True Blood Finale

Been a while since I posted, but I thought I'd yak a bit about the season finale of True Blood.

The season started off with so much promise, with copious amounts of blood and nudity. But about midway through, the show completely ran out of steam. It didn't help that the slightly more interesting plot in Dallas ended first, meaning that the last few episodes focused entirely on the interminable maenad story. I could have gone without scene after scene of Jason being comic relief, or Hoyt's fat mom dancing around like an idiot.

The season finale somewhat redeemed the show by killing off the maenad early and spending the rest of the episode setting up more interesting plots for next season. But True Blood needs to get back to its first principles. And by first principles, I mean T&A. This is HBO damnit!

This just in: Heroes still sucks

In a bid to reverse its declining ratings, Heroes is embracing the gay! Actually, just lipstick lesbians, a.k.a. the gays that don't scare straight men.

Apparently, Claire the Cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere) will share a Sapphic smooch with one of her college roommates. And if fans like it, there could be more! Read about it here.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy a little lezploitation every now and then. But it'll take more than PG softcore to convince me to watch a show that is TERRIBLE. And the palpable desperation of the producers is far more entertaining than the series could ever be.

Vampires vs. Minotaurs: WTF!

I'm a big fan of HBO's newest series, True Blood. It has just the right mix of strong writing, acting, and depraved sleaziness that makes HBO series so much better than anything else on TV. I've gotten accustomed to a series about vampires, shape-shifters, and psychic southern belles. But the most recent episode threw me for a loop when Sookie, the main character, was attacked by a freakin' minotaur. Even by the standards of this show, it was pretty fucking weird.

I haven't read any of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, so I have no idea how weird this show is going to get. Hopefully, we'll get to see Sookie fighting a griffon while riding a unicorn in season 3.

Caprica ... now with more boob

Anyone else watch the pilot for the upcoming Caprica series, a.k.a. the unnecessary prequel to Battlestar Galactica? Some quick thoughts: it was well acted and generally well-written. Also, the producers took advantage of the DVD format and threw in some gratuitous nudity just to spice things up. Overall, the show has potential to be an interesting exploration of class structure, racism, and the rise of monotheism.

That being said, it was too long for its own good, and the philosophical discussions never really rose above the level of a high school debate club. In other words, it's just as silly and self-indulgent as The Matrix, but without the guns and kung fu.

And if the early Christians were as annoying and self-righteous as the monotheists in Caprica, it's no wonder that the Romans persecuted them. Still, the show deserves credit for trying to approach religion in a nuanced manner. It doesn't fall into the "monotheism is inherently better" or "all religion is violent" camps. Instead, the writers seem to be using science fiction to re-tell the history of Christianity, as well as touch upon the appeal of Islamic fundamentalism in modern times.

For all the flaws of the pilot, Caprica is an interesting idea, and I hope SyFy picks it up.

Ending on cliffhangers is lame

Spoilers below...

So this seventh season of 24 ends in fairly obvious fashion; Kim Bauer volunteers for some experimental treatment so that Jack can be cured through phony-baloney stem-cell medicine (stem-cells must be a godsend to sci-fi writers, nobody knows what they are or what they do, so you can make up any crazy shit you want). President Whats-Her-Name sends her dumbass, killing-federal-witnesses daughter to jail and in the process drives away her husband. Tony's master plan is predictably ridiculous and he gets caught. Plus, Agent Walker decides that, since the season is over, she might as well throw her career away and torture the main bad guy. Just another day in the 24-verse.

The show still suffers from not being able to sustain its central conceit: namely that all this lunacy could happen in 24 hours. Also, as per usual, the plan of the bad guys was needlessly complicated and ideologically confused. And the personal drama surrounding the President felt like a tedious distraction from the real story rather than a worthwhile subplot.

