#SevenDays TV ep #3.20 "Sugar Mountain" (15-May-01).
I hated this ep in its entirety. Now we have pyrokinesis dumped into the show.
So many plot holes in this that I drifted off.
Pretty terrible end too. God I need this series to end already.
2001 Stefanie von Pfetten was a least a joy to behold.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.19 "The Brink" (08-May-01).
Another horrible depiction of mental health on screen. You cannot show concerned about Parker's mental health and then write and design that ridiculous mental hospital. Both are totally conflicting.
I liked Ramsey's scientist disguise. So silly.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.18 "The Final Countdown" (04-Apr-01).
This show is at its best when it's not witches, psychics, body swaps, astronaut sex, mirror universes as they're all old ideas from other fiction. So such eps as this, ie real world military escalation and Armageddon prevention, are my faves.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.17 "Kansas" (28-Mar-01).
Oh dear a basic Mirror Universe ep, ie the usual fascist fluff. More #RedDwarf than TOS #StarTrek here.
The one thing I liked is that Svetlana was back instead of Olga in the Mirror Universe?
Sure Parker should've set our Hooter up with Sarah at the end?
#SevenDays TV 3.16 cont'd.
Dr Mentnor gets to do a few bits buut again it's just another secret project from his past regurgitated.
Yet the massive fail this ep wasn't the far too small nuke but that the atomic bomb key exists twice in the past. The show has already estabhlished that can't happen.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.16 "Empty Quiver" (21-Mar-01).
Highlight was a young Jewel Staite playing a psychic teen.
That LaPaglia isn't in Staite's league as an actor is clear.
The writers now just throw in psychic powers into their world. Like laser satellites in previous esp it makes the world silly.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.15 "Crystal Blue Persuasion" (28-Feb-01).
Horrible ep. Less #Quatermass more quite a mess.
Why can't US scifi made better TV than BBC's "The Quatermass Experiment" from 1953?
Worse here because they do a sex version.
(Looking at you too Chibnall wrt #Torchwood "Day One" trash).
#SevenDays TV 3.14 cont'd.
Sackheim a& Norton return and they are well played as real world characters who are less "large" than our regular crew.
However the big fail in this ep was the devil implication.
When any Yank sci-fi show turns into Judeo-Christian mush it is time to close up the shop.
#SevenDays TV 3.14 cont'd.
The scene with Frank assassinating the Muslim leader was great as the show went silent for a full minute for once and focused on Frank. And thankfully Frank couldn't do it. LaPaglia is never going to win an Emmy (surely?) but at least he did well in that crucial scene.
#SevenDays TV 3.14 cont'd.
An ep like this resonate today as it is a time stamp of where US thinking was wrt to the Middle East. Saying that I'm so glad this essentially lightweight series will get canned 4 months before 9/11 as this show could not function as it is after 9/11.
#SevenDays TV 3.14 cont'd.
Parkers' son and ex are different actors disappointingly but is ok as they're barely in it.
The writers STILL haven't realised that they can have everyone we care about murdered in the pre-BackStep timeline. So they should've had Olga sacrifice herself to buy Parker time.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.14 "Revelation" (21-Feb-01).
Clearly this show's biggest ep yet so lots to say.
Getting Robert Picardo in was a big statement. It's obvious he was to be the villain but he elevates the show hugely with his acting.
Thankfully we see the BackStep committee again after a long gap.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.13 "The First Freshman" (14-Feb-01).
Why is the BackStep being used for one death? We haven't seen the BackStep committee since the end of S2 so the show totally TACO-ed out.
I'm nearly done with this show now as Parker is its least interesting character yet gets every A-plot.
#SevenDays TV 3.12 cont'd.
The finale was cheapo effort which lost some of that Lara Croft vibe of the rest of the ep. Even the docks scene earlier with the speedboat had a bit of Venice from "Tomb Raider 2" to it.
But the rooftop scenes, the museum and the heist recreated Tomb Raider very well.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.12 "Raven" (07-Feb-01).
It's 2001 so a #TombRaider ep with Bobbie Phillips as the Lara Croft-like titular Raven. Even her training area was similar to Lara's .
I'm so bored with LaPaglia. He hasn't the range to be the lead yet, eg try compare him to say Adrian Paul in #Tracker.
#SevenDays Ep 3.11 cont'd.
