JW, you rock even when it isn't officially "River Monsters":
http://themetapicture.com/oh-i-recognize-that-fish/
Friday, 28 June 2013
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
RM - Face Ripper
In the last episode of S5, JW revisits his old haunt of South America (SA in the future) to discover that the piranhas, whom he dismissed as relatively harmless scavengers and small-scale carnivores in the very first episode of the enture series of River Monsters have turned dangerous, and are attacking and killed both humans and their livestock (i.e. horses).
Why? Because of the arapaimas, another S1 character. Those fish tower over the piranhas (and most other SA fish, I wager) and eat not only the piranhas proper, but also their food - other fish. As a result, the local piranhas have become 'meaner and leaner' than ever before and are going after much larger prey with devastating results...
What can be said about this revelation? In the same S1 episode JW had personally discovered that while piranhas can ignore people as food items most of the time, they still are quite capable of killing and eating people if the conditions are right without any arapaimas being involved. Yes, piranhas are just predators and nature's clean-up crew members, but like any predators - from sharks to alligators to bears and lions - they can turn onto humans and their livestock, kill and eat them. The only thing different is that individually piranhas are small enough to be harmless to humans, that's all.
And speaking of humans... Human-created places such as slaughterhouses, cemeteries, battlefields, etc that dump their waste into fresh water or are regularly flooded by it are also places were the piranhas are especially hungry for the warm-blooded flesh (fish themselves are cold-blooded, remember?) Here we see no such place, but JW himself mentioned the local organized drug trafficking and the frequent disposal of human corpses in the rivers. Such action just fuels the piranhas familiarity with human flesh and its taste and makes them ever more dangerous for people.
Why didn't JW follow this course and instead stuck with the arapaima angle? Hello! He is a specialist in river monsters (fish, occasional giant salamander and caiman), not human monsters, who are much more dangerous and monstrous. The good doctor from the episode said that Oscar (the deceased human of this episode) was killed by piranhas without any evidence of foul play? Fair enough, it's back to the fish!
And I can't begrudge JW anything. If Oscar was killed by foul play, then it's up to the police to sort it out, not JW.
As for the episode itself, it was quite decent, save for slight overabundance of flashbacks from the previous seasons. Ah well, it was still quite educational, as fas as RM episodes go.
So - a decent episode with some new information (I, for one, didn't know that the arapaimas were introduced to Bolivia, for example) and without any particular drawbacks. I give it 4.5 stars out of five.
Why? Because of the arapaimas, another S1 character. Those fish tower over the piranhas (and most other SA fish, I wager) and eat not only the piranhas proper, but also their food - other fish. As a result, the local piranhas have become 'meaner and leaner' than ever before and are going after much larger prey with devastating results...
What can be said about this revelation? In the same S1 episode JW had personally discovered that while piranhas can ignore people as food items most of the time, they still are quite capable of killing and eating people if the conditions are right without any arapaimas being involved. Yes, piranhas are just predators and nature's clean-up crew members, but like any predators - from sharks to alligators to bears and lions - they can turn onto humans and their livestock, kill and eat them. The only thing different is that individually piranhas are small enough to be harmless to humans, that's all.
And speaking of humans... Human-created places such as slaughterhouses, cemeteries, battlefields, etc that dump their waste into fresh water or are regularly flooded by it are also places were the piranhas are especially hungry for the warm-blooded flesh (fish themselves are cold-blooded, remember?) Here we see no such place, but JW himself mentioned the local organized drug trafficking and the frequent disposal of human corpses in the rivers. Such action just fuels the piranhas familiarity with human flesh and its taste and makes them ever more dangerous for people.
Why didn't JW follow this course and instead stuck with the arapaima angle? Hello! He is a specialist in river monsters (fish, occasional giant salamander and caiman), not human monsters, who are much more dangerous and monstrous. The good doctor from the episode said that Oscar (the deceased human of this episode) was killed by piranhas without any evidence of foul play? Fair enough, it's back to the fish!
And I can't begrudge JW anything. If Oscar was killed by foul play, then it's up to the police to sort it out, not JW.
As for the episode itself, it was quite decent, save for slight overabundance of flashbacks from the previous seasons. Ah well, it was still quite educational, as fas as RM episodes go.
So - a decent episode with some new information (I, for one, didn't know that the arapaimas were introduced to Bolivia, for example) and without any particular drawbacks. I give it 4.5 stars out of five.
