The Path To Zen

Everything You Need About NBC Series LIFE starring Damian Lewis & Sarah Shahi

Here’s a review of the episode from our friends at TVoholic.com :

(S02E03) For the last time there was a new episode of Life on a Monday night. From now on an starting this very Friday, the show settles down on its regular slot, Fridays at 10.00 meaning that, yes, once again we’ll get a double-dose of Life this week as Charlie & Dani are coming back in just a few days. But before that, they were just here last night, and there’s a lot to talk about, obviously.

I have said before that, to me, Life isn’t a cop show. Or, more exactly, it only has the appearance of one, but that’s not what it’s about. And I’m not talking about the whole conspiracy behind Charlie’s 12 years in prison either, I mean the show is all about people, not about a murder, solving a crime or even finding out who framed Charlie. All of that are just excuses, excuses to spend time with those often broken characters, and see them have a second change at life.

About this episode, I liked it. I really did, but at the same time I didn’t. It’s not quite a mix of love and hate mixed together, I am far from hating the show, but at the same time and as much as I love it, and enjoyed it because it was Life, and Charlie and Dani, at the same time it wasn’t really them. I feel that the show isn’t as good as it used to be last season, or this episode wasn’t like what we were used to.

The previous episode(s) I was rather fine with, but here I couldn’t help but feel something was different. It was both in this episode specifically, and in the whole show ever since it came back. First, let’s talk in general. In general, ever since the show came back for its season season, something has been different. It’s because a lot happened since last season finale, but we don’t know what.

The Lieutenant is gone, but we have no idea what happened there, Dani decided to wear sexier clothes and let her hair down, we don’t know why either. It’s all part of changes that took place, and are supposed to be accepted from now on, but we can’t accept them because we don’t know the reasons. We don’t know why Dani changed her style and apparently isn’t going in bars anymore to have sex with lucky men whose name she doesn’t even care about, there has to be a reason, and we need to know what happened, because from where we’re standing, those are just changes.

Not evolutions, but changes. We didn’t see the show or the characters evolve into something else, we didn’t see them transforming into anything, we just found them back, only they weren’t the same. And it goes further than that, because to stay on Dani : her sexual behavior was a part of who she was, just like her dressing code was, or are her frequent visits to the gym. Despite what it may look like in promos, she is as important to the show as Charlie, the show isn’t about Charlie, it’s about him and Dani.

Continue reading the review of The Business Of Miracles on TVoholic…

Here’s a review of the episode from our friends at TVoholic.com :

(S02E02) Charlie Crews and Dani Reese were back for the second time already this week, as they will be next week. I’m not really sure it’s a vote of confidence from NBC, all in fairness it probably is quite the opposite in fact, but for now let’s focus on the good part : for the second time this week we got another hour of our beloved Life!

Once again we had an episode filled with many many things. This show has always had at the very least two main side to it, three if also count the essence of it, the portrayal of broken characters getting a second chance at life. The two first are the procedural aspect of the show, the case of the week, and the serialized bit, the ongoing conspiracy against Charlie how he’s tracking everyone down.

And I may be wrong, but I feel things are being handled a bit differently this season so far, like everything is happening all together at once, and we swing back and forth between the two, but while last season had this model too, it would often be limited to the end of the episode for example, or you could see when an episode was getting heavy on the conspiracy stuff.
So far this season I feel things are better handled that way, and of course having much less of those (same) interviews over & over is a very nice thing as well.

After finding Rachel, Charlie is now trying to connect to her, to get her to talk. It obviously won’t be easy, as she is now another one who’s been broken and needs to be given a second chance at life, but for now this hasn’t really found her happy place, she isn’t willing to trust anyone. But it allowed for Charlie to reconnect with his ex-wife in a way he never could so far, despite trying.

Was it seeing Charlie being a good man, was it being back with him, and Rachel, like in the good old days when she and he were a family, or just Charlie good looks, either way she was falling… “Ooh, I remember that…” I’m not sure how after that she could have found the force to listen to her moral brain and walked out on Charlie like that, but seems obvious now that Charlie isn’t going to let her go — now more than ever he knows that what they had didn’t die while he was away.

Continue reading the review of Everything… All The Time on TVoholic…

Here’s a review of the episode from our friends at TVoholic.com :

(S02E01) Do you remember that day, last year, in December ? it was a Wednesday I think, December 5th, 2007 ? Yeah I know, it’s been like 10 month, of course you don’t really remember what happened that day, so I’ll give it to you : it was the last time a new episode of one of the greatest series to ever grace our screen was on the air. Oh yeah, it’s been ten freaking long months until we saw a new episode of Life !!

Needless to say, I was incredibly happy to have it back. Also, if you didn’t remember everything, that’s because NBC didn’t think things like reruns would be helpful. But let’s not talk about that, let’s focus on the episode. This awesome episode. I’ll tell you, I was worried. When I started watching this episode, I was very excited, and also worried.

Now I’m just excited, and happy. I think this is where I smile, my happy place : in front of an episode of Life.

I was worried because of Dani’s new look, which I’m sure you’ll have noticed too. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s a good look and I don’t need that to see how hot Sarah Shahi is, but here’s the thing. That look, that may be Shahi, but that’s not Reese. Not that she was ever defined by her looks, certainly not, but it was an important part of who she was and how she defined herself : a strong cop, a good cop, that shouldn’t be judged by her look.

That’s why she didn’t wear anything too sexy or revealing, why she had her hair up and the leather jacket. It was Dani, and that’s who we got to know her during 11 episodes. Now to have her all of a sudden in a brand new look, it’s almost like Charlie had lost the sunglasses or the fruits, something would be wrong. We didn’t even get any explanation as to where this comes from, but then we also didn’t get anything about how and why Lieutenant Davis got demoted, it’s been months and we missed a lot, so maybe it’ll come later. I sure hope so.

Continue reading the review of Find Your Happy Place on TVoholic…

Another very good review of the DVDs of the first season. This one comes from Nico, who had not watched the show when it aired, only did the DVDs, and here’s something I feel like quoting first :

I have one complaint and one complaint only. While the rest of the season is highly enjoyable and the sound is across-the-board professional and well-done, the music choices are abysmal and, on more than one occasion, took me out of the scene. Having not seen the original on-air run, I can’t confirm, but I’ve heard mumblings that songs were replaced for the DVD release. In the words of Hall and Oates, I don’t go for that.

Yeah well, there you go, well done NBC, exactly the opposite of what the original music accomplish! And that’s why I refuse to buy those DVDs, I won’t pay for this crap, I won’t encourage this, and I’ll hopefully find some other way to watch the extras; if not, I’ll have to live without. I’d much rather go that way that give my money to NBC when they do this crap, not a chance.

Anyways, here’s Nico’s review of the season, and the extras :

Continue reading "LIFE Season One DVD Review"…

Here’s a nice review of the upcoming DVDs of the first season of LIFE by Chris Ball on Cleveland.com There’s never any mention about the music selection, but I wonder if people who review those DVDs are even aware of that fact, probably not. Sucks, not just because I think we deserve to know, but because the original music selection was so much better and made scenes so much more powerful, than it’s really not the same to watch either version.

Anyways, nice review, sadly it looks like what was liked then won’t be next season, I’m thinking of this for example : “Shahi exudes a powerful sexuality, which LIFE manages to utilize without seeming too obvious.” Yes, that was another good thing on the show, but seems NBC decided to make more obvious, I guess those guys are either blind, stupid, or both. My guess is both.

Continue reading "Review of LIFE Season One DVDs"…

Here’s a review from our friends at TVoholic.com :

(S01E05) I said it before but I feel the need to say it again, because we really need to let the word out, the world needs to know : despite it’s odd title, and its appearance of being just another cop drama with a twist, Life definitely is the best new series of this season. I don’t mean on NBC, but overall. I know many are in love with Pushing Daisies, and I agree it’s a pretty good one, but I believe this one is better.

It really is so much more than what it looks like, and the one thing that attracted to it in the first place, that keeps me coming back and makes the show what it is, is before everything else the writing. The writing on Life really is brilliant, and while the weekly stories might not be the greatest ones ever, they are good and allow us to dive more and more each time with all the characters, and every single character on that show is written with great accuracy and depth, much more than in most other shows.

And on that note, this episode was no different. While the story/mystery of the week was good, it wasn’t great. A somewhat pretty traditional development from the start till the very end, and the introduction of a very bad, and recurring, evil character.

And like any others, he was brilliantly written, and portrayed just as well. He was also close to Charlie in a few ways, starting with the overall attitude. Very zen and relaxed, likes to be in control, know all about things and people involved, able to read people. And I suspect when Roman looses his temper, he just explodes and kills everyone around.

