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Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Bluetini
I think this is my new favorite summer drink: Stoli Blueberi, club soda (or unflavored seltzer) and frozen wild blueberries. Super-refreshing (i.e., not sweet) and the berry flavor comes right through. Very, very tasty (altho' expensive). It's not exactly a Bluetini as detailed in the Stoli recipes, but it's dang close.
Firefly – episode 3 “Bushwhacked"
It’s ESPN 8 (“The Ocho”) and some sort of space basketball! You would definitely want Jayne on your team, what with him being 9 feet tall and everything. River is avidly watching the game (trying to figure out the rules, I think) as Inara and Simon chat about how River is doing. A proximity alert sounds. “We’re all doomed … who’s flying this thing? Oh, that would be me,” exclaims Wash. He goes up to the bridge to find Serenity approaching a derelict ship; a dead body is floating out in space and bounced off the window gruesomely. Everyone wonders what the ship is. River murmurs: “It’s a ghost.”
Actually, the ship is a converted cargo hauler, retrofitted to carry passengers to the outer planets. Book wonders if they should report the incident and when the crew is reluctant to get involved, he brings up the Good Samaritan story. Mal reconsiders, thinking there might be available salvage. Jayne: “Uh, yeah, someone might be hurt.” Have I mentioned lately that I love Jayne? Unseen underneath, CGI tentacles attach to Serenity from the derelict. That can't be good. At first, Simon offers to join the away team but he rethinks things when he sees Mal and Zoë getting into their spacesuits. Jayne notices his discomfort and is more than happy to fan its flames. Mal and Zoë explore the other ship: the emergency power is on; full plates were left in the kitchen as though folks got up in the middle of their meal; all the computers were left on; there is no sign of struggle. “They’re just gone.”
River wakes up in her room from a nightmare, sobbing. When Simon tends to her, she says she can’t sleep, there’s too much screaming [in her head]. Jayne stops by to tell Simon to get suited up and meet him over on the other ship. With great trepidation – and his helmet on crooked! – Simon enters the derelict, panting with fear. He finds the crew already there, sans suits, as there is plenty of life support available. Jayne laughs as Simon calls him a sadist; they all split up to gather salvage and Kaylee kindly tells Simon that he had fastened his helmet incorrectly. Ha. Kaylee wonders what happened to all the people: she can find nothing mechanically wrong with this ship. Mal and Zoë find the cargo hold and unhappily note that all the settlers’ supplies are still onboard – no one would abandoned this ship without their supplies. Zoë reasons, “Sir, even if they’d escaped on a lifeboat, they would have had room for some of this stuff.” Mal says grimly, “Nobody escaped,” as they point their flashlights at the ceiling and find all the settlers strung up there, dead. Jayne, pillaging the galley, is attacked from behind. He reports that his attacker was “Big tho’, strong. I think I might have hit him.” “You did,” says Mal, following a trail of blood to where a small and frightened man is hiding in a crawl space. “Ah yes,” snarks Simon, “He’s a real beast. It’s a wonder you’re still alive.” “Looked bigger when I couldn’t see him,” replies Jayne reasonably.
Back on Serenity, the crew discusses the survivor. Jayne thinks he’s the one who killed the other settlers. Zoë says that the captain wouldn’t have brought him onboard were that the case. The survivor is ranting, “no mercy, cattle for the slaughter, open them up, see what’s inside,” so Mal tells Simon to dope him, although he posits it would be better to just shoot him and put him out of his misery. That upsets everyone. Mal states that after what this guy’s seen, there’s no hope for him: his ship was hit by Reavers. Everyone is very much more upset about this.
Mal goes on: “Don’t matter we took him off that boat, it’s a place he’s going to live forever.” Book spouts some platitudes about hope and faith [hey! That’s nearly a BTVS episode!]; Mal says the Reavers might take issue with that philosophy, if they have time for philosophy while they're gnawing at your insides. Jayne wants to get gone post-haste but Mal says there’s work still to be done on the derelict boat. When Jayne says he’s not going back over there with those mutilated bodies, Simon volunteers to go help cut them down. Book says he’ll help put them to rest: “How we treat our dead is what makes us different from those who did the slaughtering.” Mal okays this plan, sending a reluctant Jayne with them. As the funeral detail heads off, he brings Kaylee, Wash and Zoë up to speed with the booby trap tentacles that have latched onto Serenity. Mal wants to know if “little Kaylee” can fix it; Kaylee says yes … and if she can’t, it’s not as if he’ll be able to yell at her. That’s the spirit! Next is a brief montage of Jayne, Book and Simon cutting down the bodies, Kaylee fiddling with the workings of the ship while Mal, Zoë and Wash look on, the survivor waking up in the infirmary and River shrieking. Kaylee takes care of the booby trap; the away team returns with the last of the salvage; and uh oh! an Alliance cruiser has cornered Serenity and ordered them to prepare to be boarded.
On the Alliance cruiser, Matt Fielding from Melrose Place is not only looking for the stolen salvage from the derelict, but also recognizes that Serenity has been flagged for possibly harboring the fugitive Tam siblings. On Serenity, Simon is wigging out as Mal tells him to fetch River, thinking they’re about to be turned in; Book admonishes him, “Don’t be a fool, son.” When the feds board Serenity, the crew (and Book) is waiting for them in the hold; the Alliance soldiers discover the survivor in the infirmary. Matt suspects that Mal is hiding the Tams and takes the crew back to the cruiser for interrogation; Kaylee takes great offense when Matt calls Serenity a “junker.” Matt questions each crewmember separately – it’s largely hilarious. He notes that Zoë fought with Mal in the war. Zoë: “Fought with a lot of people in the war.” Matt: “And your husband?” Zoë: “Sometimes fight with him too.” When he asks her why she is reluctant to talk about her marriage, she puts him off with a “we’re very private people.” Cut immediately to Wash chuckling: “The legs, definitely the legs, you can put that down … and right where her legs meet her back. Actually, that whole area. And right above it.” Kaylee defends Serenity with a torrent of mechanical gibberish; Jayne just stares menacingly without speaking. The soldiers continue to tear the ship apart looking for the Tams [under the placemats?!]; the camera pulls back to show Simon and River, wearing spacesuits and clinging to the outside of the ship. Simon is terrified but his sister is joyfully gazing at the star-filled ‘verse above them.
I notice that during Matt’s interrogation of Mal, the hand-held camera is extra shaky. I’m not sure why Joss chose to do this … or if it’s perhaps the effect of the tasty rum and tonic I’ve just finished. No matter. Matt observes that Mal fought on the “wrong side” of the Unification War; Mal corrects him, saying, “maybe it was the losing side, but I’m not convinced it was the wrong side.” Matt then arrests Mal and the crew for allegedly slaughtering all the settlers on the ship. When Mal suggests he ask the sole survivor what really happened, Matt says the survivor won’t be able to talk with his tongue split in two. Mal swears softly, horror and realization creeping over his face. Cut to an Alliance operating room with the survivor on the table: his hand reaches out, grabbing a surgical tool. Blood splashes in a great arc across the wall.
Mal insists to Matt that Reavers killed those people and that the survivor was made to watch. “A man comes up against that kind of will has no choice but to become it.” Mal predicts that the “poor bastard” will first cut on himself, making himself look like a Reaver, and then he’ll start to act like one. Yeesh. Simon and River let themselves back into Serenity to hunker down until the coast is clear. The “survivor,” a/k/a the Reaver-in-training, escapes from the Alliance cruiser and also goes back to Serenity; Mal, Matt and some soldiers track him, following the trail of dead bodies. River is acting squirrelly. Just as the feds are about to come upon the Tam siblings, the wannabe-Reaver jumps out, killing a soldier and attacking Matt. The wannabe has cut his face and generally looks as though he’s taken a correspondence course in facial piercing ... with the lights off. Yuck-o. Mal manages to get his handcuffs around the guy’s neck, snapping it and saving Matt’s life. Perhaps gratefully, Matt releases Serenity and her crew, but not before he confiscates the cargo they’ve salvaged. “Couldn’t let us profit,” grumbles Mal.
Actually, the ship is a converted cargo hauler, retrofitted to carry passengers to the outer planets. Book wonders if they should report the incident and when the crew is reluctant to get involved, he brings up the Good Samaritan story. Mal reconsiders, thinking there might be available salvage. Jayne: “Uh, yeah, someone might be hurt.” Have I mentioned lately that I love Jayne? Unseen underneath, CGI tentacles attach to Serenity from the derelict. That can't be good. At first, Simon offers to join the away team but he rethinks things when he sees Mal and Zoë getting into their spacesuits. Jayne notices his discomfort and is more than happy to fan its flames. Mal and Zoë explore the other ship: the emergency power is on; full plates were left in the kitchen as though folks got up in the middle of their meal; all the computers were left on; there is no sign of struggle. “They’re just gone.”
