Glee - Mash Up, S01E08

On Glee this week, we had a surprising couple hook up: Rachel (Lea Michele) and Puck (Mark Salling). Though it was not so long ago that Puck claimed that Rachel made him want to set himself on fire, this week's episode featured a very different kind of fire. Puck even chose Glee and Rachel over football when Coach Ken (Patrick Gallagher) forced his team to choose.

It was a hot hook up, and the pair were very compatible, but it could not last. No. Rachel is perfectly aware of her lingering feelings for Finn (Cory Monteith) and she suspected Puck of having feelings for Quinn (Dianna Agron) as well. She knows that as long as those feelings remain, she and Puck cannot have a real relationship. Then again, this is only the first season of Glee. Who knows where it will go from here, but there is always the possibility of Ruck returning in the future.

Oh the adult side of the spectrum, Emma (Jayma Mays) and Ken are planning their wedding. Despite the secrecy and Emma's bizarre stipulations, Ken did insist that they both be in the same room for the ceremony. And they will dance to their first song. Emma wants to dance to I Could Have Danced All Night, while Ken wants The Thong Song. They ask Will (Matthew Morrison) to give them dancing lessons and to figure out how to mash up the two songs.

As Will and Emma dance together, the romantic tension is ever on the increase. Ken is still willing to marry Emma, knowing she wants another, but he gets jealous. This is what incites him to force the football players to choose. In the end, Finn convinces him to let the boys continue to do both. Clearly, the kids behaved more like adults throughout the whole episode.

Other than that, the only points of note are that Quinn has been kicked off the Cheerios and that the slushie theme from the first episode came back and was in full force.
I hope you thought that was as hilarious as I did.

Eastwick - Mooning and Crooning, S01E05

I am a huge fan of Eastwick and I hope that it gets picked up...or that at least the last episode is conclusive enough to satisfy rather than frustrate me. I really wish that shows would take that into account. If they booked 12 episodes, with the choice of either making a 13th finale or a back 10. Then, if the series was not successful enough to get picked up, but all the episodes aired, the fans would still be satisfied. And it would then sell very well as a box set and more people could be introduced to a complete show, almost a miniseries, rather than interested parties not picking it up because they know they will be left unsatisfied.

Last Wednesday's episode generated another question about what is going to happen in the future, and how soon that future is. On top of the menace that Jamie (Jack Huston) represents to Roxie (Rebecca Romijn), she has now seen herself, with her daughter Mia (Ashley Benson), crying at a funeral. Since she was looking at her boyfriend Chad (Matt Dallas) at the time, it may have been his grave.

Otherwise, the episode was...well, not disappointing, but a little contrived. The premise was that the alignment of the full moon was going to make the town a little wacky. Gone wacky, Joanna (Lindsay Price) publishes a derisive front page article about Darryl (Paul Gross), exposing all her theories, but containing no proof or substance. Not only is Darryl mad at her for it, despite having orchestrated it in the first place, but she got fired for her troubles.

Kat (Jaime Ray Newman) did something far worse. At the beginning of the episode, she was an awesome friend. She chewed Will (Johann Urb) out for ignoring Joanna and refusing to listen to her apology or give her a second chance. Later, having been rescued by our favourite volunteer firefighter when her smoky singing set the cafe on fire, she and Will exchanged a spark and a moonlight kiss.

Neither Joanna nor Kat would have behaved in such a manner while fully in control of themselves, so I appreciate that there was a reason for the uncharacteristic actions...but there are a lot of other ways to bring about this kind of drama. This was the easy way to manage it.

But next week, I will be watching again.

Melrose Place - Windsor, S01E07

Before I get into what I thought about Tuesday's episode of Melrose Place, there is some news.

1. Melrose Place has been picked up for an additional 5 episodes. Though this is not the full pick up of a back 9, it is still a surprise giving the ratings, but that may have to do with 2 & 3.

2. Heather Locklear is coming back, and not as a guest. Plots will revolve around her as producers hope that she will help the ratings pick up. I may not be able to watch once she arrives, since I have a passionate dislike of her.

3. Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and Colin Egglesfield, who play Violet and Auggie, will be leaving the show. I am disappointed Violet is going, because she was fantastic and completely insane, but I'm glad that Egglesfield is out. He may be attractive, but he is the worst actor on television at the moment.

4. By December, the murder mystery will be resolved, and Melrose Place will supposedly become more fun. Will I stick around to see it? I don't know.

I wish that they were getting rid of Riley rather than Violet. It's not that Jessica Lucas, her portrayer, is particularly untalented, but the character just grates on my every nerve. The whole nonsense of her model shot and her posing, and Jo (Daphne Zuniga from the original series)'s yelling at her was equally useless. Thank god Katie Cassidy's Ella was in those scenes to make them tolerable, though I would have rather seen her do something more interesting.

Oh, and Jonah (Michael Rady) and Riley got in another fight, and Jonah found out from Auggie that he and Riley had kissed, so he got pissed off and went to meet up with a hot producer chick. Cause any of us would believe Jonah to be a cheater (well, it was only a business meeting over drinks).

And while we didn't get enough of crazy Violet and too damn much of Auggie, Lauren (Stephanie Jacobsen) and David (Shaun Sipos) were full of sexual tension as Lauren discovered that David is a thief and got all moral on him about it. Right, cause when you are a wh*re, you are only victimizing yourself, so it's okay. Unlike stealing criminals' money.

Not the best episode yet...but I guess I'll stick around until the murder is solved and then pray the show gets cancelled to free up the talented actors for better gigs.

What are your thoughts?

The Good Wife - Crash, S01E05

This was the first episode where Alicia (Julianna Margulies) had to make a personal decision in regards to the court case she was working.

The situation? After a train crash, the widows of the three operators who died in the crash are suing the company for compensation, but the company claims the husbands were the cause of the crash. Digging through the information, Alicia gets a tip that the engineer was already aware of the problem that caused the crash. The problem? The tip came from a woman who knew only because she was having an affair with the engineer, and she doesn't want to testify or her husband and family will find out. Alicia will have to put this woman and her family through the same hell that Peter (Christ Noth)'s case caused the Florricks.

And she does her job, puts the woman through hell, but gets justice for the widows. And her young daughter, Grace (Makenzie Vega), told her to do it.

Things also began to develop in Alicia's personal life as the tension between herself and her mother-in-law grows. Jackie (Mary Beth Peil) does not like Alicia much, and defied her by bringing the children to jail to visit Peter though Alicia told her not to. Peter is also aware of the issues, though his mother is also feeding him concerns. When Alicia went to visit him, he became concerned that her relationship with her boss, Will (Josh Charles), was becoming personal. He still loves Alicia and doesn't want her to give up on him. He is terribly jealous, which is almost typical from a man who cheated on her.

His comments on Will were that the man is not exactly as he seems. That may be so, and I can't wait to see where that goes. After all, a good looking, high powered lawyer must have some reason he's still single.

Finally, Diane (Christina Baranski) and Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) had an interesting side plot. Diane had Kalinda follow her boyfriend, under the pretext that he might soon join the firm as a partner. In reality, he was her boyfriend. Kalinda discovered that he was not faithful, and told Diane that, though keeping up the pretense. She also managed to get herself a raise, pointing out how useful she could be, and Diane accepted.

It was nice to see a softer side of Diane, since I'm so used to seeing her as a sort of enemy to Alicia and not as her own multidimensional character.

Can't wait for next week.

Mad Men - The Color Blue, S03E10

Thank God this episode was not nearly as depressing as last week. Of course, that would have been very difficult, but I was getting to the point that I didn't want to put myself through the depression anymore. I'm glad the season is almost done so I have until next August to recover and start looking forward to my favourite parts of the series...like Joan, and Sal, and Peggy and Pete (before he became a complete write off). At least we still have Bert Cooper.

While office politics were a key part of this episode, and cannot be ignored in this posting, Don (Jon Hamm)'s personal life was far more interesting. But we'll start with the politics, after a mention of the funniest moment of the episode, or possibly the season.

Roger (John Slattery) is in the car with Jane (Peyton List) and his mother. His mother asks Jane something, calling her Margaret - Roger's daughter. Roger corrects her, saying Jane is his wife. His mother asks if Mona knows. It was hilarious.

Now for politics:

Sterling Cooper's 40th anniversary party is coming up, and neither Roger nor Cooper (Robert Morse) wish to attend. Too bad that they are still the heads of the company, even with the British, and their lack of presence would be bad form. Lane (Jared Harris) easily convinces Cooper of this, though for a while there he was adamant he would not attend. Lane is also working for the benefit of the Brits, who are planning on selling Sterling Cooper off again. Will there be even more downsizing next season?

Paul (Michael Gladis) and Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) also got a lovely side plot where they worked on advertising (who'd have thought). Paul hasn't been giving a lot of great ideas lately, and he's furious when his idea is too long for Don, and Peggy spontaneously shortens the concept and is praised for it. He is jealous of her success. Then, thinking hard all night about a pitch for Western Union, he has a brilliant idea. Drunk as anything, he's forgotten it and cannot find it in the morning. Lois helps him look for any papers, but there are none. Oh, yes, Lois didn't get fired for lopping off Guy's leg.

In the office, Peggy convinces Paul to admit what happened to Don, who commiserates, having lost many ideas of his own that way. Then Peggy, inspired by a Chinese quote Paul said to her, comes up with a great pitch. Paul is awed this time, rather than annoyed.

But let's get back to Don's personal life. He continues to have his affair with school teacher Miss Farrell (Abigail Spencer), and it just seems like such a bad idea. She insists on him meeting her brother (who pegs him as arrogant in the first 5 minutes), and stalks him on his train to work to confirm that he still wants to be with her. As long as he wants her, things should be okay, but if he decides to end it and she doesn't want too...boy will there be trouble.

Betty (January Jones), on the other hand, continues to try to steer away from Henry Francis, though she hasn't stopped thinking about him. Then she finds a key to Don's desk. Naturally curious, she goes to look. The stacks of money sitting in the drawer don't interest her, but a shoe box does. She pulls it out to find pictures of Dick Whitman and his brother Andy, as well as dog tags, a deed to a property in California, and a divorce certificate. Regardless of all the mention of Dick, Betty is most concerned by Don Draper's divorce. She waits up all night with the box for Don to come home so she can confront him, but he spends the night with Miss Farrell. She puts the box away before he gets home and accepts his excuse that he was with Hilton.

Then, she gets dolled up and goes to the 40th anniversary party to be shown off on the arm of a man she's finally understanding she knows nothing about.

With only 3 more episodes this season, something is going to break. The only question is what.

Castle - When the Bough Breaks, S02E05

Great news! Castle has been picked up for the full second season. Which means that we have another 17 episodes to watch together before the summer hiatus and the concerns about renewal.

And it's no wonder that the show is doing well. This was one fabulous episode, couple a mysterious murder with the great fun of the normal life of Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion).

The episode started with Castle's agent showing up at his door at 7:30am to tell him that he potentially had a book deal for three books about a certain well-known British spy. Apparently, said British spy who shall not be named was the entire reason Castle became a writer in the first place. What an exciting offer...except it would mean no more Nikki Heat books. At least, not for a while. Then again, Beckett (Stana Katic) might be happy about that.

Regardless, Castle joins Beckett in the investigation of a young woman found beaten and dropped in a manhole. Though they are given the runaround, they finally discover the murderer. The interesting part is his reason and the murder victim's own investigation. Her son died of a congenital disease 3 years before, but it turns out that he was not her son. Her son was switched at birth by Dr. Talbot (Reed Diamond*). He was the one who killed her to prevent her telling his wife.

On the lighter side of the episode, Castle's book launch was extremely successful. So successful that the 3 book deal became one for Nikki Heat novels. There was a beautiful scene at the end of the episode with both he and Beckett on the phone. Castle's agent was telling him about the terrific success of his book and his new contract, while Beckett was being told by her boss that she was going to have to continue to put up with Castle to keep the mayor happy. And so the terrific partnership continues! And we get to watch it for the rest of the season.

Dexter - Dex Takes a Holiday, S04E04

This episode felt very much like the first season, probably because the sum total of Dexter (Michael C Hall)'s personal plot line involved the pursuit and subsequent murder of a woman who shot and killed her child and husband.

At first, I thought it might be a twist, that Dexter was wrong, and though some evidence pointed to Zoe Kruger (Christina Cox*) as a murderer, she was innocent. But she wasn't. No, she killed her own family because she was suffocating. And Dexter used his typical dark-passenger ingenuity to be certain of it and to catch her unawares. He also discovered that he was not like her. Despite his very dark side, he loves his family and would choose any other option before seeing them dead.

Speaking of Dexter's family, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) was her typical inarticulate self as the tension between her and Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine) grew. Though the two were distracted the one by the other, they still managed to find the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow)'s third murder from 30 years ago, and therefore his upcoming murder's location. Unfortunately, Trin noticed Lundy scoping out the place. He intentionally bumped into our super-agent, and Lundy noticed something wasn't right there either.

He never got to go into detail though; the next time he and Deb saw each other, they ended up in bed together. I'd say poor Anton (David Ramsey), but I never really liked him much. Still as Deb and Lundy said good bye, and she promised to tell Anton, gun shots rang out. Deb went down with a bullet in her side and Lundy for good.

I'd heard that an important character was going to die, and I suspected it was Lundy all episode, but I never expected this. Did Anton see he and Deb together and go gun crazy? Or did the Trinity Killer completely change his tactic to eliminate his hunter? Or was it some thief? Or was it the vacation murderer?

I guess we'll have to wait until next week to find out.