Thoughts on Fringe’s Final Season Premiere: Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11

by Amy Yen

There are a lot of ways you could describe what kind of show Fringe is. It’s really well acted. It has a rich & terribly complex mythology. It’s got a lot of ludicrous science that doesn’t make any sense. It can be, in the same hour, terrifying, thrilling, hilarious & heartbreaking.

It’s incredibly brave.

Whether you thought the Peter disappearing arc really paid off or not, or whether you think they really told all the story there was to tell in the red-verse before closing it off, or whether you think it’s the best choice to set the final 13 episodes in 2036, you have to admit, Fringe doesn’t do safe storytelling. That may mean it can go off the rails a little, but you have to admire it for trying it in the first place.

Fortunately, based off of “Transilience Thought Unifer Model-11,” this final leap may pay off yet. I found 2036 this time around completely engaging. It was smart to bring the entire core team forward, so that we haven’t actually missed very much of their story. And Etta — perfectly cast Etta (who, looking at her now, I can’t believe we went through “Letters of Transit” without knowing who she was, because it is so very obvious) — Etta is exactly right, exactly who a daughter of Peter & Olivia would be. A wonderful performance from Georgina Haig, highlighted by the scene reuniting her with Olivia. 

Really, every performance was pretty much amazing in this episode, although it would be a crime, which should be punishable by horrible Observer mind-probing, to post this without saying that John Noble was, for the millionth time, incredible. And although I found the scene between Peter & Olivia, where they explain to us, but mostly to each other for some reason, what happened to them after they lost Etta, clunky & unnecessary, I did think Joshua Jackson did an admirable job selling it. I just don’t really see why it was necessary to break them up again. (It reminds me of Amy & Rory’s break-up in this year’s Doctor Who premiere. Is it just that the writers think it’s more interesting when they’re a little star-crossed? In both cases, I just feel like the characters have developed beyond that.)

Anyway, overall, I found the whole thing reason to hope, like a single dandelion growing on scorched earth, that this final season, which we are lucky to have regardless of what it turns out being, is going to give this story the ending it deserves.

More random thoughts on “Transilience Thought Unifer Model-11″:

• I thought the callbacks to the some of the familiar little things we know about these characters, like Walter trying to eat egg sticks like licorice (“What a miserable future.”) and calling Astrid “Afro,” were used really well. Not only did it bring a little humor, but it was kind of subtly sad, calling back on something that was lost in this future.
• “You seem much more interesting as a human being than a vegetable. But, all things being equal, I don’t mind which one you end up.” They’ve done a great job of making the Observers straight-up terrifying.
• If Peter & Olivia lost Etta when the Observers invaded when she was three, how does she know who she is? And what exactly happened to her?
• The carbon monoxide thing was a nice touch. If you think about it, the air is only going to get more polluted in the future, where the Observers came from, so it makes sense they’d adapted to it. And ironically, by polluting the air on purpose now, they may be speeding up the ruining of the world that eventually leads them to go back in time in the first place.
• I did think during the scenes at the resistance headquarters that those bits would have been so much more interesting with Simon still around. Stupid Scandal, ruining everything. (I don’t mean that, I actually quite like Scandal.) Now that Henry Ian Cusick’s available, I really hope they find a way to bring him back. With the way the bit of dialogue referencing Simon was written, I have to assume we will.
• I wonder what happened to Ella, Olivia’s niece, in this version of the future. If you remember, in the “The Day We Died” future, she ended up a Fringe agent.
• It’s kind of nice to see Markham again, even if him using amber-ized Olivia as a coffee table is really messed up. I have the feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot of familiar faces on the farewell tour this year.

Thoughts on Fringe Season 4 Premiere Neither Here Nor There

by Amy Yen

More than almost any other show on TV, it’s wonderful to have Fringe back, just in terms of my almost complete certainty that I will get an enjoyable hour of television. The only other show I would put in its class would be Parks and Recreation (whose premiere was excellent, btw). Fringe is wonderful because even when it’s not quite what you want it to be, it has so many layers & interesting things to think about, it will still almost always be better than 95% of everything else on TV.

So, the season 4 premiere, “Neither Here Nor There,” wasn’t quite the epic mythology piece we were all not-so-secretly hoping for. Instead, the producers (or more likely, the network) decided to backtrack on last year’s (wise, I thought) decision to abandon all notion that they were going to attract any new viewers & just went neck-deep into the mythology. Maybe it’s that the sudden surge in genre-friendly Friday programming re-opens up the possibility of people discovering the show…but I have to say, as much as I thought this episode (& from what I understand the first part of this season) was trying to be as accessible as possible, I can’t imagine someone tuning in for the first time & the first scene being Olivia Dunham arguing with an alternate version of herself.

So, maybe I don’t know so much about this new direction, but I did think this episode did do a good job of setting up the new dynamics of the season, at least for the blueverse, & also introducing a lot of very interesting questions about how characters are affected by Peter Bishop’s being erased from the timeline. It did a particularly good job of re-introducing the blueverse version of Lincoln Lee, who in this timeline, never investigated the “Stowaway” case with Peter & Bellivia last year.

I loved the first scene with Lincoln at his partner’s house. What a remarkable little scene. Think about it, it’s the only scene with the partner & it makes you care about him in about three minutes. And it makes you care about, understand, this Lincoln we barely know, with the combed-down hair & the dorky glasses & buttoned-up suit & tie. (Again, such a simple & elegant job of contrasting him with the cocky, wild-haired Lincoln we know from the redverse.) But in three minutes, you get him.

As dorktastic as this Lincoln is, he is both completely capable on handling himself & also shows himself to be as naturally brilliant of an investigator as he is on the other side. It’s again smart writing because this Lincoln is totally different from the one we know, but you can see that they’re still the same person, the same way Walter & Walternate and Olivia & Fauxlivia are.

I really liked Olivia’s slow acceptance of Lincoln throughout the episode, how difficult it was, despite the fact we knew it was going to happen. Lincoln has to prove several times that he is a good investigator & a worthy partner for this Olivia, who has been alone for so long (“There is no one else. There is only me”). It is because Seth Gabel is so compelling in portraying this version of him (essentially a brand new character) that I didn’t miss Peter’s presence much at all this episode.

Not to say I wasn’t constantly thinking about how Peter’s absence affected things (more about this in the bullets), it’s just that Lincoln being there makes it less urgent to me that they bring him back immediately. I think they can take their time & let the story play out. Of course, I have no idea how it will. I’m still confused about September the Observer & his increasingly bizarre actions. Wasn’t Peter being erased from the timeline what he predicted (& presumably caused somehow)? Why is he suddenly so queasy about finishing the job?

So, overall, I’m still not convinced on whether this whole Peter storyline is a good one or not, but Fringe is one of those shows that has earned itself a lot of blind trust on my part. It’s not like I won’t be tuning in. And you should too.

Other random thoughts about “Neither Here Nor There”:

• Orange (oh as EW pointed out, amber!) credits. Among the new phrases listed: Viral therapy, quantum entanglement, time paradox, psychic surgery, gravitons, existence. As vague as usual, except for quantum entanglement, which we’ve already dealt with. And existence, which seems…ominous.
• “He just never had anything to tether him to the world.” The subtle & not-so-subtle differences in all the characters, the Peter-shaped hole in their lives, are all pretty fascinating. Olivia & Walter are pretty obvious, but the brief bits we get with Fauxlivia seem telling too. She’s definitely not quite as likable as she had grown to be last year. She’s back to who she was in Over There Part 2, when she first made the switch & infiltrated our side. Except in this timeline, she didn’t fall for Peter, didn’t change & start to care, didn’t ever come to want to stop Walternate.
• I wonder if that also means that redverse Lincoln & Charlie never came to suspect Walternate’s evil ways, since Fauxlivia’s non-pregnancy means they probably never found out about the switch. Can’t wait to see how things are changed in the redverse.
• Interesting that the blueverse Fringe division is both more official (& has seemingly more resources) & more secret in this timeline. Wonder why that would change, based on Peter not being there.
• The translucent people/pseudo-shape-shifters quite deliberately called back to John Scott’s condition in the pilot. I even thought for a second this might turn out to be the same case…a situation in which Olivia & John never caught up to the bad guy from that episode, so he never exploded his lab or John.
• “Just so you know, I know what it’s like.” So in this timeline, John Scott never recovered at all? Is that because Peter never forced the suspect to talk using completely illegal interrogation techniques?
• “There’s more than one.” Oh, we know. We know.
• One glaring thing that does still need to be explained regarding the new timeline: if Peter never existed or died as a child, how did the chain of events leading up to the universes merging even happen? Because we know in the original timeline, it all started when Walter ripped a hole between universes to try to save the Peter from over there. If he never did that, what caused all the damage on both sides that is referenced by the Olivias in this episode?
• “What I do know is that this tech isn’t from here.” “Not from here? You mean like, from China?” “No. Not China.” Heh.
• The red room scan totally gave me Alias flashbacks.
• Love the grin on Fauxlivia’s face when she spots Lincoln. Seriously can’t wait for the Lincolns to meet each other.
• After seeing Ringer, I’ve gained a whole new appreciation of just how good the Fringe cast, particularly Anna Torv & John Noble, is at playing against themselves.
• “Sometimes answers lead to more questions.” I would say, almost always, in a JJ-verse.

Ad Post: CW The Secret Circle Entertainment Weekly Insert

by Amy Yen

The CW: The Secret Circle print insert
Agency: CW promotions department

Check out this elaborate print insert from the CW in the September 9th issue of Entertainment Weekly promoting their new fall show,The Secret Circle. The two-page insert opens up to an interactive ad of the show’s witch characters holding a candle, which the reader can light up by touching metal disks embedded in the ad. Touching the disks also activates an audio commercial for the show. The instructions on the ad tell the reader to blow out the candle to “protect [their] secret.” Sure enough, blowing on the ad activates a wind sensor in the ad & turns off the lighted candle.

An impressive, no doubt hugely expensive placement, it’s certainly attention-grabbing, with the insert bulking up the issue & the hardstock paper and various interactive components difficult to miss while flipping through the magazine. The CW is clearly putting a lot of promotion behind The Secret Circle, which is debuting behind their biggest hit, The Vampire Diaries, also from creator Kevin Williamson & also based on LJ Smith novels. I’ll definitely be giving it a shot, because of the good will Williamson buys, although honestly, despite the fact that the CW has successfully gotten my attention with its promotion, I don’t find the previews themselves to be particularly compelling. Watch a 6-minute preview here.

