Criminal Minds News: It’s Official!!!! Prentiss is in and Seaver is out!!

In news that I’m sure will surprise no one but will probably send most fans into a happy dance, Paget Brewster will be back as Emily Prentiss on Criminal Minds this season.  I am so excited about this because I can’t wait to see the dynamic of the team when she returns.   As you all know if you watch CM, everyone except JJ and Hotch think Prentiss is dead.  How will they all react when they find out she’s still alive?  Especially her partner Derrick Morgan?  I can’t wait to see!!!   I would have to make the assumption that her return also means it will also bring back the great storyline of trying to find and capture Doyle.  Will they do it with Prentiss or will they have to do it before so she can come out of hiding?  I am really anxious to see how they handle that.   I remember being furious this time last year when I found out JJ wasn’t coming back except for 2 episodes to wrap up her story and that Emily would be cut and most likely leaving as well (which she did.)  I couldn’t understand, other than the financial aspect, why CM was getting rid of two strong female characters.  I thought if you wanted to cut back on actor salaries, Joe Montangna must be making a pretty penny.  Couldn’t they cut him?  I don’t like to say that because I love Montangna as an actor and think he’s terrific.  But I don’t think he brings as much to CM as the other characters.  My opinion.  I like Rossi but I wouldn’t be upset if I didn’t see him again.  Everyone else though…Hotch, Morgan, Prentiss, JJ, Garcia, and Reid…would break my heart.   That’s why I’m so happy that both ladies are back and everyone else is also in tact.  Now if they can just sign Thomas Gibson to that damn contract because he is the heart and soul of the BAU and I don’t want to see CM without him!!!

But God giveth and He taketh away.  With Paget Brewster’s return, that sent Rachel Nichols’ Agent Ashley Seaver packing.  No loss though.  She just never fit in and unfortunately for the actress was set up to fail.  So many viewers were upset with the dismissal of Brewster and Cook that no matter who came in to “replace” them (more so Cook) it wasn’t going to work and the fans most likely weren’t going to like her.  And that ended up being the case.   Nichols is great so hopefully she ends up on another show soon.  She just didn’t fit CM.

What are your thoughts CM fans?   Are you happy to see our favorite ladies back in action?

 

SEASON FINALE RECAP & REVIEW: The Good Wife “Closing Arguments” S2 E23

I started this post about 3 times and each time erasing and starting over because I wasn’t sure where to begin.  The last 3 episodes of the season dealt with Alicia finding out about Peter and Kalinda sleeping together (including this season finale.)  While I think the other episodes were more powerful because she was confronting the betrayers, this episode set up how changed these 3 people have become as a result of this revelation and how different they would be going into Season 3.   Another 3 people will also be significantly impacted by all this…Will, Eli, and Cary.   We will discuss all of this but let’s get into the case first because it was interesting this week.

A man is on trial for murdering a judge.  He and his wife went court to sue a dentist for the wrongful death of this 9-year-old son.  Judge Ellerby drew the case and the judgement went against the defendant.   Two months later, Ellerby is dead and Jake Richter is on trial for first degree murder.   According to the crime scene photos, the judge was stabbed to death and he was wearing gloves.  One glove is missing.  An expert forensic witness testified that the missing glove would have the killer’s blood on it.  How was that determined without the glove?  I’m not sure why the glove would have the killer’s blood on it and ONLY this glove and nowhere else in the crime scene would have the killer’s blood.  You would think that if the killer was bleeding, there would be blood in other areas of the crime scene or body, but whatever.  I’ll let it go.  Neither the police nor the SA’s office have been able to locate the glove that would either exonerate or condemn his client (reasonable doubt) so Will is driving that fact home.

Alicia is back at the office talking to Diane about expanding her role at the firm…yeah!!!  Meanwhile when they wrap up, she receives an envelope and while talking to Owen on the phone she opens it and the missing bloody glove slips out and onto her desk.  As soon as that happened I knew who sent it but more on that later.  She asks her secretary to get Diane and while Kalinda walks by, she begrudgingly asks for her help.  Kalinda calls Sophia (Kelli Giddish) and Sophia offers her assistance.  Diane calls Will to tell him what is going on and to get to the judge in the case.  Before Will does that, he runs to his client and asks if there is any chance his DNA is on the glove.  He says no.  At this point, I thought either he was guilty or he was covering for his wife committing the crime.  I just didn’t like the way he responded to Will.   Will, Childs, and Cary go to see the judge and an all out fight breaks out in her chambers because Will wants a mistrial.  The judge says no but find her something and she’ll reconsider.  As Will is leaving she tells him in not so many words that if he finds something for her that’s concrete, she’ll declare the mistrial because she is on his side.   Once the jury comes back, it’s out of her hands and the appellate judges aren’t likely to overturn the guilty verdict of a judge killer.

They start investigating not only the DNA on the glove but also the fingerprints on the envelope it came in and who the potential whistle-blower may be.  Alicia and Kalinda have to work together and Alicia is still cold but professional with Kalinda.  The other problem is that they have no alley in Childs because this is his swan song case before leaving the SA’s office.  So Diane wants someone (possibly Alicia) to talk to the newly elected SA to see if they can get him up to speed on the case and get an alley on their side.  Will steps up and says he’ll talk to Peter.  Alicia warns Will that she and Peter are having some issues so don’t be surprised if he’s a little chilly towards him.   Will talks to Peter.  I LOVED this scene.  Peter thinks Alicia is sleeping with Will therefore he hates him.  Will has no idea what’s going on in Peter’s mind.  All he knows is that he and Alicia are separated.  But Peter doesn’t know he knows that.  It’s fantastic!!!  So they discuss the case  and Peter tells Will he will look into Childs’ misconduct in the case…when he’s in office.  Which means no help.  Will asks Peter how he’s doing and Peter asks Will about how Alicia is doing.  I couldn’t stop laughing.  Here are two men who despise each other and would probably love nothing more than to go off and kick the crap out of one another, but they don’t.  They keep it civil and pointed.  Brilliant!

The prints come back and they match 2 cons.  One happens to work in their mail room who’s an ex sex offender but they decide to deal with that later.  They are also looking into another person who was wronged by Ellerby, Saul Barbarini.  Kalinda interviews him but doesn’t think it’s him.  Diane tells Will this and Will’s response is “Really?  Construction, Italian?  Did she even talk to him?”   Gee Will profile much?   So the guy is Italian and works in construction so he must be a killer?  Another reason for me to hate Will…he’s a bigot.  But back to the case.  Will asked the bailiff watching the jury to start serving them lots of coffee.  The bailiff wasn’t sure why (neither was I) until this scene happened.  On the phone with Diane, Will is about to enter the men’s room and asks Diane to ask him about the case.  He starts talking about a new suspect and the fact that they found the glove and guess who’s in the bathroom with him?  One of the jurors!!!!  Since it appeared the jurors were near a verdict, Will wanted to have more time so he set up this plan to get one of the jurors kicked off the jury and have an alternate replace him.  Therefore having to start the deliberation process all over again.  But it backfired slightly on him.   There was also another juror in the bathroom at the same time but he was in one of the stalls.  It was the only juror LG thought they had on their side…juror #2.  So as a result, he’s gone as well.  Way to go Will with your dirty cheap tricks!!   While all this is going on, DNA comes back and it’s female!!  So it will clear Jake and their other suspects but they still have no idea who the killer is.  At this point, I still thought it was Jake’s wife.

