Catching up on some reviews of last week’s tv, the best of which was Fringe. This season has been excellent, although now our Olivia is back, there has been a slightly ponderous ‘how could you not know’ theme. This week we returned to the other side, and I realised how much I missed it! Alternate reality shows are always kind of fun as the creators of the shows get to add their own little details to the other worlds. The S2 finale reveal of Olivia in the twin towers still stands as one of the very best mind blowing Fringe moments.
This episode showed us once again that the people on the other side really are not monsters. OK so Fauxlivia conned Peter and killed several people, but she is as tenacious as our Olivia when on the case. Interestingly, the Cortexifan trials were halted by Walternate as he refused to experiment on children – something Walter and William Bell did with no qualms at all!
Of course the big reveal was that Fauxlivia is pregnant with Peter’s baby, and the weirdest love triangle ever continues with its twists and turns. I do hope Fringe gets a renewal as the show is one of the best on tv.
Smallville returned and we also saw the return of Martha Kent (Annette O’Toole) as the battle against the beaurocrats wanting to stop heroes like Clark and Green Arrow were finally voted down after an incredibly soppy hack job from Chloe and Lois, who managed to get thousands of people to post their ‘we love the Blur’ videos. Urgh! It’s like the old days on Smallville as we also have Chloe back (yay!) and Lionel Luthor (hammy yay!) One problem the show has had lately is that apart from Clark and Lois, the regular cast has been pretty thin on the ground and not that interesting. Maybe they can save money like that? Anyway, Lionel’s purpose is as wooly and unclear as ever. The Alexander clone that Tess was involved with a while back is on the scene again, and nuttier than Lex ever was. As Michael Rosenbaum has finally signed on to return in the series finale, maybe it will count for something. Interestingly, Tess (who got close to Alexander) tried to kill him off (Gabriella and daughter Hope on Xena S2 anyone? No? Just me then…) but is shocked to see that the needle containing poison bounces off his skin just like Clark’s. Is Alexander a Kryptonian?
A bit late but I wanted to post a comment on the finale of Human Target, especially as it is looking dicey whether the show will be back. As I have said in previous comments, I have enjoyed this season for the lighter tone and the addition of Indira Varma as the lovely Ilsa Pucci. Once again the team embarked on a caper (which I can’t even remember now!) but the big moment came at the end when Ilsa annouced she was off back to London. Chase lets her go, but with some prompting chased after her, only to find she had changed her mind about leaving anyway. I actually thought it would have been better to have seen her disappear off in her private jet – leaving us with a bit of a cliff hanger. Maybe the producers are aware this may be the end and were reluctant.
I was sorry to hear a similar show, the all action Chase has been pulled from the schedules. I don’t know why this show wasn’t a bigger hit. There was plenty of action and excitement in all the pacy episodes. Maybe US audiences couldn’t take to the admittedly chilly and all business Annie Frost. I do hope it’s failure wasn’t down to a female lead, although recent female lead action shows don’t have a great record.
Last week’s episode of The Good Wife saw the return of Michael J Fox as Louis Canning as Alicia played Erin Brokovich representing a group of women made infertile by chemical pollutants. Canning steps in to try and steal the clients, but is he really on the side of the large corporations?
Another strong episode – as always – saw Alicia come out on top for once (well, it was her turn) as Will and Diane continued to try and claw back the firm for the increasingly villainous Derek Bond, who we learned was the spying on the attorneys this week. The scene where Will realises Bond is the villain was really nicely played – tense but subtle.