Does Anybody Know Any Jokes?

It’s very late, so forgive me if this post is a little incoherent. It was another slow Monday night, but we do have The Event and Castle for you. Enjoy.

Spoilers...

The Event – “You Bury Other Things Too” (C+)

Perhaps they should have taken their two week break after the last episode, because this week’s was not the best one to go out on. Not only was it was a transition episode to the core, but it managed to accentuate one of this show’s glaring weaknesses – their ability to develop storylines at an organic pace.

Simon’s story in this episode was the most glaring example. I really didn’t like how quickly they brought him from witnessing the deaths of his fellow NTBs to being back on the side of humanity. His escape scene was not handled well. Is it just me or does it seem like whenever the NTBs need to accomplish something for the story to move forward, the military or the Secret Service just become incredibly incompetent? The Secret Service (or whoever the suits were) just watched him drive away. So he got into a car. Isn’t there some way you could chase him? Like say, in another car?

One awkward time cut away and he’s somehow made it back to all the other NTBs. Now he’s free to disagree with Sophia’s new directive and get betrayed by his own people. As an audience member it feels like I’m getting jerked around. Like I’m not watching the storyline the writers want to tell, I’m watching them force the one they do want to tell. It cheapens the episode in my opinion. I understand the need to transition to new storylines, but you can’t cram it all into a single episode without making things feel rushed. And I really thought there was a promising storyline in the President discovering Simon’s true identity. I was looking forward to a confrontation between the two of them, but didn’t get that here. Though I have a feeling that Leila is going to help Simon escape, so who knows – he may be back on the government’s team in an episode or two.

I also have a problem with Sophia’s sudden change of heart regarding the NTBs prime directive. She has plenty of reasons to change her mind about the way she deals with humans. The President killed a lot of her people and her species is doomed to extinction if they can’t find a new planet. My problem lies in the fact that she’s seemingly doing it out of anger over Thomas’s death. Thomas killed a ton of her people too. The President’s attack on the NTBs was a direct response to his attacks. Now all of a sudden Thomas is a saint and you have to carry on his work. Come on.

That’s not to say that I’m entirely thrilled with the President at the moment. This episode was exactly what I was worried about when they started to makeover his character. I said this last week too but the problem with his character before wasn’t necessarily that he wasn’t aggressive enough, it was that he wasn’t smart. Now he’s a jerk who’s still not very smart. That’s even less likable.  Maybe this is all just a planned character arc by the writers, but the shortcomings of their execution are starting to hurt the character.

His decision in this episode to test every American’s DNA was ridiculous. Logistically, that’s just plain impossible and I really don’t understand why Senator Madsen’s involved. Last time we saw her she was publically challenging him on national television and now all of a sudden she’s more than willing to run an incredibly illegal operation for him. Certainly finding out about the NTBs couldn’t be that game changing for her.

And last but not least we had Vicky and Sean, who failed to live up to their momentum from the week before. The shoot out and Vicky’s subsequent capture was fine, but I didn’t like their scenes with each other before that happened. Vicky’s this is what happens when you kill people speech was a little over the top for me and I’m not sure if I completely buy her coming back after Sean released her. I guess they haven’t entirely worked the bugs out of Sean’s storyline yet.

Castle – “Slice of Death” (B+)

Castle was Castle again this week.  I feel like I say the same things every week. "This show is good, I really liked the episode."  This week I'll give you a little taste of the plot and drop some themes from the episode that I really liked.

The case this week was based on a body being found in a pizza oven.  A charring sight to say the least.  (You see what I did there? That’s called a pun.)  Anyway, the pizza joint in question is one of 4 pizza places with essentially the same name.  Throughout the episode I never got them straight.  There is Terrific Nick's, Authentic Nick's, Terrific Authentic Nick's, Authentic Terrific Nick's.  At least I think that’s what they were called.  There were some combinations like that.  And none of the guys who own the places are actually named Nick.  Anyway, these pizza places are "at war" with one another and this war took its first casualty.

Initially, the team looks into the other 3 pizza places, as well as the proprietor of the one where the body was found, but it doesn't add up that these guys would go from putting soap in each other's sauces to killing someone and sticking the body in an oven.

When the body is identified as a popular writer for a local paper doing a puff piece on Pizza wars, the team starts to look at other avenues.  It looks like the writer, who used to do investigative journalism before a personal tragedy, found something bigger than just feuding pizza parlours.  He found heroin dealers.

So the guy got whacked for finding out too much, and eventually Castle and Beckett put it together and figure out who "Cavallo" the mythical heroin dealer is.  It’s a good twist.  A little predictable, but solid none the less.

As far as the themes from this week go, I really liked the parallels between the dead reporter who lost his daughter and Castle’s struggle to defend his daughter against a bully at school.

In other news, for those of you who read some of my stuff at the beginning of the year on my own blog I wrote a review of why I like Castle so much and talked about the characters and actors, etc. etc. One of the things I said was that Molly Quinn (Alexis) should be cast as Clary if they ever make a movie of the Mortal Instruments series.  Well the other day she tweeted something about the new Mortal Instruments that I didn't really understand.  It turns out that she was cast for the series, but as the narrator of the audiobook.  So they are making a movie of the series, but didn't cast her, even though she’s a fan of the books and clearly looks the part.  Anyway, I care little about teen fiction for young women and their cinematographic counterparts but I was hoping to cash in on a percentage of that casting cheque.  Seems like Hollywood dropped the ball on that one.  How mundane of them (that is also wordplay, but none of you get it, and it’s better that way).

Well that’s all for today folks. I've got a big day tomorrow.  Going to Home Depot, maybe Bed Bath and Beyond.  I don't know if we’ll have enough time.  Actually, I'm studying for exam 4 of 11.  Peace.

Did You Guys See My Dad in There?

Shameless and Californication ended their seasons yesterday. Personally I’m pretty sad about seeing Shameless go, but I take solace in the fact that it got renewed and I still get all the HBO and Showtime channels in my Movie Network package. Actually, come to think of it, my life is awesome!

Spoilers...

Shameless – “Father Frank, Full of Grace” (A-)

A fitting ending to a terrific inaugural season. Shameless is really the first series where I’ve reviewed an entire season from start to finish, and I think if you were to read back through this blog it would tell you a story, of a young aspiring writer falling in love with a scrappy little series with a lot of heart. Yes, I’ve really enjoyed my time writing about Shameless and I can’t wait to watch next season a year from now, primarily because of where this finale left us.

Now it wasn’t an ending with a ton of cliffhangers, but the ones they did give us were good enough peak my interest for next season. The main one was Eddie’s suicide. When he was running around trying to kill Frank I figured they were just going to go for the traditional I’m gonna get him type storyline, with maybe Sheila finding out in the end. The suicide through me for a bit of a loop. I thought Karen was dark and stormy last week so I can only imagine what she’ll be like when she finds out her actions led to her dad’s suicide.

Which is too bad because I quite enjoyed her and Lip’s reconciliation. Lip’s arc in this episode was actually probably its strongest component. I liked his scene with Ian where he tells him that he was falling in love with Karen. The way he retorted all of Ian’s attempts to trivialize Karen was sweet. It was a very smart way for the writers to really cement that these two are meant to be together.

But the highlight of Lip’s storyline was his final scene with Frank. For once it seemed like Frank was legitimately sorry for something he’d done. Now I know, he went about making excuse after excuse for pretty much the entirety of the episode, but when he went back to let Lip pee on him it wasn’t just one of the funnier parts of the episode, it was an admission that he deserved it. What’s funny too is there was this tiny little moment at the end of the sequence where both Frank and Lip couldn’t help let out a smile. There’s hope for that relationship yet I tell you.

Fiona had a pretty heavy episode herself this week. Her with Ian where he admits to her that he’s gay was another terrific dramatic moment for this episode. Her matter of fact approach to the subject matter was quite a touching way of letting Ian know she accepts him no matter what. And that right there is good writing. When the writer doesn’t need to spell it out to the audience in overly sentimental dialogue to get their point across you know you’re watching something special.

But the real drama in Fiona’s world this week was whether or not to run off with Steve or take the job that Amy Smart’s character was offering. I didn’t think Fiona would be able to leave the family, even for a short period of time, and to be honest I think I agree with the decision she made. That’s not to say it was easy. She said it herself, she thinks she’s falling in love with him. But while Fiona is a character who is trapped by her circumstances, she would be just as trapped by guilt if she left her family. The job offers her the chance to move up while maintaining her independence.

Obviously that’s going to throw a wrench into her relationship with Steve, but I guess that’s just another reason to watch season 2. I’m interested in seeing whether Tony will get an expanded role as well now that he lives next door to the Gallaghers, and I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of Amy Smart’s character (I’m still not entirely convinced she doesn’t have something weird going on with her). Either way, it should be fun watch.

Californication – “...And Justice for All” (A-)

A quality ending to a quality season.  That was 6 hours of my life well spent.

This episode gives us very few glimpses into the future and leaves the state of affairs in Moody's world open to interpretation for next season.

Hank is given 3 years probation, Becca and Karen leave on a road trip with Ben and his daughter and Hank gets to work on the movie.

The scene this week at the dinner table where Charlie gets stabbed in the hand, Marcy admits that it is Charlie's baby and Eddie Nero continues to be a crazy nut bag is a real winner for me.  It managed to capture everything that was good about this season; Hank struggling with maturity, the plot line with Marcy and her baby-having love triangle, Eddie Nero, and Charlie's crazy girlfriend/quest for 100.

It was a great ending but I would have liked a bit more about Charlie and Marcy.  It leaves the plot open for next year, but I would have liked to see what happened between them after Marcy came to Charlie's defence at dinner.  I think it was good that this season ended on a positive note.  Last season's ending was really dark and was very troubling to me for whatever reason.  This season leaves us in a happier mood, thinking things will be alright.

It kind of looked like Hank was driving to New York at the end there.  Who knows what the next season will bring, but it will be good.  That I am sure of.

Fringe – “Bloodline” (A-)

I watched Fringe this week with a friend who hasn't watched since the first few episodes. He didn't really care for learning all of the Fringe mythology second hand and it was a pretty interesting episode to have that experience with. It goes without saying that I did a lot of explaining in the first 10-15 minutes of the episode. The idea of Fauxlivia and the red universe was not understood very easily. Also, it’s kind of weird to explain these kinds of things without reference to "the blue universe" or "the red universe." I had to refer to everything in very nondescript terms.

One of the reasons that I thought this episode was particularly interesting to watch with someone that has seen a few of the early episodes but not the majority of the series is the incorporation of old plot points in this episode. It’s cool that Fringe is still driving mysteries through the observer. Much like the X-files used the cigarette smoking man in early episodes to convey the message of a broader conspiracy, the observers in Fringe remind us that despite all we know, there is so much that we don't. In addition to this common theme, "Bloodline" brought back some "technology" from an early Fringe case we saw in the blue universe. Accelerated pregnancy.

"Bloodline" takes place in the red universe and centers around Fauxlivia (now pregnant with Peter's baby) being kidnapped by a group of people who appear to be doing experiments on her using a technology seen in an early episode of the series where pregnancies are accelerated in women. In the early episode, these pregnancies result in the woman's death and a malformed fetus, so it creates some suspense in the episode, especially coupled with the fact that Fauxlivia may have a virus that causes her own death as well as that of the baby during labour.

So to find Fauxlivia and get her back safely, Walternate must disclose to agent Lee and Charlie that the Olivia's were switched and that Fauxlivia is carrying Peter's child. In the end, the child is born safely with the help of Bubbles the cab driver (I don't know what his name is in this show... Henry maybe). Apparently the technology has been perfected and the accelerated pregnancy did not let the virus replicate enough to cause any damage to mother and child.

So that brings us to the big reveals of this episode. Let’s do it in list form, since those first 3 paragraphs are complicated enough.

1. Fauxlivia is now the mother to Peter's baby.
2. Lincoln and Charlie are very suspicious about Red Universe Broyle's disappearance. They realize that Walternate is hiding something.
3. Walter was behind Fauxlivia's kidnapping. We don't really know why yet but I will bet you an apple with a fetus inside it that it has to do with the machine. I would bet that he believes that the child will either be able to help get the machine to work, or that he will be able to cross over in some way like his mother.

Honestly this episode should have been an A. It was absolutely fantastic. The only thing that held it back was the fact that all of a sudden the pregnancy acceleration technology doesn't kill people. It killed people in the blue universe. How did they suddenly perfect it? Oh well, it’s still the best show on TV.

The Event – “Face Off” (B) by Brian

I was contemplating last week a bit about whether this new information regarding the NTB’s home planet would make one of their feuding leaders redundant. Now just a single episode later Thomas is dead and, judging by the previews for next week’s episode, Sophia is taking up his cause. And therein lie my problems with “Face Off” – the ending just didn’t live up to the episode that preceded it.

The ideological differences between Sophia and Thomas, not to mention the personal bad blood between the two, was just too much to remedy in a single episode. That made what was supposed to be an emotional self sacrifice feel canned and stupid.

And what was up with those choppers at the end of the episode. It was exciting watching the President figure out he had the upper hand again, but to just straight up attack them without trying to capture them first was far too aggressive in my books. Now don’t get me wrong – I like that the President is starting to take the initiative, but I warned in an earlier review that they have to be careful how they play this. I’d rather see smart than aggressive. That doesn’t mean the President doesn’t need to act, but I don’t like seeing him make a bunch of anger fuelled reactionary decisions like he did at the end of this episode.

Plus, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t take that long for a helicopter to take out three buses. Yes, I know – it’s supposed to be suspenseful, but all I could think of in that moment was why that chopper wasn’t shooting at them.

So that was a shame, but like I said, I thought the previous two thirds of the episode were actually pretty well done. Sterling and the President had a great moment where Sterling revealed that Simon was a sleeper agent (we need to see more Sterling), and watching the secret service’s reaction to the attack on the Washington monument was kind of cool as well.

And more than anything, I’m really happy with the way the writers have managed to completely turn around Sean’s storyline. He went from chasing down Leila’s sister in a storyline that had very little relevance to the overarching plot of the series, to chasing down one of the more interesting mysteries on this show, which is exactly what I’ve been saying they should do all along.

This is due in no small part to Dempsey (the old guy looking for the ultimate wrinkle remover), who finally made himself a character worth chasing. I don’t know what it is about ancient archaeological digs that gets me so excited, but they do. The execution of the scene may have been a little off – the whole I-need-to-shoot-you-to-guard-the-secret thing was a little cliché, and I didn’t really care for their veiled talk about guardian angels – but the idea that this somehow plays into the NTBs creates an interesting mythology, which makes Sean and Vicky’s quest to find this guy something I want to watch.

Here’s my theory – Ryan mentioned in his review of last week’s episode that they’ve never managed to explain why the NTBs are so biologically similar to humanity. It’s definitely something the show needs to address to maintain any sort of credibility. Well what if somehow the NTBs had a part in bringing humanity to Earth, and we’re all some sort of evolutionary off-shoot of them. The cave would be some sort of artefact to show they were there, or a beacon of how to get to back, and perhaps maybe there are several factions of humanity (Battlestar Galactica!) and the NTBs are just retracing their steps looking for a suitable new planet. There are definitely some kinks in that theory – it’s rough at the moment – but something along those lines would be pretty cool.

The Event – “Face Off” (B) by Ryan

Holy shit did you read that right? Yes, yes you did. I just gave the Event a B. Makes me look pretty dumb for everything I ripped them for last week but really this episode was sweet.

First, I would like to say that I still think the Event has some kinks to work out, but this episode on its own was a) the best yet from the show and b) incredibly entertaining.

Second, Jason Ritter is still a terrible actor. The guy who played Thomas was bad, and they killed him. Please kill Sean Walker. It annoys me that he is now integral to one of the most interesting plot lines and is such a bad actor. When he was telling Vicky that "She is done when he says she is done" I thought, wow, my dog would play a more convincing leading man than you. Oh well. It’s just one of those painful things I’ll have to live with. Is this what it was like for Lost fans who hated Charlie? I always liked Charlie. Is there anyone out there who likes Sean Walker who wants to come to his defence in the comments? Please do. I would love to be convinced otherwise.

So as I suspected the NTBs made it out of the church, but I did not see them getting their numbers cut to a third of their original strength. Then again, do they all live in the San Francisco area to be able to come to this meeting? How many are still out there? Seems like it was a big space ship that crashed to have this many people. Although I would guess that some were here before Sophia's ship crashed.

I really liked the way the church piece was resolved and that Simon was found out. I think that adds a good twist.

Also, the mythology they are starting to get into with Dempsy seems like it has some potential.

There is one problem with mythology built like this though. It is very Lost like right? I think most people see that. As I have always said, I think the show is a bastard child of Lost and 24. So the mythology with the cave and whatnot are the Lost half of that and I am worried that they are trying too hard to create the mythology. In Lost, the mysteries seemed to naturally unfold over time, from a giant monster that sounds like a T-rex, to Smoke monster, to taking the form of people, it was a mythology that grew over the course of the show.

There is potential in the Event's mythology but I worry that they are going to try to force it like the entire first half of the season. I think that this episode shows that the ideas for this show were interesting from the beginning, but the writers tried really hard to push all their ideas too quickly in the first half of the season and that got them into a lot of trouble. The show unravelled too fast, and became insane and driven by ridiculous premises backed by even more ridiculous acting. Now they are in damage control.

I have to give credit to Brian who was able to see past the initial failings of the show and identified the new look much quicker than I did. Also, I ripped him in the initial edit of my post from last week which never made the site and I was wrong. He is correct, this show is showing potential. The issue as I see it now is what Brian pointed out a few weeks ago – the show is fixing the criticisms it had early on but I am worried that they are building the mystery to no avail. What are the chances they will get renewed for next season? And even if they do, will they force the mythology instead of letting it build. It’s a tricky balance

I also owe my aunt and uncle an apology (Not that they will ever read this, I should probably send them an email). I told them at dinner on Friday that they were crazy for watching this show. Based on this episode, I will be back next week. So either I'm crazy too or the show has done something to redeem itself. Maybe I'm still on a Californication high from the happy ending to that show, but hey for once I enjoyed The Event.

Castle – “Law and Murder” (B+)

I don't have much to say about Castle this week. It was a good episode as usual. It does everything it does well on a weekly basis and it made up for what I was pissed off about last week. Castle and Beckett finally didn't get interrupted and spent some time together at the end of the episode. Sneaky move Castle. Sneaky, yet awesome.

Nathan Fillion was funny as usual. That’s really all there is to say.

GOOD WORK CASTLE.

Also, the John Grisham references were great. It was interesting to hear a "writer" reference another writer. Kind of a cool idea.

The Basket of Ecoli You Ordered

John Lithgow back on TV? House surprising me with an ending? The Event actually producing an entertaining episode?!? What’s happening?

Well you can find out below, as we discuss Sunday and Monday night’s television. Wow, what a great segue. I’m awesome.

Spoilers.

How I Met Your Mother – “Legendaddy” (A-)

So we finally meet Barney’s father. It was an interesting episode. Far from perfect, but it certainly stood out to me as a significant moment in this series. 

Barney took over most of the comedic duties for this episode. His various reactions during to meeting his father varied in their effectiveness, but as a whole they hit more than they missed. I enjoyed Barney’s digression into a child when he first met his half-brother JJ. The one way sibling rivalry was fun to watch. I also enjoyed Barney’s fake retelling of how awesome his dad was (John Lithgow deserves some credit here as well).

Obviously this episode was about more than its comedic elements though, and that’s where it really shone. The basketball hoop scene was the highlight of the episode for me. It had to be delicately handled, showing Barney’s anguish over never having a father while simultaneously showing hope for their relationship in the future, and I think the writers did an excellent job in that regard. I loved Barney’s line, that if his father was going to be a lame suburban house dad, why couldn’t it be with him. It was some brilliant pathos, executed to perfection by Neil Patrick Harris.

