Mini Reviews- August

It has been a little quieter on the TV front this month, but I've had a few TV shows to keep me going as you can see on my profile to the right of this post. I'll do a quick summary of them:

Chuck (season 3 part 1)
Chuck hit it's 13th episode mark last week- the original finale episode before the show was given a reprieve.
It had been a good and fast moving 13 episodes. Awesome became involved in the spy world, Morgan found out Chuck's secret, Casey got fired, both Chuck and Sarah got involved with other people and then (finally) each other and Chuck became a real spy. The plot and character development really was a whirlwind and has done creative wonders for a show that was becoming very formulaic. I know that the next few episodes may not be as good, seeing that they are an addendum to the season, but I'm looking forward to them nonetheless.

Entourage (season 7)
HBO's short seasons means that Entourage will be over in just a few episodes even though it feels like the season has just started. The season is a lot darker than previous seasons and generally there is a very different tone about it. There have been very few scenes with all the guys together as all the boys are pursuing their own lives/dreams. This isn't a bad thing, though after watching previous seasons on DVD, it does make me miss the boys' camaraderie.
The darker tone comes from Vince, who after a lucky escape from a dangerous stunt goes of the rails a little, popping Vicodins, snorting coke and jumping out of planes. I'm quite enjoying his descent into the Hollywood maddness and it feels that this could be a great setup for the final season next year.

Leverage (season 3)
I have caught up fully with Leverage now, and I am feeling the effects of catching up too fast as waiting a whole week for a new episode is proving difficult! However the show is continuing to be fun and the most recent episode I watched 'The Roshomon Job' in which each character told their side of a particular job, was one of the best episodes they've done. Some of the recent plot devices have become a little bit wacky and unrealistic, but amongst all the capers, the show has real heart which is keeping it grounded. According to twitter the show recently wrapped up filming and the mid season finale will air next week in the States. After that expect a blog reviewing season 2 and 3 (since I never got around to doing the season 2 blog)


Mad Men (season 1)
Everyone raves about this show, so when the BBC decided to rerun episodes from the beginning on Sunday nights in anticipation for the newest season, I decided to tune in. It's not hard to see why everybody loves this show and why it won the Emmy for best drama show this week. The characters are all perfectly drawn and its fun to see a little bit more of their characters every episode. The show doesn't pander to idiots so a lot is left unexplained and though some of it may be going over my head, I enjoy that I have to work a little to understand it. Plus the excellent cast make it very easy to watch.

Ugly Betty (season 4)
This show has only just kicked off here in the UK but it has been enjoyable so far.
Betty trying (and failing) in her new job feels a lot like season 1 (in a good way) and it's nice to see the other characters getting meatier storylines, especially Amanda and Justin, who have largely been comedy relief in the past. Amanda's quest for a better job/ more stable life will be interesting to watch and shows she is more than just a caricature. Justin's trouble in his high school was painful but endearing to watch. I look forward to seeing more of both storylines in future episodes.

Emmys 2010

Apologies for the long break in blogging. It's not just that now my Buffy/Angel Rewatch is over that I've given up (!) but other personal stuff plus a pretty crappy cold I was suffering from last week kept me from blogging. To make up for it I'll be posting a few blogs over the next couple of days!

First up the Emmys!

To make use of the UK Bank Holiday today I stayed up and watched the E! Coverage of the Emmy Red Carpet. The coverage was definitely worse than in previous years: a lot of E! 'stars' were interviewed in favour of real stars and the pacing was definitely off as they struggled to fill the first half hour and the last 15 minutes as everybody had gone in by that point. I tweeted a bit about it whch you can see to the right hand side of this blog, probably if you scroll down a bit :)

Fashion wise there are always the usual hits and misses. Here are some of my favourite outfits from the night:



Julie Bowen looked lovely in a navy blue ruffled dress and her hair looked stunning. Not sure why she was there but I loved Kim Kardashian's Grecian inspired white dress. Both colours very popular all night






A lot of people didn't like Christina Hendrick's lavender colour gown, but I think it looked lovely on her.
I curse her for her youth and stick insect figure but Sarah Hyland's dress was just gorgeous.






