‘Grey’s Anatomy’ recap: Harper-ing a grudge

By on Oct 31, 2017 in Recaps |

Brain tumor be damned, Amelia is not the doctor that dies this week — though the one who does kick the bucket does so at a very convenient time for the subordinate he has just fired. Here’s all that happened on Grey’s Anatomy Season 14, Episode 3: “Go Big or Go Home.” From neurosurgeon to neuro patient We all think that this episode is picking up right where the last one left us, with Amelia examining the grapefruit-sized tumor she just realized was hitchhiking in her brain but — surprise, surprise — she’s been staring at it for a week and not telling anyone. Of her colleagues, only DeLuca knows and only because he was there at the time of diagnosis. Amelia brings in Tom Koracick, head of neuro at Johns Hopkins and her (arrogant) former teacher. And that dude gives her a hard dose of reality. “Your plans, your judgement, your decision making, your impulse control — it’s all your tumor....

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ recap: Tumor has it

By on Oct 18, 2017 in Recaps |

Amelia, we hardly knew ye? The younger Dr. Shepherd faces an ironic twist of fate this week — while Nathan and Owen royally screw up their love lives — on Grey’s Anatomy Season 14, Episode 2: “Get Off on the Pain.” On the hunt for an abdomen Megan is a woman of jokes and silver linings, but she has neither when she wakes up to discover her abdomen is still wide open: Meredith’s operation didn’t work. For her part, Mer is on a rampage, destroying the attending lounge as Richard and Maggie bear witness. “Suffering is optional,” Mer says via voiceover, quoting that pithy saying we’ve all heard. “That person didn’t know that the f—k they were talking about.” (That f-bomb was cleverly censored by Mer slamming the door.) Later, Mer is picking at the seam where Alex patched up her bedroom wall — back when she took down Derek’s impromptu mural — when she gets a flash of inspiration. She wants...

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ recap: Home is the Hunt

By on Oct 13, 2017 in Recaps |

Three things in life are certain: Death, taxes, and a new season of Grey’s Anatomy every year. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again (many times, probably): This show will outlive us all. And that suits me just fine. I’ve been recapping Grey’s professionally and recreationally for over half its lifespan now, and I’m not stopping now… especially not when showrunner Krista Vernoff is back at the help and getting the cast and crew to film on location in Seattle. The show looks great and engages even better so far. Let’s scrub in on Grey’s Anatomy Season 14, Episode 1: “Break Down the House.” The women of Owen’s life Season 14 scoops us up exactly where Season 13 dropped us off, with Owen and Amelia watching medics offloading Megan, his recently-found sister, from a helicopter at an army base. Megan feigns the whole “Do I know you?” thing, but she actually seems fine… mentally and...

Web TV: The Scripted Shows of Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix

By on May 13, 2014 in Previews |

With Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix establishing themselves as 21st-century television networks, a certain someone in my life thought it might be wise for me to make a guide to the programming available on those services. I’m only listing shows that are scripted, geared toward adults, presumably still in production, and produced (at least in part) by the service in question. (Hulu has a silly habit of labelling content produced by networks overseas as “Hulu Originals.”) AMAZON The After — A mysterious apocalypse unites eight strangers in this drama from X-Files mastermind Chris Carter. Starring Aldis Hodge, Andrew Howard, Arielle Kebbel, Jamie Kennedy, Sharon Lawrence, Sam Littlefield, Louise Monot, Jaina Lee Ortiz, and Adrian Pasdar. Alpha House — In this political satire from Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau, four senators share a house in Washington, D.C. Starring John...

Phil Robertson Is a Ducking Bigot

By on Mar 23, 2014 in Rants |

I won’t mince my words: Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson is a bigot — a “forgiving” and “tolerant” one or not — and A&E is reprehensible for not taking his offenses more seriously and for kowtowing to its Phil-supporting viewership. I know this issue is months old at this point, but it seems to have washed out of the news cycle — and every day that Phil remains gainfully employed by A&E only adds to the injustice. Then again, Phil would likely surmise that I’m only commenting now because I’ve been too busy with acts of terror, hostility, and murder. Before continuing my “rage spiral,” I’ll back up and provide a little context. In an article published in the January 2014 issue of GQ, Phil defined sin: “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and...

Completion for completion’s sake totally sucks

By on Jun 16, 2013 in Inner Monologues, Rants |

I have attachment issues — not with people, luckily, but with stories. I’m ashamed when I don’t make it to the last page or the final frame. But, in some cases, I stop right before the end and feel like I can’t proceed. Alex and I saw Cirque du Soleil’s Totem recently. No, I’m not citing it as an example — we loved every minute of it. Buoyed by its exuberance — and perhaps wanting to debunk what could only be described as theatrical and athletic magic — we started the Bravo series Cirque du Soleil: Fire Within, a documentary about the creation of Cirque’s Varekai. Surprisingly, the closer to opening night of Varekai the show’s chronology progressed, the less engaging the show became. Is it because we already know — as viewers in 2002 perhaps did not — that the production of Varekai was a rousing success? Is it because we were seeing the...