The case takes them to the daughter of the murdered judge.  She and her father didn’t have the greatest relationship and she informs Alicia and Kalinda that her father was taking bribes.  At this point they haven’t been able to find any females wronged by Ellerby and Diane asks them to look into cases where he recused himself.  If he took a bribe and stepped down, someone could have been very angry.   They were able to find someone and they were able to get her DNA from a fertility clinic to analyze it against the DNA on the glove.  It matched.  Kalinda brings it to Cary and the next thing you know, they are all in a courtroom and the judge is declaring a mistrial.  Jake can go home to his family!   So I was really wrong about Jake and his wife!!  And as everyone leaves, we see Peter hidden around the corner and he is the one ripping up the UPS slip of paper proving he was the one who sent the glove to Alicia.  That one I was right on.  I knew it would be him!

While this was all going on, Peter’s political aspirations were being worked out by Eli and the Democratic Committee.  They are setting their sights on higher levels of office…the governor’s office, the US Senate.   The DC wants Alicia involved and Eli, knowing what is going on, tells them no.  But they say, it’s not her choice.   In the meantime, Eli needs to work in between campaigns and he is looking for a law firm to align with and bring his consulting business to.  So of course, he chooses LG.  This is also the big promotion Diane wanted to discuss with Alicia.  She wants Alicia to be the liaison between the legal side and the political side.    Alicia immediately goes to Eli and tells him to take his business elsewhere and he firmly says no.  While he has deferred to Alicia about many things, this will not be one of them.  It’s in the best interest of his business so he is going to move forward.  It’s business not personal.  I’m so glad he stood his ground here.   While I love Alicia to pieces, she doesn’t have the right to tell him where to take his business.  And in this instance, she needs to suck it up.

We started by talking about how these last 3 episodes are really starting to transform people.  One big transformation we saw was with Kalinda.  After a sexual romp with Sophia, Sophia gets a call…from her husband.  Now we didn’t know this but apparently Kalinda did.  When she hears about the husband, her face and attitude completely changes.  She asks Sophia why she didn’t tell her about her husband and Sophia reminds her when and where she told her about her husband and even the picture she showed her.  Kalinda immediately leaves after feeling like a home wrecker again.  Before Kalinda wouldn’t have cared about sleeping with married people (which to be honest, really knocks her down a peg in my book.)  After what happened with Alicia, she is thinking twice about what her actions would mean to the person on the other end of the relationship.  She is starting to realize that her decisions have consequences to them.   I honestly believe the Sophia told Kalinda about her husband and Kalinda just blocked it out because that is what she always did before.  Now it seems moving forward, that all changes.

I also think Eli is going to have some tough decisions to make moving forward.  He and Alicia have developed their own bond.  There is a huge respect level between the two of them and I think he is slightly protective of her and not just for political reason.  So when he goes to work at LG, is his allegiance going to be stronger with Alicia than with Peter or will Peter still be the Florrick he gives preference to?   Because there are going to be times he has to make a choice.  So who will he choose.

Cary should be a very fascinating piece to this puzzle.  I think Peter will use him and his ambition to get information on Alicia and LG.  The problem is, will Cary see that he’s being used and not care, will he see that he’s being used and use it to his advantage (sounds like him) or will he not see it at all and pretty much hate all Florricks from here on out.   Cary is all about Cary but I do think he has a heart and do think he wants to do the right thing, even if sometimes things have to get messy for justice to prevail.   The key here is Peter’s motives.  I think Peter would like to bring down Will Gardner, but not at the expense of Alicia.  I really believe Peter wants Alicia back.  So anything he uses Cary for will not be to attack her but to attack Will.

I guess I have to talk about that final scene huh?   Ugh.  I put it off as long as I could.  Alicia and Will are at the bar celebrating their victory by doing shots…something Alicia always did with Kalinda.  It ends up with Will asking Alicia about their “timing.”  It’s always been off.  But he has broken it off with what’s her name (Elizabeth Reaser) and she is separated from Peter.  So he says to her, what would happen if our timing was finally aligned, even if it was only for an hour?  The go to the front desk to get a room.  Everything is booked.  He keeps asking but she keeps saying no.  Finally she says they do have the presidential suite but it’s like $7,500 a night.  At that point, I would have left to find another hotel.   Give me a break.  They get the room and hop in the elevator.  Unfortunately a little girls has hit the buttons to about 30 floors hence the preview scene with elevators opening and closing and we seeing varying stages of Alicia and Will hooking up.  It was a really well shot scene.   They get to the room and the key doesn’t work.  At this point I would think that someone is trying to tell me something.  I couldn’t get a room and the only one cost $7,500.  Then some kid pushes all the buttons to make the climb to the penthouse that much longer giving me more time to think about what I am doing.  Finally, the key doesn’t work.  I would have left.  But Alicia has another idea.  She takes the key and tries and voila!  It works.  The go into the room and we end Season 2.   I’ll tell you what though, that better be some balls to the walls amazing sex for $7,500!!!!

Needless to say, I hated the last scene.   Ha!!  As much as I dislike Will Gardner, I disliked this more so for the fact that I don’t think she should be with anyone right now.  Alicia needs to focus on Alicia and her kids.  If she needs to knock boots with someone, pick someone you don’t have a history with or feelings for or work for!!  I can understand after everything she has been through, that she deserves some happiness and some loving.  I just don’t think it should be Will.  I think he will break her heart just like Peter.  And not by cheating on her but by betraying her in another way.  I just feel it.  I worry that the end game of this show is to have her with Will so I am ready for that disappointment.  But I am still holding out hope for Peter.  I think eventually, when Alicia isn’t so hurt anymore and can see the situation clearly, her friendship with Kalinda will be renewed and she may be willing to start again with Peter.   I just don’t think that’s what the writers want sadly.   I did see an interview with Julianna Margulis where she said she doesn’t think Alicia should be with Will and that that ship has sailed.  So hopefully if JM has any say in her character’s progression, Alicia won’t end up with Will.   Yeah!!!  A girl can dream right?

What an AMAZING season of The Good Wife!!!   I am constantly blown away by the talent of the cast and crew.  I think moving to Sundays in the fall could be good for the show.  The only bad thing is with CBS having football, if games run late, so will The Good Wife.  I hate that!!!  But otherwise, I think it’s fine.  I already can’t wait for next season and I hope you will all be back with me in the fall to continue the journey!!!

 

SEASON FINALE REVIEW: Glee “New York” S2 E22

Thank God this season is finally over.  A show that started out with so much promise, originality, and interest has turned into a joke of show.  The show should be called iTunes instead of Glee because that what this show is all about.  iTunes downloads!!!  I know that sounds really harsh and I hate being that harsh on someone’s creative work but it’s true.  And I’m always hardest on the things that have so much potential but are falling way short.  Glee has become that for me.  The show I watched last night didn’t even feel like a season finale.   I felt like I was watching a nice little episode of Glee that had a few moments in it.  But it was very underwhelming.  Granted not every season finale needs to have the impact Castle and The Mentalist have, but it doesn’t need to be boring either.  And that’s what “New York” was for me…boring.   I’m sure there are Finn and Rachel fans screaming at me right now that it was the best finale ever and that I must not know good TV when I see it because it rocked and I should give them back their Barbie dolls.   Finn and Rachel together is fine but there were some bigger moments for me personally but regardless, it was still blah.  And I am still upset at Ryan Murphy because I have now seen Cheyenne Jackson on THREE episodes of Glee and he still has yet to sing on one of them.  So I am a little bitter, if I’m being honest.

WHAT WORKED:

• The kids reaction to NYC.   These kids are from a small town in Ohio and had never seen a city as large as Philadelphia let alone New York City.  There reactions were perfect and I enjoyed seeing them dance and skip all over the city with joy as they finally made it big!
• Rachel meets Patti Lupone.  This was adorable.  Rachel was so nervous to meet her but she said Kurt would never forgive her if she didn’t so she stops Patti and introduces herself.  I assumed Patti wasn’t going to be her rumored cantankerous self and she wasn’t.  She was very sweet to Rachel and gave her typical Broadway vet to aspiring high schooler advise…don’t give up on your dream and he’s really cute (meaning Finn.)  On a side note, I got to meet Patti Lupone one night after seeing her in Gypsy on Broadway and she was a lovely woman.
• Kurt and Rachel’s BFF day in NYC.  This was my favorite part of the episode.  I love the friendship that has developed between them vs. the nasty competitiveness they had before.  These are two people with very similar personalities who want the same things out of life and only those two really understand that about themselves and each other.  From Breakfast at Tiffany’s to breaking into the Gershwin Theater and being able to sing on the WICKED stage was fantastic.  Plus it helps that they pick one of my all time favorite Broadway songs…”For Good” and did a really wonderful job with it.   The best part was Kurt helping Rachel to figure out that her one true love, the whole time, has been herself.  I’m kidding (sort of.)  It’s the Broadway stage and her dreams of becoming a star. So while she isn’t sure if she should pursue Finn or her career, that moment on the stage with Kurt showed her what was really important to her.
• Blaine telling Kurt he loves him.  Hands down the most realistic scene of the episode.  Kurt gets back from Nationals and immediately meets up with his boyfriend to tell him all about it.  And while Blaine is listening to Kurt and seeing how this trip affected him, Blaine couldn’t help but tell Kurt “I love you.”   And it was the way he said it that was so perfect.  He said it so matter-of-factly like it was the most natural thing in the world.  Now the debate comes with Kurt’s reaction and I want your opinion on this.  Did you think Kurt’s reaction was a little odd or was he so blown away that someone told him he loved him that he reacted in a shocked way?  I think it could go either way but my initial reaction was “that was strange.”  To me it felt like he wasn’t ready for those three little words and it through him for a loop and he just said it back to Blaine so it wouldn’t be awkward.  The “love you too” seemed very flip to me.  But I can see how some people would think he was just stunned the boy he loved all year told him that he loved him and just wasn’t expecting it.
• Rachel and Finn deciding to be a couple until she leaves for NY after her senior year.   I always liked the idea of the high school quarterback and the dorky glee club girl who no one likes being a couple.  Although I’m not the biggest Rachel Barry fan, there are times she tugs at my heart-strings (damn her.)  Finn has been giving Rachel google eyes for about 4 episodes now so it’s about time he cut ties with Quinn and made his move on Rachel because it wasn’t fair to Quinn.  I liked how it was his friends that pushed him to got for it with Rachel.  ”Can we talk about the huge Jewish elephant in the room?” asks Puck.  Probably one of my favorite lines ever on this show!!!   Rachel realized and tried to explain to Finn that she will be going back to NYC after graduation to pursue her dreams and nothing or no one will stop her.  He very sweetly asked her what she is going until graduation over a year from then.  And she realized she could have Finn for the year until she moves.   However I would like to point out two things.  First, who says she’s going to get into a school in NYC.  Second, why can’t Finn go to NYC or they do the long distance thing and try it.  She doesn’t have to have one or the other in my book.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK:

• Original Songs.  They aren’t good.  I hate to say it but people would rather watch the Glee kids belt out tunes we know vs. tunes no one’s ever heard of.  They aren’t completely terrible.  But they aren’t good either.  The only one I sort of liked was from last week’s “Funeral” episode called “Get it Right.”  Other than that, they should stick to Broadway and Pop/Rock songs.
• No Sue and Emma for 5 seconds.  I understand Sue’s big episode was last week but she wasn’t even IN the finale at all!  At least Emma got a 5 second flash in the glee room with Will’s arm around her.   But I don’t understand how Jane Lynch isn’t in the season finale at all.  Hell Teri Schuster got more air time than Sue and Emma combined!   But considering Jessalyn Gilsig’s been a “series regular” all season and the last 2 episodes are really all we have seen of her this season, I can’t complain.  But I’m glad she’s leaving for Miami.
• Rachel being nice to Sunshine.  I know many people probably thought this was a nice moment…and it was.  But it was completely out of character for Rachel.  She has a hard enough time letting Mercedes take the spotlight away from her (although she has gotten better about that) let alone help out and give the competition encouragement to beat her.  Rachel can be a heartless shrew when she wants to be but she can show some softer, sweeter sides to her.   But the writers need to make up their minds on her.  Is she a woman determined to be a star and not let anyone get in her way.  Or is she going to be nicer to people and help out the competition so they can beat her.  It doesn’t make sense.
• Brittany gets a song over Mercedes?  After the performance Mercedes gave last week, I knew she wouldn’t be featured in this week’s nationals competition because it always has to be about Rachel. Therefore last week was Mercedes moment.  Why it can never be during a competition I don’t get, but whatever.  But I never thought I would see a solo performance by Brittany before I saw one from Mercedes.  ”My Cup.”  Are you serious?  Granted it was just a 3 minute practice run for a new song for the competition (more on that later) but it’s 3 minutes I would still rather give to Mercedes or Quinn even.
• Brittany being the smart one.  I have said time and time again that I hate the way they portray Brittany sometimes.  I don’t mind if you want to show a girl who isn’t that bright for comic relief, like when Kurt said he felt like Eloise and Brittany said “I have pills for that.”   Hilarious!!!  But when they do things like have her interview her cat and she actually expects it to answer her, I hate it.  It’s too over the top.   But it also doesn’t make sense that Brittany would be the voice of reason for how the year ended for the Glee club and Santana.  Again, very out of character.
• Matthew Morrison’s song and Will Schuster’s Broadway opportunity.  I have seen Matthew Morrison on a Broadway stage and the stage manager was right when he came down and told Will that he had “it.”  MM does have “it” when it comes to performing on stage.  He’s incredible.   And I have also complained that we don’t get to hear him sing enough for my liking.  So he finally get a song to belt out and it’s one of his original’s from his debut album.  While I don’t begrudge him wanting to use the show to promote his album, I really wish he would have sung something else.  On that note, I don’t understand why Will wouldn’t have tried the Broadway show for the summer.  He said it himself.  After school was out, he would rehearse for a few weeks and then open the show.  If it was a success, he could have taken a sabbatical for a year and stayed with the show.  If the show tanked and closed, he could still be back with New Directions and try to get them to nationals.  How do you not at least try???   He does owe it to himself to give it a shot.  But instead of taking the opportunity given to him that so many people strive for and very few get, he chooses to stay in Ohio teaching glee club.  Ok.
• Sam and Mercedes hiding the fact they are a couple.  It didn’t surprise me they went there.  It’s about time Mercedes got some love!!!  But I don’t know why they feel the need to hide it.