Still, this season was a marked improvement over the last, if only because it didn't suck horribly. Setting the action in Washington, D.C. was a nice change of pace from the usual location in L.A., and it made the interactions between Jack, the FBI, and the White House more plausible. And the writers made much better use of supporting cast members who, unlike Jack, could potentially be killed (and several of them were). There was even an effort to confront the issue of torture in a slightly more nuanced fashion.

For all its many faults, 24 remains one of the few TV shows dedicated to fast-paced, non-stop entertainment. It isn't a CSI knockoff or yet another show about lawyers or doctors; it's an action movie every week. So will the next season build off the improvements of this one? Only time will tell, but I'll be one of the viewers who sticks around for Day 8.

Why I Love 24

24 is a show that survives on the short attention span of the viewer. The audience must never stop to think about all the crazy shit that happens in a twenty-four hour period. Let's recap:

Jack is interrogated by a Senate sub-committee;

Domestic terrorists steal a device that allows them to hack anything (don't ask);

The terrorists actually work for a genocidal African government that wants to prevent a U.S. humanitarian intervention into their country;

They almost get away with causing a chemical spill disaster at an Ohio pesticide plant;

They do get away with crashing two airliners into each other above the National Mall;

The President's husband is kidnapped and shot by the bad guys;

The U.S. invades the African country anyway;

Once Jack and co. recover the device, the evil African leader launches a raid on the White House (the WHITE HOUSE!) and smacks around the President;

All of this was apparently a diversion (invading the White House was a DIVERSION!) so that an evil security contracting firm could smuggle a biological weapon into the U.S.;

A U.S. Senator is murdered;

The security contractors threaten to launch bio-weapon missiles at U.S. cities unless the President makes them part of the national security apparatus;

Once Jack and his pal Tony foil that plot, it's reveal that the evil security firm is part of an even LARGER plot;

Tony pulls the old double-cross a steals some of the bio-weapon;


All of this has happened in less than 24 hours

Heroes is back, baby!

So the whiny losers on the Internet keep bitching that Heroes is no good. WELL YOU"RE WRONG!!1 Heroes is still the best show on TV, and this episode is proof of why. It's got tons of excitement and character stuff and Sylar being totally awesome.

Nathan rescues Claire and flies away from some government guys who want to capture her. And then they go to Mexico. And then Nathan gets drunk after making a bet or something with some vacationing frat boys, um... I'm not sure why, and so Claire has to win the bet for him! And since she heals and all, she can't get drunk, so she wins! But she still takes her shirt off...Hayden Panettiere is soooo hot. But here's the weird thing. I usually ship Claire and Peter, and yeah he's her uncle and all, but they are so perfect for each other. But now I'm totally a Nathan/Claire shipper.

And speaking of Peter, he hangs out in a church with his mom! And they spend like half an hour of the show in the church, and his mom keeps going on about how sorry she feels for sucking. It's really moving and stuff.

And we get some great scenes with Sylar plotting with the evil government guys. It's exactly like every Sylar scene the show's ever had, so you know it's awesome! And he still eats brains, cuz you know...AWESOME.

Only one problem with this episode...NO HIRO-CHAN! He's the friggin heart of the show, and it just doesn't feel right without Hiro-chan giving us a Yatta! Oh well, I'm sure next episode is going to rock even harder. SUCK IT, YOU HATERS!

We're all gonna die because the Japanese love robots

Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak Part 2
Not perfect by any means, but I enjoyed it. In fact, it may be the best series finale I've ever seen, even if it didn't give a giant, Sorpranos-style "fuck you" to the viewers.

Spoilers ahead...

The Good:
Space battles! Robot-on-robot violence! Might as well blow the entire budget on the last episode.

Adama's plan to rescue Hera was as ridiculous and suicidal as all his other plans. Not surprisingly, it worked.

After 4 seasons, Baltar finally grew a backbone and even came to terms with his self-loathing and secret shame over his roots. His story arc with Caprica Six was resolved in a way that gave both characters as much closure as they'll ever get. As usual, James Callis and Tricia Helfer were outstanding in their roles.