River wakes up in her room from a nightmare, sobbing. When Simon tends to her, she says she can’t sleep, there’s too much screaming [in her head]. Jayne stops by to tell Simon to get suited up and meet him over on the other ship. With great trepidation – and his helmet on crooked! – Simon enters the derelict, panting with fear. He finds the crew already there, sans suits, as there is plenty of life support available. Jayne laughs as Simon calls him a sadist; they all split up to gather salvage and Kaylee kindly tells Simon that he had fastened his helmet incorrectly. Ha. Kaylee wonders what happened to all the people: she can find nothing mechanically wrong with this ship. Mal and Zoë find the cargo hold and unhappily note that all the settlers’ supplies are still onboard – no one would abandoned this ship without their supplies. Zoë reasons, “Sir, even if they’d escaped on a lifeboat, they would have had room for some of this stuff.” Mal says grimly, “Nobody escaped,” as they point their flashlights at the ceiling and find all the settlers strung up there, dead. Jayne, pillaging the galley, is attacked from behind. He reports that his attacker was “Big tho’, strong. I think I might have hit him.” “You did,” says Mal, following a trail of blood to where a small and frightened man is hiding in a crawl space. “Ah yes,” snarks Simon, “He’s a real beast. It’s a wonder you’re still alive.” “Looked bigger when I couldn’t see him,” replies Jayne reasonably.
Back on Serenity, the crew discusses the survivor. Jayne thinks he’s the one who killed the other settlers. Zoë says that the captain wouldn’t have brought him onboard were that the case. The survivor is ranting, “no mercy, cattle for the slaughter, open them up, see what’s inside,” so Mal tells Simon to dope him, although he posits it would be better to just shoot him and put him out of his misery. That upsets everyone. Mal states that after what this guy’s seen, there’s no hope for him: his ship was hit by Reavers. Everyone is very much more upset about this.
Mal goes on: “Don’t matter we took him off that boat, it’s a place he’s going to live forever.” Book spouts some platitudes about hope and faith [hey! That’s nearly a BTVS episode!]; Mal says the Reavers might take issue with that philosophy, if they have time for philosophy while they're gnawing at your insides. Jayne wants to get gone post-haste but Mal says there’s work still to be done on the derelict boat. When Jayne says he’s not going back over there with those mutilated bodies, Simon volunteers to go help cut them down. Book says he’ll help put them to rest: “How we treat our dead is what makes us different from those who did the slaughtering.” Mal okays this plan, sending a reluctant Jayne with them. As the funeral detail heads off, he brings Kaylee, Wash and Zoë up to speed with the booby trap tentacles that have latched onto Serenity. Mal wants to know if “little Kaylee” can fix it; Kaylee says yes … and if she can’t, it’s not as if he’ll be able to yell at her. That’s the spirit! Next is a brief montage of Jayne, Book and Simon cutting down the bodies, Kaylee fiddling with the workings of the ship while Mal, Zoë and Wash look on, the survivor waking up in the infirmary and River shrieking. Kaylee takes care of the booby trap; the away team returns with the last of the salvage; and uh oh! an Alliance cruiser has cornered Serenity and ordered them to prepare to be boarded.
On the Alliance cruiser, Matt Fielding from Melrose Place is not only looking for the stolen salvage from the derelict, but also recognizes that Serenity has been flagged for possibly harboring the fugitive Tam siblings. On Serenity, Simon is wigging out as Mal tells him to fetch River, thinking they’re about to be turned in; Book admonishes him, “Don’t be a fool, son.” When the feds board Serenity, the crew (and Book) is waiting for them in the hold; the Alliance soldiers discover the survivor in the infirmary. Matt suspects that Mal is hiding the Tams and takes the crew back to the cruiser for interrogation; Kaylee takes great offense when Matt calls Serenity a “junker.” Matt questions each crewmember separately – it’s largely hilarious. He notes that Zoë fought with Mal in the war. Zoë: “Fought with a lot of people in the war.” Matt: “And your husband?” Zoë: “Sometimes fight with him too.” When he asks her why she is reluctant to talk about her marriage, she puts him off with a “we’re very private people.” Cut immediately to Wash chuckling: “The legs, definitely the legs, you can put that down … and right where her legs meet her back. Actually, that whole area. And right above it.” Kaylee defends Serenity with a torrent of mechanical gibberish; Jayne just stares menacingly without speaking. The soldiers continue to tear the ship apart looking for the Tams [under the placemats?!]; the camera pulls back to show Simon and River, wearing spacesuits and clinging to the outside of the ship. Simon is terrified but his sister is joyfully gazing at the star-filled ‘verse above them.
I notice that during Matt’s interrogation of Mal, the hand-held camera is extra shaky. I’m not sure why Joss chose to do this … or if it’s perhaps the effect of the tasty rum and tonic I’ve just finished. No matter. Matt observes that Mal fought on the “wrong side” of the Unification War; Mal corrects him, saying, “maybe it was the losing side, but I’m not convinced it was the wrong side.” Matt then arrests Mal and the crew for allegedly slaughtering all the settlers on the ship. When Mal suggests he ask the sole survivor what really happened, Matt says the survivor won’t be able to talk with his tongue split in two. Mal swears softly, horror and realization creeping over his face. Cut to an Alliance operating room with the survivor on the table: his hand reaches out, grabbing a surgical tool. Blood splashes in a great arc across the wall.
Mal insists to Matt that Reavers killed those people and that the survivor was made to watch. “A man comes up against that kind of will has no choice but to become it.” Mal predicts that the “poor bastard” will first cut on himself, making himself look like a Reaver, and then he’ll start to act like one. Yeesh. Simon and River let themselves back into Serenity to hunker down until the coast is clear. The “survivor,” a/k/a the Reaver-in-training, escapes from the Alliance cruiser and also goes back to Serenity; Mal, Matt and some soldiers track him, following the trail of dead bodies. River is acting squirrelly. Just as the feds are about to come upon the Tam siblings, the wannabe-Reaver jumps out, killing a soldier and attacking Matt. The wannabe has cut his face and generally looks as though he’s taken a correspondence course in facial piercing ... with the lights off. Yuck-o. Mal manages to get his handcuffs around the guy’s neck, snapping it and saving Matt’s life. Perhaps gratefully, Matt releases Serenity and her crew, but not before he confiscates the cargo they’ve salvaged. “Couldn’t let us profit,” grumbles Mal.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Firefly – episode 2 “The Train Job”
In a bar, Mal and Zoë are playing Chinese checkers while Jayne watches, bored or drunk, or maybe a little of both; Zoë is winning. A drunken lout makes a toast to Unification Day – the “asspicious” day when the Alliance put down the Independence. Jayne is confused: “ ‘Suspicious?’ What day is it? What month is it?” Mal eyes the toasted toaster and goes to get another drink. The drunk notices his brown coat and starts to pick a fight; Mal willingly rises to the bait. Mal is noticeably less dark than he was in the first episode, despite the fighting. Ever the good wingman, Zoë sneaks up and knocks out the drunk. However, the rest of the bar is apparently also on the federal side of things and a big bar brawl kicks into gear. Jayne at first declines to participate – “I didn’t fight in the war.” I love Jayne. He finally does join in and the three of them manage to hold their own for a bit against the mob, until they get backed up again a cliff that drops away into nothing. Mal notes, “This is why we lost the war – superior numbers.” “Thanks for the reenactment, sir”, says Zoë dryly, “Funny how you find yourself in an Alliance-friendly bar on every Unification Day.” Wash flies Serenity up just in time and they escape. The trip was not entirely unsuccessful, however, as Mal has made a contact: they have a job they can do.
River, her hair clean and fluffy, is having flashbacks to being experimented upon; Simon tries to calm her. Boy, she’s skinny. And I like her motorcycle boots. Mal visits the infirmary to disinfect his post-brawl scrapes. Simon is worried that the bar fight may have attracted Alliance attention and in reassuring him, Mal actually smiles several times – he is less dark for sure! Mal then goes looking for Kaylee and finds the engine room a wreck: “Were there terrifying space monkeys?” He finds her having a little girl time, getting her hair brushed by Inara. Inara gives some exposition about Companions for the viewing audience’s edification: they are not common prostitutes but are trained and licensed by a guild, allowed to hand-select their own clients, etc. When Mal sends Kaylee back to the engine room, he and Inara are alternately snarky, defensive and almost considerate to each other. Hmm. Mal, Zoë and Jayne go to meet with Adelai Niska on Niska’s space station; they’re a little nervous since, according to Mal, Niska’s a pretty tough customer. Niska wants them to rob a train for him; he also manages to impress his tough-guy rep upon them by revealing a man being tortured in the back room. (Well, the man used to be tortured, but now he’s just dead.) They are duly impressed. Later, on the train, Zoë and Mal make their way through the passenger cars and come upon a car full of Alliance officers – yikes! They weren’t expecting that.
Back on Serenity, Book asks Inara about the crew, and mentions that he feels a little useless. Inara suggests that he perhaps pray for the crew’s current caper to be successful. “I don’t think the captain would appreciate it,” Book replies. “Don’t tell him,” she then says, “I never do.” On the train, Zoë is not pleased about the fed squad on the train, but Mal thinks it just makes the job more fun! Zoë snarks that she thinks he has a problem with his brain being missing. She wants to know if she can have his share of the pay. No. “If you die, can I have your share?” “Yes.” Kaylee, Simon and Jayne are getting ready for the heist in the ship’s cargo bay. Jayne is not particularly friendly to Simon, and tells Kaylee that he thinks Mal is planning on turning Simon and River in for the reward. Kaylee is concerned and skeptical, as is par for the course when listening to Jayne. Zoë and Mal break into the train car, bundle up the cargo, and open the hatch in the roof; Serenity flies overhead and Jayne is lowered down on a cable. Wash has nice arms. The feds discover them in the train car and manage to shoot Jayne in the leg before he and the stolen cargo are airlifted back up to Serenity. Zoë and Mal covertly blend back in with the rest of the passengers. The train is stopped at a small mining town, Paradiso. Gregg Henry (that guy from Slither) is the sheriff; Zoë and Mal overhear him fret that the stolen cargo contained the town’s medicines and supplies. Mal is upset.
