(S05E19) “No Good at Saying Sorry (One More Chance)”

The scene is now set for  a much anticipated 100th episode.

Of course there will be a wedding. Now that we know Izzy’s cancer is not going away without a serious fight, one which she may not win, Meredith and Derek have decided to move up their wedding so that she can see it come to fruition. From the previews it should be stunning. I think it would actually be an excellent time for Izzy to part from the show. Can you imagine the heartache? What better send off for such a major character than right after she witnesses love at it’s best; something we know she clearly holds so dear. Then again, maybe I’m less of a romantic and more of a twisted soul. We shall see.

As far as love goes, I see Arizona and Torres really making a run of it. After both Sloan and Cristina suggest Torres just lie to her family in order to reform bonds, Arizona gives her the support she needs should she choose to go that route. Torres is better then that though, and it’s what we all love her for. This couple couldn’t be more kind hearted and perfect for each other if they tried.

My only hope in the love department is that Hunt and Cristina get back on the right foot. He’s trying, he’s just a bit misguided. Cristina’s smart though, I honestly don’t think she’ll be ignorant to his immense efforts for long. Maybe one day they’ll have the type of love that Lexi and Sloan have. Perhaps unconventional, but sweet and fresh all the same. Steamy may be older, but that doesn’t make him any less of a man. He even went out to meet her newly reinvented sober dad.

Next week there are certain key truths with which we can count on. There will be drama. There will be beauty. And there will definitely be love. But what will make the show remarkable enough to truly stand out as something special. Well that, ladies and gentleman, I can’t wait to find out.

I can’t honestly say that I’m surprised Sierra was voted off of Survivor tonight. The writing’s been on the wall for sometime for this drama stirring contender. I cannot wait until she has her ultimate moment to shine in the last episode. Can you imagine how off she’ll go on the top two? It really wouldn’t matter who they are, she’ll find something to say I’m sure.

For all the grief they gave Sierra for disloyalty, I believe that she’s a lot less sneaky than some players. How the majority of the team sees J.T. as someone they can trust with their life is beyond me. He himself seemed surprised that he was still able to play trustworthiness as his ace card. I guess being a good guy around camp pays off. Too bad being a good girl doesn’t have the same benefits. Debbie’s about to be given the boot. And I highly doubt that her only alliance, Coach, will have any qualms about showing her the door.

Speaking of Coach, you have no idea how disappointed I was when he used his ninja mind tricks to win individual immunity. Then, to add on even more pain, he went on bragging about how awesome it was and why he was just destined to win. Get over yourself warrior. If the players know what’s good for them, they’ll be voting you out next.

As for my prediction as to who will win in the end, well that would definitely be Stephen right now. He’s stepped up his game and he’s becoming more of a leader. He’s the only player with an immunity idol tucked away. Additionally, not one person has made him their enemy. Though I must wonder, who voted him out tonight? And what exactly did that name card say? Hopefully it went along these lines “couldn’t decide, knew you’d be an easy wasted vote.”

Now a few weeks removed from the Kutner suicide, House feels rudderless. Its surprising to see how big an impact Kutner had on the show. Very rarely did a show hinge on Kutner’s personal life, but there’s no doubt now that he was a serious anchor on the show. House as a character has always been about bouncing between the profane and the ridiculous, the serious and the silly. Kutner was a big help in establishing the warmth and humor that House possesses. Much of this episode was meant to be playful, but it couldn’t quiet make it work.

As usual, the tension doesn’t come from the patient but from the group. Most importantly, from House’s new imaginary friend Amber. Fans will remember Amber as both Wilson’s dead love interest and as House’s foil “the cut-throat bitch” or CTB. House plays off the return of CTB as a hallucination brought on by lack of sleep and pills. Regardless of the reason, CTB is ever present in this episode. She questions, complains and even leads House astray a few times while dealing with his patient.

Speaking of the patient, a young deaf high school wrestler suddenly hears the sound of explosions. Deaf since birth, the young man has no idea what is happening to him. Brought in for treatment, House realizes that the kid’s handicap could be overcome with an implant. Though House is annoyed by the kids frustrating attachment to his deafness, he’s distracted. Not only by his new hallucination, but also by Chase’s bachelor party.

Chase and Cameron are getting married and in true House form, he takes the reins of Chase’s bachelor party. House apparently really knows how to throw a party and proceeds to get every stripper and hooker in New Jersey to attend. This is the before-mentioned playful portion on the show. While it was certainly fun to watch Wilson and House try to remember all the strippers from Wilson’s bachelor party, mostly the playful side felt hollow. Maybe its just me, but I kept wanting to see Kutner with a dumb expression of excitement while getting out lap dances.

In typical fashion the patient’s illness is obtuse and masked by a billion other options. The one different aspect of the patient is his deafness and his desire to remain so. Having never been able to hear, the young man clings to the proud identity he has created. House finds this decision to remain handicapped insane and decides (with the assistance of the ghostly CTB) to install a implant allowing the boy to hear without his parent’s permission.The plan seems to backfire when the patient tears them out. Ouch. In the end, after hearing his mother speak his name for the first time, he decides to keep his implants, but not before he is near death twice and misdiagnosed five or six times. Again, pretty standard.

