Sunday night on Fox was awesome because they aired the prequel to the long-awaited season 7 of “24.” Now, the season doesn’t start until January, but this TV-movie fills us in on what Jack Bauer’s been up to and what we can expect to see in the new season. That aside, we also see him blowing things up and taking some people down. Can’t say he went soft on us, and can’t say I’m surprised.
So apparently, Jack Bauer has been in Africa with an old friend he worked in the special forces with, Carl. He’s been helping at this school and protecting the kids from getting drafted as soldiers for the warlords. The story picks up when a man named Frank shows up with a subpeona for Jack, who is pretty much wanted for illegal torture of people in custody and probably the illegal abduction of a former US president…so yeah, even when you’re Jack Bauer, those kinds of things are still frowned upon. Jack ignores the subpeona and gets ready to move on, but the timing is awful because local warlords are coming for the kids, and Jack Bauer being Jack Bauer, he rises to the occasion to save the day.
Jack gets the kids to hide and while he puts up a hell of a fight with several bad guys, throwing some dynamite and a whole lot of punches, but he finds himself outnumbered and captured for torture. Things look bad, but once Jack is left… (more…)
Alright, so we last left off with an establishment of who were heroes and who were villains and most importantly, the revelation that Claire was the third part of the formula, the catalyst. This week’s episode picked up directly after that, with heroes and villains sent out on their respective missions. Nathan and Peter take a trip to track down the Haitian, Matt and Daphne try to track down Hiro, and Claire is sent to lay low under the protection of her father, Noah. Elsewhere, Mohinder continues to have skin problems (those pesky scales just keep spreading) while Sylar and Elle are sent after Claire. One minor hitch for everyone though…an eclipse occurs that leaves everyone powerless at very inconvenient times. The universe really sucks sometimes.
So, the Petrelli brothers jet off from Primatech and crash land in the Haitian jungle. There’s a lot of brother issues that come up and some hurtful things are said. Nathan calls Peter out on the fact that he’s always saving him (”Bro, remember that time you were gonna totally blow up in New York City and I totally flew you up into the sky?”) and Peter called Nathan out on being their father’s puppet (”Dude, in the future you totally take Dad’s side!”). After much banter, they finally track down the Haitian, but he refuses to leave his village because apparently his brother, whose ability is being completely impenetrable, is a bad guy and he needs to take him down. Peter suggests that they help him, that way the Haitian can go home with them and take down their father, but some soldiers show up before they can do anything and take Nathan captive while the Haitian and Peter escape.
Parkman and Daphne find themselves in a bit of a predicament trying to figure out how the hell they’re going to find Hiro, but as luck would have it (or maybe just for plot purposes), Hiro and Ando show up at Parkman’s door with a copy of “9 Wonders,” that shows them at Parkman’s door. Apparently even though Isaac died way back in season 1, somebody with his precog ability has carried on the tradition of publishing this comic. The problem though, is that while Hiro still has his abilities, he is also still under the impression that he’s 10 years-old, and Parkman is no help in restoring his memory to normal. To make matters worse, Daphne suddenly gets angry at Parkman and speeds off to her home in Kansas… (more…)
With Charlie gone, Corrine, Randy, and Bob find themselves struggling for salvation in this game. While Corrine and Randy decided their best bet was to swing Matty, Bob was elsewhere talking to Sugar. I was surprised to see this, as they’ve never really had much of a relationship on the show, and what further surprised me was that Bob confided in Sugar that he did not have the immunity idol after his trip to Exile, but he did make a fake one. This comes in handy later when Sugar and her merry pranksters decide to send Randy home with a really swift kick in the ass, but we’ll get back to that.
The reward challenge was an auction. Bob won a trip to Exile with a clue, but he actually already knew the clue so it was meaningless to him. Instead, he went on his own little safari, which he felt, in itself, was a good reward. As for the rest, they ate pretty well and Susie even got a bath, but a fun reward challenge took a turn for the worse when… (more…)
Alright, so the good news is that Mr. Petrelli did not decapitate Hiro like the mysterious African man. The bad news is that something happened when Mr. Petrelli touched Hiro, and Hiro has been reverted to his 10 year-old self, and Ando is desperately trying to help him remember everything, but has so far been fairly unsuccessful. More good news is that it looks as if battle lines have been drawn, because by the end of the episode, we get a very dramatic and moderately badass look at those who have sided with Angela Petrelli (Peter, Nathan, Claire, Parkman, Nathan, Daphne?) and those that have sided with Arthur Petrelli (Flint, Knox, Sylar, Elle, Tracy, and I guess Mohinder…). Based on this, we’re on a very clear path to the ultimate fallout of this volume, and I believe there are about 3 episodes left, so they should be pretty damn big.
So we last left the heroes just after Nathan and Tracy had met up with Peter and Claire, and Nathan claimed that he was going to see his father and that he would be kicking down doors. As I suspected, Nathan did not kick any doors down, but he did face his father who informed him that his seat in the Senate was all part of some great plan. Naturally, the big plan is saving the world by giving half of humanity powers. Nathan’s skeptical, and decides to go find his mom and Primatech and talk to her, whereas Tracy stays behind and confronts Mr. Petrelli. This is where Tracy gets kind of shady and makes Mr. Petrelli… (more…)
Disaster has officially reared its ugly head for the once powerful Kota 6, first with the fateful loss of Marcus, and this week things are officially bad as the tribes merged and Charlie was voted out at tribal council. Power has definitely shifted in this game into the unlikely hands of Ken, the scrawny Asian video-gamer, who quite honestly, with the Kota 6 becoming a defeated dynasty, I’m kind of rooting for at this point. His newfound control of this game is not undeserved, and if I have to see anyone from his ragtag alliance win, I’d like it to be him.
Anyway, things kicked off with Corrine at the new Fang camp going on and on about how excited she was to see Marcus…needless to say, it was kind of awkward when they arrived at the challenge only to see that Marcus had been voted out and Susie had royally $&%#ed up the game for the Kota 6. She made a comment about how he deserved better than that, which little Kenny stepped up and countered by asking, “Why is he any more deserving than anyone else out here?” The argument went on from there, and finally they got down to the reward challenge, which Fang won. The reward was one of those things where the tribe went off and basically took part in a local tribal celebration, and we got to see Randy bust a serious move to impress one of the locals, who he was dead certain was interested in him.
Two weeks ago we were left hanging as Nathan was storming off to face his father…unfortunately, we did not see that little showdown this week, but instead were faced with a series of flashbacks from 18 months ago, just before the supposed death of Mr. Petrelli. This could’ve turned out to be quite a pain in the ass, but it was actually a solid episode, enlightening us about some of the second-stringers on the show, such as Meredith (Claire’s biological mother), Flint (apparently Meredith’s brother, but you may recognize him as the bald guy who shoots blue fire), Elle, Linderman (yeah, he’s dead, but he’s sort of crucial), and of course, Mr. Arthur Petrelli.
May as well start off with Elle, who was apparently once partnered up with Noah at the Company. Their mission was to look into Sylar, basically before he was even Sylar. Yet again, this story was written so the writers could show a more sympathetic side of Sylar in hopes of redeeming the character, which I really don’t see ever happening, but I guess I can appreciate their efforts. It was back when Sylar first killed to gain abilities and he felt guilty for what happened. He even tried to kill himself, but Elle saved him and formed a relationship with him, something Noah realized when she insisted that they leave him alone. They went forward with the plan though, as they had to witness him at least attempt to kill, so Elle brought him someone with an ability, Sylar’s hunger kicked in, and that is how Sylar was first unleashed on the world as a killer.
As for Meredith, apparently she and her dumb brother Flint used to spend their time robbing Quik-E-Marts, until they got caught by a Company man from way back in season 1. This is the guy Noah used to report to, and I can’t recall his name, but he’s played by Eric Roberts. Basically he caught the two of them to use as agents, but when Meredith saw her brother in lock up, she didn’t trust the situation and busted him out. All said and done, Eric Roberts let Meredith go free, and we saw her walk over a bridge while Claire in that old cheerleader uniform was jogging under it, heading straight into that burning building from Season 1 Episode 1. Very nice, awesome crossover.
The Petrelli story was pretty complicated, and while up close they look like they should be the Cleaver family, they were far from it (unless there is a lost episode of “Leave it to Beaver” out there where Mr. Cleaver tries to kill Wally…). Basically, Linderman is a not so great guy but is a client of Mr. Petrelli, which is clearly a front for Pinehearst or whatever shady organization these guys are running. Nathan, back in his glory days as the Assistant District Attorney, is apparently gunning for Linderman, and Mr. Petrelli tells Linderman that if he can’t talk some sense into Nathan, he’ll just have to kill him. Ouch. Later on Nathan is driving on the highway with his wife when a truck comes up behind them and starts ramming them, and suddenly Nathan is floating in the air (!!!!) while his wife crashes (hence her being paralyzed in Season 1).
This event drives a rift in the Petrelli marriage, when Angela grows suspicious of Arthur’s possible involvement in Nathan’s car crash, and Arthur eventually is forced to deal with this by controlling Angela’s mind to make her forget these suspicions. For some yet unclear reason though, Linderman confronts Angela with his healing ability and allows her to remember. Angela then realizes how dangerous Arthur is and decides to poison him, keeping the Haitian nearby for assistance. Everything goes according to plan and the Haitian is going to have the body burned immediately, but…Nathan walks in and finds his father on the floor, unconscious but still breathing. If only Nathan had been a few minutes later, then damn, a whole lot of trouble probably could’ve been avoided.
Things end with the Petrellis receiving word of their father’s death, but it turns out that Arthur used his ability to control the mind of the doctor and report himself dead. That’s pretty crafty, I gotta say. And so that is why were first introduced to Arthur Petrelli bedridden at the start of season 3.
Now, it’s important to point out that Hiro saw all these events on a sort of spirit journey he took in Africa, thanks to the mysterious African man, so Hiro has now seen all these and urgently wakes up, eager to find his fellow heroes. Unfortunately, what he finds is a now headless mysterious African man and…Arthur Petrelli gripping his head, uttering the words, “I heard you’ve been dreaming about me.” Can’t be good, but we’ll see how it plays out…
Kicking things off with Heidi and Spencer, this episode is basically the culmination of the Holly problem. Spencer vents to Stephanie at the coffeehouse about how Holly is always around and as a result he can’t get any work done at his “office” (who does this fool think he’s kidding? He sits on his ass all day watching TV and playing on his computer.). Anyway, Spencer eventually confronts Heidi with an ultimatum that either he will move out or Holly has to move out. So much for family. Heidi then turned around and confronts Holly about needing to get a job and find a new place, and Holly seems oblivious to the fact that Spencer wants her out. I guess Heidi got the brains in that family…yeah…right…
Audrina is out in the dating world with some Australian guy named Cory. Things seem to be going well until Audrina brings Cory to a party in Malibu with LC and Whitney. Once there, the broskis show up and make things awkward because they talk to LC about how Justin is their broski and a bigger issue is an impending trip to Cabo for Brody’s birthday, which Justin has been invited to and Audrina has been invited to. It wouldn’t be so bad, except for the fact that Audrina kind of sort of mentioned it to Cory and invited him along…not broski approved.
Irrelevant but worth noting, the last scene involved Audrina and Justin in the pool at her house. They seemed to confirm that they were no longer an item when Justin said that while in Cabo he would have a “free pass” (translation being that he can hook up with whatever biddies he wants to). Somehow things turned to Audrina taking her top off and making out with Justin in the pool. Yes, that actually happened.
The following episode tied directly into the above, as it took place on the controversial Cabo trip. No doubt they went down in a private plane (I sometimes wonder if these kids even know what Coach means outside of being an overpriced designer). Awkwardly enough, Justin and Audrina were expected to share a room, a situation that was quickly remedied by LC encouraging Audrina to stay in her room. Later, Justin awkwardly (it sucks, I really can’t think of a more perfect word to describe most events revolving around Audrina) confronts Audrina at dinner about how he noticed her bag rolling out of their room (they argued semantics for awhile until it was finally clarified that Audrina was physically present and moving her bag out of his room to LC’s room, as if this needed to be clarified). Actually, in short, Justin acts like a douche to Audrina the entire trip, teasing her about her new guy that she apparently left him for, even though he was a total douche when they were together so he’s got no right to really be mad. Trick of the trade: never look for logic and reason when it comes to “The Hills.” Just don’t bother. Try and walk away.
So Spencer and Heidi found themselves in a post-Holly situation, and without that dramatic situation, they naturally had to scrounge up a new one. What better way than grilling Stephanie’s new boyfriend on a double date. Rather than politely talk and enjoy each other’s company, Spencer and Heidi proceed to air out their dirty laundry bringing up topics ranging from LC to Brody to Holly, and there was even enough time to mention the recent Doug/Stephanie situation. That went well. Just when you think Spencer and Heidi are about to make nice with other people, you realize these two idiots deserve to be alone with each other.
Insert long stream of obscenities here. There was a plan. All everybody had to do was follow it. Then again, maybe they brought this disaster on themselves, and the whole thing could have been avoided had they gone a different way at the last tribal council. Well, what’s done is done, and Marcus’s torch got snuffed, which could be just the beginning of the Kota 6’s demise.
Initially it looked as if a merge was going down. There was a large feast for both tribes and then the revelation of another hidden immunity idol somewhere on the beach. It was quickly found, but Marcus suggested that no one take it and they instead throw it into the ocean. I think Marcus thought he was being far more clever than he actually was, because it’s a fairly stupid move for anyone to pick up what should be a secret immunity idol in front of everyone. You’re asking for a target on your back. But he was justified in the sense that he had a very secure spot in the game, and while for many people an idol would be very useful, for him it wasn’t really necessary. Or so he thought.
They then opened a jar that they assumed would contain brand new buffs, but instead they pulled out a bag of stones, which they each drew from and were then…divided into new tribes! Marcus, Bob, Susie, Crystal, and Ken were the new Kota, while Corrine, Charlie, Randy, Matt, and Sugar formed the new Fang. Simple enough, being that the Kota 6 had the upper hand in both tribes, they should still maintain the status quo until the merge. Unfortunately, nobody accounted for Susie. Wildcard, bitches!
Susie seemed pretty settled on sticking with Marcus, but despite Crystal forming a somewhat close bond with Marcus, Crystal went behind his back to Susie to start talking about voting him out. Meanwhile, at Fang the decision seemed fairly dead set that they would get rid of Matt as soon as possible, and Randy even thought about throwing the challenge to protect Marcus and Bob, as everyone seemed unsure of what Susie would do. It’s unclear if they actually agreed to throw the challenge, because the challenge turned out to be an individual challenge. Each player had to balance two posts on their fists, and the last player standing won immunity for their tribe. One by one they all dropped until it was down to Bob and Matt. Dammit, Matt was so close to dropping his posts, why couldn’t he just drop those goddamn posts so Bob would win and Matt would be voted out by his tribe instead of Susie having the chance to flip and get Marcus voted out.
But it happened. Susie flipped and single-handedly shook this game up. With Susie’s swing vote, this ragtag bunch from Fang now have the upper hand, and the once powerful Kota 6 have only one shot at turning things back around. If they stay divided into two tribes, Randy, Charlie, and Corrine have the opportunity to throw the immunity challenge and get rid of Matt or Sugar and balance things out. If the merger does happen though…let’s just say I’m going to be very disappointed in the direction this game takes (I mean, all the power has shifted to the most dysfunctional players, this is awful!). Sorry, Marcus, you deserved better.
I never have high hopes for an episode of “The Hills” because “The Hills” sucks. I actually dread watching it. I can’t lie though. After the last episode, my interest certainly piqued a bit. Epic disappointment. Once again the fact that LC and Heidi used to be friends and can’t seem to reconcile things is forced down her throat as Holly meets LC for drinks and tries to subtly mention her sister. Heidi follows this up by sending LC a good old fashioned letter, which LC shares with Whitney. LC manages to make a somewhat insightful comment to Whitney, saying how she can’t believe that after all this time, “Heidi just can’t blame Spencer.” We watch “The Hills” and know that their fallout was because of Spencer. Heidi lives “The Hills” and doesn’t realize that Spencer is at fault. I guess no one ever said she was smart.
Audrina starts dating other people. She goes on two dates with one particular guy, and completely fails to get through either one without mentioning Justin. The first time it’s disregarded by both parties, but the second time the guy actually says something about it, and it looks like he gets wise and recognizes that they are not about to enter a lasting relationship. Later on, Audrina goes out with Justin and they talk about how she’s dating other people, and he seems completely unfazed. This guy, like…I don’t even know. I swear that one day he needs to donate his brain to science, because one of life’s greatest mysteries is definitely what goes on in his head. It’s frightening how nothing ever seems to affect him in any way, but I guess we’ll just never figure this guy out.
Audrina and LC discuss their respective plot threads this episode and both provide relatively insightful thoughts (keep in mind who we’re talking about here). Audrina points out that she’s never be able to put Justin behind her until she meets a guy that completely makes her forget about Justin. LC takes this in, but really she’s thinking about her own life, and responds by posing the question of where they would all be if Heidi never met Spencer. This could be a fun episode for them to do, but because we are supposed to be completely convinced that this show is “real,” it’s probably a road that the writers…I mean the…ummm…producers will never go down.
The episode ends with a bit of a bang as Heidi and Holly talk about LC and the letter Heidi wrote to her. Spencer walks in, says a few things such as, “I’ll totally take responsibility for you and LC not being friends,” which leads to Holly and Spencer going head to head in an argument about Heidi’s life and friendship with LC.