Greek

It's been announced that Season 4 will be the final season and will only be 10 episodes long. I think it's clear that will be a good thing as this show has run out of gas and been more and more difficult to watch. One of the core conceit's of this show is that you have to believe that Casey Cartwright is such an incredible girl that guys constantly fight over her and vie for her attention and it just rings more and more false as the series progresses. She just doesn't bring all that much to the table to have guys falling all over themselves to get to her.

In tonight's episode she keeps pressuring Cappie to make some decisions about his future and she thinks she is going to get some help from his visiting parents. However his parents are very non-traditional (read: hippies) and encourage him to take it slow and not rush graduation. I keep fighting the urge to scream "man up Cappie!" at the TV but I don't because I don't like it when people stare at me.

In the end it looks like Casey has made up her mind that her and Cappie are not meant to be but I'm sure that is just setting the stage for future waffling and wishy-washyness as all parties display their trademark inability to make a decision. I guess we'll see.

24

Another high octane episode of 24 hit the airwaves and cable boxes tonight and boy was it a doozy! Jack and CTU crew are working to rescue Kayla Hassan, daughter of the Kamistan President who has been taken prisoner by her one-time lover and head of President Hassan's security, Tarin Faroush. After Kayla is shown to be tied up and demands are made by the Kamistan terrorists it appears Tarin has a change of heart and helps Kayla escape, even getting shot in the process so Tarin can drive away and get to CTU. That's when things go real south, real quick.

As Kayla is being directed to CTU, surveillance shows an alive and well Tarin getting in the car with the other terrorists and it dawns on Jack what has happened. Kayla's car has a bomb and it's headed straight for CTU! Not just any bomb but a EMP device that will shut down all electronics in the building, erasing every hard drive and scrambling every system. A perfect opportunity for someone to diffuse the bomb with just one second left on the timer, right? Wrong! That bad boy goes off and CTU is down! Making Jack and co. 0 fer 2 in the diffusing bombs category this season.

The worse tragedy of all this? Not that security for all of Manhattan is down and now the terrorists can smuggle a dirty bomb onto the island. No, the worst part is this blast will make it more difficult for Dana (Katee Sackhoff) to get busted for allowing her ex-boyfriend to kill a cop. Once Marshall Prady (played brilliantly by Stephen Root, reminds me of Columbo) showed up, I thought for sure that little subplot would quickly be thrown in the trash where it belongs but it doesn't appear that will be the case. Oh well, maybe next week.

Chuck

Chuck is great TV. Week in and week out it delivers humor, action, an intelligent plot, and characters that are tons of fun to watch and tonight's episode was no different. Chuck and the team are a mission to break into the CIA vault to test the security but unbeknownst (is that a word?) to everyone Casey is approached by his old handler and given a secret side mission.

Casey is tasked with retrieving a secret drug from the vault and delivering to his handler played by Robert Patrick whom it is always nice to see. (I still think one of the biggest mistakes CBS ever made was cancelling The Unit.) After being found out and arrested for treason, Chuck and Sarah take it upon themselves to rescue Casey but before they can The Ring come and take him from his cell first and we find out that Casey knows that his mission was given to him by The Ring.

So Casey knowingly betrays his team and his country? This is where the story falls apart a little. Even though The Ring has threatened his ex-fiancee as leverage I can't help but think that Casey should have brought the situation to his superiors and figured out a way to turn the plot around and not had to commit treason. But I guess that wouldn't have moved the plot forward so Casey had to act a little out of character. A small quibble but one that bugged me as I kept watching and waiting for the reveal that Casey was actually on orders to infiltrate The Ring but it was not to be.

One powerful motif in the episode was Sarah walking in on both Casey and Chuck as they have a bad guy in a helpless position. Casey kills his guy but Chuck lets his live illustrating the difference between the battle-hardened Casey and the softer naive Chuck. One of the more difficult things this show is going to have to do as it moves forward and Chuck gets more and more spy experience is keep that kind streak in Chuck at the forefront and not let him get as jaded as Casey and even sometimes Sarah is.

The last thing that kind of surprised me is after the bad guys are captured and the team is back at the base for debriefing, Casey isn't rearrested for treason! He still broke into a government vault and voluntarily left with the bad guys when they came to his prison cell but no jail for Casey? The magic of TV I guess. He does booted from the military and made a civilian but that seems a small price to pay for what he did.

Despite a few things I had issues with, this episode was very good. The writing and acting have always been top-notch and it's great to have a show like this that's fun to watch every single episode.