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
RM - Legend of Loch Ness
When I learned that JW was going to be investigating the legend of the Loch Ness Monster as the (apparent) RM S5 finale, I was worried. Another of my favorite shows, "Deadliest Warrior", finished its third season on a seemingly similar note - "Vampires vs. Zombies" and it was a failure of the DW's genre. But...
Whereas DW treated Vampires and Zombies as vampires and zombies (albeit very peculiar ones), JW's take on Nessie was a very different story. Firstly, he assumed that Nessie isn't a marine reptile (like a plesiosaur) or a mammal (a sea, dolphin, etc), but a fish. By itself that is nothing new, there are enough cryptozoologists who believe that Nessie, the other lake monsters (like the ones in the US) and their cousins the sea serpents are giant fish (usually eels). But... JW went one step further, and I'm not sure that it was in the right direction.
What is a trademark of a RM episode, beyond the actual catching of the fish? The geography. As a rule, in an episode, JW designates a particular fishing area to himself in which to catch the monster. The area may be small (Chernobyl in "Atomic Assassin"), it may be large (Mongolia in "Mongolian Mauler from the previous season comes to mind), but it is fixed. Here the particular fishing area was supposed to be Loch Ness, but JW went beyond it - to Iceland and Norway. Why? Supposedly because of the Viking connection, and here the problems begin.
There is no particular indication that the Vikings ever been to Loch Ness, and the St. Columba story that JW uses as a springing board for the Vikings has its own problems - in most version I came across the good saint saved the man from the pagan Nessie unharmed. I cannot feel but wonder if JW has bent the truth a bit here to make his actions to move from Loch Ness to Iceland and Norway more justified.
Why would JW need justification? Because his show is called River Monsters, no Sea. Unlike the bull shark, the Greenland shark doesn't appear to be particularly adapted to surviving in fresh water for a particularly long amount of time, and Loch Ness is a freshwater loch, not even brackish. This certainly makes the Greenland shark a highly unlikely candidate for Nessie.
On its own, of course, JW catching a Greenland shark had been a very exciting part of the episode, but RM has made itself into a more than just a fishing show - there is also plenty of research involved, and that research is usually honest and straightforward. In this episode JW's research (and logic) were stretched, and he himself abandoned his freshwater field of operation. This is why I give the "Legend of Loch Ness" episode only 3.5 stars out of five. Pity.
Whereas DW treated Vampires and Zombies as vampires and zombies (albeit very peculiar ones), JW's take on Nessie was a very different story. Firstly, he assumed that Nessie isn't a marine reptile (like a plesiosaur) or a mammal (a sea, dolphin, etc), but a fish. By itself that is nothing new, there are enough cryptozoologists who believe that Nessie, the other lake monsters (like the ones in the US) and their cousins the sea serpents are giant fish (usually eels). But... JW went one step further, and I'm not sure that it was in the right direction.
What is a trademark of a RM episode, beyond the actual catching of the fish? The geography. As a rule, in an episode, JW designates a particular fishing area to himself in which to catch the monster. The area may be small (Chernobyl in "Atomic Assassin"), it may be large (Mongolia in "Mongolian Mauler from the previous season comes to mind), but it is fixed. Here the particular fishing area was supposed to be Loch Ness, but JW went beyond it - to Iceland and Norway. Why? Supposedly because of the Viking connection, and here the problems begin.
There is no particular indication that the Vikings ever been to Loch Ness, and the St. Columba story that JW uses as a springing board for the Vikings has its own problems - in most version I came across the good saint saved the man from the pagan Nessie unharmed. I cannot feel but wonder if JW has bent the truth a bit here to make his actions to move from Loch Ness to Iceland and Norway more justified.
Why would JW need justification? Because his show is called River Monsters, no Sea. Unlike the bull shark, the Greenland shark doesn't appear to be particularly adapted to surviving in fresh water for a particularly long amount of time, and Loch Ness is a freshwater loch, not even brackish. This certainly makes the Greenland shark a highly unlikely candidate for Nessie.
On its own, of course, JW catching a Greenland shark had been a very exciting part of the episode, but RM has made itself into a more than just a fishing show - there is also plenty of research involved, and that research is usually honest and straightforward. In this episode JW's research (and logic) were stretched, and he himself abandoned his freshwater field of operation. This is why I give the "Legend of Loch Ness" episode only 3.5 stars out of five. Pity.
