HEROES
Season 3 Episode 2
Volume Three: “Villains”
Chapter Two: “The Butterfly Effect”
Written by Tim Kring
Directed by Greg Beeman
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

“You have no idea of the fire that you’re playing with. You don’t screw with time.”
-- Mama P

Say what?! (In reaction to Mama P’s big cliffhanging reveal, and not the quote above.)
Urrrr… this better be some cockamamie scheme on Mama P’s part, ‘cause if not, why are we dipping into hackneyed soap opera territory? (Wasn’t Peter’s amnesia last season bad enough?)
And while I’m happy to see a bigger role for Mama P, given that she’s now in charge thanks to the Company’s chain of command, I am terribly disappointed that Bob has now suffered one of those thankless Heroes deaths: blink, and the character’s history. (And it happens off-screen to boot.)
And now poor Elle’s out of a job… but only after she inadvertently causes the escape of about a dozen powered lowlifes from Level 5 (when she lets out a massive electrical discharge as Sylar is cutting her head open, she causes the power grid to go down, and presto, escaped supervillains).


That escape gets Mr. B out as well, and he runs off into the night, but only after ensuring Sylar’s confinement (which Mama P looks about to rescind, thanks in part to the reveal that, gasp, he’s her son!).
Sigh.
As I said though, maybe this is Mama P trying to manipulate Sylar into doing her bidding, by giving him a mother figure by claiming to be his real mother.
Gods, I hope so.


So Mr. B heads back home, to have a brief reunion with Claire, and is set to go off again, to take down the Level 5 escapees.
But not before he brings back Claire’s pyrokinetic bio-mom Meredith, to keep his family safe.
Hurrah!
And I say that without sarcasm, as, honestly, this was one of the few high points of the episode. I just hope that Meredith is on the level here, ‘cause she did seem a tad mercenary the last time we saw her…

Oh, and one of the Level 5 escapees, Jesse Murphy (played in a little bit of stunt casting by Veronica Mars alum, Francis Capra), is where scarred Peter-from-the-future “put” the real Peter. (Does Future Boy feel like such a d!ck now, or what? Is a portion of Volume Three basically just cleaning up the idiot mess he caused by gunning down Nathan, while the other is cleaning up Hiro’s idiot mess?)
So now Capra gets to share screen time with Milo Ventimiglia in the role of supervillain on the lam (does Capra get half a paycheck then?)
Jesse’s power: sound manipulation.


And my mention of The Fly in response to Mo’s totally irresponsible “oh, I’ll inject myself with an untested compound because I am so conflicted and tortured right now” moment?
Well, what do we have here but a scene straight out of Cronenberg’s remake, where a shirtless Mo is hanging off the rafters, then does some wall-climbing? He then makes the moves on Maya, who succumbs to his shirtless charms, and ends up in bed with him.
Of course, he wakes up in the middle of the night, and, well, he seems to be… flaking. Or something.
You know, he’s looking in the mirror, very Fly-like, and there are some odd looking patches of skin on his back that are coming off.
Sigh.
So we’re raiding soap operas and sci fi remakes.


Meanwhile, Nathan’s Linderman appears to be a figment of his imagination.
Gods, Nathan is certifiable.
Either that or Linderman (who is supposed to be dead) is just invisible to everyone else, but that’s just plain silly, right?
Heh.
Nathan, by the way, takes the offer for the junior Senator seat, provided Tracy-who-looks-exactly-like-Nikki will be on his team.


Oh, and Tracy-who-looks-exactly-like-Nikki? Well, she apparently has the power to instantaneously deep freeze anyone she touches, and of course, when a human insta-popsicle falls to the ground, the body shatters, leaving itty bitty bits of bloody ice all over the place.
Ick.
(The poor sap who gets the messy death? The Greatest American Hero himself, William Katt! Stunt casting, hurrah!)

And Parkman?
‘Ported to Africa, where he meets Usutu (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine), who knows Parkman’s name, and claims that he shouldn’t be there, and that this is not the future he painted.
Another Isaac?
Oh, and Usutu is apparently the one who painted that cracking globe symbol which Parkman saw in the previous episode.
(And why hasn’t anyone wondered what happened to Parkman? Has no one noticed that’s he’s gone missing?)


Hiro (I’m the idiot who’s responsible for that dangerous half-formula being stolen by some super-speedster, and can’t I see that how I’m treating Ando could very well turn him against me?) Nakamura on the other hand, has a plan to track Daphne the super-speedster and catch her before she steals the other half of the formula.
Fine, let’s see how that pans out, though why do I get the feeling that won’t work out too well either?


Claire, meanwhile, realizes that she now can feel no pain, which troubles her deeply since, despite her extraordinary regeneration, what kept her grounded and human before was the fact that she could still feel pain.
Now, while I admit that’s an interesting turn of events, the “attempt #7” scene is curiously lacking in the emotional weight department. I’m not sure if the greenscreen is totally to blame (as such shots always seem to be bereft of any genuine tension due to their artificiality), but it certainly doesn’t help any.

Meanwhile, Mama P has a disturbing (and rather comic book-y) dream where some of the heroes are shown being defeated/killed by a bunch of baddies, which include Nikki (or whatever the hell her name is) and Parkman Sr.


Well, I can’t say that that was significantly better than the first hour, and I have to say that this troubles me a bit.
After the largely slapdash and compromised affair that was Volume Two, I had hoped that this third volume would waste no time and from the opening, immediately detonate at ground zero and recapture the glory of the golden age of Heroes (back in Season 1, when Bryan Fuller was still in the house).
Sadly, that didn’t happen.
There are still too many characters running about, and worse, some of them are acting rather idiotically, apparently just to kick-start some subplots.
And then there’s that whole Sylar-as-long-lost-Petrelli-son reveal.
Urg.


Well, hope springs eternal, and there’s always next week for another shot at redemption…

Parting shot: In the lag between the time the premiere aired, I got to see it and wrote this review, and today, when I finally got to post the review, news broke regarding the “letting go” of Heroes co-executive producers Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander. (Details here and here.)
As much as this came as a shock, how this will affect the show is also at the forefront of my mind.
It has already been indicated that Kring will be “simplifying” the storytelling, and “refining the tone of the show.” There’s also a bit about—thank Heavens—“emphasiz[ing] character development more than plot twists.”
I imagine the exact repercussions of this sudden shake-up will become evident sometime in the second half of the current season, during Volume Four (reportedly titled “Fugitives”).
Though it does seem like Loeb and Alexander have been shafted—and who exactly did the shafting is up for debate—this does present yet another opportunity for the show to clean up its act (if Loeb and Alexander were indeed the problematic pieces in the Writers’ Room).
Like I said, hope springs eternal. Let’s see, shall we?

(Images courtesy of comicbookresources.com, gregbeeman.blogspot.com, and eonline.com.)

HEROES
Season 3 Episode 1
Volume Three: “Villains”
Chapter One: “The Second Coming”
Written by Tim Kring
Directed by Allan Arkush
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

So.
If it’s one of the things that would occasionally irk me about Heroes, it would be those scattershot episodes where so much was going on in the 40+ minute running time that the hour would end up featuring a host of headless chickens running about, and would ultimately feel unsatisfyingly choppy.
Well, despite creator Tim Kring being in the writer’s seat for this first half of the Season 3 2-hour opener, this is one of those squawking, stutter-skip chapters.


I’ll give Kring props for the reveal that the gunman who took down Nathan at Volume Two’s close is a scarred Peter from 4 years in the future, who’s about to actually be killed by that future’s Claire, before he ‘ports back and guns Nathan down.
And though that does open up a whole new can of worms, it’s still probably the best idea here…


I guess the hugest letdowns would have to be the Hiro-Mo double header of “how irritatingly stupid can you get?”
Hiro, despite being told by Papa Sulu (via pre-recorded DVD message) not to open a safe containing a secret that could destroy the world (why couldn’t it have been a nice secret?), does exactly that, because he’s bored, only to have that secret—one-half of a formula; could it be the very formula Mo uses to come up with his magic syringe? More on that later—stolen by some speedster (Brea Grant).
The annoyingly impulsive time-traveling idiot—did he not learn anything from Volume Two?—then travels to the future, to see how the formula destroys the world. And there, not only does he witness betrayal at the hands of a powered Ando, but also the apparent destruction of Tokyo.
So he returns to the present, now suspicious of Ando, and sets off on his newfound quest (a quest he’d never had to have gone on in the first place if he’d only listened to Papa Sulu) to retrieve the half-formula.
Idiot.


Mo, meanwhile, apparently having grown tired of the Two Men and a Molly sitcom, shunts Molly off to God knows where (this happens off-screen, and we’re never really told exactly where she was tossed; Maya just claims that the youngster’s unfindable and safe now).
He’s then about to go jetting back to India (gods, does this man have no conviction?) when Maya almost does him in with her bleeding eyes bit, though she calms down before anything permanent happens.
This serves up a “Eureka!” moment for Mo, and he realizes that the key to the powers are in the adrenal glands, and not the blood, as postulated by Papa Suresh.
So he tests his theories, and voila, cobbles up a serum in a syringe that he claims will give a normal human powers! (So much for trying to figure out how to take away Maya’s powers… Couldn’t he have just tweaked one of those Company serums which could take away powers, like the one they used on Nikki last season? Make one that didn’t have that nasty side-effect of a little case of death?)
And after rambling on about breakthroughs and quantum leaps in science and the advancement of the species and “if only I had powers I might have been able to save my father,” Maya realizes that Mo could be getting that Mad Doctor gleam in his eye, and tells him to destroy whatever’s in the syringe.
We see idiot Mo at the docks, torn, about to toss the syringe into the sea (where it could have ended up being washed ashore somewhere and shot up by some poor addled junkie). But of course, we all know he’ll inject himself with it, and he does.
And he’s about to get rolled by some punks, when he displays some superhuman strength (he crushes a punk’s gun), and does an athletic flip to his feet.
So now he’s got powers, despite the wholly irresponsible way in which he got them. (Did this man not see The Fly? Nothing good can come out of self-experimentation. And did he not hear a word of what Maya said?)
Idiot.