Instructions on the CW's interactive print insert for The Secret Circle (click to enlarge)

Thoughts on Doctor Who Series 6.5 Premiere Let’s Kill Hitler

by Amy Yen

“No, she will be amazing.”

Oh, the twisty-turny, timey-wimey, crazy, tragic, brilliant, impossible life of River Song. How do we even begin to talk about River Song?

So it turns out, everything about the River Song we know is a paradox. Her TARDIS blue diary, the “spoilers” she always warns about, “Rule 1: The Doctor Lies,” all of it came from the Doctor himself, who got it from River. Even her name, both of her names, are paradoxes. Amy names her baby after Mel, who is her baby. River takes her name from the Doctor, after the Doctor knows her as River. It’s impossible. She‘s impossible.

So we finally meet River at the start of her story, so long after meeting her at the end. She’s been hiding in plain sight this whole time. “You got to raise me after all,” she tells Amy & Rory, & it’s an awesome idea, the girl who grew up with Amy & her imaginary friend. It’s such an awesome idea, I only wish there had been a few more plants for it. As it is, it does seem odd their best friend isn’t at their wedding or in any of the many scenes of their life in Leadworth, particularly in “The Eleventh Hour.”

So “Mel” regenerates into the future River & man, does Alex Kingston so clearly have a blast with Regeneration Cycle River, who is as spazzy & insane & fantastic as Eleven was when he first appeared. And she uses all of her remaining regenerations in one go, which doesn’t make sense on a number of levels, not the least of which is that it was established in the Sarah Jane Adventures last year that time lords can most likely continue regenerating indefinitely. But it does conveniently explain why River doesn’t renegerate in the Library, so I guess that’s a plot hole we’ll ignore.

“Let’s Kill Hitler” was full of answers, sometimes almost to a surreal degree (particularly when the Doctor accesses the Justice Department robot’s records on the Silence). But there are still plenty more left. The Silence is a movement based around the oldest question in the universe, hiding in plain sight (a familiar Moffat theme). Which is what? The Doctor now knows of his impending death, which we knew was going to happen since he has to set up the blue envelopes. But we still don’t know the goal of that exercise, since it still can’t be to save him, because we know now the Doctor’s death is apparently a fixed point in time. So how are they going to get out of this now?

More random thoughts on “Let’s Kill Hitler“:

• Love Amy & Rory’s crop circle signal to the Doctor. It’s interesting that this is the first I think we’ve seen companions getting extended breaks on Earth in the middle of their adventures & getting the Doctor’s attention this way. If I remember right, before the Doctor had Martha’s phone, companions on Earth never had a way of contacting him again. Or I guess they did, but they just weren’t as clever as Amy & Rory.
• “Permission?” “Granted.” I do love Rory & the Doctor’s revolving mutual perception of each other. The Doctor respecting Rory more & more, Rory accepting the Doctor’s role in Amy’s (& his) life.
• The Justice Department robot thing is really cool, such a neat idea. Executed wonderfully, like Mystique in the X-Men movies. And for another comparison, the inside control room was totally Enterprise all the way.
• Rory was extra awesome this episode & I can’t tell you how nice it is to see him taking a more active part in all these adventures. “Shut up, Hitler!” “Right, putting Hitler in the cupboard. In you go!”
• “Time can be rewritten. Remember Kennedy?” Wait, what?
• “Guilt…also guilt…more guilt!” Man, Ten’s companions were emotionally scarring for him. Also, interesting moment when he rejects the image of himself, “No, give me someone I like!” The Dream Lord was right after all.
• The TARDIS tells the Doctor regeneration has been disabled. Why? How? This is never explained & it’s a troublesome plot hole.
• “I’m trapped inside a giant robot replica of my wife. I’m really trying not to see this as a metaphor.” HA! Also, Robot Amy? Exceptionally creepy. And nice job with the dead eyes, Karen Gillan.
• Sonic cane!
• River is the child of the TARDIS…so the TARDIS teaches her how to fly. It’s lovely & makes perfect sense.
• This was Matt Smith’s best performance yet. He’s just so brilliant.
• “As far as first dates go, I’d say that was mixed signals.” I can’t even put into words how fantastic the dialogue Steven Moffat writes is sometimes.

Five Intriguing Pilot Previews From Upfronts (and One Catastrophic One)

by Amy Yen

Upfronts are over & the five major networks (I’m feeling generous to the CW today) have released previews to all their new fall projects. I’m not going to lie to you. There are some seriously horrible-looking TV shows in there. Like, there were literally some where, based on the premise, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the two-minute preview. There’s one so offensive, I’m going to share it here with you today, just to prove that somebody who works for a major TV network actually thought it was a good idea that people would be psyched to watch.

But before I do, here are five pilots that actually look pretty great:

1) Awake (NBC, Midseason)

The single most fascinating thing on the entire NBC programming slate, obviously, it got banished to midseason. (Falmpalm, NBC.) Awake (formerly known as REM) has a great dual-reality premise & hopefully it can execute on that potential. I think it would be interesting for it to do an every-other-episode format, like Fringe did with its alternate universes early this season. Additionally, the idea that his realities cross over, with his cases-of-the-week on one side affecting the other, is a really interesting one. I really hope this show is as good as it looks, because it looks really, really good.