Jayne wants to rendezvous with Niska and hand over the booty but Wash refuses to leave without Zoë and Mal. River interrupts with a little bit of crazy: “Two by two, hands of blue.” Jayne, in pain from his leg wound, grumps that he’s in charge; Simon gives him a shot for the pain. Book points out that Niska will probably want to meet with Mal himself since Mal was the one with whom the deal was made. Sitting around in Paradiso, Mal mutters that this is a nightmare. Zoë says, “Nothing points to us.” “That’s not what I meant,” he says, glumly looking around at all the poor and sick people. As the sheriff interrogates them, they pretend to be a newly married couple (hee hee!) looking for work in the Paradiso mines. There is some exposition about the town needing the stolen medicine in order to treat a degenerative disease caused by the mines. The sheriff is a bit suspicious of the two of them, but remains friendly enough. On board Serenity, Jayne insists that the crew leave Zoë and Mal behind. When Wash objects, Jayne snarls, “You know what the chain of command is? It’s the chain I go get and beat you with until you understand who’s in ruttin’ charge here.” Then, as I giggle, he paws at the air and collapses. Wash is confused: “Did he just go crazy and fall asleep?” Simon mentions that he did tell Jayne to lie down, and that he thought the painkiller would have kicked in a little sooner. “I didn’t feel comfortable with him in charge,” says Simon. The crew discusses how to best rescue Zoë and Mal; Book thinks that someone respectable enough could probably waltz right in and whisk them away. Since the woman who has sex for money is clearly the most respectable of this bunch, Inara takes her shuttle to Paradiso. She explains to the sheriff that the two in question are her runaway servants – hence their slightly shady story; the sheriff is impressed enough with meeting a registered Companion that he releases Zoë and Mal. Back on Serenity, Mal announces that they’re taking the medicines back to the townspeople, and that they’ll just give Niska his money back. Jayne, still dopey and slumped on the stairway, says “What? Taking it back? I waited for you!” Wash announces that they can probably give the money back right then and there since Niska’s men have found them.
Mal tells Krull, Niska’s scary tattooed henchman, that they’ve changed their minds: the deal is off and they’ll give the money back. Krull replies that there is no mind-changing allowed and then stabs Mal in the shoulder with a really big knife. There’s a fight and Zoë kicks all kinds of ass while Krull pretty much pummels Mal, until Jayne manages to shoot Krull in the leg. “I was aiming for his head,” he grumps. Zoë and Mal drive the medicines back towards the town. The sheriff ambushes them with a heavily armed posse, but lets them hand over the medications without incident. Upon their return to Serenity, Mal returns Niska’s money to Krull. Krull says he won’t take the money; instead he’ll chase them around the 'verse and kill them. So Mal kicks him into the revving engines. Splat. The remaining flunky eagerly agrees to take the money back to Mr. Niska, agreeing that it’ll really be best for everyone this way. As Simon stitches Mal’s stab wound, the captain notes that Simon probably didn’t make a lifetime friend by doping Jayne like that, but that Simon looks like he can take care of himself. Simon is worried about River, however; he doesn’t know what’s wrong with her. River is in her room, crouched in the corner, again muttering “two by two, hands of blue.” Cut to the Alliance cruiser where two creepy blue-begloved guys (one of whom is that Council flunky from BTVS and Angel), tell the Alliance officer that they are after River. Guess she’s not so crazy after all.
River, her hair clean and fluffy, is having flashbacks to being experimented upon; Simon tries to calm her. Boy, she’s skinny. And I like her motorcycle boots. Mal visits the infirmary to disinfect his post-brawl scrapes. Simon is worried that the bar fight may have attracted Alliance attention and in reassuring him, Mal actually smiles several times – he is less dark for sure! Mal then goes looking for Kaylee and finds the engine room a wreck: “Were there terrifying space monkeys?” He finds her having a little girl time, getting her hair brushed by Inara. Inara gives some exposition about Companions for the viewing audience’s edification: they are not common prostitutes but are trained and licensed by a guild, allowed to hand-select their own clients, etc. When Mal sends Kaylee back to the engine room, he and Inara are alternately snarky, defensive and almost considerate to each other. Hmm. Mal, Zoë and Jayne go to meet with Adelai Niska on Niska’s space station; they’re a little nervous since, according to Mal, Niska’s a pretty tough customer. Niska wants them to rob a train for him; he also manages to impress his tough-guy rep upon them by revealing a man being tortured in the back room. (Well, the man used to be tortured, but now he’s just dead.) They are duly impressed. Later, on the train, Zoë and Mal make their way through the passenger cars and come upon a car full of Alliance officers – yikes! They weren’t expecting that.
Back on Serenity, Book asks Inara about the crew, and mentions that he feels a little useless. Inara suggests that he perhaps pray for the crew’s current caper to be successful. “I don’t think the captain would appreciate it,” Book replies. “Don’t tell him,” she then says, “I never do.” On the train, Zoë is not pleased about the fed squad on the train, but Mal thinks it just makes the job more fun! Zoë snarks that she thinks he has a problem with his brain being missing. She wants to know if she can have his share of the pay. No. “If you die, can I have your share?” “Yes.” Kaylee, Simon and Jayne are getting ready for the heist in the ship’s cargo bay. Jayne is not particularly friendly to Simon, and tells Kaylee that he thinks Mal is planning on turning Simon and River in for the reward. Kaylee is concerned and skeptical, as is par for the course when listening to Jayne. Zoë and Mal break into the train car, bundle up the cargo, and open the hatch in the roof; Serenity flies overhead and Jayne is lowered down on a cable. Wash has nice arms. The feds discover them in the train car and manage to shoot Jayne in the leg before he and the stolen cargo are airlifted back up to Serenity. Zoë and Mal covertly blend back in with the rest of the passengers. The train is stopped at a small mining town, Paradiso. Gregg Henry (that guy from Slither) is the sheriff; Zoë and Mal overhear him fret that the stolen cargo contained the town’s medicines and supplies. Mal is upset.
Jayne wants to rendezvous with Niska and hand over the booty but Wash refuses to leave without Zoë and Mal. River interrupts with a little bit of crazy: “Two by two, hands of blue.” Jayne, in pain from his leg wound, grumps that he’s in charge; Simon gives him a shot for the pain. Book points out that Niska will probably want to meet with Mal himself since Mal was the one with whom the deal was made. Sitting around in Paradiso, Mal mutters that this is a nightmare. Zoë says, “Nothing points to us.” “That’s not what I meant,” he says, glumly looking around at all the poor and sick people. As the sheriff interrogates them, they pretend to be a newly married couple (hee hee!) looking for work in the Paradiso mines. There is some exposition about the town needing the stolen medicine in order to treat a degenerative disease caused by the mines. The sheriff is a bit suspicious of the two of them, but remains friendly enough. On board Serenity, Jayne insists that the crew leave Zoë and Mal behind. When Wash objects, Jayne snarls, “You know what the chain of command is? It’s the chain I go get and beat you with until you understand who’s in ruttin’ charge here.” Then, as I giggle, he paws at the air and collapses. Wash is confused: “Did he just go crazy and fall asleep?” Simon mentions that he did tell Jayne to lie down, and that he thought the painkiller would have kicked in a little sooner. “I didn’t feel comfortable with him in charge,” says Simon. The crew discusses how to best rescue Zoë and Mal; Book thinks that someone respectable enough could probably waltz right in and whisk them away. Since the woman who has sex for money is clearly the most respectable of this bunch, Inara takes her shuttle to Paradiso. She explains to the sheriff that the two in question are her runaway servants – hence their slightly shady story; the sheriff is impressed enough with meeting a registered Companion that he releases Zoë and Mal. Back on Serenity, Mal announces that they’re taking the medicines back to the townspeople, and that they’ll just give Niska his money back. Jayne, still dopey and slumped on the stairway, says “What? Taking it back? I waited for you!” Wash announces that they can probably give the money back right then and there since Niska’s men have found them.
