Comments of the week for June 16th to June 22nd, 2013

Melted Kojak
Well, The AV Club is a glittering lure. But there's the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash, if they have a sentimental bond with the product.

My first job, I was in-house on the Newswire, with this old pro copywriter. Irishman, named Sean O' Neal. And Sean told me the most important idea in commenting is "snark". Creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of... calamine lotion.

But Todd VanDerWerff also talked about a deeper bond with the product: Community. It's delicate... but potent.

Todd told me that in Greek, "Community" literally means, "the pain from an old wound". It's a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn't a TV show. It's a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. It takes us to a place where we ache to go again.

It's not called the Wheel. It's called the CZ. It lets us travel the way a child travels. Around and around, and back home again... to a place where we know we are loved.

1 WEEK AGO 20 LIKES

Shinigami Apple Merchant
Hey-- just realized there's a nice parallel of inadvertent reciprocity between Britta and Pierce from the coda of "Spanish 101" to the coda of "Herstory of Dance."

Spanish 101 Scene (Britta to Jeff about Pierce):
fishsticktheatre.com/TV...

"You know what he did that's REALLY crazy? He offered me a hundred dollars to switch cards with him just so he could be partners with Jeff. I think he thought being closer to Jeff would bring him respect in the group. I think he spent his whole life looking out for himself and he would trade it all for some kind of family."

Herstory of Dance Scene (Pierce to Jeff about Britta):
farm9.staticflickr.com/...
(Thanks again, LloydBraun /cheer)

"You did this? But why?"
"Because, in the face of all logic and reason, Britta didn't back down"
"That makes NO sense."
"Also, I didn't like the way you were being such a jerk to her."
"She was acting CRAZY."
"Yeah, but what choice does she have? You make fun of her, you use her name as a synonym for screwing up-- cut her some slack, Jeff. She helped you reconcile with your Dad. For Pete's sake, let her be happy."

Yeah, it's not exactly the swan song Pierce deserved as a character on this awesome show, but it's cool to see there is a nice rainbow on his character arc, after all. In the beginning, Pierce was desperate just to get ANY recognition from anyone in Greendale for being alive and relevant. And in the end he inadvertently repays Britta's support back because he really has a family now (without getting any direct recognition for sponsoring the rescue). I agree with others as to S4 Jeff-- that he's written a little too much here like a put-upon tool/indignant straight man for plot convenience, but the moment's still there for what it's worth.

Britta helped Jeff see past his jaded lawyer shell to engage Pierce's humanity in the 2nd episode (even if it was mainly to get closer to Britta), and Pierce displays the poignant heart of his humanity in S4 by being there for Britta and shutting down that naysayer dominant part of Jeff.

fishsticktheatre.com/TV...

And yeah, come to think of it-- in the darkest timeline when Jeff stops "Roxanne," Pierce steps in to goad him about his absent father. So there's even a connecting bridge from Season 3 between Pierce helping by being destructive vs. S4 Pierce helping by being supportive.
fishsticktheatre.com/TV...

All in all, S4 may have some issues, but stuff like this that pops up is still pretty awesome. /cheer.

2 WEEKS AGO 22 LIKES

Anonymous User
Collapse
Mr. Harmon, I've been doing some thinking, and I've got some ideas to improve the show.

One, Magnitude needs to be louder, angrier, and have access to a time machine. Two, whenever Magnitude's not on screen, all the other characters should be asking "Where's Magnitude"?

LIKE REPLY
2 WEEKS AGO 18 LIKES

The AV Club Ombudsman
Jennifer Marie ‏@notajenny

i realize now that even though @danharmon & @cpmckenna are back, i still stand by my season five #Community wishlist. ... …

Dan Harmon ‏@danharmon

@notajenny that's a pretty reasonable list of demands, I think we can knock a bunch of those out.

2 WEEKS AGO 16 LIKES

Anonymous User
Second-hand information, but apparently there's an article in TV Guide which states that McHale threatened to quit unless they rehired Harmon.

Edit: This blog post seems to have a copy of the article, under its title "Harmon Goes Back to School".