This series is never going to present any form in intelligent ideas around mental health or treatment of mental health. But at least this ep reeled itself in and made some steps to look at the subject matter in a informed manner. Mostly.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.11 "Head Case" (31-Jan-01).
Uh-oh a US President ep. Thankfully it doesn't descend into flag waving Yank porn but is a pretty strong ep. Inevitable central American clichés excepted.
The actor playing the president has been there since ep #1.01 before Bush was even President.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.10 "Adam & Eve & Adam" (10-Jan-01).
Good premise.
If say Parker was dying after Hooter shot him he could heal in the BackStep. Clearly they've jettison that idea from lore.
Unlike others Hooter gets a character ep early in his run but shouldn't Frank request Hooter be assessed?
#SevenDays TV 3.09 cont'd.
While S2 flirted with yet never delivered on most supporting characters development my final recommendation of this show will depend on what happens with that development of the supporting characters in S3 and whether there is any arc in S3.
I have big doubts.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.09 "Top Dog" (03-Jan-01).
It's amazing how little arc there is in this show as like it's the year 2001 already. This might as well be a 1970s show as all the eps could be watched in any order.
Decent ep this but boy I'm tired by now of Frank P. Parker being a yappy dumb prick.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.08 "Tracker" (20-Dec-00).
Christ not Chechnya again. Revenge from the TV pilot.
Jonathan Paglia does his racist nicknaming again. You are the lead Paglia you could put your foot down. "Boris" isn't even a Chechen name.
I liked the tracker activating in the past but little else.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.07 "The Fire Last Time" (22-Nov-00).
Guest stars Gary Graham ( #AlienNation). He gets to do some material at least as Eric Pierpoint did nothing in that anonymous ep #3.04.
Parker's mental health is "explored" but it's so far fetched as Parker would be retired were he that bad.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.06 "Deloris Demands" (15-Nov-00).
Good ep till the reveal.
Mentnor only exists to mention old secrets it seems. Poor Norman Lloyd.
They reveal Dean Loris is Deloris. Yet neither Mentnor nor Talmadge copped on at all.
We never heard of Loris before anyway so it's an anticlimax.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.05 "Olga's Excellent Vacation" (08-Nov-00).
Strong guest cast here after ep #3.04 's no show.
Francoise Yip I know from #TheOrder and other Canadian sci-fi like #EarthFinalConflict.
Does Hiro Kanagawa really pass for Korean?
The Olga/Frank ship is based on Maddie/David surely?
#SevenDays TV ep #3.04 "The Dunwych Madness" (01-Nov-00).
A decent Lovecraftian horror premise but needed stronger acting by a really anonymous guest cast. Also the director needed to ramp up the horror.
Kevin Christy joins as a regular as Sam Whipple is gone. Surprisingly Norman Lloyd is back.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.03 "Rhino" (25-Oct-00).
Very strong as the tone, pacing and BackStep changes were top level. Note sure why IMDB gives this a low rating as it's pitched exactly where this series is sweet.
Bob Koherr surely must return soon - great job.
The assassin's Irish accent was awful.
#SevenDays TV 3.02 cont'd.
I was sure Don Franklin was going to leave this ep or be killed off as in the first 2 seasons he had done so little. Maybe S3 will be Donovan's season if Franklin has been kept on for a reason.
Keep your mits off our Aer Lingus air hostesses Parker ya grub.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.02 "Peacekeepers" (18-Oct-00).
If ep #3.01 was pure sci-fi fluff this was back to a vanilla warfare ep. Saying that this ep is vastly better TV.
I liked that the reason for the BaskStep was based on incorrect information.
The battle scenes were strongly realised too.
#SevenDays TV 3.01 cont'd.
Opening credits now have a Parker voiceover with character rank & names nastily superimposed. Maybe the files I have are dumbed down syndication ones?
Lloyd is gone, no explanation and Whipple a guest.
The two MIBs (Charley Lang / Jerome Butler) alas have been replaced.
#SevenDays TV ep #3.01 "Stairway to Heaven" (11-Oct-00).
S3 begins and it's clear the execs have shat down their input over the creatives. What lies ahead?
Yes this ep tries to stretch the storytelling scope of the show but it's just more mystic mush masquerading as sci-fi.
Reminded me of #The4400