THE ARE YOU F*@&ING KIDDING ME MOMENTS:

• The songs not being ready for nationals.   I can’t even begin to talk about how ridiculous this was.  Your kids aren’t professional song writers and you think you can just whip up two original songs the night before the competition?  Really?  You think writing an original song is that easy?  No wonder the songs stunk and no wonder you lost.  I’m surprised you came in 12th!!!  Not only were the songs not written, but they obviously weren’t rehearsed.  How can you rehearse and practice songs you don’t have written?  But they show up the day of the show and the songs are done and everything is perfectly sung and choreographed.  Yeah right.  Do the Glee writers think we are that stupid?  They must.   Once you won sectionals, you have how many weeks to prep for nationals?  Why didn’t you start writing songs then if you were so set on going the original song route?  And if you weren’t sure, don’t you think you should have practiced another routine just in case the songs weren’t good?   What if all they came up with was Brittany’s “My Cup?”  Would they have performed that?   I was seriously floored by this!!
• Finn and Rachel’s date.  While this was absolutely adorable and very romantic, it wasn’t even close to being realistic.  First, what high school kid just so happens to pack a suit and formal dress on a show choir trip?   Neither kid was prepared for this impromptu date so where did the clothes come from?   I guarantee you they couldn’t afford to buy them in NYC!  Which brings me to my next point.   Where does Finn get the money to take Rachel to Sardi’s?  Granted he didn’t take her to Daniel but for a high school kid, Sardi’s can be expensive.  At least fifty possibly seventy dollars.  And what kid has seventy dollars to blow on dinner?   Then when he goes to kiss her, she takes off and runs away from him.  Wherever they were walking looked nothing like the Times Square area of NYC.  So did Rachel know where she was going?  She’s 17 years old in New York for the first time.  Would you really run away from him by yourself in a huge strange city if you aren’t sure where you are going?  I know I’m nitpicking here but come on.  As realistic as Blaine and Kurt’s scene was, this was the complete opposite end of the spectrum of realism.  I can only suspend my disbelief so far.
• Quinn drops her revenge because of a haircut.  Last week she develops this plan to take down Finn and Rachel by destroying the team’s chances to win nationals.  But after her haircut, the revenge is out the window and by the end of the episode, when Finn and Rachel are walking into the glee room, she greats them warmly.  All because of a haircut?  Granted it was absolutely adorable on her but for real?  I don’t know one broken-hearted teenager that can get over being dumped that quickly.  Especially when you are the popular pretty one and got dumped for the dorky not as attractive as you are one.  No.  Stinking.  Way!  Not happening and I don’t buy this at all.  Quinn’s another one where I can’t figure out if the writers want her to be a bad girl or a good girl.  Same with Rachel.  Starting off bad and growing to be good is one thing.  I’ll take character growth and development any day.  But that isn’t happening here.  One day these girls are ruthless, the next they are sweet as anything.   I still can’t get over the fact that Quinn forgave Lauren for what she did to her.  That was awful.   Lauren purposely hurt Quinn but yet Rachel’s never done anything to Quinn and Quinn hates her.  I don’t get it.  I like bad ass Quinn because I find her more interesting and layered.  I also wish they would revisit her friendship with Mercedes that seems to have been completely forgotten about.  That was one of my favorite parts from last season.
• Will giving up his Broadway dream.  I know we already talked about this but it’s so ridiculous that he would give up a chance on Broadway to stay and manage the glee club, I had to bring it up twice!

So that was season 2, the iTunes season.  Not a lot of substance or character development of any kind.  Some good episodes, some lousy episodes.  Some great music, some not so good music.  And a bore of a season finale.  I’m going to give Glee one more season.  But if this keeps up, I won’t be back and season 3 will be my last following Glee.

 

SEASON FINALE REVIEW: Supernatural “Let It Bleed” & “The Man Who Knew Too Much” S6 E21 & 22

Season 6 has finally wrapped and I am still trying to find the right way to recap my thoughts on this finale and the season as a whole.  If you read my blog, you know that I wasn’t a huge fan of this season.  I just felt there was little direction as to what the true end game was.   Usually when we start a season of Supernatural, the mission is clear..finding the yellow eyed demon that killed their mother and destroying him, saving Dean from having to go to hell (as a result of a deal he made with a cross roads demon to save Sam), stopping Lilith and preventing Lucifer from rising,  stop the apocalypse.  This season wasn’t so clear-cut.  At first it was figuring out who/what Sam is, then it was fighting Crowley in his quest for souls in Purgatory, then it was the Mother of All, and in the background was the war in Heaven.  Usually, one of those is the main arc for the season with the others contributing to the main arc or stand alone as side stories.   But it was never clear what the MAIN arc was.  It seems to me at this point, it was the war in Heaven all along with Castiel trying to find a way to stop Raphael from taking over and destroying the world.   Now why couldn’t that have been laid out to us earlier on in the season instead of waiting until episode 20 of 22 to tell us?   There still would have been mystery and intrigue as to what was going on and how Castiel was going to stop Raphael and how Crowley, Eve, the souls,and the Winchesters all tied in.   But instead, I watched this season very confused as to what I was supposed to care about.   Now maybe I’m a complete idiot (which is very likely) and should have seen all this coming a mile away, but I didn’t.   I knew Cas and Raph were at odds but I didn’t know why.  And the war in Heaven always seemed like an after thought.  So much for that being the case I guess.  Hence my season long frustration.  I talked with some people in the comments section about this.  While I think there were some great individual standout episodes this season (Frontierland is one of my all time favorite episodes), the episodes didn’t seem to mesh well into a season long success for me.  I kept saying that I had faith they would pull it together for the finale.  While it was pulled together, the result didn’t really have much impact for me the way it did in other seasons.

Let me touch on the one aspect that worked well before I get into the other stuff.  I like the way they handled Sam rebuilding his soul piece by piece.  I’m glad they didn’t forget about that since it was several episodes ago when Death gave Sam his soul back and put up the wall that he told him not to scratch it.  Castiel needed to find a way to distract Dean from trying to stop him, so he took down Sam’s wall, leaving him in a coma with Dean and Bobby unaware of how they can help him.  Cas promises to return to help Sam but with the decisions Cas has been making lately, Dean and Bobby aren’t so sure.  They get a lead on stopping Cas and Crowley but Dean doesn’t want to leave Sam.  He does because he knows that’s what Sam would want and leaves him a note and a gun (who doesn’t leave their love ones a gun when running out to do an errand I ask) letting him know where they are in case he wakes up. He wakes up alright but not before some crazy inner fighting that happens between him and a few other “Sams.”

In order for Sam to wake up and become COMPLETELY himself again, he needs to fight Soulless Sam and Hell Really Kicked the Shit Out of Me Sam.   Here’s my question though…and please tell me if you had the same question or if I am reading too much into this….was Sam fighting the other 2 portions of his soul to see who would be the dominate soul when this was all said and done?  So if Soulless Sam beat Sam and Hell Really Kicked the Shit Out of Me Sam, Soulless Sam is who we would get but he would have the memories of the other two?  So that’s why Sam had to fight them?  I always assumed that when the wall came down, it just meant that Sam remembered everything.  So I took what happened to mean that he had to fight his own inner demons to “win out” as the dominate soul and then absorb all their memories about what happened when he was each of those people.  Either way, it should be interesting to see how all this affects Sam going into Season 7 with all this knowledge about himself now.  But as weird as it was to figure out what the hell was going on in the early goings of “The Man Who Knew Too Much” I thought it was pretty cool how Sam regaining his full soul and complete memory went down.

