THE ALMIGHTY JOHNSONS |
|
|
Axl Johnson- Emmett Skilton Mike Johnson - Tim Balm Anders Johnson - Dean O'Gorman Ty Johnson - Jared Turner Gaia - Keisha Castle-Hughes Olaf Johnson - Ben Barrington Valerie Johnson - Roz Turnbull Zeb - Hayden Frost 
OTHER SEASONS Season 1 Season 2 EMPOWERED FAMILY SAGAS Heroes No Ordinary Family
|
An Orchard Of TreesGaia has been infused with the spirit of Idun, the goddess destined for Anders. This makes things somewhat awkward between brothers. Almost as awkward as having an apple tree growing out of the couch. For a while there it didn't look like THE ALMIGHTY JOHNSONS was going to get a third season, and for a while there we weren't all that disappointed. Fora ll its ability to come up with brilliant and surprising episodes, the show also has the tendency to be, well, a bit dull. That's certainly not the case in this episode, where there is a great deal of fallout from the events of the last season to be dealt with. The love triangle is clearly the centre of attention and yet the most pleasing storylines involves Ty's increasingly desparate attempts to get Dawn to remember who he was before he gave up his godhood. We can't help rooting for these two to work it all out. There are the usual funny lines, the filthy mouths, the endearing characters (there's something to love about all of them) and a general joie de vivre. Now that the Johnsons are back, we're glad they made it. They have to prove that it's been worthwhile, though TopThis Thing InsideGaia and Anders are both eaten up with guilt about their night together and Gaia desperately brings the date of the wedding forward. When Axl learns the truth, however, the consequences could be fatal. The love triangle continues to be the centre of attention here and it is a little bit too soapy and uninvolving for its own good. Anders and Gaia are both driven by the Gods within, but there seems to be a less than committed resistance going on from either of them. Apart from this central story, the other characters are given absolutely nothing to do at all and it's only when Axl learns the truth and goes all out God rage that things get interesting. By then, it's a bit too late. TopBergerbarWith Gaia gone, Axl is going to pieces. Ty decides to change his life utterly, but selling his house upsets Loki. Mike calls a meeting of the brothers to sort a few things out once and for all. The familial angst angle of the story hits a nadir with this episode in which everyone gazes at their navels incessantly and nothing of any value actually happens. Only in Ty's confrontation with ex-father in law Loki is there any interest to be had and that is fleeting. The likeable, but flawed characters of old are being replaced by people who aren't really all that much fun to be around and having one stand on rooftop half-naked to say how upset he is doesn't up the drama stakes all that much. There is also another twisting of the knife in Ty's guts over Dawn. Can't this man get even the slightest break? TopLike The Berserkers Of OldThe God Hunters out for the family's blood are tracked down and the Johnson family goes to war. Loki, meanwhile, makes some moves on Anders and Axl finds that moving on from Gaia isn't easy. After last week's disappointing talkfest, this episode is rattling with plot and activity. Quite apart from Colin/Loki's machinations, there is the sight of the Johnson clan in full flow as they head out to deal with their enemies in a very Johnsonian way. When that's over, it isn't over and there's the side story of Axl trying to find someone new. The episode flies past, there is one cracking joke at the expense of Dean O'Gorman's appearance in THE HOBBIT and something mysterious going on in the sea. Normal service has been resumed. TopUnleash The Kraken!The Johnson brothers' father has returned to the fold to find that his sons hate him. Since his power is to smooth stormy waters, they can't quite seem to tell him what they really think. There's a party, a fancy dress party, and everyone is invited. This means that there are some quite nice jokes, some familial angst and absolutely nothing happens. Nothing. At. All. It just about manages to get by on the script, which has some nice quirky moments, but only just about and really the show needs to be doing better. TopAnd On To Norsewood.Axl's road trip with his father hits a few bumps. Mike takes to gambling and Anders helps Loki kick start his political campaign. The soap opera aspects of this show are becoming more and more prevalent, making it less and less interesting as a result. Axl's journey of discovery takes an odd detour at the end, but is otherwise interminable, as is Mike's run-in with hardened gamblers and the machinations around Loki/Colin's mayoral campaign, which seems to be an obvious play by Loki to hurt Ty through Dawn. All of which makes it much harder to identify with anyone other than flatmate Zeb who is just getting a bit fed up of the Johnson family. TopTypical Auckland GodAxl finds himself a new goddess and has to come to the aid of Thor, who has lost his hammer to the gay couple that have moved in next door. This is a bizarre episode that takes a good many twists and turns before coming to a satisfying end, rather surprisingly. Thor is a horribly boorish character who is slowly revealed to be a good deal more complex than originally portrayed and finally a figure of pathos, though admittedly both he and Axl have to drag up to prove it. The subplot with the willing blonde barmaid who just happens to be a goddess also has a touch of pathos about it. This focusing on Axl does the show a service, relegating the soap opera aspects of the show to the background where they belong. TopThe Asparagus Is Kicking InTy learns that he is not as mortal as he thought, just as Loki makes a move on Dawn. Axl learns that the end of the world is nigh, unless he sorts his life out. Though the brothers are back together again, there are only two storylines being concentrated on and that adds to the focus of the episode, much to the benefit of the show. Colin/Loki has set his sights on Dawn, leaving Anders caught in a terrible moral dilemma. The conclusion to this is very satisfying. The second plot is the revealing of a danger that will lead to Ragnarok, the end of the world, and there seems to be nothing that anyone can do about it. Except, of course, that this is going to provide a plot arc for the later parts of the season. The focus of the show seems to have returned and this allows the characters, the storylines and the warmth and the wit of the show to shine through. Long may that continue. TopMike In The MirrorAxl and Zeb try to get Frigg to come to them. Michele is healing people and Anders wants some of the action. Dawn learns the truth about Ty. Axl learns of a new threat to his place as Odin. Separate plotlines plod along their different paths and don't seem to share any relationship to each other, upping the soap opera feel to this episode. Axl and Zeb's attempt to find Frigg by setting up auditions for a fake beer commercial are fun enough, but the Anders/Michele healing and business strand seems totally divorced from anything happening around it. At least Ty and Dawn have finally got it together. The most likeable people in the show, it's been too long coming. TopPlaying GodAxl gets a line of the path to Frigg. Mike finds out about Michele's healing games and Dawn gets some advice, and inadvertent drugs, from the boys' grandpa. Though the episode sets up the surprising challenge to Axl's position as Odin, the rest of the episode is too much like soap opera for its own good. The apparent end to the healing storyline makes it pointless having had it in the first place, but the stoned Dawn storyline at least has some fun in it. Now that a new plot arc has been thrown in, perhaps the show will have something to focus on into its last few episodes. TopA Bit Like Buses ReallyBoth Axl and Mike search for Frigg in their own ways and whilst one relies on the easily-distracted powers of the god of persuasion, the other is faced by a man who can make walking through a doorway an adventure all of its own. Now that the show is racing toward the end of the season, it has regained a focus on a single plotline that all the family, and assorted others, revolve around. This makes the whole thing much more interesting, right up to the remarkable climactic moment that the whole show has been building toward for three seasons. Mike and the god Heimdall, who has the power to open a doorway to anywhere, is the most entertaining strand to all of this, but it is the final moment that we've all been waiting for. TopLate To The Point Of KnowledgeAxl and Mike both try to win Frigg, Mike by bedding her and Axl by taking her to a video game arcade. Frigg's brother becomes more unhinged and Michele becomes more vengeful, leading to a deadly encounter. Surprisingly, the discovery of Frigg isn't the end of the show, but leads to this episode which is so totally soap opera in its nature that you can't help but wonder whether it was really necessary at all. Very little is learned about anyone, except how quickly they will all fall into bed with each other and could probably have been summed up in five minutes. Still, Frigg has to make a decision and there is a shocking twist at the end really perks things up. TopThe End Of The World As We Know ItEarth is wracked by earthquakes that only the ascension of the Gods will put an end to. Frigg must choose her Odin and the family must come to terms with the fact that when the Gods rise, their human sides will be left behind, forgotten by all who knew them. The last episode of a show is frequently a good indication of how good it was and this, potentially, final episode of THE ALMIGHTY JOHNSONS, has a sense of approaching doom and loss that lifts it above most of what has come before it. It's all very nicely handled and the fact that the makers chose not to do something clever or mean shows where their hearts were all along. This looks very much like a final episode, wrapping things up nicely. It is probably the right time to do so, since the show displayed a lack of cohesion and focus this season, but it was (patchy) fun whilst it lasted. Top |
