Category: Featured
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Chuck, “Chuck Versus Phase Three”
Last week, I said that the nonsense with Rob Riggle and the sketchiness of how the Intersect wouldn’t totally be a loss if the makeshift part two of that story was effective and satisfying. Well, even though “Chuck Versus Phase Three” didn’t do a few of the things I hoped it would last night, it…
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Smallville, “Patriot”
Sorry for the delay folks, with the holidays and the end of the semester coming up, it’s going to be something of a crazy time for me. After last week’s episode solidified a number of things in the overarching plot, “Patriot” pushes that narrative forward in a very satisfying way, while still dealing with some…
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The Walking Dead, “Vatos”
From the beginning, the discussion around The Walking Dead has been about how it would balance its obvious appeals (zombies, zombie violence and more zombies) with a character focus that will help it become a successful television series. The first three episodes, despite a few solid moments in the character regard, didn’t really convince me…
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Community, “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design”
After last week’s epic, but ultimately small-in-scale episode, Community starts to build back upward with an episode that is heavy on the pop culture references, but doesn’t explicitly reference certain texts or spend an entire episode focusing on that one genre/text/whatever. “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design” probably isn’t the technically “best” episode of the season,…
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Terriers, “Sins of the Past”
With only three episodes left, critics and fans alike are moving into “Save Terriers” mode — if you missed Sepinwall’s piece yesterday, it’s a good read — and the series is continuing to prove why all those columns and Twitter hashtags are worthwhile. “Sins of the Past” is a flashback episode to the case that…
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Season Premiere — Human Target, “Ilsa Pucci”
Writing about the Human Target season two premiere is particularly interesting to me for a few reasons. First of all, I have rarely, if ever, just jumped into a series without seeing most of the episodes leading up to said jump-in point. I literally can’t think of any series that I’ve done that with in…
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Glee, “The Substitute”
The last two episodes of Glee have been generally awful. I mean just dreadful, two of the worst in the series’ run. Perhaps it’s because of that — though not only because of that, as I’ll argue — that I found “The Substitute” to be an insanely fun episode of the series, despite it’s very,…
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Chuck, “Chuck Versus The Fear of Death”
After a string of rock-solid episodes, “Chuck Versus the Fear of Death” feels more in-step with the earlier episodes of season four. Despite the episode’s attempts to keep the stakes high after the Mama Bartowski stuff from the last few efforts, the value of the plot movement found within “Fear of Death” won’t really be…
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Tonal transition: Why House is having a creative resurgence in its seventh season
In its seventh season, the general consensus on FOX’s House is that it is a series way past its prime, one that’s a shell of its former self and one that’s basically no longer interesting on a week-to-week basis. If you would have asked me, a long-time fan of the series, my opinion on House…
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The Walking Dead, “Tell It To The Frogs”
After a generally miserable second episode that felt like the boring middle part of a mediocre zombie movie, The Walking Dead had something to prove to me. Could it tell stories are entrenched in any sort of character focus? Could it take its countless stereotypes and make them into characters? Basically, I’m concerned there’s nothing…
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Smallville, “Abandoned”
This week on Smallville, it’s all about family and family histories. And though his issues with Jor-El are certainly present here, “Abandoned” works well in letting the two ladies move to the front and deal with their pasts in emotional resonant and in Tess’ case, twisty kind of ways. The result is the second fine…
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Test Pilot: File #6, Dawson’s Creek
Test Pilot #6: Dawson’s Creek Debut date: January 20, 1998 on the WB Series legacy: The catalyst for the late ’90s second wave of teen dramas, the beacon of success for the middling WB network and seemingly, one of the most derided series in the teen drama genre. Welcome to the newest regular feature here…
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Glee, “Never Been Kissed”
On the surface, one could make an argument that Glee has always been interested in the bullying that happens in high schools — or at least its fictional Ohio high school — and so with the horrible outbreak of bullying-related suicides, particularly by homosexuals, the series seemed like the prime candidate to spread a “message”…
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The Walking Dead, “Guts”
After a series premiere that felt familiar, but still riveting thanks to a confident execution, The Walking Dead‘s second effort, “Guts,” just feels familiar. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a massive fan of the zombie genre, I have nothing against it, but it’s not one of my favorites. Thus, I’m trying…
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Fringe, “Amber 31422”
Fringe has been gone too long. It’s been less than a month, but when the best drama series on network television goes away, I miss it. What can I say? Tonight, the series makes its return to the alternate universe where we get some new information about the quarantines, as well dipped further into Olivia’s psyche…
CB, PhD 