Potential Spoilers
Ah.
Sweet satisfaction.
All of my favourite shows are back. Heroes, Prison Break, Battlestar Galactica, The Office, both Stargates, 24, and Studio 60.
It is truly the most rewarding time to sit back and feel your ass grow.
In regards to these shows, I have to say that some of them returned with exciting new flourishes, while several others most certainly did not.
Heroes made an anti-climactic return. In the mid-season finale that aired several weeks ago, the series alleged supervillain, Sylar, escaped from his holding facility in the Primatech Paper factory, and presumably killed Eden McCain (who possesses the ultimate power of suggestion). With Sylar on the loose, and now possessing the power of suggestion, the return to Heroes would surely be an epic one.
But, it really wasn’t. The return to Heroes leapt several weeks into the future, and had Sylar - the main antagonist - reimprisoned by horn-rimmed glasses, the ambiguous mysterious character. The method in which this occured is entirely unclear, but the viewer is intended to accept it.
The return of Heroes has been disappointing. While it seemed as if the show was picking up momentum as it approached the catastrophic destruction of New York City, in reality, the show has slowed to a crawl.
Prison Break has returned with a few interesting plot twists, and has managed to recapture my interest to a degree approaching the awe that the show created in the first season. While Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows are still running from the law, the enemy is finally beginning to falter, and there is a successful climax in sight. Character development with Bellick’s character, as well as the two brothers who are being pursued, has caused the show to be interesting once again.
Battlestar Galactica returned with an absolutely superb follow-up to their mid-season finale (which is what should happen). The Rapture - the conclusion to the mid-season finale episode, The Eye of Jupiter - was absolutely fantastic, and further explored the nature of the Cylons, the identity of the final five Cyclons, the fate of the first Cylon-human hybrid, and - most importantly - it put Gaius Baltar back into the hands of humanity. But that is not all. With him came Caprica Six, which will hopefully factor into some terrible interesting plotlines in the remainder of the season.
The Office returned as humorous as ever, however the events surrounding the merger between the two Dunder-Mifflin offices appear to have meant nothing. While the show’s cast gained an extra five cast members when the two offices were combined into one, each episode since has seen the elimination of a new inductee, reducing the cast down to its original numbers, except for Andy and Karen. Furthermore, the show’s writers have worked the Jim-Pam romance back into the spotlight, which is starting to create some of the redundancies and social awkwardness of previous seasons. Out with the new, and in with the old, I guess.
Still, the show is worth watching.
A show that has lost its effect on me is Stargate SG-1. The conclusion to the mid-season finale involved SG-1 fighting a dragon and discovering Merlin, frozen in ice. Then, SG-1 delved into its tradition of Daniel Jackson - the know-it-all - being granted some sort of special abilities granted from above that make him super powerful. Throughout the series, he has been killed, ascended, all-powerful and all-knowing, reborn, killed and ascended again, a Goauld (once or twice), he has been granted the power and memories of Merlin, and - most recently - has become a Prior for the Ori.
SG-1 is slowly becoming tired and boring.
Stargate Atlantis is constantly becoming a better show. Stargate Atlantis is becoming the Spiderman (or Batman) of sci-fi shows, in the sense that it is developing - by far - the biggest “rogues gallery” I’ve ever seen. They are enemies with the Wraith, the Genii, the Asurans, and - even now - they have become enemies with Michael and his faster, stronger, Iratus bug hybrids.
Furthermore, the cast is much better than Stargate SG-1. Col. Shepherd does not make as many unnecessary jokes as Col. O’Neill did. Teyla and Ronon Dex are both alien characters, but they have much more personality and character when compared to Teal’C, their SG-1 equivalents. Finally, Rodney McKay is better than Samantha Carter. No question about it. He is sarcastic, arrogant, deep, and a coward. The episode that featured the death of Carson Beckett, and the emotional response from McKay was utterly fantastic. Utterly!!
I think Stargate Atlantis is doing better than SG-1 because it has a superior ensemble cast (with supporting characters Zalenka, and Maj. Lorne, as well as the now-deceased Carson Beckett), as well as a diverse range of enemies, and less bullshit science. In Stargate SG-1, Carter seems to be able to understand and create anything from Earth components. In Stargate Atlantis, they are struggling to use, understand, and maintain equipment made by a species that is far more advanced than mankind could ever hope for. As such, there is a lot less of those situations from SG-1 where Carter says, “I’ve been able to analyze the quantum flux capacitor field, and have morphed the tritillium quadro-sectic alloys to have a reverb function that will delve into the space-sub-par-quintillo-parsec”¦blah blah blah.”
In SGA, people demand that McKay figure something out. And then, with much perseverance, squabbling, and fighting with Zalenka, they manage to rig up some sort of solution that may or may not work in time, and usually involves no invention of their own.
24 came back for its 6th season, and it seemed to have improved. I’ll admit that they have certainly increased production quality, and they are highlighting the issues of public unrest, civil disorder, and blatant racism a fair bit more. This - all in all - makes for interesting sub plots and conflicts, the likes of which have not been seen since Season Two, when they suspected the Muslim boyfriend, when it was actually the snotty rich blonde girl.
Studio 60 has returned, but the main plot threads move on so slowly that I have not been able to accurately gauge if the show will pull itself out of the rating hole that it fell into after the pilot. Nevertheless, STUDIO 60 IS A GOOD SHOW AND I INSIST YOU WATCH IT!
That is all.