TV Roundup – August 6, 2012

I know I’m going to sound like everyone else on the planet when I say this, but how did it become August already?  How are we approaching fall?  I’ve even been enjoying my summer!!!

My TV watching has been a little better this week, the Olympics take some regular programming off the air and I get a chance to catch up a bit.  Also, with it being August, I realized that I need to do some serious TV watching before the end of September when shows start coming back on.  I know that seems like a long time, but when your DVR is 85% full, that means a lot of TV needs to come your way.

I also think I might, once again, change the way I’m recapping TV shows.  Like I might do a small roundup thingie for shows I’m less interested in, or that don’t deserve a full recap.  But shows that I love?  I think I want to give them their own post.  I’m still thinking about this, cuz I went to a weekly recap primarily due to time constraints, so we’ll just see.  Mostly, The Newsroom, is calling to me for having a full length post.

True Blood 5.9 - We got a mildly interesting show this week, and all I can really say is it’s about damn time because now there are only three episodes left in the season.  What I really liked was that it (hopefully) seemed to wrap up a few of the more minor plots that I was sooo tired of, specifically things with Arlene/Terry and Sam/Luna.

Everything that is left now, with the exception of Suckie’s new vampire stalker, is all stuff that feeds into the main plot.

The best parts of this episode, as usual, are Eric and Lafeyette.  Eric is still the reluctant good guy, which really means that in a sea of chaos, he’s the only one with any sense.  Well, him and the adorable techie vampire, but I’m not sure if she’s much longer for the show.  Eric approached her asking how they could get out, so they came up with a plan, but Bill ruined it.  Previews for the future shows have voice-over of Bill telling Eric he’s going to die if he doesn’t accept Lilith as his true god and all that, but since Eric is a major character in this series, both on screen and off, I’m sure he’ll find a way out of it.  His helper though?  I’m betting she’s toast.

Can we just talk about this whole Lilith thing for a second?  What on earth has prompted these vampires to become so insanely devout?  Some of them are just pretending, like Russel, because he wants to kill people for the fun of it.  But the others…don’t they think for a second that they will fail, ultimately?

If we didn’t have four and a half seasons of Bill boring me half to death, I’d be more happy to say that he’s finally becoming a more interesting character.  I genuinely thought a few episodes ago that he was just playing a game with the vampires in the Authority, but with his betrayal of Eric, it seems like that might not be the case.  It could turn out that he is, because this show generally does a lot of flip-flopping with no real explanation, but so far it’s potentially interesting.

Part of me is also hoping that Alcide figures out what he’s doing and stops this poor lone wolf thing.  Sure, he’s been abjured from his pack, but I’m sure he can find another one.  I like him all confident and shirtless much better than the way he’s been the last episode.

Russel has now taken the local pack, whatever is closest to Bon Temps, and is feeding his blood to them.  What is it about werewolves that make them so vulnerable to the powers of vampire blood?  It’s weird.  Nearly every member of the pack lines up for the blood, and then when JD tries to be all “I’m the tough pack master”, Russel shows him who’s boss.  He slips into a German accent and tells JD the blood ain’t free!  I’ll be curious to see how this plays out the rest of the season, I have a feeling Russel is going to rebel against the Authority and use the wolves to fight his battle.

Being Human 1.5 & 1.6 - Despite my lack of love for Being Human (the US version), I decided to start getting somewhat caught up on it.  In 1.5, the major plot point is that Sally (the ghost) realizes the truth of how she died – that her fiance Danny unintentionally pushed her down the stairs.  Apparently Danny had a bit of a temper, and would get jealous, so when Sally claimed her engagement ring fell down the sink, he thought she was lying and got all mean and pushy, ultimately resulting in her being dead.  Her revenge is pretty awesome: she goes to his house and trashes it, leaving the engagement ring at the center of everything as a clear message.  Danny doesn’t know she’s a ghost, and certainly doesn’t know she knows the truth, but it amused me nonetheless.

In 1.6, Aidan (the vampire) finds out that Bishop (the sort of head vampire) sent a vamp into the hospital despite his request to not have that happen.  His revenge is also pretty hilarious – he waits for the hospital vampire to pull his fangs out, and then chips them off.  We learn that fangs don’t grow back, so basically, he’s a neutered vampire.  I’m not sure if this will continue to be something we see or not.  It really served as a way for us to learn more about the fact that Aidan isn’t a careful vampire in general, and you don’t want to mess with his bad side.

And because it would be unfair to go without mentioning Josh (the werewolf), he finds out that the annoying wolf who has been staying with him is actually his wolf sire, who has been looking for him for two years.  I guess the other wolf is lonely and wants a companion?  Either way, it doesn’t go well and Josh decides he doesn’t like that nonsense.

I have a hard time giving this version of the show credit for the cool plot points, because I believe the whole season was based off the UK version, which is reportedly much better.  Obviously I’m in no rush to watch this stuff, it’s been on my Tivo for over a year, but I do want to finish up what I’ve got on there before the third season starts in January.  It’s not bad enough to stop watching so far, it’s just not as entertaining as other television is.