2 WEEKS AGO 19 LIKES

Dr. Clash
Vulture: Why Sony Brought Dan Harmon Back to Community

New news here is that there are apparently rumblings that Glover doesn't want to return for the full 5th season to focus on Childish Gambino, though the only insight on that front is a Sony rep stating that he's "under contract for season 5".

1 WEEK AGO 18 LIKES

Loki1001
I remember when Evil Jeff used to post here...

2 WEEKS AGO 18 LIKES

Capt. Blicero
I remember when this comment section used to be about a show that was about a community college.



2 WEEKS AGO 18 LIKES

Shinigami Apple Merchant
Haha-- I might be posting here a bit too much. I almost did /cheer and /comfort in a reply to a work e-mail today. Gotta keep it cool in RL.

Shinigami Apple Merchant being normal... kupo.
fishsticktheatre.com/TV/Community/S3/3x11/images/Community3x11_0418.jpg



2 WEEKS AGO 14 LIKES

Unregistered Guy Named Eric
EDIT: This is what my brain looks like! Formatting problems, hopefully now fixed. Also, where is #14? IDK! I will go and look for it.

This will be where I drop my big Person of Interest post if Disqus allows me to cut&paste it. I wanted to do it in an unusual format because I watched 45 partly standalone eps in a short period of time, and I wanted to find a fun way to convey all the actor-spotting and parsing the good stuff from the annoying stuff, moment-by-moment. I do worry that my dry style will make the attempts to be funny just seem glib or condescending, and people who really love the show will think I don't get it (and I guess they'll be partly right). So let me say that I ended up finding it all fun and compelling as a whole, and some of the S2 episodes, especially the last two were really good and compelling, because they had built up a density of story and characters and themes. But the show seemed like a constant battle between very formulaic and toying with serious ideas and more complex stories. So, I think this reflects that as a whole, hopefully.

Also, SPOILERS

UGNE's Official Person of Interest Most Interesting Persons Rankings:

0. The Machine - The one thing on the show that succeeds thematically (on multiple levels), in complicating the plot, and in building an accumulated air of mind-bending mystery.

In the episodes where everything finally comes together at the end of s2 and has actual weight, the Machine becomes God and meaning. But long before that, it also teases being the Devil, having turned the heroes' lives into one long Faustian bargain from which they'll never extricate themselves. (It's POI's most Lost-ian element, even more than Michael Emerson.)

1/2. Glossy Printed Portraits - in S1, the whole world revolved around these classy full-size Yearbook pics. S2 made a big upgrade to a living bracket-style web of people that was like Glenn Beck's brain except precise.

OK, now the actual list:

1. Finch/Michael Emerson - POI seems built in many ways to service Emerson's mercurial approach to simple scenes, his ability to build whole back stories around one quick look. Even when he's vulnerable, he's sinister enough that you just know he made his own bed and now the whole world's gotta live with it.

2. Nathan Ingram/Brett Cullen - A tame character to be so high, but every moment he's in the flashbacks he grounds them in both believability and the pressing sense that it was a more idealistic, less corrupt time. His character is basically the living embodiment of pre-9/11 (and his death the consequences of it).

3. Jon Snow/Michael Kelly - Most the villains struggle to find a balance between being a person, a menace, and a mystery. But Kelly is exactly right from moment one, which helps build the eerie vibe that John's Black Ops past is a frighteningly real contrast to the more comfortingly clear world of the "present" in POI.

4. Detective Fusco/Kevin Chapman - Much more real than any of the other cops, and livens up a lot of potentially boring stories with his reluctance and ambiguity. Got a little too cute early in s2, but then they brought him back around when he had to face up to his corrupt past.

5. Don Gianni Moretti/Mark Margolis - Maybe Margolis carries over some of the demonic pathos of Breaking Bad the same way Emerson brings Lost with him, but Margolis's scenes made the Elias/mob stuff feel like it had depth and history when the writing never really served it that well.

6. Kara Stanton/Annie Parisse - I really like John's dark, Black Ops history, and Parisse's instant self-certainty and charisma ground it, and basically map out the territory of POI's world, both morally and in the scope of the espionage plots. The only downside is Kara had to be a cackling, moustache twirling villain (plus seductress) at all times, so maybe it's good if she's really gone now and her mystique went as far as it could be taken.

7. Leon/Ken Leung - The most underrated actor from Lost, adds the much, much needed comic/human viewpoint in how he reacts to John and Finch. Maybe they had to wait until s2 after the badass hero was established to add this element, but Leung instantly made the heroes twice as likable.

8. John Reese/Jim Caviezel - Much improved in S2. Maybe S1 was just to establish the idea of Reese (and Caviezel basically gave an idea of a performance, a real "Well I can see what he's trying to do"), so now he can convey important emotions with small gestures because he has a history. But also S2 let him be surprised and disoriented, and let him ACT during tense, action-y scenes rather than quip or bust out a bazooka. I have to give props for where the character ended up, but in S1 he was pretty annoying. Indomitable asskickers don't need to be smug, too. This isn't the mid-80s. (As a former basketball player, Caviezel has one of the best jump shots I've ever seen from an actor.)

9. Elias/Enrico Colatoni - Every Colatoni performance gets right up to the edge of being brilliant, but he's just so stubbornly normal, ALL the time. Consequently, in s2 they adapted to him and gave him a little more ambiguity in relation to "Is he an ally or an enemy" and now he's one of the better characters. But either way he was crucial to the show's constant attempts to screw with viewers' expectations.

10. Sam Shaw/Sarah Shahi - "Relevance" was the biggest chance POI took in expanding the show's world, and it pretty much worked 100%. In fact, my only problem with Sam (who shares Root's real name for thematic purposes, the two seekers of an authority worth believing in) is she's too cool. It works to juxtapose with Reese being so square. But there's always a thin line between "Every time she turns up, it's awesome" and becoming Poochie.

11. Alicia Corwin/Elizabeth Marvel - Another nifty, realistic performance from someone in Finch's circle. Alicia was the classic paranoid type that belongs in any tech thriller. I liked her because she was as scared of The Machine and everything surrounding it as a rational person should be, and I was bummed that Root dispatched her so unceremoniously (and predictably).

12. Amy Hacker - My main reason for watching, and she pretty much lived up to my expectations as a sexy, oddball villainess. Much more confident and assured than Acker's other villain roles. The character isn't always coherent (and the prestige of bad guys on POI is burned through pretty quickly). But I like her new "True believer/zealot in a world where God is dead" role.

13. Bear/Graubaer’s Boker and Midas van’t Rietje - Much funnier (and used more sparingly) than the usual sidekick/pet. Also a more active and physical performer, and tied into the heroes' arc and emotional growth in a fairly savvy way.

15. Logan Pierce/Jimmi Simpson - The douchey internet millionaire who fits right in with Reese and Finch's Competent Loner Club. Simpson is a great, ringer guest star on lots of shows. This may be his best character, though entertainment-wise still a ways from matching his amazing turn as Jackal Onassis on Party Down.

16. Hersh/Boris McGiver - The best non-major villain, a seemingly emotionless "cleanup man" and killer. He's managed to stay scary so long maybe he'll even get a little character development in S3.

17. Cal Beecher/Sterling K. Brown - An impressive performance of controlled intensity made Cal the most interesting (and menacing) "Friend or foe?" character yet. Even though POI's formula when it comes to twists guaranteed that as soon as he was accused of being dirty, we'd learn he was clean right after he died, the character and writing made Cal/Carter's "sleeping with the enemy" thing the best Carter subplot by far.

18. Daniel Drake/Mark Pelligrino - Another guest star ringer, he was half of a wealthy couple trying to have each other assassinated. He was one of the rare POIs to make his case of the week entertaining, and even kind of moving at the end.

19. Special Counsel/Jay O. Sanders - Fair enough. Started as a completely generic Boss Villain but turned into a central point for the ethical questions POI seems to be sincerely trying to ask.

