Weekly TV Thoughts: 02/08 - 02/14

Late update this week; I spent the weekend at my grandma's house, and the best internet connection I could find was at Dunkin' Donuts. So this had to wait until I got back home.

-Heroes, Monday: Why does no one understand Claire? Is just just because she's a teenager? After everything that's happened so far in the story, why would anyone assume that all Claire would want is a "normal" life? Why do people (namely her dads, HRG and Nathan) continue to be shocked when she does something against their wishes? Don't you think they would've figured it out by now? They really need to explain what's going on with Parkman, because not only does this trance allow him to draw the future, but it leads him to the tools so he can draw the future. I don't mind having the future-seeing paintings on the show; I do mind having the power just randomly show up in Matt. Other things that bother me- why doesn't someone just out Nathan? How hard would it be for one of the captured people to shout out, "Hey, guess what, Nathan Patrelli can fly!" to the Hunter and his cronies? Put Nathan under suspicion and undermine his authority. What Peter should've done during his escape was pick up Nathan as he flew away and dropped him, forcing Nathan to reveal his ability. But that just would've been to easy. Also don't like how Sylar picked up his new sidekick. He was only in that house because it was down the street from where he just was, and lo and behold, the kid in the house has a power! But wait, why didn't Sylar sense Luke's ability when he first met him? Oh, right, because it didn't fit the story. Anyway, the things I did like- loved Peter's pep talk about having to be on the run now. Very inspiring, and should make for some good story in the upcoming episodes. Also like the introduction of the "Rebel" character on Claire's phone. I guess the hot interweb rumor right now is that "Rebel" is Micah, which would be AWESOME. That would be a great way to reintroduce that character. In fact, I think I'd be disappointed now if its NOT Micah.

-24, Monday: Mole update- I really think its the blonde FBI chick that has the hots for Rhys Coiro's character. Otherwise, why is she even on screen? At first, I thought Agent Moss was just a whiny bitch, but now I think he's there to be a foil for Agent Walker, specifically showing her transition from by-the-book (Agent Moss) to whatever's-necessary (Jack Bauer). I loved her, "Maybe I will get out. Tomorrow." I don't get the Dubaku girlfriend storyline; was it just so he would be out of the cellar when Jack and Renee stormed in? Because if so, that's weak sauce. I hope that plays out into something more substantial. And of course Mr. Taylor got shot during the rescue attempt. Nothing's ever easy for Jack.

-Lost, Wednesday: Welcome back to the show, Smoke Monster! Loved seeing the demise of Rousseau's crew after hearing about 4 season's ago. Everyone goes down into the temple (sans Rousseau) to go after the Smoke Monster, and they come back up with "the sickness" (which I always likened more to a mental sickness, as opposed to a physical one). So given what they showed, everyone was dead BEFORE Rousseau gave birth to Alex; how did that work exactly? Well, anyway, welcome back to the main group, Jin. The more I see Miles, the more I think he's awesome. "He's Korean. I'm from Encino." Love it. The island is making jumps sooner and sooner, and we welcome Sawyer to the nose bleed club. It also causes Charlotte to go terminal, which leaves her spewing random facts and thoughts from her life. She knows about getting to the wheel through the well (which of course, comes in handy when Locke and company jump right as they reach the Orchid). She also rambles about being born on the island, leaving with her mother, and then being told the island never existed. She also said that a strange man told her that she could never return to the island otherwise she would die, and that strange man was Faraday. Wat? LOTS of questions there. Interesting conversation Locke had with Christian Shepherd, who really does appear to be the island's information guide. It seems that everything Locke was supposed to do off island is now being done by Ben, presumably because Locke is currently dead. And what was with Christian telling Locke that he couldn't help him up? What it just a metaphor for Locke having to do this on his own, or could he actually not help him up? Afterall, Christian was able to hold baby Aaron when he lured away Claire last season. Hrm. Meanwhile, back in L.A., Ben's only managed to get Sun and Jack to come with him to see Eloise Hawking. What about the rest of the O6? Can they come along at a later date? Why was it so important to get all of them together again if its okay that only some of them go back? Don't kow. And welcome to the merging storylines, Desmond! I find it VERY interesting that Ben didn't know that Ms. Hawking was Faraday's mother (well, at least he's expression seemed to indicate that he didn't know). Surely that will have greater significance down the line.

-Dollhouse, Friday: Have to admit, I was a little underwhelmed with this premiere, but I'm writing the show off based on just one episode. But it very slow through the majority of the episode. Looking at the show's construct, I wonder how they'll be able to keep up the "new personalities each week" formula. Unless she's solving a crime or something each week, the personaility changes alone will not keep this show afloat. The saving grace was the last scene, where they introduced the rogue Active, Alpha. If he can merge stories with the FBI agent looking for the Dollhouse (aka, Helo from BSG), that could make for a nice serialized storyline. I've read that Echo will start to become more self aware herself, which would also make for good story. Hopefully these two things can add some life to the show before its too late (which, given its a Fox show on Friday night, is probably nearer than it should be).

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: Wow. A whole episode of exposition, dropping A LOT of information. Let me see if I have this straight: thousands of years ago, humanity started on Kobol. Humans made Cylons. Humans left Kobol to settle the 12 Colonies; the Cylons left to settle Earth, the mythical 13th Colony. On the way, they built (what was now called) the “Temple of the Five”. The Cylons get to Earth, settle, and then build Centurions. Ellen, Saul, Anders, Tyrol, and Tory all work in a lab, developing resurrection technology. The Centurions rebel, war breaks out, they nuke Earth. The Five die and resurrect on a ship in orbit around Earth. They then leave to return to the 12 Colonies to warn them about creating Centurions. The trip takes thousands of years. In that time, the humans have already created Centurions, having forgotten about the Cylons that were created on Kobol a thousand years earlier. These Centurions rebel, and the First Cylon War starts. The Five finally reach the Colonies, broker peace with the Centurions, and end the war. The Five agree to give them resurrection technology. The Cylons go away, and no one hears from them in 40 years. In that time, the Five create the 8 models of humanoid Cylons; they start with number 1, Cavil/John. In time, Cavil/John begins to rebel against his creators and starts rejecting the idea that he should be more human. He locks away the Five and reprograms them to live among humans without any knowledge of their true nature so they could experience what they were trying to do to the other models. He makes it so if they were to die, they would resurrect on his Basestar and immediate remember who/what they are. He killed the 7 line out of jealously. He tweaked the programming of the other models to be more inline with his anti-humanity thinking. Then, the Second Cylon War begins, and that's brings us to the start of the show. The one huge hole I see in that history is Tigh- if the Five came and ended the first war, how did Adama know Tigh *during* the war? And how did Tigh age? That timeline doesn’t make any sense. But other than that, I like how they managed to weave through the “its all happened before, and will all happen again.” Can’t wait to see it all ends up.