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Parks & Recreation 4-11: The Comeback Kid
The Comeback Kid is a fairly simple episode with an obvious goal. When the show broke for Christmas, it left with a new status quo: Leslie was still going to run for city council, but with the help of her friends and co-workers instead of the professional political consultants; and Ben was unemployed after his…
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How I Learned to Hate How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is unique among TV shows for its approach to narrative and storytelling. Events are described by multiple characters, often tainted by perspective or memory, there are flashbacks within flashbacks, and more than one narrator has been revealed to be entirely unreliable. That was all well and good, until now.
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What is The Office about?
The Office always had storylines and themes that gave the series some forward momentum. Most of those have disappeared or been resolved, leaving the show with a glaring flaw: Everyone is pretty much content.
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Battlestar Galactica 1-10: Hand of God
Hand of God is an old-fashioned caper. The fleet finally finds a source of fuel, but it’s guarded by Cylons. They’re outnumbered and outgunned by the Cylon force, so they need to devise a cunning plan to win the day. It’s basically Oceans 11 in outer space.
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Battlestar Galactica 1-9: Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down
Tight Me Up, Tigh Me Down is by far the worst episode of the first season, and one of the worst episodes of the entire series. While Galactica is seldom perfect, this is one of the few episodes that is outright bad.
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Battlestar Galactica 1-8: Flesh & Bone
Torture is a funny thing. Most people would probably agree that torture is bad. But in fiction, as with other forms of violence, torture takes on a certain air of respectability. When the good guy has captured the bad guy, and the audience knows the bad guy is really the bad guy, is it really…
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Battlestar Galactica 1-7: Six Degrees of Separation
Last episode, Number Six did a pretty good Bruce Banner impersonation, warning Baltar that he wouldn’t like her when she’s angry. In Six Degrees, she makes good on that threat: After Baltar makes fun of the Cylon god a few too many times, the Six in his head disappears, only to be replaced by a…
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Battlestar Galactica 1-6: Litmus
Why only 12 Cylon models? If you can make robots that pass for human beings, why limit yourself to 12? Wouldn’t it be easier to conquer and/or destroy humanity if you had 50, or 100? But okay, let’s say you only get 12, for reasons I have yet to hear but may be totally plausible.…
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Battlestar Galactica 1-4/5: The Fall & Redemption of Kara Thrace
Act of Contrition and You Can’t Go Home Again are two halves of a story, so we’ll knock them both off here. Why would anyone think making Starbuck a teacher is a good idea? Yes, she’s the best fighter pilot in the universe, but she’s also undisciplined, insubordinate, and possibly crazy. While there’s no question…
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Battlestar Galactica 1-3: Bastille Day
Hey, look! It’s Richard Hatch! (no, not that one) Battlestar Galactica is a remake, as we all know. It’s natural to want to pay homage to the original, but that sort of thing runs the risk of getting silly. Using the original theme music during a newscast was wonderful, but cameos from the “original” Cylons in…