Batgirl #8

I have to admit that this is the first issue of the new Batgirl series that I have found even remotely interesting. In the past it seemed like far too much time was taken up trying to justify Stephanie Brown being in the costume. Her lack of skill and experience got her killed (since ret-conned) in No Mans Land and she doesn't appear to have gotten any better. In fct her most interesting characteristic was her on-again off-again relationship with Tim Wayne. (formerly Robin now Red Robin)

In fact it's not lost on me is that what I liked most about this issue was the Red Robin guest appearance and her interaction with him. You can feel the discomfort between these two heroes who really don't know where they stand with each other. Tim feels like she betrayed him and Stephanie feels like she did what she needed to do at the request of Batman. As both heroes find themselves with the common goal of protecting Leslie Thompkins they got to put their past behind them and just fight ninjas. Honestly, that sounds like great therapy.

I was close to pulling this book off my read list but I think I want to see where it goes for a few more issues.

Action Comics #887

I love when comics take a step back from the title hero and flesh out some of the secondary characters that populate their universe. When done correctly we see that these are more than cardboard cutouts or devices to move the plot forward but fully formed characters each with their own motivations and goals.

This issue pulls back the curtain and gives us a look at why Lois Lane is such a good reporter and why she's far from the "damsel in distress" archetype she started out as and is now a woman strong and confident enough to be the wife of Superman. With Kal off-planet for what seems like forever (probably not in comic book time) she has thrown herself into exposing the plot by her father to paint every Kryptonian as evil and spark a war between Earth and New Krypton. We get to look over her shoulder as her investigation puts her in harm's way and watch as she writes her article exposing her father and his machinations.

As she follows her son NightWing and his girlfriend FlameBird as they fight against the creation of a corrupted Kryptonian god Rao we see a woman very much concerned with how Kryptonians are perceived by the public. She wants to expose the truth knowing that whatever the public sentiment is against Kryptonians it will eventually be applied to her husband.

I love the effort put into making sure not just Superman but the world around is well defined and full of characters that have a realistic feel to them. I look forward to what Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann will bring us next.

Caprica

I love good Science Fiction. When it's done right it gives us a window into the human condition unparalleled by any other genre. Of all the Sci-Fi I've watched over the years (and it's been a lot) I don't think I've ever seen it done better than the BattleStar Galactica remake of a few years ago. Because of my love for that series I was incredibly excited about the prospect of a spin-off but having seen the first 6 episodes I'm on the fence. It's not bad, in fact at times it's very good, but it just doesn't have the emotional punch of the original series. I think I've gotten to the point of watching it for curiosity's sake rather than because I care about the characters and what life has in store for them.

In the most recent episode "The Imperfections of Memory", we see both fathers continuing their search for what matters most to them. Daniel Graystone is trying to get his robot up and working to save his company and Joseph is tracking down leads to find his daughter in the virtual world. It's Joseph's plight that resonates strongest with me, if your daughter (or any other loved one) died, what would you do to bring them back? Joseph had a digital copy made and now that copy is out in the digital world and Joseph is working hard to find her and be reunited.

Daniel, meanwhile, is feeling pressure from his board to deliver a workable Cylon or he loses his beloved Pyramid team (think "football") and eventually his entire company. He's hit nothing but roadblocks but it looks as if he has at least been put on the right track by his assistant. In fact at the end of the episode it appears he even recognized his daughter in the Cylon. It should be interesting to see what happens there.

All in all, this show feels like it's getting better and having spent years with BSG, I trust this writing staff to deliver an incredible TV show eventually. What do you think? Leave a comment.

Numb3rs

It appears that it's the end of an era for Friday night television. Numb3rs has run it's course and doesn't appear likely to be renewed for a 7th season but tonight's episode gives us some resolution for each of the characters.

Charlie and Amita get married and move to England, Don asks his girlfriend to marry him, Larry will continue to help the FBI, and David gets reassigned to Washington. All the characters are handled well and we don't get the sense that plot threads are still dangling but at the same time we see that these characters still have a lot in their future.

Being someone who has always had an interest in Math and the Sciences and how they can be applied to the everyday world, I loved that there was a TV show that made these things look fun and interesting. In fact I have always said that the very fact that the universe is rational and has set, discoverable, repeatable laws is the strongest evidence of the existence of a rational, orderly Creator. That if this universe was the product of chance it would be far more chaotic than it is. Even though Numb3rs rarely dealt with the Divine, every time Charlie would rattle off one of his explanations on how his math worked I saw it as an indirect testimony to the invisible God who made that math possible.

What do you think? Leave me a comment.