Grid Effect

For all it may concern, new The Wire episodes are once again being posted OnDemand six days before they air on HBO. Meaning the pilot should be available to all those who pay for the otherwise worthless accessory (especially if you are already equipped with a DVR or Tivo).

Just as a reminder, we’ll be watching said episodes OnDemand, but posting reviews of them in accordance with the regular HBO airing. In other words, when an episode airs Sunday night, expect a review/recap of it the following Friday in anticipation of the series’ next episode.

Nothing else to add, have a pleasant new year’s.

Helluva holiday season this year, we’ve probably been fairly outgoing in the wake of this writer’s strike. And you know what? We don’t like it. Spending time with loved ones, discovering and experiencing new things the world has to offer is overrated if you ask us. Sitting down in front of the television for a five hour binge is generally just as exciting and far more relaxing. Anyhow, onto the rest of the year end review…

5) Extras
Only got better from season one to two and was capped off by an hour and half finale that was as sentimental and introspective as it was hysterical. A sharp turn for a series that’s only dramatic moment beforehand was concluded with a voice mail from Patrick Stewart offering the series’ female lead a role in a soft porn. If Extras taught us anything, it’s that British actors, on a wide scale, are much more self-deprecating than American actors. And that Gervais and Ashley Jensen could both make the transition to dramatic acting and not miss a beat.

4) South Park
Imaginationland! To be frank I couldn’t even remember anything else about the most recent stretch of episodes and had to look it up. There was a King of Kong parody, an oral sex episode that coincided with a mockery of Jesus Camp, a 300 parody, a Guitar Hero episode and several mediocre attempts. But the three part saga that was “Imaginationland” hit on every comedic element possible. From rehashing former characters to absurd scenarios to remarkable likenesses, Trey Parker and Matt Stone proved they still hit more often than they miss.

3) It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Sometimes they strive too hard to upset as many people as possible (much like their predecessors at #4) and it cuts into the comedic stylings. But, when it’s working it works better than any other comedy on television. The cast (including Danny DeVito) appears to feed off their apparent synergy more so than any other cast on television since Seinfeld as “the gang” disparages and destroys their lives and the lives of those who dare associate with them. After finishing their third and best season I think this spot is well deserved, if unpopular.

I’d probably rather cross Chris and Snoop.

2) Mad Men
If it wasn’t for the finale of arguably the greatest achievement in television history this probably would have claimed the top spot. Jon Hamm, Vincent Kartheiser and John Slattery (who was briefly in Charlie Wilson’s War getting brow beaten by Philip Seymour Hoffman, by the way) led the helm of an ensemble cast that’s second to none. Every remarkably imperfect character is capable of invoking sympathy at times and hatred at others, including the protagonist Donald Draper, whose mysterious background and unfolded tale kept the summer television season worthwhile. The atmospheric has paved the way for a new style of television as it focuses on every intricate detail of the life during 1960. All we have to say is the editing team is probably underpaid.

1) The Sopranos
What else is there to say that hasn’t been said? The final scene has been rehashed and debated ad nauseum and in some ways diminished the brilliance of the final nine episodes. From a critical standpoint, the concluding half season of this series is probably the best run they produced (we’d still make a case for the fifth season, but that’s a different post) over the eight years it was on and left the series on an ambiguous high note, probably the only appropriate manner for David Chase to end it on.

That’s it for 2007, happy new years!

We here at Grid Effect we’re particularly enamored with the past year in television and film, but in most instances the two mediums at large cater to an audience we simply can’t relate too. For every No Country For Old Men and Flight of The Conchords there’s ten Evan Almighty’s and five Big Bang Theory’s, not to say we always scoff at the commercial pieces, we love Grindhouse and The Office, but those are two exceptions. While these both have their shallow characteristics there is still an emphasis on originality and characterization, the same cannot be said for their mainstream counterparts.

Given this is a TV blog, at this time of year we like to recognize series’ that might otherwise go unrecognized, regardless of how trivial and irrelevant the recognition actually is. We’ll countdown 10-6 today, and finish 5-1 on Monday. To read about last year’s best series as donned by this blog, go here and here.

First off, lets take some time to acknowledge the series’ we excluded, including Entourage, Rescue Me Nip Tuck and Survivor. The latter of which had secured its place on the board until this dreadful last season. And we tend to think that producing the worst season out of fifteen warrants barring you from any top ten lists. Rescue Me and Entourage, last year ranked 10 and 8, respectively fell off completely this year for a variety of reasons.

That’s pretty disappointing when two of the series’ on last year’s list weren’t even up for consideration (AD and The Wire). Each had their moments, but neither series seems to have a clue as to where they are going, and are just meandering around for the networks while they still grab decent ratings. And Nip Tuck’s absence shouldn’t come as any surprise.

10) Weeds
A bit of a sham because we haven’t even seen their most recent season, but the first two were good enough that we’re going to take the liberty of saying we’re confident in the product. A series about ultra-liberal potheads for ultra-liberal potheads might seem like a cliche given the current Hollywood environment, but this series produces the goods with great performances from Kevin Nealon as Doug Wilson, and Mary Louise-Parker and Justin Kirk as Nancy and Andy Botwin. A comedy as much as it is a family drama, this series produces great bits of dialog and plot development like no other sitcom to date. And trust us, had we been privy to season three, it would be much higher than #10.

You know it’s good when we haven’t even seen this year’s season and still have it ranked.

9) Flight of The Conchords
As quirky as it is fresh (the antithesis to Juno in that regard), FoTC follows the lives of two aspiring yet hopeless New Zealand musicians in New York. They get into mostly self-inflicted misadventures and handle all of them with a bumbling beta-maleness that can only be accurately described as impotent indifference. This would have earned a higher spot if it wasn’t for the all too frequent uncomfortable musical bits, but with Bret, Jermaine, Murray, Mel and Dave all churning out consistent comedic bits, the place as worst best series we actually saw in full in 2007 seems appropriate.

Friday Night Lights
God we hate putting this series so low. The first season was probably the best network drama we have ever seen. The exposition on a small Texas town and its football team couldn’t have been less imperfect. But this second season, with its uneven episodes and murder plots and surplus of adult-child relationships, we couldn’t rationally put it above anything else left. It has a glimmer of hope that they can get back on track, but they’ve effectively ruined Landry (probably the best peripheral character from season one) and taken several characters down paths I’m not entirely interested in nor do I find them to be as organic as the first seasons conflicts and resolutions. Right now, Taylor Keitsch and Scott Porter as Riggins and Street are saving that series.

7) Curb Your Enthusiasm
Surprised we decided to rank it this high given the frequency of letdowns for their first season in almost two years. But the last three or four episodes (starting with whenever Cheryl left Larry) completely redeemed the season’s initial outpour of implausibility. We suppose this speaks to the longevity of Larry David and his capacity for comedic development, but really we’re not so sure we aren’t putting it on here solely for the last minute of the season. They need to return for a seventh so we can see that final sixty seconds elongated.

6) The Office
Fell a couple spots from last year, though still remained strong despite all our incessant nitpicking. We like to hold great series’ to a higher standard and not resort to the old, “it’s still better than anything else on television” defense. But in all honesty, it is. Even the best 30 Rock episode, which is a highly respected and critically lauded series, doesn’t produce as many great moments (comedic or otherwise) as does the worst episode of The Office. So, for all the unnecessary declarations of love and relationship quarrels, we’re still placing it here at number six.

Back with the top five series of the year on Monday.

Tis the season of reruns and horribly contrived game shows, and even this blog isn’t enough motivation to convince us to watch that shit. So, in lieu of anything else to discuss we’re going to do exactly what we did yesterday: list what’s available and probably disregard all of it. Why? Because we’re very particular, that’s why. (Again, all times are standard eastern)

CBS

8-10pm: CSI
Is there any doubt that CBS is getting through this writer’s strike by constantly bombarding the airwaves with cop dramas. And yes, Les Moonves’ network has filled the slot usually dawned for what’s now a redundant, trite reality series for a redundant, trite forensics series. Speaking of which…

10pm: Without A Trace
The title of the series embodies its genius, a slick investigative team searches for missing persons that 99% of the time end up dead. This weeks episode revolves around a stunt man, that I’m somewhat convinced is pulling an elaborate hoax (or I’m sure he’ll refer to it as a “stunt”) that he’ll surely be arrested for. And just as surely one of the characters (whichever one in a moral crisis that the main plot can symbolize) will rip off a witty one liner as they apprehend the criminal.

NBC

8-10pm: Comedy block
Four comedies, three of which have their moments and the fourth is the best comedy on network television today. Tonight’s rerun of The Office is “The Negotiation”, which can be read about here.

If you’re going to watch anything tonight, watch these people.

10pm: ER
God damn, I’m always amazed to discover that this series is still ticking. I went out with a girl from one of my classes once, and she suggested we go watch ER as it was “her show”. The episode was somewhat uneventful, it was like what a hospital would resemble if medicine was practiced in a dive bar. But this was in 2003, and even then it seemed implausible that someone’s favorite series could be a hospital drama that’s been around for over ten years at that point, I imagine her favorite comedy was The Simpsons. The fact that it’s still airing new episodes is either a credit to the writing staff, the desperation of NBC, or the staying power of George Clooney. My guess is it’s a culmination of all three.

ABC

8pm: Ugly Betty
We really feel like us watching this series hinges on us dating someone who does. Because while the premise sounds promising (a homely girl working in the fashion industry) we are going to be stereotypical about this and presume the subject matter isn’t there to hold our attention from week to week. Still, its probably the best thing ABC has available.

9pm: Grey’s Anatomy
It would be great if this entire cast would go after those vaunted film careers like they so clearly want to do, giving the network enough incentive to dismantle this show and opt out of recasting it. But after Patrick Dempsey’s late 90’s film career, we can guess that at least one character will always be around. We’ve only seen half of one episode, but from what we can gather its like if medicine were practiced in a swingers joint.

10pm: Private Practice
See above.

FOX

8-10pm: Ice Age
Because what’s the holiday season without some digitalized, talking, cold-weather animals?! And seriously, this is two nights in a row with out any reality smut from our conservative brethren, we’re starting to worry that Joe Millionaire won’t ever make its triumphant return to prime time.

Back tomorrow with a top ten (assuming we can fill that many slots) in 2007.

We’re in recovery mode as much as anyone else out there, hence the daily post being an hour or two later than usual. But, with the dearth of decent television on any day, at any time, we’re going to try something different around here. Instead of recapping something we found particularly thought provoking, we’ll preview some of what’s on the prime time lineup, and see if we can trick ourselves into watching something we know we won’t like. (All times are standard Eastern)

NBC
8pm: Most Outrageous Moments
We’re not sure what the context of this is, as in most outrageous televised moments, or most outrageous moments at family reunions, or while playing basketball or while painting the house…Essentially, it just means most outrageous moments in the universe, regardless of context. We won’t be watching, out of lack of perversion.

9-11pm: Law and Order: SVU
I believe this is the one in which everything is a little atypical, and was created solely for the purpose of competing with the CSI franchise. For instance, instead of the man raping the woman, the woman rapes the man, and it has us all on the edge of our seat before it ends with a neat little bow tied around it by the end of the hour. We’ve seen enough of these, will probably steer clear.

CBS
8pm: Criminal Minds
Not that we’re opposed to all crime procedurals, but what exactly separates this one from the one above?

These are supposedly the antagonists.

9-11pm: Kennedy Center Honors
A ton of celebrities patting each other on the back for respected careers. Sadly, if we watch anything on any of the networks, this will probably be it. In conclusion, we’re going to read a book.

ABC
8pm: Pushing Daisies
Supposed to be solid, but we’re just too lethargic to get into a new series at the moment, especially the middle of one that is so morbid.

9pm: Private Practice
I hope I’ve made it abundantly clear that the only thing that draws my ire more than cop procedurals are hospital melodramas.

10pm: Dirty Sexy money
Scratch the Kennedy honors comment, we might watch this depending on what comes in through netflix. Although we wouldn’t feel good about it.

FOX
8-10pm: Christmas with The Cranks
A hokey Christmas movie that we’d rather gouge our eyes out and dip our head in nuclear waste than actually watch. True story. Also, might I add that we were extremely disappointed to see this from FOX. Our brain is mushy enough from yesterday that we might be up for watching sentients and non-sentients compete in various physical acts of competition. Truly a disappointment.

We’re at work today and not entirely certain if we were supposed to come in. You could hear a pin drop it’s so desolate in here so we’re assuming we could have stayed home. But no matter, when we have a blog to entertain ourselves with.

Between the holiday season and the strike there has been jack shit on television as of late. On Friday night we got one more Wire special. This one entitled “The Last Word�, a sort of overview of what the fifth season themes will be. It was entertaining and insightful without being filled with spoilers, so that was a quality half hour. Other than that, we’ve taken to rewatching the first season of Mad Men and haranguing those who don’t watch it or The Wire (we get very elitist and self-righteous when we’ve been drinking).

So, yeah, it’ll be similar to this until FNL and Nip Tuck return, and even then we’re struggling for material because we’re not really into either of those series’ anymore. Otherwise we’ve got The Wire on January 6th and a strike with no end date in sight. TBS does have their annual 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story on the horizon here so things could be worse, it could be a days worth of Deck The Halls. See, there’s always a silver lining.

