TVSquad

(S03E03) Michael Scott may act like a knucklehead most of the time, but say this for him--he will not go down without a fight.

You just knew that sooner or later Dwight would try to undermine Michael, and Angela's influencing of him to do something about the office finally pushed him to meet clandestinely with Jan. Despite Jan's dismay over Michael's "Movie Mondays" and other offbeat practices, she must have some feelings for him at some level, because she did warn Michael about Dwight instead of looking to replace him. Obviously, their "hookup" last season must have had some effect on her.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.

(S01E02) Before we go any further, I just want to say those of you who would ask why am I reviewing this episode of The Prisoner (which was the fourth episode aired in the series) but appearing here as the second. First, in both the VCR and DVD compilations, this episode is listed second. (In addition, it was the second episode filmed.) Plus, I think this episode fits in better in the second slot anyway, because we get to see how Number 2 "by hook or by crook" tries to get Number 6 to tell why he resigned his post as a spy.

In this episode, Number 2 convinces Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan) to run for office as the new Number 2. Number 2 says that an election is held every 12 months, and so far there is no other candidate besides him that is running. Of course, being a new "resident" of the Village, Number 6 is quite skeptical over the whole thing. Plus, as he reiterates from the first episode, "I am not a number. I am a person."

Number 6 is then assigned an assistant, an attractive woman dressed as a French maid who offers to drive him everywhere and serve his needs, all while speaking in a foreign language. The episode is especially interesting as it "parodies" political campaigns where you have canned speeches and planned photo opportunities, ie, "rehearsed spontaniety."

(S01E12) Well, you just knew that the Henrickson family secret was going to be exposed. What makes it so surprising is that they all seem shocked by it. But I guess they deluded themselves into thinking that they were a "normal" family, at least in their own community.

The season finale of Big Love certainly had its share of twists and turns but, at its core, there's no getting around the fact that Bill Henrickson and his hypocritical lifestyle of polygamy was going to get him sooner or later. In a way, you almost felt sorry for Barb, the first wife, for being devastated about being disqualified from the Mother of the Year competition, but she does support the practice of polygamy, which doesn't give her much of a moral ground to stand on.

The battle between Bill and Roman spilled into nearly tragic consequences, with brother Joey's wife Wanda poisoning Roman's psychotic son Alby with antifreeze. In addition, we learned that Wanda was one who poisoned Bill and Joey's father early on in the season, and we also learned that Wanda has a penchant for poisoning people who come across as threatening. Obviously, the war between Bill and Roman is going to get a lot nastier and it looks like someone is going to get seriously hurt. The fact that Bill now has a seat on the U.E.B. Council will lead to Roman taking drastic measures to protect his turf.