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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the latest episodes of Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel's Avengers: Secret Wars, Big Hero 6: The Series, The Simpsons, Family Guy, The Good Place, The Last Man On Earth, and Ghosted, and the season finale of Van Helsing.
Star Trek: Discovery "Despite Yourself"
Admittedly, that was a great seeming episode, and possibly the series' best so far. But did they REALLY need to kill off Hugh Culber? Did they REALLY need to destroy Star Trek's first major same sex couple that way? I am excited for what will happen next in the Mirror Universe. But the Discovery producers don't seem to understand their responsibility to the futuristic humanity of the series, if they cannot see why killing off such a major gay character is such a mistake. It would be about as bad as if Sisko died a pointless death in the middle of DS9's first season.
I wonder who the Emperor is. On Enterprise, it was Hoshi, but we never met the version from TOS. I suspect it's someone we know, and I suspect it's someone we know from this show. The safe guess is Georgiou. Just because that would especially mess Burnham up.
I am unsurprised Tilly is the bad@$$ scary captain in the Mirror Universe. Because that's the Mirror Universe. It is pretty much inconvenient for everyone involved. The Mirror Universe does not just ruin the lives of its inhabitants. It makes them MUCH more difficult for people who just encounter it. That's the Mirror Universe in a nutshell.
I hope they have a reason Kirk and the DS9 crew never heard of this particular Discovery adventure. Maybe it was classified by Section 31? TBD...
I feel less bad for Lorca in the Agonizer than I might have for any other character. Just the way he treated poor Culber says he does not have his crew's best interest at heart.
I liked Lorca seeming to do a Scotty impression. It was quite convincing.
I almost loved the episode. But this show and Hugh just turned the Star Trek producers into Russell T Davies. And NO sci-fi franchise should want to turn into Russell T Davies for any reason. ****.
Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Fun & Games"
Fitz returning basically saved the entire season. Things are still dire, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The bad guys no longer have every single advantage. I am sad both Tess and Ben died, but on the other hand, the fewer people in the future SHIELD has to protect, the easier their mission will be. I think forming attachments to people who might not even exist if the future is prevented is probably not the smartest or most emotionally healthy thing to do in this scenario.
I'm a little shocked Kasius and Sinara went out so easily after being billed as the Big Bads of the season, but it's not like they weren't totally sucky people who deserved worse. I'll live with the show getting rid of it's only two current passable villains. Maybe some next ones will be more worthy. Sinara was having none of Kasius' game plan at the end, and it's too bad she stuck with him for as long as she did. She might not have even been in the arena had she picked a better ally.
Both endings were great this episode. I do not know if the season will ultimately redeem itself. But this episode says that it is possible. And I hope to God that's true. I do not enjoy hating this show the way I enjoy hating Gotham. Every bad episode actually hurts a little bit. I'm glad things are getting back on track. ****1/2.
Avengers: Secret Wars "The Eye Of Agamotto: Part One"
Black Panther breaking Mordo's staff was so dumb. What if it hadn't fixed Cap's weakened state? Cap might have been stuck that way forever. I really hate the "break the magical object so things go back to normal" trope so much because nobody who does it can possibly know it will work ahead of time. **.
Avengers: Secret Wars "The Eye Of Agamotto: Part Two"
God, I've missed Hulk. I love that he's gained enough control and stability to turn back into Banner whenever it suits him. That is so cool, and was probably the smartest thing anyone did in the episode. Loved him teaching Doctor Strange to smash at the end too.
The animation was unusually good this episode too. I'm not a huge action scene fan, but even I could tell the animation was smoother than it used to be.
The second part was really good. ****1/2. Two-Part Average: ***1/2.
Big Hero 6 "Baymax And Honey Lemon"
Cute! Oh no! ****.
The Simpsons "Haw-Haw Land"
You know what? I don't care if the quality of this episode is above average. I'm sick of this show giving 8 year old girls dating problems. I mean, come on. If you are going to explore that, at least has the common decency to age up the characters. I really do not need to hear Lisa Simpson plan who she is going to have children with. I mean, for real. Enough.
I like that Nelson gets Jimbo, Kearney, and Dolph to be his back-up band to serenade Lisa. Forget how creepy this plot actually is for a second. Were I Lisa, I would have picked Nelson solely because he's the only one putting in the effort. A guy willing to work on a relationship is more valuable than one who skirts by on easy charm. Every time.
I laughed at Wiggum yelling at Ralph to give him back his hat. After seeing Ralph with the gun, I'm wondering if there is literally any scenario the writers could place him in that is not totally adorable. The writers always claim on the commentaries that writing proper Ralph lines and catchphrases is actually really hard. But unlike writing for Marge (which is similarly hard for the writers) they never seem to screw it up.
Bart getting into chemistry is less implausible than it sounds. Kids go through all sorts of fads and phases, and some of them are dumber and smarter than others. My magic phase as a kid was definitely a smarter hobby than my collection of character erasers and puffy magnets. And some kids briefly get into chemistry because blowing stuff up is fun. I buy this being true for Bart.
But still, I appreciated Homer checking with Marge that they were actually doing this, and going to a talent show with Bart doing chemistry. It's sort of a meta joke at the series' expense for running out of believable plots, but it's also an example of Homer being a good and uncommonly cunning parent, which is pretty much the facet of Homer I love most. Homer's amazing parenthood didn't really start until the later years, but it's always been his most interesting facet (his song-writing talent is number two). I do not get the complaints about Jerk@$$ Homer. At all. The truth is Homer is far more layered and interesting now (not to mention nicer) than he was in the first three seasons.
God, this show is tiring with the kid romances. I used to complain all the time about Marge and Homer's marriage blowing up every other week, and Al Jean has mostly strayed away from that recently. But he seems to have traded one completely misguided plot obsession with another.
At least this wasn't The Bonfire Of The Manatees, which shows the show is at least making the best of Jean's sucky obsessions. ***1/2.
Family Guy "Boy (Dog) Meets Girl (Dog)"
That was exasperating. I am seriously annoyed.
Fun Fact: "Brian Wallows And Peter Swallows" is a fan favorite episode of the Original 50. I cannot stand it. I always thought the romance between Brian and Pearl was super gross. I kind of tolerated Brian falling in love with Lois and going on various dates with human women because there was no sex involved. But once Brian takes Pearl into the bedroom with the VR machine I lost my lunch.
Little did I know that bestiality was simply going to be a facet of Brian I would have to tolerate week in and week out upon the show's return. It is majorly creepy and puke-inducing that human women actually screw a dog on the show, and nobody ever really points out how majorly creepy and puke-inducing that is.
So finally, Brian gets a long overdue dog girlfriend and the writers go out of their way to show that his most natural girlfriend ever is pretty much the most awkward and uncomfortable sex Brian has ever had. And that drives me absolutely crazy. They are trying to normalize Brian having sex with actual women so they can keep going back to the idea, and point out why it's better women than dogs if anyone still has a problem with it. Well, I still have a problem with it, and a badly written, unlikely scenario is not going to change my mind.
Quick question: Name the Family Guy fan who likes the episodes where Brian has dating problems with human women. Oh, you can't find any? That's because that particular Family Guy fan does not exist. Maybe instead of the show trying to justify going back to the least favorite recycled plot in the entire franchise, despite the fact that everyone hates "Brian in love" episodes, they should just simply come up with a different story idea. Craziness. I know. But then I think the idea of the writers repeatedly going back to Conway Twitty as a prank on the viewer is ill-advised as well, so it is very clear I (and other Family Guy fans) have very different ideas of what makes a good television episode than the writers do.
I'm not even really going to get into the Chris and Arthur Valentine thing, except to say that Lois' plan to kill the character was unusually dumb, even for a dimwit like her. That doesn't actually solve the problem of Chris being gullible and naïve. They are merely putting off having to deal with the fact that their son is outright stupid directly. It is unusually bad parenting, even for Lois.
Lois states that all mothers have killed someone. If that is true, my question is, how does Lois know that? Is this a regular topic of discussion at Tupperware parties and book clubs? This male is curious to know.
The only thing in the episode I liked was Joe's mildly annoyed reaction to his mother dying. It was the most inappropriate reaction ever, and the most appropriate one ever at the exact same time.
God, this show is disgusting, even when it actually shouldn't be. *.
The Good Place "Leap To Faith"
When Michael started to cry in relief that his friends were safe and trusted him I appreciated the stakes for the first time ever. I thought I did before, but I was underselling them. And I thought before tonight that this show's actual stakes are pretty much higher than anything currently on television (with the possible exception of Doctor Who and Torchwood et al). But they are even higher than I realized.
Before tonight I thought this was a trial by fire for Eleanor, Chiti, Jason, and Tahani. But Michael is an equal part of that trial, and he may have the hardest role of all. If the humans are caught they WILL get tortured for all eternity. If Michael is caught, I think his punishment will be far worse. And he risked that for people he cares greatly about who probably (Eleanor excepted) don't actually care about him. This is a big deal for him, and he might be the person struggling most with personal growth in the entire series. We had been led to believe the personal redemption character was Eleanor from the very first episode. But truthfully, it was kind of easy for her to become a worthwhile human being. Michael being willing to risk everything for his friends is a far biggest personal accomplishment.
Derek the sex robot and cocaine: The Medium Place never had it so good.
I love the idea that Michael left over a thousand clues and only expected the human mind to pick up on a couple. Because when Eleanor is sussing stuff out she seems smart. Until we realize she totally isn't.
Over a thousand clues is overkill in my mind though. Simply because Michael's boss could have deciphered some of them. Michael seems to think his boss is dumber than Eleanor and he hasn't been proven wrong yet.
This show is blowing through ten seasons worth of mythology in 22 episodes so far. I don't see how it continues at this break-neck pace, but it's sustained this long, and I am willing to go with it until it settles into a proper rut. But it's kind of amazing what this show has done with just two 13 episode seasons. ****1/2.
The Last Man On Earth "Karl"
I pretty much hated everything about Karl, even before it was revealed he was a serial killer. I didn't think there could be any character on this show I'd hate more than Pat, but Karl qualifies.
He also states something definitive about The Virus. It is not supernatural. It is not Biblical. It is not God and Satan thinning out the herd for a last Stand of good versus evil a la Stephen King. There are better and more worthy sociopaths than Karl to survive the end of the world. The biggest reason I know that the Virus is not God or Satan's design is because I think Randall Flagg would think a guy who talks about boils and offers to share soup on the first date is beneath him. Karl makes Harold Lauder seem freaking worthy by comparison.
I am not going to like the next few weeks. But stuff like this is necessary and the way the show sustains the premise. There IS one good thing about Karl though, and if you think about it, it's his only virtue. Don't you think he'd make a perfect victim of the exploding puzzle box? I sure do. ***1/2.
Ghosted "Snatcher"
The stuff with Max, Leroy, and Annie was pretty standard, but I was a little more interested in the stuff with Barry and Lafrey. I kind of got Barry for the first time. Barry is never successful at anything unless he never expected to be, or unless it completely backfires on him. Barry is not allowed to have nice things. And I kind of think that distinguishes him from other losers like Jerry from Parks and Rec.
There was an average episode though. No denying that. **1/2.
Van Helsing "Black Days"
I suspect this season finale will be very polarizing with viewers. Some will love it and some will absolutely hate it. Put me in the second camp. It was a trainwreck.
I suppose the show completely subverted my expectations of only having two cast members present, and Vanessa appearing at the end, but this is a season finale. I don't care what show it is, it should not be this small-scale. I guess maybe a basic cable drama would benefit from something this intimate to leave things off. But not a freaking genre action show.
I personally think this was the make or break episode of the series. And they broke it. Just the fact that they didn't unite all of the disparate plot elements that progressed throughout the season tells me this show has little going on. Dracula still hasn't been mentioned by name, although I'd be surprised if that is not the name no-one is allowed to speak. But ultimately this is not an epic end of the world apocalyptic struggle. It's basically a bunch of gross vampire debauchery masquerading as a science fiction series. I'd almost call it a horror series, but it isn't actually scary. All of the violence is just plain gross, not actually frightening. And if all the show is all gross-outs and is not leading anywhere bigger and better, I can safely say this show is a total failure. I get Neil La Bute isn't exactly known for genre, but he is known for delivering good, dramatic movies. And Van Helsing underwhelms on every level, especially considering he wrote the finale.
About the only "interesting" thing was learning Scab's backstory. The fact that it was underwhelming was pretty much the only thing that felt RIGHT being mundane. Everything else seemed disappointing. Vanessa won't even get to meet her mother. It's just badly constructed television. It's not basic cable daring. It's basic cable cheap. And I didn't really think that until this episode.
