Giant Problems

Once Upon A Time, S02E13

Charming and Snow went on the look for Kora with Hook's help and accidentally sent a giant loose on the town who wanted revenge on Charming, thinking he was James.  In the past it was revealed why Anton hated James and how he ended up the sole giant left.  Emma, Henry, and Rumpelstiltskin set off for the airport to find his son  With her memory loss, Belle was treated as delusional when she claimed that she saw people using magic.

Of all things that would happen when Charming and Snow enlisted Hook's help to investigate Kora, I never thought they would find the giant that Emma had encountered.  It seemed to be random until it was revealed through his past that he held the last hope of growing another beanstalk again.  I was less surprised that he had been brought to Storybrooke for that purpose (and probably also to kill Charming too) and more surprised that after he was rescued he started to trust people so soon.  I thought it would take him more time to accept the townspeople, but I guess not killing him (as Emma had done) was enough to gain his trust to show them the beanstalk.

The most interesting part of Anton's past was that he was tricked by James and a female Jack.  Jack being a woman and a double-crossing thief was a refreshing alternative to the classic story.  Although I wasn't initially thrilled to see a back story about Anton, there were a lot of things we got to learn about James.  Besides him getting killed, we didn't know much about Charming's brother, but from Anton's story we could see that he was self-absorbed, greedy, and conniving.  I guess you could call him the "evil twin."  In contrast, it made Charming look like so much of a better guy, and made it look like a blessing for the kingdom that he was the ruler and not James.

It was a bit of a surprise to see that Henry was going with Rump and Emma on the son search.  I guess their journey isn't particularly dangerous, but I just think of danger whenever I think of Rump.  It wasn't a bad idea for her to take him along with Kora on the prowl with her daughter working as a secret agent.  Speaking of that, it was such a bad act that Regina put on when she spoke to Charming and Snow.  You would think after that intense showdown at her house some episodes back that when she was forgiven for her crimes that she would express more surprise or gratitude.  If I hadn't already known that she knew that Kora was responsible, I would have thought so with the way she acted to the "news."  Charming and Snow didn't think much about it and seemed most worried that she was upset that Henry was taken without her consent.  I'm sort of worried about that too because without Henry in town to plead her to stop acting crazy, she's surely going to terrorize the town again.  After all, she did mention that she needed Anton to be a distraction while she and her mother did something.  It's gotta be trouble.

Anyway, back to Rump and company.  My favorite part was watching them go through airport security.  Henry was pestering him with all these questions and Rump was acting so nervous and a little like his old self before he became the "Dark One."  I loved seeing him out in the real world and having to deal with regular people tasks like adbiding by security rules.  This man is used to throwing fireballs at problems, but if he tried some of that crap in a place like Logan Airport, he would surely get detained as a terrorist.  He had me a little worried, though, when he had to take off his shawl (God, I hate American airports) for inspection.  Rump looked like he was going to fall down without that magic item.  Good thing Emma was there for him and the magic didn't wear off.

I never considered that perhaps crossing the line wouldn't just erase your memory if you didn't have a talisman, but it might also remove your magic qualities.  It seems to be this way because Rump couldn't heal his hand after he banged it thoroughly on the toilet seat cover dispenser.  I don't think he'll have much use for his magic outside of Storybrooke, but I can see that it's shaking his confidence.  His powers have always been his crutch, caging his fears of being his old weak self again, I guess.  Perhaps on this journey to find his son as a normal man again he can see that he doesn't need to be a big, scary force to survive.  Also, I think his son will appreciate seeing him magic-less when they reunite.  Seeing his dad still acting like a monster after all this time surely wouldn't help them reconcile any better.

Oh, I was also amused by the fact that Charming requested, not threatened, Rump look after his family during their search.  I like that Charming did this despite Rump had come into their house, threatening their whole family for no damn reason.  Although Rump was never kind and pleasant to begin with, it makes him look like a bigger jerk for not just asking them politely to look after Belle.  I think even Rump felt a bit ashamed for demanding their help when Charming did the opposite.

It's pretty messed up that Belle is being sedated most of the time because of what she saw during her accident.  I realize that they can't afford to have her talking to strangers about magic when she doesn't remember who she is, but it feels a lot like what her life was like when Regina had her captive in that secret facility.  Worse than that, Craig heard her ramblings and looks like he's going to work with her.  Damn!  That's going to be bad for Belle and the town.  I'm pretty worried what's going to become of Belle.  If she gets into some trouble and Charming and Snow aren't there to keep her in one piece, they are going to end up missing one daughter and grandson.

Finally, on another note about Charming and Snow, it's pretty evident that Snow isn't excited about Anton's beanstalks or any method of getting them home.  She brought up a really good argument that home is where their family is, and if they did return home, it wasn't guaranteed that Emma and Henry would go with them (though I'm sure Henry would be dying to go).  Charming tried to debunk that idea by saying that Emma would be fine on her own.  Um, I'm pretty sure if they returned to that other world they would never be able to see her again.  Would that be okay with Charming?  I don't think Snow is down with that.  Geez, for not having spent much time in his daughter's life, Charming is sure complacent to not spend anymore time. 

This episode was good, but I'm really impatient to see more of Rump handling himself outside of Storybrooke.  I feel like the trio of him, Emma, and Henry are going to be great together.  I'm also curious to see if Rump is able to change for the better without hiding under his security blanket of magic.  I don't know what Kora and Regina are up to, but I find that I'm not too concerned with that as I was before.  My focus is more on what Rump and the others are up to.  However, depending on what next week's story is about, I might get invested again.  This will certainly be true if it turns out that Belle and Craig start working together to "uncover" the magic in Storybrooke.  That would draw my attention as much as the search for Bae.