Onto the short but sweet links…

The WGA fully intends to picket the Golden Globes, which will effectively kill the buzzes of everyone in attendance. Nothing like being the scourge of Hollywood I would imagine. Something tells me that if you fuck with George Clooney while he’s getting his drink on, labor strike or no labor strike, there will be repercussions. We cannot even fathom what Sean Penn is capable of (we really liked both Michael Clayton and Into The Wild, by the way).

Dwight Schrute, or Rainn Wilson, or, if you’d like, the store clerk from Juno (tremendously overrated, by the way) will be following in Sarah Silverman’s footsteps to host the Independent Spirit Awards. If it weren’t for their quirky, untraditional choice of hosts, it’s probably the most obscure show during awards season.

Letterman’s sought after exemption was turned down by whichever governing body handles such matters. Not that we’re surprised, it seemed like an odd scheme to actually be able to pull off, especially in the public eye. With labor strikes I doubt its common for someone to be able to work because they were popular.

A rare acknowledgment of American Idol’s existence: Ruben Studdard was recently dropped by his record label. Despite winning the contrived game show, his sales have been poor at best and downright inexcusable at worst. This doesn’t come as a surprise, either, we’re pretty convinced you have to be female to experience any commercial success after Idol. And if there is an exception to this, please let us know.

We’re sensing a trend here.

In the grand tradition of cable channel Christmas marathons for syndicated series’, here’s a comprehensive list of virtually all of them, should you find yourself with nothing to do on the holidays. I, for one, see nothing abnormal or depressing about watching endless hours of Flip That House on TLC.

Denise from Survivor has donated Mark Burnett’s money to an AIDS charity. Regardless of what anyone says, I think this totally redeems her, and I’m not being sarcastic in any way. We’d be happy to donate someone else’s money to needy charities so multi-millionaires can write off the donation.

And finally, we know all of you were concerned about this, but David Chase has won his lawsuit. Yes apparently the courts decided that introducing a series creator to people doesn’t qualify one to receive co-creation credits. Shocking, I know. Anyway, at least now we can all sleep at night.

That’s it until the 26th, merry Christmas (for those easily offended) and happy holidays (also for those easily offended).

As far as Thursday night television goes. last night’s half hour retrospective on The Wire was more entertaining than the past seventeen hours of Survivor combined. Of course, I could listen to David Simon, the writers, the cast and critics discuss this series for weeks and not find it tedious, so it’s a personal preference. Then again I don’t see how anyone could find a series of people being systemically eliminated from a contrived game show more entertaining than an inside look of the first four seasons of the greatest television drama ever made (yeah, I said it).

There wasn’t a lot of introspection or anything. It was more slight jabs at the Emmy’s for unjustly overlooking them time and time again and discussing favorite scenes, characters, themes, seasons, etc. It was basically like a half hour long montage with voice over commentaries. One guy called it modern Dickens, another said it should win the Pulitzer, my favorite description was, “A document of what it’s like to live in contemporary United States”. This might be misconstrued as hyperbole, but rest assured that it’s not.

All in the game.

We also learn that casting was damn near impeccable (I’ll refrain from using actors names to limit confusion). Carver tried out for Herc (to which Dominic West said he’d be horrible in), Norman auditioned for Daniels and Lester, Marlo auditioned for Avon, Dukie auditioned for Michael, etc. In virtually every case they made the right decision, possibly because the characterization is so flawless I couldn’t see any of the actors playing anyone other than who they currently are.

David Simon seemed amused by the whole half-hour spectacle, saying the moments he’s most proud of are the throwaway comedic bits. For someone with such insight, he certainly came off as humble, and I imagine a part of him is almost disappointed that he felt compelled to create something so devastatingly realistic (or that it was even there to depict), and then to have the country at large ignore it has to be fairly disheartening.

Still, he gave us one more season (two more than expected, really). And while I find the series depressing as it portrays every aspect of the system as so corrupt and ineffective, it is portrayed in such a conflicted way that it makes the construction of the series entirely believable. Rendering it insightful and academic as much as it is entertaining (which almost seems shallow to say).

Again, we’re running low on material, but if we’re going to do a synopsis on what’s essentially a half hour clip show, it mine as well be The Wire. Back with more as it comes to us.

These posts keep making it out later and later in the morning and for that you have my apologies. But what I can’t apologize for is the absolute dearth of series’ to write about. So far this week we’ve posted four times, and only once was for something we actually recommended (The Extras finale). So, while our posts might be late, we’re pinning it on a lack of motivation…and mundane paper pushing. Seriously, the posts we write pales in comparison to the paper we move.

Holy fucking Christ yes, this is what we’ve been waiting for: the “official” trailer for the fifth season of The Wire. I guess the other five or so we’re just prep trailers for this one. Some people like to remain completely unspoiled, so if you don’t want to hear anything about the final season, stop reading HERE………Of the four kids, we know at least Michael will be back in full form next season, if I were to speculate, I’d also say we see Dukie, no Namond and possibly Randy, depending on whether or not Carver followed through on his promise to adopt him. Also, Avon’s back, but it looks like he’s still in prison. And if that’s the case, Weebay would be around as well. If this doesn’t make you wish for the new year, nothing will. As a side note, we’ll be in New Orleans for the premiere, and we’ll be running around frantically looking for a television with HBO. Sad, maybe. But at least it’s honest.

Denise, the mulleted lunch lady on Survivor: China lied about her demotion and pay cut at the reunion, and it turned out her transition to janitorial work was actually a promotion. So any field hockey game she missed were of her own volition. To her credit she return the check to Mark Burnett. Damn, if she had said she excepted a promotion that had a marginally improved salary but with shittier hours, she probably still would have been offered that check. Instead she accepted it under false pretenses, and the multi-millionaire gets to keep his 50 g’s.

“Wait, you mean she was lying?…Well does she still want the money?…I’m not going to a fucking bank, give it to a homeless man or something. Peons.”

Letterman, is returning with his writers on January 2nd. Apparently they’re hoping for a “special exemption” through some loophole the show’s producers may have found, but either way they’re willing to improve the writers salaries as much as the show itself is allowed to do. Letterman must be scared shitless about returning without them.

David Chase has contemplated tears over this lawsuit filed against him. I guess he weighed the positives and negatives and decided against it. David Chase, that’s an emotional guy. We haven’t commented on it yet because it sounds so frivolous, but apparently a New Jersey judge is claiming co-creation of the series because he introduced Chase to some men with mafia ties that served as inspiration for much of the series. While he’s entitled to something, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Chase snubbed him, half of everything the showrunner generated is an absurd request. That’s civil suits for you, though. Ask high, receive a greater sum than you would have if you had asked for a reasonable offer. It’s fucking idiotic. If anything you should be publicly humiliated in some fashion for being so egregious.

