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February 9, 2010
House: Um, Cuddy? Better You Than Us, Thanks.
This week on House, we were treated to a day in the life of Cuddy. Nightmarish. Why anyone would invite that sort of stress is mystifying.
We learned that Cuddy is not a woman one can cross. That she really is tough as nails. She does not budge, and calling her itchy names does not shake her resolve.
We would hate her job, but we admire her for doing it so well, even in the face of Serious Consequences. Cuddy's got character, in spades. Pun seriously not intended, really.
We pick up Hour 7 with President Taylor trying to keep up support for her peace accord with Kamistan President Hassan -- difficult, because he's becoming more and more paranoid. So paranoid, in fact, that he's had Tarin, his number-one man, detained and number two guy, Nabeel, is now "just following orders." When Day 8 first began the peace process story line, it had all the making of an unbelievable snooze-fest. But at this point we welcome some political sparing because...
The Dana/Jenny, Kevin Wade story line is heating up! Wade and his prison pal got into the police lockup with help from Dana -- who was able to slip away, again, from the national emergency. She provided him with all the codes necessary. Wade and company got the money but prison pal wanted more. At this point Wade is the smartest person in the room, and that's not saying much. They of course spend too much time looting and were discovered. But after laying a beat-down on the cop, they were able to escape.
Well. That's one cliff hanging winter finale on Fringe. Standing in two universes at once! Little Olivia (Olive) fighting off the fears imposed by a younger and even less ethical Walter! Inter-Universe glimmers! Around Peter!
We have mixed feelings about Olivia's ability. On one hand, we appreciate that there is a tangible non-supernatural explanation for them. On the other hand, waaa? She needs to be scared to see the glimmering. In other words, she needs to be in touch with her inner child, Olive. Who lives in the dark scary woods and wears German expressionist clothes. Uh-huh. Exactly of what was she scared when she was meeting Peter for drinks?
And while we're on this topic, high five to the tension between Peter and Olivia! Oh Fringe, how you tease us. They both really wanted that kiss. Happily they didn't give it to us. We need for that tension to keep us breathless. Seems that when that tension is broken, either something awful happens to one of the parties involved, or everything just goes downhill. So, please continue to have that delicious tension for as long as possible.
What do you think of the tingly almost kiss, and subsequent revelation that Olivia had? Tell us in the comments after the jump!
Chance got religion this week on Human Target -- well, sort of. He was saving his client -- and a bunch of harmless monks -- from a marauding band of thieves who have either been reading too much Dan Brown or who just watched an ecclesiastical version of National Treasure. And while the story itself wasn't our idea of a good time (because we're still having Da Vinci Code flashbacks), we have to appreciate the sight of Chance in a monk's robes (thankfully without tonsure) swinging a censer and kicking all kinds of bad-guy ass.
Plus, the setting -- a remote monastery on top of a mountain accessible only by cable car -- was truly gorgeous. It's enough to almost make us think of taking up vows. (Almost.) OK, we're moderately confused why a Canadian monastery on top of an inaccessible mountain would have prohibition-era tunnels beneath it... and how people got up there before the cable car... and why John Gray, the client, was allowed to run a service based on The Flash... and how both Gray and Chance managed to waltz in posing as monks... and... you know what? Let's suspend that disbelief off the cable-car rig and just go with it.
Once again, this week on House we were given evidence that our favorite misanthrope has a conscience and really is a good guy beneath it all. Buried far, far beneath it all. Manipulatively so that his secret good side remains hidden.
We heart Orlando Jones! We're thrilled that he was a guest cast member this week, and hope that we get to see more of him here and there as the season unfolds. When House picked him up from prison and hired him, we were suspicious and in full agreement with Foreman when he said that the sole purpose of hiring him as House's assistant was to mess with Foreman.
Ultimately, we think that House was just being his usual manipulative self, wanting Foreman to give his brother another chance and therefore manipulating the situation so that would be the end result...all the while keeping his reputation as a jackass intact.
Did Wilson and House deserve the pranking they received? More after the jump!
Renee's desperate speech to Vladimir while at gunpoint has Jack thinking Renee is unstable, prompting him to tell Hastings she needs to be taken off the case. This makes sense because as we know after seven days, Jack is the one who should be determining when someone is unstable or not. While Renee does seem a little off, we don't think she's unstable. However, we do think she has another motive. Remember what we learned a couple of hours ago, Vladimir supposedly tried to rape her before, and as we see this hour he would try again and appear to succeed.
Now we're definitely not a fan of Vladimir, but we do appreciate his cajones for thinking he was going to get five million dollars from a guy, kill him and then make off with the cash. Like Meier (Jack cleverly disguised in glasses -- no really, just glasses) wasn't going to have any back up and that nobody would come looking for the guy who made off with their five mil! Vlad would find out he was in a little deeper than he thought when most of his crew was picked off, leaving just Lugo.
SPIDERS! We were twitching and itching right along with Cam when itty bitty furry creatures came pouring out of the clay surrounding this week's victim. They looked like mini-tarantulas, and "harmless" or not.... ew! ew! ew!
For some reason, we've had no problem (ok, maybe a *little*) watching Brennan mucking about corpses dissolved in all manner of substances, smushed into junker cars disguised as artwork or between pieces of cardboard, roasting like a barbecued pig, buried in compost, or torn apart in very, very gruesome ways. But this one reached right in and twanged the 'ol squick cord. Thank you Bones, for all those lovely nightmares sure to follow.
Ok, moving on. Jared's back and he's in love. He tells Seeley he's thinking of asking Padme (insert Queen Amidala jokes here) to marry him. Booth is taken aback by his little brother's seemingly impetuous decisions and wonders if the trip to India had no effect on his maturity. So, Booth does what he does: a background check on the sister-in-law-to-be. Although he discovers Padme was an "escort" a few years back, Jared's not appreciative of the info (as everyone told Booth he wouldn't be).
Is he a mite bit jealous of Jared's happiness when his feelings about Bones are unresolved? Is he trying to take the rational, logical route around the situation because, despite his "I learned it by watching you!" assertion that it's what Brennan would do, he's really just trying to rationalize the irrational? It's Bones that convinces Booth to do what she learned from him: go with his gut, his feelings. Is she maybe pushing him take that advice when it comes to admitting how he feels about her? Are we thinking about this too much...? Perhaps.
Oh yeah, the rest of the episode: the gay full-contact-football-playing dentist, killed accidentally by his thieving and homophobic contractor, the closeted football buddy in love with him, the hygienist that blamed him for contracting Hep C to cover up an affair, the Civil War battlefield, the rhubarb. Just your normal Bones fun and games.
This week's quote, courtesy of the intern currently at bat on the rotation...
Bones: "Tendonitis in his elbow, the hook of the hamate [a bone on the little-finger side of the hand] shows wear from torque, rotational force, and repeated tugging."
Vincent Nigel-Murray: "I only have inappropriate comments off the phrase 'repeated tugging.'"
Here's a formula for you: European accent + blonde hair + little round glasses + a eugenically targeted bioengineered toxin + classical music that sounds like it's being played on an 80-year-old Victrola = X. Solve for X. You win! Well done, you! (PS the swastika was a wee bit of overkill, thanksomuch) And why are we not surprised that on Fringe this week, Walter's father Robert, a brilliant scientist in his own day, created the formula that sourced the toxin killing people now.
Call us cynical, but as we understand it, the Germans of the 1930s were all about the cutting edge of technology. We're pretty sure that should this fastidious and brilliant Nazi scientist still be around, frozen in his aging process, he'd be using the very latest available cleanest most flawless music format available. Pretty sure he'd not use a scratchy old copy of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, but a fantastic clean version, full of the glory and drama where every note is clear.
Hey! Human Target got So You You Think You Can Dance in our action show! And it worked -- the fight/tango scene between Chance and Emma Brown may be one of our favorite moments so far. Bravo!
Chance's dance partner is an FBI agent who is on the lookout for a spy. Since Chance is there looking for the same spy, that should work out nicely. But first there's some mistaken identity ("You think I'm a prostitute? You think I'm a $40 prostitute?"), some bluffing (Chance has the Secretary of Defense on speed dial?), and a wee bit of near-fatal poisoning.
See, Raven is a spy who's selling secrets to the highest bidder. Raven killed Chance's old friend Danny, then poisoned Danny's journalist brother and (ulp!) Chance himself. So Chance had extra incentive to find the spy. First he had to bluff his way into a party at the Russian Embassy (and Chance cleans up niiiiice), then he had to deal with a suspicious Emma (the always fab Emmanuelle Vaugier), the Russian special forces, and his own impending death. Eep!
Well, rather than the usual Whitney and Mariah covers, this week on American Idol we were treated to Cheap Trick, the Divinyls, Pat Benetar, Meatloaf, Carl Davis (Kung Fu Fighting), Living Color, Joss Stone, and Sam Cook. Those snarky judges kept us from hearing some ELO, though. We heart ELO! Even if they haven't been a valid pop culture reference for pretty much as long as any of the eligible contestants have been alive.
More from this week's hopefuls after the jump. C'mon, you know you want to see the dude who told us that when he thinks about you, he touches himself. And it wasn't Mr. Shiny Pants in the banner pic.
