Supernatural, 4x13, “Afterschool Special”

Episode Title: After School Special
Writers: Andrew Dabb and Danial Loflin
Director: Adam Kane

Originally Aired: 01/29/2009
Grade: B+

First of all, I only learned of Kim Manner’s death a couple of days ago, because I stay pretty far away from the Supernatural online community these days. I’ve always liked him and found him oddly comforting in the DVD special features, and I know he was an integral part of the crew, so I’m quite sad. Condolences to his family, friends, and coworkers, though they will never see this.

Now for the episode, which I didn’t think was that bad, though I’m in the minority on that front. I probably liked it so much because I like WeeWinchester episodes, and I completely adore LilSam. The casting for TeenDean was insanely good, as well—the actor actually did a pretty decent job of mimicking Jensen-as-Dean’s inflections and mannerisms. I’m actually curious as to whether he just worked with Jensen to do this, or if the guy actually watches the show, because it was almost uncanny at times.

The characterization of the WeeWinchester’s was a bit on the shallow side. TeenDean’s pretty much boiled down to wanting to beat up anyone who hurt Sam and being a womanizer at a young age. LilSam was basically Saint Sammy, who was somehow fucking awesome at the hand-to-hand fighting, despite the fact that PresentSam totally sucks at it. Still, the actors themselves were charming (especially LilSam and his wee bitchfaces, yay!).

I really didn’t have a problem with Dean’s insecure “I’m a hero” moment. It doesn’t make him pathetic. It means he had issues back then about being an unsung hero, issues that he’s since gotten over. Given the kind of lives that those boys led, and the kind of hardass father John was, I really don’t even see how it reflects poorly on Dean or doesn’t make sense. And of course, I’m responding to fangirl bitching here rather than what I saw in the actual episode.

And in the same vein, I got a kick out of Dean getting dressed down a bit by the pretty girl whose pants he was trying to get into. Yes, Dean, some of them are actually pretty and have brains and can actually see below the surface of your bravado. Dean’s attitude toward women, quite frankly, sucks. I do think some of it is bravado, because he’s playing off his brother in most scenes, and that’s just how dudes talk to each other (except Sam doesn’t, because he’s all enlightened and shit), but it’s not all bravado. He’s a love ‘em and leave ‘em sort, and he very rarely seems to treat women as anything more than sex objects. I don’t really hold it against him, because given the nomadic lifestyle he’s led and the lack of a mother at a young age, it makes sense. He’s never really had the opportunity to get close to a single woman (besides maybe Cassie, and the less said about her, the better) or see them as more than a way to relieve some stress through sex. It’s a part of him that I generally accept, because he’s not really in a position to work on his sharing and caring issues with the ladies, and he has plenty of other good qualities.

I have to say, though, my favorite moment in the episode came near the beginning, when Sam asked April about seeing black smoke, and she responded, “What, are you crazy?” It was a cheap joke, but Padalecki completely nailed the reaction shot—completely stunned, followed by, “Wait, you drowned a girl in a toilet and think you were possessed, and you’re asking me if—no, no, so not worth it, she’s just a kid.” Hee.

Battlestar Galactica, 4x12, “A Disquiet Follows my Soul”

Episode Title: A Disquiet Follows my Soul
Writer: Ronald D. Moore
Director: Ronald D. Moore

Originally Aired: 01/23/2009
Grade: B+

I didn’t think that I’d have much to say about this episode, because it wasn’t really a favorite. It turns out I have plenty to say, though much of it isn’t positive.

First of all, this episode was certainly setting up something Not Good for Tigh and Caprica’s baby. It seemed a little out of character for Caprica to be so naïve as to yammer on about their baby being “the future of the Cylon race” in front of Cottle and his assistant (or whatever she is), but there’s definitely something brewing. There was a bit of a fakeout with the assistant, where she looked troubled by Caprica’s words about the baby, but then we saw her being nice to Nicky, who we thought was a Cylon, so it must be okay, but then it turns out Nicky’s not a Cylon and she knew that, so hmmm…

I’m really not sure how I feel about the whole “Hotdog is really Nicky’s father, hence Nicky is not a Cybrid” storyline. Moore has said that they always knew Hera was going to be the only true half-breed baby, but if that’s the case, couldn’t they have set up this reveal a bit better? It would be nice to look back and think, “Oh, hey, this scene makes even more sense with this new information,” but no such scene comes to mind. It would also be cool to recall a scene between Cally and Hotdog that now has greater significance, and maybe there is one, but again, not coming to mind. Furthermore, that baby just plain looks like the offspring of Tyrol and Cally—his giant head and frame, her snub-nosed baby face (okay, Nicky is a baby, but he still looks like her!). And unless Cally slept with Hotdog just a few days before Tyrol broke her jaw, it means that she was unfaithful to him, which sucks for two reasons: a) it seems out of character, given how deeply (and sort of creepily) devoted she was to Tyrol in the early stages of their relationship, b) it piles even more suckage onto a character who already sucked hardcore. This does free up Chief and Hera for more important storylines, which could be good, but I’m not thrilled with the execution here.

And Gaeta… wow. I actually would have a hard time believing that they didn’t have at least an inkling about the events of the webisodes before this episode was penned. If they honestly didn’t, then without the webisodes, Gaeta’s actions would seem overly extreme and out-of-the-blue here. Given my dissatisfaction with the writing for Caprica and deceased Cally in this episode already, I’d have to question Moore’s writing skills… I’m also not sure why Gaeta was included in the meeting with the higher-ups about updating the fleet’s jump capacity. Adama’s presence goes without saying, as does Tigh’s as XO and a Final Fiver. Tyrol was formerly Chief of the Deck and is also a Final Fiver, Helo is CAG and a former XO, and Lee is a former CAG, former Commander, former interim President, and Commander Adama’s son. Gaeta is… what, exactly? In any case, I’m still interested to see where his character is going.

As for the conversation between Kara and Gaeta, I really don’t blame her for being nasty. She didn’t start the conversation or the accusations, and in fact told him she didn’t feel like having a chat. And he accused her of… what? He didn’t even take a swipe at her for being all batshit crazy for a while, he just neener-neenered at her for being married to a Cylon. Of course, I think his real motive was to get her out of the room in a way that wouldn’t pique her suspicion, leaving him with a captive audience for planning his little insurgency. In which case, he certainly succeeded.

Roslin’s storyline is confusing me greatly at the moment. I don’t understand why she doesn’t just relinquish the Presidency to Lee if she’s not going to actually do anything. She’s not just taking a little break from her duties; she’s committing a drawn-out suicide by terminal illness, which indicates that she’s not planning to resume her duties at all. No, Lee is not the VP, but Lee has acted as interim President before with Zarek’s semi-approval, and most other folks with any level of power approve of him, as well. That, and Roslin flat-out told him that she might want him to be President when she’s gone or no longer capable of performing her duties, which seems to be… now.

Also, nice to see that Bill and Laura finally, um, consummated their love. Glad to know it happened, and also glad we weren’t privy to the actual deed.

Friday Night Lights, 3x02, “Tami Knows Best”

Episode Title: Tami Knows Best
Writer: Lix Heldens
Director: Jeffrey Reiner

Originally Aired: 01/23/2009
Grade: A

I’m giving this episode an A for the simple reason that it was very warm and made me feel good, for the most part. And considering how bleak BSG is right now, that’s worth a lot.

Lyla’s far from being my favorite character, but the fact that she immediately wanted to go get her laptop to write a response letter for Tim’s college offer was endearing. Their later fight was not so endearing, but at least Lyla had the sense to see that nothing was going on with Tim and Tyra when she came over to apologize. And it’s a minor thing, but Kitsch and Palicki did a really good job of showing just the right level of nervousness—there’s a difference between being nervous about being caught at something that looks bad and being caught at something that is bad.

Matt’s grandmother is already breaking my heart. It seems like that storyline is going nowhere good, but Matt getting emancipated feels like a somewhat empowering step to me, so I hope at least that much is good. The scene between Matt and Julie was weirdly adorable. On the one hand, Julie was a twit for not taking his family drama seriously enough and cracking a joke, but it was also obvious that she still cares about him a great deal, so I can’t fault her too much. And wow, that was one killer flirty smile he flashed in her direction. Even I almost swooned.

Smash’s little monologue about performing as an individual vs. performing as part of a team summed up the heart of the show pretty well, and it was touching to see Coach actually do something kind and get the entire team to show up and practice with him. I also love his friendship with Tim Riggins, possibly even more than I like the Jason/Tim friendship.

As for Tyra, I almost didn’t believe that she would campaign that way. She’s grown so much over the past two seasons and seems too smart to give in to that temptation, especially after asking for Tami’s help and obviously wanting to prove her worth and intelligence to the Vice Principal. If she’d actually been willing to work hard, she could have beaten the other candidate fairly, based on knowledge and an actual platform. I can’t blame Tami for giving her hell over her campaign methods.

As for this Jumbotron funds fiasco, the Mayor is dead to me. I expect that kind of shit from Buddy--it’s his MO, and even within this episode, he’s somewhat redeemed by his talk with Lyla (it wasn’t perfect, but at least he cares and his fear about Riggins is understandable). The Mayor is an elected official who is supposed to be in charge of the well-being of the entire town, and her stance is absolutely shameful. I will admit that Coach had a point about the fact that Tami chose to use the full amount of booster money for the school. For diplomatic purposes, she could have said, “Okay, there’s no way I’m letting y’all spend this much on a Jumbotron when we’re using outdated school books and our teachers are buying their own chalk. You can use some of the money for other minor improvements, but most of it is going into educational resources.” In any case, I’m guessing we’re going to get a badass speech from Tami when the hearing rolls around.