We couldn’t fathom such a privileged life when staying in from a booze-filled, elongated awards show is considered a “sacrifice”, but that is exactly the boat most of the actors are in with the Golden Globes. Yes, several of them are going to be so generous to the writers as to not attend an awards show in their name. Guilt has to be the motivating factor in all those charitable donations and philanthropy from celebrities.

Todd from Survivor is humble enough to admit that he isn’t a replica of whose generally considered one of the greatest strategists in the game’s history. I know most of you were thinking he’s exactly like Richard Hatch just like most of you refer to me as the reincarnation of Thoreau, but he’s willing to admit that this is not the case. Also, his last name is Herzog…doesn’t he almost have to be a distant relative of Werner Herzog? How many of them are floating around in the US anyways? Also, that’s a German name. So, that makes Todd a gay Mormon flight attendant with German ancestry living in Utah…be glad you were born in the 80’s Todd.

And finally, its been ten years since Chris Farley tragically passed away. There still has been no one even remotely similar to him and he’s stood the test of time, making him the 90’s Jim Belushi. Go back and watch an old skit as the motivational speaker, the impressionable talk show host, Chips audition or Schmitt’s gay, and all of them are still hysterical and better than anything SNL has put out since McDonald-Ferrell-Breuer all left the show. If there is a heaven, I’d like to think Hartman and Farley are currently doing improv in it.

Back tomorrow with a multiple post day.

What the hell was that? I mean, it was fantastic, but it was certainly unexpected. When we tuned in we were bracing ourselves for ninety minutes of hilarious misunderstandings and Andy’s frustration, not eighty minutes of every character one way or another in some form of crisis. Good lord, even Clive Owen was a prick and he was only on screen for about two minutes.

The finale was done in superb form, bringing back several bit players and focusing on the main ones (Andy, Maggie and Darren). The stages of Andy’s career are essentially what everything revolved around, from unsatisfied and shallow to disgruntled, unappreciative and bitter to redeeming and soul-searching, and how his former agent and best friend were indirectly effected by his poor decisions and self-interest. A common tale, or so I am told. But one we can never recall being illustrated with such grace, humor and accuracy.

The Maggie storyline was particularly depressing. For a good while it wasn’t beyond the pale that she would attempt suicide and at that point we began to miss the days where she clumsily tried to pick up men. It was nothing short of devastating to see the typically happy-go-lucky character so disillusioned by her professional and social status. Ashley Jensen gave a really heart wrenching performance for the full eighty minutes that should really earn her a couple nominations at the Golden Globes and the Emmy’s.

Am I going to have to start watching Ugly Betty now?

Stephen Merchant, even in his most humiliating scenes managed to draw laughs, such as leaping over the barrier at the BBC and his run in with Andy outside of the Car Phone Warehouse. The few comedic scenes there were generally involved Merchant playing the typically clueless agent. From taking off his windbreaker, to dancing to car phone ring-tones to being completely ambivalent about Maggie’s desperation, I nearly pissed myself laughing. It’s probably a good thing he was strictly rendered for comedic effect, because with that scrawny, lanky frame and the goofy demeanor, he would be hard to take seriously.

And its yet another award winning performance from Ricky Gervais. Who, as great as Maggie was, exhibited so many emotions and mindsets in an eighty minute period that he should really consider a Bill Murray type career after this. He embodied all the above transitions and embodied them well. For someone who’s typically known as something of a goofball, we were pleasantly surprised that he could carry a scene so well as his final plea for forgiveness from Maggie.

In fact, the body of the “Big Brother” stint was probably the funniest and most dramatic act of the mini-movie. The commentary on reality television and the self-serving nature of celebrity was exquisite and pointed and summarized my opinions on trash reality television more succinctly than I could ever hope to do (paraphrasing): “We wheel out the disenfranchised for the amusement of multi-millionaires”. It seems like Gervais and Merchant had a lot they wanted to get off their collective chests.

As much as I was enamored with the conclusion, the lead up to Andy’s realization and the entire character arc was as articulate as anything we’ve seen on television since Mad Men ended its first season. The firing of the extra pleading with Andy for a line was particularly cringe-inducing. In his desperation to be taken seriously, Andy not only smiled in the man’s face (promised him his best effort) and stabbed him in the back (directed a PA to fire him), but also demanded that Maggie no longer approach him on set as to prevent the other extras from believing, “they’re equal to him”.

What a transition. All while juxtaposed to Maggie’s real life problems, Andy is decidedly worried about becoming one of the biggest celebrities in the world when his troubles pale in comparison to Maggie’s, who after being humiliated by Clive Owen was reduced to janitorial work. But Andy was so self-involved at that point that he failed to even know where she lived or where she worked.

It wasn’t all gloom and doom, there were some great comedic bits. Including everything mentioned with Merchant, there was the “queer bench” scene with George Michael who I didn’t recognize at first. The trading of barbs with the abrasive dude from Hell’s Kitchen (who had to have no idea what the theme of this movie/episode was going to be) and the audition scene with the girdle (when Andy was still in good humor and seemed to signify a turning point for him, since it was in front of his arch-nemesis).

Ultimately though, it was a story about the perils of celebrity and the downside to believing your own hype. Would Andy had been grateful for what he accomplished instead of projecting his petty nonsense onto everyone around him, he would have been content. Instead his obsession with attaining a respectable celebrity status led to his abandonment and ironically, made him wholly unpleasant. The celebrity he achieved with “When The Whistle Blows”, regardless of what he thought of his fans was what he ultimately longed for, more so than being an artist. Fame, she’s a cruel mistress.

This episode, like so many others trudged out the same plot points and hammered them home again and again because of the series’ unwillingness to bring in and keep new characters.

In case you weren’t aware, Sean is up to his neck in mid-life crisis and is now actively trying to sleep with girls not yet legal to drink alcohol and, in some instances other age based activities. He ends up sustaining a small heart attack having sex (or some variation thereof) with Eden at one of the actors parties. No word yet as to whether or not he loses his practice.

Christian, meanwhile has morphed into the responsible one. Forcing Kimber to leave Matt for porno-industry demanded elective surgery. Thus rendering the young methhead a sobbing stump of uselessness. Christian, for better or worse, throws his coffee at Matt and tells him to get his shit together. This is the type of development we needed to see, if not for our sake then for the sake of the actors who have to be tired of working the same angles with all of the same characters. Instead of coddling Matt, Christian gets rid of his soul-sucking wife tries to veer him down the right path.

Of course, this is counter-intuitive because Matt’s emotionally unstable at the moment. And while trying to cook up his own stash, he lights himself on fire and runs out of his motel ala Richard Pryor only to jump in the pool from his second floor room. The episode ends with the camera on him floating in the water, presumably unconscious. Considering he’s in the previews for next week, it seems reasonable to assume that Matt makes it out alive.

