Posts Tagged ‘episode nbsp’

« Older Entries

Frannie 911

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

The new nice Roger

“Frannie 911” is the ninth episode of season three of American Dad!.

Plot summary

After Roger ruins Stan’s study by turning it into a Turkish bath, Francine comes up with an elaborate plan to reunite Stan and Roger after the big fight. She fakes Roger’s kidnapping in the hopes of showing Roger that Stan still cares about him, but Stan never shows up to pay the ransom; he simply delays and makes up excuses. After Stan tells Francine that he knew she was faking it the whole time (she was calling him with her own cell phone and it showed up on his caller ID), she confronts Roger in the hotel he is staying in, telling him that either he needs to be nice or he’s out of the house. For at least a year, Roger had been nice. However, it turns out that being nice is slowly killing him. On his deathbed, Roger reveals that his species has to be jerks, otherwise he’ll die. He insults Steve’s dancing, something Stan says they both needed, restoring himself to health. Though Francine returns to being an enabler, she lets Stan be who he is: “the guy who beats the crap out of Roger when he deserves it.” She locks Roger in the attic with Stan, leaving Roger to be beaten off-screen.

In a sub story, Hayley and Klaus constantly challenge each other to a “dare-or-dare” game. Klaus takes a picture of Francine’s undergarments and later fills his bowl with Jell-O. Hayley has to go naked, say raccoons took her penis and dress herself as Captain Merrill Stubing from The Love Boat for fourteen months.

In another story, Steve tries out background dancing. He eventually stops after Roger tells him how terrible his dancing is.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Escape from Pearl Bailey

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Steve and his friends plot their Escape

“Escape from Pearl Bailey” is a fourth season episode of the animated series American Dad!.

Plot summary

Steve gets back together with his ex-girlfriend Debbie, making his friends jealous. Meanwhile, Lisa Silver is running for Student Council President, though she is clearly corrupt. Steve tries to persuade Debbie to run against her, which she accepts after learning that Lisa spent the school’s money for fetal pigs on hiring a Hollywood hairdresser and a live buffalo. Steve works extremely hard to get support, neglecting his friends. Though Debbie seems to be winning, someone posts a slam page and she loses. Steve determines that it was Lisa and her friends and executes an elaborate revenge scheme financed by pawning Toshi’s family katana.

Using a mask, Steve exacts his revenge on the cool girls in a parody of Navajo Joe. On Amy, he has a buffalo excrete on her, with laxative; Janet, having her leg filled with fat during a liposuction procedure; and last Lisa, giving her infections by giving her teddy bear to a prostitute and then letting her smother the bear in her sleep.

However, Debbie is horrified at his actions and dumps him. Steve later learns that his friends posted the smear page, as he was spending a lot of time with Debbie and they wanted him back. At this point, Lisa and all the cool kids learn that Steve was the culprit (having traced his purchase of the mask) try to beat up Steve and his friends (Principal Lewis permits this as Janet happens to be his own daughter).

As Steve and his friends try to escape from the school, Principal Lewis abuses his power and makes an announcement to the various cliques in the school to catch them, offering a $500 reward. They get past some of the cliques, but when they stumble into Goth territory, Debbie tells her friends to let Steve go, understanding why he did what he did. But her Goth friends were going to turn Steve’s friends to the popular people, so Steve decide to go with them but Debbie decides to let them all go. Debbie and the Goths distract the other cliques by playing “Love will tear us apart” by Joy Division and dancing in their way.

They make it outside, but the cool kids cut them off from Francine and they get cornered in the school bus. Knowing that their time is near, Steve tells his friends that they will take some of them down with them. They leap out of the bus to go out in a blaze of glory; as the screen freeze-frames, we hear Steve shouting “We’re not taking any of them with us!” alongside the sound of several punches landing at once.

Cultural references

  • Right after the popular girls call Debbie a fat cow, Tim Gunn appears to offer fashonable clothes to help.
  • The scene where the Goth kids allow Steve and his friends to escape (”You shall not pass!”) is a reference to Gandalf’s confrontation with the Balrog in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
  • The Goth kids dance to “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division.
  • Snot compares the smell of the stairway taken over by the Goths to a Depeche Mode concert.
  • One of the Goths mentioned buying a dagger on eBay.
  • When Debbie refers to a “thirty year old TV show”, the scene cuts to three nerds in the audience, wearing the costumes of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth incarnations of the Doctor, as well as K-9. Technically, “thirty years” refers only to the approximate American broadcast history of Doctor Who – the series was first broadcast from 1963-1989, and was revived in 2005.
  • One of the PBHS cliques is the The Red-Headed League, an allusion to a Sherlock Holmes story about a phoney club made up exclusively of red-haired men.
  • Steve’s line “You want to get nuts, come on. Let’s get nuts!” is a reference to the 1989 film Batman.
  • The audience is shown Steve taking revenge on the girls in chapters à la Kill Bill, even going as far as Toshi giving Steve a Samurai sword for his “Holy Revenge”, instead Steve sells it.
  • In the scene where Steve plans to plot revenge against Lisa, he apparently pulls out some dynamite and tells his friends ‘This is my promotional lunchbox from that Cartoon Network show about that bundle of dynamite that lives with that talking burrito.’, he is most likely referencing the bomb scare in Boston caused by a failed promotion for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie.
  • The way the boys have to escape the school, by passing all the school gangs, is similar to the way the Warriors escape to their turf by passing all other gangs’ turfs in the film The Warriors, and also features the same song as in that film’s escape scenes. The principal’s announcements over the PA system reference the commentary provided by a radio DJ in the film. The escape sequence can also be seen as an allusion to the film Escape from New York, which is referenced in the episode title. It is also very similar to Cleavon Little’s character ‘Super Soul’ from the 1971 movie Vanishing Point.
  • The pawn shop where Steve pawns the samurai sword to get the cash to fund his revenge plot is the same shop from Pulp Fiction. In an ironic twist, it is the sword that causes the undoing of the nefarious shop keeper and his biker friend in the basement of the shop in the movie.
  • The mask worn by Steve when he takes his revenge is a reference to the film Navajo Joe.
  • Steve makes a reference to James Cameron’s Titanic, to which he admits after the phrase.
  • When Steve and his friends are escaping through the bleachers, it mirrors one of the final scenes in The Faculty.
  • The final scene in which Steve and his friends take on the school in a fight resembles the end of season 5 of the television show Angel. The final freeze-frame is a reference to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
  • Just before Steve comes to inform her of the success of his revenge plots, Debbie was standing in front of her locker and whistling Frederic Chopin’s Marche Funèbre (funeral march).

Trivia

  • As implied by Stan in this episode (”Nice of Steve to acknowledge us this week, even if it was just this once.”), the rest of the Smith family (save Steve) have no real part in this episode and only appear in the living room scene. Francine, however, appears twice (in the living room scene and near the end when she is in her SUV reading a romance novel called “Swept Away.”) Also, Roger, Hayley, and Klaus have no lines in this episode making Stan, Francine and Steve the only characters to appear and speak in this episode of American Dad!.
  • When Steve told his friends that they didn’t have girlfriends, Toshi mentions having a wife for a while. This is a reference to the second season episode, “Of Ice and Men”.
  • Debbie’s last name is revealed in this episode as Hyman.
  • Both this and the preceding Family Guy episode contained jokes involving a young woman with her leg deformed in a mishap and simulated intercourse with a teddy bear.


Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Tearjerker (American Dad!)

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

“Tearjerker” is a third season episode of the animated series American Dad!.

Plot summary

The show starts as a parody of The Spy Who Loved Me. A British agent with a mustache jumps out of a cable car, and the woman next to him tells the henchmen to follow him. The agent kills one of them and when he is about to shoot another, Stan comes to help him. Stan blows up the henchmen and unwittingly creates an avalanche. The two jump out and open their parachutes but unfortunately the unnamed agent dies when he is crushed by Stan’s falling snowmobile.

Stan imitates the gunbarrel sequence but the gun shoots him twice before he can fire, upon which the opening credits start to roll. Stan and other characters play roles in a Bond-style spoof. In it, Stan plays a 007-type agent assigned by his boss, B (Bullock) to infiltrate the set of arms dealer-suddenly-turned-movie producer Tchochkie Schmear (Klaus, in a human form) Schmear has recently been producing over twenty films with A-list celebrites, but all are absolutely atrocious. Stan then travels to Tunisia to investigate the set of one of Tchochkie’s movies, Bark of the Covenant (a remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark featuring all dogs, including a German shepherd as Indiana Jones and Matthew McConaughey as Karen Allen). Eventually, Stan discovers that Schmear has been hired by the diabolical Tearjerker (Roger), an emotionally fragile business tycoon who has been abducting celebrities from his spa and replacing them with celebrity robots that will star in the most horrible movies possible. The robots malfunction when they are exposed to milk. Later, B has Stan fly to Japan. Dressed as Geisha Girls, B informs Stan that Tearjerker is a notorious gambler who only invites people to his lair unless they are celebrites, or if they have beaten him at Baccarat. When he arrives at Monte Carlo, he is introduced to Sexpun T’Come (Francine)(whom he believes is a prostitute) and an apathetic Tearjerker. When Stan reveals that he does not know how to play Baccarat or Craps, an exasperated Tearjerker asks Stan to name his own game. Stan says he wants to play highest number, wherein the players name the highest number that they can think of. After Stan leaves with the invitation, Sexpun gives Tearjerker his wallet. He makes the obligatory quip about the hero’s fate, and then starts maniacally laughing, but cuts himself short when he belches. He states that he had eaten a pickle earlier with a Rueben sandwich, and then moans (self consciously) “I’m so fat.”

On the flight to Tearjerker’s lair, Stan meets Johnny Depp who is drinking a milkshake and reading a script that Steven Spielberg had given him. Stan makes Depp promise to tell him if he is turned into a robot. On their arrival, Tearjerker orders Sexpun to seduce Stan, only to begin randomly sobbing that she had forgotten his birthday. When she approaches Stan, he proposes to her, stating that he was saving himself for marriage, and if she accepted he stated “I’m gonna make love to you until you hate your pussy” Stan gives her a ring and tells her to think about it. After she leaves, Johnny Depp reappears, saying that he has given up the Spielberg script and had been attached to a Schmear project called Skateboarding Grandma. Suspicious, Stan offers Depp a milkshake. When he refuses, Stan physically forces open Depp’s jaws and regurgitates the milkshake down his throat. (”Drink it! Drink it like a bird!”) Depp, now revealed to be a robot, malfunctions. (but not before revealing that he had once seen a robin’s nest in Tim Burton’s hair)

After being helped by Sexpun, who has fallen for him, Stan realizes that Tearjerker (who is out for revenge ever since he was laughed out of the audition for Monster’s Ball) plans to use his masterpiece Oscar Gold, the best and saddest film of all time about a mentally retarded alcoholic Jewish boy and his cancer ridden puppy during the Holocaust, to cause millions of moviegoers to cry themselves to death.

After Gums’ boat tour of the plan leads Stan and Sexpun right into the villain’s office (an example of the poor construction), Tearjerker ties them up and forces them to watch “Oscar Gold” along with millions of people around the world. Everyone is on the verge of crying to death (with the exception of viewers in Tehran, who find it hysterically funny and will apparently laugh themselves to death), Sexpun states she accepts his proposal of marriage, and Stan remembers that the engagement ring was given to him by S (Steve, whose gadgets only make women’s breasts grow). He urges her to put it on, which causes Sexpun’s breasts to swell so large that they break the ropes, allowing her to set herself and Stan free. Discovering the real Adrien Brody and Halle Berry (along with Matt Damon and Lucy Liu) in Tearjerker’s dungeon, where he keeps the captive celebrities, Stan records a video of them with their baby and posts it on the Internet. All the movie goers then get phone calls about the celebrity baby and go home to see them online.

His plan in ruins, Tearjerker unleashes his soldiers to kill Stan. However, as they descend on ropes from his blimp, they plummet through the floor of Tearjerker’s office (another example of the poor construction); Stan then climbs up their ropes (which were supposed to retract, but instead are another example of poor construction) onto the airship. Tearjerker tries to flee in an escape pod, planning on creating a more successful and even sadder movie: six hours of a baby chimp trying to revive its dead mother. However, the shoddy construction causes the pod to fall into a volcano. In the end, Stan and Sexpun get married, though it is unknown how long their relationship will last since Sexpun realizes that Stan was, up until their honeymoon, a virgin. Meanwhile, Tearjerker’s charred arm rises from the volcanic crater…only to fall back in after a few seconds.

Cast

American Dad! character Role Bond spoof
Stan Smith Himself James Bond
Francine Smith Sexpun T’Come Bond girl (specifically, Pussy Galore, Tracy Bond, and Plenty O’Toole)
Roger Tearjerker Auric Goldfinger, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Le Chiffre
Klaus Tchochkie Schmear Professor Dent, Milton Krest
Avery Bullock B M
Steve Smith S Q
Hayley Smith Miss Peacenickel Miss Moneypenny
Greg Corbin Peddie Mr. Wint
Terry Bates Mannie Mr. Kidd
Chuck White Professor
Capt. Monty Gums Jaws

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Baby Shower

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Jim explains how Michael is related to Jan's baby.

“Baby Shower” is the third episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the show’s sixty-eighth episode overall. The episode aired in the United States on October 16, 2008 on NBC.

Plot

Dwight acts out the process of birth with a watermelon, as Michael wants to be prepared for Jan’s baby.

The Party Planning Committee is planning Jan’s baby shower, and collects money for a present, which many employees are reluctant to donate to. Angela makes a “guess whose baby picture” game for the shower, and she is angered when Andy unintentionally makes fun of her picture.

Jim and Pam feel awkward trying to communicate with each other throughout the day, with Pam telling the documentary crew that the two of them were having an off day.

Jan arrives with her baby girl, Astrid, already born, much to everyone’s surprise. The shower ends up taking place anyway, and Michael tries to pacify Jan by being cold to Holly, which makes her uncomfortable despite being foretold by Michael.

The present the office got for Jan ended up being a stroller, which was unnecessary as she already had a more expensive $1200 Orbit stroller. Dwight found this a ridiculous price to pay, stating that his bomb shelter cost that much, so he goes out to test the durability of the stroller as the shower continues. He straps the watermelon front the beginning of the show into the stroller and goes out to a dump-like area to throw the stroller into fences and off of small cliffs. He also ends up tying the stroller to the back of his car for his “bumper test.”

Michael holds Astrid, only to find no connection, so he seeks advice from another “baby-daddy,” Darryl. Darryl mocks him, as the baby is not even Michael’s. Jan acts coldly to Holly when they have a conversation, being direct when Holly attempts humour. Jan then retrieves her daughter from Angela and Andy, who were setting up a photo of the baby amongst vegetables. She leaves soon afterward, telling Michael in the car park not to date Holly. Michael hugs Holly when he goes back into the building and feels a connection he did not feel with Astrid. He then asks her out on a date, which she accepts, visibly moved.

Jim and Pam call each other at the exact same time and leave each other messages that are extremely similar, hinting that perhaps they are not as disjointed as this day has made them feel but highlighting the difficulty they are both having with being apart.

Reception

In the 18-49 demographic, Baby Shower earned a 4.1/10 ratings share. The episode was watched by 8.07 million viewers.

“Baby Shower” was voted the nineteenth highest-rated episode out of 26 from the fifth season, according to an episode poll at the fansite OfficeTally; the episode was rated 7.74 out of 10.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Poisoned Chalice

Monday, July 6th, 2009

b>Arthur fights a Guardian of the Forest to save Nimueh, disguised as a young maiden.

“The Poisoned Chalice” is the fourth episode in the British fantasy drama television series Merlin, which was broadcast on BBC One on 11 October 2008.

Synopsis

King Bayard of Mercia arrives for the celebration of the union of the two kingdoms. To gain revenge on Merlin, Nimueh poses as a serving maid and fools Merlin into believing that Bayard was conspiring to poison Arthur. However, this results in Merlin being poisoned in Arthur’s place. In spite of his father’s wishes, Arthur sets out to search for the antidote to save Merlin’s life.

Plot

Bayard, the king of Mercia, comes to Camelot to form a union. However, before he passes the two ceremonial goblets for Uther and Arthur to drink, Nimueh, posing as a servant, takes Merlin to one side and tricks him into believing that the goblets’ drink is poisoned. Merlin promptly disrupts the ceremony and is forced to drink from the goblet himself – if he lives, he will be turned over to Bayard to use as he wishes.

However, after Merlin drinks the goblet he collapses. He is taken under the care of Gaius, who finds a poisonous flower petal in the chalice which has been put there by Nimueh. He explains to Arthur that an antidote can only be made from the leaves of this same mortaeus flower, a flower which may only be found in the caves beyond the Forest of Balor. Despite Uther forbidding it, Arthur takes it upon himself to find the flower.

In the forest where the cave is found, Arthur finds Nimueh disguised as a maiden, claiming to have been abused and abandoned by her master. Believing her story, he fights and defeats a cockatrice that guards the caverns. Afterwards, Nimueh tells him she knows where the flowers are found and leads him to them, only to cast another spell inside, causing the ledge he’s standing on to collapse. Although Arthur survives by clinging to the cave wall and fighting off a giant spider, she leaves him there to die, telling Arthur that it wasn’t his destiny to be killed by her.

While semi-conscious and under the effects of the poison, Merlin constantly mutters about Arthur’s situation, suggesting he is either subconsciously using magic or has some kind of link with Arthur. Upon realising that it’s too dark inside the cave, Merlin creates a sphere of ethereal light in his palm, which suddenly appears in a larger form near Arthur, hovering beside him to light his path. Arthur is soon attacked by many more spiders, but manages to reach across to pick the flowers needed to cure Merlin, and then clambers up the wall to the exit of the cave, guided by Merlin’s light.

However, once Arthur returns to Camelot with the flowers, he is immediately arrested and taken to the dungeons. He begs Uther to take the flower to Gaius, but Uther, teaching Arthur a lesson in obedience, crumples the flower and drops it outside the cell. Arthur reaches through the bars to get it back.

Understanding that Arthur has returned, but also realising that no one is allowed to see him, Gwen poses as someone bringing Arthur’s food in order to see if he had the flower. Arthur manages to secretly give her the flower, and Gwen returns to Gaius. In order to make the antidote work, Gaius secretly uses magic for the first time in the series, despite it being forbidden. Merlin then makes a fast recovery, and upon realising Merlin is awake, Gwen kisses him in happiness. He claims not to remember anything since he drank from the goblet.

Upon discovering that the poison was made with magic, Gaius reveals to Uther that Nimueh must have been behind it, and the potential war between Camelot and Bayard’s country is averted. Uther then reveals to Arthur that the woman he met was Nimueh, and emphasises how he believes all magic to be corrupt.

Cast

  • Colin Morgan as Merlin
  • Bradley James as Prince Arthur
  • Richard Wilson as Gaius
  • Anthony Head as Uther Pendragon
  • Angel Coulby as Guinevere (Gwen)
  • Katie McGrath as Morgana
  • John Hurt as The Great Dragon
  • Michelle Ryan as Nimueh
  • Clive Russell as Bayard
  • Jamie Kenna as Dungeon Guard
  • Paul Kynman as Sir Cador
  • Gary Oliver as Gregory

Cast Notes

  • The Great Dragon does not appear in this episode, and is only heard during the introduction.

Reception

Airing at 19:05, episode four pulled in average overnight ratings of 5.92m (25.6%), a rise of 160,000 viewers from the previous episode. The final ratings were 6.48 million viewers.

Release

This episode, along with episodes 1 to 3, 5, and 6 was released on the first volume of the first series, released 24 November 2008.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Hub (Battlestar Galactica)

Monday, July 6th, 2009

The Hub is the eleventh episode in the fourth season of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. It first aired on television in the United States on June 6, 2008.

Plot

Survivor Count: 39,673

A cold open reviews some of the events of the previous episode, Sine Qua Non. Text reading “Two Days Ago” picks up the story of President Laura Roslin and the other human beings aboard the damaged Cylon basestar. As the Cylon hybrid is reconnected, it cries out “Jump!” The ship jumps to an empty part of space. During the jump, Roslin finds herself aboard a dark, empty Galactica. Priestess Elosha, who died in the Season 2 two-part episode, Home, appears. She and Roslin embrace. Roslin admits she feels at home aboard the Galactica. The jump ends, and Roslin’s vision ends. During subsequent jumps the vision reoccurs. Roslin and Elosha walk through the ship, eventually reaching the sick bay where they see a version of Roslin dying alone of her cancer. Again, the vision ends when the jump ends. The Hybrid continues to jump the basestar, and the Leader of the Number Eights theorizes that the Hybrid is completing its mission and bringing the basestar to the Hub, so that the resurrection technology of the Cylons can be destroyed.

Gaius Baltar, one of the Sixes, and an Eight believe that the Hybrid is panicking. Baltar’s attempts to talk to the Hybrid seem to calm it somewhat, but Roslin’s attempts to do the same do not. Baltar criticizes Roslin for speaking “at” the Hybrid rather than to it. Roslin attempts to calm the Hybrid again, speaking to it more humanely, and the Hybrid seems to calm down even further.

The jumps continue, as do Roslin’s visions during the jumps. Roslin and Elosha discuss death and dying. The periods between jumps become somewhat lengthy. During one such period, Capt. Karl “Helo” Agathon discusses the misson with the Leader of the Eights. He and the Eight conclude that only by using the Galactica’s Viper ships—several of which were trapped aboard the basestar when it jumped away from the Colonial Fleet—can they hope to destroy the Hub. They conceive a plan. When Helo shows signs of stress, the Eight massages his shoulders just as his wife, Sharon “Athena” Agathon has done. Helo is surprised at her actions, but the Eight reveals that she downloaded many of Athena’s memories after Athena used the resurrection ship technology (an event which occurred during the Season 3 episode, Rapture). Helo finds himself emotionally drawn to the Eight.

Aboard the Hub, the Cylon known as Brother Cavil “unboxes” or reactivates the Number Three known as D’Anna Biers. All Number Threes were deactivated and their memories isolated and stored in the third season episode Rapture. But now Cavil uses the resurrection technology to reactive Biers. Cavil reveals that civil war has broke out among the Cylons, with the Eights, Sixes and Twos opposing the Fours, Fives and Ones. Biers is surprised to see Sharon “Boomer” Valerii having defected to join the Ones. Biers expresses surprise that Cavil does not want to know the identity of the Final Five Cylons. Cavil says his mind has not changed on that subject, and that the identity of the Final Five must remain hidden. He merely wants to know if Biers and the Threes will help end the civil war.

Meanwhile, Roslin continues to communicate with the Hybrid during periods between jumps. Baltar asserts that only he can communicate with it, but Roslin seems able to glean information from it as well. Roslin tries to learn about her dream in which she and Athena through an opera house in pursuit of the half-human/half-Cylon hybrid child, Hera Agathon, only to have a Six and Baltar pick up the girl and leave through a closed door. Although the Hybrid appears to give Roslin more clues, it quickly senses the re-activation of the Threes. This creates alarm among the humans and Cylons aboard the damaged basestar, infusing them with a sense of urgency.

During another jump, Roslin and Elosha witness Admiral William Adama, Lee “Apollo” Adama who is comforting Capt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace, and Dr. Cottle standing a deathwatch over Roslin. Adm. Adama seems very distressed over Roslin’s impending death, and Roslin and Elosha discuss what it means to die, and to die alone.

When the jump is over, Helo and the Leader of the Eights tell Roslin and the Leader of the Sixes about their plan. The Cylon Raiders and Cylon Heavy Raiders will attack any basestars around the Hub, and disable the Hub’s jump drive. Meanwhile, the Vipers—all electronics and engines turned off in order to avoid detection — will be towed into battle by several Heavy Raiders. Once they close with the Hub, the Cylons will free the Vipers. The Leader of the Eights and Helo will board the Hub and kidnap the Three. Once they are clear, the Vipers will use nuclear weapons to destroy the Hub. After the meeting, President Roslin tells Helo that he must bring the Three to her first so that she can learn the names of the Final Five Cylons hiding among the humans in the Colonial Fleet. She tells him that she must know the names of the Final Five first, and that only the human race can know the way to Earth. Helo disagrees, arguing this is a betrayal of the trust they have built with the Cylons. Roslin tells him that he must put aside his feelings for the Eights and follow orders, or she will remove him from the mission. Helo agrees to do as she asks.

Roslin continues to try to talk to the Hybrid. The Hybrid’s vocalizations soon lead the Cylons and humans to realize that the Number Six model known as Natalie is either wounded or dying back aboard the Galactica. This leads to murmurs of distrust among the Cylons.

Helo and the Leader of the Eights discuss the Viper towing plan with the Cylon and human pilots. Many of the human pilots express dismay, arguing that their ships will be defenseless before the Cylons. Lt. Eammon “Gonzo” Pike in particular is vocal about his anger and distrust of the plan. His complaints lead to several rejoinders by the Cylon pilots, especially the Sixes. But the Eight and Helo point out that the Cylon pilots will be fighting and dying as well. The Eight points out that there is no alternative plan, and that if the plan succeeds then the human pilots will have destroyed Cylon resurrection technology forever. This appeases the disgruntled pilots, human and Cylon.

The damaged basestar jumps to the Hub’s location. Once more, Roslin has a vision during the jump. Still at her own deathbed, she and Elosha talk more about death. Elosha says that everyone values their life, even bad people like Baltar. Life is too precious for any one person to decide whether to take another’s life, she counsels Roslin. Roslin has difficulty believing her. Elosha says that is because Roslin has not allowed herself to feel in a long time, nor to love. Roslin watches Adama weep over her dead body, and her face softens.

After the jump, battle ensues. Onboard the hub, Biers takes the opportunity to kill Brother Cavil, and Boomer flees. Helo and the Leader of the Eights board the Hub and leave with Biers. The Viper pilots are freed on cue, and destroy the Hub with nuclear missiles once Helo, the Leader of the Eights and D’Anna are safely away. Also, one of the two enemy Basestars is destroyed in the Hub’s explosion accounting for the destroyed Basestar detected in the previous episode. During the battle, Baltar encounters a Centurion. He begins to speak to the Centurion, telling it about his beliefs in a Cylon God, the seeming enslavement of the Centurions by the humanoid models, and the need for the Centurions to take control. As the Centurion seems to become angry, a weapon strikes the Cylon basestar. The Centurion is destroyed in the explosion, and Baltar is wounded in the stomach (bleeding heavily).

Roslin discovers Baltar in the damaged corridor, and drags him to safety in another room. She puts a field dressing on his belly wound, and injects him with morphine for the pain. As Baltar becomes less lucid due to the drug, he tells Roslin that he carried an incredible guilt which the Cylon monotheistic god has taken away from him. An incredulous and shaken Roslin listens as Baltar tells her that he gave the Cylons the defense codes which led to the genocide against the human race. Baltar justifies his actions by saying that the book of Pythia tells of a Noahic-like flood which reinvigorated the human race. No one blamed the flood, Baltar says; likewise, he is just a flood, and no one should blame him. As Baltar slips toward unconsciousness, Roslin removes his field dressing. Baltar begins to bleed to death. Out in space in the battle, Lt. Pike declares that he is not going to put his faith in the Cylons any more, and that he has programmed his Raptor to jump repeatedly until it reaches the Fleet again. The other human pilots tell him not to flee. An enemy Cylon Raider attacks his ship, and a bullet pierces the front window of his ship, mortally wounding him. Pike manages to jump his ship (the results of his jump are seen in the previous episode, Sine Qua Non). The rebel Cylons and humans land about the damaged basestar, and it jumps to safety shortly thereafter.

During the jump away from the Hub, Roslin is deeply moved to see herself die. Admiral Adama weeps as Roslin’s life ends. He says he will no longer be selfish and fight to keep her alive. As he prays that she finds true rest, he removes his wedding ring and puts it on Roslin’s finger.

The jump ends. Helo takes Biers to see Roslin. The Eight tries to stop him, telling him that this is a violation of their trust and the pact the Cylons had with the human beings. But Helo tells her that he’s “just following orders,” and leaves with the Three.

Roslin finds herself across the room from Baltar. Realizing she may have ended his life, she rushes to put a new field dressing on his wound, and attaches an I.V. bag of fluids to his arm to help him overcome shock. Helo and Biers arrive. Biers rushes to Baltar’s side, and finds that he is still alive. She announces he will live, and Roslin is relieved.

Roslin orders Helo to leave them alone, and she asks Biers for the identity of the Final Five. Biers declares that Roslin is herself a Cylon. Roslin is shocked, but then the Three bursts out laughing. She says that was a lie, and that she has no intention of revealing the identity of the Final Five until the basestar reaches the Fleet and safety.

The basestar jumps back to the position the Colonial Fleet had occupied before its jump at the end of the previous episode, Sine Qua Non. William Adama, reading in his Colonial Raptor and waiting for the basestar’s return, quickly powers up his ship and flies toward the basestar. He and Roslin greet one another on the basestar’s flight deck. They embrace, and Roslin tells him that she loves him. Adama responds that it’s “about time”.

Reception

Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger praised Mary McDonnell’s performance and was intrigued by Helo’s uneasy interactions with the Eight who had downloaded Athena’s memories. Lucy Lawless’ return “proved worth the wait, between her casually snapping Brother Cavil’s neck while still in her resurrection bath, or her snarking on all sides of the Cylon/human alliance once she was free of the Hub.” Eric Goldman of IGN.com also praised McDonnell’s acting in this episode, and found the episode’s final scene satisfying, despite not finding it believable that Adama would have waited for Roslin. “But in and of itself, Roslin being reunited with him and proclaiming that she loved him was incredibly sweet and gratifying, considering all that has occurred between the two throughout the entire series.”

Cultural References

  • Once again, as in the The Ties That Bind episode, the Orion constellation is visible as the damaged Basestar jumps back from completing its mission to destroy the Hub

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Beginning of the End (Merlin)

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

b>Morgana hides with the young druid boy from Arthur and his soldiers.

“The Beginning of the End” is the eighth episode in the British fantasy drama television series Merlin, which will be broadcast on BBC One on 8 November 2008.

Synopsis

When the identities of a druid and his boy apprentice, Mordred, are discovered in Camelot, they are soon on the run from the guards, but when Merlin hears the boy’s cry for help in his mind, he saves the boy, but the druid ends up being executed, leaving the boy all on his own. Although the Great Dragon has told Merlin to be careful on who he meets, he still puts Arthur’s life in danger keeping the boy safe. The Great Dragon tells Merlin that if he saves the boy Merlin can not fulfil his destiny – the young boy is going to kill Arthur.

Plot

A druid, Cerdan, and his very young apprentice are in Camelot to collect supplies, but the shopkeeper reports them and they are chased by soldiers. Merlin telepathically hears the boy scream in pain as he is wounded by one of the royal guards. The druid is captured after using his magic to help the boy escape. Merlin now hears the boy’s voice in his mind, begging for help. They manage to find each other by communicating telepathically, and Merlin hides him inside Morgana’s room at the castle (having been told that the boy will be killed if the guards find him.) A soldier knocks on Morgana’s door but she gets rid of him. She and Merlin then discover that the boy is wounded.

King Uther instantly orders the druid’s execution. Prince Arthur protests that the druids are a peaceful people but Uther sees their use of sorcery as a threat. He wants to make an example to the druid people and orders the city to be searched until the druid’s accomplice is found. The boy is recovering in Morgana’s room and does not see what is going on, but at the moment of his master’s execution he screams in horror and the mirror shatters magically.

Merlin later asks Gaius about druids and is forced to admit that he heard the child call to him telepathically. Gaius warns him not to be caught hiding the child, and says that druids look for children with magical gifts to serve as apprentices. Merlin later visits the boy, who is sleeping in Morgana’s room. He refuses to tell her his name or even to speak. She is upset that Uther wants to execute an innocent child and says that magic may be something people are born with, rather than a choice they make. She and Merlin decide they must return the boy to the druid people.

At dinner Morgana is forced to make excuses when Uther asks if anything is troubling her. Arthur admits that the boy has not been found, and is ordered to continue the search. The following day the boy develops a fever because of an infection in his wound. Morgana wants to fetch Gaius but Merlin thinks this is too dangerous and offers to try and help the child himself. Arthur arrives with a guard to search the room. Morgana says that the missing boy is behind the screen (where he really is) and Arthur leaves, thinking she is making fun of him.

