My Name Is Earl: We've Got Spirit

This episode started with Darnell attempting to follow an impossible dream: classing up the Crab Shack. Instead of “getting rid of that smell,” Darnell starts offering a variety of cakes, which pleases Randy to no end since German is his favorite flavor. While Earl and Randy are at the bar, Joy’s son draws a picture of Catalina rather than of Joy, and Earl sees a “dude cheerleader” on TV. This takes him back to the list. Years earlier, Earl made fun of Kenny for wanting to be a cheerleader, and he sets about making that right. But unfortunately for Earl, Kenny wasn’t the one who wanted to cheer.

Kenny can’t keep a secret, and he reveals to Earl that Randy was the one who wanted to be a dude cheerleader. To get Randy crossed off the list, Earl pretends to also want to go to Kimmi Himler (nice Nazi reference) Cheer Academy. Once they sign the “No Statutory Rape” contract, they’re in. At cheer camp, the guys meet Kimmi Himler, played by Jenna Elfman, finally in a show that someone wants to watch for a change (remember Dharma and Greg, anyone? I wish I didn’t.) Her face is covered in hideous scars from an unfortunate incident that ended in a badger mauling, and one of her eyes drips all the time. It’s gross, and I thought it was hilarious.

While Earl and Randy are learning about team spirit, Joy tries to convince her son that she’s attractive. “Blond hair and blue eyes is rare, so it’s considered a treasure of the human race. That’s what World War II was about.” Once again, I have to admit that Joy is a genius. Still angry that Catalina is more attractive to her son, she says that he “just likes her because she’s the color of pancakes,” and who could blame him? Pancakes are delicious. But I digress.

Earl and Randy find themselves on a cheer squad with “preggers, headgear, chunk, and black girl,” none of whom take much pride in their cheering until Randy takes charge. Kimmie, desperate for her daughter to be the best, tries to kick them out. Earl decides to pay the ultimate price to help Randy achieve his dream, and he has sex with Kimmie and learns firsthand about that “eye milk.” While Earl is committing disgusting acts for someone he cares about, Joy is still trying to be sexy enough so that her son will need her, which is also pretty gross. To make her feel better, Darnell pushes a fan onto their son, who comes running to Joy.

Now that things are good with Joy, she brings everyone from the Crab Shack to watch the cheerleading. Joy takes this opportunity to tell Earl he’s a douchebag, and this makes Earl realize that he doesn’t want to do this, especially since everyone brought their camcorders so he and Randy will “look stupid and 10 pounds heavier.” But it doesn’t matter how bad they look, they still end up being the best cheer squad Camden has ever seen, which is not at all surprising.

I loved this episode. The more screen time Randy gets, the funnier I feel like the show is, because Ethan Suplee is hilarious. I didn’t really find much fault with this one, since there were some great one-liners in there and everyone got their chance to shine.

Pushing Daisies: Bad Habits

Pushing Daisies started this season by piling secrets on top of secrets, and this episode many of them come tumbling out. A suspicious death at the nunnery forces Ned, Olive, and Chuck together again, which means Olive's faced with everything she'd "taken the veil" to avoid. The episode involves Night Ranger references, glitter paint family trees, and gourmet truffles.

It all starts with a family tree — Chuck's, from elementary school, mostly blank. Even the investigator she hires to look into her past comes up empty-handed. The explanation for that, of course, is that Lily is her mother and not her aunt (well, step-aunt; I'm glad we've got that sorted out). It's a big enough secret to drive Olive to a nunnery, where she's been living in seclusion — until the possible murder of Sister LaRue leads her to seek Emerson's help. It's sweet that Olive thinks he's just a great private eye; I wonder if she'd think less of him if she knew about the whole waking-the-dead bit.

So Ned and Chuck arrive in the place where Olive's gone to keep secrets, which of course means secrets can't be kept for too long. And boy, do they come out: Olive admits her crush on Ned (who brushes it off like "OK, good to know," much to Olive's dismay); Ned finds out about Lily through a guessing game (that ends when Olive finally covers up one eye in a photo of Lily); and I learn how deep Ned's issues with his father truly run. I was glad to see Ned tell Chuck the truth about her mother — and even happier to see Chuck take the news with a smile. She's been feeling trapped all season somewhere between life and death. Maybe this news will "un-stick" her — and maybe it will prompt Ned to start working through issues of his own.

All of this happens against the backdrop of the murder of a foul-mouthed nun, whose awakening would have been much funnier on cable — it just didn't quite work with all the dirty words removed. This might have been my favorite case of the season overall, though, involving contraband feminine hygiene products, specially engineered truffles, bat poo, and a murderous pig. In such a heavy episode, it was nice to have some comic relief (er, as comic as dying nuns can ever be).

Some other thoughts:

Hooray for the introduction to Young Olive, who brims with optimism and digs for buried treasure/secrets.

Emerson's reaction to Sister Olive is priceless: He delivers a booming belly laugh, makes a little finger frame around her face to block his view of her teal habit, and inquires, "What got thee to a nunnery?"

Apparently there's a new waitress at the Pie Hole: "Brandy, Candy, somebody named after booze or food."

Some scenes had so many bleeps and bloops I could barely focus on the dialogue.

The "by-proxy high five" is amazing, and by Emerson's reaction, I assume this is something Ned and Chuck have done before.

Ned simply salivates over the truffles. How perfect that the piemaker is a foodie!

Possibly my very favorite bit of dialogue from this show ever:
"Sister Christian is nothing but a heavy-petting power ballad.""We're motorin'."

I glad (most of) the secrets are out and am happy to be getting Olive back at the Pie Hole. Plus I have a craving for Georgia peach pie with cinnamon ice cream.

Eli Stone: The Path

So there were no doubts about what show I was watching, the new season of Eli Stone kicked off with a huge musical number. Okay, actually it started with Eli in a therapist's office talking to guest star Sigourney Weaver, revealing that it's been six months since his surgery and that the aforementioned dance number was the first time he'd heard singing and music like that since.

I kind of liked the approach of filtering my catch-up on Eli's life through his therapy session. But since this is Eli Stone, things aren't always as they appear to be. What is as it appears to be is the fact that Eli Stone is returning to the prime-time lineup in fine fashion. Some of you may recall that I wasn't gushing with praise about this show last season, but I really feel that it's found its feet and evolved into a pretty good little show. I even found myself *gasp* caring about what happened to various characters throughout tonight's episode.

So therapy sessions with Sigourney Weaver were a whole new form of delusion for Mr. Stone. Or is she really God's fiduciary? And his sessions with her set up a whole new layer to the show. If Eli is an appointed visionary, it makes perfect sense that when he removed the aneurysm from his brain, effectively "quitting," they'd look for a suitable replacement. Whoever "they" is. And why not like right next door.

I don't know why, and I certainly didn't see it coming, but I absolutely loved seeing Eli's brother Nathan have a vision. I thought Eli's vision at the open of the episode had signified that he didn't need an aneurysm to have them, but maybe that was induced by Sigourney? However short-lived it was a great dynamic for Eli's skeptical brother to have a chance to experience the life disruptions he put up with last year.

It's also nice to see that Eli's inspiration and presence at the firm is going to continue poisoning Jordan Wethersby. By poisoning, I mean turning him for the better. Now if only I could stop being distracted by his weirdly "car door open" left ear. I'm sure the ramifications of his having abandoned the bank meeting and insulted their management will create new challenges for him at the firm and with his daughter.

I'm envisioning a struggle throughout this season between the forces of good (Stone, Maggie and Jordan) and the forces of stereotypically evil lawyers (Matt, Taylor and Posner). Considering that the firm has been performing so much on the dark side over the years, this could be disastrous for Eli and Jordan. And I won't commit to which side Matt and Taylor will utlimately sit on, but they've been strangely resistant to long-term change for the better thus far.

Snippets

Post-surgery, post-visions, Patti gave Eli an MP3 player so he could hear music while he worked. A very sweet gesture as well as a statement of what side of Eli she preferred. It's easy to forget what kind of a guy he used to be.

So Dr. Chen is in the smoothy business now. Acupuncture chased down by a delicious fruit smoothy. Feel the fruity goodness seeping out of hundreds of tiny little holes all over your body. Huh, I guess it could work.

I know it's not politically correct to say so, but Ms. Henstridge looks like she's put on a little weight during the off-season.

The door was left open for Ms. Weaver to return in the role of God's fiduciary, or whatever I'll decide to call her, and I hope they let her walk through it again. It adds a depth and sense of purpose and plan to the visions. It gives me something to try and work out between episodes.

George Michael doesn't have a song named "The Path." Just another example that the show appears to be evolving into something more this season.

It is annoying that after so many visions and predictions proven true over and over again last season, nobody believes Eli still.

I wanted to see Posner's reaction to the fact that Eli was right. He's just one of those personalities you want to rub it in over and over again.

Eli never got his license to practice law renewed. And then he practiced law. Wonder if they'll follow up on that. In the end, Eli made a deal with Sigourney Weaver, or God, to take the aneurysm and the visions back. It's a little disappointing that I won't get to see the visionary brothers Stone, but it does look like I'm going to see Eli and Jordan on some kind of crusade. After all, Jordan told Eli, "I know what we have to do now."

I'm pleased to see this show reaching out to become something more than what it was. It was a nice little gem at mid-season last year and due to the strike it was one of the few "new" shows on the air.

Fringe: Power Hungry

“You were hoping for something more specific, maybe?”

Fringe is getting consistently better week to week. Walter is fantastic as usual, Peter is subtly opening up, and even Olivia is improving. Last episode I commented on her lack of personal life being a detriment, and this episode actually addressed that a bit, giving her some nice interactions with fellow agent Charlie and having her show actual emotion. Yay Fringe!

The story centered on Joe, a delivery guy who just happens to cause electronics to go on the fritz when he’s upset. While delivering a package in an office building, to a girl he has a crush on, he gets mad in the elevator and sends it plummeting to the basement, killing everyone on board. Except him. Oh, and I saw The Observer just before the crash. Meanwhile, Olivia tells Charlie that she saw John. She knows it’s a hallucination. Charlie tells her to roll with it; it’s a manifestation of her guilt and confusion about everything that happened. Across town, Walter tells Peter the man who tortured him looked familiar. He is frustrated that he still can’t access parts of his mind. Peter gives him the sweetest look and says gently, “You’re doing fine.” Awwwww.

The continuity of this ep is all over the place. Peter, who was tortured in the last episode, is still all messed up; they even put rope marks on his wrists. But Astrid, who refused Walter’s apology in the last episode, is all smiles now. Grrrr.

While examining the bodies in the elevator, Walter realizes they were all electrocuted before the elevator hit bottom. Back in the day, he worked on a project to make humans trackable to homing pigeons. Each human being has a unique electromagnetic signature, and the idea was to augment the field in order to track people. However (of course), it had dire consequences. Broyles tells Olivia about Jacob Fischer, a biotechnology expert wanted in several states who lured in subjects via “the kind of commercials you see on TV at 3 AM” and then performed unspeakable tests on them.

I’m still not so sure Broyles is a good guy.

While Olivia is reading up on Fischer, the lights go out. I know I compare Fringe to Alias too much, but I wouldn’t mind if the show gave the impression that Olivia could actually defend herself without a gun. She seems sort of … weak. Anyway, she sees John again. He is reassuring, asks her to trust him, and says he truly loved her. Past tense. Interesting. John says she is on the right track and that soon he will prove that he loved her. It’s kind of creepy. He gets into an elevator and it actually moves, going down. Olivia races down the stairs, but when the doors open the car is empty.

However, Olivia sees the “maximum capacity” sign and does some research. She goes to see Peter, explaining that someone walked away from the elevator crash while Walter does a weird little dance in the background. Suddenly, Walter shocks Peter. Cute! His dance was to create electromagnetism. Meanwhile, Fischer tracks Joe down, takes him to a lab, and does things that make him scream his head off. After searching Joe’s apartment, Walter uses a cassette tape that Joe touched, which then became magnetized, to show pigeons how to track him. It sounds stupid, but it was actually kind of fun. Olivia is concerned about the pigeons’ welfare. Peter says, “We’re putting GPS chips on pigeons to track a man who can control electricity. This is your fault, right?” They’re so adorable.

Moments later, Olivia sees John again. He moves inhumanly fast but he kisses her, and that kiss seems real. He says, “I didn’t betray you, I wasn’t the one.” Peter interrupts and John disappears. Peter saw nothing. They follow the pigeons to a warehouse, and Olivia asks if Peter will have more faith in Walter if the scheme works. Peter says no. But he totally means yes. They save Joe, who just wants to go home, but he has to be tested and whatnot.

In the end, Walter tells Olivia she doesn’t seem herself. He knows she’s been seeing John. When she was in the tank, part of John’s consciousness crossed over and this is her brain’s way of working through it. But moments later, Olivia sees John again out on the street and follows him to an underground lair full of boxes and files. It turns out John was conducting his own investigations into the Pattern. And (so cliché) Olivia finds an engagement ring among John’s belongings.

Hmmm. Is Olivia’s mind really just working through something, as Walter & Charlie said (albeit for different reasons)? Or does this have something to do with Massive Dynamic? Since they have John’s body it would be a pretty huge coincidence if it didn’t. And speaking of MD, where has Nina been? She and Olivia had that loaded “everything we do leads us to each other” conversation … and then suddenly it doesn’t anymore? And finally, am I going to have to wait until the season finale to hear Peter call Walter “dad”? I think so.

My Own Worst Enemy: Breakdown

It’s easy to dismiss My Own Worst Enemy as derivative and while that’s true, it doesn’t mean the show doesn’t have value. How many times have great songs been completely derivative of other songs that came before them? This series unfortunately didn't survive. It stars Alfre Woodard and Christian Slater. It’s also slick, fast paced, and action packed.

Christian Slater plays Edward, a highly trained secret agent sent on various sorts of missions around the world. Slater also plays Henry, an identity created by the covert agency Edward works for. Henry is a mild mannered guy who works a job where he must travel all the time. Henry isn’t aware that he has an alter ego but he is aware that something is wrong because he’s started seeing a psychiatrist to discuss some very vivid dreams, so vivid in fact that he dreamed he was in Paris and he found a matchbook from a Parisian hotel in his pocket. Henry is literally turned off when Edward is needed and a fake story about Henry having to work late or travel for work is added to Henry’s profile. The only problem is that the chip in Edward’s head that controls all of these functions is failing and without going too far in spoiler-ville, Henry becomes aware of Edward. Once this happens, the two men find some entertaining ways to work together and exist in each others lives when the chip malfunctions causing that to happen.

While the action is fun and well executed and the characters are well portrayed and entertaining, there are several questions must be answered in future episodes for this series to work. First of all, why do this to Edward? It seems that he lives this other life as a really deep cover, a place for him to hide from his enemies until he is needed. If that’s the case then the cover, with all of its extreme measures, is a failure. Also, if the agency seems to be very detail oriented in its planning of Henry, down to shaving accidents, but they leave a stray matchbook in his pocket? Also, why would the agency allow Henry to go to a psychiatrist? Wouldn’t that jeopardize the cover potentially? Are they just so confident in their system that they aren’t worried about what might happen in the sessions?

Mad Men: The Jet Set

“My father will take care of you. He likes you. You’re beautiful and you don’t talk too much.” - Joy, to Don

Don is the James Bond of Mad Men. Seriously, the guy can seemingly get any women that he wants. He doesn’t even have to make a play or flirt or anything, they just zero in on him from across a bar or fall at his feet. First we had Midge and Rachel and then Bobbie (oh yeah, and his wife Betty) and in this episode a young nomad Joy, who seems to want to take him away with her so he can be her plaything. The interesting thing is that Don goes for it.

That’s just one of the many incredible developments in this episode, the best so far this season.
Seriously, isn’t this episode just spectacular? It easily, easily could be the season-ender; it had so many revelations and potential show-changers. Let’s take a look at what is jam-packed into this episode:

During the first part of the episode I make a note about how I can’t understand a lot of what Kurt is saying, but you understand clearly when he says “I’m a homosexual.” I didn’t expect that at all. Not that I didn’t call it on his first appearance on the show, but I didn’t expect him to just blurt it out in front of the entire Sterling Cooper staff (Europeans are a bit more honest about stuff like that I guess). The reactions of everyone is just perfect: Ken, shocked after he made a joke about Kurt dating Peggy, Harry and his wiseass jokes (”Which bathroom does he use?”), and of course Sal, with a look of shock and awe on his face that someone could be so honest. (Speaking of Sal, isn’t it funny how he’s pretending to enjoy Playboy one moment and the next he’s talking about the curtains used on The New Loretta Young Show?)

The romance between Roger and Jane is in hyperdrive. He not only proposes but wants to speed up his divorce to Mona (using the same divorce lawyer that Duck’s ex had.)

Speaking of Duck, just when I thought this was the episode where they can him for not bringing in enough business (and asking to be partner!), it turns out to be the episode that could change Sterling Cooper forever. At first I thought Cooper was going to make one of his surprising decisions and say to Duck “No, we don’t want millions of dollars in business,” but it looks like this could turn into an exciting cliffhanger as it approaches the end of the season.

Kurt gives Peggy a new hairdo. More independent, That Girl-ish than the conservative do she’s been sporting so far.

Of course, the big plot of the episode is Don being a DICK, leaving Pete at the business meeting and going to Palm Springs to be with yet another conquest, Joy the 21 year-old. These L.A. scenes are like a whole different show; the sense of sun and pools is so strong. There’s a great shot of Don standing by the pool in his suit and hat, smoking a cigarette, that I wish I could have used as the pic for this review. At the end Don sends his luggage back home. He’s actually decided to stay out West with Joy and her weird group (love the women’s look when Don asks if they’re all rich)!

Maybe there can be a spinoff show after Mad Men ends: Don Draper: Private Eye. I can picture him out West after a marriage that breaks up, solving crimes. After all, the whole meeting of Joy and her gang seemed like one of those things from a Ross Macdonald or Raymond Chandler novel, where the P.I. meets a weird family that has secrets. Not sure why Don fainted (high blood pressure?), why he was looking at his drink so closely later (something in it?), and I have no idea who he called on the phone and said “this is Dick Whitman” to. Any guesses? (Oh, and what a spectacular shot of Don on the couch, the opposite of the Mad Men logo!)

Besides the one above, this ep had some great lines:

- “Handing out towels?” - Don, to Pete, after Pete said he saw Tony Curtis in the men’s room.
- “Where are the valets? So much for cheap labor.” - Pete
- “Kurt’s a homo.” - Ken, after Pete asked what went on while he was in L.A.

This episode has so many goodies I could have put it in the OMG/WTF? category. No Betty, but her figure loomed large everytime they showed Don’s face. What an awesome show this is.

Eleventh Hour: Resurrection

Dr. Jacob Hood is the FBI’s go-to guy when it comes to cases of a scientific nature. Hood travels around, solving crimes and scientific mysteries that no one else can. Unfortunately, his dogged quest for the truth and his refusal to hide it has made him some sort of target among the people he has implicated in crimes, and as a result he is constantly accompanied by glorified bodyguard Special Agent Rachel Young and a “panic button” with design flaws.

The pilot of Eleventh Hour, appropriately for the series’ title, features a storyline involving a woman who, quite literally, has a ticking time bomb of death in her womb. Hood and Young are called to the Cascades in Washington State, where local Detective McNeil has caught a security guard by the name of Sanders disposing of fetuses in biohazard containment barrels. There are nineteen of them total, all with an identical genetic makeup. Hood catches on to the idea that if there are nineteen fetuses, there must be nineteen mothers, and he and Young set out to find those mothers, or at least whichever one will be number twenty.

Meanwhile, I'm introduced to heavily pregnant surrogate Kelly, a twenty-year-old with a four-year-old son and another on the way. After being confronted by an angry ex in a supermarket, Kelly experiences a small pregnancy scare and consorts with her “doctors.” Her doctors turn out to be a shady bunch, led by Lea Muller (a woman with no obvious connection to the medical profession but with the lack of conscience needed to go through with some of the more unsavory details of the plans) and Dr. Sidney Hayward, a disgraced obstetrician forced into cloning out of lack of other options.

Hood and Young follow the scent of dead babies and track down Will Sanders, the security guard who was caught with the fetuses. He was unable to burn the fetuses as instructed out of conflict of religion, and Hood uses his faith rather brutally against him, dragging Sanders into a church and demanding that he confess in front of God who charged him with the task of burning the bodies. Sanders doesn’t know, but he does know that the woman who hired him talks to someone on the phone named “Geppetto.” Sanders leads them to an abandoned warehouse in Seattle where they find an implantation facility for the cloned eggs. They are interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Hayward, who narrowly escapes only after Hood gets his license plate.

The name “Geppetto” awakens something in Hood’s mind, realizing that the only reason to clone instead of just having a baby naturally is to regain someone specific who was lost, and he decides to look for parents (rich parents, mind you – cloning is expensive) who have lost children in the past few years. He hits upon Phillip Gifford, a Seattle billionaire whose son Gabriel died of meningitis a few years back.

Kelly the incubator, meanwhile, is experiencing some problems. She begins to bleed and, against the recommendations of Dr. Hayward, goes to the hospital. She balks when social services takes her son David away, so she splits with David when she has the chance. Hood and Young, who have been watching the hospitals for suspicious activity, hear about Kelly and learn that she will die if she doesn’t receive medical attention.

Our gumshoes then pay a little visit to the billionaire and interrogate him, asking him about Kelly and rattling his cage. He denies everything, but after they leave Young gets sneaky and listens in on Gifford’s phone as he calls Muller and Hayward to panic a bit. Hayward says that they will get Kelly and go to an abandoned clinic on Bainbridge Island. They head to her apartment and nab her, stabbing her ex in the process.

Hood and Young decide that it’s more pressing to teach Gifford a lesson than to save Kelly, so before going after her they make a detour to his mansion, bringing along with them one of the expired fetuses to give him. Hood reminds Gifford that Gabriel can’t just be grown, that there was more to the boy than DNA strands. Gifford is suitably ashamed and grieved and our heroes decide to mosey on over and save the dying girl.

When they get there, Hayward has been dispatched of and a strange blonde lady is busy giving Kelly CPR. Young goes to find some blood for a transfusion and intercepts Muller in the process, incapacitating. Hood is left with the task of resuscitating Kelly with the stranger. Kelly has lost the baby boy, she tells him, and he realizes she must be the fabled Geppetto. She is familiar with Hood, of course, and leaves him doing chest compressions with practically a promise of a reunion in a future episode. Kelly is saved and gets to go home to her own son and Hood and Young ride off into the sunset to stop some other wackos from messing around with test tubes.

So far, the Eleventh Hour seems a little like a more down-to-Earth version of Fringe, a little more based in science and less in sci-fi. It’s easy to make comparisons to The X-Files as well, but what I'm looking at here is a much simpler concept. Hood isn’t like Mulder who wants to believe. He already believes, and he should because it’s the truth. He is just the only one who understands it.

Which makes me question what role Young is going to play in the future. As far as I can tell, her assignment seems like the pits, and she’s already made a reference to the fact that no one else could cut it in with this job before her. But she’s evidently a go-getter who doesn’t give up, so maybe her virtue will be the fact that she’s always there at Hood’s back with a gun for protection.

Let’s hope that she doesn’t have the gun pointed at Hood’s back though, because let’s face it, his pursuit of the truth looks like it could get to be a pain in the ass. He seems almost naïve in his search, oblivious at the fact that some people are willing to kill in order to keep things a secret. He doesn’t seem bothered when he drags Young from her bed by accidentally sitting on the alarm button, but that’s to be expected. They haven’t formed the crucial bonds of TV brain and brawn yet.

All in all, it was a fairly promising start. I worry a bit about the science overtaking the characters, leaving Hood as a glorified medical dictionary with no obvious personality and Young as the one who has to ask the dumb questions for the rest of us. If the writers can make Hood and Young’s relationship interesting to watch, the rest should follow. After all, who doesn’t want to hear about the creepy things we can do with science?