Community: Interpretive Dance Review

This week our two stories center around Jeff, Brita, and Troy. At the beginning of the episode after a little bit of banter from the group Britta notices that Jeff has several long, brunette hairs on his coat. Jeff then tells the group that it's the same woman he intends to meet up with later, and that causes the group to almost worry that Jeff might have himself a relationship. Soon after the Annie mentions moving the study groups time from 5pm to 4:30 so that they can get in through the side door that locks at 5. Both Troy and Britta refuse, and give very vague (and poorly thought out) excuses as to why they have to have the time open.


I also like that when Pierce is late they all go to the possibility that he might be dead.  We also have classic Annie being ignored when she tries to change the meeting time.



With Jeff's story we soon find out that he is in fact with someone, and that someone is Ms. Slater, his old statistics professor. After a quick (but interrupted) make out session the dean talks to them about how dangerous a student/faculty relationship is and that they need to watch out because they're on the "Hot Student/Faculty" list the dean made up. Later Ms. Slater and Jeff try to make out in the library but Jeff just knows that if they start then the rest of the gang will see them and rat them out. Ms. Slater tells him the odds are next to none, and doing what all good students go by listening to his professor, they kiss for a few seconds before Jeff looks to see --You guessed it! The rest of the gang is watching from outside. So now that the gang knows, Jeff swears them not tell. Soon after, the dean arrives and gets Ms. Slater and Jeff to go to his office after finding out about their relationship from a certain grey haired group member.


I was surprised by Ms. Slater's return to the show because I figured we were through with her after the first part of the season.  But I guess when student 2 and professor 7 get together, passion ignites!  It was also hilarious that the group came from the other side to catch them making out instead of watching them through the window.  Jeff also has it right when he says sleeping with someone every night makes them your best friend ever.  Pierce using twitter, HA!


With Brita and Troy, we soon find out that both of them are in dance classes that the rest of the group doesn't know about. When they find out about the other, they decide to tell the group by inviting them to a dance recital on Friday. Unlucky for Brita, when she tells everyone about her tap dancing, Troy leaves her to hang as soon as everyone talks about how ironic it is for Brita to be doing something so feminine.


This was hilarious and Troy was a great dancer, really funny.  I agree with Troy girls have parts that jiggle so that they were meant to dance.


For the climax, we see everyone at the dance recital hoping to see Brita dance. Instead, we see Brita freeze when she notices that Jeff and Mrs. Slater holding hands and generally being boyfriend and girlfriend (which is odd to both Brita and Jeff). As Brita freezes on stage, Troy realizes that only he can help her. So doing the right thing, Troy rips off his clothes (for what is like, the third time) and saves Brita before getting alienated by the gang. Then we get a moment with Jeff and Brita where it becomes obvious that Brita does have feelings for Jeff. Poor Brita, if only she were honest to herself instead of being so up tight, but what can you do?

Jeff has a girlfriend awww...  I do agree with pierce on one thing, man that was one wierd tap dance show, until Troy showed up then it actually got entertaining.  Brita and Troy are great BSers to come up with that dance off the cuff.  Brita gets jealous at Jeff who would have thought that?  I guess we'll see where this leads down the road.


See Ya & Till Next Time,
Mike & Razz

Heroes: Art of Deception Review

Ok this episode of Heroes started out really slow and was becoming one of my least favorite of the season until the twist at the Carnival.  After that I could not believe what Samuel did but it made a great story.   Peter starts dreaming of Emma at the Carnival and discovers that Sylar might be the one to save her.  after a failed confrontation with Angela he goes to California to find Sylar.   Parkman comes home to discover Sylar there with Janice and they start "catching up".  Sylar tells Matt that he wants all his abilities gone to rediscover his humanity.  After a failed attempt Sylar threatens Janice so Matt will do it.  Matt finally traps Sylar in his own unconcious body and begins to brick him in the basement.  Peter comes to find Sylar and goes inside his head to bring back Sylar.   This was a great moment for Parkman in my opinion.  It was dark and it looked like Parkman is taking a lesson from his old man.  Too bad Peter has to play hero and is now trying to get Sylar back.  Douche.... Claire is debating telling Noah about Sylar and when she gets to the apartment she discovers HRG's plan to take down Samuel.  Noah jumps to take action before Claire has a chance to stop his plan and sets up outside the Carnival.   Samuel talks to Lydia about his outburst at the town and Samuel tells her that he WILL win back the respect of the carnival.  Claire finds Samuel and tells him that he needs to surrender himself in order to keep the rest of the carnival safe and so that she can be sure that Noah won't overreact and kill innocent people.  As Samuel is about to leave shots come from Noah's hill and a lot of people get hurt including Samuel, Claire, Lauren, and Lydia who dies.  Noah finds out it is an Eli clone and gets framed for the shooting after being knocked out by the real Eli.  Samuel then manipulates the carnies saying he needs to remain to protect the Carnival from "villains".  When Lauren cannot stop Eli she calls the emergency number to tell Tracy about the incident.    I really enjoyed this.  Finding out that Samuel took a bullet just to get people on his side.  It proves how much of a villain he really is in the series.  I can't wait to see what he meant by "showing the world"what they really are.  I assume it'll be similar to Magneto and the Brotherhood.  I just hope that our "X-Men" aren't just Peter and Sylar trying to save the world. So this was one kickass episode because of one literary device, Plot twists. Thank you sooo much!  I did not see this coming, at first I thought Noah snapped but once Claire got shot I knew it was not him and it made it all the better that it was all Samuel's plan.  I really liked Matt's Edgar Allen Poe-like way of dealing with Sylar by bricking his body inside a room. Also we get the return of Tracy, some one we haven't seen in a long time.  By the way if you are not reading the Heroes Graphic Novel on nbc.com you should start with this week because you find out what Tracy has been up to and how she can help Noah and Claire.   I agree here.  The twist with Samuel blew me away watching the Cask of Matt Parkman was enjoyable.  Only a few more left, so I don't know about anyone else, but I'm excited. See Ya & Til the Next Time Mike & Razz

Heroes: Pass/Fail Review

Hey guys sorry this is going up later than usual but I have been swamped this week.  I know I liked this episode so lets just talk about Pass/Fail.

 

Mohinder recreates the compass so Noah can be able to find the carnival and then leaves to go back to India.  I am also glad we get a definitive answer about how the compass can only work in the hands of someone with abilities.  Hiro collapses from his Tumor an wakes up in a Trial for his life with many past characters such as Adam and Kaito.  Adam plays the prosecuting attorney and brings up instances in Hiro's life to prove he used his powers selfishly.   Hiro is proved to be guilty after Sylar is brought as a witness as proof that Hiro let him go free for Charlie's life and also Samuel's deal that lost Charlie in time.  On his way to death he changes his plea to guilty realizing he was irresponsible.  In the midst of death Hiro fights for his life and wins, which leads him to be healed by his mother.

 

I really enjoyed seeing all these dead characters come back, at least for the episode.  I really enjoyed Adam as the prosecuting attorney, it just kinds of make sense for him to be in that role.  I was surprised he didn't put himself as a witness to how Hiro abused his powers, but I'm ok with what I got.

We see Claire with Gretchen looking pretty down, I can see why after every thing that happened.  Claire goes to study only to find Sylar there to figure out why he needs her.  Surprisingly Claire is not really gung ho about helping Sylar, however he says he kidnapped Gretchen so her hand is forced.  After getting nowhere with her he decides to take what he wants through using Lydia's ability, weirdest Heroes kiss anyone!  Claire then stabs Sylar in the eye to finally get away from him.  She finds Gretchen and the two hide from Sylar (who is closing in), they have a conversation and Claire takes what she learned from Sylar to try to repair that relationship with Gretchen.  They talk about abilities and how they are excuses for your humanity and that maybe Sylar needs to purge his abilities to regain his humanity/ability to kill.  Gretchen turns into Sylar and Claire leaves to find the real Gretchen and takes what she learned to heart. 

