Monday November 8 and 15, 2010

SPOILERS: House, Chuck, and Castle

And, I'm back! I've survived my birthday and a hell week of work all to bring you the glory of my opinion on the latest episodes of major television series. Miss me?

Episode of the Day: Ah, screw it, too many to deal with. And bullet form, by the way.

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Previous Week: No Chuck, just House and Castle.
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House, "Office Politics"

• First off, when I tried to turn the TV on I had trouble finding the show because I didn't realize it was House - I saw Jack Coleman (HRG/Noah Bennett from Heroes) and thought it was another show
• House saying that Martha would only be useful "if my next patient is an Escher drawing"
• Also, "like the internet with breasts"
• The dialouge about politics between HRG and Martha - the comment about how he would "love to have someone like her... as an opponent"
• Marry Poppins and Einstein love child
• like tossing a bunny into a buzz saw...repeatedly
• Taub and Foreman play basketball! What a great, hilarious scene. It's nice to see the doctors do something besides diagnosis people and screw up their romantic lives.
• hahahah, they ended up in JAIL [above]. What for? House's response - prostitution
• Martha shushed him! Wonderful. Also, her yelling NO and moderating a Cuddy/House argument
• "Oh, right, I'm fired" and "It's like I'm on a mobius strip" [right]
• House actually debating whether to tell a lie, weird

I'll go on the record. I currently like the character of Martha Masters. She can hold her own with House while still being human, if adorably nerdy. She calls House out on all the immoral shit he gets away with that even the audience members don't question any more. HRG had a respectable appearance as the patient of the week. Not remarkable, but not bad. I give it a B+.

Castle, "Murder Most Fowl"

• I didn't recognize the rat movie reference at the beginning either, whoops, I'm young
• They seem to find a lot of stuff in Central Park - then again, it is a huge huge place
• It also occurred to me that they rarely actually have to ID a body
• That was an incredibly long time for a title screen, they've already got a suspect in the boss - borrowing a trick from Alias
• "Unthinkable to fabricate a bird sighting!"
• cool twist, looking for what wasn't there, a camera - turns out to be child abduction
• Pointing out that zooming in and enhancing gets you...nothing. THANK YOU CASTLE.

The case wasn't incredibly exciting, but I was thrilled that Castle (show, not character) finally pointed out that zooming in and enhancing an image does very, very little to help. Course, they took a shot at 24 for it, a show that's not even on anymore, but still. Good for them. I give it a B-.

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Current Week: House, Chuck, and Castle
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House, "A Pox on Our House": First off, can i just say how much I like the title? Really, really, like the title. Great case, very interesting, but most of this episode came down to the quotes for me.

• "Then I have to deal with a very sick man" Oh, Wilson. He's been delivering lines like these for years, but it's still great
• "You passive aggressive bitch." "You just asked me!"
• "You know how you can tell there's nothing to be done - Chase showed up" "I was here at nine!" Funniest part? I didn't even notice he was missing.
• "Sure thing, sexiest american man" Hilarious since it's Hugh Laurie, who has been named "sexiest man alive." Also, wow, the Dutch call girl was really funny, props to whoever played her.  
• Racist and Class-ist diseases (sickle cell, vitamin deficiency)
• House actually pulls a "these are the droids you're looking for" and it's good!
• "If I leave like that, you should follow"
• "Maybe I should get a puppy" "Or pregnant"....awkward pause. Is Wilson going to be a dad soon? Of course, I saw this conversation from the moment the quarantine trapped Sam in the building with the adorable sick kid.

This case  [above] was really fascinating, and it got milked for all the possible emotional potential, without ever going absurd. Wilson and Sam are confronted with the idea of having a kid, House and Cuddy try (unsuccessfully) to work out an argument while he almost gets himself killed, and Masters [right] proves her worth on the team. She not only shows that using the truth doesn't mean not being able to get your way, but we get these nice gems of conversations between her and House. The bring back nostalgia for past seasons when his team and Cuddy were much more resistant to his ideas - yet it's not a step backward. It's just revitalizing a possibly complacent group, and I approve. Also, the title was great. I give it an A.

Chuck, "Chuck versus the Fear of Death"

• A whole month gone trying to bring back the Intersect  - poor Casey and his twitchy trigger finger
• Jeffster mentions the Greta coincidence
• Rob Riggle - "Stop-o" is my new favorite Japanese pharse
• Summer Glau, in those heels, with a Subway footlong,  and a knife! You know you loved that scene.
• "I have a way of dealing with annoying things. It's only pleasant to me." Yep, there's River Tam. [below]
• "It's so milky!" "I know!" (Chuck/Rod's conversation about chocolate mid-mission)
• The Vulcan death grip! Star Trek! No, Bangladesh. "But I love the show. Who doesn't?"
• Jayne fired River! What?! They seemed like such a nice pair. Ok, not really, but it was still funny.

So this week had a lot of drama mixed with the return of Jeffster comedy. To be honest, it was fun, but just a little too cheesy for me, and it certainly was a step down from "Chuck versus the First Fight". No Mama Bartowksi or Volkoff, just Sarah and Chuck working through even more spy and personal issues. However, this is one of the few time I've really liked the Gretta of the week. I mean, it's Summer Glau. What a badass. I just wish she could've stuck around. I give it a B-.

Castle, "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind":

• Castle's meeting Ashley's parents! Hilarious watching him trying to figure out what to say
• Explosive decompression = a dead body that actually made me flinch, congratulations Castle
• Astrophysicist - As someone studying to become one of these, I have to say, that's a much larger and prettier office than I will ever even dream of getting
• "How deliciously cryptic"
• Really obvious phone plugs within the show - interestingly, it's the same phone I'll be bitching about on Bones, which is on a different channel
• Hell no there isn't a good optical telescope in NYC. Light pollution is awful. There damn well better have been a line I missed about them leaving the city.
• "The real truth is out there" - even as someone who never really watched the X-Files, I really loved all the references they made in this episode
• They got kidnapped! Lyle Lovett [above], a singer/actor who I wasn't familiar with before this epsiode, was really great as the government man who interrogated them.
• Hehe, Castle threatened with twitter! And speaks Chinnese! (Wooo, Firefly. Now, if only he'd appeared in the Chuck episode with Jayne Casey Adam Baldwin and River Gretta Summer Glau)

A great episode, certainly a lot of fun. I mean Castle + aliens? Almost as great as the spy games episode. I may bash some of their rather liberal interpretations about the life of an astrophysicist, but I did really enjoy this episode. It was light-hearted, but not filler fluff. I give it an A-.

Phew, well that's Monday done and caught up. Tuesday, Thursday, and that Trail of Blood review to go.

~ Sarah