Boomer's long running, oft-forgotten subplot ended in the only way it ever could, and yet the character still managed to go out with dignity.

Cavil, on the other hand, died in a completely meaningless fashion, which suits a character who ultimately believed in nothing.

Real Earth! Ron Moore and company are a bunch of lying liars, and I admit I did not see this twist coming. Linking the colonial survivors to the origins of modern humanity and (I'm assuming) our ancient pagan traditions is a much cooler idea than simply having them land in Times Square.

Furby is the seed of our own destruction!

Hoshi got to be admiral for 5 minutes. Come on, that shit is funny.

Flashback Adama threw up on himself! That's how I'll always remember him.


The Bad:
So all that shit with the opera house and the angels was just some overly-elaborate plot by God to arrange a Mexican standoff on Galactica's bridge? It's almost as if God is a hack writer on a TV series.

Apollo gives one of his big, dumb speeches and they all turn into tree-hugging hippies. The fuck? And did the survivors really have to send the ENTIRE fleet into the sun? I'm typing this blog post on a computer while sitting in an air-conditioned house. Technology rocks, and Lee Adama is full of fail.

The flashbacks became as pointless as I feared they would. I liked the flashbacks in the first part, but the longer they went on the less useful they were in examining the characters. Did we really need another story about how Lee loves Kara but their relationship will never work? 4 seasons of stating the obvious was enough.

Tyrol avenging Cally should have been dramatic, but that plot hadn't been addressed in months, and Tory was given so little character development I didn't feel much of anything when Tyrol killed her.

Rosslyn was mostly a waste of space for 2 hours, and then she died. Not exactly making good use of your most talented actress.

Angel Kara was an idiotic idea. While the show had pretty much revealed God's hand a long time ago, at least everything God did was ambiguous and open to multiple interpretations (like Head-Six being either an angel or one of Baltar's hallucinations). But turning Kara into the deus ex machina was just lazy writing and pretty much misses the whole point of faith. And her schmaltzy last scene with Apollo only made it worse.

If I never hear "All Along the Watchtower" again, I'll be a happy man.
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So what did you think? Leave a comment.

Upcoming Content!

New contributions on the way from Justin, who I assume will be posting about his double life as a tax attorney by day and a brutal vigilante by night.

There may also be some discussion of the criminally under-appreciated Dead Space, and the recent release, Resident Evil 5 (spoiler: it's just like Resident Evil 4, except you get to shoot black people!).

And I'll probably do a big post on the series finale of Battlestar Galactica, a.k.a., the only thing with artistic merit that SyFy (formerly SciFi) has ever produced. And maybe next week I'll do a review of the cult classic(?) Tales from the Hood, at the request of one Mr. Tron.

No new comic reviews this week: grad school (and the lack of any good comics) got in the way.

Wrapping Things Up: Battlestar Galactica

Daybreak: Part 1

Oh flashback, how I dread thee. Every time a show has one, its invariably used to reveal the SECRET INNER SOUL of a character. As if a person can be reduced to one event that completely explains the entirety of their life. Thankfully, the BSG writers don't try to capture the eternal essence of their characters, but rather explore tiny moments of their lives that set them on the course to where they are now. Its not that the death of Rosslyn's family made her into the steely president, but now that we know that she had dealt with tragedy even prior to the destruction of the colonies, her eerie unflappability makes a lot more sense. Similarly, Baltar's emotional attachment to Caprica Six, in stark contrast to his usually self-absorbed nature, is given a decent enough explanation.

Despite all the flashbacks, a lot of stuff actually happens in the present. This episode bares the burden of setting up the series finale, so its packed full of information and character bits. But it all comes down to this: if Galactica is going to die, then it might as well die in a suicidal rescue mission to bring back Hera and kick Cavil's ass. About frackin' time.

SciFi Channel to Become SyFy

Here's the news story on TV Week.

So the network that airs Stargate: Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica, and Dr. Who is embarrassed by its geek cred?

If they were so concerned about being labeled as nerds, they probably should have thought twice about bankrolling such cinematic gems as Mansquito.

TV Viewing (2/15 - 2/21)

24: 4:00 - 5:00 pm

I haven't seen it yet, due to the President's speech throwing off my DVR. The Fox TV website wants to install some crappy media player on my system, so I'll probably have to wait to find a decent torrent of this episode.

House: The Softer Side

The medical mystery of the week involves a priest who's lost his faith. Naturally, he bonds with House over their mutual atheism. And Cuddy is being wishy-washy over whether to invite House to a Jewish naming ceremony. But there must always be an annoying subplot, and once again it involves Foreman and Thirteen. Dr. House apparently agrees with the viewers that the Foreman-Thirteen relationship sucks, as he tries to force them to break up. He rightly points out that being with Thirteen turns Foreman into an idiot willing to throw away his entire career.

As usual for this season, the episode is two-thirds decent, with some nice interaction between House and the patient. The Cuddy portions are a bit annoying, as she acts more immature and indecisive than usual, but the actors manage to bring out some genuine emotions from a shaky script. If you ignore the banal Foreman-Thirteen subplot, House remains one of the best procedurals on TV.

Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock

I'm a bit torn on this episode. There's some great character moments, especially for Baltar, and the acting is superb, as always. But the central conflict of the episode, whether the Cylons and humans can successfully blend their societies, is beaten like a dead horse that's then set on fire.

Adama is pissed that Galactica is being repaired with living Cylon goop. The Cylons want to take off and abandon the fleet. And the civilians are getting restless and angry because they're starving while Adama makes nice with the Cylons. Any one of these plot threads can lead to interesting drama, but this episode plays them all at once, necessitating a great deal of manufactured conflict and out-of-left-field behavior.

What ultimately saves this episode is the human drama involving Ellen (recently returned to the fleet), Tigh, and Caprica Six. There's a fascinating and tragic love triangle here, and Michael Hogan and Tricia Helfer act the hell out of every scene they're in. Only four episodes to go...

TV Review (2/8 - 2/14)

I simply couldn't find the time last week to watch much TV, so I didn't bother to do a write-up this weekend. Instead, I'm gonna write down short phrases that best encapsulate the two shows I did manage to watch.

24: 3:00 - 4:00 pm
Under the right circumstances, even baby torture is justified.
Being the First Gentleman of the United States sucks.

Battlestar Galactica: No Exit
In lieu of actually planning things out, simply dumping a lot of information on the viewers and calling it a revelation will suffice. If viewers start to complain, distract them with the "I'm a PC" guy.

TV: What's Worth Watching? (2/1 - 2/7)

Spoilers below...

24: 2:00 - 3:00 pm

Quick summary: shoot, shoot, kill, explosion, shoot, explosion, kill.

Dubaku uses the MacGuffin device to implausibly start a build-up of dangerous gases in an Ohioan chemical plant. A brave, mid-Western man sacrifices himself to save America (or a small piece of it anyway) while the FBI flails about uselessly, as usual. Jack, Tony, and Bill Buchanan takes matters into their own hands and kill 90% of the bad guys in a bravura gun battle. The MacGuffin device is destroyed, and the nonsensical computer threat is over. However, Dubaku escapes and kidnaps the still alive First Gentleman (which is a dumb title, shouldn't he at least be the First Lord? Isn't Lord the masculine counterpart to Lady?).

On the one hand, this episode was action-packed, and there's just something inherently amusing about this team of vigilantes going around and doing the government's job for it. On the other hand, it's usually at this point, when the bad guys switch from their A-plot to their backup plan, that the season goes off the rails. This season seems to be slightly better scripted than previous ones, since the backup plan isn't some insane B-plot that could only happen if every tiny thing fell perfectly into place for the bad guy. Rather, the bad guys seem to be improvising with what they have given that their original plan is fucked. Of course, the usual qualifications that there's no way all this stuff would happen in a 24-hour period still apply, but if you're still watching the show, you've made your piece with its formula.

