During this week, seemingly every network sitcom unleashed its yearly Valentine's Day episodes. I didn't watch many of these themed episodes because I don't watch many sitcoms; however, I'm usually a fan of any Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/Valentine's Day even if they're terrible. Since today is Random Thoughts day, I figured I'd write about some notable Valentine's Day episodes along with a few other random thoughts.
-I wrote about the teaser of Buffy's second season Valentine's Day episode last week. "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" is the only Valentine's Day episode in the seven seasons of the show. Xander tries to cast a love spell on Cordelia in an attempt to overcome the humiliation of being dumped by her. Of course, she only dumped him because her popular friends made fun of her relationship with Xander--the message of the episode, for Cordelia anyway, echoes Polonius' infamous words to Laertes when he says, "To thine own self be true,/and it must follow as the night the day/Thou canst not then be false to any man" but Cordelia doesn't read Shakespeare.
The love spell fails to work on Cordelia; however, the spell works on every other girl in Sunnydale, which causes problems. Between the mobs of women who are aggressively obsessive with Xander, he hurts Willow in the process who doesn't need a love spell to love Xander. She loves him but he doesn't love her. It's a thing.
Xander never takes advantage of the love-spell struck women. When Buffy tries to seduce him, wearing only what she's wearing in the picture above, Xander refuses to take advantage of her. Buffy thanks him after the spell lifts. Also, Cordelia breaks free of the Cordettes to be with Xander because she's always done what she wants. Her own display of independence terrifies her, though, as she realizes her friends probably won't speak to her.
It's a funny, light-hearted episode about love and the importance of individual. It's actually one of my favorite Buffy episodes.
-Everwood produced a Valentine's Day episode during its first season. For anyone unfamiliar with the series, Everwood followed the Brown family who moved to the town of Everwood, Colorado following the death of their wife/mother. In "My Funny Valentine," the various characters deal with their relationships and romantic feelings for people. Andy struggles with his romantic feelings for the traveling psychologist portrayed by Jane Krakowski. Rose accuses Harold of not loving her like he once did. Irv suffers a heart attack. Ephram and Laynie have a date much to Amy's envy.
Andy's the central focus of the episode because he lost his wife less than a year ago. The man deals with his first Valentine's Day without Julia as well as romantic feelings for another woman. In the Act One, Dr. Trott asks Andy if he'd do anything differently, more special, on Valentine's Day if he had the chance. He and Trott sleep together on Valentine's Day, and he leaves her because he had a sort-of panic attack. He doesn't understand why he left though until he apologizes the next morning. Dr. Trott suggests that he write everything down he never got to say to Julia, which he does because he's trying to find peace.
The episode focuses on love in its various forms. How does a married couple retain the spark of their early years together? How does a recently married elderly couple deal with the knowledge that one of them will eventually have to live without the other? Amy, a teenage girls, talks with Ephram about love becoming easier as they age because she's a girl torn between her former comatose boyfriend and the moody Brown kid. Everwood was always an honest show so each storyline's deal with honestly. The characters communicate openly and honestly. Irv and Edna, the newlywed couple, decide to enjoy each moment they have together for as long as time allows. Harold makes a grand romantic gesture for the sake of his wife who longs for adventurous romance though he readily admits he prefers their quiet, middle-aged life but he loves his wife and will indulge her on the most romantic day of the year.
I don't actively seek Valentine's Day episodes because many of these episodes follow the same formula. I prefer Halloween episodes. Two shows I watched regularly (Buffy and Everwood) brought interesting storytelling so I wanted to take some time to celebrate both episodes.
-As a new viewer of Parks and Recreation, jumping into the third season has been interesting. Last night's episode, "Ron & Tammy--Part 2" was the best episode I've seen of the show thus far (I've seen four). Without any knowledge about Part 1, I had no idea what to expect from an episode with "Part 2" in the title; however, I had high hopes because Megan Mulally was great in Party Down and Ron Swanson's usually comedy gold. It was a brilliantly insane episode. I love insane comedy pieces. I like to make insane comedy shorts with my friends and we've made some insane comedies so "Ron & Tammy--Part 2" was in my wheelhouse. If only the show abandoned the documentary style because I don't understand its connection to the show. Why is a camera crew following the employees of Pawnee Parks and Recs? Why are the employers openly critical of their bosses? Sometimes, the device feels like a lazy way to sell jokes. The documentary style frustrates me so much on The Office that I quit watching the show two years ago. I avoid repeats of the show as well because of the documentary style. I'm not afraid to jump off the Parks & Recs bandwagon; however, I would return once every year if Ron & Tammy episodes became a once-a-year episode.
Also, Tucker Gates (in the top ten of Best TV Directors currently) directed the episode. Brilliant work from both Gates and the episode's writer.
-I didn't write a paragraph about the theme of lying in last night's awfully-titled episode "Crying Wolf" (the episode itself is decent). It was such a slam-dunk paragraph so I decided to write about the theme of fear because it seemed like the most important part of the episode but the writers believed in the theme of deceit and lies so much that "Crying Wolf" is the title. Lying has no consequences in the episode. Stefan gets mad at Elena for failing to tell him the truth about Elijah's deal. Jenna and Alaric will engage in some dramatic nonsense because of his lies to cover up his activities with the supernatural inhabitants of Mystic Falls. Caroline lies to Matt to protect him but it's nothing more than melodramatic teenage relationship stuff. If the episode couldn't convey its most important theme of the night strongly, maybe "Crying Wolf" is a failure.
--On Fridays, beginning next week, my Man Vs. Wild recaps/reviews return to The Foot. I had great fun writing about each episode during the summer. The fifth season was one of the show's strongest. I'll never forget Bear fighting a crocodile for a shark or Bear swimming with sharks as traveled to another island. He was insane last season. I have no idea what's in store for season six but it should be good.
-For the hell of it, here are my EPL (English Premier League) picks for this weekend's games--Manchester United over Man City (1-0); Draw between Aston Villa and Blackpool (2-2); West Brom over West Ham (3-2); Arsenal over Wolves (2-0); Newcastle over Blackburn (3-1); Liverpool over Wigan Athletic (1-0); Draw between Birmingham and Stoke (1-1); Tottenham over Sunderland (1-0); Draw between Everton and Bolton (0-0); Draw Between Fulham and Chelsea (0-0)
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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