Everybody Loves Saturday Night

The Office: season finale

Dear The Office,

THANK YOU for returning to classic Jim & Pam pranks on Dwight. That was the best opening you've had in a while. And it set up the funniest episode you've had in a while. So THANK YOU for a general return to greatness. Is it coincidence that the show lasted an hour? I agree with Carolyn's assessment from the beginning of the season, that the hour-long episodes allowed the show to be a little more . . . human and tender in addition to brutally funny.

Amy Ryan rules. Dwight's set up, telling her that Kevin was "special," led to some really funny stuff--hilarious to watch Kevin just be Kevin but see it from Holly's perspective. And her face after Michael does his Yoda voice was priceless, as was her giving it right back. And Michael's reassessment of HR in general--"Not all monsters are bad"--also funny.

And thank you for giving Phyllis her time to shine. I love Phyllis. Her quest to find an anti-gravity machine had me on the floor. She took her duties so seriously, like she was a long-time minor league player getting called up into the majors, and she seemed so intent on getting that anti-gravity machine so Michael would be happy, but hey--bouncy castle is like the next best thing, right? And I love, LOVE, that she was the one to walk in on Angela and Dwight, especially after Angela delivered that awesome "you are never throwing another party again" line.

What else was funny...Ryan gets arrested for internet fraud and the video of his arrest shows up on the Internet. Awesome.

Creed trying to sound out what exactly it is that he does.

Oscar's face when Michael offers to make Holly a mix CD.

The idea that Andy has been carrying an engagement ring in his wallet for six years because you just never know...hilarious.

Thank you for bringing Jan back, as well. The idea that she got pregnant while she was with Michael but not WITH Michael, her explanation that if she were in her 20s...damn. That was harsh. Funny, but really harsh.

A great way to end the season, I thought. Thanks.

Love,
Michelle

Dollhouse trailer!

I'll be back to write about The Office (loved!) and Lost (also loved, but with a couple reservations) but I caught this during my morning blog reading and had to share it:

Trailer for Dollhouse

Tahmoh Penikett shows up about about 2:03, Carolyn. Though he's not a big presence in the trailer. I felt compelled to add that disclaimer.

What do you think, though--looks good, right?

Lost: Cabin Fever

I don't even know how to write this, this week's episode was so incredibly good. I kept pumping my fist (or punching the air, depending on where you live) and shouting, "Awesome!" or "Yes!" or "HaHA!" or "I KNEW it!"

Locke-centric episodes are always good, but this one...this one goes beyond.

This episode was like a reward to those of us who have slogged through the at-times frustratingly mediocre episodes (or string of episodes). It proved that an episode doesn't have to have huge reveals or big answers in order to satisfy. Because what did we learn, conclusively, from this episode? Very little! But what did we find out? Tons!

Richard Alpert, for starts, has not aged in who knows how long. We sort of knew this already, since the Richard Alpert of Ben's first flashback is the same age as Richard Alpert of the show's present (if such a thing exists). And one of the Dharma Initiative's (or the "DI," as dream-Horace called it) experiments was to prolong life. So here we get a better sense of how long Richard Alpert has been around--and probably a lot longer than 1957.

When Emily's mom sees Richard at the window, she recognizes him, doesn't she? Even though she says she doesn't?

Locke's mom and Ben's mom are both named Emily. Not that it's the same Emily, but if there's some sort of prophecy that Richard Alpert is keeping store by, one that says the savior of the island will be born prematurely to a woman named Emily...and so Richard goes to John first, but John chooses poorly, but then Ben is born...you know? It's all starting to fall into place, though the big picture is still incomplete and fuzzy.

John's choice of items: Sand, check. Compass, check. Knife? Very much in keeping with Future Locke, but clearly not the right choice. What should it have been, then? The Book of Laws? (Jenn pointed out that this test is like the one used to find the next Dalai Lama.)

