Quad Blogs

Welcome to the fifth and final day of the Best Episodes of 2010 celebration. Only five spots remain for a plethora of episodes and shows. And, really, only two shows will comprise the final five episodes of this humble celebration. I avoided using the word ‘list’ throughout the week because I only wanted to write about my favorite shows and their best episodes. I had no interest in listing them in a numerical way to determine their value. Of course, I used a sort of list format with the days of the week. As the week progressed, the more beloved an episode or series is. Naturally, on this Christmas Eve Friday in December, the final day of the Best Episodes of 2010 will belong to my favorite show of all-time–LOST (plus another show will join LOST before the post is done).

The final season caused many debates and arguments. The sixth season of the series will remain a season of contention for many years as new fans discover it and the old, die-hards either praise its virtues or criticize its vices in an effort to sway the new fans opinion of the sixth season. LOST fandom is crazy, and it’s smart to get some distance now that the series has ended. Who cares what anybody else thinks about the show besides yourself? If someone thinks the Man in Black/Jacob arc fell flat, then it’s fine and if someone loved that arc then that, too, is fine. If most people hated the time spent in the Temple while a minority enjoyed the further exploration of the culture of the Others then that is just fine.

For me, I had some issues with the final season. For the most part, I enjoyed the final season and I love a large portion of it. Allow me to write about the four episodes of LOST this year that were among the best episodes produced in all of television.

LOST–”THE END”–Written By Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse–Directed By Jack Bender

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“The End” is an episode I love so much that I spent over 14 hours, from when the episode ended until the Flyers playoff game began, writing 10,000 words about the episode and the series. I view ‘The End” as not only the end of this wonderful story but also a love-letter to the fans. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse understood the LOST fandom so well, and their relationships to the various characters who populated the world of LOST, and the two writers delivered powerful moment after powerful moment in “The End.” If the finale was a love-letter to the fans then my 10,000 word recap/review of the finale is my love letter to the show.

“The End” is probably the best series finale of all-time because the episode wraps up the season six arcs as well as the series–an insane task for a series, evidenced by the majority of finale episodes that fail to satisfy the fans–in a way that is satisfying and full of closure for the fans. And the repeat value is off-the-charts good because each time I watch the episode or select scenes I’m still moved by how powerful each and every scene it is. It’s masterful storytelling and direction. I hope one day I can write something as powerful as the series finale of LOST.

For my complete thoughts on the finale, please read my 10,000 word recap/review right here: http://blogs.wcuquad.com/2010/05/24/jacobs-foot-the-end-of-lost-and-jacobs-foot/

LOST–”DR. LINUS”–Written By Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz–Directed By Mario Van Peebles

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Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are getting a ton of critical praise for writing the new Tron movie while their gem from the sixth season of LOST gets ignored by seemingly everyone who actually gets paid to write about television. One will see plenty written about “The End” or “Across The Sea” (because of how polarizing “Across The Sea” is) while the second best episode of season six gets nothing at all. “Dr. Linus” is also Kitsis’ and Horowitz’ best LOST episode ever. The episode marks the official transformation of Ben Linus from antagonist to redemptive soul. Until this episode, the writers had difficulty finding a balance between the sideways and the Island stories because the writers wanted to keep the curtain closed on the meaning of the sideways until the finale.

The perfect balance between the sideways and the Island A stories is found in the episode. It’s really a simple story about a man who hasn’t gotten over the death of his daughter, and a man profoundly changed by the death of his child–so much so that the audience doesn’t realize how profoundly Ben’s been changed until he tells Ilana why he did what he did to Jacob. With full knowledge of the sideways world, the episode becomes even more rich especially in the scene when Ben makes a different decision from the one he made when Keamy had a gun to Alex’s head. Michael Emerson plays the sideways Ben with such sensitivity and quietness that one wondered, when it originally aired, why Ben was so different–was it because he never went to the Island, had a better father without the Island? No, not at all it turned out. Ben became a good man and performed many good deeds as the number two to Hurley, and that part of his life explains the Ben we see in the sideways.

Also, the B story with Richard and Jack is awesome. This is the episode when Jack realizes his purpose in returning to the Island. When he sits down and lights that fuse, who didn’t cheer?

My original recap/review of “Dr. Linus” http://blogs.wcuquad.com/2010/03/10/jacobs-foot-dr-linus-recap/

LOST–”AB AETERNO”–Written By Melinda Hsu-Taylor & Greggory Nations–Directed By Tucker Gates

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The origin story for Richard Alpert felt like a sweeping epic. For three seasons, we wondered why Richard never aged and who he was before the Island. “Ab Aeterno” reveals all of the essential elements of Richard Alpert. He was a broken man when the Black Rock crashed on the Island, like all of our other characters, who was terrified of the devil. The episode is like an old testament biblical story, too. Alpert’s a man terrified of a vengeful God and in search of forgiveness for his sins though he’s terrified of hell. It takes him over 100 years to forgive himself for not saving his wife’s life, and once he allows himself to remove that heavy guilt, he becomes a man and he puts the cross around his neck for the first time in over 100 years. It’s a wonderful moment in a wonderful episode.

Here are my original thoughts on the episode: http://blogs.wcuquad.com/2010/03/24/jacobs-foot-ab-aeterno-recap/

LOST–”HAPPILY EVER AFTER”–Written By Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof–Directed By Jack Bender

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“Happily Ever After” gave us the first character to became aware of the surreality of the Sideways–Desmond David Hume. It’s an episode that many fans needed at the time because patience wore thin as the season progressed without new revelations about the sideways world. Well, Damon and Carlton delivered an extraordinary episode that set-up the endgame for the the sixth season and the series. Desmond brought the characters to the Island when he was late putting the numbers into the computer, which caused the plane crash so, naturally, he’d be the one who had to bring the characters together.

The episode is so exciting on first viewing because of all the possibilities that swirl around in one’s head. Charlie explains his dreams or visions of Claire and he’s frantic to escape this place he’s seen, convinced it’s not real because he needs to find her. As with every other episode of the series (besides the two origin episodes), the episode takes on greater meaning with the knowledge of the entire season. This place is, really, just about finding one another so they can move on together. To where, you ask? Well, that’s what they need to find out. Also, the music in the episode is out-bleeping-standing.

Original Thoughts on “Happily Ever After” http://blogs.wcuquad.com/2010/04/07/jacobs-foot-happily-ever-after-recap/

TERRIERS–”HAIL MARY”–Written By Ted Griffin & Nick Griffin–Directed By Ted Griffin

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The episode aired only three weeks ago but Terriers destroyed every hour long show this Fall in quality. “Hail Mary” wraps up the first season, and series, rather nicely. Hank resolves the Zeitlan without getting himself or anyone else. Hank finds himself ready to move on past his failed marriage with Gretchen and decides to sell the old house. For the first time since we met Hank Dolworth, the man was both happy and healthy having overcome the demons that plagued him for much of the season. Britt and Katie reunite. Sure he’ll have to spend time in jail but Britt wants to be responsible, wants to become a good husband and father. And the series ends with two best friends, Hank and Britt, briefly thinking about a lifetime in Mexico on an eternal vacation but the two never will drive to Mexico. There’s too much left for them to do in Ocean Beach–people to save, families to start. What a show. I’ll miss it.

Original Review: http://blogs.wcuquad.com/2010/12/02/the-foot-terriers-hail-mary-review/

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

Welcome to Day 4 of the Best Episodes of 2010 celebration. There are only ten spots left for the best episodes of the calendar year. I wonder, will the likes of Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead, True Blood, How I Met Your Mother or LOST find their way into this celebration? For True Blood, hell no but the other shows might want to resist the urge to drop their head and walk in dejection to the sounds of the Charlie Brown music.

A brief recap of the week thus far: 15 episodes have made the Best Episodes of 2010 celebration in The Blog Formerly Known as Jacob’s Foot. The episodes have come from Community, Party Down, 30 for 30, The Vampire Diaries, South Park, Friday Night Lights, Eastbound & Down, Mad Men, Dollhouse, Luther, Sherlock, Louie, Treme and It’s Always Sunny Philadelphia. The only show to receive more than 1 episode is Community (with “Physical Education” and “Modern Warfare”). Some shows like Dollhouse and Friday Night Lights aired only three episodes in 2010 so their episodes were particularly strong considering the stiff competition from shows with more episodes.

Anywho, let us commence the fourth part of this exciting list:

TERRIERS–”RING A DING-DING”–Written By Angela Kang–Directed By Billy Gierhart

Not a weak episode exists in Terriers’ outstanding first and only season. “Ring-A-Ding-Ding” is the episode that made me a devoted fan to the show. Funny enough, Shawn Ryan and the other top dogs didn’t expect the episode to receive the adulation and praise it did. But it’s a special episode, a microcosm of what made the show so damn good. The episode delivers gut punch after gut punch. The marriage day between Gretchen and Jason approaches quickly, much to Hank’s dismay, while Britt knows he has to make a decision about the future for he and Katie–a decision about marriage. The third episode of the series receives tremendous praise for its case-of-the-week with Olivia Williams but the case-of-the-week is much more devastating.

A woman, Beth, is sick and dying. She knows her husband’s cheating on her but she just doesn’t know why, and the not knowing destroys her. She even reminds Hank of the promise every couple makes to one another on their marriage day: to love each other until death, and she just doesn’t know why her husband left her for another woman in her darkest hour. The woman’s grief is such a turn that it completely punches whomever is watching in the gut with the brunt force of emotion. Donal Logue deserves an Emmy nomination for his work in this scene alone, as he portrays the pain Hank feels from losing his marriage.

And the most heartbreaking line of the episode comes from Beth who, through tears, says “he’ll be sorry when he loses me” over and over again as Hank comforts her, and only responds with “yeah he will.” Terriers delivered great buddy-cop fun but it hit home because of its absolute fearlessness to tell these kinds of stories, and explore the deepest depths of human emotions. It is a FANTASTIC episode.

MAD MEN–”THE SUITCASE”–Written By Matthew Wiener–Directed By Jennifer Getzinger

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“The Suitcase” is the best episode of Mad Men in four seasons. The episode’s all about the platonic relationship between Don Draper and Peggy Olson–an episode about five years of history between them. It begins with Don asking Peggy to stay late at work on her birthday, as her boyfriend and family wait for her at a restaurant and then greatness happens. The episode shows how much Don and Peggy need each other. He was there as she recovered from having a baby to give her advice: “It will shock you how much this never happened” and she’s there, in the present, when he receives the call that Anna passed away. After being with him in his darkest hour, the following morning Don takes her hand to show Peggy that he’ll never forget what she did for him and will continue to do for him.

MAN VS. WILD–”WESTERN PACIFIC”–Directed By Nick White

In August, I began writing weekly about the new season of Man Vs. Wild because the show is one of my favorites on television. The 5th season of the show might’ve been the strongest yet. When one thinks Bear Grylls will begin to settle down the challenges in episodes, he just ups the ante. In two episodes, he and his crew created extreme weather conditions so Bear could demonstrate survival in such catastrophic conditions. Whether Bear found himself under ice water for 4 minutes, buried beneath snow for 12 minutes and on death’s door after a freak collision with his Director of Photography, one wonders when Bear will say enough is enough. The two extreme weather episodes don’t even make the list. Instead, the episode to be celebrated is “Western Pacific

“Western Pacific” placed Bear in Pacific Rim (in Papua New Guinea), and what unfolded was legendary Bear Gryllls. The episode begins with Bear, in a helicopter, explaining all of the deadly creatures in the sea like tiger sharks, hammer heads, sting rays and jelly fish. Naturally, Bear decides the best thing to do is plunge into the water not more than 15 seconds after stating that fact that the ocean is a place where humans are very likely to be killed by sharks. The reason “Western Pacific” makes the Best Of celebration is because the episodes becomes Bear Grylls vs. Sharks. He embarks upon traveling through shark infested waters. Bear needed to travel to a certain piece of land but the entire region is broken up by water. In order for Bear to travel anywhere, the shark infested waters needed to be traversed upon. Bear offers simple and logical advice: never assume you’re safe when surrounded by land with over 100,000 sharks. Bear moves slowly and methodically, knowing that he shouldn’t draw the attention of the sharks through vibrations in the water. He gets bumped by a shark but keeps his cool. All the while, Bear only armed himself with a large stick should the group of sharks in the distance decide to attack the man. As Bear nears land, a shark moves at a fast speed toward him before veering off. Bear then gets out of the water as fast as possible.

Of course, once on the second island, Bear realizes he needs to get to the third island. Before you can say the word apoplectic, Bear tries to capture a shark in shallow water because he needs a good meal for energy. He’s unsuccessful and settles for coconuts and a lobster. Before long, Bear makes a poor raft, sails it in a rough, choppy waters as a storm develops but, like all episodes of Man Vs. Wild, he find rescue.

COMMUNITY–”EPIDEMIOLOGY”–Written By Karey Dornetoo–Directed By Anthony Hemingway

It was a tough call between the Halloween episode and “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” because both are fantastic but I love Halloween episodes, and Community produced one of my all-time favorite Halloween episodes with their zombie episode. After the Dean accidentally ordered rancid army rations, the students became sick with high fevers and the desire to chew on human flesh (spreading the disease). One by one the group become zombies until Troy saves the day by pushing the thermostat down to break the fever, thus curing everyone. It’s a great episode for Troy, who finally accepts that he’s a nerd, and it’s the first step in his transition into a man. The episode’s also just pure insanity with Pierce biting Star Burns, Chang and Shirley’s intimate experience in the bath room and the prolonged cat gag. Terrific show. Well worth anyone’s time.

PARTY DOWN–”PARTY DOWN COMPANY PICNIC”–Written By John Enbom–Directed By Bryan Gordon

Credit: Starz.com

The Party Down caterers get a rare day off but at a Party Down company picnic. Ron tries to convince Bolus Lugozshe to hire him as Operations Manager at the main office but with no luck until he meets Bolus’ daughter, Danielle. Since it’s Ron, some nonsense and weird romance happens. Meanwhile, Lizzy battles a man for the most trophies at the various Party Down picnic (such an awesome story) while Kyle coaches Lydia’s diva daughter, and he and Roman challenge Valhalla in a series of events to determine the best caterers. I love fun episodes and “Party Down Company Picnic” is fun and funny.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK