Weekend in Reviews

I spent a few hours at the spa on Saturday with Heather and Lynda, I can definitely give massages, facials and pedicures my highest ratings!

I watched Taken again with Jay and Mike and Kelly and I have nothing new to add to what I've already said about it. But I also watched some TV on DVD and I can certainly find something to say about that.

So You Think You Can Dance season 3: I bought Mike some home-made SYTYCD DVDs for Christmas last year and I asked him to bring them over so we could watch them on Saturday. We watched the Top 20, 18, 16 and 14 episodes of the third season and that's when we agreed that Season 3 was the best as far as choreography. There were so many memorable dances and they were pretty evenly spread out amongst all of the dancers and not just a few couples. There was a bit of lively debate between Mike, Jay and I about Cameron because I thought he was by far the weakest link on the season and they disagreed. I think they're basing their opinion less on his dancing prowess and more on the fact that they think he's hot.

ER season 1: As I threatened a few weeks ago, I've begun NetFlixing ER from the beginning. I really liked ER in it's day and I haven't really watched it at all since I left the show shortly after Doug and Carol. Because it's been so long, I remember very little about the individual episodes. I recall some of the main plot points and most of the recurring characters but a lot of it is almost new to me again.

I had forgotten what a pissy bitch Mark's wife was - constantly riding his ass not to work so much or to blow off work or to work somewhere else or whatever, yet totally putting her work before him all the while. I want him to dump her miserable ass but she's like a champion cuckolder. Meanwhile, they persist in pushing the flirty vibe between Susan and Mark despite it seeming terribly forced. They have no sexual chemistry and she is obviously not remotely interested in him. Carter on the other hand, she totally has a thing for.

Oh, did I ever forget what a massive crush I had on Carter! This first season is really where he's finding his footing as a doctor and as a man and it's amazing to watch. When that is contrasted with the aggressiveness, bravado and selfishness of Benton it's a joy to watch. Benton was a dickhead of immeasurable proportions but then he had these flashes of humanity that kept him from being a caricature. He was actually a bit more layered in the pilot that he became once the show got going when they needed him to be the "typical, egotistical surgeon" but they did manage to work back in some moments of genuine kindness and fear and sadness which are a nice touch.

The character with the fewest layers right out of the gate was Doug and yet, he may have been one of the most likable. He was the womanizer who was really in love, or thought he was anyway, with Carol but didn't want to commit to her. He tried in at least a hundred ways to come between she and (the GORGEOUS) Tag and no matter how many time she told him to stop and leave her alone, he would not stop. But she wasn't exactly the innocent victim of his harassment. When she told Tag that she'd cheated on him the previous year with Doug and then admitted that only two weeks ago, they'd kissed, she said "he kissed me, and I let him." But I was there and what actually happened was that they kissed each other. She gave as good as she got and she knew it because when he apologized immediately after, she said "you didn't do it alone." This is a very co-dependant relationship and while it would probably make me hate them both if I worked with them, it is enjoyable as hell to watch on TV.

The acting is mostly superb and I am particularly taken with Noah Wyle and even more so when I recall how his character evolved over the life of the show. Even just the years I actually watched. The last episode I saw last night, "The Gift," was the one where his attempt to mack on Susan fails pretty spectacularly and while it should have been awkward and uncomfortable to watch (those kinds of scenes always are for me, I'm just too empathetic to the rejectee), he handled it like a kid - he moved on, he was ok, it was not a gut-punch but merely a shot that didn't hit it's intended target. He has this naivete that is sweet and childlike but at the same time, he handles himself with aplomb and he can be this sweet and caring man. In the previous episode, "The Blizzard," he shares a scene out on the curb in the snow with Bob - she is distraught at having performed un-sanctioned surgery in this country because she believes it means she'll never be allowed to practice medicine here. He finds out what's wrong, he reassures her that if the patient lived, they'll be grateful and then, without missing a beat, he kindly offers to help her learn the necessary English to take and pass her medical board exams. It was a lovely moment and both actors did amazing work with it.

I'm glad I went back to this old friend. It's worth the time. I'll try to watch another disk's worth of episodes tonight.