Stalking the dark passenger: Dexter, season 4, episode 2

Dexter finds himself in quite the jam as episode 2 opens. He’s survived a nasty car accident wherein his SUV rolled multiple times and is relatively unscathed. The bad news: there’s a chopped-up body—stuffed into several garbage bags—tucked inside the wheel well.

Or is there?

It seems that he’s sustained a concussion and can’t remember the hour leading up to the accident; extremely unfortunate, considering how he spent that hour. He makes an urgent trip to the junk yard where the SUV’s been hauled, relieved to find no police tape or SWAT team waiting to arrest him. But the body’s not there.

The obvious question: where is it? Was it thrown clear of the crash and scattered about the scene, somehow unnoticed by emergency personnel? Or did he hide it somewhere that he now can’t recall? Why would he hide it in the first place? Several obstacles lie between Dexter and his answers, and he spends the episode maneuvering them, desperately trying to find Benito Gomez before somebody else does.

The first of those obstacles is the vacation murderer. This killer was alluded to in episode 1, but becomes slightly more significant this week, thanks in part to a front-page story on him by Christine Hill (Courtney Ford)--the sexy reporter who's now trading pillow talk with Detective Joey Quinn. More importantly though, this week the vacation murderer kills another victim. Dexter is called to analyze the scene of this latest murder, but he at least manages to stop by the crash site and confirm that the body isn’t there.

One down. The second obstacle is Detective Joey Quinn; last week Quinn seemed like he might become Dexter’s new adversary within the police department, replacing Doakes from season 2. Things take an abrupt turn though, when Dexter catches Quinn stealing money from a motel safe at the vacation murder scene. Dexter could care less, as he obviously has more important issues to consider, but Quinn suddenly wants to become Dexter’s buddy, making several overtures that only add to Dexter’s stress.

The third obstacle is retired Detective Frank Lundy, who’s come to Miami in search of the elusive Trinity killer. He’s convinced Trinity’s responsible for Lisa Bell’s murder from episode 1. Bell was found murdered in her own blood-filled bathtub, her femoral artery slashed with a razor blade. Trinity is an obsession for Lundy and he’s leaning on Dexter for help, convinced the killer’s migration to Miami represents an act of kismet, because Dexter’s the perfect partner for helping finally nail Trinity.

Dexter’s not the only one whose life is complicated by Lundy. He and Debra—Dexter’s sister—were an item in season 2 and Debra’s thrown for a loop by his return, as she’s moved on and is now in love with Antoine. Further complicating things, Lundy offers to help Debra interrogate one Mr. Noonan who, 30 years before, was convicted of killing his wife in the same house where Lisa Bell was killed. Moreover, Noonan’s wife was found in the same bathtub with her femoral artery slashed. Noonan claims that he’s innocent too. Could it be Trinity? Lundy thinks so.

He’s right too. Trinity’s out there, stalking his latest victim in episode 2; he doesn’t make the kill this week, but we know its coming and there’s no saving the poor, oblivious young woman. Dexter might have other, bigger worries occupying him during episode 2 but, as Lundy tells Dexter, Trinity’s going to kill again—and soon. And as surely as we sense that Trinity’s next kill is imminent, we’re equally sure that Trinity and Dexter are on a collision course. I can’t wait.

For now though, by the end of episode 2, Dexter’s biggest concern is a screaming son and the lack of a decent night’s sleep. Until next week, that is...

Stalking The Dark Passenger: Dexter, season 4, episode 1

America’s favorite serial killer returned Sunday night with the Season 4 premiere of Showtime’s original series Dexter. The season kicked off on a creepy note, with John Lithgow playing this stanza’s bad guy; he’s a serial murderer dubbed The Trinity Killer by Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine), who was a regular during season 2.

Lundy’s retired now, but he’s haunted by the fact he could never convince the FBI that Trinity even existed, let alone catch him. Lundy has returned to Miami because he believes Trinity has set up shop there. He approaches Dexter for help because Trinity is a nasty fellow; apparently, as his name implies, he kills in threes, returning to the same spot over extended periods for a new victim until he hits the magic number.

As season 4 opens though, because of his new baby son Harrison, Dexter’s too tired to care about Trinity—or much else. He appears in court as an expert witness on an important murder trial, but because of  exhaustion, brings the wrong file. Subsequently, washed-out boxer Benito Gomez (Gino Aquino), the actual defendant in the case and a nasty piece of work in his own right, goes free.

