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Suburgatory Season 1 Episode 10

everything's the worst

Favorite Moments of 2011: Part Eight

Favorite Moments of 2011: Part Five

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Lulu Diamonds. . .

 

"You seem like a bonafide Sludgesicle-man."

 

Here's to you, Mr. Stipe.

"Stick 'em with the pointy end."

Hey, I Wrote That Song!

Used to watch this daily as a child. Ladies and Germs, Meet the Raisins!

 

 

 

Top Tens Shows of the 2010/11 TV Season

10. “The Day We Died” (Fringe)

 

Like the season one finale “There Is More Than One of Everything,” the final episode of season three manages to take the show’s sci-fi elements and bring them and the plot up a notch – a notch much higher than expected. For one thing, you have the episode itself which brings everything to a head, from the two worlds linking to Walternate getting his revenge. It’s amazing. But, it’s the final sentence spoken by an Observer at episode’s end that pushes everything over the top. Peter served his purpose? And, he’s been wiped from existence? This ending took balls.

9. “Threat Level Midnight” (The Office)

Michael Scott spent years making a movie. And, not just any movie. Threat Level Midnight is a work of pure cheese, made all the more enduring because Michael truly believed he was making something great. Terrible as the movie may be, it’s hilarious to watch. And, hilarious to watch others watching. Bonus Points: for bringing back former cast members, who acted in the film when they worked with/for Michael during the years he spent making it.

8. “iGet Pranky” (iCarly)

I’ve known about Nickelodeon’s second best show (after Victorious) since before the series premiere four years ago. I just never gave it a chance until last summer. I’ve been watching ever since, and this season’s best episode was the Spencer-centric adventure that has the loveable older bro of title character falling into his old habit of pulling pranks on people. Every moment in this episode is perfect.

7. “A Fistful of Paintballs” (Community)

Last year, I had “Modern Warfare” on this list. It was about paintball. Funny how this year’s list features another episode concerning paintball. Annie takes over, becoming a badass “gunslinger” and the driving force of the episode. Alison Brie has never been better, and the show is all the more better for it.

6. “Pilot” (Boardwalk Empire)

Martin Scorsese directed this first episode to HBO’s epic about prohibition and the individuals involved in taking the country in the direction it currently resides. Kelly McDonald, as the light in the life of main character Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) deserves an Emmy for her work. Masterful.

5. “TGS Hates Women” (30 Rock)

A brilliant satire on how we treat women in comedy. Also, this episode introduces a worthy nemesis for Alec Baldwin’s Jack Rudolph in the form of Chloe Moretz. Her performance is as great as you’d think it’d be. Emmy for guest appearance? Possibly a nomination, I’d like to think.

4. “Alexandra” (Nikita)

The first season of this show told the story of Alexandra Udinov. It’s no surprise then that several episodes were dedicated to this character. “Alexandra” was the best among them. Sure, other episodes pushed the story along by leaps and bounds. Other episodes may have had more character development. This one though is a perfect 40+ minutes, focusing on the past and present of the character. It also helps that Lyndsy Fonseca brings the character to life in this episode in such a way that I believed every moment with her. If there’s any justice in the awards world (and there isn’t) Lyndsy will get nominated for Supporting Actress.

3. “Wherever I Go” (Hannah Montana)

Shows end. Most never get the chance to say goodbye. Some never get a proper goodbye. Over the last decade, a handful of shows have been given the opportunity to end on their own terms. Most of these ended well enough. But, only a few ended in a way that gave tribute to the show; that gave closure; that gave finality. Lost was one of these. Six Feet Under was another. Angel, The Shield, and Dawson’s Creek were others.

This season Smallville ended. After ten seasons. It’s last episode, aptly titled “Final” was good – at times great – but it was never going to feel like a last episode, because this show was never about the ending, even though it was. We wanted to see Clark fly and whatnot, but in the end, it was always going to lead up to something else. It was always going to simply be a beginning.

Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana had a final, truncated season. It had its ups-and-downs. The show’s finale, “Wherever I Go,” manages the proper tasks mentioned above and saves the show from the uneven final season.

Here’s the thing. It turns out the show was about two girls. One was named Miley Stewart, and she had a secret. She was a pop star named Hannah Montana. This was driving force behind the show. Most of the plots revolved around this.

The show was also about another girl: Lily Trescott. She was the best friend of Miley, and she was always a part of these crazy adventures. She was also a part of the stuff that didn’t involve Hannah Montana, like dating and family problems. And this, as it turns out, is what the show was all about. 

Four episodes before the show’s end, Miley revealed her secret to the world. The following three episodes addressed the fallout. The one-hour series finale involved one thing: two friends going their separate ways. And, make no mistake about it. Things don’t end happily ever after. This is Disney, so things were made to look that way, but re-watch that final scene. Get this: it never happened.

After an emotional goodbye at the airport (featuring an Emmy-worthy performance from Emily Osment), a montage shows the two girls on their own journeys. Miley is shooting a movie in France. Lily is getting situated at Stanford. The end of the montage has Miley on her balcony, deep in thought. We dissolve to the Stanford campus, where Miley shows up and tells Lily that she’s left her movie to go to college with her – her best friend. And, it’s this scene that never happened. It’s Miley’s wishful thinking. It’s what she wants to do but will never do. The two friends will always be friends but their lives have taken them to different places.

And, it’s this that makes the episode great for me. Instead of having the show’s final hour be about “the secret,” the showrunners decided to focus on the girls and their lives. We all had friends in high school. Some of us got to stay in touch with them. Most of us, though, had to say goodbye. “Wherever I Go” made the Disney Channel’s most ridiculous show real in the end, and that is quite the accomplishment.

2. “Entrada” (Fringe)

There has never been a more suspenseful opening to show. Peter finds out that the Olivia he’s been sharing a bed with for months is not the real Olivia. At first, he doesn’t know what to do. Then, he makes sure. Then, he tries to kill the imposter. But, she gets one over on him and escapes. This all happens before the first break. Amazing. Emmys for writing and directing, please.

1. “Homecoming” (Smallville)

“Finale” didn’t end up delivering the goods in the way this 200^th episode did, but that’s fine. In fact, the series finale is still good and completely watchable, but it’s this episode in which Brainiac 5 takes Clark on a journey of self-discovery that reminded me why I watched the episode in the first place. It managed to do what older episodes used to do so well – tell human stories while taking the Superman-mythos a step further. Seeing the future in this episode paid off great in “Finale.” Clark and Lois slow-dancing in the barn was pitch-perfect. Bringing back the first villain from the first episode was masterful. Seeing Lois wanting so badly to fit in was enduring and made me love her even more. Throwbacks to the Torch and the Wall of Weird was awesome. And, explaining Clark’s state-of-mind over the show’s past few seasons made sense and took the character to his final passage. “Homecoming” compliments “Finale” but because it was not given the task of wrapping things up the way finales do, it had no real reason to fail. Unless it was poorly written and directed. Thankfully, it wasn’t. This was the finest episode of Smallville since season seven’s Lex-centric “Descent.” For that alone it belongs here. In other words, it made me the fan I was years ago and prepared me for the end.

Achieving that makes it great enough to top my list of the best episodes of the 2010/2011 TV season.

LOST: THE FINAL SEASON (Revisited) - "Dr. Linus"

"Maybe you should be the principal."

"So says 'The Substitute.'"

"What do you mean I should be the principal?"

"Just sounds like you care about this place. And, if the man

in charge doesn't, then maybe it's time for a change."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but who's going to listen to me?"

This episode’s focus is the story of Benjamin Linus. On the island, we find him a lost soul, but still trying anything to weasel out of the consequences of his actions. It is not until the end of the episode that he comes clean and claims responsibility toward the murder of Jacob. And, man, does he feel bad about it. He feels so bad that he believes he’s pretty much screwed. He thinks the only way out is joining the Man in Black.

But, Illana’s forgiveness saves him.

And, why does Illana save him? Well, frankly, it’s what Jacob would have done. Ben may not have come out and said, “I’m sorry,” but he feels so bad that Illana sees that Ben is not the evil son-of-a-bitch we all believed him to be for so long.

In truth, Ben always tried to do things for the greater good. When flight 815 crashed, though, it all went to shit.

How do we know this? Easy.

The flashsideways.

Ben's mirror in this episode is interesting. On the surface, Ben is a different man. He's made different choices, and by episode's end he continues to make different choices. But, the episode explains who Ben was in life: his actions before the series finale and his actions after.

His position and demeanor in the flashsideways explains the person Ben eventually became, under the leadership of Hugo Reyes. His quiet and more than willing to help, but there's still that extra bit of constant calculation in him.

His actions, however, represent the Ben we thought we knew. His brief but extremely important dialogue with Locke at the beginning of the episode (quoted above) explains why he did what he had to in order to kick Charles Widmore off the island so that he could be leader of the Others. "Dr. Linus" explains how exactly he came about doing this. He found dirt on Charles and got him to leave, making sure that Ben would be his replacement.

