Review of ‘Fringe’ – Dream Logic

The search for the ultimate high leads to the theft of dreams and the unleashing a living nightmare

Most people are not scared by their dreams. Only nightmares are frightening; and even then, we know that nightmares are not real. But this episode reminded us that for some, nightmares are all too real and they can scare you to death. Watching just the few patients highlighted, we saw the terror they experienced from a simple dream.  For them sleep was not a sanctuary from their every day lives and troubles, their dreams were what they wanted to hide from. Thus, Dr. Nayak’s (Ravi Kapoor) bio-chip implanted into their brains was their salvation.

It was just a shame that one man’s salvation led to another man’s downfall. Dr. Nayak’s addiction to other people’s dreams was his undoing.  Peter (Joshua Jackson) summarized it nicely with, “His addiction to dreams became his nightmare — one that he could not wake up from.” Dr. Nayak may have thought he was helping people, but by stealing their dreams and then playing those dreams back when they were awake led to horrific acts of violence. People are not meant to experience dreams awake as the conscious mind cannot handle it. It is truly extraordinary that the subconscious mind is better equipped to handle nightmares, but perhaps that is because the conscious mind is too busy dealing with reality to combat both reality and nightmares simultaneously.

So as Olivia (Anna Torv), Peter and Walter (John Noble) grappled with what was causing these people to lose touch with reality and react to a perceived threat, we also saw each of the team face their own nightmares.

Olivia had gone to see Sam Weiss (Kevin Corrigan) as the death of Charlie (Kirk Acevedo) had caused her to doubt herself again. Peter was experiencing flashbacks to his childhood nightmares. And Walter was worried that Peter would finally figure out that his nightmares were actually memories.

In the end, Olivia was the only one who dealt with her nightmare. Sam had accurately assessed, “your life is something of a nightmare,” and in order to deal with it, he recommended that she collect business cards from each person she met. When pressed about what she was supposed to do with those business cards, Sam told her to locate a letter from the names on each business card and to rearrange those specific letters to create an anagram. This would unlock the puzzle of what Olivia’s subconscious was trying to tell her. In the end, it was only after visiting Charlie’s grave that Olivia was finally able to see the hidden message, “you’re gonna be fine.” Not totally earth-shattering, but it was just what she needed to hear.

However, in Peter’s case, we saw him awakening from yet another nightmare with Walter worriedly sitting beside him. After Peter explained what he had seen in his nightmare, Walter cautiously asked, “And the rest, you don’t remember it?” To which Peter simply shook his head. But one day Peter will remember the end of that nightmare and the horror of what happened to him may just come crashing down on him. It will be a living nightmare. And this is what Walter is worried about. It will be his ultimate nightmare too.

What Worked

It was good to see Peter taking an active part in the investigation again and that babysitting duty had been relegated to trusting FBI agent, Agent Kashner (Travis Schuldt). This allowed Peter to assist Olivia in figuring out what was going on with the sleep-deprived patients. It also provided a nice moment when Peter knocked on Olivia’s hotel room door late one night and they got to swap stories about their respective nightwear. It was perhaps fleeting, but it again shows the foundations of a common rapport and subtle attraction.

It was also quite fun to try to figure out why on earth Olivia was collecting business cards from everyone and then watching her struggle to solve the riddle that Sam had given her. On many levels, this episode had our brains spinning as we too had to figure out the mysteries within mysteries.

By far, the best line of the episode was Walter telling Astrid (Jasika Nicole), “Don’t be a Grinch. Science is supposed to be fun!” Only Walter would equate Astrid’s hesitancy to use human subjects with being a Christmas Grinch.

What Didn’t Work

As much fun as it was meeting Agent Kashner, we can only hope that there will not be a revolving door of FBI agents that appear for simply one or two episode before disappearing into the ether. I am still wondering what ever happened to Agent Jessup (Meghan Markle). Character continuity (even amongst background characters) helps keep one invested in a show.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Dream Logic’ was written by Josh Singer and directed by Paul A. Edwards. ‘Fringe’ stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Jasika Nicole. ‘Fringe’ airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Fox.

Spotlight on Lou Diamond Phillips

Starting his career innocuously in the mid-1980’s, working as nameless punks or thugs, Lou Diamond Phillips got a break in 1987 on “Miami Vice” and that same year lightening struck with a break-out role as Ritchie Valens in the film “La Bamba.”  He quickly followed up that astounding and critically-acclaimed performance with an even more eye-opening performance as Angel Guzman in the film “Stand and Deliver” along side Edward James Olmos.  (Side-note:  It is fascinating to see that both Lou Diamond Phillips and Edward James Olmos ended up in two pivotal sci-fi television series nearly 20 years later — Edward James Olmos having portrayed Admiral Adama on the Syfy series “Battlestar Galactica” and Lou Diamond Phillips now appears in Syfy’s “Stargate Universe.”)

Riding the wave of instant popularity and box-office success, Lou continued his streak by appearing in the films “Young Guns” and “Young Guns II,” thereby solidifying his role as a young Hollywood heart-throb.  Then through the 1990’s, he tackled a wide-array of roles ranging from playing an outcast in “Sioux City” beside Salli Richardson-Whitfield (“Eureka”), a tortured military soldier in “Courage Under Fire” with Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan, and a medical officer in the sci-fi film “Supernova” with James Spader and Robin Tunney.  Perhaps tiring of the grueling pace of feature film, Lou agreed to tackle a television series and headlined the gothic-horror “Wolf Lake.”  Alas, audiences did not take to the idea of having werewolves living amongst us in modern society and that series ended after only ten episodes.

Not one to rest on his laurels or kick-back, Lou threw himself into an even more ambitious work schedule tackling no less than 8 feature films and 20 television roles in the span of 7 years.  Most notably, he appeared in the second season of “24” (along side his “Young Guns” co-star Kiefer Sutherland) and then did a quick stop-by in the critic’s favorite “Jack & Bobby” to make an appearance as Jack’s father which inspired him to one day become the U.S. public defender.  He also appeared in the television mini-series “The Triangle” with Eric Stoltz (who stars in the upcoming sci-fi series “Caprica”) as the sole survivor of a Triangle-event which left him trapped in a different timeline.

Then in recent years, Lou has made regular guest appearances on the mathematical drama “Numb3rs” as Agent Ian Edgerton and also made a brief appearance earlier this year in “The Beast” (the Patrick Swayze undercover FBI drama).

With such a varied and extensive career under his belt, it is a wonder that Lou has had any time to sleep in the past two decades.  But, being driven and ambitious, he quickly latched onto a new break-out sci-fi series “Stargate Universe” in the ambiguous role of Col. David Telford.  His casting on the show was no less surprising than some of his co-stars as “Stargate Universe” has tried to distinguish itself as the darker, edgier version of its predecessors.  The casting of Lou Diamond Phillips is a testament to that vision as he is an actor who relishes the most challenging and diverse roles available.  It will be intriguing to see where Lou goes both as his character, Col. David Telford in “Stargate Universe” and in his professional career.

Review of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ – Lost Girls

Be careful what you wish for

Not wasting one second of this lush and bursting at the seams episode, the show opened just where it left off the week before, with Elena’s (Nina Dobrev) harsh demand, “What are you?” ringing in our ears.

Stefan (Paul Wesley) tried to delay the inevitable by obliquely saying, “You know — or you wouldn’t be here.” But Elena would not be deflected by such a flimsy response and Stefan was forced to elaborate and, with a hint of anguish in his voice, he explained, “Everything you know and every belief that you have is about to change. Are you ready for that?” and with one final look at her determined face, he finally quietly said, “I’m a vampire.” With that final admission, Elena’s world tilted irrevocably forever. Just like with the death of her parents just a few months before, life had thrown a curveball that she never saw coming. But acquiescing to Stefan’s urgent plea “to just give me one day” so that he could explain and answer her questions, we finally got to see a few pivotal pieces from the Stefan, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Katherine saga.

With Stefan occupied trying to diminish the horror of the new world Elena had just discovered, Damon was recuperating from his traumatic near-death experience. After he had fed on all the Townies he could get his hands on, he tried to cover his tracks by burning the bodies. Thus, imagine his surprise when he found Vicki (Kayla Ewell) still alive. Feeling compassion or some other unfathomable emotion, he decided to rescue her and took her back to the Salvatore home. But, without his protective ring, he was unable to stand sunlight and was confined to the house with her. With an exasperated side-comment “oh, don’t get blood on the couch, please!” remark, Damon finally capitulated and said, “I’m so going to regret this,” and fed Vicki some of his own blood – which quickly healed her wounds. Alas, that just revived Vicki into a hyper drug-high state and she bounced around the house with Vampire-infused energy. But like with any drug, whatever goes up, must come down. Within a few hours, Vicki was a blubbering mess of insecurity and self-pity and Damon finally driven to his breaking point, said, “I think I know what can help you – death!” and promptly snapped her neck. But even death could not conquer the powerful healing effects of the vampire-blood pumping throughout Vicki’s body. It just reawakened her yet again and unleashed Vicki on the unsuspecting town of Mystic Falls.

As the parable says, “be careful what you wish for, it just may come true.” In this case, Stefan wanted to tell Elena about who he really was, Elena wanted to find out what Stefan was hiding, Damon wanted to be the good guy, and Vicki wanted to be special — and they all got what they wanted. But it was not what they truly wanted at all.

By telling Elena who he was and how he became a vampire, Stefan only succeeded in pushing Elena further away. For Elena ultimately made her decision and told Stefan, “I gave you today, just like you asked.  But I can’t be with you, Stefan. I’m sorry, but I just can’t.” The horror of Stefan’s life and the danger he had brought into her life was more than Elena could bear.

As for Elena, in her case ignorance was bliss. She had been much happier thinking of Stefan as simply a mysterious teenage boy with a troubled brother, than finding out he was a 145 year old vampire. That was more reality than she truly wanted to face or deal with. It was the last kind of secret she expected and it took away her blissful innocence about the world around her. Having barely survived the harsh reality of her parent’s death, unveiling a reality where vampires exist was perhaps more than her fragile state of mind could handle.

Then, as for Damon, he wanted to see himself as the hero in the story, and not the villain. In saving Vicki’s life and giving her the choice to continuing living in misery or to embrace a new future as more than she was, he thought he had given her a gift. But as Elena reminded him, “Did you thank Katherine?” How can one ever be truly grateful for being turned into a creature of the night? For it was not a gift at all. It was a curse. And it did not make him a hero — despite his misguided intentions.

And Vicki, she is now even more lost, confused and troubled than before. Prior to her conversion, she was merely a girl with problems — problems that could have been fixed. But once she made the choice to drink human blood, she did become special. She is now a vampire. But she will soon find it is more problematic than her prior drug-addiction problems. Being something that is not even human wont make her feel special. It will only make her feel like more of the monster that she the one she saw in the mirror before.

Like Stefan and Damon, Vicki will not be thankful for being made an outcast, something to be reviled, hunted and feared. She will not be thankful to be something that Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) will not be able to love — and that is all she ever truly wanted. That is all they all want — to be loved and accepted.

No, these were not the things that they all truly wanted. Their wishes came true — just never in the way they expected.

What Worked

The flashbacks to the time of Katherine’s reign were glorious. It was seductive and dazzling and we fully appreciated how both Stefan and Damon where charmed and entranced by such a woman. It also helped us see how innocent they both were and why they both yearn to be more than they are.

What Didn’t Work

While understandable that this was a complex enough episode without needing to add to it, it would have been nice to see a bit more of Bonnie (Katerina Graham) and Caroline (Candice Accola). Their absence was felt keenly and hopefully they will be more prevalent in upcoming episodes.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Lost Girls’ was written by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, and directed by Marcos Siega. ‘The Vampire Diaries’ stars Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, Steven R. McQueen, Candice Accola, Katerina Graham, Kayla Ewell, Michael Trevino, Zach Roerig and Sara Canning. ‘The Vampire Diaries’ airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on the CW.

Review of “Drop Dead Diva’ – Grayson’s Anatomy

True love, destiny and fate — all spark an age old debate

Ending the first season on a spectacularly high note, Drop Dead Diva’s finale dealt with no less weighty issues than: Are we destined to have one true love?  Are our lives predetermined by destiny?  Or is it all simply a matter of fate? These were the questions delicately and quite humorously addressed and, unfortunately, left hanging in this episode.  For Deb (Brooke Elliott) had begun to wonder about her life as Jane and whether it meant that she must live the life old Jane carved-out, or if she can change her life and live as a new Jane.

Fresh off her inadvertent date with Grayson (Jackson Hurst) in the prior episode, after Tony (David Denman) had canceled at the last minute due to work and Kim (Kate Levering) had broken up with Grayson, we got a glimpse into Grayson’s inner thoughts as he awoke from a dream about nearly kissing Jane.  The expression on his face clearly showed his confusion about the dream and what it meant.

But, in Jane’s world, things are going smoothly with Tony (David Denman) who thoughtfully brought Jane lunch at the office and invited her on a romantic getaway to Napa.  Grayson could only watch in the background contemplating how he felt about Jane.  Later Grayson inadvertently admitted to Stacy (April Bowlby) that he was having trouble sleeping because he had been dreaming about Jane.  Predictably, Stacy told Jane about Grayson’s revealing disclosure and that put Jane in a quandary:  does she continue to pursue the relationship with Tony or take the time to find out whether Grayson feels something for her?

In the end, Jane made her decision.  It was time for her to live her life as “new Jane” and no longer as “old Jane.”  She is not Deb anymore and she is not Jane either.  Thus, she needs to figure out who she is as the “new Jane.”  This meant no clinging to the past and wishing for things to be as they had been with Grayson.  It was time to put the past in the past — and Tony promised a new future.  However, just as Jane made that firm decision, there was a knock at the door and low and behold if it wasn’t a new romantic entanglement:  Jane’s husband, Ethan (Devon Gummersall).  Talk about a major cliff-hanger?!

Paralleling Jane’s dilemma, we watched Jane struggle with a case involving an aging minor-league baseball player, Eric Hayes (Bryce Johnson), who had undergone rotator cuff surgery only to find out the surgery had been botched and it left him unable to play baseball anymore.  In a huge display of faith, Parker (Josh Stamberg) invited Jane to be first-chair with Kim acting as second chair on the case.  While Terri (Margaret Cho) and Jane wanted to credit the star-treatment to the “partner pen” that Terri had gotten for Jane, it was a smart move for Parker to allow Jane such an opportunity to shine.  Despite the typical bickering and tug-of-war on legal strategy regarding whether to pursue the sloppy doctor’s history or the injured ballplayer’s background, the case was ultimately a slam-dunk victory to the tune of a $15 million settlement.

But it was a shallow victory once Jane realized that she had been duped into helping defraud the doctor’s malpractice insurance carrier.  It had been Dr. Dumont (Alicia Coppola) and Eric Hays’ plan all along to retire young and rich.  They had carefully concealed their affair so that even Jane was not suspicious until that one slip up by Eric when he mentioned that he would be taking a few weeks off to relax at the Kona Coast in Hawaii after receiving the settlement money.  That was when Jane remembered that Dr. Dumont had a home on the Kona Coast and then dug up the credit card receipts to verify the affair.  With the evidence staring her right in the face, Jane immediately took it Parker and Kim to share the bad news, “This whole case was a scam and we just helped them steal $15 million.”

But to Jane’s dismay, Parker rebuked her and said, “Forget the money.  If word gets out we turned on our clients, we’ll have no clients.  You’ll say nothing because you’re not allowed to – attorney-client privilege.”  Faced with Parker’s unyielding stance, Jane said in horror and astonishment, “So everyone gets to be ethical but me?!”  Contemplating her predicament, Jane later told Terri, “If my career goes up in flames, yours does too and that’s not fair.”  However, surprisingly, Terri said, “Six years ago, I took this job, yes – because I believed you were going places – but now I’m working for you because of who you are, not where you’re going.  Do what you have to do.”  Backed with this unexpected support, Jane played a reverse scam of her own on the wily Dr. Dumont to make her believe that Eric had only used her so that he could get the money and then cut her out of the deal.  Thus, Jane was able to get a full confession from her on tape – a tape which Jane determinedly put in the mail to the District Attorney’s office along with a note for Parker.

This was a make or break point for Jane.  Does she turn her back on the fraud committed with her unwitting aid, or does she do the right thing?  In the end, she just could not live with it and did the right thing.  She had to expose the fraud – even at the cost of her law license.  So just like with Grayson, she had to let go.  She had to let go of her life as Deb and her life as old-Jane.

With both her career and love-life hanging in the balance, it remains to be seen how the second season will resolve these dire predicaments.

WHAT WORKED:

Back-dropping the episode was another legal case involving a model who was fired after a lingerie company discovered she was a cancer survivor.  Upon first discovering this deplorable treatment, Jane vowed to “make them cry.”  But it fell to Grayson and Stacy to be the legal champions while Jane was tied up on the medical malpractice case.  Thus, there were some delightful comedic moments with Stacy trying to conquer the mind-bending legalese, but in the end it was Stacy’s insight that helped them prevail.  Employing some sexy black lingerie worn by the model as she disrobed on the stand, Grayson good-naturedly asked, “So who’s thinking of cancer now?”  Clearly, no one was thinking about cancer after that!  It was a clever way to provide some levity and make a point that women are beautiful no matter what they may have gone through or experienced.  It was a classic “Drop Dead Diva” storyline to emphasize women-empowerment.

GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE:

“Grayson’s Anatomy” was written by Alex Taub and Jeffrey Lippman and directed by David Petrarca. Drop Dead Diva stars Brooke Elliott, Brooke D’Orsey, April Bowlby, Ben Feldman, Margaret Cho, Jackson Hurst, Josh Stamberg, and Kate Levering. Drop Dead Diva airs Sundays on Lifetime Television.

Related article:

http://nicegirlstv.com/2009/10/15/drop-dead-diva-%e2%80%93-grayson%e2%80%99s-anatomy/

“Life is But a Masquerade: Recognizing the Face of Evil”

Looking back over the various sci-fi television shows I have watched over the years, I am intrigued by the idea that some of the characters wear masks – not literal masks, but instead facades behind which they hide their true nature.  For not everyone is Darth Vader with such an obvious desire to hide who he is.  Thus, such characters are a fascinating study in duplicity and to see whether the “masks” they wear are successful.

Double agents, sleepers, traitors, turn-coats, opportunists – these are but just a few of the names we have for those who wear a mask.  They dance in the masquerade of life weaving their spells of illusion.

Some of the most treacherous moments in sci-fi television were only achieved through such careful and clever use of masks.  Among those astounding, eye-popping moments were:

Double Agents –

Looking first at double agents, there are quite a few that standout in recent television history.  Most recently, there was Ruby in “Supernatural,” who convinced Sam to unleash Satan from the pit of Hell.  That little nasty demon certainly had a big comeuppance coming her way.

Another surprising reveal was finding out that Mr. Dominic from “Dollhouse” was the NSA’s inside-man who kept tabs on the nefarious dealings of the Dollhouse.  After the first season, it appeared that Mr. Dominic’s days were over when banished to the Attic, but as viewers of “Epitaph One” have seen, he may yet be a player and still a man to be reckoned with, for beware the man who realizes he can be so casually tossed aside.

In probably one of the most tragic double-agent storylines, in “Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles” we saw the doomed-from-the-start Riley worm her way into John Connor’s life in order to try to sway his affections from Cameron who Jesse deemed to hold too much power over him and which may jeopardize the human race.  That Riley was ultimately sacrificed by Jesse in order to implicate Cameron was the ultimate betrayal of the fragile double-agent by one of her own.

Then falling on the side of the good guys was triple-agent John Scott in “Fringe.”  For over half the debut season, everyone presumed that he was but a mere double-agent, working for those who would undermine our government.  But, in the end, it was revealed that John Scott had been recruited as a faux double-agent in order to find out what the enemy was up to.  The reveal that he was a double-double agent turned the tables on the bad guys.

In a heart-breaking turn, we saw Gina in “Battlestar Galactica” infiltrate the Pegasus, which led to her brutal incarceration and heinous interrogation.  Thus, it was not really a surprise when she escaped and, with Baltar’s unknowing aid, got her hands on a nuclear bomb which she promptly detonated taking out one of the largest ships in the fleet.

And last, but not least, was the mysterious double-agent role of Beverly Barlowe in the first season of “Eureka.”  We never did find out who she was working for.  Perhaps one day we will learn what she was really up to and whether it still poses a dire risk for the entire world.

Sleepers –

Looking next at sleeper-agents, the gold star goes to Boomer on “Battlestar Galactica.”  She was the ultimate sleeper-agent, first shooting Adama, then later kidnapping Hera.  She was the ultimate deceiver as we never truly knew if she was a Cylon yearning to be human, or a Cylon good at pretending to be human and successfully managing to conceal her deeply-rooted evil nature from even those closest to her.

Outstripping Boomer in her lethalness, River Tam in “Firefly,” was a paradox of facades.  With her brain shattered after multiple medical experiments at the hands of the Alliance and the Blue Men, River appeared to be childlike and harmless.  It was only under great emotional stress or a “trigger” that her training and instincts kicked-in and she took out everything in sight.

Then, in a nice jaw-dropping turn, Mellie in “Dollhouse” turned out to be a cleverly placed sleeper as the neighbor next door to Paul Ballard, who got the drop on her assassin and took him out with one well-placed kick.  No one saw that twist coming!

Traitors -

This is perhaps the most ugly side of human nature, those who will turn on their own.  Benjamin Linus in “Lost” is a shining example of a traitor to his core.  Just when we thought he was on the path to redemption, he not only snapped John Locke’s neck, he then stabbed Jacob.

Also in a stunning turn of events on “Lost” was Michael’s cold-blooded execution of both Ana-Lucia and Libby in order to break Ben free of his cell in the hatch.  Though, in the end, it seemed Michael truly regretted his traitorous actions and tried to make amends by assisting in blowing up the freighter.

Giving Ben a run for his money was Helen Cutter in “Primeval,” who went back to the dawn of humankind in order to prevent the human race from ever existing.

Another girl you wish you could strangle for her willing complicitness in espionage on the side of the enemy is Jill Roberts, Chuck’s college sweetheart, who came back time and time again to betray Chuck repeatedly in the TV series “Chuck.”

And the ultimate traitor who broke our hearts was Gata in “Battlestar Galactica.”  His well-intentioned mutiny on the Galactica had us shaking our heads and screaming “what the frak are you doing?!” to our television sets.  His noble intentions led to an internal bloodbath from which the show never recovered.

Turn-Coats -

There are characters that are constantly changing their alliances and you are never quite sure if you can fully trust them.

One of the best turn-coats was Angel in “Buffy.”  One minute he was the Slayer’s dreamboat protector, and then the next he was a soul-less demon killing everyone he could get his hands on.  Perhaps there was no more heart-stopping moment of shock than watching Angel kill Jenny Calendar.

Following in those vicious footsteps, we now have Sylar on “Heroes” who also changes his colors of loyalty from episode to episode.  One minute he is a sociopathic serial killer and the next he is returning to rescue fellow “heroes” from the clutches of the evil government agents.  But, if there was any doubt, one only had to watch him slowly and gleefully kill his girlfriend, Elle, to realize that he is truly evil.

Returning back to the “BSG” realm, it was rather disheartening to realize the extent of Tom Larek’s willingness to do everything to undermine the fragile society created in the aftermath of the Cylon genocide of the human race.  We so very much wanted to trust and believe in him, but in the end, he masterminded a mutiny that ended up with him airlocked.

Opportunists –

Another kind of mask is that of the opportunist.  Such an individual does not seek to be evil for the sake of being evil, but rather is motivated out of base desires, such as lust, power and greed.

One glaring example of this was Gaius Baltar on “BSG.”  He was not only driven by his base desires, but also his overwhelming need for survival.  Gaius Baltar would sell his soul to the Cylons or to a misguided cult just to survive. However, in the end, perhaps Gaius was simply a man seeking redemption for all the evil he had inflicted on those around him.

While not quite fully understood, the brief glimpses we have about Captain John Hart’s (played by James Marsters) in the series “Torchwood” showed a man who was driven by his desires – whether it be survival, greed or lust.  He is a man who wants what he wants and will do whatever he needs to do to get it.

In “Firefly,” Jayne was the most honest of all the characters as he would tell you to your face that he had sold you to the Alliance.  Jayne always appeared to let his loyalty fall on the side of greed.  It was all about the filthy lucre with him.  The only thing that trumped greed was his base instinct for survival, but even then it was a toss up.

Self-Deceived -

Looking next at those who deceive themselves more than they deceive anyone else, it is appropriate to acknowledge those who wear a mask that only they can see.

For all his speeches about not being willing to stick his neck out for anyone and keeping his head-low to stay off the Alliance’s radar, Captain Malcolm Reynolds in “Firefly” was entirely self-deceived.  For he consistently put the well-being of others ahead of his own and took every opportunity to willingly engage the Alliance in order to piss them off and thumb his nose at their clumsy attempts at tyranny.

Similarly self-deceived was King Silas in “Kings.”  Except in his case, he was self-deluded into thinking that what he did was for the good of his kingdom.  Yet in reality, nearly all of his actions were self-preserving and self-aggrandizing.  In King Silas’ world, there was only room for himself.  He left no room for God, nor the people he was entrusted to watch over.

In a painful revelation, we saw all too clearly the mask slip away to reveal Captain Jack Harkness’ true nature in the recent “Torchwood: Children of Earth” special.  Jack was perhaps the most deceived, but he was forced to face himself in the mirror when he saw the end result of his willingness to give up 12 children in exchange for a virus cure, and then was forced to sacrifice his own grandson in order to defeat that same enemy.

Then, in a sad twist, we saw Henry in “Eureka,” create an alternate future timeline so that the love of his life would not die.  It was a revelation to see the lengths that Henry would go to ensure a future with his beloved.

Another master-deceiver was Nathan Petrelli in “Heroes.”  Despite his best intentions, Nathan kept on making things worse for those who had abilities.  His outing them to the U.S. government was perhaps the biggest disaster he could have inflicted on them all.

A newcomer to the world of deceit is Mitchell on “Being Human,” the vampire in complete denial about his true nature and who so desperately wants to be something other than what he is.  It remains to be seen if Mitchell will acknowledge and confront his despicable nature.

Also self-despising and willing to endure the tests of Hell to get his soul back was Spike on “Buffy” and “Angel.”  Spike wanted to be human so badly he constantly tried to shed his vampire nature in order to prove he was still a man.   In the end, did Spike’s ruthless nature belie a gentler human heart?

Lastly, also hailing from the Whedon-verse, was Wesley in “Angel.”  He so desperately wanted to do the right thing, but by stealing Angel’s son, Connor, he unleashed a destiny that nearly enslaved the entire planet of earth and destroyed a young man’s childhood.

In the end, whether with malicious intent, handcuffed by fate, or simply through bumblingly bad decisions, these are a sampling of the types of villains that populate the sci-fi universe.  They may send shivers down our spines or make us shake our heads with dismay, but without these multi-faceted characters our sci-fi shows we would surely suffer from anemia due to the lack of drama, intensity and surprise.  Evil is after all a necessary ingredient in any good story – and in sci-fi there is no lack of masks that evil wears.

Review of ‘Stargate Universe’ – Air

Survival at no matter the cost

“Stargate Universe” is the second spin-off of the successful sci-fi series “Stargate SG-1” which ran for an astounding ten seasons.  Unlike the original “Stargate SG-1” which was based on Earth, or “Stargate: Atlantis” which was based on a portable city on another planet, “Stargate Universe” is focused on a rag-tag group of survivors who find themselves trapped on an alien ship traveling on the outer fringe of the universe.  Fearful of using the barely functioning Stargate aboard the ship as it may lead their attackers back to Earth, they must rely on each other to survive until they can find a way to safely return home.

“Stargate Universe” tackles the ambitious premise of trying to straddle both prior incarnations of the franchise, while establishing its own identity.  In breadth alone it feels larger than its predecessors.  The size of the cast is daunting as the viewer tries to figure out who is who and what role each plays in this micro-universe.

After watching all three parts of its pilot “Air,” a few faces have begun to stand-out.  The most recognizable is Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) who is the scientific genius who everyone defers to simply because without him, they will all die.  Next is the recently recruited video geek/guru Eli Wallace (David Blue), whose fantasies came true when they beamed him up onto their ship and invited him to be a consultant to crack an alien code.  Then on the military-side, there is 1st Lt. Matthew Scott (Brian J. Smith) who seamlessly takes charge after the Icarus base attack.  Following Scott, there is 1st Lt. Tamara Johansen (Alaina Huffman), a medical officer, who seems more concerned about her affair with her superior, Col. Everett Young (Justin Louis), than anything else.  Last, but not least, there is the waif-like ingénue Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque) who was accompanying her high-ranking father, Senator Alan Armstrong (Christopher McDonald), at the time of the attack and she is literally caught in the cross-fire of military and scientific agendas as her father sacrificed himself to give them all a fighting chance at survival.

In the background, there are also Col. David Telford (Lou D. Phillips), Camile Wray (Ming-Na) and M. Sgt. Ronald Greer (Jamil Walker Smith), all who appear to have dubious agendas and inter-personal conflicts of their own.  However, those have not yet been fully explained and are murky at best.  With so many high profile actors in not yet clearly identifiable roles, the series will surely provide much more tangible traits and identities for each.

The series started with a bang as we saw the military base camp attacked and civilians and military personnel evacuated to the only safe-haven they could find — through the Stargate which had dialed an unknown location.  After ascertaining they were aboard an alien space craft called “Destiny,” they quickly moved to meet their basic survival need for breathable air.  The ship had been abandoned for thousands of years and it was not functional.  With the clock-ticking, they had to find a way to jump-start the ship’s life-support systems.  After one human sacrifice to turn a vital lever mechanism to keep things running, it was determined to use the Stargate to find a nearby planet to get the key ingredient they needed: limestone.

So while parts 1 and 2 focused on the attack and reeling from its after-effects, part 3 focused on a 12 hour mission to a nearby planet in search of limestone.  Appropriately, the planet was an arid desert filled with only wind and sand — and a Stargate which the Ancients had the foresight to plunk down there in case it was ever needed.

The advance team diligently scoured the planet, with the typical bickering of those who are not accustomed to working together, and in the end they found exactly what they were looking for — just in the nick of time.

All in all, it is a solid start to launching a high-profile sci-fi series, but one wonders if it can truly stand on its own free of the long-shadows of “Stargate: SG-1” and “Stargate: Atlantis.”  The comparisons between the shows may make this step-sibling series appear to be the lesser of the three.  In “SG-1,” they had Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge — all uniquely entertaining and engaging to watch.  Such comedic rapport has never been duplicated since their reign.  Then in “Atlantis,” there was the epic star-crossed romance of Dr. Elizabeth Weir and Lt. Col. John Sheppard back-dropped against the comedic duo of Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Carson Beckett and the ferocious hearts of Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex.  It remains to be seen if “Stargate Universe” can capture the hearts and imagination of the fans yet again by introducing us to characters that will entrance us the same way.

What Worked

Solid casting of likeable and appealing actors is what captures our interest so far.  To date, Robert Carlyle is the best developed and most interesting.  The ambiguity of his character’s loyalty and motivations is what keeps us guessing and watching.

What Didn’t Work

An avid sci-fi fan, I found “Stargate Universe” a tad tame.  It looks darker and edgier as promised, but it lacked the cut-throat nature of what the average sci-fi fan has come to expect.   Perhaps series such as “Battlestar Galactica” have raised the stakes on space opera drama.  So while the characters show promise and there is a lot of potential for the series, it has not hooked me and made itself appointment-television yet.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Air’ was written by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper and directed by Andy Mikita. ‘Stargate Universe’ stars Robert Carlyle, David Blue, Brian J. Smith, Alaina Huffman, Ming-Na, Lou D. Phillips, Jamil Walker Smith and Elyse Levesque. ‘Stargate Universe’ airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on Syfy.

Review of ‘Fringe’ – Momentum Deferred

Inter-dimensional travel is not all it is cracked up to be

Cryogenics looked awfully scary as portrayed in this episode.  First, a truck-load of frozen heads is stolen in a shoot-out worthy of the OK Corral.  Then we see a shape-shifter tossing them casually over his shoulder as he discards each as not the one he is looking for.  And in the end, once the head sought after for so long is found, it is reattached to a new body like something out of Frankenstein — and before it is even fully reattached, its eyes opened.  Creepy was not even adequately describe how this all appeared.

Besides the side-trip into cryogenic-hell, this episode was all about Faux Charlie (Kirk Acevedo).  The shape-shifter’s time was running out as he was clearly going through mercury withdrawal and could not get his hands on enough of it to keep from dying.  With the clock-ticking both by his decaying body and with Global Dynamics working round the clock to use a facial recognition program to identify his current features from the recovered shape-shifting device, Faux Charlie had to act quickly.

As for Olivia (Anna Torv), while Peter (Joshua Jackson) and Walter (John Noble) worked to re-enact the hallucinogenic experiment that previously allowed Rebecca (Theresa Russell) to recognize those from the other dimension, Olivia was finally able to remember her momentous meeting with the infamous Dr. William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) — albeit only after Peter literally struck a bell and she collapsed to the floor.  For sci-fi fans around the globe, this epic meeting was quite an event to see.  With cryptic remarks like, “You’re lucky, most people who cross dimensions without your natural talent are simply torn apart” and “I have a unique perspective shaped by having lived in two worlds,” Dr. William Bell does not disappoint.  But his revelation that there are indeed shape-shifting soldiers crossing the dimensions in order to locate a mysterious gate-keeper who controls the door between the two dimensions feels slightly anti-climatic.  The only thing that he revealed at this juncture that was enlightening was the symbol that could be used to recognize the gate-keeper and the facility in which his head was housed.

In the race to the wire, everyone failed:  Olivia failed to locate the gate-keeper’s head and actually gave Faux Charlie the facility in which it was located; Nina’s facial recognition software failed to identify Faux Charlie in time; Walter’s attempt to re-create the hallucinogenic test to reactivate Rebecca’s special abilities while successful was not realized; and William Bell’s warning came too late.  Olivia recognized her failure by saying, “William Bell pulled me into another universe to give me a warning — that’s how important this is — and I failed.”

Olivia then she yelled in frustration and anger, “What do they want?!  What did we do to them?”  Echoing her sentiments, we are left wondering why exactly the citizens of another universe would feel it necessary to infiltrate and take over ours.

What Worked

It was a brave thing for William Bell to admit the wrongness of what he and Walter did in experimenting on Olivia and the other children.  His attempt to rationalize it by stating, “In the search for knowledge there are unintended consequences” was half-hearted at best.  But at least we did get a sense of his genuine sorrow at what Olivia had gone through.

On a fun, lighter note, it was amusing to hear Mr. Bell explain that as a result of his yanking Olivia right out of her moving car that there would be some difficulty in returning her to the proper dimension in that, “Momentum can be deferred. . . but it always must be paid back.  Physics is a bitch.”  Surely, this will be the tagline of many sci-fi convention apparel for years to come.

What Didn’t Work

After Rebecca recognized that Peter emitted the same glow that beings from the other dimension have, she simply chalked it up to the drugs.  It would have been more interesting to see her confront Walter about who Peter really is.

After taking on a leadership role in the prior episodes, it was disappointing to see Peter relegated back to being merely a chauffer and baby-sitter for Walter.  It was much more interesting when Peter accompanied Olivia in the field and had her back in tough situations.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Momentum Deferred’ was written by Ashley Miller and Zach Stertz and directed by Joe Chapelle. ‘Fringe’ stars Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Blair Brown, Jasika Nicole. ‘Fringe’ airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Fox.

Review of ‘FlashForward’ – 137 Sekunden

Do the ends ever justify the means?

When ABC first debuted the new television series “FlashForward” three weeks ago, the world sat riveted in front of their TV sets.  It was an adrenaline rush that left the audience breathless for more.  Based on the book of the same name by Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, “FlashForward,” the series began with the calamitous events that occurred on a seemingly normal day when the entire planet came to a stand-still. For 2 minutes and 17 seconds, every living human-being blacked-out and fell to the ground. It was a world-wide disaster as airplanes fell out of the sky, cars collided, and a multitude of horrific events occurred because there was no one conscious. But “FlashForward” is not merely a disaster show. It is about what happened during those mysterious 2 minutes and 17 seconds. For everyone was not simply unconscious, they were given a glimpse of their future. They were able to see exactly where they would be in 6 months – what they were doing and who they were doing it with. The real story is about whether each will see their vision of the future come true. For some, that is horrifying and for others, it is everything they have prayed and hoped for.

Initially, the central characters are a FBI agent, Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes), his partner, Demetri Noh (John Cho), his boss, Stan Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance), and Mark’s wife, Olivia Benford (Sonya Walger, better known as Penny from “Lost”). They are the characters that we are first introduced to and whose flashbacks we experience. It is also Benford who first clued in that there may be a conspiracy afoot as his flashback revealed to him that he was investigating the flashforward event in relation to something called the Mosaic Collective. For his partner, Demetri, he had a more alarming realization:  he did not experience a flashforward vision which led him to believe that he may not be alive in six months. Then for Benford’s wife, Olivia, her vision was perhaps the most disturbing of all as she saw herself having a romantic liaison with another man – a man she had not even met yet. For all of these individuals, their visions have not brought them peace and comfort in what lies ahead. To the contrary, they will do everything they can to prevent their visions from coming true.

However, for some, their visions brought them hope and peace. Benford’s AA sponsor, Aaron Stark (Brian F. O’Bryne) saw a vision of his daughter alive, who he thought he had buried after a war-related tragedy. One of Benford and Demetri’s co-workers, Agent Janis Hawk (Christine Woods) saw a vision of herself pregnant and she does not yet even have a boyfriend. And for Olivia’s co-worker, Dr. Bryce Varley (Zachary Knighton) he had nearly committed suicide right before the flashforward event, and he saw a vision of his life where he was happy and alive. For these individuals, they are very much looking forward to the futures they beheld. So whether the visions are a blessing or a curse remains to be seen.

In the subsequent weeks, we have seen pieces of each person’s visions come true.  Mark is able to track down some of the individuals whose names were on the bulletin board he saw in his vision.  Demetri has received independent confirmation from an unknown intelligence source that he will be murdered a month before the flashforward event date.  And Olivia has met the man she saw in her vision — Lloyd Siemco (Jack Davenport) — much to her dismay.

But, while many things appear to corroborate the veracity of the visions, other events seem to undermine the likelihood of all the visions coming true.  For one, Mark’s daughter gave him the friendship bracelet he saw in his vision, which he promptly burnt.  Another event that had shaken the faith in the flashforward visions was Aaron Stark had his daughter’s body exhumed and the tests verified it was her body in the grave.  Thus, crushing his hope that his daughter is indeed alive somewhere in Afghanistan.  And Demetri’s finace saw a vision of him waiting for her on a Hawaiian beach on their wedding day.  This would suggest that not all the visions are destined to come true.

Thus, while the ultimate question is:  are the flashforwards indeed a vision of the future, it then begs the question: if it is the future, is that future fixed in stone, or can it be changed?  Agent Wedeck insightfully observed, “All of us are making decisions on what will happen — not what could happen.  It makes us do things we would not ordinarily do. . . You think knowing the future would make us less concerned about it.  But just the opposite has happened.  The future is what all of us are living for now. It’s what we’re living by.”

Just because they have seen the future, does it make it true?  Are they each prophets or are they biased based on what they would want to see?

This week’s episode focused on a crafty former-Nazi war criminal who claimed to know why the black-out lasted only 2 minutes and 17 seconds (or 137 sekunden as it is known in German) — and he would only reveal the meaning behind it to Agent Mark Benford.  In a morale quandary, Mark had to decide if the ends justified the means by granting a full pardon in exchange for the information the old man had.  After verifying part of the old man’s vision, the pardon was granted.  Only to find out that their worst fears were realized:  they had indeed been conned.  The only thing the old man saw besides being released from prison was a “murder” of crows outside his prison cell window when he awoke from the black-out.  And it was this vital piece of information that he used to barter his way out of prison.  It was a crushing blow to realize how the old man had used them.

But perhaps the old man was not so crazy after all.  His one clue about the dead crows was something that Mark decided to follow up on and much to his surprise, it had happened before.  In 1991, in Somali, there was a report of an incident where everyone lost consciousness simultaneously and coincidentally, there were thousands of dead crows.  And as Mark thoughtfully remarked, “We have been so worried that the black-out may happen again, we forgot to ask ourselves:  what if it happened before?”

Indeed, if someone does have the ability to control the mass black-outs, it is intriguing to think what have they been doing with that ability before now?

What Worked

Perhaps one of the most deftly interwoven pieces of humor in this past episode was the scene where Zoe, Demetri’s finace, is aboard a virtually empty airplane across the aisle from an ashen-faced gentleman.  When she asks him why he is flying, he replied that all the airline CEO’s were flying that day to prove to the public that it was safe.  The fact that he asks for a stiff drink mere seconds later spoke volumes about how safe he felt about flying that day!

What Didn’t Work

After dangling the carrot of Suspect Zero and D. Gibbons in front of us, it would be nice to actually have a face to put to these mysterious figures.  A mystery drama is never more compelling when evil reveals itself.  It is time for the unveiling of the arch enemy — the show is limping without a nemesis.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘137 Sekunden’ was written by David S. Goyer and Marc Guggenheim and directed by Michael Rymer. ‘FlashForward’ stars Joseph Fiennes, Sonya Walger, John Cho, Gabrielle Union, Courtney B. Vance, Gina Torres, Jack Davenport, Brian F. O’Byrne, Peyton List, Christine Woods and Zachary Knighton. ‘FlashForward’ airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

 

Review of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ – You’re Undead to Me

Facing Demons and Scary Truths

Damon (Ian Somerhalder) weak, dying and locked in the basement was perhaps even scarier than having him roaming loose in the world. With just a whisper, he was able to summon Caroline (Candice Accola) and she released the vengeful and hungry beast out of his cage. Every time we saw Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Zach (Chris Martin) peer through the bars of the window into Damon’s living hell, we knew that it was too good to be true. For as Damon demonstrated in his quicker than a blink of an eye movement, he was able to grab Zack’s neck and nearly coerced him into releasing him. It was a wake-up call that reminded us that Damon’s prison was but a momentary one. He was just too dangerous and clever to remain caged for very long. The tricks he had learned over the past century had clearly benefited him well.

Stefan was only deluding himself with the thought that Damon would stand for being judged, re-educated, mummified and then re-evaluated in another 50 years. Stefan told Damon, “You’re not stronger than the Vervain and we both know it.” But what Stefan did not anticipate was that Damon had a few parlor tricks still up his sleeve. Like a vampire does not have to subsist on human blood alone, Damon did not subsist on his strength alone. He had learned the art of human manipulation and that will go a lot further than brute strength.

So while Stefan was facing the hard truth about Damon and the demon inside of himself, we saw: Elena (Nina Dobrev) struggle with figuring out what Stefan was hiding; Bonnie (Katerina Graham) struggle with her new-found abilities; Caroline struggle with her memory loss and denial about the abuse she suffered; Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) struggle with Vicki’s (Kayla Ewell) addiction problems; Jenna’s (Sara Canning) struggle to forgive Logan (Chris Johnson) for his past betrayal; and Zach’s struggle to face Damon and the life he denied himself because of Damon’s reign of terror.

It was a painful episode to watch, not because of threat outside but from the gnawing fear from within: Stefan was fearful of his darker nature, Elena was afraid of what Stefan was hiding, Bonnie was uncertain of what she could do and if she could control it, Jeremy was afraid that Vicki was only with him because of the drugs he could provide, Caroline was afraid to face the fact that Damon did not really care about her, and Zach — poor, poor Zach was afraid to live his life.

While certainly not admirable on many levels, one has to admire Damon for confronting his fears and facing who he is. He knows who and what he is and he embraces it. He has nothing to fear. He lives life fearlessly — even when poisoned and imprisoned for eternity. He simply refuses to give into living his life in fear. Such strength of will is what makes him a survivor. Until everyone else can live their lives so fearlessly, they will only continue to cower in his presence.

Mystic Falls cannot be filled with so many “cowardly lions,” it is time to find the courage to acknowledge who and what you are. Ironically, it was Damon who called it when he told Stefan, “You won. You got the bad buy. Now nothing can come between you and Elena — except the truth. The lies will catch up with you as long as you keep denying what you are.”

The truth is painful, but only by confronting it will these tortured souls find peace and happiness.

What Worked

Bravo to Elena in her relentless pursuit in uncovering Stefan’s secrets and her willingness to confront him with it. That girl was not going to sit idly by and pretend she does not see what is going on. She is facing her fear of what she does not know and is not afraid to call it as she sees it. Her soliloquy was fascinating to watch as she reasoned out what she had learned and her dawning realization: “Dear diary, I am not a believer. People are born. They grow old and then they die. That’s the world we live in. There’s no magic, no mysticism, no immortality. There’s nothing that defies rational thought . . . People are supposed to be who they say they are and not lie and hide their true selves. It’s not possible. I’m not a believer. I can’t be. How can I deny what is right in front of me: someone who never grows old, never gets hurt, someone who changes in ways that can’t be explained — girls bitten — bodies drained of blood.” But as soon as she could see what she did not want to acknowledge, she immediately sought out Stefan and asked, “what are you?”

It was also good to see Jeremy confront Vicki on her drug addiction by saying, “I feel like we’re always getting high . . . let’s choose not to. . . we don’t have to be high all the time.” As painful as it was for him to walk away from Vicki when she chose her addiction over him, it was a brave thing to do. It remains to be seen if he can truly save Vicki, for she does not think she needs saving.

Thus, it was good to see both Elena and Jeremy overcome their fears and face the reality of their respective relationships.

But Bonnie and Caroline were not so quick to face their respective realities. Bonnie was enjoying her fire-starter abilities, but when it became stronger than she could control she freaked out. Thus, it was good to see her reach out to her grandmother in the end to find out what was going on.

But Caroline has chosen to live in denial and will continue to live in her chosen world of fear. Just hanging that cursed crystal in her bedroom bodes of unpleasant things to come.

What Didn’t Work

It was a nasty and low blow for Caroline to cattily say to her mother, “If I want to talk boys, I’ll call Dad — at least he’s successfully dating them.” Caroline is clearly hurting and angry, but she should not inflict all her pain and rage on her mother who only wants to protect her.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘You’re Undead To Me’ was written by Sean Reycraft and Gabrielle G. Stanton, and directed by Kevin Bray. ‘The Vampire Diaries’ stars Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, Steven R. McQueen, Candice Accola, Katerina Graham, Kayla Ewell, Michael Trevino, Zach Roerig and Sara Canning. ‘The Vampire Diaries’ airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on the CW.

Spotlight on Sara Rue

With a television career stemming back nearly 20 years, Sara Rue has been a television star since her early days on the comedy series “Grand,” playing Pamela Reed’s daughter.  With one year of a television series under her belt at the age of 12, Sara Rue was well on her way towards a long comedic career; through her teens and early 20’s, she guest-starred in over 16 television series and movies.  It was not until she landed on the WB series “Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane,” that someone must have taken notice of the vivacious red-head and that same year, she landed a major role in the Ryan Murphy series “Popular.”

On “Popular,” Sara was cast as Carmen, the bubbly outsider who just wanted to be a part of the in-crowd.  This was a break-out role for her, along with many of her co-stars, Leslie Bibb (“Kings,” “Crossing Jordan”), Carly Pope (“Dirt,” “The Collector”), and Chris Gorham (“Ugly Betty,” “Harper’s Island”).  Despite lasting only 2 seasons, “Popular” remains a fan-favorite and is frequently cited as one of the most relatable television portrayals of high school life.

After  Popular Sara was next seen in a cameo role in the World War II drama Pearl Harbor playing one of the nurses stationed in Pearl Harbor. From that point on, Sara slid effortlessly between film and television for another 5 years until she landed the feature role in the sitcom series Less Than Perfect.

Less Than Perfect ran 4 seasons, a remarkable achievement credited to the winning personality of Sara Rue and the strong supporting cast of Eric Roberts, Zachary Levi (currently starring in Chuck), Andrea Parker (formerly of The Pretender), Andy Dick, Sherri Shepherd, and Patrick Warburton. After moving to the notorious Friday night “death slot,” the series wrapped up and Sara returned to guest-starring in a variety of film and television roles, including a 3 episode arc on the enormously popular comedy The Big Bang Theory as Leonard Hofstadter’s girlfriend.

Finally, in stroke of good luck, Sara scored the delightful role as Penny Higgins, sidekick to Lindsay Price’s Joanna, in the new ABC series Eastwick. While not a lead role, Sara is radiant as Penny and frequently outshines her bigger name co-stars. Her comedic timing is pitch-perfect and she can garner a laugh with just a well-timed look. She also infuses Penny with such warmth and confidence that quickly it draws the viewers’ attention. She is an apt scene-stealer and her engaging personality makes us want to see more of her on screen.

If you have not yet had a chance to see this dazzling performer, be sure to check out Eastwick Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC.

Related article:

http://nicegirlstv.com/2009/10/14/spotlight-on-sara-rue/