Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo: Setting Records

Pixar had its first huge hit that wasn't about toys with Monsters, Inc, a seemingly cut and dried movie about a monster world and a little girl who accidentally comes to visit. However, the movie proved to be much more than that. In addition to Monsters being incredibly beautiful (much praise was given to the way the hairs were animated on the character of Sulley), it had a wonderfully touching story. So far, Pixar's movies had received heaps of praise for not only appealing to all ages, but to satisfy all ages. There are too many movies today that talk down to kids and appeal to them through "cool" visuals and/or music, while completely alienating adults and teenagers due to the half-baked content. Monsters, Inc. was a hit with all ages. I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I was in high school when it was released, and EVERYONE I knew who saw it adored it.

Next came Finding Nemo, which proved to be an even bigger hit. The movie broke box office records for animation in its opening weekend, and the gross income it made compared to all movies was none too shabby either. I still remember talking about this movie with two friends and comparing it to The Matrix Reloaded, which had been released around the same time (this was the first Pixar movie that I did not see in theaters; however, I have still never seen the entire Cars). At that point, only one of us had seen Finding Nemo, while all had seen Reloaded. Myself and the person who had seen this movie were disappointed with Reloaded, and he stated the numerous reasons why Finding Nemo was a better film. The drama, acting, and visuals were all superior in his opinion. And remember, we were teenaged men who had been awaiting a sequel to The Matrix for years. Speaking of not seeing this in theaters, I wish that I had. Each successive Pixar movie seems to outdo the last one's groundbreaking visuals, and I wish that I could have seen certain of Nemo's sequences on the big screen.

These two movies gave Pixar their fourth and fifth CONSECUTIVE hits. For most film studios, to have three consecutive hits is incredible. As of today (the day Wall-E was released), they've had eight, and it looks like they will soon have a ninth.

Up next: Brad Bird's contributions...

Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog: In The Beginning

Short post, but just wanted to let everyone know that the first trailer to Joss Whedon's summer online series Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog is up at http://io9.com/397104/the-searing-laugh-of-joss-whedons-dr-horrible?autoplay=true. Or, view it right here:



Nathan Fillion (Captain Reynolds in Firefly and Serenity) plays the goofy "hero", Neil Patrick Harris (Barney [not the purple one] in How I Met Your Mother) is the everyman "villain", and Velicia Day (Vi the Potential Vampire Slayer in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) will be Harris' potential love interest.

It's gonna be awesome.

Up next: Back to Pixar...

Toy Story 1 and 2: The New Era

In 1995, Pixar Animation Studios released the first feature-length computer-generated movie. Special effects had been made by computers for a while by then (Terminator 2!), and there had been short films (Luxo, Jr. is the origin of their lamp logo), Toy Story was the beginning of a new era. Every single frame was completely computer-generated, and aside from a few awkward-looking human characters, the film looked beautiful. Oh, and the story was amazing as well. With a script written by Pixar powerhouses John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, as well as Joss Whedon (!!!), the story a cowboy doll used to being the favorite toy and the new spaceman who could overtake his throne was proof that something viewed as a children's medium could compete with more adult fare.

Four years later, Toy Story 2 was released, and the sequel was not only great, but it was an improvement on the original. By then, it was clear that computer animated films were here to stay. Toy Story 2 was actually Pixar's third movie; their second, A Bug's Life, was critically acclaimed, but was probably the lowest-grossing of the eight movies released as of today (the ninth, Wall-E, comes out in three days).

In both movies, the characters are the most important aspect; characterization is never sacrificed for the sake of plot, and everyone/thing is fleshed out. Woody and Buzz Lightyear are more real than many live-action characters. They each make decisions based on their beliefs and convictions; Woody, a good-natured cowboy goes to extreme lengths out of fear, while Buzz's misguided idea of being the "real" Buzz initially drives him, while his developing sense of friendship begins to command his personality. And while most of the toys' identities are tied into their models (Hamm the piggy bank is a little greedy and the Army Men have military knowledge), but they all have free will to make their own decisions. And the stories in each movie are wonderful. Toy Story is one of the best buddy films ever; it takes the tried-and-true story of two different people coming together to overcome their differences and adds heart (wow, that sound cliched). And Toy Story 2 is even better, with a story of dealing with loss.

These two films, along with A Bug's Life, helped launch one of the greatest film studios in recent history (if not the entire history of films).

