(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!

(S18E09)

Typically, in Survivor, the most interesting part of the episode tends to be the very last few minutes. It’s at this time that you hear the hard and sometimes awkward questions answered. It’s when you get to see the jury hint at which way they may be swayed come the final vote. Most exciting, it’s where the blindsides happen. Never have I seen this opinion of mine held so true as during tonight’s episode.

Let’s face it, the whole episode was full of the players personal problems with each other. Between Seirra begging for mercy and making excuses to Tyson and Erinn’s obvious annoyance, I was pretty much over it come time for tribal council. And then Stephen and Erinn spoke up. Now wouldn’t it make most sense to get rid of the strongest players so that the rest of the group could have a fighting chance at winning? Fancy that thought. I mean, it’s not like any other survivor tribe has come up with that idea.

In any case, given that Tyson was the leading opponent in individual immunity challenges, his name was immediately put on the chopping block. Even the ever praised J.T. shook his hand with coach and then immediately “spit” on it when it came time to voting. (Which makes me wonder, why exactly do they love that kid so much? He’s not loyal. He’s not even nice sometimes. I don’t get it.)

Making Brendan a very happy first jury member, Seirra was saved by her own incapability and Tyson was blindsided in, what may be, one of the best blindsides we’ll see this season of Survivor.

Don’t cry Coach, but I fear your days are numbered.

After the seemingly pointless vacation/wedding episode, I’m happy to report that my prediction last was wrong. I fully expected to see less of the core cast. To my surprise, all the core players where in action and on display.

Turk is up for the newly vacated chief surgeon position, but Perry is being stubborn and reuses to hire him. Finally, an outpouring of support from the staff and a sage-like meeting with a half naked Kelso persuade Cox. Turk is indeed the new Chief Surgeon.

Speaking of Kelso, he checks himself into the hospital with alcohol poisoning masking it as the flu. While essentially treating himself, he wistfully remembers his day in the hospital. It gives Scrubs a chance to pay a minor tribute to the mule-headed dragon of season’s past.

The big news this week is that Kim, JD’s baby momma and Elliott’s Sea ex-boyfriend Sean, are now dating. JD becomes jealous that Sean is spending so time with his son. Elliot is jealous of Kim as well and the whole thing leads to confrontation. In classic Scrubs fashion though, things seem to work out and the former lovers reconcile.  In the final moment, JD realizes that even though he’s doing his best, he simply can’t be the father he wants to be living away from his son. He decides to move. Thus we have the opportunity for Zach Braff to exit the show to pursue his dream of a failed movie career.

This was not a bad episode at all. As always there were some good chuckles with the Janitor and Kelso. It felt like an episode from season five or six, which was nice. The interns where regulated to bit parts as they should be. All around, pretty good TV and I legitimately want to see how this thing with JD wraps up. There are only two more episodes left.

(S02E21) “Seder Anything”

Could Chuck and Jenny be the next “we never thought it would happen” couple? I sensed a moment in the kitchen. I’m just saying.

Not that Chuck knows a good for him thing when he’s got it. He all but pushed Nate back in Blair’s direction after she royally blew it at rich cousin Trip’s pre-arranged everything wedding. Who knew being a socialite was worth selling your sell to grandpa? Even the old man managed to throw her under the bus. But, ah, there’s always dear sweet Cyrus!

At Blair’s new Daddy’s Seder celebration poor Cyrus got far more than he bargained for, and the quite little guy didn’t even bat a lash. First Blair goes AWOL for the wedding celebration, then Lily and Poppa Humphrey show up unannounced discovering their cater-waiter son serving the upper-eastsiders, oh and then Serena and her husband soon appear. That’s right, Spain is apparently the new Vegas for drunk teens to run off and make big mistakes. Luckily for her, the marriage was probably a joke anyway, unluckily for her, it appears her new “boyfriend” has got something up his sleeve, and my bet is it’s a fat request for the family cash or dirt. Oh he’ll hit cash dirt all right. With this family, he won’t have far to dig.

So what does the future hold for college going boys Nate and Dan? Ivy-league or city-prep? Will uppity Blair ever be able to hack it at artsy NYU? And most importantly could gal pal Poppy be any worse for S than coniving Blair?

(S02E21) “Chuck vs. the Colonel”

Will Chuck be returning next year? The jury’s still out on that one. However, I believe that if they can step up next season like they were able to do for these past few episodes, they could definitely start gaining back a little audience appreciation. I actually had to double check my TV listing to ensure that tonight’s excellent episode wasn’t the season finale, it was that good.

Orion has been saved! Better yet, the intersect is, once and for all, out of Chuck’s head. I mean really, why would they not save a little bit of that for the conclusion? Don’t worry, the finale will still be interesting. Seeing as the mastermind bad guy survived and is en route to Ellie and Awesome’s wedding, the spy drama is far from over.  More exciting than that, it appears as if the whole team will be fighting together on this upcoming mission.

It was so cute to see Casey struggle with his inner soldier in order to join Sarah and Chuck as they saved Orion. I almost wanted to shed a tear as he stood by  Sarah and informed the General that this whole time Sarah was acting for the better good of the country while undercover instead of actually acting on pure emotion as she saved Chuck. Ok, so I didn’t actually cry, but still, it was a touching moment. As was the slow clap Morgan received as he exited Buy More for the last time ever.

Now I must know, which was your favorite Chuck moment?

I have noticed that Bones is obsessed with punk, emo and metal kids. Not sure why this is the case, but quiet often someone with heavy eyeliner is involved. This week a skeleton is found being used as a prop for a Norwegian metal band. It allows the cast to make all sorts of references to metal bands and underground music. Its all a bit shallow, but its saved by two very important elements.

First off, Bones snagged a great guest star. English actor and legendary comic Stephen Fry returns as Dr. Gordon Wyatt. He’s a fantastic addition to any show. In theory, he’s there to clear Booth for duty after some anger issues emerged. In truth, he’s crucial to the understanding of the psychology of the case and in giving some backstory about Dr Sweets.

Sweets is probably the most maligned character on the show. Bones and Booth constantly pick on him and his profession. This week though, Sweets gets to shine. Its revealed that Sweets himself was a metalhead. We also discover that he was an abused child who has recently lost his loving adoptive family. Sweets is revealed as something more than the affable cherubic doofus. Its a welcome change. I think revealing this will help him settle even more as a regular cast member.

As usual, the actual crime investigation is secondary. The investigation weaves a path through an underground metal scene so obnoxious that its laughable. Everyone of the metalheads want credit for the murder and tries to one up the other by being more glib and horrific about it. It all makes for many eye rolling moments until the killer is revealed to be a singing in a bad in the victim’s band who felt by the victim’s decision to “sell out”.

The episode is excellent but is only made so by the addition of Fry and the surprisingly textured performance of Sweets. If Bones can find a way to tone down the camp just a touch, it might be a better show. Let’s hope we get more episodes like this one.

Last week Liz’s attempts to thwart budget cutbacks on the show led to a trumped up sexual harassment charge. This week as part of her suspension Liz must spend two weeks away from the show. Its the only time she’s ever been absent from the show’s taping. Not surprisingly, the show falls apart without her.

Jenna’s unapproved Janis Joplin pic has stalled and in order to drum up interest Jack decides to have Jenna fake her own death. Kenneth’s crush on one of the show’s dancers lead Tracey to fire one dancer, losing all of them in solidarity. Tracey replaces them with transvestite hookers and Jenna’s phony memorial is accompanied by classical violin, transvestites and Jenna herself who is so vain she was unable to resist the spotlight of her own fake death tribute. Its the usual ego driven disaster.

What is surprising is what Liz finds while she’s away. Desperate for something to do, Liz meets a gaggle of ex-career women and rich divorcees. They spend their day getting massages, attending yoga classes and drinking. Though Liz tries to resist, pretty soon she’s up to ears in lost days and relaxation. There’s always a catch though, as in the end we find out the ladies are actually a fight club and Liz must fight her way out.

A solid episode from 30 Rock, if not a spectacular one. Even with her buddy Amy Poehler joining her on NBC Thursday nights, Tina Fey is still queen of cute mousey prime time SNL alumni.

Wow, I’m pretty confidant that Coach took a crazy pill before they filmed tonight’s episode of Survivor. I guess he got the last laugh though. He may be loco, but he’s still in the game. Brendan, however, was officially slayed.

After an excellent bonding trip which saw Debbie, J.T. and Brendan white water rafting through some of the best rapids out there, I really thought there was  some potential for an alliance between J.T. and Brendan. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who saw this. Spending a sleepless night strategizing about how to keep J.T. safe in this game, Brendan instead ended up sacrificing himself to a complete blind side which was made possible, in part, by this “really great” country boy.

Having had her only true alliance taken away, Seirra is now left holding the bag. Both Coach and Tyson pretty much want her destroyed, and from the looks of next weeks teaser, they’re a fan of playing with their prey before going in for the kill. Poor kid, I didn’t have too big a hope that she’d win, but I didn’t expect her to be personally attacked before her exit either.

6

Last week, Scrubs finally had an episode in which all the principle cast members were involved. Sadly, it was a disappointment. The whole episode was a half hearted excuse to have everyone outside in the Caribbean sun in bathing suits. The plot, such as it was, was that all three couples had their conflicts while trying to spend a romantic vacation together.

Picking up from last week’s non-cliffhanger, the Janitor is upset that everyone came to the wedding as it was really just a scheme to get presents. There are a few good gags with the Janitor, the brain trust and his soon to be phony-wife “Lady”. Generally though the show was about the couples and the breakdown of their relationships. It was short on gags just like last week.

Turk is upset that Carla is unable to be intimate while on their romantic vacation. Elliot is angry that JD hasn’t given her a grand enough pronouncement of their love. Most ridiculously, Dr. Cox is taunting Jordan because he wants to be more loving with the ice  queen. As you can tell form the descriptions, its truly uninspired writing. Scrubs isn’t exactly well crafted comedy, but this seemed particularly clumsy.

Not surprisingly, it ends with good feelings, a fake wedding, romance and a bizarre cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya” sung by Ted the lawyer to finish. I think this may be the last time Scrubs may ever been intern-free. It would not surprise me if this where the last episode featuring every member of the original cast. That would be a shame. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

After the stunning loss of Kutner last week, I expected House to take a week and regroup before throwing the character’s back onscreen without the loved anchor of the show. Instead, they pumped Dr Cameron and Chase back into the story making Cameron the de facto replacement this episode.

Cameron brings in a crazy environmentalist with various conflicting ailments. Everything from toxic inhalants to cancer is considered. He even has a scene where he is in so much pain that his screams peel the paint from the walls. I’m surprised we don’t see that more often on this show.

The whole case is a cover for Cameron though. She discovered that Chase was about to propose and though she doesn’t want to reject him, she doesn’t want to accept either.  She claims to worry that Chase is doing it as a misplaced reaction to Kutner’s suicide. She dodges Chase all episode and when he finally confronts her over it, she forced to admit she isn’t ready. Chase ends their relationship on the spot.

House’s reaction to Kutner’s death is to question his deductive abilities. Wilson new eating habits baffle him, he’s unable to see the real reason Cameron is hiding out with him and he can’t seem to get a hold on the patient’s illness. House finds that Wilson has been toying with him this whole time, and as usual the clouds break and the sunshine of diagnosis shines though. A spore infection from evil store-bought roses are to blame for his illness and the obnoxious environmentalist is vindicated and healed.

Cameron returns to Chase, the two reconcile and are now engaged. The show ends with a montage of happy shots of the couple their announcement. Even House looks happy eating french fries in slow motion. As it ends though, we get a big surprise. Amber, who died in House’s arms in season four, is back. This time as a hallucination. I’m not sure if this is their way of replacing Kutner in the cast since it was made clear that Cameron isn’t coming back. It could be a very provocative storytelling device is ghost-Amber is used properly.

If this wasn’t the week after the landmark suicide episode, I would’ve like it a lot. It was as if House was trying to cram happy and restorative moments into a show that should’ve been more introspective. Though the patient’s involvement was particularly shallow, I liked the banter with Wilson and the Chase Cameron conflict seemed believable enough. Overall though, it felt like a wasted opportunity to really see the actor’s portray themselves as grieving friends.