Category: Television

Doctor Who 6×1 – The Impossible Astronaut

I’m going to warn you right off the bat that this review/recap will be full fo spoilers (with one crazy theory attached at the end). If you haven’t seen the episode yet, you are probably going to want to stop here and wait until you do. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

The first episode of season 6 of Doctor Who starts with the whole gang being reunited… in Utah. The Doctor wants them all to take a trip – to 1969, which is the year of the moon landing.

The only thing we knew going in to this episode was that someone was supposed to die. Less than 10 minutes in and we see that it is the Doctor. Obviously this has to be some kind of cheat episode where we kill him but then find a way to bring him back or make it so it never happens (or does it?). Whether this all sorts itself out or not, it’s still a phenomenal way to start a season, killing off the title character.

Or so it seems…

It would seem a future incarnation of the Doctor recruited Rory, Amy, River, and a past version of himself to work together – but for what?! All I can say is Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey. I love time travel!

The rest of the episode drops our group in the middle of the White House and a problem Nixon is having with a mystery caller. The sight of the Doctor sitting behind the desk in the oval office, looking like he runs the whole country is absolutely brilliant!

The Silence is our recurring villain, which was introduced last season and is finally being revealed now. They are truly terrifying creatures that seem to play with people’s memories. The person only seems to be able to remember the Silence if they are face-to-face. This is mostly likely going to be a recurring theme for this season, so we’re going to have to pay special attention to each detail.

The end of the episode has two big reveals – 1) Amy tells the Doctor that she is pregnant. 2) It turns out that the astronaut is the same little girl that has been President Nixon’s mystery caller. There’s almost definitely more to this story, but we’re going to have to wait until next week to find out what it is.

Now, after seeing the episode, my question is – could the astronaut be River when she is a young girl? She says at one point that she kills “a very good man”. She also says they meet for the first time when she is “very young”. We see at the end of this episode that it is a little girl in the astronaut suit. Finally, it has been hinted (if not explicitly said) that the Doctor comes to River when he knows he is going to die. (Sorry, I would have to watch Silence in the Library again to get everything exactly right). Going back to my theory though – Does it fit in River’s timeline if somehow she is the astronaut, and the Doctor knows she is the one meant to kill him in that time and place? I know it’s hard to believe, but I’ve thought it through and it all seems to fit. I would love to hear your thoughts on this possibly crazy theory.

Doctor Who – The Big Bang

Lots of stuff happened in part 1 of our 2-part series finale, with lots more left to digest in part 2. Let’s just skip through a quick SPOILER ALERT and get down to it, cause there’s lots to discuss.

We left The Doctor being locked in the Pandorica, which turns out was basically a prison that every other species in the Universe made for him, while lots of other bad things happened simultaneously (TARDIS blowing up, etc). With the fate of the Universe hanging in the balance, the stakes have never been higher than right now. And it’s all up to little Amy Pond to set everything right.

Things I loved about this episode: I loved the opening and slowly seeing what the after effects of last week’s episode were for the rest of the Universe. And I loved all the signs that were left for mini Amy (and having the two Amys meet). I also loved using the complexities of time travel to help solve the problem. And I loved Rory the Robot playing his part in protecting Amy – hell, I loved just having him back in general. And I loved the analogy of “rebooting the Universe” as if it were a computer. Basically I loved everything about this episode. There were moments of fun mixed in with all the tension and pressures of the Big Problem. (example – The fez The Doctor wears for bits of the episode). It was an ending Steven Moffat should be proud of. When River says our solution will make it so The Doctor will never have been born, a part of me was sad and scared (even though I knew there had to be a way to fix it). To be nervous about something even knowing it can’t really be the end, that takes real talent. That is the kind of genius that Steven Moffat has brought to Doctor Who.

Five-star moment of the week – without a doubt it had to be watching The Doctor rewind through his timeline. The moment when we see him talk to Amy from back during The Time of Angels and realize she is the key to keeping him from blinking out of existence for good was possibly one of my top moments in Doctor Who history (and there have been a lot of good moments, you have to admit). Flash to her wedding (which I was really happy to see finally happen) and her remembering The Doctor back into existence and you get one of the best nights with The Doctor ever.

