First, a confession. I was one of those people who didn’t watch Firefly when it was on Fox on Fridays back in 2001. Of course, this was in the days before TiVo and DVR and I did, at the time, have somewhat of a social life. So I was part of the problem, and missed the boat on Firefly and was one of the reasons it was cancelled before its time.
And so we promise: NEVER AGAIN!!!
Fox’s new Sci-Fi Fridays promise to bring some oompf back to Fridays and maybe even give a reason to stay home… or at least watch it first thing Saturday morning.
TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES – Episode 2-14 “The Good Wound”
When we last left our band of continuity-changing time travelers, we found that John Connor’s girlfriend, Riley, was actually brought back from the future by Derek Reese’s rogue lover AND she freaked out and attempted suicide. Then Sarah went off trying to solve the mystery of the “three dots” with help from a trans-sexual internet sleuth, leading to a warehouse in the desert where she was shot by an unknown assailant, after which time Sarah begins to black out, seeing a silhouette of a Skynet gunship flying across the sun. It’s been a long few months since this, and I have been much anticipating the return of the excellent show. It does not dissapoint.
So our show opens with Sarah in the hospital, and John and Derek in another hospital looking after John’s girlfriend. Both patients, of course, go rogue and disappear from their respective hospital beds. Sarah, true to form, kidnaps a female doctor and convinces her to perform the surgery on her to remove the bullet still in her leg. This was by far the most intriguing storyline of the week, as Sarah continues to hallucinate, this time speaking to slain hero of the original Terminator film/John’s father, Kyle Reese.
Meanwhile, we’re also checking in with former FBI Agent James Ellison, former Terminator known as ChromeArtie reborn as “John Henry.” John Henry has discovered fighting Japanese robot toys and prefers ball-and-socket joints to hinge joints like his elbows and knees! He has also learned how to use the internet, leading him to some interesting discoveries about Agent Ellison and information that intrigues Carolyn Weaver, leading her to go on a T-1000 rampage.
And this brings me to my only complaint with this show. As anyone who knew me back in 1995 – 1999 could tell you, I had a huge crush on Shirley Manson of Garbage. While I love her music, I don’t know what people were thinking with this decision which I can only assume was an attempt at “stunt casting” (unless rumors of Shirley’s supposed prowess in…. uh, can I say this?…. “oral gratification”… contributed to her casting). So, my main question is, if she’s a T-1000 made of liquid metal and can assume any form, why the form of Shirley Manson? In any case, this must stop ASAP. Carolyn Weaver must die and be replaced by a better persona for our T-1000 to take [bring back Robert Patrick for a spin?].
3 ½ stars (out of 4) – “This is the noise that keeps me awake\ My head explodes and my body aches! PUSH IT!!”
DOLLHOUSE Episode 1-1 “Ghost”
If I had a crush on Shirley Manson, there are not enough John Donne poems written to explain my feelings for Eliza Dushku, who I first fell in love with as Faith, the evil vampire slayer on Joss Whedon’s Buffy. In the first ten minutes of the show we are more or less introduced to the basis of the show: people rent out male or female “dolls” imprinted with, well… whatever you want. So we see every fanboy’s wet dream of a weekend with Eliza Dushku, or ECHO, as her “Active” is named, included kinky sex, a motorcycle race, a birthday party, and dancing in a dress that if it were any shorter this show would need to be on FX instead of Fox. Joss, as writer and director of this (supposedly extensively re-written and re-shot pilot) obviously knows where his fanbase is and delivers them a big hunk of red meat early on.
The rest of the show much less so. We are introduced to a some glimpses of backstory which are somewhat less intriguing (promise but no real payoff), Echo ends up dressed up as the hot school librarian, like at the beginning of some 80’s hair metal video, but then never then becomes the hot librarian who lets her hair down and starts partying with the guys from Skid Row. That’s ok, because the plot clips along a decent amount.
We also get cameos from other Whedonverse actors such as Amy Acker, whose scars on her face show she has a backstory and whose “featuring” and not starring role probably means a quick death sometime this season.
We are also introduced to to FBI Agent Paul Ballard, who seems like a cross between Fox Mulder, searching for a possibly fictional “Dollhouse” with little more than faith to go on, and John Steinbeck’s “Curly” from “Of Mice and Men”- a little guy with a big plan who can kick your ass pretty well anywhere from here to next week. A villain? Probably not, but a foil certainly.
My only real complaints are the episodic nature of this show so far (granted, one episode, but still). It reminds me of the first season on Buffy or Smallville, where it was kind of the “monster of the week.” This also feels somewhat un-Whedonesque in that I hardly laughed once. The same Joss Whedon who used to write for Rosanne and was hired to punch up scripts like X-men or Toy Story needs to get hired to punch up these scripts. Of course, I may be asking too much- can this show be everything to everyone? Well, the premise would answer, “Yes” so I will be patient.
Next week we get a confrontation between Echo and Agent Ballard, which should prove fun. It also looks like Alpha, undoubtedly the first of the Actives who has gone rogue and on a killing spree, is taking an interest in who Echo was before she came to the Dollhouse. So are we.
3 stars
