Here are the weekend box office returns for the weekend ending 1/30/11:
Cougar Town 2×13 — “Lost Children”: This episode wasn’t one of my favorites. There were a few funny lines, but overall, it just seemed a bit odder than usual for CT. I think a big part of my dislike was the fact that I was extremely distracted by Ellie’s sudden purchase of a massive pickup truck and her desire to turn into a tomboy. All I kept thinking was the only reason she got that truck was to provide the crew with a convenient place to hide while playing the sardine game. When has Ellie ever hinted that she wanted a truck or wanted to dress in men’s flannel shirts? So, so out of left field…
Criminal Minds 6×13 — “The Thirteenth Step”: OMG, I HATED this episode!!! The “Natural Born Killers” angle could have been OK, but the script handled practically ever aspect of the story in the wrong way. I cannot stand episodes in which the unsubs are on the screen more than the BAU. God, I do not tune in to see guest stars overacting in every single scene. I want to see the regulars do some, you know, PROFILING. To make things worse, the director tried to get all “creative” with weird special effects and jittery camera angles to show how unstable the killers were. Top all that off with even more gratuitous sex and violence than usual, and you have the makings for one of the worst CM episodes ever. Just utter crap.
2×06 — “Kim”: Aw, I actually really liked this episode! I thought the little boy who played Kim was truly adorable, and I loved how everyone in the camp (well, with the predictable exception of Frank) bonded with him. Also, I was surprised at how tense the minefield scene was. Obviously Trapper and the boy were going to survive, but my heart was still beating pretty fast. And of course I was sad for Trapper and his foiled adoption plans when Kim’s mom turned up at the 4077th in the end. *Sniff*
2×07 — “L.I.P. (Local Indigenous Personnel): I was kind of surprised at the themes brought up in this episode because they seemed a bit forward for an early ’80s sitcom. First, there was the Army guy that wanted to marry a Korean woman (or L.I.P. in military parlance) after having a child out of wedlock. Was that sort of thing the norm for television shows back when M*A*S*H was on the air? I doubt it. Then, there was the nurse that Pierce was dating who openly referred to the Korean woman in question as a “g–k”. Wow. At least Pierce was rightfully disgusted and simply walked away from her instead of carrying on with the date. I doubt he bothered sending her any valentine’s day fruit after she showed her true colors like that.
2×08 — “The Trial of Henry Blake”: Yet another episode dealing with Henry’s fitness to be commander of the 4077th. This one was written by McLean Stevenson, so it’s no wonder that he featured himself so heavily in the script. Still, the whole idea of the 4077th not being up to Army regulations is getting to be a tiresome theme. This doesn’t go on for all 11 seasons, does it? I know both the Blake character and Burns character leave relatively early in the run, so maybe the thread will be dropped once Col. Potter comes aboard.
Castle 3×13 — “Knockdown”: OK, this was the episode we’ve all been waiting for because of THE KISS. I have to admit that I was dreading the ol’ stakeout fake-out, and even though the kiss was used as a ruse, it clearly meant more to the characters. I LOVED it!!! The expression Beckett gives when Castle first unexpectedly grabs her face, the way she goes back for a second kiss without even checking to see if the guard was buying the diversion, the way they’re both kind of dazed with an “OMG, what did we just do?!” look on their faces, Castle touching his face like a high school girl at the end…. everything was just perfect!! I hardly ever ship TV characters and root for them to get together, but I have been aboard the Castle/Beckett train since Day 1. It’s about time these two started to acknowledge that there’s something there. Everyone else can see it, so it’s ridiculous for two full-grown adults to pretend to be oblivious. Oh, and Castle’s “It’s not about the books anymore” was so, so great. He’s ready to take the next step.
What made the kiss even better was that the rest of the episode was pretty damn good too. It was most definitely worth the wait!
Enjoy the pivotal scene again right here. I’ve already watched it 20 times and still can’t get enough!
Are you interested in short films? To be honest, I’ve never really watched any shorts before, not even those that win Oscars. But this weekend I took a look at something called Smoke, a 2008 effort by Polish filmmaker Grzegorz Cisiecki. It’s described as “the story of [a] person who became the captive of surrealistic madness” and is surprisingly engrossing. I say “surprisingly” because the surrealistic nature of the scenes (and complete lack of dialogue) make it impossible to determine with certainty exactly what is going on. But the beautiful photography and alluring scenes kept me watching throughout the entire 7-minute running time. If you like David Lynch’s work, you’ll probably enjoy Smoke as well. Check it out right here!
NCIS 8×12 — “Recruited”: The main case was pretty interesting this week. I think this was the first time the Navy victim was a gay man. I’m kind of glad the show went there because there are obviously gays in the military, so there are bound to be instances of hate crime too. I pegged the father of that kid as the killer the first time he was shown. Just the way he reacted to the dead sailor’s picture was enough of a giveaway for me. Usually I don’t figure out these cases, so this must have been an easy one. I’m glad Gibbs helped Paul join up at the end. It seemed like that boy was really grasping for a lifeline, and the Navy would do him a lot of good.
I wasn’t too fond of the Bob Newhart storyline. I understand bringing in guest actors, but they should at least be more central to the plot (like DiNozzo’s or Ziva’s fathers usually are). This seemed like kind of a waste.
Criminal Minds 6×12 — “Corazon”: Ugh, I did not like this episode at all. Reid is not my favorite character, so the fact that he was front and center the whole time probably had a lot to do with my reaction. Also, what was up with all the gore? Man, it seems like CM is going above and beyond this year in terms of showing blood and mutilation. Prior to the chicken sacrifice, I thought it was odd that they showed the decapitated human head, but cut away when it was time to look at the mutilated dog pictures. So it’s OK to see traumatized human bodies, but seeing bad things done to animals would make viewers squeamish? Um, OK.
Since I don’t have much else to say about this episode, I just want to rant about one of my biggest cop show pet peeves. I absolutely HATE how TV shows make it look like those Kevlar vests are light as air. Those things way about 30lbs and are heavy and bulky as hell!!! I know it wouldn’t make sense for the actors to be weighed down with actual Kevlar, but at least they can try to…act…like the vests are heavy. Criminal Minds is not the only show that does it. They ALL do, and it bugs me every time. I know, I know… this is a small thing and it’s a bit unreasonable to get so worked up about it. But isn’t that the nature of pet peeves?
30 Rock 5×11 — “Mrs. Donaghy”: I loved the Jack-Liz parts of the show, and the Angie Jordan reality show bit, but could have done without everything else. I thought it was hilarious that Liz and Jack ended up getting married because she was wearing white clothes from a tennis pro shop and had a mosquito net over her head that the French minister took to be a bridal veil. OMG, those scenes had me rolling! Of course, that never should have happened. Liz had no business printing or signing her name on a document she couldn’t read or understand. And, obviously Jack wouldn’t need her signature in order to get a divorce. The marriage could very well simply be annulled because of the mistake. Still, I realize that minor detail was needed to move the story along, so I didn’t mind. I loved the scene at the end where it showed that Liz and Jack have so much more than an employer-employee relationship. I don’t necessarily want them to get together romantically (they are not a match that way at all), but I love their friendship soooo much!
Modern Family 2×13 — “Caught in the Act”: This episode was pretty funny, even though a lot of it was predictable. I loved, loved, LOVED Alex trying to wash her friggin’ EYES after the three of them walked in on Claire and Phil “in the act”. That was awesome! Luke’s lines were hilarious, too. “Whatever they were doing, it looked like Dad was winning” and “He had that look on his face like when he smells a new car” (or whatever) both had me practically dying over here. And then of course the double entendres when Gloria came over to try to delete her email. Phil was about to have a heart attack when Gloria suggested that she join them next time…LOL.
Mitchell and Cameron were the weak storyline this time around. As soon as the stain appeared, I knew they were going to pin it on the boy. I didn’t guess the strawberry allergy and Epi pen ordeal, so it was good to see a bit of a twist there. Still, it would be nice to see these two do something other than A) bicker or B) get into an extremely awkward situation and freak out.
Sarah Palin’s Alaska 1×05 — “Alaskan Hospitality” & 1×06 — “Rafting and Dog Mushing”: I really enjoyed the “Alaskan Hospitality” ep! I am not a Kate Gosselin fan and never watched her show, but I do know a little bit about her just because of how much she has been in tabloids and celebrity gossip sites in the past few years. I can’t believe what a miserable, selfish person she is! Sure, it was a dreary day, cold and wet and all that. I’m not a camping person either, so I could certainly sympathize with her position. But the fact of the matter is that she was a guest, and should have acted like one. Instead, she carried herself as a flippin’ princess and seemed flabbergasted that no one was paying attention to her needs. The kids were clearly having fun, yet all Kate could do was stand under the tent making snide comments about everything (though I do have to admit that I laughed when she said, “Why would anyone want to pretend that they’re homeless?”).
And how about when she told her kids that if they wanted to stay because they were having fun, they would have to be Palins, not Gosselins? OMG, what a horrid thing to say to your own kids!! Of course, Kate then topped herself by being snotty to Piper when she said, “Do you actually enjoy this?” Piper’s half-apologetic response of, “I like the rain” was kinda sad. Piper clearly was excited about being with the Gosselin kids, but then the reality of it came crashing down just a few hours later. Wow. Sarah was pretty gracious under the circumstances. I would have lost my patience with Kate a lot sooner.
The rafting/dog mushing episode was OK. The rafting looked like a lot of fun, to be honest, but I’m not so sure about dog mushing. I don’t know anything about sled dogs, but they didn’t seem to be living in ideal conditions. Obviously they don’t need to be coddled like, say, a Yorkie would, but still…
I liked the part where Sarah and Piper worked in the diner. I especially enjoyed Piper’s exasperation with her mom who just “talks too much”. The “yapping” hand gestures were priceless!
It’s been a very long time since I’ve watched any of my M*A*S*H DVDs, but since one of my goals is to get through the entire series in order, I have to keep plugging away in my free time. Here are a few thoughts on episodes 2×01-2×05. Admittedly I’m not digging very deep here, but sometimes there really isn’t much to say!
2×01 — “Divided We Stand”: This episode was just OK. Since it was the first episode of the second season, it was kind of geared towards re-acquainting viewers with the main cast of characters. In fact, the end tag included a rundown of the major players just to make sure viewers were clued in. As for the plot — well, it was pretty predictable. Of course the psychiatrist would find the group to be highly dysfunctional and of course Klinger would be displaying all of his best prom dresses in an effort to get his Section 8 in front of a real psychiatrist. But there was no question the shrink would see that the 4077th was very effective in crunch time. Like the unit would actually be broken up that early in the series? Yeah, right!
2×02 — “5 o’clock Charlie”: This one was kind of odd.　The whole idea of a bomber pilot coming at the exact same time every day only to toss a mini bomb out of the cockpit by hand was pretty ridiculous. I know a lot of the things that go on in this show are ridiculous, but this kind of stood out in terms of the “Yeah, right” factor.
2×03 — “Radar’s Report”: I don’t like it when M*A*S*H tries to deal with “serious” issues like this. What was up with that ominous music as the wild-eyed North Korean wielded the scalpel in the OR? I was laughing hysterically at the unintentionally comedy! Then when I thought we’d reached the peak of cheesiness, the NK guy started slashing away and injuring people. OMG, the choreography and editing were absolutely horrible!!! Oh, and then menacing Trapper at the end of the ep when the kid he was operating on died while the NK soldier lived… Oh, man, eye-roll moment for sure.
2×04 — “For the Good of the Outfit”: This was just OK. There wasn’t anything really memorable or funny about it. Were all the episodes this disconnected? There seems to be no continuity at all from one ep to the next. They could be shown in practically any order and still make sense.
2×05 — “Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde”: Meh to this one. It wasn’t fun at all watching Hawkeye walk around in a sleep-deprived daze throughout the entire episode. I don’t mind that the show attempted to address the issue of overworked M*A*S*H surgeons, but geez, at least make some of it funny!
Here are the weekend box office returns for the weekend ending 1/16/11: