Supernatural - The End, S05E04

What a phenomenally powerful episode. Supernatural has been delivering this season, and I'm loving every minute of it.

The premise of the End was that Dean (Jensen Ackles) was sent to the year 2014 by Zachariah (Kurt Fuller) to see what the world would become if he did not say yes to Michael. He arrived in a world plagued by Croatoan (something we first encountered in Season 1), and eventually managed to find himself. That's right, we had the pleasure of two Deans, one more surly than the other.

We still got our laughs. When Dean 2009 proved to Dean 2014 he was in fact himself, he spoke of trying on girl's panties when he was 19. He'd kind of liked it. And Cas, no longer an angel in this destroyed world, became an orgy-enjoying hippie. Plus, you had to love how well Dean actually knows himself and called himself out when he was spouting BS.

But the comedy was not what made this episode so brilliant. And yes, you gotta love how much Jensen Ackles we got. He had to work hard, after all, conversing with himself and creating a future Dean who had evolved from now Dean in a believable manner. I had no doubt that Dean could end up that way by 2014 given the circumstances. The real gem of the episode, however, was a stunning performance by Jared Padalecki.

We hardly saw Sam all episode, just a bit at the start and finish, but in 2014 we had one wonderful scene in which Dean 2009 faced Lucifer wearing Sam to the prom. What poise, what talent. Padalecki kept the same reservedness which all other actors playing Lucifer on Supernatural have displayed thus far. It's as if one person has continually played that part, simply wearing different costumes, which is a testament to the abilities of all of them.

Plus, seeing Sam not even present in Padalecki's eyes, completely dominated by the scorned lover, there is a praise-worthy performance. No, I never want to see Lucifer in Sam's body again, but boy did it show what Padalecki is capable of.

Which part of this episode moved you?

Glee - The Rhodes Not Taken, S01E05

I like Glee. It makes me laugh; it has good music; it's always entertaining. But, man the plots are terrible. Disconnected and all over the place, you can never be sure what's going to happen next because the choices are made completely for convenience.

It seems like the writers just feel like having this happen this week - we'll bring an adult singer into Glee for an episode; we'll make a boy band; we'll do 30 quick plot points that could work for a season in only one episode. There's no logical pattern. The only thing we do know is that glee club needs 12 members for regionals, and if we don't win regionals, glee club gets cancelled.

What would have made me laugh is if Glee had gotten cancelled, then glee club would have lost regionals and that's how the story would have ended. A little cruel of me to find that amusing perhaps, but Glee isn't cancelled (YAY!) and so we know they can't lose...or can they? Who knows what these wacky writers will do.

But as long as you ignore the plot as any true storyline, and just enjoy events as they come, Glee is great.

For instance, I love Rachel. I don't care that most people probably agree with Puck's statement "That Rachel chick makes me want to light myself on fire, but she can sing." I like her. I can relate to her, to all that effort to be somebody and to be important and the fact that most of the time it means you come off as annoying more than anything else. I'm just like that. And I want to see her succeed. And I want to see her with Finn.

Rachel and Finn work so well together, and that's one storyline I can follow. The poor idiot's inability to figure out life. I mean, he's only in high school. He doesn't know what he wants or why, so he's sort of caught between Quinn and his commitment there, and his attraction to Rachel. And naturally it's not going to go well for him, but it's fun to watch. I hope they have another scene together next week.

What do you hope? Or do the crazy plot inconsistencies make you change the channel?

Eastwick - Reaping and Sewing, S01E02

If I lived in Eastwick, I would probably be friends with all three of our leads, despite their differences. They are all women you want to have as friends.

Joanna (Lindsay Price) is so awkward, it's adorable. We have all danced and sung Like a Virgin with abandon with our best friends, though not all of us have then had the man we are in love with catch us in the act. And though it was completely predictable that Will would appear just as Joanna was getting really into it, it's one of those things you would be disappointed about if it didn't happen.

Plus, when he asked her to the Harvest Festival, and she turned him down cause she thinks she made him like her when he wouldn't have otherwise...so sweet. Even more sweet is the fact that he wouldn't give up, despite her rejections, and the ended up dancing to Madonna at the town dance. Awwwww.

Roxie (Rebecca Romijn) is just so much fun. She is tempestuous and exactly the kind of person you want on your side when you need backup. Her desire to kill the little puke who sexually assaulted her daughter is one we feel too. That jerk was never going to learn how to respect women, even if Mia had called him out on it. When Roxie drove at him, knocking him on his ass, I cheered.

Plus Romijn and Paul Gross (who plays the mysterious Darryl Van Horne) have such great chemistry. You have to give her props for not jumping him and removing all his clothes with her teeth...though, often, he's not wearing much. The tensions between Roxie and Darryl completely overpowers any spark between Roxie and Chad (Matt Dallas). I don't really see why he wants to be her boyfriend so badly...or why she's interested when he's behaving like such a kid about it, and I definitely didn't like that he was making her jealous with another girl who wasn't in on the plan. Now, not only is he weak and jealous, he's also a jerk.

I wonder how long it will take Roxie to actually end up in Darryl's bed.

Finally, Kat (Jamie Ray Newman), the dedicated mother, needs friends to support her more than she needs to take on any more problems that belong to other people. Her relationship with her husband, Raymond (Jon Bernthal), is so hard to watch. In the premiere, he was such an ass, and thus impossible to like. He kept yelling at Kat, blaming her for being struck by lightning (which was indeed her fault, but common, he shouldn't be thinking that), and he'd been a useless bum since he got fired.

While Kat tried to say good bye the entire episode, Raymond kept trying to say hello. We did get to see the chemistry that existed between this pair ignite, sending Kat into Raymond's arms and causing the tomatoes to grown, though it was not enough for me to want to see them reunite. Even when Darryl gave Raymond his job back, and Raymond promised Kat he'd change, I could not wish it. After all, it's nice when a relationship works when there are no problems, but when it crumbles like that in the face of adversity...

And so, as these ladies grow on me, and their powers grow as well, they did finally do something really big. The angry glares of three women sent Gus (the would-be rapist) off the scaffolding in the town square to his death. And though they killed someone, I couldn't really feel that badly about it.

How about you? Are you enjoying Eastwick?

Watching Raymond

Melrose Place - Vine, S01E04

Melrose Place will stay on the roster another week...but don't think it's in the clear. If it annoys or simply becomes to much work, I won't bother. But for now, I will continue to watch and review.

The show earned this extension by finally making me believe in Riley and Jonah's relationship. For once, they didn't fight and make up, instead they acted like a real couple. Invited to a movie premiere directed by Jonah's film school buddy, Riley showed me a side that I could actually like. She worked the room and made connections with important producers, which will hopefully lead to a break for Jonah. That is what a fiancee is supposed to be like. I wish the writers had started the couple more like this because if they keep it up, I may actually be sad when they break up. I may still be around to watch it.

Also, I still love Katie Cassidy's Ella. She has such spunk and fire, and yet she does not have control of every room she walks into. She tries and she rarely gives up power, but she can lose. It made it all the more worthwhile when she stood up to Jane to give her actor client the dress she wanted. She felt cornered, she wanted to do what was going to help her, but she chose to be a publicist first.

Plus, then we got a pretty awesome scene between David and Ella. Shaun Sipos has really grown on me, I guess he just had a bad week with the pilot because I don't find his acting attrocious anymore. He and Cassidy work very well together, their characters being cut from the same cloth and, therefore, having an understanding of the internal machinations of the other.

I also enjoy following Lauren's decent. I still haven't felt that she really tried any other option to get money, but at least this will be a plot that's going to last a long time. Might even continue to affect her until the end of the series, with ex-john's appearing at the hospital and continually threatening whatever sense of normalcy she acquires.

And crazy Violet is just getting more and more insane, which is entertaining to say the least.

So, if it continues to deliver this level of mediocrity, I'll stick around another week. Will you?

The Good Wife - Stripped, S01E02

This show is SO likeable.

How can you not like and respect a woman (or a man) who has lost a civil case, but is still happy because the same case will be tried in criminal courts and not be lost? The stripper whom Alicia and her firm were defending didn't want the money she would have received in a civil case. She wanted people to know that McKean had raped her. And since she got what she wanted, then that is a win...even if it's not our firm who made it happen.

Julianna Margulies's Alicia is the kind of woman you want to be friends with, or even to be. She is strong and hard-working, loves her family above everything else, and has issues but deals with them in a healthy and normal way. It is so easy to believe all the choices she has made so far. I feel for her because I also am unsure of her husband's betrayal. She wants to know the extent, she can't forgive him unless she knows the extent. Can you blame her? It may seem extreme that she wants numbers, details of that kind, but knowing the facts is probably better than what her imagination would give her.

If The Good Wife keeps making episodes that are this believable, I will keep watching. There is something about watching a show where I don't ignore details because, well, tv shows aren't perfect. Even though I question the bizarre photos of Peter's affairs that their son and daughter consider fakes, I don't question the children's desire to protect their parents. They were both horrified but drawn to the photographs, but quickly came to the decision to hide them from their mother. They wanted to protect her. And I loved that Alicia, having caught a glimpse of one on her son's computer, now thinks he may be looking at porn. And she's not overly upset, after all this is what boys do.

So now, I am hooked, even though I rarely watch dramas, rarely watch courtroom shows. Welcome to my Tuesday night date.

Trauma Pilot lacked trauma

I liked the first 25 minutes of the show. I don't know if I'd really want to watch a lot of it...cause there were some pretty intense moments: a helicopter crash that killed a man on route to the hospital, as well as some paramedics and pilots; a pile up caused by a moron texting on his blackberry; a 12 year old boy getting shrapnal in his throat from an explosion. I was terrified that the boy might die, that something truly awful might happen.

It didn't. At least, we didn't see much that was horrible. Sure, the explosions got my heart going, but it didn't last. They didn't play the aftermath for all they could have, and so I didn't stay as intently connected.

But despite those first 25 minutes, and the potential they might have shown for the show, the next 17 were dry and boring. All character development, the most exciting moment was when Rabbit (the helicopter pilot who survived the crash mentioned above) drove around as if he was Steve McQueen in Bullet. He took the door off a man's car, as well as a finger of that man's hand. But that was hardly enough in a show called Trauma.

It may get cancelled...I may still tune in next week....but next time, if I feel like the show should have ended after 25 minutes, I'm going to turn it off.

Here's a hint! Intersperse your trauma with your character/storyline stuff.

Castle - The Double Down, S02E02

This episode should have been called Strangers on a Boat.

Most crime shows eventually come up with the plot of having two connected murders, committed by people who met by chance. Strangers on a Train, a film by Alfred Hitchcock and a book by Patricia Highsmith, is the best known example of this switch.

And yes, when Castle and Beckett were staring at the board, sure the entire incident was not serendipitous, I figured out who killed who before they told me, but it took me until that moment to realize. And that is what makes Castle such a great show.

Two murders take place in a show where typically only one is being pursued, which might lead one to wonder why, except we were given a reason. A bet. Castle and Beckett's investigation vs Esposito and Ryan's. So you think, okay, we're going to get two interesting and entertaining murders, plus some character hilarity brought on by this bet. And then you don't think about it, until the writers are ready for you to be there.

Also, the literary and grammar stuff that Castle was using throughout the episode was fantastic. I love a man who knows the difference between whom and who, between irony and tragedy.

Did you love this episode?