Dawson’s Creek – Season 1

Kevin Williamson created this engaging drama, which chronicles a group of young friends’ passage from adolescence to young adulthood in the small coastal town of Capeside, Massachusetts. based on Williamson’s own experiences growing up, “Dawson’s Creek” focuses on fifteen-year-olds Dawson (James Van Der Beek) and Joey (Katie Holmes), who have been friends since they were five and are trying to cope with the way their relationship is changing now that their hormones are raging. Add to the mix their friend Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and the new girl in town, Jen (Michelle Williams) and you can count on extra twists to their drama in their already turbulent lives.

Episode 01: Pilot
It is a shame this show came much too early in my life. Or I was just born way too late for it. While Dawson’s Creek took a tiny small place in my life, when I went to high school, I never saw the first season until I bought the DVD collection. And it is time for a rewatch and a few flashbacks of earlier moments of my life.
The pilot was good, though James Van Der Beek overacted a bit in his own show (especially when Dawson surprised his parents while making out) and it is a bit unbelievable that the teens (who are not even 16 years old in here) already have such big minds (especially Pacey, who says to Tamara [Leann Hunley] that he was the best sex she never had). This was one of the biggest problems I had with this show during the first four seasons, though I pretty much got into it very fast and wasn’t confused anymore with the start of the second season.
Other than that: It is really authentic. And even with the age the show already has, it is still realistic enough to be the love guide for every upcoming teenager in a small town somewhere on the east side of America. Van Der Beek overacted a bit and Dawson’s Spielberg obsession already sucks balls, Joshua Jackson was good, as well as Katie Holmes and Michelle Williams. The rest of the cast didn’t really have much screentime, and they are the adult ones in here, so they have to develop during the next couple of episodes.
The stories for the pilot were alright. Joey says that puberty hits, and they aren’t kids anymore, love comes into play, together with the talent of flirtation and all the rest. And of course Pacey had to kiss a MILF in the pilot, even the truly authentic teen series needs a bit of sex in the story – even though we didn’t see anything, and nothing happened. 7,5/10

Episode 02: Dance
Another good episode, and this time it is working better than the pilot. The “a little bit too much” from the pilot loosened up a bit in the second episode and made much more fun. Though some moments were really stereotype.
So, Dawson’s lands in film class due to a backdoor, while he is trying to get into the neighbor girl’s pants without screwing with her. The story couldn’t be more stereotype, but at least James Van Der Beek wasn’t overacting here and Michelle Williams was a really sweet girl with the feeling of her character. Also, Katie Holmes managed to get her role into realism, switching perfectly between having a secret involving Dawson’s mother Gail (Mary-Margaret Humes) and not showing her true feelings to Dawson, because she said herself, everything is changing for all of them. Or being honest to each other about their feelings. For that, Dawson’s “trouble” with Jen and her being “stolen” by Cliff (Scott Foley), wasn’t really interesting, it remains still the beginning of a bigger story, but it doesn’t feel like that.
Pacey’s flirts and kisses with Tamara was only a side plot, and I truly don’t know why Tamara – as a teacher – is about to ruin her career. But today there are a lot of teachers screwing around with their students; Dawson’s Creek was pretty much a harbinger, though there were cases, before the series went on the air.
Dawson’s parents are loving, but the secret Gail has isn’t moving and makes their relationship more and more unbelievable. But we are just in the second episode so far… 7,5/10

Episode 03: Kiss
Good episode, and again: better than the episode before. This time all the stories are working, though one is a romantic cliché, and the other was almost a waste of time.
If Dawson was only busy with the film shooting and the writers would have cut his “search for a kiss with Jen”, then this would be a Joey show, and the episode would have been a foreshadow of what Dawson’s Creek was during the last season: more a show about Joey than about the title character. And it was interesting to put another character beside Dawson in front of a story and actually having a lot of screentime (which isn’t happening to Pacey – he has only one storyline right now, and the writers only spend four minutes per episode with it).
The film shoot at the high school was partly interesting, though it brings Dawson a few winning moments; but his moments with Jen were great, and finally they kissed (this was the waste of time, one episode looking for the kiss can be too much sometimes). It just seems a coincidence that Pacey lost his virginity with Tamara at the same place (by the way: nice acting by Leann Hunley in that scene, in which she wasn’t sure about what she did at that moment), and what a coincidence Dawson filmed it.
Joey’s romance with the guy from New York was nice, though stereotype. Who doesn’t lie about the own name, age and background to have a nice time with a guy, who won’t even have interest in little high school girls? And, seriously, Katie Holmes was more than sweet in here – how could she marry Tom Cruise later on? 8/10

Episode 04: Discovery
Another good episode, though slightly weaker than the last one. At least it looks like the stories are up and running, together with Gail’s affair, from which Dawson finally knows about (he didn’t just have the guts to tell his father Mitch [John Wesley Shipp] about – which is totally authentic, btw). And the lovely relationship between Dawson and Jen gets better as well. Basically: I really liked the episode for its story continuing – they are told not too fast, not too slow (except Gail, but I can live with that), and they have always a bit of heart and emotion in it.
I am happy to see that Pacey had a bit more screentime in this episode, which results in Dawson filming his tete-a-tete with Tamara, which again results in Pacey telling Dawson about his “I got the girl this time” – very nice scene, showing that Joshua Jackson can act, and James Van Der Beek not so really. His reaction of Pacey’s confession was just… argh. And it seems like the story with Pacey and Tamara grows bigger, when he is starting to get jealous, as Tamara is hanging around with men her age… Well, it is a bit funny, but it is a storyline for Pacey and I don’t think the writers had something different in mind for him at that time.
Grams (Mary Beth Peil) has increasingly more screentime as well, and I like that. Though she could stop worrying about Jen, because she of all people should know that Capeside isn’t suitable for bringing kids on the deeper and uglier roads of life. But Jen and Grams have interesting talks together, which develops both characters – nice writing.
Dawson being felt betrayed by Joey was the weakest storyline in here, because it was predictable and a cliché. But it was necessary for him to learn more about Jen, so it was not that bad after all. 7,5/10

Episode 05: Hurricane
A strong episode with lots of stuff happening. Gail tells Mitch the truth and nothing but the truth, and leaves Mitch and Dawson back to let them think of their own. Though it was good to see a proper adult storyline for the first time of the series, it would have been nice to see Dawson thinking about his parents’ problems, even though he already was dealing with that topic in the last episode. But it seems to separated that first Dawson deals with his mother’s affair, then he drops it to do other business, and
when Mitch learns about it, he is the one dealing with this. What great moments would have been in the episode, when father and son trying to react together to Gail’s affair. But the scene with gale and Mitch was just awesome – really authentic and believable.
The rest of the episode was good as well, though I find it curious that Pacey’s brother Doug (Dylan Neal) develops interest in Tamara, and why the story about him not getting out of the closet, because he is scared. Sure, this storyline begins here and
develops with the time of the series, but it came too suddenly. We never saw Doug before and with his first appearance he already gets a story? Because I don’t think this will effect Pacey very much. But it means one thing: The writers tell stories not only for the teenager.
And Dawson and Jen having a break? Didn’t they just start dating? This seems like a stereotype storyline, but it was good that this didn’t take the bigger part of the episode. 8,5/10

Episode 06: Baby
Nice episode with interesting topics. The birth brings together all the storyline Grams had with the others, especially her “racist” opinions about Bessie (Nina Repeta) and her relationship with Brody. The scene in which Grams made kind of peace with Bessie, while she is in labor, bleeding and scared about everything was written very good and brought the two characters closer to the audience. And even with Joey worrying about the situation, remembering her mother, this story had even a more interesting meaning. Lifes are changing right now, and it is only a simple birth (exclude the small problems Bessie had) in the living room of the Leerys.
The rest of the episode, which includes Pacey and Tamara, was partly interesting though. Of course, somebody heard the conversation between Dawson and Pacey and of course the rumors are spreading like a virus. And of course everybody of Pacey’s surrounding learns about it (even Doug) and of course it was supposed to be funny, until the school board comes and threatens Tamara’s job in the high school. It just seems unbelievable that the school board is meeting that fast and that they don’t do any investigation, just because Pacey stormed into the session and told everybody that it was just his fantasy… Yeah, of course. Nice try.
The ending was nice, though. Tamara is leaving Capeside, Pacey says goodbye and Joey holds the baby on her arms – very sweet moments, but they don’t make the episode better. 7/10

Episode 07: Detention
Best episode so far – my a mile. Obviously a rip-off of The Breakfast Club, a nice copy of John Hughes’ film and lots of emotional stories in here. and with Abby Morgan (Monica Keena) the series introduces us to a new character. Like in every high school there is one real hard-ass bitch, doing everything for herself, not having friends for this and being the mean bitch everyone from the main character list hates – there are some nice stories coming up with her.
The detention episode was awesome. Finally everybody knows every feeling about anybody. Joey is in love with Dawson, while Jen thinks he is the right one for her compared to her past relationships in New York, and Pacey whacked off, because he has too much pressure going on “down there”. Most of the story could be considered funny, but honestly, this was just the next important step to the character’s relationship. And it was very nice from the writers not to include other stories, especially something with Doug, after we saw him the last two episodes, and maybe something about the failing marriage of Gail and Mitch (which I miss btw, this topic was missing last episode as well – and I miss Dawson reacting to the upcoming break-up of his parents).
The one think I didn’t find very amusing was the kind of overacting in some scenes, especially James Van Der Beek again. But I blame that on their not existing experience in the TV business and hope, this one gets better in the next season. Other than that, this was an almost excellent hour of television. 9/10

Episode 08: Boyfriend
A necessary episode for separating Jen and Dawson, so Dawson can be with Joey at the end of the season. And of course, after the little “break” they had a couple of episodes ago, their relationship is troubled again, after Jen’s ex Billy (Eion Bailey) comes from New York and wants her back. First: Why wants Billy Jen back at all and why was he coming from New York to do exactly that? Any reason at all? While Jen and Billy are flirting, Dawson and Joey are flirting and getting more and more together, so it was predictable that Jen wants to break up with Dawson, because she sees that life in Capeside is the same like in New York. Despite the predictable story, I liked the break-up scene between Jen and Dawson; this was one of the scenes James Van Der Beek actually acted well.
The side plots were a bit uninteresting, though. Joey can’t sleep because of “Rosemary’s baby” (hilarious) and gets drunk because she doesn’t get what she truly wants and what we know since the Breakfast Club episode. Nice that the series is handling alcohol as well in their stories, just the moral of the story was… yeah, where was the moral of the story?
The other plot with Gail and Mitch trying to find something to do was alright; after their story was absent for a couple episodes it was necessary to bring it back. But it just was free of highlights. Of course they are trying to save their marriage, of course they can’t trust each other right now, and of course they have troubles to find back to each other – predictable storylines, but authentic enough to look not stupid or boring.
Okay, it was a necessary episode, but it was a kind of boring one. 6,5/10

Episode 09: Road Trip
The episode was good and had a nice aftermath of Dawson’s and Jen’s break-up. While the boys go with Billy (surprisingly is he still there and wants Jen back, even though she said no to him) on a road trip, into a bar and trying to have fun with women, Joey has different problems with another guy and starts to revenge back – together with Jen, but the plan backfires. Both stories were interesting. Dawson and Pacey had a trip as real friends, which doesn’t happen very often, and both of them trying to find a way out of their teen life for a couple hours, which they managed to do so. Just Dawson’s flirt with Nina (Melissa McBride) was a bit stupid. Not only did Nina look like a 40-year-old, masked as a teen, but her interest in Dawson was way too unbelievable. And I would have wished to see Pacey in a little adventure; after his fail with Tamara and everything what came after he needs a little love story again – or at least a story.
Joey’s and Jen’s plan to humiliate Warren (Eric Balfour) was alright, though I hoped it would be more hilarious. When Joey talked to Abby, this was hilarious, but the rest was pretty boring. When their plan backfired, Jen and Joey didn’t seem to learn from their actions, and instead they are talking about Dawson. But after all they managed to be friends again.
The episode could have been better, when there weren’t some unbelievable stuff in it. 7,5/10

Episode 10: The Scare
A good episode, which actually had some suspense in it, not only because it was Friday, the 13th. Though the fact that the writers built in the story with the Ladykiller was really stupid and predictable. Of course the guy who talked to Joey was the Ladykiller, no wonders there. But their faces were hilarious at the end of the episode.
The rest was alright. Dawson’s séance in his house, together with friends and a stranger (where do all these one-episode characters come from – first Dawson’s flirt last episode now the girl who gets… troubles from her boyfriend) and all of them trying to put some relationship troubles into the night of scary happenings. Dawson’s night was well planned, and there was always the question of what he did to scare his friends and what didn’t he do (e.g. the calls and the letter for Jen). Only a bummer that the girls didn’t took revenge for one time and that Pacey didn’t do anything at all. The story with the “abusive” boyfriend was awkward, though. I don’t know why the writers put that in here (as opposite to all the fake scary moments?).
At least the little date story with Jen and Cliff is over now. Not only is Cliff a boring character, but it is realistic that Jen doesn’t want to be in a relationship now. 7,5/10

Episode 11: Double Date
A good episode and in one storyline a big foreshadow of what’s to come. This episode was evidence for the fact that the writers always wanted to bring Joey and Pacey together, even though they didn’t start that story here. But it will be necessary for later to understand why Pacey even likes Joey that much. Their story was interesting, because it was not only clear that Pacey has problems in high school (another on-going storyline during the next seasons), but their little trip into the nature was
interesting – both characters had a slight development and have to bring Dawson to choose over Jen and Joey, after Pacey told him he has to.
The double date story was good, too, but predictable. With Mary Beth (Meghan Perry) we have another one-episode character (and – again – connected to Dawson, this is not a coincidence anymore), and I thought Jen’s and Cliff’s date story is over – looks like it isn’t. But now it – again – looks like it’s over, after Mary Beth had the hots for Cliff. It was nice to let Jen and Dawson really talk with each
other, so that the season cliffhanger can be prepared – together with Pacey’s words to Dawson that he has to give himself some answers.
If you think about it, this could basically be the episode before the season finale, and I wished it would be, but there are two more episodes coming. 7/10

Episode 12: Beauty Contest
Excellent episode. Though it doesn’t really fit as the episode before the finale (like I said the previous episode suits better as the pre-finale), the beauty contest was a great story for character development and Pacey being a comic relief. And fortunately the writers choose to bring all the characters together in one story, instead telling their lifes apart from each other in different stories and locations. With everybody having the same story the episode is working way better.
I am curious why Joey is thinking that she will be stuck in Capeside and wants to get out of this miserable place – her feelings about her home didn’t come through before, so this comes a bit too fast and too suddenly (though her reasons were partly explained in the last episode). But with Joey being in the competition she had nice moments to think about her life in Capeside, together with her sister, together with what the others thinking about her, and together with her dreams. And her speech on the stage during the contest was really interesting. More breathtaking was her performance of “On My Own”, though I had to think of Rachel singing this song in “Glee”, but this just for the side.
Pacey as competition in the contest was hilarious. First he thinks that he can be funny, then he wants to win (but can’t, the judges won’t let him win, because… they don’t want him to win – nice view on favoritism and sexual racists), and then he gives his William Wallace impersonation – hilarious. 9/10

Episode 13: Decisions
Interesting episode, and kind of “spoof” of all the season finales offering a cliffhanger to let the viewers guess. How funny would it actually be, when Dawson’s Creek had a cliffhanger in its first season? But for that the series does take itself seriously and can’t bring any ironic episodes (The Scare was probably the only almost ironic episode in this season), which is a shame. So I have to rely my hope on Buffy again.
The episode was good. All the stories were concluded, before Dawson’s Creek doesn’t get a second season. Dawson’s parents are into their newfound relationship (already seen in the last episode); Jen’s grandpa dies (a story which I never saw in this season), but gets closer to her Grams; Pacey is still “just” the friend for everybody and risks his relationship to his family for just driving Joey to the prison to visit her father Mike (Gareth Williams); Joey talks to her father, both love each other (and the writers prepare something for the next season), while Joey and Dawson take the next, better first step, into their relationship. All in all, this season has a happy ending, it is the beginning of the friends finally really growing up and the end of the steps they took to start growing up. The first season was partly too brave, but now the characters can live the lives of adults-to-be.
What makes the episode really good is the fact that almost every story told during the first season gets the proper ending. Everybody was waiting for Dawson and Joey to happen, and everybody was predicting that Dawson and Jen won’t be holding much longer, while Pacey didn’t even had a real story in this season (except his “The Graduate” with Tamara, which was a separated story after all) and nothing needs to be concluded with him. And the fact that the writers wrote Joey’s father into the episode (to give her a closer, if this was the series finale, and to bring him into the story, if there is a second season), makes the episode even more important. Not just as a cliffhanger-free season finale. 8,5/10

Season average is 7,77. I rewatched this season in three days, thanks to the public library and much time right now for that. The second season is on my waiting list, as well as the rest of the series, which DVD collection is waiting for me at home. A rewatch of Surface is coming up and I hope to finish Nurse Jackie sometimes soon. The fall and winter breaks of all the current US shows is coming up as well, which gives me time to pick up my archive and get to a few British shows I have on my list.

MOVIE REVIEW: Jennifer’s Body

Megan Fox in a main role of an evil demon – when this happens, I obviously can’t think straight. I am one of the people, who adores Megan Fox, watches everything she is in, having secretly fantasies with her, hating the person Brian Austin Green for dating her (but I like him as an actor). I am one of the people who thinks she is living sex and far beyond. Am I a cliché now? Well, not when I can say that most of the projects with Megan Fox are mostly average. Transformers is still story trash (the second movie was boring), she wasn’t that funny in the 35th season opener of the NBC comedy Saturday Night Live, and even Jennifer’s Body is not really a milestone in the history of non-serious horror comedies. But Jennifer’s Body is one thing: a crappy and funny movie from the vomit scene until the end.
Cheerleader Jennifer (Megan Fox) and dorky geek Needy (Amanda Seyfried) are BFFs for years and inseparable, though they have nothing in common. After a fire in a local bar, where some high school students lost their lives, Jennifer disappears with a rock band (in which Adam Brody is the lead singer) and comes back to Needy with blood all over her body. This is the beginning of something really bloody and deathly: Jennifer mysteriously gains a lot of appetite for human blood in male high school students. As Needy finds out that Jennifer is possessed by a demon, she has to find a way to stop her friend’s bloodthirsty rampage before it reaches her own boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons).

One thing is for sure and everybody should know it before watching: Jennifer’s Body doesn’t take itself seriously and is just a vehicle for a hot cheerleader being possessed, killing boys, still looking sexy and having a light lesbian scene between Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox, so men’s hearts are pounding until their chests explode. The movie isn’t good for anything else. It seems that 80 per cent of the movie goers had completely different expectations, especially with Diablo Cody being responsible for the screenplay, who won an Academy Award for Juno two years back. And the only result of having different expectations is that they find Jennifer’s Body bad. But it isn’t. Seriously. And I don’t say that, because I have *insert a word* fantasies about Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried together on one bed.
The dialogs are funny as hell. Some examples? Jennifer about Needy’s breasts: “These are like smart bombs, you point them in the right direction and shit gets real.” Jennifer after being stabbed by Needy and bleeding out of the wound hole: “Got a tampon?” And, especially, after being stabbed by Needy: “Oww, my tit.” To which Needy responds: “No, your heart.” There are more example and I was laughing hilariously in most of the scenes – not only because of the funny dialogs, but some scenes were so ridiculous that it must have been on purpose to do them that shitty. But there lies the biggest problem of the movie: It doesn’t know if it wants to be a comical horror movie, a spoof of all the satanic rituals gone wrong, a funny movie with Megan Fox in it, or was it just a rip-off of Cruel Intentions (and I am only taking about the lesbian kiss scene)? Somehow the movie wants to be all of it, and this is what doesn’t let the movie work properly. At least the movie isn’t trying to be sophisticated or complex and is instead supposed to be a fun movie for the side; not important for the studio to make money with (the production only cost 16 million Dollar), not a breakthrough for all of the actors, and all in all a supposed-to-be fun project with no intentions to become a cult hit.

 The actors are clearly having fun in their roles. Megan Fox plays her sex card and shows once again her erotic side. She is the star of the movie, but her opposite part played by Amanda Seyfried holds her own. While Fox’s Jennifer doesn’t hide her sexual side and wants to have everything she can get (including the buddy-like Adam Brody, who might be a great guy to hang out with, when he is not about to sacrifice you for a demonic ritual), Seyfried’s Needy hides her beauty behind her gawky side and shows that she has
 nothing in common with Jennifer. Megan Fox took charge of her character and played with it, her acting is creative, and she even becomes a wreck when she has to be, and wanders completely outside of her sexy side. Jennifer’s friendship with Needy is completely believable, and every shitty small town somewhere in the middle of the United States’ nowhere. And Amanda Seyfried shows again that she is underrated in Hollywood and definitely can act. And Diablo Cody didn’t overwrite Needy’s goofy side, which lets everybody believe that she is not the one in high school, who doesn’t talk to people and vice versa, because she is not the ugly one in here. Johnny Simmons gives a sweet boyfriend for Seyfried, only his dying scene was way too wound up. I really had to laugh at its incredibly stupid scene, which looks like this wasn’t on purpose. This scene was the low-point of the movie.
Adam Brody had, like I said already, fun in his role. He stabs Jennifer like… a hundred times, with a smile on his face, and before the ritual he picks out the words for the ritual, which he found easily on the internet – hilarious.
Kyle Gallner makes a good stand as well, getting eaten by Jennifer, and shows like Seyfried, that he is worthy to look for in future projects.

The rest of the movie is typical basic: Jennifer’s Body is sexy, but doesn’t show much sex; Megan Fox eats people, but there isn’t much blood. Disgusting scenes are barely in the movie, at the utmost the vomiting scene might me the most disturbing scene (but this was too funny for me to be disturbing – I was mentally screaming WTF and had big eyes). Karyn Kusama’s movie is not too long, and not too short, and after her miserable Æon Flux she shows that she actually can direct a movie.
And when you don’t see the real purpose of the movie when you read the outlined plot (loser indie band tries to get fame and fortune by sacrificing a virgin to the devil, only their virgin isn’t one and transforms into a flesh eating demon) and you still expecting a clever (or trashy) horror movie, then you don’t know jack.
Jennifer’s Body is no masterpiece, but fun all the way. And I was entertained.

The Prisoner – The Miniseries

“You only think you are free.”

The AMC mini-series The Prisoner is an update to the cult favorite series from the 1960s about a government agent (James Caviezel) who is kidnapped and sent to a remote island known as “the Village”. When he wakes up in the middle of the desert, not remembering what happened, but having dreams and visions about his early life in New York, he tries to find out where and who he is. The government agent is called 6 by everybody and soon he has to deal with an old man named 2 (Ian McKellen), who he thinks of keeping him as prisoner, though 2 states that 6 is a free man. 6 finds allies in a doctor named 313 (Ruth Wilson), in a cab driver named 147 (Lennie James) and in 2’s own son 11-12 (Jamie Campbell Bower). 6 is looking for a way out of the Village.

Episode 01: Arrival
Ehm, yeah… Fascinating. Really. Maybe I should see the original, after AMC finished this remake, I only heard of it. Most interesting – even for me – is, that I almost knew nothing about the series before. I just knew the title, saw two promo posters for it, knew that Ian McKellen and Jim Caviezel are in the main cast and that this one is a remake of an old original. Nothing from the story, and I read nothing about the series at all. And so, I am quite surprised after what I saw here. Really fascinating stuff; mysterious, deep, reminds me of a mixture of Meadowlands (which I could rewatch btw), Shyamalan’s The Village and a bit of Dark City. And maybe The Prisoner is a bit of all of them.
So, 6 wakes up in the middle of the desert, witnessing 96 being chased and killed. 6 has some kind of visions, he has memories about New York, his home, he knows names, he knows history, but he doesn’t know who he is or where he is. He has to learn that the Village is “the” Village – there is nothing out there. Maybe another village in the universe. The mystery part is definitely a great setting for the series, and the village itself really looks like the loneliest place on Earth. It already looks like that the village is some sort of a prison with persons, which original memories are wiped and replaced with new ones, which excludes everything outside of the Village. But where is the Village located and is it really that simple to understand? I think there is more behind all of this than just a prison with prisoners in it.
The episode itself was good. Jim Caviezel overacted a bit (especially in the scene where he meets 2 for the first time, when he smashes his hand on the table), but other than that he is a good “6″ (damn, now I am thinking of Battlestar Galactica…). Ian McKellen could have more screentime for the fact his name is billed first in the credits, I know nothing about his role, except he is the “2″ – now I am interested to know who (and where) is “1″. The rest is pretty much unknown for that. Here a possible love interest for 6, there the dying hope of a way out of the Village; here a cab driver, who possibly knows more than he says, there a kid, who starts to learn that there is more than this life. The first episode (as a part of a mini series I don’t really see it as a pilot) basically set up everything we have to know for the next minutes of the show. Lots of questions, a few answer, lots of possibilities how the story could evolve during the next parts. Only the cliffhanger seemed a little awkward and pushed the story more into a science fiction genre. Which, I think, could be a mistake story-wise. But I don’t know the original and I don’t know hoe the writers handled that at their time. I let myself surprise what’s to come and will not spoil myself. This is, after a long while, the first real series from which I don’t know anything. 8/10

Episode 02: Harmony
Between the first two episodes I read an article about the old series, and now all the surprises are gone, because I know what is going on in the series. Nevertheless the remake is still fascinating and definitely not clear which story it will take for the next parts. For a resistance story it could be already too late; after two episodes 6 is already almost crazy and short before not believing in his dreams anymore. The end of the episode made it clear.
The story is told a bit too slow. Instead of giving us a few answers about what is going on, the writers gave us the episode story of the brother and the therapy thing, which feels like a one-episode thing. The relationship between 6 and 313 is not really building, and 2’s son 11-12 is not thinking too often about 6’s words about something outside of the village. It still looks mysterious and complex, but it just feels like the writers wanted to not reveal secrets before the finale. Okay, I liked the story with 6 and his alleged brother, just the fact that the revelation of 16 (Jeffrey R. Smith) not being 6’s brother and instead telling about them looking at everybody all the time came too short (still: The tables in the pool looked great, I want to sit in there, too). And I still don’t like the big white ball; this is kind of too much. The story seemed just like a “filler” to prevent letting the viewers know about the mystery in the story. I already know that the writers cut the spy story and going in a complete different way than in the original, but it still feels that the writers don’t want to expose any information for their big finale. It is like Lost.
It was still a good episode, but it was a bit weaker than the first one, and I think the rest of the series, probably with the exception of the finale, will be the same. I like the story, I like how the writers try to keep it complex, and I like that nothing is certain for sure (especially the ending with 6 in the crazy house made it clear that anything can happen), but I don’t like that any new mystery series has to be the new Lost, keeping all the secrets in the back, revealing them only in the finale. I already get bored with this, but as long as The Prisoner is a mini series I will have fun with it. 7,5/10

Episode 03: Anvil
Pretty much another typical stand-alone episode. Even the man story arc didn’t have minutes to discuss. There really was nothing about it, except the “psycho games” between 2 and 6 and 6’s efforts to get 313 out of the tunnels, together with another appearance of the white ball of death. But the rest… uninteresting procedural to keep the viewers interested in what is happening next with 6. The undercover story was bullshit, though, because it brought nothing. Either 313 thinks 6 spied on her and wants him out of her live, or 6 explains everything to get a bit of a love story into the story. But doing nothing is a waste of time. And this was pretty much the biggest problem in this episode.
Which was, surprisingly, still good. I still like the mystery part of the story and I still like the “duel” between 2 and 6. Especially when 6 mentioned to work against everything, what 2 does and says. Other than that the episode had some interesting points: Not to mention the question about number 1 (I don’t believe there is no number 1), but the deal with the tunnel and the execution-style eradication of unwanted village inhabitants. And the fact that more and more people seem to dream (or have visions about their old life) – which marks one big question: Why is 6 the only one, who wants to find out if there is a possibility to escape? Even 11-12 starts to believe, there is more to everything, but he is doing nothing.
At least the flashback story got an interesting turnout. Though I have absolutely no interest in the bits and pieces from 6’s early life (if it is his early life), but the acting was good in here. But I don’t think that the flashback story has any meaning into the story at all, which lets me ask myself why the writers did bring that story into the show. It must have some significance…
The Prisoner is already a miniseries, and when the writers waste their precious time with stand-alone and filler stories, then they didn’t really have good ideas to keep all the six parts interesting, which is a shame, because the plot is awesome. 6,5/10

Episode 04: Darling
Well, now I am really confused. An episode between stand-alone stories (the matchmaker thing) and a secret about the main story arc (Lucy’s [Hayley Atwell] involvement, who was recruited by 2 to play mind games with 6). And everything gets more confusing with the story about the hole and the disappearance, probably death of 832. It is nice to bring the recurring characters into an important story arc, but why is it so confusing now? Psych games are now replaced with mind games now.
Finally the flashback story is connected with a story in the village, and it was quite surprising that Lucy a.k.a. 4-15 was 6’s girl for the future – even though it was all part of one of 2’s plans. But the flashback story lost all meaning, when Lucy came into the village and played a blind girl and the result of 6’s matchmaker. The flashback story was just interesting enough in the last episode, which obviously was intended to prepare the story of this episode, but now the flashbacks are not interesting anymore. I don’t even care about the explosion of 6’s house in New York. And I surely don’t care if Lucy survived the explosion (well, she did, as long as the flashbacks are REALLY flashbacks… I am thinking of Lost right now, which confuses me again), because she could have easily planted the bomb to fake her death or let 6 believe that she is dead or something else, whatever.
It seems unbelievable, that 6 wants to marry 4-15, after one day and night of meeting (though he knew her as Lucy before); this story was a bit stupid. And the relationship story between 6 and 313 (together with the kiss at the wedding), well, I don’t want to talk about it, because it seems like a filler to the finale and a story for the shipper.
Only 11-12’s story seems interesting, and finally he steps forward with his intuitions, but his story could be told a bit faster, because there are only two episodes left…
By the way, I noticed something, which confuses me even more: The episode’s cliffhangers are totally not concluded in the next episode. In “Harmony”, we had 6 in the psych hospital, in the next minute of the next episode he was out; in “Harmony”, he was in the tunnels, in the next minute of the next episode, he was happy somewhere else – what is with the open and unresolved cliffhangers? Do they have a meaning in the bigger story or is it just very bad writing? I hope there is something explainable coming… 6,5/10

Episode 05: Schizoid
Waah, now I am totally lost. Either the 6 in New York is crazy, ill, sick, and like the episode title schizoid, then the series has a really boring conclusion, but if not, then I want to know how everything fits together. This episode was even more confusing than the last one, and it kills the fun I had with the series during episode 1 and 2. Still complex, but I am losing interest, when I see scenes, which are completely
out of logic and probably even out of synchronicity of the story.
Now the writers bring us doubles, a two-times 6 and another 2 and nobody knows who is who, are they really doubles, or just imaginations in each other’s heads and minds. And with each other’s minds I mean that the confusing is happening in the illusion’s minds… Yeah, I really am lost.
At least I am getting into 11-12’s story, even though I am about not to see through this story. Not only do I not understand why 2 gave 11-12 the key, but I couldn’t get the sense of the actual story and of 11-12’s mother – is she now dreaming about the real world or about the village? Does she know about everything or is that just an illusion in somebody’s mind? Or am I getting crazy and I secretly watch the series finale of Lost without knowing the two previous seasons?
The idea with the doubles is good, and sometimes I thought about clones, astral illusions or something like that, but with every new scene the writers have something new to offer: The towers are in real the Summakor offices? Which 6 is now in the “office” and beating the crap out of the windows and which 6 is in the Village? Are there mind exchanges happening? How did 313 get to the Summakor office without being chased by the white ball of death? Did she really manage to get to the towers? Damn, with all these questions, no answers and confusing stories it is no fun to watch the episodes. Because there is no clue of what might be the bigger game in this episode, when it is not all a dream of 6 or something like that.
By the way: What was up with 147 and his wife? Did they already forgot the “disappearance” of their daughter? There is absolutely no aftermath of this story. And 4-15 is not going to be missed as well.
Seriously, I like all the complexity, but the series goes on my nerves in this form. 4,5/10

Episode 06: Checkmate
Hm, okay, I am trying to put it together: Everything was a mind game, the consciousness not really playing tricks, but manipulating it. Consciousness can be transformed into another place, while “normal” life goes on – basically: the consciousness of the people can be separated from the people. The consciousness notice its missing “host” (the people) and has dreams (that’s probably why 6 had the dreams from his early life at the beginning of the miniseries) – the dreams might be the connection between the separated consciousness and the people, so that a lost consciousness can return to its “host” – , wants to return, but cannot and gets crazy (like 6 did – kind of). It creates an enemy (the big white ball of death) and so it tries to put itself together. Basically: The consciousness of the people can “think” on their own without being connected to their “hosts” (the people). And now the biggie: Even though I didn’t understand the last three episodes and all the things about the consciousness (especially with Helen [Rachael Blake] in the center of everything – kind of), this is my own resume of the series and it might not be right, because I saw barely clues to what I just wrote. But I think this is the easiest way to describe the whole mini series. I just don’t understand why there were two 6s and two 2s in the last episode. I could explain it with 6, but with 2?
Seriously, even after the finale the plot is still confusing. I could write more stuff about the whole consciousness thing, but I don’t know if I even interpret it right, I already lost my thoughts writing together my own thesis. I can’t put all the things together I saw, especially the flashback scenes with 6/Michael and Lucy during the first four episodes (what has this to do with everything?) – whose consciousness is really controlling the village – 2/Curtis or Helen (after her death in the village, all the holes came up, which lets me believe that Helen kind of lost control over her consciousness, because she was the one who most dreamt stuff – in the village and in real)? Or is 11-12 behind everything (he died, too, and all the holes came up – by the way: It is interesting that 2 is holding a funeral for his son, but not for his wife; this one lets me think about that Helen’s consciousness wasn’t really a part of the Village, but a connection for 2 between the Village and the real world, which means, again, that Helen was the bridge between the world of conscious and the world of being awake). Oh my god, I am so confused right now.
A few words to the episode: It was… a good one, at least a few of my million questions were answered, and I think the viewers have to think for themselves now, how to interpret the series. Interesting is that the episode picked up some of the cliffhangers from the last episodes. 6 getting into the crazy house in “Harmony”, in here his conscious is in the crazy house, fighting his demons (the big white ball of death); 313’s fate totally confuses me (especially the ending scene – is she taking Helen’s position now? Is she he bridge between consciousness and the real world now?), and why the writers brought 147 into the real world as a driver, I don’t know – this scene was confusing as well. And why 2 killed his head with a grenade I don’t know. And the biggest thing: Even though it was clear that there is no number 1, I secretly think 6 was 1. When everybody already screams “6 is the one”, I translate it to “6 is 1″ – and in theory he could be 1 now, after he “takes over” the village.
I have to think about that now, maybe rewatching the mini series, maybe putting my thoughts together again. Maybe I understand then. But for now the writers managed to get to the point: Don’t conclude the mystery story, so the viewers have to think on their own. I thought hard, and I am not happy about my results. 7/10

Season average is 6,67. I definitely will rewatch this, just for the sake to understand the whole thing. And I will post another entry with more thoughts about the ending, the conclusion and everything in it, around Christmas time or so. When I was thinking about this show over the night, I still was fascinated and flashed with everything I saw. And I want to know, if the writers wrote together some unexplainable shit, not caring about the meaning of the conclusion, or if everything has a deeper meaning in religion, myths and so on.
By the way: I was already looking for the original series. I will watch this some time, but first I have to find the episodes…

MOVIE REVIEW: Son of Rambow

Have a bit imagination, have lots of fantasy, and be in your childhood during the early 80s in the United States. And maybe then you are able to produce a short film, which includes the son of Rambo trying to save his father.
Son of Rambow is definitely an enjoyable movie, even though I was expecting a bit more. After all, this is not a spoof of some kind for the Rambo movies, it is more a movie about growing childhood friendship and getting out of the miserable family life for a while to have lots of fun. The family can’t always watch the kids.
Son of Rambow deals with Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner), who is looking for an escape from his family’s stifling home life when he encounters Lee Carter (Will Poulter), the school bully. Armed with a video camera and a bootlegged copy of Rambo: First Blood, Lee plans to make cinematic history by filming his own action-packed video epic and uses Will as stuntman. Together, the two newfound friends-turning-filmmakers quickly discover that their imaginative and sometimes mishap-filled cinematic adventure has begun to take a life of its own, when the French exchange student Didier (Jules Sitruk) enters the filming stage.

A little spoof of Rambo, a little bit of an adventure movie, a little bit childhood friendship story, a little bit family sense and even some real action, paired with suspense – basically, this movie has everything for a nice family evening with parents and kids. There are always little rascals, who stole a video cassette or a DVD from daddy’s collection to watch the bloody R rated action movie, because he is always saying “You can’t watch this, son”. But secretly, son is watching it and starts having dreams about his wishful future: He want to be an action star. In my case, it wasn’t that different.
Son of Rambow was pretty sweet, thankful to the child actors and their characters. They are not over-the-top, instead written very simple and believable. Will Poulter is giving an incredible performance as school bully and in-the-movie-Colonel, but it would not have been bad to give him a bit more character development. Especially his relationship with his brother Lawrence (Ed Westwick) seems a bit unclear, is the bigger brother first just on his little brither, so Lee can cook Lawrence something to eat and give him watches, but after an unseen change in Lawrence’s character, he is a caring brother and a father figure for Lee. Will is the typical young teenager, trapped into a sect of a strict religious group that prohibits him from having any friends outside the group and strictly forbids him from watchings any TV or movies. His change in life is a bit unbelievable, after he accidentally sees Rambo: First Blood for the first time, but the effect in his life (practically growing a mind over night) is really nice. Their friendship story is believable, and all ups and downs are their – being blood brothers, having fights, saving each other’s lives, and learning from each other.
Together with the French exchange student Didier (a perfect example for the ridiculous new-wave fashion of the 80s), their friendship is having difficulties, when Didier forces himself to Will’s and Lee’s movie production, because he is bored kissing all the girls in school. Didier is the middle part of Will’s and Lee’s relationship, bringing them apart, but really showing both of them, what life during childhood really means.
The rest of the new-found buddy clique are only extras with no real intentions to show Son of Rambow’s two heroes the meaning of life, but giving a perfect comic relief for the story, though the funny parts of the movie were rarely spread (but the scene in which Didier shoots down a bird, and the bird hits one of his followers on a bike was very hilarious).
The dream sequences (including a well-alive scarecrow and Will imagining exploding bombs and napalm fires on a field while driving past by it) are interesting, and show the obsession Rambo: First Blood has with Will, even though I wished to see more about his obsession to the movie
 After all, Son of Rambow is not really a comedy movie almost everybody was hoping it to be, it is more a simple and easy-going tale about friendship, family, loyalty and religion – pretty much in comparison with the more character toned Stand By Me from 1986. But it doesn’t mean that Son of Rambow isn’t completely unfunny. Here and there were laughable scenes, with so much heart you wished to be a kid again – no worries, cool summer days, worthy friendship with the kids from the neighborhood. And as long as everything is settled in the early 80s, then everything is good.

Son of Rambow is touching, heart-warming, beautiful, well-acted, funny, emotional, family friendly and a wonderful piece set in the 80s. Director Garth Jennings delivered a well-made film (and survived his The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy flop), and it doesn’t hurt to compare them with other buddy clique adventure movies like Stand By Me or The Goonies, though these films had different topics to offer. But on the surface they are all the same: friendship wins over dull life.
Not really the overhyped British comedy sensation, but definitely worth a look.

MOVIE REVIEW: El Bola

 This movie is part of my efforts to get more into European cinema. I was watching a few movies made in non-English speaking countries of Europe, and I always kind of liked them, even though the stories and characters are always the same: complex and well written. I am not sure, but after a while it could get boring, when I always see movies with the same story and message in it.
Now I tried the Spanish movie El Bola, which deals about the 12-year-old kid Pablo (Juan José Ballesta), who is raised in a violent and unforgiving environment. His father Mariano (Manuel Morón) always beats and treats his son like shit. His mother Aurora (Gloria Muñoz) can’t do anything against her husband, so she only can watch. Embarrassed by his family life, Pablo, who calls himself “El Bola” (the English subtitles of the movie translates his nickname into “Pellet”, which is also the English international movie title), retreats from his classmates, engaging them only through a dangerous game. The arrival of the new boy Alfredo (Pablo Galán) changes something for Pablo. He befriends with the new classmate and discovers a family, where communication and love prevail over domination and violence.

The movie got lots of awards and nominations: Juan José Ballesta won the Newcomer Award in the Spanish Actors Union; the audience declared this movie the Best Movie of the Year during the Turia Awards and the San Jordi Awards; the screenplay got (including) a Goya Award and in the European Film Awards it was the European Discovery of the Year. More awards and nominations would follow. So, this has to be a great movie then, huh?
Well, it was not a great, but definitely a good one. The story isn’t new and I already saw it in lots of movies and TV shows, so no surprises here. But the not even 90 minutes scores with its talented actors and believable characters. Even though half of the characters (especially Pablo’s parents) are full of clichés, but that is of no consequence, because the acting is terrific. Juan José Ballesta and Pablo Galán give an interesting couple, and their friendship from start to finish is completely believable. When the story goes into the direction of “Alfredo’s family is helping Pablo out”, the movie goes even more into an authentic stadium and shows exactly that, what everybody should do, when they have a stranger kid at home, who shows signs of beating by his parents. José (Alberto Jiménez) is an interesting character, a great father for Alfredo and a more interesting father figure for Pablo himself.
Basic theme of the movie is child abuse. Though the theme is big and important for every character in the movie, less abuse is shown. But it depicts the abuse openly and gives the viewer a light hit in the stomach (the biggest hit I got so far was while watching the Danish “Festen” by Lars von Trier). Director Achero Mañas, who co-wrote the screenplay, shows much courage in his story, setting it practically in your own neighborhood, which makes it – again – even more realistic. If you suspect the boy from across the street being hit by his abusive parents, or if you see a boy from two house numbers apart with bruises and scars on his face, you always think about abusing, but without any proof, you don’t think about doing something against it. As far as you know, this kid from your neighborhood is not in your life – you have own problems and troubles to deal with and you probably don’t need a 12-year-old stranger, from whom you probably don’t know the name. But you won’t forget it. And this movie picks up exactly that. Here it is a family from the neighborhood, who actually starts to help the abused kid, who tries to give him a normal life aside from his terrifying home life.

 Like I said, the acting is terrific. The kids are almost sensational in their roles and definitely are watchable for future films. Manuel Morón plays the perfect abusing father, who is not only the king in his own four walls, but the man, who decides everything (and wife and son have to do what he says); and when he discovers that the outside world knows about his transgressions against his family, he sinks in his own guilt, having fear about what is coming next. Alberto Jiménez and Ana Wagener complete the shining cast and give interesting views to their problems (which involves the question of returning Pablo to his father with no proof that he hits his son).
Sure, the screenplay might have a few holes in it (A father gives his son a tattoo? Another father lets his son on a trip with a family he never met before?), but its honesty is truly refreshing, and the topic is still relevant, even nine years later after the movie was made.
El Bola tells you an everyday story – it is neither original nor suspenseful, it is just simple and honest and that’s what makes this movie good. And like I said, I didn’t find it great, because I always think the Spanish dialogs don’t have any feeling behind it. I didn’t watch many Spanish movies, but one thing I always notice: The dialogs must be all in the same pitch. But this is just my view of this unimportant fact.
El Bola is definitely a film to watch; and keep their actors, director and screenwriters in mind, maybe they have another European Discovery of the Year in a few years.
And if somebody has a good and simple Spanish movie for me in mind, don’t hesitate to tell me, because this won’t be the last European movie I saw. Maybe I find some interesting titles far behind the US blockbuster titles.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Girl in the Café

 I should bring more interest in HBO movies for a change. I always try to watch the TV shows aired by HBO, and I quite love some of them (mostly Entourage), but I never occupied myself with their movies. The Girl in the Cafe is one of them, and – after I watched it, because I was bored - I quite liked it. The first time I heard about this movie was when a German network aired a remake of it in television, and got mostly average reviews. Since then I wanted to watch the HBO original, because the story is interesting and I love those kind of movies with two characters in the center, who are in a moment of midlife crisis of some sort, and when they meet and starting to love each other (but never end as a couple, because their lifes are still too different from each other) they talk about stuff, but not their own lives. And at the end there is emotional drama and no happy end for all involved in the situation.
Bill Nighy (nominated for the Golden Globe for his role) plays Lawrence, an aging, lonely civil servant, who is on the edge of his biggest step in his career. The G8 summit in Reykjavik is coming closer, where the politicians of the world discuss about the most important topics and problems the world has. During a coffee break he meets Gina (Kelly Macdonald, she won an Emmy for her role and was nominated for the Golden Globe), an enigmatic young woman, in a cafe. Both start talking, both start lunching in restaurants and both start having certain feelings about each other. When Lawrence invites Gina to Reykjavik at short notice, she goes with him and the trouble (and love story) begins. Because Gina starts to have some interest in the topics the politicians discuss during the summit, and she has to state her point of view, even though nobody will be happy to hear her opinion.

The story is basically simple. Two characters fall for each other; mostly they are shy, mostly they don’t really know what to talk about, because they are living in the moment of their cold, formell life. With the G8 summit background The Girl in the Cafe is almost a twin movie for Lost in Translation. We have the couple in the foreign country, who doesn’t know anything about it; the couple with problems in their own lives; the couple who seems to fit together perfectly, but fate doesn’t want to bring a new life to them.
The movie is sliced in two different parts. First the introduction of the two main characters, Lawrence and Gina. We learn a lot of things about him, but actually nothing about her. Lawrence stays the shy and nervous aging man, who doesn’t know what to say or to do (especially during the scene, when he is asking Gina out for dinner, after he met her for the first time), who clearly thinks before he is saying something. But when he is with Gina, he obviously doesn’t know anything. He was lonely before, didn’t have a real life but his job. Then he meets the mysterious Gina, who suddenly lights up his fire. He wants to live again, and he secretly hopes he can live it with Gina, but for the whole time of the movie he wants to let her think that he is not thinking about this. Gina remains mysterious for one reason: She doesn’t tell anything about her. We don’t know, who she is working for; we don’t know if she has (had) a family; we don’t know why she even evolved interest in this old man. And when we learn something about her past, she still remains mysterious.
Which takes us to the biggest problem of the story: The second part of the movie contains the G8 summit and for Gina the chance to speak out, to change the world for the better. But why she is speaking out against all odds is clearly unknown (even the bit of information we learn at the end doesn’t really help to clear that up). She knows that her opinion is unwanted, but she has to tell in front of everybody during a dinner that “it’s not right”. It is nice to see a woman standing up for something and telling her opinion, but the reasons for that are just missing and makes Gina as a character not really believable.

 The actors are fabulous. Bill Nighy acts superb, even though he could have hidden his middle finger a bit (if you look for it, you will see a few scenes with his middle finger stretching out in various moments of discussions – it was kind of unintentionally funny). He is a believable character, though his background doesn’t really make it more simple to understand his life and his loneliness. But maybe it is because of this why he is so nervous all the time. Kelly Macdonald is lovely eye candy and I loved her accent in here. But her clearly missing background doesn’t make her an unreliable character, she merely stays mysterious and far from everything happy.
The pictures are mostly cold, which I couldn’t understand why. Iceland is a cold country, and the topics are more serious than cheerful, but I felt like in a rainy and dark Jerry Bruckheimer TV production for a few moments. At least it fits perfectly together with the two characters (which makes the movie even more cold, though it is a – kind of – love story).
Which brings us to the message of the movie: Poverty in Africa is always a difficult topic, especially for a movie – the writers could never handle it properly. Either they only scratch on the surface of the topic, or they go way too deep into this and ignore the actual story of the movie. If yo want to address poverty in Africa, make a documentary. But nevertheless the producers managed a good balance between love story in the first half and politics in the second half, though the real message lost its way at the end of the movie.

All in all: Great movie; for a cold and cloudy, rainy day in autumn perfectly suited. When you liked Lost in Translation, you will definitely like this one. When you are alone in your life, you can identify with the characters without problems. And if you like a love story, which goes deeper than just the trouble of meeting for the first time and loving each other directly after that, than this could be the right movie for you.

Blog Series: Abroad (Episode 19: The Empty Pockets)

Well, it is November and it is a kind of cursed time right now. First and foremost: I don’t have any money at the moment. Since I am in Vancouver this is the third (or maybe fourth?) time I am completely broke, and this time it is not really that funny.
Second: The Olympics suck , because they kill lots of jobs in Vancouver these days. Either you are one of the lucky ones and get hired by Vanoc (they own the government and basically control everything what is going on around the Olympics), or you are not. I once was one of the lucky ones, but now I am unemployed, looking for a job, looking for a new temp agency and new ways to delay my rent pay.
Third: I should have paid my hostel rent on Friday, today is Tuesday, so let’s see how long it will take for me to get the money (and the managers of the crap house to find me, muhaha).

Labour Unlimited didn’t pay off this month. They don’t want to give me any more jobs, because I don’t get any repeats – their words (repeats are, like the word says, going to be hired for the same company the next day). Only I did get repeats these last weeks, but they failed to see that they were just a few of them during a period of a few weeks (in between I was sick with the flu). Before I get into an argument with these guys I changed the temp agency and try again. Hopefully the next two months are going to get a bit better, October wasn’t really a lucky month.

This situation lets me think about returning a bit earlier to Germany than I anticipated. I still didn’t change the return flight (it is still on January 1st), and I planned not to change it, because for now I don’t know what will be the situation in December. When the jobs are coming and I have money, then I will use the opportunity to delay my flight for four weeks. But I don’t think I will be that lucky.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 3

Click here for the review of Season 2

The third season of Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer was marked by the arrival in Sunnydale of renegade slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku), a moody loner who seemed to like her demon-staking calling just a little too much. While Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) was always wary of Faith, the two developed a deep friendship and appreciative rapport – that is, until the evil mayor of Sunnydale (Harry Groener) tapped into Faith’s dark side and lured her into his plot to take over the world, first as a double agent spying on Buffy, then as out-and-out nemesis. And as the mayor’s ascension approached – which happened to fall on Sunnydale High’s graduation day – Buffy and Faith’s battles got nastier and nastier, as Buffy attempted to wrestle with her dark side, save the world and her friends (again), and keep her lover Angel (David Boreanaz) out of Faith’s evil clutches – and out of evil’s evil clutches.

Episode 01: Anne
It was a good episode. Buffy is dealing with past happenings, coming around Angel’s death and trying to turn away from her old life. At least her disappearance from the last episode didn’t get a shitty conclusion, but took a whole episode to deal with this topic – good. And it was good that the other characters in Sunnydale didn’t get much screentime, and only one vampire and their first day of school. Even though the talk Giles (Anthony Steward Head) and with Joyce (Kristine Sutherland) was pretty interesting and full of character moments. Not only tries Joyce to accept Buffy being the slayer, she still looks for excuses, why Buffy moves far and far away from her. And she has kind of right. Giles really is a big father figure in Buffy’s life and he sometimes took most of her time.
The demon story was alright, it gave a nice conflict for Buffy and a reason to return. And with the appearance of Lily (Julia Lee) we have a character from season two back for one episode and another little conflict for Buffy.
Just the fact that Buffy must have been sad all summer long gets a bit on my nerves – nobody can be that sad all the time – she shut herself out from life all the time, didn’t meet people, did nothing? Kind of unreliable. To run away from life means you have to live another life and not think about it… 7,5/10

Episode 02: Dead Man’s Party
An average episode, even though the most interesting story, Buffy’s efforts to reinstate herself into her old life, was the best here, but cut way too short. Buffy had some discussions with her friends in here (despite the cheesiness of the verbal fight during the party, especially Xander’s (Nicholas Brendon) behavior), but the real aftermath was kind of missing in this episode. Instead the writers had to deal big with a Nigerian mask, which rises the dead. Not really interesting and of course full of cliches: The zombies behaved like real zombies from classic monster movies. To be honest, the whole zombie/mask/whatever story was completely useless, uninteresting and dull. But all the scenes involving Buffy and her friends getting back to their old life were great. 5,5/10

Episode 03: Faith, Hope and Trick
Finally the season really begins. With Faith’s introduction. Buffy’s grieve is over after she told the truth what really happened (great scene) and she even tries to get a date. Joyce is finally living with the fact that her daughter is the slayer and even learns that she died for a couple of minutes. So pretty much nice development in all of the characters. Even Faith’s introduction into the Buffyverse was pretty much good. She succeeded Kendra and she is a troubled person (which lets me ask the following: Who is choosing the slayers at all?). And at least she came to Sunnydale with a backstory (pissing off a fishy vampire with three fingers), even though it would have been better, when the story actually was a bit better. A watcher was killed and nobody really cared.
Faith in the Summers house was nice, this is what makes her to a likable character, and how she beat the crap out of one of the vampires was just nice, this promises some more action in this season and it promises that Faith will have some problems to deal with.
The cliffhanger seems nice, though I wished not to see it: Angel is back from hell (or wherever he was). I still wish the writers chose letting him in hell, but WB wanted to have a spin-off with him, so he had to come back… 7,5/10

Episode 04: Beauty and the Beasts
Pretty much a boring episode, even though it is Angel’s first episode back after his death in the second season finale. I am stunned that Angel might have been a monster in here, but he was able to style his hair… Funny.
The story about the high school couple, the Jekyll & Hyde theme, was really boring and didn’t interest me a bit. Scott (Fab Filippo) brings some new characters into the game and it was so damn obvious that they are important for the story. Platt (Phill Lewis) as school psychiatrist would have been interesting, but he was killed in his first episode. Bummer. At best the story about Oz (Seth Green) probably being the killer of the student was interesting, but this was pretty much solved during the second half.
Well, I still don’t like the fact that the writers had to bring back Angel. Not only will his love story with Buffy starts from the beginning (again), but Angel is not that interesting in here. Really. Maybe his return from wherever he came from could be interesting, because of the “wherever he came from” – where was he? 4,5/10

Episode 05: Homecoming
A good and interesting episode, not only because of the Mayor’s introduction. Apart from the questionable storylines (what does the Mayor want from Trick (K. Todd Freeman), or why is it always so difficult to hunt down Buffy and finally kill her – even the Germans were really stupid enemies) and the Buffy/Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) feud (even though they seem to be friends at the end, but they will ever “hate” each other) I liked the episode. Okay, the fight about being the homecoming queen was funny and so, but the series doesn’t need typical high school, stories for only one episode, when I already know the ending won’t develop any of the main characters.
The ending was funny – for the first time a tie, Buffy and Cordy are about to hear their names and then the other contestants win. Totally hilarious in my eyes. And like I said, I don’t know what the Mayor has to do with Trick – it is obvious that the writers wanted to keep Trick as a temporary enemy for Buffy, but the real reason is missing. It was nice though to see one of the Texan vampires from season two back again. I had to laugh, when he ran away from Cordy. 7,5/10

Episode 06: Band Candy
Pretty boring episode, but at least a funny one. Even though we find out more about the Mayor; Ethan’s (Robin Sachs) return and Giles and Joyce making out without stopping, this episode was just a filler, like the last two episodes, just to waste some time until the next episode.
Well, like I said, the episode was hilarious. Giles a teenager again, making out with Buffy’s mom in front of Buffy and Buffy herself trying to be the adult was nice and had a bit of a character development – this
all was cool, but I can’t think of any more than this episode just being a filler. Not only Angel has no screentime in here, and I am not talking about Faith.
And getting the newborn was just a lame excuse for this story, the vampires simply could have gone into the hospital, made a little kill spree and got the newborn – what’s so difficult to do this and why the deal with the cursed chocolate?
Yeah, it was funny, but one of the most useless episodes in Buffy history. 5,5/10

Episode 07: Revelations
This is an episode I wanted to see during the last six episodes. Finally no filler, instead great stories, developments and ideas of what’s to come this season.
Faith getting a new watcher was a good idea (and it was necessary after all to give Faith a new watcher), but her being the bad one was pretty obvious. And finally the scooby gang finds out that Angel is alive again (only their reaction was a bit over the top – even Giles cannot only see the things Angel did to him; as a watcher he has to see the whole picture), so Angel can be integrated more into the story in future episodes.
The first Buffy vs Faith was awesome and it was not the last. It is great to see that the writers planned this storyline from the beginning. I just find it amusing that Faith knocked out Angel and he was unconscious for, like, ten minutes and then wakes up to save Willow (Alyson Hannigan) (that was more funny than surprising).
The deal about the glove was boring though, and the finale came a bit too fast; and I wished to see the scooby gang dealing more about Angel actually being the good guy again.
But the fights were really good. Finally some classic slayer vs slayer (I know, Kendra and Buffy fought in season two, but Kendra is almost forgotten, and dead, while Faith is in the story right now). 8,5/10

Episode 08: Lover’s Walk
Funny and serious episode, and a test balloon, how the writers can deal with Spike (James Marsters), even though his story is over and he already was the main enemy. There are already many parallels with later seasons and the ending of the episode is pretty much awesome.
Sure, the story around Spike ain’t great and nothing is happening (he doesn’t get Drusilla back, he doesn’t get killed, he is the same old Spike from season two with the exception of his love talk), but how the scooby gang is dealing with him is awesome. Even though I couldn’t believe that all of them were believing really fast that Spike returned, especially Buffy while on the phone with Joyce.
Funny moments were Spike talking his soul out with Willow, while she is scared of him killing her and definitely Spike talking to Joyce; I was short before laughing very hard. Just the fact that Angel was “accidentally” at the Summers house and seeing Spike, thinking he wants to kill Joyce was laughable in a negative way; such coincidences are just stupid and unintentionally funny. But what the hell.
The little relationship drama Willow/Oz/Xander/Cordy growing to its highest point was awesome, though it was (unintentionally) funny, that Cordy and Oz ran into Willow and Xander while kissing. And I wouldn’t know what to begin with Cordy’s accident right after that (probably, just to show the funeral scene and have the gag in it), when I wouldn’t know the next episode.
And how good would it be, when the friendship of the gang is broken, while they are saving the world? The end of the episode was a good start. 8/10

Episode 09: The Wish
Great episode. Cordy is still dealing with the “break-up” and wished practically hell on Earth. The introduction to that story was already settled in the last episode, while Cordy was thinking about her life in the hospital (still a scene in which Charisma Carpenter looked really great and really serious for the first time in the show). And this episode gives us the introduction of Anya (Emma Caulfield), a well-known character in later episodes.
It was obvious that the alternate reality story was coming in Buffy sooner or later and even though the setting of the alternate reality wasn’t a surprise (because there had something to come), but what happened during the 42 minutes was awesome. Cordy killed by Xander-vamp and Willow-vamp in the middle of the episode (so the actual reason, why we are in this reality isn’t there anymore, it is like Psycho: Mill the main character, before the movie hits half time); Xander and Willow being creepy vampires (which gives Alyson Hannigan a cool opportunity to play outside of her sweet Willow character, now she is the sweet and cold-blooded vampire – awesome); the Master (Mark Metcalf) risen from the Harvest and developing technology for sucking up blood in a better and more “human” way (LOL); and Angel is the puppet for everyone, especially Willow (great scenes between the two).
For me, it came just a bit too fast how Giles figured out the Anyanka deal, and Buffy came really fast to Sunnydale, without even asking a question – she was so cold in her role here, I was asking me why she even bothered to go to Sunnydale. But the final fight was awesome. Half of the gang gets killed and the Master even won over Buffy, and with that great score playing in the background, the scene had a few goosebumps effects. I just wished the scene would be a bit longer or we actually would see Buffy hit the ground after she was killed.
One of my highlights. 9,5/10

Episode 10: Amends
Another great episode, when you look under the surface of it. You don’t see it, but here are battling the good and the evil against each other, and Angel is only their playing ball. It is only a shame that the writers didn’t plan to show it more in the story. Instead we only learn about the First, and we only know that it actually exists (it is interesting that Giles didn’t know about it before; it comes a bit illogical, when he and the gang is learning everything about their enemies, when they are actually in Sunnydale and threatening lives), for more you have to wait four more seasons.
At least Angel got a story of his own, after he was barely a main character these last episodes, and together with his flashbacks the episode had a nice touch and brought us Angel a bit closer again. Even though I didn’t need his flashbacks, but they were necessary for the First to appear in the people Angel killed in the past. His doubts were interesting, though bad acted (I had to laugh, when he was touching his head and trying to play craziness, because that totally didn’t work out) and Buffy’s first standoff with the First was hilarious (“All right. I get it, you’re evil. Do we have to chat about it all day?” – “You have no idea what you are dealing with.” “Let me guess, is it… evil?”). Haha, I was laughing.
I just don’t believe that Angel would kill himself to save Buffy. Not only out of character, but the scene in which Buffy tries to bring Angel the word “strong” closer looked good, but at the end it was way too much, because I couldn’t buy the situation. And on top of it the sun didn’t rise, it didn’t even go bright. It stayed night the complete day. I am laughing. I know, it was highly possible that the Powers That Be were responsible for the snow to save Angel, but at least the writers could have shown that it was actually DAYTIME and not in the middle of the night.
The return of Robia LaMorte was awesome though. I miss her since Angel killed Jenny. A shame that she never did anything good after Buffy. 8,5/10

Episode 11: Gingerbread
Another one of those filler episodes and a pretty boring one, too. The story seemed interesting, but it got boring, after the ghosts were revealed, because it was a real mystery before, without actually being a real big mystery. The witch hunt of course reminded me of Salem and all the other witch and religious hunts in the history of mankind, but the writers could have done more.
It would have been nice to see Joyce possessed or something and let her be the main enemy of the episode; Buffy fighting against her mother to save her, but it never came to that, bummer. And the final “fight” was a bit lame – Buffy trying the whole time to free herself and then suddenly she manages to break the pole and stabs the demon? Muhaha, I was laughing. Well, at least the scene was intended to be funny.
Cordy to Giles was funny, too: “How often are you knocked out anyway?” I already can’t count the times Giles was knocked out and this was indeed a funny scene…
By the way: Is it just me or didn’t the writers conclude the ritual sign things. Willow said they were for protection, but why were they on the kids’ hands? 5/10

Episode 12: Helpless
A good episode. And the start of a new little story, even though the story of the episode was filler. At least we learn something more about the Watcher’s council and how they are practically the bosses of the slayers and their watchers.
The vampire of the week was kind of funny. Jeff Kober can always play the bad guy (I only know him as the bad guy anyway), but his actions were just… stupid. He kills one of his guards, makes him to a vampire, but actually can’t free himself and has to wait? And how did he know where Buffy lived to take her mother? And how did he even know that Buffy was the one to “play” with and not any other girl on the street?
Buffy without her superpowers was a good idea, and I really liked Giles in this one, but for a better episode the writers have to build around the plot holes, not actually on it. 7,5/10

Episode 13: The Zeppo
It is interesting that the writers once dealt with the story of “Nobody will ever know what happened”, and that’s why this episode is good. And funny. Buffy and the rest of the scooby gang fight their biggest fight yet, and Xander has other problems to fight, just because the gang didn’t want him in their fight. Another example that the series is for an ensemble cast. Buffy was not even a second-row character in this one; with her five-minute screentime she almost had nothing to do.
Xander’s zombie story was old, but cool and funny. It is nice how he develops as a character here, even though he had one too many one liner. At least zombies just want to have fun is something new, I didn’t see that all the time. And Xander having sex with Faith… ROFL. I don’t even know why the writers put that in the episode, it seems so unimportant. And funny (here is it again).
And the apocalypse problems of the gang? I almost was surprised how much screentime that story got; with a little less screentime (Buffy’s scene in the bar
could have been cut out) it would have been better, especially when Xander’s story crossed with the apocalypse (saving Faith, meeting Giles and Willow, running from the demons). 8/10

Episode 14: Bad Girls
Finally, the season story arc can really begin now, after the writers included everything they want to have included for the episodes. The Mayor is invincible now (pretty lame for just a one-episode arc), Faith is about to change sides, a new watcher is in town and we had the fattest vampire ever in vampire television history.
Wesley’s (Alexis Denisof) introduction was very nice and I was laughing when he and Giles simultaneously cleaned their glasses. Funny as well was how all of them handled Wesley as the new watcher, especially Giles with his snippy one liner.
Buffy and Faith on an action trip was very nice, at least we had some nice vampire action for a change; how they entered the nest by daylight looked really cool. And with Faith’s murder we have a new story starting (finally I would say); there isn’t much time left until she and the Mayor meet – but first Faith has to be separated from the scooby gang (which had enormously lots of screentime here. Not).
Important episode for the season, but actually not a great one. Just good. 7/10

Episode 15: Consequences
Basically the second part of the Bad Girls episode with all the aftermath of Faith’s murder. Buffy has nightmares, Faith still doesn’t care about what she did and everybody tries to get Faith back to her old manners (if she had any from the start). And even though the cliffhanger was necessary for the story arc, I just don’t know why Faith would go to the Mayor to work for him. What is her reason for that? She never was really that bad, she only had bad influence in the life she lived, but that was never a reason, why she changed sides.
It was nice of the writers to give Xander another chance to help without his superpowers, and like in The Zeppo, he almost died trying to help Faith (here as well: How did Angel enter the motel room? Faith never invited him in). By the way: Faith trying to seduce Xander is again way over the top. Sure, she plays with men like they are her boytoys, but Faith’s actions here are mostly unreliable, and this is what pulls the episode down.
Wesley is another topic: He is too much outside of the scooby gang to have that much screentime. Though it is interesting to see a watcher really living the watcher rules, but in this moment Wesley isn’t really interesting.
Still a good episode, but the writers suddenly pushed Faith to the bad side without giving any plausible explanations why she would work for the bad side. 7/10

Episode 16: Doppelgangland
Almost a genius episode. Joss Whedon did exactly the right thing: He totally didn’t take the episode serious and put lots of gags in it. Not only am I surprised that the story needed 14 minutes to get to its first climax (vampire Willow entering this reality), but the story actually was funny. Alyson Hannigan has again lots of fun playing the dominatrix vampire and even has a nice action scene (this would be her first in the show, if I didn’t forget anything); Anya is back to introduce her to the audience and showing that she will be a recurring character; the scene in which Willow sees that her evil doppelganger seems to be gay (very important if you consider the next season) and especially good Willow amongst vampires in the Bronze – the complete scene was very hilarious. Even the scenes in which the characters were truly shocked about Willow’s “death” were almost hilarious, because totally unbelievable. I don’t know if that was on purpose or really bad acting.
From start to finish a real highlight of the show, another one of those examples that the writers always have irony in their ideas. 9,5/10

Episode 17: Enemies
A good episode with a nice, but obvious twist at the end. I still can’t buy the fact that Faith is working for the Mayor, but I have to live with that, and fortunately the writers didn’t hang on the story of Faith working undercover for the Mayor in the scooby gang – this one is ending right here.
Buffy’s play to trick Faith was really nice and, like I said, the twist was nice, but everybody should have seen it coming. The writers couldn’t turn Angel again, after they did it in the last season; and the situation with Buffy in cuffs and Faith being the player could just end in Buffy winning (and therefor knowing what is going on), because every other exit would be dumb and idiotic. Only one scene was missing: The scooby gang learning that everything was a hoax to let Faith believe she is ahead of the game. The gang comes into the crypt and they just “watch” Buffy fighting against Faith? Hm, there is really a little scene missing.
By the way: The story with the books is really… ehm, lame.
Interesting is the fact that Faith was the first to use the phrase “scooby gang” during the run of the show. 7/10

Episode 18: Earshot
Interesting stand-alone episode and again injoke Jonathan (Danny Strong) with some appearances. And surprisingly he is in the center of the story, even though the plot about somebody killing all the students began directly at the end of the first half of the episode. The idea of giving somebody new superpowers is not new, but I loved it how Buffy was curious about what is happening to her, and then totally happy when it was mind reading. The writers could have played with that story plot more, but they wanted to make her crazy and the school assassination had to be a big plot in here. But, hey, when Danny Strong has more screentime…
The mind reading scenes were full of cliches, everybody thought exactly that what was funny (though Oz was seriously thinking about a serious topic, which was LOL). And the ending surprise was really one, and a funny one, too. First the emotional scene with Buffy and Jonathan in the clock tower, which really showed some similarities between these two characters, and then the kitchen woman poisoning the food in front of Xander’s eyes – very hilarious. More hilarious was the fight Buffy had with her afterward. Seriously, did the producers really do that? Muhaha.
Funny as hell was Buffy learning about Joyce’s and Gile’s tete-a-tete. Damn, I was laughing. 7,5/10

Episode 19: Choices
For the main enemy episode before the season finale a really lame episode. The most interesting part was the standoff between the Mayor/Faith and the scooby gang with Snyder (Armin Shimerman) and two boring cops in the middle of it. But the rest wasn’t really that interesting, because it didn’t really looked like the writers were preparing the season finale. It felt more like a filler story to get the recurring characters (Mayor, Faith) involved again, before they don’t have any screentime. The story with the box really felt like a filler though, but at least it gave Willow some great moments as hostage and character development at the end. She is not only becoming a real powerful witch, but she is staying in Sunnydale to help Buffy out.
I have a problem how the writers deal with Wesley. He is still too much of a laughing-stock in the show, nobody takes him serious, which follows in the viewers don’t taking him serious. Especially for the first season of Angel this will be the biggest problem the writers have to deal with.
The standoff was great; even the Mayor had some character development and it was great to see that he isn’t really an enemy, he still wants to help in some way (how he talked to Angel) – even this talk was the next stone to prepare Angel to leave Sunnydale. 7/10

Episode 20: The Prom
Just a stand-alone episode, but how it prepared for the season finale… The episode is really unimportant for the rest of the series, but I find it pretty much genius. Sure, the hell dogs, or whatever they were, were really boring (fortunately this story didn’t have much screentime), but I loved how the writers let Buffy think about everything she lived through the episode and let her react in the way she was supposed to react in the series: She is only a lone warrior. Like every other slayer she fights alone, and
this episode showed how she would fight when she was alone and didn’t have any friends on her side – a really great way to show this. And I loved the complete prom sequences, in addition Buffy trying to kill the dogs and saving the school once again.
And then the real highlight: the last award. This has to be the prettiest moment in the series. It was really a great feeling to see Buffy awarded for what she did during the last three years; even I had a little tear in my eye, especially with Jonathan giving out the award – very sweet.
That Angel broke up with Buffy was obvious after the happenings of last episode and what’s to come for him (a spin-off). And it was another one of those great character moments; full of cliche, but still good acted and with emotions.
The little side plot with Cordelia and her family being broke seems just like a filler story though to not only give her screentime, after she was kind of cut in the story these last episodes, but to give Xander a final moment with her. By the way: Xander and Anya are really sweet together, no wonder why Emma Caulfield was promoted to the main cast. 8,5/10

Episode 21/22: Graduation Day
The perfect finale for the high school era of the series. Graduation Day for everybody, and everybody has to fight to survive the next day. And with it the high school is completely destroyed. Like Giles said, this is pretty ironic.
The first part of the finale was more of a normal episode. Faith trying to hurt Buffy through killing Angel with a poison, the scooby gang out to find a cure for him. Which results in the big and awaited fight Buffy versus Faith. It was a good and long fight, but I couldn’t prevent to see the stunt women all the time; their faces were clearly visible. And I couldn’t think that Angel’s cure was only the blood of a slayer. I don’t know, but isn’t this pretty dumb from the Mayor to give this poison to Faith? He should have known that Buffy would find out and probably get to Faith to cure Angel. Or this is one of the storylines Joss Whedon didn’t really think through. But the scene in which Angel feeds on Buffy was great. This is the second time Buffy was fed on by a vampire (the first time being the Master in the first season finale). It really looked like Angel wouldn’t stop, and the scene had a strong sexual meaning (just look at Buffy destroying things and touching Angel while lying on the ground and being sucked on).
Other than that the aftermath of Buffy beating Faith in a coma (interesting: A slayer with supernatural powers can heal pretty fast, but from a coma she doesn’t wake up) was interesting: the Mayor grieving in the hospital, having a little standoff with Angel. And suddenly the Mayor has a human weakness? And it is Faith? Well, I can’t think of the Mayor being a father figure for Faith, this just didn’t come too fast (even though they were signs all over the last episodes), but this story is seriously unreliable. This makes the final fight (Buffy running around with the knife she put in Faith) a bit laughable – negatively speaking.
But the fight itself was good. The scooby gang recruits the whole class of 1999 to fight (this scene has a special meaning after Buffy got the “Class Protector” in The Prom) and even Wesley has a reason to fight behind the council’s back. At least one scene he was serious in; during the fight he was the laughing-stock again, which unfortunately wasn’t funny anymore.
Well, the high school is over, with the next season Buffy goes to college – a new life will begin, another one ended here. Angel had the perfect send-off, and now he can have his own show. Only Cordelia didn’t have the proper good bye. At least Harmony died (hm… she got bitten by a vampire; the writers wanted to make her a vampire, it is obvious after this particular scene). And Anya learned that she is in love with Xander.
By the way: The story with Buffy quitting the council is an interesting story, but the writers never really concentrate on this. Sure, the show is still called Buffy, but I wished to see something about a slayer quitting her job, because this seems “important” – a slayer quitting her job is unique and definitely interesting. And this would have been the latest perfect moment to introduce us to the council a bit more. But the producers didn’t, which is a shame.
And another BTW: The episode had some clues about the fifth season – Faith said something about a big sister, before she started to fight with Buffy. And not to forget the dream sequence with Buffy and Faith. Interesting how Joss Whedon planned ahead.
Good season finale. An era ended, and it ended really hard – the scooby gang survived high school. 8,5/10

Season average is 7,43. It probably won’t look that way, but the third season is my second favorite (after the fifth season). If the writers wouldn’t have pulled off so much filler episodes, the season definitely would be better and more interesting.

Tru Calling – Season 2

Click here for the review of Season 1

It’s been two months since Tru Davies (Eliza Dushku) and Jack Harper (Jason Priestley) last met in a deadly confrontation in which Tru saved the life of her brother Harrison (Shawn Reaves), but she was ultimately thwarted when Jack evened the score by taking the life of her boyfriend Luc. After that night, Jack disappeared – but now he’s back with a vengeance. His renewed efforts to make sure the dead stay dead only make Tru more determined to carry on her murdered mother’s legacy of saving those who die before their time. But also back in town is Tru’s estranged father Richard (Cotter Smith) who, although claiming he wants to forge new relationships with his son and daughter, has his own secret agenda which is anything but fatherly in intent.

Episode 01: Perfect Storm
For a season premiere a bit lame, for a normal episode pretty good, which is surprising. The duel Tru versus Jack rises to a new level, and even her father is involved in everything. But before the writers get deeper into this story, they should clear the enemy lines: Why is it that Tru’s father and Jack are against Tru and what she is doing? Who is behind all of this? Hopefully the short rest of the series gives a little bit of an answer. But I find it interesting that Harrison is going to be prepared as Tru’s enemy, at least I believe this is happening. Will Harrison have the same powers Jack has right now? And why doesn’t Harrison have the powers his sister and his father have and why does Jack have them? And who is jack really? I can’t believe I am saying this, but this is actually an exciting story.
The “Help me” of the week was good. Carly Pope is always nice to watch, and I liked the bit of water action. And the fact that the case was not over with Tru’s success to save her (well, it was Davis (Zach Galifianakis)) makes the episode a bit better. I just want to know how Jack knew the facts about the case. He didn’t live it like Tru, so where did he have the information?
Davis’ little psych evaluation plot was alright, too, though just an excuse to give him a proper story. 7/10

Episode 02: Grace
A good episode, for a change Tru is framed for murder and she has more difficulties to fight. But instead of showing us Tru versus Jack all the time, the writers can start to explain the situations all the characters are into now. Apart from that it was really a good episode with an interesting story, but lame case. Fortunately the actual “Help me” didn’t really have much screentime, just simple and typical procedural crime investigation, here and there with some good moments. But the writers’ mistakes are back. They have to choose: detective or officer? A same person can’t be both…
It was obvious that Tru was going to rewind that day from the moment the doctor was killed again. But it was way too laughable how Tru was suspected really fast and how nobody is looking for her – not even the police.
Giving Davis a little love story is nice and giving a real reason for Harrison to be in the procedural stories, too. And I am curious why the writers try to write in new friends for Tru, after they cut out all the old friends of her in the first season. 7,5/10

Episode 03: In the Dark
Boring episode, boring “Help me” of the week, because it was predictable that neither Tru’s friends nor Carrie (Liz Vassey) was supposed to die. And the rest was boring as well. Tru’s birthday – uninteresting, because it brought nothing except I know now how old she is. At least some of the stories brought a little background into the characters. Obviously the writers really want to write Tru new friends, and they already have more screentime than the second-row cast from the first season at this point. But I seriously didn’t like the engagement story.
Davis and Carrie were sweet together, and I don’t know what to make of the cliffhanger. So she is part of Jack’s grand plan. Now I really want to know what the big plan is and what Tru is in.
By the way: Nice of Tru to ask again, how Jack could know all this stuff she is knowing. It looks like the writers planned to pack this into a story, and I already thought this would be one of the plot holes.
And another think: Am I forgetting things or is that the first episode Tru lost a case? 5,5/10

Episode 04: Last Good Day
Interesting episode with surprising character development. So, fate plays games with Tru and Jack and gives Jack the “Help me”, and I had goosebumps during that scene.
The story was interesting and the conclusion of why Jack was asked was interesting as well. But it lets me ask myself why this happened for the first time. The reason of Megan (Maggie Lawson) to die seems
reasonable and I can’t think of that never happening before. That gave Jack some interesting moments and conflicts with his job. I just wish this will hold on for the next and last two episodes. And more surprising: Tru lost again a life – the second time in a row. But the fact that the ending seemed like a real cliffhanger lets me think that this story ain’t over yet. Sure, the girl is dead, but it will have consequences for Jack and Tru.
The side plots were uninteresting though. For what is Carrie out and why is she pretending to like Davis? And Harrison’s storyline was really boring. It looks like father’s way to get him on his side, but the writers could try to do this with better stories.
Best episode of the season so far and one of the best episodes of the series. 8/10

