Grid Effect

In lieu of anything decent on television last night, we watched a classic Nicholson-Antonioni film called The Passenger. While it didn’t have even a semblance of a plot, its the first film I’ve ever seen where the text is the subtext, and as a result it was at least a unique cinematic experience. The hollowness and insignificance of Nicholson’s character was something that didn’t dawn on me until the final seven minutes, since I was preoccupied with searching for a plot (because a movie with the same pacing and tone that actually had a opening, body and conclusion would have been just as extraordinary) the fact that it was a character study almost eluded me.

And just as I strolled into work late yet again this morning, it dawned on me that the Nip Tuck season premiere aired last night and we completely forgot. For a series primarily plot driven, hollowness and insignificance were the first thing that came to mind, and that’s never a good thing. We were uncertain if we would continue watching/recapping the Risqué dramatic series, but when realized we forgot about it, the only reason I was even mildly disappointed is for the eleven or so people that might actually have been looking forward to a recap, and for that reason alone, why would we watch it? This site’s goal is to focus on good, if not great television, not television we begrudgingly watch with no enjoyment. So, for that reason alone, we decided to let bygones be bygones.

Until we realized that we do not write recaps for dramas until the day of the subsequent episode, and we do not recap anything else on Tuesdays, we do a weekly links post, and that we could move that post to Wednesdays with little to no consequence (it also seems like something better suited for the middle of the week anyways). So, essentially, for the same reason we watched The Passenger, is also the same reason we’re going to recap Nip Tuck. Clearly the themes of the film didn’t take.

See, who said this series is only about shock value?

For what it’s worth, the series did end relatively strong last year (sans that overly generic shot of the two leads standing up against the Hollywood sign which made us take a 45 minute shower, because it was so dirty), or, at least stronger than Studio 60, which we stopped recapping before the season finale, not knowing but fairly certain it would be canceled anyway (which it was). Yet we can’t really recall how, all we can remember about the fourth season was that gawdy “future” episode. Which, for an animated series, like, say, The Simpsons, works; primarily because the characters do not age, but also because its a comedy, plot and character development are moot.

But for a series that force feeds its audience the “complexity” of its characters as a magnum opus for both the writers and actors, we don’t need to see an end game before the series finale. If we already know that all of them turn out relatively successful and untroubled, minus a small amount of mutual hostility, then what’s the point of continuing to watch? Here’s hoping it actually represents a turning point in the series. An unfortunate season and ill-advised episode have a reactionary effect, in which those involved with the series take a step back, and try not to take it so seriously. Because, you know, it’s about plastic surgery.

Back with Survivor and South Park recaps tomorrow.

Good morning. I hope everyone’s evening was a little more rewarding than Donald Driver’s fantasy performance. Good lord is the guy all of a sudden over the hill. I might as well cut him, pick up Tim Brown and be done with it. I’d be getting virtually the same production and at least I could say that I have a future hall-of-famer. Also, thanks to the rest of the networks for bowing down to the majesty that is Monday Night Football and all but forcing me to watch that depressing performance. Yeah, I know, the game was almost classic, but that doesn’t mean shit when you’re getting hosed on the gambling front. And, you know, the fucker is on cable now, you could at least make a small effort to compete with ESPN, because if FOX Sports and Versus are the best we can do in the sports network world, then your “zany” and “serious” attempts at scripted series’ are our only hope.

Anyhow, enough grasping at straws and being completely off topic, fantasy basketball tips off tonight, and I can’t figure out if its depressing or encouraging that I’m genuinely excited for it. So there’s always time for redemption. Onto the links…

You know, I’ve always enjoyed Jerry Seinfeld’s work. But the saturation campaign for this Bee Movie is really starting to agitate. Here’s hoping that thing bombs, not only for the barrage of ads, but also because we’re growing irritable with digital talking non-sentients at the box office.

Matt McTighe, the guy who played the rapist/murder victim on Friday Night Lights, weighs in on all the hullabaloo surrounding the only storyline he’s ever mattered in. And honestly, it has to be considerably deflating for a young actor to land a part on a mainstream, broadcast network series, then have everyone and their mother bitch about your character’s very existence.

Speaking of which, even Jesse Plemons takes issue with the murder plot, but since he works on the series he followed up with, “I guarantee you there is someone out there who can relate to this.” And, for us at least, it has nothing to do with that. Is there somebody in some small town ducking a murder rap? I’m certain of it, but the series always dealt with nuance and everyday problems. Even the attempted rape at the time seemed far-fetched, but the attack didn’t completely adjust the way we looked at the characters involved. It changed them and they grew from it, sure, but there wasn’t any sort of moral or social code broken. With Landry, they took arguably the most innocent character on the series and turned him into a killer.

That ever looming writers strike is picking up steam. This could really be an issue, especially for television series’ that depend on intimate knowledge and familiarity with their characters. But for films, do writers actually believe that their aspiring counterparts who are not members of the guild are going to hesitate to cross the picket line? I don’t know the ends and outs of it, but I’d be willing to assume that writers are comparatively mistreated amongst the Hollywood elite, specifically because their name recognition is often so low that they’re not exactly box office pulls (with few exceptions). But a strike is an ill-advised approach. This reminds me of the baseball umpires strike from about a decade ago. Eventually, they train and hire new personnel and everybody moves on. Principals are one thing, but stupidity and entitlement are another, you don’t want to give up something you love because of an perceived slight; come to an agreement and cut your losses. /Sage advice

David Chase is at it again, saying about his ending which many thought to be a prank of sorts, “Why would we entertain people for eight years only to give them the finger?”. Um, this is a nice sentiment and all, but when he chastises his audience for showing interest in his series because there was a war going on while it aired, isn’t that what he’s kind of doing?

We’ll miss that smiling mug.

For the most part, what he has come out to vaguely concede about the series has confirmed my suspicions about the ambiguous finale — AJ being the noble (if troubled) one then selling out, The Final Scene being simply a reflection of how Tony lives out the remainder of his life — and it has admittedly been somewhat validating. But at the same time, he can’t have it both ways. Making a critically acclaimed series and reaping all the benefits of it, then bemoan the fact that we could only be so shallow as to be more preoccupied with his series than the war, seems a little hypocritical. If anything, he enables our distraction. In the immortalized words of Chris Moltisanti, “He pours your drink with one hand, and judges you with the other”.

Some helpful pointers for HBO to recover its tarnished image and reclaim the throne as king of original programming (currently being held by Showtime). It isn’t sullied past the point of redemption, but if they do not follow up The Wire series finale with something a little more commercially/critically friendly than John From Cincinnati, then it could be the end of a dynasty.

It was bound to happen, an article lamenting the excess of television options. We’re not going to complain about it, because it would be an asinine thing to do, but there is a reason we haven’t bothered to catch up on any Showtime series (specifically Weeds and less so Dexter), or we haven’t taken the time out to watch even an episode of Pushing Daises or Damages (despite conceding that all four show promise), and its because we’re content and almost overwhelmed with the series we currently watch. As of now, we’ll wait until The Wire finishes its fifth season, then try to catch one of them on DVD. Until then, we’re not adding anything else to the weekly rotation.

And finally, because all this Wire talk reminded us, we’ve already pre-ordered the fourth season set to be released on December 4th. It’s selling at a very, very reasonable price for twelve of the best hours of television you will ever see on Amazon. As you can imagine, we urgently recommend you watch this.

That’s probably it for today. Back tomorrow with something completely and utterly random.

Eventful weekend even if we skipped Jacksonville this year. Though, admittedly, watching the game on television (which was actually entertaining, usually it meanders for three hours and then you’re just thankful its over) and seeing the overhead shots of The Landing was painful, we got through it with only a few tears shed. Definitely a good television weekend, what with OSU, FNL and Curb all producing astounding results, we had plenty to entertain ourselves with despite skipping what’s usually the best weekend of the year.

Another solid episode of Curb last night. Even if it strains credibility that Larry David wouldn’t use the nomenclature in the title to convey his point or the doctor would be so reactive from the misunderstanding, there was plenty of substantive material here to make up for credibility issues.

Larry probably leads the most chaotic, tedious dating life of any near billionaire on the planet. This episode was like a giant half hour nod to Curb episodes past and Seinfeld, so when he went to pick up his opthamologist date and her living room was designed like a waiting room, and she conducted every aspect of her life like she does her profession, I shouldn’t have been surprised. I kind of get the impression Larry David conjured up this divorce plot just for this unspoken joke alone. Also, that is probably why it worked so well, it was never addressed in any manner, other than Larry’s self-realization.

One of Larry’s many attempted explanations.

Stemming from that concept, the misunderstanding when he asked the doctor to read the note she had written for him was probably one of the more creative puns we’ve ever seen on television. Not that for a second we believe anyone would use such suggestive phrasing as (explanations are in parenthesis so there are no misunderstandings for anyone who didn’t watch the episode), “I’m sick of all these brothers and sisters running around (his date had her siblings living with her), You can’t tell me your life wouldn’t be better without the Blacks (Larry has a black family living with him with the family name ‘Black’)”.

Again, the phrasing was weird, so I thought they were going to go the way of the Seinfeld episode where we found out Larry’s girlfriend was not only an “anti-dentite”, but racist and xenophobic to boot. Instead they went for the “Porno Gil” callback where Larry couldn’t read his friends directions, and a random stranger asked if a doctor had written them, since its universally known that they have shoddy penmanship.

But this was a great episode in which all the parts wove together nicely for a fitting result. And really, that’s all we ever expect from Curb. The series has proven it can thrive without Cheryl Hines, even if Larry cannot. I was surprised we didn’t see or hear from her at all, sans some archived footage. Is it sad or impressive that I could pinpoint the episode and what was transpiring in all of those scenes?

Other notes:

-JB Smoove was in rare form again. Or rather, it’s becoming more commonplace for his performance to outshine virtually everyone he’s on camera with. From the “stabbing” of Auntie Ray to the kazoo reference, he didn’t get as much screen time as usual, but what he had he used well.

-We were surprised they could get Ben Stiller for such a small cameo. Did they just agree to get whoever happens to be rolling by the studio then just throw there name into the fold after they found out who that would be? That was probably the smallest cameo in the history of cameos, especially considering how noteworthy the cameo is.

-The bald subplots never grow tiresome. As it seems to be Larry’s and George’s biggest insecurity.

-For those who may have not recognized, the woman playing the opthamologist was none other than Sue Ellen Mischke, played by Brenda Strong.

Another strong episode, even with the leaps of logic. That makes 3 of 8 this season that have been top-tier Curb’s and sets up the series to bat .500 for the year. Six seasons in, for any series but especially a sitcom, that’s a pretty strong percentage.

It’s been a long, arduous day and I really don’t feel like writing anything at the moment. But out of a sense of obligation to post about every episode of every series we watch here, we’re begrudgingly posting about last week’s FNL.

It was an extremely tumultuous episode last week. Well, every episode of this series is tumultuous, but a positive scenario here and there would be nice (remember Landry helping Riggins with his English paper, or the powerpuff game?) Apparently Eric Taylor was Dillon’s messiah, because the town’s collective morale is fucking plummeting. Even those who’ve never had the pleasure to speak with him. That’s how far his reach was.

His wife’s about to do something drastic set aside bitch slap their misinformed, spoiled daughter. Which was completely deserved. And Julie’s little speech afterwards about Gracie and Eric was pretty convoluted. I asked last week and I’ll ask again, is anyone feeling sorry for her? Cause, Yikes. At least Tami got some satisfaction out of Street’s dream confession, but in the wake of things it has to seem fairly insignificant.

Tim’s body water is about permanently 10% alcohol at this point, and he’s sort of at a crossroads after seeing his brother with former attractive older lady neighbor fuck buddy. Which…he uses to try and finagle Lyla into bed. To be honest, I really can’t blame him. An hour at her auditorium of worship would be more than worth the effort, even if it is fruitless. Buddy comes to Riggins aid at the hospital after he collapses from exhaustion, and its all an attempt to get the new coach fired. Later Riggins will imply that Street is a figurehead, sort of along the lines of how the new coach keeps referring to him as a mascot, which is kind of ironic since Riggins was the one being forced to parade around the entire team with a car tire above his head. They set aside there differences and hightail it South of the border after Street quits his job to seek out some new treatment for his paralysis, despite Herc’s advisement otherwise.

Even in the midst of his life collapsing, Buddy is downright Machiavellian about getting what he wants out of a high school football team. Including using coach Taylor’s own shaky homefront in his favor. I’m sorry, I know he’s a sleazebag with misguided interests and loose morals, but the character is damn great. He even drags coach Taylor out to a rendevous at a equidistant point between Austin and wherever the hell fictional Dillon is supposed to be. Essentially, he’s an It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia character.

Still, it would be in the teams best interest for Taylor to come back, as Saracen picks a fight with a growingly narcissistic Smash, after the star running back scored the winning play. On the field. Really, I’m not sure Matt has anything to complain about here. They have a presumably all-state, top-tier senior running back and a still wet behind the ears junior quarterback. I mean, Smash could certainly carry it better, which is primarily what he’s disgruntled with. That, or he wants some of the glory that comes with the “charisma” that Smash carries himself with. Clearly if Matt got some relief from his new grandmother’s new caretaker, he could enjoy the ride a little more. Instead he’s instigating unprovoked attacks on his teammates.

And, for the coup de gras, Landry and Tyra are going to continue the physical relationship, much to both of their surprise. And that of Landry’s father, who can’t believe his son has landed such a sexpot, which he brings up while ordering a quesadilla burger from her at the neighborhood bar and grille. They have a moment which she reassures him about the wonder of Landry, probably motivating her to bed him again.

A solid episode. Maybe a little melodramatic, but that comes with the territory for this series. Honestly, they just need to bring Taylor back to Dillon and be done with it, because it’s heading that way anyways.

That’s it for the week, enjoy the weekend and we’ll see you on Monday.

If there was ever a scene signifying how self-involved and morally corrupt these characters are, it was the scene where Dennis and Dee force the sex offender to move out of town with a preteen kid threatening to accuse him to the cops. This, we can all agree on, is hilarious. No one has any empathy for sex offenders, right?

If Dennis’ problems were by chance, Mac’s soon became self-inflicted by his weirdo father. This, is one character I could do without. The only time a peripheral character has bothered us on this series is Artemus, because, well, what the hell was she? I never really understood the humor to an overweight struggling actress who dresses garishly. That was the extent of her character, and I still don’t understand it.

The issues with the one bland character aside, this was a great episode. Dennis’ vanity being directly threatened always makes for a decent plot, and his will to protect it never (at least for me) grows old. The park scene had me in stitches, it must be hard to find a set of rugged looking, blue collar fathers watching their kids on a playground, but they utilized it well. Also, it was good to see Dee give as good, if not worse, than she gets.

In the same vein as Dennis, a motivated Charlie is a dangerous Charlie. He will literally, betray his mother to get what he wants. I could probably watch him scream in horror for an entire half hour and still find it amusing. He’s done so twice I can recall, once last night and once in “The Gang goes Jihad” episode where the fence was built around the back of Paddy’s.

Other highlights:

-The music they played in the car was appropriately funny.

-The gang’s obsession with cannibalism

-The entire scene towards the end with Charlie and Mac in Dennis’ car assuming his father is killing all the people on his list.

The Mac and Frank storylines, with few exceptions, didn’t do much for me. Mac has Freudian dad issues Frank is horny, we get it. But still, the episode kept up at a decent pace and never felt dull, even when it was unfunny. An hour long episode (note singular conjunction) next week. Looking forward to it.

FNL recap later today. Sometime before 9. Presumably.

Another well spent two hours of television last night. Survivor, I can’t ever recall a season like this, where people idiotically make the wrong play, then accidentally make the right decision trying to backtrack. Their are now four members of the original Zhan Hu, and if they have any sense at all, they’ll attempt to recruit Jean-Robert or Courtney to at least even the numbers, because James is obviously jumping ship. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia was as jaded and depraved and hilarious as always, I could probably do without a reappearance from Mac’s dad, there isn’t really any comedy extracted from anything he’s involved in.

To the topic at hand, however,on The Office we’re back to the half hour format and it is well suited. I use to advocate for extending it to an hour, but it did seem a little overextended, and while I didn’t hate any of the episodes, plenty of them seemed uneven and forced. I’d rather walk away from the television wanting more after a half hour, than being relieved when its over after an hour. And, this is somewhat self-indulgent, but it’s far easier to recap twenty-two minutes than it is forty. When they feel the need to have Michael deliberately and intentionally drive his car into a lake, then you know its time to draw back a little.

First off, is it just me or is Jim turning into a some codependent pathetic boyfriend? Really, I kind of enjoyed it when he was single and feigning off advances from Amy Adams. This entire “I can’t get into a car with Meredith” rap could get really old, really quickly. She doesn’t owe you anything yet is offering you a ride home, some gratitude might be in order. It seems out of sorts what they’re doing to his character. Not that he’s a total prick or anything, but I never saw him as someone that morphs into a smug douchebag after “getting the girl”. Maybe it’s my misread of character, but it was unexpected. Clearly that scene profoundly rubbed me the wrong way.

Anyhow, the creation of the “local ad”, actually turned into something commendable. It was far better than the ad corporate had planned and actually elicited a sweet reaction from the ensemble cast. For whatever reason, it’s gratifying to see Michael actually pull something off, probably because Ryan being such a dick over the phone and allowed himself to be talked into a corner by his former boss. Which, if you can’t go toe to toe with Michael Scott and hold your own, then you probably aren’t sufficiently qualified for, anything, really. It’s good that they keep these moments few and far between.

Who amongst us wouldn’t love to see ourselves fly in a video game?

Ed Helms is really a silver lining in this series that rarely seems to get any credit. His unbeknownst rivalry with Dwight is a good pairing. Rainn Wilson and Ed Helms play off each other brilliantly, especially in the escalating “oh D” exchange. Speaking of which, is that video game he was playing real? Normally I would assume it isn’t, but this series is one for its pop-culture references, so I’m kind of assuming it is. If so, Jim’s line, “No, there are definitely losers involved” was pretty apropos. I mean, not to disparage those who play it, I’m as bitter and jaded as the next blogger, but never has it dawned on me to create a idealistic virtual likeness of myself. At least they were self-deprecating with Jim, as he created his “Second Life” character to be a Philly sports writer with a guitar strapped to his back.

Other highlights:
-The group singing

-Kevin being labeled “Kool-aid man” in high school.

-Stanley’s reaction to everything in every scene he was in.

Probably the best episode of the season. And if they can keep up at this pace, then I can finally begin looking forward to this series as something enjoyable, as opposed to something necessary for this website.

IASIP and FNL recaps coming later. We only work in acronyms around here now.

Even with the pathetically generic title, this was a pivotal episode for so early in the season. Let’s get right to it…

Jaime and Erik sit around in that disgusting lake water as it sifts in and out of there mouths exchanging innocuous details about themselves, like middle names and such. After confining to her that he’s a virgin, Jaime tells him about the Hidden Immunity Idol. It’s a bizarrely edited little scene.

Back at Fei Long, James has a platonic crush on Denise, implying that if they were ten years closer in age she might have a suitor. Denise, while liking his company, is content to ride his coattails as well.

Fei Long gets a message asking them to pick two “warriors” off the other team they would most want on their team, and Zhan-Hu is presumably getting the same message. The former assumes they’re swapping two players, while the latter, for whatever reason, just assumes they’re getting two players without sacrificing any, to “even out the game”. Which, first of all, evening out the game would be getting one player from the other team, not just switching positions (going from up two to down two). And…

They are shocked (SHOCKED!) that Sherea and Frosti have been summoned by Fei-Long. This entire scene is a testament to the poor casting this season. PG and Jaime hug, really intensely, over the parting of Frosti, whom they’ve known for 13 days. And Sherea, someone they were all deliberating sending home less than two days ago.

Fei Long is bitter about losing James and Aaron. Especially Jean Robert, who pouts about it considerably. I believe he sums it up as, “It’s a bad day for Fei Long, and an awful day for Jean Robert”. Jean Robert says they should discuss the game plan before the two new members arrive. None of them seem to realize why this might be in there best interest, or else they’re playing dumb because they don’t want to have to talk with him.

