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We catch you up on this week’s episodes of your favorite programs!
By Wade Gum |
Posted June 29, 2007 12:10 PM |
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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John From Cincinnati—“His Visit: Day Two Continued”
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The Recap
At the end of last week’s episode, Bill snuck Zippy the bird into the hospital to visit the brain-damaged and presumably dead Shaun. After Zippy “kissed” Shaun, he came back to life, much in the same way that Shaun brought Zippy back to life in the first episode. Bill goes outside Shaun’s room and informs Dr. Smith, Cissy and Butchie that Shaun is doing “much better.” That’s quite the understatement, because Shaun has made a full recovery.
Dr. Smith is astounded that a kid who was paralyzed and brain-dead a few minutes ago is now completely fine. Shaun is good as new and ready to leave the hospital. Dr. Smith knows that if Shaun were to stay in the hospital, he’d be subjected to a battery of tests to figure out how he recovered. He tells the family that they can sneak Shaun out the back door and possibly avoid the crowd of reporters outside. Freddy the drug dealer and his henchman Palaka help distract the reporters and let the Yosts make a clean getaway, although no one is really sure why Freddy is so intent on helping the family, himself included.
As for Mitch, he catches a ride to the beach with Cass, Linc’s little assistant. Linc wants Cass to get closer to Mitch so they can find out more about Shaun. Mitch feels guilty about Shaun’s accident and is still under the impression that his grandson is going to die. She tries to get Mitch to come back to her hotel room and does a pretty good job of it, until Linc calls her and informs her that Shaun has been taken back to the Yost house. He tells Cass to take Mitch there and find out what is going on.
Shaun is doing fine at home but the mob of reporters has followed him. Cissy doesn’t want Shaun going outside because they’re not quite sure how to explain his remarkable recovery. Shaun doesn’t really care. He took first place in the surfing competition and is eager to go in the backyard and skate on his half pipe. While Bill goes outside and tries to keep nosy investigators out, Kai takes John to the surf shop to look at boards. John enthusiastically tells Butchie he’s going to bone Kai, so Butchie gives him the thumbs-up and tells him to “make her see God.”
Butchie himself doesn’t stay long at the house with his son. Shortly after John leaves, Butchie starts getting withdrawal symptoms and becomes desperate for a fix. He has a huge argument with Cissy about his poor parenting and leaves through the backyard to go score some drugs.
At the surf shop, John frequently tells Kai how much he’s going to bone her, but it quickly becomes apparent to her that he’s just parroting something he heard from Butchie and has absolutely no idea what “boning” means. She takes him back to her trailer and attempts to explain the whole process, but it’s a bit of a lost cause. John tells Kai to see God and she goes into a sort of trance in which she presumably sees flashes of other people such as Butchie, Ramon and Vietnam Joe. All these people seem to have some sort of metallic objects in them, whether it be implants or piercings, that become red-hot and painful during the trance. When Kai comes to, she remarks that her piercings feel like they were in a fire and tells John never to make her “see God” again.
Mitch arrives home and gets into a confrontation with Cissy about his actions at the hospital. He’s relieved that Shaun is okay, but feels guilty that he could have been responsible for pulling the plug and killing his grandson earlier. The two argue and blow up at each other, after which Mitch decides they probably need some time apart. Mitch leaves the house through the backyard and briefly runs into Butchie, who is making his way back into the house after trying to shoot up.
Dr. Smith pays a visit to the household and has a conversation with Cissy. He’s not a man of faith, but what occurred today with Shaun goes against everything he has ever known or believed. He asks for the opportunity to examine Shaun more thoroughly and Cissy grants it. Shaun is in perfect health and seems like nothing ever happened to him. Incredulous, Dr. Smith goes in the backyard where he has a conversation with the returning Butchie about all the unexplained “miracles” that have occurred over the past two days, including Mitch’s floating and John’s magical pockets. Cissy decides that if Shaun wants to go outside on his half pipe, then it’s okay for him to do so.
John and Kai return to the household as Shaun begins his half-pipe skating. The crowd of onlookers watches in amazement as the kid they thought was paralyzed skates up and down with ease. Kai asks John what’s going on, to which he replies, “See God, Kai” as he stares in Shaun’s direction.
The Review
The mystery surrounding John continues to grow. It’s obvious that we don’t know the full extent of his powers, let alone what his intentions are. The writers were more willing to let the audience figure out things on its own this week rather than spelling them out. Most people are smart enough to figure out that Butchie’s withdrawal symptoms kicked in as soon as John left the house; we don’t need the character to announce it to the world and obliterate any subtlety.
One positive aspect of the series is that the people involved are actually discussing the odd things that are happening to them. It’s not like “Lost” where the characters inexplicably hold valuable information from each other just for the sake of creating more dramatic tension. It’s only the second day of John’s visit and already Butchie is relating his paranormal tales to a doctor he just met.
Rather than play the cliché “doubting doctor” who refuses to believe anything and keeps trying to fall back on reason, Dr. Smith readily accepts Butchie’s stories because he’s seen the miracles himself. It’s an interesting play on the typical doctor behavior in shows like this.
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Traveler—“The Trader”
The Recap
Tyler and Jay have arrived in New York to continue their investigation into the Three Continents company. When they arrive at the company’s address, they find an empty room with a computer and tons of shredded records. The computer has been wiped clean, but Tyler manages to find some stock ticker symbols on the shredded documents. One of them is HOL, which is Holloway Insurance. Tyler remembers his father, Carlton, telling him about 10,000 shares of the stock being sold the other day. Holloway Insurance had money tied up in the Drexler Building, so it’s obvious someone knew the building was going to be blown up.
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While Tyler and Jay are still piecing together the puzzle, two cleaners arrive to destroy the rest of the evidence. Tyler and Jay push the cleaners over and escape from the building. Tyler knows that they need help to continue their investigation and suggests they go see Eddie, a “friend” from graduate school who owes his job in the Fog company to Tyler. Jay thinks it’s a bad idea, but they really have no choice.
Eddie isn’t so keen to help the duo after they accost him in a parking lot, but Jay’s gun makes him change his mind. After doing some digging on Eddie’s computer, the group finds out that the stock was sold through a nonprofit company for which Carlton Fog serves on the board of directors. Tyler is unwilling to believe his father was in on the bombing and set his own son up to die in an explosion. His refusal to believe leads to a conflict between the friends, which ends with Tyler punching Jay and going off on his own. Jay takes Eddie as a hostage and goes back to his apartment. Eddie insists that people will miss him and call the cops, but Jay doesn’t really care. He takes some supplies and leaves Eddie tied up.
Tyler sneaks into his father’s limo and confronts dear old dad with the new information he’s acquired. After some denials, Carlton finally becomes a straight shooter and admits that he set his own son up to die. He says that Tyler was always too weak to carry on the Fog legacy and isn’t strong enough to lead the family. As one final act of kindness, he helps Tyler escape from the federal agents who are following the limo. Thanks, dad.
Meanwhile, Will Traveler is pissed off and gearing up for revenge against the agency he works for after they killed Maya. He finds that his escape boat was blown up and the key he gave to Maya is gone. An operative from the agency attacks him with a taser while he’s in Maya’s house, but Traveler kicks him through a window and lets him live as a message to those in charge. He goes to the research box that Jay and Tyler already looted and finds it empty. Will pickpockets the wallets of several bystanders along the way, including an FBI agent investigating the scene.
Traveler meets up with one of his contacts from back in the day and trades him all the credit cards and IDs he’s stolen during the day for some guns and knives. He also learns the location of another operative, Alex. She’s deep undercover posing as the girlfriend of some guy until she receives her orders.
Will asks Alex if she knows the identity of the triggerman who killed Maya, but she says she doesn’t know. Alex is under the same orders as everyone else in the mysterious agency and ultimately tries to kill Will, but he’s very crafty and ends up shooting her in the shoulder. Will tortures Alex by sticking his thumb into her wound until she gives up the identity of the person who ordered Maya’s execution.
The FBI is getting a little smarter in its investigation while all this madness is going down. They investigate the library in Boston where Jay and Tyler raided Will’s research locker. After viewing the security tapes, they discover that Will visited the same location earlier in the day. Now they have visual confirmation of Will Traveler’s existence. They also figure out that Tyler and Jay have doubled back to New York and dispatch the appropriate personnel to bring them in.
FBI Agent Borjes continues to investigate the mystery cleaner who vanished from federal custody last week. He can’t get any information on the suspect on the FBI computers because you need counterterrorism clearance to get it. After calling in a few favors, Borjes discovers that the suspect is actually an undercover CTU agent. Meanwhile, Agent Marlow and Fred Chambers discover Eddie tied up in his apartment and spot Tyler at the scene. They take off in pursuit of Tyler as he runs for his life from the feds.
The Review
This series is barreling right along to its conclusion. There are only two episodes left and there’s been no word on whether the series will receive an extension of some sort. That said, enough pieces are in play to at least wrap up a few plotlines and provide some sort of satisfactory conclusion. Tyler and Jay have shored up enough evidence to cast reasonable doubt that they blew up the Drexler and the FBI is fully aware that Will Traveler exists and is alive.
Carlton Fog’s admission that he was in on the Drexler bombing isn’t too surprising because, well, he’s played by William Sadler. You don’t cast William Sadler in the role of a caring protagonist who fights on the side of right. There will be no new episode next week due to the Fourth of July holiday, but the series returns on July 11 with “The Reunion.” Perhaps Will Traveler will be meeting up with Tyler and Jay.
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ECW
The Recap
As a result of the tragedy involving the Benoit family, this week’s ECW was almost straight wrestling and the “death of Mr. McMahon” angle was dropped. The first match pitted champion against champion as WWE champ John Cena faced off against the new ECW champ Johnny Nitro.
Nitro held his own for most of the match, frequently knocking Cena to the outside floor. He even reversed an FU attempt midway through the match, but seemed content to wait for Cena to get up rather than capitalize on any opportunities. Only a fool gives Cena that many opportunities to triumph over the odds. Eventually, Cena took Nitro to the ground and slapped on the STFU to get the quick victory. It seems it wasn’t peanut butter Johnny time tonight.
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Rowdy Roddy Piper made his way to the ring for his first-ever appearance in Extreme Championship Wrestling. However, the Hot Rod wasn’t too impressed with the “extreme” nature of ECW. Well, they did remove all the extreme rules matches, so there isn’t too much to be impressed about. Hot Rod started citing some of the most extreme moments from his long career (leaving out the whole “Black Like Roddy” thing) before Matt Striker interrupted him and came down to the ring.
Tuesday was a very important day, for it was Matt Striker’s birthday. Striker came down to the ring with a chocolate cake with the words “Happy Birthday Matt” drawn in frosting. Gee, a cake on a wrestling program? Do you think they’re going to sit down and eat it in a friendly manner? Striker told Roddy that he idolized him as a child and would be honored if an ancient has-been like him would sing “Happy Birthday.”
Roddy obliged “Mark” Striker, whose name he couldn’t seem to remember, and led the crowd in a rousing rendition of the copyrighted song. Roddy paused during the singing to ask Matt his name once again, but after Matt told him, he received the chocolate cake right in the face. No one saw that coming! Roddy left the devastated Matt Striker in the ring, but the torture wasn’t over for everyone’s favorite teacher. The Boogeyman made another appearance and slammed Matt to the ground, spitting chewed-up worms into his mouth. Worms and chocolate cake—two great tastes that go great together.
The final match of the night saw CM Punk go one-on-one with Elijah Burke in a two-out-of-three-falls match for a shot at the ECW title. The Elijah Express took the first fall but the straightedge superstar quickly got the second to even up the series. The two engaged in a pinfall reversal sequence reminiscent of Malenko/Benoit from Road Wild, and then CM Punk nailed the GTS for the third pinfall and the victory. CM Punk will face Johnny Nitro in a rematch for the ECW title at some point in the future.
The Review
On the heels of such turmoil and tragedy, WWE delivered a good show with some solid wrestling and some good old-fashioned cake antics. No one expected Johnny Nitro to beat John Cena, but he still looked strong by lasting as long as he did and reversing the FU. For a guy who’s been stuck in the tag team abyss for the past few months, facing off against the WWE champion is a big step up for Nitro and should put him on the path to greater success, even if he drops the title to CM Punk soon.
The two-out-of-three-falls match was okay, but something always seems to be missing from CM Punk matches. The audience pops big when he comes out and there are tons of CM Punk signs in the audience, but they practically go to sleep once the match begins. Is it because of his offense? Is it because he rarely gets any promo time? Is it because of his opponents? It’s an odd situation. Maybe things will change if he gets the title and gets to do some more talking on the microphone.
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