Something I liked and didn’t like at the same time was what happened with Lisa and Ben.  When we started the season, Dean was living his new life with Lisa and Ben with Sam in hell (so he thought.)  By the end of the season, Lisa and Ben, literally don’t know who Dean is anymore and it’s safe to say they are gone from his life for good.  While I am glad the Lisa and Ben storyline looks to be over and done with, I’m not sure I like how it went down.   I heard on a podcast and I completely agree that wiping away Lisa and Ben’s memories really didn’t help them at all and in fact, may have put them in more danger.  Castiel felt horrible about what Crowley did to Lisa and Ben so Cas did two things….saved her life and wiped the memories of Lisa and Ben so they couldn’t remember Dean and everything surrounding him.   While I wouldn’t have a problem if they wanted to wipe their memories of her current boyfriend and his death and their kidnapping, they shouldn’t have wiped the memories away of Dean completely.  The monsters that come after Dean will still know that Lisa and Ben mean something to him whether they have their memories or not.  So instead of being able to use some of the tricks Dean taught them so they can protect themselves, they won’t know that anymore because their memories are gone.  And I understand that this was done more so to wrap up the Lisa and Ben storyline for Dean and not have it hang out there anymore, but it still doesn’t make sense.  I know I’m nitpicking and they ultimately accomplished what they wanted…ending the Lisa and Ben story.  I just think it could have been handled better because technically, they really aren’t out of his life because evil can still go after them because Dean will always care about them.   Having said all that, it was a sweet gesture for him to want to get their lives back to normal.  It was crushing for him but, in Dean’s mind, it was better for them that they don’t know him and they don’t know what’s out there.  And now they can move forward peacefully with their lives.  One can hope.

As for Castiel and his mission, I don’t know what to think.  I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I’m not a Castiel fan.  I don’t hate the character, I just don’t have this overwhelming Castiel love that some people do.  I mean people go crazy for this guy and I don’t get it.  He’s a good character and over the last 2 seasons, I’ve liked the relationship he’s built with Sam and Dean.  But that’s it.  I think there have been much better characters on the show than Castiel (and much worse) but the heart of the show for me will always be Sam, Dean, and Bobby.  Not Castiel.  So his betrayal of Sam and Dean (if you want to even call it that) didn’t bother me as much because I always felt like as much as Castiel really likes the Winchesters, he would always put his love for God and the greater good, first.  As he should!  But this war in Heaven took it to a whole new level.  In fairness to Castiel, even though he made some questionable decisions that led him down a dark path, his goal was always to save the people.  Raphael wanted the apocalypse to happen and wipe out man kind so he can start all over again.  Castiel didn’t want that to happen.  You could argue, it’s because he cares about the Winchesters so much.  Before he met them, maybe he would have been on Raphael’s side and not cared so much.  But I doubt it.  That doesn’t seem to be who Cas is. But lately Cas showed many different sides to him so who knows at this point.  Deep down though, I think Castiel would have wanted to stop Raphael’s plan regardless of his connection with the Winchesters or not.   What I still don’t understand is why they are being so hard on Cas.  Both Sam and Dean have made deals with demons before to save someone they love and because they thought the end justified the means.  So why can’t they see that with Cas?  Cas is only working with Crowley so he can save Heaven from Raphael and therefore hundreds of millions of people.   But Castiel’s biggest problem and where I stop defending him is that he crossed too many lines in his quest for salvation.   And you have to wonder, at what point did this stop being about saving people and start being about a power trip for Castiel?   Because in my opinion, that’s what happened.

It started back in Frontierland when he had Balthazar unsink the Titanic to be able to kill more people who shouldn’t have lived (his justification) to get more souls.   Once he found out about the way to open the portal to Purgatory (the blood of a virgin, the blood of a creature from Purgatory, and some latin) he went on a murderous rampage.  He killed Ivy Crane and some virgin probably.  Then to distract Dean, he took down Sam’s wall.  Castiel was down right evil.  So right before our eyes, Castiel was becoming a darker and darker entity.  It could be because he felt alone and that everyone betrayed him.  Rachel was his lieutenant but she betrayed him (in his eyes because we don’t really know what happened.)  The Winchesters betrayed him by not being on his side and fighting against him. Balthazar betrayed him by going behind his back and telling the Winchesters about his plan so they could stop him.  And Raphael was never on his side.  It makes you wonder if anyone in Heaven was on Castiel’s side or did he become a rogue force.   From his standpoint, he had no one supporting him anymore so he was going to do whatever he though necessary to defeat Raphael.

Once Cas and Crowley had the blood and latin they needed they were ready to open the gate to Purgatory.  Only one problem, Cas doesn’t want Crowley around anymore so he hustles him away.  Crowley, being Crowley, does the only thing he can do….he now sides with Raphael to defeat Castiel.     When he shows up with Raph, he gives Cas the same ultimatum Cas gave him…flee or die.  So Cas flees but not before he swaps out the real blood for fake blood so Crowley and Raph can’t open the gate.  When he comes back to rub it in their faces, he tells him he opened the gate and now all the souls in Purgatory are inside of him making him one powerful son of  a bitch!   Crowley gets out of there real fast and Castiel kills Raphael with a snap his fingers.   Bobby and Dean are there to witness the whole thing and we are seeing a new Castiel.  Dean is shocked and tells him that they should get those souls out him so he doesn’t explode.  He refuses.  Meanwhile Sam has woken up and stumbles in with an angel sword and stabs Castiel.  It doesn’t work.  It’s because, according to Castiel, he is their new God.  If they chose not to believe in him or follow him, then they can all die.  Alrighty then!!!  This is right around the time the real God should show up and put Castiel in his place….and fast!!!!

I don’t know if Castiel can be redeemed at this point (I’m sure the writers will find a way) but I do know his relationship with the Winchesters will never be the same.  This is where I can finally empathize with Dean.  Once Castiel purposely took down Sam’s wall knowing what it could do to him so he could distract Dean, he would be dead to me.  I can’t see Dean or Sam forgiving that.   I don’t think I can.  Castiel may be at the point of no return.  And with all the power he now has with all the souls inside him, he becomes a very scary individual.

What does all this mean for Season 7?  Well, right off the bat the boys are going to have two things to deal with…first, Sam’s wall being down so now he remembers EVERYTHING and how that will affect him and second, Castiel walking around Heaven thinking he’s God but being a very powerful entity with lots of different sorts of souls inside him.  I don’t think the types of souls inside Castiel have any affect on his decision-making, I just think it makes him one very powerful pain in the ass.  First thing I hope for with Season 7 is a succinct, solid arc that is clear from the beginning to the viewers.  The second is that I hope is that the arc isn’t fixing Castiel.  That can be part of S7 but it better not be the main arc.  And third, continuing the individual monster hunts that build and connect to the main arc.   That’s what I want to see.  Overall, season 6 wasn’t my favorite.  In fact it was my least favorite.  But I still love the show and have a lot of faith in the story telling and the cast.    I already have lots of hope for Season 7.  And hey, every show is due a clunker of a season right?  Well now they have it out of their way and they can get back to what makes them great….solid, fascinating story telling with a stellar cast that can make you laugh or cry at the drop of demon blade.

 

Going Cross-Eyed

All 3 of my DVR’s were at 90-95% capacity (it doesn’t help that I have all the Boardwalk Empires and The Kennedys still on there) so I wasn’t kidding about them smoking!!   My husband and I spent our entire Sunday doing laundry and watching TV.  We started at 10am and didn’t stop until after midnight.  14+ HOURS OF TV WATCHING!!!   And I still have so much more to watch.  It’s crazy!!!

I finally got to see the finales of The Good Wife, Supernatural, Blue Bloods, HIMYM, Mike & Molly, Community, Criminal Minds, and The Mentalist and caught up on 6 episodes of Glee leading up to the finale tonight.  I still have to get to Grey’s, Private Practice, Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries and Nikita.  Needless to say, I have A LOT of reviewing to do.  I am going to get to all of them so please be patient and I will get them up as fast as I can.  Of course being away, my real job also has to factor into the catching up as well, but with the holiday weekend coming up, I should get caught up by then!

So keep checking back and I will get these up as quickly as possible!!

 

Back to Normal….Almost

We are driving back from our vacation. I hate leaving and it always goes so fast but I am ready to get home and burn through these season finales!! I can smell my DVRs burning from I-95.

