TV Tweets: March 22-28

As always, you can follow me at LowBrowJon to get my minute manifestos, as well as other LBM updates.

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March 24th [Breaking Bad, Lost]

The two unexplained bad asses on #BreakingBad = my new favorite mimes on tv.

Welcome back, Heisenberg! (Yes, I'm aware that I only had to wait three weeks between when I finished season 2 and season 3 started and the rest of you waited for much longer. It was still a long three weeks, dammit.)

See what happens when you ditch the flash-sideways, #Lost? You get the best episode of the season, perhaps of the series.

I probably went too far in suggesting it was the best of the series, but entire seasons of the show have gone by since I was last this enthralled by a single one. What made this episode focusing on the mysterious Richard so engaging was we actually got answers to long-asked questions that not only were satisfying and gripping, but simultaneously helped to further explain the ultimate inquiry of why this island is what it is. Plus, that was some stage-level acting from Nestor Carbonell, Mark Pellegrino and Titus Welliver.
The flash-sideways may end up being cool. All I know is they have been either boring me or pissing me off each and every week and, right now, seem to have no impact on the "realtime" narrative of the show. Once their purpose is revealed, I hope to go back and have as happy a re-watch experience knowing what I know then just as I was given this week.

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After the jump, read up on Human Target, Justified and the mid-season finale of Caprica.

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March 25th [Human Target]

Note to self -- #HumanTarget's utilization of Paradise Lost from two weeks ago and the ramifications to Christopher Chance. Discuss.

I can't pass up an opportunity to discuss Paradise Lost in pop media when it slaps me in the face. Two weeks ago, Human Target (of all shows) started off by posing it's leading man and that week's adversary in a D.C. public transit station bantering on a bench during the aftermath of a fight scene. Behind them was an ad for a museum exhibit about Paradise Lost. What I expected to happen based on their conversation was this new big bad, who we quickly learn has some sort of history with Chance, has fallen from the mercenary/super-spy-for-hire/whatever-the-hell-Christopher-Chance-is-exactly state and is now working against our hero on team Dark Side. But as the episode unfolds, we learn that Chance is the one who left the presumably evil merc/spy organization of his own choosing and has been more-or-less fighting for good ever since.
This reminds me of the briefly mentioned, but highly important character of Abdiel in PL. A quick review, Abdiel was amongst the fallen angels who was with Lucifer in the planning stages of his revolt against God, only to later realize his error (on his own, I might add) and return to heaven and warn them of what was happening.
What could be happening in Human Target as it ever-so-slowly hints at a congruent storyline, is Chance's allusion to the Abdiel character: once in bed with villainy, he ceased his evil ways and is now serving a self-imposed penance until those bad deeds can be forgiven. Or maybe he just saves pretty ladies in distress, punches dudes that look tougher than him on the chin, and dishes out one-liners like they're business cards. Either way, I like it.

And so, ladies and gents, you have now been fully shown the pretentious level of bullshit a liberal arts degree allows you to create.

March 26th [Justified]

As much as I liked the #Justified pilot, ep 2 was leaps and bounds better. This is turning into the best tv week in some time.

Since the story involving Tim Olyphant's main character wasn't particularly engaging this time out, Justified instead spent a long period fleshing out the backstory and motivation of the criminals he was after, which struck me as fascinatingly bold since I doubt we'll ever see this cabal of crooks again on the show. That's just another reason for me to keep enjoying this show.



March 27th [Caprica]

I would like to congratulate #Caprica on a lackluster mid-season finale. JUST GIVE US THE ENTIRE SEASON AT ONCE, SYFY!

Unfortunately, I was overzealous with my enthusiasm for the television week in the previous tweet; as you can see, I spoke too soon.
The mid-season finale, a completely unnecessary device used by SciFi/SyFy to charge more for DVD sets, was kinda downer after watching the previous few eps of Caprica since they were excellent on most key levels. A complex show like this needs more than 10 installments to truly hook an audience in. It might be on the cusp of doing it. It doesn't completely have me, either. I don't know that I need to see the next one. So, I still can't give a resounding recommendation to it, because deep down I'm still just longing for more BSG, and this is as close as I'm gonna get. It won't be back on the air for months, so who knows if I'll bother.