TV REWIND: Buffy – Season 6 & Angel – Season 3

Well, I finally finished the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, along with the third season of Angel. Holy crap is all I can manage to say right now.  On both accounts, more so with Buffy.  Both shows got super intense this time around, and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.  While season six may possibly be the saddest season of Buffy, its also, in my opinion, very well done

BUFFY

When we last left Buffy off, she was, well…dead.  She sacrificed herself in order to save her sister’s life.  This season kicked right off with Willow, the powerful witch ressurecting her.  Everyone on the show was suspecting she was in Hell.  Not one character in the show suspected that “Hey, she is a good person, maybe she’s in Heaven?”  No, they had to suspect the worst.  Turns out, Buffy was in Heaven, and they ripped her out.  Poor Buffy. Next we found out Giles was leaving the show.  Right off the bat, he headed off to England.  He came back for a few episodes, including the incredible musical episode, but then returned once again to his rightful place in England.  He felt he was no longer needed in Sunnydale.

Who is the “big bad” this season? Well I’m glad you asked, its a bunch of nerds who call themselves “The Trio.”  They have had so much better villains.  I thought that they were just kind of dull.  They got better on as the season progressed, but they were still nerds.

RELATIONSHIPS, as always with Buffy, it has to have the drama bit.  Whose with who this season?  Well, lets start with Buffy, for about half the season, she was with Spike.  It was because she didn’t feel right, and needed someone to confort her, and Spike was always there.  At first, I thought I would actually like the relationship, but it never truly was a relationship, because she was just using him. Xander’s relationship with Anya continued to grow as they planned their wedding.  But he broke up with her at the alter…which led to Anya becomming a vengence demon once more. Also in the love category is Willow and Tara, continued from the previous couple of seasons.  Their relationship ended when Willow got addicted to magic, but thanks to no magic for a month, the two got back together, just in time for  Tara to get SHOT IN THE HEART! So eventually, this is where Willow turned to the darkside.

Which brings us to the finale.  Willow went bad, and went to avenge Tara’s death, and did she ever!  She was engulfed in the darkest of dark magic, and nothing could stop her.  She found her lover’s killer, and in a split second, wripped all the skin from his body, it was gross! Most TV’s in the world censored that very moment.  Giles came back in the last episode to stop Willow, but he as well was ineffective.  The one person who saved the day was not Buffy, but Xander.  Her one best friend, and with the love he had for her, didn’t stop.  She continued to hurt him, but he just came back, saying he loved her, which eventually led to Willow returning to the way she was in a loving embrace from Xander.  That was one of my all-time favorite scenes of Buffy to date.

And of course, with every season of Buffy, there has to be a cliffhanger.  Spike went on a quest to get his soul back, and after a bunch of hard tests, he got it! Cue the end credits! Wow, I really have to say that it was fantastic.  One of my favorite seasons, if NOT my favorite. My head is still spinning.

ANGEL

This season of Angel was intense as well.  Although it was more depressing than actually intense.  So many things happened, that could turn out good, but they always, always ended badly.  This season was centered around the fact that Angel was to become a father.  Half the season was about protecting Darla, because his son not only had a soul, it was alive, heart-beating and all.  Then the last half of the season, Darla staked herself, leaving the baby alive.  Angel named him Connor, but then he was taken away. 

A few days later, a teenage Connor came back.  At first you think everything is okay again..but noooo.  He locked Angel up in a sealed box, and drowned it, leaving him living forever on the bottom of the ocean.  Cordelia was about to confess her feelings to Angel, when she was stopped and was taken to some other dimension.  Wesley is hated by Angel, and lives a depressing life, drinking alchohol all day, and Wolferman and Hart continue to try to hire him.  The only people left on the show are Gunn and Fred.  That’s it.  That’s where it leaves us. 

Holy cow! With the two shows combined…..dang.  My inside source tells me that Angel just gets more depressing and nothing good ever happens again.  I sure hope that isn’t so.  But I can’t wait to keep watchin my new favorite shows.  Peace!

TV REWIND: Buffy – Season 5 & Angel – Season 2

 

The weeks keep on rolling, and I just finished the fifth season of Buffy, alongside the second season of Angel.  Might I just say that these seasons just continue to get more crazy as they go along.  For Buffy, I’ll have to say that while this season wasn’t my favorite, it sure had some truly remarkable episodes that were amazingly thought out.  Buffy’s fifth was also the saddest season so far.  I’ve heard season six is even sadder, so we’ll have to see.  For Angel, I enjoyed the second season more than the first.  Even though it’s sad to see Doyle gone, its nice to know that Cordy has his powers, and of course…I love the karaoke bar in the second season. I’ll get to that in a little bit.

BUFFY

So many new things were added this season of Buffy, as always.  First the characters, we had Glory, who was the “big bad” of the season looking for “The Key.”  Then we had Ben, who was actually Glory…its complicated.  Then of course, we had Dawn.  For the longest time I thought Buffy actually jumped the shark with her character.  It seemed pointless and confusing.  They explaned her character later, but I still felt it wasn’t REALLY necessary.  I eventually warmed up to her character, and I accept her now.  

Then we have deaths.  Holy cow! One of the most sad and horrific episodes was also one of the best episodes in the series so far. For me, it may be my favorite.  2×16 – The episode where Joyce was killed off.  Earlier in the season, Joyce was shown to have a brain tumor, and that later, it was proved that she would be just fine.  But they made a miscalculation, and Joyce ended up getting a brain aneurism.  That episode was incredible when it came to acting, videography, and oh my gosh, the lack of music in the episode was magnificent.  It worked flawlessly.  

When it comes to Dawn’s character, they described her as “The Key” that monks made, and sent to Buffy’s life in human form.  Basically, in the finale, Glory was to bleed Dawn, and a portal to every dimension would open, once again ending the world.  So if she started to bleed, she would need to be killed in order to stop it.  Buffy realized that the monks made Dawn out of herself, so her blood is just like Dawn’s.  So at the end, when Dawn was cut, Buffy realized the only way to save the world is to kill herself…which is what she did! Holy crap!  I mean, they have two more seasons of Buffy, what will they do next!?

ANGEL

This season of Angel didn’t really have much of an overall arc, other than Lorne’s backstory.  I love Lorne’s character.  A demon that can read people’s future when they sing karaoke…priceless.  Anyways, this season, like any other season of Angel, had several small stories.  This season was about Darla’s return as a human, then turned back into a vampire by Drucilla.  Which in turn made Angel semi-evil, allowing vampires to feed on people.  Then he abandoned his team going against Wolfrman and Hart.

When he was back to normal, he had to gain the trust of his team back, which was no easy task.  The finale was like a four-part mini series, I swear.  Well, the first episode of the finale, was introducing us to Lorne’s cousin when he was transported through a portal.  When they sent him back, they ended up accidentaly sending Cordy back as well.  In the other dimension, humans are slaves called cows in a very “Planet of the Apes” like world.  More like…”Planet of the Demons.”  

Their world was like our world back when we were in England and there was no electric….that’s kind of a bad example.  Anyways, its a bad place, and sure enough the gang was able to get to the other dimension.  Just in time to see that Cordy was being treated as a princess, because she has the gift of future sight.  It wasn’t long before even she noticed the place meant bad business.  The finale almost made us think Lorne was beheaded….he was, but he doesn’t die until his body is mutilated.  ANYWAYS…good season, but like always, I have to go with Buffy.  Buffy totally won me over this season.  Peace out!

TV REWIND: Buffy Season 4 & Angel Season 1

 

It has been a week since I finished the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and you know what I have been up to?  I have continuously been watching the fourth season of Buffy alonside the first season of Angel, because they cooincide with each other.  Overall, they are their own story, but once in a while, there were cross-over episodes, where say Buffy went to Angel, or Angel went to Buffy, or even small things such as a telephone call were repeated in both episodes.

BUFFY

For Buffy, this season was all about her adapting to college life and everything.  We met a few new characters this season, like Riley, and Tara.  Riley was part of this underground military confound that specialized in taking out evil things such as vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness (Buffy’s job). Unknowingly, they were really collecting demons for their own evil needs. You see, they were busy creating ADAM, a human/demon/robot type thing that is virtually undestructable.  Until Buffy was possesed by something or other at the end.

Also Spike was a main character this season.  I love Spike’s character.  This season, he was captured by the Initiative (see above paragraph) and planted a chip in  his head that doesn’t allow him to hurt or bit anyone.  Other than demons that is.  I love that concept. This ran on for the rest of the season.

