This Week in Television - Apr. 29-May 4, 2012

Once Upon a Time
Thanks, Canadian television, for cutting off the ending.  It's not like I needed to see any more after Emma told Henry she needed to ask him something very important.  It's a good thing we have internet; for anyone else who missed it, she asked him if he wanted to get away from Regina and live with her, he of course said yes, and she decided they would leave Storybrooke. Anyway, seeing this episode puts last week's into an interesting perspective, because it was sort of the same father/son story with the same outcome, but with the roles reversed.  But I like the idea of a humanized Pinocchio slowly turning back into the puppet.  I can take or leave some of the twists they've put on the fairy tales, but I like that one.  Plus Miss Blanchard's speech to Regina was awesome.


Glee
It only proved what a pale and unnecessary imitation Coach Roz is when her character entered the episode spouting a whole string of unfunny insults, and all Sue Sylvester had to do at the top of the very next scene was call her "Black Sue" and I was laughing.  It's not just Roz's lame jokes; Jane Lynch has way better comedic delivery than anyone else in the cast.  I think they stunted themselves with the NYADA stuff, because while having Rachel and Kurt do nothing but talk about NYADA all season to show how important it is to them, it also made me sick of hearing about NYADA, and so I cared even less than usual when Rachel flubbed her big audition.  She and Kurt have been a little ignorant about it anyway; there's more than one way to make a showbiz career.  Not getting into some prestigious arts school doesn't mean your entire future is ruined, but apparently those two felt there was only one path and made no backup plans.  Mr. Schue would have done better to prepare them for that rather than force the dud students to have goals. And then there was the whole domestic abuse thing.  Apart from not handling issues seriously enough because Glee likes to cram them into an episode in small doses and then never mention them again (much like they do with some of the characters), the presentation of it didn't have me taking sides on the issue. I mean wife-beating is never okay, but giving that storyline to the manliest woman on the show and then downplaying it by telling us the reason was something small and the dude was drunk when he hit her, it took the gravity out of it.  If he only hits her when he's drunk, the solution is for him to never drink again.  If he can make that decision and actually stick with it, then I don't think it would be all that unfortunate for Bieste to go back to him; granted it's a big "if", but under those optimum circumstances I wouldn't consider it a step back for feminism.  And anyway, Bieste is literally as strong as Cooter is, if not stronger, and I'm not saying that makes it okay to hit her, but it does make her less of a sympathetic victim, and probably less relatable to domestic abuse victims because not a lot of women are built like she is.  I get that the message was that it can happen to anyone no matter how unlikely it seems, but what's the point of that message?  Fear-mongering?  Bieste may be an emotionally vulnerable person, but physically she is a tank and should be able to handle herself.  That's why this storyline is not helpful to the women who can't defend themselves.  It would have worked a lot better if they'd done this storyline in season one, with Ken Tanaka hitting Miss Pillsbury over his jealousy of her and Mr. Schue, who then would have cared a little more and brought the issue to the attention of all the students, not just the females, and thus it would have taken up more of the episode and gotten the air time it deserved.  This crap writes itself, Glee, where were you back there?


New Girl
It was cool to see Paul back, because it went well with the Nick/Caroline hookup.  Although it also seemed to push Jess closer to Nick, which I'm still not on board with.  Some good jokes about Winston's different earrings and the unusual things that give Schmidt boners (Asian Jess is an understandable one, though).  Bonus points to Jess for the Battlestar Galactica reference, and to the writers for remembering Coach with a little meta shout-out to Happy Endings.


Survivor: One World
Alicia thinks she's the most powerful player in the game?  What?  Kim has been controlling things since Colton left, and has an idol.  You're dumb, Alicia.  Kat's relationship with her cousin is disturbing, but her ridiculously low intelligence and misuse of the word "touche" will make for an amusing highlight reel at the reunion.


Community
I was struck by how many jokes they packed into the first few minutes of this episode.  I don't think Community's jokes per minute ratio is usually as high as that, and it was fun to see.  Was not expecting group expulsion to happen in the course of the series, although it may be a good excuse to prolong Community's time at Greendale if they get back in and have to repeat a year (and if the show is able to avoid cancellation).  I thought it was funny how nobody really cared about Star-Burns' death: Jeff mourned more for his summer than for the deceased, Pierce thought the comb Star-Burns stole from him might be inside his urn, Britta kept trying to put her Psych major to use, Shirley just wanted to sing "Ava Maria" at the funeral, etc.  Not that it's surprising, because they didn't care about him when he was alive, either.  The reference to "Remedial Chaos Theory" was very welcome because that episode is already a classic, and the Star-Burns tribute video was hilarious.  He probably has done all of those things...during acid trips.


30 Rock
On principle, I'm disappointed that 30 Rock re-did two of their concept episodes from last season (the live episode and the "Queen of Jordan" reality show - especially when laughtracks and reality shows are two of my least favourite forms of television), but on the other hand they managed to work because this season's live episode was funnier, and this season's "Queen of Jordan" still had more reality show tropes to make fun of.  Like Community's Law & Order episode, you can still get the jokes just by having a general sense of a very cookie-cutter genre, so I enjoyed them pulling out the sappy music when someone cried; referencing an unseen character and then explaining her lack of screentime by having her describe herself as someone who "pays her mortgage on time and handles conflict appropriately"; insulting audience memory by showing black & white flashbacks to something that happened only a few minutes ago; and exaggerating conflict wherever possible, like Kenneth vs. the cord he tripped on.  I think the story with Jack and his mother in-law's web of lies was a little dry, though, and I didn't like that it led to a Liz/Jack kiss.  Even if fake, it was too weird given the nature of their relationship and how unattracted to each other they are, and knowing that Tina Fey is opposed to those two ever hooking up.  Even Jack's nano-second kiss with D'Fwon was less weird.


The Office
While I didn't mind this episode, I didn't really like that they're retracing their steps in having Andy do something similar to the Michael Scott Paper Company.  They already gave him Michael's job and transformed his personality somewhat to be more Michael-like, now they're going to start giving him Michael's old plotlines, too?  I know it's not exactly the same, but it's close enough that they shouldn't have bothered to do it at all.  And, again, the Nellie scenes just felt like the writers trying to backtrack and say "Wait, wait, you should like her!", and while I found her less annoying this week, she's still not sympathetic.  But I did really like Jim and Dwight teaming up, because it's a rare thing and it's always fun when it happens.  Actually, Dwight teaming up with anyone tends to be interesting since he is more of a lone wolf who considers himself superior to everyone.


Parks and Recreation
I never get tired of Burt Macklin.  Andy's nicknames for everyone, and his treating the pie-throwing mystery like a puzzle when there wasn't really anything to piece together (and somehow solving it anyway) were awesome.  Also got a good laugh at the dancers coming out when Leslie learns of Nick Newport Sr.'s death, largely because I still find that "Get on Your Feet" song from earlier in the season to be really funny.


Awake
It was obvious that Hannah would turn out to have been right about Rex's girlfriend, but what this episode nicely set up was a reason for Mike not to move, resulting in the dramatic irony of him not knowing he's just endangered himself.  But I hope the conspiracy against him is more than just that his presence prevents some dudes from selling drugs.  That would be an inadequate reason for trying to kill his family.  P.S. Forgot to mention last week the joy of having a guest appearance by "Dr. Marvin Candle".


Fringe
Nice, another Lost castmember!  As cool as that episode in the future was, the problem with peeking into the future is that it sometimes ruins surprises when you go back to the past, like the reveal of Bell in this episode, Peter and Olivia contemplating a child, and Astrid getting shot (which actually was a little shocking, but we know she's not going to die because we saw her in the amber years later).  I'm wondering if it might have worked better to put that future episode after this one, and then we'd get that retroactive foreshadowing to set up the stakes for next week's season finale.  This Olivia's powers are way cooler than previous Olivia's.  However, she has apparently never seen Ghostbusters.  For shame!


Hero of the Week: Andy as Burt Macklin from Parks and Recreation, for solving the case, even if pie security failed.


Douchebag of the Week: Coach Roz from Glee.  Possibly the worst character on the show, and that's saying a LOT.

This Week in Television - Apr. 22-27, 2012

Once Upon a Time
This was a good episode.  I think the show has gotten better now that it has more of a direction than stand-alone, fairy tale character of the week type episodes.  And I have to give them credit for another plot twist, because I thought August being Rumpelstiltskin's son was going to be a predictable let down similar to last week's Fringe, but I didn't see it coming when it turned out he wasn't the son.

Glee
I'm not a Whitney Houston fan, but I was under the impression that most of the covers in this episode were vocally inferior.  Why try if you can't do it justice?  And why exactly did we even need the Christian kid with the dreadlocks?  Because there was no one left for Quinn to date?  God knows Glee already has way, way too many characters with an unequal balance of screen time.  Maybe the kids wouldn't run out of people to date if they stopped switching partners every three episodes.  On the plus side, we got another speech from Kurt's dad, which always makes an episode slightly better.  Congratulations, Burt Hummel, you are one of only three characters (out of 9 billion - see above) who make the show worth watching.

New Girl
I didn't personally find the tap-dancing joke funny enough to warrant it predictably coming back during Jess's dinner with Russel and his ex-wife, but I did get a good laugh out of Russel's trying-not-to-eye-roll face.  Other hilarious things from this episode included Nadia's list of things she likes about America, and everything involving Schmidt's penis injury - especially his line, "I'm almost positive Nadia's vagina contains a right angle."

Survivor: One World
Disappointed that Kim broke her word for no reason and didn't take Kat on the reward, but she kicked ass at both challenges so I applaud that part.  And Kim's strategic mistake wasn't nearly as horrible as Alicia's comments about Christina's intelligence.  Ugh.  Alicia is a horrible, disgusting person.  The fact that she's still there makes me like everyone else less for keeping her.

Community
I never watched Law & Order, but because all detective shows are virtually the same, the jokes still worked as a generic parody of the genre, so it was a lot of fun.  I knew it was going to be Todd when they asked him about the bandage on his hand, but I imagine that predictability was actually a part of the parody and not a symptom of incompetent writing.  RIP, Star Burns.

30 Rock
While the previous live episode was flawlessly executed, this one had a few mistakes and technical difficulties, the worst being when a portion of the episode was lost when they accidentally cut to commercial in the middle of a scene and came back in the middle of another (though I think it was only in Canada, so CityTV's fault, not NBC's).  I didn't watch the West coast version, but I hope it was done better.  Also, while I like the idea of doing parodies of old live shows from back in the day, it felt a little like an excuse for Fey and the writers to take a mini break from 30 Rock and do some SNL-style sketches instead.  That being said, I do think it was funnier and more entertaining than last season's version.  All of the surprise cameos were so much fun. Amy Poehler as young Liz Lemon doesn't physically make any sense, but it's still awesome because it's Amy Poehler, and Fred Armisen's random lean into the shot from the background was hilarious because he came out of nowhere and that's all he did in the episode.

The Office
This was a fun episode because I liked all the little threads going on.  Well, not all of them.  Darryl messing with Nellie was funny in theory because I like when Darryl takes advantage of stupid people, but even as a prank victim I still have trouble enjoying her.  The character's just not funny or endearing, in any situation.  And the mass pet adoption thing was just done a couple episodes ago on Parks and Recreation.  I've pointed this out a few times, but why does it always seem to be The Office that accidentally uses the same jokes as other shows in close proximity?  I liked Oscar and Jim's little competition about whether the senator is gay.  Although the same basic thing keeps coming up once in a while, and it always ends with Oscar thinking he's wrong after all, but then noticing another gay tell and changing his mind again, but I guess I find it funny that the guessing game is still going on.  Random, unexpected appearance by David Wallace, who is now a millionaire.  What?!

Parks and Recreation
The debate went a little differently than I thought it would, but it makes sense as a political satire that the crowd would be so easily won over by the biggest idiot in the room simply because he's charming and easygoing.  But Leslie's closing speech was great, April's advice to Tom (in a mirror of their scene last week) was another cute moment, and Andy reenacting entire movies was hilarious.  Apparently his recital of Babe was incredibly moving, as it made Donna cry.

Awake
Dammit, it messes with my theory that red is real if Mike obtained the knowledge of the baby from the green world.  But there are still a lot more instances of him using red info in the green world as opposed to the other way around.  Maybe the baby was something he knew about subconsciously.  I think the most interesting thing about all this is that it now makes the red world more valuable to him than the green one, because there's only Rex on one side, but a wife and grandchild on the other.  It's unbalanced, at least for now.

Fringe
Good news!  Fringe will be back next season, for a shortened 13-episode run, before ending entirely.  This episode in particular felt like it was wrapping things up for a series finale, though.  For all the writers knew, that's exactly what they were doing just in case, but now that there's another season left I'm sure we haven't seen the last of the other universe.  They only said they "may" not be able to turn the machine back on.  Plus there were ways to get over there before the machine was built.

Hero of the Week: Andy from Parks and Recreation, for knowing how to provide entertainment when the cable is out.

Douchebag of the Week: Alicia from Survivor.  Gross.

The Sunset Limited

Impressions before seeing it
A simple concept, but a good one: two cool actors sitting around having an existential debate.  Sounds good.


How was it?
The story goes that Tommy Lee Jones' character (credited as White) tried to commit suicide, but Sam Jackson's character (Black) saved him, then brought him back to his apartment to basically use religion in an attempt to convince him not to try it again.  Not an easy task, because White is a very sad and lonely man, and an atheist.


Like Carnage, The Sunset Limited is based on a play and takes place all in one room, meaning it is obviously very dialogue driven.  It's not nearly as fun to watch as Carnage, but it's an interesting conversation to listen in on as these two share their world views.  Personally I think talking is what Sam Jackson does best - not that he isn't a fun action star, but I like him better in his calmer roles - and Jones is an actor who can pull off sad and weary quite well.  Together they did well with the material, which was interesting but not exciting.  I felt like the movie didn't have much of a climax and could have used a crazy, jaw-dropping reveal, but I'm only saying that for entertainment's sake.  Truthfully, it might have sensationalized the film's substance and overshadowed the rest of the conversation if they'd done that.  And, treating it as a real conversation, it probably wouldn't have contained any major surprises in real life.  Probably why this was a TV movie; it doesn't have movie theater excitement.


Recommendation
I think it's a definite watch if you have an interest in these kinds of deep, intellectual conversations, but it's not for everyone because if I haven't already said it enough, the movie is just one long conversation.  I didn't quite love it, but I liked it.

This Week in Television - Apr. 15-20, 2012

Glee

Why exactly is Mr. Schue forcing all the kids to have dreams and goals?  He teaches Spanish and one extra-curricular activity (which is, for some reason, treated like a regular class).  He's not even a guidance counselor, so it's not his job to get so aggressively involved in the futures of his students.  Although on the other hand, they're his best friends since he has zero adult friends.  The storyline with Unique was just Glee saying "Oh, wait, we haven't included any transsexuals yet!" and then slapping on the same "be proud of who you are" message that is included every single time a new character is introduced.  The only good part of the episode was Lord Tubbington doing household chores.

New Girl
Loved Zooey's meta shout-out to Bridge to Terabithia.  I don't think I liked Winston's storyline in this episode, and it's peculiar that he seems to get seperate scenes away from the rest of the cast more often than the other characters, but this new job of his is at least giving him something to do.  I actually kind of wanted Cece to be pregnant, if only for the comedic potential of her and Schmidt as parents, though at the same time it is a bit of a sitcom staple that can feel contrived if you do it wrong.  Russell's daughter was also funny with her sex malapropisms and obsession with Nick.  I think the latter might have felt creepier if she'd had more scenes with Nick uncomfortably reacting to her, but they wisely kept that to a minimum, and it was funnier for it.

Survivor: One World
Oh, Survivor.  I know you love playing the sappy music when someone gets a letter from home, but don't pretend anything involving Alicia can make the viewers weep.  She is the least sympathetic person on the show.  This season has now basically turned into not Troyzan vs. everyone, but Troyzan vs. Kim.  I'm not sure how I feel about Troyzan.  He is more or less a smart and capable player, but he's also being obnoxious.  I'm still rooting for Kim.

Community
I heard there was going to be a Dreamatorium episode, and that it was going to be very weird.  It was, but not as weird as I expected.  Troy saying he "didn't get Inception" could almost be taken as a meta comment on the nature of this episode, because I can see how some people might find it confusing even though it wasn't.  But having Annie and Abed impersonating their study group friends was a fascinating look at how they view the other characters (and themselves), and made for interesting juxtaposition given that Annie is sort of the heart of the show while Abed has trouble understanding emotion.  And it was hilarious that it did not occur to the Dean to change his outfit before going to the bank.

30 Rock
Kat was awesome in that she was like a young version of Liz, and just as funny.  The couch commercials starring Stacy Keach were also fantastic, as well as Liz and Criss pretending to be in a gay porno.  And I enjoy the running gag about Jenna's disturbingly violent relationship with Mickey Rourke, which I hadn't even noticed was a running gag before this season until I watched some reruns and found Jenna mentioning him every once in a while.  Could be gold if he ever makes a guest appearance.

The Office
Similar to last week, most of this episode just angered me.  I mean if you put a lot of Ryan and Nellie in the same episode, both being horrible but too self-centered to realize it (Nellie sort of did, but it failed to make her more likable), I am likely to pull an Andy and smash holes in my walls - although I did love that particular wall-punching callback.  The first time Andy did it in season three, he was overreacting, but this time it was completely justified, and kind of cute when Erin joined in his tantrum.  The second half of the episode was a little better for this, and for the enjoyable moment when Pam flat out tells Ryan she doesn't like him.  Oh, and the tag where Jim and Pam are secretly moved by Ryan's cheesy poem.

Parks and Recreation
Ah, I missed you, Parks and Rec.  This was one of those great episodes where every character got a chance to be awesome.  I think the more zany, unrealistic jokes on this show work best when they come from Andy - here inexplicably removing a ship from a bottle intact - because he is probably the most cartoonish character on the show, so he can get away with bending reality in a mockumentary from time to time.  Tom cheering up April was probably my favourite scene of the episode, though.  Being a self-centered tool (yet still a charmingly likable one) produces more of an impact when Tom does something sweet.  Leslie will destroy Bobby Newport at the debate, but I imagine his manager will have a trick up her sleeve because that episode won't have any conflict if it's too easy for Leslie.  But job loss stakes have been raised pending the election, and given that every single character on this show is so lovable, that's not something to shrug off.

Awake
To be honest, this was a mostly boring filler episode.  Don't have any more to say about it, but this was disappointingly the first episode I didn't find very entertaining.  Maybe it was the absence of the therapists.  I enjoy those scenes.

Fringe
Wow, this episode was pretty amazing.  The one complaint I have is that I knew Etta was Peter and Olivia's daughter pretty much as soon as she came on screen in the opening scene, and all of the obvious hints (everyone avoiding saying her last name, urgently pushing Walter about his team) only confirmed it.  It's rare that I predict something that well, so I don't know if it was a fluke or if it was really that heavy-handed, but the moment of reveal lost its power because of it.  For me, the biggest surprise of the episode was seeing William Bell inside the amber.  How does that dude keep dying and coming back so much?  Based on Olivia's absence and the "what he did to Olivia" line, I'm positing that he did something similar to when he inhabited her body, only this time he replaced the space her body was occupying with his own, or something like that.  Or maybe, if this is the future of the "Peterless" timeline, Bell never died in that one.  Anyway, this was one of the most absolutely riveting episodes ever, and having Desmond from Lost show up (the second biggest surprise of the episode, because I didn't know he was going to be in it) was icing on the cake.  I think I actually pumped my fist and went "Yes! Desmond!"  I love Lost too much.

Hero of the Week: Tom from Parks and Recreation, for making April smile, and because his bachelor pad is awesome.

Douchebag of the Week: Let's give Nellie a break and go with Ryan from The Office.  I haven't forgotten how much of a douche you are, Ryan.

Another Earth

Impressions before seeing it
It was a cool concept, if not necessarily a plausible one. Who wouldn't be curious about a duplicate Earth?

How was it?
A universe where two Earths co-exist was more like the setting of the movie than its concept. It's not entirely about the two Earths; that's just something that's there. Thematically, it's about atonement and redemption. Rhoda (Britt Marling), staring up at the newly discovered second Earth in the sky while driving, crashes into another car, putting the driver into a coma and killing his family. It was less an evil mistake than a stupid one, but she goes to prison for it and spirals into a depression. Upon release 4 years later, she runs into the survivor and spends the rest of the movie working for him in penance without his knowing who she is.

So as you can see, it's not a space exploration movie, which is disappointing at first but acceptable in hindsight. Not a single frame of the movie takes place on the second Earth, but we really don't need to go there because we're told it's an exact duplicate of ours in every way, so there would be no point. If you're then asking, "Then what's the point of putting that concept in the movie?", it ties into the main storyline at the end.

There are a couple of really powerful scenes here - especially the one where the doctor on TV is making contact with Earth 2 for the first time - that make Another Earth worth watching. It probably would have been forgettable if you took out the second Earth and left it as a mere redemption story, but they merged the two well and the writing kept it interesting. It more or less only has two characters, but I felt like I really understood them both. I saw the ending coming, but rather than disappoint me I was just glad that it made sense. Although it does end at one of the movie's best moments, leaving you wanting more.

Recommendation
While watching this, I thought that it would make an intriguing companion piece to Melancholia if you watch both and pretend they each take place on one of the planets. Their endings are rather different, but they contain some similar elements. Both should be seen in any case, but back to back would be kind of cool.

This Week in Television - Apr. 8-13, 2012

Glee
Oh, I see, they had Quinn get in a car accident so they could throw her in a wheelchair (in spite of there being no physical evidence whatsoever that she sustained so much as a paper cut) and pair her up with Artie, because this is the show that unimaginatively paired up two Asians, two Blacks, two Jews, two blonds, and two cheerleaders. According to Glee, you need to have something visibly in common with someone in order to hook up with them. Or you need to be Sam and Mercedes, who couldn't have less in common visibly but that's okay because their relationship was never visible, either. And the star quality of Blaine's brother was greatly exaggerated. He's been in ONE series of commercials, but everyone kept saying how he was such a big, successful superstar. His fame level would, in reality, be just under that of the Old Spice guy, yet everyone's pretending he's Justin Bieber. However, I did find his terrible acting advice funny, so at least there was something about this episode I enjoyed.

New Girl
A somewhat average episode this week, except for the scenes where they played "True American". I have no idea what that is, but I have played my share of "The Floor is Lava" in my youth. Good times.

Survivor: One World
This episode was mostly just a lot of scrambling as each gender became paranoid about the other, but the highlight was Tarzan losing the immunity challenge even before Jeff finished saying "This challenge is on." That was just funny, and probably the fastest challenge elimination in Survivor history.

Community
Sad but true that women with low self esteem are into guys who treat them like crap. And low self esteem is common thanks to media pressure and inter-female cattiness, so all the douchebags are getting way more women than they deserve. However, I don't understand how that would make Britta full-on addicted to Blade rather than just attracted to him. Nowhere near my favourite episode of the season, but still some good laughs, such as everyone constantly asking why the Dean was at Troy and Abed's apartment, Pierce finally becoming a welcome member of the group - for about two minutes, and Abed's extremely specific stand-up routine.