2) Person of Interest (CBS, Thursdays at 9pm ET)

It should come as no surprise that my list will include not one but two JJ Abrams mystery dramas. The surprise for me is that Person of Interest, his CBS procedural collaboration with Jonathan Nolan, actually looks a little more interesting to me than Alcatraz, his FOX island-centric time travel mystery. There’s a lot to like about the POI preview, the most obvious being Michael Emerson being his brilliant, morally-ambiguous self. The action looks really solid & the premise has both the obligatory case-of-the-week aspect that should satisfy the CBS audience & the foundation for a really interesting JJ Abrams mythology. What more can you ask for?

3) Alcatraz (FOX, Mondays at 9pm ET – Midseason)

Alcatraz also looks interesting enough, altogether this trailer kind of reminds me of the first Fringe trailer in that in it of itself, it doesn’t particularly make me salivate to see more. It’s more that it has some elements that are somewhat interesting: good casting, good pedigree, good production values, a sci-fi-skewing premise. Let’s face it, it’s JJ Abrams. I will be watching. Like POI, it sounds like they are going to try to make Alcatraz more standalone than serial, but then, they said the same thing about Fringe & look how good that got. Plus, you have to trust FOX to let JJ be JJ more than you can trust CBS.

4) Terra Nova (FOX, Mondays at 8pm ET)

The reports about how hard it’s been getting this show going are kind of worrisome, but the trailer looks fun. It’s got that Jurassic Park Spielberg vibe & I like Jason O’Mara as a lead. Funny enough, one of the most interesting parts of the trailer IMO is one that’s most likely not going to be part of the show at all, which is the vision of the dystopic future, where everyone is wearing masks to breathe & apparently trying to escape a dying world. That’s a future I would have like to see more of. But, it is an inherently interesting premise, the idea of sending people to the past to escape the future & who doesn’t like a good dinosaur chase? Could be fun.

5) Ringer (CW, Tuesdays at 9pm ET)

I kind of wanted to include a CW show & the two most promising ones are Ringer, which was rejected by sister network CBS (for which it would have been completely inappropriate for), and Secret Circle, the latest from Kevin Williamson, which, like Vampire Diaries, was also adapted from an LJ Smith series of novels. Because of the good will Williamson has built up with Vampire Diaries, which rises above its premise to actually be a very good drama, and the casting of Thomas Dekker, who was very good in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I will definitely at least give Secret Circle a shot. But Ringer definitely looks like a better bet for a good story & it’s nice to see Sarah Michelle Gellar back on TV.

On the not-so-great side, there were many, many horrendous-looking comedies, including Free Agents, Whitney, Are You There Vodka, It’s Me, Chelsea, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, Last Man Standing,  (seriously, haven’t we, as a society, moved past laugh tracks?), but the worst, the WORST, is this:

Work It (ABC, Midseason)

The fact that this was thought up by somebody & somebody else thought enough of it to order it as a pilot & somebody else thought enough of it to order it to series is unfathomable to me. Apparently delusion runs rampant during pilot season among network execs because this show? Appeals to nobody. I am actually offended by this is being offered to us as entertainment & I am telling advertisers right now, I will think less of your brand if you show a commercial during this show.

Look, I love TV & I just want it to be good, that’s all. It makes me sad when I see trash like this being introduced when quality shows like Parks & Recreation (which, btw, had a brilliant season finale) have to fight to stay on the air every year. So what I’m trying to say, networks, is try harder.

For a full breakdown of the fall TV schedule, go here.

Thoughts on Doctor Who Series 6 Episode 2 Day of the Moon

by Amy Yen

The second part of the Doctor Who series 6 premiere, “Day of the Moon,” was simultaneously incredibly fun to watch & unbelievably unsatisfying. This is because, even though since new Who began, they’ve always introduced series-long story arcs, they’ve never been quite this open-ended. “Day of the Moon” completely failed in any way to answer all the questions presented in “The Impossible Astronaut.” That wouldn’t really be a problem if one didn’t also get the impression that they’re not going to address any of those questions until, say, the mid-series finale.

Unfortunately, the end of the episode & the preview for episode 3 definitely suggest that Doctor Who will go on their usual path of adventures-of-the-week with only tiny steps forward in the overall arc until the last couple of episodes. That’s not such a big deal when the overall arc is something as innocuous as “Bad Wolf” or Torchwood, but it is when the arc is Amy being possibly or possibly not pregnant, the little girl in the spacesuit possibly or possibly not being a time lord and, you know, the death of the Doctor. If they seriously don’t address any of this for like three or four more episodes, it’s going to be a very frustrating season.

This is again not to say “Day of the Moon” was a bad episode, because it wasn’t, although it was a little scattered for a Moffat episode. There were a lot of bits where I didn’t understand at all why people were doing what they were doing. Like, besides setting up for a really fun pay-off, why was it necessary to have the whole thing at the beginning of the episode with Canton pretending to lock the Doctor up & hunt down the TARDIS crew? Why were they split up & where they were (& in River’s case, wearing what they were wearing) to begin with? Also, how the hell did Canton & the Area 51 team get zero-balance dwarf star alloy?

That being said, the entire idea of the Silence’s invasion, that they’d been planting ideas & controlling the actions of the human race for thousands of years, is as terrifying as the Doctor’s solution, using their own post-hypnotic suggestion against them, is brilliant. “How fast can you run,” indeed.

