TV Review: Sherlock

I can't believe I forgot to talk about this! Way back in the summer of 2010, the BBC aired a new series titled Sherlock. Created by Steven Moffat, the same guy that created the currently-airing version of Doctor Who, I heard great things about the series. It wasn't until I came upon the episodes on Netflix that I got a chance to sit down and watch them. Boy, am I glad that I did!

Pretty much everyone knows who Sherlock Holmes is so I won't go into too much detail. For those of you that don't (shame on you), here is the nitty gritty: Sherlock Holmes is a strange man who reaches grand conclusions with only the smallest of details. Since he is not much of a "people person," he requires someone to not only help him out in day-to-day activities (such as shopping) but also someone he can bounce thoughts off of. This person is John Watson, a former military doctor who longs for more action in his life. Together, they help Scotland Yard solve the toughest cases.

First, I want to talk about the bad points of the show. There really is just one. The entire first season is a mere three episodes long. Just as we're starting to love Sherlock and his insane ways, they unlovingly dump us on the floor. There is a second season, which is also only three episodes, but it didn't start until this month! I haven't watched it yet so I'm hoping it's as good as the first.

Now. Let's talk about the good points. Benedict Cumberbatch is absolutely amazing as Sherlock. He is able to bring forth the smugness and frustration that is Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock knows he is smarter than everyone else in the room and it frustrates him when people miss things he considers obvious. Also, Martin Freeman is an ideal match as Watson. Watson isn't there to be brilliant or awesome. He is just there to continually keep Sherlock grounded in the real world. I couldn't imagine anyone else in these roles. The show would fall apart of these two weren't so good.

I also love the cinematography of the show. In the first episode, as Sherlock notices things, random words appear on the screen. It isn't until Sherlock pieces everything together for us that we realize what the words mean to him. For once, we get to see a bit of the inner workings in Sherlock's brain. No wonder the world is so frustrating for him.

For you old-school Sherlock fans, there are some minor changes but not a lot. He no longer smokes pipes (not even cigar specials). Instead, he uses nicotine patches. He claims the nicotine helps him think but it isn't convenient to smoke in London nowadays. We do get to see him playing the violin a little. Though, I fully admit that it isn't very good violin playing. Perhaps we'll get something better in the next season.

Sherlock is an awesome piece of television. If you get a chance to see it, be it on PBS or on Netflix, do it. You definitely will not regret it. And, if we're lucky, we'll get to see the second season sooner. I'd hate to have a wait another year and a half to see what happens!

TV Review: Grimm

Last week, I talked about ABC's fantasy drama Once Upon A Time. Now I'd like to talk about NBC's fantasy drama Grimm. The two shows are similar yet so different. Both shows revolve around fairy tale characters in the real world. However, where Time is a pretty straight forward drama, Grimm is a gritty police drama.

Nick Burkhardt (David Guintoli) is a homicide detective who recently finds out that he is a descendent of the famous Grimm brothers. However, the Grimm brothers were more than just fairy tale writers. They were part of a group of hunters that fight supernatural creatures. Now that Burkhardt's powers have been activated, it is up to him to protect humanity from the evil creatures in the world.

I am always very excited when fairy tale series come to television. Even though I know in my heart that they could be very disappointing, I always set aside time to tune in. Unfortunately, Grimm is not a very good show. Despite wanting desperately to enjoy it, I found it severely lacking. Instead of focusing on the fantastical creatures, we are relegated to watching Burkhardt try to solve a crime without letting anyone, including his partner Hank (Russell Hornsby), know that the responsible party is an animalistic creature masquerading as a human. It is painful to watch Burkhardt trying to figure out what is going on. Even though his Aunt Marie (Kate Burton) left him a trailer full of information about the various creatures, he barely touches any of it. Sure, there are a few scenes of him slowly paging through a book but that isn't anything like real research. If the show wanted to focus on the police aspect, they should stop being so half-hearted about it. There are plenty of good cop shows to show them how to do it.

It's not always a good idea to compare shows. However, since Once Upon A Time and Grimm both debuted around the same time and contain the same underlying plot, it's difficult not to compare them. Time is a great fantasy drama that drops hints about the true identity of each character. Grimm, on the other hand, is muddled and doesn't seem to know what it is. I am going to give Grimm a few more episodes to redeem itself. I'm just not going to hold my breath waiting for redemption.

