Sons of Anarchy, 6x01 -- "Straw"

Sons of Anarchy has never been a show to shy away from brutal, horrific violence. It’s always been dark and gritty, and often it gets extremely graphic. I mean, there’s not one, but two rape scenes in tonight’s premiere alone. Sons is not afraid to push the limits of what its audience can handle, and at times it becomes difficult to watch -- for example, the torching of Tig’s daughter in last season’s premiere comes to mind. But tonight, we are left with a big question of whether or not the show has finally gone too far. 

Throughout the episode, we follow a little boy somewhere around the age of ten or twelve. We don’t know who he is, we don’t know who his mother is, and we don’t know why he is relevant. All we know for sure is that something bad is going to happen involving this child. This is Sons of Anarchy we’re talking about here. When we continue to cut to a schoolboy just going about his day, we know something terrible and despairing is going to happen with this boy. My assumption had been that this boy would be killed somehow, perhaps by Lee Toric, thus establishing him as the bloodthirsty villain of this season. Needless to say, I was wrong. 

At the climax of the episode, we see this boy sitting on a bench outside of what we assume to be his school. He’s flipping through his notebook when a bell rings, and when it does, he reaches into his backpack and pulls out a machine gun. As he walks into the building, we see his notebook is full of demonic drawings and scribbles. The camera pans up to face the outside of the school building, and we hear the gunfire and screams from inside. 

Is this too far? I can’t say. I’m completely thrown. Kurt Sutter is walking a very fine line here, and I’m afraid he might completely tip over onto the wrong side. A school shooting is a very emotional area to cross into for a lot of people. The more I try to find the words to discuss this scene, the more I am left speechless. But I will say this: I trust these writers. Sutter is obviously not afraid to throw heavy punches. We’ll have to wait and see if he can pull off this storyline in a manner is that is respectful and poignant.

Otherwise, this season seems to be off to a pretty good start. Lee Toric will presumably be a season-long villain this year, and we’re already starting to see how batshit crazy he is. On top of an apparent heroin addiction, he has a thirst for vengeance out against Otto, and has him raped every morning in prison. It also turns out he’s the one who had Tara arrested, and he’s currently reaching out to Clay to rat on the club. Why? Because he’s decided that through Otto, all of SAMCRO is responsible for his sister’s death. Of course, this is unreasonable. But he’s batshit crazy. Donal Logue is a fantastic in this role, and a lot of this might come of as silly in the hands of a lesser actor. But he pulls it off, and captivates the audience to see what Toric will do next.

With Tara in prison, she and Jax are drifting further apart. She refuses to let Jax see her (which seems dumb), and this drives him into bed with Collette, a new business partner to the club after they discover some of their girls are being tortured and raped by Iranian pornographers. I don’t fully get it. Tara was so close to leaving for good with the kids and obviously blames the club for her current predicament, so I understand her. But Jax couldn’t last one week with Tara in prison before jumping into bed with Kim Dickens. I’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out, but for now, I’m left befuddled by his decision here. In any case, what’s fascinating about Tara in this episode is how closely she resembles Gemma. An inmate steals her blanket, and so Tara’s response is to beat her bloody. Throughout the series, Tara has continually stepped more and more into Gemma’s shoes. It seems like this season is setting up to be the one that finally breaks her for good. 

Sons of Anarchy returned with a no-holds-barred premiere that, despite the controversial ending, has me pumped for more. We’re in for what’s sure to be one hell of a season.

Notes:

• Tig just can't stay out of trouble. Now he's gone and drowned the Iranian porn director in a tub of urine and dumped the body into the ocean. This can’t end well.
• Poor Lyla. She can’t seem to catch a break.
• Wendy misses the club. Someone needs to remind her that a week ago, Jax attacked her and shot her up with heroin. It's time to get away, Wendy.
• "I'd hate for her to be the last client you ever have." Gemma is a master of subtlety. 
• “Zero Dark Shithead” already wins best insult of the season. I can’t see anything topping this.

My Grade: B+

Suits, 3x04 -- "Conflict of Interest"

This week on Suits, we have a conflict of interest between Harvey and Louis. On the one hand, Harvey is representing Ava Hessington in her charges of conspiracy to commit murder. On the other, Louis represents Hessington Oil in their hostile takeover. In order for Louis to win his case, he needs Ava to step down as CEO of the company, which Harvey refuses to allow. Ultimately, Ava manages to convince everyone that she is in fact innocent of the charges against her, but it’s too late -- she’s been voted out. Meanwhile, Jessica stands back, pulling all the strings, manipulating the situation and garnering Hessington Oil as a personal client. 

This was a frustrating episode to me for several reasons. The biggest problem I had is not with something that actually happened, but rather with something that did not happen at all. Last week concluded with Harvey revealing to Mike his plan to overthrow Jessica. This week, we get... absolutely nothing. Mike has no reaction, no opinion, nothing to say at all about it. Nothing good, nothing bad. Just a whole lotta nothin’. Why? I find it hard to believe that Mike would have zero to say on this matter. It just feels like an oversight from the writers, to be completely honest. It feels like they might be holding his reaction off for a while, but for what reason, I can’t for the life of me figure out. Going into this episode, I was most excited to see Mike’s reaction. I feel very disappointed.

I’m not a big fan of Donna’s affair with Stephen. I can’t say that I’m “frustrated” by this storyline because that wouldn’t be fair. Really, the main complaint I have is that I love Donna so much and seeing her flirt with someone who isn’t Harvey kills me. As fun as it is to watch Donna flirting with Stephen, it hurts my heart. Because Donna is such a fun and lovable character, I’ve been more invested in Donna/Harvey than I ever was in Mike/Rachel. 

Which brings me to my final frustration this week -- Rachel getting jealous over Katrina was absolutely absurd. This season, Rachel has been given little-to-no material outside of her relationship with Mike. I miss the Rachel that yearned to be a lawyer and fought so hard to get into Harvard. I miss the Rachel that worked hard and maintained her convictions. She’s become a swoony love-stricken teenage girl, and she needs to be reverted back to her old ways, and fast. The cheesy “I love you” exchanged between her and Mike immediately following her ridiculous act of jealous isn’t enough anymore.

Notes:

• Louis and Katrina: “What just happened to him?” “He got Litt up.” “Damn straight.”
• I know Michelle Fairley is a great actress, but what her deposition scene really that great that she so adamantly convinced everyone that she is innocent of the murder charges? It was almost jarring how immediately everyone suddenly pulled a complete 180-turn and believes her now.
• Gina Torres had an excellent scene at the close of the episode. Man, I would hate to be on the receiving end of that wrath.
• They really ran that The Wire reference into the ground, didn’t they? The first time was fun, the second and third, however, was just too much.

My Grade: B

True Blood, 6x08 -- "Dead Meat"

This has been by far the best season of True Blood in three or four years, though by tonight’s episode, you’d hardly know it.

The biggest problem True Blood has had for the past few years is all the pointless characters it juggles between twenty different story threads each week. The show wants us to care about so many people and so many things, but it can never seem to actually back any of it up. Ever. The writers have failed time and time again to make every storyline interesting, so half of them become so dull that they’re almost unbearable to watch. Alcide’s wolf pack plot remains the most pointless part of the show. Sam is stumbling around with nothing really to do at all (but more on this later). Terry died two weeks ago, and we’re still in the planning stages of his funeral. That’s how slowly the narrative on this show moves.

