The Positively Positive

When I heard that one of my favorite actors from Supernatural, Misha Collins who plays the angel Castiel, was starring in his very own SyFy tv movie, I just had to watch it. Truthfully though, I didn’t expect it to like it all that much. I know, I’m sorry, but hey this is a SyFy movie and well, they’re not always top notch, ya know?

Okay so I was wrong. Like way wrong. Unlike other tv movies that feature a misunderstood hero, a strong female scientist, a soldier willing to break the rules, another soldier who simply wants to destroy what he doesn’t understand and a crazy zealot bent on destroying the world – this movie was actually pretty good. Once you got past some of the cheese (Stonehenge MOVES???), it’s really pretty awesome, okay so maybe b-movie-on-Syfy-awesome, but still.

The fun part about watching Misha in Supernatural as Castiel is that he plays the character so subtly while still managing to convey a lot. Well in this movie, he plays a character that’s anything but subtle. He gets to ham it up, yelling at scientists who don’t believe his theories, getting into fights, getting shot, hanging out of car windows and all around getting to be something of a badass (well, as much of badass as a crackpot scientist can be anyway). Not that he takes it too far though, just enough to show us that he can do more than play a nearly emotionless angel with a sexy gravelly voice.

There were some great lines in this flick too, including Jacob’s ultra sarcastic “Oh, you don’t say!” when he finds out that the scientists have just discovered something he’s known all along, and the driver screaming “Holy crap!” when the pyramid suddenly appeared in the middle of Maine (yeah I think that would’ve been my response too).

Then of course there was the ending. Okay so maybe I should have seen it coming but I didn’t. Jacob sacrificing himself to save the planet and Kaycee taking over his radio show “The Real Story”? Nope, didn’t see that at all. I totally thought the two of them would end up together and that’s probably what I liked the most about this movie. Despite the b-movie and cheese factor, it still managed to surprise me.

Not bad for a SyFy movie, not bad at all.

Alan Tudyk in Dollhouse, season 2, episode 8 “A Love Supreme”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

You know, ever since I heard that Dollhouse was going to be cancelled, I told myself I wasn’t going to do any more reviews. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to watch it. After all, why get myself excited over a show that soon enough won’t exist?

Well as you can see, I’ve decided to do both. Once again, I simply can’t help it. I started this blog so that I could talk about the things I love about good tv shows out there, and Dollhouse is still one of those shows.

Not only is this show good, but in the past few weeks it’s gotten phenomenal. Just my luck that I’m beginning to love a show more and more, now that its head is firmly placed on the chopping block.

Oh well, I’m a fan of Joss Whedon. Getting my heart broken is part of the territory, right?

Fox is now showing two eps every week, I’m sure so that they can get it off their roster faster. Sigh. I’m only going to talk about the last one though. The one that had me literally squealing in delight, laughing hysterically and nearly in tears? Yeah, that’s the one.

It’s not just the return of Alpha that’s making this show so good. Though I’ll admit, as a huge Alan Tudyk fan, that is a big part of it. But it’s also the fact that Echo is more than just a mere “doll” now. She’s gained the ability to pick and choose her personas at will, whenever one suits her needs. Plus she and Ballard didn’t sleep together and just like Alpha, I totally knew that meant he loved her and she him.

So now we have the characters all going in new directions and poof! here’s Alpha to screw it all up royally. Implanting himself with Ballard (and causing his “brain death” in the process) is the latest trick up his sleeve.

I can’t wait until next week, when we get another two hours to see what happens next and how Echo is going to fix it……because she has to fix it, right???

More Dollhouse….
Dollhouse, season 2, episode 3 “Belle Chose”
Dollhouse, season 2, episode 4 “Belonging”

Creation’s Salute Firefly/Serenity Convention 2009

Elizabeth Mitchell and Joel Gretsch in V, season 1, episode 2 “There Is No Normal Anymore”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

This week’s episode of V was all about trust. In the beginning, Anna and the rest of the Visitors are seen trying to get diplomatic rights to visit the countries of Earth. This brings up trust for us an entire race. Would we allow beings from another planet to do what they did? Then again, why wouldn’t we if they offered everything the V’s are offering? It certainly makes you think.

Later in the episode, as I watched FBI agent Evans walk through her precinct and Father Landry go back to his church, I was again struck by the theme of trust. After what they’d seen, these two people knew that they could trust no one and we as the audience can’t either. At this point, literally anyone we don’t know too well could turn out to be a Visitor. The fact that Dale (played so wonderfully by Alan Tudyk) turned out to be a V in disguise, proved that.

Unlike the original series, so far we haven’t seen any of the V’s sneaking around in dumpsters eating mice. Yes it was a rather silly way of showing us who the V’s were but you have to admit, it was effective. When we saw someone, who we thought was human, snarf down a cute little mouse (tail and all), we knew immediately that they were a V.

Not so with the new 2009 update. It gives the series a cool sense of mystery and I will definitely be watching every character carefully to see if any are hiding scales.

Overall a good second episode of the series, setting up what could be some great storylines to come.

More V….

V, season 1, episode 1, “Pilot”

Morena Baccarin in V “Pliot”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

It’s been a while since I saw the original series of this show so I didn’t remember a lot other than the fact that the Visitors came and eventually The Resistance was formed against them. I wondered what kind of changes would be made from the original and what part of the story would be the same.

This new version of the series has been made very relevant to current times, with references to the economy and even terrorism. FBI agents begin tracking a terrorist cell that turns out to be a cell of Visitors who have been hiding in our midst for years. When one of the FBI agents turned out to be a Visitor I was so surprised that I gasped out loud.

I enjoyed getting to know the various characters, from a mother who is part of the Resistance, her son who is enamored with the “V’s”, to the Visitor who disagrees with his people and is rebelling, to the priest who finds himself joining the Resistance.

The acting and writing so far are superb and I find myself very much looking forward to this series now.Overall a very strong pilot to what looks to be a good show.

Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjokaj in Dollhouse, season 2, episode 4 “Belonging”. Image from www.daemonstv.com

When I first started doing this blog I had this naive thought that sometimes the hardest thing would be to find positive things to say about every show. As it turns out, the hardest thing about Dollhouse is finding too many good things.

If I were to talk about every moment that I liked in last Friday’s episode “Belonging”, I’d be here all day and this blog post would be a mile long. So I’ll just have to settle for giving a brief overview.

This week’s episode carried the main story arc of the series along while still feeling like a stand alone episode. I think that someone who’s never seen the show before could have still watched it and got a lot out of it. The entire of story of how “Sierra” came to the Dollhouse was shocking. Not that we didn’t already know (from last season) a little about the man who requested her nearly every week. No, I was actually surprised to find out that no one else in the Dollhouse seemed to know that he was, in essence, a rapist.

When Echo brings the painting to Topher, I thought that while he may not realize what had been going on, surely those above him did. So when Adelle brought the bastard into her office and told him off, I cheered.

Topher’s journey through the episode as he struggles with being forced to send Sierra back to the “bad man” was great to watch. This is the first time we’ve really seen what kind of person he is and I am beginning to like his character more and more.

The final scenes were a masterpiece as Sierra is sent back and Topher (apparently) suffers with what he’s been forced to do. The music in the background was so sad, going perfectly with the moment.

In the end Sierra gets her revenge, Topher is able to redeem himself (if only slightly) and all is put back to “normal” as Sierra meets up with her true love, Victor. Behind it all we see that Boyd has discovered Echo’s secret and rather than hindering, has decided to help.

Overall a very good episode, giving us a lot of background info on a few of the characters who have been mostly in the background up to this point.

More Dollhouse…

Dollhouse, season 2, episode 3 “Belle Chose”