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
RM - Vampires of the Deep
In this week's episode JW chose to investigate the so-called "vampires of the deep" - the little known and enigmatic lampreys.
What does a lay person know about the lamprey? Probably little to nothing. The lamprey (and its cousin the hagfish) are the only jawless fish in the world; technically they belong to the vertebrate group, but in reality they have no bones, and have survived almost unchanged since the dawn of time. Impossible Pictures' mini-series "Walking with Monsters" (2005) feature two kinds of jawless fish: unarmored (Haikouichthys) and armored (Cephalaspis). Neither had any mouths and fed by sucking in various edible debris from the sea floor. The lamprey larvae feed in the same manner; the lamprey adults are active predators instead. Personally, I doubt that JW attaching an adult sea lamprey to his neck was a good idea, but that's why JW is the man, on the other hand...
The lamprey's natural history aside, was "VotD" an exciting episode? Yes. For one thing, there were plenty of fish species and fish catching featured in this episode. True, there were flashbacks to episodes past, but at a tolerable level still - no "Colombian slasher" this episode, no sir! JW's attempts at making suspense, on the other hand, were annoying, and at a level with "Atomic Assassin": pointless, for anyone with some logic and knowledge of the natural world would figure out the attacker's lamprey identity early in the episode.
But there was another tie to "Atomic Assassin" and similar episodes (such as "Russian Killer" from S4) - the ecological one, the impact of humans on nature. On one hand we have an infestation of sea lampreys in lake Champlain caused by human meddling, and on the other - there's the rapidly falling number of Pacific lampreys caused by the same meddling. This human factors transforms "VotD" from a very good into a really great one - it is particularly interesting to observe JW aid the Native Americans assisting the Pacific lamprey in utilizing the so-called 'lamprey ladder' to get to their spawning ground...
Thus, it is safe to say that in the end "Vampires of the Deep" was a very good episode, if not downright great: the only flaws was the pointless 'guessing game' of JW in the first third of the episode, and the unresolved question as to why the greater redhorse (the catfish caught in this episode) actually went after live prey (a fishing lure actually), showing behavior atypical to this species. Ah well, not even JW had time to solve and uncover everything in a single episode... Maybe next time. Lol.
What does a lay person know about the lamprey? Probably little to nothing. The lamprey (and its cousin the hagfish) are the only jawless fish in the world; technically they belong to the vertebrate group, but in reality they have no bones, and have survived almost unchanged since the dawn of time. Impossible Pictures' mini-series "Walking with Monsters" (2005) feature two kinds of jawless fish: unarmored (Haikouichthys) and armored (Cephalaspis). Neither had any mouths and fed by sucking in various edible debris from the sea floor. The lamprey larvae feed in the same manner; the lamprey adults are active predators instead. Personally, I doubt that JW attaching an adult sea lamprey to his neck was a good idea, but that's why JW is the man, on the other hand...
The lamprey's natural history aside, was "VotD" an exciting episode? Yes. For one thing, there were plenty of fish species and fish catching featured in this episode. True, there were flashbacks to episodes past, but at a tolerable level still - no "Colombian slasher" this episode, no sir! JW's attempts at making suspense, on the other hand, were annoying, and at a level with "Atomic Assassin": pointless, for anyone with some logic and knowledge of the natural world would figure out the attacker's lamprey identity early in the episode.
But there was another tie to "Atomic Assassin" and similar episodes (such as "Russian Killer" from S4) - the ecological one, the impact of humans on nature. On one hand we have an infestation of sea lampreys in lake Champlain caused by human meddling, and on the other - there's the rapidly falling number of Pacific lampreys caused by the same meddling. This human factors transforms "VotD" from a very good into a really great one - it is particularly interesting to observe JW aid the Native Americans assisting the Pacific lamprey in utilizing the so-called 'lamprey ladder' to get to their spawning ground...
Thus, it is safe to say that in the end "Vampires of the Deep" was a very good episode, if not downright great: the only flaws was the pointless 'guessing game' of JW in the first third of the episode, and the unresolved question as to why the greater redhorse (the catfish caught in this episode) actually went after live prey (a fishing lure actually), showing behavior atypical to this species. Ah well, not even JW had time to solve and uncover everything in a single episode... Maybe next time. Lol.
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
RM - Killer Torpedo
Once again, JW has returned to Central (& South) America. This time, though, he wasn't chasing a catfish or a piranha, this time he was chasing something else.
Let's be honest here. "Killer Torpedo" was a typical RM episode: it focused on JW and his fishing - this made it different from, say, "Atomic Assassin", where JW talked more about Chernobyl and its effect on the wild life than about fish. No conflict of interest here, it is fish ahoy all the way.
But there are similarities to "Atomic Assassin" as well - namely the decrease of the folk/folklore element in the ep. In previous seasons, JW often approached local holy men or shamans or similar people for spiritual guidance in order to catch this fish, and he usually talked about the local fish- or water-related legends as well. Here, in "Killer Torpedo", this didn't happen - almost.
Yes, JW mentioned that the locals talked about some sort of a local 'mermaid' that may drag anglers to their doom, but it was very brief, and he practically didn't develop this angle at all. Moreover, instead of a shaman, he talked to a local professional angler (White Boy) and received advice that was much more practical than spiritual. This indicates a clear break from the previous seasons and shows that the S5 of RM will definitely be different from the previous ones. Not better or worse, but different.
The other difference in "Killer Torpedo" is the use of flashbacks...or not. It is the "Columbian Slasher" episode that had an overwhelming amount of flashbacks; this one - not so much. What it had an overwhelming amount of were...the black vultures, birds similar to the turkey vulture, but more drab in color. WTF? Basically every 10-15 minutes the episode produced one or more black vultures doing something that was completely irrelevant to the show. Were they supposed to serve as ethnic color for the episode? I honestly don't know.
But black vultures aside, "Killer Torpedo" was still an impressive episode, centered on JW's struggle with the fish - the Atlantic tarpon in this case. It was a straightforward struggle of man vs. giant fish and JW delivered by catching his fish. Too simple? Perhaps, but RM is a fishing show and catching fish is what it is about. By catching his fish (the tarpon in this case) JW has fulfilled the premise of this episode, as he usually done. My respect goes out to him as usual too.
So: a straightforward fish-catching episode that nevertheless indicates a break with the tradition established in the previous seasons. I give it four out of five stars.
Let's be honest here. "Killer Torpedo" was a typical RM episode: it focused on JW and his fishing - this made it different from, say, "Atomic Assassin", where JW talked more about Chernobyl and its effect on the wild life than about fish. No conflict of interest here, it is fish ahoy all the way.
But there are similarities to "Atomic Assassin" as well - namely the decrease of the folk/folklore element in the ep. In previous seasons, JW often approached local holy men or shamans or similar people for spiritual guidance in order to catch this fish, and he usually talked about the local fish- or water-related legends as well. Here, in "Killer Torpedo", this didn't happen - almost.
Yes, JW mentioned that the locals talked about some sort of a local 'mermaid' that may drag anglers to their doom, but it was very brief, and he practically didn't develop this angle at all. Moreover, instead of a shaman, he talked to a local professional angler (White Boy) and received advice that was much more practical than spiritual. This indicates a clear break from the previous seasons and shows that the S5 of RM will definitely be different from the previous ones. Not better or worse, but different.
The other difference in "Killer Torpedo" is the use of flashbacks...or not. It is the "Columbian Slasher" episode that had an overwhelming amount of flashbacks; this one - not so much. What it had an overwhelming amount of were...the black vultures, birds similar to the turkey vulture, but more drab in color. WTF? Basically every 10-15 minutes the episode produced one or more black vultures doing something that was completely irrelevant to the show. Were they supposed to serve as ethnic color for the episode? I honestly don't know.
But black vultures aside, "Killer Torpedo" was still an impressive episode, centered on JW's struggle with the fish - the Atlantic tarpon in this case. It was a straightforward struggle of man vs. giant fish and JW delivered by catching his fish. Too simple? Perhaps, but RM is a fishing show and catching fish is what it is about. By catching his fish (the tarpon in this case) JW has fulfilled the premise of this episode, as he usually done. My respect goes out to him as usual too.
So: a straightforward fish-catching episode that nevertheless indicates a break with the tradition established in the previous seasons. I give it four out of five stars.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
RM - Atomic Assassin
This week River Monsters presented "Atomic Assassin", where JW went to Chernobyl to catch a giant mutant fish known as {som}, only to discover that it was his old friend the wels catfish... but it isn't that simple.
