September 2012

Glee – The New Rachel

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Glee – The New Rachel
  • tv.com: link

glee-the-new-rachel

Season Four (wow, has Glee really been on the air this long?) begins with Rachel (Lea Michele) having trouble with harsh dance teacher Cassandra July (Kate Hudson) at NYADA. Meanwhile, back in Lima, Kurt (Chris Colfer) tries to find a new role while the remaining members of New Directions compete to find their new leader and hold open auditions for new recruits for the glee club. With the focus of the show split in so many directions the season premiere feels a little schizophrenic as it tries to balance the lives of McKinley High School’s current and former students.

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Avengers Assemble #7

/ / Comics

avengers-assemble-7-coverHonestly, I wasn’t looking to get into another Avengers title (especially after being discouraged by the recent AvX tie-ins in the other comics), and, even after reading it, I’m a little unsure in what version of the Marvel Universe the title actually takes place. But if you throw in Thanos and the Guardians of the Galaxy I’m going to give it a shot.

The issue opens with most of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy slowly dying in the vacuum of space as their attack on a Badoon warship didn’t go exactly to plan. The team regroups and makes another attack (the issue certainly isn’t light on action), but they find themselves out of the frying pan and into the fire as the issue ends with them confronting a super-powered Thanos with his own Cosmic Cube.

The use of the Badoon is a nice touch (given their importance to the original Guardians of the Galaxy) and although Thanos omnipotence and brashness to the Elders of the Universe is nothing new, it’s presented well. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

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Batman #0

/ / Comics

batman-new-52-0-coverAlthough the stories presented in Batman #0 work fine independently (even if the writing seems to be hand-holding the audience far more than necessary) the timeline makes absolutely no sense. In the first story, set six years prior to the present New 52 DCU, we see Bruce Wayne‘s early days after his travels working on becoming a vigilante before becoming Batman. And that’s only the beginning.

The back-up story jumps one year in the future and gives us the all three Robins (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake) in the early days of Batman before the Dark Knight had chosen a partner. Not only does the tale suggest all three are roughly the same age (an enormous change in Batman continuity) but it presents Jason, who is an accomplice to murder, as the most likable and least brash of the trio.

To tie the two stories together we get a Red Hood Gang which feels more than a little trite and appearances by Jim Gordon. The second story also gives us the origin of the Bat-Signal and the first glimmer of Batgirl.

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Person of Interest – The Complete First Season

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Person of Interest
  • tv.com: link

person-of-interest-dvdWhat if you had foreknowledge of a crime before it happened? Person of Interest, much like Philip K. Dick’s short story Minority Report takes a look into the not-too-distant future where technology can be used to stop crimes before they happen. Far more grounded in reality that Dick’s story (and don’t get me started on Steven Spielberg’s awful film), Person of Interest gives us a mysterious machine with the ability to see patterns and threats hours or even days before they occur.

I’ll admit some of the First Season episodes are better than others (the baby episode is almost too cute for its own good), and the show certainly takes liberties where it needs to in order to broaden the suspense and appeal of the show at times. However, every episode is solid and show, at least so far, has stayed within the bounds of the rules it set forth in the show’s Pilot episode. The Machine may not exist in our world, but the concept is far less sci-fi than it would have seemed even a decade ago.

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