Awake Review: "Say Hello to My Little Friend" (Episode 1.11)
In the pilot of Awake, there’s a moment that defines Michael Britten’s view of his new reality. He wakes up and can’t find his wife or son. Britten freaks out. He screams, he cries, he even gets a knife and cuts himself in a last ditch effort to wake up from what he hopes is just another dream. Michael proves that he is willing to hurt himself to have both his wife and his son in his life still, regardless of the fact that they are in separate realities. Since then, Michael has mostly remained calm, content with the dual life that he has grown accustomed to. It’s not perfect, but at least he doesn’t have to deal with the loss. In “Say Hello to My Little Friend”, we get an entire episode that feels like Michael looking for the knife to wake him up and it’s one of Awake’s most compelling episodes to date. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsTouch Review: "Music of the Spheres" (Episode 1.9)
Week to week, Touch is in this compelling struggle. The story of the main characters Martin and his son Jake are interesting enough to check in once every week, but the stories surrounding them usually flounder and make the show suffer. Usually we’re introduced to new characters that we will never see again, only to fill up the half hour. But with “Music of the Spheres”, we get a mix of the good and the bad, but ends as one of Touch’s more decent episodes. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsNew Girl Review: "See Ya" (Episode 1.24)
It’s been a mere eight months since Jess moved in with three guys, awkwardly transitioning their lives and being generally “adorkable”. Since then, series creator Elizabeth Meriwether has turned the cast from caricatures into characters. New Girl started with five fun characters without much depth and by “See Ya”, we have five characters who have grown immensely through each other and in outside relationships to have deep complex ideas and feelings. This depth, especially in this last half of episodes, has made New Girl a fine comedy, and one of the best new shows of the season. After all of this growth, “See Ya” feels like a fitting end to New Girl’s first season. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsFringe Review: “Brave New World Part 1” (Episode 4.21)
There is a problem that is both inherent and unique to being a watcher of Fringe; at some point you start to not just expect narrative twists that reset the status quo, you start to count on them. Tonight’s episode brought out the latter impulse in me. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsNew Girl Review: "Backslide" (Episode 1.23)
The cast of New Girl feels like it has grown a great amount since the show premiered in September. Nick’s ex Caroline seems like forever ago and with the exception of a perfectly placed Happy Endings reference this episode, we’ve all but forgotten the old roommate Coach. While last week’s “Tomatoes” felt false with the main characters falling into old habits that didn’t seem true to their growth, this week’s “Backslide” has mistakes that feel more natural to who these characters are now. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsFringe Renewed For Fifth and Final Season
After being on the bubble as to whether or not J.J. Abrams’ Fringe would be renewed for another season, it has been announced that Fringe will receive a fifth and final season to wrap up its story. read more
Found in: TV, NewsTouch Review: "Noosphere Rising" (Episode 1.7)
For the most part, Touch is usually pretty decent at telling an interesting story about Martin and his son Jake. The show knows well enough that this is the most important aspect and that the connections are sometimes nice additions, but not the focal point of why people are tuning in. “Noosphere Rising” gives us a fairly decent Martin story, unfortunately the two connection stories, which take up at least half the episode, are some of the worst that Touch has done so far. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsNew Girl Review: "Tomatoes" (Episode 1.22)
For the latter half of this season, New Girl has been trying to get its characters to get out of the characterizations that were initially put upon them. Jess has become less obnoxiously quirky, Schmidt has shown less of a womanizer, Schmidt is prouder to show his soft side. “Tomatoes” harkens back to these earlier ideas of these characters, in an episode that sets us up for the final pair of episodes left. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsNew Girl Review: "Kids" (Episode 1.21)
A common theme from this recent stretch of episodes from New Girl has been maturity. The characters are in a middle ground of their lives, they are no longer kids, yet not prepared to have kids. They haven’t even figured themselves out, so when children get involved in their lives, the dynamic is more of a teaching one than a parental one. In fact, all of the kids so far on New Girl have been better than the supposed “grown ups” in some way. They know how to bully better, or what is better for the main characters’ future and even how to party better, even though True American does seem like a great way to spend an evening. In “Kids”, we see the cast dealing with kids, the potential of kids and even dating kids. read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsFringe Review: “The Consultant” (Episode 4.18)
With only a few hours left this season (and possibly ever), Fringe has finally jettisoned any storyline that doesn’t directly impact the larger arc. There are three major points at play in tonight’s episode and we will take them one at a time. read more
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