I was shocked this afternoon to read that Andy Hallett just passed away. He had a debilitating heart disease that he apparently found out about while he was still working on Angel.

 Hallett was best known for his part on that show, Lorne, a lounge-singing demon who owned a club and could read an individual’s future, but only if he/she sang for him. He was one of my favorite characters in the show, starting in season 2 and becoming more and more regular on the series as it went along. He provided a lot of comic relief and filled a void Doyle left when he was killed off in the first season, showing us that not all demons were neccessarily bad and giving us a glimpse into the multi-dimensional reality of the Buffy/Angel universe.

Hallett was an amazing singer and dancer, and he brought charisma to the show (actual charisma– Charisma Carpenter was already in the cast before he showed up). He could have easily been an annoyance, but Lorne added a welcome lighter side to a dark show, adding a sense of optimisim to play against Angel’s broodiness. Whedon wrote the part originally with Hallett in mind, and I don’t think anyone else could have done the character justice.

He will certainly be missed. To celebrate his work, here a couple of of his memorable musical numbers from Angel.

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

SPOILER WARNING

Chuck: Episode 1.11– Chuck Vs. The Crown Vic

I’ve already expressed my frustration that the last three episodes have focused too much on Chuck and Sarah’s lack of a relationship, and after last week’s very strong episode with the return of Bryce Larkin, I was really expecting it to finally pay off. But it didn’t. I sat through love triangle after love triangle, hoping this would be the episode where a decision would be made: either she’d move on, go with Bryce (which would mean she’d have to leave the show and I was sure the writers wouldn’t do anything that surprising) or she would choose Chuck. A decision was made, it just wasn’t that one. Sarah stays because it’s her job, but she suddenly starts acting very irritated toward Chuck when he even hints that they may have had any feelings for each other. She isn’t out of character– after all, she’s probably afraid that if she did choose one over the other, he would get killed and she’d find herself where she was when Bryce “died” the first time. Or since she’s in the same line of work Bryce is, she might be afraid she could die and leave Bryce or Chuck in that position. So it’s somewhat interesting for the character, but I still wanted her to make a choice between them. Instead, at the end, she does lighten up a little but the writers pull the “just friends” card. Please. Like that’s going to last. They both have feelings for each other and the writers won’t forget that. Which means sometime later this season (once it starts up again) we’re going to be taken on this roller coaster ride once again.

The comedy, again, is somewhat lost in the middle of Chuck’s jealousy at the “crown vic” who Sarah pretends to hit on in order to discover his sinister plot. Chuck going undercover and accidentally losing $100,000 at a roulette table is pretty hilarious, though, and programming the missile’s GPS coordinates for Casey’s car so it won’t kill them all was the funniest part of the episode. The strongest part of the episode are the small revelations we were given about a couple of characters. We find out that Morgan’s girlfriend Anna has another side to her, the submissive Chinese girl, who she shamefully pretends to be around her parents. And we discover that Casey has a love for cars, when we previously didn’t think he loved anything but maybe guns.

The ending scene is a great hook to bring us back after the holidays– the government is about to have a new intersect so they don’t need Chuck anymore. This is going to bring a whole new element to the show which I think will up the stakes a little. Will the humor suffer too much and where is Casey’s character going to go are the two questions foremost on my mind.

2.5 out of 4 points

Heroes: Episode 2.11– Powerless

This was quite a finale, and now that it’s over, I can say that even with only 11 episodes, it feels like a full season. This “volume’s” conclusion, as opposed to last season’s, felt much less contrived. We get to see almost every character with powers use them in an interesting and exciting way, yet the resolution doesn’t rely too much on powers, as I felt last year’s did. We see a lot of characters making real decisions– Peter deciding he can’t trust Adam, Niki deciding to go into a burning building to rescue Monica even though she knows it’ll probably get her killed (and does), Mohinder deciding to help Silar to save his friends though he knows he’ll regret it later, Bennett going back to the company to protect his family, etc. These hard choices are what make for good television drama, and sometimes the ones in this show don’t make a lot of sense, but I thought there was some real heart in this episode that Heroes sometimes lacks.

We knew going into it that two of the Heroes would die, and I must say, I didn’t call who it would be at all. When Silar shoots Maya, I really thought she was dead, so that was a good fake-out. I certainly hope no more of the characters who were killed are brought back to life, however. Niki and Nathan are both given very good death scenes. Niki’s is wonderfully ironic, since her husband died the same way, and this raises the question of whether these people should really try to be comic book-esque super heroes are not. I’m looking forward to seeing what this does to Micah– now he’s an orphan because both his parents tried to be exactly who he wanted them to, and who he wants to be. Nathan goes out in a blaze of glory, which is wonderful. His character came a very long way and if he had to die, it should have been exactly the way it was here; trying to save the world by telling the truth about his abilities. There’s also a nice bit of irony about his death. Claire is his biological daughter and he died trying to expose the Heroes, which is what she was just about to do before Bennett stopped her. Did Bennett kill Nathan? I’m thinking probably, but it could have been someone else from the Company.

Silar once again survives for next season, a volume called “Villains.” He’s got his powers back and I’m looking forward to seeing him do more than seduce confused super powered women. I also predict we’ll see a return of Adam, who was humorously buried alive by Hiro. Since the next volume is “Villains” I’d kind of like to see the two team up to create most of the conflict for season 3. More super powered bad guys, less Company!

That was the one thing I didn’t really like about this episode. I hoped the Company would be destroyed, but it’s still around. Crippled, without a killer virus, but still around and powerful enough to make Bennett join it again. Adam’s big plot to basically create a second Great Flood, only with a virus, is really compelling. He’s lived so long he thinks he’s God. I want to see more of those sorts of issues dealt with. It’s really time to move on from the tyranny of the Company.

3.5 out of 4 points

One more episode of Journeyman left to review next week, and then nothing for a while. Unfortunately, as I expected, Journeyman did get canceled. At least Chuck is safe. Keep your ears open for the eventual end of the strike and the beginning of new seasons in the new year!

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan