this week in tv
Dec. 13th, 2010 11:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhSince all that's running this week is HIMYM and Hawaii 5-0, I'm just combining last week and this week for one final post before the holiday.
HIMYM
"The Mermaid Theory": A good old-fashioned episode that played around with continuity, went back to Barney and Lily's weird chemistry, did a little more work on Robin and Marshall's, and used the Captain quite well. More Captain, less Zoe, I say, though that's not what we're going to get.
"False Positive": And that's why I love Ted. What a fantastic Ted episode, with him being the strongly needed voice of reason and just being generally awesome and pitching a fit and everyone listens to him even if he does have to sacrifice his gingerbread house. Ted ♥ ♥ ♥
Hawaii 5-0
"Palekaiko": We need shirtless Chin Ho. Though I was glad to see that (1) the serial killer thing wasn't endless and (2) Danny and Steve are figuring out how to use their bickering for good.
"Hana'a'a Makehewa": HAHAHAHAHAHA OMFG WO FAT. Wo Fat, the Moriarty to McGarrett's Holmes, finally shows up, and he's … the Chairman from Iron Chef America. (Wonder if he got the gig from being on Dancing with the Stars?) Also the return of Spike's brunet Irish descendant the drug dealer. (No body, no death, Steve. Come on.)
I hope that with the whole $10million debacle we can move more quickly to resolving Chin's whole situation, because I'm over hearing about it and because then Kono can lay off the defensive act and Chin can stop looking like a kicked puppy. It's boring.
Castle: I've said it before but the moments when I get bumped out of the narrative are when they've messed up the NY geography or feel, and when they were standing around under the awning for The Old Haunt was one of those times. There are several still-functioning bars in NYC that were once speakeasies, but none of them look like an upper east side restaurant from the street. To the whiskey drinkers: would a 150 year old whiskey still be drinkable?
Glee: What a missed opportunity. I mean, if they wanted to be all meta about it why not just do one of those classic Christmas specials where everyone just "drops in" on Mr. Schue since they all wound up there anyway? I'm cool with the recreations—I loved Britanny/Britney—but the whole Sue as Grinch thing was too on the nose to be entertaining. (Though Schue's list of gifts for her—robot dog and a soul—was a great gag.) And who arranged these songs? The only moments I really enjoyed were Britanny as Cindy Lou Who, everything about Coach Bieste, and "Baby It's Cold Outside."
Top Chef: Wow. Linda Holmes at MonkeySee did a great write up comparing Tiffani and Jen in this episode that's a must-read. I'm loving the continuing maturation of Tiffani, and hope this season gives her some real redemption from her behavior first season where she was almost too easy to hate (and that first season had some really strong female chefs who were adored, like LeeAnn who went on to be the culinary producer for the next four seasons of the show). I wasn't surprised at the gender breakdown of the teams because Spike is an ass and Tiffani is a big believer in ladies in the kitchen so she would have reacted to that, but I did love Dale's description of the teams as "the spice girls and their bodyguard versus the cool guys and their babysitter" especially as he was calling himself a spice girl. This season is going to be GREAT.
Community: Everything I wish the Glee holiday episode had been but wasn't. I love the idea that Christmas can mean something even to those who don't celebrate it, and certainly the whole Chinese food-and-movie tradition of some of my Jewish pals is part of that. The meaning of Christmas is that we give it meaning, which sounds like a tautology but really isn't. The songs were fantastic, all the emotional moments were earned, some hard truths laid down to Britta, Annie, Jeff, and Shirley, Troy was his usual loyal self, and Pierce unexpectedly came through just when all was lost, like he always does. My favorite moment: the end, when the TV is turned off and we see their non-claymation selves in the reflection of the darkened screen.
God, I just love this show.
HIMYM
"The Mermaid Theory": A good old-fashioned episode that played around with continuity, went back to Barney and Lily's weird chemistry, did a little more work on Robin and Marshall's, and used the Captain quite well. More Captain, less Zoe, I say, though that's not what we're going to get.
"False Positive": And that's why I love Ted. What a fantastic Ted episode, with him being the strongly needed voice of reason and just being generally awesome and pitching a fit and everyone listens to him even if he does have to sacrifice his gingerbread house. Ted ♥ ♥ ♥
Hawaii 5-0
"Palekaiko": We need shirtless Chin Ho. Though I was glad to see that (1) the serial killer thing wasn't endless and (2) Danny and Steve are figuring out how to use their bickering for good.
"Hana'a'a Makehewa": HAHAHAHAHAHA OMFG WO FAT. Wo Fat, the Moriarty to McGarrett's Holmes, finally shows up, and he's … the Chairman from Iron Chef America. (Wonder if he got the gig from being on Dancing with the Stars?) Also the return of Spike's brunet Irish descendant the drug dealer. (No body, no death, Steve. Come on.)
I hope that with the whole $10million debacle we can move more quickly to resolving Chin's whole situation, because I'm over hearing about it and because then Kono can lay off the defensive act and Chin can stop looking like a kicked puppy. It's boring.
Castle: I've said it before but the moments when I get bumped out of the narrative are when they've messed up the NY geography or feel, and when they were standing around under the awning for The Old Haunt was one of those times. There are several still-functioning bars in NYC that were once speakeasies, but none of them look like an upper east side restaurant from the street. To the whiskey drinkers: would a 150 year old whiskey still be drinkable?
Glee: What a missed opportunity. I mean, if they wanted to be all meta about it why not just do one of those classic Christmas specials where everyone just "drops in" on Mr. Schue since they all wound up there anyway? I'm cool with the recreations—I loved Britanny/Britney—but the whole Sue as Grinch thing was too on the nose to be entertaining. (Though Schue's list of gifts for her—robot dog and a soul—was a great gag.) And who arranged these songs? The only moments I really enjoyed were Britanny as Cindy Lou Who, everything about Coach Bieste, and "Baby It's Cold Outside."
Top Chef: Wow. Linda Holmes at MonkeySee did a great write up comparing Tiffani and Jen in this episode that's a must-read. I'm loving the continuing maturation of Tiffani, and hope this season gives her some real redemption from her behavior first season where she was almost too easy to hate (and that first season had some really strong female chefs who were adored, like LeeAnn who went on to be the culinary producer for the next four seasons of the show). I wasn't surprised at the gender breakdown of the teams because Spike is an ass and Tiffani is a big believer in ladies in the kitchen so she would have reacted to that, but I did love Dale's description of the teams as "the spice girls and their bodyguard versus the cool guys and their babysitter" especially as he was calling himself a spice girl. This season is going to be GREAT.
Community: Everything I wish the Glee holiday episode had been but wasn't. I love the idea that Christmas can mean something even to those who don't celebrate it, and certainly the whole Chinese food-and-movie tradition of some of my Jewish pals is part of that. The meaning of Christmas is that we give it meaning, which sounds like a tautology but really isn't. The songs were fantastic, all the emotional moments were earned, some hard truths laid down to Britta, Annie, Jeff, and Shirley, Troy was his usual loyal self, and Pierce unexpectedly came through just when all was lost, like he always does. My favorite moment: the end, when the TV is turned off and we see their non-claymation selves in the reflection of the darkened screen.
God, I just love this show.
