TV Season Review: 24

Wow. How did 24 come to this? One year after the best season of the show, which featured nuclear threats, a perfectly sleazy President and a great twist ending, 24 returned with the most embarrassing and pathetic season it has thus produced.

The show had so many cool ways it could have gone. With Jack Bauer being held in China, they could have done a whole season out of the country, with CTU trying to save Jack for whatever reason (or Jack escaping and then working with CTU to escape). They could have had the season start out the same, with the U.S. trading for Jack's safety, but taken the show in a whole new direction.

Instead, the writers pieced together the most successful moments from past seasons and tried to form some kind of plot out of the jumbled mess. This season we have Jack's brother, who has appeared in past seasons but never named as Jack's kin, getting killed way too early. We have Jack's father (James Cromwell), who is even worse. We have a bunch of Middle Eastern terrorists, who are in turn working with a Russian faction. We have the Chinese, trying to steal from the Russians and working with Jack's dad. Oh, and once again, CTU gets attacked.

The season was just preposterous. Instead of going bigger and better, the writers should have focused on one plot: Jack and the Chinese. The Russian element never really fit, and just allowed for the show to wrap up a plot about the ex-President and his ex-wife (a cheesy one-episode waste of time). Jack's family plot was scraping button, and James Cromwell could have been put to much better use.

All in all, it appears as though 24 has finally run out of ideas. They need something new and fast, because this season sucked balls.

Will Tony die on the series finale of The Sopranos?

The Sopranos ends tonight, and the big question is: will Tony live, or will Tony die? And if he dies, will that be the closure it needs, or will we have just lost one of the greatest characters in television history?

Personally, the show can find closure without killing Tony. Just like any movie can end with the bad guy dying and the protagonist living, The Sopranos can end with Phil getting whacked and Tony continuing on with his life as is. In fact, I believe this is the way it has to go: the show has always been about the hypocrisy of its characters, of human beings who live rather immoral lives. Killing Tony would be almost too cliche, and not true to the nature of the show.

Okay, I don't know what I'm saying, but I would love to see Tony lives. If Phil gets whacked and Tony lives, then I'll be just fine with that. Of course, in reality, the odds are that Tony dies. We'll just have to wait and see...

The Sopranos + Entourage = Happy Erik

Okay, so I watch too much television. In addition to watching nearly every major movie that is released in a given year, I subscribe to many television shows. I don't know how I do it and still manage to maintain a moderate social life. It probably helps I'm single, but anyway...

With Battlestar Galactica ending unexpectedly this last Sunday, I now have to look forward to The Sopranos and Entourage, both of which start April 8th on HBO. The Sopranos, in its final season for sure this time, hopefully will go out with a bang, and not a non-ending like it concluded on last season, or like Deadwood did. This is old news by now, but here's the Sopranos trailer.

Of course, I really can't wait to see what happens to Ari on Entourage, who could quite possibly be one of the greatest characters ever conceived by man. I am assuming he will return, but if he doesn't, I will be devastated!

Lost Episode Review: Season 3, Episode 12: Par Avion

Lost has consistently ranked in my top 2-3 shows over the last couple years. The ABC TV show is losing viewers with every episode, as people complain it offers too little explanation, etc. etc. While I tend to agree, Lost is still one of the most compelling, engaging and intriguing shows on TV, and while it often doesn't offer many answers, when it does, it makes the episodes well worth it.
The latest episode of Season 3 is called Par Avion, and while I won't go into details (if you watch the show, you already know what happened, and if you don't, you HAVE TO start from the beginning), it focuses on a back story on Claire, follows her attempt to implement an idea to save everyone and also look at the journeys of Sayid, Kate and Locke as they encounter a difficult new obstacle.
The last several episodes have been top notch, with exception to the Hurley episode which was probably the worst episode of the year. While of course it doesn't provide any absolute answers (does the show ever?), it provides plenty of partial truths and plenty to chomp on.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
What we get out of the episode is this: the patch-eyed guy alludes more to the reason why certain people have not been taken by The Others (they are not on the list due to being flawed) and, the doozy of the episode, that he knows Locke. Locke, having made a stupid mistake in the previous episode (was it a mistake?) continues to act suspicious and does more things this episode to cause animosity with his island mates, though in reality his moves here make sense and provide one of the coolest moments this season (don't walk through the fence!). In addition, the patch-eyed guy confirms that Ben is not the leader of The Others. Another shocker is the revelation of Claire's father, and yet another is that Jack is apparently not at odds with The Others as much as you'd expect.
All in all, there are plenty of twists and surprises in the episode, more so than in most. Thankfully, the episode does not end on a cheerful montage as many do; Lost should get away from that thing they do, and always end with some kind of shocker to keep us drooling for next time.
And now, here is the question I pose (MORE SPOILERS): Is Jack's dad the leader of The Others? We continue to see that he has connections with more and more of the people on the island, and he seems to be the only character that overlaps everyone. He's been seen on the island (granted, only by Jack in what was supposedly a hallucination). He is a doctor, and we know The Others spawn from some kind of medical project (but then, why did Ben need Jack to operate if his dad was available?). Furthermore, Jack's father is perhaps more flawed than anyone else, and perhaps he is trying to make amends by "helping" other flawed individuals?