Julia confronts Eden about her inappropriate behavior with her ex-husband that she always treated like shit. I guess if anyone is always going to use and manipulate Sean to their advantage, its going to be Julia. They have a heated little confrontation while Eden is in a two-piece (naturally) and things are left open-ended.

No word yet as to whether or not they’re making a cameo.

And finally, this weeks patient was presumably an old senile man who claimed to have been abducted by aliens. He’s wheeled in by a rail thin woman claiming to be his daughter, and their for exploratory surgery to have a tracking device removed from his back. He claims his daughter is heavy-set…And to no one’s surprise, when a woman comes in a couple days later after they release him in the custody of his “daughter”, a heavy set woman comes in claiming to be Dr. Lee’s actual daughter and wondering what anyone would want with her poor, penniless father. Out of options, they’re delving into X-Files territory now.

Really, we can’t conclude what’s more out of place the alien abduction plot on Nip Tuck or the murder plot on Friday Night Lights (to give you some impression of how ill-advised the FNL’s decision was). The episode opened up a decent story with Matt being without his kid and his beloved, drug-addicted whore wife by his side. We know from the “future” episode that he turns out to be a doctor, so we’re not all that concerned about him. It’s the journey that matters, or at least in this case, it has to.

Back with a recap review of the phenomenal Extras series finale today or tomorrow, depending on how the rest of the day goes.

We’d like to take this moment to announce that we are aware that the eighty minute series finale of Extras aired last night, we haven’t yet watched it but plan to get to it by Wednesday. From what we’ve heard, the finale is, like, life-altering great. So we’re dying with anticipation. Really, we can’t think of anything so highly praised yet still so obscure. Especially when you consider how much influence Ricky Gervais has had on the pop culture landscape in this country.

As for the reunion, we’re not going to do a play by play of this, because it’s historically been more or less pointless. But there were tons of awkward moments, thanks largely in part to our board and increasingly transparent host and a surplus of mugging from our resident “survivors”. It seems like virtually everyone sans Todd was preoccupied with saving face, especially JR.

But Courtney apologized to Denise for the “suck at life” comment, James was self-deprecating about his reluctance to play one of his two idols, JR spent at least ten minutes convincing us he’s a great poker player, Denise self-pitied her way into a $50,000 handout from Mark Burnett and Todd spent a solid ten minutes slamming all the people he just won a million dollars at the expense of.

Someone should tell Denise that at least she isn’t subjected to such abject poverty that she has to wear the same clothes for the this photo and the reunion, unlike James and Chicken.

Needless to say, it was awkward. Things we didn’t need to hear included the state of Jaime and Erik’s sex life, James’ supposed newfound affability, Courtney proclaiming her New Yorkness, Denise’s hair and Dave’s homo-eroticism. If you took out all this, and replaced it with more PG challenge performances, Amanda’s searingly poor display during the jury vote and Aaron’s thoughts after being the victim of an intentional loss, then the reunion would have been worth the standard hour they spend on it. As it stands, we saw nothing of concern and forgot about most of it until we had to write this follow up.

Anyhow, on to greener pastures. And next season looks promising with a “fans vs. favorites” gimmick. Meaning, a team of Survivor fans competes against a team of Survivor fan’s favorite past contestants. At least its something new and presumably inoffensive. We’re looking forward to it.

Welcome to the two (scratch that, three) longest hours of my life. Luckily production decided to spend the first ten minutes recapping the season for all those potential viewers that have never seen an episode of Survivor, but may have decided to tune in for a finale of a series they haven’t seen a single episode of. It’s really an untapped market, not entirely hypothetical. So, we’ll give it a few before they’re done with rehashing and credits. In the meanwhile, we mailed in, or rather delivered a possible completely inaccurate recap of the last episode, so here’s a more comprehensive recap.

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And we’re back. The season recap was actually only seven minutes, but combined with the first commercial break it exceeded eleven. So we we’re half right. Coming back from TC, the unlikable yet triumphant gang returns to camp and celebrates their “journey”. Courtney considers how great it would be to win immunity, even more rewarding than the reward I suppose.

Denise is voicing over about diet, which she is obsessed with. I suppose it’s appropriate for a lunch lady to have this mindset. They get a note about reward challenge being for food. And it sounds like their food supply has diminished since James left camp, because it’s never been this much of a concern before. We were never as enamored with James as the show wanted us to be, but we like to give credit where it’s due.

At said reward challenge, their going through an obstacle involving an approximation of the Great Wall. The reward turns out to be a sweaty pizza and beer, watery soda and some brownies. Jeff calls it a meal for one, which seems a little gluttonous. Because who the hell eats an entire pizza with multiple toppings, a plate of brownies, a case of beer and a pitcher of soda by themselves. And how cruel would it be to throw it away in front of them.

During the challenge, Todd jumps out to a small but early lead over Amanda. Denise and Courtney are two stages behind and are essentially eliminated from the get go. Todd is first to arrive back with all his pieces to work on his puzzle before Courtney and Denise even bring back their first set of pieces. The puzzle seems relatively difficult, and they all manage to get back with their pieces before someone wins. But Amanda takes it in a close one, she even throws them a condescending “you guys did real good too” as she walks towards Probst to claim her prize.

She is then given the option to keep the food for herself, or share it with one or two other people. She agonizes over the decision, then shares decides to share it with Todd. That’s right, Todd. The same Todd she was livid at last week for finishing the leftovers on a private jet back from a reward that she was shut out of. And I’m not really even understanding how this is even remotely strategic. If anything she should be trying to curry a favor with Courtney or Denise so one of them hitches their wagon to her star. Todd is going to do what he feels is in his best interests, the other two you can manipulate.

The melodramatic twosome eats their lunch, and Amanda explains that she chose Todd to see what his game plan is, and he needs to get rid of her if he wants any chance of winning. Amanda doesn’t pull any punches and comes right out says that she doesn’t have any faith in him to not “stab her in the back”. He uses a ton of hyperbolic “I trust you to trust me to trust you” lines in order to convey his position. She looks ambivalent as always.

Denise is glad to be with the cool kids, and is worried about being shunned like she was in high school. Or some such. Courtney and Denise decide to do some sun bathing, and they’re both disgusting for completely different reasons.

Todd is worried about his tribe rebelling. For good reason as well, it seems like when one gender is outnumbered like this he/she tend to be odd man out. Sexual orientation be damned and sans Chris at Vanuatu. He expresses as much to Denise. Courtney is attributed with the episode title in reference to Todd, and really I thought that honor would go to Denise, “slippery little sucker” sounds like its in her everyday lexicon.

