Apocalypse Now: Thoughts on Supernatural 5x01 “Sympathy for the Devil”

Better late than never, here are my thoughts on Supernatural's awesome season 5 premiere, "Sympathy for the Devil." (For those living under rocks – or on vacations away from their DVR's – be advised that there be spoilers ahead.)

"Sympathy for the Devil" picked up right where the season four finale ended: Lucifer’s essence is rising out of the depths; the meat-suit corpses of the defeated Lilith and the treacherous Ruby lie on the ground (and conveniently just out of camera range); and the brothers Winchester, reunited at last, stare at the swirling, violent presence heading towards them and towards the planet – the end result of the fruits of their season four labors. Sam looks at Dean. Dean looks at Sam. And then, bam!, season five is off and rolling. And what a great season it's going to be, if the premiere is any indication.

(Rod interrupts this blog to beg everyone's pardon for the potential random ordering of his thoughts on the premiere episode beyond this point. Also, Rod wants to let everyone know that he has yet to read any other reviews of the premiere, so any similarities to other SnOb's or blogger's viewpoints is just a sign of like minded thinking – not of blog copying. Similarly, if there are opinions below that completely contradict other bloggers, it's purely coincidental and not a call to battle. Rod will now stop talking about himself in the third person.)

Thunderstruck
"The Road So Far" segment wasn't set to Kansas' Wayward Son, but we may have gotten the next best thing. Only a few seconds into AC/DC's Thuderstruck and I was completely digging the recap… both the music and the selected scenes. The opening montage seemed to focus exclusively on season four events (i.e., the introduction of the angels, Castiel's involvement with the brothers, Sam's addiction, etc.). Very little was flashed on from the first three seasons, indicating to me that season 5 is moving full speed ahead with the expanded mythology of season 4 and not looking back. I'm cool with that, and I'm not worried that the potentially epic-scale storylines will take away from the real heart of the show: two brothers, against the world, saving people. (Yes, the brothers now have an MIA renegade angel on their side, but I think the core of the show will remain the same nonetheless.)

Broken Trust
A recurring theme throughout the episode was Dean's avoidance of discussing Sam's role in unleashing Lucifer and also in avoiding any chick flick moments in which Sam attempted to explain how sorry he was. Only at the episode's end did we learn the real reason that Dean didn't want to discuss the issue: because facing the truth meant admitting how much Sam had hurt him and how much that betrayal had fundamentally fractured their relationship and destroyed Dean's trust in Sam. As painful as it was for viewers to watch Dean reluctantly drop that bombshell on his brother, it made for great television; and let's be honest: it had to happen. No way could Sam and Dean pick up this season as if nothing had happened. Like Dean said, Sam chose a demon over his own brother (a brother who gave his life for him), and that's not something you can forgive and forget so easily.

Captain Awesome
If Castiel wasn't ubercool enough last season, then how bloody fantastic was he in this season's premiere? Renegade angel or not, Castiel's two minutes of screen time were possibly the best two minutes of the entire ep. Castiel's sudden appearance at the storage locker jumping in and kicking some serious angel ass and saving the brothers from Zachariah was full-on awesome. I'm psyched that Misha has been upgraded to a series regular, especially given that the character was supposedly killed (or “smote”) by the archangel after the events of last season’s finale.

Are You There, God?
Castiel's unexplained resurrection, Sam and Dean's mysterious rescue and relocation to the airplane, and Sam's rapid, symptom-free withdrawal from his demon blood addiction all point to the presence of some supremely powerful, off-screen character. It's gotta be God, right? Zachariah's fear when he realized that Castiel had been saved confirmed my suspicions: Zachariah and the angels are working outside of Big Daddy’s plan, so He took a few matters into his own hands and rescued Cas and the brothers.

The Sword of Michael... Er, Not So Fast
I'm anxious to read other viewers' opinions of Dean's actions in the storage locker, because I can see how they might be polarizing. Should Dean have given into Zachariah and Michael to save Bobby and Sam? My answer: no. Dean made the right call by not giving into the angels, even though it may have cost Bobby his legs and Sammy his lungs. The Winchesters have made far too many deals with devils in order to save each other, and every deal seems to have made matters worse; so Dean drawing his line in the sand, crippled by stomach cancer and with his brother suffocating behind him, and telling Zachariah to shove it, was unquestionably the right decision. (In my opinion)

The Bitch is Back
The return of the long-absent DemonMeg was, to be blunt, somewhat underwhelming. Meg (now played by creepy Rachel Miner) was on screen for less then five minutes. Given how much havoc Meg wreaked on the boys in season 1, and then again in her brief return in season 2, I expected a lot more from her this time around. Hopefully she'll have more to do in later eps; otherwise, I'm not sure I see the point in the series bringing her back at all. (Stop doubting, Rod. Remember: "In Kripke We Trust.")

Quickies:
• How the hell does Bobby not have one of those demon-possession protective tattoos?

• How long have the angels known that Dean is the sword of Michael? Did they know when they rushed into hell to rescue him?

• Molar in the hair? Kripke is seriously twisted sometimes.

• Samlicker81. MoreThenBrothers.net. Gotta love the writer’s for poking a little fun at themselves, and some of their more, uh, "creative" fans.

• Lucifer is Rising (and there's a whole twitter war to prove it), and he's embodied by Mark Pellegrino. Pellegrino has been landing some seriously high profile guest starring roles over the last few years (most notably Dexter and Lost), and he seems like a perfect choice to play Lucifer and his emotionally shattered meat-suit.

• Ellen is back next week!!

Thanks for reading, everyone! (Oh, and just in case it wasn't clear or in case I didn't say it definitively enough: I loved this episode.)

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50 Things I Didn't Say in the Last Four Months (part 10 of 10)

Part 10 of the "50 Things I Should Have Blogged About..."

• I really want Flash Forward to be awesome, and I suppose we'll find out soon enough if the show truly is the new Lost or not. Of all of the new fall dramas, Flash Forward may be the one that I'm looking forward to the most.

• In yet another sign of complete unoriginality and desperation, the CW is putting out a remake of Melrose Place this fall. And in yet another sign of Rod's inexplicable need to sample every new show that hits the airwaves, I'll be watching. Is it too early to declare this show the "worst new show of the season" without having seen a single episode? I watched the over-the-top original series, and I can't understand why the CW would ever try to recreate that niche. Oh wait, yes I can. They're completely desperate for any type of buzz or viewer attraction that they'll scrape the bottom of the barrel for previous hits that they can recast with a bunch of skinny, white people and feed it to the tweeny boppers of today under the label of "shows you mush watch in order to remain cool."

• Jay Leno is taking over the 10pm hour on NBC's primetime lineup every weeknight this fall. Let's be honest: I don't care how many promos NBC runs claiming that Americans want more comedy or that Jay Leno is the answer to the nation's emotional recession, we all know that this programming change is, in actuality, the networks form of surrender given their complete inability to find enough quality series that viewers will watch. It's a shame, and although NBC has my sympathies for their current predicament, they can't fool me into thinking that the Leno experiment is something other than what it really is: a huge white flag.

• Starz is still pursuing their foray into series programming, preparing to launch an ambitions retelling of Spartacus in early 2010. When I first heard about Starz's plan to retool the story as an hour-long weekly series on premium cable I was less than intrigued, but after this promo hit the internet, I was definitely paying attention. I'm psyched that I have Starz, and I can't wait to see this show hit the airwaves – even if only the 0.0001% of the population who have Starz are watching.

• Why the hell is Adam Rodriguez leaving CSI: Miami? And more importantly, with Delko's character gone and the possibility of a Celleigh/Delko happy ending obliterated, is there really any reason to continue watching the show?

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50 Things I Didn't Say in the Last Four Months (part 9 of 10)

Part 9 of the "50 Things I Should Have Blogged About..."

• I admit that I will be tuning in for The Vampire Diaries on the CW this fall and hoping that it exceeds expectations. Not having read any of the books (as I'm not a big fan of teen chick-lit, go figure), I'm assuming the show will be the CW's version of True Blood – less sex , violence, and mythology; more teen angst, heavy sighs, and pop music soundtracks. Regardless of how unoriginal the material may be in today's vampire-infused pop culture, I still want the show to do well to prove to the CW execs that the network doesn't have to fill every primetime hour with vapid models or 90’s remakes.

• HBO is going to shoot a pilot for A Game of Thrones, the first novel by George R. R. Martin in his not-yet-finished fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire." I had never heard of this book series before the HBO announcement, but after seeing all of the buzz and hype surrounding the pilot, I went out and read the first book. I liked it a lot, all 600+ pages of it, and I can't wait to see what HBO does with the material. I'm now in a race to finish the other three books in the series before I stumble upon any spoilers for them given how much internet activity this subject is now generating.

• Supernatural is coming back soon (September 10th), and not only has Misha Collins been promoted to a series regular this season, but Samantha Ferris is coming back for episode 2. Whoo-hoo! Also, how awesome is that new "O Death" promo?

• I remember reading on one of the countless TCA recaps that NBC was "retooling" Southland to focus primarily on the characters played by Ben McKenzie, Regina King, and Michael Cudlitz. That sounds good to me, as they're three of the best characters on the show; but I was also digging Shawn Hatosy and Kevin Alejandro as well, so hopefully they're not marginalized next season.

• I've never watched Stargate: SG-1 or Stargate: Atlantis. The few episodes, or segments of episodes, that I've seen over the past years have been, shall we say, less then fantastic. Not even the additions of Ben Browder and Claudia Black to the cast could keep me tuned in. However, the new spin-off, Stargate: Universe, looks like it might be completely different than its two predecessors. The promos are promising enough that I'll tune in and hope for the best.

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50 Things I Didn't Say in the Last Four Months (part 8 of 10)

Part 8 of the "50 Things I Should Have Blogged About..."

• It's great to see that Mad Men has charged out of the starting gate full speed ahead this season as opposed to the laborious, molasses-like start of season two. Also, kudos to the new additions to the cast (and guest cast) this year, especially Jared Harris and Ryan Cartwright.

• Royal Pains, I'm happy to say, continued USA network's trend of introducing quality, scripted dramas onto our summer line-ups. Granted, not all of the episodes were winners, but for the most part the show was a hit. Mark Feurstein finally found a show that's perfect for him, and the supporting and recurring cast members are all perfect fits as well. It's somewhat mystifying that USA network hasn't had a flop in years (maybe The Starter Wife, depending on your definition of the word "flop"), whereas the network's umbrella company, NBC Universal, can't get a break-out hit on NBC even if their lives depended on it.

• Speaking of NBC execs whose lives depended on getting a hit -- and I don't mean the following to be harsh -- but good riddance Ben Silverman. (You never should have dissed FNL, buddy.)

• I caught the Caprica pilot on DVD, and I am hooked. I can't wait for the show to premiere on tv and begin its weekly airings. Added bonus: James Marsters will be a recurring player in later episodes.

• I blogged a long time ago about my wish list for season 2 of Crash, but it doesn't look like the network took any of my suggestions. The website for the show's second season reveals that the show is going to be massively re-tooled, but unfortunately the cast changes aren't all positive. The characters of Bebe and Axel are gone, while the characters of Ben and Anthony are still around. It should have been the other way around. Oh well. The new cast additions (Eric Roberts, Linda Park, Jake McLaughlin) look promising, and at least the show has mercifully gotten rid of Cesar.

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50 Things I Didn't Say in the Last Four Months (part 7 of 10)

Part 7 of the "50 Things I Should Have Blogged About..."

• Here are my biggest Emmy nomination disses this year (shows): The Shield, Friday Night Lights, Battlestar Galactica, Chuck, and Supernatural.

• Biggest Emmy nomination disses this year (individuals): Walton Goggins (The Shield), Chloe Sevigny (Big Love), January Jones (Mad Men), Sprague Grayden (24), Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad), Jensen Ackles (Supernatural), and Chris Lilley (Summer Heights High).

• Emmy got a lot of things wrong with this year's nominations (what else is new?), but I do have to compliment them for getting a few important things right: finally nominating Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Rose Byrne (Damages), and The Big Bang Theory... all of whom were tragically overlooked last season.

• I often wonder if the creators, producers, and other individuals involved with making The Secret Life of the American Teenager ever actually watch their own show. And if they do, can they actually be proud or pleased with the end result? It baffles to me to think that anyone involved with the production of that show could view any of their season two episodes and feel a sense of accomplishment with the fruit of their labors. The less-than-mediocre, often-laughable (sometimes nauseating) acting and writing is an affront to the show's promising premise and one-time status as a guilty pleasure. Nowadays, it's an effort for viewers to sit through an episode, and the only saving graces are India Eisley and an occasional witty remark that somehow made its way into the script.

• In general, why does it seem like the people on Britain's Got Talent are so much more talented than the folks on America's Got Talent? Am I the only one who’s wondering that? (sigh)

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50 Things I Didn't Say in the Last Four Months (part 6 of 10)

Part 6 of the "50 Things I Should Have Blogged About..."

• Torchwood: Children of Earth was another one of this summer's high points – but holy crap, was it dark and disturbing. [SPOILER ALERT] Ianto's death was deeply depressing and Jack's sacrifice (murder?) of his grandson was jaw-dropping. Even though I didn't always like where the story went on this show, it was still excellent summer television. I'm not sure where Torchwood: Season 4 will go, but as long as we get a season four (as it has yet to be announced) I'll be happy.

• True Blood has been having an awesome season this summer. The show started out well, picking up right were last season's finale left off, but the most recent run of episodes (the Godric and post-Godric ones) have been awesome, especially "I Will Rise Up." That episode, which ended with Godric and Sookie on the roof (if you saw it, you know what happened) was terrific television and was the first episode of the 2009-10 season to get an A+ from me. For a character who only lasted 3-4 episodes, Godric had an amazing impact on the story and on the show itself. His scene with Sookie on the rooftop cemented True Blood’s status as a show that is more than just summer escapism. Much more. There is only one episode left of the season, and I’m already dreading the year-long wait until it returns next summer.

• I've read an unfair share of Entourage hating this season (which, come to think of it, happens almost every season), but I'm not sure what all of the hate is about this year. Season 6 is, in my opinion, off to a great start. I'm really liking that E and Turtle are finally expanding their lives out of Vince's shadow; and any season that gives more screen time to Emmanuelle Chriqui (Sloan) is doing something right. Now if only E and Sloan would finally get back together, all would be well.

• The Closer's summer season has already ended, and before we close the books on it, I would be remiss if I didn't point out how great it was. The Closer is into its fifth season now, so it doesn't draw all of the media attention that newer and flashier shows get; but the series was a solid, reliable, and often-excellent hour of television each Monday night. No episode this summer scored below an A- for me, and that is a rare and terrific accomplishment.

• Will Army Wives ever be good again? Honestly, most weeks it feels like it's not worth watching anymore. The show has never yet matched its highpoint of the season two premiere – and that was over a year ago. Viewer loyalty has its boundaries, and Army Wives is certainly pushing those limits.

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50 Things I Didn't Say in the Last Four Months (part 5 of 10)

Part 5 of the "50 Things I Should Have Blogged About..."

• Of the summer's two new, nurse-centric shows (TNT's Hawthorne and Showtime's Nurse Jackie), Nurse Jackie is by far the superior series. Both shows attempted to tap into a model that has worked well for their respective networks: a strong, dramatic female lead for Hawthorne (that worked wonders for The Closer and Saving Grace) and a complex, dark-comedic lead for Nurse Jackie (that worked so well for Weeds, United States of Tara, and Secret Diary). The gap between the quality of these two new shows is staggering, especially considering the caliber of both casts. Nurse Jackie became one of the best shows of the summer – and possibly one of the best new shows of the season – while Hawthorne became nothing more than an exercise in viewer patience and frustration.

• Primeval went through some huge cast changes this season that I wasn't expecting. Only two of the original main five cast members are still around, yet the show was able to successfully rebuild its new core team in a way that kept me tuned in and invested. Unfortunately, despite the show's decent reinvention, the season finale was unquestionably the worst episode of the season. What a disappointment.

• I’ve been watching TNT's new show Dark Blue this summer, and it's generally grading in the "B+" range, which isn't bad; but it has potential to be so much better yet isn't delivering on its full promise. I think the main problem with the series is that the show is trapped in the procedural template (much like every other Jerry Bruckheimer show), but it would work so much better as a serial. Forcing the team in-and-out of an elaborate undercover situation each week stretches the bounds of believability and makes the show a little less easy to buy into. Also, the general lack of character continuity from episode to episode (another drawback of many procedurals) isn't doing the show any favors either. If the show was able to function more as a serialized drama and really follow the inner turmoil of the squad from week-to-week as they fight their inner demons while confronting the line between "good cop" and "going too far" then I think TNT would have another winner on its hands. Unfortunately, thats not happening.

• For a summer show on the Lifetime network, Drop Dead Diva is surprisingly non-sucky and somewhat endearing. In fact, it's actually pretty darn good. Brooke Elliott is a major surprise find and she turns this show into something well worth watching and something far superior in execution than how the show's tag line reads on paper.

• Monk’s final season is sadly upon us, and the show now has 12 episodes (and shrinking) to reveal to us the identity of Trudy's killer. I read an interview with Tony Shalhoub over at TheFutonCritic.com in which he says that the killer won't be revealed until the final two episodes. I'm ok with that, but he better not be lying. If Monk ends without ever revealing the identity of Trudy's bomber -- and how that revelation impacts Monk and Co., -- then I (and millions of viewers, I presume) am going to be royally pissed.

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50 Things I Didn't Say in the Last Four Months (part 4 of 10)

Part 4 of the "50 Things I Should Have Blogged About..."

• Pushing Daisies received the summer burn-off treatment from ABC, giving viewers at least a little smidgen of closure on the series. I personally didn't find those last few episodes to be anywhere near the show's strongest hours, but I was grateful that the door was left open on multiple happy endings for the characters before the final curtain came down: Olive and Randy Mann; Emerson and Simone; Chuck and her aunts; Chuck and Ned. It's a sad reality that shows like Pushing Daisies can't survive on network television anymore. Fans of the show will just have to content ourselves with the memories of the good thing we had when we had it.

• 16 and Pregnant, overall, was oddly fascinating and compelling in ways that I can't quite explain. The adoption episode had me (me!) a little chocked up; and my sister told me it made her cry when she watched it. Who would have thought that MTV was still capable of producing non-garbage reality television? Kudos.

• Being Human, a new show this summer on BBC America, was a real freshman winner. It was fun, dark, witty, serious, and addictive. Six episodes was a tragically too-short season for a show this cool. Hopefully the series will be back soon with a longer second season.

• NBC's freshman summer line-up was pretty bunk, no? Merlin, The Listener, and The Philanthropist were all pretty underwhelming. The Listener didn't even get to finish its run (although you can watch the last five eps on-line if anyone truly cares). Here's hoping that the new shows on NBC's fall slate will be significantly better – although judging from the previews I've seen so far, I'm not holding my breath.

• I wish that Warehouse 13 was better. It has such potential, yet it never delivers. Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly are great together, but they're forced to work with silly scripts and sub par writing that keeps them – and the show – from really succeeding. What could have been a cool Bones meets X-Files hybrid instead has turned out to be another mediocre procedural. I'm still hopeful that the show will get better, but only time will tell.

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50 Things I Didn't Say in the Last Four Months (part 3 of 10)

Part 3 of the "50 Things I Should Have Blogged About..."

• Sad to see that Kings is now dead and gone. The show wasn't perfect, but it certainly had its moments. I could list a dozen reasons why the show failed, the chief culprits being NBC's inability to market the series successfully and the often-wooden acting by some of the cast members; but overall, I have to applaud NBC's attempt at putting this show on the air in the first place, and I've also got to give kudos to Ian McShane, Susanna Thompson, and Sebastian Stan for turning in consistently great performances each week.

• FOX's failed pilot, Virtuality, aired towards the end of June, and my immediate thought after watching the 2-hour program was: "why the hell didn't FOX order this pilot to series?" Virtuality certainly deserved to move forward. The pilot was very well done and had a great cast, unique premise, compelling storylines, and intriguing mysteries that could have made for appointment viewing. Granted, had FOX picked up the show to series, the network geniuses over there most likely would have killed the show by placing it on their Friday night death-slot; but still, the show should have at least gotten the chance.

