Mad Men-The Grown Ups

"What is going on?!" (Betty Draper)

Spoilers for episode 3.12

Instead of leaving the Kennedy assassination to the final episode it occurred in this penultimate episode of the season, by doing this it means that next week will be all about character and with the fallout of the events in The Grown Ups which showed many of the characters at a cross roads in their personal and professional lives.

What I wanted to concentrate on regarding this episode is how despite a vast change in technology since 1963; mobile phones, the internet, digital cameras, the actions of people when an historical event like this occurs is still pretty much the same. Everyone gathers together, phone networks can't handle all the calls and so they crash, people have photographs of events happening and live cameras will capture moments that you don't expect that will played over and over even years after the fact. The parallel between this and 9/11 are overt in the sense that no-one was expecting either and how people try and take in as much information as to why something like this occurred  by watching television. It also seems that the Kennedy assassination was probably the first major news event that occurred when most people had a television making the use of the TV reports in this episode even more relevant.

Where this episode will lead us for the finale is anybody's guess as every week surprises me and after both the final episodes of seasons 1 and 2 I have no idea in what direction Matthew Weiner will take us; will Betty leave Don for Henry? Will Pete leave Sterling Cooper and join Duck? Is Sterling Cooper going to be sold again and if so where does this leave our ad men and women? Will we see Joan and Sal (I really hope so)?

James Franco's return to TV on General Hospital and 30 Rock

James Franco is an actor who's resume is a complete mix bag, from biopics to superhero movies to stoner flicks, he can not be easily categorised. With TV being the arena in which he had his first major role in Freaks and Geeks (a show with many of the ensemble cast doing pretty well since its first and only season) it is good to see him return to this medium in two very different programmes. First up is the soap opera General Hospital which had many people wondering why he has chosen to be in this, especially as it is for a two month stint. Though he is not the first film actor to want to star in soap opera despite their movie star, Oscar nominated status; Ian McKellen stared in 10 episodes of Coronation Street in 2005 as it was always an ambition to do so. There have been little details of what Franco's role will entail on the soap but a promo shot of him looking particularly soap sinister has been released:

His other TV appearance this season will be on 30 Rock as exclusively reported by Michael Ausiello, the scoop is that:

Franco (playing himself) will be involved in a faux romance with Jane Krakowski’s Jenna — a relationship engineered by their respective agents.

This sounds like it will be awesome, especially as Franco has demonstrated that he is pretty darn good at doing comedy in his film and funnyordie contributions (watch at the end of this post) and this story line with Jenna sounds like it will work to his strengths in this genre. Franco is becoming somewhat of a favourite actor of mine and I think that these two appearances will add to my appreciation of him. 

Acting With James Franco Episode 1: "Sense Memory" from James Franco

Subtle Sexuality

Subtle Sexuality is the girl group that Kelly (Mindy Kaling) and Erin (Ellie Kemper) from the Office have formed, which is another brilliant webisode series that the creative greats at the Office have devised. The group appears to be part Beyonce, part Lady Gaga and have done a music video to their song 'Male Prima Donna' which is about Ryan. The video also features perhaps my favourite Office character Andy as the 'Nard Dog and Ryan who does a spectacular rap as Mr Understood. I've really liked the addition of Erin to the Office team and it is good that Kelly has a fellow pop culture/celebrity junkie to spare with and this video really is the culmination of this. This is also Mindy Kaling's first time directing and she has done a terrific job, as it takes from other music videos of right now and adds a great comedic twist. Not that the song is not actually a good pop song as I have had it stuck in my head all day.

Here is the video:

  

More Chuck updates and White Collar

The good Chuck news is that it has been reported that NBC have ordered 6 more episodes on top of the 13 that are already being produced. This is means that with 19 episodes that this is almost a complete season and that the show will be coming back sooner than the March original due date. Over on What's Alan Watching Alan  Sepinwell ponders what this will mean to the show as a whole as they have just finished filming episode 8 meaning that most of the series has been filmed or is in some early stages of pre production. The two options he suggests are that they continue from where they are or that they do a completely separate six episode arc. Both have issues and could end up making the season feel disjointed and this was one of the issues when shows did or did not return after the writers strike. Whatever option they go for I'm just glad that Chuck will be back sooner and that there will be more episodes.

