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Watcher’s Guide: RETCON EDITION American Horror Story Season One part II

Hello reader,

Welcome back to another addition to my American Horror Story Watcher’s Guide Season one retrospective. On this post I’ll be reviewing episodes 2 to 4.

EPISODE TWO

“I’m hurt and in needing some help.”

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 2 “Home Invasion”

Original airdate: October 12, 2011 

Written by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk

Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Episode synopsis

While Ben is away on abortive business the Harmon women fall victim to a house invasion plot by a group of serial killer wannabes. 

Episode Notes  

Character study:

THE HARMONS

In this episode Ben has to deal with the repercussions of his infidelity with Hayden. This whole subplot where he wants to be a good family man and do the right thing is kind of stupid. If he wanted to do the right thing he would’ve just told Vivian the truth, I mean she already knows that he’s cheated on her would it be that much of a surprise that he didn’t use protection. But no instead he lies to his wife and goes to make sure Hayden goes through with her abortion. This show again lays Ben’s dilemma on really thick when his lie makes him out to seem like a genuinely good therapist as clarified by his wife saying “You’re a good person, Ben.”

Ben is not a good person nor is he a good doctor or father.

When we meet Hayden it’s clear he doesn’t know how to deal with her and also she’s out of her mind crazy. This is the evidence that he’s a bad doctor being that he is unable to help her or relate to her. If it’s not the evidence of that then it’s at the very least evidence that he’s an awful human being for taking advantage of this girl’s condition in order to have his way of her. I don’t understand how the writers expect us to root for him.

We also have Vivian and Violet in this episode with their whole intolerable Mother and daughter dynamic. I don’t know what is about them but it just seems like they are both playing off of different things. It’s super annoying. Vivien reacts to Violets disrespect in a way that doesn’t seem genuine to what was said. Like when Violet says “I think you’re weak” it sounds like she’s telling it to a turtle. Then we have Connie Britton react in a sigh. A really weak sigh, as to say well she’s right, I wonder what’s for dinner.

By the end of them surviving the home invasion thing, Violet has a newfound respect for Vivian which is good arch for the two of them.

NOTABLE CAST

Home invaders

Bianca is one of Ben’s patients and she is supposedly inflicted with nightmares about being split in two by an elevator. As it turns out she is one of a trio of psychotic serial killer fanatics who want to recreate murders of notable slashers. She scopes out the place on her psychiatric visit and then uses her know to let in her buddies for some murder mayhem.

These three were kind of stock nut balls with irrational need to recreate the murders exactly. Why? Who knows probably because they’re crazy? That’s probably the answer the writers would give, truth being they didn’t put that much thought into it.

The Nurse ghosts

These characters were pretty interesting in conception. For some reason you don’t really need much motivation in ghost stories like these. They were merely reciprocating vengeance to people willing to recreate the very crime committed against them. That sounds pretty solid to me.

Hayden

I like Kate Mara. I found her to be a memorable actress when she appeared in shows I liked like Jack & Bobby, Everwood and Nip/tuck. She’s a fine actress. They don’t give her a lot to do here. Just be crazy needy. That’s what she is. She’s just a crazy needy chick that doesn’t have any other depth than that. 

The Good:

I’m guessing the series will make a habit of having prelude teaser opening where they highlight a past murder. I think that works for what the series is trying to do. The way the flashback teaser weaves into the story in the present is actually really well done. You set up this incident and the victims establish their ghosts in the house and then have a situation that involve serial killer fanatics wanting to recreate those murders and have them fall victim to their own fanaticism. It’s a pretty satisfying comeuppance.

Another thing that was good was that the mythology of the House is actually being developed. We get a sense that the ghosts are the most powerful when they are in the basement. That’s where the twin red headed boys were killed, that’s where Tate tells Violet to lead the home invaders so the ghosts could take care of them. It permits that this universe has its own rules.  

The Bad:

I already talked earlier about my annoyance of the mother daughter dynamic of Vivian and Violet, that counts as a bad.

I really thought that Violet becoming friends with her bully was also bad. Like really you were so bullied by this girl that you wanted to scare the crap out of her so she would leave you alone and now you’re talking to her in a skateboarding ring like you’re old pals. Give me a break. If I was that girl and I had seen the devil in Violets basement I wouldn’t talk to her or be around her ever again. Also, doesn’t she have other friends to talk to about her ordeal?

Okay, maybe the incident was so severe the thing the bully girl felt she couldn’t talk to anyone else about it other than someone who was there. But I’m not going to give it that because it’s not on the screen I’m just trying to create some logic where there isn’t any.

Another thing about this bully character that I thought was bad was that they have her smoking now. Why? This is against her previously established characteristics. In the pilot she was against smoking. If it’s to show how traumatized this girl is, well then you didn’t need to have her hair go grey too. I mean okay we get it she’s grey haired, she’s smoking, she’s wearing sunglasses and she sympathizes with her tormentor, great job hammering that little nugget home, writers. 

The Ugly:

I’ve got to say I just hate it when plot points just go nowhere. The whole Constance and her daughter subplot really could’ve been excised out the script entirely because it really seems like pointless fluff.

Like why did Constance drug Violets muffin with laxatives? Did she know that the home invaders were coming and planted it for them to eat as it so happened or was that just a coincidence? If Violet was the intended Lax victim then why so? What reason would Constance want to cause Violet ill?

The answer is not in this episode.

Also when Constance daughter sneaks in to the Harmon house and sees the home invaders and goes back to tell Constance are we expected to believe that Constance would’ve helped the Harmons with their situation had she known that it was the case. I don’t know that she would’ve.

Another truly ugly thing about this episode was that closet with the mirrors. What was that all about? What kind of punishment is that and also Constance was trying to get it on with that guy in her room right? so why did she think locking her daughter in a room with mirrors and allowing her to scream bloody murder that doing that would not be a distracting thing while trying to get back to business. I mean come on!

One Button Review

PLAY

My One button review for this episode is PLAY, and I’ll tell you why. This is not a bad episode for what it’s trying to do. It’s a decent ghost story with pretty straightforward narrative. The mythology of the show is present and seems to be developing in a good way. I’m more interested in the series based on this episode than I was with the pilot. The characters are still hollow I’m more optimistic that it can improve.

EPISODE THREE

“I was and continue to be one hell of a shot.”

 Episode info

Season 1 Episode 3 “Murder House”

Original airdate: October 19, 2011

Written by Jennifer Salt

Directed by Bradley Buecker

Episode synopsis

After surviving an in house attack Vivian insists that they move away and sell the house but finds that it’s easier said than done.

Episode Notes

Character study:

THE HARMONS

Here we have Vivien willing to do the smart thing and sell the haunted house where she was assaulted by home invaders. She’s taking charge and really making an effort to get out of that house.

Ben has to deal with the return of Hayden who is dead set on making things hard for him. She didn’t go through with the abortion and has decided to keep the baby and keep Ben as the baby daddy as well. Ben is having women problems all around because the maid is also giving him trouble by tempting him. This week’s patient also threatens to kill herself and Ben doesn’t really dwell on that too much being that he has so much on his plate.

The thing with Violet in this episode is that she wants to stay at the house while her mother wants to move out and her dad is just oblivious to her. I still really dislike the dialogue they give Violet because she sounds dumb saying things like

“I love our house… It’s where we kicked some ass.”

Which I think is actually an interesting idea that she feels that to be empowering to be in the house, but for some reason this actress just seems to just fumble the delivery where I don’t take her seriously.

Sorry to say Connie Britton’s tone in her response doesn’t help when she says “I love that you see it that way” like some kind of hippie chick on a mellow. It’s undermining for both characters.

NOTABLE CAST

Constance and Moira

We get a little bit more back story on these two in the opening teaser of this episode. Moira died at a young age which is how she appears to Ben and any male guest, but her ghost has aged (somehow) as the women see her.

Constance had discovered Moira in a compromising way with her husband at the time which in a crime of passion causes her to murder them both. Somehow I don’t blame Constance for murdering those two. I kind of enjoy the way she digs in at Moira and taunts her. Moira is clearly the character the writer wants us to sympathize with and that would be the case if her ghostliness wasn’t so confusing.

I mean why do the male guests see her as she was when she died and why do the women see her as old? The obvious answer is that the writers thought that would be cool. The answer given (as explained by Moira) is that men only see their need for dominance and desires and women see into the soul of a person. That’s a load of malarkey. That is really degrading towards men and women, because it makes it seem like all men have no real free will and are subject to their animalistic needs and also that’s the only way for women to be better than men is that they be more pure. Men and women both have these animalistic needs of dominance and desires; they just have different ways of expressing them. Neither one is more pure than the other.

But you know even though that’s the explanation given, I’m going to try to see past that and interpret it differently because it’s obviously not the case that women guests and men guests see ghosts differently because they all see Tate and the nurse ghosts just fine. I think the better explanation would be that all these ghosts have different faculties that constitute their ghostly afterlife in the house. The nurses appear in their uniforms as they died, Tate appears unassuming in teen adolescence. For some reason Moira has taken upon her ghostly self to take on two visages somehow cursed by her guilt of sleeping with Constance husband. So her answer is true because she wants it to be true.

Hayden

Well I guess we haven’t seen the last of Hayden. She’s come back because Ben left her at the abortion clinic. I mean, wasn’t it the whole point of Ben going over to Hayden to make sure she goes through with it. Well she didn’t go through with it and now she’s back because she wants him to play father and support her baby and take care of her. Well now he has to kill her and bury her under a freshly made Gazebo.

The Good:

I really dig Vivian taking charge and wanting to get out of the house and really sticking it to the realtor, although I think she may have been too harsh on her, but nevertheless I like her attitude and resolute.

I like the Moira and Constance storyline more now that they’ve brought out the depth of their relationship. How Constance taunts her all the time and even after her bones are found only to get reburied along with Hayden’s is great. I’m actually am finally getting Moira a little more now that her motives has been revealed that she was trying to get Ben to discover her bones so that she won’t be trapped in the house anymore. Also it brings up more questions too; I might have to get back to that later.

The mythology of the house is building with the back story of the Murder house on that bus tour which was very serviceable. This is clearly the creepy camp they were going for with this series.

The Bad:

I still don’t like Violet a whole lot. I thought it was cool her saying that surviving the home invasion was a source of empowerment rather than an excuse for feeling victimized. I liked that she said it not the way it came out. It still seemed like she was just saying it to say it, and the only real reason she doesn’t want to leave the house is because she’s hanging out with a cute boy and she doesn’t want that to end. It’s not really bad writing that I’m reeling against here because that’s actually interesting stuff, what I don’t like is that’s it’s undermining the empowerment stuff with this shallow motive. Why can’t Violet see that her Mom is doing the smart thing in wanting to leave the house? Is it because she’s a hormonal teen?  

The Ugly:

I guess now is a good time as any to get into my distaste for the therapy sessions. Really it could’ve been cool and I get it the purpose for them is to create more shock horror with no consequences. But really they go nowhere and that I find awfully annoying.

I mean, episode 2 at least used that angle to be part of the narrative of the home invasion sure, but there wasn’t much depth in even that. I mean the girl had nightmares about being cut in half and that was obviously a fib for her to stake the house but did she eventually get cut in half in the episode? If so they didn’t play off the irony at all. It makes these sessions even more pointless.

The sessions with Tate seem like they’re going somewhere sometimes but don’t really. I mean, they have a session where Tate is clearly trying to instigate a reaction out of Ben and Ben is unmoved and it’s suppose to give off this sense of professionalism but it just seems like Ben has no sense of awareness and I blame this on the directing and Dylan McDermott’s performance. These unilateral shots between patient and doctor creates disconnect between them and more so with the constant obtrusive zooming in and speed cut edits.

The session in this episode is also as needless and disjointed. We have the woman who feels she is boring and is pushed to the brink of suicide. Ben doesn’t seem to care about the resolution of this patient at all. I think the writers as well because they introduce a character investigating the whereabouts of the patient because she had gone missing after her session with Ben, and through exposition the detective shows no real sympathy for the missing woman because everyone says she’s boring. Then later on after her suicide attempt the same detective returns to investigate Ben’s part in the woman’s condition to find that Ben was inactive and unsympathetic and now the detective is disgusted with him. What is this sequence trying to say? That some people see other people as worthless unless they have something interesting to offer and that extreme situations invoke sympathy even where there wasn’t any before. So what!?

I was really interested in the potential for interesting stories that could’ve been told through this psychiatric session’s conceit, but what they have given us has been awful. I really thought that there could’ve have been really cool anthology type stories could’ve been told in this format, but so far I’m not seeing it.

One Button Review

FAST FORWARD

I have to give this episode a FF as my one button review because, and I admit that this episode isn’t as bad as the pilot, but it’s a long way from being as good as the second. There are some interesting answers in this episode that I can say I didn’t really get upon my first viewing, I don’t know why I just didn’t pick up that Ben was being compelled to dig a grave because he was under Moira’s spell to help her leave. That was very good, but then there is the rest of the episode that is really mucky and I just want to skip over a lot of it. But that may just be me.

EPISODE FOUR

“It’s okay actually, kind of scary sexy.”

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 4 “Halloween (Part 1)”

Original airdate: October 26, 2011

Written by James Wong

Directed by David Semel

Episode synopsis

On Halloween night Vivian unknowingly enlists the aid of ghost home “buffers” to raise interest in the house for potential buyers.

Episode Notes

Character study:

THE HARMONS

In this episode we have Vivian confront Ben about talking to Hayden and Ben confessing to her some of the truth. I don’t understand why he doesn’t tell her the complete truth; well maybe because it’s insane to admit that he was helped in murdering and hiding his mistress’s corpse under a gazebo. Well okay then show, you got me there. Now Vivien tells Ben to leave which makes sense and even more so since she seems to have other prospects in Luke the security guard. I like Luke as character, I think they do a good job at making him likable and that’s not hard to do really when comparing him with Ben, right?

Violet is hanging out with Tate more and I don’t know, I would think that if Ben was any kind of “good” father he would be more involved in what his daughter is doing and see that she’s hanging out with one of his more disturbed patients is really something that’s to be kept an eye on. So Violet learns that there is something living in the basement and hangs out with Tate a whole lot. Boring! This is like the part of the storyline I don’t think any of the writers really want to tell because they just breeze by these points like they don’t matter and I feel like I don’t have to care.

NOTABLE CAST

Chad and Patrick

These are the former homeowners that restored the house in order to flip it for more money or something. They establish that basically they’re relationship was on the rocks and that Zachary Quinto’s character Chad was basically forcing Patrick to stay with him despite his adultery. Did I forget to mention they are homosexuals? I probably forgot to because it’s so abundantly clear that they are when you see them on screen. It really is ridiculous.

I remember when I first saw this that Zachary Quinto had recently outed himself as a homosexual right before the airing of this episode and I thought good thing to because if he hadn’t he would’ve been accused of awfully reinforcing terrible homosexual stereotypes and probably been sacked by the gay community. I really felt his performance was so over the top it was insulting really.

Larry

Oh god Larry, how have I gone on this long without talking about Larry? He’s been here since the pilot. I probably neglected to mention him because I hate Larry. He’s an annoying and his presence really diminishes the show more than I would care to. He’s here most likely for comic relief but I don’t find him funny. I mean in this episode he’s standing in front of the Harmon’s residence with a children’s pumpkin shaped treat container and demanding money for murdering Hayden for Ben. I mean this character is not threatening and everything we learn about him is lame. He wants the money so he can start his play acting career he was imprisoned but let out due to him having cancer or something. I mean who can take this guy seriously.

The Good:

I like Vivian a little more here, I like what Connie Britton is doing but I tell you it surely doesn’t go with what everyone else is doing so I don’t know. I like her and the introduction of Luke, they have a good dynamic and I prefer the story to follow him. I find it weird though that I like Luke because I’m supposed to be rooting for Ben and the family unit right? I find it very hard to do that though.

The ending with Hayden was expected but good nevertheless. Sometimes I find when a show does something that is expected it can be good thing.

The Bad:

Tate and Violet’s storyline is boring and Larry’s situation is just weird. I can’t say I liked this episode very much or can say too much on what I thought was bad really, which I consider that to be a bad thing.

The Ugly:

Just everything about the gay couple was offensive and over the top in an unbearable way. I mean we have Zachary Quinto say something really abrasive and accusatory towards Patrick then dismiss it with something stupid errand he wants him to do not one once, not twice but thrice! I just thought it was barely funny the first time, but this is a show that is going to run things they like into the ground, they are going to glare shocking humor and imagery for kicks. But I for some reason did not find it fun.

One Button Review

SKIP

I’m going to have to go ahead and say SKIP for this one button review. There was just too little substance in this episode that I found worthy of watching. There wasn’t anything interesting really going on and what the writer considered to be fun was dumb to me. I would say just skip this episode and watch the next part believe me you’re not missing anything.

Alright, that concludes this section of my season one review of American Horror Story. Thanks for checking in.

Stay tuned.

Watcher’s Guide: RETCON EDITION American Horror Story Season One part I

Hello reader,

Welcome back to another one of my “Watcher’s Guide” season retrospectives. On this column I will be taking a look at a single season of television by watching a marathon of episodes and reviewing them here in an episode by episode format.

This next series that I’m reviewing will be what I am labeling a “Retcon Edition” and it will be a little different from my previous Tower Prep series which was tagged as a “Recon Edition.”

The “Recon edition” subheading will be used here to signify a series in review that will be viewed by me for the first time. The “Retcon Edition” is different in that it marks a TV series that I may have already seen prior but have decided to review here with the intent to reevaluate it for this blog. I have other editions planned for this watcher’s guide series but I’ll address them later as they develop.

The subject for this retrospective season watch will be the FX horror drama series “American Horror Story.” I decided to review this television series in the wake of its recent season end announcement that next season will be a new story entirely. This has brought a lot of attention for the show and has brought out a surprising amount of both appraisal and condemnation.

I had not too long ago dismissed this show entirely having been disappointed with the first half of the season but upon talking it over with my Brother David he suggested that I try to write about my grievances with the show in a blog post. I thought it was an interesting proposal and so I figured since it is a very talked about Television series that it may be worth taking another honest look.                

Review Format

The way I will be formatting these reviews will be in four parts similar to my previous retrospective series. For example, this first post will be labeled as “part I” and it will contain a review for the American Horror Story series pilot. The second part will be labeled part II and contain reviews for episodes 2-4 and the next part will be for episodes 5-8 and the final part will be for episodes 9-12.

The episode reviews will be formatted with a heading of the episode title and general episode info. The body of the review will have a brief synopsis, my episode commentary and conclude with a review grade.

The brief synopsis will be basic episode summary much like you would find in a TV guide blurb or DVD booklet. Episode notes section will be my notes about the episode. For reviewing these shows I will be using a simple four point grading system that range from a low grade of SKIP, a passive grade of FAST FORWARD, the qualified grade of PLAY to the high grade of PAUSE.

See, pretty simple.

Alright now it’s time for me to begin my American Horror Story review, but before I do that let me start off by giving a really brief introduction to the series.

Series overview

The series is premised on a nuanced send up of the typical haunted house story as it plays against the deconstruction of a modern American family. This is an FX series that is trying its hand at creating pulpy anthology like horror series. The potential for horror chills and contemporary family issues are palpable. The added element of making the father’s profession being a psychiatrist adds the potential for a week by week standalone story lines that could go along with the mythology of the haunted house.

The series focus on a family surnamed the Harmons who move into the haunted house and are privy to the supernatural elements and history of the houses previous owners.

Creative Team

American Horror Story was created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck

WRITERS

Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuck, Jennifer Salt, James Wong, Tim Minear and Jessica Sharzer

CAST

Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, Taissa Farmiga, Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Denis O’hare.

Available Media Formats

The show originally premiered on FX on October 5, 2011 and ended its first season on December 21, 2011.

The series was renewed for a second season set to return in 2012.

Currently this series is not available as home video release but will most likely have a DVD box set to be released in 2012.

I will be reviewing these episodes from my own DVR recordings of their original airings.

“You’re going to die in there.”

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 1 “Pilot”

Original airdate: October 5, 2011

Written by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk

Directed by Ryan Murphy

Episode synopsis

The Harmon family moves into a haunted house after the mother has had a miscarriage and the father was found cheating with one of his patients.

Episode Notes

Character study:

THE HARMONS

The Harmon family consists of psychiatrist Ben Harmon his wife Vivian and their daughter Violet. As a unit this family is disjointed which I guess is the point being that they had experienced the horrors of a miscarriage.

Dylan Mcdermott as Ben Harmon really didn’t do much for me being how oddly chipper he was, which just made him seem oblivious and unsympathetic. I don’t understand what’s keeping him tied to this family or why he wants to make it work with Vivian other than that’s what society expects of a family to stay together and work things out. The thing about this character is that he’s suppose to be the characterization of the typical American straight male who’s only active drive is lust but they have a moral compass that they manipulate to justify their awfulness and here it doesn’t work. The reason it doesn’t work because this character is taken to a level of cartoonish and that would be okay if the show wasn’t also demanding for you to take it seriously as well. There is tongue in cheek and then there is tongue through an open cheek wound. It’s too horrific to be funny.

Vivian as portrayed by Connie Britton is an enigma of a character, but in a really bad way. I’ve seen other shows written by Ryan Murphy and I have an idea of how he wanted this character to be like. He typically writes this type of character as the woman who is smart but still wants to be with the bad boy because she herself is screwed up and is driven by that kind of crazy and despite knowing there is something wrong with being that person it’s clear that Vivian’s character is making the choice to stay. I think Connie Britton is a great actress but I’m fairly sure she doesn’t understand this character and is trying to do the best she can with it. She definitely comes off as a smart woman who knows better than to stay with someone who is as screwed up as Ben, but she doesn’t convince me at all that she’s damaged enough to stay mixed up with him. She’s too plain and sane to come off any other way. But maybe that’s the way Ryan Murphy wanted it.

Lastly we have Violet. Violet is this cynical creepy cool chick that would’ve been Goth if Goth was still around. Instead this girl is what “cool kids” would interpret as Goth which is now simply known as “Emo.” She listens to “the Smiths” and the like and contemplates suicide and why? Is it because she’s being bullied at school or because her parents are fighting? I have no idea why this girl wants to kill herself. At least if she were Goth it would make sense because she would think it would be cool to die and there’s a certain sick romance to that. But she’s not and her problems don’t match the measures she’s willing to take to remedy them. I mean does she want to run away even that would make more sense, you know, if she’s tired of her parents fighting and just wants to leave. But no she seems to like her mom and has literally no relationship to her dad. I mean really the only interaction she has with him is a moment that’s meant to bring shock value but apparently has nothing to do with the narrative because they don’t offer any kind of resolution nor address that moment.

NOTABLE CAST

Tate

He is one of Ben’s psychiatric patients and is the closest thing to an interesting character that this show might have to offer. He is a bit of a sociopath with dark brooding inclinations and issues. He takes a liking to Violet, who knows why, and tries to flirt with her in the creepiest way possible (correcting her suicide cutting to better insure death). Tate comes off as a very en vogue type of sociopath (so much in fact that I felt it was too over the top even for my liking) but out of all the characters to like in this show he was the most appealing. Evan Peters gives a pretty good performance as Tate. I think he’s really putting forth the vision the creators have for him.

Constance

There is no doubt Jessica Lange is a great actress but to say this is a great character maybe reaching. The most interesting thing about Constance is that she’s being portrayed by Jessica Lange. It’s clear to me that Jessica is having a ball playing this ominous yet colorful antagonist. She has an agenda and I think out of all the characters she has the most mystery to reveal here and I am actually interested in knowing what they are.

Episode Notes

The Good:

I did like the opening musical choice of “Tonight you belong to me” by Patience and Prudence and also found it pretty clever that it was used in the context that “the house” was taking those kids lives as though now they belong to the house.

Tate was mostly an interesting character throughout the pilot, even though they kept trying to invoke sympathy by having him adopt iconic Kurt Cobain type fashion. It’s as if they are trying to connect all these iconic cult traits onto one character in order to make him interesting or maybe to show that a sign of sociopathic behavior is this relentless loss of identity through emulation of pop culture iconography.    

The introduction of Constance was pretty neat; her character was a character for sure. Jessica Lange seemed like she was having fun playing this role and her campy portrayal worked for what I think this series wants to be. I think there are a lot of history possibilities for this character and am interested in seeing where this series take her.

The Bad:

The opening sequence was a bit odd to me, because we get this little snippet of these twin red headed boys with bad attitudes and them being so color coordinated that it just felt like visually loud set dressing that was hollow. I began to wonder about why these boys were killed, I mean, is there any rhyme or reason to their demise at all? That sort of thing irks me because whenever someone dies I would like it to mean something or have some kind of resonance. To have kids murdered for no other reason than to illicit shock value feels really cheap to me.

This can be rectified if the house is revealed to have some kind of mischievous plan for those kids or something, but as it stands I think that scene is pretty bad.

I found about everyone in the Harmon family to be highly unlikeable and/or terribly uninterested. I know that Vivian has had a traumatic miscarriage but she isn’t any sign of her predicament anywhere in this portrayal except in the scenes where she is reminded of it. It’s as if the writers are not interested in showing dramatic subtlety, they want everything to be flashy and grating.

Ben is a lust ridden shadow of a man whose plight when revealed is cartoonish and silly and I don’t think anyone could take seriously. I mean to cheat on your wife because she’s not recovering quickly enough from post traumatic stress after a miscarriage is hardly a sympathetic plea. And we are to believe that these two are still in love with each other?

I’m not trying to be unreasonable but I get no sense of their relationship and what they do show doesn’t hold water. He says she hasn’t made love to him since she lost the baby and I don’t know how long that’s been but here he just comes off as a sex crazed selfish lunatic by using that to justify his cheating on her. The show doesn’t give us any sense of how they were before things got bad and I honestly can’t see why they don’t just end the marriage.

They are staying together because they love each other; the show tells us this but doesn’t show it. Where does Violet fit into this? She says that they should just divorce; she seems adjusted and not shaken by their fighting which brings me to wonder: Why does she want to kill herself again? What are her problems that she has to cut herself for fun? There is no hint of an explanation that I can see.

Is it because of that one bully at school with the worst excuse for justifying her bullying? I mean seriously this chick is going to pick a fight with Violet just because she was smoking on school property and the explanation why she’s tough about it is because her grandmother died from cigarettes or something?

When I saw that scene play out I was like “Hey why is that girl being such a bitch to Violet?” then that other girl gives that throwaway line about the girls grandma and I was like “Oh that explains that, oh wait! No! If that’s it, then that’s stupid.”

Also what’s with the Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love references? I mean they obviously dress Tate like Kurt and they give Violet the name of “Violet” which has to be an obvious nod to that song by Hole?

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I bet you I’m not.

The Ugly:

Can we all agree that the Dylan Mcdermott masturbation scene was the dumbest thing ever committed to television? That was beyond awful. I think the writers thought that it was really funny and kept it in because of its gross out shock value and they would probably try to justify it as an important character trait somehow but I will not give them that. That is a moment in that characters life I could have done without. I’m not trying to sound prudish, but seriously what this scene is screaming about Ben Harmons character is “Oh, I’m so screwed up and horny, I need to feel sex all the time, I wish I could stop masturbating but I can’t, oh pity me won’t you. Look I’m even crying.” Blech!

And lastly that scene where Moira the ghost maid is trying to seduce Ben but Violet walks in to find them compromised. Like what was the point of that and what was the impact of it?

I ask because right after that scene we see Violet get her ass kicked by that bully bitch and then after that we find Ben trying to have sex with Vivien leading to their expository fight and then nonsensical make out session. Doesn’t make any sense to me.

One Button Review      

SKIP

My one button review for the pilot episode is simply SKIP. I’ve watched this episode fully a total of three times. The first time I watched it was sometime after its premiere airdate, the second time was for trying to give it another chance and the third time for this retrospective. The more I watch it the more eye rolling bad I find it.

I’ll admit this much I had a similar difficulty with the pilot episode of Ryan Murphy’s other current standing series “Glee” where I felt the tone was all over the place and it was asking me to care about overly convoluted characters but with obvious quirks that scream out “like me!”

I feel that AHS suffers from a similar pandering policy where it offers scares without substance and without meaning just trying to invoke a visceral feeling. I’m not saying that that is a bad thing necessarily just that the chills come off as hollow when I could not get on board with most of these characters or their situation.

Hopefully the next episode will be better the second time around. That one I haven’t seen since my initial viewing.

Alright, so that’s all for this installment. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the “Watchers Guide”. I’ll be back fairly soon with my next part to the series.

Stay tuned.

lachylan asked: Hey just thought I'd tell you that Dexter and Deb aren't blood related. Dex's dad is that guy that died in Season 1 and Dex, Deb, Rita and Brian go and clean out the house. There was some crap about how Dex needed blood as kid, but his type was rare and the guy who claimed to be Dex's dad just happened to have the same rare blood type. Also in Season 2 it shows that Harry and Dex's mom were fucking after Dex had been born.

Hey thanks.

For some reason I just assumed that since Harry was boning Dexs Mom that he was his father, but you’re right there is no evidence of that.
I really appreciate you clearing that up for me. I’ll re edit the post to correct the error.

But even so I still think its kinda creepy if Dex and Deb ever did hook up because he grew up with her like a sister, yknow.

Anyway thanks again.

JP

Stray Observations: the true Amityville horror in full effect on Cable TV

Hello reader,

Welcome back to Stray Observations, a column where I post my thoughts on television related topics.

The subject of today’s blog entry is what I like to call “the true Amityville horror” and its presence in a few of the television series that I’ve watched in the past year.

Now before I explain what I mean by “the true Amityville horror” let me first warn you that this post will be unveiling some fairly spoiler-y things about the third season of “Bored to Death” and also the sixth season of “Dexter.” So if you haven’t seen either of these seasons yet and do not want to be spoiled I guess you may want to avoid scrolling down past the Amityville horror image.

Still here? Good.

Now to explain what I mean by “the true Amityville horror” I must refer to the second Amityville horror film which was subtitled “the Possession.” I remember thinking to myself after I watched this movie that the scariest thing in it wasn’t the ghostly haunting or the murderous mayhem that befell this family, no for me the true horror in that house was the horrible incest. Now ever since then I would refer to any kind of incestuous behavior as the Amityville horror.

Okay, so recently I’ve noticed this topic come up in some of the shows I watched this year and there are two in particular that I thought were interesting and wanted to write up about their use on these shows. First we have Dexter.

 

In the recent season of Showtime’s Dexter they have placed Dexter’s sister Deborah into therapy sessions where her psychiatrist insists upon her that she is in love with her brother. The situation is very muddy because Deborah is under the assumption that she and Dexter are not blood related when in actuality they do have the same father.*

*It’s been brought to my attention that Dex and Deb do not actually have the same father, they were only raised as siblings.*

This isn’t entirely out of left field though because Deborah has always been Dexter’s entry to human emotions and it’s perhaps understandable that those feelings would manifest into a romantic inclination. Now whether her feelings would be reciprocated is a different matter.

In season one Dexter had mused that even though he was an emotionless monster that if there was anyone that he could have feelings for it would be Deborah. Dexter was a much darker and more hollowed character back then so much that a romance would have never been reciprocated because at that stage in his life he was too far removed from his own humanity.

In that first season Dexter felt he was an inhuman being that only wore a mask of normalcy in order to serve his selfish need to murder; his passenger. It was a desire that pulled at him so much that he could not control it, only concentrate it through a set of rules that he and his father devised which Dexter called “Harrys law.”

At the end of that first season Dexter began to accept that he did have humanity in him as evidenced by him not joining his brother in killing his “Sister.” In that first season Deborah was the symbol of his humanity and his brother was the symbol of his dark desires. When Dexter chose compassion for Deborah over detachment he accepted that he wasn’t as hollow as he had originally thought. He could then allow Rita into his heart and her children and later on his own son Harrison.