House: The Greater Good

The patient of the week is a talented doctor who quit her job so she could enjoy her remaining years with frivolous pursuits. Karma catches up with her in the form of a truly crazy ailment. Unlike prior episodes, the writers manage to tie the sub-plots together using the unifying theme of personal pleasure vs. professional fulfillment. Taub is professionally fulfilled, but starts to consider having a baby. Cuddy is still trying to balance the job she loves and her new baby. Foreman is placed in a position where he might have to choose between his girlfriend and his career.

Unfortunately, all these plots gel together only with a lot of bizarre behavior coming from various characters. Cuddy displays her anger at House for "forcing" her to come back to work by performing a bunch of juvenile pranks, which ultimately amount to nothing. House, uncharacteristically as well, doesn't prank her back. Foreman is unusually dumb this episode, and nearly throws away his medical career.

It doesn't help matters either that this is yet another episode that focuses heavily on Thirteen, a character who's gone from being the writers' pet to being the undeclared co-lead of House.

Burn Notice: Seek and Destroy

This episode depresses me, because it highlights what Burn Notice could have been if the writers hadn't chosen to stick with the predictable formula of Michael Weston helps out the sad-sack of the week. The episode actually starts off with an interesting plot where Michael is drawn into the world of art dealing and corporate espionage. It seems like an interesting job, and it actually pays real money, but the writers ultimately turn it into a conventional murder storyline, complete with pretty, grieving daughter.

The long-term plot involving the bomber who tried to kill Michael plays a little better, and we get to see Michael use some very nifty shotguns armed with water balloons. But even that plot is bogged down a bit with a tired, will-they-won't-they subplot involving Michael and Fee. It also doesn't help that Michael is forced to team up with the dumbest arms dealer in the world, a character who is clearly intended as comic relief, and is therefore completely unfunny.

I'm starting to think I'm over this series. I still enjoy the spy stuff, but the rest of the show feels tired and repetitive.

Battlestar Galactica: Blood on the Scales

The writers of this series have clearly embraced Shakespeare's approach to plot resolution. When in doubt, start killing off everyone. It's a testament to the quality of the writing (with the bonus that the show is wrapping up) that any character, even the leads, are potentially fair game. Zarek and Gaeta attempt to cement their coup with a few kangeroo court trials and mass murders. It all falls apart, as these things do, when the coup plotters discover that an underling willing to betray one master is more than capable of doing so again.

There are some nice character moments, including a wonderful exchange between Tyrol and a heretofore minor character, as well as the return of Head-Six, action hero Rollo Lampkin, and some great scenes with Gaeta and Adama.

But my favorite scenes involved Rosslyn on the Cylon baseship. Tory, true to her self-serving nature, convinces the other Cylons to run away before the mutineers turn against them. It takes Rosslyn all of about two minutes to bully the Cylons into doing whatever she wants, and from that point on you have a very pissed off woman commanding a very large warship.

This show continues to be outstanding, and I can't wait to see how it all ends.

Quick Thoughts on the Superbowl

On the one hand, it became an exciting game in the fourth quarter, with the Cardinals coming close to stealing the game from the Steelers. On the other hand, it was an ugly game throughout, with way too many personal fouls.

But the highlight was still James Harrison, a linebacker, intercepting the ball and running the length of the field.

Everybody Loves TV!

Spoilers below...

24: 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Every season, there's at least one episode of 24 where the show actually lives up to the promise of constant tension. There are 3 substantial plot threads going on at once: Tony and Jack are forced to kill Emmerson but must still convince Pres. Motobu to go ahead and turn himself in to Dubaku so that they can find out where Dubaku is hiding. Needless to say, Motobu will probably be dead in an hour, just like everyone else who relied on Jack for their survival. In another plot, the evil Secret Service agent murders Carly Pope, and then prepares to stage a murder-suicide involving Carly and the incapacitated First Husband. Apparently, the evil agent takes a lot of bathroom breaks, since it takes him the better part of an hour to get everything ready, and by the time he's done the First Husband has recovered enough to get some revenge.

In the least entertaining plot, the President refuses to give in to Dubaku's threats, and orders the military to invade Sangala despite the promise of further attacks on Americans. So apparently, she's unwilling to delay an invasion for a few hours, which would almost certainly save American lives and give her agents more time to find Dubaku. I know the writers are all Bush-lovers, but their defense of neo-con interventionism has become completely absurd. No American president would risk American lives for a purely humanitarian intervention in Africa. And while not negotiating with terrorists makes sense as a general policy, being President is about making hard choices that go against your instincts. Of course, the politics of this show being what it is, the President will be proven right.

House: Big Baby
In the patient-of-the-week plot, an obnoxiously upbeat special-needs teacher starts coughing up blood. Needless to say, House hates her. To make matters worse for him, Cuddy takes some time off and puts Cameron in charge, while she tries and tries to bond with her ugly baby. In the second b-plot, Foreman considers ruining a drug trial so that Thirteen can get the real meds rather than the placebo.

As per usual, House gets his way. Cameron develops a backbone for all of three seconds, but ultimately caves in to House, much like Cuddy always does. After being vomited on by Cuddy's kid, House eventually figures out that the patient has a weird genetic defect in her heart. Things work out for Cuddy too, who has a miracle bonding experience with the child after making an absurd call to House in the middle of a surgery. Meanwhile, Foreman switches drug samples for Thirteen's sake, and almost certainly sets himself up to get fired, and possibly lose his medical license.

I was a little hesitant about the Cuddy-as-Mommy plot, but it is actually starting to shape up as a good development for the character. And while I still think the Foreman-Thirteen relationship is boring, I can't help but be curious what the consequences for Foreman will be.

Burn Notice: Hot Spot
Michael Weston's case-of-the-week involves a protective older brother who is now being hunted by a local gang. As usual, rather than simply kill the gangster, Michael develops a convoluted scheme that involves tricking the gangster into thinking that a rival syndicate is moving in on his car theft ring. Eventually, Michael tricks the gangster's boss into killing the thug for him. As with last week's episode, this tactic has been used by Michael before in at least two episodes that I can remember. This show has always had its formula, but at this point it is starting to repeat specific plot points from past episodes.

Slightly better is the b-plot involving Carla and the search for the man who planted the bomb in Michael's loft. While throwing Carla off the trail, Michael and Fee identify the bomber, but Fee almost gets burned alive for her trouble. This leads Michael to decide to hook up with Fee again, but next morning Carla shows up, offering a none-to-veiled threat. The episode ends on an interesting note that leaves me hopeful for next week.

Battlestar Galactica: The Oath
Gaeta and Zarek stage their insurrection, and in short order Zarek is in charge on Colonial One again, half the main cast is thrown in the brig, and Rosslyn and Baltar are fleeing to the Cylon baseship. This episode is practically all action, with plenty of human-on-human violence over whether to form an alliance with the Cylon rebels. Having done little but brood for the last two episodes, Kara finally gets to commit violence again and goes not a little gun-crazy.

My only issue with this episode involves the final scene. After Gaeta declares mutiny, Adama and Ty are led to the brig. They manage to escape from custody and work their way to the same storage bay as Rosslyn. However, rather than escape from Galactica with Rosslyn, they hold the fort to ensure that her shuttle escapes. While this sounds heroic on paper, there's nothing in the scene that indicates that Gaeta or his marines had any real way of preventing the shuttle from escaping. Instead, the scene exists solely to set up a silly cliffhanger that was already ruined by the previews for next week.

Nitpicks aside, I can't even imagine how the writers will resolve this conflict without killing half the cast, or if that is what they actually plan to do in the remaining episodes. That sort of uncertainty is why I love this show.

