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Lost was a really great "binge show". I watched it this spring, starting just about when the series concluded. The fact that I live under a rock helped me avoid all the discussion regarding the finale. This show has been on my list for years - since middle school, when I was not allowed to watch "grown up shows" - because of Dominic Monaghan and my insane Lord of the Rings fandom. I figured that now that it's over, what better time to start, right? It was very good. The whole of it, minus the final season, was on Netflix Watch Instantly, which made it so easy to access. Despite theories that the writers haven't had any idea what they've been doing since day one, the show was very well crafted [early CGI polar bears almost turned me off of it all though] in visual, written, and intellectual ways. It's one of those shows that you actually have to watch because if you miss thirty seconds, you won't have any idea what's going on for the next four episodes. Every episode, no matter how ridiculous, left me craving the next, which is an incredibly good thing for a television show.The show takes a lot of effort to experience, but it's really something of a television masterpiece, and the journey is well worth the hours of your life that you'll spend watching it.
Castle - Season 2, Episode 6: "Vampire Weekend". Original Air Date: 26 October, 2009.
America's current vampire obsession has invaded... my half of the world...
It's Halloween, and Castle is preparing for a big party. He keeps mentioning it to Beckett, reminding her that costumes are mandatory, and hinting that he'd love to see her in something sexy. But even more important is the case: a vampire was murdered by a stake through the heart, in a cemetary. Yeah. Apparently this boy, Crow, belonged to a small geek community of vampires [I say geek meaning a person who is fascinated by one specific thing or culture and strives to live as close to the object of his emulation as possible, no negative connotations intended]. He was a young artist, who, together with his friend Damon, also found murdered, was creating a graphic novel about a real life NYC vampire named Morlock. The team finds Morloch and takes him into custody. He's a case, because he has a condition, I forget what it's called but its nick-name is the Vampires' Disease, and he is very sensitive to sunlight, to the point where his skin burns and blisters up with contact. With that condition come hallucinations and other craziness, so it's no wonder he actually believes he's a vampire. In the end, it was his insane babble and crazy talk that solved the case. Crow's step-mother had killed his mother so she could marry the father, and now, many years later, Crow figures this out and so she kills him too, trying to frame his group of vampire friends because of his father's disdain for them, in an effort to keep her husband close to her. In the meantime, Alexis is going to her first 'real' high school party with her friend and co-parent [for a health class baby egg project], and her dad knows she won't get into any trouble, but he tells her to call him if she feels uncomfortable or compromised in any way because he will come get her, no questions asked, no punishment. She thinks she won't have to, but she does because the punch was spiked and her friend was really wasted. Castle picks them up and does the right thing in calling the girl's parents, despite Alexis's protests that she would get in a lot of trouble. In the end, the friend was so mad that she broke the egg baby.
The episode was good, and very Halloweeny. Castle began the episode by saying how much he loved Halloween, but Beckett says it's the worst as far as weird crimes. I think the show did a decent job, too, and not making fun of the geeks. Of course, individual characters mocked the vampire Covent a little, but the way they were portrayed in the show was as a little weird, definitely different from the 'norm', but not dangerous or bad or stupid. And, I know I say this a lot, but I really love the relationship between Alexis and her father. There are so few 'like me' teenagers on television, whether it be adult programming on basic channels, like this, or on pre-teen shows on Disney. This girl is well-adjusted, has a few issues, but nothing she can't handle, and she's not angsty or slutty or deceitful like so many TV teens are. In this episode, she had to learn a bit of a lesson between choosing the right thing and the easy thing, but she followed her father's orders, and doing differently in that situation could have ended really badly.
I'm skipping Castle this week. I watched it, and it was good, but my roommate came in and talked to me for like fifteen minutes and I was very distracted. I'd like to watch it again, but that seems like an even bigger waste of my time than the way I already waste my time, and I'm just a little too stressed out for that. So I will simply post the notes I took while watching, typos and all, and leave it at that.
Castle - Season 2, Episode 5: "When the Bough Breaks". Original Air Date: 19 Oct 09
He's late so they tease him.
He's pretty distracted thinking about his upcoming launch party.
Candy wrapper.
"Mmm, kinda tastes like soap. I like it."
postcards in home
Alexis is excited to go.
Certain British spy. WHOO? I've probably never heard of him.
My roommate came in and distracted me for ten-ish minutes. Oops. Something about the kid she babysat or something.
They arrest a Czech man, the victim's ex-husband, but he thinks they were chasing him as immigration cops.
There's a woman that they didn't get to interview on their first go-around, and she says that the night of the victim's murder, she recalls seeing the victim arguing with a man; the artists' rendering looks an awful lot like someone they already know.
So they talk to this doctor - he's the husband of the woman they interviewed, the father of the kid the victim was giving candy to. Apparently, they were having an affair. But what else?
Launch party! Did you read the dedication? "To the extraordinary KB and all my friends at the 12th."
"You are extraordinary."
"can I close the deal, already?"
"What if the wife got onto the affair?"
They fight. British secret agent or new Nicky Heat novel? Hmmm...
WHAT AN AMAZING PLOT TWIST
not enough alexis in this ep.
"That was Esposito. There's been a murder. Are you coming or not?"
Oh, yeah, and guess what?? Some good news about the show!
Tomorrow? Last night's Glee. And Fringe is taking a break until 5 Nov. Yay -.-
House - Season 6, Episode 6: "Brave Heart". Original Air Date: 19 Oct 09.
This episode was intense. The intro was crazy, with a police chase, some parkour, and some guy jumping off a roof. Turns out, that guy is convinced that he's going to die, since he's just turned forty and all his ancestors died of heart complications shortly after they reached that milestone. House is convinced there's nothing to find, and they look at the heart in every light possible, yet still find nothing, even when examining his son for genetic problems. So, House lets him go with some placebos.
Hours later, there's a knocking on Wilson and House's door: it's Foreman. Apparently, their guy collapsed, dead, hours after his discharge.
So they bring the body to Princeton Plainsboro's morgue and prepare to do an autopsy. In a cute, ironic twist, House picks up a saw and prepares to cut into the man's chest, but Foreman says, "You can't perform an autopsy without a license," and takes the saw. He does it himself, and they notice the way blood is coming out of the gash in the chest - it looks like the man is bleeding. But that would mean..... AND THEN THE MAN OPENS HIS EYES AND STARTS SCREAMING IN PAIN!!!
Yeah, crazy.
So the pressure's on to find out what's wrong with him. They put him on steroids for a genetic auto-immune [and lots of painkiller, btw], but nothing works. His new pain in his jaw is only getting worse, so bad that he pulls his own tooth out.
Meanwhile, Chase is struggling so hard with his decision regarding James Earl Jones. It's really hard to watch him, because he's a mess [naturally] and has no one to really turn to. At least when we see House like that, we know, oh, he's just a crazy dummie, he's always like that. It's different for Chase. You can also see how this plays itself out in his marriage. Which is crappy. And the priest at confession doesn't help.
House thinks he's going crazy again. He thinks he's hearing voices when he sleeps in Wilson's study [which used to be the bedroom]. He's not; it's really Wilson whispering to Amber at night. It's pretty sad, really. Like, boo hoo sad, not pathetic.
Finally, House figures it all out. The man has something of an aneurysm in his brain somewhere that's been growing and it causes pain and his heart to stop. They remove it and the one in the kid's head, and that story line is resolved, too.
All in all, a fun episode. It was shocking, which made it really fun to watch.
Sorry, my House stories are always smaller because I watch them live in the common room with a group of people; I watch the other shows either live on my own tv or on my computer the day after, so I take better notes.
