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robert-jones2582
Reviews
Castle: Knockdown (2011)
Easily the best episode of Castle yet.
I have long regarded Castle as a decent show -- not bad, not necessarily great. Still, the show does have its moments, and this episode was one of them.
Castle's strongest episodes have always been those that deal with Detective Beckett's mother's murder, but this episode quite easily blows every previous episode out of the water. Firstly, we finally see Beckett absolutely lose it during an interrogation and get kicked off the case as a result. I may be wrong about this, but it seems like every time she's "off" a case, she comes back somehow. It's a nice change to see her stay off a case for once. It also provides us insight into the kind of person she is, given that she keeps all the relevant information about her mother's case in her apartment, just in case.
We also see Detectives Esposito and Ryan come into their own. Their performance in their interrogation was a bit fleeting, but still excellent.
And finally, Castle really starts to take things seriously. He accepts that he's not researching for the books anymore, and yet his motives are still somewhat unclear. We know that he's around for Beckett, but it seems now like he's there not just for the chance to be with her, but also to be there for her.
I find myself unable to specify what exactly makes this episode so brilliant, but I'll try. The story is a deviation from the normal Castle formula, at least in that it has a lot more to do with the characters than it normally does. None of the actors' performances came off as contrived or fake, there was good acting all around. It felt like the stakes were higher than in any other episode, and not just because most of the cast was in mortal danger at some time or another throughout the episode.
In a word, it was intense.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep (2009)
What?
It confounds me how bad this episode was, when the following six were some of the best episodes of the entire show. I suppose they already had their best episodes planned out and saved for last, and they just didn't have enough material for another episode, so they decided to write something absolutely horrific just for kicks.
This is quite possibly the worst episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles that was made, and possibly the reason for the show not getting a third season. Part of it was the narration. Again. After 24 episodes of the show, almost all of which started with Sarah Connor's melodramatic voice-overs, it gets old. If there's one thing I have learned from this show, it's that you cannot start every episode of a show the same way. The best episodes of season 2 in my opinion--Samson & Delilah, Alison from Palmdale, Brothers of Nablus, Self Made Man, and every episode after this one except To the Lighthouse--did not start with any sort of narration. They had variety, something the other episodes didn't.
Especially this one. This episode was the same drug-induced crap throughout. It was irrelevant, hardly meant anything that I could discern, and the only good parts were the scenes of John and Cameron. If the episode, as I suspect, was supposed to show us Sarah's fears, etc., I think that the scenes of John and Cameron accurately depicted her feelings towards both of them.
That's why it gets a 2 rather than a 1.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Allison from Palmdale (2008)
Art
It is worth watching all twelve previous episodes of this show just to watch this one. Most of Season 1 was fairly well done, but not brilliant. A couple episodes were bad, and a couple were good. The three episodes of season 2 that precede this one are decent, and not necessarily boring (the premiere being the exception, in that it was better than the others). In any case, this episode is the one I consider to be the best in the whole series. Even if all the other episodes were complete crap, it would be worth watching the whole show just for this one episode.
I don't know what happened to the show for this episode, but whatever they did, it worked. This is what I wish the whole show had been like. Sadly, only a few of the other episodes measured up to the quality of this one.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008)
It Has Its Moments
This show is perplexing. One episode will be, while not excellent, fairly mediocre. However, the next one will be some of the best-written television that I have ever seen. I'm not quite sure why this is, but I like the ones that are good.
For example, season 2 episode 4, entitled "Allison From Palmdale" was simply amazing. I loved the flashbacks, the drama, everything. Episode 11 from the same season was also well done. However, if every episode were like the 15 or so others that were essentially a standard action movie packed into 45 minutes, I would have rated this show a 4 or a 5.
While I do give it a 7, I think it could have been better. If every episode were like the few that were excellently--even artfully--written, the show would have been much better. For example, most of the romantic portions of it were too drawn out and not of much interest. That might just be me, but I think it would have been better if the director(s?) had emphasized the impossibility of romance in the Connors' world more than the attempts John makes to foster it. Maybe it would have been better if John's obvious attraction to Cameron's physical appearance was played with more. You know, the whole "loving a machine" thing...Similarly, I think the Connors' inability to trust Cameron, what with where she goes at night, etc. could have had more done with it, and should have. Sadly, I am not the director, so these were not my decisions to make. But then again, if I were the director, the show would have consisted mostly of Summer Glau throwing people through walls. Also, shooting them. And doing that thing in Season 2, Episode 1 where she steps on the bullet wound(s).
My summary of the show was "It Has Its Moments." I would like to add that any scene where Cameron threw something through a wall was one of those moments.