 

I thought this was a good dynamic that Claire and Sylar had throughout their storyline.  Granted, when most of their "bonding" time was done Sylar was disguised as Gretchen, they both learned something about the other.  Like Sylar learned that Claire likes to follow up making out with stabbing you in the eye and Sylar likes to be a teenage girl at times.

Vanessa wakes up at the Carnival and is still kinda p/oed about being held at the carnival.  We see Samuel trying to woo her again and win her over.  It seems to be working for a little bit and Samuel takes her to their dream house which they dreamed about when they were younger.  However she rejects Samuel saying that it is just a dream and it is his dream.  This makes him heartbroken and angry/crazy, he goes out and destroys a town with a sinkhole.

 

It's good to see Samuel show a little more of a human side around Vanessa.  I liked seeing him happy, even though it was a false happiness.  I almost have to wonder if he knew that she wasn't going to go for all of what Samuel was preaching.  Though seeing the new, almost heartless Samuel destroy that poor little city almost drew a tear to my eye.

I gotta say I enjoyed this episode, I can feel it gearing up for the finale.  I really liked the Sylar and Claire stuff even though I am not usually a big Claire fan.  Their conversation is what they both needed to hear to get themselves back on track.  We see at the end the really bad, jaded Samuel, I think from now on he is going to be pure evil because it appears that any good intention he had went out the door with Vanessa.  I also liked seeing the old characters in Heroes trial, we even get allusions to everyone in season 1 that Sylar killed.  But I liked the fight between Adam and Hiro which ended with the same way that Hiro stabbed Sylar in Season 1.  Ok here is my theory about how Sylar gets to Matt, I believe that he owns a magical teleportation device that automatically lets him travel to California any time (remember the beginning of season 3?)

I'm going to agree with Razz, at least about it feeling like the finale is upon us.  With Samuel ready to bury the world under his feet for happiness and Sylar now on a quest to find his humanity through Matt, it all looks like it's going to build up to something that I hope is great.

Later & Til Next Time,

Mike & Razz

Heroes: Close To You Review

Last night we got a new episode of Heroes and it seemed to fall flat but we did get a few plot points that needed to happen with Hiro, Matt, and HRG.  so let's go then shall we?

 

The Hiro Story line is finally played out after 3 episodes of flash forwards with the rescuing of Suresh.  Ando admits Hiro who is able to find out where and who Suresh is so they can break him out.  They all three escape from the mental hospital with a drugged up Ando.  Knowing they can't keep running from the Stormtroopers and their Ewoks forever, Ando decides to shock Hiros mind back to normal. And that works?!?

 

At this point I'm just happy that for the most part, Hiro is fixed.  I would also like to comment that I enjoyed Mohinder in this episode.  I usually am anti Mohinder mostly due to the fact I feel his character has over stayed his welcome in the series, but to see him be the voice of reason and man up some made me kind of happy.

We begin with Bennett and see him becoming obsessed with locating Samuel and the carnival.  When he finds Samuels love, Vanessa he goes to California to get answers from her.  This brings him to seek help from Matt who has become a stay at home dad guy/ recluse after his ordeal with Sylar.  Vanessa explains how she knows Samuel and tells Bennett she can Bring Samuel to her.  However Bennetts plans go awry when Samuel takes(kidnaps) Vanessa back to the carnival.  Matt eventually just tells him that he has to go back and patch things up because his methods aren't working.  Bennett also gets to Matt too and makes him realize that he needs to do more with his life than stay at home and make Ratatatoille.  Bennett goes back to Claire and tries to patch things up which is kinda something we have already seen in past seasons.  He also starts to build up his relationship with Lauren but is interuppted by the Three Muskateers teleporting in from Florida.

 

I don't know about you guys, but having Matt back was great.  As you know from last time, I was mad at the fact we had a 2hr premier that didn't have him involved in any way.  So as happy as I was to see Matt back, I was more excited to see HRG get it on with Lauren right before the Three Stooges came teleporting in.  The one time that he gets some action in God knows how long, and those three come barging in.

We get several scenes with Peter begining with Lydia saying that he could become the next Joseph.  I feel like this was so out in the open that something might happen with Peter and the carnival between now and the finale.  He briefly meets with Emma, who is improving, her Siren Song, and starts putting together that Samuel might be involved in some bad stuff.  Angela walks in on their Conversation and tells Peter that Emma was responsible for killing a lot of people.  I really like Peters lecture to Angela telling her that she has to quit lying because they are the only two left.  Peter takes her power and has a dream of Emma going crazy with her Chello.  Which of course makes him go Buckwild on the Chello, like any sane person would do.  After that I think we are pretty much done with their possible relationship.

 

I have to agree with Razz here on most parts.  I don't think that Emma will want much to do with Peter after going rock star on her Chello like he did.

This was kind of an eh episode for me but it was saved because we got a lot of stuff accomlished with Bennett changing his strategy, mohinder being freed, peter starting to get wise to the whole situation and finally Hiro getting his mind back.  So all of these things made it fairly entertaining.  It was nice to see the return of Matt since he has been lost in Cali after Sylar breaks free.  By the way does any one believe Ando, with no medical experience could shock Hiro's brain back to the way it was?   Also since I always have to find something to nit pick, Peter says to Emma, "I'll call you later" once she leaves his apartment.  Just something to think about.

 

I'm glad I wasn't the only one that heard him say that!  I thought the first time I heard it, "No way did he say that."  So I replayed it and yep, he did.  He really told the deaf chick he would CALL HER.

See ya & Till the next time

Mike & Razz

Heroes: Upon This Rock & Let it Bleed Review

Ok so this week we had 2 episodes of heroes, what a way to come back!  Since there was so much story I am going to skip the usual way of recapping and just give a quick synopsis of each character and our thoughts on the episodes. So we find that Hiro teleported to Japan after his fallout at the carnival.  And it turns out his brain was just sort of scrambled but he still knows what he is talking about as seen when he tries to tell Ando where to go find Mohinder.  It was really fun to listen to all of Hiro's Sci-fi refrences including everything from Star Wars to Sherlock Holmes.  Althogh one thing is confusing, why couldn't he just grab Ando and go to Mohinder?  It just seems like that would've been easier.   I have a theory as to why Hiro was messed up when he talked and could only make sci-fi and comic references.  As we all know by now, Hiro has a brain tumor that's messing up his ability.  I think that when the other Hatian character at the carnival messed with his memories, the tumor just further messed with Hiro's mind.  Other than that, I really enjoyed watching Hiro try to tell Ando about getting Mohinder out of the hospital.  It took me all of 3 seconds to get the references (what can I say, the nerd is strong in me) and I enjoyed watching Ando come to terms with some of his inner nerd to decrypt Hiro's message.  I agree though that the easier thing to do would just have Hiro teleport himself and Ando to Mohinder, but I guess that's too logical. We see the return of Emma where she finally runs into Samuel.  He gets her to use her ability to find a guy, Ian, who can make things grow and help build the carnie's new home. I liked getting more understanding about her ability.  It seems now it is more like a hypnosis type thing along with being controlled by her emotions.   After seeing and learning more about Emma's ability, I must say it's rather cool.  When she's happy, and the blues, greens, and purples show up it's almost like a type of hypnosis like Razz said.  When she's angry and the red appears, it's like a sound laser or something.  Which is awesome in my opinion. Now to Claire who seemed to be the main character in both of these episodes.  She finds her dads files in Samuels trailer and becomes suspicious of him, which makes everyone in the carnival out to get her.  This also includes the return of the evil Doyle, the best one in my opinion.  In Claire's search for answers she confronts Samuel who tells her that he was the one who killed Joseph. Claire just accepts this which makes me kind of wierded out at her that she is gullible enough to just believe the dribble that Samuel makes up, I mean seriously Claire!  But when she leaves the Carnival she learned that Angela and Noah covered up Nathan's death so I can kind of see why she has trust issues.   There are times when I watched these episodes thinking, "when did I start watching "Everyone loves Claire"?  I understand that we don't need to see each hero in every episode, but we just had two episodes without Matt Parkman.  If it weren't for Doyle being in the episodes I would have been more mad at this Claire centered welcome back.  I mean what is this, Season 2? Sylar returns to the carnival and we get to see a showdown between Sylar and Samuel.  This ended badly for Sylar which surprised me but I did like Samuels dust storm.  He starts to be seduced by Lydia which I think was a ploy to get Zachary Quinto to take his shirt off for half the episode.  Sylar takes Lydia's power(the peter way) and leaves her after he sees through the agenda.  He makes Samuel ink him to show his true desire which turns out to be Claire.   I feel bad for Sylar in this episode.  He's lost his touch because he just couldn't kill Samuel.  I've never seen him stop to kill anyone, not even Elle and they were kind of a couple for a bit.  Overall it was nice to see old Sylar back, but I don't like he didn't kill at least one person this episode.  I mean he's INSIDE OF A CARNIVAL FULL OF SUPERS! Noah returns to his Company man routes when he catches Darth Maul himself Edgar breaking into his house. All I have to say is Noah is a quick draw with that Tazer!  Lauren calms Noah down and tells him to show Kindness when dealing with Edgar instead of torture.  He gets a lot of answers from Edgar about the Carnival and Samuel but in the end Edgar wasn't able to betray the Carnival to take down Samuel.  Lauren really complements Noah with his interigation style and I like those two together.   All I can say here is that it's good to see my good and faithful HRG back.  Also, for a speedster, Edgar must not be that fast if HRG can turn and tazer him before he can reach him. Peter starts becoming mopey again which as we've seen in the past usually doesn't end well.  Peter leaves Nathan's visitation to go stop a gunman, one way to greive I guess.  Claire gives him her ability and a shoulder to lean on which sort of brings Peter back down.  I was a little bit mad that Peter got rid of the Hatian's ability because if he wants to take down Sylar that was  the best ability to have.  We also got a West reference(flashback from season 2) who Peter ends up getting flight from.   I think that Peter needs a new thing to do in the show.  He's either the solution to the season's problems or mopey cause of some kind of angst.  Why can't we just get a Peter that's chill or relaxed about things?  On another note, was I the only one mad that we didn't get to see West?  I mean I don't have a crush on the guy, but just a quick scene of him wouldn't have been too bad seeing as you can't even put in Nathan's ex-wife and kids you can at least put West in for a few minutes right? These were good episodes to be seen together because Claire and Nathan's funeral really connects both of these episodes.  I think I would not have liked them as much if they were separated like normal.  One last comment, where were Nathan's boys and his ex-wife?  I know that they were separated but you would think we would get some little cameo.  Also farewell to Adrain Pasdar you were a good cast member over the past four seasons and you will be missed, now perhaps time for Glee?   I have to agree with Razz here.  Granted I know I just ragged up there on how much Claire there was, but without her everything would be a little disconnected in my opinion.  I also agree that they should have shown Nathan's family other than Peter and Angela.  I mean, what kind of example is the mom setting if she won't let her sons go to their own father's funeral?  That's just plain fucked up. See Ya & Till the Next Time Mike & Razz

Mike and Razz Podcast Ep. 1

It's finally here!  Our very first podcast!



Links:
Incredible Shrinking day
Yamcha the Scar Faced Bandit
Never Gonna Give Up Your Team Spirit
Anyway You Want It

I personally do not own the rights to any of these songs.  No copyright infringement intended, all rights reserved to each specific owner.

Here is the link to the podcast in case it does not work for you:
http://www.blip.tv/file/3037490/