Detective Joey Quinn (Desmond Harrington), who broke the case, is livid and isn’t shy about letting Dexter know, setting up another police adversary for Dexter this season—something Dexter’s been sorely lacking since Doakes’ death in Season 2. Dexter isn’t overly concerned about his error. The mistake was hardly intentional but, as he explains in a voiceover, his dark passenger is like a coal miner trapped inside the mine shaft of his head, constantly tapping, struggling to get out; Benito Gomez, heartless killer that he is, will make a suitable addition to Dexter’s blood-slide collection. And by episode’s end, after extensive effort on Dexter’s part, Gomez indeed becomes Season 4's first victim.

Based on Showtime’s previews, Trinity won’t fly under Dexter’s radar for long. He’s far too nasty, efficient and successful. As demonstrated in Season 1, Trinity is the kind of predator Dexter admires on many levels; smart, merciless, artistic. But Harry’s code will demand Dexter put a stop to him once and for all.

Considering Season 1’s storyline and the way Dexter’s relationship with the ice-truck killer ended, I can’t help wondering if the connection between Dexter and Trinity might run deeper than is hinted at in the previews. Might Trinity even be related to Dexter by blood? Uncle? Father? Difficult to say, but interesting to speculate.

Regardless, the first episode ended on a tantalizing note that has me looking forward to what’s coming. It will be interesting to watch Dexter juggle his new son and family with his job as a blood-splatter analyst, all while feeding his dark passenger, avoiding detection and never veering from Harry’s code—even as Trinity lurks near to hand, headed, one suspects, on a collision course with our blood-analyzing anti-hero.

If you don’t have Showtime, Dexter might be worth the 12-week subscription price (whatever that might be). It’s really that good.

You can watch the complete episode here

Daily watch: Joy Behar and Doggy Style Zen

On Thursday’s edition of on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart interviewed comedian Joy Behar, best-known as co-host of TV’s daytime talk show The View.

Compared to this week’s other guests, Stewart’s chat with Behar marked a decided shift in tone. While the session was entertaining, with a handful of scattered laughs, it was by far the week’s least substantial. Behar was promoting her new show on cable’s HLN, The Joy Behar Show. That show debuted this past Tuesday, September 29.

Stewart introduced Behar with a funny clip from her new show featuring Victoria Gotti, daughter of notorious crime-boss John Gotti. “I’m so glad for you though, you deserve your own show,” Stewart said as Behar sat down and then implied that sharing the set on The View must be difficult at times. Replied Behar: “I have to interrupt myself now.”

The audience booed when Behar mentioned Ann Coulter; Behar interviewed the controversial conservative author and perpetual Fox News talking head during the first week of her show. “I humanize her,” Behar claimed and then compared her relationship with Coulter to a lesbian version of famous husband and wife political team James Carville and Mary Matalin.

“I love the controversy,” Behar said and then invited Stewart to be a guest on her new show. “I’m not controversial,” Stewart replied, deflecting and then redirected the conversation.

According to Behar, she’s already stirred up controversy during her first week on HLN. Conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly has labeled her a pinhead; others have called her Marxist and one Christian radio host described her as a ‘fatty boomblatty’, to which Behar speculated about what part of the Bible that came from. The full interview is embedded below.

Compared to this week’s other episodes, this edition of The Daily Show was a bit of a letdown. Correspondent John Oliver gave an amusing field report about protesters to this week’s G-20 summit in Pittsburgh (embedded below) and Stewart did a funny critique of a recent CNN story about the dangers of texting while driving. The episode's funniest moment though, was by far the moment of zen:

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Moment of Zen - From Bow to Wow
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Joy Behar
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Tea Partiers Advise G20 Protesters
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The Simpsons Lucky 21: Homer the Whopper

September 27, 2009

The Simpsons returned Sunday night for its 21st season; though the opening episode wasn’t among the series’ strongest, The Simpsons remains one of prime time’s best comedies and sharpest satires.

Homer becomes both a superhero and a movie star when he lands a role in the big-screen adaptation of Comic Book Guy’s ‘Everyman,’ a comicbook about a painfully average guy with super powers that let him absorb the powers from any comicbook he touches. To help Homer lose weight for the part, the studio heads bring in Lyle McCarthy (Seth Rogen), personal trainer to the stars.

Everything goes well until McCarthy abandons Homer and he falls back to his old eating habits, gaining all his weight back and ultimately losing the Everyman part. In fact, Homer’s so horrendously bad, that a voiceover at the end informs that Everyman has been permanently and unanimously banned by all the major studios from any further film or television adaptations.

Seth Rogen gets plenty of laughs as McCarthy, a stereotypical, double-talking, back-stabbing tinseltown sychophant; he’s slimy, shady and completely superficial.  Homer is, of course, his usual idiotic, completely clueless self; he's the perfect dupe for McCarthy’s underhanded style and delivers some of the episode’s best one-liners.  The complete episode is embedded below.

Not a bad way to kick off the 21st season—of any show.

Daily watch: Inglourious chainsaw bears

On Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart led with one of the most incendiary political issues currently dominating American political discourse: healthcare.

In the process, he gave the funniest, most biting report of the week and did a bit of fancy word-dropping with 'diaspora'—as in the decade-plus power diaspora Democrats suffered until 2006 when they finally won control of both the House and Senate.

They still accomplished little, Stewart noted, and were, basically, “the kind of people who’ll switch to Geiko and lose money.” Earlier this year though, Democrats achieved the political Holy Grail: a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate.

“They will be unstoppable!” Stewart croaked, speaking in what sounded like an impression of 5-year-old boy imitating a WWE wrestler. He compared the new Democratic supermajority to a grizzly bear with chainsaws for claws and spoke exicitedly of their unleashing the beast into the healthcare battle.

“Oh chainsaw-pawed bear of reform,” he opined with mock nobility, “have mercy on your opponents’ souls.” Then he shifted to a CNN clip, revealing that two separate government-run public healthcare options—previously a cornerstone of Democratic healthcare reform—had just been defeated in the senate. By the Democratic supermajority.

At one point, having just played clips of vague, absurd Republican arguments against a public option, Stewart looked earnestly into the camera, “For God’s sake Democrats,” he pleaded, “they’re countering your arguments with nonsense and crushing you.”

A minute or so later, he again stared into the camera, this time with his best befuddled look, delivering his funniest diatribe of the week: “Still not convinced that the Democrats couldn’t get laid in a house whose sole purpose is to have consequence- and-disease-free sex with legislatures on finance committees? Well strap in kids…”

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The interview, embedded below, featured Jon Krakauer, author of the book Where Men Win Glory, which tells the story of the death of Pat Tillman. Tillman was a former NFL player and Army Ranger killed in Afghanistan in 2004 by friendly fire. A patriot in the strictest sense of the word, Tillman valiantly served his country despite misgivings about American foreign policy. In fact, he sacrificed a lucrative NFL contract worth millions to serve, a decision that ultimately led to his death. This was another solid interview—not quite as interesting as Ron Paul’s interview from the previous night—but very well done nonetheless. Though I've forgotten the moment of zen, this was the strongest, most balanced episode so far this week.

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Daily watch: Ron Paul

 

Tuesday’s Daily Show interview featured Texas congressman Ron Paul. After introducing Paul and mentioning his new book, End the Fed, Stewart joked, “You seem to have put a lot of thought and effort into this book; and you call yourself a congressman.”

Paul is a small-government Republican with libertarian leanings, who advocates personal rights and freedoms. In his book, he argues for the end of The United States Federal Reserve Bank, contending that it’s corrupt, outdated and, most importantly, unconstitutional.

The Fed, he asserts, helps government pay its bills by simply printing money when needed, which, ultimately, is extremely damaging to the economy. Such irresponsible production of currency, in the long term, serves to raise inflation, increase government size, and steadily decrease currency’s value over time. The Fed, Paul states, monetizes debt; when presented with a bill, they simply print the money needed to pay it.

At one point, Paul states: “They use this [money] to finance these wars that I think are so ridiculous. Undeclared wars; endless wars; good wars; long wars—all kinds of wars with no end in sight.” Considering the ideology of the Republican party over the last decade and more, this is a fairly radical statement coming from a Republican congressman. Furthermore, Paul’s arguments are both compelling and lucid. And, in contrast to the stereotypical politician, he comes across as both pragmatic and likeable, giving his arguments even further resonance. “It’s hard to enforce fraud laws,” he contends, “when the government participates in fraud.”

This is a terrific interview. There aren’t a lot of laughs, but this session illustrates the qualities that make Stewart such an effective interviewer. Obviously, if a broader range of topics were broached between Stewart and Paul, the pair would likely uncover a number of serious ideological differences. But Stewart approaches this interview respectfully and inquisitively; he asks pointed, intelligent questions, striving to laugh with the guest, not at him. Regardless of ideological differences, Stewart approaches the vast majority of his interviews in the same style (with a few exceptions). He’s rarely timid about asking tough questions though, and those qualities are why he’s among the best [fake] journalists working in TV today.

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Daily watch: A baconnaise-and-lobster omelet with a side of Jesus toast

September 28, 2009

This past Monday was Yom Kippur. Said Stewart, opening Monday’s edition of The Daily Show, “I celebrated as I do, in the traditional way, with a breakfast of—I believe it was a baconnaise-and-lobster omelet with a side of Jesus toast.” Yum.