Courtney and Amanda share some opinions about Todd, and their not exactly laudatory. Todd keeps saying, “going all girl power on me”, and, you know, he more or less orchestrated this entire situation. If he’s so concerned with the gender card, maybe he should have kept some of his male counterparts around. He makes an attempt at being reassuring to Courtney and Amanda, saying they they’d be, “the most awesome final three, like, ever”. They look at him disdainfully. Someone’s feelings are going to get hurt here.

Todd arrives back at camp with some tree mail and its the in memoriam of all the contestants they contributed to voting out. We generally refuse to recap any of this, because what is their to say about it. And considering the dismal nature of this cast, we’re particularly unmoved. So pick it up ten minutes for now.

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I think that’s all the filler we have room for in the two hours. At least for the first hour. And minus commercials. When they arrive at the top of the monument they’ve been hiking up the steps on, Probst greets them with their final Immunity Challenge. Man, that was touching.

The challenge is a balancing one. And its not themselves, but rather a stack of dishes that gets progressively taller at the end of a stick on an unstable platform. First person to drop their dishes loses. Apparently its not terribly difficult because they get to nine dishes and thirty minutes before anyone slips…And it’s Todd, whose dishes were off center and they fall accordingly. This is probably the least athesetically appealing challenge yet. And this includes that one with the dart throwing mechanism last week.

Courtney falls after complaining of…fatigue? We’re not sure, but have no idea what else it could be. Denise tries to cut a deal with Amanda, which is as transparent and desperate as it gets. Amanda does look pretty steady and we get a closeup of the sweat dripping off Denise’s hand. Amanda ends up winning in non-dramatic fashion, and we’re not sure there is any other way to win this challenge. Balancing dishes? Are you fucking kidding me? I think next years challenge they’re actually planning on watching paint dry.

This was a familiar sight.

Back from commercials, Amanda is suddenly worried about hurt feelings and feels put upon. So naturally, Denise targets her for persuasion. Denise attempts to guilt Amanda into voting for her because of her unstable financial condition. Amanda is contemplating what the right move is. Courtney and Todd are entirely prepared to vote out Denise, Amanda is waffling but doesn’t want to upset a potential jury vote.

Todd’s still exceptionally paranoid. Courtney acknowledges that she’s a tagalong but says that Denise “sucks at life”, then appropriately calls herself a bitch. Perhpas realizing that not everyone can have wealthy British fathers to pay our way in NYC.

Denise and Amanda bond over the dishonesty of Todd. Then Amanda claims that she won’t write her name down, but she won’t write down Todd’s either. So that leaves Courtney. Denise is getting demanding now. Amanda then goes to Courtney to get Todd out of the picture, and convinces Courtney to vote whichever way Amanda does.

At TC, PG looks phenomenal. They discuss the same mundane bullshit and no one invokes anyone else’s name. Todd is quite duplicitous. And really, if he can’t convince Courtney to vote with him, then he doesn’t deserve to win. Denise can’t offer a good reason to keep her, but offers a pretty valid reason to vote her out, that being that the jury might sympathize with her financial situation. Things pick up when Denise tells everyone that Amanda said she had her back, Todd and the jury mug at the claim and Amanda looks mightily nervous. They go to the vote, Denise votes for Todd, Todd votes for Denise and has some kind words for her. The votes read as such:
Denise
Todd
Denise
Denise
Everyone looks disappointed outside of Courtney, who seems downright giddy. And perhaps explains why she draws my ire so. In her exiting words, Denise is succinct and rehashes her situation, while doing a fantastic job of holding back some tears. Or at least that’s how it seems.

Back at camp, Amanda is disappointed that Todd called her a liar essentially in front of the jury. Its quite a skilled move, and if she wanted to get revenge she should have done it with her vote and put him at the vote. She gives him a lecture about morals and ethics. He tries to convince her otherwise but to no avail. Amanda seems to regret the course of direction she has chosen, and when Todd suggests celebrating, she says their’s no reason.

When they wake up, Courtney exalts the under-appreciated practicality of Q-tips and they cook some food left for them. Courtney feels good about her personal standing with several jury members, and while people do tend to vote alongside party lines, they want to believe that you showed something while there. The three of them burn some artifacts from the thirty-nine days while they all voice over their shot at winning. Todd and Amanda both also seem cautiously optimistic.

At the jury vote Jeff lays down the ground rules as always. For their opening statements, Amanda delves into her good fortune and plays the humble card but doesn’t really seem to have anything to say. She admits to aligning with Todd and regrets to voting out James, JR and Frosti. This is already really, really long, so I’m not going to delve into how many things were wrong with that sentiment.

Todd asks for the jury’s respect for the game he played. Courtney explains how much she overcame not being a Survivor viewer and physically diminutive. She seems pretty resigned to losing when she asks for them to acknowledge the underdog card.

Now it’s the jury’s turn. James goes first and congratulates all of them on their position, then asks Courtney what she enjoyed most about the experience. She says discovering she wouldn’t be the first person voted off.

JR asks Courtney why she should vote for her, and she points out her one immunity win and that he compliments her answer. He goes after Amanda and Todd for disloyalty, they both give defensive and not entirely valid answers. Todd gives him what he’s looking for: validation, Amanda does not. But the efficacy of it might have been killed when everyone laughs at JR’s expense.

PG admits that Todd deserves to win and gets an answer out of him that lies somewhere in between honesty and hostility. She calls Amanda a tagalong in so many words and asks for a legitimate reason to vote for her. She looks unmoved even though Amanda admits to leading the vote against James. Does she realize that he can hear her?

Erik wants to know about the risk element, and directs his question to Amanda. She claims leading the charge against James was a risk, which is bullshit because her name was never on a ballot.

Frosti is idignant when he asks Todd about matters of trust. Wasn’t Frosti just systemically voted out? He had some inside knowledge and instead of trying to use it he let Todd and Courtney lead him around by the nose. Oh, and he refers to him in the third person. Todd says he apologizes for admittedly voting him out when he said he wouldn’t. He looks for some validation from Frosti and we’re not sure if Courtney provided it.

Jaime, since she doesn’t really don’t know any of them, demands they say something disparaging about their fellow competitors. Courtney waffles, Todd gives a definitive answer and Amanda’s question is directed to answer about Courtney, and Amanda explains that she doesn’t really put forth any effort into anything. Amanda claims that Todd lies too much, Todd retorts, “Yeah, I did the dirty work for the nice girl”. Ouch, that is honest. Sort of. Amanda probably isn’t geting enough credit here, but she’s not really selling it well either. I hope Jaime is glad that we everyone to remember who she was. Denise, sporting a peach colored wife-beater, doesn’t really ask a question but just berates her recently separated from tribe. It’s a lecture and not an actual question.