20. Det. Carter/Taraji P. Henson - I don't like anything about Henson's performance, from her straight, almost sleepy "earnest" line deliveries to the way she converys what her character is "secretly" thinking with the broadest gestures possible. But she's been key to POI's developing coninuity, as they find new ways to play her off different characters every few episodes, and admirably keep her from being (more) boring.

21. Zoe Morgan/Paige Turco - An almost purposefully non-invasive love interest for John. From her introduction, Zoe's been fairly charming and likable and demonstrated the writers' interest in re-using characters in different ways to enhance the continuity. But she's "safe" to the point of being dull, as if POI just doesn't want any relationship drama period, even if it's about trading secrets and espionage. Maybe that's all being saved for later.

22. Alonzo Quinn/Clarke Peters - Peters as a shadowy, charming boss makes the HR twists and turns more memorable, but not much more essential. Hopefully, now that they've established his dark (but classy) manipulations, S3 will get a more coherent focus on the corrupt cops plots that are so important to the story but just seem to bounce aimlessly in every direction. Also, like with Zoe, his day job of information trading/political influence goes underused.

23. Tommy Clay/Pablo Schreiber - The charming armored car security POI that turns out to be the perp. Maybe I just love Pablo from his role on The Wire, but I thought he played both sides of his guest role here perfectly, and made the ep more engrossing.

24. Linda Cardellini/Dr. Megan Tillman - The first POI that signalled the show's tentative interest in asking serious moral questions. Cardellini brought a real force and energy and the ep made some attempt to look directly at the horrors of both rape and revenge (mixed in with some dopey elements, too). The teases that Reese might be too human for justice, that he might ultimately just be a killer, haven't really been POI's best thematic strain (in the end, he just takes them to a Secret Mexican Jail?), but this scenario at least demonstrated the show had some intention to be morally complex.

25. Jesse Collins/Abby Monroe - Most the female characters can be so easily split between good and bad on POI that Abby stands out as a case-of-the-week. A good girl who goes criminal to stand by her man, but also for a possibly good cause that Reese ends up sacrificing himself for. Also, Collins makes me nostalgic for "Rubicon."

26. Curtis/Jon Michael Hill - On the token Black Neighborhood Crime ep, this supporting villain was the only believable character.

27. Agent Donnelly/Brennan Brown - Another character that's mostly interesting cause it shows POI's approach to continuity and world building. A vanilla FBI agent who became obsessed with Reese, he became more than a plot device, and wasn't clearly hero or villain but reflected that it isn't always easy to say if Reese and Finch are heroes or villains.

28. Detective Szymanski/Michael McGlone - Adorably unassuming "good cop." He always seemed like maybe he was wandering off onto his own spin-off to have side adventures we didn't see. Died memorably to raise the stakes for the HR plot, which will hopefully pay off in s3. Finally.

29. Grace Hendricks/Carrie Preston - I enjoy Finch's back story and the weight it carries in the show's universe. I love Carrie Preston as an actress. But while I can see her becoming more in the future, for now she's just a dialed down version of the stock "free spirit" type and a symbol of what Finch is giving up to be Finch.

30. Caleb Phipps/Luke Kleintank - The "master coder" who is close enough to being Young Finch that it clarifies exactly how deeply buried in secrets and false identities Finch actually is. Phipps will probably be important later as the story of The Machine evolves.

Honorable Mention: Adam Saunders/Matt Lauria; Ulrich Kole/Alan Dale; Lorenzo/Hassan Johnson; Sabrina Drake/Francie Swift; Patrick Simmons/Robert John Burke; Jessica Arndt/Susan Misner - John's flashbacks involving Jessica in S1 were one of my least favorite parts, because they felt way too overwrought. But at the very end of s2 when Finch goes to apologize for hiding his inability to save her from John, and John just says he knows he made his own choice was probably my favorite moment of POI as a whole. So, Jessica's a mixed bag!

PS: The fight scenes are good. I like that they're never more drawn out than they need to be.

1 WEEK AGO 11 LIKES

Los Pollos Hermanos
Megan Ganz @meganganz

What's weird is that we tried to do a beach rape episode but Sony wouldn't pay for exteriors.

2 WEEKS AGO 31 LIKES