TV Week in Review

*Reviews May Contain Spoilers*

One Tree Hill – Weeks Go by Like Days

Nathan: Alright, look Clay. I stayed with you because you are a good agent and you are a good friend. Now I’ve got the agent but uh, I miss my friend. Okay?

Clay: Okay.

Nathan: Oh and stop being weird around Quinn in front of me. It’s awkward.

Alex is still alive and encouraging Millie to get back to her healthy state of mind but the real question is, is Alex in a healthy state of mind? Victoria welcomed Millie back to work and could possibly work things out with Mouth who made a surprise visit but what’s left for Alex in Tree Hill? Let’s hope her infatuation with Julian is over and doesn’t come back as the two work on her movie. Julian breaking up with Brooke was definitely understandable from his standpoint so nobody can blame him for breaking up though does that mean there will be no love triangle with the two and Alexander? Alexander could be the perfect match. Only time will tell what happens. As for the love birds, Nathan & Haley…it is so heartwarming to see the family bond and have a great time back home after Haley’s tour. The songs that Haley performed on this song are beautiful and hopefully they will appear on iTunes. Quinn & Clay also seem to be doing well, too but honestly, they aren’t adding anything interesting to the show so what else is left for the two to do from Tree Hill? Taylor coming to visit with Quinn’s ex as her boyfriend was a “woah” moment and will bring for a much more interesting story, so looking forward to seeing that unfolding!

Heroes – Pass/Fail

Adam: Just so I’m clear, on your person scale of temporal justice, it’s okay so long as no one gets hurt?

Hiro: Yes, that is my definition.

What a creative episode! I enjoyed seeing Hiro go on trial in his unconscious mind, moreso because I was overexcited to see Adam back! I’d take Adam over Samuel any day. Hiro’s father being the judge, Adam grilling Hiro on bending space and time selfishly and repeatedly, and the victims of his use coming back to haunt him, including the cheerleader Sylar killed at homecoming (Danielle Savre) was all orchestrated so well. Hiro literally had to fight for his life and that was refreshing to see, him saving himself instead of trying to save others. Speaking of saving himself…Sylar screwing around with Claire to get what he wanted out of her since he knew he couldn’t willingly get it out of her didn’t make it less disturbing so I was thrilled that Claire had stabbed him in the eye. The real concern though is, will Sylar give up his powers to be human? What else is disturbing was Sylar visiting Matt’s wife to ask where he was but Matt’s wife questioning who he was. My thoughts are, please don’t kill Matt’s wife. I could see things going one of two ways, Matt dwells into a mass depression or he becomes hulk like. I’d rather see neither. Back to Claire for a moment, I am very interested to see where Claire and Gretchen’s relationship stands by the season finale. I have no idea what Samuel’s storyline was in this episode. This episode is called “Pass/Fail” and apparently this storyline is the fail. Though with 2/3 of the story lines being a pass, it’s safe to say overall I enjoyed this episode.

Ugly Betty – Blackout!

Amanda: Oh my God. Betty’s voice brought darkness to the land.

Another incredible episode aired Wednesday night! Betty letting in robbers to the apartment building the night of her karaoke party and the same night Marc had an important assignment due was equally funny as it was devastating since Betty’s party ended up becoming Amanda’s party and Amanda was not responsible with Marc’s laptop, so that was one of the things that was stolen. Honestly, it’s time for Amanda to be more responsible. We can still have the fun side of Amanda but there needs to be a responsible side at this point. It seems like every time her character goes one step forward it takes two steps backward. Anyway, Marc freaking out about possibly missing his deadline because of the blackout that occurred and then in the end being promoted to Jr. fashion editor definitely brought cause for celebration. Marc works his butt off, so it is great to see Wilhelmina recognize that, even if it took Daniel putting her in her place. Though it was quite funny when the blackout occurred at the exact moment the two were in an elevator! Daniel kissing Willie to break the sexual tension was probably the dumbest thing that he has ever done and rightfully so, he was punched in the face for it. While there were plenty of laughs in the episode, things took quite a turn when Hilda lost her baby. Though the tone did not seem to shift as heavily as I expected to and there was not much time to process the grief since Justin came in with some great news of his own so I wonder how the miscarriage will affect the family and Hilda’s relationship from hereon out. Only time will tell. This was a very well written and directed episode. Since there was no significant amount of time spent at Mode, nothing stood out fashion wise but I’m sure we’ll be back at Mode next week. It would have been nice to see what Claire was doing during the blackout. The anticipation of her meeting up with her son again is killing me.

Vampire Diaries – Bloodlines

Damon: Vampires can’t procreate. But we love to try.

