Persons Unknown- It's a Vicious Cycle

Spoiler alert...Below are some thoughts on last night's final two episodes of Persons Unknown, 'And Then There Was One' and 'Shadows in the Cave'. So watch the eps, check the bible for your key, then read what I had to say.

Janet- "How does it work then, Liam?"

Liam- "You kill each other."

Wow! Before I get to the ridiculously good ending to this show, I want to start with both how awesome and actually kind of funny the penultimate episode was. 'And Then There Was One' was definitely my favorite episode of the season. As soon as the body bags show up, and Ulrich explains the program is set for them to kill each other, everyone starts to turn on each other fairly quickly. The rate at which they started to fight, and actually kill each other, was almost caricature-esque. The beauty of it was that they whole thing worked on two levels. At first it was just comical how the whole thing was happening even though it seemed like it never would. Then once we realize (or maybe you're more observant and knew from the beginning) that the whole thing was a hoax, it was nice to see the gang succeed.

But of course they didn't succeed entirely, as the van they escaped in came to a crash and for some reason everyone ended up separated: Janet in the Program-run hospital, McNair being tortured in the "white room," Moira and Erica in Morocco, and Charlie and Blackham on the run in the desert. This last one was the one that made me curious, with the whole Blackham knowing Charlie's wife's name. What was that supposed to mean? Blackham was a part of the Program? I don't get it.

Night Manager- "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to level two."

While not as good as the caper-esque penultimate episode, the finale was great for many other reasons. For one, much like the Lost finale, I was on the edge of my seat wondering how they were going to wrap everything up so quickly. The answer? They really didn't. Let me say this really loud, I absolutely loved this ending!!!

So they all escaped, except for Joe who sacrificed himself for the group, and then they all get captured again by the Program. But since they made it out and Joe made the sacrifice, he has to stay at level one? What is the reasoning? To end the show with Joe right back where he started, was although on a much smaller scale, still very Jack Shephard like. So Joe is back at level one with Mark Cooper and a bunch of strangers and the rest of our crew is on a giant ship in the middle of the ocean for level two!?! Fantastic way to end it. The cycle starts all over, but those we know is moving up in the program.

Obviously there are a bunch of questions, like what is the point of the program? Now that our crew is in level two, are they on board with it? Or will they again try to escape? But leaving everything up in the air like this makes me think much more about what really went on, and I loved it.

The show had its slow spots in the middle but the final three episodes were great and I'm glad I stuck to it. It was definitely worth it in the end. Not award-winning television by any means, but a great summer series that should have gotten more hype than it had.

Summer Poolies Watch- Action

After just finishing up the the 2010 Quiet Pool Television Awards, let's take an early look at the 2011 Poolies. Two months of the season have already gone by and a lot has already happened. Sometimes these summer shows don't get as much recognition because they air so far before the awards are voted on, and sometimes it's because they're just not that good. Either way, let's take a look at what has happened so far in the action award categories.

First up is the Sopranos Award for Best Action Series. Now first up to mention are Breaking Bad and Justified, both of which aired their final two episodes of the season in June, qualifying for the 2011 awards. Both had fantastic endings to their third and first seasons, respectively, and currently sit at the top of the rankings. True Blood is the only other previous nominee to have aired so far this year. The first six eps of this third season haven't been as good as last summer's affair, but still a worthy candidate for sure.

Also on my radar for the Sopranos Award are Persons Unknown and Covert Affairs (right).  Persons is a mystery thriller that has been good but not great. I'm really curious to find out all the answers to why everything is happening, but the process isn't entertaining me right now. Covert Affairs airs its third episode tonight and I'm decently excited. On USA, I didn't have much hope for it, but the cast and the feeling of serialization won me over. Piper Perabo is extremely cute as the lead agent. Add Christopher Gorham from Harper's Island and Peter Gallagher, most known in my parts as Sandy Cohen from The O.C., and you have me on board.

I have viewed four other actions since June 1st...none of which have any shot at earning a nomination. The Good Guys is the best of the bunch, if only because there are a few funny Bradley Whitford moments that I can hear while I'm multitasking. I gave up on ABC's The Gates after a few episodes, dropped TNT's Memphis Beat after two, and would have already been finished with SyFy's Haven if it didn't take place in Maine.

