officer with "imagination" to come and take a look at his bizarre find. So, stern DI Rebecca Flint (Tamzin Outhwaite) finds herself in his lab and, after hearing his theory, suspects the quirky scientist is a sociopath playing a game. Flint's colleagues, irascible Scot DS Ben Holt (Mark Bonnar) and fresh-faced DC Callum Gada (Chike Okonkwo), are called in to assist her, and both likewise believe Dr. King has just faked the photos (that appear to show glimpses of a railway bridge catastrophe) and is taking perverse pleasure in seeing them try and make sense of clues to the whereabouts of a bomb he'll detonate. Of course, when Flint starts to investigate the photographic evidence and treat his theory seriously, she slowly comes to realize the images do indeed seem to predict a confluence of disastrous events.

The minor subplots follow the predestined victims/culprit of the unfolding tragedy, going about their lives blissfully unaware they're chess pieces being pushed into position by the hand of Fate. For the audience, we take dark glee in noticing how possessions featured in King's photos (a driver's license, a backpack and Frisbee, a Blackberry phone, etc.) turn up in these stories, and watch as Flint and her team try to comprehend the images, extrapolate events to come, and try to alter their outcome to save the day.

Paradox's concept works fine. It should do because it's just a tweaked version of Minority Report, and the possibilities are clear and obvious for plentiful stories. This episode did a solid job of setting everything up, and it actually became quite gripping in the second half when the team were racing around trying to second-guess events without arousing suspicion or coming across as insane -- although I have to wonder why they didn't just ask the businessman on the doomed train to pull the emergency stop button before the carriages reached the bridge.

The performances were okay, but nothing special. Outhwaite only has one character in her -- the sexy, authoritative, working class cop (see: Red Cap, The Fixer) -- but she copes well in that comfort zone. Elliot was more interesting than I was expecting as King, mainly because his character was written to behave suspiciously throughout, and while that tactic to elicit uncertainty didn't work (as there was never any doubt he was telling the truth), it nevertheless offered something a bit different in how the cops dealt with King. Of course, all that insecurity will disappear now King's photo album's been proven right, so I hope future episodes have something else up their sleeves or else he'll quickly become redundant. After all, he's just the guy with access to the satellite link, so it'll be interesting to see how they utilize him hereon in. Will he just sit back and watch Flint's team run around like headless chickens, offering the occasional insight into a cryptic photo, or will he be needed out in the field sometimes?

The guest cast all had less complexity than the average patient wheeled into Holby City, but this was perhaps because episode 1 had less time or need to dedicate to them. Now the exposition's been dealt with, the guest stars will hopefully get more dimensions than "sleep-deprived gas tanker driver" and "stressed executive", as otherwise they're just hapless stooges in a grizzly game of determinism. A Crimewatch reconstruction told in reverse, you might say.

Overall, Paradox offers nothing very new -- a more unique example of characters fighting the future is FlashForward, which admittedly has its own flaws to deal with -- but there's certainly promise in he show if it manages to unlock its 24-meets-Minority Report potential. Or it could just become a reverse-engineered series of crimes that a bunch of underwritten characters try to piece together. But on the evidence of this first part, it's worth sticking with for now.


24 November 2009
BBC1/BBC HD, 9pm

written by: Lizzie Mickery directed by: Simon Cellan Jones starring: Tamzin Outhwaite (DI Rebecca Flint), Emun Elliott (Dr Christian King), Mark Bonnar (DS Ben Holt), Chike Okonkwo (DC Callum Gada), Pooky Quesnel (DCI Sarah Bower), Lorcan Cranitch (Simon Manning), Abigail Davies (Amelia James), Neil Fitzmaurice (Lister Wells), Clare Kerrigan (Kirsty Harmsley), Kevin Doyle (Harry Phelps), Fiona Dolman (Lauren Phelps), Peter Wells (Patterson James) & Kate Miles (Clare)

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[SPOILERS] Hot on the heels of Dexter's "Hungry Man", Heroes does its own Thanksgiving episode, but it's of a decidedly softer nature (i.e. no family meal ends with the c-bomb and strangulation... just arm and forehead slicing.) Is there some deep-seated issue with the American psyche regarding this holiday?

In "Thanksgiving", three of the show's most prominent families are brought together for anxious meals: the estranged Bennet's, the dysfunctional Petrelli's and the assorted oddballs of the carnival clique. It's a decent way to give an episode some shape and tackle things from a character perspective, but each subplot had its highs and lows. Mr. Bennet (Jack Coleman) is cooking for daughter Claire (Hayden Panettiere), his ex-wife Sandra (Ashley Crow) and her new beau Doug. Is this a likely scenario, given the fact the Bennet's have only just divorced? Do we really believe Sandra would look twice at someone as drippy as Doug? Well, I didn't buy a lot of it, but it was mildly amusing at times.