Elizabeth Moss looked just great in this light coloured gown. Julie Benz as always looked amazing following the one shoulder strapped trend this time in white. Her hair looked great too, I' guessing hair extensions.



And some of my worst:

January Jones looked a bit like a mermaid in this dress, though I did like the colour. She didn't make much effort with her hair either.
She had a newlyweds glow but Anna Paquin's military topped dress was just a bit weird.



Winning wise, I think it was actually a pretty good year. There weren't many major upsets or shocks and I think that generally the right people won. I was especially pleased to see Modern Family take home quite a few including one for best show- I was afraid it would go to Glee, which IMO had a much less funnier season than MF which was very much consistent.

The cast also did a great skit for the Emmys involving George Clooney- luckily he didn't need to do anything for the skit other than look pretty:

Buffy and Angel Rewatch part 70 (Conclusion)

Review of the Rewatch

It's taken me about 11 months to complete the rewatch- that's 12 seasons and 254 episodes in roughly 48 weeks. It's been hard going at times I have to admit; there are some not so good episodes amongst the good ones and it was tough to make myself watch them. I was also feeling a little over-saturated at one point.

However now I'm done with the rewatch, I'm finding myself badly missing the shows. I had never watched either shows continuously like that and doing so definitely made me love both shows a lot more. It's easy to forget how the stories were layered and built up over the years, how much effort went into each episode and how enjoyable and underrated certain episodes can be. There were a lot of episodes that I enjoyed a lot more this time round and I appreciated more of the general arcs as I was watching the seasons in a short amount of time.

I must say, in terms of episode order, it was difficult to watch the shows together, completely in chronological order. Often episode arcs would have to be split in order to watch episodes in the rght order and sometimes I would go quite a long time before switching to the other show. I would probably conclude therefore that a true episode order of the two shows (in terms of watching) can't be done, especially for the later crossovers.

It's hard to write up a summary for both shows in just a few short paragraphs to sum up how amazing I think both shows are- I mean let's face it, I never would have done this rewatch if both shows were not deserving of one. However I'll give it a go!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer- Series Review

In pop culture's history, this is usually considered a special so- and for very good reason. A failed film, a silly title and a teeny-bopper premise, meant that to begin with the show probably wasn't taken very seriously. The show took a little while to find it's feet, not truly reaching it's true potential until the end of it's first season and even then it took a dramatic twist in the second season to put Buffy on the map. It demonstrated to critics that despite it's origins Buffy the Vampire Slayer was more than just a high school vampire romp- it was a show to be taken seriously.

Many people say that the high school years of the show were it's best and in some ways that's true. Sunnydale High was the perfect place for vampire/demons to wreck havoc and the the storylines became the perfect metaphor for growing up. There is a definite charm to these early years; there were a lot of not so stellar stand alone episodes, but the three Big Bads (the Master/Angelus/the Mayor) brought a nice cohesion to the episodes, each representing an important stage in Buffy's life. The stand alone episodes also had their merits; they were often silly but sometimes dark, but the episodes were nearly always funny and the 'little' personal moments contained within them made the show what it was.
The year after school was a little bit of a struggle, both creatively for the writers and for the characters. The Big Bad was probably the weakest of the show, but the show did it's best to retain some of the high school essence, whilst still propelling it's characters forward.
Though Buffy has always been a young show, it was thrust more firmly into the adultworld when Buffy gained a sister in the fifth season. Dawn may have annoyed some, but she had an important purpose and brought around some of the most terrific drama seen on the show.
Seasons 6 and 7 are often considered the worst by fans; many preferred The Gift as a finale and the change of network did mean the show had a very different tone. However I personally don't think that the latter two seasons were particularly worse than the other seasons, though the dark tone does make it a very different show from what it started out as. The lack of Big Bad for most of season 6 allowed for rich character development and the omnipresent Big Bad in season 7 pushed the story along nicely, creating a real sense of drama and lay the foundations down for that stunning finale.
I'm not sure if I can decide on my favourite season; season 5 was probably the strongest but season 3 mixed the stand alones with the Big Bad more effectively than any other season, so I'd probably pick those two.

Though I found Buffy more palatable (and gasp even likable!) as a lead this time watching; the core of the show always has and will be the entire Scooby gang. Though there were a lot of characters that came and went throughout the show, some of them integrating themselves with the Scoobies one time or another, the core four of Buffy, Willow, Giles and Xander provided the emotional stability and depth of the show. Without them, the show wouldn't have been the same.

Overall the show made a name for itself and will never be forgotten. For me personally, the whole show was infinitely more enjoyable this time round. The friendship built up between the group, the trials faced, the witty banter and inside jokes are all a lot more enjoyable when the show is watched from start to end. In terms of quality the show probably beats out Angel, due to it's role as the original and best.

Angel- Series Review

Spin-off's usually crash and burn but this one flourished and went on to survive only 1 and half seasons less than it's predecessor. However despite that, Angel proved to be one hell of a show. Based on vampires and the good vs evil fight it was always going to be difficult to establish it's identity. The characters quickly evolved though- Angel, Cordy and Wes were completely different from who they were in Buffy and it was a joy to watch the characters grow up.
This growing up was important as Angel had a more distinctly adult feel to it. The characters faced many problems a young adult would face (housing, jobs, identity, evil law firms!) which definitely made it different from Buffy (though the latter show did venture into adult territory, it never did quite as much Angel did). LA provided a very suitable background to the gang's adventures especially in some of the earlier seasons. Angel's mission statement of helping the helpless may never have worked in any other city.

Though the first season was pretty much made up of standalone episodes, character development was still important. Doyle left a huge lasting impression and Cordy/Wes ended up very different characters from the ones we saw in Sunnydale. Wolfram and Hart in it's many incarnations played the big villain which kept Angel on his toes. Through season 1, they were always there, but it was in season 2 that the writers made them step up and they became a huge part of the show. Bringing back Darla was also important, especially as she became so embedded in the mythology of the show. W&H and Darla continued to play major roles in season 3, but the biggest new player was easily Connor. Though many fans don't like Connor; like Dawn in Buffy, he plays an integral part in the show, shaping the characters and especially Angel into the people they became.
Though W&H was Angel's main foe, they ironically faded into the background when a more traditional big bad(s) appeared in season 4. This season definitely has a different feel to all other seasons in that there aren't really many cases of the week and the whole season is just one big adventure.
Though Angel was supported by Buffy in the early years, season 3 and 4 saw the show stand fully on it's own two feet with only brief interludes to keep the two shows spinning in the same universe. My personal saddness at season 5 is because after this act of independence by the show, it fell back heavily to leaning on Buffy- funny that, as the show wasn't even on anymore- with characters from Buffy crossing over permanently onto Angel. Though some semblance of an arc was developed later in the season season 5, was again very much full of standalone episodes, similar in many ways to season 1.
For me my favourite seasons of the show were 2-4. Although season 4 got a little messy towards the end, everything that happened in those seasons cause a further consequence that led to the three seasons feeling very much like the middle arc of the show. Season 1 and 5 were good, but both were very much standalone and though all seasons had some less than good episodes, the worst episodes are probably to be found in the beginning and closing seasons.

In keeping with it's more adult tone, the show was never afraid to kill of it's main characters. Though Buffy did do this to some extent, the core four all survived. This was not the case with major characters dying in every season (Doyle, Darla, Lilah, Cordy, Fred, Lindsey, Wes). In fact the only character truly left standing was Angel. This definitely gave Angel a darker feeling than Buffy had. It's a testament to the actor and writing that each character left a hole, when they died (thankfully those last few death's were in the final season so we didn't have to do without the characters for too long!) Doyle was in just in 9 episodes but is sorely missed throughout the show and season 5 is definitely worse off for the lack of Cordelia.


Overall though, despite the shows minor faults, this was an excellent show and showed producers can a drama spin-off can work and exactly how to do one. However Angel was more than a spin-off and though it's often seen as Buffy's lesser sibling, it was probably my favourite out of the two shows (only just though!).

My Best and Worst Buffy and Angel Episodes

My Best episodes are those that I scored 10 for (couldn't include the episodes I scored 9.5 as the list is already very long!); the worst are those that I scored 5.5 and below (listed in chronological order; to see why I thought the episodes were so good or bad please click the link!) I don't think there ate any surprises on these lists- the best list, especially is fairly standard and the there aren't too many shockers on the worst list either. It is nice to see that my best list well outweighs the bad list.

Worst Episodes

1.04 Teacher's Pet
2.18 Killed By Death
B4.05 Beer Bad
A1.06 Sense and Sensitivity
A1.15 The Prodigal
B4.18 Where the Wild Things Are
A2.08 The Shroud of Rahmon
B6.12 Doublemeat Palace
A3.18 Double or Nothing
5.13 Why We Fight
5.20 The Girl in Question

Best Episodes

2.17 Passion
2.21 Becoming Part 1
2.22 Becoming Part 2
3.16 Dopplegangland
3.21 Graduation Day part 1
3.22 Graduation Day Part 2
A1.09 Hero
B4.10 Hush
B4.15 This Year's Girl
B4.16 Who Are You?
A1.18 Five by Five
A1.19 Sanctuary
B4.22 Restless
A1.22 To Shanshu in LA
A2.07 Darla
A2.15 Reprise
A2.16 Epiphany
B5.16 The Body
B5.22 The Gift
B6.07 Once More With Feeling
B6.08 Tabula Rasa
A3.13 Waiting In The Wings
A4.07 Apocalypse Nowish
A4.22 Home
B7.22 Chosen
5.12 You're Welcome
5.15 A Hole in the World
5.22 Not Fade Away

Special thanks

This may sound stupid, but a big thanks to the cast and crew of Buffy and Angel for providing such quality entertainment.

Thanks to the websites I have pilfered pictures from along the way including (but not limited to):
Angel Screen Caps
Buffy Wikia
Wikipedia
Amazon.co.uk (and .com)
Sidereel

Thanks to Shawn, who has commented on every single Rewatch post and to the others that have also read and commented along the way.

Leverage Season 1 Review

Leverage Season 1

As a big Whedon fan (the last few shows I have watched/been obsessed by have all contained a Whedon alum in a major role) and after listening to some of Christian Kane's music on You Tube (and developing a huge crush!), I decided to give Christian Kane's latest show, Leverage, a try.

The show is set around a group of criminals and thieves who are united by good guy Nate Ford- still reeling from his former employers (an insurance company) refusal to pay for his son's treatment which ultimately led to his death. Along for the ride are grifter Sophie, hacker Hardison, hitter, Eliot and thief Parker. The team help steal from big businesses and other monied individuals to give back to the people who have been stung by these businesses.
The whole show feels very much Oceans 11, except funnier, smarter, with more likable characters and a better cast. The pilot perfectly sets up for the rest of the show, in which the team are brought together for the first time. It's one of the few jobs in which the crew are self serving and whilst later episodes find them taking on jobs to help other people, there are some personal agendas along the way.

The show isn't terribly grounded in logic; it's incredible how they pull off some of the cons and get away with some of the things they do. Also I don't always understand what's going on, especially the hacker stuff but it's not completely necessary to enjoy the show and the cons they perform. However this makes the show hugely fun to watch and the 'Robin Hood' nature of their jobs leaves you with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Favourite episodes:

The Nigerian Job- where it all began. Great start and gives the first hint of the type of misdirection stunts the team can pull off

The Bank Shot Job- Nate usually leads the team, but when he's stuck inside a bank robbery with Sophie, the whole team must use their skills to get them out safely.

The Juror 6 Job- this job pits the crew directly against a company trying to rig a court case. It's a fun cat and mouse game

The First David Job- this job sees the team seek revenge on Nate's old employer wth interesting results which truly show how far the team has come.

Buffy and Angel Rewatch part 69

5.21 Power Play
As everybody knows, this episode was done pretty quickly to bring the series to a suitable conclusion. However that doesn't stop the amazing-ness of this episode. Making Angel appear evil was a brilliant and excellently pulled off storyline. When I first watched the episode, I nearly believed it and watching it again, he continues to pull it off convincingly. It's nice to see the gang work together, for the first time in a long while- first against Angel and then with him in that stunning final scene (one of my favourite of the show). There are some flaws with this episode as it was so rushed; Angel's explanation of what happened since Cordy's final flashback doesn't quite fit in with what's happened on the show; the Angel/Nina stuff is pretty awful since they have no chemistry together and the pair have gone from zero to 100 in the space of a few episodes and it feels very quick; and finally the Black Thorn idea, slightly contradicts everything we've known about the Senior Partners up until now. However looking at that final flaw from another angel, it does make sense especially since the society was secret and until they were inside W&H the gang had no idea how it truly worked. Either way, this episode neatly sets up for the final showdown. (9.5/10)

5.22 Not Fade Away
Apparently two episodes was all that was needed to create the perfect finale for this stunning show. The gang went out fighting and even though Angel was a little bit wordy in doing it, he reminded us of the mission statement of the show- fight the good fight, help the helpless and never give up. Angel and the gang showed exactly what they were made of by going to their deaths in a fight not to win, but to keep on fighting.
The composition of this episode was impeccable. Every character was allowed a moment of happiness. There were few surprises in what they decided to do; I loved seeing Lorne and Spike up on their stages, having Wesley stay with Illyria was just perfect for where he is emotionally and Angel and Connor's honest conversation was beautiful as they finally got to have the father/son relationship that Angel always wanted. Gunn's perfect day was perhaps the biggest surprise, but bringing Anne and the 'streets' back was an inspired move and it worked so well. Having Harmony betray Angel was perhaps a little sudden, and the dialogue was a little odd, but it served the purpose.
The fight scenes were equally amazing. We didn't really need to see much of Illyria's, Lindsey's or Spike's; it was clear that they would easily win. The subsequent death's of Wesley and Lindesey were far more important and utterly heartbreaking. Bringing Fred back for one final moment was a cruel and beautiful decision; Lindsey got a distinctly imperfect death, but Wesley's final moments were a lot kinder on him. It was sad to see Lorne walk away so defeated though. He was definitely a shadow of the character that entered in season 2. I'm only sad we didn't get to explore more of that.
In a way it was good to see Angel get beat up a bit as it made his final fight a lot more meaningful. Having Connor join him was yet another joyous moment and it's a nice way to wrap up their storyline together.
The final fight in the alleyway is definitely the best way to wrap the show. It's fitting that only the non-humans made it bar a nearly dead Gunn, as it presses home the reality of the fight they undertook. Overall a superb finale in which storylines are simultaneously wrapped up and left completely open ended- perfect for the show. (10/10)


Angel Season 5
Overall this was a very mixed season for me. The season started of shakily and produced very few good episodes within the first half. At the network's bequest most of the episodes were played as standalones which was a disjointing change from season 4, which had virtually no standalone episodes. The second half of the season was a lot better, but some of the shows worst episodes were in this part of the season, so it's difficult to say that the show found it's footing again.

One of the things I disliked most about the season was the arrival of both Spike and Harmony. Harmony wasn't so bad as she had appeared on the show before and fitted in with W&H's moral ambiguity. However Spike's appearance, not only lessened his heroic death in Sunnydale, it put him centre of stage which cause all the main Angel cast to be booted in favour of his hijinks with Angel. Whilst some of these escapades were funny, Spike generally got on my nerves and if he hadn't out stayed his welcome by returning to Sunnydale in season 4 and staying til the end, he definitely out-stayed it here.
There were other new arrivals in the form of Eve, Knox, Nina, Hamilton and various W&H clients, particularly those that ended up forming the Black Circle. Eve was a character that became more interesting as she lost power and I respected Hamilton in his obvious villain role. Knox was irritating, so it was almost a relief when he was revealed to be evil. Nina continued to be annoying during her performances- the network must've been behind Angel's romance because I can't seriously believe that the writers though that the pair had chemistry.

The season wasn't all bad however. I loved the gang's stint in W&H, it did help to rejuvenate the series and gave them new situations to face, which after the epic-ness of the previous season was needed. I'm sad we didn't get to see more of what Lorne and Gunn did within the firm; it would've been fun to see them do their thing- Gunn especially since it was so new to him.
I also liked that the show, despite network intervention, managed to to tie up lose ends- Cordy, Connor and Lindsey all returned to see out their storylines (sadly ending in 2 of them dying, but at least it was closure).

Overall this is easily my least favourite Angel season; there were many highs but many were cancelled out by the lows. (7.5/10)


There'll be one final blog to follow in which I'll round up the rewatch!