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We catch you up on this week’s episodes of your favorite programs!
By Wade Gum |
Posted July 13, 2007 11:15 AM |
EDITOR’S NOTE: There’s a lot of good programming out there these days, and here at Wizard Universe, we want to make sure you don’t miss a moment of any of it. In the interest of keeping you up to speed with your favorite series, we’ve recruited our resident pop culture critic, Wade Gum, to run down the past week’s slate of programming and tell us what went down and, in some cases, what blew up in each episode of the hottest shows this week. Check back every Friday for a new installment of our TV roundup.—RM
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Traveler—“The Reunion”
The Recap
Tyler and Jay are still split up after their little spat last week. They both go their separate ways and try to untangle the confusing conspiracy they’re involved in. At the end of last week’s episode, the FBI had spotted Tyler and started pursuing him through the streets. They almost nab him but Tyler is fortunate enough to jump onto a passing bus and escape the authorities.
Since he can’t find Jay again, Tyler drowns his sorrows at a bar by getting drunk and hitting on the bartender. He eventually takes her back to her apartment for a little one-night stand. After the bartender falls asleep, Tyler uses her computer and researches his dad, who was in on the conspiracy to frame Tyler and Jay for the bombing. He discovers that former FBI deputy director Jack Freed is most likely the man behind the entire conspiracy.
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Meanwhile, Jay checks into a random motel and contacts his girlfriend Kim through the use of a helpful Chinese food delivery man. She meets him at the apartment and they have a romantic reunion. Kim has been visited several times in the past few days by Agent Jan Marlow and is convinced that if Jay surrenders to the FBI, things will be okay.
Jay isn’t quite sold on the whole “turn yourself in” plan. He has a plastic bag full of evidence that exonerates him, including Will Traveler’s passports and an audio recording of Will’s handlers telling him to blow up the Drexler and frame Jay. Jay cooks up a plan with Kim to lure Agent Marlow to another location and plead his case. Kim calls Marlow to the house to talk about Jay but then claims she has to leave the house. Just like Kim wanted, Marlow tails her to a nightclub.
While Jay and Tyler have been investigating the conspiracy, Will Traveler has been trying to discover who ordered the hit on his late girlfriend Mia. Using Photoshop, he gets a nice printout of the tattoos Mia’s assassin was rocking and goes from tattoo parlor to tattoo parlor in New York searching for the man who inked the assassin’s arm. Once he discovers the assassin’s identity, he jumps him in an alleyway and learns that Jack Freed is the man responsible for ordering the hit on Mia. Traveler briefly considers sparing the assassin’s life, but ultimately dispatches him with a bullet.
Tyler calls Kim to warn her that people within the FBI are in on the conspiracy, but it’s too late. Jay is already meeting with Agent Marlow in the nightclub and trying to plead his case. Tyler decides to head down to the nightclub right away. Marlow is appreciative of the evidence Jay gives her, but she still needs to bring him in. She steals Jay’s gun and tries to arrest him, but Kim destroys the lighting system within the nightclub and gives Jay a chance to escape.
Jay runs into the alleyway but is caught once again by Agent Marlow. She orders him to stand down, but Tyler appears and has another cop at gunpoint. He tells Jay that the FBI is in on the conspiracy and they need to go away. He tells Agent Marlow that unless she lets Jay go, he’s going to kill the innocent cop. Agent Marlow says that she doesn’t believe Tyler will shoot a gun, but out of nowhere Will Traveler appears with his gun trained on Marlow. Tyler may not shoot a gun, but he certainly will.
The Review
This show has certainly kicked it into high gear with the last few episodes. According to the show’s creator, the next episode will most certainly be the last, which is definitely a shame. All the loose ends can’t possibly be tied up in one episode, but perhaps they can deliver a satisfying conclusion that sees Jay and Tyler get themselves off the hook and Will Traveler get his revenge. It might be rushed and hectic, but fans of the show deserve it.
