"He May be Blood, but He Ain't Family"

A review of "I Have a Right to Sing the Blues"
by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert!: Some of the surprises at in this episode of True Blood are given away or eluded to.



In the latest episode of True Blood, Jason continued to woo Crystal, only to discover that she is engaged to another man (who also looks like he is perpetually in a bar fight.)  Crystal is bringing out the sweetest and gentlest aspects of Jason and will hopefully this will distract him from his desire to become a cop without doing anything to earn being a cop.  Lafayette spent a day and evening with Jesus, only to have it ruined by a bunch of rednecks who beat up on Lafayette's new car with a baseball bat.  Tara was able to con Franklin into letting her out of her chains, and attempted to save herself and Sookie. Sam discovered what was really happening to his little brother, and went out to try and save him.  And the King of Mississippi discussed how much he hates normal humans. 

Lafayette and his new beau, Jesus, deserve the award for cutest couple on the show.  I'm terrified that Jesus is going to turn out to be a bad guy, as so many of the romantic potentials on this show turn out to be exactly that, especially when he got going on his religious beliefs over the Gods that Lafayette has in his house.  It was heartbreaking to watch a group of homophobes take down Lafayette's car, because it lead to Jesus realizing he didn't want to be around them.  
Erik's desire for his father's crown looks like it's going to be his motivation for the rest of the season.  It's a pity, since Erik is usually so much more interesting and complex than this.  The only good thing that has come of this storyline so far is that it has allowed the audience to see a man using sex to get what he wants, instead of just the female characters on this show. 

The costume people deserve points for their great work with Lafayette's costumes alone, but this show also had a great moment in women's costumes, when a customer at Merlotte's was wearing curlers in her hair.  What a hilarious costume.  Sophie-Ann, meanwhile, is also rocking out a great queenly look crossed with a business power suit crossed with the 1920s.  All the blood on the Lorena's costume in the second half of the episode was also perfect.  It's a little sad to see such pretty clothes being destroyed, but it also looks great and goes well with the horror tone of the show.  Melinda's nice blouse and combed hair was also a nice change for her, who has always looked liked she was rolling around in mud.  
It's also a relief to see Tara attempting to gain some control over her situation with Franklin.  It's good to see she is smart enough to realize how to get to Franklin and how to manipulate him, hopefully to her gain.  It's also a pleasure to see Tara and Sookie planning to save each other.  So many shows have men saving a damsel in distress, or, if the audience is lucky, a woman saving the day.  It is a nice change of pace to see a woman attempting to save herself and another woman.
The season seems to have a lot of people trying to save each other, or save themselves.  In Sam's case, he's trying to save his family, which are doing things he has only started to glimpse.  His own mother's belief that he isn't truly family is heart-breaking, given how much he does want to save them.  
In the not-so-good department, Sookie and the King's question and answer game was one of the longest, drawn-out and boring scenes, which is sad because it's suppose to be one of the most terrifying moments on the show.  The entire storyline involving Bill's time in Mississippi is long and boring.  The more characters it brings in, even the great ones, do not help the situation.  The only good thing that has come out of this storyline is Bill's small speech to Lorena about how much he wished he could have seen her before she turned.  It was the beginning to the great break moment between Lorena and Bill. 

Appointment with Death

by Courtney Hilden

Appointment with Death follows Poirot as he travels to the so-called "Middle East" to see a dig of an ancient city, where a Biblical character is said to be buried.  As always, there's murder in store when the archeologist's wife, who supplies him with the financial resources to dig, turns up dead at the site.  As always, Poirot is on the case, and, as always, there are several red herrings to distract everyone from the crime at hand. 
Poirot, like all great detectives, is all about the details, and in this outing the show itself was all about the details. Poirot, for example, was doing things in style, using an interesting cane device with a built-in binocular that allowed him to see things in the distance.  Some of the details were even creepy, like one man referring to his much younger fiance as his "child bride."  The first victim's unshuttable eyes were also a nice detail, as they emphasized how horrifying her death was.  Even Poirot himself was a little creepy, telling someone that his "gray cells" were "singing" to him while he was trying to solve the case. 

Some of details were also pertinent to the place.  They made a point at depicting the call to prayer, and then later showed a group of local men praying.  It's nice, given that this story is almost chiefly about British characters, that the show's producers and director and creators remembered to show that they are not the only ones around, although almost none of these "Arabs" (a word that is itself very troubling) had speaking parts in the story.  They're more like set pieces, in someways, much like Wedgwood plates and Edwardian furniture in those houses that Poirot so frequently inhabits.   
Speaking of faith, just as is Murder on the Orient Express, this episode emphasized Poirot's Catholic faith.  One of the villains of the story was masquerading as a nun, but Poirot stayed with his faith, even passing it on to one of the ultimate victims of the story, the four children who were brutally abused by the the first murdered victim.  It's too bad that the child abuse aspect of the story was kept at such a minimum, since it was the most interesting and depressing part of the story. 

Trouble

Spoiler Alert!: Certain details of the latest episode of True Blood are revealed in this review.
by Courtney Hilden

Given the nature of True Blood, with it now multiple storylines all moving at once, it seemed more effective to simply work through each plot instead of trying to analyze the work has a whole, which it in some ways is not. Let's get started:
-The scene with Franklin texting for Tara was funny, but still very squishy, given how messed up Franklin is. It was such a relief to see her get out of her robes and make a run for it, especially since watching her confined episode after episode was disheartening. They're obviously working the battered woman syndrome, where Tara feels genuinely bad for hurting Franklin, though he's obviously the one hurting her.
-Kenya is so smart and capable. Hopefully we'll see more of her soon. Given the storylines with some many female characters who are submissive to men, it is nice to have one who demands respect from her co-workers. Also nice is the power that Sookie appears to be developing. Hopefully this will allow her real power amongst the mostly male supernatural characters.
-Looks like Jason is not going to leave the whole "being a cop" thing. It's too bad, because after last season, I was hoping that Jason would evolve as a character, and instead he's doing the same thing he always does, just with more resources at his disposal for trouble. Although it seems clear from his running Crystal down in a cop car that he at least understands what cops do in porn films, so maybe that is a sign of progress. In the books, the "romance" between Crystal and Jason is mostly physical, but here they have decided to change it so that it is more of a Romeo and Juliet style story, in which both of them are from different groups of people. Of course, what Jason does not yet know is that she's not just from Hotshot, she's also supernatural, and will change him into something supernatural. The actress who plays Crystal is lovely.
-Would someone put a gallery together of all the great outfits Lafayette wears? That man has a great sense of style. Lafayette being so unfamiliar with romantic attention was so cute.
-Also dealing with romantic attention was Jessica. Hoyt showing up to her workplace with a girl was the ultimate in hurtful.
-Sam's family problems are so hard to watch. Sam is not stupid, which given the majority of the other characters on this show, is refreshing. It's good to see that he at least sees things as a problem, unlike Jason who does not even try to improve or Sookie who runs into everything and every man that looks like a bad idea. Again, Sam's family problems seemed centered around abuse, just a slightly different abuse than the one poor Tara is experiencing.
-Speaking of family, Eric is clearly worried for his vampire daughter. His loyalty to his own is admirable, especially considering how everyone else concentrates on what a jerk he is. His backstory about being a Viking prince has been, by far, the only interesting backstory this entire series. Not that we need more of them, since they generally do not illuminate much about the characters they show.
-And finally, Terry Bellefleur is so sweet. Watching him cry over his about-to-be normal life was so darling.

"Hell is the Truth Learned Too Late"

Or, a Review of "Third Girl"
by Courtney Hilden

"Third Girl," the latest in this series of Poirot's adventures, is by far the most messy and difficult to understand story. The story involves a young woman named Norma, who visits Poirot, telling him that she believed she had committed a crime. This is apparently all Poirot needs, because he is off, tracking this girl down and trying to decide if she, indeed, has done something wrong. He discovers her involvement in a crime, including that of her two roommates, Frances, an actress, and Claudia Reese-Holland, a secretary and lover of Norma's Father, and Norma's boyfriend David, a painter. It's an embarrassingly bad and bland attempt at making a mystery interesting.
Other than that, it is hard to know where to begin with this dead carcass of a mystery. It is slow moving. The majority of the characters are impossible to care for, and Mr. Rodderick and Norma's interactions feel more like a creepy incestuous relationship than that of a father or daughter. At least one of them was suppose to believe that they were in a real relationship. Sonia and her relationship with a much older man was also creepy. The music was also melodramatic and miserable. Music is only suppose to be that on the nose in soap operas.
Once again, Jemima Rooper manages to give a great, relateable and believable performance as the title character. If her miraculous work making her the only consistently good thing on Hex and this episode of Poirot is any indication, Rooper deserves bigger and better roles, because she can clearly work material into something good.
There are other, smaller things that made this better. Poirot being insulted several times for being too old was a nice touch of levity (and perhaps another meta comment on the series, as part of the inclusion of a stand-in for Christie herself.) It was also nice to show Poirot being compassionate and solving this mystery for genuine concern for Norma, and not for being harsh and unyielding like he has become in other outings. Next time, he should be allowed to feel for his victims. Helping others should be his motivation, not enforcing the law on other's.

Crimes

by Courtney Hilden


In True Blood land, Bill has officially (thankfully) dumped Sookie.  A normal girl would get angry, break some glass bottles, and then move on.  Sookie, of course, decides to take denial to new levels by staying in another state to look for him.  Sam tries to right his family, Jason attempts to bypass become a police officer the traditional way, Tara is held hostage by Franklin, Lafayette fails to sell his drugs, and Eric's club is sacked.  A lot happens in these episodes, so let's focus on the good and the bad.  
It's really bothersome that Sookie takes two seconds to be attracted to Alcide, especially after he's involved in violence.  Is Sookie attracted to violence and emotional baggage?  She's almost as bad as Bella Swan.
In the books, the audience does not see Bill's stay in Mississippi, and now that the audience can see it on screen, it's easy to see why Harris, the author, left it out.  Bill's plotline continues to be boring and slows down the rest of the episode.  The other irritating plotline is Arlene's anti-vampire screed.  Once again, this show has decided that women are all crazy and bitchy, especially when they are pregnant.  
Some of the other problems with this episode included originality.  Jason's little football-playing-rival Kit called himself the "QB" which is exactly what Kevin called himself on Daria.  And apparently the writers have watching high school rom coms from the nineties, because Sookie got a makeover in order to impress a guy. 
But some things are worth watching for.  The acting by the secondary characters continues to amaze.  Franklin and Tara's scene where Franklin dictated her call was spot on, both scary and terrifying, like a particular moment in the "Midnight" episode of Doctor Who.  Tara's scenes where she was tied up was great too, showing us that Franklin is a rapist, using not just sex but people's mind against them.  Points also to Sookie and Eric, who once again have chemistry in a line of dialogue that outdoes everything Sookie and Bill have had this entire show.
The interesting juxtapositions with faith have also continued, though this is by far the bizarrest way yet.  This time, vampires donating blood in a ritual meant to imitate the Christian ceremony of drinking Jesus's blood.  How exactly the audience should interpret this on-the-nose reference has not been yet revealed, but probably will be as the season continues, just like the show's thoughts on evangelicalism was fleshed out over the course of season two.  
There are also great friendships on this show.  At the end of the last season, the show highlighted Andy and Jason, which continues to be wonderful but now slightly painful.  It's too sad the relationship between Andy and Jason is souring, because so many shows lack friendships that feel as real and faithful as the ones in our lives. This episode showed Eric and Lafayette in a different kind of friendship.  Scenes where Lafayette is discriminated against because of his sexuality, his race and his connection to vampires is hard to watch, but seeing Eric protect his own was a relief, though not as empowering as "AIDS burger" from season one.
And no show can be bad if it uses a song from Massive Attack, so the show, despite having clunky elements to it, also has moments of genius. 

Make Your Move

by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert!: This is one of those romance novels with a mystery, and some of the clues are given away in this review.

Make Your Move by Samantha Hunter is about a young woman and entrepreneur, Jodie, and her business partner and best friend, Dan. Jodie and Dan own their own bakery with cookies that contain a "special ingredient" that work somewhat similarly to Spanish Fly combined with an aphrodisiac. In his day job, Dan works as a scientist at a university, which is how he developed the ingredient. Dan's in love with Jodie and they both decide to give it a try. This would all be fine and lovely if it weren't for the fact that someone has broken into the bakery and stolen the ingredient, blackmailing them both.
Usually, romance novels suffer from a lack of plot, but this one works to at least have obstacles for the characters to overcome, both romantically and professionally. There's a small mystery to solve, and Hunter smartly sets it up so that there's easily a least four potential thieves at the beginning of the novel. It's almost too bad that Hunter didn't stretch this mystery out a little more, since it would be a great opportunity to set up more time for Dan and Jodie to explore their feelings for one another, and bring to light some of the emotionally problems Jodie has with men. It's also a pity that the thief turned out to be the most obvious answer, instead of someone less expected or more complicated.
The "science" of this special ingredient is handled well. Often, when writers create something that is fantastic, they break their own rules of the story to make something else go a particular way. Here, Hunter defines the rules early and sticks to them. Although some of the characters themselves confuse the "science" with other things, they get set right, and the story itself never deviates. So much of science-fiction and fantasy, not just in books but in film, could learn from this example.
On the issue of feminism, this book, like so many others, makes Dan stereotypically macho, with him showing possessiveness and being violent. Although Jodie is in no way helpless or pathetic, since she has built a business from the ground up, is often sidelined for Dan, who is so smart and manly. It would be nice, for a change, for men and women to be defined by something other than their gender. Also, making Jodie's business a traditional womanly art is not really as feminist as it might first appear. And Ginger, Jodie's best friend, is not somehow better for getting back together with her husband who just left her and then suddenly changes into a good man.
One of the stronger romances out there, and one that actually attempts a plot. (And, it should be said, a plot that could probably stand on its own as a short story.) Like most romances and romance novels, it's imperfect and quick.

"There Are Things God Will Never Forgive"

A Review of Murder on the Orient Express
by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert!: Some of the clues to this shockingly good mystery are revealed in this review.

There are few murder mysteries that are recognizable even to non-mystery fans: Ten Little Indians, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Murder on the Orient Express. The last has recently been adapted for a movie, and it blows most mysteries out of the proverbial snow drift, painting everything in snow white and murky gray, meditating on faith and justice, filled with hubris and the empty feeling of being near death, leaving the main character and the audience as cold as the winter world outside the train cars on the Orient Express.
The story follows Poirot on a trip aboard the title train. It is only through befriending the train's owner that he secures for himself aboard. Sometime the first night the lodger in the room next to him dies after being stabbed several times in several odd ways. Poirot, despite his reluctance, begins to solve the crime.
Smart choices are made by the creators. The music during the opening scene (in which Poirot gives one of his celebrated analysis-turned-interrogation only to have the criminal commit suicide in front of him) is dissonant and perfect, like the sound Lost used to signify it was flashing back, forward, to the side or where ever else that show wanted to go.
Toby Jones, last seen playing the Dream Lord on Doctor Who, brings another thankless but great small performance in the role of the victim. He gives us no question to his vileness or how he is used to getting what he wants, but leaves us to ponder his repentance. David Morrissey and Hugh Bonneville also give their normal level of top-notch performing.
There are even brief moments of humor in an otherwise deeply serious film. At one point a character uses the word “Bastard” and then apologizes, asking everyone to excuse “her French.” “It is indeed a French word,” Poirot replies.
Thematically, the connection between faith and justice is made. Poirot, a Catholic, believes in justice through the courts, yet many of the other train passengers clearly believe in picking up where God, if he exists or not, exacting revenge. Shots of rosaries, one of the few things that could logically be on a train are used throughout. The thing that is particularly smart about all of this is that the story never makes a blatant judgment on the moral standings of these characters. It would be easy to descent into this, but by making no one right and no one wrong, the audience if left to contemplate the nature of right and wrong on their own. Films without answers are always the ones that stay with us the longest, and, even though the mystery of who murdered the train passenger is solved, the mystery of what is right and wrong, of what God asks us to do, and what justice really is remain as mysterious as the murder was in the beginning.

In most films with this kind of moral conundrum, the murderers would then be shown as self-made monsters, who, now that they have taken the law into their hands once are willing to do it once again. Instead, they wisely speak to one another, as a counsel, as their own appointed God, and this leaves their previous actions look all the more noble, since they are capable of sticking themselves to a very hard, though different from Poirot’s, moral standard.
It's not a flawless film. Poirot's habit of speaking in third person is still irritating.
The film also flirts around an Imperialist interpretation of the so-called Middle East. Turkey, where the film begins, is depicted with every stereotype of the region you can think of: violent, hateful towards women and uncivilized.
Poirot himself has always been the weakest thing about these outings. These days, with characters on tv on other mystery shows like Bones, Law and Order, CSI, etc. that contain detectives as dark, interesting and surprising as their suspects, it's no longer acceptable to have detectives who blandly sit in as the observer for the audience. They have to being going through something during the crimes, they have to be emotionally invested, and, if possible, dark and just barely able to put on the show of being okay.
Poirot, despite the revelation at the end, stays as static at the end of the film as he was at the beginning. He’s shaken, sure, but he shows no signs of changing his views. He’s just as much as an unfeeling and severe hardass at the beginning as he is at the end. No matter how glazed over his eyes are through much of the film or the waterworks that happens at the end, the audience is left with no question as to his unbowed point of view. What would be really fun to watch is him changing his mind, or even better, changing how he handles crime. As chilling as the weather or the crime in this story, nothing is as chilly as someone unable to consider the other side’s argument. No one wants to watch a guy so hard-wound that he specifies to waiters that he wants his eggs to be the exact same size.

Despicable Me

by Courtney Hilden

Despicable Me, the latest from Pixar, follows Gru, a bad guy from some Eastern European country. (I thought he was Hungarian, though I've seen others identify him as Russian.) His latest scheme is to steal the Moon, and to do so, he's decided he needs the shrink ray of Vector, another evil villain who spends time building various rays that shoot out sea life. Vector has ordered cookies from a group of girls, who Gru adopts.At this point, you probably don't need to hear about the rest of the plot, because this is a Hollywood movie, so you can already guess that Gru will soften to the girls and then reverse his evil plan for stealing the Moon. The plot is standard, but only if you think about it. It's handled well-enough that it's easy to just sit back and smile. The art is now standard for Pixar, which is not to say it's bad, but it isn't game-changing. It mostly just is.
This is not to say that there are some interesting flourishes along the way, because there are.
The opening scene, including the American family on a trip to Egypt, merit an entire movie in their own right, maybe one following their trips around the world. Pharrell Williams, the more famous member of the duo the Neptunes, is given credit for scoring the music. The song he recorded for the movie is delightful. It combines a Hitchcockian beat with a slight side of gangster. Pharrell should consider doing more music for movies, because he's clearly talented at doing more than remixes and making great dance songs. There was even an on-the-nose joke likening Lehman Brothers to the fictional Bank of Evil, a rare shoutout at current events.