What did you think of the series finale (or the series in general)? Sound off in the comments section below.

Doctor Who – The Pandorica Opens

Welcome to part 1 of the two part fifth series finale of Doctor Who. It seemed like we had to wait ages for the premiere, and yet we are already wrapping up another great season with The Doctor and his companion. *Here begins Spoil Time, kids*

We certainly started this one off with a bang, seeing the return of both Vincent and River. We also got a lovely painting of the TARDIS exploding and hints of the Pandorica opening (which is apparently supposed to be a myth, according to our friend The Doctor). Yep, not five minutes in and we already can tell this is going to be a good one.

Remember last week when I said all our adventures seem to happen in dark, creepy places? Yeah, cue the dark creepy cave where we find the Pandorica. So much for it being a myth! I guess even The Doctor can be wrong on occasion. The bad news here is this thing holds some big bad that is now making its great escape. Oh, and it gets better – because there is a signal being broadcast telling everyone in the area about this event. Every alien that ever wanted The Doctor dead is now coming straight for him! Daleks, Cybermen, and much, much more. You name it, they are probably on their way. How are our heroes supposed to fight with odds like that?

With no weapons and absolutely no plan, I still love The Doctor’s chances here. He will win because, like he said, he’s got nothing to lose – except the Universe itself. Oh, and the TARDIS which is looking like the source of all the cracks in time. We know the cracks were caused by a really big explosion, and The Doctor pulled out a piece of the TARDIS from one of those cracks. It would appear that the TARDIS exploding causes several rifts in time, the first one we notice being the one in Amy’s bedroom. Which is probably why River ends up back at Amy’s house – because it all goes back to her somehow.

Sidebar before I do my final wrap-up: I was completely (and pleasantly) surprised to see the return of Amy’s fiance, Rory. (Even better was seeing him as a Roman soldier. I loved how long it took The Doctor to process that one). It was great seeing him again and even better seeing Amy slowly remember who he was.

Back to the story – It turns out that the Romans aren’t real and the whole thing is an elaborate trap to get The Doctor’s attention. Other bad things that all happen within the last five minutes include – The Pandorica opening, the TARDIS exploding, an alliance of basically every creature in the universe capturing The Doctor inside the Pandorica, Rory shooting Amy (with her looking quite lifeless as he holds her in his arms), and the pending doom that is the potential end of the Universe as we know it. If you’re wondering how we make all of this better, then you’re gonna have to wait till next week. This is proving, so far, to be one of the best finales Doctor Who has had. It’s definitely right up there with my personal favorite up until this point, Season 3. The Master’s complete dominance over The Doctor for a majority of the 3-part story had me on the edge of my seat. I don’t think my jaw has ever dropped as low as it did tonight though. As a voice echoed, “Silence will fall,” I noted how that could apply to the events happening on the show, as well as the silence in our own homes as we watched in astonishment at how epically bad things had gotten for our heroes.

Thus concludes this week’s recap. What did you think of tonight’s episode? And how do you think The Doctor is going to get out of the biggest trap he’s had to face yet? As always, sound off in the comments section below. And don’t forget to tune in next week for the thrilling conclusion. Here’s a preview of what to expect:

Doctor Who – The Lodger

Sorry about the uber late post, folks. It’s been a crazy week. Here is your overdue recap of the last episode, “The Lodger”. It goes without saying that there are plenty of SPOILERS for those who haven’t watched yet. You have been warned.

The street may look like any other street, but on it resides the creepiest house ever. The perfect place for The Doctor to take up residence. After all, The Doctor seems to have a thing for dark and creepy places. That is where all the action tends to be. (One wonders where he learned to cook amidst all of those adventures). Speaking of which, this line basically summed up my criteria for future relationships – You’re weird and you can cook – it’s good enough for me. But back to the show…

It was odd having The Doctor and Amy being separated for a majority of the episode. Also odd was having The Doctor making an attempt at being “normal” – although that was the good kind of odd. His attempts were actually quite hilarious at times, especially the shower scene and him playing football. Overall the episode was abnormal in the amount of normality involved. There wasn’t a lot of science fiction/fantasy involved (outside of the weird time loops and the spaceship that ended up being responsible for it all).

