Category: Featured
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The Vampire Diaries, “The Dinner Party”
Sometimes, like I’ve done with the last few episodes, it’s interesting to talk about some of the emotional states of characters, trust and all that nonsense. But when The Vampire Diaries gives us an episode like “The Dinner Party” it’s hard not to just pump my fist with adrenaline-boosted excitement. This episode is jam-packed full of…
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Justified, “The Life Inside”
It seems like Graham Yost and his team listened to the criticisms of the fans who hated the middle three or four episodes of season one. Although “The Life Inside” is most certainly a standalone episode, it does a lot of other things that address larger threads in the narrative. There is a normal Justified…
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Test Pilot: File #10, Heroes
Test Pilot #10: Heroes Debut date: September 25, 2006 Series legacy: A legitimate cultural phenomenon that flamed out within a year of its debut, now a major touch-point that critics point to when discussing both the failure of serialized television and NBC’s downfall. Test Pilot is back! It’s a new year, but the historical pilot…
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Glee, “Comeback”
I entered my viewing of “Comeback” with loads of dread. Sue has been disastrously insufferable this year and the idea of her joining New Directions just a week after the near-greatness that was “Silly Love Songs” just made me sad. Watching this episode through that lens, I found “Comeback” to be surprising in its general…
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The Chicago Code, “Hog Butcher”
As I and other, real critics like to talk about, second episodes are tricky, especially for series’ with a lot going on. Pilots are intended to hook the viewers in with great characters, big moments and a nice, established world, but when the second episode rolls around, it’s time to really think about what the…
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Smallville, “Beacon”
Apologies yet again for the delay. Busy Valentine’s Day weekend. Such is life. After last week’s “Collateral,” I was legitimately concerned about the final run of Smallville. That episode was so tepid, uninspired and generally stupid that it set a dangerous precedent for the rest of the season. I don’t want to say I had…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Crying Wolf”
Trust is hardly earned in The Vampire Diaries universe. Deals are constantly being struck and destroyed and even the person closest to you probably isn’t telling the whole truth. It’s not always intentional, sometimes the lies for someone else’s one good. Other times, a lack of information flow is fully purposeful and ultimately, dangerous. “Crying…
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Season Premiere — Justified, “The Moonshine War”
There was a lot to love about Justified‘s first season, but one of the things I found most impressive about those 13 episodes is how easily and quickly the series created the world of Harlan, Kentucky. Harlan is certainly a unique place and from very early on in the pilot episode, the series presented those…
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Glee, “Silly Love Songs”
I, like most people, was not too kind to the post-Super Bowl episode of Glee. “The Sue Sylvester Shuffle” was a disastrous attempt to introduce the series’ primary narratives and beats to a new audience. In classic Glee form, the series turns right around two days later and knocks out its second best episode of the season…
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Series Premiere — The Chicago Code, “Pilot”
Because Shawn Ryan’s new police drama on FOX was up for the network’s fall schedule last spring, it feels like we’ve been talking about and waiting for The Chicago Code (formerly Ride-Along) for a very long time and the anticipation has been building. This has probably only been compounded by the fact that Shawn Ryan’s other…
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Glee, “The Sue Sylvester Shuffle”
Although so much of the discourse has focused on how Glee and the Super Bowl seem like such an insane and difficult pairing, I tend to believe the opposite is actually true. The Super Bowl is most certainly the greatest spectacle in America. It’s all about the grandiose, the loud, the bright, etc. For better or…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Daddy Issues”
It sucks being Tyler Lockwood. Not only did he not ask to be born into the werewolf gene pool, but he did his damnedest to avoid actually triggering the curse that would turn him into a monster. And when that didn’t work, he thought he’d found a friend, confidant and lover in Caroline who could protect him…
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Cougar Town, “Cry To Me”
“Cry To Me” is unfortunately the last episode of Cougar Town for a couple of months. ABC was to line up Matthew Perry’s Mr. Sunshine and I think even Happy Endings in the post-Modern Family timeslot, so the cul-de-sac crew is going to be gone for a fairly substantial amount of time. No matter what,…
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Human Target, “The Trouble With Harry”
And we’re back for another episode of Human Target this week, also known as FOX Putting The Series Out Of Its Misery Week! This is the penultimate episode of season two and well, it’s not very good. While I was watching “The Trouble With Harry” I found myself enjoying it. Then I thought about it…
CB, PhD 