More thoughts on “Day of the Moon”:

• “Welcome to America.” Again, much love for Canton. Shades of Will Smith in Independence Day in that scene. Mark Sheppard also makes a great villian, even when he’s just pretending to be one.
• Loved the recording device hand implants, especially the Doctor’s demonstration of how it works to Canton on the TARDIS & Amy’s completely terrifying (how many times have I used that word describing the Silence? well, they are) scene at the orphanage with the sleeping Silences on the ceiling.
• Another awesome River escape scene, although it’s very similar to her scene from “Time of Angels,” if less clever (one assumes she would have left a message with her coordinates for the Doctor somewhere in time & space if she had needed to) but more funny (another reference to the TARDIS swimming pool!).
• “Tricky Dickie. They’re never going to forget you.” A lot of random & gratuitous use of Nixon in this episode, although I enjoyed how he always just immediately started giving whoever it was he was presented to pep talks on patriotism. I also liked that the Doctor tells him he has to always tape what’s going on in the Oval Office & then tells him to say hi to David Frost.
• River Song & The Doctor share their first (hilariously awkward) kiss after yet another outrageous display of flirting in the final showdown scene with the Silence (“Stop it.” “Make me.” “Yeah, well, maybe I will.”). He certainly isn’t acting like he doesn’t trust her now. He even gives her a formal invitation to come with them. I can’t wait to find out who she is already.
• I like Rory. I just don’t like that they’re still going there with the Amy & the Doctor ridiculousness. We’re past that point, aren’t we? I did like their make-up at the end. “It’s a figure of speech, moron.”
• “Rome fell.” “I know, I was there.” “So was I.” Is it significant that Rory sometimes can’t remember his 2,000 years as an Auton?
• “Incredibly strong & running away. I like her.” Yes, but who is she? Who is that little girl & OMG, is she regenerating?! WHAT?!
• “This is my friend, River. Nice hair, clever, has her own gun. And unlike me, she really doesn’t mind shooting people. I shouldn’t like that. Kind of do, a bit.” Yes, let’s talk about that. Here’s the Doctor, who abhors violence, who would yell at Jack for drawing his gun. Now he doesn’t bat an eyelash at River Song killing eight Silences (or at Canton wounding one, or for that matter, at the entire human race killing the Silence on sight). It really is a whole new Doctor.

Thoughts on Doctor Who Series 6 Premiere The Impossible Astronaut

by Amy Yen

I must have really missed Doctor Who. I know because all of the callbacks in “The Impossible Astronaut” — from “Hello sweetie” to “fish fingers and custard” — all elicited the same gleeful reaction from me. And why shouldn’t they? Here’s a show where stetsons are cool.

Part 1 of the series 6 premiere is classic Steven Moffat, packed full of extremely creepy monsters, timey-wimey puzzle pieces & clever, clever lines. And while the spacemen (presumably, although it is never actually said, the Silence from last series) are terrifying (you can’t remember them unless you’re looking right at them) & the Doctor recruiting his past self & his companions to…do what exactly?…is both fun & scary at the same time, the best part of the episode to me was the full fleshed out, completely wonderful relationships between the four leads.

The Doctor & Amy are the same as ever, with a full series of complete trust in each other under their belts. Even as the Doctor flirts outrageously with River, he reminds her that he can never truly trust her (cold, even for him). But he will trust Amy.

“My life in your hands. Amelia Pond.” This is nothing new. His life has been in Amy Pond’s hands before & nothing has changed between them. What is new & surprisingly fun to watch is where Rory fits in to all this. With many complaints that Amy & Rory spent very little of series 5 acting like people about to get married, here, they do. Rory has also clearly grown up quite a bit since the last series…he even catches on quicker than Amy about what has to be done. He & River talk logically, maturely, about the clues in front of them, while Amy is still too devastated to think straight. It’s impressive. He’s impressive. And it’s nice to see him develop as a companion on his own, rather than just as an extension of Amy.

It’s also Rory who gets from River the straight answer about the “far worse day” she’s dreading so much. It’s not just that she & the Doctor keep meeting out of order. It’s that they’re essentially meeting in the opposite order. Which means the day is coming when she will meet a Doctor that has no idea who she is. Of course, we’ve already seen this, their adventure in the Library. But it’s heartbreaking hearing it from her. Because it’s taken a little while to love River Song (her, and not just the idea of her), but as she corrected the Doctor’s movements in the TARDIS (“Just admiring your skills, sweetie”), it is hard not to.

More random notes on “The Impossible Astronaut”:

• I loved Canton Everett Delaware III. I’m a little predisposed to it, having enjoyed genre TV staple Mark Sheppard as Crowley on Supernatural, Romo Lampkin on Battlestar Galactica, Sterling on Leverage, Valda on Warehouse 13 & a million other things, but I was pleasantly surprised to see him so well used here in what is reportedly just a guest role. But Canton is a companion, both officially (he is invited to travel in the TARDIS & even gets Rory’s awkward orientation) & spiritually (he delights, rather than panic, in the face of the impossible). I didn’t think of it until later, but what’s brilliant about him is he is our companion introduction — a plot device that reintroduces the wonders of the TARDIS to the audience (think Ten mouthing along with Martha, “It’s bigger on the inside!” “Is it? I hadn’t noticed!”). Usually this is accomplished when the Doctor invites someone new on board, but since this is the first series since series 2 that does not introduce a new full-time companion, we get Canton as a stand-in.
• “We’re in a box that’s bigger on the inside that travels in time and space.” “Yeah, basically.” “How long has Scotland Yard had this?” HA! I’m really sad Canton is not recurring now. Also, not a bad American accent, Mark Sheppard. It’s kind of funny that he uses his British accent on all his U.S. roles & here, on the quintessential U.K. show, he plays an American.
• So, the Doctor’s “waving” at Rory & Amy through history books was pretty much the most hilarious thing of all time. I mean, the painting, with the cherubs & the trident? SERIOUSLY.
• “What face?” “The ‘he’s hot when he’s clever’ face.” “This is my normal face.” “Yes it is.” So, the Doctor flirts now? This one does, it seems, mostly with River Song (although the line about Jefferson, Adams & Hamilton was pretty funny…wonder which two fancied him?).
• “Human beings. I thought I’d never get done saving you.” Really, so many good lines in this episode.
• Not one, but two “Doctor who?” lines in this episode. Interestingly, neither of them are answered with “Just The Doctor.” Also, Canton gets to say the “bigger on the inside” line. The Doctor wasn’t even paying attention, so it didn’t even make up with Rory not saying it.
• Have I mentioned lately how much I love the Eleventh Doctor’s Theme?
• Nice callback to the Master’s funeral pyre with not being able to leave a time lord’s body up for grabs.
• “A lot more happens in 1969 than anyone remembers.” Right, like Ten & Martha Jones getting stuck for three months while Sally Sparrow fights off the Weeping Angels.
• The spaceman kind of looks like an Ood.
• Utah is gorgeous. Makes me want to go there, which I can say is a new feeling.
• Amy is pregnant. Wait, really?
• So, I’m reading a few reviews that are criticizing the episode for being overly mythology-heavy & inaccessible to the casual viewer. They are not wrong. If you’re watching Doctor Who for the first time, this is probably not the episode to do it. There’s not even a previouslys to catch you up on how the blue box is bigger on the inside, who River Song is, how time can be rewritten, etc. But as a fan of Fringe, the most mythology-immersed show on TV right now, I have to say, accessibility is overrated. The serialization, the mythology, the call-backs, that’s what makes this episode so damn fun. If you want to know what’s going on, go back, start with “Rose,” like I did.
• In memory of Elisabeth Sladen. Goodbye, our Sarah Jane Smith.

PS: So Part 2 of the premiere, Day of the Moon, looks incredible:

Fall TV Premiere Season, Week 3: Glee, Undercovers, Community, Fringe, Supernatural

House (FOX) – Premieres Monday, Sept. 20 at 8pm ET
The Event (NBC, new show) – Premieres Monday, Sept. 20 at 9pm ET
Hawaii Five-0 (CBS, new show) – Premieres Monday, Sept. 20 at 10pm ET
Glee (FOX) – Premieres Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 8pm ET
Detroit 1-8-7 (ABC, new show) – Premieres Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 10pm ET
Undercovers (NBC, new show) – Premieres Wednesday, Sept. 22 at 8pm ET
Modern Family (ABC) – Premieres Wednesday, Sept. 22 at 9pm ET
Community (NBC) – Premieres Thursday, Sept. 23 at 8pm ET
Fringe (FOX) – Premieres Thursday, Sept. 23 at 9pm ET
Supernatural (CW) – Premieres Friday, Sept. 24 at 9pm ET

***

by Amy Yen

So first of all, verdict from Week 1: I am already completely in love with Terriers. The dialogue and acting on it is so sharp and it’s really, really funny, but the most surprising thing is how much I already care about these characters, especially Donal Logue’s Hank. He’s certainly not the first messed up, flawed guy we’ve seen on TV, but there’s something so genuinely earnest about him. Like he’s not stupid, he knows it’s a bad idea to buy that house from his ex, he knows it, but he just can’t let it go. The scene in the dark, when he’s remembering him and his wife’s first night in the house, was heartbreaking.

The premieres for Vampire Diaries and Nikita were both solid up until about the last 10 minutes, where they both got awesome. I don’t know that I can stick with Nikita once Fringe is back, but I didn’t see that twist coming & it definitely makes the show about 10 times more interesting to me.

So seriously, guys, is there anything not premiering this week? GAH! Just briefly, I think I will be making my annual try at getting back into House, since I am curious to see how they handle House in love. But I have always found House a continuously solid, occasionally brilliant show that in general, I can tune into about one out of every five or so episodes & not really miss anything.

I’m trying four new shows this week: The Event, Hawaii Five-O, Undercovers & Detroit 1-8-7. Of these, I really only expect to be sticking with The Event, and only then because of a stunningly positive reaction to the pilot from the Comic Con crowd, who I trust because they’re geeks like me. From that trailer, I just don’t believe it can possibly be “the next Lost,” like everyone wants it to be, but that doesn’t mean it has to be the next Flashforward.

I’m also checking out Undercovers and Hawaii Five-O because of the cred behind the shows, Abrams & Orci & Kurtzman, but frankly, Undercovers is in a terrible time slot & has had virtually no buzz & Hawaii Five-O is stuck with Alex O’Laughlin as the lead, although it has a terrific supporting cast.

