Spartacus

Well, I gave up on Ashes to Ashes this week – I just couldn’t bring myself to watch the third episode after the first two. I’ll probably tune in for the finale, just to find out how it ends, though. Still haven’t managed to watch Treme yet, which is a bit disgraceful, but where am I going to find the time?

• Alexandria: Bettany Hughes’ latest documentary and the first in the Ancient Worlds series – finally caught up with using 4oD. Only an hour, and it felt more like an advert for the movie Agora at times – which worked, since I’ll probably go and see it now. Could have done with a whole lot more on the library of Alexandria, to be honest.
• Cougar Town: Not desperately funny, but had its moments. Not many though.
• The Daily Show: As funny as always, but feeling more superficial of late than it used to.
• Heston’s Feasts…: Caught up with a couple of old eps of this. Always interesting to see Heston in action, but while his food knowledge is second to none, Lovely Wife tells me his knowledge of medieval and Tudor history leaves a lot to be desired. And did he really need to go to New York to learn about frog-cooking?
• House: Ah, the good old “we wish we had history” American Renaissance Fair rears its head. The medical story wasn’t that great, but the return of Wilson’s first wife (Lost‘s Cynthia Watros) was the raison d’etre of the episode anyway, and that part worked nicely.
• Lost: For once, the flash-sideways proved more intriguing than island activities and Sun and Jin‘s reunion was rushed to say the least. But what’s Desmond doing in the alternative univese – he’s definitely the most intriguing character right now.
• Parenthood: Caught up with the last two episodes of this, which is shaping up nicely as a drama. Good to see Monica Potter now has someone to talk to, and all the women are starting to talk to each other independently of the men at last. Also good to see Bonnie Bedelia getting something to do. But after a brief flirtation with comedy at the start of the season, it’s started to return to drama and has also imported Friday Night Lights-style handheld camera work, which I don’t think suits the show.
• Rome: Two episodes away from the end now. Definitely not as good as the first season, and the historical fudging is becoming decidedly off-putting (Augustus has just skipped his first two wives and headed straight over to the third).
• Spartacus: Blood and Sand: A good ending to a series that got better and more sophisticated after a very clumsy start. I’m surprised they killed so many of the regulars, but I enjoyed that – it’s the sign that story is leading over network politics, which has to be a good thing. On the not so plus side, Crixus‘s sudden change of heart seemed unlikely.
• Stargate Universe: I slightly spoiled this one for myself by inadvertently reading the writer’s blog before watching it, but it was an interesting look at faith and how people will believe what they want in the absence of evidence and logic – yes, if aliens were powerful enough to build a solar system and lead you there, I’m sure they wouldn’t bother to leave a note telling you they’d done it. I’m not sure it fully mined the story’s potential, and the attempts by both factions to mend fences after last week’s civil war, even if it was over the month-long period of the story, seems a little forced. The relationship between TJ and Colonel Young feels like a bit of ret-con, mind
• Supernatural: I really didn’t like this week’s –if you’re going to introduce other gods into the series, at least try to be a little respectful and treat them, you know, like gods. Still nice to see Lucifer, even if it did mean the death of Gabriel, but the ring MacGuffin at the end was decidedly clumsy, if it’s to be taken at face value.
• 24: Slightly dull compared with last week’s.

But what did you watch?

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