• Kristin at E! posted an interview with the creators of Eli Stone in which they revealed to her how some of the characters' storylines would have ended. If you've read that article, you know that some of the endings would have been different than those shown in the finale; if you haven't read the article, then here's a big 'ol SPOILER ALERT. I was ok with the big revelation that Eli and Maggie don't end up together and that Eli instead ends up with Grace and Maggie ends up with Eli's brother – bringing a sense of consistency to the season 1 flashforward in which Maggie was seen with that baby. Those endings would have worked just fine for me. I'll miss Eli Stone. It was a worthy show that ended long before it should have.

• Harper's Island ended up being a total surprise. It started out as a complete mockery of scripted television, but it grew into something unexpectedly addictive and actually worth watching. I called the murderer from the first episode, but that didn't lessen the enjoyment and humor of the final eps for me. If there was an award for a show that most improved within a season, Harper's Island would own that trophy.

• The biggest flop of the summer – and there were many – was probably ABC Family's horrid teen gymnast series Make It of Break It. I watched the first three episodes, and I want those three hours of my life back. It's unbelievable how horrible that show is/was. How the hell this garbage is on the network while Kyle XY is dead and buried is a cruel mystery of the tv universe. An even crueler mystery is how folks are actually watching this show without gouging their eyes out and how "legitimate" tv sites (I'm looking at you E!) promote the show as something worth your time. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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50 Things I Didn't Say in the Last Four Months (part 2 of 10)

Part 2 of the "50 Things I Should Have Blogged About..."

• Although it's been months since the season finale, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Breaking Bad was absolutely awesome last season – hands down, one of the best shows of the year. If you're not on board with this show yet, I highly recommend catching up. Season 1 was strike-shortened, but good; and season 2 was off the charts. I know this will sound sacrilegious to many, but Breaking Bad was the superior show on AMC last year (yes, that means better than Mad Men).

• Glee seems to be the most highly anticipated series of the fall season in some circles. I watched last spring's pilot episode and I liked it well enough. I especially liked the cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" sung by the show's cast and probably listened to it at least 100 times over the summer. I'm hopeful that the show, and the music, will be just as good when it premieres again in September. Glee does have one major drawback, however, and it's a drawback that's hard to overlook: the inconsistent audio dubbing during the musical numbers. If you've seen the show (or the extended previews), you know what I'm talking about as it was too obvious to ignore. They've got to find a way to clean that up somehow, otherwise it's going to be the major drawback to the series.

• I didn't say much (if anything) about Dollhouse last spring, which is a shame because Dollhouse does not deserve to be ignored. The series admittedly had a relatively weak opening for me, and it definitely struggled in the first few weeks – especially with a few of the "stand alone" episodes. However, around the midway point, Dollhouse transformed itself into the awesomeness that is the Whedon trademark, and it became one of the best new shows of the season. So much good stuff was packed into those last few episodes, and I'm highly anticipating the start of season 2. If the network suits keep their hands out of Joss Whedon's vision and storytelling, then I think season 2 will rock. (It remains to be seen how the events of the DVD-only 13th episode, Epitaph One, will be incorporated into the second season premiere. That episode rocked, by the way.)

• I never blogged about the season of finale of Smallville last year, and since it's now been three months since it aired, I feel I can safely post my comments now without hiding them behind a spoiler alert. (However, if you're wary, be warned now that the next few sentences will discuss the season eight finale… so, uh, I guess there's a spoiler warning after all.) Killing off Jimmy Olsen was a crazy move, and I honestly never expected the show to go there. When the previews were teasing two significant deaths, I was sure it would be Doomsday and Tess, but I was only half right. Doomsday was dispatched (and what a shame to lose Sam Witwer), and so was poor Jimmy. In a clever twist, viewers learned at Jimmy's funeral that Aaron Ashmore's Jimmy was actually the older brother of "the real" Jimmy Olsen from the comic book mythology, thus keeping the main strings of the Superman gospel in tact. It was truly a heartbreaking ending, but it was also great television.

• The finale of Dirty Sexy Money, much like its entire sophomore season, sucked. It sucked hard, and then it swallowed. What a complete waste of time... even for a summer burn-off. If there was any redeeming value in the finale, it was only that long-time, loyal viewers finally discovered the answer to the show's oldest mystery: who killed Nick George's father. (Spoiler alert: no one killed him after all; he's apparently still alive in hiding somewhere and manipulating everyone behind the scenes. Whatever.)

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50 Things I Didn't Say in the Last Four Months (part 1 of 10)

Part 1 of the "50 Things I Should Have Blogged About..."

• 24's seventh season, which wrapped in May, dealt heavily with the theme of redemption. Redemption for Jack Bauer of all the guilt that he's carried over the years. However, the season was also one of redemption for the show itself, as the excellent and stellar DC-set, seventh worst day in Jack’s life obliterated any memory of the sub-par sixth season the show suffered a year earlier. Without question, 24 was back in top form last year; and it's important to say so up-front because I don't want anyone thinking that the nitpicking that follows is any indication of how I viewed the season in general. "What nitpicking?" you may ask. And I answer: "I hated the way Sprague Grayden's storyline wrapped up. HATED it."