Mal tells Krull, Niska’s scary tattooed henchman, that they’ve changed their minds: the deal is off and they’ll give the money back. Krull replies that there is no mind-changing allowed and then stabs Mal in the shoulder with a really big knife. There’s a fight and Zoë kicks all kinds of ass while Krull pretty much pummels Mal, until Jayne manages to shoot Krull in the leg. “I was aiming for his head,” he grumps. Zoë and Mal drive the medicines back towards the town. The sheriff ambushes them with a heavily armed posse, but lets them hand over the medications without incident. Upon their return to Serenity, Mal returns Niska’s money to Krull. Krull says he won’t take the money; instead he’ll chase them around the 'verse and kill them. So Mal kicks him into the revving engines. Splat. The remaining flunky eagerly agrees to take the money back to Mr. Niska, agreeing that it’ll really be best for everyone this way. As Simon stitches Mal’s stab wound, the captain notes that Simon probably didn’t make a lifetime friend by doping Jayne like that, but that Simon looks like he can take care of himself. Simon is worried about River, however; he doesn’t know what’s wrong with her. River is in her room, crouched in the corner, again muttering “two by two, hands of blue.” Cut to the Alliance cruiser where two creepy blue-begloved guys (one of whom is that Council flunky from BTVS and Angel), tell the Alliance officer that they are after River. Guess she’s not so crazy after all.
Thoughts on the King Kong remake - two years after the fact
Being at my wits' end already during this summer television hiatus, I was flipping through channels and came across Peter Jackson’s very good King Kong remake. I’d forgotten how much I liked this movie when I saw it in the theater (Captain Engelhorn and Bruce Baxter are so very pretty!). The CGI effects for some reason don’t translate quite so well to the small screen, but even so, Kong is the coolest. Andy Serkis did such an incredible job as the big guy; I understand he studied live gorillas for months to learn their behaviors and expressions. Kong is clearly the hero of the film: fierce, lonely, sulky, funny, protective, confused and ultimately victimized. The Kong vs. the three T. Rexes scene is great fun. And Naomi Watts completely commits to her character; watching her go from being terrified of Kong, to accepting him as her protector, to realizing his loneliness is believable and touching.
I turned the movie off after the T. Rex battle though, when Ann falls asleep in Kong’s hand as the sun goes down – I wanted to stop before the sad part began. I just couldn’t watch it again. Carl Denham is the Big Bad here, ripping Kong out of his jungle and exploiting him just because he can. Typical human behavior: wanting to control and destroy nature. Kong’s rampage in NYC and his subsequent violent death were never his fault. I remember walking out to my car after seeing this movie for the first time and being a little choked up. Imagine - teary-eyed over a brutal, fictional 25+-foot tall CGI gorilla!
I turned the movie off after the T. Rex battle though, when Ann falls asleep in Kong’s hand as the sun goes down – I wanted to stop before the sad part began. I just couldn’t watch it again. Carl Denham is the Big Bad here, ripping Kong out of his jungle and exploiting him just because he can. Typical human behavior: wanting to control and destroy nature. Kong’s rampage in NYC and his subsequent violent death were never his fault. I remember walking out to my car after seeing this movie for the first time and being a little choked up. Imagine - teary-eyed over a brutal, fictional 25+-foot tall CGI gorilla!
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Pirates of the Carribean At World's End (mini) review
I will confess: I like the Pirates movies. I like the costumes and the make-up effects (Davy Jones's fish-crew are the stuff of nightmares), I like the over the top spectacle of it all, and mostly I like Johnny Depp in eyeliner. Mmmmmmm-mmm. This third Pirates movie is bigger, longer, crazier, soggier, more confusing, more unintelligible, more exhausting ... name a superlative and it pretty much applies. My complaints: I couldn't understand a bunch of the lines - whether from shouting or mumbling; the final battle between the crew of the Black Pearl and the crew of the Flying Dutchman seemed to go on forever; and I thought the whole Calypso story could have been dropped entirely. But, taken for what it is - a big ol' blockbuster meant to entertain its audience on a hot summer day - it's a treasure. Yar!
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Firefly – Episode 1 recap “Serenity”
Very little in the world of entertainment has saddened me like the untimely cancellation of this amazing show; Michael Hutchence’s strange suicide was another, and the recent cancellation of Veronica Mars rounds out the trifecta. So many story-telling opportunities wasted - feature film notwithstanding. I never saw Firefly when it was actually on TV. (and by “actually” I mean “briefly”), but it was love at first sight on DVD. I’m going to attempt to write these recaps as though I’m meeting Mal et al., for the first time. I hope you’ll forgive me, however, if my fangirl fondness creeps in every now and then.
We open with war: ground forces and space ships. Our hero, Malcolm Reynolds, in raggedy revolutionary garb, is pinned down with his team; they seem to be insurgents of some sort, fighting against much better equipped troops, the “Alliance.” In rapid succession Mal demonstrates that he is resourceful (shooting down an enemy fighter ship with his second in command, Zoë), inspiring (rallying his soldiers against the odds) and devout (kissing the crucifix around his neck and waxing nearly poetic: “We are just too pretty for God to let us die.”). But as everyone dies around them, Zoë tells Mal that their command has ordered surrender, their battle is lost. He watches the Alliance forces descend and the light dies in his eyes.
Six Years Later. Mal, Zoë and Jayne are in spacesuits, breaking into a derelict ship’s cargo hold. There are some great no-gravity/floaty effects here. On board Mal’s ship, Wash, the pilot, plays with some plastic dinosaurs as he waits for the away team to collect the booty. An alarm sounds; Wash swears unintelligibly in Chinese, and calls to Kaylee, the ship’s mechanic. A huge Alliance ship is cruising by and they discover Mal’s ship, Serenity, “lowlife vultures picking the flesh off the dead.” Wash launches a decoy and Serenity and her crew escape to twangy music. Serenity is really pretty. The Alliance ship declines to give chase, but notifies the authorities that a Firefly-class ship is out and about scavenging wrecks. Although his crew has gotten away with the goods, Mal seems a bit more bitter than he did when we first met him.
As the crew stows the goods, Mal notices an official-looking imprint on the bars; he doesn’t show the others. We learn that Serenity and her crew are poor and that they’ll need to pick up paying passengers to afford fuel, food and repairs. We also learn that Zoë and Wash are married, and that there is some tension about her role as regards her husband vs. her captain. The crew plans to rendezvous on Persephone as soon as possible to find such passengers and to pick up the “ambassador,” Inara. Wash wonders if they should tell Inara to hurry; Mal mutters, “No, somebody on this boat has to make an honest living.” Cut to Inara: she’s a prostitute of some sort, beautiful, cultured, refined, and her shuttle – where she makes her living – is full of opulent Asian textiles and furnishings.
Serenity lands in the docks, which look to be a combination of Chinatown and the Old West. Wash takes off to collect supplies; Mal, Zoë and Jayne head to the local fence, Badger, to talk about payment for their cargo. Kaylee is sent to find passengers: she meets Shepherd Book, a traveling preacher and former cop on Barney Miller. Their conversation is very cute. Mal, Zoë and Jayne meet with Badger; it doesn’t take long for Jayne to get everyone’s guns drawn. Badger and Mal negotiate: Mal just wants to get paid for the job he’s done, but Badger refuses to pay for “imprinted Alliance goods.” Zoë glares at Mal when she hears the goods are marked. Badger dismisses them and suggests Mal try to sell the goods on an outer planet where folks are more desperate. Mal, Zoë and Jayne head back to Serenity. Jayne points out that he gets a share of whatever the ship’s take is: “10% of nothing is …carry the one …” I love Jayne. Rumors of Reavers hitting the outer planets give them cause for concern (“Them people ain’t human,” says Jayne) but Mal and Zoë decide to sell the goods to a contact on Whitefall: her name is Patience and she shot Mal the last time they met. As they get aboard the ship, Mal says, “Pray there ain’t no more surprises” and we cut to prissy-looking Simon overseeing the loading of his big metal box into the cargo hold. Now, I’ve seen a Joss Whedon show once or twice before (ha!) and I’m pretty sure Mal shouldn’t have said that.
In the ship’s kitchen (galley?), the crew reviews the rules with the new passengers [Shepherd Book, Simon and Dobson – you know, that guy who’s already been in both BTVS and Angel]. Mal mentions that they will be making a slight detour to Whitefall to – ahem - deliver some Alliance medical supplies. Simon is a surgeon and wants to know what kind of supplies; Zoë thinks on her feet and fends off his inquiries. Inara arrives on board and Mal takes great delight in trying to make both her and Shepherd Book uncomfortable about her profession. At dinner, everyone feasts on the fresh vegetables Book has donated, but Mal is testy when the preacher wants to say grace. The crew supplies the passengers (and the audience) with some background exposition about how the Alliance settled the outer planets. Luckily, just as we’re getting bored, Jayne makes a crass comment about Kaylee getting “lubed up” over Simon and “wishing that [he] was a gynecologist.” Kaylee is mortified, and Mal sends Jayne from the table. Simon wants to know what Jayne’s role on the ship is; Mal deadpans: “public relations.” I love Mal. And Jayne.
Oops! Wash discovers that one of the passengers has contacted the Alliance; he scrambles the signal, but not before some gets through. Mal assumes that Simon is the Alliance mole and starts to pound on him. To his credit, Simon is taking the beating pretty well. Book comes up: “Captain, you’ve got the wrong man.” Mal looks up to see Dobson holding a gun on them. It seems that the feds are after Simon – for a moment, Mal is hopeful about a reward, that opportunist! Lots of guns are drawn, and as the rest of the crew rush in to see what all the ruckus is about, Dobson gets nervous and shoots Kaylee. Mal, Simon and Inara rush to her while Book disarms Dobson, Jayne ties the fed up, and Zoë regains control of the situation. Simon refuses to treat Kaylee until Serenity turns around and flees from the approaching Alliance. I didn’t think Mal could glower more than he was, but yes, yes he can. They run from the Alliance and Simon, appeased, operates on Kaylee. There is a wonderful shot of Jayne hunched down, arms wrapped around himself, watching the surgery through the window. After Kaylee is resting in the infirmary, Mal decides that he wants to know just what is so important that Simon would risk all their lives to escape the Alliance. They all go to the cargo bay and Mal, over Simon’s frantic protests, opens the big metal box and looks inside. “Huh,” says Mal.
What’s inside? It’s a crazy naked screaming girl, of course. Her name is River, and she is Simon’s off-the-charts genius little sister, taken and experimented on by the Alliance. Simon rescued her and he is determined to protect her. Everyone is pretty riled up – worried about harboring fugitives, about River’s possible insanity, about the federal agent they’ve got tied up – and Mal ends up punching Simon again. Oh, why not? Mal leaves Jayne find out what Dobson knows. Did I mention I love Jayne? The fed spills what he knows before Jayne can get down to it, but he also plays on Jayne’s mercenary appetite, and tries to bribe him. “Does helping you mean turning on the captain?” asks Jayne, with a smirk.
On the bridge, Wash sees another ship approaching them: he and Mal realize it’s a Reaver ship. “Oh god oh god,” breathes Wash. Mal gets on the intercom and tells everyone what’s approaching; Book prays; Jayne pulls a number of large guns from behind his bed; Inara pulls out a syringe filled with a suicide dose and sits on her bed, waiting. Simon catches Zoë outside the infirmary. He hasn’t really heard about Reavers so she explains: Men who are more animals than men, living on the edge of space, and if they board Serenity, “they’ll rape us to death, eat our flesh and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we’re very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.” Simon is visibly shaken and backs away. They hold their collective breaths as Serenity and the scary pointy Reaver ship pass each other; the Reavers do not alter course – they must not be hungry.
Mal goes to check on Kaylee. They are clearly fond of each other, although he tries to be tough (he calls her “mei mei” which, I believe, is “little sister” in Chinese). She smiles at him and falls unconscious. On his way back to the bridge, Mal runs into Simon. He tells the doctor that his time has run out: Kaylee is dead. Simon, stricken, races to the infirmary … where he finds Kaylee awake and chatting happily with Book. Simon shakes his head, “The man is psychotic.” Cut to the bridge where Mal, Zoë, Wash and Jayne are in hysterics. “You’re psychotic!” giggles Wash. Mal grins and admits that it looks like Simon is a pretty good doctor. They call Patience; she’s tough and cagey, but agrees to pay his price for the goods. Mal looks at his crew: “I believe that woman is fixin’ to shoot me again.” Jayne asks, “Why don’t we shoot her first?” and Wash agrees, “It is her turn.” Back in his room, Dobson (remember him?) is cutting through his bonds with a knife that Jayne apparently left for him.
On Whitefall, Jayne hides the goods and takes position to cover Mal and Zoë in case of an ambush. Zoë doesn’t like the site and thinks it’s a trap. Patience arrives on horseback with a bunch of her own men. As Zoë suspected, it’s a double-cross and soon erupts into a full scale Wild West shoot out. Serenity’s crew shoots most all of Patience’s men; they leave her alive and collect their money. Back on the ship, Dobson has escaped, bludgeoning Book viciously and grabbing River. River’s hair is gross! Simon chases Dobson to the cargo bay and does some jumping from the catwalk-fu. Wash sounds the alarm – again: the Reavers are back! Mal, Zoë and Jayne rush back to the ship on borrowed horses (Adam Baldwin = not so good a rider). Mal takes in the tableau of Simon and Dobson as he strides onto his ship; he shoots Dobson in the head, almost nonchalantly, ending the standoff.
Chase scene! The CGI is really quite good for a TV show (I guess I already said that, but it is). Jayne and Book take Kaylee into the engine room and she walks them through the adjustments necessary for Wash to perform some funky flying, enabling them to escape the Reaver ship. As Inara tends to Book’s injuries, he tells her he is troubled: he thinks he may have gotten on the wrong ship, what with all the criminals and fugitives and killing. She is very gentle as she says, “Maybe you’re exactly where you ought to be.” Simon tucks River (who has finally washed her hair) into bed and promises to take care of her. Mal, who has deduced that Jayne may have had something to do with Dobson’s escape, asks the big guy why he didn’t turn on him when he had the chance. Jayne admits that the money wasn’t quite good enough and, when the money is good enough, they will have an interesting day. Simon approaches Mal to ask when he and River will be put off the ship. With no trace of rancor, but with no particular amity either, Mal offers Simon a job as ship’s doctor until something better [for Simon and River] comes along. Simon wants to know how he can trust Mal not to shoot him in the back while he’s sleeping. Mal says, “The day I kill you, you’ll be awake, facing me and armed.” Simon: “Are you always this sentimental?” And Mal just smiles, clearly happy. He had a good day.
If the episodes had aired in their intended order, this series would have made a lot more sense. We would have been introduced to the Serenity crew with this double episode, and by the end of it, we would have known that Mal is wounded goods, and that his crew, his ship and his freedom are more important than anything to him; that Wash is a great pilot, goofy and riddled with insecurities; that Zoë is loyal but not blind, and that her relationships with the two men in her life are complicated; that Kaylee is a talented tomboy mechanic, yet girlish and sweet - everyone’s little sister. We would know that every person on board Serenity is human and layered, laden with secrets and conflict, and we would look forward to having all the stories spun out over time. Yeah – not so much.
We open with war: ground forces and space ships. Our hero, Malcolm Reynolds, in raggedy revolutionary garb, is pinned down with his team; they seem to be insurgents of some sort, fighting against much better equipped troops, the “Alliance.” In rapid succession Mal demonstrates that he is resourceful (shooting down an enemy fighter ship with his second in command, Zoë), inspiring (rallying his soldiers against the odds) and devout (kissing the crucifix around his neck and waxing nearly poetic: “We are just too pretty for God to let us die.”). But as everyone dies around them, Zoë tells Mal that their command has ordered surrender, their battle is lost. He watches the Alliance forces descend and the light dies in his eyes.
Six Years Later. Mal, Zoë and Jayne are in spacesuits, breaking into a derelict ship’s cargo hold. There are some great no-gravity/floaty effects here. On board Mal’s ship, Wash, the pilot, plays with some plastic dinosaurs as he waits for the away team to collect the booty. An alarm sounds; Wash swears unintelligibly in Chinese, and calls to Kaylee, the ship’s mechanic. A huge Alliance ship is cruising by and they discover Mal’s ship, Serenity, “lowlife vultures picking the flesh off the dead.” Wash launches a decoy and Serenity and her crew escape to twangy music. Serenity is really pretty. The Alliance ship declines to give chase, but notifies the authorities that a Firefly-class ship is out and about scavenging wrecks. Although his crew has gotten away with the goods, Mal seems a bit more bitter than he did when we first met him.
As the crew stows the goods, Mal notices an official-looking imprint on the bars; he doesn’t show the others. We learn that Serenity and her crew are poor and that they’ll need to pick up paying passengers to afford fuel, food and repairs. We also learn that Zoë and Wash are married, and that there is some tension about her role as regards her husband vs. her captain. The crew plans to rendezvous on Persephone as soon as possible to find such passengers and to pick up the “ambassador,” Inara. Wash wonders if they should tell Inara to hurry; Mal mutters, “No, somebody on this boat has to make an honest living.” Cut to Inara: she’s a prostitute of some sort, beautiful, cultured, refined, and her shuttle – where she makes her living – is full of opulent Asian textiles and furnishings.
Serenity lands in the docks, which look to be a combination of Chinatown and the Old West. Wash takes off to collect supplies; Mal, Zoë and Jayne head to the local fence, Badger, to talk about payment for their cargo. Kaylee is sent to find passengers: she meets Shepherd Book, a traveling preacher and former cop on Barney Miller. Their conversation is very cute. Mal, Zoë and Jayne meet with Badger; it doesn’t take long for Jayne to get everyone’s guns drawn. Badger and Mal negotiate: Mal just wants to get paid for the job he’s done, but Badger refuses to pay for “imprinted Alliance goods.” Zoë glares at Mal when she hears the goods are marked. Badger dismisses them and suggests Mal try to sell the goods on an outer planet where folks are more desperate. Mal, Zoë and Jayne head back to Serenity. Jayne points out that he gets a share of whatever the ship’s take is: “10% of nothing is …carry the one …” I love Jayne. Rumors of Reavers hitting the outer planets give them cause for concern (“Them people ain’t human,” says Jayne) but Mal and Zoë decide to sell the goods to a contact on Whitefall: her name is Patience and she shot Mal the last time they met. As they get aboard the ship, Mal says, “Pray there ain’t no more surprises” and we cut to prissy-looking Simon overseeing the loading of his big metal box into the cargo hold. Now, I’ve seen a Joss Whedon show once or twice before (ha!) and I’m pretty sure Mal shouldn’t have said that.
In the ship’s kitchen (galley?), the crew reviews the rules with the new passengers [Shepherd Book, Simon and Dobson – you know, that guy who’s already been in both BTVS and Angel]. Mal mentions that they will be making a slight detour to Whitefall to – ahem - deliver some Alliance medical supplies. Simon is a surgeon and wants to know what kind of supplies; Zoë thinks on her feet and fends off his inquiries. Inara arrives on board and Mal takes great delight in trying to make both her and Shepherd Book uncomfortable about her profession. At dinner, everyone feasts on the fresh vegetables Book has donated, but Mal is testy when the preacher wants to say grace. The crew supplies the passengers (and the audience) with some background exposition about how the Alliance settled the outer planets. Luckily, just as we’re getting bored, Jayne makes a crass comment about Kaylee getting “lubed up” over Simon and “wishing that [he] was a gynecologist.” Kaylee is mortified, and Mal sends Jayne from the table. Simon wants to know what Jayne’s role on the ship is; Mal deadpans: “public relations.” I love Mal. And Jayne.
Oops! Wash discovers that one of the passengers has contacted the Alliance; he scrambles the signal, but not before some gets through. Mal assumes that Simon is the Alliance mole and starts to pound on him. To his credit, Simon is taking the beating pretty well. Book comes up: “Captain, you’ve got the wrong man.” Mal looks up to see Dobson holding a gun on them. It seems that the feds are after Simon – for a moment, Mal is hopeful about a reward, that opportunist! Lots of guns are drawn, and as the rest of the crew rush in to see what all the ruckus is about, Dobson gets nervous and shoots Kaylee. Mal, Simon and Inara rush to her while Book disarms Dobson, Jayne ties the fed up, and Zoë regains control of the situation. Simon refuses to treat Kaylee until Serenity turns around and flees from the approaching Alliance. I didn’t think Mal could glower more than he was, but yes, yes he can. They run from the Alliance and Simon, appeased, operates on Kaylee. There is a wonderful shot of Jayne hunched down, arms wrapped around himself, watching the surgery through the window. After Kaylee is resting in the infirmary, Mal decides that he wants to know just what is so important that Simon would risk all their lives to escape the Alliance. They all go to the cargo bay and Mal, over Simon’s frantic protests, opens the big metal box and looks inside. “Huh,” says Mal.
What’s inside? It’s a crazy naked screaming girl, of course. Her name is River, and she is Simon’s off-the-charts genius little sister, taken and experimented on by the Alliance. Simon rescued her and he is determined to protect her. Everyone is pretty riled up – worried about harboring fugitives, about River’s possible insanity, about the federal agent they’ve got tied up – and Mal ends up punching Simon again. Oh, why not? Mal leaves Jayne find out what Dobson knows. Did I mention I love Jayne? The fed spills what he knows before Jayne can get down to it, but he also plays on Jayne’s mercenary appetite, and tries to bribe him. “Does helping you mean turning on the captain?” asks Jayne, with a smirk.
On the bridge, Wash sees another ship approaching them: he and Mal realize it’s a Reaver ship. “Oh god oh god,” breathes Wash. Mal gets on the intercom and tells everyone what’s approaching; Book prays; Jayne pulls a number of large guns from behind his bed; Inara pulls out a syringe filled with a suicide dose and sits on her bed, waiting. Simon catches Zoë outside the infirmary. He hasn’t really heard about Reavers so she explains: Men who are more animals than men, living on the edge of space, and if they board Serenity, “they’ll rape us to death, eat our flesh and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we’re very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.” Simon is visibly shaken and backs away. They hold their collective breaths as Serenity and the scary pointy Reaver ship pass each other; the Reavers do not alter course – they must not be hungry.
Mal goes to check on Kaylee. They are clearly fond of each other, although he tries to be tough (he calls her “mei mei” which, I believe, is “little sister” in Chinese). She smiles at him and falls unconscious. On his way back to the bridge, Mal runs into Simon. He tells the doctor that his time has run out: Kaylee is dead. Simon, stricken, races to the infirmary … where he finds Kaylee awake and chatting happily with Book. Simon shakes his head, “The man is psychotic.” Cut to the bridge where Mal, Zoë, Wash and Jayne are in hysterics. “You’re psychotic!” giggles Wash. Mal grins and admits that it looks like Simon is a pretty good doctor. They call Patience; she’s tough and cagey, but agrees to pay his price for the goods. Mal looks at his crew: “I believe that woman is fixin’ to shoot me again.” Jayne asks, “Why don’t we shoot her first?” and Wash agrees, “It is her turn.” Back in his room, Dobson (remember him?) is cutting through his bonds with a knife that Jayne apparently left for him.
On Whitefall, Jayne hides the goods and takes position to cover Mal and Zoë in case of an ambush. Zoë doesn’t like the site and thinks it’s a trap. Patience arrives on horseback with a bunch of her own men. As Zoë suspected, it’s a double-cross and soon erupts into a full scale Wild West shoot out. Serenity’s crew shoots most all of Patience’s men; they leave her alive and collect their money. Back on the ship, Dobson has escaped, bludgeoning Book viciously and grabbing River. River’s hair is gross! Simon chases Dobson to the cargo bay and does some jumping from the catwalk-fu. Wash sounds the alarm – again: the Reavers are back! Mal, Zoë and Jayne rush back to the ship on borrowed horses (Adam Baldwin = not so good a rider). Mal takes in the tableau of Simon and Dobson as he strides onto his ship; he shoots Dobson in the head, almost nonchalantly, ending the standoff.
Chase scene! The CGI is really quite good for a TV show (I guess I already said that, but it is). Jayne and Book take Kaylee into the engine room and she walks them through the adjustments necessary for Wash to perform some funky flying, enabling them to escape the Reaver ship. As Inara tends to Book’s injuries, he tells her he is troubled: he thinks he may have gotten on the wrong ship, what with all the criminals and fugitives and killing. She is very gentle as she says, “Maybe you’re exactly where you ought to be.” Simon tucks River (who has finally washed her hair) into bed and promises to take care of her. Mal, who has deduced that Jayne may have had something to do with Dobson’s escape, asks the big guy why he didn’t turn on him when he had the chance. Jayne admits that the money wasn’t quite good enough and, when the money is good enough, they will have an interesting day. Simon approaches Mal to ask when he and River will be put off the ship. With no trace of rancor, but with no particular amity either, Mal offers Simon a job as ship’s doctor until something better [for Simon and River] comes along. Simon wants to know how he can trust Mal not to shoot him in the back while he’s sleeping. Mal says, “The day I kill you, you’ll be awake, facing me and armed.” Simon: “Are you always this sentimental?” And Mal just smiles, clearly happy. He had a good day.
If the episodes had aired in their intended order, this series would have made a lot more sense. We would have been introduced to the Serenity crew with this double episode, and by the end of it, we would have known that Mal is wounded goods, and that his crew, his ship and his freedom are more important than anything to him; that Wash is a great pilot, goofy and riddled with insecurities; that Zoë is loyal but not blind, and that her relationships with the two men in her life are complicated; that Kaylee is a talented tomboy mechanic, yet girlish and sweet - everyone’s little sister. We would know that every person on board Serenity is human and layered, laden with secrets and conflict, and we would look forward to having all the stories spun out over time. Yeah – not so much.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Waitress - movie (mini-)review
Anybody who has made their way to this blog has undoubtedly heard of the movie, Waitress. Written, directed and acted in by Adrienne Shelly, this little film has gotten way more press than it would have, had Adrienne not been found murdered in her office on November 1, 2006 [thanks to Wikipedia for the link to the story]. Sadly, she never got to see her magnum opus in its final form. I saw it today, though, and the rest of you should see it too.
Quickie story overview: Keri Russell is a waitress and a pie impressario at a pie diner in an indefinite Southern town, along with Adrienne Shelly and Cheryl Hines. Jenna is trapped in a terrible marriage to Jeremy Sisto (if I were Jeremy's agent, I might try for a role as a likeable character next time - doesn't he always play jerks?) and finds herself pregnant. Not happy about it, she meets her new gynecologist, a delectably dorky Nathan Fillion, and ends up having an affair with him. Andy Griffith is fantastic as the cantankerous owner of the diner.
It's quite different from the movies I've seen recently in theaters (the last was 300, I believe) : no monsters, no axe-murders, no swearing. There's not much suspense and it has a fairly predictable plot, mind you, but this film is a lovely little character sketch with good actors who are clearly enjoying what they're doing. Plus there's lots and lots of nummy-looking homemade pies. And it's just fanned the flames of my Nathan Fillion crush. Mmmmm.
Quickie story overview: Keri Russell is a waitress and a pie impressario at a pie diner in an indefinite Southern town, along with Adrienne Shelly and Cheryl Hines. Jenna is trapped in a terrible marriage to Jeremy Sisto (if I were Jeremy's agent, I might try for a role as a likeable character next time - doesn't he always play jerks?) and finds herself pregnant. Not happy about it, she meets her new gynecologist, a delectably dorky Nathan Fillion, and ends up having an affair with him. Andy Griffith is fantastic as the cantankerous owner of the diner.
It's quite different from the movies I've seen recently in theaters (the last was 300, I believe) : no monsters, no axe-murders, no swearing. There's not much suspense and it has a fairly predictable plot, mind you, but this film is a lovely little character sketch with good actors who are clearly enjoying what they're doing. Plus there's lots and lots of nummy-looking homemade pies. And it's just fanned the flames of my Nathan Fillion crush. Mmmmm.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Lost: "Through the Looking Glass" - airdate 05/23/07
Flash: Jack is on a plane and then on a bridge, with an ugly beard, a drinking problem and apparently an urge to kill himself. On Island : Preparations are underway to hike to the radio tower. Sayid tells Jack that he is willing to sacrifice his life, if necessary, to ensure rescue for the group. There seems to be a lot of that going around: has he been talking to Charlie? Jack moves his people out – oh, look, there’s Vincent! – as Sayid, Jin and Bernard watch them go.
Island : The Losties are panicking but Jack keeps them moving towards the radio tower. Where did Kate get that clean hoodie? Sun and Rose are extremely concerned about their sniper husbands. Back underwater, Charlie is amazingly confident as he continues to get pounded on. The commando Others report to Ben that the explosions killed all but three of the raiding party and that the only Losties still on the beach are the three snipers. Ben, who is looking increasingly unstable, tells Tom to kill Jin to make the other two spill the Losties’ location. Bernard totally caves and gives up not only the Losties’ destination but that Carl helped them. Ben’s head is about to explode and he gives Alex a look of pure fury.
Ben decides to go after the Losties and tells Richard to continue taking the Others to the temple as they’d planned. Alex wants to go with Ben and, surprisingly, he agrees. He claims he will talk the Losties out of being rescued. During a break for water, Kate tells Sawyer she wants to go back to help Sayid et al. Sawyer is pretty withdrawn and isn’t interested. She gets upset, saying he hasn’t been himself since returning with Juliet’s tape and, trying to draw him out, reminds him that Juliet was going to test her for pregnancy too. Sawyer glares at her: let’s hope you’re not. Desmond finally comes to on the outrigger, and is promptly shot at by Mikhail. Desmond dives for the Looking-glass hatch and, fortuitously, comes up while the women are arguing in another room. Charlie, thrilled to see him, tells him to hide; he ducks out of sight and Charlie gets punched some more. Boy, there are a lot of commercials.
Flash: Bearded-Jack pops some pills. A doctor, played by the secondLas Vegas Island : The Losties are still hiking. Why do so few of them wear their backpacks correctly, on both shoulders? It’s much more comfortable that way. Sawyer decides to go back to the beach; Kate wants to go too but, with a haunted look, he tells her he doesn’t want to go with her. Jack, cheerful as ever, says it would be a suicide mission to go back without guns. Juliet pipes up that she knows where some guns are hidden. She and Jack smooch, and then she and Sawyer head back down the mountain. Kate tries not to be jealous of either. At the Looking-glass, Mikhail scubas up and asks where [Desmond] is. Thinking quickly, Charlie suggests that a better question might be why Ben lied to the Others about this hatch, and why they are jamming signals coming to and from the Island . Mikhail, being a communications guy, does not like the sound of that. When Ben calls them, Mikhail pretty much asks, what the fuck, dude? Ben says he’s doing it all to protect the Island . He goes on to say that he needs Mikhail’s help to clean up his mess: first kill Charlie, then kill Bonnie (the blonde) and Greta (the brunette) so they can’t report back to any of the Others. Mikhail hesitates but seems ready to obey. I wish he would put his eye-patch back on – ick.
Sawyer and Juliet zing each other a couple of times and then Juliet admits that there are no guns. She lied so Jack would let them go. Hurley shows up, wanting to help, but Sawyer dismisses him, saying he’ll get them killed. Sawyer is pretty tense these days. Alex asks Ben why he’s letting her tag along; he says he’s going to hand her over to her new Lostie family, since she likes them so much. She asks why he won’t just let them leave theIsland . “Because I can’t,” he snarls. Back in the ditch of dead Dharma-ites, Locke is still alive (of course)! He can’t move his legs, though. He finds an old pistol among the corpses and in despair moves to shoot himself. Suddenly, it’s Walt! He tells Locke to put the gun down and get up, you have work to do. The magic of the Island has aged him several years in the month or so since he and Michael boated away; the Island has not, however, made him a better actor.
The Losties are still hiking and I wish Kate would put all that hair in a ponytail. She looks a little sad and Jack tells her that Sawyer didn’t mean what he said, he was just trying to protect her. She smiles, “Why are you sticking up for Sawyer? He wouldn’t do it for you.” Jack says, “Because I love you.” Whatever. Flash: Bearded-Jack keeps looking at an obituary he tore from a newspaper. He walks into a funeral home and keeps popping pills. Who’s in the casket? OnIsland : Rousseau says that they’re nearing the tower but she’s not leaving when the rest of them get rescued. Just then, Ben and Alex appear, causing much consternation among the Losties. Jack goes to parlay with Ben.
Island when there is nothing left for him out there: no father, no wife. He goes on to say that Naomi is not who she says she is and if she’s allowed to call her ship, the Bad Guys on it will kill every living person on the Island, Lostie and Other alike; he wants Jack to get the sat-phone and give it to Ben. Jack: no f’in way. Ben calls Tom on the beach and tells him to kill Sayid et al. if Jack doesn’t do what he says. Jack continues to refuse; Ben says he is not bluffing, and three shots are heard over the walkie. Jack goes insane and beats Ben senseless. He calls Tom: “I am getting my people rescued and then I am going to find you and kill you.”
Underwater, Bonnie gives up the code but Charlie can’t write it down fast enough. With her dying breath she tells him it’s to the tune of “Good Vibrations,” that the keypad was programmed by a musician. How serendipitous! Jack drags Ben back to the group. Ben groggily looks up to see Rousseau and introduces Alex to her mother. Away from the group, Jack tells Kate that he heard Sayid et al. being killed. On the beach, however, Sayid et al. have not been killed and, in fact, Ben had instructed the commando Others to fake the executions. Tom thinks they should have done it anyway – he thinks Ben’s lost it. Juliet and Sawyer lurk in the bushes, trying to figure out how to rescue their guys. Just then, Hurley busts in, driving his Dharma VW van! Yay, Hurley! He runs over one Other and Sayid manages to snap the second Other’s neck. Seeing all is for naught, Tom surrenders to Juliet, and then Sawyer shoots him anyway: “That’s for taking the kid off the raft.” Hurley is astounded: “Dude, it was over, he gave up.” Sawyer: “I didn’t believe him.” I love new scary Sawyer.
Flash: Bearded-Jack is stealing Oxycodone from the hospital. Dr. Las Vegas tells him he knows Jack was trying to kill himself. Jack says Dr. Las Vegas can’t help him. OnIsland : Dear god, they’re still hiking. Hurley calls in over Ben’s walkie and reports that everyone, including Sayid et al., is okay. Claire asks him about Charlie. In the hatch, Desmond readies the scuba gear while Charlie plays “Good Vibrations” on the keypad. He clears the signal and a transmission comes through immediately: it’s Penny! And she didn’t send any boat! Damn, I hate when Ben is right. Desmond notices that Mikhail’s body is gone; that’s because he’s in a scuba mask outside the hatch with a grenade. Charlie realizes what Mikhail is going to do, and closes the blast door as Mikhail blows a hole in the wall. As sea water floods the communications room, Charlie writes “Not Penny’s boat” on his hand and holds it up to the window for Desmond to see. Des, stricken and helpless, watches his friend drown.
The Losties turn off Rousseau’s distress call and Naomi goes back outside to make her call. Locke staggers out of the jungle and throws his knife, killing her. Jack picks up the phone and Locke points his gun at him: put down the phone or I will kill you. Ben, who is now tied to a tree, practically begs Jack not to contact the ship. Locke, true to form, is unable to kill Jack (although I really thought he was going to go through with it this time) and Jack speaks with someone on the boat, joy and relief washing over his face. Flash: Bearded-Jack is sitting in his apartment, drinking expensive tequila, surrounded by maps. He calls someone and pleads with them to meet him at the airport. It is night, and he parks at the end of a runway. Someone drives up: it’s Kate, clean, combed, wearing makeup. She’d read about him rescuing the woman from the car accident. He smiles faintly, “Just can’t stop pulling people from wreckage.” Holy crap – these have been flash-FORWARDS? He says he thought she’d go to the funeral. Kate is incredulous – why would I do that? Jack says he’s been flying a lot, every weekend, hoping to crash again. He’s making Kate uncomfortable, and she says she has to get back, “he’ll wonder where I went.” Jack speaks more urgently as she backs away: they made a mistake; they were never supposed to leave theIsland . “We have to go back!”
My first reaction: who was in the fracking casket?! I think, since these flashes were forward, is that it’s Ben in the casket. That might account for Clean-Kate’s scorn for the funeral. Or maybe it’s Locke, since he and Jack crossed each other’s science/faith lines on several occasions. Also, who is Clean-Kate’s “he” – Sawyer? A non-Lostie (maybe she got back together with Nathan Fillion – ooh!)? Now that Charlie’s gone, I miss him. His character was allowed to be interesting again in the last couple of episodes, and Dominic Monaghan did a great job; I loved Charlie’s confidence in himself and his destiny down in the hatch, all the way to the end. I wish, and I suspect I am not alone, that more of Season 3’s episodes had the movement that this one did (although the Jack-flashes were a little tedious, at least they were fairly brief). Hopefully Season 4 will keep the momentum going.