Let's talk about some characters. Let's start with the Frank Pembleton Award for Best Lead Character in an Action Series. The two returning nominees are Raylan Givens and Walter White who finished third and seventh in 2010, respectively. Only two of their eps from last season should count, but next year should be more of the same for both of them. At this point I'm bumping both Jesse Pinkman of Breaking Bad and Eric Northman of True Blood to lead and putting them right in the thick of this thing. Anyone else have a chance? Maybe The Good Guys' Dan Stark for his humor if the category is light due to the lack of Losties. Also on my radar: Joe of Persons Unknown and Jason Stackhouse of True Blood.

So now we get to the newly named Desmond Hume Award for Best Supporting Character in an Action Series. Now that Lost is off the air I wanted it to be more represented in the Poolies, and since Jack and Sawyer split their award the past two seasons, I felt Desmond deserved the honors for dismantling the competition in 2010. Thanks to Jaydon for the tip, and no offense to Rome's Titus Pullo, but he was more of a lead character anyway.

Although we again lose the Lost favorites in this category, 2011 should be as crowded as ever for this award. I could make up a ten man list of worthy nominees just from what has aired since June 1...

• Boyd Crowder- Justified
• Saul Goodman- Breaking Bad
• Andy Bellefleur- True Blood
• Gus Fring- Breaking Bad
• Bo Crowder- Justified
• Auggie Anderson- Covert Affairs
• Hank Schrader- Breaking Bad
• Blackham- Persons Unknown
• Lafayette Reynolds- True Blood
• Art Mullen- Justified

Action has been depleted in good female depth the past two years. Ava Crowder is the only returning nominee to have taken the screen thus far, but she has some competition from her own show in Winona Hawkins, who made a late season push. Then you have Jessica Hamby and Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood. The latter was a nominee for worst character last year, but hasn't been nearly as annoying this season. I know it's only two episodes in, but Covert Affairs' Annie Walker is extremely fun to watch (and not only for aesthetic reasons). Also on my radar are Skyler White of Breaking Bad, Janet of Persons Unknown and Joan Campbell of Covert Affairs.

Who has ticked me off so far this summer? Well if it isn't those characters vying for a nomination for the Teri Bauer Award. Now that Bill and Sookie are out of my dog house on True Blood, there is plenty of room for newcomers. Where to find them...hmmm...how about True Blood? Tara Thornton and Franklin (left) have been equally awful, while Lafayette's new man Jesus is giving them both a run for their money. The Breaking Bad trio of Skyler, Marie and Walter White, Jr. are also always in the running.

And finally we have the 'Through the Looking Glass' Award for Best Action Episode. Both Justified and Breaking Bad's season finale's 'Bulletville' and 'Full Measure' are on pace to earn nominations. Both the Persons Unknown and Covert Affairs pilots were good and are on my radar. Nothing from True Blood has stood out yet.

So there you have it. An early look at the action awards at the 2011 Poolies. Next up is comedy.

Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- Honorable Mentions

Since many shows are on hiatus during the summer, and I am getting ready to leave for an LA vacation (writing this on Sunday), I'm only going to post a few notes on each series. The honorable mentions are some shows that I watch that don't currently make my top 20. They're not necessarily 21-30, but I enjoy them and others should think about checking them out. Without further ado, here are July's Quiet Pool Perspective Power Rankings.

Honorable Mentions

Show- (last time)...red=moving down, green=moving up

30 Rock- (12) Thursdays on NBC
The TGSers seem to really be falling out of good graces at the Pool as 30 Rock falls from 13th to honorable mention after a strangely bad season.

Eastbound and Down- (-) Sundays on HBO
The Danny McBride comedy finally has a second season premiere date. Kenny Powers will return to the screens, where he's always f'ing in, on September 26th on HBO.

Greek- (-) Mondays on ABC Family
Cappie and company are on what I believe will be a quick hiatus. Greek returns for a fourth and final installment before the end of the summer.

Hung- (-) Sundays on HBO
I'm not a big fan of the HBO quasi-comedy, but since I'm writing about it for TVFanatic.com, I figured I'd give it a quick plug here.

Jonas LA- (19) Sundays on Disney Channel
The reinvention for season two takes a dip in comedy but the corny drama is still really good.

Men of a Certain Age- (-) Mondays on TNT
Ray Romano is getting Emmy buzz for his dramatic role as Joe Tranelli, and deservedly so.

Mentalist, The- (16) Thursdays on CBS
The procedural is losing no steam in terms of ratings, but for personally I'd like to see a bit more serialization here.

Persons Unknown- (-) Mondays on NBC
The first three episodes have been decent to good. It's a nice summer thriller if not nearly on par with last season's Harper's Island.

Ricky Gervais Show, The- (-) Sundays on HBO
Probably just as good as a podcast, but the added animation puts it at the top of my animated series list. Can't beat Ricky's laugh.

Top Chef- (-) Wednesdays on Bravo
Quality reality competition currently airing this season from D.C.

Persons Unknown- I Gotta Get Outta This Place

Spoiler alert...Below are some thoughts on last night's episode of Persons Unknown, 'The Edge'. So watch the ep, sneak a gun into someone's hotel room, and read what I had to say.

Blackham- "What Rambo movie did you just pop out of?"

After two episodes, Persons Unknown continues to be a nice summer escape. Last night's ep was non-stop mystery with a touch of action and finally some characterization on the side. We're slowly learning a bit about each character, which always you feel for them as they get tortured in this mysterious ghost town.

We start the hour with Moira, who we later find out to be a psych patient and not a psychologist, performing surgery on her friends in order to take out the tracking implants. The Persons figure that they will now be able to leave this God forsaken place. Of course this is misguided because there is an outer fence around the town that is simply a microwave emitting forcefield that fries your skin when you try to leave. Something the marine knows a ton about apparently.

Charlie's plan to get past it? Watch as the hotel manager goes through it and then follow him out because the bad guys aren't going to let one of their own fry to pieces. But as the manager escapes their clutches and sprints through the fence, Charlie chases him and hits the microwave fence like a ton of bricks. Out cold.

So the question is, did the microwave thing get turned off and back on quickly to let the hotel manager out? Or could he just go right through it because he's not a real person. He seemed eerily like some sort of robot or hieroglyphic figure.

Oh but once they figured out how to get past this second fence it would be home free right? Of course not. After a lightning bolt destroyed the microwave fence, the Persons jumped in an empty van and drove past the line they thought would set them free. What did they find as the next obstacle? Just your run of the mill bright light transportation field that sent them back to the center of Ghost Town.

Now this is starting to make sense. This is a sci-fi show? Either way, the new development is a combination of awesome and ridiculous.

So what about Janet and the gun that was so nicely left for her in her room? Even though her fortune read 'Kill Joe and you'll go free', she declined the offer and shot up one of the thousands of cameras watching them. So what is the Big Bad's deal here? Is he just testing these people? If so, what if she had just killed Joe right then and there? Would that have been ok? If it's not a test, and the killing of each other is okay, then what is the point of this whole experiment?

I still have a lot of questions, the most disconcerting being why is Janet's mom such a scary old lady? According to the promo "everything will be answered by the end of the summer" so we should all look forward to that.

See ya at the Chinese restaurant for dinner...again.

Persons Unknown- Where Are We?

Persons Unknown premiered last night on NBC and after one episode I would recommend it as a quality summer show. It seems to be a one season phenomenon a la Harper's Island of last year. Although it's lacking in the soapy quality of last season's island thriller, it has all the suspense.

Sure Harper's Island had some mysterious elements, but in the end we knew there was a serial killer on the loose. With Persons Unknown, I have no idea what is going on after one episode. Seven people have been kidnapped and brought to a made-up looking town in the middle of nowhere. They have all been injected with a tranquilizer that goes off as soon as they try to leave the enclosed center of town.

Sure that part is self-explanatory, but who is doing this? And for what reason? Later on in the episode a group of Chinese cooks greet the seven persons and invite them into their restaurant for a dinner. Are these people also being held against their will? They said that they were only here "to cook." There's also a hotel manager that doesn't seem to know what the heck is going on while acting a bit zombie-esque.

Are any of the seven Persons one of the people responsible for this? Could be a possibility. I'm curious to find out what the heck is going on and I'm ready to watch more.

Like any show, this only works if the characters seem interesting from the jump. With Jason Wiles and Alan Ruck as first billed I was hooked. Wiles is of course Colin, Kelly's druggy boyfriend from Beverly Hills, 90210, and Ruck is Ferris Bueller's best buddy that just finished a great appearance on Justified. The main girl also seems pretty good after one ep.

I don't see this being as good as Harper's Island, which I still say was highly underrated, but I can see this being terrific for a summer fling. Check it out.