I do want to say a quick word about Glee. What I actually admire most about Glee is how brilliantly marketed it is. Because it’s actually a pretty flawed show. What it does do is try new things & that is admirable. But I almost feel like Glee would be better if it wasn’t so popular. Anyway, as far as comedy goes, it’s okay, but Modern Family & my favorite, Community, is better.

Finally, probably my two favorite returning shows, Fringe & Supernatural, one show that miraculously got another season despite declining ratings in the worst time slot on TV & one show that maybe shouldn’t have gotten one. The thing is, Fringe is really at the top of its game creatively. It is the only show where I have ever felt anything near as invested and in awe with the mythology and characters as I did with Lost. I don’t think the ratings will improve, if anything, because the producers have finally, FINALLY given up on the idea that they can be a case-of-the-week show with the occasional mythology episode rather than a mythology-based show with a case-of-the-week structure, it will become less accessible to someone who doesn’t tune in every week. And while I don’t agree with Fox’s decision to leave it stranded against Grey’s Anatomy and CSI, as long as they don’t punish the show for ratings it can’t help, I guess I don’t have anything to complain about.

Supernatural…probably should have ended. I mean, let’s just be real here. I love Supernatural, but how are you going to top the defeat of Lucifer & the emotional resonance of that finale? That finale was completely & 100% about Sam & Dean, their relationship, what they mean to each other. It even had the extended flashback sequence where we saw all their greatest hits from the entire run of the show. That’s a series finale move. And then to bring it back? To go back to monster-of-the-week & fighting wendigos? Sorry, skeptical. The only thing is, I actually found Supernatural to be terribly uneven last year. If it had been the last season & that was the great final battle, I thought they missed a lot of opportunities. The Four Horsemen storyline & actually showing the apocalypse leading up to the showdown with Lucifer were poorly handled. I also thought they missed a lot of potential story for Castiel, one of the most interesting supporting characters on TV. I wanted to see his relationship with each of the brothers fleshed out & they chose to really only use him as a plot device & show off how B-A & awesome he is (which we already knew). In the end, I think maybe because they knew the story had to continue, they chickened out of a Sam-as-Lucifer/Dean-as-Michael battle. To me, it wasn’t nearly as compelling to have Adam inserted into the story. So, I am skeptical about continuing on with season 6, but I’m definitely going to watch, because I do love these characters. I would like to be pleasantly surprised.

So, as it turns out, this will be a short blog series because there’s not a whole lot else premiering after there. I mean, a Human Target here, a Stargate Universe there, not much to get too excited over. For a full fall TV premiere dates calendar, go here.

Fall TV Premiere Season, Week 1: Terriers, Vampire Diaries, Nikita

Terriers (FX, new show) – Premieres Wednesday, Sept. 8 at 10pm ET
The Vampire Diaries (CW) – Premieres Thursday, Sept. 9 at 8pm ET
Nikita (CW, new show) – Premieres Thursday, Sept. 9 at 9pm ET

***

by Amy Yen

It’s here! It’s been an odd TV summer break & it feels both like fall premiere season has arrived faster than expected, yet couldn’t be here soon enough. I thought I’d preview the shows I’m planning on checking out.

For Week 1, I think I’m going to give Terriers on FX a shot, based on my residual good will toward Donal Logue from his time on Life, one of my favorite canceled shows, and a few positive reviews I’ve seen. I kind of have the feeling it might be like The Glades, a show I’ll discuss a little below, which also has a unfortunately meaningless name & ad campaign that maybe falls a little short of capturing the essence of the show. Like The Glades however, it seems kind of charming, in a harmless way. Might be worth checking out.

After a really solid second half run in its first season, I’m really looking forward to The Vampire Diaries coming back, even though the CW is insisting on running an annoying, skin-heavy promo campaign that would, if I hadn’t been watching the show, pretty much reinforce every sappy Twilight-clone soap opera notion I had about it (the stupidly named “Year of the Kat” promo is marginally better). It’s really unfortunate because Vampire Diaries is actually a really good drama, coming off of a pretty spectacular, multi-cliffhanger finale. If you haven’t checked it out yet, ignore the trailers & just give it a shot.

Finally, I will tuning in for Nikita to support Maggie Q being cast as the first Asian female lead in a broadcast series. I didn’t seen La Femme Nikita the movie, but I liked Maggie Q in Mission: Impossible 3 & the trailer for this look pretty fun. It also has an interesting supporting cast, including Shane West & Devon Sawa (remember him?). Annoying, it’s up against Fringe, but still better than Supernatural being there.

PS: I can’t let the summer TV season go without mentioning how much I’m enjoying The Glades on A&E. It’s weirdly satisfying to see this little procedural that could, which got ok-but-not-great reviews & kind of a generic advertising campaign, go up against & clobber critically-beloved Mad Men in the ratings. Not that I have anything against Mad Men, I’ve never seen an episode. It’s just that The Glades seemingly didn’t stand a chance & yet here it is, averaging more than 3 million viewers almost entirely by the charm & likability of its star, Matt Passmore. And Passmore is really, really likable. Yes, his Jim Longworth is the generic doesn’t-play-by-the-rules, maverick detective, who we’ve seen in several million cop procedurals. But unlike many of those characters, Longworth doesn’t feel repressed & doesn’t pretend not to care about the people around here. His interactions with Jeff, the young son of his there-for-UST love interest Callie (played by hated Lost side player Kiele Sanchez), are among the most enjoyable parts of the show. And Longworth’s cleverness, along with the south Florida flavor of almost every crime scene thus far, break up the procedural part of the case-of-the-week. I never thought I’d say this but I’ve found myself oftentimes this summer looking forward to The Glades even more than Burn Notice (which, while still excellent, can occasionally get a little angst-heavy for summer viewing). Anyway, there are a few episodes left, check it out.

