Category: Television

Doctor Who: Confidential

Usually I write a little something about Doctor: Who Confidential for the week after I finish my recap. Due to some technical difficulties I didn’t do that with the last two episodes involving the Weeping Angels, so I thought I would take a few minutes to mention them now. (And if you want to see them, they have been linked above).

I love behind-the-scenes stuff on occasion, but never as much as when watching DW: Confidential every week. It is fascinating to me to see how some of the scenes work and where the ideas come from. A few especially cool things from the Weeping Angels episodes included seeing the make-up work and some of the stunts. Also pretty cool was hearing where Steven Moffat got the idea for the crack in the wall. (No spoilers. You’ll just have to watch for yourself.) My favorite though might have been seeing Matt Smith and Karen Gillan interact (especially when they talk about *slight spoilers* the smooching that happens at the end of part 2). It was a lot of fun watching them tease each other and such. Don’t take my word for it though. Go watch and judge for yourself.

Doctor Who – Flesh and Stone

*As always, Spoilers ahead*

When last we left The Doctor and Co, they were trapped by an army of Weeping Angels. That is exactly where we pick things up this week, with the aftermath of The Doctor firing the gun he borrowed from Father Octavian up into the air. They have jumped up onto the ship that had crashed and away from the Angels – but not for long.

The Angels follow them onboard the ship, and with that the chase is on. At this point it is important to note that Amy seems to be counting down from 10. The audience notices this (or should) as does The Doctor. Also worth noting is the crack in time has made a surprise early appearance. That is because it is going to become the focus of the rest of the episode. The Doctor says it is pure time energy and the end of the universe. That doesn’t sound very good to me…

Back to the thing with the counting though… turns out there is an Angel inside Amy’s mind (from back when she had a staring contest with the one) and it is kinda just chilling in the vision center of her brain. The Doctor has her close her eyes to “starve” the Angel. Problem: she can’t open her eyes or the process will start up again and she will die. I loved how this sort of switched things up from what we were used to when dealing with the Angels – instead of “don’t blink” and have to keep staring we now aren’t allowed to open our eyes.

At this point the story with the crack starts to take precedence. The Doctor explains something about there’s going to be a very big bang and things will collide and *poof* a crack in time will emerge and bring about the end of the universe. This particular crack seems to originate from Amy’s time. The Doctor ponders, “what would happen if time could run out?” and I start clinging to the edge of my seat. I knew this was going to be our story arc from early on, but it was still cool watching it play out. This is the reason that Amy couldn’t remember the Daleks. And these memory lapses aren’t going to be the last thing the crack in time changes. People are forgetting things, as if time is being altered. And it seems to affect the Angels as well – they all run in fear from the light (which is shaped like the crack in the wall).

I’ve noticed this pattern that The Doctor and Amy seem to split up a lot. Is it just me, or did that not happen nearly this often in past seasons? I’m not sure how I feel about him always leaving her behind or letting her fend for herself. It’s as if he just thinks she will get in the way. And then he wonders why she doesn’t trust him…

While Amy is dealing with cracks in time making her guards disappear one by one, The Doctor is with Father Octovian, who gets caught by one of the Angels. Before he dies he tells The Doctor that River was in prison for killing a man and that she can’t be trusted. My reaction – River killed someone?! WTF?!

Finally we see a merging of the two stories going on (Amy, the Angels, the crack, all of it). Now that Amy is all alone The Doctor has realized just how dangerous that crack can be. “If the time energy catches up to you, you will never have been born,” he warns her. Amy has to literally walk blind and try to get to The Doctor while staying ahead of the time energy. The crack is hungry and needs to be fed. I loved The Doctor’s comment at this point, “The Angels came to feed on the time energy, and now it’s going to feed on them.” I loved the irony in this, but not as much as what happened next.

The Doctor feeds the Angels to the crack to get it to close! The crack is not gone forever though. The explosion that created it in the first place is still happening somewhere in the universe. This means we have not seen the last of this story arc. As for River and the “good man” she killed – could it possibly be The Doctor? If she cared about him as much as she seems to have, then why kill him though? And when The Doctor says, “Time can be rewritten,” is he referring to the person River killed? I tried figuring out River’s timeline with The Doctor in my head but it just made my head hurt.

Going back to the story though… The Doctor returns Amy home, they snog a little bit, and The Doctor has a light bulb moment where it all suddenly makes sense. Except it doesn’t entirely make sense to this blogger. I get that it has something to do with Amy but that is all. And it seems that we are dropping this until the season finale, especially since the date they mentioned in the show was 26-06-2010 – June 26, 2010 for those Americans who might not be used to this way of writing the date. Looks like we’re going to just have to take what we have so far and enjoy the ride as it happens. No spoilers!

Polly Wants A Crack At Happy Town

It was announced recently that Happy Town would be pulled after this week, with the remaining episodes airing starting June 2. To all my fellow Happy fans, I mourn with you. This series showed a lot of promise, and I am disappointed in the network for not giving it enough time to blossom into the great product it could have become. Two episodes simply wasn’t enough time to determine if you had a hit show here. I am very disappointed with ABC in not having a little more faith and giving it somewhat of a chance. Hopefully they will at least let the mystery wrap up, although with only 5 episodes left I seriously doubt that will be the case. What will more likely happen is we will get highly invested in a great mystery only to be disappointed when we don’t get all the answers we want. I just hope they prove me wrong.

Complaining about network issues is not the reason for this post though. No, the real purpose here is to recap tonight’s episode and sift through all the shiny new details we got about the residents of Haplin. So, without further ado, I present my recap of “Polly Wants A Crack At Her”…

When last we left Happy Town, Henley had just gotten into her auto accident due to the giant bird crashing through her windshield. Cue the cheerful little ditty with lyrics about being dead. One of the things I will miss about this show is it’s quirky choice of song placement.

Last week we had also learned that Dave was the one who killed Friddle, claiming it was because he believed him to be the Magic Man and he was therefore doing a service to the community. Debate: If Friddle really was the Magic Man, does that give Dave the right to take the law into his own hands?

This week we saw Dave and Tom Conroy looking for the bodies Friddle supposedly buried. The problem is they can’t seem to find said bodies where they are supposed to be. Looks like Friddle wasn’t our Magic Man after all… because that would have been too easy.

And what about our mysterious Mr. Merritt Grieves? Well, today we see him interact with Conroy’s wife and daughter. He talks bird myths – “In some cultures the frequent appearance of a bird is a harbinger of things to come” – and magic journals. The little girl’s reaction to this was adorable (and exactly the same as mine would have been). Where’d Grieves get the journal from though?

Apparently Happy Town has a thing for birds, because there is another reference to them later on when Bravin is describing the Magic Man. One of the things he mentions is the Magic Man having a giant bird with him with wings of fire. The bird’s name – Cicero. Let the analysis commence.

Going back to Henley though – she is found by a mysterious stranger called Aidan who helps her back to town (after bringing her to a vet to be checked out and sexing her up a bit). Who is this Aidan fellow though, and where did he come from? And is it just coincidence that he happens to find Henley right after her accident?

If nothing else, Aidan seems to give Henley a reason to stay in town a while longer. What is really interesting though is that some of the ladies in the boarding house seemed to recognize him, although we realize who he is by the end of the episode.

It wouldn’t be an episode of Happy Town, it seems, without a mysterious phone call from Henley to mystery person. Hopefully within the next 5 episodes we finally get to see who this person is and what they are about. Tantalizing quote of the night, “I’ll go see her and get it done.” See who?! And get what done?! Oh, HT, please don’t leave me in suspense much longer. I get enough mysteries on Lost. I’m not sure how much more I can take.

Getting back to Henley though – she realizes the mystery hammer is missing and Aidan probably took it. Speaking of Aidan, turns out his full name is Aidan Gregory Stiviletto – the brother that Tom Conroy sent to prison (and who was supposed to be in jail still). Oh, and he has a grudge against Conroy – a fact we spent practically the whole episode establishing before finally getting the big reveal. To make matters worse, Conroy’s wife goes conveniently missing right around the same time. Too easy? Possibly. But sometimes the simplest solution is the right one.

As Tom goes looking for his wife, he remembers something his dad said about the Magic Man, “He’ll be back, now that blood’s been spilled again, everything will unravel.” Add to that the daughter saying something about the man made the writing go away in the journal (which Mom was holding before she disappeared) and a giant hawk flying over them (which I think we are meant to believe is Cicero) and we’ve got ourselves a chilling scene here, folks. It would appear the Magic Man is back and has kidnapped the sheriff’s wife. Based on the comment about the journal, I’m going to take a guess that Grieves is going to have some connection to this case. I won’t go so far as to say he is the Magic Man though. No, I actually like Aidan for that one (depending on how his prison sentence overlaps with the crimes). If I am right, I think they stopped when he went to jail and are now conveniently starting up with him back out. Speaking of which, how exactly did he get out of prison two years early? With only five episodes left we don’t have much time left to answer all of these questions.

Lost Recap – Across the Sea

First of all, I would like to take the time to mention that this will be the site’s 200th post. I find it very fitting that it is dedicated to the most revealing episode of Lost yet. This was the origin story, the foundation that has been holding the show together. This is what it’s all about, folks: the origin of Jacob and MIB. *Note: if you haven’t watched yet then 1) shame on you, and 2) you should probably stop reading right about… now. You have been warned*

We started the episode with the woman who we would learn to know as Jacob and MIB’s birth mother getting washed on the shore of the island and being found by a mysterious woman who seemed to know a great deal more than what she was telling. Mom asked question after question before the woman finally said, “Every question I answer is going to lead you to another question.” This sounded like the entire show. If Lost were a person I could almost hear it saying, “Story of my life.” But I digress…

Mom of course chooses this moment to go into labor. Anyone who saw it was a boy and didn’t predict the baby was Jacob should turn in their detective badges right now and find a new career path. I also kinda saw it coming that there would be a second baby, making MIB Jacob’s brother. I did not see it coming when the woman suddenly killed the mother though.

The rest of the episode would see Jacob and MIB growing up together and being the inquisitive youngsters you would expect at that age. (Editor’s note: from here on out “mother” spelled out in quotes will mean the woman who killed their real mother and raised them as her own. Without quotes means I am talking about the birth mom.) “Mother” had some interesting lines in this one that added a lot of character to the episode. (Kudos to Allison Janney for an outstanding performance). Her line, “Jacob doesn’t know how to lie” made me think about what we’ve seen of him so far and wonder if it was true. I almost feel the need to go back and see what the implications of that would mean for the show.

“Mother” also said that MIB was “special” which made me wonder what she meant by that. Obviously she knew something about them and their role on the island from the moment they were born. Or did she just feel that they had been sent to her to take over when she was gone? Ah, more questions to add to the ever-growing list.

Something else interesting that “mother” said to the two of them, “I’ve made it so you can never hurt each other.” This rule had already been established earlier in the season, but it was interesting to see who was behind it all. What exactly did she do though? Or does it only matter that something has been established that keeps them from killing each other? Again with the questions!

Here’s one answer for you though: it turns out this woman is the protector of the island and some special light that’s hidden there – and one of the boys has to take over when she’s gone. So at this point we now know 1) how they got on the island, and 2) that one of them becomes the new protector of everything there. (We knew from the start that this person would be Jacob, but it was interesting to see how that came to be). Also kinda cool – watching the two brothers play the game where MIB made the rules and explained them to Jacob. Remind anyone of a certain episode where a certain character explained the rules of another game involving black and white stones to someone? Loved what MIB said to Jacob when he was complaining about the rules to him, “One day you can make up your own game and everyone else will have to follow your rules.” You mean like choosing all these “players” and moving them around like pawns to see who would take over for you one day? You mean like that?

We know that MIB would come to be associated with death, but apparently this happens at an early age when he sees his dead mother on the beach one day. She tells him who she is and where they came from. This would later fuel his obsession to get off the island. He tells Jacob about this and they have what I assumed was their first real fight. He tries to get Jacob to come with him but Jacob says no. “Mother tries to tell MIB that he can never leave the island (no matter what birth mom says) but he says he will prove otherwise. The woman then admits everything to Jacob and explains to him why she did it, “Those people are bad and I needed you to stay good.” She asks him to stay with her and he agrees.

We also saw what seemed to be the origins of the wheel that was used to move the island in a previous episode. It seems it was created to help MIB leave. Plans got ruined by “mother” though and we never actually see the wheel in action. “Mother” then brings Jacob back to the light and says he is the one who is going to protect it now. She makes him promise though that whatever he does he will not go down there. When asked she says it would be worse than dying. She then performs some sort of ritual ceremony thing that involves drinking from a cup. Once completed, it means that Jacob accepts the responsibility to protect the island for as long as he can. He argues but she says he doesn’t really have a choice in the matter, so he does it. And thus the keeper of the Light is born.

Meanwhile, MIB wakes up to find his camp has been completely destroyed. He gets revenge by killing “mother”. Her last words before dying were “thank you” which I found rather odd. Maybe it was a relief to no longer have the burden of the responsibility to care for the island anymore…? Jacob sees what his brother has done and goes into a rage. MIB tries to explain, but it falls on deaf ears. (I’m not exactly sure how he thought he could explain this one away, but points for trying, I guess). Jacob drags him to the cave with the light source and throws him inside. And thus a smoke monster is born.

We concluded with Jacob laying the bodies of his “mother” and brother to rest, while simultaneously flashing forward to Jack, Kate, and Smokey discovering the same bodies in their time. Smokey calls them “our very own Adam and Eve”. If Lost had a Bible, this chapter would have been its Genesis. And while we’re talking Bible references, anyone else think of Cain and Abel when they were watching Jacob and MIB interact? Because I certainly did.

That’s about all my brain can churn out on this episode for now. Did everyone else find it as fulfilling as I did? I was surprised to find I wasn’t bothered at all that we didn’t get to see any of the aftermath from last week here. And it’s not like we don’t have a lot to recover from, either. Instead we traveled across time to witness the origins of possibly the greatest story ever told. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a pretty fair trade to me.

24: 12-1pm recap

*Yep, you guessed it – Spoilers time*

The theme for tonight seemed to be “Chasing Rabbits” *or* “How-far-ahead-can-Jack-get-in-this-game-of-cat-and-mouse”.

When last we left Jack, he had just killed Dana Walsh after getting the microchip that supposedly had evidence of the Russian involvement in the day’s events. At the time, I was scared the chip would turn out to be a fake and there would be no more leads to follow, but I should have known that was stupid. With very little time left, we are not wasting a single second of it for such lame storytelling tactics. Thus, my first thought was, “Wow, the microchip is actually real,” which was quite silly of me.

My second thought might redeem me a little though: I am really glad to see Reed Diamond *aka* Jason Pillar, getting more screen time. I enjoyed his appearances on the show Dollhouse, but was confused to find him playing such a small part here. I thought he deserved better and am pleased to see they are delivering.

Third thought for the evening: Chloe is on Jack’s side now? It took her long enough. If she had just listened to him from the start then maybe things would be different. So far her being on the inside hasn’t really contributed much. If it does then I might change my tune (although more likely I will say lucky for her it worked out for the best). Right now it seems like she and Arlo are just going to play catch up for another hour or so.

Every time Jack talks about Rene I feel so incredibly sorry for him. This happened a couple of times during this episode. The first time was with whoever that is that’s helping him. “The Russians took something from me. Her name was Rene Walker and they killed her inside my apartment. I need to make them pay.” Actually, that made me feel sorry and scared for him at the same time. Jack has lost one of the most important people in his life and is completely broken. I am wondering though, wasn’t it the beginning of this season that he was planning on moving to be closer to Kim? Has he forgotten about that just as easily as I almost did? Because that could be his only reason left in this world to go on living.

Going back to the story though… Jack calls in a reporter (Meredith Reed) who he helped earlier in the day, to pass off the info he got on the Russians. The call gets intercepted by the NSA, which puts them one step closer to catching up to Jack. They plan to dispatch the Russian team to take him out. Chloe gets suspicious and somehow becomes magically smart enough to figure out that Pillar is part of the cover-up and is planning on taking Jack out. Meanwhile, Logan tells President Taylor what is going on and she tells them, “let me know as soon as it’s resolved.” I had to wonder there, does she know how they are “resolving” it? Part of me wants to say yes and part of me says she doesn’t want to know. I don’t think she actually wants Jack dead, but at the same time this thing has soared way over her head at this point. She has lost control, and I think she is beginning to realize this.

Just when it looks like Bauer is caught in the cross-hairs, his partner takes care of the sniper. Go Jack for being on top of things! Shame on you for having a shoot-out in yet another public place though. First the streets of New York and now a department store… really now, Jack? That was not smart. He really doesn’t care who gets hurt anymore, does he? Loved the fact that Logan had just asked for some kind of public acknowledgment from the President and then has to hear that Jack got away with one of his Russian friends. Looks like he is finally going to get what’s coming to him.

So now Jack has the Russian who was going to kill him and can try to get him to spill who else was involved. “Four hours ago I had a friend,” he says, “A very good friend who was killed with a weapon just like that.” He is referring to the weapon they found with the sniper when they caught him. “Go to hell,” sneers the Russian. “You first,” Jack quips back. That exchange had the dual effect of making me smile and giving me chills.

Cue the torture scene that is really just a giant therapy session for him masked under the guise of being “part of the mission”. He says he is looking for info, but what he really wants is the name of the person who ordered the hit on Rene so he can go after them next. Jack has totally lost control here, folks (in case you hadn’t noticed). I was on his side in defying the President but this has become more about himself and less about what is right. He is going to extremes even for him. Tonight’s ending really drove that home for me. First there was the torture, then he cut open the Russian operative to get at the SIM card he swallowed. This leads him to the person behind it all – Charles Logan. Charlie, you are so gonna get yours next week. It was nice knowing you.

That concludes tonight’s episode. With only three hours to go, we are coming down to the wire here. Make sure you don’t miss a second of it.

Desperate Housewives – The Ballad of Booth

*Do I really have to say it? Spoilers ahead, people*

We left off last week with Patrick cornering Angie and saying he needed a favor. This week we start with the flashback that explains how Angie dropped out of college and joined the eco group that Patrick ran. She built him a bomb, but didn’t like the results so she ran. We learn the favor previously mentioned is this: he wants her to make him another bomb.

The rest of Wisteria lane isn’t quite as happening, but there are still stories to tell. Lynette is starting to get suspicious with Eddie’s mother missing, but not nearly suspicious enough. She still sees him as this sweet kid, instead of the monster he truly is. Just you wait, Lynette. You’ll find out soon enough…

Gaby and Carlos looked to be the comic relief for the night, but it was just a red herring. They started off fighting about Gaby’s lasagna, but this quickly turned into Gaby getting caught in the middle of Angie’s problems.

Susan and Mike are still dealing with their financial troubles. It turns out some of the problem is that Mike didn’t request payment up-front from some of his customers. Susan decides she is going to get them to pay up by guilting them into it.

Bree is still trying to figure out how to deal with Sam. Andrew seems to be the only one who isn’t scared of him. Orson comes up with the idea to offer Sam a large sum of money to make him go away.

And all that was just the beginning. Intrigued? Well hold onto your hats, kids. Because this week was full of twists and turns down Wisteria Lane.

Let’s start with Lynette. The police discover Irina’s body in the woods and visit Lynette’s house looking for Porter. They want to ask him a few questions, but he is on a camping trip with his brother. Know who is at the house though? Eddie. And he overhears everything. So he decides he is going to move back home, claiming he doesn’t want to get in their way during these difficult times. Lynette says she thinks of him as family and he should stay. I couldn’t help but ask myself, “Why are you so dumb, Lynette?!” I quickly changed my tune when she hugged Eddie goodbye though. I actually feel sorry for her now that she is getting attached to him. Especially when she finds out the truth… but that comes later.

Next I’m going to shock you by actually talking about my favorite story early in the recap instead of “saving the best for last”. This is mostly because Gaby had some crossover here and she was next on my list. First I would like to say that Patrick actually seems delusional enough that he honestly believes his plans to blow more things up is the best solution to saving the planet. This is what he and Angie are fighting about when Gaby knocks on the door, asking Angie for her lasagna recipe. Way to walk in at the worst possible moment, Gabs. I loved Patrick’s line at the end of this scene though. “You know how to make a bomb and you haven’t used one on her yet?” Classic. Eventually Danny comes home and finds his mother handcuffed to the bed. He says he got a text message from her telling him to come home, but it turns out that Patrick was the one who really sent it to trick him out of hiding. He also says that Danny is the “piece that was missing,” referring to a conversation the two of them had in the coffee shop. Patrick apparently tells Danny that they are father and son, but most of this happens off-screen. We only got the end of the conversation to let us know it had happened. I was disappointed we didn’t get to see the whole thing for ourselves. A word of advice for Patrick though – telling your son about your relationship while you have him tied to a chair… you are sooooo not winning Father of the Year for that one. And trying to make his real parents look bad because they lied? Please tell me that doesn’t work on him. I mean, he has to realize you were dangerous and they were just trying to protect him… right? And finally, way to go Gaby walking into the worst situation ever… AGAIN. So much for Gaby being the comic relief for the evening. Angie tries sneaking a note in the lasagna she brings over, but Gaby throws it out without noticing it. Lucky for us her girls are hungry, hungry hippos and dig it out of the trash. They find the note that was hidden inside, “Danny and I held hostage. No cops. Get Nick.” Looks like Gaby is officially involved in the outcome of this story.

Gaby isn’t the only one in a dangerous situation though. For that matter, the only one who isn’t dealing with life-or-death stuff is Susan. I’m sorry but her storyline seems really weak compared to what the rest of the ladies have to deal with. Real quick: she goes to all Mike’s customers and gets them to cough up the money they owe. Yeah it was fun watching her threaten everyone (especially the lady with the Hummels) but other than that this story has been underwhelming. Even when she tells everyone she is moving off of Wisteria Lane, I wasn’t that worried about her. I mean, she is moving to an apartment nearby, so it doesn’t mean she is leaving the show. That would have made for a different story.

Moving on to more important matters… Bree tries to get Sam to leave after handing him a large sum of money, but that doesn’t work according to plan. (I know, *shock*and*awe*, right?) Sam merely rips up the check and says she can’t buy him off. Oh, and let’s not forget the threats. “If you ever insult me again you’re going to wish you hadn’t.” Bree dishes it as well as she can take it though. She introduces him to a couple of ex-cops that she catered retirement parties for. The image of Sam sitting between these two rather large, threatening men as they told stories about the things they could do to make someone hurt was wonderful. The best was them casually letting him know they knew where he lives. That’ll teach Sam to mess with Bree Hodge. Or so we thought… Instead he takes it up to the next level. He tells Bree he wants her to sell him the company and uses knowledge he learned about Andrew running Carlos’ mother over as leverage. Looks like there’s more trouble ahead for this family.

Going back to Lynette now… Preston gets cleared for Irina’s murder but feels guilty for bringing her to America in the first place. Meanwhile, Lynette overhears that the police found the body of Eddie’s mother. She goes to tell Eddie about this, but he mentions having just talked to his mother before Lynette gets the chance to say anything. This makes Lynette think they must have made a mistake and she’s not really dead. When Eddie hears about them finding the body though, his reaction tells Lynette that he lied about talking to her. Now she is about to see what Eddie really is.

To be continued…

It occurs to me that a lot needs to happen in the last episode of the season (which is next week). We have Patrick’s endgame for starters, which could be the whole hour easy. And what happened to him affecting the lives of everyone on Wisteria Lane? It definitely said that in multiple interviews that John Barrowman did after announcing he got the part. So far only Gaby has gotten involved. And what about Lynette? We all know she has to go into labor while Eddie has her, right? Hopefully this kid shows he has a heart and helps her when the time comes. As for Bree, she still has to deal with Sam’s threat to her family. Does she give in to his demands for ownership of the company? Or does she find some way to stop him from spilling what he knows about Andrew? I don’t see how they are going to get through it all. Obviously some of it will carry over into the next season, but most of it should happen in the next episode. I guess we’ll just have to tune in next week to find out how it all ends.

Doctor Who – The Time Of Angels

As River Song would say… Spoilers!

OK, two really big milestones in this episode: the return of the Weeping Angels and River Song. Two of Steven Moffat’s greatest creations in one fantastic adventure.

Right off the bat we see River being her awesome self. It’s cool watching her do her thing as The Doctor discovers her message. Also cool: watching her school The Doctor in how to drive his TARDIS. Why does she seem to know more about this than he does? Unless she was just around when he made all these discoveries for himself the first time. Regardless, watching these two match wits is priceless. At the same time, it’s weird how their timelines keep crossing over in the wrong order and watching them navigate this problem. But more about the mysterious Dr. Song later.

The Weeping Angels are possibly the creepiest monsters The Doctor has ever faced. They were bad enough when there were just a few of them trying to survive. Now we learn all new things about them that make them even worse. At first we just get a four second clip of one on a loop. Then Amy discovers that the Angel in the recording moves. This just as The Doctor and River make their own discovery – “That which holds the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel”. The recording comes to life with Amy locked inside with it. She manages to freeze the recording in just the right spot to stop it, but this is only the beginning.

The other thing we find out about the Angels is that you are not supposed to look the Angels in the eye. This comes into play later in the episode. At this point I realized – this might be an old monster but we are putting a fresh spin on it here.

Our V-8 moment for the evening comes in the last 15 minutes or so. If the statues in the cave were made by a species with two heads, then why don’t the statues have two heads? Answer: because they are all Weeping Angels. They have been slowly dying in the caves for years. The ship crashing down on the planet was a rescue mission to save an army of them. But why are they killing people off instead of displacing them in time like they normally do? Oh, and remember Amy looking into the eye of the one Angel? Now would be the time for this to come into play. The gang is all ready to run, but Amy says her hand has turned to stone and she can’t move. The Doctor tells her it is all in her mind and she is really not turning into stone. She doesn’t believe him so he bites her hand to prove it. “Ow, you bit me!” she exclaims. “And you’re alive. Did I mention…?” he replies. Even in the darkest of moments, he is still able to bring some light to the situation.

We leave things with everyone seemingly very much trapped by the army of Angels. “No way back, no way up no way out.” Ah, but this is The Doctor we are talking about here, River. “There’s always a way out.” Cue inspirational speech by The Doctor that gets everyone to trust him and follow whatever crazy plan he comes up with next.

The Doctor: Big, big mistake. Really huge. Didn’t anyone ever tell you? There’s one thing you never put in a trap. If you’re smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap.
Bob: And what would that be, sir?
The Doctor: Me

Our final scene is him shooting a gun up into the air after this moment of pure awesome.

Questions that still need answering:
Why are the Weeping Angels killing people?
What was up with the convo between River and Father Octavian where he asks her “He doesn’t know yet? who and what you are?” And she says something about having “no intention of going back to prison”…say what?! Prison?! We knew there was a huge mystery surrounding this character but this takes it to a whole new level. She also said something to Amy about things not being as simple as they seem and wouldn’t confirm that she and The Doctor were married even though he seems to think this is the case… or will be eventually. He also doesn’t seem too sure how he feels about this. Notice how he was ready to just leave her on the planet to fend for herself?

I think that is quite enough questioning for this episode. Next week we get the conclusion, and based on previews it looks like we may be connecting this to the cracks in time that keep appearing everywhere. You’re not gonna want to miss a single second of the adventure that awaits. (No fair downloading it online though. River would not be pleased with the Spoilers.)

I Came To Happy Town For The Waters

Tonight was the second episode of the new series Happy Town (otherwise known as my possible replacement for Lost). The following will mostly be my thoughts and commentary on what happened, but it will still be somewhat SPOILERY so be warned.

We left last week with Henley about to check out what is hidden on the third floor. Well, whatever was hidden up there is behind a locked door, so that was gonna have to wait. Also last week was Sheriff Conroy going crazy and chopping off his hand. They were able to reattach the hand but were going to call in a neurologist to find out “what we’re up against”. All I wanted to tell them was this: What you’re up against is a heaping pile of bat-sh!t-crazy. Or, if you like, a ride on the Crazy Train. First stop – Crazy Town. It’s right next to Happy Town. In fact, they’re sister cities.

Having fun? I know I am. Other things that were fun: watching Henley run through the woods and back to make a copy of the key to the locked door on the third floor. Oh, and I think the old guy (Merritt Grieves) knows something. First he gives Henley a knowing look then conveniently steps in so she can slip back into the kitchen before Dot Meadows notices anything.

Question #1 for the evening: Why does Mrs. Haplin want Tom Conroy to be acting sheriff so bad? I mean, he declined and she still gave it to him.

Next couple questions come with two visits to Sheriff Conroy. First is when Georgia goes to visit him and starts hearing things (including him speaking even though he is asleep). WEIRD. What he says – EVEN WEIRDER. A sample: “In my younger days I felt sorry for a man with no gloves until I met a man with no hands.” Yep, get on board the Crazy Train, everybody. Oh, and was anyone else reminded of Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital during some of these scenes (especially the ones in the hospital)? Because I certainly was. But that was not my real question. No, my real question was “How does Georgia end up with the Stiviletto brothers after her little trip into the Twilight Zone?

My next question is about something else Conroy says (this time while his son, Tom, is visiting. “He’ll be back.” Who will be back? The Magic Man? And was he talking about the guy that showed up at the end of the episode to “help”? Guess we’ll just have to add it to the list of questions that is already piling up on this show.

While Tom is visiting dear, old, Crazy Dad, he gets a call about his daughter and storms over to the Stiveletto place to give them a piece of his mind (and fist). The scene went something like this:

Tom: *storms in and punches one of the brothers*
Me: That was a “don’t-mess-with-my-daughter” punch, in case you were wondering.

Just then he gets the call with evidence about the Friddle case, which leads him to Dave. (Him talking about getting water for his place from NYC was the connection). We see lots of clippings and other things that you would either find with a profiler or a stalker. (Funny how those two things go together like that). Apparently he thought Friddle was the Magic Man and that’s why he did it. He also says Friddle told him where the bodies of the missing girls were before he died (although Tom points out he would have said anything after being tortured – and 24 fans can save the Dana Walsh argument for me, cause I already thought of it).

So now we have one answer and about half a dozen more questions. That seems totally balanced.

But wait! There’s more. Because Henley is going back up to the forbidden room – only this time she gets in! There are lots of birds in a bunch of different cages and they are all singing. I am reminded of something Sheriff Conroy said when his son was visiting, “The Serpent always hisses when the sweet bird sings” and am slightly creeped out. If that wasn’t enough to do it, the hammer with the head that seemed to be shaped like a goat certainly helped.

Wrapping things up: There is more mysterious talking with mysterious stranger on the phone. And the star-crossed lovers meet in secret and Andrew gets all protective of Georgia when he sees she is hurt.

Oh, and a giant bird crashes into Henley’s windshield.

The end.

Lost Recap – The Candidate

Wow, looking at my notes for this one and there is a ton of stuff to cover. That means LOTS OF SPOILERS… in case you were wondering.

Last week we left with Sideways Jack performing surgery on Locke. We start tonight with Locke waking up from surgery. Jack gives him details on what happens and mentions his original spinal injury. “I think you’re a candidate,” he says, referring to a selective surgery that could possibly make him able to walk again. “I think that I can fix you.” Sounds good to me, since both versions could certainly use some fixing. Flip to the island and Jack is waking up from his own injuries. “Welcome to Hydra Island,” Sayid tells him. Oh, and Sawyers group? They had been ambushed by Whidmore’s people in the last episode, and are now being locked away in some very familiar cages (well, familiar to Sawyer anyway).

Mission statement: Sideways Jack is on mission to find out what caused Locke’s accident, since he won’t tell Jack himself or let Jack help him. Meanwhile the Locke-ness monster is on a mission of his own – to convince the rest of the group that it is in their best interest to all leave together. Now that I know how this ends I can’t help but think “Like lambs to the slaughter…” but I am getting ahead of myself here. What I thought at the time is just as relevant: Jack got it right when he said they should stay on the island. Let me do the math for you: Smokey = bad, therefore, what Smokey wants = BAD IDEA. Whatever he says you should DO THE OPPOSITE. Right, moving on then…

Jin and Sun share a lovely moment just before the lights go out on camp Whidmore. Foreshadowing or coincidence? You decide (but there is no such thing as coincidence, in this show or life). Storms appear seemingly out of thin air and Smokey makes like the smoke monster he is and smokes him some Whidmore flunkies. Then Jack sets his captured mates free, and instead of saying “thank you” they ask what he is doing there. Now that’s gratitude for ya!

Back in Sideways Land, I can’t help but wonder what would make Locke so against this surgery. Unless he feels guilty about some element of the accident… like he deserves what he got maybe? Then we see what happened to his father and that becomes the most likely scenario. Yet we are still missing a crucial piece to the puzzle (but that comes later).

Other things that confuse me: Why people think bullets will actually be able to do anything to a SMOKE MONSTER. He takes the form of dead people and turns into SMOKE! Bullets ain’t gonna do nothin’ to him. And hello there plane that is almost perfectly in tact even though it should probably be in a million pieces right now. Isn’t it lucky that all they probably need to do is hot-wire the thing and it will fly like a beauty? Oh, explosives, eh? Didn’t see that one coming… Sawyer saying, “Guess I was wrong about you” to Smokey also had me confused until I realized he was just pretending to keep him from getting suspicious. The scene went something like this for me though:

Sawyer: I guess I was wrong about you.
Me: Sawyer, you weren’t wrong! He is using you to get what he wants. Why are people on these shows so stupid?! Arrrrrrggghhhh
*five seconds later he is planning to stab Smokey in the back* (well, figuratively).
Me: Yay! You do have two brain cells to rub together!

To be fair, Sawyer has proven to be a smart, conniving, son-of-a-bee in the past and I shouldn’t have doubted him so easily. In my defense, I was watching 24 last night and the writers have made a few characters so incredibly stupid that I’m praying this is all some kind of trick so they can redeem themselves. (President Taylor, I’m talking to you).

Back in the hospital, Locke is mumbling some “nonsense” in his sleep. Things like “push the button” and “I wish you had believed me”. Connecting with events on the island? Possibly. In fact, very likely. (Especially that “push the button” stuff). Jack is starting to see a connection too, at least regarding the passengers of Oceanic 815. Seeing him and Claire made me really hope this world is the one we are working towards. Or maybe we can get the best of both worlds. Maybe they can learn from their experiences on the island but get to be as happy as most of their Sideways selves seem to be.

Back on the island, the gangs all back together – and they are attempting to hijack the sub so they can blow this Popsicle stand. Little do they know that it is their sub that is going to blow. Smokey tries to convince Jack that whoever told him to stay on the island was wrong but Jack replies “Locke told me to stay” then pushes him into the water. Awesome! A gunfight ensuing and Kate gets shot – not so awesome. And Sawyer totally leaves Claire behind to keep Smokey from coming with them – also not awesome. Claire is definitely going to be on Smokey’s side after that (unless Jack has some family bonding moment with her and convinces her otherwise). Right now it looks like the only way Jack and Claire get their happy family is in the Sideways world. Claire complains about getting abandoned to which Smokey tells her, “You don’t want to be on that sub.” That is when I knew something bad was going to happen. (Exact words: Oh, God. What is going to happen next?) Cue bomb set to go off in under 4 minutes. “We did exactly what he wanted,” Jack tells them all. (Me: “Yes you did. But you knew that before you did it, Jack”) My other thought here was that we can’t kill them all because there are still like 3 episodes left. Right? Jack seemed to agree with me as he said “Nothing’s going to happen. Locke can’t kill us.” We already demonstrated their not being able to die (or at least not being able to kill themselves) in a previous episode. Jack added to this his theory that Smokey needs them all dead, but he needs them to all kill each other. (See, even the characters have their own theories about where this is all headed). Unfortunately there is no way of testing this since they pull the wires anyway. Sayid runs away with the bomb in hand, saving them all (sorta). At least his final act was a good one. But *gasp* there is a huge leak in the sub now. So that’s what happens when explosives blow up inside the sub! Oh, and Sun is predictably in danger, because that couple was only allowed to be happy for about five seconds this season. Sun telling Jin to “save yourself” reminded me of when Jin warned them all the boat was going to explode in a previous season (which is the reason they had been separated in the first place!). My theory is that it doesn’t matter who dies here though because the two worlds are going to merge together and they will all live happily ever after. Because THESE PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED ENOUGH, DAMMIT! (Whew, got that out of my system). So Jin tells Sun, “I’ll never leave you again” and we all cry a little and curse the writers for torturing this couple so. The only consolation is that they leave the world together.

Final revelations for the evening: Sideways Locke was in a plane crash. He had had his pilots license for a week and begged his dad to be his first passenger (even though Dad was hella scared of flying). The plane crashed and now he feels guilty because Dad is basically a vegetable. When Jack was talking to him I found it interesting that in the first season Jack and Locke were complete opposites but the Sideways versions seem to have a lot in common (at least with their father issues).

The island segment ends with some of the group washing up on shore of the island. It seems to only be Kate, Jack, Hurley, and Sawyer though. Is Jack right that this is what Smokey wanted? This exchange makes it seem that way:

Claire: Where are you going?
Smokey: To finish what I started.

There are only 3 episodes left in the series (if you count the 2-part finale as one episode) so we don’t have much longer to figure all this out. Last minute predictions accepted… NOW.

24: 11am-12pm recap

In case you can’t guess, there be SPOILERS here.

We began this week with Mrs. Hassan speaking to the American people and publicly thanking President Taylor for all she has done to help her husband. I tried not to gag on this as much as she would if she knew what Taylor was keeping from her about her husband’s death. Speaking of questionable things done by President Taylor… while Mrs. Hassan is giving her speech, Dana Walsh is being tortured for information as to where she is keeping the evidence against the Russians – even though she claims she was lying before and there is no evidence. And Jack is still working against the President’s orders – only now he has Cole working with him. They do their super stealth thing and attempt to break Dana free from her interrogation. First scene of the night comes here:

Interrogator: You won’t take the shot. It’s too risky. I’ll kill her before — “
*bang bang, you’re dead*

Then there is the beginnings of an epic gunfight scene and the clock starts ticking to signal the quarter hour.

We come back to Chloe finding out that Jack is really not in custody and he has Dana. Meanwhile, Jack tries to convince Dana that if she gives up the files she has on the Russians then he will let her go. She is not buying this, but eventually gives them what they want after Jack shows he is better at forced confessions than our government is. Flip back to the press conference and President Taylor finding out Jack took Dana from the safe house where she was being tortured, I mean, held. (Anyone else see the irony here in torturing someone at a “safe” house?) Taylor and Logan plan to send Logan’s aide Jason Pillar into CTU to oversee the manhunt for Bauer.

The clock strikes halftime and returns to the Russians discussing the Dana situation with Logan. This includes conspiring to kill Bauer by pooling their resources – CTU finds him and the Russians take him out. Yes, the Russian and American governments are planning the assassination of an American citizen – you heard it hear first, folks. While this is going on, Jack goes with Cole and Dana to the bank where the evidence apparently is. Next line of the night:

Dana: You’re hurting me.
Cole: You’ll live.
*walks to bank manager*
Me: What do you mean another commercial?!

OK, I’m fine now. Just had to get over questionable placement of commercial break. I’m better now.

Moving right along… Chloe is being all “in charge” over at CTU and continues tracking down Bauer & Co. Just then, Jason arrives to ruin all hopes of world domination Chloe may have had. Oh wait, sorry, that’s Logan that wants to take over the world. Regardless, Jason tells Chloe that he is now in charge of the search while she will remain in charge of the rest of the unit. Words are shared, Chloe is snippy, but in the end Jason stays put. Switch back to the bank and Dana flashing her most charming “I-am-not-a-killer” smile to the bank manager. He scurries off to get what they came for. While they wait, Dana offers to give Cole the “truth” about how she got involved with the Russians. She gives some sob story about being a kid who needed a fresh start and the Russians provided that. We are meant to feel sorry for her but it doesn’t really work – for Cole or the audience. Mere seconds later our judgment is proven right, as the safe deposit box is a trap that explodes in Cole’s face… literally. It also contains a gun which means Dana is now armed & dangerous. She calls 9-1-1 and tells them about Jack’s location in a mock scared voice that makes me want to punch her. They give me another commercial break to compose myself before we move on…

We come back to CTU, and the search is still on. Chloe is obviously not happy about the new change in command, but follows orders like the good little worker bee she has become. They find Jack and with that Operation: Assassinate-the-only-one-who-is-NOT-crazy begins. People who are crazy: the cops who think they are actually going to come out on top in a fight with Jack Bauer. Oh, silly police officers. And once again Jack is running around the streets of New York trying not to get caught while simultaneously going after Dana Walsh. (Having a shoot-out on a crowded street – not your best move, Jack. The move with the jacket to make her use the last of her bullets – much smarter.) Finally, Dana is forced to lay her cards down on the table for Jack to see. Then he shoots her a couple of times and we pretend to be shocked and/or cry over it.

Aaaaaand we’re done.

No, really. That was the end. Next week we’ll see what Jack does now that he has his evidence (assuming what Dana gave him was the real deal). So make sure to tune in for another exciting episode of 24. Remember, every second counts…