televisionary

More than meets the eye...

Am I dreaming? I think the internet is finally back on track today. The wonders of optic cables and whatnots, huh? I never knew the internet was so vulnerable. How endearing. But lookie here - I can check my (inferior) yahoo email account again! I could look up celebrities at their fugliest again! And finally, to be connected with the world again!

And of course, I can go back to looking for useless, mindless and sometimes false info on wikipedia. FIrst thing on my list? The history of transformers. No, really. I'm looking at it right now. How strange is it that the Autobots are mostly cars "in warm colors" whereas Decepticons are planes in cold ones? (Hmm, good guys 0, bad guys 1. Come on. a jet fighter vs. a sports car? Hello!)

Ok, now I'm off to read all about Saddam. How strange is it to feel a bit sorry for this guy now?

Btw, I've just finished a marathon of Friday Night Lights. Will recap it in the new year. For a football heavy show, it's surprisingly good. Anyway, the premise? High school drama set in a small Texan city who takes their high school football very seriously. Emphasis on the usual high school drama part. The characters are really great -Kyle Chandler (the bomb guy that exploded in that Grey's Anatomy episode last year) plays Coach Taylor, and from the looks of the first 10 episodes, is one of the best dads on TV (behind Keith Mars, of course). Great cast overall. Some complaints?  Lila - Most. Annoying. Girly. Voice. Ever. Shaky camera a la NYPD. Some cheesy storylines  - but dealt with nicely. A bit too drama heavy at times. But all in all, Friday Night Lights is at the very least, a decent B show.

...robots in disguise! Welcome to 2007.

Santa, Jack Bauer Style (With token Chloe)

Just a little holiday cheer from FOX.

For 24 fans, a sneak peak before the season premiere on Jan 14th and 15th.

Woohoo!

Y-U-L spells $1,000,000

Survivor 13x14, 13x15, and

Reunion

As CBS’ promotions would tell you, it really was the survivor week. Four freaking hours of it! First with the outing of Pavarti, Adam, Sundra, the last tribal council, and finally, the finale where Yul (yay!) wins a narrow 5-4 over Ozzy in a final two (three if you count Becky). Woo-hoo! Several thoughts here:-

- Yul must have decided after witnessing both Pavarti and Ozzy’s naked asses in the reward challenge that Pavarti needed to go first. In retrospect, the only way Adam and Pavarti could have convinced Ozzy to their dark side was Adam winning here, you know, with the whole Real World hot tub action. Yul winning that third place in the reward challenge was detrimental to Pavarti’s game. Not only did she not succeed in talking Ozzy over, she exposed her possible abilities to take Ozzy’s vote and weaken Aitu to Yul. Now she’s a strategic threat as well as a challenge threat.

- And they picked the right one. Adam, as much ‘trouble’ he tried stirring up in the end, didn’t even remotely dent Aitu’s (or Yul’s) game. His point of taking the idol out before the final 3 would have been a good strategic move for Sundra and Ozzy. However it made sense that neither Ozzy or Sundra (both not mean spirited and more importantly, never did much strategizing to begin with) took that offer.

- Did anyone notice a hint of something on Yul’s face when he realize it was a final 3 and not a finale 2? He should really consider himself lucky. Without the final 3 it was actually pretty unlikely he would have made the final 2, let alone the win.

- The final challenge was the usual stand on a pole with a twist. I was surprised to see Becky fall off first – given her stature you’d expect her to be hanging in there for a while. Hey, at least until they’re standing on the postcard/half a postcard sized platform. I felt bad for Sundra though – it would have been awesome if she did win finally something here. But nope. Ozzy remains almost undefeated in all immunity challenges. Thinking back, he’d only lost one to Adam since the mutiny. Way to go, dolphin boy.

- How smug were the 3 Raro faces in tribal? Here’s a real unpleasant look at young (white) Americans. Sore losers. You could see them hoping for some juicy fights amongst the Aitus in finally voting out one of their own. Glad Aitu gave them NOTHING here. They pretty much remained Aitus and never went the Raro way. How civilized – let the ones without immunity duke it out in a fire making tie breaker. Seemed very exciting, until we get to the …

- Ah, the fire. Funniest tribal moment – seeing everyone yawning and sleeping waiting for one of them to get a fire. Brad was dozing off, as was Adam. Even Yul and Ozzy had their faces in their hands. After that embarrassing showing of (non)fire making skills, it was pretty evident that neither Sundra or Becky ‘deserved’ the million – man, you couldn’t even make a fire with MATCHES? I was hoping for some Cao Boi fire dancing here. That WAS embarrassing. But for Yul, it was great. It solidify the fact that none of his votes would go to Becky instead.

- Sundra simply has to tell me her secret. How is it that her skin glows so damn beautifully all the time? Her radiant skin was glistening in the final voting ceremony.

- What’s up with Nate’s leg?

- Same smug Raro faces here. From this showing alone, the Adam-Candice-Pavarti trio has become the most annoying people this season. Their faces outsour even Jenny’s. whose face at least was sour for a reason. Ugh. What were they sour about? None of the Aitus were ever in an alliance with them, so no backstabbing here. 

- The questions. And the answers. It was at this point when I got very upset at the thought that Yul lost the game. Not that Ozzy was any better at answering the questions, but I thought a lot of questions were directed at Yul, and Ozzy got only one real ‘anti’ Ozzy question in Jonathan’s. But anyhoo, all three did a relatively poor job at the answers. Yawn. It might have something to do with the fact that some of the questions were completely boring and useless though. How did Rebecca supposedly decide her vote on these two when their answers are basically identical? What has Brad’s question about Ozzy’s hardships in life have anything to do with the game (btw, Brad, I know you’re on Yul’s side, so wtf? You gave Ozzy an opportunity to be all emotional.) Why did Adam ask Ozzy to trash talk Yul and Becky but not the other way around? This is yet another example of the Raros wanting some sort of ugly fight amongst the Aitus. Of course, again, it didn't work.And what’s up with calling the three (plus Sundra, who’s NOT even in the final three) boring? You’re boring, Adam. Face it. What is up with Candice’s stupid yes/no questions? She really makes me want to punch her in the face.. But as far as questions go, none of them were particularly vindictive or interesting. Which makes sense when your final two (three) are basically people that earned their seats.

- Jonathan’s questions – they were amusing and truthful. I like that he acknowledged Yul outplaying them all with a nice smile. And his vote – duh, of course it’s Yul.

- Pavarti’s vote. Hee. She was totally coming onto Ozzy here. Which makes me (almost) forget her promise vote to Yul for getting Jonathan out first. Liar.

- btw, where can I find out how the votes went down? It’ll be interesting to see who actually voted for Yul and who voted for Ozzy. We know that Yul got Jonathan, Brad, and Adam (because strangely enough, he DID keep his promise.) Who were the remaining two? My guess would be Sundra for sure, and ? From the reactions at tribal council, it’s a tossup; but I’m pretty sure Candice did NOT vote for Yul. You know, coz she herself didn’t win. And of course it’s all Yul’s fault.

And the

Reunion

…

- Heh. Ozzy looks WAY better – I mean WAAAY BETTER on the island than off. What happened? He’s all chubby faced now, and he should know from Brad that a little facial hair can go a LONG way. I think other than Ozzy and Candice (whose hair need fixing), everyone cleaned up nicely (especially Sundra. She looks real cute).

- Way to stay relevant to the game, Sekou and your song. Hm. Now that was a waste of 30 seconds.

- Poor Ozzy. He looked really disappointed. Oh well. At least you got the car.

- Poor Becky. Still a non-entity here at the voting. Is she the only survivor in a finale NOT to get a single vote?

- Yay for Yul. Kudos to Costco. Loved that Jeff did mention Yul’s appearance in People’s sexiest men list. Even if Yul didn’t win the money, Survivor was probably his best personal ad ever. Woo hoo! And on Becky and Yul’s relationship? Heh. Come on girl, you really have to wait til the cameras stop rolling to pounce on Yul, huh? I wonder when she’d make her move. Or vice versa. Anyhoo, good luck to them. Heh.