• Although it happened months ago, I still get mad anytime I think about the viewer f—cking that was the Prison Break finale. Seriously, what the hell were the writers thinking?? Michael and Sara don't get a happily ever after?? Are you freakin' kidding me?

• Speaking of series finales, on the opposite end of the spectrum, how awesome and satisfying was the Battlestar Galactica closer? I loved it (even though it was a tad drawn out and left a few lingering questions), and I was thrilled with some of the closing events, particularly: Team Agathon getting a happy ending together; Chief getting justice on Tori for the murder of Cally; the answer to the Opera House visions; the answer to the nature of HeadSix and HeadBaltar; and the fitting ending to Starbuck’s character. Well done, Team BSG. And thank you.

• I'm still a little bummed that Without a Trace was cancelled at the end of last year. I understand that it was a hard business decision for CBS and that they felt forced to choose only one show between Without a Trace and Cold Case for the fall 09 roster. However, I’m not 100% sure that they chose correctly between the two options. I suppose only time will tell. It remains up to viewers’ imaginations now to decide whether or not Sam would have ended up with Jack (I hope not), Baby-Daddy Brian (not bad), or somehow, someway, gotten back together with Martin (yay!). At least the season/series finale ended in cool way, with that quick montage of all of the season 7 "cases of the week" flashing on the marker board as the team left the office for Danny and Elena's wedding, all set to the song "The Wind That Blows" by Pierce Faccini. (It took me forever to find out the name of that song, btw.)

• It sucks that Privileged isn’t coming back; not even as a mid-season replacement. The horribly vapid-looking Beautiful Life got a place on CW schedule instead. Whatever. Another genius move by Ostroff, I’m sure.

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I Last Posted 107 Days Ago... but the Hiatus is Now Over.

I blinked my eyes and nearly four months seems to have passed by in an instant. It's hard to believe that I haven't posted an update to this blog since the beginning of May. Crap, where did all of that time go? Since that last post, life has essentially been consumed by: work, work, more work, a little sleep, even more work, a most awesome and glorious two-week beach vacation, and then back to work and more work. Through it all, however, my trusty DVR has been faithfully recording all of my shows for me (as well as a slew of new summer series), and we've finally gotten up to speed with everything just in time for the new fall season to begin.

Since last May, there have obviously been a slew of tv-related happenings that deserved commenting on by yours truly (i.e., finales, premieres, cast changes, plot twists, spoilers, new shows, summer flops, etc.), but they were all sadly ignored by me and my blog. In an effort to make up for the nearly four-months-long lack of updates, what follows is an unceremonious barrage of the 50 things I should have blogged about over the last three months - broken up into ten parts for reader (and author) sanity. Enjoy!

It's good to be back...

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Thoughts on Monday Night's Show

Some thoughts on Monday night's shows:, including 24, Castle, CSI: Miami, Gossip Girl, House, How I Met Your Mother, In Treatment, and The Big Bang Theory.

(SPOILERS AHEAD)...


• 24 - It is irrefutable now (with only 3 hours to go) that 24 has completely rebounded from its lackluster season 6 and delivered a fantastic, knock-out season 7 -- and it ain't over yet. Does anybody else think that Aaron Pierce had Hodges killed without Olivia's knowledge? I think so. And I further think that him doing is awesome.

• Castle - I am really liking Castle these days. Last night's ep was the first "A" episode of the show for me, and it's more proof that Castle has been saving its best for last. I hope ABC gives us a second season. I feel like the show is finally growing into the great show that we all knew it could be, and hopefully ABC will let it continue.

• CSI: Miami - For those of us paying close attention, I think the show had its first actual Caruso/Procter scene in which the actors appeared together -- not with body doubles or split screens or any of the other technological wizardry the show employs to keep their feud from becoming public knowledge -- in a long time. It looked like the car trunk scene in last night's ep required the two of them to actually be in the scene together. (If you have no clue what I'm talking about regarding the Caruso/Procter feud and how the show shoots around them individually, then don't worry about it.)

• Gossip Girl - Who would have guessed that the return of Georgina Sparks would be the "spark" that this show needed to jump it back into high gear. After stumbling along or coasting by for far too long, Gossip Girl finally delivered an "A" episode on Monday night. "Tell Jesus that the bitch is back" has just become 2009's equivalent of "Welcome to the O.C., bitch!" In other Gossip Girl news, Kristin at E! revealed who is playing the son of Lilly and Rufus and when he'll be appearing on the show. That link is here.

• House - Ok, not that I want House to be insane or anything, but I would love to see more of Anne Dudek as Amber. She was, without a doubt, a superior HeadGhost to Denny on Grey's this season. I do love me some JDM, but the GhostDenny storyline was tragically awful and there's no way of avoiding it. GhostAmber, on the other hand, was all kinds of awesome.

• How I Met Your Mother - Oh man, what a great episode this was! I'm no longer a Stella fan, after she left Ted at the alter, but gosh darn it, her return at the end of this episode was the sweet icing on an already delicious cake. The ep was complete with: tons of laugh, expanding mythology, and inside jokes and easter eggs for the long-term fans (interventions! the yellow umbrella!). I don't think that Stella is the mother, but I think that she must play some type of very instrumental role in ultimately introducing Ted to the real mother. Also: Barney possibly settling down to make a long-term play for Robin? Love it!