Episode 05: Enough
Hm, Jensen (Eric Christian Olsen) dying, too. How boring is that storyline? Not even did it have any surprises, but the story was completely for the buttholes. But the writers had to bring Tru into a situation, saving a guy that did not ask for her help; it is just a lame excuse to use Jensen for that and repeat the storyline from last season’s finale.
I found the story with Harrison and Travis (William Sadler) way more interesting than Tru’s efforts to save Jensen. Not only was Travis an interesting character, but his story, visiting the wedding of his daughter, had sensibility and was sweet.
Yeah, the episode was not really important for the series’ mythology, just a filler. For that Jensen’s case of deja vu at the end of the episode seemed too unimportant. 6/10

Episode 06: T’was The Night Before Christmas… Again
A good episode, but some people are pretty pissed after seeing this episode as the last one of the series. Sure, the main story arc didn’t move forward one inch (for that, Harrison following his father ended too fast and the Davis/Carrie relationship doesn’t have any meaning at all), but at least there was something of a story arc in this episode.
The “Help me” of the episode was good, even though I didn’t even notice that a six month old cadaver asked for help, until Tru told it Davis. For that, the case was uninteresting and unspectacular, but at least the conclusion was alright. But I liked the fact that Tru and Jack worked together again. Not a trace of character development in Jack’s case (especially after the happenings in Last Good Day) and not one single scene in which Tru really hates Jack for what he did. Both of them still have a really good relationship, considering their past, and this is pretty much bad writing. But the Christmas themed surroundings and the ending made the episode good, only a bummer that this was the end. The writers did learn from their mistakes in season one (though slowly) and the story actually got more interesting. I didn’t hate the series in its second season… 7/10

Season average is 6,83 and one point better than the first season. What would have happened, when FOX didn’t cancel the show? Suddenly there was an interesting plot, suddenly I started to like everything, suddenly the writers learned from their big mistakes they did during season one. It is a shame that FOX didn’t make it happen and instead gave us another abrupt canceled series and let the viewers left hanging there.

Hung – Season 1

Years ago, as a student at Detroit’s West Lakefield High School, Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane) was athletic, popular and destined for success. Today, as a West Lakefield teacher and coach of the varsity basketball team, which is on an unprecedented losing streak, he’s underpaid, uninsured and embittered that his wife of 20 years Jessica (Anne Heche) left him for her dermatologist, Ronnie Haxon (Eddie Jemison). After fire damages the rundown lakeside home he inherited from his parents, Ray’s fortunes reach an all-time low when his twin children Darby (Sianoa Smit-McPhee) and Damon (Charlie Saxton), who have been living with him, move in with their mom and her smug husband. Lonely, run down and at wit’s end, Ray attends a self-help class, where the mantra is to identify a personal “winning tool” to market for financial success. After a not-so-fulfilling encounter with fellow attendee Tanya Skagle (Jane Adams), a would-be poet, Ray has a “eureka” moment. With the help of Tanya, the well-endowed Ray sets out to exploit his greatest asset in hopes of changing his fortunes. Even if it means using the one thing life hasn’t taken from Ray – his large penis. Becoming a male escort however is easier said than done. First and foremost, finding potential clients is no small task. He can’t post a picture of anything above his waist and being charming isn’t exactly his forte.

Episode 01: Pilot
Boring. I was about to fall into sleep during the 43 minutes. A story is missing, characters are missing (Ray is too much of a problem character and Tanya was just boring) and I didn’t like it really much. Sure, Thomas Jane seems to be a good actor and Anne Heche didn’t even have much screentime to wow me, but this was kind of nothing.
First: What is the genre? Comedy or drama? It is not even dramedy, but it is a mixture between comedy and drama. An I think the writers should choose very soon, before the show really gets boring. One whole episode got wasted for the introduction of Ray trying to sell himself as a manwhore – wasn’t it possible to tell the story a bit faster? And a bit more interesting?
An example: The scene where Ray told Floyd (Steve Hytner) and the class about his big dick being his tool – the scene lost all his meaning, when it was revealed he didn’t even say it – three minutes a waste of time. And the flashbacks were partly a waste of time, too, because I didn’t see any meanings in the scene, where Ray asked his ex-wife for money (except introducing his ex-wife and giving Anne Heche screentime).
Hopefully it gets better. Quality is there, the possibilities for being a good series are there, but I don’t see the meaning in this show… 4/10

Episode 02: ‘Great Sausage’ or ‘Can I Call You Dick?’
This episode was better than the first one. Barely boring, good story, but I still can’t start to like the characters – they are not interesting enough, like the series itself. The story isn’t really interesting and the characters are still boring. Especially Ray; I don’t know what to make of him. Either Thomas Jane is miscast or his character is badly written. At least the pimp story got a bit forward, even though the story really can be a bit faster, because the rest just feels like a filler (especially Ray’s problems as a teacher and basketball trainer). As well as the story with Ray’s kids and ex-wife. Nice that there is an ongoing story with them and their wish to live with their father, but I totally don’t care about that. And this is kind of the reason, why I still don’t get that show. 6/10

Episode 03: ‘Strange Friends’ or ‘The Truth Is, You’re Sexy’
Well, it was a good episode, even though nothing happened. Ray pisses in his lake and gets a visit by the police; Tanya tries to get Ray’s wallet back, after it was stolen by Lenore (Rebecca Creskoff) after the “I fucked the bitch for free” (the scene in front of Tanya’s house was very good and shows a great chemistry between the two stars) – but the rest was pretty uninteresting. Jessica just stole time of the story – what does a half dead dog have any interest for any of the characters?
I need definitely more story in this series. 7/10

Episode 04: The Pickle Jar
A good episode, slowly I start to like the series and the characters. The story wasn’t really interesting, because almost nothing happened. Ray is still about to question his new job and finally gets himself some answers at the end, which was very nice (character development wise), but full of cliches.
Nice to see Ray’s kids in a story. Darby with boyfriend troubles and Damon is standing in for her – very interesting scene. I just need more from Anne Heche or her role is seriously underworked – She needs her own story, or she gets boring very fast, which I definitely won’t like.
But it gets better… 7,5/10

Episode 05: Do It, Monkey
Well, the series could have made it with this episode, because I liked it. Ray’s first regular-then-non-regular was pretty interesting and I needed six minutes to understand all of this. I just couldn’t really understand the female dream thing and why would a woman pay three times for the same story with a happiness consultant…
The side plot with Jessica and the kids was barely interesting though. Okay, Ron has money problems, her sick dog is dying (I already forgot that story, and it is coming back like my past… Argh, at least the dog is dead now) and the kids don’t have a stand-alone story. Maybe the series would work better in a 60-minute format. 7,5/10

Episode 06: ‘Doris Is Dead’ or ‘Are We Rich or Are We Poor?’
Best episode so far. And it looks like the series got to a point I wanted it to be: not too funny, a serious story, simple characters and everybody is involved in the story and finally Anne Heche with more screentime and even an own story (when the writers concentrate on the money deal with Ron’s money problems.
Ray’s story with Jemma (Natalie Zea) is awesome. Not only is she an interesting character, but the deal with her is something between super hilarious and funny and the possibility of an ongoing love story for Ray, especially after Jemma learned (almost) everything about him and was the good luck charm for his basketball team. And it is good to see Tanya bonding with Jessica now, at least in this way the story involves. Maybe there is not much time,
until Jessica meets “Randall”, now she knows Leonore and Tanya. 8,5/10

Episode 07: ‘The Rita Flower’ or ‘The Indelible Stench’
More drama would be good. The ending of the episode showed that the serious part of the show is working way better than the comical part. Apart from that it was a good episode with likable storylines. I sure don’t know what to make of Pierce (Joshua Leonard) as the new relationship for Tanya – is it a one-episode thing? Is it an ongoing story? I sure hope it is the first one, because Pierce is a shitty character and not really likable at this point. And I don’t know why the writers bring Floyd back all the time. I am forgetting him all the time, I thought we moved on, but they want to give Tanya more problems with this guy… Please, can he be gone for good now?
Funny was Ray’s day with his neighbor MILF Yael (Alanna Ubach). Not only was she out to fuck him from the start, but she was really funny, together with her screaming – yeah, I was smiling during this scene.
By the way: His story with Jemma has to end sometimes, because when he is out for a love story with one of his clients, than the main story of the series stands still and we don’t want that, right? 7/10

Episode 08: ‘Thith Ith a Prothetic’ or ‘You Cum Just Right’
An average episode with interesting development in Ray’s case, but again with the question of what has Anne Heche to do in this series? She has barely screentime, and when she got a story, it is more than uninteresting. The same with Ray’s kids, they definitely need a storyline of their own to keep them interesting. At least Ray is now an interesting character (which I couldn’t say at the beginning) and his chemistry with Tanya is now really awesome, especially at the end of the episode.
The writers brought Lenore back, very good. I have the feeling she will be necessary in the last episodes. And the writers ended the story with Jemma, and they even have a proper conclusion why she played with Ray that way, very interesting, too. Now the story can try to develop again, and hopefully it will, because it kind of still stands still.
I don’t know what to make of the little rivalry plot with Ray and his old mate – it brought nothing, except a little bit of past. And I don’t think there is more coming to that. Well… 6,5/10

Episode 09: ‘This Is America’ or ‘Fifty Bucks’
Yeah, a good episode, even though it didn’t feel like the episode before the season finale, but that’s the case for all the HBO shows, they never have real highlights. The story still feels like stuck in between all the characters and not moving forward an inch. So, this episode Ray and Lenore discussed about raising the price for Ray, while Tanya is out to lower the price – nice that both of them are talking so much during that time, I thought Tanya was Ray’s best friend right now.
And finally Ray’s kids and Jessica getting a bit of an own story now. Damon is gay (well, when that’s not a stereotype story, what is?) and Jessica befriends with Lenore, for what reason so ever. That episode had the most screentime for Jessica ever, it felt like she had more screentime than all the other episodes combined.
It is nice to see that the writers don’t lose any story; Patty (Lauren Weedman) is still a topic in this episode (but I missed the rivalry story from last episode, I knew there wasn’t more coming to that). And the sex scene between Ray and Lenore was really hot, whuhu. 7,5/10

Episode 10: ‘A Dick and a Dream’ or ‘Fight the Honey’
Pretty boring season finale, but this is the case of all HBO shows (lol). But I liked it for what it was: a chance of a new story in the second season. Ray loses his job and partners up with Lenore (she probably will be one of the main characters next season), Ray’s kids have relationship trouble, Jessica wants to break up with Ron, or Ron makes it easier for her and fucks with his patients, and Tanya has a midlife crisis. Could be interesting in the second season, could not be, I will surprise myself.
I don’t know what to make of the phone conversation of Ray and Jessica. Not only was it a predictable story that Jessica (probably) will meet Ray while doing his “job”, but I think the first season finale was too early for that. Sure, they didn’t meet, but I still think the writers didn’t have to bring that story now.
And I surely don’t know what to make of the very last scene. Great, Tanya kills a fly… I don’t think she wins self-confidence with that, because her midlife crisis story seems more interesting than her winning control over her business again. 7/10

Season average is 6,85. The series definitely has something, but the season start was lame, which pulls the overview down a lot. At least I started to like the characters, and when the writers manage to pull off some interesting stories in the second season, then Hung could be one of my favorite series. But for now it is just something for the side and no must-see TV.