Gaius catches Merlin reading a book about medicine. He is delighted that Merlin is taking an interest, and insists Merlin sit and be lectured to about the human anatomy. Merlin finally gets away and goes to the boy. While Morgana fetches water, the child thanks him telepathically and calls him “Emrys.” This is Merlin’s name among the druid people. Merlin asks how they know about him but there is no reply. Later that night he goes to see the Great Dragon. The Dragon tells him that he has many names, of which “Emrys” is one, and is the subject of many prophecies that Merlin has not yet read. The Dragon, like Merlin, has heard the druid boy’s voice. He says that Merlin must not help the child, but flies away without explaining why.

Meanwhile, the boy is being cared for by Gwen (Guinevere) and Morgana, and calls out to Morgana telepathically. He is becoming weaker. When Merlin arrives she begs for Gaius to be fetched. Merlin tells Gaius everything and Gaius is furious that he would put himself in such danger. Merlin says that the boy is dying and pleads with Gaius to save him. Gaius reluctantly agrees on the condition that they hand the child back to the druids as soon as he recovers. Everyone who leaves or enters Camelot is being searched, so Merlin and Morgana decide they will smuggle him out through a door which leads to the lower town. Merlin uses magic to get the key from Arthur.

Morgana and the boy escape but are seen leaving, and the guards chase after them. Arthur eventually catches them and orders them to reveal themselves. Morgana begs him not to hurt the child but Arthur tells the guards to restrain them both. The king accuses Morgana of conspiring with the druids against him. Uther commands for the boy to be executed and lashes out at her furiously when she says he has been overcome by his hate for magic. A tearful Morgana swears to Merlin that she will not allow the boy to die. Merlin agrees to help her.

Morgana asks for Arthur’s help to free the boy. With Merlin they agree to carry him out through the burial vaults. Merlin again visits the Dragon and asks why he was told not to help the boy. The Dragon says that if the boy lives, Merlin cannot fulfil his destiny: the boy will one day kill Arthur unless allowed to die by Merlin himself. Merlin cryptically asks for Gaius’s advice and Gaius says it seems that Merlin has already made his decision.

When Gwen asks why Morgana is risking so much to help the druid boy, she says she feels an inexplicable bond with him and believes she was meant to help him. As agreed with Arthur she goes to apologise to Uther in order to keep him distracted. Arthur uses a smoke bomb to distract the royal guards and then releases the boy from the dungeon. He has alerted the druids and they are waiting. The guards soon discover the boy is missing and raise the alarm. As the Dragon advised him, Merlin is not waiting to help Arthur and the boy escape. However, he is haunted by the boy’s telepathic cries for help and runs to their aid. The child promises “Emrys” that they will see each other again.

Uther is furious to discover the boy has escaped. He threatens Morgana with death if he finds out she was involved. Morgana silently rages as he leaves the room.

Arthur hands the young boy back to the druids. As they leave he calls out to them, asking who the boy is. The boy speaks his first and only line aloud: “My name is Mordred.” Arthur wishes him good luck as ominous music plays.

Cast

  • Colin Morgan as Merlin
  • Bradley James as Prince Arthur
  • Katie McGrath as Morgana
  • Asa Butterfield as Mordred
  • Richard Wilson as Gaius
  • Anthony Head as Uther Pendragon
  • John Hurt as The Great Dragon
  • Angel Coulby as Guinevere (Gwen)

Reception

Airing at 19:20, the eighth episode drew overnight ratings of 5.49m (23.1%) viewers. The final ratings were 6.25 million viewers.

Release

This episode, along with the previous episode and the five that follow, was released on Volume Two of Merlin, one the 9th February 2009.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Crime Aid

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Michael begins the auction.

“Crime Aid” is the fourth episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the show’s sixty-ninth episode overall. The episode aired in the United States on October 23, 2008 on NBC.

Plot

Pam finds that living in New York has become too expensive. Michael assists her by getting her a job at the Dunder Mifflin corporate office.

It is revealed that Michael and Holly are happily dating. One night, the two have sex in the stairwell in the office building and forget to lock the building door when they finish. As a result, thieves break in to the building and the Dunder Mifflin office and steal the computers and various other belongings. Realizing the robbery was their fault, Michael and Holly decide to set up an auction in the warehouse to raise money to match the value of items stolen. Jim finds a message from the night before on his work phone from an intoxicated Pam, who was out with friends at the time, and Jim jokingly remarks that she is the “future mother of [his] children”.

Michael allows all the staff to auction off any item they choose. Holly decides to auction off a yoga lesson, which Michael is the only one to place a bid for, and Phyllis decides to auction off a hug. Darryl auctions off an opportunity for someone to join him and the rest of the warehouse workers at a bar for beers at that exact moment. Michael tries to make a bid, but Darryl denies his bid, saying it would be a “conflict of interests”. Jim makes a bid, which Darryl immediately accepts, and they leave. The auction seems to be a complete failure until CFO David Wallace arrives to help raise money by auctioning off a weekend at his place in Martha’s Vineyard.

Meanwhile, Angela and Andy have set a date for their wedding, which upsets Dwight. Phyllis, knowing Dwight’s connection with Angela, attempts to console him. She suggests that he give Angela an ultimatum: call off the wedding or lose out on him. Angela ultimately says no to Dwight, so he asks Phyllis for more advice. Phyllis tells him that since she rejected him and his ultimatum that he should move on. Dwight then becomes bitter towards Phyllis, but later realizes she was trying to help, so he shows his appreciation by bidding for her hug auction, which he loses to her husband Bob Vance. The hug actually sells for $1,000, after Bob outbids Andy, David Wallace and Dwight.

At the bar, Jim encounters Pam’s ex Roy, who joins him and the warehouse workers for some beers. Jim reveals to Roy that he is engaged to Pam, which Roy congratulates him on, and also mentions that Pam is at art school in New York. He tells Roy about the night before which she spent with friends, to which he responds that Jim was also once her friend, suggesting that Pam may do to Jim what she did to Roy. Jim then decides to drive to New York to visit Pam, but just before he gets on Interstate Route 80 to get to New York, turns around because he is “not that guy and we’re not that couple”.

The most anticipated item at the auction is a pair of front row Bruce Springsteen tickets from Michael, and when it becomes time to open the bid for them, Michael claims he cannot find them and tells everyone that they were stolen in the robbery. At the end of the episode, Michael tells Holly that he lied about the tickets being stolen and about the tickets in general, though Holly already figured he didn’t have them. They kiss, catching the eye of a visibly displeased David Wallace, who says he was unaware that Michael and Holly were romantically involved.