We go to the vote, Jaime admits that Todd earned her vote at the jury. Erik votes for Amanda, clearly not realizing he doesn’t get to lick anything off her fingers for doing so. Denise votes for Courtney, presumably strictly for being an underdog. Wow, no Becky’s in this three. JR explains that “you just stole a million dollars, well played”, but we don’t see who he wrote down….

They transition from China to Hollywood for the reunion without the montage. Courtney and Todd look like they’re auditioning for something, the latter has an Elvis like mullet, Amanda looks almost the same. They go to the vote:
Courtney
Amanda
Todd
Courtney
Todd
Todd
Todd
He hugs all the people he bent to his will then runs out to greet his parents and they cut to his hometown in wherever Utah. A gay flight attendant in Utah, talk about being ostracized. Probst attempts to offer a bevy of reasons to watch the reunion while James stands in the background separated from the main hub of people.

We’ll delve into more exposition in the reunion post coming later today.

The night kind of creeped up on us here and we damn near forgot about writing this. But, to tell you the truth, if this episode was even remotely memorable it might not have been a problem. We’re lacking the resources to do a play-by-play of the episode, so here it is in bullet form.

-That’s the end of the line for PG. We could fault Denise for not crossing party lines, but it’s not like last week. She still should have tried to coerce Amanda into voting with her and PG, as Amanda seemed pretty keen on doing after the reward backlash, and they certainly did open the topic up for conversation. But the problem is, it’s too Amanda’s detriment to align herself with PG, and that subtle zoom-in during TC seemed to indicate that she realized that. Right now she has to be considered the favorite, because Denise should get the boot eliminating her from final 3, no one’s going to vote for Courtney because she’s virtually worthless in this game and everyone on the jury will hold a grudge against Todd.

That leaves Amanda, whose been as pivotal as anyone remaining outside of Todd and no one really recognizes as a threat. Also, Amanda just won PG’s jury vote. Then again, they keep suggesting three tribal councils tonight, so it could go either way.

-While we understood PG’s frustration when Denise snubbed her yet again on reward, we couldn’t for the life of us discern why Amanda was taking it so personally. First, she went on the last reward; second, why was she any more deserving than Courtney or Todd. We prefer her to her two counterparts, but Amanda is completely delusional if she thought that trip to the Great Wall was owed to her. The average five year old exhibits less entitlement.

-The two challenges were nothing new. And that is speaking literally for IC. It was a stage challenge, and each stage of it was a mini-version of a challenge they’d already played. The person least at risk (Amanda) edged out PG, though it was fairly anti-climatic. During RC we actually drifted off momentarily, so we missed a healthy amount of them shooting arrows at varying segments containing their names on a grid.

-The aforementioned backlash mostly stemmed from Courtney and Todd “complaining” about the meal at reward. And while if you were one of the people snubbed from going, you certainly don’t weant to hear any lamenting about the trials and tribulations of having to cook your own meat, simultaneously however, Amanda and PG would have been just as bitter if they came back exhaulting the wonders of the meal. Admittedly, though, hearing Todd did eat the leftover food on the plane back would have been infuriating.

-On the bright side, this miserable alliance now has to turn on each other so it should be a quality finale tonight, even if ultimately an unsatisfying one. Looking at the final four, this is how we perceive each remaining contestant:

Courtney- Immature, ditzy, almost irredemably bad at any challenge that doesn’t involve her balancing her malnourished, undersized ass on a mobile surface.

Todd- Ego driven, though fairly unimpressive and got to the final four by virtue of good fortune than anything. For the most part, he seems decent enough but is often vile without any justification for being so. In short, he’s the worst “strategic” leader since we’ve been watching this show. If he’s voted out tonight, rest assured he’ll give a “they just wanted to get rid of the best player in the game” speech.

Denise- Can’t see the forest for the trees. A decent person, which is more than can be said for the lot of them. But she’s gone from hanging on one group to the other without ever capitalizing on the opportunities afforded to her. She’s been ineffective in challenges and a mild contributor around camp…essentially she’s an older, less hostile and judgemental version of Courtney.

Amanda- She’s made a couple notable strategic plays that have shaken up the game, but for the most part she just hasn’t fucked anything up while everything has fallen in her favor. She has been and is currently the second in command of the strongest alliance in the game. No one seems to hold too much contempt for her, but outside of PG, Todd and Erik, no one really seems to like her either. This is why she’s the favorite.

I could see a scenario in which Todd and Amanda conspire to vote out Amanda given her goo standing in the game (at least comparatively speaking), Todd being much tighter with Courtney aligns with her and offer Denise a spot in F3 that Courtney would go home. But as of now no one else is much of a challenge threat.

Enjoy the episode, we’ll be back in the morning with a recap of tonight’s finale.

A quick note to start this recap, in last weeks recap I headed the episode “The Confession” thinking that was the episode in which Landry confessed in the conclusion. But I was mistaken, “The Confession” is actually this weeks episode, last week’s is entitled, “Seeing Other People”, in reference to Saracen’s request for an open relationship among other things. Sorry for the confusion, if it makes you feel any better the title mishap completely killed my opening paragraph.

Also, it warrants mentioning, that we were going to save posting this until the day of the next episode in January. But as it stands, unless you want more blabber about the writer’s strike, there really isn’t anything else to talk about. So here’s last week’s episode’s recap, a solid month before the next episode airs.

To be honest, given how cringe-inducing the Landry subplot has been, and that this episode was overbearing with it, we actually didn’t mind “The Confession”. It’s quite possibly a subconscious thing, being that the arc is coming to an end and the series can presumably move on making all of us happy. But still, one would think an episode so inundated with a subplot we can’t stand would have us questioning whether we should watch it or not. But rather, we’re just looking forward to January.

Clearly plotting another murder. Put that man behind bars.

Landry, for whatever reason (and I’m not buying a pep Christian morals talk from Lyla either) decided to confess his sins to the local authorities. And not only did he confess initially, but did everything he could to bury himself in prison time. Someone should tell Landry about what happens to people like him when they go to prison, because it’s not exactly sanctimonious. His father rushed him out of that joint and tried to berate him into claiming self-defense after Landry pulled the same stunt with his attorney.

I have to imagine that in Texas, if the white teenage son of a local police from a small town murders a rapist then claims self-defense protecting the woman he was with, not a jury in that state is going to convict him. So I can understand everyone’s insistence that he lies for his own good. But its not understood why Landry is so resistant to comply. Once he confessed, he confessed. And from a spiritual standpoint, isn’t it God who has to absolve you? It has nothing to do with the police.

Eventually he decrees and lets the adults handle the situation and it’s ultimately decided not to press charges. I’ll overlook that he didn’t confess for months after the fact, and that they glossed over (or ignored rather) Landry’s dad destroying evidence (presumably because he’s a cop and is above the law) just to be done with this nonsense.