As a note, I actually won’t post for Week 2 because I actually don’t think I’ll be taking on any of those shows. Yes, this is the year I’m finally letting Gossip Girl go. Which is good because there are – wait for it – TEN shows I’ll be watching premiering on Week 3.

Time to clear the DVR.

For a full fall TV premiere dates calendar, go here.

Sons of Anarchy	FX	Tuesday	September 7, 2010	10:00p
America’s Next Top Model	CW	Wednesday	September 8, 2010	8:00p
Hellcats New	CW	Wednesday	September 8, 2010	9:00p
Terriers New	FX	Wednesday	September 8, 2010	10:00p
Nikita New	CW	Thursday	September 9, 2010	9:00p
The Vampire Diaries	CW	Thursday	September 9, 2010	8:00p

A Mad Man With a Box: The Matt Smith+Steven Moffat Era of Doctor Who Begins

-by Amy Yen

It begins with a blue box, crashing through the night sky over London, past the London Eye, where Rose Tyler had to point out to Nine where the Nestene Consciousness hid, past Big Ben, where Captain Jack Harkness parked his stolen Chula spaceship, landing finally in the garden of little Amelia Pond. Amelia Pond, with her red hair & red jacket, who finds magic in her garden. It’s a fairy tale, you see, & it’s irresistible.

After the never-ending indulgence that was David Tennant’s exit from Doctor Who, “The Eleventh Hour,” the series 5 premiere & first full adventure with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor & Steven Moffat running the show, was a breath of fresh air. It was funny & it was scary, it was dark & it was touching. It was magical & wonderful in the way that Doctor Who is when it’s at its best.

What was brilliant about Matt Smith’s performance in this story is there are just enough moments where Eleven sounds like Ten, like you can actually hear David Tennant speaking those words, & it reassures you that this is the Doctor we know & love (love the little “What? What?? WHAT?!?” & even the “Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey” callbacks). At the same time, Moffat clearly took great pains to make sure he was different, a new man, & this was infinitely helped by the fact that, unlike “The Christmas Invasion,” the Doctor was up & about through his entire regeneration cycle, with only minimal reminders that he’s “still cooking.”

I loved that Steven Moffat obviously wanted to pay homage to the history of the show with this, his reinvention of it. What a fantastic extended sequence at the end, detailing the Doctor’s long, intimate involvement with Planet Earth, cleverly disguised in a plot device that also conveniently shows what kind of man Eleven is (answer: a confident one, & a righteous one), as well as paying tribute to Doctors One through Ten that came before him.

It can’t be said enough how impressive it is to introduce both a new Doctor & a new companion in the same episode. And yes, I loved Amy Pond. I loved her story, I love that she & the Doctor have this history that goes back almost her whole life (it reminded me a lot of Madame de Pompadour in “The Girl in the Fireplace“). I loved her spirit & her skepticism. I loved that she instantly loved the Doctor. I think from the moment he bent down to meet her eye & told her she  could trust him, she loved him. Then of course, he didn’t come back for 12 years & I imagine she hated him, but it didn’t last. I like the twist with her wedding.

Other notes from “The Eleventh Hour”:

• With all that’s been made of it, I find Amy Pond’s profession pretty inconsequential. All that you can say about it is it’s not a career, she won’t be missing anything from it by leaving, she is not Doctor Martha Jones. I think it’s interesting that Moffat made her almost purposely unattached, with no family, really, except for Rory. I think Ten’s companions’ families were hit or miss & while it’s interesting to flesh out the companion’s connections to Earth, it’s not, in the end, what the story is supposed to be about.
• Rory, of course, is the other crucial difference between Amy Pond & Ten’s companions. I love that they made Rory kind of awesome & involved in the action. He was certainly not Mickey Smith as we first met him, a fool who took two series to become a hero. If you’ve heard anything about this series, you know Rory may end up in the TARDIS yet, which is really intriguing to me.
• Liked the new opening credits, it was same enough…but a little grown up.
• Eleven’s Rules for Being a Good Companion: “Do everything I tell you, don’t ask stupid questions & don’t wander off.” Yeah, good luck with that.
• The food craving sequence was funny, but it was also probably my least favorite part of the episode. I thought it went on way too long & more importantly, it was too early in the episode to be wasting time like that.
• I thought it was very smart to make the monster of the week, Prisoner Zero, genuinely creepy. There’s something so unsettling about the multi-forms the monster took, the man+the dog, the woman+the two little girls, just flat out CREEPY. And little Amelia Pond & the Doctor? Just wrong, that was. The giant eyeball was creepy also, although the creepiest part was when the eyeball was darting in the TV set in the background of the scene. Inexplicable why it’s a human eyeball, but I’ll let that slide.
• “The final score: no TARDIS, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare…who the man??!” HA!