"Dollhouse" recap: This is spinal tap

NOTE: SPOILERS ON THIS WEEK'S 'DOLLHOUSE' BELOW


Was it just me, or did anyone else find this week's installment of "Dollhouse" difficult to watch? Between Echo getting that involuntary spinal tap (without, apparently, benefit of anesthetic) and the ultimate fate of Boyd Langton, the whole thing just made me queasy.
I thought it was an excellent episode -- and far more emotionally involving than I thought the show would ever be when it debuted last year -- but I don't think I could ever watch it a second time.
With that aside, here are some more thoughts on "The Hollow Men."
* So, we now know why Rossum is so hot for Caroline's body: she apparently has an antibody in her blood that can be used to create a vaccine for Topher's hand-held imprinting device. That's why Boyd the Dollmaster lured her and company out to Rossum -- to harvest her spinal fluid. And let me tell you, based on that spinal tap scene, I hope I never have to have that procedure in my life. Because, yeesh, it looked painful.
* Speaking of Boyd, the scene where he finally unmasked himself as Rossum's founder was really creepy. However, was it believable? Everything we've seen of Boyd Langton, security chief/doll handler has lead us to believe that he's calm, even-keeled and not the least bit ego-driven. Yet, once he reveals himself as the Dollmaster, he seems totally nuts. When he started talking about how much he loved everyone it made me skin crawl. And it seemed totally un-Boyd. I expected him to rationalize his behavior, but he gives little or no reason for his actions, save the desire to get Caroline's blood. Is his real personality that different from what we've seen these past two seasons? Apparently. I guess Victor-as-Topher was right -- the dude WAS a really good actor.
* Despite that stark shift in Boyd's personality, I thought every scene between him and Echo was utterly shattering. From Echo's heart-broken realization that her father figure had been betraying her to Echo leading a mind-wiped Boyd to explode in the Rossum lab, it all made me die a little inside. When Echo looked at Boyd and uttered "I loved you" with that mix of agony and contempt, it was devastating. Excellent work by both Eliza Dushku and Harry Lennix in these scenes.
* Also nice work by Fran Kranz and Olivia Williams in the scene where Topher and Adele both try to shoulder the blame for the existence of the hand-held wipe device. There's a real mother-son vibe between these two characters that I enjoy watching.
* So, for those of you who wondered why November had been imprinted with Mellie's personality before the siege of Rossum, you got your answer: it was so we'd feel extra bad when November/Mellie shot herself in an attempt to resist her sleeper programming.
* There sure is a lot of gender-bending on this show, isn't there? This week, we saw Whiskey/Saunders imprinted with Clyde Ambrose's personality (nice touch -- she was in full male drag, complete with suit and tie). Of course, we already knew that the original Dr. Saunders was a man, and that his personality was (I assume) modified to suit his new body. We've also seen Echo imprinted with a male serial killer and Victor/Tony imprinted with a sorority girl named Kiki. You know, if it weren't for all this nasty apocalypse business, the Dollhouse might have a nice second life as the world's most authentic drag cabaret.
* In spite of all the grimness in this episode, we did get the always-welcome sight of Victor as Topher. I don't have anything significant to add about that -- I just like seeing Victor as Topher. Also, I'd like to once again beg any TV types out there to find a show for Enver Gjokaj. The man is just amazingly versatile.
* Well, that's it for me. Don't forget that the last episode of "Dollhouse" has been postponed a week, due to the telethon for Haiti being held next Friday on all the networks. The episode will now air Jan. 29 at 9 p.m. on Fox.

Dammit! "24" has sucked me in for another season!

Near the beginning of the eighth season premiere of "24," something truly upsetting happens. It's something that will cause a chill in even the most hard-core fans of "24"; something that I never thought I'd see happen on this show.
Someone calls Jack Bauer "Grandpa."
Yes, apparently this show has been on long enough for Jack Bauer to begin creating a dynasty of stubborn, tow-headed troublemakers.
That revelation is less shocking than some of the events that follow, but it still knocked me for a loop. At any rate, when we first see Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) this season, he's napping alongside his perky, bear-obsessed granddaughter, Teri. It's an idyllic scene. Of course, any "24" fan knows it will be only a matter of minutes before Jack is torn away from grandpa duty to help save the world -- again.
This season, Jack's day of hell involves saving a visionary leader of a fictional Middle Eastern country ("Slumdog Millionaire's" Anil Kapoor) from assassination. His latest adventure brings Jack to a new, New York-based version of his former stomping ground, CTU. The new CTU is different from the L.A. version we saw through most of the series' run (there's a lot more glass in the decorating scheme), but there's one similarity -- angry techie Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) is hanging around, sniping at people and making sourpuss faces.
Judging from the four-hour season premiere, the eighth season of "24" is pretty much business as usual. Heavies with accents? Check. Red herrings galore? Check. Bureaucrats standing in Jack's way? Check. Jack exclaiming "Dammit" every time said bureaucrats foil him? Check. CTU employees with personal problems that drag down the narrative every 20 minutes or so? Check.
On the last score, the new season introduces Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Katee Sackhoff as engaged CTU agents. Little can be said about their characters thus far, other than that they are mildly less annoying than Ricky Schroder was in season six.
There's also an appearance late in the premiere by one of last year's cast regulars, who seems to have undergone a shocking transformation (which probably isn't so shocking given the frequency with which characters change loyalties and motivations on this show).
It's not groundbreaking but, so far, the new season of "24" is solidly engaging. There's enough shouting, action and techno speak to satisfy long-time fans of the show and, so far, time-wasting subplots are kept to a minimum (Sackhoff's story line notwithstanding).
Also, Sutherland remains appealingly world-weary as Jack. The Jack we see this season seems a bit more mellow and human than the sweaty, torturing superman we've seen in previous seasons. I have no doubt he'll be up to his old tricks soon, but, so far, I like that the show is at least pretending Jack has evolved.
It's also good to see Cherry Jones back as President Allison Taylor. Jones has enough gravitas to make her often-ridiculous dialogue seem like more than mere exposition, so God bless her.
Overall, the eighth season of "24" is off to a decent start. I'm curious to see where it's going. But if it ends with Jack playing shuffleboard in a retirement community, I'm out.
The four-hour season premiere of "24" begins Sunday at 9 p.m. with a 2-hour episode. Another 2-hour episode airs Monday at 8 p.m.

New season of "Leverage" starts

I know this has been a big week in TV, with NBC sending Jay Leno back to 11:30 and Simon Cowell announcing he's leaving "American Idol." But, amid all this TV news, there's a ton of actual new TV -- including this week's winter premiere of TNT's frothy caper series "Leverage."
The show returns Wednesday at 10 p.m., with the gang working to scam a cruel sweatshop manager. This season, Jeri Ryan ("Boston Public") is reprising her role from the summer finale as Tara, a grifter who steps in to help the Leverage team while Sophie (Gina Bellman) is coping with "emotional issues." Really, Bellman is pregnant. But it's no matter. Ryan is a fine temporary substitute. In fact, in some ways, I like her sly, aloof Tara better than Bellman's more strongly comedic Sophie.
The two episodes I've seen so far are very strong, and both offer some excellent material for the series' star, Timothy Hutton. In this week's scam, his character, Nate, plays a kooky, fan-flipping foreign designer, and Hutton is clearly having a ball with the bit.
The show also continues to give good material to supporting characters, particularly Aldis Hodge's Hardison, who has a hilarious bit in next week's episode, in which he fakes a weather cast.
"Leverage" isn't the best show on TV, but it is among the most fun to watch, and I'm glad to have it back.

"Big Love" recap: I just want to make you a BLT!

Yes, this is a criminally late recap of the fourth season premiere of HBO's "Big Love." But I totally have excuses for my tardiness -- excuses that involve a particularly wretched stomach flu and a fire in my apartment building.
Truth is, my "Dollhouse" recap Saturday kind of sapped me, and I haven't felt up to more blogging, until now. So, I didn't write a preview of the new episodes of "Big Love," and was tempted just to let the week pass by without commenting on it at all. But I couldn't let it slide, for two reasons.
Number one, I heard about the new credit sequence. Because my review screeners didn't include any credit sequences, I had no idea that the show had overhauled its opening credits until yesterday morning. No longer do we have the Hendrickson clan poignantly ice skating to the Beach Boys. Now, we have this:

Lovely, yes. But was it necessary? I loved the original sequence -- loved it so much in fact that my husband and I used "God Only Knows" as our wedding song. Why change it? I haven't seen any explanations yet. I assume it's merely the "Big Love" team wanting to shake things up a bit. That's fine, but it's going to take a lot of getting used to.
My second reason for wanting to write about this episode is (SPOILER ALERT) that I weirdly loved the screwball plot surrounding the dead body of Roman Grant (Harry Dean Stanton, whose character was murdered in last season's finale). I know a lot of critics don't like the Juniper Creek stories on the series and, I'm imagining, didn't care for this episode's "Weekend at Bernie's"/"Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" shenanigans with Roman's corpse. But it's just that insanity that makes me love the show. As soon as Adaleen (the peerless Mary Kay Place) screamingly urged daughter Nicki (Chloe Sevigny) to go down to the freezer to fetch some bacon, you kind of knew what was coming. But that didn't make it any less horrifying when Nicki entered the deep freeze to find her father's corpse. It was a moment both creepy and hilarious, as was the Hendrickson clan happening on Roman's body at their work site.
Yes, it was over the top. But it still worked -- mainly because Roman was always such an over the top character. It makes total sense that his corpse would literally turn up to haunt his daughter and her family.
It also worked because other elements of the show weren't quite as over the top. Margene's struggle to grow her jewelry-selling business was, for example, realistic and compelling, as was Nicki's struggle over her feelings for Bill. However, I didn't really buy Barb being wackily at sea with the casino business. The Barb I know is usually good under pressure. Yes, I know she's been thrown off by her excommunication -- and by the lack of respect given her by Bill's business partners -- but I don't think that would make her act like such a maniac. I felt much better when she gained control of the situation by the end of the episode.
I'm also not totally on board with Bill running for office. I feel the show already has too many balls up in the air, story wise, and this might be one more plot than it can handle.
What did you think of the premiere?

"Dollhouse" recap: OMFG!

OK, so, "Dollhouse" resumed its second season death march on Friday after a brief hiatus and may I just say -- Wow. What an amazing, unexpected, brain-smacking episode this was!
This won't be a long post, because I'm still recovering from a rather nasty stomach bug that invaded our home this week. However, I couldn't let this episode go without comment, so here's my brief assessment of "Getting Closer."
SPOILERS BELOW

Let's start with this week's big reveal. We finally learned the identity of the big cheese pulling all the strings at Rossum...and it turned out to be none other than Boyd Langton! It makes perfect sense, yet seemingly came out of left field. The fact that we learned this bit of news right after a particularly heartwarming conversation between Langton and Echo made it all the more devastating. But what is Langton's end game? Why did he allow Echo to be reunited with Caroline, knowing that it would allow her to identify him as the Dollmaster (yes, that's his new nickname -- deal with it)?
And was Langton the one who ordered the siege of the Dollhouse (and the assassination of Bennett by Whiskey/Saunders)? Or was it someone else?
Clearly, the reveal of Langton as the Dollmaster asks more questions than it answers. But I'm very excited about where this show is going -- and pleased by its ability to pull the rug out from under us in a believable way.
Here are a few more thoughts on "Getting Closer":
* OK, so, I am a little confused about the Echo/Caroline time-line now. We're led to believe that Caroline is made a doll after her meeting with Langton, which followed her break-in with Bennett. Was this the same break-in that got Caroline's boyfriend killed? That would make sense, time wise. But it doesn't look like the same break-in. None of Caroline's other eco-terrorists pals seem to be there. Was she captured twice by Rossum? That would explain why they had a file on her. I don't know. I'm confused.
* Up until Langton was revealed as the Dollmaster, the episode's most shocking moment was Whiskey/Saunders cold-bloodedly killing Bennett Halverson. At first, I thought the murder stemmed from Saunders' intense hatred of Topher; that she couldn't stand to see him happy and had to kill the woman he loved. But we're told she was a sleeper, activated by Rossum. So who did it? Langton? As her lover, he would have the ability to do the task. Or was it someone else? Also, we learned from the Epitaph episode that Saunders is welcomed back into the Dollhouse fold (and has her face fixed). Just how does that happen?
* On a different note, I'm kind of sad for the loss of Bennett, and the side that she brought out in Fran Kranz's Topher. Their awkward romance was sweet, poignant, and vastly entertaining. I especially liked Topher professing his admiration for Bennett with a singularly Topher-ian pick-up line: "You know I always had a crush on you. Even when I thought you were a dude."
* We also learned this episode what Topher and Langton removed from Paul to make room for the Doll architecture: his love for Echo. But Topher said he only removed the connections that were the freshest, so I assume his feelings for Caroline remain. Interesting.
* So, apparently, there is no "Rossum." It's just a name, taken from a play -- Karl Capek's 1920 "Rossum's Universal Robots," to be exact. The play is about a scientist named Rossum, who learns how to create human-like machines. No, I've not previously heard of it, but, apparently, Capek invented the word "robot" for the play. The word is derived from the Czech word for "forced labor."