It’s hard to consider where this show might have gone if it had gotten a longer run. Would they have dragged the main storyline out for several seasons or would they have wrapped the current one up and focused on the character of Will Traveler? He may not be as gruff-looking as Jack Bauer, but the little guy certainly holds his own when it comes to killing other assassins. It’s just another case of what might have been, as ABC never really gave this show a chance with the scheduling or promotion.
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John From Cincinnati—“His Visit: Day Four”
The Recap
Things have been rather crazy the past three days in Imperial Beach. Shaun Yost practically died and was magically healed by Zippy the Bird, Mitch Yost is levitating and the mysterious John from Cincinnati strolled into town with his magic pockets and cryptic comments. With so much craziness going on, everyone just had to take a break this episode for some good old-fashioned character development. Translation: Nothing much really happened in this week’s episode.
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Shaun’s mother, Tina, strolled back into town much to Cissy’s chagrin. Tina, who is now a porn star, left Shaun on Cissy’s doorstep just a few hours after he was born, then left town and never looked back. Cissy assumes that Tina has returned after reading about Shaun’s close call in the newspapers and isn’t going to let her take Shaun back into her custody without a real fight. In actuality, Tina actually came to Imperial Beach at the request of Linc, who hired her for her “services.” Of course, he knows full well who she really is. It’s just another part of his mysterious plan to somehow torment the Yosts and gain control of Shaun’s career. Pro surfing sure is seedy.
Now that Tina is back in town, it turns out she would like to meet her son at least once. Cissy does all she can to make sure that doesn’t happen by sending Shaun to the surf store and making him stay there the entire day. Tina goes to Butchie and pleads her case. He’s understandably upset that the mother of his son would just stroll back into town like this and try to shake things up, but he realizes that he wasn’t much of a parent to Shaun either. The two do a little reconnecting, which doesn’t sit well with Kai after her romantic interlude with Butchie last episode.
Butchie agrees to help Tina and the two go to the Yost household at night. Kai sees the two approaching and warns Cissy, who is just plain strung out at this point and brandishing a pistol. Kai takes the pistol and hides it before Butchie and Tina arrive. Cissy finally relents and agrees to let Tina take a quick peek at Shaun while he’s sleeping. Shaun isn’t really sleeping, but he pretends to be doing so as Tina takes a look at her long-lost son. After that, Butchie and Tina leave while Kai heads back to her trailer with the pistol. In anger and heartbreak, she shoots her stereo and curses Butchie Yost.
In last week’s episode, John recruited Cass to his cause, but now she’s having second thoughts. John isn’t the easiest person to communicate with and Cass is having a hard time figuring out what she’s supposed to do or how she’s supposed to earn a living these days. John tells her that her camera is what’s important and the two go down to the boardwalk. Cass videotapes John interacting with the various religious sects at the beach. John even gets to hop into the squared circle and do a little wrestling with some eco-warrior luchadores.
Later that night, Cass demands some evidence of the miracles that have been going on the past few days. She witnessed Mitch Yost levitating, so she tells John to do some floating of his own. John refuses, telling Cass that it’s the camera that’s up in the air, not him. The video footage might have something amazing in it, but that will have to wait for tomorrow as Cass is too tired to do any more work.
Vietnam Joe is still rattled after his encounter with the injured John the previous day. He’s convinced that someone at the Veterans Hall played a practical joke on him and he’s not too happy. He strolls into the hall with his pistol ready and demands to know why the bartender would play a rotten trick like that on him. John knew things about the war that Joe has told only his closest friends. The bartender insists that Joe never told him any of those things, which means John knows things that Joe has never spoken about to another human being. Joe apologizes to the bartender and goes to the pier to ponder what the heck is up with John.
Steady Freddie and Palaka are still hanging out at the motel, even when it rains all over them. For some reason, Freddie decides he’s willing to give up his drug-dealing territory in Hawaii and stay in Imperial Beach. Freddie predicts that this will start a war with some other drug dealers, as they’ll incorrectly assume that he’s up to something and means to kill them.
The Review
With all the crazy magical things that have been happening in Imperial Beach thus far, this episode felt like a bit of a disappointment with its lack of mysteries. There really wasn’t much forward story development, only some brief background information about a few characters. If the show is going for a biblical theme, it’s possible that Tina could be a Mary Magdalene type. Her ultimate contribution to the show seems to be up in the air, since it appears that she left Imperial Beach after this episode. Just how detailed and involved is Linc’s plan to sign Shaun Yost? It’s starting to border on the ridiculous at this point.
The show is set up like an ensemble drama, but it’s becoming obvious that some members of the cast are much weaker than others. It’s a shame that the Yosts, who are at the center of the story, happen to have some of the worst characters. Cissy does nothing but shriek and scream during every episode and Mitch is just a complete jerk. Shaun isn’t too bad, except that he’s played by a real-life surfer and doesn’t have much acting ability. The only Yost that’s an appealing character is Butchie, who seemingly hasn’t showered or changed clothes in four days. Character development doesn’t help much when so many of the characters are just plain unlikable.
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ECW—Extreme Championship Wrestling
The Recap
Matt Striker has been humiliated countless times over the past few weeks by the worm-munching Boogeyman, so Striker decided to put his teaching degree to use this week and give the Boogeyman a little lesson in worm physiology. He invited Boogeyman down to the ring and proceeded to school him on the importance of the slimy invertebrate that Boogey is so fond of. Unfortunately, the Boogeyman is a bad student and wasn’t interested in expanding his knowledge. Therefore, Striker was left with no choice other than to school Boogey in the art of pain.
Striker’s new friend, Big Daddy V, came strolling to the ring and laid the smackdown on Boogey, throwing him onto the desk and through Striker’s chalkboard. Of course, Big Daddy V is just Viscera in a new outfit that’s quite horrifying in the way it highlights his man bosom. The only other wrestler who could possibly compete with such an impressive bust would be Abdullah the Butcher.
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Elijah Burke hasn’t succeeded in competition against any challenging opponents for quite a while, so he got back on track by beating up a total jobber in the form of Balls Mahoney. Wow, Elijah Burke beat a guy who seemingly hasn’t gotten a win since the formation of the new ECW. He’ll be in title contention in no time at all!
CM Punk will get his shot at the ECW title when the Great American Bash comes along, but until then he’s just spinning his wheels by taking on Stevie Richards for the 875th time. This match was better than their 342nd encounter but failed to live up to the high standard set by their 743rd match. Once again, CM Punk got the victory, giving Stevie a record of 0-875 in this exciting series of matches.
The Miz finally made his debut this week much to the delight of all the Mizfits out there and the chagrin of anyone with good taste. The Extreme Expose girls certainly dug him, but those three only have about two brain cells to share among them. He defeated Nunzio with his Mizard of Oz finisher and then mercifully vanished from the television screen.
The main event of the evening saw ECW champion Johnny Nitro once again face off against ECW original Tommy Dreamer in a hardcore match. You don’t see many of those hardcore matches on ECW anymore. That makes a lot of sense, seeing as it’s EXTREME Championship Wrestling and all. The addition of weapons didn’t make Dreamer any more successful this time around as Johnny Nitro notched another victory in his belt as champion. However, they both have really stupid footwear in the ring, which makes them both losers when it comes to fashion.
The Review
ECW is really just spinning its wheels at this point. Despite the fact that it’s a one-hour show, the roster still feels way too small since a great majority of the wrestlers are nothing but jobbers. Are people supposed to take Tommy Dreamer seriously as a challenger to the title? It just seems like a foregone conclusion that CM Punk is the most talented and most popular wrestler on the entire roster and the only person really deserving of holding the title.
The WWE had a chance to build up the New Breed as competent challengers to CM Punk, but at this point he’s beaten Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von so many times that they’re more like stooges. If CM Punk wins the ECW title, will that provide the spark that ECW is so desperately looking for? Who knows, but maybe it will at least make the WWE give CM Punk more speaking time in promos to actually develop a character.
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