Small Glass Screen: Balance and Imbalance

Fringe: Amber 31422

I hate the long gaps between these segments of Fringe, and while the first four episodes of this season were all phenomenal, we knew it could only go so far. However, if this is Fringe's example of a bad episode of this season, I'm perfectly fine with that. On any scale, this was still pretty good, and it hit home emotionally which is where it counts. In this rather clinically named episode, we saw the alternate universe become further fleshed out as we delved into the ethics and morals behind locking human beings in a state of suspended animation. The people trapped in amber are alive, and trapped both physically and mentally in their last horrific thoughts.

The episode's main crux was that it simply had too much going on, yet not at a fast enough pace, and that's where most of my complaints begin and end. The writers of this episode were the two worst writers on the show, Josh Singer and Ethan Gross, but the sheer quality of the story kept me interested throughout. Walternate begins to test Olivia in order to extract her ability to cross over to the other side, and that leads to two trips in the tank. The first results in little to nothing, as we confirm that she can indeed cross between worlds. However, the road she goes on through the rest of the episode leads her to travel back into the tank. I will add that the snow globe smashing whenever Olivia crossed universes was a nice touch.

Shawn and Aaron Ashmore guest star in this episode as twins, one of which has been trapped in amber for the past four years after trying to stop his brother from robbing a bank. The other, a former criminal who has spent the past four years pretending to be his brother, finally breaks his brother out of amber, and begins a desperate attempt to escape before it's too late. It's really emotional towards the end, thanks to the talent of the actors and some stellar direction by David Straiton, director of last year's hour long masterpiece Peter. It's a little difficult to trace the actions of the two brothers, as they keep switching like in The Parent Trap. I actually like to compare this more to the actions of the brothers in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige.

We knew the time would come when Olivia began to revert back to her normal self, and it seems that time is now. Hallucination-Peter has a steady presence throughout the episode, and that last piece with him was rather inspired writing in my opinion. Olivia's final tank trip is perhaps the most important part of the episode, as it's the point when Olivia finally realizes who she is. On top of that, her supposed failure in reaching the other side may impact Walternate to believe she's no longer necessary, and even if it doesn't, he'll soon find out that the ability to travel between universes has to be applied at a young age through Cortexiphan. Either way, we're on the edge of the truth, and our next adventure in the alternate universe (two weeks from now) will see the return of Andre Royo as taxi cab driver Henry! Consider me excited!

8.4 out of 10

Undercovers: Assassin

I think this is the first time a J.J. Abrams show has been canned before the end of its first season. It's a shame, because the series was finally getting good, particularly in this episode. Right from the beginning they were setting up an intense premise that had Stephen poised in a position to kill an important political figure. Over the course of the episode the tension built up as we learned more about Sam's idolization of the targeted president, making so many more questions prop up about whether or not Stephen was actually thinking logically. In the end, I think this episode might have stayed a little too much on the safe side, and I could tell who the villain was by the end, but it was still one of the most entertaining hours this show has given us so far. They have at least three more episodes set to air before officially leaving the airways, and depending on how good the ratings are, NBC may air the final three episodes of the series sometime next year. I'd like to say that I still have hope for the series, but lets be realistic.

8.8 out of 10

Small Glass Screen: Beautiful Monsters

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Fringe: Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep

After the monumental success of Olivia, and the two exceptional freak-of-the-week episodes, things are heating up a spectacular way on Fringe. This episode was a shot of everything we've come to expect from this show, and that the writers have finally taken full advantage of. The episode starts out with Senator Van Horn ending up in a car accident, but there's one simple problem. He isn't the man Broyles originally befriended. He's a shapeshifter, and has been for the better part of two years. That means that the man we saw helping Broyles out in Earthling has been deceiving us all along. This episode was actually filled with events we couldn't see coming.

I expected a far more Broyles-centric episode at the start, but it featured brilliant character work for each actor, even the guest stars. The title actually turned out to be more than just a sweet reference to a science fiction novel. We actually delved into the humanity of these shapeshifters, and I just cried for these monsters in this episode. This show has instantly become my favorite on television. Mad Men has been great as always, but they'll never reach the high tension or emotion of this season of Fringe. I'd love to see a no-holds-barred Emmy battle between these two shows, because make no mistake, it is certainly on.

Fauxlivia is still undercover as our Olivia, but as she gets closer and closer to Peter, we see several shades of doubt. She's unsure if she can keep this up. She's never had to do a case where there's been so much to lose should she fail. She's still Olivia Dunham, and as such she still has some of those same insecurities. The writers have said that they wanted to make the other side's characters so fully fleshed out that it would cause the audience to question their loyalties. Peter remains the show's constant, putting up great work week to week under the same role. Meanwhile, our Walter remains the nutty professor we've always loved. He doesn't get many dramatic beats this week, but it was fantastic to see him doing his deranged work at Massive Dynamic.

T.J. Newton returns, and it certainly is his greatest hour. He doesn't develop the emotional ties that the other shapeshifters have to, so that's made him a cold and precise monster, both physically and emotionally. He's one of the characters we'll miss once he's gone. Nina makes a short comic cameo in this episode, but it's nice to see that she's not been simply discarded. This episode was a sure step up from The Box, giving one of the best opening scenes of the series, as well as one of the greatest closing scenes of the series. The alternating universes between episodes was always going to be a long shot, but this series has made it work by giving us consistent quality throughout them all. I'm going to say right now that Fringe is even better than Lost was on its best day. This episode of Fringe was fantastic, and the best part of it all is that Olivia won't be spending the entire season over there. Because this November, she comes home! 9.5 out of 10

Glee: Duets

I don't know how Glee keeps luring me back for more, but I certainly am enjoying it. This week's theme quite obviously fits the title, with each character scrambling to pair up with somebody for a duet. We get a great idea of where most of the relationships are at at this point. Rachel and Finn are still somewhat ignorant of each others flaws, but this was the first episode where I actually noticed how they've grown as characters. Finn has grown into something of a leader, conscious of his flaws and working besides them. As for Rachel, she's finally not as annoying as she was in the first season. The writers have finally come to realize that they've been forming a character that the audience hates, so they're working to reverse that.

Kurt continues to be the most important character on this show, and I'm glad that Sam didn't actually turn out to be Kurt's new boyfriend. The direction they've decided to go with is tragic in the way most openly gay kids feel at high school. He too is finally growing some awareness of his place in the school. Because of his situation, he has to spend his time on his own, despite the sexual impulses that every kid feels at that age. He's probably everybody's favorite character on this show, and for good reason. His relationship with his father is enough on its own to jerk more than a few tears. Emotions are still trickling from last week's episode, and it'll be a sad experience when Kurt leaves the show eventually.

My favorite couple of the hour was oddly enough Brittany and Artie, because this new season has pitted me against Tina entirely. She's dead to me, and can continue being a little bitch with Asian Mike. From here on out, I'm pulling for Brittartie, because you can't look at Brittany rolling a meatball across a lonely table with her nose, and not have a mixed feeling of comedic tragedy. I hope they get back together later this season. The other couples are nice enough, but nothing special to me. Santana and Mercedes are a great pair, and I'm surprised we didn't get to them sooner. Sam and Quinn are a nice match and all, but when Puck gets back, he is going to be pissed. In case I didn't mention already, Puck's in juvenile hall, and his absence is kind of sad.

The music in this episode was a lot more consistent than last week, with nearly every song having a nice touch to it. The worst was Rachel and Finn, but it was meant to be played for laughs, and not for quality. Sam and Quinn were "so freakin' charming", Mercedes and Santana were straight up bad-ass (I remind you that we're still talking about Glee), Mike can't sing, but that didn't really matter, Kurt has a stage presence the trumps all but himself, and his final duet with Rachel was a beautiful way to end the episode. This show had a tough few weeks, but now it's found firm enough ground to hold me for two weeks until their Rocky Horror episode. I'm still waiting for a Randy Newman featured episode, but I'll be patient.

Undercovers: Jailbreak

I'll be honest that I haven't been keeping up with J.J. Abrams' new series, because the pilot, pleasant though it was, left much to be desired, and I wasn't sure if they'd be able to put up interesting adventures week after week. Given that, I'm still not quite sure, but this episode was the best of this season. You haven't missed anything from the first few episodes, and this episode isn't anything spectacular. However, it is a good fun ride, without being the cornball action the series started out as. I'm still keeping myself at arms length from this series, but if the opening of the next episode is nice enough, I might stick around for the rest of the episode. This is worth checking out if you're bored and have nothing else to do. However, I'd definitely rather suggest the other two series featured above.

Small Glass Screen: Ratings, Pickups, and Drop-offs

Now that the premiere week has come to an end, it's a good time to decide which shows I'll be sticking with throughout the season, and which I'll be kicking aside. It may be a while before I am able to get AMC on my television, but even so, I have no problem purchasing those Mad Men episodes on iTunes. Fringe, which opened to a rating of about 5.9 million viewers, has fought long and hard for it's place on my schedule, and I'm not about to abandon it like many have mistakenly done in the past. If there's a show that I recommend catching up on, it's that. The season premiere does a superb job of catching new viewers up on the events of previous seasons, so it's not a problem if you just start from there.

There are a few shows that I plan on sticking with for now, but that don't offer quite enough to comment on weekly. So don't expect many reviews on the events of How I Met Your Mother (8.8 million viewers), Cougar Town (8.3), 30 Rock (5.8), or Glee (12.5) any time soon. J.J. Abrams' new show, Undercovers (8.6), looks like the sort of casual action series that I could get into every week just to cool off from everything else. Only time will tell if it offers enough to report on weekly. Capping things off, I think I'll stick with The Event (11.2) throughout the entirety of this season. Word has it that the two episodes that follow up the pilot deliver answers and action in an interesting way.

I'm completely dropping Running Wilde and Raising Hope, because they just didn't deliver anything of value. So in summation, I'll be reporting to you every Friday on Fringe, Mad Men, Undercovers, and The Event. Mad Men will filter out once it finishes it's season run in a few more weeks, and I may take up AMC's The Walking Dead once it premieres. Thanks for tuning in, and I hope to have you here again next Friday. And in case I wasn't clear enough, please pick up watching Fringe. If you're watching Grey's Anatomy, there's probably nothing I can do to change your mind, but please just take it into consideration.

Small Glass Screen: "Undercovers", "Modern Family", "Cougar Town"

Undercovers: Pilot
Of all the pilots I've seen this week, count on J.J. Abrams to deliver the most spectacular, narratively coherent of them. From the man who backed such shows as Alias, Lost, and Fringe, Undercovers is for everybody who love those shows, but were too frustrated by the complex mythologies. This is the most enjoyable show that Abrams has brought us, because it isn't such a dramatically heavy show. It's a romantic-comedy set on the backdrop of an action film. I wouldn't expect any of the horrific character deaths that have plagued Fringe every week.

Michael Giacchino's score moves at as fast a pace as the show itself, evoking his fantastic work on Speed Racer more than anything else. My biggest disappointment with this episode was the lack of lens flares that Abrams is known for. The performances by the two leads definitely have chemistry, but are just below great. The episode kept juggling around the question of whether or not Leo Nash was a traitor in a way that kept me guessing. Ultimately, it's not Abrams' finest pilot, as it goes on more of a MI3 route, but I found it pretty fast and enjoyable. It's not going to win an Emmy next year, but it's not supposed to. It's a solid-B action series, which is something I've wanted to see for a while now. On a final note, the main villain looks a hell of a lot like James Cameron.

Modern Family: The Old Wagon
Admittedly, I didn't see the first season of the Emmy award winning comedy, so I thought I'd pick up the show for this fall season. There isn't really an overarching plot to the series, and I kind of liked that. It reminded me a bit of The Office, except it felt a lot less repetitive. It's just a half-hour comedy, so that definitely limits what you can show. I enjoyed it, but I'm not going to be in a rush to see it immediately. It's a show I'd gladly catch up with on Hulu.

Cougar Town: All Mixed Up
Compared to the previous half-hour comedy, this one is a lot more obviously funny and more accessible. I've been dying to see Jennifer Aniston and Coutney Cox onscreen together again, and this definitely offers Aniston her funniest performance in the past decade. I really liked the "drinking game" that permeated through the entire episode. Only complaint is that I wish there were more "Cougars" on this show. It's kind of like how "third-world country" lost it's meaning after the Cold War ended. In the end, this is a show I can keep permanently on my Wednesday schedule.

The Small Glass Screen: The Week in Television Premieres

I do mostly indulge in films on this site, but I also enjoy television for the same reasons. Most commonly, expect me to do just one of these posts a week, but this week I'll be shuffling through a few premieres to see which I want to stick with, and which I'd rather discard. Below is my schedule of premieres for the next four days, in case you want to follow me along and offer your own thoughts.

Monday: How I Met Your Mother (Sixth Season; 8-8:30; CBS)
The Event (New Series; 9-10; NBC)

Tuesday: Glee (Second Season; 8-9; FOX)
Raising Hope (New Series; 9-9:30; FOX)
Running Wilde (New Series; 9:30-10; FOX)

Wednesday: Undercovers (New Series; NBC)
Modern Family (Second Season; 9-9:30; ABC)
Cougar Town (Second Season; 9:30-10; ABC)

Thursday: Community (Second Season; 8-8:30; NBC)
30 Rock (Fifth Season; 8:30-9; NBC)
Fringe (Third Season; 9-10; FOX)