So, last week I was all set to really dig into all of the various submissions that the panels saw in both Comedy and Drama a few weeks ago now, but then life got in the way and I’ve been distracted. It also didn’t help that I had actually seen most of the episode, so I had already formulated opinions and therefore didn’t feel an urgency to write about them (Something I do have when I’m seeing something for the first time). So, I figure I’ll provide some short-form reviews of at least some of the remaining episodes over the next few days, and then offer a more comprehensive overview next week leading up to the nominations themselves. First, a view into the drama contenders.

Drama Series

Dexter - “The Dark Defender”

Synopsis: Dexter, with the help of his similarly crazy friend Lila, confronts his mother’s murderer in an emotional attempt to achieve closure.

My Thoughts: I hate Lila with a fiery passion, and found the character ultimately disruptive, but her role as Dexter’s kindred spirit of sorts was strong. Michael C. Hall is great in the episode, and it displays the show’s usual great use of violence and gore to serve story purposes.

Panel Potential: Unfortunately, its use of blood and gore has been what has held it back, as pretty well all awards potential goes out the window when older voters can’t stomach the show’s bloody reality. So, all signs point to a rough panel performance.

Friday Night Lights - “Leave No Man Behind”

Synopsis: Tension between coach and quarterback reaches its climax, and love triangles and parental strife round out the episode.

My Thoughts: The best episode of the show’s second season, it is most importantly a view into where football and life intersect as opposed to simply the lives of these characters. For the scene where Eric Taylor throws Matt Saracen into a cold shower to wake him up from his depressive state alone, this one’s a winner.

Panel Potential: There’s a lot of strong elements here, from performance to relativity to the standard lives of panelists, so it should have a decent performance (but likely not enough to make up for its poor Popular vote showing).

Grey’s Anatomy - “Freedom, Part One”

Synopsis: In the first part of the show’s fourth season finale, Meredith and Derek finally have a successful trial case and a teenager encased in concrete proves an important case for all of the show’s cast.

My Thoughts: Showing only a single hour is a really odd decision, but even as a whole the finale was a bit uneven. I enjoyed certain parts of it, but the show just didn’t have a good showcase year (Unlike say the Trainwreck episode, or the Bomb episode). It was a decent finale, especially compared to the rest of the season, but upper echelon of television it is not.

Panel Potential: And it certainly isn’t when we consider that the voters don’t even get to see the episode’s resolution, robbed of its second part. I don’t understand that decision, and it will hurt them - too bad the show’s reputation will probably keep it from sinking too low on the ballots.

House - “Frozen”

Synopsis: House is consulted on a medical mystery thousands of miles away in Antarctica, as guest star Mira Sorvino proves a particularly charming doctor whose near death situation is one of House’s biggest challenges yet.

My Thoughts: Airing after the Super Bowl made this episode feel special by default, but it’s a strong episode that features some great indirect work by both Sorvino and Hugh Laurie. It’s a very strong episode in terms of some great set pieces between two great performers, the type of simple yet compelling case study that House doesn’t do very often.

Panel Potential: It’s an episode featuring strong performances, a completely standalone storyline, and a gimmick that doesn’t feel like a gimmick. Considering that it likely ranked at least moderately high in the popular vote, I think this episode gets it a nomination.

Next Up: On the Drama side of things, I want to finally spend some considerable time talking about and reviewing “The Constant,” my favourite submission of the year.

The Top 12 Snubs of the Emmy Top 10s

This post has been delayed a bit after getting captured between my new and old computers, but I think it’s for the best. When the Emmy Nominations are announced in just over a week’s time, more names will be added to this list, but what this list allows us to do is spread out the disappointment. That these contenders won’t even have a chance in front of a panel, though, is its own tragedy, and the more time I had to embrace this fact the more I realized how much this process hurts.

And it’s not that it’s not fair: while it may not always produce results I like, the current Emmy system is perhaps as close to democracy that they could possibly achieve. The reality of popular and patronage-dominated shows performing well at the Emmys will not go away anytime soon, so we should be thankful that there were some pleasant surprises as I discussed last week. But at the same time, we can’t help but feel it: that the people who were snubbed at this end of the process deserve recognition, no matter how they get it.

So, without further delay, and in no particular order, my Top 12 2008 Emmy Snubs…and let’s hope the list doesn’t grow too greatly next week.

1. Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights)

Category: Supporting Actress, Drama Series

What more does she need to do to get noticed? Britton moved herself to the supporting category to avoid juggernauts like Sally Field or Glenn Close, but at the end of the day the category proved to be even more difficult to break into unless you’re heavily featured in a popular show or an award show veteran. She gave a fantastic performance through an uneven season, the constant rock the show could lean on. She makes weak storylines solid and good storylines great, and if that’s not a great supporting actress I don’t know what is.

2. January Jones (Mad Men)

Category: Supporting Actress, Drama Series

January Jones is the victim of her series’ plot - the show’s pilot, the episode most voters would have seen, doesn’t actually feature the character of Betty Draper, revealing her existence only at episode’s end. While someone like John Slattery was able to ride his reputation to a nomination, Jones doesn’t have the name recognition and is unfairly snubbed here. She did some amazing work embodying the 60s housewife, especially in “Shoot,” and that this portrayal won’t be seen by the judges is a disservice to the ensemble nature of the series. While I’m happy for Christina Hendricks, that was Jones’ spot.

3. Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies)

Category: Supporting Actor, Comedy Series

With all three of his primary co-stars breaking into their respective Top 10 lists, forgive me for being upset that my favourite was left off. Not known for his comic work, McBride’s Emerson Cod has been a delight. He’s a knitting private detective, for cripes sake, and he has adapted maybe best of all to the witicisms and whimsy that this world entails (albeit it through cynicism and sarcasm). The shortened season robbed him of a showcase episode (We got hints of a baity fatherhood episode), something that the other actors by comparison had, but that doesn’t mean that the show’s most consistently hilarious character should get snubbed. Here’s hoping the voters smarten up for the show’s second season.

For more snubs including performers from House, Lost and Battlestar Galactica, click on through.

4. Sarah Chalke (How I Met Your Mother)

Category: Guest Actress, Comedy Series

While Scrubs has never been able to crack into any categories but Series and Lead Actor based on Zach Braff’s emergence as a hollywood darling, this doesn’t mean that Sarah Chalke does not deserve attention. She’s a gifted comic actress, a fact that was no more apparent than when she effortlessly transitioned into a last minute guest spot on How I Met Your Mother as Ted’s girlfriend Stella. Playing Eliot’s charm without her neurotic tendencies, Chalke won over fans and critics alike with a fantastic performance - too bad that Emmy voters are too busy nominating academy veterans who take baity starring roles on Desperate Housewives to realize that much better work is happening elsewhere.

5. Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica)

Category: Lead Actor, Drama Series

With his female counterpart making it into her Top 10 list, Edward James Olmos is sadly left off his own. In a way, it makes sense storyline wise: Roslin is the public face, the one who has to deal with all of the consequences (And the praise) while Adama largely works behind the scenes. Olmos is rarely working in broad strokes, choosing instead to capture emotion in glances and undertones. I think that he would have greatly benefitted had the mid-season finale, Revelations, aired before the submission deadline: it voters had had time to see that episode, maybe they would have seen what happens with Adama breaks down and loses all of that composure, which is when Olmos absolutely nails it every time. But, even then, something tells me that the admiral of a Battlestar might never be able to make it into Emmy’s biggest races - let’s just hope that changes for the show’s final episodes next year.

6. Henry Ian Cusick/Terry O’Quinn (Lost)

Category: Supporting Actor, Drama Series

One is last year’s winner, who wasn’t really given any material this season to justify another win but remained strong enough to at least make the Top 10 list. The other is a performer who starred in the highlight episode of the season, the time-bending “The Constant,” and proved his value to the cast in that moment. Both, however, are missing from the Top 11 names, and both are rather awful oversights. O’Quinn got burned by the fact that his flashback episode is mostly about his childhood as opposed to his adulthood (And thus he’s played by younger actors), and Cusick just didn’t have enough Emmy credibility to make it onto the list. Regardless, they’re just the beginning of the rather awful oversight of a lot of Lost performers.

7. Robert Sean Leonard (House)

Category: Supporting Actor, Drama Series

On a week-by-week basis, Robert Sean Leonard is a great foil for Dr. Gregory House, someone to point out his flaws and to play Watson to his Holmes (Often unwittingly). But in the show’s fourth season, something else happened: not only just defined by House, Wilson was a character in his own right as he started a relationship with former fellowship candidate Amber (The amazing Anne Dudek, who better not be added to this list when the Guest Actress Drama category emerges). His performance in the stunningly tragic “Wilson’s Heart,” as the team discovers it is Amber who is struggling for her life following a bus crash, is as heartbreaking as it gets: that final moment between these two characters, one who feels betrayed by a friend and the other who is facing death, is so purely emotional that I teared up. That voters won’t get to see that is extremely unfortunate, although not quite surprising.

8. Yunjn Kim/Evangeline Lilly (Lost)

Categories: Supporting/Lead Actress, Drama Series

The narrative on Lost this year was male-dominated, no question, but the two women who emerged as part of the Oceanic Six did receive some strong material and delivered well throughout the season. There was a lot of external cards being played that meant less focus on these characters, but that neither were able to break into their respective categories leaves the Lost representation severely limited. We shouldn’t be surprised by Kim’s snub for her work in Ji Yeon or her heartbreaking turn in the finale, considering the Elizabeth Mitchell’s showier turn last year was even ignored, but it still hurts that she has never gotten attention for what has been a highly compelling role. Lilly may have gotten one of the weakest flashes of the year, but she submitted a smart episode (”Something Nice Back Home”) and continues to do solid work when asked. They’re not the worst snubs in the world, but they still sting.

9. Matthew Fox (Lost)

Categories: Lead Actor, Drama Series

Considering that Lost’s fourth season was fairly male-dominated, you would expect that its male lead might get some recognition. However, Matthew Fox’s role is a bit of a divisive one for viewers as they question whether Jack is a likable character. That hatred has never made sense for me, mainly because that’s part of the point: Jack as a character is a flawed man thrust into a leadership scenario that he isn’t actually comfortable with. His mistakes have all been in an attempt to serve the common interest and deal with his own demons, and while he’s had some rough patches I thought the fourth season was a strong one for him. While it didn’t quite have the same material he got last year in that first flashforward, the season saw Jack facing both present and future crises in a way that maintains Fox’s strong work…and was at least stronger than Patrick frakkin’ Dempsey.

10. Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica)

Category: Supporting Actress, Drama Series

Okay, so there was never a chance that this model turned actress would make her way into the Emmy Top 11 - that doesn’t mean, however, that she didn’t deserve it. A lot of people underestimate Helfer based on her looks, a trend I hope dies off once people see her post-BSG career span some high-profile TV guest appearances (This week’s Burn Notice premiere, as an example). What Helfer does so well in the role of the various Six versions is to give each one their own story, and her submitted episode offered the best example yet: Natalie, a leader of a rebel group of Cylons, comforts and then kills another Six who had killed one of the humans who had tortured her on New Caprica. Whether it’s as Head Six, who waxes poetic with a one-track mind, or as Caprica Six whose life has been moulded by countless events, Helfer embodies these characters with a maturity that few could have anticipated following her casting in the Miniseries.

11. Jaime Pressly (My Name is Earl)

Category: Supporting Actress, Comedy Series

I haven’t watched a full episode of My Name is Earl since its first season - the show was strong enough then, but after I started watching The Office I kind of lost interest. It was getting repetitive, and the things that made it charming were slowly turning into the things that made it feel already dated compared to its running mate of sorts. However, one cannot argue that Jaime Pressly’s performance has remained consistently strong, and that her Emmy win last year was unfortunately timed but certainly deserved. Which makes it confusing that what was once a guaranteed nomination for most predictors has turned into a complete and total snub. The list of candidates is fairly strong, but that it’s missing last year’s winner is just confusing.

12. How I Met Your Mother

Category: Outstanding Comedy Series

I’ve been resisting adding series to these lists, since the Comedy/Drama lists were pretty solid, but the more I think about it the more annoyed I am that one of the sharpest comedies on television is being left off of these lists. Yes, I understand that the show inherently skews young and that its attraction for critics has never quite been shared by broader audiences, but this is the type of show that’s infectious. When you get hooked, you get hooked: I’ve seen people who are fairly critical fall in love with this show, mainly because it has heart and character to spare. I guess at this point we can only hope that the show gets the same treatment as The Wire, where its collective accomplishment is finally recognized when it receives its swan song - but, hopefully, we’re still a while out from that.

13. Emily VanCamp and Dave Annable (Brothers & Sisters)

Categories: Supporting Actress/Actor, Drama Series

It’s not a surprise that these two young performers were unable to break into their respective categories, but it stings regardless. What was so strong about these two performers was their ability to take a storyline that really didn’t work and make it into something that at the least lived up to Brothers & Sisters’ strong dramatic performance pedigree. The show is one of the best acting showcases on television, and that the show itself didn’t break through to the Top 10 is also disappointing. And while I feel for Calista Flockhart, Patricia Wettig and Matthew Rhys, for the most part I think that young performers deserve a shot at Emmy glory just as much as their more well-known counterparts. Whether facing an uncertain paternity or a crippling drug addiction, these two performers were at the top of their game surrounded by veteran performers - what more do Emmy voters want?

14. Jorge Garcia (Lost)

Category: Supporting Actor, Drama Series

From some of the feedback the list has created amongst Lost fans, there has been mention of the lovable but oft-overlooked Jorge Garcia, whose work as Hurley has always been strong. I think that one of the reasons he didn’t make this list to begin with was that he was never close to being in contention considering the show’s more well known candidates. However, that doesn’t mean his work wasn’t award worthy: his work in “The Beginning of the End,” in particular, showed a great sense of nuance and tragedy that is something Garcia has always been good with. Of televisions various characters largely relegated to comic relief, Hurley has proven capable of handling the emotional weight of a drama series in a way that elevates the show as a whole, and it’s a pity that a lack of name recognition meant Garcia could never be honoured as such.

As always, a special thank you goes out to Tom O’Neil from The Envelope for collecting the Top 10 lists. You can check out all of the lists at his Gold Derby Blog.

“The Three Coolers”

July 7th, 2008

A cooler can be many things, but the eponymous ones referred to by this week’s episode title are of two varieties: two literal coolers, the refrigeration equivalent of The Matrix’s red/blue pills, and one cooler that follows another definition.

From Urban Dictionary:

A hand in poker in which a person with a very strong hand (often the 2nd best possible hand) is beaten by the best possible hand (usually a very rare full house, four of a kind, or straight flush). The 2nd best hand is so strong that it is impossible to fold, usually resulting in the loss of a lot of money and sometimes, an existential crisis.

For Len Botwin, his Cooler was his mother, and while her departure leaves him with a house he can’t sell it also leaves him without that other hand there to beat him at every turn. Albert Brooks’ short stint on the show, spanning only this first set of episodes, has been a strong one largely because he hasn’t been a dominant hand. What made the character so strong is that he was a disruptive but not destructive element for all of these characters: he didn’t destroy anyone, but laid the seeds in all of them for a season’s worth of development.

And it looks like a good season: with everything now mostly settled, including how to bring Celia and Doug back into the fold and how to normalize Nancy’s drug work for Guillermo (All ruined by the previews, although maybe not in a bad way), it’s time to move on from Len and focus on how these characters will truly embrace their new habitat.

The opening, a quick series of scenes showing Bubbie’s week-long Shivah, is the type of comedy that the show has been doing well this season. Yes, it’s a huge tonal shift from the show’s first season, but it works quite well: whether it was the dueling Real Estate brokers (Paid off by Len’s decision) or the return of the Rad, Ren Mar has thus far been portrayed as a place where wackiness didn’t need Doug Wilson to arrive for it to break free. It doesn’t quite feel like the outright satire that was Majestic, but it has its own flair and fits with the show’s cast and the overall dynamic.

And this episode was really our first glimpse into some of that, which we’ll be seeing more of now that Silas’ weed has matured and he’s ready to take to the streets. I was a little flummoxed that the guys at the Towing Company were so willing to let Silas go for only a small amount of the drugs (Although I suppose the risk of Silas ratting them out for possession if they took them seems like something that could convince me), but it does indicate that there’s a reason Hunter Parrish was so prominently featured in early promotional materials for the season. We should be seeing more of that in the weeks to come.

But in the meantime, this episode was a sendoff for Lenny and the official return of the wonderful dynamic between Nancy Botwin and Celia Hodes. Yes, they only share a single scene in the episode together, but it’s one of Weeds’ classic cliffhangers that will resolve itself fairly quickly. We know that Celia won’t die (This is not a show that kills its main characters, not at this point), so we have to presume that the two will have to forge at least some type of tentative partnership in order to keep her from being shot for spying on Nancy/Guillermo. From the preview, that relationship is as entertaining as ever, and both Elizabeth Perkins and Mary-Louise Parker are fantastic when working with the other.

For now, though, Nancy’s life was a bit more simple: just some mourning for the woman she smothered with a tempurpedic pillow that moulded to her face, followed by a drug run where she was surprised to find the Tijuana police assisting Guillermo in his smuggling operation. In the process, though, we got some great interactions between Nancy and Andy, and one highly sexually charged one as Nancy (in her paranoia over the police’s arrival) decides to play the sex card and climb all over her former brother-in-law.

I don’t think the show is actively suggesting a pairing between these two characters: their relationship has always been build on subservience, so altering that to the point of romantic equality just doesn’t seem possible. It does, however, extend the nice moment where Nancy does say to (stoned) Andy that she appreciates having him around for her and the kids. Andy is an integral part of the family, and the show, so I’m a bit frustrated that he seems to have been sent on another of Andy’s independent storylines, this time following a group of Mexican travelers to who knows where.

I do hope, however, his daddy issues stick around even with Len’s departure. Albert Brooks brought out a lot of good in Andy, and Shane (with whom he spent most of this episode). The door is clearly open for his return, as he gets Nancy’s profession from Shane’s tell and confiscates some of her money for rent before fleeing off to Paris, but I do hope that his time with both of these Botwins will resonate. Shane is definitely going to be the odd one out when it comes to the show’s new path, so I’m wondering how quickly Isabel returns in order to give him someone to spend his time with.

But it shall be time well spent, I think - after this opening segment, the show seems to have vision and a good sense of which of its dynamics work and which don’t. The hope, now, is that as things branch off from this little frame setup they’ll find themselves still rooted in those relationships; but, at the same time, this seems like a great opportunity for a bit of new life and new direction for Nancy and Co. Let’s see if they deliver.

Cultural Observations

• I was just thinking the other day how Doug’s character’s past is often forgotten, and watching a scene from the pilot a few weeks ago reminded me that we met his son in that episode. Before Doug had him sent to boarding school, Justin Chatwin’s character was a huge part of the pilot, and so finally hearing Doug refer to him again was kind of nice to see (And did make for a few laughs with the “Do you suck dick, Silas?” runner).
• I’ll be honest: again, I don’t miss Heylia and Conrad. I do think that they were strong characters, but where could they fit into this picture? There’s no denying the show needed a change of scenery, and the choice of dumping those two characters was likely very hard but also very satisfying to see the show developing so strongly from a creative standpoint.

“5G”

Season One, Episode Five

To say that “5G” is uneventful or unrevelatory isn’t really doing it justice, but the point could probably be made. Of the episode’s major story points, none of them are all that surprising: yes, they fill in some blanks in Don Draper’s past and present, but elsewhere the episode plays much into the same things we already know. Pete is unwilling to share the spitlight, Draper has a lot of secrets, and Peggy is still just a little in the dark when it comes to how to handle her new position.

What “5G” does, though, is make these elements more starkly real: it displays the pettiness of Pete and the desperation of Draper. Pete’s attempt at being famous is a bit of a simple little plot point until you consider the implications on her marital relationship, but Draper’s actions take his character to a new level. The relationship between his old life and his current one is what paralyzes him, and here we see that seeing those two worlds collide creates a volatile situation.

Draper is all about compartmentalizing his life: he gets frustrated with Midge for calling directly to the office, and downright vicious with his brother for daring to even step into the building. In some ways, this is smart: Peggy overhearing even the tiniest bit of conversation causes her to react - not necessarily in a dangerous way, but in a way that is just confused enough to lead to others (Like Joan) doing more with that information.

As the episode demonstrates, his reaction is quick and assured: literally buying his brother out of his life for the second time is the only way he can think about it. That it means the Drapers can’t buy a Summer House isn’t of concern to him: unlike Pete, who is tentative in accepting his in-laws’ help, Don is willing to do whatever it takes in order to maintain the big picture. As an Ad Man, this is a great skill: it’s what allows him to win the award central to the episode, a vision that others simply don’t (or can’t) have.

Of course, the episode’s big Ad buy is simple: Executive accounts. It’s one of the most “on the nose” connections between his life and his job, as it is really an idea tailor made for his kind of lifestyle: an “executive” (Not private, which indicates it is something to keep others away from vs. something for a higher level of customer) bank account to appeal to business people like himself. His willingness to so quickly commodify his own lifestyle, with its demands for discreetness and separation, is something the show relies on quite heavily. Here, it feels like a lot of things we’ve seen before (and will see again) but in the form of blackmailing away his family it shows the level he is willing to go to.

For Pete, of course, it’s a petty desire to match with Ken’s recent publishing success - in his case, he is willing to pimp out his wife in order to attempt to get a story of his own (Featuring a talking bear, a touch I always liked) published in a similar magazine. It’s a reaction to his struggles in the last episode, and a further sign that his character has serious issues with control - of his fate, of his wife, and of something as relatively trivial as a short story in a nationwide publication.

More complicated, of course, is the great scene where Betty and Peggy finally square off: Peggy, housing important information about Don’s scandalous lunch meeting, and Betty, unaware of any of it except that they need to get the pictures taken. It is clear that Betty doesn’t belong in this world, and that Peggy doesn’t belong yet - Pete, meanwhile, has no idea what world he even wants to live in, so he’s grasping at anything that sounds prestigious. These trends will all continue into future episodes, where we learn the parts that everyone else plays.

Cultural Observations

• Part of me, especially in rewatching it and writing these thoughts, is reminded of Arrested Development, and Michael’s willingness to pimp out his mother in order to snag Oscar and get back the Lemon Grove deal. Which isn’t really related, but does make me laugh. So, score one for Pete’s storyline.
• As you may have noticed, this is a fairly male-centric episode - that all changes next week, when Joan, Peggy and Rachel return to our central narrative (The former two in a big, big way) in “Babylon.”

“New Amsterdam”

Season One, Episode Four

[I'm a week late on this one, but forgive me: I'll have a piece on tonight's episode done sometime tonight, probably]

By the time Mad Men got to its fourth episode, it had filled in a lot of its gaps: we are thoroughly compelled by Don Draper, interested in seeing more of this world from Betty’s perspective, intrigued at the inner workings of Sterling Cooper, and curious as to how all of these people intersect in the historical mediation the show presents.

All except Pete Campbell, that is. To be honest, Pete Campbell was pretty much a snake before this point: a spineless, ungrateful punk at his worst, and certainly not the kind of character that any of us relate with. His insistence on rising the corporate ladder could be passed off as mere capitalist determinism, a selfish attempt to take for himself and to leave others in his wake.

What “New Amsterdam” provides is a new perspective, a glimpse into the fact that Pete Campbell’s life is just as complicated as everyone else’s in terms of the series’ primary characters. Over time, the show reveals the truth behind other characters as well (Joan and Roger Sterling are next up), but the familial and spousal pressures facing this character are some of the most eye-opening. No, it isn’t exactly surprising that he has some serious family issues, but it does explain at least some of his past behaviour while leaving plenty of qualities on the table that we as viewers will take issue with.

Pete Campbell has a complicated history: family is Old Money that’s reaching the final days of its wealth if not quite its reputation, and this has resulted in two of the traits we’ve seen. First is a sense of entitlement, that he deserves a better position than the basic “Entertain and Nothing Else” role he plays at Sterling Cooper. Second, though, is a constant desire to prove himself as to the expectations of family, and more importantly those who judge his family. He’s got a legacy to live up to, and it’s a reason (but not an excuse) for his desperation to survive on his own.

And really, although Don Draper wouldn’t be happy to hear about it, Pete is a younger version of Don Draper: he’s someone who has something to hide, who tends to use his history and his past as a reason for some of his more reckless behaviour. Just as we empathize with but don’t condone Draper’s infidelity, we can’t quite condemn Pete after seeing the rest of his life. Pressure to marry and improve his work position lead to his near firing, but he can only watch as patronage is the only thing keeping him alive and sheltered: his wife’s patronage provides money for an apartment, and his family name keeps his job after he goes behind Don’s back with a pitch.

Vincent Kartheiser gives a great performance in the episode, so it’s a pity that he is too much of an unknown to make it into Emmy contention. He gives Pete that hateful edge that makes him a villain to a character like Peggy, but also enough charm to see why Peggy would bed him and why he’s good at his job. I loved his speech about how, before coming to Sterling Cooper, no one had ever so quickly downgraded his talents to being “good with people.” He’s not ungrateful, per se, just concerned of his life remaining defined on someone else’s idea of success or talent. That’s a legitimate concern, in my books, even if Pete really needs to learn a better way to express it.

The episode’s only other real storyline, however, is hard to express: what is there to say, precisely, about little Glen Bishop’s creepy obsession with Betty Draper? The babysitting trip out of the Twilight Zone, complete with his urination spectation and his desire for a lock of her hair, is really abstract at the moment. We can presume that Betty is fairly crazy to give him that lock of hair, but we don’t really yet know why she would do that. If she was just doing it to get rid of him that’s one thing, but not giving it to him would have been just as easy - there’s something more at play here, and it will begin to pay off in later episodes (Although the boy himself won’t be back for a while).

The storyline also gave us a bit more insight into the Kennedy/Nixon battle currently ongoing, one that Sterling Cooper wants a part in and that Helen Bishop introduces to Betty. Really, the introduction is for us: Betty immediately concedes her vote to her husband’s will (such an obedient wife), so she won’t have any part when we get to “Kennedy v. Nixon” later in the season.

Cultural Observations

• That Trudy is the one who Pete gets to tell the story of his family history is one of my favourite moments in the episode, demonstrating how much Pete will never be able to escape his past now that his wife has both introduced a new connection and (more importantly) someone who believes in the hype so to speak. His quest to define himself is nowhere near over, and watching this episode again has put a lot of that into further perspective.
• Next on the docket: “5G,” where we learn more about Donald Draper and Pete Campbell, and where their desperation begins to show through the cracks.

“Spit Take”

July 3rd, 2008

Sorry for being a bit missing in action these past few days (And for the weekend) - I’m home for the weekend celebrating a birthday (Happy Birthday, Mom!) and associating with a new operating system on my shiny new MacBook, and as a result my television viewing (and writing) is taking a back seat.

But not so much enough to avoid a series I’ve gotten a bit hooked on. After last week’s episode kind of didn’t click for me, this week is a chance for the series to re-engage with its recurring storylines and fall at least somewhat back into its old routine: allow the secondary characters who are one-dimensional to act as such, while the ones with depth are given more material to work with.

“Spit Take” is that type of episode, where Jim Gaffigan’s Andy is given a new side (Albeit a somewhat sketchy one), and where Bobby’s next step with Elsa returns to the idea of PJ inviting Bobby along to Italy for some sort of romantic connection. If last week felt like a sitcom, this feels right: an episode about the live of a whole host of individuals, and not just those contrived moments they intersect.

The real story here is Andy’s new friend Jo - and it’s without an e, which means that she’s a woman. She’s been billed as a friend for a while, and a good friend, but the lack of bromance in favour of strong, improv-filled work relationship is worrying to everyone around him. It’s a brief little note, but when Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) is playing the role, you at least know that shenanigans are afoot.

Gaffigan is always given the real storylines: marriage issues, suburban scenarios, and now infidelity or thereabouts. The show does need to occasionally lay some of this on its other characters, in this episode reduced to one-note jokes and little else, but Gaffigan is so deft at handling it that I can’t complain too loudly. We get only a glimpse of it here, an all too courteous attitude and a dialogue all their own, but combined with the lack of gender information provided in previous comments there’s definitely a sign that the show is heading in this direction.

But like all half hour comedies that like to balance storylines like this, you don’t get much of that story in this episode - instead, it’s Bobby and Elsa’s sudden engagement that gets attention. It’s the usual scenario: Green Card is needed, Bobby is smitten, and we have ourselves a moral dilemma. That the show did relate it to PJ’s previous relationship with Bobby is smart, although it doesn’t really go anywhere: the two have never really sparker romantically, so the chances of them falling into it now seems unlikely.

And considering that the episode ends with PJ, drafted to talk him out of it, agreeing that he is following a logical path, perhaps this was meant as a final beat for their “will they, won’t they?” scenario? PJ’s romantic situation is always a tough card for the show, especially when we consider that none of her romantic conquests have really clicked and (most importantly) Brendan and Bobby are mostly off limits. This seems to cross Bobby off the lift, so she really needs a new trajectory quickly.

The big issue with the episode is actually that these storylines are the only things going on: Andy’s Improv class mostly serves as a location for this action, but we also have Mike playing the jerk (Which is as schticky, but solid, as it usually is), Kenny’s new girlfriend Beth, and Dr. Brando doing some self-diagnosis for Shingles of all things. It was all very sitcom-y, and I think some of it could have easily been excised to make way for some meat to the Elsa/Jo storylines.

But, compared to last week, this is the right path: sitcom is not a bad thing, but it is when it stops all serial development dead in the water. This time around, things were firing on a few more cylinders, and I’m really interested to see how the rest of the season progresses.

Cultural Observations

• I know Stephanie is a cast member, but why do we care about her book? And how did she sell so many copies of the book in a failing book market that wouldn’t so quickly buy into a cliche tapped too much already? It’s an odd way to spend time if it isn’t going to turn into anything either really funny or really dramatically helpful.
• The first scene really bothered me, since it wrote Kenny as Mike and Mike as Kenny - there, Kenny was too stupid to get Stephanie’s book title, but I thought it was fairly simply stated in the show’s rules that Kenny is smarter than Mike is. The show has had issues with this in the past, and while I don’t want to typecast the characters too much I do think that such ridiculous malfunctions might be an issue.

[As the Top 10 Comedy and Drama series contenders have been released, and since Gold Derby has been kind enough to grab us the episode titles, I'm going through each submission judging its quality and its potential on the panel. Today, it's time to delve into one of last summer's most high profile series, and one with a lot of Emmy buzz.]

Damages (FX)

Episode: “Pilot”

Synopsis: Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) is a high-powered attorney who is known for her cutthroat behaviour and her cruel tactics; Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) is a young attorney right out of law school who finds herself becoming tangled in her web. Opening with a bloody Ellen walking the streets, the episode flashes between that terrifying future and the start of it all as Ellen and Patty both get caught up in a civil case with Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson).

My Thoughts: Damages is not a perfect series - it ends up with serious narrative problems that shouldn’t have happened in a short thirteen episode season, and while it ends with a flourish it never quite lives up to the pilot’s potential.

But this pilot is full of potential, and is pretty close to perfect.

The pilot is smart in that it doesn’t rely on Glenn Close and Ted Danson, the show’s certifiable stars. Using Ellen as our eyes and ears, both to the future tragedy and the present madness, we get the right picture of this: Hewes & Associates is supposed to be overwhelming, and our view of her journey is built nicely by the flashforwards displaying someone who has clearly been through some type of struggle. You get sucked into the story of what Ellen did, how it involves this case and these characters - the flashforwards are never too precious (Outside of the green trenchcoat purchase), and they do a fine job of building tension and suspense.

The series was always chock full of great portrayals (Four of the actors made the Top 10 lists for good reason), and the performances here are right on target: Close, Byrne and Danson all do great work of slowly introducing us to these characters. I left the episode desperate to see what happens next, but in a way that wasn’t done with really broad questions but subtle ones. There is no deus ex machina plotting, but rather some subtle twists here and there that allow for us to learn a lot about each character without ever knowing everything. We’re compelled by all of their characters, but not to the point where we’re willing to stereotype them into a particular role.

So as a series, I’ve got a bone to pick with parts of Damages, but as a pilot? I really don’t know if I have anything to complain about.

Panel Potential: This is the perfect panel episode - it offers a self-contained story with multiple twists, plenty of dramatic work from actors they recognize, and most importantly a plot that feels meaningful. Some episodes screened for critics can feel too much like pieces of a puzzle where you have no picture, a confusing prospect for voters. Instead, here you have a story where the puzzle seems very small before growing in size at episode’s end.

The pilot also has a lot of slick elements, from its direction to its writing. Some have compared it to a movie, and I’ll buy that comparison - it’s just a strong piece of dramatic television, and that’s the ideal type of episode to show people sitting through a bunch of shows they’ve never seen before.

Overall: The series has clearly performed well in the popular vote for four actors and the series to break into the Top 10s, and this pilot will only help their case: it’s a fantastic episode that will guarantee a nomination. I’m not sure whether it has the tapes beyond this point to win the Emmy compared to other potential nominees, but rest assured that its name will be announced on July 17th.

Next Up: Either a look at Family Guy’s surprising inclusion or Dexter’s “Dark Defender.”

The Top 10 Pleasant Surprises of the Top 10s

[If I was currently wearing a hat, I would take it off in honour of Tom O'Neill's continued amazing work gathering up leaks in regards to the Top 10 lists of semi-finalists for the Emmy Awards panels taking place over the next few weeks. While he doesn't have the complete list, I'm willing to go out and indicate the 10 choices (In no particular order, but the top 2 probably are) that actually make me optimistic about the show's relevancy (Before, admittedly, taking a look tomorrow at the ones that give me no hope at all).]

1. Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica)

Category: Lead Actress, Drama Series

Last year when writing up my For Your Consideration posts, I said the following about Mary McDonnell’s work as President Laura Roslin on my favourite Sci-Fi series:

“What I love about Mary McDonnell’s portrayal of the character is that, without fail, you are always rooting for Laura Roslin to succeed except for those moments where she is clearly wrong. In those cases, McDonnell makes you want to see Roslin get let down as easily as possible, in order to ensure that she isn’t too damaged in the process.”

This is even more true this season, where her character finds her cancer back and where a whole new perspective is reached. Her performance in “Faith” is heart-wrenching, and that panels will finally get to see an episode of this fantastic series in the Top 10 warms my frakking heart. This is one of those surprises that gives you faith that the Emmys are willing to recognize performances off the beaten path, if you will, and they don’t get much better than this.

2. Zeljko Ivanek (Damages)

Category: Supporting Actor, Drama Series

When previewing this category, I lamented the likely lack of recognition for Damages other supporting actor contender:

“While he seemed fairly minimal in most instance, sparring with Patty or reasoning with Frobisher, Ivanek burst into the main narrative with “I Hate These People.” Without falling into total spoiler territory, the character took a sudden turn to the tragic, a dramatic fall that was more compelling than anything the other supporting characters went through.”

That he broke through was a highlight for me, a sign that people were watching all of Damages and not just the show’s pilot. Ivanek may have had accent issues, and certainly the show wasn’t near perfect, but his performance in his submission is simply stunning, and I can only hope voters enjoy the time they have with this amazing piece of work.

3. Christina Hendricks (Mad Men)

Category: Supporting Actress, Drama Series

While I’m upset about an exclusion from the same show in this category, which I’ll get to tomorrow, how can I begrudge the fantastic Christina Hendricks from a surprise and well-earned slot? Her showy role is never too showy, always walking that line between manipulative and powerless that the position entails. Joan as a character is in control of a lot of things, but most importantly she knows when to hold back that control (Mainly with the men in her life, so as to seduce them more easily). In a show that prides itself on creating a realistic canvas on which to portray these characters, Hendricks has done perhaps the best job in the entire cast of blending into her background while maintaining the center of attention whenever she’s on screen - and that’s a worthy performance.

4. Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights)

Category: Lead Actor, Drama Series

Out of the entire Friday Night Lights cast, Kyle Chandler is the biggest name, so it’s perhaps not a surprise that he made this year’s Top 10 list. However, considering that no one else in the cast made their respective lists, I continue to be very pleased that his understated but powerful performance is being recognized. The show leaned on Chandler a lot this season, but it never quite gave him the material he had in the show’s amazing first run. Still, his submitted episode is a powerhouse performance where (for maybe the first time all season) he takes control of his team and his players in a way that will resonate with voters. Here’s hoping that the real surprise is that he ranked fairly highly, although it seems a bit of a stretch.

5. Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies)

Category: Lead Actress, Comedy Series

She’s British, she’s almost completely unknown, and other than a surprise Golden Globe nomination she has no award track record. So, it’s delightful to see that Anna Friel was able to crack the Top 10 list for Lead Actress. It’s not the world’s most competitive category, but that she made it over Teri Hatcher demonstrates that Emmy’s commitment to quality and new performers is not wholly missing this time around. Friel is ever-so charming as Chuck, and her handling of the show’s rapid fire dialogue and witicisms deserves attention. I’ll be curious to see how her non-pilot submission goes over with the panel, but that she’s in the race is a beacon of hope.

6. Jack McBrayer (30 Rock)

Category: Supporting Actor, Comedy Series

When 30 Rock picked up the Emmy last year for Outstanding Comedy Series, it was a fantastic decision - the spinoff, though, is still happening, as McBrayer’s great performance as Kenneth the Page has found its way into the Top 10. While it isn’t the biggest surprise in the world, it is certainly a pleasant one: it’s a great character, and this is yet another non-name performer who has shown his comic chops and earned his spot based on the show’s success. Tracy Morgan is the bigger name, and for both to make the list is a good sign for the Emmys’ willingness to spot talent (even if they had to have the series win a major award for them to open their eyes).

7. Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men)

Category: Lead Actress, Drama Series

Elisabeth Moss is a charming young actress who spent the last half of Mad Men in fat makeup, a fact that in a way made me forget how great she was. With the other lead actress in the category submitting in supporting, doing so in lead was dangerous but worthwhile: she breaks into a competitive Top 10 besting well-knowns like Calista Flockhart, and it’s deserving. Peggy is an optimist, someone who wants more than what she has, and Moss gave her just the right eagerness without coming across as too needy or pathetic. It’s a fantastic character, and Moss deserves as much recognition as she can muster.

8. Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program)

Category: Lead Actress, Comedy Series

This one just makes my mind hurt: dirty-mouthed, foul Sarah Silverman breaks into Lead Actress Comedy (And, reportedly, the runoff for Guest Actress for her turn on Monk)? It’s a bizarre choice that reflects that there are some young people voting for these awards after all, and perhaps that frakking Matt Damon has its perks beyond, well, you know.

9. Justin Kirk (Weeds)

Category: Supporting Actor, Comedy Series

This isn’t a huge surprise (Kirk got serious awards attention for his turn in Angels in America, and has been close in the past), but it is kind of surprising with a tough category and compared to a few who got left off the list. He didn’t have much to do in Weeds’ third season, and his submission is the at least mildly funny end to his military storyline that just went absolutely nowhere, but I like having his name here: he’s doing some great work in the fouth season, and I want to keep him around.

10. Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)

Category: Lead Actor, Drama Series

He’s a dark horse to be sure, but Cranston has successfully switched from comedy (Malcolm in the Middle) to drama attention for this turn in AMC’s other new series. It’s a great sign that people are paying more attention to the network after Mad Men’s success, and that powerful performances are still being recognized by voters in this day and age.

11. Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live)

Category: Supporting Actress, Comedy

Say what you will about Saturday Night Live’s quality, but it’s a telltale sign to its popularity that one of its castmembers was able to squeak into a race after they were allowed this year to submit in these categories vs. individual performance. While part of me values Kristen Wiig’s involvement more than Poehler’s these days, it’s still great to see a talented comic performer on television break into the category - her Hilary Clinton should at least get some laughs, if not a nomination, in the panels.

So, there’s my list, now it’s your turn: out of the lists I’ll post to below, who are the candidates you’re most pleased to see make the ballot?

Best drama actor — CLICK HERE
Best drama actress — CLICK HERE
Best supporting drama actor — CLICK HERE
Best supporting drama actress — CLICK HERE
Best comedy actress — CLICK HERE
Best supporting comedy actor — CLICK HERE

Best supporting comedy actress — CLICK HERE
Best guest comedy actress — CLICK HERE

Learning that ABC Family was airing a new series, I was of two minds. On the one hand, it’s ABC Family - a network not exactly known for its high-class programming. On the other hand, I’ve been enjoying their fare as of late - I was a big fan of Greek which had its season finale a few weeks back, and I’m slowly but surely going to be posting Middleman commentary in time (And I’m quite enjoying it as well). So, figuring that I should at least give their latest series a try, I dug in.

What I found, however, is that the network is not the issue here: airing on ABC Family is no longer a curse, but Brenda Hampton certainly is. Best known for her eons-long stint running 7th Heaven, one of my most hated shows of all time, she brings to The Secret Life of the American Teenager a bag of tricks so lifeless and emotionless as to emaciate any interest the series could have driven. The show looks, feels, like 7th Heaven, and while it isn’t quite as preachy that seems more like pilot sins that will later be repented.

What Teenager lacks is what Greek had: for all of the show’s stereotypical storylines and love triangles and everything else, it was willing to treat all of it with both a sense of humour and a sense of respect. While there is some humour in the show’s first episode, and I think that it does respect a few of its characters, the former is isolated to one character and the latter is only created through hackneyed bait-and-switch mechanics. At the end of the day, there’s a central secret, but it doesn’t have any of the life that its title alludes to.

I won’t spend too much time recounting its numerous failures, but for the most part the biggest one is that the performance of the show’s central character just isn’t good. I’m not saying that Amy (Shailene Woodley) is an unredeemable character, but she bland to the point of nothingness: she went to the 7th Heaven school of acting, which does no one any favours unless they’re playing a more emotional role. For someone going through a teen pregnancy, her emotions are downright strange: she’s anxious, a little spaced out, but we don’t see any of the more extreme emotions that you’d expect someone to feel. Not seeing those kind of robs us of a chance to empathize with her character; instead, I just kind of pondered how unrealistic that reaction can be when it was never attributed to shock (An explanation that would have made her character far more interesting).

And with a better actress, not to fully discredit Woodley, I think the part could go somewhere: unfortunately, the script doesn’t even give Woodley anything to work with, with its long glances at the child’s father or her horror at hot dogs entering into buns at the post-game party, so an actress would need more experience to make it something to relate to. While the comparisons to Juno are always going to be unfair, what Ellen Page brought to Juno (even beneath the <!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>
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colloquialisms) was something who was forced to mature too fast and was having issues with it. Here, we don’t see anything that gives us a window into how this character is really affected, and it hurts.

Especially when the other characters all essentially get better characterization, which seems odd considering the scenario. Yes, they’re all horrible cliches, but at least they feel fully formed. Grace and Jack’s “Waiting for Marriage” storyline is as predictable as they get, but we get the full story: Grace is waiting, Jack’s willing to wait, but he’s also really horny. I don’t necessarily like either character, but I get a better sense of who they are. Similarly, I cared more about Ben’s two asian friends, whose names I don’t even know, than I did for Amy by the end of the pilot.

And this gets worse when you consider Ben and Kenny both, two characters that get either a lot of time to establish their characters or an intricate back story to explain their behaviour. Amy’s home life is awkward, sure (Plus, it has Molly Ringwald in it!), but it’s nothing when we compare it to Kenny’s sexually molestive father that has left him with serious sexual issues (Hence his promiscuous ways, including with Amy). Yes, it’s a highly manipulative way to avoid having a villain (Like 7th Heaven, the show will likely never show someone as just mean for no reason), but at least it’s a perspective.

Similarly, with Ben, he’s just charming; if there’s a character in the show who’s interesting on his own right, it’s Kenny Baumann’s take on a fast-talking, horny (Yes, everyone is horny in this world) kid who’s really a romantic at heart. It’s plenty simplistic, but I like the kid: he’s smart, he’s charming, and if the other actors were delivering Hampton’s tired dialogue with his energy I think the show could improve tenfold.

But they’re not, and the show depends on this changing - I don’t think I’ll have the patience to stick around, but if I was it would be based mostly on the fact that eventually Amy will have to tell her parents she’s pregnant, and that perhaps in that moment real emotion can be found and the show’s trajectory can be altered. But if they are going to drag this out as far as possible, the show is on the wrong track: they’re using what should be the core event of the series as a cultural catalyst for teenage sex in general, and when I care more about that then the main character’s teen pregnancy something needs to change.

For now, it’s just the channel.

Cultural Observations

• Molly Ringwald doesn’t do much here in the first episode, and to be frank? It was pretty bad. I’m not saying it’s her fault, the dialogue is painful to listen to, but Molly Ringwald should not be cracking Kim Jong Il jokes, nor should anyone else on this show outside of Ben. It just doesn’t work.
• I couldn’t help but be reminded during the family scenes of how much I enjoyed the early episodes of Aliens in America before I grew tired of the series. In fact, I might finish it out at some point if only to get a better and more interesting glimpse into high school life from that CW series.
• I’d be curious to see where they take the Guidance Counselor - do they go the route of Dawson’s Creek, or the underlying sexual tension of Six Feet Under, or leave him as the admittedly quite good sounding board for Ben and others? Regardless, only time will tell.

“Episode Five”

June 30th, 2008

First off, happy Canada Day to my Canadian bretheren! I’ve been out for the day, but wanted to get a chance to catch up on the summer’s most high quality reality series that in recent weeks has been working extremely well. I won’t say it’s on the level of the other seasons of the series, but there is something that feels right about the overall purpose of the series. Or, felt right.

In this episode, it’s all about the psychological on first glance: the first task is entirely mental, demonstrating the emotional breakdown of a contestant who was once most confident in his game. The second task, though, seemed like it was about ingenuity or will but ended up being a giant mind game that demonstrates that these players are really just spoiled children.  It was an episode that showed these players at their worst, and while I saw semblances of the real story for the most part it was just reality show drivel that needs to stop.

And hopefully, as the game wittles down, it might - but losing one of the sane people isn’t going to help much.

The first task is a solid exercise in trust, or more aptly in testing the contestants’ willingness to abandon the group mentality in favour of an exemption. This season’s biggest issue is how often it has been willing to toss an exemption into the mix, something that happens much too often (Although apparently half of the players have no idea who the Mole is, so maybe they’re necessary?). That the game was a constant battle between a will for an exemption and the money in the pot makes it perfect sabotage or, in the end of the mission, a difficult choice between the social game and the game itself.

And the unfortunate thing about the second half of the episode is that it was exactly the same situation: Craig was quite literally given an exemption after the ludicrous task wherein he was given the opportunity to embarass and destroy his fellow players. The issue is that both of these tasks were all about bringing out the worst of these contestants, rather than actually displaying their intelligence or lack thereof within various tasks. The tasks did nothing to test these players in anything but their anger management skills.

And that’s the part of the show that feels the most off compared to previous years: I don’t know if it’s that reality show casting has changed that much, but these players just seem to hate each other. And while I think that eventually, when we learn the Mole’s identity, some of this may come into perspective, for now it’s just annoying. Clay and Paul’s ridiculous fight was quite frankly one of the lowest moments in the show’s history, a pathetic display by both men. Paul was being his usual ridiculous self, but Clay was being even more ridiculous: his explanation of why he threw a lemon at Paul was something along the lines of “I was trying to increase the shock factor,” at which point I question his decision making processes.

It’s just annoying at this stage: we get that these people are kind of awful to each other, but why must the game play into that? I actually thought that there was some really interesting character stuff in the episode, like Mark’s complicated new game play strategy or news that Kristen was taking the test focusing on one individual (A certain portend of her eventual doom as soon as she uttered it), but the editing and the game are focusing so heavily on the other parts of the game that they don’t seem to matter anymore. It wasn’t that bitchy gameplay that caused Kristen to be eliminated, but rather different strategies and a single second between her and another one of our contestants. The game needs to realize this, and adjust accordingly.

And this was a step back as a whole: not only did it have the wrong view, but it even had a task that the contestants mutinied against. It would have been an easy fix: say that Craig was selected at random based on a particular word (Which his use of does raise his profile as a potential Mole), but don’t reveal what it was or what it gets him. Then, privately (key part of this), tell him that before selecting the various tasks he should know that if all three teams fail to make it he gets an exemption. It’s similar to the task from Season One, where Charlie and Kate are offered exemptions if they kept Jim’s team from getting to the right destination - there’s an exemption at stake, but not all of the players know about it, and they might actually be willing to do the challenge.

The challenge was poorly conceived as it was: Walking on stilts for five miles? Or riding a unicycle of all things? It was built too much for the person with the exemption to perform well, although I’m guessing Alex and Mark probably could have made it if not for Mark’s mole-like behaviour. It just frustrates me that the episode was bad enough as it was in terms of how it portrayed these people, and then the producers had to make a fatal error and rob us of a task in the process.

So, a step back for The Mole; the ratings won’t be garnering a return after this point, so hopefully the show can step up as it heads towards its finale.

Cultural Observations

• At this point, I’m ready to call Paul and Alex this season’s equivalent to Jim and Steven. Not only are they both playing some of the better games (ignoring Paul’s douchebaggery), but they have this weird control over everything and a really smart strategy on Alex’s part never to actively make a decision. So he’s Steve to Paul’s Jim…and I’m really sorry to Jim for that comparison.
• The question, though, is who is their Kathryn? I’m still torn on who the Mole is, but I’d say that Craig, Mark and Clay all remain suspects. This leaves only Nicole on the outskirts as someone who has been too outrageous to be The Mole, and if she’s actually playing the quiz by averages she’s going to have to keep on her toes as the weeks wear on.