There are a number of other bits in here that are also rather annoying.
We learn that Sylar doesn’t eat his victims’ brains, but just seems to study them, looking for a particular part of the brain, and somehow absorbing his victims’ powers that way.
That in itself isn’t annoying.
Rather, it’s how exactly did Sylar find Claire in Costa Verde? Why did Claire think that doing the Halloween bit and hiding in a closet would keep Sylar out? And why the hell didn’t he just TK the damned closet doors open?
And of course, Sylar figures out his next step by rifling through some very important-looking files that Mr. Bennett left behind, which are now in a conveniently-labeled box on the kitchen counter.
Ay, madre de Dios!


At any rate, we find out that Claire is different and special, and that she may very well be immortal, as Sylar apparently now is, as well (having successfully absorbed her powers).
We also find out that Linderman is alive, and is responsible for healing Nathan (yes, Nathan doesn’t die here, just as he didn’t die as a result of Volume One’s cliffhanger).
We also find out that someone who looks exactly like Nikki/Jessica (yes, Ali Larter is still in the building), yet named Tracy, is showing interest in the revived Nathan (who’s now spouting some blather about divine intervention and being God’s angel). Naturally, we first see this Tracy person wearing some sexy bedroom thingie.
Sigh.


And we have the scarred Peter-from-the-future somehow shunting the real Peter’s consciousness into some powered goon who’s incarcerated in Primatech’s Level 5.
At least, I think that’s what happened.
But if so, where’s the real Peter’s body?
And why is Mr. B in a cell? I was led to believe that at the end of Volume Two, he returned to the Company’s fold, in his previous capacity of operative.
What gives?


I was happy to see Cristine Rose though, and Mama P reveals that her power was indeed the dream bits, which Peter inherited.
Confronting the scarred Peter-from-the-future (who gunned down Nathan because supposedly, that moment when the world was told about the existence of powered individuals, was the moment his future went to sh!t), Mama P claims that now, this is a different timeline, all thanks to scarred Peter-from-the-future’s shooting of Nathan.
Hrrmmm.

I was also happy to see Ashley Crow, though that was for the briefest of moments, as she enters with Lyle to find a bloodied Claire…
Hopefully we see more of her in the second hour.

Oh, and Parkman gets ‘ported off (by scarred Peter-from-the-future) to some out-of-the-way wilderness with an apparently new Heroes–related symbol, which appears to be a globe that’s cracking, or breaking, with stuff gushing out of it.
We also see that symbol as graffiti in the Mo-gets-powers scene.


I dunno. There’s a lot in this hour that doesn’t feel right somehow.
Part of it is the sheer number of characters battling it out for screen time, yes, but I think part of it is the writing too.
I can’t recall a single moment here that can come close to many of the truly excellent and moving bits in the Heroes pilot. The Tim Kring that wrote that chapter doesn’t seem to be the same Tim Kring who wrote this one.
And, overused as it is, I love Yeats’ “The Second Coming,” but here, it just seems like the easy, lazy way out.
Why couldn’t we have just had one of Mo’s poignant voice-overs instead? (I am aware there are some critics of those bits, though I’m generally not one of them.)

At any rate, I’m looking forward to the second half of the season opener, if only because I’m hoping things pick up considerably, and the show gets back on track…

(Images courtesy of comicbookresources.com, ew.com, latimes.com, and gregbeeman.blogspot.com.)

FEAR ITSELF
Season 1 Episode 4
“In Sickness and In Health”
Written by Victor Salva
Directed by John Landis

The person you are marrying is a serial killer.


That’s what a typewritten note received by Samantha (Psych’s Maggie Lawson) reads, on her wedding day.
And though the premise does sound like some cheesy thriller by way of Lifetime, this was an episode brought to us by the tag team of Victor Salva (Jeepers Creepers) and John Landis (An American Werewolf In London).
With that sort of pedigree alone, this was high on my radar, and ultimately, I can appreciate the attempt, but am nonetheless disappointed with this particular union.


To begin with, though not as pronounced as it was in American Werewolf, that brand of Landis humour can still be detected in “In Sickness…”, and it’s an element that doesn’t quite benefit the episode’s set-up and action, much of which occurs in a dark, creaky church.
The thrills aren’t really there as well, and the overkill with the religious iconography—statuary and stained glass windows seem ubiquitous in this one—frankly gets annoying, as if Landis had nothing else to train his camera on. (Though they may perhaps be meant to foreshadow some gruesome climactic imagery, their repetitiveness just seems lazy and uninspired.)
The casting of Lawson’s co-star on Psych (and the USA Network show’s lead) James Roday as Samantha’s husband-to-be, Carlos, also serves to distract, as his portrayal of over-the-top fake psychic detective Shawn Spencer is a difficult shadow to shake; I don’t think I’d ever mentally equate the actor who plays Shawn Spencer with a groom and possible serial killer named “Carlos.”


And as far as Salva’s script goes, though I did note the narrative eventuality as soon as it was mentioned early on in the proceedings, I will nonetheless commend the script for the passably effective climactic twist.
The red herrings though, seem, in retrospect, to be desperate stabs at keeping the audience guessing.


