Apparently Thursday night was montage night for all the ABC shows. Typically I hate montages, because I feel that add nothing to the episode. But in Thursday's case, they weren't half bad. There is one exception to that statement, but I'll get more into that when I cover that show.
First off, Ugly Betty. What a fantastic episode! I don't think I have one bad thing to say about this episode.
I was really surprised by the outcome of Marc coming out to his mother. I think it was a good twist that his mother wasn't that accepting. So often, on TV, we see the parents being supportive of gay characters, when that isn't what typically happens in real life. It was refreshing to see a non-supportive parent. Granted, it was still heart-breaking to watch, but it seemed much more true to life.
Also, I found it hysterical that Marc's last name is Weiner. Marc didn't have much of a chance of being straight with that last name.
Wilhelmina was in fine form in this episode. She's definitely back to being a manipulative witch. She knows how to play both the Meade siblings quite well, without them even realizing that they are being played. The only one that was on to her was Claire Meade. (As an aside, how fabulous is it that Judith Light was in this episode, too?) Claire clearly doesn't suffer manipulation at all, and I was thrilled that she didn't fall victim to Willie. The end of that scene, with Claire struggling to get a sip of the vodka was hilarious.
I see now that Claire has put the clamp down on Wilhelmina running Mode, Willie's going to try to one-up her by becoming the next Mrs. Meade. Willie is definitely playing with fire here. She would do well to remember what happened to the last person to get in Papa Meade's pants.
I felt really horrible for Daniel. He's worked so hard to find his place in Mode, and Alexis is usurping all of that, just because she can. I'd love to see Mode readership going down from this issue, just to have Daniel be the one to beat Alexis for once. Daniel, though, seemed to slip right back into his old persona after not getting his issue of Mode into the presses. That makes me sadder, because he's worked so hard to throw off that image.
I was really wondering how the Marc/Betty angle was going to work out this week. It was brilliant to have Amanda be the one to throw them together, especially after the lies Marc told his mother about her. That was definitely a good arc, both funny and heartbreaking at the same time. I especially enjoyed the end, when Marc told Betty that he finally came out to his mom, and told her that she would always be his little chimichanga, but that doesn't mean he likes her. No matter how often Marc and Amanda say that, I have to think that they are getting won over by Betty. How can they not like her?
I felt really bad for Henry, too. Yes, he made his bed by sticking with Charlie, but he has major feelings for Betty. The fact that he knows so many teeny details about Betty shows how much he cares for her. Speaking of which, that is one thing I especially like on TV shows. They should show us how the characters are feeling, not tell us. So, kudos to Ugly Betty for that little scene.
The montage at the end was quite nice, too. Betty reading Daniel's letter was a nice touch to seeing all the scenes of the main characters. I especially liked the scenes with the Suarez family playing cards. They look like such a fun, happy family. It makes me wish I were a part of it. Not that I don't have a fun, happy family, but it's not quite the same thing. Also, that particular group of actors seem to really have gelled as a family, and I found it very heart-warming. A nice way to end the episode, for sure.
Next up is Grey's Anatomy. First of all, I have to yell at ABC's promo department. How dare they throw in a shot of McSteamy half-naked and sweaty jumping rope and not even include that in the episode they were promoting?!?!
OK, I'll get out of the shallow end of the pool now.
Mark's use of a "right now" plan for the hospital was a stroke of genius. The only thing that would have made that scene better was Bailey really going off on him. Maybe that will come in later episodes. I don't know. But I think it would be fun to see him verbally smacked around by the Nazi.
I also liked how Mark semi-used Meredith. It probably had a lot to do with winning points from the Chief, but I think it was good for Meredith to actually do something hard to get everyone to stop handling her like a piece of expensive art.
Alex and Jane Doe were so sweet together. They have certainly formed quite the bond. I'm excited to see how that will change and evolve when her face heals. I really liked how Alex helped her choose which face she wanted by giving them each a personality. I just really enjoy the depth they're giving to Alex.
Hector Elizondo was a brilliant casting choice! I can totally see how Callie came from someone like him.
I really like how George stood up to Papa Torres, too. Granted, he stood up to him as he was realizing what happened the night before, which put a damper on his gaining a backbone. Although, I think that's what helped him.
I'm worried about George, though. Everyone knows that secrets can't stay hidden for that long, and it's only a matter of time before Callie finds out George slept with Izzie. (I'm still mortified by that myself.) I don't see it turning out well for George and Callie at all.
I really liked the scene where George confronted Izzie about the night before. Having no dialogue heard made the scene even more powerful than if we would have heard them yelling and screaming. Kudos to the writer of this episode.
I thought this was a really good episode, although I'm frustrated now that we have to wait for a new episode again. I'm very interested in seeing how all the stories play out for the rest of the season. Even Burke/Cristina, because I thought they were cute in this week's show.
Finally, October Road. This is the show where the montages went wrong. The main thing to note is that I used the plural of montage. Having more than one montage in an hour show is just too much. It makes me think that the writers don't really know how to write enough of an episode for an hour-long drama. Plus, I didn't really see the point of either montage. It's hard to care much about the emotions of the characters when we don't really know the characters at all.
Given that I don't really care about many of the characters yet, I can't say I'm really enjoying the show. The good thing is that I really like the main character, Nick.
I'm not sure about him harassing the dean to get a job, though. That seemed a bit like overkill to me. I just can't imagine that would work in any school anywhere. But, I guess I can suspend my disbelief a bit for that.
Eddie (at least I think that's his name), the guy played by Geoff Stults, is still very poorly fleshed out. I can't believe that he really thinks that getting a girl that Nick likes into bed is getting revenge on Nick. Seriously, what is he, in high school? I found that whole arc to be awkward and completely unrealistic. Plus, I want to know what Nick wrote about Eddie that would make Eddie be so angry with Nick. That's a fairly major plot point to leave hanging.
The rest of the show was just kind of boring to me. I'm still going to give it a shot for at least a couple more weeks, though.
And as a final aside, I finally realized where I knew Bryan Greenberg from. I didn't watch whatever WB/CW show he was on before, but in his interview with tvguide.com, it was mentioned that he was in Prime. Then it all clicked. I knew he looked familiar, but it wasn't until I read that that everything came together for me.
Anyway, I wasn't incredibly thrilled with October Road, but it's not horrible either. Like I said, I'll give it a few more episodes to hopefully find it's groove.
What did you all think of Thursday's shows? Did I hit most of the major highlights?
Oh, and I know this is late, but I was busy Thursday night, so I couldn't watch the shows until last night, and today is the first chance I've had to blog about them since. So, sorry for the lateness, but hopefully my blog is still worthwhile to read.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment