Chatter Of The Squirrel

TV: How I Met Your Mother

Awesome TV series!!

Just watched the latest episode where Barney ended the episode updating his blog. EXACTLY the way Dougie Howser M.D. did it, oh so loooong ago…

That scene was hilarious!

And there really is a website called http://tedmosbyisajerk.com

TV: Brothers & Sisters

Heard this show won some awards. A friend is downloading this series. And another friend, who enjoyed 6 Feet Under as much as I did, also gave this show glowing recommendations.

And Ally McBeal is in it. And also Sam Seaborne from The West Wing.

So I gave it a shot. Watched most of season one and working through season two.

I found it kind of tame really…

So there’s a little bit of family drama. Good things happen in the family. Bad things happen in the family. Family crises. Trials overcame. Funny and clever sibling banter.

But banter… there was far better banter in Gilmore Girls. At least in the earlier seasons. When Rory lost her cherry, everyone lost their funny.

And there’s also political drama with the Sam Seaborne guy trying to get nominated to be presidential candidate. After 7 seasons of West Wing, this is tame.

And as for overcoming trials, I doubt that any family has been shat on as horribly as the Fishers in 6 Feet Under.  Even the gay brother was more hardcore in 6 Feet.

But there’s something Bro & Sis has, and that’s Sally Fields.

She plays the mother in the family circus. She’s the self-righteous, self-centred, self-important, smothering mother.

And you just want to slap her everytime she opens her mouth.

Even more so than Teri Hatcher in Desperate Housewives.

Here, here is where B&S outshines everything else I’ve watched. The writers created a character that can make you puke bile. And this is a most interesting success.

TV: Dexter, 2e09

The story went down somewhat like how I expected. It was the only way for Dexter to get out of the corner, that I could see. But now he’s out of the frying pan and into the fire. Getting better…

Bit Torrent was too slow for me. But lucky I found updates via RapidShare etc here. Which downloads faster since the packet filters don’t tag these sources as BitTorrents packets.

Happy happy joy joy.

Also just found out the TV series is based on a few books. But unfortunately, my usual sources can’t get them for me…

What to do… what to do…

TV: Dexter, season 2

Dexter is simply the best TV series I have ever watched! I have never been so fascinated by a TV show since Knight Rider. But that’s cos I was 7 at the time. And right now, after the jading that comes from living almost 31 years, reading almost 1000 works of fiction in numerous genres and mediums, watching countless hours of TV & movies…

…to find a show now that can blow my mind away with the same jaw-plunging magnitude as when a young boy sees a car that can shoot lasers… (as far as I remember, KITT didn’t shoot lasers, but its nemesis KARR did)

I wrote a teaser of Dexter last year. If you haven’t watched season 1 yet, you really should. And I won’t even give away too much of the story. But it ended with Dexter ‘apprehending’ the Ice-Truck Killer that threw the gauntlet at Dexter in the first episode.

So after that amazing first season, how can they top it in season 2? I never even expected them to make a second season. Bring in another serial killer as the antagonist? That will be as lame as 24. The writers painted themselves into a corner with the conclusion of season 1. The nemesis is undeniably dead, in a body-bag and everything. Not in an explosion, not falling off a cliff, not falling into a pool of boiling oil, not in any way like how Murdoc from MacGyver died. The story is done. What next?

A story needs conflict to be compelling.

What conflict can be more evil than a cold sociopathic serial killer that used dismembered body parts to play a game of cat and mouse with Dexter?

Answer: You triple the number of psychotic, needy women in his life.

What’s more evil than that?

It’s such that a guy can’t have a little bit of me-time to dismember a corpse without a woman screaming on the phone to demand some attention after every self-inflicted mental breakdown.

Evil, I tell you!

An insecure, self-centred old girlfriend with some kind of emotional Munchausen, unable to be happy unless she can find something wrong in her partner so that she can roleplay the ’strong’, suffering party.

An insecure, basket-case new girlfriend who would send a killer after Dexter just so she can play the mothering support (Munchausen by proxy) when Dexter is injured. But she’s got great tits and a sexy British accent. So I forgive her.

An insecure sister who deliberately goads the basket-case and ignites strife in Dexter’s relationship, just cos she’s envious of the afore-mentioned British boobies.
Good times.

But it’s not all Desperate Housewives here.

Dexter’s underwater graveyard is discovered. The FBI investigates and narrows the suspects down to someone in the police department. Dokes discovers Dexter’s trophy collection. The noose tightens.

The writers are painting Dexter into a corner. It almost seems as if there’s no way out. And I hunger for each new episode with bated breath, eager to see how the conflict will be resolved.

It’s not like a James Bond conflict, cos when the bad guys get to him, he will ALWAYS punch/shoot/drive himself out of danger.

It’s not like a Stargate Atlantis conflict, where McKay will always save the day with his cross-discipline genius.

It’s not like a Prison Break conflict, where some implausible event/betrayal always fumbles the escape.

It’s not like a 24 conflict, where when the plot slows, the wife gets amnesia for 2 or 3 hours and later recover.

It’s not like a Lost conflict, where the writers will jingle their keys behind your ears to take your attention away from the polar bear and assume you’ll forget about it.

Dexter, is brilliant story telling. So far. I can’t imagine how Dex can dig his way out of this one. And I believe I won’t be disappointed when I find out.

TV Again

New episodes of Boston Legal, Stargate Atlantis, House, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother.

Joy.