Annual TV Commentary: 2010-2011 (Part 3)

Here's part three of my annual TV commentary, this time for the 2010-2011 season. Each review is pretty spoiler-ific for each show's respective season. So unless you've seen every episode of, say, Glee's second season, don't read it. Enjoy!

Annual TV Commentary: 2010-2011 (Part 2)

Here's part two of my annual TV commentary, this time for the 2010-2011 season. Each review is pretty spoiler-ific for each show's respective season. So unless you've seen every episode of, say, Glee's second season, don't read it. Enjoy!

Annual TV Commentary: 2010-2011 (Part 1)

Here's the first part of my annual TV commentary, this time for the 2010-2011 season. It's a little smaller than usual, not only because the TV landscape flatlined a little last year, but because I end up watching a lot of shows (notably the cable series) on DVD almost a year after they first aired. Regardless, here's part one of the commentary, reviewing a couple of the shows that grabbed my attention this year, for both good and bad reasons. Each review is pretty spoiler-ific for each show's respective season. So unless you've seen every episode of, say, Glee's second season, don't read it. Enjoy!

The X-Files: The Beginning (6.1)

This has the difficult challenge of following up both last season's finale as well as the movie sandwiched in between. What makes it even more challenging is the fact that so many of the show's major players at this point (Spender, Gibson Praise, Fowley) were entirely absent from the movie. So we have this kind of unbalanced script which tries to make reference to both, resulting in a season premiere that has some interesting moments and sets up some promising stories for the sixth season, but also suffers from ridiculously poor characterization.

Nip/Tuck: Abigail Sullivan (6.5)

Finally, there is an acknowledgment of sorts by Sean and Julia that they are both truly awful parents. However, realization of their problem doesn't help matters. Julia is still being written as a hateful shrew, somebody who dares to throw the 'irresponsible parent' card at Sean despite how messed-up Annie became under her watch. Just three weeks ago she was eating her own hair, for God's sake! Then there's Sean, who entirely crumbles under the weight of his own personal failure. But at least with him it's partly understandable. His wife was horrifically murdered and mutilated, and then turned out to be a sleazy con artist who had designs on making him her latest victim. What a rough day for the guy.

Charmed: The Honeymoon's Over (3.1)

This is a surprisingly flat season opener. It introduces a whole bunch of stories that'll grow in importance over the course of the year, but in general it's far too distracted by a ridiculously underwhelming 'Charmed meets Law & Order' A-story, in which the Charmed Ones get wrapped up in a conspiracy-leaden legal case. You can see why the writers assumed this would be interesting: it's an interesting moral decision of what to do when you are forced to give evidence in a trial, but can't exactly spill the beans about being a witch. But that particular element of the story is dropped mid-episode, things becoming increasingly 'blah'. There's a stunt-heavy fight sequence at the end which is all kinds of impressive, but the story still stinks.

Charmed: Be Careful What You Witch For (2.22)

It feels like the writers threw literally everything into the pot for the season finale. It's a method that show-runners employ all the time, and most of the time it works. But Charmed's second season ends on a messy note, with a plot that explodes into a dozen different storylines before dovetailing it to a routine conclusion. It's fine as an average episode that could have aired at any point during the middle of the season, but after stories like Astral Monkey and Apocalypse Not (two hours that easily could have been the season finale considering the explosive concepts of both scripts), Be Careful What You Witch For is more than a little underwhelming.

Buffy: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (2.16)

There are always moments in high school where you wish you could just make something happen. Make somebody like you, make your tests go perfectly, make things a little easier for yourself on the social spectrum. Xander, the most obvious depiction on this show of 'ordinary' succumbs to that feeling here, using his supernatural connections to make Cordelia fall back in love with him. But because this is an awesome comedy episode, the spell immediately backfires. And it's a hoot.