Doux Reviews

Revenge: Truth, Part One

2013-05-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

“There are two paths to revenge. One is failure. The other will set you free at your journey’s end.”

Revenge is a show that suffered rather severely from a sophomore slump. Although I enjoyed it, it strayed too far off course, bringing in too many characters and too many stories that sunk into melodrama and ignored what had worked so well in the freshman season.

N.B. This is the first of what was a two part season finale. As the people coming along behind us will be watching these as two separate episodes, I am reviewing them as such. I will have the second part posted in the next day or so. Sorry for the long delay -- real life can interfere so annoyingly sometimes!
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Revolution: Clue

2013-05-22T17:27:00.002-07:00

"So what do you say? Road trip?"

I'm pleased to report that I enjoyed this episode. Revolution is having a pretty good back nine. I particularly enjoyed the mystery aspect, which is where the episode title came from. I assume.

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Game of Thrones: Second Sons

2013-05-22T00:44:00.002-07:00

As I was thinking about this episode prior to re-watching it, I realized that I couldn’t immediately call to mind what had happened other than the Most Uncomfortable Wedding Ever. That’s not to say the MUWE was the only event—but this episode felt undeniably like a placeholder, getting us up to date with a few characters, and excluding a few others, to set us up for the next episode.
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New Shows (2013): May 11 - 20

2013-05-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

In spite of May sweeps, the networks keep airing new shows. Unfortunately, not many of them are truly worth watching. For clarity, I have listed the new shows in the order they originally aired. As a reminder, red means stop, blue (yellow being too difficult to read in my world) means proceed with caution, green means go.
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New Shows (2013): May 1 - 10

2013-05-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

May flowers are blooming and the new shows keep coming. Lots and lots of them, in spite of the fact that, during these ten days, we were in sweeps. As we say goodbye to some favorites that were not renewed, here are some that TPTB hope will fill the void. For clarity, I have listed the new shows in the order they originally aired. As a reminder, red means stop, blue (yellow being too difficult to read in my world) means proceed with caution, green means go.
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Castle: Watershed

2013-05-21T04:12:00.000-07:00

“Detective, you’ve got the job.”

Based loosely on the Chappaquiddick incident, the case of the week revolves around a Harvard honors student trying to get to the bottom of her friend’s death. The case, as usual, was much less important that what was happening to our favorite couple. As many of us predicted, Beckett was offered the DC job. What I genuinely didn’t see coming was the conversation at the end of the episode.
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Big Bang Theory: The Bon Voyage Reaction

2013-05-19T20:00:00.001-07:00

“And now I'm crying for a whole different reason.”

The Big Bang Theory ends season 6 in a way that has fans looking forward to season 7, but without virtue of a big cliffhanger. Which means there isn't much to spoil in this first paragraph where we try to avoid spoilers. Moving on...

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Psych: Juliet Wears The Pantsuit

2013-05-19T17:48:00.001-07:00

"Our house - in the middle of the street."

That made me laugh out loud...Sometimes I wonder what the producers of Psych have time to do in their lives besides create episodes and watch old movies, because almost every episode has a movie tie-in. I think they've seen everything... This week's cinephile shout-out, if you will, was to Single White Female. Remember when everyone thought Bridget Fonda was on her way to a huge career? Let's review.

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Psych: Cirque Du Soul

2013-05-19T17:28:00.002-07:00

"I'm still here, Shawn. And I'm not a leprechaun."

You know how you can separate a memorable episode of a show you love from a forgettable one? Think back on it and see if you remember it or you don't. That's free logic for you, friends. Let's try to recall this couple-overflowing episode I saw many moons ago, shall we?

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Psych: The Santa Barbarian Candidate

2013-05-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

"And this is my partner: Bill Ofrights."

If you're still burned out from the 2012 election, this episode may not be for you. Shawn and Gus get involved in local politics, in a completely nutty way only they could. Is that title a stretch as a Manchurian Candidate pun or what? Hey, lets us review.

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Doux News: May 19, 2013

2013-05-19T14:35:00.002-07:00

This Week: Coming Soon to a Screen Near You -- Let’s Call It MASH -- The CW Shuffle -- Why We Should Skip World War Z -- This ~~Minute~~ Eon in Horology.
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Doctor Who: The Name of the Doctor

2013-05-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

River: "Goodbye, Sweetie."