Up next: Breaking records...

Scrubbed Out

I've decided to scrap the post about the best moments of Scrubs. It would have been a first, since I try to analyze stories and entice people to read/watch the ones they have never experienced. I originally decided to do a best of post to give examples of how Scrubs can deftly balance comedy and drama. However, the examples worth mentioning are of course some of the show's best moments, and I don't want to give them away in a silly blog.

Also, I've been so slow to post this month (due to my re-viewing of Buffy and Angel, and now, my first foray into Six Feet Under) that I think that I will start fresh with a new topic once I start posting regularly again. I want to talk about Six Feet Under, along with Alan Ball's American Beauty, but I will wait until I finish the series.

In preparation for the movie Wall-E (which may be out by the time I start posting regularly again), the next series will focus on a few of Pixar's movies, most notably Brad Bird's The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

Up next: The new age...

Battlestar Galactica: A Place To Go From Here?

I had an epiphany today; I realized how Battlestar Galactica could end, and not only does it make sense, it would be totally awesome (in a nerd's wildest fantasy way). Earth is gone; the people of the 13th Colony used up the resources and destroyed themselves, creating a nuclear wasteland. Maybe the fleet will find clues pointing the way to where the last survivors of the 13th Colony went. The Colonials and rebel cylons will follow them to a new solar system filled with dozens of planets and moons terraformed to support human life. And the first people Adama and the crew of the Galactica encounter will be none other than Capt. Malcolm Reynolds of the starship Serenity.

Yeah, I'm going there. But think about it. As the picture above illustrates, Firefly-class ships existed on the Twelve Colonies (and no, this isn't photoshopped; watch the scene in the miniseries pilot when Roslin is at the clinic). Universal, which produces Galactica, owns the film rights to Serenity, and most of the "rules" apply to both shows; no aliens, wormholes or overly extravagant technology (except for the FTL drive in Galactica). It would be so awesome, especially if a spin-off were developed featuring a certain cargo smuggling ship...

Up next: Scrubs!

Battlestar Galactica: Where Do We Go From Here?

And so we reach the home stretch for Battlestar Galactica. The series finale is being filmed right now, and we begin the long wait for (most likely) 2009 and the last 10 to 12 episodes. The episode "Revelations" was a doozy; on its own, I loved it, but taken with a few events of the last couple of episodes, there are a few things that I am taking issue with (most are cylon-related). Oh, and there are huge spoilers in this post, so be careful if you haven't seen it yet.

Let's begin at the end. A few months ago, Ron Moore and/or David Eick said that the colonists wouldn't get to Earth until the series finale, so one of three things happened. They lied, they changed their minds, or the planet featuring a radioactive and destroyed city (I'm guessing it was Manhattan, and the colonists were on Liberty Island) wasn't Earth. I'm guessing it was option number two. As far as Earth twists go, having the fleet arrive at a post-apocalyptic Earth wasn't the most original, but seeing as how fans have had pretty much every theory imaginable, it must have been hard to come up with something completely unexpected. Other theories have included the fleet showing up in the distant past (one of my friends, who majored in history, noted that many of the characters had names that are also the names of ancient cities/locations [examples include Thrace and Tyrol] and people [Agathon; if you don't believe me, Wikipedia these names]), the fleet showing up in the present, and George W. Bush launching a nuclear attack at them, or that Earth would be populated with cylons. One of the reviewers from the Onion AV Club's TV Club wanted the fleet to show up in Hollywood and be welcomed by real-life celebrities (playing themselves) as well as people delighted by the idea of life among the stars (played by real life Galactica fans).

Personally, I was a fan of the whole, "George Bush thinks they are terrorists and blows them out of the sky", but this apocalypse works too. For one thing, seeing everyone cheering upon arriving at the beautiful (from space) blue planet, only to have them realize in horror that it is a nuclear wasteland full of ruins was heartbreaking. Also, having the colonists and rebel cylons find an Earth that has been destroyed because of warring humans opens up the question of whether humanity is worth saving again. This was examined in Season 2, when the fleet had split over ideology, and now, it can come back in full force. After the humans and cylons have finally been able to forge an alliance, it can all be taken away because of the cylons blaming the humans for others of their race destroying themselves. Humanity's pettiness ruined it for everyone. It is hard to think of any happy ending that could come from this, and thematically, a happy resolution doesn't fit with the show, but the optimist side of me hopes that there is some silver lining for these people who have suffered for so long (however, the cynic in me got such a kick of the end out of this episode).