- Billy’s answer to the Candice question. Nice save, Billy. Maybe you’re not that crazy.

- What else? Other than the winner reveal, eh. Uneventful boring same old same old reunion.

I’m just happy that Yul won, even though I can’t help thinking there was a little bit of manipulation from CBS to get Yul to the finals. I guess CBS decided that a final three is really the only way of getting a deserving final two (and thus good ratings), and Yul is the lucky beneficiary of it.

Anyhoo, happy holidays! Not much TV other than one more fantabulous episode of Dexter which I’ll post soon. See you next year!

Dexter 1x11 “Truth be Told”

I don’t think I’ve held my breath so long before (maybe except that time on 24 when Jack had to hold his breath and naturally I followed suit. Of course, being Jack, his lung capacity is something like 500% more than mine). Good episode. Awesome. Fantastic. A great tease until next week's finale.

-Very exciting episode, and really masterfully done given we already knew who the ITK was. But it was still really exciting to see Dexter slowly realize it over the course of the episode. See, told you Deb would be in danger. But it doesn’t look like Doakes would be the one to save her. But did you look at his eyes? He definitely has the hots for Deb, which is funny given his distaste for Dexter.

-Anyway, RudyITK could really turn on the charms, and turn them off – he went from being the most romantic guy in the world with the lights on the boat to being completely creepy by first giving the dead hooker’s ring to Deb as an engagement ring and then ridiculing her for dating the ITK.

-LaGuerta getting fired – you know she’s going to do something about that. But what? Do we get to find out this season? There’s something really nasty and ruthless about LaGuerta, yet it’s precisely why I like her in the show. You can’t have a bunch of Angels in the force, right?

-Angel. I’m so glad he’s not dead. But I suppose he feels just about there. Having your separated/divorced wife break up with you all over again has got to hurt. Especially after being attacked by the ITK.

-And on the subject of emotions, Dexter. Wow. He seems like such a regular guy in this episode. The way he panicked when he couldn’t find Deb; how angry he was when he failed to obtain the file about his past; how angry he was at himself for not noticing Rudy earlier; how angry he was to Doakes when he accused him for having no feelings, etc. It’s funny that though Dexter is a monster, compared to Rudy/ITK he’s a marshmallow. He does get distracted and forgets things, while Rudy/ITK is way more precise and cold.

- Hi Camilla! I never noticed her in the show, but she was in this movie I just saw where she spoke French with the heaviest American accent on it. Cute. Anyway. Was she hiding the fact that there was a second brother at the crime scene a.k.a. Rudy/ITK? And why was Harry so insistent upon Dexter not finding out about his past/brother? Can’t wait to find out next week!

- That video of the dead hooker was real creepy. Poor girl. But it gave the police some clues (ironically, cracked by Deb) as to where the ITK is; so here’s my question. Did Rudy/ITK anticipate all this already – he did mention to the hooker that she was an ‘alibi’ of sorts – and is the tape for Dexter or the police? Hmm.

- Nice Christmas presents though. Definitely not something you think to put under your Christmas tree. I think I laughed (guiltily) a little watching Rudy sing and cut up his hooker. 

- Dexter thoughts on the (im)possibility that Rudy is the ITK – “he bought me steaks.” Heh. Well, now you know the way to Dexter’s heart. Steaks.

- Rita gets stronger and stronger each episode. She finally lets the kids see who Paul really is – a horrible person who’s still their father. It was sweet. I like that it was Dexter who convinced her to be honest – unlike Harry who lied about Dexter’s past – and that they actually had a real fight. It shows how authentic and real Dexter’s feelings are towards Rita. They do exist, just a bit different than a normal person.

