Boardwalk Empire 1x10

Another very good episode in which several of the plot lines start to converge in interesting ways. Richard Harrow has a dream in which he walks the beach with one of the prostitutes of the Four Deuces, his face still unscarred. Then he wakes up from little Emily’s screams, who found him sleeping on the couch without his mask. Everyone’s already on edge, with Nucky narrowly escaping an assassination attempt, and Margaret slowly realizing the humiliating situation she got herself into. Nucky snaps at Harrow for frightening the kids with his horrifying face. He later does explain to Margaret that Harrow is a war hero and is there for their protection. “Success breeds enemies,” he adds, “which you’ll discover soon enough after women win the vote.” As for politics, the ratification for the women’s suffrage that Nucky is alluding to is now in the hands of Tennessee. It’s interesting how Nucky presents his position as progressive – as his only interest is getting more votes come election time. When she is reading to her children from The Wizard of Oz, Margaret invites Harrow to join them – allowing him to compare himself with the Tin Woodsman, which eases the children’s fear of him. Later still, Harrow admits to her that he, too, is troubled by his own face, but can hardly remember what he looked like before his face got disfigured. When the good news about the ratification has been announced, Nucky and Margaret have a glass of champagne, and he asks her if she could speak on behalf of his mayoral candidate Bader at the League of Women’s Voter meeting. She sees through his opportunism, yet she is still drawn to him. She agrees and gives a rousing speech to great applause.

That weasel Agent Sebso plays the innocent victim while Van Alden and Superintendent Elliot interrogate him about the death of Winslow, their only witness implicating Jimmy and Nucky in the massacre in the woods. Elliot exonerates him on account of self-defense in the line of duty, but directs his anger on Van Alden for bungling the case from the start. Hoping that she will be his last chance for a lead in the Schroeder case, Van Alden visits Margaret and confronts her that she is consorting with the murderer of her husband, the father of her children. She catches on to his fiendish obsession with her and tells him to leave, but before he does the hypocrite preaches her about the fires of hell awaiting her. At night, that evangelical prohibitionist walks into a speakeasy, downs two shots of whiskey, sits down with Nucky’s former mistress Lucy, and ends up sleeping with her like a possessed animal. For his part, Jimmy tries making amends with Angela, expressing his admiration for her Impressionist paintings. But things run afoul again when little Tommy blurts out, as they are passing the photo shop on the boardwalk, that they are going to see “Mommy’s kissing friend.” Jimmy has been accusing Angela of having an affair with Robert Dittrich for awhile now. In anger he tears up the studio and throws Robert through the glass door, beating him to a pulp outside. When Angela comes to Mary to apologize, Mary suggests they run off to Paris together, leaving their men behind. In Chicago, Al Capone learns to cast his childish pranks, not because lazy-eye Torrio berates his behavior, but rather at a bar mitzvah. It noticeably changes him. Ready to take on responsibility, he offers to work at Torrio’s brewery and arrange distribution.

Doyle and two D’Alessio brothers visit Rothstein again in New York. These dago hoodlums are such idiots, it’s laughable. Rothstein tries to convey his business acumen, and one of the brother quips, “like the World Series.” After an awkward pause, he adds, “you put the fix in.” Rothstein is seething at their sheer and utter incompetence for botching the plot to kill Nucky. Doyle later approaches Nucky, apologizing and offering to switch sides, telling everything he knows about Rothstein and the D’Alessio brothers. He relates that the D’Alessios have been behind the lynching of Chalky White’s driver, the mugging of ward boss O’Neill, the casino heist that nearly cost Eli’s life, in addition to the foiled attempt at Nucky’s life. They concoct a plan to lure Rothstein’s henchman Lansky over to Chalky’s with as many of the dago brothers as possible. When Nucky and Jimmy arrive, Chalky and Doyle have already tied up Lucien and Matteo D’Alessio, as well as Lansky. While Lansky is trying to reach some kind of accommodation, Lucien tells Jimmy, Nucky and Chalky to go fuck each other. Jimmy grabs his gun. “Oh, oh, fuckin’ tough guy,” Lucien balks, “you’re gonna shoot me for mouthing off.” “I wasn’t going to,” Jimmy replies with a smile, “but you kinda talked me into it,” and shoots him in the forehead. Matteo tells Chalky the his brothers are going to kill him, “like they did that other goon.” Chalky strangles him with his bare hands. “You can go now,” Nucky informs Lansky as he unties him, “and please tell Mr. Rothstein what you saw here tonight.”

Community 1x06

Annie is helping Troy with his astronomy test. Pierce walks in and says, “As far as I’m concerned there’s only one black hole worth studying.” Everyone is expecting a racist joke. “It’s called Sagittarius A, it’s located in the center of our galaxy, and it has the density of forty suns.” Now everyone’s surprised he even knows that. Jeff raises his finger in warning that Pierce isn’t done yet. “Just like my wiener,” Pierce finishes. Then Dean Pelton “randomly” strolls in to ask Troy if he would like to join the college football team, which the dean proudly named the “Human Beings.” Shirley asks Britta to go the ladies’ room together, but she says no. Jeff explains why that offended Shirley, but tells her how to make up: “Nothing says, ‘I’m a woman,’ like going out for dinner with me.” “Nothing says, ‘I’m a pig,’ like you,” she retorts.

When Jeff realizes the dean is using his name and face for college promotional material, he’s shocked and heads to the dean’s office. Pelton sees an opportunity to manipulate Jeff into convincing Troy he should join the football team. Jeff wouldn’t be a disbarred barrister if he couldn’t bullshit Troy into believing it’s his calling to claim his spotlight. Meanwhile Shirley isn’t much interested in going to the ladies’ room with Britta anymore after she went all uptight feminist about make-up and health spas. It’s the moment Britta slowly becomes aware what a self-righteous buzz-kill she is. “I peed alone my whole life,” she cries, “Women have always hated me.” But then she has an opportunity to bond with Annie, who’s devastated that Troy joined the football team. Aww, how sweet!