Speaking of the cylons, there is still one yet to be revealed. D'Anna said that the fifth and final was not in the fleet, which lends credence to my theory that Kendra Shaw is the final cylon. However, Shaw died, and there have been hints that the final five don't resurrect (or, I mean, they didn't even before the resurrection hub was destroyed). This brings me to a few of the problems I'm having with the series. I really don't like the concept of the final five. I've said this before, but I'll say it again. When the writers were working on the occupation of New Caprica, they needed a reason to not reveal the last five cylons together in the third season premiere. I still think that they could have gotten away with saying that the cylons wanted to still have some sleeper agents JUST IN CASE there was dissension among the humans, and they could have spies in place to report on a possible RESISTANCE. But no, instead, we are introduced to the idea that there are five other models that the seven known models don't know the identity of.

In addition, it would appear that these final five are so different that they (seemingly; none of these are conclusive) don't resurrect, don't have model numbers, age (WHAT?!) and can get other cylons pregnant (so far, only one person aside from me, that I know of, has called foul on the fact that Tigh impregnated Caprica Six). The idea of "no model numbers" came to me through internet hearsay, though the site I got it from is trustworthy enough to make it worth considering. Apparently, Ron Moore said this in an interview. This reinforces a thought I had earlier; why do the seven original models have the numbers 1-6 and 8 instead of 1-7? To me, this is further proof of the final five being an afterthought to the occupation. I think that the only thing that could have convinced me that the final five were in the plan from the beginning is if the five's model numbers were the five prime numbers between 1 and 12. Yeah, I'm that much of a nerd. I figured out that there are five prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, and 11) in that range, and it would have been kind of cool if the final five were all prime (I'm such a nerd). I wonder how the seven knew that there were 12 models at all! The final five can barely be called cylons at all...

So, with only about 11 episodes left, where do we go from here? In addition to revealing the twelfth cylon, cylon numbers 1, 4 and 5 are still out there, and they will probably serve as (possibly only one of) the final villains. The centurions, who now have free will, need to rebel. A final home needs to be found. Maybe they'll find a way to settle on Earth. Maybe they'll go to Mars. Maybe they will realize that the ships in the fleet will forever be their new homes. Maybe...

Up next: Scrubs through the ages...

Scrubs: My Supermen

Wow. Sorry for the lapse between posts. I've been in Buffy and Angel overdrive lately (I'm not sure whether I should label my quick progress as sad or impressive). Anyway, the humor of Scrubs would be nothing without the incredible ensemble cast. Each character and actor has their own unique contribution to the show, which allows everyone to be as funny and/or dramatic as they can, without stepping on other people's toes. Each character has a role to play at the beginning, and these parts believably evolve over the course of the series, based on experiences and interactions.

Zach Braff's J.D. is a quirky man-child prone to bizarre fantasies and goofy mannerisms. One of the first things we ever see him do is make a shaving cream bra for himself before coming in to work on his first day at Sacred Heart Hospital. He and his best friend Chris Turk (usually just called Turk) are portrayed as being as close to a couple as possible without either of them actually being gay, and J.D. is definitely the girl of the relationship. His man-childishness extends beyond the whimsical; J.D. is a great doctor, but he needs to learn how to be comfortable being himself. He is often needy and cannot keep his romantic relationship going, usually due to silly reasons (I know this sounds like a traditional sitcom, but Scrubs rises above these trappings through great writing). Turk is the yang to J.D.'s yin; whereas J.D. can be a little too emotional, Turk tries to hide his feelings and project a macho exterior. Fortunately, this disguise is thin at best, and Turk's true geeky nature often shines through (remember when he couldn't resist calling Billy Dee Williams "Lando", much to Williams' chagrin?), and while it is funny to see Turk failing to be ubermanly, he is at his best when he is being himself. Elliot Reid, who is a woman despite what her name suggests, is the third new employee at Sacred Heart. Elliot and J.D. are internal medicine interns (while Turk is a surgeon), and there is a bit of a friendly (usually) rivalry between the two. Like J.D., Elliot is nervous as hell about her life as a doctor, but unlike J.D., her approach to survival in the hospital is much different. And with doctors like Cox and Kelso as her superiors, "survival" isn't hyperbole, but more on them later. Whereas J.D. gets the hang of things relatively quickly, Elliot's insecurities keep her at home when other people are out having fun, since she feels that she has to stay on top of all the latest medical journals in order to be the best. For the first few seasons, this nearly drives Elliot crazy, since these same insecurities prevent her from reaching her full potential while J.D. excels. But things change, and when the tables turn, J.D. can't seem to handle inferiority for a while.

Carla Espinosa, who has been a nurse for a few years, is a supportive force for the new interns, which is much needed in the harsh reality of the hospital. That's not to say that her only role is to be motherly and supportive. She develops a relationship with Turk that is probably the most stable one on the entire show. And while she knows how to handle herself in the workplace, it is real life where she sometimes needs help. The unfairness inherent in being a nurse (doctors get all the credit, and aren't always respectful) wears on her, and though her relationship with Turk is stable, that doesn't mean that it is without its problems. But, while her advice isn't always heeded, she is a beacon of hope for the new interns. And she is certainly needed.

Dr. Perry Cox and Dr. Bob Kelso are pretty much the only higher-up doctors who get any screen time, especially in the early seasons (eventually, the supporting cast of Dr. Beardface, Dr. Mickhead and Col. Doctor develop, and some recurring guests appear, like Dr. Molly Clock and Dr. Kim Briggs, but these characters usually don't stick around for a while), and they are forces to be reckoned with. Dr. Cox is a cynical doctor who would prefer to be left alone and pursue his own goals and cure his own patients. He genuinely cares about the people that he helps (though he does get aggravated with the more annoying ones; and before you make any House comparisons, remember that Scrubs started about three or four years before House), and deep down, he also cares about the new interns. He hides his compassion by insulting everyone around him; he particularly delights in picking on J.D. (though this may be a sign that he cares for J.D. the most) by calling him girls' names and launching into drawn-out rants against the things J.D. cares about. But this behavior is almost pleasant when compared to that of the Chief of Medicine, Dr. Kelso. Kelso begins the show as an evil jackass who only cares about turning a profit, even if that means turning away patients who don't have insurance. For the first few seasons, Kelso is the villain of the show; he provides obstacles for the interns and conflict for Dr. Cox. This doesn't mean that he isn't funny, though; Kelso's personality makes him bizarrely funny due to his many quirks, such as his love of cupcakes and other baked goods, callous attitude towards his wife, and preference for Asian hookers. As the series goes on, Kelso's initial villainy is steadily scaled back (sort of like Mr. Burns' on The Simpsons). Starting around Season 3, Kelso becomes much more lovable, and his initial villainous tendencies are explained to be the result of having to make the tough decisions. When he fires nurses for seemingly no reason or chooses to treat a rich patient over a poorer one, the rest of the staff may become understandably and justifiably upset, but it was because the budget is stretched thin. Not firing the nurse may have hindered patient care in other, more destructible ways, and the rich patient survived to donate large sums of money to the hospital (the cost of this was the death of the poorer one).

The final regular cast member is the hospital's janitor, known only as Janitor. He was originally created to only appear in the pilot, but Neil Flynn's portrayal impressed the staff so much that they made him a recurring character for the first season, and a regular from then on (of the seven current regulars, he is the only one not to be a regular since the beginning of the series). For the first year and a half, he had no purpose other than to torment J.D. An innocent comment by the young intern in the pilot about a broken door jamb made the somewhat psychotic Janitor believe that J.D. was responsible for the break, and made it his personal mission to terrorize, deride and undermine J.D. whenever possible. After that year and a half, the Janitor expanded his antics to include anyone caught in his path; the writers were afraid of a quick cancellation, and wanted a cool twist for the finale, which would have been the revelation that the Janitor was only a figment of J.D.'s imagination, representing his insecurities. When it became clear that the show was safe for a while, Flynn asked the writers to let him interact with someone other than Braff.

In addition to the great regulars, the show also has a great cast of secondary and tertiary characters (few other shows paid so much attention to the people in the background; right now, the closest example I can give is the first two seasons of Veronica Mars, where characters whose actors' names appeared in the closing credits actually contributed to the plot). Most of the tertiary characters are crew members. These include Dr. Beardface, Dr. Mickhead, and Col. Doctor. I think that all three of these characters started out as one-joke characters, but continued to show up to keep a sense of continuity. Other characters, like Dr. Doug Murphy, Dr. Todd Quinlan, Jordan Sullivan and Ted Buckland are more or less full-fledged characters, but have never been as important as the regular players.