I don't think I made it past the cold open before I was blubbing. In fact, I spent a great deal of this episode in tears. It was the absolute antithesis of what I was expecting -- and was all the better for it. If this is what Moffat can produce for a season finale, imagine what he has planned for the 50th anniversary.

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Vampire Diaries: Graduation

2013-05-18T18:20:00.000-07:00

“I can’t be killed, and you can’t miss graduation.”

One of the great strengths of The Vampire Diaries has always been its pacing, so it’s odd that this episode was so messy. It took us on a roller-coaster ride of emotional switchbacks, moving between death, destruction, and touching goodbyes to old friends.

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Psych: Office Space

2013-05-18T17:34:00.001-07:00

“Here...scratch and sniff.”

You know how there's always that one guy in the office who is just a total dirtbag, and you know how it's really, really, bad when that guy is the boss? Psych examines that very situation in this episode...for about three minutes. Then it kills the guy off, and then the real trouble starts....
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Psych: Dead Air

2013-05-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

"A playa...named Gus."

I'll get to the review in a second. But first, does anyone else wonder how Jules has such a nice apartment or house or whatever it is? It's pretty snazzy. Nice yard. All right, so, this week, Gus got to come front and center and do a lot of his Gus-ish things while a shock jock we've-never-heard-of-before- but-who-supposedly-was-one-of-Shawn -and-Gus'- favorite on-air personalities was murdered. Don't touch that dial. Instead, let's review.
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Nikita: 'Til Death Do Us Part

2013-05-18T16:53:00.001-07:00

Serviceable, action packed, twisty, and emotional, this should've been a home run. It hit all the required beats, it did everything it needed to do to wrap up the plots for the season. So why didn't I like it very much?

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Fall TV Preview

2013-05-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

This week was the upfronts, that extra special time of year when the big networks (and NBC) parade in front of the press all the new shows that will be viciously battling for our attention come September.
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Scandal: White Hat's Back On

2013-05-17T17:58:00.000-07:00

“I worry about me, too.”

Oh, Scandal. What am I going to do with you? You are such a tease. I was prepared to love this episode (it’s Scandal, after all). Then the episode systematically backtracked everything that’s happened in the past two seasons. I was annoyed–really annoyed–and then the revelation of the last few seconds came and punched me in the gut. Seriously, I felt winded after that.

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Star Trek Into Darkness

2013-05-17T15:41:00.001-07:00

[I won't spoil you, but in order to review this movie, I have to talk about some stuff that the most spoiler-conscious won't want to know. You've been warned!]

"Enough with the metaphors, okay? That's an order."

Really wonderful, very exciting, well done. Maybe a tad glossy, but I can live with that.

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Arrow: Sacrifice

2013-05-17T07:24:00.002-07:00

Dig: "Army regulations, a soldier never lets a brother go into battle alone."

This was a an excellent season-ender that wrapped up all the major plot lines, and delivered on almost all the character growth built up all season. Also...

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Supernatural: Sacrifice

2013-05-16T16:48:00.000-07:00

"Where do I start to even look for forgiveness?"

This season finale seemed to be going along in a specific direction. And then it suddenly turned off the road and crashed into a tree, metaphorically speaking. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.

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Pride and Prejudice (2005)

2013-05-15T18:53:00.002-07:00

“Your hands are cold.” 

This version of Pride and Prejudice is not well loved by die-hard Austen fans. It changes things and speeds up the timeline of the book to a brisk and unbelievable pace. Keira Knightley is too flirty and Matthew Macfadyen isn’t up to the role, or so the common complaints go. For my part, I love this movie. It’s not my favorite version, but that’s about the worst I can say about it.

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Revolution: The Longest Day

2013-05-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

"What makes you think I'm in it to help people?"

This was very much a relationship episode.

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The West Wing: Mr Willis of Ohio

2013-05-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

Josh takes an eclectic group out for drinks, and Bartlet demonstrates that people skills are not always his forte when he learns of Leo’s upcoming divorce.

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Game of Thrones: The Bear and the Maiden Fair

2013-05-14T09:32:00.001-07:00

“I have a gift for you as well: your life.”

It’s tempting to declare the theme of this episode in one simple word: genitalia. Male, female, treated well and treated…less well. But since I’m not sure a body part can be a theme, I’m going to stretch it a bit and say the theme is that people are selfish, rotten jerks most of the time, and the rest of the time they’re victims. That is, they’re either bears or metaphorical “maidens,” torturers or tortured—and sometimes the same person can be both.
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