Best episode yet. Got some juicy backstory on HRG, aka Mr. Bennet. Didn’t follow all the rest of the characters, just Matt, Ted, HRG, Claire and family, but that doesn’t mean that some other connections weren’t made. Stop reading here, unless you’ve seen last night’s episode.

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Post Idolness ensues.  DVR only recorded Friday Night Lights, so I had to watch Jericho and Lost via other means, thank goodness for Verizon FiOS and TVTorrents.com

Lets review from best to worst:

Friday Night Lights – I Think We Should Have Sex

Great episode.  The main plot point being QB Matt Saracen being seduced by Coach’s daughter Julie to have sex.  Coach’s wife, Tami, sees Matt at the store buying condoms, and being the school counselor puts 1 and 1 together correctly and has a confrontation with straying daughter (who has been unduly influenced in past epis by the town sleaze with a heart of gold, Tyra, who’s status is not going to rise in the eyes of Ms. Taylor with Julie’s recent decision).  Post talk, Julie confronts Matt and they decide to press on with the unmentionables, in spite of mother/daughter bonding moment, and set the date and location (Matt has a bachelor pad).  Night of the tryst, Coach Taylor is looking for asprin in the bathroom, and runs across thong panties that Tyra induced Julie to buy, and asks his wife, wth?  Wife says, ummm, yeah, we should probably talk about this.  Coach goes ballistic, saying, “If he touches on hair on her head, she be in a nunnery…” and basically lays a big ol’ guilt trip on Tami that they should have had this conversation before their daughter goes missing.  Later, the coaches make up  by admitting that neither one of them went to parenting a teenage hormone bag school, so don’t know what the proper procedure is for hooking their offspring up with a chastity belt, but agree that dialog with said hormonal female is probably the best tack.  Back at the secluded boudoir, Matt and Julie talk it out and decide leg wrestling is a lot more fun than the exchange of bodily fluids and fore go the sex thing, but in the post-wrestling rest period, they sleep through the alarm and get Julie back waaaaaay past curfew.  Ma and Pa Coach are waiting, and Julie assures them that her virtual chastity is still intact, and mom and daughter hug, while coach sends his eye darts needling into the back of both of their heads.  One has to wonder how long a grounding will be bestowed upon young Julie.  Excellent jobs by all parties, the format of FNL is such that the candid expressions on the actors faces tell more story than pages of Shonda dialog could ever do, and Chandler and Britton play this format sooooooo good.

Other plotlines has Buddy Garrity doing a real good job of completely screwing up his life, his family life, his business and Tyra’s mother (both literally and figuratively).  Tim Riggins realizes that his daddy isn’t gonna change, and slips back inside the bottle.  Jason gets a taste of life outside of Austin, tries out for the national paralympics and gets a Sanscrit tattoo in his search for ‘peace’.

Jericho – The Day Before

Jericho comes roaring back and actually provides some back story, 36 action packed hours of back story on Jake and Hawkins.  They do a good job of answering some questions, asking more, and basically confusing just about all of the audience that live in the real world on how both Hawkins and Jake get from either coast to the middle of the country in automobiles in roughly 8-12 hours.  *waves hands* this is not the continuity you are looking for *waves hands*

At the end, we’re back where we started, out of town survivors including Emily’s estranged fiance arrive in downtown Jericho.  Also with them is Hawking girlfriend (revealed in the backstory) that will now add another love triangle into the shaky relationships of Wisteria lane.

Backstory:  Jake is an out of work pilot that did some contracting work for the government in Afghanistan and Iraq.  He’s somewhat on the line between legit and outlaw, but has a good enough heart to want to stay on the legit side.  He loses a friend to Ravenwood (the merc group that Jake has met up with since the bombs fell) and comes to Jericho to escape and get some money (the money thing fell through, but the value of a dollar at the moment is questionable)

Hawkins and his girlfriend were in on the plot to blow up the bombs in various cities.  He gets his marching orders and the Ryder truck with a thermonuclear bomb in the back, and has orders to head to Columbus, Ohio.  on his way out of D.C. he stops by the ex’s place to pick up the kids and their mother (kidnap?) and bring them safely out of D.C.  His girlfriend gets kidnapped and used for leverage to ensure that Hawkins delivers his device to the appropriate target.  It is unclear is Hawkins is working for CTU, or even if he knows who Jack Bauer is, but we do know that he’s buried his bomb in his basement, and that the terrorist group that planned the whole thing has Hawkins in their sights.

My hate-love-hate relationship with Jericho continues.

Lost – Stranger in a Strange Land

Not willing to recap, so go read Mac’s post (always more entertaining than mine).  Some comments.  This episode was less than “meh” for me.  The backstory on Jack is tapped out, and I could care less about his tattoo, or his time in Phuket.  The only good point I can say for the episode is that at least we are all off Alcatraz now, and Locke’s army won’t have to launch an amphibious assault on the south shore of Alcatraz.  They can plan for a full on siege of Othersville that is somewhere on the main Island.  Kate and Sawyer really don’t mix well.  Sawyer continues to be a non-team player, and Kate resists being restrained by anyone, I dunno, maybe the bear cage monkey sex was unsatisfying to Kate.  We have a new other to hate *yawn* the Sherrif Isabel.  We get no contact with the main body of Losties, but thankfully that means no Nikki and Paulo either.  Cindy and the kids from the tail are safe, wearing, figuratively, Izod red shirts.  Though they show signs of being fully assimilated.  Jack and Julie get closer bound in their alliance against Henry’s Rotu tribe.

A marking time episode with no real ‘reveals’, just more hints and nudges.  Hopefully this is just a bump in the road after the last two really good episodes.  Sadly, this one probably won’t do well in the ratings either, and with the last couple weeks of sagging, and now ABC’s totally looney marketing department that promised promises that the script just couldn’t pay.  We may see more viewers banking towards the hard deck, and turning off the TV after the latest Idol contestant has a bad day.

Just a little shout out for Simon: I wish people would let him finish. I think he really is trying to help the contestants with constructive comments, or to help them understand how their perceived by the audience. But predictably, he gets about 10 words out of his mouth before Randy or Paula open their traps and tell him his wrong. That is my number one problem with the format, is that Randy and Paula don’t give Simon the same courtesy that he regularly grants them, the time to state their thoughts without interruption. okay, enough ranting.

Melinda, Jordin, Stephanie and Sabrina rocked, ’nuff said.

Leslie and Amy were alright, I agree with Simon’s comments: Haley was uncomfortable (and has a really low range, which is awkward for a majority of the songs they’ll cover) and Amy was forgetable.

Jersey Girl Antonella is out of her element, should have stayed at the mall. She’ll be gone.

Nicole has pipes, but needs to control it, a bit over the top, but if she tempers it she can be a top shelf competitor. (Simon’s comments are spot on)
Haley‘s lyrics felt rushed, and her timing seemed off, good voice, but eh performance.

Alaina struggled, they should strike Chrisse Hynde songs from the playlist, it wasn’t the best performance.

Gina is one that for some reason I’m rooting for, I like the people that keep banging their heads against the wall.  She takes on Celine, that usually get a frown from the judges, and I think she has the voice to do it.

Lakisha wraps the show up.  Big and I mean BIG voice.  I see a bit of Jennifer Hudson in her as she sung that, eyes wide and just letting it rip.  Top shelf.
Okay, sorta wish that four guys could go, because frankly the girls kicked their ass.  I think that Antonella and Alaina have sung their last song on American Idol.

Boys, get on the stick, or you’ll be wiped out in the final twelve.  I think debily may have called a two girl final two.

12 sing, 2 will go home Thursday.  I’ll keep it short, because really… we don’t have much to go on with these guys.  My top two:

Chris Sligh – total geek, to know enough about Simon to string together El Divo and the Teletubbies in a off-the-cuff remark back to Simon, too funny.  plus he sang well too, his odd mix of John Popper/Jack Osborne looks will keep him interesting too.

Blake Lewis – though I was put off with the beat-boxing as nothing but a gimmick, I was impressed with his singing last night, and picking a Travis song to cover, bold move that paid off with the judges.  I’m gonna go against Randy and say, the beat-boxing should not be his ‘thang’.. don’t make that part of your normal act kid, just sing.  Keep it in your back pocket and play it when it counts.

Two people that should be going home:

Sundance Head – all we know is that his first audition in front of the panel rocked.  After that its been a downhill slide, and Simon’s comment about Dad singing at a wedding – – – OUCH.  He’ll get offed because people resent that he got to the final 24 because of his one audition.

