Having the reviews come out one day earlier means you get to have time to read it before deciding what to watch for the week ahead! We’re already about 4 episodes in for most of the series, so if by now it hasn’t piqued your interest things might be hard to get into. But let’s not forget Community, which actually took me all of 23 episodes to get into, having watched 1 to 4, and then dropping it thanks to the early rawness of the show and the general dislikability of the 2 main leads. Interesting then, how they managed to make actually like them – but enough about Community (for now), it’s on to The Geek Seek!
Chuck
Is it wrong if a show in its 4th season seems to take past storylines as a kind of a crutch? This is back to back with last week’s Stone Cold and Nicole Richie redux, with the Generalissimo Allejandro Goya returning with a new crew to help further… actually I don’t think he really helped further any story. This episode was relatively geek-reference free, and other than the obligatory end of episode character/story development cliffhanger, I guess the episode really just wanted Yvonne Strahovski to be seen in as many different bikinis as possible. Some would say that isn’t a problem, but let’s move on to what works – Morgan and Alex’s relationship with Casey watching close behind. Morgan’s a better comedic foil for Casey than Chuck ever was (which makes sense, since making Chuck too comedic would remove the gravitas from the show, and he has slowly moved beyond that, somewhat) and it’s nice to see a bit more of Jennifer Love-Hewitt lookalike Mekenna Melvin having some chemistry with Morgan. And hey, Big Mike! That is a win. There’s a certain formula to Chuck now that they seem resistant to move away from, and who can blame them? Still, let’s hope they’ll be able to move towards a satisfying resolution to the mummy issues.
Geekception
The Event
So we continue to circle deeper and deeper into the mystery as we wonder who exactly is working for whom, with hidden agendas and unknown parties all playing a part in a huge conspiracy theory. But you know what else circles? Water into a drain. The Event suffers from Flash Forward-itis, where people don’t act like people but like plot devices, with very trusting small boys and an FBI agent who lets an untrained civilian take point when storming a house (the same house with trusting small boys). When I have to constantly go back to the episode to remember what the main character’s name is… well, not very memorable, eh? Too bad we spend too much time on him, when the really cool bits are with Obama-dude’s part of the storyline, which took a backseat after last week’s rather nice cliffhanger. Circle… circle… flush.
Geekception
The Big Bang Theory
Now this seems to be going somewhere. I’m beginning to enjoy The Big Bang Theory again, especially since this episode moved away from focusing on the antics on Sheldon and had Howard and Raj rising up to take the forefront. Sheldon’s shtick is beginning to get old (and Leonard’s is just plain boring) so this is a breath of fresh air. Having Katie Sackoff and George Takei guest starring is most hilarious – and thankfully we did not get too close to see Howard become Moist. That would have been a nightmare. Other than a weird Doctor Arroganto quip right at the beginning of the episode, the side story featuring Sheldon and Raj pretty much hit the spot with a most enjoyable escalation, it looks like with a bit of airtime and script Kunal Nayyar can be quite the Brobdingnagian comedian (I might have used it wrong.) And… other than text based, can you actually have sex in World of Warcraft? Sounds like the game has changed a lot…
Geekception
Community
Bravo. At first I was totally puzzled as to how they’d achieve the vaunted space movie, and while the setup seemed a little forced the episode very quickly blossomed in a full on love fest to the space genre. Not the funniest episode, but everything is pitch perfect, and to see everything, from Pierce’s space madness to the running kids welcoming the returning heroes… perfect. The beautiful shot of the Arizona desert with the moon in the background? Extra joy.
Geekception
No Ordinary Family
Er… still fun to watch? Awkward teenage romances, marital issues, everything else continues in the ABC Family drama, but with them testing the limits of Jim’s abilities and with Stephanie being closer to being found out, it looks like we’re going to take a dark turn soon.
Geekception
Fringe
Community and Fringe are really the must watch TV right now – except I’d place Fringe just that little bit higher because everything feels like the most amazing thought experiment gone right. Fringe shows Chuck how to bring back past plotlines that allows for a large impact on the story instead of just tickling the viewers’ fancy. BOlivia continues to tread a very thin line, and it’s obvious that Peter suspects something – what’s really holding him back? Love? BOlivia being more willing to put out? Sebastian Roché continues to be most arresting viewing as Thomas Newton – I wonder if he’ll be back for more, somehow. The study of the biological robots that are the shapeshifter is most interesting, a study of programming and robots and how close they can be to human… this is speculative and science fiction at its best. How can any show keep this up?! 4 for 4. (Also, we need to get dinosaur cookies.)
Geekception
Do you agree Community and Fringe as the best shows for geeks on TV right now? Feel free to comment!