Fringe, “Dream Logic”

(Season 2, Episode 5)

After this week’s episode, Fringe will be slipping away until sometime in November, depending on how many games the World Series goes. This was a pretty good installment to leave us on, even in that it was of the “monster-of-the-week” variety.

This week’s monster was some hidden force, or entity, or  man, controlling people’s minds. He (or she or it) could force people into a waking dream, where suddenly their reality shifts to the surreal, and they react as if the people around them are monsters, or pixies or whatever they’re dreaming about.

I guess it’s a good thing it was never someone who was surrounded by people they were incredibly hot for. Could you imagine if some dude started have a sex dream in the middle of an office meeting, and started getting naked up on the conference table. How come that kind of excitement didn’t happen?

What did happen, though, was that all of these victims had computer chips stuck into their brain as part of a dream study. But linking into their dreams give the scientist who created the whole thing so much of a high, that he splintered his personality.

On one side, you had a nice guy who really wanted to help our team get to the bottom of this, and on the other you had the addict who didn’t care who he had to hurt as long as he got his next fix of “dream-stuff.” Thus, these people inexplicably slipping into REM while awake.

The important tease came at the end, though, when Peter awoke from a nightmare that seemed to involve a poster of a not-blown-up Challenger mission. I’m actually looking forward to the fallout of what Walter did in bringing alternate-reality-Peter to our world. Make it a four-game sweep (whoever) so we can get back to it!

Parks & Recreation, “Sister City”

(Season 2, Episode 5)

Things continue to come together in this wacky episode, featuring Fred Armisen as the leader of the parks department in Pawnee’s sister city from Venezuela. As established in my takes on Saturday Night Life, apparently Armisen is every ethnicity under the sun. And somehow he looks right in all of them.

If I tried to dress up like anything other than white, I’d look like a pointy-nosed weirdo in blackface, and probably get arrested and/or beaten. As such, he was completely convincing as the arrogant Vice Director Raul Alejandro Bastilla Pedro de Veloso de Morana.

I kept expecting it to be revealed at some point that the city of Boraqua, Venezuala was actually a dump compared to Pawnee, but apparently it either is as opulent as Raul over-described, or we’ll just never know. I’m thinking it’s the latter.

Survivor: Samoa, “Walking on Thin Ice”

(Season 19, Episode 5)

There are a few lessons we learned this week on Survivor. First, Russell S. is still riding the leader power train. Isn’t it great that while we hear all the time (usually from Russell) about Galu’s leader, we almost never hear about Foa Foa.

Countering that, Foa Foa is doing a terrible job of staying competitive in this game. Could this be the week they finally turned it around? If not, Russell H. has his sights set on Liz. Anyone who doubts his insincere sincerity must be eliminated. Russell H. is almost having too much fun on this show at this point.

FlashForward, “Black Swan”

(Season 1, Episode 4)

Any time we can go back and look at the blackout itself, I’m interested. But the use of an idyllic park scene and Björk’s “It’s Oh So Quiet” created an almost peaceful panorama — until a bus drove into the lake, nearly missing someone lying nearby. Throughout the entire opening sequence, though, the scenes of serenity and death melded flawlessly with the song.

It was a great opening reminder of the event that put the entire series into motion, as well as an introduction to Ned. Ned is Dr. Benford’s patient this week, who helps her come to terms with her own feelings about the flashforwards. He’s also the calmest and most collected guy you could ever meet. But there’s a reason for that.

–>to continue reading, follow the link over to the full article on TV Squad

Community, “Advanced Criminal Law”

(Season 1, Episode 5)

Hmmm, I’m not even sure what it was. I still really like Community, and there were some moments that I recognized as humorous throughout this episode. And yet, I found myself kind of bored with most of it. Maybe it’s me.

There was certainly plenty going on, with Señor Chang on the warpath because someone cheated on their Spanish test, Abed learning the highly cultured art of “messing with” someone, and Annie recruiting Pierce to write the new school song. You have the Dean running around still pretending the community college is Harvard or Brown, while Jeff’s friend, Professor Duncan, began his quest to beat Jeff into Britta’s pants.

–>to continue reading, follow the link over to the full article on TV Squad

South Park, “Butter’s Bottom Bitch”

(Season 13, Episode 9)

If I were a ho, I’d definitely want Butters as my bitch. Man, events spiraled out of control so quickly on this show. And yet Butters was in complete control the whole time. I loved how he stayed his kind and sweet self, and yet he fully embraced the lingo of the street pimp.

“Yes, I understand what you are saying. You don’t have to keep asking me.”

Wow, was that hilarious, because I’ve heard so many people from urban areas overuse the expression “You know what I’m saying.” So subtle, but brilliant.

Eastwick, “Fleas and Casserole”

(Season 1, Episode 4)

So … Joanna was pretty stupid this episode, huh? Yeah, she’s got this great thing going with the photographer but then she has to go and screw it up over– I have a hard time believing that women can be that stupid? I know not all of them, but still.