The two pairs of castaways switching teams cross paths on the river. I would have mutinied if I were James.

When they get to the camp they receive gift baskets, meaning no reward challenge.

James, not surprisingly, being a gravedigger and all, says he likes misery as opposed to happiness. He tries to extract information out of them, but they do not budge.

Frosti is glad to wake up with the rest of his new tribe to discover that none of them like Jean Robert as the scapegoat is pleading with them to assist them in cooking breakfast, they interpret it as barking orders because they can.

PG and Jaime decide to toss the challenge after doing the numbers game, which is flawed for the following reasons:

1) There plans are contingent on the fact that the producers, who now probably resent them for sabotaging their newly added “twist”, will not retaliate.

2) They weren’t in anyway discrete, so what’s to stop James from telling everybody on Fei-Long (I suppose I just gave away who went home, but its been a week already).

3) They have to merge at exactly ten. If they merge at eleven, they’re screwed. If they merge at 9 or under, they’re screwed. Unless the diminutive Jaime, PG and Erik can win a challenge amongst the three of them, which I’ve only seen evidence to the contrary.

4) They’re relying on Sherea and Frosti to re-merge. Frosti would presumably be a shoe-in. Sherea, however, who was ecstatic with the change despite the significant disadvantage it put the other three transferred contestants at, wasn’t exactly relating to the original Zhan-Hu.

Again, I understand the rationale and the attempted creativity, but with all these mitigating factors that need to go exactly right, just to have even numbers into a merge, they would have had a better chance at persuading Aaron and/or James to join their alliance. A daunting task? Sure, but now they’re set to be scorned around camp post-merge, regardless of how things pan out, making all the aforementioned circumstances that much more unlikely to swing in their favor.

Good luck with the ruse, kids.

At the challenge, Erik and Aaron go retrieve discs underwater used for a puzzle that Jaime, James and PG are going to solve, They get a fairly significant lead and PG and Jaime do the worst cover job possible while throwing this thing, yet James, seemingly not expecting the worst in people, isn’t expressing any suspicions, though he looks skeptical, as he should.

Probst points out Jaime’s lackluster approach, James starts to get frustrated. James tells PG to stop letting Jeff distract her with his commentary. Fei Long wins in a landslide, which they celebrate, and though they would have no idea, they must look back on it now and feel a tad ridiculous. Jeff calls it “the worst performance at a challenge yet”, which is some real hyperbole.

James and PG cannot quit giggling, which seemed to offend more people than the actual throwing of the challenge. Personally, I don’t find any of it offensive, just remarkably idiotic. Erik is brought in on the plan after the challenge, and when PG brings up the fact that Erik is talking to the James and Aaron, Jaime replies in a cocky, indifferent demeanor that only a woman could say about a virgin who’s interested in her while playing Survivor, “he’s not going anywhere”. Which is evident when he says to James and Aaron: “I feel like I have to vote with them”. I mean, kind of. They are part of his original alliance, but they left him in the dark about throwing a challenge which almost killed Jean-Robert. Good golly, you can just sense the inexperience seeping through the small screen.

James insists on the team sending him home for his own sanity. People continue to say that James and Aaron were “outplayed”, given the circumstances, I’m not sure how they could have outplayed the other alliance. If anything, I’d classify them as being fucked horrendously by some shortsighted girls, the producers and their own athletic prowess, which led to them being brought over to the new tribe in the first place.

At TC they come forward with the full on omission that they threw the IC. Nothing much else is said of interest, they go to the vote, James votes for PG, Aaron votes for James, they read as such:
PG
James
Aaron
Aaron
Aaron
He goes off demoralized and probably feeling a little slighted. Jeff all but tells PG and Jaime they’re morons and will rue the day they decided to do this.

In his parting words, Aaron wishes James the best of luck and non-curses the rest of Zhan Hu.

Tonight: An eating challenge. That’s it. It will probably be a climatic episode, given the succinctness of the previews.

If all action/adventure trilogies were this entertaining, I’d probably be much more into Sci-fi. As it stands, though, the majority of the time they’re not, and I’m almost ashamed to admit that this story is actually engaging. And I never even much cared for Stargate. This met and probably exceeded all of the high expectations that Part I set for us.

Really, I never thought South Park would be so self-referential as to bring back past characters as part of our collective imagination. But there they were, the woodland Christmas Critters with all their sadistic joy; ManBearPig, whose only a figment of a fictional Al Gore’s imagination, but is much more menacing than I would have assumed. Essentially, the funniest parts of the episode were the most heinous. Specifically, the scene with Strawberry Shortcake.

If there’s ever been anything more hilariously disturbing, then I haven’t seen it.

The subplot in this is funny as well. Cartman’s angst over Kyle continuously ducking him makes for good cannon fodder. Eventually, I imagine Cartman is going to conjure up someone just as noble and just as the Woodland Christmas Critters are sadistic and violent. The situation still hasn’t been brought to his attention, or it has, but rather he’s been too distracted. Mind you, I’m making this assumption based on Hellraiser’s proclamation that he would never want to meet the person who imagined the critters.

Highlights were immense this episode. Kurt Russell’s shell shock was off the charts, Cartman’s tryst in the conference room, the mayor of imaginationland being slaughtered, Butters growing tired of Snarf and Gizmo in the bottom right hand corner of the opening, all made the episode a very enjoyable experience. Really, there isn’t seem to be any room for criticism. If they keep up at this pace, Part III will make for a worthwhile conclusion and a staple of the series.

Back with a Survivor recap later today.

You know, I really didn’t think this was the type of series to manipulate its audience with monumental cliffhangers in between seasons, but that is essentially what they did. And, usually I would resent it. But said cliffhangers have been building all season, and if I were to say I wasn’t curious about what direction they were taking, well the dishonesty would be transparent, even through your monitor.

Obviously, Peggy’s baby was the cheapest thing this series has ever done. Last Friday I wrote that I assumed her non-pregnancy a bit prematurely, it appears that was wishful thinking. This series is as much of an atmospheric as anything ever on television, but they showed Peggy going for birth control in the pilot, between that and not even mentioning pregnancy as a possibility, I just assumed her weight gain was either a subconscious decision to be recognized as an equal amongst the men in the office (as opposed to a potential wife), or her over-eating was a crutch for being rejected by Pete.

But no, she was pregnant and didn’t even realize it. For nine months. Obviously I don’t have any experience, and the series is set in 1960, but even in 1960, could a woman be that unaware? I guess she was so consumed with work that it slipped by? I don’t know. Either way, it makes for an exciting second season, Mathew Weiner has said he wanted to make the series run through the 60’s, it will be interesting to see how this effects her integration at Sterling Cooper. According to my mother, it won’t be advantageous.

Pete has probably had the worst two hours of any fictional television character in the history of television that didn’t die. For the most part, it’s deserved. But at this rate, even if he agrees to father Peggy’s child, which we all know he won’t, two years after the fact he’ll discover its not actually his, and that an immaculate conception is responsible for Peggy’s pregnancy.

We’re going to miss those opening credits.

Don teaming Peggy up with Pete for a Clearasil ad campaign is about the least Pete had coming his way from Don, what with attempting to ruin his life and all. If anything he should be thankful he still has a job. Plus, I don’t understand why he’s so bent out of shape about it, he’s still overseeing the project, its not like he has to take orders from her, something Pete just might shoot up the office with that shotgun over. You know you’re in an era of white male privilege when you can sleep with another woman while married, and then feel justified in complaining when the woman you had the tryst with now has to work directly under you.

This episode really focused on its core characters, and Betty was no exception. Really, this is the first episode she’s been in focus since, “Shoot”, where she rejoined the private sector as part of one agency’s courtship of her husband. Her revenge tactic was about the best she could do, take advantage of Don’s misdeeds by throwing them back in his face. Also, what a fantastic twist, one would just assume he would get in touch with Midge by surfing through his wallet, and it ends up being her psychiatrist, who actually took notes for the first time in one of her sessions when she starts spilling guts about his infidelities and whatnot.

This, in yet another cliffhanger, makes for an interesting second season, because Don has no idea that Betty is aware of his collusion with her psychiatrist. For all he knows, and for all we know, for that matter, is that Betty just left for her parents house a little earlier than expected. That’s probably what I would assume, if Betty was going to abandon him, she would have been more confrontational about it. Not pussyfoot around and deliver the message through her shrink. Then again, maybe she would.

Betty finding solace with Glen, the disturbed young man being raised by recently divorced new neighbor Helen, is about the last thing we were expecting, but appropriate, because it would seem that since her mother died, she’s been keeping to herself. Even her therapy was a sham, because she was reluctant to confide in a total stranger. Needless to say, if she did end up leaving Don it wouldn’t be terribly surprising, but given the submissiveness of her character I’d imagine she’d be around. Though a divorce/separation would probably suit both of them well, despite what Don or Betty may tell themselves.

And last but not least, the pitch meeting Don had where he delves into the metaphorical significance of the slide projector being a “time machine” as opposed to a “spaceship” was a great moment of self-reflection for someone whose been almost completely devoid of any altogether. I’m sure his devastation by his brother’s suicide has something to do with that. He is, as we saw last week and in the episode, “5G”, at least partly responsible.

As of now, he’s kind of in the same boat as Betty, with Rachel on a three month cruise and after parting ways with Midge, he has plenty of people he could confine to, but chooses otherwise. And the image of him sitting in his castle, devastated and alone, is a bleak but inevitable conclusion.

This was a fantastic, groundbreaking, television experience AMC has footed the bill for (according to reports it costs $2.4 million an episode to produce, which is an astronomical figure for a cable series), and the fact it’s been renewed really restores my faith in the industry. At least for the cable networks. With Friday Night Lights tanking by the episode, The Office overextending itself and nary a single likable castaway on Survivor, its not an impossibility that we eventually only cover cable series.

Very, very little sleep last night, we came into work late once again and are all the better for it. We didn’t watch any television last night set aside Monday Night Football which, while the game was unmercifully boring, they had Russell Crowe in the booth giving a remarkably uncomfortable interview. What was most surprising about it, is that he willfully mentioned working with Denzel Washington before, but didn’t mention it was on this horrific Sci-Fi action film, Virtuousity. But, other than that, he just promoted American Gangster (which I’m seeing on opening night, there’s no way around this), and bantered about his rugby team that has a game in Jacksonville, but couldn’t land the Jags stadium as a venue, and is relegated to playing at University of North Florida, which I wasn’t even sure existed until last night.

Oh, speaking of dealing drugs in impoverished urban settings, The Wire is currently replaying there first season on OnDemand for those of you who might be interested. Really, if you like gritty and complex storytelling, then you’ll like this series. If you don’t like this series, then you’re nothing more than a despicable racist.
Anyhow, enough accusations, it’s OnDemand until October 29th, when I imagine they’ll post the second season. It’s late notice, but I just found out about it. Trust me, watch four or five episodes and you won’t be able stop. Seriously, its the TV series equivalent of Pringles. Anyhow, if you want to get caught up before the fifth and final season in January, this is the easiest way to do so. Assuming you have HBO OnDemand. Synopsis of most recent episode here.

Speaking of The Wire, David Simon is quite the rabble rouser. And it sounds like he has a former boss who’s going to be portrayed a bit unfavorably. This is probably the worst show to be illustrated as an indifferent prick on, because it means you are really part of the problem.

Not that I want him to, but, given the context of the series, doesn’t Omar eventually have to die? Or since he doesn’t adhere to any set of institutional laws, does he get a pass?

Not sure if anyone saw Colbert on Meet The Press, it was like GOB and Michael Bluth discussing the future of the family business. In other words, it was damn funny. Apparently he’s broaching some legal issues if he continues his mock presidential campaign.

An interview with David Chase. Who, as I long expected, somewhat resents the more shallow portion of his audience. I can sort of sympathize. I mean, he makes this groundbreaking introspective series about the American experience, and it gets turned into a “who’ll get whacked next?” guessing game, so the contempt is somewhat warranted from that standpoint. But, at the same time, when the series debuted, Tony was presented as someone the audience was supposed to celebrate, not condemn. And, set aside his initial portrayal, those people made David Chase an extremely wealthy man. Yeah, I know, money isn’t everything. But we don’t see him turning it down.

A comparative piece between Mad Men and Damages. Never watched Damages, not sure why, I think because Ted Danson was playing a dramatic role, which we’d have a difficult time taking seriously. I guess that’s my problem, but I simply can’t watch Sam Malone involved in some elaborate murder plot. Kind of the same reason I couldn’t watch Larry David in a Scorcese movie. Sorry.

That’s it for this morning, we’ll get to the Mad Men season finale tomorrow, since there isn’t shit worth watching tonight and we’re going to see Into The Wild anyways.

Sorry for the late post. Our boss is in Vegas, so we came into work an hour and a half late. In addition to some actual work that needed caught up on, we’re running a little behind schedule. Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and it was at least slightly more eventful then mine.

It seemed the Curb writers were about ten steps ahead of me in getting to an unmarried Larry David. And it was all that we imagined it would be. Larry David seems to have some sort of subtle obsession with Xena: Warrior Princess. Remember when they referenced it in Seinfeld? Jerry’s dad claimed it to be the only show he watched, yet another peculiarity. This was definitely a return to form and counts as the second really commendable episode this season. No suspending disbelief, no outlandish premises, just great situational comedy.

“I’m not a cool guy, but would you mind letting me waste a couple hours of your time?” Is unquestionably my next pickup line.