Trivia

C.R.I.M.E. A.I.D. stands for “Crime Reduces Innocence. Makes Everybody Angry. I Declare.”

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

In Sickness and in Health (Fear Itself episode)

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

“In Sickness and in Health” is the fourth episode of the NBC horror anthology Fear Itself.

Plot

Samantha (Maggie Lawson) is about to be married to Carlos (James Roday), a man whom she loves deeply despite the fact that she has only known him for a short while. She suspects that many people — including her lifelong friends/bridesmaids Kelly and Ruthie — think that she is rushing the marriage. Samantha’s brother, Steven, hasn’t shown up yet; Samantha explains that he is just upset since she is the only family he has. Ruthie then passes Samantha a note that was given to her from Father Chris (William B. Davis), the presiding reverend. Samantha is told it was given to him by a woman in a red headscarf. Alone, she opens the letter and finds a typewritten note which reads: “The person you are marrying is a serial killer.”

She meets up with Carlos, hoping to set her fears to rest but finds that she can’t relax around him. Samantha meets up with Ruthie and asks for her to point out the woman who gave the Father Chris the note, but she is unable to find her. Outside the church they catch sight of a person with a red scarf getting into a taxi. They return to the church and Samantha accuses Ruthie of opening it before she reminds her that it was sealed.

Samantha and Carlos get married, despite some hesitation and awkwardness during the ceremony. Afterwards, preparing for the reception, Samantha tries to assure her friends that nothing has changed, even though they both notice something is wrong and ask if the note said that Carlos was having an affair. Obviously stressed, she asks them to leave and to agree that no one saw any note. Alone, she hears a knock on the door. She goes out and glimpses a person leaving, wearing a red head scarf.

She meets with Father Chris, and asks him who gave him the note, but he is unable to tell her anything new, but alludes to a tragedy in Carlos’ past that she has not been aware of. Later, she talks with Bob (Marshall Bell), Carlos’ uncle, who explains that Carlos’ parents mysteriously disappeared when he was sixteen, which traumatized him. Carlos interrupts and pulls Samantha away to ask why her friends are being so cold to him but storms off when she can’t give him an answer.

Samantha leaves a voicemail for her brother Steven, then confrontations ensue between Carlos, the bridesmaids, and Samantha. Samantha follows Carlos into the church, now dark, where he questions her about the note. When she asks if there is anything he wants to tell her, he responds by laughing, tells her not to be scared and starts to advance on her. Samantha tries the doors, but finding them locked she picks up a candlestick to use in self-defense. She retreats into a confessional booth and Carlos tries to coax her out, rattling the door several times. Without warning he enters the other half of the booth. Samantha tries to escape but finds that it is blocked. Carlos tells her through the grate about a woman who started stalking him and might have been crazy enough to want to ruin their wedding.

Elsewhere, the person in the red scarf enters a room filled with human heads in jars of green fluid and bloody corpses wrapped in cellophane in the chairs. After depositing a dead cat on a table then checking the voicemail (the same left by Samantha) the person is revealed to be Samantha’s brother Steven dressed as a woman.

Carlos asks if they can just forget about the note but Samantha reveals that Father Chris accidentally told Ruthie to give the note to the wrong person; the note was not intended for her, but for him. Carlos says he doesn’t want to know what it says so as long as they’re together, and that “You’ll show me when you’re ready, promise?” to which Samantha replies “I promise.”

Trivia

The actors who play the main characters in this episode, Maggie Lawson and James Roday, both star in the television series Psych, and are dating in real life.

Cast

  • Maggie Lawson as Samantha (bride)
  • James Roday as Carlos (groom)
  • Marshall Bell as Uncle Bob
  • Sonja Bennett as Ruthie
  • Christie Laing as Kelly
  • Marie Zydek as Female Body
  • William B. Davis as Father Chris

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

House’s Head

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

House looks around in the bus during one of his hallucinations

“House’s Head” is the fifteenth episode of the fourth season of House and the eighty-fifth episode overall. It was the first part of the two-part, season four finale, the second part being “Wilson’s Heart”. Co-written by several House producers and directed by Greg Yaitanes, “House’s Head” premiered on May 12, 2008 on FOX.

The episode revolves around Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), who, after being involved in a bus accident, vaguely remembers seeing someone who is “going to die”. House tries to trace back his steps throughout the episode to find out the identity of this person. A woman (Ivana Miličević), who claims to be “the answer”, guides House through hallucinations about the crash. House eventually realizes that “the answer” is Amber Volakis (Dr. Wilson’s significant other, portrayed by Anne Dudek), who is revealed to have been on the bus when it crashed. The episode ends in a cliffhanger ending, leaving Amber’s survival unknown.

14.84 million American viewers watched the broadcasting of “House’s Head”, making House the ninth most-watched program of the week. The episode, and in particular a strip tease scene involving Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), gained positive critical responses. The episode was submitted for five Primetime Emmy Awards, from which two nominations followed. Greg Yaitanes won the Emmy for “Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series”, but Hugh Laurie lost the award in the category “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series” to Bryan Cranston of AMC’s Breaking Bad.

Plot

The episode opens in a strip club where Dr. Gregory House is getting a lap dance. Disoriented, buzzed and suffering from a head wound, House has a short disjointed vision and presumes that “somebody’s going to die”. When he leaves the club, he sees that the bus he was on crashed. Back at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, House is diagnosed with a concussion and post-traumatic retrograde amnesia, he orders his team to check the bus driver for a possible seizure that precipitated the crash. Dr. Chase (Jesse Spencer) performs a medical hypnosis on House to stimulate his memory, during this, House finds himself getting drunk in a bar, alone. Chase, Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) and Amber Volakis (Anne Dudek) guide House through the hallucination, and the only other person House recognizes is the bartender (Fred Durst), who forced House to take the bus by taking away his keys.

While the team investigates several pathologies to fit the bus driver’s condition, House overdoses on his Vicodin and starts to hallucinate. He finds himself back on the bus, where he sees a woman (Ivana Miličević) who was not on the bus. However, before House can speak to her, Wilson awakens House to do an MRI on the bus driver. When House returns to the bus hallucination, Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) is with him. As they discuss the bus driver’s possible diseases, House realizes they are in his head and tells Cuddy to accompany the discussion with a strip tease. Cuddy complies, but just before she takes off her bra, she notes she is distracting House, and stops. The woman from House’s earlier hallucination returns and introduces herself as “the answer”. She tells House to “look” at the bus driver’s shuffling feet, which House believes to indicate Parkinson’s disease. When the bus driver needs to be intubated due to a possible clot from a pulmonary embolism, House notices the driver’s recent dental work. He reasons that an air bubble, that got accidentally injected into the patient’s bloodstream through the gums, would explain all the symptoms. The bubble is extracted, and the patient is saved.