TV review: Once Upon A Time

It has been quite some time since I've seen a MUST SEE television show. Once Upon A Time fits the bill. Airing on Sunday nights at 8:00PM (Eastern) on ABC, the show takes the classic fairy tale characters and throws them into the real world. While that isn't a new plot (see: The Charmings from the late 80s), this does have a bit of a different take on it.

The series revolves around the fight between Snow White and the Evil Queen. Snow White married her Prince Charming. At the wedding, the Evil Queen storms in and threatens to destroy Snow's happy ending. Fast forwarding a few months, a troubled Snow White is pregnant. She turns to Rumpelstiltskin, who can see the future. He informs the princess that the queen will banish everyone to a realm with no happy endings and that her unborn child will be their savior. The queen unleashes her curse, not only transporting everyone into our world but also wiping all of their memories.

I think what I find most interesting about the show is trying to figure out what the fantasy world counterparts are for the real world people we meet. The heroine, Emma, is, of course, Snow White's daughter. Ten years before the first episode, she gave up a son for adoption. This boy, Henry, is the glue that holds everything together. He brings Emma to Storybook, Maine to help the town regain their memories and restart time. As of the second episode, the only explanation for Henry knowing about the fantasy world is that he believes a fairy tale book that his teacher, who is Snow White, gave him is fact.

Both my husband and I highly recommend this show to everyone. As a matter of fact, he turned it on for our 9-year old daughter this morning. There is nothing really scary in it (yet anyway) so the kids are likely to enjoy it. And the plot is good enough to keep the adults interested as well. It is definitely a show that is good for all.

Love The New Shows

Post contributed by Fletcher Vargas I got DirecTV a while back and I didn’t think I’d use it all that much – boy was I wrong about that! I have gotten utterly addicted to BRAVO and all the reality shows on it. It’s a great network all around and they do other stuff, too, like some really good old school movies but why I really tune in is all the reality stuff. I love all the Housewives series, especially the Beverly Hills seasons but I’m having a hard time watching this year with all the off screen drama surrounding the death of one of the husbands. I also really like Flipping Out with that decorator guy Jeff Lewis but man is he hard to watch sometimes. He’s so mean and straightforward – it’s no wonder he can’t keep his staff or clients happy! Look at me talking about all these people like I know them…that’s the side effect of watching too much TV I guess! I never would have imagined I’d watch this much each day but I really like it!

Glee

I know I am way behind everyone on this. My husband, my daughter, and I have started watching Glee on Netflix. They only have the first season up and we're about halfway through it now. I get why so many people like it. Not only is the music pretty good, it's also catchy and most people recognize the songs. Unfortunately, that is the only good thing about the show. The characters are annoyingly two-dimensional, which doesn't leave a whole lot for the actors to do between songs. Supposedly the glee club "needed" 12 members in order to participate in competitions. However, half of them are barely there. One of the characters is even referred to as "Other Asian." If you're going to bring in new characters, at least use them. In addition, the "plot" is only there to carry the characters to their next musical interlude. Almost everything in the show is based on lies and trickery. It would be nice if the show didn't use music as a crutch. Let the characters carry the plot. There are some great beginnings there. Stop forcing them into song just because they haven't sang for 10 minutes.

Even though I will continue to watch the show, I can't guarantee that I will ever actually like it. It's too big of a hit for them to make any changes to it now. And that is rather sad.

The Cape: Goggles and Hicks

I tried posting this yesterday but we kept losing power due to high winds. I think we're stable enough now for me to get this done.

During his last battle, Vince managed to break some ribs. Max wants him to take the day off to rest. Unfortunately, heroes don't always get a day off.

Vince tries to spend the day watching his son, Trip. Halfway through the day, He (and Orwell) gets attacked by Goggles and Hicks, a pair of assassins hired by Fleming to get rid of The Cape. Of course, Orwell and The Cape defeat the dastardly duo.

Meanwhile, Trip manages to make a new friend....even though the friend is a little on the weird side.

I found this episode to be fairly boring. Nothing new was revealed other than the fact that there are more members of Tarot. (um, duh.) I suppose Trip's new friend could be interesting. It'll definitely be better than his mom hounding him all the time about stuff.

I'm ready for the show to be better now....

The Cape: Dice

A new foe appears on the scene. But she's not quite a villain.