Rallo, The Wingman

The Cleveland Show, S04E03

Holt befriend Rallo and paid him to help him get ladies.  Cleveland, Lester, and Tim opened a second Broken Stool in the airport on behalf of Gus and were terrified that Gus would kill them if it wasn't successful.

I guess I liked that this was an episode around Thanksgiving time, but there wasn't too much about the actual holiday in either stories.  After all, they've already done a Thanksgiving story before that was pretty memorable (not in a good way because who wouldn't like to forget that Auntie Mama and Freight Train got it on?), so I don't see it necessary for them to outdo what they've already done.  Overall, it wasn't the best stories I've seen on this show, but it wasn't too bad.

I didn't like the story about Cleveland wanting to set up another bar.  I did like, however, how the story started with Holt rushing to make his flight and the airport trying its best to help him get to the gate in time.  How great would that be if that was reality?  I hate flying so much, so it was funny to see the staff letting Cleveland and company bypass security and to see the lady at the gate comforting Holt when she told him he had just missed his flight.  It would be impossible for all airport personnel to accommodate all people who weren't able to get to their flights in time, but it would be nice if there was an ounce of compassion about someone desperately trying to not waste time and money by missing a flight.  I don't think you can overdo the jokes about how bad it is to fly in America because it's a wonder why anyone would want to travel that way if it wasn't necessary.

The rest of the story was pretty boring with Cleveland getting drunk and taking a plane out until it ran out of fuel.   I can't really think of how that story could have taken a better route to comedy, but it surely wasn't by making Cleveland nearly die in a plane crash.  I'm also not sure how it was that no one at all knew it was him that stole and destroyed a plane.  Anyway, there wasn't one second that Cleveland and the others got to sell even one drink, so it made his endeavor really pointless.  Unless you want to count that Holt got to use his new "swinging skills" to save Cleveland.

Now Holt and Rallo's story was a lot better, but it wasn't incredible.  I liked that before Cleveland had to look after him, Rallo was watching something called "Mystery Science Magic Johnson Theater 3000."  A very funny blend of two very different things.  It was little funny to see instead of robots (or whatever those things were on that show) these ghetto-sounding guys were shouting throughout the movie, but it was even better that Rallo was annoyed by it:

Y'all shut up!  I'm trying to watch a movie!

I think that was my favorite thing Rallo had said in this episode.  I also enjoyed when he was trying to get Holt to stop singing about how he was paying for a kid for sex and other easily misinterpreted lines.   But the only other thing that was worth mentioning was when Rallo was sick of Holt's dad calling them maggots (and generally being a dick):

[Rallo] You know what--you're a maggot!
[Gasps] [Holt's Dad] I am a human being.

I just love that Rallo had had it with that guy and wasn't about to listen to him call anyone a maggot again.  He is just the coolest little kid around (definitely within Seth MacFarlane world).

This episode was only okay because it featured Rallo taking someone under his wing.  There was minimum Junior, which was disappointing, but also minimum Roberta and Donna, so that was ultimately a plus.  I don't know if I've ever really liked a story that was about Cleveland and his friends getting into some stupid business thing or scheme, but I certainly didn't like this one.  Or maybe I just wish the scheme was a little better attempted next time.  Otherwise, fill that time with more Rallo because I can't get enough of him.

Lotta Hype, Not Laughs

Happy Endings, S03E03

Max started a new job as a hype guy for bar mitzvahs, and Penny suggested that Brad join him after she had gotten good reviews from their combined performance.  Jane tried to help rekindle the love life between Dave and Alex, which was getting way too comfortable and boring.  Penny got a lot of attention from the young boys at the bar mitzvah parties.

Somehow with Jane getting involved in Dave and Alex's kind of gross couple life, Alex and Dave weren't so annoying to watch.  I didn't want to see them find their love again, but I liked that their story ended with them all getting detained by airport security.  Alex was a moron to go to the airport with a fake ticket (although I don't know why she had be tied up just because she was trying to honor a ticket at an airline that didn't exist), but at least it helped Dave get tackled and Jane get tased and pepper sprayed.  It wasn't that funny, but I just liked it wasn't that boring.  There was, however, one funny line in this story when Dave commented that he should have called before interrupting Jane and Brad's role playing:

[Penny] I did call ahead and apparently it did not make a difference.

I love how Jane and Brad are so comfortable with their sex life.  And it's not really disturbing or gross.  It's just sort of cute how they mesh well with each other and you never have to ask why they are together.  Although I have issue with this show nowadays, the two of them might be one of my favorite TV couples of all time.

What I really liked about this episode was of course the story about Max and Brad.  They are my favorite duo for any story on this show and are usually the best combination out of the whole group.  This time they were in a group that had a name that was a pun of Boys II Men.  In general, I liked Max having yet another unconvential job that none of their friends had ever heard of before and Brad and Max having a fight, but the best thing was the very end where they showed a music video.  They should have just extended it and made it the bulk of the episode.

I really loved how they kept saying that some of the steps were secrets.  And then after they actually went back to naming real steps, they went on again to say like a series of the steps were secrets again!  It sounded like Max had written that song and was just too damn lazy to think of 50 actual steps.  So good. 

Penny was totally being kinda creepy hitting on those young boys.  It wasn't surprising that at the end they weren't interested in seeing her boobs, but wanted to go to the mall.  She never disappoints in the area of being pathetically unattractive to the right kind of guys.

This episode was okay.  I felt like I could have been more excited about the stories if they all had a little bit more (except Penny's because I don't want to see little boys flirting with her).  I wouldn't mind if they did another Boys II Menorah story in the future, but since it involves Max I couldn't see him sticking to one occupation forever.  I do like the idea of Brad joining him more often on his random ventures now that he's unemployed.  I'm looking forward to seeing what crazy thing Brad and Max can get into in another episode.