The real star of the episode was CTB. Prowling around House, telling him he’s crazy and watching House try to rationalize her away all made for some fun TV. Good news as well, she’ll be back next week. House’s plan to stay up for several days to attempt to exhaust the hallucination away turned up empty, and thus she’ll be back next week. Still, I couldn’t help but miss Kutner during the bachelor party scenes.

(S02E22) “Chuck vs. the Ring”

As far as season finale’s go, I’m saddened to admit, Chuck’s was a bit lacking. Not only is this a season finale, it may be a show finale. For a series filled with spies, humor and romance, I expecting it to go out with more of a bang. Not that two weddings, a shoot out and the shows biggest stars coming together is going out with a whisper; far from it.

Perhaps if we had not hit a sadly expected “to be continued” at the end, I’d feel a bit better about it all. Or if the spies who came in to overpower both fulcrum and the government had more of an introduction and explanation. Even Chuck’s new found kung-fu power seemed just a tad too random.

In the end we’re left with a happily married Ellie and Awesome. Orion/Dad is back in the family with a warm welcome. Sara gave up a life of espionage with Bryce in order to stick with Chuck. Even Casey looks like he’ll have his happily ever after, filled with guns, manpower and control. Then there’s Chuck. Forever stuck as the governments pawn. It’s so disheartening. Moreover, it’s so just like every other episode where he almost gets his freedom then “poof” gone a second too soon. Bummer, that’s all I can say.

“Southern Gentleman Prefer Blondes” (S02E22)

Poor Rufus, Gabriel sure does know how to hit a man when he’s down. That’s not the only thing he’s learned. He’s also king of the scam, too bad he doesn’t speak upper-east side lingo. A little slip up with Georgina’s hair color as well as a club’s off night could cost him his stolen fortunes.

Never fear though tweens, the sly Chuck and cunning Blair are on the lookout for their next big scandal. Happier to make a boyfriend than keep a girlfriend Blair is putting everything on the line to catch Serena’s thieving boyfriend in the act. Too bad Nate’s not so into the Harriet the Spy act. I bet Georgina could give it a real go though.

For Vanessa and Dan the only thing left to do is gulp away one’s sorrows. Who needs Yale when you have classic drinking games to keep you company? Once Jenny finds out Dad’s been taken for every last dime, she may even take a seat at the bar. After all, this is Gossip Girl. Everyone drinks, sleeps around and cheats to get what they want.

Internet rumors about Dollhouse have been going crazy for the last few weeks. Most of them are inspired by Wheadon himself. Though I don’t think a review is the proper place to explore them, it does seem as though the interest in the show has coincided directly with the uptick in quality. Ao the show itself has improved, so too has the interest in it.

A rich older woman is killed in what appears to be a horse riding accident. Margaret is a former Dollhouse customer and a friend of the icy Ms. DeWitt. So much so, that Margaret is imprinted onto Echo giving her another shot at life. Essentially making Echo a ghost. Margaret in Echo’s body ghoulishly attends her own funeral and after seeing her family in mourning, Margaret decides to solve her own murder.

The fsuspects include her son, daughter, brother and her far younger boy toy.  Margaret spends much of the episode trying to come to grips with her family’s real feelings toward her. Apparently, her reputation as an unfeeling dictator was lost on her in life. I suppose that’s a fear we almost universally share, to discover that your loved one’s weren’t as loved as you thought.

Not a whole lot went on back at the actual Dollhouse. Topher gets permission to use Sierra for a “diagnostic” but in truth just wants a playmate. Interestingly enough its the first time I remember seeing a doll used as a plutonic friend. Which seems hard to believe considering Topher. The two spend their time playing laser tag, video games and drinking beer.

Margaret’s investigation finally come to a head when her son guesses her real identity. Its a bit silly because regardless of how much she might act like his mother, its hard to believe that he’d figure that out. The son killed his mother by drugging the horse that threw her to her death. Not surprisingly, the murder centers around her fortune. After a tussle between the son and the boy toy, the son is exposed and  Margaret has some closure.

This week’s episode really showed the potential built into the Dollhouse concept. As has been said on other websites, the concept of imprinting a mind into a new body was one of the ideas that made Battlestar Galactica successful. The device is full of traps and surprises that could make for very compelling television. This week’s episode really worked that concept and made it interesting.

30 Rock is right back this week with a surprisingly tender episode. Filled with stories of long term commitment, blossoming love and snuggies. Love is in the air, but for perhaps the first time, not from poor star-crossed Liz.

Jack’s lost love Elisa returns this week. Its always welcome to have the crazy hot Selma Hayek on screen, but she just wasn’t that good this week. She comes to Liz behind Jack’s back to tell her the real reason she left town. Years ago in a jealous rage, Elisa killed her husband. She fears that if she and Jack get married, her insane jealousy will once again strike.

Worried about his ability to commit to one woman, Jack turns to the only married person in the cast, Tracey. He and Tracey go out to a strip club and after discussing their love lives, Tracey admits that he’s been faithful to his wife all these years. Inspired by this surprise announcement, Jack decides to go through with his proposal. Unfortunately, they eventually decide that it won’t work and Elisa makes her inevitable exit from the show. It’ll be sad to see her go (again) but it was expected.

There were two real comedic highlights. The first really doesn’t need to be explained, its so simple and sophomoric that no description is needed. Its described by one line by Mrs Hayek. “Liz, shouldn’t you be trapping farts under your snuggie?” The second is Tracey. As usual Tracey as the uber-rich man child is simply hilarious. For me, week in and week out, Tracey is the highlight of the show. This week was just a prime example of why.

This week Bones opens up a bit to Asian culture. Note, I’m using the term “culture” very loosely. Booth is asked by a Japanese detective friend Ken, to help him find his sister who has been living in America. Sadly, she turns up dead. Only her head is found in a swampy marsh wearing an anime mask. Now in the lab, the brother brings in a Japanese forensic scientist to work with the group. Once again, Bones goes Emo and the Japanese scientist, Dr Tinaka has random piercing, blue highlights and is totally androgynous.

The victim was pursuing modeling. The photographer sends them to a Japanese tea house which then leads them to an escort agency. Booth’s Japanese detective friend is his right hand man on the investigation. Obviously this leads to many altercations as he discovers the seedy world his sister has been living in. After questioning the pimp, we find out that the victim’s roommate, not the victim, was working as an escort.

Aside from the usual forensic jargon, the crew spends most of their time trying to guess Dr Tinaka’s gender. Its silly and immature, but that’s Bones.

Eventually, Booth finds the missing roommate. The murderer intended his gruesome crime to be a signal of warning. The terrified roommate leads them back to the pimp, but the suspected murder weapon turns up clean. The pimp did decapitate her, but the murder was caused by drowning. The pimp offers to point Booth to the murderer if he gets immunity. Finally, the investigation ends with the pimp going free, and the rough escort agency customer is in custody for the killing.

This was an excellent episode of Bones over all. The plot was tight and not overwrought. Most importantly, the Japanese guest stars where excellent (if a little too stereotypical) and were actually helpful in moving the plot in a good direction.

(S02E21) “What You Do For Love”

I find myself asking, again and again, what went wrong with “Private Practice“? “Grey’s Anatomy” was so good, and then bam, you get this new sister show that has such potential, so you watch it for a season or two but it just keeps falling short. Not always, but most nights, it’s just missing something.

I couldn’t believe it when Sheldon asked Violet to marry him. Sure, it was incredibly romantic, especially when he declared that he didn’t care whose baby she was carrying. But there’s just no chemistry there. I’d buy it more if Cooper asked. Sheldon asking seems almost ridiculous. Even Pete would have better odds of seeming a more suitable mate.

And what is with Addison? Does she like to get burned or what? Every time that girl sees fire she can’t help but putting her finger in to see if it’s still hot. Oh she’s great at playing the disapproving good girl with Noah but in the end she leaves just that little hint of pleased smile at seeing him around you just know what’s really on her mind. It’s pathetic.

Then, out of the blue tonight, Sam decides that he can no longer have a friendship with Naomi. Now, had he decided this maybe two to three episodes ago when they were both having relationships with other people and he was exploring any potential lingering feelings he might have for her, that would have made sense. Now it just seems cold and unbelievable. If anything, she should be pushing him away, in a brutal attempt to start fresh with this new career opportunity that has been offered to her, not the other way around.

I’m just so disgusted by how far astray this show has gone from the potential it once had. Hope is not lost, of course there’s always another episode with another story line, but it sure is lacking.

(S05E18) “Sweet Surrender”

If there’s one thing I’m anticipating after tonight’s “Grey’s Anatomy” it’s the huge Mer-Der wedding. Her dress was gorgeous! Plus, you have to love that Sloan and Derek made up in this episode. Even Meredith and her new bridesmaid Lexi shared a few very cute sister moments.

My only hope is that Izzie is around for the big day. After starting off chemo in full wedding preparing swing, her world came tumbling down as soon as she passed out and hit the floor. From the sounds of it, she got the first nasty taste of what her life trying to beat cancer is going to be like. With Cristina, Karev and the rest of her friends by her side, you can’t but root for the character, even if the actress may be happy to say good bye.

As for Torres, I thought tonight’s episode did an excellent job of showing the tight but dangerously thin ropes that bind child to parent. It’s obvious that her dad loves her, even if he can’t accept who she is right now. We should all be so lucky as to have someone like Arizona that’s there to pick up the pieces when others can’t. I believe Bailey knows this best of all.

Now the only couple not together is Hunt and Cristina. It’s obvious he cares for her a great deal though as he puts his pride aside to seek professional help. I don’t doubt this coupling will eventually work itself out. They’re perfect for each other. Maybe one day we’ll even see Cristina in one of those big white dresses again.

Yay weddings!