It was nice to see Neil Patrick Harris really get a chance to let his acting chops loose. He’s obviously a phenomenal comedic actor, but being Barney doesn’t give him a whole lot of chances to show off his dramatic side, and clearly he’s got one. On the other side of the scene, John Lithgow was absolute casting genius. He immediately stepped in and filled a role that required a really strong presence. I was so impressed with his performance it made me want to go back and watch some 3rd Rock From the Sun reruns.

With such a heavy main story, the B story had to be light. I really liked the premise of this one, that every person has some sort of gap in knowledge they should have learned but somehow never did. That’s totally true. I’ve seen it happen a million times. My favourite gap in knowledge was Robin not knowing the North Pole was a real place. Her little monologue of fake places she was going to visit – from Narnia to Hogwarts – had me laughing out loud.

I was impressed with the B story’s ability to tie into the main plot as well. The screw driver story, which is what sprang the discussion, is also what provided that little glimmer of hope mentioned above. I’m not entirely convinced that a screw driver was the best idea for what Barney didn’t know how to use, but structurally I have to give them credit. 

Now I don’t want to end without talking about Marshall a little here. His influence over this episode was subtle but noteworthy. I liked his line to Barney that got him to visit his father, that while he’ll never speak to his father again, Barney’s was just down the road. I like how they’re handling his father’s death now. They aren’t over using it, just subtle mentions here and there. It’s a great way of acknowledging the storyline without hitting us over the head with the story over and over again.

Anyways, I hope we get to see more from Barney’s dad. It’s a really cool storyline, and it adds a new dimension to Barney’s character that’s really exciting to watch.

Shameless – “Daddyz Girl” (A-)

Wow, a LOT happened in this one. But first things first – I totally called Tony catching Steve and Lip... sort of. Maybe not how it happened but the gist. I’m still counting it as a win.

They actually ended up making Tony a little meaner than I remember which I wasn’t a big fan of. Tony has always clearly wanted to be with Fiona, but he never struck me as the scheming type. At times the verbal jarring between Steve and him was a little over the top, almost feeling like a Disney movie at some points. Still, I like where the story’s headed, especially with Lip and Ian getting arrested. Obviously something big is going to happen in next week’s season finale, and I can’t wait.

Speaking of Lip and Ian, they had a stellar episode as they went about searching for Ian’s real father. The visit with Grams was definitely a highlight. At first I thought to myself, “well if they have a Grandma why was Deb so hurt when she lost Aunt Ginger, and why is she never around?” Well the writers hilariously answered that question when they went to visit Grams... in prison. She was a great character too. I loved the part where she lamented about how one little meth lab explosion can land you behind bars scrubbing toilets.

LIP: It’s probably the two college students that died in the fire Grams.

And their visits to each of Frank’s brothers were also pretty good. I love hearing the little back stories about Frank as they paint such a hilarious portrait of the guy. We found out in this one that not only did he used to be devoutly religious, but that he has an identical twin brother too, and he does not like Frank.

Of course it was Ian’s final confrontation with Lip that finally added the emotional edge this story had been lacking. Cameron Monaghan deserves a lot of praise for the scene. I felt legitimately bad for Ian, who clearly felt like he was potentially losing part of his identity now that he knows Frank isn’t his real father. His confession that he likes living with the family and being Frank’s son was a nice reminder of how close the Gallagher family is.

IAN: I’m happy with who we are, even if you’re not.

Frank and the younger Gallaghers had a good week this week as well. First off, watching Debbie and Carl play Xbox was hilarious. I love how into it they were – especially Debbie. But when Frank started teaching the kids the “family business” it was like a plethora of hilarious scenes. I loved Debbie’s resume, I loved watching Frank explain to the kids how he’s doing a public service by keeping the workers comp people employed, and more than anything I loved watching Frank move from job to job, figuring out which one would be the easiest to hurt himself at.

Frank’s storyline ended on a rather serious note however. Karen went all dark and stormy on us this week, still reeling from what her dad said about her the week before. In her final act of revenge she tries to have sex with Frank – on webcam – and, apparently drugged out on painkillers Frank lets it happen. They hinted at a storyline close to this one earlier in the season, and at the time I was glad that Frank didn’t do anything stupid. Now I don’t know what’s going to happen. At the very least it probably spells the end of Frank and Sheila’s relationship.

And finally, lost in the shuffle of a busy episode, we had Fiona making a new friend in Amy Smart. Something, and I can’t quite put my finger on it, is off about that Amy Smart character. Maybe it was the kiss on the lips as she said goodbye, maybe it’s the fact that she’s aggressively trying to win Fiona over, but I feel like something weird is coming from this story. Just another reason to watch next week’s finale I guess.

Castle – “One Life to Lose” (B+)

So this episode should probably be an A- or even an A.  Its content was great.  But there are only so many times in a season where you can use the Castle-and-Beckett-have-a-moment-and-then-Josh-interrupts-them move to end an episode.  So maybe I'm in a cranky mood, and if I felt that my reviews were somehow impacting the fate of the show I wouldn't knock it down for something so trivial.  But I am cranky, my review is very minor in the World Wide Web and I've had a long week (already) so Castle loses marks for this one.

That being said, the content of Monday's episode was great and the way it was shot really worked for me.  The episode centers around a murder on the set of a soap opera. Naturally the characters being interviewed are all over the top dramatic.  To make it more interesting, Martha (Castle's mom for all you casual viewers/readers) had a three week span on the show at some time, during which she was kidnapped twice, caught in a cave and had something to do with Paris. Hit up the comments if you remember the exact quote.  It was a really good one.

So the lead writer for the show is killed and they go through the usual laundry list of suspects – the ex husband, the boyfriend, the angry actress/actor, the crazy con artist pretending to be her mother etc.  The list goes on.  What interests me about shows such as this one that put out 20 some odd cases year after year is how they’re able to use the same basic premise and still keep you interested in the show.  They’ll never win points in my book for being a Lost or Fringe type show, but they make use of characters in ways that keep me coming back week after week.  I watch 3 shows like this – The Mentalist, Criminal Minds and obviously Castle.  Castle is probably my favourite because it’s the newest so the ideas are the freshest, and because it has Nathan Fillion. That guy is awesome.  Somewhere (Twitter or some other web source) it was remarked that Castle is really on the air just to show off Fillion's awesomeness.  I miss Firefly.  Writing about Mal makes me sad.  

So where was I going with that?  Basically, I knew that it was the secretary early on in the episode.  It’s just set up that way. I'm sure most people could see it coming.  But what brings me back is not a mystery that throws me for a loop at the end, but rather a good group of characters.  I loved Esposito in this episode.  His infatuation with the soap opera lead was great.  Castle and Beckett are always good together too, but we need this thing to come to a head.  It’s time.  Or move on.  Start something new.  Like Community did with Jeff and Brita.  There’s more out there.  I’m a shipper.  I want the Castle-Becket thing to happen.  But I won't stand by for the same gimmicks week to week.  Do it again Castle, and I'll bump you down a whole letter.

The Event – “A Message Back” (B+)

Alright, The Event – that’s a little better. When I talk about The Event, usually I’m talking about its potential more than what it’s actually shown me so far. Well this was a legitimately entertaining episode in its own right. We had plot movement, some interesting mythology, and an ending that actually made me want to watch the next episode.

I loved the start of this episode where the two technicians working at the VLA in New Mexico start receiving a strange signal from space. Watching them trying to find the origin of the signal and the structure of the data was really cool, and it did a great job of setting the tone for the episode. From then on all I really cared about was what the message said.

And that’s because the mythology behind where these people are from is quite interesting. We finally got to find out this week why the NTBs are in search of a new planet. Apparently the star their planet orbits is about to supernova. It’s a real game changer for the NTBs, and it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Sophia’s certainly going to feel a little conflicted about working with the President now that her race is pretty much doomed to extinction if they don’t move to Earth. Or maybe she’ll try to work out some sort of immigration deal. I just don’t see the President receiving that kindly at this point.

It’s nice to see the President finally gain the upper hand on these guys. That’s what V never understood – every once in a while you’ve got to let your main characters win one. We finally got to see that the President is in fact quite capable, which is important, because as an audience we need to know we can put faith in the character.

The other promising development in this episode was that they finally found an interesting storyline for Sean. Crashing the fundraiser was actually interesting to watch, even though in the end they didn’t really find out all that much information. More than anything, I think I just liked the pairing of Vicky and Sean. The two of them have chemistry with each other.

I also liked that they showed there can be consequences to doing the right thing. Sean refusing to kill those two party guests was the right thing for his character, but there’s a reason why Vicky wanted to kill them – they’re loose ends. And it came back to bite them. Not majorly, but at least it wasn’t one of those childish the good guy always wins stories.

House – “Fall From Grace” (B)

Wow. I was all ready to write this one off as just a filler episode, a very uninspired rehashing of what we already watched last week. Then, what couldn’t have been more than a 30 second scene changed my entire perspective of the episode.

That ending was creepy. It makes perfect sense if you go back through the entire episode and watch the team’s treatment and the behaviour of the patient. But really – a serial killer who eats his victims. I don’t think anybody could have called that Hannibal Lector would end up being the patient of the week.

Which makes Masters conversations with the patient all the more haunting. He gave her all but a bedside confession and she did her best to comfort him using her newly discovered bedside manner. Then right before he escapes he tells her that it was her who made him keep on going. If that doesn’t mess with you than nothing will.

They had better come back to this storyline. I have no idea how they should do it, but they’d better come back to it. You can’t drop the our-patient-is-a-serial-killer line on me and then never reveal what happens to the guy. Obviously I think they’ll follow up on how it affects Masters, but I’d like to somehow see the return of the patient. I need closure dammit.

The ending kind of overshadowed everything else in this episode, which as I stated earlier was pretty average. The other main storyline involved House going through with a green card marriage. I enjoyed all of scenes with his new foreign bride Dominica (I may have spelled that wrong). Watching her stumble through pronunciations was actually quite fun.

But I think this story was mostly about the lingering feelings between House and Cuddy. As much as House denied it this was clearly a plot to make Cuddy jealous. And really both of them showed they still cared about the other, with Cuddy walking out on the wedding and House refusing a proposition by his newly wed bride. Unfortunately, at the moment I don’t think these two could be further apart.

As much as I was shocked by the ending of “Fall From Grace”, the previous 40 minutes of the episode were fairly mediocre, and a twist ending doesn’t change that. I hope they carry the momentum of the serial killer plot into the next episode. It takes a lot to surprise me with House these days, but for a brief moment in this episode they had me hook, line and sinker.

What A Random And Not Helpful Fact

No new episodes on Thursday night, so this is it for the reviews this week. I’ve got a very special song of the week coming up tomorrow though so stay tuned. In the meantime here are some long awaited reviews of Modern Family, Castle, Off the Map, The Cape, and V. Enjoy!

Spoilers ahead.

Modern Family – “Two Monkeys and a Panda” (B+)

Oh Ty Burrell, you just get me.

Phil at the spa – hilarious. I really enjoyed that entire sequence. Ty Burrell just played it so perfectly. His conversation with the women at the spa was really funny, and then when he came home and used what he’d learned on Claire, it just flawlessly capped off the entire story arc for me. Phil’s passive aggressive storm off was priceless.

Jay and Gloria also had a pretty good week. When two of them start making decisions about where they’re going to be buried when they die, it gets Jay thinking about the prospect of Gloria remarrying. It was an interesting idea for a story and the writers executed it quite well. My favourite part of this storyline was Manny’s attempts to cheer Jay up. It was both funny and charming, exactly the ingredients that makes this show better than your average sitcom. Of course the reassuring nature of their conversation didn’t mean Manny couldn’t get in one little dig before he left.

JAY: I thought you liked me when I first showed up.
MANNY: Please, for the first month I didn’t even bother to learn your name.

My favourite storyline of the episode however was Cam and Mitchell’s. It produced a few great one liners (my favourite being Mitchell’s subtle barb at the size of Cam’s head) and I really liked Cam’s freak outs (both prior to getting Lily and in response to Mitchell not hyphening Lily’s last name), but what really set this story apart was its ending. Mitchell’s children’s story (and the episodes namesake) was a wonderfully touching way to finish off the episode. Props to the writers for two great weeks in a row.

Castle – “Setup” (A-) and “Countdown” (B+)

This week I’ll be reviewing the past 2 episodes of Castle which combine to make one complete story.  Last week's episode called "Setup" ended with a "To be continued" and this week's "Countdown" finished off the story in a fairly decent way.  I found Setup to be an excellent episode, full of intrigue, wit and centered around a great plot idea.  Countdown however left something to be desired in the way it concluded.

These episodes tell the story of a terrorist plot against New York. A plot which Castle and Beckett get caught in the middle of when they investigate the murder that sets it off.  I don't really like giving recaps of the story point by point – there are enough of those out there – so I'll give you the basics and tell you what I enjoyed and what left me wanting more.

Basically Castle and Beckett investigate the murder of a Syrian cab driver. Their investigation leads them to a storage facility where nuclear material was being stored. It turns out someone built a dirty bomb in New York and was going to set it off.  The feds send in agent Fallon (Adrian Pasdar of Heroes fame) to liaison with the NYPD due to the nature of the case.  Castle believes that the Muslim cab driver and his brother are being set up by someone to make it look like they’re planning a terrorist attack.  He goes rogue, talks to a Syrian ambassador and gets himself and Beckett kicked off the case.  But in typical Castle style, they continue to work the case on their own and get trapped in a large freezer/refrigerated shipping container after they find a bomb in a warehouse and the bad guys open up on them.  That’s where "Setup" ends.  

In countdown, they get rescued and save the day.  It turns out that ex US marines are trying to frame a dirty bomb on the cab driver and his brother so people don't forget about the Afghanistan war.  These are your typical disillusioned patriots.  There are a lot of Timothy McVeigh references etc. etc. Their plan is to blow everyone up, but to have a Muslim drive the van that holds the bomb so that it is all blamed on her.  They kidnap her daughter to make her do it.  Castle and Beckett catch the van on its way to the location and Castle disarms the bomb by ripping out all the wires at the same time when the timer is almost at zero.

So I liked the plot, but I didn't like the ending.  If you could stop a bomb by pulling out all the wires diffusing a bomb would be really easy.  That being said, Nathan Fillion's acting when he succeeds is priceless.  He does a fantastic job of selling the fact that he just magically saved the city.  

Overall it was a good two episodes. The only thing I would have liked to have seen is a more realistic ending.  We also get the typical Castle is about to ask Beckett out at the end of the episode but he is interrupted by the arrival of her boyfriend.  They obviously love each other.  Can one of them go into a coma soon so they can wake up to find the other waiting by their bedside? It’s getting silly.

Off the Map – “It’s a Leaf” (B)

Not a whole lot of sweeping new developments in this one but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. I’ll start with Clark’s story this week as she didn’t get a whole lot of screen time. I can’t really peg what they’re going to do with her heart failure storyline, whether it’ll be a recurring problem for her character throughout the series or whether they’re going to go for a quick fix. Keeton wanted her to return to New York in this episode, and Clark did eventually agree to do so, but I don’t see how they can send her away and still keep her a regular part of the series. Something’s gotta give. I feel like they can get away with her taking the pills for a while. Maybe that’s how they’ll write it.

I thought Mina’s storyline was absolutely hilarious this week. After absent mindedly cutting the umbilical cord of a local woman’s baby, she’s forced into becoming the god mother of the child. This produced numerous hilarious one liners, none funnier than this little exchange:

MINA: There’s gotta be some way out of this.
ZEE: Not without insulting their culture.
MINA: I can live with that.

I also loved her get up when she went to what she thought was a very formal baby naming ceremony, which turned out to be quite casual. I think this may have been the funniest episode from this show so far, and Mina’s story had a lot to do with that.

I wasn’t as keen on the Tommy/Mina kiss at the end of the episode however. I like both characters a lot, and I like the pairing too. It just seemed like too much of a step back for Tommy’s character. I’ve become invested in his relationship with Alma and his attempts to grow as a person, and the writers through a wedge in that relationship a little too quickly for my tastes. I mean after chasing Alma for that long, NOW he decides that the language barrier is too much?

Still, I can’t be too unhappy. They are two of my favourite characters. And it should be fun watching them awkwardly figure out what their little hook up means. If I recall back at the start of the show Mina was telling Tommy there was no way she would ever sleep with him, so I can only imagine how she’s going to feel after this. Could be fun to watch.

We also saw the end of Brenner and Mateo’s relationship this week. I was a little surprised at how quickly they breezed over this storyline. They really only had 2 or 3 scenes involving these two, and considering it was the cliff hanger to last week’s episode I really thought there was going to be a bit more fallout to this one. But alas I was wrong, and Brenner ended the relationship on a whimper... for now anyways.

And of course last but not least, Zee and Cole finally got back together. No real surprises here. I think we all knew they would eventually work things out. I wasn’t a huge fan of this couple before they broke up, but I did like their scenes together in this episode. I thought the final sequence where Zee was giving him the eye test was a sweet moment. I only hope that the second time around for this couple will be a little less nauseating than the first.

The Cape – “Razor” (B+)

Summer Glau is losing her MIND!!!!

A couple things before I start this review, I had the pleasure of having a beer, in person, with Brian last weekend (well I had a beer, he had a coke).  It was quite nice to actually see the boss himself instead of just talking over email.  He informed me that the Cape's episodes were cut.  That is never a good sign folks.  Looks like this one could be leaving us after this season.  If that happens I am going to try to write an ending to The Cape in a comic book form.  Since it takes me a week to write a review, expect a comic version in 2015.  Seriously, this show has a good premise, some really interesting characters that I would like to see explored in more depth and therefore great potential.  But alas, not everyone in the world is a comic geek like me, so the Cape remains an untapped pool of potential.

The other thing I learnt from my conversation with Brian is that whenever I drop Summer Glau's name in a post our page hits increase dramatically.  That tells me that people love Summer Glau.  I love Summer Glau.  Does anyone else find it weird that Summer's best role was playing a character named River?  But I digress... Razor...

Razor is a good episode.  It centers around Scales being given the keys to the outskirts of the city by Ark corporation.  Essentially, he is the godfather of crime now. He wants all the other criminals to pay him dues on all their scores, and in turn he pays Ark to keep off their backs.  But Max Malini won't sit in line, so Scales makes a move against him and tries to get a man named Razor to blow him up.  But Vince moves in and takes Razor's place to spy on Scales and avoid Max getting killed.  Eventually he’s found out though when Razor escapes from the cage the Circus people have him in and Vince is almost killed.  Max dresses up as the Cape and saves the day.  

As usual the most interesting parts of the episode come in the little pieces we are given that help to build the universe they live in. (As a side note, the ideas of comic book universe construction are explored here in a really neat way.)  First, Chess, the alter-ego supervillain of Peter Flemming and head of Ark corporation is starting to pop up again in Peter's mind.  He really draws more and more parallels to Norman Osborn. Both are inherently bad people (Norman was really awful when he ran the world in Dark Reign and Peter is a criminal at heart who wants to use paramilitary forces to run Palm City), but have even worse alter egos.  The Green Goblin and Chess are both evil in the strongest sense of the word.  So when Chess starts to make unannounced appearances in Peter's conscious his doctor steps in and decides he wants to speak to Chess.  Peter lets Chess take over his mind and have a conversation with the Doc.  A conversation we don't get to hear, but which I think went a little something like this:

DOC: Listen I know you are awesome Chess, and you want to run the world, but guess what I need Peter.
CHESS: What are you talking about, you are a weak doctor.
DOC: No actually I'm a supervillain too (or I work for one). In fact I'm the head of Tarot and we need Peter to go a little further in this world before we let you loose to destroy it.
CHESS: Oh in that case I'll be quiet and wait for your orders.
DOC: Thanks.

I'm convinced that’s exactly how it went.  So... we find out that the doc is evil.

Also, Max has a hidden agenda for Vince.  He needs him.  Probably for a big score.  Sneaky Max.

Also... SUMER GLAU IS GOING CRAZY... after marrying the Litch last episode, Summer has gone a little nuts.  Which is genetically accurate since her father (Chess) has mental health issues of his own.

So the Palm City universe is a little richer after this week's episode.  I hope it doesn't get cancelled because there are some cool places this show could go.  It’s nice to have a new superhero universe to tune into every week. 

V – “Uneasy Lies the Head”(B-)

I’m really tired complaining about this series, and I’m sure for the few of you still left watching, you’re tired of reading those complaints, so I’m going to keep this short. This episode had all the normal problems plaguing V – an overreliance on clunky dialogue, snail like pacing, and a lack of any true direction. I’m not going to go into a long rant about it this time. Just remember that it’s all still there and we can get on with our lives (more specifically I can get on with my life).

With that said they have finally started doing some of the things they should have been doing a long time ago. I like the new Erica. Not because I agree with her all the time, but because she’s finally acknowledged that she’s in a war and that it may require her to make some difficult decision. It’s pretty much a full 180 from where she was only 2 episodes ago, but I guess losing Tyler to Anna has made her a little more cut throat.

And I like that her newfound leadership position has begun to wear on her. Hobbes made a good point when he said that being the decision maker is a lonely position, and to be honest it’s far more interesting to watch Erica struggle with the trials of leadership than it is to watch her worry about her son. I’m not a huge fan of her and Hobbes getting together though, considering she just lost her ex-husband and not two episodes ago Hobbes was blowing up a building for the wife he apparently believed was alive. I guess I’ll just take what I can get.

Get On Board Or The Sexting Stops!

Here’s what we watched from Friday to Monday... we really need to get lives.

Spoilers...

How I Met Your Mother – “Oh Honey” (B+)

I was really worried at the start of this episode that the recent upswing this show has been on would be over, that maybe the great writing present throughout the death of Marshall’s father would be an isolated event, a mere blip in a show otherwise on the decline. Well I’m happy to say that my first impression of this episode was wrong. “Oh Honey” was a delightful episode (yes delightful), making great use of How I Met Your Mother’s inventive use of alternative narratives.

I swear, if How I Met Your Mother developed a spin off series of Marshall during his high school years, I would watch that show. I loved all the interruptions from his mother and brother, I loved watching his brother break down the relationship between Ted and Zoey, and I loved the final strategy session where Marshall explained the situation to the two of them. It was just an awesome way to frame an episode.

And it was the great use of that framing device that led to this episode’s phenomenal conclusion. The phone call ending could have been really corny, but the way the show set it up was perfect. Watching Zoey’s face as she listened to Ted go on about why he “hates” her between the two phone calls was extremely satisfying, as was watching Ted light up as he got his own phone call. I know Zoey (played by Jennifer Morrison) isn’t everybody’s favourite character (nor is she likely the mother), but you had to enjoy watching them discover their feelings for each other were mutual.

I also have to quickly mention Katy Perry’s cameo. She wasn’t bad. Her acting was good enough that it didn’t distract from the story. Of the two main sequences she was in I found her second one – where Barney breaks down because she asks him “who’s your daddy” – to be the better scene. I don’t know if there’s anyone better than Neil Patrick Harris at playing over the top hysterical, but if he’s not the best he’s certainly up there (although now that I think about it Busy Philipps is also a worthy contender for last week’s Cougar Town).

Californication – “Freeze Frame” (A-)

This show makes me angry.  Not because it sucks.  In fact the show is awesome.  It makes me mad because of how Hank cannot catch a break.  I think I've said this before, but I have always been rooting for Hank.  But bad shit follows this guy around like horrible retweets from Judd Apatow.  It just keeps coming and coming.

Carla Gugino's character said it really well when describing Hank in Freeze Frame.  He has all this really dark shit inside him, but he wants the white picket fence.  I guess if I really had to analyze the character, I would say that this is probably very true.  However, it’s the manipulative women in his life that put the "dark shit" there.

The only thing you really need to know plot-wise for this episode is that:

1. Runkle is most likely the father of Marcy's fetus (I say fetus because that’s what it is at this point)

2. At the beginning of the episode it looks like Hank will get off of the rape charge.

3. By episodes end it looks like he is going to jail for a long time.

Basically, Hank tries to be a nice guy when Mia is being all dark and moody.  He literally talks her off a ledge. But then Mia and Sasha conspire to treat Hank like a piece of meat.  They put him in a compromising situation, try to stick their hands down his pants, and some teenage hipster takes a picture of it.  What is up with girls screwing with Hank?  Why can't they be nice to him?  He’s nice to them.  He gives them orgasms.  What is it about him that makes them need to ruin his life?

I really feel for Hank.  I want his life to be OK., but I really don't think it ever will be, unless he stops all contact with women. But this is Hank Moody we’re talking about.  That’ll never happen.

Fringe – “Concentrate and Ask Again” (A-)

Fringe brings mind readers into their lore this week with the case of a disgruntled militia who were inoculated against a biological weapon during the testing for it.  Only thing is, now they can't have children.  So logically, they have to kill everyone involved in the project with the same biological weapon.  Just so we are clear, this weapon is a blue powder that disintegrates your bones.

So the Fringe team stops the men from killing 1/3 of their targets.  The other 2 die.  I don't know if I'd call that a win but it was a cool plot.  They have to use an off the record Cortexiphan trial participant who developed the ability to read minds.  But he can't control it, so he lives alone to avoid human contact.  They ask him to help them and he risks the sickness he gets from being bombarded with everyone's thoughts to come to an event where the men are targeting a US senator who oversaw the weapons testing.  He comes through and it’s a big win.

However... he throws a spike in the Peter/Olivia relationship.  He reads Peter's mind and finds that he still has feelings for the other Olivia.

They also revealed what we already know, that Seamus WIles, is Sam from the bowling alley.  He wrote The First Peoples.  

Sam tells Nina Sharp that the machine has the ability to create and destroy, and that Peter is uniquely tuned to work the machine.  AND... duh duh duh... that whichever Olivia he chooses will be the one whose universe survives.  So, if Peter has feelings for the other Universe, that means that the one we know and love may be destroyed.

So this brings me to new theories.  Only one this week.

The observers talked about how they now know that Walter will be willing to let Peter die when the time comes, so I think the observers are following the path of the Universe to see if both worlds can survive.  Their plan is at odds with what the prophecies (or whatever you want to call them) say about the machine.  The machine is made to destroy one universe, but, the observer wants to see both survive.  That may mean that Peter has to die.

Shameless – “Three Boys” (B)

From proposal, to I’m married to someone else, to wedding in one episode. This show works fast.

I have to say I was a little surprised at the way this episode developed. The way they started with Fiona sort of covering for Kev I thought the episode would be about them keeping the secret from Veronica, but then Kev told her, and I thought the episode would be about the fallout from that. Well that was only a passing thought because Veronica took the news incredibly well. I guess it’s my fault for thinking a cable show would play out like a network show, but the randomness of this storyline gave the episode a sporadic feel, which made it less enjoyable than the previous few episodes from the series.

I also didn’t like the little detour they took with Vee’s brother. Anthony Anderson played the part fine, but it didn’t really add much drama to the wedding storyline (it was a fake wedding anyways), nor was it particularly funny. It just seemed like a bit of a ploy to kill time.

Steve was relatively absent in this episode, but despite this they covered a lot of ground with Fiona and him. I really like the way they’re developing this relationship. “That’s the problem with the exciting ones, their unpredictability” notes Veronica, probably the perfect summation of the dilemma facing Fiona. I’m glad they’re keeping Tony around as a viable love interest for Fiona – he’s a good character. Although I thought it was a little ridiculous that he was the one who pulled them over. What is there like one cop in Chicago?

Frank had a lot of the good comedic moments in this episode. I love how he assumes everybody at the doctor’s office is trying to scam their way into a disability cheque, and that he’s got the perfect system. I also thought it was hilarious that both he and Sheila immediately assumed he was dying (she even offered him a plot of land to be buried in) despite the fact he hadn’t even done the biopsy yet. But the highlight of the episode for me had to be watching Frank take part in a breast cancer support group. His attempts at “support” were so terrible you just had to laugh.

Speaking of Sheila (Joan Cusack), she’s actually turning into quite the heartbreaking character. It’s hard to watch her get herself all pumped up to go out only to get to the door and have a panic attack. I mean she literally made a dress for the wedding. She even made Frank a matching vest. Judging by the way they’ve set up her character I don’t foresee her leaving the house any time soon. I think the agoraphobia is just of a way of explaining why she would put up with Frank. Who knows though – this show seems to surprise me with something new every week.

House – “Family Practice” (B+)

This was a dark episode for the series, and I mean that in a good way. The majority of this season of House has been a light hearted affair, but in this episode the characters were pushed to their limits, and the drama was palpable.

It’s hard to find a scene that encapsulates just that better than House’s scene with Cuddy near the end of the episode. House was downright cruel in his approach, but you could still tell that he was acting out of concern for his relationship. “One day, maybe a week from now, maybe a year from, you’re going to decide that the man sleeping next to you killed your mother” laments House, in one of the better dramatic scenes I’ve seen from the show in a while.

But the drama didn’t stop there, with House also becoming locked into an ethical debate with Masters over the treatment of Cuddy’s mother. What House did to Masters was ruthless, but her response to it gave us her character’s first real payoff. I loved all of the story beats as Masters found out that House had set her up, processed that information, and ultimately risked her career as a doctor to do what she thought was right. It simultaneously portrayed her as a character with uncompromising morals (and guts), and a med student in way over her head, a complexity played perfectly by Amber Tamblyn. My only question is, why would she ever go back to work with him?

Taub also had a great storyline this week. Much like Masters, he risked his career because he couldn’t sit on the information that a young boy may be dying. He’s never been the most likable character, which makes feeling sympathy towards him over his divorce a difficult sell. But “Family Practice” showed us, that despite Taub being a terrible husband, deep down he’s still a good person. I really hope the writers don’t forget this aspect of Taub’s personality in future episodes. It makes his character wildly more interesting.

The Cape – “Goggles and Hicks” (B)

This episode brought another twist into the world of the Cape – the revealing of his secret identity.  Not to everyone mind you, just a comedically dark duo of assassins who are hired by Peter Flemming (aka Chess, aka Orwell's father) to kill the Cape.

Reviewing The Cape gives me a chance to rack my brain for interesting examples of how the show parallels comic books.  My brain is somewhat dead this morning since I watched The Cape instead of sleeping an extra hour last night.  But you readers demand excellence, and part of excellence is timeliness, and if one is not on time, what is one?  And if one doesn't know who one issssssssss........... *falls asleep at desk*

OK I'm awake again, I think my point there was that I’m sure I will miss some glaring examples of real comic book parallels in this week's episode but here goes my best shot.

From what I can make of it, the Cape's world grew with the addition of another villain in Palm City this week.  I guess I should say set of villains, because this is Goggles and Hicks.  Some serious names that’s for sure.  They strike fear in my heart every time I hear them.  Goggles and Hicks are an assassin team who hunt down Vince.  In doing so they discover who he is and put all that information on a jump stick (why they don't make extra copies is beyond me).  The Cape and Orwell go on the run from these assassins and end up putting the fat, wheel-chair bound one in jail at the end of the episode, only to have his brother trade the jump stick with Vince's identity for his brother's location.  And that is it.  The Cape lives to fight another day.

Oh and Goggles and Hicks are another part of Tarot, who is lead by someone Chess refers to as "The Master."  Their card is "The Chariot."

Anyway, Vince's identity coming out reminds me of Spiderman.  When the Superhuman Registration Act comes into play, as the fuel for Civil War, Tony Stark convinces Peter Parker to unmask and reveal his identity.  This has some serious issues for Peter because all of his foes come out to get him and that puts his family in danger.  I worry for Vince's family if word gets out that he is alive and is the Cape.  Bruce Wayne is also known by Ras al Guul to be Batman I believe.  It was this way in the movie, and in Hush (a great graphic novel for anyone interested in a fantastic detective story) Ras gets into the bat cave to leave Batman a message.  Dangerous.

That’s all for today in Cape world. Still a really fun show.

Castle – “Lucky Stiff” (B+)

Lucky Stiff is a pretty good episode all around.  The Castle Beckett love story takes a back seat to the crime in this episode and it sure is an intriguing one.

This is the story of a murdered lottery winner.  Murdered for his money?  Sort of, there is $100,000 missing.  But what of his hundreds of millions?  Still there, and the cops never play the "inheritance" card.  Castle suggests it’s the butler (yes this man has a classic English butler).  They track down what the guy has been doing and it turns out he has been giving most of his money away.  Long story short, he bought the lottery ticket for his old neighbour, who died the day they announced the winning numbers.  So the dude kept the ticket and the millions.  Who killed him?  The old dude's non-biological son (their relationship is sketchy at best, but the show makes it out that they were close).

An interesting sub-plot is what would you do with a lottery winning?  Beckett has no answer the whole episode.  Ryan would buy a winery, Espisito would also do something frivolous that I can't remember, the captain would buy a giant fishing boat, but Beckett has no answer.  In the end Castle realizes that she would want to honour her mother's legacy, so Castle arranges to set up a scholarship in her name.  Wow.  Cute.  They should get married.

Martha inherits a million bucks from her dead fiancé who she was going to break it off with.  She keeps the money.  Sleazy.  She wants to honour him, so of course she sets up an acting school in his honour.  The Martha Rodgers School of Acting.  But don't worry, a portrait of him will hang in the foyer.  Now that’s an honour.