Chuck Chuck Versus the Aisle of Terror
In Chuck Versus the Aisle of Terror, we learn a lot about the reasons why Frost left Chuck and Ellie behind all those years ago. On the other hand, maybe we didn't learn anything.
How I Met Your Mother Baby Talk
Tonight's episode of How I Met Your Mother is an equal balance concentrating on both Marshal and Lilly's baby making adventure and Robin's realization that she's perhaps an overly independent woman.
How I Met Your Mother Architect of Destruction
On tonight's How I Met Your Mother, we go a little into the psyche of any person in a relationship and the fact that it's a fine line between changing your personality for someone and changing your personality because of someone.
Chuck Chuck versus the Couch Lock
In "Chuck versus the Couch Lock", we have a rare Casey and Morgan centric episode. It was refreshing to see a change of pace in the writing by putting emphasis on a little of Casey's history as well as focusing on Morgan and Alex's relationship instead of Chuck and Sarah's.
Fringe Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep?
In tonight's last Fringe before we go on hiatus for a few weeks, we return back to our world to find Altlivia straining herself to maintain her cover among the team while fighting her natural human compassion which is starting to take a toll on her emotions.
How I Met Your Mother Subway Wars
There are a few defining episode types of a How I Met Your Mother episode. In tonight's episode "Subway Wars," we have a "multiple perspective" type episode with plenty of topical lists, another defining characteristic of the show.
Chuck Chuck Versus the Coup D’Etat
Tonight's Chuck was very heavy on the relationship story lines with a lot of time dealing with the fall out of last week's accidental near proposal. In typical fashion and aided by Morgan's own issues, Chuck's mind goes into overdrive considering what her response means. Fortunately for them, their old friend Goya is back to honor Devon for saving his life last season, and they have plenty of time to work it out on their trip to Costa Grava.
Community The Psychology of Letting Go
In tonight's Community, Jeff faces his immortality while Annie and Britta expose a deep seeded jealous rivalry.
There's not much to say about the episode. There was plenty of great dialog in the form of the insane teachings of Reformed Neo-Bhuddisim as Jeff tries to break down Pierce's deeply disturbing religious beliefs. It was quite humorous to see Britta and Annie mockingly reverse personalities as their jealously erupts, culminating in a fan fueled fight between Annie and Britta covered in oil.
Other Thoughts
- "Even a Ferrari needs a tune up." - Jeff on his body
- "You in the boobs."
- "Everyone likes pelicans. They bring babies." - Annie
- "Bodies, lIke the real temple of doom, it represents the inconvenient fact that all good things, be it people or movie franchises, eventually collapse into sagging sloppy piles of hard to follow nonsense."
- "Wow, you guys are real downers. I can't believe I made out with both of you." - Jeff
- Britta: "And you know the real reason we raised more money in 5 minutes of oil wrestling. Than in two days of fundraising?"
Annie: "Because men are even grosser?" - Someone was having a BABY in the back of a truck during the oil fight scene. Later on you can see the happy couple just standing around looking at the child. I had to watch it again as I caught a glimpse of it the first time and was confused.
- Headline for the newspaper: A dis "ass" ter of global "proportions" hit the quad wednesday when two do- "good-looking" -ers wrestled with an unknown issue involving oil. Looks eco-"friendly" to us, ladies!
- Betty White talks Inception with some natives.
Fringe The Plateau
So back on the other side, we find Olivia reintegrating with Altlivia's life but shadows of her true self start to emerge in the field.
With the first regular story of the "other" side, we have a story of probability and prediction. Milo was formerly a mentally challenged man that after a medical drug trial can now see a range of probable futures and the chain events needed to obtain a particular outcome. And in this case, he uses his newfound ability to murder people using accidents.
I like how Fringe once again explores real science and pushes it just slightly more. It's a simple concept to think that if you could aggregate a few decisions down the road, that you could make an action to achieve the outcome you desire. In the Fringe world, we find a man who doesn't just aggregates a few actions ahead, but rather millions of variables and decisions ahead to achieve his goal.
