Second episodes are hard to judge. The Pilot established the characters and set up the story, both present and future, all the while introducing us to the rules and tropes of the show. Walter’s Walk ran with the formula made last week, gave us better insight into the characters, and showed that they are willing to slow play the overall arc of the main story line.
For a reasonably successful show now in its third season, Leverage has never quite figured out exactly what tone it’s going for. Is it a Mission: Impossible-esque show about a team of spies and thieves pulling off elaborate and perfectly executed heists? Is it a campier show, more in the vein of Charlie’s Angels, full of ridiculous costumes and so-obviously-phony-as-to-be enjoyable accents? Or is it a heart-felt drama about a group of Robin Hoods providing help to the helpless and bettering the lives of those around them?
Futurama has the surprising ability to not only prove how funny it is, but also make you feel something on an emotional level. The best example being the season four episode, Jurassic Bark. Lethal Inspection aims to be a comical episode with a story and a lot of heart, and it succeeds brilliantly.
Things are finally starting to stutter into motion as we arrive at what will nearly be the halfway mark of True Blood’s third season and whilst not everything is as neck-bitingly exciting as we might have hoped, there are flickers of brilliance and more than a hint of drama ahead.
Futurama has been back now for about a month and I for one couldn’t be happier. There was some fear that after being gone for so long, that the show would have a hard time getting acclimated to a weekly format. I’m pleased to say that those fears can now disappear. Futurama is probably the smartest animated comedy and when they are on a roll, the episodes are some of the bet you can watch, and even when they are not, the show is still top tier. This weeks episode, The Duh-Vinci Code, while not amazing, was a funny instalment that focused on simply making us laugh.
Aptly named, A New World picks up directly after the game-changing events of last week, which saw the show’s six central characters return to a reality, that on closer inspection, is certainly not the one they left behind.
Although the faces are familiar, a game of time-travelling musical chairs appears to have taken place, with Fargo now the director of G.D., Jo as his head of security and Allison the Chief Medical Officer (I’m almost certain that she holds a different title, but I’ve been watching a little too much Star Trek this week). Tess is back in the picture and provides the newest obstacle to the ever-teasing sexual tension between Jack and Allison. Zane no longer wants to Marry Jo and has reverted to the behaviour we witnessed on his arrival to Eureka. Even Andy, the slightly unconvincing, but reassuringly comical android has returned as the new Deputy. But possibly the most significant evolution is the absence of Kevin’s autism, making it possibly for the show to entirely reinvent his character. This last alteration to reality is one of a selection of details that has each character devloping conflicting responses to their new situations. Jo is heart broken to have lost the man she loves, but Allison can finally communicate and interact normally with her son and by her own admission, will do whatever she can to cling on to that possibility.
At the start of Psych’s fifth season premiere, it looks for a moment like things might be changing for Shawn and Gus (James Roday and Dulé Hill) and their “psychic” detective agency. Shawn’s dad (Corbin Bernsen) is now working for the police department. Juliet (Maggie Lawson), their friend on the police force, has transferred away thanks to leftover trauma from the season four finale and Shawn’s girlfriend from last season, is officially out of the picture. There’s even a brand new credits sequence.
