Flash Forward: Season 1, Episode 6: "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)": 5.5/10

Flash Forward: Season 1, Episode 6: "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps): 5.5

This episode which does take place during Halloween is named after the Bowie song and features another bad cover, this time of said Bowie track from Sea Wolf. Whoopie. It, once again was a good scene but I guess using original tracks is just not something this show feels like doing or cannot do for assumedly various reasons. One cover that was featured in the episode though which worked very well was Rufus Wainwright's cover of Across the Universe. The scene was VERY typical (one of those penultimate scenes in an episode that shows us all of the characters individually thinking which is done all the time on like every show ever now) but the usage was nice.

Anyways I am more intrigued with the show with each passing episode even though I still think the character development and characterization in general is DREADFUL! I don't know these characters any better than I did in the first episode and I did not know them at all in the first episode...WHICH MEANS I DON'T KNOW THEM NOW!!!

Thankfully my favorite character survived. The mystery of the show is continually set up very well and I hope they can follow through on a lot of the promise they have shown us with the story (because goodness knows they are not following up on anything involving character). We were finally shown a few scenes with Dominic Monaghan's mysterious character. I'll just get this out of the way right now; he is completely miscast. I absolutely cannot take him seriously in this role. He is just not convincing to me at all whihc is a shame. I still thought the opening scene with the cross cutting between Monaghan explaining The Double Slit Theory and Janice being operated on was the best moment in the episode. The Blue Hand stuff was pretty good as well. Overall another decent episode with some nice plotting but still unsatisfactory character development and now we have a key character who is completely miscast.

The Office: Season 6, Episode 8: "Koi Pond"

The Office: Season 6, Episode 8: "Koi Pond": 7.1/10

I am very intrigued with where this season could be going. I have just finished reading a review of this episode on The A.V Club and they basically have this theory that what the show is doing is slowly having Jim become Michael. They think Michael was probably more like Jim (in that people generally liked him) before he became boss and that his need to be liked has turned him into the boss he is today. While Jim does not have the same need to be liked as Michael does, Jim has insecurities that are significant as well and that we are going to see a slow transformation into how Jim becomes more like Michael. This is not my theory; it is The A.V Clubs'.

I'm not going to subscribe to this as of yet because I do not think that the series is going to take the Jim stuff that far and I do not think that Steve Carell is going to leave while the show continues. Despite this, I think that what they are doing with Jim is pretty incredible and I will get to the reasons why in a minute.

Overall I think that this episode was a bit messy. Like Curb I think it tried to cram too many things into the episod or it was not structured right or something. While the last 10 minutes were really something, I feel like it was too crammed. I like that they took Pam out of the office for the episode to let the Michael/Pam's mom story btreath a bit. I do feel that they spent too much time on the B story and I wish more time had been spent on the A one. Pam is a bitch. I guess I'll give her some slack because she is pregnant but her reaction to being mistaken for Andy's wife was entirely uncalled (although Andy's revenge went too far as well). They spent too much time on the final meeting involving Pam and Andy pretending to be a couple. The last scene with them was pretty nice though even though I cannot for the life of me figure out why Pam has a problem with Erin since I absolutely adore her.

The A story line was a bit repetitive in places. Also, apparently the entire office decided to become douches for Halloween. Something I am loving about this season so far with Jim in the co-manager position is that he is being put in difficult positions. It is very interesting to see him have the reactions that Michael can have to things when he is put under pressure. He can be awkward and it is a different experience seeing someone else besides Michael in that position. I thought the way he spoke to Angela when he said "I wasn't talking to you" was the most angry I have seen him in the shows' run. He cannot control anyone. The office employees are in control and not Michael and Jim because of the way Michael has conducted the office over the years. I cannot wait to see where they take Jim this season. He wants to try to succeed on his own and I hope they show us whether he can or not.

During the episode I though it is going one way and then it took a turn. A great turn. I did not think the Michael "breakdown" or whatever we want to call it was serious enough but it was still a slightly jarring turn of events as his joked about himself directly leads into him trying to joke about his lonliness (probably testing out a new way to handle it for himself) and it backfires immediately as none of the office members find it funny and Michael certainly is unable to joke about it either. By bringing in the next unexpected turn of events, the episode unfortunately throws this revalation to the side for the rest of the episode.

The realization that overshadows Michael's "breakdown" is a very interesting one. We see that Jim could have saved Michael from falling into the pond but he actually stepped back. Wow. Was it just a natural reaction or was it deliberate because of the way Michael had treated him earlier? They imply it was on purpose. Either way I was really surprised when the episode revealed this but I was again dissapointed in the way it is shoved under the rug. Michael says "Jim is jealous of me" and this realization maks him ok. Everything was wrapped up way too quickly in this episode but I do think that a lot of the issues in the episode will be addressed again very soon particularly everything involving Jim and his new position. Not a perfect episode but a flawed one that has great moments and begins to explore some really fantastic potential that the season has set up for us.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 7, Episode 6: "The Bare Midriff": 6.2/10

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 7, Episode 6: "The Bare Midriff": 6.2

I personally thought that this episode had a bit too much going on that it tried to cram into the episode. I know that the show usually does have a lot of threads that all tie together in some way but I think this episode overextended himself. That being said though I still liked the episode.

I was happy to see Jerry and Julia back this week. I really love Larry and Jerry's interactions with each other. At a certain point I started to wonder if the episode was going to be following them around all day and I sort of wish it had. The material with the bare midriff was funny although I wish they had addressed the issue more as a personal offense of what is and is not office appropriate wear and not so much as the fact that they were offended by someone of her body type wearing the shirt. I love the way Larry brought the whole thing up. He tried to be gentle but it backfired of course. Other highlights included Larry and Jerry refusing to move over for Richard Lewis and Richard Lewis getting hit by a car.

Dexter: Season 4, Episode 5: "Dirty Harry": 8.2/10

Dexter: Season 4, Episode 5: "Dirty Harry": 8.2

This season is really just getting better and better. As I have said before this show can easily feel like it is on repeat but I really do feel like we are starting to delve into some new and interesting material here. Particularly in the way that the season has connected Dexter and the Trinity Killer in the issues involving family. At the end of this episode we and Dexter learn that the Trinity Killer who we assumed was a lone wolf because Lundy (RIP : ( ) assumed it, is actually a family man. Dexter is also now a family man. It brings up a lot of really fascinating stuff for Dexter and I cannot wait to see how the show explores these issues of family and being forced to maintain connection to humanity as both Dexter and the Trinity Killer do what they do and more importantly why the Trinity Killer is able to do this.

Something else I really loved about the episode is that you would expect this to be a pretty low key episode that mainly deals with the fallout of the shocker at the end of the previous episode but in fact a great deal happens here. Deb and Anton broke up, Rita found out Dexter still keeps his apartment and confronted him on it, Deb had a breakdown (which I will get to), Angel is being transferred, the Trinity Killer killed again, Dexter found out who the Trinity Killer was, etc. A lot happened which was nice.

My favorite scene of the season to date occurred in this episode and it was Deb's breakdown. I have said before that I think that Jennifer Carpenter is entirely unappreciated and she is without a doubt more talented than a great deal of the actresses working today. She gave us a very refreshing on screen breakdown that moved me to tears not only because of what her character was saying and how badly I felt for her but because she had a breakdown in the way that real people have breakdowns. She starts hyperventilating and everything; it was so real and exactly the way it actually is and she absolutely nailed this scene which was so extremely emotional. I hope Deb can pull through and I think she can because even though she is such an emotional person who really feels everything she is also very very strong. Her dialogue in that scene hit pretty hard. She has such a low sense of self worth and we rarely get to see that she does so when it all comes out it is slightly hard to take. I love Deb.

Anyways this was a really great episode and I think they are doing a much better job at keeping up momentum and intrigue than last season and the first season as well. Thinsg are just getting more and more intense and I really hope this season can end with some actual consequences or a cliffhanger because I am sick of each season ending with everything perfectly wrapped up. You would think Dexter is controversial but it is actually so easy to watch and it really pulls back a lot of the time. I want it to do something drastic at some point. Last week's end was pretty incredible though.

There are still things I do not like very much particularly Quinn and his stupid girlfriend but at least we got rid of one weak link this week; Anton. He sucked. I think the show has always struggled with making any supporting character stuff as interesting as the Dexter storylines.