There are some pluses, mind.
The stunt casting of Cancer Man himself, William B. Davis, as the hard-of-hearing Fr. Chris, is amusing, and the Hitchcock echo is also neatly slotted in.
And this is better than Landis’ earlier Masters of Horror entry, “Deer Woman,” so that’s something.
If however, you’re hard-pressed to see some truly worthwhile stuff from either Salva or Landis, you’d be better served by watching either Jeepers Creepers (just the first; you can skip the sequel) or An American Werewolf In London (not to be confused with the terrible sorta-sequel, Anthony Waller’s An American Werewolf In Paris).

(Images courtesy of nbc.com.)

FEAR ITSELF
Season 1 Episode 3
“Family Man”
Written by Daniel Knauf
Directed by Ronny Yu

Now this is more like it. I guess it is true, that the third time’s the charm.


“Family Man” follows the travails of Dennis Mahoney (Eureka’s Colin Ferguson), a church-going, successful bank VP, with everything going for him, including a loving, doting family, who, after a near-fatal accident, finds that he’s switched bodies with Richard Brodigan (Capote’s Clifton Collins, Jr.), the infamous serial killer known as “the Family Man.”


What I feel is the strongest aspect of “Family Man” is the fact that this is a well-written, excellently-acted entry that I don’t think I would have seen on Masters of Horror.
“Family Man” is a psychological thriller that, while admittedly being disturbing and having spots of violence, also succeeds in delving into areas of the genre that don’t rely on on-screen gore or bizarre creature effects to elicit audience reactions.
If Fear Itself means to carve out its own identity removed from MoH, this is definitely a step in the right direction.


And while the body switch is another tried-and-tested notion, what makes “Family Man” work like gangbusters is the noteworthy acting by Collins and Ferguson.
Since I had already been impressed by Collins’ amazing work on Bennett Miller’s Capote, I expected much from him, and wasn’t disappointed.
The pleasant surprise here was Ferguson, as I wasn’t quite sure if he’d be up to the task. Eureka, after all (and no offense meant), isn’t a vehicle that particularly asks much of its actors.
In “Family Man,” Ferguson plays Brodigan-in-Mahoney’s body as the unstable, potentially abusive spouse, the dinner scene a decidedly unsettling sequence.
I’d perhaps first need to watch all 26 MoH episodes again before making a definitive pronouncement, but I think it’s safe to say “Family Man” boasts some of the best acting in the history of the show (“the show” being Masters of Horror/Fear Itself).


Written by Daniel Knauf (who’s written for Carnivale and Supernatural) and directed by Ronny Yu (whose Bride of Chucky was a thoroughly enjoyable entry in the Child’s Play franchise), “Family Man” is the Fear Itself installment I’ve been waiting for, the one that says this is a show worth your time, a series capable of showcasing horror effectively on the small screen.
And if the show continues on this winning trajectory, it may just serve the cause of horror more potently than MoH’s spotty record did.

(Images courtesy of nbc.com.)

CHUCK
Season 1 Episode 13
“Chuck Versus the Marlin”
Written by Matthew Lau
Directed by Allan Kroeker

So the final episode before the freshman season was forced to shut down due to the writer’s strike involves Fulcrum bugging the Buy More with scores of GLG-20’s to smoke out the real identity of the Intersect.
The threat of Chuck’s being found out (and the resultant possibility of his being pulled away from his family and friends into isolated, protective custody), then coincides with Awesome’s plan to propose to Ellie.
And we all just know the second Awesome asks Chuck to keep his great granny’s ring for safekeeping that it will be anything but…


I suppose what I found vaguely annoying about this episode is that much of the cause and effect of the plot derives from the drunken antics of Lester and Jeff (who unknowingly spirit off the receiver containing the recordings of what the bugs have picked up), and the over-reacting of Morgan (who finds the ring and assumes it’s because Chuck is about to propose to Sarah).
Now, while the Buy More subplot this time out is, pardon me, pretty much married to the main secret agent plot, I usually find the Lester-Jeff tandem to be an irritating one. Morgan’s also a distinct pain when he bungles things up the way he does here.


But, as much as the plot itself annoyed me, the moments where the characters’ emotions take center stage—as when it looks like Chuck will have to be taken into protective custody without even getting to say goodbye to his loved ones, and he has to ask Sarah to make sure that they all know he loves them—once again keep Chuck a satisfying watch.
(I do hope though that Ellie and Awesome’s impending marriage will not mean that Sarah Lancaster and Ryan McPartlin will be absent from Season 2. Lancaster, in particular, is a great foil to Chuck, bringing out a lot of the character’s humanity, while McPartlin manages to balance the comedic role Awesome plays in the show’s goings-on, while still keeping the character human, due to his very clear love for Ellie; the sitcom-y feel of Awesome which bothered me when Chuck first kicked off has thankfully subsided somewhat.)


So, with that, we forcibly draw Season 1 to a close.
Now, due to the delay between the time I saw the episode and wrote this review, and this very moment, when it’s being posted, shooting for Season 2’s already begun.
Aside from the news of Nicole Richie’s guest spot, there’s also been word that the mythical Jill will finally be seen in Season 2, and The Faculty’s Jordana Brewster plays her. (Now that latter bit is casting to look forward to.)

(Images courtesy of nbc.com and aintitcool.com.)

FEAR ITSELF
Season 1 Episode 2
“Spooked”
Written by Matthew Venne
Directed by Brad Anderson

Ever since I came across Brad Anderson, courtesy of the psychological thriller, Session 9, I’ve been keeping tabs on his work, waiting for him to completely kick my a$$.
Session 9 didn’t quite do it, and neither did El Maquinista (The Machinist), and neither did his contribution to Season 2 of Masters of Horror, “Sounds Like.”
However, what all three did share was a strong visual style, that, as far as I was concerned, just needed an equally strong and solid script, to give Anderson the masterpiece I know is in him.
Sadly, though “Spooked” does have some strong psychological underpinnings (which has proven to be Anderson’s fascination), this proves to be the director’s blandest work, stylistically.
In fact, if I hadn’t seen the episode’s opening credits, I would not have immediately pegged “Spooked” as having been helmed by Anderson.


The episode follows Harry Seigal (Eric Roberts), a sleazy private eye with tons of bad karma from his past as a cop just waiting to bite him in the a$$.
Enter Meredith Kane (Cynthia Watros), who hires Harry to prove her husband is having an affair, a job that will open the floodgates to the multitude of sins in Harry’s past, and the traumatic event that lies at the very core of his tragic figure.


Now, as I alluded to above, Matthew Venne’s script takes pains in filling out Harry’s psyche, so much so that by episode’s end, we know exactly why Harry finds himself in the predicament he’s in. We can also fully appreciate the bitter irony of “Spooked”’s climax.
But, in focusing on the psychological aspect of the narrative, the supernatural element—which serves as the catalyst for Harry’s ordeal—is a tad glossed over. (And the set-up is rather transparent.)
Additionally, as I mentioned above, Anderson’s direction here is strangely a rather straight-forward affair, with none of the visual flair that made his past work engaging despite their shortcomings.


What does serve to make “Spooked” a nonetheless agreeable experience are the main performances. Roberts submits a flawed protagonist who manages to keep our attention, and, when it counts the most, elicit our sympathy. And while Watros has precious little screen time (three scenes, if I recall correctly), I still miss her over on Lost, so seeing her here was a neat little plus.

All in all, like “The Sacrifice” before it, “Spooked” has much more going for it in the pros column than it does in the cons.
It, however, is still not the hour that attests to Fear Itself being a television force to be reckoned with.

Parting shot: Reviews of El Maquinista and “Sounds Like” can be found in the Archive.

(Images courtesy of nbc.com.)

FEAR ITSELF
Season 1 Episode 1
“The Sacrifice”
Written by Mick Garris; based on the short story “The Lost Herd” by Del Howison
Directed by Breck Eisner

First off, the fact that it reads “Season 1” up there is a tad misleading.
Technically speaking, this series began its developmental life as the third season of Masters of Horror, before finding itself a new home away from Showtime.
With its move to NBC, the show has understandably had its gore quotient ratcheted down, and its nudity dispelled completely.
NBC has also proven to be more hands-on than Showtime ever was; as MoH—and thus, Fear Itself—creator Mick Garris, recounts, “… [NBC’s] notes weren’t always just suggestions, as ours were on Masters of Horror; they often were edicts.” (Though Garris is still credited as creator of Fear Itself, he is not actively involved in it.)
Given this baggage, I’ll do my best to review the show and its episodes on their own merits, though I imagine some comparisons to its former MoH incarnation may pop up every now and then.
And with that disclaimer out of the way, let’s get down to brass tacks…


Fear Itself opens with an installment whose script was written by Garris himself.
Based on the short story “The Lost Herd” by Del Howison (originally published in Strange Bedfellows, the twelfth entry in the erotic horror anthology series, Hot Blood), “The Sacrifice” follows four criminals—among them Friday Night Lights’ Jesse Plemons and The Nine‘s Jeffrey Pierce—who become stranded in a remote fort, where something sinister—and hungry—awaits.

The first thing that strikes me about “The Sacrifice” is that it actually looks like a slick television production, as opposed to the look MoH sported, which was invariably that of a low-budget horror feature.
The slicker look is, in this case, a potentially good thing. If the budgets on FI are about the same as those on MoH, it certainly doesn’t look that way.
But just because a show looks good, doesn’t mean it is, so let’s get deeper, shall we?


As far as Garris’ script goes, it’s serviceable, if not exactly distinguished. It utilizes a tried-and-tested horror convention, and attempts its own spin on it, resulting in a passably engaging hour.
Though not exactly riveting, I believe this is probably the best script Garris has written for the show, in either of its incarnations. (On MoH, Garris was responsible for writing and directing “Chocolate,” penning the worst Season 2 entry, “The V Word,” and for adapting Clive Barker in “Haeckel’s Tale” and “Valerie on the Stairs.”)
Considering his vacating of the premises, this isn’t too shabby a stamp to leave on his baby.
Like Garris’ script, Breck (Sahara) Eisner’s direction also does the job, though perhaps a tad unremarkably.
Eisner does, however, earn points for getting some good performances from Plemons, and Drive’s Mircea Monroe, who plays Chelsea, one of the fort’s inhabitants.


Having never read Howison’s original short story (I abandoned Hot Blood around its sixth volume, Stranger By Night, when the quality of the anthology had declined to an abysmal level),* I can’t really say if “The Lost Herd” was a stand-out Hot Blood entry.
As a Fear Itself/Masters of Horror installment though, “The Sacrifice” is a fairly effective piece, better than the more dreadful MoH entries (and there were a number of those; I’m lookin’ at you, “V Word”…), though with certainly a ways to go before reaching the laudable levels MoH achieved on a number of occasions.
Ultimately, as an opening salvo, it does its job, and I can only hope this show gets better as it goes along.

* Two excellent stories—Graham Masterton’s “The Jajouka Penis-Beetle” and Brian Hodge’s “Godflesh”—out of a field of 18 (most of the others being just plain terrible) blares “abysmal” in my book.

Parting shot: Reviews of “The V Word” and “Valerie on the Stairs” can be found in the Archive.

(Images courtesy of nbc.com.)

CHUCK
Season 1 Episode 12
“Chuck Versus the Undercover Lover”
Written by Phil Klemmer
Directed by Fred Toye
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

While a significant portion of the past 11 episodes has been dedicated to Chuck’s suddenly complicated love life, this installment shifts the focus to the love lives of Casey (yes, he actually has one of those), and, in the episode’s subplot, Ellie and Awesome.

The episode opens in Chechnya, 2004, and Casey is sleeping with AP photojournalist Ilsa Trinchina (Felicity‘s Sensa, Ivana Milicevic). But Ilsa apparently dies in a bomb blast, breaking Casey’s heart.
We then return to the present, where Chuck flashes on a whole list of Russian baddies in the registry of the swanky Grand Seville. And, no big surprise, he also sees Ilsa’s name there. Mentioning this to Casey only gets him throttled though. (Calling Casey “Sugar Bear,” Ilsa’s endearment for him, probably wasn’t the smartest idea.)
Chuck and Sarah are instructed to check out the Seville to try and determine why a—as Chuck so eloquently puts it—“douchebag convention” is going on there.

At the Seville, not only is Casey reunited with Ilsa (who claims to have been injured by the bomb and also initially lost her memory, a likely story), but Chuck also flashes on Victor Federov (Deadwood‘s Pasha Lychnikoff), apparently the top man in this Soviet baddie totem pole.
And wouldn’t you know it, but Ilsa’s about to get married to him…
Chuck is convinced Casey has been crushed by this turn of events and, dogged and determined, is eventually successful in getting Casey to talk to him. He also manages to convince Casey that he should fight for Ilsa, that maybe Ilsa doesn’t know that her fiancée is an evil sumb!tch (just as she apparently thought that Casey was an “energy consultant” during their Chechnya liaison).

Casey and Chuck end up crashing Sarah’s stake-out, and while Chuck gets Casey to talk to Ilsa (who’s by herself at the hotel bar), Chuck ends up having to plant a bug in the honeymoon suite. While there, he snoops around and sees a file on Ilsa, and apparently she isn’t really a photojournalist. (At this point though, I need to ask, why is she lugging around her own file?)
Chuck gets trapped under the bed though when Casey and Ilsa show up and start to get freaky, where else, but naturally, on the bed. Chuck’s discovered though, when his ringtone blasts out. Even as Chuck is warning Casey that Ilsa is a very bad girl, she pulls out a gun.
Apparently, Ilsa’s French secret service, but before she can explain anything to Casey, Victor arrives and both Casey and Chuck end up under the bed. Victor’s just about to get freaky with Ilsa, when the Soviet schmuck falls asleep.
She shoos both Chuck and Casey out before Victor wakes up.

The following day, Ilsa visits Sugar Bear at the Buy More, and explains that she’s undercover, trying to take down Federov‘s operation. She also returns a necklace Casey once gave her all those years ago.
Just hours before the wedding, Casey’s getting good and drunk when Chuck checks up on him. When Casey drops the necklace though, a bug pops free. Someone’s been spying on Ilsa, and whoever it is, they know she’s a spy (since they heard her conversations with Casey). So since Casey’s just a wee bit smashed, Chuck drives him to the hotel.
Barging into the honeymoon suite, they’re caught by Victor and his crew, and tied up. It’s Victor’s plan to kill Ilsa, Casey, and Chuck, but after the wedding though; he doesn’t want to disappoint all his Russian friends who’ve come here for the celebration.
Victor leaves, and Casey and Chuck get into a fight with the two goons, a fight that leads to both—still tied to each other—going over the hotel room balcony and into the swimming pool, and the middle of the wedding, which is being held poolside.
Sarah’s there, and with the help of Ilsa, they bust the whole wedding party.