In Treatment 3x22

Descriptive adjectives keep coming to the Cricket’s mind when seeing Frances’ behavior in therapy: passive-aggressive, manipulative, evasive, needy, begging for attention, feeling judged, blaming others yet guilt-ridden, scared and angry, narcissistic and lonely, in a word, pathetic. Her sister Patricia is now literally on her deathbed and all she wants to talk about is being hungry and looking tired. I say “looking tired,” because she is more concerned about her appearance than she is about herself. She walked out of the theater just before curtain call on opening night to be with her sister. She was there to help Patricia, bathed her, put her to bed, gossiped with her, read her a bit from Jane Eyre. Trish showed her appreciation, perhaps for the first time in her life, saying she loves Frances. Then they had to go to the hospital, as Trish’ condition worsened. Frances felt pushed aside by the nurses, felt judged by her daughter Izzy (who called her a narcissist after her mother told her she tested negative for the BCRA1 test), and suddenly decided to quit the theater to care for her sister full-time. It has been difficult for Paul to connect with Frances, to break through her protective shell, and though they share a moving moment when she talks about her sister, he cannot help being skeptical about her motives. Has she decided to move in with Patricia to prove (Izzy, Paul, herself) she is not a narcissist? Frances keeps returning to Izzy’s scathing remark and asks if it is possible for a narcissist to change. Just at that moment Izzy knocks on the door because Trish’ condition has worsened still. Maybe an interesting side note to observe how Paul himself might be considered a narcissist like Frances, and like her was entrapped by his mother as a child.

Californication 4x11

“Novelist Moody Found Guilty in Lolita Rape Case.” That’s the headline news Karen reads on her iMac after the jury read their verdict. Imagine! “Well, that happened,” Hank sighs, asking Abby, “What do we do now?” “Let’s go get shitfaced,” she replies. Next scene we’re back in Hank’s dream that started off the whole series four years ago: getting a blow job in church from a nun who advises him to drive off as fast as he can even if that means he has to steal a car. When he wakes up, he’s in bed with Abby. He tries sneaking out, but she stops him. They still don’t know what he’ll be facing: prison or probation. Instead of heading to Karen and Becca, he knocks on Charlie’s door, meeting his kinky real estate agent Peggy, who immediately whispers in Runkle’s ear she wants to play home invasion rape with Hank. When he finally picks up Becca from school, she blames him for being selfish, for always evading reality, and for being so proud to be cool. She’d rather have a boring, normal dad, who’d be there for her.

He drops her off and returns to his hotel lobby. There he spots an old acquaintance, hooker Trixie, with whom he finds some solace. Then he slips into another dream, in boring 1950’s black & white, of his live as a regular joe. Comes nighttime, he’s about to hit the highway in his newly purchased Porsche (with royalties for his novel Slowly We Rot – a reference to the debut album of Florida death metal act Obituary) – when Marcy calls with some bogus excuse to lure him over to Karen’s: Surprise! “We wanted to throw you a ‘Hank is Innocent’ party, but we had to work with what you gave us,” Runkle chuckles. They have the sweetest time, reminiscing how things were better once, in happier times, when the four of them were still two loving couples, and Becca wanted to grow up fast, because they made it look like so much fun. It’s a beautiful moment, and small wonder it takes up about a third of the episode, for it gives emotional depth to the story – and a nice reward for sitting through some of the flirty fluff and moral ambivalence: this scene gives the whole season a human heart.

Benidorm 4x01

When the Garveys return to the Costa Blanca in Spring they learn to their stunned surprise, surprise that Madge’s luxurious villa has been bought by none other than (famous British singer and comedy actress) Cilla Black. In their search for Janice’s mother, they also discover that Madge sold the Benidorm Palace. Mick, Janice and Michael have to check into the Solana and continue looking for Madge. They find her mobility scooter on the market, on sale, with her new cell phone number. She’s down and out, over her head in debt, living in a trailer park. Through all of it, she still clings on to her stubborn pride. It’s heart wrenching.

Naturally the insinuating swingers Donald and Jacqueline are on the spot, minding everybody else’s business. Only half of the grumpy gay muppets, Gavin, arrives at the Solana, while Troy remains home to care for his dying father who hardly knew. Gavin does bring his gayer-than-thou salon employee Kenneth and their arguing from the start. There are new vacationers, too, lovely Natalie and her foul-mouthed friend Samantha. Mel’s former employee, cross-dressing Les, finds employment behind the bar, to Mateo’s great dismay. Les’ socially awkward son has a blinding crush on Natalie, who apparently had an affair with Mateo last year.

Then Scary Mary shows up at the hotel’s poolside with two hoodlums demanding debt Madge owes her. The showdown between Madge and Mary is as hilarious as it brings tears to your usually cynical Cricket’s eyes. “Oh, yeah, I heard all about yours,” Madge chides when Mary argues it’s not about the money anymore, but about her reputation. “Scare Mary, the Benidorm Bike. I’ve heard you’ve given more rides than the donkey on Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Only you don’t charge quite as much.” Les, Mateo, Mick and Michael all budge in defending Madge, and when the hoodlums have been taken out of commission, Janice storms in and knocks her head firmly against Scary Mary. “Nobody, nobody, threatens my mother,” she intones menacingly. Brilliant!

Boardwalk Empire 1x09

Nucky’s brother Eli confirms that the dago D’Alessio brothers were behind the casino stick-up in which he got shot in the stomach. Making matters worse, Democratic candidate for the upcoming mayoral election, Fletcher, is promising to clean Atlantic City from the current corruption. For her part, Margaret gets a taste of the influence she has gained as Nucky’s mistress. Her former employer, Madame Jeunet at La Belle Femme, begs her for help as the payoff money for running her shop has doubled. When she brings it up at home, Nucky snaps it’s not a suitable topic of conversation. Not much later, Nucky asks her to help him convincing the women of the Temperance League to vote Republican when and if they get the suffrage. She spots an opportunity to turn that around and get him to cut Madame Jeunet’s costs. It is a pleasure seeing Margaret grow into her position of power, but let’s not forget she is having an affair with the man who had her husband killed.

Jimmy returns to Atlantic City, but no one has received his telegrams announcing his arrival. Nucky asks him to take care of the D’Alessio brothers. Jimmy deliberately asks him if he wants him to kill them, confronting him with the fact that he’s a murderer and should not be entertaining foolish notions otherwise. When Jimmy returns home, Angela is having a little party with the Dittrichs, who run the photo shop on the boardwalk. By the awkward glances and startled silence, Jimmy realizes things had gotten a little intimate. Angela never received his telegram either. His jealous anger is a tad hypocritical, though, seeing that he had an affair with Pearl at the brothel in Chicago (even considered running away with her to California), but worse still, he turns abusive. She eventually seems to cave in, but it still feels like rape to these eyes.

Nelson Van Alden is livid when he finds out his mumbling junior partner, Agent Sebso, ignored the Jimmy’s telegrams and shoved them in the drawer. Sebso tells him Supervisor Elliot has made it clear enough he believes their being obsessive about Jimmy Darmody, Nucky Thompson and the Hans Schroeder case. Meanwhile, Jimmy has his mother help him trap Lucky Luciano, catching him in her bed. Walking down the stairs with a gun in his side, Lucky blurts out Rothstein cut the D’Alessio brothers in. And that’s when Agents Van Alden and Sebso arrest Jimmy. Suddenly Supervisor Elliot is all congratulatory. Jimmy obviously denies knowing anything about the heist in the woods with Capone. But then he spots Billy Winslow, who identified him on the scene. When Nucky visits him in jail, Jimmy tells him about the deal of the D’Alessio brothers with Rothstein, and about Winslow. Nucky promises to take care of things but cannot bail him out. “Five counts of murder. There is no bail.” Nucky then visits the Commodore, who is nearing his death, but refuses to see a doctor. Even his dog is sick. He suggests to Nucky they better replace Mayor Bacharach and Eli, too.

In New York City, Arnold Rothstein meets up with the two eldest D’Alessio brothers and Mickey Doyle. He offers them a partnership importing the best Scotch from Britain. Atlantic City is a perfect site, both for smuggling the liquor in and for distributing it to the eastern seaboard. First thing that needs to happen, though, is getting rid of the person running the city. Supposedly to protect their only witness in the Schroeder case, Sebso suggests transferring Winslow to Manhattan, but kills him along the way as a favor to Nucky. To make it look like self-defense, he smashes his own head with a rock. (At least, I suspect Sesbo is in cahoots with Nucky, for why else is he sabotaging the case?) Walking on the boardwalk with Margaret after an evening out with his preferred mayoral replacement, Nucky nearly gets shot by the youngest D’Alessio brother. Now things have heated up!

Community 1x05

Greendale Community College Dean Craig Pelton announces the unveiling of a statue of one of their most famous alumni, Luiz Guzman. Abed is excited to ask him about his movie choices, especially Carlito’s Way, The Cowboy Way, The Hard Way, and Q&A. Troy retorts that he just got off the phone with Guzman, and he can’t wait to get on his private jet from Honolulu to have that conversation with Abed. Abed is surprised Guzman would call Troy about him, and that Guzman knows him at all. “You don’t know,” Troy asks, after some surprised looks on his face, “I’m President Obama’s nephew.” He explains he didn’t tell Abed before, because he didn’t know if he could trust him. But now’s the time to tell him everything, starting with his invention of the Ferrari. Jeff’s dismayed Britta gave him a fake cell phone number, discovering he’s been texting with some guy in Boulder for a month, but when Britta asks him if he will agree only to use her number for friendly purposes, Jeff passes.

Meanwhile, Señor Chang has discovered a crib sheet and threatens to give the whole class a zero unless the cheater comes forward. When the study group starts discussing who may have cheated, Abed discovers that Troy has been messing with him and learns the joy of lying as a joke. “This isn’t a table, hahah!” Next day in class, Britta admits having cheated and is threatened with expulsion. Jeff offers to represent her in the hokey tribunal. The enfolding scene is too funny to convey. You’ve got to see it for yourself. In the end, she gets exonerated on the condition that she receives weekly psychiatric counseling of professor Duncan. For his part, Abed conjures up an elaborate scheme just to mess with Troy, pretending to be communicating with aliens. Troy eventually tells him it would be less worrying if he were an alien than to see him go through such great lengths to mess with him – and still fail dramatically. And they’re my best buddies for it!

In Treatment 3x21

Yet another intense session with Sunil. When Paul opens the door, he finds Julia, and she has something to say: she is terminating Sunil’s therapy, it has not helped at all, the situation at home has only gotten worse. You can see on her face she is angry, she has a bandage on her arm and informs Paul that there was an incident with Sunil. They had an argument in front of the children, he pushed her and she fell onto a nail in the book case. Then she leaves and Sunil comes in. His side of the story is very different: he was singing a Bengali song to his grandchildren, Julia demanded that he stop, started yelling at him, the children started crying, and when he tried leaving the room, he pushed passed Julia, who scratched herself against the nail. Now Paul really has reason to worry that Sunil might harm someone. If that isn’t enough, Sunil asks him if he may keep an old cricket bat in safe keeping. Tension is rife, but Paul cannot determine whether Sunil is capable of violence. He keeps trying to find out, whether he could hurt Julia, whether there was more to Sunil’s violent dream, whether he ever harmed Manili, but Sunil keeps evading his questions. Paul and Sunil agree there will be one more session, since Julia offered a check for another hour, as Sunil refuses to become a charity case. How is that one extra session going to resolve anything? Will there be some shocking revelation that Paul has been on the wrong track all along? Stay tuned.

Californication 4x10

Certainly the Cricket could be criticized for being cynical, but I find the main story arc of Californication a tad too melodramatic. Yes, I understand that Karen isn’t too happy that the man who claims to love her slept with an under-aged girl who happened to be the daughter of her fiancé at the time. But she knows Hank, he cannot refuse temptation, yet he did not rape Mia. By all accounts she seduced him. I did enjoy the in-joke, though, when Hank is getting ready for court, looking in the mirror combing his hair saying, “I look like a fucking FBI Agent.” (Get it?) In court, the prosecution first asks Charlie Runkle as witness. Not good. The man is so nervous, all he does is talk about Hank’s sexcapades. Hank finds the stories funny, but meanwhile the jury is painted a picture of a promiscuous, immoral asshole bent on self-destruction. The prosecution also wishes to insinuate that Hank slept with Mia to take revenge on Karen’s fiancé Bill Lewis. When Karen is asked to testify, Abby nicely sums up her relationship with Hank: she broke up with him, to move in with Bill, then she abandoned Bill at the altar to move back in with Hank; she threw him out when she thought he got another woman pregnant, left for New York without her daughter, came back to play house some more; then broke off with Hank yet again when he was accused of statutory rape. Ouch.

When it’s time for recess, there’s no cause for celebration yet, but there’s no reason to worry either. Then the prosecution calls William Lewis, who testifies that Hank had in fact met Mia the day before he slept with her. Bad news for the defendant. He is certain Hank seduced her to spite him. But when Mia comes to the stand she assures the jury that Hank had no recollection of their first meeting: he was drunk and sick, moved in and out of sleep. She also confesses that she was deliberately looking for trouble, resenting the fact that her father had jumped into a new relationship so soon after her mother’s death, plus the fact that he was hardly ever home. She appreciated Karen’s attempts to be there for her, but she wouldn’t listen. She met Hank at the book store and seduced him. Abby is livid: the seed of doubt has been planted among the jury. Karen is beyond anger and doesn’t even want to speak to Hank. The Fuck Up himself doesn’t know what just hit him. Perhaps it’s a testament to the series that we still sympathize with him, or maybe I just don’t see what the big deal is all about. It’s not like Hank did it on purpose. We will have to wait at least another week until we hear the jury’s verdict.

Benidorm 4x00

It’s Christmas and the Garveys head to Benidorm to spend the holidays with Mel and Madge in their luxurious new villa overlooking the Costa Blanca. What’s funny is that they’ve called the villa “Casa Blanca,” but it’s painted pink! Mel hasn’t arrived yet from a business trip to Marrakesh, and Madge gets more and more nervous he may be having an affair – some “polka wonkers,” as she calls it. Mel’s assistant, that cross-dressing Les, fails to pick up Su Pollard (Hi-de-Hi! and You Rang M’Lord?). She ends up in a nudist resort singing show tunes to get enough cash to pay the cab fair to Casa Blanca. At the Solana, there’s confusion about the party of friends Donald and Jacqueline have brought for the holidays. They have a booking for a jazz band, the Middlesborough Swingers Association! Ahahaha! “Swingers,” get it? Unfortunately, that darling couple Gavin and Troy aren’t present to offer their snide comments on the events. And neither is Geoff “The Oracle,” but his mother Noreen is there, with a travel companion who might just be after her money. There’s no happy ending to this holiday special, for, Mick gets a call on Christmas day, while Roy Wood is jamming hard rocking carols at the Benidorm Palace, that Mel has passed away in Morocco. Quite a feat, to fit such a sad storyline into all the silliness and make it work! The Cricket even got teary-eyed... Sadder, still, is that Geoffrey Hutchings, the actor who played Mel Harvey, himself actually died of a viral infection last year.

Community 1x04

Imagine having Señor Chang as your Spanish teacher! This man is utterly deranged. He received student evaluation cards and actually took the time to analyze the handwriting against past exams to find out who gave him such scathing feedback. Recognizing the little circles dotting the I’s from Annie’s handwriting, he slowly approaches her desk, shoving his face in hers, rubbing his nose against hers, and kissing her forehead. Poor girl! Hilarious, though, but totally insane and creepy. Anyway, this would be the episode in which we are introduced to shirtless, micro-nippled, hacky-sacking, surfer hippie Vaughn (is that his first or last name?) – the most annoying creature to breathe air on earth, but frightfully good looking. Obviously Britta has a crush on him, to Jeff’s great dismay. He tries not to show he’s jealous. Fortunately for him, Britta feels Vaughn is taking it to relationship status too fast and comes to Jeff for advice, which gives him an opportunity to sabotage the relation – but it won’t send Britta rushing into his arms, though. Meanwhile Annie’s taking a psychology lab with Prof. Duncan. The experiment involves making subjects wait unwittingly until they reach their breaking point. Naturally, Señor Chang breaks down the moment Annie walks in to tell the subjects they are running five minutes late! After three hours of waiting, only Troy and Abed are left. Prof. Duncan never counted on this! Troy crawls out, but Abed just keeps sitting in the waiting room, patiently waiting. Twenty-six full hours! It’s Duncan who breaks down in desperation. When Annie confronts Abed about not leaving, he admits he was livid, but stayed because she told him they were friends. Guilt trip! Laugh-out-loud funny!

Modern Family 1x24

This is by far the best episode this season. It made me laugh – and it even made me cry a little. Clair has planned a Modern Family portrait down to the tee in every perfectionist detail. She was able to get the best photographer in town and everyone is going to stand in a single line descending down the stairs dressed in white. Before the photo shoot, though, Phil’s off to a Lakers game. He was supposed to go with Luke, but he has a school project due, so Phil takes Alex instead. Jay was supposed to go with Manny, but Luke’s school project involves interviewing someone who lived through the 60s, so Gloria comes with. Uh-oh! Phil and Gloria alone ... that can’t be good! His first foul: when Haley calls her mom that Phil’s on TV, Clair calls, Haley jokes to tell him she’s pregnant, but Phil ignores the call. Worse: when the Kiss Cam zooms in on Phil and Gloria, he awkwardly refuses, but Gloria puckers him right on the smacker! He’s mortified Clair is going to hurt him!

