Okay, okay, so I've been somewhat neglectful of the ol' television reviews of late. Sue me, I relocated to a new city, a little under 300 miles from where I used to live. That's London from Newcastle, for anyone that doesn't know. I'm making a promise to myself (I'm not calling this a New Year's Resolution, such things are dangerous) to keep Screenaged Kicks regularly updated in 2013 so hopefully, I'll be a bit more... on the ball, shall we say. And you'll actually get some comprehensive reviews as opposed to one or two sentences. Which is what I'm about to throw at you now. Yes, it isn't ideal; sure, it's a bit lazy but whatever, I don't have the time to catch up in the manner to which you may be accustomed. So here's the remaining episodes of the various TV shows that I watch, rated out of 10, with a few words on each. Deal.
Supernatural
805: 'Blood Brother'
From the sublime to the redundant in a matter of minutes, Blood Brother has the unfortunate task of marrying a compelling, character-building storyline (Benny's back story and how Dean deals with it) to a monotonous one (Sam's year of retirement). Fortunately, the good generally outweighs the bad and the episode as a whole comes out as mainly satisfying, but if Carver continues down this cliche-fest path with Sam, he may obliterate our interest in the character entirely. (7)
806: 'Southern Comfort'
To put it bluntly, the inclusion of Garth saves this episode from crushing mediocrity. DJ Qualls is once again superb as the ultimate foil for Sam and Dean and his positioning as 'the new Bobby' is both entertaining and logical. The main thrust of the narrative is passable and has a nice twist towards the end (ballsy of Supernatural to use the Unknown Soldier) but the continued punctuation of the present day story with Sam's woozy, and shockingly lame, flashbacks is just tiresome. Drop 'em already. No one cares. (6)
807: 'A Little Slice of Kevin'
For the first time in weeks, Supernatural switches to fifth gear, ditches (most) of the Sam/Amelia plotline and actually bothers itself about Kevin Tran and it's mostly better for it. There's a real sense of urgency about A Little Slice of Kevin that's been sorely lacking in weeks past... and of course, Castiel makes his triumphant return, which automatically bumps up the score by a point, and Mark Sheppard's in the mix, which makes that two. The only disappointing aspect is the whole 'Kevin's mom makes a deal with a witch' thread which, as well as containing some extremely hamfisted acting, is utterly nonsensical and completely out of character. (8)
808: 'Hunteri Heroici'
A nice concept, undermined somewhat by the inclusion of yet another shockingly predictable (and depressingly dull) strand of the Sam/Amelia storyline. While we appreciate Carver's attempt to prioritise character development, the show needs to do so in an interesting way; and having Sam meet the disapproving Dad really doesn't achieve that. There are some nice set pieces among the 'monster of the week' (if you can call it that) storyline and Misha Collins gets some brilliant one-liners as hunter wannabe Cas but there's nothing here that really stands out. (5)
809: 'Citizen Fang'
A horribly lacklustre mid-season finale that's woefully thin on plot and depressingly high on flogging a dead horse. Benny's story is a lame retread of Blood Brother, his pivotal character moments are ruined by an appalling performance from Jon Gries as Martin, and Sam's thread is so asinine, I'm beating my head against a brick wall in an effort to forget about it. Sorely lacking. (2)
No comments:
Post a Comment