Ben decides to go after the Losties and tells Richard to continue taking the Others to the temple as they’d planned. Alex wants to go with Ben and, surprisingly, he agrees. He claims he will talk the Losties out of being rescued. During a break for water, Kate tells Sawyer she wants to go back to help Sayid et al. Sawyer is pretty withdrawn and isn’t interested. She gets upset, saying he hasn’t been himself since returning with Juliet’s tape and, trying to draw him out, reminds him that Juliet was going to test her for pregnancy too. Sawyer glares at her: let’s hope you’re not. Desmond finally comes to on the outrigger, and is promptly shot at by Mikhail. Desmond dives for the Looking-glass hatch and, fortuitously, comes up while the women are arguing in another room. Charlie, thrilled to see him, tells him to hide; he ducks out of sight and Charlie gets punched some more. Boy, there are a lot of commercials.
Flash: Bearded-Jack pops some pills. A doctor, played by the second
Sawyer and Juliet zing each other a couple of times and then Juliet admits that there are no guns. She lied so Jack would let them go. Hurley shows up, wanting to help, but Sawyer dismisses him, saying he’ll get them killed. Sawyer is pretty tense these days. Alex asks Ben why he’s letting her tag along; he says he’s going to hand her over to her new Lostie family, since she likes them so much. She asks why he won’t just let them leave the
The Losties are still hiking and I wish Kate would put all that hair in a ponytail. She looks a little sad and Jack tells her that Sawyer didn’t mean what he said, he was just trying to protect her. She smiles, “Why are you sticking up for Sawyer? He wouldn’t do it for you.” Jack says, “Because I love you.” Whatever. Flash: Bearded-Jack keeps looking at an obituary he tore from a newspaper. He walks into a funeral home and keeps popping pills. Who’s in the casket? On
Underwater, Bonnie gives up the code but Charlie can’t write it down fast enough. With her dying breath she tells him it’s to the tune of “Good Vibrations,” that the keypad was programmed by a musician. How serendipitous! Jack drags Ben back to the group. Ben groggily looks up to see Rousseau and introduces Alex to her mother. Away from the group, Jack tells Kate that he heard Sayid et al. being killed. On the beach, however, Sayid et al. have not been killed and, in fact, Ben had instructed the commando Others to fake the executions. Tom thinks they should have done it anyway – he thinks Ben’s lost it. Juliet and Sawyer lurk in the bushes, trying to figure out how to rescue their guys. Just then, Hurley busts in, driving his Dharma VW van! Yay, Hurley! He runs over one Other and Sayid manages to snap the second Other’s neck. Seeing all is for naught, Tom surrenders to Juliet, and then Sawyer shoots him anyway: “That’s for taking the kid off the raft.” Hurley is astounded: “Dude, it was over, he gave up.” Sawyer: “I didn’t believe him.” I love new scary Sawyer.
Flash: Bearded-Jack is stealing Oxycodone from the hospital. Dr. Las Vegas tells him he knows Jack was trying to kill himself. Jack says Dr. Las Vegas can’t help him. On
The Losties turn off Rousseau’s distress call and Naomi goes back outside to make her call. Locke staggers out of the jungle and throws his knife, killing her. Jack picks up the phone and Locke points his gun at him: put down the phone or I will kill you. Ben, who is now tied to a tree, practically begs Jack not to contact the ship. Locke, true to form, is unable to kill Jack (although I really thought he was going to go through with it this time) and Jack speaks with someone on the boat, joy and relief washing over his face. Flash: Bearded-Jack is sitting in his apartment, drinking expensive tequila, surrounded by maps. He calls someone and pleads with them to meet him at the airport. It is night, and he parks at the end of a runway. Someone drives up: it’s Kate, clean, combed, wearing makeup. She’d read about him rescuing the woman from the car accident. He smiles faintly, “Just can’t stop pulling people from wreckage.” Holy crap – these have been flash-FORWARDS? He says he thought she’d go to the funeral. Kate is incredulous – why would I do that? Jack says he’s been flying a lot, every weekend, hoping to crash again. He’s making Kate uncomfortable, and she says she has to get back, “he’ll wonder where I went.” Jack speaks more urgently as she backs away: they made a mistake; they were never supposed to leave the
My first reaction: who was in the fracking casket?! I think, since these flashes were forward, is that it’s Ben in the casket. That might account for Clean-Kate’s scorn for the funeral. Or maybe it’s Locke, since he and Jack crossed each other’s science/faith lines on several occasions. Also, who is Clean-Kate’s “he” – Sawyer? A non-Lostie (maybe she got back together with Nathan Fillion – ooh!)? Now that Charlie’s gone, I miss him. His character was allowed to be interesting again in the last couple of episodes, and Dominic Monaghan did a great job; I loved Charlie’s confidence in himself and his destiny down in the hatch, all the way to the end. I wish, and I suspect I am not alone, that more of Season 3’s episodes had the movement that this one did (although the Jack-flashes were a little tedious, at least they were fairly brief). Hopefully Season 4 will keep the momentum going.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Veronica Mars: “The Bitch Is Back” – airdate 05/22/07
Veronica gathers Wallace up when he finally staggers out. Although he didn’t get her any pictures, he’s deduced the identity of another pledge, and she plans to follow this kid until he leads her to The Castle. In the food court, Veronica and Piz are heckled; Piz tells her to let it go and that karma will take care of those guys. Veronica: “Oh yeah – I’m going to run him over with my karma.” Hee. Dick congratulates
Veronica goes home. Keith has made gumbo and asks her no questions. They are both melancholy but it’s clear how much they love each other. In the morning, the front page of the paper says that charges have been filed against Keith for tampering with the evidence. Veronica cries, and goes to vote for her dad for sheriff.
Veronica Mars: “Weevils Wobble But They Don’t Go Down” – airdate 05/22/07
Veronica and Mac are waiting in line to pay for their fro-yo. They are discussing Piz’s issues with Veronica leaving for the FBI internship: she’s annoyed that he’s mopey about it, but admits she would be annoyed if he weren’t mopey. Mac thinks she ought to let Piz know that she will miss him too. In front of them, a girl gets her student ID confiscated. Weevil – oh how we’ve missed you! – has injured his leg on the job and is talking with an HR flunky about his worker’s comp claim. The actor playing the flunky was the paranoid bookshop owner in Angel S4 (“Magic Bullet”). Back in Piz’s dorm room, Veronica is wearing some really strange overalls/suspenders as she flirts with Piz. This leads to some chemistry-free foolin’ around which has me squirming with horror. The campus police have gone to Keith regarding the fraud with the fake student IDs; the two students who were nabbed pick Weevil out of the lineup.
Weevil, who has been fired, uses his one phone call to call Veronica: “I need a bail bondsman and a PI, and you need a 21st century answering machine!” She goes to the jail and they work out that he is being framed. The only people who know he is an ex-con are the students in her Criminology class. [This double-episode does a really lovely job with continuity, wrapping up as many loose ends as possible and answering questions we might otherwise never know because the damn CW has CANCELED THIS SHOW.] At the bursar’s office Veronica gets to flash her shiny new PI license and learns about the mag-card machine used to code the ID cards. Wallace notices that he is being followed by some student and is slightly weirded out by this. Another mag-card machine is found in the empty locker next to Weevil’s and, after Veronica does some interviews, it turns out that he has no alibi.
Hearst College
Upon closer inspection of the photo, Veronica picks out the roommate, the grad student and the two students who identified Weevil.Logan Logan Logan
The group of students tries to bribe her and she sneakily records them. If charges aren’t dropped against Weevil by the next day, she’ll take the recording to the sheriff. She calls Weevil with the good news. He thanks her, and the camera pans down to the third mag-card machine he has collected from the students’ lab. Looks like our boy will never, ever learn. In the meantime, Dick receives an email with a video file; he shows it toLogan Logan Logan Logan Logan
Weevil, who has been fired, uses his one phone call to call Veronica: “I need a bail bondsman and a PI, and you need a 21st century answering machine!” She goes to the jail and they work out that he is being framed. The only people who know he is an ex-con are the students in her Criminology class. [This double-episode does a really lovely job with continuity, wrapping up as many loose ends as possible and answering questions we might otherwise never know because the damn CW has CANCELED THIS SHOW.] At the bursar’s office Veronica gets to flash her shiny new PI license and learns about the mag-card machine used to code the ID cards. Wallace notices that he is being followed by some student and is slightly weirded out by this. Another mag-card machine is found in the empty locker next to Weevil’s and, after Veronica does some interviews, it turns out that he has no alibi.
Upon closer inspection of the photo, Veronica picks out the roommate, the grad student and the two students who identified Weevil.
The group of students tries to bribe her and she sneakily records them. If charges aren’t dropped against Weevil by the next day, she’ll take the recording to the sheriff. She calls Weevil with the good news. He thanks her, and the camera pans down to the third mag-card machine he has collected from the students’ lab. Looks like our boy will never, ever learn. In the meantime, Dick receives an email with a video file; he shows it to
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