The phone call from the plane did seem a little bizarre, it wasn’t really clear if he couldn’t hear Cheryl because of a poor connection or because the TIVO guy was talking into his ear, or if he was just willfully ignoring her. My assumption is it was a combination of all three. She did call from a plane phone, the Tivo guy was pretty insistent on getting his attention and Larry, at least subconsciously, probably didn’t want to have the awkward, heartfelt moment with Cheryl. I couldn’t help but laugh at the circumstances. What’s particularly great about these developments, is that neither of them seem intent on getting back together.

As great as the episode was, the hospital conversation with the doctor and Leon really stood out. The concept of long balls, something I’m not even sure an average guy could tell you if he is or isn’t afflicted with, is the type of peccadillo that only this show would bring into light. Leon’s presence wasn’t needed, the scene stood on its own, but it was certainly welcomed as he was the one who brought up the ailment of “long balls”. The doctor putting it technically while Larry tried to ascertain whether or not his scrotum length was abnormal was a great counterbalance.

I’m not sure how long this will play out. If it will mimic the strife of Larry David’s actual marriage, then it will probably run into next season. If not, and they want to keep Cheryl Hines on staff, then they might rekindle before season’s end. I suppose its all determinant on where the real life David’s stood by the time they wrapped up production. Here’s hoping it continues, Cheryl Hines is a great foil, but doesn’t bring much to the comedic table. At this point in the series, we really don’t need a foil for the hijinks of our anti-hero of sorts. I kind of like the concept of Larry David operating uncontested.

Everyone’s reaction to the news, including Larry’s, whose more concerned about proving a hostess at an Italian restaurant wrong then saving his own marriage was overtly cynical. In actuality, Larry asking the favor of Cheryl seemed like a reasonable request since she was the one who left, but since human emotion is going to play a role, practicality doesn’t always win out, thus we often perceive Larry as a dimwit. And why everyone sided with Cheryl, including said restaurant. Jeff and Suzie have yet to do so, it will be interesting to see if they’re at all conflicted.

Other notes:

-Is Richard Lewis really a “special guest”? And why couldn’t the guy, who had the gall to borrow $10,000 from Larry, not also have the same gall to tell him to invite Richard free of charge?

-The matching wits with the guy that owned the “no fly zone” underwear company is about the sort of retaliation I expected from him. Then his defeated exit out when the guy produced the mint, tissue, pen trinity was an appropriate follow up. Larry David doesn’t seem terribly materialistic, but if he needed some sort of comparative symbol to restore his masculinity, why not point out the bank account discrepancy? Certainly its vast. But, admittedly, the complaining about his new rival’s product was hysterical, “like there’s some great clamoring for underwear with no fly”.

-A couple continuity nitpicks: wouldn’t at least Funkhouser’s daughter side with Larry over Cheryl? Considering his sterling reputation within the lesbian community, I figured that was a given. Additionally, Funkhouser called Larry his best friend earlier this season. Maybe stealing the flowers from his mother’s memorial halted that friendship?

-Just one more nitpick: In the “Shaq” episode in the second season, Larry claimed to be a Knicks fan and to hate the Lakers. This episode, he was TIVO’ing Lakers games and avoiding it at the restaurant on his date with Lucy Lawless. At least he’s not fair-weather, because while the Lakers are still better than the Knicks, they’re nowhere near worth jumping ship for.

-Speaking of Lawless, she was incredibly charming in this episode. I could even side with her outrage on Larry’s presumption that they were going back to her house for sex.

If every episode from here on out proves this original and structured. Then it will completely redeem what has been an uneven season to date. These past few episodes Larry might have been so egregious in order to make Cheryl’s leaving seem justified. To be honest, we’re kind of optimistic that this was indeed the case.

Well, its been a week since I last watched this episode, so other than general plot threads, nothing is really fresh. Well just resort to some segregated paragraphs for the sake of coherence.

-The Tyra-Landry murder plot continues to deter, if not dominate our attention from the rest of the remarkably brilliant series. Them jarring back and forth at one another really isn’t doing much for me. Though I did thoroughly enjoy how Landry capped off his “I love you” confession to her, because its been blatantly obvious to the viewer and to the parties involved for well over eight months now. Still, this looming story needs to have some sort of resolution other than some sick, tawdry, murder-induced fucking. I’m reminded of Larry David’s explanation of why Cheryl was so attracted to him after he tipped the host at a restaurant to skip the wait, “Because it’s criminal, and women are attracted to criminals”. Honestly, they might as well have just gone down the river, found the guy’s decaying body that Landry beat to death with a pipe, and used it as a prop. Because I’m seeing virtually nothing redeemable about what’s transpired so far, so they might as well push those FCC boundaries, U-Turn style.

-Out of nowhere, Buddy Garrity is a central player on this show. It probably has something to do with being a drunken mess, either way, his presence is always welcome. There probably isn’t enough Buddy’s on this series to accurately depict one of these small Texas towns, but he has enough stage presence to compensate for the deficit. I like how Riggins seems to sympathize with him more than anyone, since he probably sees his future-self in the old slouch.

Oh yeah, Street was in this episode and might hightail it down to Mexico for some shady stem-cell procedure. That’s the guy from Murderball.

-Julie is essentially detestable right now. She dumps her boyfriend to make a play for a guy that I’m sure would get the chair should he do anything untoward with her. Then wallows about the decision. Maybe since I’ve never understood the typical female response to such scenarios, I couldn’t possibly understand it now. But are they trying to make me empathize with her? Because, I can save the writers the carpel-tunnel risk: it’s never going to happen. Oh well, at least Matt’s now going to sleep with his maid. I’m sure that won’t bother her at all.

-Absolutely loved the Coach Taylor subplot. The fact he’s always reduced to overly-simplistic talking points (”Because I’m your father”, “This is all a big joke to you”, etc.), but manages to lead by example is carried by the writing and the acting, if it was any other series it would come off as a cliche. That kid he was transporting was like Smash 2.1, or, better yet, Voodoo.

-And the final part of the Taylor Trinity, Tami, is about one too many glasses of wine away from hurting herself or somebody else. When things come to a head here, I hope they keep it within the first season perspective. If she ends up murdering that science teacher that’s attempting to fill her shoes, then stuffs his body into Riggins locker, pinning him with the homicide, then we’ll know the show has veered off course.

The way all these stories relate to each other is magnificent. Like Landry’s inability to vent towards Saracen or Tami’s depression being withheld from her daughter. When going back and reading through what I just wrote, it would seem all these characters are isolated and the stories self-contained. In a manner of speaking, the former is occasionally true, but the latter is anything but.

That’s it for the week that was, if I manage to hit my parlays this weekend I should have enough functioning digits to write out a Curb review on Monday.