30 Rock
The Woggles song at the end was great, and in addition to "Dean Cain", I believe I saw "The Lorax" on Jenna's sexual walkabout list. I don't really have any warmth for Jack's relationship with his mother, though. I'm more a fan of his unusual friendship with Liz.

The Office
I liked the opening tag with everyone forgetting whether Stanley had a moustache or not, and Jim and Pam sabotaging the magician was mildly amusing, but otherwise this episode was a little hard to watch. It made almost every character look like a jerk at various points, and as I've said in the past, I don't find Nellie funny.

Up All Night
This was probably the best episode since the pilot, which isn't saying much, but thanks to the use of Julian and the semi-sweet re-proposal scene, it was largely a success. The "wife lost her ring" is another sitcom story that's been done a lot, but I think they improved on it by setting up the idea that Reagan originally proposed to Chris first, and then having her give him the moment back at the end. If there's one good thing that came out of this show, it's that it humanized Will Arnett when people have stated that they find his screen presence weird or creepy.

Awake
Not as epic as last week (seems to be the case for most of the shows this week), but entertaining nonetheless. It feels like they teased us with the conspiracy thing just to remind us that it's there, and then didn't really make much progress with it (interesting tidbit, though, that Harper has enough of a heart not to want Mike dead). But I shouldn't be expecting a TV show plot to be fast-paced, because that's not how serialized television works.

Fringe
The scene where Astrid gives her alternate self (perhaps she can be called Asprid, since she has something akin to Asperger's?) a can of coffee is probably the cutest thing that's ever happened on Fringe. But I thought the frequency matching to cause destruction to both sides was an interesting idea, even though I have no clue why Jones would want to do that, assuming he has a motive beyond being psychotic. Fauxlivia seemed fairly distressed over Alt-Lincoln's death. I'm betting it will push her toward our Lincoln finally landing himself a Dunham.

Hero of the Week: Both Astrids from Fringe. If you watched it, you know why.

Douchebag of the Week: Nellie from The Office. Please go back to England.

Win Win

Impressions before seeing it
Looked like it would be good. I like these little inspirational indie comedies.

How was it?
It went in a slightly different direction than I thought it would, but I always give points for not being predictable, so that's cool. It's not an underdog sports movie like I suspected it might be. What Win Win is about, is the kinds of things one does for love and through pain. Mike (Paul Giamatti), a lawyer and part-time high school wrestling coach, puts an elderly client of his into a home so that he can collect money he desperately needs to support his family, and then takes in the old man's grandson, who turns out to be a wrestling prodigy, so he can use him to boost his failing wrestling team. In Mike's eyes - and ours, since he's our protagonist - he's doing these things with good intentions. We know he's not a dick. But at the same time, those actions can easily be seen as conniving. This is the thing about good deeds vs. good intentions. The end result might be the same, but only the former guarantees gratitude and respect. We've seen this on Breaking Bad as well. The recipient of your good intentions might not want your resulting offering because of what you had to do to get it. They don't want you doing horrible things on their behalf, and that pretty much negates the good intentions angle.

In that sense, the title Win Win is ironic, because there's just as much losing in this movie as there is winning. However, there is no slash in the title so it's not referring to a win/win situation, nor is the movie presenting us with one. I think it is referring to two seperate wins: Mike, who has generally been losing at life until this situation happened to him, and the grandson, who has a troubled past but is overcoming it, as well as inspiring greatness in the mediocre wrestling team.

Anyway, as a dramedy this movie hits all of the right notes without losing credibility anywhere. The kid playing the grandson turned in a really great, low-key performance that very much reminded me of teenagers I've met. It was his first movie, too, so kudos to him.

Recommendation
Not quite the inspirational tale I was hoping for, but I'm glad I watched it. You don't have to be a fan of wrestling - I'm not - and it's not about the wrestling anyway. This is a movie for people who want a family drama with some laughs sprinkled on top. Nothing wrong with that when all of the elements work.