Person of Interest “Guilty” Review (4×14)

11 Feb

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“It’s just you and me again, Mr. Reese.”

“Guilty” is a very fun throwback to season one of Person of Interest, and it’s an episode complete with everything we knew and loved about the show at that time: Reese and Finch teaming up, an entertaining guest star, and some nifty tie-ins to the overarching story. Getting an episode like that here serves as a bit of a break from the Samaritan storyline, but it certainly doesn’t skimp on the character development; sure, the story isn’t nearly as compelling as what we’ve had recently and there are some flaws in execution, but it’s still an entertaining episode throughout.

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Justified “The Trash and the Snake” Review (6×04)

10 Feb

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“I’m telling you not to get your ass bit.”

I’m not sure there’s a show on air right now that is better at building up tension just by sitting characters down in a room and letting them talk. “The Trash and the Snake” is full of those moments, whether it be the marvelous Raylan-Ty-Avery-Tim-Loretta scene or the Katherine-Ava exchanges or even the Boyd-Ava talks. This final season of Justified is allowing the tension to simmer, to progressively build up until what will presumably be its explosive conclusion, and it’s on a roll right now as a result. At the same time, the show also doesn’t lose its comedic sensibilities, and it creates a delicate balancing act that is rarely matched on television.

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Still Alice Review

9 Feb

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Still Alice is, without a doubt, a very moving film, but what’s nice about it is its ability to deliver a story without relying on histrionics. It hits all the emotional beats we expect it to hit, but it also does so with more care than we might expect. Now, the movie certainly does have an intrusive score, a hastily put together world, and several underwritten supporting characters; at the same time, though, it can be a great movie when it focuses on its central character: Alice Howland, a 50-year old Linguistics professor at Columbia University who develops early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

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Better Call Saul “Uno” Review (1×01)

9 Feb

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“There are no sides. Jimmy, wouldn’t you rather build your own identity rather than ride on someone else’s coattails?” 

It’s not a very subtle scene, but it perfectly encapsulates what this show is about. Whereas Breaking Bad detailed the rise and fall of a good man turned criminal, this show seems to be about attempting to rise above the sleaze, about how to be your own person and make a name for yourself. That, of course, places us in interesting territory because this is a prequel to Breaking Bad; we know that Jimmy McGill will end up as the sleazy Saul Goodman, and while that certainly does take a bit of suspense out of the equation, that doesn’t mean the show can’t play with expectations a bit.

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Shameless “Rite of Passage” Review (5×05)

8 Feb

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“Rite of Passage” is all about transitions, about being caught between an old life and a new life, about becoming stuck in a limbo of sorts as you attempt to figure out where you want to go next in life. After all, that’s what a rite of passage is: an event that marks a person’s transition from one status to another. We see the past and the present clash with each other throughout this episode, and in fine Shameless form, it’s yet another entertaining episode punctuated by poignant and genuine moments.

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Banshee “Tribal” Review (3×05)

6 Feb

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“Everything you touch turns to blood.”

There’s no question that Banshee consistently features the best action sequences on television, but what makes it a complete show is its ability to surround that action with compelling character and theme explorations. Take the entirety of “Tribal”, for example, which revolves around an attack carried out by Chayton Littlestone and the Redbones on the Banshee Sheriff Department; yes, we get insanely awesome shootouts, but the episode also finds room to delve into certain relationships, into new characters, and into the idea of change.

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Person of Interest “M.I.A.” Review (4×13)

4 Feb

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“I couldn’t stand to lose someone today.”

Person of Interest deals with loss in a fascinating way by intertwining the human side with the technology side, the direct emotional fallout with the larger societal implications. It doesn’t forget about any character, and it takes care to allow loss to reverberate throughout the rest of the show’s universe. In “M.I.A.”, we get an incredibly intriguing look at the reactions from Root, Finch, Reese, and Fusco about the possibility of Shaw’s death, about the possibility that their friend truly sacrificed herself for them back at that elevator. The episode shines when it zeroes in on the characters’ emotions and thoughts and feelings, but at the same time, the episode stumbles a bit when it focuses on the larger picture.

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Justified “Noblesse Oblige” Review (6×03)

3 Feb

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Early in “Nobelesse Oblige”, Ty Walker tells Boyd that he’s “just a weather vane”, that he “doesn’t make the wind blow”. Later on in the episode, Sam Elliott’s Avery Markham delivers a chilling monologue to Ava about being more than a token that “can be threatened or hurt to just to keep a man in line”. The underlying point comes across in both cases: certain people are pulling the strings in certain places, and if you want to survive in this fading county, you must take the initiative and fight for what you want. You can’t let the power struggle dictate where you end up; you must participate.

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Veronica Mars “Kanes and Abel’s”/ “Weapons of Class Destruction” Review (1×17/1×18)

2 Feb

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EPISODE 17: “Kanes and Abel’s”

As Veronica says, “life is unfair” seems to be the motto of the episode, especially when applied to the Sabrina-Hamilton Valedictorian case. Hamilton really doesn’t have control of the situation until the end, when he decides to acquiesce to Sabrina’s mother’s demands in return for not pressing charges; rather, this is all his father’s doing, and we see at the meeting that even Sabrina seems a bit uncomfortable with her own parent’s attitude. When all’s said and done, even though the odds were stacked against Hamilton from the start and even though he loses his Oxford scholarship, he still loves his father, and inequity doesn’t cause Hamilton to harbor resentment toward him.

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Veronica Mars “Ruskie Business”/ “Betty and Veronica” Review (1×15/1×16)

2 Feb

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Episode 15: “Ruskie Business”

The way this show’s developed Logan over the course of the season is truly fantastic. Recently, we’ve started to see a softer side to him, a side that begins to let Veronica in for a friendship not tied to the Lilly Kane case and the shaky history they share. At the beginning of the season, he was still caught up in Veronica’s betrayal, unable to shake the idea of her siding with her dad over her best friend–understandable, considering what we’ve seen of him and Aaron Echolls–but now, the dynamic’s a lot different. Now, Logan’s vulnerable in front of her, breaking down in her arms in the hotel lobby after Trina leaves.

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