Flashback! Peter Fleming talks with ....a scientist? An engineer? I'm not really sure. They are discussing a young girl named Tracey. She is a savant who sees the world in probabilities, giving her the ability to basically see the future. She correctly predicts every throw of the dice, as well as predicting that Fleming will kill her father and she will kill Peter.

Fast forward ten years and Ark is about the debut a new type of artificial intelligence called T.R.A.C.E. (pronounced Tracey, of course). The device will give you the answer to any question you ask. If you ask "What color shirt will I wear on Tuesday?", it will calculate the probabilities and tell you that it will be "blue." Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch.

Now an adult, Tracey, going by the name Dice, shows up to assassinate Fleming. He barely escapes alive. Orwell and Vince watch the security tape from the event and Vince figures out the true identity of Dice. Together, Orwell and Vince go to her apartment to find out what Dice is up to. She finds the do-gooders and attacks. Vince chases her into the basement, where Ark's men pick her up.

Fleming, for some reason, is intrigued by Dice. Of course, she tries to kill him again. This time it is The Cape that saves him. Orwell pointed out that if Dice kills Fleming, there will be no way for Vince to clear his name. So now it's up to The Cape to protect Fleming from the deadly woman.

Orwell watches video of Dice staring at the Ark building for two hours straight. With the upcoming debut of T.R.A.C.E., Vince knows the party will be where her next attack takes place. Unfortunately, due to all of the attempts on Fleming's life, security will be on alert. He turns to the Carnival to help him. Ruvi the hypnotist and Raia the tightrope walker decide to help him learn how to tightrope walk from the top of one building to the next. When the time comes, he just barely makes it across the gap.

Dice has filled an elevator with gas and plans to use that to blow everything up. Again, The Cape saves the day. He gets all of the innocent people out of the way before saving Fleming's life once more. However, he does not save the T.R.A.C.E. technology. He blows that up himself. Meanwhile, Orwell handcuffs Dice to the handrail in the stairwell, effectively letting Ark capture her without being captured herself.

What to say about this episode.... It was OK. I thought Dice's visions were very well done. However, things were a little too convenient. Supposedly, Vince/The Cape wasn't in her visions. If she could predict the future so well, she should have known he would be there. Even when she found out about The Cape's existence, she never takes him into account. She watched him save Fleming at least once yet never tried to account for that in future plans. I think I'd like to see her again but only if her mistakes get corrected.

The Cape: Scales

Scales, one of the baddies from the first episode, is back. But is he as scary as he is ugly?

And why are evening dresses with feathery masks considered 'costumes?'

This episode appears to take place in one day - Vince's son, Trip's, birthday. However, an awful lot happens for one day.

Scales is working his schtick at the docks when an Ark flunkie comes to shake him down. Pissed that Faraday didn't come himself, Scales threatens to kill the flunkie later. The Cape watched this, of course, so now he knows that both Ark and Chess are taking money from the ugly baddie. Vince makes it his misson to tell Scales that all of his troubles are caused by Faraday in the hopes that the public will find out that Faraday is Chess.

For some reason, there is a costume ball on a train. Faraday shows up as a white-clad sheriff. Orwell is there in a pretty dress and a mask. (Really. This is such a lame attempt at a costume.) Meanwhile, the prison administrator guy from the Tarot episode is dressed as The Cape. And the Carnival of Crime is there to rob everyone, despite Vince's attempts to get them to help him.

Scales confronts Faraday, propositions the mayor with illegal goods delivered from his docks, and attempts to tell everyone that Faraday is Chess. Needless to say, the mayor rebukes him and then everyone laughs at the Chess revelation. In his anger, he steals everyone's money and jewels before holing himself up in the caboose. When he separates the caboose from the rest of the train, the brakes on the main part of the train stop working. (Who designed this thing?!) Faraday and The Cape have to work together to sever the brake line underneath the moving vehicle.

Of course, they save the day. Though it seems that Faraday recognizes Vince in the costume. Back on the now-stopped caboose, the Carnival faces down Scales. They steal what he stole and lock him in a cage. He breaks out of the cage by slamming his head against the bars so many times the hinges snap. And who does he happen to find there? The Ark flunkie from the beginning of the episode. Convenient.

I found this episode to be very lame. Scales is a terrible villain. He's entire character is based on the fact that he looks like an ugly snake. He doesn't even have snake-like powers. He's another ugly thug. Blah. Oh, and the storyline about Trip's birthday was boring. His mom had a bad day. She got stuck in traffic so she was late and her cell phone battery died so she couldn't call Trip to tell him that her co-worker, Travis, was coming over. He had to sit in the hall for the entire episode. As a result, the show was filled with more flashbacks of things Vince did with Trip on his birthdays. None of it progressed the story at all. C'mon writers, get with the program.

The Cape: Kozmo

The Cape has now moved to its actual timeslot of Monday at 9PM. It has the geek favorite Chuck as a lead-in so there is a good possibility the show will do well. As long as it doesn't turn into Heroes.

Remember, there are spoilers behind the cut!

I found this episode to be slightly informative, yet annoying at the same time. We learn a bit more about the origins of the cape. It has been handed down among master magicians who all turn on the persona of "Kozmo." Max Malini was the last official Kozmo. His apprentice was Gregor Molotov. Gregor did receive the cape as the new Kozmo but he used it to murder a woman. So Max took the cape back and Gregor traveled around various Russian prisons for 20 years. However, as an escape artist, Gregor managed to find his way out of every prison. This time, he has come back to the Carnival to retrieve his cape.

While at the Carnival, Gregor meets Vince and figures out that he is the one with the cape. At the same time, Ark is breathing down Orwell's neck. Ark raids her hideout mere minutes after she flees. Orwell turns up at Vince's door berating him for trying to shake down one of the members of Ark's police squad that set him up as Chess. Thanks to his shenanigans, Orwell has lost her hideout.

So now both Gregor and Orwell are at the Carnival. Gregor reads Orwell's palm and reveals a few tidbits about our unknown computer expert. Unfortunately, these aren't really informative facts. She's spoiled, has daddy issues, and she's been imprisoned. In all, it's pointing toward Orwell being Peter Fleming's daughter.

Of course, Gregor doesn't get the cape. Of course, Vince proves to Max that he is honorable enough to handle the cape without going to the dark side. Of course, Vince's wife, who believes he is dead, is starting to move on with her life. And, of course, this shows his tortured soul side.

I believe Scales is back as the Villain of the Week next Monday. If the show doesn't pick up the storyline a bit more, it will definitely lose the audience. I know this is only the third episode (the pilot consisted of two episodes) but people won't wait around forever.

TV review: The Cape

The 2-hour pilot for NBC's The Cape aired on Sunday, January 9 at 9PM. I've been waiting for this show to air for a long time. While I wasn't able to watch the show live, I did record it to watch last night.

Vince Faraday is a cop in Palm City. Many of the officers around him are corrupt and a mysterious blogger known as Orwell has been outing them. When the city's new police chief is killed by a masked criminal called Chess, Faraday sets out to make things in his hometown right again. He joins Ark, a private security company, run by Peter Fleming, on the edge of privatizing the police force.

Shortly after joining Ark, Orwell sends Faraday a message pointing him toward a shipment of a deadly toxin. Faraday and his partner, Marty Voyt, check out the cargo train delivering the shipment. Unfortunately, Voyt instead delivers Faraday into the hands of Chess, who is none other than Fleming himself. Fleming frames Faraday as the masked villain and sends his security force, armed with Nikon rifle scopes, to catch him. During the chase, the news helicopters above see him die in a large explosion.

However, Faraday is not dead. He is discovered by the Carnival of Criminals, a strange circus-themed group of bank robbers. Faraday buys his freedom with his Ark passcard. Soon, Faraday asks Max Malini, the head of the circus, to help him clear his name and get back to his wife and son. Max and the others teach Faraday hypnosis, cape tricks, and other skills that will transform him into the superhero known as The Cape.

As The Cape, Faraday goes after Chess and his henchmen. While on one such mission, he comes across Orwell trying to get the dirt on Chess. Quickly, Orwell and Faraday join forces to take back their city.

I had a lot of fun watching this show. My favorite character, by far, is Max Malini. He's not only wise, he's also funny and devious and just plain awesome. I almost wish he was the superhero! As for the rest of the characters, I am willing to give them time to grow. It seems like a lot was shoved into two episodes, almost like the audience missed a season and had to catch up to the storyline. I think that the writers should have kept the pilot as an origination story and kept some of the baddies for later. Hopefully they will not disappoint me. I want this show to be successful and, in order to do that, it has to be good.