Continue reading the review of The Fallen Woman on TVoholic…

Here’s a review from our friends at TVoholic.com :

(S01E04) Okay so there are many new shows this season, some I knew were gonna be bad, some I was disappointed a little but didn’t have that many hopes or expectations, others I do feel disappointed by, and of course some I have happy to see they’re as good if not better as I had hoped.

So far I can tell you this, despite it flaws Life is without question the best new NBC series this year, and one the the best new series overall. I know to some i might just be yet another cop drama with a “twist”, but it really is so more than that. There’s more to it, starting with obviously Charlie Crews, who is and makes the show.

Although I’ll be honest with you, his partner Reese is growing on me every day a little more, just as Charlie is obviously growing on her. As he even pointed out, despite her denial, she did refer to him as her partner. I highly doubt she would have called him that when they started together, and that was a much more valid proof and the evolution of their relationship than the “lying for him” bit was a few episodes ago.

You really see she’s opening to him and his attitude, and respecting Crews as a “real” cop, not just one who got his badge because of a court order but who doesn’t really deserve to be there, through such little things. Like her calling him partner, or how she took away his knife last week, how she went along right away to not let Easley - the homeless suspect on their investigation - locked up in jail, or simply the way she reacted a bit later on the car, with both Charlie and Easley.

It almost looked as if she was a mother figure trying to educate her kids, and it does apply as both have lost touch with reality in their own ways. Easley lives in his own world, stealing finding stuff, not talking to anyone for months or years. Charlie, he might be back in the world but not so long ago he felt the same, and did not spoke to anyone for a long time as well.

Continue reading the review of What They Saw on TVoholic…

Here’s a review of the episode from our friends at TVoholic.com :

(S01E02) I think NBC has some pretty good new series this year, although the two best ones are definitely not the ones that gets talked about the most, for some weird reason. That’s right, I’m talking about you, stupid Bionic Chuck!

No their best ones are definitely Journeyman, and of course this very own Life, which is probably my favorite one. Oddly enough, while both feature for one part a serialized story that will extend throughout the entire series, for another the new “case” of the week the hero has to work on, I do feel differently towards each of those and how they’re dealt with.

I said that after watching last episode of Journeyman, I was a bit unhappy with the fact the the main plot, the serialized part, did not move at all, no answers or even clues had been given. And let’s face it, that big mystery on the show is, at least to me, it’s most exciting part for now (though the “mystery” was a pretty good one).

Well, on Life we did get some development, and it’s not that I disliked it, but I find myself actually not caring that much about this whole part of the show, for some reason. I understand why it’s of big important for Crews, I mean the guy did spend some years getting beat up, his life was taken away and broken, all for nothing. But as far as I’m concerned, this whole quest for the truth could be completely removed and I wouldn’t really mind.

That being said, I do appreciate the way it’s all done, because it does affect, in a good way, what I really enjoy on that show : witnessing Crews going through his new life, with his ways and oddities that makes him a compelling, intriguing, odd and without question worth knowing character. The “flashback interviews” in black and white, about what happened, why and other what if are just as important as what Crews finds out on his private investigation, as they shape up the different characters and the way we get to look at them.

Continue reading the review of Tear Asunder on TVoholic…

Here’s a review of the episode from our friends at TVoholic.com :

(S01E01) I haven’t hidden the fact that NBC new cop show, Life, was one of the show I was most awaiting for. Hadn’t seen it, and despite what may sound like a quite old and, one might even say, boring, plot line - cop was framed and sent to jail for a triple murder he did not commit, eventually got proven innocent and released free after 12 years, with a nice but undisclosed amount of money, and of course he’s back in the force - yet despite all that, I simply couldn’t wait to see what it’d be like.

Why ? Because of a clip I saw. And a line I loved.

It goes something like this :
“
- It is the Universe that makes fun of us all.
- Why exactly would the Universe make fun of us all ?
- Maybe it’s insecure.
”

Sure, the episode starts with an introduction as you would expect it to be : how everyone thought he was guilty, his partners, his wife, how he got beat up bad while in jail, how he got framed, cause there was all this evidence.

But rapidly we move on to a new case, because he’s back on the field, working cases. Murder cases. But this show isn’t first about the stories, it is a character-driven series. What matters most here is Charlie Crews, the new & Zen Charlie. (Although I admit, I don’t really know how he used to be, before)

Continue reading the review of Pilot: Merit Badge on TVoholic…