All’s well that ends well, as Ilsa and Casey spend the night together, but part the next day, Ilsa now off to adopt another identity.
To try and cheer Casey up, Chuck tells him, “Well, I’ll always be here,” which is an ironic thing to say, considering what Casey has been tasked to do to Chuck once that new Intersect is up and running…

Meanwhile, in this episode’s subplot, it’s Ellie and Awesome’s anniversary, and they’ve decided to get one big expensive gift, instead of two small ones. They head on down to the Buy More, where it turns out that Ellie has her eye on a big-a$$ TV (so they can spend time together snuggling on the couch), while Awesome has his eye on a washer and dryer (so they can spend time at home washing their clothes, instead of going off to the Laundromat).
Morgan plays retail therapist, but before they can get to the root of the matter, Ellie’s called off to the hospital, so she tells Awesome to go ahead and choose what to buy, and surprise her. He does, by of course, buying the washer and dryer, which pisses Ellie off and they get into a tiff.
While the doghoused Awesome tries a poker game at the Buy More, Ellie ends up drunk and miserable, and tries to open up to Sarah. Ellie’s afraid that Awesome’s scared to truly commit, and really wishes she could confide in Sarah, but Sarah’s called away (to bust up the wedding at the Seville). Morgan shows up to check on Ellie and winds up taking care of her.
Nothing happens, if you’re wondering.
The next morning, Awesome apologizes and buys Ellie the TV. All’s well that ends well here too.

So this is a nice break from the whole Chuck-Sarah thing, and getting to see that personal side to Casey was a pleasant surprise. It’s also a plus that the subplot ties in well to the main one, and also affords Ryan McPartlin a chance to flesh out Awesome’s character a little bit. That’s good since as I mentioned before, the character sometimes tends to be a little too sitcom-y for my tastes.
So it’s great that both Casey and Awesome can be people too, and hopefully, we see more of that for both characters in subsequent episodes.

(Image courtesy of nbc.com.)

CHUCK
Season 1 Episode 11
“Chuck Versus the Crown Vic”
Written by Zev Borow
Directed by Chris Fisher
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

“I saw the world crashing all around your face,
Never really knowing it was always mesh and lace.”
-- Modern English
“I Melt With You”

The whole kiss-right-before-the-supposed-bomb-was-gonna-blow-up and the Bryce-coming-back-from-the-dead thing has made Chuck ultra-conscious now of what Sarah has to do to get the job done (in this case, get as close to billionaire/counterfeiter/money launderer Lon Kirk as she can, “whatever it takes”), while Sarah’s decision to stay with Chuck (and her current mission, of course) is also taking its toll on her, as she attempts to distance herself from Chuck and the emotions she has for him.

And even though the Morgan-Anna subplot ties into the main plot a little too conveniently (causing the lovebirds and Anna’s parents to be put into jeopardy), this still turns out to be a good episode.
Cap that off with Modern English’s “I Melt With You” being played at the Buy More Christmas (sorry, Holiday) party—what can I say? I’m a sucker for well-placed Musical Moments—and I’m sold.
The fact that the song plays not just over Chuck and Sarah deciding to make peace and be “friends” (and dance, instead of kiss beneath Jeff’s handy mistletoe) and Casey getting the news that the beta version of the Intersect is nearly up and running (and as mentioned in a previous episode, reminded that when that time comes, he’s to “take care” of Chuck), are some sweet nuts on an already yummy fruitcake.

I just hope that when that eventuality comes, that the potential conflict is treated (and resolved) in a creative and mature way. Please, no cop outs.
We’ve all seen what Casey’s capable of (he shot Bryce, twice), so when time comes, he should be just as cold and ruthless. Or maybe he really has come to give a rat’s a$$ about Chuck.
Then again, after what Chuck did to Casey’s beloved 1985 Crown Victoria (of this episode’s title), Casey may very well be out for blood…

“I made a pilgrimage to save this human race,
Never comprehending the race had long gone by.”
-- Modern English
“I Melt With You”

(Image courtesy of buy-more.net; “I Melt With You” 12” UK 4AD single sleeve art courtesy of heim.ifi.uio.no.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (51)

51.1 THUS ENDETH THE STRIKE
So the count last Tuesday night: 3,492 to 283, in favour of ending the strike during the ratification process.
It’s officially over and the writers can get back to work Wednesday. Some, in fact (like the writers for the upcoming Oscar night) were already in the thick of things late Tuesday night.
Now, as the two week ratification of the proposed three-year deal takes place (votes for that to be tallied on February 26), Hollywood gets back into the swing of things, which leads us rather neatly to…

51.2 REVVING THE POST-STRIKE ENGINE (1)
LOST
Showrunner Carlton Cuse has already made the announcement that they’re aiming to come up with 5 post-strike episodes, so this season will end with 13 episodes.
Intending to wrap the season up at the same narrative point it was originally supposed to end at, there will be some storyline compression required. Hopefully, that won’t have an adverse effect on the story’s rhythm. And hopefully, writers, cast, and crew won’t run themselves ragged to get those episodes ready to keep the consecutive airing of Lost an on-going concern.
Cuse also indicated that the 3 AWOL episodes (since season 4 was meant to be comprised of 16 installments) will pop up somewhere down the road, so we’re still going to get the same number of Lost episodes we were meant to get, before the strike stepped on the brakes.
In an ABC press release, the network has also announced it’s picking up Lost for a fifth season, though I’m uncertain if that season kicks off this Fall, or will have a delayed start date, as per the current season.

PUSHING DAISIES
In the same ABC press release, Pushing Daisies was also announced as having been picked up for a second season.
Thus, there will be no more episodes beyond the 9 pre-strike installments for the current season.

CHUCK
NBC’s Chuck is also expected to return in the Fall, so the first season topped off at 13 pre-strike episodes.

HEROES
Meanwhile, Volume Two’s 11 episodes are pretty much Season 2.
Volume Three: “Villains” will presumably kick off Season 3 when Heroes returns in the Fall.
In preparation, Tim Kring is reportedly getting busy on a series Bible, an always indispensable tool for shows like Heroes.

So with the picket signs being put aside, I’ll be having irregular updates for any strike-affected projects that are on my radar (like the Justice League film) as reports and announcements are made.

Let’s all breathe a huge sigh of relief that it’s over, and that apparently, the writers got a deal they can call a triumph.
Admittedly, not the total victory they were first targetting (reality and animation writers—who have been likened to the sweatshop equivalents of the Hollywood writers world—are still not covered by the guild, one of the aims the WGA had hoped to achieve), but the strides forward in new media seem to be cause to cheer.

Now let’s all hope the upcoming SAG negotiations don’t run into any speed bumps…

(Images courtesy of variety.com [WGA strike is over]; impawards.com [Lost]; avclub.com [Pushing Daisies]; aintitcool.com [Chuck]; and yahoo.com [Heroes].)

CHUCK
Season 1 Episode 9
“Chuck Versus the Imported Hard Salami”
Written by Scott Rosenbaum and Matt Miller
Directed by Jason Ensler
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

“It’s the old story. You know, guy gets super computer in his brain. Beautiful CIA agent is sent to protect him, and then she tells him while under the spell of truth serum that she’s not interested. I get it. But for me, the emotional roller coaster is a little much, so I think I’d rather find something a little less common, like, say, I don’t know, a real relationship?”

Chuck’s fake break-up with Sarah is proving a little tricky as a) Sarah really does have feelings for Chuck that she adamantly refuses to admit, and b) Chuck’s currently dating Lou.
But it turns out that Lou’s ex, club owner Stavros Demitrios (Theodore Zouboulidis) is the son of shipping magnate/smuggler, Yari (Forever Knight’s John Kapelos), who’s involved in not just smuggling in assorted meats and sausages for Lou, but also a “volatile package” which is “time sensitive,” all indications that the item in question could be a biological or chemical weapon of some sort.
So Chuck and Lou’s second date is orchestrated/instigated so Chuck can get close to Stavros to find out more about the package.
Needless to say, the whole dating Lou thing quickly gets wonky.

And when Chuck confronts Lou, thinking she’s in on the weapons smuggling (but actually just sneaking in meat for her sandwiches), he not only pisses her off again, but ends up—along with Sarah—kidnapped by Stavros.
In order to rescue them both, Casey turns to Lou, and tells her that he’s an FDA agent, and that she can go to jail since Stavros is also smuggling weapons, but he can look the other way if she helps him by telling him which dock Stavros receives his shipments at. In so doing, Casey also pretty much indicates that Chuck’s an undercover FDA agent too.

Casey rescues Chuck and Sarah, and they both arrive at what they believe is a bomb, with a timer with less than a minute to go. There really isn’t any time and as the timer runs out, Sarah suddenly kisses Chuck.
It isn’t a bomb though. At this point, they still don’t know what it is, though Sarah does know it’s an awkward moment. Not so for Chuck.

Chuck goes to Lou’s shop, and she tells him she knows he’s an undercover FDA agent, and wonders if there was anything real between them. Chuck says she’s everything he’s looking for, but right now, he can’t be looking.
So they break up.
For real.

Chuck then calls Sarah, asking her to go out on a real date with him.
But at that moment, Sarah and Casey are opening up the package. Apparently, the timer indicated oxygen amount for whatever was contained within.
And when the package opens up, it turns out to be some kind of capsule containing… Bryce!

Okay, now that’s a cliffhanger.
From the Pilot on, I’ve been hoping that somehow, Bryce was still alive, and that he’d come back into the picture, so we could see into his relationship with Chuck, into what now lay between these once-best friends, following the apparent betrayal at Stanford, the ensuing years of silence and resentment, and exactly why Bryce emailed Chuck the Intersect.
And now we’re here! Yahoo!
(That better not be some clone or spy double…)

Parting shot: The Buy More subplot involves Morgan getting it on with Anna, though these peripheral threads are becoming increasingly distracting.
Oh, and I hope there’s more Rachel Bilson on the way, as two special guest spots is a piddling amount of face time.

Parting shot 2: Congratulations to Josh Schwartz and everybody involved with Chuck, for the Satellite nomination for Television Series, Comedy or Musical, and to Zachary Levi, for the Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical nom. (Check out Afterthoughts (35) in the Archive for the 2007 Satellite nominees and winners.)

(Images courtesy of nbc.com.)