Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

The X-Files S6 E13

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“Agua Mala”

The thirteenth episode of the sixth season of The X-Files is an episode that I do not remember ever seeing before. It was entitle “Agua Mala” which is Spanish for bad water.

Mulder and Scully get called down to Florida by the man who helped originate the actual X-Files at the FBI decades before, Arthur Dales, who was featured in an episode during the fifth season. There was a hurricane underway and he was worried about neighbors, who had contacted him about some kind of tentacled creature that had attacked the family.

The story was strange because the agents wound up at the neighbors house and met a deputy there. They went apart and wound up together later at another location. There were other people in this location (basically an apartment building of some kind) and the water monster was here too. I am not sure why it was here and at the other location.

I did like how Scully showed her take charge side. She was quite the leader during the episode and made several of the decisions. As Arthur Dales stated, Mulder is lucky to have a partner like Scully.

The resolution of the story was fairly silly and, even though I just praised Scully, she certainly had a Batman-leap (a term my friends and I had dubbed about Adam West’s Batman from the 1960s show-who would make unbelievable leaps of logic/guesses from ridiculous clues) involving the way to stop the creature. I am not sure there was any evidence for Scully to have made that leap.

Overall, this was not the worst episode of the X-Files I have ever seen, but it was nothing that really stood out as a strong installment either.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E11, E12

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“Resurrection Ship, Part 1, and Part 2”

I had watched episode 10 the other day and I had intended on watching another episode right away. That was when I noticed that episodes 11 & 12 were two-parter and that I did not have time to watch both at that time. I made the choice to not start episode 11 and wait to watch the pair of them together. I am glad that I made that decision.

These two episodes worked very well together as the strife centering around the return of the Pegasus and the ascension of Admiral Cain over Adama filled the story significantly.

I did not expect President Roslin to tell Adama that he needed to have Cain killed. The show spent much of the time building Cain up as a bad guy, giving us details about some of her decision that may have been considered morally questionable. I did find Roslin’s comment to be inconsistent with her character, but with her getting sicker by the minute, I can see her wanting to have things settled as soon as she could.

The conflict within both Starbuck and Fisk over the orders that they had been given by their respective leaders was amazing. Neither of them felt like the order was the right thing to do, but they were both in position in which to do it if told to.

Having it be Gina who assassinates Cain felt kind of easy, but I am happier that it was her and not Starbuck.

The whole conversation and interaction with Gina and Baltar was tough to watch. The show has done a solid job of humanizing the Cylons that we know of and making them seem less evil. Gina had been so abused and tortured that she just wanted to die, but could not commit suicide as it is a sin. Sharon has also be made to be more human than what she started as and one wonders if this is real or still part of the plan.

The special effects of the episode were wonderful as the attack on the resurrection ship was impressive, especially for a TV show.

This two-parter did feel like a season finale, but there are several episodes to go in season two. I wonder if the show had an hiatus after this pair or if it just happened to feel that way.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E10

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“Pegasus”

A happy return becomes a tense standoff.

The Pegasus, a Colonial vessel that had been missing and presumed destroyed, arrived back at the fleet, with Admiral Helena Cain aboard. Admiral outranked that of Commander, so Cain took control of the fleet away from Adama. Adama was fully supportive of the order, showing his honor as a military man.

Even after Cain reassigned Starbuck and Apollo, Adama followed the orders and did what he was told.

Things got complicated. When the Cylon interrogator from the Pegasus went to find out what Sharon knew, things got bad. He was going to rape her during the violent encounter, but Chief and Helo came to her rescue, inadvertently killing the man.

Cain ordered Chief and Helo brought for trial, but she decided their fate without a trial and planned on executing them for treason. Adama wanted them to be brought back to Galactica for trial but Cain denied him. Adama launched viper crews and a Marine team to go get his men back and Cain ordered her vipers to stop them.

Hence the tension.

Major issues unfolding among the humans. I was excited about the next episode and I was going to start to watch it, but I saw the next episode was a part one, and I did not want to stop in the middle of the two-parter. So I stopped the next episode and hope to get back to it later this weekend when I can watch the two of them together.

This episode was really hard to watch as this crew of Pegasus had really been rough to the Cylons that they had in their control. They showed that they had a Cylon copy of Number Six, but she had been beaten and raped by many of the crew. This showed the Cylons in a new light, giving them more human qualities and almost made them sympathetic.

I thought at first that the Pegasus crew would turn out to be Cylons themselves, but this is even better. They are humans and showing the dark side of the race.

The X-Files S6 E11, E12

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“Two Fathers”

“One Son”

A big chunk of the mythology of the X-Files gets wrapped up in this two-part story, with pieces that have been major parts of the show for years.

It started off with the return of Cassandra Spender and ended with the deaths of the Syndicate, except of course for CSM. Mulder and Scully discovered much of the truth behind the Smoking Man, as Jeffrey Spender’s father.

Once again, Mulder had Smoking Man dead to rights with a gun to his head and did not kill that MFer. I want Smoking Man dead so badly. Again, the performance of William B. Davis as the Smoking Man is tremendous as he brings out the bloodthirsty nature of the audience.

Smoking Man also shoots and kills his own son in the offices of the X-Files at the end of “One Son.” Speaking of betrayal, CSM indicated that between Bill Mulder and him, only one of them had a son they could be proud of. What a dirt bag. This two-parter does a decent job of giving Spender a respectful, if not heroic, send off, as he spoke to Kersh about getting Mulder and Scully back to the X-Files, taking the responsibility for the deaths of the episode.

The alien story, which included alien invasions and colonization, hybrid human/aliens, rebel aliens, black oil, vaccines and sacrifices. It is fairly convoluted and I am still not sure exactly whose on the right side. However, it does set the show up to move in a different direction after this major piece of the mythology is brought to an end.

I hate Diana Fowler too, though I am not sure I am supposed to hate her. For now, I find her to be a rotten character who is in cahoots with the Smoking Man.

According to Wikipedia, this two-parter was written in part because Chris Cooper expected season six to be the final season of the show and was designed to give some answers to the series’s show-long mysteries.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E9

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“Flight of the Phoenix”

The Chief, tormented by the events of going on with Sharon and Helo, decided to take his situation into his own hands and built a stealth plane from spare parts.

It was met, at first, with division and sarcasm, but as the episode progressed, more and more of the crew began to buy into the hope that Chief was selling, and joined in on the project.

Meanwhile, a Cylon virus started taking over the Galactica technology and was in danger of sending a signal to the Cylons to attack a defenseless Galactica.

This dangerous threat forced Adama to bring Sharon into the mix and give her a chance to help right the ship.

I am starting to buy into Sharon’s redemption arc, so I sure hope the show does not pull the rug out from under it. I’m still not sure what the long range story is here with Sharon, but I have bought into it.

Chief and his stealth plane was a brilliant way to help build up morale on a ship that was lacking patience. Of course, Starbuck can fly anything. Even a slapped together dream.

Things are looking bad for Laura and I wonder if the show is actually going to have her die from the cancer that she has. I can’t believe that there will not be some last minute save for her, but I have no idea where that would come from.

It was yet another top line episode in a series that has been filled with them so far.

Greatest American Hero S1 E8

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“The Best Desk Scenario”

It is a day for wrapping up season finales for the TV shows I am watching. I just watched season three finale for Bates Motel, and now I finished season one of Greatest American Hero with the oddly titled “The Best Desk Scenario.”

The first season of this show has been a lot of goofy, cheesy fun as Ralph struggled to learn how his super suit worked. This episode he tried for a pyrokinetic power, which did not go exactly how he thought it would.

You would also think that at some point, all the crooks brought to justice by Bill Maxwell who claimed were brought in by a guy in red long johns might start to add up and someone might question what was going on instead of just shipping them all off for mental checks.

Bill was having his own trouble here as colleagues of his were dying and it was making him look at his own mortality and question if he had lost his own step. It was an interesting idea for Bill, but it is not really dealt with during the story. It is there, but not with any real depth.

Ralph and Pam’s career successes were causing Bill to be jealous and to doubt his own career. A new head at the FBI, a really young guy, also brought Bill’s insecurities to the surface.

Season two is the longest of the three seasons for Greatest American Hero so we’ll get started on that one soon. Season one was fun and quite a flashback to the 1980s.

Bates Motel S3 E10

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“Unconscious”

Season three finale of Bates Motel continues Norman Bates’ decent into madness as he finished off yet another young woman, the believed-to-be-dead Bradley in a frighteningly violent scene. Admittedly, it was Vera Farmiga who acted out the actual murder, Norman has slipped back into the multiple personality that has caused him to be such a dangerous young man.

I do find it fascinating that Bates Motel has been able to create two couples that are some of my personal favorite couples of all time on their little show depicting how Norman became a murderer.

First up this episode, we see the pairing of Dylan and Emma take a big step forward as they shared a kiss after Dylan was trying to get her to accept the lung transplant. Her reasons to be afraid of the transplant are understandable and relatable. She just wanted to live and was afraid that the transplant was too big of a risk. Dylan was understanding and sweet as he softly convinced her to take a risk.

And you can see the beginnings of what is one of my absolutely most favorite couples of all time with Norma and Alex Romero. I remember loving this couple when they got together and you can see how these two are being built.

However, on this rewatch, it is hard for me to consider Romero a hero. My memory from the first time through was that he was a good guy, but he clearly is not as he murdered Bob. Now, he did it to protect Norma and Bob was a really bad guy, but Romero outright murdered him. And it was not the first time that he had done this. It might have been for the greater good, but still…

Norma definitely needs to work on her knot tying as Norman got out of those binds in seconds.

Bring on season four!

The X-Files S6 E10

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“Tithonus”

I enjoyed this episode of the X-Files for all the ways it turned the typical formula on its head.

First, Scully was out in the field, assigned to a case with a different partner, and she would call back to FBI headquarters to talk to Mulder and he would do the background stuff. Lots of time, this was flipped, with Scully doing info searches or autopsies. Poor Mulder was like a sad puppy the whole time too.

This also felt like an opposite of “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” as we had an older man who could see death. This episode, the man himself could not die and he was determined to take a picture of death with the hope of being able to do what everybody else would do. This episode was played much more serious than “Clyde” was, which had some of the funnier moments in the early days of the X-Files.

The old man, Alfred Fellig, was played by character actor Geoffrey Lewis and he does a great job playing against Gillian Anderson.

At the very end of the episode, after Fellig had taken Scully’s place and had died from the gunshot wound, Scully was in the hospital from the same gunshot wound. Scully said “You know Mulder I don’t even know why I entertained the thought. People don’t live forever.” I think that was a reference, in Scully’s mind, back to Bruckman who had told her that she would never die. This brush with nearly dying herself from the gunshot wound made her question her own mortality in a very different way. At least, that is how I took it.

Bates Motel S3 E8, E9

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“The Pit”

“Crazy”

Norman and Norma have an uncomfortable conversation. Norman was upset from what Finnegan had said to him and he had to talk to Norma because he was afraid it was true. Norma reacted in such an understanding and honest manner that it completely put Norman at ease. It was really sweet.

That made the end of the episode, where Norma winds up screaming at Norman that he was going to kill her, all the more horrible. The juxtaposition of the two scenes were stark.

The whole Dylan and Caleb gun running scene was rough. The budding relationship between Emma and Dylan is cute. Alex is dealing with his own issues with Norma and he is told the truth about what happened to Norman’s father.

And what a shocker. Bradley is back.

Caleb and Chick have a major conflict and a fight. This is leading to something more explosive. It gave Dylan the money to help Emma get bumped up the transplant list. He gave it to her father with the caveat that Emma did not know it was from him.

Norma is unbelievably impulsive in a destructive way. Taking the shovel and starting to refill the ‘swimming pool’ in anger was shocking. She is a truly contradictory character. Sweet at times, insane at others.

And speaking of insane, Norman is really getting to that place.

The Greatest American Hero S1 E6, E7

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“My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys”

“Fire Man”

Two different Greatest American Hero episodes with some intriguing stories.

The first one was Basically The Greatest American Hero No More.

If you are a Spider-Man fan like me, you know the reference to one of the classic stories of all time. Spider-Man was always looking to stop being Spider-Man, but he actually tossed his costume once.

Ralph does the same thing when his use of his suit nearly caused a tour bus to go off a cliff. Ralph started thinking about how dangerous he was with his suit and the possible guilt over his actions drove him to consider hanging up the suit for good.

Meanwhile, Maxwell was having his own crisis as his old army captain in the war starting making noise to Bill about stealing diamond from a fence and leaving the country. This had Maxwell doubting his own beliefs.

Both were cool storylines that did not go too deep. I would have like to have seen more of this, to see it more developed than what this show did. Perhaps even have them be separate episodes instead of both being contained inside the same one.

Oh, and there was the Lone Ranger too. Former Lone Ranger actor John Hart guest starred to influence and inspire Ralph to do the right thing.

It was Ralph’s own great power-great responsibility moment.

The next episode tested Ralph and Bill’s friendship and partnership by putting them at odds when Tony wound up as a main suspect in an arson case.

Ralph, Pam and eventually Bill, helped the fugitive Tony avoid getting arrested and trying to prove his innocence.

Both of these two episodes were different but they had the same base of Ralph and Bill at their core.

The X-Files S6 E9

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“S.R. 819”

After a couple of lesser episodes, “S.R. 819” regained the feel of classic episodes of The X-Files, featuring a conspiracy level event.

The show begins with the apparent death of Walter Skinner, setting up the stakes for the episode.

Flashing back to before the ‘death’, we see the events leading up to the current situation and we learn that someone had poisoned Skinner, injecting him with nanobot tech.

Mulder and Scully raced against time to try and save the life of Skinner.

Of course, Mulder and Scully did not solve anything. They circled the truth, but the events were out of their hands. The final shot, of a now compromised Skinner with Krychek of all people was a kick. Especially after Skinner’s ‘deathbed’ confession to Scully that he regretted not being more of an ally to them.

This was a tough episode, but very enjoyable. It had that early X-Files feel to it and advanced the mythology along nicely.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E8

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“Final Cut”

Lucy Lawless brings a journalist aboard the Galactica with full access to everything to, as Adama put it, place a human face on the crew of the Galactica.

The shocking end of the episode was something that I never once considered. I love it when a series can surprise me.

The use of the camera provided the episode with that documentary style as Lawless, whose character was named D’Anna Biers, interviewed crew members and was constantly there sticking the camera into the faces of the people on Galactica.

It felt like what I expected. A cool concept where D’Anna Biers is won over at the end by the dedication and perseverance of the crews. And that is exactly what we see in the final cut… until we learn that Biers is a Cylon.

It was truly an unexpected reveal for me and it immediately elevated what was turning out to be an okay episode with a neat hook to something more.

The show also continued to show the faults of Col. Tigh, as he just does not seem to be mentally tough for any of this and that his decisions seem to not work with the position in which he finds himself.

I liked how the show returned to the Gideon incident from a few episodes ago. The whole firing on a crowd of people felt like it was dropped, but the show circled back to it and made it a major component for this episode.

Battlestar has not missed yet for me.

Bates Motel S3 E6, E7

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“Norma Louise”

“The Last Supper”

This was two really great episodes in a row.

So much happened after Norma stormed out of her house with a suitcase and a gun. Thankfully, the only person or thing that she shot was her cell phone.

She bought new clothes, she bought a new car and she had sex with her therapist. Spiraling.

It is always scary how she then turns on a dime, returns to her life and pushes everything down back inside.

We get a lot of development of Alex Romero too as he runs the gamut from finding out about his father using Alex’s dead mother’s name in a drug deal to being shot and then to kill the guy who was running against him for sheriff. I did not remember how much of a bad ass Romero was in my first watch of this show, but he straight up murdered fools during Bates Motel.

I have never seen such a “happy” family dinner, where nothing negative happened, that was as full of tension as this dinner was with Norma, Alex, Norman, Emma, Dylan and Caleb. I sat watching this just waiting for something to happen. It was a lovely moment, but the anxiety it built was off the charts. It was a great scene.

The scene with Norma and Caleb at the farm was so powerful. Norma coming back from her night out and dominating Norman and Dylan, demanding that they all head out to the farm to talk to Caleb. She was not taking any opposition from her kids and their shocked faces as they followed along was great.

It was also funny every time someone saw Norma’s new car. She definitely had buyer’s remorse over the car though.

Dylan is also one of the best characters on this show and he has turned his attention to Emma’s illness and trying to get her the lung transplant that she desperately needed. It is weird how Emma and Norman, who were dating, kind of stopped just out of the blue.

I believe season three has three more to go.

The X-Files S6 E8

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“The Rain King”

I have been typically been a huge fan of the X-Files humor episodes. “Bad Blood,” “Humbug,” Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose,” “War of The Coprophages,” and “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” are all classics for different reasons. However, not every humor episode hit as well as those.

“The Rain King” is one of those humor episodes that did not work very well for me. Victoria Jackson guest starred as Shelia, who was the center of the story of someone who can control the weather.

The story develops into a romance between some of the characters in this town and Mulder was stuck in it too. It was a weird story.

The best part of this episode was Scully’s dry reactions to some of the things that happened. There was one moment where Mulder told her over the phone that he was staying to help another man with his dating advice. The camera lingered on Mulder as no response came from Scully and the camera switched to Scully who just sat staring into the sky in shock. That was probably my favorite moment of the show.

This just felt too silly and the humor did not work. This was the second consecutive X-Files episode that was disappointing.

The Greatest American Hero S1 E5

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“Reseda Rose”

Something odd happened for a few episodes of the Greatest American Hero during the first season. Ralph Hinkley suddenly became Ralph Hanley. This was the first time one of Ralph’s students referred to him as Mr. Hanley.

This was done because President Ronald Reagan had been the victim of an unsuccessful assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. and the show’s producers clearly did not want their titular character to be connected in any way to that.

It was a very weird time during the series with the change of name, but it only lasted a few months (according to Wikipedia) before the show reverted the name back to Ralph Hinkley.

This was a fun episode where Ralph and Bill were checking on a list of ‘bad guys’ when Ralph’s student Rhonda arrived to look for help. Her mother had disappeared had was missing.

This seemingly unimportant piece tied right into a huge international incident with Russians and Ralph and Bill had to try to stop.

I still d not know why Ralph doesn’t wear some kind of mask. His face is right out there. The show could have said that the suit automatically projected some kind of facial protection. It would have prevented Ralph from always having to cover his face with his arms when someone was shooting at him.

There was also a potential story beat of Ralph not being a very good father, putting the super suit ahead of his son Kevin, which we did see this episode. It is not something the show really touched upon, probably because it is more serious of an issue than the comedic lean that the show had. Still, Kevin was pushed off to Pam most of the time. It is a good thing Pam is so understanding.

Another fun episode with so much potential.