• In Treatment - Color me surprised, but I actually felt kinda bad for Daddy Luke this week. Kudos to Russell Hornsby for making me care. I have to admit that I started out this season liking the Oliver episodes the least, but now they're some of the most compelling sessions of the show.

• The Big Bang Theory - Penny secretly likes Leonard! And he now knows it. Whoo-hoo!

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Thoughts on Sunday Night's Shows

Some thoughts on Sunday night's shows: Breaking Bad, Brothers and Sisters, Cold Case, Family Guy, In Plain Sight, In Treatment, Sit Down, Shut Up, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, and The Tudors.

(SPOILERS AHEAD)...


• Breaking Bad - Another excellent episode. How can two guys trapped in a winnebago cooking meth for four days make for such compelling television? And that ending in the doctor's office? Awesome on so many levels.

• Brothers and Sisters - Can we all agree that we're over this Ryan Lafferty nonsense? Can we all also agree that the writers completely wasted this character? Also, kudos to Matt Letscher for turning in a solid performance as the guy who almost stole Kitty away from McAllister.

• Cold Case - The first part of the 2-hour Pearl Jam-infused season finale was pretty darn good. Cold Case hasn't been as great this year as it has been in previous years, but at least it's poised to go out with a bang. Or a splash. (See what I did there.)

• Family Guy - Lauren Conrad is a good sport, and Set MacFarlane is a genius. This was one of the funniest eps of the season.

• In Plain Sight - I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but might we finally be witnessing the decades-overdue emotional maturation (is that a real word?) of Jinks and Brandi (Mary's mother and sister)? It's about bloody time. Also, I hope Joshua Malina comes back. I was digging his character's chemistry with Brandi.

• In Treatment - Mia was kinda annoying this week, but April's session was all kinds of awesome (as usual). Alison Pill has been really great in this role.

• Sit Down, Shut Up - I'm done. Three strikes and you're out. What a disappointment.

• The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency - Another slow hour. This show could be really good... if only it would pick up the freakin' pace!

• The Tudors - It can't be long now until the downfall of Cromwell. I hope his destruction is bloody awesome.

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Last Week in Brief Review

Last week completely sucked on the work-front, with way too many 14-hour days (or longer). Although I'm thrilled to still be employed in this recession, last week was pretty horrific at the office. Now that the crisis has subsided and I've finally caught up with all of my shows on the DVR, here are some quick thoughts on the highs and lows of last week.

(SPOILERS AHEAD for several of last week's shows)...


• Chuck - First and foremost, Chuck's finale was all kinds of awesome. It was everything you could want in a season finale, and I pray to the tv gods that NBC does the right thing and renews this blessed show for a third season.

• Heroes - On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Heroes season finale was just one step above a pile of crap. It continues to amaze me how far this show has fallen. Poor Greg Gunberg and James Kyson Lee. They both survived the finale and will now be forced to suffer another season of horrid writing and ridiculous plots.

• 24 - I know we're supposed to view Olivia as a bad girl, but I'm personally rooting her on in her quest to get vengeance against Jonas Hodges. Also: welcome back, Chloe!

• NCIS - I was hoping to like the NCIS potential spin-off a little more than I did. Hopefully next week's conclusion will be better. I'm cool with the Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J characters, but I wasn't a fan of Louise Lombard as the Special Ops Team Leader, nor was I happy to see Ziva's mystery man as a potential big baddie.

• American Idol - I was pretty surprised that Adam landed in the bottom two last week. That was certainly unexpected. If Allison was in the top two, and Adam in the bottom, does this mean that the race is theoretically wide open now?

• Lost - Ugh. When is Lost going to get out of this crappy 1970's-centered rut? I could tolerate it at first, but now I'm actively disliking it. Strongly disliking it.

• In Treatment - I haven't blogged much about In Treatment this season, but I have definitely been watching it regularly and I'm happy to report that season two is just as good as season one (which is to say, pretty damn good). Last week was good all around, and it also brought us the best April ep and the best Oliver ep of the season to date.

• Supernatural - Thursday's Castiel-centric ep (or Jimmy-centric ep, to be more accurate) was another winner. There were a ton of things that the episode did right, but unfortunately there were also some blunders that could not go unnoticed and so I had to give the episode an "A-" instead of an "A." The drawbacks for me were: the limited use of Anna, the occasionally subpar writing/dialogue, and the overall predictability of how the episode would end -- including what happened to Castiel and what happened to Sammy.

• Smallville - As the season quickly comes to a close for Smallville, the show is definitely stepping up its game. Thursday's ep was great, and that is really saying something considering that Erica Durance was completely MIA for the hour.

• Dollhouse - Dollhouse has become nothing short of awesome in the second half of the season. It's morphed from an "iffy" sci-fi show into the full-blown appointment-viewing series worthy of the Joss Whedon name. Last week's ep ("Briar Rose") was the best episode of the season yet, and it makes me sad to know that the season will be over next week. And possibly, the series as well.

• Prison Break - I don't care what Michael's mother said about Michael and Lincoln's biological non-brotherhood. Michael and Lincoln are brothers, and that's all there is to it. They don't have to be blood related to still be brothers. It was a crazy twist/revelation, though. Also: when will we ever see Sucre again??