Some of the priorities are going to be The Good Wife, Supernatural, The Mentalist, HIMYM, and Grey’s Anatomy. I have about 6 The Vampire Diaries and 11 Nikitas to get through so I probably won’t get to them until next weekend. But I hope to have most of those big ones up on Sunday…by the latest Tuesday.

I really appreciate everyone’s patience during this VERY busy TV week!

 

SEASON FINALE REVIEW: Bones “The Change in the Game” S6 E24

When Hart Hanson says “A Change in the Game” he sure wasn’t kidding!!!! That was quite a whopper of a last scene…on many levels! Angela and Hodgins had their new born son (complete with Billy Gibbons’ Michael cap) and Brennan had some pretty big news for Booth…she’s pregnant and the baby is his. Wait, what??? Back up a minute. Did Brennan just say she was pregnant with Booth’s kid? When the hell did that happen and why didn’t we get to witness at least some very very very early parts of that? Believe me I’m not complaining but I would-be lying if I didn’t mention that I was slightly disappointed. Although I’m not surprised Emily’s real life pregnancy was written into the show.

I hope no one minds, but I’m not going to get into the case of the bowler that was killed. With everything going on, I could have cared less about the case, who was killed, and why. Sorry! I will say though that I may need to see more episodes where Booth sports a mullet and Brennan has 1980s South Philly hair. Freaking fantastic!!! The only thing that really mattered was how many times, during the case, Brennan made comments about having kids with Booth or the way other children were behaving.

Before getting into the Booth and Brennan stuff, let’s talk about the birth of Michael Staccato Vincent Hodgins. How cute was it that he has Angela’s dad’s name request and Vincent’s name all as part of his official name? I loved it. I also loved the labor and delivery. Leading up to all that Angela is helping Wendell and Hodgins with their case while at the same time, eating enough hot sauce to season 100,000 chicken wings, to try to help speed her labor along. It works because her water breaks at the lab. Hodgins, for once, is staying calm while Ang goes into labor. He calmly speaks to her while she screams at him to get the car and the flashback to a freaking out Hodgins resurfaces when he flips out again and scrambles to find his car keys. They get to the hospital and Ang is hilarious. One minute she’s yelling at Hodgins and the doctor while the next she is being sweet as pie to them. Hodgins didn’t take the name calling so well but the doctor just took it all in stride. She’s seen it all before. The best part is while she’s in labor, she’s on a web cam still helping Wendell and Cam with the case. I seriously would have hurled that computer across the room before I worked while being in labor (with no drugs to boot !!!!). Angela is a much stronger woman than me! But right before the baby is born, they say the sweetest things to each other, about loving the sound of each other’s voice and how the touch of her hand resonates throughout his body. It was so touching. Michael is born and his vision is checked immediately. The doctor turns around and tells them that their baby boy is just fine and his vision is perfect! “After what they did by killing Vincent Nigel Murray, that kid’s vision better be perfect” my husband says to me. He is still very bitter about the last episode! Who can blame him?

This all leads to the crew waiting to hear news about Ang and Michael, Brennan visiting Ang and giving her a stuffed bunny from her and Booth, and Brennan’s conversation with Booth. I think it was pretty obvious that Emily’s pregnancy was going to be written into the show. A few episodes ago she mentioned how she would be the only one in the lab without a child. She mentioned several times in this episode how she and “Buck” would never raise a child like that (meaning the annoying brat on the bowling team). When she went to see Ang, her first question was about how labor was. And finally walking with Booth, she was asking about having children. So it was coming. The question was, how would this be possible? We haven’t seen (on camera) Booth and Brennan getting together so how could she be pregnant with his kid? Could Hart Hanson be THAT cruel? The answer is yes. It’s safe to assume this happened the night of VNM’s death when Brennan cried in Booth’s arms in his bed. Now there was a conversation with her and Angela, the next day, about her being in bed with Booth. It was a very vague conversation and even though Ang was excited, I thought she was reading too much into it and the writers were also leading us to believe that as well and it would turn out to not be true. Well so much for that. Thinking back, it makes sense because why would Brennan make a point to tell Ang about that night if nothing happened. Well folks, it happened. The thing all of us B&B fans have been waiting for for 6 seasons FINALLY happened. We just didn’t get to see it or enjoy it.

How do you feel about that? I’m pissed. Like I said before, don’t get me wrong. I’m THRILLED they finally got together and the baby is his and not some random motorcycle doctor’s kid (Castle fans will understand that reference). But are you kidding me???? Booth and Brennan have sex for the first time and we don’t even get to see a kiss? Really? I feel cheated. I feel like I have been waiting all this time for B&B to unite and they did but we didn’t get to share it with them. I mean, we couldn’t even get a kiss or a HUG after she told him the news. Nothing! I don’t get it. I know some people will think I am splitting hairs and other people may think that nothing is ever good enough but I don’t care. I understand the real life pregnancy needed to be written in. I get that. I just wish it would have started with a kiss or date or sex and then it slowly build to this. I really feel cheated. At the same time, I really liked the season finale and like the fact that we are starting to move B&B in the right direction. I just hope Hanson doesn’t pull one of those “they’re having a baby together but they aren’t together as a couple and they will need to learn to co-parent separately.”. I will never watch Bones again if a stunt like that is pulled. We deserve and B&B deserve to be happy together in a real relationship. I hope tonight’s finale was the start of that moving forward.

What did you think Bones fans? Did you like the finale? Do you love or hate the pregnancy bomb? Are you happy or mad about the way B&B getting together was handled? I want to hear from you!! One thing I do know, I can’t wait for September!!!

 

2011/2012 Fall and Mid Season Grids

I am still battling this dreaded 4G card that keeps kicking me off and it took me about 5 hours to post 2 posts.   Ugh!!!  So I need to wrap up for the day to go play a little afternoon golf!

I will update the new shows coming to a TV near you next season probably next week.  But if there are any early thoughts, post them below!

 

SEASON FINALE REVIEW: Castle “Knockout” S3 E24

I think I’m still trying to recoup from Monday night’s incredible season finale of Castle.  I am blown away by the work of the writing team, the crew, and of course the cast.  What a fantastic hour of television and it has now moved up to #2 on my favorite shows list (The Good Wife is still #1!)   That was one of the best season finales I have seen in a long time.  And it capped off a truly tremendous season for Castle!

There were many big moments in the episode so I will try to break them all down.  Some really stuck with me, some simply moved me, some surprised me, and some left me wondering.  But I am anxious to hear your thoughts when we wrap up.

We started the episode with Lockwood breaking out of prison with the help of some cops who turned dirty and are working for him.  This makes everyone frantic for Beckett’s safety.   I think we also start to see Beckett turn a little fearful.   How could she not?  This man is a professional and incredibly dangerous.   Montgomery puts a detail on Beckett but he pulls Castle into his office to have a conversation with him about Kate.   He tells her that she won’t stop until this case is solved, even if it kills her.   But the one person that could stop her from killing herself, is him.   At another point in the episode, Castle gets a visit from Jim Beckett, Kate’s dad.   A Jim Beckett sighting!!!  We were supposed to meet him in one of the earlier episode but unfortunately those scenes were cut.  It’s another thing that is so awesome about Castle.  Sometimes in an episode this big, you never introduce a new character because it can seem disjointed and out-of-place.   Jim Beckett’s arrival flowed perfectly with the episode and his being there made perfect sense.  It’s obvious with the way they are talking that Kate has talked to her dad quite a bit about Castle even though we have never actually seen those conversations.   And much like Montgomery telling Castle he needs to stop Kate, so does her father and he implores him to have a talk with his Katie.

Castle, who no doubt wanted to talk to Kate himself about how dangerous this is all getting, now how some other powerful people in his corner…her captain and her father.  If you saw the sneak peek I posted last week, this is the scene in that clip.   He tells Beckett that she needs to stop or else these guys are going to kill her and that if she doesn’t do it for herself, she should do it for the people who love her like her father and (hard gulp) Josh.  “What about you Rick?”   Hello!  She only calls him Rick when it’s REALLY personal.  But all the cards are finally on the table.  He brings up the kiss, he brings up almost dying in each other’s arms and that he isn’t sure what they are but he knows they are partners and friends.   “Is that what we are?”   Damn she is getting right to the point.  Almost as if he told her loved her right then and there, she would jump into his arms and they would make out and have sex for weeks!!  Alright maybe that was more wishful thinking but don’t lie, you thought it too.  He is starting to get frustrated because he doesn’t know what they are but he does know he doesn’t want her to die.  He also brings up a hard truth to her that if she figures out what happened to her mother, she will lose a piece of herself because she won’t know who she is without this case.  With that, she wants him out of her apartment.  Truth hurts!  But this is what makes C&B so great.   She is angry with him and yells at him that he doesn’t know her.   What she really wants to scream at him is “Damn it Castle, why do you have to know me so well….like no one else does!!”   And again, this could be my wishful thinking, but I think she is also upset that he is coming to tell her how to live her life when he can’t even tell her how he feels about her.   She knows he loves her.   He knows, that she knows, that he loves her….but tell her already!!!   I think she needs him to be the first one to say it so she can let her guard down and open up to him completely.  But until he does, she won’t.  So he leaves with no one blinking on the feelings front….at least, not yet!

This leads to another great scene with Castle and Martha.  Martha can be a cook sometimes but when it comes to scenes like this, she always hits it out of the park.  Susan Sullivan is always wonderful with Nathan Fillion in these scenes!  Castle is obviously torn.  He doesn’t know how to help Kate and he is so afraid for her life.  So he goes to his mother and asks her advise on what to do and how to help her.   She can see her son is in pain and at a loss for what to do for Beckett.  Martha tells him to not waste another minute.   He should tell her how he feels.

As the investigation moves forward, the team realizes the reason Lockwood killed McAllister and broke out of prison was to go after the 3rd cop involved and possibly Beckett as well.   So the team wants to find this 3rd cop.  Now there were plenty of hints as to who this 3rd cop was last week and this week before he was actually revealed.  First was last week.  I mentioned in my recap that I felt when we met Captain Montgomery’s wife and the mention of his retirement and everyone blowing it off saying “he’s not going anywhere” was a good indication that he was going to be the one that dies in the season finale.  If he is the one that’s dying, what better way to have him go out then him being the 3rd cop that Lockwood is hunting.   Then there were some oh so subtle moments in the season finale.  Like when the 3rd cop was mentioned by the team and Montgomery just slightly lowers his eyes and his head.  If that wasn’t a guilty look, I don’t know what is!!!   So it was not that big of a reveal when we learned that Montgomery was the 3rd cop.   What was also not surprising was his death.   Lockwood basically told Montgomery either Beckett or your family are going to die.   You pick.  You knew he was going to protect his family and you knew he wasn’t going to give up Beckett.  Therefore, Monty was going down.  What was brutal was how it went down.   He lures Kate to the airplane hangar claiming to new evidence.  As she arrives looking for the Captain, he appears in the dark.  Once he appears, she gets a text telling her the Montgomery is the 3rd cop.  He explains how everything went down when he was a rookie and as he is finishing up, Lockwood’s team appears to kill Kate.  So Montgomery tells Castle (who has been hiding the whole time) to get Kate out of there.  She refuses to leave knowing what’s about to happen and she tells Montgomery that she forgives him.  But Castle literally picks her up and drags her out of there kicking and screaming.  Flashing back and forth between Montgomery and Lockwood’s team facing off and Castle trying to keep Beckett safe and quiet was great to watch and the editing department did a great job with this scene.  You see Montgomery draw his gun and aim to shoot at Lockwood and his men but you don’t hear the first gun shot until you are flashed back to where Castle and Beckett are and you hear the gun fire with them.  So they know and we know what is going on….the Captain is taking one for Beckett and his family.  Montgomery takes most of Lockwood’s men out and when Lockwood goes to check on him, Montgomery gets one final shot into Lockwood’s gut killing him.    Thank God.   When it’s all over, Beckett runs back in and cries over her Captain.  It was a touch scene to watch.  What was also tough was when Ryan and Esposito found out about Montgomery and neither one wanted to believe it, especially Esposito.  He fights Ryan for a bit but then realizes the person he was mad at was his Captain, not Ryan.   But they are both devastated by what they learn and Seamus Deaver and Jon Huertas were incredible in all their scenes but particularly that one.

As we get to the funeral scene, we flash to Montgomery’s office where Castle, Beckett and the boys are all sitting and Beckett tells them that no one, other than the four of them, will ever know about Montgomery being the 3rd cop.  He was a hero and he will be remembered as such.  We see Beckett and the boys in their dress blues as the pall bearers for the service and we Captain Montgomery’s wife and children there.  And I was crying my eyes out as usual.  Beckett gets up to eulogize her boss and at the very end, Castle notices a reflection of light in the cemetery coming from behind a grave stone.  He sees it aimed right at Beckett and he runs to protect her as the shot rings out.  People scatter and Beckett is on the ground….she’s been shot!!!!  Rick tells her to stay with him and then comes the big bomb…..he tells her he loves her and to please stay with him!!!   Guess who finally blinked!!!!

Now people have been calling this a cliffhanger.  I guess it is but usually the cliffhanger is, will Beckett survive the shooting.   The answer is….OF COURSE SHE IS!!!!  But I guess the real cliffhanger is what happens as a result of not just her shooting, but Castle telling her he loves her.   I have 2 guesses.  The first is that she reciprocates and we move forward in the series with them as a couple.   The other guess is that she loses lots of blood, survives but has memory loss and doesn’t remember Castle telling her that he loves her.  He doesn’t repeat it because Josh, the doctor boyfriend, is healing her and Beckett and Josh have gotten closer as a result.  So out of respect for them, Castle steps back.   I really hope for guess #1 to come true but I worry guess #2 is closer to what will really happen.  I don’t know that for sure, it’s just a guess.  And Andrew Marlowe is on record saying that Victor Webster (Josh) will be back next season.   Ugh!

What an incredible season of Castle this has been.  I remember when this was just a cute little show with a great cast that was pure entertainment for my Monday nights.  Now with the addition of some pretty spectacular ongoing cases (Beckett’s mom’s killer and 3XK)and the chemistry the entire cast has built, not only with C&B but with everyone involved,  this has become must-see-TV and is one of the best shows on TV.   From a drama standpoint, I don’t think there are two better written shows out there right now than Castle and The Good Wife.  Parenthood comes in a close 3rd, but those 2 are far and away the best.   I can’t say enough about Andrew Marlowe and his writing team who have done a phenomenal job this season.  And I also can’t say enough about the stellar cast…Tamala Jones, Molly Quinn, Susan Sullivan, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Jon Huertas, Seamus Dever, Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion….OUTSTANDING!!!!  I will really miss Santiago-Hudson and his character of Captain Roy Montgomery.   I always thought he was  a tough but fair leader in the 12th.  I am curious to see if Beckett gets a promotion out of this or if they bring in someone else.   If they bring in someone else, they are going to have big shoes to fill!   I think Castle definitely deserves some Emmy nods in many departments and especially Stana and Nathan for acting but they had an incredible season!

