Tuesday September 28, 2010

SPOIELRS: Glee, NCIS, Stargate Universe

What a diverse bunch of shows to be watching Tuesday night. We got procedural (NCIS), sci-fi (Stargate Universe), and whatever the hell you call Glee - musical dramedy? Anyway, all three shows had a good week, which, considering how nervous I was about the SGU premiere, is quite good news.

Episode of the Day: No question, "Brittney/Brittany", Glee

Glee, "Brittney/Brittany": Home run for Glee this week by dedicating an entire episode to the (earlier) works of Brittney Spears, and taking the time to focus on the lovable character of Brittany S. Pierce and her extremely talented portrayer, Heather Morris. I've mentioned this earlier, Heather Morris is a professional dancer, and it REALLY showed during her numbers. Santana was almost bad in comparison for her cover of Madonna's part in the song "Me Against the Music", simply because she just didn't have the dancing talents of Heather.


I think it is important to acknowledge, when talking about this episode, that this episode was powerful, at least to me, because it really hit home. Brittney Spears was one of the first mainstream artists I ever listened to as a kid, and those music videos and outfits [right and below] have reached iconic levels for my age group, no matter what we may think of her life choices or recent career since the 90s. The montage of Slave 4 U and the almost perfect recreation of Hit Me Baby (One More Time) meant so much more than I expected them to, because they felt so familiar even having not seen the music videos in years.

Still, this episode still managed to have some notable drama in it, mostly thanks to the surprise presence of two fantastic recurring characters: John Stamos (below as Carl) and Jessalyn Gilsig (Terri). Both were fantastic, and absolutely hilarious!

However, this episode also managed to make me see two relationships in a new light and not in a good way. Though I've always been a fan of Emma and Schu, I really didn't like how Mr. Schu acted in this episode. I know he was trying to win her back, but he was a total jerk, and really just rude to Carl, who tries to be nice about knowing Mr. Schu has a thing for Emma. Also, Finn/Rachel is starting to get annoying; Rachel's character is becoming more exacerbated and absurd from episode to episode. Finn is, for once, being a rational person (he wants to be on the football team, what's wrong with that?), and she becomes excessively jealous and needy and possesive. And once again, we get songs that are totally out of context. Yes it was a Brittney episode, but I really didn't see the connection between the Rachel/Finn drama and "Hit Me Baby".


Sitll, give props where props are due. The Brittney Spears cameos were hilarious, purely because of how unexpected they were. The songs were well done (Artie was rather impressive singing "Stronger"). Heather Morris got her time to shine, dancing, singing, and delivering more soon-to-be favorite lines: "This looks like the room on the space ship where I got probed." "[Anesthesia is] like roofies?" "Thank you for understanding [my emotional trauma]." "I realize now that I can sing and dance better than all of you." And of course, Sue was great, as she warned about the dangers of a Brittney Spears sex riot.


As for those rather awkward moments involving the boy with the Jewish afro, especially during the pep rally....Let's please never speak of that again, k? I'm choosing to repress those memories.

NCIS, "Worst Nightmare": Once again, good episode. Loved the interns, though they never explain why they're there. (Gibbs answers that he's changed?) Palmer starts getting jealous, Abby gets nervous (and for good reason, her interns are usually trying to kill her or frame Tony), and McGee gives one ass a lesson.


I'm divided over this case. I like a kidnapping as much.....oh, that sentence can't work out right. The kidnapping plot line is a good one, especially with interns present. And so are conspiracy theory plots. But a girl getting kidnapped to track down and kill a secret team of black ops agents? Ehh.


Once again, good, not great. Though I did love Ziva's comment to Tony: "I AM a younger model."


Stargate Universe, "Intervention": I can't give this episode the time it deserves because I spent so much time on Glee, sorry. Let me try to hit the highlights and lowlights.


High: TJ. I know, I said I really didn't want to see a miscarriage last season. So SGU doesn't have the balls to raise a baby in space. Ok. I actually really liked the heavy religious theme. I understand some hate it because it's reminiscent of BSG, but I never watched it, so I'm free to like this free of bias. It brings up the very important of question about whether highly intelligent aliens are at all different from G-d. And it brings up the question of if that difference even matters.

Low: No ones dead. [Above] Really, no one. Ok, Kiva. But no main characters. You don't put everyone in danger and then find bullshit ways to make sure they all survive. Especially Chloe. Wow, it just stopped bleeding! Nifty! Total shenanigans.

High: Telford and other members of the Lucian Alliance are now on the ship to stay. I'm really excited about the injection of new characters, hopefully it will mix things up.

Low: Did I mention no one died?

Ahh, must finish Thursday before the end of tonight!
~ Sarah