Television: Person of Interest Pilot, Ringer and Glee

[shadowkat]

1) Saw Person of Interest finally - they re-aired the pilot in the Good Wife's timeslot and co-worker has been bugging me to check it out. Not bad. Sort of an anthology noir series. Reminds me a little Stacy Keach's Mike Hammer meets David Jannsen's the Fugitive by way of Nowhere Man, with a touch of Big Brother Paranoia thrown in. (ETA: co-worker and I decided that it reminded us a great deal of The Equalizer with Edward Woodward - more so actually than Burn Notice. Sort of the Equalizer meets Nightmare Cafe (The Robert Englund Character reminds me a lot of the millionaire here, and the short-order cook reminds me of Cavill's mercernary.) Also, nice twist to have the cop on the guy's trail a female, and black. That's new. I saw the twists coming...but that's mainly because I've seen a lot of these things. A bit violent, but not horribly so.

It's probably worth reiterating that I'm at a point right now in which I don't want to read or watch violent things - I sort of hit my saturation point. Co-worker and the Momster both think George RR Martin's books did me in...but I also read Jim Butcher, re-read all of Kim Harrison's novels, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (plus saw the film), the Spike comics, The Hunger Games Triology, and something else I can't remember in there - possibly fanfic? Without a break. Add to that? Reading the constant reports of gang violence, rapes, subway slashings and serial killings in the paper. Work being really stressful. Living alone. And well...None of which stopped me from watching the equally violent, albeit incredibly cheesy...

2) Ringer.


* Hee, Tara Butters (Gemma), look on the bright side - you lived longer than Amber Bensen's CI call girl, whose name escapes me. Amber and James Marsters are currently in a competition for shortest guest star appearance. Up until now Marsters had her beat with his gig on Lie To Me. But considering Amber plays a corspe with two maybe three brief flashbacks? I think she gets the honor. Five minutes! But hey, long enough for fans of the actress to make icons.

Was rather disappointed. I'd heard she got cast...and was sort of looking forward to seeing her. But - apparently she's playing a "dead" call girl.

* Gemma...we barely knew you. But hey girl, way to kick ass. The fact that your survived a point blank gun shot to the face - is impressive. The fact that ex-cop John aka Charlie managed to miss at that range is even more impressive. Surprised he didn't hit the fuel tank.

* Siobhan's fiendish plan - apparently Siobhan had intended on Bridget being killed in the architectural site, with Andrew taking the fall. She went to a lot of effort to set this up. That's why she went to the psychologist and talked about how she was afraid for her life. And why she saw an attorney...stating that her husband was abusing her and there was something fishy about a certain piece of property. It's also why she slept with Henry. And why she engineered Bridget to leave witness protection and come visit her. Faked her death so that Bridget would take her place(although you'd think that bit could have gone awry too) She wanted Bridget to die in her place as Siobhan, and Andrew to be framed as her (Siobhan) killer. But Bridget screwed it up - by living. And now, Siobhan's been struggling with Plan B.
Actually she may be on Plan C by now.

All of this is more or less backed up this week - when we learn that Siobhan is positioning Bridget to take the fall for her - via Charlie aka John.

*Siobhan does some house-cleaning. So does Charlie. She even flies all the way from Paris to do it. But makes sure she leaves behind her pregnancy test - so new Banker boytoy can find it. (If Banker boy-toy had any intelligence at all - he'd remember that she was sick when he first hooked up with her, and it is more than possible she was already pregnant...and maybe he should request a paternity test. We know the kid is Henry's.) Siobhan kills Charlie/John because he killed Gemma. Hmmm - so Siobhan didn't want Gemma dead? Good to know. Before Charlie kills Gemma, he lets her know the real Siobhan is alive and is behind her kidnapping. Charlie claims Siobhan can't kill him, because a) she's not a killer (if she was, she'd have killed Bridget a while a go instead of coming up with this fiendish plan) b)she needs him. Siobhan proves him wrong on both points.

* We can indirectly blame Henry for Gemma getting killed...since Henry brought the police, although I'm guessing he'd have tried to kill her anyway, and missed, only to get hit in the head, and kill her again for real.

*Meanwhile Nester/FBI guy...has figured out who the elusive Matador is. (You got me, this plot thread just sort of dropped in out of thin air. Either that, or I haven't been paying close enough attention...which is possible.) Apparently it's the other FBI guy who engineered Bridget's escape and gave her his gun. And he did it - not to help Siobhan or...Charlie aka John as we thought, but because he's the elusive Matador? I don't know. At any rate, the Matador killed Amber Bensen. And tried to kill FBI Guy Nestor, but FBI guy Nestor has outsmarted him and brought back-up! Yes, finally, he uses his brain!

*In the other subplot...whiny teenage daughter aka Juliet stays after school to help pick up litter, in the hopes of continuing her flirtation with Mr. C. Mr. C tries to ignore her. But she refuses to be ignored. He tries to give her the not-so-gentle brush-off in front of her friend. She insists she's just being nice, not flirting, and he's over-reacting. He suggests her friend wait outside and he's going to have this out with her once and for all. Friend waits outside and doesn't see what happens.
Later, Juliet chats friend up on her computer, and bursts into tears...claiming Mr. C raped her. Sigh. I saw this coming a mile away five weeks ago, and kept hoping they wouldn't do the storyline. (I'd say it was cliche...and it is, but it's also realistic, currently there's a female teacher up on charges for the rape of a 14 year old teen - who had been arrested in the past for stealing her cell phone. So this happens. Makes me happy I'm not a teacher. ) At any rate, Mr. C has done everything wrong. He gave the kid his number. He flew to her rescue - not once but twice. Then he had her friend leave the room while he chewed her out in private, alone, with no witnesses. Dumb. Doesn't this guy watch any movies or tv shows? I mean honestly.

* But hey, at least stuff happened. Gemma died finally. As did Charlie. And Amber.
Heavy death toll in this episode. Is the Matador dead? No, he survived. And Siobet confides to Malcolm that she has a feeling there's more to this than meets the eye.

Funniest scene? Siobhan hitting herself in the eye with her own bathroom mirror. So she can have a horrible black eye to charm Banker boy-toy into feeling sympathy for her - takes him a wee bit longer than expected, apparently he's not too fond of being used. Now that's what I call dedication to the cause! (Siobhan hitting herself in the eye, not Banker boy toy.)

Although...Gemma coming back from the dead...was fun too.

Charlie: What are you doing still alive?
Gemma (I'm a Zombie! No a Vampire! No wait..wrong show): You're a lousy shot. (WHAM!)
(Gemma? Next time, not that you will get a next time, wack more than once. Just to be sure he stays down. Also take his gun. That way you might survive, if he wakes up. I never understand why characters in tv shows and movies don't do that. Don't they watch any horror tv shows and movies??)

What bewilders me is the tv critics continue to give this series the same grade as Revenge and Once Upon a Time. A "B". Uhm. No. Much as I enjoy Ringer at times, even I can admit it's a cheesy soap parody. Lots of fun. But lacks the production value, budget, character definition, dialogue, and direction of the other two.



3. Glee ...eh, when they focus on the plot more than the musical numbers the show grates on my nerves. More musical numbers, less dialogue!!! Watching Glee is beginning to remind me of Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, the Voice and The Sing-Off...which I gave up on, because I couldn't handle all the stupid interviews. More dancing and singing, less talking! It's not that I don't appreciate some of the story lines...it's that they've done a poor job of getting me to care about these characters, also...some of it feels too satirical in tone and therefore patronizing.
These aren't topics I necessarily want to see satirized or not in this way - it's, well, patronizing.

There were two musical numbers that stood out for me...Joliene
and I kissed a girl and I liked it. But again, even those? Felt patronizing or condescending or something...just did not work for me. I miss the West Side Story Episode. This episode brought back memories of Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick's satirical flick "Election" (which I wasn't as much in love with as everyone else on the planet)

Comments

[ann1962]

Thanks for the recap of Ringer. I fell asleep right after Charlie shot Gemma.

I figured the daughter would go the rape route too! (I shouldn't laugh.)

I think SMG looks annoyed at playing this character. These characters. She's used to better writing.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I don't know about that...have you seen SMG's Scooby Doo movies, The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, Revolver, Southland Tales and Grudge? Outside of Buffy, Cruel Intentions, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, and maybe the Air You Breath...she's done some stinkers. Oh and I forgot All My Children (her favorite tv series). ;-)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

And how sad is it that I actually know this? Worse? I've seen all these things...(shudder) ;-)

[ann1962]

LOL, I've only seen the Scooby movie! Maybe it's better that way!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yep...although The Grudge had its moments, mainly keeping me awake at night. Not the sort of horror I should watch. Gellar proves in the Grudge that she was indeed the actor that Fury kept stating could not run to save their life on Buffy. No, she really can't. LOL!

The worst was by far Girl's Guide (notable for being the worst film Alec Baldwin has ever made - he's Gellar's love interest. The age difference was a bit too palpable.)

Gellar can't complain though...she's doing better career wise than her co-stars in Scooby Doo. I think Freddie Prinze Jr. decided to take up culinary arts as a day job...

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

I think that's your annoyance. ;o)

SMG is a major producer of show. The writing is probably as good as she can afford.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Hee, it's also been mentioned in various interviews that SMG wanted a show that let her have the weekends off, daycare, and a family atmosphere.
Basically a 9-5 job. Which Ringer is for her. (Sort of like the soap operas - they are generally 8-10 hour days, sometimes 13 hour with weekends off).

Buffy in marked contrast - was called Buffy the weekend slayer. Had 13-20 hour days. Filmed through weekends.
Even though they equally had a really low budget - the producers were fascists
and stern task masters. (Was not a nice family oriented work environment, but hey, quality tv!)

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

I think you pretty much covered Ringer. I was so convinced that Siobhan was going to kill Charlie that I spent the time between the moment she showed up and the shot trying to figure out if she'd waited till the Gemma-Charlie skit had played itself out before showing herself. So I was distracted. But I think she (Siobhan) could not shoot him till he tried to take the gun away from her, which gets her a little credit in the karma department. Why after weeks of being tied up Gemma didn't beat Charlie's head in and/or empty his gun into him when she had the chance is always going to be a mystery of classic stupid TV characters. Charlie's marksmanship also deserves to go in the Soap Opera Hall of Fame. There wasn't even any blood in the back of the car! I suspect that bruise on Gemma's head was from the ride to the storage unit. Don't get me started on how in the world Siobhan tracked them down there, while the police who were told exactly where to go showed up fashionably late.

Back when I was teaching they were advising men to never-never close the door when talking to girl students one-on-one. Decades later, with far more publicity about both men and women getting into trouble over relations with students, Mr. C is living in a world of his own.

[Tongue-in-cheek snark] Ach, Amber, we barely saw you. I wonder if the show will get all kinds of bad pub for killing off a character because she was a lesbian [/tongue-in-cheek snark]

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Hee. Right now there's a contest between Charlie, Gemma and Mr. C for the stupidest action in the episode.

1. Mr. C for voluntarily shutting himself in the classroom alone, at night, after hours, with the teenage Juliet who has been coming on to him and is upset he won't return her feelings, while her friend was told to wait outside?
2. Charlie for not checking to see if Gemma was actually shot or dead, after he aimed and fired at her at point blank range and managed to completely miss (making one wonder if his gun had been filled with blanks?)
3. Gemma for not beating Charlie's head in or killing him.

From a writer standpoint I can see why they didn't have Gemma kill Charlie - because then Siobhan would have had to kill Gemma, there goes Siobhan's karma.
Although a really cool twist would have been for Siobhan to save Gemma, convince her that Bridget was the foul-up and go into hiding. (You can tell I've watched too many of these things.)

Hmm...I can wank everything but Mr. C. Gemma - was hit on the head, scared to death, and possibly a bit..weak. Charlie was in a rush, and may be just a bad shot. But Mr. C? I've got nothing.

Don't get me started on how in the world Siobhan tracked them down there, while the police who were told exactly where to go showed up fashionably late.

It was odd that she showed up out of nowhere, while the cops took their sweet time. Considering Siobhan was in Paris...

The logistics of this story are ludicrious and unintentionally amusing as a result.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Ugh, Ringer is getting tedious. If the pull a "cry rape" story line, I'm done.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I hate to say it...but I really think they are.
Ugh. Why they are doing this weird cliche sub-plot that has no bearing on any of the other plot-threads..I've no clue.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Most of that step-daughter's stuff is peripheral, and seems to be an attempt to appeal to the actual CW demographic, maybe?

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

I think so. Julliet is about as marginal as a regular can get and not be another Gemma.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

That's my guess as well. But why an obvious "cry rape" storyline? That's not exactly going to appeal to that demo...

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Juliet is a pretty pathetic character, I don't see what teen/20-something would find her the least bit interesting.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Feel much the same way...there's nothing to the character. It's not really the actress' fault. She literally has nothing to do but be pouty and whiny and pathetic. The fact she's a trust fund baby..makes her even less appealing.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Funniest scene? Siobhan hitting herself in the eye with her own bathroom mirror.

Yeah. And like most of this show's flashbacks mostly unnecessary, since we could have all assumed Siobhan did that herself. Speaking of, the Amber Benson flashbacks added basically nothing beyond revealing "matador" but at least she got some work in...

At this point, I'm just going to go ahead and give an award to Malcolm for being the only male character on the show who isn't entirely stupid. (Unless Andrew realizes Bridget is not Siobahn but is playing along because he likes her a lot more than his real wife.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

LOL! Yeah, I agree...long ago gave the award to Malcolm, although his insistence in telling the cops about the cell phone and not where he found it...leading them to alert Charlie, wasn't the smartest idea in the world - but I can at least explain it, that's what most people would do in that situation. Call the cops. Can't really blame Malcolm for the stupidity of the police force.

Agree also on Amber Benson's role - which felt sort of pointless.
But hey, a job's a job.

The writing of this thing is weird - they don't trust the audience to figure out obvious things...but less obvious things, like the whole Matador subplot..they don't explain and sort of plop in out of nowhere.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

It was nice to see the pilot episode of 'Person of Interest', I enjoy the show... I like the low key characters and their almost omniscient over view of the city.

I liked several of the songs in Glee, and I'm glad to have the various elections resolved.... but I really agree w/you about missing West Side Story (that was so good that everything else seems anticlimactic).

And thanks for the recap of Ringers! I've stopped watching the show but I found your recap hugely entertaining... I hope you'll keep me up on the plot so I can find out what happens.

Similarly I stopped watching 'Walking Dead' several weeks ago, and instead I've been watching 'The Talking Dead' (where they have comedians and cast on to discuss the show each week: it is funny and catches me up on the action).