For his part, Jay is telling tall tales about the 60s after Luke fell asleep listening to his boring stories. Meanwhile, Mitchell stays at home with Lily when Cam is hired to sing “Ave Maria” at a wedding. The scene that ensues is slapstick hilarious! Mitchell is terrified by a pigeon that somehow got inside, but after hiding out in Lily’s room, he mans up and ends up trashing half the place! When it’s finally time for the family portrait, all goes afoul as everyone ends up screaming and flinging mud at each other! Happy times. Well, your Cricket has now watched the complete first season and still doesn’t really enjoy the series... There have been a few nice episodes, like this one, but the rest just seemed mediocre to me. Should I continue with the second season? Will it get better or stay more of the same?

In Treatment 3x20

Paul drops off Max in Maryland, begging him not to worry about him. He briefly meets Steve, but declines to come in for coffee, as he has to get back to Brooklyn for his own session with Adele. He arrives late, with a great show of how bad he feels, taking aspirins in her office. He tells her he owes it to her that he finally spoke with Max, which made him realize that his son only came to live with him out of concern. Paul again makes a great show of this achievement, but it was only after the pancake incident (and the confrontation with Jesse) that he came to discuss his situation with Max. When Adele points out his demonstrative behavior, Paul angrily turns the conversation to his revelation in the last session. He may have dismissed it then, but he still needs to hear her response to his admission of his feelings for her. He genuinely feels they could make each other happy. It requires titanic tact and patience for Adele not to burst out – either in anger or laughter. Allowing his reverie to continue, Paul imagines they could discuss patients over wine, just as he now would like to hear her thoughts about Sunil. Adele indicates, that since he arrived late, their time is almost up, but Paul persists – explaining that he knows he is her last patient of the week – because he stayed in front of her building for an hour last time – and forcing her to extend their session (as if his situation is as critical as Jesse’s). When she hears about his stalk-like behavior, she has had it. He has asked her to be many things for him – his supervisor, his colleague, his life partner – anything, but his therapist. She bluntly confronts him with his paralysis to act in his life, with his son (waiting until a crisis occurs to talk to him), his patients (refraining from contacting authorities, even though he worries Sunil might harm someone), his girlfriend (not making up his mind whether to break up with Wendy or not), his health (persisting to believe he has Parkinson’s despite medical evidence to the contrary). Still, she offers to schedule two sessions a week to help him make progress – which he flatly refuses. What a wonderful show!

The Ghost Writer

The Cricket only just now caught The Ghost Writer (2010) by Roman Polanski. It’s an interesting movie – and when saying “interesting” you may detect a hint of reservations. The story has ambitions that unfortunately remain unrealized. The unnamed eponymous ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) is hired to rewrite the memoirs of the former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) – a barely disguised stand-in for Tony Blair. Lang’s previous ghost writer just died from drowning under suspicious circumstances. When the writer moves from London to the U.S., where Lang is staying for a lecture tour (the town is a fictional Old Haven, on an island off Massachusetts, thus Martha’s Vineyard), a conspiracy slowly starts to unfold. Not only was the ghost writer’s predecessor murdered, Lang is accused of illegally extraditing terrorist suspects to the U.S. and faces possible war crime charges in The Hague. The writer discovers a connection between Lang and the CIA, involving a Cambridge classmate, Paul Emmett (Tom Wilkinson), who is now a Harvard professor. Additionally, it becomes clear that Lang is having an affair with his personal assistant Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall), while his wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) grows evermore impatient at her husband’s unwillingness to take her advice as he used to. The ghost writer gets chased around and eventually contacts Lang’s former Foreign Minister Richard Rycart (Robert Pugh), who is now the U.N. envoy who accuses Lang of the illegal seizure of terrorist suspects.

The film – and the novel by Robert Harris on which it is based – poses some appropriate questions about the post 9-11 political landscape. Unfortunately, it never really explores these questions in any depth. It certainly is baffling that a Labour PM could have been such an American lapdog – especially at the time of the Bush administration. Adam Lang, however, remains a rather flat character, more of a womanizer and heavy drinker. We get no indication what motives him, why he is such a staunch pro-American, or what his thoughts are on the war on terror. We are led to believe that he merely became politically active through his wife Ruth, who was his trusted advisor for years. We get no indication either what motivates her, why she is throwing temper tantrums, or why she approaches the ghost writer for solace and sleeps with him. In the end, we learn that she has been a CIA agent from the start, recruited by Emmett, and thus her emotional instability becomes only more puzzling and her motivations even more obscure. There’s a hint at a rightist intellectual think-tank, Arcadia, with ties to the CIA and a weapons dealer in whose private jet Lang is flying. It is all tossed in our direction, perhaps even vindictively, for us to make sense of. But the moral quandaries, the fascinating grey area between good and bad, are left unaddressed. It is, for one, a government’s responsibility to protect its citizens, whether from terrorism or other menaces. How to implement national security without breaching human rights, international laws, and personal privacy, those are important questions from which this film shies away.

Even on the level of a thriller the movie falters. Polanski employs some of the usual ploys to create suspense: it rains a lot, skies are broodingly dark, much of the actions takes place on an isolated island, the ghost writer stays at an empty hotel, until a crowd of journalists and protesters swarm all over the place, Lang’s modern minimalist villa is menacingly impersonal; then there are the eerie strings on the soundtrack, the car chase, suspicious people in the background. The tension between the characters, however, could have been emphasized to greater advantage, and should have been the main focus. Cattrall’s Bly just stands there as Williams’ Ruth throws fits of frustration, while Brosnan’s Lang sits and looks on. The best scene, in terms of suspense, is carried by Wilkinson’s Emmett, fiddling nervously with his fingers while sternly rebutting the ghost writer’s insinuations. The penultimate scene in which the ghost writer passes on a note at the book presentation to confront Ruth about his discovery is utterly senseless – it fails as the final act and remains implausible from the ghost writer’s perspective (or we have to acknowledge that he is just plain stupid). To bring home the conspiracy hypothesis, the ghost writer gets run over while trying to escape with Lang’s original (coded) manuscript.