For a start, I believe that RM and JW had to do some re-writing of the episode's script: the first 5-10 minutes or so appeared to follow JW's usual monster-hunting schitck that included going into the local folklore (this time, the Ukrainian/Slavic folklore) to find more info about the monster and to get some sort of a spiritual (real or not) guidance to catch it. Not this time, though - this time the folklore angle had been completely abandoned. Why? Because of Chernobyl.
I do not want to discuss as to whether or not Chernobyl was the worst nuclear disaster ever - the States had their own problems with Long Island, and Japan's disaster in the 21st century was at least as bad Chernobyl. Period. That said, the report that JW - intentionally or not - has presented via AA was very impressive, many media sources, both Russian/Ukrainian and Western seem to believe that the life in the locale of Chernobyl explosion is recovering from the blast - JW showed that that wasn't the case both with fish and with a bird (I believe that it was a so-called marsh tit). I, for one, certainly didn't know that wildlife was struggling so badly in the locale of the explosion, you know?..
On the other hand, I have to confess that the fish caught by JW, starting with the pike and perch and ending with the catfish looked certainly hale and hearty enough, if I were to come across them in a fish stall or somewhere else, I certainly wouldn't recognize them as radioactive mutants. On one hand this shows the danger of radiation poisoning: you may not know that you ate contaminated food. On the other, this shows the tenacity of life: the fish may not be flourishing as it may appear at a first glance, but they still survive, they still endure..as do the birds, the plants and other creatures in the locale, as shown by the RM.
Also, on a less serious note, this episode has practically shown all of the large carnivorous fish of Europe, short of the turbot. But the turbot is basically a fresh-water cod and Ukraine is too warm for it. Period. Speaking of fish...
The other main difference between this episode and previous ones, such as "Asian Slayer", when JW went to Asia to catch the Golden Mahseer (another giant catfish) is that JW actually delivered in this episode, he caught his fish. Don't forget - RM is first and foremost a fishing show, and so some fishing, and preferably successful fishing must be seen. When that doesn't happen, the episode is usually a flop, when it does, the episode's a success.
(Another thing that made this episode a success is a small number of flashbacks, unlike the "Colombian Ripper" episode, for example - these flashbacks are only counterproductive and annoying).
The only negative aspect of this episode was the 'som' shtick - it could be spun only so many times before the viewers, even those who didn't know any Russian/Ukrainian at all, realized that it was a wels catfish that JW's interlocutors were talking about, you know? JW didn't need to spend that much time playing his audience. That aside, though, this episode was very enjoyable, for me at least.
So: many interesting facts, both about fish and other topics, a successful fishing excursion and overall a dramatic and exciting ep. I give 4.5 out of 5 stars at least.
For a start, I believe that RM and JW had to do some re-writing of the episode's script: the first 5-10 minutes or so appeared to follow JW's usual monster-hunting schitck that included going into the local folklore (this time, the Ukrainian/Slavic folklore) to find more info about the monster and to get some sort of a spiritual (real or not) guidance to catch it. Not this time, though - this time the folklore angle had been completely abandoned. Why? Because of Chernobyl.
I do not want to discuss as to whether or not Chernobyl was the worst nuclear disaster ever - the States had their own problems with Long Island, and Japan's disaster in the 21st century was at least as bad Chernobyl. Period. That said, the report that JW - intentionally or not - has presented via AA was very impressive, many media sources, both Russian/Ukrainian and Western seem to believe that the life in the locale of Chernobyl explosion is recovering from the blast - JW showed that that wasn't the case both with fish and with a bird (I believe that it was a so-called marsh tit). I, for one, certainly didn't know that wildlife was struggling so badly in the locale of the explosion, you know?..
On the other hand, I have to confess that the fish caught by JW, starting with the pike and perch and ending with the catfish looked certainly hale and hearty enough, if I were to come across them in a fish stall or somewhere else, I certainly wouldn't recognize them as radioactive mutants. On one hand this shows the danger of radiation poisoning: you may not know that you ate contaminated food. On the other, this shows the tenacity of life: the fish may not be flourishing as it may appear at a first glance, but they still survive, they still endure..as do the birds, the plants and other creatures in the locale, as shown by the RM.
Also, on a less serious note, this episode has practically shown all of the large carnivorous fish of Europe, short of the turbot. But the turbot is basically a fresh-water cod and Ukraine is too warm for it. Period. Speaking of fish...
The other main difference between this episode and previous ones, such as "Asian Slayer", when JW went to Asia to catch the Golden Mahseer (another giant catfish) is that JW actually delivered in this episode, he caught his fish. Don't forget - RM is first and foremost a fishing show, and so some fishing, and preferably successful fishing must be seen. When that doesn't happen, the episode is usually a flop, when it does, the episode's a success.
(Another thing that made this episode a success is a small number of flashbacks, unlike the "Colombian Ripper" episode, for example - these flashbacks are only counterproductive and annoying).
The only negative aspect of this episode was the 'som' shtick - it could be spun only so many times before the viewers, even those who didn't know any Russian/Ukrainian at all, realized that it was a wels catfish that JW's interlocutors were talking about, you know? JW didn't need to spend that much time playing his audience. That aside, though, this episode was very enjoyable, for me at least.
So: many interesting facts, both about fish and other topics, a successful fishing excursion and overall a dramatic and exciting ep. I give 4.5 out of 5 stars at least.
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
RM - Colombian Slasher
And so, RM returned for the 5th season, bringing JW along with it. Yay! (Mind you, it was already around in the States, so here I'm talking only about Canada.) That said, well...
Canada decided to open RM with the episode "Colombian Slasher", as JW tried to solve the mystery of what's behind the drowning of a bride, and while this episode wasn't specifically bad, it was rather lukewarm; it almost had a tired feel behind it, as if JW just couldn't muster excitement behind it. Yes, he wasn't in Columbia before, but the various flashbacks of the other SA fish from the previous seasons took most of the excitement out of the new locale, and there wasn't any particular 'ethnic flavor' behind this episode either. Rather, I was reminded (by the show itself) of such episodes as "Piranha" (about the piranha) and "Amazon Flesheaters" (about various catfish species of the Amazon). Why?
The problem that lies behind that question is that there was no real need to show flashbacks - the viewers either knew already what JW was talking about and didn't need to see the flashbacks, or they didn't, in which case the flashbacks didn't show anything important either; in both cases they were more annoying than helpful.
As for the fish themselves... yes, the various stingrays were cool, but seeing how JW 'reminded' everyone of his previous run-ins with this family ("Silent Assassin" for example) - it took the wind out of everyone's sales, JW's included: he just didn't appear to have any real excitement behind his capture of this episode's Big Fish, but some really good acting. That is a close second, but just isn't the same...
Of course, the problem might be mine, not the episode's - I only saw it in bits and pieces, but what I saw... as I said before, the spark was missing, the 'ethnic flavor' was greatly reduced, and JW appeared to be mostly play-acting for the camera, not the 'real deal' as before. Oh well, maybe he is just having a rocky start and will improve as time goes by. We'll see.
Canada decided to open RM with the episode "Colombian Slasher", as JW tried to solve the mystery of what's behind the drowning of a bride, and while this episode wasn't specifically bad, it was rather lukewarm; it almost had a tired feel behind it, as if JW just couldn't muster excitement behind it. Yes, he wasn't in Columbia before, but the various flashbacks of the other SA fish from the previous seasons took most of the excitement out of the new locale, and there wasn't any particular 'ethnic flavor' behind this episode either. Rather, I was reminded (by the show itself) of such episodes as "Piranha" (about the piranha) and "Amazon Flesheaters" (about various catfish species of the Amazon). Why?
The problem that lies behind that question is that there was no real need to show flashbacks - the viewers either knew already what JW was talking about and didn't need to see the flashbacks, or they didn't, in which case the flashbacks didn't show anything important either; in both cases they were more annoying than helpful.
As for the fish themselves... yes, the various stingrays were cool, but seeing how JW 'reminded' everyone of his previous run-ins with this family ("Silent Assassin" for example) - it took the wind out of everyone's sales, JW's included: he just didn't appear to have any real excitement behind his capture of this episode's Big Fish, but some really good acting. That is a close second, but just isn't the same...
Of course, the problem might be mine, not the episode's - I only saw it in bits and pieces, but what I saw... as I said before, the spark was missing, the 'ethnic flavor' was greatly reduced, and JW appeared to be mostly play-acting for the camera, not the 'real deal' as before. Oh well, maybe he is just having a rocky start and will improve as time goes by. We'll see.
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