So Locke doesn't choose the right item, and the universe needs to course-correct, which it apparently does with Ben. But Locke clearly has a role to play in the island, and this is why he doesn't die, as he probably should have, after being pushed out of a building. Which Abaddon points out, before planting the idea in Locke's mind about the walkabout. Not that the reason Locke decided to go on a walkabout is any big mystery, but still, it helps put the big picture together. Abaddon is working for the good of the island. Right? Maybe?

And does anyone really believe Ben when he seemingly relinquishes his role as leader? ("Destiny is a fickle bitch" is one of the greatest line readings in the history of this show.)

The parallels and similarities between Locke and Walt got more concrete with this episode. I wonder if the island allowed Locke to see Walt's potential, and that's why he taught the knife-throwing, the backgammon, etc.

The wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey business with the freighter doc--ever since the doctor washed up on the beach but the people on the freighter said he was fine, we should have known that the doctor was doomed. But seeing it play out as part of a power struggle between Keamy and Frank was pretty chilling. There's more to say about the freighter but all I can do is list things--the Dharma plans that Keamy says will tell him what Ben's next move is, Michael's plea to Frank not to take Keamy back to the island, Keamy's declaration that he's going to "torch" the island and that shiny device on his arm, and most importantly but totally downplayed--Sayid takes off on his own to get his people to safety. What's going to happen to Sayid?

As for the cabin, which we now know was built by Horace, I don't even know what to think. Christian is there with Claire, who seems very laid back about it all, which would seem to support the theory that she's actually dead, but in that not-dead way the island has about it. And the way to save the island is to move it? Wha? (Move it in time, perhaps?)

Lost: Something Good Back Home

Full disclosure: I took an involuntary snooze last night during this episode, due to having been up since 5:00 AM combined with more than one/less than five glasses of wine. I watched what I missed this morning (don't even ask when I got up; you don't wanna know). It's funny--what I thought last night was a mediocre episode was actually pretty damn good this morning. I have also looked some Lost trivia up in order to write this post.

The timeline of flashforward events was tripping me up, but here's what I think is the order (Sayid and Ben not included here):

1. Hurley visits Sun.
2. Hurley sees Charlie, flips out, checks into Santa Rosa.
3. Kate's trial (could be happening while 1 and/or 2 are happening)
4. Jack visits Hurley, plays some b-ball, says he's thinking about growing a beard. Jack is already drinking in the morning.
5. Jack and Kate get together.
6. Jack visits Hurley again, Hurley is worse, has stopped taking his meds, seems resigned to the fact that he's seeing and talking to Charlie, tells Jack "You're not supposed to raise him."
7. Jack gets strung out on pills and booze, learns about someone's death, tries to commit suicide, tells Kate "We have to go back."

Incidentally, #7 is from the last episode of S3, titled "Through the Looking Glass." In last night's episode, Jack reads to Aaron from Alice in Wonderland. I flipped through previous seasons' episode titles on Lostpedia.com and recalled that the episode in which Jack first sees his father on the island is called "White Rabbit." I don't know what all this means, but I do love these little touches.

When I watched the episode last night, it didn't seem as though it was doing anything more than filling space--but it does advance a number of storylines in perhaps subtler ways. And by "subtler" I mean I wasn't sitting on the couch saying "WTF" or "Now that is some fucked-up shit" (which, since I say it a lot about this show, needs its own acronym: NTISFUS). It also serves as another set-up chapter--some big stuff is going to go down very soon. Which makes sense, because we've got what, three more episodes to go?

Jack's visions of Christian are like Hurley's visions of Charlie--both are manifestations of the island telling them they have unfinished business. The smoke detector going off was a nice touch, wasn't it? Speaking of Christian...

Claire sees Christian and the next thing you know, she's disappeared. I read a very interesting theory about this, which answers quite well the main problem I had with last week's episode, namely that Claire survived the explosion with hardly a scratch on her. This theory comes from Jeff "Doc" Jensen over at EW.com: Claire didn't actually survive the explosion. What other people have been seeing as Claire is a physical manifestation of the Island, ala Yemi. If this is the case, Doc continues, it explains why Miles is so intrigued by her. I'm kinda in love with this theory, "hard science" be damned. (Seriously, if you're as into the mythology of this show as I am, you should be reading Jensen's columns on it.)

(P.S. one of my favorite lines was Miles' "I would've gone after her but I have a restraining order." Miles = my new favorite character.)

Is this the explanation for how Keamy and his soldiers "survive" the smoke monster as well? Because they're all up in the previews for next week, but last week we saw them getting pretty well slaughtered. Were they not? Was that just a warning trouncing?

Not much to say about this, but I loved Jin's discovery that Charlotte speaks Korean and his later threats to her.

Pretty sure, along with everyone else, that Kate's favor to Sawyer was to check up on Clementine. I had this moment when I thought she was talking to Sawyer on the phone--or Ben even, but I think more likely Sawyer asked Kate before she left the island ("Hey Freckles, when you get Stateside..."). Then again, if it's 2007 (another thing I picked up from other Web sites, based on the Yankees-Red Sox game Jack reads about), that's a really long time to be following up on a favor. Unless this is something she does on a regular basis. I liked that this phone call prompts Jack's return to his paranoiac obsessive behavior. I also liked the argument Jack and Kate have in which he yells, "You're not even related to him" in response to her calling him "her son." The question is whether he knows that he is related to Aaron. Though I did not pick up on that subtext in this conversation, I think it's clear, given the show's history, that in the future Jack does know that he and Claire share a father, and that we're going to witness that being revealed in an upcoming episode.

I mean, Ben surely knows.

One final nice touch: Aaron has a Millennium Falcon, and Jack is scruffy-looking enough that Kate buys him a razor to get him to shave. Both these things refer to Han Solo  . . . but we all know that the real Han Solo character on this show is Sawyer. The love triangle is pervasive enough to pop up in references to other media. NTISFUS.

The Bro Code

Last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother provided the rationale for loving the character of Barney as much as I do. Yes, he is despicable and callous; yes, he is selfish and self-absorbed and usually acts out of self-interest alone. But he feels guilt, he can't handle the idea that he did something wrong, and he can't handle the idea that Ted will hate him forever. This doesn't excuse everything else, but it does make him human.

I liked that this episode focused on the consequences of last week's hook up on Barney's friendship with Ted, and not Barney's friendship with Robin, that well-traveled territory where each of them insists "this never happened, it will never happen again" only to have the show jump cut to them in bed, again, latherrinserepeat.

The goat bit I found a little weird. That whole story was to set up the reveal at the end that at some point in the near future Robin moves into that apartment? And this matters why? It's not like that gets Ted any closer to meeting his kids' mother. (P.S. I was a little bummed that Stella got mentioned but didn't appear in this episode.) She takes Marshall and Lily's room, I suppose, after they move into their re-floored apartment in DoWiSeTrePla (that still makes me laugh). And then a goat eats her washcloth. Whatevs?

A satisfying night of TV

My Thursday night TV lineup just got better: I can watch Ugly Betty at 8 (though I missed it last night), The Office at 9, 30 Rock at 9:30 and then Lost at 10. Provided I can stay up past 10. Which I managed to do last night (though I admit to nodding off a wee bit at the end, despite a strong and typically perplexing episode).

The Office felt different--still funny, but more menacing. I liked the dark bitterness of the dinner party episode a lot, and this felt similar, but clearly a different shade of dark. Ryan a cokehead, his life spiraling out of control because the Dunder Mifflin Infinity project is tanking? The idea that a paper company would support a MySpace-like social network is hilarious, and . . . well, let's just say that hit a little close to home, mmmkay? And because I can't help but analyze fictional characters, I'd say that it makes perfect sense that Ryan wouldn't be able to really cope with the enormity of going from Temp to Executive. And therein, really, lies the beauty of this show--so many aspects of it are ostensibly comic, but there's always some sort of reality-based logic to how they play out.

Also loved: Jim and Pam getting some hate: an unusual, awkward position for them to be in. Jim pretty much becoming Michael for the night, talking with the security guy and bringing Oscar over to talk with the cleaners. Toby declaring his upcoming move to Costa Rica and then jumping the fence (oh, Toby). Creed being the one who knew Hank's name. Dwight being the one to succeed with the ladies. "Amazons." Heh.

30 Rock was also a little bizarre. I think I read somewhere that they were going to have an Amadeus-laced episode, but I still was not prepared for it. And I have to love a show that bases almost an entire episode on a movie that no one has thought about for 20 years. Because I have seen that movie more times than I care to admit in public, and 30 Rock's riffs were pitch-perfect.

"Business juice." That is all.

On to Lost now, which I now realize I haven't written about at all since Season 4 began, which is just shameful. I still have all of them saved on DVR, so maybe when the season is over I could go back and do a retrospective, but . . . oh, you and I both know that's not going to happen. Bygones. Onward.

I said in a comment a while back that my standard response to everything that Lost has been throwing is "now that is some fucked-up shit." And last night's episode was no exception. That is not at all how I imagined Sayid's involvement with Ben starting, though it makes absolute perfect and logical sense given Ben's brilliance at manipulation. I cannot stress enough how much I adore Michael Emerson. That little self-satisfied smirk Ben gives as he walks away from Sayid? Chilling.

Also chilling was Ben's total shock at the execution of Alex. Someone called his bluff and he was not expecting that at all. I'm not sure what to make of this game he's playing with Widmore, but Ben's pledge of vengeance certainly raised the stakes quite a bit.

I also don't know what to make of Ben's flashfoward, either. He appears, out of nowhere, in the Sahara, wearing a winter parka with the name Halliwax on it (oh wait! Isn't Hallifax one of the Orientation video guys, along with Dr. Marvin Candle? Dun dun DUN!). And it's 2005. His need to ask for the year makes me think not that there's time travel involved in this show, but that the island/time/distance equation we have started to figure out thanks to Faraday is perhaps a bit unpredictable, and that this was an unscheduled trip to the mainland brought on by Widmore "changing the rules."

Oh, yeah, that's it. Ben recruits Sayid to do all this killing, and the last name on the list is going to be Penelope. How in the world is that going to be justified to Sayid?

There were some truly heartbreaking moments in this ep, too. Jack finally realizing he's been wrong about the freighter people? My stomach would be all up in knots, too. Sawyer carrying Claire from the exploding house (ok, how the hell did she survive that? Without a scratch on her? It makes me think of "course-correcting" for some reason except that no one saved before the house blew up) and later wanting to protect/save Hurley? If it were possible to love Sawyer more, that moment did it for me.

Oh, and the smoke monster. Clearly controlled by Ben, possibly from his secret underground lair accessible from his hidden passport room (how many strata of secret rooms does this dude have, anyway?) via a wall covered with hieroglyphics. So now we know what we already suspected, that Ben's claim that he had no idea what the smoke monster was was a lie. My question is: does he always control it? Meaning, was Ben behind every single appearance of Smokey, from the very beginning, when it ate Greg Grunberg? When it killed Eko? Or is Smokey allowed to roam free but will come when called, like a dog (makes sense because another name for the smoke monster is Cerberus).

That's all that can fit into my brain right now.

How I Met Your Mother: Aw, hell yeah!

First: Someone NEEDS to record the audio of Barney saying, "Michelle? She sounds hot!" and send it to me. Please.

Now then: James Van der Beek shows up all the previous guest stars. Dang, he was funny. Even if his Canadian accent was overblown and bordering on brogue.

 

Lily and her homegirl friend were hilarious. Alyson Hannigan, I love you.

The second Robin Sparkles video: not an instant classic as "Let's Go to the Mall" is, but there are some excellent 80s music video touches in it--the cuts between color and artsy B&W, the supreme close-ups, the whole "telling a story" aspect of it, and of course, the classic scoop neck striped shirt + acid-washed jeans skirt outfit.

But really, there's only one thing to talk about in this episode--Barney and Robin hooking up. You saw it coming, right? I mean, from way before this episode. I can't speak for everyone, but I think this has been on the docket since the episode they first hang out at the laser tag place and the club and that's what, first season? And there have been little hints about it since then, and they really ramped it up with the March Madness episode (Robin letting Barney "pretend" to hit on her, and then getting turned on by what he tells her? Yeah). I think this pairing makes sense, but it's hard to say where it's going.

I see many possibilities, starting with the Harry/Sally or Monica/Chandler approach. It's possible that these two approaches will be combined. It's possible that there will be a very special episode of HIMYM involving telling Ted. It's possible that we'll find out next week that Uncle Barney and Aunt Robin are married...but I'm thinking that we won't. I think that's a little too easy.

Finally, whoever came up with the term "revertigo" is a genius.

Oh, Dotcom, I love you.

Note: at the end of this post, which is mostly about sitcoms, I have some info on Battlestar Galactica--just to warn those of you who aren't caught up with Season 4 yet.

So, I meant to start writing up more TV shows because you know, they're on again and all, but life sorta intervened and things got all frakked* and anyway, now I'm back.

And then I was going to write about both 30 Rock and The Office, only neither show was very good, I thought--particularly The Office this week. Yeah, we had the development of Jim and Pam's relationship, but am I the only one in thinking that Jim's approach to proposing to Pam is incredibly insensitive and out of character? And of course she would play along because she's Pam. Maybe it's me, but I don't think you should tease someone who once called off her own engagement because of you. (is it me? am I alone on this?) The rest of the episode I thought was one of the blandest shows they've had ever. It was nowhere near last week's cringe-inducing, often painful, and yet painfully funny "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" episode, which I thought was near-brilliant (though that also might have been in part due to my sheer delight at having this show back on the air).

30 Rock this week I also thought was a bit unfocused and not as sharply funny as it has been. My favorite part, the only part that is still making me giggle, is Dotcom's response to Jack's calling the Republican Party the Party of Abraham Lincoln (in an attempt to get Tracy to appear as the token celebrity at this fundraiser for McCain). He says that because Lincoln fought a war to preserve the federal government, among other things, that the Republican party of today would be unrecognizable to Lincoln. Jack tells him that his "need to be the smartest guy in the room is offputting," to which Dotcom replies, "I guess that's why I'm still single." Oh, Dotcom.

* yes, in other news, I am completely caught up with Battlestar Galactica, but haven't been able to write about it or frame any real coherent thought about it except for "holy crap!" I absolutely loved the last episode, "Six of One," in which a Six (who looks like Gina?) brings the Centurions on to eliminate the "skin job" Cylons who voted to lobotomize the Raiders--I just had the slightest pang of empathy for those Centurions, you know? To be given free thought and then learn that your cousins or whatever are being punished for expressing theirs? Oof. I also loved, absolutely LOVED, Gaius seeing Chip Gaius (for lack of a better term). "Oh, my giddy aunt!" has become my new exclamation.

How I Met Your Mother: The Stunt-Casting Episode

Last week's St. Patty's Day episode: not as strong as the show usually is.

This week's episode featuring Britney Spears and Sarah Chalke (I would feel ever so slighted if I were her--did anyone know she was going to be on the show? I didn't--all I heard was Britney Britney Britney. Anyway) was not only a return to form, it was one of the funnier, more tightly written episodes of the series. There were plenty of scenes with all five of the friends--something the previous week's episode lacked--and Ted more than made up for his asshat behavior of last week with a "guys just don't do this in real life" display of romance. In fact, it's possible that last night's two-minute date marked a return for Ted to his pursuit of his future wife--he had been kinda floundering after the break-up with Robin. Not that I'm analyzing a fictional character or anything. (Then again, I'd rather have fictional characters worthy of analysis than 2-dimensional cardboard characters.) Add to that the "Manos: Hands of Fate" shout out and the show could not have gotten much better.

A lot of us were worried about the Britney Spears cameo, I know. It smacked of the Paris Hilton guest roles on The O.C. and Veronica Mars. If I recall correctly, Paris didn't ruin those shows (though she wasn't much fun to watch) and I have to say, not only did Britney NOT ruin How I Met Your Mother...she was kinda fun to watch. There, I said it. I thought she was...adorable. Yep. There were times when I thought she may have been rushing her lines and may not have been comfortable, but it also may have been her puppy-love-struck character. She plays a receptionist, see, who has a crush on Ted. An unrequited crush, for those of you who didn't watch last night because you were afraid she was the Not-Mom of the week. No, that would be Sarah Chalke, who was also very fun to watch.

Favorite moments:

Robin's "Hmmm...she said 'no'...what could that possibly mean..." Which to me is an obvious reference to "no means no." And yet, Ted did turn a "no" into a "yes"--in fact, he announced to his kids, "that's how you do it." This made me a little uncomfortable, frankly, and yet the process of getting that yes was textbook "wooing," and not subterfuge, roofies, or physical pressure. So it did have an old school 1940s cinema "I will win her heart" feel to it.

Lilly making Barney take a time out.

Marshall predicting what he's going to eat...which is what he's eating in the final scene. Except for messing with the timeline a bit, that was really funny. All the callbacks were funny--that's another thing this show does incredibly well. Lilly's nails got progressively longer. Barney's the angry caller.

The reappearance of Ranjit. I love that they can apparently call on this guy for their private taxi needs. I also love this show's fantastic sense of continuity.

And, of course, the moustache bet. I love it when the friends make these kinds of wagers. That and it led to the great line "You look like Tom Selleck only a hundred times handsomer."

Now you can watch more TV than ever before!

Consider this a public service announcement for all TV junkies.

Hulu.com is now out of beta testing and open to the public. What is Hulu.com, you ask?

It's pretty damn awesome, is what it is.

It's a compendium of TV shows and movies, available for absolutely stinking free. It's streaming content, not downloadable, and there are a smattering of commercials. So basically it's like watching TV on a given network's site, except for a few major differences:

1. It's all on one site (though clicking on "Gossip Girls" takes me to the CW site).

2. Old and new shows come together. Included in the always-updating content are entire seasons of WKRP in Cincinnati, St. Elsewhere, and The A-Team as well as the first couple seasons of Arrested Development, the first season of Bones, Life, The Riches . . . the list goes on, which brings me to

3. Buffy. Right now Hulu has all of seasons 1 and 2, and I can only assume that more are on the way.

(More are on the way, right, Hulu guys? As well as all of Angel? Seeing as how you have most of Firefly, it would be in your best interest to include the entire Joss Whedon oeuvre.)

4. There's a queue you can use. I loaded up a whole bunch of stuff so that it's all in one easy place when I'm ready to start watching.

5. You can subscribe to shows so that when new episodes appear, they get automatically added to your queue. Genius.

Now, I think this site is absolutely fantastic, and I am thisclose to stalking them until they hire me, but there are a couple things I think would improve it.

1. Better queue interface. Right now I have to click on individual episodes of a show in order to add them to my queue. It would be nice if it worked like Netflix, and I could add an entire season with one click if I so chose. Also, it would be cool if I could reorder my queue using click-and-drag. Because I added all of Buffy before adding Arrested Development, then chose to watch a few episodes of Arrested Development first, which is when I found out that Hulu.com will start the next episode of your queue automatically . . . but it will start at #1  if you're watching from the middle of your queue. So another thing that would be nice is if the auto-start feature worked in sequence--if I start with show #36 in my queue, the next should be show #37.

2. Also regarding the queue: if I want to order my queue alphabetically, I think show name should outrank episode name (this is the first principle of indexing).

3. More international shows. I know this is something they're working on, but it would be especially awesome if they could add shows from, say, England, when they are airing in England. Instead of us having to wait for months to see them here. I'm just sayin'.

For me, Hulu.com will not replace watching TV live, nor will it replace entirely watching TV on DVD. I am a sucker for DVD extras, and I love listening to commentaries, so the DVD will always be queen for me. But I'm trying to save money, and I can only have a certain number of Netflix DVDs out at one time, so when Michael and I are halfway through the second season of Battlestar Galactica, I can still be catching up on The Riches without having to wait. I can only see Hulu.com enhancing my TV viewing experience.

So, anyway, you're welcome.