Dexter’s emotional journey did begin with Deborah and it surely does make sense that there would be a special bond between the two but I don’t agree that it should end in a romantic relationship.

This past season of Dexter with Deb discovering her romantic feelings for her brother have been pretty entertaining and I’ll give credit to Jennifer Carpenter she really pulls off those scenes with Michael C. Hall where’s she’s looking at him bright eyed and he’s all aloof, just really funny and fun. But I hope that in the aftermath of the season finale cliff hanger that next season they drop the romantic stuff and really deal with their relationship.

The Amityville horror reared its ugly head on this past season of Bored to Death as well. I had just caught up with the last three episodes and finally got the butt end of the storyline where Jonathan looks for his sperm donor dad.

His amateur investigation doesn’t take him very far until he is aided by a like minded female investigator also looking for her sperm donor daddy. Their search takes them to a novelty shop owner whom turns out to be a con man type who set up a whole sperm bank operation by providing all the sperm from himself. Jonathon of course only learns about his brother status after bonding with his sister romantically.

The twist here is that Jonathon and his sister weren’t aware that they were related before embracing their romantic feelings. In the end of the season (and series as it turns out) Jonathan decides to ward off telling her the truth about them for a little while longer and just enjoy the moment while it last.

This got me thinking which is worst being attracted to someone you didn’t know at all but then finding out that you’re blood related or being attracted to someone you’ve known you’re entire life but not think that you’re not blood related?

I really don’t know but I’m going to say they are equally as bad.

The real surprise for me is that two separate writing rooms came up with these contrasting points on a similar theme. But that’s just how the creative zeitgeist works I guess.

I just wanted to throw out something I heard recently that somewhat pertains to this subject. The show brothers and sisters apparently also dealt with some form of incest in its writer’s room as well. Apparently the characters portrayed by Emily van Camp and Dave Annable were originally half brother and sister but during the production of the series the two actors had so much chemistry together that the writers felt they needed to retcon the whole half brother and sister thing in order to allow them to become a couple without it being too creepy.

It’s too funny how these things just happen sometimes.

So that’s it for “Amityville horror” on the small screen. It’s not the first time it’s happened and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Thanks for reading and tune in next time for more stray observations.

The Television Writers Pantheon: Darin Morgan – Tower Prep

Hello reader,
 
Welcome to the final installment in my Darin Morgan retrospective series. It may be the last only for now, here’s hoping that Darin Morgan would return again in another series at some point. When that happens you can be sure I will be her posting again as well.
 
On today’s post I will be taking a look at Darin Morgan’s contribution to the short lived Cartoon Network live action TV series “Tower Prep”.
 
Here’s my overview of the show.
 

TOWER PREP 2010-2010

The show was developed into a pilot by Paul Dini who is known for his production involvement in animated series such Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited, this show was picked up for a full 13 episode season by Cartoon Network. The shows premise devised of a young teen that was sent to a mysterious prep school with a mysterious agenda and it was his sole goal to escape the school. While at the school he found likeminded allies who would aid them in his goal.

When Tower Prep went into series production Paul Dini tapped fellow television series writer Glen Morgan to aid in the mythology. The world of Tower prep expanded with each new episode and only improved as it continued its run.
The series aired from October 2010 to December 2010 and was then placed on hiatus. No sign of renewal was announced until the first week of December 2011, where it was officially announced that there would be no season two.

A true shame because for a teen series it was extraordinarily well done and written with a really good cast. The only consolation would be for a DVD release and currently there is no word on that.


”Book Report” Season 1 Episode 06

Original airdate: November 23 2010

Credits:

Written by Darin Morgan
Directed by Peter Deluise

Episode synopsis:

Ian and his friends are assigned Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’ as a book report assignment and they all neglect to finish it before test day and have to catch up or else they are doomed to repeat the grade, prolonging their stay at the school.

Characters Study:

IAN
In this episode it’s great because we see our hero Ian come to terms with his destiny in a way. He discovers that there is a way to escape that the previous owner of his Odyssey book had utilized. Ian is put through trials in order for him to understand he’s not suppose to leave, it’s up to him to find out what’s going on at Tower Prep and to help the students there overcome their repression. It’s a journey that he’s accepted and I’m sure would’ve been delved into if this series had continued.

GABE
Often the comic relief and sidekick to Ian, although he’s not at all sycophantic to Ian you can tell he looks up to him. He’s got a lot of heart and is quick to go to battle side by side with the hero even though he’s not quite as fit for the role. He’s sort of scrappy that way. In this episode there isn’t much of an arc as he as well as the rest of the team comes to terms with Ian having to go on the journey on his own.

CJ
Somewhat put on the sidelines here although they do play up her teen age mentality here, she keeps in the same arc as mentioned on Gabe.

SUKI
Another character not totally developed in this episode other than again the arc of coming to terms with Ian to go solo.

NORMAN
Norman although not seen plays an interesting role that I recognize Darin Morgan’s interests playing here. Norman appears to have a similar ability that Clyde Bruckman had in the X-Files episode. Norman can know about things that will be and therefore was able to write to Ian from the past.
The interesting thing about Norman is that he underwent his own heroes journey but tapped Ian to take on the true heroes role and save all the students and why, probably because Ian has the skills and ambition of a hero and is clearly the one for the task.
Although I appreciate Norman choosing Ian because he had the ability, Norman was able to be a hero in his own way for his girlfriend who he promised he will have her rescued somehow. It’s possible, and this is just me thinking, that maybe Norman attempted to escape but couldn’t and knew that he wouldn’t, because of his ability, but tried to anyway and then was probably killed. It’s a tragedy with a glimmer of hope that survives in Ian.

Episode Themes:

Mission

The mission for our team was basically to read the Odyssey and pass their test on it so that they wouldn’t be left back a grade. Our teams all procrastinate till the last moment of course and have to figure out how to do it without actually reading it. They do their best and manage to pass by the skin of their teeth.

The Great Escape

In this episode the great escape is very closely reached but of course it fails. Ian uses all the clues that Norman placed in the book in order to lead him to his epiphany. The Cyclops grave was the exit but was closed off so Ian could accept his journey.

Teen Drama

The extent of the teen drama was played up for laughs being that the stakes were fail the test you are doomed to repeat the class until you do pass, which could be ten years if need be.

Also the group had to deal with the separation anxiety of Ian’s possible lonely and doomed departure.

Notes:

I really liked this episode and thought it was very good for a standalone episode to enter the series if need be. It has an interesting play off of the hero’s journey theme that I very much enjoyed. The show I feel benefitted from this what some would consider filler episode because it kind of establishes the series firmly on its serial path and we understand what this series is and what the characters goals are and it’s done really well.


“Dreams” season 1, episode 09

Original airdate: December 14 2010

Credits:

Written by Darin Morgan
Directed by Brenton Spencer

Episode synopsis:

All but one of the team shares a vision of yellow elevator doors in their dreams and they all try to figure out why.

Characters Study:

IAN
We learn a lot of exposition about the history of Tower Prep and Ian may have a connection to the founder as established in a photograph of Ian and Cornelius Tower. We find out that the heroes journey is probably more deeply ingrained in Ian more than has been established before.


GABE
In this episode we get more comedic relief play from Gabe’s character that involves his dream sequences and his talking sock monkey.

CJ
There is something really interesting going on with CJ in that seem as though she is not one hundred percent on board with the team’s goal of escape. For instance she did not see the yellow elevator or was affected by the subliminal messages that cause them to dream of the voice. There’s just the slightest hint of suspicion about her.

SUKI
Not particularly featured in this episode but I really like her character.

CONNOR
I really liked his role in this episode sort of to call out the absurdity of the school as well as bringing in his own mysterious agenda that I’m not sure what that could be.

Episode Themes:

Mission

The mission was to figure out why they all were dreaming of similar symbols and what they meant. They then find the secret laboratory where they erased people’s memory and then Connor turned out to know more than he said and then vanished.

The Great Escape

The escape plan was to find the yellow elevator and try to figure out how to use it to leave Tower Prep. It turned out to be the passage way to a secret lab and also a study for the founder of Tower Prep.

Teen Drama

There was some notable tension between the team and Connor in whether they could trust him with their escape plan or not. Also some suspicion against CJ that may play out later.

Notes:

This was a really solid episode with some really cool interplay of dreams and reality and subliminal message coding that are all things I know Darin Morgan is familiar with.
There was one thing I noticed and this could be wrong but the sequence where we learn a mess of exposition about the founding of the school turns out to be a dream sequence which I believe was an out for other writers of the series to either write towards or omit at their leisure. I think Darin Morgan may not have been confident in his mythology creating that he would allow for a way around his inset of mythos.

Nevertheless another really good episode of Tower Prep and I’ll say if you ever come across the series check it out it’s a good show.


Alright that’s it for the Darin Morgan retrospective, well at least for now. Check back in again when I enter another TV series writer into the Showfollower’s pantheon of TV Writers.

Stay tuned.

Watcher’s Guide: RECON EDITION Tower Prep Season One part IV

Hello reader,
 
Welcome to another installment of Show follower’s Watcher’s Guide for Tower Prep Season One. On this post I will be reviewing Episodes 10-13.
 
 

“MERRY X-MAS!”
 

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 10 “Phone Home”

Original airdate: December 21 2011

Written by Aury Wallington
Directed by Michael Robison

Episode synopsis

On his birthday Ian gets so homesick that he heads into Headmasters office and demands that he gets to phone his mother. When Headmaster does allow Ian to speak to her he discovers that the person he was speaking to was definitely not his mother.

Episode Notes

Character study:

IAN
We get a little back story and his longing for escape becomes very predominate in this episode. I like how he takes initiative and just charges into Headmasters office and demands he get his phone call.

TEAM
We find out a lot more about Suki in this episode and her back story. We see how skilled she is and how opposed to the family business she is. Clearly she’s becoming aware of the stronghold her family has over the school and over her and this motivates her wanting to escape.
CJ and Gabe take the backseat in this episode and it’s just as well.

Mythology questions:

Why are they faking phone homes?
From what it appears they are doing that because they want their students to be compliant. It makes you wonder though do the parents even know that they are at the school.

What is Sukis brother doing with headmaster?
Sansei was sent to the school to upgrade Whisper119 because the system had become sympathetic for the students of Tower Prep.

What changes are coming?
The changes that were coming that Whisper119 was afraid of were the upgrade to Whisper120 as it turns out.

Does Gabe dig Sukis? 
They hint at Gabe being jealous of Ray’s interest in Suki and could it because he has an interest in Suki for himself. I mean he does ask her to kiss him when they were in peril.

