Glee - Funk, S01E21

Okay, so I'm not a huge fan of Funk, and the only reason to watch Glee is the music, cause the storylines are hardly original. So I wasn't a huge fan of this episode, and not just because I was very wrong about Jesse (Jonathan Groff).

Okay, so Jesse is a horrible slime. I didn't actually see that coming. I mean, I knew that he was going to break Rachel (Lea Michele)'s heart, I knew that he was going to rejoin Vocal Adrenaline, I was prepared for Glee to beat them anyways and for Jesse to feel like an idiot. I was not ready for him to break eggs on Rachel's head, nor for her to so naively set herself up to have that happen. I'm almost impressed that Glee went there. Almost.

Otherwise, the Sue (Jane Lynch)/Will (Matthew Morrison) romance was somewhat entertaining, although disturbing, and the Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig)/Finn (Cory Monteith) was even more so. Although the stuff that properly touched on the divorce was touching.

I'm hopeful that the season finale will give me some songs that I like, and possibly even a plot line I enjoy! Go Glee, you are so trashy but I love you anyways.

The Good Wife - Running, S01E23 - Season Finale

The Good Wife is perhaps the best new show of the year...I'll give my final word on that in my evaluations of this past year's television series (at least the ones I've been watching). It's finale continued to promise it made at the beginning of the season, to deliver a good procedural with just the right amount of personal drama.

The case wasn't just another case. It never is. This cases are complex, and always involve a certain amount of moral questioning. But this case also brought out more complications on the personal side; exactly what I wanted before being made to wait 4 months for the next episode.

Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) found herself more involved in the case than she wanted to be when one of the cops accused of corruption was her lover. Things got even more difficult for her when the FBI agent (the female FBI agent, I should stress) who had shown interest her earlier in the season confronted her with the affair. Kalinda's questions was whether she was concerned about a possible information leak or whether she was jealous. The moments that followed confirmed that Kalinda is, at least, not only into men. Whether she is in fact bisexual, or whether she has a definite preference, or whether her love affairs are merely tools remain uncertain, and her sexual interest a mystery. But, as she so casually put it, what does it matter?

Cary (Matt Czuchry), meanwhile, put the screws to Alicia (Julianna Margulies) and his former employers by siding with Glenn Childs (Titus Welliver). He is so clearly angry about not being chosen; it's actually sad how little prepared he was for that possibility and how much he blames Alicia for his loss. And his inside knowledge allowed him to make Diane (Christine Baranski) choose between solid cross examination (outside the courtroom) or violation of the trust her lover, Kurt McVeigh (Gary Cole). Naturally, Diane's cross examination was to the point and perfect, and McVeigh had the sense to not take it personally.

Finally, Alicia. With Peter (Chris Noth) poised to run again, Alicia is a critical part of his campaign strategy. She practically promised Eli Gold (Alan Cumming) her cooperation when he switched to her law firm (the move that secured the job for her rather than Cary). And yet, Will (Josh Charles) has slowly been waking to the realization that he regrets nothing ever happened between them.

The last few moments of the episode were perfect. Moments before Alicia is to join Peter on stage, Will finally confesses his feelings. I loved, LOVED her response. She wants a plan. And although Will told her that not everything needs a plan, she insisted that everything important does. I could not agree with her more.

She has kids, she has a husband, she has the press breathing down her neck. Plans get us what we want, not wishful thinking.

And so, she hangs up, prepared to join Peter, only her phone starts ringing again. It's Will.

Does he have a plan?

Will she join Peter on the stage?

The perfect end to a fantastic first season of a series I love. Were you equally pleased?

Glee - Theatricality, S01E20

Oh Glee, of course they would do a tribute to Lady Gaga. How absolutely expected, yet super fun. Especially as the boys were allowed to take their theatricality lesson from KISS. I also want to congratulate this episode for being so perfectly balanced between the characters and the story lines. My favourite part was when Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) threatened the Principal that her father would eat him if he did not allow Tina to dress how she wished.

But as much as I loved a lot of elements of this episode, and as well done as I thought it was, I had some major issues about discrimination and unfairness.

One of the pivotal points of the episode was the confrontation between Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Finn (Cory Monteith). Finn made a derogatory comment about homosexuality, and got told off for it by Kurt's dad, Burt (Mike O'Malley). He made it clear how disappointed he was in Finn for being so close minded. Finn, of course, rallied after this and made a stand for Kurt, which proved what a terrific guy Finn is. And it really made me mad that Burt was so hard on him for his stupid comment when half the reason he was poised to make it was Burt's fault.

What do you think it going to happen if you make a boy move into another house without talking to him about it first? And in that house, he has to share his room with another boy, a gay boy at that? Would you ever have your daughter share her room with someone else's son? NO! So why is it so different when you're dealing with 2 boys when one is gay?

Finn has been dealing with issues over his loss of popularity and stature at the school for months. He is doing Glee because he loves it, and that is hard enough, but that he has to constantly champion the rest of the Glee club makes it even harder. So after all that, he comes home to find the room he's sharing looking so absolutely ridiculous, why is anyone surprised that he lashed out and said something hurtful to the person who was closest? If Burt and his own mother hadn't set up a situation where something like this was so likely to happen, perhaps it would not have.

Plus, it really irks me that the Glee club takes such offense to people not accepting their outrageous and theatrical ways. Are you serious? They have to accept you for who you are, dressing strangely and generally making them uncomfortable? It's a two way street. You want it your way, and they want it theirs. Where do you get off feeling self-righteous about your own behaviour while not considering other people's? If you are allowed to express yourself, then so are they.

