What happens in 1864, stays in 1864... or not.

As the TV season winds down, shows start pulling out all the stops. Characters die, mysteries are revealed, people get pregnant, married, possibly blown up, etc. And yet, this particular season, I'm pretty underwhelmed with most of my shows... I realize that sweeps isn't until May, so the real shockers are yet to come, but lately, the build up to all the crazy has been pretty tepid. I'm still entertained and all, and I still love all my darlings, but with only a couple of exceptions, I'm just not dying to write about any of it. The Good Wife just keeps getting better and better and certainly deserves more attention on this blog than it gets, but the show that really has me reeling after each and every spectacular outing is The Vampire Diaries.

If you're still on the fence about giving the show a chance, let me impart the following testimonial from one of my oldest friends:

Can I blame you for my addiction to the Vampire Diaries? Seriously that show is beyond addicting and it kills me to wait a week in between episodes. So thank-you Lacy for turning me into an avid TV watcher, blog reader, and vampire addict. If I appear on an episode of "addicted" you are going to have to come and read a... paper about how I have changed.....hahaha.

I consoled her with the fact that her episode of Addicted would likely air the week before mine, so at least she'd be in good company. Also, as far as a "paper about how [she has] changed" is concerned, I'm pretty sure it would just be a piece of paper with "Damon" written on it (or, if you're Josh, a piece of paper with the name "Stefan" on it). To each his/her own. :) It really will suck you in whether you like it or not. It's quite mercifully not a stupid waste of time that only tween girls can appreciate. I have very specific and informed tastes in television and my interests are quite varied. I'm a fan of gritty shows aimed at guys (e.g. Justified, Southland), shows that skew older for some reason (e.g. The Good Wife), shows that skew younger (e.g. Gossip Girl), high ratings getters (e.g. Castle, Modern Family), low ratings getters (e.g. Chuck), pay-cable shows (e.g. True Blood, Dexter, Nurse Jackie), basic cable shows (e.g. Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, Leverage), imports (e.g. Being Human, Skins, Doctor Who), and everything in between (e.g... uh... The Inbetweeners--heh). So when I say that The Vampire Diaries is currently my absolute favorite show on television, you can be assured that it's an informed opinion.

Not since the first couple of seasons of Alias has a show had me so consistently on the edge of my seat. Also, True Blood does a hell of a job ending each episode on a nail-biter, much like Alias, but The Vampire Diaries not only ends each episode on a tantalizing cliffhanger, it has so many twists and turns and reveals throughout the episodes that you're constantly plied with satisfying culminations (which sounds a little dirty) and teased (I'm starting to think the "dirty" is getting subconsciously intentional--it's Damon's fault) with new mysteries. It has the best pacing of any show on the air and knows just how much to give and how much to hold back. And, just when you think the show can't possibly get any better, it totally does. Exhibit A, last night's episode.

I have had concerns that the show would run out of stories and ideas given the pacing of the show, but for every storyline they seemingly resolve, 15 others arise. You would think the pacing would be too fast, but somehow, it's the smoothest roller coaster ride in town. Last night we had about 137 things going on and it all just tied together seamlessly and rolled out as awesomely as possible.

One of the things I love best about the show is the blend of then and now. The flashbacks are incredibly well done, studiously thought-out, and effortlessly integrated into the modern context of the show. The flashbacks to 1864 have always done a hell of a job filling in blanks and informing on the characters, but last night was far and away the most pivotal set of memories to date. Not only did we finally learn the details of how the brothers Salvatore became vampires, but we learned the gut-wrenching circumstances that led to the tension between the two. The writers don't feel the need to explain every little thing to the audience all at once and I greatly appreciate that. They respect their viewers' intelligence and understand that the audience can take information from episodes 3, 5, 6, 11, and 14 and construct the dynamics of the show, the characters, and the rules of this particular universe. Each set of authors tends to have a different philosophy on how vampires operate and The Vampire Diaries is no exception. In fact, they use this to their advantage. We have known that it was Katherine who turned the brothers for a good long while, but we learned several episodes ago that she was captured before she could complete the brothers' transformation. We also know that after being captured, the brothers didn't have any access to her (they both thought she had been in the tomb, so they couldn't have had any contact with her between the time she was hauled off and the time they became vampires). So, the audience had to ask themselves, how did the brothers become vampires? After watching Vicki's transformation, we all knew the basic mechanics of turning someone, but the details were still a blur. I had assumed that Katherine had been dosing the brothers with vampire blood, but again, the show held out on exactly what happened until last night.

The hows and whys of the transition were finally elucidated (in the most satisfying of ways), but the the fallout between the brothers is what proved to be the most fascinating aspect of all. The flashbacks have always shown that the relationship between Stefan and Damon wasn't always as strained as it is today. Seeing the comradery of the past (even in spite of their mutual love of Katherine) really made me wonder just how things went down that led us to this point. I love, love, LOVE that the good brother, the good son, the pure of heart Stefan is the one who weakly gave into temptation and completed the transition first (by feeding on their father no less!) and then forced Damon to turn. The fact that father Salvatore is the person who killed both brothers is also incredibly telling. Oh my god, it informs on Stefan's character to a considerable degree, but in the end, it tells us even more about Damon. Stefan has always been a little too good and a little too broody for my tastes (a la Angel), but the writers have given him such an interesting set of baggage that his moods and perspectives make total sense now and are much more compelling. Most writers would have made him broody for the simple sake of being broody (and the guilt over hurting people is certainly there), but Stefan's real guilt and real regrets are seeded in what he did to Damon. Stefan is the one who got Katherine captured, Stefan is the one who revealed all to papa Salvatore (thereby betraying Damon), and Stefan is the one who turned Damon. Damon was ready and willing to die rather than become a vampire, but Stefan couldn't let go. For as much as Damon was the black sheep of the family and Stefan was the model son, at the end of the day, Stefan adores his big brother and selfishly turns him so they can spend eternity together. It gives Stefan's guilt some much needed depth and gives Damon's attitude some heart-breaking justification. What's worse? Damon has some guilt as well (it's there, if he ever wanted to feel it); guilt which was thrust upon him by Stefan. Damon may say that his actions are his own and that Stefan shouldn't feel any guilt for what Damon has done, but there's no sidestepping the fact that none of what Damon has done would have ever happened if he had died in 1864 like he had wanted. For all of Damon's blustering that he hates Stefan, deep down it's abundantly clear that he cares for him unconditionally. I'm not sure what to think of Damon's assertion that he hates Stefan because Katherine chose the both of them ("It should have been me. Only me."). On the one hand, I think it very well might be true, but on the other hand, I think he was mostly trying to take some weight off his brother's shoulders. It's not that Stefan turned Damon that's the problem, it's that Katherine turned them both.

You'd think that all that would have taken an entire episode to illuminate, but no, that was just one awesome storyline in an episode with a bevy of them. Not only did the episode make some serious strides in the relationship between the brothers, but it also made some pivotal changes in the relationships between Elena and Damon, Damon and Alaric (I just adore the respect and loathing between them), Jeremy and Anna, Pearl and, uh... existence, and Uncle John and just about everyone else. I'm quite digging the romantic progression of once-boring character Jeremy and increasingly badass Anna. I can't wait to see the fallout following Pearl's death. That's another aspect of the show I happily endorse. The writers are willing to kill people and write characters off the show. It keeps you guessing and adds a level of unease to the whole setup. Nice. Speaking of unease, Uncle John is kinda freaking me out... in a good way. I hear the season finale is going to be explosive (and no, I don't know if that's a pun or not). Pearl is (was) a force to be reckoned with and John just took her out with almost no effort at all. Pearl has shown dominance over Damon in the past, who absolutely admits that she's "scary" (and coming from someone as twisted as Damon, that's saying something), so how could Damon possibly go toe-to-toe with John? That's a sorta-syllogism I'm just not too comfortable with...

But, even with all the interpersonal dynamics that were showcased in the episode, I'd say the bond between Elena and Damon comes right after the brothers Salvatore in terms on import and impact. We've all seen the sexual tension between the pair from day one and the budding romantic relationship could be seen from a mile away, but once again, the writers take what might be expected and make it a whole lot more. "Simple intimacy of the near touch" indeed! This could have been your typical love triangle with jealousies and betrayals as lust takes over blah, blah, blah, but the dynamic among Damon, Elena, and Stefan is a lot richer than that. For instance, Stefan seems abundantly aware of the fact that Damon is horning in on his territory, but doesn't seem fazed by it at all. Damon does absolutely nothing to hide his intentions and calls Elena "our girlfriend" with impunity. Is this some of Stefan's guilt manifesting itself in giving Damon a pass? They seemed to be fine sharing Katherine as well, so maybe they're just kinky enough for this to be okay. Damon most certainly is not okay with sharing, so it'll be interesting to see exactly where things go from here. At this point, Damon and Elena have become allies, friends, and even confidantes. They're very comfortable with one another (little things like picking up her feet so he can sit on the couch just seem very warm and familiar), but there's also a tension there. The attraction between them is obvious, but at the same time, they play it off very casually and seemingly platonically. The depth of feelings they have for one another only shows itself in small doses and in ostensibly deflected ways. When Damon says things like, "I don't have any friends," it would be natural for Elena to protest. But here, when Damon makes those kind of assertions, he's met with subtle dissent from Elena which really means, "I care about you and you care about me and we both know it so stop saying otherwise!" She cares about him a lot and wants to make sure he knows that, even if she can't come right out and say it. She really is concerned that this guy she relies on and cares for has a negative outlook and she wants to make sure he knows that he is loved. It's very sweet, but stops well short of being saccharine. It's all in veiled tones and subtle exchanges that are well-noted by the audience so the writers don't have to hit us over the head with it. The repercussions this might have for the future know no bounds and I can't wait to see where things end up. No, correction, I'm kind of hoping things never end at all.

I could go on and on about every episode of this show (oops, too late). Each storyline is rich and has a history behind it. You can tell that the writers had a plan for the grander scheme of things rather than just making stuff up as they go along. Every time I can't figure out how exactly things happened and fear there's going to be a plothole, I'm pleasantly surprised to find that not only is there no plothole, but the plot itself is much more layered and shocking than expected. I finish each episode rabidly eager for next week to hurry and get here. And during that excruciating interim period, I find myself dwelling on the finer points of the show. What am I pondering at the moment? How does Anna become a vampire? Who turns her exactly? Who kills her in order to turn her? We know she was turned at roughly the same time as Stefan and Damon, but we don't know how...

Next up on the show that just won't quit? Isobel returns to Stars Hollow (er, Mystic Falls). "Hello, Ric." Ahhhh! Hello, awesome. Can't wait!

The Good, the Bad, and the Glee

My love for Glee knows no bounds. I've have long had an obsessive appreciation for musicals (the purest form of expression as far as Joss and I are concerned), but that doesn't mean they're all good. In spite of my love of characters spontaneously bursting into song, even I have my limits. High School Musical, anyone? Oh sure, I've seen it all right. (The first two, in fact.) But, while my threshold for musicals is quite high, my tolerance level for Disney-style teen crap is quite low...

It's for this reason that I'm so pleased that Glee is far from your typical tween dramedy. Given that Ryan Murphy is at the helm, I was confident it would have a lot more edge and more cutting humor than your average fare (Murphy's prior pet project was Popular which was awesome (until it wasn't anymore)). Anyway, I wanted to start off this post with a clear assertion of my love and admiration for Glee because for the rest of the post, I'm going to be contrasting the good with the bad of the show. No matter how many quibbles I may have, at the end of the day, it's one of the most unique shows on TV (and yes, I'm aware the technically "unique" is an absolute, but you know what I mean) and in spite of its faults, succeeds in breaking the mold and allowing Murphy and company to really show their creative chops. Much appreciated, Show. Much appreciated.

