Quad Blogs

A week after LOST ended, I created a list of possible series I’d review. Obviously, I haven’t written about any of those series on a weekly basis. So, I might as well write about each of those series right now. Before you head for the hills thinking that 6,000 words are waiting for you, fear not, that is not my intention. The 6,000 word posts will return in due time. Just not tonight. JUST NOT TONIGHT.

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FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: The fourth season concluded months ago on DirecTV but NBC has not yet burned off the episodes in the ultimate death time slot: Fridays, during the summer, at 8PM. The show is ending next season. Peter Berg and Jason Katims were sneaky about the fourth season. For non-FNL people and fans of Scrubs, just think Scrubs: Med School. Friday Night Lights has rebooted. Rebooting is not new in television world. Rebooting is essentially a spin-off. The key word is essentially. Most of the high schoolers from season one are long gone in the fourth season. Saracen has a six episode arc that ends in confusing fashion. His departure is one of the more oddly written plot points in the series. In episode five, he mourns and buries his father after he had been killed in Iraq. At the end of season three, he wants to leave for Art School in Chicago but feels he cannot because of his grandmother; however, in season four, this is retconned to make Matt’s decision all about Julie. Saracen gets a large settlement from the army and decides to leave. There are zero goodbyes shown. The second to last image of Saracen is the man sitting outside of his house, looking at his mother and grandmother. The next image is of Saracen driving on an open road out of Dillion and Texas. The heart of the season has been Coach taking over the East Dillion football program. The transition had some rough patches like how East Dillion seems entirely unfamilair with the success of the West Dillion Panthers and the history of Coach Taylor. The show had the task of introducing and integrating new characters into a familiar world and they handled the task very well. None of the characters are new versions of old characters. Each have their defining characteristics. Some are cliche. Others are not.

For all of the praise the show gets, and it’s deserved, Friday Night Lights uses some very familiar tropes of their genre. This season, there’s been an abortion storyline. The character Vince, with a criminal past, is torn between providing for his drug-addict mother through illegal means and turning his life around with Coach as his no.1 cheerleader. There was an episode about a girl’s distant father who, it turns out, as a different family in Seattle. This same girl was the center of the abortion storyline and she also is in love with Riggins. Riggins, of course, has slept with her mother. I won’t even dive into the crime stuff because the show has always been terrible at telling crime stories.

All of this leads me to a grade of the season thus far. Only two episodes remain on NBC. That grade is…

B

TRUE BLOOD: Nazi-werewolves who are addicted to vampire blood. Need I say more? The third season has been better than the nonsense of season two. True Blood, to its credit, knows what it is and embraces it. The show is even campier, more violent and more twisted than ever. I’m awaiting patiently for the arrival of the cute blond girl that Jason saw in the woods. She appeared in episode three but barely. Sookie continues to be the best character of the show.

It’s unfair to give a grade after just three episodes but I will…

B

ENTOURAGE: Season 7 has, thus far, been the same old Entourage. And it has only been two episodes. Ari remains one of the greatest characters ever created. Drama remains the second best character on the show. E still sucks. There hasn’t been enough Sloane. Turtle is Turtle. I have no idea if the season is going anywhere. Right now, I doubt it because season six went nowhere and the biggest source of drama on the show is that Vince got a haircut which doesn’t raise my hopes about the quality of the season. But I’ve accepted what the show is. With that said, it is fun criticizing it. I also should mention Tucker Gates, LOST Directing Alum, directed the second episode of the season. It did not have the scope of Ab Aeterno and Across The Sea nor was it anything like how The Substitute was shot.

Grade: N/A

MAD MEN: Season 4 begins July 25. I will be caught up by then. Will there be reviews? Not sure. But I’ll give grades for seasons one and two. I am only two episodes into season three.

Season 1 Grade: A+

Season 2 Grade: A

DEXTER: I will provide zero Dexter coverage. You can all blame Showtime for that. Or me for refusing to watch the show on friends’ netflix accounts.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: I’ve seen bits and pieces of the show since watching the pilot episode. Season 2 doesn’t begin until September. Will it be reviewed? No.

THE REAL WORLD/ROAD RULES CHALLENGE: The season wrapped a month ago. It was awesome. Can’t wait for The Gauntlet 4.

Grade: A+

Feel free to comment on one of these shows or all of them.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

Treme time. Last week’s Mardi Gras episode was fantastic and the latest episode is the best one yet. And, oh yeah, don’t read this if you want to watch the show because spoilers will abound. Also, don’t read if you like True Blood. There’s a chance I, if not bash it, provide several harsh words about the show.

The first season of Treme has built its narrative slowly but week by week the stories have been quietly building and now things are happening. Don’t get me wrong. There’s been big developments in the early episode like the Daymo revelation, the Housing Projects with Chief Lambrioux, the first parade after Katrina and the subsequent return of violence in the city. Each character, at this point in the season, is at a crossroads. Let me rephrase that: every major character for the exception of Davis. Some characters like Sofia and Toni are going to experience grief, like Ladonna and her mother are, when they find out Creighton did. In fact, the Creighton story is why I’m writing about Treme today.

He’s been depressed for quite awhile, since Katrina put a hurting on the city he loves so much. His depression crescendoed last week when he couldn’t even enjoy the Mardi Gras. Before the parade, he took his daughter to a pier and talked to her about how difficult the rebuilding process will be. It wasn’t a cheery conversation. He reached his moment of ultimate despair at his computer screen. Without spending too many words on the context or conveying the emotions of the character, I’ll just say it worked. In the morning, he was a happier man. Something was off. I expected him to jump into a river when I saw he parked his car near a river. Sure enough, he jumped into a body of water after enjoying one last cigarette. Earlier in the day, he raced out to tell his daughter how she pretty she looked and to encourage his wife in her job. He gave Annie twenty dollars after listening to her delightful violin playing. He had one last bowl of gumbo. He let his students out early after explaining the significance and meaning of Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening.” A spiritual liberation is what he sought. I thought it was a well-done story.

I don’t plan on writng about Treme. Next week’s the finale and then it won’t be back for one year. Plus, there are other actual television critics who write about the show much better than I could, like Alan Sepinwall of hitfix.com.

My two cents, though: this show is worth your time and investment.