Sam is still a great villain, and I expect we'll eventually hear from Dracula. But this episode was a turning point, much like Heroes' first season finale, the one where I got the sense that La Bute has no idea what he is doing. *.
Star Trek: Discovery "Despite Yourself"
Admittedly, that was a great seeming episode, and possibly the series' best so far. But did they REALLY need to kill off Hugh Culber? Did they REALLY need to destroy Star Trek's first major same sex couple that way? I am excited for what will happen next in the Mirror Universe. But the Discovery producers don't seem to understand their responsibility to the futuristic humanity of the series, if they cannot see why killing off such a major gay character is such a mistake. It would be about as bad as if Sisko died a pointless death in the middle of DS9's first season.
I wonder who the Emperor is. On Enterprise, it was Hoshi, but we never met the version from TOS. I suspect it's someone we know, and I suspect it's someone we know from this show. The safe guess is Georgiou. Just because that would especially mess Burnham up.
I am unsurprised Tilly is the bad@$$ scary captain in the Mirror Universe. Because that's the Mirror Universe. It is pretty much inconvenient for everyone involved. The Mirror Universe does not just ruin the lives of its inhabitants. It makes them MUCH more difficult for people who just encounter it. That's the Mirror Universe in a nutshell.
I hope they have a reason Kirk and the DS9 crew never heard of this particular Discovery adventure. Maybe it was classified by Section 31? TBD...
I feel less bad for Lorca in the Agonizer than I might have for any other character. Just the way he treated poor Culber says he does not have his crew's best interest at heart.
I liked Lorca seeming to do a Scotty impression. It was quite convincing.
I almost loved the episode. But this show and Hugh just turned the Star Trek producers into Russell T Davies. And NO sci-fi franchise should want to turn into Russell T Davies for any reason. ****.
Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Fun & Games"
Fitz returning basically saved the entire season. Things are still dire, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The bad guys no longer have every single advantage. I am sad both Tess and Ben died, but on the other hand, the fewer people in the future SHIELD has to protect, the easier their mission will be. I think forming attachments to people who might not even exist if the future is prevented is probably not the smartest or most emotionally healthy thing to do in this scenario.
I'm a little shocked Kasius and Sinara went out so easily after being billed as the Big Bads of the season, but it's not like they weren't totally sucky people who deserved worse. I'll live with the show getting rid of it's only two current passable villains. Maybe some next ones will be more worthy. Sinara was having none of Kasius' game plan at the end, and it's too bad she stuck with him for as long as she did. She might not have even been in the arena had she picked a better ally.
Both endings were great this episode. I do not know if the season will ultimately redeem itself. But this episode says that it is possible. And I hope to God that's true. I do not enjoy hating this show the way I enjoy hating Gotham. Every bad episode actually hurts a little bit. I'm glad things are getting back on track. ****1/2.
Avengers: Secret Wars "The Eye Of Agamotto: Part One"
Black Panther breaking Mordo's staff was so dumb. What if it hadn't fixed Cap's weakened state? Cap might have been stuck that way forever. I really hate the "break the magical object so things go back to normal" trope so much because nobody who does it can possibly know it will work ahead of time. **.
Avengers: Secret Wars "The Eye Of Agamotto: Part Two"
God, I've missed Hulk. I love that he's gained enough control and stability to turn back into Banner whenever it suits him. That is so cool, and was probably the smartest thing anyone did in the episode. Loved him teaching Doctor Strange to smash at the end too.
The animation was unusually good this episode too. I'm not a huge action scene fan, but even I could tell the animation was smoother than it used to be.
The second part was really good. ****1/2. Two-Part Average: ***1/2.
Big Hero 6 "Baymax And Honey Lemon"
Cute! Oh no! ****.
The Simpsons "Haw-Haw Land"
You know what? I don't care if the quality of this episode is above average. I'm sick of this show giving 8 year old girls dating problems. I mean, come on. If you are going to explore that, at least has the common decency to age up the characters. I really do not need to hear Lisa Simpson plan who she is going to have children with. I mean, for real. Enough.
I like that Nelson gets Jimbo, Kearney, and Dolph to be his back-up band to serenade Lisa. Forget how creepy this plot actually is for a second. Were I Lisa, I would have picked Nelson solely because he's the only one putting in the effort. A guy willing to work on a relationship is more valuable than one who skirts by on easy charm. Every time.
I laughed at Wiggum yelling at Ralph to give him back his hat. After seeing Ralph with the gun, I'm wondering if there is literally any scenario the writers could place him in that is not totally adorable. The writers always claim on the commentaries that writing proper Ralph lines and catchphrases is actually really hard. But unlike writing for Marge (which is similarly hard for the writers) they never seem to screw it up.
Bart getting into chemistry is less implausible than it sounds. Kids go through all sorts of fads and phases, and some of them are dumber and smarter than others. My magic phase as a kid was definitely a smarter hobby than my collection of character erasers and puffy magnets. And some kids briefly get into chemistry because blowing stuff up is fun. I buy this being true for Bart.
But still, I appreciated Homer checking with Marge that they were actually doing this, and going to a talent show with Bart doing chemistry. It's sort of a meta joke at the series' expense for running out of believable plots, but it's also an example of Homer being a good and uncommonly cunning parent, which is pretty much the facet of Homer I love most. Homer's amazing parenthood didn't really start until the later years, but it's always been his most interesting facet (his song-writing talent is number two). I do not get the complaints about Jerk@$$ Homer. At all. The truth is Homer is far more layered and interesting now (not to mention nicer) than he was in the first three seasons.
God, this show is tiring with the kid romances. I used to complain all the time about Marge and Homer's marriage blowing up every other week, and Al Jean has mostly strayed away from that recently. But he seems to have traded one completely misguided plot obsession with another.
At least this wasn't The Bonfire Of The Manatees, which shows the show is at least making the best of Jean's sucky obsessions. ***1/2.
Family Guy "Boy (Dog) Meets Girl (Dog)"
That was exasperating. I am seriously annoyed.
Fun Fact: "Brian Wallows And Peter Swallows" is a fan favorite episode of the Original 50. I cannot stand it. I always thought the romance between Brian and Pearl was super gross. I kind of tolerated Brian falling in love with Lois and going on various dates with human women because there was no sex involved. But once Brian takes Pearl into the bedroom with the VR machine I lost my lunch.
Little did I know that bestiality was simply going to be a facet of Brian I would have to tolerate week in and week out upon the show's return. It is majorly creepy and puke-inducing that human women actually screw a dog on the show, and nobody ever really points out how majorly creepy and puke-inducing that is.
So finally, Brian gets a long overdue dog girlfriend and the writers go out of their way to show that his most natural girlfriend ever is pretty much the most awkward and uncomfortable sex Brian has ever had. And that drives me absolutely crazy. They are trying to normalize Brian having sex with actual women so they can keep going back to the idea, and point out why it's better women than dogs if anyone still has a problem with it. Well, I still have a problem with it, and a badly written, unlikely scenario is not going to change my mind.
Quick question: Name the Family Guy fan who likes the episodes where Brian has dating problems with human women. Oh, you can't find any? That's because that particular Family Guy fan does not exist. Maybe instead of the show trying to justify going back to the least favorite recycled plot in the entire franchise, despite the fact that everyone hates "Brian in love" episodes, they should just simply come up with a different story idea. Craziness. I know. But then I think the idea of the writers repeatedly going back to Conway Twitty as a prank on the viewer is ill-advised as well, so it is very clear I (and other Family Guy fans) have very different ideas of what makes a good television episode than the writers do.
I'm not even really going to get into the Chris and Arthur Valentine thing, except to say that Lois' plan to kill the character was unusually dumb, even for a dimwit like her. That doesn't actually solve the problem of Chris being gullible and naïve. They are merely putting off having to deal with the fact that their son is outright stupid directly. It is unusually bad parenting, even for Lois.
Lois states that all mothers have killed someone. If that is true, my question is, how does Lois know that? Is this a regular topic of discussion at Tupperware parties and book clubs? This male is curious to know.
The only thing in the episode I liked was Joe's mildly annoyed reaction to his mother dying. It was the most inappropriate reaction ever, and the most appropriate one ever at the exact same time.
God, this show is disgusting, even when it actually shouldn't be. *.
The Good Place "Leap To Faith"
When Michael started to cry in relief that his friends were safe and trusted him I appreciated the stakes for the first time ever. I thought I did before, but I was underselling them. And I thought before tonight that this show's actual stakes are pretty much higher than anything currently on television (with the possible exception of Doctor Who and Torchwood et al). But they are even higher than I realized.
Before tonight I thought this was a trial by fire for Eleanor, Chiti, Jason, and Tahani. But Michael is an equal part of that trial, and he may have the hardest role of all. If the humans are caught they WILL get tortured for all eternity. If Michael is caught, I think his punishment will be far worse. And he risked that for people he cares greatly about who probably (Eleanor excepted) don't actually care about him. This is a big deal for him, and he might be the person struggling most with personal growth in the entire series. We had been led to believe the personal redemption character was Eleanor from the very first episode. But truthfully, it was kind of easy for her to become a worthwhile human being. Michael being willing to risk everything for his friends is a far biggest personal accomplishment.
Derek the sex robot and cocaine: The Medium Place never had it so good.
I love the idea that Michael left over a thousand clues and only expected the human mind to pick up on a couple. Because when Eleanor is sussing stuff out she seems smart. Until we realize she totally isn't.
Over a thousand clues is overkill in my mind though. Simply because Michael's boss could have deciphered some of them. Michael seems to think his boss is dumber than Eleanor and he hasn't been proven wrong yet.
This show is blowing through ten seasons worth of mythology in 22 episodes so far. I don't see how it continues at this break-neck pace, but it's sustained this long, and I am willing to go with it until it settles into a proper rut. But it's kind of amazing what this show has done with just two 13 episode seasons. ****1/2.
The Last Man On Earth "Karl"
I pretty much hated everything about Karl, even before it was revealed he was a serial killer. I didn't think there could be any character on this show I'd hate more than Pat, but Karl qualifies.
He also states something definitive about The Virus. It is not supernatural. It is not Biblical. It is not God and Satan thinning out the herd for a last Stand of good versus evil a la Stephen King. There are better and more worthy sociopaths than Karl to survive the end of the world. The biggest reason I know that the Virus is not God or Satan's design is because I think Randall Flagg would think a guy who talks about boils and offers to share soup on the first date is beneath him. Karl makes Harold Lauder seem freaking worthy by comparison.
I am not going to like the next few weeks. But stuff like this is necessary and the way the show sustains the premise. There IS one good thing about Karl though, and if you think about it, it's his only virtue. Don't you think he'd make a perfect victim of the exploding puzzle box? I sure do. ***1/2.
Ghosted "Snatcher"
The stuff with Max, Leroy, and Annie was pretty standard, but I was a little more interested in the stuff with Barry and Lafrey. I kind of got Barry for the first time. Barry is never successful at anything unless he never expected to be, or unless it completely backfires on him. Barry is not allowed to have nice things. And I kind of think that distinguishes him from other losers like Jerry from Parks and Rec.
There was an average episode though. No denying that. **1/2.
Van Helsing "Black Days"
I suspect this season finale will be very polarizing with viewers. Some will love it and some will absolutely hate it. Put me in the second camp. It was a trainwreck.
I suppose the show completely subverted my expectations of only having two cast members present, and Vanessa appearing at the end, but this is a season finale. I don't care what show it is, it should not be this small-scale. I guess maybe a basic cable drama would benefit from something this intimate to leave things off. But not a freaking genre action show.
I personally think this was the make or break episode of the series. And they broke it. Just the fact that they didn't unite all of the disparate plot elements that progressed throughout the season tells me this show has little going on. Dracula still hasn't been mentioned by name, although I'd be surprised if that is not the name no-one is allowed to speak. But ultimately this is not an epic end of the world apocalyptic struggle. It's basically a bunch of gross vampire debauchery masquerading as a science fiction series. I'd almost call it a horror series, but it isn't actually scary. All of the violence is just plain gross, not actually frightening. And if all the show is all gross-outs and is not leading anywhere bigger and better, I can safely say this show is a total failure. I get Neil La Bute isn't exactly known for genre, but he is known for delivering good, dramatic movies. And Van Helsing underwhelms on every level, especially considering he wrote the finale.
About the only "interesting" thing was learning Scab's backstory. The fact that it was underwhelming was pretty much the only thing that felt RIGHT being mundane. Everything else seemed disappointing. Vanessa won't even get to meet her mother. It's just badly constructed television. It's not basic cable daring. It's basic cable cheap. And I didn't really think that until this episode.
Sam is still a great villain, and I expect we'll eventually hear from Dracula. But this episode was a turning point, much like Heroes' first season finale, the one where I got the sense that La Bute has no idea what he is doing. *.