I hate this layoff because I already can’t wait for next season!!!!  But at least this will give me some time to reflect on the shows a bit more and start to guess about what will happen in the fall for season 4.

What did you think Castle fans?   Best episode ever?   Best season so far?   Were you pleased with the finale?  Are you sad to see Captain Montgomery go?   And what do you think will result from Castle telling Kate he loves her!!!!   I want to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for a great first season (with me at least) and I really appreciate all the loyal readers out there (especially my loyal Castle readers!!)  See you in the fall (but probably sooner!!!)

 

SEASON FINALE REVIEW: Survivor Redemption Island S22

Was that not the most boring and unsurprising final tribal council ever?   Was anyone even remotely concerned that Rob Mariano wasn’t going to win $1 million.  I wasn’t.  Once Andrea was the one that came back from RI, I knew Rob would win the million.

What started with so much promise for a great season really turned into a stinker and probably one of the worst Survivor seasons ever.   My two cents for anyone who ever wants to play Survivor….if all you are going to do is ride coattails or go out there to make friends, or just lollygag your way through the 39 days, please, don’t put in a tape and tryout for Survivor.   It’s horrible to watch.  I’ve never been more frustrated watching in group of people play a cutthroat game like Survivor in my life.  Between Zapatera’s ineptness and stupid game play to Ometepe’s complete LACK of game play, it was terrible.   And then to hear people like Ashley in her exit interview say things like “I wouldn’t have changed anything about how I played the game.”   ARE YOU SERIOUS?   Did you last 35+ days?   You sure did.   Did you do ANYTHING to warrant winning $1 million?  Nope.   So how could you say you wouldn’t change a thing?  You may not have a Boston Rob next time to tell you what to do.   Then what are you going to do?    My husband thinks I was overly hard on Ashley but I don’t think I was.    There were MANY opportunities she had to take Rob out of the game and she never bothered to entertain the idea.  How she ever thought that sitting with Rob in the finals, she still had a chance to win the money, is beyond me.  That’s what bugs me the most.  None of these people thought about the people who could beat them in the final 3.  Not One!!!   When planning to get to the end, you HAVE to think about who you are going to sit next to for the best chance to win.  Not your best friend.  Not the person who helped you get there.  The people you can beat is who you should be taking.   Actually you know who thought about that strategy?  Rob.   Guess who won the million dollars?   Rob.   At least Philip tried to go with a strategy to get to the end.  It was an awful strategy but it was one to try.  It worked in that Rob took him to the finals.  But Philip pissed off so many people (except Ralph) that no one would vote for him.   It was a more twisted form of the Russell Hantz strategy.   But I give Rob a lot of credit.   He played a terrific game with the hand he was dealt and rode it all the way to a million dollars.  He’s says he’s done playing Survivor, but we’ll see.

I wasn’t sure how this last episode was going to go with all the RI people still left and eight people to get through.   But they did a good job moving through it quickly.   And as much as I dislike RI, I loved it for 2 simple reasons….no boring filler moments from camp leading up to the final TC and no fallen comrades montage!!!!  I have always HATED the fallen comrades piece and I was thrilled beyond thrilled to see it gone from this episode!!!  I still think, overall, that I am NOT a fan of RI.  Now that the season is done and I watched it play out, I didn’t like it.    I think once you are voted out of the game, you should be out of the game with no chance to come back.   That’s my opinion.  Now maybe it was because this season had a bunch of people who could so easily be swayed and directed that RI didn’t really have much impact and I am willing to give it one more season to see.   But I’m skeptical.  In this season, the 2 people who came in, went right back out.  No drama and no change or impact.  So I don’t really know what purpose it served.

You know what really cracks me up every season I watch Survivor?   The interrogation from the jury to the final contestants.  Specifically the issue with honesty and playing the game with integrity.  This always drives me crazy.  The game is OUTWIT, Outlast, Outplay.  People behave and act differently on the island of Survivor than they do in real life.  So why is it that every single jury from season 1 through season 22, has someone who feels the need to make the finalists feel like shit because they made a move that was “questionable” to get further in the game?  I know people get hurt and it’s a tough game but it is a GAME.   Not real life.  I’m sure there are people who are who they are on the show (Na’Onka) but I would assume most people act one way on the show and another way in the real world.  Boston Rob said it best on the reunion show.   It’s such a hard game because you go in not planning on creating any real relationships but you do.  It’s human nature.   Survivor is a game but the relationships on the island are very real and it’s  a very slippery slope between the two.   You would hope, everyone (or at least 95% of the people) who play the game would understand it and not take it personally.  I’ve never played Survivor so maybe it’s easy for me to sit here and say “suck it up!”  But I was pretty pissed at the low blow Julie took when she brought up how people’s family’s would feel toward’s their game play.   I know what she was trying to say but it really came out awful…especially Natalie.  Say what you want about Natalie being brainless or not very bright or whatever but I think people forget that she is 19 years old.  She just graduated high school!  You remember how “smart” you were when you were 19?   I know I was an idiot!  Some would say I still am!!!   I agree with Julie that Natalie should have been tougher and not so easily swayed by Rob but you know what, Survivor gave her a great life lesson.  Stand up for yourself and make sure that YOU are always dictating the path you want your direction to go in….not someone else.  There are many people who need to be in a certain situation for them to learn that.  Unfortunately, Natalie’s situation was on national TV for all to critique.  But I still thought for Julie to ask if her mother would be proud of her, was unnecessary.

As for the reunion show, it was also a downer.  Not as interesting as year’s past.  Although I was happy to see Philip extend his hand and apologize to Steve for calling him a racist and I was also happy to see Steve return the handshake and accept the apology.  That was a cool moment.  One thing that Probst brought up that I disagreed with was when he and Julie were discussing strategy. Julie mentioned that she was frustrated that the girls would never make a move or do anything.   But then Probst threw back in her face that the girls (meaning Ashley and Natalie) got further than she did.  While he isn’t technically wrong, I think he’s missing the point.  Julie’s goal is to get Julie farther in the game.  That’s what she was trying to do.  But she needs help to do that.  The girls were never going to do that because that’s not what Rob told them to do.  Hence her frustration.  Also, and this goes back to what I said before, that while Ashley and Natalie’s strategy may have gotten them further in the game than Julie, they still didn’t do what they needed to do to win a million dollars.  So even though Ashley and Natalie came in 4th and 3rd respectively, they aren’t millionaires either, just like Julie.

Survivor is heading into it’s 12th year and season 23 in the fall and they are heading to the islands of the South Pacific.  “There is nothing like a dame!!  Nothing in the world.   There is nothing you can name that is anything like a dame!!!”  Sorry, I had to break out the Rodgers and Hammerstein there.   But guess what is happening next season……RI is returning and 2 more former contestants are  coming back to play the game.  RI coming back I can deal with because like I said, it may play out very differently with other people playing the game.   But another 2 former contestants coming back again?   Is this what is going to happen with Survivor?  We are just going to keep bringing former Survivors back to play?  I don’t like that.  I don’t mind All-Star shows or Heroes vs. Villains shows….they are some of my favorites.  But I don’t like mixing veteran Survivors with newbies.   Let the newbies play and see what happens.  And then have the experiences players face off against one another.   I think when you add the vets with the newbies, it really changes the dynamic and not for the better.  Again, maybe this season will be different, but I’m not encouraged.    Regardless, this is the only reality show I watch and it is the best and as long as Survivor is on the air, I will be watching it!!

Thanks for a great season!   See you in the fall.   “Bali Hai may call you….”   Last R&H song I promise!