The second one is a bit more tough to gauge.  Idol has now become a popularity contest, and not pure talent, and though I’d love to see Chris (keep me because I look like Justin, without the talent) Richardson and Sanjaya Malakar be given the ‘bad day’ bus ticket home.  I, like Jen, fear the teeny-bopper demographic, so instead we’ll probably see a middle of the road performer that has potential but no flair get the boot.  My pick, for no particular reason, Jared Cotter.

Been sorta kinda watching FNL since it started, and have enjoyed snippets and parts of it.  The composition of the series is wonderful, you get the feeling of some sort of docu-drama from the way it is presented, which is different than with other dramas on TV.

The best part of last night was the exchange between the Coach and his Guidance counselor wife.  The story is that one of the coach’s assistants said some stupid things about ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’, and by stupid I mean Jimmy the Greek stupid, damning with faint praise stupid.  The local TV has a field day, and the local black community over reacts, this was played out well in last week’s episode.  Now the black players have walked off the team, and in another TV interview Smash, the de-facto leader, asserts that firing Mac would be a good first step.  Something that is almost as stupid to say as Mac’s comments.

Now the coach is in a fine mess, the boosters have voted and want Mac fired, Coach Taylor knows this is just a lot of hoo-haw, and doesn’t want Mac to lose his job or pension because he knows what Mac has done in the past (integrating the team years ago) should overshadow the stupid things he’s said.  So he interrupts his wife’s counseling session and said he needs to talk to the ‘guidance counselor’.  He lays it out and asks her for advice.  Not really liking the advice of the guidance counselor, he then asks to talk to his wife.  She gives him the same advice, and he asks deadpan, “Is there anyone else I can talk to?”  Buhahahaha.  She says your friend, and he leaps on that, what does my friend have to say.  She gives him the same advice from a third angle, and it all adds up to Mac should be fired.  As he leaves, he says, “All three of you scare me.”  LOL!

Then the best best part, after Mac gives Coach Taylor his resignation, at a press conference Coach Taylor just stands up and says to the buzzing press corps, “I’ll start talking when y’all stop.”  — “First of all its a damn shame that we are here this morning, we should be focusing on tomorrow’s game, and I’ll tell you what as a matter of fact, that’s exactly what were gonna do, Mac McGill’s gonna stay as Offensive Coordinator of the Dillon Panthers, that’s its that final, thank you very much.” then walks out of the room.  Best 30 seconds evah!

The capper was when the Panthers beat the team they play at their home field on a called game because a fight broke out when Riggins way-layed into an opponent that was giving Smash hell, and then as they are leaving on a team bus, some local cops pull the bus over to arrest Smash for assault.  Mac steps up and asks for a warrant.  Mac protects the kid that just about got him fired, and then does the best apology when Smash thanks him for what he did, Mac says, “I think that he made a mistake, just like I made a mistake.  I’ll see you Monday at practice.”

If you haven’t been watching Friday Night Lights, you should be.  It is a great show.

In case you missed it, LOST is back on track. Really. Last week’s episode, Not in Portland, was top notch, and we got Kate and Sawyer off Alcatraz, Ben is now not only humorless, but tumorless. Ben has a daughter and Pickett got the double tap to the chest courtesy Juliette.

But none of that matters at the moment, we’ve moved back a few days or hours in the Lost timeline and the focus of our zooming eyes is Desmond today. You know, Desmond, the ex-German spy that got screwed by Jack Bauer, then got stuck on LOST island with Kelvin the once immortal and now dead CIA operative. We’re reminded with the pre-show glimpses that something about Desmond is odd ever since he’s saved the world and all. First he gets found by Hurley all naked and running in the jungle. Then he saved Claire’s roof with a well placed five iron (slightly left to right, but safe in the middle of the fairway, take that Paulo).

(Aside: two epis in a row without Paulo and Nikki – how long will the streak last?) (Aside Part Deux: Seven epis without Rose and Bernard) (Pointless Aside: It’s been 30 Artz-less episodes, but really, who’s counting)

The point is Desmond seems a bit pre-cognitive about some things. But he failed in predicting that Smokey would bum-rush Eko, so let’s put pre-cog in the ‘possible but probably not column for now). Des shows up at castaway beach to find Charlie and Hurley jonesin for pr0n and sorting through Sawyer’s tent. Charlie always trying to justify his habits says that Sawyer would want them to, Hurley isn’t convinced, but hasn’t yet taken to tackle Charlie with a massive man-hug.