TV: Is there anything good on?

Spoilers below...

24: 12:00 - 1:00 pm
It's still early enough in the season that 24 can continue to barrel along without much concern for how its various plot threads will end up colliding. This episode doesn't have as much action as the previous ones, but it does offer the usual "time is running out!" scenarios that this show does so well. Jack comes up with a rather inventive and semi-plausible way to force Mobotu from this panic room, and he even gets to fake-kill someone again.
We also learn that the President's administration is riddled with secret bad guys who want to help General Juma, and this corruption extends to the Secret Service, who murdered the President's son, and now plan to murder her husband. Has there ever been an administration on this show that didn't have at least one traitor in it? And there was the time that the President himself was the bad guy. No wonder all the good guys became independent contractors.

House: Painless
A fairly formulaic hour, with the usual patient with mysterious ailment, misdiagnosis, inane subplot, misdiagnosis, inane subplot leads House to the correct diagnosis. To shake things up, this patient is super-suicidal, but the writers ultimately try too hard in trying to draw parallels between the patient's life and House's. At the end of the day, the patient has a great life that's been marred by chronic pain, whereas House has a rotten life of his own making that is made worse by persistent but managable pain. The episode also continues the out-of-left-field Foreteen romance, but I don't think anybody really cares.

Burn Notice: What Doesn't Kill Me...
We begin season 3 with (spoiler alert!) Michael surviving the explosion, followed by a brief car chase. Michael feels like shit, so he cheers himself up by taking the case of the week, and actually seems really gung-ho about helping his client for a change. The client got scammed by a fake hospital, so Michael and company break out the usual bag of tricks to scam the scammers. Unfortunately, we've seen some of these tricks already, from the interrogations to the "trick the one guy into thinking you killed the other guy" scheme. As per usual, the crooks are idiots and are easily played by Michael. Also as per usual, Michael doesn't collect a fee, leaving one to wonder how he pays for all those gadgets and guns.
In the ongoing plot, we learn that Karla didn't try to kill Michael, and that someone else is now screwing with her plans. This show may have become a bit too formulaic, but I'm still curious as to where things go from here.

Monk: Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door
This episode guest stars Gena Rowland, who apparently has had an extensive career in Hollywood (according to IMDB) but never hit it big. The big mystery of the week involves the theft of an egg-eating machine (it's dumber than it sounds) and an unfortunate security guard who was killed. Sadly, the mystery this week is one of the poorer ones, and I imagine that most people figured out the trick to the killer's alibi by the first half hour. Somewhat more interesting is the exploration of Monk's issues with his mother, who abandoned him when he was a child. Gena Rowland's character stumbles into Monk's life, and Monk quickly comes to accept her as a surrogate mother. But given his poor experiences with phony friends, Monk becomes suspicious of this new figure in his life. I liked this subplot, if for no other reason than it seems to actually suggest a tiny bit of awareness of how Monk's experiences in previous episodes might affect him in the present. While this show remains adamantly episodic, a tiny bit of continuity never hurt anyone. Of course, all the changes in Monk's life are undone by the end of the episode, so back to square one by next week.

Battlestar Galactica: A Disquiet Follows My Soul
Another excellent episode from an excellent series. Many of the issues that I had with the Cylons so suddenly becoming cozy with humanity are starting to be addressed. As it turns out, not everyone is as ready to make nice with the toasters as Adama and Apollo. Zarek is causing trouble in the quorum and Peg-Leg Gaeta is contemplating mutiny. Things come to a head as Adama orders all the ships to accept retrofits of Cylon technology, which requires Cylons boarding the civilian vessels. To make matters even more complicated, the Cylons want citizenship and Tyrol finds himself on an episode of Jerry Springer. While this episode has the usual superb writing and acting, it mostly serves as a setup for the next one, which promises to be quite shocking.
Also, old people have sex. You know you want to watch.