The Mysteries of Laura S1 E1: The Pilot

If there is an actress on TV that I have a mixed relationship about it is Debra Messing. Which is weird because I love her but I don’t always love the shows she is on :cough cough SMASH cough cough::.  So that being said, I wasn’t sure how I was going to like her new show The Mysteries of Laura because it seemed sort of out of character from the other roles I’ve seen her in.  That being said, let me tell you this….I LOVE this show so far.  I mean you have Debra Messing who is a fantastic actress in the lead role as a strong, smart, working mom that juggles being a full time parent with an ex-husband who acts like he wants to be the best friend instead of a parent and still works full time as a homicide detective. It’s not even what I would call a normal cop drama, in that everything has a very dark feel to it.  This has a lot more humor and color and life so to speak than something like Law and Order or NYPD.

Like I mentioned earlier, Laura (Debra Messing), is a homicide detective but also a ‘single’ mother to her twin boys.  She is in the process of divorcing her husband Jake (Josh Lucas), who is also a cop, because she was tired of his philandering ways.  Jake though doesn’t want to divorce her because he loves her and yet he doesn’t seem willing to help in the raising or discipline of their boys. On the job she is partners with Billy (Laz Alonso), there is Max (Max Jenkins), the information gatherer for the division, and Meredith (Janina Gavankar), a stickler for the rules. The show is witty, funny with a slight predictability to it, and full of shenanigans that no cop could probably get away with in the real world.  But you know what? I don’t care because we need more female roles like this on TV so that young girls can see how badass women can be no matter what.

For a pilot episode it wasn’t all that bad either.  You get the understanding right off the bat that this isn’t going to be your typical cop drama and you see a blend of the cop and mom.  She is taking down criminals, she is trying to wrangle her sons into behavior (especially since they got expelled from preschool), and all the while trying to solve a murder.  The mystery itself isn’t one that I could solve right away because the show is good at keeping the cards close to its chest till they want to reveal everything.  It gives you a good idea of who all the cast of characters are and you start to get to know them and figure out how you feel about them.  I’m definitely looking forward to see what else this show has to offer and I really hope that it will last.

Read Full Post »

Dracula S1 E1: The Blood is the LIfe

I love vampires and for the most part will watch just about any vampire movie or television show. There are some exceptions like the Twilight series which I despise but for the most part I watch a lot of vampire movies and television shows.  So when I first heard about NBC doing Dracula, I had to admit I was curious because it didn’t seem like the typical show to be on the air right now. Then I heard they had cast Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Dracula and I was curious to see how it goes.   From what I have gathered to understand prior to the first episode airing was that it was a mixture of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and of the historical figure Vlad Dracul while adding a new spin to both stories. I was curious to see how it was going to turn out which made my friend giggle since I usually have problems with people fucking with history or making ridiculous book adaptations BUT come on! It’s Dracula! The King of Vampires! He’s story has been told and retold for years and its always changing and evolving from what Bram Stoker first wrote all those years ago.

From what I gathered the series is suppose to be about Dracula coming to Victorian England and hiding under the name of Alexander Grayson, bringing technological advances for the time while really plotting revenge against those who betrayed his centuries earlier.

The first episode starts with someone digging into an underground chamber in 1881 Romania. The person drops down a rope and you can see some kind of coffin below.  It turns out to be two people and they seem to breaking into the coffin and it looks like they don’t know it belongs too except a mysterious man in black kills one of them and grains his blood into the coffin. The images on the coffin make me think of the stories of Vlad Dracul and how he liked to impale his victims. Have to say, watching Dracula transform from the dried out husk of a skeleton into a ‘man’ of flesh and blood is fascinating. Part of me wonders if it was done through CGI or special effects make up.

Now we see Dracula rising from a bath and getting ready in a suit talking to a man who might be the mysterious person in black.  The man corrects the way Dracula says schedule and tells him that he is now American and so Jonathan Rhys Meyers pulls out a rather impressive American accent.  It switches to some kind of party and two women are on the arm of a gentleman, a brunette in blue and a blonde in red and white.  What is with television’s obsession with clothing women in clothes that weren’t worn during that time period? I mean I love both dresses but the blonde’s dress would have never been worn during that time period. The trio turn out to be Mina Murray (Jessica De Gouw), Lucy Westenra (Katie McGrath), and Jonathan Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). I’m also pretty damn sure that a Lady would have never kissed a man in such a public setting the way Mina kissed Jonathan.  Then of course is the typical put down the British upper class felt the need to do in regards to a rich American.

So the mysterious man/helper to Dracula introduces him to much fanfare and as Dracula or Alexander Grayson looks out into the crowd his eyes happens to land on Mina and it is as if he recognizes her from somewhere and we are sent to a flashback.  It is of a woman that looks like Mina and Dracula in bed kissing. As soon as we see them in bed laying together and kissing, we are brought back to the present and Grayson is welcoming them all to his home. After his speech, he tells his mysterious man servant he wants to know all about her and the man she is with.  He also meets Lady Jane Wetherby (Victoria Smurfit), another woman wearing something that would not have been worn during that time period and her companion a Herr Kruger.

