Rewind: The X-Files S2

At the end of the first season, The X-Files had disbanded the x-files.  Agents Mulder and Scully were separated and the entire format of the show was in question.  Sort of.  Look, it was pretty obvious the show was returning to normal sooner rather than later, a fact which somewhat hurts the show.  But at the same time, it seems a little much to expect the show to completely change the status quo after one season.

As opposed to the first season, which was only serialized in the sense of character growth and development, the second season is serialized much more heavily.  It probably didn't hurt that the writers needed to work around Gillian Anderson's pregnancy.  Unless they wrote the pregnancy into the show - and at this point in the show's run that seems unlikely - they needed to either hide her pregnancy or have her go away for a few episodes.

So hamstrung with limited options, the writers created a first six episodes worthy of the status that The X-Files has achieved.  In the first episode, Fox Mulder goes through a crisis of faith and a non-believing Mulder is just weird.  But it's necessary.  Deep Throat had just been killed and he was removed from his pet project.

The next two episodes see Mulder on his own, without Agent Scully.  Mulder does his best to contact Scully and it's hard not to wonder at the time of watching these episodes, how they could possibly maintain the show without getting them together.  These episodes suffer ever so slightly from the diminished presence of Anderson.  It's a necessary evil to reduce her screen time rather than explain her pregnancy (something I happen to agree with), but Anderson is just light years ahead of David Duchovny as an actor.  (Unpopular opinion: I don't think Duchovny's that great of an actor.  He tries to cry later in the season and its painful.  He may not be a bad actor, but his range is certainly limited)

The diminished presence continues for Scully, but they add a new player to the game in the fourth episode: Alex Krycek.  As played by Nicholas Lea, he seems like a by-the-book, earnest employee with strong ideals.  Instead, he's a badass killer, spying on Mulder.  I wish there could be more of an arc with Krycek and Mulder as partners, played nearly completely straight.  The show reveals much too quickly that Krycek is a bad guy.

Nonetheless, we get what we get and what we get is still very good.  Not hurting the show is good mysteries independent of what's happening with Mulder.  A sleepless man goes around murdering his Vietnam buddies for what they did in Vietnam and thanks to Tony Todd, it's freaky.  Then Duane Barry, a former FBI agent who was abducted, goes kind of crazy and holds a travel agency hostage.

At first, Barry seems to want to bring his psychiatrist back to the aliens, because if he finds a replacement, they won't want Barry anymore.  Or so the theory goes.  He changes his plans when he's captured by escaping and kidnapping Scully instead.  Barry's kind of clearly crazy, but he also seems to have been genuinely captured by aliens and the ambiguity works in the episode's favor.

All of these episodes reveal the true potential of The X-Files, which makes the next few episodes disappointing.  The jump down in quality from "Ascension" to "3" is enormous.  Scully returns quickly in "One Breath" somewhat abruptly, but I'm not complaining if "3" is any indication of what The X-Files looks like in Anderson's absence.

At this point, the show returns to the old structure with Mulder and Scully visiting monsters-of-the-week.  This isn't a bad thing necessarily, although they are unquestionably inferior to the beginning of the season.  The positive and negative thing about MOTW for The X-Files is that usually it's still entertaining television, but normally it doesn't exceed anything approaching greatness.  That is until "Die Hand die Verletz," which is awesome.  Mulder and Scully are mostly just witnesses to what's happening and don't really have much effect on what's happening, but the story is so great it doesn't matter.

In this whole season I was impressed by the show's added emphasis on Mulder and Scully's history.  Scully's sister is introduced and I instantly wanted to see more of her in this show.  Similarly, while Mulder's sister isn't exactly his actual sister, the two-parter "Colony" and "End Game" lets us see the relationship that motivated Mulder's career path.  The ending result is a bit frustrating and seems largely symptomatic of the show's path - heroes come close to uncovering a mystery only to not end up making any ground up at all - but it's not worrisome yet.

Plus, making Mulder's father in cahoots with the federal government goes a long way towards explaining why he's allowed to do everything he does.  Plus, it makes the quest more personal for Mulder.  And it's always better to make a threat more personal than unknown, generally speaking - at least if it's well done.

Like the middle of the season, after "End Game" the show mostly goes back to the MOTW format.  But for whatever reason, these episodes are just better.  "Humbug" is from the acclaimed Darin Morgan, who's got an amazing reputation purely on the basis of six television episodes.  This is the first one I've seen and it's certainly off-the-wall and creative.  Looking forward to his next The X-Files episode personally.

"F Emasculata" is related to the entire mythology in a way and it's another very strong episode.  "Soft Light" is intriguing and was Vince Gilligan's first script on the show.  I've read that Gilligan was the most consistent X-Files writer in later seasons so I'll be looking for his credit in the future.

Lastly, the show ends on a major cliffhanger with Mulder in an underground something with a bunch of dead alien bodies.  Oh yeah and he's not found and the place is burned.  Previous to this we saw Mulder see no openings so the cliffhanger is pretty effective at making you wonder what the fuck exactly happened and how will Mulder come out alive.  (I suppose this is a benefit of having a character you know you won't die.  If it was an expendable character, there would be a threat of death but it'd feel like a cheat if they made it alive.  Whereas in this instance, it's kind of understood he'll survive.)

The X-Files second season is a definite improvement over the first season.  There's more genuinely great episodes, less outright stinkers, and more serialization making it worth it to watch it in order.  The show starts and finishes the show as good as it has ever been and the mythology still makes a certain amount of sense - in that it doesn't seem overly convoluted and ridiculous.  I'm hoping that the third season can continue that momentum.

Grade: A-

Playlist
1. "Seconds" - Ghost Loft
2. "Mother & Father" - Broods
3. "Superstar" - Sonic Youth
4. "Soul Food" - Logic
5. "Changing" - Airborne Toxic

Rewind: The West Wing S1

I'll start this review with a necessary disclaimer: I don't like Aaron Sorkin dialogue all that much.  I'm not really a fan of the style personally.  I couldn't pinpoint exactly what it is that annoys me: the overly fast talking, the constant repeating of words, and the nearly always moving camera.  I guess I don't mind the fast talking really: I mean I've never seen people talk so fast in my life, but given the setting I can accept that.  The camera usually works and is creative, although sometimes I consider it a bit of a distraction.

There's something about how he constantly has characters saying something, the opposing character repeating that line, and then the original character repeating it back and so on in some cases.  Who does that?  It probably wouldn't bother me as much if he didn't use it - oh - every single episode.  I'm not even sure I'm exaggerating.  So anyway, I felt it necessary to point out that I'm not really an Aaron Sorkin fan.

I feel the same way about The West Wing's first season as I did about Sports Night: a weird state of neither disliking a show or really liking it that much.  Both shows had great casts and good writing that I nonetheless had to struggle to watch.  It's not that I disliked the episodes - I just had very little desire to watch a new episode.  At the end of the episode, I'd leave pleased, but not overly so and with little desire to watch the next one.

 Even as I say that, I can also say there is not a single bad episode in the first season.  I would argue the show didn't really surpass it's B+ to B range - and I'm positive people would disagree with me on this - until the latter half of the season.  On episode nineteen, I was slightly converted to this show and every successive episode seem to build on that.  The finale had a hell of a twist and I could leave the first season optimistic as I've ever been about the show.

The West Wing is both made for me and not made for me at all.  In terms of politics, I probably hold every viewpoint that the Bartlett administration does.  However, I'm also not into politics.  I'm not apathetic, but averse to politics in general.  I can't honestly follow along if I don't believe a word anybody is trying to sell me.  So what I'm saying is that I'm not passionate about politics which seems to be helpful in loving this show.

You're probably wondering why I kept watching the show if I couldn't muster up any feelings about it for the longest time.  The answer is simple: the cast is phenomenal.  It's difficult to single out any one performer as pretty much all of them are fantastic.  Bradley Whitford is probably the break-out star of the first season.  But that's being a little unfair to Rob Lowe, who basically reinvented his career with The West Wing... but that's being unfair to Martin Sheen and well you get the idea.

Don't think I forgot about John Spencer or Allison Janney, who both create fully-formed sympathetic character.  Richard Schiff is sort of underrated among this cast as his character first appears one-note, but soon becomes an actual character.  Lest I forget, Dule Hill is extremely underutilized, but when he does get a noteworthy scene, he knocks it out of the park.  (I'm a Psych fan so perhaps I'm biased on this one)

The one exception to this wonderful cast is Moira Kelly, who I'm not sure is to blame.  She's poorly written at first, then underwritten, and by the end basically disappears.  Sorkin has a lot of strengths as a writer, but writing women is not one of them.  Speaking of which, by far my least favorite part of this show is the potential, hinted, or actual romances.  Sorkin is TERRIBLE at writing those scenes.  I'm probably alone on this, but I don't like the hinting of a potential relationship between Josh and Donna.  But since it's really obvious it's going to happen, I guess I better just deal with it or hope it gets better.

Lastly, for those of you wondering, I did happen to continue onto the next season for just the two-parter and if that episode is any indication, the second season will get a way better outlook from myself.  Because that episode is the best in the show's run so far in my viewing.

