Michael Canfield
United States - http://www.michaelcanfield.net
Mike Canfield is a freelance media, business and fiction writer based in Seattle.
Shark: Blind Trust
(S01E16) Incredible. I don't mean that as a compliment. First we are supposed to believe that 16-year-old Julie is able to keep her DWI arrest secret from a parent for an extended period. Even with Isaac covering for her, I don't buy it. Even the media finds out before Stark! And what kind of person is Isaac? He doesn't call Stark that night? Isaac is an adult, and he's keeping secrets with his friend's kid? Well, he is the guy who recommended the world's lamest bodyguard for Julie recently, so maybe I expect too much of him. All I know is Det. Baldwin Jones would never have messed this upThis isn't done because it makes sense however, but merely to set Stark up for a big feeling of betrayal to mirror the one he's going to get from this week's case...
Continue reading Shark: Blind Trust
Heroes: Unexpected
(S01E16) See, this is what happens when you give an ex-junkie a gun just in case a human bomb turns up, and tell him to use it to "save the world." Not HRG's best strategy, and a tragedy for Simone (Tawny Cypress). I think Nathan, succumbing to the more cynical side of his nature, will be relieved by this turn of events, because of his fears over Simone's earlier stated intention to go public with her knowledge of special abilities. Not that Simone would have been believed any more that Claire was when she opened up to her Mom's doctor.
Nathan, by the way, tells Simone exactly how he would handle persons with special abilities: treat them like lab rats and isolate them. This, as we know, is pretty much the philosophy of HRG's organization, anyhow.
Continue reading Heroes: Unexpected
Shark: Here Comes the Judge
(S01E15) Tim Matheson guest stars as a judge and charter member of the Los Angeles Stark-Haters Club, an evidently very large and influential organization. He's also a careerist and a hypocrite. Sebastian quickly realizes the judge is guilty of murdering his own wife, and with that you have your quintessential Shark ingredients. Matheson does a good job playing the self-righteously self-righteous judge, who early-on accuses Stark of going after him because of his tough law-and-order case rulings, and finishes-up accusing Stark of homophobia. Stark's consistent though. He goes after the judge, not because of any personal or political ax to grind, but, well, because of the whole murdering-his-spouse thing.Continue reading Shark: Here Comes the Judge
Heroes: Run!
(S01E15) A rough week for some of the heroes makes for another pretty good episode, especially the Parkman and Jessica stuff. For once, things appear to be going Matt Parkman's way. He's beaming as he heads off for his first day on a new job as private security. His client turns out to be an a-hole. Matt has not gotten used to overhearing the negative thoughts everyone he meets seems to have of him.
Just in from Vegas, recently-liberated Jessica has a new job herself; it's the first of what may be many contracts from Mr. Linderman. The cat-and-mouse chase up and down the stairwells was intense. So was Matt's near fatal fall. Jessica chucks him out a high window before finishing what she came to Los Angeles to do. Say what you will about Jessica, but she certainly enjoys herself more than Niki ever has. It was cool that Matt read both Niki's and Jessica's thoughts as they argued in the stairwell. [Note: that's how I interpreted Jessica & Niki's exchange in the stairwell anyway. See comments by Michelle @ 13 and Bill @16, etc. below.] Wherever they go, the mirror-twins seem to encounter an ample supply of reflective surfaces.
Shark: Starlet Fever
(S01E14) Yeesh. This episode was one silly drawn-out mess. A Britney/Paris/Lindsay type starlet is run off the road and killed. Initially the paparazzi seem to be responsible, adding a touch of the Princess Di tragedy to the mix. There's a possible stalker angle. There is molestation by step-parent: a middle-aged man with an earring. An opportunistic kid sister. A fake celebrity feud started for "cross-promotional purposes." All this gives Stark and the rest of the High Profile Crime Unit plenty of beautiful people to sneer at, although, strangely, none of the guest performers cast as the various young celebrities are nearly as attractive as the gorgeous cast of series regulars.
Continue reading Shark: Starlet Fever
Heroes: Distractions
(S01E14) Before the heroes can eliminate troublesome distractions they must discover what their own true distractions are.
Claude is a kick, and Peter finds out the hard way that he is also quite the hands-on teacher. The invisible Claude might be cynical and a misanthrope, but he does get results. Being thrown off a thirty-story building quickly clarifies things for Peter, though his subsequent revelation is exactly the opposite of Claude's philosophy. And Peter's breakthrough makes him more clearly a kind of anti-Sylar. Each absorbs powers, Sylar does it while killing, Peter does it by allowing himself to feel a life-affirming connection to the other heroes he has caught an ability from. It starts with a memory of Claire, who we now know ...
Continue reading Heroes: Distractions
Shark: Teacher's Pet
(S01E13) Wayne the serial killer is now a free man, so Stark puts around-the-clock protection on Julie. This gives father and daughter yet one more thing to fight about. Oh, and Jessica Devlin, evidently still on the show, thinks Stark needs a vacation, which he absolutely does. Jess even gets to play a substantial role in the conclusion of the case, for once, when Stark ends up somewhat indisposed. She even cracks not one, but two, smiles. So what starts out as another typical Shark lifestyles-of-the-rich-famous-and-murderous takes on more resonance because of the way it effects the regular characters, which makes for a stronger overall episode.
Continue reading Shark: Teacher's Pet
Heroes: The Fix
(S01E13) One of the things I enjoy almost every episode is how the the creative team of Heroes manages to juggle so many characters reasonably well. The majority of the dozen-or-so major players in the half-dozen-or-so major plot threads have important and relevant scenes each time out, quite an accomplishment for just under forty-three minutes of television a week. But, nah, I didn't miss the Artist this time out. Tonight's episode saw a number of broken relationships on the mend. On the way to the mend, anyhow. There is no longer any question that egocentric politician Nathan Petrelli is now more concerned with helping little bro' Pete than he is on his congressional run. He has certainly given up pretending that things like genetic mutations and human nuclear explosions are inconvenient distractions that can be argued away. That's a relief. Skeptical characters in the face of overwhelming evidence that weird crap is happening start to get tedious after a while, and I'm happy Nathan hasn't turned stuck it out as one of these.
Continue reading Heroes: The Fix
Heroes: Godsend
(S01E12) The month off was enough for me to start missing the show. Chapter Twelve opens two weeks after we last saw our heroes. Jessica has spent the intervening time pummeling prison guards from the looks of the fearful battered bunch that enter Niki/Jessica's cell in the opening scene. Not to worry, Jessica is concocting an insanity defense. Maybe "concocting" is too strong a word. Niki does have a really strong insanity defense. She and her husband D.L. have essentially exchanged places. Now she's the perceived dangerous criminal and D.L. is the sole protector of their son Micha.
Hardly anything has gone the heroes' way during the hiatus. Sure, the Artist came out of his time in Odessa cured of heroin addiction, and is now able to paint without it, but most of the others are still suffering in the wake of previous events.
Continue reading Heroes: Godsend
Shark: Wayne's World
(S01E12) After the last episode's hyper-ballistic antics, I looked forward to seeing Shark's return to good old psychological terror. Billy Campbell (The 4400), still sporting most of the beard and flowing Jesus-locks he grew on his round-the-world sailing trip a year or two ago, guest stars as serial killer Wayne. He is a more formidable villain than we've seen Stark face before. Don't even talk to me about that fizzle of an international arms dealer: the unfortunately-named Khan. Anyway, sociopathic Wayne chooses to defends himself at trial, which puts his single surviving victim in the terrible position of being cross-examined by her own tormentor. That has happened in a few notable real-world cases, and probably a dozen Law and Order episodes, but it's an intense dilemma worthy enough of a go-around here.
Continue reading Shark: Wayne's World
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