The Nine Lives of Chloe King S01 Episode 6 Review: 'Nothing Compares 2 U'

I feel like nothing is happening in the show. Of course, the fun moments are nice, like her mom's bacon and Alek's flirting. But the show doesn't seem to know what it wants to be! It doesn't focus on the Mai-lore and the Brian-Chloe thing got old ages back. I still have hopes for this show though.

Anyway, Chloe's mom finally has a date. Good for her! Now she can stop poking into her daughter's affairs so much. And I think the boyfriend has more of a role to play than just a gentleman future sleeping buddy. Mimi, a new Mai student arrives at school and dates Alek. Honestly, if I was on a roof and she was hitting on me, I would forget Chloe and get it on with her! She's superhot and seems like a good girl/Mai or whatever. And Alek knows Chloe likes Brian. He should just get over her.

As Chloe and Brian struggle with the status of their relationship, he asks her to accompany him to a charity art opening at Rezza Capital which is being hosted by his father. This was one of the most disappointing sequence and a total let down. Brian's dad and his girlfriend both were in the same room and she recognized Chloe. Couldn't they have killed Chloe easily then and there? Major crappy writing right there.

Amy dates a less than savory character from school and needs Chloe to rescue her. Of course its always Chloe that they call instead of the more logical choice - police! However, it is into Paul's arms she runs when he and Chloe save the day. I am going to pick on Amy! She dates this creepy dude who gambles illegally and goes along with him into a den full of gangsters. And she hates Paul just because he got naked?!! She's a hypocrite and needs to keep her priorities right. And what's with the old music when Chloe was fighting those gangsters. That was so fun and awesome.

Brian tells Chloe he is falling in love with her, just hours after his father discovers they are dating. And Chloe runs away telling him they can never be together and this scene was truly moving. It was the first time I felt they truly liked each other. I don't think Mai can kill humans with just a kiss or else, they would have never gone along with this Brian thing for more than half the season. But, I'm still hoping Brian dies! lol. And no Jasmine or Valentina in this episode. Bummer.

Necessary Roughness S01 Episode 4 Review: 'Habit Forming'

Old habits really die hard. 'Habit Forming' saw Dr. Dani having as much trouble in getting over her bad habits as her patients. Her book club is now taken over by her ex-husband's new girlfriend. Her kids are still playing her. She suspects her mother when critical players information is leaking out, and it could have put her job in jeopardy. And she keeps on sending mixed signals to her on-off one night stand.

I can't believe that a woman as smart as Dani is being played by her son, Ray. He uses her patient, Terrence King to get into a hip club with his hot crush and then when his car is stolen, he manipulates her into believing that it was being repaired and it would take more than 2 weeks to get it back! Then TK buys him a brand new car. The little bastard is already spoiled, why spoil him so much more!! I can't wait for his payback. TK is slowly turning into Ray's mentor and its kind of nice, but Ray gets on my nerves.

Dr. Dani must determine the cause of a fullback's absence from practice. As Meanwhile, Matt is reunited with a friend with some bad habits. Meanwhile Matt's sleazy friend, Ted (Victor Webster) is hitting on her and at the same time he is pushing her towards Matt. Like his character in Castle, I was hoping he would be gone and it was good to see he was the guilty one here. Dani definitely has some bad habits of her own she needs to break. Hopefully jumping on the other side of the bed is just the beginning.

Alphas S01 Episode 2 Review: 'Cause and Effect'

 Every hero needs a nemesis. For every Charles Xavier, we need a Magneto to truly understand the potential destruction or good that these people with extraordinary abilities can do. This episode may have just introduced the evil character who doesn't necessarily want to do evil, but situations force his inner evil to bubble to the surface after six years of institutionalization.

 The alpha in question, Marcus Ayers was a patient of Dr. Rosen's six years back. He has the ability to predict what happens for every cause he sees. He can predict the effects of anything, which makes him a highly coveted alpha for the government and hence, the six years of drugs and training. Marcus escaped custody after triggering a multiple vehicle accident during his shifting from the Compound to a facility where they would extract his alpha abilities. Marcus possesses the power to predict what will happen as a result of his actions.  It’s the cause and effect to him, the universe doesn’t act in random uncalculated ways and the life is just a series of chains of events. But his actions have a malevolent purpose behind them, he blames everyone else for his faults. The shocker is that Cameron (Wanted style gunman) has a similar neuro-anatomy to Marcus.

 Dr. Rosen and his team of alphas seek out other alphas and those who prove to be a threat to others or themselves are sent to Dr. Singh and Agent Wilson where they are supposedly treated for their own good. Rosen appears genuinely shocked when he finds out that Marcus and the others were being treated like guinea pigs instead of patients. Dr. Singh was doing much more than training and rehabilitating, he was domesticating and neutering those alphas who proved untrainable. Well, this earns the wrath of Marcus over him. Also it rises the age old conflict of Destiny and Free-will! 

 The first thing which is different and makes you look up is Dr. Rosen has got rid of his beard, a new office and the title sequence is different from the pilot. Of course, since there are so many months gap in between the pilot and the second episode, its understandable. Dr. Rosen seemed too naive to believe that the government would treat the alphas as merely patients. I guess that was the only complaint of the whole episode. And Marcus is a really interesting character. I like him and hope they make him a major character.

 The big brother-little brother thing going between Bill and Gary seems to be a continuing theme and Nina and Rachel seem to have a sister thing going on. When Cameron and Nina are in the same room, the sexual tension becomes palpable. The government agents would likely be a recurring theme and this too points to X-Men movies and that's not necessarily a bad thing at all. My only hope is that the series goes beyond just New York to make it seem that the alphas are more of a global phenomenon rather than a regional one.

Review: Falling Skies S01 Episode 6: 'Sanctuary: Part 1'

 Change seems to be the order of the day in this episode of Falling Skies. Tensions are rising in the camp of the Second Mass and not everybody is relieved to have Ricky and Ben back. They have a new insult term for the harnessed kids now - 'Razerback'. One family try to make a run for it after obtaining some medical supplies from Anne. Anne puts up a good fight, but in the face of a gun brandishing middle aged father, she cannot win. While Mason, Weaver and the gang are chasing after them to reclaim the meds, Terry interferes and helps them out.




 He informs then that the Seventh Mass has been destroyed and only a handful of adult survivors remained, while the children were harnessed. He also had knowledge of the aliens patrol group coming towards Second Mass. He convinces them to send the children and some fighters with him to a safe house. Then the rest of the Second Mass, along with the Third Mass, who were on their way there, could gather and come to the safe house.

 That night the patrol group finds out the Second Mass base and a fight ensues between the Mech and the fighters. One skitter goes behind, while everybody is involved with the Mech and attacks Jimmy, the thirteen year old, gun-toting kid. After a very cheesy crushing of the globe of the Earth, it is about to attack Jimmy when Weaver kills it from behind. The brave hearted Jimmy finally acts like a kid and hugs Weaver. Weaver is positive towards Jimmy and we can see there's a fatherly bond growing inside him.

 At the safe house, Terry takes a child out into the woods for an exchange with a little girl. The little girl is harnessed and a mech and skitter appear out of nowhere and reminds him to honor the deal he had made. He plans to surrender all the kids to them in a couple of days. The way this scene was handled was chillingly beautiful! Back at the safe house, we see Pope chained up like an animal. He is in a bad shape and we find out that he was the one who had given information about the whereabouts of the Second Mass, under an extremely difficult situation.

This episode was very predictable, but that does not mean that it was in any ways, boring. There was a lot to like about the writing in this week's episode. In fact this episode was one of the best in the season. We get to know more about the skitters without the information being blasted into our face, through Ben. Turns out the harnesses do more than get the kids disease-free. Ben is able to do a hundred push-ups without breaking a sweat now. He also explains that the skitters were more like family. Dr. Anne is now more alert and has a gun at all times to protect herself the next time somebody tries to attack her. Mason went from 'I'll not send away my kids anywhere' to 'They must go for their own safety'!

I love the way the skitters are being handled. Last week, the skitter in the hallway was very chillingly creepy. This week it was absolutely terrifying while attacking Jimmy. If they handle next week's episode right, then the predictability of this week's episode will fade from the mind and I will probably love it. And for goodness sakes, let Pope out!

The Nine Lives of Chloe King S01 Episode 5: 'Girls Night Out' Review

How can Chloe have a smile on her face when she saw two other Mai in her store who were acting like they owned her. Haven’t Valentina, Alek and jasmine made it clear there are many evil forces out there to get her! She shouldn’t open up to everybody without proof of their innocence or justifying their causes. She’s the Uniter for goodness sakes. It’s like her stupidity excelled to new levels here.

In this episode, Chloe hangs out with two Brazilian Mai girls, Lilah and Nikki. Chloe hangs out with them on a girls night out, as the title suggests, along with Amy and Jasmine in a nightclub. Jasmine is there to look out for Chloe as she suspects something is amiss, since Lilah and Nikki hadn’t contacted Valentina through proper channels about their arrival or their interest in Chloe. Their views on humans differ vastly from that of Valentina and the other Mai living in San Fransisco. They are more likely to make out and kill a human without a second thought. Apparently girls these days don’t walk into the restrooms as often as I have seen them do. A guy is kissed to death and he’s spread across 3 stalls and none of the girls raise an alarm. And of course, in classic teen show style, we have to believe that the Brazilian Mai leader sent two teenage, bitchy girls to bring back the Uniter with them. Chloe doesn’t accept their request and so they fight with her and Jasmine upon which one of the girls dies and the other runs away with her tail behind her legs spewing threats.

 

Oh and Amy wants a bit more romance in her boring relationship with Paul. So, Chloe gives him hints to take it to the next level and Paul uses Chloe’s word of wisdom on his romance and makes the classic guy mistake of sleeping naked on her bed with some lit candles! That was hilarious to watch Amy freak out. Poor girl had dressed up for the night with such high hopes and expectations! The actual interaction of friends was good to see. When Chloe told her that she put Paul up to show some affection to her, Amy wasn’t upset like in all the other teen shows, she was actually happy.

And I was getting my hopes up when Brian’s father told him to get his ass back into college, but then they poured water on me by making him stay back giving an idiotic reason! He wanted to prove himself to his father. Prove what, I say? I didn’t understand a thing he was explaining about that issue. Damn him, he is boring. The thing I was dreading has finally happened. No Alek in the whole episode!! Why are they creating unnecessary, improbable relationship issue with Chloe and cat ears!! Damn I wish they would just kill off Brian. Watching grass grow is much more exciting than watching him trying so difficultly to recite his dialogues. And what’s up with Chloe giving a whole speech about how much cat ears means to her and how much she likes him and cares about him?? Its only been like 4 weeks since she met him and she doesn’t even know about him properly. Without Valentina and Alek, the show lost some charm this episode.

And I am thinking the comedic part of the show is overshadowing and undermining the much darker part of it. Comedy is all well and good, but I think they take it too far sometimes. But it’s still addictive and I am excited for the next episode. And now we know that Alek wasn’t completely bluffing when he said Mai kiss kills. I think there’s more to it than a simple kiss to kill a human. What did you guys think about this week’s episode?

How can Chloe have a smile on her face when she saw two other Mai in her store who were acting like they owned her. Haven’t Valentina, Alek and jasmine made it clear there are many evil forces out there to get her! She shouldn’t open up to everybody without proof of their innocence or justifying their causes. She’s the Uniter for goodness sakes. Its like her stupidity excelled to new levels here.

The Nine Lives of Chloe King S01 Episode 4: 'All Apologies' Review

For the first time in the brief period of our endearing show, we get to start the episode somewhere other than in Chloe’s bedroom! This time Alek and Jasmine are training Chloe, in what seems to be apparently parkour. Since Chloe doesn’t want to jump across buildings, Alek taunts her as a scaredy ‘human’. Yeah, who wouldn’t want to jump across the huge gap between buildings and not get scared out of their minds. It’s not like death is a big deal if they didn’t make it! And humans are basically a spineless race according to him!

Ooh, I wanna kiss Alek! Wait! Damn there’s cat-ears too!

Also Chloe is starting to hear other people’s conversations and she can’t control it. Alek helps her to control her gift in the middle of a crowded marketplace or something by making her listen to his heartbeat and our Chloe goes weak in the knees at that moment. I really wish they just hook up! Alek is infinitely more interesting than cat ears Brian! And what’s with dear old Mom. She doesn’t even care about Chloe’s life now? She used to poke around so much into Chloe’s life and now all of a sudden, she doesn’t want to?? Well, that was resolved by the end.

This episode contained a stalker storyline along with the season arc of the Mai and The Order. Since Chloe can’t keep her nose out of other people’s business and now with her newfound empathy powers (which is an extra power which other Mai don’t have!), she gets tangled up with shopkeeper friend’s ex-boyfriend. You know the car scene with annoying Amy, it reminded me of Nancy Drew, Chloe being a more kick-ass Nancy Drew! (No disrespect to her, I loved Nancy Drew when I was younger. I suppose I do even now). With this, my doubts have been confirmed – Meddling is a Superhero birthright!

“I want to be a meddlesome Rapunzel!” Adorable pigtail Chloe!!

Also Cat Ears didn’t seem to be as pathetic in this episode. He actually got a pretty good story now. He has no friends beside Chloe and he wants to date her – a 16-year-old, which basically means he’s the most pathetic guy ever. He discloses the real reason he came to the city. His mother was murdered and someone left him a key with a note saying that all was not as it seemed or something to that effect. He snoops around a bit and realizes his father had been hiding the whole truth from him. Come on Brian, when has your father ever been less than mysterious and emotionally distant?!! You should have realized something was wrong a long time ago! But of course, if he didn’t have a sad story, he wouldn’t have anything to brood about now, would he? And girls find brooding, creepy guys so attractive nowadays. So the writers said, lets keep him brooding for a reason now.

So this episode we finally had a Mai and The Order semi-leader showdown!! Brilliant, I can’t wait for more of their confrontations. The San Fransisco Mai leader was relaxing on Brian’s dad’s couch in a cat-like way and threatened him and his son. The most witty reply he could come up with was – “Get out of my house”! Dude you really have to improve upon your threats. Just looking constipated all the time won’t cut it!

I'm the king of constipated looks!

So, this episode wasn’t great or anything. They are continuing with the case of the week storytelling. They should stress more on the Mai mythology and less on stupid train wrecks like stalker boy! But, this episode still raised some interesting questions: Did the Mai kill Brian’s mother? Will Brian ever man up and go on a date with someone his own age? And how much do you love our adorable, meddling Chloe with the pigtail? lol. This show has slowly crept up into my ‘lovable awesome teen shows’ list!! What did you think of this week’s episode? Sound off on the comments below!

The Nine Lives of Chloe King S01 Episode 3: 'Green Star' Review

Our beloved show begins and ends with the way it typically likes to – Chloe alone in her room. This time we have Alek, who is flirting with her on her bed and even though she looks like she is annoyed, she is not trying hard enough to chase him away. So, she probably likes it. Turns out Alek isn’t there solely for the purpose of flirting with her – the Mai Leader wants to meet Chloe! I’m surprised it took her this long to even bother. Alek could have told this in school, but then we wouldn’t have the wacky mom moment. Of course, mom imposes a ‘No Boys in Bedroom’ rule. Like as if her teenage daughter wouldn’t have sex anywhere else if she wanted to!

Chloe meets Valentina, the leader of the San Francisco Mai who also happens to be Jasmine’s mom. She suggests Chloe go into hiding to remain safe. Chloe’s unsure of abandoning her life because of her mom and friends. The scarface killer is still out there and he begins stalking Chloe’s love ones and after a talk with Valentina, Chloe’s informed that even though Mai and Human co-exist, they just don’t mix. Amy performs at local talent show and Paul cheers her. Scarface steals Chloe’s mother cell phone calling her on it. Chloe finds out that scarface is bluffing and asks Alek to look out for her mom and Valentina makes Chloe to stay in her home. Scarface calls again, this time from the place where Amy is performing and threatens her. Chloe agrees to give herself up. Scarface then traps Chloe and throws her into the river to drown. That’s the best and most efficient way to kill her as everytime she returns back to life, she would drown again with no air to breathe. As Chloe struggles, Jasmine arrives and fights him until Chloe’s free of the ropes. They fight him off and Valentina comes out of the blue, pulls out a badass looking knife and kills Scarface in the process saving her daughter and Chloe from certain death.

 Valentina came across as someone who gets what she wants no matter the price. She would definitely not leave Chloe alone until she gets her into going into hiding. On Chloe’s behalf Alek had been guarding her mom until she came back. That should atleast send a message to her that he actually cares about her and is not the snob he usually portrays himself as. And enough with the Chloe-Brian thing already. It is very annoying to watch the scenes where they are together. And he stalks Chloe EVERYWHERE!! No way is that even remotely cute. I am a guy and my friends have tried that. Trust me, a girl finds it creepy if you know everything about her. On another note, I think that Chloe’s mom may know about Chloe’s past. Well, we will find that out when that bridge comes to pass. And Amy actually seems to think that her singing debut is much more important than finding out about Chloe’s destiny, responsibilities and escaping scarface! She was cute before, but is now turning slightly obnoxious. Nobody should joke about breaking up with your significant others in front of third parties. Oh and Paul is probably the only one who gets how awesome and interesting Chloe’s newfound power is. Paul, you just became the voice of reason on this show. But that crying scene made him very lame!

Were you all happy that scarface died? Now that scarface is apparently dead, who will be the one to come after Chloe next? And will Brian’s dad learn about his son and Chloe anytime soon? Do you want Chloe to be with Brian or Alek? Will Valentina be able to convince Chloe into hiding? Does Chloe’s mom know about her daughter’s mysterious origins? And can anybody please tell me what the hell this episode’s title – Green Star means?

The Nine Lives of Chloe King S01 Episode 2: 'Redemption' Review

While replying to the email that her father sent in the last episode, Chloe senses something is wrong and climbs to the roof to check it out. She spots a shadowy figure and chases him through rooftops only to realize that it was Alek who was actually standing guard outside her room and he wanted to make a point to her. She needed to be more careful with her remaining 8 lives. Both of her friends are incredibly cool with Chloe’s newfound powers and inhuman nature. They think she’s a super-hero while she thinks she’s some sort of super-freak.

 Chloe is still feeling guilty over Xavier’s death, even though she seems to be coping with it quite well with Brian. She is blaming herself for his death, but it seems that its scar-face who killed him on the orders of Brian’s father. While Brian and his father seemed very close in the last episode, we get to know in this episode that they really aren’t that close. Chloe goes to Xavier’s funeral and learns that his parents blame his drug addict brother, Gabriel for his death. Chloe contacts Gabriel and discovers that he is no longer an addict, but is working for drug dealers who will not let him out of their grasp. Chloe advises him to follow his brother’s guidance, upon which he sets a trap for the drug dealers. Chloe goes head-on to save him from them since there’s no way they would let him go alive. Alek tries to stop her, but she doesn’t listen. So, he disapprovingly joins her and fights the dealers. With Amy and Paul’s help, they manage to contain the situation.

Later Alek warns Chloe that if she continues seeing Brain “One of them will get hurt” and offers to answer any questions she has about the Mai. Chloe decides to take her mom’s advice about taking risks in life and is talking to Brian on the phone and hears a noise on her roof dismissing it as Alek, while it’s the assassin waiting for Chloe at her weakest point.

Last episode may have shown the jock, obnoxious side of Alek, but in this episode he comes off as someone who cares about Chloe. Well, caring may be pushing it a bit, but he definitely is obsessed with her. Maybe it’s because of the proximity of a female Mai, a girl whom he can actually go out with without worrying he may paralyze her. Brian seems to be a good guy and all, but I am actually rooting for Alek and Chloe, which means the show is definitely doing its job by being fun and addictive.

The Nine Lives of Chloe King S01 Episode 1: 'Pilot' Review

Summertime has become the perfect time for broadcast networks to experiment with their shows. Since, they know they aren’t going to get the same ratings as they do during the regular fall season, they are not worried if a show doesn’t have stellar ratings. This leads to shows such as Switched At Birth, The Nine Lives of Chloe King and Teen Wolf. ABC Family’s latest summer offering, The Nine Lives of Chloe King is being touted as the next Buffy. I decided to give the show a try since I love teen dramas and fantasy in teen drama is even more exciting! The show is written by Liz Braswell and is based on Alloy’s series of three young-adult books by Celia Thomson.

 The story begins with our main protagonist, Chloe King being chased by someone. She inadvertently runs into a tower where she is pushed off the top from a scar-faced assassin. Chloe lies on the sidewalk with blood oozing out of her brain and is dead. That’s it people, show’s over! Well, not yet. The dreaded “2 Days Earlier” flashes on the screen and we are taken into the life of Chloe King a day before she turns sweet 16. We get to know that Chloe is very good and quiet girl and she wants that to change. She and her friends, Amy and Paul sneak into a dance club, despite being underage. At the club, she meets a boy Xavier and dances with him and has the wildest night of her young life. She kisses him, something she’s been longing to do for a very long time when we see the mysterious assassin stalking her. Next day in school, she grabs the basketball from Alek, an obnoxious jock and sends it flying to the trash can perfectly. All of a sudden Alek seems to notice Chloe and makes his move on her. Before he can kiss her, his cousin, Jasmine stops him.

Chloe discovers that there is something very special about her when she leaps onto a car to escape from a runaway cyclist and she runs like hell to find out what more she can do. Turns out she is quite agile, has an acute sense of hearing, has superhuman strength and sharp eyes. When she’s attacked by a creepy homeless guy in an alley, she scratches the bazeejus out of the guy and finds out that she has retractable claws, not unlike Wolverine. She then meets Brian at work and later goes on a coffee date with him, where a dog acts strangely around her. Now, she has a weird feeling and begins to run away when we find out that she’s being chased and eventually is pushed from the tower. In keeping up with the title of the show, Chloe comes back to life and finds out that two of the shadowy guys following her were actually Alek and Jasmine who were there to help her. They inform her that she is a Mai; the descendants of an ancient and powerful race who are not completely human, nor Gods, but the offsprings of them and she, Chloe is actually the Uniter, saviour of their race since she has 9 lives. They make sure she knows that she can never be intimate with a human, without harming the human and Chloe rushes to Xavier’s place to find out that he had died.

Scarface calls Chloe to inform her that she should come alone to a warehouse if she wants Paul to live. Amy and Chloe drive to the abandoned warehouse, where Chloe fights the assassin. She is helped by Alek and Jasmine, where Jasmine takes a hit for Chloe. Later we find out that Brian’s father was actually the one who was giving the orders for the murder of the Mai’s. One more thing revealed to the audience is that Chloe was actually adopted from a Ukrainian orphanage. In the final shot of the premiere, we get to see that Chloe had received an email from her dad who warns her not to trust anybody. Thing is, her dad left them a long time ago.
I know what you all thought when you saw the premiere! Who needs another fantasy based teen show! And who the hell runs into a tower when somebody is chasing you! That’s so cliché. Well, I don’t mind these kind of teen shows as long as they have a good storyline, direction and acting. And the mother-daughter relationship seems more like two teens relationship. The mother is more excited about Chloe’s dating life than any normal mother should be. And our main character Chloe went from being loser to player in a matter of hours. One moment she’s dreaming about kissing any guy and the next moment she’s juggling three handsome guys. That came across rather unconvincingly. The scar-faced assassin, the evil boss in the black hooded car are some other clichés. Both of her friends are incredibly cool when they learn about Chloe’s inhuman origins. Amy and Paul are very quirky characters and likable, especially Amy. Since Chloe’s dad was being mentioned a lot during the promotional interviews, he obviously has a big part to play in the show.

All in all, this show looks sweet and exciting. The dialogues are funny and sometimes clever, when it’s not dealing with Chloe’s dating life. And Skyler Samuels can definitely act. This girl has the potential to make it big. I think I will stick to the show. I am interested in finding out about the origins of the Mai and how Chloe fits into the Mai world. Also, this show doesn’t have anything to do with Vampires, Werewolves or Witches and that makes me want to watch it all the more.

Best line:
Alek – Why are you giving me such a hard time?
Chloe – Believe me, if I knew it was going to have this kind of effect, I would have never touched your ball. Don’t say it.

Emmy Nominations 2011

These are the nominations for Emmy 2011
I’m pissed that Stana Katic didn’t get an Emmy nomination for her role in Castle as Kate Beckett. I know it was a long shot, but she gave one of the best performances of her life and it was very overwhelming to watch her and I think she deserves an Emmy! And will Hugh Laurie finally win the Emmy’s this year? Unlikely, as this season wasn’t upto mark. I’m rooting for Michael. C. Hall and Hugh Laurie. And I’m hoping Dexter wins Outstanding Drama. And Modern Family should win Best Comedy. What are your thoughts? Hit the comments!

OUTSTANDING DRAMA
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Mad Men


OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Kathy Bates, Harry’s Law
Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights
Mireille Enos, The Killing
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men


OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House
Timothy Olyphant, Justified


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Josh Charles, The Good Wife
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Walton Goggins, Justified
John Slattery, Mad Men
Andre Braugher, Men of a Certain Age


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Margo Martindale, Justified
Michelle Forbes, The Killing
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men


OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Bruce Dern, Big Love
Beau Bridges, Brothers & Sisters
Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife
Paul McCrane, Harry’s Law
Jeremy Davies, Justified
Robert Morse, Mad Men


OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Mary McDonnell, The Closer
Julia Stiles, Dexter
Loretta Devine, Grey’s Anatomy
Randee Heller, Man Men
Cara Buono, Mad Men
Joan Cusack, Shameless
Alfre Woodard, True Blood

OUTSTANDING COMEDY
The Big Bang Theory
Glee
Modern Family
The Office
Parks and Recreation
30 Rock


OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly
Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation


OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Louis C.K., Louie
Steve Carell, The Office
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Chris Colfer, Glee
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family
Ed O’Neill, Modern Family
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men


OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Jane Lynch, Glee
Betty White, Hot In Cleveland
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock


OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Idris Elba, The Big C
Nathan Lane, Modern Family
Zach Galifianakis, Saturday Night Live
Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live
Matt Damon, 30 Rock
Will Arnett, 30 Rock


OUTSTANDING GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Kristin Chenoweth, Glee
Dot-Marie Jones, Glee
Gwyneth Paltrow, Glee
Cloris Leachman, Raising Hope
Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live
Elizabeth Banks, 30 Rock

OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW HOST
Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With the Stars
Cat Deeley, So You Think You Can Dance
Jeff Probst, Survivor


OUTSTANDING REALITY SHOW COMPETITION
The Amazing Race, CBS
American Idol, Fox
Dancing With the Stars, ABC
Project Runway, Lifetime
So You Think You Can Dance, Fox
Top Chef, Bravo


OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SERIES
The Colbert Report, Comedy Central
Conan, TBS
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Comedy Central
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, NBC
Real Time With Bill Maher, HBO
Saturday Night Live, NBC


OUTSTANDING TV MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Cinema Verite, HBO
Downton Abbey, PBS
The Kennedys, ReelzChannel
Mildred Pierce, HBO
The Pillars of the Earth, Starz
Too Big To Fail, HBO


The complete list of Emmy nominations can be found at Emmys.com
The Emmys will be held Sunday, Sept. 18, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Fox is broadcasting this year’s show, with Glee Emmy winner Jane Lynch serving as host.

Necessary Roughness S01 Episode 3: 'Spinning Out' Review

 Dr. Dani treats a NASCAR driver (Matt Barr) who needs help regaining confidence after a crash. He doesn't want to go back to racing, even though he escaped the 175 mph crash with barely a scratch. So, Dani is put up to the task of making him see the light of day and come back to the competition within 10 days as he is one of their rising stars. Over the course of the episode, we get to know that the real problem of his panic attacks isn't the crash, but it is his childhood idol who bullies him on the track by tapping against his car.

Also the custody battle at court is coming to new heights. Now the court has sent someone to investigate the life of the children in Dani's household. Seems like Dani's about to fall short in her list. When the cat is out, the mice come out and play. While Dani is out at a well deserved party, Lindsay and Ray throw a party at home and Lindsay can't stand the tongue action taking place in her bedroom and calls the police herself. Well, even though the investigator knows about the sons condoms and daughter's theft charges and all the crazy happenings, she gives a certificate as that of a normal household and recommends the custody stay with the mom.

And T.K. gets in a fight with a rookie. They both steal each others girls and go all out at each other until Dani interferes and puts some sense into his head. By the end they're close buddies. And the 'fixer' guy is given a back story and possible affection towards Dani little by little. And we are supposed to believe that Dani is a strict mother? If any of my friends had crashed the family or brother's car into something, we would have been flayed and grounded for life! She is absolutely an angel for grounding her daughter for just a month!

I loved this episode! It had NASCAR racing!!! T.K is getting funnier and funnier each episode. And what's up with Dani being able to treat patients so quickly! Anyway, it was another fun and entertaining episode. What did you think?

Alphas S01 Episode 1: 'Pilot' Review

 Alphas has been written and directed by Zak Penn who was also the writer of X-Men 2 and 3 movies. He also serves as an executive producer in the show. So it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody that this show has an X-Men feel to it. Other than that it also seems to derive some elements from another hit show 'Heroes' and the movie 'Wanted'. Here, people with special ability are called 'Alphas'

Characters:
Now that's out of the way, lets dive in to the story and characters. Dr. Lee Rosen is the leader of a group of people who have superpowers. He is more of a doctor, like Xavier, than the leader you would expect and its refreshing for a TV show. He juggles between babysitting and his work of a therapist who gets the desired results from his team of Alphas. Watching him interact with Don, an agent, offered comedic elements which will be a breather in the days to come.

Bill Harken has superhuman strength and he is also an FBI agent. His chemistry with the team is lacking and he just doesn't seem to consider the others as his equals, probably because all of them come from normal upbringing and don't have the necessary professional quality in them. Nina, the hottie, has the power of hyperinduction. She can override the willpower in others and that's a cool Jedi mind trick. Rachel has the power of synesthesia. that is she is able to enhance any one of her senses while all other senses shut down. Gary has the power of transduction. He is able to see all wireless electromagnetic wavelengths, making him the ultimate snoop.

Cameron is brainwashed into murdering a police suspect in a closed room, using his hyperkinesis. In my opinion, his story will be the most interesting and has the most potential since he has a troubled past, a problem with following orders though he served in the military and having this extraordinary ability which Angelina Jolie had in Wanted.

Recap:
Dr. Lee Rosen is called in by the Department of Defense to investigate how this could happen in a sealed room with only two guards and no windows. Rosen calls in his team of Alphas to investigate why. Nina uses her powers of influence to talk herself into the room and Rachel uses her enhanced senses to figure out where the bullet came from. Bill is able to piece together a profile using all this information, leading them back to Cameron.

The alphas soon figure out Cameron was brainwashed by someone and use him as a decoy to draw that person out of hiding. Gary is able to trace who that person is by finding their unique cellphone signal. The alphas storm a hotel and believe they find the brainwasher who jumps off the roof of the hotel after a quick chase. Come to find out, the brainwasher brainwashed a bellboy to trade places with him. Thus the bellboy is the one who ends up killing himself.

The brainwasher is able to escape and manipulate Bill into trying to kill Rosen. The alphas figure this out with Nina heading off to help Rosen and Cameron running after the brainwasher. Meanwhile, the brainwasher has taken Rachel hostage while attempting to escape before being caught. Cameron is able to shoot and kill the brainwasher before he kills Rachel but not before he tells them “you’re on the wrong side of this.” Nina and Rosen are able to subdue Bill. The pilot ends with Rosen officially welcoming Cameron to the team.

I actually liked the pilot very much. Granted, it has all been done before, but it was still exciting to watch the 90-minute pilot. Ordinary people with extraordinary powers, an evil force out to get them. It is a classic plot and I am a sucker for it. I think this is going to be another show on my must watch list.

Necessary Roughness S01 Episode 2 'Anger Management' Review

I’m not a cynic in any sense of the word, but after the above average pilot episode, I was wondering whether they could build the characters any more since the premise wasn’t original and I didn’t think they would be able to give the peripheral characters enough depth to make them interesting. Thankfully, the second episode – “Anchor Management” is even more entertaining than the 90 minute pilot itself.

Dr. Dani was likable and the characters around her also stepped up their game. Matthew and Dani were actually very hot in the dream sequence. Dani is getting really horny for him and did you know 47% of divorced women are much more horny than married women! That made me laugh so much! Callie and Marc have some major chemistry going on. T.K is still in the picture and so Matthew has something to work with. Dani’s best friend Janet actually provided insight to the psychiatrist into the mind of a teen! She made her realize what it was to be a teenager, since Dani’s daughter was lashing out. And Dani’s mother was nowhere to be found. I’m happy about that. I didn’t like her. Castle’s mother is the best one on TV.

Janet: Do you remember what happened when your Mom said you couldn’t go out with Ray? Dani: I got married and pregnant. Oh.

This episode concentrated on treating a hotshot anchor, Griffin who was given a prime time war news show. He was a war journalist for over a decade, touring around countries who were in war and for that the network had given him his own show. Griffin couldn’t stop the urge to laugh out during a live war interview and this made the network to rest him for a couple of weeks and he comes to Dr. Dani for help. It was very heartbreaking to watch the real reason for Griffin’s demeanour and all that angst. I hope I won’t be like him when the time comes to have my own child. All in all, a very good episode which makes me want to watch it next week. I enjoyed it more than the first.

Necessary Roughness S01 Episode 1 'Pilot' Review

This USA network series is based on the true story of a female psychologist who worked for the ‘New York Jets’.

The show centres around the life of Long Island psychotherapist, Dr. Dani Santino (Callie Thorne from Rescue Me and Prison Break). After finding out that her husband is cheating on her, she throws him out and files for a divorce. After a few weeks she has a fling with Matthew Donnally (Marc Blucas from Knight and Day) who happens to be the football team’s trainer. She helps Matthew to quit smoking and after her credentials are confirmed, the coach hires her as the therapist for star footballer, Terrence King aka T.K whose personal life is affecting his game and could possibly destroy his future in football. This new job and the stress of being a newly minted single mother takes toll on her personal life. Meanwhile, her husband is filing for custody of their two children. Somehow she has to work through all the hardships and the seemingly insurmountable task of treating T.K.

With the tagline – ‘Everybody has issues to tackle’, USA Network’s latest offering seems to provide quality entertainment for those who love their drama. In my view, the 90-minute premiere wasn’t bad, but it doesn’t seem to be the kind of show that requires one to be excited about for the new episode. The direction is quite good, but the story doesn’t seem like a fresh idea. The premiere reminded me a bit of ‘The Blindside’ with its tough love lead character. While that is not necessarily a bad thing, it kinda bugged me a bit and I have no idea why, since I liked ‘The Blindside’ movie. Anyway, the children are your normal teenage brats. The son, following up in his father’s footsteps, is juggling multiple girlfriends in high school and the daughter is your everyday wannabe cool, sexy chick with issues.

But since its summer and there aren’t many quality shows to choose from, I guess I will stick to it for another couple of episodes before deciding whether I should continue with it or not.

Falling Skies Episode 5 'Silent Kill' Review

In this episode, we are on another attempt to rescue Ben from the skitters and the evil mech robots. I was thinking, if this episode doesn’t resolve the Ben situation, the show is going to lose some viewers. Thankfully, they finally resolved it.

Since Tom is a hotshot and had done another good deed in the last episode, he gets to put his 5 fighters, probably the best fighters in mortal danger once again. This time Weaver allows him to do whatever he wants as long as the plan is sound, since Tom brings a lot to the table. Tom suggests a plan which is not approved by Weaver. Later Hal comes up with an undercover plan which doesn’t sit well with Tom, but is probably the best bet to get Ben without any casualties.

Apparently, the harnessed kids are allowed to roam around on their own as long as the harnesses control them. Tom suggests he put on a dysfunctional harness and sneak into enemy camp to rescue Ben and the other kids. The plan is put into motion and it allows Hal to discreetly sneak into the place where his brother is being held captive. A skitter takes him and the other kids in a grossly disturbing, symbiotic, motherly embrace and all the kids fall asleep. Hal assumes this is best shot to kill the skitter by the method taught by Anne earlier and puts it to good use.

Dr. Harris has an inglorious end this episode where he is murdered by the skitter. The always calm, collected, level-headed Anne has a breakdown this episode and kills the skitter. She confesses to Tom that she doesn’t have any pictures or physical stuff of her family and is heartbroken about it. The emotional trauma she is going through was portrayed wonderfully. In the final scene, she and Tom holding hands has a deeper meaning and hopefully this will be the beginning of a romance between them. We are getting to know more about Margaret, she actually had cancer before and is now recovering.

Tom and the others rescue all the six kids and take them back to their camp. Five kids survive, but one of the kid dies. This may be because of the death of the skitter controlling those children. The ending was on a happier note with Ben waking up and recognizing his father. This was a very fulfilling episode and now the show can move on from the main objective of Ben to other more interesting things. Each week we are learning new things about the aliens. This week we found out that the working harnesses actually glow in the dark. How freaky is that. They are luminescent and give the skitters advantage to know who is under their control and who is not.

I’m very excited for the next episode. Why is Ricky permanently damaged while Ben seems to have apparently recovered from the trauma of wearing the harness so quickly? Why do the skitters have a symbiotic relationship with the kids? Why the friendly bedding while earlier we saw the skitters sleeping like bats?

Falling Skies Episode 4 'Grace' Review

 Harris and the others want to study the captive Skitter. Meanwhile Weaver orders Tom and his group to go and check out a motorcycle shop near Summerville. Pope goes along with them as he knows the fastest route there, while Weaver is keeping tabs on Maggie and not trusting her. I mean, give the girl a break! She was forced into doing the things she did and for survival she put up with it. Because of her, Weaver still has Mason, the second-in-command and his group! And trusting Pope to go along with the group is probably the dumbest thing ever! The guy has an ulterior motive for everything!

Back at the Kennedy High School, Dr. Glass tries to communicate with the skitter using pictorial methods, but to no avail, while Dr. Harris scoffs at her non-violent, non-invasive, passive methods. He taunts the captive skitter with Pope’s dead skitter, whereupon it goes nuts. He then proceeds to get ready with the invasive operation. Like as if the skitter would let him probe it that easily! Also Ricky had cystic fibrosis and the harness or skitters cured him of his ailments.

On the other side of town, our group come across a nest of skitters hanging upside down and sleeping like bats. Pope wants to kill the beasts, while Mason orders them to continue on their mission path discreetly. Back at the motorcycle shop, Pope escapes and blasts three of the skitters, like the idiot he is.

Ricky, the kid who was rescued, doesn’t remember his own father. But he seems to recognize the skitter. Uh oh, ominous signs in last episode are coming true. So, the black dude goes and tries to reason with the skitter. The skitter doesn’t budge, so finally he loses his cool and puts a gun in the skitter’s mouth. The skitter goes into a shock and gets knocked down. Dr. Glass theorizes that the skitters emit a frequency, which can be picked up as radio signals, inside their minds to communicate with each other and this theory is scoffed by Harris.

In the other room, Ricky gets up and puts the harness back on himself. How stupid is it to leave him alone in the room with the skitter!! Anyway after doing a postmortem on the dead skitter, the radio comes alive with static. They all rush to the other room to see Ricky trying to let out the skitter. The skitter communicates with them through the controlled kid and tells them to kill it as it would be punished if it went back. The father rushes to rip apart the harness from him and in the process Ricky dies.

The motorcycle shop is now surrounded by children who open fire on the group. Through some tactful, quick planning they manage to escape and kill one more skitter who was controlling the children. Hal has his doubts about rescuing Ben since the children who have been harnessed won’t be the same anymore.

Weaver is much more humane in this episode. Mason goes on and on about rescuing Ben! What about Karen!! She is also basically a kid, who went with them for the sake of Hal. He doesn’t even talk about her and this pisses of Hal somewhat. And Pope may be a bastard, but even when he escaped he had made a delicious meal for them and fresh bread! He can’t be all that bad. Damn, I hope he comes back soon. He makes the show more exciting. Intellectually, he is in the same level as Tom Mason, but since his experience is based on surviving throughout his life, killing off the skitters actually made sense and made me root for him.

This show has now found its feet and the story is progressing much more smoothly. We are now caring about the characters and their plights. Also this episode had much more focus on the skitter and the cgi on it looks insanely real and wonderful. And the sweet Lourdes seems to be the Christian faith propagator on the show. While its extremely prejudiced on the part of the writers, I don’t mind it that much. All I ask is, what about the other faiths? Are there none other than Christians in the camp? This is a huge cliché in American shows.

Can they rescue Karen, Ben and the others? How can they make the kids come out of the skitters mind control? Will Pope survive alone? Will the imprisoned skitter make more troubles for them? Will they get enough drugs to treat the kids? What did you think of this week’s episode, Falling Skies fans? Did you too think that this was the best episode on the show yet?

Falling Skies Episode 3 'Prisoner of War' Review

Tom Mason and his group spot the enslaved kids from the rooftop of a building. The aliens are making them collect metal scraps and wires. There are two Mechs and three Skitters guarding the kids and if they wait any longer, there would be more aliens along the way. But that plan is thwarted when Karen accidentally gives away their position and the group has to retreat. Back at the John. F. Kennedy High School, which is the place that Commander Porter had ordered them to meet up at, Tom is submerged with pleas from grieving parents enquiring about their kids. Commander Porter gives out orders to collect as much data as they can about the aliens and a chief surgeon had found a theoretical way to remove the harness from the kids without killing them in the process.

Pope, in his usual flair, even as a prisoner disdainfully badmouths the food being served and in the process we get to know that he was actually a chef before the alien invasion. He manages to convince them to let him cook for everybody. Meanwhile, Tom finds out that the surgeon who had come up with the new plan to remove the harness was actually his friend, Michael Harris. Tom’s wife and Harris were together scavenging for food when his wife dies and Harris went missing. Instead of feeling betrayed, Tom understands Harris’ predicament at the moment and lets it slide.

Tom and his group go back to rescue Ben and there one of the group’s men finds his son and rushes head-on to rescue the kid. Tom gets knocked off and Karen and Hal are taken prisoners. Later, on his way to rescue all the kids back, a Skitter attacks Tom and he valiantly fights against it and single-handedly wins against the beast. Next morning, he is seen dragging the half dead Skitter across the halls of John. F. Kennedy school. The Skitter is a ‘prisoner of war’, they could study it and learn its weaknesses. Though Weaver offers him two soldiers, Tom refuses him and goes alone to get his kids back.

That night, Hal witnesses the mass murder of all the other kids who were in the same group as the one who was rescued. The aliens were sending the humans a message by letting Hal go to report what happened to the others. Tom gets back to the school with Hal, where apparently the rescued boy is still alive even after removing the harness. Tom hadn’t got over his wife’s death, he and Harris get into a fight over a chat about the imprisoned Skitter. The closing shot of the episode shows the Skitter ominously opening its eyes widely and the rescued kid also opens his eyes, which has this fan very excited.

I love the writing and direction of the show. I really like Tom’s character, the emotional bond he has with his sons is very touching, especially with Matt. His reasoning and moral compass doesn’t waiver much even when he is under severe strain. But his emotions got the better of him this time with Harris. And that makes him human and all the more empathetic. I was really angry with that black guy, if only he had waited and made a plan with the others, they could have easily rescued both of the kids and Karen would not have been held a prisoner. Tom and Dr. Glass have a growing bond between them and they understand each other well and this could turn into a possible romance in the future. I also like the way they’re portraying Dr. Glass. They haven’t turned Bloodgood into a caricature hottie, which she easily could be, but hinting us through the interviews that she has a much meatier role than shown up till now.
We now know that the harness is a biological weapon which is like a plant and grows its roots to the back of the spine and releases a toxin which induces a coma-like state to the kids. The closing shot showed us that the Skitter still has control over the kid even though the harness is removed, which reminds me of zombies!

Were you angry with the black dude as much as I was? What does the ominous closing shot of the episode indicate? Will the creature escape? Can Tom rescue his son, Karen and all the other kids? Even if he does, how can they stop the Skitters’ control over the kids? And why are the aliens making the kids collect scrap metal?

Falling Skies Episode 2 'The Armory' Review

The premiere was a 2 hour event. Since I was moaning about the Bloodgood’s barely there presence, they decided to give her more time by making her character look weak in front of commanding officer Weaver. According to him, the needs of the military are greater than the needs of the civilians.


In this episode, we meet Uncle Scott, a biology teacher. In one of the brainstorming sessions, a student had the same questions about the Skitters that I had. About the difference in the Mechs body and the Skitter’s own physiology. Tom reasons that may have to do with the psychological impact that the shape of the Mechs will have on the humans. We tend to be more afraid of robots which look like them since its been ingrained into our minds through movies and social events that robots are inherently evil. Then there was the awkward scene where he walks in just when his son was about to get lucky.

Well, the 13-year-old Jimmy is no longer going on active fights because he messed up earlier at the armory when he went after his dog which was about to be killed by a Mech. Tom and the rest of his fighters go to the armory to check if there are any weapons left leaving little Jimmy behind. John Pope and his band of thugs who were staking the place, attack and capture them at the armory. Pope has a bit of cruel fun with them. Of course, in time-honored tradition of post apocalyptic stereotypes, he is a cynical and psychopathic marauder who is better at killing a Skitter than the military or anyone else is. He thinks the mass murder of 90% of Earth’s population is a boon for him. Hal is sent back to make a deal with the 2nd Massachusetts commander. They are to give them 50 cal and a GTO in exchange for the prisoners. Hal tries to reason with Maggie, his handler, by offering her a place in their camp, but we all know how that goes, she didn’t go along with it and Hal got his ass kicked.
Pope and Tom have a seemingly friendly chat, all the while Tom trying to get closer to the gun on one of the wounded thugs and Pope obviously notices Tom’s intentions. Back at the camp, Weaver dismisses any notion of going to rescue Tom and the others or negotiating with the terrorists, since they neither have enough fighters nor does Hal know the exact position of the thugs hiding place. Dr. Glass goes with Hal to offer her services for the wounded thug in exchange for their release. Pope isn’t happy about it, but lets her treat the injured thug and goes to the camp with his demands. The demands have now escalated, now he wants all the food too. If there’s any kind of shootout, the aliens will detect it and he has already signalled a flare which would attract them to their position. So, Weaver backs down and concedes to the demands.
Back at the thugs hideout, the now treated scumbag treats Karen like a piece of meat. Maggie opens fire and kills both the thugs. She joins forces with the 2nd Mass and they eventually capture Pope along with the help of Weaver. The alien drones which were attracted by the flares blast away Pope’s band of thugs. Later Weaver concedes to Tom and lets him and his group to go rescue his son, with Maggie’s help.

It always makes my blood boil in situations where the girls are harassed upon. Why can’t they be humane and treat everybody with respect no matter what the situation is. That said, Pope wasn’t the one who did anything to her, but he didn’t stop his men from molesting Maggie and as a result he’s a scumbag too, but he is an interesting character and the show just got a bit more exciting because him. Now we know that 90% of humans are dead, that makes it much more difficult to fight the invading aliens.

Next episode, what’ll they do with Pope now? Will Tom be able to rescue his son, Ben from the aliens? If he does, can he remove the harness without causing death to Ben? Will everybody survive the rescue operation?

Falling Skies 1×1 – Live and Learn Review

As soon as I saw Steven Spielberg was an executive producer on TNT network’s “Falling Skies” show and Moon Bloodgood and Noah Wyle starred in it, not to mention being a sci-fi fan and drama fan, I knew I had to watch this show. This is the review for the first episode – Live and Learn.

The premiere opens with drawings of how the aliens attacked and took over the world from the perspective of the children. Soon we are introduced to the main characters in this post-apocalyptic tv show. Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) and his son Hal, along with some other military soldiers are scavenging for gas, food and anything which might be useful to their survival. The aliens are hot on their trails and destroying everything in classic Star Trek style laser beams. Some of them die in the battle and the remaining come back to camp after the aliens destroy a vast portion of the city. Here Commander Porter issues an order to move out in units of 300 – 100 fighters and 200 civilians, as the alien sensors are starting to detect groups of people over 500. Mason has his reasons to not want to go because his second son Ben has been harnessed by the aliens. Finally with Weaver as head of the 2nd Massachusetts and Tom Mason, the history professor as the second in command, they move out on a predetermined path. Tom wants to lead a group of fighters who can scavenge for more food and Weaver barely gives him any proper heavy ammo to defend himself and his group. They set out and Mason finds a young dead boy with a horrible harness cut halfway across his back. In another part of the city, Hal accidentally discovers his younger brother, Ben along with other kids and a bunch of Skitters and Mechs. Tom convinces his son and himself that it is not the right time to rescue Ben and go ahead to scavenge for more food. Here Hal finds out a way to kill a Skitter, just go really close and shoot off the head! Apparently, they didn’t know that a Skitter could be killed so easily.

There’s a poignant moment in the show when Tom weighs two books in his hands and mind – Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and chooses the Two Cities book to carry along with him, tossing the Captain Nemo aside. Of course, A Tale of Two Cities is about the French Revolution where the French civilians fight the Aristocrats. So, its understandable why he would choose that particular book. 13-year old Jimmy plays a fighter who is considered good by every fighter, travels with the fighting group and this was very shocking to me and so would it be to others.

The interaction between Tom and Hal with the kid, Matt is very nice and heartwarming. There’s a scuffle between the father and son and the eventual plan to rescue Ben is met with a hopeless feeling. So our dear professor indulges them to a bit of fun historical facts where the invading armies are overthrown by the natives due to their relentlessness, like Athenians, Scots vs British, French Revolution. Everybody look like they were hearing somebody talking in Latin. So our professor says the only thing everybody can understand, Red Socks Yankees ’04. With smiling faces and renewed hopes, they set away to do some good old scavenging.

The story seems to be pretty derivative from so many other sci-fi shows. You have the main character, Mason who is a nerd (history professor) and has someone (son) whom the aliens have abducted, the doctor chick and a serious looking asian guy. The young handsome guy (Hal) with a hot blonde (Karen) and another cute girl (Lourdes) who has the hots for him. Even though it has all these clichés, I find the show interesting and I am gonna stick to it. The show will obviously be more about the human drama rather than the technical mumbo-jumbo which most sci-fi shows have. It isn’t flashy and try to be cool. The dialogues are very real and the alien ship, Skitters and Mechs CGI look awesome, in a realistic way.

I didn’t like the fact that Bloodgood barely had any screen time here. And the ending where Matt and the other kids take turns on a Rollerblade and everybody stand around them watching, like as if they have not got anything to do rather than watch, smile and clap for a bunch of kids! And the aliens who could disable all the latest human technologies don’t have a single infrared camera? They could wipe out every last human with that device easily. And North Vietnamese victory over the U.S Military was one of the greatest wins for the natives, why wasn’t it mentioned when the professor was going on about greatest upsets in history!

Anyway I am very interested in why the Mechs look like our robots – 2 arms and 2 legs, while the Skitters have 2 arms and 6 legs. Maybe the aliens were here long before anybody had known and studying the humans and their strengths and frailties? And why did the aliens only harness teenage kids and not adults or young children? And will we ever see how the aliens actually destroyed our world? If you have anything to share, any views, hit the comments people.

P.S: The premiere of  “Falling Skies” had the biggest opening in cable history. More than 6 million viewers tuned into the show.