Favorite scene: It would have been The Doctor saving his new flatmate (b/c it reminded me of how he cured himself from when he was poisoned) but the scene where he shares details of his life via headbutt was pretty fantastic. Oh, and the final ten minutes were pretty fantastic as well. They were fun and kinda cheesy and everything Doctor Who should be. But that is just one blogger’s opinion.

What did you think of this episode? I saw a few complaints online that it wasn’t as good as the rest of the season (which is valid) but on its own I thought it was enjoyable enough. Feel free to agree/disagree in the comments section below.

Blame It On Rio Bravo, Happy Town

Alright, kids, this is it. Here is my recap of the Happy Town finale. I know what you’re thinking, it was way too short. Eight episodes just isn’t enough time for a show to fully develop. Well tell that to ABC, folks. Actually, don’t waste your breath. I’m sure plenty of you have written letters and even joined the campaign to #SaveHappyTown but it hasn’t done any good. Let’s just enjoy what little time we’ve got left instead of crying over spilt milk. So, without further ado, here is my recap off the series finale of Happy Town – Blame It On Rio Bravo. It goes without saying that there will be huge amounts of SPOILERS, so you should probably stop reading now and watch the episode on ABC before you go any further. You have been warned.

Last week we finally learned what was up with Henley and the mystery hammer – apparently it was used by Peggy Haplin to kill Alice Conroy. (Too bad we’ll never find out why Haplin killed her *grumble* She goes to the police station to try to tell Tommy about this, but he is too busy dealing with Magic Man related things to listen to some crazy girl he’s never met before tell him wild tales of murder and mystery. They have just arrested Dan Farmer as their prime suspect, and Greggy Stiviletto has the whole town outside the police station ready to dispense some homemade justice. Tommy calls for back-up but our friend Mr. Grieves calls pretending to be Conroy and cancels it. You want a mystery that could have been good for a couple of seasons, then look no further than this guy. And while we’re talking mystery – why does Greggy want the Magic Man dead so bad?! Whatever the reason, they have the wrong guy so it really doesn’t matter. Amy Acker, I mean, Rachel takes one look at him and confirms his claim that he is not their man. Back to square one, I guess.

The police may know that Farmer is innocent, but the rest of the town doesn’t. They still want his head on a platter and have taken a hostage to try to persuade the police to cooperate. Said hostage is John Haplin, who probably wishes he were anywhere other than where he is right now. Merritt Grieves works his silver tongue and gets Haplin freed from the angry mob. Seriously, what is up with this guy?! Dude is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle and sprinkled with mystery sauce.

Things are pretty tense inside the police station, with both sides pointing their guns in each other’s faces. Round of applause for Tom Conroy Sr and his fantastic entrance on the scene: guns blazing with proclamations of his left hand working again. Right from the start he was the one who first dragged my attention to this show. Sure he was kinda crazy when we first met him, but that was part of what kept us interested. After all, crazy is totally the middle name of this show.

With the town finally dispersed, we send Farmer off in an ambulance, except it’s all part of an elaborate plan to help him escape. And Merritt Grieves is the one who helps him! I’m usually good at predicting these things but I did not see that one coming. Kudos for keeping me on my toes right up until the end.

With things settling down at the police station, Tommy confronts his father about his mother’s death. Daddy says something about the town being wicked and how things work here in Haplin, which is not the answer Tommy wants to here. Jr drives off to confront Peggy Haplin, while Sr drives off with Henley right on his tale. The tension builds as the Magic Man is about to finally be revealed. Or, it would build if it weren’t for their interesting taste in music on this show. In the final moments it is revealed that the Magic Man is *drumroll please*

Alice?!

Yes, it turns out that Alice has been alive the whole time and is really the Magic Man. Oh, and Tom Conroy knew this and never said anything. All because of some mystery in the town that was never fully explained. Georgia and Andrew were planning on leaving until Peggy told her grandson something about the family that changed his mind. And Henley? We still don’t know what her connection to the Magic Man was. We assume someone she cared about was one of the missing people but don’t know the full story. I’m glad the big mystery surrounding the identity of the Magic Man was revealed, but giving us a peak at what promised to be an interesting town that is oozing with more mysteries to share is just mean. The show had a lot of potential that will never be explored. It’s a shame really but that’s the way the game seems to be played these days.

What were your thoughts on the series finale (or the show in general)? Were you satisfied with what little we got, or is there something else you would liked to have seen before the curtain closed? Sound off in the comments section below.

Dallas Alice Doesn’t Live Here in Happy Town Anymore

*Yada, yada, yada, SPOILERS AHEAD*

This week’s episode started with the aftermath of Big Dave’s death and some dead birds in the forest. While at Dave’s funeral, Tommy has a run-in with Mrs. Friddle that leaves questions as to whether his mother’s death was a natural one like he thought or if maybe something else happened to her that no one told him about. He brings these concerns to his father who tells him that at one point he had thought it was murder but eventually chalked it up to just needing someone else to blame for his loss. He says he eventually accepted her death, and Tommy should too. It looks like they are going to drop this story right up until the end – when Henley walks into the police station and hands Tommy the mystery hammer, claiming it is the weapon Peggy Haplin used to kill his mother. #shockoftheday So what should we ask first, why Peggy killed Alice or how the hell Mrs. Friddle knew about it? Both very good questions to add to the heaping pile of them this show has buried us in.

Going back a little to how Henley got the hammer back in the first place – with the help of her new best friend Merritt Grieves, of course! Henley has asked Grieves to help her break into Peggy Haplin’s home to retrieve the hammer. Since Grieves was invited to a party there, he says it shouldn’t be a problem. I loved the comment about being the only Brit at a Daughters of the American Revolution event. Anyone else find the funny in that one? Henley goes poking around the house only to be caught by Peggy Haplin. Based on how they were talking it seems they know each other from way back when, or at least know some of the same people. Will the mysteries surrounding this girl never cease? I sure hope we find out everything there is to know about her in a somewhat satisfying way before this whole thing wraps up next week. My only concern is that anything we do find out will feel too forced because of the shortened time-span. Back to the present though… Grieves eventually manages to get both the hammer and Henley away from the house. Peggy is none too happy to find out that she has been betrayed by someone she thought had cared about her. If I were Greives, I would watch out for the Queen Bee’s wrath.

So remember back in the previous episode when Dan Farmer told Georgia not to tell anyone about him or else? Well she totally ignores him and tells Tommy Conroy. She goes one step further though and fingers him as the Magic Man. Truth? Possibly. He definitely seems psycho enough that he could do something like this. Tommy works out a plan to tip Farmer off that they know about the trailer then follow him to see what he does next. Farmer must realize what they are up to though, because he blows up his truck to set the cop off his trail. He steals the Stiviletto’s truck and drives to the boarding house. He then proceeds to kidnap Dot Meadows and takes her to the woods where she had previously filed a police report on some dead birds (and you thought I had forgotten about them from the beginning of the episode, didn’t you?). Farmer takes Dot Meadows to the same spot Big Dave had found (where he thought the Magic Man had been hiding his victims). This makes it seem like he could very well be the man they are looking for. A couple townsfolk stumble upon the site, shoot him, and drag him to the police station. He claims he is not the Magic Man, just the one who is going to catch him and mumbles something about being “so close”. Looks like another wrong turn on the path to finding who the Magic Man is. Or is it…? At least we don’t have too much longer to wait, right?

Thus concludes this week’s recap of Happy Town. Next week was scheduled to be the series finale, but instead they have posted it online for us to watch now. Guess they have completely given up on the show and just don’t care anymore. Hopefully all our questions have at least been answered with some satisfaction. Feel free to leave any comments you might have on the show, as well as any questions you feel need answering. I’m going to wait to watch the finale, so please no spoilers on how it all ends until after I post my recap.

Happy Town – Questions and Antlers

Sorry for the late post here, but now that I’m done with summer classes it shouldn’t happen again. Perfect timing considering next week is going to be the series finale…

This is the recap for the June 16th episode. I’m watching last night’s episode today as well, so you’ll be getting that recap shortly. For now, enjoy this little flashback to events past and see if it connects any dots you might have missed on your own viewing. Of course it goes without saying that there will be plenty of SPOILERS for those who are even further behind than I am. Consider yourselves warned.

Last week we seemed to be getting closer to finally figuring out who the Magic Man is. Boy were we wrong there…

We picked up this week at the police station with John Haplin being questioned about the severed hand that showed up in the bread factory in a previous episode. They get interrupted by Mrs. Friddle who is there to accuse Dave Duncan of killing her husband. Because Tommy Conroy really thought he was keeping that one a secret forever, right? Conroy realizes it has gone too far when John Haplin is about to be charged with the crime, so he asks Dave to come into the station and confess. Dave asks for time so he can tell his mother and uses that as a chance to make a run for it. While running through the woods he falls through a hole underground that has seven cages and thinks he has found where the Magic Man was holding his victims. When he tries to show Tommy though, he can’t find the spot anymore and becomes extremely agitated. Well, that’s the nice way of putting it. Really he goes crazy and starts yelling how he’s not crazy and he’s not going to jail and Tommy is not going to be able to stop him. Tommy, realizing his friend has lost it, has no choice but to shoot him. It was kill or be killed, and no one wants to be killed, right?

The other big story has been Henley and all the mysteries that surround her. Merritt Grieves got involved last week when he said he would transport a briefcase for her. That briefcase was stolen en route with no clue as to who did it. Henley thinks she knows though – Greggy Stiviletto. She goes to confront him about this in an interesting way. I was always a little suspicious of Greggy, but the way Henley has him chained up makes me think she may actually be the crazier of the two of them. What the hell is this girls story?! Seriously, I never pictured Greggy to be the sane one in that pair. Eventually she gets him to talk and we find out he was just doing it because Peggy Haplin told him too. I guess being ordered by basically the Queen of the town is a good enough reason to do something.

The semi-new (but kinda sorta connected to the original) big story is the two kids stumbling on that trailer in the woods and getting trapped inside. It turns out the owner of said trailer is the same guy who kidnapped Georgia the first time around (although anyone else think of V for Vendetta when he was making the crepes in that one scene?). Georgia is now stuck alone in a trailer with the creepiest guy ever. “Where’s Andrew?” you ask. He’s chained to the outside of the trailer. Oh, and creep is actually Dan Farmer, police officer!!! I knew there was something off about that guy when we first met him way back in one of the first episodes. It turns out he is a psycho obsessed cop who is determined to find the Magic Man… by any means necessary. He does eventually let the kids go, but warns them what will happen if they tell anyone what he did to them.

For those who are curious, the song at the end of this episode was “Hand of Fate” by The Rolling Stones. With all of Dan Farmer’s talk about the hand of fate, I guess they thought it was appropriate.

That’s all I have to say for this one. Feel free to leave any comments you want, but more discussion about predictions for the finale will come in the recap for this week’s episode, so keep that in mind.

Doctor Who – Vincent and the Doctor

As usually is the case when doing a review/recap of a thing, SPOILERS HAPPEN HERE. So you should probably go watch the episode being reviewed before reading any further. Just saying…

This week’s episode features one of my favorite artists: Vincent van Gogh (played brilliantly by Tony Curran). Anyone who thought they recognized the actor might remember him from Underworld: Evolution (he played Marcus) or any number of guest appearances on various shows (The Mentalist, 24, and Numb3rs being among them). Full list of credits can be found here.

Van Gogh may be one of the most famous painters today, but back in his day he was not so fortunate. It’s a shame really, because his work is actually quite good. One of my favorite paintings of all time is his Starry Night. (For those who care, my other favorite is Portrait of a German Officer by Marsden Hartley). But that really has nothing to do with van Gogh or Doctor Who, so I should probably move along to something more relevant…

Van Gogh suffered from mental illness, something I am quite interested in as a Psychology student. Even without that psychological background though, you could still tell it was going to be interesting to see how crazy old van Gogh would interact with The Doctor. I definitely was not disappointed. Especially not with invisible creatures that only the crazy painter can see running around. (Sidebar: loved The Doctor’s gadget that made it so he could see the beast-y as well). Armed with “overconfidence, this [referring to a briefcase holding gadget-of-the-day] and a small screwdriver” he finds said beast-y inside the church that van Gogh is painting and goes after it.

A word to The Doctor – you should know that when you tell Amy to wait somewhere, she is NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO YOU. So really you should just stop trying and let her do her own thing.

Because she’s going to anyway.

Whether you like it or not.

So there.

Moving right along then…

Beast-y bites the dust thanks to a lethal case of the stabs brought on by Vincent, and thus ends that part of the story. Favorite moment for me came right after when we saw through van Gogh’s eyes and into the heart and soul of previously mentioned favorite painting, Starry Night. Yes, I am an art geek (among other things). No, I am not ashamed of this. In fact, I hope this inspires others to go check out an art museum sometime and experience some of his work (and others) for themselves.

Second favorite moment was van Gogh getting a peek inside the TARDIS. I love everyone’s usual reaction of “OMG it’s bigger on the inside” but his was especially good – “How is it I’m the crazy one and you’ve remained sane”. And thank you very very much to The Doctor for showing Vincent van Gogh how important his work is going to become to future generations. He may be about ready to die in his time, but now he knows that his work will live forever. It reminded me of when he did a similar thing for Charles Dickens in letting him know his books would be timeless. I only can wish that someone like The Doctor really comes around and lets these greats know how truly special they were.

Doctor Who – Cold Blood

Sorry for the late recap here, folks. (I seem to be saying that a lot lately). Once June is over there will be a lot less going on, so the last few Doctor Who episodes will be watched when they are actually on. For now, enjoy this recap of Cold Blood. It was part 2 of the episode from the week before.

*I’m sure it goes without saying but – SPOILER ALERT*

The Doctor and his female companion (not Amy) have both been taken by the Silurians underground. He tries to negotiate a peaceful solution, but the Silurians just counter with a proposal of their own – his execution. Meanwhile, Amy has escaped from her Silurian captors and is in search of The Doctor. And the Silurian that had been taken by our human group is trying to provoke them into killing her in order to fuel conflict between the two species. Yet again I have to say how much I love these stories about human nature. I said in last week’s recap how the Silurians always seem to really bring this out. I have loved all the flashbacks to past situations, and continued to do so with this episode.

Eventually the whole group gets reunited, but only to be captured again. The leader eventually realizes what is going on and tries to settle the issue peacefully though. Other things I love about the Silurians – the fact that some of them actually want to be peaceful about this. Just like us humans, some are more violent than others. It’s great to see this portrayal that not all aliens are bad. That different does not have to be a bad thing.

Back to the story though – Things are looking bad for our heroes with the death of the Silurian they had captured. The Doctor gives another of his epic speeches about the future being dependent on what happens today and Amy gives about the same reaction I would – “Well, no pressure there.” Brilliant!

Other things I liked about this episode – how half of it was from the point of view of the lead Silurian. And how said Silurian actually seemed to be willing to work with the humans at a peaceful solution. He actually wanted them all to work together. IR students, take note. Peaceful negotiations actually work when both sides are willing to bring something to the table. True there will always be radicals in every group, but they usually represent the minority. A strong leader who is willing to work towards a change can do remarkable things.

On the other hand, sometimes that one radical can really mess things up. The lesser of the group becomes the representative of the whole race. One human makes a mistake and it has the potential to destroy everything. All because they choose the violent solution. See, people, violence never solves anything. I was really disappointed that a peaceful solution was in sight and then destroyed by one human. The Doctor has always had to let the Silurians down, and I really wanted to see some redemption for him here. I did love the idea, however, of making it so they would get another chance at sharing planet Earth 1,000 years from now. Hopefully that is enough time for the human race to sort itself out and finally learn how to co-exist with other species.

Final bit of academics for the day – how were Rory and Amy both on the hill if Rory dies here? I guess you’re going to tell me that time traveling changed things but that will just lead to a huge paradoxical debate (which are fun but take up loads of time that I don’t really have here). I mean, Rory doesn’t just die – all the memories of him get wiped. Maybe that makes it less painful for Amy, but that doesn’t necessarily make it better. I was angry at Rory’s death, and Amy should be too. I really wanted the two of them to make it till happily ever after.

The final scene where they reveal the piece of the TARDIS suggests very big things are going to happen in the last few weeks. Make sure you stay tuned, because you’re not going to want to miss a single second of it.

This Is Why We Stay in Happy Town

Sorry about the massive delay on this recap, folks, but my schedule for the past week or so has been pretty crazy. But you don’t really care about that, do you? You just want to soak up as much Happy Town as you can before it goes away forever. So, here it goes…

*Note: if you haven’t watched this one yet then you are slower than I am – congratulations! If you are worried about being spooled then you should probably get watching before you read this though. This is your SPOILER ALERT, people. You have been warned*

Last week Rachel reappeared after being kidnapped from the Magic Man. This week we see her making an attempt to get her life back on track while the rest of the town tries to figure out what to do next. Rachel may have come back safely, but the rest of the missing people are still out there, and there is renewed hope that they are still alive. Rachel is having trouble adjusting though, and who can blame her? She’s been through a trauma bad enough that she doesn’t remember any of it. I honestly couldn’t blame her for wanting to leave town. Normally I would be angry at the husband for not joining her, but I understand his need to stay in town and make every effort to catch this guy. As bad as he probably wanted it before, it has now become personal. There is no way he stops digging until he finds the guy responsible for causing so much destruction for his hometown. I was really glad to see Rachel not only understand that, but realize her place was right there by his side. Kudos!

At this point I’d like to give my award for most interesting character – The most interesting character on this show has to be Henley. In this episode we see her making some deal with Mrs. Haplin where she swaps the mystery hammer for a whole lot of cash. Curiouser and curiouser. Seems she is being blackmailed for something though because Mrs. Haplin doesn’t want her leaving their happy little town. I know we’re supposed to get the Magic Man mystery solved, but I wonder how much we’ll eventually figure out about Henley and any other questions we have unanswered right now. I hope they don’t leave us hanging too much or I will be a very unhappy customer.

Speaking of the Magic Man, it cannot be coincidence that the disappearances stopped when Greggy went to jail and promptly started up again the minute he got back. On the other hand, it seems almost too obvious. Also, Greggy seems smart enough to realize if he started up again right away that he would be the #1 suspect (assuming he is the Magic Man, that is). Would he really be stupid enough to leave such an obvious trail leading straight to him? I’m not completely convinced yet.

Award for second most interesting character goes to Merritt Grieves. From a conversation with Rachel Conroy we learn that his son went missing, and he believes the Magic Man is the one who took him. He asks Rachel if she will allow him to try to help her remember what happened when she was taken. As a psychology student I’m somewhat skeptical on whether or not hypnosis actually works. Even still, I enjoy when it is used as a plot device. That’s the beauty about fiction – you don’t have to believe things really work to enjoy them. In this case it helps Rachel remember flashes, but not who actually took her. We do get a sense that wherever she was taken was the same place the other women were being held, which means that those who are missing are likely still alive.

The only story from this episode that seemed to have no purpose was Georgia and Haplin’s son wandering through the forest in an attempt to get away from the craziness of the town. That was until they found a camper hidden in said forest. A camper that seems to belong to the Magic Man, as it has something that belongs to one of the victims. Whoever owns the camper drives off before the kids can get out. Not sure if he realizes he has a stow-away or not, but pretty soon it won’t matter. There’s nowhere for these kids to hide, so they’ll be discovered sooner or later.

Final wrap-up for this one – the police have found evidence that suggest the first victim was involved with John Haplin. This same evidence also suggests to them that Haplin might possibly be the guy they are looking for and only kidnapped his daughter to divert suspicion. I would have thought the same except he looked genuinely concerned about his daughter’s disappearance. Unless that was just guilt over what he had done…?

The only other thing worth noting is Henley asking Grieves for help in getting the money to mystery person (who I think is her mother but I’m not sure if they actually said it was or I just made it up in my head). Grieves says yes, but while he’s on the train heading out of town someone grabs him from behind. For those who had to wait a whole week for the conclusion of that – I’m sorry. The ending kinda made me glad I waited so long to finally watch this one. No worries though, I will definitely be watching tonight’s episode either tomorrow or Friday, so there won’t be as long a wait for my next recap.

What did you think of this episode? How about the show in general? As usual, feel free to sound off in the comments section below.