These Thursday’s are really taking a toll on my retnas. And I wake up too groggy to articulate a detailed post for any one episode of television last night. So because I’m running in a bit of a hurry today and it’s entirely too time consuming to thoroughly write about both comedies plus an additional post about Friday Night Lights, I’m just going to turn this post into an overview of all of last night’s series, but still write a full recap next week for Survivor and the season finale of Mad Men. I feel like this is appropriate, considering The Office wasn’t exactly a comedy last night and IASIP was just the web episode on MySpace that’s been available for the past two months.

First off, however, Mad Men ended its inaugural season as strongly as they opened it. Though it appears as though I spoke too soon about the cause of Peggy’s weight gain, since she’s pumping out kids like a God damn house finch now. Seriously, I suppose given the lack of education about the times, Peggy could have gone through nine months or so of pregnancy, and not realized a person was growing inside of her, but it seems unlikely. All I can say is, this was just an all-around bad episode for Pete, who not only has a child he’s unaware of, but also has to work alongside Peggy for the account given to him by his father in-law with the promise that Pete would impregnate his daughter. It’s the least comeuppance he should have to endure after, you know, failing to successfully blackmail his boss.

Still, it looks like the Draper marriage is on the rocks, and Betty’s actions were vexing, though completely warranted. I’m actually surprised she had the foresight to communicate to her husband through her shrink. Seriously, to discover your therapist is reporting everything you air in private back to your spouse is some humiliating shit. I mean, if the shoe was on the other foot, can you imagine the repercussions for everyone involved if the same thing happened to Tony Soprano? Heads would roll, baby.

On Survivor, well, lets just say that while I enjoyed the episode I hated it all at the same time. It seems the common consensus is to only enjoy Survivor when everything you want to happen goes according to plan. And while I understand everyone’s displeasure with what transpired, it really isn’t so distressing. Did Aaron get completely had by some random game “twist” and two shortsighted, otherwise irrelevant little girls? Of course. But this isn’t so much more unjust then having players mutiny for no apparent reason.

One thing I can’t understand, is how were James and Aaron so incapable of pointing out the gaping holes in their logic? Not before the challenge, but certainly after PG and Jaime obviously through it? For instance, what if the merge is at eleven, or nine, or any number other than ten? What then? Because those two nitwits and there virgin accomplice isn’t any match for any three contestants on Fei-Long. Speaking of which, is anyone surprised that the guy virgin is being led around with nary a protest by a woman who’s willfully ignorant to his best interest? Neither are we.

Of course there are plenty of other oversights on there part. For instance, even if they are lucky enough to merge at ten, putting there grand scheme into effect, what happens when Frosti and Sherea opt to align with the other five members of Fei-Long, instead of the original three at Zhan-Hu? It’s not like Sherea was really identifying with anyone there, what is her incentive to return? So she could join a group of four other individuals, go to a tie in the first tribal council after the merge and hope to stay? If I were her, and though I can’t stand the woman, I would stay with the Fei-Long alliance, and by the time they’d have to vote anyone out, at the very least Jean-Robert would go before her. This is all speculation, but speculating is all PG and Jaime are basing their entire game plan around.

Really, the very least those bitches could have done was vote out the participant asking to leave and keeping the one that wanted to stay. This is about as irredeemable as it gets for any Survivor contestants I’ve ever seen, the twist works assuming you’re not dealing with complete schmucks. Though I will agree it put the four swapped players in an unfair position.

Remember when I said The Office was delving too much into the dramatics? Well, they went full throttle with the melodrama last night. And to be honest, I kind of enjoyed it. I have always gone into an episode of The Office expecting to laugh, but when they’re constantly walking the line between drama and comedy, it was more disjointed and uneven than anything. This episode proved that when the series commits to dramatics, it’s actually quite rewarding. Especially when what little humor there is, is actually derivative of the story. The two highlights were Dwight knocking Jim’s stuff onto the floor after Jim confided to him over “lost love” while he was moaning, followed by Jim and Pam’s rapturous glee; and Dwight saying about Mose’s bad dreams, “He hasn’t been the same ever since the storm” followed by one of Jim’s obligatory reactionary stares at the camera, both admittedly had me in stitches.

I’m really, really disappointed this wasn’t in last night’s episode.

Otherwise this episode had virtually no material worth discussing. I found Michael’s financial woes tedious and boring, and regardless of how she might have recovered, Jan was pretty scornful tonight. Also, if we’re going to be taken on an excursion to Schrute’s Beet Farm, then we need more Mose. If you’re looking for more insight, go here.

And finally, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia was damn funny, but since its been available to the public for some time now, and since I haven’t watched it in well over a month, more than a paragraph sounds like too much effort. But yeah, damn funny. I really never thought we’d see Mac’s love tranny again. The series isn’t big on continuity, and we’ve gone well over a full season without a reappearance (he/she was featured in a late season one episode). This was another episode in which Dee took it on the chin. First by not fully fitting the killers “type” of victim as “young, attractive, blond”, then by finding out she’s been leading on a psychopath. Again, she needs to find some female friends, and not that creepy Artemus, whose almost as unsettling as the McBoyles. Definitely a quality episode, a vast improvement from last weeks.

Recap of last week’s Friday Night Lights later today.

Let me just start off by saying how ridiculously disproportionate Thursdays are for television vs. the rest of the week. This Thursday it’s even worse, with South Florida playing the game of its program’s short history tonight at Rutgers, combined with the Indians making a play for the World Series. How to sort all of this out is beyond me, but tis good to have such trivial concerns.

We open at fei-long, and Jean Robert realizes that he could have gone home, and that his poker instincts are going to kick in, meaning he’s going to stop being a prick all the time, and Courtney is a goner teh next time they’re summoned to tribal, so he has at least one more freebee. They sort of argue with each other, but its a lot more tame than their camera interviews.

Zhan Hu, PG is marking the days while Dave continues to do all their work, never the less much of their rice is moldy, which contaminates all the rice for me, but they just seperate the discolored rice with presumably clean rice. Sherea is losing her cool and confronting Dave, but since she never does anything around camp, she’s the last person that should be doing so. She, for whatever reason wants to throw away some shells that he wants to bring home to his mom. It’s fairly petty. Dave talks with the athletic little Asian fellow “Frosti” in the water, he tries to reassure Dave, but its so completely transparent that we don’t need the following interview to clear the air.

At Fei Long we discover RC is at tribal council, which means nothing. The reward is food, and they’re ecstatic.

The RC consists of two teammates carrying little flaming balls of fire across a course with giant chopsticks (like pool queues), we do this until one of the teams score three times. Despite the minimal physical requirements, Fei Long still opts to bench Courtney. Which, when is she a commodity as opposed to a liability? Anyway, the challenge itself is pretty damn boring, they try to add some excitement with the firework that the balls set off when they’re dropped in the shoot. But even when I go to a live fireworks showing, I’m usually drunk have my back to the display in a fruitless attempt to meet women. But whatever.

