Chuck - Chuck vs the Beard, S03E09

There is something truly wonderful about having had a friend for 22 years, though it is strange that for all that time, except when Chuck (Zachary Levi) was at university, he and Morgan have rarely been apart, and have been to school and worked together through it all.

It is no surprise that Morgan suspected that something was amiss, and has been, between him and Chuck for such a long time. It was also hilarious for me when Morgan finally fired Chuck as his best friend since he had not been truly living it for the last few years...or at least, in the way that a best friend who was not a secret agent might.

For Chuck to finally be able to tell Morgan his secret, and for Morgan to listen, was again an act on Morgan's part of a best friend. He loves Chuck as a brother, and no matter how hurt he has been, he forgives Chuck because he cannot do otherwise. Of course, for him to find out that the reason his best friend has not been fulfilling all his obligations of late is because he's a spy is just plain cool. Of course that was going to be Morgan's reaction when he found out! It's the sort of thing we imagine could be happening, so to discover that it's real and possible, well, AWESOME! is the word that comes to mind.

Plus, you have to love Morgan for his bravery. Completely useless and untrained, he still refuses to let the bad guys blow up a CIA base on his watch.

And now Chuck can go back to being a great spy. He's not keeping secrets from his best friend anymore, which is wonderful, but even better for his ability to flash is the fact that his best friend got him to stop lying to himself. Chuck loves Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski), and he can't pretend that that isn't the case. He can possibly accept that she loves Shaw (Brandon Routh), but that does not negate his own affections.

But, regardless of the rest of it, I am super excited about next week's episode, which looks to be Casey (Adam Baldwin) centric. What secrets of Casey's past will we uncover? What do you think we will learn?

Caprica - Know Thy Enemy, S01E06

And I am back to feeling "meh" about Caprica. Last week, it was doing well, things felt important and like they were time-sensitive, but this week just did not keep up that pressure.

I did love Clarice (Polly Walker) and Amanda (Paula Malcomson)'s scene together. The drinking, Clarice's nervousness, and Amanda's grief, all melded together to create a scene where something was happening (Clarice was stealing computer files) and characters were developing. The rest of the episode did not create these effects.

Verges (John Pyper-Ferguson) finally came on the scene as Daniel (Eric Stoltz)'s enemy and rival, threatening to destroy everything Daniel loves until he has had vengeance in the death of the men killed to steal the technology Daniel now has. Grand, that's all Daniel needs, another enemy and another problem. Couldn't we establish one premise for the show? It's almost too confusing to figure out who's going to screw who, how, and when. Plus, why is Daniel having bloody nightmares? He wasn't there when those men die.

And the religious stuff continues to be tricky, with Barnabus (James Marsters) being a masochist and continuing to blow up buildings with no apparent plan, and Clarice believing that the avatar is a way for the soul to continue forever if there is enough information. I suppose this is what happened with the final 5, but it just seems a little weird.

Well, as I said, I am frustrated with the show. I want a little more structure! I want to know hat I want to have happen because right now, I really don't care. What about you?

Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Great and Unfortunate Things, S01E07

The first thing anyone things of when they hear the name Spartacus is "I am." And I certainly would not expect those words to never be used in a television based on the character. However, to end the episode which marks Spartacus (Andy Whitfield)'s transformation from the Thracian he was before to the gladiator is is now with him yelling "I am Spartacus" to a crowd driven into a frenzy by the battle he just won is...well it sets a strange precedence.

Of course, him taking on the name, which up until now he has categorically rejected, shows his willingness to be a new man. I can't say I'm not thrilled that he is finally going to accept his fate; I was a little tired to the stupid decisions he kept making in his defiance. I wonder how much longer it will take him to learn to play the game, or if he will never succeed at it, and that is why he must start a slave revolt.

And while Spartacus' change signifies a change in the direction of the series, other plot lines carry through. Ashur (Nick Tarabay) put himself in a very difficult position over the death of Barca. Particularly in that Pietros did not die too. Those who knew Barca find it hard to believe that he abandoned his lover, and, if Doctore (Peter Mensah) continues to pry, they may discover that that was not in fact the case.

But what will be the result? Will the blame be on Ashur, or will the other gladiators rise against the dominus since their loyalty is repaid in blood and death?

