We’ll hire a dog to burn down a hospital
Peyton Manning, he of the famous “Peyton Manning face,” finally found the validation he so desperately wanted by winning a Super Bowl. His Hall of Fame legacy now cemented, he can ride off into the sunset to do 68 more commercials about cutting meat and cheering on his accountant while wearing fake porn mustaches and drinking Gatorade.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
The wait ’til February 7th is gonna be interminable.
But we have no choice but to wait until February 7th as tonight brought us the “Fall season finale” of Lost. Only Lost could give you a huge cliffhanger right in the middle of their season, as we close with a anesthetized Ben laying on the operating table with a bleeding kidney and his life in Jack’s hands. Jack finally turned the tables on his captors, and even on Juliet, by diverting from her plan to take out Ben. Jack seems to be holding all the cards at this point, but he shouldn’t get too comfortable.
NANOBOTS!
Confessing for one’s sins is the overriding thematic element in Lost’s latest episode, though exactly what sins one must confess for comes into question by the end of tonight’s show. An unrepentant Eko, when finally taking the chance to confess his sins to his “brother,” instead clings to the belief that he did what he had to do to survive and is proud of the choices he was forced to make in the life “he was given.”
The best-laid schemes o mice an men,
Often go awry.-Robert Burns
Such is the inspiration for John Steinbeck’s classic novel, Of Mice and Men, which figures prominently in tonight’s new Lost episode. The story of dim-witted Lennie and his place in the world closely mirrors the situation Jack, Kate and Sawyer find themselves in. As the character of George Milton does in the book with Lennie, the Others are around to discipline their captives when they get into places they shouldn’t be.
Then said he to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and see, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. (Ezekiel 8:5)
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)
Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up. (Habakkuk 1:3)
Eureka—from the Greek—means, “I have found it!†It is what Archimedes yelled out when he discovered a method for determining the purity of gold.
I won’t need seven pages and 2000 words to talk about this week’s episode, so file this Lost entry under the “light reading” category. Much of this episode was about developing the characters and their relationships with each other, Other and Castaway alike (that translates to, “there ain’t a ton of cool Easter eggs or ‘Answers’ to be found this week”).
The Others have repeatedly referred to themselves as “the good guys,” and if you’re going to buy into that assumption for the sake of hypothesizing, you’d have to assume that most of the castaways are thus “the bad guys.” The flashbacks have shown the less-than-noble sides of them, with increasing frequency. Last week, we saw Jack’s image sullied a bit when his actions are shown to have driven his father back to drinking and, eventually, his death. Sawyer’s murdered in cold blood, as has Kate. The rest of the castaways all have their misdeeds. This week, we get around to seeing Sun’s less than inspiring side.
Welcome back, one and all, to my pride and joy: the weekly Lost recap, where I rely on screenshots to distract you from my cobbled-together theories and treatises on the most insignificant details spread throughout the ABC show. Anyway, let’s get right to it. We open with the now-customary, season-opening closeup of an eye; said eye belonging to a woman waking up in her house in what appears to be Anytown, USA.
Less than a week from the season premiere, ladies and gents, I come bearing gifts in the form of the full Alvar Hanso video and some other choice nuggets from this past summer’s “Lost Experience” web game.
Having lost faith in the creative powers behind most of the dreck on television long ago, I’m wary of getting into any new series’ churned out each year by the networks. On rare occasions, I’ve heard from others (rather than through the endless charade of “the all-new hit show!” advertising) about a select few shows that are worth my incredibly valuable time and viewing commitment. One such show is HBO’s The Wire.
The show, the fourth season of which just started, centers around the urban and moral decay of the city of Baltimore viewed through the lens of its police, lawyers, crime lords, drug addicts, union workers, and politicians. It’s a simple enough concept that’s been approached with varying degrees of success in the past. But never has any show succeeded so brilliantly in painting such a complete and dynamic picture of life on the streets as this show. And furthermore, in the show business sense, the crew behind The Wire seems to “get it.”
The creative staff, with links to the old NBC show Homicide, have created one of the most riveting, thought-provoking and intelligently written episodic series ever on television. I’m not sure I’ve ever watched a more well-written and acted show. There have been shows with great runs and episodes in their times, but The Wire is consistently fantastic in nearly every aspect of its production, the writing chief among them. I can’t fathom writing this consistently good being on television in this day and age. It’s writing that doesn’t treat you like an idiot couch potato that requires every plot point spoon-fed to you or every aspect of a storyline explained with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. It’s an adult story acted by adults, written by adults and–crazily enough–treats its viewer like an adult! Who knew this was possible?
I hate to use the term “novel” to describe a TV show, but watching this show is akin to reading an Homerian epic, chapter by chapter. Layers covering Baltimore’s ruthless drug lords, its corrupt politicians, its dirty cops are all unflinchingly peeled back by the writers, who then heap that reality upon the show’s protagonists, who aren’t exactly angels themselves. It’s a detail of Baltimore city cops, some of the few honest and decent souls in a department rife with corruption. They’re not perfect, but their aims are pure in trying to clean up a hopelessly decaying city. It’s a Herculean task, but they trudge ever onward, led by department pariah Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West).
Regardless of all this babbling on my part, my main goal here is to get you to watch the show–to thereby reward creativity instead of continuing to support the Crap Factory that churns out stuff like Will & Grace and Justice and Grey’s Anatomy (melodramatic garbage, folks). Go rent the first three seasons of The Wire and enjoy yourself. If you’re not addicted to it by the 4th or 5th episode of season one, you’re probably better suited to watching shows like Two and a Half Men. I take no pleasure in insulting potential readers, but thas’ how I roll! And if you don’t think my saying you’re better suited to that show isn’t an insult, then God help you.