Long, monotonous story short, Fei Long wins and kidnaps Dave.

Dave is overly animated at camp, and busts his ass there as well. James fends off Dave when he tries to hug him, that’s about the best highlight the castaway is involved in.

Todd points out how nuts he is, and plays nice in order to curry the idle clue, which he hides in the buff he is wearing on his head. Dave asks him if he believes “turnabout is fair play”, which isn’t really what he’s trying to ask, but its how he chooses to phrase it. I think what he’s trying to say is “If I scratch your back will you scratch mine”. Todd however, proves to be the little survivor that could, and now has access to all the clues that have been issued. He has three of them, Jaime has two. And with the former, it’s a matter of sheer luck.

At Zahn Hu, they’re pleased that Dave is if only temporarily, the other tribes problem. But now the rest of the tribe is unsure of how to take care of themselves. Sherea hangs out in the shade and watches everybody. For all her incessant bitching about being aggravated, she sure is fucking aggravating, I’m really, really starting to dislike her. History has proven that in order to utilize this strategy, you either have to be in a majority alliance or a classically attractive woman, neither of which does Sherea fall under the description of. I would say its a selective edit, but she admits as much herself. Kind of boastfully at that. Fucking twit.

A family brings Fei Long some food and we hear lunch lady Denise speak for the first time, I think, ever. It appears her anonymity wasn’t exactly a secret. Jean Robert knows Mandarin and translates for the family and his tribe. We’re all impressed. And a little flummoxed.

Last week he was a pig, this week he’s a hero.

Aaron and Denise go fishing with the family, and they do it by sending out a series of ducks, to go catch fish for them, but tie their throats with a loose, little knot, so they do not swallow anything. James, for whatever reason misinterprets Jean Roberts translation as direct orders. James is starting to seem a little too menacing.

They finish preparing the food, Denise rather oddly explains the experience. We’ll leave it at that.

At IC, the tribes are paring off and throwing these meteor hammers (Ropes with two solid objects tied to the ends of them) at some porcelain vases behind the opposing team that are protecting said vases in “Chinese armor”. And while the challenge is certainly original, they ruin it with these ridiculous “graphic effects” in which they zoom in on the flying hammer and make this weird sound effect every time the throw scores a point. So not only is it generic and distracting, it’s also suspense killing. Fei Long wins, much on the back of James, though Jaime for Zhan Hu takes out two vases in one throw to tie it. But Amanda scores the go ahead point, which Zhan Hu fails to counter. So much for Sherea’s “strategy” (read: self-interest) of preserving her health for challenges.

Back at Zhan Hu, Dave is still annoying everyone, but thanks to Sherea’s lack of initiative, there is a outside shot he’ll get to stay. He even tries to plead with PG and some white guy in a backwards hat, but when someone is willing to say to your face, “I don’t know who I’m voting for yet” instead of bothering to lie and say, “Oh, no dude, you’re safe”; you should be fairly skeptical. Sherea explains how she is looking out for number one, like it’s an admirable trait, really I’d be happy if both of them were sent packing, but since that’s not a possibility, I really don’t care. And it makes this extremely non-suspenseful.

At TC, Dave explains that he never wanted to be a leader, and that its been a tremendous burden. No one put a gun to your head, idiot. Sherea explains that she is attempting to rest herself for the challenges and that is how she contributes, like she’s in a different situation than everybody else. Also, she hasn’t done anything so exceptional that it warrants her camp laziness. Dipshit. Anyhow, they vote, they read as such:
Dave
Sherea
Dave (He at least recognizes he’s obviously going at this)
Dave
Dave
Later, man. I’m just glad he’s no longer going to be burdened. He leaves without even a goodbye gesture. It’s amazing how much self-awareness homeboy lacked.

Tonight aforementioned white guy in backwards hat confides to Jaime that he’s a virgin. And there’s a promise of some tremendous “twist”, M Night Shamalyan style.

In his parting words, Dave pulls the, I gave it everything I had, and if they can’t see how wonderful I am/was, then it’s their problem. Even refers to himself as “priceless”. Yes, in the sense that we never quantify human life, but in any other manner of speaking, not so much.

Haven’t watched Survivor all that closely, we’ll try to skim through it at lunch for a rehashing just so the post is somewhat coherent. For now, here’s a recap of last night’s South Park, which we were pleasantly surprised with.

We can’t believe it took Parker and Stone this long to start dropping acid, but damn if it didn’t pay off. I have to tell you, if you haven’t seen a carebear get shot through the head by a terrorist then you my friend, haven’t lived. “Imaginationland” was like a cross between the “Woodland Christmas Critters” episode, one of the more “adventurous” episodes of Tailspin, and the hallucinations I experienced my freshman year of undergrad.

Just a tip of the iceberg.

As a general rule of thumb, when an episode of South Park deviates from the norm and into absurdities, they tend to utilize it well, and this was yet another example of that being the case. Using all mainstream children’s fables to create a world where our collective imagination is a living, breathing entity, then having it hijacked by terrorists and Butter’s being held captive, is, without saying, fucking genius. Then to have it all set to a subplot of Kyle signing a written contract to fellate Cartman’s scrotum should he prove the existence of a Leprechaun, which he did, only adds another element to an episode loaded with laugh out loud moments.

We can’t remember seeing a South Park episode where one could make the claim that there was almost too much going on in it, but there is a first time for everything. But we’re not complaining. None of the story lines felt flat, Cartman has always used the phrase “suck my balls” as a dismissive, watching someone fret over a court order to literally do so might seem cheap and easy, but it’s hysterical.

Additionally, Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to use an episode revolving around the power of imagination to illustrate how little those in Hollywood occasionally seem to have. M. Night Shammaylan was mocked for his obligatory “twist” endings, Michael Bay for his obsession for CGI and special effects and ignorance of plot and character development. They did a number on Mel Gibson as well, but at least he was granted the approximation of having a semblance of understanding for storytelling, even if he is a perverted masochist (It’s about this time I start worrying about what abnormal Google searches will stumble onto this page). Anytime this series mocks celebrities for their mediocre work, it tends to be appropriate, as it was here.

Some highlights:

-Rockety Rocket freaking out as the terrorists were actually using him to blow up the wall separating good and evil imagination. His “Jesus Christ” right before he is rolled into the barricade.

-Butters assuming the gregarious fat man dressed like half a clown was going to rape them.

-Stan and Kyle’s court hearing.

-Everything about the imagination land.

-The depiction of the leprechaun, and the rainbow he created to disappear.

Definitely a top twenty episode for a series with about 160 under its belt. Even better, this is a three part saga. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested as to where the actual story is going as well, usually we say on this site that if a comedy evokes laughter, then it’s successful, but if the story regardless of how ridiculous can actually provide intrigue, then all the better.

Survivor recap later today. Maybe some more links if we can find the time.