Where do you think this new path that Spartacus is carving will take him?

Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Delicate Things, S01E06

This episode of Spartacus was rife with betrayal and deception, and was so well crafted that I did not know who was telling the truth and who was lying until everything was said and done.

Although I have never liked Barca (Antonio Te Maioho), I could not help but pity him in this episode. Though I might pity his lover, Pietros (Eka Darville) more.

Barca made a bet with Ashur (Nick Tarabay), which he won, and Ashur certainly did not expect to have to pay. And since he could not, and did not wish, to pay, Ashur came up with a different solution.

The confusion was over whether Barca killed the little boy whom Batiatus (John Hannah) had told him to kill. Barca told Pietros that he had not, which Ashur overheard. Then, news reached the ludus that the boy was still alive, and when Batiatus cleverly confronted Pietros on the matter, he was told this fact was true. By all accounts Barca had betrayed Batiatus is the worst possible way.

To save himself, Batiatus had Barca killed, only to learn moments after that the boy had in fact been killed in the first place.

I knew that Ashur had arranged so that Batiatus would learn that the boy was still alive, but I had not realized that he was lying about it. Money is, has been, and always will be worth killing for, and people who make large bets cannot forget it.

But I feel the worst for Pietros. Ashur has him believing that Barca abandoned him because he cost too much, but if he knew the truth, that his words to his master caused his lover's death, the pain would be greater.

Meanwhile, Spartacus (Andy Whitfield) was planning a great escape when his wife, Sura (Erin Cummings) was returned to him. I was horrified the entire episode, concerned that Spartacus would get them both killed with his rashness, annoyed that he had yet to learn gratitude and patience. And what did we get in the end? Batiatus brought him Sura, just in time for her to die from injuries she incurred en route. What a bastard! Spartacus should kill them all.

But what happens now? Spartacus no longer has the recovery of his wife to look forward to, no longer has his wife to live for. How will Batiatus keep his loyalty now that his reason for anything is gone?

Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Shadow Games, S01E05

Again, despite the violence and sex that permeates the entire concept of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, relevant and emotionally poignant subject matters are addressed with sadness and irony.

Yes, as I watched Shadow Games, I had to wonder how these gladiators kept their beautiful smiles when at least once a week Spartacus (Andy Whitfield) gets hit in the face, spraying blood and teeth. How many teeth can these gladiators have? And how do the manage, with so many shots to the head, to retain any sense of intelligence. Or perhaps it is this jogging of Spartacus's memory that has helped him keep his sanity after the trials of the pit.

But hits to the face were hardly the focus of the episode. Instead, love and children dominated the forefront.

Spartacus, as is quite obvious, does everything he does for the sake of his wife. That he holds on to her love so strongly may well be what saves him, though what is in fact happening to her has yet to be revealed to us. Crixus (Manu Bennett), perhaps impressed by this devotion, or perhaps confused by his recent development of affection for Naevia (Lesley-Ann Brandt), has begun to take after Spartacus. Rather a dangerous course of action for either to take. Yet Crixus becomes more and more likable despite his continued rivalry with Spartacus.

And while their love for their women kept them focused and alive in this episode, Batiatus (John Hannah) was consumed by the threat to his own life, and neglected his wife.

Poor Lucretia (Lucy Lawless). In many ways, she is flawed. Beyond flawed, one might even say, but her desire to have a child and her self-loathing for her failure are truly palatable. The tragedy for her that her husband is not at home for the hour when the priestess's medicines should help her quicken is made worse for us by the knowledge that he is out on a bloody business. As he kills an entire family, including a young boy, his chance for an heir slowly disappears.

How anyone can't feel for a woman trying so desperately to conceive is hard to imagine, but to watch her choose to let the moment pass so that Crixus might be strong, so that he might survive the battle ahead, that she is willing to make such a sacrifice for a man already alive...that is powerful. The question, though, is why she made this choice. Does she love Crixus so much that she would choose him over a child? Or was the idea that the child would not be her husband's enough to dissuade her when Crixus did not immediately rise to the occasion? Or perhaps Lucretia does not feel that she deserves children?

I eagerly anticipate seeing where the choices that were made will lead these characters as the series continues.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand - The Thing in the Pit, S01E04

Is Spartacus (Andy Whitfield) cursed by the gods? It is quite possibly so. After all, his wife was taken from him, his village destroyed, and he ended up as a gladiator with far too much pride and not enough intelligence to be successful. And yet he lived and lives.

In The Thing in the Pit, Spartacus fights men in what looks like an underground fighting ring. The pit, as it is called, pits beast against beast, for to be in the pit causes an insanity that destroys most of what it means to be a man. Luckily for Spartacus, his sanity was never intact to begin with. His continued visions of his wife, and the inspiration to kill them all which he receives from her - a lovely gift from wife to husband, I must say - had him on the brink of a different kind of insanity long before he began fighting in such a way as to lose his own humanity.

And so he stays sane, and with purpose. Well, that is, I'll call it sanity that he promised Batiatus (John Hannah) that he would die in the pits so that his master would have the coin to save his wife. His life has no meaning but her, and if his death is the means to save her, so be it.

Unfortunately, when the wager should have been won, Batiatus is set upon by assassins, and Spartacus, knowing that with his master's death, his wife will never be found, must live so that his master may also. And yet, in doing so, he undoes everything that the both had intended.

Is that a curse from the gods, or a disguised blessing?

Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) continues to fascinate as well. She is proud, and she enjoys the pleasures Crixus (Manu Bennett) gives her, but she loves her husband too. Yet her relationship with Crixus cannot simply be called lustful, since she was genuinely pleased with the gift of a necklace which he gave her. The idea that he might love her is a source of happiness. And her pride is often piqued by the current constant failures of the man she married.

Yet, for him she sells her jewels, and not to those who would dishonour him. Nor can she stand the idea of being left a widow, or being forced to marry another. Batiatus and Lucretia may not have the kind of affectionate and lustful love which Spartacus and Sora (Erin Cummings) share, but it is not less deep and real.

And so, amid the gratuitous sex and violence, which is excessive to the point that I turn away and would not eat while watching the show, a solid and interesting story line persists. Is that why you watch? Or is it for the blood?

White Collar - All In, S01E06

Alright, so I realize that White Collar is almost finished its first season, with the finale scheduled for Tuesday, March 9th (That's this Tuesday), and I'm on episode 6, while that will be episode 14, but maybe I'm looking for a challenge. I am planning on having seen all the episode by Wednesday. And I am planning to blog about them all... You may have to wait for all of the entries to be posted here, since there are still other shows to focus on, but I intend for my finale post on www.couchcampus.com to be on time. Wish me luck.

That said, I find it hard to believe that I fell of the wagon in terms of keeping up with this show; the same could be said of Supernatural, but I have until March 25th to catch that up.

White Collar is hilarious. The chemistry between Neal Caffrey (Matthew Bomer) and Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) is undeniable. They spare and deliver their lines to one another with timing so perfect it seems natural. And Burke's relationship with his wife, Ellie (Tiffani Thiessen), is also a delight to watch on television. For once a woman realized what she was getting into before she married an FBI agent, and so is not constantly mad at him for doing his job. Far too many women on TV cause problems in their own marriages because they got married expecting him to change. *rolls eyes* But that is not the case here.

And Bomer and DeKay also work well with the many other actors brought on to the show.

In All In, while we did learn a key piece of story line information - the man who has Kate is FBI - we also got a lot of simple and fun character interaction.

Watching Mozzie (Willie Garson) and Caffrey watching the awful cult classic Chinese movie involving Dominoes was hilarious. Mozzie's nerdy obsession with bad movies clearly doesn't transfer to Neal, who has bigger concerns in his life.

Burke also showed other sides of himself - he's not much better with children than he is with crying women, but he tries. But what he is good at is getting information. I loved the scene where he pretended to be an idiotic FBI agent while recording the Chinese spoken around him for translation later. One of the best tactics out there is to play one people's assumptions and confidence in your lack of understanding to get what you want.

But I think my favourite moment of the entire episode was when Neal and Peter were in the warehouse, and Neal stated that he thought he saw the ark of the covenant. Indiana Jones references will get you everywhere. I guess there are some delightfully bad movies that Caffrey does like.