4x04 Play-by-play

Kind of surprised at everyone saying this didn't look like a real school. It's very normal by modern US standards, at least.

Those tiled cam feeds remind me a bit of the opening of Blood on Benefits

Cute teacher. Shame he bites it.

Snarky McBitchpants. Shame she doesn't bite it sooner.

Famous last words.

Now I want junk food. Someone bring me junk food? Preferably without the, y'know, poisonous death along with it.

Pity they couldn't have gotten away with some nice bloody viscera dangling from the critter's fangs.

(Side note: Right after this dude died horribly, I turned to the hubster and said, "God, I love this show." I think I may need therapy.)

Well, hellooo, nekkid Matt! I may actually start caring about him, now. Interesting that they obviously didn't get it on. Being as how she's a proper lady and all.

Emily is also cute. Boring as fuck, but cute.

Interesting note about her anomaly still being open. Wonder if that's part of why they're short-staffed on redshirts?

So Abby told Connor about Emily. Interesting. Becker's clearly still in the dark on that. I hope he doesn't get angry with them for lying to him. :(

Philip rocks? WTF. Totally out of the blue.

Screw you, Connor. I don't have low self-esteem. OK, the sordid bits, however...

Skeptical Abby is skeptical.

Lester: "Human error played a part in (4x03 lockdown hell)" AKA: "You dumb fuck. You're the one who designed that system of fail."

Is there any part of Burton that isn't complete dick?

Poor Connor. Always a shock when your hero acts a bastard.

We have movie sign!

Love that outfit of hers today. At least it's color-coordinated.

Connor and Abby, bickering like the old married couple they are.

"Connor! With me!" Yes, yes he is, honey. (Or at least was earlier this morning...)

"While you're here you can draw a picture." Yes, because telling her to sit there nicely with the coloring book is SO gonna keep her home.

Seth Rogen reference? Tacky, but in-character for Snarky McBitchpants.

Let's just take a moment to appreciate how hot Connor and Becker look in this episode. Guh.

Never. Ever. Piss off someone who haz the internet and knows how to use it.

Did I miss something? What's Connor carrying there? Is that the first we've seen of a new handheld detector?

"You'd make a good bank robber, Jess." Gahfuck. Now I want to pair her up with Parker from Leverage. Actually, she's sort of like Parker and Hardison's (racially inaccurate) lovechild.

As someone else said: This is like The Breakfast Club with more dinosaurs and killing.

"Like spot cream and misery" Fuck, I just love that line. <3

"I quite liked school." / "Well that figures" / "You're just asking for me to punish you later, aren't you Connor?"

Matt doesn't remember school because he spent his whole life being homeschooled by CPPM. Which, let's face it, has to make him even more crazy and socially stunted than the hardcore religious homeschooled kids here.

Of course he doesn't like talking about himself, dearie. He's the International Man of Mystery.

OK, slight script fail, there. There's no way those kids would be smart enough to hack into the school's security system, and dumb enough to think two plainclothes dudes and one quasi-military one are "cops." Now, if they had thought they were terrorists or something? That would make more sense. Especially after they saw the creature.

I've figured out their lack of backup. OK, so they had maybe half a dozen guys show up to the anomaly site in ep. 1. One of them bought it in ep. 2, and I think two more in ep. 3. So they're already down by half. Station two guys at the other anomaly site, and they only have one other left. So. Yeah. Either that, or extras freelance security staff charge a rather nasty hourly rate.

And Connor just had a deja vu moment. Lockdown again? Already? Really? Something tells me his cutesy password ain't gonna help this time.

Uh-oh. Abby's about to engage in some ill-advised impulsive behavior.

Of course Connor can reboot it. Heh.

"Jess. I need your help, now." / "Patience, woman. I'm a bit busy trying to make sure your boyfriends aren't dino food."

Contacts at a private zoo. Convenient.

I do like that Connor and Jess seem to get along and communicate well without even the slightest hint of flirting. Well done for keeping that otherwise-obvious pairing entirely platonic. Not that I wouldn't write it anyway.

Shades of Connor watching the feeds in the mall while Nick and Stephen went hunting.

Is it just me, or are trampolines inherently creepy? Just me, then. OK.

It's not Darren, sweetie. Trust me, geeks bite harder.

Random: Who the hell brought leggings back? And can they go away again, please?

