Emily's playing a dangerous game trying to get to The
Initiative, and Collusion made it apparent that she might not have all the
control she might like. In convincing Daniel to acquire Stonehaven in a
business deal, Emily unwittingly gave The Initiative exactly what they wanted.
Furthermore, it severely hindered her partnership with Victoria, who was adamant
she stop Daniel's furthering plans at Grayson Global. While The Initiative’s
introduction into Revenge defines
the show as extremely melodramatic, at least Revenge knows
what it is. The revelation that they plan to use Nolan’s confidential Carrion
project in order to shut off all of Manhattan's electricity, and that they've
used Daniel to require Stonehaven, a disaster relief foundation, so that they
can profit from using Carrion is over the top dramatics at its peak. The way in
which The Initiative has seemingly worked their way into the lives of the
characters of Revenge is another prime example of this. Aiden tried to play
along with their plans and kill Victoria, but Emily convinced him not to,
leading to (possibly) his sister's death. Not even Nolan is immune to their
manipulative powers, discovering his employee/ lover Padma is working for them.
Let's just hope her reasons are more intriguing and not so banal as Daniel's.
Meanwhile, are even more banal storyline involving the Porters and the Stowaway
continues, and just as I knew it would more of Revenge's characters have been
dragged into this silly plot. Hopefully Conrad's business deal with Nate to
take control of the docks, and tear small businesses down to create a new
high-end casino in an attempt to run for politics provides more interesting
developments for all the characters involved other than Jack and Declan
wondering around like stunned mullets.
While I'm still uncertain that Hank's time in the Happy Endings Rehabilitation
Centre will do any good for his character in the long run, the new setting has
undoubtedly allowed the show an interesting change of perspective. The necessary
tragically hot young female that befriends Hank this season, Faith, has yet to
sleep with him yet, but other than that, her usefulness throughout this season
seems as if it will be pretty thin, particularly since she's already explained
her backstory. Hank spent most of the episode being a sarcastic arse, but
thankfully visits from Charlie, who is now a ‘gay-gent’ for Hollywood movie
star Robbie Mac, and Becca, who has inherited her father’s unique ways in terms
of discussing her sex life, kept things funny. I'm intrigued to see more Karen
and Marcy interaction since they are now roommates, other than just them
getting high, but I guess I'm going to have to wait. It looks like most of
Karen's time will be taken up being interior designer for stereotypical rock-star
Atticus Fetch, which at least will allow her character to be tied in nicely
with Hank's 'professional' endeavours this season which is something the show
hasn't done before. Marcy on the other hand seems to be having a hard time
letting go of her cheating ex Stu, for which I am glad, because despite all the
disturbing overzealous sex talk between them, I find the characters, and the
bizarre relationship they share, endearing.
Fringe's final episode saw the Fringe team finally piece together the device they had been 'building' all season in order to send the child Observer Michael into the future to stop The Observers ever being created. The stakes and obstacles were high enough though to make it a fairly exciting episode. Broyles was discovered as the mole for the underground, Peter and Olivia had to infiltrate Observers headquarters to get the control cube needed to operate the shipping lane between time periods, and this allowed the use of past Fringe biological materials as a nod to longtime fans. Astrid and Walter also shared a nice moment with Daisy the cow, and the fantastic Windmark met his squishy demise at Olivia's hands. In terms of character development Fringe's final episode lacked severely, but Fringe has always had difficulty doing so with character's that aren't named Walter Bishop. The mad scientist finally got the redemption he thought he deserved by sacrificing himself and taking Michael into the future. So Olivia and Peter fought for their family, Etta, and won, and while it was all very touching, 'generic happy family' as an ending for a thought provoking science-fiction show isn't exactly what I wanted.
One of Homeland’s
greatest strengths for me as a viewer has been its ability to make the relationship
between its two leads ambiguous. Are they really in love with each? Or is one
(or both) of them playing on the emotions of the other for the sake of their
job? ‘The Choice’ removed this uncertainty
and presented Carrie and Brody as two people deeply in love with each other,
and while Danes and Lewis have continuously proved their great acting skills,
Carrie and Brody in the throes of a new romance does not make for interesting viewing.
In fact, watching the pair of them return to the cabin in which their elicit
relationship first begun was rather painful to watch. There was juggling of potatoes,
deep and meaningful conversations about absentee mothers, deep and meaningful
conversations about their future as a couple, sex, and croissants, all in that
order. Thank god Quinn was hovering in the background ready to kill Brody on
Estes orders the second he was alone, just to keep thinks interesting.
Or not. Quinn approached Estes in his home and made it clear
that he only kills the bad guy, and that Brody’s involvement with the CIA finally
allowed them to kill Nazir, therefore Brody’s deal with the CIA should be
honoured. As a character Quinn was a great addition to Homeland this season,
although his sudden display of strong morals and affection for Carrie’s
wellbeing seemed uncharacteristic, him threatening Estes was entertaining
nonetheless.
Brody not being killed by Quinn allowed him to start moving
on from his past and into a possible future with Carrie. He made Mike buy him a
beer, thanked him, and basically told him now they that were divorcing that he
could have Jessica (not a bad trade, if you ask me). Jessica too was trying her
best to make headway in moving on, but the way in which she unceremoniously
removed all of Brody’s clothes from their room, and made certain that he came
to get his suit for Walden’s memorial while she wasn’t there makes it clear
there’s still some animosity towards him. Dana walking in on her father changing was
a superb call back to the season one final, although Brody’s decision to tell
her that he had planned to detonate a suicide bomb seemed unrealistic, although
perhaps it was representative of Brody’s continued attempts to move on. He no
longer needs to lie because that part of his is now over and he has no purpose
in continuing to hide it.
Estes, having hidden Saul in the CIA for three days, had no
reason to hide him any further either, with Brody’s assassination cancelled. Once
free he and Carrie, who had some decision making of her own to do in regards to
her future with Brody, had a talk in the best scene of the episode. Saul told
her she was in line to be the youngest station chief in the history of the
agency, to which her response is understandably conflicted. Saul gives her the
harsh truth: she can do whatever she wants, but an intelligence officer for the
CIA can’t, and that she’ll be throwing her life away for a terrorist if she
stays with Brody (which seems quite the contradictory thing for him to say
considering he just spent three days locked away for his attempts at trying to
stop Brody’s assassination, but the scene was gripping regardless).
Saul headed off to oversee Nazir’s sea burial, and Carrie
and Brody attended the beginning of Walden’s memorial before sneaking off to
Saul’s office where Carrie told Brody she had made her decision to be with him,
before Brody noticed someone had moved his car. Before Carrie could say ‘Fuck!’,
an explosion ripped through Langley incinerating Walden’s memorial service and
knocking Carrie and Brody over. Homeland’s
suspension of disbelief has come under heavy scrutiny recently, and I’ve no
doubt that the occurrence of a major explosion within a CIA facility will
garner a similar response, but I much prefer a Homeland that takes risks and throws everything into question in the
second half of ‘The Choice’ over the incredibly tedious first half.
That being said, the explosion is the catalyst that will see
Homeland into its third season, and
if the questions and atmosphere of the second half of ‘The Choice’ is anything
to go by, I’m extremely hesitant as to where the show is headed. The decision to
once again place Brody as a prime suspect for the attack just seems exhausted,
Carrie’s instantaneous response to blame him, while tense, is something we’ve
all seen before. He tells Carrie that this could have been Nazir’s plan all
along, that he orchestrated his Walden’s deaths in a master plan for revenge. And
once again, Carrie’s easily convinced, and the pair leave Langley, Carrie
provides him with money and a fake passport, before the star-crossed lovers say
goodbye at the border, Carrie telling him she’ll clear the name of the presumed
terrorist.
The problem with Homeland
is that the presentation of a character or storyline is never clear cut,
audiences think they’ve figured out who a character is or what has been
happening, but the way in which Homeland continues
aims to ensure us that you can never be certain, which leads to increasingly frustrating
viewing. Regardless as to whether Brody, Nazir, the long talked about CIA mole,
or even Saul or Quinn (yes, there has been heavy discussion online that even these
two characters could have blown up Langley, such is the elusiveness of Homeland), is culpable, what’s certain
is that Homeland will continue to entertain audiences next season, albeit in a
very confusing way.
Rick, Daryl, Michonne and Oscar attempted to rescue Glen and Maggie from Woodbury this week, and despite some incredibly stupid decisions, and a rather unbelievably easy entrance and escape, things were relatively entertaining. Rick and Michonne are two very entertaining characters, but also both have quite frustrating demeanour's, and watching them squabble over how things should be done is increasingly annoying. Regardless, both were able to successfully get what they want through the use of an endless supply of smoke grenades. Rick was able to retrieve Glen and Maggie, although Oscar didn't survive, unsurprisingly, and Michonne was at least able to attempt to get revenge on The Governer, and their fight was the highlight of the episode.
The Governer's motivations are still a mystery, but at least this episode gave audiences a closer look at his psyche, and how far he's willing to go to stop 'the terrorists' who he thinks are desperate to take what he has created in Woodbury. His seething anger at Merle for lying to him about Michonne's death led to the exciting closing scene in which he decided to bit Merle against his long lost brother Daryl in a fight, presumably to the death. The shock on Andrea's face was another great moment, a woman whose seemingly new found perfect world has just been shattered by the shocking clash of people from her past and present.
Back at the prison Carl is being all adult and emotionless as usual, and presumed paedophile Axel is making the moves on Beth, but not Carol because she's totally a lesbian. In more entertaining news, a group runs into the prison seeking refuge, and while the beginning of the episode showed them struggling with trying to keep one of there own around after they've been bit, something I'm sick of watching, it's a necessary reminder about how far Rick and the others have come. While I'm hesitant for The Walking Dead to add even more characters, I understand their need in a show with such a high death count.
On October 30th 2012, Lucasfilm founder and Star
Wars creator George Lucas announced, with Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, that he had
sold his production company to Disney for $4.05 billion dollars. Furthermore,
in a joint video media release, Iger also reveals Disney’s plans to continue
the Star Wars saga, with a new trilogy, of which the first film is expected to
be released sometime in 2015. It is tent titled Star Wars: Episode VII, based
after the events of Return of the Jedi, which was released in 1983, and it’s
expected that every two to three years after that the two sequels will hit
cinemas. Watch the video below:
It’s easy for many to say that Lucas’ decision to sell his
beloved creation is an attempt to ensure a very nice retirement pay check, and
that the Star Wars legacy, the one in which is name will always be
synonymouslytied to despite his lack of
future involvement, will forever live on in cinematic and pop-culture history.
However, after watching his interview, I can’t help but feel that his decision
to sell LucasFilm is a genuine one.It
does not solely come from a place of wanting monetary gain, as he has stated
majority of the money he received from the deal will go towards his educational
foundation and other philanthropic endeavours. Neither does it come from an
egotist wanting to maintain his notoriety. As an aspiring writer myself I
understand that a writers' creations can simultaneously be a product that they
never want to see end, but are also the bane of their entire existence. Lucas
has received much criticism for Star Wars since the release of The Phantom
Menace in 1999, which must have been a perplexing experience for Lucas considering the
overwhelming positive feedback the original trilogy garnered. What makes this
even sadder is the knowledge of Lucas’s meticulous work ethic; that he worked
so hard on all of his films, yet currently they recieve mixed to negative
reactions since the conclusion of the last Star Wars film he made, Revenge of
the Sith in 2005. As Lucas himself has stated: ‘Why would I make any more... when everybody yells at you all the time and
says what a terrible person you are?’ It’s no wonder Lucas initially abandoned plans
to make further films, but this way, Lucas’ creation is able to live on, and he
is able to pursue his wish to undertake more experimental films, without
feeling that he owes Star Wars, or it’s fans anything, without discrediting the image
of the company he created. Not only that, but fans that were unimpressed by the
Star Wars prequel trilogy can be optimistic that Disney has the opportunity to
take the franchise in creative and exciting new directions.
But just how excited should we get? And what directions
could we be expected to be heading in? Details from Lucas’ previously abandoned
sequel plans suggest the next trilogy will be based twenty to thirty years after
the end of Return of the Jedi, with the characters of Luke, Leia and Han
playing pivotal roles. Popular theories online since the announcement of the
new trilogy suggest the plot might borrow heavily from many novels based after
Return of the Jedi in the expanded Star Wars universe.The most discussed being the original cast playing
more of a supportive role to new, younger, central characters, most possibly
Leia and Han’s children, Jiana and Jacen Solo, who have played a large role in the expanded universe, as well as featuring a new Jedi
Order and Jedi Academy shown to be built by Luke in the novels. Obviously this
is all speculation, but one assumes Star Wars won’t return without the presence
of Luke, Leia and Han in some capacity, but will the actors be willing to return
to the roles that made them famous, and even more importantly, are they in good
enough health to do so? Mark Hamill would seem to be the most likely to return
to his role, but he as aged considerably and would need to do a lot of work to
get into shape for the film. Similarly, Carrie Fisher hasn’t aged all that well
either, and her many personal problems may keep her from returning. Harrison Ford has
been the most successful of the three since the end of Star Wars, so he would
have no need to return, and it has been stated that he wanted his character Han
Solo killed off in the Return of the Jedi, so his return seems unlikely,
unfortunately. But then again, he reprised his other most iconic character Indiana Jones In The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull in 2008 so you never know.
Then again, Luke, Leia and Han could still easily appear in
the next trilogy – played by completely new actors. This is where Disney’s
acquisition of the Star Wars franchise starts to come under closer scrutiny.
Technically they have the ability to do as they please with the continuation of
the story, and as Disney CEO Bob Iger stated the Star Wars universe ‘offers a virtually limitless universe of
characters and stories to drive continued feature film releases' and
refers to "[i]ts universe of more than 17,000 characters inhabiting
several thousand planets spanning 20,000 years offer[ing] infinite inspiration
and opportunities’. The only thing promising about this is
Disney is obviously in the money making business, and the best way to do that
with the next trilogy will be to promise fans a continuation of the characters
they know and love after Return of The Jedi, which is possibly why at this
early stage so much decision had been around the expanded Star Wars universe
and the return of key characters.
Regardless of what the outcome is, Star Wars is a pop-culture phenomenon and Disney's acquisition of one of the most influential science-fiction saga of all time is no doubt an exhilarating and slightly terrifying occurrence, and for me personally, 2015 can't get here fast enough.
Last week the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards were held, and despite my best efforts at predicting which shows and actors would take home a golden statue for their outstanding achievement in television, there were many surprising wins. Which was good, it added a much needed entertainment factor to the often long and dry affairs awards ceremonies tend to be. While many of my predictions were wrong, and even fewer were those I actually wanted to win, looking at the winners, it's good to see that the quality of television and acting was so good among all the nominees. Majority of the time I didn't mind that I had guessed incorrectly, or if my favourite show or actor lost, because it was easy to see the excellent quality of majority of the nominees. Overall, out of the ten categories I made predictions on, I only correctly guessed four, and there were only two categories in which a nominee I wanted to win actually won.
As for the ceremony itself, I always find it fun seeing television world collide when stars come together to do skits for events like this, but while the opening was fun, it could have been better. Jimmy Kimmell did fine as the host, and he most definitely has a touch of pompousness about him that really is necessary for hosts of shows like this to have. I couldn't help but feel a lot of the time though that Kimmell was given lines because he was the host and they had to give them to him. Having him introduce presenters with a usually not all that amusing one-liner just seems like a waste of time, and it goes on to cement my idea that perhaps award ceremonies shouldn't have hosts, or if they do, several of them, so that so producing the event don't feel as thigh they have to throw the host an unnecessary line because he hasn't been on screen in the last five minutes. I really could have done with more skits, and the only really funny one worth mentioning was Modern Family's candid look behind-the-scenes hilariously depicting how Aubrey Anderson-Emmons (who plays Lily on the show) terrorises her older cast members and makes work a living hell for them all.
I quite enjoyed the shorts of nominees being asked questions like how do you overcome writers block? (for outstanding writing for a drama series nominees) and several others similar to it. I wish that insight into the creative people behind the shows is fascinating and all the nominees should have been given the chance to answer questions like that (plus some of the answers were quite funny). As for the speeches, there were none to memorable, other than Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Amy Poehler's obviously planned yet still amusing speech mix up.
And it seems the producers were extremely erratic in deciding who long people would get to speak. The writers of Homeland, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon & Gideon Raff, were cut very short, while Julie Bowen of Modern Family was allowed to prattle on for a while. Here's a list of the major winners (again, not all of them, only the main ones which I know a bit about) and my thoughts on the outcomes (winners are highlighted in bold).
Outstanding Drama Series: Boardwalk Empire (HBO) Breaking Bad (AMC) Downton Abbey (PBS) Mad Men (AMC) Homeland (Showtime) Game of Thrones (HBO)
This is what I'm talking about. Other than Mad Men (which I tried to watch and think is incredibly overrated) and Game of Thrones (no where near anywhere as good as the other shows in this category), I would have been okay seeing any of these dramas win. Nice to have some fresh blood take the win after Mad Men's three consecutive years.
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series:
Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, Dexter (Showtime)
Bryan Cranston as Walter White, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Hugh Bonneville as Robert Crawley, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Jon Hamm as Don Draper, Mad Men (AMC) Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody, Homeland (Showtime)
The exact same thing can be said about this category, Damian Lewis got credit where credits due. If an actor can make American audiences sympathise with a terrorist, you know he's doing something right.
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series:
Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, The Good Wife (CBS)
Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson, Mad Men (AMC)
Kathy Bates as Harriet Korn, Harry's Law (NBC) Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison, Homeland (Showtime)
Glenn Close as Patty Hewes, Damages (DirecTV)
Most deserving win of the night, it would have been a crime if Danes hadn't of won.
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo 'Gus' Fring, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Brendan Coyle as John Bates, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Jim Carter as Mr. Carson, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Jared Harris as Lane Pryce, Mad Men (AMC)
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Game Of Thrones (HBO)
I still would have liked Giancarlo Esposito to win, but it's nice to see something good happen to 'Jesse' for once.
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:
Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma, The Good Wife (CBS)
Anna Gunn as Skyler White, Breaking Bad (PBS) Maggie Smith as Dowager Countess of Grantham/ Violet, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Joanne Froggatt as Anna, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway Harris, Mad Men (AMC)
Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, The Good Wife (CBS)
I like Maggie Smith as much as the next guy, but I think her prudish character/ performance of Downton Abbey is a bit overrated, although I haven't seen all of the nominees in action, so who am I to say she didn't deserve it?
Outstanding Comedy Series: Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) Girls (HBO) 30 Rock (NBC) Veep (HBO) Modern Family (ABC) The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Modern Family a solid comedy, so I have no qualms with it's win, even though I prefer to watch 30 Rock and The Big Bang Theory. Nice to see two new female-centric comedies in the mix, I might need to check them out.
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series:
Larry David as Himself, Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) Jon Cryer as Alan Harper, Two And A Half Men (CBS)
Louis C.K. as Louie, Louie (FX)
Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Don Cheadle as Marty Kaan, House Of Lies (Showtime)
Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock (NBC)
This one was a surprise. I'd say most of the other actors in this category were more deserving of the award, but it's nice to see Cryer get some praise after having to play second-fiddle to Charlie Sheen on a mediocre show for eight seasons.
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series:
Zooey Deschanel as Jess Day, New Girl (FOX)
Lena Dunham as Hannah Horvath, Girls (HBO)
Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton, Nurse Jackie (Showtime)
Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, Parks And Recreation (NBC)
Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, 30 Rock (NBC) Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer, Veep (HBO)
Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn, Mike & Molly (CBS)
Again, the talent of all these nominees speaks for itself, it could have easily gone to anyone.
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series:
Ed O'Neill as Jay Pritchett, Modern Family (ABC)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett, Modern Family (ABC)
Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Modern Family (ABC) Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker, Modern Family (ABC)
Bill Hader as Various Characters, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Max Greenfield as Schmidt, New Girl (FOX)
If a Modern Family actor had to win this (and I mean, who am I kidding, one of them had to, look at those odds), I wanted it to be Stonestreet, he plays a gay man so well. I really cannot wait to see Max Greenfield really show the rest of the world what he's made of, he's performance of Schmidt on New Girl is must see.
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series:
Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Merritt Wever as Zoey Barkow, Nurse Jackie (Showtime) Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy, Modern Family (ABC)
Kristen Wiig as various characters, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Sofia Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Modern Family (ANC)
Kathryn Joosten as Karen McCluskey, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Again, could have gone to anyone, although I wish it had been Vergara over Bowen.
Thanks for reading. What was your favourite/ least favourite part of the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards? Happy with the winners? Let me know in the comments.