On a personal level, we might speculate that Polanski was driven to produce and direct an anti-American film. While editing the movie, he was himself under siege, i.e., under house arrest in Switzerland facing possible extradition on account of pending charges of sexual abuse going back over thirty years. Such a personal motivation may, in part, explain the rather one-sided perspective and why the moral dilemmas facing the various characters is so little explored. In the end, Adam Lang is no more than a mindless pawn in American imperialism, manipulated by his wife, both hungry for a figment of power and the easy comfort that comes with it. That is not to say that I personally condone the extradition of terrorist suspects so that they can disappear in detention camps until they confess under torture – or die. I do believe, however, that Polanski’s personal experience of facing extradition (in his mind, at least) on trumped up charges plausibly suggests that he sympathizes with the victims of Guatánamo Bay. Yet, America is not the embodiment of everything that’s wrong in this world. These are times in the grip of terrorism, which – whatever its motives or leanings – is easily identifiable as criminally evil. This film never addresses this side of the story, other than in politicians’ hollow sound bites. To your Chirping Cricket, that’s a missed opportunity.

Californication 4x09

After a pep talk with Abby Rhodes, Hank returns to his hotel room, only to find he is locked out because his credit card declined his bill of a meager $25,000. Instead of knocking on someone’s door or finding a floozy to go home with, he sleeps in his Porsche in front of Karen’s house. In the morning, with bird poo on his shirt, Becca finds him and asks him in. They actually manage to get over the awkwardness and have a nice day together – almost like a family – teaching Becca to drive. Then it’s evening time, and handsome Ben is stopping by to drop off Pearl and pick up Karen. Hank gets bitter, fails to make a decent meal for the girls, and can’t connect with Pearl. He falls asleep, they nick his car keys and sneak out. When the girls crash the Porsche, without hurting anyone, Ben is livid, but both Becca and Karen stand up for Hank that the girls would have tried the same if it had been Karen who dozed off. Could this be the end of Ben? Let’s hope so.

Meanwhile, Runkle continues his freaky affair with the real estate agent Peggy, pretending to be siblings and acting rough between the sheets. Marcy still has not told Stu that she isn’t carrying his child, but Runkle’s. For his part, Stu asks Marcy to invite Runkle for dinner – plus one is okay – in an effort to behave as adults, while setting Marcy up to rub the joyous news. Marcy is stunned that Runkle is dating their real estate agent, but he points out the hypocrisy in that: she’s the one who has already moved in with one of the richest producers in town; he is just enjoying being single. At the dinner table Stu regales his guests with Hollywood stories, while Marcy keeps dodging his cues to tell Runkle about her pregnancy. She pours a glass of wine for courage and Stu yells, “the baby!” Runkle pretends to be unfazed and happy for Marcy, but can’t help notice it’s a little soon, since they only know each other for six weeks. Back in Runkle’s car, Peggy acts jealous of Runkle’s affection for Marcy, but ends up going down on him anyway. “Another Perfect Day,” as per the episode’s title.

Boardwalk Empire 1x08

The Cricket is pleased to say that all the patient waiting is starting to pay off. This was by far the best episode since the pilot, with just enough intrigue, action and drama to make watching the rest worth my while. Nucky Thompson heads to Chicago for the Republican Convention and even manages to tip the hotel manager enough to get the Presidential Suite, while presumed-Republican candidate General Leonard Wood gets shoved off to the Ambassador’s Suite! Nucky explains that Wood is “a war hero, a former chief-of-staff, and a practical shoehorn for the Republican presidential nomination,” while he on the other hand is a “magnificent tipper.” What a character! Then Nucky meets that backstabbing, double-dealing Senator Edge, who is hoping to win the vice-presidential nomination and asks him to attend a party in his stead hosted by Harry Daugherty, the campaign manager of Warren Harding. (If you know you’re U.S. history, you’ll know that Harding will be elected President.) When Nucky realizes Harding is having an affair with a woman who had his baby, he offers to help keep her out of the picture in Atlantic City until the elections are over. In return he demands that Senator Edge be blocked from the vice-presidential nomination. Nucky sits down with Torrio in the Four Deuces to talk business, speaks with some Ohio Judge who assures him to trust Daugherty, and meets Jimmy who’s looking mighty fine in his new suit. Nucky barely gives Jimmy a second glance, but merely chides him for not looking after his wife and kid.

Jimmy’s wife Angela has not been receiving any money from her estranged husband, but she refuses to find a job – despite Gillian’s reproach. She is hoping to find an art dealer in New York willing to sell her paintings in his gallery. We soon learn that Jimmy has been sending Angela money from Chicago, but that that self-righteous flagellant Agent Van Alden has been intercepting his letters hoping to find any evidence of Jimmy’s involvement in the death of five men. Van Alden’s wife Rose begs him for a surgery she believes would cure her infertility. He consoles her he will look into his finances, but in the end writes her she should trust in god’s plan – and turns Jimmy’s money over to Angela. Meanwhile in Atlantic City, Sheriff Eli Thompson takes over some of his brother’s responsibilities. Sitting in Nucky’s office, he’s waiting for all the people who usually show up asking favors, handing bribes, or bringing collection money. But no one appears, except Ward Boss O’Neill who excuses himself from the week’s collection at the casino. Eli decides to pick up the money himself – unwittingly walking into the D’Alessio brother’s hold up at the casino. Eli gets shot in the stomach and is taken to a hospital.

For her part, Margaret is enjoying some time with her new friend Annabel, when a drunk Lucy throws a scene for being replaced as Nucky’s mistress – and suddenly without money. After trying to calm her down, Margaret slaps Lucy in the face, tells her the next slap won’t be half as pleasant, and walks off. When Nucky is informed of the shooting, he calls Margaret, tells her to move into the Ritz with her children, and asks her to safeguard the ledger he keeps in his office desk. He will return on the next train from Chicago. At night he asks Jimmy to return to Atlantic City, realizing that he’s held under siege, though not yet knowing by whom. Jimmy reminds him that just a few hours ago he paid him barely half a glance. But Nucky cautions him that the Italian mobsters won’t let an Irishman get too far. He offers Jimmy a share in profits and assures him he will take care of Van Alden. Margaret resisted the urge to open the ledger all night, but the next morning she flips it open – finding full evidence of all Nucky’s illegal trades. See, things are seriously starting to heat up! Just a few more episodes, but I have enough faith to believe the show is going to get more interesting from here on.

Community 1x03

Jeff signs up for what he believes to be an easy A: no tests, no papers, just one assignment – to live in the moment. Should be a cakewalk for Jeff. He encourages his study group to all sign up for it, too, but Abed can’t. His father will only pay for courses that will help him run their falafel restaurant. He would rather take film classes. Sweet Britta immediately offers to pay for the course. Then Troy sneezes, and Jeff exclaims, “Hey, Troy sneezes like a girl.” He retorts, “How about I pound you like a boy? That didn’t come out right.” Shirley prays they all leave Troy alone. “You’re not my mother,” he replies. “She’s not?” Pierce asks. “Twenty-nine seconds,” Jeff remarks, referring to his bet Pierce would say something racist within one minute. With most of his friends in tow, Jeff gets picked out by the professor for being a cocky opportunist with no intention of seizing the day. Now Jeff has to prove somehow that he is genuinely living in the moment. That’s going to be tough. Ridiculous outfits and flying kites won’t cut it. Hilarious holy war ensues when Abed’s father comes to campus and gets in a confrontation with Britta while his son is filming everything for his first documentary. The father dashes off, leaving Britta and Jeff to look after Abed, who just keeps filming. When he’s done, he shows it to Britta, Jeff and his father. In the end, his father cries. His son is hard to understand, but if making films will make him understood, he will pay for the classes. The falafel business will be his fall back. That even made the cynical Cricket cry! Jeff and Britta walk off, she thanks him for being there for Abed, he jokes that must make her feel uncomfortable, she tells him to kiss her already. “A+ Winger!” the professors exclaims. “Where even,” Britta smiles. “I know a live changing kiss when I see one,” the professor explains. “Yea,” Jeff sighs, staring after Britta as she leaves. Aaah, what a show! Love it.

Modern Family 1x23

If you’ve watched every episode thus far, you’ll know that a Modern Family Hawaiian vacation is bound for failure. Phil’s like a kid in a candy store, with all the beautiful women around him in bikinis. He tells Clair she’s the prettiest white woman on Maui. She asks him if he’s checking out Gloria in the reflection in her sunglasses. He’s hoping to finally give her the honeymoon they never had, but for her this is rather a business trip – traveling with their kids. He takes her to the “adults only” swimming pool, abandoning their kids. Then hottie airhead Haley asks if she can hang with some other kids, and Phil convinces Clair to let go of her over-protective mother instinct. “Oh, god, that feels weird and good, all at once,” she says. “Yeah, I know,” Phil replies, “I was leaning up against that nozzle a minute ago.”

Meanwhile, Jay’s decided to get into better shape after his brother reminds him their father died at the same age Jay’s reached. So, he forgoes the double cheese burgers with fries and cheese fries. Gloria’s none too pleased about all the swimming and running, tennis and rowing. She thought that marrying an older man meant that she would get time to relax. For their part, Manny and Luke discover they’re the worst possible match as roommates. Manny folds everything neatly, and irons his linen jacket, while Luke jumps on his bed as he empties his bag. Then there’s Cam and Mitchell. Mitchell has planned all sorts of sight-seeing outings, but Cam’s had enough. He’d much rather sit by the pool with Lily and do nothing. It takes a whole team of attendants to get Mitchell to unwind, but when he gets a foot massage, he exclaims, “Sweet Lady Gaga, that’s good!” when it’s time for Jay’s birthday dinner, all goes amiss. Cam and Mitchell forget Lily in the elevator, Jay’s missing – trapped in a hammock after his back seized – and Haley’s vomiting in her room after getting drunk with the other kids. In the end, Phil gives Clair a small outdoor ceremony to renew their wedding vows. I’m surprised Phil didn’t say he got lei’d in Maui...

In Treatment 3x19

While Paul is making a concerted effort to bond with Max, suddenly Jesse is at the door demanding an emergency session. He went to see his birth parents and claims they threw him out. He knows he screwed up again, but cannot even admit that to himself. Paul realizes Jesse needs help and reluctantly lets him into his office. Jesse starts telling his story. He felt that Paul encouraged him to contact his birth parents after their previous session – thus laying blame on Paul. They were happy to see him, and so Jesse took the train to Westchester. He even came several hours early, so as not to arrive late as per his usual wont. Jesse noticed children playing in the front lawn, drawing chalk on the pavement, and one of them was in a wheelchair. He wandered around, trying to find a diner, smoking up to kill time and calm his nerves. When he returned, the children were gone – and all the evidence they had ever been there (including the chalk). Jesse seems not to remember much from the conversation, because he was stoned, but he is still upset that Kevin and Karen erased all evidence of their children.

He did find a bar in the bathroom for disabled people, so he is certain that the kid in the wheelchair is their son, and he is convinced his birth parents contacted him because they need his blood, an organ, bone marrow, or the like, for their sickly son. Paul confirms that it is strange that they removed the evidence of their children, but when he asks about the conversation and why they asked him to leave, Jesse tries to avoid talking about it. Eventually he comes clean that he suggested making some kind of deal with them, so that he could attend the summer arts program he has been dreaming about. When Paul explains that he believes Jesse deliberately sabotaged the meeting, just as he did with other relationships in his life, Jesse storms out. Paul follows him to the stoop and tries comforting him. There is nothing wrong with him, he says, nor is he undeserving of love and affection. His birth parents were his age when they gave him up for adoption. They never had a change to get to know him, but simply were too young to raise him. Then the smoke alarm goes off in Paul’s kitchen, because Max tried making pan cakes on his own, but burned them. Paul hugs Max and tells him it is okay. But Jesse leaves, no doubt feeling abandoned.