Desmondo, as Hurley has dubbed him, ask Charlie and Hurley to come with him. They walk down an island path and find Locke and Sayid looking sadly back at them. Locke breaks the news that ‘The island killed Eko’ – which confuses Charlie, since the island hasn’t killed anyone since that lady drowned.. er.. the pilot got tore apart.. er.. well I guess Charlie finally got it. Locke wants Charlie and Hurley to react correctly when Locke breaks the news to the rest of the camp. Desmond looks around for Nikki and Paulo, then realizes that he’d better make a head call before Paulo takes all the good leaves.

Actually, Desmond had an uncontrollable impulse to swim in the strong rip currents off the north shore of Oahu. No wait, someone is out in the water… It’s Claire! (okay, pretend for a moment that you didn’t watch the previews, its better that way). Des’ rescue effort is rewarded with glaring looks and accusations from Hurley and Charlie.

*cue LOST twirly opening music thingy*

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Mohinder with his new cohort, Sylar, are driving to meet the next person on ‘The List’

Sylar: Hey can we stop by Trader Joe’s?
Mohinder: why?
Sylar: Just have a hankering for some fava beans..
Mohinder: Okay, sounds yummy!
awkward silence as they drive]
[Mohinder: So… what’s a good main dish that goes with fava beans?
Sylar: Ummm… well.. you’re from India, have you ever had monkey brain?
Mohinder: Oh course… when I was a child, my father …
[insert 6 minute monologue discussing monkey brain evolution and special preparation detials]
… so yes, I’m quite familar with monkey brains.
Sylar: ZzzzzzZZZZzzzzz
Mohinder: [nudges Slyar awake]
Sylar: muhfmm.. snork.. huh… wha?
Mohinder: I said yes, I have eaten monkey brains
Sylar: well they’re kinda like that.

I guess Cuse and Liddlehof are supposed to do a one hour “Lost Survival Guide” tonight (set your appropriate TV recording device accordingly) an hour before kickoff.

If it fails, you can read my summary of the last six episodes below.

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Wizbang Pop! has a link to an EOnline! report that Isaiah Washington (Dr. Burke) may get the heave-ho for using the six-letter f-word, again and again and again.  Christina will be crushed, I’m sure.
Also for all you Derek Hopper (Taye Diggs) fans, Day Break will finally start its online spree next Monday, and the series will wrap up online be the end of February.  He’s supposed to solve the murder and get to tomorrow, so if my math is right, we only have 7 more times to watch Moon Bloodgood wake up.

10. 24 takes place on a fairly limited time frame where the audience is expected to suspend belief and accept that CTU can drive from North to South LA in less than an hour during rush hour traffic.  Heroes has a very real time traveler, which makes man-made time frames a thing of the past.

9.  24 has Jack Bauer who acts like a vampire and rips out people’s arteries with his mouth.  Heroes has Sylar eats people’s brains, and probably has a side of fava beans with each course.

8.  24 has Jack Bauer who relies on other people’s skills and techniques to do his bidding.  Heroes has Peter Petrelli who just takes other people’s powers without asking.

7.  24 has Chole who can do amazing things given a computer and an internet connection.  Heroes has Micah a 7 year old that rebuilds motherboard for fun, just think what he can do after puberty.

6.  24 has Jack Bauer who can perform  amazing feats of strength and endurance while under duress.  Heroes has Niki/Jessica who under duress tosses grown men like loose-leaf salads.

5.  24 has Jack Bauer who is always right and no one ever believes him.  Heroes has Isaac the painter who accurately paints visions of the future, that are often interpreted incorrectly or out of order.

4.  24 invokes strange terrorist organizations to be the questionable enemies of the state, and after one group is extinguished by some fool-hearty scheme of Jack’s, is only replaced by another head of the hydra.  Heroes has Horn-Rimmed Glasses Guy and Linderman, ’nuff said.

3.  24 has Jack Bauer who is often injured while performing his stunts in trying to save the world, causing the audience to believe that he can fight through enormous pain and personal suffering.  Heroes has Claire with believable healing powers that continues to fight after breaking ribs, dislocating joints, and even survives an autopsey, plus she’s a cheerleader.

2.  24 has Jack Bauer who uses terse phrases like, “Dammit” and “I need to know this before you die” to extract enemies confessions before killing them.  Heroes has Mohinder who has the power to bore people to death with long winded speeches about evolution and human potential.  He’s just learning to use his powers, but once fully blossomed no one will be safe.

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