TV Commentary

My apologies for not writing sooner but I was a bit under the weather on Wednesday and then had to play catch up on Thursday.

First, the finale to TAR. I was rooting for Chris and John but I have no qualms about Freddie and Kendra winning. My only real complaint is that we never saw some of Kendra’s better side. We got a lot of complaining about how poor and dirty things were. The comments she made about how the poor Senegalese kept breeding was particularly obnoxious. But they were good competitors and they were my second choice among the final 4. Hayden kept annoying me and I was glad when she got put out of her misery in the second to last leg. I also never really felt that Adam and Rebecca ever earned their place in the final 3. They came in last in all three of the final three legs. The first was a non-elimination leg, the second they benefited from the penalty to Hayden and Aaron, and the third was the end of the race.

Overall, a good season. We had our main villains eliminated in 6th place so it was just sort of a pick as you go after that. Next season I have mixed emotions on. Boston Rob and Lamber from Survivor are going to be on it; that means that we’ll get a heavy dose of editing in their direction. We’ll also have to hear Rob talking about how smart he is and how everyone is against them because they already won 1.1 million dollars. Still, maybe it won’t be as bad as I think and I’ll enjoy it as much as other seasons.

Now, to Lost. I didn’t care much for the back-story of Charlie actually liking this girl while he’s still doped up, but the rest of the story was good. I was also glad that someone had the good sense to just shoot Ethan dead before he could do any more damage. In action and suspense movies, you always see how the good guys take the bad guy prisoner and he ends up causing so much more havoc that you would have just been better of killing him in the beginning. Any good plot person would have told you that if Charlie hadn’t killed him, Ethan would have been taken back, resisted talking for a while and then broke free, probably killing someone in the process. You just don’t take prisoner a guy that has killed one person, tried to kill another and kidnapped a third member of your party.

Mrs. X has raised a bone of contention with the show as well in that it’s very sexist. There are no females in the triumvirate (Doc, Locke, and Sayid) and when they do branch out their discussions, it’s only to various male members of the cast: Michael, Charlie, Hurley, and occasionally Sawyer. Kate has to force her way in and is still stepping back into the role of the other women: growing produce and overseeing the camp. I’m hoping that when the Korean woman’s secret is exposed, she will become a stronger character. I sense a stronger role for her that is being held back by her husband.

Next week looks to play into the love triangle so that will be a bit of a bland episode as far as advancing the overall plot.

Speaking of bland episodes, the next on of West Wing looks to be an absolute stinker. Jimmy Smits is on the brink of ruin with his candidacy and has to appeal to the public to resurrect him. It will be predictable, formulaic and very “Up with the people.” So, don’t expect much for West Wing next week.