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The Tudors: Farewell, Queen Jane

Kudos to The Tudors for having their best episode of the season yesterday. Last week's ep was good, but yesterday's ep was great. Some awesome stuff all around, especially from Queen Jane, King Henry, Suffolk, and Lady Mary.

Some thoughts... (SPOILERS AHEAD)...

• RIP, Queen Jane. We knew from the history books that you wouldn't be long for this world (or the show) after the birth of Prince Edward, but still your death was extremely moving and sad. (It also made for some great television.)

• Henry and Mary are finally reunited (thanks to Jane), and it's really nice to see Henry acting like a human, loving father to his children again. With Jane now gone, I wonder how long it will take for Henry to turn to his old ways.

• Loved the little moment between Lady Mary and 8 year old Princess Elizabeth where the future Queen says that "boys aren't more important than girls."

• When will someone give Henry Cavill his own show as the series lead? This guy is awesome, and although we're loving him as Suffolk on The Tudors, he really does deserve his own starring vehicle.

• Joss Stone enters the picture next week as Anne of Cleeves (wife #4). Can the fall of Cromwell be far behind? (Spoiler alert: wikipedia and the history books say 'no.' yay!)

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Avoiding Suburbia and Other Horrible Comedies

While I have a quick moment to do some catch-up blogging, I wanted to state for the record my immediate disinterest in several of this spring's new comedies. After just one episode of the shows listed below, I knew I was already over them. No chance of season pass for any of them on my DVR.

Here's what failed to make the cut and was eliminated from my line-up after just one ep:

• Surviving Suburbia (ABC),
• Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire (Comedy Central),
• Roommates (ABC Family), and
• Sophie (ABC Family).

Thumbs down to all of them.

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Fixing CW's Thursday Mistakes: Smallville and Supernatural

I won't say how, but I was just able to watch last Thursday's episodes of Supernatural ("Jump the Shark") and Smallville ("Stiletto") that the Pittsburgh CW affiliate didn't broadcast because they had "technical difficulties." Anyway, thanks to the fandoms (and not to iTunes), I was able to watch the eps.

I thought the Supernatural ep was great, and the Smallville ep was decent too.

A few thoughts...

• I used to always give Big Daddy Winchester a lot of leniency in how he raised the brothers after Mary's death. I know a lot of Supernatural fans aren't also BDW fans, and I used to try and defend John as much as I could to those folks. However, I have to be honest and admit that last night, I got really pissed at the guy. Thinking of all of the times that John left Dean to take care of Sammy while John himself slipped off to Wisconsin to go to a ballgame or do something "normal" with his "other" son really made me mad.

• So the little brother really was a half-brother and not just a demon trap (or ghoul trap, in this case) to mess with the boy's heads. John obviously had some pretty big secrets in his past. In a perfect world, Dean and Sam would go find Ellen and ask her to spill anything she knew about John's other secret life. I know it won't happen, but I sure would love to see Samantha Ferris on the show again someway, somehow. Maybe next year?

• The promos for next week look great. Even though it appears to be a Castiel-centric ep (to the dismay of many hardcore, old school, loyalists), I'm personally really looking forward to it.

• Smallville: Could Erica Durance get any hotter? Good Lord, that woman is gorgeous.

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Southland: 3 for 3

NBC's new Southland is now three for three. Three episodes aired so far: all of them either an A- or an A.

Last night's ep ("See the Woman") was another winner, and I kind of liked the shift the show took from trying to service all of the characters in one hour to focusing on a subset of them instead. Not that I was happy to see Shawn Hatosy and Kevin Alejandro completely MIA or Regina King in only background scenes, but the show worked well last night by spending extra time on Ben McKenzie, Michael Cudlitz, and Arija Bareikis. (I could have done with a little less C. Thomas Howell though).

I'm still not convinced that...

... we've heard the whole story about what happened to Ben Sherman and his mom during the home invasion 15 years ago. I think there's more to the story that has yet to revealed.

I was going to give this an episode an A-, but then I loved that Sherman walked out on his dad in the closing moments without saying a word and I knew I had to give the episode an A.

Keep up the good work, Southland. (But pretty please don't keep Chuck from being renewed for a third season. This Leno-filled 2009-10 schedule nonsense is so wrong: making us actually root against some shows in order to get our other faves like Chuck renewed.)

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Harper's Island: It's So Bad, It's Almost Good

Aw man. Only one death in last night's episode? What gives?

And it wasn't even that nasty of a death. The ex boyfriend got shot in the boat while he was leaving the island. Not like the decapitations or mutilations that the other victims got. Lame.

Let's update the body count:

1. The cousin got tied up under the boat and mutilated by the engine blades;
2. Uncle Marty was hacked away from the waist down;
3. The priest was strung up in a trap and quickly decapitated;
4. The creepy childhood girl friend was found hanging to death;
5. The chick with the poodle was burned alive;
6. Hunter, the ex-boyfriend, was shot to death on the boat;

Here's a question: how come no one has noticed that the priest is missing, or that the wedding guest with the poodle is completely gone too? Wouldn't someone have noticed her absence from the festivities for an entire day??

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