Let’s look at Kat. I know she has 37 kids with this guy, but he’s proven that he’ll never be more than an insecure child. He’s controlling and dangerously angry and yet she keeps thinking it will work.

At least Roxie has a slightly better head on her shoulders, though she’s really getting snowed in by her new neighbor’s nice guy act. By the way I liked the reveal of his connection to the town.

Cougar Town, “I Won’t Back Down”

(Season 1, Episode 4)

I really think this might be it for me and Cougar Town. If not, we’re getting close to a parting of the ways. I’m just getting bored with the same old story every week. Jules wants to feel young and hot again. She wants to have what Grayson seems to have, which is “it all.”

This week, we did get an extra layer to Grason’s reality, which only lends credence to my theory that the ultimate drive of the show will be to have Grayson and Jules wind up together. Then they can turn into Ellie and Andy.

Modern Family, “The Incident”

(Season 1, Episode 4)

You know, I never even thought about the fact that Jay’s ex-wife might still be out there. I don’t know why, but I guess I figured she was dead or something, since nobody’s even mentioned her prior to tonight. Now I know why that’s the case. There’s a lot of history to this family, and it looks like we’re going to be able to piece it together.

I loved the flashbacks we did get this week, and Shelley Long as the ex-wife is just brilliant casting. And may I say she’s been aging very well. She hasn’t lost even a bit of her comic shops, either. I’m hoping she agreed to come back and play this role over and over again. Since she’s also Claire and Mitchell’s mother, there’s reason for her to come back over and over again.

–>to continue reading, follow the link over to the full article on TV Squad

Glee, “Takedown”

(Season 1, Episode 7)

The ongoing rivalry between Sue and Will was every bit as awesome as I knew it would be. Sue immediately divided the Glee Club into two groups selecting the minorities for hers in an effort to paint Will as a discriminator. An effort that worked for awhile.

Again, I like that Glee is promoting that these kids are still young and naive about the world, and will instinctively believe what adults tell them. At least up until the point where those adults are screaming at one another in an auditorium in front of the kids.

The Middle, “The Floating Anniversary”

(Season 1, Episode 3)

We already know that Sue Heck has no discernible talent, but a ton of enthusiasm. This week we learned that her cluelessness goes even beyond physical activities. She’s as earnest in her social endeavors as ever. Unfortunately, she’s also as oblivious to the reality of her actions and their consequences. I love everything about it.

The moral of this episode, I guess, is that a mother is never allowed even fifteen minutes of time alone. Granted, it appears that Frankie’s fifteen minutes happened to coincide with the worst chain of events possible, but the moral remains the same. A mother’s job is never done, and she’s never off the clock. At least she has the love of her husband to help her when the time comes, and he came through in a big way for her.

–>to continue reading, follow the link over to the full article on TV Squad

So You Think You Can Dance, “Vegas Week: Part 2″

(Season 6, Episode 8)

Only one new episode of SYTYCD this week? Man, they’re really dragging this Vegas week out, aren’t they? At least it’s good dance and good drama to get us there. We’ve already lost a few of my favorites, so who do I have to lose this week?

It was a little surreal seeing Mia Michaels being the supportive den mother in her contemporary rehearsals with the kids instead of the crazy, bitch woman we’ve come to expect. Maybe she’s on a snazzy new mix of meds to calm her down. I hope not, because it might dull her genius as a choreographer.

A genius that we’ll now be missing on Dance. Which means Travis Wall needs to up his game!

The New Adventures of Old Christine, “For Love or Money”

(Season 5, Episode 4)

Look, it’s the mean moms from Ritchie’s school. I wasn’t sure if we’d be seeing them this season, considering we never follow Ritchie or Christine to school anymore. But I guess they’re still going to be around.

This week they were around to get compliments from Matthew. They even signed up for therapy sessions, but didn’t want real therapy. They just wanted to give Matthew ridiculous amounts of money to give them false compliments. I’m still not sure why Matthew had such a problem with this.

It was much easier to understand why Christine would allow herself to get smooth-talked by a lawyer into going aggressively after Barb in their divorce proceedings. Christine’s an idiot.

Sons of Anarchy, “Falx Cerebri”

(Season 2, Episode 6)

I think the moral of this episode is that sometimes it pays to be patient. It was almost sad the way Jax said that the club would be retaliating against Zobelle for what happened to Chibs. It was so matter-of-fact, the same way you say you’ll be stopping to get gas.

The rift between Clay and Jax is getting worse and worse, but I’m not sure Jax realizes how much of a loose cannon Clay can be. He’s already killed Donna in an attempt to kill Opie on much less charges than undermining his authority. Clay is driven purely by emotion, and his favorite one is rage.

The Good Wife, “Fixed”

(Season 1, Episode 4)

I’m never as big of a fan of the darker side of lawyering, as spotlighted heavily in this episode. Christine Baranski represented the “good guy,” while her opponent seemed to be pushing any tactic he could think of to get a favorable result.

And yet, in the end the lesson we all learned was one that Dr. House has known for years: the patient, or in this case the client, is always lying. Always! And in the end, it kind of tainted the outcome of the trial.