TwitTV: Smallville 10×03, “Supergirl”

I’ll start this off by admitting that I am a big fan of flashbacks and flashforwards, when they’re done correctly. That said, “Supergirl,” the third episode of Smallville‘s final season, begins with a fantastic reintroduction to Darkseid, the one we first see at the end of the tenth season premier. It’s a very simple “three weeks earlier” kind of flashback, and what really makes it simple is that it is so quick. All we see is Darkseid’s essence revealing itself, just like in the premier, and then its takeover of the radio D.J. Gordon Godfrey. At this point, I start to wonder if Godrey had been anti-hero before now or if it is only since Darkseid came to Earth. If that’s the case, he sure wrote that book fast, didn’t he? I guess you can get away with that when you’re an alien, bodiless menace.

In this episode, Godfrey/Darkseid is holding a rally against the heroes, at which he unveils a billboard designed for his cause. And of course, the billboard breaks and threatens to tumble down into the shocked and, frankly, deserving crowd of haters (okay, kidding), but at the last second, when Clark is trying to figure out how to save everyone, Kara makes her triumphant return. Actually, let’s make that Supergirl, because she’s fully dressed in her own iconic red, yellow, and blue. 🙂 What really makes this moment for me is that Lois immediately recognizes Kara and says, “Isn’t that your cousin, Clark?” More on Lois later.

While the Supergirl photoshoot is amusing and yields such lines as “you’re the woman of tomorrow today” (photographer) and “you didn’t come to Earth to be the first super-powered pinup girl” (Clark), I’m not really sure why it’s here. I know Kara is trying to get her image and status as a superhero out there, but would this really happen? In any case, Kara tells Clark that his father has let him go and Clark is “no longer his son,” and this conversation is probably what Clark needs to jumpstart his superhero…ness. That should be a word. Anyway, Kara reveals that she has a mission to protect Earth and Clark is no longer involved. Clearly, this hurts Clark and, of course, makes him want to be a hero all the more. So he convinces Kara to teach him how to fly, which actually works for a few seconds. There are some beautiful closeups of a butterfly, and then Clark. But then Clark loses it and falls back to Earth. Maybe I was too optimistic to think that Clark would actually learn to fly, for real, in this episode, but at least he’s on his way. This episode is kind of huge, in that regard. Clark actually flies on purpose in this episode, and not as “evil” Kal-El, even if it’s only for a few seconds. Later, though, the awesomeness momentum is dropped a little when we get another one of those ridiculous computer scenes where something impossible happens to serve a plot point: Kara (who is suddenly a computer guru, it seems) sharpens a picture in about half a second and sees that the car driver is Lois. This is never going to happen, with today’s technology, not like that anyway. But that’s okay; Smallville isn’t exactly a show focused on computers, so I’ll allow a little misstep if it makes the episode work. Besides, they make up for it by having Clark realize, just by hearing the phrase “three weeks ago,” how Darkseid got to Earth and, later, who it most likely inhabited. This is the kind of logical thinking that will make Clark a great Superman.

Back to Lois, isn’t her return adorable and sweet? Clark’s smile as he turns around to hug her at the rally, and her smile for him, makes my heart melt. Erica Durance and Tom Welling sure do have chemistry (and I think we’ll really see that next week, but more on that at the end of this blog entry). When danger rears its ugly head, though, the tone changes, and we are launched into the meat of the episode, which has Lois pretending to be Godfrey’s/Darkseid’s driver, as well as a bondage-clad stripper/prostitute (?), in order to help take him down. When Darkseid realizes that it’s Lois, who has taken pictures in order to discredit Godrey/Darkseid and end his crusade against heroes, he tries to inhabit her but figures out that she is pure of heart, so he can’t. And of course she is pure of heart! She’s Lois! The reason she is here now, in fact, is that she believes the heroes are a force of intrinsic good that will keep the world safe, and what’s so wrong with that? But now she knows Clark’s secret, so she is also doing this to help the man she loves keep his cover and stay safe while also saving the world. While she’s doing it for herself, on some level, to keep her boyfriend safe, she is also doing it for the world because she believes in the heroes. In this sense, maybe Lois herself is a kind of hero, a non-caped crusader for justice and peace.

When Clark and Kara realize what’s going on, they come to save Lois and take out Darkseid. This will go down as one of the most important moments for Clark’s journey to becoming Superman, as his face-off with an empathic villain is particularly enlightening. The fears and hopes Clark has come bubbling to the surface, and perhaps now he understands Jor-El’s reasoning for sending Kara to Earth. Clark is not yet ready to be the world’s protector because he has some growing up to do, quickly. For him to be who his father wants him to be, he has to stop this cycle of trying and yet failing to live up to expectations. He has to stop complaining that he doesn’t know how to be a hero and just figure out a way to be a hero on his own terms. As Yoda would say, “there is no try.” Clark must do.

The final few moments of the episode revolve around Clark, Kara, Lois, and Oliver, and I for one am riveted at this point. Lois’ trying to figure out a name for Kara (“…Ubergirl. Powergirl? Megagirl!”) is hilarious, and then we shift gears a little when she tells Clark, “The Blur is different. He’s my hero.” Before this season, this would have seemed cheesy and trite because Lois would have been blissfully unaware of Clark’s status. Now, it is still cheesy and trite, but because Lois knows the truth and is obviously having a bit of fun with Clark, it is sweet. We know they are in love, but what we’ve seen since Lois figured out the truth has been something deeper. Lois not only loves Clark but also admires him, fully adores him with every fiber of her being, because of who he is as a person and who he will be to the world when he is ready. She loves him as Clark and The Blur/Superman – together now, not separately.

This scene comes just after Kara has a heart-to-heart with Lois, in which Kara admits that “even heroes need someone to come home to.” While Kara is too distant from real life (with no real friends to call her own, no lover, etc.), Clark is too attached to it. It is obvious that, somewhere between these two extremes, there is a happy medium for both Clark and Kara to find. I think this is when Lois realizes that it is okay for her to be with Clark because, even though he is a hero to the world, he is also the love of her life, and why shouldn’t they both get to be happy? A power couple.

The next time we see Kara, she is running into Clark on the Metropolis streets, in disguise (yes!), explaining that she still has work to do on Earth. The Darkness (A.K.A. Darkseid) is still lingering, and it is her job to catch it. Does this mean that Kara will be back before the show is over? Personally, I hope so, because I’ve always loved the character, and I like what Laura Vandervoort does with her on Smallville.

Finally, we end the episode on an exciting note, as Oliver comes out of the hero closet, a group of reporters surrounding him in his office: “There’s only one way for me to set the record straight. I am Green Arrow.” What does this mean for the future of heroes on Smallville? Will Supergirl eventually be able to discard the dark wig and glasses she now wears as “Linda” (or the Smallville equivalent name)? What will it mean for Clark? Will the age-old question of why hasn’t Clark been wearing glasses finally be answered? Will Smallville‘s version of Clark/Superman be unique in that Clark will be fully out to the public as Superman by the series’ end? Only time will tell. While that seems like a preposterous notion, I wouldn’t put it past the show’s crew to figure out some way to make it work.

Now for next week, it’s the momentous two hundredth episode on October 15th! Lois convinces Clark to go to back to Smallville High for homecoming and his five-year reunion, at which he meets up with Braniac 5 (that’s right: James Marsters returns to Smallville again) and begins a journey through time. We’ll see flashbacks to Lana and Chloe, to high school, but we’ll also see hints at the future. This may very well be the most important episode of the series, beyond the series premier and finale, so don’t miss it! As you’ll see in the TV Guide exclusive trailer below, the episode looks amazing, and Lois and Clark fans will be happy to see the chemistry explode when the couple finally says the three/four little words we’ve been waiting for (at least I don’t think they’ve said it yet).

TwitTV: Smallville, 10×02, “Shield”

In an effort to reduce the amount of time and editing that it takes to write these TwitTV reviews, I’m going to limit them somehow, starting with the second episode, “Shield.” I don’t know what to exclude, and maybe it will vary from episode to episode, but I expect it may just be a matter of not describing every little thing from opening shot to closing shot. 😉 For this one, I’m going to focus on certain areas like structure, particular characters/concepts, etc., rather than describing the episode in detail (because we’ve all seen it).

First of all, I really admire the structure of “Shield.” It’s very unSmallvilley, and I like that; it’s refreshing, for a change. By this, I mean that it is not necessarily one of the freak-of-the-week episodes we are accustomed to, in which Clark catches the bad guy by the fifty-minute mark and we are treated to five or ten minutes of denouement for the final act. In this episode, Clark does catch the bad guy (Deadshot, who is awesome, but more on that soon) very close to the fifty-minute mark, maybe a little past it, but it turns out that said bad guy is a member of the Suicide Squad, which comes to break him out of jail (or Belle Reeve or whatever that was). In short, they will be back.

Another thing about the structure that I really like is how the opening scene mirrors the closing scene. First, Clark is shopping online for a plane ticket to Egypt, so he can see Lois. Then, after catching Deadshot and realizing a thing or two for himself, he stands alone on the top of the Planet, wearing an awesome red jacket, and drops the ticket to the ground. Behind him, the U.S. flag waves, and it looks like very much like a cape. For a second, I actually think he is going to fly, that he is going to figure out how to use his flight power to go to Africa to see Lois. And then it dawns on me that Clark has realized he can’t go see her – that’s why he let go of the ticket – and just has to wait for her to come back to him. Maybe that’s the intention of the scene, and if so, it works perfectly. If not, well, it still works to that effect. What adds to this scene, though, is the text message Carter gets earlier in the episode, when he is with Lois in Africa: Clark has instructed Carter to watch out for Lois. And of course he has! That’s such a Clark thing to do. Always looking out for the ones he loves when he can’t be there.

Next, there are a lot of really great closeups in this episode, especially the ones with Oliver and Tess when they’re reading Chloe’s letter. I enjoyed Tess’ line “the only one who could erase Chloe is Chloe” – and then later, when she says, “Our kitten reporter is on the move,” referring to Cat Grant (more on her soon). Anyway, Oliver is piecing together what happened to Chloe, bit by bit, and it seems Tess knows more than she is letting on. She helped Chloe disappear. There are some great performances for these two in this scene, and I look forward to more interactions in future episodes. Oliver and Tess don’t get a lot of screen time together, but when they do, there’s always an interesting chemistry on set. And speaking of Chloe…hot picture! Sometimes, I don’t think I take her relationship with Oliver seriously because it came out of the blue, and don’t get me wrong, it’s nice, but she wasn’t very serious about it in the beginning. That’s why it’s so weird to think that she and Oliver are actually in love now. I can’t wait for her to come back to him now, especially knowing now that she faked her death for a few reasons: to free Green Arrow, to get some distance from the Green Arrow life, and, ironically, heartbreakingly, to save her beloved Oliver.

Now, as for Cat Grant, I’m so glad they got Keri Lynn Pratt to play her. The first time I ever saw her, it was as Martin’s aunt on 7th Heaven. The character was incredibly ridiculous, and I think that – coupled with the fact that most of the actors on 7th Heaven are pretty bad or just have bad material to work with – just made me think Pratt was a bad actor as well. But then I saw what she could do on Jack & Bobby and Veronica Mars, and I fell in love with her. As Cat Grant, she brings some of that ditzy blonde attitude that I know she can do, that I’ve seen in each of her characters (maybe that’s Pratt’s “thing”), but also manages to add a kind of dramatic quality that I haven’t seen in her until now. Her black wig is both hilarious and practical. I can tell she is scared of Deadshot, as well as the superheroes, and it’s interesting to see the Smallville Cat as a crusader against heroes because I know how much the Lois & Clark version admires Superman. What really sells me on Pratt as Cat Grant is the scene between her and Clark where Cat is talking about herself and Clark throws a curveball by saying, “Kind of like the vigilantes.” Pratt’s facial expression here is fantastic, as she has Cat come to terms with the fact that she is indeed very much like the vigilantes she despises. I do have a problem with Cat, though: she’s not actually Cat Grant! Yet again, the Smallville team provides us with a character from the Superman universe but chooses to make that person a phony. This time, we get Mary Louise Schroeder assuming the name Cat Grant, whereas before, Jimmy Olsen was the fake. This practice is sad, and I hope it’s the last time we see it. If I were to rate episodes in my reviews, I would certainly take points off for this.

Okay, back to Deadshot. I didn’t know who Deadshot was before this episode, but I love the way they introduce him. The gunslinger shot is absolutely beautiful, with the low angles and deep colors, and then there’s the shot itself and, later, Clark’s save (of Cat). That said, there are some wonderful effects in this episode, and I loved seeing Clark perform a classic Superman save. The skull effect on his shoulder is rather interesting, and since it comes so late in the episode, it makes me wonder how they can fit all this in before the end of the hour. I decide there’s no way they can, and I am right: this episode is merely setting up for something that will happen later. Considering it’s only the second episode of the season, I’m impressed. Usually, we get filler at this point, so I already love the structure that producers Souders and Peterson have set up for the season.

On that note, the scenes with Lois and Carter are filled with mythology and setup. He explains his romantic curse to Lois, gives her some advice about Clark, and sets up for the Isis episode all at the same time! Clark as Ra is a great metaphor, and I love that Lois is so enthusiastic about it. I also enjoy the part where Carter describes the “über mensch” and Lois gets to translate: “a super man.” As far as I know, Lana is the only one to say “super man/Superman” before this episode, when she asks Clark, “What are you, man or super man?” I’m not sure which episode this was; I wish I knew. But in any case, as Lois is uttering the iconic word/phrase, Clark is standing on top of the Planet, dropping his ticket, a “cape” waving behind him. I love this ending. And even though there are a few weak points in the episode (the Cat Grant fakery, the lack of screentime for Deadshot, e.g.), I quite enjoy it. Besides, I know both Cat and Deadshot will be back, even if Cat isn’t really Cat Grant.

TwitTV: No Ordinary Family Blogs Delayed, Smallville Still Going Strong

I regret to inform you that, due to my busy schedule, I don’t have as much time for TV as I thought I would. As such, I’m going to have to hold off on watching No Ordinary Family. I saw the pilot (before they made some last-minute changes) and liked it; I can’t wait to see what they changed for the version that aired. But I’m going to have to wait, and if anyone out there actually reads these and was looking forward to TwitTV No Ordinary Family, I do apologize. I will watch the show by next summer, and I may still blog about it. FYI, I will continue to blog and tweet about Smallville, and I may sometimes, unofficially, blog and tweet about other shows.

If I find time.

In related news, No Ordinary Family debuted to a respectable, but far from great, 10.54 million viewers and a 3.1/9 rating in the adults 18-49 category. Final numbers were 10.69 million viewers and a 3.2/9 adult 18-49 rating. The second week (this past Tuesday), overnight numbers dropped to 8.93 million viewers and a 2.6/8. Finals have not yet been announced, as of this writing. While this 16.5% viewer drop-off (1.76 million viewers) and 19% demographics loss (0.6 down in rating, 1 down in share) is troubling for a show that didn’t exactly dominate in the first place, it is completely normal. But if the show is going to survive, it can’t really lose more than 10% in either category for its third week (so it should get about 8.04 million viewers and a minimum of a 2.3/7 adult 18-49). And it has to stabilize in week four. No drops. Frankly, given the state of the TV market, I’m not sure I see that happening, but we’ll see.

As for Smallville, well, this is the last season, so who cares what the ratings are? The show already has a 22-episode order, as far as I know, just like it always has (except for the 21-episode first season, which the show remedied by having 23 episodes in the second season, and the 20-episode seventh season, shortened by the writer’s strike in 2007). Still, that’s 7 seasons of 22 episodes, 1 of 20, 1 of 21, and 1 of 23. For a show in it’s tenth year, Smallville is remarkably strong, as far as I’m concerned. I’m more excited about this season than any before it. Oh, and I’ll be sure to get caught up on TwitTV Smallville in the next few days.

REB #15: “I’m twelve. But I’ve been twelve for a long time.”

– Eli in Let the Right One In

Having seen the original Swedish movie Let the Right One In (2008) – and knowing that I eventually want to read the 2004 book on which it was based – I was appalled when I realized that there is already an American remake coming out. Today, in fact. It’s called Let Me In.

Having had a little time to calm down a bit, I’m still not sure what I think of this. The original movie was great, and I have little faith that an American remake will do the story justice. Then again, I haven’t read the book, so the only basis for comparison that I’ll have is the Swedish movie. I’m starting to wonder if that’s fair or not.

As a reader/writer, I guess maybe it isn’t fair; maybe I should judge Let Me In on how well it translates the book’s story to video. But as a movie buff/writer, I think it’s completely fair. The American movie scene is saturated with remakes and adaptations, so much so that, whenever a new one comes out, I’m immediately cynical about it.

Why is this? Is it fair? What do others think?

For your viewing pleasure, I’m going to include the trailers for each of the movies now. The first one is the original Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In); the second one is the American Let Me In.

*NOTE: This blog entry is syndicated from a blog I had to start for my Electronic Publishing class at U.B. this semester. I may or may not delete the extraneous blog when the class is over, but I thought I would at least give my readers the opportunity to read the contents of that blog indefinitely.

REB #9: “Once you know what the story is and get it right—as right as you can, anyway—it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it.”

– On Writing by Stephen King

This week, we’re writing about our author/artist websites, which we will be designing and potentially publishing over the course of the next month. First up: the content of my site.

I’ve had a blog for almost a year now, one that I’ve actually managed to update on a fairly regular basis. I’ve tried to start blogs before but have never stuck with them. That said, since I’ve already got a blog started, I would like to try to incorporate it in some way. But that topic is better suited for my forthcoming posts on navigation and design, so I’ll go into more detail in the next two posts.

On this blog, I do have an “about me” page, a résumé page, a favorites page (favorite books, movies, and TV shows), and even a page to post completed/published stories, books, videos, and other projects (which I’ve done nothing with, as of yet). I’m trying to think of the best way to integrate all this information into the new website or if I even want to; I’m not sure just yet. My best bet may be to keep it on the blog and use the website for something else.

In any case, I’ve already started playing with Dreamweaver—and even tried out a couple of designs—but right now, my favorite design uses the controversial frames method, with a header on the top, a menu on the bottom, and the content in the middle (again, more to come on design and navigation in a future post). If that’s confusing, I’ll try to explain: these are all in the same browser window but are in separate “frames” (kind of like picture-in-picture for the Internet).

The content that appears in the middle frame, so far, consists of a page on which I can list my published works, an about me page, and even my entire blog (with the header and menu intact, in their respective frames, which doesn’t look great with the blog design but could be worse). I’m struggling to come up with more content for the middle frame of the home page, though, the one the reader sees first. As I said in a comment on Mike’s blog, I would also like to include a hypertext narrative of some kind (and maybe some other stories that I’ve written), but that will take a lot of time and effort to (1) write and (2) implement correctly; I suppose it’s something that will evolve over time, even if I have to work on it beyond the deadline for class.

*NOTE: This blog entry is syndicated from a blog I had to start for my Electronic Publishing class at U.B. this semester. I may or may not delete the extraneous blog when the class is over, but I thought I would at least give my readers the opportunity to read the contents of that blog indefinitely.

Announcing Twit TV?

With the official fall 2010 TV season just around the corner (FYI, some shows will start up in less than a month), I would like to try an experiment: I’ve been wanting to force myself to write/blog more often anyway, so one of my ideas is to start a regular section/tag of this blog called Twit TV in which I would weigh my favorite new show pilots (we’ll call these the “freshman shows,” since most people in the TV industry do anyway), choose one to follow for the whole season (or at least to the end of its run, if it happens to get canceled), and review/respond to each episode, highlighting my favorite and least favorite (if there are any) moments and why I like/dislike them. And so on.

I would also like to choose a veteran show to follow (one of which I’m already a dedicated viewer, anticipating the season premier), perhaps for comparison/contrast reasons, but whether I do that or not really depends on the shows I choose. They may not mesh well enough.

In any case, the meat of this idea is that I will be tweeting (via my personal account, RogerMarket) initial gut reactions as they happen while watching both shows (freshman and veteran)—hence the clever or not so clever “Twit” part of this blog series’ name—and other Twitter users can follow along and respond to my tweets as well as those of others, in addition to responding here on this blog, although I do get a lot of spam comments. I don’t accept spam comments, so if you do respond, make sure it pertains to the blog entry and the show, and if it does, I’ll accept it, unless, of course, I see a reason not to do so. Also, be advised that I can’t watch every show when it airs because I have class some nights, so the tweets may come a day or two late; I’ll try to write the blogs within a week, maybe less. This may be a huge commitment for an M.F.A. student at the University of Baltimore to make, but I’m going to try my best to do it.

By the way, if the freshman show I choose happens to be canceled early in the season, I may choose another freshman to continue the Twit TV series, or I may just choose another veteran show to follow and just have two; I haven’t decided yet. Suggestions?

Now, here are the shows I’m considering.

For freshman shows, I am interested in Lonestar (FOX), No Ordinary Family (ABC), Raising Hope (FOX), Undercovers (NBC), and Nikita (The CW). Nothing on CBS interests me. Out of these five, I’m most excited about Lonestar and No Ordinary Family (I’ve seen the pilot of the latter, and it’s pretty good; I’ve heard great things about Lonestar). Any thoughts on which freshman show I should pick?

For veteran shows, I am thinking about doing the tenth and final season of Smallville (The CW), the second season of Parenthood (NBC), the second season of Life Unexpected (The CW), or possibly the second season of The Vampire Diaries (The CW). As of this moment, I’m torn between Smallville and Parenthood. Any thoughts on which veteran show I should pick? Is anyone even reading this? Does anyone care?

I know that’s a lot of CW shows, but I don’t even want to think about tackling the monster that is Glee (FOX), a lot of my shows were canceled last season, and if I did The Office (NBC), I’m afraid it would be unenjoyable for all involved, as I’ve become quite disillusioned with that quickly declining show and would probably not find much to like anymore. I really didn’t like last season. Beyond that, the other bloggable shows that I watch are on cable and have irregular seasons (e.g., Mad Men, True Blood, Dexter, and Spartacus: Blood and Sand), so I couldn’t really blog about those. Maybe I could do one of them as a bonus at some point—next summer? We’ll see.

P.S. I’d like to do a book version of this series at some point, just at my own leisure.

Reviewing the Season Finale of Spartacus: Blood and Sand

Wow. When I first started watching this show, I never thought I’d say something like this, but…this finale is one of the best episodes of anything. Ever. Congrats, Steven DeKnight: You have a hit series.

***SPOILERS AHEAD, if you haven’t seen the episode yet***

This season finale was incredible. The moment we’ve all been waiting for. When Spartacus and Crixus would lead a rebellion against the ludus, killing nearly all the people who have deserved it all season: Batiatus, Lucretia, and even Numerius and his mom. I was happy to see Aurelia finally learn the truth (and believe it, of course) about her husband Varro’s death. One of the most satisfying moments of the episode was watching her kill Numerius for ordering Varro’s death. So emotional. I actually found myself cheering, as I also did when Crixus killed Lucretia and their unborn child and Spartacus killed Batiatus, revealing that he knew Batiatus ordered his (Spartacus’) wife dead.

I will say this now: I did not expect the rebellion to go so smoothly, to see all these people die.

And maybe it’s disturbing that all this death excited me so much. But I think it’s a testament to how wonderful the acting has been this season. All these evil characters have been so well portrayed and so filled-with-venom that it was a pleasure to see them finally silenced. And cheers to Ilythia for locking the doors of the ludus! It reminded me of when Angel locked a roomful of lawyers in with Darla and Drusilla to be slaughtered. DeKnight (the series’ creator) was clearly recalling his roots as a writer for Angel in this moment, granted he wasn’t on the staff at the time that episode was written. 😉

All this leads me to one question: What the heck is going to happen next season? All the slaves and gladiators have been freed, even Doctore. The Dominus and Domina are dead. The only villains left are Asher, Ilythia, and her husband. Perhaps a broader rebellion? Against Rome? That’s what Spartacus hinted at, in the final shot (which was perfect by the way: the entire slave staff of the ludus walking out the front gate, free at last).

In any case, it’s going to be amazing. Thank you, Starz, for having faith in this show, despite a rocky start; and thank you for renewing it for a second season. I look forward to seeing what happens next. For now, I’d like to read some history books, to find out what happened to the real Spartacus!

UPDATE: This episode now has a 9.9 rating on TV.com. It’s one of very few episodes, of anything, to get a 9.9 on that website. Congratulations to the crew! The first time I checked, it was in the lower 9s, then it jumped to 9.6, 9.7, 9.8, and finally, 9.9. Incredible!

UPDATE #2: Something has happened at TV.com, because all of the episode ratings are going down, for the entire show, yet it is still in the same overall ranking as it was a few days ago. Hmm. Either way, this was still a fantastic episode, and I can’t wait for season 2!

Ugly Betty: The Perfect Ending

The series finale of Ugly Betty aired last Wednesday, April 14, 2010; and, if ever a TV show could be said to have aired its perfect ending, this is one shining example of that.

***SPOILERS AHEAD, if you haven’t seen it yet***

After 4 years, everyone on the show pretty much gets what he or she wants/needs, and so do the viewers.

Wilhelmina gets Mode, with Marc as her Creative Director; Amanda finds her father and is working on becoming a stylist; Christina (though she doesn’t appear in this episode) is an up-and-coming fashion designer; Hilda is happily married; Justin is out of the closet and has an adorable boyfriend; Ignacio still has his woman (even if she’s not in this episode) and is happy for his daughters and grandson; Alexis (though not in this episode) is living in Paris with her son; Gio (not in this episode) is getting married and Henry (not in this episode) seems happy with his son; Claire Meade is still running Meade publications and is happy to see her son Daniel growing up and becoming the man she always knew he could be; and then there’s Betty and Daniel themselves. Betty has taken a job co-running a new, up-and-coming magazine in London, and Daniel has given Mode to Wilhelmina so he can find a job that wasn’t given to him (by his father), so he can prove himself, make something of himself. There is the hint of a spark between Betty and Daniel at the end, as they run into each other in London, and I thought that was perfect. Don’t have them kiss and be in love; that wouldn’t be realistic. This was.

And the final words on the screen: “Ugly Betty,” and then “Ugly” drops out, and we’re left with “Betty,” as a crane shot shows Betty walking through a London crowd, Daniel obviously watching her leave, excited he has found her.

What’s implied is that there will be something between them but maybe not for a while. It will be something that feels right, something organic. Since the writers didn’t have the time to create the proper chemistry for a Betty/Daniel pairing at the end of the show (they had 4 episodes left to write when they got the news they were being canceled), this was the best option. And it really was the best! Love it!

Goodbye, Ugly Betty! You will be missed greatly, but you will live on forever in the form of DVDs. Especially on my DVD shelf. 🙂

Grandma’s Spring Cookbook

Spring break is finally over, and I’m working like mad to finish my story for tonight’s Experimental Forms class. In fact, it’s almost done, but I only worry because I have to work until 3 p.m., and then I have Screenwriting at 5:30 p.m. I hope I have enough time to make the final edits I want to make.

The story is based on my grandma’s cookbook, which she wrote out, handwritten, for all her children; in December, my mom made my sister and me a copy for Christmas. It’s probably one of the most meaningful things in my possession. Without the Experimental Forms class, I might never have written this story. This is but one reason I am glad I chose the M.F.A. program I did.

Over break, I stayed in Baltimore (except for a couple of trips to the Bowie area). I worked on Monday and Tuesday (but only half-time), and I saw Justin on Monday night and Friday night. We saw Alice in Underland…er…Alice in Wonderland on Friday. In 3-D. It was a beautiful movie and a pretty good story, for the most part. I know some people expected more, but I was actually okay with what I got.

I watched The Office and 30 Rock the other day, online. I never have time to watch them when they air on Thursdays. Anyway, I found The Office funnier than it has been most of this season, even if there were a couple of cringeworthy moments (***SPOILER************Dwight choked Kevin? Seriously?************END SPOILER***).  There were a couple of good Michael scenes, which I was surprised about, because I haven’t liked Michael at all this season. There was also some “inconsistent” behavior and dialogue from some characters (I’m talking to you, Phyllis), but my Experimental Forms and Fiction teacher (he teaches both classes) makes a good point: People are inconsistent. So, I was mostly okay with it, especially when Phyllis called Michael “numbnuts,” and then immediately changed her tone. She knew that wasn’t her, and for that, I loved this moment. My favorite line of the episode: As Dwight stood in the middle of the local dump, he said, “This place has gone to hell.” How meta of him.

30 Rock was brilliant, as has been the case for a while now. Truth be told, I like it better than The Office, these days. I don’t have time to elaborate right now, though.

Last night, I watched the latest episode of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and it was pretty good but not quite up to par with the best episodes of the season. Even so, for a show that started off in terrible shape, I’m impressed and delighted with how far it’s come.

Finally, I also continued a recent endeavor last night: re-watching the original FOX/SciFi series Sliders (1995 to 2000). I watched the season two opener before I went to bed last night, and I must say, it was one of my favorite episodes of the series and had perhaps one of the best endings of any series. Ever. Plus, I don’t remember having seen it before! I can’t believe I missed this the first time around, if that’s the case. Thank you Netflix for reconnecting me to Sliders!

I guess I’d better go now. Unfortunately, I’m finding that work is the most lucrative time to blog, for me. It forces me to write quickly. Maybe that takes away from content, but every once in a while, I’ll do a blog on my own time.

Those are the ones to wait for. Maybe next time…

Ex-Mayors and Horror Stories

Sorry there haven’t been any updates in a while, if anyone’s been reading. I have so many stories, but I can’t possibly remember them all.

I’ll start with what happened today and see what I remember from there.

I was working—and actually, I’m working right now, so I have to make this quick—and we had a last-minute equipment delivery. Rustam and I had to take a projector over to Institutional Advancement at UB for a conference they were having, but we didn’t realize we would need an extension cord for it; we didn’t know the table was so far from the power outlet. So he went back to get one while I continued setting up the projector. And the woman in charge of the conference actually said this to me, or really just to the room: “Man, you guys are about as prepared as I am.”

First of all, she called us last-minute and expected perfection. Never going to happen! Second, she couldn’t get Outlook to open, and she didn’t know how to log in to the website she needed. Yeah, I think she could have been a little more grateful.

AWKward. It wasn’t our fault you forgot or that you’re having a bad day!

Oh well. I didn’t say anything. At least not until I left.

But on the way out, Rustam and I saw ex-Mayor of Baltimore Sheila Dixon coming out of the Starbucks on North Charles in Mount Vernon. A guy stopped us at the crosswalk and pointed at her, subtly. “Isn’t that mayor Dixon?” he asked. And I’m 99% sure it was. Looked just like her. Shouldn’t she be in jail or something? She must have been spending her last unclaimed gift card at Starbucks!

When I got back to the office, Shirley came out and congratulated me. “For what?” I said. Then she told me I got the second-highest score on the what-do-you-know test we took at work a couple of weeks ago (for orientation part 2). Woohoo! That’s something, I guess. I know what I’m doing at work!

Suck on that, Institutional Advancement lady. 😉 Have a better day tomorrow.

*sigh*

Okay, new topic. Movies!

I went and saw The Crazies last weekend—with Kari, Mike, and Eli—and it was GREAT! It was much more impressive than Shutter Island, which just drove us (Kari, Mike, Lori, and me) crazy with terrible dialogue and clichéd plot “twists” that read as cop outs. Scorsese was really backed into a corner with that movie. Anyway, The Crazies was actually pretty great, even had some good acting.

Tonight, I might be going to see Alice in Wonderland with Justin. I’m excited!