OK, dino's making them go away. Along with everything else involving Snarky McBitchpants.

Ooh, poor Jess. I actually got quite a lot of respect for her for this scene. Ruth did an excellent job.

Abby, your timing sucketh mightily.

OK, I really loved the way this scene was shot. The flickering light and such... Really worked well. Must've been a bitch to do the creature animation, though, with the constant lighting changes in the scene. Also, Matt finally got to be seriously badass, which was great.

Ooh, and more a-comin. Anyone think they conceived of this episode as 3x03 if the diictodons were deadly instead of just deadly cute?

And, we're back to Boring Emily and her coloring book. How exciting. At least her ass looks hot in those jeans.

Brilliant brilliant scene with Lester and Angsty!Abby.

Oh, look. Ethan's here to give Emily a plot. I hope.

Hello, Mr. Burton. My name is James Lester. Let me introduce you to my colossal nutsack, which will shortly be smacking against your chin.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Becker's about to hit the menu, and Connor's going to stand there and look helpless. But very pretty in that lighting, at least.

OK, why did they turn on the showers? That makes absolutely no sense. Of course, now those poor boys are going to have locker room anxiety for entirely different reasons than the usual.

Random note, for anyone wondering: Aluminum and true stainless steel aren't magnetic. So not everything in there would be sucked into the anomaly. Also, it's a smallish one, and therefore has less pull than some.

Somehow, it truly tickles me to see Becks wielding the anomaly locker. It's like he's handling his boyfriend's equipment. Ehm. Or something...

Becker just casually shooting the beasties. Just another day at the office.

Random note #2: They couldn't have broken through the glass on that door. It's lined with security mesh.

Poor Jess kinda got handed the idiot ball this time. That said, it probably did take a while for the security system to fully come up after Connor hard-cycled it.

I love snarky!Matt. They should give him more of those lines. Heh.

Oh, NOW they call for backup. Sigh...

It is part of my Seattleite conditioning that I couldn't stop staring at that Starbucks sign, even with the distraction of Becks, there.

NO! DON'T HURT THE PRETTY!!!!

And now, Matt's totally just playing a FPS of some sort.

Kind of surprising that nest didn't wake up in the middle of that chaos.

Ooooh, Connor going all chem geek. Is there nothing sciency-related he can't do?

And now, for the Becker/Matt slash portion of our show...

Goddamn, I love how Becker is so awesome he keeps shooting even when he's circling the drain.

"I'm just going to tie you up"

This whole sequence, btw, is brilliantly directed. Very good on upping the tension.

And here comes the Geek Squad, to save the day! (Though really, Matt and Becks should've been knocked out further with the ether involved in that concoction, yeh?)

And yay, Connor finally got to shoot something on his own! Zippy on the draw there, too. If I'm not mistaken, that's the only solo creature shot he's had aside from 2x01. Aw, my li'l geekboy is all growed up.

"Oh, shit. My boyfriend's down!" Oh, and I just love the way he pets him so gently, here. Jesus, I'm turning into a shipper, aren't I?

Amusing little heroic march down the hall. Oh, and there's the Raptor Pants again.

I really like this little touch of actually mourning the dead. Even if she was Snarky McBitchpants.

Abby's such a badass that watching her break down like this is gut-wrenching. *wibble* Well done on Hannah for that.

"I shan't forget this." Eck. Creeped out by the implications there.

"That's the kind of thing that leads to office gossip" And really disturbing fic pairings.

Aw, he remembered the mammoth's shish-ke-predator move. Also, Ben Miller was sublime in this. May have been why the last episode felt so off--he wasn't there.

Time to put down the protective cover on the keyboard. OK, now to just go frame-by-frame for a while.

And, here comes Jess to spoil the moment. Feck.

"Are you OK?" Honey, he's way, way more than OK. But then you know that.

Good lord, he looks good in civvies. And out of them.

Sorry, Jess. You can't compete for space in his head with his massive Manpain. (TM Image may be NSFW.
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Dude, Matt doesn't even have anything on his shelves. Surely those should be covered in plants?

And now, poor Connor's going to start wondering if he just Doesn't Understand Women. Sigh...

And there's Matt, clearly caring more about Emily than the audience does.

Next week: Burton further ensnares Connor, a Basilisk threatens a fishing village, and Matt is Still Mysterious.

(Previous recaps: 4x02; 4x03)