Californication 4x08

Runkle has some good news for Hank: now that Eddie Nero (Rob Lowe) is on board, Sasha Bingham (Addison Timlin) is willing to return to the project, too. She also has a job for him making fast cash rewriting her current script for some blockbuster zombie sequel. But Hank gets called away by Pearl (Zoë Kravitz), that Becca is skipping class to get drunk and high and giving blow jobs with the Queens of Dogtown. When he finally returns to the hotel at the end of the day, he meets a beautiful woman at the bar (Callie Thorne, who we saw in Burn Notice), with daughter issues of her own. The morning after, he learns in the most unpleasant, nutcracking way that her daughter is none other than Sasha herself. Meanwhile, Marcy cannot make up her mind whether to terminate her pregnancy or what to do with Stu. When she tells him she’s expecting, he gets overjoyed thinking he is finally becoming a father. For his part, Runkle gets a house call from a real estate agent, who immediately invites him to treat her rough in the bedroom. In the lasts scene, Tommy Lee is singing “Home Sweet Home” in the hotel bar... Could it be that Hank can patch things up with Karen and go back home?

Community 1x02

The Cricket had no idea Spanish 101 could be this hilarious, but is becoming a fast fan of Community! In this episode we get introduced to Señor Chang (Ken Jeong, The Office), our friends’ outrageous Spanish teacher. The class gets a team assignment, and while Jeff is switching with Abed to team up with Britta, Pierce manages to switch with Britta to team up with Jeff. Meanwhile, after Britta tells them of the political assassinations of Guatemalan journalists, Shirley and Annie organize an on-campus protest against the many deaths due to systematic violence in Guatemala. Our disbarred barrister is mighty bummed being stuck in the same room with asswipe Hawthorne, but when Jeff believes he might win Britta’s heart if he commits himself to Pierce’s crazy presentation, he agrees to entertain the class to the most outlandish scenes ever observed on any community college. Afterwards, Britta tells Jeff that a smart guy like him would know that “no woman in that class would be able to look at you as a sexually viable candidate ever again.” And she loves toying with his feelings like that – if only to play hard to get. In the end, Abed and Troy show they’ve barely mastered even the basics of Spanish, when in turn they rap verses along the other’s beatbox: “Donde está el biblioteca, mi llamo t-bone, la araña discoteca. / Discoteca, muñeca, la biblioteca está en bigote grande, perro, manteca. / Manteca, bigote, gigante, pequeño cabeza es nieve, cerveza es bueno. / Buenos díaz, mi gusto patatas frías, el bigote de las cabras es Cameron Díaz.” Ahahaha!

Gossip Girl 4x17

Chuck throws yet another party to celebrate his deal with a new financial backer, but Thorpe warns him the victory dance is premature. So, Chuck and Lily figure Ben must have spilled the beans on the affidavit. Serena has issues of her own with Ben, who doesn’t respond to her messages since they slept together. Vanessa finally tells Lily and Serena that she overheard Ben telling Damien he beat up Captain Archibald, S wants to hear none of it. But the affidavit is gone, and Ben was the only person who knew where Serena put it. Meanwhile Blair continues to plot exit strategies and plausible deniability about hanging out with Dan, and Raina is falling hard for Nate. When things come to a head at Chuck’s party, it turns out it was not Ben who handed Thorpe the affidavit, but his mother, who is determined to clear her son’s name at any cost. When Raina hears what her father is doing to Chuck and his family, she’s disgusted, but Chuck tells Thorpe that he knows where he can stick it: Lily has already called the District Attorney to come clean on the condition that Ben’s record be expunged. Then Thorpe explains why he has been so hell-bent on destroying the Bass legacy: he believes Chuck’s father had his wife killed. William van der Woodsen returns to town, with Lily’s mother Celia, to circle the wagons, much to Rufus’ chagrin. In the last scene Dan challenges Blair to kiss him so they will finally know if there really isn’t anything between them. As if we really have the patience to wait any longer for this season to be over, there’s yet another break until mid-April...

Modern Family 1x22

If you have jitters about flying, this episode is just for you! Gloria takes Jay on a surprise trip to Hawai‘i for his birthday. He’s eager to spend a romantic vacation for two in Maui. Unfortunately for him she’s invited the whole family, sparing no expense – with his money. Jay gets more cranky by the minute. The more they talk about luaus, hikes up the volcano, helicopter rides, swimming with the dolphins, the more he needs that drink. “Could you make it a double? I’m traveling with my family.” When Mitchell arrives at the airport he realizes he forgot his ID, so he won’t be able to board the plane. He blames Cameron (how dare he!) and blames Phil for driving too slow on the ride back home to fetch his wallet. Then Clair gets a panic attack about flying, and blames Phil for abandoning her. For his part, Dylan got locked inside the Dunphy home and sets off the alarm, while Haley is unwittingly flirting with an 8th graders, much to Alex’ delight. Security believes Manny is a suspected terrorist and bring him in for questioning. If Gloria is his mother, then why is Manny flying back separately to Columbia? She planned to spent the last few days in Hawai‘i with Jay alone. “I could not love you any more than I do right now,” Jay sighs in relief. In the end, the whole family is reunited in time for take-off.

In Treatment 3x18

In her previous session, before she was leaving, Frances mentioned she had received the breast cancer test results, but had not looked at them yet – and walked off. Now she sits in the room letting minutes pass by in awkward silence without saying a word, waiting for Paul to ask her about the test results. She used her supposed difficulty memorizing her lines to get in the door, while really what she was worried about was that she would test positive and would die the way her mother did, and the way her sister now is dying, and that the way her daughter would die if she passed it on. So, when Paul finally asks her what she is thinking about, she starts talking about her daughter. Izzy had texted her that Patricia “looks like a skeleton.” Yet, instead of visiting her sister in the hospital, Frances went out with the cast and went home with one of the younger actors. He caressed her breasts and made her feel better about herself. She still hasn’t opened the letter with the results. She asks Paul to read it for her – which he does, but he hands the letter back to her. It’s the best possible news she could have hoped for, as she tested negative. Still she remains reluctant to face her dying sister, now coming up with the excuse that it would be inconsiderate to shove her good news into Tricia’s face. Adamantly, Paul insists she must see her sister before it’s too late and she will forever regret it. Frances dashes off in anger.