-So any guesses as to what happens in the season finale? I find it unlikely that they would kill off Deb (given she is the only family Dexter has, and they have a lot of unexplored familial relationships), which means only one thing. It is very likely that Deb WILL find out who Dexter is, and since the show is called Dexter and not Prison Break, that would mean Deb will keep his secret. I think she might even relish in knowing this secret for a bit – since all previous rejections from Harry and Dexter stems from this secret. I wonder what happens with Rudy/ITK; does he get caught? does Dexter kill/hurt him (his probable bio brother) to save Deb (his non-bio sister)? (My guess is yes.)  I’m not sure how happy Deb is to find out that two of the closest people to her are serial killers - she has a worse track record than Rita.

Y-U-L spells nobody likes Jonathan

Survivor 13x13

I do though. Jonathan did everything he should have done to win, and if it wasn’t for Pavarti sending him to Exile Island, he might have made it another week. Anyway, Jonathan totally added in the drama and the exciting bits of the season, and I’m happy he’s not going to win, but also a bit sad that he’s gone. Anyway, onto the strategies:-

- Most people complained about Yul’s bad move this week, throwing out Jonathan. I disagree. Like I said last week, Yul should be throwing out the last of the mutineers anyway to accomplish several things – to appease the rest of Raro and get jury votes from them, and to make ‘good’ with Becky and to an extent Sundra and Ozzy. And I think he accomplished that.

- the previews suggest that Ozzy will flip to Pavarti and Adam’s side. I really don’t think that will happen for a number of reasons. First, I’m not sure if anyone from Aitu would want anyone on Raro in the final 2. The whole jury is basically made up of Raros, and in previous tribal councils they have been shown to vote emotionally and not rationally. Other than Jenny who never lost her “I’m pissed at everyone” face all this time, Brad who has a bond with Yul and Becky (but not Sundra or Ozzy, given they’ve never been on the same tribe), and Jonathan, the only rational player on Raro, everyone else would pretty much vote for whoever’s left of the Raros. His votes from Aitu might also be compromised if he flipped. If he sticks with Aitu though, then he has a better chance at more votes given his strength in challenges, especially if he’s up against Becky and Sundra. Also, he knows (as with everyone else) that Yul has the idol. Which means whatever shit happens, Yul is most likely going to make it into the final four. Why jeopardize his relationship with Yul and Aitu by flipping over to a side without the idol? For all he knows, he could be voted off if the idol bounces it back from Yul. And even Ozzy knows better than to vote off the Aitu girls he most likely will win against at the end. So I’m not sure why Ozzy would switch if it doesn’t really help with his position in the game. Ozzy is a challenge threat, and anytime he doesn’t win immunity is a huge risk of getting voted out. I’m not sure flipping to Raro would help him in that respect; he’d still have to win the challenges, and Adam and Pavarti are two challenge threats versus the lone Yul in Aitu.

- So why switch? The only reason why Ozzy would want to flip would be to get rid of Yul’s idol, and get rid of Yul before the final four. But that cannot happen. At most, he can maybe get rid of the idol, but not Yul himself. They only have six people now, and even if Ozzy flips, the idol would protect Yul long enough to make it into the final four, whether they all vote for Yul or the Aitu gals. Of course, Yul’s position in the final 2/3 would be compromised in this situation, but Ozzy’s position would be non-existent in this scenario.

What I want for next time? Well, I don’t think I could stand it if Adam or Pavarti wins the game, so I’m still with Aitu on that. But, it would be hugely entertaining if Ozzy did flip. Makes up for the drama lost when Jonathan left.

-it was really funny seeing Yul’s brother – now that’s what a genuine average Asian guy would look like. (Not that he’s bad looking, of course – in fact he’s pretty tall and I’m sure is just as smart, nice and geeky as Yul.) But it’s kind of nice to know that the Brads and Yuls are rare! Hee. What else? Oh, Becky’s sister is pretty damn cute, Adam’s smile is identical to his dad’s, the moms of Sundra and Ozzy are both really mom like and adorable, and I can’t remember anything about Pavarti’s dad, other than him calling Sundra’s mom “something something island lady (!)”. Anyway.

-How about those food hiders? Pavarti and Adam probably made the best move this week by bringing food back to them. It made them all one big happy nice family, and all thoughts of hiding food extinguished. See what some chicken and cornbread can do?

- Ozzy’s cocky laugh about the rest of the tribe ‘eating it’ while he aced the challenge. I enjoyed it (because it was true that other than Yul, everyone else was, well, eating it while Ozzy was the eagle among turkeys) but the behaviour (along with the food hiding, dissing of the mutineers once it happened, Billy, etc) reinforces the belief that Ozzy is an emotional player. If Yul and Becky vote him out, he’ll probably be enraged like Jenny.

Dexter 1x10 "Seeing Red"

And seeing red we did. That was one of the bloodiest bloodbath in a long time on TV (anyone else seen that much blood in CSI and Co.?) And there weren’t even any new victims. After last week’s couples’ relaxing weekend at Dexter’s bio-dad’s house, we get into some action this week. And a whole lot of red. There hasn’t been one episode of this show that disappointed me, and this episode certainly continues this trend.

- So Dexter’s flashbacks come more frequently and vividly now that the ITK/Rudy is forcing them out of Dex. The whole setup of the hotel room key in the jar of blood was Rudy’s way of forcing Dexter’s repressed memories to come out. And it certainly did its job. Dexter, for the first time, staggered at what Doakes called Dexter’s “wet dream”. How funny was it that everyone (including Dexter himself) was so surprised at Dexter’s squeamish face when he came out of the room with blood all over his spacesuit? And cute that Dex’s answer to Masuka’s urging to see the blood splatters was “Photos, Masuka. Lots of them.” It’s refreshing to see Dexter in such a vulnerable position.  But anyway, Dexter’s flashbacks confirm my ongoing theory from before, but it was interesting to see the resemblance of his (most likely) mother to Rita.

- I’m intrigued to find out what exactly is Rudy’s relationship to Dexter. As I said before, he’s most likely a brother to Dexter (hi bro, I’m a serial killer too), but I still don’t understand why Harry ‘saved’ Dex and not Rudy. Anyway, will love to see how this goes given there are only 2(?) more episodes this season.

- So since ITK/Rudy kept all of the blood from his previous victims, doesn’t that mean he knew about Dexter all this time, and all the murders of the hookers (they were all hookers, right? Except for the not dead security guard at the ice hockey rink) were purely for the sake of Dexter?

- Masuka likes it dirty! Hee. Loved how he dragged newly divorced/separated Angel out to get some. Angel’s random discovery of those painted nails on the prosthetic hand is a great lead, but a dangerous one. I hope he doesn’t die – though his character isn’t particularly interesting, I like that he’s good friends with Dexter and likes him (enough to ask him about his anniversary presents – where Dexter repeatedly said negative things about each one, hee) despite the fact that Dexter is a sociopath and Angel the most regular guy around the station. It’s a relationship worth spending more time in, and if Angel dies it would be the most unfortunate.

- See, I told you Doakes was interested in Deb ever since he ‘brought’ her to dinner at his place. I’m sure he’ll play a part into rescuing Deb when/if she needs to be later on.

- Deb’s relationship with Rudy. On the one hand, she’s jealous of Dexter that he’s bonding with her beau; on the other, she’s totally jealous of Rudy for bonding with her brother as well. Hee. In a sick twisted way, it’s like Deb is dating her (non blood related) brother. Ew. I’m almost certain that Deb will know about Dexter’s secret by the end of this season.

- Oh, and that expression on Dexter’s face when he ‘accidentally’ smacked Paul’s head? Hilarious. I loved how he handled that whole situation, still following the code of Harry, but definitely fucking Paul up just enough to get Rita’s kids back. I still can’t get over that expression on his face – a mix of whoops, oh crap, maybe I shouldn’t have done that, and glee. This is the kind of stuff that’s awesome about Dexter – it’s not the guts and gore or even the mystery of Rudy and Dexter’s past, but how Dexter interacts as a sociopath with the rest of the ‘normal’ world that makes this show so fantastic to watch.

Y-U-L spells the puppet master, the UN, the ringleader, and one of People’s sexiest men

Survivor 13x12

The theme is: everyone hates Jonathan, who’s a rat and a cancer. What else?  Raro’s a bunch of immature idiots, but that’s nothing new. Candice gets Exile Island (again, poor – oh who cares – you’re annoying) and gets the boot. Adam loves her but didn’t give her his immunity win. They smooch in a really disgusting way after Tribal Council that makes me want to puke all over their faces, just like Pavarti (said about Jonathan). Oh, and they fight over food, because lazy people never gets food and has to share/take/claim food from those who actually work for it. And when you see the glee faces on Rebecca and Jenny’s faces upon hearing the food fight, I’m convinced neither Candice or Pavarti ever lifted a finger before the dinner bell. What a bunch of babies. Oh, and Brad of course still looks totally hot.

I’m not sure what Yul’s up to this episode. Showing the entire tribe his hidden immunity idol? Yeah, I get it, you’ve ‘used’ it already last episode. But still. It’s called ‘hidden’ for a reason. Especially since Raro still didn’t think Yul had it (even when Jonathan flat out told them – ‘He showed me the idol, so I don’t know what crack you’ve been smoking’). Maybe he was trying too hard to be all honest and diplomatic about things. I’m not sure how tribes usually respond to peacemakers in the tribe – especially one that is a ‘ringleader’ as well as the holder of the hidden immunity.

But the real true blunder he made was assuming the strength of his bond with Becky. Sure, she’s a very close ally that you can trust, but to blatantly ask her about making nice with the jury to get votes against whoever you’re up against? Hello, Yul; have you met Becky? She’s supposed to be your final two partner here. Why on earth would you discuss jury votes with the person you’re supposed to be up against in the final two? That was a dangerous, dangerous move. Becky is no dummy here, and while Yul is super crazy smart here, I’m not sure Becky’s not. Just because she calls you ‘brother’ and you’re one big happy Korean family doesn’t mean she isn’t vying for that million dollars as well.

So anyway, love to see how this plays out in the episodes to come. Of course, if Yul still has the hidden immunity by final four, he should make it into final three without a hitch. His only choice outing would be Sundra then, because there’s no way he could risk a Becky Sundra Yul end where the girls would take each other no doubt – where as taking Ozzy and Becky with him to final three would be the best bet for him. He’ll definitely be 100% safe only if he wins the final immunity, but at least with a Becky Ozzy Yul pairing, he has Becky (who probably has the same chance – not so much – with either Ozzy or Yul) to rely on. The only other combo would be Ozzy Sundra and Yul, but why would he want that? Sundra’s closer to Ozzy (witness the hand holding on the helicopter), Yul would have to win for sure to get a place in final two, and might lose a jury vote in Becky if she got screwed. Unless Becky and others can get rid of Yul’s immunity idol BEFORE the final four or do some real kickass strategy that would result in kicking Yul or Ozzy off at the final four, Yul still holds the best position on the island. Which is why it is essential that Yul need to make nice with Becky. Ultimately she holds a lot of Yul’s win at stake, even though she herself is unlikely to win the title. I love Yul – but what a stupid stupid move. It’s the one move that could push him out of the winning seat. That is, if Becky does indeed have the brains and the balls to do it.

I think Yul should try and manipulate the votes to get Jonathan out either next episode or the one after that, which will accomplish several things:-  to not upset the jury by taking Jonathan into the final 4;  to appease Becky that she (and not Jonathan) will go to final two with him and thus keep her in his pocket; to stop any possible alliances with Jonathan and Ozzy (who bonded over the whole not feeding lazy people thing); to cut Raro off completely in swaying any votes (from the interactions seen in the episodes, it’s unlikely that either Adam or Pavarti could ally themselves with Yul, Becky, Sundra, or Ozzy, so they will have the numbers).

Anyway. Oh, could you actually believe that ADAM won a mental challenge? Could  he truly be that eagle stuck with all those damn turkeys? I refuse to believe that none of the Aitu people got the it right before ADAM. Maybe it was all an act.  It has to be.