Up next: Series highlights (sort of)...

Scrubs: My Introduction

I didn't start watching Scrubs until right after its fourth season ended. A few people had told me that I should watch it, especially since I enjoyed Garden State, which was written, directed by, and starred Zach Braff, who plays Dr. John "J.D." Dorian on Scrubs. Finally, when the first season was released and received glowing reviews, I decided that it was time to start watching. Without having seen an episode, I bought the first season, and was beyond satisfied. The show is based on the life of creator Bill Lawrence's friend, a doctor who also has the initials J. D. Lawrence's friend, Jonathan Doris, had plenty of crazy stories from his years as an intern and resident, and Lawrence used them to make a medical comedy show. Amazingly, despite some of the outlandish aspects of the humor, people I've met have said that Scrubs isn't far off in some of its portrayals of hospital life. Obviously, real life isn't anything like ER or House, where there is an incredible medical incident/mystery every week, so it is refreshing to see a show where we see some of the goings-on that occur between the big cases.

But what is often less obvious are the claims that the hospital is like high school, with the surgeons like athletes, internal medics like nerds, and nurses like cheerleaders. But that is one of the things that I was told was not exaggerated! Also, since three of the main characters start off as interns, we see how doctors start out their career, before they become seasoned veterans who may or may not be cynical (they don't know that everybody lies yet). In the pilot episode, "My First Day", two of the new doctors chicken out and hide in a supply closet. And with a job where people's lives depend on every decision you make, it has to be pretty hard not to freak out at the beginning (or even at times at later parts of one's career). This is an aspect of the job that most other medical shows don't focus on, and frankly, we as people don't want to think about. But played the right way, it is incredibly funny.

I'm going to have the next post focus on the characters, but I will briefly touch on certain aspects of the doctors that contribute to the humor of the show. In addition to the new interns' own insecurity, they have to put up with strange patients and cranky superiors. But not all of the humor is based in reality; J.D. constantly drifts off and has bizarre fantasy sequences that take a line said by one of his friends/colleagues and spins it off into a random, often sexual, fantasy. Lately, due to the South Park episodes that blasted Family Guy and the random "manatee" jokes, it may seem like these fantasy sequences would be a burden to the show, but they are handled very well. They are funny because they are usually fairly short (make a note, Seth MacFarlane), so they don't detract from the plot, and they remind us that J.D. is still very immature, despite being a doctor.

This is a hospital, though, so not everything is light and comedic. Every now and then, the show completely shifts gears and tells excellent dramatic stories. Very few shows can so effectively balance comedy and drama at the levels that Scrubs does (examples include Joss Whedon's shows). At its most comedic, Scrubs is on the level of the likes of Arrested Development and 30 Rock, while the dramatic moments are incredibly powerful.

Up next: Meeting the doctors...

Welcome To Sacred Heart!

A medical comedy show? Is that even possible? As it turns out, Scrubs is incredible at being both funny and dramatic, and can hold a perfect balance between the two. The next series of posts will examine this quirky and vastly overlooked comedy.

Up next: My first analysis...

LOST: The End of the Beginning

Before I get to Scrubs, I have to discuss the Season 4 finale of LOST. I would have done this sooner, but I was in Annapolis all weekend attending a wedding (not that I'm complaining). After seeing last year's finale, I started telling people how I found the first two years' season finales to be a lot of set-up for nothing more than one huge twist at the end. The final shockers were great, but everything leading up to them was fair. Then we saw "Through the Looking Glass". The flash-forward reveal was incredible, but so was everything leading up to it. I was afraid that the writers wouldn't be able to recreate such a compelling story. I was wrong.

The episode expertly followed numerous stories focused on different characters, and by the end, we learn how the Oceanic 6 got off the island, as well the fates of the other characters. Locke and Ben went into the bowels of The Orchid, where Ben revealed that the DHARMA Initiative was working on time travel experiments. Ben also sacrificed his position on the island so that Locke may stay (more on that later). Meanwhile, on the freighter, Lapidus was able to get Jack, Kate, Hurley, Desmond, Sun, Sayid, and Aaron into the chopper. Unfortunately, Michael and Jin were tied up trying to prevent Keamy's bomb from going off. We have known for weeks that Jin would have to die at some point, most likely this season, but that knowledge didn't make it any easier to watch. Watching him alone on the deck of the Kahana as the helicopter was taking off was heartbreaking. As for Michael, I find it perplexing and disappointing that the producers would bring back his character for only about five episodes only to kill him. Not only that, but he barely got to interact with any of his old friends. We know that he sought redemption, but we didn't get to see the outside hurdles he would have had to face from the people he betrayed.

Meanwhile, Daniel Faraday was shuttling people from the island to the ship as Ben moved the island, which turned out to be a literal interpretation of the phrase. While on a run halfway between the two the island disappeared and the ship blew up. Sadly, we didn't see what happened to him. I hope he will still be around next year, since he was my favorite new cast member (though Charlotte and Miles began to grow on me, especially Miles, who began to show a softer side as Daniel and Charlotte became more sinister), but it will be hard to explain how he could survive. And, unfortunately for most of the rest of the people on the island, notably Juliet, they are right back where they started. Now, their friends who escaped don't even know where they are. But there is hope for them yet.

In one of the more uplifting moments in the otherwise dark story, Desmond and Penny were finally reunited. The chopper crashed into the ocean when it ran out of fuel and had no place to land, but by a stroke of luck (there was a little more to it than that, but luck was certainly a major force), they were saved by a boat that does in fact belong to Penny. In addition to saving Desmond, Lapidus, and the Oceanic 6, one of the islanders finally was reunited with their loved ones (we have already seen Sayid and Nadia reunited, but we weren't as invested in that story, and we already know that Nadia dies). The only sad thing is that we know that Ben vows to kill Penny...

Speaking of Ben, we learned why and how he ended up in the Sahara wearing a parka and needing a confirmation of the date. As the scene where he moved the island unfolded, I noticed an interesting visual similarity to Spike's final scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the more I thought about it, the more I saw some other similarities between the characters. In both scenes, the characters are in underground chambers doing things to save the other characters on the show. On Buffy, Spike channeled the sunlight to destroy an army of primal vampires, while Ben used a strange device to move the island. In both instances a glowing light illuminated Spike and Ben in the otherwise dark landscape. And both sacrificed something; Spike gave up his life (temporarily, as it turned out) because he loved Buffy, while Ben gave up his spot on the island, claiming that whoever moved the island could never return (time will tell if that is true). The main thematic difference is that Spike did it out of love and had noble intentions, while Ben most likely has some ulterior motive (when does he not?) for his actions.

I began thinking about the paths of the two characters. Both were introduced as villains in the second season of each show (the timing of their introduction is more of a coincidence than anything else, though); both were originally slated to show up, cause trouble for the heroes, and disappear. However, the writers of Buffy and LOST liked their respective actors so much that they kept them around and expanded on their characters, taking them from villains to reluctant anti-heroes. Spike stayed around because he was neutered by the government and was able to provide Buffy and her friends with information about the demonic underworld. Ben was held prisoner and could provide answers about the island, the Kahana, and life off the island. By the end, Spike became an ally, while Ben and Locke became almost friends; he turned over power to Locke because he saw that Locke was the better leader after all, and the island needed Locke more than himself (though we cannot rule out ulterior motives). And then, when Spike went to Angel, he was still Spike, but had a new mission statement, since he was no longer defined by his relationship with Buffy. And Ben goes on the offensive once he leaves the island, recruiting Sayid and taking the fight to Charles Widmore.

Finally, I want to go over a few downsides/letdowns of both the finale and the season overall. First, I cannot believe that they did not give a concrete explanation for what happened to Claire. Most people I know say that she's dead, which seems to be the obvious explanation, but you never know with LOST. And I have to say that Emilie de Ravin gets shafted for being a regular; she had one fucking line this week in a dream sequence! And why did they bring in John Terry to deliver one line. Christian Sheppard is an important character, and I'm sure that they could have used him for something (like telling us whether or not he's actually dead!), but instead, he appears out of nowhere to say one thing. And, as usual, not all of the producers' promises were fulfilled. Before the season began, they said that we'd finally learn Libby's backstory. She did show up, but she had maybe two or three lines in Michael's coma fantasy. They said that the four-toed statue (remember that?!) would be addressed, as would the real Henry Gale. Hopefully, if these really are important as they say, we'll finally learn something about them.

Still, with the three-year time jump into the future, there are plenty of new directions the story could go, and I'm really excited for it to start again... in seven months.

Up next: Starting Scrubs...