After reports on the G-20 summit currently taking place in Pittsburgh and Iran’s ongoing pursuit of nuclear technology, Stewart presented Monday’s best report, entitled America: Target America (embedded below). “As you know people,” he opened, “democracy in this country is under attack by the very leader we democratically elected to lead us. It seems ironic. It has the makings of a great M. Night Shyamalan movie—if he still made those.” Indeed.

The report, which was vintage Stewart, focused on the hypocrisy and lunacy of ongoing attempts by certain elements of cable news to both stir public ire over selected political leaders (which is far, far a field of journalism’s traditional role) and to make headlines and garner ratings. This report was a Stewart showcase, giving him a chance to do what he does best.

The comments about Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson are particularly interesting.  Considering Stewart’s infamous confrontation with Carlson in October 2004 on CNN’s Crossfire (which was shortly thereafter canceled), in which he called Carlson a ‘dick,’ just about anything Stewart says about Carlson rings with irony.  In case you haven't seen the clip of that show, it's definitely worth a look and is embedded at the bottom.

Monday’s interview, featuring Bruce Bueno De Mesquita (try repeating that 20 times in a row—after you figure out how to say it), was interesting but not overly compelling. Admittedly though, Bueno De Mesquita’s book, The Predictioneers Game, sounds like an interesting read, worth a look. The moment of zen was a reference to the opening report and not very funny.

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Monday Recap: The Big Bang Theory, season 3, episode 2

September 28, 2009

On Monday’s The Big Bang Theory, Leonard and Penny struggled to define their relationship, both feeling awkward after their romantic hook-up in last week’s season 3 premiere. Making things worse, in the opening scene, Leonard discusses that encounter with Sheldon, Raj and Howard, characterizing it as merely ‘fine.’ Later, as the foursome eats dinner with Penny, Sheldon, in his typical, socially inept fashion, describes that conversation to Penny, who's predictably mortified.

Over at Penny’s apartment, Penny and Leonard discuss their relationship over large amounts of peppermint schnapps; back at Leonard’s, Sheldon, Raj and Howard become fixated on a chirping cricket. Sheldon swears, based on the number of chirps per minute and room temperature, the cricket is a snowy tree cricket. Howard protests that it’s merely a common field cricket, ultimately leading to a bet involving rare comic book editions. After catching the cricket, the trio visits Professor Crawley (Lewis Black in a funny cameo) of the university’s entomology department to settle the bet.

Meanwhile, Leonard and Penny get so drunk that they spend extended time in her bathroom puking together, as they try sorting out their relationship, he in the toilet, her in the sink. Ultimately, they decide to go back to being friends. That doesn’t work out exactly as planned though.
Also revealed in episode 2 is Sheldon's fear of chickens. As a child in east Texas, he was chased into a tree by a neighbor’s rooster, making him terrified of them ever since. The letter, at the show’s end, revolved around that fear. Overall, a funny episode, with Lewis Black’s cameo being the highlight.

 The Letter
“The day Carl was made henhouse rooster had to be the proudest day of his life. Oh, how he strutted and preened outside the little hut where all the chickens lived. From the corner of his eye he could see them nervously peeking out to see the new cock of the walk. You could hardly blame him for smiling so smugly. He knew that, from that moment on, if a chicken wanted extra feed, well, she had to ask Carl. Same thing for pecking privileges in the yard. And of course, when it came time to lay eggs, the premium spots nearest the warming lamps were handed out by you-know-who. Yep, life was good for ol’ Carl. Up at dawn, a loud clearing of the throat, a largely ceremonial patrol of the perimeter and then, an afternoon and evening of doling out favors to the chickens. And the best part about it was, he never had to actually ask for anything in return. He would simply tell each chicken to decide for herself what, if anything, she should give him to ensure his continued friendship. But let me tell you, it’s no accident he named his rooster hut “Casa Quid Pro Quo.” Yep, Carl had it knocked. At least until he was forced out of his job by a class-action paternity suit that was entirely without merit and probably politically motivated by bitter, eggless chickens.”

Monday Recap: The Big Bang Theory, season 3, episode 1

For me, The Big Bang Theory has become a kind of Monday-night comedy sleeper hit, with some of the episodes being unexpectedly hilarious and the majority being quite funny. The show revolves around four brilliant but socially awkward 20-somethings—Leonard, Sheldon, Rag and Wolowitz (Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg). All four work as researchers and professors at the same university and spend most of their free time hanging-out at Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment, with Penny (Kaley Cuoco)—the pretty young aspiring actress who lives across the hall—usually in tow.

Wolowitz has a Master’s Degree in Engineering from MIT and the other three have PhDs in physics—a fact which, at times, makes Wolowitz the butt of jokes. Each member of the group is a punch line in his own right though, with Sheldon being the most socially inept—and consequently, the most neurotically entertaining. All are overachievers who’ve earned their respective degrees ridiculously young but can’t find any success with women; basically, the four are highly successful fan-boys, a fact the show consistently uses for solid comedy.

When we last saw our four so-smart-their-dumb geeks, they had set off to Antarctica to spend 3 months at an isolated research station. Last night’s third-season premiere found Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Rajesh returning from their 3-month research mission, eager to return to their lives and sporting thick facial hair.

Sheldon is especially enthusiastic to get back to his job at the university; his research results during the 3-month Antarctica trip guarantee him a Nobel Prize—or so he believes.

Only problem is, those research results are bogus. In order to shut him up and make him generally less unbearable, his three friends intentionally distorted Sheldon’s results. As Wolowitz states, Sheldon’s equipment didn’t actually detect ‘paradigm-shifting monopoles’ (whatever that means), but rather, static from an electric can opener they were turning on and off.

Sheldon, to say the least, is devastated. He’s already bragged extensively about those research results. Shamed and embarrassed to face his colleagues, he resigns the university and moves back home to live with his mother in Texas. At the prompting of Penny—actually at the insistence of Penny—Leonard, Howard and Raj set off to Texas to convince Sheldon to come home (embedded clip below). They’re successful of course, mostly because Sheldon can’t get along with his hyper-religious mother (Laurie Metcalf).

The highlight of last night’s episode revolved around Penny and Leonard. To this point, Leonard’s attraction to Penny has amounted, mostly, to unrequited love. Last night Penny had an interesting surprise waiting for Leonard upon his return from Antarctica.

This season 3 premiere was funny in places but certainly wasn’t up to the standards set by the series’ funniest outings. And though I’m certainly looking forward to another season, last night’s episode had hints that the show may be running out of fresh ideas. Let’s hope not. The Big Bang Theory has proven one of the most pleasant comedic surprises of the past 2 TV seasons.

Unfortunately, there was no letter at the end of this episode (a first for the series and a great personal disappointment), but hopefully that entertaining, weekly, stream-of-conscience diatribe will return next week.

I’ll giddily reprint here upon its return.

Clip: Leonard, Howard and Raj arrive in Texas to convince Sheldon to come home

This episode's best lines:

“You think you’re so clever. Well let me tell you, while I don’t currently have a scathing retort, you should check your email periodically for a doozy.”   --Sheldon to his archrival at the university after being insulted.

“Oh my god, that’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me that I didn’t understand.”   --Penny to Leonard upon being gifted with a preserved snowflake from Antarctica.

“No mother, I could not feel your church group praying for my safety. The fact that I’m home safe does not prove that it worked; that logic is post hoc, ergo proptor hoc. [Pause]
No, I’m not sassing you in Eskimo talk.”   --Sheldon to his mother in a phone conversation after she reminds him that he returned safely from Antarctica because of prayer.

“Did you just have the nobel prize in waitressing stolen from you?”   --Sheldon to Penny when she tells him she knows how he feels after finding out about his bogus research results (Penny moonlights as a waitress).

Daily watch: Rod Blagojevich

 

In typical Daily Show fashion, Jon Stewart held nothing back Thursday when he interviewed former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich appeared on the show to promote his new book The Governor and to proclaim his innocence. 

Stewart poked fun at him from the start, reaching for the former governor’s infamously excessive hair as he sat down. “I hesitate to say this to a man that may be going to prison,” Stewart quipped, “but may I touch it?”

Blagojevich may be the least sympathetic political figure in recent memory to face prosecution. He’s shifty and rambling and superficial, steadfastly proclaiming his innocence in the face damning evidence; he’s like a car salesman trying to hawk a blue Pinto as a red Corvette.

As Stewart points out, any sane person would question Blagojevich’s claims versus the evidence released in the government’s secret wiretaps. On those recordings, Blagojevich clearly attempts to sell President Obama’s vacated senate seat in return for political favors and influence. Regardless, Blagojevich alleges that the prosecution has withheld passages from those recordings which prove his innocence; those passages, he claims, will vindicate him when released.

“If those tapes are released and it turns out you’re telling the truth,” Stewart said at one point, “I want you to come back so I can give you a hug and apologize.” He left no doubt, however, that he doesn’t believe anything Blagojevich says. Personally, listening to Blagojevich, my only thought is: "Wow, prison's gonna be hard on this guy."  The complete interview—which was cut for broadcast—is embedded below.

 Warning: These clips contain explicit language

 

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