Twin Peaks Return: Review

It's been nearly three years since David Lynch announced that he was going to return to that wondrous and strange world of Twin Peaks, the cult masterpiece that began an era of television that, in many ways, we have never left. A lot has happened in that time. He very slowly managed to reassemble much of the same cast that made the series so wonderful in 1990, along with nearly two hundred other actors. He left the series in 2015, then was brought back. The series was extended from nine episodes to eighteen.  And with all the fanbase and critical attention, Lynch managed something nearly unheard of in the age of the Internet - he managed to keep secret almost every detail of the series, including whether or not the actors he'd brought back would be playing the same roles.

So last Sunday, Twin Peaks finally returned to Showtime. And there's good news and bad news. The good news is that its nearly as quirky and bizarre as it was nearly a quarter of a century ago. The bad news is that its still pretty inscrutable, and may be difficult to fathom even for those loyal fans that parsed every single element of the original series low those many years ago. However, that bad news may not be a detriment to those loyal followers who have been out there since the series inception (it may not be much of an exaggeration to say that Twin Peaks invented the Internet), as trying to unearth every detail of the series, like so much of Lynch's work, is part of the joy.

What we do know (or at the very least seem to know) in the first four parts is that Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle McAlachan) has been trapped in the Black Lodge for the past twenty five years - sort of. His doppleganger BOB, which escaped in Cooper's body in the series finale, has been living a bizarre life ever since. He has been involved in crime and killing (in the first part we saw him murder three people), but seems aware that his time to return to the Black Lodge may be coming. In last night's episode, Agent Cooper finally managed to escape, but somehow he has lost almost every memory of who he is. There is something spiritual about him - he seemed able to win a fortune on a series of South Dakota slot machines last night- but he barely seems able to talk anymore.

Meanwhile, in Twin Peaks, Deputy Sheriff Hawk (Michael Horse) was given warning by the Log Lady that Dale Cooper, who had disappeared right after the time he returned from the Black Lodge, is back, and that the key to finding him may be something in his heritage. He doesn't know what that means, and neither do Andy and Lucy (now married with at least one child). Sheriff Frank Truman (Robert Forster) seems determined to try and get to the bottom of this.  And the FBI, finally alerted to Cooper's presence, has sent out Director Gordon Cole (Lynch) and Albert Rosenfeld (the late Miguel Ferrer), neither sure what they have gotten themselves into.

There's a lot more going on in Twin Peaks: The Return. And to try and give even limited description to it would both confuse and, in another way, miss the point. The main part of the problem (at least so far) is that so little of the series has been set in Twin Peaks itself. The series has been set in South Dakota, New York, and a fair amount of it in the netherworld between the Black Lodge and 'reality'. We've seen only bits and pieces connected to the characters we remember, such as Ben and Jerry Horne, James Hurley, Shelley Johnson, Bobby Briggs et al., and its hard to figure out what has happened to them in the interim. There has been a fair amount of disconnect here, and while Lynch and Mark Frost have done a good job of connecting the action in the series, its hard finding out how it links to what has come before. Yet, somehow, that adds to the appeal of the series. Twin Peaks didn't just dance to the beat of its own drum; it didn't have a beat that played recognizable music. Yet despite all that, probably because of all that, its appeal lasted long after the series ended.. The level of mystery may be hard to fathom, but that's what made it a masterpiece. Have faith in the owls. Maybe this time we'll finally find out who killed Laura Palmer.

My score: 3.75 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Full Moon

Written by Eric Overmeyer; story by Tom Fontana, Henry Bromell and Eric Overmeyer

Directed by Leslie Libman and Larry Williams

    In the biggest shift of continuity of the fourth season, though ‘Full Moon’ was chronologically next in sequence NBC executives held it back until the season was nearly over. The main reason was they wanted to have the more sensational episode at the head of the season and save the off-beat ones for last. This conclusion leads to me believe that the powers that be at NBC had no idea what Homicide  was all about because, as the constant viewers knows, the ‘weird’, more daring episodes are often the best. ‘Full Moon’ isn’t quite of the level of, say, ‘Bop Gun’ or ‘A Dolls Eyes’ but one can certainly not fault it for being one of the most daring episodes in the show’s history.

     For one thing, almost the entire episode is spent outside the squad room. For another, we only see three of the shows regulars (Kellerman, Lewis and Munch).  And lastly, the episode is set almost entirely at one location--- the New Moon Hotel in the outskirts of Baltimore, an establishment that deals with the lowest in society. As we find out, 98% of the residents have some kind of criminal record (and two of the people who don’t are using false names).

 The victim, not surprisingly, is an ex-con named Charlie Wells. As

ex-cons go, he is slightly more eccentric than the usual junkie. He has spent the last several months trying to ‘secede’ from the U.S., getting rid of almost every kind of government ID, from his Social Security car to the license plate on his vintage bike. He has a very unusual tattoo that relates to his mother. And when he is found he has only one boot on. Meldrick spends much of the episode agonizing over this, only to find that the deceased only wore one at a time--- “Not every shoe has a mate” as his daughter puts it. Despite these eccentricities, Wells will not be missed by the world. Nevertheless Lewis and Kellerman spent the episode, combing the motel trying to find out who killed him.

     Even for crappy motels the New Moon is low on the odometer--- the walls are so thin that a bullet passes through three rooms when fired, the water comes out green and there is a fairly  high level of criminal activity going on. Among the assemblage of guests, are a family of illegal immigrants, a meth head junkie, a prostitute still doing business and two out of state robbers still in hiding. There is so much crime that in the course of the investigation Lewis and Kellerman solve two completely unrelated murders.

     If the investigation involved Bayliss and Pembleton this might have been a fairly dark and grim episode. However, since it involves Lewis and Kellerman, the episode unfolds in a slow, rambling, digressive way. It is a character study, like many  Homicide’s but it has a much lighter tone. Serious subjects are discussed, to be sure--- Mike complaining about the illegal alien problem, Meldrick’s dismay at the demolition of the housing court project that he grew up in--- but these things don’t seem as dire.  Indeed, the murder itself seems a little less important than the people the detectives meet in the course of the investigation.

     The most memorable characters are Ramona, a prostitute who likes to swim nude in the motel pool and who had a thing for Wells and Lonnie Askew, a Native American  who served ten years for killing one of his friends in a drunken car accident. Askew seems the most obvious suspect but as it turns out he is a more sad character than the others--- in many ways he is still a prisoner of the death he caused. However, he is one of the only residents of the New Moon who there is hope for--- at the episode’s end he checks out of the motel to find a better place to live.

     Like many of the episodes of Homicide this is an experimental show. And while the experiment is not quite as successful one has to give it points for originality as well as being an example of some of the better work that Clark Johnson and Reed Diamond would do this year.  In later seasons, both characters will be traveling into dark territory so it’s rather nice to see the two of them do lighter stuff very well.  The episode also has one of the better musical scores, particularly a lonely guitar which seems to be playing through out the show. However, there are at three or  four times during the episode that it tries to go into more serious drama that doesn’t quite mesh with the overall mood. The most old school element of the show comes when Mike and Meldrick arrest the man who seems like the most likely suspect who has the right weapon--- only to find out that while the weapon was used in a murder, it wasn’t used to kill Charlie Wells.

          ‘Full Moon’ works most of the time--- especially in that

    the murder is never solved--- but the episode never quite reaches the great  level that we have come to expect of Homicide. It’s interesting and its amusing but, just like the victims, its very hard  to care about the episode. But even as an exercise it works well enough to make it enjoyable.

My score: 4 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Hellbound

Written by David Amann

Directed by Kim Manners

We've had some gory episodes in the X-Files history (within the limits of what's 1990s network TV was capable of), but seeing some of the murders that take place within Hellbound might turn the stomach of even those who watched Dexter and True Blood. It's not just seeing the bodies that have been skinned alive, it's how willing the series seems to be to traffic in this level of blood and gore. Perhaps it was some effort to make the X-Files seem relevant again (if so, it wouldn't have luck). What makes Hellbound work, however, is not the level of gruesomeness that we associate with it - that's actually something of a misdirection. It actually seems to work better because it's dealing with something different.

Admittedly, the idea behind Hellbound starts out slightly labored. That Reyes finds herself drawn to this case when Doggett and Scully don't see an X-Files might be more potent if the series hadn't spent so much time developing Reyes as incline to feel a pull to certain cases. The episodes manages to pull out things fairly quickly, though, because it has an interesting pull. The victims are essentially people who society has given up on, and who are desperately trying to atone. What Amann makes part of the episode is the fact that this atonement is something that they will never be allowed to complete. It's one thing to dismiss Victor and the rest as people unworthy of a second chance, but no matter how hardened the criminal, no one deserves this horrible a fate. The scene where one of the victims is found in a slaughterhouse still alive may be the most horrifying scene the X-Files has done in quite some kind.

What makes Hellbound work a lot better is how well it begins to unfold. It isn't until the second act that we realize that this a string of murders, and that this is the equivalent of a series that took place in 1960. But its not until the episode is more than half over that we finally realize its origin story - its not connected to something like Home or Squeeze; rather it bares a resemblance to The Field Where I Died, where apparently the same souls are being sent back to live the same lives over and over again.

And this is where Hellbound is far more effective. In The Field Where I Died, there were some intriguing ideas as to the transmigration of souls, but that mostly seemed as an excuse for Duchovny and that week's guest star to regress emotionally and overact. There was a crime that needed solving, but it got lost under the hypnosis. Here, Amann manages to tie it far better to something more potent -- the four people that are being killed and reincarnated are being punished for a far more horrific sin that took place in 1868. The man who was the victim of these crimes - played in this incarnation by Detective Van Allen - has been spending 130 plus years killing these people, then himself for the sole purpose of vengeance. And somehow Reyes is linked to the crime - she tries to stop the murders, but always fails. The fact that she seems to have broken the cycle this time - the last incarnated victim, Dr. Holland is spared - may not be enough to stop the killing. Van Allen still dies at the end, and the indication in the final scene is that he has been reborn.

Where the episode comes up short is that is never clarified where exactly Reyes comes into all this, not even to her. Yet in a bizarre way, that works to Hellbound's advantage. That the episode is willing to set up this bizarre puzzlebox and not really try to solve it may be the most unsettling part about it. Revenge can be a cycle that carries on forever is one of the messages of the episode.

Hellbound for the most part works exceptionally well. Gish gives her best performance so far on the series. At first, she seems far more compassionate than anyone else willing to approach this kind of case, and her level of determination is key in her  level of development so far in Season 9.  The fact that she seems linked to the case doesn't seem as focused on a certain level of flakiness, but ultimately as a desire to understand. The fact that she manages to solve the case, but never does fully understand is powerful, too, and it actually seems the first real character development we've had for her so far. Manners also does a superb job of directing, not only in the sequences of the skinned victims, but also in the scene in the slaughterhouse and the coal mine.

Hellbound isn't a perfect episode by any means, but it is a definite step forward for the X-Files as a whole. One is slowly getting  a picture as to how the show could now proceed with Doggett and Reyes in the lead roles. It's rather a pity that around this time Chris Carter decided to give the show the axe before Fox could. It makes a lot of the upcoming episodes seem a lot paler. (Perhaps in the next incarnation we could see a sequel to this episode)

My score: 4.25 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Heartbeat

Written by Kevin Arkadie; story by Henry Bromell and Tom Fontana

Directed by Bruno Kirby

     It was perhaps inevitable that a show based in Baltimore would pay tribute to the most famous author from the city--- Edgar Allan Poe. Considering that Poe’s dark writings are a good fit with  the mood as well as the fact he wrote the first American detective story, it’s only surprising that it took them until Season 4 to pay tribute him. Adding to the episode’s creativity package is that the episode  focuses on underused characters  Munch and Howard, giving Richard Belzer his  most memorable showcase in a while.

     The case is far from typical for the Homicide crew to begin with. Given an incredibly vague lead on the location of a dead body who was murdered ten years ago, the two detectives find the dead man walled up in the basement of a building in a church. With no leads and precious little evidence Munch and Howard eventually track down a bizarre suspect---  Joseph Cordero, a drug-dealer with an ear for  poetry and a man with a major shine to Edgar Allan Poe. (Indeed the wellread viewer will recognize that the nature of the murder is very similar t the classic Poe story ‘A Cask of Amontialldo’)

     Considering the dark nature of the case as well as that of Poe’s writing Munch understand the nature of this man and  becomes rather heavily involved in getting Cordero.  Indeed, Gee notes that Munch hasn’t been this vigilant about a murder for a very long time. Munch shows a tenacity that we don’t normally associate with him going after the killer. This leads to  a confrontation in the box between the detectives and Cordero (in a memorable performance by Kevin Conway). The two of them go after the poet with an unusual prop for them--- a tape recording of a human heartbeat, slowly getting faster. Despite the fact that he is clearly unsettled, he does not confess to the murder.

     However, even though he doesn’t confess, Munch and Howard do break him. Immediately after their confrontation Cordero begins tearing apart his walls and floors looking for the sound of a heartbeat. Eventually, he walls himself back in the very same place the murder victim was interred with only a small candle and some lines of poetry (I don’t know if its Poe or not) for company. This may not be realistic but it is very unsettling nevertheless.

     Even if the case wasn’t as interesting as it is the episode would be worth the time because its gives Belzer and Leo a rare chance in the spotlight. Here again we see the contradictory parts of Kay Howard’s personality. First we see her superstitious nature (first noticed in ‘Ghost of a Chance way back in season one)  on seeing a black cat. Then we see her frustration at the illogic of the crime and the nature of their main suspect (memorably expressed by her as ‘diarrhea of the mouth). We also see that despite her promotion she is still good murder police.

     However Belzer is at the focus of the episode, professionally and personally. The perpetually lovelorn Munch has fallen in love again, this time with Medical Examiner Alyssa Dyer (a semi-regular placed by Belzer real-life spouse Harlee McBride) Howard mocks Munch for his attitude in  general but he seems genuine—until he goes to pick up Dyer for their date and ends up having sex with her roommate mere minutes after having met her. As he puts it : “I am a weak man.” He spends the rest of the episode agonizing over his indiscretion and avoiding Dyer until the end of the episode where he apparently tells her and she slugs him in the eye. Surprisingly Munch is upbeat by this, claiming it gives them a fresh start but we’re pretty sure that this relationship, like all of Munch’s, is doomed. (We also hear  again that Munch has been married and divorced twice. By the end of the season, the number will have gone up. You try and figure out who the extra wife is)

     Even though Munch and Howard are at the focus, we also get a very memorable comic sequence in which Bayliss tries to convince Pembleton to be happy about his wife’s pregnancy. Unfortunately, in doing so, he tells Captain RUssert and by the end of the episode everybody in the squad knows. They all give positive and congratulatory remarks, none of which Frank hears because he is so pissed by what  Tim has.  This is all very funny but it does have a serious undertone as Frank tells Tim that he is one of the few—for that matter, probably only the second--- persons that he has ever trusted with a secret.  Now Tim has violated the confidence. He does eventually get over this, but it is more because of outside events not a change in Frank’s nature.

     ‘Heartbeat’ is not a perfect episode but the quality of the acting and the rare fine mixture of comedy, drama and suspense make it one of the better examples of the old school Homicide. However, the brief period of respite from the spectacular is just about to disappear. We are about to enter a more sensational period in the show’s history which while interesting is far from perfect.

My score: 4.5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: John Doe

Written by Vince Gilligan

Directed by Michelle MacLaren

In Season 7, when no one connected with the X-Files knew whether or not the series had a future, the only writer capable of turning out any goods at all was Vince Gilligan. Now, in Season 9, with the X-Files, if anything, in even more dire straits, the series once again turns to Gilligan. And not only does he deliver in a critical situation, he actually gives the viewer hope that the series still has the potential for greatness.

John Doe, like so many of Gilligan's creations, is atypical from what we have seen before, and one of the reasons it works as well as it does, is that it gives direction for Doggett. By far the most outstanding creation of Season 8, so far this season, he seems to be stuck being discordant. Now that Reyes and Scully have taken on the task of believing, he now seems like a stick in the mud. Gilligan restores Doggett's power in his typical fashion, by completely stripping of his identity. Doggett has no memory of who he is, and is stuck in a town in Mexico, which seems to be completely owned by one of the major drug cartels. (Another bit of research for Breaking Bad, perhaps?) For the first act of the episode, there's no other regular onscreen but Doggett, and we find ourselves learning about him as well as he does. Since we don't know the real reason he comes down here until the episode is over, the episode finds itself turning on who Doggett is. And what he is, is key to the X-Files: alone in a town filled with criminals and outcasts, he's a man who is looking for a truth.  Of course, in typical series fashion, the truth comes at great cost and is extremely painful. The only memory he has for sure, what he clings to, is the memory of his son; what restores his memory is the ultimate fact that his son is dead. We've seen hints of how much he buried his pain on the occasions it came it up in Season 8; when he finally learns it again, it is one of the most heartbreaking moments the series has done in quite some time.

Robert Patrick gives one of his best performances. As he tries desperately to piece together who he is, we find ourselves realizing just how much of the X-File lexicon has followed this man who doesn't believe in this kind of thing. Slowly putting together the pieces of who he is, he gathers in bits and pieces of who he used to be, perhaps even trying to find a way to give a hint to his partner who he doesn't remember. But when he learns that he might be a killer, just like so much of how the series works, he becomes one. By the time he finally encounters Reyes in the final act, he has learned in true series fashion to trust no one. His first move on the person he trusts most is to attack her. Special note should be given to Annabeth Gish's performance as well. She's been playing so often to her mystical bend on the series that this is the first time this season what a good investigator she is, and how well she can maneuver through the system.

This is one of the more atypical X-File outings. We split away from the action in giant subtitles indicated the passage of time, something that is almost always kept deliberately vague in the series. We find ourselves dealing with a genuine FBI investigation for almost the entire episode. There's more fighting and procedure than were used to, and the climax of  the episode is an actual siege on our heroes. None of this has ever been done, even up to this point, on the series, and yet Gilligan and rookie director MacLaren manage to make it so well, that when the supernatural actually does make an appearance nearly forty minutes in, it almost comes as a shock.

For all its paranormal outings, the series has done very little dealing with the archetypical vampire, and when it deals with it here, with the old man who works with the cartel, its not the kind that drains blood or even life from his victims, but rather their memories. Vito Kazann does such a good job exuding villainy that we don't genuinely suspect his true nature until he finally reveals it.  And Gilligan emphasizes the dirt and grit of this episode that we're almost wrong-footed when it finally comes about. Like so many of Gilligan's villains, he actually thinks that he's doing nothing truly bad, and when Doggett confronts him about what he has done, one can almost wonder, given the amount of pain John has had to go through in this episode when his memory finally returns to him, whether he might have been better off. The final confrontation is right, because in a rarity for these episodes, the police actually manage to do their jobs.

About the only real objection one can raise about John Doe is how little it uses Scully and Skinner. Yet even that seems purposeful rather than a sin of omission: this is an episode about identity that would never worked nearly as well had it featured Mulder or Scully as the protagonists. Gilligan has done more than we could ever have expected of him. Not only has he given us a truly great episode, he's given us a truly different one, something that seems to illustrate the direction the series should be taking rather than having it run in circles most of this season. It's a real triumph, and perhaps all you need to say is that even when the series was at its peak, you would still consider it a standout.

My score: 5 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Hate Crimes

Written by James Yoshimura and Tom Fontana

Directed by Peter Weller

     We’ve had our fair share of ‘red ball’ cases over the past few episodes, so its rather refreshing that Homicide  is back doing what it does best: simple murders, the difficult process of solving them and the frustration that certain cases bring.  Yoshimura and Fontana, two of the ‘old school’ writers, bring this  and in addition deal with another problematic social issue: homosexuality.

     Bayliss and Pembleton catch what appears to be a stone whodunit: a young man is killed outside a gay bar in what appears to be a hate crime. From the beginning of this episode it is clear that Tim is very uncomfortable about this whole murder. He throws it off at the crime scene with a justifiable excuse: the two of them arrived before the paramedics and thus witnessed his last moments. (In old school Homicide, the last words do not help the detectives catch the killer.) However, he then spends the better part of the episode wondering about homosexuality in regard to the victim but mainly in regard to himself: he talks about how this case doesn’t get to him the way that, say, Adena Watson did. Combine  this with overly aggressive attitude towards the skinhead’s who helped commit the murder and it’s clear this case is unsettling him.  Just as in the murder of Angela Frandina in ‘A Many SPlendored Thing’ where the victims overt sexuality troubled him, we are once again led to believe that Bayliss is repressed in some way. We will not, however, get an explanation as to why until the middle of season 5.

     Frank, as always, does not let his own beliefs cloud his efforts to solve the case. Like the Frandina case, the sexuality of the victim doesn’t trouble him in his efforts to close the case. However when he learns the truth about the victim, he is angry and upset at himself for doing what he hates seeing done by other cops, making assumptions based on limited evidence.

     The issue of homosexuality plays a vital role but Fontana and Yoshimura don’t preach, letting the actions speak for themselves. The most startling reaction is that of the victims father, who becomes so inflamed by his son’s apparent sexual preference that he says that if it is true, its better that his son as dead. However, as we find out with the detectives, the victim was not gay, he was merely in that neighborhood on business. When Tim tells the father this, he bursts into tears, his grief at his loss finally coming through. His  first reaction, however, remains the one that stays with us as we realize that some prejudices can overcome even the most powerful grief.

     As effective as this story is, there’s more going on.  The Erica Chilton case, the albatross that spoiled Kay Howard’s 100% clearance rate last season is back. Lewis and Kellerman get a lead when the daughter of the victim comes in and says that she saw who killed her mother. When this information comes in, however, Meldrick doesn’t think to bring the primary of this case in, a situation complicated by Kay’s new higher rank. The two of them have an out and out shouting match in the aquarium. This does not however change Meldrick’s attitude and when he and Kellerman track down the suspect, he purposely does NOT tell Kay that they are interviewing him.

     Meldrick’s attitude is unusually selfish and rather difficult to understand. Part of this is probably because the Chilton murder was Crosetti’s and he considers it his. But the truth this antagonism runs deeper than that, as we are reminded by his actions in ‘Autofocus’. This problem will resurface later in the season and nearly wreck his career in the process.

     Erica Chilton’s murderer, by the way, is revealed to be her boyfriend Tom Marans. He was so pissed off at her relationship with her ex-boyfriend (mentioned in the earlier episode dealing with the investigation) that he killed her. IN many ways this is more troubling than the fact that a young man was killed by two skinheads for being in a gay neighborhood. Her sexuality angered him so deeply that he murdered his girlfriend of three years in front of her own daughter.

Kellerman, who didn’t work this case before and has no leanings either way, is disturbed by Marans entire attitude. (AS it turns out, even though he has confessed to murder, we still aren’t done with Tom Marans.)

     This episode takes place around Thanksgiving, but even though we see hints of the holiday everywhere this not a holiday story. The only person who has something to be thankful for is J.H. Brodie. Since he lost his job, Brodie has become a royal pain freelancing at murder scenes. In a rare act of kindness, Gee and Russert hire him to the unit as a videographer of crime scenes. However, considering the havoc he wreaks a lot of the other detectives aren’t grateful for his presence.

     ‘Hate Crimes’ is a troubling and complex episode which asks a lot of questions without preaching or glamorizing things— another one of those ‘old school’ episodes that we get filtered in with the new crop. It’s not perfect by any means but its far better than the last episode and better than many of the other episodes to come.

My score: 4.5 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Trust No 1

Written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz

Directed by Tony Wharmby

I'll admit there are some interesting ideas on display in this episode. The opening is one of the most well-shot teasers the series has done so far. The X-Files idea of the ever-evolving surveillance state is intriguing, even for those fans who were now rapidly beginning to jump on the 24 bandwagon (like I was), especially the idea that there is no true 'middle of nowhere' anymore.

But none of this can disguise the fact, that this is a truly dreadful episode. Starting with the most obvious problem - its a waste of time. The entire storyline of Trust No 1 is based on the principle that we are going to see Mulder again - and those fans still devoted enough to be watching the series in Season 9, know that it just ain't gone to happen. Duchovny is gone. He's not going to be making cameos. He's been abundantly clear on that point. For Chris Carter to now try and center an entire episode around that idea is downright insulting.  This might have worked had this been happening in Season 8 - considering Duchovny's schedule, an episode like this would've worked (never mind that it would have thrown the story of the season out of joint, but since when has that ever stopped the writers?). But now, Mulder isn't going to make a stunning reappearance. And in many ways, this is a replay of the endless waiting game that fans like me had to endure in Season 8. No, wait, its worse, because this time, they won't even give us a payoff. The climax of the episode basically involves a shooting to guarantee Mulder can't show up, and then a scene in a quarry, where everybody's shouting for Mulder, but we all know, he isn't going to be there. You really don't want the series to be showing metaphors for what the X-Files has become by now.

As  frustrating and borderline insulting as this is, it pales in comparison to all the other flaws that are on display. To be starting on a new kind of mythology at this point in the series was a bad idea when Season 9 started, but at least they were trying to come up with different ideas (horrible though they were). Now, in Trust No 1, we have them trying to develop them... and there's nothing new to see. There's the couple who fight on the street for the sole purpose of gaining Scully's trust, there's the shadowy people who have no names who seem to be responsible for spying on us, there the shadowy informant who goes to great lengths to try and get one of the protagonists attention, and reveal his power, and eventually we learn that he, too, can not be trusted. All of that was hard enough to deal with during the series early years, but as if to make up for the dragging pace of the mythology, Trust No 1 tries to do it all in a single episode. The only thing they try to do to modernize it is throw in some lines about how the Constitution is a mere scrap of paper, and that they knew when Scully invited Mulder into her bed. (And honestly, this may be the most offensive part. Bad enough that they dragged out the sexual tension between Mulder and Scully for eight seasons; now they're - and by extension Scully, is implying that they were doing it like bunnies during the same period that everybody was denying it. Were they trying to piss off the shippers who were left by this point?)

And what this does is weaken the series foundation - which took some serious damage throughout Season 8 - even further.  We've been sold - not very well - that there was some horrible threat to Mulder that told him that he had to go into hiding. Now, that threat is apparently Terry O'Quinn with a gun. That's it. The supersoldiers have been somewhat imposing, I'll give the writers credit for that, but after seven years of being threatened by the government, shadowy assassin, liver-eating mutants, and alien bounty- hunters, the Mulder that we know would stand and fight. This Mulder (and seriously, he couldn't think of a less obvious email address?) writes romantic emails with more of Chris Carter's deathless prose, and is willing to throw everything away to see Scully again. And its bad enough that the series still seems to have Mulder as a central character, even though the actor playing him isn't there anymore, Chris. It's now formally gutted Scully. Where's the strong woman who was willing to stand up to every major threat? Throughout the entire episode, Gillian Anderson is askew. She constantly seems to be bursting into tears, she's willing to go on a wild goose chase for no real reason, and she's willing to sacrifice Mulder's safety just so she can see him again.

And all this seems to do is make every element of the X-Files seem redundant. There are so many good actors in this episode - Terry O'Quinn, Alison Smith, Kathryn Joosten - and they are given almost nothing to work with in every scene they're in. O'Quinn is a great actor, capable of portraying even the most bland character with great nuance. But his whole presence in this story, he just seems to lead Scully on a wild goose chase. And what do we gain out of this whole mess? Apparently, these supersoldiers can be destroyed by some form of metal. Frankly, I liked the bees better. Oh, and by the way, for some reason either Mulder or William must die. In other words, by keeping himself alive, Mulder is forcing the baby to be dead. That's what we were getting from all this ordeal? That's what Mulder has been reduced to? A fall guy?

At least the new writers on the series have the excuse that they haven't been around long enough to know what the X-Files. And considering how good a writer Spotnitz managed to be last season - even in the mythology episodes- you'd expect better from him at least. By now, we know that Chris Carter has no direction for his series; we learned that years ago. All that Trust No 1 reveals is that Carter can't even follow the dictates of the rules his own actors have forced upon him There have been bad episode over the last couple years, but none that where the best you can say about is that's an exercise in futility. Throw in that ridiculous purple prose that the characters are saying to each other, as well as that awful Mark Snow theme, telling us how miserable Scully is, and you have an episode where you would really have been better served watching those photo stills of Mulder and Scully for an entire hour.

My score: 1 star.

Veep Season 6 Review

Maybe it's the political climate today, or maybe it's just the problem of getting into Season 6. But I don't think that HBO's Veep, winner of the last two Emmys for Best Comedic Series, is nearly as entertaining as it used to be. Maybe the central problem is one that's hanging over it is that now President Meyer is out of office, and has no direction for her career. But I think the problem is far more basic.

In the Season 6 premiere, a critical scene came when President Meyer (Julia-Louis Dreyfus - who else) said that what she had been spent the year out of office doing was 'trying to get to know an old friend. An old friend named Selina Meyer." In a nutshell, that is the problem with the series now. Selina has never been centered on anything, but herself. And now that she's out of power, all she can do is see nothing but herself. She wants to be President again, despite the fact that her family is adamantly opposed to it, and when she learns her political life is over, all she can focus on is her legacy - never mind the fact that everything she did in the White House assured she'll never have one. She focuses on getting her Presidential Library, on racing money for her Foundation, on possibly becoming a Supreme Court Justice. And whereas before this was hysterical funny, seeing  how cruelly she treats everyone around her - from her ever loyal aide-de-camp Gary (Tony Hale, still the best thing about this show) to her own daughter Catherine, who now is in the embarrassing position of holding the purse-strings in her family - it just seem vindictive and pointless.

Granted, everybody outside the Meyer White House is now struggling to find a new career.  Dan (Timothy Simons) has landed on CBS as a morning show host, and is dealing with the fact that his senior cohost seems determined utterly destroy his career before it even begins. Amy (Anna Chlumsky) spent the first three episode trying to get her political inept fiancee to become governor of Nevada, but when he decided to give off the office for her, she gave up on him. She's now back as Selina's aide. Let's see how long that lasted.

At this point, the characters who we have any sympathy for are Gary Cole and Kevin Dunn, Selina's former White House aides, now reduced to helping Congressman Jonah, who seems determined to ignore their advice even when they're helpful. And one can't help but feel for Catherine, the most abused person in this series, now trying to find simple happiness with her lesbian lover (the former head of Selina's secret service detail), and not getting any sympathy from the woman who gave birth to her.

Now I'm not saying I want Veep to suddenly turn into the West Wing or Parks & Rec. There are still some often funny moments, as was demonstrated when Selina traveled to Georgia to monitor the latest election, and found herself being torn between two despot who wanted to make 'donations' to her library. But the series doesn't seem as piquant now (especially given the current political environment) though this may simply be due to the fact that its been on the air past its expiration date. Whatever the reason, I just don't feel that Veep deserves to keep running much longer.

MY SCORE: 2.5 stars.

Homicide Episode Guide: Thrill of the Kill

Written by Jorge Zamacona; story by Tom Fontana and Henry Bromell

Directed by Tim Hunter

     If ‘A Dolls Eyes’ represented the best aspects of Homicide, ‘Thrill of the Kill’ represented the weakest part of the ‘new’ series. Considering the qualities of this episodes one can not understand why NBC was  so hyped by it that they ran it out of sequence in time for the November Sweeps. Not only is it a vastly inferior episode, it is not even very good television by the standards of normal television mainly because of a couple of major logical flaws.

     The story involves a serial killer who, starting in Florida, begins driving north down the interstate, apparently slaughtering passengers every time that he stops for gas. The FBI learns about a murder in Virginia which isn’t that far from Maryland. Yet somehow Bayliss and Pembleton have time to talk to the FBI, practice at the firing range, drive to the crime scene, interrogate witnesses and drive back to Baltimore well before the killer arrives. This is a hole in the plot big enough to drive a pick-up through but nobody in the show says anything about it.

     The second flaw is more a problem of being able to suspend disbelief. Bayliss and Pembleton eventually catch up with their suspect Newton Dell, a man with a string of priors and a borderline sociopath.

He denies that he committed the murders, saying that he told ‘him’ not to do it. In the denoument it is revealed that  the ‘him’ is Newton’s twin brother. This means that Newton rode in the same car with his brother and did absolutely nothing to prevent him from committing the murders, other than tell him that it was wrong. I didn’t believe this when I first saw the episode six years ago  and I can’t believe it now.

This maybe the most unsatisfying ending of any case that the show ever did. (That said, those of you who were fans of Burn Notice will be stunned to see how young Jeffrey Donavan manages to get a handle both as the killer and his identical twin brother, even at this age.)

     While the case is not particularly exciting there are some very interesting character development that makes for some interest (though not enough to save the show from being mediocre) For the first time in the series we see the detectives doing qualifying for their firing proficiency exam. Here at last we see the one part of being a police where Pembleton is less than stellar: he is a very lousy shot. He says that using the gun has always been the part of the job he never liked. In more series this  would be a quirk, meaning little. As it turns out this foreshadows his greatest obstacle when he has to return to the job.

     More importantly is Gee’s meeting with his oldest daughter, Charisse making her first (and as it turns out, only appearance on the show. Gee is surprisingly nervous about seeing her for the first time in a couple of years and becomes understandably disturbed when she is late to her meeting. This leads to the tensest moment of the entire episode when we are led to suspect because of the editing that Charisse has become Dell’s victim. It comes as an immense relief to Gee (and to the viewer) when she turns up at his house. However, his relief fades when he learns that Charisse is planning to move even further away—all the way to San Francisco to get married to a man Gee has never met. Gee realized that time, combined with the job that he has, is taking his daughter away from him and he is understandably disturbed. (This will be explored to an extent in ‘Stakeout’ later this season.) Yaphet Kotto gets a chance to explore depths that he usually done it and he reveals in his speech and his very body language, how effective an actor he is. (We also learn some more information about Gee’s other two children which will later turn about to be false--- at least in regard to his son.)

     There are some tense moments and some funny sequences, including the opening where we see Frank and Tim being towed from a crime scene back to the station. But the writing and pacing of the show seem very ill-suited to the realism and quirkiness of Homicide from as recently as one episode ago and closer to a more conventional police drama. In many ways this is the weakest episode of the fourth season, though unfortunately there will be a couple of other claimants to that.

My score: 2 stars.

X-Files Episode Guide: Lord of the Flies

Written by Thomas Schnauz

Directed by Kim Manners

Whatever else one can say about Season 8, one can't deny that it was dark and suspenseful in a way that the previous seasons were not. One can, however, see the desire to return to comedy, considering that it was at the heart of many of the more successful episodes over the series run. But Lord of the Flies really doesn't work, and one wonders what kind of episodes that the series was trying to emulate.

The major problem with the episode is that the series is back to trying to mine the well of teenage angst, something that the X-Files has never done particularly well, and doesn't do much better here. There's a certain spark when it taps to the idea that the main motivation of so many teenagers is now to get in on the reality TV show vein, something that was only beginning to take off in 2001, and that more teenagers care more about fame than their own wellbeing. If the episode had continued in that vein, it might have a better feel even now. But before the first act is over, we've left the wonders of Sky Commander Winky to follow Dylan Lokensgard, yet another in a sad line of teenage monsters who links the metaphor of growing up into big life changes. Or, as seems to be the case here, turning into someone who can control insects with his hormones.

This would be hard enough to tolerate even if the X-Files were running at peak proficiency. Unfortunately, the writers is neither Vince Gilligan nor Darin Morgan but yet another newcomer to the series Thomas Schnauz, who doesn't seem to have the idea of what makes a good X-File, much less a good comedy episode. Lord of the Flies would be a hard sell for Duchovny and Anderson, but they might have been able to somehow sell it. Unfortunately, the series is now under the leadership of Doggett and Reyes, two agents that we are still getting to know, and Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish make the mistake of trying to play the episode completely straight-faced.

 Anderson at least seems to know better to take this seriously, and manages to at least do the lines with a bit more freedom then she's been given this season. But Schnauz doesn't seem to be trust that Scully can handle this on her own, so he brings in Dr. Rocky Bronzino. Now clearly it seems that Schnauz had seen War of the Coprophages, and was trying to do his best to create the male equivalent of Dr. Bambi. But Morgan seem to understand that the best way to use his character was to make sure she was taking herself perfectly seriously. Michael Wiseman, however, plays every line by mugging and exaggerating his delivery every time he's on camera.  And at least Bambi was deliberate funny, Bronzino is played as someone who under no circumstances you could ever take seriously. And to have him flirting with Scully at this point in the series is just in plain bad taste right now.

Even given the mish-mash of an episode, Lord of the Flies could've been at least entertaining, if it was at least trying to emulate Darin Morgan. But at its best, it seems to be trying to pay tribute to The Rain King or The Goldberg Variation, neither of which were exactly examples of the X-Files at its best. The only thing that's really original about the relationship between Dylan and Natalie is that it seems to be saying that even teenagers wish that they could go back to a time when things were simpler. But there's no real dimension to this relationship than there is to anything else in the story. After being called in to investigate what happened to Bill in the teaser, the story doesn't even try to explain how exactly it happened so quickly or why. There's just more teenage bullying and a labored romance and a lot of insects, all of which we've seen before, and at least done more capably, if not necessarily better. One wishes they'd stayed with the reality TV angle, which was at least original to the X-Files. Even then, there's a bit of laziness to the writing - the one joke that really lands is Doggett's and Winkle's exchange about Winky trying to sell the stunt where Captain Dare died to the Fox network, because they were the only ones that offered to buy it. But even this bite at the hand that feeds them is an old joke that's been far too many time by The Simpsons.

So what we are left with is basically an episode that is more of a curiosity than anything else. Its odd to see a very young Aaron Paul, trying to play a teenage bully, who admittedly isn't that far removed from Jesse Pinkman at this stage in his life. (And it's evn weirder that he never gets around to using the catchphrase that his character will become infamous for on Breaking Bad.) There's also a certain symmetry to seeing Jane Lynch playing another authoritarian school figure less than a decade than she will become known for doing the same on Glee (though admittedly, there are no doubt many Sue Sylvester fans who wouldn't be shocked that she is the actual monster in this episode.)

Aside from that, Lord of the Flies is a huge disappointment. It doesn't work as a comedy or a scarefest. It takes all the energy we got with 4-D and fritters it a way. And to see the episode end with yet another of the series purple prose synopsis - delivered yet again by Scully - shows just how determined The X-Files seems to be to take a step backward.

My score: 1.5 stars.

Save American Crime

Last night, the third season of American Crime, a series that nearly every critic on TV considers one of the great creations of our time, came to an end. The general consensus among many critics and trades is that, given the paucity of the ratings, it will be the final seasons. Considering that ABC is a network tottering on the brink of finishing fourth this year, and that this is one of the few broadcast series that has managed to be nominated, much less win Emmys for the last two seasons, I consider that the odds of its survival are a little better - maybe fifty-fifty. But let us consider the reason why a show this consistently magnificent even in the era of peak TV, is on the verge of death.

American Crime is a brilliant series, one of the most consistently well-acted I've seen so far this decade. The cast, from Felicity Huffman, Timothy Hutton and Regina King on down, are doing some tremendous work. The series deals with some of the most relevant issues that any TV show, particularly in this political climate, has ever dealt with. And that may be part of the problem. It deals with them in a far more gripping and realistic manner than any series I've ever seen - maybe even more realistically than one of Peak TV's first real masterpieces The Wire.  On that series, David Simon suggested that the system of crime and punishment, along with society in general, were broken so badly that no big fixes could come. However, he did suggest that individual victories, however small, were possible.

American Crime doesn't even believe in that. This has been made uniformly clear every year, but especially in the third season, where it tried to take a broader scope within the world of human trafficking. Here, even the people who try to take a stand, most notably Felicity Huffman's crusading housewife and Regina emotionally burnt-out social worker, are eventually worn down by both their personal battles and the problems with the systems that in the final episode they find themselves surrendering to the very institutions they have spent all season battling against. It's wrenching and painful. And unlike The Wire, there aren't even the occasional moments of black comedy to give us relief.

Indeed, that may be American Crime's greatest achievement - creating an emotionally brilliant and scarring drama with no relief at all. There's no background music to distract us, almost no music at all, as  a matter of fact. The dialogue unfolds with speakers in the background often carrying on unseen.. Whenever an obscenity comes out, the screen blacks along with the word that's cut, which adds an even more jarring appearance. The viewer is forced to look on at the darkness of the scene and the reality of the situation.

This is a wrenching, painful series, and considering that most broadcast viewers come to TV looking for escapism, one can almost understand, if not approve, of why American Crime's numbers started low and haven't gone up. One could rant and rave against the mentality of a viewer wanting Olivia Pope or Jack Bauer to come in and bring a speedy resolution, but let's be honest, this kind of fare has never been popular with the viewing public. For my first witnesses, I would call Tom Fontana and David Simon. The only reasons the series that were at least critical successes lasted as long as they did was because of the patients of their corporate Medici's, not because millions of viewers wanted to see them.

Now, let's be honest. Given the fairly recent history of low-rated TV series being brought back to life by other networks, and the fact that show-runner John Ridley has already launched two successful series, one on basic cable, one on Showtime, the ultimate fate of American Crime might now be so dire. I can definitely see a network like HBO or a streaming service, picking it up for at least another season, which would probably have the added advantage of not only keeping the series alive, but allowing Ridley et all to explore in more depth (and with less restrictions) the issues the show wants to explore. (My personal choice might be superstation WGN, which in addition to backing another Ridley based series was willing to explore darker field in the critically acclaimed drama Manhattan.)

Yet there is a part of me, something deep within me, that really hopes that ABC will see the light, and keep the show alive. As I have said over and over, American Crime is a victory for network TV. If it's cancelled, or even if it goes to cable or streaming, it will be another defeat, and a win for Shonda Rhimes and Dick Wolf. ABC will fill its timeslot with another comic book series, or a silly escapist drama that will probably get ratings only marginally better, and won't be nearly as good. This is particularly true for a network that seems determined to let its most interesting series go to other networks, and fill its drama slot with Shondaland, which despite the facts its ratings have been in decline (and only marginally better than American Crime) continue to keep going on for reasons that escape me.

Keep American Crime on the air, ABC. You haven't produced a series this purely brilliant in years. The world needs more shows like this, even if the world doesn't know it.