In a renewed attempt to retrieve his memory, House has his team reenact the bus crash. House overdoses on physostigmine, a medication against Alzheimer’s disease, and his mind flashes back to the bus scene before the accident. “The answer” keeps asking House what her necklace is made from, until House realizes that it’s made of amber. “The answer” transforms into Amber Volakis, and when Cuddy manages to resuscitate House from his overdose-induced cardiac arrest, House immediately informs Wilson that Amber’s life is in danger. Wilson has not spoken to Amber since before the accident. Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) checks the patient roster and sees that a patient admitted to a different hospital matches Amber’s description.

Production

“House’s Head” was the fourth House episode directed by Greg Yaitanes. It was written by Peter Blake, David Foster, Russel Friend, Garrett Lerner and Doris Egan. Executive producer Katie Jacobs said that the season finale was “a little bit different” than the episodes preceding it. “House’s Head” was supposed to air after the Super Bowl XLII but due to the 2007-2008 WGA Strike the episode was derailed, and the House season 4 episode “Frozen” was aired instead. The T-shirt House wears in the episodes, which shows a skeleton drinking coffee, and says “Coffin Break”, was created by a designer named Taavo.

When Lisa Edelstein (Dr. Cuddy) heard she had to do a strip scene in the episode, she called actress Sheila Kelley, wife of Richard Schiff (with whom Edelstein had worked previously on The West Wing and Relativity). Kelley had worked on a movie about strippers long ago and Edelstein asked her for her advice on the choreography of the striptease. On the episode itself, Edelstein commented: “It is very interesting what happens in the first half of the finale in terms of learning about how House sees people and getting the world from his point of view entirely”. Before the filming of the scene started, Edelstein showed the dance to Hugh Laurie, who, according to Edelstein, was “incredibly supportive, like a cheerleader”. Edelstein commented that after the scene was filmed she, “felt beautiful, and it ended up being a really lovely experience”.

During the preparations for the bus crash, the whole sequence was storyboarded. Greg Yaitanes described stunt-coordinator Jim Vickers as “crucial” for the filming of this sequence. The bus crash scene was filmed interior using a big spinning wheel (which Anne Dudek referred to as a “gadget”). This gadget was mainly the back of the bus, and could be turned 360 degrees to increase the authenticity of the scene. For the rest of the bus, a greenscreen was used that surrounded the complete outside of the bus. The shots involving Anne Dudek, were filmed at another time, using light effects and people acting like they are in a bus crash in the otherwise motionless gadget.

Reception

Ratings

The episode premiered in the US on May 12, 2008 on FOX. The episode was viewed within five hours of broadcast by 14.84 million viewers, and had a 5.8/14 share of the 18-49 demographic. It was the second most-watched program of the night, beaten only by Dancing with the Stars. In the week from May 11, 2008 to May 18, 2008 “House’s Head” was the ninth most-watched program. The show was watched by 15.02 million viewers on Live + SD television. In Australia the episode aired May 12, 2008, on Network Ten, where it was watched by 1,432,000 viewers, making it the night’s second most watched program. It ranked fourth most-watched show in the 18-49 demographic. In Canada, the episode was broadcasted on Global Total, also on May 12. It was watched by 2.296 million viewers, making it the week’s fourth most watched program, behind Grey’s Anatomy and American Idol (Tuesday and Wednesday). 1.7 million viewers watched the episode’s first broadcast on United Kingdom’s Five on June 26, 2008.

Critical Reaction

Overall, “House’s Head” was very well received by critics. Sara Morrison, from Television Without Pity, called the moment that House gets back his memory “the best ten minutes of television you might ever see”. She was also pleased with the hypnotism scene, because it gave Chase “something to do”. Morrison graded the episode with an A+. Michelle Romero, of Entertainment Weekly, said that she can watch “House’s Head” twice and get as much out of the second viewing as the first.TV Guide’s Gina Dinunno stated: “It’s everything I imagined: brilliant, snarky, confusing – even dirty! They did an amazing job at leaving us with the cliffhanger of all cliffhangers as we wait to see what will happen to Amber”. Alan Sepinwall, from The Star-Ledger, compared the episode to the House season two finale “No Reason”. He, however, also said that the episode had “several issues”, mainly the hints towards “the answer” being Amber. On this, Sepinwall commented “House is, at heart, a mystery, and when the show telegraphs the solution, it isn’t half as entertaining”.

James Chamberlin, of IGN, said that he hoped the second part of the season finale could live up to the first half. He also said that the scenes revolving around “the answer” reminded him of The Matrix. Chamberlin graded the episode with a 9.5 on a ten scale. Barbara Barnett, of Blog Critics, praised both Hugh Laurie’s and Lisa Edelstein’s acting performances. She also said that, although there were many “memorable moments” in the episode, the scene in which the bus crashed was “intense”, “tension-filled” and “heart-stopping”. Maureen Ryan of Chicago Tribune’s The Watcher stated that, although she did predict the twist about midway through the episode, there were “so many other enjoyable elements” that it didn’t bother her. Jennifer Godwin of E! said the episode was “easily one of House’s best finales ever”. Also, several critics were surprised by Fred Durst’s brief cameo as the bartender in House’s flashback.

The scene in which Lisa Cuddy did a pole dance was very positively received by critics, Mary McNarma, of the Los Angeles Times, stated that these scenes “in three minutes earned back the price of Tivo”. James Chamberlin of IGN stated that he never expected Edelstein to do a strip tease, although he had hoped it. In season four DVD commentary, Jesse Spencer, Lisa Edelstein and Omar Epps all stated that “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart” are their favorite House episodes.

Awards

Cast members Lisa Edelstein, Jesse Spencer and Hugh Laurie submitted the episode for Primetime Emmy Awards on their behalf. In the categories Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series (Edelstein), Outstanding Supporting Actor – Drama Series (Spencer) and Outstanding Lead Actor – Drama Series (Laurie).Peter Blake, David Foster, Russel Friend, Garrett Lerner and Doris Egan, the writers of the episode, submitted the episode on their behalf for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. The episode was also given up for consideration in the category Outstanding Directing – Drama Series on behalf of director Greg Yaitanes. Hugh Laurie and Greg Yaitanes’ submissions both came through as nominations Yaitanes won the award, but Laurie lost the award to Bryan Cranston for his appearance in AMC’s Breaking Bad.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

« Older Entries