Tuesday October 12, 2010

SPOILERS: Stargate Universe, NCIS, Glee

And...onto the late Tuesday post. There's a handy little pic in the SGU summary for those of you who are as confused as I am about telling the supporting cast of scientists apart.

Episode of the Day: Ouch, actually hard. They were all surprisingly great. So I'm going to have to go for a pity  handout and give it to NCIS for "Royals and Loyals" as I don't think they'll be winning again this season with the way Glee and SGU are headed.

However, I do want to give a small shout out for the brilliant song choice of Tina/Mike Chang's duet of "Sing" from A Chorus Line. Absolute perfection. Probably the best 3 minutes of TV from this week (excluding the Sanctuary premiere).


Stargate Universe, "Awakening"

• Excellent use of the overdone ominous open capsule and claw
• Anyone know who's the meanie member of the Lucian Alliance? He looks like Samuel from the last season Heroes
• Room full of Stargates, and Rush's response "Well, that's cute"
• Honestly, TJ should have really used the stones. This isn't a pride thing, it's an alien physiology thing. She's not trained. I recommend Dr. Helen Magnus, as xenobiology and cryptozoology are her specialties...

This episode was really all about one thing. Ok, two. But first, and most importantly, it was about solving the mystery of Volker, Brody, and Franklin. If you're like me, you can't tell them apart at all. And since it seems they're becoming real boys (by which I mean regular characters) it's important to be able to tell them apart. Volker is the light haired scientist who is still alive. Brody is the dark haired scientist who is still alive. Franklin is the dark haired scientist who looks like Brody but got eaten by the control chair. So, for the record:

The second thing about this episode was...whoa. Aliens who aren't automatically hostile jerks and also don't speak English. The fascinating turn of events within this episode, from one alien and the whole Destiny crew, to Telford alone on the ship with the aliens brings up a whole mess of interesting ideas. How will they communicate? Will they treat him like the humans planned to treat the alien? The aliens were protective but not overtly violent, no one died, and they did seem to try to communicate even when frightened. The similarities between their behavior and how a normal SG team would be have were hard to miss. Which makes me think that we will most certainly be seeing Telford again. I hope.

NCIS, "Royals and Loyals"

• First off, I have become so desensitized that I watched this over breakfast!
• Abby and her charlie horse, an absolutely adorable scene
• Tony called Ziva sweetheart? And she didn't kick his ass?
• Ziva's comment in response to Tony's mention of James Bond: "I'm not into bondage, I can assure you."
• Tony and the Brit bonding over movies
• One location in the world for this special pollen....ehhhhh, I sense shenanigans. 

Now, THIS is why I like NCIS. Adorable British guys. Ok, just kidding (well, I am a Ducky fan), although he did bring a wonderful spark to what has been a somewhat slow, if good season. No arc, no deep drama, just fun. The high amounts of Ziva and Tony back-and-forth was icing on the cake. As for the case, interesting, though as always I don't take well to convenient coincidences. But with suspension of disbelief, I did really really enjoy this episode.

Glee, "Duets"

• Puck's in juvie, he's stupid even compared to Brittany - good way of getting him out of episodes for a short period of time
• Brittany and Santana making out - unexpected and caused a wave of complaints from parents the next day because 8pm is "family time" on TV.
• Treating Kurt's obsession not as homophobia, but as obsession, very well done
• Rachel and Finn + Don't go Breaking My Heart = pretty but boring
• Trying to make Sam seem like a nerd for speaking Navi. Nope, just a dork.
• Two thumbs up for Santana and Mercedes, their duet was fantastic
• Kurt, Victor/Victoria, absolutely brilliant performance, lots of fun
• Sam and Quinn have very complimentary voices - same genre at least

Overall, a really adorable episode, with of course some controversy. Kurt finally gets treated as a over-flamboyant person, not as someone just expressing himself. Sam and Quinn are cute [above], but I was kinda rooting for independent woman Quinn. Didn't know the song Finn and Rachel sang, but judging from their outfits it was offensive. The Brittany/Artie storyline was rather impressive and I hope we see the repercussions in later episodes, as Brittany seems rather affected. 

Finally, Mike and Tina's duet was brilliant. Though I bashed the show for using "What I Did for Love", whoever likes A Chorus Line at Glee headquarters redeemed themself with the recommendation of "Sing!" as it was perfectly in context. The song is really actually about a great dancer who can't sing like her friends and fellow dancers. I would like to point out that they had to change one line as it used to go [as originally sung by a girl] "Still, I'm terrific at a dance, guys are comin' in their pants, I'm a birdie on the wing." So all those parents bitchin about Brittany/Santana can appreciate that their at least censoring the music that their kids are going to be singing forever and ever (by which I mean the next week or two).

~ Sarah