TRUE BLOOD

As for the show preceding this, TRUE BLOOD…let’s just say I still haven’t gotten over last year’s awful Menad storyline with the Bulljawn. It’s definitely an over-the-top campy 50-58 minutes of television. I actually enjoyed the first season of the show. I didn’t like season two very much but stuck with it because, for some reason, I don’t like to quit watching shows (I watched the entire series of HEROES despite the fact it started sucking halfway through season one). For fun, here are some thoughts for season premiere of True Blood, “Band of Wolves”:

I have zero interest in watching Tara’s hysterics this season. I also have little interest in Jason’s story. Bring back the preacher and his wife. I don’t really care about the V storyline going on with the queen and Eric. Not sure I care about Sam’s roots with the Mankins. I like anything Sookie’s involved in though because she’s the best written character and the most developed. Plus, Anna Paquin is awesome. The werewolves thing could be cool but I have a feeling the show will not have a bunch of Oz’s on the show which makes the werewolves thing less cool.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

Before I forget, I have an exciting 45 minutes planned for my online radio show tonight. Do listen here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fiveminutesoffame/2010/06/15/first-stop-pennsylvania

Radio silence has officially ended for the last time. No longer will July be the highlight of the long, long hiatus for every LOST fan for this is the last hiatus fans will experience. Yes, the end is near. LOST at Comic Con for the final time was the first real instance of the inevitable conclusion of the series in May. Names were dropped as to who will show up at some point during the final season. I imagine every major, major character is going to show up at some point. Judging from the season six teases (and Lindelof and Cuse didn’t reveal anything at all as to what to expect in the final season), it’s going to be a special, bittersweet season. Jorge Garcia, who portrays Hurley, asked the funniest question of the day about whether or not the show would erase the last five seasons thanks to Jack’s attempt to destroy those three years of time, claiming that to do so would be a real cheat. Lindelof and Cuse, as always, didn’t answer. The final panel for LOST at Comic Con’s theme was the fans. They appreciated the fans by showing various things created by fans whether they were videos, paintings, etc. LOST was revealed to the world at the 2004 Comic Con. It leaves Comic Con as the greatest show in television history. The crowd for the final panel thankfully beat the record-setting crowd set by Twilight fans for the Twilight panel. I don’t think I would’ve handled LOST being beaten by that crummy vampire story. Nestor Carbonell (the great Richard Alpert), Michael Emerson (Benny Linus), and Josh Holloway (Sawyer) also made an appearance for the final Comic Con. And yes, as I expected and wrote last week, a new video (a “commercial” rather) to officially kick off the anticipation for season six was shown. Below is the video and my thoughts:

It’s only 17 seconds long so it’s safe to assume I won’t blowhard about it. But it looks like Faraday’s theory panned out, that detonating Jughead erased the last three years, and the plane never crashed because they stopped The Incident from happening. Hm. I’d like to mention that these things aren’t officially LOST canon. Mainly, the obsessive die-hards watch these. I remember during the weeks leading up to season two’s premiere that a website was created. I forgot exactly how I navigated it but I ended up witnessing the light shine out of the hatch again and I think saw two scenes from the premiere. Of course there have been interactive games such as The Lost Experience and Find815. Back to the video: Hm.

Back to the Comic Con panel now, a man in the audience was lucky to receive a statue of the bird Claire used as a possible messanger to the outside world from Par Avion. Damon also noted that no one asks what happened to that bird. Perhaps I will cover that when Par Avion is the episode of the day. Also, Claire was the secret word. Very exciting. Here’s a picture of her for the hell of it.

Claire was the secret word

Other highlights I’ve witnessed: when Josh Holloway surprises the crowd, ‘tazes’ Damon who he thinks is JJ Abrams, and demands Carlton opens a treasure chest that contains secrets from LOST. Once he has the info in his hand, he pauses, and Emerson says, “oh my god, you can’t read!’ Josh says he left his glasses on The Island. Emerson takes the paper and begins reading despite Carlton and Damon’s protests that he not read. It turns out that it is a scene from Heroes. After reading it for a minute, Emerson asks, “What the [expletive deleted] is this?’ Emerson was outstanding. He offers some great insights about LOST. He reiterated that he thinks LOST’s ultimate conclusion will be for grown-ups. It was fantastic all around from Lindelof’s atrocious acting, Cuse’s atrocious acting, the joke that Holloway mistaked Lindelof for Abrams, Nestor and Jorge enjoying themselves, and poking fun at Heroes, and Emerson’s reaction to what he was reading (and how he pronounced Sylar). The panel ended with a montage and then Dom Monoghan came out to surprise as Damon and Carlton bid farewell to the crowd.

THE ‘LOST’ EPISODE OF THE DAY!

The episode: A Tale of Two Cities
Original Airdate: October 4, 2006
Written By: JJ Abrams & Damon Lindelof (Story By Damon Lindelof)
Directed By: Jack Bender

Content: Jack, Kate and Sawyer find themselves in unusual locations after being kidnapped by the Others, who reveal themselves to be more sophisticated than anyone could have previously guessed.

Why It’s Worth Re-Watching: The teaser of the episode is gold. It opens with Juliet, she’s upset, and about to host the book club. And then what seems to be an earthquake hits and then the viewer realizes the scene is taking place on 9/22/04 as the others watch the plane split in two. The episode is worth re-watching for a few reasons. The first: Michael Emerson sat in during EW’s Totally Lost panel. He spoke about Ben stabbing Jacob in The Incident. He’s not sure what aftermath of that will be but he revealed that he knew what the scene meant for Ben and explained how he played the scene (i swear this ties in to A Tale of Two Cities).

Essentially, he sums up one of the most important themes of LOST: father/son relationships or lackthereof. He describes how Ben has always been looking for a father and that deep down in his heart he always expected Jacob to be what his own father never was so he pours his heart out to Jacob and only receives a ‘what about you?’ as the response but Michael states that Jacob is the one who willed Ben to stab him with the knife (which is indeed very interesting). Back to this episode, the flashback revolves around Jack’s obsessive days with Sarah and her new lover but the underlying thread of the flashback is Jack and his relationship with his father. He suspects Christian of being the new guy in Sarah’s life when he finds out Sarah’s been calling him. This suspicion leads to Jack physically attacking his father at an AA meeting (it’s revealed in the flashback that Christian has been sober for 50 days). The final scene of the flashback involves Jack and Sarah. Sarah bails Jack out of jail for the aforementioned incident with his father, and that she found out because Christian called completely drunk. When Jack hears this, it’s like the monster just hit him. He’s crushed. What’s tragic about it is that Jack is the reason his father began drinking again, and drinking led to his death in Sydney. When he’s in The Hydra, he hears his father say ‘let it go.’ I’m of the opinion this episode is underrated for the flashback alone. Jack’s a favorite of mine because of his backstory, his conflicts, struggles, his ability to come through in the clutch, etc. I’ll go as far as to say it’s evidence of why the ultimate end of LOST will be sad (i of course see the other side as well). There’s evidence throughout the show and yada yada. Back to the episode, the first episode of season three doesn’t end happily. Kate’s sad as hell, Sawyer isn’t too happy, and Jack has to give in rather than continue to fight. And they are all locked in cages (Jack in an aquarium if you want to be matter of fact about it ). The Others have the clear upper hand at the end of the episode (of course that’s not the case come Through The Looking Glass). It’s a poignant story about the darker and more vulnerable side of Jack.

The episode also introduces the world to Juliet playd by Elizabeth Mitchell. It took some time for Juliet to grow on me but the character is great. Elizabeth Mitchell had the pathos of Juliet down in the first scene of the season. She brought humanness to the Others. The episode also has a badass scene in which the ocean rushes into The Hydra as Jack tries to escape. I remember seeing it in the previews and being wowed. Also, Sawyer cracks me up when he finally figures out the contraption in the cage and he dances to the triumphant music that plays as he gets his Dharma fish biscuit, peanuts, and water. Another recommendation: watch the episode and then re-watch it with commentary by Damon Lindelof and Elizabeth Mitchell. It’s fantastic. Elizabeth Mitchell and Matthew Fox knocked this episode out of the park. And for good measure, here’s the final scene of Jack’s flashback:

TRUE BLOOD

In this episode, Alan Ball began to blatantly rip off the Angel/Darla dynamic as well as the Angel/Buffy/Spike triangle. Those flashbacks screamed Angel/Darla. I’m not a fan of that, Alan Ball. Bill is basically Angel. Evil and now tormented to a degree. So yeah, not a fan of that. Also, Lafayette was ordered to sell V again by Eric, and he’s showing some severe trauma from his three weeks in hell. Terry helped comfort Lafeyette. Terry also laid a verbal smackdown on his cousin Andy. Eggs has some sort of supernatural ability but any interesting thing about that subplot desolved completely thanks to bulljawn Maryann. Daphne revealed herself as an accomplice to Maryann, setting up Sam (who is still cool) to be killed. Sookie and Isabel’s boyfriend went undercover into the Fellowship of the Sun and the plan completely backfired (Bill could not help because of “Darla”). Eric wants to be romantically involved with Sookie and invited “Darla” to control Bill or something. As a matter of fact, when she returned last week, with that slow-mo walk, that was right out of season two of ANGEL when Dru returns to vamp Darla again (it’s best I don’t digress and explain why Darla was vamped a second time). Jason and Luke built some thing to murder a vampire. Jason had sex with Sarah Newlin. That’s about it. You see, not a lot happened. This episode essentially had no story. It just things happening. It was basically The Joker saying “i just do things.” Hopefully next week improves.

OASIS OFF!

I think there’s only three songs left in Oasis Off so here is the first of the final three. I chose to embed a live acoustic version of the song because it’s fantastic.

“Don’t Look Back In Anger”

The eclipse taking place all over Asia.

I’m extremely excited for football season. It’s always a good time with football. Since I like to stick to the entertainment side of life I don’t write too much about sports. Luckily, television and sports for reality shows like MLB Network’s The Pen (focused on the great Phillies bullpen) and in a few weeks HBO’s Hard Knocks returns with the Cincinnati Bengals being the team of choice. It was only two years ago the world enjoyed the antics of the Cincinattica Bengals (Sports Guy’s nickname for them of course). Only comedy can ensue from Hard Knocks: The Cincinnatti Bengals. Yes, I will review this on a (hopefully) weekly basis. It’ll be terrific. Speaking of The Pen though…

The show delivered the best episode yet. The middle of the episode focused on Clay ‘The Con Man’ Condrey’s journey to the major leagues (David Murphy, of course, wrote about his journey in March for the Daily News–terrific piece), the episode updated folks on Jack Taschner’s re-assignment to the IronPigs, and they actually didn’t speed through 3 weeks of baseball action. The show didn’t bother to delight their audience and indulge them in the 22-1 victory over the Reds but Mitch did narrate a series of highlights of what the guys do in the bullpen during games. Tyler Walker being designated for assignment has yet to come in The Pen but I’m sure it’ll be a doozy. Overall, I’ve enjoyed the look-in at the bullpen. I haven’t learned anything new about the bullpen. I think they are saving all of the actual who they are outside of baseball for next week. Highlights have been when the crew followed Lidge to Reading for a rehab assignment, the pen’s adventures in San Diego, the lunch when Taschner, Walker, Lidge, and Condrey recalled their major league debuts.

TRUE BLOOD

In this episode, the Rev’s wife got sexy with Jason in a bathtub (her reward for him), Jason once again moved up in the ranks of the Sun, Godric (or is it Goddrick) was revealed as the Maker of Eric, Lafayette is back at Merlotte’s and not the same ol’ Lafayette, Daphne is also a shapeshifter and Sam likes her even more now, Maryann continues to be a so and so by messing with Tara at work as well as wearing Grams’ clothes and inviting and then manipulating her way to a permanent stay in Sookie’s house, Tara continues to be played, Sookie bothers Barry a whole lot, Godric’s crew aren’t loyal, Jessica and Hoyt are a more interesting couple than Bill and Sookie, Bill is still hilarious, Terry and Arlene seemed to have become close thanks to Maryann’s ‘whatever-the-hell-she-does-to-people’ jawn, and Sookie agreed to go undercover within the Fellowship of the Sun. I enjoyed ‘Never Let Me Go.’ First of all, the title reminded me of the Third Eye Blind song ‘Never Let You Go’ and, secondly, interesting things transpired. Sam continues to be suave as hell. Looking forward to next week.

THE ‘LOST’ EPISODE OF THE DAY!

Doc Jensen posted 15 questions that fans want answered in season six. I will do that as well in the future. Comic Con is THIS weekend. The LOST panel is Saturday. I’ll provide my thoughts on not only LOST but also Dollhouse and any other panel Joss Whedon is on. Perhaps I’ll even cover Kevin Williamson’s The Vampire Diaries starring Boone from LOST. I might indeed wait to comment on LOST’s panel until I listen to the podcast. Decisions, decisions. Surely I’ll be providing you with Dollhouse material. Onto the episode:

The episode: Pilot, Part 2
Original Airdate: September 29, 2004
Written By: J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof (Story by JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and Jeffrey Lieber)
Directed By: J.J. Abrams

Content: A group of survivors attempt to broadcast a distress signal for help, while Jack tries to save a man who has been impaled by a piece of shrapnel from the plane. Flashbacks show the events just prior to the crash from the points of view of Kate and Charlie.

Why It’s Worth Re-Watching: Ideally, you watch the pilot as a whole and not in parts but as this is the episode of the day and not episodes…you know the deal. It is a request by STEVE, the other man behind the weekly in-season LOST rankings. Obviously, for rewatchability, it’s the second half of the Pilot that began it all–all the magic, mystery, intrigue, etc. It’s the beginning of a very special series. The end of the episode will leave the unitiated in silence. Mostly, it’s cool to see how the series has progressed. The people were as mysterious as the Island they were on. One of my favorite scenes in this episode leads to a subplot in Hearts and Minds. I won’t give either away because it’ll make it less fun when you re-watch and connect the dots. Sawyer shoots a polar bear, Rousseau’s transmission is picked up and translated by Shannon, Sawyer’s backstory is hinted at when he looks at the letter he wrote to himself while Giachinno’s music swells, Locke tells Walt a secret (also has one of my favorite Locke lines), the symbolism of Backgammon, Jack begins his attempt to heal Edward Mars, Hurley faints at the sight of Mars’ blood, Claire feels her baby again after eating shellfish Jin made for people, etc, etc. It ends with Charlie’s infamous words: ‘Guys…where are we?’

OASIS OFF!

“Slide Away”

Before things get under way here in the ol’ Foot, I have a link to provide you all with. It’s a cover story about Michael Jackson written in 1983 for Rolling Stone when Michael could do no wrong but you’ll notice things.

His intense shyness was present, his quiet and frightened self when he wasn’t on stage was present. Quincy Jones reveals a poignant behind the scenes fact about the recordin of “She’s Out Of My Life.” But there’s some stuff in here that’ll make you think about the speculation about the circumstances of his death and it’s all very tragic.

Michael Jackson Life in the Magic Kingdom

TRUE BLOOD

‘True Blood’ returned after a one-week hiatus. I don’t think I’ll devote too many words to the recap now. It’s a good show but it is what it is I suppose.

In this episode, Jason took a massive leap to crazed religious fanatic, the Fellowship of the Sun attempted to kidnap Sookie, Bill got mad at Eric for Sookie-related reasons, Maryann became even more annoying and might launch me into a rant about a certain actress’ time on Everwood, Eggs and Tara copulated (and Tara’s mightily important to/for the bulljawnMaryann), Lafayette is in fact not a vampire (and I was fooled by the previews) and was healed by Eric, Sam has changed his tune completely with Daphne and they also most likely copulated as the bulljawn showed herself as the bulljawn, and then we got a very cool ending with Sookie meeting Matt, a dude who also reads thoughts.

Perhaps it was The Pen’s emphasis on Jack Taschner being waived by the Phils or the fact that I re-lived the terrible swoon the Phils fell into before wrapping up yesterday’s fantastic 9-1 homestand, I didn’t care for this episode. Ken Tucker of EW.com declared it the best of the season. Alan Ball wrote it. But eh. Everything started coming together in a rather anti-climatic way. I know Jason’s being used by the Sun. It hasn’t been revealed but I know that’ll be the endpoint for that particular storyline. He might have sex with the Rev’s wife. He probably will. But since they wanted Sookie, there’s a reason Jason is moving so fast through the ranks. I don’t really care about the storyline though. It was interesting when Jason was torn but now that he’s not it sorts of sucks.

I’ve complained about Maryann for the last few weeks now. The same old happened in this episode with her. She threw a party, it turned into Eyes Wide Shut. Only this time we found out she’s the bulljawn. Tara’s also important. Any one who wrongs her will be killed or nearly killed. I’m getting a whole Anne Heche in season 3 of Everwood vibe from Maryann. Season Three of Everwood was a pretty damn fine season but Anne Heche detracted from the season mightily. Maryann is going to destroy season two for me. The character AND the actress. Yes.

As for the dude who reads thoughts whose name may or may not be Matt, I think it’s going to be a cool plotline.

TO LOST WE GO!

Yet again there will not be an episode of the day. I’ve got them waiting in the wings. The next one will be from season one. If you guess which one, I will feel indifferent about it! Knock your socks off!

Michael Emerson believes that LOST will ultimately end sadly. He feels that the show will end bittersweetly. The first thing that popped in my mind wasn’t how I think it’s going to end because it’s me and I don’t look that far ahead. I just want SciFi (or as they call it now SyFy) to return to airing the re-runs. Of course I can watch LOST whenever I want to likes to digital video discs. It is sweet turning on SyFy at 1AM and watching in HD though. I digress. What popped in my mind immediately was nothing really. I was eating pizza and fries. I now am just thinking about how talkative these actors have become. We’ve got Matthew Fox talking about how it’ll all end (and Darlton telling a European newspaper that Matthew Fox doesn’t know that much) and Emerson speaks up. I don’t have a problem with it. It’s just interesting. I liked Emerson speaking out more because I actually felt safe reading it. This is all leading me to this: Darlton ended radio silence early! I’m sort of offended. They don’t speak until Comic-Con but they spoke to media in Europe where LOST was being honored. Yes, ladies and gentleman, the last radio silence for the show has come to end. I feel like this paragraph had two news-worthy items. Thank you!

OASIS OFF!

Exciting stuff last week. Continuing on with…

“Supersonic”

AND FINALLY A QUOTE FROM TWOP’S DAWSON’S CREEK RECAP INVOLVING THE KILLER ICE CREAM CONE TO END THINGS!

“Time for the most hysterical scene ever. Dawson visits the Flash’s grave and plops right down on the grass and starts chatting. “How’s it going?” he begins. Up in heaven, the Flash licks a vanilla cone and snorts that he’s dead — how does Dawson think he’s doing?”

TRUE BLOOD

I feel incredibly unproductive from a writer’s standpoint. David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News, since Monday, wrote two game stories for the Phils, four ‘notes’ or ‘notebook’ pieces for the Daily News, and penned two substantial blog entries (one of those entries nailed the prevalent problem with American citizens). I am happy to report that David Murphy finished season three of LOST yesteve and is quickly approaching the time-traveling antics of season five. Ah, LOST. I have not written a single blog entry yet for the week. The Phillies are still struggling. I’m not too worried. Don’t get me wrong though: I am concerned, especially when an opposing team’s pitcher ONCE AGAIN flirts with a no-hitter against the Phillies. There’s been a little too much of that lately. I am wiser though. Baseball is a game of ebbs and flows, of peaks and troughs as FIFA08 describes the tumbles and the triumphs of a season. Phillies games haven’t been particularly enjoyable to watch lately. I enjoyed the 10-0 win over the Jays (of course). Happ pitched wonderfully. And the 5-4 win on Sunday. What is more painful to watch are the blown leads, the extra-inning heartbreaks, etc. There still things to be enjoyed during these games though. For example, the banter between Sarge and T-Mac borders on idiotic and is usually ridiculous, whenever Werth makes a fantastically casual catch in the outfield (he’s the most casual outfielder in baseball), the entire infield defensively, etc.

As for True Blood, the third episode was a success. Follow me as I write more about it:

–In this episode, Jason began to feel as if the retreat wasn’t for him, Sookie was nearly killed by a bull jawn, Sam is ready to leave Bon Tams for a bit, the writers seem like they are setting up a double twist with Lafayette who was freed in exchange for Sookie agreeing to go to Dallas to investigate the missing sheriff of area 9, Jessica and Hoyt became friendly with eachother, and Maryann continues to be the worst part of this show.

–I, of course, think Maryann is the bull jawn. She couldn’t have been too happy when Sookie offered Tara a place in her house to stay. I’m not sure about anything in this plotline though because we don’t really know anything but Maryann is big on getting people to copulate, and Tara. She also can make pigs disappear should a local detective inquire about a livestock permit. Also, I feel like Daphne is involved. Of course I’m not clear on what the significance of her having the scar of the bull jawn is. I probably need to re-watch to hear what the doctor said about it.

That’s really all I have in me for True Blood this week. This episode, amazingly enough, was more like a setup for what’s to come. Very enjoyable though. The show continues to get better.

THE ‘LOST’ EPISODE OF THE DAY

The episode: Confirmed Dead
Original Airdate: February 7, 2008
Written By: Drew “Jaboy” Goddard & Brian K. Vaugn
Directed By: Stephen Williams

Content: The survivors begin to question the intentions of their supposed rescuers when four strangers arrive on the Island.

Why It’s Worth Re-Watching: It’s a richer episode now than it was when it first aired as we know all about Faraday, Miles, Lapidus, and Charlotte. The writers did a great job introducing the audience to the newest characters. This episode is the first to set up how Widmore’s involved in everything. We get the hint and eventually are told the rescue isn’t the number one priorty (they want Benny boy among other things). Widmore, as we know, never had the intention of rescuing the Losties. Aside from plot stuff, it is a really enjoyable episode. I love the stuff with Locke and the people who went with him. Jack’s great throughout the episode. He protects Kate and Juliet. One of my favorite scenes is when Jack asks Miles and Daniel politely to put the guns down. And, of course, who can forget the great exchange between Sawyer and Locke about Tall Walt? There’s a great scene between Abbadon and Naomi as well. This is an absolutely essential LOST episode.

For Fun, Here’s The 2008 Rankings and my original commentary on the episode (Exact Date: Feb 9, 2008):

Jack was great in this episode. He wasn’t as secretive as he was last season with Juliet. I think the split between him and Locke is just going to ‘up’ his game so to speak. Jack’s going to be great this season. And I think things are going to get ugly in Team Locke. If I didn’t say it last week, I think Locke is the man in that coffin from the season three finale.

And Christian Sheperd is DEAD (a note to that: i got tired of people arguing that Christian never died so I wrote that).

As for the Rankings, we added two characters! Karl and Alex are in the rankings and caused some characters to drop a bit more. Steve is getting tighter with his rankings. He wants to see production or else they drop. Jin was the first victim of that as well. I have a new character in last place. Steve has a new number two. But enough of this…let’s get to the OFFICIAL LOST rankings for this week:

AFTER EPISODE 2

CHRIS
1. Sayid
2. Desmond
3. Sawyer
4. Jack
5. Kate
6. Locke
7. Jin
8. Claire
9. Hurley
10. Karl
11. Alex
12. Rousseau
13. Ben
14. Juliet
15. Sun

STEVE
1. Sayid
2. Sawyer
3. Desmond
4. Locke
5. Jack
6. Kate
7. Alex
8. Claire
9. Jin
10. Karl
11. Rousseau
12. Hurley
13. Sun
14. Ben
15. Juliet

OASIS OFF!

You know the deal by now. I have a ton of Oasis songs to post in the next weeks and then you’ll or I will figure out the best known or well-known song. Here is Lyla from the album Don’t Believe The Truth.

“Lyla”

Many things to get into today and by many I mean three things to get into. In other news, I’m actually going to update this more than once a week and make it into more of a blog. You’ll have a clear idea of what the content of subsequent, more frequent posts will contain later in this entry. Review of Octahedron is coming later this week. Time for some “True Blood.”

EPISODE 202: “Keep The Party Going”

In this episode, Jason began the Leadership retreat with the Fellowship of the Sun and is experiencing a conflict of the soul, of the conscience (he’s thinking of what he did for/to Eddie), Sookie’s good nature backfired considerably with Jessica AND Bill, Eric deemed the information Lafayette gave him useless, Lafayette was shot in the leg by crazy-glamoured-blond and gave Eric, Pam, and Bouncer Vamp Whose Name Escapes Me the idea of vamping him, Sam is still moody, and Maryann showed that she has the power of starting a wild dance party.

–Overall, a great, great episode. The second episode of any season is usually always better than the first because the premiere likes to set the stage for the season. The show continues to get better. It’s very enjoyable.

–The Jason Stackhouse storyline did not disappoint in episode two. It was equally entertaining and thoughtful. He’s not as stupid as he was last season. I got a kick out of his enthusiasm for everything. I indeed laughed out loud when he credited Moses as the one who walked on water in his scene with Mr. Envious-Former-Tight-End-for-Texas-Tech. He was quite shaken after acting out that scene with Mrs. Newlin (who it seems will eventually have sex with Jason). 

–The Sookie/Jessica stuff was good. I especially got a kick out of Jessica’s impersonation of Bill: “I have errands to run; errands which do not require your attendance” is the line I believe. Jessica’s story with her parents brought to mind the season one episode of ANGEL “The Prodigal.” Angel decides to kill his father. It’s the first thing he does as a vampire. Killing his father leads into killing his entire family. It is exactly what Jessica tries to do until Bill, angry as all hell, arrives and puts the kaibash on it (though he morbidly tells Sookie that he has to clean up the mess that she’s created). It is how the episode ended. Will Bill kill the entire family? No way. All he’ll do is glamour the family. I guarentee it. Speaking of the family, the actress who portrayed Colin Hart’s mother in “Everwood.” Once again, that actress portrayed the mother of a dead child. Colin’s mother, to digress, always had a bit of an attitude. In fact, the entire Hart clan did! I should buy season two on DVD. Anywho, I though the morbid way in which Bill told Sookie of new-vampire-impulses would lead to attempted murder on the part of Jessica. It did not.

–Lafayette was hilarious tonight as was Eric. The teaser of the episode was hilarious though extremely gruesome and bloody. Eric was concerned about blood-in-his-hair because Pam would flip. Slowly but surely Lafayette biting-way-of-being back. He got to the point where he stopped taking bullocks from people but then he showed extreme vulnerability when he was being taken to the basement again. Nelson Ellis is a terrific actor. He would’ve been great on LOST. Will he be a vampire the next time we see him? Yes. Alan Ball won’t kill him off, and there’s no way he survives being bitten by Pam, Eric, and BVWNEM.

–As for Maryann, she thinks in a foreign tongue, can eat endless amounts of food, and is able to incite dance parties. She also can turn Sam into a dog at will. Not cool, Maryann. I don’t like her, folks. Tara should move in with Sookie and forget about Maryann altogether but I know that Maryann will stick around. Her schtick is going to get old fast so Alan Ball should make whatever she is interesting. Another Obvious thing to note: everybody dancing moved their hands in the fashion of that statue shown last week.

That’s it for ‘True Blood.’ Time for LOST!

LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do I have up my sleeve this week? Simple. I am introducing the LOST episode of the day. In no way will there be a LOST episode of the day every day but there will be a LOST episode of the day for every entry. 

THE LOST EPISODE OF THE DAY!

I should do a viral version of this entry so I could have a drum-roll. But this is text. The LOST episode of the day is…

The Variable!

Daniel is unsure why he's so upset upon seeing the wreckage of Oceanic 815

Written by Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz

Directed by Paul Edwards
Original Airdate: April 29, 2009

I, literally, wrote about this episode two months ago. I had a vague dream about The Variable. It wasn’t about the episode itself. I wasn’t watching the episode in my head. I was, rather, living moments of that episode with the vague awareness that I felt like Daniel Faraday. I’m a geek. There’s no hiding that. I kept thinking about the doomed relationship of Daniel and (not Charlotte to surprise you all but rather) Theresa as well as the scene when Daniel is watching the discovery of wreckage of Oceanic 815 and he describes his feelings to Widmore as a reaction to the news story. “It’s just so sad.” I really feel like the writers gave Faraday the short-end of the stick. I mean, he went out with a whimper. Yes, he gave Jack the idea to change time, to (in his own words to his mother) ‘make time.’ Who knows what season six holds in store but I hope that Faraday returns somehow and in someway. This episode, as confirmed by Darlton, is the counter to the episode ‘The Constant.’ Carlton, I believe, used the phrase ‘a darker ‘Constant.’ This episode is well-worth re-watching. Here’s an excerpt from what I wrote after watching the episode: “The episode brought up the themes of LOST: free will vs. destiny, science vs. faith. Faraday has abandoned sciene in a way because he is just hoping he can change the future to undo the death of Charlotte.”

OASIS OFF!

I’m a big Oasis fan. Many Americans are huge fans of ‘Wonderwall.’ But is ‘Wonderwall’ their greatest song? That question is what begins the purpose of Oasis Off. What, in fact, is the best Oasis song? Is it ‘Wonderwall’? Or is it ‘Champagne Supernova’? Or is it ‘Live Forever,’ or ‘Supersonic’? Or none of these? I will not go through every song from the Oasis discography but there will be a substantial amount of songs that I will post on a frequent (maybe a daily basis but if not daily then I guarentee I won’t miss more than one day). What I’d like is feedback from people but if I don’t get any then I will take it into my own hands to decide their greatest song. Allow me to clarify what I mean by greatest. I merely am referring to songs that are known or well-known. And there’s a good chance every song on ‘Stop The Clocks’ will be included in Oasis Off as it is considered the greatest hits record and put together by the band themselves. I, personally, am extremely excited to do this. I want college students, in particular, to realize there are more songs in Oasis than ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Champagne Supernova.’ I want them to realize that there are other songs that can be played acoustically and will produce the desired result that playing ‘Wonderwall’ on acoustic at a party results in: getting laid. Here goes:

‘Don’t Go Away”–Be Here Now

It’s considered ‘Wonderwall’-lite. It’s from a (for some reason I do not understand) critically maligned album. Oh wait, I understand. Americans have ADD and can’t tolerate songs longer than 3.5 minutes. Be Here Now is fantastic. The third album of the one of the greatest first three albums ever released by a band. Anywho, ‘Don’t Go Away’ features some of the softest and gentlest vocal performances from Liam. His trademark scowl and snarl is not present during this track. His singing attitude (which makes him terrific mind you) disappears for the 4:48 length of the track. The song features some great guitar-work from Noel. In a word, it’s a nice song. A really nice song. Go ahead and take a listen for a video is included in this very post.

Why does Chicago get its on ESPN website?

“True Blood” began its second season Sunday on HBO. I finished the first season successfully and in time for the premiere. Don’t expect this to be like my LOST recaps/reviews. LOST is special. I like “True Blood” as I wrote last week. I’m not particularly invested in any one character though. I have favorites, of course. On the whole, though, it’s no Joss Whedon show or LOST. I won’t bother explaining my favorite characters. Hopefully, you pick up on it as I deliver my thoughts on a weekly basis. If you don’t, it’s no big deal. 
EPISODE 201: ‘Nothing But The Blood’

–The episode dealt with the corpse in Andy’s car, began to reveal a little about lover-of-pigs Maryann and the history with Sam, the justice side of Eric’s sheriff duties, Bill’s role as father to the woman he turned as punishment for killing Longshadow, Jason’s interest in the Fellowship of the Sun, as well as the grief Sookie still experiences for her grandmother. 

–Readers of the books “True Blood” is based on did not shut up about Lafayette being the corpse in the car. It wasn’t. Fans are happy regardless because Lafayette’s an awesome character. Miss Jeanette was the unfortunate victim in the car. Tara was mightily spooked and paranoid that she’d be a suspect because she yelled at Miss Jeanette (the actual name is Nicole something but I’ll just refer to her as Miss Jeanette) for conning her and her mother out of a lot of money (she gave exorcisms to both) though she did teach Tara about the importance of faith which Tara promptly ignored resulting in her current stay with Maryann (which seems like a good deal right now but probably will not be such a good thing as the story progresses). Two questions here: why did the murderer plant the body in good ol’ Andy Bellefleur’s car? And, why was Miss Jeanette killed? Let’s hope season two isn’t about another serial killer. The end is always disappointing when done in a television series. I might exclude Veronica Mars from that list though. I have to think about both seasons. Season Two of Veronica only dealt with the person who caused the bus accident so it was a killer but not a serial killer. I’m afraid this is going to lead me into rant about what would’ve been a better way to tell season two of Veronica Mars structurally speaking with regards to order of episodes. Perhaps another time…

–I’m on board with the Jason Stackhouse storyline so far. There’s no annoying Amy Burley this time around or ‘V’. It seems as if Jason is interested in redeeming himself as a person and is not a vampire-hater (which is a good thing because he was a fan of Eddie and I dislike inconsistency in a story). On the televisionwithoutpity.com forum for “True Blood,” they are wondering how long it’ll take Jason to have sex with Rev. Newlin’s wife. I doubt that’ll happen. Another interesting aspect of Jason’s conversion involves his interpretation of receiving the money Uncle Bartlett left Sookie. He, of course, perceived it as an act of God; as a sign that he’s meant to take part in the Leadership program. Jason contradicts this newfound faith of his by lying to Sookie about the church that is holding the Leadership conference. He’d probably feel quite differently if he knew that he received the money as a result of something a vampire did, a part of Satan’s darkness as written about in the Rev. Newlin the Senior’s book. I’m sure that was intentional on the part of the writers. I think it’s going to be a complex, deep and engaging storyline.

–Well, we’ve found out the deal with Maryann. Not only does she love being outside naked with pigs but she also enjoys sex with minors. There’s that mystery. I’m sure the whole epileptic-like seizure she had is of no importance at all and I can move right along without writing anything about it? Oh, wait? It is important for the story? Oh, well. I still don’t care about Maryann’s deal. I am interested in knowing why she came to Bon Tams to find Sam since she seems to be devoid of human emotion and sentiment known as love. We’ll see.

–Bill is extremely cooler as nerdish and stumbling over how to “raise” Jessica as a vampire than he is as an Angel rip-off. One of my favorite Bill scenes from season one was his Wii golf scene. More of that and less of the brooding. I mean, come on…he’s not Angel. Never will be. Also: here’s hoping the Bill/Jessica story remains an aspect of comedy. 

–The death of Uncle Bartlett came back to bite Bill for about two seconds and then he called Sookie his miracle which led to Anna Paquin topless nudity for the male audience and some quality sucking of the blood for good ol’ Billy. We were all winners.

–I have a sense that Andy Bellefleur will soon emerge as the hero at some point. He’s been humiliated and embarassed for a bit of time now. It makes narrative sense for him to emerge from this, for he to become the man he always claimed himself to be. 

–Eric likes to exact justice on those who have engaged in wrong-doing against vampires which putting highlights in his hair (or whatever it’s called). I found that funny. He’s also in control of the fate of Lafayette who it turns out is not dead which is great because Lafayette is hilarious. Previews have him asking Eric to make him a vampire. It’d be cool, I guess. Becoming a vamp isn’t like becoming a vamp in ANGEL or Buffy. They don’t become instantly evil and souless. It reminds me of the final scene in episode six of the third season of ANGEL. Fred tries to console Wesley after Wesley tried to kill her after being infected by Mr. Misogyny Billy’s touch. She says that what happened wasn’t in him but, rather, it was something that was done to him. It’s like that in “True Blood.” Don’t be surprised if I continue to mention ANGEL (and possibly Buffy) in these reviews/recaps/thoughts/whatever you want to call it. I thought of ANGEL a bit during the first season (and I’ve been re-watching ANGEL late at night). Go ahead and make Lafayette a vampire.

–I’m not looking forward to the possible return to drunkard Tara’s mom. Maryanne gave her a whole chunk of her mind outside of the police station and Lettie May look rather frazzled by the tongue-lashing. I’m really not into the drug/alcohol addictions on any show. I was elated that Charlie-is-addicted-to-Heroin plot went away in mid-season two. I dug it in season one but not in season two. It’s connected to one of the problems I have with season two which I believed I addressed in that fantastic entry with LOST and the Mars Volta. Don’t you worry, reader, I will be diving into LOST soon. I do not plan on breaking my promise of writing about every week until the season premiere in January. Back to “True Blood.”

–For a show that has a main character, they pretty much ignored her in the premiere. Sookie wasn’t involved in much. She attempted to clean out her Gram’s room but could not because it’s her Gram. I liked that. Other than that, she got mad at Bill for the Jessica thing, Sam didn’t put up with her nonsense this time (which was great), and then she forgave Bill after getting mad at him for the Bartlett stuff. That’s about it.

–Other stuff: Terry’s slowly charming Arlene, some girl named Daphne joined the staff at Merlotte’s, and we saw that the Sheriff is a square-dancing fan. All in all, not too bad an episode.

LOST!

I recorded season two’s “Maternity Leave” on DVR when it aired on ABC late Saturday night/technically early Sunday morning. I only wanted to watch the last scene with Claire talking to Aaron (when she gives him the slipper she knitted him while in The Arrow).

Emilie De Ravin!

Something struck me though and I began thinking about the season-five-mirrored-season-two. There’s a scene in “Maternity Leave” when Claire has Sun take care of Aaron because Claire is about to embark on a journey to The Arrow to (she hopes) retrieve medicine for Aaron. Now Claire’s extremely pissy throughout the episode. Yelling at people and whatnot. Sun doesn’t seem comfortable taking Aaron. Yunjin Kim did a great job playing the scene. She tells Claire that a mother should not leav her child. Claire does not appreciate Sun’s opinion and wonders, rhetorically speaking, whether Sun is a mother. Sun of course says no. 

AND THEN CUT TO SEASON FIVE! Sun is the mother of Ji Yeon. She leaves South Korea to take revenge on Ben but plans on going back to S. Korea. Things change when Ben tells her that Jin is alive and uses the wedding ring as proof. As we all know, she boards 316 and comes back to the Island. Sun is the one who leaves her child now. It’s not an exact mirror because of the motivations behind Sun’s decision. There’s a quote from either Damon or Carlton about LOST and the concept of the looking glass. Alas, I cannot remember the quote. Season Five showed the motivations of some characters turned 360 degrees like Jack. Jack was a staunch man of science during season two. Didn’t believe in the button. Always thought Locke was crazy. In season Five, he is entirely a man of faith so much so that he believes he was meant to change time and the future. There are other elements which I’ve detailed in recaps past which I won’t reiterate in this space. I wanted to write about the Sun thing though because it’s cool. 

OTHER STUFF!

–I’m going to begin writing about music very soon. I’ll have a review of the new Mars Volta record next week maybe as well as thoughts about the solo efforts of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. I’ll also write about the greatness of Incubus and Oasis.

–I might have a review of Summer Hours up in the near future. 

–I’ll probably write a little about David Foster Wallace’s non-fiction as well.

-Chris Monigle

Written by Chris Monigle

I have come to the realization that less is certainly more for this blog. There’s about a 1% chance you’ll see a another 3,800 word entry for the rest of the summer. LOST might strike my fancy which is why I left a 1% chance. I also remembered that entertainment is my biggest focus at The Quad since I am, you know, the editor of that section; therefore, the experiential piece I planned to write will no longer be written as it would contain very little entertainment besides a bit about LOST, two video games, and multiple failed journeys to see Pixar’s UP, so it wouldn’t even be a review of the movie but rather a review of my experiences trying to see the movie. I did battle Colin, our Editor-In-Chief, for the position of Editor-In-Chief in a game of Touch Football. Do not misunderstand me: it was literally touch football that we played on Peter J. Smith’s iPod touch. I set an over/under of 19.5 points. I took the under. Colin didn’t even put the position on the line as much as I stated that me and him would play for the position of Editor-In-Chief. It’s a simple game. All one does is slide their index finger on the screen to try to a score a touchdown. I sadly lost the touch I had when I battled Smith months earlier. It was Diddy’s first time playing the game (and Diddy is the nickname I’ve given Colin).

The two savvy competitors in Touch Football

The question that everybody seeks an answer to is: Am I the new Editor-In Chief of The Quad? Did I, in fact, defeat and whisk the title from Diddy? 
I did not. In fact, he shut me out. A 12-0 final. I didn’t even come close to ever scoring. Either my slide was too powerful or my index finger betrayed me when it was my turn i.e. it barely moved. Diddy displayed a calm poise, allowing the game to come to him, to reveal itself. It was fun though.

Back to the point: I was struck on Sunday night by the realization of the entertainment aspect of this blog. It’s not like I strayed. I didn’t. I merely planned to stray into other areas of non-entertainment. I was also struck by how enjoyable “less” can be than “more.” I will write as much as needed for LOST and anything else entertainment but I won’t put an entry on life support to satisfy an internal blowhard word-count that is in no way mandated by The Quad. I can be my own worst enemy.

‘True Blood’ has become the show that will occupy me during the hiatus of LOST. I’m not the type of person to toss a show aside once LOST returns though. In fact, Dawson’s Creek was an ‘Occupy Me’ show once upon a time.

Those crazy kids from the Creek!

The year was 2003. Summer 2003. ‘Everwood’ had wrapped up its exceptional first season and ended with one doozy of a cliff-hanger. TBS began syndicating Dawson’s Creek. I began watching towards the end of the school year, when I’d get home early because of the final examination high school schedule. The first episode I saw of Dawson’s Creek is entitled ‘Hurricane.’ It’s first season. Joey’s all about Dawson and Dawson’s oblivious. I do wonder whether Joey wishes she never let her affections be known to Dawson since Dawson made things miserable for her and Pacey during a time despite Joey’s insistence that he wasn’t completely insane. All I did that summer was watch the first five seasons of Dawson’s Creek on TBS. I was riveted. It was fantastic. I own two seasons on DVD. During past LOST hiatus’, I’ve watched Firefly in its entirety, finished Buffy, became a fan of ‘Entourage,’ etc. Don’t get me wrong: nothing replaces LOST when it’s off-the-air. What I watch during the hiatus’ do not suck though. I mean, Buffy and Firefly are fantastic. Definitely Top 5 shows of all-time (and of course ANGEL is also in the top-5). 
‘True Blood’ caught my eye last fall when it premiered; however, living at school with no HBO didn’t motivate me to begin watching it. It caught my eye because Anna Paquin looks awesome as a blond. God bless the costume designer of ‘True Blood’ because Anna Paquin looks amazing in every scene she’s in.

Reviews began trickling in that it wasn’t a terrible show. I didn’t expect it to be since Alan Ball is overseeing and running the production. I have no interest in reading the books the show is based on though. I’m not an insane fan of vampire stories. I’m a huge ANGEL and Buffy fan but I’ll never read Anne Rice novels or read or watch “Twilight.” “Dracula” is a cool story.

In addition to Alan Ball running the show, “True Blood” had HBO in its favor. HBO produces quality television. “True Blood” is a good show. It reminds me of Buffy and ANGEL. The characters are well-developed. The plots are interesting and substantial. The secondary characters have plenty of life and depth. It keeps me guessing. It surprises me. The cliff-hangers at the end of each episode are great. I am through the first seven episodes of season one and am looking forward to the rest of the season. The show stood out for me once I reached episode four “Escape from Dragon House.” The following three episodes I’ve seen have been great. It’s an enjoyable viewing experience. I’m getting involved with each character’s story (or arc). All of you with Netflix out there, I recommend watching the first season on DVD.

Once the second season begins, I’ll give my thoughts on each individual episode. Time for some LOST.

I’m going to comment briefly on what Carlton Cuse told Michael Ausiello about the return of a certain someone to the show (don’t read if you don’t want to know but it doesn’t give anything away except the joy and surprise but i’d be expecting so it doesn’t matter to me). What struck me about this was, for starters, Cuse breaking radio silence. He and Damon never talk about the next season until comic con. I imagined that when (i happened upon an interview with Emilie before season five began so i knew this news would come before season six) they announced her return, it would be at Comic Con just like how it was announced Harold Perrineau was returning for season four at comic con 2007. Then of course Carlton offered these words about how they are more excited for how the character returns than the simple fact that she is returning. I mean, COME ON! It’s early June, Carlton! Don’t do that to me! It’s only been a month since season five ended! I immediately began thinking about where we last saw Claire, what it means now with Mr. Nameless seeming to be the dude who inhabited the Cabin, what it means for the whole “Did they change the future?” cliff-hanger. How she returns might be with an unborn Aaron in her belly, landing at LAX. But I doubt that. I’m on record believing the season opens in 2007. What I came to realize is that, simply, Claire’s return is going to be awesome and it’s going to make for one hell of a flashback. I am stoked.