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Reviews
Daria: Depth Takes a Holiday (1999)
As silly as it sounds
Not funny. Not clever.
Holidays arrive at town represented by uninspired ordinary drawings of mostly UK type people. They do things, I guess. Like Cupid makings Daria's parents get lovey-dovey. barf.
But mostly they complain. Daria seems to be much more aware that she is the subject of a poorly written cartoon and she decides not even to feel crazy, deny what's going on, or get help. barf.
Painful to watch- a show that is otherwise refreshingly free of ridiculous premises and that is content to enjoy simpler, subtler pleasures- seems to apologize for jumping the shark in this episode by tripping halfway and forcing the shark to eat them. baaaaaaaaaaarfffff.
Let's all pretend this didn't happen.
Star Trek: Tomorrow Is Yesterday (1967)
So Yesterday, Girlfriend
I think this episode is meant to just be fun and not serious. In many ways is no different from all the films in the 90s that took sci-fi/ fantasy stories and time-traveled to, surprise, LA in the 90s(like beastmaster 2). It's obviously to save money.
My problem with this one is that it unlike other episodes which covertly deal with hot-topics in the 60s -racism or pacifism- this episode tries to directly confront it's present and it just shines a big light on all the non-progressive aspects of the show. Specifically, it comes off very sexist at times.
Spoiler Alert So, of course the AI computer programmed by the female planet is flirty and randomly giggles. And every month it goes offline unless you buy it presents and tell it it's not fat. Seems like the more interesting story is how there exists an ALL female planet... but no it's just a good opportunity for a stupid punchline. And second, the only reason they can't destroy the pilot's entire life is because he will sire a son who is important. And he's like overcome with pride over his son and how he saves his freedom.
It's hard to pin-point but the episode is really phallocentric.
It all just seems unnecessary.
On another note, notice how Kirk checks out the pilot when he comes on board? What's that about. Maybe if he were 17 like Charlie-X Kirk would've wrestled top-less with him after Charlie slaps his bottom.
The X Files: Pusher (1996)
A little too forced.
The directing, acting, and basic elements are here but there are quite a few plot holes and the basic situational premise is very flimsy.
I think some of the most glaring incidents of illogic:
1-Mulder recognizing and knowing that some random personal ad for "I solve problems" in some random magazine has been posted since 1994 (when the killings started, obviously)
2-When the agent self-immolates, why did he go into the building alone? They pretty much knew what this guy does from the start of the investigation...yeah.
3-The telephone-heart attack. Does his suggestion work by voice? With the judge and the FBI security, it seemed to be eye contact...now it is via telephone wires...or some mind-to-voice-to-ear manipulation which makes my brain hurt. I mean, if he can persuade through rhetoric, FINE. but what of the eye contact action? Consistency. Please. And how can Pusher will/control someone to do something that that person couldn't do to begin with? If he could cause people to have heart attacks or levitate, why not just always do that? Why not reverse the progress of his tumor? OH GOD, I think he's telling me to go on the internet and review this episode... makehimstopmakehimstopohplzohplzmakemestop.
4-Pusher says that he read in Scully's file that she shot Mulder once before, but we learned from Skinner that the only file Pusher accessed was Mulder's (if her file even had that information, they were kinda AWOL and off the record when that happened).
5-Why is Skinner immune totally from even a weak suggestion, but Mulder almost kills Scully?
I just feel like they didn't develop the supernatural idea at all before going right on to try to get at some head-to-head between Mulder and Pusher. This made everything kind of a mess from the get-go. And no amount of Ronin or Ninjas could cool their way out of it.
I really like detective and creative sci-fi/supernatural stories, and I have to admit that I like action too. Guns don't really hurt my interest either. And the x-files usually has these things down solid. And they give you some historical, forensic or humorous information along the way.
I think that if I were a little younger, the agent lighting himself on fire would have probably distracted me more, too. But unfortunately, none of that good stuff here was really clicking and the only mystery that got solved was how "Pusher" couldn't force me to care.
The X Files: Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (1995)
"Maybe he's just lucky"
I found this episode great. In some ways it was similar to the Twilight Zone episode, "One for the Angels" where a great salesmen talks death into giving him more time so he can make one great sale before he dies. It's really involving emotionally and the mystery builds and pulls you into more and more which builds the plot well. And of course, it is really that Mr. Bruckman is a life insurance salesman.
The character development is great, the opening with the killer is very creepy and plausible and concise; his lack of vision and frustration contrasts brightly with Mr. Bruckman's reluctant use of his gift.
Some great examples of the subtle character details: - how happy Mr. Bruckman is to conclude that the pie he senses in his vision is banana cream instead of coconut cream or lemon meringue -how the killer compliments the tarot card reader and lets him know he's going to kill him in the same sentence -how Mr. Jappy quickly seizes on Mulder and harasses him 'til he's out of the room -and, as always, Scully's slight reactions. I think it's the eyes or her mouth, but yeah... too cool.
There are great lines in this episode for sure, but there is also quite a bit of talking, which hurts the re-watch value.