I'll preemptively explain my grade and say that my feelings toward the first eighteen episodes would warrant a C+, but I'd push that up to a B purely because of the acting and writing.  The last four episodes naturally elevated that grade.  Which is to say that this was an above average season of television that took a little longer than normal to click for me.

Grade - B+

Playlist
1. "14th of July" - Shout Out Louds
2. "Hunger of the Pine" - alt-J
3. "Get Me Golden" - Terraplane Sun
4. "Astronomy (8th Light)" - Black Star
5. "She Bad" - Bad Rabbits

Rewind: Alias S2

I feel confident saying that Alias is one of the most under-the-radar and underrated shows in the past 15 years after watching the second season.  It is never mentioned at all when discussing critically successful shows of the past 20 or so years.  I don't know why that is, because the second season of Alias is a top tier season of television ever.  And while the first season doesn't come close and evidently the last three seasons are even farther than that, you'd think Alias would get its due.

That's not to say Alias has aged incredibly well.  I can't stand the awful music choices whether it's a techno beat or some soft-rock montage that barely ever works.  The costume choices for undercover are mostly creative, but sometimes it's a costume that I can't imagine anybody has ever worn.  Lastly, Alias requires a lot of expositional dialogue, which ends up painfully forced most of the time.

But these are very forgivable problems.  You'll notice I didn't mention anything about the acting, which is uniformly fantastic.  I didn't mention anything about the plot, which is just about flawless.  And there are very few shows that have managed to shock me as much as Alias did in the second season.  24 has gotten well-deserved critical praise and recognition, but Alias' second season has more mouth-dropping moments than any season of 24.  I'm not saying 24 is a worse show than Alias, but it's not a vastly superior show either (Necessary disclaimer: I'm through three seasons of 24 and apparently haven't reached the best season.)

This is a season of television that, half-way through, drops the entire structure as we knew it and goes in a different direction.  This is a season of television that gives us Irina Derevko, the most badass mother ever seen on television.  This is a season of television that has a cliffhanger to where the word shocking feels woefully inadequate.  Upon having seen the last fifteen minutes of the finale, I sat at my computer for a good hour wondering how I could process what I'd just seen.

With the addition of Lena Olin as Derevko, the show elevates by making everything personal to the two characters we care about most, Sydney and Jack Bristow.  (You may say Michael Vaughn is one, but I really couldn't care less about him for some reason - somehow not to the detriment of the show because he's very rarely at the forefront of an episode).  Helping is the masterful acting of Lena Olin, who somehow has exceeded the mother I imagined in the first season.  It wasn't an easy task: this is a woman who destroyed Jack Bristow, the master of not letting shit get to him.  And Olin plays her so ambiguously that it was easy to imagine her coming out as a good person, completely evil person, or both at the same time!

With the addition of Olin, the acting in Alias really seemed to take a step up.  Victor Garber and Olin somehow managed to play every scene like they were one step away from fighting or fucking.  Ron Rifkin manages to be both undeniably evil and not a cartoon.  David Anders, Bradley Cooper, and even Merrin Dungey manage to impress in their screentime.  Then there's of course Jennifer Garner whose acting talent is somewhat easy to forget about in this show because did you just read all the actors I just named?

I didn't really go into this review planning to have no spoilers, but I just decided I wanted to convince people to watch this show.  At least for the first two seasons, it's definitely a show that is worth your time.  The second season exceeds any and all expectations I had about this show.  It's certainly not a perfect show, but it's hard to imagine a more perfect season of television coming from a show like this. 

Grade - A

Playlist

1. "i" - Kendrick Lamar

2. "Breezeblocks" - alt-J

3. "Human" - Diiv

4. "Haunted Heart" - little hurricane

5. "Everyday People" - Sly and the Family Stone

The Americans: Comrades

The Americans is back!  I'm going to write episode reviews for this season of The Americans.  I strongly suspect this is the next great television drama.  I don't know if it'll be of the level of Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, but it has that potential.  And so far so good if the first episode is any indication.  (Obviously spoilers to follow)

To start this season, it appears Elizabeth has been in Russia recovering for some, undetermined amount of time.  Phillip has been left to take control of the household and complete missions.  I'm not sure how much time passed, but I'm a little confused as to how he could both pretend to be married and raise his kids so it couldn't have been THAT long.

Nonetheless, it looks like less time will be spent on the marriage of the Jennings.  It seems like this season will focus more on their relationship with their kids.  So the pretty well-acted kids get more of a featured spotlight I presume in this season.  I'm intrigued and have seen enough good acting from the two to not worry.

To start the episode, Phillip poses as a Texas, country-loving American to two Middle Eastern men with similar interests in America.  It seems these two men hate the KGB and are working with Americans to help take them down.  But unfortunately, this trusting, kind man is Phillip so they get killed.

I strongly suspect Phillip was supposed to kill one of them, and leave the other to send a message.  But the man takes off his identity and he's forced to kill both.  And he's forced to kill an innocent bystander unfortunately.  I wish they would have taken more time to let his actions stew inside of him.  I understand these are agents, but I doubt they are forced to kill completely innocent people that often.  And also, we are supposed to sympathize with them!  So if they feel guilty of killing an innocent guy, it's cool with me.

To help propel this season's main storyline, we are introduced to another undercover KGB couple with kids.  I never caught their names (I didn't try to be honest), but they weren't necessarily important to know, just the idea of them.  They are basically a reflection of the Jennings in every way.

The creation of this KGB couple is brilliant writing in more ways than one.  For one, they show the price of being an undercover agent with a family.  The stark reality of what could possibly happen to not only them, but their kids.  They are putting their kids' lives in danger.  The promising daughter gets killed along with her parents.  And their son walks into that image of his three dead family members.  That scene was as painful to watch.  I know I'll be thinking about that for a few days.  I'm guessing Phillip saw him and desperately wanted to tell him to not go in there and he sprinted the fuck out of there so he didn't have to hear him scream.  I don't blame him.  That scream was pretty effective.

It's also brilliant because it separates the two right when it seems things are going smoothly.  They don't know if the FBI is involved or if they are discovered.  We know they aren't because this is the first episode of this season and we haven't seen anything said on the FBI front.  But they don't.  So Phillip has to back to Martha and get the information.  I'm still wondering how the hell he's going to juggle two lives at once.

Paige is still searching for information on her parents meanwhile.  This episode she can't find anything but apparently finds her parents 69'ing.  Oh my, between the image of walking into my dead family and this, this is not a good episode for Gabe.  A kid walks into a room with her parents having sex and guess what?  It's not even close to the most scarring moment for a teenager on this show.  Oh and also this clues the Jennings into the fact that Paige might be looking at the two closely.

On the FBI agent side of things, Stan Beeman is stuck between Nina and Sandra.  The latter two are season regulars so this is not a resolution he's likely to solve.  Sandra seems open to getting back together since she invited him to the movies.  She was crying at the movie they watched unlike Nina.  Stan looks disappointed though since he wanted to make Nina cry.  He seems to want Nina more than he wants his wife.  Maybe Stan is suspicious that Nina won't cry?  The double agent thing will add layers to each scene the two of them are together.  (Also Nina strategically wants Stan to say "I love you" first.  The person who says it first would seem to be more vulnerable at that moment so it makes sense that it was she seeks)

I think I caught everything.  I'm afraid I missed something so feel free to comment or tweet at me something I might have missed or misinterpreted.  I'm excited The Americans is back and as good as ever!  I'll enjoy following this season with you all.

American Horror Story S2 Review

*No Spoilers
*In between each paragraph is an actual quote from the season.

American Horror Story is a show which you literally have to see to believe.  In this season, there is a serial killer, the angel of death, a devil nun, a murdering Santa, Anne Frank, an exorcist, deformed mutants, and a Nazi doctor.  Oh yeah, and aliens of course.  (I'm really not kidding about any of that; that is all in this season)  Seriously, if you've never seen this show, you're probably thinking this is the worst show ever or the best show ever.

"Are you purposefully trying to make a murder baby?" - These are real quotes by the way

So, people who've never seen this show, you're not going to believe me when I say I actually liked this season for the most part.  Whether it's surprisingly emotionally affecting, hilariously awful, or bewildering, this show is always entertaining.  I don't know if I like what's going on or if I hate what's going on, but I find myself strangely entertained.  I can confirm though that you will be saying to yourself "What the fuck?" many many times.  Just go with it.

"What do you say we blow this pop stand, savage a few elves, then suck on each other, hmm?" - Delivered by Ian McShane!

American Horror Story is unlike any other show I've ever seen and probably any show I will ever see.  It's daring, it's exploitative, it's beautifully shot, it's got some of the worst dialogue ever, and it somehow gets some of the better actors out there.  It's a show that you pretty much need to watch if you are interested in television.  The first season left me confused on what to think of this show, but this season has sealed it for me.

"You must understand, these so-called Nazi Hunters are nothing but self-loathing, self-seeking, money grubbing JEWS! (Delivered by James Cromwell!)

I bet this is the type of show directors love to work on.  Every episode creates a pretty visually interesting shot.  Sometimes, the show veers to close to show-off directing - in fact, it pretty much does that every episode, but a lot of it works.  The directing pretty much reflects the entire show in general - they are swinging for the park and it's either a home run or a strikeout.  I don't think anything about this show can be described as mediocre.

"I have a rocking body and a titty full of milk, let me help you forget her." - Her being his mom of course

This show remarkably lands pretty great actors.  2-time Oscar winner Jessica Lange basically carries episodes by herself she's so good.  Yes, this show has an actress who has been nominated for six Oscars.  It also has five-time Emmy nominee Frances Conroy, Oscar-nominated and four-time Emmy nominee James Cromwell (including one for this season), Ian McShane, Chloe Sevigny, Zachary Quinto, and Joseph Fiennes.  It also has the lesser known Evan Peters and Lily Rabe who display acting talent comparable to that onslaught of respected and acclaimed actors.  I think great writing can carry mediocre actors, but the is the first time I've seen evidence that great actors can carry a bad script.  (Also, the third season has Kathy Bates and Angela Basset so I'm glad my "How the fuck did they land them?" quota will be filled for next season.)

"Slowly, show me your mossy bank" - He's referring to her vagina just to be clear - didn't want there to be any confusion.

This show is also set in the 1960s so the show can delve into issues of woman's rights, LGBT issues, the treatment of mental patients, and of course have period details.  This show isn't subtle at all so the a lot of the 1960s stuff is "HEY LOOK AT THIS IT'S FROM 1965, DO YOU GET IT?" of course, but I'm a sucker for period pieces.  Also, not particularly subtle, is the show's portrayal of how a lesbian would feel back then - but hey it doesn't really make it any less effective.

"A sexual deviant, a Mexican, and a pinhead won't get far in this storm.  I hope they drown." - This line is said by a fucking nun

Also, this show is actually a good reflection on the treatment of the mentally disabled.  It's remarkably affecting in its portrayal of the hopelessness and mistreatment that the patients suffer.  Undoubtedly, it's probably the best thing the show's ever done.  So hidden beneath the alien plotline and the mutant humans is a touching story on people losing their sanity.

"I'll have to keep you around to breast-feed that baby for at least the first year.  The health benefits are myriad." - There's no way to explain this line without spoiling, but it's even weirder in context.

I could refer to this show as good or poor television, but American Horror Story needs a different grading scale.  If I watch a poor season of American Horror Story - which I haven't yet - it's going to mean a totally different thing than if I watched a poor season of anything else.  This show is fun to watch because one moment it's good, and the next it's awful.  But my requirement for it to be good is simply for it to be interesting and for it to entertain me.  Part of the charm of this show is that even when it's bad - and it's definitely bad at some points - it's still different.  For American Horror Story to be good, it simply has to be not boring.  Well that and the good parts have to at least surpass the bad parts.

"Hey Sister, I have a cucumber in my room, but not because I was hungry." - Oh yeah, there's also a nymphomaniac in this season.

Well, thanks for reading.  I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing this.  I'm not going to recommend this show to you - I mean after this review, you're either in or you're out and that was basically my purpose of writing it this way.  You have to have a relatively high tolerance for weird shit though.  I think for my next season review, I will write in an a completely disjointed and nonsensical fashion in the spirit of this show.

Playlist
1. "Young Blood" - Sophia Ellis-Bextor
2. "Who Are We" - Switchfoot
3. "Step Masters" - Step Brothers
4. "Remurdered" - Mogwai
5. "Tracks of My Tears" - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

Rewind: Justified S4

If you haven't seen Justified, I encourage you to watch the show, but don't read this review.  If you must be convinced, read my first season review devoid of spoilers.

SPOILERS BELOW

The fourth season of Justified further cements itself as one of the premiere shows on television.  With that said, I'm apparently alone in thinking this season was somewhat of a let-down from previous seasons.  That's not to say I was disappointed by the season - far from it - but I do think it was its worst since season one.

The last three episodes very nearly absolve the season of any faults and make up for some clunky moments and way too much plot.  Too much plot was a common complaint in season three, but I thought it had never been more evident and clunky than this season.  Justified has never been a realistic show, but I've never found myself asking so many plausibility moments as I did throughout the first ten episodes.

However, I'm not sure the show has ever had an episode as action-packed and awesome as the eleventh episode.  Watching Boyd try to decipher where Raylan has decided to hide Drew Thompson was thrilling, exciting, and probably the reason many consider this to be the greatest season.  The show also had Tim play cat-and-mouse with Colton, which provided many great moments.

The last three episodes provide the height of what this show can be, but I do consider grading this season as a whole and not just the end.  I don't want to mislead you though.  I loved this season.  Claiming this season was a bit of a let-down in quality is purely a case of the standard Justified has already set for itself.

Oddly enough, this season did a lot of things that I complained about in previous reviews.  Winona was in two episodes and used expertly in the two of them.  Tim was given an actual arc this season with his mini-showdown with Colton.  And Rachel probably had more screen time she's had in the three previous seasons combined.  (I would like Rachel to get something resembling Tim's fantastic story with Colt, but her slowly becoming Raylan is interesting - Still I had no idea she was married until this season and then they act like that was a big character moment for her)

The "low points" of the season - and keep in mind with this dialogue, it's not like I'm saying it's still not a good episode - were the seventh episode when they brought back a seemingly one-off villain and the ninth episode when Raylan is allowed to transport former sheriff Mosley.  It's not like I didn't like Jody Adair, but the second time through was much less interesting and brought nothing new that Justified has already done before.  The ninth episode was the show cutting corners to get to certain plot points, something the show rarely does.  (Or at least as obviously)

This season did provide a great conclusion to Arlo's time on this show.  It's pretty clear his narrative purpose was reaching its end with him being in prison for life and I can't say I see a much better way to end his story than this.  I don't really understand why he had to kill a guy back in the first episode - for narrative purposes to raise the intrigue for the mystery, but killing that guy seemed pointless.  I know he wants no one to talk about that bag, but man that seemed to be going overboard.

Sheriff Shelby being Drew Thompson was a decent reveal - they made it pretty explicit the episode before - and somebody the audience knows is certainly more interesting than a random guy.  Shelby was about the most logical and big-name of a character to make the reveal meaningful.  Jim Beaver played his part in making the character's seemingly transformative character from his earlier days authentic and genuine.

I enjoyed Boyd's season-long arc.  A man who has seemed in control of what he's doing slowly saw everything fall apart.  At one point, he had Colton trying to hide Ellen Mae's disappearance, Johnny trying to betray him, Jimmy recovering from multiple snake bites, and Ava trying to deal with having Ellen Mae killed (or thinking she had him killed).  He was far from in control and everything seemed to go against him.  That's a much more interesting Boyd than one who gets his way all the time (although less fun if you're a Boyd fan, and who isn't a Boyd fan?)

As for the performances, Goggins and Olyphant of course deliver.  Olyphant is never better than when he has to deal with hearing about his father's death as contradicting emotions flood over him.  Goggins was on fire all season as a man who keeps finding himself caught off-guard from Duffy shooting his own man to the preacher getting bit by the snake.  I feel like a redemptive arc for Boyd will be coming, although it'll probably be too late and also not any time soon. (Also, I could be way off; his second season attempt at being good could indicate he's never going good again)

Among the supporting players, David Meunier and Joelle Carter are at their best this season.  Meunier as Johnny Crowder is a backstabbing, terrible person, but yet you feel sympathy for him with his pathetic "I love you" to Ava.  Carter has a tough job, acting-wise, to have Ava try and cross the line into "bad guy," but she can't quite do it and sleep at night.

Then of course Mike O'Malley, known for his work on Yes Dear, switches up and plays a pretty menacing figure who's a little too cocky and unpredictable.  I'll never get tired of Jere Burns and his reaction shots, which this season provided plenty of for me.  Lastly, Ron Eldrard does such a good job with his role as Colton that, even after he's brutally murdered many people, you kind of are sad when he basically commits suicide.

In all, this was a weird season for me.  The highs were the best the show has ever been and the lows were the worst the show has ever been.  I'm not really sure how exactly that evens out, but for me, it lands below the more consistent second and third seasons.  I want to emphasize how high the bar is for Justified and that's the only reason for my consternation.

Playlist - My Top 50 tracks for the year finishes; 1-10; 11-20; 21-30; 31-40)
41. "Sticks and Stones" - Arlissa
42. "Animals" - Martin Garrix
43. "Clarity" - Zedd ft. Foxes!
44. "John Doe" - B.O.B. ft. Priscilla
45. "Rip Your Heart Out" - Hopsin ft. Tech N9ne
46. "Waste of Paint" - Peace
47. "Love Game" - Eminem ft. Kendrick Lamar
48. "Contact" - Daft Punk
49. "I Sat by the Ocean" - Queens of the Stone Age
50. "Alive" - Empire of the Sun

Rewind: Justified S3

If you haven't seen Justified, I encourage you to watch the show, but don't read this review.  If you must be convinced, read my first season review devoid of spoilers.

SPOILERS BELOW

Justified continued it's abnormally long streak of great television in season three, with the exception of a single misstep.  This is ridiculously entertaining television, good enough that it's quickly making it's way onto my favorite of all-time.

The theme of this season appeared to be fathers and sons, whether in blood or in practice.  Raylan is having a kid, which I don't think we know the sex of yet, but I'd bet good money it's a boy.  Limehouse seemed to have taken over the mantle of Errol's father.  Raylan's father, Arlo, is a constant thorn in Raylan's side.  Then, a sneaky father-son type relationship occurred between Arlo and Boyd.  And lastly, Robert Quarles has a possibly imaginary connection to his surrogate father in Theo Tonin.  (Mags Bennet, while not a father, was an authority figure who certainly hovered over Dickie's actions and would fit the theme)

And I got to say, the writers of this show must have been abandoned as children, because they do not think very highly of fathers - according to this show at least.  With the exception of Arlo's protection of Boyd, every father disappoints their son.  I guess Raylan hasn't really had the chance to yet, but I'm going bet that's as surefire thing to happen as Raylan remaining trigger-happy in season four.

To replace of the towering figure that is Mags Bennet from season two, the writers went for the quantity of villains, but certainly didn't lack for quality thankfully.  There's Robert Quarles, who slowly reveals himself to be a madman.  There's Ellstin Limehouse, who slowly begins to seem like a practical man and not really a villain.  The narrative arc of these two characters, who seemed to switch positions from the beginning of the season towards the end, was an unexpected delight.

While Neal McDonough does not quite match the performance of Margo Martindale, he steals every scene he's in.  He relishes every moment he's able to be on screen and chews the scenery.  It straddles the line between caricature and real person, but I think he manages to do it quite effectively.  Mykelti Williamson, most famous for Bubba in Forrest Gump, manages to make you forget all about the shrimp business and fear his ability to burn your hand.

Justified is one of those shows that's so incredibly well-acted that I find I will have less space to praise everyone who deserves such praise.  It's a crime that I will only spend one sentence on Walton Goggins and Timothy Olyphant, but I can't really say anything new that I haven't said already about them.  Nick Searcy is criminally underrated in his role as Art Mullen.  Jeremy Davies has sometimes a little too much fun playing Dickie Bennett, nonetheless he does his Davies thing but with enough variation to separate Dickie from his Lost and Saving Private Ryan characters.  Lastly, Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy basically spent this season reacting to whatever Quarles did and created a compelling and funny character out of that.  (And his scene where Raylan plays Russian Roulette with him is hilarious)

The show also has an amazing ability to create compelling characters with so little time.  Trooper Tom Bergen had more personality than any character in the two seasons I watched of The Walking Dead.  Jim Beaver was so good in his clearly designed one-off role that they found a way to bring him back.  Hell, Desmond Harrington provided a more interesting character in one episode than his character on Dexter in 72 episodes.  And don't even get me started on the greatness of Dewey Crowe, who gets his own, glorious standalone episode in this season.

If there's a weakness to this show, it's that Winona is kind of an awful character (not person).  It's the show's lone character who is terribly written.  One moment she's in support of Raylan, the next she leaves the house without a moment's notice.  She is literally unpredictable, but not in any way that makes sense to the character.  It seems they are basically writing her out of this show, which is fine by me.  And it's not really a female problem either because Joelle Carter as Ava really steps up as a character in this season.  (Also, Helen was well-written and Lindsay in her one or two episodes is a character I want to see again hopefully)

The other weakness, but it seems unfair to call it a weakness, is that they still don't really give Tim or Rachel anything to do.  It's unfair to call it a weakness, because when they get things to do, they are awesome.  Tim's sarcastic one-liners plus general annoyance with Raylan are always a highlight.  Rachel's a little less well-defined, but she's far from a drag on the series.  I sort of hope they find a more prominent way to integrate them into the story, but if they keep doing what they have been, I won't be too bothered by it.

I mentioned above that this season has a single misstep and that misstep is "Coalition," the twelfth episode of this season.  First, Boyd leaves Quarles to be guarded by two low-life hookers and a single, dim-witted bodyguard while keeping him so loosely tied up that it was hardly a surprise when he got free.  Then Boyd leaves Errol and Dickie with a wheelchair-bound Johnny.  It was an uncharacteristically unrealistic episode that was purely to move the plot along.

Otherwise, Justified hit on every other episode.  Whether it was a standalone plot that was extremely satisfying such as "Thick of Mud" with Dewey Crowe, a plot-moving episode such as "Measure," or an episode that pays off your patience such as "Slaughterhouse," they all at the least were immensely entertaining.

Even on episodes designed to get the pieces moving for a later date, the dialogue crackles with such spark that it's impossible not to be enraptured at the screen every minute.  This is the best-written dialogue of any show ever.  I've never been as entertained watching two people talking to each other as I am when Boyd and Raylan have a conversation.  Olyphant and Goggins have so much chemistry, there's a semi-plausible way they could get the two characters to start fucking.  (If both weren't clearly heterosexuals, I'd say it'd be downright likely)

Overall, if you aren't watching Justified, you are really missing out on a great show.  (Actually if you aren't watching it and have read it this far, what the hell is wrong with you?  Stop reading spoilers and watch the show!)

Playlist (Part of my Top 50 tracks for year; no particular order; 1-10 are here)

11. "Hurricane" - MS MR
12. "Indian Summer" - Stereophonics
13. "Burn" - Ellie Goulding
14. "400 Lux" - Lorde
15. "Timber" Ke$ha ft. Pitbull (Guilty pleasure)
16. "Pompeii" - Bastille
17. "Soothe My Soul" - Depeche Mode
18. "Kemosabe" - Everything Everything
19. "Needle" - Born Ruffians
20. "Lost that Easy" - Cold War Kids

Rewind: Justified S2

The second season of Justified elevates what was already a pretty great show.  I find it hard to imagine a show like this ever becoming bad because when you take amazing dialogue and great actors, it will always be interesting to watch at the least.

The star of this season - and anyone who has seen this season has to agree - is Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett.  I don't want to be hyperbolic, but she possibly has the greatest performance in any season of any television show I've ever seen.  She is simultaneously terrifying, loving, motherly, sympathetic, crime lord, conniving, and just about every contradictory adjective you can imagine.  Somehow, none of those ring false and the audience is with her every step of the way.  She won a well-deserved Emmy for this role.

The season kicks off with a child molester hired by the Bennetts trying to reach his next prey in Loretta McCready.  But Loretta's a smart girl and she also has the fortune of having Raylan Givens trying to help her.  Mags then kills her father for calling the police and then the chain of events that led to this season's conclusion happens.  I like how ultimately her decision to kill him - which was rather pointless - was her direct downfall.

I have to give props to the child actress who plays Loretta.  I haven't seen her in anything else, but she can act.  She held in her own in scenes involving Martindale and Timothy Olyphant.  To put it in simple terms, a large portion of this season depended on how much you were invested in her story and she certainly succeeded in that regard.

The main story line of the second season was so incredibly invigorating that any story involving the secondary characters fell flat, whether by comparison or for some other reason.  Winona's not exactly a drag on the show, but she's very close to becoming one.  For instance, in the season finale, she begs Raylan to not go to Harlan to FIND A MISSING GIRL.  Ok, I get it, she is worried he's going to get killed.  But seriously you draw the line on this particular instance?  I'm not even saying it's bad writing, this character isn't extremely likable and a little on the insane side - like oh say stealing money from an evidence locker. (However, she is listed as "credit only" in almost half of the Season 3 episodes and is removed from the main cast for Season 4 so I shouldn't worry about this.)

Boyd Crowder's transformation from a guy wanting to be good to turning into a criminal longing to control Harlan and maybe more was the second best thing about this season.  I'm not going to lie.  I fell for him becoming a "good person."  This made a lot more sense and felt more natural.  Congratulations to Goggins for elevating his season one performance in my opinion.

Season two felt like a nice balance between episodes concerning the main plot and episodes that feature a mostly unrelated, standalone plot.  I feel they have found the secret formula to achieving 13 interesting episodes.  I really don't believe it has to be 13 consecutive episodes of just the plot that ultimately matters, because honestly if that plot is uninteresting, the whole season tends to suck.  (Season 3 of Sons of Anarchy for instance).

Another thing that was great about season two?  It deglorified Raylan's tendency to go rogue as a marshal.  When he kept abandoning Tim, he came off as pathetic more than badass.  It's always nice  to know when the show tries to show all facets of the character, even the less savory aspects.  On the other hand, Raylan is still clearly a hero.  In the age of anti-heros, he barely qualifies.  He disobeys command and shoots way too many guys, although all of them are bad guys.  It's pretty damn easy to root for him when he refuses to kill a guy for revenge (Dickie) or accept witnesses who lie.

If there's a weakness to this show, it's that it still hasn't really solved its supporting marshals problem.  Art is still as great as ever and his distrust of Raylan was one of the more affecting parts of the show.  The other two?  They became marginally more intriguing and interesting.  Tim is nearly solved with the aforementioned episode when he needs to "nanny" Raylan and gets all the good one-liners.  ("That shit gets me hard.")  Rachel?  I was honestly invested in her one plot involving her sister's killer going insane, but that was about it.  I don't mind the really slow development, but I'm still waiting for it to come.

I haven't mentioned the plot involving the coal mining company.  I don't know what really went on even though at the time it was easy to follow.  I can't say anymore due to not really remembering any specifics.  Anyway, the only important part of the plot was getting Boyd more confident (and more power) and showing the Bennetts for what they were.