In a tenuous Chuck link, I just finished watching the first episode of White Collar staring the lovely Matthew Bomer (Bryce Larkin from Chuck), who I think is a great actor and not just because he is easy on the eye. In the pilot for the series White Collar he demonstrates that why, even though he posed complications to the Chuck/Sarah relationship I was always glad to see him pop up in episodes and which is why I was sad to see him get killed in the season 2 finale. White Collar tells the story of a master fraudster and his relationship with the FBI agent who was tasked to catch him and who put him in prison; much like a modern day 'Catch Me if You Can'. It was nicely paced and I enjoyed the dynamic and chemistry between Tim DeKay as FBI agent Peter Burke and Bomer's Neal Caffrey. I'm looking forward to the next episode and what this series will bring.  

Top 5 Halloween TV episodes

1) Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 'Halloween'

In this second season episode the Scooby gang become what they have dressed for Halloween due to a spell that Ethan Rayne (with his first of several appearances) has put on all the costumes from his shop. As Halloween is normally a day that demons have off this would normally not be an issue, however Spike uses the opportunity to try and take down the Slayer who unfortunately dressed as an eighteenth century lady, losing all of her slayer knowledge and fainting at the sight of a monster. Willow becomes a ghost, having the power to walk through walls but not touch anything and Xander becomes a soldier, which will prove useful for later episodes when he retains all his soldier training and codes for military buildings. What makes this episode great is to see Buffy vulnerable in this role reversal 'come as you aren't' theme for Halloween. It is also the first time we get to here the name Ripper in relation to Giles, realising that he is much darker than his library man exterior suggests.

2) Bones: 'The Mummy in the Maze'

What makes this a great Halloween episode is that all of the characters end up trying to solve the murder and mummification of two girls as well as attempting to stop the death of another girl whilst dressed up for the Jeffersonian Halloween party. The costumes are varied as seen in the picture above, Angela is Cher, Hodgins the captain of the Titanic, Zack is the end of a cow (miss you Zack), Cam is Cat Woman, Brennan is Wonder Woman and perhaps funniest of all is Booth dressed as one of the squints and he attempts to be a nerdy as possible (though none of them dress as badly as his interpretation). Debates about who is better between Wonder Woman and Cat Woman (Wonder Woman is the consensus) and Brennan spinning around are some of the highlights. Though I think Booth and Brennan tracking down the killer in full costume and saving the girl is the highlight as well as the continuing joke of Brennan wanting a gun and then accidentally shooting Booth with a ricochet.

3) Chuck: 'Chuck versus the Sandworm'
The Halloween element of this episode is relegated to the subplot however it deserves a mention for several reasons, the nerd element is pretty high with Chuck and Morgan's costume being the Sandworm from Dune and Sarah comes as slave Princess Leia which is enough to drive any fan boy crazy. Awesome and Ellie in a continuing joke about how perfect they are goes as Adam and Eve with leaves covering the bikini suit areas. The highlight for me as a fan of Josh Schwartz though is the moment where they recreate the moment from the New Years episode of the OC where Ryan rushes to get to Marissa before midnight strikes and Dice by Finley Quaye (featuring Beth Orton) is playing, instead it is Chuck rushing to get to Morgan so they can do their Halloween costume together.

4) The Office: 'Halloween' and 'The Employee Transfer'

The above pictures are from the season 5 episode 'The Employee Transfer' in which it is only the opening that concentrates on Halloween but it is definitely worth noting and is perhaps one of my favourite starts to an Office episode. The Joker was probably one of the most popular costumes last year and it was brilliant to see Kevin, Dwight and Creed all as the Joker with varying degrees of scary with Creed being particularly frightening. It was also great to see Dwight have his pencil disappearing trick ruined by the lift door closing on him. The costume nightmare that Pam had in the Dunder Mifflin branch in New York also made me chuckle as she was the only person who had dressed up, her Charlie Chaplin costume would become Hiltleresque if she removed her hat.

Three hole punch Jim is from the season 2 episode 'Halloween' and demonstrates the extreme effort that can go in to a costume, or rather a lack of effort and it also shows how opposite Jim and Dwight are with Dwight spending over a hundred dollars on his Sith Lord suit. Though Jim's costume does give Dwight the excuse to punch. Also from seeing promo from this years Halloween episode it looks like it will be another humdinger.

5) Ugly Betty: 'The Lyin', the Watch and the Wardrobe'

Recently I haven't been enjoying Ugly Betty as much as I use to but I picked this episode mainly for Marc dressed as Betty (which Wilhelmina says is so cruel that he deserves a raise). Betty has also been fooled in to thinking that everyone in the office will be dressing for Halloween, which is not the case, but I do like he butterfly costume very much.

I know there are many other great Halloween episodes (Angel, My So Called Life and Friends to mention a few) but I thought I would go with five. Are there any show that you would like to see do a Halloween episode? Are there any shows that should have done a Halloween episode? The X-Files springs to mind as a show that could have done a great one but never did.

Happy Halloween everybody, I have to go and make some birds for my costume.

Bones 100th episode news

Rumours from Ausiello over at Entertainment Weekly last month suggested that the 100th episode of Bones was going to flashback to the first case that Brennan and Booth worked together where everything did not run exactly very smoothly, well Ausiello has now confirmed that this has been given the green light. In the pilot of Bones it was made clear that something had occurred in this first case that made Brennan not want to work with Booth again and it will be great to see what the writers will come up with as to what created this apparent early dislike of one another. Stephen Nathan, an executive producer on the show also revealed that:

“We’ll also see the introduction of Angela and the genesis of her friendship with Brennan. And we’ll try and work in a Smurf reference, of course. They certainly have been absent from season 5 so far.”

It has previously been mentioned that David Boreanaz will direct the episode, so I think it will be a pretty special affair, I can't wait.

Mad Men- The Gypsy and the Hobo

Holy wow, what an episode, spoilers ahead for season 3 episode 11

This season of Mad Men has really kicked in to hyper drive and it is hard to anticipate what is going to happen in the final two episodes of the series after this humdinger. I was really expecting the confrontation between Betty and Don regarding what she had discovered in his desk drawer to not occur so soon, so it was a shock when it did happen, but the fact that it did happen so soon did not take away from the tension of the scenes, from when Don walked in to a seemingly empty house until Miss Farrell slinked away in to the night I was on the edge of my seat. And the fact that Miss Farrell was sat in the car just a few feet away from the Draper house made these scenes even more on edge, would she come to the house wondering where Don was? In the end she waited for who knows how long before going home, painfully aware that whatever had occurred in the house meant the end for their tryst, no romantic getaways for them. Although somewhat to my annoyance when Don did ring her to explain his absence he only said that it was over for now, suggesting that the door could still be open for their affair.

Prior to Betty confronting Don we saw her at her fathers house, sitting at his desk taking command of her situation, asking the family lawyer for some advice regarding the situation she is now in with Don after finding his secret box and to her dismay (and mine) all he offered her was a reason to stay with Don, he is a good provider and divorce is hard to get if you are a woman in the 1960s unless adultery can be proven so she should just try and make do with staying married to Don. This answer thankfully does not stop Betty from confronting Don with what she knows and thankfully she does not give up or give in as we might have expected her to, Betty Draper is strong willed, and though there have been many moments where I have wanted to shake her to stop being so passive it was wonderful to see her take control with Don.

The role reversal that occurred from when Betty thrust the desk keys on to the table and Don realised that she knew the truth was wonderful to watch, with Don being reduced to a figure who looks like he is about to lose everything (much like he did last season when we saw Anna Draper call him out on he was at the car dealership). Jon Hamm is a joy to watch normally but in these scenes he really surpassed himself, from stumbling in to the kitchen realising that his 'perfect' life is over, when he dropped his cigarette on the floor and struggled to pick it up it became apparent that his cool exterior had really been shattered by Betty and what she had found out. Betty was definitely the commander in this conversation, knowing that her husband is good at selling anything she called him out on this, also noting that he has been lying to her every day. When baby Gene started crying and Betty went to attend I really thought that Don might do a runner, with so many doors to escape in to, however we see him pick up the box of evidence of his previous life and go in to the hallway.

Don takes the box to the bedroom, this is where he spills the secrets from his past life that he has tried so hard to conceal from everyone in his new life (though as Betty notes if he had really wanted to keep it secret then why would he leave it in their house). I was half expecting him to fudge some of these details with the only lie he really tells is saying that the army made a mistake about who he was, when in fact he was the one who enabled this mistake by switching dog tags, though this is a lie I can let him tell, would Betty really want to know that about him. Although he also says that he asked for a divorce from Anna when he first met Betty, this she calls him out on as the divorce decree was only three months before they were married, I guess he said this to make the whole thing appear to be romantic. He reveals everything else though, why he helped Anna, where he came from, that he is the son of a prostitute and that he was from a family that was very poor. He finally cracks emotionally when Betty asks her about Adam, and he even reveals that Adam killed himself and he contributed to this by sending him away so not to ruin his Don Draper life, this break in Don endears him to Betty and to me as recently his actions have seemed more deplorable than normal and it is good to see his emotional side rather than his charm and arrogance. As I have said already Hamm is amazing in these scenes but props must also be given once again to January Jones who in these scenes also goes through a transformation of emotions and performs incredibly with her co-star.

I hope that after this reveal that the Draper marriage will get stronger, now that Betty knows the real Don can they make a success of what they have beyond the exterior which seems to be perfect whereas it is actually deeply flawed. Though with Miss Farrell around the corner will she rear her head before the season is out?

The other stories in this episode of Roger and his former (first?) love Annabelle and of Joan and her not so hot doctor husband Greg were also pretty fabulous. First it was nice to see both Joan and Roger with plenty of screen time, even with the two of them reconnecting over the phone with Joan asking Roger to help her find a job that is not back at Sterling Cooper (boo, I really miss her round the office), the chemistry between these two even crackles on scenes on the phone and I hope that this isn't the last we see of these two together this season.

Joan in this episode was being the supportive wife that Dr Rapey really does not deserve, she helped prep him for his interview, giving him great advice and support that he neither listened too nor used in his interview that he says he crashed and burned in (though would you really want someone so introspective as your psychiatrist?). Though what followed this whining had me cheering at the screen, with Joan picking up a vase of flowers and smashing it over his head (the gif for this can be found here). Greg after this buys Joan flowers to apologise for how he has been and then reveals that he has joined the army, will this be how we get rid of Greg when he hopefully gets sent to Vietnam?

The Roger and Annabelle story revealed that Roger was once a man that had been ditched in favour of another and that this event was an important one in the making of who he has become and it was interesting to see him turn down is former lover because he is married. I don't really take this to be the reason though I do think that in this early stage of his marriage to Jane he does not want to return to his usual adulterous ways but he also does it out of some place of revenge, revenge for having his heart broken over twenty years ago. Annabelle declares that Roger was the one, he states that she isn't but is Jane really the one for him? I would like to think not, that his perfect match is Joan, a woman who really is his equal, but is she too strong willed for him, would he just like a continuing flow of Janes until his ad man lifestyle gets the better of him?

The funniest line of the episode came from Peggy during the focus group regarding the dog food that Annabelle's company was trying to re-market, when the group started complaining that the food was made of horse meat Annabelle demanded that it was turned off, Peggy responded to this with: "I can't turn it off. It's actually happening." I wonder how many of these characters wish they could turn off what is actually happening to them?