The Big Bang

by Courtney Hilden

Usually, with the second part episode, it picks up exactly where the audience left off. Doctor Who decides to open in media res, with young Amelia, a believer in stars, goes to a museum and opens up the Pandorica. If you watched the last episode, you'd expect the Doctor to be inside. Instead, Amy is, flipping the audience back to Roman Britain, when Rory is given directions from the Doctor.
The only bad thing about this episode was Amy's attire. It's too bad that given the controversy over Amy's wardrobe that she was forced to wear pants instead of her cute, and totally normal, skirts.
This finale included some well-planned and perfectly executed time-travel. The writers behind the show must have realized how exhausting, and now boring, the quicken exposition is, so they took their time now, even joking that it wasn't slow enough for Rory. The episode also included a great reference at Richard Dawkins, saying that he was a cult leader. Somehow, that feels totally right, which was just like the rest of the episode. Cheers to the people behind Doctor Who for writing story arcs that go beyond just one season and for integrating all of our favorite things, including River Song. Can't wait to see more of her.

The Pandorica Opens

by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert!: The conclusion of this episode, and the massive twist, is given away in this review.

"The Pandorica Opens" is the penultimate episode of this year's Doctor Who. The episode begins with Vincent creating a strange, unseen-by-the-audience painting that finds its way to Winston Churchill, who then tips off Dr. Song, who steals in from Liz 10. Dr. Song, using her knowledge of where the Doctor is in time, leaves him a message of the oldest of planets, Planet One, which sends the Doctor and Amy to Roman conquered-Britain, sometime after the death of Cleopatra, where they discover, indeed, that the Pandorica exists. Now they just have to figure out what's inside, why every great villain is showing up to meet it, and how to stop some unstoppable villain.

It's brilliant that they were able to wrap around various plotlines from earlier in the season to this. They also brought in Stonehenge, answering, at least for the Whovians, what's down there. What a great way of integrating Rory back into the mix as a Roman solider. (Poor Rory, not being remembered by Amy.) And the revelation at the end of the episode, that the Doctor himself was the ultimate weapon, was a great twist, though one that makes a lot of sense, given the trajectory of the last few seasons.
Also, props for bringing back the most beloved guest characters, Dr. Song and Liz 10. Too bad we didn't get to see more of Liz 10, who they should really consider for a companion.
The not so brilliant bits? Bringing the normal group of villains back, like the Daleks and the Cybermen. I've already mocked this most recent brand of Daleks by calling their leader White Chocolate Dalek. It's too bad that this show always has to use the same villains, instead of inventing new, and less grandiose, antagonists.

The Blue Geranium

by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert: Though the murderer is not revealed in this review, other details are.

"The Blue Geranium" is a unique episode of the latest Miss Marple series. Instead of opening up solely with the crime, it opens up with the second crime, then moves forward in time by six months to the trial of the believed killer. Miss Marple, at home and doing some gardening, realizes that the wrong killer is on trial, and then tries frantically to get to the Old Bailey in time to save the day, since the killer, if convicted, will be hanged.
The original short story, one which this episode is based, actually had Miss Marple telling the story to a group of friends and amateur sleuths at her home. Deciding not to introduce these characters, the episode opted instead for Marple to be narrating many of the events to an old friend. This is a nice change-up from the typical Marple episode, in which things are not told from any character's point of view. It also makes the mystery harder to solve, since changing from time to time means the audience has to put together a coherent timeline before even getting to the crimes. In addition to that, the audience has two murders to solve and two mysteries (who is the real killer and who is on trial).

The rest of the story is sadly not as interesting or as engaging as past Marple outings. Toby Stevens, playing the believed killer, Mr. Pritchard, and Claudie Blakley, playing his ex-girlfriend and sister-in-law Phillipa Pritchard, give serviceable performances. Sharon Small plays Mary Pritchard, Pritchard's wife, and she brings the crazy. People on the edge of insanity are often unbelievable, and this role is difficult because she has to be both irritating enough that the audience can see why Pritchard would hate her, but can't over do it. Small manages to make Mary unlikeable, but keeps the full-blown crazy to a minimum. More than anything, she's just unpleasant and paranoid, saying nasty things to the maid and harassing the police inspector. The costumes and set are decent, though the eagle decorated podium within the church was far too much.