Overall, I feel season two strongly improved the first season.  I always find post-season one reviews to be difficult because I talk too much about plot, and it looks like I'm guilty here as well.  Oh well I guess that's just a product of having said everything that needed to be said in my season one review.  

New Justified reviews will be coming pretty quickly as I plan to catch up to the fifth season.  I'm posting on another show next week (maybe The Simpsons fourth season?) and then I'll return to Justified the week after that.  Then probably another non-Justified week followed by Justified.  Yes, it will be after the season premiere, but DVR's exist.  Anyway thanks for reading.

Playlist
1. "Love Natural" - Crystal Fighters
2. "Two Trains" - Yo La Tenga
3. "Country Shit" - Big Krit ft. Ludacris & Bun B
4. "Sister Christian" - Night Ranger (Boogie Nights)
5. "Rap God" - Eminem

Rewind: Sons of Anarchy S5

Sons of Anarchy is a hard show to grade.  If you've reached season 5, you know what the show is about and have accepted its faults (it has plenty of them).  Basically, if you've reached this far, you are at the point to where if you find it enjoyable, it's a good show.  And that's where I'm at.

If I tried to critique and analyze this show (which I will anyway), the show falls apart.  If you expect these characters to do logical things, the show falls apart.  (That's not entirely fair.  Certain characters do logical things; others do thing based on the needs of the plot).  It reminds me of the latter seasons of Dexter except it it is far more interesting, better-acted, and less reliant on its star.  By that I mean that most of the plots spring up by some illogical character action, plot hole, or nonsensical shit.  But it's usually less obvious than Dexter about it so you can really ignore it if you want to.

You cannot take this show too seriously.  I didn't count, but nearly every episode had a car chase and a gunfight (where like one person gets shot in close range).  It's that kind of show.  Sometimes it manages to be deeply affecting, shocking, or sad.  It usually depends on how much you care about the character (or how well-written the character is in the case of Clay Morrow).

Sons of Anarchy is a somewhat infuriating show though because it sometimes seems capable of so much more.  Season 5 is the best season since the second season and it still doesn't really come close.  But it's still damn entertaining.  And I have to admit that if each season leads up to a season finale as satisfying as this one was, well I will keep enjoying this show.

The really confusing part of this season was the fact that it felt like a lot of the early episodes were filler.  That's confusing because Sutter went overboard on the last four episodes making them 60 minutes!  Seriously, I loved the final four episodes, but I see no reason why they couldn't have replaced some of the crap in the early parts of the season.  Shedding about 72 minutes off the show would have helped it, not hurt it.

It's much better to ignore a character then give them a shitty story.  That's basically what they did for Gemma and Tara in the first eight or so episodes.  They were a drag on this season with just about the same exact storyline they've been repeating for the previous four seasons.  And then they finally gave both characters meaningful things to do, which of course Katey Segal and Maggie Siff nail.  The beginning of their stories in this season prevents me from unequivocally loving this season.  Like I said, they could have easily avoided this by shedding some time.  Sons is a show that I think would benefit from a tight schedule

Alright this is where spoilers in this review will come so if you haven't seen season five, and honestly why are you reading this at all if you haven't, stop reading now.  Ok with that necessary warning out of the way, I'll continue the rest of the review.

While I may complain about its faults, there are things I loved about this season.  I loved Jackson Teller's transformation into being a despicable, terrible person.  While Jax will not exactly be compared to Walter White or Tony Soprano as an anti-hero, he's still a pretty interesting and well-written character.  I have bought his gradual decline as a human being.  The actions around him that have pushed him to this point seem like good reasons why his character (as in qualities of an individual) would deteriorate.

A season after being a caricature of a human being, I loved Clay Morrow's return as a fully formed character who the audience sympathizes with.  I'm not sure his plans to destroy the club really make sense, but Ron Pearlman sells it.  Gemma and Juice's betrayal of Clay made his cop-out non-death last season worth it.  I had to remind myself that Clay deserved every bit of this when he's arrested, because it's almost impossible not to feel terrible for the guy in that scene.

The two big guest stars, story-wise, were both amazing characters and featured great acting.  Harold Perrineau, as Damon Pope, is magnetic and cool.  I never would have imagined him playing a believable crime lord after Lost.  But he pulls it off and is actually the best part of some of the episodes.  Another great guest star is Jimmy Smits as Nero Padilla.  His integration into the club was messy in my opinion, but they took the character in a place I didn't expect.  I'm looking forward to seeing him in the new season.

Theo Rossi as Juice is a damn good actor.  I can't honestly say he's well-written as a character and yet I didn't want him to die at all and a lot of tension happened for my fear of his death.  Kim Coates as Tig stands out for two scenes.  The scene where his daughter is burned alive was played strangely.  I don't mean that in a good way either.  The other scene was when Jax betrayed Tig at the end.  He played that perfectly.  That's what makes the other scene strange, because I know Coates is a good actor.  The last actor I'll specifically mention as standing out is Tommy Flanagan as Chibs even though you can't really understand him.  (I guess I should mention Dayton Callie as Unser who's always great)

Overall, I thought the first eight or so episodes veered wildly between great and annoying.  Then it's like a light switch clicked and the show became a different show.  It became what the potential for this show is.  This could have been a season-long thing honestly if they just cut down on the minutes.  The show is unnecessarily lengthy when there were scenes that should have been cut and stories that should have been dropped. (Ex: Though it finally led somewhere in the finale, Wendy Teller wanting custody of her kids just failed entirely as a compelling story.  I could not give a fuck less about her or Abel honestly)

But hey, Sons is about extremes.  You rarely feel indifference about this show.  You either love it or you hate it.  And I'm pretty sure that's what Kurt Sutter is going for.  Obviously he wants you to love it, but he probably would rather you feel emotion at all than nothing.  And he succeeds on that point.

Overall, Season 5 does what Sons of Anarchy does best more often than it does what Sons of Anarchy does worst.  Then there's that kickass finale, which nearly redeems the horrible storylines and just elevates the entire season on its own.  I'm knocking this down for the first eight episodes though.  I'm listing my grades for each season including a revised one for Season 3 which was too generous.

Season 1 - A-
Season 2 - A
Season 3 - B-
Season 4- B
Season 5 - B+

Hopefully, Season 6 continues the upward trend?

Playlist (Rap-less for first time)
1. "Self Esteem" - Offspring
2. "Lit Up" - The National
3. "Young Blood" - The Naked and the Famous
4. "Unforgettable" - Nat King Cole ft. Natalie Cole
5. "Secrets" - One Republic

Rewind: Justified S1 Review

For anybody who has seen this show, I'll state the obvious in saying Justified is a really good show.  I came into this show with pretty high expectations, although little idea of what the show would be like.  Needless to say, the show exceeded those expectations.  This just quickly established itself as one of my favorite shows of all time in fact.  It's that good.

There's no such thing as too much praise when it comes to talking about Timothy Olyphant as Deputy US Marshall Raylan Givens.  He's not the only reason this show is good, but he's the reason even subpar episodes are compelling.  I hadn't really watched Olyphant in much before this and now consider myself an unabashed fan of his.

Olyphant has a certain devilish charm that is probably every man's dream.  His delivery, combined with the excellent dialogue, could get me to voluntarily confess to a crime I didn't commit.  And I'd walk away feeling like he was doing me a favor.  I'm not trying to come across like he's an infallible superhero,  In fact, the facade of exterior toughness quickly reveals itself to be... well a facade.

Raylan's is a trigger-happy lawman whether he wants to admit it or not.  It may seem like he wants to resolve the conflict at hand without firing his weapon, but there's this sense that he really just wants to shoot to release his well-hidden anger.  He's a bit of a renegade, which means he connects more to criminals than his fellow cops.

One of those criminals is Boyd Crowder, a master manipulator, played by Walton Goggins.  Now I've never seen The Shield - lord knows I've heard enough about how good he was in that - but finally I get a taste of that praise.  In the first episode, he's a Neo Nazi leader, but he's a deeper character than that.  He seems more of an opportunistic criminal who has this masterful ability to lead impressionable, dumb rednecks.  This becomes more apparent as the season goes on, but really Goggins makes him interesting immediately.

Justified has probably the best dialogue of any show I've ever seen.  These characters speak in a completely different way than I've ever heard on television, and yet it's surprisingly realistic.  The way the characters choose their phrasing and weave their words together is utterly amazing.  This series is based off the short novel "Fire in the Hole" by Elmore Leonard.  They largely steal the pilot from that text, but it seems they found a way to capture his ability to parse words without seeming like a lesser imitator.

In case you're not sold on the show yet, another satisfying aspect of this show is the setting.  It's set in Lexington, Kentucky - a version that is not exactly flattering to the town.  It's basically Wild Wild West, may the best gunslinger win.  Somehow, it has that culture and applies it to modern life without seeming - well outrageously implausible.

If there's a weakness to this show, it's that the rest of Given's law enforcement team is remarkably forgettable.  The exception to this is Art Mullen's, Given's boss.  Played by Nick Searcy, he has to toe that line between friends and keeping Givens in line.  And he has to keep Givens in line a lot.  There's two other main characters, a white guy and a black girl.  They do have actual names, but really that's how I remember who they are.  I don't actually know their names.  (I could look it up and I did, but I wanted to illustrate just how forgettable they are)

But they are forgettable for a reason.  This show is incredible at casting.  There are an insane amount of great character actors whose name you can't place, but whose face you will surely recognize.  Chris Ellis, Raymond J. Berry, Brett Cullen, Ray McKinnon, M.C. Gainey, Jere Burns, W. Earl Brown, Stephen Root.  (That's not even mentioning Alan Ruck in his fantastic one episode stint or Tony Hale, who doesn't get much to do but BUSTER!)

