Tuesday October 26, 2010

SPOILERS: Stargate Universe, NCIS, Glee, and Riese

Tuesday also turned out to be a hell-of-a-day, which would explain why it took be three days to catch up on all of it. It made me 1) feel emotions for Matthew Scott on SGU, 2) become terrified about Abby's mental health on NCIS, 3) come to the realization that Amanda Tapping is no Morgan Freeman, and 4) once again question what the hell determines what gets censored on Glee. 

And in case you're confused, Reise (a.k.a. Riese: Kingdom Falling) is a web series that was just officially picked up SyFy and is now being put up in pieces online on the SyFy website and Hulu. I'm not familiar with it, but the cast is a who's who of minor actors from other SyFy shows, and it's narrated by Amanda Tapping, so I thought I'd give it a chance and let you know what I think. The theme is typical fantasy with a steampunk sense of style.

Episode of the Day: Glee, "Rocky Horror Glee Show"

SGU, "Cloverdale": So once again, I was incredibly nervous about another episode featuring a character I didn't actually care about: Matthew Scott. I mean, for the longest time I couldn't even figure out whether his first name was Matt or Scott. Yet, it was a surprisingly good episode, until the very end, which did sort of fall flat.

Real Life: First, off, the tentacled baddy from this episode was actually pretty hella scary. Maybe it was the whole exploding out of the ground and immune to everything characteristics; maybe it was the infectious blue mold. I liked how the exposition was laid out - diving into the action, using the the hallucination movie to tell what happened. Plus, the episode starts off with Rush actually running for someone else's sake - surprising, considering the way they've been showing him in recent episodes. The end however, failed to hold up the episode. Greer played with fire and Chloe is way way too creepily obsessed with Matt. Then they all chill underneath the protective deadly Stargate plume that fights the monster for them, only to have Matt realize what Chloe has done to him upon arrival back on the Destiny.

Hallucination: Excellent. What an awesome way to see all the actors playing different roles. Though a little heavy handed as it was used to remind us every single person's first and last name. Young was a no brainer as Scott's dad, and OUCH, Eli got relegated to the role of Chloe's brother. And a DOUBLE OUCH goes to Vanessa James as the Hooters/"Brody's" girl who is also a bitter bitch of an ex-girlfriend - although massive props to the actor since it's so far from the Vanessa character. I though Rush [right] might replace Chloe's dad within the hallucination, but seeing him as the Justice of the Peace (with those boots!) was wonderful. And...TJ as the friendly neighborhood paramedic. No surprise.

Otherwise, two quotes of note:

• "Slow night?" "Nope the place is packed, everyone's hiding" - for once, I think only Brody could've pulled that off. Yes, only Brody. It seems he has developed a personality.
• "I'm not a great man...but fear is one of the things that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are truly alive...And I can tell you that you're alive until you're dead."

NCIS, "Cracked": A great episode, a wonderful look at Abby, and the dynamics she has with others. Plus the case itself was great - weird, twisty, and in the end, it was the bitchy jealous woman who did it.

• "You would never wear a tutu gibbs, but i'm sure you would pull it off" (I'm paraphrasing, but a great scene)
• I had a lot of decoys with this one. When we found out she took anti-psychotics, I was sure someone had switched her meds. Then I was instantly suspicious of the tea the professor gave Abby. And in the end it was the shower. Damn.
• Plus, ooh cryptic codes within codes. I love crazy smart people and how they're portrayed on TV.
• Abby having a calm, deep performance with the scene in the morgue - her age shows, but in a good way

Riese, "Hunt": Unfortunately, I never got to see the first season online before it was picked up by SyFy, so I don't know what was changed.

• Narration - cheesy but possibly necessary because the main character is so stoic and we need exposition - also, it's Amanda Tapping (her Canadian accent is so lovely, although it can't get me to ignore what flaws there were)
• Henry Rand - I mean Ryan Robbins - was a little too cheesy with the "grawr, we shall fight, we are rebels!", good to see Ashley Aliza (Emilie Ullirep) and Clara Riese (Christine Chatelain) though (if you haven't figured it out, they all play characters on Sanctuary as well
• Too much set up, not enough action, a bit like the Glee pilot
• Costumes = awesome, especially the empress (boots, earrings, crown)
• Finally - Wolf! Sarah wants. Now.

Glee, "Rocky Horror Glee Show": It would take far too long to type up all my comments, and honestly, it wouldn't really change the quality of whatever I'm saying, so I'm going to just flesh out my bullet notes.

• Starting with the lips for "Science Fiction/Double Feature", very nice (Quinn singing lovely, and a great reference to the fact that Magenta was played by Patricia Quinn)
• Smooth transition to "There's a Light"
• Will and Emma talk about the show, it's traditions, it's sexual nature - upfront they're basically shouting "just because we're doing this episode it doesn't mean you should show this movie to your kids"
• "I'll be playing the guy in the wheelchair" [right]
• "Not in a cool Inception way"
• Sue's take on Halloween - fear (consider living in Florida)
• Eddie and Brad!!!! - If you didn't notice, the two guys in suits who approach Sue with the local Emmy plan were cameos by the actors who played them in the original movie.
• Image issues, objectification, "ab-ulous" - Absolutely wonderful that, even given a legitimate theme episode, Glee still tackles the tough and generally ignored topic of male body issues.
• Dammit Janet - background dancers were wonderful, Finns skillfull flailing was exactly like from the movie plus his voice was well suited for it, however Rachel's voice is too Broadway (she just doesn't match Susan Sarandon's light style)
• John Stamos singing Eddie's song (yeahhh Uncle Jessie) and Schu is Frank-n-Furter in the scene - seriously looked like he was going to whip out the ice axe [Emma as Columbia]
• Good cover for not having enough guys for Frank-n-Furter
• Yes, Mercedes rocked "Sweet Transvite" (sensational transylvania? yay censoring) but she was no Tim Curry.
• NO BAD SCHU, SCHU NO PLAY ROCKY. CREEPY.
• Touch a Touch a Touch Me - HOT. Santana and Brittnay in background, Emma being excellent (she's got the Susan Sarandon voice), Will getting hot and bothered, complete with creepy appearances at the end
• "I don't need to hide behind my mulscles like you do"
• Give me some chocolate or I will cut you
• Finally the Time Warp [top of the page] - Quinn wasn't singing like Magenta, but Artie's cute British accent as the criminologist totally made up for it

~ Sarah

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