Brit wits meet nitwits in Showtime's "Episodes"

Celebrities playing themselves onscreen generally go in one of two directions: realistic or cartoon. In the former, the celebrity generally plays a version of himself or herself that's as close to the real thing (or, rather, the media image of the real thing) as possible. In the latter, the celebrity plays as broad an image of himself or herself as possible (with Neil Patrick Harris's work in the "Harold and Kumar" movies the obvious example).
When I heard that Matt LeBlanc of "Friends" fame was playing a version of himself on the new Showtime sitcom "Episodes," premiering 9:30 p.m. Sunday, I thought for sure he'd go the cartoon route.
After all, this is the man who gave us Joey Tribbiani. Sure, he's funny, but subtle he ain't.

"Nip/Tuck" starts final season

When FX's glossy drama "Nip/Tuck" debuted in 2003, it cemented the cable network's identity as the new home for daring, envelope-pushing TV. Where "The Shield" was the network's take on a broadcast staple -- the cop show -- "Nip/Tuck" was the FX version of a medical soap opera. Its depiction of plastic surgery had all the graphic bloodiness of "ER" but with an element that series lacked -- style. The surgery scenes were edited almost like music videos, complete with songs that reflected the surgery taking place (for instance, in a first season episode, "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell and the Drells played during a surgery to firm up loose skin on a patient who had just lost a significant amount of weight).
Not only did the show have style, it had sex. Not relatively chaste, George-Clooney-making-bedroom-eyes-at-Julianna-Marguiles sex. Sex sex. Sex in a variety of positions. Mean, nasty, shocking sex. In the first season alone, surgeon Christian Troy (Julian McMahon)seemingly got busy with half of Miami, while lusting after the other half.
While I didn't love "Nip/Tuck" the way I loved "The Shield" (or, later, FX's "Rescue Me"), I did admire how aggressive and stylish it was. I also admired the central performances by McMahon and Dylan Walsh, who played Christian's talented but uptight partner Sean McNamara. They had a nice rapport, and I actually believed they'd been friends and rivals for a long time. And, even though it wasn't as smart or as classy as "The Shield," "Nip/Tuck" was never boring.
Now, six years later, the show is coming to a close. Its seventh and final season starts Wednesday at 10 p.m. Over the years, the show has deteriorated quite a bit. Where the show's plot twists were once shocking, they've become silly or even off-putting. I mean, how many horrible things can happen to Sean's son Matt? He's already attempted a self-circumcision, had a threesome with lesbians, found out that Christian is his biological dad, slept with his mom's transsexual life coach, and dated a neo-Nazi. And that was just in the first three seasons! Did we really need last season's storyline, which started with Matt robbing convenience stores while dressed as a mime and ended with him getting sexually assaulted in prison? And I won't even talk about Sean's ex-wife Julia (Joely Richardson), who has been through so many dramatic character changes, she seems less of a character and more of a rack on which to hang a series of behavioral problems.
But, even though the show has veered into self-parody, I've kept watching. Mainly because my husband likes it, but also because it's just crazy enough to stay entertaining. Also, the acting remains strong and the surgery scenes still have an addictive mix of queasy realism and glitz.
So, as the show plods to a close, I'm trying to stay optimistic. The first two episodes of the new season are actually pretty good (the first is written by show creator Ryan Murphy, and has much of the melodramatic zing of the first season), so maybe this thing will come to a strong close. But, no matter what happens, I'll still kind of miss "Nip/Tuck" when it's gone.
Because, no matter what else it's become, it's never been boring.