24 Review: "6:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m." and "7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m." (Episodes 7.23 and 7.24)
Even as you are reading this, Day 7 of 24 is available on store shelves. The season that ended last night. The DVDs and Blu-rays were released today, which means they were probably shipped to stores sometime last week. Surely something would've leaked. There had to be at least a couple of weasels working in the backroom at K-mart willing to risk their jobs to spoil everyone's hard-earned fun. And there very well may have been. But the thing is, the spoiler never hit the web...at least not where we were looking. Then again, maybe the problem was that there... read more
Lost Review: "The Incident" (Episodes 5.16-17)
The faceless Jacob appeared in Lost's season finale, "The Incident," last night. In fact, he appeared again and again; he opened, and nearly closed the episode, and his dark annunciations to all of the Lostites before they returned on the plane wove a tight tapestry throughout the episode. As the various groups of characters scurried around like frenzied mad hatters and white rabbits (Jack to detonate the bomb, Sawyer to stop him, Locke to kill Jacob, the beach dwellers to find the statue), Jacob's presence became as certain and quiet and sure as the future every character was bolting away from.... read more
24 Review: "5:00 a.m. - 6:00 a.m." (Episode 7.22)
When Kim Bauer popped up in the pre-episode recap of last night's hour, it seemed apparent she was being re-introduced for one reason: She would finally step up and try to save her father, Jack. Turns out, he's going to have to be the one to save her...again. Surprise, surprise. Anytime Kim hits the scene, she might as well hang a cardboard sign around her neck that reads "liability," because sooner or later, someone will have to save that neck (most likely Jack).... read more
Lost Review: "Follow the Leader" (Episode 5.15)
"Follow the Leader" was a bridge episode, stretching between season five, thus far, and the season finale. Although little actually happened, the stage was set.... read more
24 Review: "4:00 a.m. - 5:00 a.m." (Episode 21)
Three hours left. And because of the two-hour finale, that only leaves two weeks remaining before Day Seven of 24 is put to rest. So much still needs to be resolved, such as the Jack factor. One tidbit from last night's episode is that he has one or two days left to live. So, in theory, we could wrap up today and have Day Eight (as of right now, Kiefer Sutherland's last year on contract) be a direct continuation of this day. That's how it looked at the very end of the second season, anyway. But it's painful enough watching... read more
Lost Review: "The Variable" (Episode 5.14)
This week's episode of Lost revealed a whole different side of Daniel Faraday. We've oscillated before about the true nature of the physicist to no avail. We decided he's mostly a decent guy, barring the whole experimenting-on-his-girlfriend-then-running-away-when-her-brain-turned-to-mush thing. In the past, he's just seemed lost and confused, and since he has those big, earnest puppy eyes we decided to forgive him. ... read more
24 Review: "3:00 a.m. - 4:00 a.m." (Episode 7.20)
CTU is back! Or, CTU Lite, as Janis calls it. We don't know about you, but when "Counter Terrorism Unit" flashed on the FBI computers, we got a little warm and fuzzy thinking about the good old days back in L.A. when Bill was still alive and Tony was a good guy.... read more
24 Review: "2:00 a.m. - 3:00 a.m." (Episode 7.19)
Jack Bauer is pitiful.... read more
Lost Review: "Some Like It Hoth" (Episode 5.13)
This week's episode of Lost, "Some Like It Hoth," was sharper and more finely tuned than one of Jack's (or now, Juliet's) surgical scalpels. With great detail and precision, it carved out the life and past of Miles, one of the final pieces of Lost's missing story.... read more
24 Review: "1:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m." (Episode 7.18)
Where to begin?... read more
Lost Review: "Dead is Dead" (Episode 5.12)
Locke and Ben are the Ares and Hephaestus of the Lost Olympus, and like true frenemies, the larger-than-life pair likes to stick close together, feeling each other out, watching each other, in "Dead is Dead." They're always on alert, and they have to be; when Locke let his guard down last, Ben clawed his way to control with a rope, a vacant hotel room and an airborne coffin.... read more
24 Review: "12:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m." (Episode 7.17)
Part of me has to admit—when we were first introduced to the big Starkwood conspiracy, I was skeptical 24 could pull it off. Who's going to buy into the idea that an American private army would have the audacity to turn on its own country because that government turned its back on the company? And yet, after the last hour, it all seems so simple thanks to one factor: We get a better glimpse at the madman behind the absurdity. With what seemed like more screen time in an episode than ever before, Jon Voight brings us closer to the... read more
Lost Review: "Whatever Happened, Happened" (Episode 5.11)
Hurley held up his hand to his face in "Whatever Happened, Happened." When asked what he was doing, he replied, "I'm checking to see if I'm disappearing."... read more
24 Review: "11:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m." (Episode 7.16)
We kept waiting for the "gotcha" moment in last night's 24. It never came.... read more
Kings Review: "First Night" (Episode 1.04)
The cast of Kings seems to be acting out two shows. The older cast is trapped in a West Wing storyline while the younger set is entangled in a Gossip Girl episode. This week’s episode was no different. Kings, however, manages to eke out a common thread of sacrifice between the two stories. Silas has spent his life without his true love and Jack recently accepted that he will have to do the same.... read more
Lost Review: "He's Our You" (Episode 5.10)
Lost is a show of wide, sweeping spaces. In any given episode, the ever-moving camera will zoom in on characters from Los Angeles to New Zealand who are separated by as much as 30 years. However, with the exception of flashbacks, the drama between young Ben and Sayid in "He's Our You" played out almost entirely in a tiny underground cell.... read more
24 Review: "10:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m." (Episode 7.15)
Mark this hour in your calendar, episode log, timesheet, whatever: Larry Moss, special agent heading the FBI in D.C. and ultimate pain in Jack Bauer's rear, is finally starting to get it. Perhaps not the most important bit in last night's thrilling episode of 24, but one we, and our poor televisions bearing the brunt of hurled insults and cries, can be thankful for nonetheless. As agents sweep Sen. Mayer's house for evidence, it finally dawns on Larry a third party was involved and that maybe Jack wasn't the culprit after all. Hmm, ya think? Don't be fooled. His body... read more
Battlestar Galactica Review: "Daybreak, Part 2" (Episode 4.22)
One of the greatest difficulties in analyzing something is the constant interplay between personal affection and the quest for objectivity... read more
Lost Review: "Namaste" (Episode 5.09)
When Jack, Kate and Hurley ended up face down in the jungle at the end of "316," I assumed they had fallen from a plummeting plane. But when the plane made an emergency landing in this episode with few casualties, I realized my mistake. In "Namaste," the passengers look to Ben and ask where everyone has gone. His eyes glaze over in that sinister "you can't tell if I'm lying" look, and he answers, "I have absolutely no idea." They've gone off to the past.... read more
Kings Review: "Goliath" (Episode 1.01)
The key to any great soap is a believable hero and a complex villain. Biblical tales typically involve both. NBC was smart enough to take a story we all know and wrap it in a shiny new package. NBC's Kings is an ancient story with Biblical roots whose relevance could not be more timely. David (Christopher Egan) is a simple but patriotic mechanic who is more than willing to fight for his county. In a kingdom which bears more than a passing resemblance to New York City, King Saul’s (Ian McShane) war rhetoric sounds strangely similar to what one might hear on any... read more
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