Not that I am condoning violence in any way. It's called tolerance, people! You don't like something, that's nice, you are allowed. Just don't get violent about it. Frankly, if you are going to be making loud statements with theatricality, you are trying to make a splash, so get over yourself and realize that some people are going to resent what you are fighting for, and fight for the opposite.

So that's what I have to say about all that. Glee does a good job of fighting for the little guy, but sometimes it's comments end up coming out as attacks on others rather than an attempt for equality.

Chuck - Chuck vs the Subway & Chuck vs the Ring: part II, S03E18-19 - Season finale

This excellent season of Chuck, which was renewed for a full season before the finale aired, concluded with just the right amount of mystery to make me unbelievably glad that it will be airing again in September. Waiting longer than that just would not have worked for me. I do have a few questions about that conclusion, but I am sure we will find out the answers in 4 short (and gloriously sunny) months.

The first episode of the 2 part finale, which aired back to back, started with Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) still in Ring custody, while Chuck (Zachary Levi) and his dad (Scott Bakula) worked on a governor device, designed to regulate the Intersect impulses racing through Chuck's brain.

With Ellie missing, the fear of Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and Devon (Ryan McPartlin), that Ellie was cheating, grew. All the while, Casey (Adam Baldwin), although bruised from his encounter with Ellie, was ordering pie at the restaurant where his daughter, Alex (Mekenna Melvin).

And if all that wasn't complicated enough, General Beckman (Bonita Fredericy) was defending the Intersect program to her higher ups, unaware that Daniel Shaw (Brandon Routh) was back and planning to take down the government from the inside.

I loved Ellie's reaction when she found out Chuck was an agent. Even more so, I loved how confused I was when it turned out that Ellie was being held in an actual CIA facility. The confusion about what was going on, who was a good guy or a bad guy, and all that sort of tension was absolutely delicious.

Also, Shaw's evil plan worked so well. Chuck played right into his hand, every time. When he was first arrested, it wasn't so big a deal, but when they were about to face off, and Shaw actually pulled the bad guy move of shooting Steven Bartowski, my heart just broke despite the fact that I saw it coming.

The second part was even better. Morgan and Devon had to rescue Chuck, Casey, and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovsky). Best car ever! The Crown Vic was armed with a missile launcher! I want that feature!

Ellie confronted Chuck about everything, making him promise to quit the spy game once Shaw was apprehended and the security of the CIA, NSA and every other defense organization was no longer compromised.

The battles continued, and while we learned that Chuck had first been exposed to the Intersect program when he was still a child and his brain was far more capable of processing the information than any others, his final battle with Shaw - taking place in the Buy More while the Jefster video played - was both intense and uncertain. When he rebooted and thus was significantly superior to Shaw, I cheered.

And so we come to the conclusion. No, we did not return to the status quo. Chuck has, apparently, quit the spy game. Sarah and Casey, however, likely haven't. It will be interesting to see how that continues to work next season. Morgan has equally not been released (or has he?). Now that a new mission has been established, on that is completely off the grid, of finding Chuck's mom, he's certainly going to want his team and his family by his side. But how is that going to work with Casey and Sarah still working for the government? I guess we'll find out.

I also though the Buy More send off was fantastic. Although I am not certain, it seems to me that Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence), Lester (Vik Sahay), and Jeff (Scott Krinsky) no longer really have a place in the story line. Blowing up the store was a perfect end. I hope we will still see them occasionally, but there are new places to go.

Finally, the season was fantastic, the conclusion excellent, and the set up for next season perfect. All I have to add is that I love how much Adam Baldwin can say just by grunting or snarling. Casey's relationship with his daughter is sure to develop, and I love just how protective and fantastic a father he will end up being.

Can't wait for the fall.

Murdoch Mysteries - Hangman, S03E11

I do love when you start watching a show, and you are confused because some of the details do not make sense to you, and then you discover that there is a reason for all of that. At first, you feel concerned that the show you like is making some bizarre choices just to make a good story, and then you realize that those choices, carefully made, make the story all the better.

The episode started with a man being hanged. He dropped through the floorboards, and I was slightly confused because I did not hear his neck break. Soon afterwards, he was in Dr. Ogden (Helene Joy)'s morgue, where he promptly woke up after she removed a tube from his throat. So we had the explanation as to why he did not die after hanging for more than 10 minutes. He should have suffocated, but the tube allowed him to breath.

But, why did his neck not break?

There is an art to hanging a man, to make sure that his neck breaks and that he does not suffer. If the rope is too short, he will have to wait until he is choked to death. If the rope is too long, his head will pop off. Neither are particularly pleasant...but then again neither is having your neck broke.

So it made perfect sense that the hangman had messed with the rope, making it too short for the neck to break. But while he saved the life of a convicted murderer, that was his only crime.

It turned out that murderer was innocent, set up by the real killer. Crown Dillard (Eric Peterson) was covering his own trail; he had been using false testimony to get convictions.

This, of course, spurs the debates both about executions, as well as about the necessity of trying to protect the innocent. The system wasn't perfect then, and it's hardly perfect now. Taking the law into our own hands doesn't fix it, so what does?

A delightful and philosophical episode of Murdoch Mysteries, ending with Dr. Ogden questioning her profession. How is that going to turn out?