If it weren’t for Smallville, it’d seem almost unbelievable that a show like Arrow not only exists on CW, but is also something of a hit. We’ll have to wait and see how taking a week off, and the nation’s collective turkey withdrawal, will affect the ratings, but the number of week-to-week viewers has slowly but surely climbed since the pilot, which pulled in a big audience from the get-go.
Skyfall isn’t your typical James Bond movie, which, for a franchise that has logged more than twenty entries over 50 years, is saying something. It’s not brand confusing, Never Say Never Again weird, or strange in the Moonraker, race-of-hyper-evolved-space-people sense, but it’s undeniably different from every Bond film that has come before it. That includes the previous two Daniel Craig movies, Casino Royale and Quantum, which already felt a little more like stepchildren rather than full-blooded heirs to the legacy.
Like the best works of literature, or your favorite film franchise, no television series is completely flawless. Long form storytelling offers a lot of narrative potential, but also creates more opportunities to royally screw up that potential, and one bad plotline can be all it takes to ruin a good show. A bad story or two hasn’t kept some of the all-time best programs from being just that however, and in retrospect, many stumbles that initially appeared toxic turned out to be relatively harmless overall.
Is there a comedy out there more serialized than Parks and Recreation? Having finally found a comfortable groove after its forgettable first six episodes, season two ended with a sizeable cliffhanger, one that shook up the cast, and segued into the ongoing Harvest Festival arc the next year. By that time, the writers were already demonstrating that their characters had a memory, and would put that to use when fleshing out the lives of Leslie and company, as well as Pawnee itself. It was that commitment to the details added each week that has made the show as rewarding as it is for devout followers, but also difficult for newer viewers to fully appreciate, because that sense of history and progression is vital to Parks and Recreation's identity.
Considering he spent the weekend adding $85 million to an international box office haul worth over $400 million, and that his latest adventure did so after barely making it out of the financial ruins of MGM’s bankruptcy, it’s pretty great to be James Bond right now. Thanks to the inspired choice of Sam Mendes as director, a deliciously menacing turn by Javier Bardem, and a uniquely introspective take on the character from A-list scribe John Logan, Skyfall is already making a name for itself as one of the best Bond films of all time.
For a show that’s built on the rather efficient structural hook of a kill list, Arrow has been awfully coy about explaining why it is a dusty old ledger is the guiding force behind Oliver Queen’s revenge. Yes, the last earthly possession your father gives you before handing off the responsibility of redeeming his soon-to-be-dead ass would have significance for most, but there’s always been something of a mystery to why it is Oliver follows the list with such dogmatic fervor. It’s completely blank the first time we see it in an island flashback, which only further clouded the question of how a spoiled trust fund babe with an empty pocket journal turned into Starling City’s angel of corporate death.
You hear that? That’s the sound of the Grand Theft Auto V hype machine finally kicking into high gear. Fans have spent the last few weeks salivating over a drip-feed of gorgeous screenshots, with excitement further stoked by confirmation of the game’s release in the Spring of next year, but after weeks of buildup all its own, the second official trailer for Grand Theft Auto V has been released.
Hands up: who actually thought It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia could pull off a bottle episode? While the show’s economic storytelling usually keeps the adventures contained to only a handful of sets, “The Gang Gets Analyzed” takes place almost entirely in a psychiatrist’s office. What’s more interesting, is that squishing everyone into one place for 20 minutes doesn’t require an elaborate setup; “The Gang Gets Held Hostage” and “Who Got Sweet Dee Pregnant” both took place within the confines of the bar, but relied on direct parody, or a unique framing device to carry the story. While having each member get there own individual segment might seem uncharacteristic, it’s a smart way of giving the characters their own plot the same way they do every week, just without cutting to a different location.
While still basking in the afterglow of their engagement, Leslie and Ben have to face that they’ve taken a big step towards becoming parents themselves, despite both coming from non-traditional families: Leslie’s father has been dead for who knows how long, and Ben’s parents… well, they wouldn’t necessarily mind the demise of one another. A party brings the Knopes and Wyatts together under one roof, but as the title of this week's episode of Parks and Recreation suggests, “Ben’s Parents” deliver a graduate thesis on familial tension at its worst.
That’s more like it. Though a single episode isn’t enough to prove that a show has definitively found its footing, week five of Arrow was firing on all cylinders, delivering the tight, fun, respectably acted hour of superhero television that the show has been striving towards, one which will hopefully become the new template for future stories.