The female characters could use some work too.  It's not that they are written badly, but there's a huge disconnect between the two main female leads on this show.... and just about every other man.  It's a bit alarming just because it's a hugely male-centric show, and the few female characters are underwhelming.

The majority of this season, with the exception of the last three episodes, was mostly procedural as well.  That's kind of a weakness, but really I can't blame them for initiating us into this world slowly.  I definitely liked the structure of this season more than Sons of Anarchy's structure, although SOA pretty much did the same thing the first season as well.  But its still worth mentioning for people who must have serialized storytelling.

Overall, if you want to watch badasses at work, there's not much shows that do it better than Justified.  If you like seeing the main protagonist take control of the situation and destroy the opponents in slick, smart ways, this show is definitely for you.

(Side note: For as good of a show as this is, the theme song to this is godawful.  It grows on you but I think that's just because I associate it with good television, not on its own merits.)

Playlist
1. "Dead Man Shoes" - The Virginmarys
2. "Stripes" - Brandy Clark (first country song I've ever had on this)
3. "Villuminati" - J. Cole
4. "Surrender" - Cheap Trick
5.  "My Iron Lung" - Radiohead

Rewind: The Walking Dead S2

The Walking Dead has some amazing makeup artists that achieve the impossible in showing convincing zombie portrayals that I haven't seen yet in the zombie genre.  It's by far the best thing about the show.  I felt I should start this review with something positive, because most of this review will not be positive.  (That's a warning for TWD fans)

This isn't a very good show.  Basically, to me at least, the appeal of this show is "Do you like zombies?"  You HAVE to like zombies to like this show.  You have to find zombies awesome actually.  I'm mildly interested in the zombie genre and I've actually liked quite a bit of the movies in that genre so The Walking Dead should theoretically appeal to me.  The problem though is that if you don't love zombies, if you don't love mindless action, this isn't a good show at all.

A very important part of making a good television show involves making interesting characters who you want to see succeed.  The Walking Dead does NOT have that whatsoever.  I kind of care about Rick, Glenn, and Daryl.  I'm not sure if that's because of the writing or if it is because those are the only good actors on the show.  (Though Dale is played by a good actor too and I stopped caring about him in this season - except for his tendency to widen his eyes for serious moments).

Having character development is vital to a show where anyone can die.  If you care about the majority of the characters, every scene is heightened because of that potential - especially in a zombie genre.  When you don't care about the characters, you don't really care if they die.  I know that Sophia was a kid, but this show made zero attempt at making me care if she lived or died and they wasted six episodes until that resolution was cleared up.  In the five episodes before, I could not care less if they found here - to the show's credit I just assumed she would live so I guess points there.

This show is poorly written.  The writers basically came up with interesting ideas that they wanted to explore and then wrote ways to get to that idea.  None of it is very organic and nearly every conflict needed to be brought about by a character doing something stupid, usually by the apparently brain dead Lori.  An example: Rick and Glenn go find Hershel, who's at a bar.  They go explicitly to find Hershel.  Lori objects to this because Rick needs to stay with their son.  Then they leave and she GOES OFF AND ABANDONS HER SON TO FIND THEM.  What did she think she was going to do?  Save them from zombies?  Yeah, right you're going to be able to horde off zombies when Rick and Glenn can't.  Anyway, then she crashes her car because she's reading a map while driving.  SO STUPID.

Then there's the fact that almost all of these characters are unlikeable.  I've already mentioned Lori, who exists to give the negative feedback.  Andrea is another character who is pretty easy to hate - she gets mad at Dale for saving her life, then shoots at Daryl with three people around him (assuming shooting was the right move).  I like Maggie I guess.  But I think liking her is just an extension of me liking Glenn really cause her purpose is to date Glenn and not much else.  The female characters on this show are not written well at all.  Then there's T-Dog who gets jackshit to do all season. (I'm sure I will care about his obvious and inevitable death soon)

This show is poorly acted for the most part as well.  Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Steven Yeun as Glenn, Scott Wilson as Hershel, and Norman Reedus as Daryl are all good actors who seem to elevate the material they are given.  The rest though?  They leave something to be desired.  Jon Bernthal as Shane is mediocre at best and sometimes he's given more than he can handle.  Chandler Riggs as Carl is straight up awful as an actor, but he's a kid so I guess that's more understandable.  And Sarah Wayne Callies isn't great as Lori.  It's partly the writing, it's also partly the bug eyes she develops anytime she's mad, frustrated, upset, or really any emotion.

Yet another problem with this show is the lack of tension.  The zombie scenes create a certain amount of tension, but I was pretty sure who wasn't going to die.  And I was mostly right.  A zombie show should NOT have zombie scenes where it seems like nobody will die.  And if somebody does die, it's usually someone the audience just met like Otis.  It's hard to care about a character dying after two episodes. (Side note: It should be a sin that on a show as poorly acted as this, that they bring in Michael Raymond-James of Terriers and Pruitt Taylor Vance of Deadwood and have them killed off almost immediately.  Raymond-James was scary good in his 10 minutes of screen time.  Someone give this guy a TV show... oh wait someone already did.  Sigh)

While I'm being honest, this review was written after having seen the first 11 episodes.  I haven't seen the last two yet which I've heard are among the show's best.  Overall, I don't think that changes anything I've said yet.  I'm done watching this show for good now.  For people who want to complain "If you don't like it, don't watch it" I won't.  I watched the rest of season two specifically to write this review or I would have stopped.

The Walking Dead is a more apt title for the living "characters" on this show than the zombies - oh I'm sorry "walkers."

Playlist
1. "Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen
2. "Centerfield" - John Fogerty
3. "Real World" - Matchbox 20
4. "Multiples" - Atmosphere
5. "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" - Arcade Fire

Rewind: Sons of Anarchy Season 4

I'm a little disappointed.  Season 4 was better than the previous season without a doubt and it's far from bad television, but let's just say at this point in the show, I have lowered my expectations from what I thought this show could become.

Let me explain.  Sometime in the middle of the first season, Sons of Anarchy began an incredible run of television that I think rivaled some of the best television out there.  The downfall of this run was when creator Kurt Sutter went overboard at the very end of the second season.  He had Gemma Teller framed for murdering two people with a cop present and Jax's baby was stolen.  These are two things that aren't easy to come back from and I'm not sure they handled it well.

Basically, when he decided to go out with a bang to end the second season, the show lost all momentum it had been building.  I didn't know it then, but that decision plagued the third season. The third season dragged out the storyline with the stolen baby and it didn't have anything pay off until the 11th episode when Jax ultimately decided to give up his kid.  There was no threat of that baby being killed or lost for good so those 10 episodes were frustrating for me.  The correct way to handle that baby theft would have been to get it resolved quickly, because in my opinion there's not much tension that the baby will die or get lost.  They did the exact opposite and made it a season-long storyline.

And the Gemma story line was never going to work either because Katey Sagal is too damn good in this role.  She was going to get out of it some way, some how.  Let's just say that the way she got out of it was entirely ridiculous and implausible.

So Season 4 essentially started from scratch.  Let's go back to the basics and go to what made this show work.  But it's very difficult for a show to get back on track.  This season came across more as a very flattering yet lesser imitator of the pre-S3 show.  It's almost like they took the things that worked, and copied that for the fourth season.  That doesn't sound like a bad plan in theory.  The problem is that it's been done before so they need to put a new spin on it.

Sons of Anarchy is a bit too plot-focused.  There's so much going on in this season that there was barely any time for character work.  Charming Heights is being built.  They need to stop the unstoppable force that is Mayor Jacob Hale.  They have a criminal investigation led by Linc Potter trying to bust the Sons.  There's a new sheriff in town who won't put up with the Sons' shit.  The Sons are getting into bed with the Mexican cartel.  The two leaders of the Sons are more in it for themselves than the club.  Tara has information about Jax's father.  Opie's marriage happens and simultaneously is put in question.  Juice is worried the club will find out he's black after three seasons where the audience is given no indication the club would even care.  I mean some of these stories should have been more spread out and not all put in the same season.

The fact that I just watched two seasons of The Sopranos is doing this show no favors of course.  To defend my review though, I watched half of this season about a month ago (before The Sopranos) and the other half in the past week.  Watching The Sopranos felt like getting dropped in everyday life.  Some events led to something important, others didn't.  Watching Sons of Anarchy feels like I'm getting the highlights of their exploits, not anything resembling real life.  I suppose that's ok, except I thought I was watching a different, better show when I started.

It's not all bad though.  While Lincoln Potter (played by Ray McKinnon) is repetitive, he's basically a better version of Agent Stahl.  He's more calculating, he's better acted, he's more interesting, and he's unique.  I mean yes, ultimately, he's kind of nuts and doesn't care about the law just like Stahl, but he's a nice twist on a familiar formula that works for the Sons.