We’re in a hurry today, so here’s the rest of the episode in dash form:

-Riggins finally moved out of his roommates place, realizing how unhealthy of a situation it actually is. I mean, the last time someone barged into my room high on meth and pointed a shotgun in my chest, I was at least to drunk to actually wake-up. Apparently he moves into Taylor’s garage. There could be a conflict of interests with Julie still in full on rebellion.

-Matt’s still screwing his maid while applying all the bad advice he can from Smash. Yet another story we’re hoping ends sooner rather than later.

-The Taylor’s are beginning to annoy, especially Julie and Tami. That little argument in Julie’s bedroom felt contrived and overdone. We don’t think we can handle any more crocodile tears from either one of them.

-Street is dating women off of a website called “Wheellovers.com”. Naturally, a woman into handicapped men is also into urine. Yeah, urine. His understanding waitress bails him out of the situation and the date throws a glass of water in her face. Said waitress offers him a ride home and naturally they develop a rapid fondness for each other, and he sleeps with her at her place.

-As a result of the above storyline, Herc returned and recommended Street move out of his parents house who still exhibit parental-like pity for their son. When they completely unload on him when he returns from his tryst, he apologizes for not calling them, then announces he’s moving in with his paraplegic counterpart.

Here it is, this is a long post for something I had nothing but seething disdain for. So here goes…

Pre-credits scene, everyone comes back from council and congratulates themselves on “blindsiding” James. Its in quotations because how could he not see it coming eventually? They all hug, sans PG, who contemplates how fortunate she is and strategic she needs to be.

Huddled in the rain hiding cave, Todd laments his current situation and laments being “so close”. You could be going home sooner than expected Todd…Huh? A little foreshadowing perhaps.

At the challenge, they’re paired with their relatives and forced to find each other in a maze and reach the finishing point with their partner all while blindfolded. Erik has his mom, Amanda her sister, PG her dad, Todd his sister and there is some talk of a miscarriage, Courtney her walking stereotype of a British dad and Denise with her husband. Denise and her husband win, because they had to form a bond because they agreed to legally love each other. Denise takes Todd, Amanda and their siblings on the reward. Which is a meal on a cruise.

Take off the fucking blindfolds already.

On said reward, they eat, corroborate and kind of lose their dignity upon the sight of a chocolate cake, Denise talks to her children on the phone That was “donated” by Sprint, as Jeff made a point to say, even he looked nauseous in doing so. when they return to camp they have apparently scraped chocolate off the cake and consolidated it on their fingers for their less fortunate tribe mates to eat directly off their digits, and they do so accordingly. Erik hones in on Amanda like a heat seeking missile. It’s time to pop that cherry, buddy.

Back at camp, Erik, surprisingly, is the first to admit he thought Todd was lying about the reward. PG remains virtually silent, Erik covers his bases by saying that if it is true the family has his condolences, but Courtney runs with this thing and should Todd have been sincere about the entire thing, she managed to offend not only Todd, but his parents, both his sisters, and anyone who’s dealt with such an experience. If you didn’t see it but are familiar with Courtney, it’s basically the type of rant you would expect from her. You know, the kind lacking any type of perspective.

The camera jumps around a bit between Denise talking strategy with her husband and Todd and Amanda discussing it with their siblings. Denise knows she’s taking a chance, her two psuedo-alliance members seem quite certain she isn’t making it past final four, which is an awful place to finish. You stay on the island longer than anyone else and aren’t amply rewarded for it. Really, I’d almost rather finish last. Todd admits that he figured people would assume he’s putting on airs about his sister’s misfortune to curry favors, but he promises everyone in the vicinity that he was being completely earnest.

We say goodbye to the family members, and Todd acts like a hard ass, explaining his intentions are squarely focused on the game. And this is why people would think he’s lying about his dead unborn niece.

Denise and PG discuss Denise screwing over PG by not reciprocating the reward invitation, and PG is surprised by the actions, but not visibly angry. She’s not really in a position to be.

At IC, their running across and obstacle course to get one of two keys from a trivia question, they take the key under the correct statement of the two offered, they riun back to where they started and use the keys to unlock some boxes, if the key works, they move onto the second question, if it doesn’t, then theyt have to go back and get the second key from the other question. First to unlock all three boxes wins immunity.

Out of everyone, Erik gives a remarkably uninspiring performance. He seems like an affable enough bloke, but their isn’t anyone that’s been more ill-equipped to participate in any of these contrived competitions. Or pass a physical. He doesn’t get a single box opened. Todd has the lead throughout the entire course, then fails on the last box, has to return for his last key and opens the door for PG to win, which she does.

Back from commercials to a PG sobbing for joy, and she seems spent, but we’re glad she’s still there. She’s great at strategizing but awful at communicating and persuading.

Tod watches on as Erik and Amanda row a canoe auspiciously, Erik is upset because no one seems to trust Todd, and that must be infuriating. Because everyone likes and trusts Erik, but by virtue of coincidentally ending up on the wrong tribes from the get go, he is doomed.

Erik and PG attempt to sway Denise from her vote, pointing out that she doesn’t have a prayer at F3 with Courtney, Amanda and Todd all collecting enemies. She is still hesitant, no idea why. I could see the logic where she doesn’t think she could win a final vote against Erik or PG and she wants to take her chances at immunity challenge to get to F3, but that seems tenuous. Even she has to realize she has a better chance in a group vote than at immunity with two stronger competitors. Never underestimate the power of denial I suppose.

At TC, PG and Erik speak in no uncertain terms about the idiocy of someone at the bottom of the stronger alliance not forcing a tie and improving their stance. Essentially for Denise it’s an issue of either guaranteeing yourself in the final four and not risk going home tonight, or risk going home tonight but dramatically improving your chance to win. We go to the vote. Erik and Todd vote for each other, Denise votes and she voices over that it’s the biggest mistake she’ll make in the game….not a good sign if you’re the aspiring virgin musician of the tribe. The votes read as such:
Erik
Todd
Todd
Erik
Erik
Erik
In the end, he still barely spoke. Has their been a more unknown character who actually made it over thirty days than Todd. It’s looking pretty formulaic at the moment, and right now it looks like it could get interesting at F3, and even more so tonight should PG win immunity.

In his parting words, Erik talks as much as he did all season and pats himself on the back, though is disappointed he didn’t win. Good lord he must be upset with his edit.

Tonight: Just like every previews, this one blatantly lies to us, suggesting that Amanda targets Todd, I guess to guarantee she loses the final vote?

Also, since the finale is on its traditional Sunday, we’ll recap tonight’s episode and make room for the ever elusive weekend post