Now that The Secret Circle has aired six episodes, I thought it was time to do a little drop-in and see how the CW series is progressing. Checking in with a series a few episodes after the pilot is always a good choice, but it feels particularly applicable in this circumstance. It was around episode … Continue reading Review: The Secret Circle, “Wake”
Tag: Witches
Season Premiere review — The Vampire Diaries, “The Birthday”
One of The Vampire Diaries greatest strengths is its ability to come up with wild plot twists that seem both entirely crazy and completely believable at the same time. There have been roughly 9,000 insane developments in the first two seasons alone. And I might be understating it a bit. At this point, we expect … Continue reading Season Premiere review — The Vampire Diaries, “The Birthday”
Season Finale review — True Blood, “And When I Die”
This is the best season of True Blood ever. Sure, there were maybe two truly enjoyable episodes and most of the storylines were underdeveloped, stupid, poorly-plotted or some combination of all three. And sure, the series continued its terrible trend of crafting dreadful finales that are trapped somewhere between concluding old, bad stories and starting … Continue reading Season Finale review — True Blood, “And When I Die”
Controlled madness: On The Vampire Diaries, Nikita and narrative pacing
This summer, I made my way through the first season of Nikita, a series I liked in the early part of last season but one I ultimately lost touch with because I was already watching 71 other things at the same time. Thursday nights are tough, you all know this. Generally speaking, I very much … Continue reading Controlled madness: On The Vampire Diaries, Nikita and narrative pacing
Post-hiatus musings: HBO edition (True Blood and Entourage)
After nearly a month, my fairly substantial hiatus here at TVS is over. I am happy to be back providing content for you folks on a regular basis. In my time off, I’ve missed all sorts of television, both viewing- and writing-wise. To combat that, I’ll be whipping up a number of random posts with … Continue reading Post-hiatus musings: HBO edition (True Blood and Entourage)
True Blood, “If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin’?”
I tweeted earlier tonight that I'm now fairly convinced that I was just an idiot when I thought True Blood was kind of a good television program. But what I am realizing is that I think I only thought these things for like six weeks, sometime near the middle part of season two. Those glorious … Continue reading True Blood, “If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin’?”
True Blood, “You Smell Like Dinner”
After last week's disastrous season premiere of True Blood, I saw a number of tweets from critics and fans watching on HBO GO that episode two, "You Smell Like Dinner," was a dramatic improvement. A few folks even told me that it was one of the better episodes the series has done in a long … Continue reading True Blood, “You Smell Like Dinner”
Season Premiere — True Blood, “She’s Not There”
As begins its fourth season, True Blood is a series I no longer give the benefit of the doubt. After two severely flawed, but wonderfully entertaining seasons, last year's offering of episodes failed to provide the same kind of enjoyable thrills to balance out the laughably large number of problems. Early last season, the series … Continue reading Season Premiere — True Blood, “She’s Not There”
The Vampire Diaries, “The Sun Also Rises”
Well, that was just miserable. The Vampire Diaries is a series that primarily works based on its ability to speed up the narrative so fast that the twists and turns come so quickly, it's too difficult to even think about how telegraphed they may or may not be. Everything is shocking on this series because it … Continue reading The Vampire Diaries, “The Sun Also Rises”
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 … Continue reading The Vampire Diaries, “Crying Wolf”
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 … Continue reading The Vampire Diaries, “Daddy Issues”
The Vampire Diaries, “Katerina”
Wow, and I thought last week's episode was a major exposition dump. "Rose" featured a whole lot of information disseminated to Elena and company, but at least it came amid a series of set-pieces and character action. "Katerina," while mostly enjoyable, was a purely expositional episode that is surely setting the stage for all sorts … Continue reading The Vampire Diaries, “Katerina”
The Vampire Diaries, “Masquerade”
Sci-fi or fantasy series with big ensembles always have one big trick in their back pocket to pull out as a way to intensify the drama or weight of certain activities: bringing the band back together. Any time there is some big event that's about to go down, rounding up all the characters under some … Continue reading The Vampire Diaries, “Masquerade”