Of course relationships were flaring, as they always do for this series.  Xander dated Anya through the whole season, which had it’s ups and downs, and I really like her character.  Buffy dated Riley the second half of the season, and I guess she still is.  Willow dated Oz the first half of the season until he cheated on her with another werewolf, and left the show.  The second half of the show, Willow met Tara and came out of the closet towards the end of the season.  Oh yeah, and Giles was dating someone as well, only seen in about three episodes though.

This brings us to the finale.  This was a strange episode, almost felt filler.  The episode before the finale felt more like a finale.  Anyways the last episode of the season, the scoobie gang fell asleep and the ghost of the first slayer tried to kill them.  I will say, however, that whoever wrote this episode did a darn good job, I loved that episode, even though it was very confusing.

ANGEL

Originally, before I even began watching the first season of Buffy, I was getting into Angel, until a friend told me I had to watch Buffy first, in order to truly understand Angel. So I did.  Watched the first three seasons of Buffy leading up to Angel, and you know what? I like Buffy so much more than Angel right now.

Angel is what you can call the guy’s version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He’s doing the exact same thing, just in Los Angeles.  The form is different, it is more like a detective show than Buffy.  But the cases are the same.

The first season of Angel introduced us to some nice characters.  Not as great as Buffy’s characters, but they had their own flair.  Doyle, who was a half-demon who had the ability to see people in danger was Angel’s sidekick, and Cordelia from previous seasons of Buffy came into the show as Angel’s secretary.  Then in an act of bravery, Doyle sacrificed himself to save his friends, and Wesely from third season of Buffy came into the show, replacing Doyle.  Actually, Cordelia replaced Doyle, by inheriting his powers.

In the finale, we learn that if Angel gets through a ton of obstacles, and if he does his job right, he will become human again.  I’m guessing this is foreshadowing to the second season.  Just a guess, he won’t become human. Well, off to see the fifth season of Buffy, and second of Angel, peace out!

TV REWIND: Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 3

 

It took me a little bit over 3 days to finish the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  After reeling me in with a rivoting second season finale.  The last time we left Buffy off, she was leaving her friends and family behind by leaving town.  Angel was supposedly killed, after getting his soul back.  In my opinion, the end of the second season marked the end of the “happy-go-lucky” part of the series.  Starting with the third season premiere, things got a heck of a lot darker and more serious.  Granted, I am sure it will be getting a whole lot darker as the series progresses, but for now, they are doing the right thing.

One of the major things I saw right away was the cinematography.  It was done a lot different, giving the overall feel to the show, more creepy, not to mention more professional.  This season introduced us to some new characters.  Faith, who was another vampire slayer, and the mayor of Sunnydale, who was secretly a demon plotting to kill everyone in the season finale. Mid-season, Giles was fired from being Buffy’s watcher, and in came Wesley, her new, younger more imature watcher.  Giles didn’t go anywhere, though, don’t worry.

Of course with every good drama show out there, there has to be relationships.  Relationships are very common in this show.  As far as I can tell, there has been a romantic interest, if not more, for everyone in the show.  Especially for Xander, who has liked Buffy, Cordelia, Willow, Faith, and now this ex-demon girl…it’s complicated. Anyways, last season, Xander started to date Cordelia, which I had no problem with, but sparks flew between him and Willow third season.  I have always liked their relationship more, because it is more personal than his and Cordelia.  Naturally, they got caught in the act, and that’s where I had a bittersweet feeling.  I love the idea of Willow and Xander together, but Cordelia and Oz didn’t do anything wrong, so they shouldn’t have to deal with that. Later on, Oz and Willow got back together.

Things got more intense when Faith went bad.  She and Buffy were out patrolling when she accidentally killed a man.  She kind of lost it, and went all Anikan Skywalker, and turned to the dark side, joining the Mayor in his efforts to destroy the world.  Buffy ended up putting Faith in a coma, which upset the Mayor pretty much, leading us to the finale.  

In the finale, a ton of things happened.  Buffy quit the counsel, not taking orders anymore.  She’s a free slayer now.  There was a huge war at the end of season 3 that all the students participated in.  It was like a scene from “Lord of the Rings.”  Then at the very end, Angel left Sunnydale, never to be seen again.  Actually, I think he just got a call from a wealthy producer to come star in his own TV show called “Angel.”  In the end there was no cliffhanger, I was surprised, but it was still good.  

Now I have to start watching Angel as well as the fourth season of Buffy, cause they apparently cooincide with each other.  So I’ll talk to you guys later. Peace out!

TV REWIND: Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 2

 

Okay, just finished the second season of Buffy, and might I say…wow. This season really took me by surprise. Well mainly the entire season was average until the final half of the show, where it really got intense.  Most of the season was based around the descent of Angel, showing us his dark side.  Being so used to seeing him at his best, kind and gentle, it got painful seeing him act so cruel as a vampire.  The rest of the season the gang attempted to get Angel’s soul back, but failed…several times.

Also, this season liked to shock us with some terrible deaths and even some shocking twists to characters.  Really? Oz is a werewolf?  That episode had probably the worst costume I have ever seen used on either television or film.  I wouldn’t have been surprised if he ran around in a giant easter bunny costume.  The killing off of Jenny Calendar’s character was really disturbing and sad, but if it were me, I wouldn’t have written it any other way.  She sacrificed herself in order to save Angel’s life.

Then the finale, what an episode.  I was aware that Angel was going to be restored, because well…he has his own spin-off show that is done after season three of Buffy.  What I didn’t know was how everything in the finale would play out.  Spike and Buffy working together, that was great.  Spike having a awkward chat with Buffy’s mom, so great.  Then the final moments of the show, Angel got his soul back.  The moment we’ve all been waiting for. What a great moment, Buffy even had a smooch with him and everything.  Then, the show has you at the edge of your seat.  Theres a giant monster about to destroy the world, and somehow, Buffy had to get Angel to stop it.  So what does she do?  She takes a giant sword, and stabs him through the heart.  My mouth dropped straight to the ground.  All that work to have him come back gone to waste. And how will they get him back? They have to somehow, because like I said, he had his own spin-off show.

If that wasn’t enough to keep you wide-eyed, Buffy was seen at the very end, leaving Sunnydale.  Not even saying goodbye to her closest friends.  Then just like that, the season was done.  Wow, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this single episode reeled me into Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  I can’t wait to see the third season.  I’ll catch you guys when I finish it.  Peace out!

TV REWIND: Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 1

 

Back in 1997, over a decade ago, a new sensation sweeped the nation.  This sensation was a teenage girl named Buffy Summers, played by Sarah Michelle Geller.  Buffy is no ordinary girl, she fights evil things such as vampires, demons, and lots of other evil things only seen in “The X-Files.” It’s not only Buffy who has the strange name, her friends Willow, Xander, and Giles also have never-before heard of names.  Also her nemesis, Cordelia.  Whatever happened to Bob or Bill?

The first season was only twelve episodes long, but was good enough to get a new season 6 times over.  This first season was about “The Master,” an underground vampire who is weak, and throughout the season, he is trying to gather strength to I guess, take over the world?  Buffy, meanwhile, is training to become the slayer she is destined to be.

So far the show isn’t quite as good as I’ve heard it WILL be.  It has six more seasons to prove itself to me, and so far, it’s alright.  I’ve most definitely seen better, but that is to be expected.  This was only the first season, I’ll catch you when I finish season two, peace out.

Do Not Disturb: Pilot – Review

More like, do not disturb me! I have to be honest. I love the art of television and movies, so I am likely to love anything. I did not love “Do Not Disturb,” and I never thought I would, in fact I was thinking it would bore me to tears. I also didn’t hate it, because lets be honest, I really don’t hate ANYTHING. I’ll tell you why…

If it was up to me, in all honesty, I couldn’t come close to how they did this episode. And for that, I have to give it credit. For most critics, they would be saying this show is one of the worst shows on network TV, and that it’s not even funny. I agree, actually, to a degree. It wasn’t that funny, but I could see what they were going for, and that kept me from turning off the TV. It is, however, probably one of network TV’s weaker shows, and I probably won’t be watching many more.

It wasn’t so clear as to what it is actually about. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with managing a hotel, but I can’t be positive. The truth is, it really doesn’t matter. Being about a hotel adds nothing to the plot of the show, which inevitably is nothing more than to try and make you laugh.

I might check back with the show next week, I might just skip it, who knows? Peace out.

TV REWIND: Day Break

 

Who remembers “Groundhog Day”? I know I do. In fact, Groundhog Day was one of my favorite movies back in the day, still is. The idea of somebody re-living the same day over and over again is intriguing. Filmmakers around the globe have borrowed that idea for their own projects, and for the most part it’s for comedy. For “Day Break” they use that idea, and make an action thriller out of it.

Day Break has a few familiar faces among its cast. Brett’s girlfriend, Rita, for example; Rita is played by Moon Bloodgood, who some viewers may recognize her as Livia in NBC’s Journeyman. Adam Baldwin also co-stars as Chad Shelten. Chad is also more commonly known for his roll as Casey in NBC’s popular show, Chuck. And finally, who can’t remember Mitch Peleggi as Detective Skinner in the X-Files?

When it first aired in 2006, I meant to watch it, but I never had the time. Now I have, and I actually think it was done pretty well. There is only one problem with the whole idea of Day Break. How do you possibly make more than one season? In the long run, it only had one season. It would have been better to make a short series than an actual full season. But they did best with what they got, and that’s what counts.

The show is about Brett Hopper, who is a detective that has just been charged with murder, the only problem is, he didn’t do it. So every day, he wakes up and has to re-live the same horrible day, Groundhog Day style, and he needs to figure out how to stop it from happening by collecting new clues every day.

There was actually an interesting twist to this show. It’s not his fault this is happening. Somehow, somebody is controlling the day to loop. We know this because from the pilot, whenever he is hurt, he’d wake up the next day with scars of what happened prior. That small fact made the show more enjoyable to watch.

One thing that kept this show going is that even though it was the same thing over and over for 13 episodes, the mystery and suspense built up by more clues held the show together. I’m sure anyone that was watching this was glued to their television sets, wanting to know more. Whenever Brett did something right, the day would change slightly, he would help someone, and their day would be different, effecting his day as well.

The only problem I guess I can say for this show is that if you watch each episode in order (the way I did), then it’s going to get a little old. Sure enough each episode is different in its own way, and that’s great, if you’re watching an episode each week. Movies like Groundhog Day are great because it’s only an hour and a half to two hours. A full season of a TV show is around 20 hours, so you can see how old it’d start to get after a while. Though the day wasn’t always the same, for some odd reasons, it changed majorly, either for the better or worse, which made the show more compelling to watch.

When it comes down to the series finale, I was curious to see how it all went down. Would the day end? Would they leave it open for another season? Well, I was happy to see that it did have a good finale. A solid series finale, and it did leave it open for a second season. Even though it had no second season, I am quite happy with how it ended. Left my mind wondering what happened here and there, while at the same time satisfied with how it ended. Well that’s it, peace out!

It’s been a while, but we’re back!

That’s right! Since summer began, most shows went on summer hiatus, so naturally, we did too. As you may or may not know, the site hasn’t been updated since the end of May. That all changes now, and you’ll be excited to know there has been several improvements.

While “the extraordinary project” was on summer hiatus, we were busy doing other things, such as “The Veoh Review,” which were movie reviews that were featured on Veoh.com. I was contacted a few weeks ago from Veoh asking if I’d like to review TV shows, and of course I had to say yes, seeing my love for television.

So in addition to writing my regular recaps, I will be recording video reviews for Veoh advertising the TV shows that they feature as well. Also, I will be starting up our audio podcasts as well, where we review the episodes in depth. Here is a list of known shows I’ll be talking about:

• 24
  
• American Idol
  
• Chuck
  
• Heroes
  
• House
  
• Last Comic Standing
  
• Lost
  
• Monk
  
• Prison Break
  
• Psyche
  
• Pushing Daisies
  
• Smallville
  
• The Office
  
• Possibly more
  

Check out the first installment of “Channel Surfing” below. (Also, FYI, this was originally an unaired pilot, so it will have its flaws.)

Check back for updates!

New Amsterdam Cancelled

The last time we saw John Amsterdam, he broke up with his girlfriend. She was supposedly supposed to be the only one that could make him mortal again. Today, I learned that New Amsterdam is no more. It was cancelled.

Thats too bad. I guess John will live forever afterall. Poor John.