Midseason

The TCA press tour is on, and new shows are finally starting to premiere. I'm still waiting for the Apocalypse show, hoping that it will have a more interesting plot then the endless Phil drama on Last Man on Earth. I was so disappointed that they dropped Phil's astronaut brother to go back to the same old characters from season 1. So boring.

Anyway, I watched the repeat of the pilot of Second Chance and kind of liked it. I don't know how long its ratings will keep it alive, but I'm willing to tune in even if its fate is like Minority Report's. I think the title would have been better and more unique as Lookinglass, but it's too late now. The idea of resurrection and superpowers was interesting, and I did like most of the characters. I thought this show would remind me more of Now and Again (the show staring Eric Close and Margaret Colin), and it did in some ways, but it also got me thinking about Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century of all things. In that cartoon, Holmes dies as an old man, then gets resurrected as a young guy by a scientist (and Lestrade's descendant). The scenes in the tank reminded me of that, as well as the first time Jimmy awoke and didn't recognize his body. But like in Now and Again, Jimmy keeps trying to reach out to his family. I was pleased that Mary didn't try to forbid him from interfering, insisting that he keep himself a secret, like Dennis Haysbert's character in Now and Again. I guess the writers don't need such a contrivance with all the other plots they have going.


I kind of like how Jimmy was flawed, and enjoyed his new youth and vigor. (It really would have been unrealistic for him to only seek out the hooker for her computer.) Mary still needs some character development beyond having cancer and a needy brother. I also want to know more about Jimmy's family besides his FBI son Duval, and I like that there are still mysteries to explore. My only complaint really is that I didn't understand why Otto needed his sister Mary so desperately, if he had an AI to talk to. As Jimmy suggested, Otto might try to work with some other person (like Mary's assistant), or at the very least, program the AI to have his sister's personality. Maybe we'll get into more of their crazy twin bond later in the season.

In other TV, I was watching old episodes of Get Smart lately and came across a terrible episode set in Chinatown with an awful character called the Whip, who whipped people with his long mustache. He was a horrible caricature, and he was a white actor playing yellowface. I mean, I know lots of old shows and movies pulled this crap, such as the Charlie Chan movies, or Breakfast at Tiffany's, but fuck, it's even more offensive when there's an actual Asian man playing a henchman character to the Whip. I wonder what that actor was thinking.

I guess I expected better from Get Smart because, even if it was a late 1960s sitcom, I saw better on the Green Hornet, which was a few years before. I mean, that show's not perfect, what with Kato having to be a servant with only one name, and not even getting a secret identity name when he's sidekick to the Hornet. But they did have an episode set in Chinatown, and none of the Chinese characters are played by white actors. Nobody puts on stupid thick accents either, and Chinese characters are featured as both good guys and bad guys in the episode. There's even further tension when the Chinese villain gets angry and resentful that a white man he's in cahoots with keeps bossing him around and disrespecting him. It all leads to some dramatic kung fu fighting in a Buddhist temple, but it's fucking progressive compared to the Get Smart episode. After the villains get defeated, almost everyone celebrates by having dinner in a Chinese restaurant. I was disappointed that Kato was not there, though, nor was a place set for him at the table. Was he supposed to be in the car? That puzzled and annoyed me, but otherwise, it was a good episode.