What a fabulous episode to come back to after winter break! There were some incredible surprises in this episode that I will mention in this review, so you have been warned. This episode started off right where the previous episode left off though right away, viewers do not find out who it was that was after Elena since Damon comes to the rescue. Damon taking Elena to Georgia without her permission brought for some fantastic scenes with Gina Torres guest starring as Bree, a witch and old fling of Damon’s. This was perfect casting and their chemistry was great! In the end, we find out that Bree is not thrilled with Damon’s visit and by the end of the episode, her death proves why. Since Lexie turned her boyfriend and Damon killed Lexie, the boyfriend came after Damon once he got the phone call from Bree about his whereabouts. Let’s just say it’s not safe to be Damon’s friend, for many reasons – all leading to death. Back at Mystic Falls, Bonnie fell below ground while she was in the woods and heard the vampires that were burned years ago. She goes to Stefan about it and shortly after must come to terms with her being a witch as well as the Salvatore brothers being vampires quicker than she would like since she must help Stefan try to find Elena. Once Elena is back…well Stefan has quite the revelation…he heard the accident of Elena’s parents and saved Elena after her father told Stefan to save her first! Not only that but Elena looks so much like Katherine because Elena was adopted! How is the relationship going to change with Stefan and Elena since he saved her but couldn’t save her parents in time? How is the relationship going to change with Elena and her Aunt since her Aunt knew and does Jeremy know? If he doesn’t know, will he find out? How exactly are Katherine and Elena related? Is anyone else after Damon? This episode brought up some many revelations and so many questions that I cannot wait to see answered! Fantastic episode!

The Office – The Banker

Michael: Well, think of it this way. When you look in a mirror and you see your push up bra and your fake eye lashes and your makeup and your press on nails…the principles that I’m applying to the office are the same ones that made Lady Gaga a star…or any number of drag queens

Since Dunder Mifflin is being sold, an investment banker comes to the office and Michael of course tries to impress him. He makes Dwight talk like a virtual, computer type assistant and temporarily replaces Stanley with a different black man. No matter what he does though, the banker meets Toby who doesn’t hold back…opening a can of worms…or well a montage of clips from Seasons 1 – present. While I was disappointed that this “new” episode was not original but simply a clip show, I still enjoyed all of the clips. Mostly, I enjoyed the that’s what she said” montage, as those were definitely the most hilarious clips. We did find out something new in this episode though, Michael is now the company’s highest ranking employee since everyone in New York was laid off. Wow. That explains why the company is going down the drain. Next week better be a new and hilarious episode.

Caprica – Pilot (2 Hour Pilot)

Zoe 2.0: Your arrogance was killing your daughter and that’s how you lost her…not to some bomb.

Note: This review is written from the point of view of a fan who has not seen BSG.

The show opens up with Zoe, Lacy, and Ben at a virtual night club in their own world, which acts on the evil that is really inside the people of Caprica, who seem to live strictly by their religious beliefs. This makes it no surprise that it is religious terrorism that ultimately brings turmoil to Caprica. Friends, Zoe, Lacy, and Ben plan to runaway and move to Geminon to live as monotheists but Lacy backs out once it is time to board the train and Ben reveals himself as a suicide bomber, in the name of the ‘Soldiers of the One’ a monotheistic religious movement…which kills himself, Zoe, and everyone on the train. At this point, Lacy is the only live person who knows that Zoe was a computer genius and built artificial life. But it doesn’t take long for Zoe’s father, tech mogul, Daniel Graystone to find out as he catches Lacy in Zoe’s room in the virtual world. Lacy is then forced to take him into the virtual world to meet Zoe’s first artificial life project, Zoe 2.0. Daniel is naturally fascinated but he keeps it a secret from his wife, Amanda and tells his new friend Joseph who he has connected with, as Joseph lost both his wife and daughter in the train bombing. How will Amanda find out? Something tells me it won’t be Daniel who tells her.

After capturing Zoe’s avatar and kicking Lacy out of his house, will Daniel continue to do Zoe’s work for her memory or for his own reasons? It seems Daniel wants to not only bring Zoe 2.0 to the real world and give everyone avatars so that when they die, their avatars live on but how far will Lacy and Joseph let this go on? Both of them have potential to create major problems. Lacy knows he will be up to something so how far will Lacy go in working with him or stopping him? Lacy and Sister Claric, headmistress of the Athenian Academy who is a monotheist, even though the school promotes polytheistic beliefs could be a great tag team in the name of Zoe, so it will be interesting to see how their storyline plays out, if Lacy tells Sister Clarice what exactly Zoe was up to. The Ha’la’tha crime organization that put Joseph through law school seem to have their own agenda and the Taurons seem to have their own belief system…how far will Joseph go to defy both in order to live his life? Will we ever see Tauron?

As Zoe has managed to create an avatar copy of herself in the virtual world and Daniel has created a prototype Cylon at work, it did not come as a surprise when the two came together in the end. Seeing Zoe come alive inside the Cylon was great! This creates so many questions and this episode as a whole has set up for some incredible drama and action to come. This is an incredibly well written character driven drama that has very complex themes, touching on religion, class, racism, and the ethics of technology. How much more terrorism is in store for the show? How far mapped out is the series? There are so many strong performances and intriguing plot lines, it just makes me wonder how many plot twists are to come, and what the balance will be of intense and gripping drama with the sci-fi that we all want to see. The Pilot was brilliant and I am definitely proud to say that I am a Caprica fan and looking forward to what’s in store.