Showing posts with label episode 12. Show all posts
Showing posts with label episode 12. Show all posts

Thursday, February 27, 2014

'Almost Human' GifTweetCap: Creep Be-Holding Beautiful Eyes

Part 1 of these gifs are available in this Tumblr post, and part 2 is on this post. Scroll to the bottom for more into on next week's season finale tweetfest, and ways to help the show get a Season 2. "Beholder" contains everything an Almost Human fan could want. It has a good dose of Fringiness (as in, similar to the much-loved sci-fi show, Fringe), Kennex-Dorian car-ride banter, and a bit of unexpected hilarity in what seemed to be a nod to Total Recall. In fact, the entire episode was a nod to one of the best episodes of one of the best sci-fi shows of all time: the "The Eye of the Beholder" episode of The Twilight Zone.

The episode "knocks it out of the park" right at the beginning with some awesome holo-golf. I don't even like golf, but this is pretty cool!
Unfortunately, a creeper (Michael Eklund) is spying on the golfer (Tommy Douglas), and quickly tases him when he notices something is up. Then, the bad guy shoots him up with something that causes a very "Fringie" wavering of the man's lip.
Next up: Kennex (Karl Urban) eats a doughnut, and it's somehow way more awesome than any other doughnut-eating cop, ever.
As Kennex enjoys doughnut heaven, Dorian (Michael Ealy) decides to slap him out of bliss by answering his phone, after Kennex insists that he leave it alone. Dorian then proceeds to tell "Samantha" just how much Kennex doesn't want to talk to her. Afterward, Kennex admits that Samantha "holo-blocked" him at dinner by inviting everyone she knows, and taking every call.
Kennex prepares to teach Dorian a few things about the bro-code, when Stahl (Minka Kelly) interrupts with an urgent matter: a Chrome (someone genetically engineered, the way she is), and 2036 Detroit Olympics participant, has died of apparently natural causes. When Kennex appears confused, Stahl explains that the man must have been murdered, because Chroming costs big money, and most of that goes toward not dying of natural causes.
Dorian confirms that the golfer was murdered when he shoots himself up with a little Chrome-DNA. The DNA suggests he was murdered by seven people, but it turns out they were all murdered in the same way. Apparently, our bad guy figures the needle doesn't need to be clean if he's just killing them anyway.
Then we see what the killer, whom we later learn is named as Eric, is doing: taking the victims' DNA, and having a doctor (John Shaw) create some sort of serum out of it, so he can become the Frankenstein of beauty. That sounds like an oxymoron, but apparently, the disgusting phase is supposed to be temporary.
The murder is leaked to the press because Chromes are a tight-knit group. Stahl goes it alone when visiting the Chrome club that noticed its missing member, but a bitch-faced Chrome (Emilie Ullerup) is uncooperative, because she cares more about the purity of her club that about catching a murderer.
Stahl finally gets somewhere when Jake (Jesse Hutch), a cute Chrome guy, notices what's going on. He also gets her some surveillance video so she can see whether the dead Chrome was being followed.
Rudy (Mackenzie Crook) proves that seven other people died from the same drug. He lifts up one of the holo-bodies for better viewing.
The others weren't Chromes, but were all good-looking people. In fact, they never would have known about the murders if it hadn't been for the death of a Chrome. As such, Rudy is quite perturbed that he was not notified of this "Beauty Killer," as he is clearly a beautiful man.
Rudy discovers what is happening: the man is stealing facial parts using a drug that had been tested but never released to the public. Dorian and Kennex visit one of the doctors (Matthew Harrison) who performed the drug trials. He explains how the drug works with an example: Kennex could have asked to have Dorian's perfect nose, then they would have performed nanobot-surgery to give Kennex the same nose. The only problem? The donors die, and the recipients become disfigured.
Later, Eric comes across his new eyes -- is this another nod to "The Eye of the Beholder"? He seems so friendly with his new victim (Alex Duncan), but of course, he's only being friendly with his new body parts, not the human beings behind them. He seems to think that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" means that you have to have beauty in your eyes, with which you behold the objects from which you will steal those eyes.
... and now he's got perfect, beautiful green eyes to go with his nasty face.
Eric needs a specific tool to perform the procedure, so Kennex seeks out Dicarlo (Tony Cox), a man who may know more about it. He finds Dicarlo hiding inside an odd choice of bots.
Using Dicarlo's information, they find the location of the doctor who has been injecting Eric with his new face, and had formerly been involved in the trials. He takes a large dose of adrenaline in the hopes of fighting off Kennex and Dorian, but this results in his death -- after giving Kennex a good choke. Dorian attempts to revive him, but fails. Good riddance!
They find the final victim using facial recognition on the last feature Eric wants to steal: cheek bones. They base the search on a photo of the goal features found at the doctor's secret lab. Unfortunately, Eric will still be able to find a new victim with similar cheek bones.
Through some clever detective work, Kennex realizes that all the victims have new 3D DMV photos, which Kennex was unable to get, even after waiting for hours. He speculates whether the killer works for the DMV, and is correct in his assessment.
Meanwhile, Eric sits at home, creepily eyeing Judy (Rhonda Dent), a woman across the way, as "Crimson and Clover" plays. She turns out to be a woman he met online, and fell in love with. He's trying to look perfect for her, and she's anxious to meet him. With the cops closing in, Eric decides to pay her an early visit. Guess what? She's blind! Queue The Twilight Zone music...
Kennex is clever a second time when he notices the well-worn spot where Eric has been spying on his Internet soul-mate, and breaks into her apartment to chase him up to the roof of her building.
Kennex is a bit depressed after seeing the lonely Eric commit suicide, so Dorian offers to watch him drink. That got "a little weird last time," so Kennex has a better idea: stop being lonely by going for the girl he really wants. Unfortunately, he's late to the party. Jake got there first.
If only Kennex had experienced that heart-broken feeling before trying to talk Eric off the ledge. Maybe he would have known what to say. The blind girl went with her heart. The funny thing is that Stahl went with her heart after realizing that perfect Chromes can be human too. Not all of them are asshats.
See that? "Beholder" has many parallels with The Twilight Zone episode. Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder -- "ugly" people can actually be ugly on the inside, and perfect people can be beautiful on the inside, and vice versa. You just never know what a person is really like, whether they appear to you to be beautiful or ugly, until you get to know them.

Want Almost Human Season 2?

Almost Human is by no means "certain to be canceled," but it is "on the bubble." It could go either way. So, next week is our last chance to make a good showing for our favorite show. Let's do this!

1. Tell your friends to watch, and live tweet. You never know when you may be quoted in my next article, or elsewhere! Networks are beginning to look more and more at live discussion events, especially since it indicates that people are watching live.

2. Next week, we will most likely be tweeting #AlmostHumanLives to push for renewal (for this episode, it was #RenewAlmostHuman). I'll update this if that changes. Join the Almost Humaniacs Facebook group, and the Almost Human Task Force for more information, and for more Almost Human fun!

3. In addition, RewardTV is a Nielsen site that gives away prizes for taking TV trivia quizzes. Pay attention to the commercials during the finale, then take the quiz. You can only take the quiz the day after the show, and then it goes away... but they love when you get the questions about the ads correct. That means the advertisements are working, and that everyone is making money off the show. That's the whole reason they want people to watch live... to make advertising money.

4. By all means, if you have a Nielsen box, you should definitely be watching live so that you'll count in the ratings.
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Sunday, January 26, 2014

'Grimm' GifTweetCap: Meet the Specist Parents

The following gifs are also available on Tumblr. "The Wild Hunt" contained the usual Grimm style of monster-of-the-week main plot, along with three sub-plots. Fortunately, one of the sub-plots is all about Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) and Rosalee (Bree Turner). That is the only storyline that really matters, so about half of the recap will focus on them. Quick note about the tweets: I try not to include tweets from the cast or crew, unless it is as the parent of a fan tweet. The main exception is Michael Golamco, a staff writer for the series. He creates some of the most hilarious tweets, so I just can't help interspersing them throughout the recaps!