While it's a typical Fringe style episode, fans of the show can't help but really be drawn into the differences between the universes and how well Olivia's brainwashing will hold. As evidenced tonight, there's already a lot of subconscious efforts to return to normal. In fact, it was that subconsciousness that saved her from a painful death by her lack of knowledge of oxygen protocol. I would bet as we move though the season, we'll see more and more of Olivia manifest and perhaps we'll have two stories of two spies working to defeat each other.
Other World Bizarre Stuff
- The Aruba War
- Agent Lee returns after his fiery ordeal last season.
- Pens are uncommon as the whole world has moved to be nearly completely digital. How I'd like to live in that world.
- The Altlivia memories downloaded into Olivia seem to lack about the last month of data.
- No coffee, and hard to find avocados. Their world is a tough place to be for foodies.
- Smallpox is breaking out in North Texas.
- Francis and Lee joking suggest that the Olivia they are with might not actually be theirs.
- Alt world has some weird air quality thing going on. I have no idea what that's about, but people have personal oxygen canisters ready on standby. Is it roaming clouds of surface level Ozone?
- Walternate likes the sensory deprivation cambers too.
- "Real is just a matter of perception" - Walternate
- Both sides sure love their iPads, though they do a good job of hiding it in a rubberized shell on their side.
Glee Grilled Cheesus
In tonight's Glee, we are treated to a very rare, and very compelling hour of television that I had great reservations about initially. Usually on Glee, stories revolve around some odd quirk that one of the cast members is currently having, but this episode deals with the very serious near death of Burt Hummel, Kurt's father, and Kurt's spiritual crisis and how his lack of spirituality comes at a great worry to the rest of the gang.
I rather enjoyed the fact that the writers decided to cut out all of the typical Glee neuroses when dealing with such sensitive subjects as death and religion. We can attribute a lot of that fact to the plethora of musical numbers in the episode tonight, almost all of which had some serious emotional power behind them. Kurt's rendition of the Beatles "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was by far the biggest surprise of the night, and it was definitely the biggest stylistic change from the original that the show has done. The original Beatles's standard was by far a happier and lively song, but tonight's version by Kurt cuts deep into the soul by a radically melancholy styling. It should be taken as a prime example of how chord progressions and tone can completely change the feeling of music, even if it's using the same words.
Originally, I was worried that the writers would play very heavily on the religion aspect of the episode, or more specifically, adhering to a Christian religion. In today's ever increasing secular world, the writers take a great risk to impose any type of religion upon an unwilling audience. Fortunately, the Glee writers recognized this and treated the subject with great respect by not imposing any one religion upon it's viewers, but rather the concept of spirituality as a whole, and the need to "believe in something...because life is too hard to go though alone without something to hold on to." This entire idea manifests itself in the interactions of Kurt, and his desire to push away from those with faith and to push all concepts of faith out of his life. It's a view that, sadly, is shared by too much of the modern world, but in tonight's episode, we see how the serenity offered by faith, whether in God or family, can turn even the most hardened hearts.
Other Thoughts
- Kurt makes a joke about the Flying Spaghetti Monster
- The Grilled Chessus is similar to an actual event that happened.
- "I need to know that my children will be free to worship the way I decide they should" - Rachel
- The cast version of "One of Us" is my second favorite song of the night (as it's always been one of my favorite songs in general), with Kurt's "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" being the favorite.
- "Heart attacks are just from loving too much." - Brittany
- Emma might be the only other person period who knows about Sue's sister. It was also interesting to see her march in and take Sue down a notch. Even though Sue wasn't even phased, you have to wonder if she gains a small bit of respect for her afterwards.
Music
- "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" - Barbra Streisand (Rachel Berry)
- "Losing My Religion" R.E.M. (Finn Hudson)
- "I Want to Hold Your Hand" The Beatles (Kurt Hummel)
- "One of Us" Joan Osborne (New Directions)
- "I Look to You" Whitney Houston (Mercedes Jones)
- "Only the Good Die Young" Billy Joel (Noah Puckerman)
- "Bridge over Troubled Water" Simon & Garfunkel (Mercedes Jones)