That said, the show's awesomeness is often tempered by some less-than-awesomeness...

The Good: It's a musical, week in and week out. Many shows have had musical episodes (I think we can all agree that Buffy's Once More with Feeling set the gold standard here, but other shows (like Scrubs) have also tried their hands), but only Glee takes the musical as its base genre. The Buffy musical integrated song and story quite a bit better than Glee, but then again, they didn't have to do this every single week. Nothing thrills me quite like a good musical number, and this show has them in spades. The producers aren't afraid to take a chance and it has paid off 100 fold. That's pretty damn ballsy and not an easy feat...

The Bad: ...which is evidenced by some of the less successful narrative aspects of the show. When your hands are tied by convention, it's got to be hard to really do exactly what you want all the time. For example, Glee's most recent outing (the Madonna-thon) where actual story and any semblance of logic (which was never real high on their priority list to begin with) were thrown by the wayside. I have no problem with an all music extravaganza, but what few story elements there were didn't... really... work all that well. I most enjoy musicals when the songs are integrated into the story in such a natural and compelling way that you hardly even think about the fact that they just halted dinner so they could sing on the tables for five minutes. Musicals are at their best when the songs help drive the story and the story helps inform on the songs. Glee certainly has its moments of story-melded musical genius, but more and more, the narrative is completely secondary and each plot point seems to be an often shameless ploy to get to the next iTunes sales-getter. Ammon likens the songs in musicals to the sex in porn, and lately on Glee, I kind of have to agree with him. For the most part, I'm okay with more song, less story, but I like the blend to be seamless. The group version of Like a Virgin was quite skillfully done, but most of the others didn't really fit in all that well... Seriously, the music video was badass and awesome and all, but story-wise? WTF? At the end of the day though, just as no one buys Playboy for the articles, the music really is the primary draw and the best part of the show, and I kind of have to hand it to the creators for unabashedly delivering proudly over-produced musical numbers left and right. I have heard that the next few episodes do a much better job with character development and musical integration, so I suspect they'll be back on track in no time. At the moment, as much as I love the music, I could actually live with a bit less of it.

The Good: The music really is catchy as hell (in a good way) and most of the singers are absolutely amazing. Seriously, Lea Michele (Rachel Berry) is fantastic. One of the best things to come of recent episodes (and I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of shit for saying this, but...)? Jesse St. James. I know he's playing a bad guy (seemingly), but I don't care. It's so nice to finally have a male vocalist who can keep up with Lea. As it turns out, Jonathan Groff (who plays Jesse) and Lea both performed on Broadway in the musical Spring Awakening (I want to say the girl who plays Tina was also in it...). Anyway, after performing together for two years, not only are Lea and Jonathan the best of friends in real life, but they've developed one hell of a vocal rapport and chemistry with one another (as is clear to see in the show). Glee has always had a knack for taking cheesy songs and making them relevant and awesome again, and seeing Lea and Jonathan take the uber-corny Lionel Ritchie blind-girl-sculpting-his-face-in-clay song "Hello" and making it so awesome was a real thrill. Even though a number of the principle cast aren't the most spectacular singers (cough--Finn--cough), the guest stars are beyond spectacular. Kristin Chenowith is coming back to the show (tonight, I believe), Neil Patrick Harris (or, if you watch The Soup "Nei9l") is going to be in the Joss Whedon directed episode coming up (!), and while Idina Menzel has yet to sing on the show (a travesty, if you ask me), I hear she will very soon and I simply can't wait. The more Broadway vets, the better.

The Bad: Finn just needs to stop. I think the reason I'm appreciating Jesse so very very much is that we've had to suffer through one-too-many Rachel/Finn duet. Don't get me wrong, the songs are still awesome and all, but the fact that Rachel is so amazing just makes the fact that Finn's singing is terrible all the more ear-splittingly apparent. Honestly, it goes from Rachel's dizzying range and perfect pitch to Finn's thin, raspy, flat "vocals" and it's quite simply jarring. And disappointing. Hearing Rachel sing with Jesse (and with Mr. Shu, for that matter) has been a revelation. There's nothing more exhilarating than hearing a really powerful duet and when Rachel is relying of Finn? It's really more of a solo... Seriously, in the download versions, you can hear that the sound mixer has casually amped up Rachel's vocals (not that she needs it) and underplayed Finn's. I've also heard that in live performances, Finn is even worse, so hats off to the sound mixer for making him less terrible. A herculean effort, it seems. The fact that the base concept for the show is that Finn is the vocal glue that holds the glee club together is just absurd. Everyone is a better singer than he is. Artie has a really deep, soulful sound, Puck's got a great voice, all the girls can blow his singing out of the water (seriously, it was fabulous to finally get to hear Santana get some vocal props during Like a Virgin), and it's abundantly clear that Finn is not the tour de force here. He's a liability. It's unfortunate that he doesn't have a better voice because his acting is solid and his characterization is spot on. As great a job as he does with the character, for a show that is this musically based, they really should have gone with a Broadway baby instead...

The Good: The supporting cast. (Kurt, in particular, makes my day, and once bit players Brittany and Santana have begun stealing the show of late. Brittany cracks me up and has as many hilarious one-liners as Sue Sylvester these days.)

The Bad: The amount of screen-time and singing opportunities afforded to the supporting cast. (It's a huge ensemble, I get it. But honestly, it's been established that they're all better singers than Finn (and by and large, more interesting characters), so why the hell is he getting all the solos and grand story arcs?! I appreciate the fact that they've acknowledged this in the show and I'm hopeful that Kurt's and Mercedes' new foray into the world of the Cheerios will help quell some of this problem.)

The Good: The show has finally eased off the baby drama that dominated the first half of the season. Much as I love babies (especially fake ones), that was getting a little grating.

The Bad: As glad as I am that it's not the A-plot every week, the show just dropped the baby storylines entirely. I know they'll be back and all, but right now, it kind of feels like, "Hey, whoa, didn't we just spend a whole lotta time and energy on all that?" Apparently not...

The Good: The show keeps things snapping and doesn't dwell too long on the storylines I'm not all that invested in.

The Bad: The show doesn't spend all that much time on the storylines I do care about either. Seriously, at the pace they're going, I'm a little afraid the show will burn out before it wraps its second season. Much like The O.C. and Gossip Girl, when you've got that much going on that quickly and jump from plot to plot in a matter of minutes, you're bound to run out of gas...

The Good: The fact that the show is finally back after a four-month hiatus!

The Bad: The fact that Fox thinks American Idol is more important than anything else on the planet and is willing to allow it to spill over into Glee's timeslot. I am a professional DVRerer and nothing is more aggravating than having the last few minutes of a show cut off. To boot, all my timeslots are filled to begin with, so I can't be adding minutes to the ends of things without screwing up the whole venture. Seriously, between that and ABC's penchant for starting its shows two minutes early (that needs to stop, ABC, I'm not kidding--I have, uh... absolutely no recourse... and I'm not afraid to use it!), my scheduling is much more tedious than it needs to be. Justified (which had a couple of off episodes, but has now really come into its own--rather awesomely) could do without going a minute over as well. I don't need my schedule screwed up so that I can catch the "next time on" crap. The episode ends in time, so end the timeslot at 9 on the dot, mmmkay?

Anyway, my love of Glee has its issues, but it's still love. Again, I've heard that many of my primary quibbles will be addressed shortly, and a solution to my main quibble (with Finn's singing) seems to have been written right into the show. When Finn told Jesse he was glad there would be someone to help out on lead male vocals, I was like, "HELLS YEAH!" Here's hoping that's not just lip service.

Oooh, SNAP!

As I have noted several times on this blog, my relationship with The Vampire Diaries started off a little shaky... I assumed I was in for an hour of sparkling Twilight-style gag-worthiness, but with each and every episode, The Vampire Diaries raises the bar and proves to me just how wrong I was. This show may look like some craptastic teen love story (with vampires!), but it's oh-so-much more than that.

As with the last dozen episodes, last night's outing was superb and delightfully emblematic of all the reasons I have grown to absolutely adore this show.

**SPOILER ALERT**

It's hard to even know where to begin when describing the many ways in which this show gets things right. Even when I think that certain storylines are inconsequential or that something isn't quite working, I'm quickly proven wrong (and usually in the most awesome of ways).

Last night's A-plot was stellar from beginning to end (no matter how pissed Alaric may be at the situation, I'm with Damon on this one--badass, indeed!). With an A-plot as involved as Stefan getting kidnapped and tortured, you'd think there wouldn't be much time or effort put into anything else, but leave it to this show to bang out a nail-biter A-plot and completely engaging and important B and C plots (more on that later). So yeah, the fact that Stefan is, shall we say, indisposed for much of the episode had the delightful side effect of a largely Damon-centric episode. As is no shock whatsoever (given my reviews of this show), Damon is the major draw for me. Even those of you on Team Stefan have to admit that Damon's devilish ways and snarky one-liners are unduly entertaining ("...his love lifts you up where you belong. I get it"). Beyond that, much beyond that in fact, is that Damon is surprisingly layered. Last night's episode showed even more depth and range for his character than ever and I'm absolutely loving it.

Damon may have started out as the amoral jackass hell-bent on torturing those around him for kicks, but now he's all that and more. Although Damon showed some cracks in his facade and a break in his bravado (the scene in Alaric's classroom where Damon explains to Elena why she can't come was bloody brilliant), he's still manages to retain his edge. I really enjoyed seeing Damon show some genuine concern for his brother (you could see where some old allegiances had been rekindled in that "Only I'm allowed to torture my brother!" kind of way--nice) and also rather appreciated his protectiveness of Elena. Clearly he cares about her, but he did his damnedest to make his insistences that she stay out of it seem more practical than anything. In spite of his deep-seeded affection for these people, I absolutely love the fact that he's still evil and unapologetic about it. This show doesn't pull any punches and much to the writers credit, they are willing to have their main characters do things that aren't likeable. Damon is a vampire and a killer and a bastard and if that means he does things that makes audiences uncomfortable, then they're fine with that. And so am I. I hate it when shows are too concerned with characters having qualities that might turn people off. It causes them to play things safe and stop short of authenticity. The Vampire Diaries does no such thing and after years of seeing lesser shows fall into that trap, it surprises me every time Damon and company (although it's usually Damon) do something that really crosses the line.

I was pretty flabbergasted a couple of episodes ago when Damon basically admitted to murder during a bachelor auction and more than a little thrown when he killed Alaric (it's to the show's credit that I honestly thought to myself, "Well, most shows wouldn't kill this character off, but here? Who knows?"). Granted Alaric managed to survive the encounter, but the total lack of empathy as Damon sat there watching him gasp for his last breaths was, well, breath-taking. He's an uncompromising bastard at his core, so when he actually does bend on an issue, it gives it all the more gravity and impact. As holy-shit! as those moments were, I think last night's foray into murder was somehow more shocking. One of the best aspects of this show is that it keeps you guessing and constantly plays against standard, narrative conventions (most of which would have made Damon more moral--you know, because you can't have a good guy who's actually a bad guy, or whatever). I fully expected Alaric to shove that woman who owned the house out onto the porch, Damon would compel (or glamour) her, and gain entrance to the home. Yeah, not so much. Instead, he very casually confirms that she is the sole human who lives on the property and then SNAPS HER NECK! Just as casually! The coolness and quickness with which he did this was shocking and caught me totally off guard. It was done with no more thought or effort than opening a cupboard door. Every time I think I know what this character is going to do, I'm thrown off balance. For any other character, on any other show, snapping an innocent old lady's neck would have fallen into unforgiveable territory. With Damon, though? Somehow it's just another layer. You wouldn't fault a bear from attacking a camper and it's hard to condemn a vampire for doing genuinely vampiric things. Plus, if you're into moralizing, that woman wasn't going to make it out of that house alive anyways. She would have been exploited and drained by her captors until her usefulness (or blood) ran out and then they'd have killed her. I'm not saying that Damon needed a reason here, but I do think that's part of it. For Damon, killing her was just one more step in saving his brother. As horrifying as it was, I love that the writers were willing to go there. (By quick contrast, think of how appalling it was when Angelus snapped Jenny Calendar's neck. I realize that carried a different kind of weight because of Jenny's relationship with the audience and with Giles, but of all the evil, horrible, awful things Angelus did, that was the most shocking and in its own way, the most horrible. He didn't even bite her. She was so insignificant that she didn't even qualify as a snack. Whoa.) (On an unrelated note of surprise, I also liked the twist on the whole "car won't start" conceit. One would expect Elena to turn the key again and again, but no, Frederick had already taken the keys. Nice.)

Damon isn't the only way in which the show keeps viewers or his fellow characters on their toes ("That stuff you said about my wife. That was a lie, wasn't it." "Yup.") Geez, even the seemingly irrelevant C-plot kept me guessing and usually guessing wrong. Dead wrong, as it turns out. It doesn't even matter if I read spoilers for this show because I'm still surprised when things come to a head. Once again, hats off to the writers for tying everything together so well and yet so sneakily that I don't know exactly where it's going till we're there. Take for example, Caroline's ostensibly meaningless attempt at driving home. Her car gets predictably stuck, but after that? All bets are off. I had an inkling she would play into the A and B plots somehow (because this show almost never has a throwaway plotline), but I was never quite sure how. At first, I assumed her car had gotten stuck by the farmhouse where Stefan was being held and that she'd get herself into trouble there. I thought maybe she would go to the house asking to use the phone, but no, the show turns that assumption on its ear and instead, that's how Alaric gains access to the home later on. Then, as Caroline is trying to get cell reception, she starts walking toward a bit the bank of a rushing river, swelled by the pouring rain. I thought it was a safe assumption that she would slide down the bank (which she did) and get swept away, right? Wrong. She slides down the hill, but stays out of the river. Instead, she saves herself from the rapids by grabbing onto some tree roots and a decaying corpse! Holy shit! Way to take my lazily straight-forward predictions and slap me in the face! I knew instantly that the body was Vicki's (I had heard that her body would resurface, but never dreamed it would happen like this), but that in no way undercut the surprise. Nicely done, show. Very nicely done.

As so, seemingly useless C plot combines with seemingly disparate B plot (the whole Jeremy and Anna affair) and that all affects everyone and everything happening in the A plot (finding Vicki's body is a problem for the whole town, including the brothers Salvatore and vamps in general). It's not easy to intertwine this many characters and this many things going on, but the show does a hell of a job. The fact that Caroline found the body is in itself important. It could have been just about anyone, really, but playing Caroline's insecurity about her relationship with Matt off a family tragedy was brilliant. It makes the jealousy she feels toward Elena all the more palpable (the look on her face as Matt tells her he needs to be alone, only to embrace Elena seconds later was pretty heartbreaking).

Finding Vicki's body managed to impact every aspect of the show. I don't know if the town elders in Mystic Falls (or if anyone) can tell that a dead body had been a vampire, but this could be potentially catastrophic for the brothers, Pearl and company (and you know, if Damon thinks someone is scary, she's scary), and everyone else. From a more emotional standpoint, Vicki's impact on the B plot is potentially the most important. As it turns out (and as I had kind of suspected, but didn't really embrace the notion of), Jeremy's entire reason for wanting Anna to turn him was that he wanted to find Vicki. I figured that might have been part of it, but genuinely thought there was a lot more to it. Again, it's to the writers credit that seemingly straight-forward Jeremy was totally using Anna the whole time. I think he did like her, but his ulterior motives are a lot more compelling. Mere minutes away from being turned (and again, with a show like this, I totally believed she might turn him--hell, they turned and killed Vicki, why not everyone else?), the discovery of Vicki's body not only saves Jeremy from a life of vampirism, but also places another wedge between the Gilberts and the vampires. Whatever affection Anna once had for Jeremy has been kicked in the shins and as we all know, vampires don't handle rejection well... Jeremy had long been one of the secondary characters that didn't really have me at the edge of my seat, but his relationship with Anna managed to make him into a character I actually care about.

In short, I love a show that is willing to push the envelope and can keep me on my toes. There are sadly very few out there that fit the bill. I can't wait to see the next few episodes where apparently Stefan finally proves he has fangs. I think adding a little edge and a little evil to his goodie goodie facade will add a lot of layers, and for me, a lot more investment. I don't anticipate I'll be ditching Team Damon anytime soon, but I'd like it to at least be a contest. And again, kudos to the show for their willingness to take a character and play against expectations. I don't know where Stefan's new bloodlust will lead, but I can't wait to find out.

You killed my fath--uh, wife... Prepare to die!

As any Chuck fan can tell you, there are a lot of aspects of the show that you really just have to go with. If you think too hard about the show, it just spirals into ridiculousness. As such, I quite happily just watch as the bad guys get blown up and Chuck and the team save the day. It's a good, easy show to watch. And, while I quite enjoyed last night's game changing episode, I have to admit...

...it made even less sense than usual. And for a show like this? That's really saying something!

**SPOILER ALERT** (Annie, that means you, Miss I'd Rather Be In Ireland...) :)

Honestly, I can usually gloss over the bits that don't make a damn bit of sense, but last night, the WTF? moments were just too frequent to ignore. On top of that, the glaring illogicals made the more minor offenses seem more obvious.

To quote my mother as Chuck and the entire armed forces descend upon that weird, abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere (more on that later), "Wait, how did they get there so fast?" I would have generally responded with something like, "Seriously? On a show where the base concept is that a geeky nobody had a couple of databases downloaded into his brain so that he knows everything, including Kung Fu, and that's your major quibble? 'How did they get there so fast?'" But, after last night's parade of "Wait, what?" I had to concede the point.

Before I go too far down the rabbit hole, I have to make it clear that I really did enjoy last night's episode. I'll espouse the virtues later on, but for now, on with the absurd!

Okay, first thing, I understand that the writers were trying to build suspense for the audience and keep us guessing as to whether Shaw was a baddie or not, but the characters in the show should have been asking a lot of the same questions we were.

First off: I'm sorry, why the hell did Shaw have that video of his wife getting Red Tested set up in some bizarre warehousy something or other in the middle of nowhere? I get that he was trying to convince Sarah that he had tracked down the Ring director and that that was their base, or whatever, but why? It just seemed like way too elaborate a ploy if he didn't really intend to kill her at that point. Why not just show the recovered video? Was this all a big elaborate escapade to convince Beckmann to send them to Paris? Again, that seems totally unnecessary. There would have been a dozen easier, more logical ways of getting this done.

Off that same point: Why the hell didn't Sarah find it odd that Shaw was pointing a gun at her for the better part of the warehouse incident? If this really was just some sort of gambit to get Sarah to see the footage (which Chuck already knew about and which Shaw could have told her about), then why was he acting all suspicious? If I were trying to convince Sarah that I was still on her side, I probably wouldn't be pointing my gun at her... I guess this was all a ruse to convince his cohorts that he wasn't a Ring operative, but again, probably shouldn't be treating Sarah like a hostile and overall being creepy and weird. He's supposed to be a badass agent who should really lie a lot better than that. He was acting weird enough that Sarah activated her tracking signal. That equals crappy spywork. Oh, and furthermore, was Shaw trying to pretend that he hadn't seen the footage? Because he certainly didn't come across as such. He obviously already knew about it, so why are we in a warehouse in the middle of the desert again?!

Second, er, Third: Is there some reason Shaw simply has to do everything the insanely hard way? He takes Sarah all the way to Paris so that he can kill her and send a message to the CIA. Fine. Whatever. Trying to exact some poetic justice. Got it. But why exactly does this murder plot involve drugging her with some magical paralytic, sitting in a cafe while he monologues ("You sly dog! You caught me monologuing!"), and then going to drown her in the river? Shaw, my man, this job doesn't need to be this hard. Or protracted. I understand building suspense and taking creative license (this is a pseudo spy thriller, after all), but couldn't it at least kind of make sense? He explains all this stuff to Sarah about his reasons, and I guess he just wanted her to know why he was doing what he was doing, but a lot of that information was intended to be heard by CIA ears, I have to assume. Well, that message is going to be pretty hard to relay, what with the messenger at the bottom of the Seine. If he really wanted to send a message to the CIA about his wife's death, he should have shot Sarah in the exact same location (or at least I would have). With her drowning in the river, who's to say the CIA would even put two and two together? Poetic, they ain't... and apparently, neither are you... Besides, with the whole reason Chuck was able to find them based on the location where his wife was shot, why wasn't the plan to kill her there? What's with the cafe? And the river?! Was he aiming for this to be a particularly cruel death for Sarah? If so, why? He's pissed at her for killing his wife (ridiculously), but he says that the paralytic will ease the pain and seems to sincerely want this to be easy on her. Then why the hell didn't he just shoot her in the head (in the right Parisian location) and end things instantly?! It doesn't make any sense. Is this all so that Chuck could take the time to dress up like a waiter in order to sneak up on Shaw? Because, once again, seriously?! He took the time to play dress up while her life was hanging in the balance? Uh, sure... Why not... (I'm guessing from a logistical standpoint the production team didn't have a choice for whatever reason, but if you have to cut corners, do it better than this, please...)

Fourth, I believe: And yes, I realize I've already been annoyed by this, but why is he blaming Sarah in the first place? Sarah's almost as much a victim in all this as he is. It was the worst day of both their lives. She was carrying out orders she didn't want to and thought his wife was pulling a gun on her. He knows all this. And yet, in order to get back at the CIA, he kills her? I guess he's trying to be symmetrical and poetic here, but wouldn't it have sent a much more powerful message to the CIA to have killed Chuck instead? I'm pretty sure the CIA would have taken Sarah's death in stride (agents get killed all the time, right?), but Chuck? The intersect?! MUCH bigger deal. That's the angle I would have taken, but Shaw is the mastermind here... apparently... so who am I to argue?

There are a lot more issues I had with this episode, but I grow weary of asking dozens of questions to which I don't anticipate ever getting any answers. I enjoyed the episode, but all the awesomeness was somewhat marred by the ubiquity of "Wait, why is he doing that?!" Who knows, maybe I'm just burned out and am seeing plot holes where none really exist, but my family was equally annoyed, so it doesn't appear to just be me. Having worked myself into a right dither, I think I'd best turn to the good things this episode had to offer...

Most important? Chuck, it appears, can be the same guy he's always been and be a spy. In a previous post, I noted what a game-changer it would have been for Chuck to kill a guy in cold blood, based on orders. I stand by that. But he just shot Shaw to death! you say? Completely different. The writers found a way to make shooting someone completely in line with Chuck's fundamentals. At the end of the day, he hates guns and isn't real keen on killing people, but there isn't anything he wouldn't do for the people he loves. It was really nice to see after that three seasons, Chuck has become a man. So much of the first two seasons was prefaced on Chuck feeling lost, insecure, ineffective, useless, impotent, and needy. Now, when push comes to shove and its truly life and death, he comes through. So often Chuck has dropped the ball in the past, screwed things up, and let Sarah down. Now, when it matters the most, he was able to step up and save the day. It was a really nice moment. (Even if it means that Superman's easy-to-look-atishness won't be on the show anymore...)

On that note, as much as I actually enjoyed Sarah and Shaw as a pairing, I'm glad that storyline is over. As is evidenced by the points enumerated above, the writers didn't quite seem to know exactly where to go with all this... So, even though it was wrapped up less successfully than I would have hoped, at least it done with. From an overarching narrative standpoint, it's really quite fitting that in order for Chuck to become the guy he wants to be, he has to take down the one-time emblem of everything he aspired to. After all the crazy boils down, being Shaw does not equal being the perfect spy or the perfect lover. Which brings me to Sarah... and Chuck...

So yeah, Chuck manned-up, saved the day, and got the girl. Where exactly do we go from here? Although I've never been much of a Shucker, it was a admittedly satisfying to see Chuck and Sarah finally get together. Quite frankly, the sexual tension this season hasn't exactly had me on the edge of my seat, so really, I don't think there's too much threat of losing the basic appeal of the show (unlike on Gossip Girl). This really does change things for the show going forward, however... It will be interesting to see how the new dynamic changes the show. Chuck is a real spy now. Sarah and Casey are more like partners than keepers. Morgan is... on the team now... or something... but has to keep cover at the Buy More... or whatever... (I know this section is about to be about good things, but once again, that didn't make a ton of sense.) I assume Morgan is the means by which they'll keep the Buy More as part of the show. It hasn't made any sense for Chuck to be there for a good long while, so at least they're getting him out of there. I really hope Morgan isn't going to act as a reboot for the geek-thrown-into-the-spy-world trope that started the show. I love Morgan and all, but I don't think I need that much of him.

I really hope that as the show continues the writers will really embrace a new direction, even if some of the motifs and themes remain. The show is necessarily different now and I don't think there's any going back. As I'm writing this, it is curiously apparent how season/series finaleish the last episode was... After doing a little digging, it turns out that yes, indeed, this was designed as a season (or heaven forbid, series) finale, but thanks to NBC's crazy-ass scheduling and the Jay Leno event, it was turned into just another episode. It's weird to think that it'll be back in a couple of weeks with new episodes for the current season. Anyway, I'm hoping that the show really looks at how Chuck and Sarah work as actual teammates. We've seen glimpses of the awesomeness of her pairing with Bryce and it should be interesting to see how she fares with Chuck. I'm not sure how Casey will fit into everything, but at least he has his post back. I just don't know. Having Chuck be competent throws a major wrench into the entire conceit of the show. It'll be interesting to see how the writers handle that. I'm excited, but admittedly apprehensive.

Here's hoping we get a season 4 so that we can find out if they pull it all off. From what I'm hearing, it'll get picked up. It's most recent numbers haven't been great, but they're consistent and have gone up a tick from the low of a couple of weeks ago. NBC doesn't have a whole lot of other candidates (although I hear The Marriage Ref has been renewed--please contain your excitement), so hopefully Chuck will get a break. It's in better position this year than it was last, so theoretically, it should make it.

My fingers are crossed, just in case.

How The Mighty Have Fallen

I recently noted some of my new favorite shows on this blog and it's a damn good thing they've come along because some my higher ranking shows have fallen off the tracks (or in this case, dropped off my tiers almost entirely).

It's always a shame when a once beloved show falls out of favor, but for whatever reasons, the recent spate of mainstays disappointing or boring me has been more irksome than usual. I've broken up with shows in the past (Heroes and Grey's Anatomy were some of my more vitriolic recent break ups), but the shear volume of disappointments lately has been really depressing.

Here are some (though sadly, not all) of the current shit list occupants:

GOSSIP GIRL
It pains me to put Gossip Girl on this list, but what can I say? I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any die-hard fan who hasn't been let down by the current season. Where this used to be the very top of my very top tier, it is now teetering at the bottom of my third tier. This season started off a little shaky, but still enjoyable. Then the show went on a 4 month hiatus. Now my interest seems to be taking a 4 month hiatus... I have heard that the show is on an up-tick after several discouraging episodes, but I'm just not sure I have the strength to even get caught up. I currently have the last 4 or 5 episodes saved on my DVR and can't seem to motivate myself to watch them. Rather, I've been opting to re-watch other shows. And not even top tier shows at that... Why am I forsaking GG specifically?

• Chuck has been defanged. The whole beauty of a character like Chuck is that he's and uncompromising asshole. That's the whole point of a bad boy. He did as he pleased and pretended not to care what anyone thought. He was ruthless and debauched and malicious and wonderfully perverse. Nowadays? He's unbearably pedestrian. And mopey. The devilish glee with which he tortured his friends and enemies is gone and a new sad-sack version of Chuck has taken over. Getting him and Blair together could have been awesome, but instead, it basically ruined them both. I understand that this is a largely unavoidable pitfall of serialized TV. How long exactly can you have a character be the same bastard he's always been? For a character to remain interesting, he or she has to evolve. I just wish Chuck had evolved in a less depressing and untenable way. I hear a return to form is on the horizon and it's no shock to me that this will likely coincide with his and Blair's break-up.


• On a related note, Blair has gone from devious to annoying. The unfortunate decent of Chuck and Blair is due in very large part to the pair of them officially hooking up. As is so often the case, the tension was lost and the writers didn't know what to do with the new dynamic. So what did they come up with? Well, as discussed, Chuck became a mopey, sensitive snooze-fest and Blair? Well, apparently they decided that "weak" and "annoying" were the buzz words for Blair's new life. She was largely defanged as well and it gave her very little to do. Without having a high school to terrorize, she was basically lost. Neither she nor Chuck was left with any real purpose or direction, so Blair ended up turning all her energies on ridiculous and irritating pursuits, many of which involve whining at Chuck. Truth be told? It's been so long since I've jumped right into the show that I'm kind of forgetting where we left off... Last I remember, Blair was moralizing to everyone on the planet and trying to run their lives in completely pointless ways. I miss the badass queen B who ruled with an iron fist... With both Chuck and Blair reduced to pathetic shells of their former shells, the primary reason I watch the show basically imploded.


• I've seen so many combinations of couples that I simply don't care anymore. Serena and Dan. Dan and Vanessa. Vanessa and Nate. Blair and Nate. Nate and Jenny. Jenny and drug dealer guy. Lily and Rufus. Lily and Bart. Serena and Tripp. Serena and Nate. Back to Serena and Dan. Oh, holy hell, I stopped caring 18 relationships ago! When everyone is with everyone else from one week to the next, there's no suspense and very little payoff. Chuck and Blair were always the main reason I watched the show and now that they've lost my interest, the rest of the cast simply can't make up the gap.


• Gossip Girl herself doesn't really seem to matter anymore... This show used to be about the fact that there's no such thing as privacy. Gossip was used as a tool, a weapon, and a constant stream of entertainment. Now that they're in college? Not so much... I can't remember the last time Gossip Girl was even a key aspect of the main plot. She's been reduced to nothing but narrator and that kind of undercuts a show called Gossip Girl...

THE OFFICE
My faith and adoration of The Office has been slipping for the past few seasons, but lately? It's been relegated to the very bottom-most spot on my list. Even below Gossip Girl. Because, whereas with GG, I'm still recording them and have the intention of someday actually watching them, I barely even record The Office anymore and don't even kind of care if I never see episodes. I at least have some hope that GG will come back from its slump, but The Office has been hit or miss (mostly miss) for years now and I think I'm done. Every so often I'll catch and episode and while there are generally a few funny moments per episode, the past few I've seen have been so painfully unfunny that I didn't even finish them. It's hard to even remember what the episodes were about, let alone anything funny that happened in them. I was given quite a hard time when I first noted the slump in quality, but now, even longterm fans (oh, who am I kidding, especially longterm fans) have been forced to admit the decline. Some specific reasons it now mostly kinda sucks?

• Jim went from adorable prankster to managerial prick. Seriously, he suddenly became a real dick when he and Pam finally got together and it's not fun to watch. Even when he's pranking Dwight nowadays, it feels like he's just being an disdainful jackass. Thanks, but no thanks.


• Jim and Pam. That's pretty much the whole complaint. Wait. No. Jim and Pam and a baby. Oh, good lord, that's the way to make things better... You know, because bringing a baby onto a show always helps. [Sarcasm duly noted? Good.]


• It's not about the monotony of office life anymore. That was always the best part of the show and now? It's just one ridiculous hijink after another.


• Just about every character on the show is a cartoon character these days. You'd think that would make it funnier, but when there's no one who isn't clinically insane, the whole set-up falls apart.


• The show has been on for a really long time and the magic is gone. This is a problem for any show that's been on for more than a couple of seasons and The Office is feeling it. Bad.

HOUSE
This is kind of an interesting one... After the old ducklings were dismissed (except for Foreman, of course--because the secret ingredient in reinventing a show is keeping the lamest character around), the new ducklings started to drag things into the depths pretty quickly. I had largely lost all interest, but was still keeping up with the show. Barely. I would often fast-forward through the lamer storylines (13 + Parkinson's (or Forman) = where the hell did I put the remote?) and didn't seem to miss anything at all. The A-plots bored me even more than usual and the characters weren't holding my attention long enough to compensate. When the characters you actually care about only get 3 minutes of screen time a piece, it's hard to stay interested... But, in recent months, Foreman has been mostly marginalized, Cuddy finally got her groove back (the episode that focused on her was a refreshing change of pace and easily one of the best episodes in recent years), Wilson is getting more screentime, and Chase is back! It's as though the powers that be actually listened to my prayers! I'm not saying it's back in the top tier, but it has managed to pull itself up from no man's land to a respectable position in my second tier. Here's hoping this trend continues. If they could just get rid of the patient-of-the-week I think we'd have a top spot contender on our hands... Although admittedly, even the patients-of-the-week have been better. It's still the standard, tired conceit of yore, but I'm not fast-forwarding through as much of it...

PSYCH
Yet another show that it pains me to include on this list... Psych isn't in as dire of straights as other shows on this list (it simply moved from top tier to second), but it's headed in a direction that isn't encouraging. I think it's simply been on for too long. With the light-hearted tone and straight-up procedural concept, it's hard to really explore characters or develop new ones, but I don't think this show has any other choice at this point. It's been the same old thing for way too long. Even the aspects of the show that I once loved have gotten tired and tedious. Shawn's cavalier, snarky barbs and crazy antics are falling flat after this much repetition and his and Gus' interactions have gotten completely stale. The most recent season started off with a bang, but the closing episodes left me underwhelmed. Add to the monotony the belabored will-they-or-won't-they relationship between Shawn and Juliet and the show is starting to fizzle. I'm not totally sure I even really care anymore. All the characters seem to have been boiled down into one-note cardboard cutouts of themselves so even when the writers try to give some depth or range, it seems artificial. I enjoyed the season finale quite a lot and hope it points to better things to come, but I'm not exactly brimming with confidence. I don't know what the show could really do to reinvent things, but they've got to do something or I fear I'm doomed to break up with this one. Here's hoping they get the spark back before my interest really starts to evaporate...