Review: COMMUNITY season 2, episode 4 “Basic Rocket Science”

Greendale’s rival, City College, has a space simulator and Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) wants to beat them by being, as he says, “the first community college to pretend to put a man in space.” The launch of the simulator is planned to go ahead with the press in attendance. The mission to ‘boldly go where no man has gone before’ isn’t quite applicable here – in this case it’s just the college parking lot.

We are afforded some substantial scenes involving Dean Pelton and we find out another one of his outside activities. The fact that Pelton needs the inappropriateness of the flag pointed out to him shows he’s a little slow on the uptake. Even if he didn’t know the meaning, the last word in ‘E Pluribus Anus’ pretty much spells it out. Just when I think Pelton can’t get any funnier, the writers add another layer of hilarity. I love that every so often the writers give the supporting cast a more prominent role. It freshens things up and provides the opportunity for more character dynamics.

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Review: THE MIDDLE season 2, episode 4 “The Quarry”

Mike (Neil Flynn) catches Axl (Charlie McDermott) skipping school but it turns out he’s on suspension… for skipping school. Mike decides to teach Axl a lesson by making him work at the quarry for the rest of his suspension. At first Axl annoys Mike and you can see that Mike can’t wait for him to be back at school. Mike’s revised plan backfires. The main problem is one of the quarrymen, Chuck (Greg Cipes), has everything that appeals to Axl. Mike is trying to get his message across but every time he tries, something else attracts Axl to the life Chuck is living.

Mike has a unique way of talking about and to his kids. He refers to Axl as an idiot to his face and to Frankie (Patricia Heaton). When he calls Axl an idiot, he does it with the best of intentions and it actually helps to get his point across in explaining why Axl shouldn’t quit school.

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Review: GLEE season 2, episode 4 “Duets”

Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) gives the glee club the assignment of duets with a prize for the best performance. Finn (Cory Monteith) pairs with Rachel (Lea Michele) and Mike (Harry Shum Jr) and Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) pair up. Finn and Rachel plan to throw the competition so new member, Sam (Chord Overstreet) can have a chance at winning. Their meddling causes Sam to partner with Quinn (Dianna Agron) after he was meant to sing with Kurt (Chris Colfer). Brittany (Heather Morris) is upset because Santana (Naya Rivera) is singing with Mercedes (Amber Riley) so she pairs up with Artie (Kevin McHale).

The ultimate goal is for Sam to win the competition and Rachel receives the benefits. We all know how competitive Rachel gets when she wants to win. Her character does show a little growth, especially with Kurt. It’s good to see another side to Rachel that isn’t just about being the best. Finn and Rachel make a pretty good team when it comes to their meddling. I couldn’t stop laughing when they were performing “Born Again.” With the recent sensitivity from last week’s episode centered on religion, it was in poor taste but seemed to do the trick.

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Series.nu becomes The Voice of TV

Series.nu has now changed its name to The Voice of TV. There are even more shows being covered and the team of reviewers has grown. It's amazing to see how far the site has come since the beginning of the year. If you haven't already checked it out then what have you been waiting for.

Check it out now

Review: COMMUNITY season 2, episode 3 “The Psychology of Letting Go”

Annie (Alison Brie) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) are trying to raise money for the oil spill. Annie raises more money than Britta and Britta is jealous. I’m not surprised by this given Britta’s competitive nature. It’s a regular occurrence and recently evident in Anthropology 101 and Pascal’s Triangle Revisited. Britta dresses like Annie to prove a point about the way Annie is raising the money. What eventually follows is a messy and profitable mud fight between them. Both girls confess to each other their reasons for kissing/sleeping with Jeff. Whether their reasons are true is another question.

Though it’s pretty evident that Britta is jealous, both girls fail to notice Shirley’s (Yvette Nicole Brown) jealously over Annie and Britta working together. She keeps dropping hints but it’s never acknowledged.

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Review: THE MIDDLE season 2, episode 3 “The Diaper Incident”

There’s a moment in time when you learn some of the things your parents told you is a lie. Brick (Atticus Shaffer) has that moment after he finds out Frankie (Patricia Heaton) lied about chocolate being illegal for children under ten. He starts to test some other things Frankie told him, like his face might stay the same if he makes funny faces. Shaffer is entertaining in these scenes – his reactions at being disappointed in his mother are brilliant.

Frankie gets Mike (Neil Flynn) to have a physical. He tells her he’s received a clean bill of health – this coincides with certain things that make her feel old. A store worker mistakenly thinks Frankie is buying adult diapers and she throws her back but tries to hide it from Mike. While taking a bath, Frankie explains to Brick why she tells certain lies. I love how she explains that while it’s bad to lie, certain small lies are permitted when protecting someone. That kind of logic has to confuse a kid. Mike enters the bathroom and questions the mess in the bathroom. Brick lies to his father but there’s a problem – Brick has a “tell.” He whispers he’s lying.

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Review: GLEE season 2, episode 3 “Grilled Cheesus”

Religion is a subject that causes many debates in both public and private settings. Grilled Cheesus treads carefully when broaching the subject. It would have been easy to take a different direction with this but the writers handled the hot topic well, showing a good contrast between different types of belief systems.

Kurt’s (Chris Colfer) father Burt (Mike O’Malley) is fighting for his life after suffering a heart attack. When others are speaking about their faith, Kurt reveals he doesn’t believe in God. The rest of the glee club tries to rally round him but because they are being spiritual, he pushes them away. The scenes with a younger Kurt and his father really help capture Kurt’s emotions when singing “Hold Your Hand.” I also think it was a great arrangement of the song. You can see Kurt’s pain in every one of his scenes, and sense some of the guilt he has seeing as his last words with his father were an argument. These emotional scenes showcase Colfer’s broad range as an actor and are definitely Emmy-worthy in my opinion.

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Community & Chloroform

Sometimes there's one scene in an episode that has you laughing so hard tears start to fall or you continually rewind it. This week there was one scene that had me like this. It was from Community and it was involving chloroform. I mention this scene in my review of the episode for Series.nu. Community TV put the scene up and I couldn't help but highlight it.

Troy and Abed are trying to find an that proves Jeff's old colleague got him fired. When the cleaner finds them in the office, Annie tries to help.


Chloroform Capers - Community 2.02 from Community TV on Vimeo.