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.

Fringe - Dream Logic, S02E05

I've figured out what's wrong with Fringe this season. There is nothing to look forward to.

Last season, the first half was peppered with Olivia (Anna Torv) reliving John (Mark Valley)'s memories, and waiting for him to appear again and watching her heart breaking made me desperate to see the show again. And there was such a sense of conspiracy with the Pattern. What was it? What was causing it? What was Walter (John Noble)'s involvement?

The second half, we focused on Olivia. That she was one of Walter and Bell (Leonard Nimoy)'s test subjects as a child. And we had David Robert Jones (Jared Harris), who was trying to find all the devices Walter had once made. I didn't know many details, but I could see how everything was interconnected.

This season lacks that connectivity. I have no idea where this season is going, except that the people from the parallel world want to destroy/take over ours. So I know what the conspiracy is. But we no longer talk about the Pattern and what it could mean or how it might be developing. Now all the strange things that are happening are simply strange things - do they have anything to do with the parallel world? Do I care? And there are not enough delightful moments with Walter...for instance, this last episode, instead of Walter telling Agent Kashner (Travis Schuldt) that he loves operating on brains, Astrid (Jasika Nicole) mentioned it. And much as I love Astrid, she is NOT Walter.

Last week was great - it felt like we were finally going somewhere again, but this week, albeit that the dream interference plot was pretty cool, the only thing that really made it worth it was Olivia collecting business cards and mourning Charlie (Kirk Acevedo). So again, please, please step up your game and give me something to hang on to. Why will I watch next week? Cause I'm still under the impression that I love Fringe - I can't think of another reason.

Stargate Universe - Darkness, S01E04

Though Stargate Universe continues to struggle to gain momentum, this episode marked a distinct improvement in the series. At the end of the episodes, the events compel me to return next week to find out what will happen next.

The ship and the shipmates continue to be the source of danger to the lives of our heroes. The shipmates themselves are cranks, whiny, and not particularly brave. Though Colonel Young (Justin Louis) has repeatedly told us that these are the wrong people to be on this mission, it's hard to believe they there because they seem to be the wrong people for any mission. The soldiers and scientists are whining that they do not want to die in space. With that kind of attitude and lack of spine, how did they become part of the stargate program in the first place. Why is it that out of all of them, who must have been working for the military for some time, Eli David Blue) has adapted the best?

Throughout the episode, though, the attitudes of those recording current feelings on the KENO device distinctly improved. There is still hope of survival.

In some ways, community is forming on the ship - or should I say communities. There are those who are in the loop and those not, and all are bonding over what must be done and what they know. Again, I have to wonder at the quality of soldiers we have, since they refuse to try to trust their commanders. Really, one of the biggest issues with the show is how difficult it is to like the characters. I'm a huge fan of Dr. Rush, but how much of that is because I love Robert Carlyle? Neither Colonel Young nor Colonel Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips) is likable - Young is not strong enough, and Telford is far too much of a prick. And do not get me started on what I think of Chloe (Elyse Levesque)...they better find a use for her soon.

But, as I said, there was improvement. I have good things to say!

1. Eli and Scott (Brian J. Smith) still have their sun burns from last episode, which is awesome!

2. Rush passed out because of coffee and cigarette withdrawal - the realities of being stranded on a ship.

3. Though the Destiny lost power, some of the scientists figured out how to use some of its technology to recharge batteries for flashlights, etc. Yay for the ability to explain away their continual use for the rest of the run of the show.

4. Rush mentioned that Destiny predates the Ancient gene, and therefore its existence has no bearing on the functioning of the ship. Thank you for finally letting us know you hadn't forgotten about it.

5. There was a reference to Mozart and Salieri.

6. There was discussion both of shower and waste disposal systems, implying that the people on the Destiny still have human needs.

7. I'm looking forward to next week!

That's right, next week our heroes have to solve both the problem of lack of power on the Destiny (which blacked out to the point that it fell out of FTL) and the fact that it is now headed straight for a Red Dwarf.

Are you excited for next week?

Supernatural - I Believe the Children Are Our Future

This episode started out a little wacko. First, a girl scratched herself to death, then an old man electrocuted his nurse with a joy buzzer. If that wasn't strange enough, the tooth fairy showed up and ripped all 32 teeth from a man's head. Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) were a little confused to say the least. What was happening and what was causing it?

I thought it was another non-story-arc-related episode, where some bizarre circumstance (or perhaps even a trickster god) was causing havoc, but our boys would solve it and then go on their way. Instead, we find out that this boy, who was adopted and who's sealed file indicated that he had no father, had some pretty special powers. The urban legends and stories we tell our children which the boy believed were the ones that were coming true.

Sam and Dean went to meet his birth mother, Julia (Ever Carradine*), to try to figure out why the boy is what he is. And it turns out that she was possessed for 9 months throughout her pregnancy...and that she was a virgin. That's right, folks, this kid is the Antichrist and this episode is important. But what is an Antichrist? Just half-human and half-demon...which side will guide him?

Sam and Dean don't want to kill him, after all he's just a kid, but Castiel (Misha Collins) believes the boy need to die. Sam argues that if the boy, Jesse, is told all the facts, perhaps he'll make the right choice. Cas tells Sam that he didn't make the right choice...which was totally unfair since Cas is one of the people who withheld the facts. I don't think anyone believes Sam would have killed Lilith if anyone had had the sense to tell him that would start the apocalypse.

Jesse is stronger than anyone thinks, though. He turns Cas into an action figure, and when Julia shows up infested with a Demon, he tells it to shut up so that he can listen to what Sam has to say. Sam tells him the whole truth about what's going on, and about the danger Jesse is to his family. In the end, the boy leaves, neither with the Demon nor with the Winchester brothers. Only time will tell whether it was the smart idea to leave the boy alive. How different would the world be if Sam had never been born?

I am very excited about where this whole apocalypse thing is going. Can it be stopped? Should it be stopped? What do you think?

FlashForward - Black Swan, S01E04

Try to think where you will be in 6 months. Where will you be, what will you be doing? Will you be at work, filling out paperwork, or answering the telephone? How many people will be doing something important at that time? It's funny to think about, isn't it.

The most interesting part is the emotions, that in the flashforward, people understood what they felt about the people they were talking to. This man I've never met before is my lover. I am being murdered and I deserve it. I have no worries. The consciousness was not sent ahead 6 months to witness a moment, it had lived everything in between and understood all the nuances of the situation.

This week, though Mark (Joseph Fiennes) wanted to go to Somalia to research the blackout that supposedly took place there in the early 90s, Demetri (John Cho) dragged him to Indiana to follow up on the advice of the blond woman the two had been pursuing when the blackout occurred. Though it turned up to be of no use, Demetri finally told Mark of his upcoming murder. I continue to hope that it can be changed.

Mark continues to believe in the importance of the Somalia incident, and is now going to get a hacker to break into the CIA files, since the FBI can't seem to get information legally. He continues to ask the questions Who? and How? and not so much Why? But the why does not seem to be the most dangerous part.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Olivia (Sonya Walger) continues to struggle with her flashforward. She tries to have the autistic boy and his father, Lloyd Simcoe (Jack Davenport), moved out of her wing so that she does not see the man she was with 6 months from now all the time. She still wants to believe in her marriage to Mark, as do we since they continue to be adorable.

Of course, though Lloyd seems like a real sweetheart, as he learns how to interact with his son, playing magic tricks and such, by the end of the episode, we've received another big reveal. Lloyd knows Simon (Dominic Monaghan) and helped cause the biggest catastrophe in human history.

This reveal is much more significant than Nicole (Peyton List)'s. She saw herself being drown, and felt she deserved it. I can't imagine anything I could do that would make me believe I deserved to be drown...I really don't want to die that way. We'll have to wait to find out what she does.

FlashForward does a really good job both revealing a lot of new twists and information while knotting up the plot even more. What do you think?

Vampire Diaries - Lost Girls, S01E06

This episode is being hailed by most TV writers as the best episode of Vampire Diaries ever. Considering that it's only the 6th episode and it was terrific, that isn't a stretch to say, but I am still a little disappointed.

This is because of the telling, rather than the showing. The episode started with the arrival of Elena (Nina Dobrev), confronting Stefan (Paul Wesley) about who or what he is, and suddenly we were transported back to 1864 as a human Stefan greets Katherine (also Nina Dobrev) for what seems to be the first time. I expected that we would spend the entire episode in the 19th century, watching as Stefan and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) fell in love with Katherine and out of favour with each other. I expected we'd learn how they became vampires, though I suspected we would not see how that saga had ended (with Katherine burning in a church).

Instead, we got a fantastic story focusing on Vicki (Kayla Ewell) and Damon in the present, while Stefan told Elena about the past and we got a couple flashbacks to illustrate. Come on! It would have been so easy to show the story Stefan told Elena and then to have us return to present with the Vicki/Damon development. But, regardless, I still really enjoyed the episode.

While Stefan told Elena of the friendship he and Damon used to share, as well as their attraction towards Katherine, Damon killed all of Vicki's friends and burnt them to hid the COD. When he got to Vicki, she was still alive. He brought her back to the house (which despite the incident with the vervain, he and Stefan will apparently continue to share), where he drank her blood, and she drank his, and they had one heck of a dance party.

As Damon slowly makes Vicki a vamp, we learn that Katherine was a wanton and a bitch. Playing the brother's off each other, flirted excessively and ended up in bed with each of them the night of the Founder's Ball. Very reminiscent of Ashton Main from North and South. Turns out she was the vampire who turned our boys so that the three could be happy forever. It would have been nice to see rather than be told a little more. Why was Stefan so in love with her, why is he still? She's like a female Damon. Good thing that other than appearance she is completely different from Elena, or rather than Elena is different from her.

Damon and Vicki continue to dance, slow this time. Vicki is telling him her pathetic life story, and he determines that she has no self esteem. Only one thing will help - death. And he breaks her neck.

Don't worry, she wasn't completely dead yet. She could still become a vampire - all she had to do was feed. She leaves Damon and turns up at Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) and Elena's as if she were utterly high. Jeremy proves again that he's really a fantastic guy and calls her brother. He's super concerned. Stefan and Elena show up - Stefan knows exactly what is going on. When Vicki bolts from the house, refusing to drink Jeremy's blood, he knows exactly where and how to find her.

Unfortunately, the members of the town who are aware vampires exist are out a-hunting. One of them, Logan (Chris J. Johnson), Jenna's former-ex-possibly-current boyfriend, has Jeremy's watch rigged with a Vampire compass (weird, I know, but whatever). He finds them and shoots Stefan with a wooden bullet, preparing to stake him. But no fear, Damon is there to save the day, declaring that he's not going to let anyone spoil his fun with Stefan's death. Then Vicki, who'd been resigned to die, chomps down on Logan's neck and runs off into the woods.

Stefan returns Damon's ring, and returns himself to Elena to admit his failure. She dumps him, breaking her own heart, which reminds me of how very young she is. I wonder how much more likely it is for a high school student and a vampire to make it than two high school students. Just seem like bad odds.

So, despite not getting enough of the 1860s, it was still the best episode yet and I am very excited to see where it will go.

The Mentalist -Red Menace, S02E04

Though this The Mentalist did not compare with last week's in terms of powerhouse performances, it was still a great deal of fun.

Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) helped solve another murder using his unconventional methods. A lawyer responsible for a biker gang ended up dead, and suspicion fell upon the gang which he'd cleared of all accusations previously. Jane and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) went to interview the gang, and while they were chatting to the Sinner Saints, headed by a man named Von McBride (Mark Pellegrino* from Dexter and Supernatural), a woman, Felecia, showed up, cursing the Saints. She blamed them for her brother's murder, though McBride had been acquitted with the aid of the dead man.

Most of this turned out to be irrelevant to the case. Jane figured out that the son had killed his father, who always put work first. The man did not seem to care about his family, and thus his son murdered him and his wife helped cover it up. Jane planted evidence on Felecia, but when the son saw her arrested, his guilt compelled him to confess. He also confessed the involvement of his mother, which I found quite strange. After all, a lot of his anger was supposedly derived from his father's affairs...

So what was the purpose of the biker gang? I can't say for sure. Part of it is that we learn that Rigsby (Owain Yeoman)'s father, who was apparently a major criminal, was a biker. And part of it was so we could see another side of Jane. After the case was over, the biker's had not really been affected, but they had been developing suspicions as Jane kept asking who the informant amidst them was. In the final scene of the episode, Jane shows up a final time at the biker bar, wearing a fedora and staying in the shadows. Before he leaves, he gives McBride and envelope. Then McBride's buddies come see what's up, and find money in the envelope. They start beating up the man, suspecting that it is he who turned informant. We don't know what happens to him, but it can't be good. Not sure how I'm supposed to feel about Jane orchestrating this while Felecia watches.

In other news, Cho (Tim Kang) and Rigsby briefly mentioned the development with Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) - there is none. And Van Pelt was awesome in a car chase scene, where she and Lisbon pursued a suspect on a motorcycle. Go Van Pelt - she is beautiful and badass.