And, as predicted from the moment the show ret-conned her into existence a few episodes ago, Lauren (Elisabeth Röhm) walks back into Bennet's life and will no doubt become his hot, younger girlfriend. As someone who worked alongside Bennet in The Company, she'll be of more use to the show than Sandra ever was, but I still miss Bennet having that bedrock of a seemingly normal family. It was a fairly dull storyline in some ways, but it at least ended with the prospect of Claire, now reunited with Gretchen (Madeline Zima), using Samuel's spinning compass to go out and get some answers.

The Petrelli get-together was where the big development came, as Angela (Cristine Rose) decided to treat her sons Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) and Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) to the most underwhelming Thanksgiving dinner ever, despite her fortune. Would you really decide to eat around a tiny table in Peter's empty apartment? Regardless, the fun here was in seeing Angela squirm at the questions her sons ask her regarding Adrian's true nature, before she's forced to admit he's Sylar shape-shifted body with Adrian's mind stuck inside.

Needless to say, Ventimiglia's reaction to all of this was on par with dog's expression when told to get off the furniture. Still, there was fun to be had when Sylar (Zachary Quinto) finally managed to reassert his personality and, after an electrical lightshow, reunited his body and mind. But perhaps not his "soul"... as while attempting to kill Angela it appears that Nathan is still capable of regaining control of Sylar's body and does so. I guess this gives Nathan a Jekyll-&-Hyde personality now, which could be interesting to see play out. I just wish Heroes' producers hadn't already confirmed Pasdar's departure from the series, as it feels like we're just waiting for the inevitable. To counter that feeling, I have mild hope they've fed us misinformation so that when Sylar loses this battle we'll feel surprised.

Finally, Samuel (Robert Knepper) watched Chandra Suresh's film reel and now understands his dangerous potential. So, if he didn't know this before now, he's been gathering "specials" together for genuinely altruistic reasons? That seems like a slipup to me. Anyway, Hiro (Masi Oka) is upset that Samuel's still not telling him the whereabouts of girlfriend Charlie, and continues to have a hold over him as a result. He's once again too stupid to just go back in time and prevent Samuel from kidnapping her in the first place, too, but we'll cut the writers some slack there. Time-travel's always a bitch to write logically. Here, Hiro gets an ally in Lydia (Dawn Olivieri), who is confused that Samuel hasn't used Hiro's ability to save his brother from death, so orders him to take her back in time to witness the ambiguous death of Joseph first-hand. And, as we suspected from the very start, it was Samuel who killed him (by flinging a rock into his windpipe in a fit of pique) after he refused to tell him what his ability was.

Back in the present, Edgar (Ray Park) learned that Samuel murdered his own brother and covered it up, but when Samuel tries to pin the murder of Joseph on Edgar to conceal his own guilt, Hiro facilitates Edgar's escape by freezing time. But, Samuel's wise to what Hiro did, so appears to try and erase Hiro's power as punishment using the "mystic" henchman, but it doesn't appear to go according to plan and a youthful-sounding Hiro teleports away in the middle of the procedure. I'm hoping this doesn't signal a return to "kid Hiro" once again, as Oka's performances when he cranks Hiro up to eleven can get very grating, but the procedure did unfortunately feel similar to the one performed by Arthur Petrelli last season...

Overall, there was enough going on in "Thanksgiving" to make the episode worthwhile and entertaining, even if there were only really a few developments worth making note of. The Sylar/Adrian battle felt a bit flat considering its potential and extensive buildup, but hopefully there'll be better opportunities to deal with this situation now it's boiled down to a case of "split-personality". It's also interesting that the carnival isn't the pit of villainy we were led to believe it was, as everyone actually seems quite reasonable and likeable -- it's just Samuel who's becoming a megalomaniac. As usual, a mish-mash of good and bad notes, but certainly nothing to wholly dislike.


23 November 2009
NBC, 8/7c

written by: Adam Armus & Kay Foster directed by: Seith Mann starring: Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennet), Hayden Panettiere (Claire), Adrian Pasdar (Nathan), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Cristine Rose (Angela), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter), Ashley Crow (Sandra), Robert Knepper (Samuel), Dawn Olivieri (Lydia), Ray Park (Edgar), Harry Perry (Damien), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder), Elisabeth Röhm (Lauren Gilmore), Dusty Sorg (Caleb), Madeline Zima (Gretchen)

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I just thought I'd draw everyone's attention to the return of the Spotlight feature in the sidebar of this blog. It's just a place where I embed videos of things that take my fancy (usually film trailers and TV spots), rather than create a blog post for them all the time. Right now I have all three of NBC's promo's for Chuck's third season (Yvonne Strahovski in a white bikini! Yvonne Strahovski in a white bikini!*)

The only reason I'm mentioning the Spotlight here is because it's difficult to quantify how many readers actually visit the blog (i.e would notice the Spotlight without me mentioning it), and how many of you only read via RSS feeds (in which case, you'd never know it's there.) But, it is there, so now everyone knows about its existence. Anyway, I hope you'll all stop by the actual blog itself from time to time -- if you're not already. I make fancy banner headers that I think are worth a look, too. Okay, self-promotion over. But if you feel like sharing how you digest "the Digest", then that would be interesting to hear.

* And for the girls... Zachary Levi with a weird new haircut. It'll just take some getting used to, don't worry.

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