The episode opens with a high speed chase. When the chase is over, bad guy Woden (Matt Lasky), tells the highway patrolman (Jose Vasquez) that he's not worthy, then scalps him. It's a bit too disgusting for a gif, especially since the cop was on the force for two years and had a wife and two kids. Just keep reminding yourself that it's just a TV show. Oh, and all of this happens in conjunction with a big proposal from Monroe (which I cover farther down in the piece).
You can tell that the scalper is a badass dude because of the way he drives his car.
Later, Woden sneaks up on military guy Lee Mull (Gene Freedman), who isn't so easy to take down. After Mull beats him up, he decides Mull is worthy... then he woges and scalps Mull too. Hey, why don't you just pick on worthy Wesen who can fight back, ya coward?
You may be wondering what he'll be doing with all of those scalps. Well, the first step is to clean them. He makes quite a mess of his motel bathroom, which also creates a nice stench for the other guests. The wimpy manager asks him to stop after a few complaints, but is easily intimidated by the big gruff Woden.
When he's finished cleaning his scalps, he beats the crap out of the manager to get him to give him his car.
After some research in the trailer, Nick (David Giuntoli) learns that Woden is a Wildesheer. Wildesheers believe that taking scalps gives them the power of the warriors whom they scalp. Yeah, and then he makes a coat out of them so he can wear the tops of their heads around town. He must smell fantastic! Just imagine the lovely aroma wafting off him everywhere he goes. Oh, and his next intended victim is Nick!
Meanwhile, Adalind (Claire Coffee) is beginning to show in more ways than one when her Hexen-fetus begins poking its devil hands against her belly from the inside. What a wonderful time for mother and baby. Perhaps she should grab her camera phone for this special moment.
Later, the Biest-baby decides to create an even more special moment for his Hexenbiest mama by showing its little face, which promptly turns a bit... erm... skeletal. Mama must be so proud.
On to the third and most important sub-plot of the episode. As I mentioned earlier, Monroe proposes. He takes Rosalee out for a fancy dinner, in which they talk about their "first time." Rosalee's first time was with her brother, and Monroe's with his mom. Huh? Oh yeah, they were talking about their first woge. Gotcha!
Monroe then brings Rosalee home nice and buzzed. When she's ready to get comfy and crawl into bed, he proposes marriage in the one way he knows best: via cuckoo clock.
After a bit of confusion, she says yes!
They apparently seal the deal in bed, and are just oh-so-happy. The moment gives one the same feeling as being surrounded by fluffy kittens and puppies. They can now live happily ever after.
Not so fast! Monroe decides to tell his parents about the engagement. Of course, they decide to fly out and stay with the happy couple, and meet their soon-to-be daughter-in-law. One problem: Monroe had not told them anything about Monroe's very modern Wesen lifestyle. They don't know Rosalee is a Fuchsbau, that they live together, or that his best friend is a Grimm. Unfortunately, they are also incredibly racist (or would that be considered specist?).
The first Monroe's mom (Dee Wallace Stone) and dad (Chris Mulkey) learn of Rosalee's foxy-ness comes when they give her a nice big hug.
After a big fight in which Rosalee storms out, deciding she needs some time and space, Monroe basically tells his parents he wants nothing to do with them unless they can learn to accept his decision to marry Rosalee. With his impeccable timing, Nick shows up right then to talk about the case. Monroe tries to kick his parents out, but of course they woge in anger before leaving. And we all know what happens when Wesen woge in front of Nick: they see that he's a Grimm! Being the final episode for a whole month, the creators leave us with a message on this cliffhanger:
So, we will have to wait to see what happens with Monroe's parents, and whether Nick will get to keep his scalp. In addition, Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) has been corresponding with Nick's mother, who may also be visiting soon. Is now a good time to mention that her email username is "bheadr"? Let's just hope she doesn't use that skill on Monroe or his parents!
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