By John Keegan and Edmund Boys
The gloves come off in “The Newsroom” as “The 112th Congress” convenes. Some of the show’s disparate strands come together and the main event comes sharply into focus. What also becomes clear is that, despite the real-world events swirling outside, life inside the Atlantis World Media tower is firmly embedded in the Sorkin-verse. Like ”The West Wing”, this is a show about idealism and wish fulfillment, only this time around with a license to reinterpret the history we already know.
The gloves come off in “The Newsroom” as “The 112th Congress” convenes. Some of the show’s disparate strands come together and the main event comes sharply into focus. What also becomes clear is that, despite the real-world events swirling outside, life inside the Atlantis World Media tower is firmly embedded in the Sorkin-verse. Like ”The West Wing”, this is a show about idealism and wish fulfillment, only this time around with a license to reinterpret the history we already know.
"White Collar" has become one of those old, reliable shows that I can count on for its consistency. The show is never so dramatic or dark as to seriously challenge me as a viewer, but it's also never been disposable fluff, either. It may never be as gripping or emotionally involving as other standbys such as "Fringe" or "Supernatural", but the characters are always given enough depth and development to make the journey a worthwhile one. The return of "White Collar" was a reminder to me of just how fond of the show I've become, and the premiere is a great example of the show's strengths.
It's a bit odd to think that this was intended to be the season 5 finale for "Eureka". If this were an episode from somewhere in the middle of the season, I might have thought of it as being one of the more memorable ones of the season. But as a culmination of the "Matrix" storyline, I found it sorely lacking. And it would have been absolutely inexcusable for this to be the series finale. It sure doesn't help that certain threads are left dangling that were presumably meant to be resolved in a further six episodes. The series finale sure is going to have its work cut out for it.
Despite some of the casting changes that had been announced during the between-season hiatus, I somehow managed to overlook the clear implication that the series was moving towards a major overhaul. So it's understandable that I wound up backtracking more than once during the course of this episode, trying to wrap my brain around the shifts in the status quo. I imagine Annie Walker was in much the same situation.
There is a reason why I prefer shows that take chances. It's not exactly that I'm going to see something different, but it's more an indication that the writers have free reign over what the characters are doing and the choices they make. They should not be afraid to take chances with their story. This relates to "Falling Skies", particularly this episode, because I've noticed that I can pretty much predict exactly where everything is going to go. What everyone is going to do.
Tonight Destination Truth kicks off its fifth season with two back-to-back episodes. Josh Gates and his team will look for Bigfoot in a cave in the jungles of Vietnam in the first episode, and in the second they'll return to Romania to the Hoja Bachu Forest and also visit the Mayan ruins of Tikal to hunt for the Belize Goblin.
Tonight White Collar returns to USA Network with all new episodes. The fourth season picks up where the last left off with Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) on the run after Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), who had been working hard to get Neal off his ankle monitor, gave him the signal to leave before he ended up in jail again.
Not for the first time, an episode of "Lost Girl" has a thin, forgettable A-story and builds much more interesting character beats and arcs around it -- but unfortunately, this episode's A-story was following up on the Lauren and Lachlan beats of the previous episode and the cliffhanger that seemed, at the time, to promise a dramatic turn of events for all characters involved.
Despite all the promises by the producers and writers that this season would get things back on track, the series continues to be hobbled by a lack of focus and a crippling number of unrelated, mind-numbing subplots. The best thing that could happen to this show is a massive killing spree, and not the kind that gets resolved with characters being turned at the last possible minute.