On that same note, Eli Roosevelt (Rockmand Dunbar) is a better version of David Hale from earlier seasons.  He's better acted, more compelling, and is not quite as super clean as Hale as to make it impossible for him to do anything. (I refer to the time when he destroyed the Sons' clubhouse)  He's also in power and can do things about the Sons, unlike Hale under Unser.

I have mixed feelings on this season overall.  I straight up didn't like the season until "Kiss," the ninth episode.  I was seriously contemplating quitting the show for good (after finishing the season of course).  Then "Kiss" was a strong episode and it followed that with the best episode of the season and the best episode of SOA I've seen since Season 2 in "Hands."

The season was going in the right direction, and then the finale happened.  And almost nothing that happened in the season mattered at all.  Clay's not going to die, which is bullshit.  The writing manufactured a way to keep him alive unfortunately.   The RICO investigation didn't matter at all it turns out.  None of the Sons - except for Otto - will be serving time.  Juice begins next season without any indication that his storyline in this one happened.  The problem with the finale is it absolves just about every problem presented in this season - I'll call it the Dexter problem.

One big thing happens of course: Jax becomes president of SAMCRO.  Clay is forced to step down.  Tig loses his position (whatever position that was: right-hand man to president?) to Chibs.  So that's the one interesting thing that happened.  I want to find out how they operate with Jax as the president and Clay on the outs.

Overall, this season was hit-and-miss.  It started slow, picked up speed toward the middle, and ultimately fizzled in the finale.  A strong finish to this season would have catapulted it, but ultimately for me, it lands as the second worst season of the series only ahead of Season 3 - which at least was ambitious.

Programming Note: For the remainder of the fall, I will post two times a week on Sunday and Thursday.  Sunday is the day where I review an episode or episodes of a classic show.  Thursday is going to fill up my season reviews.

Beginning this Sunday, I will finally finish Season 1 of The Sopranos and also give my thoughts on Season 1 as a whole after I'm finished with the episode reactions.  After that, I will be doing Friends episodes from Season 1.  I'm going to go over multiple episodes per post.

In the season review portion of my blog, I have Season 2 of Downton Abbey scheduled.  Following that is the second season of The Walking Dead.  Further along the line will be in some order The Simpsons (S3), Star Trek (S2), and Justified (S1).

Playlist (Sons of Anarchy songs)
1. House of the Rising Sun - Battleme & The Forest Rangers
2. House of the Rising Sun - The White Buffalo & The Forest Rangers
3. Strange Fruit - Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers
4. Los Tiempos van Cambiando - Franky Perez & Los Guardianas del Bosque
5. What a Wonderful World - Alison Mosshart & The Forest Rangers

Why Dexter sucks now

(I wrote this post before the finale.  I read what happened in the finale, because I couldn't care less what happens anymore.  And it was so much worse than I could ever have imagined.  I said I was going to watch the final season, but I don't think I will after hearing (SPOILER) Dexter is a lumberjack now.  Way to top yourself on being awful, Dexter writers)

There are three types of people who have seen Dexter: people who gave up sometime a few seasons ago because of its drop in quality, people who continue watching because of some weird need for finality, and people who watch because they think it's good.  I'm in the second camp.  I've seen up to the first episode of season eight, which was ok.  I have no strong desire to continue watching but I will when I get back in St. Louis just for the sake of finally finishing the show.

If you try to argue with me that season eight is different, that it's better, just don't.  I've been sort of following along on recaps/analysis and it seems to be suffering from the same problems it has since about season five and even before.

I'm writing this for myself by the way and not to convince anyone.  Anybody who still watches the show fits in two of the categories above and I doubt one post will convince someone to change their views on the show.  And obviously people who have given up on the show are pretty dead-set on their views.  So this is just me venting my frustration against the show.

Ok, to the point of the post: Why do I think Dexter sucks now?  Well, for starters, the show never makes Dexter pay for his crimes.  There are basically no consequences.  And since he doesn't feel emotion mostly, there's very little internal moral debate going on with him.  He's just killing people with little consequences either internally or externally.

I'm not sure you can really argue that he's suffering no legal consequences.  It's stupid.  I'm going to speak more on Miami Metro later, but basically everybody just assumes Dexter is innocent despite an ENORMOUS amount of circumstantial evidence.  It's one thing if you have nothing to convict him.  It's another to just completely ignore it and go about acting like Dexter isn't even a possibility.  They have one character who is suspicious each season and anybody who he/she brings those suspicions to assumes they are batshit crazy because that's what the plot requires for Dexter to continue maintaining the status quo.

TV shows like this by nature are problematic because they want to stay on the air.  Dexter is no exception.  A compelling show about a serial killer shouldn't be eight seasons, because at some point, he needs to get caught.  Or he needs to suffer personal friendships.  Dexter sucking recently is mostly due to their need to make sure they maintain the status quo - Dexter kills bad people, insert person who thinks Dexter is nuts/guilty, create a compelling Big Bad, and when a new season begins, act like nothing ever happened.

The real problem I have with the show is character consistency in that it has none except for Dexter.  Characters don't seemingly make their own decisions, they make decisions based off allowing Dexter to get away with it.  The best example is that Deb shoots LaGuerta for some fucking reason.  Sorry, that's not in character at all.  You have to build your characters to that point, you can't just skip them from Point A to Point D.  Deb needed to further lower her moral line in order for that to be believable.  She went from "I can barely accept my brother is a serial killer" to "murdering an innocent person for my brother who is a serial killer."

As a side note, Miami Metro may just be the worst police unit of all time in television shows.  That's saying something considering shows like this usually have poor police catching the bad guys.  Miami Metro takes it to the next level.  They are so bad at their job.  They are only as good at their job as the plot demands it so whenever they randomly get good, it's obvious the writers need them to be good at their job and it's frankly jarring.  It's also weird how it seems the writers act like they are supposed to be good at their job.  Like in some weird universe, they are considered good at their job and the audience is supposed to just accept that they have a weak spot when it comes to anything related to Dexter's story.

This show is also the king of having something in the plot go nowhere.  How many story lines just get dropped and forgot about?  Remember when Quinn used to be suspicious of Dexter?  Well at some point in the show, he replaced Doakes and filled Doakes role, but somewhere along the line, they just stopped that.  I'd say more ideas, but I genuinely don't remember and I'm not re-watching it to find out.

The show largely has gone off the rails because it never solved its supporting characters problem.  Few of the supporting characters were genuinely interesting even in the first two seasons.  They weren't a large problem early on either because they minimized their role, they didn't matter as much because Dexter was still a fascinating character, or I was able to effectively ignore them.  Also, Doakes was a genuinely interesting character mostly because he was on to Dexter's shit and obviously he had to go.  They never really successfully filled the void left by his departure.

But man the creative team ran out of ideas after Season 4 and just recycled previous story lines with a little twist.  Hell, after Season 2, the quality of a season largely depended on the Big Bad of the season.  That's why Season 4 was so good and the beginning of Season 7 was strong.  The Big Bad was interesting, well-acted, and provided a good opponent to Dexter.

I guess my biggest problem overall is that this is a show for people who like to see Dexter succeed.  I don't know, I was kind of hoping that he would pay for his crimes in one way or the other - like Breaking Bad.  I don't want to spoil Breaking Bad, but let's just say that it's pretty obvious that Walt's choice to become a meth kingpin was a poor one.  I'm no morality watching TV member, but it's kind of stupid to just watch a serial killer kill other people with justification without really the show indicating that they think he's wrong.

He's deviated from Harry's Code too many times and killed or been responsible for enough innocent people's lives that at this point, that he should pay - not necessarily even go to jail.  Maybe he gets ousted but they have no evidence, Deb stops talking to him for good unless he changes, etc.  Even if you accept that he's got this impossible to control urge to kill people and he's justified in killing other terrible people, he's way past that point.  Hell, he's making Debra face who she is as a person and forcing her to make moral compromises.  But Deb will come around if she already hasn't - like I said I haven't seen most of Season 8 - because for some reason, the showrunners seem to want Dexter to have his way.

As a side note, even the seemingly good parts of Season 7 that I liked made me stretch belief.  Yvonne Strahovski's (Hannah) relationship with Dexter was enticing at points, but the way they introduced it was ridiculous.  One of the most unearned sexual tensions between two characters I have ever seen was when they first met.  And anytime the two got lovey dovey was cringe-worthy.

I'm sorry if this post seems a little too much like rambling and jumping around.  I mostly just wrote this free form style so it may show in this.  And I fully realize that a large majority of my complaints are due to why I watch TV shows so if you watch it for a different reason, they wouldn't hold up for you.

I just find post-S4 Dexter uninteresting, boring, predictable and implausible.  I am indifferent about what happens because ultimately I know how it will end up: Dexter is free to do his own thing.  This could all be irrelevant if the finale somehow proves my point wrong, which I haven't seen yet.  I don't think it will, but I'd be delighted if it did.

I'm sorry for ragging on one of your favorite shows - you know who you are - but that's what makes TV great.  It allows for differing opinions and differing audiences.  I just needed to express this because I'm frustrated with the show and I'm reminded every time I see a tweet praising the show.

Note: After this post, I became aware Grantland did a similar type post and did it much better than me so I would recommend you go read that.

Playlist
1. "Caring is Creepy" - The Shins
2.  "Shining Star" - Earth, Wind & Fire
3. "Bad Day" - Chiddy Bang
4. "Still Waiting" - Sum 41
5. "Gimme the Loot" - Notorious B.I.G.

Rewind: Sons of Anarchy Season 3

(Warning: This post contains some spoilers)

Ok, I've been expecting a drop-off for Sons of Anarchy since I basically started the show and Season 3 finally gives it to me.  Not that it was bad, but it was unquestionably on a different level than the first two seasons.

In the third season, a little too much happens in too little time.  I think 13 episodes of plot was used in like a week of time on the show.  That's insane.  I get taking your time with story lines, but it took like four episodes to get through a day.  I'm only slightly exaggerating.

I'll give creator Kurt Sutter credit for one thing and that's ambition.  This season falls flat a little, but it definitely tried to be something greater.  I can respect a show that does that.  It's taking chances, and if some don't work, at least they took the chance.

This season was highly entertaining though.  A lot of stuff happens, and in my opinion too much plot-based stuff happens.  There was a decent share of awesome moments of course.  If this is the downside of Sons of Anarchy - and I'm pretty sure it is - then it's a pretty good downside.  If the rest of the series is like this - and I'm pretty sure it isn't - then I'd watch it to the end.

At the end of the second season, the show dropped two cliffhangers on us.  Gemma murdered someone and Jax had his baby stolen.  I'm not positive, but I think the writers of SOA are the "make the characters go into a seemingly impossible situation to resolve and worry about the consequences later" type of writers.  It's when writers write themselves into a corner to where there's very little that can happen to make sense of what we just saw.

Gemma's a main character so unless they kill her off, we knew she wasn't going anywhere.  So I guess the question was how do they either 1) get her free of the murder or 2) not reduce her character's role when she serves jail time?  There's pretty much no way to do #1 without sounding absolutely implausible and ridiculous.

Naturally, the result was implausible and ridiculous.  So Agent Stahl makes up this ridiculous story where somehow another agent was there even though the ATF surely knew already that Agent Stahl was the only one at the scene.  Ok.  Agent Stahl turns full caricature by murdering her lover and partner?  Ok.

Just in case the show was worried Opie possibly killed someone who didn't deserve it, they did everything possible to make sure we had no doubts Opie did the right thing.  If Opie killed maybe a good person, who is obviously dedicated to her job (like she was in Season 1), it would have been much more interesting.  But they wrote themselves in a corner and needed a way to get Gemma free and if you only slightly pay attention to your TV shows, you were probably satisfied enough.  And hey, if it's Gemma in jail with a realistic story line or Gemma free with a ridiculous story line, I think Gemma free is the right answer.

Then the baby getting stolen took up a large portion of the season as well.  This didn't create a lot of tension for me because they aren't going to kill a baby so it was just a matter of time of when they found the baby.  And that took ELEVEN episodes.  For such a foregone conclusion, they really took their time with that.

However, any complaints I have about the season were washed away with the season finale.  Oh my God, that was awesome.  It was so awesome it removes any ability to write coherent, logical thoughts or any type of critical analysis.  I just don't give a shit.  Unfortunately, the pivotal death in this episode was spoiled for me (Agent Stahl), but that didn't ruin the moment.  It was way better than I could have ever expected.

Also, the baby story line did have a good payoff.  Jackson ultimately decided to give up the baby, because he knew he would have a better life.  The writers clearly wanted to have their cake and eat it too so they made sure he didn't actually lose the baby.  Unfortunately, the payoff wasn't quite worth the set-up - 10 episodes long is always too long of a set-up.

I was going to give this season a grade, but I realized I didn't give a grade for either of the first two seasons, so I'll just give my grade for all the seasons here, because I feel the seasons now have a reference point.  This is compared to regular television by the way so while I do think this season isn't great for SOA, it's great for television.

Season 1: A- (Took season a few episodes to find it's ground)
Season 2: A (Represents the full potential of the show IMO)
Season 3: B (Too many implausible moments to overlook)

Playlist
1. "This Charming Life" - Joan Armatrading (from this season)
2.  "Let Nas Down" - J. Cole
3. "Made Nas Proud" - Nas
4. "Someday" - Suger Ray
5. "My Body is a Cage" - Arcade Fire

The Americans' Season Review

The Americans closed up its first season last week, and I have not a doubt in my mind that it was easily the best show that premiered this spring TV season.  Not that there was really much of a contest anyway.  The closest competitor is House of Cards, which while entertaining, suffered from mediocre writing. (Here's the review; I'll post my thoughts on the other spring shows below)

I have chosen to make this spoiler-free, because I really want people to watch this show.  I want a person who has never seen this show to read the review and choose to watch it.  I can't do that with spoilers.

Given that information, I really debated whether or not to even write this post, because I posted most of what I would say in my pilot review. (By the way, you should read that post too!)  Ultimately, I decided to just combine this review with thoughts on other spring shows (To clarify, shows that premiered this spring.)

The premise of this show is that a Soviet couple has implemented themselves into America as spies in a long-form mission to win the Cold War.  Their marriage doesn't really start being a marriage until the first episode.  The rest of the season explores them trying to make it work.  The other players are an FBI agent, a KGB operative forced to work for the FBI when she gets caught smuggling, and the couple's boss who tells them the orders.  (My pilot post provides more background info, but you probably already know the gist of the show)

Think of a reason why you watch television.  It can be any reason at all.  Got it in your mind?  Well, this show should supply that.  It has action, sex, spy missions, the complexities of trust in a marriage, a look into a past decade, and the tensions of the Cold War.

If you literally watch TV for none of those reasons, I have no idea why you watch TV.  As far as I know, they are true to the time period of the 1980s.  I wasn't alive, but based on the critics who I follow, it achieves Mad Men levels of accuracy.  It gives a good sense of how people acted in the Cold War.  For someone like myself, this is a very cool drop into history.

Each episode has a mission for the couple to follow.  They are pretty fair in giving kick-ass stuff for the husband, Phillip Jennings, and the wife, Elizabeth Jennings.  Marriage is already hard and difficult.  But in a business where the husband and wife's job description includes being unfaithful when necessary, it complicates things to the extreme.  While Phillip and Elizabeth get closer, there's a contrast with the FBI agent and his wife who are growing farther apart.

This show hits right in my wheelhouse as I like to study history and I absolutely love spy missions.  Also, there's no episodes where nothing happens.  There's at least one action scene in every episode and I believe there's a sex scene in almost every one.  To use one example, Game of Thrones usually needs a few episodes where nothing happens in order to get to the good stuff, but The Americans always has things happening, no matter how relevant to the long-term.

What really brings the show and makes it great is the phenomenal acting.  I have never seen Matthew Rhys in anything before this, but he's a fantastic actor.  Keri Russell is similarly great in this role.  I cannot emphasize enough how important great acting is in a show where actors have to play different characters within the show.  They kill every scene they are in.

Noah Emmerich, who plays Stan Beeman the FBI agent, is also amazing in this.  He was incredible in two episodes of The Walking Dead he was in, and he does not disappoint here either. The KGB double agent is played by Annet Mahendru who is gorgeous and holds her own in acting as well.  The child actors are actually good at acting, so no need to worry about them holding down the show.

The pilot is a great episode of television, but it's not even the best episode in the season (that would go to the finale!).  So watch the pilot, enjoy it, and carry with you the knowledge that it gets better or more fulfilling.

Other Shows that Debuted in Spring
1. The Following - Congratulations to Kevin Bacon and Kevin Williamson for creating a ratings hit, but this show sucks.  Bacon is great in his role, but James Purefoy is unconvincing as a charming criminal mastermind.  Not totally his fault, the dialogue in this show is subpar.  Edgar Allen Poe is used to defend his serial killer antics, which is ridiculous and certainly starts the show on a bad path.  What got me to stop watching was when it was clear that anybody not named Kevin Bacon could be a follower, which is dumb.  Like I said, it doesn't help that I don't get why everyone wants to follow Purefoy.  The script and Purefoy don't do a good enough job.  Given that apparently even FBI agents might follow his word, that's kind of important.

2. House of Cards - I have a season review of it, but to summarize that review: Everything's great but the plot, which has a few too many implausibilities and inconsistencies for my liking.  Problems not bad enough for me not to tune in for the second season.

3. Carrie Diares - I'll admit I only watched one episode, but that episode was surprisingly good.  It's way too girly for my liking and I think they over-exaggerate 80s fashion.  But AnnaSophia Robb is so engaging and great that I want to watch more of this just for her.

4. Bates' Motel - I've also only seen one episode, but that episode was also pretty good.  I don't have much else to add, that my review doesn't already cover.

5. Hemlock Grove - Yeah, I was hoping Netflix would have a string of shows that were great, but this show breaks that run already.  Just atrocious acting holds back any potential I had for the show.  Unlike the previous two that I hope to watch some time, I gave up on this show and do not plan on continuing.

Playlist
1. "Portrait of Red" - Virginmarys
2. "Lost that Easy" - Cold War Kids
3. "I Will Wait" - Mumford & Sons
4. "When Worlds Collide" - Ces Cru
5. "Smooth" - Santana ft. Rob Thomas