And, Ben wants to be principal because he cares. Seems he must have cared when he assumed his leadership position on the island. The thing was, though, he just didn't have it in him to be leader, no matter how many times he lied and manipulated. In the end, he was a means to an end. He existed to bring the candidates together. And, his jealousy of this damn near destroyed eveything.

Except that Ben cared.

So did Roger Linus. He appears to be awakened. Although, it's fair to assume that this Roger doesn't exist, and that Ben only created him in his afterlife to find peace and closure with the man he killed.

And, poor Alex. She does exist here, and her relationship with Ben is the kind neither had with one another in life. The flashsideways function as a place to work things out, either with people who are there or with those who aren't. No matter what, the purpose portends a meaning behind the entire show.

I'll get to that later. Next up, "Recon."

LOST: THE FINAL SEASON (Revisited) - "Sundown"

"Sayid, if you'll do this for me...what if I told you that you

could have anything you wanted? What if I said you could

have anything in the entire world?"

"I would tell you that the only thing I ever wanted died in

my arms, and I'll never see it again."

There is no mirror moment in "Sundown." Sayid never once looks at his reflection, either in the island story or the flashsideways. His decisions in both stories reflect - no pun intended - this. Sayid goes down the same path he's always found himself on. Leaving Iraq, he found himself torturing Sawyer on the island. Leaving the island, he found himself a hitman for one Benjamin Linus. Finding himself back on the island, he believes his destiny to be killing a young Ben. Earlier this season, in "LA X", he felt what was waiting for him in the afterlife was not going to be good, because he felt he was not a good person. As he tells Nadia in this episode, "For the last twelve years I've been trying to wash my hands of all the horrible things I've done. I can't be with you, because I don't deserve you."

Why then, if this is a world he himself created (along with the others), would he have put himself through this? Simple: Nadia was never "the one", or whatever you want to call it. His afterlife consists of desiring a woman he can never have. Essentially, he is punishing himself. Of course, Shannon could never be involved in any of this. If she was then they'd be awakened. And, each needs to find the path to find one another.

Shannon is Sayid's soulmate. She is the one he spoke of when with the Man In Black in this episode.

So, Sayid's afterlife has him going all dark on us. Of course, he's not evil. What he does here is for the greater good - at least, that's how he feels. Taking Keamy and Co. out will help his brother, his children, and of course Nadia.

Speaking of Keamy and Omar. It's nice that they appear in Sayid's flashsideways, considering how he interacted with them so closely in season four. Fitting that he kills Keamy, when the guy was so close to killing him back in "There's No Place Like Home."

Anyway, so Sayid's not evil in the flashsideways. Why would he be? Remember, these flashsideways are the afterlife for each character. So, Sayid didn't die doing something bad. He died so that his friends would have a chance to live. He made the ultimate sacrifice. This is why he is not suffering in his flashsideways. But, his everlasting guilt over the things he has done makes it hard to experience.

As for the island story, Sayid accepts his fate. Or, what he thinks is his fate. Do I believe for one second that he believes the Man In Black is going to give him Shannon? Not at all. But, he's always been told he was not a good person. Back in "He's Our You" we found out that even as a child he was seen as a killer. Sayid goes with the flow on this one. The fact that the Man In Black has claimed him only makes the decision easier. Look closely at Sayid's face when Ben sees him. That's evil. But, that evil will only last so long. Eventually, Sayid's friends will bring him back.

Well, one specifically. And, when that happens a few episodes from now, I'll smile at the writer's notion that the one to help Sayid was one who was helped greatly by him on a little episode called "The Constant." Desmond returns the favor, saving Sayid from oblivion.

Also, Dogen's story was great. It showed how Jacob chooses people who are nowhere near perfect. Why then did the lists exist? Well, they existed to give those who came to the island, and were good, a chance to live peacefully, while the non-chosen were left to the rest of the island making choices and discovering their destinies.

"Sundown" ends on a rather gloomy note. Jacob knew the Man In Black was coming to the Temple, and yet he does nothing to prevent it.

Right?

Wrong. First off, the guy's dead. Second, that temple has stood for who knows how long. Jacob did his job for a long time and kept the Man In Black out. It was just that...well, the time had come.

You can feel that the end is coming with this episode. And, that the end may involve a lot of darkness.

We can hope for redemption.