What do the parents know?
Ian’s mom does know that Ian is at Tower Prep that is confirmed in this episode, and that was definitely his mom too. But she says that it’s very dangerous for him to be calling her, which gives a strange ominous feeling about what is really going on.

One Button Review

PRESS PLAY

This is a very well shot episode, with some really interesting transitions and well choreographed fights. The story started off strong and really had some interesting character conflict that didn’t really amount to much in the end. Although this episode does have a pretty neat Star Wars reference and for that alone makes this episode very watch able.


“Are you broken?”

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 11 “Trust”
Original airdate: December 21 2010

Written by Riley Stearns
Directed by Michael Rohl

Episode synopsis

Ian is suspected of working with a resistance group known as the broken and so decides to learn more about them possibly to aid in their escape.

Episode Note

Character study:

IAN
Constantly suspicious Ian is worrisome about CJ’s relationship with Cal for many reasons. One of which being he knows that Cal was turned into a Gnome and they don’t know where his allegiance lay. Also he likes CJ and must hate seeing her at all with his antagonist.
Ian’s goal in this episode is to meet with the resistance group known as the broken and see that they don’t try to interfere with their goal to escape. Ian discovers that he may need their help in order to escape.

TEAM
The team are somewhat spread out in this episode, Suki is in the back seat this time around and CJ is in the front with her issues with Cal. CJ seems to be torn between two worlds in this episode where she can’t decide to be the perfect student she had been or strive to escape with her friends as she wants to. She’s afraid that she won’t have out there what she has here although what she has here isn’t all that great and she knows it. When Ian assures her that if nothing else she will have him to be with, she is happy again to follow suit again.

Gabe is presented really well in this episode because he shows his allegiance to Ian and his cause but isn’t afraid to put in his two cents about the situation and he’s not the kind of guy that blindly follows his leader. Gabe is not only the comedic relief on this series he is also a driving force in of himself.

Mythology questions:

Who made the stencil graffiti and why?
We find out that there are members of a group known as the broken sprayed it on the school walls in order to send a message to their members.

What is Cal doing back and where was he?
We don’t know for certain where he was or what he’s doing back but I suspect that he is on a mission involving the Gnomes whom I believe are a group with a separate agenda from the school. I’m thinking involving Coach History perhaps.

Something is up with Emily Wright but what?
What turns out to be up with Emily Wright is that she definitely doesn’t like how the school is being run and has goals to oppose it and learns about the broken and decides to join them.

Who are the broken?
The broken are the resistance group that wants to infiltrate the school and we are not sure what for yet.

One Button Review

PRESS PLAY

This episode was high on character conflict and interesting revelations of a resistance force. Some of it didn’t really land as hard as they wanted but for the most part the characters had really interesting dynamics particularly between Ian and Gabe and Ian and CJ.


“Maybe one of us told.”

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 12 “Snitched”

Original airdate: December 28 2011

Written by Jeff Eckerle & Marilyn Osborn
Directed by Thomas Wright

Episode synopsis

One of the Team members has been feeding information to the Headmaster and Ian suspects everyone on his team.

Episode Note

Character study:

IAN
We see Ian mistrust his friends even though he doesn’t want to. It shows that Ian is not a fool just trusting and even so he is also forgiving. It shows how strong his bonds are when they are tested like this. I feel like this dynamic is really strong in this episode and is really outstanding television.

TEAM
Everyone on the team is suspect and Ian has to figure who he can trust. It’s done so well in this episode I wasn’t sure if it was going to Suki or CJ and I honestly didn’t want it to be either. Gabe I’ve always felt particularly on board with his character and thought that his conflicts with Ian never stemmed from a place of betrayal. We learn in this episode an important piece of the puzzle of this little group and its revelation will make you want to look back on past episodes to see them under the light of this new information.

Mythology questions:

Who was in the parachute?
It was Connor with Chemica Desin 2.0 who is a part of a different group that wants to bring Tower Prep back to its original purpose.

How is there no wall?
As it turns out there was no wall for a while because Whisper119 had a glitch that allowed people to go through if they ignored what their eyes were showing them.

What happened to the broken?
This episode doesn’t answer that question nor addresses it.

Who snitched?
We find out that Ian had reason to suspect his little sect of friends for one of them was a mole, it was revealed to be CJ which explains why she has no memories of life outside of Tower Prep why she didn’t see the yellow elevator in her dreams or why she had such clout with Headmaster to plan a dance for her class. Also not only was she a mole but she was Headmasters daughter as well.

One Button Review

PRESS PAUSE

This episode was very good at playing up Ian’s suspicions of his friends, where in the last episode they dealt with Ian’s allegiances and conflicting goals by other forces, this tightens the scope of paranoia into his own little circle. It’s just a very well done episode that I give it a pause because I feel like it could be viewed even as a standalone for its strong structure.


“Three’s the charm.”

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 13 “Fathers”
Original airdate: December 28 2011

Written by Glen Morgan
Directed by Dwight Little

Episode synopsis

Ian is close to escape but decides to go back for his team so they could all escape together. But can they?

Episode Note

Character study:

IAN
In this final episode we find our hero Ian discover the means of escape and instead of using it and merely escaping alone he goes back for his friends. It shows how he’s a character who’s will to stick to his word maintain his loyalties otherwise he couldn’t consider it a win.

TEAM
We get a lot of apologies from CJ who we get to understand is conflicted she genuinely likes her friends and didn’t want to betray them and she herself does want to leave the school. That was true and I’m glad that was established here.
Suki finds out that her loyalty was in question and I understand that she’d be pissed to find that out, who wouldn’t? But she quickly understands and I thought that was cool.

Gabe always the social butterfly making new allies and is absolutely genuine about it. I really like Gabe’s sensibility because he may come off as annoying and talky but all in all he’s pure of heart and he not only frees his guardian friend, whom he finds out only helped him because he was being paid to do so, and offers him to escape with them. It’s a remarkable moment and I really enjoyed that.

Mythology questions:

Who is that dude with the greasy hair and rose tux?
Not sure, probably would’ve been answered in season two if there had been one.

What’s Demetris’s deal and why is he helping Gabe?
Well we learn that he was working for the Headmaster in keeping Gabe safe. Headmaster may needed Gabe as a card to play in making Ian comply.

Why is it so difficult to have CJ see her mother?
Again not sure, but I bet it would’ve been really cool.

One Button Review

PRESS PLAY

A really good episode and season finale in that it sets up what would have been a really interesting second season. We get the team fall apart last episode and then come together in this episode and achieve their goal but only to find out there is something much more complex going on that they will need to be a part of.
Not by any means a satisfactory series finale, although they do escape the school. I guess that’ll have to do.

Final Thoughts

FAVORITE EPISODE

Wow, there were so many really good episodes, such as “Buffer” which is a pretty solid episode the more I think about it and of course “Book Report” which I would recommend to watch as a standalone. Then there is really nice group showcased episodes that really had great character moments such as “Trust” and “Field Trip.” I guess if I had to choose one I would say maybe “Election” because it has really interesting mythology introduced into it and it felt like a real game changer that if the series had continued really could’ve mined from, and they did touch on some but you can tell there was way more to reveal that never got the chance to come to light.

NOTABLE CHARACTERS

Out of all the characters clearly Gabe is my favorite because he’s a character that is sidekick material but isn’t defined by that status. He’s also the comic relief and there are excellent examples of character highlighted throughout the series run, which I just think are great.

I remember recognizing CJ from somewhere and learned she was in “Smallville” as Green Arrows sidekick. She really came into her own here on this show and played off her cast really well. Ian is a really dynamic hero and leader and Suki has dimension that I really think was shown well too.

The Headmaster was really well casted really came off as a person that on the surface seemed despicable but may be is doing what he believes is right. The Coaches were also neatly established too.

One of the other students which I liked were Emily Wright who I knew had to come back and had more going on, also Ross Anderson who just looked like a mean spirited girl with a heart of doom. Cal had some interesting story elements to play out and I’m still interested to know what his main agenda was.

OVERALL

The series all in all was a really well done with great writing great mythology great cast and a good production. There are very few episodes that I would suggest to “SKIP” (I think there was just one and I may have been too harsh on that episode in retrospect). In total the show was really good and I would even suggest just to watch it if it ever comes on DVD.

Alright, that’s it for this edition of the Watcher’s Guide. For my next series season in review maybe the Star Trek Original series I’ve been planning or something else that I’ve been tossing around my mind that I think would be kind of fun. Well, we’ll see which one I decide to do next time.

Stay tuned.

Watcher’s Guide: RECON EDITION Tower Prep Season One part III

Hello reader,
 
Welcome to another installment of Show follower’s Watcher’s Guide for Tower Prep Season One. On this post I will be reviewing Episodes 6-9.


“Dude! Stop trying to be a Hero.”

Episode Info

Season 1 Episode 6 “Book Report”
Original airdate: November 23 2010

Written by Darin Morgan
Directed by Peter Deluise

Episode Synopsis

Ian and his friends are assigned Homer’s “The Odyssey” as a book report assignment and they all neglect to finish it before test day and have to catch up or else they are doomed to repeat the grade, prolonging their stay at the school.

Episode Notes

Character study:

IAN
We learn a lot about Ian’s character in this episode, that he, much like his friends can procrastinate to a degree which may put him at a point of failing. Ian doesn’t really care about passing his classes really because he plans to escape but asks his teacher what would happen if he failed to pass the class and discovers that they would keep him at the school against his will until he passed.
Ian now motivated at the eleventh hour decides to attempt to read the book but instead discovers a lead that may help him escape.
He is then faced with a choice to escape alone or to accept his destiny and figure out the mystery of the school with his friends. He stays to become the Hero he needs to be.

THE TEAM
The team also procrastinates as their leader HAS and scramble along with him to figure out how to get the assignment done. Their journey is continually to be by his side and face the danger of their possible demise, but Ian doesn’t want to risk that and so they have to accept that Ian has to accept his trials alone.

THE NAMES ON THE LIST
A list of names sets forth Ian on his journey and he is tempted by seductive sirens, sniffed by a sensitive nose, met with a peppy Minotaur and discovers a Cyclops skull. These characters are really cool and interesting, but I fail to mention a character whose name was not on the list but still very funny was the slow to react yet a speedy reader, who has a pet turtle. All unique characters no doubt from the mind of Darin Morgan.

NORMAN
We get a sense of Norman from his notes written on the odyssey book, that he was called up his Heroes journey to escape the school to success but failed to rescue his girlfriend to join him. We discover that the reason he was able to write to Ian was because his ability was to know things that would happen. He could see Ian and what he was to become and tested him to rise to challenge. It was also really interesting the parallel of Norman to Ian in heroic physique as we discover in the end that Norman had a rather wimpy body type yet still managed to be a Hero in his own right.

Mythology questions:

Why would they hold back students until they passed all their classes?
This thought came to me while watching this episode and the only rational I could come up with is that the school wants to program them for probably nefarious reasons.

Who is Norman and how is he writing to Ian?
At one point I thought that Norman was Whisper119 again somehow but later learned (and gladly so) that Norman was a student who previously used the book but filled it with notes to specifically Ian because he had a special ability to see what is to come.

Where does the Cyclops grave lead to?
I guess we may never know because Ian didn’t go through the tunnel to the other side. It’s appropriately so though because it was a trial.

One Button Review

PRESS PAUSE

This was a great episode and it’s no surprise because it’s written by Darin Morgan. He applies the Heroes journey concept to the characters of this series in a fairly apparent way. This episode cleverly blends the call to adventure with the old text and leads Ian to what his destiny is.
The thing about Darin Morgan scripts is they are a lot of fun as well as insightful and encompassing in a way. Ian becomes aware of the journey ahead of him and accepts it not as destiny but as his choice, his goal.
This episode is also very assessable I feel because I watched this out of sequence and felt it was still effective. The only you need to be aware of is that Ian is stuck in this Prep school and he wants to escape with his friends and everyone in the school has special abilities and you’re in.
That’s why I have given it a rating of PAUSE, which is the highest rating to give any single episode. I recommend strongly in checking it out.



“Wright is wrong.”

Episode Info

Season 1 Episode 7 “Election”
Original airdate: November 30 2011

Written by Michael Rohl
Directed by Riley Stearns

Episode Synopsis

When one of the class president candidates falls ill, Gabe decides to run against the current running administration that would stop at nothing to win the election.

Episode Notes

Character study:

IAN
The mission for Ian is different from Gabe in this episode. Ian is infected with the Chemica Desin and therefore has to find the cure.

I like that he at first opposes Gabe’s plan to run for class president but goes along with it anyway.

TEAM
This is a Gabe centric episode to me but there is more going on, because Gabe is running an election campaign, if he succeeds it may open some doors for our team that could lead to some cool storyline later. Gabe may have the ability to hypersuade but he doesn’t take advantage. Gabe has some really good moral grounding and that comes off well in this episode.  

OTHER
In this episode we are introduced to Emily Wright who appears to have an agenda that I hope they explore later. There is some cool character potential here and I like her dynamic with Ian. Also as an antagonistic force Ross Anderson appears to be very wickedly portrayed by the actress playing her and the actions of the character herself. I’m really interested to see the return of this character.

Mythology questions:

Why does Gabe want to run for class president?
His motives are unclear but he claims it would be good in order for them to appear as going along with the grain. I think that Gabe wants to be looked up to.

What’s up with these buttons?
These buttons we learned were contaminated with Chemica Desin which Ross Anderson modified and used against Emily Wrights opponents.

Nurse what’s with her?
She works for the Headmaster and is part of his plans for the school and it is revealed that they both went to Tower Prep prior.

What happened in 1971?
There was a chemical spread that effected the student population involving in severe illnesses that needed to be cured and then was.

What’s Chemica Desin?
Chemica Desin is that chemical spread that Ross Anderson uncovered from working with Nurse and modified for her own purposes.

One Button Review

PRESS PAUSE

This was a fun episode and it really shows the dynamics of this group of friends very well as well as unlocking past mysteries and unveiling new possible threats. Clearly there is more in development here that is primed for mining. I would recommend this as an episode that really embodies what the show is and can be viewed outside of the series of an example of just fine television.


“Your enemies today may very well be your allies tomorrow.”

Episode Info

Season 1 Episode 8 “Field Trip”
Original airdate: December 7 2011

Written by Paul Dini
Directed by Dwight Little

Episode Synopsis

The team is sent on a field trip which they decide to take the opportunity to do reconnaissance but their plans are spoiled when they are separated and assigned separate partners outside of their group.

Episode Notes

Character study:

IAN
We see in this episode how Ian handles himself alone with Cal whom is his bully. We see Ian work side by side with his enemy as well as turn the cheek and try to appeal to Cal’s better nature by trusting him with his secret plan of escaping the school as well as asking him if he wants to join. Cal doesn’t and instead in a way sacrifices himself to save Ian, but not really because he says he wanted this.

TEAM
The dynamics of our team is spread across the board as they play off secondary characters. For Suki, we have her teamed with Ray an established villain with his association with secret fraternity the rooks and his opposing attitude towards Ian. Ray genuinely likes Suki but knowing his history she’s not into him, but in this episode we see a lighter side to Ray. CJ is lumped with Felton who is pretentious and annoying but learns to appreciate him somewhat. Gabe is joined by Emily Wright who tends to Gabe when he falls wounded.
Is it just me or is there something weird going on with their partners because they all seem to cause our team to need some kind of medical aid. I mean, Suki gets poison ivy, CJ gets stung by an insect and Gabe falls and sprains his ankle. It could be coincidence but could it also be something else?

Mythology questions:

What is Red fang?
Red fang is like an urban legend developed by an outside resistance group in order to ward offenders off their trail.

Does Cal want to escape too?
We learn that Cal has an agenda and it’s not to escape it’s his goal to join the Gnomes and become one of them.

Cal’s ability super hearing?
We learn that Cal’s ability may be super hearing because he claims to hear people from far away.

Is Emily Wright into Gabe? 
I think so. I mean it’s clear she has an affinity for him despite her eye rolling. She comes to his aid without being under his Hypersuasion influence.

One Button Review

PRESS PLAY

We get to see our team broken apparent and play with other characters that we have seen before but are getting to know better. It had really good character development for the main cast as well as some really good secondary cast. The world of this series is coming together in really interesting ways.


“In dreams begin responsibility”

Episode Info

Season 1 Episode 9 “Dreams”
Original airdate: December 14, 2010

Written by Darin Morgan
Directed by Brenton Spencer

Episode Synopsis

All but one of the team shares a vision of yellow elevator doors in their dreams and they all try to figure out why.

Episode Notes

Character study:

IAN
The interesting thing about this episode to me was the parallel between Ian and Connor, who was introduced in this episode. They both have hero complexes and their own missions and to see how Connor deals with the whole “waking up somewhere where you don’t know how you got there” scenario is fascinating. Ian is our hero for this series and it makes sense for him to be suspicious of Connor.

TEAM
The team is fairly well utilized in this episode mostly learning exposition in funny ways. Nothing really stands out for me right now other than, obviously, the awesome use of Senor Guapo talking to Gabe dream sequence. It’s just freaking cool.

CONNOR
What is the deal with Connor? Who does he work for and why? We get to see Connor under different lights, from pretending to be surprised to knowing things that Ian isn’t ready to know about yet. He’s very mysterious and I want to know more.

Mythology questions:

What does the yellow elevator mean?
The yellow elevator was in the groups mind because they all saw the elevators when they arrived at the school and as it turns out there memories were erased at some point and when they regain consciousness that’s why they were so disoriented when they arrived.

Who’s the old man’s voice?
As it turns out the voice was from Cornelius Tower the founder of the school Tower Prep. It was in their dreams because they had subliminal messaged reminders possibly from the school orientation video.

Who is the doctor?
Not sure but he must be working for Headmaster and the school in erasing people’s memories.

How much of the history lesson is true?
The reason I ask this is because most of what we learn happens in a dream sequence based on a tape recording and I think that they left this ambiguous in case they want to retrofit back story later.

Who is Connor really?
Not sure but turns out he’s not really new to the game but an old player with an agenda all his own.

What does the young Ian with Cornelius Tower photo mean?
From what I can guess is that Ian met Cornelius Tower at a young age.

One Button Review

PRESS PLAY

Another Darin Morgan scripted episode and it’s very funny and wrought with mythology more so than I’ve seen him do before. There are many Darin Morgan-isms in the new characters introduced as well in as in the back story.
I only rate this episode PLAY because it’s a great episode but it is so sewn into the mythology of the series I cannot recommend to see it as a standalone, unless of course you’ve already seen every other episode before it.



Alright, that’s it for this post. Thanks for checking in and come back next time as I close my Season One overview of Tower Prep.

Stay tuned.

Watcher’s Guide: RECON EDITION Tower Prep Season One part II

Hello reader,

Welcome to another installment of Showfollower’s Watcher’s Guide for Tower Prep Season One. On this post I will be reviewing Episodes 2-5.

 

“You need to learn to ‘Power-through’ to conquer adversity”

 

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 2 “Monitored”

Original airdate: October 26, 2010

Written by Paul Dini

Directed by Thomas Wright

 

Episode synopsis

Ian Archer gets framed for stealing student possessions and so is followed by a monitor until he can defend himself in front of the tribunal members. On their journey to clear Ian’s name they stumble upon an underground Laboratory.

Episode Notes

Character study:

IAN

In this episode we have Ian’s character put on trial when he gets framed for stealing items from the student body. We as the audience know he is innocent and need to find out who set him up. The truth comes out and Ian gets what he wanted and that’s to move away from his roommate bullies and in with his pal Gabe.

 

THE TEAM

The mission of this episode was to find the real thief and they each go about their ways of investigating using their abilities.

Gabe is somewhat featured in this episode because he realizes that he was being a jerk to his friend Howard treating him like a golfer when he should’ve been a better friend.

 

Mythology questions:

What is going on at the West Campus?

Apparently that’s where they send students who misbehave or are unruly as a form of detention, considered to be stricter than Tower Prep.

 

Was Coach a student at Tower Prep?

They hint at Coach knowing more than he can say when Ian speaks to him while sparring. Coach is very withholding and touches lightly at Ian’s suggestion that it’s possible he was a student there.

 

Who is Gabe’s other Roommate?

A mystery that was not revealed in this episode, but I am sure this will be addressed at some point. They are clearly setting up that character to be of somewhat of importance.

 

Who framed Ian Archer for stealing from the students?

We learn that it was Howard, Gabe’s roommate, who framed Ian to get back at Gabe for abusing his friendship.

 

Who are the members of tribunal?

We hear that Coach and Headmaster are members, but what is the purpose for this tribunal and how much more will we find out about them.

 

Why are there tunnels and where do they go?

The tunnels aren’t explained why they are there but they are secret passageway for our gang to get around and they discover the underground laboratory.

 

Do the gnomes have cameras in them?

We get the sense that Headmaster is on to Ian somewhat when he asks to look at the camera footage from one of the Gnomes heads. I’m not sure if this will lead to Headmaster discovery of Ian’s involvement in the vandalism or not.

 

Why would they build a school over a laboratory?

They group suggest that it be possible that they built the school over the lab because the experiments they were conducting weren’t yet finished and maybe Tower Prep is an experiment itself.

 

What will happen to Howard at the West Campus?

They make it sound like West Campus is the worst place to go yet they send Howard there with very little fanfare and whether we will hear from Howard again it seems very unlikely.

One Button Review

PRESS FAST FORWARD

Not to say this episode was bad, just that it wasn’t as satisfying as the pilot to me. We get some cool monitoring jokes and a really neat dark underground chase but there’s something about this episode that seemed off to me. It just seemed that the writers wanted to get Ian and move him in with Gabe and wrote this episode to do that. Buffy had a fairly similar episode to this in its fourth season. But lastly this episode was fine just disappointing after seeing the pilot.

 

“Maybe there’s a hidden message in this hidden message.”

 

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 3 “Whisper”

Original airdate: November 2, 2010 

Written by Glen Morgan

Directed by James Wong

 

Episode synopsis

During art class the students are asked to create art relating to their special abilities and Suki finds an odd shaped bulb computer part that she draws and features for assignment which the headmaster sees and destroys. The group tries to uncover why he would do that as well as learn who has been sending Ian notes all this time.

Episode Notes

Character study:

IAN

We get to see Ian use his “preflex” ability here against a computer and that was pretty cool. He’s in search for answers and suspects his teacher may be the person who slipped him the note in the pilot episode. Ian also wants to figure out what the Headmaster is up to and tries to get at him by drawing the Whisper119’s avatar in the game he was playing when he first saw her.

THE TEAM

The group sets out to find out who sent the note to Ian and each set off to and investigate. They use their abilities in real cool ways in this episode and I think that they are learning new ways to use them, for instance CJ finds out that she could profile a person based on their handwriting and Suki mimics peoples handwriting by mimicking their movements as they write. It’s really cool.

Suki has a really interesting moment in this episode where she learns that Sato Science is somehow involved with Tower Prep. Can’t wait to see how that develops.

 

Mythology questions:

What is that thing that Suki found?

It turns out to be a computer part to a former computer program called Whisper 23.

 

Again who is writing these notes to Ian?

It is revealed in this episode that it was Whisper119 who has been sending messages to Ian. What does this mean? Is Whisper119 sentient or serving Tower Prep against her will?

 

Who is filling those outboxes to the sneaky sneak?

Not answered in this episode and I’m not sure that it will, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

 

What is the deal with Whisper23?

Whisper23 appears to be a computer program that they merged with human brain matter somehow and therefore making it a very dangerous computer and so needed to be destroyed.

 

What is going on with Ian and CJ, Romance?

There were a bunch of awkward pauses and lingering stares in this episode, there has to be something going on with these two. It shouldn’t be such a surprise they are lead characters as well as both very attractive young people.

 

Sato Scientific involved with Tower Prep?

Another reveal in this episode we find that Suki Sato’s parents company may have been involved in the laboratory experiments underneath Tower Prep as well as the inception of the school itself perhaps.

 

Did our gang send the Headmaster the Whisper23 part?

Not certain myself about this, I think that the group had removed the computer part of Whisper23 out but wasn’t sure if they would send it to the headmaster. I guess it makes sense that they would do that, but I’m not sure.

 

One Button Review

PRESS PLAY

This was a fairly good episode we got a mess of art humor and back story possibilities to work with. The old timey computer video game sequence was worth the watch alone. It was just some good action fun.

 

“You can be great. Why would anyone not want to be great?”

 

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 4 “Buffer”

Original airdate: November 9^th 2010

Written by Glen Morgan

Directed by Peter Deluise

 

Episode synopsis

Ian Archer is asked to join the red Buffer team by Coach History who needs to win his next game in order to keep his coaching duty at Tower Prep. Although reluctant at first Ian submits in order to face off against his Buffer playing bully. Meanwhile the group discovers that Coach History may have a connection to the security guards known as the Gnomes.

Episode Notes

Character study:

IAN

This episode really showed some color to Ian’s character in how he dealt with the adversity presented in this episode. We found that Ian can be kind of a jerk when it comes to being competitive and he chooses his own path and plans over his friends. It’s actually kind of cool because this was hinted at in the pilot that he sometimes is thick headed and has to do things his own way which makes him a poor team player but this episode shows him growing. A great parallel between him losing the game and actually succeeding in helping his friends.

 

THE TEAM

The team mission this week was to figure out what the connection was between Coach History and the Gnomes. They are all putting their all into their duties but are kind left in the cold when Ian doesn’t meet them half way. It’s interesting to see the team’s dynamic without Ian because they kind of don’t know what to do and see Ian as a leader. It’s CJ who actually steps up and takes the leader role.

CJ seems to be the featured team member in this episode because we learn some things about her and her character. There is some tension between Ian and CJ because CJ is a fan of the Buffer game and by extension of one of Ian’s pilot tormentors and she doesn’t see why it’s affected her relationship with Ian. But Ian I suspect would prefer her not to associate with his bully and he can’t tell her that because, well he doesn’t own her.

I feel like this episode showed a lot of character development and interesting ones too that affected the dynamic between all the characters Ian and CJ specifically.

 

Mythology questions:

Where did the Buffer game come from?

Not really addressed in this episode but they do establish that CJ is a big fan of the game and that Tower Prep is the only school that plays it.

 

What is up with Coach History?

There is surely some shady stuff going on with him involving the Gnomes and also his need of Ian Archer to help him beat the other team.

 

Who do the Gnomes work for?

It remains uncertain but there is definitely a connection with Coach History. We did learn though that Gnomes are Tower Prep students, not certain if they are current or former students.

 

One Button Review

PRESS PLAY

This episode was really good and it showed a lot of really interesting character dynamics and some really cool mythology questions arise with interesting resolutions. I think this was an especially well written episode and the performances were really upscale and the production values as well. This episode is definitely worth watching more than once.

 

“Live by the Wing, die by the Talon.”

 

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 5 “Rooks”

Original airdate: November 16, 2011

Written by Aury Wallington

Directed by Thomas Wright

 

Episode synopsis

A secret fraternity called “the Rooks” taps Ian and Gabe for a chance to join their ranks. Meanwhile CJ and Suki try to plan a good old fashion dance but are forced to follow Tower Prep regulations which are a total bummer.

Episode Notes

Character study:

IAN

In this episode we learn that the Rooks have a special interest in Ian and want him in their fraternity. They have a secret power enhancing drug that they all take in order to maintain their stronghold over the school. Ian never had any interest in being a Rook but only wanted to join to find out what they know about Tower Prep and how to escape.

 

GABE

He has wanted to join this fraternity since he heard they were around. Gabe has a need to be accepted by the elite club as the exclusivity makes it appealing. Gabe was blinded by his desire to join the group that he didn’t see that he didn’t need their acceptance because he was already had people in his life that he cared about and cared for him. Also Gabe proved himself to be Ian’s equal by standing up to the Rooks leader and succeeding where Ian did not.

 

CJ AND SUKI

They are trying to plan a dance and it’s particularly important to CJ because she has no memory of the outside world and never experienced normal things like dances or socials. They plan a dance for the student body but needed to follow the stupid old fashioned book of rules on how to prepare a dance and it was pretty lame. The rooks planned to further ruin the party because CJ and Suki embarrassed the Rooks leader earlier by rejecting his head strong advances of flirtation towards CJ. The party was saved from severe destruction by Gabe when he confronted the leader. Revealed in this episode also is that CJ likes Ian.

 

OTHER

We learn in this episode that Headmaster and Coach are part of the Rooks fraternity and have nefarious plans for Ian.

 

Mythology questions:

Who are the Rooks?

The Rooks are a fraternity that has existed back to the inception of Tower Prep, possibly predating it. The Rooks have access to a steroid type drug called Corvus H40 that enhances special abilities for a short period.

 

Why is the school so strict about not having school dances?

This is a question that is not confirmed exactly but I assume it’s because they do not want the student body to organize in any way shape or form, because they need them to be complacent.

 

Why can people have the same ability?

In this episode it was revealed that the Rooks leader had the same ability of Preflex that Ian has. I wonder if people being able to have the same abilities have something to do with the origin of their powers.

 

How many people know about Ian hanging the Gnome head?

We find out last episode that Coach History knows about it and in this one that the Rooks know about it.

 

Was it the Headmaster who told them about it now knowing that he is involved with the Rooks fraternity as an Exulted One?

I don’t think there is enough information to say whether he did or not but hopefully we’ll get confirmation at some point.

 

What is Corvus C40 and what does it do really?

We learn that the drug can enhance special abilities but also that there is more to it that Coach did not reveal to Ian.

 

What are Headmasters plans for Ian?

There have been some speculations and some suspiciousness from Ian about Headmaster but it is revealed in this episode that Headmaster has a really special plan for Ian specifically and since there are other people with his abilities I can only assume that it’s not for his powers.

 

One Button Review

PRESS PLAY

This episode was pretty cool, we get some really interesting mythology points dropped on us and some interesting non standard character development that don’t seem overtly cheesy. I really felt that Gabe’s story arc was very strong and performed extremely well. The guy who played the Rook leader was pretty interesting and reminded me of a young Bill Pullman. There was some cheesy special FX in this episode that was a little off putting but overall a pretty solid episode.

 

 

Alright, thanks for tuning into the second installment of my Tower Prep watcher’s guided tour through season one. There are two more parts to go, so until next time.

Stay tuned.

 

 

Watcher’s Guide: RECON EDITION Tower Prep Season One part I

Hello reader,

Welcome to yet another new column to this blog called “Watcher’s Guide.”

This column will be an episode by episode tour through a single season of a television series. This is a review column as well as a platform for me to take on a season of television and comment on each episode.  

I’m starting this review series with my first time viewing thoughts on the Cartoon Network live action series called “Tower Prep.”

I chose to begin with this show because I was already catching up with this series for a separate article I was working on about TV screenwriter Darin Morgan and since this show has such an interesting creative team I thought that since it was only a season of thirteen episodes, I figured why not review the series to start up this column that I’ve been trying to develop for a while now.

The reason I wanted to start this column now is so that I could pave the way for a much bigger project that I’m planning to start in 2012. That project being to boldly go where so many fans have gone before.

 

For this project I intend to watch and review all of the 725 episodes of the Star Trek TV series franchise. That is three seasons of the original series, two seasons of the animated series, seven seasons of the next generation, deep space nine and voyager, and lastly four seasons of Enterprise. A really ambitious task I know but I think it’s about time I finally check out that series and I feel that writing about it here would give me some initiative. So, look forward to that.

There are actually so many TV series that I would like to review for this column in the future, to either revisit old favorites or to experience new series for the first time. I think this can be fun and interesting to concentrate commentary on these blog posts.

Now how I will be going about formatting these review posts will be that I am going to break down the season into several parts in order to remain organized and timely. For example, this first post will be labeled as “part I” and will contain a review for the Tower Prep series pilot. The second part will be labeled part II and contain reviews for episodes 2-5 and the next part will be for episodes 6-9 and the final part will contain reviews for episodes 10-13.

The actual reviews will be formatted with a heading of the episode title and general episode info. The body of the review will have a brief synopsis, my episode commentary and conclude with a review grade.

The brief synopsis will be basic episode summary much like you would find in a TV guide blurb or DVD booklet. Episode Notes section will be my notes about the episode. I will be using a simple four point grading system for these reviews that range from a low grade of SKIP, a passive grade of FAST FORWARD, the qualified grade of PLAY to the high grade of PAUSE.

See, pretty simple.

Now it’s time for me to get into my Tower Prep review, let me start off by giving a really brief introduction into the series.

 

Season overview

 

 The premise of Tower Prep is basically what if the UK TV series “The Prisoner” was set in a high school. “The Prisoner” was about a man who was being held captive on a secret island which he could not escape. Tower Prep is similar in that sense but the protagonist here is a teenage boy who was taken prisoner by a totalitarian private school. All of the students that are brought to the school have special abilities and are being prepped for unknown reasons. None of the students know why they are doing there but are told that they are to learn how to control their special skills. Also there is absolutely no escape from the school.

Tower Prep is somewhat of a mystery series because the show has many unanswered questions that will surely be revealed as the series continues. For my reviewing purposes I will be focusing on how these mysteries play out throughout the series mythology.

Tower Prep was created by Paul Dini who produced and wrote many episodes of Batman and many other DC Animated Series.

The show starred a mainly young cast consisting of Drew Van Ecker, Ryan Pinkston, Elise Gaitin, Dyana Liu.

The show originally aired on Cartoon Network in October 26, 2010 and ended its first season on December 28^th. The series went on hiatus while the network decided whether it will return for a second season. It was just recently announced that the series will not return for a second season, sadly because it ended with a cliffhanger.

 

Available Media Formats

Currently this series is not available as home video release.

I will be reviewing these episodes from my own DVR recordings of their original airings.

 

“Where you are geographically isn’t as important as where you are mentally.” 

 

Episode info

Season 1 Episode 1 “Pilot” (aka The New Kid)

Original airdate: October 16, 2010

Written by Paul Dini

Directed by Terry McDonough

 

Episode synopsis

Ian Archer is a young man who despite his good intentions is consistently getting into trouble at school. One day while listening to his headphones he passes out and wakes up in a private school on orientation day. He doesn’t know how he got there but now he has to uncover why he was taken there and more importantly how to escape.

Episode Notes

Character study:

IAN

We have Ian as our main protagonists and he is kind of head strong and we get a profile of him at one point where he has capabilities of a leader but is quick to anger and is sometimes not a team player. His interactions with other characters in the school we get a sense of who he is, he gets hazed by his roommates and it’s clear he doesn’t like them because they are kind of jerks. But Ian is a very social guy and when he likes someone you get a sense that he is willing to put himself out there a little to get them to like him back. He is suspicious of the Headmaster in particularly of his interest in him. Coach looks sympathetic to Ian and maybe sees him as a future ally.

THE TEAM

The other characters we meet are part of the main cast and that’s CJ, Suki and Gabe. They are looking to escape the school same as him and therefore they become allies and decide to follow the rules until they can figure a way out.

These kids all have abilities by the way, unusual skills that make them special. Ian has the ability to react to things just before they happen what is later dubbed “Preflex,” CJ has the ability to read people’s nervous ticks and profile their emotional state, Suki can mimic peoples voices and movements exactly and Gabe has the ability to what they call “Hypersuade” people into his will.

OTHER

I just wanted to make the note here that other characters that run the school are named after their jobs to make things simpler at the school for some reason. So the Headmaster is named Headmaster and the science teacher is simply named Science. It’s actually kind of interesting.

Mythology questions:

Who is whisper119?

Whisper119 turns out to be the computer program that runs the school kind of.

Who brought Ian to the school?

Ian was apparently brought to the school by the school staff or probably his parents, it’s not really confirmed the exact technicalities of how Ian got there, but it is made even more unusual hearing the accounts of the other student’s arrivals.

 What is Tower prep?

It’s a school where they train kids with unique abilities how to control and use their powers. They claim to have the student body best interest at heart but that is still undetermined.

Why did they build a metal wall to keep them from escaping?

That’s really unusual if they have to go through such trouble to prevent the students from leaving. One can only assume that they are severely strict about the no leaving policy.

Who wrote to Ian that note?

Ian asks his group of misfits if it was one of them and they all claim to know nothing about it, so that mystery is left open.

How did these kids obtain special abilities?

Another open ended mystery which they barely address but it’s clear that this has something to do with why they are there.

Where is Tower Prep?

The group in the observatory has deduced that they are not in the US and maybe far from home.

What are they being prepped for?

There is certainly a big brother type of set up for these students and it seems that they are being gathered and processed for a reason that is left unclear.

Who and what are the Gnomes?

They are like a roaming group of robotic enforcers perhaps. One would assume that these robots are part of the security system, but I’m not sure exactly what they are and I look forward to finding out.

 

One Button Review

 PRESS PLAY  

This pilot episode was pretty good and really got me interested in this series. The writing by Paul Dini in developing this mythology is pretty awesome and unique. I think the doors are open for a really intriguing series.

The production values were a little low in this episode but that is clearly because the budget wasn’t that high. There is a scene with laser beams that was super cheesy but serviced the plot well. All in all this looks like a series that I’m looking forward to checking out.

 

 

Alright, that’s all for now thanks for tuning in to the inaugural post for Showfollower’s “Watchers Guide” articles. Expect more to come soon and Star Trek in 2012.

The Television Writers Pantheon: Darin Morgan – Night Stalker

Hello reader,

Welcome to the third review installment of Darin Morgan’s writer retrospective.

For today’s post I will be trying something a little different, because I am reviewing an episode that was never produced. My reason for including it here as part of this retrospective is because this script is a particularly strong example of Morgan’s voice as a TV writer and also there is no better way to appreciate Morgan’s skills as a writer than by reading his unfiltered script directly. I would say that this work is a part of Morgan’s TV bibliography even though it never made it to the screen.

If you are interested in reading Darin Morgan’s script it was made available via the DVD as a readable PDF. If you do not want to go through the trouble of seeking out the DVD, please click on the link below and find the PDF file there.

 

<Night stalker “The M Word” written by Darin Morgan>

 

****A minor note about today’s review, I will be reviewing the script with indiscriminate details about the plot (as I have done with aired episodes) so if you have not read the original script you may want to before reading the review. I suggest that you do read the script before reading the review because I will be talking about the themes and characters presented there and for you to appreciate this analytical review I believe it is necessary to have read the script.****

 

NIGHT STALKER 2005-2006

 Developed by X-Files alum Frank Spotnitz this reboot of the Jeffrey Grant Rice original monster of the week series “Kolchack” was developed under the title of “Night Stalker.” Chris Carter had stated in interviews that a lot of the X-Files concept stemmed from the original Kolchak television series and made for TV films.

The series cast Stuart Townsend as the titular character and Gabriella Union as his crime solving partner. The Night stalker reboot had a similar dynamic to the X-Files with the lead characters having different perceptions of beliefs in the unusual phenomenon of the world, one a believer and the other a skeptic except they were newspaper reporters.

The series did not make much of an impression on the viewing audience even with its young stylish cast and its moody Los Angeles setting and therefore was cancelled fairly quickly.

Although the network had produced ten episodes the series only aired six with the remaining episodes made available through its DVD set. Darin Morgan’s writing contribution to the series did not make it into production stage, but he did write a full script that, luckily for Morgan fans, was made available on that same DVD.

 

“The M Word” Season 1 Episode 12

Original airdate: No airdate

Credits:

UNPRODUCED

Written by Darin Morgan

Episode synopsis:

A strange eyewitness testimony leads Carl Kolchack to investigate a humanoid lizard monster in his connection to a series of murders.

Characters Study:

Carl Kolchak

Carl Kolchak is the wide eyed believer of the supernatural phenomenon whose only interest is to find the truth. Here Carl is not only looking for the truth behind who committed the murder but more on the monster himself. His arc goes from that of wanting to find out what the truth is to realizing that there are many things in this world that are not really for us to understand but to wonder.

Perri Reed

Perri Reed is the Kolchak’s partner in the series. Her character maintains her skepticism throughout with a strict regard for her place in the system without wanting to step out of her boundaries of just a reporter. But she turns out to be the one to come out on top going beyond her reporting duties to discovering and apprehending the real murderer.

Guy Mann

Guy Mann is the were-lizard monster that is a monster in physicality only. Here Darin Morgan is taking the typical trope that since he is a monster then he must be the one preying on human flesh. Not the case here.

Also we assume that the monster became a monster and was originally human. Not the case here again. Guy Man is not a Were-lizard monster at all; he’s a Were-Man monster. He was originally the humanoid monster and wasn’t until recent events when he got bitten by the Rabid Ranger murderer that he became the were-man with the unusual compulsive need to find a job and watch pornography.

It’s funny how he finds these urges so mysterious because these urges are strange to even us Humans although we accept them as norm.

Episode Themes:

Monster

The theme of who is the real monster here is even what the name implies. The Monster Guy Mann never killed anyone and is only monster because of his physical appearance.

Throughout the entire story though Darin Morgan is playing off our expectations of what we are told a monster should be where in we can try and guess what the monster would turn out to be but are pleasantly and humorously surprised to find what the truth actually is.

Again the miscommunication trope is true here as we do not understand why Guy Mann does the things he does, we as humans could try to explain it to him but it’s something that he would never fully grasp really.

Also I noticed that Morgan was sort of playing with the idea of what separates man from monster but also what makes man a man. We get a character named Babycat who is a prostitute and we discover to be a cross dresser, comparing the monsters identity crisis to that of a gender crisis. I thought that to be kind of interesting.

Investigation

The investigation is very similar to police investigation with a lot of interviews a lot of stake outs and some chili dog eating. The interviews with the characters and their accounts of Guy Mann are so interesting and bring up really interesting subject matters such as the reptilian brain and mythologizing our actions.

The turns of events on this episodes would have been lots of fun to see play out on screen.

 

Notes:

This script really showed me a lot about screen writing and how to lay out pages and how much is actually written that would eventually end up on the screen. I actually found myself visualizing the scenes in my head and I could almost see the performances from all the characters based on the episodes that I’ve seen prior to this.

If you are a writer and looking to see how an episode of television is written then look no further than here in this script, it is fantastic.
 

 

Alright, thanks for tuning in to this installment into the Darin Morgan TV writers pantheon retrospective. Next time I’ll be reviewing the two episodes wrote for the season one of the short lived Cartoon network live action series Tower Prep.

Stay tuned.