But then there’s the prison, the saving grace True Blood needed more than ever this year. Pam, Jessica, Tara, Jason, and the Newlins are all stuck in a vampire prison/research facility that has allowed this show to unleash all bat-shit insanity it can pull off so well. We barely spend any time here tonight, but what we do see is just as crazy as ever. Jason is now Violet’s play toy, and even though Violet is a problem as a character -- she’s too cartoony and cliché and, frankly, I can’t think of a damn reason why she was introduced in the first place -- it’s just so weird that it actually sort of works. Meanwhile, Sarah Newlin realizes some of the vampires are on to her schemes with the TruBlood and herds them all into the infamous Sun Chamber we know from Bill’s vision. Then she goes and kills and Asian woman with a high-heeled shoe. “Thank you, Jesus,” is the first thing she says. God, Sarah Newlin is just so much fun. Anna Camp makes a wonderful villain, doesn’t she?

It’s too bad we spend so little time at the prison this week, because the rest the show has to offer is so tired and boring. Alcide’s stories have always fallen by the wayside for me, and at this point I barely even pay attention anymore. Although, now it seems he’s done with the pack life, so maybe that’s a silver lining? Then we come to Sam Merlotte, who has long outlived his usefulness on this show and is desperate for a decent story this year. We get a lot of lovey-dovey crap between him and the blandest-of-the-bland Nicole because she is now pregnant with Sam’s child, and they profess their love for each other in the biggest “who cares?” moment of the entire episode. It really just falls flat because, seriously, who gives a damn about Nicole at all? But the biggest Sam problem of them all comes from Sookie, who, well...

Sookie must be the most clueless main character on television. She’s weeks behind on everything else going on, and she’s so wrapped up in her confusing Warlow/Bill war that she’s once again little more than just a pawn in everyone else’s games. This has become an expected precedent on this show, and it becomes worse year after year. And then the scene that comes completely out of left field: she tells Sam that she’s always imagined they’d end up together, because apparently they’re romance is still a thing that’s happening on True Blood. Here’s the thing: this is probably their first significant scene together in years. Any possible romantic tension between the two that had been set up in season one has long since disappeared. Why are we digging up this old dead story? Presumably because Sam is still supposed to be important, but let’s face it -- he’s not. We are certainly supposed to be taking this as a very serious character moment for Sookie, but it doesn’t hold up in the slightest. If they wanted us to care, this should have been slowly reintroduced to us throughout the season. Just dropping it on us like this felt extraordinarily forced and contrived, and it did not work one bit.

Good news: judging by the promo for next week, there’s a lot of crazy prison fun to be had in the coming final two episodes of the season. Let’s just all pray this show can pull it off.

Notes:

• Alexander Skarsgard is the best. His opening scene with Bill is everything that this show should always be, yet so seldom is.
• Sigh. More fairy baby drama. Again, who cares?
• Sarah interrogated Steve Newlin while forcing him to sprint in a hamster wheel. “It is scientifically impossible for you to be this fucking slow!” I love Sarah Newlin so very much.

My Grade: B-

Suits, 3x02 -- "I Want You To Want Me"

Alliances are everything in a place like Pearson Darby. Having a dependable, loyal partner can be the difference between victory or defeat. Harvey has Donna, who would follow him to the ends of the earth and back again with barely a second glance. Harvey needs an ally like Donna, as long as he still plans on moving forward with his coup against Jessica. But what we saw him learn this week is: he also needs Mike. While the Ava Hessington case almost painfully mirrors the struggles Harvey faces with Jessica and Mike, he comes to terms with the possibility of forgiveness. He holds Jessica entirely responsible for what's transpired. Donna convinces Harvey to let his grudge against Mike rest. Whether or not this is truly the end of it yet remains to be seen.

However, not all relationships at Pearson Darby are quite so easily mended. This week we zero in on the consequences the Harvey/Mike feud have had on everyone else at the firm, and what we see is far from pretty. The biggest casualty in this war so far is Louis. Poor Louis Litt has once again drawn the short straw. After losing all of his associates last week, Jessica grants him a silver lining: his choice of any associate in the firm to mentor as his own. Naturally, his first instinct is Mike Ross. It's no secret that Louis has always wanted Mike, and now in the midst of the Harvey/Mike feud he has his perfect chance. Louis woos Mike with steak and mud baths and proves his worth to him by winning an eminent domain case -- which is apparently near-impossible to do. In the end, Mike is poised to accept Louis as his new mentor. But when Louis leaves the office to retrieve a celebratory cake ("Welcome to Team Litt!"), Harvey swoops in and steals Mike back out from under him. The image of Louis crushed, watching on as Harvey and Mike reaffirm their partnership with a high-five, is one of the most emotionally poignant visuals I think this show has ever delivered. Louis can't seem to win, caught in the middle of all this Pearson Darby war drama with nowhere to go as every glimpse of triumph continues to be sucked away in the eleventh hour. There was a time when I'd never imagined feeling any sort of sympathy for Louis. But now all I want is for the guy to catch a break.

Donna and Rachel's friendship is also put to the test. They've both clearly landed on opposing sides of the Harvey/Mike debacle, and it's starting to affect their relationship with each other. Rachel learns that Harvey told Mike to lie to Rachel about his secret, and Donna confesses to telling Mike herself to stay away from Rachel. Obviously, this doesn't make Rachel the happiest person at Pearson Darby. She shoots back at Donna saying she was just trying to have a life, something Donna clearly wouldn't understand. Donna retorts, "I'm going to walk away now, before we can never go back." The iciness in each other's glares gave me chills. Now that Mike is back with Harvey, I wonder where this will leave the two of them.

My prediction: we can't count Louis out just yet. Mike has no idea yet of Harvey's planned power play against Jessica, and I have a hard time believing Mike will so easily go along with it after all the crap Harvey's been giving him about trust and loyalty. Louis may have a much bigger role to play in all of this than we conceive at this point. In some ways, he could very well be the deciding factor between Harvey and Jessica.

Notes:

• Louis/Harvey: “I would never force him to do anything. It has to be consensual. Just like Sally Jones at the Senior Prom.” “Did you just admit to a crime?” “No, a crime was committed upon me.”
• I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of my life of Louis Litt’s mud ass.
• Michelle Fairley was an enjoyable presence on the show. I hope this doesn’t mark the end of her stay.

My Grade: A-

Teen Wolf, 3x08 -- "Visionary"

“If you wanna know what changed Derek, you need to know what changed the color of his eyes.” Who writes this crap?

There are right and wrong ways to do a flashback episode. It’s acceptable to take a break from the running narrative of the series once in a while if the story you have to tell is interesting. In this case, the characters are all sitting around discussing High School Derek’s “epic romance” which turns out to be just as epic as you might expect. This teen love story is loosely connected to Deucalion, in the sense that one of Deucalion’s lackeys kills Derek’s girlfriend and then Derek’s eyes turn blue which is apparently a really big goddamn deal, you guys.

This thing is, these flashbacks are just so boring. The actors who play High School Derek and Paige have zero chemistry. It’s filled to the brim with exposition, and the music score is over-the-top ridiculous that it makes this episode even more eye-roll worthy than it already is. Nothing at all happens that is of any consequence to the overall story, and the only new piece of information we get from this entire episode is that Gerard blinded Deucalion. Was this really so important that it needed such build-up? Who knows, maybe it will turn out to be important. But then the episode ends with Scott and Stiles doubting the reliability of our narrators, presumably because the writers have some big surprise down the road for us. So now we can’t even be sure if what we learned here is at all true, making this episode even more of a waste of time. (Cue next eye roll.) 

This episode was weak. There was no reason to show any of this. I'll write this off as a low-point and assume next week will show vast improvement.

Notes:

• “The Scorpion and the Frog” story is such an overused metaphor in television that it should be taken outside, shot dead, and buried six feet under. 
• Did anyone else hear the score of The Walking Dead at the end of every flashback? Was it just me?
• Guest Star Corner: Alicia Coppola of Jericho appeared tonight as Talia Hale.
• No Lydia = automatic point deduction.

My Grade: C-

The Bridge, 1x02 -- "Calaca"

Announcement: The Bridge, a.k.a. The Killing: El Paso, is my new favorite summer series.

Ok, as easy as it is to compare The Bridge to The Killing, it’s not a very fair assessment. There’s a lot that the former has been doing right in these initial outings that the latter did not. The Bridge has us absorbed into these characters already, something The Killing had never truly been able to pull off. But enough with that comparison. The point is, I’m fascinated with this detective duo, Sonya Cross in particular. Diane Kruger is absolutely killing it, stealing the show every time she walks on screen. She impeccably portrays every tick Sonya’s struggles to be a police detective with Asperger’s striving to be socially and professionally appropriate yet, more often than not, failing. But Sonya’s mental illness isn’t exploited in ways other shows might feel the need to do for laughs. Yes, there are several moments where Sonya’s reactions to things serve as comic relief, but while it would be so easy for this character to become almost unbearable, Kruger works her magic and makes Sonya compelling and intriguing. 

This second episode was a well-paced hour full of twists that kept the forward momentum of the pilot and even built upon it. This show grabs you and leaves you craving more at every commercial break. The plotting of this murder case so far is damn near perfect. However, that’s not to say everything in this show is working. The Charlotte (Annabeth Gish) storyline has yet to prove its relevance in this series, and it’s quickly becoming boring. Which is silly, because her late husband (who we can all agree she herself killed in the hospital, right?) turns out to be a smuggler with an underground tunnel stretching from his ranch in El Paso through to Mexico. That kind of material shouldn’t be boring, but it is. Presumably, the big connection this holds to the rest of the show -- and this seems fairly obvious to me, which means I’m going to feel really dumb when I’m proven wrong -- is that Charlotte’s late husband was helping the serial killer smuggle in women from Juárez through the tunnel. Whether or not my theory is correct, the longer the writers keep this information from us, the less interesting this storyline will be. 

The Bridge is pretty damn good so far. Let’s just hope it stays this good.

Random Notes:

• I have no idea why they chose to hold the tunnel reveal for the second episode. It was painfully obvious that the door led to a tunnel. It was a ridiculous cliffhanger last week.
• Matthew Lillard is also turning in great work on this show, as the arrogant journalist being used as a pawn in the serial killer’s games. 
• Guest Star Corner: Some of you may recognize Emily Rios, the young reporter working with Daniel Frye, from her days as Andrea on Breaking Bad. 
• This show literally has the worst theme song I’ve ever listened to. Whenever it plays, I feel like it’s sucking away all the joy and happiness from the universe through my TV to disappear forever in an endless black void of despair. Who listened to that song and decided to put us all through this weekly torment? 

My Grade: A-

Dream 2013 Emmy Nominees

Tomorrow is the long-anticipated Emmy Nomination Day, and I decided to share my Dream Emmy Nomination List. 

Note: There are several shows I haven’t gotten around to watching yet, despite some of them being Emmy favorites in recent years. (I am only one person, it’s difficult to keep up with every single one.) These include: The Good Wife, 30 Rock, House of Cards, and Downton Abbey. 

Best Drama Series

The Americans 

Breaking Bad

Game of Thrones

Hannibal

Homeland

Scandal

Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad 

Hugh Dancy, Hannibal 

Jon Hamm, Mad Men

Damian Lewis, Homeland

Andrew Lincoln, The Walking Dead

Matthew Rhys, The Americans

Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Claire Danes, Homeland 

Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men

Emmy Rossum, Shameless

Keri Russell, The Americans

Kerry Washington, Scandal

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Michael Cudlitz, Southland

Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

Mads Mikkelson, Hannibal

Mandy Patinkon, Homeland

Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad

Jeff Perry, Scandal

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Morena Baccarin, Homeland 

Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter 

Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones

Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad

Hayden Panettiere, Nashville

Monica Potter, Parenthood

Best Comedy Series

The Big Bang Theory 

Enlightened 

Girls

Happy Endings 

New Girl

Parks and Recreation

Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Louis C.K., Louie 

Garrett Dillahunt, Raising Hope 

Nat Faxon, Ben and Kate

Jake Johnson, New Girl

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Adam Scott, Parks and Recreation

Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Laura Dern, Enlightened 

Zooey Deschanel, New Girl

Lena Dunham, Girls

Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Veep

Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope

Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Adam Driver, Girls 

Max Greenfield, New Girl 

Simon Helberg, The Big Bang Theory

Nick Offerman, Parks and Recreation

Damon Wayans Jr., Happy Endings

Mike White, Enlightened

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory 

Anna Chlumsky, Veep

Elisha Cuthbert, Happy Endings 

Ana Gastayer, Suburgatory

Zosia Mamet, Girls

Lucy Punch, Ben and Kate

Suits, 3x01 -- "The Arrangement"

“There are two things in this firm that I hold very sacred: my uni-balls and my raspberry bran bars.” -- Louis Litt

Harvey Specter is preparing to make a hell of a move this season in Pearson Hardman Pearson Darby, as he begins a battle against Jessica for Managing Partner in the firm. His arrogance has never been his strongest suit -- after all, how often does he feel the need to remind everyone that he never loses? -- but now it seems he’s taking it to a whole new level. He’s always wanted more power in the firm, perceiving himself in previous seasons to be equal to Jessica in a way that he in fact never really was. Last season’s finale forewarned that a struggle between Harvey and Jessica was looming on the horizon. (Daniel Hardman, you’ll remember, predicted this very early on.) Just minutes before this bomb was dropped, we watched him tear apart Mike for forsaking his loyalty to Harvey. And now as Harvey sets the opening stages of his coup against Jessica, you can’t help but wonder why it seems his own loyalties have completely vanished.

Meanwhile, Rachel can’t seem to make up her own damn mind with Mike. One minute it’s “me or the job” and the next she’s in bed with him. “Who knew honesty would be the best policy? Oh wait, everyone,” she quips as she and Mike lay together. But is his honesty really enough in this case? And should it be? For years, Rachel has strived to become a lawyer at Pearson Hardman (now Pearson Darby, but whatever). She finally passed the LSATs and was so confident in her acceptance to Harvard that it absolutely crushed her when she received her rejection letter. When she learns Mike’s big secret, she’s initially furious -- not just at him, but at the unfairness of a world in which a liar and a fraud like Mike can rise in the firm she’s had her heart set on forever, while she has to struggle to even keep her foot in the door. She told Mike to quit and stop all the lies. Instead, he gets rewarded with a brand new office (which he soon relinquishes, but that’s beside the point). I don’t buy it for a second that she ever would have gotten over it as quickly as she did. Knowing Rachel’s character leading up to this moment, she naturally would have been angry for at least a few more weeks. For that matter, I don’t even truly believe this is anywhere near done. Now that she knows Mike’s secret, she holds all the cards. With one angry rant to the wrong person, even just a slip of the tongue to someone like Louis, could bring down Mike, Harvey, Jessica, and all of Pearson Darby with them. I predict we haven’t seen the end of this. Not in the least. 

Harvey is fighting for more power. Rachel holds more power than she may even realize. All Jessica and Mike can really do in their respective situations is to wait for the next move and retaliate accordingly. Last season, Pearson Hardman went to war and came out victorious. But who can win when Pearson Darby is at war with itself?

Random Notes:

• Louis Litt is at once the best and worst person on this show. He tends to weasel around in the background, causing chaos so he can swoop in and save the day from his own destruction. Now, it’s all finally come to bite him in the ass. Just when I start to become overly annoyed with his silly squabbles with Nesbitt, the entire thing spins around on itself. He’s lost his dear associates. I look forward to seeing where this storyline goes from here. 

• Not enough Donna. Sweet, hilarious, beautiful Donna. Every scene should have some Donna.

• It’s ironic and hilarious that two actors from Game of Thrones -- Conleth Hill and Michelle Fairley -- now find themselves as pawns in yet another power struggle, this time over at Pearson Darby instead of Westeros.

• I hate, hate, hate opening dream sequences. Just stop. That is all.

My Grade: B+