It’s interesting to see that all the women who aren’t suppose to be main characters are dressed in time period appropriate clothing but the main women aren’t. Oh look Mina and Grayson are doing that whole ‘have we met before? interaction that I love watching in movies and television shows sometimes. Ahhh so the mysterious manservant is Renfield (Nonso Anozie) and he has already dug up some information on both Jonathan and Mina.  Grayson is going to demonstrate his new technological advances and it is a light bulb but instead of electricity it is through magnetism that makes the light shine.  Of course the demonstration is cut short when the machine that controlled the magnetism malfunctions and looks close to exploding. Many believe it to be a trick and the industrialists threaten Grayson with ruin for being a fraud.

Dracula is looking at images of his guests with Reinfield and brings up an order known as the Order of the Dragon. Historically I believe Dracula’s father, Vlad Dracul II, was a member of the Order of the Dragon.  In the show the Order of the Dragon is depicted as something henious and evil in Dracula’s time and has evolved into men of power, conducting their evil through business, private clubs and board rooms.

Meanwhile a man breaks into a building and into a coffin and ends up having all you would need to ‘kill’ a vampire and ends up cutting of the man’s head. The man being that of one of the men, Clive, of industry that had insulted Grayson. The man delivers the severed head to Lady Jane, who then takes it to another man. This man and her have a conversation about how long its been since a vampire stalked the streets of London, the last being 8 years prior, implying that Jack the Ripper was a vampire.

At last we ‘meet’ Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann), a professor it seems at Mina’s medical school.  Harker arrives at Grayson’s for the interview and you can tell that Harker does not like Grayson at all and is prejudice against him from the start of the interview but you can tell from his notes that he writes that Grayson while a visionary is delusional and egotistical.  Mina meanwhile has a meeting with her professor. She talks with him about how while she may score top marks in oral and written exams when it comes to actually doing the works, or in this case actually performing a surgery, her hand starts to tremble no matter what.  Professor Van Helsing tells her that she must have a steady heart and to always trust in ones heart.

It appears that Grayson had given Harker is box at the Opera but instead of not being there at all, he is apparently meeting Lady Jane in secret in her box and they have a rather steamy encounter.  Oooo a rooftop battle between Dracula and Kruger…nice! And apparently Lady Jane knows how to fight with what looks like a kukri which is interesting since I’m pretty sure they weren’t prevalent weapons in England during the Victorian age nor had they really left Nepal but I could be wrong.

Really?!?! Van Helsing and Dracula are working together? Interesting……and he was the mystery man that freed Dracula from the box.  Apparently this mysterious Order of the Dragon killed both of the families but in Dracula’s case they burnt his wife at the stake at which point Mina wake with a start.

Overall I’m liking the show so far. I think it’s interesting to see them blend some hints of truth in regards to Vlad Dracul and using the characters created by Bram Stoker to tell a new tale.  I’m looking forward to seeing how the next episode plays out. So far it’s a good show with decent writing and some what interesting characters. I’m still a bit peeved about the whole dress thing but hopefully it wont last long.

Read Full Post »

Ironside

Hulu is showing the series premiere of NBC’s new drama Ironside before it airs on television, for those interested, the show premieres in October. It is a remake of the 1960’s television show Ironside, about a cop who is wheelchair bound after a shooting and works to push his team to solve the toughest crimes in New York.

Blair Underwood stars as Detective Robert Ironside, the tough as nails cop that was shot and wounded in the line of duty.  It is interesting to note that there is many who are against the casting of Underwood as Detective Ironside due to the fact that he has no need of a wheelchair in real life.  Mainly paralyzed and disabled actors and people want to see more disabled and paralyzed people acting on films and television instead of those that can walk pretending to be disabled. It’s going to be interesting to see if this controversy is going to affect the ratings of the sow.

During the first episode we get flashbacks that tell us how Ironside ends up in his wheelchair and how he has the team he has now as well as how what happened to his old partner. Detective Ironside was shot in the back while working a case and the show is suppose to pick up two years later. He is now in a wheelchair, still a detective working on the streets and at the same time is the lead of a team that seems to work specific cases almost on the outside of the limits of the law.  Ironside’s team consists of a two male cops, Teddy and Virgil, and a female cop, Holly.  We don’t find out much about the members on his team with the exception that Teddy once was an investment banker and Holly has connections with some kind of gangster.

The show is a typical police drama while trying to put a new spin on it but the problem is that you aren’t sure you like any of the characters yet.  Ironside comes off as being very angry about his situation while always shoving it in others faces. I have a feeling him mentioning his injury and wheelchair week after week will becoming tiring.  It will be a wait and see to find out if that does indeed become a trend with the character and the series. It will be interesting to see how the season progresses and if Ironside’s character changes at all.

Read Full Post »